My brethren and sisters, as the President of

My brethren and sisters, as the President of the Church was delivering his sermon this morning, I thought, What a great spiritual comfort and sustaining power it is to the Latter-day Saints to hear him speak in the spirit of testimony, and truly his testimony is invaluable to the Church. In Atlanta a few years ago we accepted an invitation for President Grant to speak in a Unitarian Church. At the close of his sermon the minister said : "Mr. Grant, I wish I had your earnestness, your testimony, and your faith." I felt that that minister voiced the feeling of millions of people in the earth whose religious beliefs are vague and therefore not very comforting. ¶

In the 133rd section of the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord sets forth the mission of the Church. He says : ¶

"And for this cause, that men might be made partakers of the glories which were to be revealed, the Lord sent forth the fulness of his gospel, his everlasting covenant, reasoning in plainness and simplicity — ¶

"To prepare the weak for those things which are coming on the earth, and for the Lord's errand in the day when the weak shall confound the wise, and the little one become a strong nation, and two shall put their tens of thousands to flight. ! ' i ¶

"And by the weak things of the earth the Lord shall thrash the nations by the power of his Spirit." ¶

And are not the elders preaching in plainness and in simplicity? They are preaching in the power of the spirit of testimony. ¶

"And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people. For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand. And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea, heaving themselves beyond their bounds." ¶

When your sons come into the mission field, I meet them in a spirit of love and sympathy, for I feel that these young men need sympathy and love. I believe that the Lord prefers mercy, prefers executing mercy rather than judgment. As I stand before these splendid young men, I have no doubt of their ability to preach the gospel. I believe in them, for in my heart are the words of the Lord, which are as follows : "For the power is in them wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward." And when the Lord says the power is in them, who shall doubt the ability of these young men of Israel to preach the gospel, if they magnify their calling ? ¶

Recently I honorably released a young man, and he told me some of his history. He said: "I am the fifth son of a family to have filled a mission, and it has cost my father, who is a poor farmer, over eight thousand dollars to keep me and my brothers in the mission field." This case is by no means uncommon, but it shows the background of this missionary work; a background of sacrifice and sacred devotion to the work of the Lord. And shall we forget this sacrifice? Who would not ¶

be willing to help these fine young men, brethren and sisters ? When they come into the mission field, I look at them and try to think of their fathers and their mothers who have reared them, and I say to myself : "With the help of God, it is my duty to continue this noble work and to help the parents develop the power that God has given their sons, as ministers of his word, to preach the everlasting gospel." ¶

To the testimony of my brethren I add my testimony : I know, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that Jesus is the Christ, our Redeemer and our Savior, the Son of the living God, the resurrection and the life. By the same power I have been favored with a testimony that Joseph Smith was a man sent from God, a messenger of the Almighty, a choice being raised up by the Lord to complete the glorious work of having all dispensations merge into this, the dispensation of the fulness of times, that God "might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth;" and prepare the world for the second coming of the Son of God: and this testimony I humbly bear, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶