I believe I appreciate the great responsibility

I believe I appreciate the great responsibility that rests upon one who is called upon to proclaim the gospel of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. Four years ago, it was my privilege to enter the ministry in the Dominion of Canada. During that length of time there have been many experiences which have come to me, for which I am grateful. Like President Young, I feel that if it were possible for every man to be called into the ministry, what a wonderful blessing it would be to him. I appreciate beyond my power to express to you today the honor that came to me to preside over one of the missions of the Church. I am grateful to the authorities of the Church that they have had confidence in me that has given me inspiration and encouragement to work in that part of God's vineyard. I am grateful that I have been associated with young men and women who have devoted themselves to the work of the ministry, in bearing their testimony concerning this great and mighty work. I am grateful that I succeeded a man who had spent a number of years in different parts of the world, whose experience taught me many things. I am grateful that there has been a man chosen and selected to take my place who is filled with the testimony of this work, whose fine intelligence and spirit will count much for his leadership in that part of the world. It was my privilege to accompany him during three or more weeks through different parts of the mission, and I want to say in favor of President Charles H. Hart, that he has won for himself a place in the hearts of those with whom he has come in contact. I am sure that his leadership will bring many souls to a knowledge of this work. I am grateful for my honorable release. I am grateful for the responsibilities that now confront me. And through the help of God I hope and pray that I shall always be engaged in some activity where my life will touch the hearts of men and women and inspire them to a greater realization of the greatness of the gospel of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. This period of my life in the Canadian mission has been the greatest since I can remember. I have filled missions before, but I believe that I have a deeper understanding of life as it fits into the gospel of our Lord and Master than I ever have had before. My testimony concerning the divinity of this work has grown, and my joy has been when the opportunity has come to me to stand in the presence of men and women, on the streets, in the halls and in the cottages, bearing witness to the restoration of the gospel of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. ¶

Just prior to the time of my departure from the mission field, I was invited into a home, and in the course of our evening's conversation, naturally we drifted upon those principles that we were advocating. The gentleman of the home made this statement, "I believe that you have one of the finest and best religions that I have ever known, but there is one thing that I cannot understand or comprehend : Why is it necessary in this day and time to have a prophet, or prophets of God?" I asked him if he accepted the Bible as being the word of God. His reply to me was that he accepted this sacred record. ¶

"You believe, do you, that Adam, in the beginning, talked with God, and that it became necessary for God to reveal to him his mind concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ at that time?" He said, "I accept that without any mental reservations." ¶

"You accept the thought, do you, that is expressed in Holy Writ, that God directed Noah through the light and power of his Holy Spirit to do the work that he did, and that Noah was in constant communication with him concerning the work that he should do, in order to bring the gospel message to those who were then living?" ¶

"I accept of that," he said. ¶

"And you accept the historical record that Enoch talked with God, and that all that Enoch did in bringing to pass the proper interpretation of the gospel of our Lord was a necessary thing in his day?" ¶

"I accept that without any mental reservations," he said again. And so we went down through the prophets until we came to the day of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. We asked him the question if he accepted in his heart the plan of life and salvation as it is recorded in the New Testament, and that that plan of life and salvation affected human life here, hereafter, and in the days before we came into the earth. He said, "So far as I have been able to see and understand, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he is the author of such a plan as you suggest, and that he was guided and directed by the spirit of revelation in all the things that he accomplished while he was upon the earth; that, through his sonship, through his mission as the Messiah, as the Redeemer of the human race, he brings not only salvation here upon the earth but an exaltation through obedience to his principles in the kingdom of God, in the hereafter." ¶

I said to him, "If you believe all of that, I think that I am able to reason with you and show you how necessary it is to accept Joseph Smith as an instrument in God's hand in bringing to pass the restoration of the gospel of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ." ¶

He replied, "I would be glad if you could impress that thought in my heart and in my mind." ¶

We therefore referred to that passage of scripture that we so frequently use in the ministry, the revelation of John, while he was upon the isle of Patmos : "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him ; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." And I asked him if he believed in that scripture. ¶

He said, "I must accept of it, if I accept of Jesus Christ the Lord, because it was his gospel that the angel was to bring." ¶

"Then you must accept the thought that either that angel has come and delivered his message, or that he is to come." ¶

"I believe," said he, "that that angel must come or that he has come." ¶

Then we spent the remainder of the evening in explaining to him the claims that were made by the Prophet Joseph Smith concerning the advent of the angel Moroni, bringing to him the everlasting gospel, as we see it and understand it and feel it, as we read those passages in the Book of Mormon. We were able to come to a conclusion that the gospel of our Lord and Master had been restored to the earth. His heart was lifted and there seemed to be a spirit take possession of him and he praised God. From the expressions that followed, weeks afterwards I am sure of his appreciation of the knowledge and the feeling that he had concerning the divinity of this work. ¶

My brethren and sisters, I believe there is no need in all the world that is of greater importance to us than to have a deeper meaning of the gospel of our Lord and Master. I wonder, sometimes, if we understand that passage of scripture that is so frequently quoted in the world: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." I wonder if we catch the significance and the depth of that thought, that love. We know our love for our own offspring, and how difficult it would be for us to sacrifice any one of them for a cause, unless we were commanded of God. I believe that we can understand pretty well what Abraham was up against when he was commanded by God the eternal Father to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. But that was not comparable to the love that God had for his children here upon the earth, that he would offer his only begotten Son to redeem mankind, to introduce into the world a plan of life and salvation, that by yielding obedience to it we would receive our exaltation in God's celestial kingdom. And that is what the message of Jesus Christ means to every man and woman in this world, so far as they are able to understand it. ¶

I am thankful, beyond my power to express, that I have had the opportunity of bearing witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that. the gospel of redemption was instituted by him in the eternal worlds before his advent into mortality, that I was a party with you in accepting of that plan. I am grateful that I have had the privilege of bearing witness that the restoration of that gospel has come to mankind through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith. ¶

I stand as a living witness to the healing power of God, my eternal Father. Had it not been for the power of the Priesthood of God, I should not be here today, I should have passed on years ago. But through the love of God, through his son Jesus Christ, the recognition of his Priesthood, the healing power thereof, I have been permitted to live on the earth, to leave my testimony not only at home but in many of the nations of the world and on the islands of the seas. I bear it to you at this particular time, and ask God to bless it and sanctify it to our use and us to his service, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶