I Believe This Is the Third Time in My Life

My brethren and sisters: I believe this is the third time in my life that I have occupied a position of this kind in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. I have been on the General Board of the Sunday school for nearly twenty years, and twice I have spoken in the Tabernacle on behalf of that organization. This is the first time that I have been called upon to speak in general conference. I know, of course, that it is because I have been called to preside over the Eastern States mission that the President has been kind enough to give me this privilege. ¶

I rejoice in the opportunity of preaching the gospel of Christ. I was converted in the old country, fifty years ago, next December. As a young man I felt very enthusiastic about the gospel of Christ. I can't remember the time, since then, when I have not had a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have been called into many different positions, civil, political, and otherwise, but I have always been blessed by the Lord with a knowledge that the gospel of Christ, as it was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, is true, and is that which ought to be preached to the world. ¶

To the extent of my small ability, I shall go into the world and tell the story of "Mormonism." I shall keep on telling it until someone will believe it and join the Church. ¶

As I think of the Church that Christ himself established, at the age that we have attained, ninety-seven years, and remember that the apostles were not even permitted to preach the gospel as we have the right to preach it, I am glad of the change in conditions. When a person in those days opened his mouth about the gospel that the Master had proclaimed, he took his life into his hands. As I have sat here and listened to all these men, these leaders of the Church, telling us of the principles of the gospel, and giving us encouragement in going on with the work, I have recognized how much greater is our opportunity for securing salvation, for securing a knowledge of the principles of the gospel, than was given unto those who lived in the days of the Master. Rome was the big city when that privilege finally came, three hundred or more years after the birth of Christ. It was Rome, a city that was amongst the Gentiles ; it was Rome that was regarded as the big Christian center. Today the Church of Christ, the big center of the Church of Christ, is here in Salt Lake City, among those who have builded this community. ¶

It is true, as Brother Charles H. Hart has just been telling us, that people are beginning more patiently to listen to the gospel. There isn't the same opposition to the elders that there was twenty or twenty-five years ago. We can go out and proclaim the fact that we belong to the "Mormon" Church. Twenty or twenty-five years ago that was a challenge for a discussion. Today it is accepted ; it is taken for granted. The other fellow may not believe it, but he will stand and listen to you. I have experienced it in my little life. I have been acquainted with more non-"Mormons" probably than I have with persons among the Latter-day Saints. Everyone knows that I am a Latter-day Saint, that I am a "Mormon," and they accept it, pay no particular attention to it, but they accept it as a fact. That is going to be a great help. I trust that we in the Eastern States mission will take advantage of that situation; that we will go forward; that we will preach the gospel by day and we will preach it by night. We will keep on going. After all, that is the great thing — to get the knowledge or the belief into the hearts of men, and to get them into the Church, and get them so that we can lift them up. When you and I first entered we did not have much of an understanding of the gospel. It came to us by inspiration from God above, but as we came along and you helped and everybody helped to give us more instruction, we began to see the grandeur of it and we appreciated it. ¶

I feel glad that I am going on a mission. Though it is late in life, probably, I shall do my best. I know that I have to follow a great man, a great orator, but I shall do my best, so long as the Lord shall keep me in that country, to convert the people to the fact that here in Utah and surrounding states are the Saints of God, those whom he has selected, as a small number, to bring out the truth in the world. I pray God that he will bless us all in doing that which we can do, at home or abroad, preaching the gospel of Christ, so that we may bring men into this communion, all of which I ask, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶