Opening Address

It is a source of great pleasure to me to meet this vast audience. I think that this is the largest audience that I recall having seen in this house at a Friday conference meeting. It is very gratifying to me to see the interest that the people have in our conferences. ¶

I appreciate the remarkable and wonderful growth of the Church. When I look back fifty-one years ago this coming October conference, to the time when I became one of the General Authorities of the Church — at which time as I recall it we had less than thirty stakes, and now we have one hundred and five — I am grateful for the growth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ¶

RECALLS EARLY TRIP ¶

I recall my first trip fifty years ago this coming May up into the Rexburg country. Rexburg at that time was a branch of one of the wards in Cache Valley, and there were fewer than 1300 people belonging to the Church residing north of the Oneida Stake of Zion. Today we have more than 100,000 I am sure, if we go north and west, and up into Canada. ¶

I also recall that just before I was made a member of the Council of the Twelve, I visited Oakley and other towns in the vicinity of Oakley. One year previous to that time I visited Oakley when it was a branch of the Grantsville Ward of the Tooele Stake of Zion. I had to travel to Salt Lake City, through the Salt Lake, the Davis, the Weber and the Box Elder stakes to Brigham City, and then two days and a fraction westward to get to a branch of the Grantsville Ward of the Tooele Stake of Zion. We now have about half a dozen stakes between Brigham City and that section. ¶

DIVINE AUTHORITY RESTORED ¶

Each and every year the Church is stronger than it was the year before. The Church is progressing, it is not going backward. Men may make mistakes, but the Church stands firm. ¶

The Gospel is in very deed the plan of life and salvation. God has spoken again from the heavens. God himself has introduced his Son Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, to the boy Joseph Smith. John the Baptist has laid his hands upon the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and given them the authority to baptize, then commanding them to baptize each other. ¶

Peter, James, and John, the Apostles of Jesus Christ during his ministry and after his death, have laid their hands upon the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and restored again the apostleship to earth. Every gift, every grace, every endowment, every privilege, and every authority that was enjoyed in early days by the Saints of God during the administration of Jesus Christ and following his crucifixion belong to and are enjoyed today by the Latter-day Saints. ¶

CHAPELS DEDICATED ¶

Nearly every Sunday during the past six months I have dedicated a meeting house or met with various branches in the missions of the Church. During the past six months we have dedicated a magnificent chapel in Washington, D. C, a credit to the Latter-day Saints and a credit to that great city, acknowledged by all with whom I have talked — although not so expensive as some other church buildings which cost perhaps two, three or four times as much — to be a building equal in beauty and construction, for its size, to any of the fine buildings in Washington. At the first meeting of the branch some years ago in Washington there were five in attendance. More than two thousand people attended the dedication of our chapel — of course some of them came a second time, and perhaps a third, but people were requested to attend but one meeting. It is a matter of satisfaction, to realize that we have one of the very finest churches in our chief city, the capital of our nation. ¶

HAVE TRUTH TO GIVE ¶

It is a source of satisfaction that I can say that I believe that every true Latter-day Saint, or every Latter-day Saint who is actually living his or her religion, sustains in his or her heart, with prayers and good works, the General Authorities of the Church. I am very grateful for the truth. ¶

I remember distributing some pamphlets — in fact several thousand — during the Christmas season, entitled, "The Power of Truth." We have the truth to give to the world, and no other people has the truth, the actual Gospel of Jesus Christ, established by Him. This little pamphlet says regarding truth : ¶

Truth is the rock foundation of every great character. ¶

And truth is the rock foundation of the Church of Christ, and you and I have been blessed with a testimony of the divinity of it. ¶

It is loyalty to the right as we see it; it is courageous living of our lives in harmony with our ideals ; it is always — power. ¶

TESTIMONY REMAINS ¶

When we live in harmony with our high ideals we never lose the" testimony of the Gospel. We are ever ready and willing to sustain those who in the providence of the Lord have been called upon to preside over the Church. Those who fail to keep the commandments of the Lord and who indulge in fault-finding and criticism are the only ones who lose their faith. ¶

From my childhood until the present time I have no recollection of any individual with whom I have been acquainted, who was an honest, conscientious tithe-payer, who was listening to and obeying the instructions given by the president of the Church, and by the various presidents of stakes and bishops of wards, having lost his or her faith. On the contrary I have seen many lose their faith who have failed to live up to Latter-day Saint ideals and their Gospel knowledge. Some one has said that "knowledge without practice is like a glass eye, all for show and nothing for use." ¶

Truth ever defies full definition. Like electricity it can only be explained by noting its manifestation. It is the compass of the soul, the guardian of conscience, the final touchstone of right. Truth is the revelation of the ideal ; but it is also an inspiration to realize that ideal, a constant impulse to live it. ¶

MISSIONARIES HAPPY ¶

In no part of the work of God here upon the earth at the present time is there such a band of happy, contented, peaceful people as those who are engaged in missionary service. Service is the real key to joy. When one is giving service for the advancement of humanity, when one is working without money and without price, with no hope of earthly reward, there comes a real, genuine joy into the human heart that I am convinced only those who have experienced the inspiration » of the Holy Ghost which comes to them in the mission field know anything about. ¶

I can testify in all humility that the three years that stand out most prominently in my life are the three years when I was laboring as the president of the European Mission. ¶

LYING SCORED ¶

Lying is one of the oldest vices in the world — it made its debut in the first recorded conversation in history, in a famous interview in the garden of Eden. Lying is the sacrifice of honor to create a wrong impression. It is masquerading in misfit virtues. Truth can stand alone, for it needs no chaperone or escort. Lies are cowardly, fearsome things that must travel in battalions. They are like a lot of drunken men, one vainly seeking to support another. Lying is' the partner and accomplice of all other vices. It is the cancer of moral degeneracy in an individual life. ¶

Truth is the oldest of all virtues ; it antedated man, it lived before there was man to perceive it or to accept it. It is the unchangeable, the constant. Law is the eternal truth of nature — the unity that always produces identical results under identical conditions. When a man discovers a great truth in nature he has' the key to the understanding of a million phenomena ; when he grasps a great ¶

truth in morals he has in it the key to his spiritual re-creation. For the individual, there is no such thing as theoretic truth; a great truth that is not absorbed by our whole mind and life, and has not become an inseparable part of our living, is not a real truth to us. If we know the truth and do not live ift, our life is — a lie. ¶

May the Lord help each and every one of us to live the truth is my humble prayer. ¶

CHURCH MAKES NO MISTAKES ¶

I am very happy indeed to feel that the Church does not make mistakes ; that the Church has been true to its divine commission from the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph, and in fact from the time of the organization of the Church until the present. ¶

I have heard quite frequently of the inability of your humble servant, not having sufficient knowledge and ability, to preside over the Church. ¶

PRESIDENT SMITH'S LAST MESSAGE ¶

I will read the following statement — and have no recollection of having done so before — written at my request, by Bishop David A. Smith, Nov. 19, 1918: ¶

President Grant came into the Beehive House yesterday afternoon to inquire as to father's condition, and I suggested that he go in and speak to him, but he said he did not want to disturb him. I said, "You had better wait and see him, as it may be your last chance to speak to him." ¶

Father being awake, I told him Brother Grant was there, and he directed me to tell Brother Grant that he wanted to see him, and when Brother Grant entered the room he took him by the hand and said : ¶

"The Lord bless you, my boy, the Lord bless you, you have got a great responsibility. Always remember this is the Lord's work, and not man's. The Lord is greater than any man. He knows whom he wants to lead his Church, and never makes any mistake. The Lord bless you." ¶

This was the last message that President Smith delivered to any one. ¶

(Signed) DAVID A. SMITH. ¶

WHILE PRESIDING IN TOOELE ¶

It fell to my lot before I was twenty-four years of age to be called to preside over the Tooele Stake of Zion. I had never made a speech of ten minutes in a Church meeting up to that time. I felt then my own weakness, but look back with pleasure to having fulfilled the pledge made in the short speech delivered in seven and a half minutes. I ran out of ideas at the end of that time. That night in the dark I) heard a man say in a contemptuous way, "It is a pity that if the Authorities of the Church had to send a boy out here to preside over our stake, they could not have found one with sense enough to talk for ten minutes." ¶

They were correct, I lacked the knowledge to talk ten minutes. I ran out of ideas in seven and a half minutes by the watch, having timed myself. ¶

We find recorded in the twenty-ninth chapter of Alma that the Lord granteth unto men according to their desires, whether they be unto ¶

life or death, joy or remorse of conscience. I desired to do my duty. I pledged myself there and then to keep the Word of Wisdom to the best of my ability ; to labor as diligently as any man in Tooele ; to donate of my means as liberally as any man ; and to the best of my ability to fulfil the duties and obligations devolving upon me. The man who criticized me was looking for an opportunity to find fault, and found it. ¶

GROWTH THROUGH OBSERVANCE OF DUTY ¶

I know nothing in the Church that is more serious than fault-finding ; and on the contrary nothing that inspires men so much as to be observers of the Word of Wisdom, to be honest and conscientious with God in the payment of their tithes, and to be honest with their fellow men. I have seen men grow and increase in light, knowledge and intelligence when they do their duty. ¶

I was astounded when one as weak as myself was called to be an apostle. It seemed almost beyond anything believable that I could become the president of the Church. But I am very thankful indeed today at being able to sleep with a clear conscience. I am very thankful that I have no fault to find except with my lack of ability and my lack of knowledge, but not with my lack of energy, or my lack of determination and willingness to labor. I am grateful for the little that I have accomplished, and rejoice that in all my labors I have found nothing that has in the slightest degree weakened my faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

POSSESSES KNOWLEDGE ¶

I do not need to say faith, for I can say knowledge. I know that God lives; that Jesus is the Christ; that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the true and the living God, and that Mormonism, so-called, is in very deed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the plan of life and salvation, revealed again from heaven, and that all authority existing on the earth at any time has been bestowed again upon men by messengers from heaven. ¶

I rejoice in the marvelous work that is being accomplished in our temples, in the restoration to the earth of the privilege of baptizing, by the authority of the living God, in behalf of those who have passed away, and of performing ordinances which if accepted, will lead the dead to life eternal and to salvation, although they may have died without a knowledge of the Gospel. ¶

THE LORD PREPARES THE WAY ¶

I rejoice that as a young man I fell in love with Nephi, and more than any other character — of course excepting always the Savior — his life, his example, his teachings have been the guiding stars of my life. ¶

I have believed, accepted, and preached the following : ¶

And it came to pass that I Nephi, said unto my father, I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth ¶

no commandment unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. ¶

I have no fear but that I can, with the help of the remarkable and wonderful men who are associated with me, fulfil every duty and obligation, every requirement, and commandment that God may give to me. ¶

THANKFUL FOR WISE COUNSELORS ¶

I thank God for Anthon H. Lund and Charles W. Penrose — men who had a marvelous and wonderful store of knowledge; marvelous knowledge of the scriptures, wonderful comprehension of the plan of life and salvation; men who had ability to write about and to teach the Gospel such as I do not possess. But they gave me all they had ; they gave me the best that was in them. ¶

I rejoice in having for my counselor, my cousin, Anthony W. Ivins. I rejoice in his wisdom and his devotion; I rejoice in the remarkable mind and ability that was possessed by Brother Charles W. Nibley. I rejoice in the wonderful ability of Brother J. Reuben Clark, Jr., who is now one of my counselors. I am grateful for these men, for their stores of knowledge far beyond my own. ¶

CONFIDENT CHURCH WILL TRIUMPH ¶

I acknowledge my own lack of great ability, but I do not lack confidence in God. I do not lack in the blessing given to me by President Joseph F. Smith. I do not fear that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will fail to go on, and on, and on, as it has 'been doing, and prosper ; while all those who fail to do their duty will fall by the wayside. ¶

AN EARLY EXPERIENCE WITH PLANCHETTES ¶

I recall that when I was a child there was a great apostasy in the Church, known as the Godbeite movement, called the New Move. I remember that my dear sainted mother had to sew with needle and thread for a living, and finally she did a great deal of sewing in homes of people who were rich enough to have sewing machines. When she would go to one of these homes to operate a sewing machine and spend the day, often late into the night, I was always invited to go there to have dinner. Upon one occasion I was in William Godbe's home, known as the Octagon House — located on the corner of Second South and Second East — which has since disappeared and where there is now a large, fine gas station. ¶

These people were having a glorious time, laughing and screeching, in the room in the center of the house which was surrounded by eight rooms. They had a planchette, and were receiving messages. They came into the bedroom where mother was sewing and said : "Come in Rachel, and have a fine time." ¶

She said, "No, President Brigham Young said that any person who would fool with one of those planchettes would be led into spiritualism ; ¶

and spiritualism was, of course, apostasy ; and the fruits of spiritualism were insanity and suicide. I will not go in." ¶

Finally they came into the bedroom and brought the machine with them, but it did not work. Later they came back again and said : "Come in, Rachel." They had gone back into the other room and were laughing and screeching. To my utter astonishment she went in. ¶

You know children occasionally criticize their parents, as was the case with a certain good man. One of his little children spoke up one day and said: "Papa, we never have prayers, do we, unless we have company ?" As we were walking home that night I said to my mother : "What did you go into that room for when Brother Brigham told you not to have anything to do with such things ?" ¶

She laughed and said, "My boy, did you notice that the machine did not work in the bedroom when they brought it there?" I said, "Yes." ¶

"I want to tell you the reason it did not work. I told the Lord that I could not prevent their bringing it in there, but to please shut it up, and he did. When they asked me to go into the parlor I told the Lord that if he would give me the impression in my heart that I could go in there and shut up their machine, that it could not work in my presence, I would go in. And I received the impression, so I went in, and it did not work." ¶

RESULT OF GODBEITE MOVEMENT ¶

What was the result of the Godbeite movement? The final result was spiritualism on the part of those who remained with it. I was told — I do not know how true it is — that William Godbe's wife lost her mind — the wife with whom he lived. Of course he had a manifestation that he should not live with the other woman whom he had married. William Godbe received a revelation that his brother-in-law, my cousin-in-law, Ben Hampton, was to be an apostle of the Church. He went up to the toll-bridge over the Bear river, where Ben had a fine large adobe house, and served meals. It was the outfitting place for people who were going up into Montana. ¶

Godbe read this revelation to Ben. You know that some people say that "damn" is not swearing, it is only emphasis; well, with emphasis Ben said : ¶

If all the rest of your revelations — with emphasis — are as big lies as that, you ought to go right down to Brother Brigham and make peace with him, because you are getting revelations from the devil. ¶

The idea of you, a hard-headed business1 man, who built the first three-story rock building ever built in Salt Lake City, who has built smelters and engaged in mining and other business, thinking that the Lord would call me to be an apostle — a man who never paid any attention to religion, a man who drinks when he wants to, smokes when he wants to, and chews tobacco when he wants to, a man who gets mad and swears occasionally — he lived a clean life otherwise — Billie, go right down to Salt Lake and have it out with Brother Brigham. You are getting revelation from the wrong source. ¶

Years later I was in the Williams hotel in Mil ford, upon the hill there, having been over to Beaver as I remember it attending a con- ¶

ference, and William Godbe and his son and others were stopping at that hotel that night. They were on their way from Salt Lake to Bullionville, as I remember it, or coming from Bullionville where they had mining interests. The next morning we could not find his son, and we hunted all over for him. Finally we found his body about 1,500 feet away from the hotel. He had gone out there and committed suicide. ¶

RECALLS OTHER INSTANCES ¶

I remember preaching in Los Angeles on one occasion the same as I am doing here now, and after the meeting a woman came to Brother Joseph W. McMurrin and said she had an ouija board — that is what they call it now, it used to be called a planchette — and she thought it was very remarkable, but she would never use it again. He tried to get her to let him have it and burn it. Oh no, she did not want to burn it. She later commenced using it again. She was in Los Angeles on a visit from Arizona at the time I made this talk. She finally landed in the insane asylum in Arizona. ¶

The fruits of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are health and vigor of body and of mind and of spirit, and the fruits of spiritualism are insanity and suicide. ¶

I remember that some of the Elders over in England had rented a hall on one floor of a building where spiritualistic mediums had their seances. They kept inviting the boys to come to their meetings. I told them to stay away, saying, "You cannot handle a nasty dirty stovepipe without soiling your hands, and you have no business, to be on the devil's ground, so stay away. You know you have the truth; go on proclaiming and living it, and let them alone." ¶

Finally the boys pleaded with me to let them go. I said: "All right, you can go on one condition" — it was a night meeting — "that is that you do not eat anything that day, and that you go there fasting and praying to the Lord to prevent them from carrying on their spiritualistic operations." ¶

They went to the meeting, and the spiritualists were unable to have any seance that night. ¶

THE TESTIMONY OF WILFORD WOODRUFF ¶

I rejoice in the testimony of President Wilford Woodruff. One night he was at a meeting where they had been having remarkable spiritualistic manifestations. Brother Woodruff went there and rebuked the spirits and commanded them not to operate through this medium. Finally, after they had been assembled for some time and had a Quaker meeting, the man who was the medium came down off the platform, walked through the audience to where Brother Woodruff was, shook his fist in his face and said: "You are the man who is opposing me and preventing me from doing anything here tonight." ¶

Brother Woodruff said : "Yes, I have the Priesthood of God and have rebuked the evil spirits." ¶

They pleaded with Brother Woodruff to please leave, and he did so, and they had the devil's own time, all right. ¶

A TRIBUTE TO MOTHERS ¶

I rejoice in the remarkable meeting held here yesterday by our sisters, the faithful and diligent mothers of the Church. I happened to pick up a book this morning before getting out of bed, and read from it a tribute to mothers — to your mother, to every fine Latter-day Saint mother : ¶

The sweetest word in the Language of Languages is that of — Mother. There is in each letter of this word a wealth of music so divine — there are vibrating chords of Love so Angelic — that the whole world often pays homage to Mothers whom it honors. ¶

Nancy Hanks — the mother of Lincoln; Frances Willard and Jane Addams1 — mothers of the motherless ; Queen Victoria — the mother of a nation of mothers. ¶

You — whoever you are — your greatest asset is your mother. You — bankrupt, discouraged, failure-riddled, hope-wasted, heart-wrenched, self-estranged — there remains still a day, glorious in sunsets for you if you will but get back again, in thought, or heart, or person — to your, mother. ¶

The most wonderful event in the history of the world was when the first woman became — a mother. Human life has become a beautiful thing because the world has had its mothers. ¶

HONORED BY CHURCH ¶

No other Church has ever honored mothers as has the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith, by establishing the female Relief Society. ¶

The greatest men in any community are those who render the highest tribute to motherhood. No one ever has surpassed, or ever will surpass the achievement of a woman when she becomes a mother. When did you last write to your mother? If she has gone from you, how often do you think of her? Do you realize that all you are or ever hope to be started back in the years when your mother, her whole being pulsating with pride, held you tight, with eyes lustered and watered with love, watched your every breath, and kept pace, over the hours, with your faintest heart throbs? Think of how, all through these days she wrapped you in her unselfishness and her sacrifices. ¶

The measure of your success will be the degree of honor you pay to your mothers and to motherhood. ¶

PRAISES OWN MOTHER ¶

I stand here today as one whose mother was all to him. She was both father and mother to me ; she set an example of integrity, of devotion and love, of determination, and honor second to none. I stand here today as the president of the Church because I have followed the advice and counsel and the burning testimony of the divinity of the work of God, which came to me from my mother. ¶

There came into my home when I was a child a great man of the world, a man of great importance, a man who once offered me a magnificent position carrying $40,000 a year as salary, and who thought I was very foolish not to take it when the Church at that time did not allow me a tithing of that amount. This man wrote me from London ; ¶

he was at that time manager for the entire United Kingdom of the great New York Life Insurance Company. He said, "What has become of your cousin? I often said to my wife" . . (and by the way this man came into our home when he was a young unmarried man, he came here on the overland stage; later he came with his wife, and finally his first child was born in our home. He became one of the dearest and best friends the Latter-day Saints ever had.) ¶

INQUIRED FOR ELDER IVINS ¶

He said: "I often said to my wife, Mrs. Hawes" (this man was Col. Alexander G. Hawes) "that those two boys, Anthony W. Ivins and Heber J. Grant, will some day stand right at the top of the 'Mormon' Church, it is in them. Here you are, an apostle, and president of a bank, and I haven't heard of your cousin. What has become of him ?" I answered, "Colonel, he has. gone to Mexico. He has filled two missions in Mexico, and if there is any place in the world he did not want to go, it was Mexico. But he has gone — why? Because he has been called to go there, and he will stay there and live and die there unless he is called back." ¶

THANKFUL FOR TESTIMONY ¶

I thank God for a testimony that came to me, the eternal part of me, the day Brother Ivins was called to Mexico. Brother George Q. Cannon made the remark, "I do not want Brother Ivins to go to Mexico, we need him here. He is the outstanding man in his party in Utah, but I believe the Lord wants him there." When he was called I felt a little sad, and while thinking about it, the Lord saw fit to give me this word : "You need not feel bad, he is going where the Lord wants him to go and you shall have the exquisite joy of welcoming him back into this room as one of the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ." I was in the Apostles' room in the temple at the time. I turned my head and wept for joy. ¶

COLONEL HAWES' TRIBUTE ¶

I rejoice that Brother Ivins had such a wonderful mother — my own mother's sister. Two women more true, two women with greater serenity, two women who lived finer lives, always speaking well of every one or keeping still, I have never known. This same Col. Hawes wrote to me when my mother died — he was agnostic — and said : "If the God of nature ever did stamp peace, nobility, and serenity upon any human countenance, he did upon the face of dear Aunt Rachel." My cousin Caddie Ivins waited on the table at the time of Col. Hawes' visit and she balled mother "Aunt Rachel," and the boarders adopted that title. The Colonel told the president of that great insurance company with which he was associated, that of all the women he had ever known in his life, barring only his sister, his mother and his wife, he had never met a woman that he admired and loved so much as he did my mother. The ¶

president of the company told me this, and extended his sympathy to me when I met him after the death of my mother. ¶

Talk about sacrifice ! Why, the sacrifice of the women of this Church and their devotion are beyond the power of pen and tongue of man to pay proper tribute. ¶

May God help us to follow the teaching and example of our mothers who are true Latter-day Saints, and there will be an eternity of joy and an exaltation in store for each and every one of us ; and that we may receive it is my humble prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Redeemer, even so. Amen. ¶