Conference Address

I am very happy, my brethren and sisters and friends, to be able to attend this conference and listen to the testimonies that have been borne. The addresses that have been made have all been for our good and benefit. ¶

The longer I live the more I am convinced that the Lord, our God, has a planned program and that he is anxious that it be taught to his children in their daily walks of life. I am sure that the Savior had received this plan from his Father when he said: "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself." ¶

I think the scriptures are absolutely correct in their teachings concerning the great work which our Father intended should be done by his sons and his daughters. Men and women were known of him long before the foundation of this earth was laid. He knew them and gave them promises upon their obedience, as a result of the life they had lived. ¶

When the Lord showed unto Abraham the intelligences that were created before the world was organized and that among them there were many of the noble and great ones, he said : "These I will make my rulers. . . . Abraham, thou art one of them ; thou wast chosen before thou wast born." ¶

And again to Jeremiah : "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee ; and before thou earnest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." ¶

I think we knew the plan that was to be brought about in this earth. There were great men and undoubtedly great women in the spirit world, who were selected, and ordained to take part in the work to be accomplished for the salvation of men. In that pre-mortal state men and women enjoyed free agency. They enjoyed the gift of intelligence and had the power to choose their course, and through faith and works they achieved success. They were known unto the Lord, and they grew and developed in character under the leadership and under the planning of God. They were to be prophets when they came into the world. They were to be leaders of men. ¶

We find that in this dispensation of time in which we live the Prophet Joseph Smith made the statement that every missionary who has a call to go into the world was ordained to that calling before the ¶

world was. And that tells me that those men had an understanding of the plan of God so far as they had lived it, and that they were given the right and the privilege of coining into the world to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to bear testimony to the children of men concerning the great plan of God. This plan, fully substantiated in Holy Writ, is taught by this Church, and all men and women need only to make investigation of it. ¶

I hope and pray that the honest in heart may be reached, that they may be led to conclude that this is not the beginning of men's strength or ability, but that the Lord God gave them strength, — his strength and his power, — and planned for them to take a part in the great program that he would establish in these, the last days. ¶

I think the Latter-day Saints are carrying out the program of God. There is faith in the Church and diligence. There is power among men where they stand together, as this people stand together, for the things that are taught them by the leaders of the Church. They become convinced that only through obedience to God can they grow or can they become useful. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is making history — marvelous history in this dispensation ; the leadership of the Church has been inspired; they have been prepared for the emergencies that they have had to meet, and will have to meet. ¶

I recall the statement that President Grant made yesterday when he told of how he and Francis M. Lyman took horses and wagons, buggies, etc., and traveled all through this country building up the Church and Kingdom of God — sleeping on the ground, taking their chances with the elements, with nothing in their minds but the fact that they were called of God to build up and establish Zion in this great inland country. They planned better than they knew. ¶

The Lord has produced out of that pair of missionaries two great men. President Lyman through the powerful testimony he bore and the great work he accomplished has left a name in the earth ; and President Grant, who stands here today in his eightieth year, is a leader directed by the inspiration and power of God. He is given strength to go and come and to speak in the name of God, thereby reaching the hearts of the children of men. It is faith-promoting to contemplate such lives as those of these two men. In them we see the fulfilment of the promises of the Lord. ¶

This Gospel is the plan of our Eternal Father. His program will be more fully revealed. This last movement (the Church Security Plan), pertaining to us temporally, will be just as He has planned. It will be made a method by which our Lord will introduce the thing that is most needed in the Church and in the world at large. ¶

I pray for the blessings of the Lord to hold us together, that we may be cemented as one, and stand together as his sons and his daughters, and carry on, as we are able to do, his purposes in the earth. May we hold up the hands of those who preside over us, that his work may be effective and that his work may be sure. That we may be able to take part in it I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶