Admonition to the Soldier Boys

It is a source of great satisfaction to me to meet with the Latter-day Saints in this Conference. ¶

I am grateful for the many blessings we enjoy as a people. I know the Lord is mindful of us and will be to an even greater extent if we but serve Him. ¶

Admonition to the Soldier Boys

It grieves me deeply that it is necessary for thousands of our boys to go into the army. I hope and pray that they will go out with the missionary spirit, maintain their ideals and come back to us as sweet and clean as when they went away. I trust that it will be possible to keep them out of this terrible war. You parents and loved ones keep as close to them as you possibly can. ¶

Officers and Teachers Must Set Example

I have made this statement to the leadership of this Church at times previous, but I feel to repeat it again at this time. ¶

"I ask every man and woman occupying a place of responsibility whose duty it is to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to live it and keep the commandments of God, so that their example will teach it; and if they cannot live it, we will go on loving them, we will go on putting our arms around them, we will go on praying for them that they may become strong enough to live it. But unless they are able to live it we ask them to please step aside so that those who are living it can teach it. No man can teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ under the inspiration of the Living God and with power from on high unless he is living it. He can go on as a member and we will pray for him, no matter how many years it may require, and we will never put a block in his way, because the Gospel is one of love and forgiveness, but we want true men and women as our officers in the Priesthood and in the Relief Society." ¶

And a man has no right to be a member of a Stake Presidency, a member of a High Council, a member of a Bishopric, or of any General Board, who cannot stand up and say that he knows the Gospel is true and is keeping the commandments of the Lord to His people. ¶

Responsibility in the Church Brings Humility

At this time I feel that I could say nothing to you that would better portray my testimony and my love of God than to give in substance what I said to the English Saints nearly four years ago. ¶

"It has never ceased to be a wonder to me that I do represent the Lord here upon the earth. My association from childhood with the remarkable and wonderful men that have preceded me has made it almost overwhelming to think of being in the same class with them. ¶

"The last words uttered by President Joseph F. Smith were to the effect, when he shook hands with me -- he died that night -- '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.' ¶

"I have felt my own lack of ability. In fact when I was called as one of the Apostles I arose to my feet to say it was beyond anything I was worthy of, and as I was rising the thought came to me, 'You know as you know that you live that John Taylor is a prophet of God, and to decline this office when he had received a revelation is equivalent to repudiating the Prophet.' I said, T will accept the office and do my best.' I remember that it was with difficulty that I took my seat without fainting. ¶

Early Experience as an Apostle

"There are two spirits striving with us always, one telling us to continue our labor for good, and one telling us that with the faults and failings of our nature we are unworthy. I can truthfully say that from October, 1882, until February, 1883, that spirit followed me day and night telling me that I was unworthy to be an Apostle of the Church, and that I ought to resign. When I would testify of my knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Redeemer of mankind, it seemed as though a voice would say to me: 'You lie! You lie! You have never seen Him.' ¶

"While on the Navajo Indian reservation with Brigham Young, Jr., and a number of others, six or eight, on horseback, and several others in 'white tops' -- riding along with Lot Smith at the rear of that procession, suddenly the road veered to the left almost straight, but there was a well beaten path leading ahead. I said: 'Stop, Lot, stop. Where does this trail lead? There are plenty of foot marks and plenty of horses' hoof marks here.' He said, 'It leads to an immense gulley just a short distance ahead, that it is impossible to cross with a wagon. We have made a regular "Muleshoe" of miles here to get on the other side of the gulley.' ¶

"I had visited the day before the spot where a Navajo Indian had asked George A. Smith, Jr., to let him look at his pistol. George A. handed it to him, and the Navajo shot him. ¶

"I said, 'Lot, is there any danger from Indians?' ¶

" 'None at all.' ¶

" 'I want to be all alone. Go ahead and follow the crowd.' I first asked him if I allowed the animal I was riding to walk if I would reach the road on the other side of the gulley before the horsemen and the wagons, and he said, 'Yes.' ¶

"As I was riding along to meet them on the other side I seemed to see, and I seemed to hear, what to me is one of the most real things in all my life, I seemed to see a Council in Heaven. I seemed to hear the words that were spoken. I listened to the discussion with a great deal of interest. The First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles had not been able to agree on two men to fill the vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve. There had been a vacancy of one for two years, and a vacancy of two for one year, and the Conference had adjourned without the vacancies being filled. In this Council the Savior was present, my father was there, and the Prophet Joseph Smith was there. They discussed the question that a mistake had been made in not filling those two vacancies and that in all probability it would be another six months before the Quorum would be completed, and they discussed as to whom they wanted to occupy those positions, and decided that the way to remedy the mistake that had been made in not filling these vacancies was to send a revelation. It was given to me that the Prophet Joseph Smith and my father mentioned me and requested that I be called to that position. I sat there and wept for joy. It was given to me that I had done nothing to entitle me to that exalted position, except that I had lived a clean, sweet life. It was given to me that because of my father having practically sacrificed his life in what was known as the great Reformation, so to speak, of the people in early days, having been practically a martyr, that the Prophet Joseph and my father desired me to have that position, and it was because of their faithful labors that I was called, and not because of anything I had done of myself or any great thing that I had accomplished. It was also given to me that that was all these men, the Prophet and my father, could do for me; from that day it depended upon me and upon me alone as to whether I made a success of my life or a failure. ¶

Responsibility to Make Good

There is a law, irrevocably decreed in Heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated, and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. ¶

"It was given to me, as I say, that it now depended upon me. ¶

"No man could have been more unhappy than I was from October 1882, until February, 1883, but from that day I have never been bothered, night or day, with the idea that I was not worthy to stand as an Apostle, and I have not been worried since the last words uttered by Joseph F. Smith to me: "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.' ¶

"I have been happy during the twenty-two years that it has fallen my lot to stand at the head of this Church. I have felt the inspiration of the Living God directing me in my labors. From the day that I chose a comparative stranger to be one of the Apostles, instead of my lifelong and dearest living friend, I have known as I know that I live, that I am entitled to the light and the inspiration and the guidance of God in directing His work here upon this earth; and I know, as I know that I live, that it is God's work, and that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God, the Redeemer of the world and that He came to this earth with a divine mission to die upon the cross as the Redeemer of mankind, atoning for the sins of the world. ¶

Joy in Preaching the Gospel

" 'As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.' I have had real, genuine joy; I have had joy in lifting my voice in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Czechoslovakia, in the Hawaiian Islands and far-off Japan, in Canada on the north and Mexico on the south, in nearly every State of the Union, proclaiming my absolute knowledge that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Redeemer of the world, and that I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the true and the Living God, and that the men who have succeeded him in presiding over this Church are the men God desired to stand in that position. ¶

"I do not make this statement because of any desire to magnify myself -- I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ as I love nothing else in this world. I am here today for the reason that I desire to leave here my testimony as an old man -- because a man who is in his 85th year is an old man. ( ¶

Work of Former Presidents of Church

"John Taylor came to the presidency of this Church succeeding Brigham Young, when he was 72 years of age. Wilford Woodruff came to the presidency of this Church after he was eighty-odd years of age, and he lived to be more than ninety. Lorenzo Snow came to the presidency of this Church when he was 85 years of age, and served it in a most miraculous and wonderful way for three years. Joseph F. Smith came to the presidency of this Church when he was two years beyond the time of retirement, namely, 62 years of age, and he served for exactly eighteen years, and I have served for twenty-two years. It is only fair to you to say that I never for one minute believed that he was going to die, until the night he passed away and when he took hold of my hand, and told me what I have quoted to you. I felt in my heart and I had prayed for it; I had fasted for it; I had asked for it; that he should live to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of this Church, seeing that his beloved father, the Patriarch, Hyrum Smith, had been murdered for the Cause; and I believed that he would so live, until I received that message, which was the last message he spoke to anybody. ¶

Financial Statement

"May God bless me and you and every soul that has a knowledge of the divinity of this work, to so live it that our lives will proclaim it to all those with whom we come in contact, is my humble prayer, and I ask it in all humility in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Savior. Amen." ¶