Pledges and Blessings

I shall not speak loud, I would like the people at the rear of the room, if they are hearing me now, to raise their hands. (Many hands were raised.) Thank you. ¶

Explains Condition of Health

The doctor gave me only twenty minutes, but I have concluded to take a lot more than twenty minutes. By not speaking loud I do not believe it will hurt me; I hope not at least. ¶

I have been asked for a year and a half, in fact a little longer than that, "How do you feel?" I have said, "Better than yesterday," and I believe it is true, but the improvement has been limited, and I am not yet in good health. Judging from the newspapers one would think I was in first class condition, but they overdid it. ¶

I am very, very happy to be here this morning, grateful beyond my power of expression for the blessings of the Lord, when I realize that I could not move my left arm at all, nor my left leg; that I could not possibly touch my chin with my fingers; that one of my eyes was crooked; and that my mouth was twisted. I feel very happy that I look quite natural, in fact I think I look better than I am. ¶

I thought I was better than I am, and the doctor had only allowed me two hours a day. I spent four hours and twenty minutes one day, and I felt so fine that after dinner I went down to the doctor's office to insist on having four hours a day, only to be sent home and sent to bed. He discovered that my blood pressure had gone out of sight, and so I have not tried to fool him since. However, I am glad to say that he has now given me two and a half hours a day instead of two, to attend to the duties that devolve upon me. ¶

I went to the wonderful banquet that was held in Provo for fiftyyear students at the Brigham Young University, and it lasted over three hours. I did not get to sleep until along about one o'clock in the morning. Then I attended the Commencement exercises which lasted another three hours the following day. I tried my best to go to sleep in the back seat of a car while driving from Provo to Salt Lake, and failed. The following day I got a sentence of ten days in bed. So I am not looking for a sentence today. The doctor told me that he thought twenty minutes should be my limit, and that I ought to go to one meeting a day only during this Conference. I telephoned to him this morning that I had had a very strenuous day yesterday, but I had had a wonderfully good night last night, and I wanted more than twenty minutes. ¶

He said: "I will come to your house at twelve o'clock today to see how you are. I am not going to take a chance." ¶

A Sermon Delivered in the Past

Instead of trying to prepare a sermon I have decided, as Brother Preston Nibley gave me on the first Sunday of September his book, Presidents of the Church, which he has just published, -- he told me this ¶

was the first copy off the press -- to read something from it. I have read it through since then; that is, I have read part of it, and had my family read the rest to me. I am very pleased with the book, and I find there are several long-winded talks of mine in it. I have decided that the talk which I made when I became the President of the Church is as good, if not better, than I can possibly make in my present condition of health, so I am going to read from that, and I am going to read slowly; I am not going to read loudly, and if the people in any part of the house are not hearing me I wish they would raise their hands, and I shall try to raise my voice a little, but not very much. ¶

President Joseph F. Smith as you know died on November 19, 1918, and the night that he died I visited him. His hand was strong, and he shook hands with me vigorously and freely and made the following statement: ¶

The Lord bless you, my boy, the Lord bless you, you have a great responsibility. Always remember this is the Lord's work, and not man's. ¶

I wish to the Lord that all the people would remember that, who are members of the Church, and try to seek the Lord first and not something else. ¶

The Lord is greater than any man. He knows who he wants to lead his Church and never makes any mistake. The Lord bless you. ¶

These are the last words that Joseph F. Smith spoke to anybody. ¶

Pledges Made in First Address

In my first address I said: ¶

I feel humble beyond any language with which God has endowed me to express it, in standing before you here this morning, occupying the position in which you have just voted to sustain me. I recall standing before an audience in Tooele, after having been sustained as president of that Stake when I was a young man 23 years of age, pledging to that audience the best that was in me. I stand here today in all humility, acknowledging my own weakness, my own lack of wisdom and information, and my lack of ability to occupy the exalted position in which you have voted to sustain me. But as I said as a boy in Tooele, I say here today, that by and with the help of the Lord, I shall do the best that I can to fulfill every obligation that shall rest upon me as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to the full extent of my ability. ¶

I will ask no man to be more liberal with his means than I am with mine, in proportion to what he possesses, for the advancement of God's Kingdom. I will ask no man to observe the Word of Wisdom any more closely than I will observe it. I will ask no man to be any more conscientious and prompt in the payment of his tithes and his offerings than I will be. I will ask no man to be more willing to come early and go late, and to labor with full power of mind and body, than I will labor, always in humility. I hope and pray for the ¶

blessings of the Lord, acknowledging freely and frankly that without the Lord's blessings it will be an impossibility for me to make a success of the high calling whereunto I have been called. But, like Nephi of old, I know the Lord makes no requirement of the children of men save He will prepare a way for them, whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has required. With this knowledge in my heart I accept the great responsibility without fear of the consequences, knowing that God will sustain me as He has sustained all of my predecessors who have occupied this position, provided always, that I shall labor in humility and in diligence, ever seeking for the guidance of His Holy Spirit; and this I shall endeavor to do. ¶

Grateful for the Spirit of Good Will Existing

I think that we as a people have very great cause to rejoice in the era of good will and fellowship that is existing towards us as a people among those who are not of our faith, in comparison with the conditions that existed some years ago. I do not know of any single thing that has happened in my experience during the long time that I have been one of the General Authorities of the Church [46 years at that time] that has impressed me more profoundly with the change in sentiment towards the Latter-day Saints than the reception that was accorded to me December last when I went to Kansas City and delivered a speech upon the accomplishments of Mormonism. When I reflect upon the fact that in the leading hotel in that wonderful and progressive city... I was permitted to stand up within ten miles of Independence, the place from which the Latter-day Saints were expelled, by an expulsion and exterminating order of the governor of the State, Governor Boggs, and to proclaim the accomplishments of the Latter-day Saints; to relate the prophecies of Joseph Smith, to give to those men that were there assembled -- over 300 of the leading influential business men of the city -- the testimony of Josiah Quincy regarding the Prophet Joseph Smith -- ¶

Kansas City Speech

You are all aware of that wonderful testimony to the effect that of all the men whom he had ever met, the Prophet was one of the greatest, etc. It takes over a page arid a half to relate it, so I shall not read any part of it. ¶

To repeat to them the great pioneer hymn, "Come, Come, Ye Saints;" to relate the hardships, the drivings and the persecutions of the Latter-day Saints, and to have that body of representative men receive that address with approval, applaud it in many places, and many of them come to me after the meeting and shake hands and congratulate me upon the address; and to have some of the members of the Board of Directors of that great club -- the Knife and Fork Club of Kansas City -- (which I understood is second only to the Gridiron Club at Washington) -- to have them say that they hoped for a return date so that they could hear more of our people -- ¶

I was requested afterwards to return and make a speech before the Chamber of Commerce. I was requested in the first speech to tell only of the accomplishments of the Church financially and otherwise, but the request came afterwards to return and tell of our faith, and later I delivered an address quoting the Articles of Faith and giving the best that was in me. The secretary said that he wished that the six thousand ¶

members of the Chamber of Commerce could have a copy of the speech. I told him we had a printing office ten miles away, and that he should have six thousand copies. I do not know whether he ever delivered them or not, but I mailed them. ¶

To have them say that they hoped for a return date so that they could hear more of our people; and then stop to reflect upon the fact that the Prophet and his followers in the early days were expelled from Missouri; that many of them were murdered; that all kinds of crimes were committed upon the people; that their property was confiscated; that we have never received anything for our property that belonged to us in that section, that today some of the valuable country we traveled over there is the very property that our people owned, (for when you follow up many abstracts of valuable property you will find that the title centers in the bishop of the Mormon Church) -- ¶

I told them I owned indirectly through the Church half of Kansas City, but I could not get any of it. ¶

I say to stop and reflect that the drivings and the persecutions of the Latter-day Saints, of which no tongue can tell and no pen can paint the conditions; and then to realize that there is a feeling in that community now, among the people residing in the very place, so to speak, 'from which President Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Living God and others were driven out; to be invited to go there and be asked to talk of the accomplishments of Mormonism, and to have that talk received with open arms, shows the most wonderful change in sentiment. ¶

Honored at a Dinner

And to have a dinner given to me three years ago by the leading people of this city, and to have telegrams from New York to San Francisco of good will and congratulations; to have our newspapers, all of them, give splendid accounts, and to have the paper that used to abuse us give us the finest kind of treatment today -- the change that has come about, I am grateful for beyond all my power of expression. ¶

Officers of the Church Advised to Keep Commandments

I announced here at the Priesthood meeting last night, and I have decided to announce it again, that we expect all the General Officers of the Church -- [and when I say all I mean all], each and every one of them, from this very day, to be absolute full tithe-payers, to really and truly observe the Word of Wisdom; and we ask all of the officers of the Church and all members of the General Boards, and all Stake and Ward officers, if they are not living the Gospel and honestly and conscientiously paying their tithing, to kindly step aside unless from this day they live up to these provisions. ¶

I repeat it and emphasize it today, we do not want any man or any woman occupying a position who is not keeping the commandments of God. ¶

We feel that in all the Stakes, every Stake President, every counselor to a Stake President, every Stake Clerk, and every High Councilor, standing at the head of the people in the Stake -- we ask ¶

them to kindly step aside unless they are living up to these laws. They are given the responsibility of presiding, and every officer who is a presiding officer should say from today: I am going to serve the Lord, so that my example will be worthy of imitation. ¶

No man can teach the Word of Wisdom by the Spirit of God who does not live it. No man can proclaim this Gospel by the Spirit of the Living God unless that man is living his religion; and with this great undertaking that we have before us now we must renew our loyalty to God, and I believe beyond a shadow of doubt that God inspires and blesses, and multiplies our substance when we are honest with Him. ¶

I not only believe it, but I know it. The great majority of all the Latter-day Saints that are honest tithepayers are the most prosperous of all the people. I am not talking of individual exceptions. God says that "When you do what I say, I am bound," and He has said that people rob Him in their tithes and their offerings, and we want it stopped. ¶

I want to leave with this vast audience my deep appreciation of all that has been said here. I endorse it with all my heart, and I renew again everything that I said in the ten or fifteen minutes at the close of our Conference six month ago, and I renew it again today. 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 to keep the commandments of God, so that their example will teach it; and if they cannot do 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 never put a block in his way, because the Gospel is one of love and of forgiveness, but we want true men and women as our officers in the Priesthood and in the Relief Societies, and in all the organizations, and a man has no right to be in a High Council who cannot stand up and say that he knows the Gospel is true and that he is living it. ¶

Testimony as to the Book of Mormon

Now I have a lot more. The doctor said I was to speak but once. I am going to speak again, so I think I will quit for this time. I rejoice beyond all the power of expression which God has given me that I know the Gospel is true. I rejoice that there came into my heart as a boy, probably not quite sixteen, when I read the Book of Mormon faithfully and diligently and prayerfully, a perfect assurance that it was true and I have never met anything since then, and that is nearly seventy years ago, that has ever weakened my faith in the Book of Mormon. ¶

I am grateful that there came into my heart a love and admiration for Nephi, and I am grateful that that man believed and taught and declared that God asked nothing of men but what He prepared the way whereby they could do that thing that He required. There is nothing that God asks of you or of me but what you could do, and do easily, and if you do it God will bless you, and if you do not do it you will lose your faith and we will have to labor with you to try to warm up your hearts and get you back again. ¶

Praises Past Leaders

God lives. God directs the affairs of this Church. Tin's is the work of God. And the men whom the Lord has chosen, as recorded in this book, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith -- I knew and loved them all except the Prophet, and I loved him with all my heart because of the testimony of my dear mother that he was the finest man that ever lived; and the same testimony time and again was given by Sisters Eliza R. Snow and Emmeline B. Wells and the other leading women of the Relief Society. My mother was president for thirty years of the Thirteenth Ward Relief Society. I grew up as a little boy in the Relief Society meetings, and the sisters who knew the Prophet Joseph, fine, lovely, intelligent, wonderful women, all stated that he was the most noble, splendid man that ever lived. ¶

I was intimate from the time I was a child of six with Brigham Young. I attended many times his prayer meetings in the Lion House. On two occasions when he was praying I turned and looked. It seemed as though he had the Lord right there talking to him and asking him what he wanted and telling him what he needed. ¶

I was very glad the last time I saw him and shook hands with him to have him smile and make me a promise. I had been elected Assistant Cashier of Zion's Savings Bank. I was not only the assistant cashier, but I was the janitor, the paying and receiving teller, the bookkeeper and the whole thing. I closed the bank Wednesday evenings and put a sign on the door, "This bank will open at 12:30 tomorrow. The assistant cashier has gone to Fast meeting." ¶

Blessed Through Making a Generous Donation

We used to have Fast meetings on Thursdays, and while I happen to think of it I will tell you about one of those Fast meetings. ¶

Bishop Edwin D. Woolley made an exceptional talk and he pleaded with the people to be honest with the Lord and to be generous with their money, and he was generous with his. I know it because I used to help him in keeping his books. Among other things he said, "The Lord rewards men four-fold." I happened to have fifty dollars in my pocket. The bank had not opened and I could not deposit it. After the meeting I handed the money to the Bishop and he said, "My boy, why five dollars would be your share of this." I said, "Brother Woolley, didn't you say the Lord rewards four-fold? My dear mother needs a couple of hundred dollars." {Laughter). He smiled and said, "My boy, do you expect to get it quicker if I take that other forty-five dollars?" He had taken the five and shoved forty-five back to me. I said, "I certainly do. I thought you were inspired in your talk and I believe every word you said." ¶

Walking to the bank an idea popped into my head. I went into Wells-Fargo Bank, where I had worked, and made arrangements for them to cash my draft on New York for a sum sufficiently large to take care of all I could possibly buy of certain bonds within forty-eight hours.; ¶

They said, "Certainly your credit will be good if you get authority from the man to whom you are shipping the bonds." So I wired the man in New York, whom I knew, and I made $218.50 in two days. I went to the Bishop and told him that the Lord did not give me sufficient in addition to pay all the tithing, that I had to dig up the difference between twenty-one and a fraction dollars and eighteen dollars and fifty cents to pay my tithing. I got my two hundred dollars. ¶

I have had my prayers answered time and time again, and not only have I had my prayers answered but I know as I know that I live that God hears and answers the prayers of honest people. I know He saved the life of my little girl when she was dying, who is now the head of the Young Women's Mutual Improvement 'Association. ¶

An Inspired Patriarchal Blessing

I know that He inspired John Rowberry to give me a blessing that I should leave Tooele and become one of the leading men in the Church, and it came true. And he said, "I saw something while blessing you that I dare not put in your blessing," and it came to me as plain as though a voice had said it, "He saw you as the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." I afterwards thought, "My gracious, I must be silly to think that that is true,", and I never breathed it or said a word about it until that came to me. He gave me a marvelous blessing. ¶

And he blessed that little girl. She was very, very sick, a child just a few months old. He gave her a fine blessing, and then he turned to me and said, "While we were blessing the child did you get the inspiration of the Lord that she should live?" I said "No." He said: "I did. Go to that desk and get a piece of paper, and let me give this child her patriarchal blessing." He promised her many, many things, and he promised her life. She lived and those things have been fulfilled. ¶

Daughter Healed by the Power of the Priesthood

When she was dying in Washington and I was praying to the Lord to spare her life, it came to me as plain as any voice ever spoke, although I heard nothing: "Send for the Elders to rebuke the destroyer, and your child shall live." ¶

Brother George Q. Cannon and Brother Hiram B. Clawson were in Washington at the time. I sent for them, they blessed her and promised her life and many things, all of which have been fulfilled; and among other things, they announced that the adversary had decreed her death, but by the authority of the Priesthood of the living God they rebuked this decree and promised her life. ¶

Before leaving Washington I was in the boarding house where the children had been sick, and the lady who kept the boarding house had left for the day. Her husband was there and he said to me: "I will have to tell you a joke on my wife. She believes in spiritualistic mediums." So do I but I believe they are inspired of the devil. I said to the man, "I am glad to hear your message." He told me that his wife went to the ¶