Born of an Immortal Parentage

I am delighted, my brethren, to be in your midst tonight, and to have attended the Conference today and yesterday. It has been a great pleasure, for many years, to attend these Conferences, and to listen to the instructions of the Lord's servants. In our organizations, both of men and women, I am sure we have leaders who are divinely called, and I have heard their testimonies many times; they have strengthened mine, that this, beyond any question, is the work of the Lord. ¶

Administration and Resultant Thoughts ¶

There are a good many things in the plan of salvation that have not yet been made clear, but which some day will be revealed. I had an experience this past summer, of administering to a child six days old, in a hospital. I had never before administered to a child; I have blessed many children, but never had administered to any. This child had to undergo an operation, so the doctor had sent it to the hospital. The mother had asked that I should be called to administer to it. ¶

I could find no one in the hospital at that time to go with me, and so it became necessary to perform the ordinance alone. I saw that little infant lying there, just six days old; it had never taken any food, it could not digest it, and something had to be done. So I administered to the child. And this remarkable thing happened: it was unable to cry, it was so weak, yet it opened its eyes when I administered to it, and looked at me with as much intelligence as any person I have ever seen in my life. Now, this is the truth I desire to point out: I do not know just how the transition is made, but I knew this much as I administered to that child, that six days before it had been a fully grown spiritual man, and that it was fully grown when this earth was made. And I remembered, too, that the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ our Lord, was born as was that child, with a fully matured spiritual body but in the physical form of a babe. ¶

This vital truth is made plain in the incident recorded in Third Nephi. That great prophet was crying unto the Lord for help to control and lead those rebellious people who had turned away from the promises of their fathers. He was wondering when the time of the Messiah's coming should be — that event which Samuel the Lamanite had predicted should take place, and he was crying unto the Lord in mighty faith, when a voice came unto him saying: "Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world . . ." (Ill Nephi 1:13.) ¶

On the morrow he was born in that stable in Judea, and cradled in manger, even as I saw this little infant that I administered to lying in the hospital. ¶

Christ's Pre-Mortal Position ¶

This is one of the things we do not fully understand. But the Christ made this world, there is no question about that. It was he who established his Father's work in the days of Adam; who gave the Law unto Moses; who brought the children of men, anciently, to a realization of His divine plan; and it was He who established His people in this land upon which we live, long before He came into the world, in the Meridian of Time. ¶

I do not know how this earth was made, only I know it was not made of nothing; it was made of material substances. In a revelation to Joseph Smith the Prophet, we are given to understand that to those who are faithful at the Lord's coming, He will show how He made the world. That is one of the things that will come to our knowledge if we keep the commandments of God — this and many other great and marvelous truths. ¶

Responsibility of Leadership ¶

This congregation of men here are representatives of our Eternal Father in the earth. You hold positions of trust, spiritually and financially. You uphold the leadership and are the leadership of the Church. You are the men who establish faith in the hearts of the children of men, and I know that you have a testimony of the gospel. This work is growing and the work of God is being built more firmly than ever before. I do not know just what the end of the present conflict will be, or how far it will reach, but in the end I know that the democracy established in this land will survive, and it will govern and rule, for the Lord established His Church here, nevermore to be thrown down, nevermore to be disorganized, but to be in the earth when He should come in the day of His wrath and in the day of his fulfilment of His promises and His pledges unto the children of men. ¶

He will come to His own; He will come to His people, unto the men who hold His Priesthood, the power to act in His name. ¶

Courage of the Pioneers ¶

Now, we are facing problems, I think, that we have never faced before, at least in the history of my time. I have been actively engaged for the past thirty-nine years, and I have never seen conditions that confront us as they do now. When our pioneer fathers came down these canyons in 1847 and later, they came into this barren country, a country most forbidding. It was no wonder that some of the women folk cried, as my grandmother cried when she saw the land that she had to live in after the pilgrimage across the plains. She had left her home in England, where she had enjoyed life; she did not join the Church until she came to this country, but she came with her husband or she would have been left behind. That was the mandate. ¶

She wept when she saw this country, and I want to tell you, my brethren, the men and women who came into this country found it a hard place in which to live. They struggled day and night and all the time, to gather something to eat and clothing to wear. Many of them went hungry. But they weathered the storm of adversity and they established in the valleys of the mountains the greatest commonwealth that can be found in America. They were courageous men and women. ¶

Perils Facing Youth of the Present ¶

Now then, the thing that confronts us all is the conditions that exist today. What changes have come! Today our boys and girls can secure employment at salaries they have never before heard of. Many of them, who have been reared in homes where they have been taught to pray, where they have had wise guidance by parents who loved them, and where they listened to them because they had not seen the outside world — these boys and girls, today, many of them, have left their homes and have come to the larger centers by the hundreds, yes, by the thousands. They are getting more money than they had ever dreamed of, and they are spending it. There are hundreds of young people in this country right now, who, because of this increase in wealth, are not able to control themselves, and are drinking and using tobacco and ruining their lives. ¶

To save them is the duty that confronts the Priesthood of this Church at the present time and most seriously, in my opinion. There should be nothing left undone. You have to persuade these boys and girls; you cannot drive them. Dictators try to do that, but those who follow our Lord and Savior's example must lead men and persuade them by kindness and love unfeigned. We must hold our youth — thousands of them born under the eternal covenants of our Eternal Father. They are the ones we must reclaim. We must not allow them, if it is possible, to be led away. ¶

Our Duty to Make Known the Truth ¶

This work with our youth is closely allied to our larger obligation — missionary work. There is nothing like it in all the world. As the blood is the life of the flesh, so is missionary work the life of this Church, and if you take it away, there is no Church. ¶

This is the Church and Kingdom of God that was established by the Savior who came to this earth in the Meridian of Time, who performed His mission and died that we might live. It is the work of God; I know that our Eternal Father appeared to Joseph Smith, His son, and said unto him, "Joseph, this is my beloved Son. Hear Him." ¶

As a result of that visitation came this great organization, the Church, which will go on to perfection until the Christ comes again. There will never be a time when you and I will have so big a part to play as we do today. This is your day, it is my day, it is the time for men to prepare to meet their God, and to establish the principles of eternal truth in the hearts of the children of men. ¶

I pray the Lord to bless you, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶