President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.2
This is the opening session of the 116th Semi-Annual Conference of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are convening in the
Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The Tabernacle is
filled to overflowing and many people are standing outside.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.2
There are on the stand this morning all of the General Authorities of
the Church.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.2
This full service will be broadcast over Station KSL, Salt Lake City,
as will also the service this afternoon beginning at 2:00 p.m. The
services tomorrow, Saturday, at 10:00 a. m. and 2:00 p.m. will
likewise be broadcast over KSL, and also the two services on Sunday at
the same hours. These same sessions will be broadcast over Station
KSUB at Cedar City.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.3
The singing today will be by the Relief Society Singing Mothers of the
Salt Lake Stakes. Sister Florence J. Madsen is the director; Elder
Alexander Schreiner is the organist.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.3
The first song will be "America," sung by the choir and congregation.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.3
The opening prayer will be offered by President David O. McKay of the
First Presidency of the Church.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.3
The manner of voting today will be new to some of you. It will be
desirable that we keep in mind that this is the Lord's house and that
we are here in worship. While the form of voting may be somewhat
extended over the usual Conference voting, it is desirable that we all
participate, not only by raising our hands but that our hearts be full
of gratitude to Him who is the Father of us all.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.17
If Matthew Cowley is in the audience we would like him to come now and
take his place on the stand.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.17
(Brother Cowley came to the stand)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.17
The new member of the Council of the Twelve has taken his place, after
being welcomed by the Church.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.18
I wonder if anyone else here feels as weak and humble as the man who
stands before you. I have been coming to this house since my infancy.
I have seen all the Presidents of the Church since that time sustained
by the congregation here, as their names have been presented from this
stand. I have seen the Church continue to grow in numbers, and have
realized throughout all my years that the Church of Jesus Christ is
what its name implies. We who are members of this Church are indeed
fortunate to have found the light and to have accepted the truth.

GROWTH OF THE CHURCH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.18
In the year 1830, the Church was organized with six members. The
adversary of all righteousness has from that day to the present sought
to impede its progress and destroy it. I wonder if that great man,
Joseph Smith, who gave his life that the Church might be organized and
carried on as the Lord intended, can see the Church as it exists
today, with its branches established in all parts of the world, and
realize that each day since he was martyred, since he laid down his
life and sealed his testimony with his blood, the Church has become
stronger than the day before.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.18
From this stand addresses have been delivered by some of the great
teachers of the world. Some of the greatest students of the scriptures
have explained the gospel from this stand, and men and women from
everywhere have worshiped here. Yesterday, this house was apparently
as full of the membership of the Women's Relief Society of the Church
as it is today with both men and women together. Through that great
organization, the Relief Society, begun by the Prophet Joseph, was
given to womankind the dispensation of representing the Lord in their
way as daughters, as wives, as mothers, and as representatives of
their kind in all the world.

THE RESTORATION OF THE GOSPEL

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.19
We have had sustained here today various of the quorums of the
priesthood, each one directed in its organization by our Heavenly
Father. It was not a matter of personal wisdom on the part of
individuals. In each case there was necessity for group organization,
and as the Church grew and multiplied in numbers, the quorums have
correspondingly increased until today in all parts of the world there
are men divinely appointed, set apart, and endowed with divine
authority, who state positively that they know whereof they speak when
they testify that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, who died that
we might all live. The Church that he organized in his day represented
his Father and himself in all the parts of the world where it was
established. In our day, by the direction of Jesus Christ our Lord,
this Church was organized. It wasn't organized from just the
imagination of men and women. There came a necessity that the
priesthood of the living God be restored. A youth was selected to
begin the work. When he was less than fifteen years of age, Joseph
Smith lived at or near Palmyra, New York state, on a little farm. He
was confused about what he should do, or which church he should join.
The various denominations in that community were holding revival
meetings and one group was saying, "This is the way," and another,
"This is the way," until he, being of a naturally religious turn of
mind, having lived in a home where the Bible, the holy scripture, was
read, found in one passage of James:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.19
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men
liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 1:5.)

THE COMING FORTH OF THE BOOK OF MORMON

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.19
Although a boy fourteen years of age, he went into the woods near his
home, into one of God's first temples, bowed down upon the ground, and
asked the Lord in his confusion, "Which of these churches shall I
join?" I have no doubt he was surprised when the answer came to him,
"Join none of them." And then he was told that if he would obey the
direction of our Heavenly Father, an important mission would be given
for him to perform under divine direction. That was not the idea of a
man who desired to deceive; it was the humble, simple faith of a boy.
So he continued following the inspiration of the Lord. He continued
carrying out the directions that were given to him by holy beings, the
result of which was the uncovering in the Hill Cumorah of the golden
plates from which the Book of Mormon, the history of the ancestors of
the American Indians, was translated and published. Since then that
book has been carried to the ends of the world, having been published
in many languages. He was only a young man when that occurred. When
the time came for its publication, he was ridiculed. People derided
him and called him a money digger because he worked for a living and
had to earn that living part of the time digging in the earth. But
they didn't look upon him as a servant of the Lord; neither did the
majority of the people in the days of the Savior accept Jesus Christ
of Nazareth as a servant of the Lord. The great majority rejected
Christ and rejected each of his followers who became members of the
quorum of the Twelve.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.19
Joseph Smith persisted in his work; and when the Book of Mormon was
finally about to come from the press, after having been translated
through the gift and power of God, for it was in a language unknown to
him, the people in the neighborhood of Palmyra agreed that they would
not buy it, thinking that they would thwart the bringing forth of the
book. They supposed that their refusal to purchase it would make
impossible the completion of its publication.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.20
There had been written in that book at the time of its compilation the
statement that the book would be received by many people. Joseph Smith
didn't eliminate that statement when it came to publication. When the
people said, "We'll not read it," he did not take it out and say,
"Well, I can't fulfll this." If he had been writing the book himself,
he probably would have changed the script, but it was not his script,
and so it went to the world. I was present a few years ago when the
Smith farm near the Hill Cumorah was purchased, and as I went through
the neighborhood I found only one copy of the Book of Mormon. That was
owned by a man named Pliny T. Sexton, who was chancellor of the
University of New York and the banker at Palmyra. He had a copy of the
first edition of the Book of Mormon as it came from the press. The
leaves had never been cut, and he kept it in the safe in the bank. I
asked him, "Is there any place here where I can find another copy of
the Book of Mormon?" He said, "I do not know." I then began to inquire
among the people and found that the people of Palmyra had kept their
word. They had neither bought nor would they read it. At that time
Palmyra was a village and is still a village, but the Book of Mormon
that was discredited then has since been read and accepted by people
in all parts of the earth, people from many nations, numbering
hundreds of thousands, and the work is still going forward, fulfilling
the prediction that it was to be made

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.20
. . . known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God
is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and
that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved. (I Nephi
13:40.)

THE SAINTS MOVED FROM PLACE TO PLACE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.20
Men may conspire to prevent the work of the Lord, as they have done
when they are prompted by the adversary, but his work has continued to
grow from that day until the present time. As the Church grew, the
people were compelled to move from their smaller places. Palmyra
became too small, and they moved to Kirtland, Ohio. That became
undesirable, so they moved into Missouri, from which state they were
banished by the edict of the governor, and many of them laid down
their lives as martyrs to the cause. The people then passed across the
Mississippi River into the state of Illinois. In fewer than seven
years that group of people, led by the youthful Prophet who had now
grown to be a man, erected buildings and a magnificent temple which
was the finest building in its day in the state of Illinois. In less
than seven years Nauvoo became the largest city in the state,
regardless of persecution and everything that was done to prevent the
growth of the gospel of Jesus Christ that the adversary could inspire,
including murder and every other wrong that goes with it.

PROPHECY REGARDING SETTLEMENT IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.20
At that time Springfield was a city of about twelve thousand and
Chicago had a population of about five thousand. The Prophet of the
Lord prophesied one day:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.21
. . . the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction and would be
driven to the Rocky Mountains; many would apostatize; others would be
put to death by our persecutors, or lose their lives in consequence of
exposure or disease, and some of them would live to go and assist in
making settlements and build cities and see the Saints become a mighty
people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. (History of the Church,
Vol. 5, p. 85.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.21
Think of such a prediction at that time. The Saints were then four or
five hundred miles east from where Omaha now is, and Omaha is
approximately a thousand miles from the Salt Lake Valley. For the
Prophet of God to say that they would be driven from there and go
fifteen hundred miles into the wilderness, and there become a mighty
people was a remarkable statement indeed. Has that prophecy been
fulfilled? Our presence here today attests that it has.

REVELATION ON THE WORD OF WISDOM

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.21
I could, if I had time, open to you the D&C containing the prophecies,
the revelations of God to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and show that one
by one they have been fulfilled, not by Joseph Smith's power but by
the power of God. In referring to the advice and counsel contained in
the eighty-ninth section of the D&C, the Lord made this promise:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.21
And all saints who remember to keep and do these things, walking in
obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and
marrow to their bones; And shall find wisdom and great treasures of
knowledge, even hidden treasures. . . . (D. & C. 89:18-19.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.21
While Joseph Smith might write those words, he couldn't fulfil that
promise. I stand here today as one of the humblest among you, as the
result of the observance of the requirements of that revelation and
other commandments that God has given. Observance of that commandment
has placed the membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints in the tops of these everlasting mountains in a class by
themselves. Not only do we have the lowest death rate of any people in
all the world, but we also have a high birth rate as well. That was
the promise that was given by the Lord in the days of the Prophet
Joseph Smith. The Lord said that the destroying angels should pass by
us and not slay us if we kept his counsel. What has been another
result? The age of men and women in the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints has increased until the average term of life among
us is longer than among any other people in the world.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.22
Another promise: The Lord said that he would give to those who would
keep this word of wisdom, "great treasures of knowledge, even hidden
treasures." I refer you to the February, 1944, number of The
Improvement Era wherein was published a graph showing the relative
position of the states of the Union as to the number of scientists
born in those states in proportion to population. Strange as it may
seem, if you began at the lower corner of that graph and followed up
state by state, you would come to the state of Massachusetts next to
the highest on the graph, yet you would not have reached the state of
Utah. You have to go twenty percent points higher up the graph to find
Utah, the state that has produced more scientists born within its
borders per capita than any other state in the American Union. That
wasn't an accident; it was a fulfilment of the promise of God as a
result of observance of the Lord's commandments. And so I call
attention this morning to the fact that when we do represent our
Heavenly Father in the way that he has desired, these blessings follow
and are not an accident. They are the direct fulfilment of God's
promises through his Prophet.

A PROMISE MADE AS A REWARD FOR LOYALTY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.22
And so today, my brethren, standing here in humility before you, I
would like to express to you my gratitude that you have seen fit to
promise that you will help the humble man who has been called to
preside over this Church as he strives to carry on by the inspiration
of the Almighty. For this promise I am grateful, and I thank you that
you have offered to do the same thing with regard to the two men who
stand by my side as counselors, loyal and true and devoted Latter-day
Saints, who have done everything to make my responsibility easier for
me to carry. You voted to sustain the Quorum of the Twelve, the quorum
that I belonged to for so many years that I felt like a stranger,
almost, when I walked out of it to occupy the position as President of
the Church.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.22
And so I might go on with all these quorums. You have held up your
hands in the presence of God to sustain this body of men in the
leadership of the Church. I assure you that if you will fulfil your
promise, the blessings of our Heavenly Father will abide with you and
in your homes and with your loved ones, and Zion will continue to grow
and spread abroad, and the truth will be carried to every land and
clime and the power of the priesthood will be made manifest among our
Father's children in many places where it has never yet even been
heard. You men who are here, or who hold the priesthood, have that
responsibility, and as one of the number, I would like to say, we
can't let our own personal affairs stand in the way. If the call comes
for us to divide the gospel of Jesus Christ with our Father's other
children, it will be our privilege as well as our duty to put our own
affairs in order, and like Joseph Smith and the men who began with the
Church in the early days, go where we may be called to go. One of our
departed brethren, Melvin J. Ballard, used to sing so beautifully,
"I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord; I'll be what you want me
to be." That's the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Great is the
joy that comes into the hearts of the men and the women who devote
themselves to doing what our Heavenly Father desires them to do.

PRAISE FOR THE WOMEN OF THE CHURCH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.23
I would like to say to this great body of priesthood, you are
fortunate men if you have been blessed with a good wife, a daughter of
God, to stand by your side. And I want to say to you that God loves
her just as much as he loves you. If you would have his blessings, you
will treat her with love and kindness and tenderness and helpfulness.
She will then be able to carry on under the responsibilities that come
to her to bring children into the world and nurture and care for them
and teach them the plan of life and salvation. And so I plead with
you, my brethren, let your homes be the abiding place of love, and the
authority that you bear should magnify that love in your soul and in
the lives of your wives and your children.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.23
Yesterday this house was filled with the daughters of Zion, and I say
without hesitation that you could find no more beautiful picture of
womankind in all the world than was here yesterday afternoon. These
faithful wives, these faithful daughters, assume their portion of the
burden and carry it on. They make their homes a heaven when sometimes
without them the homes would be anything but heaven.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.23
So today, my brethren, I feel to say to you, grateful am I for
membership in this Church. Thankful am I that I have lived among this
people. I want to express my gratitude to hundreds of you who are here
today for the courtesies and the hospitality that many of you have
extended to me. I realize that it is not because of the man that you
have extended these courtesies, but because he represented the Lord as
his humble servant. You have earned your blessing and will continue to
have it for all your kind deeds extended to his servants.

WORK OF EARLY DAY LEADERS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.24
Now, as I stand here I realize that those who gave their lives in the
early rise of the Church, including Joseph Smith and Hyrum, his
brother, could have run away from the danger that threatened them.
They knew, however, that that was not the thing their Heavenly Father
desired. So they remained behind, after having finished their work;
and under the leadership and direction of the Prophet, who by the way
was the younger of the two brothers, builded a temple to God on the
banks of the mighty Mississippi River in the beautiful city of Nauvoo,
and they built it to completion far enough so that the ordinances of
the Holy Priesthood were administered, and marriage for eternity was
consummated therein. And since the erection of the Nauvoo Temple, the
same blessings given there have followed in the other temples to the
number of nine. Think of it, my brethren. Beginning only a
comparatively few years ago with six members, day by day the work of
God has gone forward among the children of men. No longer are the
Latter-day Saints despised as they used to be, because the adversary
had misrepresented them, but they are now respected by great and good
men everywhere because of what has been accomplished. We could not
have made these achievements except that our Heavenly Father had made
it possible for us to do it. So, we ought to be thankful this day.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.24
I ask that the Lord may take us to our homes when we have finished our
labors with this conference, and that each of us will go back to the
roof that shelters us, wherever it may be, with the renewed
determination that God, being our helper, we will prove worthy of him
in whose image we have been created. If we will do that, there will
radiate from our very presence, wherever we go, a power of
righteousness, and the communities in which we live will be blessed
thereby.

GRATITUDE FOR BLESSINGS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.24
I am grateful to these wonderful organizations, without naming them,
that have carried their part of the responsibility. You voted for the
leadership of these here today. I am grateful for the Tabernacle choir
and the other glorious choirs that we have throughout the Church. This
marvelous Tabernacle choir and organ that hold forth every Sabbath day
have preached the gospel to the ends of the earth, because its program
has been carried everywhere And then we have the Singing Mothers of
the Relief Society. They not only do what the Lord desires them to do
in their lives, but they sing praises to him and teach others to do
the same.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.24
How blessed we are in this house, sanctified to God by the teachings
that have been given here by righteous men and women. Here we are
today, not as a conglomerate community, but as a band of brothers and
sisters, worshiping at the same shrine, praying to the same God,
living the same gospel, keeping our homes under the supervision of the
same spirit. I don't know how any one of us can enjoy these blessings
without having his feelings exalted and from the depths of his soul
thank him who bestows upon us all our blessings.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.24
I pray that our Heavenly Father may continue his favor; that peace,
comfort, and satisfaction may abide in your homes; that these men who
are in the various mission fields of the earth, may be magnified
before the people and exercise the authority that has been conferred
upon them to build, not destroy, but to build a better world that our
Heavenly Father will be delighted to honor and to bless because of its
righteousness The Lord bless you in your missionary fields of labor,
and all of you men in your various callings, all you women in your
homes and abiding places, and the organizations with which you are
identified. May the Lord bestow every blessing, and I pray that his
spirit may continue with us today, henceforth and forever; and when
the time comes that we shall stand before the Great Judge, where we
all will report some day, that we will find our record of such a
character that the Lord will say to us,

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.24
. . . Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful
over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: Enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord. (Matthew 25:23.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.25
l pray that this may be our blessing and the blessing of every soul
that we can influence by lives of righteousness and worthy example,
all of which I ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.30
You will notice we are trying to run this Church on time, and it has
been on time all the way.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.31
This is the second session of the 116th Semi-Annual Conference of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are convened in the
Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.31
There are on the stand this afternoon all of the General Authorities
of the Church as sustained this morning.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.31
This full service will be broadcast over Station KSL, Salt Lake City,
as will also the services tomorrow, Saturday, at 10:00 a. m. and 2:00
p.m., and also the services Sunday at the same hours. These same
sessions will also be broadcast over Station KSUB at Cedar City.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.31
The singing this afternoon will be by the Relief Society Singing
Mothers of the Salt Lake stakes. Sister Florence J. Madsen is the
director; Elder Alexander Schreiner is the organist.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.31
Our first song will be by the choir and congregation, "Redeemer of
Israel," after which the opening prayer will be offered by President
Willard L. Smith of the Alberta Stake.

(general priesthood)
George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.94
This is a very remarkable sight, to see this house packed with men,
and many standing.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.94
That brings to my mind the question as to how many of these men who
are here tonight do not know where they are going to sleep and have no
place to stay. If there are any such, I think it would be advisable
for you to raise your hands so that your neighbors who are near you
who have a place to stay and probably an extra bed, will be able to
take you home with them so that you will not have to sit around the
lobby of some hotel. All of you who are in this house tonight who have
not a place to stay after you go from this meeting, raise your hands,
and keep them up. If there are any such, we do not want anybody to be
left out tonight. If any of you see anybody's hand raised, please
watch that person and see that when the meeting is out, somebody takes
him home.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.94
We are met here as brethren, servants of the Lord. We are met here to
worship. I trust that as the meeting progresses we shall continue to
feel the power of the Lord upon all those who shall address us and all
of us who may be listening.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.94
Our first speaker tonight will be Elder Joseph Fielding Smith of the
Council of the Twelve.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.115
My brethren, you have been very patient for the last two days; you
have been in meeting very much of the time. Ordinarily, one would
become exceedingly weary, but if we enjoy the spirit of the Lord, it
relieves us of that weariness and we are happy.

INCIDENTS FROM MISSIONARY LIFE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.115
I remember as a young man and missionary in the Southern States, the
first conference I attended. It was out in the woods on a farm in
Mississippi. We didn't have comfortable seats to sit on. The brethren
had been permitted to cut down a few trees and lay the trunks of those
trees across the stumps which were left. We balanced ourselves on
those or else sat on the ground.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.116
Our meeting started right after breakfast time, and we didn't even
think it was necessary to have anything more to eat until evening. We
stayed and enjoyed the inspiration of the Almighty, and we certainly
were blessed, notwithstanding the inconveniences and discomforts which
surrounded us. At that time there was considerable hostility
manifested in Mississippi and other states in the South, but we just
felt as if we had walked into the presence of our Heavenly Father, and
all fear and anxiety left. That was my first experience in the mission
field attending a conference, and from that time until now I have
appreciated the fact that the companionship of the spirit of the Lord
is an antidote for weariness, for hunger, for fear, and all those
things that sometimes overtake us in life.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.116
I have enjoyed the addresses of my brethren. There were several others
that we had hoped to reach today, men who have filled missions in
foreign lands and who never have had an opportunity to report. I think
that on the morrow we will try to give them time enough to say at
least that they are glad they were permitted to come home.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.116
We sang, "Do What Is Right." When I was in the mission field first, I
went into a section of country where that hymn was known to the
community, apparently. Two humble missionaries after walking until
late in the afternoon in the sun, in the heat of summer, came to a
small house that was at the bottom of a hill. When the missionaries
arrived, they found friends who invited them in to partake of their
meager refreshment. And then they were asked to go outside in the cool
of the afternoon shade, on one of those comfortable, open southern
porches between two rooms and sing some hymns. The people were not
members of the Church, but they enjoyed Latter-day Saint hymns.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.116
The missionaries had been threatened in that section. One of the men
who had threatened them had kept watch of the road and in that way
learned when they arrived. He sent word to his associates who saddled
their horses and took their guns, and rode to the top of the hill
overlooking the little house. The missionaries knew nothing about it;
they did not know that right over their heads, not very far away, were
a considerable number of armed horsemen. But they had the spirit of
the Lord, and as they sat there in the cool of the afternoon and sang
hymns, the one hymn that seemed to have been prepared for the occasion
was, "Do What Is Right." They happened to be good singers, and their
voices went out into the quiet air. They had only sung one verse when
the leader of the mob took off his hat. They sang another verse, and
he got off his horse, and the others got off their horses, and by the
time the last verse had been sung, those men were repentant. Upon the
advice of their leader, they rode away without making their presence
known. The leader was so impressed with what he heard the missionaries
sing that he said to his associates: "We made a mistake. These are not
the kind of men we thought they were. Wicked men can't sing like
angels, and these men sing like angels. They must be servants of the
Lord."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.116
The result was that this man became converted to the Church and later
was baptized. And I never hear that hymn sung but I think of that very
unusual experience when two missionaries, under the influence of the
spirit of God, turned the arms of the adversary away from them and
brought repentance into the minds of those who had come to destroy
them.

EVENTS OF LAST DAYS PROPHESIED

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.117
While the brethren were speaking today, I was reminded of a scripture,
and I would like to read a portion of it because it seems to me that
we are living in the particular time referred to. I have in mind the
third chapter of Second Timothy as follows:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.117
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For
men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, .
. . unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers,
false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
. . .

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.117
having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such
turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead
captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts. . . .

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.117
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and
being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast
learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned
them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in
Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works. (II Tim. 3.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.117
And so, my brethren, we are living in the latter days; we are
approaching a time, if we are not already in that time, when ". . .
peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power
over his own dominion." (D. & C. 1:35.) Fortunate are we who have been
gathered from the nations of the earth into the Church. Fortunate is
this great body of men tonight, perhaps the largest group of
priesthood that has ever assembled in this house at one time, each one
a representative of the Lord.

EXHORTATION TO FAITHFULNESS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.117
I am grateful to see so many of you here tonight, leaving aside other
things that might have been done. You have been busy in many cases all
day, and yet when the priesthood is called together you come as if to
say, "Here Lord, am I." If we in our homes shall so live that the
spirit of the Lord abides with us, we will always be prepared to say
when the call comes, "Here, Lord, am I."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.118
Tonight, I congratulate myself with you, that in the peaceful quiet of
these everlasting hills, in the comfort of this great house of God, we
are permitted to assemble ourselves together, not to plan our
financial uplift, our social uplift, but to plan how we may find our
place in the kingdom of heaven, to dwell there eternally with Jesus
Christ, our Lord. We will all be tempted; no man is free from
temptation. The adversary will use every means possible to deceive us;
he tried to do that with the Savior of the world without success. He
has tried it on many other men who have possessed divine authority,
and sometimes he finds a weak spot and the individual loses what might
have been a great blessing if he had been faithful. So I want to plead
with you, my brethren, be as anchors in the com-munity in which you
live that others may be drawn to you and feel secure. Let your light
so shine that others seeing your good works will have a desire in
their hearts to be like you. Wherever you go, keep in mind the fact
that you represent him who is the author of our being. The priesthood
that you hold is not the priesthood of Joseph Smith, or Brigham Young,
or any other men who have been called to leadership of the Church at
home or abroad. The priesthood that you hold is the power of God,
conferred upon you from on high. Holy beings had to be sent to earth a
little over a hundred years ago in order to restore that glorious
blessing that had been lost to the earth for hundreds of years. Surely
we ought to be grateful for our blessings.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.118
Remember that as long as we seek the Lord, and keep his commandments
as best we know, the adversary will have no power over us to lead us
into transgression that may forfeit for us our place in the celestial
kingdom.

THE LINE OF DEMARCATION BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.118
I think I would like to repeat something I have told many times as a
guide to some of these younger men. It was an expression of advice of
my grandfather for whom I was named. He said: "There is a line of
demarcation well defined between the Lord's territory and the devil's
territory. If you will remain on the Lord's side of the line, the
adversary cannot come there to tempt you. You are perfectly safe as
long as you stay on the Lord's side of the line. But," he said, "if
you cross onto the devil's side of the line, you are in his territory,
and you are in his power, and he will work on you to get you just as
far from that line as he possibly can, knowing that he can only
succeed in destroying you by keeping you away from the place where
there is safety."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.119
All safety, all righteousness, all happiness are on the Lord's side of
the line. If you are keeping the commandments of God by observing the
Sabbath day, you are on the Lord's side of the line. If you attend to
your secret prayers and your family prayers, you are on the Lord's
side of the line. If you are grateful for food and express that
gratitude to God, you are on the Lord's side of the line. If you love
your neighbor as yourself, you are on the Lord's side of the line. If
you are honest in your dealing with your fellow men, you are on the
Lord's side of the line. If you observe the Word of Wisdom, you are on
the Lord's side of the line. And so I might go on through the Ten
Commandments and the other commandments that God has given for our
guidance and say again, all that enriches our lives and makes us happy
and prepares us for eternal joy is on the Lord's side of the line.
Finding fault with the things that God has given to us for our
guidance is not on the Lord's side of the line. Setting one's self up
as a receiver of dreams and visions to guide the human family is not
on the Lord's side of the line; and when men, as they have sometimes
done in order to win their success along some line or another, have
come to an individual or individuals and said, "I have had this dream
and this is what the Lord wants us to do," you may know that they are
not on the Lord's side of the line. The dreams and visions and
revelations of God to the children of men have always come through his
regularly appointed servant. You may have dreams and manifestations
for your own comfort and for your own satisfaction, but you will not
have them for the Church unless God appoints you to take the place
that he gave to his prophets of old and in our day, and unless you
have been divinely commissioned to do the thing he wants you to do.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.119
So, brethren, we need not be deceived--it will be easy to be
deceived--but we need not be deceived if we will honor God by honoring
ourselves and our families and loved ones and our associates in the
places which they occupy in righteousness.

THE GOSPEL TO BE PREACHED

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.119
It is a wonderful day and age in which we live. It will not be long
until the servants of the Lord will go again to the nations of the
earth in great numbers. I have been asked within the last few hours,
"Are we going to open the European Mission?" I may say to you the
European Mission has never been closed. We had to call home many of
those who were there, but we left men holding divine authority. By
appointment they have been ministering to the faithful, and the work
of the Lord is still anchored in those lands. It will not be long
before there will go forth from the headquarters of the Church,
leadership to set in order everything that needs to be set in order,
in power and might and faith, giving to those people over there
another opportunity, in many cases opportunities they had neglected in
the past, and in some cases opportunities they have never yet enjoyed.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.119
We must preach the gospel to the South American countries which we
have scarcely touched. We must preach the gospel to every African
section that we haven't been in yet. We must preach the gospel to
Asia. And I might go on and say in all parts of the world where we
have not yet been permitted to go. I look upon Russia as one of the
most fruitful fields for the teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And if I am not mistaken, it will not be long before the people who
are there will desire to know something about this work which has
reformed the lives of so many people. We have some few from that land,
who belong to the Church, fine, capable individuals who may be called
to go, when the time comes, back to the homeland of their parents, and
deliver the message that is so necessary to all mankind. Our most
important obligation, my brethren, is to divide with our Father's
children all those fundamental truths, all his rules and regulations
which prepare us for eternal life, known as the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Until we have done that to the full limit of our power, we
will not receive all the blessings which we might otherwise have. So
let us set our own homes in order, prepare our boys and our girls, and
ourselves, so that if we are called to go to the various parts of the
earth, we will be prepared to go. This will be our great mission.

JOY IN WORK IN THE CHURCH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.120
I want to thank you again for the joy I have had in your companionship
during my long ministry. I have been laboring many years. My first
ordination to an office in the Aaronic Priesthood was to that of a
deacon, within two blocks of where I now stand. I was baptized in City
Creek within one block from here. I was confirmed a member of the
Church within two blocks from here. But since that time and since I
received that gift from my Heavenly Father, for which I have no words
to express my gratitude, he has called me to go to many parts of the
earth, and more than a million miles have been traversed since I was
called into the ministry. I have traveled in many lands and climes,
and wherever I have gone I have found good people, sons and daughters
of the living God who are waiting for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and
there are thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of them, who
would be accepting the truth if they only knew what we know.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.120
Brethren, let us be humble, let us be prayerful, let us be generous
with our means, let us be unselfish in our attitude towards our
fellows. Let our lives be such that our homes will always be the
abiding place of prayer and thanksgiving, and the spirit of the Lord
will always be there.

PROMISES MADE TO THE FAITHFUL

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.120
In conclusion, let me say, wherever we are, let us remember that there
has been conferred upon us a portion of divine authority, and
therefore we represent the Master of heaven and earth. And so far as
we honor that fine and wonderful blessing we will continue to grow in
grace before the Lord; our lives will continue to be enriched; and in
the end, eternal happiness in the celestial kingdom will be our
reward. That's what the gospel is for. Let us live to be worthy of it
every day of our lives, and I pray that when the time comes for us to
go, we will not feel as though we have neglected any of our own dear
ones, any of our neighbors and friends, by failing to divide with them
that which is more precious than anything that the world can give,
because it is the gift of God himself.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.120
I pray that peace and love and happiness may abide in your hearts and
in your homes, and that we may go forward with renewed determination
to be worthy of peace because it can only dwell with us when we
ourselves are living the commandments of our Heavenly Father and
honoring him.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.120
May peace abide with you and with your loved ones, and brethren,
surround your families by the arms of your love and unite them
together in that bond of affection which will insure eternal
happiness.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.120
I invoke upon you the favor of our Heavenly Father in the name of
Jesus Christ. Amen.

President George Albert Smith called the assembly to order a few
minutes before ten o'clock, preparatory to the opening of the sixth
session of the Conference.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.126
The Tabernacle is crowded almost to suffocation, and the Assembly Hall
and the grounds outside are still unable to hold the people. Two or
three minutes ago many were packed at the gates trying to get in. I do
not mean that the block won't hold them, but as Zion continues to
grow, I doubt that the grounds will hold them.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.126
We have had a lovely Conference. The people have responded in such a
kind, sweet way, and now, on His holy day, as we begin our services,
we will commit ourselves into His keeping.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.126
The invocation will be offered by President George F. Christensen of
the Nebo Stake. Every sound is carried in this building and causes
confusion, so let us feel that during the organ recital during the
prayer preceding it, and during the entire morning we are waiting upon
the Lord as His guests, and we will observe decorum and quiet such as
He would like to have.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.167
President J. Reuben Clark, of the First Presidency of the Church, has
just spoken to you and it now falls to my lot as your presiding
officer to say a few closing words as we finish this conference.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.167
Nobody could stand where I am and look into the eager, upturned faces
of a congregation such as this and not be impressed with the
responsibility that attaches to counseling and advising such a
remarkable group of people.

BLESSINGS ENJOYED BY THE SAINTS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.167
The world is in a ferment. The conditions of the world in many places
are anything but desirable, and yet we are permitted to meet together
today, in peace, in this glorious weather, on this block that is so
delightfully beautified. We are permitted to live here in the fresh
air of these grand valleys and mountains, unafraid of any impending
danger. What a grateful people we ought to be! When I think of the
comforts and the blessings and opportunities, that have come into my
life, because my forebears accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ and
went through all kinds of undesirable and uncomfortable experiences in
order that they might be permitted to worship God according to the
dictates of their conscience, I am most grateful to my Heavenly
Father.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.167
No other country in the world is as blessed as this country. The Lord
himself raised up the men to prepare the Constitution under which we
live. Free opportunity to serve God, untrammeled, has been vouchsafed
to us by that Constitution, and the people of the United States of
America, who have continued to honor God and keep his commandments,
have retained an understanding of the purpose of life and a faith that
is worth more than all of the wealth of the world.

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.167
We in this Church, are only a handful of people. There are many
churches in the world, many in the United States, which bear the names
of the men who organized them, such as the Wesleyan Methodist Church,
and others. Great and good men have come forward and sought to improve
the conditions of the people, and the country in which they lived. We
have the peculiar distinction of belonging to a Church that does not
have the name of any man, because it was not organized by the wisdom
of any man. It was named by the Father of us all in honor of his
Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.168
I would like to suggest to you, my brothers and sisters, that we honor
the name of the Church. It is not the church of James and John, it is
not the church of Moroni, nor is it the church of Mormon. It is the
Church of Jesus Christ. And while all these men were wonderful and
notable characters, we have been directed to worship God in a church
that bears the name of his Beloved Son. I wish that our young people
as they grow up would keep that fact in mind. We have become so
accustomed to being called the Mormon Church by all our friends and
neighbors throughout the world, that many people do not know the
proper name of the Church, and I think the Lord would expect us to let
them know that.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.168
In all these churches there are good men and good women. It is the
good that is in these various denominations that holds them together.
It has been my privilege to be with people in many parts of the world
and to be in the homes of many people of the various denominations of
the world, both Christian and Jew. I have been with the Mohammedans; I
have been with those who believe in Confucius; and I might mention a
good many others. I have found wonderful people in all these
organizations, and I have the tremendous responsibility wherever I go
among them, that I shall not offend them, not hurt their feelings, not
criticize them, because they do not understand the truth.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.168
As representatives of the Church we have the responsibility to go
among them with love, as servants of the Lord, as representatives of
the Master of heaven and earth. They may not altogether appreciate
that; they may resent that as being egotistical and unfair, but that
would not change my attitude. I am not going to make them unhappy if I
can help it. I would like to make them happy, especially when I think
of the marvelous opportunities that have come to me because of
membership in this blessed Church.

THE SAVIOR'S MINISTRY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.169
Today, in many parts of the world, people are worshiping God in the
way that they have been trained to worship. The people of the great
nation of China worship, as they believe, in a way that will be
pleasing to the Creator, if they understand that we had a Creator. And
so do many others. That was also true in the days of Jesus of
Nazareth. When he came into the world, there were many denominations.
There were people scattered in different parts of the world that did
not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When Christ came
to instruct the people, he told them that there must be faith in God
and righteousness in life or they would not please our Heavenly
Father. And so the Savior of the world came with kindness and love. He
went among the people healing the sick, unstopping the ears of the
deaf, and restoring sight to those who were blind. They saw these
things done by the power of God. Comparatively few of them could
understand or believe that he was the Son of God, but what he did was
in kindness and patience and love and forbearance. Yet his experience
was such that upon one occasion he said:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.169
. . . Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the
Son of man hath not where to lay his head. (Matthew 8:20.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.169
That was your Savior and mine, in his own world, if you will, in the
world belonging to his Father. All that was here belonged to God and
yet his only Begotten Son in the flesh had to call the attention of
his associates to the fact that with all his majesty and his royalty,
he still must live like other men. And when the time came for him to
die, and be hung upon the cross, and cruelly tortured by those of his
own people, his own race, he did not become angry, he did not resent
the unkindness.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.169
When the one thief on the cross railed against him, the other thief
called attention to the fact that they were only receiving their just
deserts, while here was a righteous man being unjustly punished. The
one thief prayed, as best he knew how to pray, and the Savior of the
world said to this man who was suspended alongside him on another
cross:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.169
. . . To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.169
The people of the world do not understand some of these things, and
particularly, many men can not understand how the Savior felt when in
the agony of his soul, he cried to his Heavenly Father, not to condemn
and destroy these who were taking his mortal life, but he said:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.169
. . . Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. (Luke
23:34.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.169
That should be the attitude of all of the members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That should be the attitude of all
the sons and daughters of God and would be, it seems to me, if they
fully understood the plan of salvation. But it has remained for a
little group, the group to which you and I belong, to call the
attention of our Father's other children, day by day, to the fact that
anger and hatred in our hearts will not bring us peace and happiness.
So it is our privilege, possessing divine authority that has been
conferred again in our day, to go into the world and teach men the
message of the Savior that would have redeemed the world if people had
accepted it.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.169
This world might have been free from its distresses long ago if the
children of men had accepted the advice of him who gave his all, as
far as mortal life is concerned, that we might live again.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.169
Christ answered those who asked him which was the greatest of all the
commandments:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.169
. . . Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. . . .And
the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
(Matthew 22:37, 39.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.170
That is the spirit of the Redeemer and that is the spirit all
Latter-day Saints should seek to possess if they hope some day to
stand in his presence and receive at his hands a glorious welcome
home.

THE TRUTH TO BE PREACHED

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.170
When I think of the opportunities that the Lord has offered to us! One
of the most difficult problems that we have had has been to carry this
gospel to the nations of the earth. Hundreds, yes, thousands of our
fellows have gone, in many cases without purse and without scrip, to
the islands of the sea and to the nations of the earth, and to what
end? To say unto our Father's other children: "The gospel has been
restored again." The scriptures indicated that a true knowledge of the
gospel would be lost; that the time was to come when men would run to
and fro in the earth, seeking the word of God and not find it. It is
our privilege and has been that of our forebears to say to mankind:
"The time has come when the truth may be found. Surely you can see
that the manner and form of worship that the people have been
following all through the ages has not succeeded in bringing peace and
happiness. Now, why not listen to the Lord."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.170
Our missionaries have gone out and have said to the children of men:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.170
"A humble boy, believing the Bible after he had read it, believing
that there was a God who could hear and answer prayers, went out and
knelt down in the woods near his home in the state of New York, and
prayed unto the Lord, asking guidance. This boy had read in the
scriptures where the Lord had said:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.170
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men
liberally, and upbraideth not: and it shall be given him. (James 1:5.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.170
And so this boy, not yet fifteen years of age, because of his implicit
faith in the promises of our Heavenly Father, had the heavens opened
to him and God the Father and God the Son appeared and instructed him
as to what he should do. Although a youth, he was older than the
Savior of the world when His parents lost Him. When they found Jesus
in the temple, they chided him because they had been delayed. It was
at twelve years of age that Jesus said to his parents:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.170
. . . wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business. (Luke
2:49.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.170
So, it is not surprising that a boy fifteen years of age, if he were
inspired by the Lord, should desire to know what he should do.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.170
Joseph Smith was able, notwithstanding the opposition of the adversary
of all righteousness and all his emissaries, to face the contumely and
hatred of a wicked world and finally he gave his life as a testimony
of the truth of the gospel of our Lord that had been restored in its
fulness to the earth.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.171
The Church began with only six members. It has grown day by day in
spite of the opposition of the adversary. But for the powerful arm of
righteousness, but for the watchcare of our Heavenly Father, this
Church would have been crushed like a shell long ago. However, the
Lord has said that he would safeguard us, and has promised us
protection if we will honor him and keep his commandments. The Church
in its early existence moved from place to place, and finally was
driven through the wilderness and came out into this western land and
established itself here, by the blessing of God, in a land then so
undesirable that other people did not think they could live here and
develop a satisfactory community We can now see the results. Our
forebears had the same faith that led the children of Israel out of
Egypt and into the Promised Land, the same faith that led the Pilgrim
Fathers across the mighty deep to the land choice above all other
lands, the same faith that inspired the men who wrote the Constitution
of the United States, the same faith that characterized the lives of
the Hebrew prophets, who one by one were willing to give their lives
in order that they might maintain their standards and continue the
teaching of the gospel that the Lord had given to them. When we think
of some of the prophets and the experiences through which they passed,
it is marvelous.

ELIJAH AND THE PROPHETS OF BAAL

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.171
I have in mind now, the prophet Elijah who said to the people: Build
two altars and let one be for God and the other for Baal. Then let us
put the offering that is customary on each altar.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.171
And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of
the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. . . . (I
Kings 18:24.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.171
The priests of Baal were challenged by the true prophet of God, and so
they called to Baal to send down fire from heaven, and they continued
to cry. Elijah said: Cry aloud, perhaps he is asleep, or he may have
gone on a journey. And when these men, these priests of Baal, who had
been leading Israel astray, discovered their helplessness, it is said
they jumped upon the altar, and they gashed themselves with knives.
Then, Elijah, the true prophet of God, said: Father in Heaven, in
order that the people may know that thou art God, wilt thou send fire
down from heaven and consume the offering that is on the altar that
has been built to thee. And not only were the altar and the offering
consumed, but the water that had been poured over the offering to
prevent its being easily burned was licked up, and the people stood
there to find that of the hundreds of men claiming divine authority,
there was only one man that God would recognize.

TEACHINGS OF JOSEPH SMITH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.172
Now, when Joseph Smith, just a youth, announced that he had seen the
Father and the Son, it appeared ridiculous to many people. They had
been taught that it was not possible for the Lord to appear to the
children of men, that such manifestations were past and that the Bible
contained all the information that was necessary. But the boy prophet
knew because he had seen the Father and the Son. Knowing that it was
not some imaginary thing, he continued his work, and under the
direction of the Lord, organized the Church. Then our Heavenly Father
sent holy beings to confer upon him divine authority, which had been
lost to the world, as we read in the scriptures that it was to be lost
to the world. There came John the Baptist who conferred the Aaronic
Priesthood, and there came Peter, James, and John who conferred the
Melchizedek Priesthood. These four men had lived upon the earth and
offered their lives in testimony of the divine mission of Jesus
Christ. When the time came for them to come and bring back the
authority of the priesthood, they were not maimed and bruised as a
result of the handling they had received by wicked men, but they were
immortal, glorified, resurrected beings, who came to the earth and
thereby established in the mind of the boy prophet, Joseph Smith, the
truth that there was in reality a literal resurrection from the dead.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.172
And may I say that there are comparatively few people in all the world
who understand that there will be a resurrection. The Lord has again
revealed this in our day. He has impressed it upon us and has given us
to understand that when the time comes for that resurrection, if we
are worthy that we will be quickened celestial bodies, and from then
on, we will dwell in the celestial kingdom, the highest of all
kingdoms. But he has taught us also that there are other places where
we may go. If we don't want to go to the celestial kingdom, by being
less careful and particular about keeping the commandments of God, we
may go into the terrestrial kingdom, and if we are still more
careless, we may find our way into the telestial kingdom, which is the
least of the kingdoms of glory.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.172
There are some people who have supposed that if we are quickened
telestial bodies that eventually, throughout the ages of eternity, we
will continue to progress until we will find our place in the
celestial kingdom, but the scriptures and revelations of God have said
that those who are quickened telestial bodies cannot come where God
and Christ dwell, worlds without end.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.172
The gospel of Jesus Christ was given to the world to prepare us for a
kingdom that we would not be prepared for with any other gospel. And
so the truth has come in our day. How thankful we ought to be to our
Heavenly Father for that truth, how patient we ought to be with one
another. How grateful we ought to be to those who have been willing to
teach us the truth, and how willing we ought to be to keep our bodies
clean and undefiled by the wicked things of life, knowing that we have
been created in the image of God and that he expects us to take care
of these bodies and keep them pure.

A HAPPY HOME LIFE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.173
These are some of the thoughts that have come into my mind this
afternoon as I have looked into the faces of this wonderful audience.
I am grateful for the association and companionship of such as are
here today.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.173
I thank my Heavenly Father that I was born in this day and age of the
world, and that I was blessed with goodly parentage that I might begin
my earth life under favorable circumstances, for I want to say to you
that I never knew anything wrong to happen in my father's home. There
were always peace, happiness, and love; the rules of the Church were
observed, and family prayers were as regular as our meals. While we
did not have very much sometimes, we thanked God for what we had and
it was sweet to the taste and sufficient to take care of us. When my
father passed away, he left two families of children, and two mothers
of those children. His life had been such that if there had been any
problem among us, any question as to what should be done with
reference to his affairs, all that was necessary for us was to say, as
we united together, we will do whatever father would have done. We
knew how fair and just and honorable he was, and so our problems were
never difficult of solution, and we have lived together in the bonds
of love, just as all the people of the Church should live. The gospel
teaches us to love our neighbor as ourselves, and if we will do that,
we will not be distressed, we will not have our feelings wounded, part
of us will not be well-to-do while others are living in poverty. If we
love our neighbor as ourselves, we will all do our full part, and our
Heavenly Father has promised us his blessings in return.

RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS OTHERS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.173
Let me say I realize the great responsibility that is upon my
shoulders. I know that without the help of our Heavenly Father, the
organization with which we are identified cannot be successful. No man
or group of men can make it successful, but if the members of this
Church will continue to keep the commandments of God, live their
religion, set an example to the world, love their neighbor as
themselves, we will go forward, and increasing happiness will flow to
us.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.174
Today as I stand here I realize that in this city, in the Catholic
Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist, the Baptist, the
Episcopalian, and the other churches, I have brothers and sisters that
I love. They are all my Father's children. He loves them and he
expects me and he expects you to let our light so shine that these
other sons and daughters of his, seeing our good works will be
constrained to accept all the truth, not a little part of it, but
accept all the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. Think
what a marvelous opportunity we have! Think what a blessing it will be
if we do our part here, as we stand on the other side of the Great
Divide, when our Father shall summon his great family together as he
shall, to have these wonderful men and women, hundreds and thousands
of them who have been our neighbors, and who have watched our lives,
stand there and say: "Father in Heaven, we owe it to these thy
children of the humble organization that bears the name of thy Son, we
owe it to them that we have understood the truth and that we are here
at the supper of the Lamb." That is our privilege, and our blessing.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.174
Let us not complain at our friends and our neighbors, because they do
not do what we want them to do. Rather let us love them into doing the
things that our Heavenly Father would have them do. We can do that,
and we cannot win their confidence or their love in any other way.

PRAYERS FOR LEADERS OF OUR COUNTRY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.174
Fortunate are we to live in this great land of America. Fortunate are
we to have had raised up from time to time great men to preside over
the nation. I want to tell you that we can influence them, and we can
help them, if from the depths of our hearts we will pray to the Lord
to give them wisdom to carry on and not be swayed by the foolishness
and avarice and wickedness of many of those who dwell in this land. It
is your duty and mine to remember in our prayers the President of the
United States of America, to remember the men who represent us in the
Congress of the United States, to remember the executives of the
states of the nation, and to pray for them that they may have divine
aid. They are God's sons, every one of them, and he wants them saved
and exalted. It will be our responsibility, with the added information
that has been bestowed upon us, to carry the message to them in love,
not in criticism and faultfinding, but with love in our hearts. And I
want to say to you, I am sure we will win many of them to an
understanding of the truth, and they will bless us forever.

HUMILITY EXPRESSED

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.174
I know that there are many problems and there will be greater problems
as the days come and go, but the same Father in heaven that led the
Children of Israel, that saved Daniel and the three Hebrew children
from destruction, the same Heavenly Father that preserved our
forebears that came into this western land and established them here,
and blessed them and made it possible in the poverty of the people to
have this great temple and other great temples, and houses of worship
like this, that same Father, your Father and mine, is ready to pour
out his blessings upon us today.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.174
Let us evidence our faith; let us evidence our belief; let us set the
example day by day, that no one shall be kept out of the Church
because of any conduct of ours.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.175
I thank you for the confidence that has been manifested, my brothers
and my sisters, in hoping that I may succeed, and promising as some of
you have, that you will help me to succeed, because I am only a man,
one of the humblest among you, but I have been called to this
service--and I would not be here if I did not know I had been
called--by the authority of our Heavenly Father. I will need the help
of every man and every woman and every child, not for my blessing, but
for your blessing, and for the blessing of the children of men
wherever they may be. That is not my responsibility, that is our
responsibility.

A FERVENT TESTIMONY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1945, p.175
I know that God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that
Joseph Smith was a prophet of the living God, as I know that I stand
here and talk to you. I realize, however, when I make that statement,
that it would be a serious thing if it were not true, and there are
those who will question its truth, but I have no question in my mind.
If I did not know it were true, I would not dare to make that kind of
statement to you or to anybody else, for in the not-far-distant
future, in the natural course of events, we will all stand before the
bar of God, and this man who is talking to you will stand there to
answer for the things that he has said and done in life. Knowing that,
and realizing the seriousness of saying that which is not true, and
that if I have falsified I would lose my blessings, in love and
kindness, I want to bear this testimony to you, my brethren and
sisters who are here, to those who may be listening in, and to those
whom I may meet from time to time, that I know these things are true,
and I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
possesses divine authority and is guided by the Father of us all, and
knowing that, in love and in humility, I bear you my witness that
these things are true, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.3
This audience this morning would be an inspiration to any thoughtful
person in the world. As I stand and look at your faces and realize
that the house is filled to capacity, (at least there are people
standing in various parts of the building who have not yet obtained
seats) and this on a busy weekday when so many people are occupied
with other affairs and unable to leave their homes, I know that this
fine attendance indicates a faith that is commendable.

THE UPLIFT OF MUSIC

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.3
I am sure we have been uplifted by the glorious music of our Singing
Mothers this morning, representing the greatest women's organization
in all the world given to the work of charity and uplifting womankind.
This group this morning who have just sung to us represent this
particular region; and if you were to travel in different parts of the
world, even into the South Seas, you would find a group of Singing
Mothers in the various missions of the Church, who sing the same music
that we sing here, but the hymns have been translated into their own
languages, and they rejoice in singing praises to our Heavenly Father.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.3
I wonder if there are any people in all the world who have as great
reason to be thankful as this group assembled here this morning.
Coming from various parts of the world, various mission fields are
represented by those who have gathered for conference; many of you
have come a long way to be present this morning.

SAFETY OF HAWAIIAN MISSIONARIES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.4
For the comfort of those who are here or who may be listening in who
have missionary representatives in the Hawaiian Islands, we are
pleased to inform you that this morning we received a cablegram from
Hawaii to the effect that while there has been considerable damage
wrought by the recent tidal wave, much destruction of property,  and
some loss of life among our members all the missionaries are reported
safe.

THE WAY FOR PEACE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.4
With the confusion and uncertainty that exist everywhere, surely we
are blessed who are permitted to assemble under this spacious roof
this morning in worship. What a privilege it is to live in an age of
the world when we know that God lives, when we know that Jesus Christ
is the Savior of the world and our Redeemer, and when we know that the
Lord continues to manifest himself to his children who have prepared
themselves to receive his blessings! I am looking into the faces of a
great audience this morning, most of whom enjoy the inspiration of the
Almighty, and when they pray, they pray to their Father in heaven
knowing that their prayers will be answered in blessings upon their
heads. We live in a day when the scripture is being fulfilled among
the nations wherein the Lord said through one of his prophets, that in
the latter-day, ". . . the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and
the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid." (Isaiah 29:14.)
With all the wisdom of the world, no group thus far has been able to
point the way for peace with the certainty that it is the way. We who
are assembled here this morning are fortunate to know that there is a
way for peace that alone will produce results, and that way is to keep
the commandments of God as revealed to the children of men anciently
and in our day. If that way were followed, all the problems that are
so serious in the world could be solved, and peace would come to this
unhappy earth.

DIVINE WATCHCARE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.4
So, this morning, under the influence of prayer, coming as we have
come to wait upon the Lord, surely his promise will be fulfilled to us
that when even two or three shall meet together in his name, he will
be there to bless them. What a comfort it is to realize that there is
no mistake about it, that we are the children of our Heavenly Father,
that he does love us, and because of his anxiety for our peace and
welfare, in our day, sent another prophet to restore the gospel of
Jesus Christ and to place in the Church divine authority, that men, as
of ancient times, may hold the priesthood and officiate in the
ordinances of the gospel of our Lord. No other people have that
assurance as we have it. I do not say boastfully, but gratefully, that
we know there is a God in heaven, that he is our Father, that he does
interest himself in our affairs, and he has done that ever since the
world began, when his first children were placed upon the earth.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.5
One of his prophets long ago made the statement, and it has been
fulfilled literally, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he
revealeth his secret unto his servants, the prophets." All the
important things that have happened in the world up to now have been
foretold by the servants of the Lord, and the things that are
occurring and that will occur that are important will be revealed, if
they have not already been, before those things occur. I think it is
marvelous to know how close we are to our Heavenly Father, and I also
think it is deplorable that some of us do not appreciate how near he
is, for the reason that we have failed to measure up in many cases to
his wise counsels.

A CHOICE LAND

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.5
We live in the most wonderful land in all the world, ". . . a land
which is choice above all other lands," ((Ether 2:10) so stated by a
prophet. Advantages are enjoyed by the people in this great western
hemisphere, and particularly in the United States of America and
Canada--opportunities and blessings that are not known in many parts
of the world. We are permitted to worship God according to the
dictates of our consciences. We can make our adjustments according to
his rules and regulations and not be interfered with by those who are
godless and who are anti-Christ in their attitude toward the human
family. So this morning I feel that I am talking to a great family. We
are all brothers and sisters. We are here to worship. This is not
merely a convention. This is a conference of the representatives of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who have come from
their homes into this edifice which has been rendered sacred by those
who have spoken from this very pulpit and who have assembled here ever
since this building was constructed. It was erected in the poverty of
the people, and no other place like it may be found in all the world.
Often when it is vacant there is a spirit here that you will find in
few places in the world. Many people have come here on a busy weekday
as tourists, and as they have come under the shadow of this roof and
looked through the building and have seen this great organ, with
everything quiet, many of them have been moved to tears by the
inspiration and influence that they have found here.

THE BLESSING OF LIFE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.5
We are here as sons and daughters of the Living God, trying to work
our way through life until we shall be worthy of an exaltation in the
celestial kingdom. What a privilege it is! Oh, how I hope we
appreciate it this morning and will continue to appreciate it as long
as we live upon the earth! I hope that during the sessions of
conference we may all come prepared to be fed the bread of life. I
hope that we will come with a prayer in our hearts that those who
address us may be inspired, that they may draw the inspiration
necessary from our Heavenly Father to feed his flock. If we shall do
that, when conference has been concluded, and the last prayer has been
offered, there will return to our homes in the valleys of these
everlasting hills and in the other states and territories and missions
represented here, men and women who have realized fully and completely
that we waited upon our Heavenly Father and he did not disappoint us.

PRAYER AND BLESSING

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.6
It is not my purpose to talk long this morning. I greet you and
welcome you on behalf of the Church and say to you, it is a joy to
look into your faces and be with you to worship and wait upon the
Lord, with the assurance that he will hear and answer the prayers that
have already been offered and that will continue to be offered, not
only by those who speak audibly but by those who come here with a
prayer in their hearts. I pray that the Spirit of the Lord may be in
our homes and abiding places, that there may go out from this great
conference influences that shall enrich the lives of those present and
absent, that day by day we may let our light so shine that others
seeing our good works will be constrained to glorify the name of our
Heavenly Father.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.6
I pray that his Spirit may be here in rich abundance this day that we
many partake of its influence and be instructed and informed under
that power that will enrich our lives and give us a feeling of
gratitude that we are able to be here this morning, and that the Lord
may add his blessing and his peace to be upon you and our Father's
sons and daughters everywhere.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.6
How I pray in my soul this morning in your hearing that the President
of the United States and those who are working with him may live in
such a way that the power of the Lord will be with them, that they may
not be misled but that they may so adjust affairs at the seat of
government that the people of this nation will be blessed because of
their desire to honor God and keep his commandments, and that these
and all other blessings may be ours.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.6
I am thinking this morning of our poor people in the various war-torn
countries. We hear almost daily from some source from people who have
not enough food to nourish their bodies as they should be nourished,
people who are wearing the same clothing they wore when the war broke
out and have no way of replacing it, people whose homes have been
blown to bits by bombs and destroyed by the great war. Those people
this morning, many of them, knowing where we are, are praying that
they too may be inspired. We are blessed, brethren and sisters, and I
pray that we may appreciate our blessings and live to be worthy of
them, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.53
I remarked that this is an unusual group. It occurs to me now that
within the past few years men have given up business to go out into
the world to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ without compensation. I
know of no other place in the world, no other community that produces
Such men and women. Ninety-nine years ago today Brigham Young and the
Pioneers left Winter Quarters on their way to this land. They came
across the plains ninety-nine years ago today. There was nothing but
desolation in this valley; not even the Indians would live here; it
was too dry and forbidding; but they came in obedience to the
inspiration of the Almighty, believing that the Lord would open the
way. We who sit here in this house today by the thousands, and who
inhabit this section of the country today by the hundreds of thousands
are enjoying the fruits of their faith and their devotion and their
efforts.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.54
Now today, at 5:00, on the brow of the hill up here at Emigration
Canyon, ground will be broken for the monument that is to bring near
to us these forebears of ours and those who came with them and before
them. The mayor of our city, Mayor Glade, the Governor of our State,
and a number of others--I shall not take time to read their
names--will be there at the breaking of the ground, and the monument
will be on its way. Granite is being placed, and it is remarkable to
us how the way has been opened to complete this great monument that
will be a part of the celebration that will occur next year, when we
will all be grateful to our Heavenly Father and manifest it by coming
together in goodly numbers. And so tonight all who have their
conveyances, who can go up onto the hill, will be made welcome. And
let us not go up there just out of curiosity. Let us go there with
thanksgiving in our hearts to our Heavenly Father that we have lived
to see the fruits of the lives of those who will be honored when that
monument has been completed.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.54
It is wonderful to belong to an organization that produces men and
women such as have come out of this great Church under the inspiration
of our Heavenly Father.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.54
Now our session will be concluded this afternoon, and when we adjourn
it will be until 10:00 tomorrow morning in this building.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.54
The building has been filled and people standing all day long, in
order that they might be present, not just to be with the crowd, but
to feel the inspiration of our Heavenly Father as they assemble in his
name to honor him and to worship him.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.55
It is evident that we have more people in the building this morning
than we had yesterday. We will appreciate it if those who are
comfortably seated now will take a little less space, crowd toward the
center of the benches, and I think we can probably make room for most
of those who are now standing. There are probably 150 or 200 standing.
We will ask the ushers to bring you to your places. I would like to
suggest that there is room for twelve or fifteen people on the steps
of the stand here, and for the information of those of you who are in
the habit of sitting on the stand, I should like to suggest that that
is where I sat a few years ago because there wasn't any place that I
could see that somebody else did not have. I sat on the steps of the
stand and before that Conference was finished, I was sustained as a
member of the Quorum of the Twelve. (Laughter) We shall all be happier
if everybody can be seated, and I am sure you are making good
progress, and I thank you for it.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.76
You have just listened to President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. of the First
Presidency of the Church. He was our last speaker this morning.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.76
We have had a wonderful time. There are still two or three hundred
people standing who have not been able to get seats, and I am sure
that all of us, even those who have been standing, have been edified
by the services this morning. It is beautiful to be in the house of
the Lord, filled by his sons and daughters seeking to know His will.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.76
I have had a number ask question with reference to something that was
done last evening on the hill east of us. A great monument is being
prepared to be dedicated on the 24th of July one year hence, 1947.
Yesterday the Governor, the Mayor of our City, President David O.
McKay--and I might go on telling of a number of other people who were
present up there, to see from that particular point what the view
would be when the monument is completed. It will be a very wonderful
structure, and the view from that point is as fine, I think, as any
place you could go anywhere to see a view. Since the publication in
the paper of items pertaining to the monument, quite a number of
people have been complaining that they have had no opportunity to
participate in the fund that has been and is being accumulated for the
monument. It is true we have done no advertising with reference to it,
but everybody will be given an opportunity in the near future to make
that investment if desired. Every soul, even our children with their
five and ten cents, will have their names inscribed on the record, the
name of every person who makes that investment, will be deposited in a
box that will be a part of the monument. Some people were afraid they
were being left out, and that is the reason I am making this
announcement today. Anybody who may desire to participate may do so
and the word will go out in the not far distant future how that may be
done. I thought you might wish that information.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.77
Now our choir, the Manti Choir, that has sung to us so beautifully
this morning will now sing our concluding number, "O Divine Redeemer."
The benediction will be pronounced by President C. Lloyd Walch of the
Union Stake, LaGrande, Oregon, after which the Conference will stand
adjourned until 2:00 this afternoon.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.124
I am sure, my brethren, this has been a joyous experience to all of
us, to be here in the house of the Lord and rejoice in his blessings.
I want to emphasize what President Clark has said to the effect that
this is the gospel of Jesus Christ, that it is the power of God unto
salvation, that Jesus Christ was our Elder Brother and lived upon the
earth and died that we might live again, that he brought about the
resurrection and has appeared to the children of men since that time.
I marvel how some of our people can lose their faith and go off on a
sidetrack when the evidences are as great as they are as to the truth
of the gospel.

DIVINITY OF THE CHURCH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.124
Among the strongest evidences of the divinity of the work in which we
are engaged, and of the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith are the
facts that the Church exists today, more powerful than it ever was,
and that the predictions that were made by Joseph Smith as a prophet
have been fulfilled and are still in course of fulfilment. There are
no people in the world anywhere, who enjoy the blessings that we
enjoy, physically and spiritually. The majority of people do not know
God; they do not understand the purpose of life. They have been
sidetracked by some of the men whose philosophies have taken the place
of the truth. That is the reason that the world is in the condition
that it is.

THE VALUE OF A TESTIMONY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.124
I am grateful to be here. To look into your faces is a testimony to me
of the divinity of this work. Go where you will, you will find no
other group assembled, each of whom has faith in God; and if we were
to ask all of you how many have a testimony, not a belief because
somebody else has said so, but how many of you have an assurance that
this is God's work, that Jesus is the Christ, that we are living
eternal lives, that Joseph Smith as a prophet of the Living God, you
would answer that you have this testimony that buoys you up and
strengthens you and gives you satisfaction as you go forward in the
world. And just to test my belief in regard to that, all of you who
have this testimony, raise your right hands. Thank you. It is evident
by this show of hands that most of you who are here tonight, have
received a testimony and know that the truth is upon the earth. Of
course the adversary will try to blind the human family. He will try
to lead them into by-and forbidden paths; that is his business.
However, if we will live the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, if we
will observe the advice and counsel of the prophets of God, if we will
carry out the program that the Lord has given to the Church with which
we are identified, we will lead all the world in knowledge and
intelligence and in power, because we may have all that the world has,
plus the inspiration of the Almighty.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.125
I know that it will not be very long before my work will be finished,
in the natural course of events. I have had many experiences and have
traveled in the world and mingled with many wonderful men and women,
and I would like to say that I learned when I was a boy that this is
the work of the Lord. I learned that there were prophets living upon
the earth. I learned that the inspiration of the Almighty would
influence those who lived to enjoy it, so we are not dependent upon
one or two or a half dozen individuals. There are thousands of members
of this Church who know--it is not a question of imagination at
all-they know that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ and that we
are the children of God. He is the Father of our spirits. We have not
come from some lower form of life, but God is the Father of our
spirits, and we belong to the royal family, because he is our Father.

ARISTOCRACY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.125
We talk about the philosophies of men and hold them up sometimes as a
pretty picture, but when they conflict with the teachings of our
Heavenly Father as contained in Holy Writ, they are valueless. They
will never lead anybody into eternal happiness, nor help him to find a
place in the kingdom of our Heavenly Father. We cannot retain that
testimony unless we keep the commandments of God. A knowledge of truth
will not remain with us unless we live as our Heavenly Father desires
and advises us to live.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.125
We sometimes hear people speak of the aristocracies of the world, the
royal families of the world. I want to say, the only true aristocracy
in the world is the aristocracy of righteousness, and the only
families that will persist are those who keep the commandments of our
Heavenly Father.

OUR MISSIONARY OBLIGATIONS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.125
So tonight, let me say, brethren, our missionary field is before us.
Our Father's sons and daughters need us. We are grateful for the
responses being made to the call that has gone out for missionaries.
Some are anxious to go, but because they are not physically able or
other conditions are unfavorable we cannot accept their offer. There
are in this Church thousands of men and women who are capable of
teaching the gospel and who can become more capable by doing their
duty in the mission field. They will be blessed with means, sufficient
to take them to perform the work that the Lord wants us to perform. I
would like to say to the men who would retain their means in
preference to laying up treasures in heaven, their wealth will decay
in their hands, and their opportunity to gain eternal life in the
celestial kingdom will pass them by.

PREPARATION FOR THE CELESTIAL KINGDOM

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.126
This is the Lord's work. It is his Church. It is his way of preparing
us for eternal happiness in the celestial kingdom, and surely not any
of those who have seen the result of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the
world will question its divinity. Judge the tree by its fruits, and
you will find no other tree in the whole world that compares with the
gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no other plan in all the world that
leads to the celestial kingdom of our Heavenly Father; knowing that,
surely we will not be misled by the philosophies and the sophistries
of men who pretend to know that which they do not know.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.126
In conclusion, let me say, I am grateful to be here. I want to thank
you for your kindness to me, one of the weakest of all our Father's
sons. I know my limitations. I don't stand here with the idea that I
am more than an ordinary individual, but I thank you for your faith
and your prayers for me and for my associates and the brethren who
lead this Church. I thank you for the manner in which you stand for
that which is righteous and put aside that which is not righteous. I
hope that in the near future when another opportunity will be given to
the people of this state to manifest their desire to observe the Word
of Wisdom and keep the commandments of God, that this group of men
here will not be afraid to stand for what our Heavenly Father has
advised us to do, regardless of what the habits of the world may be.

DISOBEDIENCE DESTROYS FAITH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.126
I would like to say that the loss of faith in this Church, in many
cases, is traceable directly to a violation of the Sabbath day,
failure to observe the Word of Wisdom, the advice of our Heavenly
Father,

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.126
failure to attend to our prayers and to thank him for the blessings we
enjoy, refusal to give of our substance to those who are less
fortunate than ourselves. All these things that are intended to uplift
us, if we observe the teachings of our Heavenly Father, become a
pitfall for us if we fail to keep his commandments.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.126
God does live; Jesus is the Christ; Joseph Smith is a prophet of the
Living God; and the authority of the priesthood is with this Church
today and will continue to administer to those who are willing to be
ministered unto under the inspiration of our Heavenly Father. I bear
you this testimony tonight, knowing the seriousness, if it were not
true, of saying it, and I bear it in love and kindness and gratitude
to God, and say that I know these things are true, and I bear you that
witness in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.181
It is just five minutes to three--in San Francisco. (Laughter.) This
has been a very delightful experience for me to be at this conference,
notwithstanding the fact that some of the dearest friends I have ever
had, who were here a year ago, are not here today. We have listened to
the members of the Quorum of the Twelve, and I realize that for every
one now in that quorum, a very dear friend of mine and member of that
group has passed away. Their places have been well filled. These
brethren are really servants of the Lord, but I miss the men who are
gone. Aunt Augusta Grant has sat through this conference attending
most of the meetings. That blessed woman sat by the side of President
Grant, helped him rear his family, and blessed this community. I am
grateful to see her here today. I am sure that quite a number of
elderly people are here that some of us do not know about. I mention
Aunt Augusta Grant because President Grant stood here not long ago.
Aunt Mary, wife of President Joseph F. Smith, is here also and is
always at our meetings, and many others whom we love. I am sure they
are blessed by being here, and we are blessed by their presence. It
will not be long before many of us will pass on. We will not all leave
as fine a record as some of those I have referred to, probably, but it
is a wonderful thing to have that kind of companionship throughout
life.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.181
Just to look into your faces and see the earnestness of your lives is
a joy, because that earnestness is written in your faces. I want to
say to many of you that I know personally, I can never repay your
kindness and helpfulness to me in many ways. I say never--I'll say I
can't do it in this life, but I believe that we are living eternal
lives, and perhaps some of these failures here may be remedied
hereafter.

LASTING GREATNESS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.182
Much has been said in this conference about the Prophet Joseph Smith.
There isn't much that I could say, except that which is good. Many of
the benefits and blessings that have come to me have come through that
man who gave his life for the gospel of Jesus Christ. There have been
some who have belittled him, but I would like to say that those who
have done so will be forgotten and their remains will go back to
mother earth, if they have not already gone, and the odor of their
infamy will never die, while the glory and honor and majesty and
courage and fidelity manifested by the Prophet Joseph Smith will
attach to his name forever. So we have no apologies to make.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.182
It is a wonderful thing to live in an age like this when so many
problems are being solved. It is also a disquieting age to live in
when people find pleasure in harshness and unkindness toward those who
are seeking to bless mankind.

CHOICE ASSOCIATIONS IN THE CHURCH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.182
I am glad that I belong to a Church that has produced such men and
women as this Church has produced. I have traveled approximately a
million miles in the world in the interest of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. I have been in many climes and in many lands and in many
nations, and I have never seen any place that I thought was as rich in
the sweet companionships of life as I have found in the valleys of
these grand mountains and in the organizations of the Church
established in other parts of the world. It is a wonderful thing to
have such friendships of good, true, honorable, sweet, faithful men
and women. I have often said no man in the world has been more blessed
than I. From my childhood, ever since I can remember, I have never
been compelled to associate with evil individuals. I have been
fortunate in having my life so adjusted that I could choose the very
finest men and women that could be found in the world to be my
companions. This has enriched my life, and I am grateful.

THE PRIMARY ASSOCIATION

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.182
I think of my early experiences in the Primary Association. Mentioning
the Primary calls to my attention the fact that it is a marvelous
institution. It was the Savior of the world who said: ". . . Suffer
the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such
is the kingdom of God." (Mark 10: 14.) In this organization there is a
program to develop little children and to give them the advantage of
education, refinement, and culture equal, if not superior, to any
other in the world. Personally I feel today to thank the general
officers and the stake and ward officers of this organization who give
their time to developing these little children. I am reminded of it
because yesterday and today I see quite a number of these children
sitting in the aisles, on the steps, and elsewhere, paying attention
and listening to what has been going on. It is lovely to have so many
little children here, and it makes me feel comfortable to have them in
the audience. The Lord loves them, and I am sure we love them.

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.183
And we have our great Sunday School organization. There is no such
Sabbath School group in all the world as we have in the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is marvelous what has been
accomplished, and its teaching has been so adjusted that anybody, old
or young, may find development and uplift in it. So I would like to
thank those who have made it possible for me, in the Primary and in
the Sunday School, to associate with men and women whose ideals are
real Christian ideals, not make-believe, and who train those under
their watchcare to walk uprightly before the Lord, to honor father and
mother, to love one another, to be honest and true and chaste and
benevolent. These are great organizations.

MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATIONS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.183
I think of what the Mutual Improvement Association has done for me. It
is one of the most remarkable organizations in all the world, prepared
and adjusted for those above twelve years of age. It has given me the
companionship, as the other organizations did, of a little older
group, but a group of the same fine quality, having faith in God, love
for their fathers and their mothers, and honor and respect for those
who preside over them in the Church and state and nation. What a
wonderful help the Mutual Improvement Association has been to me. I
feel to thank and bless whose who made it possible for me to have
those companionships. There are in this audience today men and women
with whom I have associated in that great group for many, many years,
and I would like them to know that I appreciate their love and their
kindness.

THE RELIEF SOCIETY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.183
There is another fine organization in the Church, the Relief Society,
organized under the direction of a prophet of God, for the development
of women. This organization is unsurpassed by any woman's organization
in all the world. What a wonderful thing it is to have in each of our
wards and branches, these mothers of men and women, who give their
lives to uplift and bless the communities in which they live. What a
blessing they are and have been to this Church and will continue to
be!

THE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.183
The Genealogical Society is another marvelous organization. It has the
task of gathering the names of those who have passed on, generations
ago, bringing them into a great depository where they may be sorted
over and classified, so that we may trace our ancestry. I said to a
man one day. "You can find out all about your ancestors if you will go
with me to the Genealogical Library." He said, "I don't want to know
anything about them." I wouldn't either if I thought my ancestors
could be traced back to an orangutan or a baboon. But like William
Jennings Bryan, those who have any pride in that kind of ancestry will
not connect me with their family tree. I want to say that we don't
appreciate what this great organization has done in gathering our
genealogy and in tying together all the family lines that have been
broken and lost.

CHURCH WELFARE PROGRAM

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.184
We have our welfare program. It has been organized only a short time,
and yet today is in a position to ship carloads of food, clothing,
bedding, and other materials, to men and women and children on the
other side of the sea, who are starving and freezing to death for the
various things that we have in abundance, gathered by that great
organization.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.184
This Church and its organization prepare us for the kingdom of heaven
if anything does that is in this world. So today, as I stand here and
look into your faces, I realize what the gospel of Jesus Christ has
done for me. I have no words to express my gratitude to God for the
ministry of this Church and the blessings of its members to me as an
individual; then multiply that by what it has done for all the rest of
you.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.184
It is a wonderful thing to go through life, hand in hand with the
Master of heaven and earth, and this Church comes as near giving me
this privilege as anything can do in mortality. I am grateful as I
look around this group and see what God hath wrought for us, and I
thank these elderly men and women who have borne the burden in the
heat of the day and carried on, that we who have come on might have
the blessing of a knowledge of the purpose of life to prepare us for
eternal happiness.

CHURCH SCHOOL SYSTEM

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.184
We have our great educational institutions, our schools and
seminaries, where our sons and daughters may not only be taught the
rudiments of education but may may be taught the fundamentals of
eternal happiness. I am thankful that Karl G. Maeser, when I was only
a child, put into my life a part of that which goes to make up the
organization of the great Church school system of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are many things that I might
mention, but these are just some that come to my mind as I stand here.

OUR MISSIONARY OPPORTUNITIES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.185
As we approach the conclusion of this great conference I have only
good will in my heart for mankind. I haven't any animosity in my heart
toward any living human being. I know some that I wish would behave
themselves a little better than they do, but that is their loss, not
mine. If I can get my arm around them and help them back on the
highway of happiness by teaching them the gospel of Jesus Christ, my
happiness will be increased thereby. That is the purpose of the
missionary work of this great Church. I would like to say to the
brethren who are mission presidents, you have a real responsibility in
your various fields. You do not have very many missionaries from Zion
as yet, but they are coming. I want to say that you will have all you
can do to take care of them and train and develop them, as well as to
assist the local people who have been so faithful and helpful during
these long trying times. The letter we read from Brother Benson today
indicates that many of the people over there are nearly starving and
freezing to death, but the thing they are thinking about apparently,
as indicated by his letter, is not how they may have a palace on
earth, but how they may help other people to enjoy a mansion on high.
That is what the gospel does for us. It is not what we have that makes
us happy; it is not the material things of life that enrich our lives;
but it is what we are. The nearer we are like our Heavenly Father and
his beloved Son Jesus Christ, the happier we are. Surely, therefore,
not any man or woman under the sound of my voice, or in the world who
understands, will hesitate to go out and teach these people who do not
understand, and radiate sunshine. You cannot drive people to do things
which are right, but you can love them into doing them, if your
example is of such a character that they can see you mean what you
say.

GRATITUDE FOR HELPFULNESS OF ASSOCIATES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.185
I thank my brethren and my associates for their help and their
kindness. When I think of what a weak, frail individual I am to be
called to stand in the midst of this great Church, I realize how much
I need the help of every soul that is in it, if I am to succeed; so I
thank my brethren, my faithful counselors, who have helped me in the
unusual experience of becoming accustomed to a great responsibility. I
am grateful to my brethren of the Quorum of the Twelve, the Patriarch,
the Assistants to the Twelve, the First Council of the Seventy, the
Presiding Bishopric--all these men who are servants of the Lord and
who are seeking to keep his commandments and teach us the way of
eternal life. I am grateful to them, and I invoke upon them, and upon
all of you, my Father's children, here or wherever you may be, the
blessings of peace and love and joy, and the companionship of the
Spirit of God, and in the end eternal life in the celestial kingdom. I
pray that that may be our privilege. When the Lamb's book of life is
opened and the names of those are recorded who are to inherit the
celestial kingdom, I hope and pray that you and all those you love,
all these sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father who are associated
with you here, may have their names recorded there--not one missing.
If that is the case, how happy we will be throughout the ages of
eternity. Thanks to the prophets of old, to our Heavenly Father who
sent them, thanks to his beloved Son Jesus Christ who died that we
might live again, thanks to Joseph Smith whose name has been belittled
by some ignoramuses in the world, that is, they have sought to
belittle him, but they cannot. Thanks to him who was willing to lay
down his life and seal his testimony with his blood as evidence of the
fact that he knew whereof he had spoken. God bless you, my brethren
and sisters; may peace abide with you in your hearts and in your
homes. Love one another; love mankind; reach out to those who need
you. If we do that happiness such as can be found in no other way will
be our portion.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p.186
God grant that it may be, I humbly ask in the name of Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.3
I have sometimes said to my friends in different parts of the world,
when referring to these great gatherings, the annual and semiannual
conferences of the Church, that they will see no other spectacle like
them in all the world, and I believe this to be true.

UPLIFT OF GENERAL CONFERENCES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.3
These conferences offer the opportunity for the officers of the Church
from all parts of the world to meet and to become acquainted with one
another, and to be edified under the influence of the Spirit of the
Lord. Fortunate are we that those who came to this valley in an early
day erected this splendid structure. There is not anything like it to
be found elsewhere, a building that will make comfortable
approximately ten thousand people in which all can hear the speaker.
Of course with our modern devices, we can hear very well.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.3
We come together, not just to visit, not just to be seen; but as sons
and daughters of the Living God, we assemble in his name, and he has
never failed to fulfil his promise made of old, that when two or three
shall meet together in his name, he will be there and that to bless
them. And so we look forward to these gatherings every six months and
have joy in being able to go back to our homes with the statement that
the Lord was with us, and blessed us, and we enjoyed the power of his
Spirit.

EARLY CONFERENCES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.4
Of course this is only a little handful of the membership of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints compared to the great
number that belong to it. The first conference of the Church was held
on June 9, 1830, and there were eighteen present. The second
conference was held a few months later with about the same number
present; then the first annual conference of the Church was held June
3, 1831, just one year later, and there were present in that
conference forty-three elders, ten priests, and ten teachers, making a
total of sixty-three present.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.4
In those days the meetings were held for the officers of the Church,
and the public was not generally invited to attend, but later in
Nauvoo, it became customary to invite the public, and from that time
on, each six months, the membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints have been invited to meet with the Lord in a general
conference of such a character as the one we assemble in this morning.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.4
As I look out into this congregation and see the men and women who are
here, I recognize those that I have known, many of them from my
childhood. I have been in many of your homes and have been entertained
most graciously, when I have been visiting the stakes of Zion and the
mission field. Every once in a while we are able to get together here
and enjoy the companionship of one another, and more than that, to
feel the power that comes from our Heavenly Father in fulfilment of
his promise that he will be with us.

UNSATISFACTORY CONDITION OF WORLD

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.4
The conditions in the world today are anything but desirable. After
nearly six thousand years of teaching by the Lord through his
prophets, the world is still in a pitiable condition, with about
two-thirds of the population not accepting the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. They have their own deities whom they worship, their own
false gods who have kept them far from the truth during the centuries
that have elapsed. Of the other one-third of the population of this
world, so-called Christians, about fifty percent do not have
membership in a church or if enrolled, they are inactive, so that it
leaves a small portion of the people of the world who have, after all
these years of advice and counsel, taken advantage of their
opportunities. Unless the people of this world hasten their repentance
and turn to the Lord, the conditions that we have recently passed
through in this great world war will be intensified in wickedness and
sorrow. So this morning, my dear brothers and sisters and I speak that
word "dear" with all my heart--I am grateful for your fellowship and
your companionship. As we meet together, how thankful we ought to be,
how grateful our souls should be when we contemplate our surroundings
and our wonderful opportunities!

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.4
. . . Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. (Revelation 18:4.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.4
was written about two thousand years ago.

SPIRIT OF MISSIONARY SERVICE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.5
 The gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in the year 1830, after
centuries of darkness had passed. When the call was given, the
missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints went
out into the world--not to criticize others, not to find fault, but to
say to our Father's other children:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.5
Keep all the good that you have received, keep all the truth that you
have learned, all that has come to you in your homes, in your
institutions of learning, under your many facilities for education,
keep it all; and then let us divide with you additional truths that
have been revealed by our Heavenly Father in our day.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.5
Under that ministry, beginning, as I have said, in that conference
when there were only sixty-three members of the priesthood present,
there have been thousands upon thousands of missionaries; more than
seventy thousand have gone out into the world, and in love and
kindness they have gone from door to door saying to our Father's other
children:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.5
Let us reason with you; let us explain to you something that we are
sure will make you happy as it has made us happy!

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.5
That is the history of the missionary work of the Church with which we
are identified. Today we have missionaries scattered in many parts of
the earth; some of them are in the armed services and rejoicing in
their testimonies, they have been glad to divide the truth with those
with whom they came in contact.

SHORT WAVE BROADCAST TO JAPAN

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.5
Just a few weeks ago I was invited to have a little visit with some of
our servicemen who are in Kyoto, Japan. One of our brethren here in
the valley telephoned me he had a licensed shortwave station and said,
"If you will come down, Brother Smith, I will let you talk to the men
and women in the armed services who are absent from their homes and
are now over there serving the Government of the United States." I did
not know just what it was going to be like. I went to his little
station, and after a moment or two he called a station and talked back
and forth with the man at the other end. That was the Philippine
Islands, so he said: "We are not visiting with you today. We are going
to visit Japan." Then he switched from there to one of the other
islands in the Pacific and told them the same thing. And then when he
was ready, after a little conversation with the station in Japan, he
said: "Now, Brother Smith, there are two hundred and three members of
the Church that will hear your voice as soon as you speak."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.6
So I stood there for fifteen or twenty minutes and talked to them of
the blessings of God bestowed upon them, of their lives being
preserved during a terrible war, and of the love of those who are here
waiting for their return. I urged them to keep the commandments of God
and assured them that there was no other road to happiness but by
keeping the commandments of God. I encouraged them to retain the fine
records that they had already made and to come home dean and sweet to
their loved ones with the favor of the Lord upon them. When I had
finished, they took their turn, and several of these men said: "Thank
you, Brother Smith. It has been a great encouragement to us to hear a
voice from the tops of the Rocky Mountains, one that some of us are
familiar with, and to know that you are thinking of us and are anxious
for us. We will not let you down."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.6
I thought that was a beautiful experience, and that is just one of
many that we have. Personally, I have traveled more than a million
miles in the world to divide the gospel of Jesus Christ with my
fellowmen, but that was the first time I ever delivered a religious
address to a congregation seven thousand miles away. Short-wave
broadcasting will continue to improve, and it will not be long until,
from this pulpit and other places that will be provided, the servants
of the Lord will be able to deliver messages to isolated groups who
are so far away they cannot be reached. In that way and other ways,
the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord, the only power of God unto
salvation in preparation for the celestial kingdom, will be heard in
all parts of the world, and many of you who are here will live to see
that day.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.6
We are here today as a great family waiting upon the Lord. I see
people in this house who are farmers, mechanics, who are active in the
various pursuits of life. I see those who represent us in Washington
and at home. I am glad to see here those who represent us as officers
in our city. We are all sitting under the same roof, without
differences, all having the same opportunity, and if we have come with
the Spirit of the Lord resting upon us, each of us will be fed the
bread of life, not by the individual who speaks, but by the Lord who
gives voice.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF RELIEF SOCIETY SISTERS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.6
I want to congratulate this fine group of singers who have sung for us
thus far. It is lovely to know that our sisters are so interested in
the work of the Lord. I did not have the pleasure of being in this
hall yesterday, but I am informed that there were as many women here
in this building as there are today, or nearly so. The sisters are
active. I would like to say to you husbands, fathers, and brothers,
these women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are a
great strength to the Church.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.6
Yesterday the great national Relief Society of the Church, the first
great women's organization and the oldest now in existence, met in
conference. Their representatives were here from all parts of this
country and other countries, just as anxious to be what our Heavenly
Father would have them be as we who are here today.

REWARDS OF MISSIONARY WORK

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.7
I am lifted up in my heart today as I look into the faces of my
brethren. Some of them have been in the mission field for many, many
years. They have remained away from home and reared their families.
They are back to visit with us in conference, and ready to go again if
they may be needed. That is the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
A mission president who had been away from us about ten years was
released and game home recently. He and his wife reared their three
children down in the South Pacific among the descendants of Father
Lehi. When he came home, he was glad to come back to this marvelous
country that we live in and to associate with his family; and then
when the matter of going into the mission field was talked about
briefly, he was ready to turn around and go right back.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.7
That is the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to labor without a
salary, to labor without the comforts that we sometimes have at home,
but to labor for the salvation of the human family, to bring our
Fathers other children to a knowledge of the truth. The great reward
that missionaries expect as the result of these years of service is to
have the companionship of these men and women that they have brought
into the Church in the world, the companionship of their own families
that they love, right here upon this earth throughout the ages of
eternity.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.7
I would like to say to you mission presidents that you are doing a
wonderful work. The Lord has blessed you and magnified you, and the
work of the Church has only just begun. All of us may have to go again
and again into the mission field, but it is the one way that we can
lay up treasures in heaven and be sure that they will await us when we
go to the other side.

PRAYER FOR SAINTS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.7
May the Lord add his blessing. May we so live that every day of our
lives the world will be better for our having lived in it. May we so
live that our neighbors and friends will be constrained to seek after
the wisdom of our Heavenly Father and his righteous purposes and
thereby gain happiness, not only here but hereafter.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.7
I pray that in our hearts and in our homes there may abide that spirit
of love, of patience, of kindness, of charity, of helpfulness that
enriches our lives and that makes the world brighter and better
because of it.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.7
I pray that we may continue to rejoice together under the influence of
the Lord here until the end of the conference, and when that time
comes that we may go to our homes renewed in our determination to keep
the commandments of the Lord, that our happiness may be perfected as a
result of our righteousness. If we will do that, then our visit here
will not have been in vain. On the contrary, it will be a tremendous
blessing to us.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.8
I pray that the Lord will bless you in your hearts and in your homes.
I pray for those of our people who are isolated in distant lands, far
from the organized wards and branches of the Church, many of them
almost alone in great communities. I pray that the Lord will bless
them and that they may feel today the influences that we enjoy here,
and in the due time of our Heavenly Father that they may be permitted
to "come out of her," as the Lord indicated his people should do,
prior to the winding-up scene when this earth will be cleansed and
purified by fire, when all mortality will be taken away and only those
who are prepared to dwell in the celestial kingdom under the guidance
of our Heavenly Father, under the leadership of our Lord and Master,
Jesus Christ, will be here. I pray that they and we and all the men
and women of the world who have the desire to live righteously and are
keeping the commandments of God may be among that number.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.8
I pray that our homes may be sanctified by the righteousness of our
lives, that the adversary may have no power to come there and destroy
the children of our homes or those who dwell under our roofs. If we
will honor God and keep his commandments, our homes will be sacred,
the adversary will have no influence, and we will live in happiness
and peace until the winding-up scene in mortality and we go to receive
our reward in immortality.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.8
God bless you; peace be with you; joy and satisfaction abide with you
all, henceforth and forever, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus
Christ, our Lord. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.53
I hope it will not interfere with what you are thinking about for me
to say it is written by one of old "choose you this day whom ye will
serve; * * * but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." To
members of the congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints there can be no middle ground. We must either serve
God or mammon, and this Conference today has enjoyed the influence of
the Spirit of the Lord because we have not come here to have our
palates tickled or our fancies smoothed over, but we have come here in
the spirit of prayer and of thanksgiving and gratitude to God. I am
grateful that we have had this delightful experience today.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.147
This has been a wonderful conference. The Lord has said that if two or
three shall meet together in his name, he will be there to bless them,
and this house has been filled to overflowing seven times during the
last week by the sons and daughters of the Living God.

ALL ARE CHILDREN OF GOD

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.147
I esteem it a great privilege to be here with you, my brethren and
sisters, and when I say "brethren and sisters," I am reminded of the
fact that every man is a son of God, every woman, a daughter of our
Heavenly Father. Wherever they may be, all that have been born upon
the earth are the children of the Lord, and our Master taught that to
love our neighbors as ourselves is the second great commandment. If we
would follow the advice of Brother George F. Richards to love our
neighbors, it would go a long way towards bringing happiness into the
world.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.147
I trust that during the few moments I occupy I may be blessed of the
Lord to say the things that he would have me say. I trust that we who
are here may be inspired of our Heavenly Father to rejoice in the
blessings that are ours, and that we may be here today as brothers and
sisters in the sense in which he desires that we should be.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.147
This is only a small congregation compared to the multitude of our
Father's children scattered over the earth, but it is a very choice
congregation, because so many of those who are here have devoted most
of their lives to going about doing good. That, in a measure, is the
sum of the meaning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to go about doing
good. While there are in this congregation men and women who are not
members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I hope
that you will feel that you are welcome in this great congregation,
and then realize that wherever you may go and find members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are worthy of the
name, you will be welcome, and they will be glad to do you good.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.147
Last night over ten thousand men assembled in this house and the
adjoining building, all listening to the same voice at the same time.
It was probably the largest group of men that have ever been assembled
together in a priesthood meeting since the world began. The fact that
so many of you brethren have the priesthood, of course, is one
principle that many people do not understand.

THE PROBLEM OF SAFETY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.148
In this fast-moving age, the problem of safety is of great importance.
We pick up the papers day by day to find that this man has been run
over by an automobile, or that automobile has overturned and been
wrecked, and those riding in it have been killed. We hear of
collisions between railroad trains and automobiles. Nearly every day
the headlines of our papers tell how many people have lost their lives
by accident, and I may say to you that in almost every case, if proper
precautions had been taken, those lives would not be lost. So, today,
safety campaigns are being carried forward in an attempt to preserve
the lives of people that are being wastefully destroyed. I hope that
the membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will
be among those most anxious and most willing to lend their efforts to
preserve life. It is very precious. We have only one life, and if we
keep the commandments of God and live as we should, it will be an
eternal life of happiness. That is the blessing which comes to us from
the gospel.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.148
On our highways, some turn over high-powered cars to children, as soon
as they can handle the wheel, and they do not always wait until they
are entitled to drive by procuring that privilege from the state in
which they live. They do not measure the danger and the result is that
many accidents occur. Many accidents result because some men, and some
women, I am sorry to say, presume to sit down at the wheel of an
automobile and drive off into traffic when they themselves ought to be
in bed under the care of a physician, and some of them ought to be in
jail sobering up.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.148
Now, what can we do? Let us join with the nation. Let this group of
men and women here exercise their influence in encouraging our sons
and our daughters and our neighbors, while we are setting the example
ourselves, to safeguard the lives of every one of these, our Father's
children. They are his, and he will not be pleased with us if by our
carelessness, or our wickedness, we destroy their lives.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.148
A number of years ago we did not drive so fast. I remember when the
governor of this state drove a car at a time the limit was thirty
miles an hour. Of course that was flying in those days, it was so much
faster than a horse. I was riding with the governor and noticed that
he drove very carefully. As we rode along the highway, I said: "You
are a pretty safe driver, aren't you?" 

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.148
He said: "I want to be."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.148
I said, "This is a lovely car you are driving."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.148
"Yes," he said. "The state furnishes me this car, and just as soon as
I got it, my boys and girls wanted to drive it. I couldn't very well
keep them from doing it, and so we had this agreement, that whenever
we were in the car it would be law-abiding. So," he said, "this is one
car in the state that observes the law."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.148
I have thought of that a good many times. If we teach our children to
be law-abiding and reasonable, perhaps we will be the means of
preserving lives that are very precious to our Heavenly Father. In
this day when we are talking about safety everywhere, let us do
something about it. Let each of us do our part.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.149
There are so many things that crowd my mind, I do not know what to
talk about. I hope you will not be in the position of the little
fellow who sat through a long meeting. When the last speaker got up
and said: "I just don't know what to talk about," the little fellow
helped him by saying, "Talk about a minute."

DISOBEDIENCE BRINGS DISTRESS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.149
What a blessed thing it is to know that we are living eternal lives.
What a wonderful thing it would be if all the people in the world knew
that they are living eternal lives. How blessed it would be if all men
knew that our Heavenly Father was the Creator of the heavens and the
earth, and that he is our Father, the Father of our spirits. What a
happy world it would be if men everywhere recognized their fellowmen
as brothers and sisters, and then followed that up by loving their
neighbors as themselves. Think of the sorrow and the distress that
have been in this world for the last few years, due to the great war.
Of what benefit has it been? Millions of lives have been sacrificed;
millions in treasure have been wasted; and beautiful cities have been
wrecked and destroyed. Many people tonight will be sleeping, either on
the ground or in wrecked homes because of the great war. There are
widows who have been left, and orphans who will have to go through
life without father and mother. Why? Because men have refused to keep
the commandments of God.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.149
One of the great commandments that was given at Sinai was: "Thou shalt
not kill."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.149
I wonder if we realize how easy it is to violate a commandment of God?
Think of the Ten Commandments that were given to ancient Israel when
they were in the wilderness, spoken by the Lord and written by his
finger upon tablets of stone. If the people, during the hundreds of
years that have elapsed since that time, had honored those Ten
Commandments, this earth would have been heaven, most of the time, and
the men and women who have lived upon it would have attained great
blessings that we have not known yet.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.149
It was a simple thing for the prophet of God, Moses, to bring those
Ten Commandments among the people, but it seems to have been most
difficult for the men and women who have lived upon the earth to
observe them. I fear that the time is coming, unless we can find some
way not only to prevent the destruction of human life by careless
accidents, but also unless we can call the people of this world to
repent of their sins and turn from the error of their ways, that the
great war that has just passed will be an insignificant thing, as far
as calamity is concerned, compared to that which is before us. And we
can avoid it if we will; if we will each do our part, it can be
prevented.

EARLY SCENES IN SALT LAKE CITY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.150
I am standing here today not more than about three hundred  yards from
the very spot where I first breathed the breath of life. It was just
across the street in a little humble home, a little adobe house with
four or five rooms, surrounded by a little garden and orchard. That is
where I began. Salt Lake City at that time was a village. We did not
have any water pipes. All our water was picked up in buckets and
barrels at the side of the ditches that ran down our streets, and then
it was carried to the house in smaller receptacles. We did not have
any electric lights in those days. We had tallow candles, or kerosene
oil lamps, but no electric lights. The gas did come a little later
while I was a child.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.150
At that early day we did not have a foot of pavement in the city,
either on the roads or on the sidewalks. I can remember this great
wide road just at the west of us here. There used to be about six
inches of dust upon it in the summer time, the finest dust that you
could ever put your feet into. That is the way we used to play,
bare-footed, running up and down the street playing ball. We did not
have to dodge automobiles. Nobody had ever dreamed of an automobile at
that time, I think; at any rate it was a long time after that before
the first one came here, and then it was a curiosity. I am thinking of
what has happened since. This house was built at the time I was a a
child. The temple was begun before that time, and when it was
completed I still lived across the street.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.150
During the time that has elapsed since my birth I have traveled in
many parts of the world and met many of our Fathers other children,
men and women of various creeds and nationalities; and what occasion I
have this day to be grateful for the kindness they have extended to
me! It is not difficult for me to love my fellow men because I have
known so much kindness from them, wherever I have been. Of course I
have found, occasionally, individuals who had not grown up. They had
bitterness and jealousy, and suspicion, and hatred in their hearts for
their fellows, but that was not the kind of training that I had.

MOTHER'S TEACHINGS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.150
I was trained at the knee of a Latter-day Saint mother. One of the
first things I remember was when she took me by the hand and led me
upstairs. In the room there were two beds, the bed in which my parents
slept, and a little trundle bed over on the other side. I can remember
it as if it were yesterday. When we got upstairs, she sat down by my
little trundle bed. She had me kneel in front of her. She folded my
hands and took them in hers, and taught me my first prayer. I will
never forget it. I do not want to forget it. It is one of the
loveliest memories that I have in life, an angelic mother sitting down
by my bedside and teaching me to pray.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.150
It was such a simple prayer but I can repeat it today.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.150
Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I
should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.151
That was my first prayer. That prayer opened for me the windows of
heaven. That prayer extended to me the hand of my Father in heaven,
for she had explained to me what it all meant as far as a little child
could understand. From that day until now, while I have covered
approximately a million miles in the world among our Father's other
children, every day and every night, wherever I have been, when I have
gone to my bed or arisen from it, I have felt I was close to my
Heavenly Father. He is not far away.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.151
My mother gave birth to eleven husky children, three of them girls. It
was the gospel of Jesus Christ that prompted her to bring us into the
world, notwithstanding the anxiety we gave her. She wanted to do what
God had commanded our first parents to do, to multiply  and replenish
the earth. As long as she lived upon the earth, I was taught to love
my Heavenly Father. I had an angel mother, for she was an angel, as we
understand angels these days to be. And as I stand here today, after
the experiences of a long life I realize that she was only one of the
daughters of my Heavenly Father, and he loves them all.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.151
Just a few days ago the national Relief Society of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints filled this building with women, many of
them wives and mothers and grandmothers. They, just like the men who
were here in this building last night, had the training given to them
when they were children that we believe in God the Eternal Father, and
in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. That is the training
of the children of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
and of course of many other churches. But I am thinking of what your
privileges have been, of how the Lord called you out from the world,
that call which was heard by one of old:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.151
. . . Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. (Revelation 18:4.)

BLESSINGS OF THE GOSPEL

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.151
Many of you who are in this house came from foreign lands, from
sections of the world where there were not the blessings you enjoy
here. You have come to the tops of these everlasting hills, to the
headquarters of the Church, and what has been the result? When you
started, you found that the Lord had promised this:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.151
. . . seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.151
That is what brought your parents and mine, your grandparents and
mine, from other lands, and from other parts of this country. They
came because they felt that they held their Father's hand. Many of
them had a hard time when they came. There was not very much food, not
much clothing, and housing accomodations were poor, but they held
their Heavenly Father's hand. Morning and evening they bowed in
thanksgiving and prayer to him who is the giver of all. They taught us
who were born later to adjust ourselves so that we could be happy by
being filled with the love of God and the love of our fellows in the
world.

THE TABERNACLE CHOIR

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.152
I am thinking of how the Lord's promise has been fulfilled. Here you
are today, listening to this great choir. This choir has been singing
not only to the United States, but during the war the broadcast has
also been carried to our boys and women in the armed services in
different parts of the world. Year after year, the faithful men and
women in this choir have given their time, without compensation,
because they wanted to sing the sacred things of our Heavenly Father
to his children.

EVAN STEPHENS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.152
We used to have here a number of years ago a young man who came from
Wales. He did not have the opportunity of a college education, but he
was a Welshman, full of Welsh music. When he came here, he became the
leader of this great choir. He it was who had joy, along with those
who preceded him and those who followed, in building a choir not just
to sing but to sing praises to our Heavenly Father.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.152
I want to tell you a little incident about Evan Stephens. Some very
prominent people were coming here. In that day we did not have so many
visitors of prominence. We were too far out in the wilderness. One of
our good bishops came to Even Stephens and said: "Brother Stephens, I
have some company coming next Sunday to the religious meeting"--(we
used to have a meeting here at two o'clock every Sunday)--"and I hope
you are going to have some good music."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.152
Brother Stephens said: "All right, Bishop, we will have good music."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.152
The bishop did not think that was enough assurance so he pressed it a
little. He said: "These people are not ordinary people. They are men
of affairs and wealth. Their families are wealthy, and I would like
them to see just what a fine choir we have. Now, won't you give us
something just a little extra?"

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.152
Brother Stephens said: "Bishop, we have already had our practice. The
music has all been prepared. I don't see how we can make a change. I
think it will be good enough for your friends."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.152
Then the bishop pressed him a little harder, and then Brother
Stephens' Welsh got up, and he said: "Now look here, Bishop, we have
prepared the music for next Sunday to sing to the Lord, and l suppose
if it is good enough for the Lord, it is good enough for your
company."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.153
That is the spirit that has always been here. This house was dedicated
to the worship of God, by the spoken word and by music, by song and by
story. I stand in a pulpit here that has been sanctified by the
righteous men and women who have stood here and have testified of
their knowledge of God and have encouraged others to keep his
commandments, that they might be happy. I feel very grateful for my
blessings.

WARNING AND TESTIMONY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.153
In conclusion let me say: We are not out of the woods. This world is
in for a housecleaning unless the sons and daughters of our Heavenly
Father repent of their sins and turn to him. And that means the
Latter-day Saints, or the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, along with all the rest, but we, first of all,
ought to be setting the example. We have sent over seventy thousand of
our sons and daughters into the world, paying their own expenses, to
divide the gospel of Jesus Christ with his other children. Why?
Because we know it is the only plan God has given to the children of
men to earn a place in the celestial kingdom. That is why it is so
important. In this great building that has been so sacred to all,
after listening to the splendid choir and the organ, listening to the
prayers that have been offered here, listening to the testimonies that
have been borne, I want to leave my testimony with you and say to you:
I know that God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that
Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the Living God, and had restored to him
the true gospel of Jesus Christ in these latter days.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.153
That might sound like boasting if it were not so serious. It is
serious, and I know that I will have to answer for that testimony as I
leave it with you today. It will not be long until this man who is
talking will have finished his work and passed to the other side, and
when I go, I want to be worthy to join my grandparents and my parents,
my brothers and sisters who have passed on. I know they have earned a
place that is worth while. I want to go where they have gone, and I
know that if I were not to tell you the truth in regard to this
matter, I might lose that opportunity.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.153
So, realizing the seriousness of a testimony like that, realizing what
it means, and with love unfeigned and a desire to be a blessing to all
our Father's children, I leave this witness with you that this is the
gospel of Jesus Christ, the only power of God unto salvation in
preparation for the celestial kingdom, into which kingdom we may all
go if we will, but it will be On his terms, and I bear you that
witness this day, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.154
President George Albert Smith:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1946, p.154
We now have one order of business that is customary with these
Conferences; that is, the presentation of the Authorities of the
Church to be sustained by the vote of the people. I hope that you will
realize, all of you, that this is a sacred privilege, and I hope that
if you know of any reason why you should not sustain the leadership of
the Church that you will make that reason known to those who handle
the situation. On the contrary, if you feel that you want to carry on,
that you want to sustain those who are doing the work and have been
for a long time, and others who may be added today, we want you to
hold up your hand. It will not be just a symbol but it will be an
indication that, with the help of the Lord, you will carry your part
of the work. And so, with that understanding, we will now ask
President McKay to present the General Authorities for your vote. I
have been in meetings sometimes when you could not tell that people
had their hands up, they kept them down so far. I do not think your
arms are longer than other peoples', but we would like to see your
hands, either for or against those whose names will now be presented
by President McKay.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.3
It is my pleasure this morning to bid you welcome to the house of the
Lord. It is a beautiful picture to see this great tabernacle filled,
the seats occupied and people standing, at the beginning of the one
hundred seventeenth annual conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. The Church was organized under great difficulties
and unpleasantness to those who became its members. People who
accepted the gospel did so because they knew it was the Lord's will,
and the result was that they were able to endure the persecutions and
difficulties and sorrows that followed them until they finally were
driven from the East and came here to these desert lands to make their
homes with the wild animals, and at that time, the still more savage
red men.

PERSECUTIONS OF CHURCH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.3
Remarkable at it may seem, but running true to form, the Church from
its inception endured persecution. It was so in the days of the Old
Testament, also during the mortal life of the Savior as well as in our
day. The people were moved about, buffeted from place to place, but I
think it could be safely said that every day when the sun went down
the Church was stronger than it had been the day before.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.3
Representatives from many parts of the world are in attendance today.
Many of you have traveled a long distance, and I am sure you will
receive a blessing because of your investment.

SEVENTY-SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.4
This happens to be an unusual occasion for me. Seventy-seven years ago
today I came to Salt Lake City. My mother's home was  just across the
road west of us, and that is where I was born. From the best of my
recollection the ground was covered with snow that morning, just as it
is now. In addition to my memory I have the testimony of my mother who
later told me there was deep snow on the ground.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.4
Many things have transpired since then. I have seen this city grow and
develop. When I was a child, there were no paved streets. The dust on
West Temple Street was the most delightful playground the children
could have. We ran barefoot in it, and we had a happy time.

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.4
Little by little conditions improved, and now in this year of the one
hundredth anniversary of the coming of the Pioneers, on the 24th of
July next, we see one of the beautiful cities of the world, one of the
most delightful places in which to live that can be found anywhere.
Fortunately for me, I have been able to observe and enjoy that
development. The Lord made a promise a long time ago. It was this:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.4
"Seek ye first"--not last--"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all and all these things shall be added." ( Matthew
6:3.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.4
And when our people abandoned their comfortable homes in the East
because of force, also in different parts of the world, and began to
trek their way across the plains to this then wilderness, they had to
have faith to believe that they could enjoy in this deseret land the
blessings that people enjoy elsewhere. The Lord never fails to fulfil
his promise, and I stand here today a witness to the fact that in this
promised land, are some of the happiest people that can be found on
the earth, and the advantages and opportunities here are unsurpassed.
Not only do we have the blessings that our Heavenly Father has
bestowed upon us as individuals, but people also come from all parts
of the world to see what has been accomplished.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.4
In an earlier day, if anybody wanted to hear the best music and be
trained in great universities, he had to go away from here. Today
those who have been trained here in our universities are serving in
many parts of the United States as instructors in other educational
institutions. Those who used to go away to receive their musical
training and learn how to operate a pipe organ may now get that
instruction here, and from this Tabernacle the Choir sings to the
world, and the music of the Organ is sent everywhere that radio
reaches.

UTAH KNOWN FOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.5
After one hundred years the Lord has made his people known for good.
It is remarkable what has been accomplished. This state is classified
as number one among the states of the Union for the largest number of
high school students and the largest number of university students in
proportion to population. We are recognized because there have been
more scientists and more men and women of affairs born in this state
than in any other state in the Union in proportion to population. You
cannot go anywhere in the world where Utah is not known. As you sit
here this morning, you are doubtless in the most comfortable, the most
desirable meeting place for its size--and it is one of the largest--to
be found in all the the world. You are in an edifice where a pin drop
can be heard two hundred feet away. And all these things, with
thousands of others that might be mentioned, have been coming one by
one that we might enjoy them in tained us delightfully, and the great
Organ that is famous the world that this was a land choice above all
other lands, and at this time those who are fortunate enough to dwell
in this part of it feel that there is no better place in which we may
live.

"COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE"

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.5
I see these mission presidents from the various missions of the earth,
stake presidencies, bishops, counselors, high councilors, and as
already has been said, on this stand are all the General Authorities
of this Church with one exception. I welcome you all. We have this
marvelous chorus of singing mothers who have already enter-dwell in
this land in peace and safety; and how do we feel today over. Think,
if you can, of any place in all the world that you could go to attend
a service that would compare with this. Surely the Lord has fulfilled
his promise. In our homes we have not suffered for the necessities of
life during this terrible war period. A commandment was given long ago
through a prophet of old to "... Come out of her, my people, that ye
be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."
(Revelation 18:4.) Many of you who are in this audience today are
descendants of those who followed this advice, and some of you have
come yourselves from distant lands for the gospel's sake, and by so
doing you escaped the ravages of world wars. Our Heavenly Father is
mindful of his own.

FORMER MISSIONARIES PRESENT

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.6
We are here this morning not to see and be seen, but we are here to
worship, and there will address us from this stand a group of men
whose lives are devoted to disseminating the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In this audience there are hundreds who have filled missions, have
been away from home for a term of years, at their own expense or the
expense of their loved ones, to divide the gospel of Jesus Christ with
our Father's other children. I would like to have all those who have
filled missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
outside the states in which they live, raise their hands. Thank you.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.6
I wish all who are outside the building could see that sight.
Hundreds, both men and women, have indicated that because of their
assurance that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ and that Joseph
Smith was a Prophet of the Lord, they have been willing to leave home
and loved ones and go from door to door among the homes of our own and
other lands, asking for the privilege of sharing the truth that the
others did not possess in order that they too might enjoy greater
happiness.

GRATITUDE FOR BLESSINGS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.6
These are some of the things that come to my mind this morning. I am
grateful to my Heavenly Father that I was born in this land of the
free, in this great nation, in this valley, among the people who have
dwelt here. I am thankful for the companionship during my life of the
best men and women that can be found anywhere in the world both at
home and abroad. This morning we are here to wait upon the Lord. We
are here to listen to the inspiration that will flow from him to us.
We are here to say by our prayers and by our singing voices, "Heavenly
Father, we thank thee for all that we enjoy." This is a blessed
privilege.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.6
We have here this morning mayors of cities, the governor, and other
officials of the state, some members of the Church and some not, and
how happy we are to have our visiting friends with us. While you are
here in the city, I would like to plead with the Latter-day Saints to
see to it that everyone has a place to stay in comfort. Let this
conference be notable for the generosity of the people who reside
here, and let us see to it that everybody is properly taken care of.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.6
I take this occasion to thank dozens of my friends, that I cannot
thank in any other way, for their greetings and good wishes on my
birthday. It has been a very delightful experience, and I thank you
all, wherever you may be who are listening in, who have written to me
or telegraphed or telephoned your good wishes. Surely it is a blessed
thing to be associated with such people, and from the depths of my
soul I pray that our Heavenly Father will now give us the satisfaction
of listening to his voice and his instructions during this conference,
and when the meetings are finished and we return to our homes, that we
may take with us the influence and the truths that we have enjoyed
here to share with those who are not fortunate enough to come here. I
pray for these blessings, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.161
I am sure the Lord has been good to us in these days of conference. It
has been a happy experience. The brethren who have spoken to us have
expressed themselves under the influence of the Spirit of our Heavenly
Father. We have been entertained with the most delightful music that
could have been heard anywhere. The Tabernacle Choir today has
rendered anthems and hymns that I am sure have uplifted our souls.

GROWTH OF CHURCH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.161
As I have sat here and looked into the faces of the men and women
present, I have seen those from many parts of the country, and I have
shaken hands with people from nearly every section of the United
States and from other parts of the world. Ours is no longer a Church
of small number and limited boundary. Its membership may be found in
almost all parts of the civilized world.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.161
I am sure we are grateful to those who have sung for us and prayed for
us, and to those who have given to us their testimonies. We who are
here today are just a little handful of the membership of this great
Church. I think we hardly realize the real power of this organization.

FIRST MEETING IN SALT LAKE VALLEY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.161
We have said much about the coming of the pioneers. They were men and
women of courage and fidelity. It is a strange thing: I have been
thinking of them for the last few moments. Three of us who have talked
to you in this audience today are descendants, grandsons as a matter
of fact, of three of the men who talked in the first meeting ever held
in this valley by the Latter-day Saints. I refer to Brother Benson,
Brother Kimball and myself. Our grandfathers delivered the first
addresses that were listened to in this valley following the arrival
of the Pioneers. It may be of interest to you to know that President
Young in speaking to the group, criticized one of those men because he
planted some potatoes on the Sabbath day before he came to church.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.161
There was a purpose in the coming of the pioneers. It was no small
responsibility that President Young undertook when he led the people
across the plains and into the valleys of these mountains. The Lord
had opened the way and prepared the time, and the result was that they
came and planted their crops, which matured sufficiently to be used
for seed. But for the coming of the Donner-Reed Party the year before,
they would probably have been weeks longer arriving in this valley,
and it would have been too late for planting. Truly "God moves in a
mysterious way, his wonders to perform."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.161
Later when the pioneers were desperate because of the destruction of
their crops by the crickets, they went to the Lord as their only hope.
Then the sea gulls came and devoured the crickets and saved the crops.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.162
All these stories are not new or strange to you people. Most of you
here have heard them before. I recall that a hundred years ago now our
people were camped on the banks of the Missouri River in an Indian
country, expatriated from their own homes, deprived  of that which
they had earned and accumulated, and willing to come into this western
land and leave everything behind rather than surrender their faith. I
wonder if we were put to the test whether or not we would be as
courageous as they were.

PROGRAM OF CONSERVATION

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.162
Reference has been made to the necessity of increasing our holdings of
food, clothing, bedding, etc. We, the group that dwells here in the
tops of these mountains, will not need the increase very much, unless
something happens that we do not know of now, but it was the advice of
those early pioneers under President Young to keep a year's foodstuffs
on hand, so that if anybody did lose his crops, he could carry over
until the next season.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.162
It was a very severe test of faith, I am sure, to some of our people,
when the President of the United States and those associated with him
decreed that we should destroy our food, and that we should kill our
animals, and then to have the Church leadership say: "We will build
granaries; we will grow more food; we will increase our herds and our
flocks; we will not destroy what this world will soon need so much."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.162
The result was that when the war was finished, we had plenty. Not only
did we have plenty in our granaries, but we had also given the surplus
to bless the needy. In our root cellars and on our farms and ranges,
we had sufficient that from that time until the present, carload after
carload has been sent off to our brothers and sisters in other lands,
and we have not missed one bushel of wheat, one pound of meat. Nor
have we missed one quart of fruit or vegetables that has been canned
and sent over there. I want to say that as we have given to the poor,
we have but lent to the Lord. And so we ourselves today are in greater
comfort than many people in different parts of the United States and
other parts of the world who have not given to help those who are in
distress.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.162
I am sure the Lord loves those humble, faithful souls who are willing
to reach out and touch those who are in need whether it be with food
or clothing or bedding or kindness because that is a part of the
gospel of Jesus Christ.

LATTER-DAY SAINTS KNOWN FOR GOOD

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.163
Today people of all the world know of the Latter-day Saints. They know
the record we have made, and they know the truth about us now as they
never have before. The result is that our neighbors and friends of
other faiths who come to see us look from a different viewpoint, see
what we are accomplishing, and go away to become missionaries for the
cause of the Master. I wish you could see several letters that have
come to me in the last few days from people not members of the Church,
and telegrams from some of the most prominent men in our nation, men
of affairs, wishing me well as President of the Church, wishing the
Church well for what we are doing to bless our kind, and encouraging
us to go forward.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.163
We have over three thousand missionaries in the world and many of them
will be led to homes which before were closed but will now be open to
hear their testimonies. It is our responsibility to carry the message
of the gospel not only to the civilized world but also to those who
are not considered to be so civilized. All this has been made possible
because the Lord in his wisdom saw the necessity of giving us a nation
in which we could thrive. In no other nation under heaven could the
Church have been organized and gone forward as we have in this nation.
The rounding of the United States was not an accident. The giving to
us of the Constitution of the United States was not an accident. Our
Heavenly Father knew what would be needed, and so he paved the way to
give us the Constitution. It came under the influence of prayer, and
he guided those who framed that wonderful document.

BLESSINGS OF DEMOCRACY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.163
I hope that the membership of this Church will not be deceived into
thinking that other plans, other forms of government, other systems of
direction whatsoever, are desirable. I want to say to you without any
hesitation that no form of government in the world can be compared
favorably with the government God gave to us. This is his plan. Then
after giving us our civil government, preparing the way for governing
ourselves, if you will, he organized the Church and gave it the name
of his Beloved Son, and then directed that we share that information
with all his children. What a commission, a divine commission!

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.163
The Lord says that he is a slothful servant who waits to be commanded
in all things. (See D. & C. 58:26.) When we see all around us the need
for living as well as teaching the gospel, it is our duty to set the
example. We ought not to be waiting for other people to take the
initiative; it should be our responsibility to go forward. Everything
that is praiseworthy, everything in civil life, or in religious life
that is necessary to make the people happy will come to us as a part
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord. This is his Church; we are
his people if we are faithful. I want to say that this Church will
continue to grow and expand, and instead of approximately a million
souls as we have now, if we shall do our duty, the membership of this
Church will continue to increase, and the good men and women, those
who are seeking God, will get the inspiration and accept the truth as
some of your forebears did.

STORY OF AUSTIN FAMILY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.164
I would like to tell you the story of the family of a man sitting in
this audience today, that of the Austin family. They wanted to come to
Zion, but they did not have the means. The father was not  sure they
could make it. He was working in the coal mines in England. However,
the mother received the inspiration and said: "We must get ready to go
to Zion." When the husband indicated that he did not think it was
possible, she paid no attention. She secured boxes and began to make
and repair the children's clothing which she put in the boxes. The
husband saw the preparations, and yet he could not see how there was
any chance for them to go. They had only food enough and barely enough
clothing to keep them comfortable.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.164
One day, about two weeks, as I remember it, before a boat was to sail,
a good woman came into the home of this family and said, "Sister
Austin, we have been preparing to go with this boat. We have our
reservations; we have our money, but sickness has come into our
family, and it is necessary for us to stay. Would you like to use this
money and take your family to America? Then you can send the money
back after you get over there."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.164
Talk about a miracle, with money as scarce as it was in those days!
The result was that the Austin family came to this country, and it has
been a blessing to the Church that they came. God opened the way.

IMPORTANCE OF TRAINING CHILDREN

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.165
There are dozens and dozens of such instances, hundreds of them if we
had time to check on them and repeat them. What a wonderful thing it
is to know that we can, if we will, hold our Heavenly Father's hand
and be guided by him. No other people in the world have the assurance
that this group of people has. If we do our duty, even our children
may have that faith, as a result of the training in our homes that
prepares them for the struggle of life. We may desire the wealth of
the world, but the most important treasures that we have are the sons
and daughters that God sends to our homes. I want to say to the
Latter-day Saints one of the responsibilities of every married couple
is to rear a family to the honor and glory of God. Those who follow
the customs and habits of the world in preference to that blessing
will some day find that all the things they have struggled for are
wasted away like ashes, while those who have reared their families to
honor God and keep his commandments will find their treasures not
altogether here upon earth in mortality, but they will have their
treasures when the celestial kingdom shall be organized on this earth,
and those treasures will be their sons and daughters and descendants
to the latest generation. That is what the Lord says. Fathers and
mothers, teach your sons and your daughters the necessity of virtue.
Do not leave it to somebody else. Do not take it for granted that they
understand, but in their tender years explain to them the purpose of
life and guide them that they may feel that it is a blessing from the
Lord to be members of the Church and to be sons and daughters of the
Living God.

APPALLING DIVORCE RATE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.165
The divorce rate of our country is appalling, and many of those, who,
within the last few years, have hastened into marriage are dissolving
those ties. They are sowing the seeds of sorrow that will continue
with them a long time. They have not been willing to work it out in
patience and take their chances that all will be well.

HARD TIMES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.165
I remember what one sister in Idaho said a number of years ago when
people were complaining about hard times. I had asked if there was
anybody in attendance at the meeting eighty years of age and was told,
"Yes, there is one woman here that is over eighty." I said, "Call her
to the stand, and let us hear her testimony." She said: "You make me
sick, talking about hard times. Why you have more food and everything
else than you need here; a few families possess more than we had in
this whole valley when I first came. When we came in, we had a span of
horses and a wagon and a cow and the only encumbrances I had were my
baby and my husband. (She meant companions.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.165
Of course that provoked a great deal of merriment in that group. She
was not taking much stock in her husband if she meant what she said.
Then she continued, "We worked; we did teamwork. We worked outdoors
and indoors. We did everything we could to conserve our energies and
conserve our means, and see what this valley has produced now. Talk
about hard times!"

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.165
It was interesting to hear that dear old soul scold that great
congregation of people who thought they were having a hard time.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.165
We may have hard times, brothers, and sisters, but we can be prepared
for them, if we think of the seven years of plenty and the seven years
of famine in the days of Pharaoh and plan as they did. Such conditions
may come again. We do not know, but we do know that in the early days
of the Church the Presidency and leadership of the Church advised the
people to store sufficient food to meet an emergency. The result has
been that since the people got thoroughly settled here and farms began
producing, and herds and flocks increasing, there has been no real
necessity for anybody to suffer for food.

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP TO BE PRIZED

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.166
This is God's work. This is the Church of the Lamb of God. He has
offered us eternal membership in it, and O my brethren and sisters, I
plead with everyone of you to prize that membership and retain it by
reason of righteousness, and that there will never come a time when
you will find yourselves in the dark and groping your way, uncertain
as to what it all means. I would like to say to you before closing
that this work is a joyous work. It will bring peace and happiness
that nothing else can bring if we will do our part. We  will be loved
by our neighbors and our friends, many of them not associated with us,
if they see our virtues, and if we will develop those virtues as the
Lord intends we should.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.166
Think today of this great organ and Tabernacle Choir singing to the
world all during the war, and giving their time, day by day, week in
and week out, to sing for us and for our neighbors and friends
everywhere. How the Lord has magnified them and held them up to the
admiration of mankind!

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.166
This is the Lord's work. You cannot find anything else like it. The
city we live in was a desert a hundred years ago. Today it is the one
city in all the world whose streets originally were made wide enough
to be useful for the automobile. I think that those who came in that
early day never dreamed of an automobile, but when they laid the city
out, they laid it out wide enough so that if people will be careful,
there is plenty of room to drive four cars abreast in our streets, do
our parking, and get along without any difficulty.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.166
This desert has been made to blossom as a great forest. I have taken
people up on the hills and had them look over the valley, and they
have said, "We heard this was a desert country. Why, you cannot see
the houses for the trees." It is a beautiful valley. The Lord sends us
the early storms and the late storms and stores our mountains with
snow so that we are sure, year by year, of the blessing of moisture
that we so much need to mature our crops and enjoy this once desert
land.

OBEDIENCE BRINGS BLESSINGS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.166
There are so many things that we might talk about if there were time.
I want to say to you that every blessing we enjoy is the result of
keeping the commandments of God. Every blessing we desire we must
obtain on those same terms. So today I witness to you that we have a
Heavenly Father--I know that he lives. I know that Jesus was the
Christ, his Beloved Son, who gave his mortal life that we might have
eternal life. He came to this country twice, once to the Nephites, and
later in the days of Joseph Smith. The Father and the Son came in that
latter instance to see that the way was opened for the dissemination
of his gospel. He has called us to bear the priesthood and carry the
gospel message as missionaries to the various parts of the world, and
in return for that he has promised us eternal life in his celestial
kingdom. Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith gave their lives as a testimony
to the world of the truthfulness of this work.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.167
You have voted today for two men in this audience who are the
descendants of Hyrum Smith, the martyr. God has blessed that family
all down through the years, and if they will be faithful, he will
continue to bless them, and nobody but themselves can take their
blessings from them. You do not have to belong to that family, but
each of you has the same promise if you will seek first, not last, the
kingdom of God and his righteousness. He has promised everything else.
What more do you want? But all is conditioned on our willingness to
honor him and keep his commandments.

TESTIMONY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.167
Joseph was a prophet who gave his life for the cause. Hyrum was a
patriarch who gave his life, and many others have given their lives
also for the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the Lord's work; his
authority is deposited with this Church, and nowhere else in all the
world except with the Church. Knowing that, I am happy to be here with
you. I am delighted to be able to worship with you in this house that
is sacred to us all. I pray that when we go from here, each of us will
return to our homes with a renewed determination that we will be
worthy of him who gives us all our blessings, that we will be worthy
of one another as we live together in our homes, sanctified by the
righteousness of our lives.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1947, p.167
This is God's work, and I bear you my witness of it, in the name of
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.3
I am very grateful this morning to be able to be here at this session
of the conference. It seems incredible that there could be so much
quiet and peace and comfort, yes, luxury, in this part of the world
today, while in many other parts of the world people are suffering for
the necessities of life, and there appears to be no hope of peace in
those sections, in fact, in any section, for a long time.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.3
We are met this morning in worship. I see in the audience, today,
prominent officials of the state, our educational institutions,
missionary representatives, and people from all parts of the Church. I
think I should mention this morning that we have here with us the
grandson of a great friend of the Church in early days, Colonel Thomas
L. Kane, who offered his life that he might preserve the people in
this valley, and the Lord preserved him to do his work, and he
returned home safely. Today we feel grateful that his grandson is
here. We hope that he will enjoy being with the people for whom his
grandfather sacrificed so much.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.3
It was eighty-nine years ago that Colonel Kane visited here, but one
hundred years ago the first general conference was held in this
valley. I think you would like to know just about what happened.

EVENTS OF 100 YEARS AGO

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.3
The conference meetings began on Sunday, October 3, and continued
until Friday, October 8. During that period the weather in Salt Lake
City was warm. Brigham Young was sustained as President of the whole
Church. The Twelve Apostles were sustained with the exception of Lyman
Wight, who was left until he came in person, which he did not do. An
epistle from the Twelve was read by Parley P. Pratt and accepted by
the Saints. Charles C. Rich and John Young were elected counselors to
President John Smith; Father John Smith, who was my great-grandfather,
was sustained as president of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, and as
patriarch to the Church.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.4
It does not seem possible that we are talking about a hundred years
ago. At that time Henry G. Sherwood, Thomas Grover, Levi  Jackman,
John Murdock, Daniel Spencer, Lewis Abbott, Ira Eldredge, Edson
Whipple, Shadrach Roundy, John Vance, Willard Snow, and Abram O. Smoot
were elected members of the high council. Charles C. Rich was also
elected chief military commander. Albert Carrington was elected clerk,
historian and deputy postmaster for the city. John Van Cott was
elected marshall of the city--all this was one hundred years ago!

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.4
Several companies of emigrating Saints arrived in Salt Lake City on
Monday, October 4. The presidency of the stake and the high council
met in Great Salt Lake City for the first time at 7 p.m., at which
meeting they considered the advisability of building mills on City
Creek and on Mill Creek.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.4
On Tuesday the presidency of the stake and the high council met at 9
a. m. and appointed a committee to lay out farming land. The city had
been surveyed, and they were now getting ready to move out a little
farther. Other companies of pioneers arrived in Salt Lake City on this
date.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.4
The presidency of the stake and high council met on October 6, and
appointed a committee to see that the fort had proper gates made for
it. Also Henry G. Sherwood was continuing his survey.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.4
Nancy Rich, mother of Charles C. Rich, was buried beside the grave of
Caroline Grant, a short distance southeast of the Fort, which was out
in the southwest part of the city.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.4
The last families of emigrating Saints arrived in Salt Lake City on
Friday, October 8. There were about two thousand people in the valley
at this time.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.4
I thought that this might bring to your minds some things that would
be of interest to you. It is wonderful to think that this marvelous
land we live in, then desert, now is as the garden of the Lord, and to
realize that our Heavenly Father preserved the people and opened the
way for them to multiply and increase until today we have here in this
valley every comfort, every convenience, almost every blessing that
you can think of which is enjoyed in any part of the world.

WALKING STICK OF THOMAS L. KANE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.4
In view of the visit here of the Honorable E. Kent Kane, the grandson
of Colonel Thomas L. Kane, I brought with me this walking stick which
I hold in my hand. It was given to my great-grand-father, John Smith,
by Colonel Kane as a result of their friendship. They were great
friends before either came to Salt Lake Valley, having become
acquainted during the exodus of our people from Nauvoo. This walking
stick was handed down from John Smith, to George A. Smith, my
grandfather, then to John Henry Smith, my father, and then it came to
me and has been passed down to my son, George Albert Smith, IV.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.5
I thought it might be of interest to go back into that history,
particularly in view of the fact that we are honored by the presence
of the grandson of the man who gave this cane. It came from the
hickory grove at the Old Hermitage near Nashville. It was given by
Andrew Jackson, the man who became president of the United States, and
who owned the Hermitage and lived there, to Thomas L. Kane, and he
passed it to John Smith who became the first president of the stake in
this valley.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.5
Today, instead of having only two thousand members of the Church in
this valley, we have more than four thousand missionaries of the
Church in the world who are sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with
the children of men--the largest number that have ever been in the
world at any one time.

TEMPLE SQUARE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.5
Hundreds of incidents could be narrated here, if there were time, that
would be of interest to this particular audience. Today we are met in
the great Tabernacle that is known the world over because from this
building each week for more than seventeen years has gone a broadcast
by the Tabernacle Choir and the great organ which has been carried to
nearly all parts of the civilized world. This Tabernacle, of course, a
hundred years ago had not been thought of. Since that time on this
block we have the Tabernacle which holds 10,000 people and is one of
the most delightful places in the world to meet in; we have the great
temple; we have the Bureau of Information; we have the little old log
cabin that used to be over on First North Street, and the Assembly
Hall, all in this ten acre square. And I call your attention to the
fact that the square is adorned, not only by these buildings, but by
monuments and markers in honor of those who have passed on, and is
beautified by gardens of flowers, and shrubs, and trees. It is one of
the most attractive squares in all, the world.

RELIEF FOR EUROPEAN SAINTS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.5
Word comes from our people in Europe. In many cases they are still
having difficult times, but they are faithful, in the main, to God and
the Church, and the messages that they send us from time to time in
expressing gratitude for food, clothing, and bedding we have sent them
warm our hearts.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.5
It may be of interest to you to know that since World War II closed,
more than seventy-five major carloads of food and clothing and bedding
have been shipped across the sea to those needy people over there,
without any expense to them whatsoever.

VISIT TO PRESIDENT TRUMAN

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.5
When the war was over, I went representing the Church, to see the
president of the United States. When I called on him, he received me
very graciously--I had met him before--and I before--and I said: "I
have just come to ascertain from you, Mr. President, what your
attitude will be if the Latter-day Saints are prepared to ship food
and clothing and bedding to Europe."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.6
He smiled and looked at me, and said: "Well, what do you want to ship
it over there for? Their money isn't any good."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.6
I said: "We don't want their money." He looked at me and asked: "You
don't mean you are going to give it to them?"

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.6
I said: "Of course, we would give it to them. They are our brothers
and sisters and are in distress. God has blessed us with a surplus,
and we will be glad to send it if we can have the co-operation of the
government."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.6
He said: "You are on the right track," and added, "we will be glad to
help you in any way we can."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.6
I have thought of that a good many times. After we had sat there a
moment or two, he said again: "How long will it take you to get this
ready?"

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.6
I said: "It's all ready."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.6
The government you remember had been destroying food and refusing to
plant grain during the war, so I said to him:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.6
"Mr. President, while the administration at Washington were advising
the destroying of food, we were building elevators and filling them
with grain, and increasing our flocks and our herds, and now what we
need is the cars and the ships in order to send considerable food,
clothing and bedding to the people of Europe who are in distress. We
have an organization in the Church that has over two thousand homemade
quilts ready."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.6
The group that sang for you this morning, the Singing Mothers of the
Relief Society, represent that organization. They had two thousand
quilts made by their own hands ready to ship. The result was that many
people received warm clothing and bedding and food without any delay.
Just as fast as we could get cars and ships, we had what was necessary
to send to Europe.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE LAST CENTURY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.6
Now, we couldn't have done that a hundred years ago. We were seeking
food ourselves. Our people in this valley then were digging thistle
and sego roots for food, and they were utilizing every means possible
to get food to keep the soul and body together. In a hundred years the
desert has been made to blossom as the rose. In a hundred years the
gospel has been preached to almost all nations of the earth where it
would be received. In a hundred years the people have been gathered
from the various nations and have come here to Zion, and have settled
and made homes. In Utah and Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona,
Montana, California, and Oregon, the state of Washington and western
Canada we have congregations as large as this that can be gathered
together--members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
who have reason to thank God for the gospel of Jesus Christ revealed
in this latter-day, for without it there could have been no such a
settlement, no such a gathering as has been made by the people in this
great western land.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.7
So this morning, brothers and sisters, we have much to be grateful
for. Thanksgiving should fill our hearts. Here we are in this house
that has been utilized now many, many years. I was in it myself in
1875; I was a little child then and used to play around here on the
great stones that were piled on this block when the temple was being
built. Now they all have been finished and laid in place. The great
organ was constructed and there have been hundreds of thousands of
people worship God in this building under the influence of the spirit
of our Heavenly Father.

THE HANDCART PIONEERS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.7
Just north of this building a monument is being completed this morning
to the emigrants who came into Salt Lake Valley, bringing all their
earthly possessions in handcarts which were pushed and pulled by
members of the family. They walked approximately one thousand five
hundred miles, coming from Iowa City, Iowa, to this place, and they
suffered untold hardships along the way. More than two hundred of them
died on the way due to hunger, cold, and exhaustion, but their
associates continued to arrive here eventually to make their homes.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.7
Now, think what has happened. That same trip can be made from Iowa
City into the valley of the Great Salt Lake in comfort, having your
meals en route prepared for you as you come flying through the air
overlooking the country, and in seven hours the trip is completed.
When the handcart people came, it took weary months of time as it did
with the ox team. Now we have the railways with their fast trains; we
have the automobile; we have the airplane, and in addition to that we
have that wonderful device, the radio, over which the Tabernacle choir
and organ have been singing to the world from this building each
Sabbath day for seventeen years, and by means of which people all over
the country are listening in to this service today, hearing it
probably just as plain in their own homes and in their churches as if
they were present with us. Surely, a marvelous work and a wonder has
been brought into the world.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.7
The scripture has been fulfilled, and today we humble members of the
Church, men and women who enjoy almost every comfort that can be
desired, all the necessities at any rate, assemble in the house of the
Lord this morning. Here in quiet we commune together; we listen to the
strains of music; we offer prayers of thanksgiving and gratitude to
our Heavenly Father; we listen to sermons that are delivered by men
who have had experience in the world--everyone of them has been a
missionary in some form or another.

THE INSPIRATION IN WORSHIP

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.8
That reminds me of an incident that happened a long time ago. A
Holland brother by the name of Folkers was living with his wife at my
place, and they could not speak or understand the English language. He
used to go to the fast meetings, and when the other people talked, he
could not understand what they said. When they finished, he would get
up and talk, and we could not understand him. One day I asked him,
"Why do you go to the English-speaking services? You cannot
understand." It took me sometime to make him understand what I wanted
to know. Finally he smiled and said: "It is not what you hear that
makes you happy; nor what you see that makes you happy; it is what you
feel, and I can feel just as well as anybody." And that is the thing I
wanted to impress upon you this morning. In this house, dedicated to
the worship of our Heavenly Father, we not only can hear and see, but
we can also feel the inspiration of the hour and have our faith
increased and our spiritual strength renewed, not as a great group of
strangers but as real brothers and sisters, children of the Living
God. We can be here together and surely have thanksgiving in our
hearts to our Heavenly Father for the many, many blessings extended to
us and the opportunities and privileges that are ours.

THANKSGIVING FOR BLESSINGS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.8
Now, brothers and sisters, you have come here to wait upon the Lord,
forget the problems on the outside as far as you can and

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.8
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you, what the Lord has done.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.8
We who are here as the descendants of those who came a hundred years
ago to this valley can see the hand of the Lord has been over the
people. He has blessed us as few people in the world have ever been
blessed, and surely there will be in our hearts a feeling of gratitude
and thanksgiving to him who is the Author of our being for all the
blessings he has bestowed upon us.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.8
I am so happy this morning to see Aunt Augusta Grant here. She has
been coming to these conferences ever since she was able, and here in
her later years she sits in our midst representing a great family and
bringing to our minds the fact that her husband not very long ago
stood where I am standing, delivering the message that the Lord had
for us through him. Then when his work was completed, he was permitted
to go to paradise.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.8
May the Lord add his blessings. I pray that his Spirit may be in our
hearts and in our homes, that we may have love for our fellow men
wherever they may be, that we may sincerely desire to share the only
message that will bring peace to the world, the gospel of Jesus
Christ, with our Father's other children, with the hope that enough of
them will understand it and make it their own that war may be at least
withheld for some time and that we may go on happily serving our
Heavenly Father.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.9
I bear you my testimony this morning that I know that God lives; I
know that Jesus is the Christ; I know that Joseph Smith was his
prophet, and I pray that all of us may have that assurance and so
adjust our lives that when the time comes for us to go hence we shall
find our reward is that of an inheritance in the celestial kingdom in
the companionship of those we love, to be with them forever, and I
pray that it may be so, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.


President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.164
I am sure we have all been delighted to hear from Mr. Kane. We are
glad that he feels like he wants to belong to the family. I shall take
him in (laughter). I think he will discover that he has a lot more
relatives here who could call him brother, so he will have no
difficulty in being at home with us. We are more than grateful for his
grandfather, and we are glad that his grandson could come here and be
with us today.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.164
We have been celebrating for nearly a year. It has been a time of
pleasure and recreation, and I am satisfied that had our pioneer
forebears been here they too would have gladly joined with us. The
year is passing now, and the centuries are before us. The best tribute
that we who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints can pay to those who are on the other side will be to honor God
and keep his commandments and by so doing honor those whose names we
bear. In this way we will increase our own happiness and provide
opportunity for joy for those who follow after US.

OUR GREAT RESPONSIBILITY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.164
We will receive the blessings of the Lord if we will only remember
that since we are the children of God, our responsibility is greater
than any other people. No other church has the responsibility that is
upon this Church because the Lord has given to us a commandment to go
into all the world and preach the gospel unto every creature so that

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.164
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that
believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:16.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.164
So it is not merely a question of living our short lives in comfort;
if we expect to enjoy eternal happiness in the celestial kingdom, we
must earn it by doing our best to bring as many of our Father's
children to live with him as we possibly can.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.165
God has been good to us. No people in the world have more reason to be
grateful than we. Here under the shelter of this roof we can well pour
out our souls to him who is the Author of our being and remember with
love those, who under his watchcare, made it possible for us to enjoy
the things that we now have.

MANIFESTO ISSUED

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.165
On October 6, 1890, in this Tabernacle the people were assembled in
conference. The Church had been harassed and abused, and property had
been escheated by the government. Many had been imprisoned for what
they believed. Upon that occasion the President of the Church, Wilford
Woodruff, among other things, delivered this message to us here:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.165
Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural
marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court
of last resort, I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws,
and to use my influence with the members of the Church over which I
preside to have them do likewise.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.165
That is a part of the Manifesto,

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.165
After that had been read, Lorenzo Snow, the man who later succeeded
Wilford Woodruff as President of the Church, said:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.165
I move that, recognizing Wilford Woodruff as the President of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the only man on the
earth at the present time who holds the keys of the sealing
ordinances, we consider him fully authorized by virtue of his position
to issue the Manifesto which has been read in our hearing and which is
dated September 24th, 1890, and that as a Church in General Conference
assembled, we accept his declaration concerning plural marriages as
authoritative and binding.

Conference Report, October 1947, p.165
The vote to sustain the foregoing motion was unanimous.

PRACTICE OF PLURAL MARRIAGE DISCONTINUED

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.165
That was the action of the Church at that time. The practice of plural
marriage ceased because the government of the United States forbade
it. Our Heavenly Father has always directed that we sustain the
constitutional law of the land, and the Supreme Court being the
highest authority had declared the law forbidding plural marriage was
constitutional.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.165
From then until now, there has been little said by us, and now, after
all these years, I would like to say that from that time on,
approximately fifty years, there have been no plural marriages
solemnized in violation of the laws of this land by the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

MANIFESTO STILL BINDING

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.166
I mention this because, unfortunately, there are some people in the
world who are still insisting that we no longer pay attention to the
Manifesto, that it does not bind us now, and by that attitude some men
and women are falling into adultery and committing a sin not only
against the government of the United States, but also against the
Church itself. And yet they say that because we are not talking about
it, that we condone it.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.166
As President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I say
we do not condone it. We desire our people to obey the law of the land
in reference to marriage. If you hear anybody say that the leadership
of the Church is not in harmony with the Manifesto of Wilford Woodruff
as sustained by the Church, then you may know that he is mistaken.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.166
I regret that it is necessary to refer to this matter, but there are
those who are going among the people encouraging the violation of the
moral law. That is what they are doing, and if the Church of Jesus
Christ stands for anything, it stands for morality, and so today, in
the conclusion of this conference, I call your attention to this
matter.

A BLESSED PEOPLE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.166
No people in the world are more greatly blessed than we. It is
marvelous what our Heavenly Father has done for us. The Church grows,
increases, and becomes stronger as the days come and go.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.166
We are permitted twice a year to assemble in this great building in a
general conference and meet as we have been during the last three days
to be instructed by our brethren. Here under the influence of the
Spirit of the Lord we are taught to observe the laws of the land and
to keep the commandments of our Heavenly Father.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.166
Now today I think we have reason to be grateful. There is trouble
ahead. The world is sick and in a pitiable condition, and until the
people repent of their sins and return to the true and living God,
there will be no peace that will be worthy of the name. It is our duty
to set the example; it is our duty to hold aloft the banner of truth.
It is our duty to encourage our Father's other children to listen to
his advice and counsel and so adjust things that wherever we are we
will find the spirit of God burning in our souls and our influence
will be for good.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.166
I pray that we may continue faithful. I congratulate those of you who
are able to attend the conference at this time. I feel to bless the
choir which has rendered such splendid music and the Relief Society
Singing Mothers and others who have sung for us. I am grateful to them
and I pray the Lord to bless them and bless us all that we may be
worthy not only to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, but also that we may be worthy to be called sons
and daughters of the Living God, and seek to do his will and keep his
commandments.

TESTIMONY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.167
God lives. Jesus is the Christ. The land that we live upon, in all
parts of this earth, belongs to him. We are only tenants here. He
places us here with the opportunity to prepare ourselves for eternal
happiness and promises us that in due time this world shall become a
celestial kingdom. How wonderful it is for us to know that we have a
chance to earn our place in that kingdom by following the advice and
counsel that he gives us. If we continue to do that, happiness,
satisfaction, and joy will be our reward.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.167
I know that God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that
Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the Living God, and that the gospel of
our Lord is upon the earth. The power and authority of the priesthood
are here, and if we will observe the advice that has been given to us,
if we will honor him, who is the Author of our being, not only we but
our children and children's children will also be among those whom God
will bless throughout eternity. That is my testimony, and I bear that
witness to you this day in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.167
We have already passed the hour for closing but before doing so I call
attention to the fact that tonight at seven o'clock in this building
will be held a Sunday School Union Meeting. All are invited to attend.
Also, the Dutch conference will be held at 4:15 p.m. in the Barratt
Hall, just after this meeting; the Scandinavian meeting the same hour
in the Assembly Hall.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.167
The Tabernacle Choir will sing for us:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.167
"Hallelujah"--(From "Messiah" by Handel)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1947, p.167
Brethren, as one who loves you I desire to bless you and pray our
Father in Heaven to bless you, that you may go from this conference
with a renewed determination to be all that He desires us to be and
that you will radiate sunshine and good-will, peace and hope among
those with whom you associate, and I bless you that joy may be your
portion as long as you seek to do the will of our Heavenly Father, in
the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.11
I am sure that all present, this morning, have every reason to be
grateful to the Lord for our blessings. Seated, as we are, in this
comfortable Tabernacle, although the weather is inclement, we, here,
and in the adjoining building, are comfortable and because of the
intelligence of men, devices have been provided so that we can both
see and hear even in separate buildings and some distance apart.

ORGANIZATION AND GROWTH OF CHURCH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.11
A hundred eighteen years ago next Tuesday the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints was organized under the direction of our Heavenly
Father and his beloved Son, Jesus Christ. The Savior later directed,
in a very positive way by revelation, that the Church should be called
after his name--the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There
were but a few people in the room when the Church was organized, and
they were not very popular. The enemy of all righteousness had already
begun to disturb those who believed that Joseph Smith had received the
plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. He was hounded
from place to place from that time on, not for any wrong that he did
but for the same reason that the prophets of old had to suffer for
teaching the truth.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.12
Organized as it was in the state of New York the first branches were
there, and then, under pressure, members of the Church moved to
Kirtland, Ohio, and there were made uncomfortable, not because of
anything they had done to disturb their neighbors, but because they
testified that God had spoken in this latter day and that, to many
people, seemed sacrilegious.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.12
The Church moved from place to place, continuing to grow, and I may
say that every day, when the sun set, found the Church larger than it
had been when the sun arose that morning. Eventually the people
assembled in Jackson and other counties in Missouri, and then from
there went to Commerce, Illinois, which later became the city of
Nauvoo. Commerce was only a small place, with three or four houses; we
would call them ranch houses these days, I think, but the Prophet of
the Lord conceived the idea of building Zion in that particular part
of the world.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.12
The result was that the people who were driven from Missouri and other
places and who were coming in from Europe began the building of the
City Beautiful--Nauvoo--on one of one of the most picturesque sites
for a city along the Mississippi River, and they drained the soil so
that it would not be swampy and unhealthful for them.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.12
They established homes, built a beautiful temple, raised their crops,
and in less than seven years Nauvoo was the largest city in the state
of Illinois. Chicago then had a population of approximately five
thousand; Springfield, Illinois, a population of approximately twelve
thousand. Nauvoo, in something over six years, became a city of
approximately twenty thousand souls.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.12
It has been marvelous how the Lord has brought into the hearts and
minds of individuals a desire to pray and worship as he would have
them to do.

WESTERN MOVEMENT

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.12
In the year 1846, the beautiful city of Nauvoo was destroyed by mobs
of wicked men who were determined that the Latter-day Saints should
not live there, and they drove the helpless people across the
Mississippi River, from where began their pilgrimage to the Rocky
Mountains. Of course we have an idea that the property that we
possessed as a people was an inducement, but one of the principal
reasons was they hated the people who believed in the gospel of Jesus
Christ. They started west, being scattered from that part of the
country, and the majority of them began the journey west with wagons
drawn by such animals as they could obtain, and they eventually
arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake.
           

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.12
The Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum had been martyred,
although the Prophet had indicated in a sermon preached not very long
before the people were driven out, in which he said to them that the
persecution would continue and that eventually would go to the tops of
the Rocky Mountains, and become a people in the midst thereof.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.12
If he had never predicted anything else, that of itself indicated he
was a prophet of God.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.13
In 1847, the vanguard of those people arrived in this valley, and
others followed, until most of the people who had lived in Nauvoo were
located here. Later, approximately four thousand of the Saints who had
come from the eastern part of the United States and from across the
sea were assembled at Iowa City on the Mississippi River, and having
no conveyances or animals to draw them they built handcarts and
started their pilgrimage across the plains to the valley we are now
in. Many of them lost their lives by starvation and cold. Some of the
bravest and most courageous people in all the world were with those
groups that were willing to turn their backs on the so-called
civilization to go into the wilderness and make their homes among the
wild beasts and the still more savage red man.

ARRIVAL IN THE SALT LAKE VALLEY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.13
One hundred years ago last July the first of those people arrived
here; one hundred forty-three men, three women, and two children were
in the first company. What did they find here? It may be illustrated
by what was said by a stranger who some years later referred to this
as a desert country. He was talking to my grandfather for whom I was
named, and he said:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.13
"Mr. Smith, why did your people leave that wonderful rich, fertile
land in the east and come here into this God-forsaken country?" And
Grandfather's reply to him was typical of the man: "Why," he said, "we
came here willingly because we had to." A hundred years have elapsed
since that time, and today we are meeting in a house that was erected
by those people. Among the first things they did after they came here
was to take possession of the country in the name of the United
States--it was then Mexican territory--and then they began building
their little homes and houses of worship. The first place of worship
was not very far from where I stand on this block, called the old
Bowery.

OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.13
The first Sunday after they arrived, they held religious services. The
fact that they were uncomfortable; that they had no homes to shelter
them, made no difference. They were in the service of the Lord. They
were his children, and so they were called together as has been the
custom ever since the beginning, on the Sabbath day, to worship our
Father in heaven.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.14
It may be of interest when we think of the desecration of the Sabbath
day in our own land  --I speak of the land of America--a day that has
been set apart by many people for their their vacations and for their
pleasures, notwithstanding there thundered down from Sinai one of the
Ten Commandments that we should honor the Sabbath day and keep it
holy. One of the first sermons that were preached in this valley was
by President Brigham Young, and he warned the people to honor the
Sabbath day and to keep it holy, and no matter how difficult their
circumstances they were not to go out and do manual labor on the
Sabbath day. From that time on, the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints has encouraged its people to remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy because it is pleasing to our Heavenly Father that
we do so.

PROGRESS DURING LAST CENTURY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.14
From that little group of people that came into this valley, they
began to scatter. Today in Idaho there are over one hundred thousand
members of the Church--in Wyoming large numbers; in Nevada large
numbers; in Arizona, and California--it may be of interest to some of
you to know that in the territory surrounding Los Angeles there are
more members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
residing now than in any other section of the country outside of the
Salt Lake Valley. The Church membership has continued to grow and
spread. I haven't mentioned Colorado. I haven't mentioned some of the
states in the north. I haven't mentioned western Canada.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.14
In every part of the United States there are branches of the Church
and wards and stakes, in many parts, the population of which is
largely a membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. And here we are in this house today. Count your many
blessings. Think of our opportunities. Think of our privileges. I
wonder if we can be grateful enough for what the Lord has done for us.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.14
In a hundred years, the name of a church that was held in derision by
many of our Father's children, has become honored by the great and the
good and the wise men and women of the world. Almost every day there
comes to the Church offices at Salt Lake City correspondence from
different parts of the world that praises the membership of this
Church. Many of these letters are written by members of other churches
or by people who belong to no church. Only last year you were visited
here by the governors of all but five of the states and territories of
the United States. They came here to hold a convention. They attended
an evening meeting in this house, representatives from all these
various states and territories. They had their wives and secretaries
and associates. There were over four hundred of them as I remember
now. They met in this Tabernacle, and some of those individuals who
were here remarked after the meeting concluded, there was something
different here from what they had found elsewhere.

COMMENT OF FORMER GOVERNOR MILLER

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.14
Last year the board of directors of the United States Steel
Corporation, some of whom had not been here before, met in this city.
They had a noon-day luncheon in the Hotel Utah and invited their
friends in while they were here, and after the meal was over, the
president announced that there was no program, but if anybody had
anything to say he was at liberty to speak.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.15
Former Governor Miller of New York, who was the counsel general of the
United States Steel Corporation, said: "I would like to say a few
words," and after that, referring to the fact that he had been in our
canyons and seen the valleys and had visited Brigham Young University
and the fine campus there and other things that he had observed that
interested him very much he said:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.15
These people here have something that we don't have, I don't know what
it is, but they have it, and we do not, It may be spirituality or
something else, You may call it what you will, but I am saying to you
that they have something that we do not have where we live.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.15
My brothers and sisters, that is what you feel this morning, the
inspiration of the Lord. He has promised us that when two or three of
us shall meet together in his name he will be there and that to bless,
them, and when congregations such as we have this morning assemble, I
am sure that under those circumstances they are entitled to his
blessings. I have no doubt we have in this audience this morning many
people not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
but they are his children, his sons and daughters, and in this house
they will feel that influence and that spirit that inspires men and
women to righteous living. We want them all to know that, crowded as
we are, they are all welcome, and we hope they can be made
comfortable.

MESSAGE OF THE MISSIONARIES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.15
The Church continues to grow and develop. Why? Because it is the
Lord's will. He has promised us if we would do our part that he will
open our way, and he has done it in a marvelous manner,  even since
the great world war in those countries that were torn with

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.15
strife. We have today more than four thousand missionaries traveling
over the face of the earth, mostly men, some women, giving their time,
offering what they can in the way of encouragement to a sick world,
for we are a sick world, calling men and women to repentance, assuring
them that unless they turn unto the Lord there will be no peace. These
missionaries pay their own expenses or have their expenses paid by
their loved ones, receive no compensation from the Church whatsoever,
and the desire is that all men and women, whereever they may be in the
world may have brought to them the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord, to
the end that they will acknowledge God and his Son Jesus Christ, be
willing to take the advice of the Father of us all and live in such a
way that in the end we may have eternal life in the celestial kingdom.
"Eternal life," think of it, in the celestial kingdom, and the Lord
has promised that.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.15
Now today we are here, representatives from many parts of the world.
We come, I hope, with worship in our hearts, with love in our hearts
for our fellow men.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.16
The second great commandment which was equal to the first, the Master
said, "Love thy neighbor as thyself" is the key word to the Latter-day
Saints, if I may use that term, to bring us near to the Lord, loving
his other children as we love ourselves and so doing desirous of
bringing to them the knowledge of the truth. Today in this house that
was dedicated to him, builded during the poverty of the people, we are
met in worship. The great temple to the east of us, one of the
beautiful buildings of the world, was erected by the people when they
lived under very poor conditions.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.16
I call your attention to the fact that during the last one hundred
years the Latter-day Saints have been contributing their means for
homes and schools and houses of worship, and at the same time they
have sent into the world seventy thousand missionaries who have spent
their own money and contributed their time.

CONTRIBUTION TO PEOPLE IN DISTRESS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.16
Since World War II these people, living in these valleys where the
Church is organized and where we have our branches and wards and
stakes, have sent one hundred carloads of bedding and food and
clothing across the sea to help those poor people that are in such
distress.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.16
All these years you have been paying your tithing if you have been
real Latter-day Saints. What has been done with it? It has been
developing the country that we live in and disseminating the truth of
God in the nations of the earth. Your tithing has not been squandered,
and if you have paid an honest tithing, I may say to you without
hesitation the other nine-tenths, has been a greater blessing to those
who have paid than the one hundred percent has been to those who have
not. It is the Lord's work.

FAVORABLE POSITION OF CHURCH MEMBERS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.16
What is our situation? When the people came here, we were called
ignorant. That was the word that went out. I had a man who was
supposed to be a minister tell me one time: "Why," he said, "I
understand you are the most ignorant people in all the world." That
was the attitude. What is the record? After a hundred years, this
state, the home of the largest community of the members of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, outranks every state in the
American Union for education. More high school students, more
university students, more men and women of affairs, and more
scientists have been born in this state in proportion to population,
of course, than in any other state of the Union. You may go where you
will and take communities such as we have, the people are not better
housed, not better fed, not better educated, any other place in the
world, than here in the tops of these everlasting hills that were so
forbidding when our people came here.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.17
Now, brethren and sisters, haven't we something to be grateful for?
Isn't it wonderful, not only to be here with this great organization
but to know that we are here by the will of the Lord? That we are here
because he has made it possible for us to live here? And so today I
welcome all of you from wherever you may have come into this great
congregation and the adjoining congregations and say, to use the words
of the man who discovered the telegraph, "See what God hath wrought."
Men couldn't have done this. With all your generosity and all your
giving, all your missionary work, with your care of the poor, with
your development of the country, with all that you have been giving as
ordinary people, I testify that what you have left brings to you more
happiness, more peace, more comfort and more assurance of eternal life
than any other people in the world enjoy today.  I	don't say that
boastfully, but gratefully.

SEVENTY-EIGHTH BIRTHDAY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.17
I am celebrating my birthday. Seventy-eight years ago today, right
across the street, I was born. My life has been spent very largely in
this community and traveling for the Church. I don't know of any man
in all the world that has more reason to be grateful than I. People
have been kind and helpful to me, members of the Church and
non-members alike. Wherever I have gone, I have found noble men and
women. Therefore on this my birthday, after having traveled
approximately a million miles in the world in the interests of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, one of the frailest of my mother's eleven
children, I testify that the Lord has preserved my life, and I have
had joy beyond expression, and I have enjoyed the results of loving my
neighbor as myself, and all this brings happiness.

TESTIMONY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.17
After all these years of travel in many parts of the world,
associating with many of the great and good men and women of the
world, I witness to you, I know today better than I ever knew before
that God lives; that Jesus is the Christ; that Joseph Smith was a
prophet of the Living God; and that the Church that he organized under
the direction of our Heavenly Father, the Church that received divine
authority, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Church
that was driven into the wilderness and with headquarters now in Salt
Lake City, Utah, is still operating under the guidance of the same
priesthood that was conferred by Peter, James, and John upon Joseph
Smith and Oliver Cowdery. I know that, as I know that I live, and I
leave that testimony with you, and I pray that our Heavenly Father
will continue to guide us and help us and inspire us and bless us,
which he will if we are righteous. I am so thankful to be here with
you this morning, and to look into your faces, hundreds of whom I have
met in different parts of the country, and I take this occasion to
thank you for your kindness to me as I have traveled among you.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.18
May the Lord add his blessings. Thankful for the comforts that we have
today, I pray that his peace and his love will abide with us forever,
and that we may be the means under his guidance of bringing millions
of his children to an understanding of his truths that they, too, may
be blessed and are blessed this day. This is my testimony to you, that
this is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the power of God unto salvation to
all those who believe and obey it, and I bear that witness in the name
of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.157
It falls to my lot as the President of the Church to make some
concluding remarks.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.157
I would like to ask all of you, could you imagine any other place that
we could have been during the past three days, where we would have
been nearer to our Heavenly Father than we have in this great
conference? Is there any place in the world where you could gather
together a group of men who, one after another, would stand on their
feet and bear witness that they know the gospel is here and that we
are partakers of it and testify of the blessings that result from
keeping the commandments of our Heavenly Father?

SMOKER FAILS TO GET JOB

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.157
The brethren have reminded me of one or two little incidents that I
think I will relate. One has to do with a cigaret. One of our
missionaries who filled a good mission came home and sought employment
and was unable to find it here. He had been a smoker before he went on
his mission, but he had quit, so when he came back and became a little
bit discouraged, he took up his habit of smoking again. About that
time a non-Latter-day Saint businessman spoke to one of the prominent
men of the Church, also in business, and said, "I need a man to come
into my business, one that is capable and able to grow to take my
place, because I want to retire after a while. I can pay him a good
salary, and I have concluded that, while I am not a member of your
Church, I would like to have one of your returned missionaries. They
have had such wonderful experiences, many of them. I've heard some of
them talk. If one of them comes home and you know of him, you don't
need to tell him what it is all about, just send him to me with the
understanding that there may be a position. I'd like to interrogate
him."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.157
Not long after that the young man who had been seeking work visited
the office of the brother who told me this story. He said to the young
man: "I think I know where you can find employment." He sent the
returned missionary to the individual who had told him without
hesitation what he wanted. This returned missionary was a fine,
intelligent, young fellow, and he supposed it meant a job for him.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.157
Our Church businessman said, "I met the young applicant on the street
two or three days after, and asked him, 'How did you come out?" The
young man said, 'I didn't succeed. The man asked me a few questions
and then remarked, "I think we had better not try it out together."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.158
Sometime later the two businessmen met, and the member asked the
non-member why the young man had not been employed. He replied, "When
the missionary came into my office, he told me you had sent him. I
thought to myself, this is my opportunity. He was a fine-looking young
fellow and appeared satisfactory to me. As he entered the office, I
was smoking my pipe, and all at once he took a cigaret out of his
pocket and lit it, and we started to talk. I said to him, 'I thought
you were a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.'
He replied, 'I am,' and I said, 'I thought you were a returned
missionary.' 'I am,' he answered.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.158
" 'I'm sorry, I wanted just such an individual as I thought you might
be, but what are you smoking for?' and the young man said, 'You are
smoking; why shouldn't I smoke?' I said, 'The difference is this: You
have been taught that it is not a proper thing to smoke; I was never
taught that. You are violating the advice and desires of those who
love you, and I think there is no use discussing this matter any
further. I will just say that I haven't any position ready for you,
and we'll part.'"

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.158
That young man lost a fine position because he had that filthy habit,
and that's the only word I can think of just now that exactly fills
the bill.

RETURNED MISSIONARY WHO LACKED COURAGE OF CONVICTION

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.158
Another instance that may be of interest: one of our missionaries
returned from the Eastern States where he had become acquainted with a
shop foreman in a large manufacturing establishment, and after
returning home he tried for some time to secure employment but was not
successful. Finally he said to himself, "Well, I believe if I go back
East, my friend there will give me a job."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.158
He was a very fine, capable young fellow, but the friend that he spoke
of did not know that he was a member of the Church. So when he went to
him and said, "I've come back. I wonder if you will give me something
to do?" the foreman said, "Certainly I will; come right in." So the
young man began work in the very city where he had been laboring as a
missionary. He avoided the members of the Church; he didn't go to
meeting; he kept away from them because he was afraid the men who
employed him who were not members of the Church would not give him the
same kind of opportunity for advancement if they knew who he was. But
he was a good worker and kept at it for some time.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.158
One day, after he had been there about three months, the shop foreman
called him and said, "You had better go upstairs; the president wants
to see you." The president had told the shop foreman that he needed a
young man for another department who had ability. He wanted a young
man with a good education. He said, "Look around, and if you can find
such a man as that, let me know."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.158
The foreman replied, "We have just such a man working for us right
now."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.158
"Already in our employ?" the president asked.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
"Yes." The president said, "That pleases me. Send him up to see me."
So the young man, not knowing what the circumstances were reported to
the president's office and said, "I understand, Mr. Grant, that you
want to speak to me."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
He answered, "Yes. Have you been sent up by the shop foreman?"

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
The young man replied, "Yes, sir."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
"Please sit down. I want to know something about you; I'd like to know
where you are from."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
"Well," the young man said, "I live away out in the Rocky Mountains."
That was the first hedge.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
"But, what part of the Rocky Mountains?" "Well," he replied, "not very
far from Idaho." "But what are you doing here?"

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
"Well," he said, "I'm here working as one of your employees." "Were
you ever here before?" "Yes."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
"Do you know anybody here in the city?" "Not very many, just two or
three."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
"Well, I don't quite understand why you came back here for
employment."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
I want to say before going any further, the president knew all about
this boy. He had had somebody check his record, and so when he kept
hedging, the president asked, "But who are your friends here?"

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
"Oh," he replied, "they're just people that work around town."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
"But," the president continued, "do you belong to any church?"	

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
"Well, not here."	

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
"Did you ever belong to a church?"    

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
He said, "Yes, I did at one time," and he began to be afraid the	
president did know who he was, and he didn't want him to find out	
now, so he kept on hedging and said, "At one time I was a member	of
a church, but I  didn't take much interest in it, and I'm not doing	
much at it now."		

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
"What church was it?"	

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
"Well, you'd call it the Mormon Church."	

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
The president said, "Do you mean to tell me that you are a son of a
Mormon family?"	

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
The boy knew the man was up with him then; so he answered,	"Yes,
sir."	

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
The president queried, "Do you mean to tell me that you would	
desert the faith of your parents, when you had known that they were
Mormons and desired you to be one?"

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.159
"Well, not exactly that."	

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.160
"I'm afraid," the president said, "you're not much credit to them.	
If you haven't the courage to stand up for your faith, what good are
you? Now," he said, "I will be plain with you. I thought you were the
man I was seeking for this position, but I want to say to you that if
you would betray your parents and go back on the Church you belong to;
I'd be afraid to give you any kind of a job where you have to handle
money." And so the young man lost his opportunity because he did not
have the courage to do his duty by his Church and his family.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.160
These things happen so many times; while on the contrary our boys and
girls who keep the commandments of the Lord, and observe the advice of
our Heavenly Father, need not be afraid anywhere.

ADVANTAGES OF CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.160
I have traveled considerably in the world, myself. I have covered
approximately a million miles. I have been in the homes of the rich
and the poor, in many parts of the world, and I never have found one
instance among the better class of people where I have been, where if
they knew I was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, it was any detriment to me. But I have known many cases where
it has opened the way and offered opportunity that I couldn't have had
before. You know, it is a strange thing that it is possible for an
individual to belong to the Church, not just a church, but to belong
to the Church, to have had a witness and a testimony that the Lord
himself established this Church, to know that he spoke by the power
that he had, in his wisdom, and gave to us in this day the gospel of
Jesus Christ, again, and to belong to just such an organization. No
other church in the world makes such a claim as we do. When I see this
wonderful group of young folk, behind us here, and the choir, and
those that we had from Provo yesterday, and others that we meet all
the time, I know of no other place in the world where you can find
such young people as the Lord gives to us in the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. Where can you go, in all the world, and
find such companionship as you can have in the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints? It is his Church. He gave it his name, and he
advised us that it should be so called. Again I want to mention that
fact to some of our brethren. Don't let the Lord down by calling this
the Mormon Church. He didn't call it the Mormon Church. It is all
right for us to believe in the Book of Mormon. He expects us to do
that but he told us what to call this Church. The Lord has said:

THE NAME OF THE CHURCH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.160
And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church
be called in Moses' name then it be Moses' church; or if it be called
in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be
called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are
built upon my gospel. (III Nephi 27:8.)

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.161
This is his Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I
sometimes feel disappointed that so many of us seem to be timid, if I
may use that term, and give this Church that the Lord has permitted us
to be identified with rather a casual reference. I am so proud of
membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when I
think that all the blessings of the world may be mine as a member of
his Church, and if I were not a member how many blessings there may be
lost for me. Think of the wonderful people in the world and in all
these various churches. I want to tell you that there are thousands of
them, I think I would be safe in saying millions of them who, if they
knew what we know and had the testimony that God has given to us,
wouldn't hesitate to join the Church. They would be afraid not to take
advantage of the opportunities that he has given to us. In this
wonderful conference where we have been assembled the past three days,
think how we have mingled together. I have shaken hands with people
all the way from Australia, to Portland, Maine, and from Europe to
Hawaii, who have come here, happy to make these long journeys,
delighted to be permitted to associate and to shake hands with the
membership of this Church.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.161
I feel it is a great compliment to you, my brothers and sisters, that
so many of you find in the lives of one another the things that make
you proud and grateful to be identified with this organization. When
we think of what the Lord has done for us--think of the thousands of
our young men and women who have had an education that they could
obtain in no other way except in the missionary field, and that we
have more than four thousand out in the world today--what a privilege
it is! This is not a Church to criticize, to find fault with others.
The Lord doesn't advise us or counsel us to make it uncomfortable for
other people who don't understand, but the Lord in every way
encourages us to set an example that others seeing our good works will
be constrained to glorify his name.

GRATITUDE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.161
I am so proud and grateful for the young people of this great
organization as I meet them in different parts of the country, and I
am so thankful for their fathers and mothers who have given them the
training that encourages them to pray and to walk uprightly before the
Lord, encourages them to avoid bad habits and not partake of things
that otherwise would hurt them. Think of it. Do you realize, my
brethren and sisters, that there isn't a blessing, a real blessing in
any church in the world that is enjoyed in that church that you may
not enjoy as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints? You can't think of a thing that is worth while in preparation
for eternal life that we do not have and while we are only a small
organization compared with the great ones in the world, all that they
have, all together, that is necessary for eternal life in the
celestial kingdom, we have, plus the authority of our Heavenly Father
and the promise of eternal happiness if we will obey his commandments.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.162
This is not a man-made organization. It is not just a small fraternal
department in this great world; this is the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. Think what that means, a Church of the Son of God,
who gave his life that we might live again. So today as I worship here
with you I am thankful for my birthright, thankful for parents who
taught me the gospel of Jesus Christ and set the example in their
home. If I did anything that I should not do in my life, it would be
something that I could not have learned in my mother's home. There
were sweetness and kindness and love always. With a large family of
children it took a mother with a good deal of patience, but she was
always patient with us.

KEEPING COMMANDMENTS BRINGS JOY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.162
It will not be very long, in the natural course of events, till the
summons that took Father and Mother and other loved ones to the other
side, will reach me. I look forward to that time with pleasant
anticipation. I have lived a long time, as contrasted with the average
of human beings, and I have had a happy life. I can think of nobody
who has had a fuller life than I have had, and I don't say that
boastfully, but gratefully; and I want to say to you that every
happiness and every joy that has been worthy of the name has been the
result of keeping the commandments of God and observing his advice and
counsel. So, as we go forward, each of us, each having an influence
with our neighbors and our friends, let us not be too timid. We do not
need to annoy people, but let us make them feel and understand that we
are interested, not in making them members of the Church for
membership, but in bringing them into the Church that they may enjoy
the same blessings that we enjoy.

WORLD IN CRITICAL CONDITION

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.162
This world is in a critical condition. It is a pitiable situation that
faces us, and not anything in the world but the power of our Heavenly
Father can preserve the civilization of our day and the people who
live upon the earth at the present time. The adversary is having his
innings because the people of the world have refused to listen to
their Heavenly Father. Now it is our privilege, not only to set the
example but also to encourage others to take advantage of it. Nobody
knows, when we pick up a paper today, what the headlines may read. So
many lives destroyed here, so many there, some from accident, some
from warfare, some from wickedness, and the greatest destruction of
all that is going on in the world today is the result of immorality.
There was a time, as we have been reminded, when, the people of Sodom
and Gomorrah could not produce, in those two cities, ten individuals
who were worthy to live. They had been so wicked that they were not
fit to live any longer, and so they were consumed by fire.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.163
Now, brethren and sisters, somebody said in this conference that the
same laws apply, the same rules govern today, and it is just as
necessary for us to keep the commandments of our Heavenly Father.
today as it was for any of the prophets of old or any of his faithful
sons and daughters who have lived upon the earth, who have earned a
right to a place in the celestial kingdom. We can't gain our
exaltation by the good lives of our neighbors, but we can profit by
their good example, and we can improve ourselves.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.163
With love in my heart for every one of you, may I say I am grateful. I
haven't any way of expressing my thanksgiving to the people of this
Church and many people out of the Church, where I have traveled in the
world, for their kindnesses to me, one of the humblest of our Father's
sons. I wish I could return in full measure all the good which has
been done for me wherever I have been.

RICHES OF ETERNAL LIFE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.163
And now, brothers and sisters, it is not so important how many
valuables you may have, how much property you may possess, and how
many of the honors of men you may acquire, and all those things that
are so desirable in the world, the thing that God has given to you
that is worth more than all the rest is the opportunity to obtain
eternal life in the celestial kingdom and have as your companions,
throughout the ages of eternity, sons and daughters, husbands and
wives with whom you have associated here on earth. That is what the
Lord teaches us, and when the world is so distressed and uncertain, we
ought to be grateful, we ought to be thankful for our blessings. I can
think of no people in the world who have so much reason to be thankful
for their blessings as right here in the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.

BLESSINGS OF CONFERENCE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.163
This will be the conclusion of a remarkable conference. It has been
delightful to me, these wonderful choirs that have made us so happy
with their singing, the fine advice and counsel that we have received
from our brethren, the opportunity even to sit in the room and feel
the influences that are here, because everyone who is here, I am sure,
has felt as I have felt the inspiration of our Heavenly Father and the
spirit of love and kindness and a determination to do better than we
have ever done before.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.163
This is God's work. It is for the salvation of all the human family if
they will accept it, and we who have received it and know it is true
should be ever alert and watchful to share with others the things that
we know. Let our homes be the abiding place of prayer and thanksgiving
and gratitude. Every day when we go out from our homes, let us leave a
place that has been sanctified by the righteousness of our own lives,
and when we return to it that we may feel that influence that is
always there when the Spirit of God is present.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.164
I pray that these fine boys and girls who have come to sing to us,
along with the other visitors, may go home from this conference, that
you may return to your various homes in safety and in peace, and take
with you a renewed desire to be real members of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, worthy to be called members. Now, I pray
that the Lord may add his blessing, that his peace may be upon you and
in your lives, and in your home. Let us pray for the great men and
women of the world who need the Lord but do not understand his
interest in them. Pray for the President of the United States who, at
the present time, so much needs guidance from our Heavenly Father.
Pray for our representatives in Congress, our governors, our mayors of
cities, the men who have influence in politics in our various
communities, that they may do the things that will be better for all
of us and make us happier, and please our Heavenly Father. That is our
privilege. I say to you that the power of prayer is something that
cannot be measured. If there were time, I could tell you many
instances where prayer has been answered in a marvelous way. People
have risen from beds when they have been told they could not live,
that it was not possible, and yet they have lived and performed a
great work. This is the kind of Church that you belong to. This is the
kind of organization the Lord has offered to all people. Think of our
great educational institutions, the opportunities which are given to
our children to learn all that the world can teach them, plus the
glorious truths that are necessary for us to absorb and make a part of
our lives in order that we may gain an exaltation in the celestial
kingdom.

ADMONITION TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.164
God bless you, my brothers and sisters. I feel I want to be with you.
I am so grateful for the privilege of being here, and now I am anxious
that you may all go to your homes and carry with you love unfeigned,
love for your boys and your girls, for your husbands and wives, for
your neighbors and friends, and let that love abound wherever you may
be. If we will do that, when the returns come from this conference and
we hear from the various stakes and missions of the world, where
people have gone from here, we will discover that we did receive a
blessing and that the Lord did magnify us and give us our
opportunities, and we will go on keeping his commandments.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.165
I pray that every one of us will remember that to be a member of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an honor beyond all
price in comparison, and that we may so live that our neighbors and
friends who know us, who may not be members of the Church, will be
grateful for our fellowship. Peace be with you. May you go to your
homes in peace and safety and continue to live in love and happiness
as long as you are upon the earth. And when the time comes for us to
depart this life, may each of us find our names recorded in the Lamb's
book of life, not one missing, entitling us to an inheritance in the
celestial kingdom, right here upon this earth, in the companionship of
those we love, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.177
I endorse heartily the fine instructions you have already received. I
think perhaps this is the largest assembly of Priesthood that the
world has ever seen. Every man here and every boy here, who has
conferred upon him the Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood, has a
portion of divine authority. In my judgment, no other place in the
world in our day or in olden times has had such an experience. And
there are not very many places in the world where you could get as
many men together in a religious service as we have here tonight.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.177
The brethren have been calling our attention today, to the fact that
we have some things to do that we have not yet accomplished.
Immorality is just as terrible in the world today as it ever has been;
that is, the results are just as bad. Dishonesty brings the same dread
and destruction. Conditions generally are pitiable.

LETTER FROM GERMANY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.178
I have a letter here that comes from a portion of the old world, and I
will call your attention to part of it. Here is a man who is writing
to a friend. This brother is in the Russian Zone of Germany. He is
writing to a young man who had performed a mission in Germany several
years ago. The letter reads: "As you know, my wife is very fragile and
delicate, as you were in Dresden when she brought our little Claus
into the world. He will be nine years old on the thirty-first of
March. Three years later she bore me another son, and this year in
June, we are expecting another child. Now, I am fearful that my wife
will not be able to carry on, because of this famine and
undernourishment." He says. "You know, together with others, what we
need. This is what I have to ask you, and do not be afraid. The Church
has already helped us twice with food, besides the times they have
given us clothing, but it is only a drop of water on a hot stove--not
delicacies that we need, but bread and potatoes. We have no potatoes
at all in our house and there are none that can be bought in the
stores. The daily ration of my wife in her present critical condition
is, as follows: (for each day) nine ounces of bread, a little less
than one ounce  of sugar, less than one ounce of meat, a little less
than one ounce of lard, one ounce of marmalade, and a little less than
one ounce of other staples."

EUROPEAN RELIEF

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.178
This condition is the result of war and famine in Europe. He calls
attention to the fact that they do not know what to do, they do not
know where to obtain food. They appreciate what the Church has already
done. We have shipped a hundred carloads of food, bedding and
clothing, since the war, into those countries. Unfortunately, in this
particular section, much of it has been taken--that is, some of it has
been stolen, thus preventing delivery to those those for whom it was
intended. Many of our people here have been sending packages. And if
you send small packages by mail this individual says that it will
probably be delivered, but if it comes any other way that the Russian
Government, that is, those that represent the Russian Government will
just take it, no matter what quantity it is, and dole out just enough
to keep people from starvation. By the way, there was another thing in
that letter--and I want to be sure I get it right, because it was
astonishing to me. He told how much milk the small children were
permitted to have. Perhaps I cannot turn to it in this letter in a
hurry, but the small children have nothing else but just a small
portion of milk once a day.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.178
When I think of the blessings that we have, brethren, think of the way
the Lord has made the desert to blossom and bear fruit; when I think
of the comforts that we have in our homes, our opportunities, and then
realize that there are some of our brethren and sisters in the old
world that have not enough to eat but are suffering for the want of
food and other necessities, I am grateful to the Lord for his bounties
extended to us and am glad that we are sharing with those in need.

RELIEF SOCIETY BUILDING.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.179
President Clark has referred to our Relief Society that has done a
marvelous piece of work in providing quilts and bedding for thousands
of needy people and who are on hand always to help. The suggestion is
now that we assist them to build a house, for their own use. They
started the house that they are now in, and it was intended to have
been a women's building but it became necessary, apparently, to take
most of it over for other purposes and the sisters have had one floor
of the house that was to have been theirs for the Relief Society. But
they have not complained, and have gone right along. It would be a
fine thing if the women of this Church could possess an office
building and meeting place of their own and I hope that each of us who
know of what they are trying-- to dowhen they come into the
neighborhood they will probably ask for a little contribution to help
build a house--will feel that they are worth a good deal more than the
small amount they ask for, and that we will demonstrate to our wives
and our daughters that we appreciate their efforts.

CONDITION OF THE WORLD

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.179
It seems to me that the world never could have been in any worse
condition than it is now, even at the time of the flood, or at the
time of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, or the time of the
destruction of other places in the world, the destruction in this
country at the time of the crucifixion of the Savior. Wickedness was
so terrible, and people did not believe in God, apparently; they
refused to accept the idea that there was a God; notwithstanding, they
were warned in time to repent if they would have done. In the case of
Nineveh they did repent and were not destroyed, but we find so many
people today who do not believe in God, do not believe in the divine
mission of Jesus Christ--millions of them--and yet, He is the Father
of us all. It is a strange thing how difficult it is for many people
to believe that there is a God. There are many who are anti-Christ,
they can believe in anything, almost, that you can think of and
produce arguments for believing it, and I want to say to you today,
that the largest portion of the population of the world that we live
in is anti-Christ, not the followers of Christ at all. And among those
who claim to believe in Christianity, comparatively few of them really
believe in the divine mission of Jesus Christ.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.179
Well, what is the result? People have turned away from the Lord and He
cannot bless them when they refuse to be blessed. Our Heavenly Father
has said to His children, all down through the ages, "If you will
follow Me and keep My commandments, the fullness of the earth shall be
yours." That has been His promise, and it has been fulfllled,
notwithstanding that selfishness and immorality and other sins creep
into the hearts of individuals, and they turn away from the Lord.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.180
It is a good deal like a man once said to me--or remarked in a place
where I happened to-- be"Why, these people here seem to think I am
full of the devil, but I am not." And I said to him, "My brother, did
you ever know anybody that was full of the devil and knew it?" That is
one of the tricks of the devil: To get possession of you and keep you
from knowing it. And that is one of our difficulties.

ABSENCE OF SPIRIT OF GOD

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.180
This community has been an example in many respects--I speak now of
the Latter-day Saint communities in different parts of the
country--our sons and our daughters have been very reasonably careful
to honor us and help us, I am sure. But this terrible world war that
has filled people with hatred for one another, has had its effect on
everybody, apparently. And there is no longer the idea among the
children of men that they can sit down around a peace table and
satisfy all those who are concerned. Why? Because they do not have the
Spirit of God; and without it they never will come to an agreement.
Now, we know that and the world does not know it.

DANGER OF ANTI-CHRISTS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.180
In our own country we are in danger of anti-Christs; we are in danger
of those who prefer to have their own way regardless of whether it is
right  or wrong. And I want to say that there are in our own community
men and women who are looking with toleration and with some anxiety
that we do not say anything unkind about those people across the sea
who are just as wicked as they can be. It is not our business to
criticize them. But it is our business to see that they do not bring
into our community the policies and falsehoods and wickedness that
control them in their own land.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.180
The newspapers .give us a little information now and again--not very
much. And there comes in through the mails, to many of us, magazines
of various kinds. I wonder if we are paying attention to what is going
on, as a people, and realizing that if we do not prevent anti-Christs
from controlling our Government of the United States, we have got to
take a stand on the side of the Savior. We cannot be on the other side
of the fence.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.180
Now, we have had information and instruction that no other people in
the world have had. We know that God lives. We know that Jesus is the
Christ. We know that the Gospel is upon the earth, but the other
people do not know that and are in the hands of the adversary. If they
only had the understanding that we have, that God lives and that we
are all His children and that we will be judged by our works here in
this earth and by our lives, probably they would feel different, but
they do not seem to know that. And on the contrary, there is
bitterness and hatred in their hearts, for one another, and it is not
a question of whether it is right or wrong; it is a question of which
one has the most power.

INSTRUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.181
Reference has been made to the Atom Bomb. That is only one thing. But
just imagine, take this group here tonight, one bomb dropped upon this
house that we are in, such as was dropped over there in Japan and
there would not be any of us left to tell the tale. They are being
manufactured, and other instruments of destruction, through the wisdom
and intelligence of men, all of them sons of the living God, but they
are being utilized not to find the way of peace, but to find other
means of power and aggression against those that they associate with.
That is' our danger. And this Church cannot remain idle and silent in
regard to things of that kind.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.181
If people come into our community and try to teach our families things
that are harmful, surely, knowing our responsibility, we will ask the
help of our Heavenly Father to teach them better. We do not have to
become angry. We do not have to be filled with hatred, but we should
be filled with wisdom that comes from our Heavenly Father when we keep
His commandments. We should have the privilege of going to the Lord in
prayer for guidance when we are in doubt. He will always hear and
answer our prayers if we are worthy to be heard.

AID FOR WAR-STRICKEN COUNTRIES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.181
And so, my brethren, let us set our houses in order. Let us see if we
cannot do a few things that we have not been doing. We are becoming so
wrapped up with the world that we forget the people who are suffering
that we could help, in many cases. The Church that you belong to has.
done a magnificent job, and the people who belong to it have been
sending means in addition to what the Welfare Organization has sent to
the war-stricken countries, including food, clothing, bedding and
medicines. They have done a fine piece of work, but it is only partly
done and we will have to continue, and unless we are willing to
continue we can hardly go to the Lord and say, "Heavenly Father, give
us a bounteous harvest." They are all His children. They need us; they
need not only our moral support and our religious teaching, but they
need food and clothing and bedding and help of all kinds because, in
many cases, they haven't anything left. If you could see some of the
letters that come into our office from some of the poor people over
there, it would wring your hearts. People who have been taken away
from their homes with the idea that they were going to be allowed to
settle elsewhere, and all of a sudden deserted, and then when they
returned to their homes, found them pillaged and robbed of what they
had --everything--and left helpless, with, no place to go.

GRATITUDE FOR BLESSINGS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.182
And so, tonight, as we sit in the comfort of this grand auditorium,
this house that was reared during the poverty of the people, when we
did not have so many conveniences, at the same time when the Temple
was going on, think how the Lord has blessed us! And I am sure we are
.grateful for it and we will continue to be grateful as long as we
have the Spirit of our Heavenly Father; the feeling of gratitude as a
result of enjoying the Spirit of the Lord. And when we have so much to
be grateful for, surely, we will be glad not to let somebody else do
it, but to do our portion.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.182
Now, we have had a wonderful two days of conference. We have another
day tomorrow, and what a privilege it is to know that we can sit here
in comfort, enjoying the influences that come from our Heavenly
Father, listening to the most delightful music that you can hear
anywhere in the world, and then go where we can find food and places
where we may be able to lay our bodies down when they are tired.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.182
And, by the way. brethren, if you know of anybody who has not a place.
let us all try to help out, because there are people here from many
places, some of whom have been unable to find rooms. If you will go to
Bro. Romney's office, who looks after the Welfare Organization, at 19
W. South Temple, today, or tomorrow, or the day after as long as the
city is crowded, I am sure he will try to be of assistance. I am
giving you that because there might be cases, and we have had that
happen once or twice here in Salt Lake City, where people did not know
where to go and they stayed out all night or sat in the hotels in
chairs. Well, now, that is a part of our work. They are our Brothers
and Sisters, that have come in and we want them to be happy, and I am.
sure most of you have done something, who live here, to help take care
of the group. I know that I never have any difficulty in having the
house I live in filled. and I know that I am happy when they come and
help to fill it and the Lord has blessed me for it.

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.183
Now, there are many things that I might talk about, tonight, but I
want to raise my voice to you and say, our Heavenly Father raised up
the very men that framed the Constitution of the United States. He
said He did. He gave to us the greatest Palladian of human rights that
the world knows anything about, the only system whereby people could
worship God according to the dictates of their consciences without, in
any way, being molested when the law, itself, was in effect. Now that
is what the Lord gave to us. That is the Constitution of this country.
Yet, we have people who would like to change that and bring some of
those forms of government that have failed absolutely to make peace
and happiness and comfort any other place in the world. and exchange
what God has given to us--the fullness of the earth and the .riches of
liberty and happiness. Yet, there are those who go around whispering
and talking and saying, "Let us change this thing." I am saying to you
that to me the Constitution of the United States of America is just as
much from my Heavenly Father as the Ten Commandments. When that is my
feeling, I am not going to go very far away from the Constitution, and
I am going to try to keep it where the Lord started it, and not let
anti-Christs come into this country that began because people wanted
to serve God.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.183
People who came here came that they might honor God without
molestation. They did some very foolish and unwise things, but after
awhile the Lord took a hand. He was ready to organize His Church, or
would be soon, and so He raised up men that knew how to frame the
Constitution of our great country and made it possible for an
organization such as is in this house tonight to enjoy the blessings
that we have enjoyed all these years, sometimes under difficulties, of
course, but not the trials and distresses that other countries have
had. So let us appreciate it and let us evidence to our Heavenly
Father that we do appreciate it, not by talking about it but by
letting our light so shine--the light of righteousness, the light of
faith, the light of honesty, the light of generosity, the light of
truthfulness, all those things that our Heavenly Father indicates that
we should manifest to the world--let that light so shine that others
seeing our good works will desire to be identified with an
organization that seeks to live the commandments of God and honor Him.
If we will do that I am sure that some problems may pass us by that
otherwise may come to us.

KINDNESS TO WIVES ENJOINED

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.183
Brethren, be kind to your wives. I hope that there is no man here who
has married one of the daughters of God--and He loves them, they are
His daughters--who is not willing to willing to do by her as he knows
the Lord would have him do. Do not make her just a convenience' in the
home to do the slavery and to gratify his appetites--that is not what
women were given to men, as wives, for--and I want to say to you that
it is your duty and your privilege, as men who hold the Priesthood. to
honor your wives and your children if you expect them to honor you.
Unless you honor them, God will not be pleased with you. Live in such
a way, in love and kindness, that peace and prayer and thanksgiving
will be in your homes together. Do not let your homes just be a place
to hang your hats at night and get your meals and then run off some
place else but let your homes be the abiding place of the Spirit of
the Lord. And so, let us reach out, each of us, help our neighbors as
well as ourselves, set the examples in our homes and as sons and
daughters of the living God in our great community, working hand in
hand.

SET HOMES IN ORDER

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.184
Reference has been made to some of the divorces that are increasing in
the land. I want to say to you that the larger portion of the divorces
are the result of infidelity and immorality, and unfortunately on the
part of both men and women. So, brethren, let us set our own homes in
order. Let us make our adjustments. Let us live so that we can
truthfully look toward the skies and say, "Heavenly Father, we want to
be worthy of what you have given to us. We would like to be an example
to our neighbors and to all who come in contact with us." And if we
will do that, our wives will be true to us, and our children will
appreciate us and be true to us. I want to tell you if we want
happiness in the Celestial Kingdom of our God, we will have to lay the
foundation for it right here; and part of that requirement of the Lord
is that we do right in our homes and live right. Some men think that
because they hold the Priesthood that that gives them a special way in
which they may conduct themselves in their homes. I want to tell you
that you men who hold the Priesthood will never get into the Celestial
Kingdom, unless you honor your wives and your families and train them
and give them the blessings that you want for yourselves.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.184
The fact that they hold the Priesthood will be to many men a
condemnation, because of the manner in which they have treated it,
regarding it as though it were something very ordinary. Priesthood is
a word as the titles Apostle, Prophet, are words and names that ought
not to be repeated unnecessarily. We ought to honor these sacred names
that bring to us the blessings when we understand.

GRATITUDE FOR COMPANIONSHIP

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.184
Brethren, I have no way of expressing my gratitude to you who are here
tonight for your companionship. I have no way of explaining to my
brethren whom I associate with, my Counselors. how thankful I am to
them for their help and their kindness and their cooperation. I love
my brethren. When I see this fine lot of young men here tonight, who
are here to sing to us--a glorious group--all these boys, every one of
them, a child of our of our Heavenly Father with the possibility held
out to them to grow to manhood, to grow to greatness, to grow to
eternal happiness in the Kingdom of our Lord. I think what a privilege
it is to have them here tonight with us. What a joy it must be to them
to be in this great house of the Lord tonight under the influence of
the Spirit of our Heavenly Father.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.184
The Lord bless you, brethren. We have other meetings tomorrow; the
usual meetings will be held as we have been holding them the last two
days, and in addition to that we have a meeting on Wednesday in the
Temple, for the brethren who have been invited, the Presidents of
Stakes, Bishops, and a few others, because the Temple is so small it
will only hold a comparatively few, but we would like those brethren
to plan to be here in this building at eight o'clock on Wednesday
morning, all of those who are expected to go there, assemble here in
Stake capacity. the Stake Presidents meet with your counselors and
meet with the others of your Stakes that are supposed to go, and we
will find right here, before we go into the Temple, who is going in
and whether we can all get in or not, and of course we are hoping that
we all can.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.185
Bishop, what time is your meeting tomorrow night? Seven o'clock in
this building. The Aaronic Priesthood of the Church, represented by
the Bishops and those whom they bring with them are expected to meet
here in this building tomorrow night at seven o'clock, and I am sure
those who are fortunate enough to be here will have a happy time.

LORD'S SIDE OF THE LINE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1948, p.185
Now, brethren, again I pray that the Lord will bless you, not only
tonight but henceforth and forever. Let us each go from this house
this night with a renewed determination that we will stay on the
Lord's side of the line, no matter what the others may do, for on His
side of the line there is safety, and on the other side of the line
there is not. I pray that He may give us wisdom to choose that which
is holy, for it will give to us the blessings we desire, and I ask it
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.4
I appreciate the fact that there are many people who come to this
house from time to time who do not realize what a blessing a
gathering' of this kind means to those who attend. As your first
speaker this morning, and for the benefit of the radio audience, I
will say, George Albert Smith, the President of the Church will now
speak.

RELIEF SOCIETY CONFERENCE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.4
I announce to you that you can find nowhere else in all the world a
gathering comparable to this one. We have had two days of meetings on
this block. This house has been filled with women of the Relief
Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered
here, representing the stakes and missions of the Church. They
represent the oldest women's religious organization in the world. They
came, not on a sight-seeing trip, but to worship, and to be
instructed. They came here to the house of the Lord knowing that if
they were assembled under proper conditions, they would be blessed.
Their two days of mingling and rejoicing together have prepared the
way for this other great general conference.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.4
This conference will continue three days, and during that time it will
be remarkable if all the seats in the building are not taken and
people standing, and in addition to that the Assembly Hall, which has
been equipped with radio television, will take care of an overflow as
far as possible, and also the open air will be enjoyed by many people
listening to the amplified program outside.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.4
As I came in this morning and saw this wonderful audience, these
beautiful flowers, our sisters here representing a great organization,
the Singing Mothers, I felt subdued in my soul and thankful to my
Heavenly Father that it is possible for me to meet with you today.
When we think of the disturbances that are in the world, the
uncertainty that is in the minds of individuals everywhere as to what
may occur, we are grateful to come into the Lord's house as we do this
morning, a house that was dedicated to him in the days of the poverty
of our people, a house that has been recognized as unusual among all
the houses of worship in all the world, and from this tabernacle every
Sabbath day there goes forth a broadcast to all the states of the
American Union and to many parts of the world in other lands, a
broadcast of religious music and a sermonette. Not anything to compare
with this program can be found anywhere. These singers voluntarily
come here every Sunday to render these programs.
                                                  

SERVICE OF TABERNACLE CHOIR

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.5
For twenty years this great choir has been rendering service to the
delight and the spiritual uplift of hundreds of thousands, yes,
millions of people, by means of radio, and the choir itself receives
no compensation. This organ, when it was built, was one of the great
organs of the world and still is, and it has been heard in many lands.
Personally I have had the pleasure of hearing it and the choir while
visiting in the missions in the South Seas and other places. They are
devoting their time, every Sunday, singing praises to our Heavenly
Father, causing his children everywhere to rejoice.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.5
Here in Salt Lake City a large percentage of the population are not
members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but
thousands of them listen to this program and seem to have joy in
telling us that they feel that it is a rich, spiritual uplift to them.

MISSIONARY WORK

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.5
This morning we have over five thousand missionaries scattered
throughout the world. For what purpose? "Surely," as one minister said
to me in England many years ago, we don't desire you to come over here
to preach; we have all the churches that we can fill." And he said,
"We have all the preachers that we can afford to pay. Why do you come
over here?"

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.5
And my answer to him was, "My brother, we are over here without
financial remuneration to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the
wonderful people who dwell in this part of the world."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.5
He asked, "Why don't you go to the heathens like we do?" And I
answered, "We do." He asked, "Where do you go?" And I said, "We come
right here."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.5
He looked somewhat annoyed, and I said to him, "Now don't be
disturbed, my brother. That isn't intended as an offense at all. There
are no finer people in the world than you have here, but what is a
heathen anyhow?"

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.5
With some hesitation he answered, "Well, a heathen is a man who
doesn't believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Jesus
Christ."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.5
I said, "Do you have any people like that here in Great Britain?" He
dropped his head and said, "Yes, I am sorry to say we have." Then I
said, "Surely you are not going to complain about us if we come over
here to help you convert them. You haven't been able to do it, and
that is why we are here. We want them all to understand the gospel of
Jesus Christ."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.6
Today our five thousand missionaries are scattered over the face of
the earth, paying their own expenses or having them paid by their
loved ones at home, and the sole purpose of that great missionary
effort is that all of your brothers and sisters and mine, all of the
children of our Heavenly Father, may be brought to a knowledge of the
purpose of life and be given understanding of what it means to be born
into this world and to know that we are living eternal lives. The
entire world is a marvelous missionary field for this great Church!
There are some nations in which we have been unable to do missionary
work, but the Lord in his own way, will provide for doing that. And,
of course, many people hear the gospel of Jesus Christ by means of
radio, who wouldn't otherwise hear it.

CENTER OF MISSIONARY ACTIVITY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.6
Speaking of the missionary field, I wonder sometimes, if we realize
that Salt Lake City is the center of our great missionary activity.
There isn't a city in the world, in my judgment, that is better known
than this city because of the temple, the Tabernacle, and the great
organ and choir broadcasting as they have been every Sunday for nearly
twenty years. Salt Lake City is one of the world's most beautiful
cities.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.6
I wonder if some of you realize the hours and the days and the months
that are spent by your brothers under the direction of President Irvin
T. Nelson of the Big Cottonwood Stake beautifying the grounds, making
the flowers to bloom and the shrubs to be delightful, the lawns to be
kept green. I would like those brethren who do that fine work to know
that many of us appreciate it very much. They are helping the people
who come here to become interested in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and
many of them say, "Why we never saw anything like this any place
else," and they go away and tell their neighbors and friends.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.6
Wherever I go, it seems to be in the minds of people, many of them,
and they say, "I'm going to Salt Lake City some day. I want to go out
there and see what you people have accomplished in the wilderness." We
haven't done it all, brethren and sisters. This is the Lord's Church.
He gave it the name of his Beloved Son. He directed the pioneers to
come here. He didn't send them some place else, and, under his
guidance, and under his inspiration, the people have lived out here
and, with his blessing, the soil has been made fruitful, and there is
no more beautiful place in all the world that is occupied as homes by
the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father than the section of
country that you live in. Surely we should be grateful.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.6
Referring to the missionary work, think of sending more than five
thousand into the world to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to people
who believe that they already have it, and yet when they compare what
the Lord has revealed in this latter-day in addition to what they
already have, they discover that it took the revelations of the Lord
to the Prophet Joseph Smith in our day to make the Bible, the Old and
the New Testaments, plain to these people.

CONVERSION THROUGH BOOK OF MORMON

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.7
I remember a good many years ago when I was down in California, I met
a man who was a great geologist, whose name was Robert Hill. While
being employed in research in Mexico and Central America by the
Smithsonian Institute or National Museum, a Book of Mormon fell into
his hands, and he read it. He was working under the direction of the
department at Washington, where they collect all of the curiosities
from the various sections of the country. He was there as a government
employee. The National Museum, I presume, is where much of the
material may be found.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.7
When he read the Book of Mormon he asked for a leave of absence. He
came to Salt Lake City and inquired for somebody who would indicate to
him the source of the Book of Mormon, for he said, "This book explains
some things that the scientists are unable to harmonize." Dr. James E.
Talmage took him in hand and informed him as to the source of the Book
of Mormon, how it had been revealed, how the people had come here
under the direction of of our Heavenly Father and built up this
country. Before Robert Hill left, he said, "This is what I have been
looking for," and he was baptized and became a member of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He returned to Mexico, and I saw
him later in Los Angeles. When I asked him what effect the Book of
Mormon had on his life, he said, "Why, Brother Smith, it enabled me to
understand the Bible as I have never understood it before."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.7
There have been distributed hundreds of thousands of tracts and books
teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, the expense for which has been
paid by the Church and its members in order that other people might
enjoy what we enjoy.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.7
There isn't anything that enriches our lives like an understanding of
the purposes of life and the ability to live the gospel of Jesus
Christ. All happiness worthy of the name comes to us when we observe
the teachings of our Lord and live to be worthy to be his sons and
daughters.

VISITORS TO TEMPLE SQUARE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.7
Since coming into this building this morning I have asked how many
strangers there are who come onto this block each year. Last year I
had supposed was the greatest year we have ever had because of the
number coming here during our celebration, but I understand that this
year up to today 840,662 of the children of our Heavenly Father, your
brothers and sisters and mine, have come here onto this block to see
and learn what the Lord has done. I think it is marvelous, and so this
morning as I stand here in your presence, I am grateful that I belong
to the same organization that you belong to, grateful that all the
good things that the world enjoys, all that is true and wholesome and
uplifting and educational may be enjoyed by the membership of this
Church without having to give up one thing.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.8
I have said to many people when they have asked me, "What is there
about this organization that you belong to? What is it that you are so
concerned about, that you send your missionaries all over the world?"
I have replied sometimes, "We want you all to be happy. We want you
all to rejoice as we rejoice. After awhile we will have to meet our
record, and if we have been faithful, I am sure the Father of us all
in the world will thank us and bless us for bringing so many of his
sons and daughters to an understanding of the purpose of life and how
to enjoy it under the influence of his spirit."

OBEDIENCE BRINGS BLESSINGS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.8
It is glorious to live in this part of the world. I might say it is
glorious to live in this age of the world notwithstanding the sorrow
and distress and uncertainty that exist. We have received an assurance
that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us if we will be faithful. We
have no promise that he will care for us on any other terms, but he
has said that if we will honor him and keep his commandments, he will
watch over us and protect and bless us. I think of that lovely
audience that I saw here yesterday, all our sisters, and now this
morning there is a great mixed audience apparently mostly men. Yet we
are only a small portion of the Church of Jesus Christ of' Latter-day
Saints that has become identified with the Church of the Lamb of God
since the year 1830. It is marvelous, my brothers and sisters, what
the Lord has done--and he has done it.

INSPIRATION OF GENERAL CONFERENCE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.8
We will have the pleasure today and during the days to follow of
hearing quite a number of those who devote their time to teaching the
gospel of Jesus Christ. We have people here from nearly all parts of
the Church throughout the world. Many have come a long way, not to
hear men speak, but to feel the inspiration of the Almighty as it
flows to those who are called to address us, play for us, and sing for
us in this wonderful house of the Lord.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.8
I know that God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ. And I am
thankful to know that we are all brothers and sisters--thankful that
he gives us all opportunities so to adjust our lives here that when
mortality is complete and our work is done that we will dwell in his
presence and enjoy the companionship of those we love forever.
Shouldn't that make us feel that our homes must be the abiding place
of the Spirit of the Lord? Shouldn't that make each of us feel, where
we know what the Lord has advised us to do, that it is the best for us
and we will do what he wants us to do? I want to say that the happiest
people in all the world are those who obey the counsel of our Heavenly
Father.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.9
I pray that his spirit may continue with us. I pray that when we have
finished this conference, we may go away feeling that we have waited
upon our Heavenly Father and not in vain. We will return to our homes,
sharing what we have enjoyed here with those not able to come, and to
our families with a renewed determination that we will keep the
commandments of God and that we will so adjust ourselves that our
homes will be the abiding place of his spirit that will guide us into
all truth. That the Lord may add his blessings and his peace be with
us, as we go through this conference, I humbly pray, in the name of
Jesus Christ. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.162
You have listened to Elder Matthew Cowley of the Quorum of the Twelve.
I was not aware when Brother Cowley was called to preside over the
missions of the South Seas that he couldn't be seasick . I think he is
probably the only one of the brethren that could have gone through
what he went through and come back reporting as well as he has.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.162
We are nearing the close of a delightful conference, the end of the
third day, and as I stand here for just a few moments, I crave an
interest in your faith and prayers that I may be able to say something
that will be helpful.

BLESSINGS OF CONFERENCE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.162
I am sure if nothing more were said, this great congregation could go
back to their homes and truthfully say, "We waited upon the Lord, and
we were not disappointed." The influence in this house and in the
adjoining properties where people are at worship at this hour is such
that with all my heart I feel to express my gratitude to the Lord that
he has heard and answered the prayers that have been offered and that
he has fed us the bread of life.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.162
This congregation is made up of members from many parts of the world.
When conference adjourns, no doubt you will return to your homes. I
would like to take this opportunity to caution you that if you are
driving on the highways that you be as careful as possible, and if you
are walking on the streets of Salt Lake City that you likewise be
careful.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.162
The Lord has blessed us thus far, and I trust that as we finish our
conference and go to our various fields of labor, we may know that his
preserving hand has been over us, and when we go to our homes, we may
bow in thanksgiving and gratitude to him for his many blessings.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.163
Do you realize, my brethren and sisters, that you are only a small
speck in the great universe of the population of this world--so few in
number that by comparison we are insignificant? However, you will find
no other place in the world this day where there will be a
congregration so large as this congregation, most of whom can testify
that they know that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, and that
we are his children. That is a marvelous blessing when we contemplate
the predicament that many countries are in at the present time while
here we are at peace; here we are enjoying the companionship of one
another, different nationalities and the descendants of those
nationalities meeting here as sons and daughters of the Living God.
Surely not anything else that we can think of in the way of a blessing
would take the place of the assurance we enjoy.

THE GIFT OF LANGUAGE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.163
It has been my privilege to travel in many parts of the world. I, too,
was down in New Zealand where Elder Cowley filled his first mission,
and I witnessed the affection those people have for him. I remember
one experience. Elder Cowley had not been there for twenty years, and
yet the first meeting that we attended at their haitau, he talked
fluently to the people in their own language. There was present an
educated Irishman who was the secretary of the Princess Tepueeta. When
the meeting was over, he took me off to one side and said:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.163
"How do you account for this? That man hasn't been down here for all
these years. I've been here for three years trying to learn this
language, and he stands there and talks better than the natives talk
in their own tongue."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.163
The Lord does bless us, and I am glad to have Elder Cowley call
attention to the fact that many of our missionaries need to acquire
the languages of the natives in the countries where they are called to
labor. The native people prefer to hear the gospel in their own
tongue. I hope we will not neglect our opportunities to become
proficient in speaking the languages of the peoples among whom we do
missionary work. I hope we will give the Lord a chance to help us
learn to speak the tongue of the people to whom we have been sent as
servants of the living God.

BLESSING OF ETERNAL LIFE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.164
If you were to take from the world today the membership of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Book of Mormon and the
D&C were wiped out, we would have a world without any hope of eternal
life in the celestial kingdom. The people of the world wouldn't even
know what it means. I don't say that disparagingly, but I am trying to
say it so we will appreciate the blessings that the Lord has given to
us. We not only have the Holy Bible, that great volume of scripture
that the Lord has preserved all these centuries and handed down from
generation to generation so that his children could know about him and
his desires for us, but we also have these other great books. And yet
the larger proportion of the population of this world do not now know
the contents of the Bible. Most of those who have read it and are
familiar more or less with its text do not know after all these years
how to interpret it. The Lord has given to us the power to interpret
it. He gave to the Prophet Joseph Smith the privilege of retranslating
it, if I may use that term.

LATTER-DAY SCRIPTURES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.164
I hold in my hand the American volume of scripture called the Book of
Mormon, containing approximately five hundred pages translated from
gold plates. We have all that the world has, the scripture that came
from the old world, but we have the scripture of the new world which
is the Book of Mormon added to that; and then, in addition, I hold in
my hand another book of approximately three hundred pages containing
the revelations of our Heavenly Father given in these latter-days. We
also have the Pearl of Great Price containing other information that
the Lord has revealed, including in it the Book of Abraham translated
from papyri found buried with mummies in the catacombs of Egypt, and
the Book of Moses, revealed by the power of God to the Prophet Joseph
Smith. This also constitutes part of the scripture we possess. These
latter scriptures assist the reader to understand the Holy Bible.
There is the greatest library to be found in all the world. There
isn't anything else like it. What does it contain? It contains what
your Father and mine has thought of enough importance to preserve and
give to the children of men and make accessible in many languages of
the World. These scriptures are all important and should be understood
by the Latter-day Saints. I am not going to ask you to hold up your
hands to ascertain how many here assembled have ever read these books,
but I desire to call your attention to the fact that these are
precious truths, and they contain the revealed word of the Lord
printed and published to the world for the purpose of preparing his
children for a place in the celestial kingdom. That is why I say they
are so valuable. Other books contain copies, extracts, from some of
these books, but these are the originals as far as the Lord is
concerned, and he has given them to us. How thankful we ought to be
that we live in a day and age when we can read his advice and counsel
and have things explained that otherwise might be obscure and
uncertain to us.

IMPORTANCE OF REVEALED WORD OF GOD

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.165
I am not concerned whether or not you have the books of the great
libraries of the world in your home, provided you do have these books.
Think of the millions of volumes that there are in our own
Congressional Library at Washington, in the British Library, and in
the libraries of other countries, millions of volumes--and yet all
that God has revealed and published to the children of men that is
necessary to prepare them for a place in the celestial kingdom is
contained within the covers of these sacred books. How many of us know
what they contain? I frequently go into homes where I see all the
latest magazines. I find the books that are advertised as best sellers
on the bookshelves. If you were to throw them all away and retain only
these sacred scriptures, you wouldn't lose what the Lord has caused to
be written and made available for us all to enjoy. So, brethren and
sisters, among our other blessings let us not forget that the Lord has
made it possible for us to have, enjoy, and understand the scriptures
and to have his word that has been given down through the ages for the
salvation of his children.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.165
Our missionaries are out in the world today trying to explain these
things to the learned and other men of the world, and there are many
learned men who have access to all of these books who do not believe
in God, who do not know that we are living eternal lives, but have an
idea that when we die that is the end of everything. Yet in the
comparatively small organization known as the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, there are thousands of men and women and some
children who know that we are the children of our Heavenly Father,
that we are here and now living eternal lives, that the gospel, the
power of God unto salvation to all those who will believe and obey, is
on the earth.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.165
Surely we ought to be grateful for our blessings. Brethren and
sisters, keep this library where you can find it, and where your
children will find it, and then have enough interest in the eternal
salvation of those boys and girls that are in your home that you will
find ways and means to interest them in what these books contain, that
they may know how precious they are in the sight of their Heavenly
Father.

ASSURANCE OF ETERNAL LIFE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.166
We have been taught during this conference, among other things, the
importance of family prayers, of asking a blessing upon the food, of
the importance and sacredness of eternal wedlock. We have been taught
the necessity and desirability of honoring the Sabbath day to keep it
holy, and so I might go on through the advice and counsel that the
Lord has given. Today we are seated in a house that the Lord provided
for us that we might come together and consider all these blessings
under the influence of his spirit. I fear sometimes that we pay little
attention to the seriousness of this life, and that we take it too
much for granted until it is too late. I remember being on a train one
day with a man who was born and reared in the Church. We were
returning from California, and I made myself known to him. As we
visited, I talked to him about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He told me
that his people were members of the Church, but he didn't understand
anything about it. And he said as we discussed the principles of the
gospel, "These things interest me." We visited quite a long time, and
when we finished, that good man, I believe he was a good man, said to
me, "I would give all that I possess to have the assurance that you
have of eternal life." I said, "My brother, you don't have to give all
that you possess to have that assurance. All you have to do is to
search the scriptures prayerfully. Go where they may be explained to
you. Seek the truth, and the beauty of the truth will appeal to you,
and perhaps without much of an effort on your part, and I am sure
without giving away all your property, you can know as I know that God
lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith is a prophet of the
Living God, and that we are living eternal lives."

TEACHING OF GOSPEL PRINCIPLES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.166
Don't let your children grow up without teaching them the principles
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Don't wait to send them into the
mission field to learn what the gospel means. I remember when I was in
the South fifty-five or sixty years ago, a man who came from a large
family said, "I don"t know what to say. I don't know what to tell
these people."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.166
"Why," one of the brethren said, "teach them the Bible. Go and get
your Bible and read Genesis." He said, "I don't know where Genesis is
in the Bible," and yet he had gone from a Latter-day Saint community,
and from a Latter-day Saint home to carry the message of life and
salvation to those people in the South. However, it was not very long
after that until his mind was changed. He had received a testimony of
the truth through study and prayer, and he knew that the gospel was
here, and he was able to stand on his feet and freely bear testimony
that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.166
Now, fathers and mothers, appreciate your children. Don't turn them
over to somebody else to train and educate in regard to matters of
eternal life. That is your privilege, and it is a privilege. Teach
them to pray and walk uprightly before the Lord, and then in time of
need they can go to him, and he will answer their prayers. It will be
astonishing to you the great happiness that will come into your home
that you theretofore have not enjoyed, if you will follow this
counsel.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.166
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation in the
celestial kingdom to all those who will believe and obey it. There are
some who seem to have the idea that if they believe it and their names
are on the records that is sufficient, but that isn't sufficient.
Don't let them go on in that blind thoughtlessness. Reach out after
those who are in the Church and those who are out of it, and seek in
every way to share the blessings of the gospel of our Lord with them,
his children. That is what we are expected to do. Freely we have
received, and freely we should give. When we return to our various
places of abode, let our homes from now on be sanctified by prayer and
with gratitude and thanksgiving, so that those who come there might
feel the influence and the Spirit of the Lord and be prepared to bear
testimony of the truth of he gospel of our Lord.

NAME OF THE CHURCH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.167
This is our Father's Church. He gave it its name. Only today a good
sister handed me a paper, something that she herself had prepared.
Among the things that were written there was her testimony of the true
name of this Church, the Church of Jesus Christ. She wanted to know
why we don't pay attention to what the Lord has said about its name.
We sometimes call ourselves Mormons, not members of the Church of
Jesus Christ, and she wanted to know why. "Why," she says, "the Lord
has made it just as plain as can be what his Church should be called.
He called it by the name of his Son, Jesus Christ." In another place
he said that if it was the church of some other man it would bear his
name, the name of the other man. She wrote it out in her own
thoughtful, simple way. And so, brethren and sisters, when you go away
from here, you may be associating with various denominations of the
world, but remember that there is only one Church in all the world
that by divine command bears the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. I am
sure we will show our appreciation of that great and wonderful name by
respecting it, and not be found calling ourselves Mormons as the world
nicknames us. The name Mormon to many people in the world means
anything but the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact they do not know what
it means. I congratulate you as members of the Church, that you belong
to the Church of Jesus Christ; live in the age when his Church has
been organized and has been given his name. If we are faithful and
devoted to the end of our lives, when we go to the other side we will
find we shall not belong to some other Church such as the Church of
St. John or St. Peter or St. Paul or Mormon, or that of any of the
Apostles or great men who have lived upon the earth, but we will find
that we belong to the Church of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Let us remember that, and let us respect it, brethren and
sisters, and not be careless about it.

PRAYER AND BLESSING

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.167
Now, in conclusion, I pray that the blessings of our Heavenly Father
may be in our lives, in our hearts, and in our homes, that each of us
may go from here with a renewed determination that we will be worthy
of the great honor that has come to us of being members of this great
organization, grateful for all of our blessings, and for this
wonderful house we worship in, this great choir that sings for us and
has sung so many years for the world, and grateful for the privilege
of associating together in our wards and branches in the Church under
the influence of the spirit of the Lord.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.168
I pray that the love of the gospel of our Lord will burn in our souls
and enrich our lives, that it will cause husbands to be kinder to
wives, and wives to be kinder to husbands, parents to children, and
children to parents because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is a
gospel of love and kindness. It will cause us, if we are living as we
should, to love our neighbors as ourselves, and go out of our way, if
possible, to help them understand better the purpose of life. These
are some of our privileges.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.168
Now, I pray that the blessings of the Lord may be with you, and as far
as I have power and the authority of the priesthood I bless you, my
brethren and sisters, that the power of the Lord may be and go with
you, and that his peace and his love may abide with you, and that you
will so live that you will be worthy of these blessings as long as you
live upon the earth, and I do it in the name of Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.180
I wonder sometimes if as fathers we take pains to explain to our boys
the seriousness of the obligation assumed when a boy becomes a deacon.
I wonder if when the boy is ordained a deacon the father lets him feel
that he has something now that is eternally important.

CONTRASTING WARD SITUATIONS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.180
I remember hearing upon one occasion of two wards, side by side, with
about an equal population. One of the bishops made it a point to visit
the homes of the members of his flock when a child was born, and when
the time came for it to be blessed in the fast meeting he was on hand
to encourage the parents that their child might receive a blessing. As
the children grew a little older he taught both the girls and the boys
that there would be a blessing come to them if they would go to
Primary and to Sunday School.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.180
He made them want to be baptized when they were eight years of age,
both the boys and the girls. When the boys were nearly old enough to
be ordained deacons he had talked with them and made them feel that
they could be ordained deacons. He was another father. He followed all
those families through life and it was said of the ward that every boy
and every girl were married in the temple and many of them went on
missions.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.180
The ward that adjoined this one had another kind of bishop. He was
busy. He did not have time to follow up. He let his counselors do
that. It was proper that his counselors should do part of it but the
difference was noted by the stake presidency, that in the one ward all
of the young people, almost without exception, were faithful, took
advantage of their opportunities, were prepared and taught beforehand
the importance of what they were to receive, while in the other ward
if the parents did not teach the children they were not taught except
in a mediocre way, and the result was that the majority of those young
people grew up, not particularly interested in the church.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A BISHOP

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.181
Now, I mention this because a father of a ward, a bishop, has a great
responsibility. I do not mean that the father of the child and the
mother of the child do not have a responsibility. It is their duty and
their responsibility, but what a wonderful addition to the life of
these young people when they feel that the bishop recognizes them on
the street, goes out of his way to encourage them to do what they
ought to do. There is not anything that the children will not do for a
bishop of that kind.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.181
I remember, as if it were yesterday, when John Tingey placed his hands
on my head and ordained me a deacon. I had the matter so presented to
me and the importance of it, that I felt it was a great honor. The
result was, it was a blessing to me, and then after awhile other
ordinations came to me. But in each case the foundation was laid in my
mind that here was an opportunity for another blessing, and I want to
suggest to you fathers who are here tonight, there is no time that you
can spend, no way in which you can utilize your time that will be of
greater advantage than training your boys and your girls to be worthy
of the blessings of our Heavenly Father.

FAILURE OF PARENTS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.181
Only a few weeks ago a good woman came into my office, a daughter of
one of the most prominent men that ever has been in the church. She
said: "I cannot understand why my children do not have any interest in
the church." She continued, "I have talked to them and explained to
them what they ought to do."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.181
I went back in my mind, and I was not unkind enough to say to her,
"What did you do with them when they were younger?" I did not read to
her that scripture, Section 68 of the D&C, which says:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.181
"Inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes,
which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of
repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism
and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when
eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.181
I do not know all the facts in regard to that family but I do know
that they spent considerable of their time unmindful of their growing
children, and I am wondering if by now, (the father is gone and the
mother is still living), I am wondering now if she looked back and
took into account what the father and mother did if it would not
explain why these children now do not have much faith.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.182
And so, brethren, as fathers, as brothers, as associates, as
neighbors, why not lay up treasures in heaven by going out of our way
and encouraging these young people to do what the Lord would have them
do, so that as they grow up it will be natural for them to do the
things that our Heavenly Father would like them to do.

HISTORY OF JERUSALEM

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.182
Reference has been made tonight to Jerusalem. I think the story of
Jerusalem is one of the most pathetic of all the stories we hear. A
city that had every advantage; a city that had within its walls those
that the Lord himself claimed. They were his children and he still
claims them. But a city that was so selfish, and the leadership of
which was so careless, that the population of the city grew up in
wickedness, not one group, but generation after generation, and the
city was destroyed repeatedly although the Lord did everything he
could by means of his prophets to train them that they could have been
preserved.	

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.182
There was one time when they were preserved. It showed how the power
of the Lord could be made manifest. The city was surrounded and the
plans were being made, and the Army outside made its threat, but a
prophet went to the Lord and said, "These people need your help. They
are repentant and will you not help them. They are helpless. They are
surrounded by their enemy," and the next morning when daylight came a
very large portion of the army outside was dead. The power of the Lord
had been made manifest in that case and the city was preserved.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.182
It is marvelous what the Lord has done in that regard, but I am
thinking of Jerusalem today. After all these years and experience
after experience, it is a battleground, and one of the most
undesirable places to be living that you can think of in all the
world. But there will come a change. Repentance will come and when
that repentance comes and is accepted by the Lord, Jerusalem will be
redeemed.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.182
It was redeemed once, you will remember, after being in bondage
seventy years. The Lord had told the prophet Jeremiah that Jerusalem
would be destroyed and its people would be in bondage seventy years.

FREEDOM FROM BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.182
One hundred years before Cyrus, the general who captured Babylon, was
born, the Lord revealed to the Prophet Isaiah that Cyrus should be his
servant and say unto Jerusalem that it should be rebuilt. Babylon at
that time was the greatest city in all the world, and was thought to
be impregnable. Cyrus was not a Jew. Cyrus did not understand the old
Testament, nor did he know of the part he was to play in the freeing
of the captive Jews and rebuilding Jerusalem.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.183
While Cyrus was besieging the city of Babylon the great king,
Belshazzar of Babylon and his associates were using the sacred vessels
that had been taken from the house of the Lord in Jerusalem to drink
from. It was a great debauch, and suddenly in the midst of it was seen
a hand writing on the wall these words, "Me-ne, Me-ne, Tekel,
U-phar-sin," and they could not read it.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.183
The Queen said to the King, "There is a Hebrew prophet among us. He
can tell you what it means."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.183
And so they went out and brought Daniel in and when Daniel saw the
handwriting on the wall he could read it. It was not difficult for
him. He was the servant of the Lord. He had the priesthood and he had
honored it in a most marvelous way all down through his life.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.183
The king and others felt perfectly secure, feeling that with food and
provisions, and a river of water running through the city, not
anything could come in to disturb them, and yet on that wall were
written the words which, when interpreted, read, "You have been
weighed in the balance and found wanting, and your kingdom will be
divided among the Medes and the Persians." At that very hour "my
servant Cyrus" had diverted the river that went through the city from
its channel and his army entered under the wall, which wall was so
high that it could not be scaled or destroyed with any means or
weapons that they had, and so wide that several chariots could ride
abreast on the top.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.183
When that gentile, if we may use that term, that alien to those that
had had the priesthood and the blessings of the Lord, the descendants
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, realized that the Lord had given him
Babylon, he issued a proclamation freeing the Jewish captives and
returning them to rebuild their city of Jerusalem. He not only took
his own army and his own people but he gave them means to use in
payment to the workers.

PRESENT CONDITION OF JEWS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.183
I mention this because of the predicament Jerusalem is in tonight.
Think of the condition the Jews find themselves in, wherever they are
in all the world. I want to say to you that some of the best people
that have ever lived were the Hebrew race and they were examples in
many instances but they, in some cases, lost their faith and turned
away. I want to say that some of the best men and women that we have
had in Salt Lake City were Jews. I hope that the Latter-day Saints
will not forget, will not fall into the habit that people have who
hate the Jews because of their prosperity, and sometimes hate them for
other reasons; that they will not fall into the habit of condemning a
nation, condemning all those people, without remembering a
circumstance that happened in the British Parliament.

DISRAELI'S ANSWER

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.183
There was an argument going on between a great Hebrew, Benjamin
Disraeli, who was the Prime Minister of England, and a man who was a
noted arguer in the House of Lords, and when he could no longer answer
the Jew, then he began to taunt him with being a Jew. He said: "Yes,
you are only a Jew anyhow."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.184
And then Disraeli arose and said: "This man has taunted me with being
a Jew. I am a Jew and I am proud of it. And when the forebears of this
man were fighting like wild beasts for their mates, my people were
laying the foundation for the literature of the world." That was his
answer.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.184
And then one more, and I hope we will all remember it. "When this man
and those he loves bow in prayer, everything they ask for, they ask
for in the name of Jesus Christ, a Jew."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.184
I am stressing that tonight, although I did not expect to when I got
on my feet because of the hatred that sometimes grows in men's hearts
and we fail to see the virtues of others. Brethren, in the midst of
these political campaigns such as we are having now, for goodness sake
do not stoop to criticising and finding fault unfairly and unjustly
with those who do not believe the same as you do in politics. Let us
be real Latter-day Saints,--not make believes--and see the virtues of
the others. There is virtue in both camps.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.184
Think of Jerusalem, tonight. Think of the predicament of that great
people who have maintained their integrity as a nation, as
individuals, as a race, as few others in the world have done. It has
been marvelous to me, but see how pitiable their situation is now, and
if all the people of the world were righteous and they were in
transgression, there would be hope for them because our Heavenly
Father has insisted, in his advice and counsel to the world, that
"Jerusalem shall be redeemed."

BLESSINGS PREDICATED ON RIGHTEOUSNESS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.184
We do not have to go so far away. What about America? I was in a
meeting, not very long ago, where a group of Boy Scouts stood and
sang, "God Bless America," and they sang it beautifully, and all the
time they were singing I asked myself the question, "How can he bless
America until America repents?" Every great blessing that we desire is
promised us by our Heavenly Father on condition that we honor him and
keep his commandments. Praying is not sufficient. Not only must we
pray but we must live to be worthy of the blessing.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.184
In the midst of the upheavals of the world--I almost hesitate to open
the newspaper and see the headlines of all the articles because so
many of them are in large type and so often they indicate that the
danger of another war confronts us.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.185
Brethren, why did the Lord gather us out from the nations of the
earth. Why did he not leave us in all the other lands. Why did he call
our forebears to leave the comforts of home and the opportunities and
blessings of civilization, such as it was, to come way out here into
the tops of these everlasting hills, to settle these sterile desert
plains, in many cases. Why? He knew what we needed. He knew that his
people would have to keep his commandments if they were to endure, and
like the time when the crickets came and were about to devour the
crops, and starvation stared our people in the face, there were those
among them who knew there was a way out. They did not know what it
was, but then they began to pray. They had done everything else to
destroy the pests, but when they began to pray there came into the
western sky big flocks of seagulls, and they came in and began to
devour the crickets.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.185
Do you suppose that would have happened if those people had been
wicked, if they had been immoral, if they had been drunken, if they
had been violators of the commandments of God? I cannot believe it
would have occurred, but I believe that among those people were some
of the finest men and women that have ever lived upon the earth, and
for that reason the Lord preserved their crops.

FAITH REWARDED IN BEAR RIVER

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.185
Then there was a circumstance up here on the Bear River. For ten years
the frost had taken their crops every year. People had to go out of
the valley for their breadstuffs. They could raise hay and cattle but
they could not mature their food crops. And the President of the
Church and his brethren went up there to hold conference. And when
they were coming, O how the people prayed that the President of the
Church, the prophet of the Lord, would rebuke the curse that seemed to
be upon that land, that they might raise their harvest.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.185
There may be quite a number of people from that stake here tonight
because there are a lot of fine people who live there now.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.185
And their conference was held--two days of conference. And the
brethren had all talked. Not a word was said about their distress; not
anything was said to them to encourage them that conditions would be
better. The benediction was pronounced and the people were going out,
and all at once the President stood up and he said: "Call the people
back. I have something to say to them."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.185
They came back and took their seats, and he said: "Now, you people
have been faithful. You have not run away from here. You stayed. You
have tilled the ground. You have done your best and every year you
have lost your harvest of grain. The Lord knows what you need, and I
can say to you that from this time forth you shall raise your crop."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.185
Imagine after ten years, but they have raised a crop in that valley
ever since.  These things are not accidents, my brethren. The
authority of the priesthood, properly exercised, brings to our minds
the fact that we are not very far from the Lord and he is all-powerful
and he is all-merciful. If we repent of our foolishness and turn to
him, he will hear and answer our prayers.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.186
Brethren, bishops, I was sorry that I could not be with you last
night. Bishop Richards, I think I owe an apology right from the stand
here. I went home last night after the meeting and went to bed just as
soon as I could get there after the afternoon meeting, because I
wanted to come down to your meeting. But when the time came to dress
and come down, I got up and I was so weak I did not dare to come. I
did not dress. I went back to bed, and I missed your fine meeting. But
I wanted to be there and I am sure you had a happy time.

OFFICE OF A BISHOP

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.186
I want to say this to the bishops. There is no position in the Church
that will bring a greater blessing to any man than the office of a
bishop, if he will honor that office and be a real father to the flock
over whom he is called to preside. Do not forget that. He can go into
the home, not to scold and find fault and criticize, but he can go
like a loving grandfather, if I may use that term, and the family will
pay attention, if he is wise, and he can gather them around him. And
if he can only get his ward teachers to help him, there could be a
great change in some of the wards of this church.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.186
I am pleading with you, my brethren. Do not be satisfied with just
going to the door and saying: "We want to know if everything is all
right," and go your way. That is not the duty. That is not the way a
ward teacher should operate, but every bishop should have under his
direction men, young men, middle-aged men and old men, who will go
into the homes, not apologizing for breaking into the house, but going
as ward teachers.

WARD TEACHING

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.186
Rodney Badger was a teacher in my father's home for years, and a great
man. Whenever he came the family met and he sat and asked us questions
and told us the things that he thought we ought to understand. And I
want to tell you that when he came into our home he brought the spirit
of the Lord with him. And when he went  out we felt we had had a visit
from a servant of the Lord.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.186
Let us try and see if we cannot improve our ward teaching, brethren.
Surely, in some cases, it is pitiable, because the Lord has given us
all the power and authority and the ability to go into the homes and
draw his sons and daughters nearer to him. But we often feel that we
are so busy with other things we cannot do it.

BLESSINGS PROMISED BISHOPS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.187
I am not complaining. I know what a difficult thing it is to be a
bishop. I have been in the homes of many bishops and I have ordained a
good many, and I have followed them and seen what their experiences
were; they have a very great responsibility, and it takes a lot of
their time. But I want to say to you that there is no bishop, nor has
there been a bishop in the Church, who has given the time, that the
Lord expected him to give in looking after the flock and teaching his
people and preparing them to do the work, that has not received one
hundred percent of the blessings that he labored for, and they will
extend to him throughout the ages of eternity.		

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.187
He may not have had wealth, may not have had distinction. He may not
have had the honor of presiding over clubs and things of that kind,
but if he has done his duty as a bishop, he has been hand in hand with
the Father of us all, and everything that he has done to bless his
kind is laid up as a treasure in heaven and nobody can take the
blessing from him.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.187
Let us see if we cannot improve that, brethren.	

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.187
As well as some of us have done, let us see if we cannot do better.

FALSE TEACHERS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.187
There is one little item here that has been called to our attention.
In some of our wards, in order to draw the congregations and bring
more people out, our bishops, and in some cases, our auxiliary
organization leaders, go out and find somebody to come and deliver a
lecture in the Sunday night meeting. Sometimes men are invited they do
not know anything about and sometimes those men say things that are
not what should be said in the meeting.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.187
There are two Indians that are working now among our people and they
are being invited from ward to ward and they are going in and telling
stories, and they dress up with their feathers and costumes that are
attractive to young people, and we are informed that they teach things
that are foreign to what we believe and what the Lord wants us to have
our people believe.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.187
Bishops, and leaders of organizations, protect your people from those
who would teach them things that would be harmful to them. There are
some of the finest people in the world that are Indians. Those men
that I am talking about now may have many good traits of character,
but right now they are going among our people and saying and doing
things that will do harm and will all have to be set aside, because
they are not telling that which is true. So, we would like you tonight
to pass that on in your wards, and stakes, you stake presidents and
the bishops that are here, and in whatever you do, protect your people
in the ward from those that you do not know anything about and who
will seek an opportunity to come in and talk to the people when they
should not be permitted to do so, because they are not teaching that
which would be helpful to the people.

HONOR THE SABBATH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.188
Another thing, brethren, our bishops and our stake presidents can have
a tremendous influence in bringing the people of their wards and
stakes to feel that they must honor the Sabbath day. Honoring the
Sabbath day and keeping it holy is a commandment of our Heavenly
Father. Six days he has given us to do about as we please, as long as
we do not do wrong, but on the seventh, he  said, "The seventh is the
Sabbath of the Lord Thy God." He has advised us to do no work, neither
our animals, nor the stranger within our gates, and he has promised us
blessings if we will do what we ought to do.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.188
Brethren, it is not an insignificant thing to violate the Sabbath day.
I want to say that you lose every time you violate the Sabbath day,
you lose more than you can gain, no matter what you may think you are
going to gain, but your boys and girls sometimes do not understand
that. Teach it to them. Teach them that their homes may be the abiding
place of prayer.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.188
I remember when I was a child, living right across the street from
here and the boys would come over to our place on Sunday after Sunday
School, and I was like the boys, I thought it would be lots of fun to
play ball and to play other games. But I had a wonderful mother. She
did not say, "You cannot do it," but she did say: "Son, you will be
happier if you do not do that. Let the boys go home and read a good
book."

HOME TRAINING

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.188
I want to tell you I am grateful for that kind of training in the
home, but there are places where the children are turned loose and
they are not guarded and they are not protected and they are not
trained, and the result is, not only do they lose the blessing that
would be eternally advantageous to them, but they cross to the devil's
side of the line, and the first thing you know they do things that
they should not do.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.188
I want to say that just as soon as we go into the devil's territory we
are in his power, and our safety is on the Lord's side of the line,
and the Lord's side of the line is on the side of the Ten Commandmeats
and the other commandments that the Lord has given, and we can easily
tell what they are.

PROTECTION OF YOUNG WOMEN

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.188
Quite a number of our young people are leaving home in the country
settlements and coming here to Salt Lake City. Our young girls are
coming, and when they come if they are not in homes that will protect
them, not under the supervision of good women, they are in great
danger. If I were living in some of the outlying settlements, knowing
what I know, if I had a precious daughter I never would let her come
to Salt Lake City without a guardian, no matter how good she was. If I
let her come at all I would be sure that she was properly safeguarded
and chaperoned and helped.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.189
Brethren, pass that word around. It is such an attractive thing for
these girls to come where the bright lights are, and the papers are
always telling what is going on here, but their eternal happiness may
be destroyed by falling into the hands of some wicked, careless boy or
man. And when they are ruined it is too late then to begin to say, "I
wish we had not done it." Safeguard them, please, as far as you can,
and when they come to the city and you know they are coming, you
bishops send word here. You can send word or find out what ward they
go into and you can write the bishops direct. If there is no other
way, write the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association and give
the addresses of these girls, and they will help to take care of them.
They will do a wonderful job for you and help to save those that are
more precious than gold.

WATCHCARE NEEDED

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.189
A great effort is being made right now to break into the ranks of this
people. Others who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints are building churches, building houses of amusement
among us, and those who are skillful in attracting young people are
gathering them in, and some of our young people have asked to have
their names taken from the records of the church. They come out of
good homes, but in some cases have not been taught properly and are
easily misled by strangers.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.189
Brethren, watch your people. You may have cattle and sheep on a
thousand hills and all the hay and grain and potatoes and other
things, you may own stocks and bonds and houses and banks and
everything, but if you, by reason of your own carelessness and
indifference, lose one of those young sons or daughters that God has
given to you, you will be repenting of it a long time, and your
repentance may not accomplish what you desire.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.189
There is a lot I might say but there is not time. I have talked so
long now.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.189
It is lovely to be here with you. I am happy to be with a group of men
like this, so many young men and boys here. Remember boys, every one
of you, is a child of our Heavenly Father. Every one of you is living
eternal life. Each of you boys and men, if you live properly, has a
right to the priesthood of the living God. Do not lose that blessing
and that privilege. And fathers, with your wives, teach your children
the beauty of the things that the Lord has given to us as the gospel
of Jesus Christ, and they will be happy and you will be happy, and
your families will not be broken up by those who mislead them, many
times wilfully and maliciously.

THE LORD'S HELP NEEDED

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.190
This is a day and age of the world when we need the Lord's help, every
one of us. I am grateful that we have almost everywhere now, in our
schools, in our congress, in our stakes in different parts of the
world, good men and good women that are not only teaching the gospel
of Jesus Christ but they are living it. Wonderful helps they are in
the various places that they are in, and we need it all. All those who
have faith and live to be worthy of the inspiration of the Lord will
be guided and inspired and helped in times of distress. He is not so
far away. He is our Father. He loves us and wants us to be worthy to
be called his children. This great body of men here tonight, this
marvelous group, every one of you is a son of our Heavenly Father.
This great group of men, every one is living eternal life, and the
gospel of Jesus Christ was given to our forbears and now to us, to
prepare us to live with him eternally on this earth when it becomes
the celestial kingdom. Can you think of anything more wonderful?

BLESSINGS AND TESTIMONY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.190
May the Lord add his blessing. I pray that he will bless every one of
you fine men, you teachers in the schools, you men in the wards and
stakes, those of you who are working in companionship with men and
boys and women in different parts of the world, I pray the Lord to
bless you that you will not lose an opportunity to help uplift and
develop and bring them to be what our Father would have them to be,
and they will be your companions, then, throughout the ages of
eternity.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.190
God lives. Jesus is the Christ. Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the
Living God. The Lord gave to him the priesthood that we hold and it
will continue to be passed on to our descendants as it came from our
forbears, if we will do our part.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.190
God bless you brethren, I am so grateful to be with you.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.190
Think of what it means to be a royal priesthood, not a make-believe,
but a royal priesthood, everyone having contact, if we will, with the
power of our Heavenly Father, the great King of kings and Lord of
lords.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, October 1948, p.190
This is his work and I bear my testimony to you that I know it as I
know that I live, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.6
You look mighty good to me. I wonder if any of you are as happy as I
am, to be at this conference. I started praying about two and a half
months ago that I might be here, and I am grateful to the Lord that he
has heard not only my prayers, but also your prayers, and I take this
occasion to thank every one of you for the interest you have had in me
and for the kind words that have been written, and the prayers that
have been offered.

GRATITUDE FOR RETURN

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.6
I would like at this time to thank all those who, out of the kindness
of their hearts, have sent cards of greeting and letters of
encouragement. It isn't possible for me to answer them all, but I am
sure that those who have sent them will receive comfort because of
what they have done.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.6
I have just come back from California. We have a large congregation of
people there and particularly in the place where I have just been, the
Los Angeles area. It is remarkable how many kind people there are
there, people who are not members of the Church, but who are
interested in what we are seeking to do.

LOS ANGELES TEMPLE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.7
My visit to California this time was in the interest of building
another temple. There are many people down there who didn't know what
it meant. They thought it was just another meetinghouse. They didn't
realize that while a meetinghouse serves a small community, a temple
serves a larger community for a different purpose. We were anxious to
have everything adjusted so everybody would be happy.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.7
May I say that we have received excellent cooperation from people who
are down there. Our own brethren who live there have made such a fine
record that, when they visited individuals in regard to the matter,
they have been received with consideration and kindness, and I want to
take this occasion to thank them, particularly, Brother Preston D.
Richards, who spent so much of his time doing the thing that I went
down to do and visiting those who would be of importance in helping us
to make our adjustments.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.7
The word comes from the missionary field that the Lord has opened our
way in numerous places. It is marvelous what a change there has been
in many cases. The magazines and newspapers of the world are going out
of their way now to be complimentary to the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. They sometimes don't understand the beauty of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, but they have discovered that we have some of
the best basketball players in all the world. And that draws us a
little nearer. The great Choir and Organ advertise us in the world,
and it's a joy to many who are away to listen in to this great Choir.

MET TO WORSHIP

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.7
We are met here this morning not just to talk and visit. We have come
together to worship in the most earnest manner. We are here in the
Lord's house to wait upon him. Many of you have come thousands of
miles just to be present. If each of us today is here to worship, if
we have come for that purpose and will exercise our faith, the Lord
will not fail us, and we will conclude this conference feeling that he
has blessed us marvelously.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.7
I wish that many more of our people could be present on an occasion of
this kind. Our house is not large enough. Even now we have to begin to
think of a larger place for our general conferences, but today we are
thankful to him who gave us this house and these surroundings.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.8
We are thankful to him who is the Author of our being, and grateful
that he came down to earth and brought with him his Beloved Son to
begin a new dispensation--the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times.
This is not the Church of Joseph Smith or of any other leader who
followed him. This is the Church of Jesus Christ, and it was our
Heavenly Father who gave it its name.

PRIVILEGE OF CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.8
I wonder sometimes if we realize what an honor it is to have
membership in this great organization. Even in our business affairs
and in our social affairs we should carry with us the feeling, "I am a
part of the work of the Lord, and I desire to be worthy of the
blessings that have come to me." There has never been a time in the
history of the world when the opportunity of disseminating the truth
has been so great as now.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.8
In our own land people are glad to hear our missionaries, pleased to
learn something more of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some people have
worshiped the sun; some have worshiped other luminaries; and some have
worshiped mountains and other things, with the thought that it was
worship. But the worship in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints is a devoted life, a desire to be worthy of him in whose image
we have been created and who has given us all that the world has that
is worth while--the gospel of Jesus Christ.

CONTRIBUTION OF SCHOOLS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.8
When I think of the fine development that is being made in our
schools, I am grateful. I refer particularly to the Church schools
(and I wouldn't overlook the public schools). There are many teachers
in the public schools who have done their best to teach our sons and
daughters concerning correct principles. But there are many people
identified with the education of the youth of this great land who do
not have any faith in God.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.8
We are fortunate to have so many who not only have the education that
comes from the universities, not only have the benefits that are
derived from science, but in addition to that, also have a testimony
that God lives and that we are his children. It hasn't been very long
since I saw a letter written by an educated man who concluded his
letter with a suggestion that all religion was a myth. All of it! And
yet that man has a position teaching the children of the Latter-day
Saints.

OBLIGATION OF PARENTS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.8
Brothers and sisters, we must depend not only upon the institutions of
learning, but also we must follow the admonition of our Heavenly
Father when he says that it is our duty to teach our children when
eight years of age, faith in God, repentance, and baptism.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.9
He refers there to parents. He doesn't turn that over to school
teachers. If parents in Zion or any of her stakes which are organized
fail to teach their children these things when eight years of age--not
waiting until they're grown--but when they are eight years of age, the
sin be upon the heads of the parents.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.9
And, my, how grateful I am, that there are so many of the members of
this Church who believe that, and who prize the children who have come
into their homes, and devote themselves to teaching them.

EXAMPLE OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.9
When I observe as I travel and as I mingle among the people at home
and abroad, the character of the Latter-day Saints, the fine example
that they set, the manner in which they live, I wonder sometimes if we
appreciate that our boys and girls are among the greatest missionaries
that this Church has--if they have been properly taught. They love to
share the gospel with others when they understand it, and they desire
to understand it. We have just had a great conference here of the
Primary Association of this Church. I was unable to be present with
them in this house, but I understand it was filled with those who work
with the young people, as well as some of the young folk themselves.
Nobody will ever realize the great worth of the Primary Association
unless he familiarizes himself with what it has done in this Church
through the fine leadership of God-fearing women.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.9
These organizations add to what we should teach in our homes other
things that our children should know and inspire in them a desire to
do what the Lord would have them do.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.9
Brethren and sisters, it is a joy to be here. I thank my Heavenly
Father for this privilege. I am grateful for your companionship, and I
would like to cooperate with you, from this time forth, realizing that
we have special blessings from our Heavenly Father, and that if we
will be unselfish with those blessings and share them with those who
do not understand and who do not enjoy what we appreciate, great will
be our joy.

MISSIONARY EFFORTS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.9
This is the Church of Jesus Christ. Millions of our Father's children
do not know anything about it, but they are his children just the
same, and he expects us to do our very best. Since the close of the
war, we have had as many as five thousand missionaries in the world.
Many of them have done wonderful work. They have found the hearts of
people softened and ready to hear the message.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.10
Many of our missions have used the singers in their groups, and they
have held concerts among the people where they could sing the gospel
as well as teach it by other means. Many of you brethren and sisters
are in charge of institutions of learning and are teachers of these
young people. I pray that not only may you have the joy of feeling
that your intellectual opportunities have been better than many, but
also that you may draw near enough to the Lord that you will feel his
presence and the inspiration of his spirit while you teach the most
precious of all his gifts to man, the sons and daughters who come into
our homes. I feel to bless these men and women who are giving their
time in the mission field and in the schools and among the auxiliary
organizations outside of their regular ordinary work of life. I feel
like blessing them and asking God to bless them for their
faithfulness.

LOVE FOR NEIGHBOR

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.10
This is the Lord's house. We are his guests today. It is he who made
it possible for us to be here, and now, while we are assembled
together and while we are mingled during the conference, let us
evidence by our conduct, by our gentleness, by our love, by our faith,
that we do keep that great commandment that the Savior said was like
unto the first great commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.10
I can say to you, my brethren and sisters, the happiest people in this
world are those who love their neighbors as themselves and manifest
their appreciation of God's blessings by their conduct in life. May
the Lord add his blessing, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.83
Seventy-nine years ago today, a baby boy came to earth across the
street from where I stand. There was snow on the ground. The boy's
parents were living in very humble circumstances. I was that boy, and
here in your presence today, I praise my Maker and thank him with all
my heart for sending me into a home of real Latter-day Saints.

EARLY LIFE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.83
I grew up in this community. When eight years of age, I was baptized
in City Creek just a block from here. I was confirmed a member of the
Church in fast meeting in the Seventeenth Ward, and with the
encouragement of one of my dear aunts, Lucy M. Smith, I stood up and
bore my testimony. I told that audience that I was glad to belong to
the Church of Jesus Christ, for I believed it was the true Church, and
I wanted to be worthy of my membership in it.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.83
Many things have happened since then. I wish I could give you a
picture of what has passed before my eyes and through my mind since I
began life here on earth. I was privileged to go to school. I attended
the Sunday School and the Mutual Improvement Association in the
Seventeenth Ward. I attended fast meeting and used to come to this
building on Sunday to hear sermons delivered by the great leaders of
the Church. I was permitted to go to Provo and attend Brigham Young
Academy under Superintendent Karl G. Maeser for one year; and the
influence of that good man on my life was so great that I am sure it
will endure for eternity.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.84
I was ordained a deacon and was president of my quorum. When I was
about fourteen years of age, I read the fortieth chapter of Alma in
the Book of Mormon in our Sunday School class. It made an impression
on my mind that has been helpful when death has taken loved ones away.
I will not take time now to read it, but it is one place in the
scriptures that tells us where our spirits go when they leave this
body, and I have wanted to go to that place called paradise ever
since.

MISSION IN SOUTHERN STATES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.84
I was called on a mission to the Southern States in the days when
great bitterness motivated some of the people who lived there. The
most of them were good men and women, but there were a few who
objected to the gospel of Jesus Christ being taught as the Lord
desires us to teach it. Some of our missionaries were brutally
whipped. During the period of time before I went there, several were
killed. I had the experience myself of lying in bed while the bullets
whistled overhead. A mob surrounded the building where we were
sleeping and fired into the four corners. Splinters fell over us, but
nobody was hurt. I labored under the direction of Elder J. Golden
Kimball. He was a great mission president. I came home and continued
my life work, having been benefited by the experience of my missionary
career.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.84
There were saloons and gambling houses in Salt Lake City in my
youth--not very many--but some, but I never had occasion to go into
them. I always felt it would not please my father and mother if I did,
and I was happy to do the things that they wanted me to do.

FURTHER ACTIVITIES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.84
After my mission to the Southern States, I was called to work in the
auxiliary organizations at home, in both the Sunday School and the
Mutual Improvement Association, and later became one of the stake
superintendents of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association. I
was also a ward teacher and stake home missionary. I also served as a
member of the general board of M.I.A.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.84
The President of the United States, William McKinley, sent word to me
by Governor Arthur L. Thomas that he felt that a member of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was entitled to a federal
appointment. We had not had one up to that time, and he offered me the
position in the Land Office of Receiver of Public Monies and Special
Disbursing Agent. Before that I had worked for the Grant-Odell Company
in the yard putting up wagons and other equipment, and when I was
offered the position of Receiver in the United States Land Office. I
was working for Z.C.M.I. My first appointment came from President
William McKinley, and the next one came from President Theodore
Roosevelt.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.85
I attended the general conferences that were held semi-annually in
this building. I used to edge my way in and sit down on the stairs at
the left. The house would be full, and there weren't seats for
everybody. On the particular occasion to which I refer, I came in, as
usual, and worked my way through the crowd and finally got a seat down
near the bottom of the stairs. (At that time I was a married man with
a family, living across the street, and may I say that having a fine
Latter day Saint wife was one of the greatest blessings that ever came
to me.) Presiding Bishop Charles W. Nibley, who was my neighbor,
touched me on the shoulder and said, "Come and sit by me." "I said,
"There is plenty of room here." Again he said, "Come and sit by me. It
is more comfortable here." If I had known what was going to happen
during that conference, you could not have pried me into that seat.

CALL TO APOSTLESHIP

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.85
That was on Sunday. I had to be at my work in the land office because
people were there from all over, and I could not go to the meetings
except on Sunday. The following Tuesday, I came home from the land
office to take my children down to the fair at four o'clock, and
Sister Nellie Colebrook Taylor came across the street and said, "Oh,
Brother Smith, I congratulate you."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.85
I said, "What are you congratulating me about?" She said, "Don't you
know?"

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.85
I replied, "I don't know what you are talking about."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.85
"Why,"  she said, "you have just been sustained as a member of the
Quorum of the Twelve." And I talked her out of it.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.85
She apologized and said, "I am sorry. I hope you will forgive me."
Knowing what my father's experiences had been, and having such a nice
position at the land office, I was not looking for a place such as
father had. It took all his time and kept him away from home so much.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.85
I turned to my wife and said, "I'll take the children now and go down
to the fair." But before I could get to the buggy, back came Sister
Taylor, and she rushed up to me and said, "It was you! It was you!
Everybody heard it."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.85
I will never forget how I felt. I turned to my wife, and she was in
tears. That is the way I received my notice that I had been sustained
as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.85
These are some of the experiences of a short life; and I want to say
to you brethren and sisters, it is a good deal better to be
seventy-nine years young than it is to be fifty years old.

SHARING THE GOSPEL

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.86
I came into my place as humble as a man could be. It took me about
three weeks before I could feel comfortable, and that would be another
interesting story if I had the time to tell it. During the period of
time I have held the priesthood, I have traveled more than a million
miles in the world, seeking to share the gospel of Jesus Christ that
is so precious to me. It has never been difficult for me to tell men
about the fine things that we have. Sometimes when men belonging to
other churches have said, "We have this and this," I have said, "Keep
all the truth that you have, and then let me explain to you some of
the things that you do not possess that have made my life rich, and I
am sure would make you happy."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.86
I was secretary of the Southern States Mission, and I presided over
the European Mission for a term, and I have been associated with you,
my brethren and sisters, and many of your fathers and mothers who have
passed to the other side, in this marvelous gospel of Jesus Christ our
Lord. I would like to say there has never been one hour in my life
that I can remember that I have had any doubt about this being the
work of our Heavenly Father. It has been a joy to me. People have been
kind to me wherever I have been--almost everyone. I cannot imagine
that I could have lived a richer life if I had planned what I wanted
to do during these seventy-nine years.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.86
I take this occasion now to thank the General Authorities of the
Church, the stake authorities, ward authorities, members of the
Church, to thank you for your kindness, your love, your help, and
willingness to enable me to do my work, especially at times when it
has been somewhat difficult.

BLESSINGS TO BE EARNED

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.86
We have a great responsibility resting upon us in the various
positions we occupy, I say to you men who are in this audience, who
are elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and who
have no official position, the Lord expects just as much from you, If
you expect your blessings in the hereafter, you will have to earn them
in the same way that the men who are ward and stake and General
authorities are earning theirs.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.86
It is a wonderful thing to look into the faces of a group like this, I
do not know how soon the time may come that I will be called from this
sphere of action, but when that time comes, I hope that I will have
earned the right to continue my associations with just such men and
women as are here today, and those who are scattered throughout the
world who are living the gospel of Jesus Christ,

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.87
To this marvelous choir of young people, from Ricks College of
Rexburg, Idaho, I say: Keep the commandments of the Lord, There isn't
any happiness worthy the name if you fail to do that. All happiness,
is on the Lord's side of the line, We thank you for coming here to
sing to us. We hope that wherever you go you will keep in mind that
our Heavenly Father loves you and has offered you and continues to
offer you opportunity to develop, to be such men and women as will be
entitled to a place in the celestial kingdom to have the association
with those whom you love throughout the ages of eternity.

GRATITUDE FOR PRESERVATION

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.87
I had no idea when I came this morning that I was going to talk to you
like this. I am grateful for the preservation of my life. Many times
when I have been apparently ready to go to the other side. I have been
kept for some other work to be done. I want every one of you to know
that I do not have an enemy, that is, there is no one in the world
that I have any enmity towards. All men and all women are my Father's
children, and I have sought during my life to observe the wise
direction of the Redeemer of mankind, to love my neighbor as myself. I
have had much happiness in life, so much that I would not exchange
with anybody who has ever lived, and I do not say that boastfully but
gratefully. All the happiness that has come to me and mine has been
the result of trying to keep the commandments of God and of living to
be worthy of the blessings that he has promised those who honor him
and keep his commandments.

THE LORD'S SIDE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.87
God bless you, my brethren and sisters. Do not make any mistake in
these days of uncertainty. Stay on the Lord's side of the line. All
righteousness, all happiness is on his side of the line.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.87
In conclusion, I pray that we may all so adjust ourselves as we pass
through life's experiences that we can reach out and feel that we hold
our Father's hand. This is God's work. This is his Church. It is the
way that our Heavenly Father has provided to prepare us for eternal
happiness. I pray that we may all be worthy of it.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.87
I would not feel right if I failed now to express to my father's
family, my brothers and sisters, my own family who have been so close
to me all these years, my gratitude to them for their helpfulness.
They have never put anything in the way of my doing my duty. And I
take this occasion to say to my brethren, the counselors in the
Presidency of the Church, and these other men who are here on this
stand: You will never know how much I love you. I have not words to
express it. And I want to feel that way toward every son and every
daughter of my Heavenly Father, and I can feel that way if I observe
his laws and commandments and follow his advice.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.87
That the Lord may enable us all so to adjust ourselves that when the
time comes for us to go hence we may find our names enrolled in the
Lamb's book of life entitling us to a place in the celestial kingdom
in the companionship of the best people that have lived upon the
earth, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

PRESIDENT GEORGE ALBERT SMITH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.119
I thought I would like to stand in the presence of this great audience
this morning and congratulate you that you are here in the house of
the Lord on the birthday of the Church, the 119th anniversary. And I
also hope that the more than a million souls now living that belong to
the Church are remembering that this was a wonderful event.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.119
As I saw the blue sky this morning and the glorious sunshine, I
thought of Parley P. Pratt's wonderful hymn, "The morning breaks, the
shadows flee; Lo! Zion's standard is unfurled, The dawning of a
brighter day, Majestic rises on the world." And if this group of
people, and those who are associated with the Church who have
covenanted with the Lord to do so, will undertake to fulfll that
portion of his prayer where he says: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done in earth, as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) the coming of that
great day will be hastened. It remains for us to bring that about,
brothers and sisters.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.119
The years pass so swiftly! Sixty-six years ago I was attending the
same school that these young men and women are now, then called the
Brigham Young Academy. Sixty-six years ago! When I think of what a
wonderful record that school has made and the blessing it has been to
the Church and to the people, I am grateful that their representatives
are here this morning to sing for us and to warm our hearts by their
presence.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.120
I don't want to take more time, my brethren and sisters, but I just
felt I wanted to greet you this morning and say to everyone of you:
God bless you; and let us see that every time we hear or read the
prayer offered by the Savior as a pattern for all of us to pray, that
we keep in mind that it is our privilege to be a part of that program
when this earth shall be even as heaven.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.120
The Lord bless you. Amen.

PRESIDENT GEORGE ALBERT SMITH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.165
This is a solemn occasion. We are met in the concluding session of a
great conference. Representatives are here from many parts of the
world. We have been privileged to listen to the counsel and admonition
and encouragement of those who have been called to direct in Israel.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.166
I am sure everyone who has attended these sessions has been edified,
and our minds have been directed to him who is the Author of our
being. I have rejoiced in the delightful music we have had, and take
this occasion to thank this splendid chorus that comes from, what to
me, is the greatest university in all the world. [Brigham Young
University, Provo, Utah.] I know you will pardon me for referring to
it that way, because it was where I went to school. I hope these young
people, members of the chorus from Brigham Young University, have
rejoiced in meeting with us as much as we have in listening to them.

PERILOUS TIMES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.166
We are living in perilous times. We are approaching the evening of the
sixth day. All the world is in confusion, and unfortunately, as has
been the case before, the majority of the men and women who live upon
the earth are in darkness, because they do not have the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the gospel of light.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.166
I trust that the few moments I occupy I may have the benefit of your
faith and prayers, that I may be led to say that which will be a
source of encouragement and blessing to us all.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.166
We live in a wonderful land, choice above all other lands, blessed as
no other nation is blessed, and yet we are in danger. Our Heavenly
Father has told us that there is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven
from before the foundation of this world upon which every blessing is
predicated. If we observe the law, we will obtain the blessing.  If we
fail to observe the law, we have no promise.

LOSS OF BLESSINGS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.166
As my mind goes back to the beginning as recorded in Genesis, and
follows down through the centuries that have since elapsed, I realize
that many people have lost the truth and turned to falsehood, thereby
losing their blessings.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.166
The Lord has been mindful of his children all the time. He has never
punished them, but he has taught them so that they might not be
punished by their own conduct. Those who would not listen to God's
representatives were destroyed. On one occasion the whole population
of the world was wiped out with the exception of a few who listened to
Noah, a servant of God, who for more than a hundred years had called
the people to repentance. Only those who were in the ark were
preserved.

SODOM AND GOMORRAH

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.166
We have the instance of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham learned that the
cities of the plains were to be destroyed because of the wickedness of
the people. He pleaded for those who were righteous, saying to the
Lord, "Surely, you are not going to destroy all of them. There must be
some people who are worthy to live." The reply to him was, "If there
are fifty righteous people in those cities, they will all be preserved
from destruction."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.167
Then Abraham asked, "Well, what if there are forty?" "Yes, if there
are forty," was the answer. "Then if thirty?" "Yes, if thirty." "If
twenty? If ten?" "Yes," ten would be sufficient to hold off the
destruction of the cities, but there were not ten people in those two
great cities who were worthy to live. Lot and the members of his own
family fled, then the whole community was consumed by fire.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.167
Prophets of the Old Testament warned the various communities from time
to time. They were fully warned before destruction came, but
notwithstanding that warning, Jerusalem, one of the great cities of
the world, was repeatedly destroyed. Babylon, the greatest of all
nations at one time, had been warned of its wickedness, but the people
would not do what the Lord wanted them to, and they were destroyed.

SONS OF HELAMAN

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.167
In our own country when the Nephites and the Lamanites were warring
among themselves, they were given certain promises if they would keep
the commandments of God, told that if they did not, destruction would
follow. Then we have that marvelous record of 2,060 Lamanite
boys--just boys--who joined the army of the Nephites in order order to
help preserve themselves and their families, and who faced certain
death--from any natural stand-point--because they were opposing
skilled warriors. But they had been taught by their mothers that God
would protect them if they would do their duty.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.167
These 2,060 boys, part of the army of the Nephites, went into battle
repeatedly. The last struggle was so terrible that we are told all
were wounded; two hundred of them fainted from the loss of blood. When
Helaman, their commander, saw their enemies driven away, anxious for
his young charges (he called them striplings) he went through the
battlefield and gathered the living. He found the 2,060 alive,
although many had fainted from the loss of blood.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.167
Helaman, who was amazed at their miraculous preservation, questioned
them. Their response was one of the greatest compliments to motherhood
to be found anywhere: "We knew our mothers knew."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.167
They believed what their mothers taught them. They had faith in God.
They were preserved, and they helped save their homes and families
from destruction.

PREPARATION FOR RESTORATION

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.167
During the great struggle for independence in the country under the
leadership of George Washington, our Heavenly Father was preparing the
way for the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in its purity.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.168
He gave to certain individuals the inspiration to frame the
Constitution of the United States that has been referred to in this
conference, the greatest palladium of human rights that we know
anything about. Under such a Constitution the gospel of Jesus Christ
was restored to the earth one hundred nineteen years ago.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.168
These facts are part of the history of the world, including many more
that time will not permit mentioning.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.168
The hand of our Heavenly Father has always been extended in love to
his children through his prophets who pleaded with them to repent of
their wrongdoing and keep his commandments. When they did, they were
blessed, and when they failed, they lost their blessings.

THE STANDARD WORKS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.168
We have here on this stand the Holy Bible containing the Old and New
Testament, as well as the Book of Mormon which is the history of the
ancestry of the American Indian. We also have the D&C, containing the
revelations of God to the Prophet Joseph Smith, all available to the
children of God. We have also the Pearl of Great Price containing
other scripture.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.168
We look upon these four volumes as the teachings of our Heavenly
Father, and accept them. There is no teaching in them that any
individual in the world belonging to any church or no church can find
fault with. In every case the admonition is to make men and women
better wherever they may be.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.168
These scriptures are available to all. You have been told that there
are thousands of your sons and daughters in the world now, seeking to
share with our Father's other children the truth of the gospel of
Jesus Christ before it is too late. We are coming dangerously near to
a time when our Heavenly Father will withdraw his spirit from the
world because the people of the world will not accept it.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.168
We have been told today that there are now a million and forty
thousand members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
and I say to you, not boastfully, but seeking to explain the truth,
that this Church has received in this latter-day a new witness: God
the Father and the Son did appear in the woods of Palmyra. A boy
received a witness that enabled him to endure all kinds of
persecution, and finally, as he was taken by his enemies, he said:

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.168
I am going like a lamb to the slaughter . . .I have a conscience void
of offense toward God, and toward all men. . . and it shall yet be
said of me--"he was murdered in cold blood." (D.H.C., 6:554-555.)

PROGRESS UNDER CONSTITUTION

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.169
Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and his brother Hyrum (the
great-great-grandfather of the man who sits at my left here on the
stand and grandfather of the man who sits behind me in this
congregation) died as martyrs at the hands of a wicked mob. They were
sacrificed not for any wrong they had done but because they had sought
to teach the truth and call the people of the world to repent before
it was too late. The work has gone on and under the Constitution of
the United States we have been permitted to carry on in this great
land. We have been permitted to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our
missionaries of course have gone all over the world, but I am speaking
now of the United States of America. However, there are many people,
many men and women in this land, some of whom may be friends or
relatives who are misguided by the idea that the Constitution of the
United States isn't as fine a system of government as they have in
Russia or Germany or Italy or some other part of the world,
notwithstanding the fact that the Lord himself said that he raised up
the very men who framed the Constitution of the United States and
directed that the membership of this Church should pray for and
sustain those who represented the Constitution of this land. I hold in
my hand the Bible and can read the Ten Commandments that were given to
Moses for the guidance of the people wherein the Lord told Moses what
the people should live for and do. If those Ten Commandments had been
lived up to by the people of the world down to the present time, this
earth could long ago have been celestialized. But the people refused.

OBEDIENCE TO COMMANDMENTS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.169
You know, and I know, that the Ten Commandments contain the will of
our Heavenly Father, and I am grateful, not only for the civil laws
but also for the laws God has given to us. I feel bound to conform my
life to the teachings of the Ten Commandments. I feel equally bound to
sustain the Constitution of the United States which came from the same
source as the Ten Commandments. Unless the people of this great nation
can realize these things and repent, they may forfeit the liberty that
they now enjoy, and the blessings that are so multiplied among us. I
do hope and pray that they will discover before it is too late that
God has spoken again. Your responsibility and mine is to let our light
so shine that others seeing our good works will be constrained to
glorify him who is the Author of our being.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.170
These books contain the advice of the Father of us all, the Father of
the Jews, the Gentiles, the Christians, the pagans. God is the father
of our spirits, and down through the ages he has tried to encourage
people to do the thing that would bring them happiness rather than
unhappiness. Yet today we find this world in such a condition that
there is uncertainty upon every hand. It is our duty not only to obey
the commandments of our Heavenly Father but also to pray for those who
represent the constitutional law of our land. It is our duty to pray
for those who hold high positions in the states, and in the nation.
Why? Because if they can be influenced by the Spirit of the Lord, and
there have been many cases where they have been, the people will
receive the blessing they need.

BLESSINGS OF CONFERENCE

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.170
Brothers and sisters, we are coming to the time when we will return to
our homes, and I ask you: Where in all the world could we have spent
the last five days under sweeter influences than we have enjoyed here
in this great Tabernacle? We have been blessed beyond our ability to
appreciate our blessings, I think. And now as we go to our homes, will
we take to them the influence that we have found here--the blessing
that we enjoy here--will it be carried out to encourage those who are
not doing what they should? If we do, then this conference will have
been to us an added blessing, because inasmuch as we endeavor to bless
the children of our Heavenly Father, we receive a blessing ourselves.
In other words, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of
these my brethren," the Master said, "ye have done it unto me." We are
living in perilous times. Brethren and sisters, set your houses in
order. Gather your families around you, have your prayers, ask the
blessing upon your food, give of your substance to those who are in
need.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.170
When I heard the reading of that marvelous record of the funds that
have been utilized by this little Church and think of what has been
given, and the millions that have been expended by this group of
people, I marveled, and I stand here to say that not one of you who
has contributed will be one dollar poorer than you were before.

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.171
We have this great chorus here today representing Brigham Young
University. There isn't any good that could come to that school that
would not please me. The leaders of that school are struggling,
working, planning, but I am afraid there is a limit to what may be
accomplished in a financial way in the immediate future. There are
wealthy people among us. There are those who are well-to-do who may
feel disposed and happy to help this institution grow. I want to say
that it is one of the finest places for our young people to go to
school that can be found anywhere. I hope that these young people here
will feel a blessing; I hope they will go back to the school and take
with them the spirit that is enjoyed here, grateful for the blessings
of our Heavenly Father. They are always close to those who honor him
and keep his commandments. And I now advise these young men, protect
the virtue of these girls as you would protect your lives, and to
these young women, I say, protect the virtue of these boys as you
would protect your lives. You are all the children of God, and he
loves you, but the adversary will do everything he can to tear down
and destroy your opportunities for happiness. That same admonition in
regard to these students of the university I give to all the sons and
daughters in the Church wherever they may be, and if we will honor God
and keep his commandments and live as we should, no matter where the
storms may strike, the winds may blow, and the lightnings may flash,
we will be as the children of God always have been when they have kept
his commandments: we will be under the protecting hand of him who is
all-powerful.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.171
We will continue to go forward and grow and develop in life, and in
the end we shall find a reward as inheritors in the celestial kingdom
of our God right here upon this earth and enjoy the companionship of
those we love forever.

OUR FATHER'S WORK

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.171
May the Lord bless you, my brethren and sisters, for your
faithfulness. And I bless you as he gives me power to do so, that you
may continue not only to do as well as you have done in the past but
that you may also strive harder than ever to save the world by
teaching the people in it who are worthy to live the gospel of Jesus
Christ, until it shall have been proclaimed to all, and the
opportunity be given to them to understand the truth, because this is
our Father's work. This is not the Church of any man. It is the Church
of Jesus Christ, and the only Church of Jesus Christ that is on the
earth which is entitled to that name by his appointment. Do you
appreciate it?

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.171
Men, do you appreciate your wives? Wives, do you love and appreciate
your husbands? Parents, do you appreciate your children? Children, do
you love and appreciate your parents? If we do, then we will love one
another, and there will be peace and happiness in our lives and in our
communities, and our homes will be the abiding place of the Spirit of
God.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.171
I pray that this may be the case and that we may now go from here
renewed in our determination to support the Constitution of the United
States of America, to maintain the standards of the Ten Commandments,
and to observe the advice and counsel of our Heavenly Father, as given
by his servants from time to time. When the time comes that this earth
shall be cleansed and purified by fire, and the celestial kingdom
shall be set up here, may we find our names recorded in the Lamb's
book of life entitling us to a place in that kingdom, that there will
not be one missing but that every one of us and those we love may be
there. This I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.188
I hope that tonight we have all taken into our souls the instructions
that have been given.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.188
We have met here in the name of the Lord, as representatives of the
Lord, holding his priesthood. We have been entitled, because of so
meeting, to divine guidance. Sometimes there are occasions, and I
imagine most of us have had them, when we may feel that there is a
better way to do things than the way they are being done, but if we
will keep the commandments of the Lord--and when I say the
commandments of the Lord I refer to the Ten Commandments, and the
other revelations that he has given to the children of men through the
prophets--if we will observe those teachings we will not go astray. It
is when we fail to keep the commandments of God that we fall into
darkness.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.188
I am grateful to be here with you. I was doubtful as to whether I
should come out tonight, because I am not as strong as I would like to
be. I felt however, that I could not miss being here with this body of
men, and as a result I have been edified and delighted.

SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.188
I would like to re-emphasize, if it needs emphasis, the suggestion
that has already been made: Read the scriptures. That is the advice of
the Lord. Are you taking it? It was the Savior who said: "Search the
scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are
they which testify of me."

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.188
It does not just say, "Read the scriptures--but, search the
scriptures." What does that mean to you? To me, it means prayerfully
to investigate what the Lord has said, and in that way, if we are
humble we will be entitled to his guidance, and we will not be misled.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.188
Within the last few days I received a letter from a man who was
excommunicated from the Church, not because he did what the Lord
wanted him to do but because he did what he wanted to do, and then he
put the responsibility on some of the other brethren, saying that they
had advised him what to do. He had forgotten that before he got into
the trouble that caused him to be severed from the Church, one of the
General Authorities of the Church advised him not to do the thing that
he seemed intent on doing, and just as soon as he did that he was in
the dark.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.189
Keep the commandments of the Lord, brethren, and you will not wander
away into darkness. There is not any time that you may not kneel down,
and if you can honestly say, "Heavenly Father, I have done what you
have asked me to do, and what you have directed me to do; what shall I
do now?" You will get the answer, and you will not be mistaken. But if
you do the things that ought not to be done and get your suggestions
from the adversary of all righteousness, you will find yourself
wandering in darkness and you may lose the pearl of great price.

RIGHTS OF WIVES

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.189
I would like to emphasize tonight something that has been referred to
before and that is that men, who have been married to women and have
agreed before witnesses that they will keep the commandments of God
and live as they should, sometimes are so selfish, so wilful, that
they forget that their wives have some rights. I want to say that the
priesthood does not give any man a right to abuse his wife. The
priesthood does give him a right to be kind, to be faithful, to be
honorable, to teach the truth and to teach his children the truth, and
when he does that he will not fall away into sin. There never has been
a time in the history of the world when we have needed divine guidance
more than now.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.189
Reference has been made quite plainly tonight to the fact that the
Presidency of the Church, three men, have been called to perform
certain duties, and, associated with them, other men have been called
to assist in carrying out the program of the Church. When these three
men and the others who have been called to the Quorum of the Twelve,
and those who have been called into the other presiding positions
among the General Authorities, are united, we need not be worried
about what will happen to the Church. All men and all women have a
right to inquire of their bishop, of their stake presidency and high
council with regard to matters in the Church. They have a right to
inquire and if they are not satisfied they have the privilege then of
going beyond these men, but not very often would that be necessary if
the man who is asking were in the line of his duty. So let us not
forget, brethren, that we have had conferred upon us a wonderful gift,
divine authority, that comes from our Heavenly Father. That is a
priceless gift bestowed by the Lord. It is not like a recommendation
from any other organization. It means that if we are living as we
should when that authority of the priesthood is conferred upon us, we
are entitled to the inspiration of the Almighty, and we will have it
if we keep his commandments. So let us have our homes in order, have
family prayers and ask a blessing upon the food. Let us try to learn
what the Lord would have us do, not what we would like to do or
somebody else would like to have us do.

ACCEPTANCE OF COUNSEL

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.190
As I stand here now I can think of a number of men that have gone to
the leadership of the Church for advice and if they had taken it they
would be in the Church now, but they are out. Those to whom they went
had no ulterior motives; those who gave the advice when it was asked
had only the desire to bless the one who asked for it, but it was
contrary to the ambition and desire of the individual, and because he
was already in sin, he could not understand the counsel of the good
man who unselfishly advised him what he should do.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.190
This world is in a pitiable condition. There are hundreds of thousands
of people who do not even believe in God, that is, in the God of this
world, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Father of Jesus
Christ, our Lord. They are in the dark. We cannot expect them to find
the way of happiness until they obtain the light, and it devolves upon
this great body of priesthood and those who are associated in the
various stakes and wards and missions of the Church, holding the
priesthood, to let our light so shine that others seeing that we are
indeed servants of the Lord will be constrained to accept the Gospel
and conform their lives to the truth.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.190
Again let me plead with you, my brethren, be patient with your
children. Remember that one of the greatest gifts that comes to you in
life is the family that you may enjoy if you have a right to the
priesthood and have received it.

INFLUENCE OF PRAYER

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.190
We will not always see alike; men will not always reason as their
wives do and vice versa, but if you will pray together, with a real
desire to be united, I can say to you, you will agree on all important
matters.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.190
I noticed a number of months ago up on South Temple Street this legend
on a billboard: "The family that prays together stays together." I do
not know who placed it there, but I want to say that if you will think
about it for a moment you will know that it is true. I admonish you to
pray together to the Lord, and I do not mean by that to just say
prayers, I do not mean to be a phonograph and repeat something over
and over again, but open your souls to the Lord as husbands and
fathers in your home, and have your wives and your children join you.
Have them participate. There then comes into the home an influence
that you can feel when you go there. It has been a great blessing to
me to be permitted to travel throughout this Church and enter the
humble homes of those who dwell in them, who keep the commandments of
the Lord, and to partake of the influences that I find there.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.190
We are not any of us becoming any younger. A good many of us have
passed the meridian of life. If we are going to make any corrections,
any adjustments, and most of us need to make adjustments, the time to
do it is now, not put it off for the future.

GRATITUDE FOR BISHOPS

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.191
I would like to urge that we go to our bishops and thank them for
their faithfulness and their devotion to us. I live in a ward where we
have three of the finest men in the world in the bishopric, wonderful,
humble, prayerful men. They do not have any desire to do anything in
that ward except to bless the people, and I suppose you will find that
in all the wards of the Church, with few exceptions.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.191
When we receive the priesthood, when we receive ordinations, when we
are set apart to perform certain duties in the Church, by the
authority of our Heavenly Father, we should realize that it is a great
and wonderful blessing, and that it carries with it a tremendous
responsibility. We should not treat it lightly.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.191
We have been together two days. We have had a happy time. Other
meetings will be held in this conference before it is concluded, and
if we will attend those meetings with a prayer in our heart to have
the Spirit of the Lord, to be guided, inspired by him in our thinking,
not only in teaching but in being taught, when the conference closes
we may go to our homes and take with us the inspiration of the
Almighty. We can set our homes in order and we can help to keep our
wards and stakes in order--but it will take work. It will take
prayerful, thoughtful work.

REPENTANCE NEEDED

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.191
There are conditions in the Church that need to be repented of.
Reference has been made in this conference to the fact that the sale
of liquor is being legalized. Years ago the President of the Church
stood in this pulpit and in a general conference and plead with the
people not to abandon the Volstead Act. Legislation had been enacted
making it illegal to sell liquor or to buy liquor. The Lord has
advised us not to use strong drinks, and every Latter-day Saint should
pay attention to the advice of our Heavenly Father in regard to that
matter. Let me plead with you, search the Word of Wisdom prayerfully.
Do not just read it; search it prayerfully. Discover what our Heavenly
Father gave it for. He gave it to us with a promise of longer life and
happiness, not if we fail to observe it, but if we observe it. Read
the Word of Wisdom in the presence of your families and set the
example. If we will do that Zion will continue to grow. If we will do
that the Church of the Lamb of God will continue to become a power for
good in the world.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.191
It is amazing to me how many great and influential men there are in
our own country who do not belong to the Church--I do not know whether
they belong to any church or not--but who in their correspondence with
the headquarters of the Church indicate how pleased they are at what
we stand for, and we stand, I hope, always, for what the Lord would
have us stand.

BLESSINGS OF THE PRIESTHOOD

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.192
Brethren, it is a favor from the Lord to receive the priesthood; it is
a great privilege to represent our Heavenly Father. It is a blessing
that, if we are faithful, will open the doors of the celestial kingdom
and give us a place there to live throughout the ages of eternity. Do
not trifle with this priceless blessing.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.192
Bishops, let me plead with you, when you ordain young men deacons,
teachers, or priests, see to it that they have it made plain to them
that with that gift that comes from our Heavenly Father, there is a
responsibility. If you will do that, they will grow up to be the
protectors of the weaker sex, and there will be less sorrow and
distress because of looseness of habits among the sons and daughters
of our Heavenly Father in the communities in which we live.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.192
The Lord wants us to be happy. That is why he gave us the gospel of
Jesus Christ. That is why he confered the priesthood upon us. He wants
us to have joy. That is why he organized this Church and set in it the
various offices, and all these things are in order. As has been
referred to tonight, by the other brethren, if you will follow the
leadership of the Lord, and those whom the Lord sustains, you will not
fall away into darkness, lose the light, transgress the laws of God,
and forfeit your privileges that he is so anxious that all of us
should enjoy.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.192
That is my feeling tonight, brethren. I am grateful to be here. I am
thankful when I have the privilege of shaking your hands, looking into
your faces, and I am happy when I see you walking as the Lord would
have you walk, following his advice and counsel. We will all be happy
if we do that, and the world will be enriched, and the missions that
have already been opened will continue to function until the people
have been warned and the countries that have not yet been warned may
have an opportunity yet to be taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. Among
those that have not been warned are the most populous nations in the
world today. But it is our responsibility to find ways and means to
carry the message of life and salvation to every nation.

George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1949, p.193
Thank you, brethren, for your love and for your fellowship, for your
kindness and helpfulness to me and my associates who are here upon
this stand. We love you. We are grateful to you and for you, and I
pray that every one of us will so live that when the time comes for us
to go hence and the record is opened of our lives, it will disclose
the fact that we have desired with all our hearts to be what God would
have us be, and we have been guided by him in paths of peace and
happiness and righteousness, and when the time comes that this earth
shall be cleansed and purified by fire and it becomes the celestial
kingdom--that is what it will be, brethren--when that time comes I
pray that we will all will all have so lived that we will find our
names recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life, entitling us to membership
here forever in the companionship of our wives and our children, and
all that are dear to us, not one missing, and I ask it in the name of
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

OPENING ADDRESS

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.698
"Our Father's Work"

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.698
Address delivered at the Saturday afternoon session of the 120th
semi-annual general conference October 1, 1949, in the Tabernacle

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.698
The use of the radio has made it desirable to make some announcements
that we did not need to make when everybody who came into the building
could see and hear. Not only is this building now filled to capacity,
but there are also thousands of people listening in on the outside.
Many are witnessing what you are this morning by television.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.698
We live in a wonderful age. I wonder if we appreciate what it is to
live today with all the advantages gained in the nearly six thousand
years since our first parents came into the world. Here we are in the
tops of these everlasting hills, in this building today that was
erected when the people were very poor and in distress. The building
itself yet unsurpassed in all the world as a house of worship where
one's voice may be heard by so many people.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.698
During the last few weeks we have had many visitors here, some of them
of national prominence, some of international prominence. They have
come into this structure that our forbears prepared; they have looked
around; and they have said, "This is unlike anything I have seen."

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.698
Some of them have remarked, "There is an influence here that is
different." So there should be. This house is the Lord's house. It was
dedicated to him by the people after they had struggled to prepare it.
It was presented to him after it had been fully paid for, and since
that time all people who have come into this house have come here as
the guests of our Heavenly Father.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.698
I say all people. Sometimes I have had individuals interrogate me in
regard to whether those who are not members of the Church would be
permitted to come here. I have been pleased to answer them, "All of
our Father's children are welcome in his house."

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.698
Today, we are met not just as a matter of curiosity. We have not met
just because it is customary. I hope we have come here with the spirit
of worship, with a desire that whatever is said here may be inspired
by our Heavenly Father.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.698
Our sisters have sung beautifully for us this morning. The great organ
has been their accompaniment. We who have come to worship must now
think seriously of the purpose of life because this world is in a
pitiable condition. Notwithstanding the fact that our Heavenly Father
down through the ages has been counseling and advising his children
through men that he raised up for that purpose, prophets of God, yet
there has been controversy. Even in the days of the Savior, among his
own associates, there was controversy. People have been suspicious of
one another. They have not believed what they have heard, and they
have not been willing to do as Philip, one of the disciples of the
Savior, recommended to Nathaniel who was visiting with him. Philip
said, "The Lord has come."

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.698
And he described him and Nathaniel asked, "Where did he come from?"

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.698
And Philip answered, "Why, he came from Nazareth." And then the good
man said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip said,
"Come and see." (See John 1:43-46.)

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.698
Nathaniel had been taught to believe that no good could come from
Nazareth, and yet he was the man whom the Savior later referred to as
an Israelite without guile--a good man, but deceived because of the
stories that he had heard.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
But when he once learned, when he had accepted the invitation of the
disciples to "Come and see," he came to see.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
We have had great joy under the influence of his Spirit. We would like
everybody to enjoy that blessing, and so when they have asked, "What
kind of people are these here?" our answer has been, "Come and see."
This morning we are here as children of our Heavenly Father--members
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and others, all
welcome to his house, all guests of the Lord. And we ought to have a
good time.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
Just think of our privileges and our blessings. Think down through the
ages of the multitudes of wars and destructions that have wiped people
out in many parts of the world and entirely obliterated nations, and
yet for some reason or another there are many good people who, like
Nathaniel, cannot believe the truth.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
Someone has said of the people of the world that they would rather
believe a lie and be damned than accept the truth. That is rather a
severe statement, but I think perhaps it will bear acceptance as fact.
There is nothing in the world more deleterious or harmful to the human
family than hatred, prejudice, suspicion, and the attitude that some
people have toward their fellows, of unkindness.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
The spirit of the adversary is the spirit of destruction. There are
two influences in the world. The one is the influence of our Heavenly
Father and the other is the influence of Satan. We can take our choice
which territory we want to live in, that of our Heavenly Father or
that of Satan.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
I have many times repeated what my grandfather said. He, too, talked
from this stand, and it was he who gave me his name. In advising his
family he said, "There is a line of demarcation, well defined. On one
side of the line is the Lord's territory. On the other side of the
line is the devil's territory." And he said, "If you will stay on the
Lord's side of the line you are perfectly safe, because  the adversary
of all righteousness can not cross that line."

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
What does that mean? It means to me that those who are living
righteous lives, keeping all of the commandments of our Heavenly
Father are perfectly safe, but not those who trifle with his advice
and counsel.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.789
The Ten Commandments are just as necessary for us to observe today as
they were by Israel when they were given to Moses in the wilderness.
If the people of this world were keeping the Ten Commandments,
honoring them, there would be no war. There would be no sorrows and
distresses such as afflict mankind, but because there are so many who
cannot put themselves in a frame of mind to live righteous lives, they
are in confusion and they are in distress.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.789
This building, as I say, was dedicated to the Lord. Some people have
criticized in their minds that it has been open to other faiths, to
other churches, to people with other beliefs who had a message, as
they felt, for us. I am sure that if you had gone in the days of Jesus
of Nazareth and followed him, as many people did, through the fields
and through the country, you would have found many of them, a majority
of them, were not believers in his mission until they were touched by
his spirit, and then they became disciples.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.790
They were welcome, and so I say all our Father's children are welcome
here, and we hope that when they come they will do so with a receptive
mind, and with a prayer in their hearts such as was offered this
morning by our brother from Canada. [President Octave W. Ursenbach of
Lethbridge Stake.]

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.790
We are living in a sick world, in a time when, as we read in the
scriptures, the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding
of their prudent men shall be hid. That is the condition of the world
today. The leaders of the nations--many of them --desire to do the
thing that will benefit their nation or the group they belong to, but
selfishness in many cases characterizes their conduct, and the result
is that instead of peace we have sorrow and distress.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.790
There is only one way. We can legislate until doomsday but that will
not make men righteous. It will be necessary for people who are in the
dark to repent of their sins, correct their lives, and live in such a
righteous way that they can enjoy the spirit of our Heavenly Father.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.790
Think of the beautiful prayer that was offered by Jesus of Nazareth,
who gave his life for us, who represented a great race of people who
were despised by other races, and who came into the world to bring a
blessing. When he was asked, "Teach us to pray," what a beautiful
simple prayer he gave. Anybody could repeat it, and if they repeat it
with their hearts in tune with the Spirit of the Lord, they can feel
the influence that comes from it.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.790
It was not very long after that until he was cruelly murdered, as have
been the prophets of God almost from the beginning. The fact remains
that all this time our Heavenly Father has had upon the earth men and
women who are righteous, who are seeking to do his will and keep his
commandments.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.790
Many of you here today are either from foreign lands or the
descendants of those who came from foreign lands. Many of you or your
forbears have heard the gospel as it has been taught by the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during a little over a hundred
years. Sometimes you have heard it on the street where there was a
humble missionary, teaching what the Lord had called him to teach. 

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.790
There was something that touched the hearts of those who heard. I have
had experiences in the mission field. I have seen groups of people
stand and listen to a humble missionary explain the purpose of life
and talk to the people and encourage them to repent of their sins, and
I have sometimes heard people say, "I have never before felt an
influence like I feel while I hear that man talk."

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.790
I take this occasion to express my appreciation for the opportunity of
being here, for the privilege of associating with such men and women
as are present this morning. I am grateful for the privilege that came
to me of being reared in this part of the world under a government
that God himself said was prepared by men that he raised up for that
very purpose. I refer to the Constitution of the United States.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.790
I am grateful for my blessings--all of them--and thank you, my
brethren and sisters, who from day to day and from year to year as I
have gone through life, have encouraged me to go on and represent, as
I might, the desires of our Heavenly Father in my own life that I
might receive many blessings.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.790
There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven from before the
foundation of this world upon which every blessing is predicated, and
unless we observe that law, we cannot enjoy the blessing. The Lord has
told us that. If people disagree with us, if our Father's other
children do not believe the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in this
latter day to the Prophet Joseph Smith, that ought not to incur our
displeasure. It ought to enlist our sympathy, because if we know, as
Philip knew when he testified of the man who came from Nazareth, we
could invite our friends to come and see. If we are just as sure as
that, we will let our light so shine that others, seeing our good
works, will be constrained to glorify our Father in heaven.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.790
I have traveled much in the world, approximately a million miles,
advocating the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in this latter day.
I have found good people everywhere, wonderful people, kind and
friendly, but until they received an understanding of the truth and
conformed their lives to the teachings of our Heavenly Father, they
were not taking advantage of all their opportunities, and when that
time-came and they accepted the truth, they added to what they
possessed before.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.790
When we go into the world and talk to our Father's other children, we
do not ask them to give up any truth that they have. We do not ask
them to surrender what they have believed, if it's true.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.790
At the present time we have approximately five thousand missionaries
traveling among the nations of the earth who are saying to our
Father's other children, "Come and see. Keep all the good that you
have. Let us sit down with you and add to what  you already possess
for your own happiness and for your own good, and without money and
without price."

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.790
That is the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I assure you I
am grateful for the knowledge that I have that it is the truth. It has
given me comfort and satisfaction, and I praise his name who is the
Author of our being, that we are permitted to be his guests in his
house today.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.791
This morning there is peace and quiet all around us, and yet in many
parts of the world there are distress and anguish, and threat of
war--disturbances of all kinds. Many people have come out of the world
for the gospel's sake and come to the valleys of these mountains in
response to the promise.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.791
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto you. (Matt. 6:33.)

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.791
I bear witness to you that that has been realized by the faithful men
and women who have come into this part of the world for the gospel's
sake.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.791
I pray that during this conference we may rejoice together, that we
may feel the influence that makes us happy when we possess it. And
when the conference meetings have been finished, and we go to our
various homes, I pray that we will have felt that we have been fed the
bread of life, that we may live as our Heavenly Father has desired us
to live, and devote our time as he has expected us to do, and then as
real Christians, as real sons and daughters of the Living God, let us
reach out and try to touch those who have not yet received the
blessings that we have received, and offer them an opportunity to
enjoy what we appreciate.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.791
This is the work of the Lord. This is the Church of Jesus Christ,
which name was given to it by our Heavenly Father. I do not say that
boastfully. I hope no one here this morning will feel that I am
arrogant because of my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. I have no such feeling, but I have a feeling of
humility, of gratitude, of thanksgiving for the companionship of such
men and women as are here, and men and women in the world whom I have
traveled with an associated with during these many years, many of whom
have not been able to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope
for their sakes and for the sake of those they love that they will
eventually receive that blessing, and it will have to come, if it ever
does, from the Author of our being through the inspiration of his
Spirit.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.791
Again I say, this is our Father's work. This is the Church of the Lamb
of God. We who know that have a responsibility that no other people in
the world have, and if we will be righteous in our lives, having our
own homes and our own lives in order, the spirit of our Heavenly
Father will be with us always. People will rejoice in our
companionship, and when we go to the other side, we will find our
names enrolled in the Lamb's Book of Life, and that will entitle us to
an eternal inheritance in the celestial kingdom, and this earth will
be that kingdom. I bear you witness of it in the name of Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Amen.

President George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
CLOSING ADDRESS

 George Albert Smith

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
"WELFARE PROGRAM, A WONDERFUL THING"

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
Address delivered at the Sunday afternoon session of the 120th
semi-annual general conference October 2, 1949, in the Tabernacle

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
I am delighted with what has been said during this entire conference.
The Lord has blessed those who have addressed us. He has blessed those
who have furnished us with such delightful music.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
We are almost ready to adjourn, and from this building and the
adjoining building there will go men and women to many parts of the
world.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
You will find no other place in the world that is more peaceful or
more comfortable or more delightful than here where we have been
during the last few days, waiting upon the Lord with the assurance
that when even two or three should meet together in his name, he would
be there to bless them. Surely, we have been blessed.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
The world is sick. It is not the first time it has been sick. It has
had a good many different experiences of that kind. Sometimes nations
have had to be wiped out because of the wickedness of the people who
live in them. The Lord, all down through the ages, has spoken to his
leaders and teachers who are inspired, but when the world refuses to
heed after it has been properly taught, it places itself in a position
of saying to our Heavenly Father who owns this world --he is our
landlord--"We do not need you. We will do just as we please."

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
Unfortunately, people who think that way do not realize how they are
shortening their own experiences in life, and setting the stage tot
the sorrows that may follow.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
Think of the condition of our own nation, with all the blessings that
we enjoy; and yet men, women, and children are being distressed and
annoyed because of the determination on the part of a few to have
their own way. This nation does not belong to the people who live
here. We are permitted to be citizens of it just as we are permitted
to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It
is not our Church, and this is not our nation.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
The Lord raised up men to frame a Constitution for this nation because
it was his nation. It was his desire that the people here would be
blessed, and there have been no people in all the world who have been
more blessed than those who live in the United States of America.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
We have every comfort that you can think of, every blessing that is
enjoyed by people in any other nation, and then we have the privilege
of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our conscience
because the Lord himself made that provision in the Constitution of
the United States and in the framing of the laws that govern this
nation.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
I wonder if we appreciate that. Do we realize that we can lose it all
just as we can lose it with any epidemic? If an epidemic of some kind,
that we did not have a remedy for, was to break out among the people
and increase and increase, it would be possible for this entire nation
to be wiped out.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
Yet we are trifling with our Heavenly Father and his advice and his
counsel. He gave to us his commandments through Moses, anciently, and
he gave us advice and counsel in our day through the Prophet Joseph
Smith that is intended to keep us in a frame of mind that we would
honor God and keep his commandments, that we would love one another.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
It does seem strange how careless we are when we realize we may be
destroyed. Think of the atom bomb. If it is all that they say it is,
it would be possible to wipe out one of our great cities with its
millions of people in just a few moments of time.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
Do we want that kind of thing? Are we going to continue contending for
something of physical power and physical strength or are we going to
the Lord and honor him and keep his commandments?

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
I will read you something in the scripture I have here, something that
will give us cause to think. It is so easy to criticize someone else,
so easy to find fault, and sometimes we speak harshly of our neighbors
and friends. Now this is what our Heavenly Father gave us in the days
of Matthew. He said:

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.699
Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye
shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured
to you again.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.786
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but
considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.786
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of
thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? (Matt. 7:1-4.)

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.786
As a people we are advised not to be critical, not to be unkind, not
to speak harshly of those with whom we associate. We ought to be the
greatest exemplars in all the world in that regard. Consider the
criticism today. Pick up your newspapers and see the unkind things
that are being said by individuals about others, and yet many times
the individual who is criticizing has a beam in his own eye and does
not see at all clearly, but he does think his brother has a mote in
his eye. I would like to call attention to that situation.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.786
There is growing in our own country, really, a conflict between
capital and labor, or may I say between the rich and the poor. What
does the Lord say about things of that kind? We have been told this
afternoon about the welfare program, about how it is possible to help
those who are in need. Since the war closed, this Church has imparted
of its substance in very large measure to those who are in need. But
all this time we have been just as well off, or better off, perhaps,
than we would have been if we had not sent over 16,000 packages, 9000
quilts and 131 carloads of food and bedding and clothing to Europe to
people who were needing it more than we needed it. We have not missed
it.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.786
The Lord gave a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He said,

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.786
Behold, thus saith the Lord unto my people--you have many things to do
and to repent of; for behold, your sins have come up unto me, and are
not pardoned, because you seek to counsel in your own ways.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.786
And your hearts are not satisfied. And ye obey not the truth, but have
pleasure in unrighteousness. (D. & C. 56:14-15.)

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.786
I thought when one of our brethren was talking to us and telling us of
the little shortcomings each of us may have, and each of us has some,
I am sure--some more than others--I thought how careless we are in
observing the Sabbath day.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.786
How careless we are about attending to our prayers. How careless we
are in failing to thank the Lord for the food that we have so
abundantly, I would like to say abundantly, and that there is no
necessity for any man, woman, or child in the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints to go without, for the Church is organized to
help those who lack the necessities of life. There is plenty for all,
and to spare.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.787
We have in the Church many wonderful individuals--and out of the
Church many wonderful individuals. I heard of a case here just a few
days ago of a man who had been informed that a child had polio and had
to go to the hospital. The probability was it would recover but would
remain ill for months or years. I am speaking of a man who is not a
member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He lives in
this part of the world, however.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.787
He was told of the situation, and that there was no way of obtaining
what was needed. When he was informed it would take $700 to provide
treatment for this particular child, and it was not known where the
money could be obtained, he said, "You get what is needed and send the
bill to me."

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.787
The man was a wealthy man. He will not miss it. In fact, there is an
old saying that has come down to us that they who give to the poor but
lend to the Lord. This man has made an investment in the life of a
child, and he has made an investment in his own happiness that will
return to him great dividends.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.787
Not all people who are well-to-do would think they could do that. They
would say, "Get somebody else. Let us take up a collection. Get
somebody else to do it."

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.787
This is what the Lord says further in that same chapter, and I am
reading from the fifty-sixth section of the Doctrine and Covenants:

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.787
Wo unto you rich men, that will not give your substance to the poor,
for your riches will canker your souls; and this shall be your
lamentation in the day of visitation, and of judgment, and of
indignation: The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul is
not saved! (D. & C. 56:16.)

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.787
That is what the Lord says of the rich people who refuse to impart of
their substance to those who are poor. But he says something just as
serious to the poor man who is not doing his best. He says:

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.787
wo unto you poor men, whose hearts are not broken, whose spirits are
not contrite, and whose bellies are not satisfied, and whose hands are
not stayed from laying hold upon other men's goods, whose eyes are
full of greediness, and who will not labor with your own hands! (D. &
C. 56:17.)

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.787
That is the situation of many of our own brothers and sisters in
America  with all the blessings that we enjoy--better wages, better
homes, better opportunities for education than have ever been known
before. Yet we have today men who not only will not work themselves,
but they also will not permit somebody else to be employed. They are
not willing to earn their living by work, but they propose to take it
from the rich man.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
So the Lord says of them, "Wo unto them," the same as he says of the
poor. Then he said further, "But blessed are the poor who are pure in
heart." There is quite a difference there,

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
. . . blessed are the poor who are pure in heart, whose hearts are
broken, and whose spirits are contrite, for they shall see the kingdom
of God coming in power and great glory unto their deliverance; for the
fathers of the earth shall be theirs. (D. & C. 56:18.)

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
They are those who have not the wealth of the world but still have
life and being and intelligence, and who are anxious to do the thing
the Lord would have them do.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
He says further,

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
For behold, the Lord shall come, and his recompense shall be with him,
and he shall reward every man, and the poor shall rejoice; And their
generations shall inherit the earth--there will be more poor than any
other kind, undoubtedly-- . . . and their generations shall inherit
the earth from generation to generation, forever and ever. And now I
make an end of speaking unto you. Even so. Amen. (D. & C. 56:19-20.)

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
That was the Lord talking to the Prophet Joseph Smith in our day in
June 1831. He has further said,

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread
nor wear the garments of the laborer. (D. & C. 42:42.)

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
Now, my brethren and sisters, we have both rich and poor in our
organizations. If we are poor, we can be worthy just as the Lord
indicates here. We can be pure in heart and do our best, and he will
not permit those who do their best to suffer for the necessities of
life among the people who are in the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
Our welfare program has been a wonderful thing, a program by which
unemployed may be employed, and a way has been opened for men and
women who cannot do much work but who can do something to be gainfully
employed. How much better off we are when we are occupied with some
reasonable work.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
Consider the condition in the world, the number who are determined to
take from the rich man not what belongs to themselves, but that which
belongs to the others. God has permitted men to get wealth, and if
they obtained it properly, it is theirs, and he will bless them in its
use if they will use it properly.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
I hope we are not going to become bitter because some men and women
are well-to-do. If we are well-to-do, I hope we are not going to be
self-centered and unconscious of the needs of our Father's other
children. If we are better off than they are, we ought to be real
brothers and sisters, not make-believe. Our desires should be to
develop in this world such an organization that others, seeing our
good works would be constrained to glorify the name of our Heavenly
Father.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
We have had a wonderful conference. Where in all the world could you
go to find such an organization, to witness such assemblies as we have
had here on this block, this week? This is the Lord's house. This is
the Lord's work. You have been addressed and advised and counseled by
the servants of the Lord, men who are giving their time and the best
they have in them--as has been indicated--some of them not well enough
now because they have overworked. They are trying to do what our
Heavenly Father would like all of us to do.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
We must not fall into the bad habits of other people. We must not get
into the frame of mind that we will take what the other man has. Refer
back to the ten commandments, and you will find one short paragraph,
"Thou shalt not covet." That is what is the matter with a good many
people today. They are coveting what somebody else has, when as a
matter of fact, many of them have been cared for and provided with
means to live by those very ones from whom they would take away
property.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
We must not get into that frame of mind. Others may do that, but if we
have the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our hearts, we will
not be deceived in that regard.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
We are told that we cannot serve God and some other master. We have to
make our choice, and if we want to be the servants of God and the
children of our Heavenly Father and earn his blessings, we must do it
by honoring him and by keeping his commandments. Our feelings, and our
love, if I may use that expression, should go out to all the world as
far as they will receive it. We in our humble way, with the blessings
of our Heavenly Father, go among them to teach them the gospel of
Jesus Christ that will prepare them for eternal happiness.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.788
I am grateful to you, my brethren and sisters, for the privilege of
being here with you today. As I look into your faces and see this
great audience in this, the Lord's house, I would like to say in the
name of Jesus Christ, that our Father in heaven will bless you for
whatever sacrifice you may have made to come here to worship. He will
bless your families, and he will bring to you a richness of experience
and light that you could obtain in no other way. That your sons and
daughters may grow up to honor our Heavenly Father, I humbly pray.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.789
The most precious of all the jewels that the Lord has bestowed upon
any of us are our children, and we are responsible for them in their
tender years. The Lord says that the parents in Zion (or in any of the
stakes which are organized) who fail to teach their children faith in
God, repentance, baptism when eight years of age, the sin be upon the
heads of the parents, not upon the schoolteachers, not upon the mayors
and governors, but the sin be upon the heads of the parents. We must
not suffer the effects of that sin in our lives.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.789
Let us gather our families together when we return to our homes, and
under the influence of prayer thank him for our blessings and face our
problems honestly and faithfully, with love in our hearts for all
people, for the Lord says we must love our enemies as well as our
friends. If we can learn to do that, we will be happy.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.789
Now that peace and joy and comfort and satisfaction may abide with nil
of us who are here, with all the members of the Church wherever they
may be in all the world, and with all our Father's children, that they
may learn as a result of obedience to his commandments how to be happy
in this life and prepare for eternal happiness is my humble prayer.

George Albert Smith, Improvement Era, October 1949, p.789
That is what the gospel is for, to prepare us not just for the
comforts of mortality but for eternal happiness. That we may live to
be worthy of these blessings, I pray, and I invoke upon you all the
favor and blessing of our Heavenly Father this day and henceforth in
the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

April 1950
                      PRESIDENT GEORGE ALBERT SMITH

	One hundred twenty years ago today six members constituted the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Today more than a million souls
claim membership in the Church, and this morning the Tabernacle is filled
to overflowing, and many hundreds more are in the Assembly Hall and on the
grounds. It does not seem possible that so many people could be here this
morning.

                            GEORGE B. MARGETTS

	But there is one man missing, and I think you will all remember him.
He always has been here; he has not failed, since I can remember, to be in
a conference. He always has had a boutonniere in his coat. He came in from
the north side of the stand to see that everybody was seated. In the
providence of our Heavenly Father that good man has been summoned home. He
has gone back to the God that gave him life. I refer to our faithful
usher, George B. Margetts.

	One by one we are going. The years are passing. A year ago I was only
seventy-nine years old myself. Now I am eighty. There are those on the
stand who are older than I. The Church is getting older, but fortunately,
to take our places in the ranks are the younger people, not only of the
Church, but who are coming out of the world into the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints in the various nations of the earth.

                         BLESSINGS OF CONFERENCE

	It is wonderful to be here this morning. It hardly seems possible
that there would not be room for everybody on a busy weekday, but the
Tabernacle is lulled to capacity, and the thing that impresses me most is
that our Heavenly Father is keeping his word when he said, if even two or
three shall meet together in his name, he will be there to bless them.

	But this morning we are here in great numbers, and this morning the
Spirit of the Lord is here, and all of us who have come prepared to be
edited under the influence of it will not go away disappointed.

                         CALLING OF JOSEPH SMITH

	Conditions in the world remind us of the fact that our Heavenly
Father, knowing what would occur--realizing that the people of the world
were not paying attention to him, and that those who were in charge of
religious worship in the various nations of the earth had disregarded his
teachings--a little over a hundred and twenty years ago called a boy, not
yet fifteen years of age, one who had not been spoiled by the philosophies
of men, but one who believed in God sufficiently to go out in the woods
and ask the Lord which of all the churches he should join. He was no doubt
astonished when the Father and the Son appeared to him and told him to
join none of them, that they were all astray.

	As a result of that remarkable experience of Joseph Smith as a boy,
we see in the world today hundreds of thousands of men and women who have
turned to our Heavenly Father, who have understood the purpose of life,
and who have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Today we have
more than five thousand of our brothers and sisters of this Church
scattered throughout the world as missionaries, urging the people of the
world not merely to be satisfied with what they now have, but to seek the
Lord and go on, with the promise that if they will do that, they may know
the truth. The Lord himself has said,

	If any man will do his [Gods] will, he shall know of the doctrine
whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. (John 7:17.)

	Our work in the world, my brethren and sisters, is to reach out after
all of our Heavenly Father's children at home and abroad, and if we will
do that, the Spirit of the Lord will dwell in our souls, and we will be
happy; and our homes will be the abiding place of his Holy Spirit.

                           NEED FOR REPENTANCE

	When we realize the uncertainty that exists in the world today
realize that the strongest nations of the earth as well as the weaker ones
are arming to the teeth preparing for war, we may know that it is only a
question of time, unless they repent of their sins and turn to God, that
war will come, and not only war, but pestilence and other destruction,
until the human family will disappear from the earth.

	The world does not know that brothers and sisters. Our Father's other
children who are in different parts of the earth do not understand
that--those who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. They have an idea that they can legislate and fight it
out, but there is only one way to enjoy peace and happiness in this world,
and that is for the children of men to repent of their sins, turn to the
Lord, honor him and keep his commandments. That is the only way.

	Because the Lord knew that, one hundred and twenty years ago he
established his Church, and from that time until now his sons and
daughters have been going through the world pleading for the opportunity
to share with their fellows the joy and happiness that results from
keeping the commandments of God.

	I am very grateful indeed to be here this morning. Since I was here
with you last, I have not been in many parts of the world but I have
traveled, and I have found faithful members of the Church, found the wards
and branches of the Church increasing in some sections to the point that
their meetinghouses will not hold them. The result is that two wards, and
in some cases three wards have to meet in same house.

                             GROWTH OF CHURCH

	Since world War II closed, we have built more than two hundred
meetinghouses and dedicated them, and we are still building and are short
of places in which our people may worship. The Church has increased during
the past year more than any other year since it was organized. It is not
our Church. It is the Church of Jesus Christ. God gave it the name, and it
is flourishing. How happy we should be, not that we have increased in
numbers in the organization that we belong to, but that more of our
Father's children, more of his sons and daughters, have been brought to an
understanding of the truth, and are coming into his organization that he
prepared to teach us the way of life and lead us along the pathway of
eternal happiness.

                      APPRECIATION FOR REMEMBRANCES

	I want to take this occasion personally to thank you, my brethren and
sisters, for your kindness to me. I have received a host of birthday
congratulations and cards that it will not be possible for me to
acknowledge, and if any of you do not receive any word of acknowledgment,
I want you to know that I appreciate just the same your kind remembrance
of me in my advancing years.

                             WORK OF THE LORD

	This is the work of the Lord. This is the Church of Jesus Christ, and
we have all the blessings that may be enjoyed by anybody anywhere in the
world. That is what the Lord promised.

     	But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and
     all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33.)

	As we sit here in comfort in this marvelous auditorium today,
listening to the sweet strains of music of the sons and daughters of our
Heavenly Father, listening to the voices of those who are called to
address us, we do so in peace and quiet, not in anxiety, as is the case in
so many places in the world. Here we are in the land of Zion, and in this
part of it that our Heavenly Father set apart for the gathering of his
people more than a hundred years ago. Ought we not to be grateful?

                          BLESSINGS TO FAITHFUL

	I cannot understand how people can be other than happy under all
these circumstances.  Think of our opportunities.  There is not a
desirable blessing, and all blessings are desirable, that we may wish to
have that we may not enjoy if we are faithful to God and honor our
membership in his Church. He has promised us that all things will come to
us if we are righteous.

	This morning among the many things that we enjoy, we are meeting in
this house, built during the poverty of the Latter-day Saints, erected for
the worship of our Heavenly Father; and as I look over this audience, I
see people from nearly every section of the country and from parts of
other nations of the world. We have the mission presidents who are here
from their various fields of labor, as well as presidencies of stakes,
bishops of wards, and presidents of branches. This audience is an example
of a gathering of the Latter-day Saints.

	I am sure that as we come together to worship we will go from here
feeling grateful that we have had this privilege. Now again, may I say
this is not the work of man. This is not the Church of Joseph Smith nor
any of those who have succeeded him in the presidency. This is the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, named by the Lord himself.

	I bear you witness of it in love and with a desire that all of our
Father's children may learn the truth and accept of it, in the name of
Jesus Christ. Amen.

                      PRESIDENT GEORGE ALBERT SMITH

	When I was twenty-one years of age, I was sent on a mission to the
southern states. I became secretary of the mission, and while there was
called to Columbia, South Carolina, because some of our elders had become
seriously ill. It was difficult to get word back and forth, so I got on a
train and went down there. I found that they were improved and getting
along all right.

                          MISSIONARY EXPERIENCE

	When I bade them good-bye, I boarded the train and started home, and
we passed a little Indian settlement at the side of the track. I saw
evidence that there were quite a number of Indians there, so I reached
over and touched the man who was sitting in the seat in front of me, and I
said, "Do you know what Indians these are?"

	He said, "They are the Catawbas." That is the tribe that Chief Blue
represents, who has just spoken to us.

	I asked, "Do you know where they come from?"

	He said, "Do you mean the Catawbas?"

	I replied, "Any Indians."

	He said, "Nobody knows where the Indians came from."

	"Oh," I said, "yes they do." I was talking then to a man about
forty-five or fifty years old, and I was twenty-one.

	He questioned, "Well, where did they come from?"

	I answered, "They came from Jerusalem six hundred years before the
birth of Christ."

	"Where did you get that information?" he asked.

	I told him, "From the history of the Indians."

	"Why," he said, "I didn't know there was any history of the Indians."

	I said, "Yes, there is a history of the Indians. It tells all about
them." Then he looked at me as much as to say: My, you are trying to put
one over on me.

	But he said, "Where is this history?"

	"Would you like to see one?" I asked. And he said that he certainly
would. I reached down under the seat in my little log cabin grip and took
out a Book of Mormon and handed it to him.

	He exclaimed, "My goodness, what is this?"

	I replied, "That is the history of the ancestry of the American
Indian."

	He said, "I never heard of it before. May I see it?"

	I said, "Yes" and after he had looked at it a few minutes, he turned
around to me and asked, "Won't you sell me this book? I don't want to lose
the privilege of reading it through."

	"Well," I said, "I will be on the train for three hours. You can read
it for that long, and it won't cost you anything." I had found that he was
getting off farther on, but I had to get off in three hours.

	In a little while he turned around again and said, "I don't want to
give up this book. I've never seen anything like this before."

	I could see that he apparently was a refined and well-educated man. I
didn't tell him I really wanted him to read the book, but I said, "Well, I
can't sell it to you. It is the only one I have." (I didn't tell him I
could get as many more as I wanted.)

	He said, "I think you ought to sell it to me."

	I replied, "No, I'll tell you what I'll do. You keep it for three
weeks, and at the end of that time you send it to me at Chattanooga," and
I gave him my card with my address on, secretary of the mission.

	So we bade one another good-bye, and in about two weeks he wrote me a
letter saying, "I don't want to give this book up. I am sure you can get
another, and I will pay you any price you want for it."

	Then I had my opportunity. I wrote back, "If you really enjoy the
book and have an idea it is truly worth while, accept it with my
compliments." I received a letter of thanks back from him.

	I speak of that because that was the first time I had ever heard of
the Catawba Indians, and there were only a few of them. I understand now
from Chief Blue that ninety-seven percent of them are members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

                          MEETING 15 YEARS LATER

	Coming back to this book again--Brother B. H. Roberts and I were sent
some fifteen years later down into the southern states to visit the
mission. When we arrived at the hotel at Columbia, we registered and went
into our room, and soon after a knock came at the door and a colored man
said, "There's a man downstairs that wants to see George A. Smith." That
was the way I used to write my name, and I wrote it that way before I was
married.

	I said to Brother Roberts, "What will we do?" and he replied, "Send
him up," so the man went back, and pretty soon up came a man and knocked
on the door, and we opened it.

	He reached out his hand and said, "My, I am glad to see you."

	I said, "I am glad if you're glad to see me; I am happy to see you,
but who are you?" and he gave me his name.

	I asked, "What can I do for you?"

	He said, "Don't you remember me?"

	I told him, "Remember you? I don't believe I ever saw you before."

	He said, "Isn't your name George A. Smith?" and I said, "Yes."

	"Well, he replied, "I am sure you're the man. I met George A. Smith
years ago as he was doing missionary work here."

	I answered, "Oh, that is easily explained, there was another George
A. Smith here doing missionary work, too."

	"Oh," he said, "it wasn't any other George A. Smith. It was you.
Nobody that ever saw that face would forget it."

	"Well," I said, "I guess I must be the man."

	Then he related this story. He said, "You were on a train, and we
passed the Catawba Indian Reservation."

	I interrupted, "I remember all about it now." It all came back in an
instant.

	He said, "I want to tell you something. I read that book, and I was
so impressed with it that I made up my mind I would like to take a trip
down into Central America and South America and I took that book with me
in my bag when I went down there. As a result of reading it I knew more
about those people than they knew about themselves.

	"I lost your address; I didn't know how to find you, and all these
years I wanted to see you, and today after you registered downstairs I
happened to be looking at the hotel register and I saw your name. That is
how I found you."

	"I am a representative of the Associated Press for this part of the
United States. I understand you are here in the interest of your people."

	And I answered, "Yes, Mr. Roberts and I both are here for that
purpose.

	"And he said, "If there is anything I can do for you while you are
here, if you want anything put in the press, give it to me and it won't
cost you a cent. But," he continued, "I want to tell you one other thing,
I have kept your missionaries out of jail; I have got them free from mobs;
I have helped them every way I could; but I have never been able to get
your address until now."

                      CHIEF BLUE AND CATAWBA INDIANS

	So you may be interested, brethren and sisters, in knowing that I am
delighted in seeing Chief Blue here today, representing that tribe of fine
Indians. I have seen some of them since. I have met one very fine young
woman who is a schoolteacher, and others I have met of that race; in fact,
I have some trinkets in my office that were sent to me by members of that
tribe.

	I am happy to have this good man here who represents one of the
tribes that descended from Father Lehi as well as some of the others that
are in our audience today. One good man that I am looking at here came to
the temple during the week and was sealed to his wife. They are coming
into the Church all around, and I am so grateful this morning to be here
and hear this man who for sixty years has been a faithful leader among his
people and now comes to this general conference and bears testimony to us.

	It is a great work that We are identified with. Not the least of our
responsibilities is to see that this message is carried to the descendants
of Lehi, wherever they are, and give them an opportunity to accept the
gospel of Jesus Christ.

                           ADDITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

	How glorious it is to know that we have that information, and we have
the knowledge that there were others resurrected, as recorded in the New
Testament. And then we have the information in the Book of Mormon of the
coming of the Savior to this western hemisphere, and we have the
appearance of John the Baptist, and Peter, James, and John, and the Father
and the Son to Joseph Smith on these latter days. No other people have
what we have. I don't know of any people who ought to be so anxious and
willing and grateful to be able to celebrate this day that is recognized
in the world as the anniversary of the resurrection of the Redeemer of
mankind, and that meant the opening of the grave for all humanity.

	I pray the Lord to bless us that we may be worthy because of our
lives to keep this testimony, that not only we, but all we can reach may
receive that witness and carry it to our brothers and sisters of all races
and creeds, and particularly to the descendants of Lehi, until we have
done our duty by them. I am sure that when the time comes for the
resurrection, that all who are in their tombs and worthy shall be raised
from their graves, and this earth shall become the celestial kingdom, and
Jesus Christ, our Lord, will be our King and our Lawgiver--that we will
rejoice that we have availed ourselves of the truth and applied it in our
lives. That is what the gospel teaches us. That is what the gospel offers
to us if we will accept it, and I pray that we may be worthy of it in the
name of Jesus Christ. Amen.


                      PRESIDENT GEORGE ALBERT SMITH

	I am very grateful that I have been able to attend the sessions of
this conference; thankful that I have had the companionship of this great
group, most of them in this building. I want to take this occasion to
express my appreciation and invoke the blessings of the Lord upon these
men, women, and children who have stood during these long two hours of
meeting, with no place to sit but have stood here in the house of the Lord
to be edified by those who have done the speaking. I am sure you will
receive your blessings, and I am sure they will be sufficient to
compensate you for any weariness that may have come to you as a result of
this experience.

                         SECURITY ON LORD'S SIDE

	The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only means by which we may hope to
find a place in the celestial kingdom. Sometimes we feel that we are sure
of it because we have membership in the Church. I take this occasion to
call to the attention of the older members of the Church, who have lived a
part of their lives and feel quite secure, the fact that nobody is secure
unless he is on the Lord's side of the line.

	All temptation and evil are on the devil's side. If I had time, I
could tell you of an experience of a man who was magnified and was a great
preacher of the gospel, and because of his failure to stay on the Lord's
side of the line, he went into the dark and died a bitter apostate.

	None of us are secure except we keep the commandments of our Heavenly
Father. The pathway of righteousness is the highway of happiness. There is
no other way to happiness.

                             PURPOSE OF LIFE

	Today the people all over the world are talking about the same
subject we have been speaking of, the resurrection. When we think of the
resurrection of our Redeemer, I am reminded that the purpose of his life
was to prepare us all, to make a path that we could all walk, that would
bring us eternal happiness in his presence as well as in the presence of
one another. He gave his life and testified by the shedding of his blood
that he was a Son of God, and then as we have had it called to our
attention, his appearance since that time has demonstrated beyond any
possible doubt that he was what he claimed to be.

	The Church is organized, and the missionaries go out in all the world
to share the gospel, not to give some new truth, but to share the truth
that the Lord has already revealed.

	When he was asked to pray--I am reminded of a part of that prayer--he
said,

     	. . . Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy
     kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. (Matt.
     6:9-10.)

                          UNIVERSAL RESURRECTION

	That is the purpose of the gospel, and today we are thinking of what
a marvelous thing it was when the Savior was resurrected when he took up
his immortal body to live forever.

	But he wanted this earth to become a heaven, and that is what the
gospel is intended to do, to teach people so that it will become a heaven.
What a wonderful condition it would be! We rejoice because of the
resurrection, and he held out to us that it would be a universal
resurrection, and that this earth would be redeemed, and the people who
dwell here would live in happiness forever.

	Brethren and sisters, we ought to be grateful for our blessings. We
ought to be thankful for the companionship of such men and women as we
have. We ought to feel a desire to do all that we can to set an example,
that others, seeing our upright lives may be constrained to keep the
commandments of God.

	We are coming to the close of a most interesting and instructive
conference. As I look at these beautiful flowers that came from the
Berkeley Stake, I want to take occasion again to thank the people who sent
them, for I don't know of any place where flowers are more appropriate
than in the house of the Lord. And these beautiful lilies that we have,
have made this house a beauty spot that it would not have been but for
them.

                             HOUSES IN ORDER

	Brethren and sisters, let us go to our homes. If our houses are not
in order, let us set them in order. Let us renew our determination to
honor God and keep his commandments, to love one another, to make our
homes the abiding place of peace. Each of us can contribute to that in the
homes in which we live.

	It will not be long until calamities will overtake the human family
unless there is speedy repentance. It will not be long before those who
are scattered over the face of the earth by millions will die like flies
because of what will come.

	Our Heavenly Father has told us how it can be avoided, and that is
our mission, in part, to go into the world and explain to people how it
may be avoided, and that people need not be unhappy as they are everywhere
but that happiness may be in their lives--because when the Spirit of God
burns in your soul, you cannot be otherwise than happy.

                          GRATITUDE FOR SUPPORT

	I take this occasion to thank the brethren who are giving all their
time to developing and building the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. I want to thank these men who stand by my side, who are so willing
to support me in the responsibilities that are tremendous for one man to
carry--my counselors, and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve and
their assistants, and the First Council of the Seventy, the Presiding
Bishopric, and the Patriarch.

	I want to add to that the stake presidencies, the bishops of wards,
the presidents of missions, and the presidencies and general boards of all
the auxiliary organizations. I am grateful for the things that they are
doing, because they are trying to bring this world into a condition that
will be heaven. The Lord has said it could be if we will do our part.

                                 BLESSING

	In conclusion I desire to leave the blessing of our Heavenly Father
with you all, that you may go to your homes renewed, refreshed, and
invigorated, determined to carry on and to do all you can to make this
earth heaven.

	I bless you that you may have joy in this, that you may go to your
homes in peace and in safety, and that you may carry with you that spirit
which our Heavenly Father has bestowed upon us here so generously, and
that we may look forward to the time when we may meet again in the name of
the Lord, with assurance that a blessing will follow, because he has said
it always would, even if two or three meet in his name.

	Remember, we all have responsibilities. We may not be called to some
definite duty, but in every neighborhood there is opportunity for each of
us to radiate a spirit of peace and love and happiness to the end that
people may understand the gospel and be gathered into the fold.

                                TESTIMONY

	To some it may sound selfish to hear us say, "This is the only true
Church." But we are only repeating what the Savior said, and he knows. It
is the Church that he recognizes, and it bears his name. We do not say
that in unkindness to our brothers and sisters, and they are our brothers
and sisters, in other churches, or in no church, but we say it with the
hope that they may feel the love that is in our hearts when we reach out
to them with the desire that the happiness that has been ours may be
theirs and may continue, not only now, but also throughout the ages of
eternity.

	God lives. Jesus is the Christ. Joseph Smith was a prophet of the
Lord, and the gospel as it was restored through him is the power of God
unto salvation to all those who would accept it and apply it in their
lives. I bear this testimony in love and in kindness, and with my
blessings as a servant of the Lord upon all of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ. Amen.

President George Albert Smith:

	I remember a number of years ago I was in Portland, Oregon, and at
that time the President General of the National Society of the Sons of the
American Revolution was there visiting, so I invited him to go to church
with me. He and his wife accepted, and when we got to the place where the
meeting was being held we could not get in. People were standing out in
front, packed on the steps, and I said to him, "If you will follow me, we
will find another way." And so we went around the building and climbed up
the back stairs and went over the backs of the seats into the choir loft.
The missionaries did most of the talking and when we got outside the
visitors said to me, "My, Mr. Smith, what wouldn't our minister give for a
congregation like that."

I just repeat that to you now--what wouldn't any organization, any church,
give for a congregation like this, and I want to say not only because of
numbers but because of quality.

	The choir will now sing to us a hymn that will be familiar to many of
you because it was sung by Melvin J. Ballard so many times, our dear
departed brother who was so dear to us all, "I'll Go Where You Want Me To
Go, Dear Lord." The choir and congregation will sing that hymn.

	The choir and congregation sang the hymn "I'll Go Where You Want Me
To Go, Dear Lord."

                      PRESIDENT GEORGE ALBERT SMITH

	I wonder if there is anybody in the audience tonight, other than the
man I am going to have stand, who is ninety-four years of age. I do not
see very many hands up. I would like to know whether any of you have
attended a hundred and thirty-five general conference meetings, and never
missed a meeting. All those who have raise their right hand. (No hands
were raised).

	Brother Walter Cox of Provo is always at meeting, never misses
anything, and he is the man I have been talking about and I thought I
would like to have you look at him. He appears to be good for another ten
or fifteen years.

                            WORK AMONG INDIANS

	This is a great Church. Today we have had a number of Indians in the
congregation and I thought we might be able to locate some of them
tonight, but we hope to find them by tomorrow morning. I mention the
Indians, because in this particular case, the men I am referring to have
been in the Church a long time and they are very faithful. One man came to
the Temple within the last two or three days and had his wife sealed to
him. This means they are moving our way, in the direction that we are
going, and that causes me to call your attention to the fact that the way
is opening for the dissemination of the Gospel of Jesus Christ among the
Indians.

	Dr. John R. Nicholls, who is the Commissioner of Indian Affairs was
here some months ago and he seems to be very friendly to our work among
the Indians, not more than to any other Church, but some of the other
Church organizations have sought to keep us out of the reservations.
Within the last year or two we have appointed a committee whose duty it is
to find a way of reaching the Indians in the various sections of the
country, wherever they may be.

                       INTERMOUNTAIN INDIAN SCHOOL

	The Intermountain Indian School is located at what was formerly
called the Bushnell Hospital at Brigham City. Dr. George Boyce is the
Superintendent there, and he has manifested his kindness in every way. He
wants to help the Indians all he can, their children who are there.

	I take this occasion to say to our people who live at Brigham City,
and I hope you will carry the message on to your wives who are not here,
that you are doing a fine piece of work in looking after those Indians
that are in the school at Brigham City. They are our Father's children. If
they were not Indians a good many people would be concerned about them,
but because they are some people are not so concerned. You people who hold
the priesthood, not only at Brigham City but in every part of the world,
enjoy a blessing from our Heavenly Father that carries with it a
responsibility to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all of His
children, and that includes the Indians.

                          IMPORTANCE OF INDIANS

	These Indians in the western world are the descendants of Father Lehi
who left Jerusalem, centuries ago at the direction of our Heavenly Father.
They are His children, and I hope that there will be no member of the
Church, in any department, who will feel that because it is the Indians,
they are not important. They are just as important as are the whites. They
are entitled to the priesthood if they live to be worthy of it, and our
Heavenly Father is anxious that they should have that blessing. I want to
emphasize this to all you brethren, tonight.

	Of course it is not necessary to say anything to the General
Authorities of the Church. They know that a committee has been appointed,
that we can no longer neglect our responsibility of carrying the Gospel to
the Indians. And I hope that the presidents of stakes and bishops of wards
and those who are in the mission field will feel the responsibility that
is ours. and if we will do our duty the Lord will bless us for it, while
he is blessing his Indian children. That is one of the matters that I had
on my mind tonight.

	Reference has been made to the development and growth of the Church.
This meeting tonight is an evidence of the growth of the interest in the
Church, because a good many of you people have come from afar to be here,
and we appreciate it.

                            FRIENDLY MINISTER

	A good many people are friendly with us. I had a visit with a good
man not very long ago who is not a member of the Church. In fact, he is a
minister. He is just as friendly and nice as can be, in fact, I received a
birthday congratulation from him. The last time I saw him he was not very
well, and he seemed to be afraid I was going to preach to him. He gave me
to understand that he was not able to believe that Joseph Smith could have
been a prophet. He was just in the same condition exactly that Nathaniel
was in the days of the Savior when Philip said to him: "We have found our
Lord."

	Nathaniel asked: "Where did he come from?"

	"Why, he came from Nazareth.

	"And then this good man said: "Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth?"

	And Philip, who was talking to him, said: "Come and see."

	And when he went to see he became a devoted follower of the Savior
and was the one whom the Savior later referred to as "an Israelite without
guile."

	So I am not worrying but what our brother, if we can just get him to
come and see--and not only him but hundreds of others-- will understand as
Nathaniel did, eventually, that this is our Father's work that we are
identified with.

                                STATISTICS

	Utah's birth rate was 33.9 per thousand in 1947. It was 31 percent
above the national average of 25.8. New Mexico alone, had a higher birth
rate than Utah.

	Our death rate in Utah was 7.8 percent per thousand in 1947 and was
22 percent below the national average, and was the lowest in the nation.

	The ratio of Utah's population attending school in 1940 in the age
group of five to twenty-four was sixty-four percent. This is the highest
ratio in the nation and is twelve percent above the national average of
fifty-seven, according to the statistical abstract.

	I thought you would like to know that this Church you belong to is
not only better informed about the purpose of life, better informed as to
where we came from and where we expect to go than any other organization
in the world, but we believe in education and refinement and culture, and
we believe that we will be saved no faster than we gain knowledge and
apply that knowledge in our lives. We have nothing to apologize for among
our brothers and sisters of the various churches.

	I congratulate all of us who are here that we can be here
congratulate all of us that we are here in peace and quiet. Can you think
of a more delightfully quiet place to be than here, and have the joy and
satisfaction and companionship of good men, the very finest men and boys
in all the world. And when we go from here I hope we will not forget that
it is our privilege to carry the message that has been so beautifully
portrayed to us today with regard to our responsibilities, by the
brethren, carry the message to those to whom we may minister and with whom
we associate.

                       DUTIES OF PRESIDING OFFICERS

	There is one more thing I would like to emphasize. We have had quite
a number of our boys and girls, due partly to the war conditions, that
have become careless. In some cases the bishops have kept in touch with
them not only in their own wards, but where they have moved away have had
others contact them, and see that they did not stray away from the Church
and lose their virtue. I thought when I heard of this how beautiful it
was. Here was a father of a ward of six or seven hundred people and yet he
had time to go outside of his own area to follow this boy or this girl,
children of our Heavenly Father, and try to hold them in a path that would
entitle them to eternal life in the Celestial kingdom.

	Brethren, you men who are presidents of stakes, and bishops of wards
and presidents of missions, branch presidents, holding positions of
authority, you have tremendous duties, and I want to say to you that they
carry with them tremendous responsibility. Let us not neglect our
opportunities and our privileges. Let us labor while the day lasts.

	We may not all live to be as old as Brother Cox here, ninety-four,
ninety-four years of activity, always on hand when there was an
opportunity to hear the Gospel preached or partake of it. He is always at
the Brigham Young University affairs because there he can meet with
members of the Church. Let us each year, as the years continue to come on,
lay up our treasure in heaven so that when the time comes for us to go to
the other side, our Heavenly Father will be able to welcome us home
because we have not neglected our opportunities and because we have been
anxious to share his Gospel with his other children.

                            THE POWER OF LOVE

	There is one other thing that I should like to mention. The increase
in the Church for 1949 was 16,261 members. Think of that in one year, and
so it goes and goes if we will do our part, as the brethren have called to
our attention tonight, if we will be true to one another, be true to our
Heavenly Father, and if we will use our authority with kindness and love.
We cannot drive these young people, and our neighbors and friends into the
kingdom of heaven by scolding them and finding fault with them, but I want
to tell you that we can love them into the direction of our Father in
heaven, and by and by, perhaps, lead them there too.

	That is our privilege. Love is the great power to influence this
world. and if we do not find more love in the world soon, if people do not
get together better than they are, then, as you have already been told,
the predictions that are in the scriptures will be fulfilled.

                          MINISTRY OF THE SAVIOR

	Reference has been made to the fact that the Son of our Heavenly
Father appeared in Jerusalem and his own race refused him. He was
crucified in the home of his friends, so to speak, but he was resurrected.
Now a good many people in the world do not know what the resurrection is.
Do you teach your children and your associates what it means?

	Reference also has been made to the fact that the Father and the Son
appeared to Joseph Smith. There are many people who do not believe it, but
it is true just the same. And then we have the additional information of
the appearance of the Savior after he was crucified when he came to this
Western Hemisphere. as he had told them in the East: "Other sheep have I
that are not of this fold, and them must I bring that there may be one
fold and one shepherd," and so he came to the Western Hemisphere where the
descendants of Father Lehi were, and appeared among them and while they
had been told that he would come, and while he came in the clouds of
Heaven with power and glory, when he came to them, so that there could be
no question, he said: "I am Jesus Christ for whom you have been looking."

                         MEANING OF RESURRECTION

	There could be no question about it. His resurrection is plain to the
Latter-day Saints who understand the gospel, but there are so many who do
not understand what it means. But how beautiful it is to know that in our
day, not only the Saviour, but our Father in heaven appeared, and other
resurrected beings in addition, the Angel Moroni, John the Baptist, Peter,
James and John men that have lived upon the earth as we have lived, who
have gone on and performed their part and have been resurrected and sent
back to earth. That is what the resurrection means, and the purpose of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ is to prepare every man woman and child for the
time when all those who have died will be brought forth from their graves,
and when our Heavenly Father will establish his kingdom upon this earth
and the righteous will dwell there and Jesus Christ will be our King and
our Law-giver.

	This is my testimony tonight. I want to thank you all for the
delightful privilege I have of being with you. When I go out among the
people of the Church, they are always so kind and helpful and I pray that
the Lord may bless them and bless you for all these good things, and I do
it in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, Amen.

October 1950
                      PRESIDENT GEORGE ALBERT SMITH

	This is a beautiful picture this morning, to see the Lord's house
filled with his children who have come here to worship. Since our last
conference many things have occurred. While our Singing Mothers were
singing, I thought of one of our brothers who went to the South Seas with
me about thirteen years ago. When we arrived at British Samoa, the people
were having a holiday. We had been persuaded to stay aboard the boat at
night because it could not go around the reef, and we could not land in
small boats in the dark. We were told that the people wanted to give us a
welcome, so there was nothing else for us to do. We could not wade it, so
we had to wait until they took us in.

                             WELCOME IN APIA

	The boat anchored, and the next morning out came a war canoe all
decorated and rowed by great husky men, one oar to a man, and there were
fifteen oarsmen including the captain. They had persuaded us to wait
because they said they wanted to give us a royal welcome, and when we
arrived, it was a real welcome. Everybody was out, apparently. People were
all along the shore. Among them was a group of women, more than a hundred,
all dressed in light colored dresses of tapa cloth made from the bark of
the mulberry tree. They had made them themselves for that occasion.

	When I saw this group of Singing Mothers all dressed alike this
morning, my mind went back to Apia and Brother Rufus K. Hardy who was with
me on that trip. He has been gone a long time.

	Those Singing Mothers sang beautifully at our meetings and at such
celebrations as they had, as our sisters have sung this morning. And since
that time I have heard the Singing Mothers in many places, but I think I
have never been more impressed with them than I was there in the islands.

                          BRETHREN WHO HAVE GONE

	Our first meeting was in the open air, and there were between two and
three thousand people whom the Singing Mothers entertained. But the
thought that came into my mind is that Brother Hardy is gone. He has
finished his work. Since our last conference President George F. Richards
of the Council of the Twelve has finished his mission and has gone to find
his reward. I miss these brethren.

	I am glad that Brother Thomas E. McKay is here this morning. He has
had a long siege of illness. I am sure that Brother Stephen L Richards and
those with him are having a real experience. In all probability they are
in the vicinity of Jerusalem today.

                        JOY OF CONFERENCE MEETINGS

	It is a joy to come to one of these conference meetings and meet
people not only from all sections of the United States, but also from
other parts of the world. It is one of the greatest gatherings of
religious people that meet anywhere in the world, and you will find no
other such place in all the world dedicated to the Lord for worship.

	I would like us all to remember that this is the Lord's house. You
will find no other place in all the world dedicated to the Lord that
gathers together a congregation such as is here this morning, many of whom
have come thousands of miles, not to see and be seen, but to wait upon the
Lord. And he has promised us that if even two or three shall meet together
in his name, he will be there to bless them.

	This morning, that we may claim our blessings, there are
approximately ten thousand here in the Tabernacle and in the Assembly
Hall--all at worship. There are thousands more enjoying the conference by
means of radio and television. We are here in the name of the Redeemer of
mankind, and I am sure when we go from this conference back to our homes,
we will have an intense desire to live the gospel of Jesus Christ, which
is the only gospel that is the power of God unto salvation in the
celestial kingdom.

                        OBSERVANCE OF COMMANDMENTS

	This morning, brethren and sisters, I congratulate you: Not that you
are here, but that you are here to worship. What a privilege it is to
worship the Lord and to do it in the way he has indicated. There are some
people who are members of the Church--their names are on the record, and
they have an idea that that is all that is necessary--but the time will
come when they will have to face their record, and their admission into
the celestial kingdom will be conditioned upon the way they have observed
the advice of our Heavenly Father right here upon earth. How grateful we
ought to be, not to be uncertain as to where we are going.

	I had a man say to me one day after I had taught the gospel to him
for an hour or so on a train, "I'd give a lot to have the assurance that
you have." And I replied: ''You do not have to give anything to have the
assurance that I have except to keep the commandments of the Lord. If you
do that, you will know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is on earth. You
will know that the authority of the priesthood is on earth."   How
beautiful it is to realize that men who are worthy may receive that
priesthood, and in the authority that is given them, do so many thinks
that are a blessing to our Father's other children.

                      FAITH GROWS WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS

	Within the week, I listened to one of the brethren who has just
returned from the mission field. He has been out nearly five years, and he
told of some of the experiences in the weld. He told of people that had
illness and the doctors did everything they could for them, but they could
not heal them. But the humble missionaries, the humble men who held the
priesthood, placed their hands upon the heads of those who were afflicted
and rebuked their ailments, and they were healed.

	That would not occur without faith, and our faith is conditioned upon
our righteous lives. We cannot live improperly and have faith as we
should, but if we keep the commandments of the Lord, we can have faith,
and it will grow and increase as our righteousness increases.

                            POLITICAL CAMPAIGN

	I am happy to be here with you, my brothers and sisters, in the
Lord's house to wait upon him. We are right now in the midst of a
political campaign here in America. It ought to be a source of education
to the people. It ought to inspire men and women to choose for their
officers in the various sections of the country, particularly in the
nation, men and women who believe in God. That is their privilege, but
unfortunately so many times people become allied with a group, and they
insist on everybody supporting the individual that they support, and the
result is a campaign of bitterness.

	Brethren and sisters, you have your agency; you do not have to be
angry with your brother and your sister because they do not see as you do.
We are not supposed to criticize and find fault with the members of the
Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church, because
they cannot understand all of the gospel.

	I think it is fine to encourage them to understand all that they have
and then add to it. Now if that is true in regard to our religious belief,
surely we will not lose our way during a political campaign, and cultivate
anger and displeasure and hatred for those who do not believe as we do.

                    CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

	And that brings me to something that is frequently on my mind. No
nation in the world has a constitution that was given to it by our
Heavenly Father except the United States of America. I wonder if we
appreciate that. The Lord gave us a rule of life for this great nation,
and as far as we have lived up to it and taken advantage of it, the nation
has grown, and the people have been blessed. But there are many people who
prefer, or at least they seem to prefer, something else.

	As one man said to me, "Why not try what Russia has tried and Germany
has tried?" And my answer to him was, "Why try something that has already
failed? Why not hold on to what the Lord has given?" The Constitution of
the United States was written, it is true, by men, George Washington,
Benjamin Franklin, and others who were their associates, but we have in
this book that I have in my hand, the book of Doctrine and Covenants, a
revelation in which the Lord tells us that the Constitution of the United
States was prepared by men raised up by him for this very purpose.

	As Latter-day Saints we ought to know that there is nothing better
anywhere else. And so we should cleave to the Constitution of the United
States and in doing so, earn the blessings of our Heavenly Father.

                      OBSERVANCE OF TEN COMMANDMENTS

	It was a long time ago that the Lord gave to Moses the Ten
Commandments. If the people of the world had observed the Ten Commandments
from that time until now, we would have a different world. There would be
millions of people who would live longer than they have lived and be
happier. The Ten Commandments are in force today, and if we are good
Latter-day Saints and are observing what the Lord has advised, among other
things, we will honor the Sabbath day and not make it a day of pleasure.
The Constitution guarantees us liberty that no other nation enjoys. Most
of the nations are losing the liberties they have had because they have
not kept the commandments of the Lord.

	Most of the difficulty is the bid that is made by the leadership of
nations to people that if they will follow the plan that the leaders map
out, they will be fed and clothed without having to work so hard for it,
but it does not work. People are being misled with the idea that they can
get something for nothing and are not encouraged to work for what they
need and desire.

	Brothers and sisters, you are approaching a political campaign. Go to
the Lord in prayer. Seek his guidance. We do not want to turn this nation
over to the folly of the teachings of other nations that have failed. What
we should do is to cling to what we have, and it is wonderful what the
Lord has given to us in this nation.

	Now it does not make any difference to me what a man's Politics is;
as long as he observes the advice of our Heavenly Father, he will be a
safe companion and associate.  We should not lose our tempers and abuse
one another.  I want to say that nobody ever abused anybody else when he
had the spirit of the Lord.  It is always when we have some other spirit.

                              SEEK THE LORD

	Seek the Lord, brothers and sisters. We do not have to live as they
are living in many other parts of the world. We can continue to live under
the influence of the Spirit of the Lord and worship. One of the most
populous nations in all the world restricts the people in their worship.
They cannot worship as we do here, and yet there are many people in our
land who would like to try what they are doing over there because they
want something different.

	I hold in my hand a copy of the doctrine and Covenants, and in it the
Lords tells us another thing, to pray for and sustain the Constitution of
the land and those who represent us in its offices. So, pray for the
President of the United States, pray for those who have been elected to
Congress, pray for your governor and the members of your legislature. If
they have the Spirit of the Lord, they cannot go wrong; but without it
they can go a long way on the bypath.

                           HAWAIIAN CENTENNIAL

	Here we are this morning, on a beautiful day. No people could be more
comfortable in worship than we are this morning. I am so grateful that I
am able to be present. Recently I, with a group of my brothers and
sisters, went to Hawaii to celebrate the centennial of preaching the
gospel in the Hawaiian Islands. Some of our party expected to find most of
the people Hawaiian. But it was found there were Hawaiians, Japanese,
Chinese, Portuguese, Samoans, and several other nations I might name, all
living there at peace. When our meeting was held in a large building, all
of those races were there as members of the Church.

                          GOSPEL FOR ALL PEOPLE

	The gospel of Jesus Christ is not just for us. It is for the people
of the world, all our Father's children, and at the present time we have
over 5800 missionaries out in the world, from this little Church. What
for? To go to all these people and say, "Keep all the good things that you
have, keep all that God has given you that enriches your life, and then
let us share something with you that will add to your happiness and
increase your satisfaction." That is the spirit of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Our happiness is conditioned upon our loving our fellow men, all
of whom are children of our Heavenly Father.

	Right here on this block is one of the greatest missionary fields in
the world. I see a man sitting Down here in the audience who spends much
of his time with the people on this block. He is a wonderful missionary
and just as happy as he can be when he is talking about it. When we are
doing missionary work to bless the people, we are doing it under the
influence of the Lord, and we are sure to be happy.

                      SPIRIT OF PRAYER AND GRATITUDE

	We welcome you all here this morning. Let us all come into this
house, into the houses that may be necessary to be used for the
conference, with a spirit of prayer, the spirit of gratitude. Let us
appeal to the Lord to bless us, and then those who address us will be
inspired. I pray that we may all live in such a way that our Heavenly
Father can have us in his keeping, that we may have joy and satisfaction,
and we will have if we have this Spirit.

	I pray that his peace may be with us during the continuance of this
meeting and the other meetings of the conference, that we may meet with a
feeling of gratitude for all our blessings. And when the conference is
concluded, and we return to our homes, may we do so with the appreciation
of the fact that we did wait upon the Lord and that he fulfilled his
promise and was with us to bless us. I pray that we may be filled with
that spirit that comes from him, and that is a spirit of love, of kindness
and helpfulness and of patience and forbearance. Then, if we keep that
spirit with us in our homes, our boys and girls will grow up to be what we
would like them to be.

	That the Lord may add his blessing, I humbly pray in the name of
Jesus Christ. Amen.

President George Albert Smith

	We have a good many people come here, but not many have the privilege
you have had of sitting and listening to men whose lives are devoted to
the service of the Master.

	Brother Harold B. Lee, of the Council of the Twelve, has just spoken
to us and he will be our last speaker this morning.

	I never come to this Tabernacle that I do not feel an unusual
presence, when I think of how it was erected and how the people struggled
to prepare a place for worship, and the temple to the east of us, the
Assembly Hall, all these walls that hold these buildings--there is not
anything in all the world like them. Many people would like to take down
these walls. I want to say these walls are sacred to me because I have
played around them ever since I was a child and I have seen hundreds of
men come and go, working around here.

	This morning we are in comfort. The houses that we are in, and the
adjoining houses, are kept in order. The beautiful grounds with flowers
and shrubs, hundreds of people remark they have never seen anything like
it in all the world, and yet this has all been done by men, and some
women, who desired to make the place where we worship our Heavenly Father
as comfortable and delightful as possible.

	By the way, that brings to my mind the fact that one of the most
faithful workers we have had on this block, looking after this building
and other things, Brother Ben Handley, is at home sick, unable to be with
us. He has always been here, always been on hand,

and I wonder sometimes if we realize how much one person may mean.

	As I look through the congregation this morning I see Aunt Mary
Smith, the widow of President Joseph F. Smith, one of the older people of
the Church. She nearly always sits in the same place, or about the same
place, and I am delighted to see her here this morning. I also miss Sister
Ruth May Fox, who is past ninety years of age and not able to be here, but
I am satisfied she will be listening in. I hope she will hear her name
mentioned from this House of the Lord. We must not only appreciate our own
blessings and our privileges, but we should keep in mind the others who
need us, and I am sure if we do we will continue to enjoy what we have now
and the Lord will add to it.

                      PRESIDENT GEORGE ALBERT SMITH

	  You have just listened to the Presiding Bishop of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, LeGrand Richards, and while he has been
talking, I have been thinking of this great audience. Reference has been
made repeatedly to missionary work. We have been told that we have nearly
six thousand missionaries out in the world today. Of course they are
coming and going all the time. For a small church, such as we are, having
membership a little more than a million, approximately six thousand
missionaries is a marvelous record. As I sit here looking at the faces of
the men and women that I know here, and I can see people here from all
over it came into my mind to ask the question: How many of you have filled
a two-year or longer mission during your lifetime? Raise your hands. Thank
you very much. This is a missionary Church. Sometimes people might think,
from the way we refer to finance, that we are a bank, but we are not.
Think of the buildings that are on this block, every one of them built
many years ago. This tabernacle and the temple were built in the very
poverty of our people when they were trying to make homes here in the
valleys of these mountains. But the Lord said, "Seek ye first,"--not
last--". . . seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and
all these things shall be added unto you." ( Matt. 6: 33. )

                          COMFORTS AND BLESSINGS

	  When I travel, as I have, approximately a million miles in the
world, in many nations and places in the world, and come back here, I do
not know of any place where people have more comforts and blessings than
we do right here in this place that 103 years ago was a desert land, with
only one tree growing in this valley. My grandfather came with the first
company of pioneers. There were 143 men, three women, and two children.
After he had been here for five or six years, one of his non Mormon
friends asked him, "President Smith, why did you leave Nauvoo and all that
fine country back there in New York and Missouri and come out to this
God-forsaken land?"

	   The reply of my grandfather was, "Why, we came here willingly,
because we had to."

	   In other words, the people, about twenty thousand of them, when
they were expelled from Illinois, had their choice. They could have stayed
there and lived with so-called Christians (I want to emphasize that), or
they could leave and come out here and live with the Indians. That was
their choice. They preferred the Indians. Now that was not because our
people did not believe in Christianity. I know of no people in the world
who believe as firmly in the divine mission of Jesus Christ as do the
membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I remember
I have had many people say to me, "Why, you people do not even believe in
Jesus Christ."

	   I have said, "What is the matter with you? If we do not believe in
Jesus Christ, why do we call the Church, the Church of Jesus Christ?"

	   "Oh, I didn't know you called it that, I thought it was called the
Mormon Church," they have replied.

                      DIVINE MISSION OF JESUS CHRIST

	  I remember I attended a conference in Canada once, and it so
happened that I referred in my remarks during the evening to our faith in
the divine mission of Jesus Christ, that we believed that the Lord
prepared the way for the coming of Jesus of Nazareth; prepared Mary to be
his mother and Joseph to act as his earthly father. And then Herod, in an
attempt to destroy him, sent out a decree that the children in Bethlehem
and the country round about who were two years old and under were to be
slain, and he became one of the greatest butchers of all time. Joseph and
Mary took Jesus and departed from the land of their birth and their home
and went down into Egypt. They returned later when that wicked king had
died, and the boy grew up in Nazareth and other places in that section.
When he was twelve years old, he went with his parents to the temple. They
were there to perform services in the temple as was customary with those
good Hebrew people in those days. When Joseph and Mary started home, they
missed the boy. They

returned to Jerusalem and found him reasoning with the wise men in the
temple. When he was reproached by his parents for causing them such
anxiety, his answer was, ". . . wist ye not that I must be about my
Father's business?" (Luke 2:49.) Remember he was only twelve years old.

	  When Jesus became a man, he went to the River Jordan where John was
baptizing "because there was much water there," and he needed more than a
teacup or a basin full--Jesus of Nazareth, who was to become the Savior of
the world, went to John and applied for baptism, and John recognizing him
as an unusual character said, ". . . I have need to be baptized of thee,
and comest thou to me?"

	   "And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for
thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him."
(Matt. 3:14-15.) And Jesus of Nazareth went down into the water and was
baptized by John, and when he came up out of the water, the Holy Ghost
came and descended upon him in the form of a dove.

	  And a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased." (Ibid., 3:17.) Could there be anything more definite than
that? Our wonderful Bible contains all that information and much more, of
course. When people say or think that we do not believe in the divine
mission of Jesus Christ, let them know that we believe all that the Bible
teaches in reference to him. We believe the story of how he organized his
people and taught them, and how eventually, at the insistence of his own
people, he was crucified by the representatives of the Roman government;
not for any wrong he had done, but because he was too good to live among
that people.

                             THE RESURRECTION

	  We believe all that. But that was not the end. The Bible tells us
that he had been taken down from the cross where he had been crucified and
placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. After three days, when the
women went to the tomb with spices and other things to prepare his body
for burial as was customary, they found that the tomb was empty. They
began looking around. Mary was standing near the sepulchre weeping when
she saw someone who she thought was the gardener. She asked where Jesus
was, and He said, "Mary," and she recognized his voice. I suppose Mary
would have embraced him, but he said, "Touch me not; for I am not yet
ascended to my Father" (John 20:17)--that was three days after his
crucifixion--but to go and tell his brethren, and gave her other
instructions.

	  Not very long after that, his disciples were gathered together in a
room; because of their fear of their enemies, the door was closed. All at
once he materialized in that room--he did not have to wait for a door or a
window to open. Thomas, who had not been

present at the time of the previous appearance of Jesus, had been told by
the disciples. Realizing that there was some doubt in the mind of Thomas,
Jesus said, ". . . reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach
hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side." (Ibid., 20:27.)

	   And when Thomas had done it, he cried out, "My Lord and my God." (
Ibid., 20ù 28. ) He identified the body as the one he had seen on the
cross. And then the Savior said. "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou
hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have
believed." (Ibid., 20:29.) But that was not the end. He said to his
disciples, "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also
I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold,
and one shepherd." (Ibid., 10:16. )

                           VISIT TO OTHER SHEEP

	  What did he mean? We do not know from the Bible, but there is
another glorious record, the history of the ancestors of the American
Indians, another scripture, the Book of Mormon, and in this scripture is
recorded how he fulfilled that promise of going to his other sheep. At the
time of his crucifixion this earth was rent, and the mountains were made
valleys, the valleys were made mountains, and buildings were destroyed,
and many of the people who lived on the land lost their lives. They had
been looking for the time when the Savior should come, for Samuel, the
Lamanite prophet, had told them about it and all that would occur. They
were gathered around the temple- and all at once they heard a voice, but
they did not understand it. And they heard it a second time; and still
they could not tell where it came from. And then they heard it the third
time, and this time they understood, and looking up, saw the heavens open,
and a glorified Being came down and stood among them. Had there been any
doubt in their minds as to who it was, he dispelled it, because he said,
"Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into
the world." (3 Nephi 11:10.)

	   Brethren and sisters, we have all the information that our
Christian brothers and sisters do with regard to the life of the Savior in
the Bible, and in addition to that, we have the story of his coming to the
people on this western hemisphere, as recorded in the Book of Mormon. And
when he came among them, he talked to them as he had to those in the old
world. When he was ready to leave them, he blessed them, he healed their
sick and took their children up in his arms and wept over them. And after
being with them two or three days, coming and going, they saw him ascend
into heaven.

                       EXPERIENCES OF JOSEPH SMITH

	  In 1820 Joseph Smith, the boy prophet not yet fifteen years of age,
seeking to know what Church he should join because of the confusion in his
neighborhood--his mother insisted he belong to one

church and his father to another--went out in the woods to pray This boy
had read in the Bible, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,
that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not- and it shall be
given him." (James 1:5.) He went out into the woods and put it to the
test. As he knelt there, the adversary sought to overpower him and he was
stricken, but suddenly a bright light appeared. Two glorified Beings were
standing in the air above him in the woods near Palmyra, New York. He saw
them, and they asked him what he wanted, and he asked which of all the
churches he should join. One of them spoke to him and said, pointing to
the other "This is My Beloved Son, Hear Him!" ( Pearl of Great Price,
Joseph Smith 2:17. ) Almost the same language that was used by the Father
when Jesus came up out of the waters of baptism--"This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3: 17.) So when Joseph the boy wanted
to know what to do, he was told by the Savior himself.

                             ADDITIONAL LIGHT

	  I say to you we not only have all that the world has with regard to
the divinity of the mission of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Bible but
also we have the story of another book, known as the Book of Mormon, and
the account of his appearing in this western hemisphere, the tradition of
which has been among the Indians ever since and we also have the story of
another man who gave his life as a witness that he knew that God lives and
Jesus is the Christ. I refer to the Prophet Joseph Smith.

	   My brothers and sisters, if men and women, with all the truth that
they have, would retain all the wonderful things that have been passed on
through the prophets of God, and then let us share with them the
additional information the Lord has revealed since the Holy Bible was made
accessible to the world, what a difference it would make. I remember a
very fine doctor, who was a good member of the Jewish church in Atlanta,
Georgia, and who read the Book of Mormon. I became well-acquainted with
him, and he said to me one day, "There isn't a man living in the world
today that could write the Book of Mormon. It must be something more than
the work of man." I have known many people, who, having read it, and
prayed about it, have received a witness that it is true.

                         INSPIRATION OF ALMIGHTY

	  What I want to emphasize is this: Not only do we have all that is
contained in these sacred records, but also when you have received the
gospel, been baptized, had the hands of the servants of the Lord laid upon
your head and received the Holy Ghost, you have a right to the inspiration
of the Almighty if you live to be worthy of it Ought we not to be grateful
for our many blessings? What a wonderful thing to live in a land like
America and to have all the advantages [p. 159.] that we have. I feel so
grateful for my privileges in the Church of Jesus Christ, for my
companionship with the men and women of this Church and of other churches.
I am grateful to have a host of friends in the various churches of the
world, scattered in different places. I am grateful for those friendships,
but I will not be satisfied until I can share with them some of the things
which they have not yet received. And that is the thing we must keep in
our minds- it is our responsibility to bear the word. Let us do the things
the Lord wants us to do and keep his commandments and be worthy of the
blessings that we enjoy that are superior to those of most people in all
the world.

                        OBEDIENCE BRINGS BLESSINGS

	  This is the closing session of this great conference. It will be
another six months before we are again brought together in this capacity,
as far as we know now. But in that six months we do not know what may
occur. Reference has been made to the fact that many of our boys and some
of our girls are already being taken away preparatory for another war. War
is the result of sin, not righteousness. And if we want to avoid war and
avoid the responsibilities that come, our duty is to keep the commandments
of God, and he has promised that if we will do that we will enjoy
blessings that we cannot enjoy in any other way.

	   I am happy to be with you today. we have had a wonderful time. We
are grateful to this wonderful choir that sings to the world every Sunday,
a choir that has rendered 1102 programs, broadcast to the world. We are
not depending entirely upon the nearly six thousand missionaries. We also
have the radio, and thousands of people listen in to the program that is
given each week by this wonderful choir, an unpaid organization that is
doing missionary work for the blessings of mankind.

	   Now are you happy? If you are keeping the commandments of God, I
am sure you are happy. We have much to do. You have heard something about
preparing a temple at Los Angeles.

                        PLANS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

	  The first plans have been approved so that the temple may be
constructed just as soon as the detailed plans are prepared. It will add
another temple. We are the only people in the world who know what temples
are for, and how wonderful it is that we can build a temple without
feeling the loss of the expense. We have been building temples and
building meetinghouses all these years. Since the war, the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter day Saints, the people that belong to this organization,
have sent 130-odd carloads of food, bedding, and clothing to the people
across the sea because they needed it, and they were made a present of it.
Yet our granaries are filled today. Our root cellars are being filled now.
Our little workshops

where clothing is made and where second-hand clothing is repaired and made
desirable are filling up again, and I want to say that I do not know of
any people in the world that are more richly blessed than we,
notwithstanding our constant giving that has been referred to here. They
who give to the poor, but lend to the Lord, and he is a wonderful
paymaster.

	Brethren and sisters, let us do our part. Harken to the advice that
has come to us here during these sessions of conference. This is the
Lord's house. His Spirit has been here, and we have been uplifted and
blessed thereby. I pray that the power of our Heavenly Father may go with
you workers of this Church, you members, wherever you go, that your homes
may be the abiding place of the spirit of our Heavenly Father, that your
sons and daughters may grow up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,
that you may love your neighbors, and that means members of the Church and
those that are not: That means all who seek to be what the Lord would have
them be. I pray that each of us may feel day by day the assurance that so
many of you have, that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph
Smith was a prophet of the Living God. I know that as well as I know that
I live, and I bear that witness to you in humility, and realizing the
seriousness of such a statement if it were not true, I still bear this
testimony to you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

                      PRESIDENT GEORGE ALBERT SMITH

	Reference has been made to the responsibility of the priesthood, and
I wonder if we fully appreciate what it means to have conferred upon us a
portion of the authority of our Heavenly Father to officiate, and to teach
the children of men. The condition of the world today is pitiable. Nobody
knows what the outcome will be.

	A train pulled out of one of the stations here this week with quite a
large number of men, mostly young men, who are going out

to take part as a portion of the armed forces of the United States. Every
one of those men has lived where he could have received the priesthood, I
am sure. I do not know how many of them have received it, but some of them
have filled missions. History is repeating itself. War and distress are
giving anxiety and deep sorrow to the peoples of this earth.

                             GROWTH OF CHURCH

	In 1830 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized
with six members. Today the Church numbers more than a million souls. From
the six men who were in that meeting when the Church was organized, and
those who have followed, the Church has continued to grow and develop into
a great organization. It may interest you to know that it is estimated
that in Barratt Hall and the Assembly Hall and here in this building
tonight there are approximately fourteen thousand men and boys who hold
the authority of the priesthood. As has been intimated, this is the
largest gathering of priesthood in a priesthood meeting that we have had,
and the work continues to go forward.

	There was a time when to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints brought ridicule and annoyance to the one who was
recognized as such. How different it is today. Many offices in the states
and territories and the Islands of the sea where our people are located
are held by men who hold the priesthood.

	I can remember a visit that I made in Washington at a time when our
Representative from this state was not a member of the Church. I thought I
would like to go and pay my respects to him, but when I called on him he
was annoyed. I was only a young man at the time. Since then that great
body that meets as a Congress in the United States has been honored by
representatives of this Church and they have made friends for the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, because of the dignity of their
attitude among their fellows.

	There is not any position, from the President of the United States
down, that may not be held by a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints if the Lord wills.

                         POWER OF THE PRIESTHOOD

	When I see this marvelous group of men and boys here tonight I think,
"what a power we have in the world that is not recognized by the world in
many cases." I spoke of the political privileges that are ours, each of us
having a right, if we have qualified, to cast our vote; and when we go to
the Congress of the United States we find members of the Church there who
receive us with consideration, and seek to look after our interests and
keep us where we ought to be, not trailing along, but pushing forward.

	The Priesthood is what I am thinking about.  What a wonderful

privilege it is to represent our Heavenly Father by holding the
priesthood, and it does not prevent us from going anywhere in the world in
honor, if we dignify our calling. There are those who do not like us. That
is because they do not know who we are, but little by little, and very
rapidly now, the men such as are sitting here tonight are going out into
the world and mingling with the people, and it is remarkable what a host
of friends there are scattered over the earth not members of the Church,
who have been brought to realize the dignity and the worthwhile attitude
of these men who have the priesthood.

                           THE VOICE OF WARNING

	I want to read something from the First Section of the Doctrine and
Covenants: "Hearken, O ye people of my church, saith the voice of him who
dwells on high, and whose eyes are upon all men; yea, verily I say:
Hearken ye people from afar; and ye that are upon the islands of the sea,
listen together. For verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men, . . .
."

	That covers a good deal of territory, particularly when we realize
that the voice of the Lord, the instructions of our Heavenly Father, must
be carried by those who are authorized by Him to carry His messages. You
see, we have a great responsibility.

	"For verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men, and there is none
to escape; and there is no eye that shall not see, neither ear that shall
not hear, neither heart that shall not be penetrated. And the rebellious
shall be pierced with much sorrow; for their iniquities shall be spoken
upon the housetops, and their secret acts shall be revealed.

	And then He goes on and says: "And the voice of warning shall be unto
all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these
last days. And they shall go forth and none shall stay them, for I the
Lord have commanded them."

	It is not a question of our choice. It is a question of following the
instructions, and direction of our Heavenly Father.

	"And they shall go forth and none shall stay them, . . . Behold, this
is mine authority, and the authority of my servants, and my preface unto
the book of my commandments, which I have given them to publish unto you,
O inhabitants of the earth."

                           GOSPEL TO BE PREACHED

	That is a portion of the First Section of the Doctrine and Covenants.
We who are here tonight have been told that there are approximately six
thousand of our missionaries scattered throughout the world, and yet that
is not a drop in the bucket, but in the Lord's own way, and He says it
will be done by those that He directs, all the people of the world must be
reached if possible and the Gospel of Jesus Christ brought to them as far
as we can go.

So we have a great responsibility, my brethren, a tremendous
responsibility.

	I remember when I was a child, I thought how few we were. At that
time there were some difficulties and our people were being annoyed; but
then somebody said: "Oh, never mind, the Lord and one man is a majority."
So it is not a question of how many of us there are. We have the
responsibility, and in order that we may carry that responsibility we will
be placed in all kinds of positions of honor and trust, not only in the
Congress of the United States, but in our great Universities, and at the
head of our great businesses. It is marvelous how many things occur.

                             VISIT TO ALBANY

	I think I will tell you a little incident that occurred many years
ago. I was in Washington and so I wrote to the Governor of New York who at
that time was Charles Seaman Whitman and told him that I was on my way
home and if he was going to be in Albany on such and such a date, I think
it was on Thursday as I remember it now, that I would be glad to get off
the train and call and pay my respects and take the next train on home. I
received a telegram in reply, reading, "Come right along. I will receive
you here."

	The result was that I got through in Washington a day earlier than I
thought so I arrived in Albany a day ahead of time and went to the Hotel
Teneyck, with the expectation of staying all night and filling my
appointment the next day. I then telephoned the Governor's office and
learned that he was out of town, and I told his secretary I had an
appointment with him. He said: "Yes, I know and the governor will be here
in time to fill his appointment tomorrow."

	 I thought, "why not do something in the meantime?" I have always
found that I feel so much better when I am busy trying to disseminate the
truth. The result was I went out and located two of our missionaries, just
humble young men. They were about nineteen, possibly twenty, years of age.
I found them and asked if there were some place we could spend the evening
and do a little missionary work, and they said: "Yes, we will go and call
on the photographer. He and his family are members of the Church, and they
will be happy to have us come."

	I said: "All right." I went into the office of the hotel and said to
the clerk: "If by any chance anybody calls for me here, I am going out to
spend the evening, but I would like to have them call me--I had the
telephone number of the photographer--call me there."

                            CALL PROM GOVERNOR

	The missionaries were delighted and we went down and were having a
lovely visit. About nine o'clock the telephone rang and

the good sister answered the telephone and then she came in, and my, her
eyes were nearly popping out of her head. She said: "Why Brother Smith,
the Governor of New York wants to talk to you on the telephone."

	Of course I was wonderfully surprised. So I went to the telephone and
when I took it up I said: "Is this you, Governor?"

	He said: "Yes."

	I said: "This is George Albert Smith of Salt Lake City. I am glad to
hear your voice."

	"Well," he said, "I am glad to hear yours. You are coming to see me,
aren't you?"

	And I replied: "Well, I stopped here for that purpose. What time
shall I come?"

	He said: "Ten o'clock."

	I asked: "Ten o'clock tomorrow morning?"

	He said: "No, ten o'clock tonight."

	I said: "I do not want to disturb you at your home. I thought I was
going to go into your office and shake hands with you and visit a few
minutes."

	He said: "If you wait to get into my office we won't have any visit.
Come on down tonight, at 10 o'clock."

                       VISIT AT GOVERNOR'S MANSION

	I went back and excused myself from the family and said to the young
missionaries: "Will one of you go and help me find the Mansion House?" I
did not have any idea where it was. Elder Peterson went with me.

	When we got down to the house--it was during World War number one and
the house was surrounded by militia--they would not let us in the gates
until I insisted that they go to the house and find out that I had an
appointment. They did and came back and escorted us to the house. When we
went there the Governor received us very graciously and said: "Come with
me and we will go up to my den and we will have a good time together.
Nobody will bother us up there, not even the telephone."

	The young missionary was about as much surprised as anybody could be
to be received in the home of the Governor like that. It was just like we
were members of the family.

	When we got upstairs, the Governor seated himself. By the way, it was
in a room about fourteen feet square and there was a table on one side and
all around the room were cupboards of books. It was the private office of
the Governor, and when he wanted to be by himself that is where he went.

                        DISCUSSION OF WORLD WAR I

	He sat in his chair, on one side of the table, and Elder Peterson

and I sat opposite him. We had hardly gotten seated until the Governor
said: "Do you folks know that there is a war on?"

	I said, "Of course we know there is a war on."

	He said: "You are way out there in Utah: I didn't think you would
know." He continued: "You are out of danger; you cannot be reached out
there."

	I said, "Governor, we are American citizens and we are real
Americans, and I want to tell you we have furnished our quota of men, and
there has not been a draftee--everyone has volunteered." I said: "We have
taken our full quota of bonds. We have paid our full share of Red Cross
assessment. We have done everything we have been asked for. Now, why don't
you think we know there is a war on?"

	He replied: "You have done better than we have back here. "Well," he
repeated, "how is this war coming out?"

	I answered: "Don't you know?"

	He said: "No, I don't know who is going to win it."

	"Where is your Book of Mormon?" I asked.

	He just turned around in his swivel chair and reached in the cupboard
behind him, took down a copy of the Book of Mormon and laid it on the
table in front of me. Elder Peterson was astonished to see a copy of the
Book of Mormon in the Governor's library.

	I turned to the Book of Mormon and I said: "Governor, I am not going
to take a lot of time, but you can find out right in here how this war is
coming out." I said: "We are going to win the war," and then I read to him
what is found in the Book of Mormon with reference to the people of this
nation, in which the Lord told us: "And this land shall be a land of
liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who
shall raise up unto the Gentiles.... I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will
be their king," and then He refers to the fact that if we keep His
commandments--that is what I want to bring home to us tonight--if we keep
His commandments we have the promise from Him of His preservation and His
watchcare.

	The Governor said: "I had not seen that."

	"Well," I said: "you are not doing a very good job reading your Book
of Mormon."

                    SUBSEQUENT MEETING WITH MISSIONARY

	He thanked me. We had a lovely visit. We went away and I did not see
that missionary for a long time. In fact, I had forgotten what his name
was, until about two years ago in the Hotel Utah when I attended a meeting
of oil executives. I happened to be there as an invited guest, and I was
made acquainted with some of those present, but when someone attempted to
introduce me to one young man he said: "You cannot introduce me to
President Smith. I know him and he knows me. We have done missionary work
together."

	I was puzzled. And then he told the story of how he took

me to the Governor's home and then of course I remembered him. He is now
the President of one of the great oil corporations in California. But one
of the most interesting things was, after I had explained to the Governor
that the Book of Mormon contained the word of the Lord: that it was not
what Joseph Smith had said, but what the Lord had said--when I laid the
book down, the missionary picked it up as quick as he could and looked to
see how on earth it got into the Governor's office. On the front page was
this inscription: "To the Honorable Charles Seaman Whitman, Governor of
New York, with compliments and best wishes of George Albert Smith."

                      OPPORTUNITIES TO TEACH GOSPEL

	Brethren, I have mentioned the Book of Mormon. I wonder how many of
our families have read the Book of Mormon. There are a good many things in
there that could be referred to, as well as this commandment or revelation
of our Heavenly Father, of what we must do. We are distributing the
literature of the Church where we can in all parts of the civilized world
and we are not doing all that we will have to do because we have not
reached very many people.

	Our representatives in the various barracks, schools, and in the
various state legislatures and the national legislature, members of the
Church everywhere, all have an opportunity, and most of them take
advantage of that opportunity, to explain to the people what the Gospel of
Jesus Christ really means.

	That is a large contract that we have. Each of us has the
responsibility. We may begin by training our boys and girls at home so
that they know what the Gospel is and then when opportunity comes they
will be able to share it with others.

                         FRIENDLINESS EXPERIENCED

	If I had time I could tell you many experiences I have had, similar
to the one just related, and I have always found that the people who gave
me an opportunity to sit and talk with them followed me up after that and
went out of their way to be friendly. I may add that the Governor of New
York used to send me an invitation to his public functions. I never had
the opportunity to go but once and then I got stuck in the snow and could
not get there.

	People are friendly with us if we will give them a chance. It has not
been very long since I was invited to offer the invocation at the opening
of the United States Senate. This invitation was extended to a member of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a stranger there except
for the fact we had members and friends there who knew us. That could not
have happened fifty years ago, but there is no end to the opportunity that
is ours, and the thing for us to do, no matter where we are, is to seek to
share with

others the joyous teachings that have come to us from our Heavenly Father
in all of the scriptures, the Old and the New Testament, Book of Mormon,
Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price. We have a marvelous library,
brethren.

                      RESPONSIBILITY TO TEACH GOSPEL

	I am not going to ask you to hold up your hands now, but I would like
you to ask yourselves, how many of you have read anything to your families
out of these books from time to time, called them together to teach them
the things that they ought to know. I am afraid many of us would have to
say we have been too busy.

	The Gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth, and think of the number
of men there are here tonight who are authorized through the priesthood
they hold to speak for our Heavenly Father and to teach his Gospel.

	lt is a joyous thing to me to know that the way is opening all the
time, and it becomes easier and I say to you brethren, I do not suppose
there is hardly a week passes, not a month anyhow, but somebody of
prominence from these United States or from other parts of the world,
comes into the office here, the President's office, to find out what we
are doing.

                       VISIT OF RAILROAD PRESIDENT

	Only last week the President of one of the great eastern railroads
came in, the first time he has ever been here in Salt Lake City, and he
came in and we sat down and visited for quite a long time. He asked
questions and they were answered, and he went out, wanting to see what
there was to see. He was leaving that night, but he said: "I never dreamed
I would find what I have found here."

	I could not go with him so some of the other brethren, Brother
Haycock, my secretary, and one of the other brethren, saw to it that they
found our welfare organization, saw the monument to the pioneers up here
and other points of interest.

	There is always something to interest them while we are teaching them
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So let us not lose our opportunity, let us not
lose the privilege that the Lord has given to us to teach His truth. The
more we teach it the more we will appreciate it, and the more we will be
appreciated by those we associate with.

                       PRIESTHOOD MEETING A DELIGHT

	Tonight, this great priesthood meeting is a delight to me. I am
grateful to be able to be here. I am glad I can remember when I was

just a young man, and I was a missionary in the Southern States Some of
the very finest people in the South would receive us-if we would go to
their homes in a dignified way. They were not always interested in the
Gospel of Jesus Christ but they would treat us kindly, in most instances,
but of course in some cases they were not so kind.

	I am thinking of our opportunity. What are we going to do?  Here we
are, the representatives of the Church, a very great portion of the
representatives of the priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints tonight, and our Heavenly Father has warned us that
difficulties are coming. If I were to read more in the Doctrine and
Covenants I could call attention to many things there that put us on
notice that we have something more to do than to just go on and take it
easy.

                     EXPERIENCES OP NOAH AND ABRAHAM

	Remember that in the days of Noah, he preached the Gospel for
approximately a hundred years and the people would not repent, but by and
by, the warning that had been given to them was realized and they were all
wiped out except the few that were in the ark.

	You remember the experience of Abraham when he was visited by a holy
being on the way to Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy the people, and he began
to plead for them. He knew there were some good people there. He had
relatives-there. And so finally he asked-"Are you going to destroy the
good people?"

	"No, if there are good people there, enough of them, they can save
the whole situation."

	And then Abraham began: "Well, if there are fifty, will you save the
cities?"

	"Yes, if there are fifty."

	"If there are forty?"

	"Yes, if there are forty."

	 And Abraham kept on going until he got down as far as he thought he
could go, I guess, and was told, that if ten righteous people could be
found there in those two great cities that the cities would be spared. But
he could not find them.

                           CONDITION OF AMERICA

	Now I wonder what about America. What proportion of the population of
the land we live in is a righteous portion. It is righteousness that will
preserve us.

	The Lord's promise to be our king and our law-giver is on the
condition of righteousness, and my, what a wonderful opportunity He gives
to us and how happy we ought to be to take advantage of it and bless our
fellows by carrying the message to them.

                            DISBELIEF OF WORLD

	The people of the world may not believe it. They did not believe it
when the Savior came to John at the waters of Jordan. They did not believe
He was the Savior of the world. When He came unto John and asked for
baptism, John said: "I have need to be baptized of Thee and comest Thou to
me?"

	  Jesus replied: "Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to
fulfill all righteousness." "And he suffered him."

	 Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary, went down into the water, and
when He came up out of the water, the Holy Ghost descended upon Him in the
form of a dove. If John had had any doubt about what he had accomplished
surely that would have brought him to a realization, and then a voice from
heaven said: "This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

	   John did not find fault with Jesus for letting him baptize Him.
John was a very humble man. John then went his way and tried to save his
own people, his own race. And they finally took his life and that has been
the history of the world all the way down. There have been war and
destruction and now we are faced, not with any ordinary situation, but we
are faced with a war by Anti-Christ against the people who believe in the
divine mission of the Savior.

                            SET HOMES IN ORDER

	 What are we going to do? We have our responsibility, and I am sure
we will not disappoint those who have depended upon us to do our part. But
the most important thing that we can do is set our own homes in order, to
see if there is carelessness or indifference in them, teach our families,
and unite them and make them happy in keeping the commandments of our
Heavenly Father, because only on the condition of righteousness can even
this great Church continue and endure to do the work that it has to do.

	 Brethren, you have come from many parts of the world, mostly, of
course, from the Western Hemisphere, but you will be returning to your
homes. Do not fail to appreciate that the Lord has given you a wonderful
blessing, but it will only be a blessing to you on condition that you
observe His laws and keep His commandments.

                          WAITING UPON THE LORD

	   We are all brethren here tonight, meeting together in the Lord's
House, waiting upon Him, and I am sure we will have a happy time tomorrow
in our meetings.

	 I trust everybody has a place to stay tonight. I hope that the
adjustment has been made before this. We sometimes have had our people
come from the outlying districts thinking they could go

 into a hotel at any time, only to find they could not get a place to
stay. Now, if there are any of you people here tonight who live away, who
haven't any place to stay, you see if you are sitting by a real Latter day
Saint or a make-believe, and tell your troubles to your neighbor, and if
he cannot take you to his home he can find a place where you can stay, and
you will be happy.

                       GRATITUDE FOR COMPANIONSHIP

	 I pray that the Lord will bless us all. I am so grateful for the
companionship of such men as are sitting here tonight, grateful to be able
to shake your hands and meet you wherever I find you, grateful to welcome
another member into the Quorum of the Twelve. The Church continues to
grow, and while Brother George F. Richards has filled a great mission,
performed a great part, and the others that we have mentioned here,
Brother Frank Evans and others, what they have done they will be blessed
for, but if we want to be among those whose names are recorded in the
Lamb's Book of Life as being entitled to a place in the Celestial Kingdom
when this earth becomes that kingdom, we have got to earn that ourselves,
individually. The Lord has given us the priesthood given us the
opportunity, given us all these wonderful revelations contained in the
scriptures, and I am sure we are not going to waste our privileges and
fail to do our part.

                             BLESSINGS ASKED

	 I pray that the Lord will bless us all, that we will be worthy to
bear the priesthood that He has offered to us and conferred upon us, that
wherever we go people will be able to say, "That man is a servant of the
Lord."

	 When you go to our homes tonight, please be careful. It is dark. The
automobiles are running in every direction, pretty near, except straight
up, and we will have to be careful and not be hit. Be as careful as you
can, and then when the conference is finished and you go to your homes, be
equally careful, because somebody is losing his life as a result of
unnecessary accidents practically every hour of the day.

	 I pray that the Lord will bless us, that we will be real brothers
and that if we have families that we will be real fathers and husbands in
our homes, not just make-believes. Do not fail to have your family
prayers, brethren, it brings a blessing that not anything else does.

	   That we may all so conduct ourselves that when the Lamb's Book of
Life is opened disclosing those who are entitled to a place here upon this
earth in the Celestial Kingdom, to live forever in the companionship of
Jesus Christ, our Lord, and that all our names

 will be found recorded there and those we love, not one missing, I pray,
in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

President Smith died April 4, 1951