President Anthon H. Lund

I rejoice this morning in seeing this great assemblage of Latter-day Saints and so many of the priesthood represented as are before me and around me here. What a marvelous work this is! Seeing the voting by quorums of the priesthood, I thought of the wonderful organization of the priesthood.

God's Marvelous Work and a Wonder.

It brought to my mind the revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, long before there was any one in the Church, in section four of the D&C, in which the Lord said he was about to bring forth a marvelous and wonderful work. This has indeed been accomplished. The Prophet Joseph was indeed a man and prophet of God, and proved this both by his prophecies, by his teachings and by his life, and his successors followed him with great devotion to this great work.

The Courage of Brigham Young.

Today, the first of June, is the anniversary of the birth of President Brigham Young. The Lord had a great work for him. He was indeed a Moses to lead his people away from persecution and oppression, into the wilderness. What sublime faith those men, the pioneers, showed in following him! They did not know where they were going. They did not know what was before them, but they had confidence in their leader, and knowing he was appointed of God to lead them, they followed him.

When they entered these valleys the prospect was not very encouraging, and several of them thought it was better to go on to Oregon or California, or to places where there were already cultivated lands and an assurance that people were able to make a living. But their misgivings did not influence President Young. for he knew that this was the place; he said so, and on the spot where the temple stands today, he said, "Here we will erect a temple to our God." President Brigham Young proved to be a courageous man. He was not afraid of the outlook. The Lord had pointed out to him that this would be the gathering place of the Saints.

Tribute to President Joseph F. Smith.

We have heard President Grant speak about Brother John Taylor, about Brother Woodruff, and Brother Lorenzo Snow, and we have for some time looked forward to a day on which speeches should be made in memory of the prophet Joseph F. Smith. He was indeed loved by all. He was a great man. He was a great preacher of righteousness. How often have I sat listening to his voice and rejoiced in the truths that he put forth, the encouraging words he spoke and the words of warning he gave unto the people! Take a view of his life. God had given him a strong and abiding faith. He never wavered. As early as fifteen years he was called to go to a land where much of the blood of Israel was found. The four years he spent there were not years perhaps like many of us would have liked, but he looked upon them with joy and thankfulness, for he loved the people among whom he labored. They loved him, and though they were poor and he was poor also, still those years were blessed years to him and to that people.

President Smith was a dutiful child to his mother. He loved her with the greatest love. He often alluded to her and to the inestimable blessing that she had been to him. She taught him to read, she helped him in his studies, and her memory was ever kept by him in the deepest reverence. He liked to talk about her, and as he was a dutiful and loving child himself, when he had children he was a loving father and a loving husband. He loved the little ones, even those not belonging to his family, and I have noticed bow little children would be drawn to him even if they were perfect strangers. There was an atmosphere about him that gave them confidence, so that they were not afraid to come and have him take them up in his arms.

I have walked with him in the street and nearly every few steps be would meet acquaintances and have to stop and shake hands with them. He was loved by those who knew him. He never forgot his friends, even if he had not seen them for many years. His life was an exemplary one.

Ever since I remember anything about him he was to me the type of a true Latter-day Saint; and when I got more intimately connected with him I saw, every day, more and more evidence of his being just what I had imagined him to be. He was a true Latter-day Saint. He loved the gospel. He loved to bear his testimony that Jesus was the Redeemer and Savior of the world. He bore testimony to the truth of the gospel, and to the divinity of the mission of Joseph Smith, and his testimony always strengthened the faith of those who listened to him.

The Church Freed of Debt.

President Smith was a good manager of the affairs of the Church. When his administration began, the Church was owing nearly a million dollars of bonds. President Smith was a man that did not like to be in debt, and as he felt in this regard himself, so he felt for the Church, and he put forth all his energy that the Church might get out of the bondage of debt. It took about five years to do this, because so many other responsibilities had to be met, but I remember one day in the old office building how he rejoiced when we made a bon-fire of bonds that called for a million of dollars, for we felt, now is the Church free from debt.

An Epoch of Church Buildings.

During the administration of President Smith there was an epoch of building meetinghouses and stake houses, ward tithing offices, academies and temples. More has been done during these years in this regard than ever before, not only at home, but abroad; meeting houses have been erected in the missions of the United States, England, Scandinavia, and on the islands of the sea, and the people rejoice in having places of their own where they can go and worship God. When we travel here, at home, we are pleased to see these beautiful meetinghouses that have been erected, and very few have been built without help by the Trustee-in-Trust. And the work of building meetinghouses continues.

A Faith-Promoting Preacher of Righteousness.

President Smith was a spiritual-minded man, and he was well versed in all things pertaining to the priesthood, to temple work and to the different activities of the Church. Before I came into the presidency I have often gone to him and asked for his advice and counsel, and I always found it to be the very best that could be given; and when I was called to be his counselor I felt indeed humble, and wondered how I could perform such an office to a man like him. During the seventeen years that we sat at the council table together, I admired the man more and more. I saw how true he was to his professions, how true he was to the interests of the Church, how true to his brethren and the Saints in general.

When a case came before him to judge, he and his counselors would talk it over and give it their careful consideration until they came to the same conclusion. We felt indeed that he was a man of God, a man raised up to perform a wonderful work. We all miss Brother Joseph F. Smith. We loved him. We knew that he was a fearless man. When it came to anything pertaining to the Church, whatever he thought was for the best good of the work, he was not afraid to undertake it. In reflecting upon his life, we see many things that are faith-promoting, and showing that the Lord's hand was with him, protecting him and giving him success in his labors.

May the Lord bless his families and his children, that they may emulate the noble example that he has Set them, and may we all, brethren and sisters, remember what he has done, may his memory remain green in our minds, and may we carry out that which he worked for so earnestly all his life.

President Heber J. Grant Will Keep His Pledges.

President Grant has spoken to us this morning. He has told us what he intends to do, and I know he will carry it out, because he has always kept the pledges he has made; so I do not think that now, as president of the Church, he will go back upon such conduct. The Lord will bless him. There is a great work for him to do, to which the Lord has called him, and God will give him wisdom and strength to accomplish it and enable him to carry the great responsibility that the office imposes upon him.

May the Lord bless President Grant, that he may have joy in his labor, that his administration may be a prosperous one for the Latter-day Saints, I ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Tabernacle Choir sang: Come Unto Me."

The benediction was pronounced by Patriarch George L. Farrell, of the Cache Stake of Zion.

Conference adjourned until 2 o'clock p.m.