Elder Melvin J. Ballard.

(President Northwestern States Mission.)

My heart rejoices, my brethren and sisters, in the privilege of attending this conference and listening to the testimonies that have already been given; and most earnestly do I desire to enjoy the same good spirit with which our brethren have been impressed, as they have uttered inspired words to us.

I rejoice more than I can tell you to have a name and standing in this Church, to be identified with what I consider the most wonderful movement in the world today, a movement, as suggested by one of our brethren this morning, that is only beginning its effective work; assuredly we have not reached the end for which this work was established by the Lord. When I realize the meaning of those words of the Master that we are the salt of the earth, and that the leaven which has been planted with this people should work until it reaches the uttermost ends of the earth, I feel that, this being the truth, this work being the very work of God, His precious promise having been given to it, no power can stay its progress, its growth, its development, the consummation of the end that God has decreed. If the Lord has selected these valleys of the mountains as the place where He would establish His people, He having decreed it and pronounced His blessings upon it, this will always be the place, though some of us may not be permitted to remain in this place. This will always be the saving work that God established it to be, though some may not continue to be identified with it. The Lord having decreed these things they shall be consummated, all His promises shall be fulfilled.

The world has become impressed with some of the doctrines taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and although they have not acknowledged the source from which they have received their information, nevertheless great churches have been builded using as their chief corner stone some of the doctrines or principles announced by the Prophet. Others have wondered at the beauty of these doctrines, and have been almost shocked when afterwards they have heard that these were the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Men have wondered why it was that if the Lord had such a beautiful system, if He had such a wonderful work to do, why He did not choose someone else besides a man who has been so much misunderstood and whose name has been held in contempt by the world generally. The one reason why the Lord did not give to the Reverend T. DeWitt Talmage, Henry Ward Beecher or others the message, the grand message that He delivered to the Prophet Joseph Smith, is because He has always elected, as Paul indicated, the weak and not those who are wise in the things of the world, not those who are mighty, not those who were learned. Not that God despises learning, education, nor those things that make men great in the eyes of their fellow men, but He does this that no flesh shall glory in His sight.

When I have witnessed the efforts of men to try to detract from the work established through Joseph Smith, rob it of its claims of divinity, by trying to find among his associates men who had learning and education and ability enough to produce the Book of Mormon, tried to give the credit to Sidney Rigdon or to Solomon Spaulding or to some one else, I have wondered what the world would have thought of the Book of Mormon if the Lord had revealed its whereabouts to Henry Ward Beecher. Would they not have given the credit to man? Would the Lord have been glorified in this? I feel that the Lord has done it just as He always has performed His work, I am impressed by those words spoken by the Savior as found in the ninth chapter of Matthew, sixteenth verse: "No man putteth a piece of new cloth into an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved." If the Lord had a new message or the old message to be re-given, it having failed to be preserved, through the inability of men to defend the truth and preserve it after the departure of the Christ and His apostles, if He had a new message of the truth to give, new wine of life to give to men, evidently, in His judgment, He could, not find a vessel, an organization on the earth that could contain this new wine. Where could He find one in which there was a belief in God the Eternal Father as He is; where, one that believed in Jesus Christ as the very Son of God, and the Savior of the world? He had to select someone whom He could reveal Himself to, one without preconceived notions and prejudices.

When the Lord sought to give Israel new promises, and lead them into-the new land, He found it necessary to keep Israel in the wilderness forty years, to try to make them vessels who could contain the better things; but they could not. They all perished, who were over twenty-one years of age, except Caleb and Joshua, and only the children who were born and reared in the wilderness came into their new land. When Jesus Christ came, though there were religious organizations in the world, He could not find one suitable to receive His message, so He had to build anew again; He had to organize vessels and institutions, an organization that could contain this new wine. So in all the earth in the latter days, there was not, anywhere, vessels of organizations that could contain the new wine, the very truth of God; and so He organized new vessels, a new institution, an organization capable of receiving the full message of truth that has been given to this Church. It will, I trust, always be possible for this organization to cherish that measure of truth that has been given to it, to preserve it, to receive more as the Lord intends that it shall come; and not save it for ourselves alone, for we have been given this wonderful message for the blessing of all men. We are to treasure it with the thought, not of selfishness--"for me and my wife and my son John and his wife," but for the whole world. I rejoice that the truth has come to our understanding, no matter what the world may say or think or feel with reference to this message. If it is the truth, as we declare it is, it will stand; it will survive.

I read some very comforting words a few days ago from an eminent author running like this:

"Had the great truths waited until the majority voted in their favor they would never have been heard of in the world. Had they not found the place from which they are proclaimed at all times as sufficiently grand, they would be silent to this hour. Unadorned and out of the way were the seats whence they were uttered as they came like zephyrs: and though slight their rustlings they uprooted oaks and threw down palaces."

While this truth came in a humble and obscure corner of the earth, to one out of the way of the seats of those who sought adornment, nevertheless, though the rustlings were gentle when the Son of God and the Father Himself appeared in the grove, to the Prophet Joseph Smith, on that spring morning, it was the beginning of the establishment of truth that should grow and become mighty; and like fire, when once started in dead timber, it shall burn and consume all that is dead, decayed and fit for consumption. So the truth, once clearly stated, will burn and consume error and spread unto the uttermost parts of the earth.

I testify to you that this is the truth, that the wonderful message given to us is the thing of all things that can save and that will save the world. It is the power of God unto salvation; it is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I do bear testimony to the fact that I know, all there is to me knows, reason is satisfied, yes, in my soul, by a thousand testimonies, I know it better than I know anything else in the world that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the very Son of God. I know equally well that if the Lord, who does live, if He ever spoke to men, if He ever delivered a message in all the world, He did speak to Joseph Smith, He did reveal Himself, and I believe that He revealed Himself to men anciently as well as that He revealed Himself to the Prophet Joseph. I treasure the divine message that has come unto us, and I do appreciate the opportunity of bearing this message to my Father's children.

Oh, may the Lord inspire the hearts of the youth of Israel, and the men and the women who have the great responsibilities of demonstrating to the world the virtue, the virility, the strength and the power of this Gospel, so that men may not only be impressed and inspired by our utterances but that, seeing the fruits of this Gospel in the lives of the Latter-day Saints, they may be lead to acknowledge that the thing, after all, that they have sought and have not found in the forms of religion upon which they have leaned with hope that it would solve the world's problem, and bring peace to the earth, is here in all its power, not lose their faith in God, nor in His Christ, but, that here they shall find hope. And may we live to invite and anxiously desire all men to come and drink of these waters of everlasting life which are now extended freely to all who will receive. May the Lord bless us in these noble efforts and in this grand mission, to live up to the requirements of the Lord, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

President Smith announced another overflow meeting, to be held in the Assembly Hall at 2 p.m., to be presided over by Elder George F. Richards; and an outdoor meeting at same time, in front of the Bureau of Information, under direction of Elder Heber J. Grant.