went as you know to the Lord in prayer, in response to the Scripture which said: "If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not." He became familiar with that Scripture, for it constituted, at least on one occasion, a text to a discourse to which he listened, and it became the voice of God to his soul. At last he put this Scripture to the test and inquired of God, with the result familiar to you all that he received a splendid vision of God the Father and of the Son, and received knowledge of the purpose of the Father to give a new dispensation of the gospel to the world through him, provided he should be faithful. Three years passed, and when reviewing the experiences of those three years, and calling to mind, as any lad could, the follies of youth, the light-mindedness and the foolishness of boyhood, a sorrow took hold of him as he made this review; and he wondered to what extent he had given offense to God. He besought the Lord in prayer again, in order to know his standing, with the result that a holy messenger from the presence of God visited him and made known his acceptance to the Lord, notwithstanding his boyhood follies, and assured him that he was still the chosen instrument in the hands of God for the accomplishment of his purposes, and revealed to him the existence of a whole volume of Scripture, being the word of the Lord as delivered unto the prophets living upon these western American continents in ancient times. Of course, I am not relating these familiar incidents in the history of the Prophet, with a view of imparting information as to these facts to you, but I simply want to call your attention to the course pursued by the Prophet, to ask you if this course is not altogether commendable in him; and so far as we have pursued the course followed, is it not altogether praiseworthy--this seeking the Lord and finding him? This guidance by the spirit of prayer? This was the spirit in which Mormonism, so-called, had its inception, so far as the Prophet was concerned; and now I want to follow its development a little further. By and by, others began to participate in the development of this work. Among those who sought to be useful in bringing it into existence was the Prophet's own father. He desired that his son inquire of the Lord to learn what course he should take, and what was to be his lot and part in this work. The Prophet inquired of the Lord and received the following message, contained in your Doctrine and Covenants: "Behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men; "Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day; "Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work.