It Is My Earnest Prayer

It is my earnest prayer that the remarks I shall offer at this meeting shall be dictated by the good spirit. More than any other people on the face of the earth, the Latterday Saints should be impressed with the sense of duty. It will indeed be an unfortunate thing for this people if they ever, at any time, lose this sense of duty. We hear a great deal of talk in these days about our rights, rights we think we ought to enjoy. But, I believe that if we, especially the Latter-day Saints, would think more about our obligations than our rights we would be a happier, a more devout and a more grateful people. ¶

Of all the people on the face of the earth, we should be the most grateful, for we have received more light and truth concerning spiritual things than have many of our fellow men. God has blessed us with the fullness of the gospel. The Prophet Joseph Smith opened the heavenly worlds to view, and unto us, by the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost, hath been revealed truths that are withheld from the people of the world who do not hearken unto the counsels of God. Indeed, the gift of the Holy Ghost is a strong proof that God is no respecter of persons, because to the poor and to the rich, the learned and the ignorant, if they believe and obey the gospel with sincere intent, is given the gift of the Holy Ghost, which "leads and guides into all truth." So then even the poor man who has never been in a university as a student may say, with Job, when given the Holy Ghost, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that in the latter day he shall stand upon the earth." He speaks from the heart, and this heart-knowledge is the most direct, the most convincing knowledge of the gospel that we can have. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is faithfully pursuing its mission of preaching Christ and Him crucified. That is our mission, and, with God's help, we are pressing along our way. ¶

It has ever been the case that when new light and truth have been introduced into the world, the powers of darkness have bitterly fought the introduction of that light and truth. "Mormonism" stands for the introduction of the whole truth concerning Jesus, the Christ. You will recall, in the days when Wycliffe and Tyndall were translating the Bible into the English language, that men and women might peruse the precious truths in that volume, the evil one stirred up the clergy against these men, against the work that they were accomplishing, and with the sword and with the stake they fought the introduction of the Bible into the homes of the people; but the work was accomplished. One of these men gave up his life in order that the Bible might be translated into the English language and introduced into the homes of the people. God's word could not fail, for Jesus said, "Search the scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life ; and they are they which testify of me." That was the reason why Satan fought the translation of the Bible into the English language. His work, has ever been and ever will be, to fight the gospel and purposes of Jesus Christ. Men, philosophers, today ask the question, why, in the centuries past, did the clergy, above all people, fight the translation, — the diffusion of the knowledge the Bible contains amongst the people? We must look for the answer in the saying of the Savior already quoted : "Search the scriptures; * * they are they which testify of me," Satan did not want the people to search the scriptures, he wanted to keep the prophecies contained in the scriptures and the mission of the scriptures from being fulfilled. He sought to have the Bible withheld from the people, that they might be kept in ignorance of the divine sonship of the Son of God. The time came when men began to deny their God. ¶

Look in the world today at the number of ministers denying the divinity of Jesus Christ. They admit— and perhaps we ought to feel thankful for this gracious admission — they concede, that Jesus was a great teacher, a great man, but many of them deny His divinity, deny that he was the Redeemer of ¶

the world. God in His goodness and mercy decreed that He would raise up a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ, when men should begin to deny Him, a witness who might convince them that Jesus is indeed the Christ. God has caused to be brought forth another volume of .scripture, to testify to the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Men said that the canon of scripture was full. They said that God had ceased to speak to men from heaven, and they seemed to rest in this belief until : ¶

An angel from on high, ¶

The long, long silence broke ; ¶

Descending from the sky, These gracious words He spoke — ¶

Lo! in Cumorah's lonely hill, ¶

A sacred record lies concealed. ¶

Joseph Smith, by the gift and the power of God, translated the Book of Mormon. What are some of the beautiful truths that the sacred Nephite record teaches? Shining as gems of spiritual truth, these two great heavenly truths stand prominent : The Book of Mormon establishes the truth of the Bible. The Book of Mormon declares that Jesus was and is the Christ, the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world. A book declaring these two glorious truths is surely entitled to a fair and serious consideration. Compare the difficulties, the trials and persecutions that Joseph Smith suffered, in bringing forth the Book of Mormon, with the treatment and persecution that overtook Wycliffe and Tyndall, who brought forth the Bible in the English language, and the similarity is absolutely startling. The reason for the persecution in both cases is precisely the same, Jesus said, "Search the scriptures : for they are they which testify of me." Men began to lose ¶

faith in God when "Lo, from Cumorah's lonely hill" was brought forth the Book of Mormon, that declares that Jesus was the Christ, and that men could not gain salvation except in and through and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the devil, knowing the power, knowing the light that was coming into the world, wielded all his powers in fighting that book, and its translator. Joseph Smith gave up his life as a martyr; his life was taken to satisfy the cruel unrighteous demands, and the hatred of those wicked men who persecuted him even to death's door. ¶

In a short time, not long hence, philosophers, scholars and statesmen will ask, why did the people fight the introduction of the Book of Mormon, which is such a glorious and a powerful witness for the Lord Jesus Christ? History will repeat itself, and this answer will be given : Jesus said, "Search the scriptures ; * * they are they which testify of me." The Book of Mormon is scripture, it is the word of God, it testifies of His Son, and because of that, evil powers sought to prevent its translation, and the in-' troduction of that sacred book into the homes of the people. ¶

My brethren and sisters, the efforts of the evil one will surely fail, for the angel said unto Joseph, "The knowledge that this record contains shall go unto every nation and kindred and people." The prediction made by the angel to the prophet of God is being fulfilled, and it will be completely fulfilled in God's own due time. ¶

We are told in the scriptures that the Bible and the Book of Mormon shall be one in God's hand for the confounding of false doctrine. It was said of Joseph, who was sold ¶

into Egypt, that he should "push the people together to the ends of the earth." By the Bible and the Book of Mormon false doctrine is being confounded; and as God has put them together — "one in mine hand" — we say "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put as'under." The Latter-day Saints, imbued with the sense of duty, feeling that upon them rests the obligation to preach this gospel, will go forth by the power of God in the discharge of their duty, until the testimony of Jesus, which is the "spirit of prophecy" shall spread over the world like a sea of glory, until it covers the earth from pole to pole. To this mission, God grant that we may ever be faithful, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶