(President of the Southern States

(President of the Southern States Mission.) ¶

The words which the President of the Church addressed to assembled Israel in the first session of this great conference were the words of a prophet and a statesman. They were more, they were the word of God unto this people. ¶

The newspapers carried a statement a day or two ago that this nation's resources which she would assemble for war beneath her starry flag were inexhaustible and greater than the resources of any other nation in ancient or modern times. Have we anything more under this flag? Yes, we have the noblest manhood and the noblest womanhood in the world. ¶

Are these sufficient? No. What more do we need? What is our daily need in war or in peace? It is God. The nation whose God is the Lord shall never be hurled down to defeat and disaster. It is remarkable how the great men of the earth are beginning to contemplate the greatness of this nation and are beginning to see that this nation will lead in the path of peace and that she has forces to redeem the old world from the evils which have produced this war which is drenching the ground of the old world with blood. Listen to the words of the American historian, John Lord: ¶

"But has America a higher destiny than to repeat the old experiments and improve upon them and become rich and powerful? Has she no higher and nobler mission? Can she lay hold of forces that the old world never had, such as will prevent the uniform doom of nations? If America has a great mission to declare and to fulfil, she must put forth altogether new forces, and these not material. And these alone will save her and save the world. ¶

"We believe America was discovered not so much to furnish a field for infinite material expansion with European arts and fashions, which would simply assimilate America to the old world, with all its dangers and vices and follies, but to introduce new forms of government, new social institutions, new customs and manners, new experiments in liberty, new religious organizations. * * * Unless something new is born here which has a _ peculiar power to save, wherein will America ultimately differ from other parts of Christendom ?" ¶

Has America introduced new forms of government? The answer to that is the sound of crashing and tottering thrones, which is being borne to our ears on the winds that are sweeping across the ocean. When that declaration rang out by the inspiration of God that all men are created equal, then thrones began to totter, then the cheeks of monarchs blanched, and their knees trembled beneath them. ¶

Is there anything else that America has? Has America laid hold of forces which will save her and save the old world from the doom which shall come upon them if this something new is not given to them? Yes, America has something new. Something new has been born upon this soil. What is it? It is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the holy priesthood that has been restored from heaven, which is the authority to act in God's name to preach the gospel and to officiate in the ordinances thereof. ¶

My brethren and sisters, what are the enemies that this mighty republic has need to fear? It does not fear men or nations. Under its flag will march the bravest of the brave. Let me tell you the enemies we must guard against : The desecration of the Lord's day. That ¶

is one evil which is a reproach upon our national conduct. The immolation of virtue and chastity upon the alter of lust in the great centers of our great republic is another evil. This mad pursuit after pleasure, this forsaking the things of God for cisterns "that can hold no water," this worshiping of mammon instead of the true and the living God, this speculative spirit that seems to rest upon the people of the nation, the lust for gold — will result in disaster so sure as God lives if not checked. These are the evils which will sap the virtue and strength out of our national institutions, because when the home is undermined, when the influence of the home is weakened, then the power, the prestige and the might of this great republic is correspondingly weakened. ¶

Ah, my beloved brethren and sisters, let us not forget that the battle is the Lord's, and as he is the God of battles, let the American people walk in unison with his laws, esteeming virtue, championing the cause of chastity, denouncing the awful crime of race suicide, encouraging people who are married to give legitimate expression to the God-given powers of fatherhood and motherhood, by obeying that divine law, "multiply, and replenish the earth." Thank God that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints upholds the sanctity of the home, encourages men and women to bring up their children in the fear of the Lord. Upon the brow of a true Latter-day Saint is not written, "wife deserter." ¶

When Saul was anointed king of Israel, the prophet Samuel said to him, "And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man." And the Bible records that as Saul went from the presence of Samuel, "God gave him another heart." Oh, that is what we as a nation need to pray for. Pray with David, "Create in me a clean heart, O God ; and renew a right spirit within me." When a man repents of his sins and brings forth fruits meet for repentance, is he not another man? Does not God give him another heart, a new heart ? ¶

It is my good fortune to labor with many young men, your sons, from the valleys of the mountains, in the Southern States mission. They have come to the mission inexperienced boys, many of them, and I have had a heart to heart talk with every one of them. I have seen those young men go out into the mission field, they have preached upon the streets, they have sometimes faced hostile audiences, but the power of God has rested upon them, and when they went about their duty God has turned them into other men ; he has given them another heart. ¶

So, my brethren and sisters, if the people will put all manner of evil beneath their feet ; if they will turn wholly to God : if they will set their faces as flint against those evils which are vexing mankind, God will give them new hearts, and by obeying the gospel, they will become better and stronger. What bondage is there to be compared to the bondage of sin? What load can a man carry that is so awful and so blighting in its effects as a conscience racked with the torments of hell ? There is no autocracy, there is no despotism, there is no monarchy so cruel, so hard upon a man as the despotism of sin, of a conscience burdened with guilt. ¶

I plead with men who are tormented with the knowledge that they have done wrong, to repent before God, to go to him, to hate sin, to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, and when a man does go to the Father with a humble heart and a contrite spirit, the peace of God that passeth all understanding will fill his soul, and then he will know that there is no freedom so sweet, no happiness so deep and enduring as the peace and the joy that spring from serving the Lord and keeping all his commandments. ¶

Oh, mav the soldiers that go from our beloved states in the West go with the spirit which the 2,000 young Lanianites had. They said to their prophet leader Helaman : "Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we shall fall." And Helaman said that these young men "had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, that God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying, we do not doubt our mothers knew it." ¶

Mothers in Israel, your sons may not be called upon to go into the battle rank, but they will go to fight a harder battle, perhaps. They may have to meet the temptations, the vices, and the evils of the world, which are ever threatening the overthrow of young people. I ask you, mothers, as a servant of God to continue to teach your sons that if they will be virtuous and chaste, and have faith in God, that their lives will not be scarred with these awful evils, and that they will not sacrifice the precious birthright which God hath given unto them in being born children of the covenant. ¶

I beg of you mothers and you ¶

fathers to teach your daughters that they, too, have to fight a strenuous battle. God bless and protect the womanhood of this nation ! The young women, under the sustaining prayers and the counsels of their mothers, need the restraining discipline which characterizes a well-ordered home. Protect the young men and young women, and build them up in the faith of the true and the living God, so that when they go forth in the great battle of life, they will have the assurance that they will not fall victims to the evils of the world. God help us to be loyal to him, to give unto him all the praise and the glory. And if we go forth to battle, let us remember that the great God of the whole earth, Jesus Christ, is the King of the American people. As we walk under the Star-spangled Banner, let peace and charity and mercy and prayer abide in our hearts, that we may be worthy to be soldiers of this Godestablished republic and soldiers of the Cross, true children of the God of Israel, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶