Remarks

I have been very much impressed, my brethren and sisters, with the reports and testimonies borne in our hearing this day. You have ¶

listened to men who have labored. in the South Seas and to one who labored in the land of eternal snow. Their testimony is to this effect, that the gospel message has found lodgment in the hearts of the people and that there is no controversy among them with respect to the fundamentals of the gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

Reference lias been made to the wonderful progress that is going on in the world; our transportation facilities, our development in the arts and sciences, and our modern means of communication; the radio being especially mentioned. ¶

It was my good fortune during the summer months to speak twice over the radio broadcasting station of the W O A W, at Omaha, Upon the first day of June I had the pleasure of speaking, and as a result of that service, received letters from eight different states from people who had "listened in." I wish the time would permit me to tell you of some of the messages that were sent to us. One man in Wisconsin, after greetings of a personal nature, had this to say: "I listened to your discourse. It was a regular old fundamental sermon." Then he made the remarkable statement, to which I call your attention. Said he, "I am a student of science. I believe in evolution. There is no such thing as supernaturalism. There is no such a thing as the beginning of nature. There is no such a place as heaven, no such a place as hell. God is not a personal being. Jesus Christ is not a real character. Christian theology is not true. Education is, the only salvation for this world. Yet I respect every man who does right." ¶

I was not surprised in receiving such a message, because almost daily we come in contact with men and women who entertain such views — that Christian theology is not true, that Jesus Christ is not a real character. My observation has convinced me that many of our modern preachers are responsible for this condition. As Elder Taylor has pointed out, they are not teaching the word of God. They have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. The Lord declared, as he has stated, that their creeds were an abomination in his sight. I do not wonder that thinking men are withdrawing themselves from these creeds and long established notions and are seeking inspiration from another source. ¶

I have in my hand a clipping taken from the Denver Post. It purports to be an account or a report of an article written by Mr. Rupert Hughes, who is a magazine writer of some note in this country. He gives his reasons why he has left the Church. Says he, "I quit going to church because I came to believe that that which is preached in the churches is mainly untrue, or unimportant, or tiresome, or hostile to genuine progress and in general not worth while. Staying away from the church puts me with such an enormous majority that it carries no distinction. Nowhere does the increase1 of Christianity keep pace with the population. Recently in New York a pastor read the Apostles' Creed to a large congregation, and asked everybody who believed it to stand up. Not one present arose." How different with ¶

the Latter-day Saints! Were I to read the articles of our faith and ask all who believed them to stand up, this vast audience would arise to a man. ¶

One thing that impresses me is this thought, the Latter-day Saints must be forever the champions of the divinity of Christ's mission, and ever be his chief defender in the world. I have little patience with agnostic Christians, who accept a salary for preaching to please their congregations, and who do not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ's mission, and who are doing all in their power to eradicate belief in him from the minds and hearts of the people who look to them for guidance. You go among them and propound the same question that Jesus of Nazareth asked of the Jews in his day, "What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is he?"and I am sure that you will be astounded at the number and the uncertainty of the answers that you will receive from them. One will say to you, "He is a prophet sent of God." Another will say, "He is the ideally perfect character." Another will tell you that he is the greatest of all moral teachers. But you press them for something more definite; ask them, "Is he divine? Was he God? Is he God?"and they will tell you, some of them:, "We do not. know,""We cannot tell,""We cannot concern ourselves with difficult theological questions." Some of them more honest than the rest will tell you outright, "No he is not God; he is not the Son of God, and he never claimed to be, in any of his well attested sayings." They will tell you that he was a man in every sense of the word, with not only a human body but with human intellect and will, and that he bore the same relationship to the human family that you and I bear to that family. ¶

They tell you that Christ never claimed to be the Son of the living God. Did he? It would take a long time to point out the many evidences that are contained in the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Some one will tell you if you quote the gospel of St. John that that is not well authenticated; that it cannot be considered as historically true. Let me read to you a definite message of the Savior: ¶

"And the high priest arose and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing;" What is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace, and answered nothing. And the high priest answered and said unto him, * * * * Tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God? Jesus said unto him, Thou hast said: * * * * Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds, of heaven, Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? * * * * Ye have heard his blasphemy; what think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death." ¶

Blasphemy was the final indictment against the Christ. He was either a blasphemer or the Son of God; take your choice. It matters not what we think, nor what we believe about him. ¶

I believe it to be a matter of measureless importance that we know who Jesus Christ is. He declared in that wonderful prayer, recorded ¶

in the 17th chapter of John, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." It is life eternal to know him, and he was particular to impress that message upon his immediate followers. ¶

As he walked in the streets of Caesarea Philippi, he abruptly turned to his disciples and said to them, "Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias; or one of the prophets." Then he turned to his disciples and said, "But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." He had told them before that no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. ¶

I see the time has expired. Just one of the thoughts that comes to me I would like to express, and that is this: The Lord told the Prophet Joseph that the creeds of men were an abomination in his sight, that they taught for doctrine the commandments of men, that they had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof, and I want to bear my testimony to you that that is the reason the world is in its present condition; they do not know the Christ, because they have denied the only power by which they might know him. Revelation, so far as they are concerned, ceased generations ago, and the light of truth has not come into their lives; else they would know, as they know they live, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Redeemer of the world. You will remember the words of the Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthian Saints, "I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." The Latter-day Saints are entitled to that blessing; it has been conferred upon them by the laying on of hands. The light of truth has come into their lives, and they are enabled to bear witness in sincerity and in truth that God lives, and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. ¶

Now, in conclusion, let me say that men may temporize, they may equivocate, they may argue, they may explain away the divinity of Christ's mission, but so long as time endures, the Church established by the Master, in the day and age in which we live, and which bears the name of the Son of God, will champion his cause and will be the defender of his name, and his mission in the earth. ¶

God grant unto us power to appreciate the blessings of the gospel that have come into our lives. He has spoken from the heavens and revealed anew the plan of salvation, and blessed is that man and thrice blessed that woman into whose life there has come faith in these glorious principles, for it brings peace to the soul that surpasseth under- ¶

standing, it removes doubt, fear, and anxiety, and brings a satisfaction that cannot be measured in words. ¶

May God add his blessings, may he sanctify unto us this service; and give us power to keep his commandments, which the old prophet declared was the whole duty of man, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶