Remarks

I feel very humble, my brethren and sisters, this afternoon in being asked to address you in this gathering. I sincerely ask that you may give me your faith and prayers, that I may enjoy the Spirit of the Lord while attempting to address you. ¶

One of our Articles of Faith reads, "We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal, and we believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." This principle of continued revelation is one of the prominent characteristics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is distinctive, for while there are many good Christian people in the world who put great confidence and faith in the Scriptures, as they have been given to us in the Bible, yet a large proportion of them deny that God has communicated with his people since the days of the Saints of which the Bible speaks, and believe that there are none now who receive revelations from God the eternal Father, but that revelation has ceased and that we have all that is sufficient for our guidance in life contained in the Scriptures as they are bound in this volume called the Holy Bible. Is it any wonder, my brethren and sisters, that those who reject continued revelation should find among the many honest Christian people in the world such differing views concerning God and his ¶

will concerning us? As we study the condition of Christian people today and note the differing views as expressed by their leading men, men who claim to be the teachers of the word of God to the people, noting the contention that exists, the widely varying views regarding God and his will, is it any wonder, I say, when they by their own free will and choice deny that God can speak to them today and that he has authorized servants to speak in the name of God and give his word concerning these things of which I have spoken? ¶

Wherever the spirit of revelation exists there will be harmony, peace, and contentment, but where there is no revelation from God and where people will not accept revelation from God, you will find discord, discontent, and contention. One of the peculiar things that has been manifested in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from the beginning up to the present time, has been the unanimity in which the people find themselves. It is seldom that you find anyone contending concerning the doctrine of the Church. It is seldom that you find anyone who is disobedient to the authority of the Church. The people are noted as being a united people. In fact, a great many people outside of the Church have rather felt to find fault with the "Mormon"people, as they call them, because of the unity that exists among them. They complained for the reason that the people were always willing to follow their leaders and to do as they were told. Rather a strange indictment to be brought against the people of God! And what is the secret of the unity of the people, my brothers and sisters? It is that they are actuated by the spirit of revelation, through its President and those who are sustained as prophets, seers, and revelators, but the membership of the Church is entitled to revelation also. The members as individual members are not entitled to revelation for the Church as an organized body, but the same spirit of revelation may be enjoyed by them for their own use, for their own blessing, and for their own support. Every man who stands at the head of a household in the Church of Jesus Christ is entitled to revelation for that family: -- not for somebody else's family. Every member of the Church is entitled to revelation for his or her guidance, though not for the guidance of any one else. Every bishop is entitled to revelation for the direction of the affairs of the ward over which he presides, and so forth; every person according to his position; but there is not a member of the Church who is not entitled to the principle of revelation, and upon that principle does the strength of this Church stand, and so long as we continue to live in such a way as to receive revelation, my brethren and sisters, there never will be discord or disunity, because if was upon this very principle that the Lord founded his Church. ¶

Let a man stand up here before you and teach a false doctrine, something that is not true, something that is in opposition to the revealed word of God, and there is not one in the congregation but ¶

may detect it, if he or she is in possession of the Spirit of God, and the testimony of Jesus which is the spirit of revelation. Occasionally someone will say something -- not very often; very seldom have I heard any one from the stand speak anything that was not perfectly orthodox, but occasionally there has been something a little of what we might call a little off-color, and immediately you would see everybody pretty nearly in the congregation looking toward one another. They can detect it in a moment. Why? Because they have the spirit of revelation and they can detect error, and they cannot be deceived in doctrine. ¶

Now, how may we have this spirit of revelation, my brethren and sisters? We may have it as a right by the possession of the Holy Ghost. And how may we receive the Holy Ghost? By first having faith in God and in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the gospel of the Lord as he has revealed it unto us: repentance of our sins, being baptized in water for the remission of sins, and receiving the laying on of hands by one having authority for the gift of the Holy Ghost. And this Holy Ghost is the power and the means by which we may have constant revelation. ¶

There are some people, indeed there are a great many, in the world, who will not accept anything as a truth except it can be demonstrated to them through the five senses. It has to be proved to them by the wisdom and the skill of men, and if that cannot be done, they reject it. We are taught in the Scriptures that no man can say that Jesus is the Christ except by the Holy Ghost. Is it any wonder that we find the condition existing in the world today, when they will not accept the plan of salvation as laid down by the Savior himself? On the day of Pentecost, when Peter, preaching to the vast throngs, declared unto them the gospel, and the condition in which the people found themselves at that time, convicted them in their hearts and they cried out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved?"They were told directly what they should do. They all believed or they would not have been convicted in their hearts, but as the next thing, "Repent of your sins, and be baptized for the remission of sins,"and then they would receive the Holy Ghost. It is essential, my brethren and my sisters, that we shall have the Holy Ghost as our companion in order that we shall not be deceived and misdirected and that we may always know the truth from error. A thorough Latter-day Saint does not require some truth that God has revealed to be demonstrated by the skill and wisdom of men. He does not have to have it proved; he knows it. And how does he know it? By the power of the Holy Ghost. Upon one occasion Jesus, in talking to those around him, said, "Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?""O, some say this and some say that; some say that you are John the Baptist risen from the dead, or one of the old prophets come again.""But who say ye that I am?"What was the answer? "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God." There was no hesitancy in that answer; it ¶

was positive and to the point. "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God,"said Peter, in answering. "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. 'r Now, you know there has been a great deal of contention as to what was meant by that. There is a large body that believes that it meant that the church was built upon Peter, but that was not it at all. It was that spirit of revelation that came from God to Peter, that made him say without any hesitancy, "Thou art Christ, the son of the living God." That is the rock upon which the Church is built. It is upon that assurance, that testimony, that witness, that spirit of revelation that comes from God directly to the individual. And that is the rock upon which this Church is built, my brethren and sisters, and I want to say to you that the testimonies of our brethren and sisters that are given in our fast meetings give evidence of the truthfulness of that statement, for the reason that that testimony, though it comes not through the teachings and wisdom and knowledge of men nor the scientific learning of the world, comes unadulterated as the mind and will of God to the conviction of the person bearing testimony, and they rise up and say, "I know that this is the work of God, that God lives, that Jesus Christ is his Son, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God." Now, that is a knowledge that never can be transferred from one man to another by that man's wisdom or knowledge; it can only come as the knowledge came to Peter, that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. ¶

We have as a people absolutely no fear of any discovery of scientific men. Men, under the inspiration of God, are beginning to find out little by little something that God has known for ages, but God may and does reveal truths that men have not vet understood. And simply because we or men cannot understand them is no justification why they should be rejected. Latter-day Saints under the spirit of revelation, may know whether Jesus Christ is verily the Son of God or not. No man can prove it that I know of by any of his learning or anything that he has found out. Unless we have faith in God, we cannot please him. Without faith it is impossible to please God. We must exercise faith, and the principle of faith, in and of itself, is a thing that is difficult for some men who have been scientifically trained; because they have been taught to accept nothing as a truth except it can be demonstrated by the wisdom and learning and skill of men. Above all of this, my brethren and sisters, is that blessing, that gift, that is one of the fundamental doctrines of the Church, the reception of the Holy Ghost that comes through obedience to the laws and the ordinances of the gospel; and as long as the Latter-day Saints shall be in possession of that gift, we need have no fear as to what the outcome of this Church shall be. And when men in the world, who claim to be Christians, will honestly accept of the gospel of our Lord and ¶

Savior Jesus Christ and submit to the ordinances of the gospel that the Lord himself has prescribed, they, too, may receive the Holy Ghost and then they may know and will know of the doctrine, whether it is true or not -- and not until then. There have been some men, and probably women, converted, or at least becoming members of the Church simply because of the logic there was in it, because of the splendid evidences that are manifested by the people in their lives and in their homes. Some are attracted to it because of the wonderful government that exists in the Church, or because of its teachings regarding things pertaining to every-day life, because of the law of health that is taught by the Church, and for other reasons, all good. But the only reason, and the only thing that will keep any man or woman in the Church of Jesus Christ is to be in possession of the Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost, through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. ¶

May the Lord help us, my brethren and sisters, to remain humble and faithful and true, and not be disturbed by what this man may say or what that man may say, or what this man may deny or what he may reject. Let us not want to prove that what God has said is true by comparing it with that which has been discovered by men. That is getting the cart before the horse. But let us have faith in God that what he has said is true, so that we can be able to say that God lives, that Jesus Christ is his Son, and that he did shed his blood that all might come back unto our Father in heaven, that we do know that this work is true and that Joseph Smith was a' prophet of God, not because of any reasoning or any proofs that men by their wisdom and judgment may give us, but because the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, bears witness to us in our souls that it is true, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶

The L..D. S. male chorus, Earl Martin, Irving Beesley and Wilford Leonard, then sang a selection. ¶