My brethren and sisters: I ask your support

Second Day

Morning Meeting

The second day of the conference opened Monday morning at 10 o'clock, April 4, 1927, with clear skies after the rain of the preceding day. ¶

President Heber J. Grant presided. ¶

The choir and congregation sang, "Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear." ¶

The opening prayer was offered by Elder David K. Udall, president of the Arizona temple. ¶

A duet, "See the mighty angel flying," was sung by J. A. Boshard and Bob Robinson. ¶

My brethren and sisters: I ask your support and faith for me during the few moments that I shall stand before you. ¶

The keynote of the conference, as it was given by President Grant yesterday, and quite strongly supported by the speakers who followed — his counselors and others included, was the divine mission of the Messiah, and also the divine appointment of Joseph Smith to be the restorer of the gospel. ¶

THE MISSION OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ¶

If I may have the power of utterance, I would like to dwell for a few moments on the mission of the Savior. We have no authentic picture of the Savior, as we have no absolutely authentic picture of Joseph Smith, the Prophet. But we do have a pen picture of the Savior that has behind it reasonably good authority. It was published some years ago in the Millennial Star, and subsequently in the Juvenile Instructor. I am very sure that Latter-day Saints, and those who missed seeing this description would be very pleased to hear it now. We must take it for what it is worth, but I may say that it is a matter and a description of very peculiar interest. It is taken from a letter from Publius Lentulus to the Senate of Rome concerning Jesus Christ : ¶

A DESCRIPTION OF THE SAVIOR ¶

"It being the usual custom of Roman Governors to advertize the Senate and people of such material things as happened in their respective provinces, in the days of the Emperor Tiberias Caesar, Publius Lentulus, President of Judea, wrote the following epistle to the Senate concerning the Savior : ¶

"Conscript fathers : There has appeared in these our days, a man of great virtue, named Jesus Christ, who is yet living amongst us, and of the people is accepted for a prophet of truth, but his disciples call him the Son of God. He raiseth the dead and cureth all manner of diseases — a man of stature somewhat tall and comely, with a very reverend countenance, such as the beholders may ¶

both love and fear ; his hair of the color of a filbert full ripe, and plain to his ears, but thence downward it is more orient, curling and waving about his shoulders ; in the midst of his head is a wave or partition of his hair after the manner of the Nazarites ; his forehead plain and very delicate; his face without spot or wrinkle, beautiful with a lovely red; his nose and mouth so formed that nothing can be reprehended ; his beard thickish, in color like the hair of his head, not very long but forked; his look innocent and mature; his eyes grey, clear and quick; in reproving he is terrible; in admonishing, courteous and fair spoken; pleasant in conversation, mixed with gravity. It cannot be remembered that any have seen him laugh, but many have seen him weep. In proportion of body most excellent; his hands and arms most delectable to behold; in speaking, very temperate, modest and wise. A man of singular beauty, surpassing the children of men." ¶

isaiah's prediction of the coming of the lord ¶

The coming of the Savior was predicted by ancient prophets who looked forward to that event with joy and gladness of heart. In the ninth chapter of Isaiah we find these words : ¶

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder : and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. ¶

"Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the thrcne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." ¶

T certainly feel, my brethren and sister.s, that these wonderful words could not then, and could not now, be applied to any man in the flesh upon the earth except the Messiah. And I may add that his birth was attended by a number of extraordinary incidents, giving proof that the heavens approved of his coming and rejoiced in his advent. ¶

THE ANNUNCIATION ¶

This very remarkable circumstance occurred just prior to his natal day : ¶

"And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, ¶

"To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. ¶

"And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lcrd is with thee : blessed art thou among women. ¶

"And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. ¶

"And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary : for thou hast found favor with God. ¶

"And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. ¶

"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest : and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David : ¶

"And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. ¶

"Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man ? ¶

"And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power cf the Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." ¶

THE BIRTH OF CHRIST ¶

It was an extraordinary incident. And then again we read in the second chapter of Luke the very interesting account of his actual birth : ¶

"And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should he delivered. ¶

"And she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clcthes, and laid him in a manger ; because there was no room for them in the inn. ¶

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. ¶

"And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them : and they were sore afraid. ¶

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not : for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. ¶

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. ¶

"And this shall be a sign unto you ; You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clcthes, lying in a manger. ¶

"And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ¶

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. ¶

"And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. ¶

"And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. ¶

"And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. ¶

"And all they which heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. ¶

"But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. ¶

"And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them." ¶

THE DOUBTING OF THE JEWS ¶

Now, we see the birth of the Savior was attended by a number of very extraordinary incidents, but it seems that his birth was hidden from his people, the Jews, generally. And I think it was due to the fact that they were unbelievers. They could not bring themselves to acknowledge that this babe who was cradled in a manger was the Son of God, the Savior. It was true they were looking for him, but they expected him to come with demonstrations of power, as King of kings and Lord of lords. The great mistake that the Pharisees, the Sadducees and others made in respect to this important event was that they had their'eyes upon the second coming of the Savior, and therefore overlooked his first coming. It was a sad mistake upon their part. I think it was rather fatal to their welfare, the lack of this knowledge ; and wherever there was a lack of faith, the Savior could do but very little. ¶

JOHN THE BAPTIST EVEN IN DOUBT ( ¶

Even John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, was somewhat in doubt concerning him. We read in Matthew 11:2-4: ¶

"Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, ¶

"And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another ? ¶

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see : ¶

"The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." ¶

CHRIST ORGANIZED HIS CHURCH ¶

The particular attention that I wish you to give in respect to the divine mission of the Savior is this, that when he entered upon his ministry, which embraced but a short period of time, he organized his church with apostles and prophets, pastors and teachers, high priests, seventies and elders, with bishops, priests, teachers and deacons. He gave to the world a complete plan of redemption, and in connection with this plan of redemption the Savior preached the gospel, the everlasting gospel, which was before and which would be after, and continuous. He said to his apostles on one occasion: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit." And this utterance of the, Savior signified, I think, the authority by which his apostles were called and sent forth, and also indicated in a way the will of God, because the Savior said, "I came not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." And so of course we must assume that it was the will of the Father that he should organize this church and put into it these various authorities. ¶

Christ's marvelous doings created a profound impression ¶

The marvelous work accomplished by the Savior, and his doings and sayings made a profound impression upon the world in his day, and upon the world in our day. It was the great central theme that is described by the Bible. The prophets of old were looking down to his day, and after his crucifixion the prophets were looking back to his day. It is said in the scriptures that Christ "went about doing good," and in reflecting upon that expression I have wondered in my own mind if a greater compliment or greater praise could be given to any man than that he went about doing good. But mark you, brethren and sisters, the fact that he did go about doing good brought down persecution upon him. It was not for any evil thing that he did that he was persecuted, because he was without sin. a righteous man. It was because of his righteousness. ¶

under the spirit of persecution ¶

Paul, the apostle, in one of his epistles to Timothy said : "Yea, and all who live a godly life in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." And persecution began with him very early and continued throughout his life. He said to his disciples upon one occasion : ¶

"Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake. ¶

"Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy: for, behold your reward is great in heaven : for in the like manner did your fathers unto the prophets. * * * ¶

"But woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets." ¶

Now, I apprehend, my brethren and sisters, that it would be very difficult for anyone of us to rejoice and "leap for joy" under the spirit of persecution, and yet we are enjoined to do that, and I think if we could do it, it would be a very proper thing, a very fine thing. Under that spirit of persecution Jesus the Lord was finally brought before Pontius Pilate and under some very extraordinary, foolish charges, he was condemned to death. The following is what purports to be the death warrant of Jesus Christ ; if it be true, and it seems to be, you will find it very instructive: ¶

"THE DEATH WARRANT OF JESUS CHRIST ¶

"Sentence rendered by Pontius Pilate, Acting Governor of Lower Galilee, that Jesus of Nazareth shall suffer death on tne cross. ¶

"In the year XVII of the Empire of Tiberias Caesar, and the 4th of March, the city of holy Jerusalem; Annas and Caiaphas being priests, sacrificers of the people of God. I, Pontius Pilate, Governor of the Praetory, condemn Jesus of Nazareth to die on the cross between two thieves — the great and notorious evidence of the people saying : ¶

"1. He is a seducer. ¶

"2. He is seditious. ¶

"3. He is the enemy of the law." ¶

And yet Christ said he came not to do away with the law, nor to condemn it, but to fulfil the law, because he was the Lawgiver. ¶

"4. He calls himself falsely the Son of God." ¶

Is not that an extraordinary charge to have been brought against the Savior — that he called himself the Son of God ? And the very people who brought the charge and prosecuted him to the bitter end were also sons of God. ¶

"5. He calls himself King of Israel." ¶

Now mark the sixth charge brought against the Savior. You will see how extraordinary it is : ¶

"6. He entered into the temple followed by a multitude, bearing palm branches in their hands. ¶

"Order the centurion, Quintos Cornelius, to lead him to the place of execution. Forbid any person whomsoever, poor or rich, to oppose the death of Jesus. ¶

"Witnesses : ¶

"Daniel Robani, ¶

"(A Pharisee) "Janus Zorobabel " Capet, ¶

"(A citizen)." ¶

Jesus shall go out of the city by the gate Strenuous. Here is a note : ¶

"The above sentences are engraved on a copper plate, which was found in an antique vase of white marble, while excavating in the city of Aquilla, in the kingdom of Naples, in the year 1825. It was discovered by the Commission of ¶

Arts, attached to the French Armies. At the evacuation of Naples it was found enclosed in a box of ebony* in the sacristy of Courtem. Mr. Dennon, of tte Commission of Arts, caused a model to be made of the plate. At the sale"of his curiosities it was bought by Lord Howard for 5,844 francs (f243, 10s).— Ccurricr drs EtatS Unis.'' ¶

THE APOSTLES ALSO SUFFERED PERSECUTION ¶

I might say in conclusion, my brethren and sisters, that the apostles of the Savior suffered also most seriously from the spirit of persecution. All of the apostles, as I remember it, except one, gave their lives for the testimony of Jesus. John only escaped because of the promise of the Master, who said that he should live until Christ's second coming. ¶

I am sure a contemplation of these things will be very profitable to us. The Lord bless you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶