The Book of Mormon

I have rejoiced, my brethren and sisters, very greatly at the speeches and the music we have heard at this Conference. We have been truly fed the bread of life and by the spirit thereof, and I have felt to thank the Lord for the gift that each of our brethren has possessed at this Conference in being able to give us the measure of the word of the Lord that has been given. ¶

It was a strong indictment against intemperance that was read at one of the sessions, and yet after experience in each of the three great departments of government I am persuaded that that indictment is not overdrawn. I have in memory the picture of a man indicted and convicted of murder being arraigned for the judgment of the court, and when I asked him if he had any legal cause to show why the sentence of the court should not be pronounced upon him, in a solemn and dramatic manner which I shall always remember, he declared that he had killed the best friend he had on earth and did not know it until he was awakened the next morning from his drunken slumbers. He appeared to be sincere. A little later he had to be committed to the insane asylum, he worried so over the fact that he had taken the life of his dear friend and left a widow and children to mourn the loss of a husband and a father who was providing for them. ¶

I think that what we need in this country is more regard for law, constitutional law and laws passed in accordance with the Constitution of the United States. I frequently have had an opportunity to speak on the Constitution of the United States as a divinely inspired instrument, and have brought forward the testimony of such disinterested witnesses as William E. Gladstone, Premier of England, and Sir Thomas Bryce, the author of the monumental work on American Commonwealths. ¶

There are other great Americans who enjoyed inspiration in framing the institutions of this country, and in saying this I am not denying the room for inspiration in the formation and guidance of other countries. We pray for their guidance and the guidance of the officials of not only our own nation here in America but the rulers of other nations. I have thought sometimes we have neglected some of those great characters who were instrumental in shaping the foundations of our country and those who have made comments upon them. I know that we are familiar with the work that Franklin, Jefferson and others did in connection with the framing of the Constitution of our country, but we are less familiar with the work that the great Chief Justice John Marshall did. The formation of the Constitution of the United States is really spoken of as the greatest single achievement of the eighteenth century. There was that about it that inspired Daniel Webster to love it, "to have a profound passion for it," "to cherish it day and night," "to live on its healthful saving influence," and "to trust never to cease to heed it until he should go to the grave of his fathers," "to earnestly desire not to outlive it." ¶

Judge Marshall of Wisconsin in the case of Borgnis vs. Falk County, in a decision written by him for the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, said: ¶

"At no period has appreciation of the great work of the fathers been more important than now. We need to sit anew at their feet, revive knowledge that the result was wrought by a body of men, representatives of the great seat of learning of the English speaking races of two hemispheres, and otherwise men of broad experience, many of whom had been students of all federal governments of all prior ages in preparation for the special task—as the historian declared, 'the goodliest fellowship of lawgivers whereof this world has record,' a body dominated by specialists, inspired by ennobling love for their fellow-men and the thought that they wrought, not for their age alone, but for the ages to come, and so sought to avoid the infirmities of previous systems of government by the people, by carefully providing that no change in letter or spirit should occur except in a particular and most deliberate and conservative way." ¶

John Marshall, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, performed an inspired work in the framing of the Constitution of our country. ¶

You read the 101st Section of the Doctrine and Covenants. I will not take time to read it here, the seventy-ninth and eightieth verses, and then consider the work that Marshall did in connection with the interpretation of this great document. ¶

Marshall was not only a great man in his own age and country, but he would be considered a great man in any age and clime. Webster, in 1814, in a letter to his brother Ezekiel, said: ¶

"There is no man in the court who strikes me like Marshall. I have never seen a man of whose intellect I had a higher opinion." ¶

Again Webster said of him that if there was ever a human being who did not argue from the obscure to the more obscure it certainly was Chief Justice Marshall. ¶

George R. Peck of the Chicago bar said of Marshall: ¶

"Take him for all in all, he was the greatest judge that ever lived. By the common and unfettered judgment of the bar, lay the unanimous voice of statesmen, jurists and scholars. He was the oracle of our Constitutional law, the interpreter, the expounder and in a certain sense the maker of the Constitution. * * * Our profession looks upon him with a somewhat idolatrous feeling, but I do not think it excessive. When we consider what might have been our fate if another and not he had occupied that great seat we may well believe that providence watched over the republic." ¶

Justice Joseph Story, a very great justice of that Supreme Court of the United States, who knew Marshall very well spoke of him and said: ¶

"His life speaks its own best eulogy. It had such a simplicity, purity, consistency and harmony that the narrative of the events in their natural order invests it with an attraction which art need not seek to heighten and friendship may well be content to leave with its original coloring. He learned to love the Union with a supreme unconquerable love, a love which was never cooled by neglect or alienated by disappointment; a love which survived the trials of adversity; and still more dangerous trials of prosperity; a love which clung more closely to its object as it seemed less dear or less valuable in the eyes of others, a love which faltered not, fainted not, wearied not, on this side the grave. Yes, his thoughts ever dwelt on the Union as the first and best of all our earthly hopes. The last expressions which lingered on his dying lips breathed forth a prayer for his country. Such in that moment as in all the past, 'O save my country, Heaven,' was then his last. * * * He was one of those to whom centuries alone give birth, standing out like beacon lights on the loftiest eminences to guide, admonish and instruct future generations as well as the present." ¶

It has been truly and forcibly said of him: ¶

"Marshall found the Constitution paper and made it a power; he found it a skeleton and he clothed it with flesh and blood." ¶

I remember hearing a great orator and judge once express the hope that he might have the leisure sometime before he passed away to read one great decision each day from the Supreme Court of the United States. If one were going to do that he might well select from the great decisions of the Supreme Court such cases as Marbury vs. Madison, Gibbons vs. Ogden, and McCulloch vs. the State of Maryland. All these are great landmarks showing the growth of the Constitution of our country. ¶

What we need most in this country is more respect for the Constitution of the United States and its laws and a deep conviction of the necessity of being law-abiding. ¶

I rejoice in the testimonies that have been given in this Conference. I want to add my testimony to that which has already been given by so many in such a splendid form at this Conference. I ask the blessings of the Lord upon us in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶