Faith and the Holy Ghost

I humbly pray that the Lord will condescend to bless me in the few remarks that I shall make. ¶

With all of my brethren and sisters, I rejoice in the presence and instructions of President Heber J. Grant. We thank the Father for President Grant's recovery from his illness. With all my heart and soul I sustain all of the General Authorities of the Church, and I feel that the will of God has been manifested, to the spiritual benefit of the people, in the selection of these two splendid brethren, J. Reuben Clark and Samuel O. Bennion, for the offices to which they have been appointed and sustained. ¶

In the old Jewish Talmud there is a story of Elijah and a certain rabbi who went upon a journey and stopped at the house of a poor man whose only possessions were a wife and a cow. The good people made the strangers as comfortable as possible. However, the next morning the cow died. * * * The rabbi was puzzled and asked Elijah to explain. Elijah said : "In regard to the poor man who received us so hospitably, it was decreed that his wife was to die that night, but, in reward for his kindness God took the cow instead of the wife. * * * Say not, therefore, to the Lord, what doest thou, but say in thine heart. Must not the Lord of all the earth do right?" ¶

I believe, brethren and sisters, that this depression, in the presence of which men stand confused and dazed, may be a blessing in disguise. I believe that in this national and world-wide disaster there is good that is striving for deliverance and triumph. It may be that we shall learn the lessons of adversity and emerge from this cloud better men and women. The horrors of another world war have probably been averted by this depression. God doeth all things for the best. ¶

There never was a time in the history of the Church when the Latter-day Saints were required to be more valiant in preaching and living the Gospel than they are today. ¶

An atheist once said that he and his associates hoped to overthrow Christianity by pulling down the family altars of prayer. If our national Congress and state legislatures were to discontinue the age-honored custorn of invoking the blessings of God upon their deliberations there are many prayerless parents in the country who would rebuke these legislative bodies, for even people who cling to a form of religion appreciate the value of prayer. In a home without prayer the seeds of infidelity are being sown. But in a home where there is prayer, where the family reverently gathers around the altar of prayer, faith increases, love for God and man mounts high in the human heart. We are learning that ■ in this great catastrophe, without God we are nothing. ¶

I believe in the Book of Mormon. It is the word of God. We are warned in this sacred record that the promise of a high destiny for any nation will not save it if a nation forgets God. Proud confidence in their destiny did not save nations in the past from self-destruction. We may boast in our pride and glory of the magnificent mission of our own republic, but unless the love of Jesus Christ is invoked in all of our dealings, unless the spirit of Christ reigns uppermost in our hearts and permeates our actions, these promises for a glorious destiny, so far as we are concerned, will fail, as they have failed with nations in the past. ¶

Nations cannot survive where the family altar of prayer is thrown down. No people can prosper long materially who do not acknowledge and believe that Jesus Christ is the God of the whole earth. ¶

Moroni, in the early part of the fifth century, gave this solemn warning to the people living in these days : ¶

"And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God — that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities until the fulness come, that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon yiou as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done." (Ether 2:11.) ¶

In God alone is our hope. "He cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance." ¶

Brethren and sisters, I testify unto you that from the bottom of my heart I know the Gospel is true ; I know that Jesus is my Savior, the Christ, the Son of the living God. I also know, by the same power — the gift of the Holy Ghost — that Joseph Smith was a choice prophet, a seer and a revelator, a man whom God raised up to accomplish a mighty work. I have seen the manifestation of God's power upon President Grant. We have seen this power manifested in the ministry of all the prophets of God in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times. ¶

God bless us with purity of heart and singleness of purpose,, and fortify us by the faith which he has delivered to us through his prophets, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶