Temple Building and Pioneer Sacrifice

My beloved brethren and sisters, the sight which greets one's eyes from this pulpit is indeed inspiring and leads one to thoughts which are beyond, perhaps, his ordinary manner and way of thinking. ¶

As I listened to the beautiful discourse which was given just a few moments ago by our beloved apostle Melvin J. Ballard, I thought of the masterful things which have been accomplished by our forefathers, the things which have been done by those pioneers laboring here in that barren wilderness which they found. I thought of the hauling and hewing of the rocks for that great Temple, and the delicate work of the ¶

blessed hands of those masters who have passed and gone, who laid the foundations of this building and reared it even to the time when you and I should enjoy it as we now are enjoying it. ¶

This congregation speaks wonderfully and well of the things which the forefathers gave unto vis, that we might go on and carry forward the work which was in their hearts and in their minds, even to the day when God should say: "It is well done." ¶

Speaking one day to his disciples, Jesus Christ said to them: ¶

Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. ¶

And then, turning to his disciples, after having told them that he came to the earth and was to return to his Father, he said: ¶

Do ye now believe? ¶

Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. ¶

So I am led to think, and feel, that the Father has been with this people ever since the cradle days of 1830, when that little handful of people came westward and builded, as you now see, the praiseworthy things that have been moulded by them. ¶

God has always been a jealous God, blessing those who relied upon him and who paid attention to the commandments which he, through his servants, throughout all ages of the world has given. Do you recall in the old days, that great servant of the Lord who led the hosts of Syria, how he, being afflicted with leprosy, after having come back from his victorious march, was told by a little maiden, .who was a captive, that God, the Lord, the Father of all, could heal and cure him? So we find him presenting himself, with his horses and his chariots, at the door of Elisha, and this great and mighty prophet saying to him to go and bathe himself seven times in the River Jordan. Then Naaman, being rebellious, said: "No, there are better streams in my land. Why bathe in the River Jordan?" Yet those who surrounded him prevailed upon him and he went and bathed in the River Jordan, with the result that he was healed completely. Coming back he said: ¶

Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. ¶

God Almighty has prepared the way for this people. He will open up avenues for us that we have never dreamed of. He will lead us before the people of the world in such a way and in such a manner that they, paying attention to the things which we do through the keeping of the commandments of the Lord, and obeying his word, shall give praise unto God, our Eternal Father. ¶

I know the difficulties, I know the troubles and I know the distress with which some of us are faced. I see these things as I go from place ¶

to place, up and down these great stretches. Yet, as God says through the Prophet Amos, "I have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places, yet have ye not returned unto me. ¶

I say unto you that God can and will relieve us of our burdens. Remember the days when the Psalmist said that, "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that he may set him with princes." ¶

All things are possible through work, — hard work — and a reliance upon our Lord God. I think there is nothing that can not be accomplished by this people, and that will not be accomplished by them, if, however, we will but put our trust in God, if we will but go back to the old principles which were given us by our leaders from the very commencement, when that great man, Brigham Young, taught us to be frugal, to work, to strive, and that the glory and the honor of honest work was godly in its nature. ¶

If we will return to those ways, then at the same time, with humble, contrite hearts, pray, not to our father who is in Washington, but to our Father who is in heaven, — if these things shall be done by this people we shall arise until we will have climaxed and brought about those beautiful things which Brother Ballard has suggested to us. ¶

God grant us the ability and the power and the courage to carry on and to do those things which from time to time are told us of the Lord, through his servants, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶