Gratitude for Membership in the Church

My brethren and sisters: I deem it a great responsibility to stand here before you this afternoon and occupy your time, and I trust that for the few moments I am here you will lend me your faith and prayers, that the testimony I may render to you may be directed by the Spirit of God, for my only purpose is to give you a true testimony of my feelings regarding the Gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

Gratitude for Membership in the Church

"We believe in God the Eternal Father and in his Son Jesus Christ." ¶

I believe I have repeated that before you at other times in this pulpit. Just recently I was in attendance at a Stake conference and as various men were called to the stand, the directing Apostle who was present said: "Tell the people why you are glad that you belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." You can imagine the various reasons that were given. ¶

This afternoon I am going to tell you that I am glad that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because we believe in God and in his Son Jesus Christ. We believe them to be real personages; we believe that they are embodied spirits. It has recently been my privilege to study the commentaries in a certain Bible that is exant in the world and which serves a very large community of Christian people. Some of these comments appear to me exceedingly strange, and one of them was this. Some of you have heard me tell this experience, but perhaps it will stand repetition: "God said, Let there be light, and there was light." The commentary says: "Since God is a spirit he has no parts, neither hands, nor arms, nor feet, nor legs, nor tongue. Since the tongue is necessary to speech he could not speak. So that passage means that in some unusual way God caused that there should be light." ¶

Purpose in Joseph Smith's First Vision

I believe, and I think you all believe the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, that God and Jesus Christ, in vision, appeared to him, that both of them talked to him, and that he saw them in their spiritual bodies. I believe that the great purpose of that vision was to combat the error that had grown up in the world regarding the personality of God. Regardless of the fact that Jesus Christ had testified that he was in the image of his Father, and that those who saw him saw the Father, because of that extreme likeness, the world generally had forgotten that idea of God. In this vision to Joseph Smith and his testimony to the world regarding it there was brought to us anew the testimony of the personality of God, and I like to believe in a God who I think has an interest in me and you, his children. I like to think that he is something like me perhaps, only far superior. I like the idea of the Church that if you and I shall avail ourselves to the maximum of our possibilities, some time in eternity we may have the power of God, that there is no limit, if you will, to the progress that the spirit of man can attain to. ¶

Principles and Ordinances of the Gospel Bring Joy

That is one reason that I am glad that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, because our belief satisfies that idea of mine. I am glad I am a member of the Church because we teach faith, repentance, and baptism. If I were sure that my faith is of such a nature that though I should live to be an aged man, older than my father, I should never falter nor question the fundamental doctrines of the Church, but that I should so conduct myself that when I lay down my burdens, my brethren will think of me as one of absolute faith, I would be happy. My constant prayer to God is that I may have that faith, that it may carry me through and over all of the obstacles that may arise. ¶

I do believe in God, I believe in my brethren, I even believe to a very great extent in myself, and I trust that that is not egotistical, because I have been called to a responsible position, and I am trying to discharge that responsibility under the direction of the Spirit of God, and I believe that I have a claim upon God so long as my life is reasonably pure and acceptable to him, for those blessings. ¶

I am glad that repentance is one of the doctrines of this Church, for none of us is perfect. No one recognizes his fallibilities perhaps more than you and I. No one recognizes the need of repentance more than we. But I am glad that God has promised us that if we will repent of the things that we know are wrong he will bless us, that he will give us greater light, and that with that greater light we can better serve him and serve our fellows. Repentance causes us, when it is real and true, to abandon the improper ways of life and to accept those that are proven to be true. There are many things that the experiences of the past few generations have demonstrated to us as being true matters of life, and we should accept them and we should try to live them. ¶

I am glad we believe in baptism, and baptism in the form in which it was taught and practiced by Christ our Lord -- baptism that was acceptable among the Nephite people upon the American continent under the express inspiration and direction of Christ himself -- baptism by immersion if you will. ¶

The Purposes of Baptism

I am glad that the purpose of baptism is for the remission of sins, and that when one goes down into the water and is submerged and comes up under the blessing of the man who performs that ordinance his sins are washed away, provided his repentance is true, and he starts forth in a newness of life. That we believe is one of the very major purposes of baptism. ¶

Baptism has another purpose as well, for it is an initiatory ordinance in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Without baptism we do not become members of the Church. I would not say that without baptism we are not entitled to the blessings of the Lord, but we do not become members in his Church without it. Since baptism indicates a repentance for sin and a washing away of those sins we are then ready for any and all of the blessings which come as promised to us, depending only upon the manner of our living. We are eligible to exaltation in the kingdom of God our Heavenly Father. Some of us feel that that is the major purpose of baptism. We are told in the scriptures that baptism is for the remission of our sins. I believe that both of them are major purposes of baptism, but it is extremely difficult to say which is more important, because without repentance and without the washing away of our sins we could hardly obtain membership in the Church, and without that we could hardly claim the privileges of exaltation. Repentance and purity of life are essential to this objective. ¶

That then is another reason why I am glad I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, because I believe that the baptism to which I submitted was a true baptism of Christ our Lord and that it was performed by men who are properly authorized to do it. ¶

I am glad that through the laying on of hands of those in authority one may be given the Holy Ghost, and I trust that I have been the recipient of it and that many if not all of the official acts that I have performed have been done under its dictates; that is my hope at least. And furthermore, so long as I retain the Priesthood and honor and respect it, my actions will be directed by that Spirit. ¶

Grateful for the Priesthood

I am glad I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, because I believe God sent his representatives from heaven to restore the Priesthood, which I claim to bear, to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that it has come down to me in an unbroken line of descent. The greatest privilege I feel I can have is to hold that Priesthood and to be worthy under the authorization that I have. I trust that God will give me his Spirit, that I shall always be glad for a membership in his Church, that I shall never be ashamed to tell the world that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that when occasion offers I may tell it verbally, but I would that in every day and every hour of my life my conduct should proclaim it to the world; and I pray that God will bless us all that we may be happy and contented in our association with one another as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. God bless you all. Amen. ¶