Repentance and Forgiveness

The morning breaks, the shadows flee; Lo! Zion's standard is unfurled. The dawning of a brighter day— Majestic rises on the world. ¶

A High Objective Given

I can think of nothing more expressive of the joy and gladness which came to our forebears as they contemplated the value and extent of this great work which we have the honor now to represent. We are engaged in a great and glorious enterprise—the establishment of God's kingdom in the earth. I know nothing which is calculated more to keep our thinking right and our devotion firm than to keep that transcendent mission of the Church ever present in our minds. ¶

When I contemplate this high objective which is given to our people I recognize the need of applying our energy, our devotion, and our love to the accomplishment of this outstanding task, and I am almost overwhelmed at times with the tremendous responsibility, the obligation, and the opportunities which are entailed. I know nothing that would more help us to discharge this responsibility than to live in accordance with the principles of the Gospel of Christ. ¶

A Conclusion Reached by President Grant

I recall that some months ago—maybe it has been a year or more now—President Grant one morning came into our temple meeting and said in substance this: "Brethren, I have been thinking for a long time what I could best do in the closing years of my administration to advance the work of God and bless the people," and he said: "I have reached this conclusion that there is nothing I can better do than to persuade the people simply to keep the commandments of God." We all agreed with him, and upon reflection I think that all will concur that that is the best and most effective thing that we can do for the advancement of the great cause we represent. ¶

The Sovereignty of Christ Must Be Acknowledged

In order that we may better keep the commandments I am persuaded that there must ever be stored in our hearts a deep and abiding love for our Savior Jesus Christ, who is the King of this earth, who is at the head of the Kingdom of God, and whose humble servants we are. We worship Jesus Christ as the divine Son of our Eternal Father. We are committed to the great philosophy of faith which He gave to the world. ¶

We are not inclined, for which I am grateful, to worship merely His attributes, however desirable they may seem to us. We do not deny the sovereignty of the King Himself. In my humble judgment one of the reasons why the Christian faith has not made more progress in the world and has not more effectively influenced the life and the conduct of men and of nations lies in the fact that men have not, deep in their hearts, acknowledged the sovereignty and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is true that many of them have advocated His philosophy of life; they have admired His great altruistic sayings, and the policy of the good neighbor, the friendship He has taught, His kindness, His mercy, but they have refrained from acknowledging Him as the divine Ruler with power to order our lives and provide for us the one true way by which we can best serve Him, establish His kingdom in the earth and win our way back into His presence. ¶

The Power of God Is with His Church

My brethren and sisters, I realize that it seems indelicate and presumptuous to some of our friends to make the declaration that here and here alone in all this wide world is to be found the true commission coming from Jesus Christ to His servants; that here only is set up the Church which is the foundation of the Kingdom, in the extension of which is to be realized our Father's purposes for the redemption and blessing of all mankind. I am aware that that statement does seem presumptuous, and I make it only because I am constrained to do so by the revelations that have come from God, and by the deep-seated conviction that I have that every word of it is true; that the holy Priesthood which has been given to men in this dispensation is the authentic, veritable power of God, that it came from divine source, and that they who first received it have given a true accounting of their heavenly experience in its bestowal. ¶

I recognize the fact that most of us men are weak and frail individuals, and it may seem to our friends of the world that we are scarcely worthy or capable to exercise the functions of this divine power. I myself feel weak as I contemplate this investiture of power, and I constantly pray that God will give me more strength and more wisdom and discernment in the exercise of the functions of the holy Priesthood. I do know, however, that God will qualify those who truly keep His ¶

commandments and in whose hearts is an abiding love and a resolution to cherish this great and holy power that God has given to us. That power is needed in the world today. Thank the Lord that it is here to speak to the children of men. While they may not listen to it nor heed it, as coming from divine sources, there will come a time when men will recognize its authority and its import in the direction of the affairs of this world. ¶

The Lord Magnifies His Servants

I am not discouraged because I recognize that our numbers are still relatively small. Some one has said that there is but one Latter-day Saint to every ten thousand in the population of the world. It would seem an almost impossible task to disseminate the principles of truth with such a minority. But I remember that old saying that "God and one man are a majority" and I have confidence to state that if we keep ourselves in line with our duties; if we fully live these principles of the truth that we are charged to teach, God will give us power, He will magnify our work, He will make our messages reach into the far corners of the earth. He will sustain His own. ¶

I recognize too that in our weakness and frailty we are not able to carry forward the work as expeditiously as we might like. I believe that every delinquent man who holds this Priesthood retards the progress of God's work. I wish it were possible to appeal to these thousands of men who have received this divine commission to mend their ways. I am convinced that they who will not use and magnify this Priesthood will in the end lose it. I am satisfied in my own heart that this power was given to us for service. I interpret it in terms of service; I am sure that the mere ordination is not sufficient, and only those will be ultimately chosen who make their lives conform to the principles upon which the Priesthood is founded. Then they will be vessels through which the Spirit of Almighty God may come to His children here in this earth. ¶

Repentance a Saving Principle

I trust that those who have been thoughtless, careless, and neglectful may repent of their ways. I deem it a great disaster for men who have had hands laid upon their heads in ordination to this divine power to forsake it. We hold out the hand of friendship and brotherhood and kindness and mercy and the principle of repentance and forgiveness to those who will repent. ¶

Of all the principles announced by our Savior, none has ever found a higher place in my affections than the principle of repentance and forgiveness. It seems that this kind and merciful provision of the Gospel is more adapted to human weakness than almost any other. I trust that our officers and all of us shall show the spirit of forgiveness and kindness towards those who do repent. I know of no parable that breathes more the true spirit of Christ than the parable the Savior told of the prodigal son, and I have always felt that he told the parable for the benefit of the father even more than for the benefit of the children. ¶

He had that wayward Son take from his father his heritage, his patrimony, and waste it, and go away from his home, to spend that which had been given him in dissipation and riotous living, violating all the laws of his father's household, committing every sin in the category, and then, in the story, the boy was subjected to the utmost misery in penitence for his wrong-doing. After he had spent his wherewithal and was reduced to starvation, he was required to beg work from a friend he had known in his better days, sent to his estate; and, finally he came to that ignominious position of swineherd, a keeper of the hogs. We are told that so abject was his degradation that he was forced to eat the husks with the hogs which he fed. And then the spirit of repentance came over him and he recognized his great wrong, and he cried out to heaven, "I am no more worthy to be my father's son," and he pleaded for forgiveness. Making a resolution founded upon his penitence he found his way sorrowfully back to his father's home. Under the old Jewish law the father' would have turned him out, but the Savior vested the father with a divine love, and when he saw his wayward son return in penitence he went forth to meet him. He raised him up and clasped him in his arms, and called forth to his servants to bring a robe and put on him and to bring a ring and put on his finger, which was the symbol of his restoration to his father's household, and cried out, "Bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found." ¶

That is the way in which the Savior brought the spirit of repentance and forgiveness, and it becomes us, members of His Church, to carry that spirit in our hearts, and to exercise it toward our brethren and our sisters. To those who have made mistakes we hold out this glorious principle of repentance -- come back, forsake your sins, and be received into the household of faith and the brotherhood of the Priesthood. ¶

Joy Through Forgiveness

I have never seen happier people than those who have repented. I remember one time -- I do not know whether the President will remember it -- taking a young man to President Grant, a young man who had made a grievous error, heartsick and broken he was about it, and he said to me, "Do you think I could ever be forgiven." ¶

I said: "I will take you to the President." ¶

We went to the President, and the President became convinced that he had truly repented, and he forgave him. Of all the joy and happiness that I have ever seen written on a human countenance I think I saw the utmost on the face of that youth as he appreciated this gift of repentance and forgiveness. ¶

Now, my brethren and sisters, we know the great purpose of our Church. We know of the need of its glorious principles in this sad and torn world. God help us to live, so to keep the commandments, so to have the spirit of Christ, that we may establish His mighty work in the world, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶