God's Power Made Manifest

Of the First Council of the Seventy ¶

My brethren and sisters, I think I have felt just as you have felt during this Conference, but particularly so during the remarks of President Grant, for I have watched him as long as I have memory, and as he was talking there kept occurring and recurring to me an incident that I want to pass on. ¶

INCIDENTS FROM PRESIDENT GRANT'S EARLY LIFE ¶

It has been my privilege, during the last few days, to examine the records of the Thirtieth Quorum of Seventy, and in my examination of this quorum of Seventy I discovered that it is the quorum to which President Grant belonged, and that sixty-six years ago, when he was but nineteen years of age, he joined this quorum of Seventy, and then one of the first things that President Grant said I copied down, and I want to read to you just what he did say. This was on June 16, 1876. ¶

President Grant stated he was pleased to meet with the brethren; bore an excellent testimony in regard to paying tithing, and felt well in the work of God, and felt to do his duty in the kingdom. ¶

Then again this statement: March 29th, 1877 -- and remember now, President Grant was but twenty years of age. ¶

He was gratified at being present; realized that the consideration of religion should be uppermost in our minds; desired means and wealth to do good, and not to use in damning himself; wished always to have this spirit with him. ¶

There are many other things that were said by him that I shall not read, but that, in and of itself, is enough to give to us the real, true insight of this great man. It seems to me that God has continued His method of appointing leaders. You recall how David was called. God seems to have had His desires answered, in putting His fingers on the youth who He knew would go forward with the work in a way that would please Him. A VALIANT SOLDIER ¶

Now, today I received a letter from the far-off regions of New Zealand, and in that letter I received pome very cheering news to me. Our boys in New Zealand who belong to this Church, who are in the war, were not lost as reported. They have been found, nearly all, or all of them, and taken into prison camps. Brother George Katene, one of the stalwart Elders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in that land far from his home has been signally honored. He has been marked with the decoration of Great Britain, for his valor -- and may I say that he is one of the graduates of our Maori Agricultural College. ¶

Gratitude Expressed for Blessings

I jotted down a few things that I thought I would like to mention here, and if I can get through with them in just a few minutes I will be very, very happy. ¶

When I read of the sorrow and distress that is abroad upon the earth today I hold as the most precious gift God may give to me my citizenship in these United States, this blessed land of Joseph. My heart is poured out in constant gratitude for this glorious Gospel upon which we are feasting here today. But for it I should not be here, and perhaps should not have had earthly tabernacle. In humble gratitude I thank my Heavenly Father that I was born a generation removed from the terrible onslaught made by Satan to destroy this work in its inception, and that those heroes who preceded me so discouraged the Evil One, by their holy faith and devotion, that there came a lull in the persecution, and in that lull I was born. I think I have in my veins some of the blood of those who suffered and were tempted, so I have obtained my physical persecution in an easy way. But come what will, I hope I may never deny that knowledge which is in my heart today. ¶

satan's power to tempt Abraham Lincoln is quoted as stating this: ¶

I believe we are all agents and instruments of Divine Providence. I hold myself in my present position, and with the authority invested in me, as an instrument of Providence. I am conscious every moment that all I am and all I have are subject to the control of a Higher Power, and that Power can use me in any manner and at any time as in His wisdom might be pleasing to Him. ¶

I believe, however, that one so suave and so cunning as his Satanic Majesty, in order to induce our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as he did, with his offer if He would bow down and worship him, is capable of bringing to us other temptations and other trials than physical trials, and I rely wholly and solely upon the answer of Christ to Satan. It is a comfort to me: "Thou shalt worship the ¶

Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." Thereupon the devil left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him. ¶

god's power made manifest ¶

So in this rocky fastness, and in this great desert land of ours, God established this Church. To our forefathers be the glory. I want to say to you that there came to them, if not angelic inferences, help, sustaining power. It was the power, at least, of God, that made them continue on in what they did, until we find ourselves as we are today. So the Lord brought about exactly what the Prophet Isaiah declared would be brought to pass: ¶

For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. ¶

This has been literally fulfilled in my lifetime, so with gratitude in my heart I praise my Heavenly Father. I thank Him for all that has come to me, and all that has come and is coming and will continue to come to this great Church. ¶

Lincoln's words fulfilled ¶

God the eternal Father, I thank Thee that we have men, even in these great warring armies, who may go forth with this Gospel of ours in their hearts, because those men will scatter peace, comfort and cheer to all with whom they come in contact. ¶

Let me again tell you what Lincoln said, and he said this just before Congress convened in 1862: ¶

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and of this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or the other of us. The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down with honor or dishonor, to the last generation. ¶

That is true. What was true then is true of this Church today. The history of this up-till-now fearless people, who have made the Church what it is, shows that they have done so on a few fundamental things, some of which are the following: Implicit faith in God; confidence and trust in each other; scrupulous honor and integrity; thrift, and the God-given privilege of industrious labor, and a feeling of repugnance that is akin to disgrace, when any of us must carry the burden of debt. ¶

These are some of the glorious things for which I am thankful to my Heavenly Father today. ¶

admonitions of the savior ¶

These are some of the glorious things that our fathers practiced. That is why we are here today, enjoying all the blessings of health and strength, wealth and power, but above all these temporal blessings, a spiritual contentment which solaces us from day to day. ¶

It is also the reason we can draw near to Christ's admonition recorded in St. Matthew, Chapter 5, verses 43-48. ¶

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. ¶

But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; ¶

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. ¶

For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? ¶

And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so? ¶

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. ¶

The Work of Stake Missionaries

During the first eight months of 1941, your Stake missionaries disposed of 4,812 Standard Works of the Church and 3,873 other books; performed 1,776 baptisms; and brought into communion with the Church 3,695 inactive members. ¶

My time is up. I offer a sincere prayer to God that He will not only bless us, but bless every nation and every people and every tribe of people that exists upon the earth, and prepare the backs for the stripes that some shall receive; and to those who receive nothing but plaudits, let them receive them in humility and in all praise to God for His mercies to us, all of which I ask in Jesus' name, Amen. ¶