President Mckay President Richards President Clark My...

President McKay, President Richards, President Clark, my brethren of the General Authorities, and my dear brothers and sisters: I feel very humble this morning standing before this great audience, this wonderful audience. I humbly pray that the Lord will answer my prayers and sustain me and guide me in what I shall say. ¶

If I have the strength and if I may be forgiven, I should like to thank my wife for a prayer that she offered this morning. As we had our family prayers, she asked if she could say a prayer, also, and I felt ashamed that I had not asked her without her asking me. I think, brethren, that we ought to have our wives join often in our prayers. While they may not hold the priesthood, I am not so sure that the Holy Ghost does not function in the lives of our wives and mothers in probably a keener sense than in our own. After she had prayed for President McKay and all the General Authorities of the Church, she made a special petition to the Lord for her husband and asked that he could be blessed with courage, and then she said, "For courage cometh of the Lord." ¶

Yes, young people, courage cometh from the Lord. Argument, debate, criticism, and faultfinding are not of the Lord. Despondency and discouragement are not of the Lord. Courage cometh from the Lord. ¶

On Thursday morning it was our privilege as General Authorities of the Church to meet the First Presidency in the temple preparatory for this great conference. I do not have the ability to express to you and share with you the spirit of that meeting, but I can testify to you that I know that the spirit of the Lord was there in rich abundance and that the prayers that were offered and instructions that we received were divine. ¶

Someone said at the close of the meeting in the temple, "If we could only go now from this beautiful meeting in the temple to the conference, then we would not need to worry, because of the beautiful spirit present." I believe that same sweet spirit that existed in the meeting in the temple has carried over in full according to the prayers and the supplications there, pleading with the Lord to bless the conference. Yes, I think the same sweet spirit has been here as we prayed to the Lord that it would be. ¶

Much has been said about the Aaronic Priesthood. I shall not forget the visit I recently made to the Susquehanna River and the feeling that I had as I stood somewhere near the spot where the Prophet Joseph and Oliver Cowdery went to seek the guidance of the Lord, and where John the Baptist appeared to them. I wonder if we can imagine how they must have felt when the heavenly messenger appeared to them. ¶

You know, when the Prophet received his first vision, there were some who said he was not a learned man. Perhaps not, if you judge by the knowledge of men, but he had seen God. He knew more about God than any other man in his dispensation. He had seen the Resurrected Christ. He knew more about Jesus than any other man in this dispensation. To know God and his Son, Jesus Christ, as Joseph Smith knew them, is divine power and the fountain of all knowledge. Someone has said, "He who knows books knows much; he who knows nature knows more; but he who knows God has reached the goal of human wisdom." ¶

Much has been said about the visitation of John the Baptist to the Prophet and to Oliver. Oh, the feeling that they must have had! Oliver Cowdery attempted to write a letter to his brother, explaining the kind of feeling he had when the Aaronic Priesthood was bestowed upon him. Their eyes of spiritual understanding were opened. May I read a copy of the letter that Oliver sent to his brother describing the visit of John the Baptist and the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood? ¶

On a sudden, as from the midst of eternity, the voice of the Redeemer spake peace to us while the veil was parted and the angel of God came down clothed with glory and delivered the anxiously looked for message, and the keys of the gospel of repentance. What joy! what wonder! what amazement! While the world was racked and distracted — while millions were groping as the blind for the wall, and while all men were resting upon uncertainty, as a general mass, our eyes beheld — our ears heard. As in the "blaze of day"; yes, more — above the glitter of the May sunbeam, which then shed its brilliancy over the face of nature! Then his voice, though mild, pierced to the center, and his words, "I am thy fellow-servant," dispelled every fear. We listened, we gazed, we admired! 'Twas the voice of an angel from glory — 'twas a message from the Most High, and as we heard we rejoiced, while his love enkindled upon our souls, and we were rapt in the vision of the Almighty! Where was room for doubt? ¶

Nowhere; uncertainty had fled, doubt had sunk, no more to rise, while fiction and deception had fled forever. But, dear brother, think further, think for a moment what joy filled our hearts and with what surprise we must have bowed, (for who would not have bowed the knee for such a blessing?) when we received under his hands the Holy Priesthood, . . . (D.H.C. 1:43.) May I plead with the boys of the Aaronic Priesthood and the men holding the Aaronic Priesthood to value highly that great blessing of the Aaronic Priesthood. May I plead with you, my brethren, my friends, and my associates, my business acquaintances, to make such adjustments as necessary in your lives and do not put it off too long so that you can have the joy and the blessings that come from the Holy Priesthood. ¶

God bless you, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶