At the Conclusion of This Great Conference...

PRESIDENT DAVID O. McKAY ¶

At the conclusion of this great conference, I am sure you would have me express appreciation to all who have contributed to it, including those who have so inspired us with their uplifting sermons. I shall repeat, of course, some expressions which we have already given directly at the time of service. ¶

You have been blessed by the sight of these beautiful flowers, so profusely displayed before you — the calla lilies from the high priests' quorum of the Oakland-Berkeley Stake; the daffodils from Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival, Inc., sent here through the Tacoma Stake; the spring flowers here from the Phoenix and the East Phoenix stakes; the bird of paradise flowers from the Los Angeles Temple Grounds. We express appreciation for the thoughtfulness of all who have desired to make pleasant these gatherings through these "messengers of love." ¶

We thank representatives of the public press for their fair and accurate reports throughout the sessions of conference; the city officials, Chief W. Cleon Skousen, and traffic officers for their co-operation in handling the increased traffic here in the city. We express appreciation to the fire department and to the Red Cross for being on hand to render any service that might be needed. ¶

To the Tabernacle ushers, who have rendered service early and late in seating the great audiences! ¶

For assistance rendered by the various radio and television stations, here in our own city and state, and other states named in the various sessions of the conference, we are grateful. This truly has been the means of permitting tens of thousands of people to hear the proceedings of the 127th annual general conference of the Church. ¶

We appreciate the choirs. Never have we had better service than the choral groups have rendered during these three days, beginning Friday with the Brigham Young University combined choruses, with Norman Gulbrandsen and Newell B. Weight conducting; the Institute of Religion chorus from the University of Utah, with David Austin Shand conducting; the Tabernacle Choir male chorus last evening under the direction of J. Spencer Cornwall — all these choir seats filled — a larger group, I think, than we have ever had before. It was appropriate, too, because it was the largest priesthood meeting ever held in the Church. And now, today, we appreciate the singing of the Tabernacle Choir under the direction of Brother Cornwall. We express appreciation, also, to the organists, Alexander Schreiner and Frank W. Asper, and Brother Roy M. Darley, assistant organist. ¶

I should like to say just a word in conclusion. ¶

I do not know how many of you heard Brother Marion G. Romney this morning. I hope all of you listened to his excellent address over the Church-of-the-Air broadcast, speaking about the reality of inspiration from God to individuals. I was reminded of what Peter said. (My fellow workers know that I am rather partial to Peter, the chief Apostle of the Meridian of Times — a practical man, a successful fisherman.) But as I have read his life, I find that he rose from a seeming indifference to religion to the heights of spirituality, and I find confirmation of that in the following reference in his First Epistle General. He refers to an "inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled," and that inheritance the "lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," a hope that "fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, ¶

"Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ¶

"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:" (See I Peter 1:3-6.) ¶

Then he continues in his Second Epistle, referring to the sacredness of the priesthood, "that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature; . . ." (II Peter 1:4.) ¶

Happy is the man who has experienced that relationship to his Maker, wherein we are "partakers of the divine nature." That is a reality, and I so testify to you here in this sacred hour. ¶

Then Peter says that we must go on from that . . . ¶

". . . giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; ¶

"And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; ¶

"And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity." (Ibid., 1:5-7.) ¶

Note those virtues from that practical man who had experienced the relationship, the real relationship to his Creator. And you have had that experience, many, and I hope all may have it. It is glorious. And then the promise: ¶

"For if these things [virtues] be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Ibid., 1:8.) ¶

And you have heard in this conference what that knowledge means; to know God and Jesus Christ, his Son, is eternal life. Or, in the exact words, as recorded in the 17th chapter of John: ¶

"And this is life eternal [this is Jesus praying to his Father, two distinct personages], that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3.) ¶

That, my brothers and sisters, is the highest purpose of life. It has been put in one sentence that the whole purpose of life is "to subdue matter" (conquer everything physical, our passions, enmity, selfishness, and all that), "to subdue matter that we might realize the ideal," and that is the ideal — "life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." ¶

With all my soul, at the conclusion of this highly spiritual conference, I bless you that you may attain that testimony, that high spiritual state, which will make all who attain it ready to enter through the veil into the presence of God, our Eternal Father. ¶

Thank you, Brethren and our fellow workers of the General Authorities, for the messages you have given during this conference. You have been blessed. Thank you, brethren and sisters, here especially in this great Tabernacle, for your reverent attitude in every session. May you go home now with your children to your neighbors, and radiate that high spirit of love, brotherhood, virtue, integrity, which will lead them to investigate the gospel of Jesus Christ and eventually accept those principles, that they too, someday, may realize what it is to be "partakers of the divine nature," I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶