My Brethren And Sisters The Good And...

My brethren and sisters, the good and fervent prayer offered at the beginning of this session by President Lewis has been answered in blessings upon our heads. I hope the good Spirit will continue with us throughout this service. ¶

I am very happy, and I was delighted to hear that President Hunter had been called to fill the vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve. President Hunter has been for many years a leader in Zion. ¶

He has been proved, and I say that a Church is very fortunate indeed that can call upon men of his caliber to serve freely and pleasantly in the great position which he now occupies. ¶

I was also very happy this morning to hear the vigor and the strength demonstrated by President Clark in his sermon to us. The Lord has blessed him, and I am sure you join with me in expressing gratitude for his recovery, that his leadership may continue amongst us. ¶

Yesterday, I was thrilled and greatly uplifted by that masterful sermon delivered by President McKay on the character, the teachings, and the life of Jesus Christ, the Lord. I was also pleased with his references to the Sermon on the Mount delivered by the Savior before a small group of people gathered on the mountainside. That sermon has lived for centuries. It has survived the Dark Ages. It has survived the Renaissance. It has survived modern speculations and the conflicts and the contention among nations. ¶

That sermon will live forever. There is nothing more fundamental in God's word than the sermon which the Savior gave and which is called the Sermon on the Mount. ¶

A few years ago I attended a Sacrament meeting in the South London Branch in London. The occasion was a Christmas program. On that program appeared a Jewish musician. He played a selection on the cello. It was very good. The presiding officer tried to get him to play another selection, but he refused. He said, however, "I will sing a solo, if that will be acceptable." He stepped forward, and he sang the song we all love, "The Lord's Prayer," after which he took his seat in the audience. ¶

When the meeting was over, he walked up to me and said, and these are his words, "You will have to get something more practical than the Sermon on the Mount if you expect to convert the Jews." ¶

I said to him, "Have you ever read the Sermon on the Mount?" ¶

He said, "I must have read it." ¶

"I hope you have," I suggested, "before you criticize it." And then I said to him, "You sang a wonderful song tonight, 'The Lord's Prayer.' Did it ever occur to you that that prayer was a part of the Sermon on the Mount?" He did not seem to realize it. ¶

"Now," I said, "Will you tell me one single teaching in that sermon which is not practical. Name one thing in it that cannot be practised and introduced into your daily life." He was silent. ¶

Then I began to repeat for him that wonderful prayer offered by Jesus as an example to his disciples. " "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.' (Matt. 6-7.) Isn't that a practical aspiration to have?" I said. ¶

He made no reply. ¶

Then I repeated this: "'Give us this day our daily bread.' Surely, that is practical to a man like you." ¶

And he said, "Oh, it is very practical." ¶

I continued, " 'And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.' We are having a lot of trouble with debts these days, individual and national. ¶

Don't you think we ought to pray about it once in a while?" I asked. ¶

"It wouldn't be amiss," he replied. ¶

And then I gave him this statement: ¶

" '. . . deliver us from evil.' Is that not a prayerful hope that all of us should have? It refers to the evil that appears in our pathways, evil that frustrates and stultifies us as we go forth in our daily affairs. 'Deliver us from evil,' is a plea for strength to resist temptation. ¶

I called his attention to two or three other statements in the sermon: "Judge not, that ye be not judged. ¶

"For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." ¶

At last he was impressed. He said, "Oh, if you Christians would honor that last commandment, 'As you measure out to others, it shall be measured back to you.' " ¶

I said, "Not only the Christians, but the Jews as well." ¶

Then he began to explain if that commandment were believed today we would be living in a different world. ¶

Fancy someone believing a teaching which declares, as we measure out to others, it will be measured back to us. ¶

There would then be no dishonesty in the world. There would be no persecution. There would be no war. There would be no bloodshed. There would be no contentions in our civilized society because the world stands on one of the great laws taught by the Lord Jesus. ¶

I quoted again from the sermon: ¶

" 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.' Can't you see the practical thing in that teaching, my brother? If we desire something, something that is precious, something we need, certainly it will require effort on our part." ¶

My friend left me. He said, "I will go home and read the Sermon on the Mount." ¶

I asked, "You have a New Testament?" ¶

He said, "I believe I have, but it must be covered with dust." ¶

And now it occurs to me that when Joseph Smith penned his thirteen Articles of Faith, he stated in the fourth one that the first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There may be other kinds of faith, but the faith that will lead us on to eternal happiness and salvation is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. ¶

May we be true to that sermon, and may we acquit ourselves in such a way that we may be worthy of an exaltation in God's kingdom, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶