Show Sermon for Beeh A B By EZRA TAFT BENSON Member l Council of Twelve Apostles Church of Jesus Christ Christof of Latter-day Latter Saints Count j your ur many blessing name them one by one and it will surprise you OU what the Lord has done All will recognize these i inspiring and timely words from one of our bui great Christian Christian Christian Chris Chris- tian hymns 7 1 S An An European emigrant ohe he of hundreds to come to tot t tH the intermountain area since the war said recently upon J arrival in Salt Lake City p. p Americans dont don't seem to tot t take ke time ime to count their bless bless- ings Another added It uIt p j-p would be a good thing if every i American could spend some sometime i b. b time in war torn Europe The contrast would make them c more mor grateful for their blessings blessings bless bless- J y and contended with ings more t their lot in in l life e. e 4 I We Ve have bave recently celebrated celebrated cele cele- three national holi holi- days Have these tended to turn tiun our our hearts to a a consideration consideration consideration consider consider- of f. f our blessings Have we taken time from our busy lives filled with banqueting giving and ana receiving of costly gifts and celebrating to express express express ex ex- press our thanks in conversation prayer and song As Christ Christians Christians Chris Chris- t ans and Americans we of all aU people should be most grate grate- ful As As' we enjoy so richly the comforts and joys of home family friends and fireside let us give thanks The Master set the example Frequently He gave thanks We Ve live in a period of impressive contrasts Are we impressed impressed impressed im im- im- im pressed in a way that inspires us to grateful acknowledgement of our most favorable position America is indeed a land choice above all others We are citizens in this blessed land loving Liberty people in many nations would as some of them 1 have expressed to me give their right arm if only they could come to America Are we grateful for our liberty and freedom and the other blessings vouchsafed to us under an inspired constitution Do we appreciate our freedom of choice the choice f the right to choose our job our location to travel about as we wish to spend our money as we choose Privileges Lost to Millions in World These privileges have been lost to millions in the world today These unfortunate souls cannot assemble together freel freely and speak their minds openly as we do here They live in constant fear to exercise their God-given God free agency as they are prompted because of the spark of the Divine in them freedom of press etc cannot be measured in dollars and cents These blessings are priceless But what of material things of life that lend themselves to a dollar and cents measurement One trip across the United States with its broad fruitful farms its humming factories and gleaming g cities its schools churches recreational areas and its rich natural resources is convincing evidence of our material blessings Remarkable advances have been made in providing an increasing ever-increasing array of conveniences comforts and beauties for man This is indeed a a great nation materially Let us count these blessings and give thanks to God And let us ke keep p sacred and inviolate those eternal principles embodied in the constitution the application of f f- which has made these blessings possible Spiritual Attributes Overshadow Ph Physical But more important than physical things are spiritual attributes and blessings This our country was founded upon the the truth of Christian principles The founding fathers were men of faith Have ave not the blessings we prize most come as a result of a humble and dev devout ut recognition of f the overruling power of Almighty God Godin Godin Godin in the establishment of this nation Was Vas there not present among the founders a sincere willingness to conform their actions action to divine law The record of the founding fathers bears silent testimony to their belief that this nation came into being under the benign influence of a a kind Providence They were confident that if this nation was to become great and endure as a haven hayen ayen of freedom and a land of plenty its populace must its dependence upon God and humble itself before Him always Spirit Spiritual al support was considered a necessity for enduring spiritual and material blessings The inscription on the coins of the nation In God We Ve Trust gave humble expression to this conviction The oath taken by civil servants including the president of the United States ending so help me God is further evidence of their feeling of dependence on a kind Pro Providence Sacred observance of the Sabbath religious devotion in inthe inthe inthe the homes the reading of the scriptures and the singing of h hymns were daily performances Does anyone doubt that these ennobling practices which then were considered necessities lay at the very foundation of many of the blessings both material and spiritual which we so richly enjoy tod today y Lincoln Called Nation to Humble Reflection Later ater when it appeared to the chief executive that we were forgetting the abundance and and source of our blessings Lincoln called the nation to a humble remembrance in these stirring words words We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of h ven we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity we have grown in numbers wealth and power asno as asno asno no other nation has ever grown But we have f forgotten God We Ve have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us us in l 3 peace ce a and d multiplied and enriched and strengthened us us and we have vainly im imagined in hi the deceitfulness of our own h hearts arts that aH all ll these blessings were produced by some su superior wisdom I and virtue of our own Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too sufficient self to feel the necessity of otred redeeming redeem redeem- eming em- em ing jug and preserving grace too proud to pray to God that made us It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness Let t u us not forget the source of our blessings In our rush t for material things let us not forget the Lord May we count J our blessings If we fail so to do our material abundance will willi i some day turn to ashes in our hands If we are to continue j a strong Christian nation we must give more heed to the 1 f teachings s of Christ I 1 If we would keep the nation spiritually spiritually's s sound und then our homes must be built upon a spirit spiritual l foundation b tion m In our homes there must ever be a feeling of f humble g gratitude e. e We Ve ne need d the blessings which come from froni the daily living of eternal Christian principles God help us us' usall all to count our many blessings often that we may ever be actively conscious of what the Lord has 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