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Show The Land Of Inheritances' wisdom, and not by the wisdom of man, do? and Peter said unto them, "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Clirust for the remission of sins, and ye shall icceive the gift ot Hie Holy Ghost. we has restored to the earth in the latter days, and He has established it upon principles of truth and righteousness, of purity of life, that it can no more be thrown down or left to another people, so long as the majority of the Church will abide in their covenants with the Lord and keep themselves pure and unspotted from the was the counsel given them, and as they olieycd it, they entitled to the testimony ot the Holy Spirit which would bring peace and happiness, reveal to them tbeir duties, and enable them to understand their relationship to the Lord. If we look at the conditi n of the world teday, we must come to the conclusion that peace is not likely soon to be established on the earth. There is nothing among the nations that tends o peace. The Lord Almighty is the Creator of the earth; He is the Father of all our spirits, lie has the right to dictate what we should do, and it is our duty to obey, and to w alk according to His requirements. The Gospel has been restored to the earth, and the Priesthood again established, and both are enjoyed by this people. The world cannot understand this, and they behold it with wonder. We know that Jesus Christ lives; we know that He is our Savior and Redeemer; we have a testimony of this, independent of any written books, and we testify of these things 1o the world. We are engaged in the great latter-dawork of preaching the Gospel to the nations ; it is- a great and glorious work. We believe it is right to love God with all our hearts, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. These a'P among the principles of the Gosijel, and these principles have been taught to us from the commencement of our career as members of this Church. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the perfect law of liberty and it will lead man to the highest glory, and will exalt him in the presence of our Heavenly Father, if he is willing to listen to the counsels of those whom the Lord has appointed to guide them. Thiswere world. people can ever prosper and flourish very long unless they abide in divine truth. The truth is mighty and it will prevail. I want to say to you that there never was a time since the organization of the Church when a man led the Church. It was not so in the days of Joseph Smilli nor Brigham Young; it has rot been so since. It is the Loid's work, let me tell you, and I hope you will put it down in your memoranda, and do not forget that it is the Almighty that is going to do this woik and not man. No man shall have the honor of doing it, nor lias any man ever had the power to do it of himself. If it had been the work ol man, we would have been like the rest of the world, and it would not have been true of us that God has chosen us out of the world, but we would be a part of it, and Ilail fellow, well met. with it; but it is (rue that God has chosen us out of the world ; therefore we are not of it. No Now, dont you forget it, my brothel's sisters and friends, and when you go home, if you have not been in the- habit of doing it, or if you have neglected ymr duty, carry this injunction with you. Go into your secret chambers and there by go into your prayer-room- s yourselves, or with your family gathered around you, bow your knees before the Loid in praise and in thanksgiving to Him for His merciful providence that has been over you and over all His people from the inception of this work down to the present. Remember that it is the gift of God to man, that it is His power and His guiding influence that have accomplished what we see has been accomplished. It has not been done by the wisdom of men. They are instruments in the Lords hands in accomplishing His purposes and we should not deny that they are such; we should honor them, aild when we undertake to give them the honor of accomplishing this work, and take the honor from the Lord who qualified the men to do the work, we are doing injustice to our Heavenly Father. He will cut Ilis work short in righteousness, and will hasten His purposes in His own time. It is only necessary to try with our might to keep pace with the onward piogress of the woik of the Lord, then He will preserve and protect us, and will prepare the way before us. I feel grateful to my Heavenly Father that I have been permitted to live in this generation, and have been permitted to become acquainted somewhat witii the principles of the Gospel. I am thankful that I have had the privilege of having a testimony of its truth, and that I am permitted to stand here and elsewhere to bear my testimony to the truth that the Gospel has been restored to man. I have traveled among the nations preaching the Gospel, and have seen something of the conditions of the world, and I am aware that the Gospel, as revealed in tire Bible, cannot be found in the world. The ordinances of the Gospel are not administered in any Church except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daSaints. They will not listen to the testimony of men who tell them that the Lord lives and that He is able to reveal llis will to man today as ever. They cannot advance nor learn the ways of the Lord nor walk in his paths. This was the pad. pointed by Peter and tlie apostles when the .Spirit of the Lord rested upon them with great power to the convincing of the hearts of the people who .cried out, Men and brethren,, whqt shall . . r Addiess giten by Precedent Ah in R. D )cr, in the Virt Piesidiney, at the Sunday morning, October 6. I96S, xetoon nj the 1 iSth General Conference of the Church counselor Semi-Annu- We y " L . , ' i K 1. Hill' destiny of 1 soul. , i the 1 ask no odds of any man. We bear a fearless testimony that these things are true. We know' that the one in whom we trust is God, for it lias been revealed to us. We are not in the dark, neither have we obtained our knowledge from any man, or collection of men, but through the revelation of Jesus Christ. There is no harm in forsaking the follies and evils of the world and bowing in humility before the Lord for His Spirit, and in obedience to the words of the Savior, being baptized for the remission of sins and having hands laid upon you for the gift of the Holy Ghost that you may have a witness for yourselves of the truth of the words we speak to you. Do this humbly and honestly, and as sure as the Lord lives, I promise you tfc"t you will receive the testimony of this woik for yourselves and will know it as all the Latter-daSainls should know it. This is the promise; it is sure and steadfast, and there are many in this congregation who can bear testimony that they have realized the fulfillment of these promises in tiiis day. This testimony comes from God end convinces all to whom it is given in spite of themselves, and is worth more to men than any sign or gift because it gives peace, happiness and contentment to the , talk concerns America. Since t.e founding of this country, political leaders have spoken of lie greatness of America and of its place in the world as the cradle of freedom and democracy with a destiny to disseminate these principles throughout the world. We have witnessed Americas attempt at this by various methods, but she is learning by hard and cosily experience that freedom cannot be taken or given to any people, nor can it be bought. America will need to learn the lesson, as did our founding fathers, that freedom must be sought after with courage and sacrifice, that she cannot maintain it at home or convey it unto others, unless this type of pursuit is involved. As to the destiny of America, politically speaking, I am not prepared to say, but I do know that long before the ships of Columbus touched our shores, long before our independence and founding fathers established a new nation, events bad long since transpired to give unlo Ibis land, which we now call America, its committed purpose and destiny. I have a firm conviction dial the true destiny of America is religious, not political; spiritual not physical. Much has been said by many of ifs founding. The Prophet Joseph Smith himself declared its Constitution to be heavenly inspired and because of this we pray for its purposeful continuity. But noble and great as are the political phases of its establishment, its real significance lies in its spiritual purpose, for which it was truly founded. I have chosen two of these reaspiritual and therefore sons for reference: First: America was founded to fulfill a covenant which God made with the Patriarchal ancestors of the House of Israel. The Lord, speaking unto a remnant of this House who had inhabited this land, had this to say: "For it is wisdom in the Father that they should be established in this land, and be set up as a ftee people by he power of the Father, that these things might come forth from them unto a remnant of your seed, that the covenant of he Father may lie fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people, O house of Israel. (Ill Nephi 21:4) - It assures me that God lives, and if I am faithful I shall obtain the blessings of the Celestial Kingdom. The earth will become purified and made a fit abode for heavenly beings, and for the Lord our God to come and dw'dl upon, which be w ill do during the Millennium. The Gospel is salvation, and without it there is nothing worth having. This is what we are after. The reason that we are here is that we may overcome every folly and prepare ourselves for eternal life in the fulure. Let us lie faithful and humble; let us live the religion of Jesus Christ; put away the enkpqsses, qf the flesh, ,amj,c!oayp to . y America, and its founded to preserve unto the right of moral tgency. I quote from a revelation given to Joseph Smith on this subject: "According to the law's and constitutions of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should lie maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles; That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I t qvpry map ,ii)ay l)avpgvcn,ulut,o1mr, Secondly: God-give- , j ' n i, j "i .i iiii WEEK the course of the travels of the J.re-dites- , first northward into the valley Nimrod and then, after crossing many lakes and rivers, eventually reaching the great sea which separated the continents, they established a community named Moriancumr, after their great leader the brother of Jaied. (See Ether In of 2:1-6- We learn that the Lord gave instruction to the brother of Jared for the building Gf submersible barges that would enable his colony to cross the great waters to a land of promise, concerning which Moriancumr wrote: And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it 5s a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God. or Ihey shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath comelh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity. For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; vvheiefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off ; for it is the everlasting decree of God. (Ether. 2:9, 10.) Asbout 1600 years later, or 600 B.C., a prophet by the name of Lehi with his family left doomed Jerusalem as the Lord had directed him. Lehi and his colony, as with the Jaredites many centuries before, were to lie led to the promised land. Speaking unto Nephi the son of Lehi while they were yet in the wilderness prior to their embarkation. the Lord said: And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise: yea, even a land which I have prepared for you: yea, a land which is choice above all other lands. (I Nephi 2:20.) Eventually, after much tribulation, and a perilous journey over the great vjers in a ship built as directed by the Lord, Lehi and his colony, somewhat enlarged from Jerusalem, since their departu-e- s reached the promised land, probably in the year 589 B.C. Later, Nephi made tlis declaration: "But, said be, notwithstanding our afflictions, we have obtained a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord bath covenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever, and als all Continued on Page 16 f i ' M ENDING OCTOBER 12, 1968 i ,!l ' accountable for his own sins in the day judgment. "Therefore, it is not rigid that any man should be in bondage one to another, "And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom 1 raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the sheddmg of blood. (D&C 101:77-80.- ) The peoples who Columbus found hete were the ebbing remnants of those,vh came to this land by heavenly direeiion and in fulfillment of the covenants which God had enacted long before their migrations and occupancy ot the land, which the Lord announced to them as a land of promise and inheritance. According to the Book ol Mormon, the Jaredites began their migration to this land at the time when the great Tower of Babel was under construction. This occurred in about the year 2200 B.C. At this time the language of the people was confused. Tiiis tower has been identified m our modern time at a place called Hillah in modern Iraq, southwest of the city of Baghdad, on the east bank of. the Euphrates River. Here is found a ruin known as Birs Nimrud, standling like a watehtower on a vast plain. Inscriptions on the pyramid-shape- d ruins were found by Rawlinson to bear the name of The Temple of the Seven Planets. This ruin is supposed to be what is left of the Tower of Babel. 1h of America's Destiny Theme Of Talk By President Dyer y y i a the Lord and his truth witii undivided hearts, with full determination to fight the good fight of faith and continue steadfast to the end, which may God grant us ower to do, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. r i 'i- V r, i V.'.' i i ; i i CHURCH-- 15 v v . v |