We’ve heard this remarkable choir tonight. They sing with such tremendous power. This choir has become a great national treasure. Its roots reach back 150 years to the pioneer beginnings of these mountain communities. We have had a wonderful time listening to them. I wish they could go on all evening…I would wish particularly. At the conclusion of my remarks, they will sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic, which has stirred audiences throughout the world.

Mine eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored
He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword
His truth is marching on
He has sounded forth the trumpet that will never call retreat
He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat
O be swift my soul to answer Him, be jubilant my feet
Our God is marching on
In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free
While God is marching on

This great hymn of hope stirs us now as it did more than a century ago when it was first sung. I promise you, every one of you, that you will be moved in your hearts as you again hear these talented voices singing out these marvelous and eloquent words. These words speak of the theme of this meeting: that theme is recognition of, and trust in the Almighty, who has guided this nation since its inception. I salute Crystal Jolley for the excellent talk she has given.

A news magazine writer asked me the other day during an interview concerning my belief concerning the Constitution of our country. I replied that I felt it was inspired, that both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were brought forth under the inspiration of God to establish and sustain the freedom of the people of this nation. I told him I looked upon the Founding Fathers as men who believed in God, as men who prayed to God, as men who recognized God and wished to do His will. What a singular and remarkable group they were! As I look across the world today, I search in vain for such a group has walked together across the stage of history when this nation was born.

Charles Malek, Secretary General of the United States, once said on this campus, “I respect all men and it is from this respect for none that I say there are no great leaders in the world today. In fact, greatness itself is laughed to scorn. You should not be great today; you should sink yourself into the herd. You should not be distinguished from the crowd; you should simply be one of the many.” He continued, “The commanding voice is lacking, the voice which speaks little but which when it speaks, it speaks with compelling moral authority. This kind of voice is not congenial to this age. The age flattens and levels down every distinction into drab uniformity. Respect for the high, the noble, the great, the rare, the specimen that appears once every hundred or every thousand years is gone. Respect at all is gone. If you ask people whom and what people do respect, the answer is literally nobody and nothing. This is simply an unrespecting age; it is the age of utter mediocrity. To become a leader today, even a mediocre leader, is a most uphill struggle. You are constantly in every way and from every side pulled down. One wonders who of those living today will be remembered a thousand years from now, the way we remember with profound respect Plato and Aristotle, Christ and Paul and Augustine and Aquinas.” He concluded, “If you believe in prayer my friends, and I know that you do, then pray that God send great leaders, especially great leaders of the spirit.”

Just think of a moment of George Washington, of Franklin, of Madison, of the Adams’s, of Thomas Jefferson, and their associates who signed the Declaration of Independence, or participated in the Constitutional Convention. Where in all the world today can even one or two such men be found, let alone the great aggregation that participated in the birth of America?

Can anyone deny that they were raised up unto this very purpose, that working together, they brought forth on this continent an independent nation at the risk of their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor? It is my conviction that while we’ve had a few great leaders since then, there has not been before or since, so large a group of talented, able, and dedicated men as those whom we call the Founding Fathers of this nation. For as long as they lived they acknowledged the hand of the Almighty in the affairs of this republic.

We have on our coinage and our currency a national motto. It simply says, In God We Trust. I know of no other nation with such a motto. Other nations use, By the Grace of God, but none other categorically states, In God We Trust. This is the foundation upon which this nation was established: an unequivocal trust in the power of the Almighty to guide and defend us. The hand of God was manifest when the United States of America came into being. It was evident even before then. Before disembarking from the Mayflower, our pilgrim fathers drafted and signed the compact which would become the instrument of their governance, the first such document drafted on this continent. It began with these words, “In the name of God, Amen.” It went on to say that the signers, “by these present, solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic.”

When George Washington resigned his commission as General of the Army he wrote, “I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last act of my official life, but commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendents of them to His holy keeping.” As Crystal has reminded us tonight, in his first inaugural address in 1789 he stated, “No people can be bound to acknowledge and ignore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.”

We posted the colors tonight and stood and gave a pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and the Republic for which it stands. We said, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. That phrase, one nation under God, essentially comes from Abraham Lincoln. In the great Gettysburg address he stated, “This nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom.” That phrase was not in the pledge of allegiance that was spoken when I was a boy. Back in those days, all of us in grade school, if the weather permitted, would form at the front steps of the school. The flag would be posted and we would recite together the pledge of allegiance before going into the building for our daily school work. I am grateful for the addition of the words, One Nation Under God. To me, it is tremendously meaningful.

There are those in this nation today who would delete all this reference to Deity. They would take it out of the pledge of allegiance. They would take it from our coinage. They would remove it from any mention in our national life. John Wesley Heele has written, “Gettysburg was the high water mark of the rebellion. It involved the destiny of the union. Realizing this, it was Lincoln who at while battle was being fought was driven to his knees to struggle like Jacob of old, alone with God, until in Lincoln’s own words, “God told me he would give me Gettysburg and I believed Him.” When the news of the victory reached him, he gave to God the glory and set aside a day of national thanksgiving.

When Mrs. Margaret Thatcher was on this campus and I was talking with her, she said, “I cannot understand it; you have the motto, In God We Trust on your coinage and yet you cannot mention the name of Deity in the classrooms of your schools. She wondered, and I wonder about our consistency.

At this meeting tonight, the first verse of our national anthem was sung. We seldom hear the third verse, which include these words,

O thus be it ever when free-men shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”

As boys who would grow to become citizens of this nation, we repeated the scout oath including these words; On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country. Now that is even being challenged in the courts of the land. According to the Wall Street Journal, the state of New Jersey last year passed a law banishing the mention of God from state courtroom oaths. Following this action by the legislature, a county just decided to ban Bibles for such oaths because, “You know who is mentioned inside.”

Without acknowledgement of deity, without recognition of the Almighty as the ruling power of the universe, the all important element of personal and national accountability shrinks and dies. Are we so arrogant as to believe that we can get along without Him? We see the manifestation of that arrogance in the great host of social problems with which we deal these days: teen pregnancy, abandoned families and broken homes, failure to recognize the property and rights of others, gangs of young people aimlessly cruising the streets of our cities, and many other problems like these have resulted in substantial part at least, from failure to recognize that there is a God to whom someday, each of us must give an accounting.

The wars in which this nation has been involved during this, the most bloody century of all time have resulted from the greed, the avarice, the arrogance, the conceit, and egotism of men in power who sought to enslave and exercise dominion over others. Their very attitude has been totally incompatible with recognition of the Almighty to whom each of us is accountable.

There can be no doubt of the sickness in our society today. We cannot build prisons fast enough to accommodate the need. Humanism has replaced worship in the lives of so many. We are forsaking the Almighty and I fear He is forsaking us. We are closing the door against the God, whose sons and daughters we are. We sang, “My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty.” We need to sing again and again the fourth verse of that hymn:

Our Father’s God to Thee, Author of liberty, To Thee we sing
Long may our land be bright, with freedom’s holy light,
Protect us by thy might, Great God our king

Going back to George Washington’s first inaugural speech, he voiced the hope, “that the foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality.” He went on to say, “…there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained.” The psalmist of old wrote, “The counsel of the Lord standeth forever. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” Paul the apostle declared, “Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

I believe we are paying a very high price for our increasing secularism. Jefferson said, “God who gave us life, gave us liberty.” Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are a gift of God?

Lincoln declared, “What constituted the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling seacoasts; our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense is in the spirity which prized liberty as the heritage of all men in all lands everywhere.”

We go back to the prophetic words of Alexis de Tocqueville, who came here from France as a young man in the early 1800s. After traveling widely he said, “I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors, in her fertile fields and boundless forests, in her rich minds and vast commerce, in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic congress and in her matchless Constitution, but not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and her power. America is great because America is good. And if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

I am convinced that if we are to continue to have the freedoms which came of the inspiration of the Almighty to our Founding Fathers, we must return to the God who is their true author. We need to worship him in spirit and in truth. We need to acknowledge his all powerful hand. We need to humble ourselves before him and seek his guidance in all that concerns matters of state. Do we believe in the separation of church and state? Of course we do, but that belief does not preclude a petition to the Almighty for wisdom and guidance as we walk through these perilous times.

We celebrate the freedom of our nation. We hold this festival in remembrance of this greatest of all boons and blessings. May we look to him as the author of our liberty. Is it too much to expect that prayer, public and private, be once again established in our national and private lives? Then with a general acknowledgement of the God in whom we put our trust, we may expect a diminution in our social problems, an increase in public and private morality, and a renewed sense of freedom and liberty. I realize that after the choir sings we shall have a benediction on this sacred service to be offered by Senator Bennett, but if you will bear with me, I wish to conclude my remarks with a few words of solemn prayer. I invite all of you to lower your heads and close your eyes.

Oh God, our Eternal Father, thou who presides over the nations and their people, we come unto thee in prayer. We thank thee for this great and sovereign nation of which we are citizens. Touch the minds of those of our Congress that they shall stand tall and independent in defense of the liberty of the people. Bless the chief executive. He is our president. Let thy spirit move upon him to bring to pass those measures which will lift the burdens of government from the backs of the people and keep this nation under God, a citadel of freedom standing as an example to all the world. Bless the Supreme Court of the United States which in recent days has declared unconstitutional a measure designed to secure the religious liberty of the people of this nation. May a way be found under thy divine inspiration to bring to pass another measure which will be sustained by the court. May thy peace rest upon this nation. May we as a people look to thee and live. May the benevolent hand of the almighty protect us from the evil forces of the world. May humanism and secularism bend to an increased knowledge of these our Father and our God. May a spirit of brotherhood spread throughout the land. As we pray to thee, we do so in our manner and respect the prayers of others who speak after their manner. That thou wilt hear us all as we lift our voices in behalf of our beloved nation. Almighty Father, hear us, guide us, protect us, make us both strong and benevolent before the world. Forgive our erring ways. May we turn back to thee in our search for wisdom, for guidance, for direction, we humbly ask in Jesus’ sacred name, Amen.

“Besides the preaching of the Gospel, we have another mission, namely, the perpetuation of the free agency of man and maintenance of liberty, freedom and the rights of man.” (John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 23:63)

Source: Ezra Taft Benson. Our Immediate Responsibility. BYU Devotional, October 25, 1966.

“As we have progressed the mist has been removed, and in relation to these matters, the Elders of Israel begin to understand that they have something to do with the world politically as well as religiously, that it is as much their duty to study correct political principles as well as religious, and to seek to know and comprehend the social and political interests of man, and to learn and be able to teach that which would be best calculated to promote the interests of the world.” (JD 9:340)

I am only one, but I am one.
I cant do everything, but I can do something.
What I can do, that I ought to do,
And what I ought to do,
By the grace of God, I shall do!

Were these Founding Fathers and pioneer forefathers to counsel us today in their fundamental beliefs, so manifest by their acts, what would they say to us?

First: They would counsel us to have faith in God. It was by this faith that they were sustained in their privations, sacrifices, and suffering. They placed their trust in God. He was their defense, their refuge, and their salvation. Their faith is perhaps best expressed by the father of our country, George Washington: “The success, which has hitherto attended our united efforts, we owe to the gracious interposition of Heaven; and to that interposition let us gratefully ascribe the praise of victory, and the blessings of peace.” (To the Executive of New Hampshire, November 3, 1789, Writings, 12:175.)

Yes, it was this faith in God that sustained them in their hours of extremity. We too will need this same faith to sustain us in the critical days ahead.

Second: They would counsel us to strengthen our homes and family ties. Though they did not possess our physical comforts, they left their posterity a legacy of something more enduring: a hearthside where parents were close by their children, where daily devotions, family prayer, scripture reading, and the singing of hymns were commonplace. Families worked, worshiped, played, and prayed together. Family home evening, now a once-a-week practice among the Saints, was to our pioneer forebears almost a nightly occurrence.

Can we not see in their examples the solutions to problems threatening families today? Were we to pattern our homes accordingly, divorce would be eliminated, children would be welcomed and guided, and love between parents and children would abound. There would be no generation gap. Family unity and solidarity, crowned with love and happiness, would prevail.

Third: They would counsel us in the dignity of work, to practice thrift, and to be self-sustaining. Theirs was a philosophy that neither the world nor government owes a man his bread. Man is commanded by God to live by the sweat of his own brow, not someone else’s. In his First Inaugural Address, Thomas Jefferson counseled us toward a wise and frugal government, one that “shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it had earned.”

The Founding Fathers would be in complete agreement with this counsel from Brigham Young: “Beautify your gardens, your houses, your farms; beautify the city. This will make us happy, and produce plenty.” (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 302.) “To be slothful, wasteful, lazy and indolent . . . is unrighteous.” (Ibid., p. 303.) “Learn to sustain yourselves; lay up grain and flour, and save it against a day of scarcity.” (Ibid., p. 293.) “. . . If you cannot obtain all you wish for today, learn to do without.” (Ibid., p. 293.) “Be prompt in everything, and especially to pay your debts.” (Ibid., p. 303.)

Finally: These noble founders and pioneers—our benefactors—would counsel us to preserve the freedoms granted to us by God. They knew that the foundation of this nation was spiritual, that the source of all our blessings was God. They knew that this nation can only prosper in an atmosphere of freedom.

Those intrepid forebears knew that their righteousness was the indispensable ingredient to liberty, that this was the greatest legacy they could pass on to future generations. They would counsel us to preserve this liberty by alert righteousness. Righteousness is always measured by a nation or an individual keeping the commandments of God.

In the outer office of the Council of Twelve hangs a painting by Utah artist Arnold Friberg, depicting George Washington, the father of our country, on his knees at Valley Forge. That painting symbolizes the faith of our forebears. I wish it could be in every American home.

In the 1940s, while serving as the executive officer of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives in Washington, D.C., I saw in a Hilton Hotel a placard depicting Uncle Sam, representing America, on his knees in humility and prayer. Beneath the placard was the inscription “Not beaten there by the hammer and sickle, but freely, responsibly, confidently. . . . We need fear nothing or no one save God.”

That picture has stayed in my memory ever since. America on her knees—in recognition that all our blessings come from God! America on her knees—out of a desire to serve the God of this land by keeping His commandments! America on her knees—not driven there in capitulation to some despotic government, but on her knees freely, willingly, gratefully! This is the sovereign remedy to all of our problems and the preservation of our liberties.

Yes, those valiant patriots and pioneers left us a great heritage. Are we prepared to do what they did? Will we pledge our lives, our possessions, our sacred honor for future generations and the upbuilding of God’s kingdom on this earth?

Hear the challenge made to us—their descendants and beneficiaries—at the dedication of “This Is the Place” monument, at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, July 24, 1947:

“Can we keep and preserve what they wrought? Shall we pass on to our children the heritage they left us, or shall we lightly fritter it away? Have we their faith, their bravery, their courage; could we endure their hardships and suffering, make their sacrifices, bear up under their trials, their sorrow, their tragedies, believe the simple things they knew were true, have the simple faith that worked miracles for them, follow, and not falter or fall by the wayside, where our leaders advance, face the slander and the scorn of an unpopular belief? Can we do the thousands of little and big things that made them the heroic builders of a great Church, a great commonwealth?” (J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Address at the Dedication of “This Is the Place” Monument, July 24, 1947; in Improvement Era 50:626.)

There should be no doubt what our task is today. If we truly cherish the heritage we have received, we must maintain the same virtues and the same character of our stalwart forebears—faith in God, courage, industry, frugality, self-reliance, and integrity. We have the obligation to maintain what those who pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor gave to future generations. Our opportunity and obligation for doing so is clearly upon us. May we begin to repay this debt by preserving and strengthening this heritage in our own lives, in the lives of our children, their children, and generations yet unborn.

As we read the newspapers and other printed materials, listen to television and radio, and read or hear the voices of distinguished Americans, we become conscious that America is at the crossroads. We stand today with the reality before us that we could lose our great heritage of freedom.

There are those in our midst who depreciate our great beloved republic and the men who laid the foundation of our government. These are the voices and the words that our youth frequently hear or read. I ask, How can they be expected to feel a duty to God and their country when the climate of opinion is so negative to all that we cherish and hold dear? The answer to that question will be decided by how well our homes instill a love of God and of our country and how well we as leaders exemplify before our youth our devotion. When was the last time you took the occasion to let them know your feelings about your country?

This nation is unlike any other nation. It was uniquely born. It had its beginning when fifty-six men affixed their signatures to the Declaration of Independence. I realize there are some who view that declaration as only a political document. It is much more than that. It constitutes a spiritual manifesto, declaring not for this nation alone, but for all nations, the source of man’s rights.

The purpose of the declaration was to set forth the moral justifications of a rebellion against a long-recognized political tradition—the divine right of kings. At issue was the fundamental question of whether men’s rights were God-given or whether these rights were to be dispensed by governments to their subjects. This document proclaimed that all men have certain inalienable rights; in other words, that those rights came from God. The colonists were therefore not rebels against political authority. Their contention was not with Parliament nor the British people; it was against a tyrannical monarch who had “conspired,” “incited,” and “plundered” them. They were thus morally justified to revolt, for as it was stated in the declaration, “when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

The document concludes with this pledge: “For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

How prophetic that pledge was to be! Consider with me some of the sacrifices made by these signers.

Fifty-six men signed the document on August 2, 1776, or in the case of some, shortly thereafter. They came from all walks of life. Twenty-three were lawyers, twelve were merchants, twelve were men of the soil, four were physicians, two were manufacturers, one was a politician, one a printer, and another a minister.

Almost a third of the signers were under forty years of age; eighteen were in their thirties and three were in their twenties. Only seven were over sixty. The youngest, Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, was twenty-six and a half, and the oldest, Benjamin Franklin, was seventy. Three of the signers lived to be over ninety. Charles Carroll died at age ninety-five. Ten died in their eighties.

Possibly as many as six of the signers were childless in their marriages (two never did marry), but the remainder sired 325 children. Carter Braxton had 18 children; William Ellery, 17; and Robert Sherman, 15.

The signers were religious men, all being Protestant except Charles Carroll, who was Roman Catholic. Over half expressed their religious faith as being Episcopalian. Others were Congregational, Presbyterian, Quaker, and Baptist.

Two of the signers would become presidents of the United States—Thomas Jefferson, the author of the declaration, and John Adams. Two—John Adams and Benjamin Harrison—would be fathers of future presidents. Another, Elbridge Gerry, was the vice-president under James Madison.

Those signers pledged their lives, and some paid that price for this nation’s birth—and our birthright.

At least nine of them died as a result of the war or its hardships on them. The first of the signers to die was John Morton of Pennsylvania. He was at first sympathetic to the British, but finally changed his mind and cast his vote for independence. By doing so, his friends, relatives, and neighbors turned against him. Those who knew him best said this ostracism hastened his death, for he lived only eight months after the signing. His last words were, “. . . tell them that they will live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it to have been the most glorious service that I ever rendered to my country.”

Another to pay with his life was Caesar Rodney. Suffering facial cancer, he left his sickbed at midnight and rode all night by horseback through a severe storm. He arrived just in time to cast the deciding vote for his delegation in favor of independence. His doctors told him he needed treatment obtainable only in Europe. He refused to go in this time of his country’s crisis. The decision cost him his life.

When the British came to Trenton, they settled near the home of John Hart, one of the five signers from New Jersey. He had a large farm and several grist mills. While his wife was on her deathbed, Hessian soldiers descended on Hart’s property. They destroyed his mills, ravaged his property, and scattered his thirteen children. Hart became a hunted fugitive. When he finally returned to his land, he was broken in health, his farmland was scourged, his wife had died, and his children were all scattered. He died three years after signing the declaration.

Yes, the signers also pledged their fortunes, and at least fifteen saw the realization of that pledge. Twelve had their homes ransacked or ruined. Six literally gave their fortunes to further the cause. When the four New York delegates signed the declaration, they signed away their property. William Floyd was exiled from his home for seven years and was practically ruined financially. Francis Lewis had his home plundered and burned, and his wife was carried away prisoner. She suffered great brutality and never regained her health; she died within two years. He never regained his fortune. Robert Morris had his property destroyed and, like Floyd, was denied his home for seven years. Phillip Livingston never saw his home again, for his estate became a British naval hospital. He sold all of his remaining property to finance the revolution. He died before the war was over.

Another signer, merchant Robert Morris, lost 150 ships, which were sunk during the war. Three of the four signers from South Carolina—Thomas Heyward, Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge—were taken prisoner by the British and imprisoned for ten months.

Thomas Nelson, Jr., of Virginia died in poverty at age fifty-one. He gave his fortune to help finance the war and never regained either it or his health. Before Patrick Henry gave his great speech, he was preceded by Nelson who said, “I am a merchant of Yorktown, but I am a Virginian first. Let my trade perish. I call God to witness that if any British troops are landed in the County of Yorks, of which I am a Lieutenant, I will wait no order, but will summon the militia and drive the invaders into the sea.”

When Patrick Henry declared his immortal words, “. . . give me liberty or give me death,” he was not speaking idly. When those signers affixed their signatures to that sacred document, they were, in a real sense, choosing liberty or death, for if the revolution failed, if their fight had come to naught, they would be hanged as traitors.

Yes, the signers fulfilled their pledge. Their spirit of sacrifice was exemplified by John Adams, who, when others were vacillating on whether to adopt the declaration, declared:

“Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that in the beginning we aimed not at independence. But there’s a Divinity which shapes our ends. . . . Why, then, should we defer the Declaration? . . .

“. . . You and I, indeed, may rue it. We may not live to the time when this Declaration shall be made good. We may die; die colonists; die slaves; die, it may be, ignominiously and on the scaffold. Be it so, Be it so. If it be the pleasure of Heaven that my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be ready. . . . But while I do live, let me have a country, or at least the hope of a country, and that a free country.

“But whatever may be our fate, be assured . . . that this Declaration will stand. It may cost treasure, and it may cost blood; but it will stand, and it will richly compensate for both. Through the thick gloom of the present, I see the brightness of the future, as the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious, an immortal day. When we are in our graves, our children will honor it. They will celebrate it with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and illuminations. On its annual return they will shed tears, copious, gushing tears, not of subjection and slavery, not of agony and distress, but of exultation, of gratitude, and of joy. Sir, before God, I believe the hour is come. My judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope, in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off as I begun, that live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration. It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment, Independence, now, and Independence for ever.” (The Works of Daniel Webster, 4th ed., 1851, 1:133-36.)

How fitting it is that we sing in “America the Beautiful”:

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life!

These patriots were willing to make the effort and sacrifice they did because they understood a fundamental that seems to be forgotten today: that the rights of man are either God-given as part of a divine plan or they are granted as part of a political plan. Reason, necessity, and religious conviction and belief in the sovereignty of God led these men to accept the divine origin of man’s rights. To God’s glory, and the credit of these men, our nation had its unique birth.

If we accept the premise that human rights are granted by government, then we must be willing to accept the corollary that they can be denied by government. If Americans should ever come to believe that their rights and freedoms are instituted among men by politicians and bureaucrats, then they will no longer carry the proud inheritance of their forefathers, but will grovel before their masters seeking favors and dispensations—a throwback to the feudal system of the Dark Ages. We must ever keep in mind the inspired words of Thomas Jefferson, as found in the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Since God created man with certain inalienable rights, and man, in turn, created government to help secure and safeguard those rights, it follows that man is superior to government and should remain master over it, not the other way around. As said so appropriately by Lord Action:

“It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their own business, and that the nation is responsible to Heaven for the acts of the State,—ideas long locked in the breast of solitary thinkers, and hidden among Latin folios,—burst forth like a conqueror upon the world they were destined to transform, under the title of the Rights of Man. . . .

“. . . and the principle gained ground, that a nation can never abandon its fate to an authority it cannot control.” (The History of Freedom and Other Essays, 1907, pp. 55-56.)

We also need to keep before us the truth that people who do not master themselves and their appetites will soon be mastered by government.

I wonder if we are not rearing a generation that seemingly does not understand this fundamental principle. Yet this is the principle that separates our country from all others. The central issue before the people today is the same issue that inflamed the hearts of our Founding Fathers in 1776 to strike out for independence. That issue is whether the individual exists for the state or whether the state exists for the individual.

In a republic, the real danger is that we may slowly slide into a condition of slavery of the individual to the state rather than entering this condition by a sudden revolution. The loss of our liberties might easily come about, not through the ballot box, but through the abandonment of the fundamental teachings from God and this basic principle upon which our country was founded. Such a condition is usually brought about by a series of little steps which, at the time, seem justified by a variety of reasons.

Yes, I thank God for the sacrifices and efforts made by our Founding Fathers, whose efforts brought us the blessings we have today. Their lives should be reminders to us that we are blessed beneficiaries of a liberty earned by great sacrifice of property, reputation, and life. There should be no doubt what our task is today. If we truly cherish the freedoms we have, we must instill these sacred principles in the hearts and minds of our youth. We have the obligation to rekindle the flame that existed two hundred years ago among those who pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. The opportunity for patriots to do so again is clearly upon us.

(Source: This Nation Shall Endure, Ezra Taft Benson, published 1977)

Humbly and gratefully I stand before you this morning, humbled by the responsibility which is mine as I face this choice audience, and grateful for this great and unique institution, founded by a prophet of God.

As an introduction to what I trust the Lord will be pleased to have me say today, I quote a short paragraph from a memorable prayer given at the dedication of the London Temple by President David O. McKay:

Next to life, we express gratitude for the gift of free agency. When thou didst create man, thou placed within him part of thine Omnipotence and bade him choose for himself. Liberty and conscience thus became a sacred part of human nature. Freedom not only to think, but to speak and act, is a God-given privilege. [Improvement Era, October 1958, pp. 718–19]

As a further introduction, I quote from another beloved leader for whom our newest college on this campus is named–President J. Reuben Clark:

The Constitution of the United States is a great and treasured part of my religion. . . . The overturning, or the material changing, or the distortion of any fundamental principle of our constitutional government would thus do violence to my religion. . . . My faith teaches me that the Constitution is an inspired document drawn by the hands of men whom God raised up for that very purpose; that God has given His approval of the Government set up under the Constitution “for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles”: that the constitutional “principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before” the Lord. (D&C 101:77, 98:5.) . . .

So far as my knowledge goes, this is the only government now on the earth to which God has given such an approval. It is His plan for the government of free men. [President J. Reuben Clark, Stand Fast by Our Constitution, pp. 7, 172]

They Poured Out Their Blood

Not too many miles from Boston rests a large boulder on Lexington Green. Inscribed on this rock, which I read again a short time ago, are the words which Captain Parker gave to his minutemen on April 19, 1775, nearly 200 years ago:

Stand your ground, don’t fire unless fired upon,

But if they mean to have a war

Let it begin here.

And it began.

Said Webster, “They poured out their generous blood like water before they knew whether it would fertilize the land of freedom or of bondage.”

But they aroused their fellow Americans. Within one year John Adams faced the body of men who were deliberating on whether to adopt the Declaration of Independence. With the inspiration of heaven resting on him, Adams was said to have declared:

Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that in the beginning we aimed not at independence. But there’s a Divinity which shapes our ends. . . . Why, then, should we defer the Declaration? . . . You and I, indeed, may rue it. We may not live to the time when this Declaration shall be made good. We may die; die Colonists, die slaves, die, it may be, ignominiously and on the scaffold.

Be it so. Be it so.

If it be the pleasure of Heaven that my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be ready. . . . But while I do live, let me have a country, or at least the hope of a country, and that a free country.

But whatever may be our fate, be assured . . . that this Declaration will stand. It may cost treasure, and it may cost blood; but it will stand and it will richly compensate for both.

Through the thick gloom of the present, I see the brightness of the future as the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious, an immortal day. When we are in our graves, our children will honor it. They will celebrate it with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and illuminations. On its annual return they will shed tears, copious, gushing tears, not of subjection and slavery, not of agony and distress, but of exultation, of gratitude and of joy.

Sir, before God, I believe the hour is come. My judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope, in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off as I began, that live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration. It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment, Independence now, and Independence forever. [The Works of Daniel Webster, 4th ed., 1:133–:36]

Yesterday, I read further in the great current volume, Quest of a Hemisphere, by Boyle, published by Western Islands, Boston. I am grateful that we now have again a textbook for our children, grandchildren, and their parents that restores that which has, in many cases, been removed from our histories by wolves in sheep’s clothing.

I love history books that tell history as it was–as the Book of Mormon tells it–with the Lord in the picture guiding and directing the affairs of the righteous, winning their battles for them.

In this new history, we read again, as some of us who are old enough remember reading, the courageous and stirring words against the Navigation Acts, the Stamp Act of 1765, and “taxation without representation.” In this real American history we have the record of Washington, Jefferson, and the record of Samuel Adams of Boston, who organized Committees of Correspondence and groups of young men banded together as Sons of Liberty. We read again the words of James Otis that a law was void if it violated the human rights of man and that a man who is quiet is as secure in his house as a prince in his castle.

Here we read that:

The colonists fought the threat of aggression as much as aggression itself.

With grim determination, they opposed every attempt to rob them of any liberty they had gained.

To the colonists–our benefactors–it was not so much the amount as the principles of taxation (without representation) that the colonists opposed.

Here again in this new history are also the fiery words “give me liberty” of Patrick Henry of Virginia and also his words: “If this be treason, make the most of it.”

John Hancock, George Mason, Paul Revere–John Dickinson and his Letters from a Farmer, “We cannot be happy without being free.”

The British colonies were largely settled by people who had revolted against their living conditions in other lands. They were rebels, in a sense, who had the courage to flee from want and persecution, and face the perils of a wilderness to seek a better form of life. When they found a better way, they fought to keep it. Their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren did not want any monarch to change their way of life. They had plowed their own lands, built their own homes, and made their own clothes. Who was their master? [Donzella Cross Boyle, Quest of a Hemisphere (Boston: Western Islands), p. 113]

Chapter seven closes with a discussion of freedom of the press and these stirring words inspired by Peter Zenger: “The right to print the truth is a necessary part of political. liberty.” And these by the famous lawyer, Andrew Hamilton from Philadelphia: “The loss of liberty, to a generous mind is worse than death. . . . The man who loves his country, prefers its liberty to all other considerations, well knowing that without liberty, life is a misery” (Ibid., p. 84).

Thus, in colonial days, did the people of the colonies stand firmly against any form of dictatorship. Thousands of immigrants came to the settlements along the Atlantic seaboard, with only a vague idea of the freedoms they were seeking, because they had not known many of them. They were pursuing a vision. Freedoms sprouted in a wilderness like flowers on a vacant lot, because each person who came had broken the pattern of life in his old country and he was starting all over again. “Something new” began to grow in the New World–a mere idea. People began to question the right of government to interfere with their freedom to come and go, to buy and sell, to own or lease, to talk or listen, to vote and elect. In other words, people began to think they had the right to govern themselves. Yet, a new nation had to rise in the Western Hemisphere before this idea gained the force of law. ” [Ibid., p. 84]

And so today on Lexington Green, you will see a sacred old monument nearly two hundred years of age that covers the remains of those patriotic minutemen, and on this monument are inscribed these words:

Sacred to liberty and the rights of mankind!!!

The freedom and independence of America

Sealed and defended with the blood of her sons. . . .

Yes, there is much, much more on that old historic monument, including their names.

Yes, their mother Gentiles, as Nephi foresaw 2,367 years before, were gathered together upon the waters and upon the land to battle against them. “And I beheld,” said the prophet Nephi, “that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to battle. And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations” (1 Nephi 13:18–19).

Modern Prophets’ Tribute to the Founding Fathers

With independence won, another body of men assembled, and under the inspiration of heaven they too drafted a document–probably the greatest instrument ever struck off at a given time by the mind of men–the Constitution of the United States.

Said J. Reuben Clark, that great constitutional lawyer:

The framers (of the Constitution) were not political tyros (beginners) flying a political kite to keep in order the henyard, that is, the colonists. They were men widely experienced in affairs of government. . . .

The Constitution was not the work of cloistered, fanatical theorists, but of sober, seasoned, distinguished men of affairs, drawn from various walks of life. They included students of wide reading and great learning in all matters of government. . . .

The Constitution was born, not only of the wisdom and experience of the generation that wrought it, but also out of the wisdom of the long generations that had gone before and which had been transmitted to them through tradition and the pages of history. . . .

These were the horse and buggy days as they have been called in derision; these were the men who traveled in the horsedrawn buggies and on horseback; but these were the men who carried under their hats, as they rode in the buggies and on their horses, a political wisdom garnered from the ages. As giants to pygmies are they when placed alongside our political emigres and their fellow travelers of today, who now traduce them with slighting word and contemptuous phrase. [J. Reuben Clark, Jr.,Church News, November 29, 1952; Stand Fast by Our Constitution, pp. 134–:37]

If there are those who doubt President Clark’s tribute to our Founding Fathers, then hear the words of President Wilford Woodruff:

Those men who laid the foundation of this American government and signed the Declaration of Independence were the best spirits the God of Heaven could find on the face of the earth. They were choice spirits . . . inspired of the Lord.

Everyone of those men that signed the Declaration of Independence, with George Washington, . . . called upon me, as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Temple at St. George two consecutive nights and demanded at my hand that I should go forth and attend to the ordinances of the house of God for them. . . .

Would those spirits have called upon me, as an Elder in Israel, to perform that work if they had not been noble spirits before God? They would not. . . . Said they: “. . . We laid the foundation of the government you now enjoy, and we never apostatized from it, but we remained true to it and were faithful to God.” [Conference Reports, April 1898, pp. 89–90; Journal of Discourses, 19:229]

Self-Government Involves Self-Control

These two documents–the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States–resting on the bedrock of the love of the Lord and of liberty, became the foundation of our Republic. And from this foundation has come the greatest civilization on the face of the earth.

James Russell Lowell was right when he said: “Our American republic will endure only as long as the ideas of the men who founded it continue dominant” (quoted in Prophets, Principles and National Survival, p. 149).

What were those ideas? Well, they were in part incorporated in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. God grant we will all become familiar with both of these documents. And Washington covered them well when he said:

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. . . reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. [George Washington, Farewell Address,September 17, 1796; The Writings of George Washington, Ford Edition, 13:307–:8]

I serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of this great university. One year we invited the late Cecil B. De Mille to speak to our student body and accept an award. I will never forget his words when he stated that men and nations cannot break the Ten Commandments, they can only break themselves upon them.

And he was right. Only a moral and religious people deserves or will defend its freedom.

Edmund Burke stated it well when he said:

Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites–in proportion as their love of justice is above their rapacity–in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption–in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon the will and appetite is placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters. [Edmund Burke, Works, 4:51–52, quoted in Prophets, Principles and National Survival, p. 33]

As Elder Albert E. Bowen put it: “Self-government involves self-control, self-discipline, an acceptance of and the most unremitting obedience to correct principles. . . . No other form of government requires so high a degree of individual morality” (Improvement Era, 41 (1938): 266, quoted in Prophets, Principles and National Survival, p. 128).

A Land Choice Above All Others

I love this great nation of which we are a part. I have traveled and lived abroad just enough to make me appreciate rather fully what we have here. I never return to these shores from abroad, as I have done scores of times, but what I think of the words of Scott:

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,

Who never to himself has said,

“This is my own, my native land!”

Whose heart hath ne’er within him burn’d,

As home his footsteps he hath turned,

From wandering on a foreign strand!

If such there breathe, go, mark him well. . . .

[Sir Walter Scott, "The Lay of the Last Minstrel," in The Complete Poetical Works of Scott, Cambridge Edition (Boston:Houghton Mifflin Co. [c.1900]), p. 40]

And then that great poem by Van Dyke, “America for Me”:

‘Tis great to see the Old World and travel up and down

Among the famous palaces and cities of renoun,

To view the crumbly castles and statues of the kings;

But now I think I’ve seen enough of antiquated things.

So it’s home again, and home again, America for me,

I want a ship that’s westward bound, to plow the rolling sea,

To the land of youth and freedom, beyond the ocean bars,

Where the air is full of freedom and the flag is full of stars.

[Henry Van Dyke, "America for Me," in The Best Loved Poems of the American People (Garden City, New York: Garden City Publishing Co. [c. 1936]), p. 424]

Yes, I love this nation. To me it is not just another nation, not just a member of the family of nations. It is a great and glorious nation with a divine mission, brought into being under the inspiration of heaven. It is truly a land choice above all others. I thank God for the knowledge which we have regarding the prophetic history and the spiritual foundation of this great land of America.

When I contemplate the great events that have transpired here, going way back to the days when our first parents were placed in the Garden of Eden, and recall that this garden was here in America, that it was here also where Adam met with a body of great high priests at Adam-ondi-Ahman shortly before his death and gave them his final blessing, and that to that same spot he is to return again to meet with the leaders of his people, his children–when I contemplate, my brothers and sisters, that here in this land will be established the New Jerusalem, that here in this land will Zion be built–when I contemplate that prophets of God anciently served here in this land, and that the resurrected Christ appeared to them–and when I contemplate that the greatest of all visions, the coming of God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, to the boy Prophet in our day, took place in this land, my heart fills with gratitude that I am privileged to live here, and that I have the honor and pleasure not only of serving in the Church but also of serving in the government of this great land. I consider it an honor and a privilege.

I am grateful for the Founding Fathers of this land and for the freedom they have vouchsafed to us. I am grateful that they recognized, as great leaders of this nation have always recognized, that the freedom which we enjoy did not originate with the Founding Fathers, that this glorious principle, this great boon of freedom and respect for the dignity of man, came as a gift from the Creator. The Founding Fathers, it is true, with superb genius welded together the safeguards of these freedoms. It was necessary, however, for them to turn to the scriptures, to religion, in order to have their great experiment make sense to them. And so our freedom is God-given. It antedates the Founding Fathers.

I am grateful that the God of heaven saw fit to put his stamp of approval upon the Constitution and to indicate that it had come into being through wise men whom he raised up unto this very purpose. He asked the Saints, even in the dark days of their persecution and hardship, to continue to seek for redress from their enemies “according,” he said, “to the laws and constitution . . . which I have suffered [or caused] to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh” (D&C 101 :77). And then he made this most impressive declaration: “And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood” (Ibid., 101:80).

It is gratifying that the constitutions in many of the other lands of our neighbors in the Americas are patterned very much after this divinely-appointed Constitution, which the God of heaven directed in the founding of this nation. It is not any wonder, therefore, that Joseph Smith, the Prophet–a truly great American–referring to the Constitution, said, “[It] is a glorious standard; it is founded in the wisdom of God. It is a heavenly banner” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 147).

President Brigham Young declared prophetically,

When the day comes in which the Kingdom of God will bear rule, the flag of the United States will proudly flutter unsullied on the flagstaff of liberty and equal rights, without a spot to sully its fair surface; the glorious flag our fathers have bequeathed to us will then be unfurled to the breeze by those who have power to hoist it aloft and defend its sanctity. [Journal ofDiscourses, 2:317]

But, continuing, President Young asks:

How long will it be before the words of the Prophet Joseph will be fulfilled? He said if the Constitution of the United States were saved at all it must be done by this people. It will not be many years before these words come to pass. [Ibid., 12:204]

These words were spoken April 8, 1868, over one hundred years ago.

Yes, we have a rich heritage, but may I remind you that nations ofttimes sow the seeds of their own destruction even while enjoying unprecedented prosperity, even before reaching the zenith or the peak of their power. I think history clearly indicates that this is often the case. When it appears that all is well, ofttimes the very seeds of destruction are sown, sometimes unwittingly. Most of the great civilizations of the world have not been conquered from without until they have destroyed themselves from within by sowing these seeds of destruction.

It is my conviction that God does now look with favor, and has looked with favor, upon this government, which he established by wise men. It is also my firm conviction that his protective hand is still over the United States of America. I know, too, that if we will keep the commandments of God–live as he has directed, and does now direct, through his prophets–we will continue to have his protecting hand over us. But we must be true to the eternal verities, the great Christian virtues which God has revealed. Then, and only then, will we be safe as a nation and as individuals. God grant that the faithfulness of the Latter-day Saints will provide the balance of power to save this nation in times of crisis.

Let Us Rededicate Ourselves

How many of you heard or saw the statement regarding some of these matters which our living prophet and his counselors gave us recently? It was presented over television and appeared in the Church section of the Deseret News. I quote a part of it. Said the First Presidency,

We urge members of the Church and all Americans to begin now to reflect more intently on the meaning and importance of the Constitution, and of adherence to its principles. . . .

In these challenging days, when there are so many influences which would divert us, there is a need to rededicate ourselves to the lofty principles and practices of our Founding Fathers. [Church News, September 22, 1973, p. 3]

Let us not permit these admonitions of our living prophets to fall on deaf ears. Let us, as they direct, learn the meaning and importance of our God-ordained Constitution. Let us rededicate ourselves to the lofty principles and practices of those wise men whom God raised up to give us our priceless freedom. Our liberties, our salvation, our well-being as a church and as a nation depend upon it. This nation has a spiritual foundation–a prophetic history. Every true Latter-day Saint should love the United States of America–the most generous nation under heaven–the Lord’s base of operations in these last days. May we do all in our power to strengthen and safeguard this base and increase our freedom. This nation will, I feel sure, endure. It is God-ordained for a glorious purpose. We must never forget that the gospel message we bear to the world is to go forth to the world from this nation. And that gospel message can prosper only in an atmosphere of freedom. We must maintain and strengthen our freedom in this blessed land.

I have wished, as did President Franklin D. Richards, that

we could have a goodly number of substantial young men growing up in our midst who would become skilled and mighty in the law, and who could go into any of the courts and set forth the true principles of justice and equity in all cases. We need more of such men. We do not want men to become lawyers, turn infidels and live for nothing but the little money they can make. We want to raise up a corps of young men armed with the spirit of the gospel, clothed with the holy priesthood, who can tell the judges in high places what the law is. [Journal of Discourses, 26:102]

We have allowed our courts, through their anti-prayer, anti-God decisions, to outlaw in the schools the positive belief of the truths contained in the Declaration of Independence, the very foundation of our nation.

I am so grateful for the establishment of our new J. Reuben Clark School of Law here on this campus. Here students can be taught the gospel truths, the eternal truths about laws and government. This school can wield a mighty influence for good throughout this great nation and this sick, messed-up world. It can send forth a group of faithful, courageous Latter-day Saint priesthood-patriots who are both able and anxious to do the Lord’s will concerning our political problems–men who really do understand the true meaning and importance of our Constitution, men who have dedicated themselves to the principles and practices of our Founding Fathers. But let each of us, whether we are in the field of law or not, strive to follow the counsel of our prophet. Therein is safety.

God bless you and all of us, and may God bless America and preserve our divine Constitution and the Republic which he established thereunder, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

My beloved brethren and sisters, I was very pleased that you were kind to me as I came in late. I remember Elder Orson F. Whitney, a member of the Twelve who was traveling out to a stake conference years ago by train. He was concentrating on the scriptures as he rode, and he went right by the place where he should have gotten off for the conference. He found himself two or three miles beyond at another town. He got out and hired a livery rig (horse and buggy) to drive him back. The stake president had waited and waited and finally decided he had better start the meeting. As Brother Whitney walked in, the choir was singing “Ye Simple Souls Who Stray.” I would have not been surprised if you had been singing that as I came in.

I had an anxiety about coming here. For thirty-three years I have had the honor and privilege of coming here and enjoying communicating with the students, speaking to them. I have had a fear that sooner or later you would place me in the embarrassing position that an old lady placed a railroad conductor in up in Boise, Idaho. This good woman had never had a ride on a train. Her family were all married and she was on a little, rocky farm, all alone. She wanted to have a ride on a train before she passed on. Her children also wanted her to have that experience, and so it was decided she would take a trip to a distant town and visit some relatives during the holidays. When the time arrived, she came down to Boise all aflutter with excitement. When the train pulled in, her excitement increased. Soon the conductor waved his hand and called, “All aboard.” The old lady got on the train and took her seat. Then the conductor came down the aisle picking up tickets, and she said, “Conductor, I don’t know much about railway trains. Now, I knew what you meant when you called, ‘All aboard,’ but I didn’t know what you meant when you waved your hand.”

The conductor, a rather rough sort of fellow, said, “Oh, that was just my signal for the engineer to get the h– out of here.” It answered her question, but she didn’t like it, and as the conductor went on picking up tickets his conscience began to smite him. He thought that was not a very gentlemanly way to speak to a lovely old lady. So when he finished the car, he went back and began to apologize, but she just waved her hand. Sooner or later I fear this may happen to me if I keep coming to BYU, but I hope it isn’t tonight.

Seriously, I am very, very happy to be here. I appreciate the kind words of introduction by President Fox, this choice music, and this lovely patriotic number by my lovely daughter.

This has been a lovely Sabbath for me. I had the pleasure of conducting a five-hour meeting with my Brethren on the fourth floor of the Temple this morning. Then Sister Benson and I had the opportunity of going to a sacrament meeting in our ward which proved to be a Primary conference. I made the mistake, as they asked me to say a few words, of saying the first time I had ever had an assignment requiring me to appear alone in a song was when I was seven years of age in our ward up in Idaho. I said I sang this song with the encouragement of my mother and the wonderful Primary teacher. The song was “A Mormon Boy,” and I said if I weren’t afraid of losing the audience I would sing it. They pledged they would remain regardless, and so I sang the song. I have had quite an experience today!

Now to come here, and to look into your faces and realize something of your quality, your opportunities, your background, is an inspiration. I am thankful to the Lord for this student body, under the leadership of our great President and under the leadership of these stake presidencies, and the twelve stakes that operate on this campus.

I have been uplifted by this music, and I express appreciation to those who have participated. Their talent has provided, I believe, a rather fitting background and a setting to the remarks which I hope to leave with you this evening. The song “God Bless America” by Irving Berlin was given to the Boy Scouts of America–dedicated to them. All the returns from the sale of the song, which have run into many, many thousands of dollars, are still going to the Boy Scouts of America. Having served on the board for many years, I appreciate this song.

I come to you tonight with a message that has lain close to my heart for a number of years. Because of the nature of it I have committed most of it to writing. Tonight I will speak to you about our beloved republic and the inspired agents whom God raised up to establish the foundation upon which our liberty rests. I will speak to you also about some mischief that has been afoot for a number of years, a mischief that intends to undermine our republic, its founders, and the Church. I address you as students and faculty of this great University; but more importantly, I speak to you as members of the “household of faith,” the Lord’s true church, and remind you of your solemn charge to uphold, sustain, and defend the kingdom of God.

Prophecies About America’s Destiny

The destiny of America was divinely decreed. The events which established our great nation were foreknown to God and revealed to prophets of old. As in an enacted drama, the players who came on the scene were rehearsed and selected for their parts. Their talents, abilities, capacities, and weaknesses were known before they were born.

As one looks back upon what we call our history, there is a telling theme which recurs again and again in this drama. It is that God governs in the affairs of this nation. As the late J. Reuben Clark, Jr., has said, “This is the great motive which runs through our whole history.”

A statement which Harold B. Lee was fond of quoting was this: “The frequent recurrence to fundamentals is essential to perpetuity.”

As one who is vitally concerned about the perpetuity of our liberties, our freedoms, and the principles laid down by the founders of this country, I refer to some fundamentals with which most of you are familiar. To do so, I quote liberally from modern revelation from which I want you to sense this recurring theme that those whom we uphold as prophets of God repeatedly emphasize. This is appropriate this Bicentennial year, particularly.

Unto the prophet Lehi the Lord revealed:

There shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord.

Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever. [2 Nephi 1:6­7]

To the prophet Nephi, son of Lehi, 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” (1 Nephi 2:20). Later Nephi saw this in vision: “And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, and it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters” (1 Nephi 13:12). Though unnamed, the man this passage refers to is Columbus. His own testimony about this epic voyage is recorded in a letter to the Spanish hierarchy and reads as follows: “Our Lord unlocked my mind, sent me upon the sea, and gave me fire for the deed. Those who heard of my enterprise called it foolish, mocked me, and laughed. But who can doubt but that the Holy Ghost inspired me?” (Jacob Wasserman, Columbus: Don Quixote of the Seas [Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1930], pp. 19­20).

Nephi then continues his record:

And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles [the American colonies] and they did prosper and obtain the land for their inheritance. . . .

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity [from Europe] did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them. [1 Nephi 13:15, 16]

This refers, of course, to the American colonists.

Nephi then foresaw the great War of Independence. He said:

And I beheld that their mother Gentiles [the British] were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.

And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those who were gathered together against them to battle.

And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations. [1 Nephi 13:17­19]

All this was foreseen over twenty-three hundred years before it took place. Nephi’s brother Jacob declared:

But behold, this land, said God, shall be a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land.

And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles.

And I will fortify this land against all other nations.

And he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God.

For he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them forever, that hear my words. [2 Nephi 10:10­14]

America is a choice land, a land reserved for God’s own purposes. America and its inhabitants are under an everlasting decree. The Lord revealed this decree to the brother of Jared. He declared:

And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.

For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands, wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God. . . .

Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ. [Ether 2:9­10, 12]

Many great events have transpired in this land of destiny. This was the place where Adam dwelt; this was the place where the Garden of Eden was located. It was here that Adam met with a body of great high priests at Adam-ondi-Ahman shortly before his death and gave them his final blessing, and the place to which he will return to meet with the leaders of his people. This was the place of three former civilizations: Adam’s, the Jaredite, and the Nephite. This was also the place where our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, appeared to Joseph Smith inaugurating this great and last dispensation.

The Lord has also decreed that this land should be “the place of the New Jerusalem, which should come down out of heaven, . . . the holy sanctuary of the Lord” (Ether 13:3). Here is our nation’s destiny! To serve God’s eternal purposes and to prepare this land and people for America’s eventual destiny, he “established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom [he] raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood” (D&C 101:80).

Inaccuracies of Secular History

No man, however brilliant and perceptive, shall have a complete perspective of our nation’s history without this understanding and conviction. He must be persuaded by God’s truth if he is to obtain a true and complete picture of our nation’s origin and destiny. Secular scholarship, though useful, provides an incomplete and sometimes inaccurate view of our history. The real story of America is one which shows the hand of God in our nation’s beginning.

Why is it that this view of our history is almost lost in classrooms in America? Why is it that one must turn to the writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to find this view implied or stated? The answer may, perhaps, be found in Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation:

We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us. ["A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America," 30 March 1863]

As a nation we have become self-sufficient. This has given birth to a new religion in America which some have called secularism. This is a view of life without the idea that God is in the picture or that He had anything to do with the picture in the first place.

In the first century of our nation’s history, the university was the guardian and the preserver of faith in God. In this present century, the university has become ethically neutral, by and large, agnostic. Our country is now reaping the effects of this agnostic influence. It has cost us an inestimable price. For who can place the price on the worth of a human soul or the cost of the cynicism that many young people have toward our republic and its leaders?

I would have you consider soberly how this secular influence has affected the treatment of our nation’s history in the textbook in the classroom. Today, students are subjected in their textbooks and classroom lectures to a subtle propaganda that there is a “natural” or a rational explanation to all causes and events. Such a position removes the need for a faith in God, or belief in His interposition in the affairs of men. Events are only–and I stress that–only explained from a humanistic frame of reference. At least that’s what they say.

Historians and educational writers who are responsible for this movement are classified as “revisionists.” Their purpose has been and is to create a “new history.” By their own admission, they are more influenced by their own training and other humanistic and scientific disciplines than any religious conviction. This detachment provides them, they say, with an objectivity that the older historians did not have. Many of the older historians, I should point out, were defenders of the patriots and their noble efforts. Feeling no obligation to perpetuate the ideals of the founding fathers, some of the so-called “new historians” have recast a new body of beliefs for their secular faith. Their efforts, in some cases, have resulted in a new interpretation of our nation’s history.

Secular Reinterpretations of American History

May I illustrate a few of these reinterpretations: First, that the American victory in the War of Independence, they say, was only the result of good fortune, ineptitude by the British generals, and the entrance of France into the war. All these facts are evident, but what is significantly left out are additional explanations which could provide the student with a spiritual perspective of our history.

Why is it we do not read in our history of explanations such as this from George Washington? “The success which has hitherto attended our united efforts, we owe to the gracious interposition of heaven, and to that interposition let us gratefully ascribe the praise of victory and the blessings of peace.”

Our second reinterpretation is that the political thought of the founding fathers was the result of borrowed ideas from the eighteenth-century philosophers. Again, it is evident that the founders were men well schooled in the political thought of their times as well as of ancient civilizations, but how does one account for the unity which came out of the impasse among the delegates at the Constitutional Convention? It was at this point that Benjamin Franklin made his great speech. He solemnly counseled:

I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?

We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings that “except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this. And I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel. We shall be divided by our little, partial, local interest. Our projects will be confounded, and we, ourselves, shall become a reproach and a byword to future ages; and what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, and conquest.

I therefore make the move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business and that one or more of the clergy in this city be requested to officiate in that service.

Some historians have ignored this dimension because Madison, who reported the Constitutional Convention, said nothing about it. Others report that the motion was not acted on. Another member of the convention, Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey, who also reported it, said the motion was acted on favorably by the convention.

Again, I would ask: Why is it that the references to God’s influence in the noble efforts of the founders of our republic are not mentioned? Listen to the convictions of two of these delegates to the Constitutional Convention. First, Charles Pinckney: “When the great work was done and published, I was struck with amazement. Nothing less than the superintending hand of Providence that so miraculously carried us through the war . . . could have brought it about so complete upon the whole.” Here is another testimony, this from James Madison, sometimes referred to as the “Father of the Constitution”: “It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.”

Third, the charge has been made that the founders designed the Constitution primarily to benefit themselves and their “class” (property owners) financially and that the economic motive was their dominant incentive. Such was the thesis of the American historian, Dr. Charles Beard. Yet Madison said: “There was never an assembly of men . . . who were more pure in their motives.” We must remember that these were men who had pledged in many cases their fortunes and their sacred honor.

Shortly after the turn of this century, Charles Beard published his work, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. This book marked the beginning of a trend to defame the motives and integrity of the founders of the Constitution. It also grossly distorted the real intent of the founders by suggesting their motivation was determined by economics–a thesis which had originated with Karl Marx. Beard himself was not a Marxist, but he was socialist in his thinking, and he admitted there was much we could learn from Marx’s ideas. Before his death, Beard recanted his own thesis, but the damage had been done. This began a new trend in educational and intellectual circles in the United States.

Intellectual Trends Defaming the Founding Fathers

Not infrequently this penchant for historical criticism has resulted in the defamation of character of the founding fathers. It is done under the guise of removing the so-called “myths” that surround their background. A favorite target of this defamation has been George Washington, our nation’s most illustrious leader. Some of these so-called “new” historians have questioned his honesty, challenged his military leadership and executive ability, and impuned his moral character.

Others who have taken measure of the man have assessed matters differently. John Lord, author of a well known work of the nineteenth century, Beacon Lights of History, wrote this of Washington:

Washington . . . had . . . a transcendent character. . . . As a man he had his faults, but they were so few, and so small, that they seemed to be but spots upon a sun. These have been forgotten, and as the ages roll on, mankind will see naught but the lustre of his virtues of the greatness of his services. [Beacon Lights of History (New York: Fords, Howard, and Hulbert, 1884), 7:168]

Winston Churchill also estimated Washington thus:

George Washington holds one of the proudest titles that history can bestow. He was the Father of his Nation. Almost alone his staunchness in the War of Independence held the American colonies to their united purpose. . . . He filled his office with dignity and inspired his administration with much of his own wisdom. To his terms as President are due the smooth organization of the Federation Government, the establishment of national credit, and the foundation of foreign policy. [A History of the English Speaking People: The Age of Revolution (New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1962), p. 347]

General William Wilbur, author of the commendable little volume entitled The Making of George Washington, which I commend to all, made this appraisal of Washington:

. . . greatness of moral character, forthright honesty, quiet modesty, thoughtful consideration of others, integrity, thoroughness, kindness and generosity.

During the American Revolution and for more than fifty years thereafter, young Americans were inspired to attain these qualities by the vivid recollection of men who had served with George Washington–men who knew him from intimate daily association. As years went by, books, stories, and living personal memories all combined to present this great hero in such a way as to make him an inspiring and potent influence for good.

Unfortunately, the last seventy-five years have produced a marked change. In these years it has come to be standard practice for Washington authors to proclaim it as their purpose to “humanize” the Washington image. Most of them have instead succeeded in belittling him. They have replaced a glorious, inspiring memory with a tawdry, warped picture. [The Making of George Washington, pp. 19, 20, 21]

Elder Mark E. Petersen has recently written a remarkable little book entitled The Great Prologue. It provides the prophetic history to our nation’s history and its founders. The Deseret Book Company has published a Bicentennial edition in paperback. I would heartily recommend that you read and study this book. Within that volume Elder Petersen assesses Washington’s character in these words:

In many respects [Washington] was like Moroni, the noted general of the Book of Mormon who . . . hoisted his banner of liberty. Washington was the personification of honesty, even as Lincoln, with whom he became a supreme example of integrity in public office. He had the true vision of one united nation of separate states with an inspired Constitution to give strength to the whole but with liberty assured to the several units. [The Great Prologue (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1975), pp. 90­91]

And lest these testimonies are not convincing, President Wilford Woodruff said of the founders collectively, and of Washington specifically, the following:

I am going to bear my testimony to this assembly, if I never do it again in my life, that those men who laid the foundation of this American government . . . were the best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth. These were choice spirits, not wicked men. General Washington and all of the men that labored for the purpose were inspired of the Lord . . . . Everyone of those men that signed the Declaration of Independence with General Washington called upon me as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ in the temple at St. George two consecutive nights and demanded at my hands that I should go forth and attend to the ordinances of the House of God for them. . . .

Brother McAllister baptized me for all of those men, and then I told those brethren that it was their duty to go into the temple and labor until they had got endowments for all of them. They did it. Would these spirits have called on me, as an elder in Israel, to perform this work if they had not been noble spirits before God. They would not. [Conference Report, April 1898, pp. 89, 90]

The temple work for the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence and other founding fathers has been done. All these appeared to Wilford Woodruff when he was president of the St. George Temple. President George Washington was ordained a high priest at that time. You will also be interested to know that, according to Wilford Woodruff’s journal, John Wesley, Benjamin Franklin, and Christopher Columbus were also ordained high priests–by proxy, of course–at that time.

When one casts doubt about the character of these noble sons of God, I believe he or she will have to answer to the God of heaven for it. Yes, with Lincoln I say, “To add brightness to the sun or glory to the name of Washington is . . . impossible. Let none attempt it. In solemn awe pronounce the name, and in its naked deathless splendor leave it shining on.” That is the charge I would leave to people everywhere, faculty, students, others of this and every other university–leave Washington’s name “shining on.”

May no teacher, in the name of scholarship, attempt to blemish Washington’s illustrious character.

If ever this country needed the timeless wisdom of the Father of our Country, it is today. How much our country could benefit by following the wisdom of our country’s first president. Here are a few among many of his maxims:

Let the reigns of government then be braced and held with a steady hand and every violation of the Constitution be reprehended: if defective, let it be amended, but not suffered to be trampeled upon whilst it has an existence.

To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

The love of my country will be the ruling influence of my conduct.

A good moral character is the first essential in a man. . . . It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned, but virtuous.

Let us unite, therefore, in imploring the Supreme Ruler of nations to spread his holy protection over these United States: to turn the machinations of the wicked to confirming of our constitution: to enable us all at times to root out internal sedition and put invasion to flight: to perpetuate to our country that prosperity which his goodness has already conferred, and to verify the anticipation of this government being a safeguard to human rights.

It would profit all of us as citizens to read again Washington’s Farewell Address to his countrymen. The address is prophetic. I believe it ranks alongside the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

My feeling about this tendency to discredit our founding fathers was well summarized by the late President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., in these words:

These were the horse and buggy days, as they have been called in derision. These were the men who traveled in the horsedrawn buggies and on horseback; but these were the men who carried under their hats, as they rode in their buggies and on their horses, a political wisdom garnered from the ages. As giants to pygmies are they when placed along side our political emigres and their fellow travelers of today who now traduce them with slighting words and contemptuous phrase. [Stand Fast by Our Constitution, pp. 136­37]

Current American Self-Criticism

Today we are almost engulfed by this tide of self-criticism, depreciation, and defamation of those who served our country honorably and with distinction. A most recent victim of the tarnish brush is J. Edgar Hoover. I knew J. Edgar Hoover personally over many years. He was a God-fearing man and one of the most honorable and able men I have ever known in government service. By innuendo, lesser men, whose own motives are questionable, have maligned his motives and good character.

I know the philosophy behind this practice–”to tell it as it is.” All too often those who subscribe to this philosophy are not hampered by too many facts. When will we awaken to the fact that the defamation of our dead heroes only serves to undermine faith in the principles for which they stood, and the institutions which they established? Some have termed this practice as “historical realism” or moderately call it “debunking.” I call it slander and defamation. I repeat, those who are guilty of it in their writing or teaching will answer to a higher tribunal.

It should not, therefore, cause us to be astonished when other nations view the United States as a “faltering democracy.” How long would a basketball team, ranked number one in the polls, remain in that position if the studentbody, the school paper, and supporting faculty constantly pointed out its weaknesses? Soon the team would begin to lack confidence and fail. This is what we have been doing in our blessed country. Our heroes and institutions have been tarnished. We are constantly being reminded of what is wrong in our country, via the press and other media. A recent editorial in the London Daily Telegraph appealed to us:

The United States should know that her European cousins and allies are appalled and disgusted at the present open disarray of her public life. The self-criticism and self-destructive tendencies are running mad with no countervailing force in sight. . . . Please America, for God’s sake, pull yourself together.

It is the job of the historian and educator and church leader to help us as a nation to “pull ourselves together,” to help us regain perspective and vision and the respect of all nations. This will not be done by showing that this is merely a phase through which we are passing. No, it will be done by men who possess a love of country, a vision of our country’s future, and the assurance of her divinely guided destiny.

Humanistic Trends in Church History

This humanistic emphasis on history is not confined only to secular history; there have been and continue to be attempts made to bring this philosophy into our own Church history. Again the emphasis is to underplay revelation and God’s intervention in significant events and to inordinately humanize the prophets of God so that their human frailties become more apparent than their spiritual qualities. It is a state of mind and spirit characterized by one history buff, who asked: “Do you believe the Church has arrived at a sufficient state of maturity where we can begin to tell our real story?”

Implied in that question is the accusation that the Church has not been telling the truth.

Unfortunately, too many of those who have been intellectually gifted become so imbued with criticism that they become disaffected spiritually.

Some of these have attempted to reinterpret Joseph Smith and his revelations; they offer what they call a psychological interpretation of his motives and actions. This interpretation suggests that whether or not Joseph Smith actually saw God, the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, or other visions is really unimportant. What matters is that he thought he did. To those who have not sought after or received a testimony of Joseph Smith’s divine calling, he will ever remain what one called “the enigma from Palmyra.”

I recall the prophetic pronouncement made by President George Albert Smith when one of our own apostatized and wrote a biography about the Prophet Joseph Smith. President Smith made this statement before the general conference of the Church. It has been repeated a number of times by President Harold B. Lee and others. I quote:

There have been some who have belittled [Joseph Smith], but I would like to say that those who have done so will be forgotten and their remains will go back to mother earth, . . . and, the odor of their infamy will never die, while the glory and honor and majesty and courage and fidelity manifested by the Prophet Joseph Smith will attach to his name forever. [George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1946, p. 182]

No writer can ever accurately portray a prophet of God if he or she does not believe in prophecy. They cannot succeed in writing what they do not have in personal faith. That is why the best biography on Joseph Smith to date was one done by one who knew him and who served the Church as an apostle and member of the First Presidency. I refer to George Q. Cannon’s inspiring work, The Life of Joseph Smith.

Another prophet whom some historians like to humanize is Brigham Young. One writer accuses him of being “an accessory after the fact” to the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre incident. He is sometimes referred to as an autocrat. Another fictionalized version of him is that he was continually groping for a revelation which never came to him. Among many testimonies to the contrary are these. Brigham Young himself declared:

God has shown me that this is the spot to locate this people. . . . We shall build a city and a temple to the Most High God in this place. We will extend our settlements to the east and west, to the north and to the south, and we will build towns and cities by the hundreds and thousands of Saints will gather in from the nations of the earth. This will become a great highway of the nation. Kings and emperors and the noble and wise of the earth will visit us here. [Quoted in Autobiography of James Brown, pp. 119­23]

Wilford Woodruff said this of Brigham Young: “Brigham Young saw the Salt Lake Valley in vision, . . . and . . . the future glory of Zion and Israel, as they would be, planted in the valleys of the mountains.”

More recently, one of our Church educators published what he purports to be a history of the Church’s stand on the question of organic evolution. His thesis challenges the integrity of a prophet of God. He suggests that Joseph Fielding Smith published his work, Man: His Origin and Destiny, against the counsel of the First Presidency and his own Brethren. This writer’s interpretation is not only inaccurate, but it also runs counter to the testimony of Elder Mark E. Petersen, who wrote this foreword to Elder Smith’s book, a book I would encourage all to read. Elder Petersen said:

Some of us [members of the Council of the Twelve] urged [Elder Joseph Fielding Smith] to write a book on the creation of the world and the origin of man. . . . The present volume is the result. It is a most remarkable presentation of material from both sources [science and religion] under discussion. It will fill a great need in the Church and will be particularly invaluable to students who have become confused by the misapplication of information derived from scientific experimentation.

When one understands that the author to whom I alluded is an exponent of the theory of organic evolution, his motive in disparaging President Joseph Fielding Smith becomes apparent. To hold to a private opinion on such matters is one thing, but when one undertakes to publish his views to discredit the work of a prophet, it is a very serious matter.

It is also apparent to all who have the Spirit of God in them that Joseph Fielding Smith’s writings will stand the test of time.

The Profession of History

Tonight I have spoken plainly to you. Lest there be some who get the impression that I am an antagonist to the discipline of history and historians, let me declare my feelings about that noble profession. I love to read history and historical biography. I have great respect for the historian who can put into proper perspective events and people and make history come alive. I believe the maxim that “those who do not understand the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat those errors anew.” I love history books that tell history as it was–as the Book of Mormon tells it–with God in the picture, guiding and directing the affairs of the righteous. I love to read history for its timeless lessons and the inspiration I can gather from the lives of great leaders. I have been privileged to know many in my lifetime who have made history both in the world scene and in the Church.

I suppose there will be some who will suggest that a fireside is neither the time nor the place for these kinds of remarks, that they would be better confined to the closed door of a faculty forum.

My purpose this evening is to help you to discern a trend that has been destructive to the faith of many of our people in our nation’s founders and our country’s divine origin and destiny. My purpose further is to forewarn you about a humanistic emphasis which would tarnish our own Church history and its leaders.

My plea to you tonight is to stir up the gift that is within you. You will recall the Lord told us why we needed to exercise the spiritual gifts he has given us: “Beware lest ye are deceived; and that ye may not be deceived seek ye earnestly the best gifts” (D&C 46:8). If there was ever the need to apply that counsel, it is now. Those gifts of the Spirit are needed to discern truth from error.

This University was built by the consecrated funds of the Church for the purpose that our youth could be taught the truth, both secular and spiritual. That commission places a great responsibility on both teacher and student. Of that unique commission, President Marion G. Romney has said:

The unique commission of the Brigham Young University has always been and now is threefold. First, to help you recognize that there are two sources of learning–one divine, the other human; second, to urge and inspire you students to drink deeply from both sources; and third, to teach and train you to correctly distinguish between the learning of the world and revealed truth, that you may not be deceived in your search.

This unique commission puts peculiar responsibility upon both teachers and students not imposed by any other university on the globe. The teacher at Brigham Young University has an obligation to keep these distinctions clear in his own thinking and in his own heart and to make sure that they are indelibly stamped upon the minds and hearts of his students. The student has the obligation to realize that an acquaintance with the learning of men, as well as a knowledge of the revealed word of God, is essential to the proper discharge of our teaching obligation to the world.

Don’t let anyone persuade you there is anything narrow-minded or provincial or bigoted about this view.

Both the teacher and the student who have been born again, who have been on the mountain top and beheld in vision the mighty mission of this university in saving the souls of men, enjoy here a freedom available in no other university–the freedom to seek learning, both human and divine, “by study and also by faith,” and the freedom to teach without restriction the finite wisdom of men by the glowing light of the infinite wisdom of God, so far as He has revealed it. The spiritually reborn do not have their academic freedom restricted but greatly extended at Brigham Young University.

Equipped with the fruit of an education on this campus, you should continue your quest for truth with the certain knowledge that “the spirit of truth is of God,” with a fixed determination to unceasingly pursue the goal inspired in the promise, “He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.” (D&C 93:28.) ["Your Quest for Truth," Baccalaureate Services, 30 May 1957]

It is now my privilege as one of the Lord’s witnesses to bear my testimony to you concerning the matters we have been discussing this evening.

I bear witness to you that America’s history was foreknown to God; that His divine intervention and merciful providence have given us both peace and prosperity in this beloved land; that through His omniscience and benevolent design, He selected and sent some of His choicest spirits to lay the foundation of our government. These men were inspired of God to do the work which they accomplished. They were not evil men. Their work was a prologue to the restoration of the gospel and the church of Jesus Christ. It was done in fulfillment of the ancient prophets who declared that this was a promised land, “a land of liberty unto the Gentiles,” and that is us.

I testify to all of you–young and old–that God, our Heavenly Father, and His Son Jesus Christ have visited this land. They appeared in the state of New York to Joseph Smith, Jr. I testify that their appearance was a reality. Since that time the work of God has moved forward under the inspired leadership and prophetic direction of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith, Heber J. Grant, George Albert Smith, David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, and our prophet today, Spencer W. Kimball. This is the kingdom which Daniel of old saw in vision–a kingdom “which shall never be destroyed: and . . . shall not be left to other people” (Daniel 2:44). This Church and kingdom is on course in fulfilling its prophetic destiny.

I testify that this is the Lord’s church. He presides over it and is close to His servants. He is not an absentee master; of that you can be assured. Yes, you young people are privileged to live in this choice land–a land of Zion–a land reserved for the second coming of our Lord and Savior, and the Lord’s base of operations today. When all these events are finished and written, we will look back and not be astonished to see that the prophecies, ancient and modern, about this land and these events were but our history in reverse. For that is what prophecy is.

May God bless us all to be faithful and true to this vision and to uphold, sustain, and defend this nation, its founders, and the kingdom of God, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Making of America is about the world’s greatest political success formula. In a little over a century, this formula allowed a small segment of the human family — less than 6 percent — to become the richest nation on earth. It allowed them to originate more than half of the world’s total production and enjoy the highest standard of living in the history of the world.”

“But Americans have more to share than their wealth. They have the world’s greatest political success formula to share. In this respect they have been at fault. They have been too self-conscious about their system and its accomplishments. At times they have been almost apologetic that they have had such a remarkable system when the rest of the world did not. The world needs to know this formula.” – From the introduction to the Making of America

In this book you will learn the Founding Fathers’ story. Much of it is told in the words of the Founders themselves. You will feel the power of their minds sweeping away centuries of bad government and bad laws to formulate a whole new society based on human freedom.

Purchase: The Making of America: The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution by W. Cleon Skousen

Purchase: The Book of Mormon and the Constitution by H. Verlan Andersen

The phrase “survival of the American way of life” carries a somewhat different connotation to various groups even within the United States. Probably to no other group will it bring a more significant meaning in terms of farms of America than to those who operate our farms and ranches. As one who has been reared among them, served them, and been served by them, I declare that our rural people are today the strongest bulwark we have against all that is aimed not only at weakening, but also at the very destruction of our American way of life. It seems that man must get his feet into the soil to keep sane. In any event, no other segment of our population knows so well that “as ye sow, so shall ye reap.” America and the world must learn this eternal truth. Failure to do so can bring only disappointment, suffering, and desperation.

It is not surprising that we should turn our thoughts to a consideration of those factors which will determine in large measure our future success and happiness as a nation through the preservation of the American way of life. What, then, is the American way of life? What are its fruits? Do we really want our free enterprise system to survive?

If you could have spent a recent year with me in war-torn Europe, that which you would have seen would have given the answers. It is heartrending to see people who have lost their freedom of choice—their free agency—and who feel no security; who have no homes they can call their own; who own no property; whose hearts are filled with hatred, distrust, and fear of the future.

The outlook for free enterprise in the world has never seemed so uncertain as now. A world survey by the New York Times shows that nationalization is growing rapidly, especially outside the western hemisphere. Many nations have a mixed economy brought about by an increase in state control and a corresponding weakening of the private enterprise system. Under various forms of socialism and communism, the growth of governmental restrictions and nationalization goes on apace. The seriousness of the situation demands careful reflection by all interested in the preservation and perpetuation of our system of individual free enterprise, predicated, as it is, on a democratic capitalistic economy under a republican form of government.

The New York Times also printed the results of a survey of twenty-two nations, made by correspondents—and of all the countries, Canada appeared to be the only one in which private enterprise “can be said to be functioning today with anything like the freedom from governmental controls that obtains in the United States.”

Millions of people today have become slaves to the state. The dignity and value of the individual, except as a tool of government, have vanished in many parts of the world. We have experienced in years past in many nations, including America, the slavery of person to person. We fought two great wars to settle these issues in our own land. The first was a fight for national freedom; the second was a fight for freedom of person from person. The current question, and one that has brought and is bringing so much sorrow and misery to people in many parts of Europe, is that of slavery of the individual to the state.

Should we as American citizens be concerned? We need not think it cannot happen here.

Fortunately, the founding fathers of this great land, under the benign influence of a kind Providence, established a solid foundation aimed at guaranteeing a maximum of individual freedom, happiness, and well-being. “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” they said in the Declaration of Independence, “that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” This inspired document proclaims clearly that governments should be established on such principles as “seem most likely to effect” the “safety and happiness” of the people. The Constitution of the United States, which Gladstone has described as “the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man,” was aimed to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”

In these sacred documents are embodied eternal principles that no man, group of men, or nation has the right to withhold from others. Here is our basis for freedom of individual achievement. Our Constitution with its Bill of Rights guarantees to all our people the greatest freedom ever enjoyed by the people of any great nation. This system guarantees freedom of individual enterprise, freedom to own property, freedom to start one’s own business and to operate it according to one’s own judgment so long as the enterprise is honorable.

The individual has power to produce beyond his needs, to provide savings for the future protection of himself and family. He can live where he wishes and pick any job he wants and select any educational opportunity. He is, to a high degree, free through his own hard work and wise management to make a profit, to invest in any enterprise he may choose, and to leave a part of his accumulation to be inherited by others as they may, in large measure, determine. He may enjoy the sacred rights of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, and freedom of worship. To this American entrepreneur his home is his castle, and in the event that he is accused of an offense against the laws established by the people, he has the right of trial by a jury made up of his own fellow citizens.

All these and more, embodied in written documents that cannot be changed easily and quickly to suit the whim of some would-be dictator, are our heritage under the American way of life. Here is freedom guaranteed by the limitation of government through a written constitution. Do we recognize and fully appreciate the priceless value of this legacy? Now, while the world is in commotion and turmoil over ideologies and political philosophies, is a good time to reflect upon the past. It is a good time to draw a few comparisons—to take stock.

Under these principles of freedom and enterprise America has become the richest nation under heaven and has grown to be the most powerful and influential nation in the world, using an economy based upon freedom of individual achievement. Here has been established the most highly developed industrial system in the world, together with the technological equipment, human and otherwise, to support it.

Our republic has now been an operating unit for almost two centuries. During that period we have developed a productive plant and a way of life that have given the highest standard of living for the masses known to the civilized world. In the long run, a nation enjoys in the form of goods and services only what it produces. We have established an all-time record of production.

Within the past century we have received a huge increase in net output per man-hour. These vast gains in human welfare have lessened human toil. At the time of the Civil War the average work week was seventy hours. In America the inventive genius provides horse-drawn and tractor-drawn equipment, and one family can cultivate 50, 100, 200, or even 400 acres and more. A man working by hand has the physical force of one-tenth of a horse. A man with a ten-horsepower tractor has ninety times that much power. American ingenuity under freedom of choice has harnessed tremendous amounts of mineral energy to do physical work. Most occupations in the United States today require more horse sense than horsepower. Under our free enterprise system there are good reasons to believe that the technological progress of the past will continue in the future, perhaps at an accelerated rate.

Our free enterprise system also allows for all necessary flexibility. No other economic program responds so readily to changes in wartime and peacetime demands. Witness what happened after the fall of France in 1940, when the President asked Congress for 50,000 planes to strengthen America’s defense in a dangerous world. Other nations and some of our people cried, “Impossible! We haven’t the plants, money, or materials.” What was the answer of America’s free enterprise system? By June 1945, 297,000 war planes had been produced, nearly 100,000 of them bombers.

No fair-minded person contends that the private enterprise system is perfect. It is operated by human beings who are full of imperfections. Many of us deplore the fact that a few of our corporate entities seem to lack that social consciousness proportionate to their power and the privileges granted them by the state. Some businesses apparently still fail to recognize that there are social and spiritual values as well as profits that should be considered in their operations.

Neither do our needs always correspond to our demands under the free enterprise system. For example, the American male still prefers steak and potatoes and apple pie to a better balanced diet. Many American families often prefer housing below a decency level to the “indecency” of getting along without a family car. As a nation we have spent twice as much money for liquor and tobacco as for medical care, about the same for movies as for the support of the churches, and almost as much for beauty parlor services as for private social welfare. Whether wise or unwise, these decisions on the part of individuals as to how they spend their money are the result of free consumer choice, which is a part of the free enterprise system.

With all of its weaknesses, our free enterprise system has accomplished in terms of human welfare that which no other economic or social system has even approached. Our freedom of individual opportunity permits us to draw upon our natural resources and upon the total brain and brawn power of the nation in a most effective manner. This freedom of individual choice inspires competition. Competition inspires shrewd and efficient management, which is conducive to the production of the best product possible at the lowest price.

Are we to discard a system that has produced so much simply because it has not worked perfectly? We all admit there are abuses. One should not condemn an entire system because of the abuses of a handful of those who do not play the game according to established rules. We often refer to the family unit as the very basis of civilized society, and yet all will agree that family life is not perfect—divorces are too frequent, some homes are unhappy—but our objective is not to throw the family overboard, but rather to work for the improvement of family relations. Even the churches of America are not perfect, but no sane American would recommend that the churches be discredited and discarded. We all recognize religion as the basis of true character-building for which the world is starving.

The evidence clearly indicates that our most cherished rights and interests are all a part of the American way of life. Can communism, socialism, fascism, or any other coercive system provide these priceless blessings which flow to us as a part of our American way of life? The common denominator of all these coercive systems is the curtailment of individual liberty. Surely we will all agree that our Constitution provides the basis for the only economic system acceptable to true Americans.

Although we all cherish the material blessings which flow from the American system of individual achievement, it would be folly for us to close our eyes to certain challenging and dangerous trends that are in evidence and that strike at its very foundation. As Americans, far removed from the struggles which won for us our freedom, we are inclined to take the inevitable blessings of freedom for granted. It has been seven generations since the adoption of the American Constitution. Many in America today seem to have forgotten the cost and the value of freedom.

In addition, during the past few years, particularly, loud voices have been calling attention to the weaknesses of private enterprise without pointing out its virtues. We have been teaching our people to depend upon government instead of relying upon their own initiative as did our pioneer forefathers. Our freedom to work out our individual destinies has been abridged. We have been looking upon government as something apart from us and have failed to realize that we, the people, are the government.

We have also been making individual success unpopular. There has been a tendency to refer to men who have cash to invest in tools and equipment for the use of workers as “coupon clippers,” “economic royalists,” “capitalists,” and “profiteers”—as though there were something inherently bad in it. Evidence of this fact is found in the writings and discussions of our high school and college students, the majority of whom, it is reported, believe private enterprise is a failure, although they don’t have a clear understanding of what private enterprise is. With them, as with many adults, there is a vague notion that it is some unfair system which tends to give special advantage to big corporations and wealthy individuals. This attitude is encouraged by certain textbook writers who hold the idea, in many cases, that a government-planned economy is the remedy for all of our economic ills and the weaknesses in our American way of life, to which they readily point without referring to the beneficent fruits of the system.

We are rearing a generation that does not seem to understand the fundamentals of our American way of life, a generation that is no longer dedicated to its preservation. A long-range educational program beginning with the adult level is, of course, the only answer. Our people, both before and after they arrive at the age of the right of the ballot, should understand what it is that has made America great. We can only appreciate freedom if we understand the comparative fruits thereof. It was Jefferson who said: “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” It is one thing to win freedom; its preservation is equally important. If reference is made continually to weaknesses of the private enterprise system without any effort to point out its virtues and the comparative fruits of this and other systems, the tendency in this country will be to demand that the government take over more and more of the economic and social responsibilities and make more of the decisions for the people. This can result in but one thing: slavery of the individual to the state. This seems to be the trend in the world today. The issue is whether the individual exists for the state or the state for the individual.

In a democracy the real danger is that we may slowly slide into a condition of slavery of the individual to the state rather than entering this condition by a sudden revolution. The loss of our liberties might easily come about, not through the ballot box, but through the death of incentive to work, to earn, and to save. Such a condition is usually brought about by a series of little steps which, at the time, seem justified by a variety of reasons and which may on the surface appear to be laudable as to intent. It has been pointed out that the more basic reasons offered by would-be planned economy advocates are “the desire to change and control others, the search for security, and the desire of individuals or groups to improve their own economic status or that of others by means of direct governmental intervention.”

Europe today is evidence of the fact that one of the most common routes toward serfdom is followed by those in search of economic security. Never has there been so much apparent interest in security. Many programs so labeled have wide appeal. In order to appraise properly any so-called governmental security plan, however, we must look behind its name. Many so-called progressive programs are attractively labeled, and if we are to preserve our freedom and liberty, we must constantly analyze the nature of issues and programs and ignore labels that have been attached to them.

Equality is also a favorite term. Most people believe themselves to be below the average in income; therefore they feel they stand to gain through equalization via governmental intervention. All would like to equalize with those who are better off than they themselves. They fail to realize that incomes differ, and will always differ, because people differ in their economic drive and ability. The evidence clearly indicates that government has been unable to prevent inequality of incomes and, further, that equalization efforts usually stifle initiative and retard progress to the extent that the real incomes of everyone are lowered.

Many of our problems and dangers center in the issues of so-called fair prices, wages, and profits and the relationship between management and labor. We must realize that it is just as possible for wages to be too high as it is for prices and profits to be excessive. There is a tendency, of course, for almost everyone to feel that his share is unfair, whether it is or not. An effort to adjust apparent inequities often calls for government subsidies. Too often these are authorized without asking, “Who will pay for them?” Much of our program of letting the government pay for it can be described as “an attempt to better yourself by increasing your pay to yourself and then sending yourself the bill.”

The only safe and solid answer is the mechanism of a free market operating in an enterprise and free competition. Here everyone has a chance to cast his vote in the election that will decide what is a fair price, fair wage, and fair profit, and what should be produced and in what quantities. To contradict the justice of that decision is to contradict the whole concept of justice by the democratic process. All will agree that the democratic processes and the free market—both parts of our American way of life—are not perfect, but they are believed to have fewer faults and to do a better job than any other known device. A sure way to take a shortcut to serfdom is to discard the sovereign rights of all the people in either the political or the economic realm.

We must remember that government assistance and control are essentially political provisions, and that experience has demonstrated that, for that reason, they are not sufficiently stable to warrant their utilization as a foundation for sound economic growth under a free enterprise system. The best way—the American way—is still maximum freedom for the individual guaranteed by a wise government that establishes and enforces the rules of the game. History records that eventually people get the form of government they deserve. Good government, which guarantees the maximum of freedom, liberty, and development to the individual, must be based upon sound principles, and we must ever remember that ideas and principles are either sound or unsound in spite of those who hold them. Freedom of achievement has achieved and will continue to produce the maximum of benefits in terms of human welfare.

Our way of life is based upon eternal principles. It rests upon a deep spiritual foundation established by inspired instruments of an all-wise Providence.

Every member of the priesthood should understand the divine plan designed by the Lord to raise up the first free people in modern times. Here is how scripture says it was achieved:

First: Prophecy is abundant that God deliberately kept the American continent hidden until after the Holy Roman Empire had been broken up and the various nations had established themselves as independent kingdoms. Keeping America hidden until this time was no accident. (2 Ne. 1:6, 8.)

Second: At the proper time, God inspired Columbus to overcome almost insurmountable odds to discover America and bring this rich new land to the attention of the gentiles in Europe. (1 Ne. 13:12.)

Third: God revealed to his ancient American prophets that shortly after the discovery of America there would be peoples in Europe who would desire to escape the persecution and tyranny of the Old World and flee to America. (1 Ne. 13:13–16.)

Fourth: God told his prophets that the kingdoms in Europe would try to exercise dominion over the people who had fled to America, but that in the wars for independence the American settlers would win. (This is a remarkable prophecy in that 2,300 years before the Revolutionary War was fought, God through his prophets predicted who would win it.) (1 Ne. 13:16–19.)

Fifth: The prophets were told that in the latter days when the gentiles came to America, they would establish it as a land of liberty on which there would be no kings. The Lord declared that he would protect the land, and whosoever would try to establish kings either from within or without would perish. (2 Ne. 10:8–14.)

Sixth: Having declared America to be a land of liberty, God undertook to raise up a band of inspired and intelligent leaders who could write a constitution of liberty and establish the first free people in modern times. The hand of God in this undertaking is clearly indicated by the Lord himself in a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith in these words: “. . . I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose. . . .” (D&C 101:80.)

Seventh: God declared that the United States Constitution was divinely inspired for the specific purpose of eliminating bondage and the violation of the rights and protection which belong to “all flesh.” (See D&C 101:77–80.)

Eighth: God placed a mandate upon his people to befriend and defend the constitutional laws of the land and see that the rights and privileges of all mankind are protected. He verified the declaration of the founding fathers, that God created all men free. He also warned against those who would enact laws encroaching upon the sacred rights and privileges of free men. He urged the election of honest and wise leaders and said that evil men and laws were of Satan. (D&C 98:5–10.)

Ninth: God predicted through his prophets that this great gentile nation, raised up on the American continent in the last days, would become the richest and most powerful nation on the face of the earth; even “above all other nations.” (See 1 Ne. 13:15, 30; Ether 2:12.)

Tenth: Concerning the United States, the Lord revealed to his prophets that its greatest threat would be a vast, worldwide “secret combination” which would not only threaten the United States but also seek to “overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations and countries.” (Ether 8:25.)

Eleventh: In connection with attack on the United States, the Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith there would be an attempt to overthrow the country by destroying the Constitution. Joseph Smith predicted that the time would come when the Constitution would hang, as it were, by a thread, and at that time “this people will step forth and save it from the threatened destruction.” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, p. 15.) It is my conviction that the elders of Israel, widely spread over the nation, will at that crucial time successfully rally the righteous of our country and provide the necessary balance of strength to save the institutions of constitutional government.

Twelfth: The Lord revealed to the prophet Nephi that he established the gentiles on this land to be a free people forever, that if they were a righteous nation and overcame the wickedness and secret abominations that would rise in their midst, they would inherit the land forever. (1 Ne. 14:1–2.)

Thirteenth: On the other hand, if the gentiles on this land reject the word of God and conspire to overthrow liberty and the Constitution, then their doom is fixed, and they “shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant.” (1 Ne. 14:6; 3 Ne. 21:11, 14, 21; D&C 84: 114–115, 117.)

Fourteenth: The great destructive force which was to be turned loose on the earth and which the prophets for centuries have been calling the “abomination of desolation” is vividly described by those who saw it in vision. Ours is the first generation to realize how literally these prophecies can be fulfilled now that God, through science, has unlocked the secret to thermonuclear reaction.

In the light of these prophecies, there should be no doubt in the mind of any priesthood holder that the human family is headed for trouble. There are rugged days ahead. It is time for every man who wishes to do his duty to get himself prepared—physically, spiritually, and psychologically—for the task which may come at any time, as suddenly as the whirlwind.

Where do we stand today? All over the world the light of freedom is being diminished. Across whole continents of the earth freedom is being totally obliterated.

Never in recorded history has any movement spread its power so far and so fast as has socialistic communism. The facts are not pleasant to review. Communist leaders are jubilant with their success. They are driving freedom back on almost every front.

It is time, therefore, that every American, and especially every member of the priesthood, become informed about the aims, tactics, and schemes of socialistic communism. This becomes particularly important when it is realized that communism is turning out to be the earthly image of the plan which Satan presented in the preexistence. The whole program of socialistic communism is essentially a war against God and the plan of salvation—the very plan which we fought to uphold during “the war in heaven.”

Up to now some members of the Church have stood aloof, feeling that the fight against socialistic communism is controversial and unrelated to the mission of the Church or the work of the Lord. But the president of the Church in our day has made it clear that the fight against atheistic communism is a major challenge to the Church and every member in it.

During the general conference of the Church in October 1959, President David O. McKay, in discussing the threat of communism, referred to W. Cleon Skousen’s book The Naked Communist and said, “I admonish everybody to read that excellent book.” He then quoted the following from the flyleaf: “The conflict between communism and freedom is the problem of our time. It overshadows all other problems.” (Conference Report, October 1959, p. 5.)

The fight against Godless communism is a very real part of the duty of every man who holds the priesthood. It is the fight against slavery, immorality, atheism, terrorism, cruelty, barbarism, deceit, and the destruction of human life through a kind of tyranny unsurpassed by anything in human history. Here is a struggle against the evil, satanical priestcraft of Lucifer. Truly it can be called “a continuation of the war in heaven.”

In the war in heaven the devil advocated absolute eternal security at the sacrifice of our freedom. Although there is nothing more desirable to a Latter-day Saint than eternal security in God’s presence, and although God knew, as we did, that some of us would not achieve this security if we were allowed our freedom, yet the very God of heaven who has more mercy than us all still decreed no guaranteed security except by a man’s own freedom of choice and individual initiative.

Today the devil as a wolf in a supposedly new suit of sheep’s clothing is enticing some men, both in and out of the Church, to parrot his line by advocating planned government-guaranteed security programs at the expense of our liberties. Latter-day Saints should be reminded how and why they voted as they did in heaven. If some have decided to change their votes they should repent—throw their support on the side of freedom—and cease promoting this subversion.

When all of the trappings of propaganda and pretense have been pulled aside, the exposed hard-core structure of modern communism is amazingly similar to the ancient Book of Mormon record of secret societies such as the Gadiantons. In the ancient American civilization there was no word which struck greater terror to the hearts of the people than the name of the Gadiantons. It was a secret political party which operated as a murder cult. Its object was to infiltrate legitimate government, plant its officers in high places, and then seize power and live off the spoils appropriated from the people. (It would start out as a small group of dissenters, and by using secret oaths with the threat of death for defectors, it would gradually gain a choke hold on the political and economic life of whole civilizations.)

The object of the Gadiantons, like modern communists, was to destroy the existing government and set up a ruthless criminal dictatorship over the whole land.

One of the most urgent, heart-stirring appeals made by Moroni as he closed the Book of Mormon was addressed to the gentile nations of the last days. He foresaw the rise of a great worldwide secret combination among the gentiles which “seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries.” (Ether 8:25.) He warned each gentile nation of the last days to purge itself of this gigantic criminal conspiracy which would seek to rule the world.

The prophets, in our day, have continually warned us of these internal threats in our midst—that our greatest threat from socialistic communism lies within our country. We don’t need a prophet—we have one; we need a listening ear. And if we do not listen and heed, then “the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people.” (D&C 1:14.)

The prophets have said that these threats are among us. The prophet Moroni, viewing our day, said, “Wherefore the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation.” (Ether 8:24.)

Unfortunately, our nation has not treated the socialistic communist conspiracy as “treasonable to our free institutions,” as the First Presidency pointed out in a signed 1936 statement. If we continue to uphold communism by not making it treasonable, our land shall be destroyed, for the Lord has said that “whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold they shall be destroyed.” (Ether 8:22.)

Moroni described how the secret combination would take over a country and then fight the work of God, persecute the righteous, and murder those who resisted. Moroni therefore proceeded to describe the workings of the ancient secret combinations so that modern man could recognize this great political conspiracy in the last days. (See Ether 8:23–25.)

Moroni seemed greatly exercised lest in our day we might not be able to recognize the startling fact that the same secret societies which destroyed the Jaredites and decimated numerous kingdoms of both Nephites and Lamanites would be precisely the same form of criminal conspiracy which would rise up among the gentile nations in this day.

The strategems of the leaders of these societies are amazingly familiar to anyone who has studied the tactics of modern communist leaders.

The Lord has declared that before the second coming of Christ it will be necessary to “destroy the secret works of darkness” in order to preserve the land of Zion—the Americas. (See 2 Ne. 10:11–16.)

The worldwide secret conspiracy which has risen up in our day to fulfill these prophecies is easily identified. President McKay left no room for doubt as to what attitude Latter-day Saints should take toward the modern “secret combinations” of conspiratorial communism. In a lengthly statement on communism, he said:

Latter-day Saints should have nothing to do with secret combinations and groups antagonistic to the constitutional law of the land, which the Lord “suffered to be established,” and which “should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh according to just and holy principles.” (Gospel Ideals, Improvement Era, 1953, p. 306.)

There are those who recommend that the clash between communism and freedom be avoided through disarmament agreements. Abolishing our military strength and adopting an unenforceable contract as a substitute to protect us would go down in history as the greatest mistake free men could make in a time of peril.

President McKay declared:

Force rules in the world today; consequently, our government must keep armies abroad, build navies and air squadrons, create atom bombs to protect itself from the threatened aggression of a nation which seems to listen to no other appeal than compulsion. (Ibid., p. 304.)

This parallels the historic statement by George Washington when he vigorously warned:

There is a rank due in the United States among the nations that will be totally lost by the reputation of weakness. If we would avoid insult we must be able to repel it, if we would secure the peace, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war. (Speech to Congress, December 3, 1793.)

Some timid, vacillating political leaders proclaim that communism is something we will have to learn to live with. The present communist system, they declare, will continue because there is no alternate system to replace communism. The policy of increasing power, of pushing their system outward, and using the communist party, they say, will go on.

Such a negative attitude writes off the hundreds of millions behind the iron curtain as a lost cause. Surely no courageous, liberty-loving citizen will treat the communist secret combination as “something we will have to learn to live with.”

There is a more courageous and sounder point of view. President McKay expressed it in these words:

Men will be free. I have hoped for twenty years that the Russian system would break up. There is no freedom under it, and sooner or later the people will rise against it. They cannot oppose those fundamentals of civilization and of God. They can’t crush their people always. Men will be free. (Church News, November 6, 1957.)

What is the official position of the Church on communism? In 1936 the First Presidency made an official declaration on communism which has never been abrogated. I quote the concluding paragraph: “We call upon all Church members completely to eschew communism. The safety of our divinely inspired constitutional government and the welfare of our Church imperatively demand that communism shall have no place in America.” (Improvement Era, vol. 39 [1936], p. 488.)

We must ever keep in mind that collectivized socialism is part of the communist strategy. Communism is fundamentally socialism. We will never win our fight against communism by making concessions to socialism. Communism and socialism, closely related, must be defeated on principle. The close relationship between socialism and communism is clearly pointed out by Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina in the following letter to the editor of the Washington Post, published August 6, 1961:

Both socialism and communism derive from the teachings of Marx and Engels. In fact, the movements were one until the split over the methods of approach, which resulted after the Russian revolution in 1905. . . . The aim and purpose of both was then and is now world socialism, which communism seeks to achieve through revolution and which socialists seek to achieve through evolution.

The industrial achievements of the U.S. are the result of an economic system which is the antithesis of socialism. Our economic system is called “capitalism” or “private enterprise” and is based on private property rights, the profit motive and competition.

Both communism and socialism seek to destroy our economic system and replace it with socialism; and their success, whether through evolution by socialism or through revolution by communism or a combination, will destroy not only our economic system, but our liberty, including the “civil” aspects as well. . . .

. . . The “common ground” of socialism and communism is a factor to which the American people should be alerted. Without a clear understanding that communism is socialism, the total threat and menace of the cold war can never be comprehended and fought to victory.

When socialism is understood, we will realize that many of the programs advocated, and some of those already adopted in the United States, fall clearly within the category of socialism. What is socialism? It is simply governmental ownership and management of the essential means for the production and distribution of goods.

We must never forget that nations may sow the seeds of their own destruction while enjoying unprecedented prosperity.

The socialistic-communist conspiracy to weaken the United States involves attacks on many fronts. To weaken the American free-enterprise economy that outproduced both its enemies and allies during World War II is a high priority target of the communist leaders. Their press and other propaganda media are therefore constantly selling the principles of centralized or federal control of farms, railroads, electric power, schools, steel, maritime shipping, and many other aspects of the economy—but always in the name of public welfare.

This carries out the strategy laid down by the communist masters. John Strachey, a top official in the Labor Socialist party of Great Britain, in his book entitled The Theory and Practice of Socialism said:

It is impossible to establish communism as the immediate successor to capitalism. It is accordingly proposed to establish socialism as something which we can put in the place of our present decaying capitalism. Hence, communists work for the establishment of socialism as a necessary transition stage on the road to communism.

The paramount issue today is liberty against creeping socialism. It is in this spirit that President McKay stated:

Communism is antagonistic to the American way of life. Its avowed purpose is to destroy belief in God and free enterprise. . . . The fostering of full economic freedom lies at the base of our liberties. Only in perpetuating economic freedom can our social, political, and religious liberties be preserved. (Treasures of Life, pp. 501-502; Gospel Ideals, p. 433.)

Again President McKay warned, citing the words of W. C. Mullendore, president of Southern California Edison Company:

“During the first half of the twentieth century we have traveled far into the soul-destroying land of socialism and made strange alliances through which we have become involved in almost continuous hot and cold wars over the whole of the earth. In this retreat from freedom the voices of protesting citizens have been drowned by raucous shouts of intolerance and abuse from those who led the retreat and their millions of gullible youth, who are marching merrily to their doom, carrying banners on which are emblazoned such intriguing and misapplied labels as social justice, equality, reform, patriotism, social welfare. . . .” (Gospel Ideals, p. 273.)

It is significant that the Prophet Joseph Smith, after attending lectures on socialism, made this official entry in Church history: “I said I did not believe the doctrine.” (Documentary History of the Church, vol. 6, p. 33.)

No true Latter-day Saint and no true American can be a socialist or a communist or support programs leading in that direction. These evil philosophies are incompatible with Mormonism, the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

What can priesthood holders do? There are many things we can do to meet the challenge of the adversary in our day.

First, we should become informed about communism, about socialism, and about Americanism. What better way can one become informed than by first studying the inspired words of the prophets and using that as a foundation against which to test all other material? This is in keeping with the Prophet Joseph Smith’s motto, “When the Lord commands, do it.” (DHC, vol. 2, p. 170.)

The Foundation for Economic Education at Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, on which President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., served as a board member, continues to supply sound freedom literature. We should know enough about American free enterprise to be able to defend it. We should know what makes it possible for six percent of humanity—living under our free economy—to produce about one-half of the earth’s developed wealth each year.

We should know why paternalism, collectivism, or unnecessary federal supervision will hold down our standard of living and reduce productivity just as it has in every country where it has been tried. We should also know why the communist leaders consider socialism the highroad to communism.

Second, we should accept the command of the Lord and treat socialistic communism as the tool of Satan. We should follow the counsel of the President of the Church and resist the influence and policies of the socialist-communist conspiracy wherever they are found—in the schools, in the churches, in governments, in unions, in businesses, in agriculture.

Third, we should help those who have been deceived or who are misinformed to find the truth. unless each person who knows the truth will “stand up and speak up,” it is difficult for the deceived or confused citizen to find his way back.

Fourth, we should not make the mistake of calling people “communist” just because they happen to be helping the communist cause. Thousands of patriotic Americans, including a few Latter-day Saints, have helped the communists without realizing it. Others have knowingly helped without joining the party. The remedy is to avoid name-calling, but point out clearly and persuasively how they are helping the communists.

Fifth, each priesthood holder should use his influence in the community to resist the erosion process which is taking place in our political and economic life. He should use the political party of his choice to express his evaluation of important issues. He should see that his party is working to preserve freedom, not destroy it. He should join responsible local groups interested in promoting freedom and free competitive enterprise, in studying political issues, appraising the voting records and proposed programs, and writing to members of Congress, promoting good men in public office, and scrutinizing local, state, and federal agencies to see that the will of the people is being carried out. He should not wait for the Lord’s servants to give instruction for every detail once they have announced the direction in which the priesthood should go. Each member should exercise prayerful judgment and then act.

Sixth, and most important of all, each member of the priesthood should set his own house in order. This should include:

1. Regular family prayer, remembering especially our government leaders.

2. Getting out of debt.

3. Seeing that each member of the family understands the importance of keeping the commandments.

4. Seeing that the truth is shared with members of the family, with neighbors, and with associates.

5. Seeing that each member is performing his duties in the priesthood, in the auxiliary organizations, in the temple, and in the civic life of the community.

6. Seeing that every wage earner in the home is a full tithe-payer and fulfilling other obligations in financial support of the kingdom.

7. Providing a one-year supply of essentials.

In doing these things a member of the Church is not only making himself an opponent of the adversary, but a pro-ponent of the Lord.

In the prophecies there is no promise except to the obedient. To a modern prophet the Lord said:

Therefore, what I say unto one, I say unto all: Watch, for the adversary spreadeth his dominions, and darkness reigneth;

And the anger of God kindleth against the inhabitants of the earth;

. . . I give unto you directions how you may act before me, that it may turn to you for your salvation.

I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise. (D&C 82:5–6, 9-10.)

May God give us the wisdom to recognize the threat to our freedom and the strength to meet this danger courageously. Yes, perilous times are ahead, but if we do our duty in all things, God will give us inner peace and overrule all things for our good. God grant it may be so.