a rich justice in the United States. Thus, my dear brethren and sisters, that I might have the support of your faith and prayers, at what time I occupy this position. I have been greatly edified by the things that have been given to us by our brethren. Seems such a marvelous thing to me. So much of the things that are given to us by the prompting Spirit of God, we find each our fellow servants giving voice to, saving many of the things that are...

given to us by the company of the spirit and plainer words than we can speak ourselves. At least I find that so very, very often. I think that we possess as individuals, most of us who are assembled here, a thing that is of greater value than all the substance and material in the world. I believe there are not very many here today that don't have within themselves born of the spirit of God.

a knowledge, a conviction of the genuine truthfulness of the doctrines that have been advocated here today by these our brethren. And if we could stop for a moment and contemplate the value, what is it that we could think of that we would take in exchange for that conviction that we have? Is there anything you can think of that you prefer to possess above that prize? I think it's very likely that many of the younger ones here children maybe that haven't awakened as yet to the fact that they possess that knowledge, but I believe most of them have it. I don't believe there's a matured individual in this congregation today, but what knows? By the intelligence that the Lord God has given to them, that the things that have been advocated by this priesthood are true and correct, and that it is indeed the plan of eternal life, salvation, and exaltation.

and that there is no other way of the sacred truths that are bequeathed to us by the grace of god through his servants and through their writings and their testimonies that have been handed down to us it is very much like this reference whether muscles has read to us i found and i presume that most of you have you can go over and over and over these things and as you do flashes of light will strike upon your understanding, points will be made clear to you that never have been before. I have found it so, some things that I may have gone over dozens of times in my life, yet as I pursue these things, striving for the understanding of the Spirit of God, new flashes of light and understanding come, and it brings a sense of joy and satisfaction that cannot be told in my language. So I say that

As individuals, though we may be classed as a poor people, so far as the material things of the earth are concerned, in this day and time when the world is so full of the boundaries of every material thing there is, yet we have in our possession the most priceless gift of all things, the means by which we can keep in communication with God our Father, if we can have that communication with Heaven.

It will teach us the truths upon which eternal life are predicated, so that we don't have to be mistaken, we don't have to continuously and be forever in wonderment, wandering and wandering in pursuit of those things that bring the most sublime happiness that a human being can experience. If we are just put to the test, the word of God applied to our lives, those things have been directed to us to follow.

I've demonstrated too many times in my own life to doubt, and I presume that most of you have. But we should, in spite of all the adversity that comes our way, we should be rejoicing every day of our lives. And I believe most of us do, but probably not to the extent that we should. I'm sure that I don't appreciate the full value and blessings that the Lord has bequeathed to me. Such a grand and glorious thing.

Quite a different thing to only think that we are. Those things that we're not quite sure about. When it comes to the matter that's the most important to us, the saving of our souls, the garnering of our own spirits into the fold of our Father and our Savior, it seems like there's nothing under heaven. If we take a decision over that, we ought to concern ourselves in the time we awaken in the morning until we close our eyes and stumble at night in our dreams during the night in the barn.

It should be dwelling on those things that are calculated to bring us that serene satisfaction. Cain cannot express. I'm grateful for my association with these, my brethren. Grateful for the integrity that they've manifested in their lives. For their devotion to correct principle. I'm grateful for the wisdom expressed by Brother John W. Willis. I heard him say many times, whether the gospel is true, whether I believe it or not. It's simplicity.

We have that knowledge by which we can avail ourselves of the glories of the Celestial Kingdom. We may not be able to experience all of those Celestial glories while we still sojourn in this life, but we can place ourselves in such a position by the way we apply to our lives the things that are given to us.

that we may have a knowledge those things are in store for us. For again, to select his own faith can get to a position where we know that the course that we follow is in accordance with the will of God by making the necessary sacrifices. And each of us, if we're willing to do that, that knowledge comes. It comes by the witness of that certain member of the Godhead.

that witness of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. We are repentant of our sins. We are still in the process. We continue on, and we're earnest and zealous, continuously seek for those grand and glorious things until that spirit, by witness to our spirit, brings forth a clean satisfaction that no tongue can express. No word can tell what this timing we may be borne down by.

The first stage of life, still capable of rejoicing. So often I think of that lowly man, Jesus of Nazareth, as a man among men. He went about among his associates, oftentimes spoken of as a man of sorrows, because he bore the burdens of a whole human family, they may say, full of likeness and folly and frivolity. He of mercy, sobriety. He that the course that he was following was in the cards with him through.

by whom he had been sent. The reason of that fact is joy has exceeded those probably of any other men that lived. So we can, for we accept the parable. He is still in the way. He has marked the path. He has set an example of devotion, of adherence, of confidence, of faith, of determination. Of every grace the gospel possesses, he has demonstrated in his life as an example for us to follow.

We might in the end, if we will, follow the same course and receive the same reward. Brother Jeff, I see a remonstrance on you. Greatness. The opportunity that is extended to us as individuals and to all of us as a body of people, that we might be heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Adopting the plan of life and placing it in our course of activity from day to day.

they become possessed of the same spirit and influence that they were. It's a simple thing to me, after these years of contemplating, that as a man or a woman, devote themselves earnestly and so fully to living in accord with the word of God, and keeping themselves within the influence of that, of the spirit of the gospel, that they gradually develop the ability to exert an influence.

A keen imitation of the Spirit of God, actually the same kind of influence emanates from the man, because he's possessed of the same spirit. The feeling goes out from him to everyone who needs life-touching. So it's no need to be too much of a conundrum to us, because a man can be godlike in nature and in this position, he'll apply himself. It's been my observation for many, many years.

People who are actuated by the same spirit, begin to wear the same expression, demonstrate the same feeling, until they gradually look more and more alike. Even people of very diversified physical features, to begin with, by wearing the same expression, begin being possessed of the same spirit and influence all the time, they become more and more alike.

in their actions, in their feelings, in their contemplations, in everything that affects their lives. That oneness that seems like it reaches into every avenue of human activity. What a glorious thing it will be. We can find a body of people, a few hundreds or thousands of people who are so unified that there's no diversity among them. We've been given to understand it.

The bands would be driven so tight upon the people of God that they would eventually burst. Pressure from the outside drives people together. When commotion and corruption and contention and strife and opposition boils up from within, then the pressure is altered. And when the bands burst because of internal pressure and combustion, think of what a scatter in the world. Why can't we bring ourselves to a condition that...

What opposition there is must be from the outside instead of from within, among our own ranks. I hope, my dear brethren and sisters, that we can grow more and more united. We'll learn to see a light. We can control our own feelings. When circumstances and conditions come among us that we don't exactly see a light on, that we'll consider and humbly make sure that the expressions that we make are in accordance with the prompting of the Spirit of God and the counsel of the servants of God.

and we don't disseminate a confusion and a commotion and a combustion from within. The Lord has never promised his closest blessings upon any other principle. People become one as he and his Father were one, as his servants and disciples, as the man among men, he's causing them to be one. Love one another, he says, as I have loved you. And when that love comes at you, it brings those unspeakable joys.

There's nothing else in the world that I don't feel like I ought to occupy more of the time. My dear brothers and sisters, I rejoice in the testimony of the gospel. The good Lord has been good enough to give to me. I only hope and pray that this people will not again be broken to pieces and scattered abroad. They may be geographically scattered by anything it is, but they don't need to be scattered in spirit. We have the same objective. We have the same...

ambition, the same intention, the same resolve to keep applied to our lives the principles of eternal truth, continuously look after the well-being of one another. I hope that each and every one of us will be so possessed of that information that the Spirit of God will not leave us, and that by the time that we are ever submitted to such tests as God's servant Job was subjected to, when he was still coming to allow Satan to tempt him and test him, that we shall have, like Job did, developed in our characters, that same characteristic and personality, until he was capable of declaring, even under those kind circumstances, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and though this body and all is destroyed, yet in my flesh shall I see God, and no doubt left in his mind.

was imbued with the spirit that he had lived and applied to his life for so long until his character was in tune and in harmony with the character of his God, and that no test, no trial, could be so severe as to deter him from that course. But in this business, it strives them to listen to the facts in their lives, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.