Thank you. Thank you. when compared with some million and a quarter members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have set their hand to live the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ against the laws of the land, against the traditions of the world, and all the power that there is in the earth that is being exhibited by Babylon.

This to me is the greatest courage that can be shown. Courage on the battlefield is nothing compared to this. Because we're engaged in a moral fight. And this is the worst of all. This is the greatest fight of all. And all the moral forces that are being exhibited in the world today are directed against the virtue and the integrity of the gospel of Jesus Christ and its principles. All the forces of Satan are being brought to bear now as they have never been brought to bear before. For previously he has used physical persecution, hardship, and every other form of trial that could be brought against a people. Today we have the insidious, immoral forces.

turned loose in their full fury against the people of God. And believe me, brethren and sisters, this is indeed the worst of all. We see exhibited on every hand immorality that is becoming more and more brazen and open and insidious. And there is being fulfilled the statement in the Book of Mormon. It is all right to sin here a little and there a little.

To be loose here, be loose there. I'll be beaten with a few stripes and be saved at the last. But once we start down that road, brethren and sisters, it means out-and-out rank apostasy. It may not be in evidence on the surface, but it certainly is there in its most insidious form. And this is the thing that we must guard against, my dear brethren and sisters, and all of our associations.

We must uphold the strictest virtue. This people must set the example for the church and all the world. It's because of the immorality of the world that they call righteousness sin. The righteousness of these holy principles becomes sin in their eyes. The very nature of the plural relationship becomes sinful in their eyes because that's their nature. They're living in it.

right up to their necks, and they don't know anything else. And so they accuse others of the things that they are guilty of themselves. It's not like saying this much on me at this point, because it just needs to be said, brethren and sisters. Our individual moral conduct must be above reproach before God. Our fellow man may not see and hear, but God does in his spirit as a witness. In our lives, it can be ascertained in time. The plural relationship calls for the highest order of morality, and to me it will bring forth the character and the attributes of God if we will abide in it. That is the very purpose, one of the great purposes of this relationship.

is to enable us to attain to the attributes and character of God. And if we will truly live this law, then we can help it obtain the character of God. That's along with the economic order of heaven. We need more faith, brethren and sisters. And I feel like saying a little further this afternoon on the operation of this great and fundamental principle.

The Seventh Lecture on Faith tells us that faith, the exercise of the Spirit, and it is accomplished through words. I don't think we think of this last often enough. When we exhibit faith in our lives, brethren and sisters, something must come from inside of us and reach out to God. And we can only reach out to Him through our prayers, through the expression of words.

When a thing is to be done under the direction and operation of the Holy Spirit, it is done through words. Elijah performed great miracles, and they had to be done through words, as dictated by the Holy Spirit. Christ came into the world. He lived and accomplished his mission by the power of faith. And so it evolves upon us to pray more.

But we can go to extremes in this. We're told of a man who prayed seven times a day and didn't allow any of his family to do any of it. But if we will pray over everything that we do silently before the Lord and offer our other prayers before him in secrecy and our family prayers at their proper times and occasions, then we cannot help but be found in the way of truth and in the way of duty.

and accomplishing your labors every day in a pleasing manner before God. If we'll go about our business of earning a living, working on the house, your labors here, each and every task that you undertake, if it be done with a prayer, you're going to do a better job. You're going to have more satisfaction in your soul when you'll grow and increase in knowledge.

and it will ripen into knowledge. If you'll read the scriptures with a prayer, to get the Spirit of God to direct us, and believe me, brethren and sisters, you cannot get and keep the Spirit of God without faith. It must be prayed for. It must be asked for. And it must be lived for. Two things. Then with that power that can call every day of our lives and every act of our lives, how can we help?

Take on ourselves the attributes of a God, as far as mortal beings can do so. Until finally, we shall have pronounced upon our heads the greatest of all blessings. My son, my daughter, thou shalt be exalted. Here is that her calling and election is made sure. And in time, have thee.

hands of the Savior, hear the voice upon our heads, hear the voice of the Savior, and see him, and have all of these blessings confirmed. And this, of course, after having undertaken all of these revealed endowments and covenants of the holy priesthood that God has given us. I think one of the most beautiful ways that we have illustrated to us as to how faith will enable us to attain unto Godhood, and the character of God is written in the 7th chapter of Moroni. For no man can be saved according to the words of Christ, save they shall have faith in his name. Wherefore, if these things have ceased, then has faith ceased also. And awful is the state of man, for there as though there had been no redemption made.

For behold, my beloved brethren, I judge better a thing for you, for I judge that ye have faith in Christ because of your meekness. For if ye have not faith in him, then ye are not fit to be numbered among the people of his church. And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope? And what is it that ye shall have hope for?

Behold, I say unto you, that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise. Wherefore, if a man have faith, he must needs have hope, for without faith there cannot be any hope. And again I say unto you, that ye cannot have faith and hope, save ye shall be meek and lowly of heart.

And here, brethren and sisters, I'd like to make an observation. The greatest men who have ever lived in the sight of God have been humble men, meek men. Jesus Christ himself descended below all things that he might rise above. And he was the meekest and lowliest of all. Joseph Smith was of like character. For indeed, brethren and sisters, he...

Meekness and humility bear his strength, because through this meekness and humility we have faith and hope, and it leads him to this blast and the greatest of all, of the attributes of God. If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God save the meek and lowly in heart. And if a man be meek and lowly in heart and confessed by the power of the Holy Ghost, That Jesus is a Christ, he must needs have charity, or light. For if he have not charity, he is nothing. Wherefore he must needs have charity. And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil.

and rejoice us not in iniquity, but rejoice us in the truth. Bear us all things, relieve us all things, hope us all things, endure us all things, so that love or charity encompasses them all. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail. But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endures forever. And he who is found possessed of it at the last day, he shall be well with him. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart. Pray unto the Father, that ye may be filled with this love.

that ye have bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ, that ye may become the sons of God, that when he shall appear, ye shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is, that we may have this hope, that we may be purified, even as he is pure. Amen.