![]() ![]() I contrast that with the optimism I feel concerning the Church. Nussbaum resigned a day or two ago, and Whitewater is on the minds of the people, and a lot of things of that kind. If you were to read the Washington Post this morning, you might think the whole nation was going down the drain, and the whole world. It appeared to me a litany of negativism. I picked up the Washington Post this morning and thumbed through it. Before I get into that, I want to draw two contrasts-or one contrast, perhaps, between two situations. I looked up in my file and found that I talked along these lines here about twenty years ago. Now, I’m going to talk with you tonight about something that I have spoken about before. I think we’d be, perhaps, in better condition. Oh, if only our leaders prayed more and declaimed less. If there is anything this nation needs, it is a return to prayer, to seeking the guidance of the Almighty, his watch care over us as a people, and the humility that ought to go with prayer. I hope that the habit of prayer will remain with you all the days of your lives. What a wonderful thing it is that you don’t feel sufficient unto yourselves-self-sufficient, egotistical to the point where you think you can make it all alone-that each of you recognizes that there are occasions when you need help, and you need it desperately, and you ask for it. You pray, and that’s a singularly wonderful thing in this day and age of the history of the world-that you actually get on your knees and pray, I believe, night and morning. You are young men and women of faith and of faithfulness. You are good and great people-the cream, as it were, of this generation. ![]() I repeat my love for you and my appreciation and my respect. I spoke this morning at another gathering and then got on a plane, and I made it-I am here. Yesterday morning I flew to Washington, D.C., and spoke last night at a large gathering. Thank you for your presence, and thank you for your faithfulness. And I think your presence here tonight, and out across the nation and the continent, is an indication of your faithfulness, your fidelity to the work of the Lord, your love for this great cause. We just need to do our own duty and be faithful and true in our own way. ![]() Things are going forward the way the Lord would have it. The Church doesn’t need to worry about this situation. And behind the presidency is a backup of twelve apostles, each of whom has received those same keys. ![]() And, as is made clear in section 102 of the Doctrine and Covenants, they-the two of them, or one of them if the other might be disabled somehow-could function and carry forward the work of the First Presidency. When he is not functioning as he might wish to be, he has counselors. That prerogative rests with the president of the Church. That doesn’t mean he is authorized to exercise all of those keys at any time. He has provided leadership in such a way that every man who is ordained an apostle has conferred upon him the keys of the priesthood. He has made provisions for it to go forward under any set of circumstances that might face it. We just need to follow more closely the revelation we’ve already received and we’ll be all right.ĭon’t worry. We don’t need more revelation at this time. But he’s still the Lord’s prophet, regardless. He has difficulty walking, as might be expected. Age has a way of hitting us-sometimes hitting us rather hard. And, as maybe one or two of you may discover, when you’re ninety-five, you’re not what you were when you were fifty-five. He’s doing well for a man of his age, but he’s in his ninety-fifth year. Everywhere we go, of course, people want to know about President Benson, how he is. I appreciate what he said concerning President Benson. I appreciate what Brother Gray said in his prayer. I’ll watch the clock you watch your neighbor. I may break loose from my text and just talk a little informally about a variety of things, if there’s that much time. I don’t know whether I’m going to rely on that. Except for the prayers and a musical number, you’re the only thing on the program.” I asked my secretary, when I was leaving town, to call down and put this on the teleprompter. I prepared a talk for about twenty minutes, and Brother White said, “You will have to go longer than that. There may be forty thousand young people-a few old gray heads, but very few. And I guess, Brother Peterson, there are as many again out in other halls. I do not know how many there are here tonight, but the number is large. ![]()
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