Elder John H. Taylor

(President of the Northern States Mission.)

I will read a few of the words of Moroni to the people:

"Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam, even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts."

It seems to me that this verse is a preparation to the people who may read this holy book, that they shall have in their hearts a desire to know the truth, and to have brought to their remembrance the fact that God has been good to his children upon the earth; and that, irrespective of the many things that they have done which have been evil in his sight, God has been willing to forgive them, make himself manifest to them, and bear record of the truthfulness of his word. When we realize how good God has been to us, then desire and hope come into our hearts, and make us humble before God, and we rather feel that God will also be merciful unto us, his children, and bring testimony into our hearts. I dare say that whoever reads this holy book, and reads this first verse, will have a desire that God shall be merciful to, him, as he has been merciful unto his people before:

"And when .ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost."

What we can know and find out for ourselves is the truthfulness of God's word to us as found in the Holy Scriptures and in the Book of Mormon If we shall have real intent in our hearts to know, then God will manifest the truth of these things by the power of the Holy Ghost. Some, even among our own people, will think from reading these words that they can commence at the beginning of the Book of Mormon and read it through and a divine testimony will come of the truthfulness of the book. We are forgetting that we must have a desire in our hearts to know and have real intent and sincerity back of us; and then shall the testimony of God the eternal Father come to us as to the truthfulness of this holy book.

God always has left testimony and has borne the same to all of his people that they may know of the truthfulness of his work. It is the testimony given to us through the power of the Holy Spirit of God that makes us know of its truthfulness. I am not leaving out the fact that we must study, that we shall seek God, that God is intelligence; I am not forgetting all of these things, but by the power and the gift of the Holy Ghost comes testimony in our hearts.

God, speaking unto his people at the baptism of the Savior, bore record to the people and to the world, "This is my beloved Son." When he appeared to the Nephites, God bore testimony again, "This is my beloved Son." In this day, unto Joseph Smith, God again bore testimony, "This is my Son." And who can read in the Book of Mormon or the Doctrine and Covenant, or the Bible, the simple testimony of God. "This is my beloved Son," and with a prayer in his heart, without feeling that God is speaking to us, and that we know for a surety that God lives and that Jesus Christ is the Son?

You remember when the sons of Helaman went out to war for their liberty against their own people that they said in speaking to the people, "We do not doubt our mothers knew it." The testimony of God had been given to the two thousand by the testimony of their mothers at home. It was that simple, beautiful statement, that came from the lips of the mother that made the boys seek after God the eternal Father, and they did not doubt, because, by the power of the Holy Ghost came testimony into their hearts.

As a boy, I used to go to fast meeting and wonder why father and mother would insist that I go to a meeting of that kind, where men and women were standing up one after another and saying, "I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God." How well they knew that, as I sat Sunday after Sunday in the meeting hearing what to me are now beautiful testimonies, that testimony was coming into my heart and helping me to understand that God indeed does live and that Jesus Christ is his Son.

You mothers and fathers, bear testimony in our fast meetings, and our other meetings, as to the truthfulness of God's work, that the people may hear your testimony, but I sometimes wonder how often we take our boys and our girls on one side, or how often we gather them before the family fire, and when all is peaceful and quiet, bear testimony as fathers and mothers to the girl and the boy and let them know from our lips that God lives and that he has spoken again in these latter days. That testimony shall stay with the boys and with the girls and go with them into many lands and fields, and some day, because of the simple testimony from the father and the mother, that boy and that girl shall bear testimony unto the world of the truthfulness of God's gospel, because you made it possible and softened their hearts that they wanted to know for themselves as to the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am grateful for this gospel. I am glad that it is a gospel where you have to fight your own fight; for, not forgetting the beloved mercies of God the eternal Father and his Son-not forgetting all of these wonderful things-after all, it is an individual fight with the help of God to win your life through and make it worth while. Jesus Christ presented his plan, and the son of the morning presented his plan. We accepted the plan of Christ. and now Satan, it seems to me, would lull us into the sleep of forgetfulness that we have accepted the plan of Jesus Christ, which meant free agency, and brought us to the fighting ranks into the front of the line; and he sought to substitute his plan which lost out once, and must ever lose because it is not a just plan. If we win out, it is through the mercies of God and the lives that we live. I would rather lose the fight and pay the penalty, and belong to the Church of Jesus Christ, than to belong to something that would make me feel that I could disobey the laws of Gd and still go back into the presence of my Maker.

May God bless us and help us. May the sweet testimony of his Spirit come into our hearts and into the hearts of our boys and gifts, that this Church may continue to grow and increase in spiritual power and, because of the lives of the people and the testimonies that God has given to us, stand out as a living testimony to fine world that this indeed is the Church of Jesus Christ, I humbly ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.