The strength I need on this occasion, my brothers and sisters, must come from your faith and prayers in my behalf. I plead with you not to forsake me. It is very difficult for me to talk to a congregation which is not within the range of my vision, but this morning I would like to be oblivious to your presence here in the Tabernacle, and to speak to those of us who live way out on the periphery of our great Church. I have been impressed with a desire to do this since listening to the remarks of President Stover last night. I would like to talk to you people in Great Britain, in the Scandinavian countries in Holland, in Germany, Czechoslovakia, France, Switzerland, Austria, Palestine, South Africa, the South American nations, those who dwell within the great Polynesian triangle in the Pacific and to those fine people, few in number in the far-off Orient.

I would like to say to you that I know that in your hearts this day there is a longing to be here at the hub of this great Church, a longing which you cannot realize; and in a sense I am pleased that you do not have that desire fulfilled. You are needed where you are. You know, as we know, that this world is in need of a new birth of freedom and that a new birth of freedom cannot come without a new birth of righteousness; and that you in your far-flung areas, away from this hub of Zion, are the leaven of righteousness. This will be the seed, we pray to God, which will bear fruit and bring back to this depressed and sordid world the freedom for which we all so earnestly pray.

You have been great in your contributions to this nation and to this Church. You will read in the reported sermons delivered from this pulpit that this land is choice above all other lands  1 Ne. 2:20 It is only choice because from your shores have come your great, your humble, and your God-fearing men and women, and they have brought from your shores the fundamental concepts which made it possible for the birth of the greatest palladium of human liberty that was ever written by the hand of man—the Constitution of the United States. And I want you to know that greater than that has been your contribution to the building up of Zion and her borders.

You in Great Britain have contributed to the leadership of this Church as has no other nation. In the veins of those who have presided over this modern kingdom, your blood courses. In Scandinavia, your contribution has been great and magnificent. You have contributed prophets, seers, and revelators. In Germany you have contributed great educators, great Saints, and to all of you in those faraway areas, I will say, great is our debt to you for that which you have contributed.

We encourage you to stay where you are because you are needed there, where the light is going out, and we say to you: Stay close together; attend your meetings regularly, even though your numbers may be limited by law to four or to two; stay together. Renew your covenants with God by partaking of the sacrament, and I tell you that you cannot have your lights darkened because this work cannot be blacked out by the legislation of man. They may close your chapels; they may deny you the right to assemble in worship; but behind your own doors you have the priesthood of God; and in your homes where the priesthood of God exists, there is Zion. And to you whose lives are committed to righteousness, I say unto you, You are Zion.

To you in South Africa, you who have never had a visit from one of the leaders of this Church, I know that your prayers will one day be answered. To you in South America who are struggling to build yourselves into a mighty people on that great continent, which is precious in the eyes of God, I say, be strong. To you in the isles of the sea, I say unto you, were it not for you, I would not be standing here this day. To you in New Zealand, and when I speak to you I speak to all those who dwell on those beautiful isles, were it not for you, implanting within my heart as a seventeen-year-old boy your simple faith, your knowledge of God, your demonstration that the veil between God and man can be very, very thin, I wouldn't be standing here today at the hub of Zion, speaking to you way down under, in this capacity. This is not my calling alone, you good Maori people; this is yours.

You in the Hawaiian Islands who have had come to your shores missionaries, one only in his sixteenth year, who later became the leader of this Church a noble prophet, seer, and revelator: I tell you that on that island of Maui where he and President George Q. Cannon had their great theophanies and experiences, there is a spirit and an atmosphere, which I have felt nowhere else in all the world.

To you in Tahiti, who were the first in the isles of the sea to receive the gospel in this dispensation, my heart goes out. For more than a hundred years you have been listening to this message of regeneration. You have contributed of your tithes and your offerings, your widow's mite  Mark 12:42-44 and not one of you has yet come to a temple of God. You are worthy. God will reward you for your faithfulness and devotion. His principles are eternal, and in his kingdom and his presence, that which you have been denied in this life will be added unto you. Great has been your contribution to the building up of this Church.

Australia, the great continent down under, there where our people are scattered over such a vast area, how great has been your contribution! During the war years, when you were without missionaries from Zion, your leadership rose up and magnificently carried on. And there sits among the councils of the Church this day one of those missionaries who went to your shores many years ago and whose testimony was strengthened by you until it became an anchor to his faith. God bless you for this great contribution.

You in faraway Japan were left alone for many years, but there had been implanted in your hearts a testimony of the restored gospel, and when the way was opened up for the missionaries to return to you, they found you, though small in number and in membership, still faithful and devoted and loyal. You at Hiroshima, where was felt the death blow of the first atom bomb, and where soon after you raised the sign which should be an ensign unto the world, not written in your language, but in the language which all nations understand, the English language, "No more Hiroshimas." If all men could write in their hearts the words of that sign which now stands over the place where that atom bomb exploded, peace would return to the earth and dwell regnant in the hearts of all men. You have contributed much to the building up of this kingdom and could you hear my words I could tell you that there sits before me now one who is at the head of one of our great institutions of learning who spent a number of years among you, who partook of your spirit, who knows you as an industrious people, who knows that in your land, there are no weeds; and I know that much that actuates him in his great purpose in instilling within the hearts and souls of the youngsters of this community, a knowledge of things which are true, he received under your influence.

To you in faraway China I say: Keep the faith, be valiant; you will not be forgotten, and one day the missionaries will return to you. Yours is a light shining in darkness. Keep it burning and the Father of us all will bless you.

God bless you people out in these areas of the earth. And I testify to you that much strength comes from you to us, and if you remain strong where you are, we will not become weak here at the hub. In your hours of need, we will do our best. We will keep our storehouses bulging with the necessities of life, and when you need them, the freight cars will be loaded, and the ships' bottoms will be filled, and we will send that over to you which you need. And we say to you, and I speak for all, that where there is no power, where there are no facilities, where there is no program to save you materially as well as spiritually, there is no power of God unto salvation  Rom. 1:16 We will not fail you spiritually nor materially.

And I leave my witness with you in all of your fair lands, that I know that God loves you. He will attend you and that which you do not hear as we speak in our great conferences in Salt Lake City, you do hear in your humble cottage meetings, wherever they may be, or in your rented halls which may reek with stale tobacco smoke, and which have been cleared of empty flasks and beer bottles the night before. Those same testimonies you bear, and I believe that I can say to you in behalf of most of my brethren that that which we have experienced in life which makes it possible for us to stand here and address you as special witnesses, we received in our associations with you as young missionaries. And again to you in New Zealand I say: Because of you, because of your kindliness, your humility, your patience, your great faith, I can stand here and say that I know that God lives and because of you, I am a special witness of his Son. All power be to you and God bless you forever, and bless us all, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.