May I invite your attention to a comparison between the Church of Jesus Christ, as it was organized and perfected in New Testament times, and the self-styled Christian churches that exist in the world today? In order to do so I shall take the liberty of raising a number of queries, and shall assume that each of us has a sufficient working knowledge of the New Testament to recognize the basis upon which each query rests.

Where in the world today will we find a church that has as its official title some combination of the names of Christ, according to the New Testament pattern  Eph. 3:21

Where is there a church whose ministers claim divine authority in the real, complete, and actual sense that it was claimed by the ministers among the primitive Saints?

Where is there a church which claims tthe Melchizedek and Aaronic orders of he priesthood as these were had anciently?

Where is there a church in which we will find the ordinances practiced that were practiced among the primitive Saints?

Where do we find baptism by immersion for the remission of sins performed under the hands of a legal administrator?

Where do we find a people who lay hands on the head of every baptized convert for the present bestowal of the Holy Ghost; or who, when there are sick among them, call in the elders of the church, that they may anoint them with oil and pray over them, that the prayer of faith may heal the sick and God may raise them up  James 5:14

Where is there a people that has the New Testament ordinance of baptism for the dead  1 Cor. 15:29

Where is there a church that has the same organization that existed among the primitive Saints, that has Apostles and prophets, pastors, evangelists, and all the rest  Eph. 4:11

Where is there a people that believes that there should be Twelve apostles holding the keys of the kingdom, presiding over and directing all the affairs of the Church and kingdom, and that such group should continue until there is a unity of the faith  Eph. 4:13

Where is there a church that believes that God has set some in the Church, first Apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, and gifts of the spirit, healings, tongues, helps, and governments  1 Cor. 12:28

Where is there a church that professes to have all of the doctrines that were taught in New Testament times; that believes that God our heavenly Father is a personal being, in whose image man is created; that has an understanding that Jesus Christ is his Only Begotten Son and is a Being in the express image of the person of the Father  Heb. 1:3

Where is there a people that has a real, intelligent, and scriptural understanding of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that knows that because of that transcendent act all men will be raised in immortality and those who have believed and obeyed the gospel law, both in immortality and unto eternal life?

Where is there a people that knows that the plan of salvation, based on the atoning sacrifice of Christ, consists in having faith in Christ, in repenting of one's sins, in being baptized under the hands of a legal administrator, in receiving the gift and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and then in enduring in righteousness unto the end?

Where is there a church that believes that the gospel is preached to those in the spirit world, that they may live according to God in the spirit, and be judged according to men in the flesh  1 Pet. 4:6

Where is there a people that believes in the literal resurrection from the grave, in the fact that all men will stand before the judgment bar of Christ, and having been judged according to the deeds done in the flesh, will be awarded a place in a kingdom of glory, in either a telestial, a terrestrial, or a celestial kingdom  1 Cor. 15:40-41

Where is there a people that believes that between the first and second comings of Christ, there was to be a complete, total, universal falling away from the faith once delivered to the Saints  Jude 1:3

Where is there a people that believes that in the last days there was to be an era of restoration, a time of restitution, in which God would give again all things that he had spoken by the mouths of all his holy prophets since the world began  Acts 3:21

Where is there a people that believes that this restoration of the gospel was to be effected by angelic ministration, and that the gospel so restored was then to be carried to all the peoples of the earth  Rev. 14:6-7

Where is there a people that believes that in a day subsequent to New Testament times, the kingdom was to be restored to Israel and the scattered remnants of that people gathered back to the lands of their inheritance?

Where is there a people that actually believes that signs will follow those who accept and obey the gospel law, that professes to have among the membership of the church the working of miracles, the ministering of angels, the gifts of the Spirit, and all of the powers and graces that were had anciently?

Now we might multiply questions on all of these matters, but I submit to you that every essential, identifying characteristic of the New Testament Church can, with intelligence and propriety, be outlined under one of these six heads: name, authority, ordinances, organization, doctrines, and gifts of the Spirit. And I submit to you further that there is only one Church in all the world that so much as claims to have every essential identifying characteristic of the Church organized and perfected by Christ and his Apostles anciently, and that one Church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Now, may I say by way both of testimony and of doctrine, that you and I are living in the era of restoration. We are living in the times of restitution. The heavens are no longer sealed. The voice of God is heard again. The kingdom is established on earth, and that kingdom is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it has again every grace and right, power, privilege, and authority that the Almighty ever gave to the Saints in primitive times.

And now we are nearing the end of the world. The time is not far distant when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ  Rev. 11:15 and if you and I live worthily and walk as most of us already know we should, we will be entitled to receive an eternal inheritance in his eternal world. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.