While I speak these few minutes, may I have the Spirit of the Lord to direct me.

I rejoice with you in the great messages we have heard from our First Presidency on the important question of teaching and the proper training of our children. The first thing we should teach our children is respect for all human beings. All are children of God. Man is made in the image of God. Respect for all men leads to a love for law and order. In the home is taught obedience to the loving directions of our Father in heaven. Then comes self-discipline, self-direction. Whether we are teachers of the gospel or professional men, we can and should dedicate ourselves to help our children to develop their potentialities for good, for truth, for love, for beauty, and above all, reverence for God.

Our young people must be educated to think clearly and deeply, and students of schools and universities should be taught that the famous authors and philosophers of the world have produced writings which glorify God and the divinity of man. We are reminded of the words of Carl Schurz, when he said: "Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like a seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them, you will reach your destiny."

We teach the gospel of good works. It is excellent; it is ennobling; but that is not all. Man owes to God and to his fellow men, not only his conduct, but also his thoughts, not only to do much, but also to think aright as to honor, integrity, and honesty.

To understand the true value of the ideals of the American people when they think of their government of the United States, one must recall the character of the people who settled these shores in the seventeenth century. "They brought hither in their little ships, not money, not merchandise, no array of armed force, but they came freighted with religion, learning, law, and the Spirit of God. They stepped forth upon the shore, and a wild and frowning wilderness received them." Strong in their faith in God, they began their combat with danger and hardship. Disease smote them, but they fainted not. At times they had nothing to eat but the roots of the plants they gathered. They first built houses for God and then for themselves. They established schools and developed a strong morality which was always their principal characteristic. They educated their children to a high faith in God. Villages began to smile; churches arose; industries multiplied; colleges were established; and every town had a democratic government for all to take part. The states that were formed grew into a nation with noble, fundamental ideas of government. And so came our own United States, the most democratic government in the history of the world. What a glorious history our early country had, for religious people went not only to New England, but we have also the Quakers and the Methodists and other religious groups settling along the Atlantic Coast.

For this reason and others, we believe that honest inquiry into any field of knowledge should be encouraged. But one should always have for a guiding thought his need for beauty, for goodness, for love, and the communion with the divine. "To me," says Dr. Green of Yale University, "truth, beauty, goodness; and Deity are ultimate objects of our search, as is nature for the scientist. I am profoundly impressed by the witness of sincerely and intelligently religious folk, the saints and prophets of the great religions, that man can encounter Deity, and find in that Deity a source of understanding and comfort."

In a General Epistle of the Council of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, issued December 23, 1847, at Winter Quarters and signed by President Brigham Young, we have these words:

The Kingdom of God consists in correct principles; and it mattereth not what a man's religious faith is; whether he be a Presbyterian, or a Methodist, or a Baptist, or a Latter-day Saint or "Mormon," or a Campbellite, or a Catholic, or an Episcopalian, or Mohometan, or even pagan, or anything else, if he will bow the knee, and with his tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ  D&C 76:110-111 and will support good and wholesome laws for the regulation of society, we hail him as a brother, and will stand by him while he stands by us in these things; for every man's religious faith is a matter between his own soul and his God alone . . .

We ask no pre-eminence; we want no pre-eminence; but where God has placed us, there we will stand; and that is, to be one with our brethren, and our brethren are those that keep the commandments of God, and do the will of our Father who is in heaven; and by them we will stand, and with them we will dwell in time and in eternity. (Journal History, Dec. 23, 1847.)

How nobly did the Prophet Joseph Smith declare this ideal when he said:

We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may  A of F 1:11

It is to be remembered that there are men walking the earth and beckoning us to follow them to the future—not abreast of us, but ahead of us. Religion explains them as men blessed of heaven; men so spiritually endowed as to be able to respond to the inspiration of the infinite, which they know comes from God. They are good men, and wonderful is the vitality of goodness. Men are keeping faith and virtue and are working for the freedom and happiness of the human race. Their discipline is the loyalty of each man's heart to the voice of God. These men look for authority, for principles, for divine government. They have noble thoughts, beautiful sentiments, worthy aspirations, courageous living for a true and happier life. They know that God has not separated himself from the world nor does he lightly regard anyone's need. There is a true light which "lighteth every man that cometh into the world"  John 1:9 a saying rich in promise. God reveals his principles of eternal life to good men who have discerning vision and deep faith. The world has always had such men; it has such men today.

In all of our history there has been nothing in the way of persecution by the Latter-day Saints of other people, but we have been taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith from the beginning, when God spoke to him, that all are children of God and that we should approach them with love and the testimony that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world.

Someday, he will be found again among the thirsting people for whom he lived and died. As he came back after his death to confirm the faith of his disciples, and to comfort their desolate hearts, so will he come again to establish his kingdom in the earth and usher in the reign of peace. May we be blessed with a love for mankind, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.