Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

It was the morning of March 4, 1865 and the sky was grey. The weather had not been cooperative, even dangerous, so much so that women were advised to stay inside for their safety. But it was a historic day - Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration.

The Civil War was nearly won and Lincoln was at the height of his power.

As Lincoln stood to begin his address, something incredible and symbolic occurred. Journalist Noah Brooks explained, "Just at that moment the sun, which had been obscured all day, burst forth in its unclouded meridian splendor, and flooded the spectacle with glory and light. Every heart beat quicker at the unexpected omen ... So might the darkness which had obscured the past four years be now dissipated."

The President then gave these profound words:

"Fellow-Countrymen:

"At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

"On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war-seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.

"One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

We now live in arguably some of the darkest days in the world's history. Never a day goes by without attacks on the physical, emotional, financial, mental, and spiritual wellbeing of God's children. Terrorist and domestic attacks pepper the news. Wars spring up or continue all over the world. New technology brings about better ways to educate all people, but is often used for more intense ways of destruction. And unfortunately these days, the Last Days, things will just get worse - darker, scarier, and eviler.

In reality, it's Satan's temper tantrum in full force. He may be a smart and powerful spirit, but he is fairly predictable in his actions. When he knows there is something good to come, something that will take away his power, even though he is very aware that he will ultimately loose, he spews forth all his wrath in feeble attempts to stop the mighty power of God.

Think about when a young boy entered the woods to pray, seeking wisdom:

"After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.

"But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction-not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being-just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

"It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other-This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"

But there is a Light at the end of the tunnel. Just the darkness seems to overpower you and cause you to be, as Joseph said, "doomed to sudden destruction", at that very moment is when the Savior of the world will come in all glory to rescue you and all of us. He will come whether in individual moments of fights against Satan or in the larger war being fought as we are nearing the end of the ultimate war that began in the premortal world. Satan will not and cannot win. That was the promise from the beginning. One day earth will not be hell, but receive its paradisiacal glory and we will receive immortality and promise of an eternal life with our families and our Heavenly Parents.

In these dark moments, let us remember to focus on the time when Light will burst forth from the ultimate darkness and seek Him to get us through.

Happy Birthday Elder Stevenson!

Today is Gary E. Stevenson's birthday! History was in the making as he gave his first talk as a newly called apostle.

Dear brothers and sisters, it has been many decades since a general conference has been convened that President Boyd K. Packer and Elders L. Tom Perry and Richard G. Scott were not seated immediately behind the podium and speaking at one of these sessions. Our memories of them are poignant, and I add my tribute to honor them, each so uniquely different yet so harmonized in their witness and testimony of Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

Furthermore, I, like you, find strength in and sustain President Thomas S. Monson as prophet, seer, and revelator, and I marvel at his faithful and dutiful apostolic service spanning over 50 remarkable years.

And so it was on Tuesday morning of this week, just after 9:00 a.m. as the Bishopric was beginning a meeting with the Asia Area Presidency, who are here for conference, that I was called to meet with President Monson, along with his counselors. Moments later, as I walked into the boardroom adjacent to his office, I must have looked nervous sitting across the table, as he kindly spoke to calm my nerves. He commented, noting my age, that I seemed quite young and even looked younger than my age.

Then, within a few moments, President Monson described that acting on the will of the Lord, he was extending a call to the Quorum of the Twelve to me. He asked me if I would accept this call, to which, following what I am sure was a very undignified audible gasp, in complete shock, I responded affirmatively. And then, before I could even verbalize a tsunami of indescribable emotion, most of which were feelings of inadequacy, President Monson kindly reached out to me, describing how he was called many years ago as an Apostle by President David O. McKay, at which time he too felt inadequate. He calmly instructed me, "Bishop Stevenson, the Lord will qualify those whom He calls." These soothing words of a prophet have been a source of peace, a calm in a storm of painful self-examination and tender feelings in the ensuing agonizing hours which have passed day and night since then.

I rehearsed what I have just described to you to my sweet companion, Lesa, later that day, seated in a quiet corner on Temple Square, with a serene view of the temple and the historic Tabernacle lying before us. As we tried to comprehend and process the events of the day, we found our anchor to be our faith in Jesus Christ and our knowledge of the great plan of happiness. This leads to an expression of my deepest love for Lesa. She is the sunshine in and of my life and a remarkable daughter of God. Hers is a life punctuated by selfless service and unconditional love of all. I will strive to remain worthy of the blessing of our eternal union.

I express my deepest love to our four sons and their families, three of whom are here with their beautiful wives, the mothers of our six grandchildren; the fourth, a missionary, has special permission to stay up past missionary curfew and is viewing these proceedings live with his mission president and the mission president's wife from their mission home in Taiwan. I love each of them and love how they love the Savior and the gospel.

I express my love to each member of my family: to my dear mother and to my father, who passed away last year, who instilled in me a testimony which seemed to dwell in me from my earliest memories. I further extend this gratitude to my brother, sisters, and their faithful spouses, as well as Lesa's family, many of whom are actually here today. I cast this net of gratitude to numerous extended family, friends, missionaries, leaders, and teachers along the way.

I have been blessed with a close association with the members of the First Presidency, the Twelve, the Seventy, and the general auxiliary presidencies. I express my love and esteem to each of you sisters and brothers and will strive to be worthy of our continued association. The Presiding Bishopric enjoys an almost heavenly unity. I will miss my association each day with Bishop Gérald Caussé, Bishop Dean M. Davies, and the staff.

I stand before you as evidence of the words of the Lord recorded in the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants: "That the fulness of [the] gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the [earth], and before kings and rulers." These words are preceded by the Lord's declaration which demonstrates the love of a Father for His children: "Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments."

Our loving Heavenly Father and His Son, Jehovah, with a knowledge of the end from the beginning, opened the heavens and a new dispensation to offset the calamities that They knew would come. The Apostle Paul described the forthcoming calamities as "perilous times." For me, this suggests that Heavenly Father's generous compensation for living in perilous times is that we also live in the fulness of times.

As I agonized over my inadequacies this week, I received a distinct impression which both chastened and comforted me: to focus not on what I can't do but rather on what I can do. I can testify of the plain and precious truths of the gospel.

These are the words which I have shared hundreds of times with both those who belong to the Church and many who are not members: "God is our [loving] Heavenly Father. We are His children. ... He weeps with us when we suffer and rejoices when we do what is right. He wants to communicate with us, and we can communicate with Him through sincere prayer. ...

"Heavenly Father has provided us, His children, with a way to ... return to live in His presence. ... Central to our [Heavenly] Father's plan is Jesus Christ's Atonement."

Heavenly Father sent His Son to the earth to atone for the sins of all mankind. Of these plain and precious truths I bear my testimony, and I do so in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

The Glorious Cause of America

David McCullough, known historian, gave this talk in 2005 at Brigham Young University:

One of the hardest, and I think the most important, realities of history to convey to students or readers of books or viewers of television documentaries is that nothing ever had to happen the way it happened. Any great past event could have gone off in any number of different directions for any number of different reasons. We should understand that history was never on a track. It was never preordained that it would turn out as it did.

Very often we are taught history as if it were predetermined, and if that way of teaching begins early enough and is sustained through our education, we begin to think that it had to have happened as it did. We think that there had to have been a Revolutionary War, that there had to have been a Declaration of Independence, that there had to have been a Constitution, but never was that so. In history, chance plays a part again and again. Character counts over and over. Personality is often the determining factor in why things turn out the way they do.

Furthermore, nobody ever lived in the past. Jefferson, Adams, George Washington-they didn't walk around saying, "Isn't this fascinating living in the past? Aren't we picturesque in our funny clothes?" They were living in the present, just as we do. The great difference is that it was their present, not ours. And just as we don't know how things are going to turn out, they didn't either.

We can know about the years that preceded us and about the people who preceded us. And if we love our country-if we love the blessings of a society that welcomes free speech, freedom of religion, and, most important of all, freedom to think for ourselves-then surely we ought to know how it came to be. Who was responsible? What did they do? How much did they contribute? How much did they suffer?

Abigail Adams, writing one of her many letters to her husband, John, who was off in Philadelphia working to put the Declaration of Independence through Congress, wrote, "Posterity who are to reap the blessings, will scarcely be able to conceive the hardships and sufferings of their ancestors."<1 Alas, she was right. We do not conceive what they went through.

We tend to see them-Adams, Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Rush, George Washington-as figures in a costume pageant; that is often the way they're portrayed. And we tend to see them as much older than they were because we're seeing them in the portraits by Gilbert Stuart and others when they were truly the Founding Fathers-when they were president or chief justice of the Supreme Court and their hair, if it hadn't turned white, was powdered white. We see the awkward teeth. We see the elder statesmen.

At the time of the Revolution, they were all young. It was a young man's-young woman's cause. George Washington took command of the Continental Army in the summer of 1775 at the age of 43. He was the oldest of them. Adams was 40. Jefferson was all of 33 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Benjamin Rush-who was the leader of the antislavery movement at the time, who introduced the elective system into higher education in this country, who was the first to urge the humane treatment of patients in mental hospitals-was 30 years old when he signed the Declaration of Independence. Furthermore, none of them had any prior experience in revolutions; they weren't experienced revolutionaries who'd come in to take part in this biggest of all events. They were winging it. They were improvising.

George Washington had never commanded an army in battle before. He'd served with some distinction in the French and Indian War with the colonial troops who were fighting with the British Army, but he'd never commanded an army in battle before. And he'd never commanded a siege, which is what he took charge of at Boston, where the rebel troops-the "rabble in arms"2 as the British called them-had the British penned in inside Boston.

Washington wasn't chosen by his fellow members of the Continental Congress because he was a great military leader. He was chosen because they knew him; they knew the kind of man he was; they knew his character, his integrity.

George Washington is the first of our political generals-a very important point about Washington. And we've been very lucky in our political generals. By political generals, I don't mean to suggest that is a derogatory or dismissive term. They are political in the sense that they understand how the system works, that they, as commander in chief, are not the boss. Washington reported to Congress. And no matter how difficult it was, how frustrating it was, how maddening it could be for Washington to get Congress to do what so obviously needed to be done to sustain his part in the fight, he never lost patience with them. He always played by the rule.

Washington was not, as were Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, and Hamilton, a learned man. He was not an intellectual. Nor was he a powerful speaker like his fellow Virginian Patrick Henry. What Washington was, above all, was a leader. He was a man people would follow. And as events would prove, he was a man whom some-a few-would follow through hell.

Don't get the idea that all of those who marched off to serve under Washington were heroes. They deserted the army by the hundreds, by the thousands as time went on. When their enlistments came up, they would up and go home just as readily as can be, feeling they had served sufficiently and they needed to be back home to support their families, who in many cases were suffering tremendously for lack of income or even food. But those who stayed with him stayed because they would not abandon this good man, as some of them said.

What Washington had, it seems to me, is phenomenal courage-physical courage and moral courage. He had high intelligence; if he was not an intellectual or an educated man, he was very intelligent. He was a quick learner-and a quick learner from his mistakes. He made dreadful mistakes, particularly in the year 1776. They were almost inexcusable, inexplicable mistakes, but he always learned from them. And he never forgot what the fight was about-"the glorious cause of America," as they called it. Washington would not give up; he would not quit.

When he took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge in the summer of 1775, Washington had probably 14,000 troops. And from those troops and from the officers who were there at the time when he arrived, he selected two men as the best he had. Here is another aspect of his leadership that must not be overlooked or underestimated: Washington was a great judge of other people's ability and capacity to stay where the fighting was the toughest and to never give up. He picked out Nathanael Greene and Henry Knox.

Nathanael Greene was a Quaker with a limp from a childhood injury. He knew no more of the military than what he had read in books, and he was made a major general at 33 years of age. Henry Knox was 25. He was a Boston bookseller. He was a big, fat, garrulous, keenly intelligent man who, like Greene, had only about the equivalent of a fifth-grade education but had never stopped reading. He, too, knew of the military only what he had read in books. But keep in mind that this was occurring in the 18th century, their present. It was the Age of Enlightenment, an era when it was widely understood that if you wanted to know something, a good way to learn was to read books-a very radical idea to many in our day and age.

Those two men were quintessential New Englanders. Greene was from Rhode Island and Knox had grown up in Boston. Washington had discovered very soon after arriving in New England that he ardently disliked New Englanders, so to single out these two, he also overcame a personal bias.

To skip far ahead, let me point out that Nathanael Greene and Henry Knox, along with Washington, were to be the only general officers in the Revolutionary War who stayed until the very end. So Washington's judgment could not have been better. Nathanael Greene turned out to be the best general we had, and I'm including Washington in that lineup-Greene, the Quaker with a limp, the man who knew nothing but what he had read in books, who, like Washington, learned from his mistakes.

Let's not forget what a war it was-eight and a half years, the longest war in our history, except for Vietnam. Twenty-five thousand Americans were killed. That doesn't sound like very much to those of us who have been bludgeoned, who have been numbed by the horrible statistics of war in the 20th or 21st centuries. This was 1 percent of the American population of 2.5 million. It was a lot. If we were to fight for our independence today and the war were equally costly, there would be more than 3 million of us killed. It was a long, bloody, costly war.

And as it wore on in the year 1776, we suffered one defeat after another. At Brooklyn-a huge battle over an area of six miles with 40,000 soldiers involved-we were soundly defeated. We were made to look foolish. We were outsmarted, outflanked, outgeneraled, outnumbered. Some of us were immensely heroic, but we never had a chance.

But then, in a miraculous escape from Brooklyn Heights on the night of Oct. 29, we got back across the East River and were saved. It was the Dunkirk of the Revolution. If the wind had been in the other direction that night or the two or three nights preceding it, there's not much question that the war would have been over then because Washington and 9,000 American troops would have been captured. If the British had been able to bring their warships up into the East River, between Brooklyn and Manhattan, they would have had us right in the trap. But because there was a howling storm out of the northeast, they weren't able to do that.

Washington ordered that every possible small craft be rounded up and be made ready to bring the army back to New York. It was to be done at night. An organized retreat for an experienced army is the most difficult maneuver of all when faced by a superior force. But for this amateur pick-up team, this rude, crude, un-uniformed, undisciplined, untrained American army of farm boys-some of whom had been given a musket and told to march off only a few weeks before-for that kind of an army to make a successful retreat across water at night, right in the face of the enemy without the enemy knowing, was a virtual impossibility. And yet they did it.

When they went down to the shores of the East River, right where the Brooklyn Bridge now stands, to start the crossing, the same wind that was keeping the British from bringing their fleet up was keeping the river too rough for them to make the crossing. It looked as though they weren't going to be able to pull it off. Then, all of a sudden, almost like the parting of the waters, the wind stopped. The makeshift armada started going back and forth, back and forth, all night long, ferrying men, horses, cannon-everything-back across the river to New York. And they succeeded. Nineteen thousand men and all their equipment-horses, cannon, and the rest-were taken across the river that night without the loss of a single man and without the British ever knowing it.

I wanted to write about that event, the reality of what happened there, as much as anything else in my book 1776. It shows so much that we need to understand. First of all, it was said right away that the hand of God had intervened in behalf of the American cause. Others trying to interpret what had happened used the words Providence or chance. But it couldn't have happened only because of chance or the hand of God. It also required people of skill and experience with the nerve to try it.

That escape was organized and led by a man named John Glover from Marblehead, Mass., and his Marblehead Mariners-fishermen, sailors who knew how to handle small boats. During the crossing-and the East River can be a treacherous place to cross, even in the best of conditions-boats were loaded down so that the gunwales were only a few inches above the water. No running lights, no motors, no cell phones to talk back and forth. And they did it. It was character and circumstance in combination that succeeded.

The men were totally demoralized. They had been defeated; they were soaking wet; they were cold; they were hungry. They lost again pathetically at Kip's Bay. They lost again in the great battle of Fort Washington, when nearly 3,000 of our troops and all of their equipment were taken captive.

By the time Washington started his long retreat across New Jersey, they were down to only a few thousand men. Probably a quarter of the army were too sick to fight, victims of smallpox, typhoid, typhus, and, worst of all, camp fever, or epidemic dysentery. Men deserted, men defected-went over to the enemy by the hundreds. Or they just disappeared, they just went away, never heard from again. By the time Washington was halfway across New Jersey, he had all of 3,000 men.

We are taught to honor and celebrate those great men who wrote and voted for the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. But none of what they committed themselves to-their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor-none of those noble words about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, about all men being created equal, none of that would have been worth any more than the paper it was written on had it not been for those who were fighting to make it happen. We must remember them, too, and especially those who seem nameless: Jabez Fitch and Joseph Hodgkins; little John Greenwood, who was all of 16 years old; and Israel Trask, who was 10 years old. There were boys marching with the troops as fifers or drummers or messenger boys, not just Nathanael Greene and Henry Knox and John Glover and George Washington. And they were in rags-they were in worse than rags. The troops had no winter clothing. The stories of men leaving bloody footprints in the snow are true-that's not mythology.

Washington was trying to get his army across the Delaware River, to put the river between his army and the oncoming British army, which was very well equipped, very well fed, very well trained-the best troops in the world led by an extremely able officer, Cornwallis. On they were coming, and they were going to end the war. But Washington felt that if he could just get across the river, get what men he had left over on the Pennsylvania shore on the western side, destroy any boats the British might use to come chasing across the river, that they'd have time to collect themselves and maybe get some extra support. Again they went across at night. Again it was John Glover and his men who made it happen. They lit huge bonfires on the Pennsylvania side of the river to light the crossing.

The next morning a unit from Pennsylvania rode in-militiamen, among whom was a young officer named Charles Willson Peale, the famous painter. He walked among these ragged troops of Washington's who had made the escape across from New Jersey and wrote about it in his diary. He said he'd never seen such miserable human beings in all his life-starving, exhausted, filthy. One man in particular he thought was just the most wretched human being he had ever laid eyes on. He described how the man's hair was all matted and how it hung down over his shoulders. The man was naked except for what they called a blanket coat. His feet were wrapped in rags, his face all covered with sores from sickness. Peale was studying him when, all of a sudden, he realized that the man was his own brother.

I think we should feel that they were all our brothers, those brave 3,000, and remember what they went through, just as Abigail Adams stressed in her letter. And that they didn't quit!

Washington took stock, just as the British army was taking stock, of the situation, as were most every officer and all of the politicians, many of whom had fled from Philadelphia by this time. It seemed clear that the British were heading for Philadelphia and there was nothing to stop them. Most everybody concluded that the war was over and we had lost. It was the only rational conclusion one could come to. There wasn't a chance. So Washington did what you sometimes have to do when everything is lost and all hope is gone. He attacked.

They went up the river nine miles to McKonkey's Ferry on Christmas night. They crossed the Delaware, famously portrayed in the great painting Washington Crossing the Delaware, which as everyone knows is inaccurate in many ways. But it does portray with drama and force what was one of the most important turning points, not just in the history of the war, but in the history of our country and, consequently, of the world. He had the nerve, the courage, the faith in the cause to carry the war once more to the enemy. After the crossing, they marched nine miles back down the river on the eastern side and struck at Trenton the next morning.

The worst part of the whole night was not the crossing, as bad as it was. The worst part was the march through the night. Again a northeaster was blowing, and again that northeaster was beneficial to our cause because it muffled the noise of the crossing and the noise of the march south. But it also increased by geometric proportions the misery of the troops. It was very cold. What the wind chill factor must have been can only be imagined. It was so cold that two men froze to death on the march because they had no winter clothing.

They struck at Trenton the next morning. It was a fierce, house-to-house, savage battle. It was small in scale but very severe. It was all over in about 45 minutes, and we won. For the first time, we defeated the enemy at their own profession.

Now it wasn't a great battle like Brooklyn. But its consequences were enormous, beyond reckoning. Because of the psychological effect, it transformed the attitude of the army and of much of the country toward the war. It was a turning point. They struck again at Princeton a few days later and won there too-again by surprise, again after marching through the night, again taking the most daring possible route, risking all and winning.

In conclusion I want to share a scene that took place on the last day of the year of 1776, Dec. 31. All the enlistments for the entire army were up. Every soldier, because of the system at the time, was free to go home as of the first day of January 1777. Washington called a large part of the troops out into formation. He appeared in front of these ragged men on his horse, and he urged them to reenlist. He said that if they would sign up for another six months, he'd give them a bonus of 10 dollars. It was an enormous amount then because that's about what they were being paid for a month-if and when they could get paid. These were men who were desperate for pay of any kind. Their families were starving.

The drums rolled, and he asked those who would stay on to step forward. The drums kept rolling, and nobody stepped forward. Washington turned and rode away from them. Then he stopped, and he turned back and rode up to them again. This is what we know he said:

My brave fellows, you have done all I asked you to do, and more than could be reasonably expected, but your country is at stake, your wives, your houses, and all that you hold dear. You have worn yourselves out with fatigues and hardships, but we know not how to spare you. If you will consent to stay one month longer, you will render that service to the cause of liberty, and to your country, which you can probably never do under any other circumstance.3

Again the drums rolled. This time the men began stepping forward. "God Almighty," wrote Nathanael Greene, "inclined their hearts to listen to the proposal and they engaged anew."4

Now that is an amazing scene, to say the least, and it's real. This wasn't some contrivance of a screenwriter. However, I believe there is something very familiar about what Washington said to those troops. It was as if he was saying, "You are fortunate. You have a chance to serve your country in a way that nobody else is going to be able to, and everybody else is going to be jealous of you, and you will count this the most important decision and the most valuable service of your lives." Now doesn't that have a familiar ring? Isn't it very like the speech of Henry V in Shakespeare's play Henry V: "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers . . . And gentlemen in England now a-bed / Shall think themselves accursed they were not here"?5 Washington loved the theater; Washington loved Shakespeare. I can't help but feel that he was greatly influenced.

He was also greatly influenced, as they all were, by the classical ideals of the Romans and the Greeks. The history they read was the history of Greece and Rome. And while Washington and Knox and Greene, not being educated men, didn't read Greek and Latin as Adams and Jefferson did, they knew the play Cato, and they knew about Cincinnatus. They knew that Cincinnatus had stepped forward to save his country in its hour of peril and then, after the war was over, returned to the farm. Washington, the political general, had never forgotten that Congress was boss. When the war was at last over, Washington, in one of the most important events in our entire history, turned back his command to Congress-a scene portrayed in a magnificent painting by John Trumbull that hangs in the rotunda of our national Capitol. When George III heard that George Washington might do this, he said that "if he does, he will be the greatest man in the world."

So what does this tell us? That the original decision of the Continental Congress was the wise one. They knew the man, they knew his character, and he lived up to his reputation.

I hope very much that those of you who are studying history here will pursue it avidly, with diligence, with attention. I hope you do this not just because it will make you a better citizen, and it will; not just because you will learn a great deal about human nature and about cause and effect in your own lives, as well as the life of the nation, which you will; but as a source of strength, as an example of how to conduct yourself in difficult times-and we live in very difficult times, very uncertain times. But I hope you also find history to be a source of pleasure. Read history for pleasure as you would read a great novel or poetry or go to see a great play.

And I hope when you read about the American Revolution and the reality of those people that you will never think of them again as just figures in a costume pageant or as gods. They were not perfect; they were imperfect-that's what's so miraculous. They rose to the occasion as very few generations ever have.

The American Flag

I found this great article about the history of the American Flag on PBS.org:

The History of the American Flag

On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed an act establishing an official flag for the new nation. The resolution stated: "Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." On Aug. 3, 1949, President Harry S. Truman officially declared June 14 as Flag Day.

The history of our flag is as fascinating as that of the American Republic itself. It has survived battles, inspired songs and evolved in response to the growth of the country it represents. The following is a collection of interesting facts and customs about the American flag and how it is to be displayed:

Origins

The origin of the first American flag is unknown. Some historians believe it was designed by New Jersey Congressman Francis Hopkinson and sewn by Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross.

The name Old Glory was given to a large, 10-by-17-foot flag by its owner, William Driver, a sea captain from Massachusetts. Inspiring the common nickname for all American flags, Driver's flag is said to have survived multiple attempts to deface it during the Civil War. Driver was able to fly the flag over the Tennessee Statehouse once the war ended. The flag is a primary artifact at the National Museum of American History and was last displayed in Tennessee by permission of the Smithsonian at an exhibition in 2006.

Between 1777 and 1960 Congress passed several acts that changed the shape, design and arrangement of the flag and allowed stars and stripes to be added to reflect the admission of each new state.

Today the flag consists of 13 horizontal stripes, seven red alternating with six white. The stripes represent the original 13 Colonies and the stars represent the 50 states of the Union. The colors of the flag are symbolic as well; red symbolizes hardiness and valor, white symbolizes purity and innocence, and blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice.

The National Museum of American History has undertaken a long-term preservation project of the enormous 1814 garrison flag that survived the 25-hour shelling of Fort McHenry in Baltimore by British troops and inspired Francis Scott Key to compose "The Star-Spangled Banner." Often referred to by that name, the flag had become soiled and weakened over time and was removed from the museum in December 1998. This preservation effort began in earnest in June 1999, and continues to this day. The flag is now stored at a 10-degree angle in a special low-oxygen, filtered light chamber and is periodically examined at a microscopic level to detect signs of decay or damage within its individual fibers.

There are a few locations where the U.S. flag is flown 24 hours a day, by either presidential proclamation or by law:

- Fort McHenry, National Monument and Historic Shrine, Baltimore, Maryland

- Flag House Square, Baltimore, Maryland

- United States Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima), Arlington, Virginia

- On the Green of the Town of Lexington, Massachusetts

- The White House, Washington, D.C.

- United States customs ports of entry

- Grounds of the National Memorial Arch in Valley Forge State Park, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Inspiration

After a British bombardment, amateur poet Francis Scott Key was so inspired by the sight of the American flag still flying over Baltimore's Fort McHenry that he wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner" on Sept. 14, 1814. It officially became our national anthem in 1931.

In 1892, the flag inspired James B. Upham and Francis Bellamy to write The Pledge of Allegiance. It was first published in a magazine called The Youth's Companion.

On Distant Shores

In 1909, Robert Peary placed an American flag, sewn by his wife, at the North Pole. He also left pieces of another flag along the way. It is the only time a person has been honored for cutting the flag.

In 1963, Barry Bishop placed the American flag on top of Mount Everest.

In July 1969, the American flag was "flown" in space when Neil Armstrong placed it on the moon. Flags were placed on the lunar surface on each of six manned landings during the Apollo program.

The first time the American flag was flown overseas on a foreign fort was in Libya, over Fort Derne, on the shores of Tripoli in 1805.

Displaying the Stars and Stripes

The flag is usually displayed from sunrise to sunset. It should be raised briskly and lowered ceremoniously. In inclement weather, the flag should not be flown.

The flag should be displayed daily and on all holidays, weather permitting, on or near the main administration buildings of all public institutions. It should also be displayed in or near every polling place on election days and in or near every schoolhouse during school days.

When displayed flat against a wall or a window, or in a vertical orientation, the "union" field of stars should be uppermost and to the left of the observer.

When the flag is raised or lowered as part of a ceremony, and as it passes by in parade or review, everyone, except those in uniform, should face the flag with the right hand over the heart.

The U.S. flag should never be dipped toward any person or object, nor should the flag ever touch anything beneath it.

Stand in the Sacred Grove

Monday marks 172 years of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr and his brother, the Patriarch, Hyrum Smith. John Taylor said, as seen in Doctrine and Covenants 135:

"To seal the testimony of this book and the Book of Mormon, we announce the martyrdom of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and Hyrum Smith the Patriarch. They were shot in Carthage jail, on the 27th of June, 1844, about five o'clock p.m., by an armed mob-painted black-of from 150 to 200 persons. Hyrum was shot first and fell calmly, exclaiming: I am a dead man! Joseph leaped from the window, and was shot dead in the attempt, exclaiming: O Lord my God! They were both shot after they were dead, in a brutal manner, and both received four balls.

"John Taylor and Willard Richards, two of the Twelve, were the only persons in the room at the time; the former was wounded in a savage manner with four balls, but has since recovered; the latter, through the providence of God, escaped, without even a hole in his robe.

"Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord's anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!

"When Joseph went to Carthage to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his assassination, he said: "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer's morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me-he was murdered in cold blood."-The same morning, after Hyrum had made ready to go-shall it be said to the slaughter? yes, for so it was-he read the following paragraph, near the close of the twelfth chapter of Ether, in the Book of Mormon, and turned down the leaf upon it:

"And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace, that they might have charity. And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me: If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness, thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father. And now I ... bid farewell unto the Gentiles; yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love, until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood. The testators are now dead, and their testament is in force.

"Hyrum Smith was forty-four years old in February, 1844, and Joseph Smith was thirty-eight in December, 1843; and henceforward their names will be classed among the martyrs of religion; and the reader in every nation will be reminded that the Book of Mormon, and this book of Doctrine and Covenants of the church, cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world; and that if the fire can scathe a green tree for the glory of God, how easy it will burn up the dry trees to purify the vineyard of corruption. They lived for glory; they died for glory; and glory is their eternal reward. From age to age shall their names go down to posterity as gems for the sanctified.

"They were innocent of any crime, as they had often been proved before, and were only confined in jail by the conspiracy of traitors and wicked men; and their innocent blood on the floor of Carthage jail is a broad seal affixed to "Mormonism" that cannot be rejected by any court on earth, and their innocent blood on the escutcheon of the State of Illinois, with the broken faith of the State as pledged by the governor, is a witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel that all the world cannot impeach; and their innocent blood on the banner of liberty, and on the magna charta of the United States, is an ambassador for the religion of Jesus Christ, that will touch the hearts of honest men among all nations; and their innocent blood, with the innocent blood of all the martyrs under the altar that John saw, will cry unto the Lord of Hosts till he avenges that blood on the earth. Amen."

They sealed their lives, their work as authorized by God, and their testimonies in their blood. Let us not forget what started it all.

Marlin K. Jensen reminded us in a talk he gave in 2012 to the young adults of the Church:

Good evening, brothers and sisters. I feel very grateful but also very humble to have been given this choice assignment by the First Presidency to speak to you tonight. To begin, I want you to know that I was once wrinkle-free, dark-headed, and full of life like you-a part of what the scriptures call the "rising generations." I'm not sure what the correct antonym or opposite of rising is-perhaps "sinking" or "declining"-but whatever it is, it describes the stage of life I am now in, and it doesn't sound very promising to me!

Although I'm speaking to you from a beautiful chapel near the Sacramento California Temple, I can see in my mind's eye the tens of thousands of you-speaking nearly 40 different languages-who are assembled all across the world. I have been blessed to visit many of your countries, to hear you speak and bear testimony in your native tongues, and to witness firsthand your faith and devotion to the Lord. I love and commend you for your righteousness. I know life at your age can be challenging, and I know we sometimes err and have need to repent. But I sincerely thank you for seeking to stand firm in your faith in Christ and His restored gospel. My fondest wish tonight is that I might be blessed to speak by the power of the Holy Ghost and thereby contribute to an increase of your faith.

There are places on this earth that have been made sacred by what happened there. According to the Old Testament, one of these places is Sinai, Horeb, or "the mountain of God" (Exodus 3:1; see also Exodus 3:12; 34:2), where the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush. As Moses approached the bush, the Lord said to him, "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5).

My family and I were once blessed to live in a sacred place. In 1993-four years after my call to the Seventy-we were asked to serve for two years in the Church's New York Rochester Mission. That mission includes the town of Palmyra (where Joseph Smith and his family lived during much of the 1820s) and Fayette (where the Church was organized in April 1830). About 110 miles south of Palmyra, in the state of Pennsylvania, is the site of Harmony (where Joseph Smith met Emma Hale and where they lived as a newly married couple while much of the Book of Mormon was translated in the late 1820s). This general area is known as the "Cradle of the Restoration," as this is where the Church was born. It is picturesque country, characterized by rolling, wooded hills; clear lakes and streams; and warm, colorful people. It is also a place made sacred by what happened there.

In a grove of towering beeches, oaks, maples, and other trees, about one quarter of a mile west of the Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith family home near Palmyra, 14-year-old Joseph Smith saw in vision God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, in the spring of 1820. This divine manifestation, in response to Joseph's prayer to know the truth concerning religion and how he might obtain a remission of his sins, began the Restoration of the gospel in this final dispensation. It also made that grove of trees a revered place in the history of our Church-a place we honor with the name "Sacred Grove."

While I served as mission president, my family and I came to love that grove of trees and to feel of its sacredness. We went there often. Each month as new missionaries arrived and as those finishing their missions departed, we took them there. Our practice was to gather at an entrance to the grove, and after singing tonight's opening hymn-"Joseph Smith's First Prayer" 1 -we invited the elders and sisters to disperse and find a secluded place in the grove where they could each commune with God in prayer and make and report on their personal commitments to Him. These visits to the Sacred Grove were and remain treasured experiences for all who were blessed to have them.

I realize, however, that only a small number of you will ever be able to visit the Sacred Grove in person. For this reason, in this, the spring of 2012-192 years after Joseph Smith's First Vision-I want you to come with me virtually into the Sacred Grove. Stand with me there while I share with you some visual scenes of the grove, the reasons for my love of that sacred place, and the valuable life's lessons one can learn there.

I am indebted to Brother Robert Parrott, a forester and naturalist employed by the Church, who lives in Palmyra, for bringing to my attention some of the insights about the Sacred Grove that I will share. Though not yet a member of our faith, Brother Parrott reveres the Sacred Grove and gives it tender and very professional care.

As I have reverently walked through the Sacred Grove or sat in thought on the benches that are provided there, I have often reflected on the abundance of scriptural imagery involving trees, branches, roots, seeds, fruits, and forests. Adam and Eve, our first parents, undoubtedly received the first lesson in tree husbandry. The prophet Jacob, quoting Zenos in the Book of Mormon, shares an intricate allegory or story of tame and wild olive trees as he teaches about the scattering and gathering of Israel (see Jacob 5). And who among us hasn't read, reread, and prayerfully pondered the seed of faith Alma invites us to plant that, with patient care and proper nourishment, becomes "a tree springing up unto everlasting life"? (Alma 32:41; see verses 27-43).

So it is with the Sacred Grove. A careful observer of nature-especially when he is accompanied by a naturalist of the caliber of Brother Robert Parrott-can learn some significant lessons from the ecosystem that exists there. I wish to briefly share four of those lessons with you tonight.

Lesson number 1: Trees always grow toward the light.

One interesting phenomenon to be observed in the Sacred Grove is the trees growing on the edge of the original forest, as well as those lining many of the interior pathways. They have grown outward to escape the overshadowing foliage above them, and then upward to absorb the greatest possible sunlight. Their crooked trunks and branches stand in stark contrast to neighboring trees that grow almost perfectly straight. Trees, like almost all living organisms, need light to survive and to thrive. They will do all in their power to soak in as much sunlight as possible to promote photosynthesis-the process of converting light energy into chemical energy, or the "fuel" used by almost all living organisms.

I'm sure your young, bright minds already know where this metaphor from the Sacred Grove is taking us! Light is an even more important catalyst in the spiritual realm than it is in nature. This is so because light is essential to our spiritual growth and the realization of our full potential as God's sons and daughters.

Darkness is the opposite of light and represents the forces in the world that seek to separate us from God and to frustrate His divine plan for our lives. It is usually after dark or in dark places that the forces of evil exert their greatest influence. At your stage in life, breeches of the law of chastity, acts of stealing, gambling, violations of the Word of Wisdom, and other behaviors forbidden by our Heavenly Father are usually engaged in under cover of darkness. Even when we choose to do wrong during broad daylight-for example, by cheating on an examination, plagiarizing in writing a paper, maliciously gossiping about someone, using profanity, or lying-we can't help but have feelings of darkness.

Fortunately, the Spirit of Christ "giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit.

"And every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father" (D&C 84:46-47).

This passage from the Doctrine and Covenants beautifully describes the upward reach of man, the natural God-given spiritual instinct we all have-if we don't stifle it-to go toward the light and, in so doing, to go toward God and His Son and to become more like Them. Of Himself, Christ said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).

In understanding scripture, you can tell a lot about a word by the company that it keeps. In your scripture study, notice how often the words light, Spirit, truth, and Jesus Christ are found in close proximity. They are nearly synonymous, and all draw us upward to a higher and more holy way of life.

With all my heart I urge you to avoid the darkness of sin in all its vile forms and to fill your lives with Spirit, truth, and the light of our Savior, Jesus Christ. You can do this by seeking after noble friends, inspiring music and art, knowledge out of the best books (especially the scriptures), moments of sincere prayer, quiet times in nature, wholesome activities and conversations, and a life centered on Christ and His teachings of love and service. Remember always, and especially in seeking an eternal companion, the Lord's declaration that "truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light" (D&C 88:40). This principle of goodness being attracted to goodness provides hope that if we live a life in the light of the gospel, we will eventually find a companion walking a parallel path of righteousness. I know the more we endeavor to fill our own lives with light, the less room there is for darkness and the closer we will eventually come to being like Christ, the Light of the World.

Because of the special blessing that is mine tonight to speak to you exceptional young Latter-day Saints, I want to raise a voice of warning but also a voice of encouragement and hope concerning the darkness that will inevitably invade your life if you become involved with pornography. Using pornographic material in any way offends God and violates His command that we not commit adultery "nor do anything like unto it" (D&C 59:6). Use of pornography almost always leads to additional violations of the law of chastity. Repeated exposure to pornographic materials and participation in the forms of sexual transgression that usually follow can create an addiction that must be dealt with and treated with the same care that is given to addictions to alcohol or drugs.

If pornography has already plagued your life and is a persistent and recurring problem, I beg of you to seek both ecclesiastical and professional help. Please know that a pornography addiction is not just "a little problem" that you can conquer in secrecy with prayer, scripture study, and greater self-control.

Because an addiction to pornography can diminish your willpower to choose good over evil, you will need meekness and humility to embrace the Atonement of Jesus Christ and be blessed by the Atonement's enabling power. What this means, in practical terms, is that if you exert your own best efforts-which include going through a repentance process with your bishop's or branch president's help to gain forgiveness of sin and going through a recovery process involving professional counseling and possibly group support to overcome your addiction-the enabling power of the Atonement (which the Bible Dictionary describes as a divine means of help or strength 2 ), will assist you to overcome the compulsion of a pornography addiction and, over time, to heal from its corrosive effects. Through the power of the Atonement, both forgiveness of sin and recovery from addiction are possible, and both are wonderful.

Please, shun darkness and, like trees, always seek to grow toward the light.

Lesson number 2: Trees require opposition to fulfill the measure of their creation.

Various schools of thought about forest management have been followed through the years in caring for the Sacred Grove. At one time a test plot was selected and a practice known as "release thinning" was employed. It worked this way: The foresters identified what they felt were potentially the largest and healthiest young trees in the test plot, and then they cut and pruned out the less-promising trees and the competing undergrowth. The supposition was that by removing much of the competition for water, sunlight, and soil nutrients, the chosen trees would be "released" to grow and develop in extraordinary ways.

After some years it became obvious that just the opposite was occurring. Once freed from competition, the chosen trees became complacent. Instead of stretching upward toward the light, they slowed their vertical growth, put out many lower limbs that would eventually become useless when the canopy closed, and became fatter. Meanwhile, the trees that were removed resprouted as multistemmed bushes, which would not become viable trees but continued to use water and nutrients. These bush-like trees continued to compete with the chosen trees, but not in a way that would bring about positive growth in either of them. As a result, none of the trees in the test plot compared in size or vitality to the trees left to grow more naturally and that had to compete and overcome opposition in order to survive and to thrive.

As you know, one of the key doctrines of the Book of Mormon is that there must be an opposition in all things. A world with opposites provides choices between good and evil so that agency can operate. Equally important, however, is the principle that opposition must exist for spiritual growth to occur-or, as father Lehi put it, for "holiness" to be brought to pass (2 Nephi 2:11). I want to stress that understanding this principle-that spiritual growth requires opposition and adversity-and even embracing this principle at your age is a key to accepting and being generally happy with life. It is also critical to experiencing needed personal growth and development.

Sooner or later, all of us will encounter opposition and adversity. Some of it will come simply as a result of being here in mortality in a fallen world. It is the common lot of all mankind. Such opposition can take many forms. It may involve forces of nature. It may consist of illness and disease. (I seem to be able to contract the flu even when vaccinated against it!) It may come in the form of temptations. For some it will mean unmet expectations. (I would have loved to be 6 feet 5 inches tall, but I have learned to be happy with the 5 feet 9 inches that I was allotted-and with the inevitable lowering of the pulpit whenever I have a talk to give.) It may be in the form of loneliness or physical or mental imperfections and disabilities-the list of opposing forces is nearly endless, and so are the blessings of personal growth and development if we have the faith to take the long view and endure it all well. I take great solace from the Lord's words to Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail at a time when Joseph's burdens were nearly unbearable: "Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good" (D&C 122:7).

Sometimes opposition and hardship come because of our own misguided choices. The poor health or injury that may result from a reckless lifestyle, the anguish and sorrow that come from breaking God's laws, the regret we later feel when we fail to make the most of the time and talents given to us-all are conditions of our own making. How grateful we should all be to our Savior, whose Atonement provides a way for us to mend everything that is broken.

I've noticed that when faced with opposition we often ask "why"-Why me? Why now? Why this?-when to ask "what" would be more constructive. I once sent a letter of comfort to a couple in distress because the husband was dying of an incurable illness. Their reply was humbling: they enumerated the blessings God had given them in their many years together and then faithfully wondered "what" it was that God was trying to teach them in this final tutorial.

There are trees in the Sacred Grove that Brother Parrott calls "character trees." These are trees that demonstrate that opposition can work to our benefit and that in our extremity there is often much to be gained. These trees have had to react and adapt to and sometimes recover from various forms of opposition or adversity-a lightning strike, a powerful gust of wind, a heavy accumulation of snow or ice, the encroachment and abuse of careless humans, and even sometimes the aggression of a neighboring tree! Out of these adverse circumstances have come some of the sturdiest and most visually interesting trees in the grove. What they may lack in symmetrical beauty, they more than make up for in resoluteness and in character.

From my own life's experience, I can testify that opposition, hardship, and adversity produce character and growth. Some of the most challenging and demanding experiences of my own life-feelings of inadequacy and self-consciousness during my adolescence, my mission to Germany as a young man and the learning of the German language, the earning of a law degree and passing the bar examination, my efforts to be an acceptable husband and father and to provide both spiritually and temporally for our family of eight children, the loss of my parents and other loved ones, even the public and often stressful nature of my service as a General Authority (including the preparation and giving of this address to you tonight)-all this and more, though challenging and hard, has given me experience and has been for my good!

I know it's not an easy case to make to you young people that a little pain is good for you, but it honestly is. If we are ever going to receive "all that [the] Father hath" (D&C 84:38), it's not going to happen without giving all that we have in return. Our Heavenly Father desires noble sons and daughters, and as Lehi taught, holiness can only be brought to pass through adversity and testing. People, like trees, require opposition to fulfill the measure of their creation.

Lesson number 3: Trees are best grown in forests, not in isolation.

If you think about it, in nature it's very unusual to see a tree standing alone. They almost always congregate in groves, and over time, groves may become forests. The Sacred Grove, however, is much more than just a group of trees. It is a complicated ecosystem that includes numerous species of flora and fauna. There is an observable interconnectedness among all the different varieties of wildflowers, bushes, shrubs, trees, fungi, mosses, birds, rodents, rabbits, deer, and other creations that are there. These species interact and rely on one another for food, shelter, and a synergistic and social environment where they can all experience their cycle of life.

God's plan for our lives contemplates a similar interconnectedness and sociality for us. We are to work out our salvation together, not in isolation. The Church builds meetinghouses, not hermitages. We are asked to attend a specific ward or branch-not to pick and choose our congregation, as in some faiths. This wise policy requires us to learn to get along with each other and to be accountable to our bishop or branch president for our behavior, not to run and hide when the going gets tough! We're commanded to love our neighbors (which includes our family members), and learning to love those closest to us is often much more difficult than remotely loving "all the world." From the beginning of the Restoration, the command has been for the Saints to "come to Zion" and to gather in communities where we can learn to live in harmony and mutually support one another by honoring our baptismal covenant "to bear one another's burdens, ... to mourn with those that mourn; ... and comfort those that stand in need of comfort" (Mosiah 18:8-9). As God's children, we can no more prosper in isolation than a solitary tree can. Healthy trees need an ecosystem; healthy people need each other.

Thankfully, there is in all of us a longing for sociality, for companionship, for loyal friends. As members of God's eternal family, we all yearn for the satisfaction and security that close and lasting relationships can provide. You will learn that the creation of such relationships takes time, effort, and an abundance of charity. As Mormon expressed it, "charity ... seeketh not her own" (Moroni 7:45)-not her own agenda, not her own interests, and certainly not her own pleasure. Although the Internet and social networking sites undoubtedly provide for a form of sociality, they are no substitute for the honest, open, and face-to-face communication that must occur for authentic and lasting relationships to be established.

Certainly the earliest and best laboratory for learning to get along with others is the home. It is at home that we learn the lessons of service, unselfishness, forgiveness, and patience that are essential to the formation of lasting relationships with others. I think it is for this reason that a part of being "temple worthy" is the requirement that we live in love and harmony with members of our family.

Happily, the inspired organization of the Church also provides opportunities and settings where we can develop socially. From our youngest to our oldest years, we belong to a ward or branch and are in situations where relationships with others and sociality can flourish. In Church callings, meetings, classes, quorums, councils, activities, and a variety of other opportunities for association, we develop the attributes and social skills that help prepare us for the social order that will exist in heaven. In speaking of this higher order, the Lord, through Joseph Smith, said: "And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy" (D&C 130:2).

If we hope to enjoy the sociality of heaven and its associated glory in the world to come, we need continually to mature socially as well as spiritually while here on earth. People, like trees, are best grown in communities, not in isolation.

Lesson number 4: Trees draw strength from the nutrients created by previous generations of trees.

There was a period of time in caring for the Sacred Grove when those in charge decided that the grove should have a well-groomed appearance. Service projects for youth and missionaries were periodically organized to clear the grove of fallen trees and limbs, undergrowth, and even stumps and dead leaves. Under this practice, it wasn't long before the vitality of the grove began to diminish. Tree growth slowed, fewer new trees sprouted, some species of wildflowers and plants began to disappear, and numbers of wildlife and birds decreased.

When Brother Parrott took over the care of the grove some years ago, he recommended that the grove be left in as natural a state as possible. Fallen trees and limbs were left to decompose and enrich the soil. Leaves were left lying where they fell. Visitors were asked to stay on marked pathways so that the grove would be less disturbed and the soil within the grove less compacted. Within just a few years, the grove began to regenerate and renew itself in a remarkable way. Today it flourishes in a nearly pristine state, with lush vegetation and an abundance of wildlife.

The lesson to be learned from this experience in forest management is dear to my heart. For seven years now it has been my privilege to serve as the Church historian and recorder. This is an office that was created by the Prophet Joseph Smith in response to the Lord's command to him on the day the Church was organized: "Behold, there shall be a record kept among you" (D&C 21:1). From that day-beginning with the appointment of Oliver Cowdery as the first Church historian and recorder and continuing until the present time-a remarkable record of our Church's history has been kept. John Whitmer replaced Oliver Cowdery and was told by the Lord to keep "a history of all the important things ... which shall be for the good of the church, and for the rising generations that shall grow up on the land of Zion" (D&C 69:3, 8).

Why do record keeping and the collection, preservation, and sharing of history enjoy such importance in the Church of Jesus Christ? Why is it critical for you, as part of today's "rising generations," to be mindful of and draw strength from past generations?

In response, I suggest that it is impossible to live fully in the present-much less to plan for our future destiny-without the foundation of the past. This truth was brought forcefully to my attention some months ago in meeting a wonderful couple who had experienced a most unusual trial, which I share with permission. After some years of marriage and the birth of several children, the wife was involved in a serious accident. She remained in the hospital several weeks in an unconscious state. When she came to, she had suffered a complete loss of her memory! She had, in effect, no history. Without memory of her past, she had no point of reference. She didn't know her husband, her children, or her parents! As the husband related this story to me, he confided that in those early months following the accident, he worried that his wife would wander off if left unattended. He also feared that his wife wouldn't fall in love with him again. During courtship he had been a trim, athletic young man with a full head of hair. Now, at midlife, he was more portly and had much less hair!

Fortunately for all concerned, at least a partial record had been kept. The husband had saved letters written by his wife before and during his mission. These provided evidence that the two of them had indeed been in love. He also had kept a journal that contained helpful entries. Gradually, over some years, the wife has had much of her past restored to her through the sharing of that history by her loved ones.

This unique and tender situation illustrates well the important relationship of the past to the present and to the future. It helps us more fully appreciate the Lord's definition of truth as revealed to Joseph Smith: "Truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come" (D&C 93:24). The knowledge we have of our past because of the records that have been kept and of our future because of the scriptures and the prophetic teachings of living prophets provide us the context that allows wise use of our agency during our present existence. In effect, this knowledge gives us a more godly perspective because it brings us closer to His ability to have "all things ... present before [His] eyes" (D&C 38:2).

As members of the Church from many nations, we all share the early history of the Church in common. It is important for all of us to become familiar with our Church's history, especially what I will call its "founding stories." These stories-Joseph Smith's First Vision, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, angelic visitations by John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John, Elijah, Elias, and others-contain the foundational truths upon which the Restoration of the gospel is based.

Regrettably, in this technological age where information abounds-some of it critical of events and people in the Church's history-some Latter-day Saints become shaken in their faith and begin to question long-held beliefs. To such questioning individuals I extend love and understanding and the assurance that if they will abide by gospel principles and prayerfully pursue their study of Church history-studying sufficiently to gain a more comprehensive rather than a fragmentary or incomplete knowledge-the Holy Ghost will confirm their faith in the essential events in Church history by speaking peace to their minds. In this way they can become settled in their convictions concerning the history of the restored Church and "be no more ... carried about with every wind of doctrine" (Ephesians 4:14). I have staked the course of my entire life on just such feelings of peace concerning Joseph Smith's First Vision and other seminal events of the restored gospel, as have many of you, and I know we will never be disappointed.

History in its most basic form is a record of people and their lives, and from those lives come stories and lessons that can reinforce what we believe, what we stand for, and what we should do in the face of adversity. Not all of the stories that make up our history are of the epic nature of Joseph Smith's First Vision or of Wilford Woodruff's mission to England. In fact, some truly remarkable stories come from the lives of very ordinary Latter-day Saints, which most of us are. They are especially dear and helpful to us when the stories involve our own ancestors.

For instance, in the 1920s my grandfather and grandmother Jensen-despite toiling long hours-were forced to give back to the seller a farm they were buying and on which they lived in the state of Idaho. They wanted to return with their young children to their hometown in Utah but couldn't leave Idaho until they cleared $350 in debt. This seems like a small amount today, but it was significant then. Grandfather tried to borrow the money from men who had it, but with no success. Borrowing from a bank was out of the question because of their destitute circumstances. He and Grandmother prayed for help every day. One Sunday morning at priesthood meeting, a man Grandfather hardly knew approached him and told him he had heard of his trouble and would lend Grandfather the $350 with the expectation that when Grandfather got back to Utah, he would repay the man as soon as possible. Their agreement was consummated with a handshake, and Grandfather kept his word.

This simple story recorded by my grandmother Jensen is a family treasure. It inspires me by illustrating attributes of hard work, honesty, overcoming adversity, family solidarity, and most significantly, it shows the hand of God in the lives of my faithful grandparents. I draw great strength and encouragement from their example and from the example of others, both the great and the common, of past generations.

You may find similar stories in your own land and in your own families. Where they exist, I urge you to collect these stories, to preserve them, and to share them. Take care to pass them on from one generation to another. My children (and mostly now my grandchildren) always love it when I tell them stories about "when I was a little boy"! I have heard it said that a people can be no greater than its stories, and I believe the same is true of families. Good stories-if true-make good history. Remember, people, like trees, draw strength from the nutrients created by previous generations.

Now, as I conclude, I want you to return with me to the Sacred Grove and stand with me there near one of the so-called "witness trees." These are trees that were growing in the grove 192 years ago at the time of Joseph Smith's First Vision. There are three of them still living in the grove and three dead witness trees that remain standing through the skillful preservation efforts of Brother Parrott.

When we were serving our mission near Palmyra, I used to sometimes go into the Sacred Grove alone and stand in reverence next to my favorite witness tree. I used to imagine that if that tree could talk it would tell me what it witnessed that spring day in 1820. But I really didn't need that tree to tell me-I already knew. By virtue of spiritual experiences and feelings beginning in my youth and continuing to this very hour, I have come to know, independent of any other person, that God, our Father, lives. I know, too, that His Son, Jesus Christ, is the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind. I know these two glorified Beings appeared to Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove in the spring of 1820. They raised Joseph up as the founding prophet of this, the final gospel dispensation. Working under Their divine direction, Joseph translated the Book of Mormon, received priesthood keys and authority, and organized Christ's Church again in these latter days. We are tremendously blessed to be living at this time and to be members of Christ's Church.

These glorious truths of which I have testified have their beginning in the Sacred Grove. As you have figuratively stood with me in the Sacred Grove tonight, so stand always in your minds and in your hearts in that sacred place and live true to the truths that God began to reveal there.

Remember, too, the life's lessons that the Sacred Grove teaches:

1. When powers of darkness seek to destroy you-as they once did an inquiring young Joseph Smith, stand in the Sacred Grove and remember the pillar of light, "above the brightness of the sun" (see Joseph Smith-History 1:15-17).

2. When opposition and adversity hedge up your way and hope dims, stand in the Sacred Grove and remember that "all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good" (D&C 122:7).

3. When loneliness and isolation are your lot and you struggle to establish fulfilling human relationships, stand in the Sacred Grove with the community of Latter-day Saints who have covenanted to help bear your burdens and comfort you in your need.

4. And when experiences or people or conflicting truth claims challenge your faith and create doubt concerning the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, stand in the Sacred Grove and take strength and encouragement from the generations of faithful Latter-day Saints who have steadfastly stood there before you.

This is my prayer for you, my young friends, and I offer it with love and in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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