I think our Father must weep
because so many of His children through the ages
have exercised the agency He gave them
and have chosen to walk
the road of evil rather than good.
Ignorance and evil enveloped the world,
resulting in what is known as the Dark Ages.
Isaiah had predicted,
“Darkness shall cover the earth,
and gross darkness the people”
(Isaiah 60:2)
There came a movement of
bold and courageous men and women
who looked heavenward in acknowledgment of God
and His divine Son.
We speak of it as the Reformation.
The dawn of the dispensation
of the fulness of times
rose upon the world.
All of the good,
the beautiful,
the divine of all previous dispensations
was restored in this most
remarkable season.
But there was also evil.
And one manifestation of that evil was persecution.
There was hatred.
There were drivings and forced marches
in the time of winter.
It was as Charles Dickens described
in the opening lines of his A Tale of Two Cities:
“It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times, …
it was the season of Light,
it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope,
it was the winter of despair.”
Notwithstanding the great evil of these times,
what a glorious season
it has been and now is.
A new day has come
in the work of the Almighty.
That work has grown
and strengthened
and moved across the earth.
It has now touched for good
the lives of millions,
and this is only the beginning.
This great dawning has also resulted in
a tremendous outpouring
of secular knowledge
upon the world.
Think of the increased longevity of life.
Think of the wonders of modern medicine.
I stand amazed.
Think of the flowering of education.
Think of the miraculous advances in
travel and communication.
Man’s ingenuity knows no end
when the God of heaven inspires
and pours out
light and knowledge.
Yet there is this glorious dawn.
The “Sun of righteousness” has come
“with healing in his wings”
(Malachi 4:2).
God and His Beloved Son have revealed Themselves.
We know Them.
We worship Them “in spirit and in truth”
(John 4:24).
We love Them.
We honor Them and
seek to do Their will.
The keys of the everlasting priesthood
have turned the locks of the prisons of the past.
The morning breaks,
the shadows flee;
Lo, Zion’s standard is unfurled!
The dawning
of a brighter day, …
Majestic rises
on the world.
[“The Morning Breaks,” LDS Hymns, no. 1]
Perilous times? Yes. These are perilous times.
But the human race has lived in peril
from the time before the earth was created.
Somehow,
through all of the darkness,
there has been a faint but beautiful light.
And now with added luster
it shines upon the world.
It carries with it God’s plan of happiness
for His children.
It carries with it the great and unfathomable wonders of
the Atonement of the Redeemer.
How grateful we are to the God of heaven
for His beneficent care of
His children in providing for them,
through all of the perils of eternity,
the opportunity of salvation
and the blessing of exaltation
in His kingdom,
if only they will live in righteousness.
And, my brothers and sisters, this places upon each of us a grand and consuming responsibility.
President Wilford Woodruff said in 1894:
“The Almighty is with this people.
The eyes of God and all the holy prophets are watching us.
This is the great dispensation that has been spoken of ever since
the world began.
We are gathered together …
by the power and commandment of God.
We are doing the work of God. …
Let us fill our mission”
This is our great and demanding challenge,
my brothers and sisters.
This is the choice we must constantly make,
just as generations before us
have had to choose.
We must ask ourselves:
Who’s on the Lord’s side? Who?
Now is the time to show.
We ask it fearlessly:
Who’s on the Lord’s side? Who?
[“Who’s on the Lord’s Side?” LDS Hymns, no. 260]
Do we really comprehend,
do we understand the tremendous significance
of that which we have?
This is the summation of the generations of man,
the concluding chapter
in the entire panorama of the human experience.
But this does not put us in a position of superiority.
Rather, it should humble us.
It places upon us an unforgiving responsibility
to reach out with concern
for all others in the Spirit of the Master, who taught,
“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”
(Matthew 19:19).
We must cast out self-righteousness
and rise above petty self-interest.
We must do all that is required in moving forward
the work of the Lord in building His kingdom in the earth.
We can never compromise the doctrine
which has come through revelation,
but we can live and work with others,
respecting their beliefs and
admiring their virtues,
joining hands in opposition to the sophistries,
the quarrels,
the hatred—
those perils which have been
with man from the beginning.
Without surrendering any element of our doctrine,
we can be neighborly,
we can be helpful,
we can be kind and
generous.
We of this generation
are the end harvest of
all that has gone before.
It is not enough to simply
be known as a member of his Church.
A solemn obligation rests upon us.
Let us face it and work at it.
We must live as true followers of the Christ,
with charity toward all,
returning good for evil,
teaching by example
the ways of the Lord,
and accomplishing the vast service
He has outlined for us.
May we live worthy of the
glorious endowment of light and
understanding and
eternal truth which has
come to us through all the perils
of the past.
Somehow,
among all who have walked the earth,
we have been brought forth in this unique
and remarkable season.
Be grateful,
and above all be faithful.
This is my humble prayer,
as I bear witness of the truth of this work,
in the sacred name of
Jesus Christ,
amen.
… We thank Thee each morning for a newborn day
Where we may work the fields of new mown hay
We thank Thee for the sunshine
And the air that we breathe
Oh Lord we thank Thee
… We thank Thee for the rivers that run all day
We thank Thee for the little birds that sing away
We thank Thee for the trees
And the deep blue sea
Oh Lord we thank Thee
… Oh yes we thank Thee Lord
For every flower that blooms
Birds that sing, fish that swim
And the light of the moon
… We thank Thee every day
As we kneel and pray
That we were born with eyes
To see these things
… We thank Thee for the fields
Where the clovers grow
We thank Thee for the pastures
Where the cattle may roam
We thank Thee for Thy love so pure and free
Oh Lord we thank Thee
… Oh yes we thank Thee Lord
For every flower that blooms
Birds that sing, fish that swim
And the light of the moon
… We thank Thee every day
As we kneel and pray
That we were born with eyes
To see these things, yea
… We thank Thee for the fields
Where the clovers grow
We thank Thee for the pastures
Where the cattle may roam
We thank Thee for Thy love so pure and so free
Oh Lord we thank Thee
Songwriters: Jim Reeves
Excerpts from the talk...
"The Dawning of a Brighter Day"
By President Gordon B. Hinckley
President of the Church
