My beloved brethren and sisters, there is something comforting in the scriptures regarding "he that shall endure to the end." (Matt. 24:13.) I must confess, however, that this to me has been one of the most glorious conferences that I have ever attended or ever expect to attend. I stand before you this afternoon in fasting and prayer, with a heart full of gratitude and thanksgiving to the Lord for the opportunity which has been mine to attend this conference.
RICHNESS OF CONFERENCE
I cannot recall another, unless it was the conference which I attended in April of 1947 after spending a year in war-torn Europe, that has impressed me so deeply as this conference which now draws to a close. And as a father in Israel, I am grateful beyond my power of expression that my wife and my family of six children have come under the influence of the spirit of this conference and the counsel which has been given by the brethren.
As we left the Friday morning session, my good wife turned to me and said, "Of all the conferences I have attended in the Church, I have never felt so richly the spirit as I did this morning during President McKay's opening address." I am sure she but echoed the feeling of hundreds of others. Truly, it has been a time of rejoicing. I would to God, my brethren and sisters, that every man, woman, and child in the world could have heard the counsel which has come to us during this conference and could have in their hearts a desire to accept that counsel because I have never seen greater evidence of spiritual statesmanship than that represented in the counsel given to us by the First Presidency of the Church. With all my heart I sustain them.
GRATITUDE FOR THE BRETHREN
I am grateful today that as a young man in far-off England I came under the influence of the leadership of President David O. McKay. I love him almost as I love my own father, and I sustain him with all my heart as prophet, seer, and revelator, which I testify to you he is. And I love with him his counselors as men of God. I love all these brethren with whom I have the glorious privilege of associating.
I am very grateful for the brethren who have been added to the General Authorities in this conference. I have known them all for a number of years, and to know them is to love them. I have received sufficient witness of the Spirit to satisfy my soul that the inspiration of heaven directed the presidency in the selection of these our brethren.
I am happy to welcome Elder Marion G. Romney into our Council. He knows something of the joy and happiness that awaits him in this body of men, and their close association with the First Presidency of the Church. I first met Brother Romney thirty-three years ago on a basketball floor in Rexburg. We were representing two Church schools in a friendly but vigorous competition. I have always felt that he saw very clearly, but on the question of the final score in that game he has never been fully clear. I have loved him for his devotion, for his integrity, and for his testimony, and I love these brethren who have been added as Assistants to the Twelve.
STREET MEETING EXPERIENCE
I have but one thought to add, my brethren and sisters. I have set aside two or three times that which I had in mind to say, as it has been treated much better than I could have treated the subject. I would like to bring this thought to your attention through a brief experience. Some months ago while attending a meeting of agricultural and farm cooperative leaders in an eastern city, I had occasion to leave my hotel room and cross the street to the nearby post office to mail some letters. As I entered the door of the post office on a side street, I heard words coming through an open window at the opposite side of the building, which sounded very much to me like a Mormon missionary preaching on the street.
After mailing the letters, I eased over to the open window, and there I saw two young men in blue serge suits standing on the corner of the steps of the post office. One young man was bearing his testimony regarding the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the mission of the Prophet Joseph. He was earnest; he was sincere; he spoke with conviction. I thrilled with what he said. Some fifty or seventy-five people were listening in addition to the moving congregation that is always part of the street meeting. Standing at his side was his companion. In one arm were copies of the Book of Mormon and the hats of the two brethren in his other hand.
When the street meeting ended, I went out and introduced myself, visited with them a moment, and then I turned to the young man who had been holding the literature in his arm and said, "Elder, what were you doing while your companion was preaching and bearing testimony?" The answer filled my soul with thanksgiving. He said, "Brother Benson, I was praying to God that my companion would say the right thing that would touch the hearts of the people and bring them a conviction of the truth of this great latter-day work."
SUPPORT FOR ONE ANOTHER
Support for one another, that is the one thought that I have to leave with you, my brethren and sisters. One of our great needs as a people is greater, more loyal support for one another. You see it demonstrated in the leadership of the Church. It is very common out in the stakes and the missions, and, oh, how important it is that we uphold and sustain one another in our labors.
What do you do when one of your associates is standing before the public attempting to do his duty? And when he does a particularly good job, maybe performing even beyond your own ability, what is the reaction in your heart? Do you have a little pang of jealousy, or do you rejoice and thank God for the manner in which he has magnified your associate? If you do the latter, you have one of the marks of greatness. If there comes a feeling of jealousy, a wish that you might be in his place, then you have not learned the lesson fully of mutual support and true loyalty.
God help us to support one another. May it start in the home as we support our families. May there be a spirit of loyalty, unity, love, and mutual respect. May husbands be loyal to their wives, true to them, love them, strive to ease their burdens, and share the responsibility for the care, training, and the rearing of the children. May mothers and wives show a spirit of helpfulness to their husbands, uphold and sustain them in their priesthood duties, and be loyal and true to the calls that come to them from the priesthood of God.
SUPPORT OF WIVES
Occasionally when attending stake conferences, and members of the stake presidency and other local brethren are speaking. I indulge in this practice--I look over the audience and try to pick out the wives of the men who are speaking. I like to look into their faces as their husbands are up bearing their testimonies and preaching the gospel.
Sometimes you will find a wife who puts her head down as if she felt sorry for the poor man. But more often you will find the type of support which brings her to look squarely at him, and you can just feel and see in her face that she is praying for him, that she has faith in him, that she wants him to succeed. In such cases it is likely that before they came to the meeting, they knelt together in family prayer, and if she were called upon to lead in that prayer she invoked God's blessings upon her husband, in the event he would be called upon in the conference.
It is a glorious thing to have that kind of support. I am grateful for it beyond my power of expression. I am thankful that in my home I have that loyalty -- not only prayer, but fasting whenever there is any great responsibility pending.
God help us, my brethren and sisters, to support one another. May we support our bishops in the wards in which we live and express our gratitude for their leadership. Let them know that we love them and that we sustain them. Give the same support to our Relief Society workers, teachers in the other auxiliary organizations, and in the priesthood quorums. Let us support one another.
RESOLUTION TO HEED COUNSEL
May we go from this conference with a resolve in our hearts to heed the counsel which has been given, my brethren and sisters. If we do so, we have nothing to fear, no matter what the conditions of the world might be, for the God of heaven has given us his word that it is his purpose to provide for his Saints. He has said of his servants, "They shall go forth and none shall stay them, for I the Lord have commanded them." (D. & C. 1:5.) In the early days of the Church, yea, even a year before the Church was organized when there was only a handful of followers of the Prophet Joseph, the Lord said this.
Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock. they cannot prevail. . . . perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you. Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not. (Ibid., 6:34-36.)
God bless us that we may go forward without doubt and without fear, but with resolute hearts to live the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that we may heed the counsel that has been given in this glorious conference, because I testify to you that it has come from servants of God under the inspiration of heaven.
This is God's work, my brethren and sisters. God the Father and the Son did appear to the Boy Prophet in the Sacred Grove. I know that to be true as I know that I live. God lives. Jesus is the Christ. Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God. These men whom you have sustained as the Presidency of the Church and the other General Authorities are also men endowed with the same authority and with the same power to bear off the kingdom. God help us to support them and to sustain them in their leadership, and to go forward united as a people, supporting one another, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
