JANUARY 24, 1932—PIONEER STAKE

First session subject: Marriage. The results of unemployment. "President Roberts said there was no occasion for Latter-day Saints becoming alarmed. They had accepted the truth and if they did that which was right could depend upon it that the Lord would bring them out victorious in the end. Quoting a distinguished scientist in the electrical world, President Roberts said that so long as the fundamentals of Mormonism continued true, this work would grow and advance. The speaker referred to the testimony of David Whitmer concerning the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. He said that in a conversation with Mr. Whitmer prior to his death he stated that the angel Moroni, in a seeming warning to him, said, 'David, blessed is he who remaineth faithful to the end.' Peculiar as it may seem, David Whitmer was the only one of the three witnesses who did not return to the Church."

"President Roberts discoursed upon this subject at some length, giving the views of many distinguished scientists to the same effect. Notwithstanding this theory, he said, the Lord had made known the doctrine of immortality, not alone with respect to the soul of man, but also as touching the universe itself, which must continue to exist if God’s word is to be brought to pass.

"Elder Roberts paused for a moment while the choir sang, 'The Heavens Are Telling the Glory of God.' Continuing, he said that in all his 50 years of service in the Church, he rejoiced that there was something greater and grander in the Church of Christ than mere trivialities. When the Prophet Joseph asked God for wisdom, he was told that all the churches had gone astray, had departed from the faith and taught for doctrine the commandments of men. Subsequently, the Lord restored through this Prophet the authority to act in His name and the Church of God was reestablished in the earth, never more to be thrown down or given to another people. This was the big thing in Mormonism. It transcended in importance the mode of baptism and other phases of Church doctrine. And it must be taken into account when the theories of men seemed to conflict with the word of the Lord. God said, ‘This is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man’; and with such a mission, followers of Christ could not do other than resist the theory, scientific though it might be, that the universe was coursing its way to complete and perfect annihilation.

"Elder Roberts, in concluding, reaffirmed his allegiance to the work of the Lord and pledged the remaining days of his life to advancing the interests of God’s Kingdom upon the earth."