Ezra Taft Benson - This Nation Shall Endure

Section One

Our Glorious Heritage

"If we truly cherish the heritage we have received, we must maintain the same virtues and... character of our stalwart forebearsfaith in God, courage, industry, frugality, self-reliance, and integrity. We have the obligation to maintain what those who pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor gave to future generations."

I

America's Debt to Great Britain

"Freedom-loving men owe a debt of gratitude to Great Britain and those human instruments who provided that first flicker of 'freedom's holy light' to future generations, and which made the restoration of the fullness of the gospel possible."

In spite of the serious problems facing Great Britain, one cannot step upon that land and tread its walkways without a supreme consciousness of history. The British Isles are saturated with history. The Western world and free men everywhere owe to England a great debt of gratitude for a legacy handed down over the centuries.

Following the great apostasy from the principles and laws of Christ, the world became enslaved in a cloak of darkness. This long night of Christian apostasy placed an oppressive tyranny on the minds of men, which were shackled by chains of false priestly tradition. Before the gospel could shine forth its resplendent light, a flickering flame of religious and political freedom had to commence somewhere. Heaven determined that it begin in England.

The stage had been set premortally. The characters in the drama had been held in reserve to come at appropriate times and intervals to influence the course of events in history.

A great soul was sent to the earth at Wickliff, New Richmond, in Yorkshire, about 1324. His nameJohn Wycliffe. His voice in later years was raised against the abuses of the church of his day. He was subsequently excommunicated, the most serious offense being that he translated the Bible into the English language. He believed that "the scriptures are the property of the people, and one which no one should be allowed to wrest from them." As a result of his courageous efforts, England for the first time in history was given a complete version of the scriptures in her native language, though published in manuscript form only. Our perspective shows us that the efforts of Wycliffe brought about the Great Reformation, and he was given the appropriate title "The Morning Star of the Reformation."

A century later another figure was born in EnglandWilliam Tyndale. Where Wycliffe's Bible was only a translation of the Latin into English, Tyndale translated his version from the original Greek. The result was the first printed New Testament in English. Utilizing one of the greatest inventions of man, the printing press, the Tyndale New Testament was printed in Germany, smuggled into England, and made available to the English people. For this, Tyndale was strangled and his body burned at the stake. His last words were "Lord, open the King of England's eyes," a prayer that was subsequently answered when King James, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, gave to the world the authorized King James Version of the Biblethe version used to this day by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It was this flicker of freedom and the belief that each man had a right to the possession of God's word that sponsored the Great Reformation in Europe. Speaking of this great movement, and the reformers themselves, President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: "In preparation for [the restoration of the gospel] the Lord raised up noble men... whom we call reformers, and gave them power to break the shackles which bound the people and denied them the sacred right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience....

"In the days of greatest spiritual darkness, when evil raged, the Lord raised up honorable men, who rebelled against the tyranny of the [adversary] and his emissaries...." (Doctrines of Salvation, Bookcraft, 1954, 1:174-75. Italics in original.)

President Smith also wrote: "Praise be to the great souls who conducted the Protestant Revolution. They helped to make it possible for the establishment of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early part of the nineteenth century, preparatory to the second coming of the Son of God. For all the good they did we honor them, and they shall receive their reward which shall be great. They were not restorers, but were sent to prepare the way for one who was yet to come with a mission of restoration and everlasting power." (Essentials in Church History, Deseret Book, 1950, p. 21.)

Religious freedom cannot prosper where political freedom does not exist. Again, history records that the spark which kindled the flame of political liberty among men commenced in Great Britain. Somewhat over a century before Wycliffe's birth, an event took place in England that opened the door to a recognition of man's rights by abridging the power of the king. Until then, human rights were looked upon as something a monarch might grant to his subjects. On the soil of Runnymede in the year 1215, the English monarch, King John, formally recognized in writing that he had encroached on man's sacred rights, and thus one of history's most influential documents was born, the Great Charter. Since that time this document, also known as the Magna Carta, has become a symbol of man's freedom.

For man to exercise fully the agency God has granted to him, his God-given natural rights must be recognized and protected. It has only been recognized within the past four hundred years that these rights inherently belong to man. It was historical documents such as the English Petition of Rights and the English Bill of Rights that first recognized the "immemorial rights of Englishmen." I believe these movements were inspired of the Lord. Later these God-given rights were to become guaranteed by New World documents, such as the Declaration of Independence and the American Bill of Rights.

Speaking of the circumstances that brought about the principle of self-government, President Brigham Young said on one occasion: "The King of Great Britain... might... have been led to... aggressive acts, for aught we know, to bring to pass the purposes of God, in thus establishing a new government upon a principle of greater freedom, a basis of self-government allowing the free exercise of religious worship." (Journal of Discourses 2:170.)

Once a man's rights became guaranteed by the political institutions that would serve him, the time became propitious for the Prophet Joseph Smith to be sent on the world scene, and for the kingdom of God to be restored by direct divine intervention in the year 1830. A light had burst forth among men again, and it was the fullness of the gospel! (See D&C 45:28.)

Yes, freedom-loving men owe a debt of gratitude to Great Britain and those human instruments who provided that first flicker of "freedom's holy light" to future generations, and which made the restoration of the fullness of the gospel possible.