The Constitution—A Heavenly Banner | Ezra Taft Benson

today's devotional address by president Ezra Taft Benson was originally given at Brigham Young University September 16 1986 president Benson this vast audience literally full here in the Marriott center students faculty and staff singing that opening hymn reflects our love for you and for the high and holy office you hold we do indeed thank thee O God for a prophet we welcome sister Benson and other members of the Benson family who are with us this morning delighted to have sister Benson on the stand with her husband may I again commend the BYU family for your attendance here this morning we are most gratified by your response to our renewed emphasis on devotional and forum opportunities at BYU of course we are not blind to the suggestion that it helps attendance immensely when the president of the church is our speaker we welcome this morning Commissioner Eliot Cameron the 15 BYU state presidents the press Friends of BYU from the community who are in attendance and our very large K BYU television audience all of you are loved and warmly welcomed here president Benson has a very special message prepared for us this morning it is reduced considerably from a longer text in order to fit the restrictions of our devotional period here this hour I am pleased to announce however that a copy of the complete text which I show you here at the lectern will be available in the BYU bookstore and Deseret book outlets immediately following our services here this morning his talk is entitled the constitution a heavenly banner and is being directed to the entire membership of the church in this bicentennial anniversary year of the US Constitution we are most pleased and very flattered that President Benson would use the BYU platform for such a significant message directed to the entire membership of the LDS Church and Benson prophet seer and Revelator and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints will speak to us I say now for all of us president Benson thank you for coming thank you for your love for us in return we love and sustain you I hope you can't see the tears in my eyes this is a glorious reception you have given us today God today to be with you a great student body and an outstanding staff and faculty it's a joy to return to my alma mater I love this school on the 17th day of November of September 1987 we commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Constitutional Convention which gave birth to the document that Blackstone said that stone said is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man I heartily endorse this assessment and today I would like to pay honor honor to the document itself honored to the man who framed it and honor to the God who inspired it and made possible its coming forth to understand the significance of the Constitution we must first understand some basic eternal principles these principles have a beginning in the premotor premortal councils of heaven the first basic principle is agency the central issue in that premortal council was shall the children of God have untrammeled agency to choose the course that should follow whether good or evil or shall they be coerced and forced to be obedient Christ and all who followed him stood for the former proposition freedom of choice Satan stood for the letter coercion and force the law that began in heaven over this issue is not yet over the conflict continues on the battlefield of mortality and one of Lucifer's primary strategies has been to restrict our agency through the power of earthly governments look back in retrospect on almost 6000 years of human history freedoms moments have been infrequent and exceptional we have appreciated we must appreciate that we live in one of history's most exceptional moments in a nation and a time of unprecedented freedom freedom as we know it has been experienced by perhaps less than 1% of the human family the second basic principle concerns the far and proper role of government these are the principles that in my opinion proclaim the proper role of government in domestic affairs of the nation quote I believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man and that he holds man accountable for their acts in relation to them quote I believe that no government can exist in peace except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience the right and control of property and the protection of life quote I believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside while protected him very inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such governments in other words the most important single function of government is to secure the rights and freedoms of individual citizens the third important principle pertains to the source all basic human rights rights are either god-given as part of the Divine Plan or they are granted by government as part of the political plan if we accept the premise that human rights are granted by government then we must be willing to accept the corollary that they can be denied by government I for one shall never accept that premise we must ever keep in mind the inspired words of Thomas Jefferson as found in the Declaration of Independence he said we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the government unquote the fourth basic principle we must understand is that people are superior to the government's they form since God created people with certain inalienable rights and they in turn created government to help secure and safeguard those rights it follows that the people are superior to the creature they created the fifth and final principle that is basic to our understanding of the con to ssin is that governments should have only limited powers the important thing to keep in mind is that the people who have created the government can give to that government only such powers as they themselves have in the first place they cannot give that which they do not possess by deriving its just powers from the governed government becomes primarily a mechanism for defense against bodily harm theft and involuntary servitude it cannot claim the power to redistribute money or property or to force reluctant citizens to perform acts of charity against their will government is created by the people no individual possesses the power to take another's wealth or to force others to do good so no government has the right to do such things either the creature cannot exceed the creator with these basic principles firmly in mind let us now turn to a discussion of the inspired document we call the Constitution my purpose is not to recite the events that led to the American Revolution we are all familiar with these at least I hope but I would say this history is not an accident events are for normed to God his superintending influence is behind the actions of his righteous children long before America was even discovered the Lord was moving and shaping events that would form a government and established would be established by the Constitution America had to be free and independent to fulfill this destiny I commend to you as excellent reading on this subject elder marquise Peterson's book the great prologue as expressed so eloquently by John Adams before the signing of the Declaration there is a divinity that shapes our ends through more lies no mortal eyes and minds cannot fathom the end from the beginning God does in a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith the Savior declared quote I established the constitution of this land by the hands of wise man whom I raised up unto this very purpose unquote these were not ordinary man the man chosen and held in reserve by the Lord for this very purpose shortly after president Kimball became president of the church he assigned me to go into the walls over st. George temple and check the early records as I did so I realized the fulfillment of a dream I had had ever since learning of the visit of the founding fathers to st. George temple I saw with my own eyes the records of the work which was done for the founding fathers of this great nation beginning with George Washington think of it the founding fathers of this nation those great men appeared within those sacred walls and had thereby Carius work done for them President Wilford Woodruff spoke of it in these words before I left st. Ives the spirits of the Dead gathered around me wanting to know why we did not redeem them said they you have had the use of the endowment house for a number of years and yet nothing has ever been done for us we laid the foundation of the government you now enjoy and we never apostatized from it but we remain true to it and were faithful to God these were the signers of the Declaration of Independence and they waiting on me for two days and two nights I spent way I went in to the baptismal font and called the pawn brother McAlister to baptize be for the signers of the Declaration of Independence and 50 other eminent men unquote these noble spirits came there with the divine permission evidence that this work of salvation goes on goes forward on both sides of the veil at a later conference in April 1898 after he became president of the church President Woodrow declared quote those men who laid the foundation of this American government and signed the Declaration of Independence were the best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth they were choice spirits and were inspired of the Lord unquote we honor those man today we are the grateful beneficiaries of their noble work but we honor more than those who brought forth the Constitution we honor the Lord who revealed it God Himself has borne witness to the fact that he is pleased with the final product of the work of these great Patriots in Revelation to the Prophet Joseph Joseph Smith on August 6 1833 the Savior admonished quote I the Lord justify you and your brethren of my church and befriending that wall which is the constitutional law of the land in the Kirtland temple in a dedicatory service prayer given on March 27th 1836 the Lord directed the Prophet Joseph to say quote may those principles which were so honorably and nobly defended namely the constitution of our land by her father's be established forever unquote a few years later Joseph Smith while unjustly incarcerated in a cold and depressing cell on Liberty jail at Clay County Missouri frequently for his testimony of the documents divinity he said quote the Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard it is a heavenly banner it is founded in the wisdom of God how this document accomplished all this merits our further consideration the Constitution consists of seven separate articles the first three established the three branches of our government the legislative executive and judicial the fourth article describes mater pertaining to the state's most significantly the guarantee of a Republican farm to every State of the Union Article five defines the amendment procedure of the document a deliberately difficult process that should be clearly understood by every citizen article six covers several miscellaneous items including a definition of the supreme law of the land namely the constitution itself article 7 the last explains how the Constitution is to be ratified after ratification of the document 10 amendments were added and designated as our Bill of Rights now to look at some of the major provisions of the document itself many print principles could be examined well I mentioned five as being crucial to the preservation of our freedom if we understand the workability of these we have taken the first step in defending our freedoms the major provisions of the Constitution are as follows first sovereignty lies in the people themselves every governmental system as a sovereign one or several who possess all the executive legislative and judicial powers that sovereign maybe an individual by group or the people themselves the founding fathers believed in common law which holds that true sovereignty rest were the people believing this to be in accord with truth they inserted this imperative in the Declaration of Independence to secure these rights life liberty and the pursuit of happiness governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the government second to safeguard these rights the founding fathers provided for the separation of powers among the three branches of government the legislative the executive and the judicial each was to be independent of the other yet each was to work in a unified relationship as the great constitutionalist president J Reuben Clark noted quote it is the union of independence and dependence of these branches legislative executive and judicial and all the governmental functions possessed by each of them that constitutes the marvelous genius of this unrivaled document it was here that the divine inspiration came it was truly a miracle unquote the use of texts and balances was deliberately designed first to make it difficult for a minority of the people to control the government and second to place restraints on the government itself third the powers the people granted the three branches of government were specifically limited in the founding fathers well understood understood human nature and his tendency to exercise on the righteous Dominion when given authority the Constitution was therefore designed to limit government to certain enumerated functions beyond which was tyranny fourth our constitutional government is based on the principle of representation the principle of representation means that we have delegated to an elected official the power to represent us the Constitution provides for both direct representation and indirect representation both forms of representation provide a tempering influence on pure democracy the intent was to protect the individuals and the minorities rights to life liberty and the fruits of their labors properly these rights were not to be subjected to majority vote fifth the Constitution was designed to work with only on moral and righteous people our Constitution said John Adams first vice-president and second President of the United States was made only for a moral and religious people it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other unquote this then is the ingenious and inspired document created by these good and wise men for the benefit and blessing of future generations it is now two hundred years since the Constitution was written have we been wise beneficiaries of the gift entrusted to us have we valued and protected the principles laid down by this great document at this bicentennial celebration we must with sadness say that we have not been wise in keeping the trust of our founding fathers for the past two centuries those who do not prize freedom have chipped away at every major Clause of our Constitution until today we face a great very great dimensions we were fast approaching that normal prophesied by Joseph Smith when he said even this nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to peace and tumbling to the ground and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction unquote will we be prepared will we be among those who will bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction if we desire to be numbered among those who will here are some of the things we must do first we must be righteous and moral we must live the gospel principles all of them we have no right to expect a higher degree of morality from those who represent us than what we ourselves are to live a higher law means we will not seek to receive what we have not earned by our labor it means we will remember that government owns us owes us nothing it means we will keep the laws of the land it means we will look to God as our lawgiver and the source of our Liberty too we must learn the principles of the Constitution and then abide by its precepts have we read the Constitution and pondered it are we aware of its principle could we defend it can we recognize when the law is constitutionally unsound the church will not tell us how to do this but we are admonished to do it as Abraham Lincoln said quote the Constitution let the Constitution be taught in schools in seminaries and in colleges let it be written in primers in spelling books and in almanacs let it be priests from the pulpit proclaimed in legislative halls and enforced in courts of justice and in short that have become the political religion of the nation 3 we must become involved in civic affairs as citizens of this Republic we cannot do our duty and be idle spectators it is vital that we follow this counsel from the Lord quote honest men and wise man should be sought for diligently and good men and wise man you should observe to uphold otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil unquote note the qualities that the Lord demands in those who are to represent us they must be good wise and honest we must be concerned in our desires and efforts to see men and women represent us who possess all three of these qualities goodness wisdom and honesty for we must make our influence felt by our boat our letters and our advice we must be wisely informed and let others know how we feel we must take part in local precinct meetings and select delegates who will represent our feelings I have faith that the Constitution will be saved as plus of prophesied by Joseph Smith but it will not be saved in Washington it will be saved by citizens of this nation who love and cherish freedom it will be saved by enlightened members of this church men and women who will subscribe to it and abide the principles of the Constitution I revere the Constitution of the United States as a sacred document to me the words are akin to the revelations of God for God has placed his stamp of approval on the Constitution of this land I testify that the God of heaven sent some of his choice in spirits to lay the foundation of this government and he has sent other choice spirit even you who hear my words this day to preserve it we the blessed beneficiaries face difficult days in this beloved land a land which is choice above all other lands it may also cost us blood before we're through it is my conviction however that when the Lord comes the Stars and Stripes will be floating on the breeze over this people may it be soul and may God give us the faith and the courage exhibited by those Patriots who pledged their lives and fortunes that we might be free in the name of Jesus Christ amen

Channel: BYU Speeches

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Keywords: U.S. Constitution, Ezra Taft Benson, Brigham Young University (College/University), BYU Devotional

Id: Lf33BNgt--s

Length: 39min 57sec (2397 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 05 2015