I love this nation of which we are a part. To me it is not just another nation, not just a member of a family of nations. It is a great and glorious nation with a divine mission and it has been brought into being under the inspiration of heaven. It is truly a land choice above all others. I thank God for the knowledge which we have regarding the prophetic history and the prophetic future of this great land of America.

I am grateful for the Founding Fathers of this land and for the freedom they have vouchsafed to us. I am grateful that they recognized, as great leaders of this nation have always recognized, that the freedom which we enjoy did not originate with the Founding Fathers; that this glorious principle, this great boon of freedom and respect for the dignity of man, came as a gift from the Creator. The Founding Fathers, it is true, with superb genius welded together the safeguards of these freedoms. It was necessary, however, for them to turn to the scriptures, to religion, in order to have this great experiment make sense to them. And so our freedom is God-given. It antedates the Founding Fathers.

I am grateful, too, my brethren and sisters that they saw fit to state, among other things, that “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”—rights which cannot be conferred by any man or nation, rights which only the God of heaven can bestow—that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” As Brother Thomas E. McKay said, “not happiness, but the opportunity to pursue and earn happiness.”