Americans today enjoy “a hallowed inheritance — a multigenerational blessing from the hand of God himself that has provided an escape from the all-too-common conditions of the human experience, namely tyranny on one hand and anarchy on the other,” said Elder Matthew S. Holland Sunday evening.
“Instead, what we have received, though it’s not without its failings, is a condition of ordered freedom that has unleashed unparalleled advances in human creativity, economic prosperity and religious liberty,” he said. “The question is … can we keep it?”
Speaking at the Patriotic Service of the America’s Freedom Festival in the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, Elder Holland, a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, addressed the topic “Forging a Future of Freedom — Faith, Hope, and Charity.” KSL radio host Boyd C. Matheson introduced Elder Holland and also offered brief remarks.
“I can get a little pessimistic about the politics in this country, but I have never been more bullish about the future of America,” Matheson said. “Because of people like you and communities like this, the future is bright. Remember, my friends, the power of community and the principles found in culture have led and must always lead this nation.”
Elder Holland said since he was young he has studied the nation and its founders.
Offering a tender tribute to his father, President Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who attended the devotional, Elder Holland spoke of his youth in a small apartment while his father was a graduate student at Yale University.
Elder Holland is not sure where the money came from to buy children’s books dedicated to early American history, but his father — “my greatest hero and best friend” — found it. And as a result, Elder Holland found a deep appreciation for America’s founders. Without “excusing their personal or collective moral failures,” Elder Holland focused his remarks on “their stunning moral achievements and heaven’s hand in helping them.”
He began with July 4, 1776 — a day that changed the world.
“Across every continent and throughout nearly all human history to that point, one of three things served as the grounds for governing: 1) pure brute force, 2) aristocratic tradition, 3) the assertion of divine right. Common to all three categories was a sense that some people got to rule over others because they were fundamentally superior in some way. … But, on that memorable day, 56 exceptionally brave men pledged their very ‘lives, fortunes and sacred honor’ to declare to a candid world this startling truth: that ‘all men are created equal.’”
Elder Holland noted that the signers did not mean that everyone was equal in ability, holiness or wealth, but that they meant that everyone was inherently equal to rule themselves.
“What was the basis of this inherent equality? In the unforgettable phrasing of the document, everyone was ‘endowed by their Creator’ with ‘unalienable rights’ to ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ By virtue of these rights, only government grounded in the consent of the governed was just.”
Recalling the simplicity of one of the books of his childhood, Elder Holland quoted “Meet Mr. Jefferson” — which details Jefferson’s work over 18 long, hot days to draft the Declaration of Independence and the belief that men had certain rights. It also notes that members of Congress read and talked about the declaration and on July 4, 1776, agreed to sign it.
“If I have one critique of this little reader I cherish, it is this,” said Elder Holland. “Like so many of our textbooks today, it fails to mention that the source of these rights is God. This is no minor matter.”
Declaration signers’ conviction that they were fighting to establish God-given rights also gave them a sense that what they were doing was something of global, even universal, significance — something for all of God’s children, said Elder Holland.
“The work of establishing God-given rights they believed would bring forth the protecting powers of God Himself,” he said. “In this singular moment in human history, a fledgling country was trying to take its hard-fought liberties and erect a government that would maintain those liberties.”
Over the course of 16 weeks, 55 delegates produced the first written constitution for any nation in the history of the world, he said.
“The aim was complex, seemingly impossible: establish a framework for government that honored the rights of individuals and the different approaches of the states, while at the same time establishing economic coordination, internal order, and external safety for the whole nation situated in a dangerous and dynamic world.”
Elder Holland emphasized, however, that “the gracious providence of the past is no iron clad guarantee for political prosperity in the future.”
Today, he said, there is “a palpable sense of apprehension” creeping through communities. “Many feel disheartened, watching trust in institutions erode and uncertainty loom like a persistent shadow over our nation’s future. More than any other time in my lifetime, the question is getting asked, have we lost our way?
“Wherever we are, it is clear to me that we need heaven’s help.”
Quoting 1 Corinthians 16 — “let all your things be done with charity” — Elder Holland said “even in our political life we must seek to love God with all of our heart and love our neighbor, and even our enemies, as ourselves.”
He noted that in 1800, the country was embroiled in one of the most bruising presidential elections in history. Thomas Jefferson won the contest against John Adams.
Still, when he stood up for the first inaugural address, Jefferson “did something unexpected,” said Elder Holland. “He said this: ‘Let us then fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life are but dreary things.’ … Without backing away an ounce from the foundational importance of grounding government in the sacred rights of individual liberty, he is indicating that absent a broad affection for our fellow citizens, we will find that our free pursuits in life will lead to dreariness rather than the happiness promised in the declaration.”
While Jefferson’s approach in 1800 did not solve all problems and eliminate all tensions, in time, it healed the rift between him and Adams, said Elder Holland.
Noting that both men died on July 4, 1826, Elder Holland said, “surely the willingness of these two titans to practice a true spirit of Christian forgiveness and love toward one another plays into a not so little wink from heaven at the end of their lives.”
The whole episode also suggests that “in addition to practicing charity in the civic realm we should also practice hope,” said Elder Holland. “The election before us is neither the first nor worst moment of deep political division this country has experienced. Almost every era has weathered its own threatening divide. Yet, again and again, we have emerged resilient and unified enough. Even in the face of uncertainty, we have reason today to take hope from the indomitable spirit that has guided this country in all previous generations.”
Quoting President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elder Holland said there are reasons to be naturally optimistic, even at a time when deeply troubling trends threaten several key constitutional freedoms.
President Oaks declared, “I am not an unrealistic dreamer. I believe that in time, with patience and goodwill, contending constitutional rights and conflicting personal values can be brought into mutually respectful accommodation.”
Elder Holland shared the same hope and recommended it to the congregation.
“I also witness that the greatest source of hope for the future of this country is neither our past nor present national successes in meeting the demands of the moment,” said Elder Holland. “Our greatest source of hope is God Himself.
“Hope is both a heavenly gift to, and a human duty of, those who believe in Him. So, let all true believers here tonight refuse the path of pessimism when it comes to what’s ahead for American liberty. Instead, let us forge a future of freedom.”
If hope here sounds a lot like faith, it is because ultimately the two are intertwined, he added.
“Like hope, there are multiple grounds for the faith necessary to move forward. First, there is faith in the American people.”
In his service as a general authority, Elder Holland said he has traveled the country and met people. “Rarely do I discover their politics, but invariably I see and experience their basic decency, honesty and industry, and I come away thinking there is yet a great wellspring of virtue in this country in which we can trust.”
But faith in the people can be, at best, a partial faith, said Elder Holland. “I believe a majority of Americans are still basically good, but none are perfect. That is why democracy alone is an insufficient approach. Power still needs to be divided and checked and balanced with constitutional rigor. Most happily, our Constitution is ingenious, designed by men of native brilliance and godly inspiration and thus it may serve as another source of faith. However bleak things may look to some tonight, we must not give up on that document and the other historical, religious, and philosophical documents that help us understand its purpose, operation and utility.”
Closing, Elder Holland declared, “God has the ultimate strength to save this country and must do so if we are to prevail in preserving our sacred liberties. But, like so much divine favor, we must ask for it. That is what our forefathers and our foremothers did. That is what we must do.”
Introducing a special music number, “The Prayer,” Elder Holland asked the congregation to make prayer for this country a personal and family priority.
“When we lose our way, lead us to a place, guide us with your grace, to a place where we’ll be safe,” he quoted from the song. “This has been our answered prayer before and can still be our answered prayer today.”
Elder Holland said in the full sweep of human history, “what America stands for at its best is far too rare to be trifled with in a fallen world. With this country, there is entrusted to each generation a sacred charge: to cherish the hallowed inheritance of our liberties and steward those liberties for all generations to come.”
