With a Great Sum Obtained I This Freedom – Sunday, July 5, 1942
It was inevitable that we should have been aware of a difference in this year’s observance of July Fourth. There would seem to have been less of noise and more of sober thought, less of unconcern and more of awareness of the facts we face. Somehow or other, the old prescription of fine phrases and fireworks wouldn’t have satisfied.
Perhaps we are beginning to learn the difference between oratory and patriotism. Perhaps we have come again upon a time when we begin to know that the only thing worth having is reality, and the only thing worth hearing is truth.
We have talked much about “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and there are many who thought that because they were ours they would always be ours—but now we know that talking about them doesn’t mean that we shall have them.
Now we know that very few of the things we have taken for granted are going to stay with us unless we earn the right to have them, by observing the same principles by which they were secured in the past. There comes to mind the conversation between Paul and the chief captain of the Romans. And the chief captain said, “With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.” (Acts 22:28) They were both right. Every man has a right to be born free, but with a great sum shall we maintain this freedom, and the sum will be different in kind and more costly than the price for which many have hoped to purchase it. “I, the Lord God make you free, therefore ye are free indeed … Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn.” (Doctrine and Covenants 98:8-9) And since the Lord God has declared men free, those who accept the conditions under which freedom is promised will be free—and this glorious assurance overrides all despair, even in times when the wicked would seem almost to have seized the rule of the earth. But the full fruits of freedom will be enjoyed only by those who earn their right to have it. “But I was free born,” said Paul. And the captain answered, “With a great sum obtained I this freedom.”
By Richard L. Evans, spoken from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, July 5, 1942, over Radio Station KSL and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System. Copyright-1942.
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July 5, 1942
Broadcast Number 0,672