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President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 10-11
My brethren, I pray that the Lord will bless me and will bless you in the very short time that I shall stand before you. The time is slipping. I know that President McKay has some very important matters to take up and likewise President Richards.
I had thought when I came that I might read to you from 1 Corinthians 12:11 and following, in which Paul, after reciting the blessing which come from the Gospel, and the gifts, compared the body of the Church to a human body. In the course of his discussion he said something to the effect that the head is not without the feet, the eyes not without the ear. He spoke of the unity necessary in the Church, spoke of the members that were seemingly important and of those who were not so important, and yet bound them all together as essentials in one whole.
I had thought that I might read that and then apply it a little differently, because in the latter part of his address on that point he noted that some were called to be apostles and some other members to the administration of the Church.
But I had thought I might give just a little different turn to that great sermon on the unity of the Church in Christ. I thought I might point out that our Gospel comes in "one package." We may not choose the particular thing that we like and ignore everything else, nor submerge nor subdue it. Everything that the Lord has revealed except those things which have been fulfilled by his own life and mission and those things which in his wisdom he has relieved or absolved us from doing, such as the carrying on of the United Order, the building of the temple in Missouri, and like things-everything else is part and parcel of the Gospel. We may not, I repeat, say to ourselves, nor to one another, that this is the important thing or that is the important thing, the others being non-essential or unessential. We have no right to draw distinctions and differences among the commandments of the Lord.
The Lord has given us nothing that is useless or unnecessary. He has filled the Scriptures with the things which we should do in order that we may gain salvation.
When we partake of the Sacrament we covenant to obey and keep his commandments. There are no exceptions. There are no distinctions, no differences.
And so I had thought that I would urge as a part of the unity concerning which I have taken the liberty always to speak in this meeting of the Priesthood, as a part of this unity we should try to be united in the matter of Gospel doctrines and practices, each and all of us trying so to serve the Lord that we might meet and satisfy the covenant which we make when we eat the bread and drink the water in remembrance of his body and of his blood.
I do not think this is a slight matter. There are groups, not many but some, who take this road to the left and call it the most important, another takes the road to the right with the same plea, another emphasizes this point, another that point, belittling some other points, and declaring that certain things are of the essence, and other things may be ignored. I do not read anywhere that the Lord has given to individually, the right to say which is most important. We should seek to keep all of the commandments. I repeat, speaking in the language of today, the Gospel is "one package."
I hope and pray that the Lord will give us that unity, along with all the other unities about which we know. I repeat what I have said so often here, that we being truly united, there is nothing that the Lord wants to be done that will fail of doing if we set our hands and our hearts thereto. And I pray again that we may see the necessity of accepting the Gospel and all of it, that we may be saved and exalted in his presence.
I bear my testimony to the truthfulness of the Gospel, that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the Atoning Sacrifice and all that that involves. I bear my testimony to the Restoration of the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith, to the reality of the First Vision. I bear my testimony to the powers and to the authorities which were first given and then exercised by the Prophet, and that have been bestowed upon and exercised by all those who have followed in his place from Brigham Young down to President McKay. And I bear you my testimony that if I did not believe these things and accept them I should not feel that I was worthy to be a member of this Church. We must accept it all, belittling nothing, shadowing nothing, but openly espousing, advocating, living the principles of the Gospel.
God give us this power, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President Stephen L Richards
Stephen L Richards, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 11-13
It is a high privilege to greet you, my brethren of the Priesthood of our Lord. It is a very humbling thought to realize that I stand in the presence of this great congregation in the Tabernacle, and that my words are heard by the vast numbers gathered in the meeting places mentioned by President McKay. The power and the influence and the potentialities of this vast group of men overwhelm me. I think of what they have accomplished, and what they are still to accomplish in the advancement of our Father's Kingdom in this world.
I rejoice tonight in the brotherhood of the Holy Priesthood, in the regard and the love which we hold for each other, in our common purpose, and our mutual understanding. I love my brethren. I think I understand them. I never feel strange in their presence. We speak the same language. We are dominated by the same spirit, and I am sure that there is a bond uniting the brethren of the priesthood that transcends any earthly ties among men, and if the peoples of this world could only understand the bond that binds us together, they would begin to comprehend what is meant by the brotherhood of man.
So I rejoice, my brethren, in association with you. I am grateful to be united with you in giving our service to this greatest of all the causes in this world. I am grateful, as are you, for this remarkable power that God has given to us, this authentic endowment of his own divine authority to administer the ordinances of the Holy Gospel, to bless our fellowmen, and to bless our families and ourselves.
I look upon the priesthood as an investiture of power and wisdom which can come in equal measure from no other source of which I am aware. A man of the priesthood, as I understand it, is entitled to the inspiration of God in presiding over his family. If he is called to office, he is entitled to inspiration to guide him in the administration of his office. If he is called to go out into the mission field-we have received notable examples of such calls tonight, he is entitled to receive the great inspiration that the Lord gives to men in the performance of their duty. If he is called on to bless the sick, he has the divine power to bestow the blessings that come of the Lord. If he is called on to ordain his fellowmen, he has the authentic authority to give to them the Holy Priesthood and the offices therein.
All of these blessings, which almost defy in their magnitude our finite conception, belong to and are a part of the Holy Priesthood which we bear. We are entitled to exercise them, these high privileges, and bestow these blessings, if we live to be worthy of the spirit and power of the priesthood, keeping all the commandments, as President Clark has so well said-not a few, but all the commandments-in order that we may be true vessels of the Lord into which his Holy Spirit may be poured, and out of which that Spirit may come to those to whom we minister.
I pray, my brethren, that we may appreciate this wonderful gift that has come to us, and show by our lives that we are grateful to our Lord for it. I look upon the priesthood as an instrumentality of service. I am sure that it was not bestowed upon any of us merely for his own aggrandizement, but it was given to men to use for the blessing of themselves, their families, and their fellowmen, and the more it is used the more potent it becomes within the servant of the Lord who ministers under the power of the Holy Priesthood.
We are told very definitely in that great section of the Doctrine and Covenants, which I often characterize as the Constitution of the priesthood, that one cannot minister in any degree of unrighteousness, for if he do so, amen to the priesthood of that man. His effort, his labors, his ministry will not be efficacious. He must have the background of righteousness to make him able, capable, of administering the powers of the Holy Priesthood.
I cannot forbear to read to you those well-known verses of the conclusion of the 121st Section of the Doctrine and Covenants which express in such beautiful language, I sometimes think the most beautiful to be found in all literature, the spirit of the priesthood as it has come to us with the fullness of the everlasting Gospel.
"Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
"The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever".
Where could we expect to secure a more encouraging and hopeful promise than in those words of latter-day scripture? I pray that we may live to be the beneficiaries of that incomparable pronouncement.
Now, my brethren, if I have any duty to counsel, I would like to say just a word, looking toward the future that may await us, a word that has oft been repeated in assemblies of this kind. I am sure that it is wise to look to the future. I am sure that in our affairs we would do well to provide for such safeguards in our finances, in our business expansions, as to meet a day that may not be quite so propitious as recent times have been. I hope that my brethren will not have to pass through some of the experiences I have seen passed through before, and I believe that with caution and wisdom they can avoid some of those tragedies that have come in times past.
I have always believed, my brethren, that gambling is not legitimate business. I have always believed that legitimate business contemplates a fair exchange of services for services or property, or property for property, in which exchange both parties benefit. I have always believed that any attempts to bet something for nothing, to take undue chances, is not only attended with demoralization of business integrity, but often with great tragedy. In my experience of half a century I have seen many of those tragedies. And so, out of my regard for you I warn you against unwise expansion, and incurrence of debt, but to keep as well as you may within safe grounds, that the circumstances of the future may not rise to plague you and embarrass you, and I believe that the Lord would have you do this because I believe he wants you free-free from the bondage of onerous and embarrassing debts, free from obligations to creditors that might impair your service in his great Cause.
I believe he wants you free to perform his work, to respond to the calls that he makes of you, and I have seen altogether too many in a position of finding it difficult to respond to such calls when they are under the bondage of debt.
The Lord bless you that wisdom may come with your priesthood-a superior wisdom-and a discernment which the Spirit of the Lord gives to you. May all be well with you. You have done a great work for the Church, and I know you stand ready to continue that great service, and I know that no greater happiness can come into our lives than the satisfaction which follows from sincere, devoted, helpful service in the Cause of our Lord.
May that unity which President Clark pleads for prevail among us, that the bonds of brotherhood may be strengthened even as the years go by. The Lord bless us that that brotherhood may be brought to the support of our beloved President who represents all of us in his great administration of this work and its extension throughout this world, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 13-16
This has been truly a spiritual hour. Everyone present has felt the power of his Priesthood. Everyone has felt the sincerity in the testimonies that have been borne by our Brethren.
Messages that are coming from the assemblies mentioned at the opening of the meeting indicate that they, too, are partaking of this same spirit. I trust that my duty in answering some of your questions of a practical nature may not detract in any way, but if possible add to the spiritual influence thus far manifested.
The question has been asked: Is it proper in the administration of ward affairs, for the bishop to add to the budget assignment for ward operations, the cost of one or more of the Church magazines? If so, should he designate the magazine that the members of the ward should take? The answer: No ward, stake, or mission is under obligation to raise an assigned quota for any magazine published by the Church and it should not be included in the budget.
Second: Should a member of the bishopric be present always in the Junior Sunday School when the Sacrament is administered in view of the fact that the Junior Sunday School is presided over by sisters? This answer should be given by the Superintendency of the Sunday School, but we will mention this one fact: There should be a member of the Bishopric present, or one appointed by them holding the Melchizedek Priesthood in the Junior Sunday School when the Sacrament is administered.
Next, there is a question which indicates the necessity of being more careful about permitting fathers or other relatives to assist in ordinances of the Fast Meeting. For example, if a father asks to baptize his son, the bishop of course will know whether the father is worthy, or whether he holds the Priesthood. But suppose the father of the son lives in another ward, and appears at the baptismal service and requests the right to baptize. The bishop who has that baptismal service under his direction, should be sure that this father has the authority, and that will apply in blessing a child, or in confirming a baptized member. It is suggested, therefore, that the bishop will explain in announcing a baptismal ceremony or the confirmation, that if any father belonging to another ward wishes to participate he should apply to the bishop before the ordinance, and the bishop should request him to bring his recommend from the ward of which he is a member. We need not particularize to tell you why.
Next: It is reported that recently some members who have been here for only a few years, indeed a few months, from the mission field, entered the temple and were unable, of course, to understand the ceremony, they could not understand the English language. Bishops, under these conditions, it would be well for you not to be in a hurry to issue recommends to the temple to those who do not understand the services nor the ordinances. Their going might prove more injurious to them than helpful.
In order to assist members of the Church better to understand the temple ceremony, arrangements are being made, and have been made for them to hear that ceremony in their native tongue. This will apply now already to six, possibly seven, nationalities. The ceremony has been translated into other languages and as fast as we possibly can, notice will be given when the ceremony will be presented to particular nationalities. We already have the ceremony in Spanish, as you know, with good results. We have already had a ceremony in the temple in the Swedish language. The ceremony is now in German, about completed in Norwegian, Danish, French, and the Dutch language. Bishops, you may very rightfully and wisely, ask the members who apply to you for recommends to the temple, a few weeks, probably months, and first hear the ceremony, impressive as it is, in their native tongue. Then, afterwards, they may go through and will understand the significance of it.
Indeed, there are of those who speak the English language, some who do not comprehend the significance of that holy ordinance.
Many of our people write over to vicars for information in foreign countries, particularly in England. Sometimes they are unable to furnish the records, even if they are willing, the Church officials in England, and because the law will not permit them to send money out of England they are therefore unable to return the funds you have sent. Do you get that condition? You cannot get money back; they cannot furnish you the information. People seeking genealogical information, therefore, from England, should carry on their correspondence through the Genealogical Office and not write directly to the Churchmen in England.
There are one or two other items but the Brethren of the Twelve will present those to you on their visits.
I would just like to say a few words in conclusion, and I hope not to trespass too much upon your time. In September 1946, the Board of Directors of the United States Steel held an official meeting here in this city. At the conclusion of their directors meeting they invited some of the officials of the Church to a dinner as their guests. There were present in that group men nationally known throughout business circles, Mr. Irving S. Olds, Chairman of the Board, Mr. Sewell L. Avery, and others. Mr. Olds was the Master of Ceremonies. At the conclusion of that dinner, Mr. Olds said, "Now, we have not planned for any speeches, but if any present would like to make any comments or remarks, now is the time." Mr. Nathan L. Miller, Director and General Counsel for the United States Steel Corporation, former Governor of New York State, arose. I remember well his opening sentence: "I am one of those New Englanders who have harbored all the ill-stories that have been circulated about the Mormons; but I will confess that this visit has extended my horizons!" He then said, "No one can walk or drive around this city, observe its cleanliness, its wide, well-kept streets, the physical accomplishments evident on every hand without being impressed with a feeling that there is something peculiarly distinctive here-something different from that felt in any other city. I don't know," he continued, "whether to call it a spirituality-yes, that is It!-there is evidence of a spirituality, the lack of which is felt in other cities." He said he had been searching for the source of it; but could not find that source until he heard the tributes paid the Pioneers during a brief interview in the office of the First Presidency. There was a faith, a great ideal, a greatness among the founders of this State which the descendants evidently have succeeded in a degree to hold. "Your very isolation," he continued, "has been a contributing factor in helping the Pioneers to maintain the high standards that characterized the lives of the founders of this State."
Mr. Miller has now passed, but I wish he had been here tonight and partaken of the spirit of these men mentioned, who are devoting their all to the advancement of the work.
Brother Mendenhall left his own affairs and from a business standpoint, they require great directing, went to New Zealand on his own responsibility and appointed many of those men who directed those builders of the school, and responded to the second appointment willingly, and to another appointment. It matters not what it costs. Brother Biesinger, down there, mentioned by Brother Mendenhall, has left his own business. I asked him down there, "What has become of your business?" He said, "That is all right, it is gone, but I am here. This is my mission now." All he has he would like to give to the work.
I met Brother Going down there who is building fifteen of our chapels in Samoa. His business, too, is not so successful. He said, "I can arrange that. I will be ready to devote all the time that is necessary."
Brother Matis said nothing other than that he has spent seven years over in the mission field, but he had a prosperous position, an important position with an important company who said, "Yes, we will give him a leave of absence." When that leave of absence was up we communicated with Brother Matis. "No," he said, "this is my mission. Do not worry about that. I will be all right." And so another year passed and another year, and seven years. You have heard his testimony tonight how God has blessed him.
This afternoon Brother Moyle brought Brother Leo Ellsworth into the office. He is a prosperous man of responsibility, governing probably hundreds of thousands of dollars. He had just built a new home. He and his wife had not even completed their landscaping. The call came to him to help the Church in a great enterprise. I did not know that until this afternoon. They left their new house and have spent months now on this other call. He left his own business. My heart was moved when I heard him say, "When I came back I found my business even better than when I left it." He bore testimony of how the Lord had blessed him-"And this is my work now."
The brother who will offer the benediction tonight, President of the Eastern States Mission, received word that unless he could get home, give up his mission, he would lose his business. Well, he had received an honorable release but he said nothing about this threatened loss of his business unless he would give up his work, and he was going to say nothing about it.
These are but a few practical instances of the faith and devotion of the leaders and members of the Church of Jesus Christ. I bear you testimony tonight that the power, the spiritual power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which comes from a testimony of the truth of the revealed and Restored Gospel is operative throughout the entire Church, and it is that power that gives the strength to it. It is the power of God unto salvation. Put the Lord to the test and you will find that he will answer and prove to you that he is overruling your affairs as well as the Church affairs. Financially, you may lose something, but the spiritual gain will far outweigh that seemingly financial loss.
Even before we came into this meeting tonight, one of the bishops said to me: "Since my appointment, it is marvelous what the Lord has done for us, and how he has opened up the way."
And so, my beloved brethren, in behalf of all the Church, and particularly in behalf of the General Authorities, I thank you for your devotion, for your faith in the destiny of God's Church. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you".
May the Lord give us power so to do, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Harold B. Lee
Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 17-20
The Sunday before Easter is generally celebrated by many Christian sects as Palm Sunday in commemoration of our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
My text today is taken from the "Hosanna shout" which sounded from the multitude who jubilantly acclaimed Jesus, the lowly Nazarene as he rode triumphantly into Jerusalem from Bethany on a colt which had been borrowed for that occasion. As the animal upon which he rode had been designated in their literature as the "ancient symbol of Jewish royalty" and their acquaintanceship with the might of His Messianic power impressed the appropriateness of his kingly right to such an entry, they cast their garments before him and cast palm branches and other foliage in His path as though carpeting the way of a king. What might at first have been but the humble testimony of a faithful few, increased into a mighty chorus of voices as the multitude shouted in harmony:
Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, to the Son of David.
And then perhaps as they remembered the angels' announcement to the shepherds on the night of His birth, they reverently repeated the theme of the angles' song: "Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest". And again, probably remembering the charge he had give His disciples to carry on after he would be taken from them, and as a supplication for their Master and those who would carry on after His ascension, as well as in the remembrance of the ancient prophets whom they revered, came the expressions of adulation from the multitude: "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord".
At the commencement of His ministry, He seemingly had seldom, and then only guardedly, declared that He was the Christ who should take away the sins of the world, but now His earthly ministry was reaching a consummation and His fearful agony on the cross was near. It seemed altogether appropriate that He should now demonstrate His kingly place as the King of Kings and the Prince of Peace. Thus demonstrated, His devoted disciples could thereafter likewise bear witness to the divinity of His mission as the Savior of man and the "rock" upon which His church was to be founded in the Meridian of Times.
There was an occasion during His ministry when His chiefest Apostle, Peter, had fervently declared his faith and testimony of the divinity of the mission of the Master: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." The Lord had replied to Peter by declaring, "flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven" and that upon "this rock" or in other words, the revealed testimony of the Holy Ghost, the revelation that Jesus is the Christ-His Church is founded and "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it". It was of this same foundation upon which the Church was laid to which the Apostle Paul made reference when he wrote to the Ephesian Saints: "Now therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone".
In the few minutes allotted to me in this brief Church of the Air address, I would like to make some explanation as to just "how blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord," from that day even to the present time.
At the commencement of His ministry, the Master chose twelve men whom he separated from the rest by the name, Apostles. These were to be special witnesses of the sanctity of His life, and of His divine mission, and to be responsible for transmitting to the latest posterity, a genuine account of His doctrines, and principles, and ordinances essential to the salvation of the human soul. History records that these men, as judged by worldly standards, were "illiterate, poor, and of mean extraction." It would seem that He avoided using in this ministry, persons endowed with the advantages of fortune or birth or enriched with the treasures of eloquence or learning, lest "the fruits of their embassy, and the progress of the gospel should be attributed to human and natural causes." Mosheim.
True servants in the Kingdom of God, when properly authorized, received an endowment of holy power except for which their ministry would be as the "tinkling of brass and the sounding of cymbals". This heavenly endowment to His chosen Twelve, came as a result of three sacred experiences. First, they were baptized of water, maybe by John the Baptist, or possibly as the only ones He did baptize, by the Master, himself, for John records that He and His disciples were in Judea "and there He tarried with them, and baptized". Then He "breathed on them and said unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost", which in all likelihood was the confirmation and the commission to receive the Holy Ghost, or the baptism of the Spirit, by the laying on of hands for that was the procedure followed thereafter by His disciples.
The meaning of this baptism of water and of the Holy Ghost by one who comes in the name of the Lord, is best understood by the words of a prophet on the Western Continent. Addressing a group of baptized converts he said this: "There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore I would that you should take upon you the name of Christ, all of you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should, be obedient unto the end of your lives.
The third of the remarkable spiritual experiences to which the disciples were privileged is thus described by the Master, himself: "Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you and ordained you-that whatsoever ye should ask the Father in my name He may give it you". Try to imagine if you can, be "called" by the Master and "ordained" under His hands. That these ordinations resulted in an endowment of power from on high as well as giving authority to act officially as the Lord's representatives, is well attested by the miraculous events that followed, which made of them, "men different" because of that divine commission.
Not alone were these special apostolic witnesses to receive and enjoy these heavenly gifts. They were commissioned to transmit them by ordinations to others who had received the witness of the divine mission of the risen Lord. Acting by authority of their priestly office, it was as though the Lord were saying as He did through a prophet in recent times: "And I will lay my hand upon you by the hand of my servant... and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost".
The historians have given us a summary and a thrilling description of how men so chosen and so ordained were blessed with heavenly gifts because they "came in the name of the Lord."
After the departure of Jesus from them, he gave them the first proof of that majesty and power by which he was exalted, by the radiant gift of the Holy Ghost upon them on the day of Pentecost according to His promise... Dr. Mosheim in his Ecclesiastical history writes that "no sooner had the apostles received this special gift, this celestial guide, than their ignorance was turned into light, their doubts into certainty, their fears into firm and invincible fortitude, and their former backwardness into an ardent and inextinguishable zeal." The growth of the Church among the Gentile nations during this period was most phenomenal. How was it possible that a handful of apostles, who as fishermen and publicans could engage the learned and the mighty as well as the simple and those of low degree to forsake their religion and embrace a new religion? There can be but one answer to that question. There were undoubted marks of a celestial power, perpetually attending their ministry. There was in their very language an "incredible energy or amazing power of sending light into the understanding and conviction of the heart." Then the historians enumerate the miracles, the gift of prophecy, the power of discernment, a contempt for riches, and a serene tranquility in the face of death, all the while maintaining their lives above reproach, and then conclude with this declaration: "Thus were the messengers of the divine Savior, the heralds of his spiritual and immortal kingdom, furnished for their glorious work as the voice of ancient history so loudly testifies."
As we review again the matchless and unselfish devotion of these early prophets and martyrs to the gospel of Christ, may we bow in reverence and repeat with a greater appreciation and comprehension as with the multitude in Jerusalem on the occasion of the triumphal entry the words: "How blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord".
The place of these heaven-endowed messengers who represent the Lord in every dispensation of the gospel upon the earth may be illustrated by an incident related by a traveler in northern Europe. Our traveler was leaving by boat from Stockholm, Sweden out into the Baltic Sea. To do so, the boat had to pass through a thousand or more islands. Standing on the forward deck, the traveler found himself becoming impatient because of what seemed to him to be a careless course. Why not a course near to this island or another and more interesting than the one the pilot had chosen? Almost in exasperation he was saying to himself, "What's wrong with the old pilot? Has he lost his sense of direction? Suddenly he was aware of markers along the charted course which appeared as mere broom handles sticking up in the water. Someone had carefully explored these channels and had charted the safest course for ships to take. So it is in life's course on the way to immortality and eternal life: "God's engineers" by following a blueprint made in heaven, have charted the course for safest and happiest passage and have forewarned us of the danger areas.
How dreary and frustrated is the human soul who not only does not come "in the name of the Lord," but who disregards the guideposts marked out by "God's engineers" of the above illustration! Of this the Apostle to the Gentiles wrote: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable". That misery certainly can only be matched in him who in this life, has no faith or hope in Christ. Without such faith, man is, as someone has said, "but a creature of circumstance." Truly, as the Master instructed his faithful Peter, His Church, the true religion in which He was the "chief cornerstone" was to be built upon a "rock", the rock of revelation. All others are tossed about by storm on the waves of time.
But what strength and fortitude comes to him who puts his trust in the Lord! I recently heard a missionary for the Church tell of an incident which occurred in an atheist-dominated country. A young student with a fervent belief in God and in the mission of the Savior of the world was ridiculed and abused by her teacher who scorned the idea of a God. As a punishment, the teacher required that she write twenty times, "There is no God." The young student refused. In a rage the teacher demanded that she write her denial of God, fifty times and added, as a veiled threat, "If you don't, something terrible will happen." That night mother and daughter fasted and prayed far into the night to that God whom they could not and dared not deny. When school time came the next morning, mother and daughter went to see the teacher. The school convened and the teacher had not arrived. As they waited, the principal of the school came to inform them that the teacher had died suddenly in the night of a heart attack. Something terrible had happened but not to this young girl who came without fear "in the name of the Lord."
The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which is commemorated on this Sunday was in truth but a prelude to the greater day of triumph only a few days distant. Before His crucifixion, He had spoken of His personal triumph over worldly things, when He said: "In me ye might have peace. In the world ye have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world". But there was yet that greater day of victory when he triumphed over death and opened the way to a universal resurrection. The Apostle Paul in exultation wrote to the Corinthians: "Death is swallowed up in victory-O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?... Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ".
Today as did they in past dispensations, we declare "The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it."
O that the inhabitants of an unrepentant world would humble themselves and with faith in the Redeemer of mankind join in the chorus of the multitude who welcomed the Master into the Holy City, "Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord! Hosanna to the Son of David. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord". For that I pray humbly in the name of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 24-28
My beloved brethren and sisters: The sense of responsibility of this moment is overwhelming. In anticipation of it I have prayed earnestly, daily, for inspiration and strength, and now I ask you for your sympathetic cooperation and your prayers that the interests of the Church, the establishing of the kingdom of God among men, may be enhanced.
"And lift up an ensign of peace, and make a proclamation for peace unto the ends of the earth".
This quotation is from a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith when Zion's Camp was at Fishing River, June 22, 1834. In that one sentence, the Lord sets forth one of the great purposes of his Church-to bring about harmony in human relations; in the individual to experience a mental or spiritual state in which there is personal freedom from "disquieting or perturbing" conditions that might interfere with the consummation of God's purposes to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man.
Considering world conditions, I think it is highly gratifying to note the commendable efforts, the wise, conservative judgment manifest by the President of the United States, the Secretary of State, and other sincere statesmen in Congress, including our own worthy Senators and Representatives to foster the cause of peace and to avert a world-wide clash of arms. But it is very apparent that international conditions at present centering at Quemoy and Matsu Islands are filled with such volatile problems that a defiant move on the part of Chinese communists might disrupt the already precarious peace of the world.
We love peace, but not peace at any price. There is a peace more destructive of the manhood of living man than war is destructive of the body. "Chains are worse than bayonets."
After the Savior's resurrection when he appeared to his disciples assembled in an upper room, his divine greeting was "Peace be unto you". Even before his resurrection, he said: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid".
We believe firmly that the basis upon which world peace may be permanently obtained is not by sowing seeds of distrust and suspicion in people's minds; not by engendering enmity and hatred in human hearts; not by individuals or nations arrogating to themselves the claim of possessing all wisdom, or the only culture worth having; not by war with resulting suffering and death from submarines, poison gas, or explosions of nuclear bombs. No! The peace that will be permanent must be founded upon the principles of righteousness as taught and exemplified by the Prince of Peace, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, "... for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved".
My theme this morning is: What are we doing as a Church and as members thereof to proclaim this peace?
Recently, as you know, it was my privilege and duty, accompanied by Sister McKay and President Franklin J. Murdock, who acted as secretary, to visit some of the far-off missions of the Church.
With the theme in mind of proclaiming the gospel of peace to the inhabitants of the world, I should like to comment on observations made of four effective factors operative in the spreading of the gospel.
First, we note the excellent work being done by the 11,500 missionaries throughout the world, 390 of whom it was our privilege to meet on this recent tour. Each one of these pays his or her own expenses, conforms to the requirements and laws of the country, and teaches the principles that constitute the basis of the restored religion of Jesus Christ. All are appointed messengers proclaiming the glad tidings of the restored gospel, giving of themselves, as well as of their means for the good of the world.
A second favorable factor is a better understanding by officials of governments and municipalities regarding the purposes of Mormon missionary work. Old stories that used to be extant accusing missionaries of sinister motives are now repeated only by the prejudiced and uninformed. United States consuls, or their representatives, mayors of municipalities, and other officials, met us, bade us welcome, and proffered to render any service to make our visit profitable. Newspaper reporters, radio announcers, television representatives were on hand to learn the purposes of the tour, and without exception gave fair and unprejudiced reports of our visit.
The third observation is the need to put forth every effort within reason and practicability to place within reach of Church members in these distant missions every educational and spiritual privilege that the Church has to offer.
It is only recently that some of these missions have been visited by a General Authority. With modern means of transportation available, it is now possible and very practical to have these far-off missions visited as the missions here in the United States have been visited. Accordingly, and this you will be pleased to hear, at a meeting of the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve held March 17, 1955, it was unanimously decided that these distant missions should be included with other missions in the annual appointments of members of the Council of the Twelve.
Besides these visits, educational institutions are being made available for the young people. In Nuku'alofa, for example, in the Tongan Islands, under the able presidency of D'Monte W. Coombs, Professor Ermel J. Morton principal, and an able staff, there is now established in full working order the Liahona College, accommodating three hundred students, and employing fourteen teachers. It is a credit to the Church and to the Tongan Islands. Indeed, it is one of the show places of passengers of the steamship Tofua, and her sister ship, the Matua. While the ships are loading and unloading cargo at Nuku'alofa, the passengers take buses out to Liahona to visit the school and inspect the work that is being done by the students.
At Pesega, Samoa, under the presidency of President Howard B. Stone, the school already established accommodates from six hundred to one thousand students. Another is planned at Mapasaga, American Samoa. Thus will the branches be strengthened in far distant lands with visits of the Twelve, whose duty it is to set in order the affairs of the Church in all the world, with educational advantages to prepare students for the preaching of the gospel, and finally, with a temple within easy reach of those whose influence in the mission field will become a strength to the branches, and a means of proclaiming peace.
The fourth observation I wish to make is the influence of the power of example. One of the most impressive features of our recent South Pacific tour was the participation of youth in meetings, in the welcomes extended, and in the farewells, and the orderly conduct of the children, without an exception. The school at Liahona in Tonga radiated not only culture and refinement, but also the true spirit of the gospel. The same features existed in Tahiti under Acting President Larson H. Caldwell; New Zealand, presided over by President Sidney J. Ottley; Australia, under President Charles V. Liljenquist; in Samoa, as I have already stated, under President Howard B. Stone; in Hawaii, under President D. Arthur Haycock; and in the stake, under President Edward L. Clissold. Strangers who were present,, had a good demonstration of what the Church is doing properly to interest and to direct the youth.
Herein lies the responsibility of membership. The gospel of peace should find its most fruitful effects in the homes of Church members. Flowers in our gardens require good soil and a favorable climate. So children, to be healthy and happy, should have a favorable mental and emotional atmosphere in the home.
Soon after our return from the South Pacific, I received a letter from President Ward C. Holbrook, a state official, stating that the divorce rate in Utah is such as to give cause for most serious consideration. It is inconsistent to go abroad to proclaim peace if we have not peace in our own lives and homes.
The greatest trust that can come to a man and woman is the placing in their keeping the life of a little child. If a man defaults who is entrusted with other people's funds, whether he be a bank, municipal, or state official, he is apprehended and probably sent to prison. If a person, entrusted with a government secret discloses that secret, and betrays his country, he is called a traitor. What must the Lord think, then, of parents who, through their own negligence or wilful desire to indulge their selfishness, fail properly to rear their children, and thereby prove untrue to the greatest trust that has been given to human beings? In reply the Lord has said: "... the sin be upon the heads of the parents".
The happiest homes in the world should be found among members of the Church. Statistics on broken homes, with resultant divorces, should alert all citizens, and particularly members of the Church to greater activity in preserving harmony in home circles. Let us begin at once as parents to maintain the kind of influence or home atmosphere that will contribute to the normal moral development of the children and eliminate from the home those elements which cause discord and strife.
Fathers and mothers sometimes by unwise conduct unwittingly influence their children toward delinquency. Among these unwise acts, I mention first, disagreeing, or quarreling on the part of parents in the presence of children. Sometimes such quarrels arise out of an attempt to correct or to discipline a child. One parent criticizes, the other objects, and the good influence of the home, so far as the child is concerned, is nullified. A child of such parents can never say truthfully in afterlife what John Ruskin writes of his memory of home:
"I never heard my father's or mother's voice once raised in any question with each other; nor saw an angry or even slightly hurt or offended glance in the eyes of either... I never saw a moment's trouble or disorder in any household matter."
I name as a second unwise condition those who pollute the home atmosphere with "vulgarity" and "profanity." I use the term "vulgarity" in the sense used by David Starr Jordan. "To be vulgar," he writes, "is to do that which is not the best of its kind. It is to do poor things in poor ways, and to be satisfied with that... It is vulgar to wear dirty linen when one is not engaged in dirty work. It is vulgar to like poor music... To find amusement in trashy novels, to enjoy vulgar theatres, to find pleasure in cheap jokes, to tolerate coarseness and looseness in any of its myriad forms."
Parents are particularly untrue to their trust who will use profane words in the home. Profanity is a national vice. Parents pollute their home when they use it. People of our nation would stand on a higher moral plane if they would but follow the general order given by the Father of our country to his soldiers, July 1, 1776. Said he-or wrote he at that time:
"The General is sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice heretofore little known in an American army, is growing into fashion. He hopes the officers will, by example as well as influence, endeavor to check it, and that both they and the men will reflect that we can have little hope of the blessing of heaven on our arms if we insult it by our impiety and folly. Added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense and character detests and despises it."
I continue, vulgarity and profanity among the youth is often, though not always, the result of the presence of those evils in the home.
To quarreling of parents before children, to vulgarity, and to the condemnatory use of profanity, there may be added a third contributing factor to parental delinquency, and that is the non-conformity in the homes to Church standards. Remember, fellow parents, that children are quick to detect insincerity, and they resent in their feelings false pretension. Parents, of all people on earth, should be honest with their children. Keep your promises to them and speak the truth always. Children are more influenced by sermons you act than by sermons you preach. It is the consistent parent who gains the trust of his child. When children feel that you reciprocate their trust, they will not violate your confidence nor bring dishonor to your name.
"The parent must live truth, or the child will not live it. The child will startle you with its quickness in puncturing the bubble of your pretended knowledge; in instinctively piercing the heart of a sophistry without being conscious of process; in relentlessly enumerating your unfulfilled promises; in detecting with a justice of a court of equity a technicality of speech that is virtually a lie. He will justify his own lapses from truth by appeal to some white lie told to a visitor and unknown to be overheard by the little ones, whose mental powers we ever underestimate in theory though we may overpraise in words.
"If truth be the rock-foundation of the child's character, as a fact, not as a theory, the future of that child is as fully assured as it is possible for human pre-vision to guarantee".
The fourth observation: parents who fail to teach obedience to their children. Within the last decade there have been rampant some wild theories about the self-determination of children, and the preservation of their individuality. Some of these theorists believe that children should be permitted to solve their own problems without guidance from parents. There is some virtue in this, but there is more error. This theory has gained momentum in practice because of reaction to arbitrary government by parents.
Commenting upon this, one educator rightly says: "Thousands of conventions are laid down by society today, conventions which are often institutionalized and crystallized. Whether he likes it or not, every individual must conform to these conventions if he is to be either efficient or happy. If he does not conform, society brings all sorts of pressure to bear upon him. He may be jailed for certain kinds of nonconformity. For other less serious kinds he may become soured, disappointed, and even neurotic.
"If the home does not develop obedience, society will demand it and get it. It is therefore better for the home with its kindness, sympathy, and understanding to train the child in obedience rather than callously to leave him to the brutal and unsympathetic discipline that society will impose if the home has not already fulfilled this obligation."
The best time to teach the child obedience is between the ages of two to four. It is then that the child should learn that there are limits to his actions, that there are certain bounds beyond which he cannot pass with impunity. This conformity to come conditions can be easily obtained with kindness, but with firmness. "Train up child the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it". In this old adage the word train has great significance.
Fifth, there are parents who say: We will let our children grow to manhood and womanhood and choose for themselves. In taking this attitude parents fail in the discharging of a parental responsibility. Parents and teachers are God's fellow workers. The Father of all mankind expects parents, as his representatives, to assist him in shaping and guiding human lives and immortal souls. That is the highest assignment which the Lord can bestow upon man.
The most effective way to teach religion in the home is not by preaching but by living. If you would teach faith in God, show faith in him yourself; if you would teach prayer, pray yourself. Would you have them temperate? Then you yourself refrain from intemperance. If you would have your child live a life of virtue, of self-control, of good report, then set him a worthy example in all these things. A child brought up under such home environment will be fortified for the doubts, questions, and yearnings that will stir his soul when the real period of religious awakening comes at twelve or fourteen years of age.
It is then that he needs positive teaching regarding God and truth and his relations with others. Activity in the Church is a good safeguard during youth. Continual absence from Church makes continual absence easy. Other interests in life make the growing youth indifferent to religion. Success makes him think that religion is not essential to his happiness. "It is a law of life that use gives strength; a capacity unused weakens and dies. It is as true of religious instincts as of any other. One need not be a sinner to lose God; he need only forget Him."
With respect to the responsibility of parents teaching religion to their children, the Lord is very explicit in the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 68, 25th to 28th verse:
"And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.
"For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized.
"And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of the hands.
"And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord".
Brethren and sisters, let us strive to have fewer broken homes, and in our homes to have harmony and peace. From such homes will go men and women motivated with a desire to build, not to destroy.
Thus in our homes, in our wards, branches, and stakes, we may join the appointed messengers in organized missions, and consistently proclaim the restored gospel of peace unto the ends of the earth.
"Follow with reverent steps the great example Of him whose holy work was 'doing good'; So shall the wide earth seem our Father's temple, Each loving life a psalm of gratitude.
"Then shall all shackles fall: the stormy clangor Of wild war music o'er the earth shall cease; Love shall tread out the baleful fire of anger, And in its ashes plant the tree of peace."
I hope that in the hearts of those who are listening there will have been awakened a realization that example in the home is entirely essential to the proclamation of peace abroad. The strangers who come to visit us will see that our lives comport with the proclamation of peace, with the ensign of peace that the Church holds up before the world. O Father, help us, that we may be thus blessed by the guidance of thy Holy Spirit, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder ElRay L. Christiansen
ElRay L. Christiansen, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 28-30
After listening to President David O. McKay's timely and helpful message, brothers and sisters, I am sure that you feel, as did I, to say again in your hearts:
We thank thee, O God, for a Prophet, To guide us in these latter days; We thank thee for sending the gospel To lighten our minds with its rays.
May we utter that thanks and show it in a fervent and personal response to this appeal of our great leader.
I am sure that what I shall say will not be new to anyone, but it is a matter to which we should give serious consideration. The Latter-day Saints are a blessed people because they have made covenants with the Lord. As he made covenants with Israel of old, so he has made covenants with us, and we have made personal and individual covenants with him.
A covenant is a bond; a solemn agreement. It involves at least two individuals, and, of course, both parties must abide by the conditions of the covenant in order to make it effective and binding. The gospel in its fullness, as it has been restored, is the new and everlasting covenant of God. The new and everlasting covenant embodies all covenants, bonds, and obligations that are required of the Lord for peace in the world, for peace in the hearts of men and for the salvation and exaltation of man.
In a revelation given to the Church through the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord, bidding the people to hearken and listen together to his voice "while it is yet day," said to them:
And even so I have sent mine everlasting covenant into the world, to be a light to the world, and to be a standard for my people, and for the Gentiles to seek to it, and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way before me.
Why does the Lord make or require covenants and commandments and obligations and laws? I have heard people ask, if he loves us why does he restrict us? Just as any father would restrict his child, if it is a blessing to that child, so our Father gives us these laws and ordinances and commandments and covenants, not that we should be burdened or restricted by them, but that we may be lifted up and made free, that our burdens may be light; that we may, through obedience to them, more nearly perfect our lives and thereby prepare ourselves for the glories that await those who are willing to conform to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. His laws are not grievous; they are not burdensome.
Covenants made with the Lord are eternal in their nature. Agreements made between men end when those men are dead. Such agreements are not eternal. The Lord made it very clear that the covenants he makes with men are eternal and that those which are between man and man shall be shaken and destroyed eventually.
Behold, mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion.
And everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not by me or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God.
Every member of this Church has made covenants with God. When we entered into the waters of baptism and were confirmed members of the Church, we entered into a covenant with him. In section twenty-two of the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord refers to baptism as "a new and everlasting covenant, even that which was from the beginning". And in another revelation to Joseph Smith given in 1830, the Lord said, concerning baptism and the covenants associated with it, this he said:
All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church.
Those requirements and expectations are rather definite. The obligations and covenants are clearly stated. Both the blessings of becoming a member of the Church and the obligations of such membership should be understood and impressed upon all candidates for baptism and membership in the Church, both the young and the old.
Again, when we partake of the sacrament of the Lord's supper, we enter into covenants with him. We make a covenant that we will take upon us the name of the Son. That means, it seems to me, to be like him as nearly as possible, to do as he would do, to live in our everyday lives as he would live, to be a true disciple of Christ.
Now, he who takes upon him the name of Christ surely will obliterate from his life such things as profane and vulgar language, and evil thinking, "For," says the Lord, "as he thinketh in his heart, so is he".
Surely those who take upon them the name of Christ will be honest and true, chaste and benevolent and virtuous and will do good to all men.
When we partake of the sacrament, we make a covenant to keep his commandments, all of them, certainly to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and with all our might, and with all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. By keeping the commandments made in the sacrament service, one is promised that his Spirit will be with him, to guide him, to direct him, to warn him, and to teach him. There is nothing more desirable that one could ask than to have the accompaniment of the Spirit of God.
Let us be grateful for the privilege we have each week of going to the sacrament table and there renewing our covenants with the Lord. Let us also leave the sacrament table with a determination to keep the covenant that we make there.
When we are ordained to the priesthood we enter into what is known as the oath and covenant of the priesthood. We agree to magnify and honor that priesthood by live by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.
Always there are blessings promised to those who keep the covenants made with the Lord. In the eighty-fourth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord mentions such promises, when he says:
For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies.
They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God.
Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved.
Wilford Woodruff, speaking upon this revelation, made note of the marvelous blessings that await the faithful bearers and sharers of the priesthood; our wives are not without the same blessings that come to the men who bear the priesthood. Said Wilford Woodruff:
Do we comprehend that if we abide the laws of the priesthood we shall become heirs of God and joint-heirs of Jesus Christ? Who can comprehend that by obeying the celestial law, all the Father hath shall be given unto us, exaltations, thrones, principalities, powers, dominions. Who can comprehend it? And yet it is here stated.
Now if we keep the laws and covenants of baptism, and honor the priesthood and its covenants, we are then permitted to enter into the temple of the Lord and there again make covenants with him, which covenants if kept will qualify us for the fullness of joy in our Father's kingdom; and to become endowed with powers, rights, blessings, and promises of blessings that may embellish our lives and bless us eternally and bring us joy that is beyond our power to comprehend.
We may also enter into that order of the priesthood known as the "new and everlasting covenant of marriage". Those who remain true to that covenant and to all other covenants are promised of the Lord that they will come forth in the resurrection of the just with their husbands and their wives as their companions, and with their children, if they are faithful and keep the covenants which they shall make, to live with them in a state of never-ending happiness. What hope, what assurance, what joy that should bring to the hearts of men! The great joy and consolation that comes from the divine assurance that the family ties may transcend the boundaries of death and continue eternally is priceless to all who love their families and their friends.
We are indeed a covenant-making people. I hope and pray that we are also a covenant-keeping people. Unspeakable joy, indescribable blessings and associations with those that we love await all who receive the covenants of God and who endure to the end, faithful and true.
For-
Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
And, of course, he has said that they that love him will keep his commandments.
May we go forth from this conference more determined than ever so to do, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Amen.
Elder Marion G. Romney
Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 31-33
My beloved brothers and sisters, you assembled in this building and you who look in by television and who listen in by radio: I plead with you to implore the Lord to give me his Spirit while I address you the next few moments. I have sought humbly for his help, and I believe he will give me his Spirit. If he gives you his Spirit, too, these few minutes will be worth your while and mine, and be to the glory of God.
I thought at first I would bore you with a written speech, but I believe I can do it without one. Moreover, as I give you the message I have for you, I want to look you straight in the eye.
My office is that of special witness of the Redeemer and of gospel. I desire to have the spirit of that office and to testify to you of some eternal truths which are worthwhile to my brethren and sisters in the Church who have fervent testimonies, to members of my own family, whom I love, to every one of you who is looking in on this conference from the outside, to every soul who hears my voice, and to all the ends of the earth. What I have to say I did not learn through my five senses. I have learned a lot about the truth through my natural senses, the concepts I have came from what I have heard and read, but the truths to which I testify I have learned through revelation.
Now, do not misunderstand, I do not propose to give a startling account of an open vision. I have not seen one. Neither have I heard an audible voice. Revelation comes through three or four channels. One is the open vision; another is the audible voice; another is the witness of the Spirit. Enos spoke of this method-the witness of the Spirit-when he said that he heard the voice of God say unto him, "... thy sins are forgiven thee". And then a little later, after he had prayed for his brethren, the Nephites, he said,
... the voice of the lord came into my mind again, saying: I will visit thy brethren according to their diligence in keeping my commandments.
Recently I heard a famous character say, "What the world needs today is a prophet." That was a wise statement, but it is not exactly correct. The things the peoples of the world need today are ears to hear the living prophet, because we already have one. He has been sent by Almighty God, not only to the members of the Church, but also to you other good people who are seeing and hearing this service by television and hearing it over the radio. Most of the last three quarters of an hour that prophet has been standing before you, if you have been where you could see into this session. If you have not seen him, you have heard his voice. President David O. McKay is a prophet of the Living God. If you are the type of person who would have believed that Moses was a prophet, had you lived in his day, you know that President McKay is a prophet. If you would have accepted Elijah or even the Son of Man, you will accept President David O. McKay as a prophet of the Living God.
There are other prophets who will talk to you during this conference. Two I will mention, the men who stand with President David O. McKay. As James and John stood beside Peter after the passing of the Redeemer, so President Stephen L Richards and President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., stand with President McKay. The three of them are prophets as much as any men who ever lived upon the earth have been prophets. I plead with you to hear their voices.
There will be other men speak to you in the sessions of this conference who have been called with the same calling as the Twelve Apostles in the days of the Savior. These men will speak words of eternal life. They will bear record of the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ which you will need to accept and live by if you are to be true followers of Christ. These men will preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ as he himself defined it.
That there may be no misunderstanding as to what that gospel is, I want to read two or three verses from the statement of the Savior. After he had told his disciples that if the Church was built upon his gospel his Father would show forth his own works in it, but that if it was not built upon his gospel, but upon the works of men or upon the works of the devil, they would have joy in their works for a season, but by and by the end would come when they would be thrown down and cast into the fire, he said:
... this is the gospel which I have given unto you-that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.
And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil-
And for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their works.
And then he added:
Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel....
In this short statement the Master named four eternal verities upon which all else in his gospel is founded: first, the relationship between himself and his Father; second, the fact of his atonement; third, the universal resurrection; and fourth, the judgment.
As to the relationship between himself and his Father, he said: "I came into the world to do the will of my father; because my father sent me". This verity, so simply put, is the cornerstone of his gospel. A Christian brotherhood can no more be built without the acceptance of the fact that Jesus is the Son of God than the superstructure of this great building can be supported without its foundation. The very burden of the Master's message during all his life was that he is the Son of God, The Father himself, who seldom speaks on any other question, time after time bore witness that Jesus is his Son. That fact is an essential part of the message of the restoration.
That the atonement was a fact is as essential to the gospel of Jesus Christ as is the Sonship of Jesus. We have the sacrament to remind us every week or his atonement. The only purpose, or at least the main purpose, for which Jesus came into the world was to make the atonement. Others could have been sent to preach the gospel. As a matter of fact, others have been sent in every other dispensation-Abraham, Enoch, Moses, for example, and in this dispensation the Prophet Joseph Smith. These great prophets taught the gospel of Jesus Christ as plainly as did Jesus himself. But in the Meridian of Time Jesus came. He came not only to teach the gospel, but also to be the Redeemer of the world. He was the only one who qualified to be the Redeemer, first, because he and he alone had life within himself-eternal life, which he inherited from his divine Father. He was the only one who ever lived a sinless life upon the earth, and he alone was foreordained to be the Redeemer.
The resurrection is inherent in the atonement. Jesus said he came to do the will of his Father, and that the will of his Father was that he should be lifted up upon the cross. He further said that the purpose for which he was to be lifted up upon the cross was that he might draw all men to him. That he does through the resurrection.
The purpose for which men are to come before him after the resurrection is that they may be judged of the works which they have done in the flesh.
These are the fundamentals of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as he put them in his own language. Having stated them, he followed with the commandment,
Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost.
Now, all men who believe in Jesus and want to be his followers will have to accept those four verities. They will also have to obey the commandment. When the commandment is obeyed, they will receive the witness of the Holy Ghost. Surely they will receive it. It comes to every man who will live for it. As an example, I read to you a few lines from the testimony of a missionary in the field. Six months ago today, he sat here in this building on his way to the mission field. After being in a foreign land for five months, learning a foreign language, he wrote this to his parents:
When I first came over here and started in this missionary work, I did not know if I was going to be able to last it out. It was really hard on me to go out from door to door and have the people laugh at me and not listen to me. And for a while there I really wondered if I did have a testimony of the gospel. I knew that if I did not have a very strong one that I would not be able to stick it out. The devil was really working on me, too, because I had a feeling of unrest and uncontentedness, and I did not have the desire to go out and give the message to the people.
But today there is nothing I would rather do. The Lord has blessed me with a very strong testimony of the gospel. I know without any doubt that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that God lives and he has a body of flesh and bones. I know that Joseph Smith, Jr. was and is a prophet of God, that he restored the gospel here on the earth in these latter days. I know that the leaders of the Church today are prophets, seers, and revelators, and there is nothing I would rather do than tell these people we come in contact with that I know that these things are true...
I pray that I may be a worthy representative of my family and my Church and the Lord, and I bear you this testimony through the gift of the Holy Ghost and in the name of Jesus Christ.
Now, there is a twenty-year-old lad who has that witness. He knows, because he has been touched through the sixth sense, if you will, the witness of the Spirit, that these eternal verities are true.
Oh, my beloved brothers and sisters, my good friends whom I have never seen and who have never seen me, I bear witness to you that there is revelation in this day, that there is a power from God which wants to come into our hearts and bring us peace, that peace which will be conducive to the peace of the world, of which our great living prophet spoke this morning. I bear this witness to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 33-35
My brothers and sisters: Those whom I see and those who are viewing listening whom I do not see, I stand before you with gratitude that I have been present today and heard the great messages that have been delivered. While my own personal feelings are of no consequence, I had really contemplated doing little more than bearing my testimony, but our President has seen fit to change somewhat the program that I understood was to be followed, and so I face you with his expression that I occupy more of your time. I have been greatly impressed with the President's message and particularly that part of it which dealt with the home and with what I might call discipline in the home. Discipline is not a rod. It is love, kindness, consideration, and understanding.
We are blessed that there come to us, we invite them to our homes, spirits from the other world. As they thus come at our invitation they impose upon us an obligation which, in one sense, a true sense, is divine. So entrusted to our care is a spirit created by the Father who comes here pursuant to the great plan which was devised before the foundations of the world were laid. Bound up in that plan is not alone the past before we came, but the present, while we are here, and the future, the eternities that are to come, and we shall not escape responsibility if in any way we fall short of that mission which we assumed when we brought into this world that little, pure, holy spirit to be guided and directed by us.
Generations ago the Psalmist sang: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
"For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour".
The Psalmist must have had in mind and was perhaps referring to the great announcement made in the opening of the sacred record, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them".
In those statements, in that declaration, pregnant with meaning, is bound up the whole plan of life and salvation, our existence before we came, our existence here, and our existence hereafter. Go created us spiritually. He created the bodies through whom, down through the ages he has provided tabernacles, temples for those spirits which he had created. He brought us here, offsprings of his love, tabernacled with his hopes and his prayers, that we would go forward and live through our existence here in accordance with his will, that we might then, passing on, reach the high destiny which he had planned for us.
That we might never be in a position from the very first, that we might not know what he wished us to do, he gave the gospel from the very beginning that men might know his ways, know what they had to do in they that might fulfil their measure of creation and reach that high destiny he had provided.
It is my faith, and I believe history will bear me out, that there never has been a time in the history of the world, in the darkest hours of paganism when men did not have in their possession so much of the truth, and more, as they were able to live. Sometimes that truth was besmirched, sometimes it was dimmed, sometimes it was distorted, but down underneath it all always were some elemental truths, because men had in their minds at least the traditions of the gospel preached from the beginning, had in their minds certain fundamental things which concerned their salvation.
God has made it clear, as I understand it, that he holds his children responsible for the truth which he reveals to them, and if they are not in a position to live all the truth, they are in the position to live that which he gives. Pushing it, perhaps to the extreme, we know that from the beginning, God taught as part of the gospel the mission, the life, the work, the death of his Only Begotten Son, who was to atone for the bringing upon us of mortality.
You know, I can see underneath the sacrifices that were offered, the human sacrifices, in the country to the south of us among the Lamanites, sacrifices that finally led to cannibalism, the eating of a part of the sacrifice-I see a clear suggestion of the sacrifice distorted almost beyond recognition, which God was to make and made through his Only Begotten Son for our redemption.
We ought to remember, I feel always, the truths which God has given to us. We live in revolutionary and evolutionary time. The Lord has vouchsafed to us some of the greatest discoveries of all times; he has increased beyond the wildest dreams of the most imaginative poet, our powers of transmission of speech. He has increased our powers of speed of transportation. He has discovered to us great secrets of energy which we know how to create but not yet how to control.
We have looked at these things, and we have said in our hearts, and in our speech, that the old has been "outmoded." We see the results, and we believe. But it has been rather an easy transition from the outmoding of these material instrumentalities given by God for our good -it has been an easy transition, I say, to affirm that since the physical has become outmoded, so is "outmoded" the moral and the spiritual of the past. In the darkness they are crying out, as we have heard, for a prophet. Brother Romney said that what they need is a listening ear for the prophet they have.
But it is wholly fantastic, as I see it, for us to think that man himself is "outmoded," or his moral and spiritual past. We still have the five senses, all we learn and know and experience comes through those five senses. Man has not been given another sense by these great discoveries. Man still thinks as he has always thought, more poignantly, perhaps, more deeply in certain lines than heretofore, but he still thinks, he still speaks, he is still guided by the same great passions of love, hate, ambition, desire to serve the Lord and all the rest of it. We have not changed. We are as God made us originally, save as we have somehow in some things subverted our feelings, our passions, our urges, our ambitions.
What I would like to get to you today is my feeling that the spiritual in man, the spirit of man is in no sense whatever "outmoded." He stands today as he stood when he came from the garden. God is still God; Jesus is the Christ. There is no change in that. There has been no change in the great spiritual truths that are essential to our progress spiritually and to our eventual salvation and exaltation. Nothing is changed there.
Moreover, we of this Church have our testimony and our knowledge that God still speaks to us, that he does not permit us to wander in darkness and in silence, uninstructed, uninspired, without revelation. No principle of the gospel is more glorious than that principle of continuous revelation because we know that so often as it is necessary our Heavenly Father will again reveal to us all that it is necessary that we should know, in addition to what we now have.
We are not moving blindly, we are not moving by the maxims of the past only. We are not moving alone, guided only by the revelations given in ancient times. We are moving forward under revelations given in modern times and are moving forward under a knowledge that if we need further light, it shall be given to us.
My brothers and sisters, I leave with you my testimony that God lives, that the eternal truths are today as they have always been, no change, that God expects us to keep his commandments. I give you my testimony that this is the Restored Gospel, that Joseph is a Prophet, that the First Vision was a reality, that the man who now stands as the President of the Church possesses all the keys and powers that were possessed by the Prophet Joseph, that God expects us, as has been said here today, to keep all of his commandments to the end that we may be saved and exalted in his presence, and for this I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Stephen L Richards
Stephen L Richards, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 37-41
My dear brethren and sisters, I rejoice with you in this great conference of the Church. I have been coming to conferences for a half century. I think I have seldom missed a session. I cannot remember of ever having attended a more enlightening and inspiring session than that of this morning. I feel certain that all who were present here or who heard the proceedings must have been deeply impressed.
Naturally, I have an earnest and a prayerful desire to make some little contribution to these proceedings, and I earnestly solicit your co-operation and sympathy and your prayers in an undertaking to that end. I am taking the liberty of addressing my remarks in large measure to our friends who pay us the courtesy and the honor to give some attention to these proceedings.
We are approximating the Easter time, as we were so well apprised this morning in the beautiful sermons of Brother Lee and Brother Brown. At this time the whole world may focus, in a measure at least, its attention upon Christianity, for I cannot think, even in countries of adverse philosophies, that attention will not be given to the progress of that we call Christianity, and propose, if I may, to discuss some phases of that great theme-Christianity. Recently I heard a minister in an eloquent address over the radio define Christianity as "the Society of the Friends of Jesus." The dictionary defines Christianity as "the body of Christian believers." Is there a significant distinction between these two definitions? Is an adequate concept of Christianity available to us and to the world, and is it important? I have thought that matters pertaining to this subject might be worth our consideration for a short time.
"The Society of the Friends of Jesus" is a nice-sounding phrase. I had never heard it before. The use of the word society may be somewhat difficult of justification because society usually contemplates something more of an integrated unit of people with companionship and association, generally of a friendly character and common purpose. There is so much diversity of interpretation effort, and purpose in Christendom as to make questionable the application of the word society. However, that consideration might be regarded as somewhat technical, and I do not press it.
The more important difference in the two definitions I have quoted is the distinction between friends and believers.
I may be unduly apprehensive, but I think I discern in this gracious use of the word friends a tendency which is supported by many of the circumstances which come to our attention to forsake and depart from the concept that no one may be classified as Christian except he "believe" in Jesus Christ and the principles for which he stands. All of us have friends with whom we are cordial, to whose principles of conduct and life we do not subscribe. A friend of the historical character, Jesus, may have esteem and admiration for his life, his teachings, and accomplishments, but he may not be a Christian believer as the old definition designates one to be counted in the body of Christianity.
I cannot bring myself to think that the Savior himself would be satisfied with this new definition, however well intended it may have been. The Lord used the term friends most impressively-not quite, I fear, in the same sense in which it is used in the definition. You all remember the great pronouncement to his disciples:
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
"Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you".
The essence of the friendship here set forth lies in belief and acceptance of the divinity of the Master. It is inconceivable that he should extend the friendship he so beautifully described to any others than those who were believers. We know of his compassion, his mercy, and concern for all our Father's children, but it should never be forgotten that he set forth in unequivocal language the eligibility of those admitted to the circle of his friendship.
"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you".
If I could feel that the speaker to whom I listened had in mind such a quality of friendship as the Savior portrays, I would have little hesitancy in the acceptance of his definition, but I heard nothing in his sermon to indicate that was his concept.
Now, my brethren and sisters, it may well seem to you that I have overplayed this matter of definitions, but the other aspect of the subject which I have mentioned I am sure cannot be too strongly emphasized. Is there available to mankind today an interpretation of Christianity and the definition of a Christian which may be safely accepted and relied upon? As a Christian believer I am assured that there is, and that all men may know, if they will to acquire the knowledge, who is a Christian acceptable to the author of Christianity, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I hope you will bear in mind that I do not bring these matters forward with any assumption on my part that I have the right to judge of the Christian status of my fellow men. No one, under the declaration of the Savior, has the right of judgment of his fellows unless he be specifically commissioned so to do. Scarcely anyone fully conscious of the responsibility of exercising such judgment would ever seek it, for the Lord has said: "For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged".
My purpose in pointing out some of the attributes of a Christian is to enable each man to determine for himself the state of his worthiness of this honorable designation.
I believe that no man can count himself Christian who is not concerned about religion, who does not have regard for things divine, and for his own standing in relation thereto. Irrespective of what his antecedents and his affiliations may have been and are, it is most difficult to understand how he can be justified in the designation of Christian if he has lost or never had vital interest in religion.
I am sorry to say there may be very large numbers in such a category. Many do not resent their classification as Christians. Many welcome, and some seek, the reputation for practicing Christian virtues. I know of few, if any, men who are not pleased to be called "a Christian gentleman," although there has never been evident, in many cases, any interest or activity in the Christian religion.
There are two significant articles in recent issue of a popular magazine. The article is entitled, "What Are We Worried About?" and the caption of the other article is, "64,000,000 Americans Do Not Go to Church. What Do They Believe?"
I mention concern about religion as an essential element in the Christian faith. According to the first article, about five thousand persons in many walks of life and different localities were interviewed on the question, "What kinds of things do you worry about most?" The report is that "An overwhelming majority answered solely in terms of personal or family problems -43% were worried about family finances, wages, expenses, etc. 30% mentioned personal problems such as marriage difficulties, children's welfare, and so on. 24% were worried about health-their own or of someone in the family. Only 8% were worried about world problems, occasioned chiefly by the possibility of being drafted."
The article does not state that the matter of religion was ruled out, but it appears from the report that no one who answered was worried about religion in any form. It may be that a subsequent article which is promised may give attention to that subject.
Now if worry contemplates anxiety and deep concern, is it not significant that no one of this great number interviewed expressed any anxiety or fearful concern about things religious? If this poll may justifiably be interpreted as further gravitation of the people of our country toward materialism, then I think it carries serious import for all of us.
I think I speak for this entire congregation who listens to these services and I know that I speak for myself, when I say that there is no matter fraught with more anxiety and deep concern among all the problems that confront us than the religious welfare of ourselves, our families, and our fellow men. I firmly believe that this is an essential characteristic of a Christian, and I earnestly appeal to every man who discovers within himself a growing tendency to shrug off religious thinking and participation to stop and consider the effect of his spiritual lethargy on himself, his family, his friends, and his standing as a Christian.
I mentioned another article in the magazine which has some relevance to the measure which a man may apply to his own standing as a Christian. I cannot see how anyone can logically and consistently take on the designation of Christian unless he accepts the divinity of the Christ according to the scriptural record of the Christ. Without the record, of course, there would be for us no Christ. Christ is our Lord of the Gospels, as President Clark has so aptly designated him in his book. If the Gospels constitute the record and the history, how can we without building up an artificial and imaginary record fail to accept the divinity of the Father and the Son and still call ourselves Christians?
The article asserts that the 64,000,000 Americans who do not go to Church are not necessarily irreligious; that many have a profound faith in God but do not believe that any existing organized religion is a satisfactory expression of God's will. I do not attempt to controvert this statement, although I believe that we will all agree that going to Church and worship are evidences of one's acceptance of a Supreme Being and are calculated to foster and develop that acceptance.
It is further pointed out in this article that the great Lincoln never affiliated himself with any church, but of course there would be no warrant for any statement that he was not a believing, Christian man. There are many things in his life and utterances to support the conclusion that he was a man of faith and prayer who would have resented a charge that he was not a Christian believer.
It seems to me that in the present state of world affairs it is particularly important that men should examine the state of their inner feelings about this matter. It is frequently stated from many different sources that the present overshadowing conflict in the world is essentially between that which is Christian and that which is anti-Christ. I recognize that there may be many not religiously inclined who would not accept this generalization. Many would probably prefer to define the issues as drawn between the political concepts and systems of the so-called free world and the ideologies of statism and communism. However the issue may be defined, I am personally convinced that the cause of the free world may be immeasurably promoted and furthered by an enlarged acceptance of the Christian concept. That concept, better than anything else, it seems to me, furnishes the fundamental understanding of man's inherent right to freedom. However much illustrations from the past may serve to justify the eternal quest and struggle for liberty, there is nothing in all history which so thoroughly supports the struggle as does the knowledge and understanding of the nature and origin of man himself.
Where may we find that all-essential explanation? I think I may answer for all Christian believers, in the Christian theology, where man is given a dignity and majesty of birth and purpose transcending any sphere which may be created for him by the imaginative rationalization of man. This man of Christian origin is as a matter of divine eight a free man, invested with the power of choice, without restraint, except that necessarily imposed to give all his fellows the same measure of freedom and liberty.
I think, my brethren and sisters and my friends, and I hope many heard this morning, that no better exposition of the fundamental Christian concept of family, the foundation of society, and the essentials involving and underlying our freedom, has ever been brought before us and the world than came from that inspiring, comprehensive and powerful discourse of President McKay this morning. Would that all men all over this world might have heard it.
This man of the Christian concept is not only free to act for himself, but he is also designed to live in a free society, operating under the ennobling and exalted concept that all men are brothers in the family of a divine parent. In the battle for the freedom of men is there a satisfactory and promising substitute for this Christian concept? I think there is not, and I doubt that on serious consideration there will be many in the free world who will contend that there is.
Facing the problems that confront the world under the stress of the anxieties of the threat of a devastating and annihilating war, is it going too far to ask men and women in this land which has come to be the leader in the cause of freedom to subject themselves, their lives, and their feelings to their own scrutiny to answer to their consciences whether they are truly Christian in belief and purpose? All who can so conscientiously classify themselves are in a position to make a contribution to the noble cause our country espouses, which I am sure can come from no other source in equal measure. I am content for this occasion to leave the matter of Christian definition with this comment: I would be willing to accept the minister's statement that "Christianity is the Society of the Friends of Jesus," if friends could be interpreted as the Savior pronounced:
"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you".
I owe it to myself and to my fellow members in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to make an additional statement, particularly for the benefit of those not of our number who may listen to these proceedings. We would like all to know that additional evidences for the divinity of the Christ, and for the support of the Christian concept have providentially come to the world in these latter days, and that a fullness of the Lord's gospel, and the authority and power to administer it have been restored to the earth through his chosen servant for the enlightenment and blessing of all mankind; and further, that this enlarged understanding of the true nature of Christianity is available to all who will sincerely and humbly seek to know it; and that knowledge of it, the adoption of the restored gospel as a way of life, will immeasurably enhance the prospect of the triumph of the forces of freedom over their opponents. I extend to all an earnest invitation to investigate for themselves.
In conclusion, I leave this parting word. I have deep respect, esteem, and love in my heart for all men and women everywhere who may be rightly counted Christian. I have regard for all who practice the Christian virtues. I know that the Christ loves those who love him, and who serve him, even with limited knowledge of his real nature and his true gospel.
God bless Christianity, "the body of Christian believers," and true friends of Jesus, I ask humbly in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Eldred G. Smith
Eldred G. Smith, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 41-43
Brothers and sisters, I seek an interest in your faith and prayers. This is a humbling experience, and I hope that I will always appreciate the honors and the blessings that have been given to me and that I shall always appreciate the blessings of the Lord.
The other night a cartoon appeared in The Deseret News which showed Uncle Sam deluged in the overflowing contents of a large horn of plenty. The title read, "Isn't it time we count our blessings?" These cartoonists have a gift of catching the essence of a situation and portraying it very graphically. We live in a land blessed above all other nations-not only a choice land, but also a choice generation. In addition to all the luxuries of modern living, we have the blessings of the fullness of the gospel. Today we do not have the physical opposition of hardship and persecution that we had in the earlier days.
The Church is growing very rapidly, and our missionaries are having amazing success. The people of the world are impressed with the accomplishments of the Church. But, brothers and sisters, if we learn anything from history-and history is our greatest teacher-we learn that our present favorable conditions may have a hidden danger. Some of these dangers were referred to by President McKay this morning. Do you remember what happened so often in the Book of Mormon? When the people were righteous, they enjoyed prosperity. With prosperity came a feeling of self-sufficiency and pride. They forgot to acknowledge the Lord as the Giver of all their blessings. They lost their humility. Not until they were chastened and humbled did righteousness and prosperity return.
Let us enjoy the prosperity in which we live, with humble gratitude in our hearts, expressing our thanks to the Lord. Let us be humble in all our prayers. Beware of lip service. Remember how the Lord criticized the hypocrites who prayed openly for the glory of men. He said,
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
It is not always the words we use in prayer that count so much as the spirit in which they are said. If we are truly humble, we will acknowledge the hand of the Lord in all our righteous endeavors. Praying without humility is praying without faith. You just cannot have true faith without humility. What better example do we have than the simple, humble prayer of a child?
President George Albert Smith has told a story which I think will bear repeating.
It was about a nine-year-old boy who was to undergo a serious operation. As they prepared to give him the anesthetic, he asked those attending him to pray for him. When they would not, he said, "If you can't pray for me, will you please wait while I pray for myself?"
They removed the sheet, and he knelt on the operating table, bowed his head and said, "Heavenly Father, I am an orphan boy. I am awful sick. Won't you please make me well? Bless these men who are going to operate that they will do it right. If you will make me well, I will try to be a good man. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for making me well."
When he finished praying, he lay down. The doctors' and nurses' eyes were filled with tears. Then he said, "I am ready."
The operation was successful, and the boy speedily recovered.
The doctor later said, "I have operated on hundreds of people, men and women who thought they had faith to be healed, but never, until I stood over that little boy have I felt the presence of God as I felt it then. That boy opened the windows of heaven and talked to his Heavenly Father as one would talk to another, face to face. I am a better man for having had the experience of hearing a small boy talk to his Father in heaven as if he were present."
Humility is one of the qualities that help build faith. Would a missionary be successful if he were not humble? He has to be teachable with a receptive mind before he can teach others, and to be teachable, he must be humble. And we should all be missionaries.
All the requirements of living the gospel become easier through humility.
A young man told me his experience in becoming a member of the Church, which is typical of many in their activities of investigating the Church. He said the missionaries came to the lesson on the Word of Wisdom. He and his wife were both users of tobacco. After the meeting was over and the missionaries had left, they talked it over with each other and decided between themselves, "Well, if the is what the Lord wants and if this is the Lord's Church, we will try it." He said that he was not particularly concerned about himself, he thought he could do it easily; he was worried about his wife; she had never tried to quit before. On the other hand, he had quit several times. After proving to himself that he could quit, of course, he went back to the use of cigarettes again. But he said in this case, it was just the reverse. His wife quit without any apparent difficulty, but he had tremendous difficulty. He became nervous and irritable. He could not rest. He was cranky among his fellow workers. He could not sleep at night. But inasmuch as his wife had quit, he was not going to be outdone by her. So, one night, he became so restless, so disturbed that he could not sleep, and his wife suggested to him that he pray about it. He thought that was a good joke. He ridiculed the idea of prayer; he said, "This is something I have to do. Nobody can help me with this. I can do this." But as the night passed, and he had done everything he could to stimulate sleep and rest without any success, finally in despair he humbled himself enough to kneel at the side of the bed and pray vocally. According to his own testimony, he said that he got up from his prayer, got into bed, went to sleep, and has never been tempted by cigarettes since. He absolutely lost the taste for tobacco. He said, "The Word of Wisdom was not a health program for me. It was a lesson in humility." He said, "I had to learn humility." That is what it meant to him. As it is with many of the requirements of the Church, we have to demonstrate humble obedience.
It is a humbling experience to look into the sky and contemplate the star-just try to count all those you can see with the naked eye. Throughout the ages, man has tried to count them, and as telescopes have been made larger and larger, the scope has increased until we realize the utter impossibility of numbering all the stars. How small are we then, when we consider that God is the Master and Creator of the universe.
Just stand on the rim of the Grand Canyon and feel your insignificance as you gaze on the grandeur and immensity of nature or watch the beauties of Niagara and realize your own weakness in the presence of such great power.
Then ask yourself as David asked our Maker and the Creator of all: "What is man that thou art mindful of him?".
Yes, God is mindful of you and me because we are his children. He has given us this earth and all we have-the very air we breathe, food to eat, life itself. He rewards us for every good deed. Of ourselves we are nothing. Brothers and sisters, let us not be self-sufficient. Let us not forget to be humble and acknowledge the Lord, who is so good to us.
King Benjamin told his people:
And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.
And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?
And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you.
My brothers and sisters, be not lifted up in the pride of your hearts that you forget the Giver of all your blessings. Do not let self-righteousness rob you of humility before God. Acknowledge him in all things. Let your faith be simple and childlike.
On one occasion,
... came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
May we then be humble as a little child is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bishop Thorpe B. Isaacson
Thorpe B. Isaacson, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 43-45
President McKay, President Richards, President Clark, my beloved brethren of the General Authorities, my dear brothers and sisters and friends: I feel very humble in standing before this great audience today, and I sincerely ask for a solemn prayer in your hearts in my behalf. I am grateful to be here with you in this great general conference of the Church. Truly, we have been spiritually strengthened and built up in our faith. We come here for that purpose, and I pray that the Lord will help me that I may say something that will give you strength and increase your faith and your testimony.
We spend much of our time in our business and temporal affairs, in our educational, social, and recreational life. We spend a great deal of our time in government and politics. Probably that is as it should be, but I wonder how much time we actually spend in developing the spiritual side of our lives-probably, may I say, the better part of our lives? The older I become, the more I realize that this is the better side of our lives and certainly the most important side of our lives.
It is not uncommon for thousands of us Latter-day Saints to bow our heads in prayer and close our eyes, and to follow the prayer of him who may be mouth. Truly we are a praying people. The world has judged us to be a praying people, and we confess that we not only pray in large gatherings at conference, but we also pray every day of our lives, and we accept the principle of prayer.
I would like to say a few words about the Aaronic Priesthood. I am directing my remarks particularly to those concerned with Aaronic Priesthood boys from twelve to twenty-one. There are approximately seventy thousand of them in the stakes of the Church, not counting the missions. We also have about that same number of Senior members of the Aaronic Priesthood, wonderful men who bear the Aaronic Priesthood, or a total of approximately 140,000 men and boys holding that wonderful priesthood, the Aaronic Priesthood, which gives them the power and the blessing and the authority and the responsibility of acting in the name of God, our Eternal Father.
I hope, parents, that you will take an interest in these Aaronic Priesthood boys. Fathers and mothers, help them on Sunday mornings. They are sleepy; they are tired; they are growing boys. Help them to get up on Sunday morning and attend their priesthood meetings. You wonderful wives of the Senior members, encourage your husbands on Sunday morning to get up in time to put on their Sunday clothes and go to Church. That will give to them and to you great blessings that you will not know any other way.
May I try briefly to pray some of the incidents concerning the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood? I would like to take you back to the beautiful Susquehanna River, near Harmony, Pennsylvania. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, two young men, age twenty-three and twenty-two, respectively, stood on those beautiful banks of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. Their faces reflected the seriousness of their thoughts. It was evident that peace permeated their entire beings, and every act bespoke humility and faith in God, their Eternal Father. They had intentionally secluded themselves from the world that they might seek the counsel of their Father in heaven.
May 15, 1829-it was a beautiful day. Winter was over. Spring was in the air. Nature had painted the leaves of the trees with a delicate green. The song of the birds overhead blended with the sounds of the river to produce harmonious overtones that added serenity to that beautiful occasion. The sun cast its golden rays through the motionless leaves of the semi-dense overgrowth, making a wonderful study in light and shadow. All was calm and peaceful, that day. It was indeed a sacred spot and a sacred hour. Cares and worries and concern were largely overcome by the handiwork of God. The harmonious beauty that surrounded them contributed to the sacredness of the place and of the occasion, but the seriousness of their mission made them semi-oblivious to it. They now knelt together in humble prayer, seeking guidance from God, their Eternal Father.
These two young men were concerned about the principle of baptism for the remission of sins, and they desired to know more concerning the details of this sacred ordinance. What was the proper mode? How, and to whom, and by whom should this ordinance be performed? In their work of translating the Book of Mormon they had become concerned regarding the problem, as they contrasted the instructions of that sacred book with the practices of the churches of that day. They knew, however, that their Father in heaven would supply the wisdom they now sought.
And while they were engaged in prayer, a messenger, whom God had sent, appeared to them, and he spoke, unto them. "I am thy fellow-servant". The resurrected John the Baptist now stood before them-he, who had come out of the wilderness crying repentance to the people of his day; he, who had baptized our Lord and Savior at Bethabara in the River Jordan. Yes, this was the same John who on that sacred occasion heard the Father's voice from heaven declare, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased". This was the same John who witnessed the Holy Ghost descend on Jesus; he, the literal descendant of Aaron who held the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood by right and ordination; he of whom the Lord said, "No greater prophet born of woman"; he, who had been beheaded for his courageous denunciation of sin and for his love of truth. Now he stood before them in majesty; the glory that surrounded him was far more brilliant than the May sunshine. His presence dispelled all doubts and all fears, and these two young men opened their souls to partake of his great wisdom.
He then laid his hands upon their heads and conferred upon them the Aaronic Priesthood keys which he had held throughout the centuries. The words of that ordination prayer were indelibly impressed upon the minds of these two young men:
Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.
He then told them that the Aaronic Priesthood was an appendage of the Melchizedek Priesthood, that it had not the power of the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, but that this power should later be given to them. Then he told these two young men that he came under the direction of Peter, James, and John, who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which priesthood, in due time, would be conferred upon them and which later was conferred upon them.
These two young men were then directed by this messenger to go down into the river, that beautiful Susquehanna River. Joseph Smith was instructed to baptize Oliver, and Oliver, in turn, was instructed to baptize Joseph. They were then to ordain each other to the Aaronic Priesthood by the laying on of hands. Joseph ordained Oliver to the Aaronic Priesthood first, and Oliver then ordained Joseph.
This glorious spiritual experience that followed their baptism and ordination to the priesthood was accompanied by the spirit of prophecy. As they left this hallowed spot, their hearts were light. The Aaronic Priesthood was again restored to the earth by an angel of God to his servants, the first time in many centuries for man to be divinely commissioned with the priesthood. This vision demonstrated conclusively that the heavens were not closed and gave positive proof of the promise of the resurrection.
I bear you my testimony that I know this priesthood was restored to the earth. I bear you my testimony that I know God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, our Redeemer and our Savior, our Elder Brother. I bear you my testimony that I know this is the true work that we are engaged in, and I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. I know that President David O. McKay is a true, living prophet of God, our Eternal Father, and I bear you that testimony, and I know it to be true, and I know it by the power and gift of the Holy Ghost, that testifies to me that this is true. I bear you that testimony in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Ezra Taft Benson
Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 45-50
My brethren and sisters and friends, seen and unseen: I approach this assignment this afternoon in deep humility. It is truly a sobering experience and yet a signal honor. I seek the inspiration of heaven and your faith and prayers as I attempt to speak for a few moments.
I am very grateful for the opportunity of being here at this great conference. I am grateful to President McKay for inviting me to come, and I would like to say to him, in response to his kind words, that I am sure no one on earth is as happy as I that I am able to be here today.
I am very grateful that the Lord permitted our plane to land during the storm last night, just in time to get to that great priesthood meeting. As President McKay referred to the fact that seventy-one different gatherings were assembled last night, and that we had never had this many outlets for the general priesthood meeting, I thought of a rather humorous thing that was said by one of our national entertainers on TV, who is helping in a promotion program for greater consumption of dairy products. We have had some excess of these commodities. This entertainer has been employed by the farmers of this country, through the American Dairy Association, whose president is one of our stake presidents. On the air he expressed his pride at being associated with this great organization, not only an organization of farmers, but also many millions of dairy cows. "Now," he said "ladies and gentlemen, there may be organizations with more branches, but I am sure there is no organization with more outlets."
I rejoice with you, my brethren and sisters, in this great conference. I have received a spiritual uplift from the testimonies borne, and I am particularly grateful that I was able to hear the messages of the First Presidency in the priesthood conference session last night and again today. I cannot think of a richer experience than the experience of the last twenty-four hours.
I am grateful for all of the blessings that are mine. I have been sitting here today enumerating them. I am grateful to be able to live in this day, to enjoy the freedoms and the liberties which are ours and the associations which we have in the Church and in this great nation.
I am grateful for the confidence and the love of my brethren and sisters in the Church.
As I listened to that great message of the President this morning, a message which we all need in our homes, my heart filled with gratitude and thanksgiving that the Prophet of God could in very deed speak as one having authority on this very sacred and important subject of the home and family. I am grateful for my home and my family. I am grateful for my companion and for her inspiration, strength, and help. I know that I could not have accomplished the little that I have achieved, without her great faith, devotion, and support.
I am grateful that I have come from a good Latter-day Saint home.
I thank the Lord for the opportunity that has been mine to associate with my brethren of the General Authorities. For nine glorious years I had almost daily association with them. The last two years I have been in their presence much less frequently, and I am sure they will never know fully how much I have missed the very close and intimate association of those earlier years.
I am grateful for the faith and prayers of the Saints and for the support of good people everywhere in the responsibilities which are mine now in the government as well as in the Church. I thank God for the letters that have come during hours of stress from faithful members of the Church and good people elsewhere.
President McKay spoke of these wonderful mission presidents, and they are wonderful men. As he did so I thought of one who lies ill in a local hospital, whose illness I learned about since coming to this conference-one with whom I had the great pleasure of walking the streets of Holland at the close of the war-one of the most valiant. President Cornelius Zappey, if you are listening in today, may I say to you that we love you, that God loves you for your devotion, and it is our prayer that he may see fit to restore you fully and speedily to health and strength. It is my hope and prayer that someday we may be able to team as missionaries, if not in this life, then in the eternities to come.
I am grateful for the glorious saving principles of the gospel, my brethren and sisters, for my progenitors who had the courage and the strength to accept the truth when they heard it and to join themselves with an unpopular people. I am grateful for the rich heritage which is mine. I am thankful for the mission of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and for those who have succeeded him, for their valiant devotion to the truth. I am grateful that I have been made the recipient of the priceless blessings that have come through the gospel.
Today I have in my heart a love not only for these, but also for all of God's children. I have no ill feeling toward any human being. With you, I hate sin, but I love the sinner. We all have need to repent.
I rejoice in the spread of the gospel and the growth of the Church in all the world. I have been thrilled as I have read the accounts of President McKay's visits to the missions in the South Pacific. I thrilled with the messages last night from two of our associates who reported on missionary activities in the South Pacific and way up in far-off Finland. I am very grateful, brethren and sisters, for all of these priceless blessings.
I realize that through the ages there has been a tendency for truth to be pretty much on the scaffold and error on the throne. I recognize that there as been a tendency to revere prophets dead and to persecute the living oracles. I recognize that there are two great forces in the world. And as the Book of Mormon prophet said,
For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things.
I am grateful that we have our free agency which to me is an eternal blessing, an eternal principle. I recognize that today Satan, the adversary, is still alert. He is not using the means of persecution towards this people which he once used, but he is still the enemy of truth, and he is using other methods today. He is probably using the method of encouraging complacency. He is probably making an effort to lull us away into a false security because things seem well in Zion. One of the Book of Mormon prophets said this would be the case in the last days. You remember Nephi's prediction when he said:
For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.
And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion, yea, Zion prospereth, all is well-and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.
Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!
Wo be unto him that crieth: All is well!.
Now, of course, the Church itself is God's great instrument to build and to save and to exalt men everywhere, through the application of the simple principles of the gospel. It is a way of life that will make men happy, and "men are, that they might have joy". This great instrument must withstand opposition and complacency.
The program of the Church, the mission of the Church is to build character, to lift men and women up, through giving them an opportunity to participate and take responsibility. It is our great privilege to learn of the truth and help to spread it to God's children everywhere, thus providing the means of leading them to exaltation.
In the last few weeks I have had the glorious privilege of visiting eleven of our Latin American countries. The visit was threefold in character. First of all, it was a response to invitations from leaders of those nations, particularly ministers of agriculture; it also provided opportunity to get better acquainted with their agriculture, and also to learn something of the results of the exports which we are making into those nations, of breeding stock, such as beef cattle, dairy cattle, hogs, poultry, and also many strains of seeds; it also provided an opportunity, so the President of the United States thought, to help strengthen the bonds of friendship and understanding with our splendid neighbors south of the border.
I want to say to you, my brethren and sisters, it was a most satisfying experience. I am very grateful for the contacts I had with the Presidents of those nations, with the ministers of agriculture, and with the people generally. I appreciate the opportunity of visiting on ranches, farms, and plantations, getting into the homes of the people and feeling of their warm spirit and their friendliness toward the people of the United States.
I think the outlook down there is most encouraging. Those countries are on the march today, and they want to team up with the United States. They have a deep love and respect for our people here. They admire and respect our technology, our methods, our free enterprise system. They are very anxious to raise the standards of living of their own people by adopting the practices which we have followed in this country. There is an economic awakening in many of those countries, and I look for unheard of developments in the years ahead. I hope that those developments will include an increase and a spread of the restored gospel. They are moving, as it were, almost from the one-horse handplow to the caterpillar tractor overnight. They are not doing it with the slow transition as we have done it here.
I found they like to be referred to as Americans. They are very proud that they have thousands of their students here in the United States learning our way of life and learning of our agriculture and our technology. I found they were very happy to learn that to the Latter-day Saints the Promised Land, the land of Zion, includes all of North and South America. I was pleased to find, too, that there is evidence that communism has largely failed in those countries. True, there are some danger spots, still, but there is evidence that political stability is increasing. I was very much pleased as I visited personally with the Presidents of those republics, to hear them speak out in support of the principles of freedom which have meant so much to our great nation and our good neighbor to the north of us.
Our technical aid down south is paying off. They need technical assistance and encouragement more than the need grants. I feel that the future is bright, and I am very happy that our Church missions are spreading out in those lands.
I came back impressed that those people want us to help them to help themselves. The future looks bright, and I said to some of my associates upon my return that if I were a young man of twenty-five today, I would consider heading south. Probably when we get the inter-American highway completed, it will be easier for us to visit our neighbors to the south. I hope so.
I was pleased, too, to find in the travels to these eleven countries, that our Mormon people are found in almost every nation. Generally speaking, they are giving a good account of themselves. I was pleased with the contacts I had with them. Beginning in Cuba, in our visit with the then President-elect, Batista, and continuing through ten other nations-I was pleased that we had the opportunity to say something about the Church and explain the fundamentals of the gospel.
Sister Benson is a more effective missionary, I think, than her husband. It seems to me we have been shipping Church books down there for days since our return. We have sent many copies of our literature, mostly in response to conversations which she had with the gracious wives of the Presidents, ministers of agriculture, the ambassadors, and others.
I was pleased to meet our servicemen in Puerto Rico from Ramsey Air Force Base and from Fort Buchanan. In the Virgin Islands where I met, as a member of the Virgin Islands Corporation Board, I was surprised, as a certain technician, an electrical engineer, was invited in to consult with us, to find that he was a member of the Church. As similar experiences were repeated, I thought of the comment made by a businessman from the north-central states sometime ago who registered in a Washington hotel and asked if there were any Mormons in Washington. The hotel clerk replied, "I suppose there are. They seem to be everywhere."
Well, I found them down there. Not very many, but a few of them almost everywhere! In Trinidad, which is in the British orbit, we found a member of the Church serving as one of the secretaries of the consulate. In Venezuela we had received advance letters from one or two families expressing the hope that we might hold a service while we were there. Then when I had the pleasure of addressing the American Chamber of Commerce in Caracas, who should be presiding there as president, but one of our Mormon boys from Tooele, Utah. It was a great thrill as we went from Caracas over to Barquisimeto to have the opportunity of holding a service in a hotel room with representatives of three or four Mormon families in that area and to find that they were eager to get a Sunday School started.
In Panama, in Costa Rica, in Nicaragua, of course, we found groups of the Saints and missionaries. It was always a great pleasure to see them at the airports or to hold a brief meeting with them or to join them for breakfast or lunch. I wish our busy schedule might have permitted us to spend more time with those fine groups. Quite by accident, because of plane trouble, we stopped in Guatemala. We had the opportunity during seven hours there, to view the lovely new mission home and chapel and to have a long visit with the ambassador, and to hear him speak in praise about our people. In fact, I was pleased everywhere that we went to find the Church well spoken of.
We completed our little two and a half weeks swing by spending a Sabbath day in Mexico City with President and Sister Bowman and the missionaries and the Saints in a large gathering there. Later the next day, as I visited with the President of that republic, he expressed surprise and apparently seemed somewhat pleased to find the number of people we have right in Mexico City of our faith. He had known of our people in the Colonies, and he spoke highly of the Church and its people.
So, I might go on, my brothers and sisters. I found, too, a very friendly press, as President McKay has reported I think there was not one loaded question put to us in all of the press conferences that we had. It was not uncommon at the end of an hour-long press conference to have representatives of the press gather around after we had discussed agriculture, and say, "Now, Mr. Secretary, we would like to turn to another subject. We would like you to tell us something about the Church." It was always a great pleasure, of course, to tell them something about the history, the organization, and the doctrine of the Church.
So, my brethren and sisters-and I've not even mentioned Colombia-it seems to me that we have a great opportunity now, as the Church moves out into the world. The Church has a wonderful reputation. It is well thought of. It is well-known. It is so important today that all of our people, whoever they are and whatever they are, live the gospel, that they keep the commandments of God. And if they are isolated, it is important that they arrange to hold services in their own homes, that they invite in their neighbors to their Sunday Schools, that they might help to spread the gospel. In my humble judgment, the world is hungry for true religion, and we have it.
I am sure, my brethren and sisters, that in the days ahead, many will accept of the truth, particularly in the countries that I have just had the opportunity to visit.
I remember, as you do also, occasions where we have met with just a handful of people in an isolated area, and how the Lord was there with his Spirit. I remember meeting the Saints, way up in Selbongen, East Prussia, right after the war and in isolated places in Holland. I remember meeting the Saints in Czechoslovakia, just small groups. How well I remember that meeting referred to by President Matis last night far up in Larsmo, Finland. It was a small, isolated group, but the Spirit of God was present and touched the hearts of the people. So it will be everywhere our people meet if we just remain true and faithful. God grant we may do so.
May we be able to make our influence felt for good in the world because we must help to serve as the leaven which is going to leaven the world with righteousness. In large measure, that is our mission.
So, my brethren, may we prepare, as elders in Israel, to help enlarge and to strengthen the boundaries of Zion, enlarge her stakes, and build up the kingdom. God expects us to arise and shine because we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and I believe the hope of the world because we are the stewards of the revealed truth of God.
The Lord has made it very clear in the revelations. "Verily I say unto you all," he said, back in 1838, "Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be standard for the nations".
And six years earlier, he said to a then struggling Church, small in numbers, inflicted with persecutions;
For Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness; her borders must be enlarged; her stakes must be strengthened; yea, verily I say unto you, Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments.
What are those garments? Those garments are the garments of righteousness, the garments of devotion to the truth-the gospel in action.
Our message is a world message, my brethren and sisters and friends. In that glorious first section in the Doctrine and Covenants, given as a preface to the Book of Commandments, the Lord had these words to say, which I quote to you in closing:
Hearken, O ye people of my church, saith the voice of him who dwells on high, and whose eyes are upon all men; yea, verily I say: Hearken ye people from afar; and ye that are upon the islands of the sea, listen together.
For verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men, and there is none to escape; and there is no eye that shall not see, neither ear that shall not hear, neither heart that shall not be penetrated.
These are sobering words, words from the Master, Jesus the Christ, through his Prophet, Joseph Smith, to all God's children.
May we not be at ease in Zion. We have a tremendous responsibility. This is God's work, my brethren and sisters and friends, and I give you my testimony today that I know that God lives, that he is a Personal God, that he hears and answers prayers. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world, our Elder Brother, the Savior of mankind. I know, too, that Joseph Smith is and was a Prophet of God, an instrument in the hands of the Almighty in ushering in this the last and the greatest of all gospel dispensations. The priesthood has been restored; the truth is here in its fullness. I know it as I know that I live, and I thank God for that testimony, and pray his blessings upon all of us, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 50-51
My good brethren and sisters and friends, I realize that this is a very important and responsible position; that our words go out, the extent of which we do not know. It is needful, therefore, that we have the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord, that we may speak his truth. I trust that the few words that I say may find an echo in your hearts and be dictated by the Spirit of the Lord.
Near the close of a discourse by our Lord and Savior, many believed on him. It is written: "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free".
The only truth that makes us free is the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, all truth belongs to the gospel of Jesus Christ. When our Savior was brought before Pilate, Pilate questioned him and asked him if he were a king. Jesus answered, "Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice".
Then Pilate asked him, "What is truth?". Perhaps the Savior had no time given him to answer. Perhaps he was silent, and from that time until now volumes have been written asking that question. The only true answer that has been given was given by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith.
"And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come". In other words, truth is that which endures. All else must perish. This being true, it behooves us to search for truth-this truth the Savior spoke of that makes us free.
Not all truth is of the same value or importance. Some truths are greater than others. The greatest truth, or the greatest truths, we find in the fundamentals of the gospel of Jesus Christ. First of all, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world, who came into this world to die that men might live. That truth we should know. It is far more important to know that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer, that he has given unto us the principles of eternal life, than it is to know all that can be obtained in secular education.
It is far more important to know that baptism is for the remission of sins, and when properly performed by one who has the authority, remission of sins will come, and through the baptism following, of the Holy Ghost, we come back into the presence of God our Father, at last, through the guidance of the Holy Ghost.
To know the way to eternal life is far more important than all the learning that the world can give. We find that in the sacred principles which have been revealed for the last time, and in these ordinances which are being performed for the last time-that is, in the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times-for the gospel will never be restored again. It has been restored to remain. The Lord has ordained his servants, and has given them authority to execute his laws, to preach his gospel, to cry repentance, to call upon men to humble themselves and receive these fundamental principles of eternal life.
The way of eternal life is here. The covenants that were promised that lead to that great gift are here. All men on the face of the earth have now the privilege not only of repentance, but also of remission of sins through the waters of baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and to receive the covenants and obligations which were promised anciently that will bring them back into the presence of God, our Father.
These blessings are free. They are the most important truths in all the world. Brethren and sisters, we have received them. Let us be true and faithful, turning neither to the right nor to the left in the keeping of the commandments of the Lord, and by example as well as by precept, serve him, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Oscar A. Kirkham
Oscar A. Kirkham, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 51-52
I trust the Lord will be with me and bless me as I address you. In the Third Epistle of John, the fourth verse, are these words:
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
The greatest gift that can come to a boy, as I review the humble experiences of my own life, is that he may have good guidance, that he may sense a faith in God, and enjoy the gospel of Jesus Christ, that he may receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and hold worthily the Holy Priesthood.
The other evening a lad came to our home. He was accompanying a high priest. They were our ward teachers. The high priest said as he addressed us, "Brother Kirkham, we have a little message for you from our bishop concerning our religion." The message was given. We felt the spirit of it. It was simple and sincere. I thanked them, then the high priest turned to the boy of fourteen, a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood, and said, "John, you say a prayer for Brother Kirkham and his family." We were appreciative and listened, for we know that we have no greater joy than to know that we walk in truth.
Coming down on the elevator in our office building the other day, a young man recognized me and he said, "This is my mother, Brother Kirkham. I'm just back from my mission. She has worked continuously for me while I've been away. She has kept me. She saw that my check came every month to pay my expenses. Now, Lord being willing, Mother is going on a mission. I will pay her way." The greatest gift that comes to us in early life is to be guided in simple truths, and to do the will of our Heavenly Father. As President McKay said to us this morning, "We are concerned with those simple, vital things that help us." That boy you meet tonight or tomorrow morning or the next day and what you say to him and do for him is all-important.
I know a boy in Iowa who one day was plowing in an open field. He did not know at the time that a very distinguished gentleman was passing by, but the man said, "The furrow in that open field was plowed so straight that I had to stop. Did you plow the first furrow in this field?" "Yes," said he. "They did not peg it off for you?" "No, sir." Then my friend said to the boy, "You'll plow many straight things in life. Good-bye."
Several years went by. My friend came again to Iowa. He was met by a gentleman, this time in a fine automobile. "Do you remember being in these parts about twelve years ago?" "Yes, I have a note here in my book of a straight furrow plowed in an open field by a boy." "Well," said the man, "I don't want you to say anything to these people about this incident, but I am the mayor of this city. I want to say to you, I was behind that plow. I was that boy. You journeyed on over the hill that day on your way. What you said as we chatted about 'The straight furrow' has lingered with me through these years. I wanted you to know that those few words have given me encouragement ever since that day."
We philosophize; we delve into great truths-these things enrich our lives, but it is still the simple things that are effective. We "have no greater joy than to hear that our children walk in truth".
May God bless us that this joy may ever be ours and that we may ever appreciate the sacred words of the Lord as given in the Holy Scriptures and with courage and simplicity live the truth, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 54-57
Isn't it thrilling, brothers and sisters, to hear these young people sing praises to God and express their trust in him? It gives you a wonderful feeling of confidence, doesn't it, to know that the rising generation is made up of such marvelous young people.
Two weeks ago my wife and I had the opportunity of attending a meeting of some hundreds of M Men and Gleaner Girls, and there again we were impressed with the fact that our young people are great. Those hundreds of young people stood up in that meeting and gave the MIA theme for this year. I wish you could have heard them because they spoke with such clarity. They were in almost perfect unison, and as they said these words, it gave me a great thrill:
Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich.
As I say, hearing those voices in unison say those inspired words, moved me deeply inside. I was so thrilled that young people could stand and say and believe that "he that hath eternal life is rich."
When my wife and I were in South America recently, we had the same kind of thrill because there we saw your sons and daughters, sometimes under difficult and even adverse circumstances standing in the glory of their young manhood and womanhood, in the glory of their membership in this Church, in the glory of being missionaries for the Son of God, speak in languages previously unknown to them, bearing testimony of the restoration of the gospel of Christ. Oh, how happy we were! How humble we felt in their presence, and again came to us this great conviction that the youth of Zion are a great people.
As I reflect upon the youth of Zion, I reflect also upon the homes from which they come. I know that great homes produce great people. Those homes need not be rich in this world's goods, but if they are rich in the wisdom of God, they are rich indeed, and young people who grow up in homes such as those are great young people.
You recall that the Savior at one time said: "... every good tree bringeth forth good fruit". I know that even from a good tree occasionally a piece of fruit may fall, and as the prodigal go the way of all the earth, but that does not change the great underlying fact that "every good tree bringeth forth good fruit."
As I have studied your young people and mine, I have come to the conclusion that they are great because by and large they come from great homes. It has been my observation that where young people are active in the Church, as a general rule they come from homes where parents also are active in the Church.
Now, there are some exceptions, I know, but I say as a general rule great homes produce great young people. Parents who are active in the Church usually produce children who are active in the Church, again proving the truth of the Savior's words that "every good tree bringeth forth good fruit."
But I would like to read to you the rest of the Savior's words in that quotation. He said: "Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit".
Now what about the meaning of those words? Do homes which are not classed as good homes produce evil young people? And if they do, who must bear the blame?
There have been many public opinion polls taken in the United States, as you know, and I suppose they have touched almost every subject under the sun. There is not very much left uncovered by the time they get through.
I have been shocked and astonished at one of these public opinion polls which indicates that there is a higher percentage of drinkers of alcoholic beverages in the age group of fifteen to thirty years than in any other age group. This particular poll indicated that sixty-seven percent of American young people from fifteen to thirty years of age use alcoholic beverages occasionally or more or less regularly.
Now these studies, and others, tell us where these young people learn to drink. Again I was astonished to learn that the majority of the American young people who drink liquor learn to drink from their own parents.
A number of studies, as I say, have been made on this subject, some of them among college students, some among high school students, and even some elementary students have been brought into the study. One of the studies having to do with college students indicated that eighty-five percent of the drinking students have drinking parents. This same study, which included information on students who abstain from the use of liquor, said that seventy-seven percent of the students who abstain from the use of liquor have both parents who abstain from the use of liquor. Isn't that a great lesson? The majority of the drinking students drink because their parents drink. The majority of the abstaining students have parents who abstain.
One of these studies was conducted in the state of Idaho by the department of social studies of the University of Idaho, and the figures sustain the general results as obtained in other studies in eastern United States. They found that the drinking habits of students follow almost exactly the drinking habits of parents. I quote just one line from their report:
"The proportions of students who drank are approximately equal to the proportions of parents who drank with the knowledge of the students."
In eastern United States a study was made along the same lines. After the completion of the survey those who conducted it reported: "It certainly is not surprising to find a tendency for students to follow the example of their parents in deciding whether or not to drink."
Dr. Andrew C. Ivy, head of the department of clinical science at the University of Illinois, recently wrote an article in the magazine, Life and Health, entitled, "Why I Don't Drink." He commented on the fact that there are over sixty million drinkers in the United States, and after discussing that horrible fact, asked this question: "Who can save future citizens from drink?" He answered, "The fathers and mothers of today's children."
And then he said this: "Children, teenagers, and college students drink and do other things that harm their bodies, characters, and lives largely because their parents do. If we are going to reverse the trend to moral decline and degeneration in our country, mothers as well as fathers are going to have to correct their own irresponsible behavior."
He goes on to say, "The question for parents to answer is: 'Has drinking alcoholic beverages contributed so much to my happiness that I want my child and all children to take the one in twenty chance of becoming an alcoholic?'"
Then he said, "Seventy percent of the chronic alcoholics in the United States started drinking as teenagers."
In studies that have been made with regard to smoking habits, the same type of thing has been developed. It is discovered that by and large smoking parents have smoking children, and abstaining parents, by and large, have abstaining children. The same thing is true with Church activity, as I have already indicated. If parents reject religious activity, their children generally reject religious activity. If, on the other hand, as we have points out, parents are active and enthusiastic and faithful about their Church responsibilities, as a rule the children likewise are active.
And so we may reach some definite conclusions and say that where parents smoke they can expect their children to smoke. Where parents drink, they may expect their children to drink. Where parents deny religious activity and interest, they can expect their children to deny religious interest.
Now these same studies have gone into the questions: Why do people drink? Why do people smoke? I do not know anybody, with his eyes open, who would suppose that drinking would do him any good, or that smoking would do him any good. Even the merchants of these commodities are now changing the claims in some advertising that they are good for a person. I remember there was a time when they used to advertise that smoking was good for digestion, but they do not any more since the doctors have discovered that tobacco is one of the very worst things for your stomach, and that whether you smoke or chew the tobacco, you can get stomach ulcers from it, and you can develop cancer of the stomach from the ulcers. So tobacco companies have stopped advertising about how good for your digestion it is if you smoke cigarettes.
Why do people smoke, and why do they drink? According to these surveys, it is because they think it is smart. They think it is popular. They think it is the thing to do because the Joneses and others they happen to know and regard as smart also smoke or drink. For that reason they think they should take up the habit, and because parents who are blinded by this false notion of popularity lead their children, who are blinded by the bad example of their parents, they both fall into the ditch.
So we can begin to see the truth in the Savior's words, can't we, that a corrupt tree will bring forth evil fruit. I ask you parents if you have the right to gamble with the future lives and happiness of your children. If we set our children an example which is almost sure to lead to failure, what is our responsibility? If we should lead our own children into disaster, would we ever forgive ourselves?
Two weeks ago Brother Stapley and I happened to have the privilege of being in the same conference together. Brother Stapley there delivered one of his wonderful talks, and in his discussion gave me a new point of view on an old subject, and with his permission I would like to mention it here.
Brother Stapley was talking about the fact that children cannot be tempted by the devil before they are eight years of age because the Lord has not given Satan that right. Just suppose that there was a basketball game, and for eight minutes one of the teams was ruled off the floor while the remaining team stayed in there and pitched as many baskets as it could for eight minutes, and every basket would count. Just think about that.
And suppose there was a football game in which one of the teams was ruled off the field while the other made touchdowns for eight minutes, and every touchdown would count, and it could make these touchdowns without any opposition from the other team. Just think what kind of score it could develop!
You do not get that in athletics, but you do get it in the rearing of your children because during the first eight years of their lives, Satan has no right and no power to tempt those children. If they are tempted, if they sin, you have to blame somebody else besides Satan. During those first eight years you are left in the field without the opposition of Satan in the training of your children. For eight years you can train them, mold their characters, develop their faith, and teach them to pray, and to love God, and to keep his commandments, without any interference or any opposition from Satan.
Have you ever thought of it that way? I hadn't until Brother Stapley mentioned it, but I was glad he did because, as I say, it gave me a new point of view. The first eight years of a child's life in a Latter-day Saint home form the golden age for parents in the rearing of their children-a golden age when Mother and Father may set them the proper example, and play with them, and pray with them, and enjoy them, and develop Christlike traits of character in their children without the opposition of Satan.
Have you that kind of home? In your home are you setting up the circumstances and the surroundings whereby those children can get the most out of this golden age? Are you doing all you can while you do not have the interference of Satan to train those children? Or, on the other hand, are you careless enough so that you tempt your own children, so that you will lead them into paths of sin, so that you teach them by your own bad example how to do things of the world?
Well, I come back again to the Savior's words: "... every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit".
May our homes be good homes, from which we may send good young people, trained and reared in the gospel of Christ, is my humble prayer, in his holy name. Amen.
Elder John Longden
John Longden, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 57-59
My dear brothers and sisters, I am humbly grateful as I accept this great responsibility and assignment this morning, and testify to you that without the assistance of my Heavenly Father I would not even be able to stand here. I am grateful this morning for faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful this morning for faith in a divine, Living God; in the divine mission of his Son, Jesus Christ. I am grateful for faith that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in its fullness, and I reflect at this moment on the words of David, ofttimes referred to as the Psalmist David, as recorded in the twenty-seventh Psalm:
The lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?.
There was no fear in the heart and mind of David because I believe he was a prayerful man. He had implicit faith in God, his Father, and thus he was able to go forth in one experience as he faced the Philistine, the giant, Goliath. You will recall the great lesson there where Goliath indicated he would cut David up and feed him to the fowls and the beasts. David, even though he was small of stature by comparison, had the assistance of our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, and he said to Goliath:
Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
And therein was the strength of David because he had not defied God. He was willing to live in submission to the teachings of righteousness. I am sure there was no spirit of arrogance in the mind of David at that time, but he was a humble, prayerful man.
We have a lesson in the attitude of prayer as given by the Master in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. We are told that the Pharisee was grateful that he was not an extortioner. He was not an adulterer. He paid his tithes and his offerings. He fasted and he prayed, and he was not like unto this lowly publican.
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes onto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for he that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
We must have the spirit of humility as we seek God through this channel of prayer to give thanks unto him for all the blessings which are ours, particularly we, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that we have membership in his great Church-not the church of man, but the Church of Jesus Christ, for it bears his name.
Regarding the principle of prayer, the Savior, the Master himself, was asked by his disciples and others, "Teach us how to pray, and how shall we pray?" He replied:
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
We have there a simple prayer, a prayer that points the way to the throne of God, our Eternal Father, the Father of our spirits. The Savior further taught:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
I like the words of Robert Burns, the great Scotch poet: They never sought in vain who sought the Lord aright.
I testify to you these words are true. As we seek the Lord aright, we shall not seek in vain. Jesus so taught. He said:
If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?.
The Lord has revealed again in this day, as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants in several sections that we should pray constantly, earnestly, and sincerely that we be not led into temptation, as has so beautifully been given to us this morning by Elder Petersen. We are told we should teach our children how to pray and to walk uprightly before the Lord.
I want to tell the young people within the sound of my voice that it is nothing to be ashamed of that you humble yourself before the Lord in prayer. It is not a sign of weakness. I testify to you that it is a sign of great strength, for the Lord will be your light and your salvation. He is ever ready to assist us to continue in the path of righteousness. He does not fail us.
I am grateful for the power of prayer. I was thrilled last August as I attended the MIA conference in Los Angeles to witness prayer in action. They were preparing a huge chorus of fifteen hundred voices to appear in the Hollywood Bowl. The young singers had had their prayer, and the concert was just about ready to begin. It was my privilege to back stage with the wonderful, humble, prayerful directors and accompanists. The purpose of this little gathering was to seek the Lord for his sustaining strength and power. Here were musicians with their degrees and their letters in music, who still relied on Almighty God, who is ever present to bless, to encourage, and to build. So they went forth upon their assignment with the humble assurance that they were not performing their duties alone. Seventeen thousand five hundred persons were witnesses of an outstanding performance, and I bear witness to you that our Father did hear and answer their prayer.
I should like to give you in conclusion an experience that came to my attention two days after the passing of that great prophet of God, Elder Matthew Cowley. It was given to me by a man who some thirty-five or forty years before had been district president of Brother Cowley down in New Zealand as he labored with those Maori people. He had only been out for two and one half months, and a district missionary conference was called. In one of those sessions, the morning session, Brother Cowley had an opportunity to speak. As the story has been related to me, he spoke for fifteen or twenty minutes in a fluent Maori tongue, so much so that it amazed the older Maori people in the congregation.
After the meeting, the district president and Brother Cowley were walking to a Maori home to partake of food between the sessions, and the district president said, "How did you do it?" Brother Cowley asked, "Do what?" "How did you master this Maori language in such a short time?" A young missionary, seventeen years of age!
Brother Cowley said, "When I came here I did not know one word of Maori, but I decided I was going to learn twenty new words each day, and I did. But when I came to put them together, I was not successful." By this time they were passing a cornfield, and Brother Cowley said, "You see that cornfield? I went out there, and I talked to the Lord, but before that, I fasted, and that night I tried again, but the words just didn't seem to jell. So the next day I fasted again, and I went out into that cornfield, and I talked to the Lord. Again, I tried that night with a little more success. On the third day I fasted again, and I went out into the cornfield, and I talked to the Lord. I told the Lord that I believed his Church and kingdom had been established upon the earth; that men had the authority to proclaim the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ which pertained to the salvation and exaltation of our Heavenly Father's children. I told him that I had been called by this same authority to fill a mission, but if this was not the mission in which I was to serve to please make it known because I wanted to serve where I could accomplish the greatest amount of good."
That was the spirit of Brother Cowley. He said, "The next morning, as we knelt in family prayer in that Maori home, I was called upon by the head of the household to be mouth. I tried to speak in English, and I could not. When I tried in Maori, the words just flowed forth, and I knew that God had answered my prayer and this was where I should serve." A young lad seventeen years of age!
Brothers and sisters, friends of the radio and television audience, I bear witness to you in all humility and sincerity that God does today hear and answer prayer if we will put our hearts and our lives in tune with his Spirit and with his commandments.
I humbly pray that we may continue to exercise and take advantage of this great invitation which the Lord has extended, that we may humble ourselves in prayer, teach our children to pray, that they may have the strength and the light of Jesus Christ in their lives. I bear witness to you that these things are true, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Elder Levi Edgar Young
Levi Edgar Young, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 60-61
While I speak these few minutes, may I have the Spirit of the Lord to direct me.
I rejoice with you in the great messages we have heard from our First Presidency on the important question of teaching and the proper training of our children. The first thing we should teach our children is respect for all human beings. All are children of God. Man is made in the image of God. Respect for all men leads to a love for law and order. In the home is taught obedience to the loving directions of our Father in heaven. Then comes self-discipline, self-direction. Whether we are teachers of the gospel or professional men, we can and should dedicate ourselves to help our children to develop their potentialities for good, for truth, for love, for beauty, and above all, reverence for God.
Our young people must be educated to think clearly and deeply, and students of schools and universities should be taught that the famous authors and philosophers of the world have produced writings which glorify God and the divinity of man. We are reminded of the words of Carl Schurz, when he said: "Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like a seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them, you will reach your destiny."
We teach the gospel of good works. It is excellent; it is ennobling; but that is not all. Man owes to God and to his fellow men, not only his conduct, but also his thoughts, not only to do much, but also to think aright as to honor, integrity, and honesty.
To understand the true value of the ideals of the American people when they think of their government of the United States, one must recall the character of the people who settled these shores in the seventeenth century. "They brought hither in their little ships, not money, not merchandise, no array of armed force, but they came freighted with religion, learning, law, and the Spirit of God. They stepped forth upon the shore, and a wild and frowning wilderness received them." Strong in their faith in God, they began their combat with danger and hardship. Disease smote them, but they fainted not. At times they had nothing to eat but the roots of the plants they gathered. They first built houses for God and then for themselves. They established schools and developed a strong morality which was always their principal characteristic. They educated their children to a high faith in God. Villages began to smile; churches arose; industries multiplied; colleges were established; and every town had a democratic government for all to take part. The states that were formed grew into a nation with noble, fundamental ideas of government. And so came our own United States, the most democratic government in the history of the world. What a glorious history our early country had, for religious people went not only to New England, but we have also the Quakers and the Methodists and other religious groups settling along the Atlantic Coast.
For this reason and others, we believe that honest inquiry into any field of knowledge should be encouraged. But one should always have for a guiding thought his need for beauty, for goodness, for love, and the communion with the divine. "To me," says Dr. Green of Yale University, "truth, beauty, goodness; and Deity are ultimate objects of our search, as is nature for the scientist. I am profoundly impressed by the witness of sincerely and intelligently religious folk, the saints and prophets of the great religions, that man can encounter Deity, and find in that Deity a source of understanding and comfort."
In a General Epistle of the Council of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, issued December 23, 1847, at Winter Quarters and signed by President Brigham Young, we have these words:
The Kingdom of God consists in correct principles; and it mattereth not what a man's religious faith is; whether he be a Presbyterian, or a Methodist, or a Baptist, or a Latter-day Saint or "Mormon," or a Campbellite, or a Catholic, or an Episcopalian, or Mohometan, or even pagan, or anything else, if he will bow the knee, and with his tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ, and will support good and wholesome laws for the regulation of society, we hail him as a brother, and will stand by him while he stands by us in these things; for every man's religious faith is a matter between his own soul and his God alone...
We ask no pre-eminence; we want no pre-eminence; but where God has placed us, there we will stand; and that is, to be one with our brethren, and our brethren are those that keep the commandments of God, and do the will of our Father who is in heaven; and by them we will stand, and with them we will dwell in time and in eternity.
How nobly did the Prophet Joseph Smith declare this ideal when he said:
We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
It is to be remembered that there are men walking the earth and beckoning us to follow them to the future-not abreast of us, but ahead of us. Religion explains them as men blessed of heaven; men so spiritually endowed as to be able to respond to the inspiration of the infinite, which they know comes from God. They are good men, and wonderful is the vitality of goodness. Men are keeping faith and virtue and are working for the freedom and happiness of the human race. Their discipline is the loyalty of each man's heart to the voice of God. These men look for authority, for principles, for divine government. They have noble thoughts, beautiful sentiments, worthy aspirations, courageous living for a true and happier life. They know that God has not separated himself from the world nor does he lightly regard anyone's need. There is a true light which "lighteth every man that cometh into the world", a saying rich in promise. God reveals his principles of eternal life to good men who have discerning vision and deep faith. The world has always had such men; it has such men today.
In all of our history there has been nothing in the way of persecution by the Latter-day Saints of other people, but we have been taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith from the beginning, when God spoke to him, that all are children of God and that we should approach them with love and the testimony that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world.
Someday, he will be found again among the thirsting people for whom he lived and died. As he came back after his death to confirm the faith of his disciples, and to comfort their desolate hearts, so will he come again to establish his kingdom in the earth and usher in the reign of peace. May we be blessed with a love for mankind, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bishop Carl W. Buehner
Carl W. Buehner, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 61-63
My dear brethren and sisters, at this moment I am so nervous and excited I don't know whether my sermon has been delivered yet or not. I have been deeply moved by the powerful discourses given during the course of this conference. I am grateful to be one of you. I have all but been lifted out of this world and made to feel very close to the other side, not only because of the experience I am having at this moment, but also because of the wonderful things that have been said and the Spirit by which they have been spoken.
Then I begin to feel that maybe we are not very far from the other side at any time, after all. Reference has been made to the spirits that come here every day to inhabit these little new bodies, these spirits, pure, sweet, innocent. They cannot speak to us. They cannot tell us of the great experience that they had in the sphere from which they just came, but every day they are coming here-messengers from the spirit world. Then they live here in this mortal life a few years, some a very short time, maybe a few hours, a few days, a few years, and for the best of us not too many years.
Then we leave this life. People every day leave this life, returning again to the presence of our Heavenly Father. They can speak. They can report. They can tell of our faithfulness and of how the work is progressing here in this life.
In the past few days I learned of a person whose remaining days in mortality have been measured out to him. They said he could only live one more week. Then I thought about others-those I have read about in the newspapers, some who, it has been said, could only live another month, or a few months, or some, perhaps a year. I began to wonder what I would do if someone said to me, "Your days are measured. You will only live here one more week, or one more month," realizing the great work there is to do and all that I might have done, all that I should have done, and now time is running out. What would I do?
I think, brethren and sisters, possibly the first thing I would do is to make peace with everyone that I have learned to know, and I would do some fast repenting, even though it might not be very effective. It would be better to be in a repentant mood all the time.
I am sure time is measured for you, for me, and for all of us. Maybe not in so many days-perhaps we have not been told how many days we will yet live upon this earth, but we certainly know of the great work that we must do while we are still here. Someone wrote these few lines that I thought were rather interesting:
Suppose you live to be seventy. How long is it? How many years of that span will really count? Allow for eight hours out of twenty-four in which you lie unconscious, asleep in bed. Subtract your kid days and your old age. Deduct the days when sickness puts you out of the game, and seventy years is not very long after all, is it? But it is all the time you've got. What are you going to do with it? Life is time. Kill time and you commit suicide. Footprints in the sands of time are not made by sitting down. When the Great Referee calls time, have something worthwhile to show.
I think our short life here in mortality is something like taking a journey. Many of you have taken a long journey to get here to conference, and you are going to take one to return to your homes. Many of us travel every week. We get road maps, we get books on travel, and we discover where we are going, but often as we travel down a highway, we come to an intersection that is not very well marked, and we do not know which way to turn. Often we get on a detour, and we travel an hour or two hours or three hours or a hundred miles or two hundred miles before we discover we are lost.
Then we have to turn around and come back. Have you ever discovered when you return to the point where you begin your detour that that time is lost? You cannot turn your watch back. You cannot turn time back. We have just lost two hours or four hours or two hundred miles of that journey, and it is gone forever.
I think sometimes some of us traveling this mortal life of ours are doing some detouring. We are not coming to our meetings as faithfully as we should. We are not keeping the commandments of our Heavenly Father all the way. We are not doing all the things that the Lord has asked us to do-we are detouring, we are losing time, and that time can never be made up again. That time is lost.
I have learned, too, that while there are many roads that come to Salt Lake City to bring you to general conference, according to the scriptures there are only two roads that we can travel as it pertains to our spiritual life. One is the broad road that leads to destruction and damnation-the other, the straight and narrow road that leads to life eternal.
Often I feel when we detour we get off the straight and narrow path, and we lose time. We actually waste time. We do not do the thing that the Lord expects us to do to inherit the great blessings that he has in store for us. Therefore, I would suggest to every member of the Church, that while we cannot change the length of time we live in mortality, we can change what we do with the time we have at our disposal. Keep the commandments. Be loyal to the leadership of the Church. Help build up the kingdom of our Heavenly Father. Pay your tithes. Pay your offerings.
Security comes from the paying of tithes! Everything we have belongs to the Lord. He said, "Return a tenth of your increase". For giving a tenth of it back he promises us great blessings-great blessings to return a tenth of what has given us, and many have a difficult time understanding its importance.
Living in a world filled with evil and temptations, it is not always easy to do the things we know we should do. I wish to refer again to the spirits coming from the spirit world, inhabiting little mortal bodies to live a life under these conditions. I am particularly interested in one of these at this very moment, for I am expecting my thirteenth grandchild. It might be being born right at this moment. It might be this afternoon, and it might be in the days to follow. As I think of the journey this little spirit will travel in mortality, I think of the anxiety in the spirit world as they bid farewell to a spirit to come to this life. The mourning and sorrow and grief must be much greater than it is when one leaves this life returning to the other side.
I hope, brethren and sisters, we will all have a desire to make our trip a round trip-from the presence of our Heavenly Father back again to the presence of our Heavenly Father. I must not take longer. In closing, I would like to relate a story that I have told a number of times, which some of you have heard before, but it has a point to it worth consideration.
It is about the golfer who went out on the golf course and placed his ball on a tee. He raised his club and drove the ball way down the fairway, and when he finally found it, it was in the center of a large anthill. He stepped up close to it, took another club out of his bag, and swung at the ball. He missed it and tore out about a third of the anthill. He stepped up a little closer. He raised his club and swung a second time. He missed the ball again and mutilated the anthill on the other side. By that time the remaining ants in the anthill became very much alarmed at what was happening to their homes, their relatives, their friends, and they called together their leaders very hurriedly for a solution. A moment later the leaders made this report: "If you want to be saved, you had better get on the ball."
Think it over, brethren and sisters. I think that would fit our lives in many ways. Think it over, and then conform your lives with the time that has been allotted to you. Stay on the straight and narrow pathway that leads us back again into the presence of our Heavenly Father to enjoy with him the great blessings of the righteous and the faithful.
That this may come to each and every one of us I pray sincerely and humbly in the name Christ. Amen.
Elder Marion D. Hanks
Marion D. Hanks, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 64-65
I should like to join briefly with Brother Petersen in commending and bearing my witness of faith in the young people of the Church in this day. Ten days ago I met with a great conference of servicemen at the Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio. It was a marvelous experience and one which I appreciated and was grateful for. Yesterday I met two of those fine young men in this conference; they had flown in from Lackland with some twenty-five others. Unfortunately the storm that prevented the delivery of our flowers for this conference also stopped their landing here. They had to go back to Denver and then on back to their base, since they had to be there this morning. They missed, the twenty-five, the blessing of being here, yet their faith in coming evidenced their courage, their devotion, and the great loyalty they and their generation have for the Church.
I am grateful I am connected closely to them and with them in bonds of love and faith in God and the message of the great restoration.
Notwithstanding the pressures of this experience, I sat yesterday afternoon almost wishing I might be called in order that I might then bear timely testimony of appreciation to the two men who offered the prayers at that session. Since we last met in conference, I have had the wonderful blessing of touring two of the great missions of this Church which are presided over by those two men, President Peter J. Ricks and President Claudious Bowman. I should like to say of them and the many like them and the thousands who serve with them through the call of the Lord, that they are common and humble men in the very finest sense of those terms, but that they have uncommon faith and uncommon courage and uncommon dignity in the great work they do. As I thought of them I thought of some words of Thomas Carlyle. I went home and copied them last night:
Two men I honor and no third. First, the toil-worn craftsman that with earth-made implement laboriously conquers the earth and makes her man's. A second man I honor and still more highly: him who is seen toiling for the spiritually indispensable, not daily bread, but the bread of life.
These men and the thousands like them who preside over the wards and stakes, the branches, the districts, the missions of the Church, are men who, know the task of "toilworn implement" using, but who know that more important even than this significant opportunity in God's world, the right to work for one's bread, is the great blessing and responsibility of seeking that which is spiritually indispensable, and which is the most important thing a man can seek.
I honor these men, and I feel very humble as I travel in their presence and bear witness with them of the truths God has given us to know.
I read recently out of a newspaper a few words I should like to call to your attention as an example of another great idea these men call my attention to. Dateline, New York City, last August 7, from a press service, these words, written by three ministers of Christian denominations:
The true ministry of the layman is being rediscovered. He is now coming back to the function he exercised in the early church. There is today in the church a great resurgence of Christian interest on the part of the laity. In ancient times, in the days of Christ, there was not the marked distinction between the laity and clergy. Laity as used in the New Testament simply meant the people of God, but through the centuries more and more of the work of the church fell on the shoulders of those who made it their full time profession. The liturgical movement in both Catholicism and Protestantism is winning back for the laity their ancient rights in the Church's worship life. The layman in his secular work is increasingly seeing his vocation as that of the Church's chief evangelist. He is the church in the world.
This is a truth spoken by men of good will and courage and devotion, but which has been available to the knowledge of these and other men since the days of the Prophet of God who died in the year 1844 at the hands of intolerant neighbors. The teaching, preaching, leadership of the Church should be done in Christ's Church today as it was done in his day-by the humble members of the Church, laymen holding the priesthood and authority of God. These and other truths are here available to men, and the world is beginning to learn some of them.
Last weekend, a counselor in one of the great stakes I had the privilege of visiting called attention to certain recent articles dealing with the way a chapel ought to be built, saying that in our day churches are coming to the conclusion that chapels ought to be built with classrooms attached and with recreational facilities.
I say to these good and honest people that from the beginning of the restoration of the gospel of the Lord, it has been known that the gospel was meant to take care of the full life of man; and whenever they find a Latter-day Saint chapel fully completed and dedicated, they will invariably find that there are in it classrooms and recreational facilities designed to provide for development in all the aspects of the lives of its members-physical, social, intellectual, cultural, as well as spiritual.
There is time for but one other thought. I read recently in one of our great national magazines a few words I thought to be highly significant about our relationship with our Father in heaven. This came from one of the great religious leaders of our day, a man whom I have revered and whose works I have read since I was a boy. Says he:
Vital religion cannot be maintained and preserved on the theory that God dealt with our human race only in the far past ages, and that the Bible is the only evidence we have that our God is a living, revealing, communicating God. If God ever spoke, he is still is the great I Am, not the great He Was.
This truth, so majestic and magnificent and basically important, is a truth which has been available anew to mankind since 1820, when a humble, simple boy had enough humility and enough real love of truth to seek from his Father in heaven a manifestation of those things he needed to know, to find his place, his purpose, and his constructive work in life.
The answer is that God does live, that the Savior is the great I Am; he has always been, he shall always be. God's truths are revealed to men when they will pay the price of seeking earnestly, and finding, being willing to accept, and accepting, then dedicating themselves consistently and loyally to him and to his cause.
I am grateful that I have been, by the providence of God, brought into an age and into a Church where the truths are known of which I am able to bear witness today: That God does live, that he does reveal his truths, that this is the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth, that we may through obedience to his word find peace, here and now, enjoy eternal opportunity commensurate with our preparation for it, and arrive at a reunion with him who made us and who is our Father which art in heaven. Of this I testify in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Delbert L. Stapley
Delbert L. Stapley, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 65-68
Bishop Buehner, commenting upon the limited time allotted us in life, and the fact that many detour and get lost and thus fail to find the narrow way that leads to life eternal, brings me to the theme that I should like to discuss with you this morning.
Among the many choice teachings given by the Savior in that inspiring Sermon on the Mount, is this important instruction:
Enter ye in at the strait gate...
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
You will observe that I have quoted only the positive elements of this scripture. To enter the straight gate implies obedience to gospel requirements, and the narrow way that leads to life connotes additional requirements, rites, and ordinances for all who desire salvation and exaltation. Like so many teachings of our Lord, the interpretation, explanation, and procedures were left for his chosen prophets by inspiration and revelation, when the time was ready, to unfold to man's knowledge. It is true of this scripture.
I should like to ask, "What is the straight gate spoken of by the Savior by which we should enter?" Nephi, in the closing days of his ministry, gave a great discourse to his people embodying much in the way of prophesying, and in it furnishes the most direct and comprehensive answer to this question by saying:
For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.
Nephi also said to his people: "Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter".
Nephi, in vision, almost six centuries before the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in the flesh, witnessed his baptism at the hands of John the Baptist, even as we have it recorded in the third chapter of Matthew, when our worthy Lord came to John and asked to be baptized of him. But John, humble as he was, realizing that this was his Lord, objected by saying,
I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
In this scripture we see the plan and the way to enter this straight gate, even baptism by water and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost; the Savior saying to John by way of emphasis, "for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."
Now what did the Savior mean by making this statement? Again we turn to the writings of Nephi and read:
And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!
And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water?
Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments.
Wherefore, after he was baptized with water the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove.
And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straightness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them.
And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me.
Here we see the straightness of the gate by which the Son of God entered our Heavenly Father's kingdom and the reason for his doing so, which sets the example and pattern for all mankind to follow, for said he, "Follow thou me and do the things which ye have seen me do."
Now, my brothers and sisters, let us consider what the narrowness of the way signifies. After explaining what is required to enter the straight gate, Nephi continues by saying:
And then are ye in this straight and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son; and ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, unto the fulfilling of the promise which he hath made, that if ye entered in by the way ye should receive.
And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this straight and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.
Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.
And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end.
My brothers and sisters, we see from this that the function of the Holy Ghost to those who have received its bestowal is to guide in the narrow way to an understanding of what is required for eternal life and glory. Men, through faithfulness, must become worthy for ordination to the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood, that priesthood after the order of the Son of God, which ordination and priesthood makes possible receiving the spiritual blessings of God's kingdom, for it is in the gospel ordinances officiated in by the authority of the Holy Priesthood that the powers of godliness are manifest unto men in the flesh. In this dispensation God has restored the keys, powers, and authorities to officiate in all the sacred ordinances with the right to seal and bind for time and all eternity both the living and the dead.
For the sacred purpose of obtaining the higher gospel ordinances and blessings, God has commanded that temples should be built wherein his people can receive their endowments and sealings, to prepare them for celestial glory. Worthy women, as worthy men, enjoy the privileges of temple ordinances and blessings, receiving them by the authority of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood. Both make covenants with God, and both accept obligations and responsibility; also pledge faithfulness and obedience to God.
When the cornerstone of the great Salt Lake Temple was laid, Brigham Young in a discourse to the people assembled for that important occasion, said that very few of the elders in Israel understood the endowment, and for them to understand they must experience, and for them to experience, a temple must be built. Then he summarized the endowment in these words:
Your endowment is to receive all those ordinances in the House of the Lord which are necessary for you after this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key word, the signs and the tokens pertaining to the Holy Priesthood, and gain you eternal exaltation in spite of earth or hell.
How sublime, comprehensive, significant, and important the endowment becomes when we understand it. When one has been endowed according to the order of temple rights and ordinances, then he or she is prepared for eternal sealing of husband to wife, wife to husband, and children to both, by men authorized and possessing the keys of this sealing power. Families thus united may go on to perfection, exaltation, and eternal happiness together.
We learn this from the writings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, found in both the 131st and 132nd sections of the Doctrine and Covenants. The Lord, speaking to the Prophet, said,
In the celestial glory there are three heavens, or degrees;
And in order to obtain the highest a man must enter into this order of the priesthood,;
And if he does not he cannot obtain it.
He may enter into the others, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase.
Those who do not enter this order of the priesthood, that is, the eternal covenant of marriage, become angels of God in a separate and single state forever and ever, and thus are without increase of posterity in the eternal world; therefore without posterity they have no need of a kingdom. That is verified in the writings of the Prophet Joseph in the 132nd section of the Doctrine and Covenants which I quote:
Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me nor by my word, and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world.
Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven; which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory.
For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever.
Now, important as it might be to be appointed a ministering angel of God, certainly far more happiness would come to an individual to have at his side a loving companion, children, posterity-throughout the eternity, and unless we enter into this holy covenant of marriage and have it sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, these blessings cannot be obtained by us.
Referring again to this same section, the Lord said to the Prophet Joseph:
And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood;;... it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fullness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.
Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory.
And now mark you,
For strait is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me.
But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive your exaltation; that where I am ye shall be also.
This is eternal lives-to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, these conditions then meet the requirements for the narrowness of the way. It involves receiving the temple ordinances and sealings, keeping all the commandments of God, remaining faithful and devoted to the end of mortal life, which then earns the great gift of eternal life.
Nephi, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, true servants and prophets of God, by inspiration and revelation have interpreted and explained the significance of this important statement of the Savior. All who have repented and then been baptized and received the Holy Ghost by authorized servants of God have entered in by the straight gate. The narrow way can only be followed by obedience and faithfulness to all the sacred ordinances and requirements of the higher gospel plan, obtained in the holy temples of God.
This is the true doctrine of Christ. This is the order and law of the Holy Priesthood. There is no other plan nor way to obtain eternal lives, and a continuation of posterity. God again said to the Prophet:
For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world.
Let us understand these things, my brothers and sisters, and if we have not taken care of the conditions that lead into the narrow way and that take us to eternal life, let us submit to the requirements of these great principles and ordinances and teach all others to do likewise, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Henry D. Moyle
Henry D. Moyle, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 69-72
Two years ago Elder LeGrand Richards was addressing a convention in this city of men of various faiths and denominations, and he began his remarks by calling them all to repentance. I had the opportunity recently of meeting that same group and to realize the tremendous impact that that statement made upon them by one who spoke with authority.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
Our mission in this Church is twofold. We must call all people to repentance, and to those who hearken unto our words teach the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Repent and believe the gospel.
Christ said he came to call sinners to repentance and to save them.
Repentance grows out of faith in God. No matter how good we are, we have all sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. As Alma of old said:
We must come forth and stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and in his might, majesty, and dominion, and acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all his judgments are just; that he is just in all his works, and that he is merciful unto the children of men, that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance.
I am sure we all need to pray, "O God, have mercy on me a sinner".
Nothing is so much calculated to lead people to forsake sin as to take them by the hand and watch over them with tenderness.
So long as there is sin among men, repentance is as essential in one age of the world as in another. Joseph Smith said: "God does not look upon sin with allowance, but when men sin there must be allowance made for them". We read:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
We have a great example of the fruits of repentance when we go back to the Day of Pentecost, when the Apostles of old bore this testimony to the multitude, and they each heard it in their own tongue:
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
This testimony of the Apostles provoked the inquiry, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?".
And then Peter gave the most wonderfully inspired reply:
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost,
that greatest of all promises which God has made to man.
It was the same with Paul, on the road to Damascus, when he questioned the Lord, "Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest". And then Paul asked the Savior, "Lord what wilt thou have me to do?".
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
What business has any citizen of the kingdom to talk of a certain standard which is meant for him and not for all the subjects of the kingdom? What is it but adopting the maxim which the Roman poet unfairly ascribed to a Greek hero, "that laws were not born for him?" I tell you that his laws were born for all the children of our Heavenly Father upon the face of the earth. "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?".
Repentance is a thing that cannot be trifled with every day of our lives. Daily transgressions, daily repentance are not pleasing in the sight of the Lord. We know as Latter-day Saints that in our lives, just as we have heard this beautiful chorus-choir sing, it is even now the eventide of the day in which we might properly repent.
Do not procrastinate repentance. Deathbed repentance does not fulfil the law-man should repent and serve the Lord in health and in strength, in vigor of body and mind, and give of his life, such as may remain, when that faith in God, which creates the spirit of repentance within us, is received by him.
If we submit to his Spirit, we may bring forth now the fruits of good works which are to his glory. We may look for the day when every law of the kingdom shall be fulfilled and when all shall know him from the least to the greatest.
And churches, in the sense of their own nothingness, may seek after the foundation which God has laid and which will endure the shock of all winds and waves. And churches which rest upon their own decrees and traditions and holiness will be like the man who
... without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the streams did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
The Church accepts the sinners into its society, not to foster them in their wickedness, but if they repent, to sanctify and cleanse them, by our kindness, from all unrighteousness.
Of what do we repent? Does repentance follow the violation of an arbitrary law imposed upon us by a power from on high? Why did the Lord ask Job, "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding." How significant the following questions:
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the cornerstone thereof.
Would the Lord have asked these questions of Job had Job not had a preexistence, had there not been a plan of life and of salvation developed before the foundations of the earth were laid? And then we read that at that very time of which these questions relate, that "the morning stars sang together and all of the sons of God shouted for joy". Job participated in that singing and so did we.
Joseph Smith, the Prophet, leaves us no doubt on that subject. He says:
At the first organization in heaven we were all present and saw the Savior chosen and appointed and the plan of salvation made, and we sanctioned it.
Repentance, therefore, follows the violation of a law to which we ascribed of our own free will and choice; a law we covenanted in the heavens to obey; a law which through our acceptance gave us the privilege of coming here into mortality and working out our mortal existence that we might thereby progress to the higher spheres which await us. There was no reluctance in our acquiescence of this plan. We sang together as the sons of God; all of them shouted for joy.
No other proof should be needed, but if other proof were needed, we find it within ourselves. The power we possess to differentiate between right and wrong, good and evil, the Spirit of God within us with which we were born, our own free agency, all establish within ourselves, any external evidence of selves, wit any kind, the fact that we are under covenant to do that which is right; that which does not violate our own sensitive conscience.
It has been said by the Apostle Paul:
... we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?.
Whatever we choose to do is voluntary, just as was the redeeming sacrifice of the Savior of mankind.
It is told of Lord Byron that when he was a lad attending a school, a companion of his fell under the displeasure of an overbearing bully, who unmercifully beat him. Byron happened to be present, and he went up to this bully, knowing that there was no use for him to attempt to fight him, and asked how long he intended to beat his friend. The bully immediately answered and said, "Well, what business is that of yours?" Byron replied very mildly, with tears standing in his eyes, "I will take the rest of the beating, if you will let him go."
Ours is a stronger case than that of Lord Byron's. He was under no prior commitment to do as he did. We are charged with the responsibility of doing as we have heretofore agreed. Repentance becomes our second chance to accomplish the purpose of our creation. As we repent, we are forgiven. Maybe Paul had this same thought in mind when he said:
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
The Savior fulfilled all of his commitments.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the lion of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Christ fulfilled the great mission for which he came to this earth: to atone for the sins of mankind to make the principle of repentance efficacious in our eternal progress.
The Nephi version is as follows:
But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.
Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
And the Messiah cometh in the fullness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.
Therefore we believe in preaching the doctrine of repentance in all the world, both to old and young, rich and poor, bond and free... But we discover, in order to be benefitted by the doctrine of repentance, we must believe in obtaining the remission of sins and in order to obtain the remission of our sins, we must believe in the doctrine of baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we believe in baptism for the remission of sins, we may expect a fulfillment of the promise of the Holy Ghost, for the promise extends to all whom the Lord our God shall call, says the Prophet Joseph Smith.
The Savior finally said:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
And finally, Isaiah writes:
I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength, even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
Let us not put off the day of our repentance. May the Lord help us to be pure and humble in his sight, I pray humbly, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Clifford E. Young
Clifford E. Young, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 72-75
During the last three months it has been my privilege to visit two of the missions of the Church, and I have been impressed with an important phase of the work in which we are engaged, the missionary work of the Church.
You will recall that the Savior on calling his Apostles said to them:
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.
There has been no change in that, my brethren and sisters. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go forth." There is no change in this truth. I read these lines the other night by a poet:
... why abandon a belief Merely because it ceases to be true? Cling to it long enough, and not a doubt It will turn true again, for so it goes. Most of the change we think we see in life Is due to truths being in and out of favor.
And so I say, fundamentally there has been no change in the teaching of the Savior to his disciples. As he met with them in Galilee after his resurrection, he said:
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
There has been no change in that. It may have been in and out of favor, but fundamentally there has been no change. All power was given him, and he conferred it on his disciples; the same power is with us today.
Brother Moyle referred to the teachings of Peter on the Day of Pentecost, and I quote only part of it:
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins....
These people were pricked in their hearts, and they wondered what they should do, and they cried with one accord, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?". They had been taught the divine mission of Jesus Christ, Jesus and him crucified; and the Holy Ghost rested upon them; the gift of tongues was with them; they understood each other and they understood the Apostle Peter, although there were assembled peoples of many nations, and Peter said to them,
Repent, and be baptized every one of you... for the remission of sins...
Then he went on to say, "For the promise is unto you." The promise of what? That the Holy Ghost would come to them if they rendered obedience!
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the lord our God shall call.
There has been no change in that, my brethren and sisters. And in this day the instructions are the same.
Send forth the elders of my church unto the nations which are afar off; unto the islands of the sea; send forth unto foreign lands; call upon all nations, first upon the Gentiles, and then upon the Jews.
The same teachings, a truth that may have been in and out of favor, but an eternal truth, just the same. So today we have in the Church the responsibility, and that responsibility is made more apparent as we think of the great missionary system of the Church-we have the responsibility of preaching the gospel, and an added obligation to that which was given the disciples of the Savior, that of preaching the restored gospel, the same gospel but reaffirmed in this day, because in the minds of men it was for a time in and out of favor, but the truth has not changed; it is eternal.
Now, in harmony with that, in the very beginning of this work, the Prophet Joseph called missionaries who were sent to various parts of the United States and then later to Great Britain and other countries. The record of their work and conversions is impressive and ever will be an inspiration to those who read of it and who are engaged in preaching the gospel.
Then there was a lull for a time; the Saints came west; and missionary work was seemingly at a standstill, but not for long. Within two years or less after the Saints had settled in these valleys, Elder John Taylor was sent to England as a missionary and then to France. In addition to the commission to preach the gospel, he was given the mission of seeking out some industry that could be brought to this country and established among our people in the west that would help them economically. It was through the efforts of Brother Taylor that the sugar industry was finally brought here to the West. That is a story of itself.
But incident to this work that Brother Taylor performed, he baptized some very important people. You know, we are a little inclined to think that our efforts are seemingly of no avail. Perhaps some of our missionaries feel that way. I know I came home from my mission feeling that I had not accomplished much, that perhaps I had only baptized one or two. We never know the extent of the good we have done.
In the labors of Brother Taylor he found men like Elias Morris, the father of Elder George Q. Morris who sits here on the stand, and President John R. Winder. He probably little realized what it would mean to the work of the Lord to bring men into the Church of the stature of Elias Morris, John R. Winder, and others.
I was visiting a stake in California not long ago, and the wife of one of the presidents of the stakes told me this story. She labored under President Callis in the Southern States Mission, and she said Brother Callis related this incident to them as he visited the stake after he had been called to the Council of the Twelve. Brother Callis was converted over in Wales and was baptized as a small boy into the Church. As he was visiting a stake of Zion, he learned that an old man whom he had known in the mission field was ill. Brother Callis called on him. He found him cynical. Brother Callis tried to encourage him. The man seemed to be beyond encouragement. Then Brother Callis said, "John, do you not remember your missionary labors in Wales? Do you not remember the good you did in the mission field?" "Oh, I didn't do any good," he said. "Didn't you ever baptize anyone?" "No, not that I remember." Brother Callis said, "Are you sure?" "Oh," he said, "I baptized a little urchin that used to bother us in our meetings." Then Brother Callis said, "Brother John, do you know that I was that little urchin?"
Think of the importance of that one baptism! Think of the great work of Brother Callis during his thirty years of service in the Southern States Mission and then his great work as one of the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I repeat again, my brethren and sisters, we never know the results of our work. We never know what we accomplish. Some of us never will live to see it, to sense it. But after all is said and done, we may sow, and we may water, but God gives the increase and that increase mounts little by little like a little stone cut out of the mountain without hands, and it rolls forth and ultimately will fill the earth.
Now, the other thought, and then my time is up. It was my privilege to be down in Honolulu at the time President McKay and Sister McKay and Brother Murdock were there, one of the outstanding experiences of my life. As we met in meetings in Honolulu, in the Oahu Stake conference, Sunday, we had three assemblies. At one of them we had nearly four thousand people present. All nations, all people of the Polynesian Islands were represented: Hawaiians, Samoans, Maoris, Tahitians. We had a Samoan choir of a hundred people sing, beautifully, on Sunday morning and then Sunday afternoon an Hawaiian choir. I have never heard more impressive music.
In that assembly were Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, and I repeat again, people from all nations.
Brethren and sisters, as I looked over that assembly I thought, here is an example of the gospel being preached to all nations. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is ultimately to leaven the lump. The Lord promised that an angel should fly through the midst of heaven, preaching the everlasting gospel to every nation that dwells upon the earth, and then he said the end should come. He did not mean the end of peoples, he meant the end of wickedness, the end of unrighteousness. And I thought I saw reflected in that assembly the purposes of the Almighty being accomplished-no hatred, no animosities, no class prejudices, no racial hatreds, but all assembled under one great banner, of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and dedicated to one holy purpose!
As you think of that with me, can you not see how ultimately peace will come to the world? And it will only come through the gospel of the Son of God, his great message of eternal truth, and it is our responsibility, my brethren and sisters, to proclaim it.
As one visits the missions of the Church, he becomes impressed more than ever with the need of our fulfilling the purposes for which the Lord has placed us here, bearing witness of the gospel as it has been restored in this day, not preaching anything new, not changes, merely changes because men perchance have changed in their own minds, but the eternal truths being the same.
May God help us to fulfil our obligation in this great work, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder Antoine R. Ivins
Antoine R. Ivins, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 75-77
My brethren and sisters, I hope you will unite your prayers with mine that what I say may perchance carry a helpful and useful message.
Before I start to bear my testimony, however, the remarks of the morning have prompted me to recount an experience that my father and I had about sixty years ago, in the hope that the point may be understood.
We were driving off Kaibab Mountain one beautiful day behind a fine team in an Arizona buckboard. Father said, "Antoine, down at the foot of the mountain there is a trail that cuts right straight across the Pipe Springs and crosses the Kanab wash, in a convenient location. We'll take that trail, and we won't have to go up to Kanab and ride over from there."
Then he proceeded to read a book as he always did when he was traveling and turned the lines over to me. It was not very long until his head was nodding, and he was asleep, and I have to confess that by the time we got to that turn-off I was asleep, too. When we waked up, we were five miles beyond the place where we wanted to turn off and believe me the detour turned out to be a rough one. We did not go to Kanab. We took the turn-off.
When they were talking about detours this morning, I wondered if many of us might not be sleepwalkers; if we do not walk around in our sleep, and all at once wake up to find out that the team has taken us off on the wrong road. Then we have to turn around. I believe, in the straight and narrow road there are no chuckholes. If they are there, they are the chuckholes that we ourselves have built for ourselves. Brethren and sisters, it is sixty years ago since father and I had that experience. It is about fifty-nine years ago since we went to Mexico. During that time I have had opportunity to watch the Church and its directing Authorities and to note its progress. It is twenty-four years since I read in the newspaper one day that I had a new assignment. During those twenty-four years Sister Ivins and I have been moving about among the stakes of the Church and in the missions, trying to kindle or rekindle the Spirit of God in the hearts of the members of the Church.
We don't make pretense to tremendous success in it, perhaps, because we have no way of measuring our success, but we have been devoted to your service and devoted to the Church. It has given us the great opportunity to watch its progress, and as I sat in the priesthood meeting Saturday night, where we had reports that 25,000 brethren heard the proceedings of that meeting, I was reminded that in the year the LDS gymnasium was put in operation, if my memory is correct, the Assembly Hall held the priesthood congregation.
So there has been growth. There has been growth in membership as well as in faith and service, I believe, in the Church. The purpose in coming here today-one of the major purposes-is to see if we cannot stimulate the feeling of spirituality among the people, for, we who are here, perhaps most of us, have the responsibility of carrying back the spirit of this conference to the people who could not come, to increase spirituality among the people.
I have seen attendance at our conference meetings grow and grow and grow, until today nearly every place we go, the attendance is limited by the capacity of the accommodations we provide. I take it to indicate, and I believe I am right in this, that it does denote a definite increase in spirituality among the people.
Now we have heard that term used many, many times. It is not an easy thing to define this idea of spirituality. I get no satisfaction from the dictionary. The interpretation there is one given by people who perhaps do not understand their true relationship to God and his work.
Since we are the spirit children of God, I take it that the primary manifestation of spirituality is an acknowledgment that we the sons and daughters of God, and that Jesus Christ is our Elder Brother, and it is not surprising to me, knowing that that testimony exists in the hearts of our people, that people not of our faith coming into the community, as reported by President McKay the other night, sense an unusual feeling and spirit among the people. The recognition that we are the sons and daughters of God, spiritually born of him, it seems to me, is a starting place if you are going to try to define spirituality. Then it seems to me to be a feeling of nearness to God, our Heavenly Father, a devotion to his cause, and a determination to acquit ourselves to the utmost of our ability, of the responsibility he has given us in life.
I wonder if that is a fair definition of spirituality? It seems to me that it could be. And then it's our problem to do what we can first with ourselves, and then with people who may be inclined to listen to us, to instill in their hearts the same consciousness that they are the sons and daughters of God, and that God had a definite purpose in bringing us here into this life of mortality.
When you teach men that, then there is a greater purpose in life, of course. There is a greater incentive, there is a greater motive for righteousness, and perhaps spirituality could be measured by the degree of righteousness of the lives of people. It is a difficult thing because we do not know or read the hearts of people. Frequently we misjudge them. If we could know their hearts, perhaps we could form a correct estimate of their spirituality, of their feeling toward God. That is difficult, and from what has been said today gather that there are many people who have not the same understanding of it. who feel that spirituality and the ordinary pursuits of life are separated by a rather wide space, and sometimes we feel that a man who devotes himself assiduously to the practical purposes of life, rendering his share, of course, in Church service, may not be as spiritual as a man who does not do that, but who spends his whole time dreaming about the uncertain things for which there has been no answer.
I believe we are wrong, brothers and sisters, if we try to make that separation, for I believe it is the purpose of God that every honest member of the Church, every honest man for that matter, should have a vigorous, active, potent testimony that Jesus is the Christ, that God is our Father, and then should come, through his prayer and faith, to an understanding of the plan of salvation, and you know, when I look before me and see the men who plow the fields, who ride the ranges, and manage the stakes, I feel justified in suggesting, brothers and sisters, that to put one group on one side and the other group on the other side, as to spirituality, is a dangerous thing, for I have worked with and slept with men who handle the practical things of life, and at the same time apply a spiritual interpretation to everything that is done.
I believe, as the Doctrine and Covenants says, that God has given us no law which is not a spiritual law, and the law of life is a law of action. I believe it would be possible, with the exercise of due faith for a man to apply the spiritual interpretation to every legitimate act of life, and it is our purpose-it should be our purpose, brothers and sisters-in our relationships with each other to strive for that spiritual aspect.
If you will pardon the reference to my father, I would like to tell you that one time I walked into the biggest bank in this city. Its president, who was not a member of the Church, called me over, and he said: "Mr. Ivins, I pay tribute to your father. He came the nearest to combining religion and business of any man I ever knew," and then he said: "Do you know, I cannot do it. I have to be a hard-boiled businessman." But he some way or another came to realize that under the influence of the gospel of Jesus Christ such a combination is possible, not only possible, but to be highly recommended.
Now brethren and sisters, it should be our purpose so to combine the Spirit of God with our daily undertakings that we can ask upon everything we undertake to do, the blessing of God, our Heavenly Father; that we may never take advantage of another; that we may always yield full service for the compensation that we receive; that our brethren and our sisters will never have cause to say that we may have taken undue advantage of them. When we come to apply that in our lives, this idea of spirituality will then be more or less a tangible thing.
Spirituality is not a thing that you can go to the market and buy with dollars and cents and carry home in a basket, but it is a thing which you can absorb in a gathering like this. It has to be absorbed. It cannot be bought. It cannot be done up in packages and handed to a neighbor. It must be absorbed by him through the emanations of our own spirits.
Let us strive for it, brothers and sisters. Let us seek the blessings of God in all we do, then Zion will shine as a light on a hill which all the world can see.
God bless us, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder Alma Sonne
Alma Sonne, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 77-79
My brethren and sisters, I assure you at the outset that I will keep my eyes on the clock. I know my brethren will also keep their eyes on the clock. I ask you for an interest in your faith and prayers. There is so much to say on an occasion like this, and there are so many to say it that time becomes very precious.
A week ago I stood before a group of high school students in one of the stakes not far from here. I urged them on that occasion to accept as a project the reading of the Gospel according to Matthew in order to familiarize themselves with the life of Jesus Christ. I recall years ago reading about Lew Wallace who wrote the great story, Ben Hur. It appears that while he was writing this book, he was visited by a certain well-known and gifted agnostic. The agnostic encouraged him to write the book. "But," said he, "do not emphasize the divinity of Jesus Christ. Treat this character as you would any other character in history." But Lew Wallace had studiously read the Gospels and formed his opinions of the Master on the record left by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
We have heard many things during this conference, and during this Easter time, about Jesus, the Christ. His perfect life has been extolled. His teachings have been expounded. His resurrection has been explained in the light of modern and ancient scriptures, and his divine mission has been emphasized by everyone who has spoken from this stand during the conference.
Someone has said, "Jesus is still loved, but he is also hated, among men." There are those who would crucify him the second time, this time in the hearts of men. Yet there is no explanation offered for his marvelous life and his perfect record except the one he himself gave. "I came forth from the father", and, "If ye have seen me ye have seen the father". In his prayer of intercession for his Twelve Apostles, he said: "This is life eternal-that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent".
In the same prayer he said, "Glorify thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was". He left no room for equivocation and argument on the question of his divinity and his Sonship, and I am happy today as I stand here, that I belong to a Church which accepts that teaching as very fundamental.
It was William Jennings who stated in his famous lecture called, The Prince of Peace, "It is easier to believe him divine than to explain in any other way what he said and did and was." There are marks of distinction which set him apart from all others who have lived upon the earth. He was the master of every situation which confronted him. He answered all questions put to him where an answer would enlighten the questioner.
Albert J. Beveridge, a Senator from Indiana, stated many years ago: "The Son of Mary is the prince of public speakers." He was right, for the Sermon on the Mount is the greatest sermon ever preached. It has endured nineteen centuries of criticism. It has survived the apostasy, the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, and the Reformation, and its powerful message is still reverberating through the world. It will never die.
Yesterday I know you were touched, as I was, when our great choir sang "The Lord's Prayer." "The Lord's Prayer," says someone, "is perfect in its diction. It is comprehensive in its scope." It covers the essential phases of human existence. His stories and parables will live forever. "The story of the Prodigal Son," said Charles Dickens, "is the most beautiful story ever told."
There is another one like unto it. It is the story of the Good Samaritan, and I think of one more with which you are very familiar. It begins, "A sower went out to sow". What a lovely statement that is! All of these stories called parables charm and captivate the reader. They are timely today, as fresh as they were nineteen hundred years ago when they were given. They stir the heart to better and nobler living. They are a force for righteousness in the world.
And there is another thing which I called to the attention of the young students a week ago, when I said, "Jesus is the most compelling personality in human history." He spoke two words to his followers: "Follow me", and strong men gave up their fishing nets and followed him even to death.
Pilate was uneasy and disturbed before him. When you enter the great Salt Lake Temple, and as you go into the Assembly Room, I wish you would do as I have frequently done-examine that magnificent painting of the Lord Jesus standing before Pontius Pilate-Jesus so calm and unruffled; Pilate so deeply disturbed. The contrast is impressive.
I recall another incident. It happened in the Garden of Gethsemane when the Roman soldiers came to arrest the Master. As they entered, Jesus said to these hard-faced men, "Whom seek ye?" They answered, "Jesus of Nazareth." "I am he," replied Jesus, and those men, in silent tribute, "went backward and fell to the ground." He asked again "Whom seek ye?" They answered, "Jesus of Nazareth." "I am he," responded the Lord, and then, characteristic of his great soul, he said, "If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way," referring, of course, to his disciples.
The writer of that circumstance gives one more sentence, which reads, "And Judas stood with them". I wonder what the thoughts of Judas were as he stood there witnessing the courage and love of Jesus, whom he had already betrayed. The moral side of Christ's character has no parallel. In it we find absolute perfection. No flaw, no blemish, no weakness is discovered. He is without sin. He was as great as the gospel he preached. He met every situation perfectly. He said and did the right thing at the right moment.
I am reminded of the spies who were sent out by the chief priests to trip and trap him if they could. "Is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar?" they asked. Jesus asked for a coin. They produced what happened to be a tax coin with which the Jews paid taxes to the Roman government. "Whose image is on the coin?" asked Jesus. "It is the image of Caesar." Then said the Lord, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are God's". I submit that it was the best answer that could possibly be given under the circumstances. Not only that, it was a great sermon, although very brief, on the matter of honesty.
May we worship the Lord and Master in spirit and in truth. May each of us have the conviction that he is the Redeemer of the world and the promised Messiah, and may we join hands in carrying forward his work and in explaining the restored gospel which has come to earth in these, the last days, through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, I pray most humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Hugh B. Brown
Hugh B. Brown, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 79-82
My brethren and sisters, President McKay has been kind enough to advise the General Authorities in advance that they might be expected to speak at certain sessions of the conference. My turn was to come next Wednesday. During a half century of active service in the Church, I have never felt so wholly inadequate, so totally dependent on divine guidance as I feel right now. For that guidance I humbly pray.
We sang yesterday, "We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet." This hymn referred originally to the Prophet Joseph Smith. In a meeting not long ago when President McKay announced that the congregation would sing, "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet," he said, characteristically, "I wish you would have in mind the Prophet Joseph Smith when you sing today."
I should like to offer a prayer that has been in my heart for years, a prayer which I believe is in the heart of every Latter-day Saint throughout the world. "We thank thee, O God, for the Prophet, David O. McKay, to guide us in these later-latter days. We thank thee that through thy blessings he has had the vitality, the vigor, and the health to carry the message of the gospel to the four corners of the earth. We thank thee that his influence and his presence have revitalized the Saints wherever he has gone and have given them courage and ape. We thank thee that he more than any man among us, more than any of his predecessors, has carried the inspiration and the message of the gospel to the greatest and to an ever-increasing international audience. We pray that thou wilt bless him continually and spare him to us, that we may enjoy his great leadership for many years to come."
From the bottom of my heart I sustain and support these men, the President of the Church and his Counselors, the President of the Council of the Twelve, and each individual member of that Council, and the Patriarch as prophets, seers, and revelators to the Church. I am grateful for the privilege of meeting with them occasionally.
Some of our friends have said we are inclined to worship the General Authorities. We love them; we listen to their counsel; we thank God for them; but they would not permit us to worship them. If we should be so inclined, they would be the first to rebuke us. They would doubtless say to us what the angel said to John on the Isle of Patmos, when he was about to kneel before him,
See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant... worship God.
But it is our privilege to be guided by their inspired counsel. I pray that God will help us never to lose sight of and ever be grateful for the outstanding leadership in the Church today.
Elder Alma Sonne mentioned Easter-tide. This is the season of the year when we know spring is coming, although here in Salt Lake City today it takes a lot of faith to believe it. But it is the season of the year when things are revitalized and renewed, and it is the time of year when Christians everywhere celebrate Easter in commemoration of the resurrection of the Lord.
As I speak of these men and of their leadership, I am reminded of some additional reasons why we should be grateful for the Easter season. Through the restoration of the gospel we have knowledge and assurance regarding the actual resurrection of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only that he was resurrected from the dead, but also that he ascended into heaven with his glorified body, and he will come again in material form and substance. We are grateful for the comfort and the hope which comes with this assurance.
The revelations concerning the nature and attributes of our Heavenly Father and of his Son, Jesus Christ, are of transcendent importance to all men everywhere. Modern confirmation and elucidation of biblical evidence on this all-important subject began with the first vision in the Sacred Grove in 1820, and it was renewed and continued in that glorious vision in 1832 at Hiram, Ohio, when the Lord declared,
Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, and rejoice ye inhabitants thereof, for the Lord is God, and beside him there is no Savior.
Great is his wisdom, marvelous are his ways, and the extent of his doings none find out.
His purposes fail not, neither are there any who can stay his hand.
From eternity to eternity he is the same, and his years never fail.
The restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ came pursuant to prophetic promise and was a necessary sequel to the great apostasy. It was during the apostasy that an attempt was made to harmonize pagan philosophy with Christian truth. This task was undertaken at the behest of non-Christian emperors and resulted in uninspired declarations in which God was defined-or rather denied-by declaring him to be immaterial, incomprehensible, and without body or parts, occupying no part of finite or infinite space, in other words, non-existent.
We thank God for the restoration of the gospel which refutes such doctrine. In their attempt to incorporate Jesus the Christ into their pagan concept of the Godhead, the Roman emperors, through their appointed delegates to various councils, undertook to have him divest himself of his body, that body which came from the tomb when the angel rolled the stone away, that glorified body with which he ascended into heaven before the wondering gaze of his disciples. Obviously this resurrected body, being material, could not become a part of their immaterial God which had no parts. They would have him shed that body and thereby everything that Easter stands for; for if he is incomprehensible and immaterial, then he is not a resurrected being; and if he is not a resurrected being, Easter is meaningless.
Again I say let us thank God for the clarification that has come through modern revelation concerning the personal attributes of the three members of the Godhead.
Jesus Christ revealed the Father to us and said, "... he that hath seen me hath seen the Father". The Son was in his express image. He revealed a compassionate Father, a divine Parent, one in whom were incorporated the attributes of justice, judgment, mercy, and truth. He revealed a God of love, of forgiveness, and understanding. The restored gospel supplants the motives of fear and awe with faith and trust. The beloved disciple tells us, "... perfect love casteth out fear". Love as a dominant attribute of God and a saving quality in man is reasserted and emphasized.
The new commandment which Jesus gave was, "That ye love one another, even as I have loved you". His love for us is eternal. Nothing can separate us from it. Sin may separate us from him, but his love endures forever. Listen to Paul's testimony:
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I should like to speak to these young people who have been singing for us, and to other young people of the Church, for like others who have spoken, my heart is with the youth of Zion. I should like to say to these young people that God is their Father, that the Savior is pleading for and with them to keep clean, clean in their thinking, in their speaking, in their conduct, that he expects them to be worthy of him and of the sacrifice he made for them and for all of us. He is the Good Shepherd who gave his life for the sheep. He evinced the solicitude of the Good Shepherd in his last injunction to Peter, "Feed my sheep".
I should like to add another word to the young people. One of the most lethal weapons which the Adversary has devised to destroy the young people of the Church and of the world is to persuade them that if they have made a mistake they are lost, there is no hope. According to that doctrine, if a young person, in a weak moment, becomes guilty of some misdemeanor, he might as well go on to juvenile delinquency and crime and felony because he is lost anyway. So the devil would have them believe and thus lead them down to hell.
Young people, your Father in heaven loves you; he loves you with a love beyond what your earthly parents can know. If you make mistakes-and you will and all of us have-our Heavenly Father stands ready to forgive and to welcome you when you come to yourselves and turn your backs on the husks and your faces toward home. He will embrace you and say, "For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found". But let no one think he will not have to pay for his folly. The Father could not in justice say to the prodigal what he said to his older son, "All that I have is thine".
Our Father is kind and loving and forgiving, but there is an inexorable law which has not been repealed. It Is the law of the harvest, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap". We cannot sow thistles and reap figs, nor plant thorns and harvest grapes. But when we have had enough of thistles and thorns, we may have the grapes and the figs if we are willing to pay the price-and they cost less. While ours is a world governed by rigid and unwavering law, man has free agency, he may choose to obey or disobey the law, but he must of course abide the consequences of his choice.
One other thing to the young folk-sometimes you come to us with problems when you are perplexed and confused and feel that you are inhibited, not free to think or express opinions. When we talk to you of free agency and explain that it refers not only to actions but to thoughts and opinions, you wonder if that is always the case. Some of you have said to us, "But our right to express our own opinions is trammeled or abridged by the authoritative statements of parents, teachers, and others."
Young people, we will protect your freedom to think, to express your thoughts, and to search for truth. We want you to continue that search fearlessly. We promise you will be uninhibited in that search.
You should remember, however, that God has given us sources through which we may have some authoritative answers. Not all the answers, no! If we had all the answers, there would be an end to the search. We must not expect to have all the answers immediately, for God himself in his wisdom has withheld some of them. We believe in continued and continuing revelation, and that means that we believe there are things to be made known which we do not now know. We believe it is a good thing to reserve judgment on problems that are difficult of solution until more light comes. This principle of withholding judgment and waiting for new revelation should apply in all fields of learning. Scientists make rather definite statements at times, but some of us have lived to see them either amend or abandon their findings in the light of newly discovered truth. As long as scientists are still searching and discovering and as long as new revelation is promised, why insist upon final answers now? It is my conviction that new revelation will come when we have learned to live up to the truth we now have. Wisdom counsels patience.
And so, with respect to some things that now seem difficult to understand, we can well afford to wait until we have all the facts, until all the evidence is in. Now do not misunderstand me. There will never come a time when any revelation of truth from God will be in conflict with any other truth revealed from him, whether it comes as direct revelation or as reward for diligent search. If there seems to be conflict, it is because men, fallible men, are unable properly to interpret God's revelations or man's discoveries.
May he help us that we may go forward fearlessly but reverently in our search for truth and have due respect not only for our parents and our teachers, but also for those through whom God has promised his revelations.
By the same token, we should not undertake to state the time nor the order in which the gospel shall be given to any of the races or nations of the earth. We should not attempt to regulate God's program by our little wrist watches nor insist that he be governed by our schedule of events. He has promised the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, and he and only he knows when they are ready for its message and its blessings. When that time comes, I bear you my witness, prophetic witness, if you will, that he will reveal his will to the leaders of the Church concerning all of his people. He has said,
Remember the worth of souls is great In the sight of God;
For, behold the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.
And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.
And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!.
Brothers and sisters, I humbly bear my testimony to you that I do know that God is my Father, that Jesus of Nazareth is my Redeemer and my friend. I thank him for the blessed privilege of engaging in the ministry, and I praise his holy name that through his servants he has shown his willingness to use the weakest of us to do some little good in that ministry.
God bless us to recognize him as the Good Shepherd and to go forward with faith, unafraid of the future, and with complete confidence to say with the Psalmist:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
We pray this may be true for all of us in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Spencer W. Kimball
Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 94-98
A young Indian lad in my presence recently bore his testimony, and he said: "I am proud that I am a Navajo. I am proud, more proud, that I am a Mormon, and I am still more proud that I hold the priesthood," and that is the way I feel today in this great assembly on this anniversary. One hundred and twenty-five years ago six people gathered together in the first conference; and at this conference some ten sessions have filled the building to its capacity. I bear witness that the work that we are engaged in is the work of the Lord in all its comprehensiveness, and I am grateful that I am a member of the Lord's Church. I have prayed much that what I say this morning might be beneficial to someone.
And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
The Lord was speaking to the powerful figure, Saul of Tarsus, Paul of Christianity. I often wondered just what this meant. I found one authority who offered this:
... Those who kick at the goad, that stifle and smother the convictions of conscience, that rebel against God's truths laws, that quarrel with His providences, that persecute and oppose His ministers, because they reprove them... and fly in the face of their reprovers, they kick against the pricks, and will have a great deal to answer for.
A goad is defined as a spear or a sharp pointed stick used to sting or prick. The burro who kicks the sharp instrument with which he is being prodded is kicking at the pricks. His retaliation does little damage to the sharp stick or to him who wields it but brings distress to the foot that kicks it.
I well remember in my youth a neighbor who moved about some days on crutches. He was evasive when asked the cause of his misfortune, but an ear witness told me, as he chuckled: "John stubbed his toe on a chair in the night and in his quick, fierce anger, he kicked the chair and broke his toe." The rocking chair rocked on and on, and perhaps smiled at the stupidity of man.
The first king of Israel quarreled with Providence. His stubbornness cost him his kingdom and brought forth the caustic denunciation from his prophet:
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
O foolish monarch! Given power, wealth, opportunity, why throw them all away? The Prophet Samuel denounced the independent, arrogant Saul; the superior, unhumble Saul; the proud, conceited Saul:
When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?.
There is the man who rebelled against the call of Brigham Young to go to southern valleys, saying: "Nobody is going to tell me where to go and what to do." Through his personal rebellion, he took his entire family out of the Church. How little he retarded the colonization program! The valleys were settled in spite of him. How little his disaffection injured the Church! It has grown steadily without him. But how he has suffered in his eternal progression. In contrast, there were many who pulled up stakes, moved to new worlds, and reared families of faith and devotion.
There are many who, because troubles come, cease praying to the Lord, letting loose of the very rod of protection at the precise moment when that hand-hold is so vital.
There is the man who, to satisfy his own egotism, took a stand against the Authorities of the Church. He followed the usual pattern, not apostasy at first, only superiority of knowledge and mild criticism. He loved the brethren, he said, but they failed to see and interpret as he would like. He would still love the Church, he maintained, but his criticism grew and developed into ever-widening circles. He was right, he assured himself; he could not yield in good conscience; he had his pride. His children did not accept his philosophy wholly, but their confidence was shaken. In their frustration, they married out of the Church, and he lost them. He later realized his folly and returned to humbleness, but so very late. He had lost his children. "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks".
The Prophet Ezekiel said:
The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
There is the man who resisted release from positions in the Church. He knew positions were temporary trusts, but he criticized the presiding leader who had released him, complaining that proper recognition had not been given; the time had not been propitious; it had been a reflection upon his effectiveness. He bitterly built up a case for himself, absented himself from his meetings, and justified himself in his resultant estrangement. His children partook of his frustrations, and his children's children. In later life he "came to himself", and on the brink of the grave made an about-face. His family would not effect the transformation which now he would give his life to have them make. How selfish! Haughty pride induces eating sour grapes, and innocent ones have their teeth set on edge. "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks".
When I was a child, we used the expression, "He cut off his nose to spite his face." To us, that meant that one was fighting against fate, rebelling against the inevitable, damaging himself to spite others, breaking his toe to give vent to his senseless anger.
Eight lovely children had blessed the temple marriage of a man and woman who in later years were denied a temple recommend. They would not be so dealt with by this young bishop. Why should they be deprived and humiliated? Were they less worthy than others? They argued that this boy-bishop was too strict, too orthodox. Never would they be active, nor enter the door of that Church as long as that bishop presided. They would show him. The history of this family is tragic. The four younger ones were never baptized; the four older ones never were ordained, endowed, nor sealed. No missions were filled by this family. Today the parents are ill at ease, still defiant. They had covered themselves with a cloud, and righteous prayers could not pass through.
Sour grapes! Such unhappy food!
The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught.
But the individual who fights them finds disillusionment, disappointment, and misery. The Lord said: "... the rebellious shall be pierced with much sorrow". He outlines further the fate of the fighters.
As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream.
Why are so few chosen?
Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson-
That the rights of the priesthood...
... may be conferred upon us it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition... in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.
Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks, to persecute the saints, and to fight against God.
Of such who defy the Lord, trample upon his sacred ordinances, fight his leaders, the Lord has this to say:
Cursed are all those that shall lift up the heel against mine anointed, saith the Lord, and cry they have sinned when they have not sinned before me, saith the Lord, but have done that which was meet in mine eyes, and which I commanded them.
But those who cry transgression do it because they are the servants of sin, and are the children of disobedience themselves...
Wo unto them... they shall be severed from the ordinances of mine house.
... they themselves shall be despised by those that flattered them.
They shall not have right to the priesthood, nor their posterity after them from generation to generation.
In the last century the Lord condemned a Brother Almon Babbitt:
... behold, he aspireth to establish his counsel which I have ordained, even that of the Presidency of my Church; and he setteth up a golden calf for the worship of my people.
He was like those Romans of whom Paul spoke:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God... but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
For although a man y have many revelations, and have to do many mighty works, yet if he boasts in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own will and carnal desires, he must fall and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him.
Martin Harris was chastised by the Redeemer as
... a wicked man, who has set at naught the counsels of God, and has broken the most sacred promises which were made before God, and has depended upon his own wisdom.
Only the transgression of His people can nullify the work of the Lord, He says. And Jacob laments:
... O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.
Men continue to try to create God, to control God, and to thwart his purposes but:
His purposes fail not, neither are there any who can stay his hand.
From eternity to eternity he is the same, and his years never fail.
But men in their egotism continue to try. Against men like these, Paul warned his colleague:
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called.
The Caesars burned the early Saints as torches, subjected them to the claws of wild beasts in the coliseums, drove them underground into the catacombs, confiscated their property, and snuffed out their lives, but all to no avail, for the fires of devotion and sacrifice were only intensified thereby.
The persecutors decapitated John the Baptist, ran a lance through the Apostle James, and according to tradition martyred the missionary, Paul, and crucified the mighty Simon Barjona. They failed of purpose. Where a relatively few contemporaries ever heard them, hundreds of millions have since been enlightened by their doctrines and inspired by their testimonies.
"Mormonism will fail if we kill their prophet," they said a century ago as they murdered Joseph Smith in cold blood. Undoubtedly their fiendish grins of satisfaction at such a foul deed changed to perturbed grimaces when they came to realize that they had been but kicking against sharp points, injuring only themselves. Mormonism was not destroyed by the cruel martyrdom, but here was its vitality. The bullet-torn flesh fertilized the soil; the blood they shed moistened the seed; and the spirits they sent heavenward will testify against them throughout eternities. The cause persists and grows.
Gamaliel, the noted Pharisee doctor of the law, teacher of Saul of Tarsus, had deeper perception than did his associates, the chief priests who would have slain the Apostles. He warned:
... take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men...
Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
What sagacity! How wise this learned man! "Take heed to yourselves," he warned. It was a boomerang. He reminded them of the fate of the influential Theudas with his great swelling words, his vaunted knowledge, his brilliant mind, his superior logic, who with his following of hundreds kicked "against the pricks," resisted truth, fought against God, and came to nought."
He spoke of Judas of Galilee and his vain philosophies and his flattering words which brought him and his following oblivion. Early leaders whose names are linked with those of Joseph and Hyrum have come and gone. Heavens opened, revelations flowed, and holy angels ministered to them. Positions of trust were given them, but with it all there came arrogance, jealousies, and disaffections.
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
Are not these the self-planted, self-nourished, and self-harvested grapes of wrath? O stupid man, O egotistical man! Thinking only of self he profanes the way of the Lord and brings, sorrow to his posterity whose roses turn to ashes, whose fruit becomes only skin-covered stones. The grapes are so sour. How terrifying such a responsibility! "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."
But wo unto him that has the law given, yea, and that has all the commandments of God, like unto us, and that transgresseth them, and that wasteth the days of his probation, for awful is his state!.
In a page from the journal of the Prophet Joseph, we find this: "At 3:30 pm. I met with Brigham Young in my office." And then this: "Write to Oliver Cowdery and ask him if he has not eaten husks long enough? If he is not almost ready to return, be clothed with robes of righteousness, and go up to Jerusalem? Orson Hyde hath need of him".
This is likely reminiscent of the prodigal son whose sad fate brought him to the eating of husks with the swine after he had turned from the luxurious board of plenty at his father's table. And like him, the modern man of rare opportunity fought against his conscience, stifled his best impulses; and finally when the earthly powers were near an end, his influence in the world largely terminated, he "came to himself" back to the program he had resisted. Many teeth had been set on edge in the years of his unproductive, sterile years. His brother-in-law, David Whitmer, said of him as he was restored to the Church late in life:
"Oliver died the happiest man I ever saw. After shaking hands with his family and kissing his wife and daughter, he said: 'Now I lay me down for the last time... ' And he died with a smile on his face."
Peace, sweet peace, finally comes to all men when they humbly yield to the gentle pressures of the Spirit.
The story of the transformation of Alma is not unlike that of Paul. With his companions he set about to "steady the ark", to set straight the leaders of the Church, and to take over the minds of the people. These young men were brilliant, eloquent, impressive. The angel of the Lord in a cloud spoke "as it were with a voice of thunder which caused the earth to shake", and the astonished men fell to the earth, Alma becoming dumb and lifeless. Carried helpless to his father he was recovered after long fasting and prayer by those who loved him. In his remorse he cried out:
I was in the darkest abyss but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was wracked with eternal torment, but I am snatched and my soul is pained no more.
It took courage for Alma and the princes to admit they were wrong, but they went about "zealously striving to repair all the injuries which they had done to the church".
We quote Paul again:
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
The antediluvians were a law unto themselves and locked doors against themselves. Jonah, in his egotism, took offense when the repentance of Nineveh rendered unnecessary the fulfillment of his prophecy. Judas fought against God and suffered the buffetings of Satan. Sherem with his learning, his eloquence and his flattery, sought to turn away people from the simple faith, and he died in remorse and humiliation. Nehor tried to advance his own cause, increase his popularity, and lead a following with his criticisms and flatteries, and came to ignominious death. Korihor, with his teachings of intellectual liberty and his rationalizations, followed his temporary popularity with begging in the streets. The Jonahs and Almas and Korihors live on and undertake cover their sins, gratify their pride, and vain ambitions. They grieve the Spirit of the Lord, withdraw from holy places and righteous influences, and in the words of the Savior:
Behold, ere he is aware, be is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks, to persecute the saints and to fight against God.
But be it said to the everlasting glory of men, numerous who have tasted of and recovered from offense, having come to realize that so long as mortality exists we live and work with imperfect people; and there will be misunderstandings, offenses, and injuries to sensitive feelings. The best of motives are often misunderstood. It is gratifying to find many who, in their bigness of soul have straightened out their thinking, swallowed their pride, forgiven what they had felt were personal slights. Numerous others who have walked critical, lonely, thorny paths in abject misery, have finally accepted correction, acknowledged errors, cleansed their hearts of bitterness, and have come again to peace, that coveted peace which is so conspicuous in its absence. And the frustrations of criticism, bitterness, and the resultant estrangements have given place to warmth and light and peace. And all those who have come into the warmth of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and his program, could shout with the Prophet Joseph Smith:
... let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad...
And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy. And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!.
May God bless us all that we may live near him always, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder S. Dilworth Young
S. Dilworth Young, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 98-100
I assure you, my brethren and sisters, that it is an easy thing to be a follower of Brother Spencer Kimball, both in making addresses and in the work of the Church. His gentleness and kindness to those with whom he conducts affairs is known by all of you and shared by me. Likewise, it is easy to follow the lead of the Presidency. There have been times in my life when I have had to be rebuked. Never yet, however, was it done in any way other than in the utmost gentleness, and I have found myself more anxious than ever to do better work. "Kicking against the pricks" -that particular kind of pricks-is easy.
Saturday I sat for a good part of the meeting in the last session of the Primary conference as those lovely women portrayed to the audience the things they do for children in Primary. I recalled how in like manner the Sunday School officers and teachers attempt gently to lead children into righteousness, and, as the children grow older, how the Mutual Improvement Associations gather them into groups and attempt to interpret to them the nature of their acts in relation to the gospel-a worthy effort. It occurred to me that we parents leave too much to them.
It was said in my hearing some time ago that if a child goes to all of these auxiliary organizations faithfully, he is bound, all things being equal, to become a good Latter-day Saint when he grows up. Let me assure you that that is true in part, but only if another factor is brought into the picture.
That Primary child will leave about five o'clock for home, will walk down the street, or along the village road, and will arrive eventually at his own domicile. There is where the next test comes.
In the few moments allotted to me, I should like to talk about two items, and I do not wish to be misunderstood, but I want to be as clear as I know how to be. These have to do with the use of things in the home which touch that child's character. You heard it said the other day that Satan has no power over a child until eight years of age. I believe that to be true, but I wish to remind you all, and myself, too, that Satan may have no power to tempt a child before eight years of age, but some of his emissaries go all out to condition a child so that when he becomes eight he will not be conscious that sinning is very bad. Exposing children, small children particularly, to the constant barrage of situations which can affect their outlook on the matters on which they must make decisions is a subtle way to bring them into evil later. I suspect, it is no different with large children. Nowadays the home is one place where the child meets this test.
The first item is comic books, and the things we call "funnies." Harmless-appearing things they are. A frustrated mother likes to get the supper on, and the child nagging at her can easily be pacified, if he is old enough, by a handful of these books. It is easy entertainment, and she may feel that the child will look at them and gain something from the pictures.
If I were a parent again and had a small child, I never would allow him to look at a comic book until I had looked through it myself, and if it contained one thing suggestive of anything but the highest principles, that child, if I had the power, would not see that book.
Comic books in the home are a poor substitute for activity on the part of parents in relation to their children. They can do, and often do, untold evil. At best, they are poor entertainment. They stop a child from learning how to read well. They stultify his desire to learn good literature, and he ends up by being a picture gazer, able to absorb ideas through that means only.
I am ever grateful to my uncle, and to my own parents for getting me in the line of reading good things. I well recall two incidents. One day there came to my door the postman, and he brought a magazine known then as the Cosmopolitan. In that day it was not what it is today. It was considered to be a high-class magazine, about as high as they come in America. My name was on it, and there was a note accompanying it, and it said: "You are to have this subscription for a whole year, with love-Uncle Lee." I was then six years old, and I could no more understand the words in that magazine than I could have understood an angel, had I seen one. But it was my magazine, and every month I watched for it, and every month I tried to justify my uncle's confidence in me that he thought I could understand such a thing. The gift, even though not understood, built in me a pride that I wanted to measure up.
Another time he stood in the library of the old house on Fourth East-I suppose he knew I was in the house-and I burst into the library, and there he was in front of a bookcase with a book open in his hand. He said, "Come here." I went there. He read to me a most exciting adventure between some white men and some Indians. He said, "This is a great book, and I know you will like it." Then he put it in my hands, and said, "Read it, and when you finish reading it, I have another one equally good for you." Thus I became acquainted with The Last of the Mohicans, and I thus was led until I could appreciate good literature, and had learned to read well and rapidly-one of the greatest gifts I have ever had.
Brothers and sisters, do not allow your children to have in their hands things which will keep them from learning the art of reading, and which in addition will also give them evil from pictures which you have not censored yourselves.
The second item is a thing which I am sure many of you will not agree about-television-the very thing that is bringing this conference to thousands of people. Used correctly it is a great blessing. Abused, it can be a source of evil. How would you like to have a man walk into your home and say to your daughter, aged ten, "Look, honey; I have some pictures to show you," and then he shows her some pictures of half-dressed people performing antics, doing lewd things or questionable things or uncultured things. You would do anything in your power to keep him from entering your house, and yet at the touch of a button that is what you have if you do not take care.
No one knows how far it will go, and no one knows where it will stop. You keep on feeding to a child-a small child-the sight of his parents laughing over a humorous situation, happily engaged in enjoying something, and then having that thing linked to some item which the producers are trying to sell which is evil, and the child will connect the laughter with the evil, and will not see any evil in it. If you keep that up for several years, over and over again, what do you think will happen?
I saw an example of it just the other day. Sister Young and I happened to be in a small town overnight on our way to a conference, and having an hour or two to spend, we happened to pass a theater which advertised a moving picture which was very famous a year or two ago. We went in.
The theme of the picture had to do with three men coming home from war, two of whom spend their first night home with their families getting drunk. The antics of these drunken men brought hysterical laughter from a certain group. It was not the adults. It was the high-pitched, shrill, laughter of small children. Where do you suppose they learned to laugh at that sort of thing? Do you think that one show would cause it? No. They have been exposed for a long time to such things. Movies are not the entire cause. Television has its share of the blame to take.
I think it would be a good thing sometimes if we had on our instruments at home a little slot in which we had to drop fifty cents before we could enjoy the program. That might be a deterrent to some programs which we view because we do not have the discrimination to turn them off.
Nowadays, gone is the dining room, that sacred place where Father gathered his family around him at suppertime, and where he could give instruction and they could get acquainted. Now it has disappeared into the laps of those who sit by small stools gulping food while they watch their favorite program on television.
There will be other evils come, too, if we do not control this, and the other things which come into our homes uncensored, simply because they are there, and we permit them. Handled correctly television can be an influence for good. Handled incorrectly, it will become a force for endless evil.
I wanted to raise my voice to that extent this morning. My testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ is sure at this moment. I hope it will always be so. If I act right, it will be. I know that the President of this Church, President McKay, is the Prophet of the Living God, and that those who help him are, also, and I pledge myself and all that I have to the service to which they have called me. In the name of Christ. Amen.
Elder George Q. Morris
George Q. Morris, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 101-102
My dear brethren and sisters, I am thankful for the privilege of being with you in this great conference, and have been thrilled with the messages we have received, beginning with the impressive and inspired message from President McKay, up until this moment. I sincerely pray that the Lord may direct me to say that which is true and that he would have said.
I have been impressed with the number of references to and testimonies regarding our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is our obligation and our privilege to proclaim him to the world. He has come to us in our day. He has established for us his Church. He has placed in it his authority and his power, and he is directing it through his servant on the earth who stands as his representative in the world today.
It is our privilege and our pleasure and our joy to proclaim his divinity, and that fact, the divinity of Jesus Christ, is the center fact of human existence, and the basic truth in human life. If we do not know that and are not governed by it, our lives will be failures. Unless we have his message and his instructions, we shall not know what life is, we shall not know who we are or what we are; we shall not know how to live; we shall not know what aim to place before us in life, because it is only through the gospel of Jesus Christ that we know the truth that should guide us day by day and sustain us through our lives and make us truly intelligent beings.
Jesus Christ is the spirit of truth, the spirit of light; and truth and light the Lord has defined as being intelligence. If we would be truly intelligent, we should learn the truth concerning his character and mission.
The obligations are such and our relations to him are such that it is our most serious duty in life to know him and love him and keep his commandments and thereby know and love our Father in heaven and keep his commandments, because he is the messenger from the Father; he is the one chosen of the Father to represent him in the earth, chosen of the Father to be the Redeemer of the world, chosen of the Father to be the Creator of the world. Into his hands the Father has placed all things, and we are in his hands. One day we will stand before him to be judged, and we will be judged as to our relations to him and our attitude towards him and whether or not we have listened to his word and kept his commandments. We will all come to that day and to that accounting, and so will every man and woman in the world.
It seems easy for some people to appraise Jesus Christ and put him in his place as no doubt a very great Teacher and a great Prophet, a man who lived a wonderful life. The "wise and the prudent" have a way of doing this. I rather think the humble and the meek accept him as the Redeemer of the world. He said:
I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
The Lord Jesus Christ is not on trial before the world. Men should understand that. The world is on trial before the Lord Jesus Christ, and we will have to account for the attitude taken toward him and his message, and we cannot accept him without accepting his principles and his doctrines. If we reject his principles and his doctrines, we reject him. If we reject his divinity, we reject him:
Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
Another thing that the world must understand if they will know the truth, and if they will only be humble and true before the Lord they will be glad to understand it, is that those who receive or reject the teachings and testimonies and admonitions of the servants of God receive or reject the Lord Jesus Christ. He said to the seventy when he sent them out to preach the gospel:
He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.
How important to the world, that they understand these simple principles! If it were not for the traditions, the errors, the sins, and the shortcomings of men, all of the world would accept the Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing but what a true heart and a right mind would rejoice in. He is perfect. He is love. He is righteousness. He is truth, the perfection of all things, and is devoting his great power and his whole being to the loving and saving of the children of men.
Why should we not accept him with all our hearts? Only because of our shortcomings! It is not because of our superior knowledge and intelligence that we reject Jesus Christ. It is because we lack in superior knowledge and intelligence and humility and meekness that he is rejected. If we will be faithful and humble, as the brethren have said in this conference, and keep his commandments, we will know of his divinity, and it will be our salvation and our exaltation.
Read the ninety-third section of the Doctrine and Covenants, on the matter of obedience. It is by keeping the commandments of God that we will gain in light and truth until we are filled with light and truth and know all things and become like unto our Father in heaven. The thing that prevents that is, as the revelation says, that Satan takes from us light and truth through disobedience.
And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the traditions of their fathers.
If you keep not my commandments, the love of the Father shall not continue with you, therefore you shall walk in darkness.
Anything that we wish to attain or should attain to that is desirable, noteworthy, lovely, of good repute, that will be to our salvation and exaltation in the kingdom of God will be attained by the principle of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I bear my humble witness that he is Christ, the Son of the Living God, that this is his Church and kingdom and that it is spreading throughout the earth and will continue to spread. In this conference there has been the announcement of a new era when on a worldwide basis the Church is to be visited regularly and supervised regularly, and we have seen plans put into effect that when finished will give us a line of temples that will encircle the globe-outposts of the kingdom of God.
I bear witness that this spreading will continue until it covers the earth and the will of God will be done. Give us power, I pray, O Father, that we may be true and faithful to these ends, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Milton R. Hunter
Milton R. Hunter, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 102-107
My dear brethren and sisters, I humbly ask an interest in your faith prayers and that the Spirit of God may direct what I may say today. I would like to speak briefly on the subject of "Indian Traditions of the Book of Mormon."
Since the publishing of that sacred scripture on March 26, 1830, a number of missionaries have been informed by various Indians that according to their traditions their progenitors in the distant past had possessed a sacred, religious book, which volume had disappeared; and a prominent factor in those traditions is the claim that that sacred record would be possessed again by the American Indians. On a number of occasions these people have identified the Book of Mormon as the record of their ancestors for which, in accordance with their traditions, they had been waiting and seeking.
Elder Glen G. Fisher, former president of the Western Canadian Mission, wrote an article which was published in THE IMPROVEMENT ERA in March 1952, in which he graphically described the experiences had in 1908 by Chief Yellow Face and his Cree Indians in their search for the sacred book of their ancestors., pp. 148-150, 180-184.) They came from northern Canada to southern Alberta, camped on the Mormon ranch, and during several months' time patiently waited for an opportunity to get a copy of the Book of Mormon and be taught its contents, because they knew that this book was the record of their ancestors. After they had learned of the purpose of the sojourn of Chief Yellow Face and members of his tribe, some of the Latter-day Saints who worked on the Mormon ranch spent evening after evening teaching the Indians the contents of the Book of Mormon. The Indian chief and his followers expressed much joy and deep satisfaction regarding what they were taught, declaring that the Book of Mormon was truly the sacred record of their ancestors which had been preserved for their enlightenment.
In the April issue of THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, Elder Golden R. Buchanan, president of the Southwest Indian Mission, described some of the traditions of the Indians with whom he has been working. He wrote: "The people lost their records and their 'books.'" But as the Hopis say,
We were not left without hope; we were told some day young white men with blue eyes would come knocking at Hopi doors and would bring back to us our records and our true story. They would come from the east and that we would know them by their outstretched hands, and they would call us my brother" and "my sister.", p. 285.)
There may be people who would question the validity of the evidences in the examples I have given of Indian traditions of the Book of Mormon, maintaining that these evidences have all come forth since the publishing of that book and may have been instigated by it or by the Mormon missionaries. Be that as it may!
The important question for our consideration, however, is: Are there any important documents available which were written by the Indians prior to the publishing of the Book of Mormon which furnish evidence that these people had traditions which came down from their ancestors to the effect that their progenitors at a certain time in the distant past had possessed an important, sacred, religious book, which book could be identified as the Book of Mormon?
I shall answer that question in the affirmative. Yes, we do have some very important documents which were written between two and three hundred years prior to the publishing of the Book of Mormon which make the claim that many years ago the ancestors of the American Indians possessed an important, sacred book. These writings are so explicit that one could easily believe that the ancient records spoken of by the Indian writers are the same records as the ones from which the Book of Mormon was translated by the Prophet.
The first of these Indian writings of great significance which shall be referred to is the Works of Ixtlilxochitl, written by an Indian of the royal family in Mexico approximately 1600 A.D. In these writings he accounts the history, traditions, and religious beliefs of his people from the time of the migration of the first group from the Tower of Babel-continuing with the emigrations from over the sea of two other groups-and on down to the Spanish conquest.
The most pertinent portion of his book in relationship to our subject today deals with a very important character called Hueman. He and his work are described at great length in several different places in the Works of Ixtlilxochitl, his unusual accomplishments being highly extolled. If one was to study thoughtfully Ixtlilxochitl's account of Hueman and compare it with the portrayal of the character, personality, activities, and various accomplishments of Mormon as described in the Nephite record, one could easily identify the two men as being the same individual, pp. 337-316). For example, their names are quite similar-the one in the Indian manuscript being called Hueman and the other in the Nephite account being called Mormon. Each is claimed to have been a great prophet of God. Each is claimed to have been the head general of the army. Each is claimed to have been instrumental in bringing about a treaty of peace in 350 A.D., which treaty is claimed to have lasted for ten years. And the last comparison which shall make, and probably the most pertinent one to our subject today is: Each is claimed to have been the compiler of a very important religious record which delineated the religious beliefs and history of the inhabitants of ancient America.
Since each of us is more or less acquainted with the account given in the Nephite record of Mormon's activities, under the direction of the Lord, in taking a thousand years accumulation of records and from them compiling and abridging in one book the story of his people, which momentous task was completed by his son Moroni and brought forth in the latter days under the title of the Book of Mormon, I shall not spend time to discuss that point further. I would like, however, to quote directly from the Works of Ixtlilxochitl wherein he described Hueman as a collector and compiler of the sacred records of his people. While meditating on this particular quotation, the thought came to me that upon reading this quotation one could easily imagine that he was reading the Nephite account of Mormon's activities as a writer and keeper of records. To quote from the sixteenth century Indian document:
And before going on I want to make an account of Hueman, the astrologer. Before dying he gathered together all the histories the Tultecas had from the creation of the world up to that time and had them pictured in a very large book, where were pictured all their persecutions and hardships, prosperities and good happenings, kings and lords, laws and good government of their ancestors, old sayings and good examples, temples, idols, sacrifices, rites and ceremonies that they had, astrology, philosophy, architecture, and the other arts, good as well as bad, and a resume of all the things of science, knowledge, prosperous and adverse battles, an other things; and he entitled his book calling it Teoamaxtli, which, well interpreted means Various Things of God and Divine Book: The natives now call the Holy Scriptures Teoamoxtli because it is almost the same,... This marvelous quotation describing the activities of Hueman in writing or compiling a very important book is so similar to the Nephites' account of Mormon's activities that such a quotation constitutes a noteworthy Book of Mormon evidence.
The second example which I shall give of an early Indian document which contains numerous, marvelous evidences sustaining the claims made by the Book of Mormon is known today as the Popol Vuh., pp. 1-767.) The original manuscript was written in the Quiché language by a Quiché-Maya Indian in faraway Guatemala, Central America, nearly three hundred years before the Prophet Joseph Smith published the account translated from the Nephites' records. Between the years 1554 and 1558 A.D., an Indian at Chichicastenango, Guatemala wrote what has become accepted by scholars as a very important and unusual document in which he delineated the mythology, beliefs, and traditions of his people. The Quiché-Maya Indian author claimed that there was a prevalent tradition among his people that his ancestors in the distant past had at one time possessed an important, religious, sacred book which had disappeared, being had no more by his people, and so he wrote his manuscript to replace that lost book.
Father Francisco Ximenez, a Catholic priest who officiated in the St. Tomas church at Chichicastenango, obtained the manuscript from the Quiché-Maya Indians approximately 1600 A.D. No doubt he had won their good will and thereby was able to borrow this manuscript for the purpose of translating it from Quiché into the Spanish language. After his work was completed, Father Ximenez's translation of the Indian document remained in manuscript form for approximately two hundred fifty years before it was discovered and published in the Spanish language. Since that time it has appeared in several Spanish editions, as well as in French and German. It was not until five years ago, however, that it was translated and published for the first time in English, the translation being made by Delia Goetz and the famous Mayan scholar, Sylvanus G. Morley.
When the Quiché-Maya manuscript was first written, it had no title. The Indian writer claimed that the lost Quiché book was called the Popol Vuh, and so it was natural for the publisher of this sixteenth century document to call it the Popol Vuh after the name of the lost Quiché-Maya book. The meaning of Popol Vuh, according to the sixteenth century document, is The Book of the People, or The Book of the Princes, or The Book of the Community. It seems that those titles, according to the content of the Book of Mormon, would also be very fitting for the Nephite records.
I shall now quote directly from the Popol Vuh and let each one evaluate in his mind the possibility of this record referring to the Book of Mormon records as they were when possessed by the people of ancient America:
This we shall write now under the Law of God and Christianity; we shall bring it to life because now the Popol Vuh, as it was called, cannot be seen any more, in which was clearly seen the coming from the other side of the sea and the narration of our obscurity, and our life was clearly seen. The original book written long ago, existed, but its sight is hidden to the searcher and to the thinker. Great were the descriptions and the account of how all the sky and the earth were formed...
In speaking of the original Popol Vuh which the ancestors of the Quiché-Maya Indians had possessed in the distant past, the late Dr. Sylvanus G. Morley, possibly the greatest of the Mayan Scholars, wrote as follows:
The Popol Vuh was also the book of prophecy and the oracle of the kings and lords, according to a reference which the author of the Manuscript makes in another passage, where he states that "Great lords and wonderful men were the marvelous kings... They knew if there would be war, and everything was clear before their eyes; they saw if there would be death and hunger, if there would be strife. They well knew that there was a place where it could be seen, that there was a book which they called the Popol Vuh."
This quotation reminds one of King Mosiah and King Benjamin, great Nephite prophets, seers, and revelators.
The late Dr. Morley adds the following interesting comment:
And in the final paragraph, the Quiché chronicler adds with a melancholic accent that what he has said in his works is all that has been preserved of the ancient Quiché, "because no longer can be seen which the kings had in olden times, for it had disappeared."
Since the time that Father Francisco Ximenez translated the sixteenth century Popol Vuh from Quiché into Spanish, scholars have done much speculating regarding this lost Indian book. They have made guesses regarding its authorship, the language in which it was written, the writing materials used, its probable contents, and numerous other things. For example, as early as 1600 A.D. Father Ximenez wrote:
The truth is that such a book never appeared nor has been seen, and thus it is not known if this way of writing was by painting, as those of Mexico, or by knotting string as the Peruvians; you may believe that it was by painting on woven white cloth.
Probably one of the most intriguing subjects regarding the lost book of the Quiché-Maya on which scholars have speculated is: "What has become of the original Popol Vuh?" Of course none of them has known the answer to that question any more than they have known the answers to the other questions on this subject on which they have speculated. It is my firm opinion that we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have a far better chance to know the answers to such questions than do the scholars because of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the numerous appearances of the Angel Moroni, and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.
Since I firmly believe that the Quiché-Maya Indians of Guatemala are descendants of the Book of Mormon peoples of ancient America, as I believe also that other Indians trace back to the same ancestry, it is but natural for me to regard the lost Quiché-Maya Popol Vuh, which disappeared from among the ancestors of the Quichés many, many years ago, to be the Book of Mormon records. It is evident that they were lost or disappeared when Moroni, the last historian of the Nephite race, hid them in the Hill Cumorah in 421 A.D. A knowledge of the activities of the compilers of the ancient records, their contents, and finally their sudden disappearance was carried down from age to age by the Indians through tradition to the sixteenth century, when at that time a Quiché-Mayan recorded the traditions of his people, according to the late Dr. Morley,
... as a substitute for the Libro Nacional, as a revision and a new version of the accounts which had been preserved in the venerable book which had already disappeared.
In our present discussion, I have purposely presented Indian traditions of the Book of Mormon from four widely separated sections of the country: the first from Canada; the second from Arizona; the third from Mexico; and the fourth from Guatemala. My purpose was to show that traditions prevailed somewhat universally among the various American Indian tribes to the effect that their ancestors in the distant past had possessed an important, sacred, religious book, which volume had disappeared but, according to many of the traditions, would be mysteriously preserved and eventually brought again to the descendants of the inhabitants of ancient America. It is obvious that these traditions fit well with what has actually happened in regard to the Book of Mormon.
Why should not the Indians have received through tradition the knowledge of the fact that their progenitors in ancient America had had a sacred book written for them, since evidence is abundant in the Book of Mormon which shows clearly that the Lamanites were well aware of the fact that their rivals were record keepers and that the prophets had predicted the eventual destruction of the Nephite nation and the preservation of the records for the Lamanites' descendants? For example, Enos, the Son of Jacob and a record keeper, knowing that the Lamanites had
... swore in their wrath that, if it were possible, they would destroy our records and us, and also all the traditions of our fathers. ... that the Lord God would preserve a record of my people, the Nephites... that it might be brought forth at some future day unto the Lamanites...
... and he covenanted with me that he would bring them forth unto the Lamanites in his own due time...
And the Lord said unto me: Thy fathers have also required of me this thing; and it shall be done unto them according to their faith...
... I Enos went about among the people of Nephi... testifying of the things I had heard and seen.
The latter two historians of the Nephite nation, like the prophets during the early period, had firm convictions that the records would be preserved and brought forth in the latter days to thee descendants of the Lamanites. Shortly before his death, Mormon recorded in the records a sermon to the descendants' of the Lamanites in which he said:
... I would speak somewhat unto the remnant of this people who are spared... For behold, this is written for the intent that ye... will know concerning your fathers, and also the marvelous works which were wrought by the power of God among them.
Following Mormon's death and after Moroni had completed the abridgment of the Jaredite records, he wrote:
Wherefore, I write a few more things contrary to that which I had supposed;... that perhaps they may be of worth to my brethren, the Lamanites, in some future day, according to the will of the Lord.
I bear witness that the Book of Mormon contains the word of God and that it was written originally by holy prophets with the knowledge that it would be preserved to be brought forth in the latter days for the benefit of the descendants of the Lamanites-the American Indians. In fact, one of the declared purposes of writing and preserving that sacred book is proclaimed in its preface, which declares that it was "... written to the Lamanites".
Since the knowledge of all the things of which I have spoken was so widely had by the Nephites, it is my firm conviction that the Lamanites were also fully aware of the records and the promises contained therein to their posterity. Following the close of Nephite history, certainly the Lamanites and their Indian descendants would hand such knowledge down from age to age by tradition to the present time, which has actually happened; and so it is easily understandable why the Indians who live in various parts of the Americas have similar traditions of the Book of Mormon. These Indian traditions, to my way of thinking, provide important evidences sustaining the claims made by the writers-thereby constituting additional important Book of Mormon evidences.
I bear witness to these things, and I do so in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Adam S. Bennion
Adam S. Bennion, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 108-112
For myself and for all of you, I express gratitude to these Singing Mothers. I am grateful that the loveliness of their lullabies has been sublimated into the holiness of their hymns under the inspirational leadership of Sister Madsen.
Those of us who sit here this afternoon, still subject to our turn, know that this is the hour. It reminds me of the time when we used to play musical chairs. You remember when we gathered in a circle around the chairs and the host took a chair out each time around, so that there was one chair fewer than people. We knew when we got down to the last three or four chairs that that was it. Well, the chairs have all been taken out but three!
Brother Richard Evans and I have been sitting here together for three days, observing to each other that there is strength in this audience-strong men and remarkable women.
It is intriguing to me to know that in a hundred and a quarter years six members have grown into a million and a quarter people. That is a wonderful achievement in the Lord's work.
I am doubly grateful to be here today because last October I missed this conference. Recently out of the hospital, I was convalescing at home. But that experience has brought me something that perhaps I could have had in no other way. I stand here today grateful for the blessings of our Father in heaven and his goodness. I bring you my witness to the power of the priesthood, because under the hands of these my good brethren, I have been blessed back to health and strength. I know the power of healing is in this priesthood, and I give you my witness that it is.
This has been a wonderful conference. I have sat here much of the time with a lump in my throat. I am honored to be here. I rejoice in the power of the leadership of this First Presidency. They are among the strongest men ever to guide the destinies of this Church. I pay my tribute to my brethren. It is a sustaining force to have every one of them give us his blessing for this experience. These are strong men, as you know from the evidence of this conference. They are devoted men, and ink their hands you can feel good about the future of this great Church.
I pray that the few minutes I occupy I may be in tune with the Spirit, the uplifting Spirit, that we have felt all the way through this conference.
I am always concerned about the carry-over effect of our teachings. The gospel, in the language of Paul, is the power of God unto salvation, and these conferences and all of our meetings and the very genius of the gospel itself are meant to help us the better to live.
Each week we go out to some stake or to some mission. Each Monday morning I come back lifted up and built up not only in my faith but also in the assurance of the goodness of the people among whom we labor. I bear you witness that the evidence we get week after week is that the gospel makes better men and women; it transforms their lives; and I want to hint from two of our conferences some of the things that shall never leave me the same again.
When I was introduced to the home at which I was to stay in Klamath Stake, I felt a little embarrassed because the hostess, the wife of a member of the stake presidency, was in a wheel chair, crippled from the effects of polio for twenty years. But the look in her face convinced me that I need have no misgivings. She wheels around in that wheel chair, thanks to the kindliness of a good husband, as if the house had been built just for her. She wheels out into the kitchen between the range and serving table where she prepares the food, makes a turn, and has it ready for distribution. She teaches a Sunday School class, is a leader in Relief Society, and if you ever shook hands with that little woman and caught the look in her face, you would know that, while an affliction can cripple the body, it never can handicap such a spirit.
A few weeks later I went down to Zion Park Stake. I shall be grateful all the rest of my days for the inspiration of that visit. In one family there I think I saw as much affliction as I have ever seen in any other one family. But those good people have risen above it so wonderfully. The president of the stake down there served in the war, and it is almost a miracle that he came back alive. He wears a steel plate now, a cranial plate, with the index across the forehead that it is there. His wife, stricken arthritically, with feet she could hardly walk upon until they were all broken anew and made over, and her hands so gnarled and twisted that as you reach to shake her hand, you wish you could give her a blessing. Two fine boys born into the family and then the third child, a little girl, under the complications of Rh-negative, invalided through eight years. I want to tell you that when you walk into that home and catch the spirit of the father and the mother and you watch the boys rush over to help the little child who, when she falls, cannot get up, when you kneel in the home and you listen to the prayers of that family, with their gratitude to Almighty God for the kindness he has shown to them, you know that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
Well, in the light of those two experiences I should like to join with you for just a little while this afternoon in consideration of one of the richest declarations ever made. I love the Book of Mormon and have done so ever since I was a youngster. For this afternoon I have chosen from the second book of Nephi the passage that I want to develop just a little with you:
And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.
And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.
But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.
And now for my theme:
Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
That same sentiment is echoed in one of the greatest documents ever given to mankind, the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. You remember that every paragraph in that great document begins with a blessing. "Blessed are the poor in spirit", and so on through all of them. In the concluding paragraph of that great document, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner..."-you remember it.
Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
I think sometimes we let the negative aspects, the disciplinary aspects, the prohibitive aspects crowd out the teaching of the joys of the gospel. I wish we might center our thinking a little while today in the joys of living the gospel, not as an obligation but as a privilege-one of the richest privileges in life.
Did we have time this afternoon I should like to expand on the meaning of joy. In ordinary language we talk as if joy, pleasure, gladness, and happiness were all synonymous. But in this passage from the Book of Mormon joy has a far richer meaning. Pleasure, in my mind, is essentially a gratification of one of the senses. Happiness seems to center in a kind of contentment born of good fortune or of some fortuitous circumstance. But joy reveals a certain spiritual exaltation.
As someone has said: "Joy is more intense than happiness, deeper than gladness, to which it is akin, nobler and enduring than pleasure." As I have been thinking about it, joy seems to me to be essentially spiritual and has an abiding quality with a hint of eternal bliss.
How may we aspire to this thing called the joy of living? We cannot buy it; it is no or sale in the market place, nor can you go out to cultivate it directly. At best it seems to be a sort of by-product. It is an end result achieved from worthy performance.
I come to you today with three suggestions that I think make for joy:
There has been a tendency, perhaps all too strong, recently, to coddle the children we love. In our own state legislature in an attempt to protect children, we could easily do them a great disservice. I notice this morning that our governor indicates that he would be willing to call the legislature back into session to correct the mistake because there is no great wisdom in putting a premium upon idleness, either for children or for men.
You remember what the Lord has said: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread". And there is this wonderful passage in John. When the Savior was criticized for something he did on the Sabbath, he answered his accusers by saying, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work".
And then that memorable passage from Ecclesiastes:
"The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: ... but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep".
All my life I have enjoyed the blessed privilege of living with people who love to work. I rejoice in a helpmate who delights in keeping up our home. Born in a country town out in this valley, I still thrill as I think of the work of two men, Robert and Willard Pixton, who were pioneers in my town. They prided themselves that there was never a weed in the potato patch. They selected their grain, and when it rolled into the fall harvest, it was beautiful. Those men worked as if they loved to work, and when fall came, after they had plowed and planted and cultivated and irrigated and harvested-with the barns full of hay and the granaries rich in grain-and the cellars bulging with fruits and vegetables-I am just sure that Robert and Willard Pixton gathered the family together in a thanksgiving that was full of joy-joy for the blessings of heaven.
I have always been glad that I lived in a humble home-a home in which people loved to work. I can recall the thrill of the days when we brought in the new straw and put it under the rag carpet that had been woven from the rags which mother used to cut and wind into balls to be taken over to be made into a carpet. How we used to love to "tromp" the straw to get it down so that the carpet could be stretched over it; and then we would attach the stretcher and "stomp" some more and pull and the carpet down. Those were great days. No man ever relaxed more luxuriously on a Persian rug.
I remember when the pig was killed in the fall, and the hams were put down in brine, and the sausage was made, not of the discarded parts but of the selected parts. I have always thought that eating was in the realm of pleasure-but I want to tell you that some meals get pretty close to joy.
For years I kept in touch with one of the finest writers in America, who wrote this little paragraph awhile back in a Chicago paper:
When a young man finds no joy in his daily work, goes to it in the morning with regret, has no feeling of thankfulness that he has work to do, and dislikes the hours in which he does it, there is something wrong. It is a cheering thing to have the habit of industry, the desire to do each day's work better than that of the day before, and to leave it conscious of having done it well. There is a sad future for the young man who hates work, who dislikes his employer and gives as little of effort as he can get by with. He will suffer more from the shirking than his employer, because he is destroying his own chance for joy in his life.
Someone has said, "Happy is the man who has work he loves to do," but somebody else has added the basic fundamental thought, "Happy is the man who loves the work he has to do."
It is in the life of the home, which has been spoken of here so beautifully throughout this conference, beginning with that inspirational message from our President.
I am mindful of the struggle we have to go through to get a home, and then the pride we feel as we come into it, and then the joy of children as they come to bless it. I still think that the birth of a baby surpasses the greatest miracle ever wrought. The joy in the coming of the children, their development, their questions, their affection, their frank disclosures, the privilege we have of living life over again, and then when we get to the stage of grandchildren, where we have all the joys and not quite the full responsibilities, when, after they have worn us or our nerves a little threadbare, we can suggest, that for the children's sake, maybe they ought to be in bed. These are great blessings and great sources of joy.
Let me give you a homely illustration of the difference between a joyous family and an agitated one. Some people make their lives center in "don'ts" and "mustn'ts" and "can'ts." I often think of the mother who used to say, "Go and see what Billy is doing and tell him to quit." That kind of parent gets into the car and proceeds to tell her children what they cannot do and orders them to be quiet. The wise parent, who has the joy in the association of the children, says, "Let's see how many white horses we can see in the next hundred miles." Perhaps we shall have to change the white horses to red tractors. It is an interest to trace the alphabet on the billboards along the way-good fun to try to work out a complete alphabet. It is fun to find the best signboard along the way or, if you want to, and lean a little to the intellectual side, you can get one of the children's best current books-not the cheap ones that Brother Dilworth talked about this morning-but one of those beautifully illustrated books now available, and you can sit in the back seat and fill in the time that otherwise might drag. That is joy in the making.
In the home, too, there is the joy of a few good friends-not too many-because you cannot cultivate them-but a few of the friends who will stand by you in all that comes in life. We have such friends-God be praised for them.
In the language of Shakespeare, "Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel."
We find joy in the work we do. We find joy in the privileges of the home with its children and its friends, but in the third place, and finally, we find joy in the service of the Lord.
I read the other night again from Habakkuk, a book which we do not turn to often enough:
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
And then this ringing line:
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Yesterday, all day long, we had the privilege of sitting in an inspirational meeting with these good mission presidents. I could wish in some magical way their messages might be brought to all of you because it was a day of dedication and consecration. I bless them for the work they are doing.
In the spirit of that wonderful meeting of yesterday, I bid you to find the life in service of the Lord whether it is a call to be a ward teacher, a call to be a Sunday School teacher, an MIA leader, a quorum officer, or a call to visit those who are a little disinclined or indifferent or bound down by some unfortunate habit. The promise of the Lord is so rich in its blessing:
And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me.
Your joy is akin to the joy of heaven, for as the Master declared:
Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
When you have felt the power of his Holy Spirit, when you have been inspired to meet your perplexing problems, when you have had the privilege of comforting the brokenhearted, when you have led an erring one into the sunlight of a new day, when you have achieved the goal of your dreams, when you have done these things, you enjoy this promise that was given to the laborers in the vineyard years ago:
And whoso receiveth you, there will I be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.
Add to that promise the glorious one already quoted in this conference by President Richards:
Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.
I give you my witness, my good brethren and sisters, that in the service of the Lord comes the supreme joy of life. And when you have coupled it with the nobility of work and the satisfaction of having friends and children about you, God can bless you, and he will. May he do so abundantly, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Richard L. Evans
Richard L. Evans, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 112-114
I cherish the privilege of sitting by Brother Adam S. Bennion, but not of following him as a speaker. He makes this task doubly difficult.
What I should least like to do today would be to detract in any way from the glorious quality and content and spirit of the messages which we have heard here these past four or five days-beginning with President McKay's message of Sunday morning on peace in the world and the influence of the home; going back before that to President Richards' remarks in the priesthood meeting on Saturday evening, as concerning the counsel that we should not overextend ourselves in debt; then the glorious talks-two of them-by President J. Reuben Clark on fundamentals, including the counsel to keep all of the commandments; and President Smith's remarks at the missionary meeting, reminding us of our inescapable obligations to bear witness to the world.
And so we have been edified and encouraged and strengthened by the messages of all the brethren, on the home, on the teaching of children, on the example we must set before them, of the divinity of our Savior, Jesus the Christ, on glorious reality and divine calling of Joseph the Prophet, of the reality of the appearance to him of the Father and the Son. Right down to the present, to the immediately previous talk, it has been a glorious, inspiring, and solid and satisfying general conference.
I think at this point we could well ask the question, or questions: What is the ultimate meaning and purpose of these conferences; what is the real meaning of this miscellany of messages? Why do all this? Why come together? Why so exert ourselves and so concern ourselves? Why not just relax and be comfortable and complacent? Why is it all important? I suppose we are busier, per capita, than any other people that I know of, and if there were not some great far-reaching, basic importance to all this effort we go to, and all this gathering we do, all this activity, and all this instructing and edifying of one another, it would save us a lot of time and trouble if we knew that it were not important.
These things would not be so important except for the reality of everlasting life, but the most meaningful things in life are everlasting, and what we do is important because we are everlasting-
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Now Brother Bennion has already pursued a theme that I might have pursued; and some comments that I might have made on happiness he has transcended with his on joy. But the meaning of all this that we do, and the reason for all of it, is because men are immortal; because the object of life is happiness, peace, eternal life, and everlasting progress; and these are sufficient indeed to justify all we do, and much more.
I should like to read into the record, in witness of the truth of this statement, a sentence from Joseph Smith concerning the aim and object of life:
Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God.
Brother Bennion has ably brought before us some of the things that have in them the makings of joy and of happiness. There is a long list of other things. We could extend ourselves into the recital of them for a long time to come; among them: obedience; freedom, freedom to think, a kind of freedom in which we keep ourselves from the enslavement of habits that are detrimental to happiness; an open mind to truth; love; a sense of belonging; a conviction of purpose, purpose in time and in eternity; cleanliness; the peace that comes with a quiet conscience; patience; repentance-these are all indispensable elements of happiness.
Another I have not named is family unity. Not many days ago my lovely wife, the mother of our four sons, and I, with our sons, were all together-the six of us-in a car going to the same place with a common purpose and a common destination in mind; and sharply the thought came to me, how much less it would mean if we were not together, and if we were divided in our objectives; if their mother were trying to tell them to go one place or to believe one thing, and I were trying to tell them to go another place or to believe another thing; if she were setting before them a certain set of ideals or objectives, and I were setting before hem a different set of ideals and objectives. This would not be fair to a home. It would not be fair to children. It would not be fair to the future.
One of the greatest elements of joy and peace and effectiveness in life is the unity of parents in a home; and with my young friends who are contemplating entering into this most important of all relationships, that of marriage, I would plead this day to think of this: No marriage has a right to be made, which, at its making, has less than the prospect of lasting everlastingly. No marriage at its making, has the right to impose the penalty upon a home of pulling children two ways at once. It is not fair to the children. It is not fair to the community. It is not fair to the future. It is difficult enough to teach children when both parents are pulling in the same direction, but when the two people that children have the most right to look to for guidance are each telling them something basically different, and are each persuading them on a different course in a different way, it has in it the seeds of trouble and discontent and frustration and unhappiness and ineffectiveness in life.
I would leave this with you as one of the greatest elements, one of the indispensable elements of happiness: unity in the home.
We could mention many more. There is humility, always an indispensable. I like to recall a sentence from Owen Meredith which rings in my heart: "O be sure that no man learn anything at all unless he first learn humility."
Of course, there is faith, the first of the first principles of the gospel. What a glorious thing faith is! Faith! All of us would like to know a lot of answers we do not know. All of us shall some day. But it was meant that men should live in part by faith. It is a glorious thing to have it, to meet the unanswered questions, to meet the fears of life, to carry us over all difficulties-the glorious principle of faith, the first of the first principles of the gospel.
From the fourth section of the Doctrine and Covenants I would recall these elements of joy and happiness, of peace, and of purpose in life:
Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.
Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
I haven't the language to express to you the love I feel for these, my brethren, for their fatherly and brotherly affection, confidence, and encouragement. I haven't the words to express to you the gratitude I feel for my fellowship with you and my membership in this Church, in this choice and cherished fellowship; and I am grateful for the love and affection I feel in my heart for all men, all of my Father's children, and for the things we have in common.
I think I know something of the weight of responsibility that comes with influencing the lives of others. I believe I sense something of the responsibility of bearing witness; and yet to you who are here, and to all who may listen within and outside membership in this Church, I would leave with you the witness of my soul as to the divinity the Lord Jesus Christ; as to the Fatherhood of God, who made us in his image: as to the divine reality of the mission and message of Joseph Smith, and the appearance of the Father and the Son unto him, not just in a manner of speaking, but in very fact; as to the inspired and authorized leadership of this Church in this day; the prophetic calling of President McKay; as to the glorious destiny of all men, if they will follow the promises, the purposes, the commandments, and go all the way in keeping them-not just part way.
God lives. His purposes are eternal. Truth will triumph. Injustice will be righted. Men are immortal. There are happiness, peace, everlasting life, eternal progress for all of us on the terms on which our Father offers them to us.
To my beloved young friends of this glorious young generation that we have in the Church today: May I plead with you to be patient, to search the scriptures, to keep your lives balanced, and to reserve judgment, to keep faith, to keep clean, to go forth and rise to the high destiny that is yours, and to live your lives and make your homes with unity of purpose with your companions so that you may realize that joy and effectiveness and peace and undivided purpose in life which will lead to limitless possibilities here and hereafter.
God bless you and give you every needed thing in life, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Bruce R. McConkie, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 115-116
If we are to inherit eternal life in the kingdom of our Father, we must overcome the world. The world is a state of wickedness, evil, and carnality, a corrupt state in which men dwell and in which wickedness holds sway. To overcome the world, we must triumph over these things.
All men who live in this world, in this state of carnality, and who have not overcome the world, are themselves carnal and sensual and devilish by nature. That is the kind of inheritance that we have received as part of this mortality, and our object and end is to overcome the world and develop the kind of bodies, and the attributes and perfections, that will enable us to dwell with holy, pure, and exalted beings in the eternal world.
These truths have been revealed to us in many revelations; for instance, John wrote these words:
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
And the great Nephite prophet, Alma, in discoursing upon the probationary nature of our mortal existence said that all men are "carnal, sensual, and devilish, by nature".
From James we have these words:
... know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Then finally, we have these expressions, as spoken b the angel who appeared to that righteous King Benjamin on this continent:
For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
As we understand the plan of salvation, we came into this sphere of existence for two purposes. First: We came to gain this natural body, this tangible body, this body which here in this life is a temporary house for the eternal spirit, but which body we will receive back again in immortality through the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Second: We came here to see if we would have the spiritual integrity, the devotion to righteousness, to overcome the world, to put off the natural man, to bridle our passions, to curb and control the appetites that are natural in this type of existence.
We have been put in this environment advisedly. We were on probation of a sort when we lived in the presence of God, our Heavenly Father. But in that sphere we walked by sight; in that sphere we had spirit bodies. We have been sent down here to walk by faith, and we have been given natural bodies, which are subject to the ills and vicissitudes, the temptations and lusts of the flesh. And now, if by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, by keeping the standards of personal righteousness that are found in the gospel, if by doing this, we can overcome the world, we will be taking the bodies which we possess and transforming them into the kind of bodies that can dwell with exalted beings.
The Prophet said that if we would go where God is, we must be like him; that is, we must develop the characteristics and the attributes and the perfections which God has. The struggle which we face is whether we will overcome the world or whether we will be overcome by the world. All men forsake the world when they come into the Church; they then overcome the world if they continue in righteousness and in diligence in keeping the commandments of God.
No one has overcome the world, the world of carnality and corruption, until he has given his heart to Christ, until he uses all his talents, abilities, and strength in keeping the commandments of God, and in causing this great work to roll forth.
The Lord has given us the agency, the talent, and the ability to achieve in this field. He sent his Son into the world to be the great Exemplar, to be a Pattern, to mark the way whereby we, like him, might attain glory and eternal reward.
It was Christ who said: "I have overcome the world", and it was also Christ who promised,
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Sterling W. Sill
Sterling W. Sill, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 116-119
In the early part of the year 1842, John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat, went to Nauvoo and obtained an interview with the Prophet Joseph Smith. He requested, among other things, that the Prophet write out a statement of the things in which the Church believed, and the Prophet wrote the Thirteen Articles of Faith. Later these were accepted by the vote of the people and became a part of the doctrine of the Church. They are now included in the Pearl of Great Price and form a part of that great volume of latter-day scripture.
This afternoon, and on this anniversary of the birth of the Savior of the world, I would like to offer for your consideration the first four words of the Prophet's statement, from the point of view of its being the greatest success formula in the world. Victor Hugo said, "There is nothing in the world as powerful as an idea whose time has come," and if we can learn anything from the signs of the times, we know that the time has fully come when great faith in God should take a firmer hold upon our minds.
It has been a hundred thirty-five years since God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, reappeared upon the earth to reestablish among men a belief in the God of Genesis and to usher in the greatest and final dispensation. And so as the very foundation of our faith, the Prophet said, "We believe in God".
If the meaning of this phrase were limited to the idea that we believe that God exists, it would still be one of the great statements of the world. That is, there is great strength in the knowledge that we were not created by, nor are we at the mercy of, the forces of a blind and capricious chance. But when we say "We believe in God," we mean much more than merely that God exists. We mean that we understand something about the kind of being he is, that he is literally the Father of our spirits, and, according to the great law of the universe, the offspring may sometime become like the parent.
But the most thrilling and motivating part of this idea is what the words themselves indicate, that "We believe in God." We trust him. We believe that he knows his business, that regardless of chance or the errors of men, his purposes will prevail. We believe that our interests are his interests, that he meant what he said in that wonderful declaration that "This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". We believe that God does not desire that his children be dull, or unattractive, or unhappy, or unsuccessful.
There are many things that we do not understand. We don't understand our own birth or life or growth or death. We don't understand light or darkness. No one in mortality has ever seen his own spirit. We didn't discover the circulation of our own blood until just a little over three hundred years ago. It must be obvious, therefore, why a wise Heavenly Father would give us detailed instructions, setting forth objectives and the best methods for attaining them. It must be equally obvious that there are tremendous advantages in a complete acceptance of, and an unwavering faith in, the gospel; for as an earthly father is powerless to confer the maximum benefit upon a son who has no confidence in the motives or abilities of the father, so God is powerless to confer the greatest blessings upon men who do not believe in him. A great power attaches to a definite objective held by a strong faith. Jesus said, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believe".
Sometime ago I read about the great woman swimming champion, Florence Chadwick. In 1950 she swam the English Channel, and then on July 4, 1952, she attempted to swim the twenty-one miles of water lying between Catalina Island and the southern California coast. The temperature of the water was forty-eight degrees, and a heavy fog lay over the sea. When she was only half mile or so from her objective, she became discouraged and decided to quit. Her father who was in the boat nearby tried to encourage her by pointing through the fog and telling her that land and success were near at hand. But she was discouraged, and a discouraged person is always a weak person.
The next day Miss Chadwick was interviewed by some newspapermen. They knew that she had swum greater distances on previous occasions, and they wanted to know the reason for her present failure. In answering their questions, Miss Chadwick said, no, it wasn't the cold water and it wasn't the distance. She said, "I was licked by the fog."
And then she recalled that on the occasion when she swam the English Channel, she had had a similar experience. When only a short way from shore she had given up, and this time also, her father had pointed ahead, and she had raised herself out of the water just long enough to get the picture of her objective firmly fixed in her mind. This gave her a great new surge of strength, and she never stopped again until she felt under her feet the firm earth of victory.
I thought of this recently when a stranger called me on the telephone and asked if he and his wife might come and discuss with me a great tragedy that had recently occurred in their family. He explained that a speeding automobile had taken the life of their only daughter, and they asked me to try and help them understand something about the purpose of life and the meaning of death and what their relationship ought to be with each other, and where God fit into the picture, and whether or not there was any use for them to try to live on. This great tragedy weighed upon them so oppressively that they almost seemed to be suffocating, and for three and a half hours I tried as hard as I could to help them with their problem. But there wasn't much of a foundation on which to build, and I discovered that it can be a devastating thing all of a sudden to need great faith in God and not be able to find it. It wasn't that they were rebellious or that they disbelieved in God. Their skepticism went deeper; they hadn't given him a thought one way or the other. It wasn't that they disbelieved in immortality; up to this point, they hadn't cared. Then death a stepped across their threshold and taken the best-loved personality there. And then all of a sudden, they needed great faith in God and were not able to find it.
You can't merely snap your fingers and get great faith in God, any more than you can snap your fingers and get great musical ability. Faith takes hold of us only when we take hold of it. The great psychologist, William James, said, "That which holds our attention determines our action," and one of the unfortunate things in life is that we sometimes focus our attention on the wrong things.
I have been disturbed a little, as I have gone around and become more conscious of the great variety of temptations that we wrestle with and succumb to. When we enumerate all of the temptations, we find that we often fall before some very small ones, merely because we have continued to entertain them. We talk until we are weary about the "temptations down," not so much about the "temptations up."
The dictionary says that to tempt is "to arouse a desire for," and so I assume that I am correct in thinking that temptation can go in either direction, although it is the easiest thing in the world to allow our minds to become loaded with the temptations downward-the temptations of lethargy, the temptations of sloth, the temptations of ignorance, the temptations of sin.
But every thought tends to reproduce itself in an act. Rags, tatters, and dirt are always in the mind before they appear on the body. One of the greatest handicaps to spiritual growth, or any other kind of growth, is to have a negative mind, and I suppose that one of the functions of a great faith is to lift our thoughts upward, to houseclean our minds, to sweep out our "temptations down," and fill our minds with the "temptations up."
And so I would like to offer you the thought of some of the thrilling temptations upward-the temptations of culture, the temptations of service, the temptations of great industry, the temptations to focus our minds on great spirituality, the temptation to believe in God.
I am certain that the greatest waste there is in the world is not the devastation that goes with war; nor is it the cost that accompanies crime; nor is it both of these put together. The greatest waste in the world is that human beings, you and I, live so far below the level of our possibilities.
Henry Ward Beecher was once asked whether or not he believed that Christianity had failed, and he said that so far as he knew, it had never been tried. Compared with what we might be, we are only half awake. We have great concern that our lives may someday come to an end, but the real tragedy is that so many lives never really have a beginning. The fires in our souls need rekindling. In speaking of education, Francis Bacon said, "If you want a tree to produce, don't worry so much about the boughs; fertilize the roots." Then suppose we give in to that temptation to stimulate those great God-given powers within ourselves which can lift us toward heaven.
The brute creation goes down on all fours, which tends to throw its gaze upon the ground. But man stands upright in the image of his Maker that his vision may reach to the stars.
The mission of Jesus was up. Even in Gethsemane with the awful weight of our sins upon his soul, his face looked up to God. But whatever may be the attitude of the body, the spirit should be on its toes. When Jesus was teaching us to pray, he inserted that wonderful phrase which says, "Thy will be done." But even when we repeat these inspiring words, intended to lift us up, we usually surround it with a spirit of martyred resignation. When we say, "Thy will, not mine, be done", we may be hoping for the best but we are usually expecting the worst.
We fill our hearts with too many doubts and fears and negative thoughts. But try to imagine what the great Creator would have us do if we did his will. Can you conceive of any limits he would place upon our progress? What would God have us "arouse a desire for"? Certainly not for weakness, or failure, or sin! Certainly he does not want us to fill our minds with the temptations down. He is not leased when we become the problem children of God. His will is for us to become beautiful and glorious like him.
But the great truths of life become known only to those who are prepared to accept them. So I would like to present for your consideration the thrilling temptations of the gospel, the temptations to live worthily of the celestial kingdom, to attain a celestial body, a celestial mind, a celestial personality, to live with a celestial family and celestial friends on a celestial earth. The gospel offers us the temptation to accept the challenge of Jesus when he said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect".
"Thy will be done," means to become like God. Now try to imagine what the mind of the Creator is like. If you should lose all of your material possessions, you might have reason to be greatly depressed. But how poor you would be if you lost your faith in God!
My brothers and sisters, we have lived successfully through the long ages of a pre-existence. Now we live in mortality which is very short. And we are very near the end of the race. How unfortunate are they who relax their efforts when on the very verge of success, like the great Roman general, Cato, who committed suicide on the very eve of his triumph. If you sometimes feel that the water is a little cold and the way is a little foggy, then is the time to look up and have faith, for there is land ahead.
"All things are possible to him that believeth", and so in our daily devotions we hold ever closer the very foundation of our faith, God's formula for success, "We believe in God".
May God bless our faith, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder LeGrand Richards
LeGrand Richards, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 119-124
I am sure as we come to the closing moments of this great conference our hearts are full of gratitude to the Lord for the blessings it has brought to each of us individually and to the Church. We have had some wonderful counsel and advice and instruction given to us. The music has been delightful. The prayers from these mission residents have thrilled us, and, altogether, I am sure that we feel in our hearts a re-dedication of our lives and our talents and all that we have to the building of the kingdom of God in the earth.
I recall fifty years ago when with the missionaries and President Grant who was then the president of the European Mission, I attended a conference in Holland that lasted all day. There were many tears shed during that day. At the close of the conference President Grant said: "Today we have feasted on the fat things of the spirit of the Lord. Now, brethren, go out and give it away. The more you give away the more you will have left." That should be the feeling in the heart of every member who has been privileged to attend this conference. We ought to carry its spirit wherever we gain our workshops, in our businesses, on our farms, and in all our activities in the Church, and in whatsoever we are called to do, we should carry this wonderful spirit with us into the world.
I am grateful for the presence here of these mission presidents and the great work that they are accomplishing. They are noble men. They have great responsibility. They have entrusted to them your boys and girls, the youth of Zion, who have gone forth as missionaries, and when new converts come into the Church, they have the responsibility to see that they are all put to work, that they use the gifts and the talents with which the Lord has endowed them for the building u of his kingdom, and for the honor and glory of his name, and for the blessing of his children, that there shall be no wasted manpower, just as the bishops in these wards share that great responsibility also.
While Brother Bennion and Brother Evans were speaking about joy and happiness, my thoughts went to the experiences I have enjoyed during the past year. It has been my privilege, besides mingling with the Saints in the stakes of Zion, to go to four of the missions of the Church. I toured two of them. Over in Hawaii, with President Nelson, we held a testimony meeting that lasted from seven o'clock in the morning until five o'clock at night, and we had only a fifteen minute recess. We were all there fasting, and eighty-eight of us bore our testimonies, and the Spirit of the Lord was manifested in rich measure.
Then I toured two missions and interviewed eighty-five missionaries individually in one and sixty-five in the other. I was in another mission where one young man said, "Bishop, why do the brethren not send someone around to teach our parents the gospel the way we are teaching it to these people here in the mission field?" I came to feel that if you wanted to find the happiest people in this world, and really have had their hearts touched with divine joy, you should go into the mission field. You find these young men and young women who are giving all their time to the work of the Lord, and one by one they will testify that it is the happiest time of their entire lives I have met for hours with the missionaries in the mission field, and they would say: "When we were home, we heard the returned missionaries say that their mission was the happiest time of their lives, and we did not believe a word of it, and now we know what they were talking about." One young man said, "There isn't a corporation or a company in this world that could pay me a large enough salary to get me to leave my mission." Another young man said: "I would not take a check for a million dollars for the experience of my mission," and as I listened to such statements, I thought of the words of Alma when he said that he would that he had the voice of an angel that he might cry repentance to all the world. Surely the Lord is the best paymaster in all the world. He knows how to make his children happy when they are doing his great work.
I have said, and I repeat here, as long as the Lord will put such faith and feelings and satisfaction and joy in the hearts of his missionaries, you just cannot stop this work from rolling on in the earth, and I thank the Lord for the great work that is being done in the missionary fields of the Church, not only in the foreign fields, but also here in the stakes of Zion.
Last year, according to reports, 18,573 people decided to cast their lot with this great Church, leaving the teachings they had been taught, because of the efforts of the missionaries in bringing to them the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and I thank the Lord for each one of them and pray that they themselves may become working units and witnesses of the great truths the Lord has established in the earth.
We have a great responsibility, those of us who are privileged to be here in Zion. You remember the words of the Prophet Jeremiah of old when he said,
Turn, O backsliding children, saith the lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
And I will give you pastors according to mine heart.
Now, when we are gathered to Zion, either here or in her stakes or missions, we have a great responsibility. I think of the words of the psalmist, who saw our day. Quoting from the fiftieth Psalm:
The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth, from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
Now, I ask you, how has the Lord "shined" out of Zion the perfection of beauty? He has gathered them one of a city and two of a family and taught them with pastors after his own heart, and then he sends them out again, calling to the earth from the rising of the unto the going down thereof, and God cannot call to the earth crying repentance to bring his children to a knowledge of the truth without instruments to do the calling. That is where our great responsibility lies, and as I have indicated, over 18,000 during the year have heeded that call and that have gone down into the waters of baptism, being born again, taking upon them the name of Christ, and as Paul said,
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bend nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
That, we feel as we travel in the missions, as President McKay has just done, down in the islands of the South Pacific, and down in Central America where I have just been, I interviewed some of the missionaries who are converts to the Church who have never been here in our midst, and when they tell us that they had nothing to live for until the gospel found them, and now they really have something to live for, and bear witness that the time that they have been in the Church is the happiest time of all their lives, it makes you feel grateful to God that the Church has grown to such proportions that it can begin to reach out into all these foreign fields and carry to them the message of eternal truth as the Lord has revealed it.
I told those good people down in that land that if I had come to them from the States with enough money to give each of them a million dollars, it would not be worth one hundredth part as much to them as the message that I had to bring to them. That represents the importance of our message. It is what Jesus called the "pearl of great price."
He said that when a merchant man seeking goodly pearls found the "pearl of great price," he went and sold all that he had and bought it. And when one has acquired it, it is a thing that brings joy and peace and happiness and satisfaction into one's soul, the like of which he cannot find in any other way in the world.
I have great faith in the words of the prophets. I believe, as Isaiah said, that known unto God are all of his works from the beginning, and he has permitted his prophets to speak of those things, and when you stop to analyze what prophecy really is, no mortal man of himself could catch as it were the intelligence of God and know the future events of the world and portray them to the world except by the power of the Holy Ghost.
That is what Peter meant when he said,
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
When you put the prophecies together and see what the Lord permitted his prophets to see, you realize that we are living in the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times that all of the prophets have looked forward to, the greatest gospel dispensation the world has ever known. In the words of the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith, we live in "the light of the noon day sun," and you know that is the brightest period of the entire day. We live in the day when brightest spiritual light is available to all men, and if the world knew what we have, I testify to you that there is not an honest man, or an honest woman, in all this world who really loves the Lord, and who would be willing to sacrifice friends and loved ones in order to be identified with his Church, who would not accept the gospel message as it is brought to them by the elders of this Church, because it is in very deed God's eternal truth.
Therefore, I said to the people in Central America, that if I could bring them a million dollars it would not be worth as much to them as the message we have to bear.
Some years ago, one of our great commentators is reported to have made this statement. He said he was asked what message could be broadcast to the world that would be considered of greater value than any other message that could go out over the air. He said after giving the thought consideration, he came to the conclusion that the greatest message that could be broadcast to this world would be to say that a man who had lived upon the earth and died, had returned again with a message from God. If that be true, we have the greatest message that can possibly be broadcast to the world. We not only testify that a man who lived upon the earth and died has returned with a message from God, but also that God, the Eternal Father, introduced his own Son in his resurrected body of flesh and bone, to the boy Prophet, Joseph Smith, which event we will celebrate next Sunday, it being Easter, and from him, this boy Prophet, Joseph Smith, learned that he should join none of the churches.
Now, that is a hard thing to say to most people because they think all the churches are good. And there is good in them, just as there is in the Kiwanis Club and the Rotary Club, and the Exchange Club, and other civic organizations, but there are no people, no organization, nor individual, who can take upon himself or themselves the power of the Holy Priesthood, the power to bind on earth and it shall be bound in heaven. That power has to come from God, the Eternal Father,
When we see the perfectness of nature and how marvelous the Lord's works are, it is hard to believe that he could be the author of all the confusion there is in the world today in spiritual matters. Some of our greatest leaders have borne their testimonies of the need of Christianity coming again as it was formerly. I would like to read a few words from Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, who you know is one of our great spiritual leaders in the United States. He said:
A religious reformation is afoot, and at heart it is the endeavor to recover for our modern life the religion of Jesus as against the vast, intricate, largely inadequate and often positively false religions about Jesus. Christianity today has largely left the religion which he preached, taught, and lived, and has substituted another kind of religion altogether. If Jesus could come back to earth now, hear the mythologies built up around him, see the creedalism, denominationalism, sacramentalism, carried on in his name, he would certainly say, "If this is Christianity, I am not a Christian."
This is not a statement from the Mormons but in substance is the same statement the Redeemer of the world made to this boy Prophet, Joseph Smith, when the Father introduced him and the Savior inquired of Joseph what he wanted to know. He told him he should join none of the churches. President McKay has referred here to that great promise that a marvelous work and a wonder was about to come to forth. That was also the statement made nearly three thousand years ago recorded by Isaiah, when he said:
Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people even a marvelous work and a wonder for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
I wonder, in the minds of the world, when they read such promises as this, how they can sit idly by and not believe that some day the God of heaven would fulfil this promise, because as Peter said, we have a more sure word of prophecy, and here the Lord declared that he would bring forth a marvelous work and a wonder. Why should not the world open their hearts and be willing to investigate when we bring to them the announcement that the God of heaven has revealed himself, and with him, his only Begotten Son? Such a knowledge as is certainly is worth more than all the wealth of the world and is the greatest message that could possibly be broadcast to the world,
Take the other prophecies of the scripture. I think of the words of Jesus as he walked along the way and met the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, following his crucifixion, and as he listened to them you will recall he said,
O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and enter into his glory?.
Then he began to explain the scriptures to them and opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.
So today, if the Savior were here among us, he would say to this world in which we live,
Have I not permitted the prophets to speak unto you? Have I not given them the signs of the times in the latter days by which you should know that there was to be a new truth revealed to the earth in the day when men should teach for doctrine the commandments of men? Why should you not be praying unto the God of Israel that message that is promised by the prophets should come, just as Israel should have been coming of the great Redeemer of the world when he came in the Meridian of Time?
Today we are, as the prophets of old have indicated, speaking of the world generally, as they who have eyes that see not, and ears that hear not, and hearts that do not understand and comprehend the marvelous things that the Lord has done.
We have testimony here today of the fact that the Father and the Son are real personages with bodies. You remember, some of you, who read the book written by Senator Beveridge, in which he devoted a chapter to the young man and the pulpit. He told of his experience interviewing ministers and others during his vacation time, and how people wanted to believe. They wanted to believe that there is a God who is a real Personage, and then he said that one great railroad magnate said that he would give all the wealth of the United States to know that after he died he would live again with a conscious identity, knowing who he was and who other people were.
To every Latter-day Saint, through the restoration of the gospel, that becomes an obvious common truth in our Church, and yet here was a man who would have given all the wealth of the United States in order to know that one great truth that we have to teach.
I want to say a few words about the coming of Moroni, who brought the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. You just cannot believe the words of the prophets, you cannot believe the Holy Bible, without knowing that there is a companion volume of scripture to go with it. What is it worth? To some of us it has been a great inspiration in our lives.
I heard a young serviceman, who returned from the service, talking in a youth not long ago. He held up the Book of Mormon and said: "This book kept me clean and brought me home clean to my loved ones. I read from it every day that I was in the service,"
Some years ago a story was told about an elder who was sent on a mission. He wrote letters back to President Joseph F. Smith, calling his attention to this statement and that statement in the Book of Mormon, so wonderful he thought the Presidency of the Church had never read them just because he had not read them.
I wonder how many copies of the Book of Mormon there are in our libraries that never get read?
A short time ago an article appeared in the newspaper which stated that William A. Kennedy was here from Lima, Peru, to gather money to establish a research university down in Lima, Peru, to study the early inhabitants of the Americas, particularly dealing with the Mayan and Incan civilizations. This article said that with the pledges he had, when matched by the small American countries, as they had promised, it would give them over thirty million dollars, with an assurance that within five years the amount would be increased to between sixty and seventy million dollars, and that President Hoover had agreed to serve on that board. I have never heard what became of it, but this was the thought I had. They were willing to contribute sixty to seventy million dollars to learn something about the early inhabitants of that land, and when they have spent it all, they would not know one thousandth part as much as they could learn by reading the Book of Mormon that they could get for fifty cents, and if they did not have the fifty cents, we would give them a copy for nothing.
The Book of Mormon not only tells us the history of the people, and what they did, but it also gives unto us the words of their prophets, and not only that, it also tells us that this is a land choice above all other lands. Upon this land shall be built the New Jerusalem of the Lord our God, and they will not likely find that recorded in any relics they find down in those mounds in South and Central America, many of which I have recently seen.
I was thrilled by Brother Hunter's testimony of these records that parallel the records of the Book of Mormon. I have never seen this in print, but I heard President Callis make this statement: that after the Book of Mormon came forth the Prophet Joseph was terribly worried about world would say, and he said, "O Lord, what will the world say?" And the answer came back, "Fear not, I will cause the earth to testify of the truth of these things," and from that day until now, and only the Lord knows what is yet ahead, external evidences have been brought forth of the divinity of that book.
But more than all this is the promise contained in the last chapter by Moroni, that if one will read it with a prayerful heart the Lord will manifest the truth of it unto him by the power of the Holy Ghost.
When I was a boy, I led our Sunday School in reciting the testimony of the three witnesses, and their words have rung through my heart from that day until this, when those men testified that an angel of God came down from heaven and brought and laid before their eyes the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated and testified that it was translated by the gift and by the power of God.
I give you that witness today. I wish there were time to discuss other marvelous things the Lord has given us in the restoration of the gospel. Then you would know why it is the greatest message that could be broadcast to the world and why it is worth more than all the wealth of this world.
I bear you solemn witness that I know this work is of God. I know the greatest joy that can fill the human soul and breast is the testimony of the Spirit of God, and I tell you, brothers and sisters, we ought to go out and share it with our neighbors and our friends, and may God bless every effort that is being put forth by the membership of this Church in that direction I pray, and leave you my love and blessing, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 124-126
Now, in conclusion of this inspirational Conference, we wish to express once again our gratitude to all who have contributed to its success including those who have furnished these lovely flowers not only for the beauty of the flowers themselves, but especially for the spirit that prompted the giving. The calla lilies come from Berkeley Stake and the daffodils, from the Tacoma Stake through the courtesy of the Puyallup Daffodil Festival Committee of Tacoma.
We express appreciation to City officials for their efficient care in directing traffic during the Conference; to the reporters; to radio and television stations, for the service in our own City and State and other States named throughout the sessions-this service has been the means of permitting tens of thousands to hear the proceedings of the Conference-to the daily papers, here in the City and in the State, we express appreciation for their cooperation and their efforts accurately to report the proceedings of this great Conference.
Once again, we express appreciation and gratitude for those groups who have furnished such inspiring music-the Men's Chorus of the Tabernacle Choir last Saturday night; the Tabernacle Choir, faithful members, capable, inspiring; the Brigham Young University Combined Choruses. You who heard them will join me in expressing appreciation of their presence, as well as for their inspiring singing; and finally, and how glorious it is to have our Conference concluded with their singing-we express appreciation to our singing Mothers. You notice the Choir seats are filled, and also the two rows extending on each side of the gallery.
I should like to acknowledge with gratitude the presence of the Spirit of the Lord. After all, that is what makes a Conference inspiring. I felt its uplifting influence last Saturday morning. It was about one hour after this unprecedented snowstorm swept over the valley. As Sister McKay and I approached the Tabernacle to fill our appointment with the Primary Association officers, we felt that there would probably be many vacant seats. It was snowing, in fact it was almost a blizzard as we entered the Tabernacle. I shall never forget the inspiration that I felt as I looked over an audience that completely filled this historic building.
That morning, two great impressions came to my mind. One, that this demonstration of the Primary Association is but illustrative of other groups in the Church, equally active, equally responsible. There came to my mind the saying in Ephesians: "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers", and so forth. Seven organizations, including two of the Aaronic Priesthood, with 273,142 officers and teachers-teachers, guides, inspirers, of the membership of the Church, engaged in perfecting the Saints, working in the ministry, edifying the body of Christ.
When I listened to the Primary workers and heard them report several stakes that have 100% enrollment, and the officers and teachers guiding them and teaching them, I was reminded of an article, a story I read twenty years ago in one of our national magazines. It is a story of a little boy who had wandered from his home into the "Bad Lands" of North Dakota.
On Tuesday, July 18, 1933, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, a little three-year-old lad was lost in the "Bad Lands" of North Dakota. He was bareheaded, barefooted and wore only a pair of coveralls. The "Bad Lands" are noted for their pitfalls, canyons, rattlesnake holes and as a rendezvous for wild animals.
Upon discovering that the little boy was missing, his parents began an immediate search. Later in the evening neighbors and friends were notified, an all-night search was made. Early Wednesday morning a neighbor rode sixteen miles to Walford City to give the alarm that a child was lost. Farmers, housewives, shepherds, cowboys, business and professional men, storekeepers, Boy and Girl Scouts, law officers without delay gathered on the town square at Schafer to hear Sheriff Thompson's instructions as follows:
"We are all going out to the 'Bad Lands' to find and bring back the little Cornell boy. The best way I know to do this is for all of us to form into one single line and march out there. Each man, woman, and child of us will be spaced a few feet from each other. Every hole and canyon in the way must be searched. Every brush must be examined as we go along. This line, friends and neighbors, must not be broken. Every water hole, ravine and cave must be searched thoroughly. Every square inch must be scanned by us as we go. It is the only way. I don't know how long our search will take, but Alfred Cornell is out in the 'Bad Lands' somewhere and when we turn back the little fellow will be with us. We can only hope that we shall not be too late. Now, let's get going. I have appointed some of you deputies to ride on horseback so that there will be no slip up, and there will be none if I know anything about the people of this state."
The line formed-at 6:30 Thursday evening the boy was found kneeling at a water hole. His legs and feet were badly bruised and inflamed. His father and mother rushed to him clasping him in their arms and said, "How did you like it, lad?"
"Fine," answered the plucky little fellow and burst into tears.
When that ten-mile-line of human beings saw that the boy was found and really alive, a great cheer arose from 250 voices.
They had found that which was lost. They had answered the challenge, had overcome all obstacles and saved a life.
Two hundred seventy-three thousand, one hundred forty-two officers and teachers are assembled in the Church of Christ, going out to search for young boys and girls who are in the Bad Lands of immoral influence that surround us. Let us pray God that we shall not be too late, and we shall not be if we will honor our callings and do our duty as urged upon us through this great Conference.
I have time just to summarize the address given by King Benjamin at the conclusion of his great address as recorded in Mosiah:
"I say unto you..." if ye "... humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come,
"... ye shall always and be filled with the love the Love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.
"And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due.
"And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.
"But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another".
God bless you, officers and teachers of the Church in the Church of Jesus Christ.
May the love of our Redeemer be in each heart, and that means that that love will be expressed in serving one another, for-
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me," said Christ.
Oh, what love is in your heart this moment as you contemplate the greatness and goodness of our Father throughout this Conference.
May the Lord continue to bless these brethren of the General Authorities, and others who have spoken to us during this Conference. They represent the hundreds of thousands of others in the Church. God bless his work here among mankind, that the influence of love and goodwill may radiate from this center throughout the whole world, and bring glory to our Father in Heaven, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 4-9
Brethren and sisters: Being keenly sensitive of the great responsibility of this moment, I crave an interest in your sympathetic attention and especially in your faith and prayers.
My feelings this morning can be expressed in one word-gratitude. I should like to quote from the Psalmist:
"O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.
"Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works".
Giving thanks means in this case, I am sure, a fullness of thanks, which is the outward expression of a grateful feeling. Gratitude is the feeling itself. That is in the heart. Thankfulness is measured by the number of words; gratitude is measured by the nature of our actions. Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude; gratitude the completion of thankfulness. "Gratitude is the heart's recognition of kindness that the lips cannot repay."
I feel grateful and happy this morning for so many evidences of the goodness of the Lord that I wish I could strike a note of optimism that would reverberate to the uttermost parts of the Church. In the words of Frank L. Stanton:
"This world o' God's is brighter Than we ever dream or know; Its burdens growin' lighter- An' it's Love that makes 'em so! An' I'm thankful that I'm livin' Where Love's blessedness I see, 'Neath a Heaven that's forgivin' Where the bells ring 'Home' to me!"
I know that since our conference last April, many of us have had difficulties, disappointments, and failures where we wanted so much to succeed; wounded feelings from barbed tongues; sickness; some of us have passed through the experience of death of loved ones; but these are all incidents in life which, when not understood, may harrow our feelings until we are crushed.
I am aware, too, that there have been jealousies, petty intrigues, meannesses, misunderstandings on occasions, and that men and women, magnifying these weaknesses of human nature, have made themselves miserable and perhaps scattered gloom instead of sunshine into the hearts of their associates.
But notwithstanding these disagreeable, discouraging facts, I am sure that we have cause this morning to rise above petty things and, as the Psalmist says, make known among the people the Lord's deeds, which are always good and beautiful. Paraphrasing a familiar song, let us, "Count our many blessings; name them one by one, and it will surprise us what the Lord has done."
There are so many things for which we should be thankful, time will not permit our even naming them, but I should like to call your attention at least to four or five:
First: loyalty and devotion of the presiding priesthood of the Church.
Second: the vitality and growth of the Church.
Third: the success of the choir on its recent tour in Europe,
Fourth: the dedication of the temple.
Fifth: the happiness we may secure in obedience to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
I haven't words to express my gratitude for the support and loyalty of President Richards and President Clark and the work they have carried on at the office and throughout the Church. I make this public expression of my appreciation and gratitude, which applies also to the Council of the Twelve, the Assistants, the Seventy, the Bishopric, and the patriarch, and to all those who preside in stakes and wards and quorums and organizations, in the presidencies of missions throughout the world. Nobody who has not come in contact with these men and women can realize their loyalty, their energy, and devotion. I wish to express, too, appreciation for the cooperation of the civic authorities in our state and in nations, in the South Pacific, in Europe, and wherever the missions of the Church are operating. I know these are mere words, but they express a true feeling of gratitude. God bless them wherever they are.
Now as to the activity and growth of the Church, that is shown in many ways:
First, in the increase in membership. You will be pleased to know that since we met last October, over 73,500 people have joined the Church; two new missions have been organized-the South Australian Mission, attended by Elder Marion G. Romney, who was accompanied by Sister Romney; and the Southern Far East Mission where president Joseph Fielding Smith officiated, accompanied by Sister Smith, and by Brother Herald Grant Heaton, who is president of the Southern Far East Mission-a great opportunity-the ground laid for that division by Elder Harold B. Lee and Sister Lee a few months ago.
Other missions are demanding similar attention.
The activity and vitality of the Church are shown also in the increase in tithing. Last year the tithing was the largest we have ever had, and this year up to September, it is 10.7 percent higher than last. This is a very significant index to the service, loyalty, and spirituality of the members of the Church. We are grateful to you for your devotion. You have shown in increased attendance at sacrament meetings that devotion. I sincerely hope that I may report an improvement in these sacrament meetings in order and reverence.
As members of the Church in our worshiping assemblies, we should improve I think, in this regard. Presiding authorities in stake, ward, and quorum meetings, and especially teachers in classes, should make special effort to maintain better order and more reverence during hours of study. Less talking behind the pulpit will have a salutary effect upon those who face it. By example and precept children should be impressed with the inappropriateness of confusion and disorder in a worshiping congregation. They should be impressed in childhood, and have it emphasized in youth, that it is disrespectful to talk or even to whisper during a sermon, and that it is the height of rudeness to leave a worshiping assembly before dismissal.
Courtesy, respect, deference, and kind consideration are all pleasing attributes that may be shown on all occasions, and wherever manifested contribute to the pleasure and sweetness of human relations.
If there were more reverence in human hearts, there would be less room for sin and sorrow and more increased capacity for joy and gladness. To make more cherished, more adaptable, more attractive, this gem among brilliant virtues is a project worthy of the most united and prayerful efforts of every officer, every parent, and every member of the Church.
Another reason for gratitude and joy this morning is the recent successful tour of the choir in Europe.
The reception given them at Greenock, Scotland, when the Provost, Mr. John Porter, and the Bagpipe Band of that city, gathered on the wharf, took a tug out even to the ship, and returned with the second group of singers, was almost a royal welcome. I cannot refrain from mentioning that, because fifty-eight years before, I stood on the same wharf and saw emigrants, returning missionaries take the tugboat out to the ocean liner. I contrasted our feelings and the attitude of the people fifty-eight years ago with this reception on that morning.
Then in the afternoon, it was repeated by the Lord Provost of Glasgow and his Lady, Lord and Lady Andrew Hood. As he stated, in his extemporaneous speech of welcome-as he laid aside his prepared speech-this is probably the first time an organized group of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been officially received in Scotland. That was Friday, August 19, 1955.
I shall let others who were constantly with the choir report their achievements. Sister McKay and our party had the opportunity to attend only four concerts-the one held in Kelvin Hall, Glasgow; in Royal Albert Hall, London; the Fest Hall in Bern, Switzerland; and in Tonhalle in Zurich, Switzerland.
The service rendered by the Tabernacle Choir on their tour brought credit to our state, and the Church, and to our country as perhaps no other organization has been able to do.
To transport 379 members of a singing group with their escorts, making a company of approximately 600, was a herculean task. The difficulties of transportation and hotel accommodations had really just begun when they landed at Greenock. But their tour, as you all know, proved to be successful beyond our fondest hopes. At every concert they were given an ovation. Elder Richard L. Evans especially, who gave the spoken word, Elder Lester F. Hewlett, president of the choir, the directors, the organists, and every member of the choir deserve the highest praise. The dignified attitude of the group as a whole, their comely deportment, their evident sincerity of purpose, their responsiveness, won the audience even before they started to sing.
Mr. Edmund J. Pendleton, music critic of the New York Herald Tribune of Paris, France, wrote as follows:
"The simplicity of attitude and the evident sincerity on the part of every participant from the last chorister to the conductor, J. Spencer Cornwall, is moving to behold. The wealth and health of the choir's sonority, and its freely consented discipline, achieved results difficult to duplicate without a similar faith in a job to be done. The whole program was sung by heart, in the most literal sense.
"The technical side of the performance-balance, tone quality, attack, shading, diction-was thoroughly satisfactory, and in certain strong moments thrilling."
It gives me great pleasure, therefore, to make public acknowledgment and express the thankfulness of a grateful heart to Elder W. Jack Thomas and his faithful wife, Emma, who first suggested a European tour and worked so diligently and enthusiastically in soliciting funds, and who labored so faithfully for months in looking after the transportation and physical comforts of the members of the choir; also to the advisory committee-Elders Mark E. Petersen, Adam S. Bennion, LeGrand Richards, who proved themselves masters of details, the application of which contributed much to the success of the tour.
To President Paul C. Child, who with Mr. Charles D. DeKock, manager of the Foreign Escorted Tours Department, New York City, and Mr. Robert H. Smith, also representing the Foreign Escorted Tours Department of New York, had complete charge of all the transportation problems as soon as the choir landed at Greenock, Scotland, until the final concert held in the Palais de Chaillot Theater, Saturday night, September 17, we wish to express deep appreciation.
These men, with Elder Richard L. Evans, worked night and day to make the trip successful. In London, for example, when the tour managers were selling round-trip tickets to the ground-breaking ceremonies in Newchapel near London, at a cost of two dollars each, Mr. DeKock worried all night about it and the next morning said to Brother Child: "This is a very important event, and many people are coming from all over Great Britain and various other countries to attend; it would be a shame if members of the choir were not present." "I am going to furnish the transportation free of charge to everyone who wishes to attend those services."
After he heard the choir concert in Manchester, England, the same gentleman said: "Paul, I took this job as an objective thing; I want you to know from this hour on it is subjective. I have never been so lifted up in all my life! I am going to give everything I have to the success of this tour."
Mr. Robert R. Mullen who handled the overall publicity of the choir tour and worked in conjunction with the J. Walter Thompson Company in Europe, told Elder Mark E. Petersen that his company was so much in sympathy with the overall purpose of the choir tour that they did all of their work at cost, without charging any agency commission such as is usually the case.
To all individuals and business firms who contributed their money towards paying the expenses of this eventful tour, we now publicly express our gratitude. I have no hesitancy in saying that from the standpoint of good will, in fostering better understanding between our Church, our state, our country, and the European nations visited, money has never been spent more profitably.
Of course, there were difficulties and inconveniences, even tragedies, but these are incident to any great undertaking, and especially one of such herculean proportions as transporting six hundred people over Europe in thirty days.
To the doctors who looked after the health of the choir members and to all others who assisted in any way in making this tour successful, we now express our thanks and deep appreciation.
Another cause for rejoicing this morning is the dedication of the first temple on European soil, Sunday, September 11, 1955, with two sessions that day, and two each succeeding day until Thursday, September 15. The Tabernacle Choir was present and furnished the music, with Sister Ewan Harbrecht as soloist. The choir and Sister Harbrecht never sang more feelingly than they did at both the morning and afternoon sessions of the first day of the dedication. I wish all members of the Church might have felt the intensity of the spiritual services on that memorable occasion.
When the time came to welcome the hundreds who crowded the rooms at the first session, it seemed proper to express also a welcome to an unseen, but seemingly real audience, among whom were possibly former presidents and apostles of the Church, probably headed by the Prophet Joseph Smith, to whom was revealed the essential ordinances of baptism for those who died without having heard the gospel; also his nephew, President Joseph F. Smith, who prophesied forty-nine years ago in the city of Bern that "temples would be built in divers countries of the world." Among them, too, I thought surely might be numbered Elder Stayner Richards who was president of the British Mission at the time those two temple sites in Europe were chosen. With these distinguished leaders we thought, too, there might have been departed loved ones whom "we could not see, but whose presence we felt." At any rate, we all agreed that the veil between those who participated in those exercises and loved ones who had gone before seemed very thin.
Again, we take opportunity to express publicly appreciation to the architects, contractors, technicians, and workers who labored long and faithfully to have the temple completed for dedication on that day. Two nights before that service, workmen labored all night long and expressed themselves as doing it willingly.
It had been announced that regular ordinance work would not commence until Monday morning, September 18, but through the indefatigable efforts of Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, assisted by Elder Paul Evans and others, it was reported that a company might be accommodated on the morning of the 16th following the final dedicatory service Thursday night.
Accordingly, two sessions were scheduled for German-speaking people-one at 7 o'clock in the morning, and the other at 1 p.m. But members from the French Mission said, "the choir will be in Paris Saturday night, and if, while we are present here, we could go through the temple and get home for that, we should appreciate it." Accordingly, we gave them 5:00 p.m. Friday, as their opportunity to go through the temple.
Then came President Eben R. T. Blomquist, representing the Swedish people, who said, "if we could come at 9:00 o'clock at night, we would be willing to wait over so that we could return Saturday in accordance with our schedule." So instead of two sessions, we granted four, resulting in continual sessions from seven o'clock Friday morning until seven o'clock Saturday night.
Members from the Netherlands Mission had been invited to come Saturday morning at 7:30. They were there, and the workers who had worked all night, who were necessary to guide the workers from Holland, continued on duty.
The faithful members endured the inconveniences gladly because the privilege of going through the temple at that time was a great accommodation to them.
We here express appreciation to President William F. Perschon, President Samuel E. Bringhurst, Elder Edward O. Anderson, Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, Elder Paul Evans, and all the missionaries and workers who rendered such unselfish service to the fortunate members of the Church who were privileged to go through the first temple in Europe.
Truly, it is fitting to give thanks to the Lord and to talk of all his wondrous work; and in doing so, we must include the greatest of all of his blessings-the sending of his Only Begotten Son to give to all our Father's children redemption, and to those who will listen and obey the gospel, salvation and exaltation in the kingdom of our Father. Obedience to the principles of the gospel brings happiness, and happiness is what all men seek. Indeed, the Prophet Joseph Smith said that "Happiness is the object and design of our existence, and will be the end thereof"-and this is important-"if we pursue the path that leads to it." As an end in itself, happiness is never found; it comes incidentally. Note: "It will be the end thereof if we follow the path that leads to it, and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God." "Happiness consists not of having, but of being-not of possessing, but of enjoying. It is a warm glow of the heart at peace with itself. A martyr at the stake may have happiness that a king on his throne might envy. Man is the creator of his own happiness. It is the aroma of life lived in harmony with high ideals. For what a man has he may be dependent upon others; what he is rests with him alone. What he obtains in life is but acquisition; what he attains is true growth."
William George Jordan continues: "The basis of happiness is the love of something outside itself. Search every instance of happiness in the world, and you will find, when all the incidental features are eliminated, there is always the constant, unchangeable element of love-love of parent for child; love of man and woman for each other; love of humanity in some form, or a great life work into which the individual throws all his energies.
"Happiness is the voice of optimism, of faith, of simple, steadfast love," interest in some great cause, that is worthy of a life's work. My fellow workers: What is the "Great cause worthy of our life's work?" The restored Church of Jesus Christ! Is there anything greater in all the world?
My heart rejoices that we have the privilege of working together to establish through that Church the kingdom of God on earth.
May our great life's work be the promulgation of the restored gospel, that God's purposes may be consummated for the peace and happiness of mankind, I humbly pray this morning, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Richard L. Evans
Richard L. Evans, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 9-12
My beloved brethren and sisters:
I should like to echo from the depths of my heart this morning, that gratitude of which President McKay has so beautifully and eloquently spoken; gratitude to my Father in heaven for so much beyond my ability to mention, for the onward march of his Church and kingdom, for his goodness in the lives of all of us.
At this time I should like to express gratitude for Sister Evans and me for the privilege we have had of being witnesses of some glorious and significant events of which President McKay has spoken; and gratitude for the leadership of President McKay and his Counselors, and for the association of these, my brethren, and you, my brethren and sisters.
We watched the President under a wide variety of conditions in a number of countries of Europe, in several of the great cities of the continent and of Great Britain, exchanging greetings with public officials, meeting in press conferences, attending the concerts, and participating in public receptions. He was seemingly indefatigable, always gracious, always an effective and wonderful representative of this Church and people; not sparing himself, traveling many hours and many miles sometimes to attend one of the choir concerts under stormy and difficult conditions, getting back to his hotel in the very early hours of the morning.
I should like to echo his gratitude for the success of this tour.
I think a public confession here would not be inappropriate: Some of us, many of us, maybe most of us, had great apprehension and some reservations concerning the choir's tour. I must confess humbly, that some of us might have postponed it, and perhaps would have looked again at the commitment to do it. I must confess that as the two trains pulled us out of Salt Lake City on the evening of August 10, I felt, if not like a lamb going to the slaughter, at least like one that was going to be shorn. But the President of the Church had committed us to it, and so we went.
Blessedly and providentially, by the combined services of a great number of able and devoted people, many of whom the President has mentioned, and by the hand of Providence, we had a great venture in understanding, as we so characterized it before our European audiences.
I am glad that the President paid tribute to all of those to whom he paid tribute and appreciation this morning. There are many others, who could and should be mentioned, and perhaps that can be done at another time and place.
Now, to some of the highlights, briefly: The President has mentioned the reception at Greenock, Scotland, by the Provost of the city and the Bagpipe Corps, and the reception of the entire choir by the Lord Provost of Glasgow and the great audience at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall the following evening. Then we went to Manchester and to Cardiff, where the Stars and Stripes were raised over Cardiff Castle by the gracious Lord Mayor of that great city in honor of the Tabernacle Choir and its sponsoring institution, and of the country from which it came-not beneath the British flag, or any other flag, but waving there alone as we came into the city, the Stars and Stripes over Cardiff Castle, with the Lord Mayor addressing us as brothers and sisters, and giving every evidence of his feelings of sincerity in the terms in which he addressed us.
There are many other unforgettable experiences. Berlin is one of them. We presented an extra concert in the afternoon for those who came, principally from the Eastern Zone, who would neither be able to afford, nor, for the most part would be able to be present in the evening hours because of distances traveled and restrictions encountered. To see that audience of those from the areas which have not known some of the great privileges and blessings that we have known, to feel their spirit, to feel them wanting to be demonstrative, wanting to overflow in appreciation, and seemingly not knowing quite how to, and then melting and overflowing-it was an unforgettable experience. The audience of the evening was one quite in contrast with the refugee audience and those from eastern areas who had come in the afternoon.
The President has mentioned the temple dedication and the concerts in Switzerland, where we sang in Bern and Zurich; those in Copenhagen; the great audience in the Royal Albert Hall in London, a place of great tradition, of great prestige, sometimes of great reserve-an overflow audience there in that great hall of some seven to eight thousand people, melting, taking us into their hearts and we taking them into ours. It was a wonderful and satisfying and unforgettable experience.
Then in Paris, the final concert where the city council and the ranking officers of the city of Paris presented medals to the principals of the choir and scrolls of commendation, not only to individuals, but also to some of us as representatives of the Church, they having also passed a special appropriation for refreshments for the entire group of six hundred in the magnificent city palace where royalty has been entertained for generations. There was no honor that we knew of that the city of Paris could do for the Tabernacle Choir and the Church and the country from which they came that they did not do and extend to us.
Everywhere public officials of the countries in which we found ourselves, as well as our own diplomatic officers, and the press, and the public, were as gracious and warm and wonderful as one could ask from his own kin and countrymen. Scores-hundreds-of pictures and fair and favorable stories appeared throughout Europe in the public press; and we were on the air in many places. It seemed that virtually no doors that we had time to open were closed to us-and no hearts either, or so it seemed.
Thank God for all his blessings and mercies and for far-reaching consequences beyond our ability to estimate or to foresee.
I think the Berlin Telegraf summed it up in a sentence when it said in its edition immediately after the Berlin concert, "This was not only music, but the building of a human bridge." This we also felt is what it was.
Now as to two or three of the sidelights: One was the language barrier. What happened at the Tower of Babel never should have happened, but by the perverseness of men it did, and by the dispersion of men it has continued. We wrestled with it all the way, but not with so much difficulty as we might have supposed. In all places to which we went a large percentage of our audiences were bilingual and understood us without translators. We used interpreters, but in many places the reaction of the audience to the English was more immediate than the reaction to the translations which followed.
We found no insurmountable barrier of language or of geography to understanding among men. We found nothing that could prevent sincere and honest people from taking one another to the hearts of each other, in peace, in honor, and in understanding.
We found nothing to cause us to come to any conclusion except that all men are children of the Lord God, and that all are precious in his sight. We found no people that we could not love. We found no people for whom we did not come away with affection in our souls and in our hearts. We found no people for whom we did not feel a genuine, deep, and grateful friendship. Thank God for this, also-for not letting the barriers of language or of boundaries or of geography keep us from a satisfying and glorious understanding.
There were some other sidelights. We had about two-thirds of the passenger list on the SS Saxonia, on which we sailed from Montreal to Europe-some six hundred out of a passenger list of some nine hundred. I think perhaps the most frustrated man on the SS Saxonia on this trip was the bartender!
There were many incidents of humor, some of illness and difficulty, but despite fatigue, despite difficult and sometimes discouraging conditions and a close, demanding schedule, the choir rose magnificently on every occasion and did a marvelous and wonderful service.
I am grateful this morning in following the theme of gratitude, for the courage and conviction of President McKay in committing us to the tour, despite our fears and apprehensions. I am grateful for the favorable outcome, which is beyond our ability to estimate.
If I may be pardoned another thought or two of personal gratitude: I am grateful that my gracious wife was with us. I was proud of her performance at press conferences and public receptions and on all other occasions. I am grateful to have our eldest son serving among the missionaries of Europe, serving in my own field of labor at precisely the age, even to the month, at which I entered the same field, some twenty-nine years ago. I am grateful for the work of all the missionaries, and the mission presidents, and all the devoted people, and for the onward move and the great and glorious achievements and progress and opportunities that are ours.
We come back not much given to boasting. We are aware of the art and culture of Europe, of its great cathedrals, of its great contributions, its great peoples, its great history, its great accomplishments, and are not so much disposed to boast of ourselves or of any physical attainments. I am not sure that we have the greatest of many things here. But of this I am sure, and of this I bear you witness this day: that we have the greatest message for mankind, the gospel of Jesus Christ restored in its fullness, and the greatest opportunity to convey it to others that any people ever had, and the greatest responsibility upon us to do it.
God help us to do it and to meet the greatness of this responsibility.
I should like to close with a few words from the closing sentences of King Benjamin's great sermon to his people, from the Book of Mormon:
My friends and my brethren, my kindred and my people...
if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life...
this is the means whereby salvation cometh. And there is none other salvation save this which hath been spoken of; neither are there any conditions whereby man can be saved except the conditions which I have told you.
Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.
And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.
And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.
God help us to have the courage and the wisdom to be what we should be, to live as we should live, to do what we should do, and to arise to the greatest message to mankind and to the greatest opportunity and responsibility that is ours, to deliver it, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Bruce R. McConkie, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 12-13
My heart was moved today, as I am sure all of your hearts were, as we heard President McKay tell of the achievements and results of the Tabernacle Choir trip and then bear witness of his feelings and sentiments relative to the dedication of the new temple in Switzerland.
It appears from what is going on relative to this temple and others that are in course of construction and are contemplated, that you and I are living in an age when the brethren feel that the great blessings of the temple should be made readily available to people in all nations and in all places where congregations of the Saints are of sufficient numbers to warrant such.
I think if I might have the Spirit for a few moments, that I would like to say something to you as to why the Latter-day Saints build temples. Temples are not just houses of worship; they are not meetinghouses or tabernacles; they are not something designed where we can assemble together and be fed the bread of life and taught our obligations and responsibilities. But temples, as we understand, build, and dedicate them, are sacred sanctuaries, set apart from the world, houses prepared and given to the Lord in which can be performed the ordinances, and in which can be taught the principles, whereby you and I can have opportunity to enter into an eternal fullness in the kingdom of our Father.
When we come out of the world and join the Church, when we become members of this kingdom, we get on a path which is named the "strait and narrow path". Membership in the Church starts us out toward a goal which is called eternal life. Baptism is not an end in itself; it is the beginning of the process of working out our salvation with fear and trembling before the Lord.
After we have joined the Church and have come into the kingdom, and have been given the right to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, then if we press forward and keep the commandments of God, at long-last and eventually, we are entitled to an inheritance in his eternal world where the fullness of his glory is found.
As we understand the revelations, when we accept Christ and join the Church, we have power given us to become the sons of God. We are not his sons and daughters by Church membership alone, but we have the ability and the capacity and the power to attain unto that status after we accept the Lord with all our hearts.
Now the ordinances that are performed in the temples are the ordinances of exaltation; they open the door to us to an inheritance of sonship; they open the door to us so that we may become sons and daughters, members of the household of God in eternity. If we go to the temples with an honest heart and a contrite spirit, having prepared ourselves by personal righteousness and worthiness and proper living, then in those houses we receive the ordinances and the instructions which enable us, if we thereafter continue faithful, to receive eventually the fullness of the Father.
The temple ordinances open the door to gaining all power and all wisdom and all knowledge. Temple ordinances open up the way to membership in the Church of the Firstborn. They open the door to becoming kings and priests and inheriting all things.
Now the mere fact that we receive the ordinances in no sense guarantees that we will receive these rewards. The fact that we are sealed in the temple for time and eternity to our wives and our children does not guarantee that in the end we shall obtain those blessings.
In my judgment there is no more important single act that any Latter-day Saint ever does in this world than to marry the right person in the right place by the right authority. The right person is someone for whom the natural and wholesome and normal affection that should exist does exist. It is the person who is living so that he or she can go to the temple of God and make the covenants that we there make. The right place is the temple, and the right authority is the sealing power which Elijah restored.
All of these things, these exaltations and honors and glories, are offered to us and all the world in and through the ordinances that are performed in these sacred sanctuaries which are set apart from the world. After we have partaken of these ordinances, then it is incumbent upon us that we live in harmony with the principles of eternal truth and walk uprightly before the Lord. If we keep the covenants that we have made in these holy places, then we will have reward and honor in eternity, to say nothing of that peace and happiness in this life which is beyond any comprehension or understanding that anyone of the world could have.
It appeals to me that we ought to think, all of us as individuals, since the brethren are doing all the things they are relative to temple building, that this is an age and a time and an hour when all of us ought to set our houses in order and do the things that I am sure we already know we should, in order to become inheritors of these eternal blessings. The blessings come on conditions of personal righteousness, on conditions of overcoming, as the Lord said, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne". In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Delbert L. Stapley
Delbert L. Stapley, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 13-17
My brothers and sisters: I face you humbly this morning. A feature of a general conference is the diversity of messages treated by members of the General Authorities. I hesitate to break the theme of the previous speakers, but I firmly believe variety does have some value.
I have often thought that I should like to say a few words about the Church welfare program in a general conference of the Church. I believe in and accept the program with all my heart and soul. Perhaps I cannot add anything new, but a re-emphasis of some basic principles with a few personal thoughts and feelings may more fully encourage complete acceptance and support of this inspired plan.
It is distinctly a new approach to providing social care. The plan is not a dole. The edict, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread", applies today as anciently. Also in this dispensation the Lord declared, "... he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer". Each able person is expected to work for what he receives, which in part is the genius and a basic principle of the plan; however, the incapacitated and aged, unable to work, whose relatives cannot or do not provide for them, are taken care of according to their wants and needs as long as these needs are just.
Welfare workers should make those helped feel good in receiving welfare assistance. Some claim humiliation in accepting help from the Church, yet are not embarrassed by receiving a government dole. The best antidote against humiliation is to furnish work opportunities for those receiving benefits in the program to give them the right feeling of having earned and therefore entitled to welfare assistance.
We are setting a pattern in welfare work that the world is watching. Being inspired of God, it must work successfully, but the success of it lies in leadership and people. It is leadership's point of view and attitudes which must be right. The stake presidents and bishops of the Church who stand out as acknowledged and respected leaders are those who, according to their divine appointment, have taken seriously the welfare program and in love and understanding have made it work advantageously in the lives of their people. Training Church membership in welfare activities has proved an important facility in getting them to do other things important to spiritual growth and testimony.
Welfare is still, however, a program of education. Leadership must see to it that information concerning the plan, together with the counsel and instruction from the presiding brethren, reaches the rank and file of Church members for better understanding. Improved understanding wipes out prejudice and resentment to the plan. Our people are entitled to be properly informed. The better informed they are, the more ready the acceptance and the better work they will do. We cannot overlook the importance of proper attitudes toward the plan on the part of the membership of the Church. All must be encouraged to accept and come the Church way completely or the program will fall short in its goals. It does not replace tithing but is an added step supplementing that divine law in the care of the needy of the Church.
Ofttimes the greatest antagonisms and the worst enemies to the program are found within our own ranks. I will always remember and thank Elder Marion G. Romney for the important lesson he taught me many years ago in a special stake and ward welfare meeting held in Phoenix, Arizona, while the program was still quite young. I informed him our company was paying heavy taxes, and I wanted to see our people obtain their proportionate share of public assistance. At that time I felt keenly the rightness of this position. He said to me, "That may be good for the world, but it isn't the Lord's plan. The welfare program is the Lord's way of providing for his own." He then explained its purpose and operation in more detail. No doubt other of the welfare brethren or General Authorities had given the same counsel on previous visits, but somehow it did not register nor take root in my mind. On that occasion the Holy Ghost bore witness to my spirit of the truth of that which Elder Romney testified. Fortified with this witness, from that time forward I have strongly advocated and supported this worthy program from the Lord. It is right in principle and true in its concepts, regardless of one's approach to the plan. A little prayerful meditation in an honest and sincere manner will bring true conviction into the hearts of the uncertain and skeptical.
The welfare program in operation since 1936 is a continuing plan for the people of the Church until a more perfect and higher plan is revealed. When we demonstrate our faith, worthiness, willingness, and unity to live fully the principles of the welfare plan, it will lead and prepare us for the higher law of the celestial kingdom. The Lord has affirmed in this dispensation:
And Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself.
I would dislike to see any logical facet or service that comes within the concepts and functions of the welfare plan sacrificed in exchange for what I would term insecure man-made social formulas for collective or personal benefits. I should not like to see any proposed substitute for the plan unless it is better, and the only way it could be better, in my estimation, is for God to reveal it.
We may not yet see or understand the immediate need of the welfare program, but as surely as God lives and as time goes on, the inspiration of it will prove a blessing to the people of the Church. Sometimes I think people not of the Church who take time to learn about the program see the divine nature and the rich blessings of it more fully than some of our own who have not gone to that trouble. I am confident that knowledge of the welfare program has brought much goodwill and friendliness to the Church. Thus it has opened many doors to our missionaries for the teaching of the restored gospel of our Lord. It has become, then, a powerful missionary agency, not for the help it offers but for the faith the plan promotes.
Listen to the written comments of a few visitors representing a cross section of many faiths who have visited Welfare Square to learn about the program and have the privilege of seeing it in action:
"A very good piece of work. Every church should have it."
"The Mormons are to be admired for their great work which sets an example for others."
"Wonderful program!' If only there were more, it would be a better world."
"This has been a real opportunity to see the way the entire world problem could be solved."
"Am surprised. Think your program is almost beyond conception. Wish you all success.
"I've found this a truly inspiring experience. The sincerest principles I have ever found. A program and religion one should well be proud of."
"I do not question that this program is divinely inspired."
"I think your work is wonderful, and Christ must have a hand in all of it."
"As anyone can see, God has his eyes on this organization. May the people continue to live this way. It is uplifting to anyone's morale to see that people can still work together." "I consider this a God-given project."
"Truly wonderful what God can do with his people who will obey."
"I believe it's God's plan of salvation. God bless you."
"This is a wonderful work! The Mormons have shown me what it means to have God with them."
"This work is truly God-inspired, and our prayers will be with you in the continuation of such a good work.
"The whole program is most amazing, and I have seen with my own eyes Jesus Christ at work in the hearts of people."
"The philosophy back of your welfare program is sound. However, I feel that it must take constant indoctrination to keep up the enthusiasm of employed people to continue working here. Offhand I would welcome the opportunity to work a day in the cannery. The women appear to be having fun."
About a year and a half ago I received an answer to a letter of condolence I had written to a school friend of mine, not a member of the Church, who in loving devotion had taken care of her parents throughout life. Her aged father had just passed away. The letter in part read, "Old age is tragic in many respects. I am so thankful I could take care of my parents. The attitude of your Church for the aged is wonderful. Never fail to stress family obligations to the aged and helpless. May God bless your Church and you in your work."
Such favorable expressions from our friends should give us greater appreciation for the welfare plan. Also, these expressions emphasizing the God-given values and encouragement for continued functioning are challenges for us to make the plan succeed, which it cannot do unless we accept it fully and really work at it enthusiastically.
If some people of the Church are waiting for adverse circumstances to affect them personally before supporting the program, they should remember that there are many faithful souls who now require assistance, and some of them may be their own immediate relatives. If the true concepts of this plan are operating in families, the families will be drawn closer together through helping the ones in distress out of financial problems and temporal difficulties. In the eyes of God this work is of a spiritual nature; therefore I have more faith and assurance in the stability and the effectiveness of the welfare plan to care for the need of the Church under all conditions and circumstances, if operated fully by faithful and devoted members of the Church, than I do in any plan of assistance devised by man, regardless of how good those plans may be or how well they may be administered. With the heavy costs of operating government at all levels and the interest and principle payments on the national debt, any downward changes in our present economic structure would make insecure cash assistance payments to qualified recipients. Also, high inflationary conditions or excessive war needs of machinery, goods, and services would render impossible to low income groups life's necessities. These conditions, as a Church, we must guard against, for God will hold us responsible for failure to care for his people.
Love and brotherly kindness in administering help are basic concepts of the Church welfare plan. We own and operate diversified production projects and distribution centers manned by those receiving help in the program or by voluntary labor. Dollar costs for the most part have been eliminated. We are not dependent on economic factors nor the amount of cash income. We produce and store ahead on a recommended two year basis in homes and in stake, region, and Church storehouses. At the present time we are producing seventy percent of all welfare requirements, and thirty percent is acquired from commercial sources. When all stakes have acquired projects and meet fully budget assignments, it is anticipated welfare can produce ninety-two percent of all commodities used, and only eight percent will come from commercial channels. During 1954, 56,566 persons were assisted through the welfare plan of the Church, which represents a marvelous and invaluable service.
As I have analyzed the causes for increased faith, activities, devotion, and tithing throughout the Church, I am constrained in all honesty to give much credit to the functions, activities, and work connected with welfare. The organizational plan that makes possible immediate contact with bishops, presidencies of priesthood quorums, and Relief Societies for help and assistance from its members on any given welfare project or activity, brings into service many people, the inactive with the active, whose opportunity of working together develops moral and spiritual strength that expresses itself in the improved record of ward and stake accomplishments.
I call your attention to the great service the Church through its welfare program rendered to the destitute Saints in Europe following World War II. Conditions were tragic; the outlook of the people hopeless. Immediate help was required. The storehouses of the Church were well-stocked. Here was a test to meet a real crisis. How well that crisis was met is now history, but the performance was creditably done, thanks to the faith and works of the people. In what finer way could the second great commandment, to "love thy neighbour as thyself" be so ably demonstrated? Friendly and brotherly hands clasping across the sea in the spirit of love and good will! A strength and blessing to the faraway Saints who in their troubles were not forgotten by their brothers and sisters in Zion! Their morale was lifted; their courage and faith returned. The Church became better known in Europe through the welfare distribution of life's necessities; the attitudes of non-members became more tolerant and friendly toward us; and missionary work flourished again. It was a turning point for a brighter and a more hopeful future for the Church.
I sincerely believe and am bold enough to suggest that one of the chief foundations and contributing factors leading to the erecting of the Swiss Temple, with all of its blessings to the European Saints, can be credited to this magnificent welfare effort.
It has been said that future events cast their shadows before them; therefore, accepting the experience of history and the prophecies concerning the calamities of the latter days, there is sufficient cause to promote and develop the great welfare program further, to make it fully and successfully operative, stable and strong, with assurance and security to our people, and thus inviting to the entire Church membership. The people of the Church can then be encouraged to come the Church-way with confidence.
We must always remember the parable of the five wise and the five foolish virgins. When difficult times come, and surely they will, let us not be found unprepared and thus appear foolish because we have not obeyed the Lord or the counsel of his servants. The welfare plan is the Lord's way to care and provide for his people. We have been sufficiently warned; now it is a test of faith and devotion. Can we, my brothers and sisters of the Church, measure up?
I bear you my witness to the truthfulness of this great program. I hope we have the faith and the strength to go forward and make it function even as it has been revealed and as it has been outlined for the blessing of the people of the Church, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Hugh B. Brown
Hugh B. Brown, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 17-20
The humble and moving prayer of our President at the opening of his address, and his request that we pray for him, were gloriously answered as he gave us that inspiring opening talk. When I hear him, and the other great men on this stand, express feelings of weakness and inadequacy and prayers for strength as they address us, I wonder how some of us even dare approach the pulpit. My soul is subdued, my heart is humble, as I listen and worship with you.
There are two activities of the Church which are not only of paramount importance to the members of the church, but are also of great and increasing interest and concern to all who hear of them. They have the same objective and the same purpose. They are a part of the everlasting and unchangeable plan of redemption. I shall speak for a moment on the great missionary work of the Church-the preaching of the gospel-and of the building and operation of temples-to make available to both living and dead the blessings that come through the performance of the ordinances of the gospel.
The gospel of Jesus Christ makes knowledge of and obedience to law prerequisite to the enjoyment of its blessings. The plan of redemption provides that all the sons of God must hear the gospel and be given an opportunity to embrace it, directly or vicariously.
The injunction of the Savior, given in Jerusalem and repeated in this day, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature", is imperative. That it must be done before his work can be consummated is evidenced by his further statement,
... this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
This gospel of which we speak is a message of good will, of glad tidings. It is the way of salvation in this life, and a method of exaltation in the life to come. Furthermore, it is a message of peace on earth, for which all the world is praying. The Apostle Paul defined it as "... the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth".
Now if this gospel, this power of God, is to be effective unto the salvation of men, they must believe it, but quoting Paul again,
... how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach, except they be sent?.
That the preaching of the gospel is of transcendent importance is evidenced by the fact that it was enjoined in every dispensation from the beginning. Jehovah himself taught it to Adam, who received it and called upon his sons to repent. Enoch and his associates taught it and lived it so effectively that their city was translated, and Enoch walked with God.
And thus the Gospel began to be preached, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For one hundred and twenty years Noah warned the unheeding people of judgments to come. The gospel was known to Abraham, to Moses, and to the prophets.
Jesus of Nazareth, in the Meridian of Time, went about the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. Peter taught it, and on the day of Pentecost epitomized its saving principles in the memorable words,
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
He predicted the latter day appearance of the Savior saying,
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
We have the same message, and it is taught by the same authority as that which led the apostles to dedicate their lives to it. To carry this message to Jew and Gentile, Paul went from Jerusalem to Antioch, thence west to Cyprus and Asia Minor, even into Europe, and finally took his long and adventurous journey to Rome where he knew prison awaited him and where some of his greatest epistles were written. It was in Rome that he gave his life for the cause which he advocated with such consummate skill. He ended his life with a benediction,
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
The early missionaries of this Church, like their predecessors, endured persecution, made many sacrifices, and were willing to die if need be in proclaiming and defending the gospel of Christ. The prophet founder of the Church, the organizer of the missionary system in this dispensation, was, like Paul of old, tried before many magistrates and judges, appealed to the highest authority, was imprisoned many times, and finally sealed his testimony with his blood.
Believing as we do that this is the same gospel which Jesus taught, that in fact, as Paul said, there is no other gospel, and that it must be preached to all the world as a witness, all Latter-day Saints are or should be missionaries, either at home or abroad. Let him that is warned warn his neighbor.
Since 1830 more than 71,000 men and women have served in foreign mission fields. They are literally carrying the injunction, "Go ye into all the world". Missions have been established in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, North and South America, and in the islands of the sea. We are constantly pushing back the frontiers of the mission field. Since the British Mission was established in 1837, modern apostles have dedicated many lands and countries for the preaching of the gospel. The last to be so blessed were Korea, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Guam. They were dedicated for this work by President Joseph Fielding Smith in August last.
The weekly broadcasts of the Tabernacle Choir have carried the gospel of good will and harmony unto millions during the past twenty-six years. In their recent tour of Europe, 379 members of the choir sang their way into the hearts of all who heard them. Many were led to say with Isaiah and with Paul, "How beautiful are the feet of them who publish the gospel of peace".
Other millions of strangers within the gates of Temple Square have learned of the heretofore unpublished chapters of the life of Christ-chapters telling of his visit to his other sheep on the American continent after his crucifixion in Jerusalem-also of his glorious opening of the last dispensation as he appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1820.
That the General Authorities of the Church are devoted to this work with self-sacrificing zeal is evidenced by the fact that they traveled since last October conference a total of more than 756,000 miles.
Let us refer to only a few of the brethren and only part of their travels. President Joseph Fielding Smith traveled over 30,000 miles in his recent tour of the South Pacific Mission. Elder Lee made a similar journey last year. Elder Kimball has just returned from Europe where he visited fourteen countries and traveled more than 50,000 miles. Elder Mark E. Petersen in his tour of South American missions covered 20,000 miles, and Elder Romney traveled 33,000 miles in visiting Australia, New Zealand, and other South Pacific countries.
The members of the Council of the Twelve spent their whole time visiting stakes and missions. The members of the First Presidency have been even more active. We all wonder at and pray for a continuation of their vitality, endurance, and inspiration.
From January 1954 to October 1955, President David O. McKay, now in his 83rd year, visited twenty-five countries on six continents in land, sea, and air journeys of approximately 100,000 miles.
Our Heavenly Father, in order, as he said, to cut his work short in righteousness, has made available to us such improved facilities of travel and communication as would have been nothing short of miraculous in the days of Peter and Paul or even to our pioneer fathers. Steamships and airplanes enable us to go farther in hours than they could have gone in months. Radio and television have amplified the voice and made it possible to take the gospel into the homes of the people of almost all nations.
The day may not be far distant when there will be a worldwide re-enacting of the day of Pentecost on such a colossal scale that people in every land may hear the message of the gospel, each in his own tongue and at his own fireside. Surely out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He has said,
... he shall utter his voice out of Zion, and he shall speak from Jerusalem, and his voice shall be heard among all people;
And the Lord, even the Savior, shall stand in the midst of his people, and shall reign over all flesh.
But is salvation to come only to those now living who accept the gospel or to the few-always a minority-who listened to the prophets in other dispensations. No, the thought is repugnant to reason, and inconsistent with the character and attributes of God. That the preaching of the gospel is not to be limited to mortal beings is attested by the scripture, for Christ
"... went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing".
And further,
For... this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the spirit.
While the message of the gospel is being carried to them that are dead, the living have for the past 125 years been doing for them what they could not do for themselves. Jesus said a man must be born of the water and of the spirit before he can see the kingdom of God. This is a universal law applying to all, both living and dead. Water is a mundane element, and baptism is an earthly ordinance. How then shall the dead comply with the law respecting baptism?
The need and efficacy of the law of agency, of proxy or vicarious service was recognized before the world was created. The doctrine of the atonement could not have become operative unless it were possible for one person to do for another that which the latter could not do for himself. It was under the law of vicarious service that Christ redeemed us from the fall of Adam,
... as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Since the Church was organized more than fifteen million saving ordinances have been performed by the living for the dead. New temples are being built in many lands to facilitate and consummate this stupendous work. The tremendous cost of preaching the gospel to both the living and the dead and making its blessings available is met largely from the voluntary contributions of the people. The missionary and temple work of the Church is an unequaled mass demonstration of self-sacrificing service.
Yes, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all them that believe. There is a power available to man which, when properly utilized, will result in his salvation. This power is equal to the task because it is in fact the power of God as Paul declared it to be. Before men can use this power, they must hear, believe, and obey. There will be no arbitrary use of this power; no force will ever be applied. The keys to its use are faith and intelligent cooperation. Our mission is to declare to the world first that there is such a power; second, to explain the eternal and immutable laws which govern its use; third, to perform authoritatively the ordinances which by divine decree have been made prerequisite to seeing or entering the kingdom of God; and fourth, to warn the nations of the calamities which shall be visited upon the ungodly before the second advent of the Savior.
We preach the same gospel that was taught anciently. We teach it by the same authority. That gospel, and the authority to teach it and administer in its ordinances, was restored to this earth at the dawn of the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. We hail that dawn as we sing the great hymn of Parley P. Pratt:
The morning breaks; the shadows flee; Lo, Zion's standard is unfurled! The dawning of a brighter day Majestic rises on the world.
Jehovah speaks! let earth give ear, And Gentile nations turn and live. His mighty arm is making bare, His covenant people to receive.
Heavenly Father, wilt thou bless all of us that we, too, may fight a good fight, may finish the course, may keep the faith, we humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 21-24
My brethren and sisters, those who are before me and those who are on the air: I rejoice with you in the glorious inspiration that we had in the morning session and for the encouragement which it gave to us as to the way in which we are regarded in the world, and as to the duty which that imposes upon us, and for the other instructions which we received. It is my earnest desire and my prayer that I may be able to say something today that will be fruitful, that will build up our faith, and that will, I hope, call attention to one great principle which I think is at the base, one of the two great incidents that are at the base of all that we believe and all that we know.
Paul, speaking to the Corinthians, in the beginning of his First Epistle, thanked God that he had only baptized two of them in Corinth, Crispus and Gaius, and he more or less repudiated the rest of them because of their paganism and their unbelief. Very early in his First Epistle he told them about how he felt about this. He said: "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified".
And if you would read in this connection, and I hope you will, the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians, dealing with the resurrection, you will read there one of the great, masterful sermons that have been preached in the world on the resurrection, in which, with searching logic and great argument, Paul showed how vain was all we believed and all we taught if Christ was not resurrected.
I recall, also, in this connection, those words of Peter at the time he and John had gone to visit the Temple. As they started inward from the Court of the Gentiles to the Court of the Women, there at the Gate Beautiful, which was the entrance, they came to a beggar who seemingly had been brought there for years. He made his living by what he got begging from those who went in. Peter and John stopped a moment, said to him: "Look on us," and he, expecting to receive alms from them, looked up, and Peter said to him:
"Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." And he reached down and took the man by the hand, and as the man came to his feet, his feet and his ankles straightened, and he walked and leaped for joy and praised God.
The Jewish rulers could not endure this challenge. Peter and John were arrested, thrown into jail, and then, when morning came, they were called before Annas, the real high priest, Caiaphas, his son-in-law, who was the titular high priest, made so by the Roman government, with John and Alexander, and others, kindred of the high priest, and the others who were members of the Sanhedrin. These demanded of Peter and John by what power and by what name they had done these things.
Peter, who made their defense, said: "... by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified." And added: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved".
Today the great Christian world are retreating from their early and true belief in Jesus as the Christ. They are explaining him in different ways. They are taking away from him his divinity.
One great church is loosening, apparently, the bands which they formerly had that bound them to Jesus Christ, by setting up in his place the mother of Jesus, Mary. We of our faith know that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. This is our knowledge. We must proclaim it at all times and under all circumstances.
You know, it is not difficult to understand that the Christian world does not have the knowledge which we possess, because the Bible, the Old Testament, contains scant notice about the Christ and about his work. There are some glorious passages in the Psalms which describe his crucifixion, tell about his birth, but by and large there is not much told about him.
Why should Jesus of Nazareth assume this tremendous place and importance in the Christian world, as described by Paul and Peter?
Modern revelation has revealed this to us. I have not time, this is not the place, to undertake to discuss the Fall and the Atonement, more than to say a few words.
We know of the Grand Council, we know of the determinations there made, we know that the world was created in order that the spirits from the spirit world might come here and be tabernacled.
We know of the placing of Adam in the Garden and the instruction which was given to him regarding the two trees. We know of the disobedience to the instruction with reference to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I do not like to call it a transgression because the act that was done by Adam had been foreseen; and it had been planned before the world was that he would do all he did do.
But an immortal being had disobeyed the commandment of the Lord. An immortal being had eaten the fruit. An immortal being had suffered the consequence. He and Eve became mortal, and she afterwards sang in a great hymn of praise, her gratitude for thus having disobeyed, because now they could have seed. We know that by having seed they could go forward in fulfilling the plan that was originally mapped out in the Grand Council.
Adam became mortal; spiritual death came to him; and mortal death came to him. This was the first great crisis in the history of mankind. Indeed, it may be said to have produced mankind.
In order for him to get back to the place whence he began, it was necessary that there should be an atonement for this disobedience.
Quite obviously, Adam could not retrace his steps; he could not un-eat. He was mortal. No matter how good any of his children might be, they, also mortal, had no more power than had he. So, to pay for the disobedience, it took a Being conceived by the Infinite, not subject to death as were Adam's posterity; someone to whom death was subject; someone born of woman but yet divine. He alone could make the sacrifice which would enable us to have our bodies and our spirits reunited in the due time of the Lord and then go back to the Father, thus reunited; and finally, body and spirit together, we might go on through all the eternities.
Jesus of Nazareth was the one who was chosen before the world was, the Only Begotten of the Father, to come to earth to perform this service, to conquer mortal death which would atone for the Fall, that the spirit of man could recover his body, so reuniting them.
.
That is the reason why, however good any man, son of Adam, may have been, he could not do the things, make the atonement that could bring us back into the presence of our Heavenly Father. Again, he could not un-eat the fruit. Jesus was not the son of Adam, but of the Father.
As John was baptizing in the Jordan, he saw Jesus approaching and exclaimed:
"... Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world". The record does not say sins.
We frequently are told and understand that not alone did Christ atone for that "original sin," so-called, but that he atones for our sins, generally. As I understand it, so far as the resurrection is concerned, the overcoming of mortal death, he did atone for our sins. That is to say, no matter what we do here on earth, even though we commit the unpardonable sin, yet the atonement of Christ will for that purpose and to that end atone for our sins, and so will bring about our resurrection. But after the resurrection, then we have to be judged according to the deeds of the flesh, good or bad. On the judgment day we will receive our rewards or punishments; we must pay for our own sins.
So as I conceive it, we must stand adamant for the doctrine of the atonement of Jesus the Christ, for the divinity of his conception, for his sinless life, and for, shall I say, the divinity of his death, his voluntary surrender of life. He was not killed; he gave up his life.
You know, I think that all through his life, he gave evidences of his divinity, his divine powers and authority. It is true that frequently other prophets who were not divinely begotten had done some of his works. If you run it over in your mind, you will remember that by walking on the water he defied gravity. You will remember his control over the elements, the winds, and the waves, and the storm. You will remember the exercise of his creative powers, for he created food when he fed the five thousand and the four thousand, and he made wine out of water. You will remember how he cured the halt, the lame, the blind. You will recall how he brought life back to the lifeless. You will recall his great duel with Satan which he won. You will recall his great victory, when he died and was resurrected.
I often think that one of the most beautiful things in the Christ's life was his words on the cross, when, suffering under the agony of a death that is said to have been the most painful that the ancients could devise, death on the cross, after he had been unjustly, illegally, contrary to all the rules of mercy, condemned and then crucified, when he had been nailed to the cross and was about to give up his life, he said to his Father in heaven, as those who were within hearing testify: "... Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do".
It is our mission, perhaps the most fundamental purpose of our work, to bear constant testimony of Jesus the Christ. We must never permit to enter into our thoughts and certainly not into our teachings, the idea that he was merely a great teacher, a great philosopher, the builder of a great system of ethics. It is our duty, day after day, year in and year out, always to declare that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ who brought redemption to the world and to all the inhabitants thereof.
I bear my testimony that I know that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that he was divinely begotten, was born, lived his life, was crucified, and on the third day arose, the firstfruits of the resurrection, thus making it possible for all of us to be resurrected.
I bear my testimony that he, with the Father, appeared to the young Prophet and opened up the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times.
I bear my testimony to the truth of the restored gospel.
I bear my testimony to the restoration of the priesthood.
I bear my testimony that the keys and powers which Joseph the Prophet held as President of church, as prophet, seer, and revelator, have come down from him until now with the Presidency of this Church, down to and including our present President, David O. McKay.
God give us all increasingly, day by day, this testimony. God give us the power and the faith and the courage always to declare, Jesus is the Christ, the only name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
This is one of the prime duties of this people. That we may fulfil it and meet it unto the last degree, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder Thomas E. McKay
Thomas E. McKay, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 24-26
I am very grateful, my brethren and sisters, for this wonderful opportunity again to bear you my testimony to the divinity of this work. I have thoroughly enjoyed the testimonies that have been borne this morning and now the testimony of President Clark.
I was very pleased to hear our German brethren and sisters furnishing the music this morning. I thought at one time that perhaps there might be some in the choir to whom I taught in English my favorite song, "Love At Home"; but after hearing their voices, they all sounded so young and fresh I got to thinking of how long ago that was-over fifty years-so I decided that none of them were born at the time I taught that English class. I am grateful for the great missionary work that is being done in the Church. I am grateful especially for the gospel, and as I say, this opportunity of again bearing my testimony of its divinity.
I am thankful, especially for my parentage and for my brothers and sisters. About a week or ten days ago, Sister McKay and I were up at the old home; we had some visitors. They came in. We knew them, not too well; I had met them before. We were delighted to say some things about the old home, about our childhood experiences there, especially those with President McKay, and when we got through and were saying good-bye, the brother there held my hand a while. Then he said, "You have been blessed with understanding parents." I had not heard it described just that way before, not in so many words, and I told him so. I said, 'Yes, not only have I been blessed with understanding parents, but with a kind, black-eyed, beautiful, understanding wife."
I am very happy for this opportunity to bear testimony to the goodness of my parents, my wife, our family, my brothers and sisters, and children and grandchildren, for their kindness to me. I can truthfully say that there has been love in the home, there in the old Huntsville home.
My favorite song, as some of you already know, is "Love at Home."
There is beauty all around When there's love at home; There is joy in every sound When there's love at home. Peace and plenty here abide, Smiling sweet on every side. Time doth softly, sweetly glide When there's love at home.
In the cottage there is joy When there's love at home; Hate and envy ne'er annoy When there's love at home. Roses bloom beneath our feet; All the earth's a garden sweet, Making life a bliss complete When there's love at home.
Kindly heaven smiles above When there's love at home; All the world is filled with love When there's love at home. Sweeter sings the brooklet by; Brighter beams the azure sky; Oh, there's One who smiles on high When there's love at home.
Yes, I am grateful for my parents, my wife, and my children. God bless our mothers, our wives, not only in the Church but throughout the world. Whenever you find a leader among the men, you will find that there is a good wife at his side. She may not be mentioned; she may not be very well-known; the man gets the credit, the plaudits of the people, but I tell you when the final score is made up, perhaps the wife will receive greater mention, greater blessings than the husband. So do not forget these wives and our mothers, you brethren.
I was so happy to hear all about the movements of the Tabernacle Choir in Europe. Sister McKay read to me all we could get out of the newspapers, and I listened to the radio very carefully. I received a thrill, brothers and sisters, when they were in Berlin, and I do not know who had charge of the broadcast, but there came over the radio the singing of our members in Berlin. They burst forth in song to express their appreciation for this great event in their district. I was especially overcome when I heard the choir had been able to sing to those refugees. God bless them. There are thousands and thousands of them there that need such music now, and that need the gospel. I know what kind of people some of them are.
On my second mission over there I had the privilege of visiting the members up in Koenigsberg, where they had, I think I may say, one of the finest choirs in the Church. To hear those brothers and sisters sing, you would know they are of the house of Israel. We went on up farther north and had the privilege of crossing the boundary line from the Memel Branch into Russia. The people there were so kind. They are ready for the gospel, so do not be hard on them, but pray for them.
I am so happy and thankful that our Church school, Brigham Young University, has a class in Russian. I hope more of the young men will prepare. I am not saying that anything might happen, but so many things are happening and are happening so fast that we cannot tell. It is a good thing to be prepared. I often thought, while in the mission field, of some of the prophecies that have been made with reference to the conclusion here on this earth, "when the end shall come"; for example, the gospel, it says, of the kingdom shall be preached to all nations, "and then shall the end come".
Well, I visited in Europe, Germany, Austria, Hungary, France, Switzerland; all included in the then Swiss-German Mission. There are millions of people there. I thought, "Well, if the end does not come before all of these people receive the gospel, I guess it will be a long while." But judging from events that have recently happened, especially with my brother, President David O. visiting so many countries of the world in such a short time, the broadcasts of our choir and their wonderful visit over there, the gospel may be preached to all people before we realize it.
I am so thankful for the temple that has been established in Bern, the beautiful capital of Switzerland, beautiful Switzerland. It is a great little country. If I had been consulted on the location, I believe I would not have thought of Bern. The larger branches and most of the members are outside of that city. But Bern is the capital where are located the beautiful government buildings. There is one of the finest genealogical libraries that I have ever had the privilege of visiting located in Bern. I visited there and met the head man. We visited so long we could not get away. The telephone rang, and his wife asked why he did not come home to lunch. She was not very happy about it, but he told her to never mind waiting any longer, that he would get his lunch down near the building that day.
They are anxious and ready to explain the work that they have done there already in genealogical work. I believe from all I have heard and studied that the records in Switzerland that have been kept in the various churches are the most complete or as complete as any others in the world and in Germany, also. Now we have the modern inventions that are able to film these records. Before it was so difficult for our members to decipher them; the churches are not heated and dimly lighted. Our members had great difficulty going down in the archives and getting the names. But it has been changed. The records have been filmed, and thousands of names are ready to be taken to the temple.
And may I say this, many of the members are already here, and I suppose over eighty per cent of them have come here with hundreds of names to work for in the temple. I love these members; they are temple workers; they are temple-minded; and I am so happy and thankful for the completion of this temple in Bern.
God bless the brethren for their inspiration in building it there. I am thankful that I have had the privilege of bearing my testimony to so many people over in Europe. I was there on three different missions.
I remember very well the last testimony I bore in Berlin, at the time of World War II in 1939. At the conclusion of the meeting, a stranger spoke to me. He appeared to be a very intelligent man. He said, "You ought not to talk to people that way; they will believe you." I told him of the goodness of the gospel, and that all mankind would be happier if they followed the plan of salvation, as it had been revealed in the gospel and added, "I do hope they follow my testimony." I asked him his name, and he said, "Never mind."
Scores of people since have arrived here in Zion and are living examples of the testimony that I bore in Berlin.
I could mention many names, but time will not permit. However, I have lived to see the benefits realized by those who have accepted the gospel.
The gospel is true and given to us for our happiness in this life.
God lives; Jesus is the Christ and head of this Church. I bear you this testimony, and I do it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder LeGrand Richards
LeGrand Richards, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 27-30
My brothers and sisters: I rejoice with you in the wonderful testimonies and instructions we have received in this conference. I pray that the Lord will let me have the spirit of testimony bearing for the few moments that I stand before you.
After listening to the beautiful discourse here this afternoon by President Clark on the life and the mission of the Redeemer of the world, and remembering what President McKay said this morning, as he counted his blessings and advised us to count ours, and he put at the head of the list in counting his blessings the great work of the Master, I am sure that all of us as Latter-day Saints feel that the greatest event of recorded history of all time was the life and the mission of the Redeemer of the world.
His work is not yet finished. We read in the Book of Mormon that-
... my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.
And I think today of him as the Creator of worlds, as we are told in the Pearl of Great Price, unnumbered to man, "but all things are numbered unto me," the Lord said, for I made them and by the power of mine Only Begotten, created I them.
Then I think of his great atonement and of the promises that yet await us of his unfinished work. You remember when he stood before the chief priest of the Jews, Caiaphas, and Caiaphas said,
... I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.
And Jesus answered,
Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
It is this "coming in the clouds of heaven," and the work that is necessary to be done to prepare for his coming that I would like to say a few words about this afternoon. Let us turn to the holy scriptures for the promises of the resurrection, and President Clark has referred to the resurrection. Think of getting our bodies back out of the grave and being reunited with our loved ones, and then read the testimony of John when he was banished upon the Isle of Patmos, describing that time:
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.
He that overcometh shall inherit all things: and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
Then we read farther that it is they who die in Christ who shall come forth in the morning of the first resurrection, but that the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years are ended.
What is there in this world that we could do as individuals to repay for the privilege of coming forth in the morning of the first resurrection and receiving our loved ones and being united with them and with the servants of the Living God, and with the Redeemer of the world, when he comes in the clouds of heaven?
If we understood really what the gospel is, we would know why Jesus said that the merchantman seeking costly pearls would sell all that he had in order that he might acquire it and called it the Pearl of Great Price, and we would also understand what he meant when he said,
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?.
We just do not have the capacity to appreciate the great blessings that await the faithful, for the Lord said to the Prophet:
Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.
In this great preparation the Master is to make, it requires that he have an organization. He called his twelve, humble men they were, but they were men who could be taught, and they were men full of faith, and they were true to the testimony that they had, and they went forth fearlessly even until each one gave his life, except the Apostle John, who was privileged to tarry until the Savior should come, for the testimony of Jesus that burned in their souls.
I sit here among these brethren who are special witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ unto the world. I do not believe there is one of them who would not give his life willingly for the testimony of Jesus. I know that the Presidency of this Church never has to ask any of these men if he is willing to go here or there or assume this responsibility or that responsibility. They could not find men in all the world who would be more willing to accept the assignments that come to them. I know they are men of God. I know the joy of the testimony of the Holy Ghost, that rapture that fills your bosom as you feel yourself in his very presence. I know it is worth every effort that we can put forth.
In our meeting in the temple yesterday, one of the Presidency indicated that he thought one of the things we needed to teach the Saints most was to live worthy to go to the temples. We are building temples. They are great institutions in the Church, and we should teach our young people to appreciate them. I had this additional thought that what our people, who have been through the temple, need to know is the sacredness of the obligations they enter into in these holy temples.
When they agree there to consecrate all that they have and all that they are for the building up of the kingdom of God, I do believe that in the eyes of the Lord they are not idle words; that we ought to put first our duty and responsibility to the priesthood that we bear and to the building of the kingdom of God, and all other things ought to be secondary unto that. And if we realize this, and we realize the majesty of this great work in which we are engaged, it would not be difficult for us to do that very thing.
I have great faith in the fulfillment of the prophecies. I think of the words of Jesus as he walked along the way to Emmaus following his crucifixion. The eyes of the two disciples, as you will recall, were holden that they could not recognize him, and as he heard them talking of the things that had been done in Jerusalem,, he answered, "... O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." And then he explained to them from the scriptures the words of Moses and the prophets how that they had all testified of him and of his work. Then we are told he opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.
And then we have the words of Peter in which he said,
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
And that is what makes the word of prophecy more sure than anything else in all this world.
We ought to analyze the prophecies with respect to this great latter-day dispensation and the preparation for the coming of the Son of Man as he testified to Caiaphas that he would come in the clouds of heaven.
I would like to read to you a statement about the need of a prophet. This is from a minister. While I was in the South, two conventions were held by one of the large churches in Atlanta, Georgia, and in one of them Bishop Warren A. Candler, among other things, made this statement:
"We need the reappearance of prophets sent from God."
Then Dr. Ainsworth discussed the condition of the world and the need of something to arrest the world from its present decadent condition, and asked these words:
"Never in the nation's history was the arresting voice of a prophet of God more needed than it is today."
Then here are the words of a minister in England a few years ago:
"We all recognize that something has got to be done, for at the moment we are in a plight where our earthly leaders falter, our people drift and die. We cannot forget that when the blind set out to lead the blind, chances are that both will find themselves in a ditch. A dictator being out of the question, what about a prophet? The prophet never is self-appointed. It is well to keep that in mind. Nor is he chosen of his fellows. Always he is heaven-sent; yet I am cheered at the thought that he has the knack of appearing at the right time. That being so, I incline to the belief that our prophet must surely be getting ready for us. Let us not forget that; hope and pray as we will for his coming. Men have an old habit of greeting the true prophet with stones. We need not be surprised if an old-fashioned welcome awaits the prophet of our day. No one can say when such a prophet will come, but of our need of him there is no question."
We find people today who say, "Well, we could accept your message, but we cannot believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet." If they believed in the preexistent life, they could then understand. When Jeremiah was called as a boy to be a prophet, he could not understand it, and the Lord said to him,
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
The Lord not only knew Jeremiah, but he also knew Joseph Smith. Three thousand years ago the Lord revealed unto Joseph who was sold into Egypt, that in the latter-days, out of his loins, he would raise up a choice seer and a prophet like unto Moses.
And we read in holy writ that there was no prophet in all Israel like unto Moses because Moses talked with God face to face, and that is the kind of prophet the Lord promised Joseph he would raise up out of his loins in the latter days, and that Joseph Smith was this promised Prophet is our testimony to the world. The things that Jesus and the prophets declared would have to be accomplished before his coming, could not be accomplished without a prophet through whom the Lord could work.
We read in Malachi where the Lord said through his prophet that he would send a messenger to prepare the way for his coming, and swiftly he would come to his temple. Who but a prophet could be this messenger? Has there ever been a time that he came swiftly to his temple? How could the temple be prepared for his coming without a prophet? This promise has reference to his second coming, for Malachi adds:
... who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap.
So in his last coming, he will come swiftly to his temple. He will come to sit in judgment, as Malachi saw, and Malachi's thoughts, going along that same line, saw the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord in the latter-days when
... all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And then he goes on to say that before that day he would send Elijah the prophet to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Now why does not the world believe that Elijah will come? They can believe that he was taken to heaven in the clouds of heaven, in a flaming chariot, and here is the promise that he should come in the latter days. And we bear witness that Elijah did come, and because of the knowledge and the information he brought, we continue to build these temples and do this great work that is being done in the temples of the Lord.
When Peter was speaking to those who had put to death Christ, he said,
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.
Now, remember he had already been among them. He had already been crucified, and here is the promise of Peter that the Lord would send him again, but he adds:
Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
How can one believe the Holy Bible and not believe that one of the preparatory things for the coming of the Redeemer of the world would be a "restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his, holy prophets since the world began."
We have mentioned the coming of Elijah. President Clark mentioned the restoration of the priesthood, the Aaronic and the Melchizedek, and then there was the kingdom to be set up that Daniel saw in the last days that should become as a great mountain and fill the whole earth, and how could that be without a prophet of God?
Then there was the new record of Joseph to come forth to be joined with the record of Judah according to the command the Lord gave to Ezekiel, and how could that be without a prophet who should do this work, for the Lord said that he would bring it forth and he would join it to the record of Judah, and he would make them one in his hands. The Lord works through his servants, the prophets.
These are only a few of the things the Lord promised to do before the coming of the Redeemer of the world. We bear witness to the world that this Prophet, Joseph Smith, raised up of the Lord, was in very deed the instrument that the Lord had in waiting through the centuries, in the pre-existent state when the Lord stood in the midst of the spirits and said to Abraham:
"These I will make my rulers;" for there were many of the noble and great ones there, and then he added: "Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born".
Jesus knew that he would work through the instrumentality of his servants just as he did when he called the Twelve, and that is why he said, as he stood overlooking Jerusalem,
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, -Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
We have had some wonderful testimonies of people of standing on the great work that the Prophet Joseph has done. I cannot take time to go into that. I will just give you this one thought. The other day Brother Levi Edgar Young showed me a history of the state of Vermont, and under the caption, Sharon, we read these words:
Sharon enters the Hall of Fame by being the birthplace of one of the immortals of American history, Joseph Smith, who founded the Mormon religion.
The world is beginning to recognize the power and the spirit that is in this work, a power which causes every man to be willing to devote himself to the building of the kingdom which is the kind of power and influence that can overcome the world and establish his kingdom in the earth.
I bear you my witness that this is in very deed the work of the Lord, and that he is at the helm, and I do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder John Longden
John Longden, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 31-32
Joseph Smith was and is a Prophet of the Living God. We have heard witness from this pulpit today that a prophet should be called to lead, guide, and direct latter-day Israel. I believe that Joseph Smith was a great spiritual leader. I believe that he is the greatest spiritual leader since the advent of Jesus Christ in mortality. I believe there are four great events, spiritual events, if you please, that may form the cornerstones of this great Church.
First, the vision to the boy, Joseph, who humbly desired to know truth and secluded himself in the woods to pray. Four weeks ago it was my privilege to stand in that hallowed place, and with bowed head and gratitude in my heart for the witness that has come to me that he is in very deed a prophet. I visualized in my mind's eye what the experience must have been as he was visited there by God, the Father, the Father of our spirits, and Jesus Christ, his divine literal Son. This was in answer to his humble plea and prayer after reading the first chapter of James, and the fifth verse:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
But there was a provision,
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
As we have heard testimony borne today, he sealed his testimony with his life's blood, that he had seen God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Son.
I believe in that vision.
I believe the second great event is the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. It was not written by Joseph Smith but translated by him under the inspiration of our Heavenly Father.
It was my privilege a few months ago to visit a stake in Idaho. I listened to a young man, a convert to the Church, bear witness and testimony in the morning session, and I shall ever be grateful for his testimony. During the war he was assigned in a Naval unit to Logan, Utah, at the Utah State Agricultural College. He attended one or two of our meetings, and then he was sent for further training to San Diego. He became acquainted with one of our chaplains, Elder John Boud. John Boud presented him with a Book of Mormon. The young man, after completing his service for Uncle Sam, returned to his home in the East, attending again Columbia University, so he might finish his studies and graduate.
He had a Jewish professor in one of his classes. He presented the Book of Mormon to this professor one day. He fingered through it for a few moments, then he made the statement that either Joseph Smith was a genius or he was inspired. The young man said, "Take it and read it, and when you have finished with it, bring it back." After several weeks he did that, and he said to the young man, "Joseph Smith was inspired."
The young man further investigated truth as each soul has a right to investigate truth. And I testify by the power of the Holy Ghost ye shall know truth, if you have that desire. And so he embraced this great gospel because he had that witness.
I believe the third great spiritual event was the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ, with apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists and so forth. And you have my witness and testimony this afternoon that these men in the First Presidency, the Council of the Twelve Apostles, and the Patriarch to the Church, are in very deed prophets of the Living God, representing him and bearing special witness of his divinity to the world today.
Then I believe, finally, the fourth cornerstone or spiritual event was the embodiment of the truths contained in the message which Joseph Smith gave to the world, completely revolutionizing, if you please, the spiritual things, something that was definitely contrary to the doctrines of men which had been taught up to that period, and in that gospel we have a form or a pattern for living. For the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches me how to live, not how to die, but to enjoy life here in this mortal life, with all its problems, with all its trials, with all its troubles.
I am grateful that I can have echo in my heart and in my mind the words of Jesus:
Come unto me... Take my yoke upon you... For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Brothers and sisters, may we be further resolved today, as we leave this glorious conference, more to spiritualize our lives upon the great truths which are presented for our study, contained in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.
I bear you my testimony that God lives, that Jesus is his divine Son, our Elder Brother, that he is the Savior of the World, that Joseph Smith was and is a Prophet of God and that those who have succeeded him in that position in this Church have been men of God, even prophets, down to President David O. McKay today.
May God bless us that that testimony may abide within our hearts, that we will be equipped to meet the various trials and problems which may confront us, I humbly pray, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our divine Savior. Amen.
Elder Levi Edgar Young
Levi Edgar Young, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 32-35
I am very glad today to know that the members of this choir are descendants of the German people. Many of them were born here, it is true. It always reminds me, when I hear music rendered by Germans, of the lovely words of Schiller: "You weep today, but you have peace in your hearts tomorrow.
We, my brethren and sisters, have a great heritage, and the object of our general conferences is to bring the members of the Church together to hear the word of God. We are living in an age when the truths of God are needed to solve the problems of our times. Our fathers, their lips glowing with the words of faith, called God to witness that the truths of the gospel would be taught our children of the future. No age of history has been more complex than that of today, and one of the problems is how to teach our children that they may grow up with faith in God and his eternal purposes. There are fundamental truths that must ever be known and held sacred by us and by the children of the world, for we have been passing through an age of wars, and never in all history has the hate of man for man been so universal as it has been the last few years. It was a writer of ancient times, 500 years B.C. who wrote:
The age in which we live should be distinguished by some glorious enterprise. Let the leaders strive to put an end to our present troubles. Treaties of peace are insufficient for that purpose. They may retard, but they cannot prevent our misfortunes. We are in need of some durable plan which will forever put an end to our hostilities and unite us by the lasting ties of mutual affection and fidelity.
It is only a few weeks ago that Albert Schweitzer left this message to Americans, and we may say the world, for he has become a world character:
If men can be found who will revolt against the spirit of thoughtlessness and who are personalities sound enough and profound enough to let the ethical ideals radiate from them as forces, there will start an activity of the spirit which will be strong enough to evoke a new mental and spiritual disposition in mankind.
A few days ago we had the opportunity of meeting a group of students who are doing advanced work in a well-known university who came with the purpose of talking over a few questions that had puzzled them. It was a pleasant hour which we spent together, for their minds were open to the great truths of religion. They were not all of the same church, and one of them was the son of well-known Jewish parents. We had a chance of speaking about the Holy Bible and particularly the book of Genesis, part of which came up for discussion. We all agreed that nothing surpasses the first chapter of Genesis in sheer beauty, for it is the divine truth that God lives and is the Creator of heaven and earth and is the Father of mankind. What a fine thing for the youth of the world to have this knowledge taught them. It was just a few days ago too, that a student from Harvard College, writing his thesis for his doctor's degree in philosophy, had his attention called to the belief that Williams James, one of the most learned men, wrote when his little boy died:
Our little Humster, whom you never saw since his first babyhood, has also gone over to the majority. We buried him yesterday under the pine tree, at my father's side. For nine days he had been in a desperate condition, but his constitution proved so tenacious that each visit of the doctor found him still alive. At last his valiant little soul left his body. He was a broad, generous, patient little nature, with a noble head who would have done credit to his name had he lived. It must be now that he is reserved for some still better chance than that and that we shall in some way come into his presence again.
Another beautiful truth could be taught to the youth of our schools. It concerns the American Indians. The tribes of America always held through the years that the whites had taken their lands, and this brought about many Indian wars. Indian chiefs rose at times to great heights of noble thoughts and actions. It was in the early days of the last century that one of the noblest chiefs left this message. It is called the message of Gard and was quoted in the Overland Monthly in 1872:
Many snows ago, there lived a young Hoopa named Gard. He knew the stars and the habits of the trees. "Wide as the eagles fly," was he known for his love of peace. He walked in the paths of humility, and clean was his heart. His words were not crooked nor double. He went everywhere, teaching the people the beauty of meekness. He said to them, "Love peace, and eschew war and the shedding of blood. Put away all wrangling and the spirit of wrath. Dwell together in the singleness of love. Let all your hearts be one heart. So shall ye prosper greatly, and the great One above shall build you up like a great rock on the mountain. The forests shall yield you abundance of game, and rich nutty seeds and acorns. The red-flecked salmon shall never fail in the rivers. Ye shall rest in your wigwam in good joy, and your children shall run in and out like the young rabbits of the field for number."
The report of Gard went throughout the land. Gray-bearded men came many days journey to sit at his feet. But one day Gard went from his wigwam and was gone many suns. His brother was distressed and feared. At first he said: "He is teaching the people and will come back."
But his people feared, and in a few days they left the wigwams and began to search the hills and valleys for their Gard. They called through the forests. Day after day they beat up and down the mountains. They shouted in the gloomy canyons, but no sound came to them except the echo of their own voices. Still the brother wandered on. He went through the forest; he exclaimed aloud: "O Gard, my brother, if indeed you are already in the land of souls, then speak to me at least one word with the voice of the wind that I may know it for a certainty and therefore be content."
Then Gard came to him from the sky and spoke to his brother. "Listen. I have been in the land of souls. I have beheld the great God above. I have come back to earth to bring a message to the Hoopas, that they must dwell in peace with their neighboring tribes. Put from you all thoughts vengeance. Wash your hearts clean. Redden your arrows no more in your brother's blood. Then the Great Man will make you to increase greatly and be happy in His good land. Ye shall keep the dance of Peace which the Great Man has appointed. When ye observe, ye shall know if ye are clean in your hearts by a sign."'
Having said these words, Gard was wrapped in a cloud and floated up into the souls.
With all the individual and racial differences among men of the nations of the world, there are also common characteristics. Spiritually minded people have always lived. The sublime faith in God as shown in the writings of the Old Testament indicates that this life on earth is but a period of preparation for the life hereafter. Maeterlinck, the Belgian writer, tells us that when we become acquainted with ancient religions, we find them complete in their broad outlines and divine principles, and the farther back we go, the more perfect they are and the more closely related to the loftiest beliefs of our own times. Rudolph Steiner, a German scholar, says that what we read in the Vedas or Hindu scriptures gives us only a faint idea of the sublime doctrines of the ancient teachers. It seems that the more ancient the texts, the purer and more awe-inspiring the doctrines which they reveal.
Then we think of the Hebrew conception of immortality and how the prophets taught the word of God. Men were to find their relationship to the Creator which was an eternal tie here and hereafter. Community of conviction grew up, and this conviction bound men into a brotherhood to serve God and to learn and keep his commandments. The sublime faith in God as shown in all the writings of the Old Testament shows that this life is but a period of preparation for the life hereafter. From the Psalms we have "The Lord is my shepherd", and then in the book of Job we have Job uttering these divine words:
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon earth:
And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.
In the early days of Kirtland and following the organization of the Quorum of Twelve and the Seventies, the Prophet Joseph Smith organized Hebrew and Greek classes in the temple which had just been finished. This was in keeping with the ideals of education which the prophet had at the very beginning of our history. In the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple, we have these words:
Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith.
We are further admonished:
... study and learn, and become acquainted with all good books, and with languages, tongues, and people.
The Prophet Joseph Smith employed a noted Hebrew scholar from New York City to come and teach classes in Hebrew. While he also kept Greek and Latin in mind, he first wanted to be able to read Hebrew that he might read the Holy Bible in the original language in which it was written. From the journal of the Prophet, we find him studying daily and attending the classes with many of his brethren who were reading and studying with him. We read: "After a hard day's work, went to my Hebrew class, and studied far into the night. Up in the morning and out at nine o'clock, attended the school and translated with the morning class... Attended my studies as usual and made some advancement."
"Every man who learns," says Ralph Waldo Emerson, "must do so by laborious reading." Such a man looks forward to an expanding knowledge. He becomes a lover of books, and great books tell us of God and truth. The attitude of the Prophet Joseph Smith alone in reference to study and the gaining of knowledge from books is one of the sublime truths of his life. He had the spirit of learning, a thing we need in our schools today.
The gospel of Jesus Christ will yet appeal to millions; yes it will be seen and known in all the world. The future is lighted for us with the radiant colors of hope. Strife and sorrow will disappear. Peace and love will reign supreme sometime. The lesson of prophets, the dream of poets and musicians is confirmed in the light of modern knowledge, and as we gird ourselves for the work of life, my brethren and sisters, today and tomorrow, we may look forward to the time when in the truest sense the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever as King of kings, and Lord of lords.
That is the great ideal of the future of the members of this Church, of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that we may know it, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.
Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin
Joseph L. Wirthlin, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 35-37
President McKay, my beloved brethren and sisters; I sincerely trust that the Lord may bless me in the endeavor to express to you one or two thoughts that I have in connection with my belief that we are in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ established through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
In thinking of the Prophet Joseph Smith, there comes to mind a great statement made in the Doctrine and Covenants, section four, wherein the Lord said this to the Prophet:
Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.
That was given to the Prophet in 1829. In 1830, the Church was organized with but six members. The Prophet lost his life in 1844, at which time there were in the Church approximately forty to forty-five thousand members, an indication to me, and I am sure to you, that when the Lord said to the Prophet, "Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men"-the men who heard of that great revelation accepted it, and the result, as I said, was that there were between forty and forty-five thousand who were members of the Church when the Prophet lost his life.
It is most inspiring to me to know that the Church was in existence for fourteen years when the Prophet died, and when you think of the accomplishment in that period of time, there is no question but what the Prophet Joseph was being inspired by the Lord in building up the kingdom.
From that time on, after the death of the Prophet, it was necessary for the Church to leave Nauvoo and come into the tops of these mountains where we now exist. Brigham Young became the President, and during his period there were approximately 150,000 members; in the time of President John Taylor, approximately 200,000; in the time of President Wilford Woodruff, approximately 250,000; in the days of President Lorenzo Snow, approximately 278,645; in the days of President Joseph F. Smith, approximately 495,960; in the days of President Heber J. Grant, approximately 979,454; and in the days of President George Albert Smith, approximately 1,111,314 members. Today, in the day of President David O. McKay, there are approximately, in 1954, 1,302,240.
This again proves to us, as the Lord said through the Prophet Joseph, "Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men." And the children of men have accepted it from that day until this day and are accepting it as it is being taught to them by missionaries and others who are bringing to them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think of the great work of President David O. McKay. In 1952, President McKay visited eleven nations. In 1953, President McKay selected sites for two new temples-one of which, of course, has already been dedicated, you know, in far-off Switzerland, and another one soon is to be built in Great Britain. In addition, in 1954, President David O. McKay covered 50,000 air miles, visiting eight nations in Europe, South Africa, and South America. In 1955, President McKay visited seven nations in the South Pacific, including Hawaii, Samoa, Australia, and New Zealand, and at the same time selected a site for a temple in New Zealand; all of which again is evidence of the fact that the Lord did reveal to the Prophet Joseph that a great and a marvelous work was about to be taught and sent forth among men.
In 1893, President Woodruff made this statement as he dedicated the Salt Lake Temple, "That from this time on, the power of the evil one would be broken and that the enemy would have less power over the Saints." How true that is! When we go back into the history of this great Church, from 1893 until now, we find that the power of the evil one has become weak; and therefore, it has been possible to go out and preach the gospel in the world. When you stop to think, the Prophet Joseph lost his life through the power of Satan; and the Saints were driven from Nauvoo to this country because of the power of the evil one; and from that time until 1893, there was difficulty and suffering for our people; nevertheless, as the Lord said to the Prophet Joseph, "Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men." And the children of men have accepted the same, even though the Prophet was murdered; and the Church has grown and exists to the point now to where we have, as I said, over 1,302,000 members.
It is marvelous to know that in this day and age we have more missionaries out in the world than ever before, preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. There will be more, and the time will come when mankind will listen to what the Prophet said in the establishment of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I also, brethren and sisters, would like to say this, that each and every one of us has great responsibilities because we belong to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord said this through the Prophet Joseph to us:
Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.
Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work;
For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul.
Actually, if we have the faith in our hearts that this is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and desire to serve the Lord, we can only do it through the work-through the results of our efforts in building up the kingdom and making it strong, so strong that the world will accept the great truths as they are being forwarded to them through our missionaries, and as has been done through our President in the last two or three years.
I accept what the Lord said through the Prophet to us, in speaking about what we should do, and what our attitude should be:
And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.
Then he went on to say:
Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.
Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.
There is no question in my mind that when an individual who, in his heart, desires to serve God and live the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and prays to the Lord, he will receive the blessings of the Lord according to what his needs are. I think of the words of the Lord, too, wherein he said this: "The glory of God is intelligence".
What a marvelous opportunity we all have in this great Church where the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ teach us the gospel! Therein we do receive the knowledge of the glory of God. "The glory of God is intelligence", which intelligence we can use in our lives from day to day. Surely it becomes the glory of God unto us.
In my testimony I feel as did the apostle of old, when Paul said:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
I would make one addition, and I might not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation revealed to us and given to us through the Prophet Joseph and every one of the Apostles who has lived from that day until this time.
I am grateful for the testimony I have that this is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the testimony that I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and every President of the Church has been a prophet of God-has been an apostle. I am grateful for the opportunity of the services that are rendered through the power of the priesthood, for with our priesthood, brethren and sisters, we have many responsibilities and many opportunities to help build up the kingdom. I leave you my humble testimony that this is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, that Joseph Smith was indeed a Prophet of God. There is no question about it: This is the work of God. May we do all within our power to continue to build it up, and therein enjoy all of the blessings that the Lord will give us as we go forward in his behalf, I humbly ask, in the name of Jesus. Amen
Elder Sterling W. Sill
Sterling W. Sill, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 44-47
Much has been said at this conference about the life and mission of the Master. I pray that what I may say will not detract from that which has already been said.
After that long awful night of betrayal and trial, Jesus was brought before Pilate. Pilate believed that Jesus was innocent of any wrong and made a weak attempt to try and save his life by taking advantage of one of his privileges as Roman governor to release a prisoner to the Jews at the time of the Passover. Pilate had in his custody a noted insurrectionist and murderer by the name of Barabbas, and probably relying upon the sense of fairness of the Jews that certainly they would not consent to the release of this notorious criminal and punish an innocent man, Pilate said, "Whom shall I release unto you-Barabbas or Jesus which is called Christ?". And Pilate must have been startled to hear them say, "Barabbas".
He said, "Then what shall I do with Jesus?" And the Jews replied, "Let him be crucified". Pilate said, "Shall I crucify your king?" And they said, "We have no king but Caesar".
Then Pilate took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "... I am innocent of the blood of this just man: see ye to it." And the Jews said, "... His blood be upon us and on our children. Then Barabbas was released and Jesus was delivered to be crucified".
We might safely assume that both Pilate and the Jews felt that they had permanently settled any question which may have arisen in connection with the life of Christ-Pilate by merely washing his hands, and the putting to death the very Son of God.
But there is a peculiar relationship which exists between the life of Jesus Christ and every other soul born into the world. In that great period of our preexistence, Jesus was appointed and ordained to be the Savior of the world and the Redeemer of men, and there is no other name given by which man can be saved. What Pilate and the Jews did to Jesus did not alter that relationship in the slightest degree, either for them or for us. For Jesus also bore our sins, and we are therefore party to his suffering and his atonement.
In our lives we are forced to make many decisions. By our answers to life's questions, we determine our own destiny. James Russell Lowell wrote some significant lines entitled, "The Present Crisis." He says-
Once to every man and nation Comes a moment to decide In the strife of truth and falsehood For the good or evil side.
Some great cause, God's new Messiah Offering each the bloom or blight Parts the goats upon the left hand And the sheep upon the right.
And the choice goes on forever 'Twixt the darkness and the light.
Certainly the greatest question to be decided by any man during his lifetime is the one suggested by Pilate, "What shall I do with Jesus?" The Jews made their decision. They said, "His blood be upon us and on our children," and so it has been. And so it may be with us because the question is still before us, and each must answer for himself.
For Jesus is standing on trial still. You may be false to him if you will. Or you may serve him through good or ill. What will you do with Jesus?
You may evade him as Pilate tried Or you may serve him whate'er betide. Vainly you'll struggle from him to hide What will you do with Jesus?
What will you do with Jesus? Neutral you cannot be, And someday your soul may be asking- What will he do with me?
One of the best methods for solving a problem is to weigh carefully each of the alternatives. In this case there seem to be three. The first is that we may follow the example of the Jews and reject him and thereby, as Paul says, we crucify unto ourselves the Son of God afresh. Such a course is unthinkable. But much of what the Jews did, they did in ignorance. Upon the cross Jesus said, "... Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do". The Jews didn't really understand what they were doing when they put to death the Savior of the world. Pilate didn't know that this young peasant carpenter standing before him was in very deed the great Jehovah who had created the earth.
But we might ask ourselves this question: Why didn't they know? There is probably only one answer: They lacked the honest effort, earnest inquiry, and humble prayer necessary to find the truth. But in large measure, we make exactly the same mistakes. When we absent ourselves from sacrament meeting, we don't really understand what we are doing. When we fail to pay our tithing or when we are married "until death do us part," we know not what we do. It is our ignorance as well as our sins that stands between us and our salvation.
If the Jews suffered so great a penalty for their sins committed largely in ignorance, what about us? We have all of the information that the Jews had, but in addition we have the judgment of time shining upon the life of Christ. We have the testimony of the apostles bearing witness to his divinity and sealing their testimony with their blood.
But in addition, a great flood of new knowledge has come into the world. In the early spring of 1820, God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ reappeared upon the earth to reestablish among men a belief in God. Besides this, we have been given three great volumes of new scripture outlining and explaining in every detail the simple principles of the gospel. If we lose our way, it will be by our own choice and not because we can't know the truth, except, if like the Jews, we fail to be sufficiently thoughtful and diligent, thereby exposing ourselves to the risk of "ignorantly" rejecting our personal Savior and with him our chances for eternal exaltation.
The second alternative of this question, "What shall I do with Jesus?" is that we may try to be neutral, and believe neither one thing nor the other. That is impossible, for either God is, or God is not. There is no middle ground. It is all or nothing. We either accept him by design or we reject him by default. For when we fail to decide a question one way, we automatically decide it the other way. That is, when we fail to decide to get on the train, we automatically decide to stay off the train.
Yet there is a group of people who insist on trying to maintain this damaging neutrality. It isn't merely that they don't believe; their skepticism goes deeper. They don't give it a thought one way or the other. There is one thing more serious than merely to "not believe," and that is to "not care."
It has been said that there is one folly greater than that of the fool who says in his heart there is no God, and that is the folly of him who says he doesn't know whether there is a God or not. Thereby he is guilty of unbelief rather than disbelief, and unbelief is usually a confession that one has not made sufficient honest inquiry necessary to find the truth.
If a man should err in believing the gospel of Jesus Christ to be true, he could not possibly be the loser by the mistake. But how irreparable is his loss who should err in supposing the revelations of God to be false. There are many people who try to dispose of this question, "What shall I do with Jesus?" by saying that he was merely a great teacher. This is certainly a poor substitute for knowing the truth. It is also pretty dangerous, for as has been said:
Suppose there is a Christ, but that I should be Christless; Suppose there is a cleansing, but that I should remain unclean; Suppose there is a Heavenly Father's love, but that I should remain an alien; Suppose there is a heaven, but that I should be cast down to hell.
It has been said that "Man's greatest unkindness to man is not to hate him but to be indifferent to him." "He who is indifferent to his friend is unkind to his friend. But he who is indifferent to his Savior is unmerciful unto himself."
Our third alternative to this question of "What shall I do with Jesus?" is that we may accept him. We may accept him eagerly and enthusiastically. We may fill our minds with his word, and consecrate our lives to his service. We have his own counsel on this question. In our own day he has said,
O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.
Each of us has been complimented by being reserved to live upon the earth in this greatest of all dispensations. We live when a great flood tide of wonders and knowledge and accomplishment has been release in the world. Our forefathers lived on a flat, stationary earth and plowed their ground with wooden sticks. But we live on an earth of power steering and jet propulsion. Noah preached the gospel for many years and failed to bring conversion to a single person outside his own family. Even in the dispensation of Jesus, less than one hundred years had passed before the apostles had all been put to death and the world was well on its way into darkness of complete apostasy.
But we live in a time when "the field is white already to harvest". We have examples of stake missionaries who have brought conversion into the lives of five or ten or twenty human souls in a single year, and as Samuel Walter Foss cried, "Give me men to match my mountains," so the Church is crying for men to match the great opportunities of the present day.
In 1932 Walter Pitkin wrote a book entitled Life Begins at Forty. But life begins every morning. Life begins when we begin, and our real progress begins when we accept God's answer to that greatest question of our lives, "What shall we do with Jesus?"
May our Heavenly Father inspire us to get the right answer before it is too late, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Alma Sonne
Alma Sonne, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 49-51
My brethren and sisters, I am very happy for the privilege of standing before you for a moment, to express my gratitude for the fine things we have heard and seen at this general conference of the Church. This morning at 7:30 in the Assembly Hall we held a welfare meeting. We heard something about cattle, beef cattle, and dairy cattle, and how to manage farms, especially the welfare farms. This instruction was given by experts from the Utah State Agricultural College. When they had given their talks, President Clark made some observations. President Clark, you may know, is a farmer and a cattleman in his own right-if he can qualify for that distinction, by working two or three hours on Saturday afternoon on his farm. We were greatly edified.
It reminded me of the funeral service which was held up in the Bear Lake country for Brother Hyrum Nebeker, also a cattleman. Prior to his death he had selected the hymns he wanted sung at the service. Among them was the well-known hymn we sing so frequently, "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet." He also requested that everyone in the gathering join in singing this hymn, not only the choir, but those also who sat on the front seats, and the entire congregation. Seldom does one hear a song sung with more feeling than was done on this occasion. Everyone sang, and all seemed to feel the spirit and the significance of this great hymn.
I thought of the statement made by someone who said, "Tell me the ballads a people sing, and I will tell you their character." I hope the Latter-day Saints will be judged by the songs they sing on occasions like this. This hymn, in particular, suggested guidance, prophetic guidance. Guidance is a beautiful word, it is a meaningful word. We all need to be guided and directed and inspired in our work and in our responsibilities.
I recall a poem I learned as a boy;
Hand in hand with angels through the world we go; Brighter eyes are on us than we blind ones know; Tenderer voices greet us than we deaf will own; But never walking heav'nward can we walk alone.
Those who dislike guidance, it seems to me, lack in humility. Jesus believed in guidance. I read a verse from the Gospels:
... when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Mark the words "he will guide you into all truth... and he will shew you things to come." Of all the leaders who have lived upon the earth, only Jesus, the Lord, could make a promise like that. These words are tremendously important and reassuring, especially to those who are striving for a better life.
Christ's plan of salvation came to light gradually through holy prophets. Back of them is Jesus Christ, the light of the world, and the greatest of all the prophets. His gospel is the beacon light. The voice of the prophets is the voice of God to generations past, present, and future. These prophets came as they were needed. They were chosen before they were born. Their messages were always vital, important, and timely. Their testimonies were strong and fervent. They called people to repentance. They rebuked sin in high places. Their mission was to purify and regenerate the human family and to turn the hearts of men to God, who is the Creator, the Ruler, and the Giver of life. These living oracles seldom argued. They announced and interpreted God's will and made no compromise whatever with worldly standards and patterns, however glowing and colorful they might appear.
You will realize the significance of Paul's question put to Agrippa and the others: "Believest thou the prophets?". Paul believed the prophets. He quoted their words to justify and substantiate his claims. I am convinced that the warnings and admonitions of the prophets, had they been duly regarded and respected, would have transformed the world, and evil forces operative in public and private life, now and in the past, would have been far less powerful.
We believe in prophets. We believe the only safe course for us is to follow the admonition of the prophets. Said Jesus:
Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify: and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city.
And then his concluding words: "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth". The deniers of God's servants were to answer for their repudiation of the prophets. Had the Jews believed John the Baptist and heeded his admonitions, many people, would have believed on Jesus the Christ. But they rejected him and maligned him. He was put in prison, like his predecessors, and finally put to death, but they could not entirely destroy his influence nor his memory. The common people, the meek and the lowly, listened. They heard his words and accepted his divine calling and followed him. But the magistrates and the rulers, the high and the mighty, the professional religionists, were not among the multitude which followed him to the River Jordan, but Jesus came, and Jesus was baptized by this great prophet, the greatest of all the prophets, said Jesus, born of women. These prophets were not dreamers, they were not visionary men-they were practical men. They saw the present and the future needs of the people to whom they were sent.
President Brigham Young, for instance, was a great prophet and more than a prophet. He was called to a great responsibility. It was not unlike that which fell upon Moses, the lawgiver of Israel, during the years of exodus from Egypt. Both of them were deeply concerned with the spiritual and temporal welfare of their people.
Looking back over the magnificent achievements of Brigham Young and those who followed, we can picture the tragic exodus of covered wagons and handcart companies. Every day was a challenge, and every night a hazard, full of danger and uncertainty. But the sturdy and unconquerable pioneers, under their prophet, never faltered; they pressed forward to their destination. On their arrival, they beheld a barren wasteland, covered with sagebrush and possessed by the savage Indians. What did this modern prophet do? He made friends with the Indians. He cultivated the soil, and he irrigated the fields.
Prophets came as they were needed. May we, you and I, heed the prophets who live today. May we be guided by their inspiring instruction, and may we undertake with them to build up God's kingdom upon the earth, and eventually be worthy of an exaltation in that kingdom, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Harold B. Lee
Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 54-57
The excellent remarks of Elder Sterling W. Sill this morning have recalled a story I heard repeated in a very impressive talk which was given recently where I was assigned to dedicate a new chapel. Our attention was called to the name on the front of the building-The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is the story that was to impress our responsibility to Him in whose name we were then in meeting.
It was in 1909 at the University of Edinburgh. Lord Balfour, then the Prime Minister of England, was delivering an address on the subject of moral values which unite nations. He spoke of the common knowledge and the common commercial resources which nations had to unite them, their social intercourse made possible through diplomatic relationships, the bonds of human friendships, and the improved methods of communication; and then closed his address amid the thunderous applause of those who had heard his, as judged by the world's standards, masterful address.
But the applause was interrupted by a Japanese student who was studying at the University. He stood up in the gallery and asked, "But Mr. Balfour, what about Jesus Christ?" There was a hushed silence as the presiding officer arose to conclude the meeting. They had heard a stern rebuke thus voiced by one of a pagan nation to the representative of one of the greatest so-called Christian nations on the face of the earth, for in his address Mr. Balfour had omitted the greatest and most fundamental of all essential bonds which would unite the nations of the earth.
The essentiality of that knowledge of the Savior and his divine mission was impressed by the Master on one occasion when he said to the Pharisees who had gathered around him, as they usually did to try to embarrass or to entrap him, "What think ye of Christ?... And they answered, "The son of David" -referring of course to his Israelitish lineage.
In all likelihood the Master was trying to call them back to what John, the forerunner of the Master, had taught when he had impressed the vital importance of this essential knowledge in his declaration.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
During his ministry there had been others not possessed of faith who had declared themselves about the Master. In his home country of Nazareth they had said in derision:
Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?... And they were offended in him.
The Master sadly replied:
A prophet is not without honour save in his own country, and in his own house.
On another occasion they said of him in scorn:
The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners....
In Jerusalem the scribes which came down said,
He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
In contrast to these unsavory epithets, his faithful followers such as Peter, the chiefest of the apostles declared: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" -and from his faithful Martha, "Yea Lord: I believe that thou art Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world". And from another of his disciples after he had seen and handled the Risen Lord, Thomas impressed his testimony with these simple words: "My Lord and my God!". The measure of difference between those two groups of individuals who answered the query, "What think ye of Christ?" was the quality of which the Master had spoken of in his great Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God".
Our responsibility as members of the Church of Jesus Christ to declare the mission of the Savior was impressed upon us recently in a council meeting when President David O. McKay made this significant statement:
This is the Church of Jesus Christ, and it is our obligation to preach to the world that he is the Son of God, our Redeemer and our Savior-not just a great teacher, but in reality the Son of our Father in heaven, and the Redeemer of the world; that he has broken the bands of death and has brought resurrection, that through him, by obedience to the gospel, we will gain eternal exaltation in his kingdom. May the Lord give us power and increase our ability to represent him in the world.
In that memorable Wentworth Letter, historically important to the Church, where the Prophet Joseph Smith answered the query as to what the Church believed, was the statement: "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost".
The symbolism of our belief and our declaration to the world is to be found everywhere. As I saw the pictures of the Swiss Temple, I read the words above the entrance and again recalled that on many of our other sacred structures are those significant words: "Holiness to the Lord". As you go out of this Tabernacle, look upon the west towers of the great Salt Lake Temple, and just underneath the battlements will you see the dipper pointing to the North Star-the symbolism, as explained by Truman O. Angell, the architect of the temple, in an article written in the Millennial Star for the British Saints, suggesting that through the priesthood of Almighty God the lost may find their way. As you go into the great Salt Lake Temple, you will see what the pioneers did to symbolize every move they were to make through that sacred building. Even on almost every doorknob there has been cast in the beauty of their artistry those same words, "Holiness to the Lord." By that symbol every door in the temples of our God, indeed every step we take in life, is opened to those who go forward in "Holiness to the Lord!"
The dreariest prospect that can be imagined to those who have not only these symbols to constantly remind them, but also the testimony of that humble boy who told of the coming of the Father and the Son in very person to converse with him, who bore testimony that other worthies came and restored their powers, and their keys of the priesthood-the dreariest prospects of those of this Church who have those testimonies and that knowledge given them, is that to be found in the Lord's castigation of those who have been given a divine calling by a divine command and had disobeyed when he said: "They who are not chosen have sinned a very grievous sin in that they are walking in the darkness at noon-day". Then he added, "If ye keep not my commandments, the love of the Father shall not continue with you, therefore ye shall walk in darkness".
Under the caption of an article, "What Makes Men Strong?" recently, J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, made this significant statement:
"When a man leans on his own understanding, when he lives by his own strength, when he boasts of probing the mysteries of the atom, the depths of the sea, or the secrets of outer space, he forgets God and claims he is his own master. The result is untold suffering. Even though one's position is maintained, even though material wealth increases, a success quickly turns to failure when God has been forgotten. There is no peace of mind, no personal satisfaction, no personal experience of inward joy. To 'trust in the Lord with all thine heart' is a mark of strength, and it is the only path to happiness, success, and true fulfillment."
I contrast the fearful Peter who, on the night of the betrayal, denied that he had known the Savior, with that Peter who on another occasion, after he had witnessed the appearances of the Master, in jail, being readied for another inquisition by his unjust captors. He was not surprised when an angel touched him and said, "Arise up quickly," and the shackles fell from him, and when he went to the door he found it open. He went to the outer court, and it was open; then he went to the home of his friends, and they were surprised because from the time of his imprisonment they had been praying that the Lord by his matchless powers would undo the mischief that was now trying to nullify the work of this great Church. He was not afraid. Why? Because Peter knew the power of the risen Lord.
I am thinking now of two contrasting incidents. A dear friend received one of those fateful messages: "We regret to inform you that your boy has been killed in action." I went to his home, and there I saw the shattered family, possessed of all the things that money could buy-wealth, position, the things that the world would call honorable, but there they were with their hopes and dreams shattered around them, grasping for something that they had not lived to obtain and from that time on, seemingly did not obtain. The comfort which they could have known was not there.
I contrasted that with a scene I witnessed up in the LDS Hospital just about six months ago now, when one of our dear faithful mission presidents was there slowly dying. He was in extreme pain, but in his heart there was a joy because he knew that through suffering ofttimes men learn obedience, and the right to kinship with him who suffered beyond all that any of us can ever suffer. He, too, knew the power of the risen Lord.
Today we should ask ourselves the question, in answer to what the Master asked of those in his day, "What think ye of Christ?". We ought to ask as we would say it today, "What think we of Christ?" and then make it a little more personal and ask, "What think I of Christ?" Do I think of him as the Redeemer of my soul? Do I think of him with no doubt in my mind as the one who appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith? Do I believe that he established this Church upon the earth? Do I accept him as the Savior of this world? Am I true to my covenants, which in the waters of baptism, if I understood, meant that I would stand as a witness of him at all times, and in all things, and in all places, wherever I would be, even until death?".
Many times we have heard and sung that hymn,
That I might have seen his kind look when he said, "Let the little ones come unto me." I should like to have been with him then.
Some have said they would have liked to live in the days of the Prophet Joseph so that they could have been his defenders. Heber C. Kimball wrote this:
"Let me say that many of you will see the time when you will have all the trouble, trial, and persecution you can stand, and plenty of opportunities to show that you were true to God and his work. This Church will have many close places through which it will have to pass before the work of God is crowned with victory. To meet the difficulties that are coming, it will be necessary for you to have a knowledge of the truth of this work for yourselves. The difficulties of this work will be of such a character that a man or woman who does not possess this personal knowledge will fall. Remember these saying, for many of you will live to see them fulfilled. The time is coming when no man or woman will be able to endure on borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within himself. If you do not have it, you will not stand."
After some of the persecutions and the evidence of the power of evil over our first missionaries in London, these missionaries returned to the Prophet to seek an answer as to why these experiences with evil spirits had come to them. Had they done something wrong that the evil had thus tried to overthrow them? And the Prophet replied, "I rejoiced when I heard of your experiences because I have passed through similar experiences, and I want to say this to you: the nearer a person approaches the Lord, a greater power will be manifested by the adversary to prevent the accomplishment of his purposes."
That is what the Master meant when he said:
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
I have heard some of the testimonies of men like Brother Hugh B. Brown and Brother Adam S. Bennion, and Brother Richard L. Evans, who, when they were called to their high places have been subjected to the trials of the power of evil. There is no question in my mind but that they were near unto the Lord, and the devil knew it and was trying to confuse them and if possible destroy them.
You and I stand in this day when we are basking in the sunshine of great plaudits of the people all over the world. We rejoice that the persecution which used to be is not now, and yet I am sobered by the warning that the Master gave when he warned:
Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
When I think of that warning, I am remembering the words which sobered the people of England after one of their great jubilee celebrations, when Kipling wrote:
The tumult and the shouting dies; The Captains and the Kings depart: Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice, An humble and a contrite heart. Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget, lest we forget.
May I echo and paraphrase those words of Kipling and say that while today we glory in that which our President has reported to us as the good feeling of the peoples of the world-may I say to all of us, each of us individually, let us not forget that the measure of our acceptance in the kingdom of our God will be our answer to the question which we must make honestly to ourselves: "What think I of Jesus Christ? What kind of a testimony do I have of the divinity of his mission?"
God grant that we may not lose that testimony. I bear you my testimony that I know that he is the Savior of this world, and I bear that testimony humbly and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 58-62
I was surely pleased, brothers and sisters, when the First Presidency invited these wonderful young people to sing at this conference, and I would like you young people to know how grateful I am for your willingness to be here and for the excellence of your performance.
I am very proud of the MIA and the work the MIA is doing, and I am very proud of you that you sing so beautifully to our Savior, whom I know you love. I am glad that now, this year, together with all the rest of the young people of the Church, every week you recite our MIA theme in which you declare that you are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I know you love it. I hope that always you will love it and that you will be faithful and true in every respect. God bless you for your work.
I do love the young people of the Church, and I love their faith. As I visit with them from time to time, I know that the Spirit of God rests upon them, and that the spirit of conversion is in them, and that most of them are serving the Lord and keeping his commandments. So I feel very, very good about the rising generation and about the future of this great Church.
Occasionally, however, there are some of our young people who go off on a tangent and do not keep the faith. One day I had a young man come in to visit with me. He had lost his faith. He came to me not because he thought I could do him any good, but because his mother had asked him to come to one of the brethren and see if some different picture might be given to him whereby his faith might be restored. As he came into the office and sat down and opened the subject, he told me he had lost his faith, and he told me in what class at school he had lost it and who the teacher was who had been responsible for it.
As he told me about his difficulty, he said that he could not believe in God anymore because who could believe in a Creator or suppose that there was some being who could create an earth like this. He did not believe in the Savior nor that the Savior ever wrought out an atonement that would do us any good. How could the death of a man on a cross two thousand years ago benefit a person now in this modern, enlightened time? And who could believe in a resurrection? It was all just incredible.
Then my mind went back to the time Paul stood before Agrippa and began there to defend his faith and his faith in the resurrection, and he asked Agrippa, you will remember, why he thought it was incredible that God could raise the dead.
And so we talked together, this young man and I. I asked him if there was anything in this modern world that he considered to be incredible. He could accept most things that are going on now.
I showed him a picture in a magazine of a little platform about four feet in diameter, with a railing around it, and a man standing in the middle.
That platform stood in the air without any visible means of support.
I said, "Do you believe it is possible that the picture you see there really is a picture of something that happened and that a man could stand on a little platform, six or twelve feet in the air-just stand there-and that by turning a little handle he could cause this platform to move up or down?"
I said, "It looks incredible to me, but there is a photograph of it. The United States Navy has it and is using it. Does it seem incredible to you? Does it really seem possible that a little platform could stand in the air like that?"
Then I asked him if he had read some of the things that are being spoken of these days about a trip to the moon. No longer is it idle talk. Men are actually talking about flying to the moon.
They are going to prepare what they call an island in the sky as a springboard, and that island to be stationary. They plan to fly their airship to that island, get out on it, walk around, and then take off again and go on to the moon.
Does that seem incredible? And yet the men of science today say that it is within the realm of possibility. They are really figuring it out. Incredible?
"No," he said, "it isn't incredible. I believe that a man could fly to such an island as that and then go on to the moon."
I said, "You are no different from the scientists of the world who are believing the same thing and working in that direction. But," I said, "is it any more incredible to believe that a man could leave this earth and go out into space than to believe that a man could come from space and visit this world? Which is more difficult to believe, that you or I could fly to the moon or that Moroni could come to the Prophet Joseph Smith?"
Then he said, "But then there is that gold plate story that I cannot take."
I said, "What about the gold plate story?"
He said, "Well, this idea that there was a book of gold plates with ancient inscriptions, and that Joseph Smith found it buried in the ground."
I said, "Would you believe it if it came from an archaeologist? If an archaeologist should find plates of ancient vintage with inscriptions upon them, and those plates were metallic, would you accept it?"
He said, "Well, I could believe it because archaeologists are men of science."
I said, "These men of science have proven that there are such things as plates of gold. They themselves have dug up metallic plates with ancient inscriptions on them, records of the past, and they may be seen in museums of this day. Is that incredible? Is it any more difficult to believe that an archaeologist could find ancient records of lead or silver or copper or gold, with inscriptions, records of the past, than to believe that the Nephites made records of the past and that they were brought forth in our day? Which is the more difficult to believe?"
Then he said, "But, I do not believe in prayer."
"Why don't you believe in prayer?" "I don't believe that I could kneel down in my bedroom and whisper a few words and have God way up in heaven, if there is a God, hear what I would whisper those many, many miles away."
Then I told him about my wife and me being in Buenos Aires last Christmas. As we sat with the missionaries in the mission home that evening, the telephone rang, and we said, "Hello." On the other end of that telephone wire and across space where there were no wires, and then again picked up by other wires, came the voices of our daughter and son-in-law wishing us "Merry Christmas," saying it would not be Christmas unless they could speak to us.
Incredible? There we were in Buenos Aires speaking in a normal tone of voice. They were in Salt Lake City. Our voices would go to the end of the wire, and then they would travel where there would be just space, and beyond the space over another wire. Is that incredible? If man can do that, do you not suppose God could hear your prayer?
Then I brought up another thing. "In the Book of Mormon, which you say you do not believe, it says that the voice of Christ was heard all over the land by the people, all at once, simultaneously. I have heard people like you say they could not believe that."
"No, I could not believe it," he said. Incredible? Which is more difficult to believe, that God could speak in heaven and all the people of America hear it, or that the President of the United States could speak in the White House and all the people in America hear it? Which is more difficult to believe? Are these things incredible?
Then he brought up the Bible. "The Bible is full of stories that nobody could believe."
I said, "For instance?"
"Well, I don't think of any at the moment."
I suggested the story of Moses and the bulrushes. "Yes, the story of Moses and the bulrushes," he quickly said.
"Do you not know that the archaeologists have discovered facts which prove that Moses was found in the bulrushes by a daughter of Pharaoh, and that they can even tell you the name of daughter of Pharaoh, that they know now from ancient records which they have dug up that that story is true, and that Moses was reared in the household of Pharaoh, and that he became a leader of the Israelites and led them back to Palestine? If the archaeologists have proved it, is it any longer incredible to you?"
"Well, I would believe them, but I would not believe the Bible."
"What about the Story of Abraham? Do you believe there ever was an Abraham?"
"No, I do not."
"But the archaeologists have also found out that there was a person called Abraham, a great astronomer of ancient times, who went down into Egypt and taught the Egyptians astronomy. That has been discovered. Is the story of the Bible then incredible?"
Then I said, "I would like to tell you something that is incredible to me. I can believe all these things, but I would like to tell you something that is incredible."
And he said, "What is that?"
I said, "It is incredible to me to believe that the earth could be made by chance, without a Creator."
Then I took from my bookcase a little book called, Man Does Not Stand Alone, by Cressy Morrison. Cressy Morrison is past-president of the New York Academy of Science, past-president of the American Institute of New York, member of the Executive Board of the National Research Council, a Fellow of the American Museum of Natural History, a life member of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. He wrote this little book to prove from the standpoint of an up-to-date scientist that it would have been impossible for the earth to be made by chance. I read this:
Suppose you take ten pennies and mark them from one to ten. Put them in your pocket and give them a good shake. Now try to draw them out in sequence, from one to ten, putting each coin back in your pocket after each draw. Your chance of drawing number one, is one to ten; your chance of drawing one and two in succession would be one in a hundred; your chance of drawing one, two, and three in succession would be one in a thousand. Your chance of drawing one, two, three, and four in succession would be one in ten thousand, and so on until your chance of drawing from number one to number ten in succession would reach the unbelievable figure of one chance in ten billion.
Then Morrison goes on to say:
The object in dealing with so simple a problem is to show how enormously figures multiply against chance. So many essential conditions are necessary for life to exist on our earth, that it is mathematically impossible that all of them could exist in proper relationship by chance, on any one earth at any one time. Therefore, there must be in nature some form of intelligent direction. If this be true, then there must be a purpose.
Then he reviewed the intricacy of creation, the intricacy of our own lives, of our bodies, the bodies of other living things, even of little plants. He talked about evolution and said that Darwin's theory was concocted before science had learned about the genes. "The genes," he says, "keep all forms of life within their own spheres. Life produces creations," he said, "of varied designs in the image of its predecessors and gives them the power to repeat themselves for untold generations."
Then he asked the question whether it is really incredible to believe what the Bible says about everything having been formed originally to bring forth after its own kind:
Then he writes,
No oak tree ever bore chestnuts. No whale ever gave birth to a fish, and waving fields of wheat in every grain are wheat, and corn is corn. Law governs the atomic arrangement in the genes which absolutely determine every genus of life from beginning to extinction.
Then he makes this startling statement:
The first chapter of Genesis contains the real story of creation, and its essence has not been changed by knowledge acquired since it was written. The differences have arisen over details, which are not worth controversy.
He says that even the chronological arrangement in the story of the creation as given in Genesis fits into the modern scientific knowledge, and then he asks the question, "Can science pick a flaw in this briefest story ever told, the world's history in a few lines of print?" With regard to the story of creation, he again asks whether we should consider it incredible.
Finally, as he closes his book, he says:
The existence of a Supreme Being is demonstrated by infinite adjustments without which life itself would be impossible. Man's presence on earth and the magnificent demonstrations of his intellect are a part of a program being carried out by the Supreme Intelligence. Let us then hold fast to our belief in a Supreme Intelligence, the love of God and the brotherhood of man, lifting ourselves closer to him by doing his will.
I was certainly happy, recently to read a graduation address delivered at the commencement exercises of one of our large universities, by Dr. Joseph W. Barker, president and chairman of the Research Corporation of America and formerly dean of the engineering school of Columbia University.
He explained in his address that the scientists of the nineteenth century had been misled by certain of their observations and as a result came to conclusions which definitely were atheistic, but now he says:
Even the most pragmatic materialist in the face of present-day scientific knowledge, is led to the inevitable conclusion that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmaments showeth his handiwork.
As the children of Israel foreswore the worship of the golden calf and returned to the faith of Jehovah, so have we foresworn the crass mechanistic materialism and returned to that faith in God, of which the Psalmist of old sang: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein".
To paraphrase the words of Paul: Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that there should be a God? Why should it be a thing incredible with you, that he should speak to men and show himself to them? Why should it be a thing incredible with you, that he should record the history of his people on plates of gold? Why should it be a thing incredible with you that a little boy of fourteen years should go into a grove of trees near his home, pray to God in all humility and receive an answer?
I testify to you, and I testify to all men, that God has made known to me that he lives, and I know it as well as I know that I live. He has given me a testimony that Jesus of Nazareth was his literal Son in the flesh, and that he is our Savior, and our Redeemer.
And he has given to me a testimony that Joseph Smith truly knelt in prayer and in answer received the glorious visitation in which he talked face to face with the Father and the Son.
And he has given me a personal testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. I know it as well as the three witnesses or the eight witnesses who held the plates in their hands. I know it. God as made it known to me, and I give you my testimony. It is not incredible.
And I, together with the young people of the Church, "am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth".
May we be faithful and true to our trust, true to the restored gospel, and not be incredulous, is my humble prayer, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Elder Eldred G. Smith
Eldred G. Smith, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 62-64
My brothers and sisters: It is a thrilling experience to be in these conferences. Nevertheless, I humbly seek an interest in your faith and prayers in my behalf.
I have heard President Clark a number of times refer to his theme song, as he calls it, that of unity, and with his permission I would like to join his chorus. We should all join his chorus, not alone in words, but in action. Paul taught the same doctrine when he wrote to the Ephesians:
I therefore... beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
When I talk about unity in the gospel, I am often reminded of an experience that I had while on a mission in Germany. When this German Choir sang for us yesterday in the conference meetings, I was reminded again of those experiences, especially when I was assigned to work in Celle in the Hanover District in Germany. Once a month we went to the little town of Uelzen, which was a self-sustaining branch. We went there to get their reports and to help them as we could. Since my companion was assigned to the branch at the same time I was, this first visit to Uelzen was a new experience for both of us.
We took our seats in the first meeting we attended in the front of the hall. The branch president announced that the meeting would be started by the choir singing such and such a song. I looked about and found no choir up in front, but before I could ask any questions or discover an answer to the problem in my mind as to where the choir was coming from, my companion and I found ourselves the only ones sitting in the audience. The entire congregation, except for my companion and me, had gone up to the front and sang as a choir. It is no wonder we have Saints who can come here and produce a chorus such as we had yesterday.
I found from the reports that they not only all sang together, but they also worked together. I found that there was 100 percent membership of the branch paying 100 percent tithing, and that was not just the month that I went there on that one visit, but that was the report I got all the time I was there. Attendance in their meetings was the same. They worked together in everything they did. I discovered, also, that there were two women in the branch at that time whose husbands had gone to America, and that the branch had agreed together, before these two men left, that they would all work together; they would keep the commandments of the Lord to the best of their ability; they would do all that was required of them without excuse; nothing would stop them from fulfilling the responsibilities given to them. Those who remained in the branch would see to it that the wives of these two men were taken care of, that they would not be in need.
The two men who left for America agreed that they would do likewise in living the commandments of the Lord and that they would find jobs and work hard and save their money and send for their wives as soon as possible. It was not long until I was transferred from that section of Germany, and then soon after, I was released to come home.
Some twenty years later, after I became Patriarch to the Church, I had an appointment to give a blessing to a young girl. When she arrived, her mother was with her. I found that the mother was one of those two sisters whose husbands had left Uelzen when I was over there. I had a long talk with this sister and her daughter. The daughter, of course, had grown up from a small child, and her mother told me this story: that one by one, or two at a time, as occasion came, different members of the branch would have the opportunity of leaving and coming to America, until before World War II broke out, there was not one member of the Church left in that branch in Uelzen. They had all come to America safely before the war broke out.
Then she told me also that in the end of the war, when the American soldiers invaded that section of Germany, for some reason unknown to her, the German soldiers set up a resistance in Uelzen which resulted in a four-day battle. The bombings and general destruction were such that there was not a house left in the section where most of the Saints had lived, yet there was not a member of the Church left in Uelzen-a result and reward of unity, working together to keep the commandments of the Lord.
I could tell another story of another branch in Germany where they worked more as individuals. None of them left Germany, and as a result of the war the entire city was destroyed. I received a letter from one of the members there who told me that even some of the members lost their lives, their friends, and some of the members of their families lost their lives in that war and the destruction in that city. They were good Saints, but they had not learned the lesson of working together as the Saints in Uelzen had learned.
This is a challenge to us, brothers and sisters, that we might do as they did in Uelzen-not just to move to another section, but that we might live the commandments of the Lord as they did. They did it for a special purpose, and the Lord blessed them in their efforts. We have a responsibility today to unite together in keeping the commandments of the Lord. We need to be united in keeping his commandments more now than ever before because the eyes of the world are upon us now more than ever before.
With this tour of the Tabernacle Choir in Europe, some of us might think, "Well, that was just the Tabernacle Choir. That was something they did. I do not have to take part in that." There is not one of us who is a member of the Church who does not take part in it, and we cannot afford to let the choir down. We have to live the commandments of the Lord to bolster up what they have done in Europe, for now truly, as we sang yesterday in our conference meeting:
"High on the mountaintop A banner is unfurled; Ye nations now look up; It waves to all the world."
To keep that banner flying, we must stand unitedly valiant in the faith, and I pray that the Lord will bless us that we might be united; that we will be unitedly valiant in keeping the commandments of the Lord, and in sustaining our testimonies of this gospel, for this is the strength and the power of the gospel, and this I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Milton R. Hunter
Milton R. Hunter, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 64-68
My dear brethren and sisters: I humbly pray that I shall be guided by the Spirit of the Lord in the brief remarks that I make this afternoon.
I hold here in my hand what I consider to be three of the most valuable treasures in the world. From a monetary standpoint, they are beyond price. If all of the people in the world would make complete application of what these three treasures contain, utilizing them to the fullest, I believe their contents would do more good for the human family than do all the armies in the world, all the kings that sit on thrones, all the governments that rule, or any other things that we might attain in this world. I am holding in my hand the Latter-day Saints' triple combination of holy scriptures-the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. They contain the word of God as revealed in the latter days from heaven through the Prophet Joseph Smith, for the salvation and exaltation of all the members of the human family who will receive their divine teachings and render obedience.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ accept one more book as scripture-the Holy Bible-and hence they regard it as authoritative and binding on their lives. I shall not speak of that scripture today but confine my remarks to the scriptures given to the world by the power of the Lord through his Prophet Joseph Smith.
The first of these three scriptures of the Latter-day Saints, as it appears in the triple combination, is the Book of Mormon. This volume contains the gospel of Jesus Christ as the ancient Americans received and understood it.
The most vital purpose that the writers had in mind in preparing the Book of Mormon was that it should serve as a new witness for Christ, especially a new witness for Christ to the Jews and Gentiles in the latter days. It was written to verify the Messiahship of the Only Begotten as proclaimed in the Old and New Testaments.
Towards the close of his life, Nephi, the first writer on the Nephite records, handed the plates to his brother Jacob and instructed Jacob to record carefully
... preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying... and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ's sake....
And so the Nephite records were written and preserved to come forth in the latter days to bear witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world, the Mediator between the heavens and the earth, the Only Begotten of the Eternal Father in the flesh, and the Redeemer of the human family. A careful reading of the Book of Mormon convinces one that not only Jacob but also all the prophets who succeeded him carefully followed Nephi's injunction. Throughout the entire book witness is born almost continuously to the divine mission of the Lamb of God, the Anointed One of Israel.
In fact, Moroni, the last prophet of the Nephite race, in his preface to the Book of Mormon, pointed out that the record had been written primarily for the purpose of
... the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations....
I think that both the Jaredite and Nephite prophets did an excellent work in giving us much evidence of the divinity and mission of Jesus Christ; thus making the Book of Mormon indeed a new witness.
The Book of Mormon contains a number of teachings which help to explain, amplify, and clarify doctrine found in the Bible; for example, according to the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, while Jesus was talking to the entire multitude of people he instructed:
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.
Brilliant scholars-and I think many of them faithful men, perhaps believing that Christ was the greatest of all teachers, proclaiming at all times eternal truth-saw in the Master's foregoing statement what appeared to be an economic fallacy. They observed that if people in general throughout the world took no heed of what they should eat or wear or drink, they would soon be hungry, thirsty, and unclothed; and so those scholars wrote numerous explanations in their efforts to interpret what the Master may have meant.
But the Book of Mormon in one brief statement gives, I believe, more clarification to that problem than is found in all the explanations given by the scholars. According to that record, Jesus appeared to the Nephites following his resurrection and gave a sermon similar to the one known in the New Testament as the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus was talking to the multitude, and then the Nephite record states:
And now it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words he looked upon the twelve whom he had chosen, and said unto them:... Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink: nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.
Thus by turning from the multitude and giving his instruction to only twelve men, Jesus reduced the problem of those who would be provided for by the Lord to only twelve servants of God. Certainly the laborers in the Lord's vineyard are worthy of their hire.
The Book of Mormon contains some of the most marvelous doctrinal teachings found in any scripture or in any other writings in the world. The ancient American prophets explained the gospel doctrines as clearly and as beautifully as any prophets have ever explained the gospel. I rejoice in the superb vision beheld by Nephi in which he viewed the history of the world down to the present time. I marvel as I read the teachings of King Benjamin. Perhaps no other teacher except the Master has given a more beautiful, humble sermon. I thrill every time I contemplate the marvelous teachings of Alma and Amulek on death, resurrection, immortality, judgment day, and the atonement of Jesus Christ. I take delight in meditating on Mormon's strong denunciation of the doctrine and practice of infant baptism, realizing that nowhere is this doctrine more forcefully condemned. And of course the greatest of all the teachings found in the Book of Mormon are those found in the Third Nephi. Herein is recorded the marvelous and beautiful story of the appearances of the resurrected Lord to the inhabitants of ancient America, proclaiming his victory over death and offering eternal life unto all those who would accept and obey his gospel. The book delineates in an astounding manner the Master teaching the inhabitants of this land the same gospel plan of salvation which he had taught while in mortality among the Jews. For example, read chapter twenty-seven of Third Nephi. Herein Christ gave a definition of the gospel of Jesus Christ which, I think, is unsurpassed anywhere in religious literature.
There are numerous individual statements on various subjects in the Book of Mormon which I choose to call diamond-like statements, and which I think are unsurpassed in other scriptures and in world literature; for example, the oft-repeated, sincere, simple, but beautiful expression of faith given by Nephi is superb. To quote:
I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commandeth, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.
I believe that possibly the greatest statement recorded on the purpose of man or purpose of life was given in two short lines by father Lehi wherein he said: "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy". It is my conviction that the joy of which Lehi spoke is a joy that would come today and remain tomorrow, next week, next year, a hundred years, a thousand years, yes-joy eternally. A thorough study of the Book of Mormon and its companion scriptures which I hold in my hand assures us that the only way to attain that joy is to render obedience to all of God's commandments continuously. The more completely our lives conform to the teachings of the Master, the greater shall be our joy.
The Doctrine and Covenants, the second volume of these latter-day scriptures which I hold in my hand, is filled with revelation from heaven, given primarily through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith for the salvation of all the members of the human family who will receive and obey. These revelations were also given for the building of the kingdom of God or the Church of Jesus Christ here upon the earth in the latter days preparatory for the coming of the Savior to usher in the millennial reign.
The Doctrine and Covenants, in my opinion, like the Book of Mormon, contains many of the greatest teachings found in any book in the world; for example, I know of no revelation given through the holy prophets in any age of world's history regarding post-mortal life and the final status of the human family which surpasses section seventy-six of the Doctrine and Covenants, known as The Vision, or the three degrees of glory. This stupendous revelation was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. They were permitted to look into the celestial degree of glory, behold conditions there, and record what they saw while "yet in the Spirit". Then they were shown in vision the terrestrial glory and likewise the telestial glory. A short vision of perdition was also shown unto them. The conditions requisite for entrance into any of these worlds were made known unto them.
In addition to the great revelation on the three degrees of glory, the Doctrine and Covenants contains many more revelations regarding post-mortal life. For example, section eighty-eight expands our knowledge of the three degrees of glory. Also, there is a marvelous statement found in section 131. To quote:
In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees;
And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood;
And if he does not, he cannot obtain it.
He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase.
One of the greatest revelations in any scripture is the one on celestial marriage, found in section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants. This marvelous revelation deals with the crowning principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ, setting forth the condition on which one may gain eternal life or exaltation in the presence of God. This revelation informs us that man cannot be exalted without woman, nor the woman without man. It makes clear the doctrine that those who prove faithful in all things which the Lord hath commanded, go to the house of the Lord and enter into the covenant of marriage according to God's plan, and continue faithful all the days of their lives, shall rise in the resurrection and
... shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.
Then shall they be gods....
Thus section 132 gives us an understanding of how to obtain the highest blessing that our Eternal Father has in store for those who love him and keep his commandments. Furthermore, the revelations which I have referred to briefly give us more definite information on the post-mortal life of man and the ultimate goals to be attained than can be found in any other scriptures in the world.
The Doctrine and Covenants, like the Book of Mormon, also contains diamond-like statements which are superb; for example, the one on law is remarkable. To quote:
There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated-
And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.
Another diamond-like statement is: "The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth".
In addition to the great revelations referred to, the Doctrine and Covenants contains the wonderful instructions known as the Word of Wisdom, several revelations on missionary work, instruction on priesthood, and numerous other pertinent revelations which I cannot name in the short time allotted to me.
The third great treasure which I hold in my hand is the Pearl of Great Price, a pearl indeed. It is composed of two revelations given to Moses and re-revealed to Joseph Smith; the book of Abraham, written by the great patriarch and translated by the Prophet Joseph; the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew; some of the early visions beheld by the Prophet; some of his teachings; and the Articles of Faith. They are compacted in approximately sixty pages, but every page is dynamic and powerful. It is a wonderful book.
The Pearl of Great Price also contains revelations on certain subjects superior to any other scriptures or writings on those subjects found in the world; for example, Abraham's vision of pre-mortal life in which he learned of the eternal nature of things; of the grand council in heaven; and of the plan of salvation as presented there constitutes one of the greatest of God's revelations to his holy prophets. And the knowledge obtained by Moses in his vision of Lucifer and the part he played at the grand council, added to Abraham's vision, gives us the most complete understanding found in any literature regarding man's pre-mortal life and God's purposes for the good of man.
The Pearl of Great Price also helps to clarify some of the difficult passages in the other scriptures; for example, when Jesus Christ was living in mortality, the New Testament writers report that time and time again he referred to himself as the Son of Man. Many modern scholars in their commentaries have endeavored to explain what the Master may have meant by this appellation. These scholars have almost universally maintained that Jesus in referring to himself as the Son of Man meant that he was a mortal man. They maintain that Christ was making no claims of his divinity in referring to himself as Son of Man, but that he was merely pointing out his mortality. The Pearl of Great Price, however, clarifies this point beautifully. Speaking of God the Eternal Father, this record tells us that
... in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.
Thus we see that Jesus of Nazareth was not pointing out his mortal manhood but that he was declaring his divinity, his Godhood, his Messiahship, his powers as a Savior, his position as the Only Begotten of the Father, each time that he called himself the Son of Man. He was referring to himself as the "Son of the Man of Holiness, even the Only Begotten Son of the Eternal Father.
The Pearl of Great Price also contains some diamond-like statements, as do the other latter-day scriptures. As an example, I shall quote: "For behold, this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man".
Never in my life have I read in any scripture or in any other writing a statement which defines the work of God more completely, more thoroughly, and more accurately, in one short statement, than does that one. Jesus Christ came into the world, being sent here by the Father to die, to be resurrected, and to break the bands of death. He did rise from the grave, and he did put into operation, so to speak, a universal law of resurrection so that every man, woman, and child who ever lives upon this earth will rise from the grave and thereby receive immortality. The wicked as well as the righteous shall be resurrected and, through the grace of Christ and by the authorization of the Father, receive immortality. Thus God's work is to give immortality to the human family.
Shortly after Adam and Eve were cast from the Garden of Eden, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, began his work to give man eternal life by revealing the gospel plan of salvation to Father Adam. In the Meridian of Time Christ came to the world to show us how to live. The revelation of the gospel has continued to come from heaven throughout the various gospel dispensations and climaxed in our dispensation, coming to the world through the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. All the sons and daughters of God who live fully in accordance with this gospel plan will receive eternal life, thereby helping to complete the work and the glory of God.
In conclusion, I desire to speak briefly to the members of Church of Jesus Christ. If we as members will give heed to the teachings of the Savior, rendering obedience to all of his commandments, if we will walk along the path which these latter-day scriptures point out, all of the blessings promised in these scriptures will be ours. Some day we shall come back into the presence of the Father and the Son and receive eternal life.
My brothers and sisters, I have merely given a brief analysis of these three great treasures. Let me admonish that we all study the scriptures-that we study them day and night, and that we keep their teachings in our minds continuously. The Savior said: "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me".
The holy scriptures have been my closest companion throughout my life. I love them and read them continually. I think I have gone through the Book of Mormon forty-five times. Every time I read it I find new thoughts. I believe with all my heart, as I said in the beginning of my talk, that these three latter-day scriptures, together with the Bible, constitute some of the greatest treasures that we possess. If we will permit them to do so, they will serve as our guides to bring us back unto God. May our Heavenly Father bless us that we may fully utilize effectively in our lives these great treasures, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 87-88
My brethren: We do not know now how many there are attending this great Priesthood meeting, twenty thousand, twenty-five, thirty thousand. I do not know how many, but there are enough of us to be the leaven that would leaven the lump if each of us will come here tomorrow morning, if each of us who are listening in, will go to our respective places of worship, tomorrow, if each of us will show the reverence about which we have heard tonight, if each of us will not visit, will not talk, will not discuss business, it will not be many Sundays until I think, brethren, we shall have the reverence that has been talked about.
I wonder if we cannot try it, tomorrow, just to see what will happen.
I have listened to this music, tonight, President McKay, and I have listened to it on the other days of this Conference, we have had a new singing organization each day, we will have another tomorrow, when I think that these will be drawn primarily from this particular area, and when I think that out of this area, perhaps has been drawn for the Tabernacle Choir, which is largely absent, the whole choir that went to Europe, and then when I think of all the Church organizations, all over this western country, equally proficient, I am prepared to declare that this people of ours, have a culture in music that is more excellent, more universal, than any other group of people in the world. I firmly believe that. And our culture is not only in music. Our culture is in literature. Our culture is manifested in our public speaking. Our culture is manifested in the training which our young people have and which they demonstrate, as it is reported to us, to the astonishment of the leaders of the Army and of the Navy. We have a culture in art. This people of ours is a highly cultured people. We have a few rough edges to grind down, but our courtesy, our kindness, our affection one for the other, passes far beyond that which is found among other peoples.
One reason, I think, for that is, among many other reasons, that the Gospel teaches us to be respectful one of another. You know, in this Church of ours, as I have often said before, every man who is worthy has a chance to direct and a chance to serve, and when the man directs he will have in mind the time when he served and when he serves, he will recall when he directed. It builds for a mutual consideration, a mutual affection, a mutual regard, a mutual fellowship, a mutual brotherhood.
I thought I might say a word tonight on two fundamentals. Who are we? Well, we are Joneses and Smiths and Clarks and all the rest. Yes, but after all, who are they? And my mind always runs back to the beginning, for this earth and for us, and the Grand Council, when the Father came down among the intelligences that were organized, and held this great Council. I think we were all there. We are the sons of our Heavenly Father, tabernacled in the flesh through his divine plan, but that does not rob us of our divine origin. It emphasizes that origin because, save for the plan which our Heavenly Father put into effect, we had not been here, we had not taken on bodies, we would still remain, so far as I can see, in the state in which we were before the Grand Council and its plan, and that would have left us without the destiny which God marked out for us. We are the real children of our Heavenly Father.
And what are we? We bear the priesthood. What is the Priesthood? Through it we exercise certain authorities and powers of Godhood, itself. He has not given us all of the powers, and we are not living up to the requirements sometimes, some of us, that entitle us to exercise the powers which he has given-we would be a mightier people if we did.
I have always been impressed with the fact that Adam received his priesthood in the Creation, so said the Prophet, before the world was. The Prophet also said that any man who had the responsibility of administering to the inhabitants of this earth likewise was ordained in the Council of Heaven; and he further said, "I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that Council".
What are we? We are the agents of God, himself, through the Holy Order of the Priesthood of the Son of God. I wonder if we think of that. I wonder if that is on our minds when we deal with one another, when we deal with our families, with our neighbors, and with our friends. We hold these powers with which out of his abundance God has endowed us, that we might be able to carry on the mission with which we were charged when we came here.
Brethren, may the Lord bless me and bless you, give you and me abundantly of his spirit, that will enable us, first, to recognize what we are, the representatives of God on earth, endowed with certain of his powers. Never forget that. And next, help us so to live that we may enjoy those powers and exercise them, and then we shall rear our families as they should be reared. We will heal them when they are sick. We will be protected from harm and accident and disease. We will have more happiness than any of us can now imagine, all subject to the will of the Lord.
May God give us all of the blessings that we need to help us to magnify our Priesthood, which is the power and the authority to exercise some of the powers that God, himself, possesses, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President Stephen L Richards
Stephen L Richards, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 88-89
A few years ago I stood on the banks of the Susquehanna River at or near the place where Joseph and Oliver received under the hands of John the Baptist the Aaronic Priesthood. I learned that it is not known just where the Melchizedek Priesthood was bestowed, but it is assumed that it is in that vicinity. I had time for contemplation in the visit to this historic place, and I knew, as I contemplated the remarkable gift that the Lord had brought in this Dispensation, that the accounts of Joseph and Oliver were true; and I felt as sure of that divine experience as if it had taken place before me. I had not had occasion to doubt it before, and certainly I have entertained no doubt about it since; and it has been my pleasure and satisfaction throughout the years to declare the authenticity and the divine origin of the Priesthood of God which has come through his servants in his latter-day work.
I do not know how to give proper estimate of that great power. I know that man by nature is the most noble of all the Lord's creations. I know that he is endowed with intelligence, with reason, with a conscience, and many of the virtues that we think so highly of, and I have great admiration for men who develop their native talents and latent endowments to a point where they possess great intelligence and great learning, and equip themselves for great service to our Father's children.
But I have reached the conclusion in my own mind that no man, however great his intellectual attainments, however vast and far-reaching his service may be, arrives at the full measure of his sonship and the manhood the Lord intended him to have, without the investiture of the Holy Priesthood, and with that appreciation, my brethren, I have given thanks to the Lord all my life for this marvelous blessing which has come to me-blessing that some of my progenitors had, and a blessing which more than any other heritage I want my sons and my grandsons and my great-grandsons to enjoy.
There may be many of our young men, and some older ones, who are in this vast listening congregation tonight-some who have not been with us before and some who have not felt the warmth of the fellowship that we are permitted to enjoy. I hope I am not presumptuous when I welcome them into the bonds of fraternity and the brotherhood of the Holy Priesthood. And I know of few things that you can do to more perfectly bring to these newcomers a deep appreciation of this great and wonderful blessing than to take them to your hearts and your counsels in the quorums of the Holy Priesthood. The Lord has provided these quorums. He has specified them. He has given the very numbers which constitute them, and we know that he intends that they should be true fraternities among our brethren. Every one of us needs the help of a friend. We all need sympathetic understanding. We need encouragement. Sometimes we need correction. Within the quorums of the Priesthood there lie the facilities and the opportunities for a brotherhood that shall help all within it.
I would like to see the quorums of the Priesthood assume a larger and more important place in the teaching of the Gospel, in the nurturing of our young men and boys, and in their preparation for the great work of the latter days. I believe that they are organizations which the Lord himself designed to bless all of our brethren.
Now of course many things might be said about the opportunities that these quorums afford. Will you, my brethren, give to these groups to which you belong, these sacred societies, your allegiance, your love and devotion, and your help. The Lord needs his Priesthood to carry forward his work. I do not know that any of us can envision what the coming of the Savior will be like, but I have always felt that when he does come he will require the aid of his servants in perfecting the Kingdom, and that he will call upon his Priesthood in preference to any others to consummate his glorious work. I would like to be ready to serve acceptably to him when that day comes, and I know you would also, so I ask the Lord to bless us that we may so devote ourselves to the great Cause to which we have the honor to belong, to so uphold the standards of righteousness, to so proclaim the Gospel of our Lord, and to so live as to be worthy to be called and chosen now and when he comes, and that is my prayer for all of us, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder George Q. Morris
George Q. Morris, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 101-103
My dear brethren and sisters: I thank the Lord for fellowship and association with you in this glorious conference opened by an inspiring message from the President of this great Church, and I think his spirit has penetrated our hearts and permeated all the sessions of this conference, as the Lord blessed him with his spirit and power.
I have felt that this conference is marking a new epoch in the advancement of this the kingdom of God. I am sure there have been other conferences where splendid reports have come from various parts of the world, but there surely has been no other conference in the history of this Church where such events have been reported as have been reported in this conference-events which have thrilled our hearts, and there is no question in my mind but, with the temple dedication and choir tour in Europe, the advancement of the Church has been greatly accelerated, and we find ourselves in the midst of an advancement of this great cause spreading over the earth in a new way, under new conditions.
Just about a hundred years ago this people were a driven, mobbed, outraged people, banished from one of the states of the Union, in the hope of those who banished them-after killing their two leaders, Joseph and Hyrum, prophets of God-that they would perish in the western wilderness. We did not perish. Now a hundred years or so later our President and our choir, with members of the Quorum of the Twelve, are made welcomed and honored visitors in the nations of the world, being accorded welcomes that were heartfelt and generous, such as are perhaps given to royalty and other people of distinction-and the Lord will bless those peoples.
Why has this occurred? Because this is the kingdom of God. Daniel saw this day, and we should realize, and I hope our children realize, that we are taking part in events which prophets saw and described centuries ago that the Lord knew would take place; and in my judgment all that is going on in the world today, with our world wars and our great movements that seem to be shaking the earth-is being utilized for the consummation of his holy purposes as he has always done. So we are seeing the fulfillment of this prophecy of Daniel:
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
How could we identify this kingdom? Well, there are many ways. Mark the advance of civilization, from the ancient, Asiatic powers, with whom God had dealings through his prophets, advancing westward over Asia, advancing westward through Europe, always westward, and then it was stopped for centuries. Thousands of miles of ocean formed an impediment to this advancement. Then in due time the Lord bridged that great gap, inspiring Columbus to discover this land, this the greatest of all continents and the choicest of all lands, which God had reserved for the setting up of his kingdom; on which he established this free government, giving this nation power over the mother country in the Revolutionary War. During these years in Europe before America was discovered, kingdoms were established all over the land and continued for centuries.
It was in the time of these kings that this kingdom of God was to be established. It is interesting to note that in great movements, and the establishment of kingdoms and dominions, two things are very essential: transportation and communication. Without those, developments of that kind are not possible. The Lord has taken care of that, and now as his kingdom advances in power, we hear the spoken word around the world, and we are on the way, I think, even to be able to see around the world through television; and we are having planes built that will take us from here to our temple in Bern and to our other operations in Europe between sunrise and sunset. The Lord has provided the necessary means at the right time.
Another identification: The Lord, through his prophets, and the Savior while he was with the Nephites, said that there would be a sign given when the Father would undertake to establish his kingdom for the last time among the nations.
He said to them when the record of this people comes to your descendants then you may know that the work of the Father is being begun among the nations of the earth.
Well, that Book of Mormon came to their descendants, and they have had it for a hundred years. The Lord also said that the time would come for the gathering of Israel-Israel to this nation, the land of Joseph, and the Jews to their land in Palestine. For a hundred years, the gospel has been preached. You or your fathers and mothers have been gathered from all the nations of the earth because you and they are of the blood of Israel. They heard the message of the gospel, and we have been gathered here to this nation. Significantly enough, the movement westward continued when this great land was opened, even in this land, when we were driven from the east we moved further west, until we have come to the last stand in the westward movement in the tops of these Rocky Mountains. There is no place further west to go and no further need of it, for God has now established his kingdom in the tops of these mountains, and Israel is gathering to it.
The Jews, because of conditions growing out of World War I, are going back to Palestine, crowding back so rapidly that they can hardly be cared for. They do not understand why, but we do. They are building up their cities, planting their vineyards, developing industry, and they are beginning to believe in Jesus Christ as foretold. I was in touch with an association in New York City while I was there that was a mission to the Jews, to preach Christianity to the Jewish people, and singularly enough it was an organization of Jews who had been converted to Christianity-such as they were able to comprehend and believe.
I went into their establishment, not knowing just who they were, to inquire about something, and then I saw the New Testament and other evidences that led me to ask them, "Are you Christians?"
They said, "Yes, we are Christians." "Do you mean to tell me that you Jews believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ?"
"Yes, we do."
"You believe then that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, he whom your fathers crucified?"
"Yes, we do."
They had suffered hardship and trial and difficulty facing the enmity of their own people. I was present in one of their meetings where they sent away a young woman missionary, as we send our missionaries, in a way. And where do you suppose she was being sent? She was being sent to Jerusalem where their fathers crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, to bring them the message that this same Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.
The Lord said when these things were happening we would know that he was at work among the nations, that he had set his hand to carry on his work. The Prophet Joseph Smith, just three years before the powers of evil finally so gathered around him that they took is life, made this prophecy. It is in the famous Wentworth letter of 1842, Mr. Wentworth having asked him to supply information and something of the doctrines that might be published concerning the history of our people. After he a outlined the history and persecution of the people, before setting forth our beliefs in what we now call our Articles of Faith, he prophesied:
Our missionaries are going forth to different nations, and in Germany, Palestine, New Holland, Australia, the East Indies, and other places; the Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth, boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say, the work is done.
I bear my humble witness that that prophecy is of God and that this is the kingdom of God that Daniel saw the Lord set up, never to be given to other people; that angels have visited the earth and restored the Holy Priesthood, without which the kingdom of God has never been in the earth, and never can be in the earth; and God is carrying on this work; and the miraculous things referred to by Elder Petersen yesterday are part and parcel of the kingdom of God. Unless we can accept the supernatural, which means the power of God, we cannot accept salvation in the kingdom of God, and we do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not believe that the gospel is the power of God, if when the power of God is manifest to bring it to us, we reject it and deny it.
This is the Church and kingdom of God. I bear my humble witness to it. His power is here for the salvation of' the world. Would to God they would believe and join with us in advancing this kingdom over the earth, for there is no power under heaven, or ever will be, except the gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God, that will bring universal peace and happiness to the children of men, and that process is now in operation. May God further it and bless it. I bear witness to the divine calling of the Prophet Joseph Smith-a glorious Prophet, who has paid the price that prophets have paid in this world that enshrines the dead prophets and destroys the living ones.
May God bless us and preserve us so that we will live the gospel and preach it. People may not believe it-I wish they would-but it is our business to declare it with all its marvelous works and wonders. The definition in the dictionary for "miraculous" is "marvelous, wonderful," and that is exactly how the Lord describes the work that he is to bring forth in the latter days, a "strange work", "a marvelous work and a wonder", because his power will be made manifest.
May God bless us and help us to be true to every principle and doctrine and teaching of this church, to live them, and to preach them to the world, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder S. Dilworth Young
S. Dilworth Young, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 103-105
Last evening President Richards referred with some feeling to the children and to the grandchildren and to the great-grandchildren, who if the Church is to carry forward, must somehow catch the great message from their parents and go forward when the torch is tossed to them. I should like to spend my few moments in talking to them, if I might have the Spirit of the Lord.
I should like to speak to Lori and to Park, to Charlotte and to Annette, to Jack, to Brook, to Becky, and to Kirk, to Joan, to Norma, and to Ann, to Suzette, and to Carol Gay, and to Don, to Dale, and to LeGrand, and to Henry and to David-I could go on and on and on naming the children, some of whom are listening this morning, and many of whom are in Sunday School.
Some of them, when given opportunity, would arise to their feet and say something like this: "I believe the gospel. I believe that Joseph Smith was a Prophet." And then they qualify it by saying, "I do not know yet that it is true, but I believe it." I desire to say something to them concerning this qualifying statement, and I should like to say it in simple language so they can understand.
The power to bear testimony, the ability and the feeling of being able to say that one knows that Jesus is the Christ and that the restoration of the gospel has come through the hands of Joseph Smith, comes entirely by the power of the Holy Ghost. That power does not come through any education or through any special preparation on the part of the recipient in earthly things, but rather it whispers into the heart of the one who wants to know, and once whispered and once understood, that person may stand and say as surely as I or anyone else may stand and say it, that he knows that Jesus is the Christ. For the Spirit bears the witness, and it comes to everyone that in truth desires it.
I think that is the great message of Joseph Smith himself. He was only fourteen years of age, and he walked into his mother's home one morning and said, "Mother, I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true. Well, each of our children is not going to receive a vision such as Joseph Smith received, but each can have the whispering, and each can know just as surely, no matter what his age. He does not have to grow to be an adult to have this knowledge.
I can remember when I was a small child at the Lowell School up on D Street and Second Avenue. Four of us boys were gathered in the corner by the school fence, two of us were Latter-day Saints, and two of us were not. The two who were not were baiting the two Latter-day Saints. One of them turned on these other boys and said, "Well, we have the truth, and you haven't, and that is all there is to it." And that is all there was to it, too. He did not know why he knew it, but he did know it. He was going to learn why later. All children will learn to understand that whispering someday, and only by that whispering can you children, wherever you be, know that Jesus is the Christ. You may pile up evidence and knowledge, but only by that spirit will you know it.
Now the spirit does not always whisper. Sometimes it leaves one, and then one is left to his own resources. Then enters free agency. I should like to say to my children, my grandchildren and yours, that you can be determined to know about this thing by your own desire. You do not have to take someone else's word about it. Say to yourselves, "I know that this is so. I believe it, and I am going to abide by it." As you get that determination and say it, somehow the spirit will re-enter into you and fortify you in it.
There will be times when the spirit will not come to you. Here are some evidences which eventually will grow into your hearts until they will sustain you when the spirit is not present. There is the evidence which you will gain from the Book of Mormon. When you read that book, it will be an evidence to you. Coupled with it will be evidences found in the ancient Old Testament of how the Lord dealt with his ancient people. You will discover that it is very similar to the way he dealt with those in the Book of Mormon. The pattern of the New Testament will be an evidence to you, for like that pattern the Church today is established. There you will read it and take comfort from it.
You, when you get old enough to understand them, will be able to gain great comfort from the books of Moses and of Abraham, the revelations of the Lord to great, inspired men. These will give you renewed assurance. Archaeological discovery, that is, the digging in ancient mounds to find evidences of what kind of people lived there, will further your belief, because slowly but surely, as these evidences come forth, they bear their silent, dusty witness of the truth of the gospel.
One of the most noble witnesses and one of the most assuring and convincing witnesses is the lives of your own parents. Watch them live, watch how the gospel touches their hearts and makes them gentle and kind. That is the surest evidence that it is a power beyond any earthly conception-its effect upon the lives of your own folk and those you see around you who are trying to work righteousness.
Another evidence, as you get older, will be the evidence you will see in the effort of the Church to help its own through the welfare program. Such altruistic things can come only from those who want to practice and believe the truth. This great evidence will also bear its witness to you as you get older and take part in it; as you go to the cannery or as you go to weed the beet fields and help harvest the peas. Those evidences will come to you because of your work and your actions in that program.
Then, of course, you are going to have a great deal of pleasure and fun, but you are going to see the evidence of the auxiliary programs of the Church. How they touch your lives, starting with childhood and taking you through to adulthood, giving you ideals and knowledge of how to handle yourselves and your companions, how to be happy and joyful, and how to enjoy that portion of the gospel, for the gospel is a happy thing. And the Mutual Improvement Associations and the Sunday School and the Primary will contribute evidences within your ability to understand if you will but heed.
And finally, not finally but somewhere along the line, each young man will be given the priesthood. And then he will have a chance to practice the power which will eventually take him into the presence of our Heavenly Father. You will not know much about it at first, for it will be evidenced by such simple acts as the passing of the bread when the sacrament is administered in honor of our Lord and Savior. Later on you will be able to baptize, and, too, you will be able to lay on hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and after that you will be able to administer to your own sick. And still you will not know what that power is. Finally you will feel it, and you will learn, when you become old, that eventually it will take you into the presence of your Father in heaven.
Determination does it, my young friends. Be determined that you are going to get these evidences into your hearts, and then pray to the Lord that he will give you the Spirit of the Holy Ghost.
One more thing-you will have evidence of the whispering of the Spirit. You will hear testimony borne by others that there sits on this stand one who is not only the President of the Church but who is the Prophet of the Living God. That evidence can be borne into your hearts no matter how young you are, that the Lord has seen to it that his power has been carried forward from the days of Joseph Smith.
Let me give you an example of what can happen to you. Brigham Young stood up one day in the early history of this Church and told the assembled people that the Lord, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, had put upon his shoulders and those of the Twelve, the kingdom; that they were to bear it on and it was not to be done by Sidney Rigdon and others who were making claim, but that the Prophet had given to him and his fellows in the Twelve the power of God to carry on this work. There sat in that audience, my young friends, those who were full of faith, and the Lord manifested to them through a miracle that what President Young said was true, for he appeared unto them to be the very Prophet Joseph himself, and his voice sounded like the Prophet. They knew by that sign that he spoke truth.
But there also sat in that audience those who did not, and who did not want to believe, and who were critical. They saw and heard nothing, and they did not believe, and they apostatized. Of those who believed, you in this audience are their descendants. Those who did not believe, where are they?
It is the right and privilege of everyone, grown-up, half-grown, or tiny, to know by the Spirit that the President of this Church today, President David O. McKay, is a prophet of the Living God, that his Counselors are prophets, that the members of the Quorum of the Twelve and the Patriarch are prophets. All of the rest of us should sustain them in their holy offices so that they can direct the work, and we can forward it under their direction.
That testimony every man, woman, and child may know, not by any knowledge that comes from books, but by the whispering of the Spirit of the Holy Ghost.
I would that I were as simple as a little child, so that I might have as simple a testimony as has a child, but I do know that these things of which I have spoken are true. I bear witness of them humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Ezra Taft Benson
Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 106-110
My beloved brethren and sisters and friends: I thank God for that stirring Mormon hymn which we have just sung.
In deep humility I stand before you this morning. I seek an interest in your faith and prayers, and the blessings of our Heavenly Father, that I might have his Spirit to sustain me.
This is a great honor, a sobering responsibility, and a sacred privilege. I thrill with this great conference and the messages that have been given. Although I will have to get part of the messages through the written word, I am very grateful to the Lord that I was able to attend part of the meetings yesterday and to be here this morning. It became necessary to attend an important cabinet meeting in Washington on Friday and to stop in Denver en route to Salt Lake City.
I would like to say to you, my brothers and sisters and friends, that I am very happy to report, based on that visit and on a telephone conversation five minutes before this session began, that the President of the United States continues to make excellent progress. He has been informed of the spontaneous prayers that have ascended to our Heavenly Father in the sessions of this great conference, and more particularly the prayer which was offered in his behalf by the General Authorities of the Church as they surrounded the sacred altar in the temple in fasting and prayer on Thursday. Knowing the President as a great and good man-a man of faith and deep spirituality-I know he would want me to express to all within the sound of my voice his gratitude for the faith and prayers which have been offered.
I have been deeply impressed the past few years with the growth in spirit, fellowship, and brotherhood which seems to be in evidence in the Church. For the past three years I have been traveling approximately one hundred thousand miles each year. Almost everywhere I have gone I have been greeted by members of the Church, either at the airport or at meetings-which they were not obligated to attend-and always there were expressions of love and confidence and prayers in my behalf, and an expression of interest and pride in the growth of the Church in all the world. I believe I have also found evidence of increased faith and devotion.
It is quite appropriate, it seems to me, that much reference has been made in this conference to conditions in Europe and the great events that have taken place there in recent months: the dedication of the temple at Bern; the breaking of ground for a new temple in England; the announcement of a possible third temple.
Reference has been made to the European tour of the choir, the faith of the Saints, and the blessings which they enjoy today compared with only a few years ago-yes, just a short decade ago. I am very grateful to President McKay and the other members of the Presidency that Sister Benson and I were invited to attend that glorious dedication in Bern, Switzerland. I think I have never felt in all my life the veil quite so thin as it was three weeks ago this morning as we met in the opening session of that dedication service in that lovely spot in the house of the Lord, and as we listened to the prayer offered by President McKay and the remarks which preceded that prayer. Surely he was inspired, and surely we were all uplifted and convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that the action taken by the First Presidency in extending temples into Europe had the benediction and approval of our Heavenly Father. I shall never forget that glorious event! To me it was the most important event that has transpired in Europe in 118 years since the gospel was first taken to those shores. I am grateful to the Lord that my official duties permitted me to attend that dedication, almost in a miraculous manner, because had it not been for the postponement of a week I probably would not have had the opportunity. I think, President McKay, that the postponement was in part an answer to my prayers.
Naturally I was deeply impressed with the contrast between conditions in Europe in 1946 when I was there last and conditions as we find them now. I have been going back in memory, off and on ever since the dedication, reviewing in my mind the conditions that existed there when I went on an emergency mission in response to the First Presidency's call in 1946, and conditions as we saw them and as others saw them on this recent tour of the choir and the visit of the other brethren and the dedication of the temple. Surely the God of heaven has blessed Europe and the people of those countries. It almost seemed impossible for me to realize that in 1946, while traveling over 60,000 miles, most of it by army planes-unheated planes with bucket seats-in jeeps, and some of it in wooden railway coaches and on army trains-that much of Europe was in complete economic and spiritual collapse; it seemed almost impossible to realize the change that had come about, the comforts that are available now which were entirely absent then. Then there were railway stations that were bombed and blasted, schedules that were irregular and undependable, whole cities laid waste, service disrupted, and business paralyzed. Now everything seems to be in order-no more sleeping on straw beds or living on "K" rations. Everything seems promising and peaceful.
The people too have changed-no more shivering with cold; no more evidence of malnutrition; no more people poorly clothed and in rags; no more hungry and starving people, especially little children. No more great streams of refugees crowding the country roads with all their earthly belongings on their backs; no more great hordes of displaced persons, families broken, people discouraged, bewildered, frustrated, sick at heart! Yes, there has come a great change, and I thank God that his blessings have been showered upon those nations, particularly those that have suffered so much because of World War II.
I would like to mention this morning just one simple experience to illustrate not only the changes that have come about, but also something of the influence and the power of music and the Tabernacle Choir. I have wanted to relate this to the Tabernacle Choir ever since I returned. Even though they are not all here this morning, I want to mention it.
You will recall the accounts of the bombing of that great city of Hamburg, a great and proud city, a great industrial center. When we went there in the spring of 1946, it seemed as if the whole city was a shambles. There was nothing but rubble. There were no streetcars operating, no bus lines-all services were broken. Everything seemed to be broken to pieces. As I remember they estimated that the city was over seventy percent destroyed. A thousand planes had swooped down upon that city night after night. During one terrible night-and I heard the account firsthand from many of our faithful Saints-during one terrible night five of our six places of meeting were destroyed. We lost, as I recall, twenty-six members of the priesthood. Then there followed one of the best demonstrations of the spirit of the welfare program that I think this Church affords: The district president called the Saints together and they brought such food, bedding, and clothing as they could salvage and put it at the feet of the district presidency for distribution among the members of the Church according to need.
While this experience was still fresh in our minds, we were meeting at the city of Herne with the Saints of the battered Ruhr industrial area for their first district conference after the war. The meeting was being held in an old bombed-out schoolhouse. I do not recall exactly how many people were there, but there were several hundred. We had set the meeting for eleven o'clock in order to give them time to walk the long distances many of them had to come, some of them carrying babies in arms because there were no public conveyances available, and most of them had worn out their bicycles or were unable to get repair parts.
The district presidency had arranged, with our co-operation, a special surprise for the congregation that morning. From somewhere they had obtained an old radio which they had placed under cover in one corner of the building. At a certain moment in that service, which I shall never forget, the controls of that radio were turned to Radio Stuttgart, the American army radio station operated by a Mormon serviceman, and we heard strains of the Tabernacle Choir float out over the audience in that stirring and beautiful pioneer song, "Come, Come, Ye Saints."
After the second number, "O My Father," had been sung, I think there was not a dry eye among the adults in that audience. I saw before me an audience literally melted to tears through the singing of Mormon hymns by our great choir. It seemed as if all the cares of those suffering Saints were forgotten that morning. Even during the thirty-minute lunch period-when the most common item for lunch was a mixture of cracked grain and a little water such as we used to feed the baby chicks-even during the lunch period they talked of their blessings and expressed their gratitude for the gospel.
Then as we left that evening after the second session, the common expression was, as we bade them good-bye, "All is gut, Brother Benson." Well, all is good now surely. With the coming of the temples, with the material restoration that has come to those countries, and with what I hope is a deepened interest in spiritual matters-to which the temple will contribute in great measure-I hope too there will be a great increased interest in things spiritual, that those nations might be preserved in peace.
May God bless those wonderful people who will be recipients of the blessings of the temple, provided they prepare themselves for those blessings by living the gospel. And I sincerely hope and pray that not only they, but also all of us everywhere, will make that preparation that we may enjoy the richest blessings known to men and women in this world which are tied up with the sacred ordinances and blessings of the temples of God. While I recognize that there are many Saints who are still isolated and who will be unable, probably, to reach the temples, this movement in Europe which I am sure was made under inspiration will bring the temples closer to many thousands of our Father's children.
To those who are still isolated may I say this: In my humble judgment if you continue to live the gospel and keepp the commandments, and keep yourselves pure and unspotted from the world, the Lord will in some way make up to you that which you seem to be losing because it may not be possible for you to go to the temple. You will not be deprived of blessings which your lives merit.
Now, my brethren and sisters, much has been said regarding the attitude of the world toward the Church and kingdom of which we are a part. It seems as if we have been accepted, as it were, by the world. Much of praise, much of commendation, many favorable comments in the press and elsewhere have been made regarding the Church in recent years. Sister Benson and I were delighted as we traveled officially through six countries of Europe. We were delighted to find as we visited with officials of governments and agricultural leaders, men of prominence, in dinners and receptions, and in informal meetings, that everywhere there was favorable comment regarding the Church and its people. Many, many were the conversations we held regarding the Church and its program.
But I would like to raise this warning, my brothers and sisters. In this period of apparent goodwill-good feeling toward the Church-when it seems as if we have no great obstacles any more as we once had, there should be deep concern. In my judgment, in the hour of our success is our greatest danger. And apparently this is an hour of great success. No more persecution-persecution which once tended to drive us together and make us united! Now we seem to be accepted by the world. Will it mean disunity? Will it mean that we will rest on our laurels and sit back, as it were, and think that all is well in Zion? I think there is real danger in this period, this period of praise and commendation. I am happy for it, provided we be careful, that we be on our guard. The praise of the world will not save us. It will not exalt us in the celestial kingdom. Only the living of the principles of the gospel will bring us salvation and exaltation. And so I hope that our performance in living the gospel will be equal to the commendation and the praise we are receiving, that our performance will at least equal our reputation, and we have a good reputation. God grant that we may merit all the good things that have been said about us, and that more good things might be accurately said about us in the future.
I realize that the devil is alert. He is the enemy of this work. He is the enemy of all righteousness, and I know that he is clever, that he never takes a holiday. He works overtime. He is ingenious. I am confident he will devise new ways to fight this work. We may not know just what form those schemes will take, but we must be vigilant.
President McKay, I thought, very wisely said last night that should opposition come the best way for us to meet it is to live to prove false any false accusations. With all my heart I endorse that sentiment.
But there is real danger, my brothers and sisters. There is real danger that during this period we may let down our guard, as it were; that we may be tempted to join with the world and adopt some of their standards against which we have been warned by the Lord. I think this is particularly true in the social field. Only recently there came to my attention the fact that a group of young women, wives, some of whose husbands are employed in the government of the United States and of men who had attained a certain amount of prominence in their respective fields, who had more or less concluded that in order to be accepted by the world, in order that their husbands might get ahead in the world, they would have to let down just a little in their standards. They had concluded they would have to serve cocktails and coffee in their homes when friends came.
I want to testify to you, my brothers and sisters, and particularly to the young married couples of this Church, that such a conclusion is not only unwise and unjustified, but it is also dangerous and can lead only to heartache and disappointment and a loss of faith. I am confident that now more than ever before, possibly, is a time for us to live the gospel, to keep the commandments, to maintain every standard of the church, and to be true to our covenants. By so doing we not only guarantee and safeguard our own future and our salvation and exaltation, but we will also tend to safeguard the future of our own descendants and assure to a much greater extent our own success in our chosen fields, no matter what those fields might be.
I think it was Nephi who said that the time would come when there would be a tendency for people to become pacified; they would be lulled away into a false security; there would be those who would be at ease in Zion, saying "Zion prospers, all is well"; and that the devil would cheat their souls and lead them carefully down to hell.
I think we need to be on the alert today to see that that does not happen in the Church. I had occasion many times on this last tour through Europe, as I have had before, to thank the Lord for the Word of Wisdom. Many were the conversations we had regarding the Church, and particularly those my good wife had, as we sat at dinners, luncheons, etc., and it came to their attention that we did not drink liquor, smoke, etc. Immediately they wanted to know more about the Church, and always there was commendation for our standards. Never once was there any embarrassment. Always there was a feeling of gratitude and thanksgiving on our part at the end of the day or evening because of the standards which the God of heaven has provided in his Church.
This was the same no matter how high the station of the officials with whom we met. And I say to you, it always will be true of men of goodwill, men of character. As Latter-day Saints we cannot afford to let down our standards, to refuse to live the gospel completely and fully.
God bless us, my brethren and sisters, that we may continue a peculiar people, as Peter said of the saints of old. He referred to them as a peculiar people. So are we, and may we continue so. May we who hold the priesthood of God be unafraid to step forward and provide the righteous leadership which is necessary in our various fields of activities! This is a time for demonstration, my brethren of the priesthood, to let the world know something of the fruits of Mormonism, something of the testimonies which we bear, something of our faith and our determination to live the gospel.
Yes, let us do what is right, and we shall have no occasion to worry. I testify to you with all my soul that this work in which we are engaged is the truth. God has again spoken from the heavens. His work is upon the earth. Joseph Smith was in very deed a Prophet of God. The same power and authority which he bore is now in the hands of President David O. McKay.
God help us to realize these facts and to heed the counsel of our great leader and those who serve as leaders in the priesthood everywhere, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Antoine R. Ivins
Antoine R. Ivins, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 114-116
My brethren and sisters: I sincerely seek an interest in your faith and prayers, that what I shall undertake to say in the next few minutes may be directed by the Spirit of our Heavenly Father and may be delivered in a spirit of love and fellowship, for I love the work of the Lord, and I love his people; I love to work with them.
I have been interested in this conference, especially interested in the many references that have been made to the foreign missionary work and to the newly completed temple in Switzerland. Those references have caused me to reflect upon the purposes of temples. We have had some instruction already as to why we build them. It seems to me that so far as a newly erected temple is concerned, perhaps its major purpose would be to take care of the living, because I believe the accommodations of those already existent would take care of the vicarious work that we have available at the present time. So this newly erected temple is likely to be most beneficial for the living people of Europe. They who have never had the experience of an endowment in the temple before, will receive a wonderful uplift in their spirituality as they enjoy this rare and wonderful privilege which is given to us in the temples of God.
The priesthood has for its purpose integrating into the lives of people the ordinances and the benefits of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The greatest and most supreme of all of these blessings comes to us through the administration of the priesthood in the temples of God and in no other place and were this new temple limited to the benefits the people receive in mortality, its erection and administration would be amply justified, but the benefits of these ordinances when they are carried through to their ultimate end, are not limited to mortality. They penetrate the veil between mortality and eternity, giving people advantages which are past our understanding. Really, they are so sublime and wonderful that they stagger our imagination.
In the Doctrine and Covenants we are told that any man who can attain to the magnification of all of his duties in the Melchizedek Priesthood would and will ultimately attain to the powers of God.
No man who goes into a temple and is content with receiving his own endowments realizes the full possibilities that the temple offers him. He only who takes a wife into the temple and is sealed to her for time and all eternity can ultimately attain to the tremendous and wonderful blessings that are held out as an inducement for righteous living. That seems to me to be the sublime and supreme distinction between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and all other religious denominations.
During the last year, 1954, and this year up to the present, as we have ministered among the stakes of Zion, there has been placed in our hands an item, a statistical item relative to the numbers of people who avail themselves of this grand and glorious privilege. I have kept account of the stakes I visited last year and this. Last year there were reported 1811 marriages in the stakes that I visited, and I was surprised to learn that less than half of them were consummated in the temple, a fifth of them involving people who were not members of the Church.
It is an astonishing thing. I rather feel to regard that as an unsatisfactory percentage. There may be people who think it is perhaps all that could be expected, but I do not. I think that we ought to strive to increase that percentage, and then once you make up your mind that that should be an incentive and an objective, the question then is: Where are you going to start to bring about an improvement?
It seems to me that the duty of teaching people who are approaching marriageable age, the advantages of celestial and eternal marriage, first, and always, is with the parents. Then I wonder how parents who have not availed themselves of that privilege and who hardly live so as to impress their children with the desirability of perpetuating the marriage relationship, can expect so to impress their children. I have come to decide, brethren and sisters, that the place to start is not with the young folk, but with the old folk, to get the fathers and mothers of young people fully to appreciate the advantages, the wonderful advantages of celestial marriage, and then to present to their growing children an example which will make marriage, a marriage for eternity, attractive to them.
If the parents do not do it, where can we lay the responsibility for it? We have a good many agencies that are supposed to supplement the efforts of the parents, brethren and sisters, but it seems to me that fathers and mothers can never escape the responsibility for this instruction.
So it behooves us to live to be worthy of it. If we have not already availed ourselves of the opportunity to bring our lives into conformity with the standards of the gospel so that we can avail ourselves of that privilege, what example do we set as a lesson to our children? Words fall flat when they do not show in the example of the parents the value of the teaching.
So I believe that is where we ought to begin, brethren and sisters, and there are many of us who can take it to heart. I am sure there is a wonderful percentage of people who make every possible effort to magnify their calling and obligation, but there are many others of us who do not. We let jealousy and hatred and other things enter into family relationships which disrupt them and disturb them, resulting too frequently in the dissolution of the union, and all of that is not right, brethren and sisters. It is not right, and it behooves us as fathers and mothers to set the example and then give the instruction. That instruction should be subtle. It should be attractive. It should be convincing.
Then to supplement the efforts of the father and the mother, we have the bishopric of the ward. We had a wonderful film on the responsibility of a bishop the other night. There have been bishops in the Church who have seen and used the opportunity that is theirs to instruct their young people when they approach marriageable age in the advantages of celestial and eternal marriage. There, again, is the closest contact I believe that we have in the Church to supplement the efforts of the fathers and the mothers. And if fathers and mothers and bishops and auxiliary associations should combine in a serious effort to teach this truth, I believe we could make it so attractive that the evils which befall many of our young people would cease to be attractive to them, and they would develop a strength in their youth which would carry them through all their future lives in honorable service to God, our Heavenly Father, and in righteous living.
Now what will we do about it? We cannot dream ourselves into it, brethren and sisters, and if any single one who is here today finds opportunity, he should start action at once to correct his life and make it appropriate for the realization of these grand and glorious principles and privileges.
The greatest result of such living is the union of a man and a woman for time and eternity, sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise, with the power of eternal increase, an attribute of Godhood. "...all that my Father hath shall be given unto him" is the promise made to the man who receives and magnifies the priesthood. God bless you. Amen.
Elder Adam S. Bennion
Adam S. Bennion, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 116-120
This has been a stirring conference, my brethren and sisters, and I trust that the few minutes I may occupy I may catch its spirit in the prayer that was uttered at the beginning of this session. We have always had beautiful music at these sessions. Today's singing was music at its best. While this group of mothers sang, I looked over the brethren down below, and I think I got a new meaning to the Eighth Psalm:
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels....
When they sang that first song, "When Children Pray," I was reminded of the experience of the little fellow, two-and-a-half, who was sitting at the table and was asked to say the blessing. He had his hands crossed over his eyes, said the author, "The better to peek through," and then offered his prayer, understandable only to his mother-and one other. I am sure this choir has brought us into the spirit of Him who understands.
It is an honor to follow the leadership of this great First Presidency and to labor in the fellowship of my Brethren of the General Authorities. The evidence of this conference, I think, must be convincing to all of you that they are strong, devoted men. I give you my witness that they are men of God.
As we walked out of the morning session, I shook hands with Sister John A. Widtsoe, the wife of the man whom I had the honor to follow into this quorum. As we threaded our way through the narrow lane that is prepared down there in the great crowd that gathers around the car of our President, Sister Widtsoe said, "The soul of people hungers for an ideal." I was impressed that it may be that same hunger that prompts us to believe in God. There are so many evidences, the mystery to me is not that men may believe in God, but as Ballard once wrote, "the great miracle of mankind is the miracle of unbelief."
Dinmore has put it beautifully: "If no help had ever come from God, the impulse to pray would have died out long ago."
Among the stirring things of this conference is the living evidence here today of Thomas E. McKay and Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin. They have been so critically ill that man's power alone could never have made it possible for them to give the witness they have given in this conference.
The other night as I read into the Book of Mormon, I turned to the book of Ether, wherein is this remarkable passage:
Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
As I pondered the meaning of an anchor, I was impressed that faith is that anchor. It is a wonderful thing to be anchored to the truth of Almighty God through faith which bids us to know that he lives. But faith is more than an anchor. As a matter of fact, if I have a theme for these few minutes, it centers in the thought of the faith which impels us to action. Faith is a dynamic thing. Faith is an adventurous term.
I was so much impressed a couple of nights ago with the declaration of PeeWee Reese, the great little shortstop of the Brooklyn Dodgers. You will remember in this series, the Yanks had taken the first two games, and historically the record seemed to indicate that no team which ever lost the first two games ever came back to take the series. So the commentator asked PeeWee Reese what he thought of that.
"Well," said Reese, "I know what the record is, but sometime it ought to be broken, and I believe we have the team this year to do it"-I do not want to be partisan.
As a matter of fact, faith exists in every field of activity. It is faith-it is confidence-that risks everything for the pearl of great price. The scientist watching the test tube does it in terms of faith. The men these days who are searching for a cure against polio have been following the lead of faith these many years. A neighbor of mine devotes his entire life and plans to dedicate his life to the search for something that will prevent the hardening of the arteries. It is faith that prompts men to move toward their coveted goal always. Really, it is faith that prompts a teacher to try to inspire students with the thought that there is a better life ahead.
I wish I had the magic to give to the teachers of our own schools, and to all others, the precious formula that was given to me when first we went east to go on with advanced training. My mother, who had had none of it, said, "All right son, get all of it you can." Then she gave me a farewell message that has rung in my ears ever since: "Get all the learning you can, son, but don't ever let it destroy your faith." God bless her for that admonition.
I. Now, in these brief minutes I am going to lead your thinking to the faith of the scriptures. I think I shall beg leave to print in the interest of time. There are wonderful passages. As a matter of fact, the more I read the scriptures, the more I am impressed that the great echo through the scriptures is an echo of faith and of love and of obedience. When you put the three of them together, you have a great formula for proofreading all the experiences of life.
For those who receive it in faith, and work righteousness, shall receive a crown of eternal life.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
For by it the elders obtained a good report.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
I love to read the life and story of Abraham and of Nephi, and both of them echo the same sentiment.
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
Read 1 Nephi, chapters 2 and 3, the glorious experience of Nephi, who believed he could get the plates from Laban, against the doubt of his brother, Laman, who was sure he could not. Read those two chapters to find the power of faith and the emptiness of doubt and disbelief.
The kind of faith that I have in mind is the kind that always leads into works. I am mindful of James' injunction,
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?.
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Consider these further meaningful scriptures:
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
And Christ truly said unto our fathers: If ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me.
And except ye have charity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God; neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if ye have no hope.
Ask the Father in my name, in faith believing that you shall receive, and you shall have the Holy Ghost, which manifesteth all things which are expedient unto the children of men.
And if you have not faith, hope, and charity, you can do nothing.
But after repenting, and humbling himself sincerely, through faith, God ministered unto him by an holy angel, whose countenance was as lightning, and whose garments were pure and white above all other whiteness....
And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart.
And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.
We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
II. The second thought I want to leave with you is the faith of our fathers. What a wonderful place to contemplate the faith of our forebears. Before you go out this afternoon from these grounds, won't you take one more look at the Seagull Monument and read the inscription on the north side: "Erected in grateful remembrance of the mercy of God to the Mormon Pioneers." When you gather in this edifice, you must think of the faith of men who from 1863 to 1867 toiled to build it-to 1870 to complete the balcony. As you look now at the pipes in this great organ, you must be mindful that some of them were made possible only because the pioneers discovered certain kinds of timber three hundred miles to the south.
I talked the other day with a grandson of a man who helped to saw that timber, and he said it took eighteen yoke of oxen to drag the tree from where it grew to the location of the saw that had been set up. Then by ox team they had the problem of bringing it three hundred miles to this square-and over what roads! Men without faith never would have done it!
I go out through these grounds, and though I have said it many times, will you let me say it again: The privilege that is ours at times to bring visitors to this spot always inclines me to take them to the southeast corner, for when our grandfathers lived in log cabins such as you see out there, they were dreaming dreams of the temple into which they put forty years of effort and four millions of dollars, which they did not have. That is faith!
Reference has been made to the glorious experience of the choir, and I understand every place they sang "Come, Come Ye Saints" they were encored again and again. We sing it frequently. Let me read the third verse again. William Clayton was not speculating about their arrival here. He said:
We'll find the place which God for us prepared, Far away in the West, Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid; There the Saints will be blessed. We'll make the air with music ring, Shout praises to our God and King; Above the rest these words we'll tell- All is well! All is well!
Do you know what he was doing when wrote that? It was on the 15th of April between Nauvoo and Winter Quarters, one of the toughest trips that any people ever took. I beg of you to remember that six hundred people lost their lives in those three hundred miles. He had been sick much of the time. Pick up his journal and read the first twenty pages-the little journal of William Clayton. He had been ill. His wife, Diantha, was still ill-too ill to travel. As you read those twenty pages, you will notice how often he was writing a letter to be sent back to his wife, hoping that she would be well. Then came the glad news that she had given birth to a son, she herself too ill to move. She struggled against the ague and against the mumps. He himself was sick, but the morning-I love to read this-the morning the word came that he had a son-notice the practicality of it-he said they had been spending the day in a search, for "Henry Terry's horses are missing. They've been hunted all day, but are not found yet. This morning I composed a new song, 'All is Well.' I feel to thank my Heavenly Father for my boy, and pray that he will spare and preserve his life and that of his mother, and so order that it be soon that we may be together again." He asked President Brigham Young, "Could they not send back and bring her along?" and President Young said, "You may."
I tried to conjure up last night that as William Clayton talked to Brigham Young about the new song he had just written, whether either one of them could ever have imagined, even in fancy, that a hundred years later 379 voices of the choir would take that same hymn and sing it to 60,000 people in Europe. And yet they did it. And we live today under the reflected glory of that choir. That's faith in its fulfillment.
Brigham Young said these remarkable things:
I do not wish men to understand I had anything to do with our being moved here; that was the providence of the Almighty; it was the power of God that wrought out salvation for this people; I never could have devised such a plan... We have faith, we live by faith; we came to these mountains by faith. We came here, I often say, though to the ears of some the expression may sound rude, naked and barefoot, and comparatively this is true... We had to have faith to come here. When we met Mr. Bridger on the Big Sandy River, said he, "Mr. Young, I would give a thousand dollars if I knew an ear of corn could be ripened in the Great Basin." Said I, "Wait eighteen months and I will show you many of them." Did I say this from knowledge? No, it was my faith; but we had not the least encouragement-from natural reasoning and all that we could learn of this country-of its sterility, its cold and frost, to believe that we could ever raise anything. But we travelled on, breaking the road through the mountains and building bridges until we arrived here, and then we did everything we could to sustain ourselves. We had faith that we could raise grain; was there any harm in this? Not at all. If we had not had faith, what would have become of us? We would have gone down in unbelief, have closed up every resource for our sustenance and should never have raised anything.
III. Then I wanted you to take just a brief look at what I like to call the faith of tomorrow. I was impressed a little while back at a convention in Chicago of the young people of that town. They said they were getting a little tired of those screaming headlines each day about some wild exploit of some wild youngster, so they gathered themselves together, and the made a study. They took a look at police records in Chicago, and they discovered that of all the juvenile delinquency cases that came before the court in Chicago in Cook County, all were attributable to three percent of the population, and they made a plea in that convention: "Let's not forget the ninety-seven percent as we brand the immaturity of the three." Then they said what to me was a wonderful thing: "We pledge ourselves to live so as to honor and revere our parents, to be decent ourselves, and to prepare ourselves to defend this nation-so to live that those whose names we bear will be proud we came along." That gives a man faith in a new generation!
This has been a wonderful year to me. A year ago now I was not here. I give you my witness along with Brother Wirthlin and Brother Thomas E. McKay that the God who lives answers prayers. I give you my witness that that same God can carry the benediction of the faith of these people to President Eisenhower. May it be so.
I want to close with two or three concrete cases which out of this year have thrilled me. We go to these stakes week after week and come back so built up, so reinforced, so strengthened! We love you people for your faith. We are grateful for the prayers you utter for us, and we return them in the councils of these good brethren.
A young couple came into the office the other day, and the girl said, "We've always wanted him to go on a mission. Either he didn't get the call or the circumstances were not quite right, but he has not gone. Now we have a little baby, but that ambition still burns." Then she said, "I have made arrangements so I can work to support myself and the baby and have a good bit towards his keep. Is it possible that he can go?" You love that kind of faith!
Reference has been made in this conference to Brother Nebeker of Bear Lake. He went on his mission after the children had come, and one of the dramatic things, in my judgment, in Bear Lake is the day when his wife wrapped her skirt loosely around the children as she waved good-bye to the husband who rode horseback to make his train connection, and said, "In a situation like this the only things that help are work and prayer."
A few short weeks ago in Hawaii I had the privilege of giving a blessing to two Japanese girls, lovely young people, the only ones out of their families to come into the Church. They were willing to bid good-bye to the family circle. They had faith that this is the work of God, and they wanted to go on a mission. They want to go among their own people and carry this great message to them.
Then let me take you, as I close, to Cumorah. I could pay tribute to the wonderful boys and girls in the missions of the great Northwest. President McMurrin, we are grateful to you for the notable job you have done. I look down at Brother Steed and President Taylor, and I am grateful for the great theater that they have built against the Hill Cumorah. There are stirring things in life, but to stand against that hill, with only the darkness of the night for a curtain, and then have the four trumpeters come out on the top of that hill and play "An Angel from on High"! Then sit through the evenings that attracted 54,000 people to witness the pageant, and then go through four days of testimony in the Sacred Grove!
I want to take you into that Sacred Grove for just a minute. We had listened through those four days to 248 wonderful young men and women-missionaries, and students from Brigham Young University-if you could have heard them, you would have been proud, too. They all bore wonderful witness, but included in that Sunday service, attended by some 750 people, were two women I shall never forget, both of them brought up in wheelchairs to the little platform that stands in the Grove.
One of them, Sister Louise Lake, has a sublime faith, the faith that one day she will walk again. God grant her that request. The other girl, a Miss Brown from Connecticut, who said, as she was wheeled up, "I know that I shall never walk again"-misshapen limbs, which under palsy she has such a hard time to control. She said that when that disease first struck her, she was numbed for awhile, and she was bitter for awhile, but she said, "I have risen above all that"-and I think when she was through, there wasn't a dry in the Grove. The young people who heard Miss Brown that day will never forget. She said, "Crippled as I am in my body, I rejoice that my spirit is still intact. I have the faith to believe that one day, either here or elsewhere, God will work out the healing of my body-and while I live, let me never complain, but let me go about bearing my witness to his goodness.
This has been a wonderful conference. God bless you to go out in the spirit of faith, the spirit that bids us to make a rededication of our lives and our services. We can all pray; we can all labor; we can all gather the family around us; we can attend our services; and we can do some good for somebody. In the spirit of that kind of faith, I ask God to bless you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder ElRay L. Christiansen
ElRay L. Christiansen, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 121-123
I am so grateful, my brothers and sisters, for the blessings that have come to me from this conference. I have thought of it in this way: "If thy brother ask thee to go with him one mile, go with him twain". As someone put it: "The first is an obligation; the second, a consecration."
I have made up my mind that henceforth, because of the marvelous things that have been said here, I will be more determined to dedicate that which I have in the way of energy and substance to the work of the Lord here upon the earth-more determined than I have ever been before.
It seems to me that the life of a Latter-day Saint is intended to be a life of dedication and of consecration to the things of God. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a program for the perfecting of the individual member by his adherence to the principles of that gospel. It is designed to teach us to forget ourselves, to be unselfish. I have come to think that selfishness on the part of those of us who are inclined that way is one of the great deterrents to our progress and to the realization of a divine destiny. Let us be determined to overcome selfishness and personal aggrandizement by sharing with others that which we have, by dedicating ourselves to the work at hand which we have to do, through dedication of our talents, our time, our substance, our tithes, and our offerings, our love, our goodness and kindness one to another, always seeing the good that always may be found in others.
When we partake of the sacrament, brothers and sisters, we presumably take upon us the name of Christ. We agree to do as he would do, to act as he would act:
... by love serve one another.
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
The reward of unselfish service has been told us by the Lord when he has said that "... whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it". The sweetness and the joy of life is found when we are willing to deny ourselves for the good and the benefit of others. Service to others, service in the Church, giving of our substance, is part of the life of a Latter-day Saint. We are taught that sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. In no other way, as I see it, can the Lord raise up a people who will be fit for the kingdom, who will have it ready for his coming. By offering himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world and the redemption of mankind from death, Jesus set an incomparable example to us in the way of sacrifice and of love for others.
Again, when Abraham and Sarah were commanded of the Lord-requested at least-to give as a sacrifice their son Isaac, we can imagine what must have gone through their minds. Nevertheless, they met the test. The Lord did it to see how much they loved him. Abraham was sustained, I am sure, by an unwavering trust in God. I am sure that Abraham knew that to accomplish his purposes, God could, if he desired, raise up Isaac from the dead, even after he had died. But what a lesson that is in service, of dedication, of consecration of that which he dearly loved! No wonder that Abraham was called a "friend of God".
An opportunity to demonstrate his love of the Lord was given to another man. He had great possessions, and he had a chance to test his unselfishness when he asked of the Lord, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?". Now this man had done many good things. He had kept most of the commandments, I understand, but he had become selfish because of his great possessions. Evidently he thought more of them than he did of eternal life, because when told by the Savior that in order to gain eternal life he should sell whatsoever he had and give to the poor and take up the cross and follow him, he was sad, and according to the record, "... went away grieved: for he had great possessions". He had not learned the meaning of dedication and of consecration.
Contrast this man with a certain poor widow who cast into the treasury her two mites, which made a farthing-all that she had. Her contribution amounted to very little in monetary value, about one half of a penny of our money, but it was not the smallness of her offering that made it especially acceptable unto the Lord as he witnessed her placing her money in the treasury, but it was the spirit of sacrifice that she had shown. As he observed others throwing their money into the treasury, the record states:
... he called unto his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
Dedication, it seems to me, in some form, is the real essence of all religion. Dedication to the will of the Lord and to his work is the religion of the Latter-day Saints. In this dispensation of the gospel, thousands have met the test when called upon to sacrifice their personal positions, their time, and even their lives, in order to establish and defend the kingdom of God upon the earth.
The Prophet Joseph Smith permitted himself to be taken by the mob and be put to death, and along with him, Hyrum, whose life was lost by an assassin's bullet, and in the same room at the same time, Dr. Willard Richards and John Taylor, who refused to leave him, and Dan Jones, and others who were loyal and devoted and would have given their lives gladly in preference to the Prophet's life. They set an example for us in this dispensation! There is scarcely an end to the list of those who have done likewise or who stand now willing to do all that is required of them. A spirit of dedication, willingness to serve in any capacity and to sacrifice, if necessary, characterizes the true Latter-day Saint.
It was not long ago that I was in one of the stakes in southern Idaho. I was asked to interview five young men between twenty-five and thirty-five years of age, most of them married and having one or two children, to see if they were ready to receive an office in the Melchizedek Priesthood for which they had been recommended. I received the thrill of my life. Somehow, I decided-I don't know whether I made a mistake or not-but I decided to see what the depth of their willingness to sacrifice was. As each one came into the room, I sat down with him, introduced myself, and became better acquainted with him. Then I stated that the Church had acquired a great tract of land in Brush Creek and wished to prepare it for settlement for the Saints. The water had to be brought on to it, the brush had to be cleared and the land leveled, homes built, schools erected, and all things must be done from scratch. It will be no easy thing. I said: "If you were asked to go, would take your wife and family and leave what you have and go to Brush Creek and settle it?" Every one of those young men said yes.
I said: "What would your wife think about it?" In every case they said, in effect, "I am sure she would feel as I do, that if the Church required it, we would go." Then I explained that I had concocted the story.
I felt like putting my arms around each of those young men. I commended them, and then I got down on my knees, and I thanked the Lord for such young men of this day who were ready to dedicate, to consecrate, to leave all that they had and go, no matter where they may be called to go and build up Zion. That is the test that we all should be ready to meet.
There is a veritable army of men and women such as these in the quorums, in the missions, and in the wards and stakes, and in all places, where they serve without a thought of compensation. There is no end to the list-the ward teachers, who do good jobs, all of those who serve, all of you. It is commendable, and it must be pleasing in the sight of the Lord. Among them, not to be overlooked, are those much unnoticed, unsung men and women, who day after day, month after month, year after year, labor in the temples of the Lord, giving vicarious service on behalf of the dead. Along with them are those who do research work, hiding behind desks and files, where nobody knows about them, spending hours and money and time and energy that the work might be perfected. It is one thing, you know, to do something for those who can return the goodness and who can thank you, but these people-this great arm of those who do vicarious service, with do not expect a return in thanks, at this time at least-I think win our most sincere commendation and our admiration for that type of dedication.
Paul has said that "... He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
"... let him give, not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver".
With the Apostle Paul, brothers and sisters, let us say, as we go from this conference,
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
May it be so with us. I testify that this is the work of God; that his power is within this Church-the power to bring redemption to the dead and salvation to the living, and I am honored to be affiliated with the membership of this Church and to do my little bit in furthering the work. God bless you and keep you and comfort you when you need comfort, I pray humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Elder Marion G. Romney
Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 123-125
My beloved brothers and sisters: President McKay began this great conference on a note of gratitude. My soul immediately responded to the theme. The spirit of it has inspired the proceedings of every session of the conference. In harmony with it, let me say that I am grateful for the peace that has come into my heart during the conference, and for the peace of this moment as I stand before you to express my feelings.
Among the many things for which I am thankful is the sanctifying process of repentance. I am grateful to the Lord Jesus Christ who, through the atonement he wrought, gave us the gift of repentance. I am grateful that he was willing voluntarily to give his life for us. That is literally what he did. He did not have to give it; he did not have to die. Because he was the Son of God, he was not subject to the Fall, as were men. Within him was power to live forever. "... I lay down my life for the sheep"-he said. "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again". He inherited power over death from his divine Father.
It took a person with power over death to pay the debt to justice to bring men forth in the resurrection. It took a sinless one, a god, even the sinless Son of God, to satisfy the demands of justice for men's sins. They themselves could not make an atonement which would either bring about their resurrection or pay for their sins and bring about their spiritual rebirth.
And so I repeat, I am grateful for my Redeemer, grateful that he paid the debt and brought about the means of repentance so that by repenting of my transgressions I can bring my soul within the reach of his atoning blood and thereby be cleansed of sin; for, after all, it is by the grace of Christ that men are saved, after all they can do. The thing they can and must do is repent. I love the doctrine of repentance.
During the past few months I have seen the need of it-oh, how I have seen the need of it. I have seen missionaries, saints, and non-members of the Church, in far-off lands sorrowing with a godly sorrow for sin. I have heard them say, "Oh, Brother Romney, do you think there is any hope for me, any chance for me to get on even the bottom rung of the gospel ladder?"
And as I have witnessed their sorrowing, I have remembered the sorrowing of repentant men in days of old; Zeezrom, for example, whose "soul," after he realized what he had done in opposing the ministry of Alma and Amulek,"... began to be harrowed up under a consciousness of his own guilt; yea, he began to be encircled about the pains of hell". So severe were his sufferings that he "... lay sick at Sidom, with a burning fever, which was caused by the great tribulations of his mind on account of his wickedness". And Alma, who said of the suffering he endured for "seeking to destroy the church of God":
I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins. Yea, I... was tormented with the pains of hell... with inexpressible horror... even with the pains of a damned soul.
But then I also remembered the rest which came into their souls when, through repentance, they found forgiveness. "Yea, I say unto you," said Alma to his son Helaman, that as "there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains"-so "... on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy".
And so I was comforted and encouraged those who confided in me, and I encourage all sorrowing, repentant men to be comforted-comforted by the experience of Alma and by Paul's assurance that "... godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation". For today, as well as in days of old, there is hope, there is peace, there is rest in Christ for all whose godly sorrow brings them to that repentance which worketh salvation. Forgiveness is as wide as repentance. Every person will be forgiven for all the transgression of which he truly repents. If he repents of all his sins, he shall stand spotless before God because of the atonement of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ; while he that exercises no faith unto repentance remains "... as though there had been no redemption made, except it be the loosing of the bands of death". Such is the gist of God's merciful plan of redemption.
My brothers and sisters, there are many among us whose distress and suffering are unnecessarily prolonged because they do not complete their repentance by confessing their sins. You will recall the following words of the Savior,
I command you to repent... and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken.
In another revelation he said,
By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins-behold, he will confess them and forsake them.
Repeatedly he says that he forgives the sins of those who confess their sins with humbleness of heart, "... who have not sinned unto death". And he adds,
... he who of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.
But how are we to fulfil this commandment? To whom are we to confess our sins? In the fifty-ninth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord, with other directions concerning his "holy day," says,
... remember that on this, the Lord's day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord.
I would assume that we are to confess all our sins unto the Lord. For transgressions which are wholly personal, affecting none but ourselves and the Lord, such confession would seem to be sufficient.
For misconduct which offends another, confession should also be made to the offended one, and his forgiveness sought.
Finally, where one's transgressions are of such a nature as would, unrepented of, put in jeopardy his right to membership or fellowship in the Church of Jesus Christ, full and effective confession would, in my judgment, require confession by the repentant sinner to his bishop or other proper presiding Church officer-not that the Church officer could forgive the sin; ), but rather that the Church, acting through its duly appointed officers, might with full knowledge of the facts take such action with respect to Church discipline as the circumstances merit.
One having forsaken his sins and, by proper confession, cleared his conduct with the Lord, with the people he has offended, and with the Church of Jesus Christ, where necessary, may with full confidence seek the Lord's forgiveness and go forth in newness of life, relying upon the merits of Christ.
Let us in this manner clear for righteous living the decks of our own lives, and get on our way to eternal life. Only by so doing can we rid ourselves of those guilty feelings of unworthiness, depression, fear, uncertainty, and self-condemnation which block our upward climb. So long as we put off either the forsaking or confessing of our sins, just so long do we delay the day of our redemption.
Let not the past hang heavy as a millstone to thy heels, To drag thee downward as each upward impulse to thy nobler self appeals; But as the joyous butterfly from its chrysalistic shell breaks free, So from the past must thou rise jubilant, thine own true self to be.
This we may do today if we will, for Amulek assures us that
... if will repent and harden not hearts, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto .
And President Joseph F. Smith spoke these comforting words:
... none of the children of the Father who are redeemed through obedience, faith, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, and who live in that redeemed condition, and die in that condition, are subject to Satan... They are absolutely beyond his reach just as little children are who die without sin.
God grant that it may be so with us all, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.
Elder Clifford E. Young
Clifford E. Young, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 126-127
My brethren and sisters: When I was on my mission many years ago, I was laboring in Southern Germany, and in 1907 President Joseph F. Smith, in company with then Bishop Charles W. Nibley, who subsequently was called to be a Counselor to President Heber J. Grant, was traveling through the missions. While in Switzerland, as has been related here, a meeting was held attended by Saints and some of the missionaries, at which President Smith made that memorable prediction that the day would come when there would be temples in Europe and in that land of Switzerland.
It seemed so incredible at that time. We were facing persecution. In Germany we were not permitted to meet openly, so we held our meetings in the forests in the summer and in private homes in the winter.
The newspapers carried articles against the Church and the missionaries, vicious in their nature. It seemed that the powers of the evil one had been turned loose to stop the work, and when that prediction was made, as we talked about it in our little missionary group, we wondered if it would ever be fulfilled.
I came home from my mission in 1908. Conditions here were not too good. There was persecution here at home, criticism toward the leaders of Church, President Joseph F. Smith being especially singled out in newspapers and magazines for vitriolic attacks on the part of those antagonistic to the Church.
There are two types of persecution. In the early history of the Church it was more or less physical. Later on it was of the nature I have described. It just seemed that the work could not go forward.
What a change now! God moves in the affairs of men. It is his work. We are his children, and no matter what may come, if we do our part in preaching the gospel, declaring its message, its saving truths, there will be no question about the outcome. These things we have learned over the years.
No one would have hazarded such a prediction except a prophet of the Living God. He saw, he knew, through the prophetic powers that he possessed, and today, during this conference, we have had related to us the fulfillment of that great prediction.
Thus, my brethren and sisters, it has ever been, and thus it will ever be in this work. There will be no failure. We may fail. Six months ago, you will recall we had a heavy snowstorm-conference weather they called it-and President McKay announced that all the roads in Wyoming were blocked and that the Saints should not attempt to drive home until the storm cleared. Today under such beautiful weather conditions we meet in conference. How this epitomizes the rolling forth of the work of the Lord! We meet storms; we meet roadblocks; then the storm clears. We ourselves sometimes throw up roadblocks when we fail to do our part, when we fail to support the organizations, when presiding officers in wards and stakes fail to give the necessary direction to the auxiliary organizations, helping them in their work, all of them being important and necessary. We throw up roadblocks when we fail to do our duty and keep his commandments. But the Lord, just as the storm cleared, clears the way, and in spite of us his work goes on, and there is no failure.
I am grateful for my testimony. I am grateful for the cleansing power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank the Lord for faith in God. I thank him for his blessings that come even in the face of adversity and affliction, for the power to see even beyond the affliction. I am grateful for these blessings.
God sustains us. You know what was said of the Savior-that although he were a son, yet learned he obedience by suffering, by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect through that suffering, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey.
Thus it is with us, my brethren and sisters, and I leave with you my testimony, and pray that God may help us that there may be no failure on our part, and that we may not place any roadblocks because we have sufficient evidence to know that even against odds and adversity, there is no failure.
God help us to appreciate these things, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1955, pp. 128-130
To you Saints listening in: Thank you for the many telegrams you have sent. We rejoice with you in the excellent transmission of the messages from this tabernacle. I know the Saints would be pleased to hear your comments, but time will not permit our reading them. I have two here, though, which I am sure the Saints and you in California will be pleased to hear.
One is: "The servicemen assembled at Fort Ord and those gathered in homes enjoyed the TV broadcast of conference this morning. Approximately ninety in attendance"-Chaplain Connell.
The other is from Tijuana, Mexico: "The Saints gathered here in Mexico enjoying good conference reception. Proceedings are being translated into Spanish. Best wishes-The Tijuana Branch Presidency, Tijuana, Mexico." Then, as you see, dozens of others. We are just one great, united Church-united in love.
In your behalf, may I express appreciation and gratitude to all who have assisted in any way in making this great semi-annual conference such an inspirational success. As I was driven down to this session, I saw the officers of the law on duty, and I thought that their diligence has prevented accidents; perhaps they have saved lives by their faithfulness. I know they have greatly contributed to our convenience, and we thank them and our city fathers for their co-operation. To you reporters for your fair and accurate reports we express thanks; also to the audience as a whole for your responsiveness, attentiveness, and example in reverence, too, even you who have to stand in the doorways. It is all these little things which contribute to a spirit of unity, brotherhood, and love. The fire department has been on hand in case of an emergency. Red Cross officials have been rendering service.
These flowers we have mentioned before. I did not tell you however that the presidency of the Wilford Stake permission to furnish these flowers. We did not ask them. They asked for the privilege of contributing to the beauty. We accept their flowers as messengers of love, We thank you, and to think that these other flowers could come across the Pacific Ocean and retain their beauty and fragrance as these have done emphasizes the nearness of our Saints in the far-off parts of the world to us.
We mention the ushers. Have you noticed how quietly they have attended to their duty? They have been on hand, each at his post, with no confusion whatever. Thank you for considering your post important and doing your duty so well.
To the various radio and television stations in our own city and state, and in other states named in the various sessions of the conference, we render our special thanks in behalf of the tens of thousands of people who have heard these proceedings due to your courtesy and contribution.
To these groups of singers from Friday morning on, we cannot say in words that which we feel in our hearts. The German Saints on Friday-how well they sang! How gladly they rendered that service! That group of young men and young women on Saturday-why they just seemed to throw their young hearts into the expression of love through singing, and we all responded to it!
And this afternoon, shall I say the climax? I can, because our mothers who always sing from the heart have just lifted us to spiritual heights, and Sister Madsen, how the Lord has blessed her to get these groups of mothers together and to sing with such expression! It is so inspiring! Well, on behalf of the thousands who listen, we thank you, one and all, for what you have one today.
I have time to say only a word in conclusion. The brethren who have addressed us have been inspired of the Lord, as you will all testify, and they have given us sublime messages. They have given us the gospel. What shall we do about it?
I remember fifty-eight years ago, on one occasion I sat in council with two local elders in Glasgow who had trouble which they could not solve, and which threatened to become serious. Something that was said touched the sympathy of one, and when you touch the sympathy of a Scotchman you have him, and he said, "Tell, us what you want us to dee, and we'll dee it."
Well, we have been told in this conference what to do. God help us to do it. May I mention two important things just by way of emphasis upon which we should center our efforts. One pertains to the priesthood quorums. Fellow presiding officers in missions, stakes, wards, and quorums, make your quorums more effective in regard to brotherhood and service. The quorums are units which should effectively hold the priesthood in sacred bonds and in helpfulness.
I refer particularly to the senior members of the Aaronic Priesthood-you businessmen, successful in the business world; you professional men who have devoted your time to the success of your vocations and are successful and are leading men in civic and political affairs-get together more, closely in your quorum. Yes, it may be teachers-that is all right. You meet as teachers, adult teachers, and help one another. If one of your number be sick, two or three of you get together and call on him. You can do that. You do not like to preach, and you hesitate to appear before an audience, even to pray. You can go together and sit by the side of your comrade who lies in bed. He will never forget it.
You elders perhaps have one of your number sick, and his crop needs harvesting. Get together and harvest it. One of your members has a son on a mission, and his funds are getting low. Just ask if you can be of help to him. Your thoughtfulness he will never forget. Such acts as these are what the Savior had in mind when he said, "Inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these my brethren, ye do it unto me". There is no other way that you can serve Christ. You can kneel down and pray to him, that is good. You can plead with him to give you his guidance through the Holy Spirit-yes, we do that and must do it. We have to do it. But it is these practical, daily visits in life, it is the controlling of our tongue, in not speaking evil of a brother, but speaking well of him, that the Savior marks as true service.
Read Peter's first epistle where he refers to the Holy Priesthood: "... ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light". In his second epistle note the significance of this: "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature." When you sense that, you have reached happiness.
Now the other point relates to your homes. Let us go home with a determination to have our homes places of contentment and peace. There is not one of us who cannot contribute to that condition. The ideal home should be found among the members of the Church of Jesus Christ, and I am just sufficiently old-fashioned to think that the home is still the foundation of the state, especially of a republic. Do not forget it. And the state has no right to take your children and attempt to train them and substitute for your protection, mother, and your prayerful guidance.
Brother Bennion referred to the influence of a mother. He expressed what each one of us may do. But I am referring now to the fathers contributing to the home by showing a high sense of regard and courtesy to your wives in the home. Courtesy is a wonderful virtue, and it should be shown in the home. Courtesy is saying "thank you"; "if you please"; "pardon me." Have you forgotten those terms in the home? Children, hearing them, will themselves become courteous to mother and to father, and to each other. The home is the place to teach the virtues of society. The home is the place to instill the faith that has been emphasized in this conference.
Husbands, remember the covenants you have made to your wives. Do not permit our affections to be led away from the mother of your children. Mothers, do not forget that you owe something to your children and to your husband. You, too, can keep yourself attractive. You, too, can refrain from finding fault. You, too, can contribute to the happiness and contentment of the home, the sweetest place on earth. That is about as near heaven as you will get here. Do not make it a hell. Some do.
We have had too many broken homes since the war, too many separations by divorce. Let us reduce that number. There is no use terminating a marriage just because of a few misunderstandings. Guard against misunderstandings by curbing your tongue. You hold the priesthood. Can't you control your tongue as well as your actions? Do not say the thing that comes to your mind when things go wrong, and by a quick-tempered remark wound her who has given her life to you. Control your temper.
Yes, you see weaknesses. The women see them in us husbands, too. I'll tell you they see them! They control their tongues more frequently, I think, than we do. Let us reverence womanhood. Is it not strange, when you think of it, that the one thing of which the world has accused this Church is the one thing in which this Church deserves most credit-keeping the home pure and stable, educating children in the faith of our fathers, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father and in the restoration of the gospel.
Now, here is a final appeal at this conference for us to go home, to go back and set our homes in order. God bless you in so doing, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 4-9
My beloved brethren and sisters: If you knew the weight of the responsibility of this moment, you would gladly answer the prayer of my heart-that I might have your united support and the inspiration of the Lord. I know what I should like to say and will try to say it, but it is a question whether I can get that message over to the thousands who are listening as I should like to give it, and, I hope, as the Lord would have it given.
"... verily I say unto you... marriage is ordained of God unto man. "Wherefore, it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation".
That passage from the Doctrine and Covenants indicates the message I have in mind to give this morning-some helpful hints for happy homes.
First, however, I should like to say a few words relative to the general conditions in the Church. A most outstanding accomplishment since our conference last October is the completion and dedication of the Los Angeles Temple.
On the original twenty-four acres purchased by President Heber J. Grant, assisted by Elders David Howells and Preston D. Richards, there are now, besides the temple, the following Church edifices, all finished and paid for: the Westwood Ward chapel, recreation hall, and classrooms; headquarters of the California Mission, bureau of information, central heating plant, and sufficient lot space for an inter-stake auditorium.
During the pre-dedicatory visiting days, December 19, 1955, to February 18, 1956, 660,000 persons availed themselves of the opportunity of viewing this sacred edifice. Forty thousand attended the eight dedicatory services held March 11 to March 14.
It is highly appropriate to express to this general conference appreciation of the contributed efforts, time, and means of the thousands of men and women who had the responsibility of directing and caring for the convenience and comfort of the hundreds of thousands of visitors, sometimes as many as 25,000 a day.
First, this appreciation applies especially to the stake presidencies, high councils and bishoprics in the temple area, and all the members of committees appointed by them; second, to the architect and his associates; and third, to the contractor and assistants; fourth, to the faithful women who constituted a reception committee, who were at their assigned posts of duty every day for over nine weeks, outside and inside the temple; fifth, to the presidency of the Temple Mission and directors of the Bureau of Information; sixth, to the eleven doctors who were on hand to render first aid. Incidentally, forty-seven persons received medical care. We express appreciation also to our own committees and those in California-the committee on transportation and accommodation; the committee on the printing and distribution of tickets; the committee on press and radio and public relations; the committee on seating those thousands of people; and, I might say especially, the committee who, through KSL, installed television in the various rooms, thus adding to the interest and convenience of over 5,000 members to attend each of the eight sessions of the dedicatory services.
We wish to express appreciation for the welcome extended by the governor of the state, Governor Goodwin Knight, and his commendation and words of appreciation for that sacred edifice; also the message sent by Mayor Norris Poulson of Los Angeles; and for the receptions given and messages sent by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles Rotary Club. We appreciate their attitude and their entertainment. Great as that temple is, beautiful as it is, we shall ever associate with it the attitude of the people toward it, members and non-members alike.
We appreciate the contributions given by people in the temple district, every promise fulfilled, and more-voluntarily given.
Finally, we are appreciative of the tithes and offerings of the entire Church, making that edifice and others possible.
Brethren and sisters, one hundred and twenty-six years ago today, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized in the home of Peter Whitmer, Sr. Six members founded the organization, though there were others present.
About fourteen months prior to that organization, a revelation was given to the Prophet Joseph saying, a marvelous work was about to come forth among the children of men.
In that revelation we read the following regarding the spirit of the Church:
"Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day... "And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work. "Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence".
Compared with the nearly two thousand years since Jesus Christ, the Son of God, established his Church in the Meridian of Time, one hundred and twenty-six years constitute a very brief period, yet the growth and progress of the restored Church during that time have been remarkable. From a member-ship of six, the Church now numbers over a million and a quarter, divided into 227 stakes and forty-four missions. It has built twelve temples, with two more under construction, and 2,646 other houses of worship are completed and under construction.
In educational matters, its accomplishments are highly commendable. Besides the general interest of the members in the University of Utah, the Utah State Agricultural College, and other state institutions, the Church supports an educational system of which it may justly be proud: Brigham Young University, Ricks Junior College, 140 seminaries and institutes, and is now building junior colleges in New Zealand, Hawaii, Tongatabu, Tonga, Pesega, and Mapasaga, Samoa.
The Church supports twelve hospitals, and through its welfare department needy persons are either rehabilitated or given necessary assistance from fast offerings and tithing funds. Though temples, tabernacles, and other Church edifices cost millions, all dedicated buildings are wholly paid for, and the Church is entirely free from debt.
On behalf of the First Presidency and other General Authorities of the Church, I take great satisfaction in reporting that all departments of the Church are progressing very satisfactorily and express gratitude to our Heavenly Father for his divine guidance and inspiration.
But I am not so sure whether we are maintaining the high standards required of us in our homes. I feel constrained, therefore, at this opening session to make an appeal for more stability, more harmony and happiness in home life. It has been truly said that "the strength of a nation, especially of a republican nation, is in the intelligent, well-ordered homes of the people." In no other group in the world should there be more contented, more happy homes than in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Just this month there appeared in a leading magazine the encouraging statement that American homes and family life are steadily strengthening. According to that article, the total population of our country has doubled since 1900. The number of families has tripled. This growth in family life is shown by the rapid increase in home ownership. One hundred-twenty percent more families owned their own homes in 1955 than in 1940. There are sixty-seven percent more children under five years of age now than in 1940, that is in the country at large. There are sixty-one percent more children in group age five to nine years.
Recently our attention has been called to conditions that seem to justify our admonishing the membership of the Church to keep their homes exemplary before the world.
To the young people of the Church, particularly, I should like to say first that a happy home begins not at the marriage altar, but during the brilliant, fiery days of youth. The first contributing factor to a happy home is the sublime virtue of loyalty, one of the noblest attributes of the human soul. Loyalty means being faithful and true. It means fidelity to parents, fidelity to duty, fidelity to a cause or principle, fidelity to love. Disloyalty to parents during teen age is often a source of sorrow and sometimes tragedy in married life.
I have received several letters this last month from young folk-two of them in their teens-irked because of what they consider interference of parents. Young people in all the Church and all the nation should understand that both the Church and the state hold parents responsible for the conduct and protection of their children. The Church, you will recall, is very explicit in that, "... inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the Living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.
"For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized".
That is explicit, and parents, that is your responsibility.
Some of you would be surprised to know that the statute of the state requires explicitly that not only parents, but also any guardian who has charge of a child eighteen or under is held responsible for the protection of that child and for his moral teachings. Any guardian or parent that will do anything to injure the morals of the child is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to imprisonment of not more, if I remember rightly, than six months, and a fine of not less than three hundred dollars, or both.
So, girls and boys, your parents, not only because of their love, but also by command of the Lord and by legislative enactment of the state, are compelled to watch over you and guide you. And parents, once again, that is your responsibility. The effect of this guardianship will be shown by illustration.
A New York City judge not long ago wrote to the New York Times, saying that in seventeen years that he had on the bench not one Chinese-American teenager had been brought before him on a juvenile delinquency charge. The judge queried his colleagues, and they agreed that not one of the city's estimated 10,000 Chinese-American teenagers, to their knowledge, had ever been hailed into court on a charge of depredation, narcotics, speeding, burglary, vandalism, stickup, purse snatching, or mugging accusations.
A check with San Francisco, where there is a large colony of Chinese-Americans, tells the same story.
P. H. Chang, Chinese Consul-General in New York City, was asked to comment on that. He said, "I have heard this story many times from many judges. I'll tell you why I think this is so. Filial piety is a cardinal virtue my people have brought over from the China that was once free. A Chinese child, no matter where he lives, is brought up to recognize that he cannot shame his parents. Before a Chinese child makes a move, he stops to think what the reaction of his parents will be. Will they be proud or will they be ashamed? Above all other things, the Chinese teenager is anxious to please his parents.
"Most Chinese-Americans, no matter how wealthy or poor, maintain a strict family style home. Mealtime is a ceremonious affair which must be attended by every member of the family. Schooling, reverence for religion, and decorum plus reverence for the elders, are the prime movers in developing the child from infancy."
And the paper says, "The amazing record of the Chinese-American youngster shows that it is in the home that the cure for juvenile delinquency will be found, and in no other place."
So, young people, loyalty to parents, if not a direct contributing factor to a happy home, is at least a safeguard against hastily assuming and lightly esteeming the duties and responsibilities of marriage.
Next to loyalty to parents, I should like to urge loyalty to self. Remember, if you would be happy, if you reach the goal of success in the distant future, your first duty is to be loyal to the best that is in you, not to the basest.
There is a saying in the Bible that "every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment". Psychology assures us that "We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never so little scar. The drunken Rip Van Winkle, in Jefferson's play, excuses himself for every fresh dereliction by saying, 'I won't count this time.'
"Well!" continues James, the psychologist, "he may not count it, and a kind Heaven may not count it; but it is being counted none the less. Down among his nerve cells and fibres the molecules are counting it, registering and storing it up to be used against him when the next temptation comes. Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out. Of course, this has its good side as well as its bad one. As we become permanent drunkards by so many separate drinks, so we become saints in the moral, and authorities and experts in the practical and scientific spheres, by so many separate acts and hours of work. Let no youth have any anxiety about the upshot of his education, whatever the line of it may be. If he keep faithfully busy each hour of the working day, he may safely leave the final result to itself. He can with perfect certainty count on waking up some fine morning, to find himself one of the competent ones of his generation, in whatever pursuit he may have singled out. Silently, between all the details of his business, the power of judging in all that class of matter will have built itself up within him as a possession that will never pass away. Young people should know this truth in advance. The ignorance of it has probably engendered more discouragement and faint-heartedness in youth embarking on arduous careers than all other causes put together."
A good ideal for youth to build a happy home is this: Keep true to the best and never let an hour of indulgence scar your life for eternity.
Next under that heading of loyalty, I urge loyalty to your future companion. When harmony, mutual consideration, and trust pass out of the home, hell enters in. A memory of a simple indulgence in youth sometimes opens hell's door. Girls, choose a husband who has respect for womanhood! Young man, choose a girl who, in her teens, has virtue and strength enough to keep herself true to her future husband! Down the road of indulgence are too many good young girls, seeking vainly for happiness in the by-ways where people grovel but do not aspire. As a result their search for happiness is in vain. They grasp at what seems substance to find only ashes.
If you would have a happy marriage, keep your reputation as well as your character unsullied.
It is a common saying throughout the world that young men may sow their wild oats, but young women should be chaperoned. In general, this is pretty well carried out, but in the Church we have but one single standard, and it is just as important for young men to keep themselves chaste as it is for young women. No matter what the opportunity, no matter what the temptation, let the young man know that to find happiness he must hold sacred his true manhood. Marriage is a failure when manhood is a failure. Let him know that to gain moral strength he must learn to resist temptation, learn to say with Christ, "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve". Then he is happy; there is peace instead of turbulency in his soul.
Next to loyalty as contributive to a happy home, I should like to urge continued courtship, and apply this to grown people. Too many couples have come to the altar of marriage looking upon the marriage ceremony as the end of courtship instead of the beginning of an eternal courtship. Let us not forget that during the burdens of home life-and they come-that tender words of appreciation, courteous acts are even more appreciated than during those sweet days and months of courtship. It is after the ceremony and during the trials that daily arise in the home that a word of "thank you," or "pardon me, "if you please," on the part of husband or wife contributes to that love which brought you to the altar. It is well to keep in mind that love can be starved to death as literally as the body that receives no sustenance. Love feeds upon kindness and courtesy. It is significant that the first sentence of what is now known throughout the Christian world as the Psalm of Love, is, "Love suffereth long, and is kind". The wedding ring gives no man the right to be cruel or inconsiderate, and no woman the right to be slovenly, cross, or disagreeable.
The next contributing factor to your happy marriage I would name is self-control. Little things happen that annoy you, and you speak quickly, sharply, loudly, and wound the other's heart. I know of no virtue that helps to contribute to the happiness and peace of the home more than that great quality of self-control in speech. Refrain from saying the sharp word that comes to your mind at once if you are wounded or if you see something in the other which offends you. It is said that during courtship we should keep our eyes wide open, but after marriage keep them half-shut.
What I mean may be illustrated by a young woman who said to her husband, "I know that my cooking isn't good; I hate it as much as you do, but do you find me sitting around griping about it?" This griping after marriage is what makes it unpleasant. I recall the words of Will Carleton:
WORDS
"Boys flying kites haul in their white-winged birds- You can't do that when you're flying words. Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead, But God himself can't kill them when they're said."
Marriage offers an opportunity to share in the love and care of children, and that is the true purpose of marriage. One writer truly says: "Without children, or without believing that children are important, marriage is incomplete and unfulfilled. Children take time, trouble, and more patience than we usually have. They interfere with freedom, good times, and luxury, but children are the real purpose and reason behind marriage. If we do not put the proper value on parenthood, we are not emotionally or socially ready for marriage.
"Marriage is a relationship that cannot survive selfishness, impatience, domineering, inequality, and lack of respect. Marriage is a relationship that thrives on acceptance, equality, sharing, giving, helping, doing one's part, learning together, enjoying humor," and a home is full of humor with children.
The more you keep in company with your wife, the happier you are. Business takes you away from home. She is there alone. Do not let companionship with other women divide your affection, and that applies to woman as well as to man. At one time I thought that it did not; that man was wholly to blame for the unrest, the disagreements and sorrows that are occurring too frequently, but I have had to modify my opinion. Companionship is the means of perpetuating that love which brought about your union.
In conclusion, for the proper solution of the great problems of marriage we may turn with safety to Jesus, our Guide. He declared, as I read in the beginning, that marriage is ordained of God and that only under the most exceptional conditions should it be set aside. In the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ, the family assumes supreme importance in the development of the individual and of society. "Happy and thrice happy are they who enjoy an uninterrupted union, and whose love, unbroken by any complaints, shall not dissolve until the last day."
It will not dissolve when sealed by the authority of the Holy Priesthood throughout all eternity. The marriage ceremony, when thus sealed, produces happiness and joy unsurpassed by any other experience in the world. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder".
"Home's not merely four square walls, Though with pictures hung and gilded; Home is where Affection calls, Filled with shrines the Heart has builded!
"Home's not merely roof and room- It needs something to endear it; Home is where the heart can bloom, Where there's some kind to cheer it!
"What is home with none to meet, None to welcome, none to greet us? Home is sweet-and only sweet- Where there's one we love to meet us." Charles Swain
To the Church, not only to young people, but also to married people, I plead this morning for more contented homes brought about through love, faithfulness, loyalty, self-control, and obedience to the principles of marriage as set for us by revelation to the members of the restored Church of Jesus Christ.
May God help us to be exemplary to the world in this respect, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin
Joseph L. Wirthlin, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 10-12
President McKay, President Richards, President Clark, and my beloved brethren and sisters: I sincerely hope that I may have an interest in your prayers in the endeavor to give you one or two thoughts that I have in my mind. It is needless to say that the Presiding Bishopric is deeply interested in all the young men of the Church who hold the Aaronic Priesthood. Are fathers and mothers holding a weekly home evening where they sit down with their children and discuss the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and what it will mean to them in their lives?
I think it would be a most inspiring story-it is a true story-to tell of Jesus the Christ, at the age of twelve, being invited by Joseph and Mary to go into Jerusalem wherein they were to pay their taxes, and while there the Christ went into the temple. Immediately he entered into discussion with learned men. In the meantime, Mary and Joseph started homeward. They soon discovered that the Christ was not with them. They returned to Jerusalem and found him in the temple. Mary was sorrowful because Christ had not been with them, but he said to them,
How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?.
I think the young men who will eventually hold the Aaronic Priesthood, who have in their hearts the words, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" as the priesthood is bestowed upon them, will be anxious to go forward and render the assignments that will come to them.
It is a wonderful thing in the home to discuss with our young people the history of John the Baptist, a yet young man who had an assignment from on high. The beloved John the Apostle said, "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John", and John was sent among the people to preach repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, to tell them that Jesus the Christ was to appear, and in the course of time confer upon them the Holy Ghost.
Our sons should know of the crucifixion of the Christ and his resurrection; that after the resurrection he appeared on this, the American continent, and established the Church of Jesus Christ as he had established it in far-off Jerusalem. I think if our young people had that history and had it in their hearts and understood fully the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as it has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, it would so impress them that they would endeavor to live it in every way.
It would be most inspiring and wonderful to tell these young people something about the Apostles who lived in the days of Jesus the Christ, and who were selected by him, particularly of Peter, James, and John who were actually the presidency of the first Church established by the Christ. They should know and understand that the Church of Jesus Christ was actually organized by Christ in the days of these apostles.
They should know something of the Book of Mormon-how Joseph Smith received the same-and in that wonderful book we find the story of the Christ and his gospel in its fulness. It is an interesting thing to tell them, too, how that same Christ appeared among the Nephites, and among other things the Nephites heard God the Father saying, "Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name-hear ye him", and thereby, came the establishment of the great Church of Jesus Christ here upon the American continent.
Thereafter, I think it is a fine thing to discuss with these young people and point out to them that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ was lost because men were seeking different doctrines, that the priesthood had been taken away, and there was darkness upon the earth. It would be inspiring to discuss the Prophet Joseph who went to the Lord and asked the Lord wherein he might find the true Church, and in reply the Lord appeared and introduced the Christ himself, saying, "This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!".
It would be a source of inspiration for our young people to know that the Aaronic Priesthood was brought back to the earth through John the Baptist and bestowed upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and also that the Melchizedek Priesthood was restored by Peter, James, and John, the Apostles of Jesus the Christ in a former day. These young people should know that these are realities, that they actually happened, and then there will be a desire to live the gospel and enjoy all of the blessings therein.
As parents, we have great responsibilities, as President McKay has already pointed out to us. I suggest that sometime you read in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 68, verses 25-28, with reference to our responsibilities as parents. The Lord made it very clear, as far as our sons and daughters are concerned, that we should teach them the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ, the Son of the Living God, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. Then the Lord went on and said this to us in conclusion: "And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord".
We should read to them about the appearance of John the Baptist to the Prophet Joseph when he said this:
Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.
These young men are ordained members of the Aaronic Priesthood at the age of twelve. In the minds of many people, this may seem questionable; but it should not be, because if they will but read or hear the words and repeat them and remember them, the words of Christ, when he spoke to his mother and said: "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?". I am sure that every deacon will have that same attitude.
It is a wonderful thing if a father will tell his son what it means to pass the sacrament and what it means to be called by the bishop to go out and collect the fast offerings for the good of those who are in need. It is an inspiring lesson that ought to be taught to these young men to the end that day by day they will endeavor to live the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and actually have in their hearts his spirit. It is a marvelous thing to talk to these young men about the Prophet Joseph, who at the age of fourteen asked the Lord, "Lord, where may I find the Church of the Christ?" and in answer thereto, the Father and the Son appeared, and the Father said, "This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!". And Joseph, at the age of fourteen, heard these words of the Christ and received direction from on high as to how the Church should be established.
It is well to remember that many of these young men who hold the Aaronic Priesthood at the age of fourteen are called to be teacher-to go out among the people and teach them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, with a member of the Melchizedek Priesthood, and to render such other service as the bishop may feel is necessary.
It is a wonderful thing to think of the priests, these young men who at the age of sixteen become active in the same assignments as did John the Baptist. It is marvelous to know that these young men have the right to preach repentance, perform the ordinance of baptism, and bless the Sacrament. John the Baptist did not have the privilege of blessing the Sacrament because he had passed on, and the Sacrament of course was established just before Christ was crucified. So these young priests of today have opportunities that John the Baptist did not enjoy. We also read in the Book of Mormon: "After they had prayed unto the Father in the name of Christ, they laid their hands upon them, and said:
"In the name of Jesus Christ I ordain you to be a priest, I ordain you to be a teacher, to preach repentance and remission of sins through Jesus Christ, by the endurance of faith on his name to the end. Amen".
Responsibility devolves upon bishops, bishops' counselors, fathers and mothers, that we should impress upon these young men the sacredness of blessing the Sacrament, and what the Sacrament means and its purpose; and also the privilege of performing the ordinance of baptism. If these young men understand the full meaning of the Sacrament and preaching repentance, they will become so interested that they will try to live lives in harmony with Jesus the Christ and say, as he said: "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?".
So, brethren and sisters, as parents we have great responsibility, as President McKay has already pointed out, in our homes; and I think one of the greatest responsibilities that falls upon us, and one we should follow closely, is the matter of holding a home evening with our young people. Call on some of them to pray. Give some of them the assignment to tell us something about faith, something about the gift of the Holy Ghost, and something about the matter of holding the Aaronic Priesthood. If that is done, there is no question that these young people will meet all of the requirements that come to them through the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost.
Only last Sunday, I attended a conference where many of these young people had the opportunity of bearing testimony. It was a great thrill to hear them say that they know that Jesus the Christ lives-that they know that this is his Church. Some might question it because of their age; but nevertheless if they receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, they will have that knowledge.
I recall the time when I was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church at fast meeting. I had a peculiar feeling, and something came to my soul that gave me happiness and joy-something that I had never experienced before. On the way home, I said to Mother: "I had a peculiar feeling, Mother, when the bishop laid his hands upon my head and confirmed me a member of the Church, and said, 'Receive the Holy Ghost.'"
"Son, what was the feeling?"
I said, "A feeling of happiness, a feeling that filled my soul-something I have never had before."
She said, "What did he say to you, Son?"
I said, "'Receive the Holy Ghost.'"
So mother said to me, "Son, without a doubt the Lord was good enough to bestow upon you the gift of the Holy Ghost" and from that time until this time I have known that Jesus the Christ lives. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know our President here is a prophet of God, and those who assist him. I know that these twelve men are all apostles, each one of them, with the same power and privileges and rights that Peter, James, and John enjoyed in their time and age.
So, parents, it is a wonderful thing that your sons who hold the Aaronic Priesthood will have the feeling and the desire to go forward and to render every service that is required of them, that they may follow the admonition in the fourth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, verse 3:
Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work.
And they are called if they receive the Aaronic Priesthood, especially if you and I will so encourage them and teach them.
So, fathers and mothers, I think, too, of what the Lord has said to you and me, as parents, when he said this: "And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord". So there is no question about prayer; there is no question about walking uprightly before the Lord, but that he will bless them and inspire them and lead them on, and that every one of them will have the same feeling as the Christ had at the age of twelve, when he said: "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?". This I pray will be the blessing of every member of the Aaronic Priesthood, and every young person who has membership in this Church, which I humbly ask and pray for in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Elder Sterling W. Sill
Sterling W. Sill, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 13-16
Last Sunday we celebrated the event which initiated upon this earth the universal bodily resurrection. Great events have a way of increasing in importance in our minds when we hold them up for study and contemplation and try to determine their significance, particularly as they apply to our own lives. To assist in this process, we have adopted the very helpful custom of setting aside special days to think about special things. In addition to Easter we have many other wonderful days.
We have set aside the thirteenth of next month as Mother's Day, and we hold the significance of this great occasion with all that it stands for, up before our minds, and as a result the quality of our lives tends to adjust upward to maintain the level of our thoughts.
Each Fourth of July we set aside a day to celebrate our nation's birthday, and we think about our freedom, and what it means, and what it has cost, and what would happen if it were lost, and what we might be able to do to further promote the great idea of freedom in our lives, and in the world about us.
On the twenty-fifth of December we set aside another day and hold up before our minds the life and teachings of Him who was ordained to be the Savior of the world and the Redeemer of men.
And we think about his example and his sacrifice and what they mean to us, what he had in mind when he said, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me".
It has been said that the human mind has some of the qualities of the tendrils of a climbing vine; that is, it tends to attach itself and draw itself upward by what it is put in contact with. We set aside these special days to put our minds in contact with the greatest ideas and ideals in the world. From this point of view, think what the effect has been in America over the years to both old and young, of looking up to the virtues and accomplishments of Washington and Lincoln, both of whom we believe to have been raised up by God, one to be the father of this divinely favored country and the other to save it from dissolution. The lives of both of these great men so rich in integrity, honor, and devotion to duty, are held up before our minds to draw us to a higher level of thinking.
This year happens to be the 250th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin, and during this year throughout America much is being written and spoken about the outstanding character qualities of this great American. And as our minds attach themselves, we tend to absorb these qualities to ennoble our own lives. Each of these special occasions serves a necessary and different purpose.
This morning I would like to put your minds in contact with the fact that this is the 150th anniversary year of the birth of the Prophet Joseph Smith whose life marks the beginning of the greatest and final gospel dispensation. The importance of this great event has an unusual and overwhelming significance in the life of every human being who lives upon the earth.
In holding this thought up for your consideration, I would like to take you back in history some 3700 years to the birth of another prophet by the name of Joseph. This Joseph was the son of Jacob and one of the twelve brothers who later became the leaders of the Twelve Tribes. Like Joseph Smith, this Joseph also received manifestations of the will of the Lord at a very early age. This apparent favor caused some jealousies among his brothers, and when Joseph was seventeen years old, he was sent by his father to inquire about the welfare of his brothers who were tending the family flocks at Dothan. When they saw him approaching, they said, "Behold the dreamer cometh", and they plotted to take his life. But by the intercession of one of his brothers, a compromise was reached, and they sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver, which is approximately eleven dollars in American money, to a group of Ishmaelites who were going down into Egypt to sell their spices.
In Egypt God did not forsake Joseph but continued to give him other manifestations of the divine will. This fact was known to some of Joseph s associates, and fifteen years later when Pharaoh had a dream which troubled him, Joseph was sent for. Joseph told Pharaoh that there would come seven years of great plenty. These would be followed by seven years of famine, and Joseph advised Pharaoh to build granaries and store up the corn in the good years to reduce the suffering during the years of famine. Pharaoh, seeing that Joseph was a man of ability and understanding and that the Lord was with him, appointed him to be the manager of this great Egyptian welfare program. Then Joseph built granaries and stored up the corn during these seven years of plenty.
Finally the years of abundance were over, and the great famine began. Then Joseph opened the granaries, and all of the surrounding nations, including the brothers of Joseph, came to Egypt to buy corn. When the brothers learned that Joseph was now a man of great authority and power, they were naturally very frightened. But Joseph quieted their fears with these words. He said,
... be not grieved nor angry with yourselves... that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
And thus for approximately eleven dollars several nations were saved from starvation.
It is a little bit difficult to understand "a famine" when one of our most pressing problems is surplus and oversupply. But it is even more difficult when men have pushed God out of their interests, to understand another kind of famine which he foretold should come upon the earth in consequence of disobedience and sin. In foretelling this famine, the Prophet Amos said,
Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:
And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, and shall run to and fro to seek after the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
This famine was also literally fulfilled as foretold. Isaiah had said,
The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant.
The ministry of the Master himself was permitted to continue for only three short years. Then one by one each of the apostles was put to death. According to tradition Peter, Andrew, Simon, and Philip were crucified; James and Paul were beheaded; Bartholomew was flayed alive; Matthew was slain with a battle-ax; Thomas was run through with a lance; James was beaten to death; Thaddeus was shot through with arrows; Barnabas was stoned; Mark was dragged to death in the streets of Alexandria; and John, the one surviving apostle, was banished to that rocky little island in the Aegean Sea called Patmos.
The Church, thus left without divine leadership, soon sank to the lower level of a strictly human institution, and as conditions went from bad to worse, that prophecy of Isaiah saw complete fulfillment which said, "For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people".
But as has been said, God always provides the remedy before the plague. Six hundred years B.C. a little group of Israelites who were descendants of Joseph were led away from Jerusalem by the Lord, headed for a far-off land which we now know as America They brought with them their records and the writings of their prophets, including the writings of this same Prophet Joseph who was sent into Egypt "to preserve life". After their arrival in the promised land, Lehi read to them a prophecy made by their famous ancestor, Joseph, about events that should take place in the latter days in this new land.
He said,
Yea, Joseph truly said: Thus saith the Lord unto me: A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. And unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers. And his name shall be called after me; and it shall be after the name of his father. And he shall be like unto me; for the thing, which the lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the lord shall bring my people unto salvation.
Joseph Smith fulfilled these prophecies. Joseph had said, "His name shall be called after me," Joseph. "And it shall be after the name of his father." Joseph Smith's father's name was Joseph. Then the prophet said, "And he shall be like unto me." Joseph, the son of Jacob, was sent before the face of the Egyptian famine to preserve life. And Joseph Smith was sent before the face of the spiritual famine spoken of by Amos, for exactly the same purpose, to unlock the granaries of spiritual truth, to dispel the darkness that covered the earth, and make possible that every living soul might have "life everlasting".
One of the most thrilling events that has ever happened in the world came as a part of the fulfillment of this prophecy, when in the early spring of 1820, God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, reappeared upon this earth to open this greatest and final gospel dispensation. And God has placed in the hands of men three great volumes of new scripture, outlining in every detail the simple principles of the gospel, that all men might be fed the bread of life and be enabled thereby to work out their individual personal exaltation.
But it is possible to perish even in the presence of plenty. In the early gold rush days of this country many men lost their lives trying to cross what was known as the great American desert. Later when their bodies were recovered, it was found that many of them had died in close proximity to the water holes. With just a little additional knowledge, they would have been able to have saved their own lives.
This experience of the forty-niners has its spiritual counterpart in our own day. Emerson indicated this possibility when he said,
On the brink of the waters of life and truth we are miserably dying. Sometimes we are furthest away when we are closest by. We stand on the brink of an ocean of power, but each must take the step that would bring him there.
It is always a pathetic tragedy when that step is not taken.
This is evidenced by the fact that nineteen hundred years ago unheeding men lived in the very presence of the Son of God, and in response to his invitation to partake of the truths of eternal life they merely said, "His blood be upon us, and on our children". And so it has been. They were so near-yet they were so far away. How this event should challenge our initiative and put us on our feet, earnestly seeking that greatest of all blessings, eternal exaltation!
But nineteen hundred years have come and gone since that time, and the lives of men are still being wasted by the devastation of spiritual famine. Certainly it is just as true now as it was then, that "there is only one name given whereby man must be saved". Yet out of over two billion people who presently occupy the earth, only one-third even bear the name of Christian. And this one-third is divided into some 250 contending sects, all claiming to accept the Bible as the inspired word of God and the only authoritative rule of faith and doctrine. Their confusion on even the most simple points of doctrine is indicated by the report that some seventy-eight of these baptize by immersion, many sprinkle, sixty-eight have optional forms, sixty-seven practice infant baptism, many have no baptism. Thirty-nine require no adherent to creed or doctrine of any kind.
Almost every Protestant church came into existence because of "a protest" or an "argument." The division of opinion caused by the Civil War was responsible for the formation of many new churches. The Church of England was organized because the Pope refused to give Henry VIII a divorce. There are many "state churches." It was Emperor Constantine, not the servants of the Lord, that made Christianity the church of the Roman Empire.
And as this famine has run its long, destructive course, many of the truths that Jesus came to give to the world have been lost, even to "know God" which Jesus declared was "life eternal".
One of the most popular of present day ministers recently said, "No one can possibly know about God. God is absolutely immeasurable, undiscoverable and undiscernible." He said, "He has no body or shape." St. Augustine attempted to describe the nature of God as a circle whose center was everywhere and circumference nowhere.
In the severity of this famine of spiritual understanding, men have denied personality to deity. They have also deprived him of his body. They have left him without senses, faculties or feelings. And as a natural consequence, the world in large part is still where Paul found it nineteen hundred years ago, worshiping at the feet of an "unknown God", and this without proper understanding of even the most simple principles taught by Jesus and recorded in the Bible. These include such important doctrines as the literal bodily resurrection, the degrees of glory, the pre-existence of man, salvation for the dead, the functions of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods, the proper organization of the Church, what the name of the Church should be, the function of sacred temples, the eternity of the family unit, and many other important doctrines vital to our salvation and all plainly taught by Jesus and recorded in the Bible.
So far as I know, the most important fact there is in the world today is that God has again restored the priesthood, and his voice has regiven that divine commission saying, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations". Amos said that many should "run to and fro seeking the word of the Lord but should not find it". One of the reasons that some can't find it is that as of old, some have eyes that see not. There are some others who can't find it because some of us who have access to it, keep our lights hidden under a bushel. There are others who can't find it because of their confusion when our lives don't accord with our teachings.
The restoration of the gospel has a vital significance in the life of every person upon the earth. This cannot be evaded nor avoided. This responsibility we must understand. In one of the most meaningful of all latter day scriptures, the Lord has said, "It must needs be that all men must be left without excuse", and that applies to those who fail to hear, and even more particularly to those who fail to teach, for those who bear the divine commission to dispense spiritual truth must also share in the prospective condemnation spoken of by Paul who said, "Woe is me if I preach not the gospel".
And so during this anniversary year, we hold up before our minds and the minds of all men the tremendous message of the restoration, and pray that our minds may attach themselves to the revealed word of the Lord with such great power, diligence, and faith, that this devastating famine may be dispelled, that men may be able to find the clear waters of eternal life, and that because of our obedience to the gospel, that God may thereby be enabled to draw all of his children upward to him to inherit the celestial kingdom.
May God bless us I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Oscar A. Kirkham
Oscar A. Kirkham, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 17-18
In these few minutes allotted to me, I humbly pray that the Lord will bless me. I feel the weight of the responsibility. I certainly need blessings of the Lord. I want to try and leave with you one idea that you may carry back into your own private thinking and life to magnify, to bless, to make beautiful. And I believe out of my own thinking and prayers it is here.
There is a phrase that is often heard among the Latter-day Saint people. It was heard when I was a boy. The four standard works of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Have you read them? Do we know what they are? I often think of the inspiration and help that has come to me as I have read the word of the Lord.
The Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price! There are the four great standard works of the Church.
During the last year or two I have tried to make them a part of my life. I humbly bear testimony that in them there is inspiration, there is strength, there is confidence, there is the word of the Lord.
Let me read a few sentences of the Bible. I quote from the 21st Psalm-one of my favorite passages of scripture. They are all familiar to you.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?... Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord... Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
There is great beauty and strength in the Bible. Do you read the Bible? Do you read it prayerfully? A library of sixty-six books written by many men, covering nearly three thousand years. The general theme is a true and living God sounding the call to reform and rededication.
The Old Testament is the divine fore-showing of his coming. The New Testament, the gospel of Jesus Christ; our Lord, the masterpiece of world literature, the most majestic exposition of religion ever given to man.
The first five books of the Old Testament stand at the head of the literature of the world. Words like these:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth... And God said, let there be light: and there was light... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him.
It contains the great teachings of the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount. Fewer words, if any, have such a great influence for good upon the human family. Here by prayerful study we may learn the truer values of life, the road to real happiness.
I am going to try to make it a real part of my life. Out of prayerful thought I bear testimony and invite you that this year may be a great year for you and for me in this glorious literature.
Another of these standard works of the Church is the Book of Mormon, to which I refer briefly. I read from Third Nephi:
Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name; And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you. Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.
A lonely boy in Shanghai, China, hunts for a Mormon. No one is found. He wants to find one of his own people. "Try a Latter-day Saint," says a fellow companion. "They are sometimes called that." Discouraged he goes back to his bunk. He finds the fellows waiting with a package on his cot. He opens it and finds the package wrapped in a white box. At first he thinks it is a box of candy and goodies, and then when he looks closer he sees a name. Reverently he says, "Hello, Mother." "A Book of Mormon," says a fellow nearby.
Inspirations came to three of these chaps. They pledged together that they would read the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the other general scriptures.
... the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.
This startled the imagination and the will of these fellows to go after this task.
The Doctrine and Covenants, another of the standard works of the Church. In Section 78:
And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours. And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.
When we had finished reading the Doctrine and Covenants, my wife said, "Oscar, I think we should say a prayer." We prayed.
The Pearl of Great Price, another of the four standard works of the Church. This book contains the Book of Moses, the Book of Abraham, and extracts from the history of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and other important words of the Lord.
I close with these words from the Third Epistle of John, 4th verse:
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
May the Lord bless us as we prayerfully study the four great standard works of the Church.
May the Lord bless our children that they may ever walk in truth, that by the reading or studying of these great books, there shall come to them inspiration, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Levi Edgar Young
Levi Edgar Young, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 32-34
President McKay, my brethren and sisters: I pray that the Lord may bless me that what I say may be of some help to everyone in this large audience. It is quite natural that when we are called upon to speak, we give utterance to the thoughts that are on our minds and in our hearts.
I have been thinking this day of the words of the Vermont Historical Society when they wrote concerning the history of Sharon. To quote a sentence or two, the paragraph to which I refer says that: "Sharon was settled in 1765 by Connecticut emigrants and organized in 1766. Sharon entered the Hall of Fame by being the birthplace of one of the immortals of American History, Joseph Smith who founded the Mormon religion." It is a noble tribute written by the state historian concerning the Prophet Joseph Smith.
In the book of Ecclesiasticus,, chapter 17, we read:
The Lord created man of the earth. He endued them with strength by themselves and made them according to his image, And put the fear of man upon all flesh, and gave him dominion over beasts and fowls... Counsel, and a tongue, and eyes, ears, and a heart, gave he them to understand. Withal he filled them with the knowledge of understanding, and shewed them good and evil. He set his eye upon their hearts, that he might shew them the greatness of his works. He gave them to glory in his marvelous acts for ever, that they might declare his works with understanding... Besides this he gave them knowledge, and the law of life for an heritage. He made an everlasting covenant with them, and shewed them his judgments.*** Their ways are ever before him, and shall not be hid from his eyes.
These words direct our minds and hearts to the Holy Bible and the first chapter of Genesis, the beauty and truthfulness of which impress every reader with its inherent greatness. We think of the Holy Bible and the other holy books, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. This being the anniversary of the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by the Prophet Joseph Smith, it is good to think of them, for they give us the teachings of God, our Father. A few thoughts in reference to the Holy Bible as a whole will be welcome to all. William Lyon Phelps, professor of English literature at Yale University, wrote these words in his, Human Nature in the Bible:
Everyone who has a thorough knowledge of the Bible may truly be called educated; and no other learning or culture, no matter how extensive or elegant, can, among Europeans and Americans, form a proper substitute. Western civilization is founded upon the Bible; our ideas, our wisdom, our philosophy, our literature, our art, our ideals, come more from the Bible than from all other books put together. It is a revelation of divinity and humanity; it contains the loftiest religious aspirations along with a candid representation of all that is earthly...
The Holy Bible was written by many men under different conditions. It is the product of men inspired of God, covering a period of three thousand years. Like John of Patmos, we hear the "voice of many waters", yet unified "as the clear note of a trumpet." Beginning with our first parents and culminating in Jesus Christ and the Church he founded, it is a manifestation of the divine will, and was written by the inspiration of God, our Father in heaven. The book shows that the Hebrew prophets gave their lives to the service of God. They wrote by the power of the Holy Ghost. God directed them.
The Book of Genesis stands indeed at the head of the literature of the world. It is more recent than some of the Chaldea or Egypt which have come down to us and is incomparably the noblest composition of early ages, in its moral and spiritual characteristics.
However highly we may estimate the scientific, philosophic, and religions genius of the narrators of Genesis more important to us, and for the religious instruction of youth, is the fact that they were men, who had surrendered themselves wholly to God, and who had derived their knowledge from Him.
"The first leaf of the Mosaic record," says Jean Paul, "has more weight than all the folios of men of science and philosophers." "And he is right," says Geikie, "for we owe to it the earliest and grandest revelation of that first principle of all religion-the existence, the unity, the personality, and the moral government of God."
The life of Christ, our Savior, as given in the New Testament, is to old and young alike, the most moving and convincing truth that he came from some higher sphere into our earthly history with a mission to reveal God and save man. "He preached the gospel of the kingdom; and forever even until all the aeons have been closed, and the earth itself, with the heavens that now are, have passed away, shall every one of his true and faithful children find peace and hope and forgiveness in His name, and that name shall be called Emmanuel or God With Us."
In reference to the other Church works, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price stand with the Bible at the head of the religious books of today. Every one of our four Church works has a genuine and divine truth that God lives and that we are his children and are given the duty to work out our destinies. We cannot study them enough. Just to read the first chapter of the Book of Mormon gives us a lesson in the meaning of education. To think that Nephi was educated in both the learning of the Egyptians and the Jews! Today few people realize what that learning was. Some scholars maintain that the learning of the Egyptians in ancient times has never been equaled.
We are all thinking this day of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Among the many things of his life we will recall his Sermon on the Mount. It is the most beautiful sermon ever given to man, and no one can read a single sentence of it without being built up in spirit and truth.
And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
We must remember that there were ancient religions long before the Redeemer of the world was born, and the writers were men of divine knowledge. An ancient Japanese leader of religion writes,
I will halt here today and having purified myself, we will go forth tomorrow and worship in the temple of the Deity.
And a writer of Buddhism says,
Let us cultivate good will towards all the world. This is the mode of living.
In the chronological writings of Padre Claudio Clemente is conserved a form of prayer said to have been used by Columbus on Friday morning, October 12, 1492, as he stepped on the land of the New World. The prayer was used by Cortez, Balboa, and Pizarro later on in their discoveries.
O God, our Father, eternal and omnipotent, Creator of heaven and earth and sea, we glorify Thy Holy name, praise Thy majesty, whom we serve in all humility, we give unto Thy Holy protection this new part of the world.
So many of the fathers of our church were descendants of the early Pilgrims to Massachusetts. For this reason we have always felt the beauty of the story of the Pilgrim Fathers and their coming in the Mayflower to America in 1620. We have the story of Pastor Robinson uttering a farewell prayer to the Pilgrim Fathers as they left for America. In reading it, we see the prophetic spirit of it when he said:
I charge you before God and His blessed angels, that you follow me no farther than you have seen me follow the Lord, Jesus Christ. If God reveal anything to you, by any other instrument of His, be as ready to receive it, as ever you were to receive truth, by my ministry; for I am fully persuaded, I am very confident that the Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of His holy word.
It was Sir Isaac Newton who lived some three hundred years ago who wrote a book on mathematics which is said to be the greatest scientific work of its kind ever written. I speak of Newton for his life has always thrilled me. Born in 1642 in Lincolnshire, England, he was a frail little farm boy who used to wander into the gardens and fields where he lived. He would look up at the sun and stars, for to him they possessed such heavenly qualities unlike anything on earth. The sight of a falling apple one day caused him to wonder about the force that drew the apple to earth. Newton began to work with the laws of motion and universal gravitation. As a result he produced one of the greatest books of all times entitled, Principia. It was a scientific work of the highest merit. Just before he died he wrote that the wonders of the universe had been given their shape and motion by the God.
A copy of the Principia was given to the Seventies' Library by Orson Pratt who had been called by President Brigham Young to go to Austria on a mission in 1864. Elder Pratt had already written and published his book called, Biquadratic Equations, which was used at the University of Vienna. It was in Vienna that he obtained Newton's Principia which he brought home to the Seventies' Library.
After the Quorum of the Seventy had been organized in Kirtland in 1835, the brethren were stirred by certain words of the Prophet Joseph Smith as found in the Doctrine and Covenants:
And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith.
The admonition of the Prophet grew in the hearts of the seventies who knew that they must become the missionaries of the Church. It was not long before a library was established which developed into one of the largest collections of history and literature in the early history of America. Books were brought from all over the world, and the collection of the great works of mankind stirred the Seventies to a desire to develop the art of reading.
I pray that we may come to a greater appreciation of the truth and beauty of the divine books that teach the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Eldred G. Smith
Eldred G. Smith, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 34-36
I appreciate the prayers that have been offered in behalf of those who shall part in this conference, and I pray that I shall receive my share of those blessings which have been asked.
I appreciated the privilege of attending the Los Angeles Temple dedication with the other General Authorities of the Church, and I also want to express appreciation for the sustaining vote in my behalf of this assembly today, for I feel that is a very personal help and support to me in my work. I also wish to sustain with you the General Authorities and others whom we have sustained in this conference, especially President McKay as the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who holds the keys of the gospel at this time through which we may receive the blessings of the Lord of salvation and eternal life which are promised through the gospel.
On that memorable occasion which we read of in the Book of Mormon, in Third Nephi, when Christ spoke from the heavens so that all could hear, he said,
Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.
And continuing further, he said:
... And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost.
All are invited to come unto him that they may have eternal life. The glory of God is"... to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". The Lord wants only to bring us back into the presence of God. For that purpose he has established the priesthood on the earth. He has established his kingdom with just laws and ordinances, through obedience to which we may obtain eternal life in the presence of our Father in heaven.
All God asks of us is that we keep his commandments, that we obey the laws and ordinances of the gospel. These laws are not unjust, as are some which are given by corrupt rulers. They are simple laws which bring nothing but happiness to those who obey them.
Prophet Joseph Smith makes the following comparison:
Were a king to extend his domination over the habitable earth, and send forth his laws which were the most perfect kind, and command his subjects one and all to yield obedience to the same, and add as a reward to those who obeyed them, that at a certain period they should be called to attend the marriage of his son, who in due time was to receive the kingdom, and they should be made equal with him in the same; and fix as a penalty for disobedience that every individual guilty of it should be cast out of the marriage feast, and have no part nor portion with his government, what rational mind could for a moment accuse the king with injustice for punishing such rebellious subjects? In the first place his laws were just, easy to be complied with, and perfect: nothing of a tyrannical nature was required of them; but the very construction of the laws was equity and beauty; and when obeyed would produce the happiest condition possible to all who adhered to them, beside the last great benefit of sitting down with the royal robe in the presence of the king at the great, grand marriage supper of his son, and be made equal with him in all the affairs of the kingdom.
Then the Lord has said, "Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you". This means to all the inhabitants of the earth, not just to the few who then heard his voice, but to all the children of God, to the ends of the earth, to those of all nations, regardless of time or place of their life on the earth. Yes, his invitation reaches to those who lived before his ministry on the earth, who then or even now dwell in the world of spirits, to those who are yet to be born on the earth. Most important of all this invitation is to us, to all of this generation, to you and to me. Are you willing to accept his invitation, can you offer a broken heart and contrite spirit, are you willing to seek him? He has said,
... seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
The Prophet Joseph Smith said, "Search the scriptures," as Brother Kirkham has told us this morning.
Search the revelations, which we publish, and ask your Heavenly Father in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, to manifest the truth unto you, and if you do it with an eye single to His glory nothing doubting He will answer you by the power of His Holy Spirit. You will then know for yourselves and not for another. You will not then be dependent on man for the knowledge of God.
The Lord is constantly making it easier to find him. He has established his Church with the divine authority to teach and administer in the ordinances thereof. He has established the missionary system to teach and to seek out those who wish to accept his invitation to eternal life.
It was a glorious privilege to listen to the testimonies of the mission presidents who have gathered here at this conference. Surely they are men of God, and they, too, will testify that as they work they receive more for their labors. I testify to you that our missionaries are in good hands.
Those who accept His invitation are surely blessed. It is a real thrill to see the joy expressed by these converts; many through tears of joy tell how wonderful it is that they have been privileged to receive the gospel. Some tell of the joy they received in going into the waters of baptism, that joy is increased again to a climax when they have the privilege of coming to the temple and enjoying the blessings of the sealing ordinances.
The Lord has recently provided more temples to make it easier for men to accept his invitation, including the new Los Angeles Temple. Not only does it make it easier for us, but it also leaves more of the people of the earth without excuse. And woe unto him who has the gospel taught to him and has all these opportunities given to him and does not avail himself of the blessings of the Lord. This may also be a fair warning to those who have the opportunity given to them to go forth to teach the gospel, and do not avail themselves of that opportunity. They too shall surely forfeit great blessings.
Foreign missionaries are not the only ones who have the privilege of teaching the gospel, for it is our privilege to teach the gospel in our own lives, as well as those who are called to local missions. I heard of a man who lived in Salt Lake City in the same house for seventeen years before joining the Church. When he was asked why he had not joined sooner, he replied, "No one asked me."
I talked with a man in Ogden who had lived in the same place for about fifty-five years and had recently accepted the Lord's invitation. He told me no one had asked him before, either.
The invitation to receive eternal life requires more than mere acceptance of baptism. When we receive the Holy Ghost which reveals unto us the truth, it is then our responsibility to extend his invitation to others. This is one case where the more you give to others, the more you receive unto yourself. Then give generously in teaching the gospel. Accept of his invitation to receive him, that you with your family and friends may return unto our Father in heaven, exalted in his kingdom.
May the blessings of the Lord be with us, for I bear unto you my testimony that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ through which we may receive eternal life and become exalted in the kingdom of our Father in heaven. May these blessings be upon us, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 38-40
My brothers and sisters: It is with deep humility that I rise this morning to say something to you. As always, I trust that you will add your prayers to mine that what I say may be of some value to us. Without the help of the Lord we stand but weak mortals, not able to do too much to the advancement of his cause.
I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the devotion, the loyalty, and the great service of thousands of our Latter-day Saints. There is no sacrifice which they will not make. They stand as ready to do the bidding of the spirit as manifested through the Presiding Authorities of the Church as did the early Saints even in the time of the Savior and thereafter, and the early Saints in the beginning and the opening of this the Last Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. I am grateful to you for that. I appreciate that without that loyalty and that devotion the work of the Lord would drag, and we should not do the things that he desires that we should do. Thank you for your devotion, your loyalty, your service.
It is a trite expression that we live in an age of materialism, a materialism which has enthroned worldly things and in a materialism that has cast a shadow even over our spirituality. As I see it, one of the great reasons for this is the shadow which we have cast over Jesus as the Christ. Even some of our great sectarian churches, like ourselves sons of our Heavenly Father, are forsaking him. They are making of Christ, as I have often said, a great teacher, a great philosopher, a great character, where they do not question that, but they deny to him that he was and is the Christ.
Of all of the innumerable testimonies regarding his personality, I should like to call your attention only to two or three. The first is the great prayer which he offered on the night before his crucifixion, after they had left the chamber and gone out to the Mount of Olives, that great prayer: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent". And the testimony of Peter before the Sanhedrin, when challenged as to the name by which he had performed the miracle at the Gate Beautiful of the temple, he replied: "... the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth... for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved".
And that testimony embodied in that great declaration of the Father himself to Moses, because it is the epitome, the summary of the gospel of Jesus Christ: "For behold this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man".
There has been an apostasy from that knowledge of the Christ. You know, the more I contemplate the life of the Savior, the more I am impressed, the more I come to value his lowliness, born in the home of a lowly carpenter, not in the halls of the great, not in the palaces of national rulers, but with royal blood in his mortal veins. I am impressed with the observation which he made to a man who came seeking to follow him, to go with him, and he said to the man, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head".
He was indifferent, so indifferent to the worldly things. His mind was fixed quite otherwise. The very temptation that came to him from Satan, when Satan offered him all the kingdoms of the world if he would merely bow down and worship him, offered him all the power that could be bestowed through human hands; but he cast that aside.
I recall how after he fed the multitude of five thousand, they would have taken him and made him king, but he thrust that aside also. Worldly power had no allurement. Worldly power was not for him.
I recall that as he stood before Pilate, Pilate's first question was political. "Art thou the King of the Jews?". And finally he said to Pilate, who six times tried to get the Jews to release Jesus-he finally said to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world," and that his mission was to establish truth, and then that poor, perplexed Pilate queried, "What is truth?".
I have in mind the things which He did, the miracles which he performed. There were only three occasions, I believe, when he undertook specifically to provide food for the multitude or for anyone. The first was the feeding of the five thousand on the mount, the second was the feeding of the four thousand on the plain, and the third was that beautiful incident on the Lake of Galilee after he was resurrected when, as the fishermen, the Apostles who had turned again to fishing, drew near the shore with their nets empty, he, the Resurrected Christ, stood on the shore with coals of fire and fish and bread prepared for eating.
I recall but one instance where in fact he furnished money, and I am not sure of another incident somewhat similar to it. I refer to the time when he lacked money for taxes, and he sent Peter down to secure it from the mouth of a fish. He was not providing money to those with whom he worked. The other incident where money was involved directly for him, was when he was asked if taxes should be paid to Caesar, and he, taking a coin and showing the image thereon, said, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's".
As to wealth: You will remember how the rich young ruler came to him and asked what he should do. The Savior told him to obey the commandments. He said, "Master, all these have I observed from my youth." Then said the Master, "Sell that thou hast, and give to the poor... and follow me." And the rich young man turned away. He wanted all of the spiritual blessings which God could bestow, but at the same time he wanted to retain his wealth.
John's disciples came questioning.
"Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, "And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? "Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: "The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them".
That is the work of the Savior.
On another occasion, he said unto another, "Follow me," but the other said, "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God".
"And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
"And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God".
Much more along this line might be said, but I want to call your attention to his formula, the principle which guided him, and how beautiful it is, and how it lets all of us who are poor come to him, and how it promises to us his spirit. He said in the closing of the incident that was connected with the coming of the disciples, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest".
I thank the Relief Society for their song.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light".
His gospel can be lived, can be enjoyed by the poorest of us; the poorest of us may enjoy the blessings of the gospel, the blessings of the priesthood which accompany it. We need neither worldly position nor wealth in order to enjoy all that he has to give. His is the salvation and exaltation if we follow him, of all of us. There is nothing requiring more than a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and all that flows therefrom.
May the Lord give us the power so to live that we may have the blessings which he has promised; may he give us, to each of us, the broken heart and the contrite spirit; may we turn to Jesus the Christ, the Author of our salvation, our Elder Brother; may we worship him in spirit and in truth; may we approach our Heavenly Father through him, that his blessings may be ours, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder Adam S. Bennion
Adam S. Bennion, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 40-43
President McKay, my brethren and sisters: To look at this great audience and to follow the strength of these leaders behind us, makes a man humble. I sincerely trust that the Lord may give me his spirit through the few minutes that I shall occupy.
It is a stirring thing to listen to these mothers sing. I think when I was a baby I must have been rocked asleep by a good mother because I have loved music ever since. Sister Madsen continues to be a great blessing to this Church, and through her to all these wonderful women we give our appreciation.
President McKay yesterday afternoon against the pressure of time, with his usual graciousness, gave me a promise that I might suffer through another night. And I want to pay tribute to his prophetic insight. All night long I suffered the pain of an undelivered speech. As a matter of fact, some of my good friends at the close of the meeting yesterday afternoon said I had never before been so effective.
This is my first experience with a warmed-over speech. I was so impressed with the presence of these fine young men from Oklahoma and Missouri and Texas, had I said it yesterday afternoon all I had in my heart then to say was, "The eyes of Texas are upon you." Not only the eyes of Texas but also the eyes of the Church are upon you, and the eyes of all America are upon you. When you take to the blue going back home, just know that our prayers go with you, with you and the stewardesses, too. We are judged by the young men and women of this Church, and could I have said it in the presence of that fine student body choir from BYU, I would have said the Church is measured in no small part by the lives you fine young men and women live.
I met with a group of boys like these up in faraway Alaska. As I visited with them, I asked them how they were getting on and whether they saved anything. One of those fine young men said, "I have plans ahead. I am saving an E Bond-it is true it is a small one, only $18.75 a month, but if I stay here for three years I will have $1,000, and then if I have the good fortune to get my GI benefits, I am on my way through college." That prompted the thought that when we talk of Bonds, we usually talk in terms of money. But there are other bonds, and I want to turn to them for just a few minutes this morning.
Following yesterday's inspiring message from our President, I turned to a book that was handed me by my good friend, Orval Adams, a collection of talks of Frank Totton, one of the outstanding businessmen of America. When he died, his good wife gathered together, as a fitting memorial to her husband, some of the things that he had said. The friendliness of Orval Adams who put the book in my hands, I shall always appreciate.
I beg you to remember that this is the speech of a man who spent his life in banking. But he said to some fine men of America, "There are finer bonds than money bonds. They are more secure, and they pay finer interest." I want to turn to just one of the bonds to which he made reference.
I. And I quote: "There are family Bonds." I wish he could have sat here yesterday morning. "Nothing can impair these ties except ourselves. The average modern home is equipped with countless inventions which have practically eliminated the drudgery of housework. The mechanics of the home are faultless, but mechanics do not make a happy home. The success or failure of human relationships determines the value of human bonds. Some of us in moments of discouragement may think that the American home is breaking down. But in spite of the widely chronicled divorce cases the fact remains that many families are happy families: the father and mother still in love with each other and the children dutiful and respectful. Business success, honors, titles, and rewards in the last analysis are all brought home to the family, and all those glittering accomplishments are empty honors indeed if one has not a proud family to share them. The family is by far the most important single institution in our commonwealth, and happy indeed is the man, who, when he closes his desk at night has before him the gladsome picture of the sparkling family group with which he shortly will have his evening meal. Family bonds are gilt-edged investments. If you wish to check me, on this, 'ask the man who owns one.'"
I am prompted by that little article and what we listened to yesterday morning to add these humble suggestions to the parents who would continue to hold gilt-edged family bonds:
1. Live as you would have your children live.
2. Breathe affection into the family's circle by "staying engaged" as the years come and go.
3. Anticipate situations and keep discipline in the spirit of section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants.
4. Know your children's companions. Invite them to share your home. Establish sensible coming-in times at night and know fully where their evening entertainment takes them.
5. Cultivate a family with shared responsibility in the home. The unkindest thing that parents who have worked hard can do in their lives is to deny the children the blessed privilege of work under responsible assignments.
6. Feature regular family prayers.
7. Build a spirit in the home in keeping with Galatians 5:22.
If I had a theme this morning it would be "Bonds-Series F." You have had your experience with the E bonds; these are F bonds. The first one is that family bond to which I have made reference.
II. The second is the Bond of friendship, one of the richest bonds in all the world.
I was prompted to say as I looked out over this audience, do not come to this conference with ten thousand people without shaking hands with two or three good men and women you never have met before. There are wonderful people gathered here. If anybody is too bashful and thinks he would be snubbed, there is one handshake from one man who would love to share it with you.
I like to think of David and Jonathan-of Ruth and Naomi-and I like to think of the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum, who died together. I like to think of the three men who sit behind me. I like to think of the men that we visit week after week, you men who constitute stake presidencies and high councils and bishoprics, presidents of organizations-you will all bear me witness that along with all the gifts that come as a result of your callings, there is the blessed privilege of knowing one another well-the privilege of finding out how wonderful people can be.
I have always loved Dr. Samuel Johnson's famous admonition: "If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself alone. A man should keep his friendship in constant repair".
Then I think of that wonderful line from Shakespeare:
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.
Philips Brooks added the thought, "There is no more beautiful sight to see in all this world-full as it is of beautiful adjustments and mutual ministrations-than the growth of two friends' natures, who as they grow old together, are always fathoming with newer needs, deeper depths of each other's life, and opening richer veins of each other's helpfulness."
III. But the third of this series F bonds I want to leave with you this morning is Bonds of faith.
I am so glad that this conference was launched upon the basis of something you can do. It is no mere academic sort of thing; it is a way of life, this religion of ours. We can say with Micah:
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?.
Family, friends, and faith, to me are three of the supreme values of life!
Two days ago we had the privilege of listening to the witnesses of thirty-one mission presidents. Among the wonderful things they told us was the report of a conference in faraway Japan, where people sat all day long in a room unheated, so cold that every Saint gathered could see his own breath through the whole conference-but they stayed. That takes faith.
Crowded into this life, rich in experience through all the years, I bring you an experience that is a tremendous tribute to faith. It was not written in a parlor, and it does not reflect the ease and the comfort of a hammock under a tree. The little woman who penned these half-dozen lines sat guardian through days and nights over a son suffering cancer of the bone. Within the year she had lost her husband and faced the problem of trying to establish a farm with her nine children. She lives in my stake. I am proud to know that women like this still live. With nine children, the eldest of whom was stricken so that only a miracle could preserve him, she wrote this:
I wrote my prayer of faith while I waited one awful night alone beside my boy in the hospital:
Let me ride brave and buoyant on the angry waves of life- Let me see to luck the sweetness from each moment of strife- Let me borrow no trouble- Feel no pangs of fear- Let strength, calmness, peace be mine For I know Lord, thou art near.
That is faith!
You can invest in faith, my brothers and sisters, and it pays rich dividends, rich beyond any of the bonds I know.
Will you let me close with my simple witness to you in the terms of the faith that I cherish? I was born into this Church, proud that one grandfather came into the valley in '47 and that another one used to freight between here and the Missouri River. With that kind of heritage, God forbid that I should ever falter in the faith of those progenitors.
I have studied this gospel through four universities, and I am so happy to be able to say that the more I have studied, the more wonderful this gospel becomes-so simple, so sublime, so satisfying. I give you my witness I have tried this gospel on, and it works-it works in every situation in life. And finally, I give you my testimony that the witness has come. It has come from Cumorah; it has come from Alaska; it has come from Hawaii; it has come from the hearthstone in my own home. I know as I stand here that God lives and hears and answers prayers. The recipient of answers to those prayers bids you to build richly, to invest in the bonds that never fail-bonds of family, of true, sacred friends, and faith in Almighty God.
And I leave that witness with you, humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Richard L. Evans
Richard L. Evans, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 43-45
I suppose that the singing which most of us first remember is the singing of our mothers. I can remember, as a child, my cheeks wet with tears for the sweetness of my mother's singing. Music can be very mechanical or it can stir and feed and satisfy the soul. Of such we have heard here this day, and with you I am grateful for the sweetness of the singing of these mothers here assembled.
There is a sweet presence which I miss here this morning, and did yesterday-that of Sister McKay. I should like her to know that she is much missed at this conference. I have seen her and her beloved husband in their graciousness together in various countries, under many conditions, and when our President spoke of love at home yesterday and of what pertains to the making of a good home, I am sure he was speaking out of the experience of his life and heart, for his courtly graciousness and gentlemanly consideration of Sister McKay on all occasions, under all conditions, and in all places, has been a source of inspiration.
At a time of conference I am always faced with a dilemma-one which stems from the necessity of selecting always two subjects: one for the Sunday morning CBS broadcast and one for the regular conference sessions. It isn't ever easy. Those who work with me at the office know that I seldom select a subject for Sunday before Friday, and my family well know that the agonizing experience between Saturday evening and Sunday morning does not see these short subjects in their final form until a very late hour. That is a dangerous way to live, a hazardous way!
People often ask why I do not work farther ahead. I cannot tell you why. I wish I could prepare in advance, and I have no criticism of those who do-I only envy them. But I have a conviction from experience that there is a kind of contagion in the air, and if one waits to catch it, he will come closer to the spirit of the occasion than if he prepares too far in advance. I have tried it both ways, and those things, even for radio, which I have prepared too far in advance seem to have a sort of pre-prepared flavor.
Fortunately for me today the theme I selected for tomorrow morning has been concurrently in my mind with which I should like to say in just a few words at this session of conference.
It is interesting how, in reading scripture over and over again, one often, after many readings and a long time, quite unexpectedly finds some word or phrase that comes into his consciousness with a new and particular meaning. I have had, within the last few hours, just such an experience.
This scripture, so familiar to you, and which will perhaps be the theme of the broadcast tomorrow morning, is no doubt one of the most quoted in the Church-one which I have read most often and heard most often, even unto thousands of times-that "Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life" "through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come," not just a miscellaneous acquisition of knowledge, but knowledge and intelligence, through diligence and obedience.
Those words are most meaningful-and I have no fear of learning, of the pursuit of knowledge, for any of our young people, if they will keep in mind diligence and obedience-obedience to the commandments of God, diligence in keeping close to the Church, in keeping active, keeping prayerful, keeping clean, keeping circumspect in their conduct. It isn't learning or the love of learning, or knowledge, or the pursuit of any subject that would take from a man his faith, but it is failure to keep the commandments, the failure of a man to feed all sides of himself, and on this subject I should like to read just a few lines that I discarded from what might be used tomorrow morning, and make them serve now:
"Intelligence would not let a man lose his faith in finding truth. Learning does not lead to loss of faith. False learning might, but not true learning. Lack of learning may. Ignorance may. Failure to keep the commandments may lead to loss of faith. Loss of balance may lead to loss of faith. A man may pursue learning along too narrow lines and forget to feed all sides of himself; he may forget his spirit and starve it, but not learning itself leads to loss of faith, not the search for truth, for truth cannot come in conflict with truth. A man can have the pure love of learning and seek for it insatiably, and still keep a simple faith if he will keep the commandments, if he will feed his spirit, if he will be patient, and sweet in humility, and not commit himself to quick conclusions or tentative theories. If he will really seek for eternal truth, with 'diligence and obedience' he can keep and pursue an insatiable love of learning and still keep his faith, for 'the glory of God is intelligence'".
We are committed to continuous revelation, to an infinite search for truth, and there are some very significant lines accredited to Thomas Edison that I should like to share with you: "We don't know the millionth part of one percent about anything. We don't know what water is. We don't know what electricity is. We don't know what heat is. We have a lot of hypotheses about these things, but that is all; but we do not let our ignorance about these things deprive us of their use."
We don't altogether know what faith is, or prayer, and the ultimate meaning or power of them. We don't altogether understand all the commandments, but the limitations of our knowledge should not keep us from observing them and using them, as we pursue learning and the love of learning, keeping the commandments of God and keeping close to him and his truth, in a well-balanced life, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and using it as our standard as the measure of all things.
I am not concerned about the unanswered questions. I should like to know all the answers, but those I don't know do not bother me. This I know, and leave it with you as the conviction of my soul-that God lives, that Jesus the Christ, his divine and very Son, lives and stands by his side in the Godhead; that these two did appear to a young man, more than a century ago; that we live; that God made us in his image; that he has unspeakably great eternal blessings in store for us as we will search and seek and keep faith and keep clean, and keep his commandments and live in obedience and keep our lives balanced, and keep close to him.
In the wonderful words of Emerson: "All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen."
God bless you, my brothers and sisters, in all things as you meet the daily decisions of life and move on to those great as yet unseen activities and opportunities of eternity, toward which the ways of all of us move, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder John Longden
John Longden, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 45-47
I have no desire to stand here alone. Humbly, in every fiber of my being, seek the blessing of my Heavenly Father that has been so richly manifest here this morning as we have listened to his true servants speak under his inspiration.
The hymn we have just sung calls to mind an inspirational experience I shared just about six months ago with President and Sister Jacobsen of the Eastern States Mission. We visited Brother and Sister Moss who are assigned to take care of the Peter Whitmer home in close proximity where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized 126 years ago. I suggested we sing "Now Let Us Rejoice in the Day of Salvation." I am grateful for the inspiration of that moment. The day of salvation, yes-
... but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
These were the words of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians almost two thousand years ago. I testify to you this morning the words you hear in this conference are truly the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is his gospel-not the gospel of Peter, not the gospel of Mark, not the gospel of Paul, not the gospel of John, or any of the other of those great apostles-they are merely the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ ordained to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I should like to call the attention of the young people here and in the unseen audience to one or two thoughts which I trust will be a stimulation. Following the excellent remarks that have been given already, truly the word of the Lord, I would hope to continue in the same spirit.
How does our spiritual growth compare with our material progress? I realize that there would be those who would pervert the gospel, who would endeavor to weaken faith, who would endeavor to weaken the testimony of you young people as you go to study and improve your minds and to develop the intelligence which God has given you, but I humbly plead that you will always remember and understand who you are as you seek to study and to improve your minds. See that your spiritual growth keeps up with your material and economic progress.
I testify to you that you are the light of the world. Just previous to the statement which I quoted from Paul to the Galatian saints two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ, in his Sermon on the Mount said,
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
You have the opportunity to be the light of the world, for today is a new day. The eyes of the world, I feel, are upon us. All the glorious things that have occurred within recent months the visit of the choir to Europe, the dedication of the temple in Switzerland, and then the Los Angeles Temple a few weeks ago, have focused much attention on the Latter-day Saints. In an hour and a half in Los Angeles in a taxi and on a bus and in a store, several people who did not know who we were-neither Sister Longden nor I, asked if we had seen the Mormon temple, and all seemed most anxious to talk about it. They said, "Be sure you see the Mormon temple and see the Angel Moroni."
I thrill as I see tourists come to these grounds and on Main Street and look heavenward to see the Angel Moroni. There is much gratitude and appreciation swelling in my heart that that light has come into our lives. We should understand the message that he has delivered to the earth.
Yes, do not leave the Lord out of your studies. A few weeks ago I read the story of a great physician. Someone said to him, "How does it feel to have within your hands the power of life and death as you operate?" And he said, "I never feel that way. In fact, in my younger days when I was cocksure, I was glorying in my record. I was not humble. In an operation I had to reach a hairbreadth decision, and I was incorrect. So for some years I did not practice, and then as I sat one day meditating upon my failure, there was a spirit came to me. It seemed to say, 'God has given you these hands. God has given you your brains-develop them and utilize them in worthwhile effort,' and so now, since taking up my practice again, I never take scalpel in hand unless there is a prayer in my heart, 'O God, guide my hands, and give to me of thy knowledge, for thou art the Great Physician, and I am only thy servant.'"
I pray that we will have the desire to develop our spiritual selves, for only under and by and through that spirit can we attain the great accomplishments that are held out for us by our Heavenly Father. I ask, as you study the philosophies, that you will give the gospel of Jesus Christ an even break. Study consistently the truths embodied in this great gospel, which I testify to you has been restored to the earth in its fulness. Latter-day Saints need not wander in darkness.
In conclusion I should like to give you a spiritual thought. I visited the Juarez Stake just a little over two years ago. I went out into an apple orchard. I saw there a glorious harvest which they were reaping, the like of which I had never seen before. Branches were literally touching the ground, they were so heavily laden with delicious fruit. I know they were delicious because I sampled several of those apples. They were delicious by name and also to taste.
I said to the stake president: "How come? Do you have a harvest like this every year?" He said, "No, this orchard is ten years old, and this is the first time I have ever had or experienced such a crop."
I said, "How do you account for it?"
"I'll tell you. I decided deliberately to do something about it because I wasn't happy with the results I was getting, and so last spring I placed a bouquet of flowers in every apple tree in that orchard, and then God provided the rest, for the bees came along, and they feasted upon those flowers, and they pollenized those apple trees, and here is the rich harvest.
And I likened that to our lives. Are we pollenizing our spiritual lives with the things contained in the four standard works of the Church, which have been so beautifully called to our attention in this conference? God is anxious and ready to help us if we will only learn of him. I humbly pray, young people, that you will not leave the Lord out of your lives; and as you study, regardless of what the subject may be, you will realize that there is need to develop your spiritual natures.
God bless us so to do, and ever to be humble in accepting his blessings and extending unto him our gratitude. I know that he lives. I know that he is ready to bless us if we will be obedient, diligent students, ever striving to be influenced by his spirit. This I pray, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Elder Milton R. Hunter
Milton R. Hunter, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 48-53
My dear brethren and sisters: It is with deep humility that I occupy this position this morning. I sincerely ask an interest in your faith and prayers and that the spirit of God may direct the things that I may say.
During the past eleven years in which I have served as a member of the First Council of the Seventy, I have had the marvelous opportunity, privilege, and blessing of participating in missionary work both in the stakes of Zion and in the foreign missions. I am indeed grateful for the numerous blessings derived therefrom and humbly express sincere thanks to my Father in heaven. I also take this opportunity to express deep gratitude to President David O. McKay, to his Counselors, and to President Joseph Fielding Smith, and to any others who have had a part in giving me my assignments, because I love missionary work very much and have a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I know that the missionary program is one of the greatest assignments that God has given to the Church in this dispensation. I thoroughly appreciate the fact that the responsibility rests upon you and me to take the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people preparatory for the coming of the Son of Man. It is my firm conviction that when we have done this job sufficiently well, the Lord will accept our sacrifices, our efforts, and our accomplishments, and will usher in the millennial reign. The Savior told his apostles that
... this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
As I stand here today, my thoughts revert to the numerous wonderful experiences which I have enjoyed while touring various missions. Perhaps paramount in these experiences are the missionary testimony and report meetings which I have attended. These meetings constitute some of the highlights of my life and especially of my participation in missionary work. In these meetings the elders and lady missionaries have poured out their deepest feelings unto God. On numerous occasions in those meetings missionary after missionary in deep humility bore witness that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ-the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the gospel is on earth again; and then with the deepest of gratitude each missionary in turn thanked God for the privilege of serving in the great missionary work, even expressing gratitude for the privilege of paying his own expenses or of his parents paying them. On all of these occasions the room was filled with the spirit of God, and the Holy Ghost bore witness to me that the gospel of Jesus Christ was true and that the missionary program was of supreme importance. My heart was filled to overflowing even beyond expression; and silently I thanked God for the gospel of Jesus Christ, for my membership in the Church, for my sacred testimony, and for my privilege of participating in missionary work.
On many of those occasions the thought came to my mind: "If the parents of these elders and lady missionaries could be here today and could feel, hear, and see what we are experiencing, they would be fully repaid for sending their children on missions."
In addition to the principal purpose of missionary work, i.e., finding the honest in heart, teaching them the gospel, and thereby bringing souls unto God, I truly believe that a mission is one of the greatest schools in the world for the personal development of the missionaries. Those humble laborers who put their hearts and souls into the work and lose themselves in the service of others naturally receive an individual growth and development beyond their greatest expectations. I think there is no university that can better prepare our sons and daughters for positions of leadership and for life in general, developing their personalities more fully, than can service in the mission fields. From this viewpoint, as well as from many others, the missionary program is marvelous and a great blessing to the members of God's kingdom.
In addition to the personal development that the missionaries receive, they attain an enrichment of one of God's greatest gifts-an increased testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. By doing so they receive hidden treasures of knowledge-an absolute assurance that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world, and that the gospel has been restored to earth again-which knowledge surpasses anything which they could receive in a material way.
I rejoice in the numerous opportunities I have had to participate in the various phases of church work, and especially do I appreciate the privilege I have had of touring twenty-one missions which has given me the opportunity to bear witness to the truthfulness of the restored gospel and to the divinity of Jesus Christ in practically all of the major cities from Alaska in the north to the Panama Canal in the south. I sincerely thank my Eternal Father for these opportunities and once again express deep appreciation to the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve, under whose leadership I serve.
Recently I had the privilege of touring the Central American Mission. Its headquarters are in Guatemala City. I am thoroughly convinced that there are prospects are unusual success in this mission. I am happy to report that under the able leadership of President and Sister Wagner, the proselyting work is going forward rapidly and successfully. The missionaries are laboring faithfully and enthusiastically. There was an average attendance of 229 percent throughout the entire mission tour, which fact indicates that the missionaries had done an unusually successful work in preparing the Saints and investigators for the conferences held during the mission tour. I congratulate President and Sister Wagner, as well as the missionaries of the Central American Mission, for their intelligent efforts and the high quality of work that is being done. May God's blessings continue to attend them.
I also congratulate all of the mission presidents and their wives in all the missions throughout the world for the unusual accomplishments that they are achieving. I know that the mission presidents are outstanding men and their wives are marvelous women. Perhaps in no period in church history has the leadership been better in the mission fields than at the Present time. I also congratulate all of the missionaries throughout the world for the high caliber of proselyting work that is being done. I know of no time in the history of the Church when the missionary program has been carried forward on as energetic, intelligent, and high plane in general as is occurring at the present time.
I was especially grateful for the privilege of touring the Central American Mission because of my intense interest in the Book of Mormon and in the Lamanites or Indians. Perhaps there is no part of either of the Americas that has as many full-blooded Indians residing therein as do some of the countries of Central America. This fact is especially true of Guatemala. In that country approximately sixty percent of the people are full-blooded Indians. They are primarily of the Quiché Maya race. These people have refrained from marriage with white peoples primarily because they believe that their Indian blood and their people in general are equal, if not superior, to the white races. The parents among the Quiché Maya people regulate the marriages of their sons and daughters, just as did the parents in ancient Israel. It is their purpose to see that their children marry within their own race and preserve their own religion and culture as far as possible.
The Quiché Mayan Indians have a great heritage and an unusual culture. They are a very religious people. Their religion became definitely paganized following the Book of Mormon period; however, a study of their religious beliefs and practices readily reveals the fact that the roots of many of their religious practices extend back into Book of Mormon times when the true gospel of Jesus Christ was had by their ancestors.
Following the Spaniards conquest of the Quiché Mayas during the sixteenth century, the Catholic padres soon found that they could not stamp out the Indians' religion; thereupon they imposed as many of the Catholic beliefs and practices on the Indian religion as the natives would take, making the Quiché Mayan religion of today a conglomerate.
It is my personal belief that the Quiché Mayas of Guatemala are as directly descended from Book of Mormon peoples as any of the Indians of the Western Hemisphere. Through my research and personal contact with these people, I have learned that they have many traditions that have a kinship to the Book of Mormon teachings. This fact holds true in the written works, such as the Title of the Lords of Totonicapan, the Popol Vuh, and The Annals of the Cakchiquels, as well as in their oral traditions, many of which have been handed down from generation to generation to the present day. The fact that many of the Quiché Mayas do not speak Spanish but have retained their native tongue has made it possible for their traditions to be carried forward unpolluted to our day.
I had been informed that the Quiché Mayas of Guatemala still retained many of their ancient traditions, some of which evidently had their roots in Book of Mormon times, and so when I received the assignment to tour the Central American Mission, I wrote to President Wagner and requested that his missionaries arrange for me to interview some of the old Quiché Maya Indians at Totonicapan. I advised the president to have the missionaries make arrangements for me to interview someone who was well informed on the traditions of that people. In accordance with my request, when I arrived, at Totonicapan I found that the missionaries had engaged the services of a man named Jesus Caranza Juarez. Mr. Juarez was a very intelligent person. He not only spoke Quiché Maya, but he also was very apt in the use of the Spanish language. He had been initiated in all the rites and rituals of the Quiché Maya religion and had a thorough understanding of the traditions of that people. For these reasons he was an ideal person to interview.
Since I do not speak Spanish, I asked one of the missionaries to act as interpreter. I said to the missionary, "Do not give Mr. Juarez any lead questions that might indicate to him the kind of answers that we desire to receive. I want to know the exact and accurate traditions of his people; and so I would suggest that you ask simple, straight-forward questions; for example, the first question I suggest that you ask is: 'What are the Quiché Maya practices and teachings regarding marriage'?"
Once again I warned the missionary to make no explanation to Mr. Juarez but merely to give him the direct question as I had suggested. This procedure the missionary followed. In response to the foregoing question, Mr. Juarez immediately replied:
"Marriage is the most sacred, the most revered, the most holy, and the greatest of all the religious teachings and practices in the Quiché Maya religion. We have two kinds of marriages. In one kind the ceremony is performed by the priest. Only the good people marry in this kind of marriage. By good people I mean those who do not get drunk, those who do not steal nor lie, and those who are morally clean-in brief, the people who live in accordance with all the teachings of the Quiché Maya religion."
Then he said, "The priest performs the marriage ceremony for those good people; and when he marries them, they are married not only for this life but for the next world also. They remain husband and wife forever."
I was surprised, in fact astonished, to get such an explanation regarding the marriage custom of the Quiché Maya Indians, and so I injected a question at this point. I said to the missionary, "Ask Mr. Juarez where the Quiché Maya people ever got such a teaching and practice in their religion. Ask him if they got it from the Catholic Church?"
The reason I asked that question is because the Catholic religion is about the only one that has made much headway in Guatemala. The Quiché Maya Indians have had some of the Catholic beliefs and practices superimposed upon their ancient paganized Indian religion.
The missionary asked Mr. Juarez the question as directed, and Mr. Juarez immediately replied:
"Oh, no! Certainly not! We did not get that teaching from the Catholics. The Catholics do not have that kind of marriage, and they never have had that kind of marriage."
Then Mr. Juarez explained: "We got that type of marriage from our ancestors. It came down from generation to generation through tradition. Our people practiced that type of marriage and had a belief in marriage after death many, many years before the Spanish conquest. In fact, it dates back as far as our traditions go."
I have never read in the writings of archaeologists or other students of the Quiché Mayas that these Indians perform marriages which they will endure after death. The fact that these Indians believe that their marriages continue for the next world would not be of interest to most people who contact them, and so authors would neglect to make a record of that practice even if they had been told that such existed.
Although I was greatly surprised to find that the Quiché Maya Indians practice a form of marriage which they believe will endure throughout the next world, I was pleased to cam that such was their tradition because I have understood that every time the gospel of Jesus Christ has been on the earth in its fulness that God's true law of celestial marriage constituted part of that gospel. I also know that the true gospel of Jesus Christ was had in ancient America in Book of Mormon days, and certainly the Nephites would have had the true order of celestial marriage. Thus the Quiché Maya Indians of Guatemala, being descendants of the Book of Mormon peoples, have preserved in their system of marriage certain things which hold a resemblance to the true order of marriage as given by the Lord to the Nephites.
Mr. Juarez continued his description of the Quiché Maya custom of marriage by describing the other type of marriage in a rather interesting terminology. He said:
"The other kind of marriage our people call the renegade marriage. Those who receive this kind of marriage are the people that the priests will not marry because they are not good people. They do not live in accordance with the teachings of the Quiché Maya religion.
Then he explained why they were not good people, pointing out that their lives were opposite to the lives of the people who were married by the priests for this life and for the world to come. He said:
"These people who receive the renegade marriage get drunk. They are not honest. They are immoral, and they are not people of good integrity. Their marriages last only until death. They are not married for the world to come."
Mr. Juarez also described to us the various orders of the Quiché Maya priesthood. He stated that the priests were selected from among the spiritual-minded or psychic boys just as they merged into adolescence; and then he explained how these boys were trained for their appointments as priests. He also described to us the Quiché Mayas' system of baptism and the various other rites in their religion, as well as the tradition of their origin.
As you probably already know, the Quiché Mayas have a tradition that they are descendants of Abraham and Jacob, being of the house of Israel. Their traditions maintain that their ancestors came from over the sea and that they were brought to America by the Lord, being led by a prophet of God. They also maintain that that prophet had a peculiar instrument which guided them here which instrument operated in accordance with the faith of the people. Certainly one readily recognizes that instrument as being the Liahona, which is described in the Book of Mormon. All of the foregoing claims made by the Quiché Maya Indians are recorded in their early writings, and of course they correlate quite closely with the account given in the Book of Mormon.
The following day after interviewing Mr. Juarez at Totonicapan, the mission president, his wife, some missionaries, and I drove to Chichicastenango, Guatemala, for the purpose of attending a Quiché Maya religious service. At eight o'clock in the morning in the St. Tomas Cathedral, erected for the Indians by the Catholic Church, the Catholic priest conducted mass for the Indians, it being a Catholic religious service.
As soon as the Catholic mass ended, the Indians conducted their own religious services, which in general were definitely pagan but in which I could also readily recognize some factors which evidently had their origin in Book of Mormon days.
I was intensely interested to see twelve Quiché Maya men on the stand at the front of the cathedral presiding over the Indian services. I asked a young Quiché Maya man who was serving as our guide who those twelve men were. He replied:
"They are the twelve high priests who are in charge of the Quiché Maya religion."
I then asked, "Why twelve?"
The answer I received was: "Custom, tradition!" And then the guide explained that the twelve men were the best men that could be found among his people. He said that they were selected to be head over the church because of their good characters, because of their abilities of leadership, and because of various other good qualifications which he enumerated.
This young man who was serving as our interpreter could speak English fluently as well as Spanish and Quiché. He informed us that he had had very little schooling and had learned English and Spanish from the tourists. This fact indicated to me that he was very intelligent.
In a recent conversation with President Edgar Wagner of the Central American Mission, I stated that it was my opinion that if his missionaries could convert this Quiché Maya guide and several other young men of similar abilities-young men who could speak Spanish, English, and also Quiché and then if they were called to do missionary work among the Quiché Maya people, they perhaps would make a marvelous contribution in taking the gospel to those people. Some of the elders from the United States could be assigned to serve as companions to the Quiché Maya missionaries for the principal purpose of giving them a basic understanding of the gospel. Then these Quiché missionaries, who would undoubtedly be favorably received by their own people, could easily obtain admittance into the homes of the best of the Quiché Maya families, perhaps even into the homes of the twelve high priests who preside over their church. In this way the gospel of Jesus Christ, with special emphasis on the Book of Mormon, could be taken to the Indians who speak only Quiché. I believe that these Indians would readily recognize that the Book of Mormon was their book, since the traditions which they hold so sacred fit so well with the teachings of that book.
At the present time we are not able to do missionary work with a vast majority of the Quiché Maya Indians because they do not speak Spanish or English and our missionaries do not speak Quiché. These Indians are a very religious people, practicing their own religion according to their highly cherished traditions. I believe the day will come when missionary work will go forth with much power and success among this people. At that time we shall see results similar to those which we read about in the Book of Mormon when the sons of King Mosiah did such phenomenal work among the Lamanites. Eventually the day of the Lamanites will come when all of the predictions regarding them made by the holy prophets and recorded in the Book of Mormon will be fulfilled. It is my opinion that at that time thousands and thousands of the Quiché Maya Indians will join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and will become valiant in the faith.
In closing I humbly ask God's choicest blessings to come upon the missionaries in the Central American Mission and also upon the missionary work throughout the entire world. May the proselyting program go forward with much force that the honest in heart may be sought out quickly. This I ask humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Delbert L. Stapley
Delbert L. Stapley, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 54-58
First I should like Elder Bennion to know that it doesn't take a prophetic statement for one to suffer. I have been suffering since yesterday morning when it was anticipated that I should speak.
I desire to preface what I have to say today by recognizing and paying honor to our beloved President, David O. McKay, who has rounded out fifty years of devoted service as one of the General Authorities of the Church. I want you to know that it is a great privilege and blessing to be associated with him in the General Councils of the Church. We love him as you love him. It is our privilege to feel the strength of his spirit, the power of his personality, the strength of his character, and the inspiration of his soul as we associate daily with him in the affairs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
President McKay is the epitome of saintliness, for he incorporated into his life the great truths of the gospel of our Lord. We all know that the gospel has a great refining influence in the lives of those who accept it and who obey it. It is a great blessing in our Council, after a matter has been taken care of, to hear President McKay say: "The will of the Lord has been done." My brethren and sisters, President McKay has given a long, faithful, and devoted service to this Church and its people. Truly he represents everything the Church teaches, and it couldn't fall to an individual to have a greater privilege than to sit at his feet and to learn of him. There is not anything too unimportant for him to give his personal attention and consideration. The Lord loves him and is sustaining him by his holy power. He represents what we look for in a prophet of the Living God. I hope we will all pay him honor on this important day in his life.
Now, my brothers and sisters, today I should like to represent another voice speaking in behalf of the Lamanite people and the Church's responsibility to them, with the hope we shall all be encouraged more fully to support and carry the Lamanite banner until these people of chosen lineage realize every privilege and blessing promised to them by revelation and prophecy.
While there are many scriptural statements in the Book of Mormon that support with unquestioned evidence a return to them of the true gospel of our Lord and the restoration of promised blessings as members of the house of Israel, I shall refer to three only:
In 1 Nephi, 15th chapter, we are informed by Nephi that in the latter days and many generations after the Messiah shall be manifested in body unto the children of men, then shall the fulness of the gospel of the Messiah come unto the Gentiles, and from the Gentiles unto the remnant of father Lehi's posterity, who are the American Indian and his blood relations in the isles of the Pacific.
"And at that day shall the remnant of our seed know," continues Nephi, "that they are of the house of Israel, and that they are the covenant people of the Lord; and then shall they know and come to the knowledge of their forefathers, and also to the knowledge of the gospel of their Redeemer, which was ministered unto their fathers by him; wherefore, they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be saved".
Now, my brothers and sisters, as I speak of the Indians, I have in mind all elements of this branch of the house of Israel.
When the Savior visited the Nephites on this continent following his resurrection on the Eastern Hemisphere, he informed them that the establishment of his Church among the Gentiles in this land of freedom, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and its teachings to their descendants, was the sign by which they were to recognize his work among the children of men. Then he affirms:
And when these things come to pass that thy seed shall begin to know these things-it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto people who are of the house of Israel.
Mormon, a great prophet toward the close of the Nephite history, speaks of the loathsome state to which the Indian should fall, beyond the description of that which ever had been among the Nephites or the Lamanites, and then declares that after the scattering of his people by the Gentiles and after they have suffered much affliction and tribulation, then the Lord will remember the covenant which he made unto Abraham and to all the house of Israel.
When the Lord brought forth the record of the Book of Mormon to Joseph Smith in this dispensation, he committed to his Church with that important record the responsibility of taking to the Indian and Lamanite people the knowledge of their forefathers and the fulness of the gospel, which record also includes the Lord's promises to them as a branch of the house of Israel.
In the Doctrine and Covenants, section 3, the Lord, after reproving the Prophet Joseph Smith for the loss of certain manuscripts relating to the first part of the Book of Mormon, declared:
Nevertheless, my work shall go forth, for inasmuch as the knowledge of a Savior has come unto the world, through the testimony of the Jews, even so shall the knowledge of a Savior come unto my people-
... through the testimony of their fathers- And this testimony shall come to the knowledge of the Lamanites, and the Lemuelites, and the Ishmaelites, who dwindled in unbelief because of the iniquity of their fathers, whom the Lord has suffered to destroy their brethren the Nephites, because of their iniquities and their abominations. And for this very purpose are these plates preserved, which contain these record-that the promises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his people; And that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, and that they might know the promises of the Lord, and that they may believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be glorified through faith in his name, and that through their repentance they might be saved.
Very shortly after this revelation was given, the Lord gave another revelation that instructed the Prophet to open the work among the Lamanites, as we learn in reading section 28 of the Doctrine and Covenants, wherein Oliver Cowdery was called as the first missionary to the Indians from the newly restored Church. The assignment reads:
And now, behold, I say unto you that you shall go unto the Lamanites and preach my gospel unto them; and inasmuch as they receive thy teachings thou shalt cause my church to be established among them.
Three others were later appointed by revelation to accompany Oliver Cowdery on this first mission to the Indian people.
President John Taylor was greatly concerned about an active Lamanite program, for he declared:
The work of the Lord among the Lamanites must not be postponed, if we desire to retain the approval of God. Thus far we have been content simply to baptize them and let them run wild again, but this must continue no longer; the same devoted effort, the same care in instructing, the same organization of priesthood must be introduced and maintained among the house of Lehi as amongst those of Israel gathered from Gentile nations. As yet, God has been doing all, and we comparatively nothing. He has led many of them to us, and they have been baptized, and now we must instruct them further and organize them into churches with proper presidencies, attach them to our stakes, organizations, etc. In one word, treat them exactly in these respects, as we would and do treat our white brethren.
President Wilford Woodruff stated:
I am satisfied that, although we have done a little for the Lamanites, we have got to do a great deal more.
President George Albert Smith, in re-inaugurating work among the Indians during his administration, strongly emphasized the importance of the Church mission to the Indians in these simple yet dynamic words:
"The day is here for the gospel to go to the Lamanites, and we must never fail them again.
This was later reaffirmed by President David O. McKay when he emphatically declared: "God would hold us accountable if we failed."
These statements make unmistakably clear what our duty is to the Indian people. Now, my brothers and sisters, we should not deny to them longer their full rights and opportunities for blessings. We must a ways remember, we only have the authentic record which furnishes the true origin of the American Indians, their history and God's work and gospel teachings among them. Great are the promises of the Lord unto the Indians, which spiritual blessings this people alone hold the keys, rights, and powers to grant and bestow upon them.
In a sense I do not feel sorry for the Indian people because they are children of promise, belonging as they do to the house of Israel and are the posterity of Abraham, the father of the faithful, through whose lineage the Lord promised that all nations of the earth are to be blessed; therefore, they are a chosen race and people unto God, possessing a divine and royal heritage. However, I do feel sorry about the lack of privileges, denial of citizenship rights, and insufficient opportunities for schooling and culture which continue to shroud them in darkness and despair. There are too many of them in our modern day, living under most primitive conditions and circumstances which destroy faith, initiative, ambition, and confidence. That it required hundreds of years for the Indians to reach their low state of degeneracy does not allow the Church or the nation unlimited time to return them to the high civilization and spiritual activation they once enjoyed nor the opportunities and blessings of our present enlightened era of scientific knowledge, productive achievement and culture.
Our apparent insufficient interest and somewhat unsatisfactory follow-up of the Prophet Joseph Smith's taking the Book of Mormon and the gospel to the Indian as well as partial failure to heed the counsel of all presidents of the Church in relation to this program, is an indictment against us and represents a challenge and an obligation we cannot afford longer to ignore.
It is unfortunate that we have permitted others to indoctrinate them to different ways of life than that of their fathers as recorded in the Book of Mormon. Our efforts over the years have not been sustained, but intermittent, and each stoppage of activity causes us to lose ground and permits others to become more firmly entrenched, creating a serious proselyting problem which could in large measure have been avoided. The Indians themselves have chided the missionaries about such conditions and occurrences.
Without question in my mind, we must fulfil completely the Church duty to the Indian and thus lay suitable plans to prevent any future departure from a chosen course of intense missionary activity among them. We truly cannot afford to neglect them again. If called to an accounting by the Lord, could we vindicate the apparent indifference towards them? The Lord has counseled that we are not to be commanded in all things and he that doeth not anything until he is commanded and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned. The revelations make clear the Church path of duty. What additional direction is needed to awaken us to the importance of this God-given task?
My brothers and sisters, the Indian cause and program is not a dead issue in the Church today but continues a constant challenge and duty. We must regain through devoted service to the Indian God's approval and blessing upon this most important assignment.
In my judgment, to be successful the Indian program must become a full Church effort that involves every person and organization. We should also encourage government bodies to study more thoroughly Indian problems, give them increasing local autonomy and furnish the type and quality of leadership and help to elevate the Indian to his rightful place of ultimate full citizenship with opportunity to enjoy every educational and work advantage that will make him independent and self-sustaining. Because the first inhabitants and rightful citizens of our great country are in a minority group does not justify indifference to their cause, nor should they be ignored by the strong political parties of our nation. The government, having subjugated and taken possession of their lands and made them wards of the government, places upon this nation and people a debt and obligation that should be fully and honestly met to permit them in proper time to enjoy full rights and benefits of citizenship with economic and social privileges and proper home life in the society of American peoples.
Perhaps too thoughtlessly we consider the Book of Mormon as belonging to us exclusively, overlooking the source of its divine preparation, also the descendants of the people to whom the record was originally given. We hold it in sacred trust for the American Indian as well as for our own use. The Book of Mormon record has for the American Indian a familiar voice speaking as it does from the dust, of their ancestors.
We must rely on stake and full-time mission leadership and missionaries, priesthood quorums, also the Church auxiliaries, to carry forward this important work. I cannot promise you that it will be an easy task. It will be full of discouragements and will require years to attain reasonable progress, but when accomplished, think of the marvelous blessings and satisfactions we as a people can experience for bringing a backward branch of the house of Israel to a knowledge of truth and of their God. The problems and handicaps that now exist in working among the Indians cause an assignment to be distasteful to some, and because the results often are disappointing and quite unproductive, tend to frighten many away who are considered for missionary service among them. Perhaps they are fearful of what they might find and revolt against the idea of working and associating with these people who live under such humble circumstances and for the most part are without modern facilities that we accept as a part of our daily living. The Lord taught that to eat with unwashed hands did not defile a man, but those things which proceed out of the mouth and come forth from the heart, they defile the man.
We should take seriously these words of Jacob, the brother of Nephi:
Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye revile no more against them because of the darkness of their skins.
Why do we as a people hesitate, my brothers and sisters, to pursue fully the work God has assigned us to do by revelation? How can the Indians be encouraged to a full life of opportunity, joy, and happiness without our help? As we meditate this challenge, we should remember the example of the Christ who humbly and washed the feet of his disciples to teach them the lesson of humility in his service.
Calling to mind the vision and lesson given to the Apostle Peter, who at first resisted taking the gospel to the Gentiles, "We cannot call that common or unclean which God has cleansed". Does not that same counsel apply to us today, now that the time has arrived for the Indian to receive the fulness of the gospel of our Lord? I am firmly convinced the Lord in his own way is preparing the Indian people to receive the message of the restored gospel, but we must willingly cooperate with him in this program according to the important assignment given to the Church.
Now we should resolve, my brothers and sisters, to never give up in this program regardless of disappointments and discouragements, but fulfil in a pleasing way to the Lord our duty to the Indian people with patience, love, and kindness. Also, we must faithfully keep all promises made to them, and by real sustained interest and never failing them again build confidence through our efforts to serve and thus create a desire within them for the gospel and kingdom of our Lord.
I do not want you to get the idea from this talk that the Church does not have an Indian program and is not making some progress in this field of service, because we are, but we must step up our efforts, increase effectiveness of the work, and accomplish much more than we are now doing to fully bless these people and to please the Lord, our God.
I recognize and express appreciation to those of our brothers and sisters who have given and are giving such faithful and devoted service to the peoples of Lamanite origin. I pray that the choice blessings of our Heavenly Father will be upon this branch of the house of Israel, that our efforts among them will never diminish but will continue to increase in order that they may enjoy the bless God has promised to them, which I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 58-59
My dear brethren and sisters: We are here assembled, as we assemble at of every conference, for the purpose being instructed, built up, and encouraged so that when we return to our homes, we will be able to teach our people and keep them in the path of truth. We may even be admonished, if that is necessary.
This afternoon I wish to bear testimony to the restoration of the gospel, to the mission of our Redeemer, to the call of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the establishment of this work in the dispensation in which we live, known as the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. I know absolutely that Jesus Christ is the only Begotten Son of God, the Redeemer of the world, the Savior of men insofar as they will repent of their sins and accept the gospel. Through his death he redeemed all men and took upon him that sacrifice which would relieve us of our sins that we may not answer for them if we will accept him and be true and faithful to his teachings.
I am just as fully satisfied, because I know, that the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith and revealed to him the great truth which had been lost because of the wickedness of the world; that they are separate distinct Personages; that the Father and the Son, together with the Holy Ghost, constitute the Godhead, the great ruling power of the universe; that Jesus Christ volunteered to come into this world to redeem it; that John the Baptist came to the Prophet, as did Moroni before him, and Peter, James, and John later, to give authority and to usher in the kingdom of God anew in this dispensation in which we live, because men had turned away from the truth. Through darkness which covered the earth they had lost the knowledge of God; they had transgressed the laws and changed the ordinances; and instead of teaching the simple truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they taught the commandments of men just as the Lord Jesus Christ declared to the Prophet Joseph Smith.
I am grateful for my membership in this Church, for the opportunity that has been mine to serve. My desire is to prove true and faithful to the end. I realize that this is the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times; that we live in perilous days; that men's hearts are failing; that contention prevails; nations stand in opposition to nations; and there is no peace.
I realize, because I discover it, that there is commotion not only among men, but also in the elements pertaining to this earth; that they too are becoming angry. The judgments of the Almighty are being poured out upon the inhabitants of the earth by earthquakes, by flood, by famine and pestilence, and in many other ways, all of these are signs that have been given by our Lord Jesus Christ to convince men upon the face of the earth that his coming is near, even at our doors.
When you return to your homes, teach the people. Call upon them to repent wherein they need to repent, to get on their knees before the Lord, to remember their covenants, and their obligations to keep them, and to walk faithfully and humbly in the sight of their Eternal Father.
That is one of the most important missions that we have. Let us carry it out, I humbly pray in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Henry D. Moyle
Henry D. Moyle, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 59-63
I, like Elder Stapley, have had in mind calling to your attention at least, a part of the great service that President David O. McKay has rendered the Church and his Maker during the last fifty years, and particularly that service been rendered during the last twenty years since the establishment of the great Church welfare program came about.
When the Lord speaks through his servants, as he did in 1936, there is no room left for any doubt in the minds of true Latter-day Saints. We believe in the words of Amos which have been quoted here before today, that
Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
In this respect we reaffirm our Ninth Article of Faith:
We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal, and we believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
There is a story that has oft been told by President McKay, particularly during the early days of the welfare program, that I should like to repeat. It is the story of an engineer who pulled his train into a station one dark and stormy night, and while the engineer was going calmly about oiling his engine, getting ready for the next run, a timid passenger from the coach came up to him and asked him if he were not afraid of going out into the dark. Without looking up the engineer said, "I'm not pulling my train out into the dark tonight." "Oh, I beg your pardon, I thought you were going to be our engineer," said the man. "I am, but I won't be in the dark tonight." He said, "Why, I should think you would be very nervous with the lives of all these men and women on this train depending upon you." For an answer the engineer pointed up to the headlight that threw an intense white light several hundred yards ahead on the track and said, "When I pull out of this station tonight I am going to run just to the edge of that light, and when I get there, that light will be extended several hundred yards ahead, and I shall run to the end of that light and so on throughout the night. I'll be running in the light all the way." And the man replied, "Thanks for the lesson, faithful engineer."
President McKay continued: "I can say this to you: The first circle of light we have seen is October 1st, 1936, when by that date we shall see to it that we have sufficient food, fuel, clothing, etc., to see every needy family through this coming winter, and by the time we get to October 1st, the light will have extended sufficiently far to permit us to see the next move we should make. I can promise you one thing, that we'll be running in the light all the way through this dark night."
No more prophetic utterances, I am sure, could have been made at that time. And it is my privilege today to bear testimony to the fact that that prophetic statement has been fulfilled, and that ever since then we have been running in the light, and the story, of course, is not yet told but will yet reveal a great work of inspiration and of progress.
When we sing, "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet" it has a meaning to Latter-day Saints; it has a meaning to welfare workers throughout the Church. Our presence here today indicates how happy and how grateful we are to live in a day and age when a prophet of God is in our midst. We know that we are not left alone to our own judgment or the devices of men.
Those who have been helped by the program during the last twenty years are naturally grateful for the program of the Church, for the generosity of the Saints, and for the inspiration of the brethren who preside over them, but the interesting fact is that those who have been called to labor and to give and to sacrifice and to carry out this great work, are also extremely grateful. They are grateful for the opportunity that they have had to serve their fellow men. They know the truthfulness of the words that "it is more blessed to give than to receive". They have cause every day of their lives to thank the Lord for the privilege which has been theirs of carrying on this inspired work. As a matter of fact, this is the spirit of welfare work. It has insured its success from the beginning, and it will continue with us to carry on in the future.
I know of nothing more faith-promoting in the Church than to be associated with the welfare program and to participate in its activities. Back of it all has been the faithfulness and the devotion of the people of the Church. I do not want to deal in superlatives today, but I am sure that no credit would be too great for the membership of the Church who have met every emergency and have provided for every need which has made itself known since this great program was initiated. The people have not failed. They are not failing now. Their efforts are keeping pace with the needs of their brethren. Both have necessarily expanded as our problems have arisen.
Whereas twenty years ago we only had 115 stakes, we now have 227. Not alone has there been an increase in numbers, but our society has become more complex. I mean by that, of course, the society in which we live. So far as the Church is concerned, our society should be kept as simple as ever. Now in the world there are many limitations imposed upon our freedom of action, individually and collectively, many restraints upon us in government and industry, and in all our activities of life we are circumscribed, of necessity. Many of these influences are insidious in their nature, some of which we are not aware of until we are struck with the full force and effect thereof, and often then we are left helpless if we stand alone.
I have long since been satisfied in my own mind that the commencement of our intensive collective effort to meet these problems was timed of the Lord. Had it not been for the inspiration of the Almighty, President Grant and his Counselors would not have foreseen as they did the future requirements to meet the changing conditions in the world in which we live. Their prophetic foresight made it possible for the people to anticipate and prepare for the future. They also gave us the plan under which we have operated. Up to this time, April 1936, most of our welfare cases were handled by the bishop, individually. He stood, as it were, alone out in the world, with his own resources pretty much, and the result was that he was not capable, standing alone, of meeting these intricate problems as they arose in our new society. With the advent of the program designed to meet our present complex problems, all the bishops of the Church were united in a way that each might share with the other, and all profit by the experiences gained throughout the Church.
But this change in the program from the individual bishop to the welfare program did not in any wise change the principle or the practice upon which our care for the poor was based. It still remains the work of the individual bishop to take care of his own. Thus we continue to carry out in the welfare program the mandate of the Lord given to us in the establishment of his Church and kingdom here in these latter days, just as it was imposed upon the people of prior dispensations.
What happened in the primitive church? The same practice of taking care of the poor and the needy, no doubt in a greater degree of perfection than now, for we are told:
... all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. Neither was there any among them that lacked.
You know, King Benjamin, in speaking of those who would not assist the poor, would not succor the needy, said,
... O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God.
And Amulek, speaking on the same subject, said:
"... behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith", when we do not take care of the poor and the needy.
And in the opening of this dispensation, the Lord said unto us through his Prophet, Joseph Smith:
Behold, I say unto you, that ye must visit the poor and the needy and administer to their relief.
And remember in all things the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted, for he that doeth not these things, the same is not my disciple.
I know of no more eloquent characterization of the welfare program than that made by President McKay on October 2, 1936, after we had had six months' experience in this work:
"I do not know of any activity," the President said, "with which we have been associated which promises more fruitful results in temporal and spiritual achievement than this Church security program... It is going to stand out in Church history as significant... Brethren, I congratulate you with all my heart. You are not doing it for yourselves, but for others and for the Lord, by providing, and contributing to the progress and success of the Church.
"The development of our spiritual nature should concern us most. Spirituality is the highest acquisition of the soul, the divine in man; 'the supreme, crowning gift that makes him king of all created things.' It is the consciousness of victory over self and of communion with the infinite. It is spirituality alone which really gives one of the best in life.
"Throughout this conference frequent reference has been made, and appropriately so, to the plan inaugurated the General Authorities of the Church for the relief of those who are unemployed. It is at present one of our greatest, and one of the most important concerns of the Church. During the few minutes allotted to me I desire to call attention to the spiritual value of this important and far-reaching undertaking.
"In the 29th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, we are told that all things unto the Lord are spiritual, 'and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created.
"Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural nor temporal, neither carnal or sensual'.
"It is something to supply clothing to the scantily clad, to furnish ample food to those whose table is thinly spread, to give activity to those who are fighting desperately the despair that comes from enforced idleness, but after all is said and done, the greatest blessings that will accrue from the Church security plan are spiritual. Outwardly, every act seems to be directed toward the physical: re-making of dresses and suits of clothes, canning fruits and vegetables, storing foodstuffs, choosing of fertile fields for settlement-all seem strictly temporal, but permeating all these acts, inspiring and sanctifying them, is the element of spirituality."
That is the declaration of our beloved President to us, and it has been the inspiration not alone for the general Church welfare committee though all these years, but I am sure also the inspiration for you, my brethren and sisters, who have made this great accomplishment possible.
Historically important as is the past, our attention must now be riveted upon the present and the future while we are still taking care of our daily tasks.
It is of prime importance, of course, that we should have acquired the various projects that we have throughout the Church, but it is my humble judgment today that it would be better for us never to have acquired a welfare project than to fail to take care of it now that we have it. The Lord will not hold us blameless, those of us who lead in the wards and the stakes of the Church, if we take of the funds of people, those sacred trust funds, and purchase projects and then do not utilize those projects as the Lord would have us. So I say today that the severest test is here confronting us now.
Now we have never judged the success of our welfare projects by their earning power, by any profit which might accrue therefrom, nor have we judged them as they might function in time of plenty, where ere is no unemployment, where we have been required to draw upon the busy people of the Church for the greatest contribution for their maintenance. We should never forget the fact that these projects reach the peak of their importance when they produce in time of need that which is necessary to meet the emergency, and which at the same time will furnish to the greatest number of men and women in periods of unemployment the employment by which they can gain that which they need for the sustenance of themselves and their families.
I say to you today, this welfare plan has become a great insurance, not only to the people of the Church but also to our neighbors and friends in the world. And you might ask me, of what benefit is this program to the world and particularly the communities in which we live. I say to you, it is a benefit to them because we are prepared and will continue to be prepared to take care of our own and thus relieve the public load and to give that which the public has to those who have not been blessed by the inspiration and direction of the prophet of God who leads the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in these days.
I want to say a word in conclusion about our tax situation. Some people both within and without the Church seem to worry about some welfare projects upon which no state tax has been levied. Let me say to you humbly, my brethren and sisters, and to the world, that we pay in very deed a hundred percent of the production of these farm projects of ours to the same identical cause to which much of our taxes are dedicated. The gross production of our welfare projects goes to relieve a tax burden rather than the small fraction which would be charged us were we limited alone to the tax that might be levied upon it if it were not tax-exempt by law. I am sure that the people in the Church and out of the Church should have no worry about our not meeting our civic responsibilities. I am sure that we will always be found doing more than our share in the communities in which we live throughout the world. Think of it, with the eat number of welfare projects we have now, scattered as they are throughout the United States and Canada, we can be assured that no particular climatic condition or no particular disaster could affect us all, and that we are in the position where when one community is hurt we can draw from the other communities and the other projects of the Church to assist them. With every new project we have added insurance for our future welfare and protection.
I hope and pray that we may always be responsive in the future as we have been in the past to the great leadership of President McKay and to that inspiration and direction which will come to him as he continues to preside over us in the Church and kingdom of God, and this I pray humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Alma Sonne
Alma Sonne, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 63-64
My brethren and sisters: I want to say that I endorse with all my heart the remarks which have been made this afternoon by Elder Stapley, President Smith, and Elder Moyle, and I join with them in expressing my love and admiration for President David O. McKay, who has given this Church fifty years of unselfish service. I remember him for almost that number of years. During all of that time he has traveled through the nations of the earth representing this Church, explaining the gospel principles, and bearing his testimony to the divinity of this great work.
I had a friend once who was educated along literary lines. He told me one day that the finest sentence in all literature is in the Bible. When I asked him to repeat it he said, "God said, Let there be light: and there was light". I suppose from the standpoint of beauty and majesty that sentence has no parallel, and yet I thought of another sentence, a sentence of only three words, spoken by the angel on the morning of the resurrection. The angel said, "He is risen". I believe that was the most important announcement ever made to the world.
I rejoice in the stability of this Church, in the soundness of its doctrines, and I am very happy that all of those doctrines are in agreement with the Holy Bible.
I read a book the other night which suggested that the stories of the resurrection, and the stories of the miracles performed by Jesus originated during a period of myth making. I confess that I am somewhat annoyed when a supposed leader of a Christian church will make a statement like that. Strip the Christian religion of the doctrine of the resurrection, and you lose its motivating power, as was stated so well by President McKay the other day. There is no doctrine which received more attention of Christ's twelve apostles, whom he sent into the world, than the resurrection. To deny it is to be ruled entirely by skepticism and unbelief. Mankind needs to have a conviction concerning the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
There are those who have relied entirely on their finite understanding and their human vision which, to say the least, is darkened "by the shadows of earth." The human soul needs an anchorage. Man cannot live by bread alone. Mankind needs a vindication against the tyranny of death and against the ravages of time and decay. Jesus Christ and the prophets have supplied that vindication. The Savior supplied it when, in the throes of agony and death, he said to the felon on the cross: "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise"; also, when he appeared to Mary in the garden, when someone said, "Woman, why weepest thou?" She said unto him, "Because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him."
Jesus said unto her, "Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?". She supposed him to be the gardener, and said unto him, "Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said unto her, "Mary." She turned herself and said unto him, "Rabboni, which is to say, Master".
In all the writings, either ancient or modern, there is nothing more beautiful, more touching, and more reassuring than these words quoted by John. Jesus again supplied that vindication when he faced the apostles in an upper room and when he talked and ate with them: "A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have", said the Master. Again he supplied it when he restored the wavering faith of Thomas Didymus: "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my, side: and be not faithless, but believing". That circumstance led up to the last Beatitude, probably the mightiest of them all: "Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed".
That doctrine is the very foundation of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus again supplied it when he appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the way to Damascus when he asked the question: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?".
And last, but not least, he gave to the modern world a vindication and an irrefutable witness when he appeared to Joseph Smith, the Prophet, in a grove of trees in New York, where God spoke these words:
"This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!".
The strongest fortification you and I can have against the uncertainties of life is the testimony which we have received from our Father in heaven concerning the resurrection. May we cherish it, and may we keep it strong; and may we always be valiant for the truth. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Bruce R. McConkie, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 64-66
We believe in the law of justification. By virtue of this law, if a man walks, acts, and lives in this life in such a manner that his conduct is justified by the Spirit, he eventually will attain an inheritance in the celestial world.
On the day the Church was organized, April 6, 1830, the Prophet, writing by way of prophecy and revelation, summarized the basic doctrines of the Church. Among other things he wrote this:
And we know that justification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true.
In the summary of the gospel law given in the days of Father Adam, we find this sentence:
For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified.
In the early 1830's, when the Lord was talking to the Prophet about what is called the new and everlasting covenant-that is, about the fulness of the gospel-he revealed this further truth relative to this great law of justification, and I think these following words are a perfect one sentence summary of the whole law of the whole gospel. The Lord said:
... All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power... are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead.
One more expression in the revelations has bearing on this. The Lord said:
... the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true.
Now, to justify is to seal, or to ratify, or to approve; and it is very evident from these revelations that every act that we do, if it is to have binding and sealing virtue in eternity, must be justified by the Spirit. In other words, it must be ratified by the Holy Ghost; or in other words, it must be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise.
All of us know that we can deceive men. We can deceive our bishops or the other Church agents, unless at the moment their minds are lighted by the spirit of revelation; but we cannot deceive the Lord. We cannot get from him an unearned blessing. There will be an eventual day when all men will get exactly and precisely what they have merited and earned, neither adding to nor subtracting from. You cannot with success lie to the Holy Ghost.
Now let us take a simple illustration. If an individual is to gain an inheritance in the celestial world, he has to enter in at the gate of baptism, that ordinance being performed under the hands of a legal administrator. If he comes forward prepared by worthiness, that is, if he is just and true, and gains baptism under the hands of a legal administrator, he is justified by the Spirit in the act which has been performed; that is, it is ratified by the Holy Ghost, or it is sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. As a result it is of full force and validity in this life and in the life to come.
If an individual thereafter turns from righteousness and goes off and wallows in the mire of iniquity, then the seal is removed, and so we have this principle which keeps the unworthy from gaining unearned blessings. The Lord has placed a bar which stops the progress of the unrighteous; he has placed a requirement which we must meet. We must gain the approval and receive the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost if eventually and in eternity we are to reap the blessings that we hope to reap.
The same thing that is true of baptism is true of marriage. If a couple comes forward worthily, a couple who is just and true, and they enter into that ordinance under the hands of a legal administrator, a seal of approval is recorded in heaven. Then assuming they do not thereafter break that seal, assuming they keep the covenant and press forward in steadfastness and in righteousness, they go on in the next world as husband and wife; and in and after the resurrection, that ordinance performed in such a binding manner here has full force, efficacy, and validity.
I think perhaps this doctrine, as almost all other doctrines that we teach in the Church, leads us back to the same central conclusion, which is that it is obligatory upon us to keep the commandments of God if we ever expect to inherit the blessings that he has promised the Saints. We should remind ourselves again and again of these words which he has spoken:
... he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Marion G. Romney
Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 68-73
With you, my brethren and sisters, I have enjoyed this day very much, and in harmony with Elder Sonne there echoes in my heart feelings of approval of all that has been said and done. I join with the other brethren in congratulating the Church on having our great President, after fifty years of wonderful service, as our leader. I have loved him for a long time. I met him first in California when as a lad I was a Mormon refugee from Mexico. I saw him later in far away Australia. More recently I had the great honor to be the first member of the Council of the Twelve selected by him. I greatly honor him.
I think I can give you my message for this conference so that you can get it fully if you will do a little reading. Because of the great interest evidenced by the public in, and some resulting confusion from, certain so-called supernatural manifestations, such as telecast healings, hypnotic performances, and the doctrine of reincarnation, I thought it might be appropriate for me to take as text the Seventh Article of Faith, which reads: "We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, etc.".
You can get the message I would like to give you in more detail than I will have time to give it here if you will read the forty-sixth section of the Doctrine and Covenants and an editorial written by the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1842, titled "Try the Spirits," which you will find in Volume IV, History of the Church, page 571. It is also printed in the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, compiled by our beloved President of the Council of the Twelve, beginning on page 202.
The gifts named in the Seventh Article of Faith, quoted above, are gifts or the Holy Ghost. The enjoyment of them has always been a distinctive characteristic of the Church of Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, without the gift or revelation, which is one of the gifts or the Holy Ghost, there could be no Church of Jesus Christ. This is apparent from the obvious fact that in order for his Church to exist, there must be a society of people who individually have testimonies that Jesus is the Christ. According to Paul, such testimonies are revealed only by the Holy Ghost, for said he, "... no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost". In the 46th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord specifically lists such knowledge as one of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, as follows: "To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God". Everyone who has a testimony of Jesus has received it by revelation from the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is a revelator, and everyone who receives him receives revelation.
Wherever and whenever revelation is operative, manifestations of other gifts of the Holy Ghost are prevalent. This has been so in all dispensations. It began with Father Adam who, having obeyed, repented and called upon God in the name of the Son, "... was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water.
"And thus he was baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit". And in that very day "the Holy Ghost fell upon" him, and he "began to prophesy".
The prophets from Adam to Malachi all enjoyed gifts of the Spirit. To Abraham was shown in vision the spirits of men as they were in the spirit world ere this earth rolled into being or ever "the morning stars sang together or the sons of God shouted for joy". In the days of Moses, Aaron's rod became a serpent, the waters of Egypt were turned to blood, for the Israelites a dry passage was provided through the Red Sea, and in the desert water burst from the solid rock to quench their thirst. In the days of the prophets, the widow's son was raised from the dead, and fire came down from heaven to consume Elijah's sacrifice in his contest with the priests of Baal. The leprous Naaman was instantly healed by following the instructions of Elisha.
Jesus exercised power over all things. He healed the sick, restored the lame, gave sight to the blind, cast out devils, and raised the dead. He turned water into wine, cursed the barren fig tree, stilled the storm, and walked upon the sea. He miraculously fed the four and the five thousand, and provided the tribute money.
Among the gifts of the spirit manifest in the Apostolic Church, Paul lists wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, diverse kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. The New Testament records numerous examples of the manifestation of these gifts.
Among the Jaredites and Nephites, the manifestations of these gifts were likewise prevalent. Mormon testified that they would not cease except for unbelief, "... so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved?".
Unfortunately, however, and because of unbelief, they did cease, both in the old world and in the new. For more than fifteen centuries, so far as our records reveal, no mortal man enjoyed them. Then finally came that glorious event in 1820 when, by the appearance of the Father and the Son, this awful darkness was put to flight and the return of these gifts of the spirit heralded.
The Prophet Joseph translated the Book of Mormon by the gift of the Holy Ghost. The directions to him to organize the Church came in like manner. Within a year from the organization of the Church, the Lord set forth in a revelation the gifts which were to be enjoyed in the restored Church. He named all those listed by Paul, to which were added the following:
To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world. To others it is given to believe on their words, that they also might have eternal life if they continue faithful. And again, to some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know the differences of administration... And... to some to know the diversities of operations, whether they be of God.
In 1839 the Prophet Joseph told Mr. Van Buren, then President of the United States, that possession of "the gift of the Holy Ghost" was the distinguishing difference between the restored Church and other religions of the day.
I know that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are in the Church today. Every faithful Latter-day Saint knows that they are. As Sister Romney and I left this building at the close of one of the conference meetings yesterday, a faithful sister was waiting at the door for us. She called our attention to an administration received by her some three years ago at a stake conference in California. She, with cancer, and her family, all fasting, sought for her a blessing. She reported yesterday that she was well. No evidence of her former affliction remains. Presently she is a stake missionary.
Yes, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are in the Church today.
By the statement in the revelation on spiritual gifts, "... it is given by the Holy Ghost to some to know the diversities of operations, whether they be of God... and to others the discerning of spirits", it appears that there are some apparently supernatural manifestations which are not worked by the power of the Holy Ghost. The truth is there are many which are not. The world today is full of counterfeits. It has always been so. Away back in the days of Moses, when Aaron's rod became a serpent, then Pharaoh's wise men, sorcerers and magicians "... cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents". Isaiah warned against seeking "... unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter".
Jesus, in his great Sermon on the Mount, plainly stated that:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven... Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Before the end of 1830, the very year in which the restored Church was organized, some of the leading brethren were deceived as to the source of certain spiritual manifestations. "To our great grief...," wrote the Prophet Joseph, "Satan had been lying in wait to deceive, and seeking whom he might devour. Brother Hiram Page had in his possession a certain stone, by which he had obtained certain 'revelations' concerning the upbuilding of Zion, the order of the church, etc., all of which were entirely at variance with the order of God's house, as laid down in the New Testament, as well as in our late revelations". In a revelation given in answer to the Prophet's prayer concerning the matter, the Lord said to Oliver Cowdery:
... thou shalt take thy brother, Hiram Page, between him and thee alone, and tell him that those things which he hath written from that stone are not of me, and that Satan deceiveth him.
The Saints were cautioned by the Lord to walk uprightly before him, doing all things with prayer and thanksgiving, that they might "... not be seduced by evil spirits, or doctrines of devils, or the commandments of men".
These citations not only sustain the proposition that there are counterfeits to the gifts of the spirit, but they also suggest the origin of the counterfeits. However, we are not required to rely alone upon their implications, plain as they are, for the Lord states specifically that some of the counterfeits "... are of men, and others of devils".
Some of these counterfeits are crude and easily detected, but others closely simulate true manifestations of the spirit. Consequently, people are confused and deceived by them. Without a key, one cannot distinguish between the genuine and the counterfeit. The Egyptians could not tell the difference between the power through which Moses and Aaron worked and that by which the magicians worked. On the day of Pentecost, the non-believers did not recognize that the apostles were speaking in tongues by the power of the spirit; on the contrary, they concluded that they were "drunken with new wine". The Savior himself said,
... there shall also arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch, that, if possible, they shall deceive the very elect, who are the elect according to the covenant.
Now, those "who are the elect according to the covenant" are members of the Church, so we ourselves are on notice to beware.
This brings us to our most important consideration. Believing as we do in all the gifts named in the 46th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, and knowing that there are counterfeits to them, how are we to distinguish between the true and the false, the genuine and the counterfeit?
The Apostle John gave to the saints in his day the following test:
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.
This was a good test for them. It will not, however, do for us. The reason is given by the Prophet Joseph as follows:
Did not the Apostle speak the truth? Certainly he did, but he spoke to a people who were under the penalty of death, the moment they embraced Christianity; and no one without a knowledge of the fact would confess it, and expose themselves to death.
The Prophet Joseph having recited some of the workings of evil spirits in his day, said:
A man must have the discerning of spirits before he can drag into daylight this hellish influence and unfold it unto the world in all its soul-destroying, diabolical, and horrid colors; for nothing is a greater injury to the children of men than to be under the influence of a false spirit when they think they have the spirit of God. Thousands have felt the influence of its terrible power and baneful effects. Long pilgrimages have been undertaken, penances endured, and pain, misery and ruin have followed in their train; nations have been convulsed, kingdoms overthrown, provinces laid waste, and blood, carnage and desolation are habiliments in which it has been clothed.
Without attempting an exhaustive discussion of this question, I shall take the liberty to suggest three simple tests which, if applied, will prove of great value in making the distinction.
First, determine whether the alleged supernatural manifestation is edifying. If it is not, then it is not of God because spiritual gifts are given for the edification of God's people.
Paul, writing to the Corinthian saints concerning spiritual gifts, instructed them to "let all things be done unto edifying." And of those who would speak in tongues he said, "If there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church." And as to prophecy he added, "... the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets."
"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace". He compared the speaking in tongues without a clear interpretation thereof to a trumpet giving forth an uncertain sound, at which no one would know whether to prepare for the battle. "There are," he wrote "... So many kinds of voices in the world...
Therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me".
That the saints of the infant Church in this dispensation be not deceived, the Lord pleaded with them to keep in mind that the purpose of spiritual gifts was to benefit those who loved him and kept his commandments. They were not to be given as signs to those who would consume them upon their lusts.
Second-this pertains particularly to purported supernatural healing-find out whether the purported healer follows the divinely established procedure, that is, does he do as Jesus did when he laid his hands upon the sick and healed them and as his apostles did when, at his direction, they "went out, and preached that men should repent."
"And... cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them". The pattern which prevailed in the Apostolic Church, and which has been prescribed anew by revelation in this day, is set out by James as follows:
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Third, find out whether the worker of the purported miracle has himself received the gift of the Holy Ghost through the prescribed ordinances. If he has not, then his works, whatever they may be, are not the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. This is a key test because, as we have already pointed out, the gifts of the spirit are given by the power of the Holy Ghost. Without the gift of the Holy Ghost, the manifestations of his gifts may not be enjoyed. The Prophet Joseph Smith states this foundation doctrine as follows:
We believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost being enjoyed now, as much as it was in the Apostles' day; we believe that it is necessary to make and to organize the priesthood, that no man can be called to fill any office in the ministry without it; we also believe in prophecy, in tongues, in visions, and in revelations, in gifts, and in healings; and that these things cannot be enjoyed without the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Thus one who has never received the gift of the Holy Ghost cannot possibly work miracles by his power.
Now, we know that there is but one way to obtain the gift of the Holy Ghost. That way is through the prescribed ordinances of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Apostle Paul's procedure emphasizes the indispensability of these ordinances. Coming to
... Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
These gifts of the spirit they could not possibly have exercised until after they had received the gift of the Holy Ghost through compliance with the proper ordinances. Such has been the procedure for receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost from the days of Father Adam. We quoted at the beginning of these remarks the procedure by which he received it. That procedure was precisely the same as that followed by Paul in bestowing it. Such will always be the procedure, for God established it. Said the Prophet Joseph,
Baptism is a holy ordinance preparatory to the reception of the Holy Ghost; it is the channel and key by which the Holy Ghost will be administered.
The gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, cannot be received through the medium of any other principle than the principle of righteousness, for if the proposals are not complied with it is of no use, but withdraws.
Now, righteous men, bearing the holy priesthood of the living God and endowed with the gift of the Holy Ghost, who are magnifying their callings-and such are the only men upon the earth with the right to receive and exercise the gifts of the spirit-will do so circumspectly and in all humility. They will not spectacularly advertise their divine power nor boast about it. Neither will they display it for money. Of this you may be sure.
Now, the Prophet gave other tests applicable to special claims and doctrines, of which the following two are typical.
He made it clear that there is never more than one man on the earth at a time authorized to receive revelations for the Church. This principle answered the claims of the purported peepstone revelations.
Of an interview with a Mr. Matthias, the Prophet wrote:
He said that be possessed the spirit of his fathers, that he was a literal descendant of Matthias, the Apostle, who was chosen in the place of Judas that fell; that his spirit was resurrected in him; and that this was the way or scheme of eternal life-this transmigration of soul or spirit from father to son.
I told him that his doctrine was of the devil.
Thus removing all doubt with respect to the purported doctrine of "transmigration of souls or spirits," currently referred to as reincarnation.
In conclusion, I again call attention to the statement of the Prophet Joseph Smith already quoted, that "A man must have the discerning of spirits before he can drag into daylight this hellish influence and unfold it unto the world in all its soul-destroying, diabolical, and horrid colors;" for after all, the things of God can be understood only by the spirit of God. The gift of "discernment of spirits" is the sure solution to this knotty problem. Seek after this gift, brethren and sisters, and after its kindred gifts-knowledge, wisdom, and "to know the diversities of operations whether they be of God", and not after sensational and miraculous signs and wonders. Remember that
... unto the bishop of the church, and unto such as God shall appoint and ordain to watch over the church and to be elders unto the church, are to have it given unto them to discern all those gifts lest there shall be any among you professing and yet be not of God. And it shall come to pass that he that asketh in Spirit shall receive in Spirit; That unto some it may be given to have all those gifts, that there may be a head in order that every member may be profited thereby.
Finally:
Be virtuous and pure; be men of integrity and truth; keep the commandments of God; and then you will be able more perfectly to understand the difference between right and wrong-between the things of God and the things of men; and your path will be like that of the just, which shineth brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.
God grant that it may be so I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 75-79
In his magnificent opening address, President McKay, you will recall, spoke of the great responsibility we have to our children, of the importance of parents properly rearing their children, and then, of course, of the responsibility of the Church in cooperating with the family in assisting the children to understand the reason for living a righteous life.
We are endeavoring to develop among the Latter-day Saints what Peter spoke of as a "royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people called out of darkness into his marvelous light". And yet, as we do so in this modern age, it seems that the very gates of hell at times seem open to invite our young people in. With alluring advertisements on radio, on TV, and in the newspapers and magazines, men of the world attempt to make evil appear to be good and desirable. They attempt to make temptation glitter like gold. In the face of it our children must make a great decision. They must understand so that they can intelligently make a choice between that which is right and that which is wrong.
We believe that as a general thing, if we train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it. We believe that comes with the inspiration of our Father in Heaven. The Lord has said in revelation in these, the last days that he would bless us, his people, so that the gates of hell would have no power over us if we would but be obedient unto him. If we properly teach our children to do what is right, the allurements of the world need not have any great effect upon them. We need not have such great fears if we teach them properly and convert them and help them to obtain a testimony of the Gospel, because that testimony will be a fortification for them, a great defense against the temptations and the allurements of the world.
So, in our homes we endeavor to teach our young people properly. We have our Home Evenings. We sit down and talk with them and teach them objectively. We teach our children as we attend recreational events. We set them a proper example.
We do all we can to convert them to the Gospel. But as we do so, we must have help from the Church. We must have full cooperation from our brothers and sisters in the auxiliaries and the priesthood quorums so that in very deed, with the Church and the home working together, we may accomplish the great purpose we have in mind.
As President McKay explained, a Committee of the Twelve, under the direction of Elder Harold B. Lee, has been studying the problem of how to help you in your homes and your Church organizations better to give the young people of the Church an appreciation of the standards of the Church, that they may love them better, that they may uphold them and sustain them.
As we studied the matter over, and as we considered the allurements of the advertising, we felt that we could use advertising methods to good advantage in our program. By using the skill and the devices that are available through advertising and through the work of wonderful Latter-day Saint men in advertising, we hoped to be of some assistance in helping our young people, just at a glance at times, to catch a new view of the beauties of the standards of the Church.
So, as we talked it over as a Committee, we thought we would like to present to our young people a series of advertisements in an attractive way so that they could catch more of the spirit and the beauty of the standards of the Church, and have something to reinforce them in their resistance to the temptations of the world. As we talked about the possibilities, we realized that we would need professional assistance.
One day we invited Brother David W. Evans, who has a splendid advertising agency which operates in many parts of the United States, to come and sit in with us and discuss the matter. We told him about our idea, and asked if he would cooperate with his wonderful organization. He, like every other Latter-day Saint, responded wonderfully to the call and said that he would be glad to give us any time that he could, and give us the facilities of his organization in working out a campaign.
So as we talked further, and he told us about an artist he has working for him-Dale Kilburn-who did some beautiful work. He showed us some of the things Brother Kilburn had done, and the result was that Brother David W. Evans and members of his staff and Dale Kilburn cooperated in preparing for us the advertisements we hope to present to the Church.
It is our thought that we shall give an advertisement in poster form to every ward in the Church once every two months, so that the poster would stand in a good place in the meeting house for a two-month period. These beautiful posters-and they are beautiful-will need to be well displayed. Unless they are properly displayed they will lose much of their value, and we are asking, therefore, that a proper display be made in each one of the ward meeting houses. These posters may best be displayed in a glass covered case that might be placed upon the wall in the foyer of a meeting house.
We realize that you do not have such a case, but as we talked with Brother Lee about it, Brother Lee suggested that here would be an excellent priesthood project. The Church service committee of the elders' quorums in every ward has, in connection with its activities, the anti liquor-tobacco program. Brother Lee suggests that a project be given to each Church service committee of each elders' quorum to provide a case such as we speak of for each ward in the stake-a glass front, a wooden frame, a proper back to which may be attached these posters.
We believe this will be a very good priesthood quorum project under the direction of the Church service committee. If you will immediately begin on the construction of these cases and have them ready by the middle of May, then we will begin the presentation of these posters on the first of June, or very shortly thereafter. Keep in mind that the poster will stay up for two months, and then we will give you another one.
Before I describe the posters further, I should like to have the lights out, and we will show our pictures on the screen. For the sake of those in the building who cannot see, or those who are in other buildings, I will describe the pictures as well as I can.
Isn't that a beautiful poster? The entire approach is positive. We will not make any kind of a negative approach in connection with this program. Everything will be positive teaching. You will see here the first poster we have in mind. It is entitled, "Virtue Is Its Own Reward." There is an excellent picture of a young bride and her groom, who, having lived a beautiful, virtuous, clean life, now may go into marriage with all of the rewards that come from a pure, clean life.
You will notice that at the bottom of the poster we have the expression: "Be Honest With Yourself." That will become the theme of the entire series, and will appear on each of the posters.
The poster, as you see, carries a great message by itself, and we believe that as young people see the poster, just at a glance they will catch the idea, and they will be taught in a moment. But for those who will pause, we will have an addition to the poster, as will be seen now on the next picture. It will be a side-piece. At the top you will see the same bride and groom, the same expression, "Virtue Is Its Own Reward." At the very bottom you will notice that we have again, "Be Honest With Yourself." The message is this:
"Virtue is its own reward, and these are its rewards: peace of mind, the love of loved ones, a good name, a quiet conscience, the confidence of family and friends, the strength of personal purity, the trust of your children, the sense of purpose in life here, an assurance of everlasting life with those you love, and of peace and limitless progress hereafter. All this is yours for keeping the commandments. Be true to your friends, your family, your Father in Heaven. In other words, Be Honest With Yourself."
I was so thankful for what President McKay said yesterday about being loyal to ourselves, because this entire program will tie in with his suggestion. We will teach our children to be honest with themselves.
In the next picture you will see how the two will be displayed together-the main poster on the one side, and the additional piece on the other. That is the way it will appear in the display case we are asking the priesthood quorums to provide in each ward. This will come, as we say, once every two months, each time with a new theme.
As we talked about this still further, we decided it would be a wonderful thing not only to display this poster in the lobby or the foyer of a meeting house, but we thought it would be a wonderful thing to give to each young person in the ward from 12 to 20 this poster in miniature, with a beautiful message on the reverse side-something they could put in their pockets and carry home, something beautiful enough so that they could set it on their dresser, something that they would be glad to read over with their friends. So we decided that we would use the main picture of the bride and the groom with the large caption: "Virtue Is Its Own Reward," and then the theme at the bottom, "Be Honest With Yourself," as the face of this card, which will be approximately postcard size.
Then, as we show you in the next picture, on the opposite side will be a message: "Virtue is its own reward. There is more to marriage than music and moonlight. There is trust and sharing, and being loved and deserving to be. There is companionship through years of growing old together, and to each partner in an honest marriage there will come a time when nothing will be more important than personal purity, and it will not be just at some passing hour, but day after day, year after year, as long as you look at your loved ones, as long as you can feel in reality or in memory the small hand of a son or daughter as it closes around your finger. You, each of you, should take no less to marriage than personal purity. You have a right to expect it of the companion you choose. You have a sacred obligation to keep it and to offer it in return. The rewards of virtuous living are rich and enduring, but the price of sin runs high. The reward of virtue is a quiet conscience, the right to answer every question without reservation, the right to look every man squarely in the eye, and every boy and girl and woman also, without an accusing conscience. It is the right to pass on to your children and your children's children a clean record, a clean heritage, a good name. You cannot cheat, you cannot avoid consequences, so be virtuous. Be honest wit yourself.
In order to insure a proper distribution of these cards so that every boy and girl, active or inactive, from the ages 12 to 20 in every ward and branch in all the stakes of the Church, shall receive a card like this, we are now going to the bishops. The bishop is the head of the Aaronic Priesthood, and the bishop has a counselor who is assigned to work with the YWMIA on the LDS Girls' Program. We are asking each one of you as bishop, when these cards are delivered to your ward, to see to it that every boy in the Aaronic Priesthood, and every boy of Aaronic Priesthood age who is not ordained to any priesthood, receives one of these cards.
Then, through your counselor who is associated with the LDS Girls' Program in the YWMIA, we ask that you see to it that every girl, active or inactive, in that age group, receives one of these cards so that it may be read and understood, and possibly be of help in converting them to be clean.
In the next picture we show you another poster-a very happy looking young couple, a boy and a girl, and the expression, "Healthy, Happy, Lucky You. Be Honest With Yourself."
In the next picture we will show you the side-piece that goes with it, which reads: "Healthy, Happy, Lucky You. Lucky is he who learns from his parents and the Church that health and happiness come with clean living, that some things should be left alone, not to be touched or tampered with. We have one mind, and one earthly body which must last a lifetime. Our Maker planned it that way. He knows what is good for us. That is why he has given us commandments, not left us alone in our search for happiness. Lucky is he who does not have to learn everything the hard way, the painful way, too often when it is nearly too late. Be smart. Be clean. Be healthy. Be honest with yourself."
When these two are put together, they will be displayed in your display case. At that same time we will distribute small cards based on this theme.
Our next picture shows a lovely young lady before a mirror, combing her hair. The caption is, "Beauty Is More Than Skin Deep," and then again, our theme, "Be Honest With Yourself." The side-piece, which is shown in the next picture, reads like this: "Beauty is more than skin deep," and may I say that this is just as much a message to boys, who should have the proper measure of beauty, as it is to girls.
"What is beauty? Who can have it? Ask John Robert Powers, famous beauty authority. He will tell you, though it sounds trite. It is the glow of health, a radiant personality, a complete self-assurance and naturalness, intellectual curiosity and integrity. To sum it up, beauty is largely a matter of the thoughts we think, the deeds we do, the food we eat, the interest we show in others. It is the sum of sincerity, enthusiasm, and unselfishness. It is obedience to the laws of good and wise and unselfish living. It is the reflections of what we are inside ourselves. So if you would be beautiful, be honest with yourself," so reads the side piece. And then cards will be based upon that theme also, for individual distribution.
In our next picture we have something based on Emily Post: a couple out for the evening being offered drinks by the host. The caption at the top says, "The Guest, the Host, and Emily Post." The side-piece shown in the next picture reads like this: "When your host invites you to have a drink, or take a cigarette, what is the proper answer? When you are offered things you don't want, Emily Post says it's proper to say 'No, thank you.' The obligation of courtesy is not that of the guest, but of the host and hostess. Wanting to be popular is natural, but when an inner voice says, 'Don't do that, it is wrong,' then say no and hang on to that no. So it's not only proper, it's wise to say, 'No, thank you.' Be honest with yourself."
Our next picture is based on the value of prayer. This picture shows George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and President Eisenhower in the background, and then in the foreground a family group. At the top we read, "Great Men Pray," and again at the bottom, "Be Honest With Yourself."
In our next view on the screen the side-piece is shown, and it reads like this: "Great and wise men and women of all ages have sought and received help through prayer, and all these are proper petitions to an understanding Father in Heaven: the trust of a child at his mother's knee, the prayer of a father for the return of a wayward son, the students' honest seeking for answers, a young man's reverent request for strength to do his best in a ball game or business venture, the young woman's plea for guidance in choosing a husband. Do you ever need help from a higher source? Then follow the example of the great and good of all the ages. Ask and receive. Pray. Be honest with yourself."
Brethren, we are planning to continue this program for some time. The artist has in mind painting such additional ones as representations of modesty, in dress and actions, and other such subjects.
Now, brethren, as these posters and cards come to you, you will be getting additional support. We are going to ask the publishers of all of the Church publications, the magazines and the Church Section of the Deseret News, to give us a full month. During the month when the posters appear new we will place, with their permission, a full-page display tied in with the current poster. We are having written up a series of success stories from the lives of true Latter-day Saint men who have made good in a big way in big business or in the professions, still maintaining their standards. The theme will be that they are succeeding not in spite of, but with the assistance of, their observance of the standards of the Church. This human interest story based on the standards of the Church will come in the alternate months in between the placing of the new posters.
The MIA have already pledged to us their assistance, and they will give us a further follow-through at their June Conference. The Presiding Bishopric, who have helped us in this planning, particularly Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin, will give us their support for our program. The other organizations, although not yet contacted, are always similarly cooperative.
Brethren, we humbly ask that each one of you cooperate with this positive effort to teach good Latter-day Saint standards to the young people of the Church. We believe that by these positive methods we can help them to realize that to help them succeed most in the earth, they will desire to keep the standards of the Church, and that this may be is our humble prayer, in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder S. Dilworth Young
S. Dilworth Young, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 79-81
I cannot express in words, my brethren, the honor that is paid me by President McKay in asking me to address you this evening. I feel very much indebted to him. I was eight years of age when he entered the Quorum of the Twelve, and I have grown up through most of my life always remembering him as an Apostle of the Lord.
It was he who called me on the phone one day in April of 1945 and invited me to come to the Conference and take my place in the First Council of the Seventy. There have been times when I have needed to be rebuked, as I guess all men do. I shall never protest as long as those I receive in the future are as gentle as those President McKay has given me, for he always leaves me built up and strengthened when he calls attention to the errors which have been made.
President McKay, I should like you to know that my own personal feeling toward you is one of deep devotion, and toward your family likewise. I think I have no greater love for any man than I do for your brother, Thomas, who has been to me always a friend, often in time of need.
I should like to indulge myself for a moment, and ask you to indulge me, in an imaginary thing. I should like to have you imagine with me that we have gone back 136 years. I imagine myself to be a member of a family, newly moved into New York State, by the name of Smith.
We were having a hard time. Father had contracted for some land. It was heavily forested. It is no easy thing to cut down hardwood trees of diameter from three to four feet, and yet that was our lot if we expected to clear the land and make a farm out of it. We progressed slowly by hard work.
On one particular clear sunshiny day in early spring, when the buds were starting to come out a little, a rare thing in New York state in that season of the year, I had been sent to clear in the lower bottom land, and having spent the whole day there, did not have much connection with the family. I came home that evening in time for supper and gathered with the family around the table. Our usual custom was to have a verse of Scripture and a prayer over the food, and then to indulge ourselves in conversation concerning religion. We had good cause, because at that moment there were in the town four ministers representing four churches, all of them pleading with us to be saved and to accept Christ.
My mother and my brother, Hyrum, had felt they would like to espouse the cause of the Presbyterian Church, and so indicated. Myself, I favored the Methodist Church. I thought that was nearer to what I considered Christ to be. But we were a loyal family and we did not ever quarrel over these things. It was all happy conversation, reason was given, Scripture was quoted, and we had a good laugh whenever we came to a difference we could not resolve.
After the supper was cleared away, my father said to us children, "Gather around the fire. We have something important to have you hear." And so we gathered, and after we were seated in the various chairs and on the floor, my mother gently rocking in her favorite rocking chair with her knitting in her lap, my father said:
"Now, Joseph," and then I saw my younger brother stand. I noticed he had been a little quiet during the evening. Now he spoke. He told us what we all know so well about his experience of the morning. He told us it was a vision. A remarkable thing occurred to me. In my heart as I heard him speak I had no more doubt about religion. There was no argument in my mind. Somehow, without any thought, without any analysis, I knew he spoke the truth. I did not have to analyze it. I did not want to analyze it. There was no need for it. I was sure.
As I remember back, it seems to me that each of my brothers and sisters were equally sure. I think the whole thing-the whole explanation-was summed up by my father when he said, in his quiet way, "Boys and girls, it is of God." That seemed to be the feeling of all of us.
I experienced also a new feeling toward Joseph. In my eyes, suddenly, though he was but a boy, he seemed to assume the stature of a man, and I had equal confidence, as I had of the sureness of his vision, that he had the stature and would grow to fill it in such a way that he could always carry the burdens which the Lord was placing upon him.
The passing years have done nothing to change my feelings in that respect. He did measure up. For the first time, I guess, since the history in the days of Christ, we had found the truth about the Father and the Son, which is now so clearly testified of in the Scriptures. Up until that time the Father and Son relationship had been a mystery. But another thing we also learned: we learned the true feeling which comes when the Holy Ghost bears witness of the truth, for that, my brethren, was also a part of the revelation that day.
You see, it could not very well be that the Father and the Son could come and reveal themselves to a boy and have the world believe that boy unless the third member of the Grand Presidency of Heaven also played his part and bore witness to our souls with such sureness we could not fail to accept the fact that what he said was true. It was the still, small voice, not loud, not contentious. We just knew.
Thank you for your patience in this imaginary excursion. My brethren, that great revelation of two glorious Beings, and the testimony of its truth, witnessed by the Holy Ghost-has been the basis of this Church. The strength we have today of a million and three hundred and fifty thousand, our immense outlay of buildings and the vast numbers of you of the Priesthood, is because all of us have also had borne in upon our souls that same, still, small, quiet, witness that indeed the events did transpire; that indeed Joseph Smith was a Prophet; and indeed carried his work to the satisfaction of his Father in Heaven, and we know by the same whispering of the spirit that his keys are held by President McKay and those who associate with him as prophets and seers and revelators.
That is my testimony also, in the name of Christ. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 81-83
My brethren: Again in this semiannual Priesthood Meeting, I am privileged and honored to be asked to say a few words to you. I hope that you will aid me, that the things that I wish to say, have thought I might say, will seem to be appropriate, and that I may be led either along that line or some other. I know in part the value of your prayers. I know in part the power of the Priesthood. I know in part the power of our Heavenly Father. And these things I invoke at this time.
If Brother Young will permit me, I should just like to make one observation. You know, if I cannot accept this First Vision, I do not see how I can be regarded as a member of this Church. I do not see any alternative to that, because it is elemental. There are some, in numbers I am sure few, in position of some importance, who seem to think that the Church is a great social organization and such it is, and if that were all it is I suppose it would be worth belonging to, but the Church is that and far, far more. The social activity, the economic set up of the Church is most important, but without the First Vision and all that flows from it, this Church as we know it, would never have been built, would not now exist, and would have been but a memory.
You know, of course, I cannot think for anybody else but myself but I believe that if I held that erroneous view which I have named, I would have the courage, the ordinary, everyday honesty publicly to proclaim myself and ask to be relieved of my membership. That is the way I would feel.
Now, I am sure the brethren who are still waiting here, President McKay and President Richards, have much that they want to say, and I have only one or two points that I would like to mention. What I am going to say now I cannot be too sure about, and I do not give you these things that I shall read to you, tell you about, as being actual facts. But I think they are fairly accurate. Compared with the most numerous, that is the Church with the most membership in the United States, we stand as one to 24, by which I mean that the largest is twenty-four times plus larger than are we.
However, when it comes to the Priesthood, the situation is very different. In the United States, according to our best figures, there are 165,000 holding the Melchizedek Priesthood; there are 143,000 bearing the Aaronic Priesthood; a total of 309,000.
Now I cannot be sure about the figures I shall give you next, but the best I have been able to obtain would show that they, that other Church, of which we are only 1/24th as large, has only 54,344 priests. That gives us 5.6 bearers of the Priesthood to their one.
Now if you add in to that number of theirs, those who belong to their Seminaries, who as I understand are not yet bearers of their Priesthood, and so should not be included, but including them, it appears that we have 3.5 bearers of the Priesthood to one with them. Yet they are perhaps 24 times larger than are we.
Brother Mark Petersen quoted some scriptures, and I would like, if Mark will permit it to quote them. The Lord told Moses, you will find this in Exodus 19:6:
"And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel".
And then as Peter has quoted it and enlarged it, Brother Mark:
"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light".
I am sure there is no other Church on this earth that has the proportion of Priesthood to total membership that we have. The plan which the Father had for Israel could not be carried out because they refused to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, and the Lord took the Priesthood and then Moses out of their midst and left them with the Aaronic Priesthood.
Now the lesson I would like to get out of this situation, is what a tremendous advantage not only, do we have over any other church, I think I may safely say in the world, but I would like to point out to you we have a corresponding responsibility, a responsibility that we cannot escape. We have been made in general language, a kingdom of priests, a priesthood kingdom. The Lord so looks at us, I am sure, and I am sure he will hold us responsible.
I wonder, well organized as we are whether we are as well organized as the German Army. Our organization is perfect. We can have no excuse, no reason for failing to do what the Lord expects us to do, save our own indifference, unwillingness, or indolence.
Brethren, I think this is a tremendous responsibility, and how shall we meet it. I come back to the theme I have spoken of ever since I have been talking to you, unity. I want to take time with our permission to read part of perhaps the greatest prayer which we have record, that prayer which was uttered by the Savior the night before the crucifixion after he and the disciples had left the Upper Chamber and had gone out to the Mount. That is the one in which near the beginning, Jesus declared, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent".
And if you will bear with me, I want to read most of the rest of that prayer. It was uttered in behalf of the disciples by Jesus himself, and you brethren who are here, bearers of the Melchizedek Priesthood, hold precisely the same Priesthood, enjoy, I think, precisely the same rights and powers and keys that were enjoyed by them. And I want to read you by way of recalling to your remembrance, how the Lord prayed for them. I am reading from John, chapter 17:
"For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. "And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. "And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. "I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. "And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through truth. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. "O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. "And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them".
Brethren, I take it that that is a prayer offered for us, just as applicable to us as it was to the Apostles in whose immediate behalf Christ was intervening.
May the Lord give us the unity, the faith, the powers, which the Lord prayed that his Disciples might have, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President Stephen L Richards
Stephen L Richards, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 83-85
I might well have chosen a subject for this evening other than that on which I propose to dwell had I not been impelled a few days ago in contemplating this meeting to bring a particular matter to your attention. I trust that it may not be too inappropriate for this great occasion. If at the beginning it seems so, please reserve judgment.
I read in the newspaper the other day an article. It prompted me to bring the matter here. It is written by Judge Rudolph C. Geissler of Connecticut. Some of you may have seen it, but I fear that it was not read generally and seriously, or I would not take the time to reproduce at least part of it. The Judge says:
"In the 24 years I have been on the bench, I have never given a speeder a second chance. I never will. If he is convicted in my court or pleads guilty, the speeder gets a fine or a jail sentence and his license gets blemished.
"In the sense that I adhere strictly to the law, I am a 'tough' judge. In my opinion, that is the judge's job. As a speeder, you are one man in a traffic court on one particular day; as a judge, you are a witness day in day out, by the hundreds and thousands, to the worst carnage man has ever known. Worse than plague. Worse than war.
"Motorists are inclined to think that when they come up before a judge on their first speeding charge, they should be given a second chance. They don't want that 'black mark' on the back of their driver's license. The offer excuses. They get friends of the judge to try to fix things for them. They hire lawyers to pull strings. What they don't understand is that speed is their enemy, not the court. The court is simply their conscience.
"Excuses, entreaties, attempts at influence, I've heard them all:
"'Judge, I've been driving for twelve years with a clean record-just give me this one chance.'
"'Judge, if you put this second speeding on, my license the company will fire me.'
"'Your Honor, I don't have a job and my kids are sick and if you fine me, I'll have to go to jail.'"
Then he cites the cases of friends pleading for those who are arrested.
"Yes, I've heard them all, and I've turned them all down. Sometimes it makes my heart ache, like when a man is out of a job and is up against it, but I don't give him a second chance. 'What kind of justice is that?' you may ask. 'Have you no compassion? Can't a man be forgiven one mistake?' One mistake. Compassion. What do you think I have seen and heard during my 24 years on the bench? A man drives at 70 miles per hour at night on a two-lane highway. He sideswipes another car going around a curve; both cars spin out of control and crash. Four people are dead. That's only one mistake, isn't it?
"A group of young people are coming home from a dance, and the 19-year-old driver decides to show off by pushing the speedometer up to its limit-one mistake. A driver speeds up to beat a changing light at an intersection-just one mistake.
"The fact is, that's all a speeding accident ever amounts to-just one mistake. The vast majority of serious collisions involve people, with 'clean' records. Yes, I have compassion, and so do most other judges, but the compassion is for the permanently crippled, the 'innocent' corpses in the other car, the children left without one or both parents. We judges have to look at unending photographs of butchered bodies and mangled automobiles, introduced into evidence by Police officers-the mute evidence of a speeder's one mistake."
And he cites other instances. Then he says:
"I know quite a lot about boys, and I do think about them. For instance, I think about those two young fellows at Storrs, Conn., who killed themselves smashing into a tree; the Hartford boys who wound up on morgue slabs after their car turned over three times and landed in a ditch; those four college boys who were doing 75 on the Wilbur Cross Parkway-two died instantly and two in the hospital.
"I know about boys, all right. I've got three sons and eight grandsons, and if they ever start speeding I only hope and pray that a State Trooper is there to catch them and that a judge fines them properly.
"Here's what I tell most young people who come before me and try to talk themselves out of their 'jam.' 'Young man,' I say, 'consider this one of the luckiest days of your life-for you have wound up in a traffic court instead of a graveyard.'
"I recently had an 18-year-old high-school student in my court. He had been clocked at midnight doing 80 m.p.h. on a two-lane highway. I asked him why his father had not come to court with him.
"'He's here,' the boy said, 'in the back of the court.' I asked the father to come forward.
"'My son got himself into this,' the father said, 'and he'll have to get himself out of it. There's no excuse for driving a car at that speed.'
"'Did you have a reason?' I asked the boy.
"'Yes, sir,' he answered. 'I had been up late several nights in a row, so I wanted to get home to catch up on my sleep.'
"'Well,' I said, 'you had a distance of twenty-five miles to cover. Now by going eighty miles an hour instead of the legal limit you probably saved about fifteen minutes. And in the process, you might have been killed-or killed somebody else. Do you think the risk was worth it?'
'No, sir,' the boy said. 'I guess not. I guess I deserve to be fined.'
"I noticed the father perk up at that, and I could see he felt a little better about his son's scrape with the law. I admire that father much more than one who tries to 'protect' his son by influencing the judge or prosecutor.
"How can we slow you down? How can we make you obey the speed limit which is clearly and incessantly indicated on every highway in this country?
"Fines haven't worked.
"Threats haven't worked.
"Public education doesn't seem to be working.
"Maybe Connecticut's new experiment will. Governor Abraham A. Ribicoff recently issued an order which, as far as I know, is the most drastic speed rule in the nation. Any one who exceeds the speed limit on any road, highway or street in the state of Connecticut now automatically loses his driver's license for 30 days; if it is a second conviction, he loses it for 60 days. And the regulation applies not only to residents of Connecticut, but also to speeders from other states with which Connecticut has reciprocity agreements."
Now, I did not read this to advocate that Governor's recommendation. I do not know enough about it to know whether that is the best recommendation that can be proposed. I read this to try to save the lives of some of our people. I notice these smash-ups in the paper every day or two, and if it does not tell what Church they belong to, I nearly always follow it up and find where they are to be buried from, and I find out that a great proportion of all those in this area are members of my own Church, my brethren in the Priesthood.
I know that some young folks think that they have freedom to do what they will. They seem to think that they have freedom to do with their lives as they desire. They ought to be taught the Lord's words regarding life. Life is precious, "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's".
No man has the freedom and the liberty to dispose of even his own life and to be so careless as to endanger the lives of others.
I used to have an old friend-Brother McKay will remember him-who was taken out of business, almost, by the prohibition act. I remember him making a statement that I never forgot. He said, "I reserve the right to criticize the law, but not to break it." As far as I know he never broke it.
Who makes the law? Your representatives. Isn't it disloyal to them to break the laws they make? I think there is not only an element of disloyalty to it, but I know that it breeds disrespect for the law, and it is immoral to break the laws of the land.
Life is too precious. It is the greatest gift that the Lord has given to us. We cannot waste it, and if I, by bringing this to your attention, can save one carload of teenagers from careening into a station and killing them, as they did the other night, I shall be grateful, and therefore I take the liberty of bringing this to the attention of my brethren of the Priesthood to see if we cannot develop a respect for the law which will enable us to avoid many of these tragic accidents. My heart bleeds for the victims. My heart bleeds for the innocent victims who ride along safely and are run into by these speed demons. This Judge has a whole lot of good sense, and I think maybe he has a deterrent that will be helpful in this greatest carnage that our Country has ever known.
The Lord bless us, help us to preserve our lives, and to use our lives for the high purposes that the Lord has given us, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 85-87
My esteemed fellow-workers. I hope what I say now may not detract from the spiritual instructions received and the appeals made for our young people. But there are a few suggestions to you, stake officers, stake presidencies and bishoprics of wards, which we hope you will take without comment. I will just name them.
1. In our Handbook of Instructions we read: "Sunday School should not be closed on a day of Stake Conference. All classes with the exception of the Gospel Doctrine and other adult classes, should remain in session. This applies to every ward except where Conference is being held in a ward building and Sunday School and Conference cannot be accommodated in the building at the same time. It is understood, however, that the attendance of all members of the Church, old and young, at Stake Conference shall be encouraged, and that a member of any Sunday School class who desires to attend Stake Conference should be excused to do so, and that any class in the Sunday School may, under proper supervision, attend a Stake Conference in a body," but to close the Sunday School and turn out a hundred or several hundred, young boys and girls who do not go to Conference or who cannot find seats in the congregation, is contrary to instructions given.
2. Many wards at different times of the year decide that they will not hold any Sunday night meeting on Fast Day. These meetings should be held in the interest of the Auxiliaries.
3. This is very important. Substitutions should not be made for our Sacrament Meetings. Seminary graduation exercises should be held at some other hour or on some weekday night; they should not take the place of our Sacrament Meetings.
And now just for a final message. We have been worried, not for a few days or a few months, but for many years, over the problem of making our ward teaching more effective. This is in harmony with our great lesson tonight-to help our young people and to help those of our older ones who are indifferent.
Tonight I shall take time to mention only two features.
"The teacher's duty is to watch over the church always"-this is the Word of the Lord, and the more closely we follow that the more satisfaction we shall have in our labors.
"The teacher's duty is to watch over the church always, and be with and strengthen them; "And see that there is no iniquity in the church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting, nor evil speaking; "And see that the church meet together often, and also see that all the members do their duty".
One day, when my brother and I were in our teens, we were ready to leave the barnyard and go out to the field for a load of hay. Father came out, shut the gate behind him, and then looking towards the sidewalk, saw two men coming towards the house. He recognized them as ward teachers, "Al" Sprague and Eli Tracy. He said, "Boys, there are the ward teachers; tie up your team and come into the house." Though we demurred, we obeyed. Seated as a family, we heard our father say, "Now brethren, we are in your hands."
I give you the picture. Now I give you what the teacher said: he started with my father, who was the Bishop of the Ward, and asked him if he was doing his duty; if he was living in harmony with his neighbors; if he was sustaining the authorities. He asked Mother questions about doing her duty, and he went from the parents to each child who sat around in that meeting.
Those teachers emphasized one part of their duty. First, Father submitted himself to them, for they came as his representatives and would be in every house. Their duty was to see that "each member does his duty." Now that takes tact and some of you say for teachers so to question the people gives offense. I grant you all that, and I am not going to discuss it. But the Lord has asked you to do just that thing. How you do it, the inspiration of the Lord must prompt.
Now tonight I should like to emphasize another phase of ward teaching-"watching over the Church always."
The teacher's duty is not performed when he goes only once a month to each house. I remember when one Bishop made it a duty of the ward teacher to go at once to a house bereaved of a loved one and see what could be done in order to bring comfort to those who were grieving and to make arrangements for the funeral. It is the teacher's duty to see that there is no want; if there is sickness there, to go and administer-watching over those families always.
Tuesday morning at the dedication of the Los Angeles Temple-that was the beginning, I think, of the fifth session-we were entering the Temple when somebody said, "There is an old lady coming down the walk. Evidently she wants to see you." She was walking, but she had to be helped. We returned and met her just as she and her companions came up the steps leading to the north entrance of the Temple. We shook her hand and greeted her and gave her a blessing as much as we could in that short, brief time, and to encourage her said, "Are these your two fine sons?" "No," answered the one on her left, "we are her ward teachers." What a beautiful example of watching over the church always. They knew the old lady wanted to attend that service. I do not know what help they had to give her in order to bring her there, they had to get an automobile probably. I do not know whether she had any sons. I know only what I have told you. But they were her ward teachers and they knew her needs.
Well, in every group assigned to you ward teachers, there are young folks who are crippled, there are young folks who are staggering, who need help morally. Somehow, some way, you can reach them and give them some help. Not just when you go to make a formal visit, when you are sitting there before the radio or the television, but at some party, some way, wherever they are going, get in their company, get their confidence, take a hold of their arm-"watch over them always."
Those two things we can do, in addition to what the bishoprics are now asking you to do: teach them their duty, watch over them always and see that they attend to their meetings.
In conclusion, let me commend the Committee of the Twelve for the great project they have presented to us tonight. You can see its value. I am sure that you were all deeply impressed with Brother Petersen's message.
These lines came to me when he gave the principal theme:
"You ought to be true for the sake of the folks who believe you are true. You never should stoop to a deed that your friends think you wouldn't do. If you're false to yourself, be the blemish but small, You have injured your friends; you've been false to them all."
God help us to save our young people, to bring peace in our wards, in our homes, and in our hearts, by keeping the commandments of God as He has given them to us in this the Latter-day through the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; given it to us by direct revelation by the direct appearance of the Father and the Son, to the boy Prophet; given unto us, as President Clark has explained tonight, the Priesthood, the same as held by the Apostles of old.
With all my heart I bless you, fellow-workers in the Priesthood of God, and I do it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 125-127
At this season of the year the attention of Christians everywhere is centered on the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is well that it is so; for this is the most important event that ever occurred in our fallen world. When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, there was no death. It was by the violation of a commandment that brought mortality and death upon them. The Lord said to them:
... Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die".
After they had eaten the Lord cursed the ground for their sakes and said:
"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the round; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return".
This mortal death we have inherited, and it is decreed that every soul shall die. However, it is not the purpose of the Lord that this condition shall endure forever. Justice demanded that the broken law should be repaired. Death was not to gain the victory. Mankind were not to be forced to partake of everlasting destruction from which there could be no relief. Knowing what Adam would do, the Lord has prepared the way for man's escape from this awful fate. To bring this restoration it was necessary that there could be an infinite atonement that would repair the broken law. It would have been Adam's place to pay the penalty for his transgression; but Adam had placed himself beyond the power by which such an atonement could come. Death had gained a victory over him and likewise over his posterity.
Therefore it became necessary that one who was without sin and free from the power of death, and yet with the power to die, should come to make the sacrifice and redeem mankind from the grave and likewise grant them power of remission of their sins. To fulfill this mission the Son of God was chosen and sent into the world to pay the debt. Peter bears record of this wherein he declared:
"Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversations received by tradition from our fathers: "But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot; "Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these times for you".
Likewise the angel revealed to John in his glorious vision:
"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world".
Paul, in writing to the Church in Corinth taught the atonement of Jesus Christ and the redemption from the grave. Said he:
"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and became the firstfruits of them that slept. "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. "But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom of God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. "For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. "For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. "And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all".
Jesus proclaimed himself to be the "resurrection and the life", and to the Jews he said:
"For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. * * * "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. "Verily, verily, I say unto you. The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. "For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; "And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. "Marvel not at this: For the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, "And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation".
Again he said to the Jews:
"Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many".
There is not a more beautiful saying in the Bible than these words of Jesus:
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; "That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. "But he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God".
The atonement by which men are redeemed, was made by one without blemish and without spot. He had to be one who had life in himself, and therefore all power over death. No mortal man could make the atonement. Moreover, the atonement had to be made by the shedding of blood, for blood is the vitalizing force of the mortal body. Therefore the Lord said to ancient Israel:
"And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth my manner of blood: I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among the people. "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul".
In Hebrews it is also written:
"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission".
The Scriptures are replete with passages teaching us that there could be no remission of sins without the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ. He, when with his apostles at the feast of the last Passover, broke and blessed bread and gave it to them to eat; likewise he blessed the wine and gave it to them to drink, saying:
"For this is my blood of the testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins".
Again to his disciples he said:
"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. "As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep... "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father".
We learn then from these passages that the atonement is universal in its application. And every creature will benefit by it. First, there is a universal redemption from death. It is unconditional. The children of Adam had no agency in the transgression of their first parents, therefore they are not required to exercise any agency in their redemption from its penalty. They are redeemed from death, without faith, repentance, baptism, or any other act, either of mind or of body. These are the dead who have broken the covenants, violated the commandments and who loved darkness rather than light.
The other salvation is that which is given to the righteous, those who confess repentance and a willingness to obey the commandments of God. These are they of whom the Savior spoke, who have "everlasting life," and shall not come into condemnation; but have "passed from death unto life", which life is to dwell in eternal glory.
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works".
President Stephen L Richards
Stephen L Richards, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 89-94
In the spirit of the brotherhood and the love which the gospel of our Lord inspires, I greet you this morning, my brethren and sisters and friends. The sun is shining in Salt Lake City, bringing with it good cheer to those assembled here in the conference. I hope that those who are away from us, and who listen in, are likewise happy and well, rejoicing in the blessings that the Lord has so bounteously bestowed upon all.
I wish to bring you this morning a message of encouragement. I need the aid of our Father and his spirit in so doing, and I trust he will bless all of you likewise.
It is said that the Dispensation of the Meridian of Time opened with the words: "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" first uttered by John the Baptist and then by the Savior after his ordeal of fasting and temptation, when "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand".
It is interesting to contemplate the intonation of voice used in the pronouncement of these first portentous words. I have heard them repeated in tones of a piercing proclamation to convey the impression of a stern command and authoritative exhortation. Undoubtedly they were meant to be all three-a penetrating pronouncement, a command, and an exhortation. But I like to think that there was also an intonation in the voice of our Lord, as he spoke these words, indicative of entreaty and kindly solicitude to the erring ones to whom the words were addressed.
A part of the mission of our Savior was to bring the element of mercy to the rigorous, exacting, hard-hearted people among whom his mission began. When he taught forbearance and kindly, merciful consideration for human frailty and weakness, he was accused of violating and dispensing with the law. His reply to this accusation was: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil".
Repentance was always, and is, a part of the law and the gospel plan, and the mercy which the Savior brought is essential to the doctrine of repentance and to the administration of the laws of God. The fine balance between the two is preserved for us in the great principle that mercy shall not rob justice , nor justice, mercy.
Before I comment further on the principle of repentance, I wish to make it clear that I regard all laws of the gospel as essential in the plan of salvation, and that no one of his children may hope to obtain the highest exaltation in the celestial kingdom without complying with every law and every commandment given of the Lord for men to follow. I believe also that the Lord fully recognizes the frailties and the weaknesses of his children while they undergo mortal probation. He subjected them to the tests of mortality. He gave them their free agency to cope with its temptations and problems. He planted within them a sense of right, and surrounded them with his Holy Spirit to help them chart the course of their lives, but he knew from the beginning that not all would have the vision and the strength of character to pursue the straight and narrow way. He knew that many would succumb to the seductive temptations of the adversary whom he permitted to be in the world with his children to test and ultimately to strengthen their faith and determination.
So, repentance was from the beginning a necessary part of the plan. It was not the only part of the plan indicative of the love and mercy of the Lord. The laws and commandments are themselves generous and loving provisions, formulated by our Father to bring to pass the greatest possible happiness and blessing to his vast family whom he loves. Every single commandment, stern as it may appear to some, is in reality an avenue to the glorious realm of peace and happiness. But repentance is an outstanding principle of mercy and love and kindness, attesting the concern and love of the Father for his children, for in final analysis, he gave his Beloved Son, not alone to redeem us from the effect of transgressions which lay heavy upon the whole race of men, but also to give to us the inexpressibly glorious opportunity of repenting of our own individual transgressions so that we might again come back into his presence clean and forgiven, through the precious gift of repentance.
I have never regarded repentance as being a static thing. It is difficult to imagine how men may repent once and for all for a full lifetime of experience. I look upon it as a progressive principle applying to each of us day by day. With those who have been given the noble concepts of a perfect life, there must be very few, if any, who do not feel that each day he or she may have fallen short of the ideal of perfection; so, each day, working toward, but failing fully to realize this lofty goal, each must feel the need for repentance-and so each, with such a feeling of inadequacy, will seek the forgiveness of his Father in heaven and also his fellow men if them he has offended. It is this constant sorrowing and striving that constitutes the progressive, constantly applicable, principle of repentance. This ever-recurring acknowledgment of weakness and error and seeking and living for the higher and better will lead us to perfection
We have a tendency to grade and evaluate the mistakes of life, in which we have support from the revelations. Some deviations we classify as serious, even to the point of unforgivable. Others we look upon with more allowance. In some cases the gravity of the offense and the extent of culpability are subjects for judicial determination by those appointed to be judges in the Church of our Father. All such judgments are authoritative, and we believe, almost without exception, righteous judgments. The penalties are to be observed. But even such serious infractions do not do away with the merciful principle of repentance, and I know of no judicial tribunal in the Church that does not uniformly admonish and entreat those who are convicted of offenses to repent, to sin no more, and by their lives seek and be worthy of forgiveness.
There are so-called lesser offenses which are not brought to the attention of Church tribunals but which frequently come before the presiding officials who are judges in Israel, with relation to the advancement of men and women in the offices and privileges of the Church. Questions arise in connection with advancement in the priesthood, temple recommends, and suitability for offices in the organizations. I wish each one who may feel that his progress is being retarded, and he is not recognized as he would like to be, might ask himself what there is in his life to bring about this retardation. I am sure that each one, if he is frank with himself, will find the answer. There is a remedy-a universal remedy-that does not fail. It is repentance, turning away from that which impairs progress and deprives one of the true Spirit of the Lord. While I have mentioned offenses that are spoken of as serious and those which are less serious, I would have all understand that there is no departure from the ways pointed out by the Savior which is not serious and which will not impair the full development of a child of God.
I have said these things about the great salutary doctrine of repentance as a constantly applicable, progressive principle of life. I would like now to devote a little attention to the encouragement we may give each other and all our friends in the adoption of this principle. We are enjoined by the revelations coming to us with the restored gospel to call all men to repentance. Indeed, missionary work is the first obligation laid upon the restored Church. We would like all of our friends to understand that when we issue this call to repentance, we include ourselves within it. It is hoped there will be no implication of a boastful attitude on our part and that of our missionaries that we are free from the necessity of repentance. It is true that there is inconsistency in asking our neighbor to repent and turn away from a practice in transgression of the laws of the Lord which we ourselves indulge. Such an example does not lend weight to the call; but in spite of such inconsistency we are still under divine command to preach repentance to the people of this world, for repentance is indispensable. To those who criticize because they find within our ranks digressions from the pure laws of the gospel we seek to teach others, I put this trite but pertinent question: Does one offense wipe out another? Does weakness in one, even one who has been given a testimony of the truth, justify transgression of the law or failure to listen to its precepts?
I said in the beginning that I thought there must have been much of entreaty and appeal in that initial call of the Savior to his fellow men at the beginning of his ministry: "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand". He knew the weaknesses of those to whom he issued that call. He knew their pride and arrogance, their love of the things of the world. He knew that they would not receive him for what he was. He knew that infinite patience and kindness and mercy would be required to teach them the principles of love and brotherhood embraced in the holy gospel. He knew that they would have to change their ways and transform their lives and concepts before they could truly come into his fold. So the first thing that he taught them was repentance, to let them understand that they could change their lives, that they could abandon their traditional practices, their intolerance, and their arrogance, and be inducted into the higher realm of love-love of God and of their fellow men. Those who became conscious of the power and the beauty of his teachings must have received the glorious principle of repentance with great joy. He encouraged them. Jesus taught his disciples the doctrine by example and parable.
There was the woman taken in sin. I think I have never seen a more impressive spectacle featured on the screen than that portrayed years ago when the movies were without sound in the picture called "The Ten Commandments." There was the woman cast into the dust, ashamed, hopeless. Surrounding her were hard-faced men, stones poised in their hands, ready, seemingly eager, to execute the penalty of the law. The plight of the woman was pitiful, desperate. Then suddenly there came on the scene the portrayal of the Christ. In his presence they were silenced, and withheld the stones, and then the scriptural account was enacted:
"They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. "Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? "This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. "And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. "And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. "When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? "She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more".
He encouraged all to repentance. To do so he told one of the greatest of all his parables, of the man that had two sons, an older and a younger. The older son was devoted to his father, obedient to his commands, serving him dutifully. The younger son was apparently of a different disposition with a longing for the things of the world and its pleasures. He requested and received a portion of the father's goods that he would have inherited, thus renouncing his patrimony, so precious to the Jews. He took what he received and went into a far country and spent that which had been given to him in riotous living. It is assumed that he committed many offenses and that his life was wholly at variance with the ideals of his home, but he paid a heavy penalty for his transgressions.
When he had spent all that he had, a mighty famine came in the land, and he found himself in great want. He was obliged to seek work, and his master sent him into the fields to feed swine, perhaps the lowest, most menial and degrading of all things that could come to a Jew. We are told that so great were his hunger and desperation that he would fain have eaten the husks that the swine did eat.
When so reduced in bodily strength and spirit, he came to himself. We have reason to believe that he was caught in the spirit of repentance, and in his desperation he said to himself: "How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
"I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, "And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. "And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. "And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son".
But the father, seemingly overjoyed with the son's return, did not reply to his son's exclamation, but he called out to his servants: "Bring forth the best robe and put on him, and bring a ring for his hand and shoes for his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead, and he is alive again; he was lost, and he is found".
I have always felt that the Savior intended the father in the parable to typify the Eternal Father of all of us. He knew the rigidity of the Jewish law. He knew what a terrible offense it was to renounce one's patrimony-an unforgivable offense, I assume, in the Jewish household. So he had this wayward son come back to his father, not to be rejected, but to be received and loved. He did not have the younger son restored to all the privileges he had forfeited. The older, more dutiful son, complained of the feast that had been made on the return of his younger brother, but the father consoled him with the statement: "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." And then he repeated to his older boy the words he had said to the younger: "It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad; for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found".
I think it is significant that the Lord made it clear in the parable that the younger son had lost much by his wayward course, but in a measure, at least, he paid for it, with his suffering and degradation. Justice requires that. But when the penalty had been exacted, the fond father's heart was gladdened by the repentance and the return of his son. What an encouragement for repentance! How good to know of the mercy and forgiveness of the Father! Better not to have transgressed, but wonderful to be taken back!
Just as repentance is a divine principle, so is forgiveness. The Lord has said, "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men". If we were more liberal in our forgiveness, we would be more encouraging to repentance. Someone has said that the supreme charity of the world is in obedience to the divine injunction, "Judge not". When the Savior gave that injunction, he was well aware of the limitations of human understanding and sympathy. We can see overt acts, but we cannot see inner feelings nor can we read intentions. An all-wise Providence in making judgment sees and knows all the phases of human conduct. We know but few of the phases, and none very well. To be considerate and kind in judgment is a Christlike attribute.
So may we hold out the merciful, saving principle of repentance to ourselves and to all our Father's children. Let us issue the call as we have been commanded to do, but let it be so tempered in love and humility that all may receive it as a heartfelt invitation to share the glorious principles of the gospel which have come to the earth through revelation in these latter days. Let no brother or sister in the whole family of God feel that he or she has gone beyond the point where error and sin may be left behind and true repentance enlighten the soul with hope and faith.
Many years ago, while visiting one of the missions of the Church, a man asked if he might drive me to my next appointment. I spoke to the mission president, and he said he thought it would be all right. During the course of the journey, this man painfully outlined for me the course of his life. He told me something of his home and of his youth, and then in deep sorrow, he confessed his transgressions. They were very serious, and his consciousness of guilt almost overwhelmed him, and then almost choked with emotion, he asked the question he had premeditated when he sought my company: "Brother Richards, is there any hope for me? Now that I have learned the gospel from the missionaries and have come to understand the kind of life the Lord expects his children to live, the consciousness of my offenses overwhelms me. May I ever be forgiven?" He so shook with sobs that I feared somewhat for his security in the driver's seat.
His deep moving contrition touched my heart. I breathed a silent prayer that I might console and help him. And then I set before him the things I have tried to set before you this day. I gave him the same examples of the merciful principle of repentance and forgiveness, and when I held out to him hope and encouragement, he was consoled, he regained his composure, and in a voice ringing with determination, he cried out, "With the Lord's help I will make myself worthy and regain that I have lost." I was sure the Lord would help him in his effort.
This man did not know, although he must have heard the whisperings of his conscience, how grievous were his transgressions until he heard the true gospel, but members of the Church who have been taught know, and their knowledge brings accountability and responsibility. To them repentance has special significance. They are leaders and teachers to the unenlightened. On their shoulders they carry the weight of the kingdom. Its progress is retarded not so much by lack of effort as by insufficiency of repentance-individual repentance-which is essential to make them profitable servants.
So, my brethren and sisters, in the love and respect which I bear you, I appeal, I entreat you, and I offer encouragement for repentance for all the misdeeds of either commission, or omission, which retard our progress toward the perfect life and destiny the Lord so graciously holds out to beckon us on.
And to my friends and our friends, not of the Church, may I humbly and sincerely hold out this glorious doctrine as the true way to happiness and peace. I call upon all in tones of entreaty and concern to stop damning God, to refrain from intemperate judgment, to be honest and virtuous. If you want peace and happiness, if you have made mistakes, you can repent if you will. The Lord will help you, and he will reward you a thousand times over for your effort. What the world needs is a repentant world, and you may be assured there is no enduring happiness in anything but goodness.
I invoke the blessings of the Lord upon all in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder LeGrand Richards
LeGrand Richards, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 94-98
As I occupy this position of responsibility this morning, I first express the feelings of my heart of gratitude to the Lord for my membership in this Church and all that it means to me and for my fellowship with the members of the Church. They are wonderful people. If we have listened to the prayers of these stake presidents who have prayed in the conference, we know something of the faith and the leadership ability of the men who preside throughout the stakes of Zion. I feel to say God bless them all, and all you fine people and those who are listening in, who are giving of their time and their talents and their means to help build the kingdom of God in the earth.
One of the great events of the last year as far as the Church is concerned was the choir trip to Europe. I thought I would like to pass on to its members this morning, since they are here, comments that came in a missionary's letter from Berlin a few days ago.
He said, "When we go out tracting now and we announce ourselves as representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the people do not quite understand, we say, 'The Mormon Choir that was just here,' and they say, 'Oh, come in.'" The missionaries say the choir has done so much good in opening the doors of the people for them to carry on their missionary work.
I thought since the announcement has been made that these services are being broadcast all over this western part of the United States by television and radio, that for the few moments assigned to me I would like to speak primarily to those who are not members of our Church who might be listening in, and I imagine that notwithstanding the thousands here in this building, and on this temple block that there are even greater audiences listening in over the radio and the television.
I am sure that the building of the temple in Los Angeles has impressed the people who have seen it end the 662,000 who went through during the period that it was open for inspection, and I imagine that there were many of those people who would like to have heard more about this Church and its teachings because of that beautiful edifice.
Two weeks ago last night I was in a group in Los Angeles, and a man who had traveled all around the world indicated that he thought the temple there was the eighth wonder of the world.
When President Clark talked to the Primary officers and teachers who were assembled here last week, he exhorted them to teach the simple truths of the gospel, and I love the simple truths of the gospel. So I would like to preface what I say here today to those who might be listening in with this thought, that I believe that there is not an honest man nor an honest woman in this world who really loves the Lord who would not join this Church if he knew what it was.
When I say really love the Lord I have in mind such as of whom the Master spoke when he said that except a man be willing to forsake father and mother and wife and children and lands and herds and all that he hath, and take his name upon him, "he cannot be my disciple".
And that is what he meant when he said that we should seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all other things would be added unto us.
There is not a person who has that kind of love of God who would not accept this Church and join it if he really knew what it was, and our mission is to make that known to the world, and hence I appreciate the great missionary cause of this Church.
We are told now that we have over 12,000 missionaries, and nearly half of them are full-time missionaries giving their entire time to tell the world and our brothers and sisters who are not of us, of the marvelous thing the Lord has accomplished in this dispensation. If these people only knew how we love them, how we pray for them, how we pray for the Lord to lead the missionaries to their doors and to give them the ability to explain the truth to them in a convincing manner so that they will really know, I am sure they would realize that there is a sincerity in this Church that might not be found anywhere else in all the world.
I am wondering now if you had lived in the days of the Savior or the Apostle Paul, and you had heard their testimonies, knowing that they were evil spoken of by all people, would you have believed them? You remember when Paul was brought in chains to Rome, the high priests said, "... we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against". Those who join this Church have to pass through and penetrate the opposition and evil things that have been said against us because the war that was started in heaven between Satan and the followers of the Lord is still being fought, and one of his greatest instruments is to try and prejudice the minds of men and women-and therefore the prophets have been put to death through all dispensations.
When Paul stood before Festus and King Agrippa and bore that marvelous testimony, how he had seen a light and heard a voice and how the Son of God said to him, "... Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks", and then as Paul reasoned before these two great Romans he said, "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?". To be able to accept the message of Paul in those days that God really had raised the dead, for Christ had been raised from the dead and had appeared to him, was harder, possibly, to believe than the message of the prophet of this dispensation.
You will recall that when that testimony was borne, Festus said, "Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad," to which Paul replied, "I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness," to which King Agrippa replied, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian".
Now the Prophet Joseph Smith declared that the Father and the Son appeared to him when he was a mere lad, not quite fifteen, and the thing that he could not understand was the prejudice that that statement aroused in the minds of leaders of men and leaders of religion, for he was a boy of no great pretense, just a farmer's boy without education, and he said he could understand, but he said he felt as he imagined Paul felt. He knew that he had seen a light. He knew that he had heard the voices of these two Personages, God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. And he said he knew that God knew it, and he dared not deny it because he knew that by so doing he would come under condemnation before God.
Does it seem any more incredible today to believe that the God of heaven and his Son Jesus Christ who was resurrected from the grave should appear to man here upon this earth than to believe that Christ was resurrected, a thing that had never been seen or heard of before at the time of his resurrection?
We read in the scriptures how the Father announced his approval of the Son at his baptism and on the mount of the transfiguration. We read that Stephen gazed into heaven and saw Christ sitting on the right hand of his Father, so we know they do exist, and then think of all that the prophets have foretold for the latter days, and it does not seem incredible that they should usher in this the greatest gospel dispensation of all time by a personal visitation to this earth.
And if they were to come, to whom would they come? The prophet Amos tells us, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets". And when there are no prophets, there is no leadership of God in the world, for his way of leading his people is through his servants the prophets.
We read of when Jeremiah was called to be a prophet. As you will remember, he was young; he could not understand it, so the Lord had to comfort him by saying, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations".
We know through the declaration of one of the American prophets, as recorded in the Book of Mormon, that Joseph Smith was called before he was born and was in waiting three thousand years before his birth to come forth to usher in this great latter-day gospel dispensation, so that it is no miracle and not a thing incredible to believe that God would raise up a man to do the work that needed to be done in restoring his work to the earth in this dispensation.
Peter saw the latter days. The Christ looked forward to his coming in the latter days. He taught his apostles to pray, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven". And men and women have prayed that from those days until the present, without ever realizing that those words would literally be fulfilled, that the kingdom of God would be established in earth as it is in heaven. And Peter, speaking to those who put to death the Christ, said that they should repent that their sins might be
"... blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; "And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: "Whom the heaven must receive," Peter says, "until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began".
There is not a man or woman in this world who really loves the Lord who would not accept the truth if he knew what God really had restored in this "restitution of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began." That is one of the simple truths declared by the restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Then we have the statement when John was banished upon the Isle of Patmos, and the angel called him and said, "... Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter". Now remember, Christ had already been crucified, and then John was shown that in the latter days, "another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel" and that is the only gospel that can save men. Jesus said, "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men". And John saw that this angel would have "the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people". This truly is a declaration that no one would be in possession of the "everlasting gospel" when that angel would come.
We see the Angel Moroni on the temple here and on the Los Angeles Temple with his trumpet as if he were declaring to the world that:
An angel from on high The long, long silence broke, Descending from the sky These gracious words he spoke. -Parley P. Pratt
And we have his message of the restoration of the gospel.
When Daniel interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and you will remember the king had already forgotten the dream, he said to him, "But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days". And then he declared the rise and fall of the kingdoms of this world until in the latter days, and he mentions that specifically, "... the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to another people and it shall... stand for ever", and as a little stone it should roll forth until it should become as a great mountain and fill the whole earth.
There are many other prophecies concerning the marvelous work and a wonder the Lord promised to do in the latter days. How could that kingdom be set up in the world just by men studying the scriptures, differing in their interpretation of the words of the prophets? We have to have a prophet of God, for "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets", and it is our testimony to the world that that kingdom has been established in the earth through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Through the work of the missionaries, nearly 22,000 people have left the faith of their fathers during the last year and joined this Church because they have believed these marvelous things, and we bear witness to the world that they are true. Of course, in fifteen minutes I can not tell you much about what has gone on in this world in the restoration of the gospel, but what I have said ought to be sufficient to make you want to know more about it, and our missionaries are available. Among that 22,000 converts are ministers of the gospel, for there are many honest men among them, and this work is going forth under the inspiration of the Almighty, and our missionaries are being led to the honest in heart.
We had a man down in South Carolina, when I was there, who told us that he saw two missionaries in a dream come to his home a year before they actually knocked at his door, and when they knocked at his door, he said, "Come in, you have the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ for me."
Brother and Sister Romney are sitting down here on the front row. He just presided in the Central American Mission. I toured that mission with him a year ago last January, and two of the lady missionaries said they were walking along the street one day, and a man came up to them and said, "I know who you are. I have seen you in a dream. You have the truth. Will you come to our home and teach it to us?"
So I bear you my solemn witness today that there is evidence sufficient to any honest man or any honest woman who really loves the Lord that we do in very deed have the kingdom of God to offer unto them, and I bear you that witness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Marion D. Hanks
Marion D. Hanks, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 98-100
I need the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit and earnestly pray for them this morning.
In our files on Temple Square we have a great many letters from people who have come to us seeking to learn something of the truths which have been testified of here this morning. We have letters from many who have not been here but who have come in contact in some way with the Church or its principles or its people, and who have written to express what so many here have expressed, that they feel, they sense, they experience among the Latter-day Saints something different from anything they have ever known before.
Friday morning, at the opening session of this conference, we had the pleasure of the presence here of a fine gentleman who had been introduced to us by letter from President George Romney of the Detroit Stake. Prior to that session and following it, we talked for some hours with this wonderful, dedicated man. He had come here to learn a little about this feeling, this sense of dedication, this peace which he said he had experienced among the Mormons. He is a man of real loyalty to principle, whose mind and mouth and life are clean and decent, and who is seeking earnestly to do that which God would have him do.
He wanted to know many things about us. He knew much already. One statement he made, like those which I have quoted, almost to the word, was, "I have been an active, loyal, participating member of a certain church, but I think something is missing." He had come here to try to find out what.
May I bear witness that this experience has happened many times, and that out of it we have extracted the simple lesson that the truths of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ are available here to men, in reality, and that as they seek them and find them and honor them, their lives enjoy a kind of peace and fulfillment they did not know before.
I suppose it is the most fundamental and axiomatic thing we might say of religious faith that to be fruitful and productive of good it has to be based in truth. The fact that there is widespread interest in religion in this nation and the world does not warrant the supposition that all those who have religious interest and religious faith will enjoy the peace and the sense of purpose and the abundant life promised the Lord to those who would find and follow his way, for it is not enough simply, to be "religious" or to be "sincere" in one's convictions. It is not enough to be sincerely convinced of something that is false. We must have faith in true principles and live them courageously if our religion is to help us accomplish God's purposes for us.
The call for faith comes from many quarters. Carl Jung, considered by many to be one of the most important living psychiatrists, is reported recently to have said that among all his patients over thirty-five there was not one whose basic problem was not lack of religious faith. Recently in the Christmas issue of a great magazine there was printed a statement that has much meaning to the Latter-day Saints who know the statement of the prophet Amulek, quoted in Alma, chapter 10, that the prayers and lives of a righteous remnant preserved the land, and who know also that there are other accounts of this same circumstance recorded in the Book of Mormon. Concluding an editorial, the writer said: "No doubt most Americans are less religious than they should be. They then owe a vast and continuing debt to the saving remnant in their midst who do hunger and thirst after righteousness and walk humbly before the God. They do not do this for America's sake, but without them America would be little more than a geographical expression."
A widely known statement made in recent years by a great military leader calls our generation "ethical infants," "moral adolescents."
We join with all those who recognize, as those quoted have been shown to recognize, the great need for honor, integrity, humility, prayerfulness, righteousness, the whole truth-all attributes and characteristics flowing from and concomitant to deep religious faith which is founded on truth.
The witness you have heard expressed here today is that God has in our day restored through revelation, the simple, basic, beautiful, life-giving, peace-bringing truths which men of old knew and which Christ himself came to teach in the Meridian of Time.
May we take time to mention three contributions that the restoration has made in supplying the deep needs of man for religious truth founded in faith? First, I note the answers supplied for the universal problems men have concerning God, themselves, and their relationship with their Creator. Second, the restored Church has had revealed a program for living, a guide to conduct, which can lead one to fruitful, satisfying, purposeful living here in mortality. Third, spiritual conviction, confidence, assurance-testimony, we sometimes call it-which will motivate one to think differently, live differently, to be different than he otherwise would be.
The President of the United States is quoted as having said something last year which has special meaning to Latter-day Saints, in connection with the first contribution of the restoration we have mentioned. These are his words: "Whence did we come? Why are we here? What is the true reason for our existence? And where are we going? For the answers we have... the faith of our religious convictions."
One of the most important aspects of the restoration is that it supplies answers to these most fundamental spiritual questions. We may learn who we really are, and what our relationship is with Him from whom we came. We are taught that the Bible may be believed when it teaches that we are the children, the literal spirit children, of our Father in heaven. We have assurance that Christ was indeed the Living Son of God, that he came to teach men how to live and died that we might live eternally. We know that men are free and responsible agents in a world where there are alternative forces and courses to choose among, and that we are not only free to choose but also under the necessity of choosing the path and course we shall pursue. Man has within him, in an embryonic sense, those basic attributes which are characteristic of our Father in heaven and which are in him in their fulness. Man is capable of love, mercy, and justice, attributes which have their fullest development in him. We have assurance through the restored gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that we are literal children of God, that we can become like him, that the ultimate of our possibility is that someday under his guidance we may even participate with him in his great creative work.
The truths of the restoration testify that there was a plan before this world was, and that that plan contemplated our earthly existence, our freedom, and our responsibility, and that when we had left this mortal life, we should continue to live as really and as certainly as we here exist. Moreover, they testify that there is a divinely-inspired program for living among us which is designed to lead men to lead men to happiness here on this earth. What is that program? You know it well. It is a program of faith, repentance, baptism, and reception of the gift of the Holy Ghost; it is a program requiring an enduring and dedicated hunger and thirst for righteousness, a life of honor and honesty, and a "love of God and of all men".
There are able and sincere men crying out all over the world today for men to "believe," to "believe." But as our friend said Friday, "They do not tell us what to believe or what to do to find happiness."
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints testifies to the world that the program restored by the Master of men in our day is the same program he taught men when he was among them. And as Christ taught men to have faith, to repent of their sins, to be baptized for the remission of those sins, in order that they might receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, so taught Paul and the others. Do you remember the occasion described in the second chapter of Acts, an occasion almost analogous to scenes we hear about in various parts of the world today, when the multitude, having been taught the mission and message of Jesus found faith in the Messiah, and came to Peter and the others and said; "Men and brethren, what shall we do?". What did Peter answer? Did he tell them to go to some Church, any church, and pursue any program or course they chose, whatever it might be, so long as they were sincere? His answer is recorded in the Holy Bible that all may read:
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
It is revealed anew in our day that not only must a man believe, but also that he must believe that which is true, and he must do that which God has commanded.
There is one final thing we spoke of: if one is to learn the answers to the basic spiritual problems of his life and is to pursue a purposeful program fruitfully and happily, he must have a motivation, an "inner aim" our friends sometimes call it, a spiritual assurance, a testimony which will inspire and impel him to learn and to live. The enjoyment of that testimony is one of the great possibilities that has come to us through the restoration of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We testify to you that religious faith is important and urgently necessary, but it must be based in truth. The truth available to all men is that God in our very dispensation has spoken, restoring anew the ancient truths, restoring anew the only gospel, the good word of God for his children.
That testimony is among us; many of us enjoy it. I testify of it humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Antoine R. Ivins
Antoine R. Ivins, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 100-102
My beloved brethren and sisters: It is a sobering thought to face you wonderful people and hope to say some encouraging word. My own ministry has been one of an effort to encourage myself and others to do better the things we have to do as members of the Church.
It is almost twenty-five years since I first faced a congregation in this capacity. I have enjoyed those twenty-five years very much. There have been a few echoes come back that help has been rendered to people. When it comes, it is always satisfying.
I believe that without reserve I can bear testimony to every thought which has been delivered in this conference. My hope is that the testimony I undertake to bear to you today may be consonant with the spirit of those to which we have listened and that perchance some help may come from it.
We have heard several times the testimony that Jesus Christ actually is the Son of God, that he was tabernacled in the flesh, that he was resurrected from the dead to open up the privilege for all of us to return to the presence of God and stand judgment for our deeds. We have heard a humble prayer the Prophet Joseph Smith succeeded in opening the gates of heaven and having appear to him God the Father and Jesus Christ, through which a renewed testimony as to the individuality of the Father and the Son has come back to the earth.
We have heard also that the heavens were reopened; the Angel Moroni appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and instructed him over many occasions in his duties and responsibilities, and further than that that the priesthood was restored through the instrumentality of heavenly beings.
Every one of those questions is a vital question to every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I think that all of us here without doubt would testify as to the truth of all of these things. It is that testimony on which the vitality of the Church rests.
Not the least important of all of these events was the restoration of the priesthood, because the priesthood is the order in which the ordinances essential to exaltation in the kingdom of God, when properly observed and when our action justifies it, are performed. Without that priesthood the Church could not function. There is a difference between the gospel and the Church and the priesthood. Each has its function in our lives. The priesthood then becomes as important to us perhaps as any other phase of our existence.
We were told last night of the tremendous priesthood there is in the Church as compared with that of other religious groups. My experience and the checking that I have made over the last two or three years indicates to me that there would be on an average in the stakes of Zion about ten percent of the members of the stakes who bear the Melchizedek Priesthood. That is, when united with simple, pure faith, the greatest power that there is among men.
I represent one group of that priesthood, twenty odd thousand of them. It has been my effort, along with my colleagues over these twenty-five years, to stimulate that group to greater service and greater activity. Now, if it is real, and we testify that it is, that that priesthood has come back and that priesthood is a right to function on behalf of God, our Heavenly Father, in the ordinances essential to man's blessing and happiness, then we who accept it have a tremendous responsibility, and our problem is to magnify that calling.
I take it that every man who allows me to place my hands upon his head and ordain him to an office in that priesthood, promises actually or impliedly that he will do what may be within his power to magnify that calling. It is interesting indeed when we contemplate the possibilities of it.
To show you how near some of us are to the actual restoration of that Priesthood, let me tell you this: Joseph Smith received the Melchizedek Priesthood from Peter, James, and John. Joseph Smith ordained Joseph Young a seventy in the Melchizedek Priesthood. Joseph Young ordained my father at the age of seventeen as a seventy in the Melchizedek Priesthood. And my father ordained me an elder. There are others who are closer to it than that. But when we think that we are actually only a step or two away from an ordination by Peter, James, and John to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and when we think that that ordination makes us emissaries and representatives of God our Heavenly Father; when we further think that without the functioning of that priesthood we would never gain an exaltation in the kingdom of God, it is almost overwhelming, is it not?
Now, what do we do about it? I am as much interested in what we are going to do with it as the fact that we have it, and it means that we must work with ourselves and work with those people over whom we can have an influence. We cannot dream ourselves into exaltation. Dreams have no value unless they prove to be incentives for greater activity. It is fine to dream about the possibilities of life, but until we do something about it, those dreams are useless.
When we scan the statistics of the Church, we discover that there are too many, far too many of the people who have accepted this responsibility who do little or nothing about it. There is the group which should have our especial attention. The seventies of the Church are missionaries. Their field of labor is worldwide. Being worldwide, it includes their own households. It is the responsibility of every seventy, of every elder, and every high priest in the Church, first, to purify his own life, bringing it into harmony with the teachings of the gospel, that thereby he may gain the peace of mind and the happiness of which you have just heard, and then after doing that, he has the responsibility of extending his influence and his efforts beyond his own.
I feel that the primary responsibility of us individually is to bring into harmony himself and his household to the teachings of the principles of the gospel. Could we do that, what a wonderful power there would be in the priesthood which we bear.
If we understand our responsibilities, this priesthood is a thing of great power. We have been told today that Satan and his emissaries are rampant in the earth, walking up and down trying to deceive people. God knew that would happen when he placed man on the earth and when he expelled Satan from the heavens, but he, it seems to me, prepared a way to meet it, and that preparation is the life that justifies the receipt of the priesthood and the actual receipt of that priesthood through proper channels.
I believe that it is within the power of every man who holds the Melchizedek Priesthood to say, "Get thee behind me, Satan". Whenever a man holding that priesthood yields to the temptations of the flesh and does the evil that is rampant in the earth, it is an admission on his part that he does not appreciate his priesthood, that he does not accompany the gift of that priesthood with a faith that makes it powerful.
You know and I know, you have had many illustrations of the effective use of the priesthood when it is combined with faith. Besides the healing of the sick, the gift which is not given to all people I admit but which comes only through the union of faith and priesthood, there are many other gracious and wonderful gifts that come to us through the exercise of this priesthood. It is such a tremendous power that if every one of the men who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood would fully magnify his calling, united with a perfect faith, we could almost control the activities of the society in which we live, nation-wide and international. The trouble is that we just do not do it. We do not do what we know we ought to do, and it is saddening to study our statistics and find how many people fail to appreciate this wonderful thing which came back to us in the most miraculous way.
Now, brethren, what are we going to do about it? We have it. It is our privilege to use it. Will we use it wisely or will we let it lie idle and rust out? I hope that we will be conscious of this tremendous responsibility because it is just that, that we will go away from this conference with a conscious responsibility of the priesthood, that when we go back we will bear testimony to our own and to others of the wonderful things that we have heard today, that we will bring our own lives as nearly as possible into complete harmony with the gospel of Jesus Christ, for we have been told today that to attain to the highest exaltation in the kingdom of God, to sit with God in the councils of heaven, enjoying the privileges of eternal progress and eternal increase, that eventually at least we will have to learn to obey all of the commandments of God.
Let us start about it now, brethren and sisters; let us do better tomorrow than we did yesterday or than we have done today, with all of our wonderful resolutions. Let us make tomorrow a better day.
God bless us in the effort, I pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder Hugh B. Brown
Hugh B. Brown, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 103-106
I wonder if sometimes our people think when they hear each speaker ask for divine guidance that it has come to be just a habit. If you were asked to occupy this position, you would know that that is not the case. For that guidance I humbly pray.
I should like to follow the example of being brief which was set yesterday by President Joseph Fielding Smith. I think he demonstrated the truth of the statement that for a speech to be immortal it does not need to be everlasting.
It is not surprising that Elder LeGrand Richards and I should be thinking along similar lines, because both of us have had missionary experience, and whenever a missionary stands before a congregation of Saints, if there is one single individual present who is not a member of the Church, the missionary will talk to him and ignore all the rest. I should like to follow his lead, if I may, and address what I have to say to you out there, our other brothers and sisters who are not members of the Church, and I think it is not presumptuous to think there are thousands of you listening in.
Since our last April conference, reporters, editors, commentators, and others at home and abroad have given considerable time and space to the Church and its activities. As has been intimated, this results partly at least from the tour of the choir, the dedication of the Swiss and Los Angeles temples, and the announcement of other temples to be built. We appreciate the uniform friendliness and general accuracy of these reports and comments. They have ranged from learned discussions of various phases of the gospel to such brief and inaccurate generalizations as that, "To be a Mormon simply means that one does not drink tea or coffee or use tobacco or liquor."
Now, we do accept and try to live the Word of Wisdom, a law of health, first because the Lord thought enough of it to give a revelation on it and also because for a hundred years we have proved its worth. But there are other things we would like our friends to know about the Church, and so for a few moments I would like to discuss some phases of Mormonism which are not so generally known.
Because of limitation of time and of the speaker, any attempted exposition will be inadequate and incomplete. I should like first, however, to say to you that the conduct of a typical member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon, is influenced not so much by prohibitions, inhibitions, or Church discipline as by his own inner convictions regarding the essential dignity and possible glory of the individual, the meaning of life, man's origin, purpose, and possible destiny.
Mormonism is not just a code of ethics; it is not merely a set of inhibitive injunctions; it is not just a theoretical system of doctrine and philosophy. It is rather a way of life, based upon a concept of God as our Eternal Father, and of man, created in the bodily image of God, a son of God, who has all of the obligations, opportunities, and potentials of heirship. The Mormon concept of Deity with its accompanying concept of man's potential Godlike status, should cause believers to resist the down drag of habits and indulgences which are inimical to or would impede or delay man's progress towards his goal.
Perhaps you would like to take a quick look at Mormonism through the eyes of a non-member of the Church who has taken time to study it. I have the author's permission to read some paragraphs from a pamphlet recently published by the department of humanities of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the general caption "The Sociology of Mormonism." These studies were made and written by Dr. Thomas F. O'Dea, who has a distinguished academic career at Harvard, at Stanford, and at M.I.T. These writings show careful study, keen analysis, and an enviable facility of expression. I shall read some excerpts:
Of the many churches founded in the regions south of the Great Lakes in the first half of the nineteenth century, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the Mormon Church alone avoided the stagnant back-waters of sectarianism. The need to start over again four times in sixteen years contributed to flexibility and avoided sectarian atmosphere and culture.
And again he says,
In 1847 the Mormons, harassed and persecuted, dispossessed of all but faith, leadership and a superb organization, crossed the plains and settled in the Utah desert. * * * The Mormon leadership deliberately chose an unattractive region to gain the necessary respite that isolation would give, and resisted the seductions of more pleasant prospects.
And then speaking of our Americanism, he said:
Their American patriotism is an Article of Faith with them. * * * The development of a nationhood was inhibited by American patriotic convictions on the part of the Latter-day Saints themselves. Mormonism sees America as a chosen land and holds that the second coming of Christ will be to this continent. America is a divinely-preferred country and the previous periods of history were preparatory for the Mormon restoration. Thus the Mormons, while exalting America and exulting in it, could at the same time feel called out of Babylon to build the city of God. * * * The Mormons are pre-eminently practical and are the typical American religious movement. As such Mormonism presents a heightening, a more explicit formulation and summation of the American experience of time and of America's timeliness.
The Mormon Church defines itself as a restoration in the latter days of the original gospel of Jesus Christ, which had been corrupted and lost in part for the past fifteen centuries. Its restoration is conceived in terms of Christian history. * * * It is a new interpretation of Christianity itself. A unique prophet and a unique and timely moment as well as a uniquely appropriate place are part of this conception. Mormonism holds itself to have been revealed in the fullness of time-a fullness of time which involves the destiny of the Western Hemisphere and the American nation. The discovery of America and the development of the political institutions of the United States are seen as prepared by divine guidance for the restoration which was to be made through the agency of the original prophet, Joseph Smith.
Within this larger framework the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has its own history, a record of wandering and persecution, of construction and conquest over hostile elements coming to fruition in the building of Zion in the mountain tops. * * * Mormonism lived its Exodus and Chronicles not once but many times. It had its Moses and its Joshua. Circumstances had given it a stage upon which its reenactment of Biblical history was neither farce nor symbolic pageant.
Yes, our history has been in part a reenactment of biblical history, but what is more important, our doctrine is a reaffirmation of biblical truth. We believe in the God of the Old Testament-Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We believe that that Divine Personage became Jesus the Christ of the New Testament, the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world. We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. We emphasize "all mankind" and "obedience" because the gospel and its saving ordinances are to be made available to the living on this earth, and to the living elsewhere, with obedience as prerequisite to blessings.
For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit..
Believing as we do in the great vicarious service of the Master which is the very foundation of Christianity, we undertake to do for our dead, what they cannot do for themselves, and therefore we build these temples which you, our friends, have seen and of you have heard.
We believe in a pre-existent state where we exercised free agency, where there were individual differences, where life was purposeful and progressive, and where man in his original state existed as intelligence.
After referring to "the inestimable contributions to the settlement of the West and the planting there of a viable and vital American civilization," Dr. O'Dea Says: "How remarkably familiar are the basic elements of the Mormon gospel, how remarkably like apprehension of America by other Americans when it sheds its theological poignancy." He refers to Mormon theology as
A distillation of what is peculiarly American in America and that incorporating the goals of the present world into a vision of eternal progression the Church succeeded in annihilating for its followers the line of demarcation between time and eternity in quite a new way.
For Mormonism the world is uncreated and God and men are winning mastery over other uncreated elements. God has become a demiurge once again which means one who works on existing material, a craftsman.
All that is, is in process, and it is a process that is marked by two main characteristics: It is becoming increasingly more complex, and intelligent beings, God and men, are collaboratively gaining increasing mastery over it. Man's life on earth is seen as one of an infinity of episodes characterized by increasing development and mastery of the other elements of nature. This concept of God's purpose and method respecting man's existence was clearly stated by the late Dr. John A. Widtsoe, himself a great scholar and a profound student of the gospel,
The law of progression is then a law of endless development of all the powers of man in the midst of a universe, becoming increasingly more complex. No more hopeful principle can be incorporated into a philosophy of life.
The Lord revealed in the 93rd Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, verse 29,
Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. * * * For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy.
On this point Dr. Widtsoe wrote as follows:
In the beginning, which transcends our understanding, God undoubtedly exercised his will vigorously and thus gained great experience of the forces lying about him. As knowledge grew into greater knowledge by the persistent efforts of the will, his recognition of universal laws became greater until he obtained at last a conquest over the universe which to our finite understanding seems absolutely complete.
We proclaim the scriptural and inspiring doctrine that man should look up and not down for his source, for he is of divine lineage; that man is innocent at birth, which is the antithesis of the ball and chain doctrine of original sin and innate wickedness.
Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God.
Man faces a vista of limitless development, eternal progression, if he will cooperate in winning mastery over himself and the universe. We believe that man's earth life was made possible by Adam's role in a foreordained plan which included the provision for man to come face to face with both good and evil and, under the eternal law of free agency, elect good or evil without compulsion, knowing however that under the immutable law of the harvest he must abide the consequences of his choice, must reap as he sows. Free agency is prerequisite to any character-building plan, and while with free agency any plan is inevitably crammed with risk, we, with all the sons of God, accepted that risk and shouted for joy at the prospect of earth life. The Lord said to Job,
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?.
If God is in fact our Father, then we, Father and children, belong to the same society of eternal intelligences. Among them he is supreme, he is the most advanced, most powerful, and most intelligent.
Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones... I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all.
When we say man may become like our Father, we do not mean to humanize God, but rather to deify man-not as he now is but as he may become. The difference between us is indescribably great, but it is one of degree rather than of kind.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.
To the Latter-day Saints salvation or being saved does not imply a sudden transformation or metamorphosis into something entirely unlike one's nature nor can it be achieved by mere mental assent or sudden conversion. It is rather a continuing process of becoming or unfolding pursuant to law and divine plan, of bringing one's life into harmony with eternal and inexorable law.
We believe that in his infinite and eternal development toward a Godlike status, man moves toward and through a turnstile called death; that there is no interruption of life at this portal, for eternity is indefinitely prolonged time. We believe that man, after passing through this turnstile, will continue his eternal journey from the point where his actions in this life have brought him. "Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection". To deny the possibility of eternal progression is to accept the awful alternative of eventual stagnation which would be damnation.
We believe that being saved involves education, that man cannot be saved in ignorance any more than he can be saved in sin, for as the glory of God is intelligence, or light and truth, so the degree of our intelligence will be the measure of our glory. Neither the ignorant nor the sinner would be comfortable or at home in heaven. This concept glorifies intelligence as well as righteousness. But let us not confuse mere knowledge with intelligence. The knowledge of which we speak must seek enlightenment and be applied with wisdom. The knowledge that will save us is not mere know-how, certainly not cunning or mental agility or sagacity; it is not just erudition. The wise man may not be learned, and the learned are not always wise. The intelligence which is the glory of God is all knowledge applied with supreme wisdom and total righteousness.
Time will not permit a further discussion of our teachings with respect to some of the things that Dr. O'Dea has mentioned. Suffice it to say that Mormonism, among other things, is an eternal quest for knowledge which is power, for truth which is joyous because it makes us free, for intelligence, which is the glory of God, and for the righteousness which will enable us to feel at home in his holy presence.
God help us to live worthily and to go forward fearlessly in our search for truth, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Harold B. Lee
Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 107-111
Several days ago my attention was attracted to a picture in one of the local newspapers. The picture shows two men with a shovel setting a highway sign. Within the block "U," which is the official designation of the Utah state highway department, is the figure 187, and then a sign underneath the block "U," which reads: "The shortest designated highway in the state." Then I read the cutlines underneath and the accompanying article which described this short highway as being only one-quarter of a mile in length. It curved gracefully off to the right of the main highway 91 going south and led down over the brow of the hill, seemingly to invite anyone who wanted to travel that pleasant way. Then I looked more closely to see what the picture was. One of the men in the picture was the warden of the Utah State Penitentiary, and the other was a member of the state prison board. The highway marked U 187 led to a building which I could distinguish at the foot of the hill. With somewhat of a shock I recognized this building as the Utah State Penitentiary. The shortest designated highway in the state was a wide paved road from the mainly traveled road to the state prison!
If I could get the spirit of this great conference, I think probably I would like to title the few words of my brief address this afternoon as "The Shortest Designated Highway in Life" and draw something of a parallel to that other "shortest designated highway" to which I have made reference. As I seek for that guidance, my earnest prayer would be that what I say would be in harmony with the great messages of our beloved leaders, the First Presidency. I suppose there is nothing that a General Authority desires more than that what he does and what he says will be in harmony with their desires, and more than that, what he says would be in harmony with Him of whom we have sung so beautifully at the opening of this service.
This other highway in life is also broad. It is a way to destruction, as the Master explained to his disciples when he said in a very significant statement,
... for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.
I would like now for the next few minutes to talk about that highway because it is clearly blueprinted in the records of life which the Lord has given us. I remember a remark the late president Charles A. Callis made to me one day-we were talking about some of these matters, and he remarked, "You know, I think that probably the most important thing we as General Authorities ought to be preaching is not only repentance from sin, but even more important than that, to teach the young people particularly, and the entire Church generally, the awfulness of sin and the terror that follows him who has so indulged."
Years of experience since that time and interviews with those who have unfortunately taken that short, broad highway, have convinced me that because of their suffering, those who have or are living lives of unrepented sinning would have given all that they possessed if someone could have warned them and could have told them of the awfulness of the sins from which they now suffer.
Nephi predicted and spoke of the sad state of those who habitually sinned and would not repent when he said:
For the Spirit of the Lord will not always strive with man. And when the Spirit ceaseth to strive with man then cometh speedy destruction, and this grieveth my soul.
Mormon described some people, his people, from whom the spirit of the Lord had departed, and when I read that and then read what I shall now read to you, it seems clear to me that what he was talking about was not merely the inability to have the companionship of or the gift of the Holy Ghost, but he was talking of that light of truth to which every one born into the world is entitled and will never cease to strive with the individual unless he loses it through his own sinning. This is what Mormon said:
For behold, the Spirit of the Lord hath already ceased to strive with their fathers; and they are without Christ and God in the world; and they are driven about as chaff before the wind.... behold, they are led about by Satan, even as chaff is driven before the wind, or as an vessel is tossed about upon the waves, without sail or anchor, or without anything wherewith to steer her; and even as she is, so are they.
The story is told of the late President Calvin Coolidge who was a master of few words in his expressions. He came home from his church meeting one morning, and his wife asked, "What did the preacher talk about this morning?" His reply was, "Sin." She again asked "What did the minister say about it?" His reply was, "The minister was agin' it." And so are all preachers of righteousness, they are against this thing called sin.
What is sin? The Apostle John described it or defined it as the transgression of the law.
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
Brigham Young made that definition still more meaningful when he said that "Sin consists in doing wrong when we know and can do better and it will be punished with a just retribution in the due time of the Lord."
The source of sin is a subject oft debated and theorized by philosophers and others as to how it originates and from whence it comes, but we with the sacred scriptures are left with a certainty which removes all question as to the author and the beginning of sin. The record tells us that Satan came among the children of Adam and Eve and said unto them:
I am also a son of God; and he commanded them, saying: Believe it not; and they believed it not, and they loved Satan more than God. And men began from that time forth to be carnal, sensual, and devilish.
And then King Benjamin taught:
... neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.
The Master understood how powerful was this master of sin when he spoke of him as the "Prince of this world", and he taught his disciples to pray that they might not be led into temptation.
This like that other highway to the Utah state prison is also a very short highway down the road of sin. You will remember the Lord's warning to Cain when he said,
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.
It is just that short to the way of sin-right at our very doors.
Now the scriptures have told us about the identity of those who are going to inhabit that prison which lies at the end of that short highway:
These are they who liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. These are they who suffer the wrath of God on earth. These are they who suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. These are they who are cast down to hell and suffer the wrath of Almighty God, until the fulness of times, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet, and shall have perfected his work.
And again, the nature of the punishment which shall be received in that prison is clearly explained:
"For behold," said the prophet Amulek, "if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked".
Now as to the location of that place, reference is made to it in these words:
And the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows.
Like all broad highways of life which beckon to that prison, there are allurements which we are ofttimes encouraged to follow. As Father Lehi explained to his son, Jacob
... it must needs be that there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter.
In other words, he set the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in opposition to the tree of life. The fruit of the one which was "bitter" was the tree of life, and the forbidden fruit was the one which was "sweet to the taste."
James Russell Lowell caught this great truth in his poem, "The Present Crisis:"
Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the word; Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne, Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.
We see some of the signs which like the signs to the state penitentiary we know lead us downward. Some are called taverns; some are called lounges; and some are called roadhouses. They have bright, neon-lighted signs outside with catch-phrase names. They are dimly lighted inside; they have sensuous music. These are the unmistakable trademarks of the hell holes of Satan.
Nephi spoke of some teachings against which we must be on guard lest we follow that road, when he said that in a day to come, which we realize now is our day, there would be those who would "teach us to become angry against that which is good, to lull us away into carnal security and to flatter us by telling us there is no devil, there is no hell".
In President Joseph Fielding Smith's impressive discourse this morning over the CBS broadcast, he explained the meaning and the need of a Redeemer, in order to redeem a "fallen" world. The "fall," by which men became subject to the temptation of the devil, is as necessary to the progress of man as is the creation.
Dr. J. M. Sjodahl makes this rather interesting comment:
Some have asserted that the story of the fall is but a myth, or an allegory, but it is given in the Scriptures as part of the history of the human family, and must be either accepted as such, or rejected as fiction. The fall was as necessary for the development of the race as was the creation.
Now mark you this statement: "The story of the first fall is, moveover, the story of every sin".
Now consider, for illustration, the various sins; the breaking of the Word of Wisdom, unchastity, dishonesty, etc., and then think of what is said here:
Temptation begins with doubt as to the truth of the prohibition. "Has God said?" "It is continued by a contemplation of the pleasure that may be derived from doing that which has been prohibited. It ends with a sense of shame and degradation and dread of the presence of God. Such is the beginning and development of every transgression."
Now the way to eternal life has fortunately been marked out just as plainly. There sits in this congregation a young woman who was about to fail in her faith because of a sudden sorrow which she was not quite prepared to bridge over after having been a convert of a few years. She had a dream in which she saw herself going back to the church of her previous acquaintance. As she drove along in her car, she came to a road which she took only to find that it was a road under construction, and after ten tortuous miles returning she found to her amazement that there were plain warning signs all along the way which, if she had observed, would have guided her along a safe detour road and passed the shoals of difficulty.
Well, the Master said it:
Enter ye in at the strait gate. . .
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
As Jesus was teaching in the cities and villages towards Jerusalem as to what the kingdom of heaven was like, one asked him, "Are there few that be saved?". That question reminded me of the remark of a good friend of mine who had heard one of the Brethren talk about the requirements in order to attain the celestial kingdom. This friend said to me somewhat wearily after he had heard the sermon, "He has made it so difficult that I don't think anyone could qualify for the celestial kingdom."
Contrary to that, the Master said,
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light".
When you think about it there is so much promised in the gospel for so little required on our part; for example, the ordinance of baptism is given us for the remission of sins, for entrance into the kingdom-a new birth; the gift of the Holy Ghost gives us the right to companionship with one of the Godhead; administration to the sick, qualifies the individual with faith for a special blessing; by paying our tithing, the windows of heaven may be opened unto us; by fasting and by paying our fast offerings, we are told that then we might call on the Lord and he will hear our cry and our call; celestial marriage promises us that family life will exist beyond the grave. But all of these blessings are ours on one condition, and this is spoken of by Nephi, when he said:
For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.
The Master did not directly answer that question, "Are there few that be saved?" But he answered, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate". Strive means to struggle in opposition or contention, to contend, to battle for or against a person or a thing opposed, to strive as against temptation, and to strive for truth.
Well, in all that striving, remember Temple Bailey's parable for mothers: "The young mother said to the guide at the beginning of her way, 'Is the way long?' And the guide replied, 'Yes, and the way is hard, and you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning.'"
Oh, that we might think of these warnings and remember the prayer of the Prophet Joseph in the midst of his persecutions, when he cried out, asking why the Lord would not see and hear the sufferings of the Saints, and then hear the Lord answer:
My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.
Oh, may we pray the prayer of the Alcoholics Anonymous, those men who are striving to come back: "O Lord," they pray, "give me the humility to accept the things I cannot change, and the courage to change the things I can change, and then the wisdom to tell the difference."
And may we pray that prayer which I heard set to beautiful music at a stake conference just recently:
Lord, when the twilight of life is falling Help me and guide me where you want me. Lord, when I hear that your voice is calling, Make me worthy to abide with thee.
Lord, when I feel that at times I'm straying Lead me, O Lord, lead me aright. Send forth thy light and thy love I'm praying That the dark and dreary way be bright.
Lord, give me faith that I may heed thy call Lord, give me strength that I may never fall. Help me to find the path that thou hast trod, Help me to love, and obey thee, my Lord, my God. -C. S. Thornwall
Which I pray humbly for all of us, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder George Q. Morris
George Q. Morris, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 111-113
My dear brethren and sisters: I have enjoyed thoroughly these wonderful conference sessions, and now in this position I sincerely pray that the beautiful spirit that has pervaded every session may lead me to say that which is true and what the Lord would have me say.
I had thought I might say something about the atonement. I was just freshening up on it this morning a few minutes before eight, but I wanted to tune in and hear President Smith's talk, and as I tuned in I thought to myself, "I am sure that President Smith is going to talk about the atonement," which he did. So I refer you to his beautiful talk this morning, concise and authoritative, and I say "amen" to it.
I should like to mention in the few moments that I shall be here, something with relation to the atonement, and that it might be fresh in your mind, I wish to read that beautiful statement of Lehi, the great prophet, referring to certain aspects of the atonement:
And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end. And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin. But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
What a wonderful statement that is. So it was the design of our Father in heaven that man should have an earth experience and that Adam should fall and that transgression and sin should come into the world which called for the atonement.
Now, I think the principle question before us is not do we comprehend the atonement, but do we accept it and know that it is true. Many things about us we do not comprehend; as one speaker said, with respect to electricity, the scientific men say they do not know all about it, do not know much about it, they do not know what it is. They know how it acts, but they do not know why it acts, and yet we all avail ourselves of the blessing of electricity without comprehending it.
I think it is exactly the same with the glorious principle of atonement. If electricity in our highly developed civilization were taken out of our lives, our civilization would stop, it is so integrated into our activities. And if the principle of the atonement were taken away, what would be the result? We would have no Jewish scriptures, we would have no Jewish people. There would have been no covenant with Abraham. We would have no New Testament. We would have no gospel of Jesus Christ, for the atonement is the foundation of it all.
And what would spirit world existence mean, what objective would it have, if there were nothing beyond our existence in the spirit world, because God found it necessary for us to come to the earth to get our experience, to gain a body, to pass through death, to be raised an immortalized and glorified being so that we might go on to perfection. Without the atonement there would have been no creation of an earth because that would have meant that we would have all come to the earth as is stated by Lehi, and after transgression had occurred, death would follow, and the earth would be merely the eternal graveyard of the sons and daughters of God. That would have been the end.
The Lord would not undertake to create an earth for that end. An earth life would never have been planned except for this glorious principle of the atonement. And would we have an heaven without the principle of the atonement, would we ever have had an existence in heaven as spirit children of God without the atonement, for God the Eternal Father is a being, a Glorified Being of flesh and bone, exalted and celestialized, and that comes through death and the resurrection by means of the atonement. Unless spirit and matter are inseparably connected, we cannot have a fulness of joy. And if they are so connected, we may have joy in its fullest degree, which I would say means attainment, achievement, exaltation. We must come to the earth; we must have earth life; we must go through death; and we must be exalted and glorified through the power of God and through the gospel and the resurrection.
None of these things would have been possible or contemplated or planned or carried out without this principle of atonement, the Son of God dying for all the children of men. We may not be able to comprehend it, in its fulness, but we can know it, and we can understand how the Son of God, the Firstborn among all the children of God, dying for all the rest, would gain power and influence over the children of men, and we can understand what their love should be for him and their devotion should be towards him because his suffering was such that no human being could endure it. He accepted it. It was so terrible that he almost wished that he might not have to endure it. But he accepted it and glorified his Father in heaven and made possible our earth life, our resurrection, our exaltation, and the blessings of eternal life.
It is impossible for me to understand why so-called Christian men and men of intelligence try to rob the Lord Jesus Christ of his Messiahship. It can only be because of their darkness. Scholarship, barren and cold, does not comprehend life and does not give us the key to this life.
Our relationship with God our Eternal Father is a relationship of our hearts, and a pure heart is wiser and more intelligent than a barren intellect.
We are called upon to love God with all our hearts and our fellow men as ourselves; and by this glorious principle of the atonement, we are here today through the mercy and blessings of God.
May we always remember that we are the children of God; may we live like the children of God. Thank God for the truth, the most glorious, the strongest, most wonderful thing in the world or in the eternities. Thank God for the restored truth. I bear my witness that the truth is here in this Church and kingdom of God, and the power of God is here unto our salvation. Jesus Christ is our Messiah; he said those who would not accept his Messiahship would die in their sins, and I bear witness this is true, and that those who will accept his Messiahship may be redeemed and exalted.
I bear my humble witness that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the Living God, through whom the Lord restored these glorious truths for the salvation of the human family. I thank God for him and his successors, and I bear witness that all the keys and powers that the Lord gave to Peter, James, and John are here resident now in those who are in our midst. May God help us to be true in all things, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder ElRay L. Christiansen
ElRay L. Christiansen, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 113-115
The wonderful addresses, the singing, and all that has pertained to the conference, including the prayers of the Brethren, have found lodgment in my soul. I am determined to leave here and live a better life, and to do some things better that I may not have done so well. I hope, brethren and sisters, that all of us will have that determination. Someone said, "He who learns and learns and acts not what he knows, is like the man who plows and plows and never sows." So I hope that we can go from here and sow seeds of righteousness in our own homes and hearts and among others.
Now I pray in all humility that my brief and sketchy message may not detract from that which has been said and that I may have your sympathy and prayers in presenting what I have to say. I speak in the spirit of commendation and encouragement and not in the way of fault-finding or criticism.
I believe, my brethren and sisters, that there is a need in the world for emphasis to be given to a great principle of which the Lord has spoken many times and which his apostles, old and modern, have advocated. That is the need of our being more charitable, and I assume that need exists among us. I know that it exists with me. I do not have in mind at this moment the relief of the suffering through the giving of our substance; that is a necessary and proper principle, of course, but rather I have in mind the kind of charity that is demonstrated in being lenient and tolerant in judging others and in judging their action; the kind of charity that forgives those who accuse us wrongfully, who misinterpret our intentions; the kind of charity that is patient in the presence of those who are quick to judge us.
I have in mind the charity that impels us to be sympathetic, compassionate, and merciful, not only in times of sickness and affliction and distress, but also in times of weakness or error on the part of others.
We are taught that he that is merciful shall be rewarded in kind. The Lord has said, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy". I speak of the kind of charity that not only forgives but also that forgets the acts of those who trespass against us, who offend us, who hurt us. There is need of that brand of charity, if I may call it such, which causes one to refuse to speak of or to repeat unkind remarks which are said about another-even though they may be true! The more perfect one becomes, the less he is inclined to speak of the imperfections of others.
There is need of that kind of charity that gives hope to those who are unnoticed, those who are discouraged, and the afflicted. There is need of charity that can instill into the hearts of those who have made mistakes the desire to repent and to seek forgiveness of those against whom they may have done wrong. After all, true charity is love in action. And it seems to me that the need of charity, like the need of God, is everywhere.
There is need of that type of charity which refuses to find satisfaction either in hearing or in repeating or broadcasting the reports of misfortunes that befall others, unless in so doing the unfortunate one may be benefited.
Horace Mann once said: "To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is Godlike."
There is need for the kind of charity that causes one to refuse to be a tale-bearer among the people, for, as the Apostle James taught,
If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
Never, in my opinion, has there been recorded a more eloquent and appealing discourse or communication on the subject of charity than that found in the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthian Saints, with which you are all well acquainted, but which I hope you will permit me to bring to you again:
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth... And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
At the conclusion of one of the last sessions of a general conference, back in 1902, I believe it was, President Joseph F. Smith appealed to the members of the Church in these words:
"We hope and pray that you will go from this conference to your homes feeling in your hearts and from the depths of your souls to forgive one another and never from this time forth bear malice toward another fellow creature! I do not care whether he is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or not, whether he is a friend or foe, whether he is good or bad. It is extremely hurtful for any man holding the priesthood, enjoying the gift of the Holy Ghost to harbor the spirit of envy or malice, or retaliation, or intolerance toward or against his fellow man. We ought to say in our hearts: 'Let God be judge between me and thee, but as for me, I will forgive!' I will say unto you, that Latter-day Saints who harbor feelings of unforgiveness in their souls are more censorable than the one who has sinned against them. Go home and dismiss envy, and hatred from your hearts; dismiss the feeling of unforgiveness; and cultivate in your souls the spirit of Christ which crieth out on the cross: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do'".
"... except ye have charity," Moroni said in his farewell message to the Lamanites, "ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God; neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if ye have no hope".
His father, Mormon, spoke of charity in these words: "But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whosoever is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is".
And in the words of Mormon, I pray, as he prayed, "that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure", in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Amen.
Elder Clifford E. Young
Clifford E. Young, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 115-117
Someone suggested in his opening prayer that this had been the most outstanding conference he had ever attended. I think we all feel that way as we come to the end of this very impressive service that has now been held for these three days. What I say this afternoon, my brethren and sisters, I hope will not in any way detract from the sweetness of spirit that we all feel.
I desire to make a few comments, and they could be enlarged upon if time would permit, prompted by the inspired address of President McKay in the opening session of this conference in which he gave us a great ideal, an ideal of what a home and our lives ought to be. I do not know how you felt about it, but after President McKay had finished, I felt in my heart that I would from now on like to be just a little kinder and a little more considerate, less impatient, less impulsive. I would like to be able to offer counsel, and I would like to be worthy to offer that counsel to our boys and girls, our youth.
I would like them to feel as we felt that in a home of a Latter-day Saint may be found the finest concepts of life, a pattern of life, that when our young people take upon themselves the responsibilities of a home, they may lay such a foundation that will ultimately give them the same type of home as President McKay so impressively portrayed to us.
As our leader spoke, he spoke authoritatively. We had that demonstrated Saturday in the impressive address of Brother Thomas E. McKay, my colleague. I have been in his home; I know the sweetness of spirit there. And he reflected yesterday in his address those high ideals and great virtues as he told of the home life from which he came. We knew again of the power of example that we have had demonstrated to us by these two of our beloved brethren.
I have a little concern for our young people. Last night I read some figures in the Deseret News. I want to call attention to these figures and some of the comments of the writer of the editorial. I quote from the editorial entitled "Lengthening Debt's Shadow":
"Economists and economizers-home, business and government-have reason to raise an eyebrow over the fact that the nation has posted a record increase of $660 million debt for installment buying of goods other than autos since a year ago.
"For types of goods, Americans are now in debt $6 1/4 billions.
"This is not all they owe, either. Americans have also increased their pay-by-the month personal loans to 5 1/2 billions. This is a gain of $733 millions, or 15% in the space of 12 months."
This does not include the purchasing of homes. This just refers to consumer debts.
The danger there, my brethren and sisters, as I see it, lies in our young people undertaking obligations they cannot meet. It has always seemed to me that a young man was justified in going in debt for a home, provided that obligation did not exceed his ability to pay. A young man should not feel that when just starting out in life he should have as good a home as his father. His father probably has struggled for many years to get his home. But a young man and woman starting out should take into consideration the fact that his parents had little to start with and that they are starting from the beginning, and theirs should be a humble home. The tendency today, however, is to build and buy extravagantly, frequently beyond the ability to pay.
And that is not the only difficulty. In addition to the obligations incident to a home are the obligations incident to this consumer buying. We think we must have all of the gadgets, all of the conveniences that are advertised. They are desirable to have. They are convenient. No one would refuse a mother an electric washer, an electric dryer, a freezer, if we could afford them. No one would refuse his children television or a radio or a good car, if he could afford them. But brethren and sisters, if we are going to maintain the high standard, the spiritual standard of our homes, we must safeguard ourselves and our children against obligations that will bring sorrow and friction into the home and that will upset the high standards that we want to preserve for them.
This is the reason that I mention these things, and much more could be said about them. I have seen so many cases of sorrow and suffering incident to too much debt. It has been my experience now for over forty years to be connected with financing. I have seen young couples start out happily in life and finally bring to themselves distress, not only financially, but also spiritually and emotionally, all because their debts had reached a point where they could not pay them. They became upset, and friction and quarreling ensued, which brought about a condition in the home that is in contravention to the spirit and the ideals taught us in this conference.
I hope you will not consider it presumptuous on my part if I offer a word of caution to our young people against these practices. We should teach our boys and girls to have honor above everything else, honor in paying their debts.
Someone in this conference spoke of bonds, not government bonds, but a bond of integrity and honor. We need to teach that to our children and to ourselves. Somewhere I read of an old Chinese practice. If a young man wanted to borrow money but in the days of the older civilization, if a Chinese boy wished to borrow money, he would go to the banker and tell him, "I am a son of Lu Sing. I would like to borrow a thousand dollars." And the banker, knowing the integrity of Lu Sing, would lend the boy the thousand dollars without a scratch of a pen. There was nothing but a verbal contract because the banker knew of the integrity of the family, the honor of the family, and he knew that the family would not let him down, even if the boy should fail, and rarely did the boy fail. It is a striking example of the value of one's word, and we can well adopt it in our lives-not necessarily the practice of it, but the intrinsic value of honor and integrity that our word is as good as our bond.
Young people, do not go into debt beyond your ability to pay. Let us as parents help them to avoid these pitfalls.
Now, one other thought. As President McKay spoke of the ideal home and the love of home, I thought of an ideal home back in 1820, of a boy who came into that home one spring morning to tell his father and mother of a great revelation, and the father and mother believed the boy. His brother Hyrum believed him, and his brother Alvin. Hyrum was twenty, six years older than the Prophet, and Alvin was eight years older, he being over twenty-two.
It is significant, my brethren and sister-a fourteen-year-old boy telling his father and mother of the greatest revelation of all time since the birth of the Savior and having parents and brothers and sisters believe him. From that time on there was loyalty and devotion in that home. The boy was to instruct his father, not in unkindness but in love, because his father believed in him, his mother believed in him. If there had been any element of fraud, if the boy had been inclined to tell an untruth, the parents would have known it; his brothers would have detected it, and the mother, above all others, would have known it. She would not have talked about it, but she would have known it, keeping the boy's weakness wrapped up in her own soul. Mothers generally protect their children regardless of their weaknesses.
I repeat, they believed in their boy, and to me that has always been an example of a perfect home, an ideal home. Confidence, faith, love and devotion were to be exemplified throughout the life of the boy. Hyrum was to give his life as a witness of his confidence in his younger brother and the divinity of his calling. His father, too, was to suffer persecution that was to cause an early death.
You will recall the night the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and revealed to him the sacred record from which the Book of Mormon was to be translated. In the morning, Joseph, somewhat weary, having been awake most of the night, went to the field to assist his father. "You look weary, my boy, go back to the house and rest." As he reached the edge of the field, the Angel again appeared to Joseph and instructed him to tell his father. He returned to his father in the field and rehearsed the whole matter to him. His father replied to him, "It was of God. Do as commanded by the messenger".
And there was no failure, and I submit to you, my brethren and sisters, that here we have an example of a perfect trust between father and son, an example of what should be in an ideal home. That home was a humble one, probably with candlelights, certainly no modern conveniences, but a home in which abounded love, trust, confidence, and faith, and from that faith and that home was to come the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I bear you my witness in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder Spencer W. Kimball
Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 118-121
My beloved brothers and sisters and friends: This has been a most inspirational experience in three days of general conference.
Elder Clifford E. Young has been speaking of the boy who communed with Jehovah. We all sang that song a few moments ago, "Praise to the Man Who Communed with Jehovah." I should now like to pay my devotion to that Jehovah with whom he communed, my Lord Jesus Christ. I love him with all my heart. We are coming to the close of this great gathering. For seven sessions every prayer has been made in the name of Jesus Christ. Every one of the many eloquent sermons has closed in the name of Jesus Christ. I think they have all begun with it also, sometimes unexpressed.
Mention has already been made of the meeting that was held in the temple on Thursday, prior to the beginning of this conference-a preparation meeting for all of the members of the General Authorities. It was a meeting of fasting and the Sacrament, of prayer and testimony. There were appeals unto our Heavenly Father that this great conference might touch the hearts of the many people who would listen, and as one of the concluding speakers I should like to bear witness that the Lord has answered those prayers, for it has been an inspirational conference, and our Brethren have spoken with great strength and power, and each one has inspired me.
In my files I find a description of the Savior written by one who gave his own artistic concept. I give it to you without author as it came to me:
There lives at this time in Judea a man of singular virtue whose name is Jesus, whom the barbarians esteem as a prophet; but his followers love and adore him as the offspring of God. He calls back the dead from the graves and heals all sorts of diseases with a word or a touch. He is a tall man, well shaped, an amiable and reverent aspect, his hair of a color that can hardly be matched, falling into graceful curls, waving about and very agreeably couching upon his shoulders, parted on the crown of his head, running as a stream to the front after the fashion of the Nazarites. His forehead is high, large, imposing; his cheeks without spot or wrinkle, beautiful with a lovely red, his nose and mouth formed with exquisite symmetry; his beard, and of a color suitable to his hair, reaching below his chin and parted in the middle like a fork; his eyes, bright blue, clear and serene look innocent, dignified, manly and mature; in proportion of body most perfect and captivating, his arms and hands delectable to behold. He rebukes with majesty, counsels with mildness, and his whole address, whether in word or deed, being eloquent and grave. No man has seen him laugh, yet his manners are exceedingly pleasant, but he has wept frequently in the presence of men. He is temperate, modest, wise-a man for his extraordinary beauty and divine perfection, surpassing the children of men in every sense.
Also in the temple meeting above mentioned, President McKay read to us a paragraph describing the Master, and if I may have his permission I should like to repeat it to you:
Description of Christ
The following epistle is said to have been taken by Napoleon from the records of Rome when he deprived that city of so many valuable manuscripts. It was written at the time and on the spot where Jesus commenced his ministry, by Publius Lentulus, Governor of Judea, to the senate of Rome, Caesar, emperor. It was the custom in those days for the governor to write home any event that transpired while he held his office.
Conscript Fathers: In these our days appeared a man named Jesus Christ, who is yet living among us, and of the Gentiles is accepted as a prophet of great truth; but his own disciples call him the son of God. He hath raised the dead and cured all manner of diseases. He is a man of stature somewhat tall and comely, with a ruddy countenance, such as the beholder may both love and fear. His hair is the color of filbert when fully ripe, plain to his ear, whence downward it is more of orient color, curling and waving on his shoulders; in the middle of his head is a seam of long hair, after the manner of the Nazarites. His forehead is plain and delicate; the face without spot or wrinkle, beautiful with a comely red, his nose and mouth are exactly formed; his beard is the color of his hair and thick, not of any length but forked.
In reproving he is terrible; admonishing, courteous; in speaking, very modest and wise; in proportion of body, well-shaped. None have seen him laugh, many have seen him weep. A man for his surpassing beauty excelling the children of men.
Whether authentic or not I do not know, but it may stir our imaginations.
I have a little paragraph from another writer, Charles Edward Jefferson, who says,
But when we come to Jesus, we find ourselves in the presence of a man without a flaw. He was enthusiastic, blazing with enthusiasm, but he never became fanatical. He was emotional. Men could feel the throbbing of his heart, but he never became hysterical. He was imaginative, full of poetry and music, seeing pictures everywhere, throwing upon everything he touched a light that never was on land or sea, the inspiration of a poet's dream. But he never was flighty. He was practical, hard-headed, matter-of-fact, but he was never prosaic, never dull. His life always had in it the glamour of romance. He was courageous, but never reckless; prudent, but never a coward; unique, but not eccentric; sympathetic, but never sentimental. Great streams of sympathy flowed from his tender heart toward those who needed sympathy; but at the same time streams of lava glowed from the same heart to scorch and overwhelm the workers of iniquity. He was pious, but there was not a trace about him of sanctimoniousness.
That is the picture that men have of him. In my own office at home and at the Church Office Building I have rather large pictures of Jesus as he has been portrayed by artists. I appreciate them, but they do not give me the complete or acceptable picture of the Lord, and no picture I have ever seen is adequate. I can never see the Christ with my eyes open. I must close them to get my concepts of him.
The Christ of whom they spoke and whom the tried to picture was the Master as lived on the earth among mortals. I should like now to give you another picture of the Christ as it is given by one who saw him after he was immortal, after his resurrection. I quote:
I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation... was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book... And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw. One like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.... and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen... Write the things which thou hast seen.
I think of the Lord as he walked through Galilee and Palestine. I realize that he must have become tired and hungry and weary and thirsty, but he was ever patient. He was loving; he was kind. It seems that though it was necessary at times to rebuke people, he did what he told us in the modern revelations to do, he reproved then showed forth afterwards an increase of love toward him he had reproved -he had his arm around them, too. O how I love him for his tenderness-so forgiving, so kind.
I think of him on the cross during his great agony. He was thinking of his sweet mother down beneath him. He was tender and kind as he said to John, "Behold thy mother," and to his mother, "Woman, behold thy son!". And from that hour that disciple took her into his own home.
I think of his kindness when proud and loving mothers so wanted their children to have a sight of the Master, to touch the hem of his garment, and they were pushed away- and he said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God".
I think of the Christ who came in our own day to the Prophet Joseph Smith and his associate in the Kirtland Temple.
The veil was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding were opened. We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; and under his feet was paved work of pure gold, in color like amber. His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying: I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am our advocate with the Father.
Several have said no one ever saw Him laugh; however, I can imagine the Lord Jesus Christ smiling as he looked upon his people in their devotion. This great conference-with its thirty-one thousand men and boys holding the Holy Priesthood, in attendance at one meeting; with its tens of thousands who have come long distances to listen and to worship together, and to hear the word of that Lord Jesus Christ-must have pleased him greatly.
I think he smiles when he looks upon this his prophet, President David O. McKay, who gives such inspired leadership to his people, who is so close to him, who hears his word, and who receives his revelations. I think the Lord Jesus Christ is smiling when he looks into the homes of this people and sees them on their knees in family prayer night and morning, the children participating also. I think he smiles when he sees young husbands and wives, and older ones, with deep affection for each other, who continue their courtship as our prophet has said, who continue to love each other with all their souls until the day they die and then accentuate it through eternity.
I think he is pleased with the families which sacrifice and share, like the family I visited a week ago and with whom I had lunch. There were ten wonderful children in one family-all happy together, and working all their problems out together, sharing all their limited assets together! I think the Lord Jesus Christ is smiling when he looks down and sees more than four thousand men this past year-four thousand men with some of their wives and some of their children who were inactive a year ago, but today are happy in the kingdom, many of whom have been to the holy temple of God and had their endowments and their sealings, and who with tears of gratitude thank the Lord for his program.
I think I see tears of joy in his eyes and a smile on his lips as he sees the twenty-one thousand new souls who have come unto him this year, who have professed his name, who have gone into the waters of baptism, and I think he loves those who helped to convert them also.
I see him smile as he sees his numerous people on their knees in repentance, changing their lives, making them brighter and cleaner, and more like their Heavenly Father and their Brother, Jesus Christ.
I think he is pleased and smiles as he sees youth as they organize their lives and protect and fortify themselves against the errors of the day. I think he is first grieved, and then perhaps pleased, when he sees, as he must have done a few days ago in my office, a young couple who had made serious error and were now on their knees together with their hands tightly clasped together. There must have been joy in his smile when he saw into their souls and saw that they were making the adjustment, as their tears bathed my hand which I had tenderly placed on theirs.
Oh, I love the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that I can show to him and manifest my sincerity and devotion. I want to live close to him. I want to be like him, and I pray that the Lord will help all of us that we may so be as he said to his Nephite disciples, "Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be?" and he answered his own question by saying, "Even as I am", and so, as Elder ElRay L. Christiansen said, I go from this conference determined to live even closer to my Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ than I have ever lived before. And I pray this in his name-in the name of him whom I love, adore, and worship, in the name of our Lord and Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1956, pp. 121-124
The first speaker of this session, Elder Lee, referred to the "shortest designated highway in the State," and that shortest highway leads to the penitentiary. His excellent discourse and the inspirational discourses of the other Brethren who have followed him have inspired us all. The spirit of the Lord is here, and what I am going to say in a few words I hope will be in harmony with the spirit of those addresses.
That reference to the highway reminded me of something to which we should have called the attention of 31,000 men of the priesthood last evening. But now I am glad that I overlooked it, for here is a better time and place, I think, to mention it. It refers to a number of young people who get on that shortest of highways. For several years we have asked the bishops to help us to protect them from getting on that highway. For a while we received help, and then that help practically ceased. There are two members of the Council of the Twelve appointed to receive your suggestions and recommendations, but these two members are helpless without your suggestions.
In brief, many of our young girls, particularly, and not a few of our young boys, leave their homes, with the consent of parents, sometimes without the consent, and they come to larger centers in hopes of bettering their financial conditions, probably social conditions; and without proper guidance, without help, not a few get on that one-way road. And so we have asked that whenever one of those girls or one of the boys leaves home to come to the city, the bishop will send word to Elder Spencer W. Kimball or Elder Mark E. Petersen giving the home town address, and, if possible, the address of the boy or girl in Salt Lake City, Ogden, or some other center.
The ward teachers should know the name of that boy and the name of that girl, for it is his duty "to watch over the church always, to be with and strengthen them". If the teacher will notify the bishop that one of the members of his district is leaving home, and the bishop will inform the committee of the Twelve of the fact, safeguards can be put around the young person. They are not bad boys or bad girls, intrinsically, but there are traps into which they may fall here and be caught in sin, as we have heard. Bishops, will you please do that? Ward teachers throughout the Church, will you please watch over the Church always-over those who are sick, those who need your help, and particularly some of these discouraged young people?
I think the thought that I am trying to get over is well expressed by that poem which the Presiding Bishopric has put into the hands of the lesser priesthood of the Church. It is a follows:
"He stood at the crossroads all alone The sunlight in his face; He had no thought for the world unknown, He was set for a manly race. But the roads stretched east and the roads stretched west, And the lad knew not which road was best. So he chose the road that led him down, And he lost the race and the victor's crown. He was caught at last in an angry snare, Because no one stood at the crossroads there To show him the better road.
"Another day at the selfsame place, A boy with high hopes stood, He too was set for a manly race, He too was seeking the things that were good, But one was there who the roads did know And that one showed him which way to go. So he turned from the road that would lead him down, And he won the race and the victor's crown. He walks today the highway fair Because one stood at the crossroads there To show him the better way."
We are just reminding you bishops of this safeguard. How effective the protection or guidance, though, depends upon you, and more upon the ward teacher.
As this conference draws to a close, my heart is full of appreciation. This has been a great conference. Do you know how many have contributed to its success? I want to point out a few even at the risk of omitting merited names.
I have mentioned those who beforehand wished to make attractive and beautiful the rostrum and express their love in flowers. Again we mention them.
Throughout the sessions we have expressed our gratitude to the radio stations and television stations, making it possible for tens of thousands to hear the message of the gospel from these leaders, and how impressively, eloquently they have given their messages.
We have said "thank you" to the members of the choirs, but let me mention them again: The Brigham Young University choruses, with Brother Ralph Woodward and Brother Crawford Gates conducting. Those young people-you will never forget that picture-filling the seats of the choir and overflowing into the galleries, young people with high hopes, young people with faith, young people of purity. We appreciate what they did.
And even more impressive, if that could be, our Singing Mothers! I cannot mention the name "mother" without being overcome with emotion. Those mothers who furnished that singing were the mothers of 1600 children! Even their title, "Singing Mothers," tells a story of sacrifice, a story of love, a story of home. No wonder they could sing the songs of Zion so inspirationally under the masterful leadership of Sister Florence Jepperson Madsen.
Then there was the Reno Latter-day Saints male chorus under Ladd R. Cropper, director-whose singing inspired 31,000 members of the priesthood last night. We thank them.
And today the Tabernacle Choir, singing the songs which inspired thousands in Europe. And when they sing the closing song, try to picture yourself listening to them in London or in Glasgow or Paris, Switzerland, Holland, or East Germany, and see those audiences filled with enthusiasm, inspired, as this wonderful choir sang, "Come, Come, Ye Saints." It is said that our "echoes roll from soul to soul, and go forever and forever." Well, the echoes of those choruses are rolling in the souls of thousands over in Europe and will continue so to do for a long time to come. To Director Cornwall and the organists we again express appreciation.
Not many of you, I think, have noticed how attentive, how considerate, how prompt have been the ushers under the direction of Bishop Isaacson. They have spent hours here since conference began-during meeting, between sessions-from morning till night. We extend to you ushers thanks for your courtesy, consideration, and the very excellent way in which you have directed the affairs put into your hands.
I have often spoken about the attention given by our police department. I do not know that they have ever rendered greater service than they have throughout this conference. You who have had to travel around this block have noticed three of our policemen, courteously watching to see that no accident occurs: here on the south gate two men; at the west gate another; out at the north gate another; and others at crowded intersections throughout the city. To the mayor and city council, chief of police, and to all the members of that force we say "thank you" this day. To the Red Cross who have been here faithfully to render any help to those in need, to the fire department, members of which have stood on guard in case of some accident, to the reporters who have reported the exercises so efficiently and accurately-to all of you, we express sincere appreciation.
Now I should like to express appreciation for a group of workers not connected directly with this conference but who are energetically contributing to the advancement of the work of the Lord: the volunteer labor missionaries who are down in New Zealand, down in Hawaii, who will be in Mexico and other places where schools and temples are being built; we should like them to know that we have them in mind and that they have our blessing, able businessmen, skilled in carpentry, cement work, steel work. Not many in the Church know what they are doing. But it is a great force of skilled workmen contributing to the upbuilding of the kingdom of God.
And we shall mention, too, the young men who accept one-year, two-year mission calls to lay bricks, or to drive trucks, repair machinery, etc. Young men, we appreciate what you are doing. It is a great school for you, and you learn much even while you contribute your time and effort.
Finally, I wish to express gratitude to my beloved associates, the General Authorities, who so kindly and considerately made mention of my half century of service in the Council of the Twelve. It was most gracious of you to express your congratulations and particularly your loyalty. The words coming from your hearts as they did touched me deeply.
Next to the affection we have for our home and loved ones, we prize the loyalty of friends, but even more precious is the true feeling of brotherhood in Christ. This choicest of all blessings in human association in the Church has been most manifest during this conference ever since our meeting referred to by Brother Kimball of the General Authorities in the house of the Lord last Thursday morning, and as expressed throughout this conference. Truly, we can sense more clearly than ever what John the apostle had in mind when he wrote, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren". And I wish to tell you auxiliary workers and you members in the priesthood quorums of stakes and wards, that the Brethren love you just that way.
And what the Primary is doing-you could see by the reports of the great convention, and the high percentage of children that they have in attendance at their weekly meetings-they are doing just what you brethren have asked them to do. The Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association has enrolled every girl in the Church. They will help you teachers-your local Young Women's Association and its officers-to find out when one of the girls is moving to another place, and they will be there to welcome them and to try to help them. The Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association in their competitive games, in their cultural, inspirational meetings-what a wonderful work they are doing! So, also, the great Sunday School cause, and our mothers in Relief Society-where in all the world can you find so many groups working so efficiently-helps in government, as guides to your children-as you find in the Church of Jesus Christ!
We are not boasting; we are just stating facts. We might not say it to you officers of these auxiliaries, but we love you, and in our hearts are prayers for your success. And the priesthood quorums, the deacons and the Aaronic Priesthood, the teachers and the priests-there again, every one enrolled, an opportunity for every boy to be active; instead of having the gang-spirit, where the members try to destroy or to interfere with the ease and comfort of others, we have them active and rendering service to others. And that means, as President Clark stated, over a hundred thousand of them, and the Presiding Bishopric bringing in the Senior Aaronic members; then the Melchizedek, the elders, seventies, and high priests-there is where we touch our home life.
There are three parables to which I shall refer and close, all relating to lost ones. What I have said relates to preventing them from getting on the highway that leads to the detention home or to the penitentiary. Christ gave three parables which you will find in the 15th chapter of Luke. One is the parable of the Lost Sheep which wandered away from the flock; the second was the loss of one of Ten Pieces of Silver by a housewife; and the third was the Prodigal Son.
The first referred to one that just simply wandered because it wanted to seek the best in sustenance of life; there was no sin involved. It became so engrossed in its own welfare that it wandered away from the flock.
The second was largely due to carelessness, neglect; and the third was a determination to an abandonment to a life of indulgence and sin.
Now you will find many in the Church of these boys and girls who drift from the Church because of other interests. They are not bad boys. Find them, bring them back into activity in the fold.
In the second parable, the parents, through carelessness, let the girls go, or the girls defy parental interference or authority. Often the boys start out with wrong companions. You know how to deal with them-get them, too, into activity.
The third, the prodigal son or the prodigal girl who goes down the line, who refuses the invitation to come back, refuses to enter into the activity of the Church-such a one, as did the prodigal son, will go, I suppose, until he comes to himself and then, as President Richards so eloquently expressed today, the spirit of repentance and the spirit of forgiveness will be operative.
Brethren and sisters, may our Heavenly Father sanctify the instructions, admonitions, and testimonies that we have heard throughout this great and memorable conference. May he fill our hearts with love for one another in the true brotherhood of Christ. May that love in our homes, in our groups, in priesthood, and in the auxiliaries radiate so-effectively that others seeing our good lives may be led to glorify our Father in heaven, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 4-8
The passing of years and the repetition of experience fail to lessen the great responsibility of addressing the congregation in this great tabernacle and others listening in over the radio. I have prayed and now pray for the inspiration of the Lord, that I may be able to perform this duty acceptably to him and to you, my brethren and sisters.
What I have in mind I should like to associate with this passage of scripture taken from Matthew:
"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works".
Before emphasizing one or more particular points contained in that remarkable passage, I should like to give a brief report regarding some activities of the Church since our conference six months ago. During that interim the Church has been moving forward most encouragingly. Priesthood quorums have increased in number, particularly in the mission field, and, through the efficient efforts of the priesthood committees among the General Authorities, a greater enrolment in the quorums generally has resulted. There are today in the stakes and missions of the Church 237 high priests quorums; 449 seventies quorums and 17 units; 1,750 elders quorums and two units; 171 quorums and 1,725 groups of priests; 737 quorums, and 1,230 groups of teachers; 1,988 quorums, and 551 groups of deacons.
Those are all organizations established by revelation for activity in spiritual things, as well as temporal, for boys, and for young men under nineteen years of age, most of them seventeen and eighteen.
The general boards of auxiliaries are functioning efficiently, and local organizations are cooperating with them in earnest efforts to instill high ideals in the minds of childhood and youth.
It is a sobering thought, my brothers and sisters, to realize that all quorums, all auxiliaries, all Church schools, seminaries, institutes, colleges, the Church university, all Church edifices, all preparations of lessons, the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars monthly for the publication of books, equipment, illustrative material, and so forth-all efforts of thousands of officers and teachers-are for one purpose: namely, the education and proper training of your boys and girls and the edification of all members of the Church. Everything that has been and is now being done points to that one general purpose. Do you appreciate it by cooperating with these forces and sending your young children, and your young men and women to these various organizations in the Church? If not, you are shirking part of your duty.
We have only words of commendation to the Twelve, the Assistants to the Twelve, and other General Authorities, including the Presiding Bishopric; to the general boards, the members of the general Church building committee, the stake and ward officers, each and all working for the good of the individual to bring to pass the Lord's purposes, who declared: "... this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man".
You will be interested to learn that since the first of the year there have been 136 Church edifices dedicated. It is estimated that in the final quarter of 1956 there will possibly be added to this number forty-four more buildings, making a total of buildings dedicated in English-speaking wards and stakes and missions of 180. In foreign missions it is estimated that there will be somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty to sixty houses of worship dedicated in this year 1956, making a total in all of approximately 240.
A means to an end! From the standpoint of numbers and material prosperity, therefore, the Church has every reason to be encouraged. All these things, I repeat, are means to the perfecting of the soul-that is the end.
The great question is: Have we progressed spiritually as well as in these physical and teaching organizations? The answer is yes.
The accomplishments before mentioned, the efforts put forth, are in themselves really expressions of spirituality, and here we offer in our hearts a prayer that God will bless the total membership of the Church who have contributed of their means, talents, and efforts to the accomplishment of the purposes named, the means, and structures and Church edifices especially. It is marvelous what you have done.
"Every noble impulse, every unselfish expression of love, every brave suffering for the right; every surrender of self to something higher than self; every loyalty to an ideal; every unselfish devotion to principle; every helpfulness to humanity; every act of self-control; every fine courage of the soul, undefeated by pretense or policy, but by being, doing, and living of good for the very good's sake-that is spirituality."
And our text emphasizes the fact that the human being consists of spirit and body: "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?".
Indeed, man's earthly existence is but a test, whether he will concentrate his efforts, his mind, his soul upon things which contribute to his comfort and gratification of his physical instincts and passions, or whether he will make as his life's purpose and aim the acquisition of spiritual qualities.
The spiritual road has Christ as its ideal, not the gratification of the physical, for he that would save his life, yielding to that present gratification of a seeming need, will lose his life.
If he would seek the real purpose of life, the individual must live for some thing higher than self. He hears the Savior's voice saying: "I am the way, the truth, and the life". Following that voice, he soon learns that there is no one great thing which he can do to attain happiness or eternal life. He learns that "life is made up not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things in which smiles and kindness and small obligations given habitually are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort."
Spirituality, our true aim, is the consciousness of victory over self and of communion with the Infinite. Spirituality impels one to conquer difficulties and acquire more and more strength. To feel one's faculties unfolding and truth expanding the soul is one of life's sublimest experiences. Would that all might so live as to experience that ecstasy!
Being "honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men" are attributes which contribute to spirituality, the highest acquisition of the soul. It is the divine in man, the supreme, crowning gift that makes him king of all created things.
The spiritual life is the true life of man. It is what distinguishes him from the beasts of the forests. It lifts him above the physical, yet he is still susceptible to all the natural contributions that life can give him that are needful for his happiness or contributive to his advancement. "Though in the world, not of the world".
Jesus taught that men and women fail to live truly, unless they have spirituality. In Jefferson's Life and Teachings of Jesus, we read that the spiritual force underlies everything, and without it nothing worthwhile can be accomplished. And I quote: "Spiritual needs can be met only by spiritual means. All government, laws, methods, and organizations are of no value unless" spirituality guides them. All "men and women are filled with truth," with this spirituality-and "righteousness, and mercy. Material things have no power to raise the sunken spirit. Gravitation, electricity, and steam are great forces, but they are all powerless to change the motives of men and women." "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God".
Spirituality and morality as taught by the Church of Jesus Christ are firmly anchored in fundamental principles-principles from which the world can never escape even if it would, and the first fundamental is a belief-and among the members of the Church who are truly converted, a knowledge-of the existence of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. Children of the Church are taught, at least should be taught, to recognize him and to pray to him as one who can listen and hear and feel just as an earthly father can listen and hear and feel, and they have absorbed into their very beings, if taught rightly, from their mothers and their fathers, the real testimony that this personal God has spoken in this dispensation.
Inseparable from the acceptance of the existence of God is an attitude of reverence, to which I wish now to call attention most earnestly to the entire Church. The greatest manifestation of spirituality is reverence; indeed, reverence is spirituality. Reverence is profound respect mingled with love. It is "a complex emotion made up of mingled feelings of the soul." Carlyle says it is "the highest of human feelings." I have said elsewhere that if reverence is the highest, then irreverence is the lowest state in which a man can live in the world. Be that as it may, it is nevertheless true that an irreverent man has a crudeness about him that is repellent. He is cynical, often sneering, and always iconoclastic.
Reverence embraces regard, deference, honor, and esteem. Without some degree of it, therefore, there would be no courtesy, no gentility, no consideration of others' feelings, or of others' rights. Reverence is the fundamental virtue in religion. It is "one of the signs of strength; irreverence, one of the surest indications of weakness. No man will rise high," says one man, "who jeers at sacred things. The fine loyalties of life," he continues, "must be reverenced or they will be foresworn in the day of trial.'
Parents, Reverence, as charity, begins at home. In early childhood children should be trained to be respectful, deferential-respectful to one another, to strangers and visitors-deferential to the aged and infirm-reverential to things sacred, to parents and parental love.
Three influences in home life awaken reverence in children and contribute to its development in their souls. These are: first, firm but Gentle Guidance; second, Courtesy shown by parents to each other, and to children; and third, Prayer in which children participate. In every home in this Church parents should strive to act intelligently in impressing children with those three fundamentals.
Reverence in the houses of worship: Churches are dedicated and set apart as houses of worship. This means, of course, that all who enter do so, or at least pretend to do so, with an intent to get nearer the presence of the Lord than they can in the street or amidst the worries of a workaday life. In other words, we go to the Lord's house to meet him and to commune with him in spirit. Such a meeting place, then, should first of all be fitting and appropriate in all respects, whether God is considered as the invited guest, or the worshipers as his guests.
Whether the place of meeting is a humble chapel or a "poem in architecture" built of white marble and inlaid with precious stones makes little or no difference in our approach and attitude toward the Infinite Presence. To know God is there should be sufficient to impel us to conduct ourselves orderly, reverently.
In this regard, as members of the Church in our worshiping assemblies, we have much room for improvement. Presiding authorities in stake, ward, and quorum meetings, and especially teachers in classes, should make special effort to maintain better order and more reverence during hours of worship and of study. Less talking behind the pulpit will have a salutary effect upon those who face it. By example and precept, children should be impressed with the inappropriateness of confusion and disorder in a worshiping congregation. They should be impressed in childhood, and have it emphasized in youth, that it is disrespectful to talk or even to whisper during a sermon, and that it is the height of rudeness, excepting in an emergency, to leave a worshiping assembly before dismissal.
One of the most pronounced outbursts of Jesus' indignation was caused by the desecration of the Lord's temple. As he overturned the tables of moneychangers and ordered out those who were bartering and trading in the holy sanctuary, he gave a warning admonition that has come down through the centuries:
"... make not my Father's house an house of merchandise". Making and spending money, even in conversation, faultfinding, and particularly gossiping about neighbors in a house of worship, are essentially violations of this command given nearly two thousand years ago.
If there were more reverence in human hearts, there would be less room for sin and resultant sorrow; more capacity for joy and gladness. To make more cherished, more adaptable, more attractive this gem among brilliant virtues, is a project worthy of the most united and prayerful efforts of every officer, every parent, and every member of the Church.
I repeat now:
"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, -gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then he shall reward every man according to his works".
In these words of the Savior we have designated either by direct statement or implication four eternal truths-
First, the existence of God our Eternal Father.
Second, the divine Sonship of Jesus Christ.
Third, that man has a spirit as well as a body, and he may direct his life to serve him,
Fourth, that soul development results from complete control of physical desires and passions.
With that scripture in conclusion I desire to call attention to another fundamental truth:
"... a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men. "Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day. "Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work; "For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul; "And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work. "Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence. "Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you".
That this work has come forth and is now established by divine revelation testifying to the existence of God the Father, his son Jesus Christ, and that through Jesus Christ and his gospel mankind will be brought back into his presence, I bear witness to you, and to the world, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Clifford E. Young
Clifford E. Young, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 8-10
My brethren and sisters, I am sure you can appreciate my feelings in occupying this position following the impressive address to which we have just listened. I trust that what I shall say may add to your faith.
You will remember that following the crucifixion of the Savior and his resurrection, he tarried with his disciples for some forty days, giving them instructions and administering to them the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Then he assured them that as he left them, he would again come in like manner to bless the children of men. He enjoined upon the Twelve that they should tarry in Jerusalem until they could be endowed with power from on high; then they were to go forth and to proclaim the gospel, his gospel, to all nations, a message of eternal life.
So, following these events, we find the people gathered "with one accord" on the Day of Pentecost, and Peter, feeling this great power that had been promised, declared to the multitude Jesus Christ and him crucified. We are told that "they were pricked in their hearts," impressed by the Spirit, and they cried with one accord, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?'.
Then Peter taught them the basic principles of the gospel, that they should repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins; and he promised them that they, too, would have the blessings of the Holy Ghost which had rested upon him and others of the Twelve. Later, we find Peter and John going up to the temple.
Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.
When the fame of this miracle spread, people gathered from near and far to listen to the message, as they had on the Day of Pentecost. Among these people were some who doubtless had participated in the crucifixion of Jesus. They had not realized what they had done. Then Peter, preaching to them, said:
And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers, But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
There are three things, my brethren and sisters, that I would like to touch on in connection with these scriptures which I have read. Time will not permit my enlarging on them.
The first one: "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee". Then the power of God was manifested, and he was healed-not by silver and gold, not by something tangible, but an inward power to the afflicted, a power as real and more potent than had he received silver and gold. It is something that stimulates our souls and builds our faith, prompts us to live nearer our Heavenly Father and more fully to keep his commandments.
As we listened to President McKay, I had a feeling that if we could leave this conference with the inspiration and mellowing influence of the President's message, we would have an influence for good wherever we go and with those with whom we come in contact, and our communities would reap a blessing thereby.
It is very much like the feelings and emotions that are stirred within us when we attend a funeral service. Our hearts are drawn in love and sympathy, and we leave feeling that if there is anything we can do to bring comfort to an aching heart, we will do it. I have wondered many times if the Lord has not given us trials, even death, in order that our hearts might be touched, that we might feel something that is greater than silver and gold.
So it is here this morning. We have heard President McKay quote this verse which I would like to give on this occasion. It is so appropriate.
If there is righteousness in the heart, There will be beauty in the character. If there is beauty in the character, There will be harmony in the home. If there is harmony in the home, There will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, There will be peace in the world.
One step after another leads to a life of peace. How much better the world could be and would be if we could be conscious of the spiritual forces, inspiring such attributes as love and devotion.
Another phase I would like to mention here: Peter said to the people who were gathered, " I wot that through ignorance ye did it... Repent ye therefore, and be converted". Here we have Peter, who was raised under the Mosaic law with its strict codes, and yet the Spirit promised by the Savior had rested upon him, and here he manifested sympathy toward even those who had participated in the crucifixion of the Savior, because they knew not what they had done. He was teaching the lesson that Jesus had taught while on the cross when he said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do".
So Peter said, I know that what ye did ye did in ignorance; therefore, repent. What a blessed privilege, and what a source of consolation it is, to know that it is in our knowledge of things for which we are held responsible. The Lord recognizes that his children are not always aware of the things required of them, and hence his compassion and love are extended to his children. The great principle of repentance is vouchsafed to them, that they may turn from error and evil and return to God and feel the power of these blessings that come through faithfulness and devotion to his work when once his work is understood by his children. So we have in this a message of hope.
Finally, as Peter said, "Repent and be converted". We need conversion in our homes. We need to correct some of the practices of faultfinding, of misconstruing motives.
Now we are in the throes of a political campaign. Whatever we do, brethren and sisters, let us not impugn the motives of our brethren because they do not agree with us; and may they not question our motives. Let us recognize principle. We may disagree with our neighbors as to policy or methods, but let us not question the integrity of anyone. This leads to bearing of false witness. It leads to enmity and the cankering of one's soul. I think much of the unhappiness found in homes is due to faultfinding and question of motives. We need to cultivate the spirit of understanding and forbearance. We can have this spirit if we kneel together in prayer and if we show a sympathetic interest in one another's problems, in the problems of our children. Be interested in them and in their well-being.
I was impressed recently in going into the home of one of our stake presidents in Logan. He and his wife have two lovely boys. One of them was going out on a Scout trip during the week to win a merit badge. Do you know that good mother of the boy who was only twelve years old was taking her sleeping bag and going to camp out with him under the stars to give him guidance and help, knowing the in his extreme youth he needed that guidance?
As I learned of this, I thought, "What an ideal mother! What a lovely spirit to have in a home!" That is what we need. We need to be converted to some of the old concepts and to carry them out in our lives. Then we will have righteousness in our hearts. We will have joy and peace in the world because of the blessings given unto us by our Heavenly Father through his divine Spirit, blessings that were given to the disciples on the Day of Pentecost, that they might proclaim the truth.
May we not only be able to proclaim the truth in word, but also in deed! May we be able to take from this meeting the spirit of this solemn occasion with its impressiveness into our homes, our wards and stakes, and, above all, into our lives, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Bishop Thorpe B. Isaacson
Thorpe B. Isaacson, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 10-13
President McKay, President Richards, President Clark, my dear brothers and sisters and friends of the radio and television audience, I wish every person in this vast congregation could stand here and look at this beautiful sight, with a background of these beautiful Singing Mothers. I humbly pray that I may have an interest in your faith and prayers, that I shall say nothing that will detract from the beautiful addresses that we have already listened to.
There is great strength that comes to those who attend the sessions of the general conferences of the Church, or to those who listen to them over radio and television. Those who read the conference messages will be strengthened in their faith because these conferences, in the planning of them, everything that is said and done here is done under the inspiration of God, our Eternal Father. You must know, of course, that we come to you very humbly, full of love, prayerful, and dependent upon the Lord.
I would like to use as my theme for a few moments verses five and six from the third chapter of Proverbs. My reason for deciding upon this theme is that recently I have had contacts with a few young men, fine young men, who for one reason or another have been confused. Teachers have disturbed them, and they were seeking counsel.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
That is the best advice that I could give to any person who may be disturbed. I think to follow that course would give us the answer to any problem or any sorrow or any disturbance with which we may now or later be confronted.
"Lean not unto thine own understanding." That scripture reminds me, if I may inject it without being misunderstood, of the proceedings at the inauguration nearly four years ago of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, where he bowed his head and prayed because he felt the need for divine aid and guidance.
That same course has been followed by other great leaders. In fact, as I have tried to study great men, I could not find one who has not followed that same practice. This was even true of Jesus, the Son of God, as he went into the Garden of Gethsemane. It was my pleasure to stand there a couple of years ago, in Jerusalem, and when I think now of the Garden of Gethsemane on the outskirts of Jerusalem, I think of the place where Jesus, the Son of God, went to pray. He did not lean on his own understanding, but there he went, not once, but on many occasions, seeking strength from his Father. This was particularly true the night before his crucifixion when he desired to be blessed and sustained by his Father to go through the ordeal that was to face him on the morrow.
Our beloved Prophet Joseph did not lean on his own understanding. No, he went into the Sacred Grove to seek divine guidance. As I stood on the banks of the Susquehanna River some months ago, I could not help thinking of the visit that Joseph and Oliver made to the banks of that river when they needed divine guidance, and they could not lean on their own understanding. They went to that secluded place close to his home where they, too, knelt down on their knees and asked God to reveal his will unto them, and he sent a heavenly messenger, John the Baptist, to deliver his message. "Lean not unto thine own understanding."
I have always felt bad to think that that great organization as we know it-the United Nations, composed of representative leaders throughout the world-studying and planning and trying to solve the problem of a just and everlasting peace, do not open their sessions with prayer. A man who attended that session once reported to me that he went away from there sad. There was confusion; there was anger; there was disagreement. There had been no petition to the Lord asking for divine guidance, and yet the very peace of the world largely hinges on that great body of men. Because some disbelieve and some will not admit divine guidance, we are denied the blessings that would result if that very important group of men would call upon the Lord for inspiration and guidance.
What would our Founding Fathers think of that? Our Pioneer fathers? Our Pilgrim fathers, and those who formed the Constitution of this land? They did not lean on their own understanding. I hope the leaders of the nations of the world will change that policy in the United Nations and lean not on their own understanding.
Recently as I was traveling in an airplane headed for Texas, and as the luncheon tray was served, there was a card on that tray, the first that I had ever seen, on which was inscribed: "For those who want to say... a table grace." I felt comforted to know that in traveling in a plane, someone had had the spiritual courage to understand and recognize that a table grace or prayer was appropriate on an airplane, and there were three prepared blessings. Then at the bottom were inscribed these words: "You may bow your head in prayer if you so desire." I thought how appropriate and what spiritual courage and faith the one who originated that idea possessed, and I noticed that around that plane, there were others who silently bowed their heads and thanked the Lord for the blessings and grace on that food.
Recently I read an article. I do not recall the paper or magazine. It indicated a very encouraging religious trend in colleges and universities throughout the land. In our colleges and universities there is a revival of religious training, and it is having a dynamic effect on the lives of the young people.
There was a time in academic circles that one detected sneering at religion as an "outworn superstition," but that is past. Courses in biblical literature, Christian ethics, and church history had almost disappeared from the curriculum, but that is changing. Many educators have detected that scoffing has now given way to very serious inquiry. Religion again is "intellectually respectable" and sound. Students and teachers have a growing disposition to seek faith in God, and they realize that the ultimate answers lie far beyond the reach of scientific research.
Many of our large universities have now experienced a great growth in undergraduate study for religious courses, and many churches are now attracting crowds that overflow their meetinghouses. Attendance at religious courses has doubled. Many colleges and universities now hold what they call a "Religious Emphasis Week," and specialists have found that eighty percent recognize the need for religious faith, and now there are very few who will admit atheism. "Lean not on thine own understanding."
Religion in all its forms is very popular and a significant topic in formal debates and common conversation by intelligent people today. In the educational world, the indifference long accorded religion has now given way. It was only in recent years that the study of theology was merely tolerated. Today it is almost a universal acknowledgment that the study of religion rightfully belongs to every person.
That new interest in religion is widespread, and many have come to recognize that science alone cannot measure up to expectations in providing answers to the deepest questions of religion, and sometimes religion has something tremendous to say in the present world struggle. This change or revival is one of honest and intelligent inquiry, and students are approaching courses with open-mindedness.
It would be well if all students would place religion first in their lives, and this would give them faith in living in the world today, as well as in tomorrow's world. The love of God and the seeking of his divine guidance will lend strength to the soul of every person.
Yes, there is a divine spark in every man's soul that never wholly goes out. Religion plays a great part in the life of every soul. The cycle has now come around full turn. Perhaps once we may have doubted our faith, but now we have come to doubt our doubts.
The Church has been the fountainhead of good over the centuries, and its spiritual message of God's love for man has brought, not only comfort and pureness of heart to men and women down through the ages, but it has also inspired them to the heights of achievement when they turn to God for strength.
Young people, ask and it shall be given. Watch your thinking, young people. Do not let anyone disturb your thinking. There may be those who lack the faith of your forefathers. Remember, you are today where your thoughts have brought you. You will be tomorrow, and the next day, and every day where your thoughts will take you. "In all thy ways acknowledge him". Keep your ideals. Ideals are like the stars: You cannot touch them with your hands, but like the mariner, you can use them for your guidance; and if you follow them, they will light the way, and you will reach your destination. But, "lean not on thine own understanding." Thank God for the religious purpose of the membership of the Latter-day Saint Church.
I am grateful to God for his kindness and blessings unto me. I know that God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. I know that the Prophet today, the President of the Church, President David O. McKay, is God's servant on the earth. What a blessing he is to the people, and if we are ever in doubt in knowing what course we may follow, we need only stop for one second and ask one question of ourselves, "What would the President of the Church do in a similar position?"
God bless us with great faith, not with self-sufficiency, that we may not lean on our own understanding, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Marion D. Hanks
Marion D. Hanks, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 13-14
The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us that the salvation and exaltation of men are made possible solely through the graciousness and goodness and love of God in his gift to us of his Divine Son, whose life exemplified the Father's purposeful plan for abundant living and whose sacrificial death made available to us and gave us a vision of our eternal possibilities as children of God. From the record of Nephi we read these impressive words:
For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to he reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.
The records of latter-day revelation, as well as those of former days, attest to the great truth that through the atonement of Christ all men will certainly be resurrected, and that all who are willing and obedient may enjoy the blessing of God's great gift of eternal life.
The Latter-day Saint understands that through the gift of God, through the great atoning sacrifice of his Divine Son, all that we might achieve is made possible for us, but he understands also that in the plan of God it is necessary that we accept this free gift if we would enjoy all of our eternal possibilities. For the Lord told his people through the Prophet in 1832,
For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.
What must we do to "receive" his gift? The answer of the prophets has been the same, both anciently and in this dispensation, both in the eastern hemisphere and the western. Brother Clifford Young alluded this morning to the answer given by Peter at Pentecost to those who, having been pricked in their hearts by the witness of Christ born by the apostles, asked what they must do. The answer was clear and unequivocal:
Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Nephi in his parting testimony expressed his feeling of compassion for his own people, for the Jew, and for the Gentile, and said:
But behold, for none of these can I hope except they shall be reconciled unto Christ, and enter into the narrow gate, and walk in the straight path which leads to life, and continue in the path until the end of the day of probation.
And after bearing his witness of the Messiah to his people this same prophet said:
For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.
In 1831 the Lord revealed to the Prophet the following:
... he that receiveth my gospel receiveth me; and he that receiveth not my gospel receiveth not me. And this is my gospel-repentance and baptism by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost.
There is one other thought companion to these. Testifying that fundamental to everything we believe and hope for and have faith in is the great sacrifice of the Son of the Living God, knowing that he requires of us that we accept his great gift, there is something else necessary if we are to enjoy the high spiritual possibilities which it is within our capacity to achieve. Let me refer to the teachings of Nephi to his people after he had taught them faith, repentance, baptism, and the reception of the gift of the Holy Ghost, as previously quoted. Said he,
And then are ye in this straight and narrow path which leads to eternal life; yea, ye have entered in by the gate; ye have done according to the commandments of the Father and the Son... And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this straight and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save. Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life. And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God.
We accept with all our souls the absolute efficacy and essentiality of the atonement of Christ. We attest to the words of Peter and of other prophets ancient and modern that it is necessary for us to accept our Heavenly Father's gift by obedience to what we know as the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. We know also that if we are to enjoy the high possibilities for which we are created and which we might desire as children of God, we must build upon our faith and obedience with right thinking and well-doing. We must press forward with steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Through so doing, if we endure to the end, we shall have eternal life. There is no other way.
I testify of this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Marion G. Romney
Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 14-18
My beloved brethren and sisters: The very short talk just given by Brother Marion D. Hanks reminds me of an experience I had in Provo in the early days of my ministry. While I was attending a Utah Stake conference, President Roy Murdock showed me through a recently remodeled Church edifice. I expressed satisfaction with it and remarked that I thought they had everything in it that they would need. He said, "Yes, Brother Romney, we have everything we need except a trap door behind the pulpit to let the speakers through when they talk too long."
We do not need a trap door here for Brother Hanks. I appreciate very much his yielding so much time to me.
I was tremendously moved by President McKay's opening address. With it he set this conference on a very high spiritual plane. I have also enjoyed what the brethren who have followed him have said. I am sure that what I shall say will be anti-climax to President McKay's great talk, but I hope it will be in harmony therewith. I invite you to join with me in praying that our Heavenly Father will bless us these few minutes while I speak, to the end that we may conclude this meeting on the same high plane on which President McKay launched it.
I have in mind making a few remarks about "the perfecting of the saints", which Paul listed first when, in writing to the Ephesians, he set forth the purposes for which Church officers and teachers were given. You will remember that he said:
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints.
It has been said that the major responsibilities resting upon the membership of the Church may be classified under three heads:
1. Preaching the gospel. 2. Performing vicariously the saving ordinances of the gospel for the dead. 3. Perfecting the Saints.
As to the preaching of the gospel, our obligation is to carry it "unto the ends of the world," "unto every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people", "and before kings and rulers".
It is thrilling to contemplate the progress being made in carrying out this great commission. I am sure we shall all be inspired anew when we hear Elders Moyle and Bennion report their recent tours of the South American and the European missions.
That in discharging our obligations to the dead we are keeping pace with our missionary service is abundantly clear from the fact that western United States is blanketed with temples in which a prodigious work for the dead is being carried forward night and day. Much work is also being done in Canada, Hawaii, and Switzerland, and temples are now being reared in England and in far-off New Zealand.
Statistics also indicate that in "the perfecting of the saints" we are making headway. During the last twenty years there has been a great increase in the payment of tithing, in fast offerings, and other financial contributions, and there has been a substantial increase in attendance at Sacrament meetings and stake conferences. As to many other activities, there are like encouraging reports, all of which give us cause to rejoice.
We have reason, therefore, to take courage and strive for still better records. And as we do so, may I suggest that we keep in mind always that neither statistics nor Church averages guarantee perfection. Important as these are in stirring us to activity and keeping us aware of our progress, the fact remains that attaining the perfection commanded by the Savior and alluded to by Paul is an individual matter.
Years ago I read an article, which, as I remember it, made the point that while living the Word of Wisdom would on the average improve the health and lengthen the life span of the members of any group who observed it, still no one member of the group could safely rely upon receiving the promised blessings himself. I did not believe the doctrine then, and I do not believe it now.
The perfection upon which exaltation hangs, I repeat, is an individual matter. It is conditioned upon the observance of celestial laws as they apply to earth life. The Word of Wisdom is one of them, so also are chastity, tithing, observance of the Sabbath day, prayer, honesty, industry, love of God and fellow men, patience, kindness, charity, and all the rest of the principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each individual who observes one or more of these laws shall receive the blessings predicated thereon, and each Church member who will, with all the energy of his soul, diligently strive to live them all, shall receive the blessings predicated upon such striving. Eternal life, the greatest gift of God, is that blessing, and it will follow the living of the gospel as the night the day, regardless of statistics or averages, or of what others think or say or do, for the Lord Almighty himself has said that
... every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am.
The converse, that every member of the Church who refuses to do so will fall short of the glory of God, is just as true, for the Lord has also said that
... no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.
If I had the power, I would impress every member of the Church with the transcendent import to himself of strictly obeying the principles of the gospel. In these remarks I hope I can so present this matter that at least one of you will join with me in a resolution to make a greater effort to do so in the future than we have ever made in the past. With the great prize of eternal life set before us, and in light of the emphasis the Lord has put upon the fact that this eternal life is attainable only upon condition that we "endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God", it does seem to me that no Latter-day Saint should be content to stand day after day in the same place on the way to eternal life.
On the mountain Jesus instructed his disciples to be "perfect, even as" their "Father which is in heaven is perfect." To the Nephites he varied the instruction just a little. He wanted them to "be perfect even as" he, or their "Father who is in heaven is perfect". John, the beloved apostle, made plain that all of us, if we see the Savior, must purify ourselves, "even as he is pure".
Because there are so many people about us who have no vision of the goal to which we are inspired by the gospel, we are in danger of becoming surfeited with the things of the world and are apt to slacken in our daily striving to move onward in our quest for eternal life. It has therefore been one of the burdens of Church leadership in all dispensations to encourage the Saints to keep these things constantly in their remembrance.
Peter, the chief apostle, was deeply concerned about this matter when, almost within the shadow of his own cross, he penned his second and, so far as we know, his last epistle. Greeting the saints, who he said had "obtained like precious faith" with him, he reminded them that they had been rescued from the lusts of this world and brought into glory and virtue through the righteousness of Christ. He assured them that by possessing themselves of the Christian virtues he enumerated, and which President McKay this day repeated in our hearing, they could be made "partakers of the divine nature".
"For," said he,
... if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
The Prophet Joseph Smith in his day over and over again pleaded with the Saints in the very words of Peter to make their "calling and election sure". Explaining what he meant by this admonition he said,
After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost... then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure.
In similar vein, our present leaders are continually putting us in remembrance of the importance of living the gospel. They are repeatedly urging us to gird up our loins and take upon us the whole armor of Christ. We heard President McKay make the plea this morning, and only recently and on more than one occasion, we have heard President McKay urge us to become "partakers of the divine nature"-I think this is one of his favorite quotations-which Peter says we may do by escaping through the righteousness of Christ "the corruption that is in the world through lust".
Let us be reminded that we came into the Church of Jesus Christ through a cleansing and a purifying process. Believing that Jesus brought about our resurrection and put into operation the great plan of mercy by which our sins may be washed away in his blood, we developed a faith in him which moved us to repentance in the hope that we, by complying with the saving principles of the gospel, might be raised unto life eternal and gain an exaltation "through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection".
Then, in final preparation for Church membership, and as evidence of our willingness to take upon us the name of Christ and of our determination to keep his commandments, we were baptized by immersion for the remission of sin. As Jesus came forth from the tomb with a glorified body, having left all corruptibleness in the grave, so we through baptism should have buried in the watery grave the corruption of our sins, and come forth to walk in newness of life, never again to return to worldly lusts. Thus prepared we were confirmed members of the Church and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Through these principles and ordinances we were cleansed and purified. Having thus washed our garments in the blood of Christ, we entered through the straight gate and stood redeemed on the narrow way which leads to life eternal. It should have then been, and it should now be, the controlling desire of every Church member, and it is the desire of every member who is on the way to eternal life always to retain this redeemed status.
With complete surrender to the spirit of the gospel let us, honestly and without guile, search our own souls and find the weakness which presently impedes our upward climb to eternal life. If that weakness be faultfinding, evil speaking of the Lord's anointed, or profaning the name of Deity, let us desist. If it be neglecting our prayers, let us pause night and morning in our mad rush and kneel with our families and in our secret chambers while we pour out our souls in thanksgiving and petition, until hungering and thirsting after righteousness we are filled with the Holy Ghost ). If it be failure to obtain the sealing ordinances of the temple for ourselves and families, let us straight-way prepare to enter that holy place and obtain them before it is too late. If it be the giving way to anger or appetite for the things forbidden in the Word of Wisdom, or surrendering to baser lusts; if it be desecration of the Sabbath day or refusing to contribute of our time and means according to the laws of the Church for the building of the kingdom; whatever it be, let us find it, recognize it, and do something about it daily.
Let us resolve never to relax in our striving for that perfection in ourselves which will bring us to eternal life. Doing so we can all measurably hasten that great day foreshadowed by Paul when he instructed the Saints that Jesus
... gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
That we may do so, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.
President Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 19-22
As a witness to the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ, I address my remarks not only to those who are assembled here, but also to those who are scattered abroad, many of whom may not be members of the Church.
The Lord said that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, all things should be established, and he has always had witnesses who could bear testimony of this truth by divine revelation and appointment.
When he sent the missionaries out in the early days after the restoration of the gospel, the Lord said he sent them that they might "be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you.
"Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor.
"Therefore, they are left without excuse, and their sins are upon their own heads".
So the words that are spoken by those who are commissioned and have the authority to bear witness of the truth are binding not only upon the members of the Church, but also upon all unto whom this message comes.
In regard to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the Lord said that he would choose witnesses. There should be three special witnesses that should bear record to the world, and said he:
"And there is none other which shall view it, save it be a few according to the will of God, to bear testimony of his word unto the children of men; for the Lord God hath said that the words of the faithful should speak as if it were from the dead.
"Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to bring forth the words of the book; and in the mouth of as many witnesses as seemeth him good will he establish his word; and wo be unto him that rejecteth the word of God!".
I shall not take time to read the testimonies of the Three Witnesses, nor of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon. These are published in each copy of that book. The testimony of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris was that in the presence of an angel they beheld the record from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and had the privilege of examining it in the presence of that heavenly being, and the voice of the Lord sounded to them from the heavens calling upon them to bear witness of this truth, to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.
Eight other witnesses beheld the plates, but not in the presence of an angel. These are the witnesses spoken of in the Book of Mormon, whom the Lord said he would call to bear record of the truth of this Book of Mormon.
All those who have heard of the Book of Mormon, all those who have read it, have had the opportunity to read the testimonies of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris, who bore solemn testimony to the truth of this record, that is, of its being revealed. If they refuse to read and they turn away and reject it, they will have to answer for it before the Judgment seat of God.
And wo be unto those who take it upon themselves to fight these revelations.
I bear witness to you that the Lord has made it very clear to me by revelation which I have received, and many of you who are here present can bear witness likewise, that these things are true, and that is the privilege of any sincere person who will endeavor to read with a prayerful spirit and a desire to know whether the book is true or not; and he will receive that testimony according to the promise that was made by Moroni, who sealed the record to come forth in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.
I thought it would be well, however, to bring two testimonies here and read them, one from David Whitmer and one from Oliver Cowdery. When I read these, I am going to read the copies that I made from the original sources. This is not a copy from a copy, but a copy from the original, that I read to you.
This is a testimony of David Whitmer, given in Richmond, Missouri, March 19, 1881-copied from the original document, which was published in the Richmond Conservator on that date.
"Unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people unto whom these presence shall come-
"It having been represented by one John Murphy of Polo, Missouri, that I had in a conversation with him last summer, denied my testimony as one of the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon-
"To the end thereof, that he may understand me now if he did not then, and that the world may know the truth, I wish now, standing as it were, in the very sunset of life, and in the fear of God, once for all to make this public statement:
"That I have never at any time, denied that testimony or any part thereof, which has so long since been published with that book, as one of the three witnesses.
"Those who know me best, will know that I have always adhered to that testimony-And that no man may be misled or doubt my present views in regard to the same, I do now again affirm the truth of all my statements as then made and published.
"He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear: It was no delusion. What is written is written, and he that readeth let him understand...
"And if any man doubt should he not carefully and honestly read and understand the same before presuming to sit in judgment, and condemning the light which shineth in darkness, and showeth the way to eternal life, as pointed out by the hand of God?
"In the Spirit of Christ who hath said follow thou me; for 'I am the life, the light, and the way.' I submit this statement to the world. God, in whom I trust being my judge, as to the sincerity of my motives and the faith and hope that is in me of eternal life.
"My sincere desire is that the world may be benefited by the plain and simple statement of the truth.
"And all the honor be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.
David Whitmer, Sr."
This document bears the signature and endorsement as to the character of David Whitmer by the following citizens of Richmond, Ray County, Missouri.
Richmond, Mo. March 19th., A.D. 1881.
"We the undersigned citizens of Richmond, Ray County, Mo., where David Whitmer, Sr. has resided since the year A.D. 1838, certify that we have been long and intimately acquainted with him, and know him to be a man of the highest integrity and of undoubted truth and veracity-Given at Richmond, Mo., this March 19, A.D. 1881.
A. W. Doniphan George W. Dunn, Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit. T. D. Woodson, President Ray County Savings Bank Jacob O. Child, Editor of Conservator H. C. Garmen, Cashier Ray County Savings Bank W. A. Holman, County Treasurer J. S. Hughes, Banker, Richmond, Mo. James Hughes, Banker, Richmond, Mo. D. P. Whitmer, Attorney At Law James W. Black, Attorney At Law L. C. Cantwell, Postmaster, Richmond, Mo. Geo. I. Watson, Mayor Jas. A. Davis, Revenue Collector J. Hughes, Probate Judge and P. J. Ray County Courts Geo. W. Trigg, County Clerk Rays County H. W. Mosby, M.D. Thos. McGinnis, Late Sheriff Ray County W. R. Holman, Furniture Merchant J. P. Quisinberrey, Merchant Lewis Slaughter, Recorder of Deeds G. W. Buchanan, M.D. A. K. Reyburn"
The following editorial in the Richmond Conservator was also published:
"Elsewhere we publish a letter from David Whitmer, Sen., an old and well known citizen of Ray, as well as an endorsement of his standing as a man, signed by a number of the leading citizens of this community, in reply to some unwarranted aspersions made upon him.
"There is no doubt that Mr. Whitmer, who was one of the Three Witnesses of the authenticity of the gold plates, from which he asserts that Joe Smith translated the Book of Mormon "-may I be pardoned to pause there and say he did not have the original records; what the editor meant was that he had a copy of the manuscript of the Book of Mormon, which manuscript was used in the translation of the record-"is firmly convinced of its divine origin, and while he makes no effort to obtrude his views or belief, he simply wants the world to know that so far as he is concerned there is no 'variableness or shadow of turning.' Having resided here for half of a century, it is with no little pride that he points to his past record, with the consciousness that he has done nothing derogatory to his character as a citizen and a believer in the Son of Mary to warrant such an attack on him, coming from what source it may, and now, with the lilies of seventy-five winters crowning him like an aureole, and, his pilgrimage on earth well nigh ended he reiterates his former statement and will leave futurity to solve the problem that he was, but a passing witness of its fulfillment."
From a letter written by Oliver Cowdery, another of the three witnesses, to his brother-in-law, Phineas Young, March 23, 1846, from Tiffin, Ohio, I copy this:
"I have cherished a hope, and that one of my fondest, that I might leave such a character as those who might believe in my testimony, after I should be called hence, might do so, not only for the sake of the truth, but might not blush for the private character of the man who bore that testimony. I have been sensitive on this subject, I admit, but I ought to be so, you would be under the circumstances, had you stood in the presence of John with our departed Brother Joseph, to receive the Lesser Priesthood, and in the presence of Peter, to receive the Greater, and look down through time, and witness the effects these two must produce-you would feel what you have never felt, were wicked men conspiring to lessen the effects of your testimony on man, after you have gone to your long-sought rest."
You know, when Oliver Cowdery wrote that he was not a member of the Church, he had left the Church through some transgression. Not long, however, after he wrote this letter to his brother-in-law he found his way back to the body of the Church.
When the Prophet Joseph Smith was in Carthage Jail with his brother Hyrum, John Taylor, and Willard Richards, the Prophet asked that a letter be written to Oliver Cowdery asking him if he had not fed upon the husks long enough. I do not know what became of that letter, but evidently it must have been written and shortly after the martyrdom, Oliver Cowdery found his way back to Nauvoo and then continued his journey across the Territory of Iowa to the camp of the Latter-day Saints at Kanesville, where he made his plea to be brought back again into the Church, testifying there again, which testimony I think is quite generally known, that he was not asking to come back for any place or position, but merely to be a humble member of the Church, and he bore witness to the same things on his return.
Just another word-if Oliver Cowdery had been lying and the story was not true, at the time when unstable members of the Church were forsaking it, he never would have gone to Nauvoo, among the enemies of the people, and then continued his journey westward to find the body of the Latter-day Saints when everyone else thought they had gone to their destruction.
The Lord bless you, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder LeGrand Richards
LeGrand Richards, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 22-26
I am sure I express the feeling of every heart here today when I say that I have thrilled with the sessions of this conference up to this present moment. The music has been out of this world, and the prayers have been beautiful, and the instructions and counsel and advice and the testimonies of the brethren have been wonderful.
I pray that I may make a contribution that may be helpful to the final success of this conference.
I would like to say a few words about prophecy. I have always been a great believer in the words of the prophets. Through Isaiah the Lord said:
I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning.
To me it seems that the prophets have laid out just about as completely and perfectly the great plan of the Lord with respect to this earth and the inhabitants thereof until the final winding up scenes when his kingdom shall have been established, and he shall come and reign as King of kings, as an architect does when he plans a building.
So I believe in prophecy. You remember when the Savior appeared to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus; as he listened to them he said: "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken". And Peter tells us that "We have also a more sure word of prophecy;" more sure than anything else, "... a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts".
I want to refer to two prophecies from the Book of Mormon. I quote the words of Moroni:
For the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled. Search the prophecies of Isaiah.
Then I read a statement from Nephi:
... in the days that the prophecies of Isaiah shall be fulfilled men shall know of a surety, at the times when they shall come to pass.... for I know that they shall be of great worth unto them in the last days; for in that day shall they understand them; wherefore, for their good have I written them.
We are all here today in fulfillment of the words of the prophets, and I love the prophecies of Isaiah because it seems to me that he lived almost more in our day than when he was actually upon the earth, because the Lord gave him to see so many of the things that would transpire in the latter days in the redemption of these valleys and the building of this house of the God of Jacob in the tops of the mountains and the gathering of Israel from all the nations of the earth.
You will recall that when the angel Moroni appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith three times during the night and the next morning, and this was when he was only a young man of eighteen, Moroni quoted from the eleventh chapter of Isaiah and told the Prophet that these things were about to come to pass, and I read from that chapter the following:
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people...
And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
Now we have lived to see the first part of that prediction literally fulfilled. He has gathered Israel into these valleys of the mountains according to his promise. He has set up an ensign unto the nations. It seems to me that no thoughtful, honest person could examine what the Lord has done in the establishment of this Church, his kingdom on the earth, and then give any mortal man or group of men the credit for what has been accomplished. It has been the God of heaven that has done this, according to the words of the prophets.
Now, for a few moments I would like to refer to the second part of this promise, "and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth". There is not time today to consider fully what the Lord is doing, according to his promise, in gathering the Jews back to the Holy Land. After two thousand years they now have a nation of their own and it is to be hoped that with the help of the Lord they can establish it in permanency and fulfil all the words of the prophets.
Then Isaiah says, "The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim". We are from Ephraim. The Lord expects us, since we are the custodians of his gospel as restored in these latter days, according to my understanding, to extend the hand of friendship to Judah, because after all we are all descendants of the prophets Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and we come under the promises that through their descendants should all the nations of the earth be blessed.
I do not know how the enmity and the envy between Ephraim and Judah can disappear except that we of the house of Ephraim, who have the custody of the gospel, should lead out in trying to bring to this branch of the house of Israel the blessings of the restored gospel.
In a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith on November 3, 1831, the Lord said:
Send forth the elders of my church unto the nations which are afar off; unto the islands of the sea; send forth unto foreign lands; call upon all nations, first upon the Gentiles, and then upon the Jews.
You know how literally the Church has fulfilled that command; the gospel is going to nearly every nation under heaven, and now into the Far Eastern countries, to the Japanese and the Chinese and the Koreans and the Filipinos and so forth, and the Lord said that it should go first to the Gentiles and then unto the Jews. That is the command which the Lord gave unto the elders of the Church in this day.
Then the Lord says:
And they also of the tribe of Judah, after their pain shall be sanctified in holiness before the Lord, to dwell in his presence day and night, forever and ever.
And it seems to me that the only way that the tribe of Judah can be sanctified to dwell in his presence forever and ever will be when we bring to them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior promised them it would be brought in the latter days.
I quote again the words of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph in 1833:
Therefore, renounce war and proclaim peace, and seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children; And again, the hearts of the Jews unto the prophets, and the prophets unto the Jews; lest I come and smite the whole earth with a curse, and all flesh be consumed before me.
As I understand this command, we the prophets must turn our hearts unto the Jews, and then we may hope that they will turn their hearts unto us because of the message that we shall bring unto them through the restoration of the gospel in this dispensation. The importance of this the Lord declared in these words: "... lest I come and smite the whole earth with a curse, and all flesh be consumed before me."
The Lord said again in a revelation given the day the Church was organized, in commanding and giving to Oliver through the Prophet Joseph the responsibility to carry the gospel to the nations of the earth:
And the first preacher of this church unto the church, and before the world, yea, before the Gentiles; yea, and thus saith the Lord God, lo, lo! to the Jews also. Amen.
It would therefore appear that we have a great responsibility to preach the gospel unto the Jews.
We read in the Book of Mormon-about which President Joseph Fielding Smith has just been speaking, and you know how marvelously it has been preserved through the centuries and has been given to us in this dispensation, also in fulfillment of the words of the prophets that there was to be a record of Joseph joined to the record of Judah -and in the preface to the Book of Mormon, we read the purpose for which the Lord preserved it:
Which is to show unto the remnant of the House of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever-And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.
If this book is to be a witness unto the Jew that Jesus is the Christ, manifesting himself unto all nations, it will be because we, the members of his Church, take this book unto them, and I am very happy to say to you today, those who may not know it, that the missionary committee has approval of the First Presidency to start preaching the gospel unto the Jewish people in some of the stakes of Zion where there are many of them residing, on somewhat of a trial basis to see if their hearts are inclined enough to be willing to accept the message that the Lord has for them.
I read a few words from Second Nephi:
And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews. And it shall come to pass that my people, which are of the house of Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possessions; and my word also shall be gathered in one. And I will show unto them that fight against my word and against my people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham that I would remember his seed forever.
If the Jews are to have the records of the Nephites, it will be because we take these records to them.
When the Savior visited the Nephites, he promised them that the time would come when the Jews would have the fulness of the gospel preached unto them. I read:
And it shall come to pass that the time cometh when the fulness of my gospel shall be preached unto them.
And then the Prophet Jacob in the Book of Mormon made this statement:
That he has spoken unto the Jews, by the mouth of his holy prophets, even from the beginning down, from generation to generation, until the time comes that they shall be restored to the true church and fold of God; when they shall be gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise.
It seems to me that now that the Jews are being "gathered home to the lands of their inheritance" and are being "established in all their lands of promise," that this is the time when "they shall be restored to the true Church and fold of God"; and this can only be done through our preaching the gospel unto them.
I do not know how familiar you are with the history of the Jewish people, but they have suffered, it seems to me, as few if any people who have ever lived upon the face of this earth; they have been driven from country to country; their people have been ravaged and put to death; parents have been separated from each other; their children have been put to death because they have been accused of things that they were never responsible for. That is all in fulfillment also of the words of the prophets.
I read you the words of First Nephi:
And because they turn their hearts aside, saith the prophet, and have despised the Holy One of Israel, they shall wander in the flesh, and perish, and become a hiss and a byword, and be hated among all nations.
Now you know how literally that has been fulfilled. Not only have they been driven from nation to nation and been persecuted in a most terrible manner, but during World War II, in one nation alone, over six million of these Jewish people were put to death for no other reason than that they were Jews.
The Savior has spoken in a most positive manner against such persecutions and actions. I read his words to the Nephites:
Yea, and ye need not any longer hiss, nor spurn, nor make game of the Jews, nor any of the remnant of the house of Israel; for behold, the Lord remembereth his covenant unto them, and he will do unto them according to that which he hath sworn.
The Prophet Nephi saw our day and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and through him the Lord made this statement:
And because my words shall hiss forth-many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible. But thus saith the Lord God: O fools, they shall have a Bible; and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people. And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them? Yea, what do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the travels, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles? O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. But behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people. Thou fool, that shall say: A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews?.
It would therefore appear that the Lord has indicated that the curses and hatred that we pronounce upon the Jews he will return upon our own heads, and he indicates his displeasure that we "have not sought to recover them."
In closing, I would like to leave this thought with you, that we need the cooperation of the Latter-day Saints; we need to be careful what we say. The Lord has said that we should no "longer hiss, nor spurn, nor make game of the Jews." Some of them who have been investigating our message have come into our meetings and have heard such statements as "a Jewish trick" and "we Jewed them down." If we are to win these people unto the restored Church of Christ according to the promise of the Lord, it will be because we show forth kindness unto them and reach out our hands to try to share with them the glorious truths of the gospel.
It is my privilege to be personally acquainted with quite a few converted Jews of prominence, and I find in their hearts the same love of God, the same love of the truth, the same testimony of the divinity of the work, that you and I have, and I would like to have read to you some of their testimonies, but time will not permit. I have burning in my soul a testimony that if we will be kind to them, the Lord will richly reward us for every kindness we show unto these, our brethren of the house of Israel.
There is a question with some as to when the Times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled. The gospel came first to the Jews in the Meridian of Time, and then to the Gentiles, and the promise was that in the latter days it would come first to the Gentiles and then unto the Jews. But you will recall that the Lord did not wait until all the Jews were converted before he sent the gospel to the Gentiles, through that marvelous vision and experience Peter had. It seems to me that if we wait until all the Gentiles are converted before we take the gospel to the Jews, we shall never convert the Jews; and yet the Lord promised them that the fulness of his gospel would be preached unto them.
We have a few faithful missionaries working with the Jewish people and we are getting some encouragement and I extend to all of you Latter-day Saints an invitation to help these missionaries and to help in this great movement, according to the promises of the Lord, through showing kindness to them; and I bear you my witness that if you will do this the Lord will bless you for it, as he will for all that you do for the building of his kingdom in the earth, and I leave you my love and blessing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Oscar A. Kirkham
Oscar A. Kirkham, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 26-28
I pray for the blessings of the spirit of the Lord. It has been my high privilege through the years to address myself largely to the young people of this Church. Today, with fathers and mothers and grandfathers and grandmothers-I want to take the liberty of speaking to them all. Through the years one commandment has been intensified because of my travel in many lands, and my association with many people, to make it really part of my life. I recite briefly the fourth commandment: Keep the Sabbath day holy.
In the Old Testament we read that keeping the Sabbath was made a sign between Jehovah and the Israelites:
Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord...
Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
This counsel still remains with us today, and brings its many blessings to us. Elder John A. Widtsoe has said: "Keeping the Sabbath day builds a man physically, mentally, and spiritually. Physically he may rest and have a change of occupation. Mentally, because he is engaged in quorum and other meetings, private reading and studying. Spiritually, because the day is dedicated to the Lord. Spiritual communion, contemplation, these are two essentials of the Sabbath: It is a day of rest. It should be kept holy."
On the Sabbath day every person shall attend religious meetings; fast, if desired, but always fast on the day designated as fast day; partake of the Sacrament, another opportunity, with all its great teachings; bear testimony of the Lord's truth and goodness. I call your attention especially to the next: Make right any misunderstandings with your fellow men. Do all things with singleness of heart toward the divine purpose of the Sabbath day. It then becomes a day of blessing, rejoicing, and prayer. When this is done, life-giving satisfaction comes from a Sabbath well kept.
Latter-day Saints of today often face the question: "Are we expected to observe the Sabbath day in the spirit in which the original commandment was given, or have changing conditions modified and liberalized our living so that we may engage in some activities which in the past have been banned?" To every Latter-day Saint the answer is: Keep the Sabbath day holy. The command to observe the Lord's day was first given as one of the Ten Commandments to the children of Israel from Mt. Sinai. Since that time it has been reiterated in every dispensation.
The Bible is clear, but as far as that record is concerned, to its very end Sabbath observance continues to be the law of the Lord. The Book of Mormon definitely makes the same commandment a part of the gospel teaching. The Doctrine and Covenants, the most modern scripture, confirms this teaching, and enjoins strict observance of the Sabbath day. At no time has there been any pronouncement, scriptural or otherwise, to change the commandment. Therefore, regardless of what other churches may sanction, Latter-day Saints are under the obligation to give strict observance, to rest from their labors, and to pay devotion to the Most High.
Advance preparation could limit even household duties to a minimum. On Saturday in my grandmother's home the shoes were polished and placed in rows. Pies were baked, and the weekly bath was taken care of.
Pioneers observed the Sabbath day as they crossed the plains. From Rebecca Winters' diary I quote:
We camped early on a Saturday in August. We had broken our wagons, and we wished to mend our shoes. Washing and cooking to be done, for Sunday was always observed. All retired early for rest, waiting for that lovely dawn, the hour when we sang praises to God. As we sat and waited in our church in the forest for words of inspiration, the men wore their clean hickory shirts, and the women and children had clean starched bonnets. "How Firm a Foundation" was sung. Prayer was offered. Testimonies were borne. The gospel was preached, and counsel and instruction given by our Captain. All felt to renew their diligence in serving the Lord, and with fresh hope in their hearts they would soon meet with the faithful in the Valley. So was spent the Sabbath on the plains.
So important did this principle become a part of family life in a southern Utah city that a good mother, although very ill, called her boys to her bedside and said: "Never put a harness on a horse on the Sabbath day." This counsel has been kept, and this family has become one of southern Utah's most prosperous families, and all have enjoyed living the good life.
The spirit of rest, worship, and prayer should be fostered and made a part of every Latter-day Saint home. May we live and enjoy this commandment of the Lord, and especially give it to our children, our neighbors' children, and friends: "Six days may work be done;" but on the seventh, may we keep it a day holy to the Lord, I humbly pray.
Elder ElRay L. Christiansen
ElRay L. Christiansen, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 28-30
I stand before you in deep humility, my brothers and sisters, and with a prayer in my heart that what I might say may be of some encouragement to all of us. I should like to base my remarks upon a divine truth that is found in the Book of Proverbs. It reads as follows:
For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.
There are good people in every segment of life who have developed an erroneous philosophy that the laws of God, even the great Ten Commandments, are intended only for certain people; for those whom they describe as being extremely religious, or for the less fortunate; that while it is essential to observe the laws of the land, it matters little or none if one observes the laws of God. Some of these people feel that the laws of God are inhibitions to one's freedom, and that they who are not religiously inclined are automatically exempt from the laws and commandments of the Lord; that if one minds his own business and lives his own life, so to speak, he has sufficient religion for his own welfare, and that salvation and joy everlasting somehow will be forthcoming.
Surely these are short-sighted views. Actually, the laws and commandments of the Lord are the foundation principles upon which lives of happiness, success, and peace are built. They are designed to bless and benefit all mankind. The love of the Lord is universal, all-inclusive. He has said:
Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him,
that we might come home to him, as it were.
As a Church, we believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and the ordinances of the gospel, and that because of his great love for man the Lord has granted each of us an opportunity to live in the flesh, and through obedience to the laws of the gospel, find happiness and peace here, and prepare to live hereafter in a "state of never-ending happiness", as the Book of Mormon expressed it.
But the Lord does his work according to eternal principles and eternal laws. While he is a God of love, he is also a God of order. He does not deviate from the established principles and laws. He and they are the same yesterday, today, and forever. The laws and conditions prescribed for the welfare of mankind cannot be changed nor circumvented, because they are divine, and were declared before the foundation of the world was laid. They are, in fact, the only means by which we can have that peace of mind here, and gain eternal life hereafter. This is expressed in a great revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith:
For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world.
So, brothers and sisters, we need simply to remember that which is expected of us. The Lord will remember that which is expected of him.
Now, his commandments are not grievous. They are not oppressive. We sing in one of our hymns: "How gentle God's commands! How kind his precepts are!" The laws of God are not given to us to burden us nor to handicap us. They are not impositions! They are the statutes which must be observed if the purpose of life and existence is to be realized. Even those who are called to go through trial, sorrow, tribulation, and adversity are promised that, if they are faithful, the reward to them for such obedience may be even greater. It is comforting to read the word of the Lord in regard to that:
For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven. Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation. For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.
If one is inclined to question the advocacy of observing the law, whether it be the laws of man, the laws of nature, or the laws of God, he should consider these words of the Lord:
And again, verily I say unto you, that which is governed by law is also preserved by law and perfected and sanctified by the same.
There is a reciprocal blessing from observing the law.
That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by law, but seeketh to become a law unto itself, and willeth to abide in sin, and altogether abideth in sin, cannot be sanctified by law, neither by mercy, justice, nor judgment.
Observance of law brings harmony, peace, and order. Without observance of law there is found confusion, sorrow, remorse, failure, whether it be the laws of man or the laws of God, whether it be nations, or whether it be individuals. There are those who ask,, "If the Lord loves us why does he then give so many commandments, many of them restrictive in their nature?" The answer is because he loves us. He wishes to save us from sorrow, remorse, failure, and from losing our blessings.
While I was attending a conference in California not so long ago, I was told of one of our members living there, whose business it is to assist those who are in difficulty, that he had been given permission to interview a fine young man who was in serious trouble with the law. The interviewer asked this question: "Would you mind giving me the dominant reason for your being here in this condition?" This young man, after a moment's thought, replied: "I am here because no one loved me enough to correct me."
Now, the Lord loves us enough to say "Thou shalt not." The gospel of Jesus Christ is the perfect law of liberty, according to the Apostle James. God is its author. He sets forth the conditions. He is its fountainhead. The gospel is a great system of laws-which laws are eternal principles by which our Father in heaven designs to save mankind, his sons and his daughters, and not only to save them, but also to share with them all that the Father has-associations with those we love, honor, powers, glory, dominions, and even exaltations,
But while he gives us commandments, he also gives us the freedom, the liberty to reject them if we so choose. As he spoke to Adam and Eve in the garden, he told them they could eat of every tree of the garden. This they were free to do. However, he gave commandment that they should not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, or the penalty of death would follow. They could eat of it if they wished, but they must remember that he forbade it. They were at liberty to break the commandment. Their liberty was not restricted, but if they did eat of the tree, they would have to pay the penalty.
As it was with our first parents, so it is with us. We have the divine right and also the individual responsibility to determine whether we will accept or whether we will reject the laws and principles and commandments of God. But my, how grateful we ought to be that these laws are given us to direct us, that we may not lose our way in darkness and misunderstanding, and with the vain philosophies of the world.
How thankful we ought to be for such truths as these:
Men are, that they might have joy.
I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.
There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated- And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.
And, finally, this most beautiful statement of King Benjamin in his address:
And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord hath spoken it.
May we also be grateful for these laws, and use them for the purpose for which they are designed, to sanctify and perfect our lives, that we too may dwell with him in a never-ending state of happiness, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Adam S. Bennion
Adam S. Bennion, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 30-35
President McKay, and my beloved brethren and sisters, there are fathers and mothers sitting in this audience, and I feel sure listening in at their radios, whose sons and daughters I have seen and fellowshipped within the last five months. I trust that I may enjoy the blessing of our Father in heaven to bring you in some little measure the spirit under which those grand young people are working. You can be proud of them. I have never been so proud of the young people of the Church as I have in these last five months.
Since April we have traveled 31,000 miles. We have addressed 32,000 people and have sat in and discussed with, and taken a little note on 1,056 missionaries, all of whom we have heard in testimony, and all of whom would like to send to you the new love they have developed since they left home. Home never seems so sweet as when you are away from it, and they know it.
I give you my witness that they have realized the promise that the Lord gave his missionaries of an earlier generation. The occasion for the blessing was in the case of James Covill, who was to go upon a mission, and who had this wonderful promise given by way of revelation through the Prophet Joseph:
Thou shalt preach the fulness of my gospel, which I have sent forth in these last days, the covenant which I have sent forth to recover my people, which are of the house of Israel.
Now, notice this promise:
And it shall come to pass that power shall rest upon thee; thou shalt have great faith, and I will be with thee and go before thy face.
Over and over again those boys in European missions have said, "We never call on a house alone," and then they add, "and we are not talking about our companions."
This has been the most tremendous experience of our lives. So many things could be said. I have to be impersonal. There are ten wonderful mission presidents laboring in the field, all of them doing excellent work. Let me say to you parents by way of assurance, the mission presidents and their wives treat these young men and women as if they were their own children. They could not be more thoughtful and more careful. I just regret that I cannot pay them the tribute they so richly deserve. They, their wives, their staffs, all connected with the missions, are working wonderfully. I give you this little evidence:
By the end of June the European missions had done as much in the matter of conversions, eighty percent as much, as they did in all of 1955; three missions by the end of June had already equaled or surpassed the totals reached in the preceding year. I give you, because you may have a particular interest, the names of the three missions: the Swiss-Austrian-it is evident that the temple is registering its great influence; the Norwegian-which now has doubled last year's record; and the Finnish- and I wish I could bring you the full beauties of Finland; somehow I seemed to think it was going to be the end of the earth, but they are wonderful people. I think patriotism has never been more strongly asserted than in that land of freedom which prays never to be subject to Russia on the east and never to be conquered by Sweden on the west. You who love liberty, I wish you could have listened while they sang Finlandia under the inspiration of the leader of the symphony orchestra in Finland. I refer to it only as typical of the wonderful things we found in Europe.
I have to confess the urge to give a travelogue is very great, but I won't do it. I have been asked over and over again which is the most wonderful of all the countries, and I say, "All of them." Every country has its own charm. To me they are all wonderful. They are lovely. It just seemed to me as if we were driving through a perpetual park, and the people are correspondingly wonderful. They opened their hearts to us-kindliness and consideration at every turn.
I have said this a number of times. I think if you could take two hundred people out of each city that we visited and put them down in some faraway corner-if you could not hear them speak-I am sure you would not know where to return them. God's children are his children wherever they live, and when they belong to this Church, after you have been with them ten minutes you feel quite as much at home as if you were in your own land.
While I do not want to indulge in a travelogue, I hope you will give me the liberty of saying three things about our impressions. I have mentioned the beauty of Europe. It is lovely country.
The second thing I want to say about Europe is that they are making such an heroic recovery. The cities that once were bombed and blasted-I know there are a few stark and empty buildings standing like scarecrows on the horizon of civilization-but city after city is now being built in a newness, a modernity, a richness that bespeaks the sacrifice of those people.
The third thing I want to say about Europe-I had fun in the British Isles because I said if there's anything the matter with us Americans you have to take part of the responsibility-because we are your grandchildren. It is a wonderful thing to walk where your grandfather once walked, and I had the gracious privilege, thanks to the courtesy of these same wonderful people, to be where my people have been and from which lands they came, Wales on my father's side, and Scotland on my mother's. I turn to President McKay because all the time we were in Scotland they honored him with the name of McKay, and they love you. I bring the greetings of all the people we met to these grand folk among whom it is my privilege to labor.
You know, I could not escape the thought all the time I was in Wales and Scotland of what my grandfolks thought when they crossed the plains. I am sure they must have cast one lingering look behind to the green they left in both lands. As a matter of fact, I became aware of another great truth in my life. If they had not listened to some wonderful missionary, and some missionary had not been good enough to go to them, I might never have been born in the Church. As a matter of fact, as I stood in Hawarden, Wales, it just dawned upon me that maybe if they had not so listened, I would not even have been. That is a sobering thought for one who loves life.
I want to add one other note. My first experience was to talk to the servicemen-our servicemen-at Berchtesgaden, under the Eagle's Nest of Hitler, his great hideout. If you have boys who are in the service I have been stirred a lot of times, but I think I was never stirred more than as I joined with 740 boys of the armed services who took time out to come to a testimony meeting, and to do honor to the Church they represent so beautifully in their lives.
I closed the tour by flying from Glasgow back to Heidelberg to dedicate a chapel, and the reason they wanted to dedicate it while one of us was still in Europe was that we might say thanks to those boys who were to be released from the service in October and November. Do you know that those boys over there in the service of our country, out of their earnings, toward a chapel which they would never remain to enjoy, contributed $5,000 that it might be dedicated? It has been dedicated, and may I quote the chaplain of the armed forces of the United States in Europe, who at that dedicatory program said: "I just wish, Mr. Bennion, that all of us could live the ideals of your Mormon boys." I say that, out of appreciation to these fine young men who bear our colors with honor and distinction.
Now just briefly-if I have a theme today-I would pick it out of that one line quoted by our beloved President this morning, "... he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it". If there is one group of devoted folk in this Church-of course you fine men and women are all devoted-it's these boys who have taken two or two and a half years out of their lives to proclaim the truths of the gospel. They breathe it; they think it; they eat and drink it; they work day and night in the interest of this great Church.
For five months it has been my privilege to be close to them. I think I caught the pulse of their feeling, and all the time I have been impressed with this thought: "What the gospel does for people!" To me it is tremendous. You can argue against a passage, but you cannot argue against a life. There is an argument against a theory, but there is no argument against kindliness and goodness.
Now for a brief moment, I wish I could take you with me to those testimony meetings. What the gospel does for these missionaries! Young men just out of their teens, taking on the responsibility of manhood, are the representatives of our great institution throughout the world. They are carrying on with all the glory that attaches to mankind at its best. Over and over again brethren have said two things in their meetings: "We suppose we always had a testimony of the gospel, but we somehow took it for granted. We did not know just why we believed, or how much it meant. We looked upon the gospel much as we did upon our parents-a part of the heritage we are born to, but necessarily just part of it. Not any longer!"
Do you want to catch the spirit of them? We have both our own young men and women and those who have been called from Europe. Look in just for a minute as a young German girl stands up to bear her testimony and prefaces what she says with the remark: "You will understand, Brother Bennion, that when I joined the Church I had to give up my family. I get along fine except on mail day. When the letters come, and the missionaries are so thrilled to get a word from home, it is awfully hard when you never get a letter from home."
I am going to say it before I sit down. We have a phrase in English, but they have a better one in Scandinavian. We say, when we get emotionally disturbed, we get a lump in our throats, and I have one right now. I cannot think of that girl, I cannot see her and know what she is doing for two years in the absence of all parental consideration or even interest. Well, I do get a lump in my throat, but I like the Scandinavian phrase better. They say they get a clump i halsen. I love that word "clump." I told them I was going to bring it home.
I wish you could sit down with a boy and have him take out the last letter he got from home and Dad, and have him say, "You know, the thing that thrills me most about my mission is that I think I am having a little to do with converting my own folks." Then they will tell you that their father had been disinterested or unconcerned, but now he writes of the thrill he gets out of being a stake missionary. I wish you could see the boys' faces light up as they say, "It's wonderful to know that the mission is converting both of us."
I do not think I remember anything more vividly than I do the story of one boy who broke completely in his testimony. He said, "You know, I did not know what was going on at home, and when I got ready to leave, Mom said she was going to get me a fine suitcase. So we went down and looked over the luggage. I picked the piece that I wanted, and when I picked it out she went into her pocketbook and pulled out six and a half books of S & H stamps that she had been saving through the years for the day when her son would go on a mission." And then as he broke completely, he said, "The thing that troubles me today is that I don't believe I said thanks." But he said thanks in our meeting. That boy will never be the same again, and I just hope that some of his gratitude rubs off through what I say so briefly today upon the heart of that good woman.
Well, it's a wonderful thing to sit in with a thousand boys and let them bare their souls, open their hearts, and tell you just how they feel, and give the evidence that they are born anew, that the great, new, glorious gospel is in their souls. You can be proud of them. They are willing; they are happy; they are working hard.
If I had the time, I would love to tell you what they are doing in their street meetings. They have developed an ingenuity that is almost unbelievable. Not only are they doing a work of which you can be proud, but I assure you they love you!
I want you to visit just for a few minutes with me with the Saints over there. How I wish you could see what the gospel does for them. They are wonderful. As we held our meetings, I developed the practice of calling a few people up from the audience to come and stand by me. I think maybe it was a defense mechanism. I could not speak their language, and I felt a little more comfortable if I had three or four of them around me.
Through the interpreter I asked a man who had been in the Church fifty-eight years what the gospel meant to him, and he said, "Sir, it's my life. It's everything I cherish."
I asked a young woman who had been married twenty-five years, but still looked wonderfully young, "How can you look so young?" and she said, "It's the gospel that does it-it's the peace and the happiness we have in our home."
A young man of ten years' membership said, "I bless the day when a lovely young woman told me she would not marry me until I joined the Church," and he added "I bless her for a new life."
I asked a young man of five years membership what the gospel meant to him, and he said, "Brother Bennion, I think I can say it all if I tell you I am only five years old. I never lived until I got to know this gospel."
And a lad of only three months' membership said, "Nobody ever could have told me that anything could do for me what this gospel has already done."
I wish you could have sat in Berlin the Sunday we had 840 people gathered together. You would have thrilled, too, when the Saints from the West sector said to the people of the East, who came from out yonder, "You have been hiding in basements long enough. You go upstairs with the brethren, where you can see and hear them, and this morning we will go downstairs."
Then, before the meeting was over, the Saints from the East had the graciousness to say, "Brother Bennion, we do not feel good about this. Are you too tired to meet with the people who went into the basement if they would come back tonight?"
In the morning session I asked how many of those people had lost loved ones, and half the hands went up. Did you ever talk to an audience when half the hands went up to tell you that part of the family isn't along? You make inquiry of them and discover from fine young people that they do not know where their parents are, then have them come up and shake your hand and tell you, "It's the gospel that took us through." That's what this gospel can do for people!
I must take you into one program in England that stirred me no end. I saw a woman sitting down in the audience, and being impressed that she had something to say, I asked her if she would say a word. She said, "I would love to say a word, if you will let me say it from down here. You may not know it, Brother Bennion, but I am blind, and except for the kindness of two Mormon missionaries I would have nothing to do. They wrote home and got a Book of Mormon in Braille which I am reading." Then she said this wonderful thing: "When I was a little girl, my mother used to tell me I must not be naughty because if I was naughty the Mormons would get me. Now I am past middle age. I am blind. I am not naughty, but I want to tell you and this audience the Mormons have got me, and I am going to be baptized this next week."
Well, it has been wonderful. I have hinted all too briefly what the gospel is doing for the missionaries. I have tried to indicate what it is doing for the Saints, and you can just make up your mind they are wonderful. They are devoted. There is not anything they would not do for this Church.
I want to close with my own witness to you of what this gospel does for me. I have watched it in the lives of those people in Europe, and if I had a little summary to make, I would say these things:
The gospel humbles a man; it mellows him; it gladdens him; it motivates him; it sustains him; it redeems him; and it exalts him.
You cannot go for five months with a clump i halsen and center your heart on the work of the Lord, and get the evidences which I do not have the time to give you, without being stirred in your soul. I have been blessed in my ministry, and I would be ungrateful if I did not say so. I have seen the power of the priesthood manifested in behalf of people who needed a blessing and wanted it, and I say it humbly, I know that God lives. I have been blessed in my own life, under the promise of the eighty-fourth section that those of us who give our hearts to this work have the promise of Almighty God that we shall be sanctified of the Spirit unto the renewing of our bodies. I have felt the spirit of this gospel as I never have before, and I give you my witness as I close that I know that God lives, that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and that they both came back to declare through the prophet Joseph this wonderful new message for our benediction.
I must not sit down without expressing gratitude that Sister Bennion, the companion of my life through forty-five wonderful years, could go along. Her companionship blessed me, her faith not only sustained me, but with God's help healed me. In our home we shall never be the same again.
Now, don't anybody think that I am so in love with Europe that I want to go back to stay. These lines never meant so much to me:
So, it's home again, and home again America for me. I want a ship that's westward bound To plow the rolling sea, To the blessed land of room enough Beyond the ocean bars, Where the air is full of sunlight And the flag is full of stars. Van Dyke
From the bottom of our hearts we thank you Brethren for the most glorious experience of our lives. What the gospel has done for the missionaries-for the Saints-and for us-it will do for you, too, I testify in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Stephen L Richards
Stephen L Richards, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 40-45
I shall be deeply grateful, my brethren and sisters, if I may have your faith and prayers and the assistance of the Holy Spirit in an effort to continue the lofty themes, the vital advice and counsel which have been given by my brethren during the preceding sessions of this conference. I greet my brethren and sisters with love and fellowship, and I extend also to our friends who listen in to the proceedings my appreciation of their interest, and my concern for their good in the consideration of the great principles of life and salvation.
As we meet in successive general conferences of the Church, our thoughts are repeatedly directed to the fundamental principles and purposes of the mighty cause which we have the honor to represent. It is well that it is so, and it is fervently hoped that we shall never become so absorbed and enmeshed in the mass of detail relating to organization and procedure as to obscure even for a moment the true purpose of our establishment in the earth.
Within the past few weeks, in order to meet the requirements of a distant foreign country for the Church to hold property and otherwise carry forward its activities within that country, the First Presidency has caused to be prepared and submitted to the governing authority of the foreign country a statement of beliefs and objectives of the Church. To cover the principal beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we submitted the Articles of Faith issued by the Prophet Joseph Smith, which for a period of more than a hundred years have been distributed throughout the world. I would not impose on the patience of an audience entirely composed of members of the Church to repeat these articles so well known to my brethren and sisters, but being convinced that many thousands of our friends not of the Church listen to these proceedings, I am going to ask you to indulge me as I present them:
l. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.
3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands, by those who are in authority to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, viz., apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc.
7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, etc..
8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion will be built upon this continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.
13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things-Joseph Smith.
I shall not comment generally on the Articles of Faith. They speak for themselves, and we trust they may prove acceptable to the government to which we submitted them as a statement of our principal beliefs.
In addition to the requirement of a statement of beliefs and doctrines, we were asked to set forth our purposes and objectives as a Church. The following is a brief statement of objectives which was sent. I quote:
"The objectives of the Church are to bear witness to the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ; to teach all men the principles of his Gospel; and to convert and persuade them to follow in his ways and keep the commandments of God, that they may thus advance the Kingdom of God in the earth to bring brotherhood and peace to men and nations, and earn exaltation for themselves.
"To achieve this objective the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints builds and maintains churches, temples, educational institutions for all ages, recreational buildings and facilities, and projects designed to teach and encourage vocational and industrial preparation for self-reliant living. It teaches loyalty to country and fosters good citizenship in all communities where it is established."
The statement submitted was necessarily brief. May I amplify some portions of it?
How and to what extent are we bearing witness to the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ? From the latest figures available I give you the following: We are at present maintaining about five thousand missionaries in the mission fields of the Church, which are established in nearly all countries of the world where the laws and practices of the people will permit their establishment. The average cost for each missionary a month is $58.96, to cover his living and maintenance in the mission field. The total monthly cost for our missionary force exceeds $290,000.00, borne chiefly by parents of the missionaries, the missionaries themselves, quorums, and other generous persons who contribute to the missionary fund. This vast sum of money, amounting to more than $3,400,000.00 a year, is spent in the countries where the missionaries labor, and thus contributes, substantially in some instances, to the national economy of these countries.
Our missionaries do not live "off" the peoples in the countries where they are sent. They bring in rather than take from the communities where they serve. In addition to the five thousand missionaries who serve in these missions which we call foreign, there are 6,429 stake missionaries, who do not leave their homes, but perform missionary service among neighbors and friends not of the Church in the communities where they live. They give their service without compensation, as do all missionaries of the Church.
It will be interesting to members of the Church to know that for the first eight months of the year 1956 there were 9,910 convert baptisms in the foreign missions, and 5,549 in the stake missions, making a total of 15,459, a sufficient number, if concentrated, to make three or four new stakes in the Church.
The principal duty and the first obligation resting upon all of these 11,500 missionaries is to bear witness of the divinity of the Lord, Jesus Christ. They are sent out into the world as ambassadors of Jesus Christ, and they are taught from the beginning that they cannot effectively represent and serve him without a firm personal testimony as to his divinity. If they live the principles of the gospel, they never lose their testimonies, and they are always able, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, to bear testimony with such conviction as to arrest the attention of God-fearing people. This bearing of sincere testimony serves as a persuading and convincing influence to touch the lives of many long before the immature missionary has been able fully to absorb and master the principles of the gospel in the teaching process.
How essential is this bearing of testimony to the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ? Why, it is the first essential credential of a Christian. Jesus himself set the example, when, in justifying himself before the Jews, he said: "I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me". And from all we can learn from scripture, we must conclude that there is but one indispensable fact which lies at the basis of the whole Christian doctrine to which witness must be borne, and that is that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and sent by him to perform his mission in the world. How can anyone professing Christianity satisfy a Christian conscience without that testimony and that witness? Why are men reluctant so to commit themselves? Some may entertain conscientious doubts as to the divine nature of the Christ. I am sure they would do well humbly and open-mindedly to seek more knowledge about him. Many more, I fear, are in the category suggested by Paul who are "ashamed" openly to bear witness of him. They seem to think that in some way it is belittling to their intelligence, and I fear too that some regard an open confession of faith as a commitment to a course of life they do not have the strength and the will to follow.
I regret this reluctance, particularly of prominent and influential men, openly to declare their faith, because I am sure that their influence is very considerable, particularly in the lives of the young people who admire their successes, their standing in the community, and who could be made to see richer and nobler purposes in life through the example and open statements of those they so much esteem.
I think I know the underlying reason for this reticence. It is self-sufficiency resulting from a lack of humility. Men of success are so prone to forget their dependence on a beneficent providence. It seems often necessary to bring into the lives of the haughty and proud calamity and great deprivation. A rich man sometimes loses his possessions, his cherished wife and children, even his good name, before he begins to pray and acknowledge the supreme dispenser of all good things that endure. I appeal for more testimony, for more courage to bear witness, for more humility to acknowledge the goodness of the Lord to his children.
The second item in the statement of objectives which I mentioned is "to teach all men the principles of his gospel; and to convert and persuade them to follow in his ways and keep the commandments of God." Many of the principles of the gospel which our missionaries and our people teach are set forth in the Articles of Faith which I have read. Time will not permit any extensive comment on them. I wish, however, to mention a few items.
I mention the eleventh and twelfth articles: "We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may".
"We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law".
I am able to understand from the history of the times how much importance the Prophet Joseph Smith attached to these articles in his day. The violation of the principles by bigoted and unscrupulous persons entailed infinite suffering and persecution to him and his people. I question if, however, except with divine insight, he could have envisioned what the violation of these principles would mean to the whole world a century or more after he lived. I am not sufficiently informed to know whether other churches have any comparable statements in their constitutions or declarations of faith, but the history of our times justifies the assertion that few, if any, things have contributed more to the chaotic condition of the world than the violation of the cardinal principles set forth in this statement of belief. They contain the very essence of freedom and liberty, and they support the majesty of the law. They are inspired statements, and within them is comprehended the only true basis on which permanent peace may be established. We preach and we practice these principles all over the world wherever we are given opportunity. We proclaim and we urge them in defense of liberty wherever we go. They are part of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and as such we teach them.
Perhaps we encounter some resistance in teaching the principles of the gospel because we have important aspects of it given by revelation that are explanatory and go beyond the conventional teaching of Christianity as our Eighth Article of Faith proclaims: "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly". We teach the Bible as the history of God's dealings with man, and as the basis of the Christian gospel, but we have additional explanatory revelation which does not contravene the Bible, but which serves to interpret and make plain many of its statements which are obscure or incomplete.
I shall give to you one illustration which is typical of others. The Savior comforted his disciples at the time of his departure with that supreme statement of comfort: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you".
For many centuries the world was without an explanation of the "many mansions" in our Father's house. In February 1832, the Prophet Joseph wrote: "From sundry revelations which had been received, it was apparent that many important points touching the salvation of man had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled. It appeared self-evident from what truths were left, that if God rewarded every one according to the deeds done in the body, the term Heaven, as intended for the Saints' eternal home, must include more kingdoms than one".
It was in answer to this query in the mind of the Prophet that the revelation which is sometimes characterized as "The Vision" came to him. It is the explanation of the words of the Savior in that it defines the mansions, kingdoms, and glories which prevail in heaven, "my Father's house." These kingdoms are designated as the celestial, the terrestrial, and the telestial. These designations conform with the declarations of the Apostle Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians, wherein he sets forth,
"There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory".
I wish I had the time to read to all our friends the description and attributes of these kingdoms and glories of the hereafter. Here is a revelation which makes plain to all men the transcendent and enduring benefits derived from striving for the best. To those who have the ambition, the courage, and devotion to attain the highest station, there are in store blessings that transcend the comprehension of the finite mind.
The Lord loves all his children, and in the orderly provision he has made for salvation every good deed is rewarded, and all who have not utterly destroyed their prospects for recognition will find place in the gradations of glory to which they are severally entitled. Here is universal justice in law and order, tempered with great mercy for the frail and the weak. The revelation gives us assurance that the highest station or glory is possible of attainment. In all our teaching and persuasion, our one all-pervading predominant motive and purpose is to prepare ourselves and our fellow men for entrance and exaltation in the highest glory he has revealed-the celestial kingdom. We want the best for ourselves, and we want it for others, but we know we cannot acquire this glorious blessing for others. Everyone must obtain it for himself.
Now, how is entrance into the celestial glory obtained? It is obtained only through compliance with the ordinances of the gospel, and keeping the commandments of God. Our missionaries are not infrequently asked: "Do you claim that you are the only ones who will go to heaven?" The answer to this question may well be given by the missionary asking of the inquirer, "What do you mean by heaven? If you mean by heaven, a resurrection from the grave to immortality, the answer is no. Through the atonement of Christ everyone will be resurrected. Do you mean by heaven one of the lesser glories and kingdoms therein? Then generally the answer is no. We believe that many, if not most, of the good men and women of the world will obtain places and recognition in the lesser kingdoms of heaven. But if you mean by going to heaven, gaining exaltation in the celestial kingdom of our Father, where God and Christ dwell, then the answer must be yes. No man can attain the highest station without compliance with the higher laws and ordinances, which may be administered only in the restored Church of our Lord Jesus Christ under his authority and delegated power lodged in the priesthood of his Church."
If there be any disposed to criticize this view as being narrow and intolerant, we must bring to their attention the fact that we did not formulate the rules, regulations, and requirements for entrance into the celestial kingdom of our Father. The Lord did that, both in ancient and modern revelation. We seek to teach men that these rules of eligibility, though seemingly strict and rigid, are in fact generous provisions for the happiness of the Father's children here and hereafter. If any of the requirements seem to circumscribe the personal liberty of individuals, it is because these so-called personal liberties in wisdom are not in the end good for the individual or communities. Every commandment the Lord has given is for the blessing and good of mankind.
I appeal, my fellow members of the Church, and to all men, so to regard them. While many are in the form of injunctions of restraint, there is in the keeping of every commandment a positive element of improvement of life through self-mastery and the subordination of the material to the spiritual.
So our mission is to bear witness of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and teach his restored gospel in all its completeness. The Lord has been good to us. He has caused that provision be made so that there are available to us all the facilities essential to realize our great purposes. He has blessed the Church with the devotion of faithful members scarcely to be equaled in any movement of which we have record. They are generous in giving, they are responsive to calls to duty, and their lives exemplify the loving principles by which they should live.
True, not all are faithful. Some fall by the wayside in weakness, to whom we always hold out the hopeful doctrine of repentance. It is a glorious feeling, my brethren and sisters, to have place with the faithful, to feel the warm, generous support of true brethren and sisters in the Church of Christ. I have long been the recipient of his blessings, and I humbly make this acknowledgment and give thanks for membership in his Church and the privilege of serving him, for health to carry on, for the confidence and love of my associates, and for the privilege of living in the society of the Saints of God.
I bear my humble witness that God lives; that Jesus Christ was his Only Begotten Son in the flesh; that the biblical account of his birth and life is true and not fictitious; that however much we may proclaim our admiration of his attributes and his teachings, that above all his mission was divine; that we cannot truly worship him without recognition of his sovereignty and his lordship. I am happy to kneel at the throne of his power and give to him my allegiance and feeble effort for the establishment of his kingdom in the earth.
I bear witness that Joseph Smith was his prophet, chosen to bring the complete gospel to the earth in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times; that he accomplished his mission; and that all men today are the beneficiaries of his inestimable contributions.
I bear witness that the holy priesthood has been restored to and continues in the Church of Christ; that that holy priesthood and power is here in the earth today in the year 1956, reposed in thousands of good men, servants of the Lord, with President David O. McKay appointed, sustained, and approved of the Lord, standing at the head, all to the end that the kingdom of our Father may be established and advanced in the earth. Christ will come again. Our mission is to prepare the kingdom for his coming.
The Lord help us all to be devoted to that exalted undertaking I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder George Q. Morris
George Q. Morris, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 45-48
My dear brethren and sisters, I am entirely dependent upon the Spirit of the Lord to direct me, and pray that the same sweet spirit that has prevailed will continue with us to lead me to say that which I should say. I am very thankful to the Lord that this his Church is built on the rock of revelation, so that we are not turned about in all directions by all kinds of opinions and doctrines. But as this is our blessing, we have also an obligation to know the truth, and live the truth, and speak the truth. What a supreme blessing is truth in this distraught world.
At a meeting I recently attended where reference was made to a revelation concerning the origin and nature of man and the creation of the world, a young man came to me-a fine young faithful Latter-day Saint-and said he was so discouraged and depressed by the teachings be was receiving in college that he worried about it, and about how he could pass his examinations because he could not accept these teachings. Of course I could only tell him that he would have to hold to the truth no matter what the situation was. That is an obligation that we do have as a people. Who else has the revelations of God? What other church in the world is based upon these revelations? Having them, we must be true to them.
As the Lord built his Church upon the rock of revelation so that it would endure, I think we ourselves as individuals must stand on this same rock of revelation in our conduct, our thinking, and our lives, that we can endure; otherwise we will fall.
I hope this young man can hold to that principle, and I am concerned for all of our young people as they go into the field of higher education and meet all the ideas that are so prevalent, which are in sharp conflict with the revelations of God that we know to be true. I suppose he had been taught something about the origin of man according to the theory of organic evolution. I presume he might have been told what I remember reading in some man's writings, that we would have to look for our origin in some minute life in the ocean, perhaps, or in some amoeba-like organism-the simplest form of life. That, he said, was man's beginning.
But we know better than that. The Lord says we were in the beginning with him.
Ye were also in the beginning with the Father; that which is Spirit, even the Spirit of truth; Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.
We know beyond all doubt that we existed with God in the eternities and that we existed with him in the heavens as his sons and daughters.
And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying: I am God-I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh.
Now, no matter what men may think, no matter what their theories may be, we need not be disturbed in the least because we know the truth; I hope our children can be assured by their parents that they need not be disturbed because these revelations are true. Man did not come from the bottom of the ocean, but from heaven, and God is his Father. The Savior said that so beautifully to Mary:
... go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
The Son came to the world to redeem it, to reveal unto us our Father, and to give his truth to the world; also demonstrating his origin and his coming into the world to be the same as ours. He said,
I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
This is true of us all.
In the spirit world he was perfect, the Firstborn of the Father. Our Father elevated him to the Godhead. He became the Son and was given power to create man and the earth. As declared in the Book of Mormon, he was "... the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth".
What was his bodily condition before his birth into the world, while he was the Son in the Godhead, and Jehovah to the Jews, and the God of the whole world? He was a spirit dwelling in a spiritual body of refined matter in the same form as our earthly bodies. The Prophet Joseph Smith has told us that all spirit is matter. He said:
There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes.
The Lord Jesus Christ then, as a spirit, had a spiritual body of this pure material. When he revealed himself to the brother of Jared, he said,
Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh.
We were all men and women in heaven, just as we are men and women here. We were not hazy shadows. Though spirits, we had form; we had substance. The Lord said he had created man after the image of his spirit body, which was the same form in which he was to appear on earth.
... that which is spiritual being in the likeness of that which is temporal; and that which is temporal in the likeness of that which is spiritual; the spirit of man in the likeness of his person, as also the spirit of the beast, and every other creature which God has created.
The prophets said the Savior would come and take upon himself a tabernacle of flesh, and so he came in his spirit body and took from the earth the elements needed to obtain a tabernacle of flesh and blood. We know how he did that. We have done the same thing; and we came here in the same form as did he. As his spiritual body clothed itself in a tabernacle of flesh and blood, so has ours.
As he stood before Pilate to be judged, Pilate said, "Behold the man". When he calmed the wind and the waves, the people said, "What manner of man is this, that the sea and the wind obey him?". So he was a man, as we are men. He was also Deity, because of his perfection, and because his Father had by divine investiture raised him to that position. While he was in the earth, he was still he who had created the earth, as he was also when he submitted to apostate priests and a pagan Roman governor to be judged and to be crucified.
So what manner of creatures are we? His Father was our Father. The offspring is like the parent. You cannot change that law. In the book of Moses, speaking of the Father, it says:
... in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.
Now these are the truths concerning ourselves. Let us realize who we are and what we are and how we should live. And when we meet these teachings opposed to God's word that come to us and our children, let us know what they are. They are nothing but the opinions of men. Think how fantastic that a man, who is a son of God, should deny God and insist that he came from a low form of life up through the shapes of lower animals to the image of God. How preposterous that is! But our concept is based on the principle that the Apostle Paul laid down. The first verse in the Bible says that the earth was created by God, and the first chapter, that God created man in his own image. All through the scriptures it is proclaimed that man is a son of God.
When men do not believe the truth, what is left for them to believe? Nothing but delusion and fallacy and error! So Paul said:
... they received not the love of truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie".
When our children are told about the "missing link" or the "prehistoric man" what can we say? In the light of the revealed word of God, what are we to conclude? The Lord Jesus Christ who created man and the earth has, from the creation, declared that we all originated in heaven. His teachings are that we were perfectly organized beings with spiritual bodies similar in form to our mortal bodies, but of finer material; that we were sons and daughters of God and came to the earth in these spirit bodies patterned after the spirit body of the Lord Jesus Christ; that we each took from the earth a body of flesh and blood to tabernacle our spirit body, as did he; that we were men and women with spirit bodies, in the same form as these we now have, long before this earth was ever formed; that in the eternities past men like us with bodies of flesh and blood have lived in worlds like ours, many of which have passed away, and that others have been created for men like us to inhabit-
And worlds without number have I created... And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof, even so shall another come... For behold, this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
This being true, man did not originate here in spirit or body. Man in a body of flesh and blood has lived through the eternities. How foolish to look for the origin of the human body in this world at this late time. The theory that man came into his present form through a process of evolutions is untrue-a mere delusion. This being the case and so declared by the divine Creator of all these worlds, our own included, it must follow that there never was a "missing link" on the earth. There never was a "prehistoric man," in the sense that he was part man and part something else. No such creature ever existed in this or any other world. He or it exists only in the minds of men who refuse the truth and have a theory of their own that is utterly false-contrary to the revealed word of God. Such an idea could come only after rejecting God's word. That creature which men visualize in their minds because of their false theory, they draw in pictures and they model in clay and say that such a thing once existed upon the earth. There never did exist such a creature in the earth, or out of the earth. God sent man as a perfect being, his offspring in his image, with a material body in the same form as we are now, to be born on the earth, to obtain a tabernacle of flesh and have an earth existence. We are all pre-earth men, but not one a "prehistoric man." The earth did not originate man. "The Man"-"the Son of Man"-created the earth and all that is in it.
And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I reveal unto you concerning this heaven, and this earth; write the words which I speak. I am the Beginning and the End, the Almighty God; by mine Only Begotten I created these things; yea, in the beginning I created the heaven, and the earth upon which thou standest.
God help us to live consistent with this great truth. I bear my humble witness that this is true; that this is the living Church of God restored to the earth, based upon revelation, and that revelation is operative now and will continue so; that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the Living God, who associated with God and heavenly beings and was taught by them during many years; and I bear witness that the keys of the Holy Priesthood, the power for the salvation of the human family, abides in the President of this Church today, and that no man can bypass this Church and find salvation. No man can bypass Joseph Smith and receive salvation. God honors his servants. I bear this humble witness in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Antoine R. Ivins
Antoine R. Ivins, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 48-50
My beloved brethren and sisters, it is not an idle hope that I express when I ask you to join your faith and prayers with mine. It is the only way, I believe, that I can say a word to you today that may be helpful and inspire an effort to approach more nearly the life that our Heavenly Father would like us to live.
Before I talk about what I had in mind, I would like to say to the singers today that I appreciate very much the music which they have rendered, and I have great interest in their group for two reasons: One is that my grandfather was chosen by the President of the Church to carry the gospel to Scandinavia; another is that I discovered in reading the genealogical history of one line of my heritage, that it was carried back to the Norsemen who came into England such a long, long time ago.
Now I admit that this student in carrying it back had to use ten-league boots over some of the stretches, but I hope it is true nevertheless.
I had thought that I would begin today by bearing my testimony to the restoration of the priesthood, the organization of the Church, and to a return of a true interpretation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
President Richards has done that so beautifully that all I will ask is that you let me incorporate his testimony in mine, because I believe from the bottom of my heart that what he has said is true.
Many of us who are here today are bearers of the priesthood. We are all, or nearly all of us, members of the Church in which that priesthood functions for the development and well-being of people. I presume we are all here to try and gain a little better understanding of the gospel plan and a greater enthusiasm for it, a greater determination to carry its teachings into our daily lives.
We have been told that we are the children of God, our Heavenly Father, that we had a conscious spiritual existence before we came here. The gospel plan is one which God and his Son Jesus Christ developed, which if properly followed by the spirits who come into the earth, would lead them back not only to the presence of God but also to an exaltation in his presence, all of which has been explained to us today. The gospel includes many things that we should do. Some phases of its expression are in the form of "thou shalt not" do this or that. Others are in the positive form of "thou shalt" do this and that. Of course, it is our purpose to learn what they are and properly interpret them and integrate them into our daily living.
The first great commandment that was given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, according to recorded history, the revealed words which we have, was to multiply and replenish the earth. In my recent visits to the stakes over the last two or three years, I have tried to keep a record of the percentages of the people who were married as members of the Church, who were married in the temple. I discovered that about fifty-five percent of the marriages were celebrated in the temple. Forty-five percent of them were of people who had not the inclination to go to the temple for that purpose.
I feel in my heart that it was the intent of God that when marriage should be celebrated, it should be done with the vow and promise that it would never be broken, so that the great privileges of exaltation which are promised us could be realized throughout eternity. It is an unfortunate thing that many of these marriages are hastily contracted and not sealed by the powers of the priesthood. Consequently, many of them break up and result in disaster.
Now how are we going to find out the things that we should do to make a marriage like this perpetual? We have to return to the gospel of Jesus Christ and put its teachings into practice. Could we make a perfect effort at that, of course, we would eventually attain to the powers of God, for that is the promise which he has given us.
Our purpose in coming here today is to learn something about it and how, perhaps better, we can do those great things.
I would like to read to you a scripture found in the Doctrine and Covenants which I think expresses the purpose of the gospel:
Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will.
Then, in another section we read:
For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.
The recorded revelations that we have-the modern ones-we find in the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, but there are many revealed expressions of the doctrine and will of God, our Heavenly Father, in the Bible, so we have the three sources. John says in his writings,
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
It is my firm conviction that when we come to understand really the scriptures, we discover that every single purpose therein is to testify that Jesus Christ was to come, is the Son of God, and was to work out a redemption for us. He prepared the plan that we should follow. It is our purpose to learn it and then to try to live by every word that has proceeded from the mouth of God.
You will remember the first scripture says,
Therefore sanctify yourselves...
I met a member of the Church one time who said that salvation does not depend upon men's acts at all, and he quoted the scripture, "... by grace are ye saved...
"Not of works, lest any man should boast". This does not seem quite like that, does it? We are saved from death and given the privilege of a resurrection and through the grace and gift of God we have the privilege of sanctifying ourselves, thus earning an exaltation.
So that is our problem, brethren and sisters. Let us read the scriptures; let us discover in them the way of life that will lead us back to the kingdom of God. Let us put forth every effort and sanctify and purify our lives. And, brethren and sisters, let us be more interested in the effect upon ourselves than that which we think we observe sometimes in our neighbors.
There are many of the provisions I have said which say, "thou shalt not" do this and that, and many of us are prone to judge our neighbors, thinking only of the things that they should not do which we think they do; but there is a positive side to this which far outweighs that, it seems to me, as far as we individually are concerned. We should be not interested in the failures of our neighbors but in their successes and in our own successes in coming nearer to God our Heavenly Father.
The first great principle is love. We are to love God our Heavenly Father.
Then the next principle to it is we should love our neighbor as ourselves. If we could just do that, we would glory in the successes of our neighbors; and while we would feel bad if they made mistakes, we would not judge them, entirely, on the mistakes they made, but would balance against them the efforts towards righteousness that they demonstrate. Then if their righteous conduct should outweigh the other side, we would be happy, would we not? That is the way we would like people to think of us. That is the way we would think of them. We would extend mercy to them. That does not mean feeding them and clothing them; it means helping them to adjust their lives to the will of God, our Heavenly Father, and to give aid and succor. Spiritual aid and succor is more important than temporal aid at times. We should extend both, of course, but most certainly, if we love our neighbor, we are going to extend to him our spiritual aid and comfort in the spirit of mercy.
God said to Adam that he should cultivate the soil and live by the sweat of his brow and that still is the responsibility of every one of us. How can we feel that we have completely done the will of God if we are not diligent in providing for ourselves and for those who are dependent upon us? Is there ever a time in the life of a man, who is able to do so, when he should not provide for himself? Diligence, then, is another phase of this great program that God gave us, a practical, everyday program for everyday living, which when properly carried into effect has its spiritual reaction just as definitely as anything else, and the man who meets his obligations to his fellows is likewise sanctifying his soul.
The positive side of this has so many different headings that it is impossible for me to try to deal with all of them, but there is still another side that I try never to forget, and that is that to sanctify one's soul one should gain control over the God-given urges and propensities of one's body, and there are so many of us who fail in that. That is so often the cause of disruption in marriage relationships; people fail to live true to the covenants which they make in marriage simply because the urges of the body are too strong for them, and they do not, apparently, seek the spirit of God in an effort to gain control.
I have said so many times, and I repeat it, that I believe self-control, perfect self-control, would be the greatest victory that any person born into this earth could gain; and with perfect self-control and a knowledge of the plan which God prepared for us, which we can only find by searching the scriptures and listening to the authorized priesthood of God, we would be able to sanctify our souls, would we not?
To sanctify means to make holy, and only holy things can come back to the presence of God, our Heavenly Father. So, sooner or later, if we enjoy the privilege of association under the influence of Jesus Christ and the Father, it will be because we sanctify ourselves, that our minds may be single to God. If we had that single purpose, to please God, we would strive to learn how, and then to do just exactly what would be required.
For you shall live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God". That is the key, brethren and sisters. Let us learn what it is; and when we learn it, let us not try to find loopholes in the recorded statements that will justify our failure, but let us determine through prayer and humility to reach a proper understanding of the plan and then live it as nearly perfectly as we can.
May God bless us, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Elder John Longden
John Longden, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 51-52
In the opening remarks of President David O. McKay yesterday morning, he offered a prayer that we might be inspired and encouraged. Truly his prayer has been answered, for we have been inspired. Our testimonies have been strengthened. We have received encouragement to live the words of the Lord.
President McKay also quoted from the Master wherein he said we should deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow him, that we might be able to enjoy life in this mortal existence regardless of its trials or its obstacles.
In the limited time afforded me this morning, I should like to suggest one important principle of the gospel-that of temple marriage. If we would follow the Master, we must understand this principle and take advantage of the blessings it offers.
I would encourage young people to prepare for this glorious experience in the temples of the Lord by living clean, good lives, by studying and praying, that Satan may have no power to keep them out of the temple. Just as we are dedicated to getting our young folk into the temple, so is Satan dedicated to keeping them out.
I should like to relate three experiences which I trust will stimulate your thinking and motivate some to action.
We never know when Satan is at work. It was my privilege a few years ago to witness a marriage ceremony in the temple performed by President McKay. The young people who were being married came from good Latter-day Saint homes where they participated in family and individual prayer. To an outsider, it would seem that all was well. Yet, following the ceremony I overheard the young bride say as she embraced her mother "Why did I ever think of marrying any other way?" This indicated to me that there was a question in her mind at one time.
Too many members of our Church do not understand the principles of temple marriage and succumb to the wiles of Satan in being satisfied with a civil marriage; or worse still, they do not cherish virtue and are not worthy to go into the temple. This brings me to my second story:
A lovely Latter-day Saint mother told me of her son who had been taught the principles of the gospel, to respect his body and keep it clean. He was to be married on the morrow in the temple. The evening before the ceremony his friends gave him a party and when he arrived home he tiptoed into his mother's bedroom as had been the custom, regardless of the hour. Awakening his mother and sitting upon her bed, he said, "Mother, I have a confession to make to you tonight." For a moment her heart sank. "I am just as clean tonight as the day you gave me birth." My, what a dividend to a parent. My child is worthy of temple marriage!
The third story is a review of an experience from the life of Brother Matthew Cowley and his dear wife Elva. I trust she will forgive me. Matthew and she were working in Washington, D.C. They decided to be married there by civil law and then later on to come out to the temple and be sealed for time and eternity. Their invitations were printed and were about to be mailed when a letter came from Matthew's father pleading that they forsake such a plan and be married by that authority which God has restored to earth. He even forwarded the money for their transportation back to Salt Lake City. Their response was favorable. The gospel teachings from early youth, almost put aside for a time, finally registered upon the minds of these young people. They obeyed, and have always rejoiced that they followed the counsel of their parents. It is not good to substitute a civil ceremony even for a time when it is at all possible to accept the blessings of a temple marriage.
Young people, this is my testimony in all humility and sincerity to you this day: regardless of the promptings you may have to the contrary, stop, deliberate, and pray, study, and let the truth and light of the gospel come through.
In conclusion, the words of Robert Burns come to me: "An atheist's laughs are a poor exchange for Deity offended." There may be those who would scoff at temple marriage. Never offend our Eternal Father and Jesus Christ by not accepting one of their greatest and most important blessings.
May God bless us as parents to teach more earnestly this vital truth of temple marriage and may our children respond to these teachings, I humbly pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Elder Spencer W. Kimball
Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 52-58
My beloved brothers and sisters, I should like to speak to you today about our Lamanite brothers. I quote from Nephite prophets:
... thus saith our God: I will afflict thy seed by the hand of the Gentiles; nevertheless, I will soften the hearts of the Gentiles, that they shall be like unto a father to them.
And again:
... the Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles, yea, even upon the face of this land; and by them shall our seed be scattered. And after our seed is scattered the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed; wherefore, it is likened unto their being nourished by the Gentiles and being carried in their arms and on their shoulders.
Relatively little progress had been made since Columbus discovered America, until recent years. Hundreds of thousands of Indians were killed by the invading Gentiles from Europe, 128,000 in New England alone, according to historians. The rest were pushed back, scattered, and finally placed on reservations. The battle of America continued for hundreds of years, the red people fighting for their families, their homes, their hunting grounds, and their very existence.
Finally the scriptures are being fulfilled. "Nursing fathers and mothers" are being raised up to bring the blessings of freedom and education and health to the sons of Lehi. We can remember when the majority of Navajo children were without schools, and other tribes were considerably limited. It is said that "The darkest hour is just before the dawn." But their day is dawning. There has perhaps been more constructive consideration given to the Indian people in the last decade than in the entire century before.
In 1947 the cry was raised: "The Navajos are freezing and starving." You remember, I am sure. Truckloads of clothing and food were gathered here in Utah and taken from our Church welfare storehouses for these distressed Indians. Simultaneously, the press took up the cry and the warmhearted people of the nation, and particularly of the West, answered the call with bedding, food, clothing, and money. The echoes resounded from ocean to ocean and a sleeping nation roused itself.
Pictures and stories of want and starvation were printed in newspapers and magazines; pressures were brought to bear upon officials; and the important prophecies began to be fulfilled and the arms of the Gentile nation which had scattered the Lamanites now opened to enfold them, and the shoulders which once were used to push them into reservations, now squared away to carry these deprived ones to their destiny. Even within the past two or three years, great strides have been made. Education, the common denominator and leveler, is coming to the red man. The clinic and hospital are available to him. Indian children are being born in hospitals; sanitation is being taught; and the sun is rising on the Indian world with the government, churches, and many agencies becoming nursing parents" to them.
Yesterday tribal people resisted education; today they grasp it eagerly. Not long ago nearly all Indians were illiterate and unschooled; today in 1956 nearly every Indian child in America may have some training. Yesterday Indian children were kidnapped from their parents and forced to school. Today parents beg for schools, and children eagerly attend.
Indian life is swiftly changing Like the sand in wind-swept dunes, Ever changing 'stablished patterns, New strong forces, healing wounds.
Mr. Paul Jones, chairman of the Navajo Council, recalls his childhood in his inaugural speech of April 4, 1955:
The salvation and hope of our Navajo people lies in education... at one time we made our living on livestock and a little cornpatch. When we returned from Fort Sumner there were 9,000 of us. There are now 76,000... We must be educated in order to be absorbed with the rest of the people of these United States... those of you who have been educated must tell your people of the benefits of education... It is the greatest hope that we have for our Navajo people... When they returned they were reluctant to send their children to school. The Federal Government had to send police out to gather the children for school... I remember myself distinctly. I was of school age at that time. My father and mother used to hide me under sheepskins and blankets when they saw a person coming who represented the schools. I was the only boy in the family. They used to hide me when they saw the school people or policemen coming. However, one bright day, they made a mistake. My parents were not on the lookout, and someone saw me, even though I was hiding behind the hogan. That person said: "That boy must go to school." So away I went to school. But our eyes are now open to the advantages that school has for us...
Today, Mr. Jones is the educated and cultured chief leader of the Navajo tribe.
The Treaty of 1868 with the Navajos stated that the government would provide a school and a teacher for every thirty children between the ages of six and sixteen-"who can be induced or compelled to attend school." Compulsion has now been replaced with an obsession for school in many families. It is a far cry from today back to 1744 when the Virginia commissioners made an offer to the chiefs of the Six Nations to educate six of their Indian boys.
It is of interest to note that in a feeble way the government has been trying for two hundred years to educate the Indians, and from a few at the inception of the nation, today we approach universal education for them.
The Virginia Commissioners received this reply from the Indian chiefs:
Several of our young people were formerly brought up at the colleges of the Northern Provinces; they were instructed in all your sciences; but when they came back to us, they were bad runners; ignorant of every means of living in the woods; unable to bear either cold or hunger; knew neither how to build a cabin, take a deer, or kill an enemy; spoke our language imperfectly; were therefore neither fit for hunters, warriors, or counselors; they were totally good for nothing. We are however not the less obliged by your kind offer, though we decline accepting it. And to show our grateful sense of it, if the Gentlemen of Virginia will send us a dozen of their sons, we will take great care of their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them.
That comes from the old records, and Dr. Ernest Wilkinson quoted it in the Indian Congress here last week.
Now may I tell you of our most perfect program and unselfish adventure in human relationships. The "outing" program had been attempted by others at times, but I think never on this basis. As we began to bring into the Church many faithful Indians, almost their first desire was that their children should have the schooling and church training which the non-Indian children enjoyed. Indian families working among us here in our beet, cotton, or potato fields saw the luxury enjoyed by white children who were well-fed and well-dressed, in comfortable homes, going to excellent schools daily. They saw their own little deprived fellows who must follow the family to the faraway fields so parents could earn money to feed them. Their dreams and yearnings finally forced the affectionate parents to become bold enough to approach a white employer: "Would you let our little girl stay with you and go to school after we have gone back to the reservation? She will be a good girl and cause you no trouble."
With the earnestness in their eyes and the pleading in their voices, who could resist? The experiment began. A few children were left in homes. They were happy and grateful. The foster parents were pleased, and neighbors wished also to participate. On the reservation, natural parents told their neighbors, who also wrote pleading letters for their own children. The number increased to twenty, sixty, eighty, and then last year to 253. It grew like Topsy. Arrangements at first were between natural parents on the reservation and willing foster parents in Utah; but when the Church determined to give it support, the plan was given legal status and brought under the Utah State Department of Public Welfare, children's service, through the state license of the Relief Society. Inasmuch as it is illegal for anyone without a state license to engage in any way in the placing or receiving of children, it is urged that neither missionaries nor members engage in the independent placement of children.
Here is how the plan works:
In August more than 250 Indian children move northward. The Begay family is typical. The Begays have a team and spring wagon and ride slowly across the hills and valleys and barren stretches to the gathering place. In the miles and miles of travel, Father and Mother Begay have time to discuss with Ruth and Billie the great adventure ahead: "Here is your opportunity," Father Begay is saying. "Our Church is taking you to a good Mormon home in Utah where you will be kindly treated and may go to school. You must be grateful and study hard and learn."
And now Mother Begay, in colorful velveteen, and her hair in a bob, is adding: "These Church members are doing this in the goodness of their hearts. They are not paid for the food and clothes and shelter and training that they are giving you. They will treat you like one of their own. You must do your part like the children of the family."
At last they reach the Gap in northern Arizona. Other Indian families are arriving also in wagons and pickups. The kindly driver loads their belongings into the chartered busses. Our friendly Church chaperone meets the family and the children. Farewells are said, and tears are shed as affectionate parents and children part for the school term. Though already homesick and lonely at heart, neither parents nor children would change their minds, so grateful are they for the opportunities just opening. The Begays and the Chees and the Biligodys hitch up their horses, and with a tearful happiness, drive to their homes on the reservation, while the busses, filled with eager, excited children, drive northward.
One observer wrote this of the parting:
There were a few tears-tears of premature homesickness from youngsters leaving the reservation for the first time and suddenly reluctant and fearful of the future. Tears from little brothers and sisters, too young or otherwise unqualified for the great adventure. And there were a few furtive tears from parents, realizing at this moment of parting how long and lonely the months stretched out before spring vacation.
Just a few hours and the busses are in Richfield, Utah. The kindly chaperone has kept the children happy and looked after their every need. It is very early in the morning at the reception center, but it is already a hive of industry, and keen expectancy is in the air. Sevier Stake becomes the host, and the stake presidency, members of the priesthood, and the Relief Society sisters are waiting. There is the smell of bacon in the air, and the young redskins, some of whom have been here before, file out of the busses and into the Church dining room for bacon, eggs, milk, fruit, and cereal, prepared by the Relief Society sisters.
Soon breakfast is over. The processing is begun. Kind sisters take the girls in one building and understanding priesthood brethren the boys in another where they are bathed and shampooed and made ready for the clinic. The food, soap, shampoo, and other things are furnished free by the Church. All who assist are volunteer workers, doing this like all other of their Church work, without remuneration. Six hundred towels are furnished free by a generous linen company, typical of many other favors. The children line up for the clinic where several physicians, furnished by the United States Health Service, senior medical students, technicians, and several nurses, on loan from the Utah State Health Department, all go to work. The little folk's chests are x-rayed; their hearts, eyes, skin, ears, teeth, and temperatures are checked, and a complete record made. Their fears are quieted by sweet, sympathetic women when tears of unhappiness follow the needle-jabbing of immunization and the blood test. They know this is for their good. Lunchtime comes, and another appetizing meal is enjoyed from welfare supplies. There is some rest, and there is supervised play and a movie.
Then come the foster families, hundreds of them, from all over Utah: unpaid families whose only desire is to provide unselfishly for the child and to "mother" and "father" him and train and guide him. They are driving in from Kanab and Salt Lake City; from Moroni and Escalante; from St. George and the Uintah Basin-unselfish families anticipating the new arrival to their family. There are stake presidents, bishops, mayors, editors, doctors, farmers-the finest people in the communities of Utah and of the world-each family to receive for the school term an Indian child, accepted by them to become a real part of the family. The white children present excitedly speculate as to which of the Indian youngsters, so hungrily eating luncheon, is to be their new brother or sister. In the stake tabernacle films are shown on Indian culture, and a talk is given on the part each is to play in this glorious human drama. Four days of this processing follow.
Now, for the school term, the Indian child is on a par with his new brothers and sisters. He rides horses, feasts at picnics, does chores, goes swimming, takes music lessons. He goes to school and enters into every Church, civic, and community activity on an equal basis. Before the meal, the new family member takes his turn in family prayers and blessing the food. He goes to Sunday School and priesthood meeting. The little ones go to Primary and the larger ones to MIA, and all the family go together to Sacrament meeting. The child attends seminary and is advanced in priesthood and auxiliary activities. Many do baptism work in the temples. In school he fits into the regular classes, and if his language is faulty, likely the teacher will gladly give up her noon hour to tutor him. Foster parents write to natural parents, sending pictures. Case workers visit every child and family monthly and visit schoolteachers and principals often and assure themselves that harmony and understanding prevail.
The Indian children have proved themselves to be alert, brilliant, and responsive. They often take the lead in their classes, being elected to school offices, and they graduate from many high schools in Utah. They are going out into employment and are making good. The employer of one of our Indian girls in office work said:
"She is one of our best workers. I wish we had many more like her."
Four months and Christmas comes. The children remain in Utah where they share the Christmas gifts, parties, and other kindnesses equal to and the same as the white children. Latter-day Saints have a keen interest in the Indians and are willing to share with and sacrifice for them.
Five more eventful months pass and 250 Indian children are on their way back to the reservation. Though some might like to remain in Utah, all are sent home to keep welded the natural family ties. Again farewells are said, and tears are shed, and they reluctantly leave their Utah homes and the tearful family whose home and hearts they have been sharing, and they fill the chartered busses again. The selected bus driver is exceptionally kind; the chaperone is most solicitous. No baggage is mixed; no children are lost; and a happy group turns homeward. Home! Family! Hours of pleasant travel, and the distribution center is reached. The missionaries are here to greet them, and the Indian families to enfold them gratefully to their hearts. For three happy months they will cement family ties on the reservation, and then, off for another year of school.
Much planning and prayer and fasting have gone into our program. In the summer the social workers travel through the reservation. They visit each home or hogan and get acquainted with the children and the parents, catching the spirit of the family, its background, the training of the children, and their individual needs. With our missionaries, who nurture them constantly, these special workers urge the parents to have the children examined and treated for dental and medical needs. Proper legal contracts are secured, and arrangements are made whereby missionaries will pilot them the coming August to the proper place for embarkation. Careful studies are made for efficient and understanding placement for the coming year.
Now the workers return to the Utah communities and visit the white families who have previously signified their willingness to cooperate. The home and its facilities are studied to be sure the child and family will be comfortable and happy. The family is interviewed and, through a visit to the bishop of the ward, is evaluated and their worthiness determined. No child of trusting Indian Church members is placed in a broken home or one which is not an exemplary one. No child goes into a home where liquor is used or where there is friction or delinquent children. He goes into a well-ordered home where there is the rare combination of kindness and discipline, firmness and affection; into a praying family, a religious, devoted family of character, faith, and love. Here is opportunity at its best for the Indian to get away from his worst enemies: idleness, liquor, and immorality.
It is heartwarming to see the friendly cooperation of government, state, and local and school officials and teachers. Our Church classes have absorbed the little fellows into their groups, and timid, shrinking children have become happy, normal playmates and workmates and family members. One young Indian, after five consecutive years with a delightful, cooperative family, graduated from a Utah high school where he was student-body president, and with a $350.00 Standard Oil scholarship, attended Brigham Young University; he is now in the Northern States Mission on a full, regular mission. Two other Indian boys are filling regular missions in the Southwest Indian Mission, where Oneida Indian girls have also filled missions. This is the beginning. The future is most promising.
We expect our graduating youth will continue from these high schools into Brigham Young University. At first there were a few, and some of them discontinued, but last year with thirty-four representing eighteen tribes from east to west, and this year with even more, they are already taking hold and stabilizing themselves. From now on we expect that Indians in ever-increasing numbers will be numbered in the graduating classes of Brigham Young University.
The Church has generously provided for an intermediate program whereby Indian students who have come a little short of collegiate requirements may have special tutorial service from skilled teachers. Scholarships are provided to assist worthy students in the university, but many of our Indian children are already paying their entire way.
Hundreds of our Indian youth are receiving character-building and religious training wherever they go in government schools in Kansas, Oklahoma, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and in the great Intermountain Indian School at Brigham City, Utah, where we have a branch of the Church comprised of Indians. Here, President David O. McKay last winter dedicated the commodious chapel near the school wherein our youth are taught correct principles, all the virtues and the doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Our program is appreciated by the Indian people. When some opposition threatened the program last summer in one area, a petition was sent to us signed by many Indian parents pleading for the continuance of the program, and reservation officials were also approached. The petition read:
We parents feel that your organization has done wonders for our children, and we wish you would try every effort to place our children this year.
One prominent non-member observer wrote us:
You have the most perfect program for Navajo children that has ever been initiated to this time. We are all grateful for its outstanding success.
Another said:
I have never enjoyed a more wonderful experience in wholehearted cooperation and complete harmony of effort than I enjoyed at Richfield.
A tribal leader wrote us:
... This is very gratifying to our Navajo people in that your organization has taken such interest in our Navajo children... We deeply appreciate your service to our Navajo people... There have been several notifications reporting the foster homes for educational purposes by your child placing agency as a very important and noteworthy help...
Two missionaries wrote, when the children had returned home for the summer:
Yesterday in our testimony meeting, a mother of one of the girls who went to Utah this year got up and told how grateful she was to our Father in heaven that her girl had been able to go up to Utah where she could learn to pray, speak English better, cook, sew, and gain the schooling that she wanted her child to have that she herself didn't get.
One sister wrote of the first Sacrament meeting after the return of the children from Utah, how without embarrassment they had taken part in the services, giving talks, songs, and how some had borne testimony with such poise and impressiveness that the parents were amazed, as were Indian children who had been away to other schools.
In our great country times are changing. Schools are provided for practically every Indian child, and tribal funds are made available for determined but impecunious students. True religion and faith in the Eternal God are replacing superstition; the physician is taking the place of the medicine man; and administration by the priesthood is replacing the sand patterns and the signs for the Latter-day Saint members. Young couples are obtaining licenses from court clerks and being married by ministers and bishops. Bodies are being buried much the same as the white dead. The Indians who still place on the grave meats and fruits and other foods cannot understand why the dead of the white man can smell the flowers any more than the Indian dead can enjoy the food. The destructive custom of burning the home and its contents when death occurs therein is giving way. One of our sweet Apache sisters wrote this at the death of her husband:
I live in my house. I do not burn it like other Indians. I believe what the missionaries tell me. I think they are my brother.
This is our adventure in good citizenship and righteous living, our experiment in human relationships carried on by this, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Knowing the origin and destiny of the red men and believing the promises of God as recorded in the Book of Mormon, our people are willing to sacrifice for the progress and development of these whose deprivations pyramided mountain high but whose curse is now being lifted. Hundreds more sacrificing Latter-day Saints may yet have the opportunity of providing temporary homes for Lehi's children to get an education and to learn the gospel and to become Church leaders.
This is not a proselyting program, for we bring from the reservations those Indian children who are already members of the Church and whose families generally are members. The program will make good young people, stalwart adults. It will fortify them against the evils of the world; it will train them to become self-sufficient; it will develop them into leaders prepared to return to their own people and bring to them the benefits which can come from education.
This program has many advantages: It has at once the multiple advantages of the boarding school, the day school, the home, the refining and cultural influences of an improved community.
The children are taught in superior schools, fully accredited, and among the best in the nation. They have sufficient companionship of their own race to retain their pride in and love for their own people, for in the same community and school are other Indian young people. They have the environment of the best communities where are found the least in the world's vices and the most of its culture and refinement. They retain their family ties with natural parents by correspondence, pictures, relayed reports, and also letters through the case workers, and they return to their homes for the summer months to keep bound their home and family loves and loyalties. They grow naturally into the culture of America at its best, attending with a minority of their own group and a majority of the non-Indian children, activities in school, community, church, and family. They are not institutionalized but individualized and become recognized members of the family where they are integrated and "counted in" for every family pleasure, adventure, or sacred experience.
Our program is unique. Here is no family of marginal income who must take in a boarder to supplement the family living. Here is no mercenary care. But here non-Indian families in a very real and lovable way absorb the Indian children as new members of the family. These families, give, give, and give as only dedicated people will give. There is no remuneration for them; but their total compensation for the food, clothes, shelter, care, and love they give is the satisfaction which comes in giving opportunity for an enriched life to one who could not otherwise have it.
We rejoice in the greatly accelerated schooling of Indian children by the government, the states, and other churches and agencies, but we present this program of training in home and school and community as the finest program conceived of man for the rapid and permanent advancement and progress of the Indian child so long deprived. Let them have one generation of this sustained program, and see a new Indian world of prosperity, culture, and happiness.
In conclusion we say: God bless these selfless hundreds of families who have become and are yet to become "nursing fathers and mothers" who will continue to carry the chosen children of the ancient prophet Lehi "in their arms and upon their shoulders", I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Harold B. Lee
Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 59-63
This afternoon I am encouraged by the impressive discourse of President McKay at the opening of this conference to give humble expression to some thoughts that I have had on what I consider to be one of the most important matters which concern the Latter-day Saints today.
In the Documentary History of the Church, Volume IV, there is recorded an incident, and there is copied a letter which was prepared by the Prophet Joseph Smith at the request of the editor and publisher of a newspaper, who had asked the Prophet to write an article telling of the rise, the progress, the persecutions, and the faith of the Latter-day Saints. The Prophet agreed to do so on one condition, and that condition was that they would take his article in its entirety, with no deletions or no changes. There appears then, in this letter, or this article which was written for the paper, one of the most important historical documents which we have in Church history.
In that letter the Prophet Joseph Smith told about an experience that he had on the evening of September 21, 1823. While he was engaging in humble prayer unto God, suddenly he discovered that the room in which he was praying was being filled with light, a light brighter than the brightness of the sun, and as he marveled at this brightness, he was aware that a personage had entered the room with a consuming brightness even greater than that which he had beheld in the room.
As he recovered from the shock of the appearance of this personage, who introduced himself to the Prophet as a messenger sent from God, the messenger announced four things, which are declared in this document to which I have made reference and which are of great significance to the work today and as it was to be established under the instrumentality of the boy prophet, Joseph Smith. I shall only make brief reference to three of these announcements of the heavenly messenger:
The first thing that the messenger said was that the covenant which God had made with ancient Israel was at hand and about to be fulfilled. This undoubtedly made reference to that covenant which was announced to Abraham, who because of his faithfulness, was promised that through him and his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed: and God would make of Abraham's seed a great nation. We need only to be reminded that the Savior of the world came through that lineage; and while his personal ministry was only to the house of Israel, before he left his disciples he declared to them that they were "to preach repentance and remission of sins unto all the earth, beginning at Jerusalem". From this lineage a chosen people was to be prepared to set up the kingdom of God in these last days, and it was over this kingdom which the Christ was to reign when he came on earth for the second time.
The second announcement that was made by this heavenly messenger was that a preparatory work for the second coming of the Messiah was speedily to commence. You will recall that just before the Master's crucifixion he told his disciples that he would come again, and they said to him, as they sat upon the mount with him, perhaps for one of the last times, "Master, tell us when these things shall be". And then there came from his lips a train of happenings which he said would be the sure foretelling that the time was nigh at hand when his second coming was drawing near, when he should appear in the clouds of heaven with great power and great glory.
After he administered forty days among them after his crucifixion and resurrection, he was caught away from them in the clouds of heaven, and two angelic personages dressed in white said to those who were witnesses of the Master's ascension,
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
The third thing that the messenger announced to the Prophet was that the time was at hand for the gospel in all its fulness to be preached in power unto all the nations. This was in fulfillment of that which had been promised to John when the angel would fly in the midst of heaven, "having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth". The restoration of that fulness of the gospel was accomplished when the Book of Mormon, which was declared to be a record in which the fulness of the gospel was contained, was restored to the world through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
That the gospel might be "preached in power" required something else. Preceding the organization of the Church it was necessary that the keys of the priesthood be committed again unto men so that the gospel could be preached with power, and its ordinances administered unto men.
But the final and fourth thing which was announced is the thing about which I wish to address the few remarks that I make this afternoon. That was that a people might be prepared for the millennial reign. The meaning of that term was understood, apparently, from the prophets down from Enoch's time to the Prophet Joseph Smith's time, when the Lord spoke of a thousand year period in the world's history which would be called a millennial reign, which would commence with the second coming of the Savior. John saw in vision the resurrection of the just who would reign with Christ for a thousand years. He saw that during this period Satan would be bound, that there would be peace upon the whole earth. Heaven and earth would be closely associated, and all unfinished work pertaining to this world would be completed. Injustices would be righted, and at the end of that reign would come a final judgment.
Now, I have asked myself, this being the time to prepare for the millennial reign, how shall we set about to prepare a people to receive the coming of the Lord? As I have thought seriously about that matter, I have reached two or three sure conclusions in my own thinking. This preparation demands first that a people, to receive the coming of the Lord, must be taught the personality and the nature of God and his Son, Jesus Christ.
Someone has said this: the demand of our modern age is not "for a God who once was, but for a God who now is." As I read that, I thought, how can one meet a person whose identity is unknown? How can one be prepared to meet a person about whom he has no knowledge? How can one be prepared to meet a being whose personality he cannot comprehend?
Great thinkers have long since recognized this need in religion if it is to become a vital force. George Harris, in his book A Century of Change in Religion, said this: "The thought of God as a personality is a necessary condition of everything that is contained within the field of religious experience."
Professor Hacking of Harvard in his "Meaning of God in Human Experience," made even a more significant statement when he wrote: "The alternative to the thought of God as a person is the thought of Him as a substance, as mere energy, and chiefly as law. Just stop and consider for a moment what it would mean for us to try to obey the will of substance, of love, of energy, or worship law, and you will have some idea at least of how near this question of the personality of God comes to the heart of true religion."
When the Apostle Paul spoke of the organization of the Church, he said that one of the prime purposes of its organization was
... for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man.
And you will remember in that last memorable prayer, the Master said, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent".
Eternal life is God's life, or life with God. In other words, it seems to me, they are trying to tell us that the worthiness to abide in his holy presence can be obtained only by knowing God and by knowing Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
To my thinking, another requisite of that preparation to receive the Lord at the beginning of his millennial reign demands that the people be taught to accept the divinity of the mission of Jesus as the Savior of the world. Why was the Savior sent into the world? The Master himself answered that question during his ministry when he said: "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved".
In a revelation in our day he said it again:
For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him. And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.
Saved from what? Redeemed from what? Well, first, saved from mortal death through the resurrection of the dead. But in another sense we are saved likewise by his atoning sacrifice. We are saved from sin. Here is what the Prophet Alma explained to his people concerning this matter:
And he shall come into the world to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else.
... he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins.
That last declaration of the Prophet Alma points to still another requirement, as I see it, for a people to be prepared to receive the Savior's coming. We must be cleansed and purified and sanctified to be made worthy to receive and abide that holy presence. The Prophet Mormon put it this way:
Behold, I say unto you that ye would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and just God, under a consciousness of your filthiness before him, than ye would to dwell with the damned souls in hell.
How can this cleansing take place? The answer is: through holy ordinances which the Lord has established for that purpose. We are saved by grace, yes, through the atonement of the Master, but Nephi taught this other principle: "... for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do".
Now the nature of that ordinance by which salvation can be obtained is explained clearly also by the Prophet Nephi:
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism-yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.
And I heard a voice from the Father, saying: Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
And now, finally, there is still one more thing that is necessary, to my thinking, before that preparation is made for the millennial reign. We must accept the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith as the instrumentality through which the restoration of the gospel and the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ was accomplished. Each member of the Church, to be prepared for the millennial reign, must receive a testimony, each for himself, of the divinity of the work established by Joseph Smith. It was this that was taught plainly by the Saints after the advent of the Savior upon the earth, and one of the leaders in our day has said it again, when he declared, I suppose with reference to the parable of the five foolish and five wise virgins in the Master's parable, "The time will come when no man nor woman will be able to endure on borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within himself".
These things being true, then it must become our object and our whole desire to teach these fundamental things to prepare our people for his coming. As Brother Romney delivered his very excellent address on the subject of the perfecting of the Saints, I remembered what a prominent commentator said about the quotation from the writings of Paul to the Ephesians. He said there should be no comma after the word saints. He said it should read "for the perfecting of the saints in the work of the ministry", stressing the importance of perfecting all who are called to positions of leadership in preparing the people to receive a knowledge of the Son of God. Whether or not this is the correct interpretation, it is certain that in our homes, in our seminaries and institutes, in the auxiliary organizations, in the priesthood quorums, we must teach the knowledge and nature of the Godhead. We must teach the mission of the Savior of the world. We need to teach the purifying principles and ordinances of the gospel. We need to teach the need of and the restoration of the gospel through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
I suppose some might think it presumptuous if I were to plead with the teachers of youth in secular as well as in religious education not to tear down the foundation stones upon which a human soul can build faith necessary to prepare to meet their Redeemer. I would from my humble station invite those who would fight against the truth as taught in the restored Church to think seriously of what a wise counselor said to the enemies of Christ in the day of Peter and his associates. This counselor admonished:
Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found to fight against God.
Perhaps today is the time for us to hear again the rallying call that was put into words by W. W. Phelps:
Awake! O ye people, the Savior is coming; He'll suddenly come to his temple, we hear; Repentance is needed of all that are living, To gain them a lot of inheritance near. Today will soon pass and that unknown tomorrow May leave many souls in a more dreadful state Than came by the flood, or that fell on Gomorrah- Yea, weeping and wailing when grief is too late. Be ready, O island, the Savior is coming; He'll bring again Zion, the prophets declare; Repent of your sins, and have faith in redemption, To gain you a lot of inheritance there. A voice to the nations in season is given, Prepare, oh, prepare for the kingdom's new birth, To call the elect from the four winds of heaven; For Jesus is coming to reign upon earth.
May the Lord bless us as his children to recognize that call, and may we say and be able to say it with power, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve,... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, ", and prepare for the coming of the Savior, which may not be too long delayed, to cut short for the reign of righteousness the wickedness that well nigh seems to engulf a wicked world; when those who are righteous at his coming will be caught up in the clouds of heaven to meet him, and those who are asleep in their graves, who are righteous likewise, will be caught up in the clouds of heaven to meet him.
I bear you my solemn witness that I believe these things to be true with all my soul. This is the day for us to prepare that people ready to receive the coming of the Lord, and I bear that testimony in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Sterling W. Sill
Sterling W. Sill, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 63-66
A great American philosopher once said that we should thank God every day of our lives for the privilege of having been born. And then he went on to speculate on the unique question of how unfortunate it would have been if we had not been born, and he pointed out some of the wonderful things that we would have missed.
Really to understand the tremendous value of life as revealed by the gospel multiplies by many times the importance of this thought. Life is our most valuable possession. Just to live is a marvelous blessing, especially to live in these days of wonder and enlightenment known as the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.
In the days of Job it was said, "All that a man hath will he give for his life". For a very wise purpose, God has implanted in every human heart a great natural desire for continued existence. We cling to life with every ounce of our strength. Even in severe sickness or oppressive trouble, we will still go to almost any length to prolong life even for a week or a month, though the period gained may be one of pain or hopelessness. But we will suffer almost any inconvenience or endure almost any hardship just to live.
Now if mortal life is worth so much, how much is eternal life worth? And what would it mean to us if it were lost? God himself placed a value on eternal life when he said it was his greatest gift to man. It therefore automatically becomes our most important opportunity to give every co-operation to help bring it about. And a good place to start is the place suggested by the philosopher-that is, to live our appreciation every day. What a wonderful way to begin this quest for eternal life, if we could always live the sentiment of the song that says-
I love life, and I want to live, To drink of life's fulness, take all it can give; I love life, every moment must count, To glory in its sunshine and revel in its fount.
Even if we gave "everything" to secure eternal life, we still have made the most wonderful bargain in the world. William James said, "The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it." Eternal exaltation lasts forever and is the greatest possible good.
But the benefits of eternal life are not limited to its dimension of length. It has been pointed out that life has four dimensions:
First, there is the length of life-or how long we live.
Second, there is the breadth of life- or how interestingly we live.
Third, there is the depth of life-or how much we live, represented by those great qualities of love, worship, devotion, service, etc.
Then there is a fourth dimension of life, which might be compared to that more or less mysterious fourth dimension of space, the purpose of life-or why we live.
In the ordinary situations we multiply the dimensions to get the total volume. Suppose therefore that we could multiply the dimensions of life.
First there is the length of life.
We have made some progress in the last few centuries in increasing life's length. You may be interested to know that if you had lived two thousand years ago in Jerusalem, your life expectancy at birth would have been approximately nineteen years. In George Washington's day in America it was thirty-five years. In the America of our day, it is seventy years. We have not only tripled life's length, but it is also now possible for us to have clearer minds and stronger bodies and live in a world from which physical pain has largely been eliminated.
But no one is satisfied with this accomplishment. The only life we seek is eternal life. It has been wisely said that-"If the death of the body should forever end human life and personality, then the universe would be throwing away with utter heedlessness its most precious possession. A reasonable person does not build a violin with infinite care, gathering the materials and shaping the body of it, so that it can play the composition of the masters, and then by some whim of chance caprice, smash it to bits. Neither does God create in his own image the great masterpiece of a human life, and then when it has just begun to live, throw it utterly away."
God holds firmly in his hands the keys of eternal life.
Now suppose that we could multiply the length by the breadth of life.
Life at its best, even in mortality, is filled with interest and wonders. After the creation, God looked upon the earth and called it good. It is an earth of boundless beauty and endless fascination, where we may continually grow in knowledge and appreciation. When in our pre-mortal existence we beheld the foundations of the earth being laid and knew that we were going to have the privilege of living upon it, we are told that "all the sons of God shouted for joy". And I am sure that if we fully remembered now what we knew for sure then, we would be willing to crawl on our hands and knees through life for the privilege of being born and having the opportunity of proving ourselves faithful during the experiences of mortality.
Then our first parents were placed upon the earth and were asked to decide whether or not they would eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge, and after they had eaten, God said, "the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil". And I would like to point out in passing, that the right kind of knowledge still tends to have that effect upon people. It still tends to make them become as gods. And the most important classification of that knowledge is to know God and his plans for our betterment. When at the beginning of that long, awful night of betrayal and trial Jesus offered the great prayer to his Father, he said, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent".
We live in a day when the gospel has been restored to the earth in a fulness never known before. In addition to the things that other dispensations have had, we now have the three great volumes of new scripture, outlining in every detail the simple principles of the gospel. The pathway to eternal life has now been perfectly marked and brilliantly lighted, and no one now needs to get off the straight and narrow way, except by his own choice. We live in a day when we may eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil to our heart's content. There is no flaming sword guarding the tree of knowledge, and some of the greatest joys of life are the joys of understanding, born in our own minds. Edward Dyer said-
My mind to me a kingdom is; Such pleasant joys therein I find That it excels all other bliss That earth affords or grows by kind.
The gift of eternal exaltation includes not only a celestial body, but also a celestial mind. We will have quickened senses, amplified powers of perception, and vastly increased capacity for happiness and understanding.
We know from firsthand experience some of the traits and characteristics of glorified, immortal beings, from those who have visited the earth. In describing the Angel Moroni, the Prophet Joseph Smith said, "His whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning..." Not only was his person glorious, but also the Prophet said his clothing was brilliant "beyond any earthly thing I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear, so exceedingly white and brilliant".
We are all familiar with the wonderful lift it gives us to be appropriately dressed in beautiful clothing. We adorn our bodies and keep them clean and attractive and in other ways go to great lengths to make them pleasant places to live. If attractive clothing gives us pleasure, what must be the joy of living forever, dressed in a glorified, celestialized body-to live with a celestial family and friends on a celestial earth-but with the great added fascination of having a celestial mind, one that thinks like God!
Then suppose we multiply the total of the length and breadth by the depth of life.
The objective of life is not only to live long, but also to live well. It is not only to acquire but also to become; it is not only to receive benefits but also to render service. Wealth consists not so much in what we have as in what we are and do. I suppose that the eight most important words ever spoken are these: "So God created man in his own image". But not only has each of you been created in the image of God, but each has also been endowed with a set of attributes of divinity, the development of which is one of the purposes for which we live. As Jesus admonished us, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect". The plan of eternal progression contemplates that the offspring may ultimately become like the parent, and therefore fulfills the scripture which says that "men are that they might have joy", as the greatest joys of life are the joys of being.
Then there is the purpose of life, that which gives life its significance.
For a wise and glorious purpose Thou hast placed us here on earth And withheld the recollection Of our former friends and birth.
Some day that recollection and those friendships will be given back to us, but in the meantime, what a wonderful stimulation to know that life is not an accident or an afterthought or a result of blind chance! The great plan of salvation was designed by God our Father for our benefit. We have been working toward the goal of eternal exaltation through a long period of premortal existence. Then we walked by sight. We knew God. He is our Father. We lived with him. We saw his glorious, resurrected celestial body. We felt the wonder of his celestial mind and the delight of his wonderful personality. We wanted to be like him. We knew we must follow his example. We must learn obedience. We must learn to walk a little way by faith. We must pass the final test of mortality where we are free to choose for ourselves. We must be educated and proven and sanctified and redeemed.
And when we have finally proved ourselves worthy of exaltation, then eternity will be the measure of life's length; celestial glory will be the measure of its breadth; to be like God will be the measure of its depth.
Our salvation is made up of so many individual thoughts and acts and hours of effort, certainly it would be the height of foolishness so much to dread to throw mortal life away all at once, but then deliberately to throw away eternal life a little at a time. It has been said that few, if any, will ever lose their salvation by a blowout. Mostly salvation is lost by a series of slow leaks-a little indecision, a little indifference, a little procrastination, a little slothfulness.
Disobedience may cut down life's length by producing spiritual death. Lethargy may reduce its breadth and intensity. Sin may destroy its depth, its godliness, its joy. Ignorance may thwart its purpose.
Brothers and sisters, the gospel has been given to help us increase the dimensions of our lives. That was also the mission of the Savior of the world who said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly". "...all that a man hath he will give for eternal life" is still the greatest bargain in the world. May God help us to spend our lives effectively to that end, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder S. Dilworth Young
S. Dilworth Young, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 66-69
Yesterday there was a story read to you by Elder Clifford E. Young concerning Peter and John in the court of the temple healing a lame man who asked for alms. May I finish the story for you:
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straightly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
It is that last phrase about which I wish to speak. I should like to apply it to children. It is the burden of the Church, if any such thing can be a burden, to testify of things "seen and heard." How are we to teach children? They do not know all that an adult should know, but they should have no doubt as to where adults stand.
Every boy has a right to get the feeling that his father and his mother and his priesthood teacher, his Sunday School teacher and his scoutmaster, or anyone with whom he comes into association in the Church, knows of a surety of things "seen and heard." Every girl has a right to the same assurance that her parents and leaders know of things "seen and heard." Young folks themselves do not know yet, but confidence which they must develop comes because those closely in touch with them constantly bear witness to them in act, in deed, in word, that they know of things "seen and heard," the things seen and heard mentioned by Peter and John; the things mentioned by Nephi in the first chapter of the Book of Mormon in talking about his father Lehi, of the things he saw and heard; the glories of the gospel and of Jesus Christ and of all the things "seen and heard" of him and of the things Joseph Smith "saw and heard."
Children are not well taught by just being told. When I was a young man, at one time I worked on a ranch in Idaho for a large cattle outfit. Fences were more of a curiosity than now. The first morning I went to work for them the boss sent the man who took care of the "remuda," the horses, out to get them before daylight. I was curious to know how those cowboys were going to rope and saddle their horses because I could see no corral. I assumed the "punchers" were going to have a rare time chasing them down. But as day broke, in they came, fifty or sixty head of horses at a dead run, and they came to a corral I had not noticed. Stakes had been driven in a large circle on the prairie, each stake protruding about eighteen inches above the ground. In the top of each stake was an eyelet, and threaded through the eyelet was a rope; wings went out from a twenty-foot entrance, perhaps one hundred feet on both sides. These horses came into the enclosure at a full gallop. The rope did not reach to their knees, and yet not a horse stepped over it. The punchers went into that little makeshift corral and roped their animals, saddled and bridled them, mounted and rode the buck out of them, and not a horse jumped over that rope out of the corral.
I asked the foreman why that was, and he said, "They know better." I did not learn until later what "better" meant, but the horses through fear first and habit second had long since learned where they could go and where they could not, and what they could do and what they should not do about stepping over that rope.
Well, children are not horses, or even like horses, and we cannot teach them by fear because that has a bad effect upon them, but teach them we can and teach them we must.
May I give you half a dozen homely and homey suggestions which to me seem simple, in relation to teaching children? Before I give them to you, may I say that teaching is an attitude. One does not learn by the words spoken, but rather by the attitude and spirit in what they are spoken. One does not always learn by action, but by the happiness with which the action is performed. And the lesson must be repeated over and over again all the time the child is growing up. Surely the Lord knew what he was doing when he said, in effect, "I am going to give you these children for twenty years or so, before they mature, and in that twenty years repeat with them what they must know well." Twenty years is a long time to a child. You have plenty of time to give them the habit of not stepping over the rope without having them fear it.
First, let us revive that happy custom of taking our meals together. Let us abolish the snack bars in our kitchens and establish a table around which all may Sit, and let Father have breakfast with his children as well as supper and let them sit there for a few moments after each meal and have conversation about things about which Father and Mother would like to talk. That custom is going out of our existence rapidly. It is a powerful thing; it will work wonders on children.
Second, when Father comes home at night, I suggest to him that he really resist this temptation and put the paper in a hidden place until the children have gone to bed. The newspaper has no place in the home where children are until the father has spent the evening with them. And it is like reading for fifteen minutes a day-if you spend fifteen minutes or twenty minutes with each child according to his years in doing things which are interesting to him and being a companion to him, you have come nearer to fulfilling your obligations as a father. If you leave it up to the mother, and get behind the newspaper, I think you have committed a sin, because the child is neglected, and you have not done your duty. So be firm; put the newspaper under the mat until after the children have gone to bed.
Third, be sure to spend time with each child, according to that child's age and interests. With a three-year-old girl, if you have to, get down and play paper dolls. With a seventeen-year-old son, who wants to go to the Brigham Young-University of Utah game, that is where you should be.
The point is, by the time the child is twenty, he should be so companionable with his father that he can talk to him about anything he wants to. The way to do it is to be companionable at every age of his life, from the beginning. That is why it is important to learn how to handle a baby, fathers, and do all the things that a baby requires.
Fourth, it is a poor parent who is not up or awake when the children come home from late parties or late dates. Then is the time to invite them to talk over what happened; to enjoy the things which were good and to be counseled on avoiding the things which were sorrowful; to counsel wisely about the things which they might have done which were wrong. This practice, kept up all the days of his childhood, will be a great deterrent for a child who is anxious to stay out longer than he should. My mother sat up for me, and I did not have the nerve ever to keep her waiting too long. I knew she was there. It helped me. It will help all the children.
Fifth, no parent in this Church is doing his duty unless he makes the Sabbath what it should be. It should be a happy day together, with the whole family participating. The first thing in the morning, Father and Johnny go to priesthood meeting, and Father should take Johnny there, not Johnny take Father. They should discuss things on the way there and coming home, too. Each one should feel that the other is equal to him, and the father should take particular care that Johnny understands his priesthood. The Aaronic Priesthood is vital. This is successful not so much because of what is said but because of the unsaid emotions and feelings engendered.
And then, parents encourage the children, and themselves as much as they can, to go to Sunday School and to the auxiliaries. But above all things, the whole family, if it is going to do what it ought to do, must go to Sacrament meeting. Father and Mother should lead the way, the children following close after and staying there until it is dismissed. If one child is too small, one can go out with him, walk him up and down until he gets the kinks out of his legs, or if a small child is crying, one may have to take it home; but the family understands that at the proper hour, all are in Sacrament meeting together.
Now those suggestions followed carefully with assiduousness will bring others. I have not talked about many things that should happen in the home, but they will happen: prayer, love, all of the things which go with it.
May I conclude by reminding you of the first thing that I said, things "seen and heard." How necessary it is for a parent to bear that witness! I have an aged great-grandmother, long since dead, who in her ninety-seventh year was approached by one who had lost faith, and thinking perhaps that the grandmother, too, had lost some, said to her, "You knew the Prophet. What did you think of him?" This aged woman had endured the vicissitudes of the seventies' trek from Kirtland to Missouri, had suffered through Haun's Mill with her infant child in her arms, had counted the long miles across the plains, and then had lived through years of poverty in Utah. She smiled as she looked at this person, and I think disappointed the person, too, because this is what she said: "We all knew that he was a Prophet."
So we all do know that he was a Prophet, but do our children know it? Do our children know that we know it? That, I think, is our greatest obligation as we face life with these little ones who are given to us to rear to adulthood.
My testimony is like my great-grandmother's: I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet and that he saw and heard glorious things. I know that he held the keys, and I know that he passed them on to his successors, even down to President McKay and those who assist him. That is my witness to you, in the name of Christ. Amen.
Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin
Joseph L. Wirthlin, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 69-72
My beloved brethren and sisters, I want to bear you my testimony that I know Joseph Smith was a prophet selected by God for the purpose of establishing the Church and preparing the people for the second coming of Jesus the Christ.
The following revelation was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, wherein the Lord said:
The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones....
The Church was established with a membership of six people, and in that day it was thought by many it would be only a short time until the Church would be destroyed, particularly after the life of the Prophet had been taken. Today, the membership of the Church is approximately 1,375,000, indicating to the world that it may have been weak in the beginning of its establishment, but out of it the Church has become strong and powerful because of the people who accepted the gospel.
In connection therewith, the Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price were given to the world through revelation, and in every case, there still may be found in the thoughts of many the weakness of things, but these weak things are becoming strong and going forth and breaking down the mighty and strong ones in the world.
The Prophet Joseph never had the opportunity of attending great schools or universities. He was one of the common ones that the Lord selected because the Lord knew it would be possible to give him the assignments of establishing the Church and teaching the world the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as it was about to be given to mankind.
I think of the great missions of the Church in the world, some forty-five of them, where the gospel is being preached to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. It is a great source of encouragement to everyone of us to know that the gospel is being taught to the people of the world, even in far-off Korea where ten years ago we very seldom thought or dreamed that the gospel would be taken to the Korean people. Yet, the people in Korea are accepting it, and the Church is being established. Some of the weak things are there, but they are being accepted, and the mighty and great things among that people are being broken down to the end that the people will come to an understanding of the gospel.
The same is true with reference to the Japanese and Chinese people. We know that Brother Henry D. Moyle, who has spent much time these past few months among the great people in South America, has done a great work among the missionaries and has taught the people the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The strong and mighty things in South America are being broken down, and the people there are anxious to accept the restored gospel and enjoy all the blessings therein.
In the revelations from the Lord to the Prophet, indicating to him the work that should be done for the dead, we are reminded of a statement of Paul, an apostle of the Savior, when he said,
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?.
This has been a question in the minds of many individuals-something they cannot understand. Paul understood it; that is the reason he asked that question. So, again,
The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones.
One of the mighty and strong ones in the world has been the idea that the dead will not have an opportunity of accepting the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, or all of the opportunities that, no doubt, existed in the days of Christ himself, when he visited those people who had died and were held in prison because they were wicked during the days of Noah. So, there was established, through the Prophet Joseph, the temples. At the present time we have ten of them. The Prophet Joseph, you will recall, established a temple in Nauvoo wherein work was done for the dead.
The Statement of Ordinances Performed in all the Temples, as compiled in the Salt Lake Temple, indicates that from the time when temple ordinances for the living and the dead were revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith until December 31, 1955, 18,607,876 baptisms have been done for the dead; 15,848,297 endowments for the dead; 4,138,706 sealings of dead couples; 8,198,061 sealings of dead children to parents; or a total of 46,792,940 ordinances done for the dead. This indicates to us again the truth of the words of the Lord when he said,
The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones.
We must come to the understanding that through the Prophet Joseph, the temples have been established wherein the dead may have all of the blessings and opportunities which may be enjoyed by those who are now living. You and I have the same opportunities of going into the temples.
Also, according to the same Statement of Ordinances Performed in all the Temples, as previously mentioned, 56,649 baptisms have been done for the living; 478,711 endowments for the living; 231,139 sealings of living couples; 208,209 sealings of living children to parents, or a total of 974,708 ordinances.
Through the work for the dead and the opportunities for the living, my brethren and sisters, we all come to the knowledge that this is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ which has been given to us through the Prophet Joseph and all of the prophets who have followed him.
Let us consider what we are teaching our sons and our daughters in connection with their schoolwork. We now have twenty-seven institutes and 387 seminaries. In connection with these, we have our Church schools-Ricks College, Brigham Young University, LDS Business College, McCune School of Music, and for the people down in the Islands, we have the Church school in Hawaii, the Church school in Samoa, the Church school in New Zealand, and then the Church schools in Colonia Juarez, Mexico. These give the young people the opportunity to receive an education in connection with the Church and to become acquainted with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Brigham Young University came through the direction of Brigham Young, an apostle and a prophet. This past year, 1955-56, there were 9,502 young people attending this great Church school. Their testimonies have been strengthened. They know Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, that God lives, and that there stands at the head of this great organization a prophet of this day, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and other apostles who are interested in carrying on this great work in this great institution.
The Prophet received many revelations for the blessing and help of the people, particularly with reference to the Word of Wisdom. The great men of the time knew little of the detrimental effect of the use of tobacco, liquor, and foods that are harmful, but the Prophet Joseph knew and taught it to the people. The great scientists of today advocate that to partake of tobacco and liquor is not good. All of these teachings came through the Prophet Joseph Smith first. This brings us again to the thought that, "The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones.
The Prophet Joseph declared: "I saw the Father and the Son, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it: at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God and come under condemnation". He was willing to give up his life for the truth when he said to the world, "I saw the Father and the Son." They knew it, and he dared not say anything else other than that because to do so would bring him under condemnation. The Prophet Joseph has given to us the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and has so told us that while in the eyes of the world today there may be weak things in the gospel, yet as you and I and the world become acquainted with them, live them, and understand them, the time will come whereby these "weak things" will come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones.
As a people living in Zion where we are close to the prophet, close to the apostles, and all of those who guide and direct our affairs, we should realize that we must live the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in its fulness that we may be among those who might be called "the weak things of the world," and through the kind of lives we live make it possible to break down that which is contrary to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are all grateful that from the Prophet Joseph came also the establishment of the Book of Mormon, and with it the priesthood-the Melchizedek Priesthood and the Aaronic Priesthood- whereby every man has the opportunity to serve God as his servant and the opportunity to show to the world by the way we live here that we have the priesthood, we have all of the powers whereby there will come blessings to all the people in every land.
I have a prayer in my heart that sometime the day will come when our missionaries will have the opportunity to go into Russia and preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to that people and say to them, "The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones." We well know that in Russia there are mighty and strong things, but before that people can enjoy the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, some of that mightiness and some of those strong things must be broken down, that the Russian people can accept the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy all of the blessings. There are literally millions there who desire to know more about the Christ and be taught something about him. That opportunity will come to this people. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ has the priesthood, the authority, and the direction from on high to preach the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.
May God bless every one of us that we will so live that the world will say as an individual said who had the privilege of going through the beautiful temple at Los Angeles: "This temple is beautiful; it is marvelous; there is something about it that is different." And then she said, "The Mormon people have something." This individual acknowledges that the Mormon people have something different, and we do have something different. We have the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; we have a prophet; we have the same organization that existed in the days of Peter, James, and John. These are our blessings; these are our opportunities; and I humbly pray that the Lord will bless us, that the world will accept us and will say that we do indeed have the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray this will be the blessing and the inspiration of each and every one of us, in his holy name. Amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 72-74
Although I am American by birth and Scotch by marriage, I am Scandinavian by ancestry, and because of that I have a very keen appreciation of the beautiful music we have heard today from this Scandinavian choir. I would like to thank them as one of their countrymen, once removed, for the beautiful music they have rendered. I could not say thank you to them in Danish nor in Swedish nor Norwegian, but I can express some appreciation in four foreign words I have learned, two in Spanish, "mucho gusto," and two in German, "genz gut."
I was recently touring one of the large paper mills in the Pacific Northwest, and as I stood by one of the tremendous paper making machines, watching those whirring wheels and the fast-moving belts and feeling the tremendous heat that comes from those baking ovens, I marveled at the remarkable safety record of that great mill. Then I was told, and my eyes afterwards confirmed, that a wonderful safety program was carried on in that big mill, so that very, very few personal injuries were sustained there.
As I stood by that giant paper making machine, my eyes went up to the wall and there in a sign about six feet square, I read four words. The first word was in great block letters and occupied about half the sign, and underneath appeared the other three words. The sign said, "Think, then act safely." I learned that was the theme of the safety program in that tremendous mill and that it represented the whole idea behind the fact that few men get hurt there.
But as I stood there watching that machine go, and then glanced up at that sign, "Think, then act safely," my mind immediately went to a problem which Brother Spencer W. Kimball and I face together, and which was coming to a focal point at that very time, because school was letting out. It was the latter part of May, and I knew that it would not be long until hundreds and hundreds of young people would be coming to Salt Lake City and Ogden and other centers, looking for jobs, looking for places to stay, and some of them getting into trouble. I thought first of all of the parents of those young people and wondered exactly what they were thinking about. Very, very few of the parents of those hundreds of young people ever thought of coming to Salt Lake City or to Ogden or to Los Angeles or to San Francisco with their boys and girls, some of whom were fifteen and sixteen and seventeen years of age, to help them find a good family with whom to live, or stay with them until they found a decent job in decent circumstances with decent people.
And I began to wonder what some of those parents would think if they knew what the police department knows about some young people who come from smaller communities to these larger centers, unaccompanied, unchaperoned, unprotected, entirely on their own.
Yes, my mind did go back to that big sign in the paper mill, and I wished that every parent of every boy and girl who expects to leave home and go to a larger city would only "Think, then act safely."
I thought, too, of these young people. Many of them had no idea what they were getting into when they left home and came to the larger centers. They had absolutely no idea. Some of them came with only three or four dollars in their pockets and thought of course the minute they landed here they would get a job and the three or four dollars-in one case a girl had six-the three or four to six dollars would last until they got their first payday, and then they would be on easy street, and everything would go fine.
They would come to the larger city and look for a cheap place in which to live. Some of them were really cheap, on Twenty-fifth Street or on West Second South, or down on Canal Street in another city. They could not afford much, so they would get into a rooming house of some kind and think they were on their own and then discover that they had walked into tragedy. Some of the young people, unfortunately, could not wait to leave their homes. They wanted to break away and get on their own, and they did not realize what it meant to cut loose from home, to get away from the protection of Mother and Dad, and get into a strange city. Although there are many good people in all these cities, there are others who are cold and grasping and predatory, seeking innocent boys and girls to get them in their trap.
My mind went to the bishops, to the stake presidents. I still wondered why we have not responded more readily to the appeal of the First Presidency of the Church that you bishops, you counselors in bishoprics, you members of stake presidencies, and you parents cooperate with the program instituted by the Presidency and headed by Elder Kimball in an effort to protect your young people as they come to these larger cities. Will you not cooperate, will you not help? If you parents cannot control your children and they must go away, if instead of their being obedient to you, you are more obedient to them, at least will you not go to your bishop and talk about it, and then let the machinery of the Church help you? Will you "think, and then act safely"?
One of the big fears I have in connection with these young people coming to the larger centers is that so many of them actually want to break away from home, cut the apron strings, so to speak. They feel that they are self-sufficient; they know it all; Mother and Dad are old-fashioned. This is a modern world, and they want to be modern; they want to live in a modern way.
I ask the youth of the Church, do you really want that? Do you really want to cut loose from the protection of home? Think of all that home means. Think of all the word mother means. Think of the strong protecting power of Dad. Think of all that home stands for. And then think of the opposite. Think of the powers that are destructive of the home. And think of the powers that work contrary to the advice of Mother and Dad and ask if that is what you want
O youth of the Church, "think, then act safely."
One of the big difficulties about the young people who come on their own and have cut loose, escaped the apron strings, is that they then feel so free and in such a new life, they want also to cut loose from the Church. They do not go to the meetings any more. They go to other places and meet other people, and instead of Church friends, clean, fine Latter-day Saint friends, they pick up friends of the other side, of the lower element.
A question was asked in a full page newspaper advertisement to which I have referred many times, and this question was: "How would you like to live in a town where there were no churches?"
Young people, will you think of the kind of folk there are in the non-churchgoing crowd? Think about them for a moment. Think of those who oppose the Church and refuse to go to church. Think of the kind of people they are and the kind of wives and husbands they have and the kind of homes they develop, and think also of the kind of children, if any, they have. Is that the kind of life you want? Is that to be desired above the beautiful cleanliness of fine Latter-day Saint homes? Is that to be desired over the marvelous influence of the faithful youth of the Church?
What kind of crowd are you going with? What kind of person will you marry? You will marry from the crowd you go with; and if you choose the non-churchgoing crowd, remember that is what you will get, and all it includes. Think, consider it carefully, and then act safely.
And if you go with that other crowd, it is not long until you get the invitation to take a smoke. Before you take that cigarette, will you weigh the consequences, and ask yourself if it is the smoking crowd you want to go with, if it is the smoking crowd you want to marry from? And will you remember that the cigarette is the first step to breaking down the standards and the barriers to sin. Do you want to let down the bulwark, do you want to break down the dam and let the flood in? Weigh all these things before you take the smoke. "Think, then act safely."
And inevitably there will come the invitation to take a drink. Before you take the drink, think what alcohol does to you. I am not just talking about the possibility of alcoholism. I am talking about the manner in which alcohol will rob you of your self-control, destroy your ability to think wisely, and put you in the hands of unscrupulous men or women who will rob you of that which is more precious than life itself. Do you want that? Then before you take the drink, really think it over, and then act safely.
If you travel with that kind of crowd, there is going to be the invitation to neck and pet. Do you want that? What will be your response? Will you realize, oh, youth of the Church, that anyone who attempts to pet with you attempts to make an indecent approach? Petting is indecent and sinful, and the person who attempts to pet with you is himself both indecent and sinful and is likewise lustful. The invitation to pet, remember, so often ends up in the invitation to something worse. The young people themselves call it, "going all the way." Is that what you want?
Will you not remember that in the category of crime, God says sex sin is next to murder? Do you want it? It will bring broken hearts and remorse and misery all the days of your life and only the most sincere repentance can ever wipe it out. But oh, how you will suffer as many have suffered the remorse that accompanies such a terrible sin as that.
Oh, youth of the Church, oh, parents, oh, bishops, who have charge of the youth, and you MIA workers and Sunday School and Primary, you Relief Society mothers, will you all use the intelligence God has given you, will you think, act safely, and live your religion?
That is my humble prayer for us all, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Elder Eldred G. Smith
Eldred G. Smith, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 75-76
I come before you, brothers and sisters, with a sincere desire that I may have an interest in your faith and prayers while I take this time, for I am sure that I need it.
I wish to add my testimony of the divinity of the gospel to those others of this conference, for I know of a surety of the divinity of the gospel of Jesus Christ and that it has been restored in this, the latter day.
I enjoyed Brother Bennion's discussion of the converts in Europe, which brought to my mind many similar experiences I have through contacts with converts to the Church. One of the prominent things that he told us was the thrill and the joy of these young people, missionaries and servicemen, who are growing in their testimony, that the testimony of the gospel is one of their choicest possessions and one of the things that brings so much joy to them. Those who come to my office, so often converts to the Church, have repeated to me the same stories that Brother Bennion repeated-that life has just begun for them.
A husband and wife said that they felt that they had wasted fifteen years of their married life, for now, since they had joined the Church, they were just beginning to live again.
It is not so much the words that they express, but it is the thrill and the joy that lights up their faces when they say it, in all sincerity-a joy that can come from no other source.
So, as this knowledge of the gospel is one of the most important things for us to gain, I have heard many times members of the Church, as well as investigators or non-members, ask the question, "How does one know? How does one get a testimony of the gospel?" The Lord has told us, and it has been repeated here before in this conference:
There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated-
And when we obtain any blessings from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.
If we want the blessing of a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and want to know, even if we are just investigators and want to know which is the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we have to find out what that law is and fulfil it.
Moroni gives us the key to that law. As he was preparing the records which were given into his keeping, and he was finishing his part of them before putting them away for some future date-he knew not when it would come-he wrote in his record:
Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam ever down unto the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is. And ye may know that he is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power, according to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever.
Now he has given us two thoughts, primarily, in this record: first, "ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ." And second he said, "... he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." So if we are going to find the law by which we may gain a knowledge, we have the key to it here; first, we must do something ourselves, we must ask for it, and, second, then we will be given that through the Spirit.
In section eighty-nine there is another key. The promise that is given there is:
"And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments," and then the Lord gives us a promise of health and adds, "... shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures".
If we will learn the law of obedience and take that first step ourselves, the Lord will prompt us and give us that knowledge through the Spirit.
The Lord has said: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find: knock, and it shall be opened unto you". If we do not seek, if we do not ask, if we do not knock, then we cannot receive that knowledge.
In cottage meetings and other gatherings where the gospel is proclaimed, all do not receive it the same; yet the same thing is taught to all. There are some in the group who will apply that law by which that blessing may be received, that of putting themselves in tune with the Spirit, just like a large radio transmitting station. The Lord's spirit is with us all. The gospel of Jesus Christ is being proclaimed, but if we do not put ourselves in tune, we do not get the reception. If we do not get the reception, it is not the fault of the broadcasting station, it is the fault of the receiver, and we are the receiver; we must put our spirit in tune.
The soul is made up of body and spirit, and as we get in tune with the Spirit, then we receive that testimony by the Spirit.
We were reminded last Thursday in our meeting in the temple prior to this conference that the greatest testimony is that which comes and testifies of the Spirit. We cannot always trust what we see and what we hear, but we can always trust that prompting of the Spirit that comes to us, which declares to us that which is truth; and by that power we get our strength and testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Prophet Joseph Smith had to take that first step and ask for knowledge. He read in James that if ye lack wisdom and shall ask, ye shall receive. He took the words of James to heart and went into the grove of trees and knelt and asked for that knowledge which he received. There the Prophet saw and heard, and surely it was testified to him of the Spirit that this was true and that these things which he experienced were true, by which he received a true knowledge of God the Father and of the Son, so that he knew that Jesus Christ lived, and that the Father lived, and knew that be had truly seen a vision, as we have heard testified here today.
So I say, let us put ourselves in tune. If there are members in the Church who are uncertain, who are lacking in that strength of a testimony, ask, and ye shall receive, knock, and it shall be opened unto you. If you will put yourself in tune that your spirit shall be in tune with the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, then you shall receive a knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
May the blessings of the Lord be with us all, that we may all enjoy that prompting of the Spirit and be able to assist others as a result of that knowledge given to us, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 82-86
My brethren: We seem to be living in an age of ideologies of various kinds. The things that used to influence men and nations and lead them into conflict-ordinary ambition, thirst for territory, thirst for power, still remain, but there have come to supersede them certain ideologies which move nations, sometimes in rebellion against the past, sometimes to build up new concepts and new rules.
One of these ideologies which is perhaps politically not so important but which socially is most important, has been talked about tonight by Brother Mark E. Petersen-the ideology which lowers moral standards that we have been taught in the past to regard as sacred. I endorse all that Brother Mark has said tonight and urge you bishops, presidents of stakes, and heads of households, to follow his advice.
I am going to talk tonight, or plan to, about another ideology, and I should like, in all humility on my part, to have the assistance of your faith and prayers. I shall try not to be too long; it may be I shall be a bit dull. I am going to read in part, perhaps a good part, what I say.
The ideology I have in mind is what I might call the ideology of equality. We have a sort of feeling about our own people in our own nation and the nations of the world, that everybody is equal to everybody else. You remember that the Declaration of Independence said, "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, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Those phrases seem to have caught the imagination of people of various kinds. I am not going to talk about them, somebody would accuse me of talking politics, but I have this kind of a feeling about them-that they are not intended to suggest that force shall be brought to bear upon me, if I be a law-abiding man, tending my own business, to take away a part of my life to give to somebody else who thinks he would like some of it. I feel the same way about liberty. I feel the same way about pursuit of happiness. That is my right as a member of the body politic, and just because somebody else thinks he would like some of my happiness, I not imposing upon him or taking anything away from him, that I should be compelled to bestow upon him some of my happiness, is just beyond me.
Now, I want to talk tonight about what I will call spiritual relativity. I do not know anything about what scientific relativity means, but I can get some idea about what I am going to talk about. I am going to speak from the Book of Abraham, primarily, and my speaking will consist principally in reading, in the first part of what I say, with perhaps an interpolation of a remark here and there.
If you will read the third chapter of the Book of Abraham, you will find that the Lord is giving instructions to Abraham about various matters, including matters of astronomy, and then the Lord begins to apply those matters of astronomy of which he has been talking, where he has one planet and then another greater than that, and then that there shall be one greater than that, and he begins to apply that to individuals:
"19. And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all".
Now, I am not going to try to tell you what that principle means, or where it leads; all I want to get out of that is that here are three intelligences, spirits, and that they are not equal, even the two are unequal. There is the one, there is the second more intelligent than the first, and there is the third more intelligent than the other two.
I like to think of that, as I have said, as spiritual relativity.
I am going on, now, and reading from the third chapter of Abraham. The Lord has been talking about the intelligences, and he says:
"21. I dwell in the midst of them all; I now, therefore, have come down unto thee to deliver unto thee the works which my hands have made, wherein my wisdom excelleth them all, for I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, in all wisdom and prudence, over all the intelligences thine eyes have seen from the beginning; I came down in the beginning in the midst of all the intelligences thou hast seen.
"22. Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were, many of the noble and great ones..."
In that great body of intelligences there were those whom the Lord has described as "noble and great ones": obviously others were not noble and great. Then going on, apparently in the same sentence, as it is punctuated:
"23. And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born."
In a minute or two I will refer to this same observation in connection with the Priesthood.
Then the scripture tells us that there were two who stood up. Each one wanted to create this new world that they had talked about. This is the Grand Council that we talk about, where all of us presumably were. Some were "noble and great ones," and some of us were not. We were not equal in that Grand Council, have no mistake about that. There it was decided:
"24.... We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;
"25. And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
"26. And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon".
We understand that we kept our first estate, we who belong to this Church, that we have received the Gospel, and if we live as we should, we will be "added upon."
"... and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate..."
The Lord has told us that we have three kingdoms, celestial, terrestrial, and telestial; he has told us who will be, in great broad classifications, in each of these kingdoms, possess each of these glories. He has told us that they differ. Paul told the Corinthians that they differed even as stars differed among themselves.
Now, then it goes on:
"... and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate;..."
I am not undertaking to declare doctrine or Gospel, but as I read that, and as I understand it, it means that after we, so to speak, have been taken out, those who have kept their first estates, and we are not the only ones, there remains the great over-plus. They do not have the same heritage, the same kingdom, the same glory, that we shall have, and they have and can fall into the terrestrial, the telestial, and then the Doctrine and Covenants tells us there is a kingdom without any glory.
My point is that we were not equal at the beginning as intelligences; we were not equal in the Grand Council; we were not equal after the Grand Council. We had our agency over there, and the Lord has so told us that and that it was because of the exercise of that agency that a third of the hosts of heaven rebelled. They did not keep their first estate and apparently the punishment to be inflicted upon them for their rebellion was that they should not have bodies.
"... and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever".
Then the Lord goes on and tells us about the two beings who came and offered to build this earth and implement its creation. Satan, we learn from other scriptures, declared that he would save everybody, apparently either take away their free agency or else cause that nothing that they did would be a crime. The other one said he would do the will of the Father. The Father said that he would take the one who said he would do his will. Then it says:
"28. And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him".
Then the next chapter says:
"1.... Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth.
"2. And the earth, after it was formed, was empty and desolate, because they had not formed anything but the earth; and darkness reigned upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of the Gods was brooding upon the face of the waters".
I like that word "brooding," breeding, bringing forth the things of the earth, or preparing it therefore, it seems to me to mean.
Now, this matter of body which, I take it, will come to those who keep their first estate; and those who do not keep their first estate, but who do not belong to the rebellious group, they all get bodies too. We have our bodies. We are not all born in the same circumstances, with the same advantages, and all the rest of it. But evidently the possession of a body was a great consideration, and I refer you, in that connection, to the incident of the Gadarene demons.
You will remember that when the Savior approached them, they said, "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God?" This was one case where the demons, themselves, bore testimony that Jesus was the Christ. "What have we to do with thee?"
And then they asked that the Savior, that the Savior would permit them to go into the nearby herd of swine. I have always thought that there was a beautiful expression there. They asked him not to send them out into the "deep." You will recall that they went into the swine, and the swine ran down into the sea and were drowned.
I have always thought that indicated very, very clearly how valuable an earthly body is-that they were willing in order to have possession, apparently even for the moment, of a body, to go into the body of a swine.
Now, I am trying to get out of all this only the one fundamental thought-we were not all equal at the beginning; we were not all equal at the Grand Council; we have never been all equal at any time since, and apparently we never shall be.
Now as to the Priesthood: Adam, the Prophet Joseph Smith tells us, received his Priesthood before the creation of the world, as I recall it. That is when he got his Priesthood. Seemingly it was not given to everybody. We do not know who else received it besides Adam, but probably some. The Prophet Joseph said, "I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that Grand Council." And he said, "Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was".
I like to think that perhaps we may have been there at that Grand Council and that we, the great body of this Church, with our divine commandment, our divine destiny, our divine responsibility, to carry the Gospel to the nations of the earth-I like to think that we were endowed somehow with a mission, perhaps with the Priesthood, to carry on the work which we have to do.
Now, the Prophet told us that from that time down, apparently until the time of Moses, the Priesthood descended in a regular line from father to son, through their succeeding generations.
You will remember at the very beginning there was a contest in the Priesthood. At any rate, Cain offered a sacrifice that was not acceptable to the Lord. You know the result.
From that time on down to the time of Moses, we note that the men that were named carried on the Priesthood. It does not seem to have been a common endowment. Everybody was not offering sacrifice, but only those who were chosen by the Lord.
When you come down to Moses, remember Moses had the Melchizedek Priesthood, which he received from Jethro, his father-in-law, at the beginning of his work. He seems to have been the only one among the Israelites who then held the Melchizedek Priesthood. He tried, you will recall we are told, to have Israel fit itself to partake of the Melchizedek Priesthood. Israel would not do it, and so there was established the Aaronic Priesthood, the Lesser Priesthood, and that was bestowed upon Aaron and his family.
Way along at the beginning, soon after they began the exodus, Aaron and Miriam, the sister, apparently basing their actions upon the fact that Moses had married an Egyptian, Ethiopian, nevertheless it appears in the account that they accused Moses, who held the Melchizedek Priesthood and Aaron held only the Aaronic Priesthood-accused Moses of usurping power that they had formerly possessed. You will recall that they were severely chastened, chastised. Miriam was stricken with leprosy.
I have always thought that there was in this an indication of the priesthood status of women, because of the punishment which apparently was inflicted upon Aaron, which differed from the punishment which was inflicted upon Miriam-that here was an indication that women did not receive the Priesthood, and certainly so far as we know, women have not had the Priesthood. Miriam's punishment may have covered her seeming claim that she had a right to priesthood powers.
When that was settled, you will remember that a Levite, Korah, and Dathan and Abiram, apparently Reubenites, rebelled against Moses and said he was taking too much upon himself. They did not have the authority to officiate, they did not have the Priesthood that Moses had, and they did not have the authority that Aaron had. They rebelled. I will not take time to do more than tell you that finally a challenge was issued by Moses. They came out with their censers, and the earth opened and swallowed them up.
But they were not content with that demonstration. You will remember that then the question arose as to where the Priesthood authority was, and apparently Moses intended to settle it once for all, so he planned the experience of the rod that blossomed. Each of the tribes got a rod, and it was placed in a container in the tabernacle, as I recall it, and the rod that blossomed was to be the rod of the tribe that was chosen. Aaron's rod blossomed; the others did not.
I want to get from this the proposition that Israel, generally, did not have the Priesthood that Aaron had. Even the Levites, who had a secondary kind of officiating authority in taking care of the tabernacle, did not have the right to offer sacrifice, which belonged entirely to Aaron and his sons.
And you may recall that rather early in their Priesthood experience there were two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, who offered "strange fire" before the Lord, and they were smitten, killed.
The Lord has always guarded his Priesthood with the utmost care, so that all during Israel's time, only a few held the Priesthood, and of that few only one family, seemingly, had the right to officiate. There evidently were individuals at various periods in Israel's history who held the Melchizedek Priesthood, but it was not generally possessed. Apparently the Priesthood has not ever gone to all humanity. The Lord has guarded it very, very carefully, and he guards it in the same way today.
So, my brothers, we need not be dismayed or suffer any inconvenience or embarrassment from the fact that the Priesthood is a sacred calling which is bestowed upon those whom the Lord designates, with such powers and such authority as the Lord may indicate by virtue of the office. We have deacons, teachers, priests, elders, seventies, high priests. You know how that comes about, how we get these various grades of Priesthood.
But two points:
First, there never was a time when all spirits were equal, so far as the Lord has revealed; so far as he has revealed, there never will be a time when all spirits are equal. He has provided different kingdoms and glories for the different kinds of individuals as they come to this earth, and I can imagine, having in mind the Gadarene demons, I can imagine that those who did not keep their first estate but who still may come to earth and get a body, are anxious to come and get a body no matter what the conditions are, if we are to judge by the anxiety of those demons who were cast out and who asked that they be permitted to enter the swine.
Next, the Priesthood has never been possessed by all individuals; the Lord has chosen those to whom he wishes to delegate his authority. He has carefully guarded the exercise of that authority. Some, our sisters, for instance, have never held the Priesthood.
Thank you, brethren, for your kindness.
I bear you my testimony that the Lord lives. I bear you my testimony that Jesus is the Christ, that he lived, was crucified, died, was resurrected.
I bear you my testimony that the Priesthood has been restored to us through the restoration that came through the Prophet. I bear you my testimony that all of the rights and the powers which Joseph had have descended from him till now and that they are now possessed by President David O. McKay.
May the Lord bless us and build up our testimonies, enable us to understand the principles of the Gospel and not get off on the theory of this ideology that everybody is alike, and all have equal rights-our rights depend upon our course before we came here, and our course since we arrived.
God bless you, I pray in the name of his Son. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 88-91
This afternoon at the height of a most inspirational meeting I saw two young men on my left in the gallery rise from their seats and walk out of the building. I hastily put on my long distance glasses to see more definitely who they were. They impressed me as being teachers, about the age of 15.
That little act emphasized one of the points to be mentioned at this Priesthood Meeting, and that is the attitude of our young men bearing the Aaronic Priesthood who are asked to administer the emblems of our Lord's death and life. No more sacred ordinance has been given to us by the Lord than the administration of the Sacrament. I shall not dwell long upon its significance, the principal one of which is a covenant that we make with the Lord. We give our word of honor to do certain things, which as the Brethren said today, are contributive to our spiritual growth and happiness if kept, but which weaken our characters if we violate them.
Say over in your mind briefly just what that covenant is. Those two men who are representing the audience appeal to the Lord in the name of the Redeemer, and ask him to bless and sanctify that bread or water to the souls of all those who partake of it. That is a sacred approach. "That they may do it in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them," then the result, "that they may always have his Spirit to be with them".
That is one of the prayers given to us word for word. Young men who are given the Priesthood, the importance of which we have heard tonight, are asked to give the congregation the opportunity to make that covenant, and the two priests who are to bless it, or the four who are to participate, should be instructed regarding the importance and sacredness of their calling. No whispering should be engaged in by those boys. All preparation should be carefully made before the hour of the sacrament meeting, and those young men should at least refrain from conversation, even if they do not contemplate the responsibility which is theirs.
I am not going to say much about the dress. We are not a people who look to formality, certainly we do not believe in phylacteries, in uniforms, on sacred occasions, but I do think that the Lord will be pleased with a bishopric if they will instruct the young men who are invited to administer the sacrament to dress properly. He will not be displeased if they come with a white shirt instead of a colored one, and we are not so poor that we cannot afford clean, white shirts for the boys who administer the sacrament. If they do not have them, at least they will come with clean hands, and especially with a pure heart.
I have seen deacons not all dressed alike, but they have a special tie or a special shirt as evidence that those young men have been instructed that "you have a special calling this morning. Come in your best." And when they are all in white I think it contributes to the sacredness of it. Anything that will make the young boys feel that they have been called upon to officiate in the Priesthood in one of the most sacred ordinances in the Church, and they too should remain quiet, even before the opening of the meeting.
That is just preliminary. I said I saw these two boys leave the building this afternoon, and it reminded me that in some of our wards, these young men who have been appointed to administer the sacrament, and who have officiated in the order of the Priesthood, start for the door and leave the worshiping assembly. I will not say it is sacrilege, but I will say that it is not in keeping with the order and sacredness of the service which they have rendered by virtue of the Priesthood.
Instruct them, bishops. When they accept that duty, they accept the responsibility of remaining throughout that entire meeting hour. They are part of it. A bishop would not think of leaving. His counselors would not. Neither should your representatives who administer the sacrament.
There should be more order in the administration of the sacrament. A keener sense of the promise, the covenant, we make will add much to the spirituality of the membership of the Church, and will entitle us to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Indeed that is a principal end of our existence.
I like that parable Jesus gave when he said, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
"And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these".
"Consider the lilies, how they grow," with their roots down in the ground seeking for sustenance, and all that sustenance and vitality going up through the stem for one purpose, until that flower blossoms in the sunshine in fulfillment of its life, receiving the glory of the sunshine, and the completion of pistol and stamens.
So we, with our tentacles in the earth, our hands, our brains, which God has given us physically, seek life and sustenance in subduing matter. Why? That we might realize the ideal, that our souls too may blossom in the sunshine of God's Holy Spirit, "that thy Spirit may be always with us."
Brethren, let us have the Lesser Priesthood remain and participate in that administration in sacredness, in reverence, and contribute to the order of the worshiping assembly.
There is one other principle to which I wish to call attention tonight, and that is the observance of the Sabbath Day. I was grieved, recently, and probably you were, to receive an invitation to attend the opening of a new multi-million dollar runway at the Hill Field Air Force Base. All our service boys will want to be there. Thousands of loyal citizens will want to be there, but why should it be on Sunday? We have our boys of the Air Force here tonight. They are loyal. Our boys are bringing honor to our Country. Their Captains, their officers, write to us and tell us how proud they are, and that goes for the boys particularly who are maintaining the ideals of the Church. Most of them are-God bless them.
Well, among those ideas is worshiping on the Sabbath Day, keeping it holy. I wish that they, in order to be loyal to their troops and associates, would not have to go up there on Sunday. I understand that possibly the State National Guard here in our own State may ask the members of the National Guard to go out and drill on Sunday. I hope not.
Sunday is worship day. It is holy. This is a Christian nation, and the Lord has promised that as long as we keep him in mind and worship him this Country will stand-this Government will stand. No other nation can take it or destroy it. But if we forget Him, God's promises are not binding.
Why should Sunday be observed as a day of rest? First, Sunday is essential to the true development and strength of body, and that is a principle which we should proclaim more generally abroad, and practice. I know that you men who have sedentary occupations, as we do in the Church, say it is good to go out and have exercise. That will be better for us. But there is something more than just that. Sunday is a day when we change our clothes, put on clean linen. It is truth that "cleanliness is next to godliness," and the Lord said, "Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord".
Bacon, the great philosopher, said, "Cleanliness of body was ever esteemed to proceed from a due reverence to God. The consciousness of clean linen is in and of itself a source of moral strength, second only to that of a clean conscience." The farmer who makes his boys go out and haul hay, even when a storm is coming, is doing his boys an injustice. It would be much better to let that hay be destroyed than to deprive those boys of a sense of coming nearer to the Eternal Spirit, and partake of the sacrament, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them.
A second purpose for keeping holy the Sabbath Day is: "That thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world." Contemplation during that sacred hour, self communion, and higher than that, communion in thought and feeling with the Lord-the realization that He is near enough to be aware of what you are thinking. What you think about-is really what you are.
"Nae treasures, nor pleasures, Could make us happy lang; The heart ay's the part ay That makes us right or wrang."
Keep thyself unspotted from the world, and ask God to forgive you if you have in mind injuring anyone who trusts you-I mean morally-or if you have in mind wronging anybody, cleanse it from your mind. Read Doctrine and Covenants Section 59.
There is a third reason. Keeping holy the Sabbath Day is a law of God, resounding through the ages from Mt. Sinai. You cannot transgress the law of God without circumscribing your spirit. Finally, our Sabbath, the first day of the week, commemorates the greatest event in all history: Christ's resurrection and his visit as a resurrected being to his assembled Apostles. His birth, of course, was necessary, and just as great, so I say this is one of the greatest events in all history.
"The Sunday," says Emerson, "is the core of our civilization, dedicated to thought and reverence. It invites to the noblest solitude, and to the noblest society."
We have other instructions and suggestions, but I will add no more than to commend the excellent admonitions given by Brother Petersen, President Clark, and President Richards.
I will conclude with reference to an incident as a missionary in Scotland in 1898. After having been in Stirling only a few weeks, I walked around Stirling Castle with my senior companion, Elder Peter G. Johnston of Idaho. We had not yet secured our lodging in Stirling. I confess I was homesick. We had spent a half-day around the castle, and the men out in the fields ploughing, that spring day, made me all the more homesick, and took me back to my old home town.
As we returned to the town, I saw an unfinished building standing back from the sidewalk several yards. Over the front door was a stone arch, something unusual in a residence, and what was still more unusual, I could see from the sidewalk that there was an inscription chiseled in that arch.
I said to my companion: "That's unusual! I am going to see what the inscription is." When I approached near enough, this message came to me, not only in stone, but as if it came from One in whose service we were engaged:
"Whate'er Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part."
I turned and walked thoughtfully away, and when I reached my companion I repeated the message to him.
God help us to follow that motto. It is just another expression of Christ's words: "He that will do the will of God shall know of the doctrine, whether the work is of God, or whether I speak of myself", and that testimony leads us all to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in life. I humbly pray that the Priesthood assembled this night will take upon themselves the responsibilities which God has placed upon them, and do their duty wherever it may be, and I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Alma Sonne
Alma Sonne, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 127-129
I am aware that Christianity does not mean the same to all people. There are many beliefs, many interpretations, numerous conflicts and much discussion on matters pertaining to religion. I do believe, however, that the best people in our country are interested in preserving spirituality in America. No nation can grow permanently great without God. History has so proven. The foundation of spirituality is faith in the true and living God. Without such faith man is forever in the shadows, for he has lost his greatest incentive to right living.
One hopeful feature of the modern times in which we live is a return to the Bible. From beginning to end this sacred volume is a message of faith. It is a powerful testimony of the existence of God, and the divine mission of Jesus Christ. Its religious significance is recognized in all Christian countries. History proves that the Holy Bible has irrevocably altered the lives of men and nations. It has touched deeply the very heart of humanity, its influence has reached into the literature of the world and its passages have been quoted by preachers and laymen alike.
I believe that Biblical research and intensive study of the sacred writing will some day contribute much to the intelligent use of the Bible. Scholarship and honest investigation will eventually remove all doubt respecting its divine authenticity, its trust-worthiness and reliability as a guide to human progress.
It is natural for most men to turn to the past for proved wisdom. The Bible contains the wisdom of the ages and the demonstrations of God's power to uplift the human family. From its pages come a transcendent comfort and a deeper sense of life's purposes. I refer to its teachings with the utmost confidence. "Search the scriptures," said Jesus, "for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me".
The greatest advocate and teacher of faith in God is Jesus Christ. During his ministry he demonstrated its power. He taught faith to the unrepentant. He urged those stricken with disease to exercise their faith as a means of receiving the desired blessing. He healed the sick, raised up the dying, restored sight to the blind and brought hope and comfort to the distressed.
Thomas Didymus, who was profoundly shaken by the scene at Golgotha, had lost his faith. He had said on one occasion that he was ready to die with his Master. But like the others, he ran away. He had become sullen, resentful and unbelieving. "... Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe".
Like all skeptics he insisted on a material test. He would not believe his eyes. He must feel and touch. So-called "reality" was his stronghold. But the Master understood the texture of his mind. Thomas Didymus must be reassured and strengthened in his faith.
A week later, the disciples were in the same house as on the first occasion and Thomas was with them. Suddenly the Lord appeared. He greeted them all, with the words "Peace be unto you. His eyes searched out the doubting Apostle. He called him by name and said: "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God".
But to Thomas came the distinction of receiving the last, but not the least, of the Beatitudes. "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed". Is this not the very foundation of the Christian religion? Is it not fundamental to everything that Jesus taught and did? Thomas Didymus admitted his defeat. He was prepared at that moment to recognize his Lord as the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world. Thus fortified Thomas Didymus, like the others, could climb the difficult heights of self-denial without wavering or faltering. His faith had been restored, his doubts had fled and the foundation upon which he stood would never give way.
Faith opens the door to an understanding of God-His character and attributes. "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent". These words came from the prayer which Jesus offered to his Father for the apostles and all others who believe on him.
Faith is constructive for it supplies the urge to do things. A people blessed with faith are progressive, and invincible before difficulties. Israel was delivered from the Egyptian bondage through the exercise of faith. The pioneers found their way to a home in the West and laid the foundation of a commonwealth in the desert because of their faith in God's promises. By the same token the Pilgrim fathers established their ideals of civil and religious liberty in America.
Without an abiding faith the soul has no anchorage and is "driven with the wind and tossed". Man's faith in God is an acknowledgment of God's power to save and exalt the human family. It recognizes the deityship of Jesus Christ and accepts his gospel as the plan of salvation. It puts man in possession of vital information to lead him onward and upward, and to inspire him to live in harmony with divine law.
Faith is a gift of God to be developed by prayerful and open-minded investigation. It sets up hope and courage and explores the realms of the unseen. A loss of faith is a tragic setback in the journey towards perfection.
Skepticism, on the other hand, has no vitality. It offers no program. It contradicts every claim to a life after death. It robs man of his belief in moral and spiritual values, and destroys his fondest hopes and noblest aspirations. Unbelief is negative and rejects the revelations of God however manifested.
We are surrounded by many mysterious manifestations in nature and the outside world which we cannot explain. And yet the miracles performed by Jesus and the Prophets have been a stumbling block to many whose faith is weak. These deniers of God's power have refused to accept the God of the Bible as the Creator and the Ruler of the universe. Jesus, Himself, proclaimed his supremacy when he said: "... All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen". No Christian can read those words without having a sense of awe and reverence for the Redeemer of mankind. He is the light of the world. He has no parallel among the many who have aspired to world leadership.
Paul, the Apostle, was a product of Christ's gospel. The power of faith manifested itself in the complete conquest which it made of him. There is as much difference between Saul of Tarsus and Paul, the Apostle, as there is between night and day. He came at a juncture in the Christian movement when he was most needed. His call to service in the ministry was unexpected for he was already listed with the enemies of the cause he later represented. His entire life from the day of his conversion, reflected an unconquerable faith, a firm conviction and an unshakable testimony which has lived for centuries.
His second letter to Timothy, which may have been his last, reveals his anxiety and concern for those who had joined the faith. The letter was written from his dungeon in Rome, where he was a prisoner for the gospel's sake. He begs Timothy to come to him and to bring a cloak which he had left behind in one of his missionary journeys. He also asks for books and parchments to satisfy his yearning for knowledge and studies which he had pursued during his years of missionary work. I quote from his epistle: "... for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day". What could be more reassuring?
How does the letter end? I read the closing words: "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing".
Those words are not the strain of the vanquished. A few days later, no doubt, he was put to death by Nero, a man stained with every crime and steeped in every vice.
Prayer is a manifestation of Faith. Every spiritual truth and all religious attainments have been achieved through prayer. It is an avenue of enlightenment. In his utmost extremity man is helpless and hopeless without God. Thoroughly humbled, he kneels in prayer and comes away triumphant. He does what is humanly impossible. Prayer has given stimulus and effectiveness to his strivings.
The hour has come to restore simple worship, family devotion in the home, a prayerful approach to daily problems, the landmarks of faith and a sense of God's eternal laws.
When the Master gathered his disciples at the foot of the Mount and delivered his magnificent Sermon to them, He taught them how to pray. "... enter into thy closet," said He, "and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly". The prayer of faith is a personal communion with God. It is the pathway to power. It is the road to deliverance and contentment.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 93-96
My brothers and sisters, as with all of us I stand before you in humility, with a prayer in my heart that I may be able to say something that will be helpful in building up our faith, strengthening our testimonies, and I ask that you will extend to me your faith and your prayers to the same end, that all may be benefitted.
I would like to begin what I have to say this morning with a quotation of some scriptures. One scripture has already been frequently quoted that came from the great intercessory prayer which the Savior delivered the night before the day he was crucified:
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and, Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent".
Then I would like to quote the first three verses and the fourteenth of the first chapter of John:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
"The same was in the beginning with God.
"All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."
And the fourteenth verse: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth".
And finally, I will quote the passage from First Corinthians, where Paul, speaking to the backsliding Corinthians, among whom already began to appear what finally became the great apostasy, and complaining about them and their thoughts, he said,
"For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified".
There are all sorts of cults, all sorts of shadings of what we have called Christianity. There is one group of scholars that work insidiously sometimes, pretending Christianity and a belief in Christ, but nevertheless who subtly and insidiously teach us things that do not come within what we understand as Christianity. The position of these has been stated by one scholar thus:
"Christ... cannot have been both the same unclouded thinker of the moral sayings and the apocalyptic fanatic of the eschatological passages.
And eschatology is defined as "The doctrine of the last or final things, death, resurrection, immortality, the end of the world, final judgment, and the future state; the doctrine of last things."
These teachers who announce this difference as to the life of the Savior and his teachings, some of them, find place amongst us.
These critics say one of these two, the moral teachings or the eschatology, must be given up as historical and the one chosen to be got rid of is the eschatological. Anything beyond the moral teachings is put in the realm of myth, legend, popular exaggeration, symbolism, allegory, or transference of the miraculous from other departments of tradition into the life of Jesus.
Their standard of elimination is that any "event which lies outside the range of the known laws of Nature," must be disregarded. This destroys the divine origin of Jesus, his miracles, his resurrection, and much of his doctrine.
I want to read now just a few verses from the Olivet Discourse, the discourse which the Savior delivered on the Mount of Olives at the near conclusion, or conclusion of the third day of the Passion Week which he had spent in the temple or the temple precincts. I am going to read from all three Synoptists, because each says essentially the same thing, but in somewhat different language. I am reading from the 24th chapter of Matthew. They had gone out to the Mount of Olives, Jesus and his disciples; they asked if he would like them to tell him about the temple, and so on, and it was then that he predicted that the temple would be destroyed, and thereafter in this discourse he touched upon not only the destruction of the temple but the Second Coming. Not always can you be clear as to which he was referring, but the passages that I shall read have reference as to what should finally take place.
"Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. "Behold, I have told you before. "Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not".
Mark said:
"And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you: "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. "And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: "For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. "But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things".
And Luke says, more shortly than is recorded by the others:
"And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them".
I think perhaps when we first read these extracts we may think that the Savior is talking primarily of a person, somebody to come to impersonate the Christ and claim to be the Christ. It seems to me, however, from the way in which these records are made and what they say, that the Savior also had in mind anyone who would come and say to you, "This is Christ that I teach; that is Christ that I teach; that is the Christian doctrine." In that sense I think that these scholars about whom I have already read, who would discard everything that they could not account for by the known laws of nature, they are in effect false Christs, for they are telling us that the things that we believe in Christ are myths, tradition, symbolism, allegory; they did not exist.
Now, that kind of a religion, that kind of Christianity would require that we discard all that we know about the Great Council in heaven and what was determined there, because these things lie outside the known laws of nature, as those scholars understand them.
We would have to discard the Fall as being a myth, an allegory, symbolism.
We would have to discard the virgin birth, the divine conception, the very foundation of our religion; that would have to go.
We would have to discard the witness of the Father at the time of the baptism of the Savior; that would go as myth, symbolism, allegory.
We would have to discard practically all of the miracles as not taking place and those that might be accepted would be spoken of as signs. A sign can be a miracle, but not necessarily so. A miracle is a sign, but more than that.
We would have to discard the testimony of the Father, at the time of the transfiguration, that Jesus was his Son.
We would have to discard that great occasion, the raising of Lazarus and the incidents thereof, the reply of the Savior to Martha:
"I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: "And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die". That would have to go into the discard as myth, allegory, symbolism, tradition.
Finally, we would have to discard all that we know about the resurrection and its effect; all of that is gone.
As to all these, and almost countless other matters: be not deceived, believe them not, follow not after the false Christs.
I would like you to appreciate that without the eschatology of the records of the Savior's life, we should have nothing left but husks, moral teachings, and ethics which, if lived, would make us a great people, a humane people, a peaceful people, but would not carry us back into the presence of our Heavenly Father.
In my view, that doctrine is not only sacrilegious, but to me it is also blasphemy, something to be utterly cast away. We have less left after they get through with their discards than the old paganism, for that paganism, the old Greek mythology, did acknowledge and have a kind of worship of divine beings which they conceived; they did believe in them and worship them.
My whole soul rebels against this emasculation of Christianity. Jesus did live. First, there was the great plan in heaven; that did actually occur. All that we know about it took place there. There was the plan; the earth was formed; Adam came; the human family followed. We came here to prove ourselves. Finally, Christ was born in the Meridian of Time. He lived. He taught. He gave instructions. He was crucified. Then on the morning of the third day, he was resurrected, thus bringing to each and every of us the blessings of the resurrection. We all shall be resurrected. All of that has gone for these people to whom I refer. It is myth, tradition, allegory. Be not deceived by them; believe them not; follow not after them.
Then we would have to discard all that transpired in the restoration of the gospel, the Vision of the Father and the Son, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the giving of the great commandments which compose our Doctrine and Covenants. We would have to discard the Pearl of Great Price and all that it says.
Now, brothers and sisters, let us be aware of this false Christ, false Christianity which is taking root among some of our intellectuals. Be not deceived, believe it not, follow not after it, as the Lord said in those various records.
I bear my testimony as I have already indicated to the truthfulness of the gospel, to the restoration of its great principles, to the restoration of the priesthood, to the conferring of all of these things upon the Prophet Joseph, to the passing down from the Prophet Joseph through the Presidents of the Church until the present, that our President of the Church, President David O. McKay, has all of the rights and the prerogatives and the powers and authorities that were conferred upon the Prophet Joseph.
I bear you this testimony in soberness. I repeat, my soul cries out against this heresy that is taught by this group of so-called Christians.
God be with us and help us always, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder Hugh B. Brown
Hugh B. Brown, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 96-99
My brethren and sisters, although we face this challenging assignment semi-annually, we still anticipate and approach it with trepidation and deep humility. We are fearful that sometime we may depend upon ourselves alone, and we know that if we should our words would be as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.
Now I know that I cannot say anything that will be new to members of the Church. I cannot say anything that has not been said many times before, and of course better said, but I am encouraged by the announcement of the President that we are favored this morning with the presence of many of our friends, both in the Tabernacle and in the radio and television audience, whom he has welcomed as our invited guests. May I assume that some of you, our brothers and sisters who are not in the Church, might be interested in a very brief review of some of the teachings and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which distinguish it, for it is somewhat unique.
We are not Catholic, Protestant, nor Jewish, and yet this disclaimer should not be taken to mean we are not Christian. You who heard the powerful address of President Clark this morning will know that we are Christians, for central to everything we believe and teach is our faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. We are grateful for our Judeo-Christian heritage, for the Holy Bible which we accept without reservation as the word of God, except as to some errors that have crept in through translation.
But the difference between us and other churches lies in our faith in and proclamation of what we believe to be the most important message that has come to this earth since Christ lived among men. We make that statement because we believe that the restoration of the gospel was introduced by Jesus Christ personally, and therefore there could be no more important message.
Now when we say, as we do say, that there has been a divine restoration of the apostolic Church, with all of the power and authority thereof, we are aware that it presupposes, and we declare, that there was a need for a restoration; that there had been an apostasy; that during the middle and dark ages there was spiritual stagnation. If it is not true that there was an apostasy, then our declaration of a restoration is superficial and meaningless. If it is true that there has been a restoration, then all men everywhere should know of it, for the gospel of the kingdom must be preached to all the world.
The apostles and prophets predicted an apostasy, and great historians such as Mosheim and Eusebius record it as a fact. We are not alone among the churches in proclaiming a universal apostasy. The Church of England frankly sets it forth in the following words:
So that laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men, women, and children of whole Christendom... have been at once drowned in abominable idolatry... and that by the space of eight hundred years and more.
John Wesley, one of the founders of Methodism, comments as follows on the early decline of spiritual power and the cessation of the divine gifts and graces within the Church:
It does not appear that these extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit were common in the Church for more than two or three centuries. We seldom hear of them after that fatal period when the Emperor Constantine called himself a Christian... From this time they almost totally ceased, very few instances of the kind being found. The cause of this was not, as has been supposed, because there was no more occasion for them, because all the world was become Christians. This is a miserable mistake; not a twentieth part of it was then nominally Christian. The real cause of it was that the love of many, almost all Christians, so-called, was waxed cold. The Christians had no more of the spirit of Christ than the other heathens... This was the real cause why the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer to be found in the Christian church-because the Christians were turned heathens again, and only had a dead form left.
Peter said the time would come when men would not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts they should heap unto themselves teachers having itching ears. The Apostle Paul warned against the intrusion of falsehoods and said,
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
John, on the Isle of Patmos, beheld the great dragon that should overcome the Church, and that that dragon should have power in all nations, kindreds, and tongues. All of these things being predicted, and now recorded by the historians, justifies at least in a measure our statement that following that apostasy there has been a restoration.
Perhaps you, our friends, ask what was restored that we did not have before? We humbly, but without equivocation, reply that the kingdom of God has been set up upon the earth, organized under his divine guidance-the very kingdom for which you and Christians in all nations and climes have been praying since Jesus first taught the Lord's Prayer to his apostles, the central thought of which is, "Thy kingdom come".
We announce the organization of the kingdom which Jesus commanded all men to make the first object of their search when he said, "... seek ye first the kingdom of God". We believe this is the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times of which the Apostle Paul spoke,
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.
Now you, my friends, may think it presumptuous for us to claim that this is the Church and kingdom of God-and it would be presumptuous if we said men had organized it, or that men were responsible for its restoration. That certainly men were chosen and had part in it is true. But it is not presumptuous to announce that the God of heaven has set up his kingdom, for he did it pursuant to divine decree, and in harmony with what the apostles and prophets of old saw in holy vision.
It has been said that history repeats itself, but someone recently observed: "We learn from history that we do not learn from history." Christians have often wondered how the Jews could have rejected Christ when they had been hoping and praying through the centuries for the coming of the promised Messiah. Let us add to our prayer "Thy kingdom come"-also centuries old-a petition that we may not reject it when it comes.
We believe that this kingdom is now set up in order that the will of God might be done in the earth as it is in heaven, and that it is preparatory to the second coming of the Son of God. We believe it is the kingdom which Daniel saw. All of you will remember reading the story of the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, who had a dream in which he saw a great image with a head of gold, shoulders and arms of silver, body of brass, legs of iron, and feet and toes of iron and clay. You will remember that the king called in his wise men but could not get the interpretation of his dream, that he sent for Daniel who, when asked if he could interpret the dream, said, "There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known what shall be in the latter days".
Then he said,
Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
He went on to say the king had power and control over all things, and then he said, "Thou art this head of gold". Then Daniel, with prophetic insight, and in amazing detail, foresaw the rise and fall of the nations of the earth-the great Babylonian empire, represented by the head of gold, the Medo-Persian empire, by the shoulders and arms of silver, the Greek, by the brass, the divided kingdom of Rome, by the legs of iron, and the feet and toes which represented the divided kingdoms of Europe and the world, which would not cleave together, and, said Daniel, "... in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever".
Is it presumptuous for us to say that that prophecy has been literally fulfilled? Do you not think it likely that inasmuch as Daniel saw so accurately the rise and fall of these kingdoms, each in turn, that the latter part of his great prophetic declaration must be also fulfilled? If the kingdom of God is not on the earth, then we believe firmly that that part of Daniel's vision will yet be fulfilled.
That it has been and is being fulfilled in these latter days we humbly declare. We should like to say to you, our friends, that there is a way that you may know whether what we say is true or false. Paraphrasing an ancient prophet, we exhort you who hear these things that you ask God the Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, if what we say is true, and if you will ask in faith, he will reveal the truth of it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost. That is a promise made under the inspiration of the Spirit of God to all who will hear and put it to the test.
Hundreds of thousands of people from almost every country have put it to the test, and over a million and a quarter of them will testify, each in his own tongue, that they did ask God the Eternal Father whether these things are true, and that he did reveal the truth of it unto them. I humbly and sincerely declare to you that God has revealed to me the truth of the prophet's declaration of the restoration of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, pursuant to John's revelation when he said:
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.
Humbly I bear witness to the truth of the declaration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that that angel has flown; that Christ has appeared; that other heavenly beings have visited the earth and restored the priesthood; that the kingdom of God is set up; and that the Savior will come to this earth and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords pursuant to promise, to which I testify humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Richard L. Evans
Richard L. Evans, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 99-101
President McKay and my brethren and sisters, many thoughts and themes have run through my mind during this conference, but I must admit that I am more aware this morning and at this moment of those who are not here in the Tabernacle, than of those who are. It is quite likely not only that those who are listening and looking outside outnumber us many times, but also that those who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints greatly outnumber those who are, and it is with these principally in mind that I speak at this time.
I am grateful for a conviction of the many things men have in common. So much of our heritage, so much of basic belief, so much of so much that matters most in life, we have in common. And among the greatest of things we have in common is our relationship to the God and Father of us all, who made us in his image and whose children we all are. For this I am grateful. I am grateful also for the love I have in my heart for mankind.
I should like to share with you, in quick review, another thing we have in common, often overlooked, not always observed-the commandments of God-and I should like to go back first to the Ten Commandments and quickly cite them, not in full text, but in full meaning:
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain. Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.
Honour thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet.
I am grateful for these things in common, and I am grateful for a respect I have for the sincere convictions of all men, and the respect other men have for our sincere convictions.
I should like to share with you quickly and briefly some other things that we would hope men have in common, which we would subscribe to as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, some of which are incorporated in our Articles of Faith and some of which appear elsewhere. The audience this morning being what it is, outside these walls, I should like to read some of these Articles of Faith:
We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.
We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, viz., apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc..
We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men--If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
The Lord has had many peoples and has dealt with them under many conditions at many times in many places, even unto the present, and his similar dealings with others as with ancient Israel we accept as scripture.
We believe also in the eternal continuance of the marriage covenant, and not just a marriage that death dissolves. We believe that the sweetest and most meaningful things in life are everlasting.
We believe in and accept all truth, and believe in the search for truth, through the inspiration of Almighty God and through the searching and seeking of earnest and honest men.
Now, it should not seem a thing strange that there are certain requirements and commandments and ordinances that must be accepted or adhered to. In all things in life, in the physical world and in the spiritual world, there are causes and consequences. Some of them we have to accept on faith. Even those which are demonstrated fact, we have to accept in part on faith, because we do not know the "why" of all things. We do not know why two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen make water, but we know they do. The "why" is something we shall learn later.
We do not know "why" the necessity for baptism and all the other ordinances under the hands of those having divine authority. We accept them on faith, in full faith.
We believe in continuous revelation. The Lord God has not told us all he knows, but he has told us much more than we use and live up to.
We believe in the acceptance of all truth, but not all theory. I have spent a good many years in my life in academic walls. I have a profound respect for scholars and scholarship and science and scientists, the ablest among whom would be the first to admit that their findings are still in flux, and that there is yet infinitely much to be discovered.
Patience, faith, virtue, humility, and a never-ceasing search, and living and keeping the commandments of God, are required of all of us-and it should not seem a thing strange that the Lord God has requirements and prescribed ways, and that just any way that men choose will not lead to the highest blessings that God can give. Those who wish to realize limitless opportunities and exaltation and happiness here and hereafter in the fullest possible measure must live according to his commandments, according to his prescribed way in the fullest possible way.
Truth is not always convenient. The commandments of God are not always convenient. They do not bend themselves to our convenience. Truth does not adapt itself to what we wish it were. We had better adapt our lives to what it is. We had better adapt our lives to the commandments of God, whether they are convenient or not.
Patience, faith, conforming our lives to truth, the keeping of the commandments, trust in the eternal future-the assurance that the most meaningful things in life are everlasting, and a patient search and seizing upon what the soul and the spirit with its imprint upon the soul tells us to be truth-these are required of us.
May I share with you a statement from an eminent and able New England scholar, a statement written to me in a letter just a few days ago by Dr. Henry Beston:
"Never bind life in the cords of an unintelligent skepticism. Unintelligent credulity can be dangerous, but an unintelligent skepticism locks the doors of the mind."
We can rationalize away almost anything, anything ever said, anything that ever happened, anything ever written or spoken. But we cannot rationalize away the witness of the Spirit unto our souls, which brings knowledge more sure than the things we can touch, and see, and feel. That witness I leave with you this day as to the reality of those things of which Brother Hugh B. Brown and President Clark have previously spoken, as to the glorious events of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as to the way of life and salvation, and the divine reality of our Savior, who came to earth not to condemn but to save us.
Our Father in heaven is not an umpire who is trying to count us out. He is not a competitor who is trying to outsmart us. He is not a prosecutor who is trying to convict us. He is a Loving Father who wants our happiness and eternal progress and everlasting opportunity and glorious accomplishment, and who will help us all he can if we will but give him, in our lives, the opportunity to do so with obedience and humility and faith and patience.
God help us to live to have his help, that these things which he has in store for his children, all of whom we are, may be ours, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Bruce R. McConkie, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 102-103
This morning we have heard fervent and true witness borne by these great men who have stood in this pulpit about the fundamental truths on which we stand. We have heard witness borne of the divine mission of Christ our Lord, of the glorious things incident to the restoration of the gospel, and of the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth in our day.
Along with these brethren, as a witness of these things, knowing for a surety of the truth of what I say, I bear witness and testimony and record that God has spoken in this our day; that the heavens have been opened; that the fulness of the gospel has been given again to men on earth; that angels have ministered from the presence of the Lord; and that the kingdom of God, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is here in the most literal and real sense.
Now, this is a startling, a dramatic, a marvelous announcement and claim to make. Perhaps it staggers the imagination of people who have not been schooled in the revelations.
Permit me to remind you that the ancient revelations speak in great measure, at extended length, about the glorious things that are to occur in the latter-days, in the era of restoration. I think there is no single subject covered in the ancient revelations as extensively, not even excepting the many revelations about the divine mission of our Lord, as is the general subject of the great era of restoration, the period when God will gather all things in one and consummate his glorious work in the latter days.
For instance: You will recall that after our Lord had organized and set up his Church in the Meridian of Time, after he had ministered among his apostles, his brethren, for a period of forty days following his resurrection, after all things were established for that era, and on the occasion when he was to ascend in glory to his Father, he was asked the question: "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" And you will recall that he replied, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which, the Father hath put in his own power". But then he sent his witnesses to declare the glad tidings of salvation for that era to all the world.
In other words, those brethren knew that in a day subsequent to that which then was, in a period after New Testament times, the promises, glorious promises made to Israel, were to be fulfilled.
You will recall that all of the prophets in ancient Israel spoke and wrote at great length about the latter days and the restoration of the kingdom to Israel.
You will recall that early in his ministry, when Peter was speaking to those on whose hands the blood of Christ was found, he said these very expressive words:
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
That is to say, between the first and second comings of our Lord, there was to be an era in the earth's history which was named "the times of restitution of all things," or as we would express it, in more up-to-date language, the era or period or age of restoration.
You will recall that it was Paul who said that in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times all things would be gathered together in one in Christ, both things which are in heaven and on earth.
You will recall the words that Elder Hugh B. Brown quoted to us that an angelic ministrant should fly through the midst of heaven in the latter days to bring the everlasting gospel to men on earth.
We need not multiply illustrations; we easily could do so. There are multitudes and multitudes of scriptures which tell the events that are to transpire in our day, and so far as we can learn, no one else ever claimed revealed knowledge of their fulfillment; no one else ever came professing to know of the fulfillment of the prophecies of old, relative to the setting up of the kingdom of God in the last days.
We have this witness in our hearts, a witness borne of the Spirit, that these things have in our day occurred; and we believe most firmly that the Lord is no respecter of persons, which means that he will give the Holy Ghost to any living soul who will abide the law entitling him to receive revelations there-from, and that member of the Godhead will bear record to him of the divinity of Christ his Son and of this great latter-day work that has been established.
You know, from the beginning, from the days of the Prophet Joseph to this moment, the men who have been living oracles, witnesses of the truth of these things, have been sound, stable, great, intelligent, competent men. We have not been led by people who are unstable or fanatical or unbalanced in any sense of the word. We have had men who have been educators and bankers, presidents of insurance companies, people who have sat in the halls of Congress and in Cabinets with Presidents, the most stable, mature, and sensible men, industrialists and otherwise, that anyone could expect to find.
Now it would seem to me that when men of the highest, soundest caliber-I mean the living oracles, the Presidency and the Twelve, from the beginning to now-stand up as we have heard it done here this morning, and bear fervent witness to the divinity of these things, and certify that they know as they know that they live, that God has spoken in this day, it seems to me that any person in the world who has spiritual inclination ought to stay himself and wonder, and be willing to search and make inquiry, and find whether these glorious and marvelous things are true, or whether they are not.
I had a man tell me how it came about that he was converted to the Church in his later years, past sixty. He said that he chanced to be on Temple Square. He walked into this building when President J. Reuben Clark was addressing a civic organization on a civic or political subject. At the end of his talk, this man told me, President Clark said in substance, "Now, I am going to bear you my testimony about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel," which he did with the power that few can equal. The convert then said, "I had never before heard of Joseph Smith, but I did know who J. Reuben Clark was, and I figured that if a man of that caliber would tell me in the sincerity with which he spoke that this great truth was available, that I ought to make inquiry and find out," and he investigated and joined the Church. That is a very sensible attitude.
To what these great men who have spoken this morning have said, I add my own personal testimony, an assurance born of the Spirit, an assurance coming when the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the Lord, which has spoken to the spirit which is within me, conveying truth with unshakable certainty. I add my witness that God Almighty has opened the heavens in our day; that all of the laws and principles which comprise the gospel of salvation are here again; that legal administrators stand at the head of the kingdom of God on earth-and that for all who will hearken and believe and conform to these principles there is peace and joy in this life and a hope of eternal reward hereafter. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Ezra Taft Benson
Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 104-108
My brethren and sisters and friends, both seen and unseen: Humbly and prayerfully I stand before you this Sabbath day. I have prayed fervently that I might have the power to say what is in my heart, and what our Father in heaven would have me say.
It is good to come home. For one who is on temporary leave from his official duties in the Church, and who misses very greatly the daily and weekly intimate contacts with the Church and its program-the visits to the stakes and missions-it is doubly good to be home; and to one who went through the experience which I went through six months ago, it is triply good to be home.
I was here to attend conference in April. In the early morning hours of the day when the conference was to open-because of the press of official duty-it became necessary for me to leave and return East. I would like to say, President McKay, if you should ever want to test the faith of the Latter-day Saints who live on the eastern seaboard just send them home as the conference is ready to open. I hope I never have to repeat that performance.
I have felt in my heart, my brethren and sisters, that I would like to say just a word regarding a simple principle and practice of the Church. I'd also like to express my testimony regarding the power of that simple principle and practice, and also express my gratitude for the influence which that principle and practice has had in my life and the lives of those whom I love and associate with.
I speak of prayer.
I express my gratitude to my brethren of the General Authorities for their constant prayers in my behalf, as they gather in the temple to the east of us weekly, around the sacred altar in that glorious temple. I express my gratitude and thanksgiving for the prayers offered in my behalf in the stake conferences and the other meetings throughout the Church. I express gratitude for the prayers and the faith of my devoted wife and children, who have complete faith in this glorious principle.
I express also my thanks for men and women, individuals in and out of the Church throughout this great land, and in foreign lands, who have expressed their faith with their prayers in my behalf. Hundreds and thousands of letters have come in from people in all walks of life, expressing their feelings and indicating that their prayers are being offered.
Only recently I was speaking at a great meeting in Chicago-a dinner meeting-to an audience not wholly friendly. Just before I was to speak a colored waiter whispered over my shoulder and said "Mr. Secretary, would it be helpful to you before you speak to know that thousands of people throughout America are praying for you tonight."
I know not by what methods rare But this I know: God answers prayer. I know that he has given his word Which tells me prayer is always heard And will be answered soon or late And so I pray, and calmly wait. I know not if the blessings sought Will come just in the way I thought But leave my prayers with him alone Whose will is wiser than my own; Assured that he will grant my quest Or send some answer far more blessed. Eliza M. Hickok
It is my testimony, my brothers and sisters and friends, that God does hear and answer prayers. I have never doubted that fact. From childhood, at my mother's knee where I first learned to pray; as a young man in my teens; as a missionary in foreign lands; as a father; as a Church leader; as a government official, I know without any question that it is possible for men and women to reach out in humility and prayer and tap that Unseen Power; to have prayers answered. Man does not stand alone, or at least he need not stand alone. Prayer will open doors; prayer will remove barriers; prayer will ease pressures; prayer will give inner peace and comfort during times of strain and stress and difficulty. Thank God for prayer.
I am very grateful today that prayer has played such an important part in the establishment of this great nation. To every Latter-day Saint this nation has a prophetic history. Ancient American prophets predicted the coming forth of this nation and the establishment of the Constitution of this land. You can read in that sacred volume, the Book of Mormon, prophecies made centuries before this nation was established regarding the coming of Columbus and the Pilgrim fathers. Ancient prophets said these would humble themselves before the Lord. I have always been very grateful in reading the official records to find that they did humble themselves before the Lord; that their first official act in coming to these shores was to go on to their knees in humble gratitude and thanksgiving to the Lord.
The Founding Fathers, in order that their new experiment make sense, had to turn to religion, had to turn to the scriptures, had to turn to the prophecies the Decalogue, the Sermon on the Mount. Then when the time came for the establishment of the Constitution and when the time came for them to issue their Declaration of Independence, a sacred document issued in white heat on the anvil of defiance, they appealed to the Almighty, both at the opening of that document and at its closing. They spoke of eternal truths. They spoke of the fact that men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, about which President Clark spoke so beautifully last evening.
Then, at the close of the document they said,
... with a firm reliance on Divine Providence we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
And even in the formulation of the Constitution, which was done slowly and painfully, wrought on the forge of national necessity, prayer played an important part. There at the Constitutional Convention, when it seemed as if their efforts were to fall flat and to be of no avail, one of those whom the God of heaven had raised up unto this very purpose, to help establish the Constitution of this land-and you can read of it in Section 101 of the Doctrine and Covenants, in a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph-one of these Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, his head gray with age, about the oldest in the group, and possibly the most experienced statesman of the lot, is reported to have stood up in the convention and uttered these words:
In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for divine protection. Our prayers, sir were heard and they were graciously answered... I have lived a long time and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth-that God governs the affairs of men.
And the old statesman continued,
If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it possible that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings that except the Lord builds a house they labor in vain who build it. I firmly believe this and I also believe that without this conferring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.
It is my belief today, my brethren and sisters, that we need as a nation that same faith, that same reliance on divine aid and assistance, as was needed at that Constitutional Convention. I am very grateful that they established and wrote into their documents-their basic documents-a recognition of their dependence upon the Almighty; that they stamped on their coins the slogan, "In God We Trust."
Does it not inspire you, as it does me, when you go back through the history of this land and try to envision in your mind Washington at Valley Forge, during that terrible winter, on bended knees in the snow imploring divine guidance? Does it not thrill you as you see Abraham Lincoln during the crucial days of the Civil War driven to his knees in prayer to the Almighty, and to hear him say,
God rules this world. It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow... and to recognize the sublime truth that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
It is my plea today, my brethren and sisters-men of the priesthood particularly-that we use our influence as American citizens, and as citizens of the kingdom of God, as men who have faith in prayer, faith in God, that we will encourage our leaders, national, state, local, and civic leaders to take an interest in this matter of encouraging our people in this blessed land to bow themselves before the Almighty in prayer. I think there would be great safety in a nation on its knees. What assurance it would give of the blessings of the Almighty if the American people could all be found daily-night and morning-on their knees expressing gratitude for blessings already received, and acknowledging their dependence upon the Almighty and seeking for his divine direction.
I hope we may encourage that practice in our service clubs, schools, in our meetings of farmers, businessmen, and professional men. I have been pleased to see what I think is a turn toward an increase of interest in prayer and in religion. I was very pleased to find an increasing number of prayer groups in the Congress of the United States, where members of that body, of opposite political faith, could come together weekly and unite in humble prayer and petition to the Almighty.
I am pleased to find the increasing evidence of the practice of prayer in the executive branch of the government. I testify to the blessings which prayer has brought to the cabinet meetings of the President and to my own staff meetings. I think there is a need for it, my brethren and sisters, throughout our government. Without his divine help we cannot succeed. With his help we cannot fail.
May I mention a simple little experience that came to my personal attention some time ago. I think it was two or three years ago now when the President of the United States issued a proclamation for a day of prayer. It was not the first time it has been done in this great country, and I hope it will not be the last time. I am glad it has been done again this year. Then as is the custom, as the head of one of the departments of government, it was my responsibility, I felt, to send a memorandum to the heads of the twenty agencies in the Department of Agriculture, and to the employees, referring to the presidential proclamation in which we were asked to devote a day to giving of thanks for blessings received, and to beseech God to strengthen us in our efforts toward a peaceful world. And so, this memorandum was sent out, from which I read just one or two sentences:
In keeping with the President's proclamation, all members of the Department of Agriculture are requested to plan their work schedules and reserve the time between 11:30 a. m. and 11:45 a. m. free from appointments and interference so that all in their respective offices may utilize this time for meditation and prayer. Facilities are inadequate for the Department as a whole to meet together. We feel, therefore, that in addition to this brief period of time set aside during the day, all should be encouraged to petition God in their homes and with their loved ones both morning and evening for guidance, clemency, and forgiveness.
I was not only pleased, but I was also delighted with the response that came from the employees of that great department. I have before me a typical little note that went to the head of one of these agencies from one of the men appointed in charge of one of the groups. I would like to read it to you as an evidence of the fact that people do respond to leadership which calls for men and women to recognize their dependence upon the Almighty, and to humble themselves before him. This is the note:
In response to Secretary Benson's memorandum of September 20 about President Eisenhower's proclamation for a day of prayer, approximately 100 of our Forest Service family met in the conference room from 11:30 to 11:45 a. m. on Wednesday September 22. Every division in the Washington office was represented from the messenger rooms up.
I read the Secretary's memorandum which in itself is a spiritual message of encouragement and inspiration. W. K. Williams read a prayer by J. Edgar Hoover, a copy of which is attached. The meeting was closed with oral prayers by both Mr. Williams and myself.
Following the meeting and continuing through today there have been numerous telephone calls and personal expressions of satisfaction over this opportunity for the Forest Service family to join with the President, Mr. Benson and other national leaders in this period of prayer for a more peaceful world.
Brethren and sisters, I am convinced in my heart that the spectacle of a nation praying is more awe-inspiring more powerful, than the explosion of an atomic bomb. The force of prayer is greater than any possible combination of man-controlled powers because, as J. Edgar Hoover has so well said, prayer is man's greatest means of tapping the resources of God.
I am pleased that this nation, on several occasions, has appealed to the United Nations to open the General Assemblies with an appeal to the Almighty. I am pleased that only recently our representative in that body referred to by President McKay some months ago, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., wrote a letter to the seventy-five members of the United Nations appealing to them to open those meetings with an appeal to the Almighty; that some representative of the churches represented there be invited in their own words to lead in prayer. Senator Lodge made the appeal to all and invited them to join him in this petition. Senator Lodge said:
I do so in the conviction that we cannot make the United Nations into a successful instrument of God's peace without God's help-and that with His help we cannot fail. To this end I propose that we ask for that help.
There is probably no single thing that the United Nations can do which will so move and touch millions of people around the world and will give them such confidence in the United Nations.
I was pleased, my brethren and sisters, as I read the report of the April conference and the remarks by Elder Mark E. Petersen, speaking as directed by the First Presidency, in announcing the series of new Church posters and cards for the benefit particularly of our young people, to note that one of them was going to be devoted to prayer. I wish there were time this morning to read the account of this particular card and poster on prayer. One will show the picture of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and President Eisenhower in the background, and then in the foreground a family group. At the top we will read: "Great Men Pray," and again at the bottom: "Be Honest with Yourself."
Then that lovely sidepiece of explanation, which is an inspiration, and which I wish every American could read, yes every person in the world, regarding the benefits and the blessings of prayer.
Brethren and sisters, I would like to see this nation on its knees in humble prayer. A few months ago I received a lovely poster from Conrad W. Hilton of hotel fame. This poster showed Uncle Sam in his red, white, and blue uniform on his knees, praying to the Almighty. Then the caption: "America on its knees... not beaten there by the hammer and sickle, but freely, intelligently, responsibly, confidently, powerfully. America now knows it can destroy Communism and win the battle for peace. We need fear nothing or no one... except God."
Yes, it is in our own enlightened self-interest to engage in this simple practice, this powerful practice of prayer. Roger Babson said many years ago: "What this country needs more than anything else is old-fashioned family prayer."
Thank God for prayer!
In closing may I quote from one or two of the scriptures because the scriptures are replete with admonitions and direction to God's children to pray. Of course, Christ set the all-important example.
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
So said our Heavenly Father to ancient Israel, and I am sure that call is repeated to us today. I ask you, when you go home, to turn to that sacred volume of scripture that American volume of scripture, if you will-the Book of Mormon, and read the words of Amulek, in the thirty-fourth chapter of Alma, in which he calls upon us to humble ourselves and continue in prayer to the Almighty. He admonishes us to cry unto him over our families, over our flocks over our herds, over our fields, to seek him daily.
Yes, my brethren and sisters, there is power in prayer. All things are possible through prayer. It was through prayer that the heavens were opened in this dispensation. The prayer of a boy fourteen years of age, in the Sacred Grove, opened a new gospel dispensation, and brought forth a vision of the Father and the Son, as they appeared as glorified heavenly beings before the boy, Joseph.
God help us to pray. In the words of Alma, I close:
Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.
God grant that we may so live and so pray, that we may be lifted up at the last day, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Henry D. Moyle
Henry D. Moyle, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 112-115
My brethren and sisters, I can ask for nothing more than to have that spirit here with me today that I enjoyed as I undertook to fulfil my assignment to visit the missions of South America this past summer.
I had no sooner set foot upon that great continent than I had an opportunity to meet with a group of wonderful elders in the great city of Rio de Janeiro. Conditions that day were not as favorable as they might have been for the making of a good impression. I was inclined to be just a little discouraged. However an impression came over me when I stood up to address those elders that there was a spiritual awakening in process in South America; that the elders who were then working there would, during the short term of their mission, become conscious of this awakening; and that it would bring a great joy and satisfaction into their lives.
As I toured those missions, I became more and more convinced that that awakening had started in large measure through the relatively recent visits of our General Authorities to that great continent. I have in mind the visit there of President David O. McKay and President Stephen L Richards, and of Elder Mark E. Petersen some eighteen months preceding my visit.
I am here to bear witness to you today that those impressions which I received upon that occasion have in part fulfilled themselves already. In that great land of Brazil we are forging ahead with our conversions and our baptisms far more rapidly than we have ever done before in the history of that mission. When I first arrived and made that prediction, President Sorensen and his elders had hopes of three hundred baptisms this year. They have exceeded that mark, and now hope for five hundred.
There has been a change in the feeling, the attitude of the missionaries. They sense, as they have never sensed before, that they are part of a great movement that is marching on to accomplish its great purpose among 54 million people who live in Brazil, and of which some 35 million are of European extraction. These people represent half of the entire population of South America.
From the moment we landed in Brazil until we completed our mission in Brazil, the Argentine, and the Uruguayan missions, there seemed never to be a moment but what that assurance which we received in Rio de Janeiro was present with us. It seemed to radiate from the membership of the Church. They are seeking diligently to lend obedience to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The elders are showing a degree of diligence which would commend them to any group of missionaries, I am sure, anywhere in the Church.
We had so many notable incidents and experiences that I shall not endeavor to detail any of them. I have a feeling there is a great mission for us to perform at home, and that thought has never left me. I sensed in the very first meeting the importance of our elders preaching an effective gospel. We have all experienced here today and in the previous sessions of this conference what it means to hear preached an effective gospel. Men have stood here and have borne their testimonies under the power and influence of the Holy Ghost. They have spoken with authority. They have had a keen insight into the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ and understand their redeeming powers.
And so I say, as we journeyed through those great missions and enjoyed the sweet companionship of the mission presidents and their wives and families, we were impressed constantly with the thought that there was a work for us to do here at home-those of us who are responsible for having sent these young men and women into the mission field. I have come with a plea in my heart that we dedicate ourselves to teach the young and rising generation in our homes, first of all, the principles of the gospel long before they are called upon a mission. Develop within them power to explain principles, and have in their hearts a testimony born of the Spirit that the heavens have once again been opened, that the gospel has once again been brought to the earth, and that it is our mission above all other missions in life to promulgate this gospel among the nations of the earth and to teach the principles of the gospel to these peoples of the earth in their native lands and in their native tongue.
My heart goes out to elders who are sent to missions in foreign-speaking countries. I am sure my feelings are born somewhat of experiences which were mine when I was called to serve in what was then the Swiss-German Mission, under the presidency of Thomas E. McKay. I know what it is to go to a strange country and sense keenly the responsibility that rests upon us as missionaries to preach the gospel to those people in their native tongues. I am sure that the time has long since arrived when every Latter-day Saint family should cultivate within the family circle that tongue which was native to their parents or their grandparents.
We have an example in the life of Lehi and his family. We would not have the Book of Mormon today if it had not been for the fact that Lehi, inspired of our Heavenly Father, sent back for those brass plates of Laban, and thereby insured the perpetuation of the language of their forebears in their posterity.
I have a feeling that an obligation rests upon those of us whose parents came from foreign-speaking countries to show forth our love of the countries out of which we have been called by the priesthood of God to the extent of learning that language.
I have rather a deep-seated desire in my heart, and I always have had since I was a boy, to want to meet my great-grandfather to whom the elders first preached the gospel. Now, in my case, his language is my mother tongue. I am sure that same feeling exists in the hearts of all good Latter-day Saints whose families sprung from foreign-speaking nations. That is the loyalty side of it. I have a feeling in my heart that we can be loyal to the nation of our birth, or of our adoption, and still show forth our love of the country of our parents to the extent of perpetuating its language in our family circles.
I have been reading with a great deal of interest recently a book published by James B. Conant, former president of Harvard University, and now United States Ambassador to Western Germany, in which he says that there are two subjects-he puts them above all other subjects-which he would prescribe for modern day study in our universities and colleges. The first one is foreign language, and the second one is history. Thus we have a second reason for wanting to learn a foreign language. President Conant points out in his book that in countries such as Switzerland and Holland a man is not considered educated if he does not speak at least two foreign languages. He points out that with modern-day transportation, the capitals of the world today have been brought so closely together that we cannot carry on the business of the world without a more intimate knowledge of foreign languages than we now have. Surely that must be the case with the business of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
We have today, for example, five or six Spanish-speaking missions. We have three German-speaking missions. We have three Scandinavian missions, and many other missions in which foreign tongues are spoken; for example, the Brazilian Mission, of which I have spoken, in which the Portuguese tongue is spoken.
I wonder if it would not be becoming of us as Latter-day Saints to revive the language of our forefathers in order that we might better qualify ourselves to carry out the great mission which is ours of preaching the gospel to the nations of the earth.
I was rather interested in the tendency of the South American countries to concentrate upon the legal language, so to speak; in Brazil and in the Argentine many people are of German extraction. One whole state in Brazil is a German state, but during the war it became important that all should speak Portuguese as a security measure. So they had to give up the teaching of German in the schools of that German state of Santa Catarina. Inside of a few years, just half a generation, you now go to young boys and girls whose parents and grandparents spoke German fluently, and speak to them in German, and they answer you in Portuguese. They still understand a little, but they have entirely given up the speaking of that great tongue. The same is true to a large measure with the French. There are many French people there.
Now, it is important, even down there, that these languages should be perpetuated. We have not been able as a Church to send missionaries into Italy, into Portugal, into Spain. Every time we convert a person in South America of European extraction, we are bringing the gospel closer to their families on the continent. Instance after instance was given us of how, when a Portuguese family in Brazil is converted to the Church, they begin immediately sending their tracts and their literature, and above all, the Book of Mormon, into Portugal. Some are able to save enough to go to Portugal. The primary purpose of the visit of these people now to the Old Country, whether they be French or German or Portuguese or Italian, is to preach the gospel to their people, their families.
The result is that we have some instances where they have gone to the Old Country and converted their families, and then their families have had to come to this country in order to be baptized.
In all such instances, you see how essential it is to retain the language of our forebears. I desire to tell you the story of one German lad who was born of very wealthy parents. His father owned a tremendous estate in Germany. He called his son in one day and said, "My boy, all this is yours. I am going to retire."
The boy looked up at his father and said, "I do not know why, but I am not going to accept it. I am going to travel." Then he said, "I was led as it were by a spirit to come here to Brazil, and for eight long years I wondered why I had left home. I never was dissatisfied. I was always happy about it, but I did not know why until finally one day two Mormon elders came to me and preached the gospel. Fortunately these two men who were on a mission struggling to speak the Portuguese language could speak enough German to this young man to teach him the gospel. He said, "They had no more than finished their first conference with me than I knew why I had left my father's home."
His home now has been a gathering place for the elders. He has left his wife and his family of five children and is laboring in a distant city in Brazil as a full-time missionary. He is preaching the gospel to those who speak German in that city.
There is an obligation resting upon us, brethren and sisters, to see to it that the next generation of missionaries that come from our homes come better prepared in two respects to go forth and fulfil their missions, wherever they may be called:
First, to learn those languages which are in a way native to the family. I am sure those who come of German extraction will be able to speak the language with a better accent, with a larger vocabulary, and with a greater natural ease than those who did not have that gift by right of inheritance.
Second, to know the restored gospel and understand the great plan of life and salvation and have a love of the work.
I plead with you, my brethren and sisters, to anticipate; and while we are anticipating a mission for our sons and our daughters, we ought to anticipate for them also a marriage, a military career for our sons so long as we have compulsory military training, and then a life's work. We cannot begin too young. We certainly will increase the percentage of temple marriages if we take it upon ourselves to instruct our young people in these important affairs of life in their early ages; we will make better missionaries of them, make better citizens and better soldiers.
I bring you the greetings of the Saints and of the elders in South America. They are growing not only in numbers; they are also growing in strength, and they have a warmth and a hospitality which is not excelled anywhere in the world. In our very first meetings in the Argentine at La Paz and Buenos Aires we had a total of just under nine hundred people present. There was hardly a soul who left those meetings without coming up and shaking hands with Sister Moyle and me and welcoming us, telling us how grateful they were to the Church for sending first Brother Petersen, and then me, to tour these missions. They had the deep-seated hope in their hearts that they would be continually favored with such visits.
I do not feel that this report would be complete if I did not tell you of a little story that my wife used in practically all of the meetings that we held in these three missions. We were trying to impress upon the people the personality of God, his personal attributes. Sister Moyle generally emphasized that point by telling this little story. There was a boy, five years old who was accustomed to kneel down at his bed at night and say his prayers. On this particular night the mother listened at the door to see just what he said. This is what she heard: "God, bless Mama, bless Papa, bless Grandma," and then he usually hopped into bed. But on this occasion he remained on his knees and he said, "And dear God, please take care of yourself, for if anything happened to you we would all be sunk."
Now, I hope and pray, my brethren and sisters, that we may all sense keenly the importance of living closely to our Heavenly Father and having our children live closely to him, that they may appreciate in very deed the personality of God and qualify themselves to go out into the world and preach Jesus Christ and him crucified; for I bear witness to you today that he lives, and that he died for the sins of the world, and that he has arisen as our atoning Savior and made possible for us through his redeeming sacrifice the privilege of gaining immortality and eternal life in the kingdom of our Heavenly Father.
This I pray humbly, may be our lot, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bishop Carl W. Buehner
Carl W. Buehner, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 115-118
My dear brethren and sisters, I suppose you wonder what I might say, and I will tell you I am wondering that myself. I have been looking for another interpretation of the scripture that says the first shall be last and the last shall be first. In this case the last is about the last.
I certainly enjoy my work in the Church, and with the others I would like to bear my testimony to the divinity of this great work. It is wonderful to meet with the brethren, to feel their strength and their power. I wish you had the same privilege that we have of meeting with them. It is also a great privilege to travel in the stakes of the Church and meet you wonderful people in the areas in which you live.
Since hearing Brother Moyle today and Brother Bennion last Friday, I have had the feeling that our members living in countries far away from us seem much nearer to us, and hearing the choir sing yesterday, representing the countries of Scandinavia, I could not help thinking what a wonderful representation they were of the people and how proud the Scandinavians would have been had they been able to hear this choir sing from this tabernacle.
I have been equally thrilled by the marvelous music today. Brother Petersen had two foreign expressions that revealed his gratitude for the Scandinavian choir, but in the language that these people can understand, I can say in three words: It is wonderful!
I have been thinking a little of the great day in which we live and some of the marvelous things we observe, some things that are blessings to us, some that might tend to destroy us, and others that might lead to our self-preservation. I have been thinking of the scientist or the inventor who sits in his laboratory with his test tubes, his chemicals, his minerals, and all of the devices to measure time, speed, weight, etc., and ponders over some of the remarkable things that he has produced.
The atomic bomb that we have heard about during this conference is not very large. It is said that the one dropped at Bikini lifted ten million tons of water ten miles into the air. It is almost impossible to imagine such power. The H-Bomb exploded at Eniwetok all but wiped out a whole island in the Pacific Ocean, leaving a crater 175 feet deep and one mile wide. It is said that the power from this bomb exceeded the power of all the bombs dropped during World War II on Germany and Japan combined.
You may have read recently that a one pound slug of polished uranium, which is about the size of a golf ball, contains more power than all the TNT you could put into Yankee Stadium.
What man is doing is tremendous. I think of the speed and ease with which we travel. Compare this with the way Christopher Columbus and his crew crossed the ocean in the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria-fifty-one days, twenty-four hours a day. Have you ever multiplied that? He traveled and discovered a new land at the rapid speed of two miles an hour! Coming to conference, I am sure some of you walked five miles an hour to get a seat here.
I read in the paper recently that a jet plane had traveled 1,900 miles an hour and had gone into the air fourteen miles and broken the sound barrier-whatever that is. I have had a jet ride. I know how it feels to travel five hundred miles an hour in the air. It is thrilling and exciting. Another jet plane went all but four times that fast. We are living in a great day!
What man has been able to accomplish through his own intelligence is infinitesimal when compared to the power of the Creator.
We, too, are living as it were in the great laboratory of life. We are being tried and tested. We are seeking the combinations by which we can progress and prove ourselves. We are living in this world filled with good and evil, with right and wrong, with truth and error, and with light and darkness. You have heard today that there are false teachers, false doctrines, false prophets; and here we have been placed. Reference was made last evening in the general priesthood meeting to the great privilege of having a mortal body. It means that we kept our first estate. We are now being tried in life's laboratory to see whether or not we can keep our second estate; and it is not an easy thing. We are being tempted all the time; even the best of us are subject to temptation.
Think what we experience going through life and what it means to us. It has been said that we have the right to exercise our own free agency. I trust that this experience will enable us to select the things that will be constructive and that will bring us nearer to the Lord. It is said in the scriptures that the earth was covered with darkness, and gross darkness covered the minds of the people. I am grateful for that day when the light from heaven came again and the gospel was restored. Think of the advantages that men have now in this great laboratory to seek out the truth and get together those ingredients that will help us gain a testimony of the divinity of this great work.
Men of science have done great things. Men living in life's laboratory can also accomplish great things. We shall not all be saved; some will be destroyed. We do not all think the same way. We shall not all get the right combinations and arrive at the same great purpose for which we have been brought here. But I hope, brethren and sisters, that all of us will have a desire to seek out those things that will eventually gain for each of us eternal life in the kingdom of our Heavenly Father.
When you contemplate the power of the Almighty compared to the power that man seems to have been able to assemble, think of this:
And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten...... For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them.
Think also of the power of the resurrection, when the elements that have gone back to mother earth can be assembled and united with the spirit to form a perfect, resurrected body; the power to save and exalt in the kingdom of our Heavenly Father. As has already been said, and not one sparrow shall fall unnoticed, neither shall one hair of the head be lost -and that is comforting to some of us, too.
God the Father and his Son have revealed themselves in this Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. I would like to read a quotation or two from the extracts of the history of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
The first verse tells why he wrote this:
Owing to the many reports which have been put in circulation by evil-disposed and designing persons, in relation to the rise and progress of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, all of which have been designed by the authors thereof to militate against its character as a Church and its progress in the world-I have been induced to write this history, to disabuse the public mind, and put all inquirers after truth in possession of the facts, as they have transpired, in relation both to myself and the Church, so far as I have such facts in my possession.
He continues by relating where he was born, when he was born, telling about the other members of his family, and about a great religious revival that took place in the area into which they had moved. I would like to continue from there:
While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart... So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally. After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desire of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction-not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being-just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other-This Is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!.
I think the great message of the ages still is that God lives, that he is mindful of us, his children, that he is all-powerful, that his Son is the Savior and Redeemer of the world.
Other messengers came also. I should not take more time, but just let me describe one other who came to the earth. Two or three years had elapsed since the time that the Father and the Son had appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith:
While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noon-day, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor. He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant. His hands were naked, and his arms also, a little above the wrist; so, also, were his feet naked, as were his legs, a little above the ankles. His head and neck were also bare. I could discover that he had no other clothing on but this robe, as it was open, so that I could see into his bosom. Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him, I was afraid; but the fear soon left me. He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni.
Actually these heavenly beings have been sent in this great Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. I would commend that you accept the testimonies of the brethren who have spoken during this conference concerning this great thing, the restoration of the gospel, and I am sure if you can accept them, you will have a conviction, a knowledge, and an understanding that this great latter-day work is divine.
May we all, always, young people and all of us, have a desire to ask, to knock, to seek, and to put together those combinations that will help us eventually gain a home in the celestial kingdom of our Heavenly Father, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Levi Edgar Young
Levi Edgar Young, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 118-119
My brethren and sisters: With you I have enjoyed this great conference. The divine words and teachings of President McKay and all the brethren will remain with us, that we may grow in wisdom and truth.
As the brethren have referred to the noble servants who had the revelations of the Lord in the days when the Prophet Joseph Smith lived, I think of an incident that I shall ever hold in my heart and mind. Having been called to preside over the Swiss-Austrian Mission many years ago, I was sent to visit the University of Vienna. I was taken through the library, one of the largest libraries of the world, and the attendant who was escorting me took down a book from a shelf, and opening it, I read the title of it. It was the Principia, written by Sir Isaac Newton in the early part of the eighteenth century, and was known as the greatest scientific work of the world. It was written in Latin, the universal language of science at the time, and was the major guide to the world's scientific thought. "Newton died in peace," says one writer, "and in the knowledge that the fathomless wonders of the universe had been given their shape and their motion by the sure hand of God."
While I was looking at the Principia, my guide took from the shelf another book, which he said was a wonderful work of science. It was the volume on mathematics written by Apostle Orson Pratt. You may imagine my feelings as I read the title. The volume was published in London, and was used in the higher institutions of learning in Germany, Austria, and France. Here they had placed it at the side of the Principia.
I wish to say a few words of gratitude to President McKay and his counselors, and all the brethren who have spoken to us. In these three days of meetings I am sure everyone feels that he has been encouraged and strengthened by what he has heard. I shall not give to you this afternoon any prepared talk but merely express my gratitude for the divine teachings which have come to me as I listened to the words of wisdom and truth.
All of us have had our faith renewed, our testimonies strengthened, our spiritual selves quickened with divine light. Our paths have been made clearer before us, and we are now resolved to serve more diligently our Lord in righteousness. To refer to the beautiful messages of our Presidency and others, we believe all that God has revealed, and that he will yet reveal many great and important truths pertaining to the Kingdom of God. The ideals of love, of government, of intelligence, have been impressive, and we must contemplate these ideals with our best thoughts, each one of us; put them into practice-our missionaries especially-and our class leaders. Teachers must always remember that in speaking to people, they must convince them that we are interested in the good and mighty things that they believe.
We must in words and demeanor show always the dignity and authority of man, and talk of the noble rank he holds among the works of God. We must act in the worthy power of pure thought and let our ideals prevail. Let us try more diligently to become cultivated men and women.
We have been told to purify ourselves, to come closer to the perfect ideal which Jesus our Redeemer taught. The path is straight before us. We must love God; we must love our neighbor; we must do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Our attention has been called to the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. We must have faith in mankind, and the divinity of man should be made known to our children. We must be more determined than ever to fulfil the great task expected of us, to make ourselves better, to make this a better world to live in, and to bring mankind nearer to God. We have been taught that our salvation and the salvation of all mankind is found in the true and everlasting gospel.
President Joseph Young, who was for many years President of the First Council of the Seventy, was chosen by the Prophet Joseph Smith to this important position. He said on one occasion in speaking of the quorums of Seventies:
The most effective way to satisfy one's noble impulses is training one's intelligence, to have a deep faith in Almighty God, and develop a love for Truth. We should give years of study of good books, years of devotion in the search for Truth. The Gospel demands this of brethren holding the priesthood of God.
In his dedicatory prayer in the Kirtland Temple, we have the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
... seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.
In this day and age of schools and colleges, what a wonderful saying this is.
Let us remember the words we have heard at this conference and make them a part of our lives, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Delbert L. Stapley
Delbert L. Stapley, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 120-123
My brothers and sisters, I should like to express first of all appreciation for the spiritual uplift of this great conference. I have been inspired by it. I have been blessed by it. I am sure you have.
In his opening address at the last April general conference, our beloved President David O. McKay voiced an appeal for stability and harmony in the home. He expressed this timely concern:
"I am not so sure whether we are maintaining the high standards required of us in our homes. I feel constrained, therefore, at this opening session to make an appeal for more stability, more harmony, and happiness in home life."
I would recommend, my brothers and sisters, a re-reading and study of this inspired and important address. The wisdom of it is so apparent to ward and stake leaders acquainted with the problems in the home life of some Church couples, and the poor relationship between some parents and their children. It is apparent also to the leaders who work with youth. The President's vital message brought immediate response from the administrative officers of the Church Board of Education. They kindly invited me to address and lead a discussion on the subject, "Counseling on Standards of Morality," at a summer seminar scheduled for the Church seminary and institute instructors on the Brigham Young University campus.
In my personal interviews of youth over the Church and in visiting with ward and stake leaders I had gained some knowledge of the existence of moral problems among groups of Church young people. However, in preparation for this special and important assignment with the seminary and institute instructors who are charged with teaching the gospel to the youth of the Church, and therefore are close to them and their problems, I invited to my office a representative group of each, also four choice young people, two boys and two girls. The result of these interviews, together with the information developed from class discussion of the subject, was revealing and somewhat alarming. At the risk of some possible criticism, I desire frankly and honestly to point out a few facts concerning the disturbing problems that beset us and to make what I hope will be some helpful suggestions.
Here I should like to borrow the opening paragraph of an article I recently prepared for the November issue of the Relief Society Magazine which will appear under the caption, "Developing Safeguards for Youth":
"One of the serious problems confronting parents today is a growing tendency of moral laxity among youth. Too many parents are not fully aware that such a condition exists. Therefore, blind to the evils to which their children are exposed, unsuspectingly, therefore thoughtlessly, they contribute to an increase of immoral and sinful practices among them."
Good homes where the gospel is taught and lived and where love predominates are basic to the true character and high moral standards of youth. Parents should recognize there is much in this modern world to challenge the interests of young people. Much of what is offered is good, but some is bad, cheap, and of low standard. The pressures of unwholesome influences are dressed up so enticingly and exerted so cunningly, that if accepted they would destroy the virtues that make for true nobility of character and a life of joy and happiness.
Although we would not want it otherwise, there is so much knowledge present in the world today; and tomorrow and each succeeding day thereafter discovery, invention, and knowledge will continue to increase and become so conveniently available that mental development and learning will come earlier and earlier in the life of youth. With it, unless youth is well grounded in the faith, will come worldly sophistication and material pursuits and pleasures. Without maturity of feelings and judgment, wrong roads and attitudes can be easily taken that would impair the promise to them of a rich, useful, and happy life.
Parents and leaders of youth must recognize the worldly pressures to which young people are constantly subjected and not close their eyes to the worldly evils that gnaw unceasingly at the true moral patterns ordained of God for man to obey.
Our great challenge is to prepare youth now by wise and understanding teaching and counseling to escape these lurking perils that would destroy their very souls. To wait until after sins are committed before taking action will not eliminate the consequences nor the sorrow and heartache that follow transgression. Satan, through his human aids, has cunningly devised alluring schemes and enticements that confuse and frustrate youth as to the true values of life. The moral and spiritual standards of the gospel are frequently endangered. Knowledge of life and its facts are too often obtained by youth from wrong and undesirable sources because the home and parents, the proper source, too frequently close the door by side-stepping the issue or question, when a timely, intelligent, or understanding answer or explanation might change for good the whole course of a young person's life.
No doubt many parents lack an adequate vocabulary to express themselves about such intimate matters, but if they are parents of teenagers, does it excuse them from learning and securing proper counsel and training to fulfil their God-given responsibility of bringing up children in the true ways of the Lord?
If parents would take full advantage of the plans and programs of the Church through the priesthood quorums, the auxiliary organizations, and the Brigham Young University extension courses in family living, they would competently qualify themselves for the important task of youth guidance. If parents do not fully become acquainted with the problems of their children when growing up in this age of freedom from restraints in boy-girl relationships, can they recognize the danger signals that may be developing in their lives?
Most young people are wonderful, teachable, and controllable. The adult world with its conduct confuses them. Correction in this area would largely solve the perplexities and the problems of youth. How versed are parents in the jargon of speech and terminology employed by youth to enable them to evaluate the meaning and seriousness of necking, light and heavy petting, dare games, self-abuse, and other evil practices with which youth often are too well acquainted, that weaken restraints and resistance and thereby destroy the true moral concepts of life?
Parents, live close to your children and more particularly during the adolescent years while they are in the process of growing up and experiencing physical changes, and also new and strange emotions that they do not fully understand. It is a critical period in their lives, when a constant counseling and stabilizing influence is so needful and helpful. It is a time for them to learn about the strange feelings that motivate their lives and actions. There are developing within them emotional disturbances and conflicts difficult to control, and if the knowledge and help they require cannot be obtained from parents, youth may solicit help from undesirable sources or from associates whose knowledge and sense of values are as immature and unsound as their own. Here lies a serious danger and pitfall that must be avoided.
Perhaps children should not blame parents for their own mistakes, but often they do, following a transgression that proper and timely instruction and counsel could have prevented. A simple and honest answer to questions and problems so vital to youth could make the big difference in their lives when temptations arise.
Parents should build comradeship and love in the home and eliminate strained relations to insure stability and security of home life for children. In dealing with children there should always be love and kindness, yet firmness, when setting up controls and rules of conduct.
Youth, if properly taught, for the most part expect and desire restrictions to guide them in social activities and dates. Safeguards and protective counsel are necessary to fortify them against familiarities and intimacies that lead to sin.
What appears to youth as fun, excitement, or glamour may present lurking dangers. If parents enjoy the confidence of their children and know what their plans are, they will then be able to see the hidden perils before them and from the experience of parenthood give protective guidance and counsel to help control their emotions and to safeguard virtue and honor, so essential to youth for a happy and satisfying life.
Personal ownership or freedom in the use of family cars seems to be a need in the lives of youth today, yet without adequate controls and the observance of respectable hours following parties or dances the cars often become agents for intimacies and moral infractions.
The responsibility of parents and youth leaders in this modern scientific world we live in is to teach and show youth how to live among these modern factors and still express a wholesome, integrated response to them and build up a set of standards of life, objectives that will worthily cull out of life the things that destroy and cultivate those virtues that build security and peace of soul. Parents should help youth to realize a clean mind and body make for happiness now and eternally.
Young people today have too much excitement, distraction, and passive entertainment. Perhaps we do too much for them and rob them of the excitement, legitimate and fully satisfying, of the creativeness which youth formerly enjoyed.
Morality is one of the highest achievements to which a human being can aspire. It indicates full and complete emotional maturity and orientation. It is, therefore, very complex and reaches into fields of living which we ordinarily do not associate with morality. If anything interferes with this development of maturity, it may be the underlying cause of immorality.
The home environment and training, then, become an important and prime consideration. A young man made this profound statement:
"I know in my own life one of the reasons I was chaste was that I never thought of being otherwise. I had a good, wholesome environment and a deep love for my parents, and the temptations were eliminated partly because of it."
Parents and teachers, also speakers from the pulpit, throughout the years have emphasized to the youth of the Church full observance of the Word of Wisdom. Our young people are thoroughly conscious of this divine law of health. The same constant effort and understanding, however, have not been placed upon the law of chastity. Perhaps it is because of its very delicate and intimate nature that chastity does not receive the same attention in the home, in the classroom, or from the pulpit as the Word of Wisdom.
The violation of moral purity is of the two sins far more serious in the eyes of God. Young people who are guilty of moral offenses are often true observers of the Word of Wisdom. This is an evidence that the law of chastity is not receiving the attention it deserves in the program of the home or of the Church.
In a survey conducted by a group of Church seminaries, each young person was given a list of commandments and laws governing the Church, among which were the Word of Wisdom and chastity. The young people were asked to list these commandments and laws in the order of their importance. In the compilation of the results of this survey most students placed the Word of Wisdom in first position. Somewhere in their training they had not been properly taught that the most serious sin short of committing murder is that of immorality. The true and vitally important values of morality must be clearly and unmistakably established in the minds and hearts of youth to assure acceptance and compliance by them.
Religion should always be on an understandable and practical plane in the home where children can live and enjoy it. Perhaps the Church should provide courses of study for the priesthood, applying the gospel to help the men become better husbands and fathers. A comparable course might be suggested for the Relief Society, dealing with the woman's role as a Latter-day Saint wife, mother, and home builder. Such courses, to have value, must not deal simply in generalities and admonitions, but must relate the principles of the gospel to the concrete knowledge of human nature and behavior.
God will not excuse us for our failure to find the full life meaning in our theology nor for failure to apply its values to the home and family relationships. Children, through sound home religious instruction, can be helped to attain wholesome satisfactions in life by developing basic loyalties to Deity, to the restored gospel of Christ, to the appointed leaders of the people, to the home and family, and also to the fundamental principles of proper moral conduct.
Mothers, unless absolutely necessary, should not seek employment outside the home, but rather should honorably fulfil their chief mission in life as wife, mother, and homemaker. Many problems of youth stem from mothers accepting remunerative positions that take them and their wholesome influence out of the home. Mother and the home are synonymous, therefore important to the safe rearing of youth.
In closing, my brothers and sisters, I return again to President McKay's appeal as quoted in the beginning of my talk, and suggest that we searchingly ask ourselves these questions: Are we maintaining the high and important gospel standards in our homes? Is family prayer engaged in daily? Do we set a proper example as true and faithful Saints for our children to follow with profit and enrichment of moral character values that will assure them a life of joy and happiness. Does harmony prevail in the home with love as the controlling and motivating force? Does the home provide security and stability to strengthen family ties? Are our children comfortable and happy, fully enjoying the environment and companionship of family living? These and many more like questions we could ask ourselves profitably as we contemplate the full scope of President McKay's warning.
I sincerely pray that we shall recognize not only the home and moral problems that do exist, but that as parents and leaders we will also resolve to qualify and pledge ourselves to be living examples of Christlike virtues, that we may be able to give wise, helpful, and understanding counsel and direction to youth in the process of growing up.
I pray that maturity will find each of them morally clean, sound in the faith, prepared and worthy for the sacred ordinances and choice blessings of God's holy temples.
I also pray, my brothers and sisters, that as leaders we shall give consideration to the problems of youth, to the need of doing something constructive that will help them to understand life, gain a knowledge and a testimony of the gospel that will carry them over difficult ground into a life of joy and happiness, and this I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1956, pp. 124-125
Just a word about our obligation as citizens:
When the Apostle Paul was being bound with thongs for a scourging, he said to the centurion that stood by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?"
Then the chief captain came and said to Paul: "Tell me, art thou a Roman?" and Paul answered that he was. "And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom."
I fancy that Paul straightened up when he said: "But I was free born!".
I wonder if we freeborn Americans appreciate what it is to have the right to vote, to express by our vote our choice of those who are to rule over us. No, thank heaven, not to rule over us-to serve us in the service of the government. For you, the electorate, are the rulers in this great Republic.
Those who have taken out their citizenship I think appreciate it even more than some of us who have it by birth.
We have an election in November, in which you have the right to state who will fill the offices that are now to be filled in the nation, in the state, and in our local affairs. We ask, we plead that every member of the Church go to the polls in November and cast your vote for the men and women whom you wish to occupy the offices named. Now you choose, and choose wisely and prayerfully, but cast your vote.
We have a moment left in which to express appreciation and gratitude for those who have quietly and effectively rendered service in making these three days of conference so memorable. Undoubtedly I shall overlook some, but our hearts go out to everyone, and to all groups who have contributed to the success of this, probably the greatest, the most inspirational conference we have held.
I can just merely name them. First, we thank the public press, especially our leading newspapers who have been so fair and generous in letting the public who could not attend conference understand and to a degree partake of the inspiration that radiated not only from the words but also from the hearts of the speakers. We express appreciation to the reporters who have daily taken notes and so fairly and accurately reported each session of the conference.
We express appreciation for the cooperation of the city officials, including Chief Cleon W. Skousen and the traffic officers. I have noticed, as have many of you, that officers in uniform have been constantly at posts of duty protecting, as far as they could, pedestrians from any possible danger.
We express appreciation to the ushers who have rendered service early and late in seating the great audiences. They have been quiet, but effective, in their services.
We have already expressed appreciation for these beautiful flowers, "prophets of beauty and song," among the sweetest of God's blessings to men, to life. How beautiful is God's world if we but stop to listen and to look.
We express appreciation for the assistance rendered by the various radio and television stations, here in our own city and state, and in other states named in the various sessions of the conference. Truly, their service has been the means of permitting tens of thousands of people to hear the proceedings of this, the one hundred twenty-seventh semi-annual conference of the Church.
We have been greatly blessed throughout the conference with music-the first day the "Singing Mothers," conducted by Sister Florence J. Madsen; the second, by the combined Scandinavian choirs under the direction of Brother R. Hulbert Keddington; and today, the inspirational singing of our own Tabernacle Choir under the leadership of Brother J. Spencer Cornwall. How their singing, so willingly and spiritually rendered, has uplifted our souls! We have always had good singing in previous conferences, but I feel somehow that these three groups of singers throughout this conference have reached superior heights, and we say thank you, and God bless you!
I wish to express gratitude for the support, blessing, and strength always of Presidents Richards and Clark and for the spirit of unity that pervades the Quorum of the Presidency. The wisdom of these able men is ever directed to the furtherance of the kingdom of God. May the Lord continue to bless them.
Likewise, these members of the Council of the Twelve: You can feel that in these quorums -you can feel radiating from these men that for which Christ prayed when he offered that great intercessory prayer. Among other things he said:
"And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are".
These brethren prove daily, as was particularly evidenced in a sacred meeting in the temple last Thursday, that they have that spirit of oneness, and we are united in praying that you presidencies of stakes, bishoprics of wards, presidencies of quorums, presidencies and superintendencies of auxiliaries, may be so blessed that you too may say: We strive to be one as the Father and Son are one. God bless you that this may be true.
Just preceding the opening of this conference, the Relief Society held dedicatory services of the new Relief Society home. They have been crowded, and have had to work in the congested hallways, stacked with boxes, to prepare sacred clothing. They have been forced to store away mementos and gifts because they had no room for them-gifts presented to them by lovers of the truth. Now they have a home in which these gifts may be properly displayed.
What is more, the dedication of this home has given room now to the other auxiliaries who are crowded, inconvenienced in their efforts to serve the Church. The removal of the Relief Society from their old quarters to the new will relieve the congested quarters of the other auxiliaries. We suggest to these auxiliaries that they continue as best they can. Committees are now working on plans to help you that you may have more room. In the mean-time, work as best you can until the opportunity comes to give you also more room.
There are some others to whom I wish to express gratitude. We have not heard from them. They are the men and women throughout the entire Church who are contributing of their time and means to the advancement of the truth, not just in teaching, but in genuine service in many ways. Some of these are struggling to make their own living. Some of them are wealthy men and women who have retired, who count their wealth in millions. It means something when a man of means will give to the Church his contribution of a million, and then say, "All my time is yours." It means something to leave your vocation, cross the ocean, and render service to the building of schools and temples. God bless those who are rendering this service, and bless you all, for I think we can say for the Church, "We are striving to be one, Father, as thou and thy Son are one.
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me," said our Lord and Savior.
We are grateful to the Lord for the guiding influence of his Holy Spirit throughout this conference. There is a saying that "My soul rejects the use of words; Lord, look at my heart." We can sincerely say, as unitedly we express gratitude to him for his presence during this conference: "Lord, look at our hearts!"
God help us all to serve one another in his name for the good and advancement of the kingdom of God, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 4-9
My beloved brethren and sisters, this is one of the most humbling experiences of my life. In anticipation of this moment I have spent many hours of thought and many hours of prayer. I think there is no experience in the world that makes one of the General Authorities, or any man who holds the priesthood, feel so dependent upon inspiration, as standing before a vast audience of members of the Church. I do pray for your sympathetic attention, and for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is a joy to meet with you, notwithstanding the sense of responsibility.
I have chosen as a text, to indicate a line of thought: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven".
The thought is, as expressed by James: "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.". That applies particularly to each individual. Salvation is an individual affair. We are not saved as congregations, nor as groups, but we are saved as we come into the world as individuals, and the Lord's purpose is to save the individual, each being precious in his sight.
Before commenting further upon the theme, I desire to express commendation for the progress made by the Church and individual groups during the last six months and during the past year.
This has been another prosperous year for the Church. Increased faith and more active participation in Church activity are evidenced almost weekly by the reports of the General Authorities of their assigned visits throughout the stakes and missions. Some illustrative facts follow:
Attendance at Sacrament meetings during 1956 is the highest yet attained in the Church-15,000 more people attended last year than in 1955, and that was the highest percentage of attendance to date. From 1945 to 1955 there has been a gradual increase of attendance at Sacrament meetings of eleven percent.
Greater devotion is evident, also, in the increase of tithes and offerings. It appears that a larger proportion of the members are contributing a larger proportion of their incomes, the result being that tithes and offerings have increased during recent years substantially more than the growth in membership and the indicated increase in average incomes of the Saints. Those two items point to increased spirituality, the very object of our organization.
We are grateful for the progress that has been made in the welfare plan. Hundreds of projects have been established, and bishops' storehouses equipped to supply in a helpful and dignified manner the needs of the poor. The priesthood generally and the Relief Society sisters have responded to this important work. We are especially grateful to the members of the general Church welfare committee, who have given direct supervision to this program for a period of over twenty years. The basic concepts of the welfare program have been tested and proved to be sound.
Nevertheless, we must constantly remind ourselves of the primary purpose of the plan, which is-First, to supply in a helpful and dignified manner food, clothing, and shelter to every person so in need.
Second, to assist men and women who, through misfortune, ill-luck, or disaster, find themselves without gainful employment, to become once again self-supporting.
Third, to increase among the members of the Church the true spirit of the brotherhood of Christ, having in mind in all their service the divine saying, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me".
4. Missionary Work: In 1956 there were 23,923 baptisms performed in foreign and stake missions, which is an increase of nine percent over the previous year.
5. Schools in Polynesia: I am sure you will be interested in the progress of the schools in Polynesia. The New Zealand College will be finished and ready for opening in February 1958. It is composed of an administration building, a student center building, which is made up of two full-scale gymnasiums, cafeteria, kitchen, student center, lounge, swimming pool, locker rooms, and an auditorium combined with the gymnasium which will seat 4500 people. There are five classroom wings which will accommodate 1000 day students, three girls' dormitories and three boys' dormitories, accommodating 600 students. I will not go into further detail, but I do wish to express a word of commendation to those who are working down there. I should name them, but there is one man and his wife, particularly, who deserve commendation, and that is Brother George R. Biesinger and his sweet wife. He has left his business here and devoted years to this project, and will continue to do so until the completion of the temple and the completion of these schools.
In Samoa, there are new additions to the Pesega School in Western Samoa. The school is completed also at Vaiola, Savaii, Samoa, and one at Sauniatu, Samoa. Another is now under construction at Mapusago, Samoa.
In Tonga at the Liahona College, two large wings to the boys' and girls' dormitories, a new classroom wing, a new dining hall with kitchen facilities combined, and dormitories for the men and women teachers are under construction.
In Hawaii, the new Junior College now being built at Laie, Oahu, will accommodate not fewer than 750 students. The large shop building and the main building are already nearing completion.
All of these school buildings of the South Pacific are being built by labor missionaries called from America, and local labor missionaries called from their respective homelands. The work is going forward in a completely satisfactory manner, and in all areas is on schedule. Commendation and appreciation are extended to the local labor missionaries and to the Saints who contribute to the sustenance of these labor missionaries in this vast building program, as well as to our labor missionary supervisors called from America.
6. Regarding Our Temples: Near Auckland, New Zealand, on December 22, 1956, another milestone in Church history was passed. Elder Hugh B. Brown, Assistant to the Council of the Twelve, under appointment from the First Presidency, conducted the services and officiated at the cornerstone laying ceremonies for the New Zealand Temple.
Cornerstone laying ceremonies for the London Temple will be held at Newchapel, Surrey County, England, May 11, 1957. Elder Richard L. Evans of the Council of the Twelve will officiate at the ceremonies. The ground for this temple was broken August 27, 1955.
Brethren and sisters, to partake of the spirit of faith and activity in the Church is inspiring. Membership therein is at once a privilege and a blessing.
Looking around us, we are convinced that we are living in an era of great progress, embracing wonderful inventions and scientific discoveries. Man's search for the unknown has led him out of the world of matter literally into the realm of space. He splits the atom, sets off horrifying hydrogen explosions, flies through space at a speed faster than sound, is taking steps to build satellites to accompany the earth in its revolutions. Many of the imaginations of Jules Verne are now commonplace realities. Flying to the moon is an achievement now considered possible.
The earth itself, figuratively speaking, is shrinking. The railroad, automobiles, airplanes, have made New York and San Francisco next-door neighbors, and Greenland and the South Pole only a few days apart!
But with all these things comes increased responsibility to every individual, man, woman, and child. New inventions bring greater opportunities, but demand more activity, more strength of character. Many years ago you and I read the following comment by Roger W. Babson, the great statistician:
"Although the airplane opens up boundless opportunities, it also threatens limitless perils. All depends upon whether we can match this flood of new material powers with an equal gain in spiritual forces. The coming generation can see in a minute more than the former generation could see in a week. The coming generation can outhear and outtravel the former generation. Horsepower has expanded beyond all dreams. But what about manpower? What about spiritual power, and the power of judgment, discretion, and self-control? Unless there is a development of character equal to this enlargement of physical forces there is sure trouble ahead. Twenty-five years ago an intoxicated man might tip the buggy over, but commonly the old horse would bring him home. Today a driver under the influence of liquor maims and kills. Tomorrow, therefore, is something to ponder over. Without moral progress in pace with physical progress the airplane will merely make dissipation more disastrous, immorality more widespread, and crime more efficient. One result of the automobile has been to put hell on wheels; the airplane will put hell on wings unless righteousness, too, is speeded up. On the development of character depends whether the airplane shall bring prosperity or calamity."
Along this same line also are the comments of Mr. A. Cressy Morrison, eminent scientist who, fearing "a period of regression for true civilization," says: "If we have read the signs of the times correctly, or even if we have exaggerated some of the symptoms, the only salvation for mankind will be found in religion. However, it must be a sound Christian religion, vitalized by its own primitive ideals; aware of the progress of science, rid of prejudice against fair speculative intelligence, and soaring high above frontiers. Never in her two thousand years has the Church had a more urgent call and a nobler opportunity to fulfill her obligations as the comforter and guide of humanity." That is from Man Does Not Stand Alone, a book I commend to all earnest seekers after truth.
Well, as our text says, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven".
Too many people in the world are sitting and giving only lip service to God; too many have forgotten him; too many are denying him; too many are crying, "Lord, Lord," but fail to follow his principles. Many of us through selfishness are lingering near the edge of the animal jungle where Nature's law demands us to do everything with self in view. Self-preservation is the first law of mortal life, but Jesus says, "He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it".
The first experience of our Savior after his baptism, and after having been acknowledged by his Father as his Only Begotten Son, was to triumph over selfishness on the Mount of Temptation.
Applicable today is Paul's admonition to the Philippians, given over nineteen hundred years ago:
"Wherefore, my beloved... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. "Do all things without murmurings and disputings: "That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world".
An outstanding doctrine of the Church is that each individual carries the responsibility to work out his own salvation, and salvation is a process of gradual development. The Church does not accept the doctrine that a mere murmured belief in Jesus Christ is all that is necessary. A man may say he believes, but if he does nothing to make that belief or faith a moving power to do, to accomplish, to produce soul growth, his professing will avail him nothing. "Work out your own salvation" is an exhortation to demonstrate by activity, by thoughtful, obedient effort the reality of faith. But this must be done with a consciousness that absolute dependence upon self may produce pride and weakness that will bring failure. With "fear and trembling" we should seek the strength and grace of God for inspiration to obtain the final victory.
To work out one's salvation is not to sit idly by dreaming and yearning for God miraculously to thrust bounteous blessings into our laps. It is to perform daily, hourly, momentarily, if necessary, the immediate task or duty at hand, and to continue happily in such performance as the years come and go, leaving the fruits of such labors either for self or for others to be bestowed as a just and beneficent Father may determine.
I am not unmindful of the scripture that declares: "by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God". That is absolutely true, for man in his taking upon himself mortality was impotent to save himself. When left to grope in a natural state, he would have become, and did become, so we are told in modern scripture, "carnal, sensual, and devilish, by nature". But the Lord, through his grace, appeared to man, gave him the gospel or eternal plan whereby he might rise above the carnal and selfish things of life and obtain spiritual perfection. But he must rise by his own efforts and he must walk by faith.
"He who would ascend the stairway leading upward to eternal life must tread it step by step from the base stone to the summit of its flight. Not a single stair can be missed, not one duty neglected, if the climber would avoid danger and delay and arrive with all safety and expedition at the topmost landing of the celestial exaltation." The responsibility is upon each individual to choose the path of righteousness, of faithfulness and duty to fellow men. If he choose otherwise and as a result meets failure, misery, and death, he alone is to blame. President Brigham Young, speaking on this thought, once said:
"If Brother Brigham should take a wrong track and be shut out of the kingdom of heaven, no person will be to blame but Brother Brigham. I am the only being in heaven, earth, or hell, that can be blamed. This will equally apply to every Latter-day Saint. Salvation is an individual operation. I am the only person that can possibly save myself. When salvation is sent to me, I can reject or receive it. In receiving it, I yield implicit obedience and submission to its great Author throughout my life, and to those whom he shall appoint to instruct me; in rejecting it, I follow the dictates of my own will in preference to the will of my Creator."
In thus emphasizing individual effort, I am not unmindful of the necessity of cooperation.
"There is a destiny which makes us brothers, None lives to self alone; All that we send into the lives of others Comes back into our own."
-Edwin Markham
A single, struggling individual may be stalled with his heavy lead even as he begins to climb the hill before him. To reach the top unaided is an impossibility. With a little help from fellow travelers, quorums, or wards, he makes the grade and goes on his way in gratitude and rejoicing.
This is in harmony with the teachings of Jesus, "who sought to perfect society, not by popular agitation or by reorganization, but by perfecting the individual. He recognized the fatal fallacy in the dream of those who hoped to make a perfect state out of imperfect individuals. The ideal social state, which he described as the kingdom of God, is a commonwealth in which all men are united and governed by a commanding love both for God and for their neighbors."
The present-day turmoil and bitter strivings threaten to undermine basic foundations of Christian relationship. Liberty, freedom of speech, self-government, faith in God, and particularly faith in the efficacy of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, are facing a bombardment from the ranks of error such as the world has seldom if ever witnessed.
Too many men quail under the impending onslaught, and cry vainly, "What can we do?" To members of the Church, to men everywhere, the Church answers, "Keep the commandments of God," as named specifically, for example, by the Prophet Nephi:
"... God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love. And except they should have charity they were nothing...
"And again, the Lord God hath commanded that men should not murder; that they should not lie; that they should not steal; that they should not take the name of the Lord their God in vain; that they should not envy; that they should not have malice; that they should not contend one with another; that they should not commit whoredoms; and that they should do none of these things; for whoso doeth them shall perish". I commend this chapter to you.
Avoidance of Intoxicating Liquor: In this dispensation the Lord has warned mankind against the use of intoxicating liquors. In violation of that warning alcoholism is now a national problem. Americans spend the staggering sum of more than nine billion dollars every year for alcoholic beverages. In addition, lost wages, crime, and accidents traced to alcoholism cost Americans another $667,000,000 a year.
"Alcoholism has become a major public health problem, for it is 155 times more prevalent than polio, 11 times more prevalent than tuberculosis, and 6 times more prevalent than cancer. If the number of alcoholics continues to increase during the next ten years as it has during the past ten years, alcoholism will soon affect every family in the United States." So says a pamphlet published by the National Committee for the Prevention of Alcoholism, Washington, D. C., July 22 - August 2, 1956.
Over a hundred years ago the Lord said through the Prophet Joseph Smith that "tobacco... is not good for man". Luther Burbank in the "Dearborn Independent" says:
"How much would you know about tobacco if, upon the tombstone of everyone killed by it were inscribed, 'Killed by tobacco'?
"You would know a lot more about it than you do now, but you would not know all, because tobacco does more than kill. It half-kills. It has its victims in the cemeteries and in the streets. It is bad enough to be dead, but it is a question if it is not sometimes worse to be half-dead-to be nervous, irritable, unable to sleep well, with efficiency cut in two and vitality ready to snap at the first great strain. This seems like exaggeration. It isn't! It is well within the truth.
"Let me tell you how tobacco kills. Smokers do not all drop dead around the cigar lighters in tobacco stores. They go away and, years later, die of something else. From the tobacco trust's point of view, that is one of the finest things about tobacco. The victims do not die on the premises, even when sold the worst cigars. They go away, and when they die, the doctors certify that they died of something else-pneumonia, heart disease, typhoid fever, or what not.
"In other words, tobacco kills indirectly and escapes the blame," confirming what the Prophet Joseph said before, "tobacco... is not good for man."
"Approximately 38,000,000 Americans are regular cigarette smokers, although a million and a half have quit smoking entirely in the last eighteen months, according to estimates based on a survey made by the US Bureau of the Census for the National Cancer Institute of the Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The 38,000,000 cigarette smokers include 25,000,000 men and 13,000,000 women."
In the Church no teacher who indulges in smoking should be permitted to teach our children in Primary and Sunday School. Through the Prophet Joseph the Lord gave the Word of Wisdom to all. It is time, in the light of revelation and the discoveries of science, that this Church upholds its principles regarding these things.
The best way to prevent indulgence in these harmful habits is to refuse to tamper with them. Let each youth decline the first invitation to indulge, remembering that "The soul that is worth the honor of earth, is the soul that resists desire."
"Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence. "He that is slothful shall not be counted worthy to stand, and he that learns not his duty and shows himself not approved shall not be counted worthy to stand".
The Church is thriving, as indicated in my opening remarks. Let us rejoice in her progress. To see the discoveries of science and to be the recipients of inventions and new appliances as they relieve daily life of former drudgery give hope and encouragement; but to overcome difficulties, to control temper, to subdue and conquer passion, in whatever form, to feel in one's heart a growing love for truth and for one's fellow men, to sense a nearness to God our Father, and to recognize the whisperings of his voice through the Holy Spirit, fill the soul with joy and make life worth living.
That obedience to the principles of the restored gospel gives to man these blessings, I testify in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Clifford E. Young
Clifford E. Young, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 9-11
Realize, my brethren and sisters, that every week we meet with people whom you represent. You are a cross section of the stakes and the missions where we from time to time visit. You are always so kind and considerate of our every need. Yet I do not know why I should feel timid as I stand here this morning to attempt to say just a few words, and especially after this impressive address by President McKay. It is a challenging position, and I do ask for an interest in your faith and prayers.
I can only suggest a few things in the short time allotted. You remember in reading the eighth chapter of John, that Jesus went into the temple and
"... all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them." Then the scribes and the Pharisees, the doubting scribes and Pharisees, brought to him a woman taken in sin. He rebuked them by telling them if they were without sin they could condemn, but they had no right to condemn unless they were without sin. He was reaffirming the truth taught to his disciples as he sat with them on the mount, when he said:
Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Jesus was teaching them a fundamental truth. He was not condoning sin, but he was emphasizing this truth to those scribes and Pharisees who would trap him, who would question whether or not he accepted the law. They were not concerned about the sin; they were more concerned about making good their own argument and establishing themselves in their position with him, because they did attempt to argue, if you will read the chapter, but he was equal to their seeming cleverness.
Then we are told he continued to teach them that he was "the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life". Then many believed and to those who believed, he said:
... If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
My brethren and sisters, this brings so forcibly to us the importance of the message we have listened to this morning. We have heard the truth. The truth will make us free if we will just permit it to.
You remember that when the Savior stood before Pilate, Pilate wanted to set the Savior free. He had sent him to Herod, but Herod, not willing to take the responsibility other than to scourge him, to mock him, had sent him back to Pilate. Pilate, impressed that there was something about the Nazarene that transcended human power, his own power of understanding, would have set him free. He questioned him, and among the questions was, "What is truth?". There is no record of the answer. I would that we had the complete record. Without any doubt the Savior did answer him. But in this day the Savior has said:
The Spirit of truth is of God. I am the Spirit of truth, and John bore record of me, saying: He received a fulness of truth, yea, even of all truth; And no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments. He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.
We have heard the truth this morning. We hear it from this pulpit conference after conference. We read about it.
Do we apply it in our lives? If we do, then we sense that degree of freedom to which we apply it, and there are so many ways, my brethren, and sisters, that we can apply it.
We have it exemplified in the field of science. Human suffering is being alleviated by the unselfish efforts of men and women who are devoting their time unselfishly, trying to discover the causes of disease and find a remedy.
I marvel as I travel about in meeting some of our own brethren, great men, devoting their time unselfishly in the fields of science whereby they may relieve human suffering, trying to find truth, that mankind may be free.
You know, in this Church we have stake presidents who devote their time generously to their labors in their stakes, and yet day after day work in the laboratories, seeking to find the source of some of the diseases that so far have baffled the medical world. I honor them. God bless them for the great work they are doing.
In all of these fields, "know the truth." I think of our young people-President McKay has touched on this so forcibly-what it would mean to our young people if they could avoid some of these pitfalls, if they could know the truth and would live the truth.
I was reading recently a talk by the eminent English scientist and surgeon, Dr. William Osler. He has gone now-but a generation ago he was known all over the world for his great work. England claims him; she knighted him. He was born in Canada. He spent a good deal of time in this country. Some of our own local men of a generation ago knew him well. He spent fifteen years at Johns Hopkins. In a talk he gave before the students of Yale University in 1913, his thesis was to "live today your fullest, live the truth today." Never mind yesterday, it is past. You cannot do much about it. But you can live today and that will prepare you for tomorrow.
Among other things he cautioned the men to whom he was talking, on the excessive use of liquor-he might have said to avoid it entirely-and the excessive use of tobacco, and he pointed out the evils of these things to which Brother McKay has alluded.
"If you will avoid these," he said, "You will have a clear mind. Your vision will be clear and keen. It will add to your happiness. It will make today a better day."
I would that we could emphasize that among our own people, our young people especially, to help them to live today and to get all that they can out of life. We have the truth, and in living it, we may be free.
Now there is one more thing-I have mentioned it here from this pulpit before, and I come in contact with it so often that I am going to repeat it. I think our young people, as they start out in life, should exercise caution. We have been taught from this pulpit time and time again to avoid obligations that we cannot meet, and yet many of our people find themselves in bondage. They have not lived the truth, hence they are not free. They are in bondage. All young boys and girls who start out in life owe it to themselves and to their children, just as fast as they can, to see that their homes are their own. I know it is a struggle. I know from my own experience, and I know what debt means.
Brigham Young warned us against debt. And we heard President Grant from this pulpit say what it had done for him, the struggle he had had, but he also said this, against the counsel of some of his friends: "I never wavered in my obligations to the Lord during it all, and because of that I was able to pay my obligations." And he promised the people that if they would be true to their tithes and their offerings, not excuse themselves on the ground of debt, they would be able to be free. I accept that as a truth, and I can bear testimony to it, my brethren and sisters.
So this "knowing the truth" is an everyday principle. It is a principle we can live every day in our lives. It has a practical application.
Then there is the spiritual side of it all. When Jesus was talking to his disciples, he was also reminding them that he and the Father were one. In this same chapter to which I referred, he pointed out that he and the Father bore witness of this eternal truth that he was the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world. They did not believe it, but it was an eternal truth just the same.
Think what that means-to know that truth. We are nearing Easter, which will be celebrated with all the pageantry and tradition typical of it. But underlying it all will be the fundamental truths that Jesus was the Christ, the Redeemer of the world, the Savior; that there is a continuity of life; that life does not end with death. What blessed concepts! And they are true and God will bear witness to our souls these truths, if we will seek to know. He has given us the way.
The Lord help us that we may know the truth, that we may be free, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Richard L. Evans
Richard L. Evans, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 12-14
With you, my brethren and sisters, I have been moved and sobered and satisfied by the opening address of our beloved President, and his utterance as to the inescapable importance of personal responsibility.
Beyond all that our Savior did for us in his saving grace, without which there would be no hope of salvation for any of us, beyond all this, it is clearly up to each of us, in the freedom God has given us, and in the right and responsibility of choice which he has placed everlastingly before us, what we will do with our lives.
Our President's remarks call to mind a sentence from, I think, Viscount John Morley, in which he said that "no man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character." It is everlastingly and basically true: No man can rise above the limitations of his own character.
Sometimes we would like to believe that there is less responsibility upon us than there is for the outcome of our lives. I am reminded of the story of a small lad who came home from school and accosted his father, saying: "Dad, here is my report card. It's bad again. What do you think is wrong with me? Heredity or environment?" There are some other alternatives that he had not thought of!
There are some considerations that all of us must soberly think of in accepting personal responsibility for the keeping of the commandments, for the choices we make, for how we use the freedom God has given us, for he will not force any of us to become what we are not willing to pay the price of becoming.
Some days ago I spent some time with a young man who was troubled. He did not like the way our Father in heaven was running the world. He said, "We need to know more."
Well, I agreed with him. We do need to know more. I should like to know all the answers. I am sure we all would. But, I said, "Let us begin with what we know. I think we can agree that there are some things we do know. What are we doing with them? Let us begin with the Ten Commandments, and also the two great commandments:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Do you know anyone who is keeping them in their fulness? Just for example, do you know anyone who literally and always loves his neighbor as himself? I agree we need to know more, but also we need more to use more of what we do know."
The Lord has set up the objectives. He has given us a few simple rules. He has given us freedom; he has given us the right of choice, and what we shall become will depend, beyond his saving grace, on what we do with what we know.
And in replying to this young man, I could not refrain from observing that even though I were to agree with him that there are some things I would do differently from my point of view. I reminded him that we-he and I-cannot make a worm, and we cannot make a blade of grass, and who were we to dictate to the Creator in our small wisdom?
One thing he was troubled about was the necessity for faith: Why could he not know by sight or sound of the existence of God himself. "Why can't I see him? Why doesn't he tell these things to me? Why do I have to live by faith?"
There are people who have not had to live by faith, who have found themselves in serious trouble. There are those to whom the Lord God has spoken, who have made grievous errors.
Let us take the case of Lucifer, who lived with his Father. He did not have to have faith as to the existence of his Father in heaven, but what did his knowledge do for him? He was brilliant, but he lacked humility. He was arrogant and overly ambitious. He wanted to usurp his Father's power, and he wanted to do things in his own way. He wanted to change the commandments, to change the rules, and to run the kingdom according to his own pleasure and convenience, and his own view of things. So it is not always just not knowing that gets in our way. With his brilliance, humility would have saved Lucifer, but that he did not seem to have.
Now President McKay has invited our attention to some things specifically concerning the use of which we have been cautioned against, and concerning certain practices and dangers, and concerning the commandments which have been given to us plainly and clearly, all of which bring before all of us the question, often disputed, as to what is right and what is wrong:
Often we hear it argued that if a person does only those things which harm himself, he has a perfect right to do so, since there is no harm done except to himself.
Specifically with reference to the use of some things-some of which President McKay has mentioned this morning-I think we can lay down a line of right and wrong quite clearly, more clearly than we sometimes suppose. I think that whatever is detrimental to health and happiness, or whatever impairs effectiveness or efficiency, is clearly wrong, morally wrong, spiritually wrong, as well as physically wrong, and I do not believe that a person harms only himself in the use of what he calls his right to live his life as he pleases.
In the first place, if he impairs his own efficiency he is robbing his loved ones, and the world, of some things that he might have produced or done for them. Secondly, if he impairs his health, he is placing a burden on others, or the possibility of that burden-and no man can know that he is not going to place that burden upon other people. So, I say again, the line seems to be rather sharply drawn, or can be: that when we do those things that are harmful to us or to others, or which impair our efficiency or that of others, clearly we are doing that which is wrong. It is more than just a personal choice. It becomes a concern for everyone. It does become a moral matter-a matter of commandment-and rightly so.
The glory of God is intelligence, and I cannot conceive of man's being accounted as being intelligent if he does that to himself or to others which impairs health and happiness and effectiveness and efficiency. Indeed, all the commandments are designed to bring about these very things: our health and happiness, and peace and progress, and effectiveness here and hereafter, limitlessly; and we need to keep that humility which is ever called for in the making of our choices and the living of our lives.
And even if we sometimes think we would run the world differently, in our limited understanding, we know so little with all we know. We still cannot answer most, if any, of the questions asked of Job many centuries ago, when the Lord God answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding... Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?... Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?... declare if thou knowest it all. Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof... Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts?.
We might ask it another way. Who has given the body the wisdom to heal itself?-or who has placed instinct in animals-
Who hath given understanding to the heart?... Who provideth for the raven his food?.
... Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust,... Hast thou given the horse strength?... Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south? Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?.
Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Life is short at best. Even if we should live twice as long as our present expectancy, it would still be short. We should have our minds and hearts and the whole intent of our souls on the things that give us health and happiness and effectiveness here, and which will lead to limitless progress hereafter, and there are clear-cut ways of discerning the difference between right and wrong. I pray that we may find them and live by them, and that our Father's purposes and promises concerning each of us may be realized by the wisdom of our choices and by the acceptance of this personal responsibility of which President McKay has spoken. For beyond our Savior's saving grace no one stands between us and our own salvation-or exaltation. I pray that we may find it, and that we may be part of that glorious homecoming which it is our Father's hope and purpose to bring about for the whole human family.
God bless you and be with you, and with us all in the use of our freedom, and in the acceptance of the challenge and trust which our President has given unto us this day in meeting and living by this personal responsibility, and making our choices wisely so that all that our Father intends for each of us may be ours in his presence and in his kingdom with our loved ones. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Elder LeGrand Richards
LeGrand Richards, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 14-17
I am sure our hearts have all been stirred this morning with appreciation for being privileged to be members of this great Church, for our great leader and the power of his leadership, and for these our Brethren, and I rejoice in being with you, in being a part of this great latter-day gospel movement.
The President referred in his talk this morning to the great progress that is being made and has been made in the world scientifically, the comforts that we enjoy, the powers that have been harnessed, and as I think of that-electricity and the sound waves that have brought us all these modern conveniences-I wonder if the world realizes that there are other unseen powers that are operating in the world, the power of darkness seeking to destroy the work of the Lord, and the power of God in the hearts of the honest who find the way of eternal truth.
I would like to predicate the few words that I say this morning on an experience that I had a few weeks ago in attending a stake conference in a neighboring state. One of the fine men of the community, through the efforts of our stake missionaries, had recently joined the Church. He was happy in his membership in the Church. It brought a change in his life, a change in his thoughts, a change in his habits, a change in his desires and interest in his fellow men. He had a neighbor with whom he had been very friendly. They lent each other equipment from their farms, but as soon as this man joined the Church his neighbor turned against him.
The new convert ran for a position on the school board, and his neighbor went out and gathered people from far and near to bring them into the polls to defeat this former friend and neighbor. After the election was over, the new convert went to his neighbor. He said, "What have I done that would change your attitude toward me as it has been changed?" The answer was, "I do not like the Mormons."
If he had been living in the days of the Savior, his answer would have been, "I do not like the Christians," and I think of the words of the Savior when he said:
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
If we understood the power there is operating in the world to deceive the nations! Reference has been made this morning to Satan. We read in Revelation that when he was cast out of heaven, the cry went up,
... Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the seal for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Just think of that statement for a moment, that he "deceiveth the whole world." I am sure the world does not know how often they listen to his deceptive voice in the things that they do and in the decisions that they make. At this particular point, when we look back over the history of Christianity, we ask ourselves, "How could they have crucified our Lord, the one great example unto all men?" The only answer is because they were deceived by this power of darkness. It is not only those who are wicked who listen to his voice, but also many righteous people who mean to be doing God's service, just like Paul of old, or Saul of Tarsus. You remember how he held the cloaks for those who stoned Stephen to death, not because Stephen had done any harm, but because this power that "deceiveth the whole world" could not make place for him in this world, and brought about his martyrdom.
Paul, on his way to Damascus, went to obtain a writ to persecute the Saints, and then it was that the voice of the Master said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?... it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks". You see, Paul had thought he was doing the Lord's service, but after he came to know the power of the truth, he gave his life. We read how often he was scourged and whipped, and finally he was beheaded at Rome under Nero. Take the history of all of the apostles. Why were they put to death? Why did the world hate them? Because they were not of the world, and the world could not fellowship these apostles.
I was in Mexico a few weeks ago, where I saw oil paintings of all of the apostles and how they were put to death. Peter, as you know, was hanged with his head downward. James was beheaded at Jerusalem, and Paul, as I have told you, was beheaded at Rome. John was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil. Through the power of God his life was saved, and all of the apostles were put to death save John. Why? Because this power of the evil one "deceiveth the whole world," according to the word of John.
Those of us who have had considerable missionary experience know how literally that is true. Why were the Saints all looked down upon? When Paul appeared in Rome, as you will remember, the high priests said,
... we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest, for as concerning this sect, we know that it is everywhere spoken against.
Why was the truth everywhere spoken against? Well, you see, there was a war in heaven. There isn't time to go into detail; I just read to you a few words about that. Satan and a third of the hosts of heaven were cast down upon this earth, and they brought with them the knowledge that they had, and according to Isaiah, Satan has decreed that he would exalt his throne above the throne of God, that he would become like unto the Most High.
Then Isaiah speaks of him who has deceived the nations and destroyed the world and the inhabitants thereof, and all we need to do is to look at the history of the world, and realize the power that is bringing about such destruction, when, if we would heed the light of truth and inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord, all men might live in harmony and in peace, and the nations of the earth might walk in the light of the Lord their God, which condition, we are told, will ultimately come to pass.
So these great persecutions we find in our own work. As the Church was evil-spoken of in that day, it is evil-spoken of in our day. We have found this as we have labored among the people. If it were not for that power that deceiveth the nations, there would be hundreds of thousands of honest people in this world join this Church because it literally is the Church of Jesus Christ restored again to the earth in this day.
I think of Nicodemus who came to the Savior of the world. He said, "... we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." And Jesus told him how he should be born again, and then he said, "We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness".
Now we are witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we speak that we do know to the world, and we testify that we have seen, and we know that his truth has been restored to the earth, and the heavens have been opened; and so, as Jesus said, "because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you".
Many of our finest members are those who have had prejudices against this Church until they were brought into contact in a way that we could present the gospel message to them. I had a report from one of my distant relatives back in New England a short time ago, and he had just read one of our books. He said, "I doubt if you have any idea the erroneous conception the people of New England have regarding the Mormon Church. Sometimes I wonder if they believe the things that they tell."
A man in New England to whom I had the privilege of preaching the gospel wrote me a letter after I returned home. He was the treasurer of his own church. He thanked me for bringing him the truth but said, "I am too big a coward to accept it until I can get my friends and my relatives and my neighbors to feeling more friendly toward your people." You see, because we are not of the world, therefore the world hates us.
We were holding a conference in Mississippi when I was the president of the mission there, and a young college man came up at the close of the morning meeting and wanted to know if he could talk in the afternoon meeting, and I assured him he might. He said, "But I am not a member of your Church." "Well," I said, "you cannot say anything that will hurt any of our members," and so we called him up to speak, and this is what he said:
"I was raised here in Mississippi to believe that the Mormons were the most undesirable people in the world, and then I finished my college education and went to Arizona to work. There my lot was cast with the Mormon people, and when I returned here it was cast with the Mormons here. Now I have been attending their meetings. I know what their lives are, and their ideals, and their teachings, and I no longer think of the Mormons as the most undesirable people in the world. I am wondering when I will be good enough to be a member of the Mormon Church."
That is what people find when they know the truth, and if the evil one were not out deceiving the minds of the whole world, as the scriptures say, this work would go on with mighty progress in the world.
I bear you my witness that there is not an honest man nor an honest woman in this world who really loves the Lord who would not join this Church if he knew what it was, and we find testimonies coming to us from all sides.
I remember one minister in Holland. His friends who had joined our Church persuaded him to come and listen to our missionaries, and at the close of the meeting he denounced Joseph Smith as a false prophet, as a deceiver, as everything vile he could think of, and then he went home and went to bed. He told me this story himself, and he was one of the finest companions I have ever labored with in the Church.
He said, "I did not know what I had done, but I knew that I had grieved God because peace had gone out of my mind. I lay and tossed all night until the wee hours of the morning, and then arose and walked the streets until I thought the Mormon elders would be up, and then I went to their door and asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon." I want to tell you that I never listened to a testimony that impressed me more than to hear that man of God bear witness that he knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and the Book of Mormon was true, and the kingdom of God had been established in the earth to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.
We have had a good many ministers join the Church just recently-one only last week right here in Salt Lake City-men who are humble enough to realize that the truth must be established in the earth as it was in the days of old to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.
In closing, I would like to read a little statement from two of our recent converts. This is a copy from a letter that I received a few days ago from a woman I met in Alabama while touring that mission last November-a dignified, beautiful character. She left her own church, and after so doing, she went back to the minister to ask him to take her name off the records. She said, "May I go in the classroom where I have stood for years, and taught a Sunday School class? I want to thank God for the privilege that has been mine of teaching in that room and ask his blessings upon me as I leave it."
Here are a few words from her letter: "Elder Richards, I was a member of this wonderful Church one year, the 5th of February, and I can truthfully say, 1956 was the happiest year of my life. There is hardly a day that passes that something doesn't happen that strengthens my testimony. I only regret that I did not have an opportunity to receive this gospel about thirty years ago. I will just have to be content with doing what I can the rest of my life."
And then she tells of her activities in the Church.
This is from a woman who wrote in to Salt Lake City for information from the Bureau of Information, and they sent her literature to read. Then after joining the Church she wrote: "I now have a serenity and composure, and inner strength, and an inward joy which I never before possessed." That is the kind of joy Paul had, and others who had been enemies of the Church, until Paul was willing to give his life for his testimony. You will remember when he stood in chains, and Festus said, "Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad," to which Paul replied, "I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness." Agrippa said, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian," to which Paul replied in words like this, "I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were... as I am, except these bonds".
In closing, I want to read to you the statement of Gamaliel. You remember the statement of Gamaliel, how he came to the rescue of the apostles of old and said this to the chief priests of the land:
Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men. And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
I bear you my solemn witness that any man or any woman who lifts a voice or a hand to stay the progress of this work is fighting against God, the Eternal Father, and is deceived by the author of evil in the world. God bless you all in the great missionary cause of the Church, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Bruce R. McConkie, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 19-20
President McKay spoke this morning in plainness and with great force and power, saying that we should keep the commandments of God; that we should be doers of the word, and not hearers only; that we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling before God-all in accordance with the principle that, it is not he who saith, "Lord, Lord," but he that doeth the will of the Father, who will gain eternal salvation.
Now I would like to call attention to one particular commandment-a commandment given in that revelation which is known as the law of the Church, a commandment which, if kept, will give us joy and peace and happiness in this life and assure us of that fulness of salvation to which our President referred this morning. The Lord said this: "Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else"; and similarly we might say, "Thou shalt love thy husband with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto him and none else."
Let us turn the light of introspection upon ourselves. How much do we love our husbands and our wives? How much do we love our children? How fervent and realistic is our desire to have the family unit continue in eternity? May I say something relative to the relationship between the continuation of the family unit in eternity, and receiving the fulness of salvation, the fulness being eternal life or exaltation in the kingdom of God.
Every thinking person knows there will be different degrees of reward in the life hereafter. The mere fact that men are to be judged according to their works indicates that varying rewards will be meted out. Our Lord said,
In my Father's house are many mansions:
and then to emphasize the self-evident nature of that great truth, he added,
If it were not so, I would have told you.
We know of kingdoms of glory likened respectively to the stars, the moon, and the sun, as pertaining to their glory. These kingdoms are the telestial, terrestrial, and celestial. The celestial is the kingdom of God, the kingdom we may attain through the Church, through the gospel, and through personal righteousness. Having that perspective, please note the words of this revelation:
In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood; And if he does not, he cannot obtain it. He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase.
In exactly the same sense that repentance and baptism is the gate which puts us on the path leading to salvation in the celestial kingdom, so this order of marriage called celestial marriage opens the door and puts us on the path whereby we may press forward to eternal life and exaltation in the highest heaven of the celestial world. The revelation on marriage, speaking of people who have opportunity in this life to abide the terms and conditions of this eternal marriage covenant and who do not do it, says that in the world to come there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage for them. Those who do not avail themselves of the opportunity in this life to enter the celestial law of marriage become "ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory," the Lord says:
For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever.
In eternity there will be on the one hand immortality, which means to live forever as a resurrected being; there will be on the other hand eternal life, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God. There will be on the one hand those who are servants, who are ministering angels; there will be on the other hand exalted and glorified personages. The difference between these two categories-the one on the one hand, and the other on the other-the difference is the continuation of the family unit in eternity. By definition and in its nature, exaltation consists in the continuation of the family unit through all ages yet to be. If the family unit continues, if husband and wife go into the spirit world as a married couple and come up in the resurrection continuing as husband and wife, then exaltation is assured. If they go there separately and singly-either not having entered into this celestial order or, having entered into it, having not kept the terms and conditions and laws that appertain to it-they will have immortality only and not eternal life.
All men will get all that they are able to receive, all that a gracious and merciful Father can give them, but the fulness is reserved for those who abide the whole gospel law, who keep all of the terms and conditions of the new and everlasting covenant of marriage.
Now, how much do you love your husband or your wife? With what desire do you seek eternal exaltation in the mansions hereafter? Let it be remembered that love is measured in terms of obedience and of service, in accordance with the principle, "If ye love me, keep my commandments". Accordingly, if we have in our hearts a love, born of the Spirit of Christ, for our families, and for that matter, for our own salvation, we will seek to do those things which will qualify us to gain recommends to the temple, there to be sealed in the eternal marriage union; and then having been so sealed, we will desire with all our hearts to walk in the light, to keep the covenant that we have made, so that it will be of full force and validity in the eternal world, having been bound on earth and sealed in heaven, having been ratified by the Spirit here, and made of full force and validity in the mansions hereafter. There is not any single thing, any single act or performance that any Latter-day Saint ever does in this world as important as marrying the right person in the right place by the right authority, because that kind of marriage is the gate to peace and contentment and happiness in this life, and it opens the door to the attainment of the fulness of the kingdom of the Father hereafter. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Harold B. Lee
Harold B. Lee, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 20-25
This morning in the opening session our beloved President lifted my soul with his remarkable address, and it pleases me to know that my whole soul responds to the truthfulness of the great message which he gave us. I trust that in these few minutes what I say will be in full harmony with that about which he has instructed us.
The sermon of President Bruce R. McConkie has laid a remarkable foundation for the thoughts which I have had on this same important subject, so important to the welfare of all our Father's children here and in the world to come. So the spirit willing, and if I may have an interest in your faith and prayers, I would like to speak briefly about this sacred ordinance of temple marriage which is so vital to every human soul.
I should like to introduce my few remarks by relating three simple incidents that have occurred on this block; then I should like to bring one or two powerful lessons from the scriptures and from the sermons of some of our leaders; and then conclude, in the few moments that I have, with a few observations with reference thereto.
These three incidents are true life stories as told by temple watchmen who serve us around the clock over on the east gate through which all who come to the temple proper must enter. I shall read these incidents just as they were given to me by the brethren.
"One morning not so long ago I was sitting at the desk in the temple gate house reading when my attention was drawn to a knock on the door. There stood two little boys, ages about seven or eight years. As I opened the door, I noticed that they were poorly dressed and had been neither washed nor combed. They appeared as if they had left home before Father or Mother had awakened that morning. As I looked beyond these little fellows, I saw two infants in pushcarts. In answer to my question as to what they wanted, one of the boys pointed to his little brother in the cart and replied: 'His name is Joe. Will you shake hands with little Joe? It is little Joe's birthday-he is two years old today, and I want him to touch the temple so when he gets to be an old man he will remember he touched the temple when he was two years old.'
"Pointing to the other little boy in the other cart, he said this: 'This is Mark, he's two years old, too.' Then, with a solemn, reverent attitude rare in children so young, he asked: 'Now can we go over there and touch the temple?' I replied: 'Sure you can.' They pushed their little carts over to the temple and lifted the infants up, and placed their hands against that holy building. Then as I stood there with a lump in my throat, I heard the little boy say to his infant brother, 'Now, Joe, you will always remember when you was two years old you touched the temple.' They thanked me and departed for home." The second incident:
"This spring a large group of young men and young women ages fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen years, from Spokane Stake, came to the temple of the Lord to perform baptisms for the dead. They were a very fine-looking group. Their features beamed with the light of the gospel. They were quiet and very orderly; they possessed the spirit of reverence. They realized they were on holy ground and were about to enter into God's holy temple to perform baptisms for the dead. Led by the priesthood and members of the genealogical committee into the temple, they gave the right to citizenship in the kingdom of God to perhaps 750 souls. As they came out of the temple after their day's work was done, I saw a young girl go up the steps to the main entrance to the temple on the east side. As I approached her I noticed she was standing facing the door with bowed head and hands clasped in prayer. I waited. As she descended the granite steps she came over to me, tears of joy streaming down her face. She said, 'This has been the happiest day of my life.'"
And then the final incident:
"As I see almost daily Latter-day Saint women who have sold their birthright for a pot of porridge and are now reaping the whirlwind-women who could have enjoyed the blessing of the priesthood and the blessings of the house of the Lord, but who failed to heed the counsel of the prophets of God and married out of the temple of God. Mothers bring their daughters as far as the temple gate house, and as they cling to each other in loving embrace, weeping as if their hearts would break, daughter taking departure and entering into the temple of the Lord-Mother is heard to say, 'Oh, if I had but listened to my parents and to the counsel given me by my bishop to prepare myself and wait until with my husband, I could be married in the house of the Lord! I have tried for thirty years to convince my husband that Mormonism is true, but I have utterly failed. And to think I am not even permitted to witness my daughter's marriage and that I may never have the joyous experience which is now to be hers!'"
As I relate these incidents, those of you who may not now be members of the Church may ask, "But why is a marriage in the temple so important?" Brother McConkie has answered it perfectly. Shall I summarize what he said as he has quoted from the scriptures? Only through this sacred ordinance of a temple marriage can members of the Church receive an exaltation in the celestial kingdom.
Listen again to the word of the Lord:
In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood; And if he does not, he cannot obtain it. He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase.
The Lord has said it again in another revelation:
... if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood... and if ye abide in my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.
In explanation of that scripture, the Prophet Joseph Smith said this, the Prophet said in explanation:
Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant, and are married for eternity while in this probation, by the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood, they will cease to increase when they die; that is, they will not have any children after the resurrection. But those who are married by the power and authority of the priesthood in this life, and continue without committing the sin against the Holy Ghost, will continue to increase and have children in the celestial glory. The unpardonable sin is to shed innocent blood or to be accessory thereto. All other sins will be visited with judgment in the flesh, and the spirit being delivered to the buffetings of Satan until the day of the Lord Jesus.
As I have gone throughout the Church, I have been concerned to know why there are so many of our young people who do not avail themselves of the opportunity of going to the temple. I have asked our leaders as I have gone about to stake conferences, and they have given me several answers.
The most frequent reason given is that young people do not have proper encouragement from their homes. Unfortunately, many, unlike the little children in the incident I have related, have not been impressed in their childhood with the sacred privileges of the temple. Parents who themselves have lightly regarded their temple covenants can expect little better from their children because of their bad example. Little children should not be taught to reverence the temple itself but to look forward reverently to the holy experiences which one day might be theirs.
And then another reason is one that strikes a bit of pain to the hearts of all of us who realize that there must be much truth to it. Our leaders say that some do not go to the house of the Lord because they are not worthy of a temple recommend. It was the late Brother Orson F. Whitney who wrote a beautiful verse which is found at the entrance of the Alberta Temple:
Hearts must be pure to come within these walls Where spreads a feast unknown to festive halls. Freely partake, for freely God has given, And taste the holy joys that tell of heaven.
Here learn of Him who triumphed o'er the grave, And unto men the Keys, the kingdom gave: Joined here by powers that past and present bind The living and the dead perfection find.
Now there are certain standards that are required, as President McConkie has explained, and the bishop and the stake president are expected to scrutinize each applicant in order to keep sacred these holy temples where these sacred ordinances are being performed.
With regard to this matter of keeping young people pure and clean for these sacred privileges, I found something that to me was great wisdom from an address by Dr. Henry I. Bowman, President of Stephens College at Columbia, Missouri. It is an all-girls' junior college. The article is headed: "Petting, Hasty Marriages, and Babies." I read one or two paragraphs:
If any girl thinks she is doing her boy friend a favor by permitting or encouraging petting, she's both stupid and juvenile. A friendship with a girl of a warm, vibrant, and genuine personality and charm-a friendship that later may culminate in marriage-is more significant to a lonely boy.
Now and then, young people enter into hasty marriages with the hope of insuring fidelity of the other during their separation. They forget that fidelity depends, not upon formal vows, but upon an inherent sense of decency and honor. If that is lacking, no ceremony can make up for it. A sweetheart is just as powerful an urge to fidelity as a wife.
I've noticed that few partners in hasty or war marriages include in their sketchy plans the possibility of a baby. One recent bride told me casually she was going to live with her parents until her husband returned. "And will there be room if you have a child?" I asked. "Heavens, no," she replied, "we aren't worrying about that." Like thousands of other brides and grooms, this couple is accepting the responsibilities of marriage without accepting the responsibilities of children. Aside from the question of the morality of planning a childless marriage, even temporarily, there is the practical fact that few marriages turn out happily that are deliberately childless.
I wish that all of the youth of the land could hear the counsel of that wise educator and leader of youth.
Some tell us that young people have avoided going to the temple because they prefer a time marriage first to see whether or not their marriage is going to prove successful before they go to the temple. And some have said facetiously, "Well, I am not sure whether I want him for eternity or not."
President Brigham Young, commenting upon this very matter, said this:
Those who attain to the blessings of the first or celestial resurrection will be pure and holy, and perfect in body. Every man and woman that reaches to this unspeakable attainment will be as beautiful as the angels that surround the throne of God. If you can, by faithfulness in this life, attain the right to come up in the morning of the resurrection, you need entertain no fears that the wife will be dissatisfied with her husband or the husband with the wife, for those of the first resurrection will be free from sin and from the consequences and power of sin. This body is "sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body". "And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" .
Those who go to the marriage altar with love in their hearts, we might say to them in truth, if they will be true to the covenants that they take in the temple, fifty years after their marriage they can say to each other: "We must have not known what true love was when we were married, because we think so much more of each other today!" And so it will be if they will follow the counsel of their leaders and obey the holy, sacred instructions given in the temple ceremony; they will grow more perfectly in love even to a fulness of love in the presence of the Lord himself. Young people do not know the true sacredness of marriage until they have been taught by the temple ordinance.
Another of the reasons given why some do not marry in the temple is that they marry out of the Church and therefore cannot enter the temple. Dr. Paul Popenoe, who is not of us but is a wise man in counseling on such matters, has this to say concerning marrying outside of your church:
The price may be almost anything. It may be alienation from your own family or alienation of your bride from hers; it may be giving up your church to join hers. It may be the abandonment of each of church affiliation, and living thenceforth without association with organized religions; it may be less than any of these, or much more; count the price before you go ahead; and if you want to do it, pay it in advance!
I wish the parents could understand that youth will find their mates from that company which they frequent the most. However, we must not despair, even if some of ours do marry away from us. We must not relinquish our hold upon them or slacken our efforts to try to persuade, as long as life shall last.
Finally, our leaders say that because of the fashions of the day our young people are persuaded to marry out of the Church. They desire a so-called church wedding with much pomp and ceremony, some because they prefer a sort of semi-nudity in their social life that is not permitted in those who have obeyed the basic requirements of the temple which counsel as to modesty in dress. Careless mothers who permit even in childhood or babyhood nudity or semi-nudity in dress are but sowing the seeds of disregard for standards of modesty which if taught and adhered to in her growing up years will prepare a daughter for entrance into the holy and sacred ordinances of the Lord.
I listened to a young lad I was interviewing for a mission in Canada, and as I talked to him to inquire whether he had kept himself morally clean, he smiled, this handsome, fine son, and replied, "I will have to tell you what my mother told me. She said, 'Son, no mother can raise a fine son without the aid of a pure, sweet girl to help her. Be sure, then, Son, you choose the right kind of girl companion.'" He said, "I have done that, and I am clean, as my mother has counseled me to be."
Our boys overseas have looked forward to the day when they could come home and marry sweet, clean girls.
Some time ago, I wrote something to the mothers of the Church about preparing their daughters to enter the temple:
In this day, the fashions, the sham, the pretenses, and the glamour of the world have badly distorted the holy concept of home and marriage, and even the marriage ceremony itself. Blessed is the wise mother who paints a living picture to her daughter of a sacred scene in an exquisite, heavenly sealing room where, shut out from all that is worldly, and in the presence of parents and intimate family friends, a beautiful, youthful bride and groom clasp hands across a holy altar. Thank God for that mother who shows her daughter that here, nearest to heaven on earth, heart communes with heart, in a mutuality of love that begins a oneness which defies the ravages of hardship, heartaches, or disappointments to destroy, and supplies the greatest stimulus for life's highest attainments!.
And now may I close with one more incident. I was attending a stake conference where a mother was asked to speak of the joys that had now come since she and her husband had together been to the temple. She said when they were married he was a fine, honorable man, but he had some habits that did not permit him to hold the priesthood. He said, "If you will join me in a civil marriage, I promise you I will get in shape, and I will get a recommend and take you to the temple." He was like the man who said he knew he could stop smoking because he had done it a thousand times.
So he tried all through these years but had never been successful. Before he was ready, they had five lovely girls in their family. But now somebody touched the heart of this man; he was given the priesthood and a recommend; and they went to the temple. She described the going to the temple and what it meant, and how finally they came into that most beautiful of all the rooms in the temple, and as they knelt at the altar, their five little girls dressed in beautiful white dresses came in and took their places around the altar, and there a man of God pronounced them a family for eternity.
Her story was impressively told and touched every heart. Then she leaned over the pulpit. Sitting right down in the front seat was her husband. She looked down at him, and for that moment she seemed to forget that there was anybody else in the room but just the two of them. She said to him, "Daddy, I don't know how to tell you how the girls and I feel about what you have done for us. I guess all we can say is, Daddy, thanks from the bottom of our hearts, because except for you, the girls and I would never have a chance to be a family together in the celestial kingdom. Thank God for you, Daddy, and for what you have done for us."
Oh, that every father-heart in this whole Church could hear the cry of that mother-heart, and before it is too late, prepare himself to go and to enter into this sacred ordinance, for which I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Alma Sonne
Alma Sonne, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 25-26
In this position, brethren and sisters, one always becomes conscious of his limitations. The other day I read in a local newspaper about a sarcastic lawyer who was making it pretty rough for the witness. The lawyer said, "Did you see the accident?" The witness replied, "Yes, sir."
"How far away were you?"
The witness said, "Oh, about thirty feet."
"Well, how far can you see anyway?" He said, "I do not know, but in the morning when I wake up I can see the sun, and they tell me it is about ninety million miles away."
I shall always appreciate the fact that the missionaries of the Church found my grandparents in faraway Scandinavia. That circumstance accounts for my greatest blessing in this life. As a result, I have grown up in the Church among God's people in these valleys of the mountains. From my earliest recollections, I was taught faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the promises and the predictions of holy prophets. I recall that I was very young when I first heard the story of the restoration and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. I believed it then as I believe it now. I knew then as I know now that my grandparents had not been misled.
As a young man doing missionary work over in England, I became the private secretary to President Charles W. Penrose and to President Rudger Clawson. From them I learned many things which confirmed my belief and strengthened my testimony. Since then I have examined the claims of Joseph Smith, the Prophet. I have weighed and tested every doctrine and every teaching of the Church. I have compared them with the teachings of other churches. The gospel message as revealed through the latter-day Prophet is complete and soul-satisfying. It is the power of God unto salvation.
I know this, and I testify to you that I do know it. No alterations and no far-fetched explanations have been necessary. The original declarations made by Joseph still stand. They cannot and have not been changed to satisfy the whims of critics, either in the Church or out of the Church.
In the year 1829 the Book of Mormon appeared. It was received with an avalanche of abuse and ridicule. It was repudiated and cast aside as being unworthy of study and serious consideration. But, my brethren and sisters, the tide is turning. It is turning with marvelous rapidity in these, our days. Thinking men are beginning to regard it as a powerful book with a great message. It has had wide distribution. Many translations have been made. It reveals God's purposes with respect to man's sojourn in mortality. It brings to light the results of skepticism and wrongdoing. It emphasizes the sanctity and durability of divine commandments in directing men in this striving for God's favors and blessing. It confirms the teachings of the Holy Bible, and proclaims the deityship of Jesus Christ, the resurrection, and the atonement wrought out on Calvary.
There is much controversy in these modern times even among so-called Christian leaders concerning these religious fundamentals. Once they were regarded as the rock foundation of the Christian religion. The coming forth of the Book of Mormon is a part of the "marvelous work and a wonder", proclaimed and prophesied by Isaiah, the great prophet. The spirit of the book convinces a sincere reader of its divine origin. The book is not a product of man's genius or man's learning. It is a revelation from Almighty God.
It is a message to the modern world from an ancient race who went down because they failed to live to the light which God had given them. But the teachings of the Book of Mormon are timely. They fit into our lives today as we live amid conditions around us. They come as a warning to those who are inclined to trifle with the injunctions of an overruling providence. The sacred volume is also a continuing and compelling testimony of the divine calling of Joseph Smith, the Prophet. As with the Book of Mormon, so with the revelations contained in the Doctrine and Covenants. They furnish a solid foundation for the exercise of faith and the development of spirituality.
These scriptural productions confirm and clarify the ancient scriptures known as the Old and New Testaments. As an example I read from the thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel:
Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
Biblical scholars have failed to offer a satisfactory explanation of this prophetic utterance. Where is the stick of Joseph, also called the stick of Ephraim? How shall this stick, or book, be joined with the stick of Judah, or the Bible? How can these sticks become one in the hands of God for the enlightenment of humanity? The Book of Mormon answers these questions. It is the only answer. The Book of Mormon, as you know, is a powerful witness. It is a builder of faith. It is a converter of souls to the truth, and the Book of Mormon is true, and truth will triumph even against strong and determined opposition.
As a boy I attended a little chapel on the walls of which appeared in bold lettering these words: "Truth Will Prevail." I often read it. Everybody read it. They had to. It was there before their eyes. It was like a battle cry in those days of opposition and persecution. Truth will eventually break in pieces all the substitutes which confuse and bewilder a faithless and an unrepentant world. I recall the words often repeated by Elder Orson F. Whitney,
Truth is truth where'er 'tis found On Christian or on heathen ground.
I am also reminded of the poem which has taken a place in the classics of our literature.
Then say, what is truth? 'Tis the last and the first, For the limits of time it steps o'er. Though the heavens depart and the earth's fountains burst, Truth, the sum of existence, will weather the worst, Eternal, unchanged, evermore.
-John Jaques
Now, in conclusion, may I read Carlyle's statement:
Fight on, through dark fortune, and through bright. The Cause thou fightest for so far as it is true, no further, but precisely so far, is very sure of victory. The falsehood of it alone will be conquered, will be abolished, as it should be, but the truth of it is a part of Nature's own laws, co-operates with the world's eternal tendencies and cannot be conquered.
I testify that Mormonism, so-called, is true; that it is the power of God unto salvation; that it is the same gospel which Peter and Paul preached, and which was taught by the Savior of men. May we remember it, and may we adhere to its saving principles, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Levi Edgar Young
Levi Edgar Young, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 27-29
President McKay and Counselors: my brethren and sisters: I should like to say something about a people whom we all know and respect. I refer to the Jewish race who today are suffering in their native land of Palestine because of peoples who are determined to drive them from their homes-homes that have belonged to them from the far distant ages. In every period of the world's history, the Jewish people have stood for the brotherhood of mankind and have recognized that God gave the world its first children who came from heaven. From the days of Abraham, the Jews have maintained their identity as have no other people in history. They have remained one race in blood, instinct, and faith in one Supreme Being. They still follow the words of the Prophet Jeremiah when he addressed the Jewish captives in Babylon:
Build ye houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it ... ye shall have peace.
What great help the Jews of all ages have given to the divine principles of life! Levinger in his History of the Jews tells us that Columbus had with him on his first voyage, five Jews, including the man who first stepped on American soil. When they reached the first little island, the interpreter, who was a Jew, was the first man to write a description of the land. In the chronological writings of Padre Claudio Clemente is preserved a form of prayer said to have been used by Columbus on Friday morning, October 12, as he stepped on the land of the New World. The prayer was used by Cortez, Balboa, and Pizarro in their discoveries.
Columbus declared in one of his letters to the king and queen of Spain that he was the "agent in the hand of God to go forth upon the mighty deep." According to Washington Irving, Columbus, when he set foot on the island of San Salvador, uttered the following prayer, which has been translated from the Latin:
O God, our Father, eternal and omnipotent, creator of heaven and earth and sea, we glorify Thy Holy name, praise Thy majesty, whom we serve in all humility, we give unto Thy Holy protection this new part of the world.
Jews continued coming to America, but they were poor lowly immigrants, and their suffering was something terrible. And yet, the Jews were ever ready to help in times of distress. During the American Revolution, the "great majority of the Jews in the thirteen colonies were ardent in the cause of Liberty. Jews were elected to the Continental Congress." And many of them in every colony advanced all the money they had to help the American army. The man who did more, however, than any other Jew, was Haym Salomon, a wealthy Jew who lived in Philadelphia. Haym Salomon was a native of Poland. He was liberally educated, and his family was very cultured. Robert Morris writes in his journal:
I sent to Haym Salomon and desired in every way to have him raise funds for the army. The men were starving everywhere.
Haym Salomon responded. He first gave money to the starving soldiers and then to such men as Jefferson, Washington, and James Madison. At the close of the war, he had given all he had, $700,000, and within a few months, it is said, Salomon died of starvation. The family was never reimbursed, and the wife and children suffered greatly, owing, of course, to the death of husband and father. Theirs was a great sacrifice for the gaining of American independence.
The place held by the Jews in creating our English literature is now becoming known. The character of Shylock in Shakespeare's famous comedy sums up the tragic position of the Jew in medieval Europe. The German, Lessing, in his Nathan the Wise was instrumental in having the ideals of the Jews understood. And it was a Jew, Spinoza, who helped to bring about the enlightenment which enabled the Jews to take a place in modern society. We can hardly realize the large number of Jewish writers who have created the literature of America. Fannie Hurst, Edna Ferber, Sholem Asch, and Robert Nathan are only a few of the many famous Jewish writers here in our country. You no doubt have read Israel Zangwill's The Melting Pot, which is a direct outcome of his visit to America.
The Jewish people have had their own music since the days of Abraham when they used to sing and dance in their sacred meetings. And to think of the famous Jewish actors on the American stage who gave renown to the old Salt Lake Theatre. It was Charles Frohman who once declared that the Mormon theatre in Salt Lake City seemed to have a spirit of light that made the actors play at their very best. Charles Frohman lost his life when the Lusitania went down some years ago. As he stood on the deck of the ship trying to comfort the passengers that were weeping and praying, he said, "Why fear death... it is the most beautiful experience of life."
The history of the Jews through all the ages beginning with the Holy Bible is a story of faith, love of God, and tenderness for all mankind that someday will become known.
In September 1823, the Prophet Joseph Smith prayed to the Lord to forgive him his imperfections, and in answer to his humble pleading God gave him a vision, and a glorious person stood before him. "When I first looked upon him," said Joseph,
"I was afraid, but the fear soon left me. "He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; and that God had a work for me to do".
The Angel Moroni then quoted the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, saying it was about to be fulfilled.
Knowing this historic fact, the sculptor, Cyrus Dallin, made the Angel Moroni that graces the central tower of our Salt Lake Temple.
And now comes an event in the history of the Church that causes the most intensive faith in the work of God in this day. The Prophet Joseph Smith sent Apostle Orson Hyde to the Holy Land in 1841, where he dedicated the land for the return of the children of Judah. The prayer was prophetic in every way. Beautiful are the words of Orson Hyde as he prayed to God that the Holy Land of the Jews should be saved. I give only a few words of the prayer:
Now, O Lord! Thy servant has been obedient to the heavenly vision which Thou gavest him in his native land; and under the shadow of Thine outstretched arm, he has safely arrived in this place to dedicate and consecrate this land unto Thee, for the gathering together of Judah's scattered remnants, according to the predictions of the holy Prophets-for the building up of Jerusalem again after it has been trodden down by the Gentiles so long, and for rearing a Temple in honor of Thy name...
Grant, therefore, O Lord, in the name of Thy well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to remove the barrenness and sterility of this land, and let springs of living water break forth to water its thirsty soil. Let the vine and olive produce in their strength, and the fig-tree bloom and flourish. Let the land become abundantly fruitful when possessed by its rightful heirs; let it again flow with plenty to feed the returning prodigals who come home with a spirit of grace and supplication; upon it let the clouds distil virtue and richness, and let the fields smile with plenty. Let the flocks and the herds greatly increase and multiply upon the mountains and the hills; and let Thy great kindness conquer and subdue the unbelief of Thy people. Do Thou take from them their stony heart, and give them a heart of flesh; and may the Sun of Thy favor dispel the cold mists of darkness which have beclouded their atmosphere. Incline them to gather in upon this land according to Thy word. Let them come like clouds and like doves to their windows. Let the large ships of the nations bring them from the distant isles; and let kings become their nursing fathers, and queens with motherly fondness wipe the tear of sorrow from their eye.
How beautifully the Prophet Isaiah has given words of encouragement to Zion:
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringeth good tidings, Lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, And his arm shall rule for him.
May we give our faith and prayers to the Jewish people in all the world this day, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Henry D. Moyle
Henry D. Moyle, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 31-34
I am deeply appreciative, my brethren and sisters, of this opportunity, and especially to have felt the wonderful spirit that has been with us in these meetings. I am sure it has come to us in large measure as a result of the inspired opening remarks of our beloved President. I hope that that same inspiration may continue with me for the next few moments.
There is a passage in the scripture that has impressed itself upon me recently very much. It was Job who said:
There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
Born of this inspiration is the testimony we have of the divinity of the Savior of mankind. We know and bear witness to the world that he is the only Begotten Son of the Father, the Redeemer of mankind, the Lord God Almighty.
The Prophet Joseph Smith tells us that the Holy Ghost is the medium through which inspiration is transmitted to us from on high and that the reception of the Holy Ghost is the distinguishing characteristic of Latter-day Saints.
Paul made clear to the Corinthians the true relationship between the Holy Ghost and our personal testimony of the divinity of the Savior. He said:
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues.
Paul enumerates many gifts of the Spirit. The greatest gift, however, is not the performing of miracles or talking in tongues, or prophesying, etc.; but the inception of an individual testimony is the greatest of all gifts of the Spirit. And that is a gift which comes from God through the Holy Ghost and can be received by any man, woman, or child in the world who desires to know the truth. It is at once the greatest and certainly the most universal of all gifts born of the Spirit. It is indeed the Comforter promised to all who, through faith in God and repentance, seek with a contrite heart a remission of sins in the waters of baptism.
It is received by all who thus qualify through the laying on of hands by those in authority as provided by the eternal laws of God.
As surely as God sent his Son to redeem the sins of the world, so he sends the Holy Ghost to those who seek divine guidance in understanding the gospel.
It is the Holy Ghost, a member of the Godhead, a Personage of spirit, who inspires the souls of men with an understanding of God's will.
Now this inspiration comes through our lives of worthiness. Our testimony is the foundation upon which we progress. The inspiration of the Almighty, by and through which we received our witness, inspires us to bear testimony to others of our knowledge of God.
Every true convert to the Church has felt the twofold power of his conversion and of this inspiration-first, to convert himself, and second, to assist in the conversion of others.
It is our purpose as members of the Church to consider constantly the place of testimony in our lives. We dare not become complacent or unaware of this priceless gift which is ours. When we bear our testimony we are teaching others the truths that have enriched our lives and made us happy. Our testimonies are borne-First, to give thanks to God for the knowledge and assurance he has given us; second, to assist our brethren and sisters in the strengthening of their testimonies; and third, to carry the conviction which is ours into the hearts of all other people upon the face of the earth.
We may sometimes find satisfaction in sharing our material wealth with others. But far greater satisfaction comes from sharing ourselves, our time, our energy, our affection, and particularly in imparting to others our testimony of God, the power of God unto salvation, the knowledge we possess of God and his purposes. When we are truly converted, we realize that "this is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent", and to sense our responsibility to others to assist them in attaining eternal life.
Christ said to his disciples just prior to his ascension:
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me....
For thou shalt be his witness unto all men....
We must then constantly qualify ourselves as witnesses of spiritual matters. One of President McKay's favorite poems illustrates the thought I have in mind:
The builder who first bridged Niagara's gorge Before he swung his cable, shore to shore, Sent out, across the gulf, his venturing kite Bearing slender cord for unseen hands To grasp upon the further cliff, and draw A greater cord, and a greater yet; Till at last across the chasm swung The cable-then a mighty bridge in air! So we may send our little timid thought Across the void, out to God's reaching hands, Send our love and faith to thread the deep- Thought after thought, until the little cord Has greatened to a chain no chance to break, And we are anchored to the Infinite.
-Edwin Markham
The Spirit then will reveal all things to us essential to our mission. We must be prepared to recognize and accept that which the Spirit offers, that which the Spirit would make clear to our understandings. Then knowledge flows freely to us from heaven.
We know that through obedience to the principles of the gospel, all who believe on the name of Jesus Christ and endure in faith to the end, shall be saved in the celestial kingdom in the presence of the Father.
We find in the life and works of Joseph Smith how the Spirit can magnify us for our callings if we but attune our lives thereto.
I never expect to live long enough to see a more wonderful example of that inspiration than we witnessed here this morning when President McKay spoke under the inspiration of his high calling.
Through the witness of the Spirit I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, raised up to fulfil the promises made of old, to bring to mankind the opportunity to become heir to all of the blessings the Lord has promised his children through the entire time of their sojourn here in mortality upon the earth.
And now after 120 years of terrific scrutiny, the works and testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith stand unimpeached. No one can imagine a severer cross-examination than that to which he was subjected all through his life. By any standard, legal or otherwise, he was an almost perfect witness. Above all, he sealed his testimony with his blood.
We who through the inspiration of the Almighty have received his testimony, and that of his faithful brother Hyrum, are charged with responsibility to accept and to perpetuate and add our solemn witness thereto, that the blood of this generation shall not be upon us.
And as many as repent and are baptized in my name, which is Jesus Christ, and endure to the end, the same shall be saved. Behold, Jesus Christ is the name given by the Father, and there is none other name given whereby man can be saved; Wherefore, all men must take upon them the name which is given of the Father, for in that name shall they be called at the last day; Wherefore, if they know not the name by which they are called, they cannot have place in the kingdom of my Father. And now, behold, there are others who are called to declare my gospel, both unto Gentile and unto Jew; Yea, even twelve; and the Twelve shall be my disciples, and they shall take upon them my name; and the Twelve are they who shall desire to take upon them my name with full purpose of heart. And if they desire to take upon them my name with full purpose of heart, they are called to go into all the world to preach my gospel unto every creature. And they are they who are ordained of me to baptize in my name, according to that which is written.
That we do constantly bear witness to the hope we have within us is further proof of the divine nature of the work in which we are engaged. Were it otherwise we could not be called the true Church of Jesus Christ. Where else in all the world are the true fruits of the inspiration of the Almighty to be found, inspiration that giveth the souls of men understanding. Throughout the history of the Church innumerable examples of spiritual guidance are found. One which I have cherished since childhood is an early experience of Wilford Woodruff.
While traveling in New England, on assignment by Brigham Young, President Woodruff drove his carriage into the yard of Brother Williams. Brother Orson Hyde drove a wagon by the side of his carriage. President Woodruff's wife and children were in that carriage. He had only been there a few minutes when the Spirit said to him, "Get up and move that carriage." When he told his wife that he had to move the carriage, she asked, "What for?" He answered, "I don't know."
That was all she asked on such occasions. When he told her that he did not know, that was enough. President Woodruff got up and moved his carriage four or five rods, and put the off fore wheel against the corner of the house. He then returned to bed. The same Spirit said, "Go and move your animals from that oak tree." They were two hundred yards from his carriage. He moved his horses and put them in a little hickory grove. Again he went to bed. In thirty minutes a whirlwind came up and broke that oak tree off within two feet of the ground. It swept over three or four fences and fell square in that dooryard, near Brother Orson Hyde's wagon, and right where the carriage had stood. What would have been the consequences if he had not listened to that Spirit? Why, President Woodruff, his wife, and children doubtless would have been killed.
That was the still, small voice to him-no thunder, no lightning, but the still, small voice of the Spirit of God. It saved his life. It was the Spirit of revelation.
We can all afford to develop a sensitiveness to the promptings of the Spirit in all things pertaining to our physical as well as our spiritual well-being.
In speaking on this subject, Joseph Fielding Smith has said, "The testimony of the Holy Ghost is Spirit speaking to spirit, and is not confined solely to the natural or physical sense."
I bear witness to you, my beloved brethren and sisters, that there is the testimony of the Spirit. I know by the manifestation of the Spirit that Jesus is the Christ, the Risen Lord, the Master of us all, whose sins he took upon himself. I know that through his redeeming sacrifice immortality and eternal life is ours, through our obedience to the great plan of life and salvation of which he was the Author.
May we all become in our own right, saviors upon Mount Zion, instruments in the hands of the Lord in helping to establish his Church and kingdom here upon the earth, continually bearing our witness in his behalf, that the world may know that God has once again spoken from the heavens to give us direction and purpose in our lives. We as his duly ordained servants come to open the door to all who seek righteousness.
The Lord has said:
"... this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" -a result which cannot be accomplished without understanding from on high, an understanding which the Almighty alone can inspire.
God help us to accomplish the high purposes he has for us in life, I pray humbly, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report April 1957, pp. 44-52
My brothers and sisters, contrary to my usual custom and practice, I intend to read what I have to say today. I assure you I have tried to prepare it under the influence of our Heavenly Father, and I humbly pray that it will carry the message which I have hoped for.
I plan to say something today about the Constitution of the United States of America-its Framers and some of its essential principles-America, the land choice above all other lands-for our great and priceless liberties, including the security of our homes and property, our freedom of speech and of the press, freedom of religion and the free exercise thereof, indeed freedom itself and its liberties, as our fathers knew and enjoyed, as also ourselves, depend upon its preservation. As there is much detail and as I wish to be as accurate as I may be, I have written out what I wish to say.
It seems wise to remind ourselves of these matters because some people belittle that great document and its fundamental principles, sometimes to the point of derision. Sometimes we forget it.
These defamers say that the Constitution, and our government under it, are outmoded; not responsive to present-day conditions of life and living; not sufficient to meet and solve present-day problems; and that we need a modern, up-to-date system of government. They let us know what should be done to meet their ideas and plans, which seem always to run to despotism.
I have observed that numbers of these defamers take advantage to the utmost of every liberty and freedom created and protected by the Constitution in order to destroy it and its guarantees, so to make easy the setting up of a tyranny that would deprive the common man of his freedom and liberties under it, so permitting these defamers to set up a government that would give place, power, and privilege to them in a despotism to be imposed upon the mass of mankind. We have witnessed this very despotism. There would be a Kremlin in every country on the globe, all under the super-Kremlin in Moscow.
One class of these defamers are the same persons who declare the Ten Commandments, the basic law of the civilized world, to be outmoded, although these Commandments still speak with their divine power and authority against the same evils existing today, each one of them, not one missing, even as they existed in the days of Moses; Commandments that proclaim righteous principles that are as valid and applicable today as when, on Mt. Sinai, they were written on slabs of stone by the finger of God. Sinners would get rid of the divine rebukes and penalties prescribed for their wickedness and would treat as naught the promised rewards for that righteous life that would rob them of the fleshly pleasures of sin.
The same people declare the Sermon on the Mount to be outmoded, irresponsive to the needs of the people of today. The divine truths of the Sermon, its surpassing loveliness, indeed the sublimity of its ethical teachings, do not, say they, harmonize with their modern life where we see greed, ambition, selfishness, dishonesty, deceit, falsehood, and licentiousness thrive and on which they live and riot. We have noted this experiment also.
If all that God and his Only Begotten taught that will lead us to the immortality and eternal life that is God's declared glory, could be wiped out and forgotten, leaving only Satan and his work, the followers of Satan would, in their ignorance, have reached a Satanic heaven.
The Constitution of the United States was framed in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, May 14, 1787, to September 17, 1787. The Framers were delegates sent thereto by the Thirteen Colonies. Seventy-four were appointed; fifty-five reported at the Convention; nineteen did not attend; thirty-nine signed the Constitution. Representatives signed from each of the Colonies except Rhode Island.
The Constitution as signed lacked a Bill of Rights, though these rights were discussed in the Convention. As the Colonies voted to ratify the Constitution, each proposed amendments to remedy the omission. Over one hundred amendments were proposed. Some forty to fifty were eliminated as duplications.
Seventeen were finally approved by the House of the First Congress; the Senate reduced the number to twelve, which were sent to the various legislatures for ratification. The final returns showed that ten had been ratified.
The Framers and their fathers had in the preceding seventy-five years, fought through four purely European wars-in America between the British and her colonists on one side, and the French and her Indian allies on the other. The colonists had little, if any, concern in the European issues. They fought because the homelands fought. In the first three of these wars the colonists lost much, suffered massacres. Yet at the end of each war, each European government returned, each to the other, the gains either had made in America. The colonists had heavy losses, had no gains except the experience that builded up over the decades, experience that aided them, first, in winning their independence, and, thereafter, in establishing this Government.
No wonder Washington in his Farewell Address counseled against foreign entanglements. He stated the reasons drawn from colonial experience.
The French and Indian War, the last of the four, broke the French foothold on the Continent. Washington participated in that war as an officer and suffered in Braddock's defeat at Fort Duquesne.
During a part of this whole period, the colonial legislatures had been fighting against royal representatives; in the earlier decade the fathers of the Framers carried on these contests; in the latter years, many of the Framers were themselves involved.
The movement for independence began soon after the close of the French and Indian War; for example, the Committees of Correspondence. Some of the very best minds and ablest men in the Colonies participated. Framers served on these earlier revolutionary bodies. Many Framers were members of the Continental Congress. When the Revolution came, they had the experiences, bitter as to both men and money, that came to that Congress in raising troops and materials of war. They had knowledge. Some were experienced in the actual problems of conducting a war. One at least, Franklin, had seen distinguished service in the diplomatic field.
The Framers were men of affairs in their own right. Some were distinguished financiers. More than half of them were university men, some educated in the leading American colleges-Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, William and Mary; others in the great colleges of Great Britain-Oxford, Glasgow, Edinburgh. Washington and Franklin were among those who had no college education. Altogether there were seventy-four delegates appointed; fifty-five who reported at the Convention, "all of them," it has been said, "respectable for family and for personal qualities." Of these fifty-five, only thirty-nine were present at the signing. Nineteen failed to attend the convention.
They were men of varied political beliefs. Some were Federalists; some anti-Federalists. Some seemed favorable to a mere revamping of the Articles of Confederation.
The amazing thing is that there was not in all the world's history a government organization even among confederacies, that could be taken by the Framers as a preliminary blueprint for building the political structure they were to build. Franklin declared:
"We have gone back to ancient history for models of Government, and examined the different forms of those Republics which, having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution, now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all round Europe, but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our circumstances."
They had been in session for about a month when Madison declared:
"... as it was more than probable we were now digesting a plan which in its operation would decide forever the fate of Republican Government we ought not only to provide every guard to liberty that its preservation could require, but be equally careful to supply the defects which our own experience had particularly pointed out."
A little further detail about the thirty-nine Framers who actually signed the document will be useful.
Of those thirty-nine signers, twenty-six had seen service in the Continental Congress. They knew legislative processes and problems. Thirteen had served both in the Continental Congress and in the Army. What a wealth of experience they had obtained in both legislative and executive duties! Of the nineteen who served in the Army, seventeen had served as officers-they knew the problems of armed forces in the field; and of these seventeen, four had served on Washington's staff.
Let us go down the roll: Washington, the "Father of his Country," and Madison, sometimes called the "Father of the Constitution," were later Presidents of the United States. Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury under Washington. McHenry was Secretary of War under Washington. Randolph acted as Attorney General for Washington and later as his Secretary of State. Rutledge, a distinguished jurist, was later Chief Justice in the United States Supreme Court. Oliver Ellsworth was also later a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Blair, Paterson, and Wilson were later Justices of the Supreme Court.
Benjamin Franklin, a philosopher and scientist, had behind him years of most distinguished and successful diplomatic service. King was later a Senator and thereafter Minister to Great Britain. Charles Pinckney was Minister to Spain. Dickinson founded Dickinson College, and Johnson was President of Columbia College.
Gerry was later Vice-President of the United States, and Ingersoll a candidate for the Vice-Presidency.
Gorham and Mifflin had been Presidents of the Continental Congress; Clymer, Continental Treasurer; Robert Morris, Superintendent of Finances; Sherman, a member of the Board of War and Ordnance, all in the Continental Congress.
We might add, as among the most distinguished of this group, the other Morris from Pennsylvania, and the other Pinckney from South Carolina.
There were many other distinguished men. They were distinguished before the time of the Convention; they won great distinction after. Men of affairs and influence, they were in their respective Colonies, later States. They were all seasoned patriots of loftiest patriotism. They were not backwoodsmen from the far-off frontiers, not one of them.
What a group of men of surpassing abilities, attainments, experience, and achievements! There has not been another such group of men in all the one hundred seventy years of our history, no group that even challenged the supremacy of this group. Gladstone solemnly declared:
"The American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man."
When God puts his hand to the plow, his furrow is deep and straight, clear to the end. God gave us the heritage; ours is the duty to cherish and protect it. We have, as a people, a special relationship to these men and their work.
In a revelation to Joseph at Kirtland at the time of some of the darkest days in Missouri, when there seemed to be no protection for the Saints from the civil authorities, the Lord spoke. He told the people to continue to "importune for redress".
"According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;
"That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.
"Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.
"And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood".
A little time before this, the Lord declared that the constitutional "principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me," and that the people should "renounce war and proclaim peace.".
When the Lord gave these approving revelations, the Constitution with its coterminous Bill of Rights, was almost fifty years old. Two amendments only had then been made; one concerned the Federal judicial power, the other the election of President and Vice President. Some thirty years later came the next two amendments terminating slavery and guaranteeing citizenship and its protection, so meeting the principle declared by the Lord in 1833 regarding bondage of men, one to another.
In the prayer of dedication of the Kirtland Temple, the Prophet prayed: "... may those principles, which were so honorably and nobly defended, namely, the Constitution of our land, by our fathers, be established forever".
In 1835, at a general assembly of the Church held at Kirtland, a far-reaching "Declaration of Belief regarding Governments and Laws in general" was adopted by the Saints.
These Framers of the Constitution were the men whom the Lord "raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood", making it ready for the blessings proclaimed for all.
No more clearly does it appear that Moses was so trained in the royal Egyptian courts that he could lead ancient Israel out of bondage, or that Brother Brigham was so trained, in directing the exodus of the Saints from Missouri to Nauvoo, that he could lead modern Israel from the mobbings and persecutions of the East to the freedom of the mountain fastnesses of the West; neither one was more clearly trained for his work than these Framers were trained for theirs-rich in intellectual endowment and ripened in experience. They were equally as the others in God's hands; he guided them in their epoch-making deliberations in Independence Hall.
The Framers were deeply read in the facts of history; they were learned in the forms and practices and systems of the governments of the world, past and present; they were, in matters political, equally at home in Rome, in Athens, in Paris, and in London; they had a long, varied, and intense experience in the work of governing their various Colonies; they were among the leaders of a weak and poor people that had successfully fought a revolution against one of the great Powers of the earth; there were among them some of the ablest, most experienced and seasoned military leaders of the world.
As to all matters under consideration by the Convention, the history of the world was combed
The whole training and experiences of the colonists had been in the Common Law, with its freedoms and liberties even under their kings. They knew the functions of legislative, executive, and judicial arms of government.
Time is not available now to consider in detail the work of the Convention nor the Constitution that was framed. A very few principles only, and they among the basic ones, may be mentioned. You all know them; they are now merely recalled to your minds. Sometimes we miss the import of them.
First-The Constitution provided for three departments of government-the legislative, the executive, and the judicial.
These departments are mutually independent the one from the other.
Each department was endowed with all the powers and authority that the people through the Constitution conferred upon that branch of government-the legislative, the executive, and the judicial, respectively.
No branch of the government might encroach upon the powers conferred upon another branch of government. In order to forestall foreseeable encroachments, the Convention provided in the Constitution itself for a very few invasions by one or the other, into one of the other departments, to make sure that one department should not absorb the functions of the other or encroach thereon, or gain an overbalancing power and authority against the other. These have been termed "checks and balances."
A third principle that was inherent in all the provisions of the Constitution was that none of the departments could delegate its powers to the others. The courts of the country have from the first insisted upon the operation of this principle. There have been some fancy near-approaches to such an attempted delegation, particularly in recent years, and some unique justifying reasoning therefore, but the courts have consistently insisted upon the basic principle, which is still operative.
An examination of the records of the Convention will show how anxiously earnest the Framers were to set up these and other principles of free government.
The Convention seems to have experienced no really serious difficulty in setting up a judiciary department, nor, in certain aspects, the legislative department with its powers, until it came to those powers which dealt with matters that in some governments had been regarded as belonging to the executive. You will recollect that practically all of these Framers had suffered under George III and his Minister, Lord North. So they abandoned the British model, for, as Randolph said, "... the fixt genius of the people of America required a different form of Government." This ruled out royalty.
It might be noted that Washington, as the Revolution closed, had definitively scotched at Newburgh, the kingship idea.
Of course, the Framers did not know that centuries before a prophet of the Lord had declared as to America:
"Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written".
Nor did the Framers know that centuries after this prophecy, but still centuries before the Framers met, another prophet had declared:
"And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles".
The unhappy, short-lived experiences of the Dom Pedros in Brazil and of Maximilian in Mexico seem the exceptions that prove the rule. The Spirit of the Lord was leading.
In providing for the executive department, there was considerable discussion as to whether the executive department should be one person or several. Commenting upon a proposal for three,
Randolph said their unity would be "as the foetus of monarchy."
Who should choose, elect, or appoint the Chief Executive was exhaustively debated; so was the problem of the length of his term, from one year, to Hamilton's during "good behaviour," including the question whether he should be ineligible for re-election, and whether he should be subject to impeachment.
But one of their most searching examinations related to the war powers of government, including the power to declare war. It became clear very early in the debates that as Chief Executive, the President should execute the laws passed by Congress. But he was also made Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States and of the State Militia when called into the service of the United States. The delegates were fearfully anxious over this function of government. There was one suggestion that the Commander in Chief should not personally go into the field with the troops, so fearful were they of his power.
But in whom should rest the so-called war powers? This was the urgent problem. It soon became clear that the Convention was unalterably opposed to endowing the President with these war powers; it was conceded he should have the power to repel invasions, but not to commence war, which meant he could not declare war.
Some of the arguments made in this connection, involving the possibility of a military usurper, remind one of the potential calamities pictured by Lincoln in his prophetic Lyceum Address, where he sketched what an ambitious, fame-and-power-seeking executive might do.
Various other potential actions by the executive were explored. Future Presidents of the Republic were conceived as including men capable of doing the things that ambitious men in power had done over the ages. Men were still human, had the same urges and ambitions. The earnest effort was to make as nearly impossible as could be, the malfeasances of the past by men in high executive office in the future; and seemingly perhaps beyond everything else as a practical matter, to prevent the President from taking us into war of his own volition. The Framers therefore provided that the war powers, including the declaration of war, should rest exclusively in the Congress, both by express provisions, and, as the record shows, by the conscious intent of the Framers.
The net result may be stated thus: as Chief Executive, the President was to enforce the laws passed by Congress, including those passed by Congress in the exercise of the war powers that were explicitly and exclusively possessed by Congress; as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States and of the Militia of the States when called into the actual service of the United States, he was to direct the military operations thereof in the field, with the powers incident thereto.
These principles should never be forgotten by any free, liberty-loving American, the kind of American the Constitution and the Bill of Rights make of us, and in which they were designed to protect us.
Furthermore, under our form of government, we the people of the United States, as the Preamble to the Constitution declares, formed this government. We alone are sovereign. We are wholly free to exercise our sovereign will in the way we prescribe. The sovereignty is not personal, as under the Civil Law. The Constitution expressly provides the only way in which we may change our Constitution.
We may well repeat again: We the people have all the powers we have not delegated away to our government, and the institutions of government have such powers and those only as we have given to them. The total residuum of powers, including all rights and liberties not given up by us to Federal or State Governments, is still in us, to remain so till we constitutionally provide otherwise. Under the Civil Law that basically governs Continental Europe, the people have only such rights as a personal sovereign or his equivalent bestows, the residuum remaining in him or them. Wherever and whenever powers are exercised by any person or branch of our government that are not granted by the Constitution, such powers are to that extent usurpations.
Will not each of you ask yourself this question: What would probably have happened if Joseph Smith had been born and had attempted to carry on his work of the Restoration of the Gospel and the Holy Priesthood, if he had been born and had sought to go forward in any other country in the world?
Must we go far to seek why God set up this people and their government, the only government on the face of the earth, since the Master was here, that God has formally declared was set up at the hands of men whom he raised up for that very purpose, and the fundamental principles of which he has expressly approved?
Having in mind what the Lord has said about the Constitution and its Framers, that the Constitution should be "established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh", that it was for the protection of the moral agency, free agency, God gave us, that its "principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind", all of which point to the destiny of the free government our Constitution provides, unless thrown away by the nations-having in mind all this, with its implications, speaking for myself, I declare that the divine sanction thus repeatedly given by the Lord himself to the Constitution of the United States as it came from the hands of the Framers with its coterminous Bill of Rights, makes of the principles of that document an integral part of my religious faith. It is a revelation from the Lord. I believe and reverence its God-inspired provisions. My faith, my knowledge, my testimony of the Restored Gospel, based on the divine principle of continuous revelation, compel me so to believe. Thus has the Lord approved of our political system, an approval, so far as I know, such as he has given to no other political system of any other people in the world since the time of Jesus.
The Constitution, as approved by the Lord, is still the same great vanguard of liberty and freedom in human government that it was the day it was written. No other human system of government, affording equal protection for human life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, has yet been devised or vouchsafed to man. Its great principles are as applicable, efficient, and sufficient to bring today the greatest good to the greatest number, as they were the day the Constitution was signed. Our Constitution and our Government under it, were designed by God as an instrumentality for righteousness through peace, not war.
Speaking of the destiny that the Lord has offered to mankind in his declarations regarding the scope and efficacy of the Constitution and its principles, we may note that already the Lord has moved upon many nations of the earth so to go forward. The Latin American countries have followed our lead and adopted our constitutional form of government, adapted to their legal concepts, without compulsion or restraint from us. Likewise, the people of Canada in the British North America Act have embodied great principles that are basic to our Constitution. The people of Australia have likewise followed along our governmental footpath. In Canada and in Australia, the great constitutional decisions of John Marshall and his associates are quoted in their courts and followed in their adjudications. I repeat, none of this has come because of force of arms. The Constitution will never reach its destiny through force.
God's principles are taken by men because they are eternal and true, and touch the divine spirit in men. This is the only true way to permanent world peace, the aspiration of men since the beginning. God never planted his Spirit, his truth, in the hearts of men from the point of a bayonet.
The Framers had their dark days in their work. There were discouragements, there were hours of near hopelessness for some. Yet, as they were engaged in God's work, and he was at the helm, we know it was as certain as the day dawn, that Satan would be there also, with his thwarting designs.
But I see in their divers views, their different concepts, even the promotion of their different local interests, not the confusion which challenged Franklin, but a searching, almost meticulous study and examination of the fundamental principles involved, and the final adoption of the wisest and best of it all-I see the winnowing of the wheat, the blowing away of the chaff.
On one of these dark days, the venerable Franklin, ripe in years and in experience, arose and spoke to the Convention. Said he:
"The small progress we have made after 4 or five weeks close attendance & continual reasonings with each other-our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many noes as ays, is me-thinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the Human Understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of Government, and examined the different forms of those Republics which having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all round Europe, but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our circumstances.
"In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection.-Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth-that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that 'except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it'. I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human Wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest." So spoke Franklin.
Out of more years, but of far, far less wisdom and experience, I echo Franklin's testimony "that God governs in the affairs of men," and that without his concurring aid we shall build in vain, and "our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages."
I bear my testimony that without God's aid, we shall not preserve our political heritage neither to our own blessing, nor to the blessing of our posterity, nor to the blessing of the downtrodden peoples of the world.
In broad outline, the Lord has declared through our Constitution his form for human government. Our own prophets have declared in our day the responsibility of the Elders of Zion in the preservation of the Constitution. We cannot, guiltless, escape that responsibility. We cannot be laggards, nor can we be deserters.
On the back of the chair in which Washington sat as President during the Convention, was carved a half-hidden sun, showing just above a range of hills. As the signing of the Constitution was about over, Franklin observed to some fellow delegates:
"I have often and often, in the course of the session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now, at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising, and not a setting sun."
Such was the prophecy that marked the closing of the greatest political convention of all time, for the Lord was there working out his purposes in a system he could endorse.
God give us the power, each of us, to enshrine in our hearts the eternal truths of our Constitution; that come what may, we shall never desert these truths, but work always and unceasingly that, as Lincoln said, "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Such is my prayer, and I ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder Ezra Taft Benson
Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 53-57
My beloved brethren and sisters, humbly and gratefully I approach this sobering responsibility. I am grateful for this conference. I have had a prayer in my heart in the last few moments that every person living in this world might have the opportunity to hear and to read the masterful address given by our beloved President at the beginning of this conference and the great and statesmanlike address to which we have just listened from President Clark.
For months I have had borne in upon my heart a desire to discuss a certain matter in this conference which I feel impressed to discuss with you. I hope I will not be misunderstood. I assure you that I also need the counsel which I am about to express.
In the book of Kings we read about a woman who came weeping to Elisha, the prophet. Her husband had died, and she owed a debt that she could not pay; and the creditor was on his way to take her two sons and sell them as slaves.
By a miracle Elisha enabled her to acquire a goodly supply of oil. And he said to her:
Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.
"Pay thy debt, and live." How fruitful these words have ever been! What wise counsel they are for us today!
Read the words of wise men down through the ages, and we find over and over again this great insistence upon the wisdom of being debt-free. Shakespeare put on the lips of one of his characters in Hamlet these words:
Neither a borrower nor a lender be: For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
Others have written:
Do not accustom yourself to debt as only a convenience; you will find it a calamity.
The debt-habit is the twin brother of poverty.
Poverty is hard-but debt is horrible, said another philosopher.
John Randolph, one of the early leaders of our nation, remarked:
I have discovered the philosopher's stone that turns everything into gold; it is, "Pay as you go."
And one of the wisest men in the annals of our country, Ben Franklin, wrote:
Think what you do when you run into debt; you give to another power over your liberty.
True, times have changed since Franklin's day, but the principles of truth and wisdom never change. Our inspired leaders have always urged Latter-day Saints to get out of debt, live within our means, and pay as we go.
Our own pioneer forefathers have left us a heritage of thrift-of saving-of freedom from debt.
Surely they would counsel us today: "Pay thy debt, and live."
I speak to you today of a twofold duty which all of us have-a duty to our country as Americans-and a duty to ourselves as individuals, as children of God.
Never has a nation been so blessed with productivity as we in this land. Last year our output of goods and services reached the enormous value of 412 billion dollars. This was an increase in terms of real value of more than forty percent in the last ten years. The increase in output for each person since 1946 has been nearly twenty percent.
Whence comes this astounding capacity to produce? I am deeply convinced that it lies in the blessings of our Heavenly Father and in the untrammeled initiative, enterprise, and freedom of our people, in the fact that success or failure of our nation rests primarily with the people.
Yet, despite our wealth, our productivity, our material progress, do we not see signs of danger ahead? Do we not discern unhealthy tendencies, perhaps even germs of decay, in a general weakening of some of our oldest American traditions?
In the past quarter century, there has been a tremendous shift from individual to governmental responsibility in many phases of economic and social life. There has been a rapid shift of responsibility from the states to the federal government.
Twenty-five years ago the federal government received one-fourth of all the taxes collected in the United States. Today the federal government collects not one-fourth but three-fourths of all our taxes. Twenty-five years ago all taxes, federal, state, and local, took fourteen percent of our national income. Today, taxes take thirty-one percent.
In twenty-four years, our expanding federal government has boosted the average family's tax bill from 120 to 1600 dollars a year. In twenty-four years the national debt has swollen to an average of 7,000 dollars for each family.
Many forces work together toward the concentration of power at the federal level. Our people have come to look to the federal government as the provider, at no cost to them, of whatever is needful. If this trend continues, the states may be left hollow shells, operating primarily as the field districts of federal departments and depending upon the federal treasury for their support.
The national debt today is 277 billion dollars, equal to two-thirds of a year's total income. Interest on this debt is more than seven billion dollars a year, about sixty percent as much as the net income of all our farm people.
Through a great effort, in this the period of our greatest prosperity, we reduced this debt by four billion dollars last year, and the expectation is for a further slight reduction this year. This but illustrates how much easier it is to go into debt than to get out.
History teaches that when individuals have given up looking after their own economic needs and transferred a large share of that responsibility to the government, both they and the government have failed.
At least twenty great civilizations have disappeared. The pattern is shockingly similar. All, before their collapse, showed a decline in spiritual values, in moral stamina, and in the freedom and responsibility of their citizens. They showed such symptoms as excessive taxation, bloated bureaucracy, government paternalism, and generally a rather elaborate set of supports, controls, and regulations, affecting prices, wages, production, and consumption.
When we add up our total debt-debt owed by federal, state, and local governments, by business and by individuals-the sum is a staggering 693 billion dollars. In ten years, our total debt has risen nearly 300 billion dollars-about seventy-five percent. Most of this increase was in private debts, which climbed from 252 to 425 billion dollars, or an increase of seventy percent.
We have mortgaged our future. We have done so because we live beyond our income.
Now I do not mean to say that all debt is bad. Of course not. Sound business debt is one of the elements of growth. Sound mortgage credit is a real help to a family that must borrow for a home.
But is it not apparent that in the areas of both public and personal debt the limitations of soundness have been seriously strained?
Personal income, even after taxes, on a per capita basis, is the highest it has ever been. Yet mortgage debt and personal debt have been increasing. Between December 1952 and December 1956, home mortgage debt rose sixty-nine percent. This was by no means due entirely to the building boom.
Personal debt has also sharply increased reaching a total of 42 billion dollars at the end of 1956, compared with about 9 billion dollars only fifteen years earlier. The increase in personal debt during the past two years exceeded the total personal debt outstanding in 1954. No matter which income group we select, the proportion of people with such debt has increased since 1949. A few years ago only one family out of three owed personal debts; now more than half have such obligations.
Why this great increase in debt today? Have incomes declined so that people must borrow money to maintain their level of living? No, incomes generally have shown a steady climb to the present record level.
Is there something about the distribution of income which explains this increase in debt? No, strangely enough, personal debt is reported most frequently not for the low but for the middle income brackets, those families with incomes from $3000 to $7500 annually.
How, then, can we explain the increase in private debt?
One reason, I believe, is that the adult experience of many people covers only the period of the war and postwar inflationary period, the years of high employment and high income since the early forties. During these years, those who went in debt to buy a home or a farm saw the value of their equity increase. Those who bought cars or home utilities experienced relatively little difficulty in paying for them. Wages and prices rose. Incomes increased. The longer one postponed a purchase, the more he had to pay.
For many of these people it is difficult to believe that serious recession will ever come again. Feeling secure in their expectations of continuing employment and a steady flow of wages and salaries, they obligate their future income without thought of what they would do if they should lose their jobs or their incomes were stopped for some other reason. But the best authorities have repeatedly said that we are not yet smart enough to control our economy without downward adjustments. Sooner or later these adjustments will come.
Another reason for the increase in debt, I believe, is deeper-and causes greater concern. This is the rise of materialism as contrasted with spiritual values. Many a family, in order to make a "proper showing," will commit itself for a larger and more expensive house than is needed, in an expensive neighborhood. Again almost everyone would, it seems, like to keep up with the Joneses. With the increasing standard of living, that temptation increases with each new gadget that comes on the market. The subtle and carefully planned techniques of modern advertising are aimed at the weakest points of consumer resistance. And there is a growing feeling, unfortunately, that material things should be had now, without waiting, without saving, without self-denial.
How many people stop to think when they buy on a thirty-six-months-to-pay basis that they place their future earnings for three years ahead in the hands of moneylenders. What is there about a late model car that can make such a sacrifice worth while?
Worse still, a large proportion of families with personal debt have no liquid assets whatsoever to fall back upon. What troubles they invite if their income should be suddenly cut off or seriously reduced! We all know of families who have obligated themselves for more than they could pay.
There is a world of heartache behind such cases.
All of us as Americans have a patriotic responsibility not to contribute to the inflation danger by needlessly building still higher the mountain of total debt. All of us as individuals-and above all, as members of families-have an obligation in conscience not to mismanage our resources.
Yes, there is a tendency for all of us to want to "keep up with the Joneses," but even though our income is low we have plenty of company. This should make it easier to live within our income and resist borrowing from the future except in cases of necessity-never for luxuries.
It is not fair to ourselves or our communities to be so improvident in our spending that the day our income stops we must turn to relief agencies or the Church for financial aid.
Do not, I solemnly urge you, tie yourselves to the payment of carrying charges that are often exorbitant. Save now and buy later, and you will be much farther ahead. You will spare yourselves high interest and other payments, and the money you save may provide opportunity for you to buy later at substantial cash discounts.
If you must incur debt to meet the reasonable necessities of life-such as buying a house and furniture-then, I implore you, as you value your solvency and happiness, buy within your means.
So, use credit wisely-to acquire a farm, to own a home.
But resist the temptation to plunge into a property far more pretentious or spacious than you really need.
How much better off you will be, especially young families just starting out, if first you buy a small house which you can expect to pay for in a relatively short time. Such a house in a neighborhood where values are increasing will usually provide the basis for a very large down payment on a bigger home when you are ready for it.
True, you can sometimes buy with little or no down payment, and on long terms. But these terms mean that a very large part of your total payments will go to pay interest charges, not to retire the principal of the debt. Remember, interest never sleeps or takes a holiday. Such payments of interest can easily become a tremendous burden, especially when you add to them taxes and cost of repairs.
Do not leave yourself or your family unprotected against financial storms. Forego luxuries, for the time being at least, to build up savings. How wise it is to provide for the future education of children and for old age.
The smaller the family income, the more important it is that every dollar be used wisely. Efficient spending and saving will give the family more security, more opportunities, more education, and a higher standard of living.
As I look back on the establishment of my own home I'm grateful for a companion who, although accustomed to many of the luxuries of life, was willing to start humbly.
Vividly, I recall her doing the washing by hand until we could buy a secondhand washer. There was no overstuffed furniture; there was no carpeting on the floors. As a graduate student on a $70-a-month scholarship, I recall entertaining at dinner the head of the department at the college. He sat down at a card table-which was not used for cards-because there was no dining table. We gathered vegetables from the college experimental plots to cut down on the grocery bill and live within our means. Many have had similar experiences in a determination to make ends meet.
Now, when personal incomes nationally are at the highest level in history, is the time to pay off obligations.
I doubt that there will be soon again a more favorable time for Latter-day Saints generally to get out of debt than now. Let us use the opportunity we have to speed up repayment of mortgages and to set aside provisions for education, possible periods of decreased earning power, and emergencies the future may hold.
Truly, man does not live by bread alone. A good name is still to be preferred to great riches. Especially is it to be preferred to the appearance of riches, acquired with nothing down and nothing to pay for two months.
Stewardship, not conspicuous consumption, is the proper relationship of man to material wealth.
There may never be a more favorable time than now for most people to get their financial house in order so far as debt is concerned.
Yes, let us live within our income. Let us pay as we go. Let us "pay thy debt, and live!"
Cry unto the Lord for strength to heed the counsel of the oracles of God. The prophet Amulek said:
Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them. Cry over the flocks of your fields, that they may increase.
May I add this to Amulek's counsel: Pray to the Lord over your debts that they may be paid. Pray to him for faith to get out of debt, to live within your means, and to pay as you go. Yes, "pay thy debt, and live!"
My brothers and sisters-Latter-day Saints-let us heed the counsel of the leadership of the Church. Get out of debt!
Let us pay first our obligations to our Heavenly Father. Then we will more easily pay our debts to our fellow men. Let us heed the counsel of President Brigham Young, who said:
Pay your debts...do not run into debt any more... Be prompt in everything, and especially to pay your debts.
President Joseph F. Smith:
...In the time of prosperity... get out of debt... If you desire to prosper, and to be... a free people, first meet your obligations to God and then... to your fellow men.
President Heber J. Grant:
Tithing is a law of God... be honest with the Lord and I promise them that peace, prosperity, and financial success will attend. Let me warn the Latter-day Saints to buy automobiles... and the luxuries of life... when they have the money to buy them, and not to mortgage their future.
Brothers and sisters, there is a peace and a contentment which comes into the heart when we live within our means.
God grant us the wisdom and the faith to heed the inspired counsel of the priesthood to get out of debt, to live within our means and to pay as we go-in short, to "pay thy debt, and live," I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Milton R. Hunter
Milton R. Hunter, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 57-58
My dear brethren and sisters, I humbly ask an interest in your faith and prayers and also the guidance of the Spirit of God that I might express a few thoughts and feelings that are in my heart today.
I am happy beyond expression to be here, although it does entail my occupying a few moments' time.
As President David O. McKay suggested, six months ago I was ill; but I listened to the conference over the radio. I heard our beloved prophet, seer, and revelator in his most kind and beautiful way excuse Dr. Ernest L. Wilkinson, president of Brigham Young University, who was also ill, and myself from conference, extend his blessings to us, and ask that the Spirit of God be with us that we might become well. Then I listened to the prayers given by various stake presidents at the conference sessions. They humbly remembered us in their prayers and faithfully pleaded with our Father in heaven to restore us to health. I knew at that time that we would both have a complete restoration of health and strength. I stand here today humbly acknowledging the goodness of God, testifying that he has preserved our lives and restored both of us to health. We are now well and able to go forth and do our assigned tasks.
Never in my life have I had as much gratitude in my heart for the blessings of my Father in heaven as I have at the present time. I thank him for all the blessings that I have received, not only for the restoration of my health and strength, which is most valuable, but also for the gospel, for the privilege I have of being a member of the Church, for the testimony of the gospel which I possess, and for the opportunities that I have to work in the Church. I recognize our Father in heaven as the giver of all gifts and gratefully acknowledge that he has been very, very generous with me.
In deep humility I want to take this special opportunity to thank from the depths of my heart President David O. McKay, his Counselors-Brother Stephen L Richards and Brother J. Reuben Clark, Jr.-President Joseph Fielding Smith, the Quorum of the Twelve, the Assistants to the Apostles, the First Council of the Seventy-my close colleagues, the Presiding Bishopric, and the Patriarch to the Church for their kindness to me during the past several months, their generosity, and their consideration. Their goodness to me has been beyond what I could ever imagine. I thank them from the depths of my heart. All I can do is merely say, "Thank You."
I have always recognized these brethren, the General Authorities of the Church, as being men of God, prophets called to lead us in the kingdom. I have always loved them, but I can honestly say this morning that I love them more deeply than I ever had the ability to love before. My illness has increased my ability to appreciate.
During the past several months I have received numerous letters from the Saints in which they expressed their appreciation, prayers, and best wishes for the restoration of my health. During the past twelve years I have stayed in the homes of many of the stake presidencies and Saints. I have toured twenty-one missions with many mission presidents and have received the hospitality of many of the Saints throughout the stakes of Zion and the mission fields. For all of these things, I am very, very grateful. Although I have not taken opportunity during the past to express my appreciation, I now desire to express my gratitude to everyone here today who has befriended me. Sister Hunter and I are especially grateful to President Wilkinson and his good wife for their kindness to us. May the Lord continue his blessings on them.
If there is any one thing I have learned in the past few years, I have learned that there are wonderful people all over the Church, real Saints of the Most High.
Last, but not least, I should like to express deep appreciation to my dear wife and my children. They have been most wonderful throughout my illness. They have taken over all the work; in fact, I am not allowed to open a garage door, and that makes me feel very lazy. I feel that the Lord has given no man in the world a better wife than he has given me, and so I express my sincere gratitude and deep love to her and appreciation to our children.
I have had much time to think and meditate during the past several months. I have always thought that I had appreciation in my heart, and gratitude, but I have reached the conclusion that I, and maybe you, accept the numerous blessings which come to us from God more or less for granted, so to speak-the sunshine that we have, the fresh air, the food, and the clothing, and all these things that we have from day to day, the health that we enjoy.
I recognize that the Psalmist is right wherein he declared: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof". And as King Benjamin so beautifully taught his people, we are but stewards; we are debtors, debtors to God for all that we possess. He could take these things away from us in the twinkling of an eye.
I hope that we can become very appreciative, because I think that is one of the grand principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The principle of gratitude is closely akin to the attribute of love. It is akin to unselfishness. In showing our appreciation, I think possibly the best opportunity we have is to serve each other. In this way we help to build God's kingdom.
So in closing, I want to bear testimony that I know this is the true Church of Jesus Christ, that he is our Savior, our Lord, and our God. As he has said, those who take upon themselves his name, who keep all of his commandments and abide faithfully to the end, through his atoning blood their garments shall be washed white, and they will stand spotless before him at the last day and receive an eternal exaltation.
May God bless you and me as members of the true Church of Jesus Christ that this will be our happy lot, I humbly pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.
President Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 60-62
In his remarks this morning President Clark stated that there are those who would destroy the Constitution of the United States, and there are those who would destroy the Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments. I would like to speak on the Ten Commandments, if time would permit, but since it will not I shall center on one of them-that of keeping the Sabbath day holy.
These commandments have not been abrogated nor annulled, and they are in force as much today, although not observed, as they were when they were thundered from Mount Sinai. The Sabbath day has become a day of pleasure, of revelry, anything but a day of worship, from one border of the country to the other; and I regret to say that too many-one would be too many-members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have joined that procession, and the Sabbath day to some members of the Church is looked upon as a day of revelry, of pleasure, rather than one in which we can serve the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our mights, mind, and strength.
The Lord cannot forgive us when we know better and we violate his commandments. He has given unto us a law, a commandment, saying that we are to accept the words of the Lord as he has revealed them unto us. We have no right to transgress this law or any one of the other laws that are so fundamental to our exaltation, and how can the members of the Church expect to receive salvation and exaltation in the celestial kingdom of God, and show contempt for his sacred commandments?
Now, I will hurry as fast as I can, but I want to read to you a condemnation that the Lord pronounced upon Israel because they refused to keep this commandment.
"Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. "And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. "Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. "But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. "But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. "Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; "Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. "Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness. "But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: "I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; "And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God".
Those are the words of the Lord to Ezekiel. Notwithstanding all their backsliding and their wickedness and their violation of his commandments, the Lord still pleaded with them; and in the days of Ezekiel, after the greatest number of the tribes of Israel had been carried off because of their rebellion, the Lord pleaded with those who still remained to keep his sabbaths, to walk in his statutes-and even then they refused. Yet he said if they would do these things, it was a covenant with him, and by keeping that covenant he would bless them.
Now, this is the law to the Church today just as it was the law to ancient Israel, and some of our people get rather disturbed because they feel that observing the Sabbath day curtails their activities. So I want to read to you now the commandment the Lord has given to modern Israel, and this we ought to learn to keep.
"Wherefore, I give unto them a commandment, saying thus: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Thou shalt not steal; neither commit adultery, nor kill, nor do anything like unto it. "Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things. "Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. "And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day; "For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High; "Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days and at all times; "But remember that on this, the Lord's day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord. "And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be full. "Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or in other words, rejoicing and prayer. "And inasmuch as ye do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances, not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance- "Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fulness of the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth; "Yea, and the herb, and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards. "Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; "Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul. "And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion. "And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments".
Now, my good brethren and sisters, when you go home from this conference, you cannot go home and say, "The Brethren have praised us for our well-doing; they have commended us because we have come into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." We cannot say this when we remember our shortcomings in regard to the keeping of some of these commandments which the Lord has given us, and which pertain to his celestial kingdom.
We must stop violating the Sabbath day. We must stop the violation of other commandments, should we be violating them, and I promise you that if you will observe the Sabbath day, you who are opening your stores on the Sabbath day, if you will close them and tend to the duties that the Lord has given to you, and keep his commandments, that you will prosper and he will bless you more abundantly, for he has made that promise, than you will be blessed by showing your contempt for the commandments which he has given unto us.
May the Lord bless you one and all, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder ElRay L. Christiansen
ElRay L. Christiansen, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 62-64
I pray humbly that the few things that I might say will be acceptable to my Heavenly Father and that they might be helpful to someone.
We live in a wonderful world, a wonderful era, and I can say in a wonderful area. In this world there are lovely things, and things much to be desired, but along with the desirable there are also those things which are not to be desired. While I would much rather speak of the things which are desirable, I feel impelled to speak of some things that we would rather not recognize as existing.
We are living in a day when prophecy is being fulfilled among the nations of the earth-a time when many things which have long been stable are no longer to be depended upon-a time when the integrity of men and of nations is too often questioned.
It is as if the words of the Savior are being fulfilled: Luke speaks of the time when there should be upon the earth "... distress of nations, with perplexity". And through the Prophet Joseph Smith the Lord speaks of a time when there shall be
... wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be in commotion, and men's hearts shall fail them, and they shall say that Christ delayeth his coming until the end of the earth. And the love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity shall abound.
Rumors of wars and uprisings are a daily diet to the reader and the listener of news. Severe crises the world over are arising one after another, and they come to no satisfactory conclusion.
While tensions and uprisings continue throughout the world there is in our own country, it seems to me, an ever-increasing trend toward lawlessness, and, on the part of some, a seeming disregard and even contempt for the law.
There are many, too, while holding places of trust, who are suspected of collusion or bribery or of making "deals." A constant flow of reports comes of investigations of misconduct of those who are given places of trust throughout the nation. The veracity of sworn witnesses before great tribunals is often questioned, and contempt for the courts of justice is frequently manifested.
In this day of enlightenment, in this day when we have seen almost unbelievable progress and achievement in science and invention, one wonders why so much contention and corruption and evil doings, sin, should exist and, if my judgment is correct, be on the increase. We ask ourselves: "Why cannot these things, these 'cold wars' be brought to a satisfactory conclusion? Why are confusion and uncertainty perpetuated? Why this seeming increased trend toward lawlessness?"
Is not the answer found in the Book of Mormon where we are told:
... there are also secret combinations, even as in the times of old, according to the combinations of the devil, for he is the foundation of all these things; yea, the foundation of murder, and works of darkness; yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever.
According to the Doctrine and Covenants, "... he goeth up and down, to and fro in the earth, seeking to destroy the souls of men". And, as Lehi said to his son Jacob, "... he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself". "Eat, drink, and be merry" is the theme that he plays through his agents.
This enemy of God and of man dwells in the earth! But I fear that too many of us refuse to recognize his actual existence along with those who follow him and those in the flesh who have become enticed and blinded by him, perhaps not with their own knowledge, nevertheless having become his agents. He is a personage of great power. He has knowledge and power sufficient to influence the minds of mortals who "will not hearken unto the counsels of the Lord".
He seeks to darken and mislead the minds of men. He seeks to minimize the seriousness of wrongdoing. Deception and falsehood are his tools. He is a skilful imitator. While he is subject to the will of God and can never overthrow nor overcome God, he continuously and relentlessly keeps his forces at work with individuals and with groups, causing them to pursue selfish ends and to stir up among them trouble and dissension and persuading them to disobey the decrees of the Lord. This is substantiated in the Book of Mormon, where we read:
Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.
Now this condition is not new. It is history repeated and in this wonderful land of ours, America. Speaking of the iniquity amongst the Nephite civilization, the record relates this:
Now the cause of this iniquity of the people was this-Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority and riches, and the vain things of the world. Now they did not sin ignorantly, for they knew the will of God concerning them, for it had been taught unto them; therefore they did wilfully rebel against God.
I hope, my brothers and sisters that we will not repeat the performance of that former civilization.
Woodrow Wilson, at one critical period, said to his secretary:
... civilization will destroy itself by its own sinfulness, unless decent people rise up and demand that people and nations live by the Golden Rule.
Now, knowing that there is in the world this force of evil organized by Satan, what can be done?
It seems to me that we must first recognize this adversary and his followers for what they are-advocates of sin and wrongdoing, advocates of disobedience.
We must recognize that it is their determination through their agencies to overthrow freedom and liberty, and if it were possible, to thwart the purposes of God.
But we are told that "The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated," that only the work of men shall come to naught.
We must continually seek men for public office whose desire to do good supersedes all things else.
We must sanctify our own individual lives by keeping the commandments of the Lord-as one person prayed, "Oh, Lord, reform the world-beginning with me." We must sanctify our homes and teach our children loyalty, obedience, honesty, respect for law, respect for others, and a love of the Lord.
We must help others to accept Jesus as the Redeemer, the Savior, the God of this world.
To the degree that men acquire these virtues, their strength increases and their power to resist evil becomes greater. Note this promise that has been given in regard to this wonderful land of America.
Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.
There, my brothers and sisters, is the prescription for peace and security, nationality and individuality.
... behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is just shall rest upon them.
Let us remember that even though God had a foreknowledge of what "would be" under certain conditions, it is not his will nor his desire that vice, injustice, and crime, disobedience and intolerance and bloodshed and war exist in the world. His purposes are to provide a way where men may find happiness and joy, peace, now and forever. Nevertheless, he will not interfere with the agency of men! But fortunately, according to Mormon's teaching: "... the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil;" and have a "perfect knowledge," whether it is of God or of the devil.
Let each of us build upon the sure foundation recommended by Helaman in the days of the Nephites:
And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.
May we always choose the right. May we always defend the right, at home and throughout the land, and seek for peace and serenity and tranquility on the foundation for peace that was laid down by the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of this land, I pray humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Antoine R. Ivins
Antoine R. Ivins, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 64-66
President McKay, and brethren and sisters, I stand before you this afternoon a very blessed man. I wish to bear testimony to the mercies of our Heavenly Father and the blessings that I have received from him. When next month arrives, I will have lived seventy-six years in this troubled world of ours with only one serious case of sickness, hardly ever having been deprived of the privilege of going about my daily duty. And come the month of June, I will have had forty-five years of companionship with a wonderful wife who has walked side by side with me through the vicissitudes of life.
When we were told today about being careful about going into debt, I was reminded of the way my wife and I started out. We lived for a long while in a 12 by 24, with no door between the bedroom and the dining room, and we know what it is to come up through that road. Through it all, however, we have been blessed with the spirit of unity and love for each other. I have a wife whose major interest is the joy and happiness of other people, and for this I am extremely thankful.
When the month of June comes around, it will be twenty-six years since I read in the newspaper in Honolulu that I was to be one of your servants as one of the General Authorities of the Church. It came as a shock. It came without notice, but was accepted by my wife and me in the spirit of service, and during that time-those twenty-six years-we have tried to acquit ourselves as creditably as possible of the task of serving the people. In all this, we have been devoted to the Church and have let nothing, so far as we could tell, interfere with our service. My experience has given me contact with many peoples in America, in Mexico, where I lived twelve years, and in the Hawaiian Islands, where I spent ten years, some of my friends from Hawaii being here today to attend this conference.
I grew up among the Indians of Southern Utah, and when I married my wife, we became a part of the New Zealand Mission and met many of the Maori people. In that experience, of course, most of my time has been spent for the Church and the members of the Church generally and I have come to believe that perhaps the most important thing for a member of the Church is a testimony to the truth of the gospel.
We heard last night a very interesting testimony of the blessings and benefits that come from accepting the gospel, blessings which were brought to certain people through the missionary service of this Church, and you who know me know that the group to which I belong in the General Authorities is devoted particularly to the missionary work of the Church.
Testimony! I have come to believe that any person who has an honest testimony will strive to the utmost of his ability to live true to the teachings that have come to us from our Heavenly Father through the revelations of Jesus Christ, given to the leadership of this Church.
Testimony! How do we get it? We get it through faith. You who were here last night heard that the testimony which was borne to us came as a result of prayer. Of course, there was instruction. There was study; but our brother told us that he went down on his knees in fervent prayer and arose with a conviction in his heart that the gospel is true. He bore testimony to its wonderful blessings which had come to him with the privileges of membership in this Church.
Testimony! That is the great thing we should strive for, brethren and sisters. We get it through faith and prayer and service. We retain it through faith and prayer and service. Christ told Peter that he had rounded his Church upon revelation, the revealed testimony that he was the Son of God. He said the gates of hell would not prevail against it. I wish we were able to testify that the gates of hell can never prevail against the testimony on the part of an individual, and I believe that is true as long as the testimony abides in such strength as to determine the conduct of people. But, unfortunately, it happens with many that, having once had a testimony, they give way to the weaknesses of the flesh. Their testimony begins to dim, and in time, to disappear, and when it disappears, men frequently give themselves over to the powers of the flesh.
Now we should strive, brethren and sisters, to retain ever in our hearts that testimony, and to do it we must serve. The missionary cause is served in many ways. One way is by carrying to the people the message of the restored gospel, as was shown in our meeting last night. Another way was mentioned by President Clark last night in our meeting, and that is by living the gospel.
So, I feel that the best way we can teach the gospel is first to live it, showing individually and collectively the powers there are in the observance of the teachings of our Savior and in the exercise of the priesthood which God has caused to be restored. I believe honestly, brethren and sisters, that any man who lives worthy of the Melchizedek Priesthood has absolute control over the evil and sins of the world as far as he himself is concerned. He may not be able to control other people, but if he accepts and lives worthy of the Melchizedek Priesthood, he should have absolute power over evil. That is our purpose, brethren and sisters. If we could do that, if we could live that way, we would set before nonmembers and inactive members alike an example of which they could never complain and which must certainly impel them seriously to study the gospel.
We have in the Church as our responsibility for missionary service, a force of men who could be counted in the seventy thousands, men who were born in the Church, men who for one reason or another have not felt inclined to accept the responsibility and exercise the privileges of membership to the extent of receiving the priesthood, or at least the Melchizedek Priesthood. It is one of the largest mission fields we have in the Church, brethren and sisters. There is an effort being made on the part of the leadership of the Church to reach that particular group of people.
Two weeks ago last night Sister Ivins and I sat down at a banquet in Mesa, Arizona, where fifty men with their wives had taken the course that is suggested in this particular school designed to reach this particular group of people. They were a happy group. They had learned through that teaching some of the value, some of the joy, and some of the happiness that comes from study of the gospel and service in this Church. I would that a school of that kind could be established in every stake in the Church and carried through successfully, because I believe, and I think you will admit, that any man who takes the trouble to study seriously the revealed word of God for a reasonable period of time cannot but accept the truth of it, and then, if he can get the testimony of which I speak, he will accept its benefits and blessings.
Now how are people going to effect this? The other night I listened to a song which was written in Spanish and English, "Que Sera, Sera", and there is an implication in that song that this mother, talking to her daughter, would lead her to believe that the daughter herself could have no effect upon the future. But that is a false implication. Using the same reasoning, you would say these inactive men are as they are because they are, and maybe that is true. But they are not as they are because they had to be. They themselves, had they felt inclined, could have moved themselves out of this condition and into the full exercise of the privileges of the priesthood. It means honest living, of course, brethren and sisters, but it is worth the effort.
Testimony! Can you help one to gain a testimony that will impel him to service? What greater thing could you do? Are you going to sit by and leave these men to others, or are you going to use your influence with your neighbors, with your friends, in an effort to carry to them this testimony? It must be done in friendship. It must be done in simplicity. It must be done in faith, and with prayer, and God help us to do it, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bishop Thorpe B. Isaacson
Thorpe B. Isaacson, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 67-69
President McKay, President Richards, President Clark, my dear brothers and sisters and friends, I think this is the most humbling of all experiences, and I believe it would be for you if you were occupying this position. I deeply and sincerely pray that the Lord will sustain me the few minutes that I shall speak today. I will be most grateful to you for an interest in your faith and prayers and for your patience and your kind understanding.
Conference time is a marvelous time. People all over the world who are listening to the conference on the radio, or who are watching the conference proceedings on television, those who are in attendance and those who are reading of the conference, as well as those who are here that will take these messages back to their respective places of labor will all be blessed and benefited from this conference of worship.
In trying to illustrate conference time, I would like to refer to a statement made the other day in a local newspaper by Brother Jack M. Reed, who is the Tribune Church editor. With his permission may I quote:
"Conference" is sort of a magic word that transforms Salt Lake City... thousands of persons converging upon Temple Square-and affect in small measure or large the daily lives of nearly everyone in Utah's capital city.
Personally, I think in a measure that describes the great spiritual uplift and the importance of the general conference of God's true Church on the earth. It is just ten years ago today that my first assignment came to speak to the general conference of the Church. I would be a very ungrateful person if I did not first publicly thank the Lord for his kindnesses and mercies to me. Time will not permit me to tell you the wonderful blessings that have come to me during these lovely ten years of service. However, I believe I have worked harder during these past ten years than in any other ten years of my life, but likewise this work has given me great joy and happiness for which
I am truly grateful, and I am deeply indebted to the Lord and to the Church.
Likewise, I would be ungrateful if I did not publicly thank my wife and my family for their cooperation and assistance. They have helped me a great deal, and I know they have prayed diligently for me in this work. They have taken my responsibilities and assisted me in many ways with my personal chores, and I know it was because they wanted my Church work to come first. I can truly and humbly say that I love my Church work more than any other work that I have done in my life. I have had many fascinating positions, such as teaching, coaching athletics, salesmanship work, and business experiences, but there is nothing that compares with the work and the service in the Church. Nothing will give a person the joy and happiness that he gets from service to his brethren and his fellow men in Church work.
I would like to thank the members of the wards and stakes that I have had the privilege of visiting. Your wonderful loyalty and devotion to the Church has been an inspiration to me. My faith and my testimony have been strengthened because of your glorious example. Your devotion, your loyalty, your love for the Church, and your willingness to take care of all Church assignments are truly a great tribute to you and the Lord will bless you.
Some of the things that I said ten years ago when I first spoke in the general conference of the Church, among other things I said then, I would like to repeat now-at that time I had only been associated with the Brethren of the General Authorities for about three months-I stated then that I had learned to love the General Authorities very much. I also testified to you then that I knew these Brethren are men of God; and today again, I want to re-emphasize to you and testify to you that I love these men very much-every one of them, and I know truly that they are men of God. I know that President David O. McKay is a living prophet of Jesus Christ the same as were the prophets of old, and with him President Richards and President Clark, together with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and all of the other General Authorities of the Church-I know they are Prophets and servants of God our Eternal Father. May I also testify to you that I believe they are divinely called of the Lord, and I hope that you believe that. I would like also to testify to you that I know they constantly seek divine guidance, and I also testify to you that they receive divine guidance from our Holy Father.
I trust the Brethren, and especially Apostle Delbert L. Stapley, will forgive me if I tell you of the kind invitation from the First Presidency to all of the General Authorities to a meeting in the temple prior to the commencement of this general conference. I do not have the time nor the ability to describe to you the spirit of that meeting in the temple on Thursday morning. Brother Stapley offered the prayer, and I am certain that we all felt that his prayer ascended to our Father in heaven and that that prayer was answered in our behalf. Truly that sweet spirit which was experienced in that meeting as Brother Stapley was offering that prayer has carried over until now, and it will carry through the entire conference.
Today I intended to say a few things, but I have changed my mind because of the lack of time. However, because of my sincere interest in the rehabilitation of alcoholics, I would like to pay a tribute to those who are trying to overcome this habit or disease, and to overcome the cruel monster of alcohol. I would like to say a word of encouragement to 11,000 alcoholics in the state of Utah and about 5,000,000 alcoholics in the United States, because of an experience that I had with one of them last night following our missionary meeting held in the Tabernacle. I was very proud of this man who has triumphed and who has conquered that cruel monster alcohol. Yes, I want to pay tribute to him to whom I talked last night for his triumph. I want to testify to the others who desire a way to overcome that habit and that disease that, as this wonderful man who had conquered and had triumphed and who had made a wonderful comeback assured me, the only way for him or anyone else to conquer alcohol is to seek the help of God.
May I quote from Jacob, chapter 4, verse 10, from the Book of Mormon. It is the MIA theme:
Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice and in great mercy, over all his works.
That wonderful man who has had a struggle, as all of the alcoholics have, to defeat or conquer that habit testified strongly last night that there is only one way for anyone to overcome that treacherous habit and disease and that is by seeking the counsel of God their Father. I commend that wonderful organization and the members who believe in God, for they will find great strength when all else seems to fail.
Yes, today we are faced with confusions and uncertainties and threats. We are sometimes tempted to agree with those who say the reason for our great difference today is that our problems are so different from those faced by other generations. But this is not so; the only difference is our forefathers relied on God our Eternal Father for everything. Today there are too many of us that have forgotten God. We feel self-sufficient. Even as strong as we think we are, it is always dangerous to feel or think that we do not need to rely on a Divine Power, and I would like to refer to that Divine Power as the Power of God our Eternal Father.
In closing, may I give you one quick illustration regarding this passage:
... seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy over all his works.
Here is my story:
A few weeks ago a business associate of mine asked me to go with him to make the acquaintance of and visit and talk with eight wonderful young Latter-day Saint practicing physicians. He wanted me to go to see these doctors and meet them, wishing that I would agree to write a letter recommending consideration for these doctors so they could successfully get a loan to build a medical clinic. I agreed to go with him.
As we discussed the time for the appointment with these doctors, my friend informed me that it could either be in the morning between 6:30 and 7 o'clock or after 9 o'clock at night. I then decided that it would be better for me to meet them in the morning between 6:30 and 7 o'clock. We left Salt Lake City very early. It was dark because it was in the winter months. We drove to their offices some little way out of Salt Lake City, arriving between 6:30 and 7 a.m.
Soon their individual cars appeared at the office. I was then made acquainted with these wonderful, fine doctors, and we were invited into their office. After all had assembled, and we were comfortably seated, the oldest of these eight doctors-and he himself was a comparatively young man-walked over and shut the door. Then he said, "Would you mind joining us in morning prayer before we discuss our business problems with you?" Then I thought, "... seek not to counsel the Lord but to take counsel." I was somewhat astounded at this procedure, but I confess I was humbly grateful and proud of these young doctors. The presiding doctor called on one of the other doctors to offer the morning prayer, and he offered a very beautiful, appropriate petition to the Lord and asked for his guidance.
To my recollection, I have never had that experience with professional or businessmen before. I asked the doctors before I left, "Is this your common practice?" "Oh, yes, every morning, six days a week, we meet here between 6:30 and 7, where we lock our door, and before starting our duties of the day, call on God our Eternal Father for his divine guidance. If for any reason one of the doctors has important or urgent surgery or an urgent patient call, we go ahead without him, and each takes his turn offering the morning prayer." Of course these doctors will be successful! I thought they were wonderful.
How many teachers, how many bankers, how many business or professional men, how many of us follow that kind of procedure every morning? These doctors are seeking the divine guidance of God their Eternal Father, and mainly they are men skilled in science, trained in their profession, but not sufficiently so that they can rely upon their own training and their own natural abilities.
God grant that each of us may seek counsel, for we ourselves know that the Lord "counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy," I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder John Longden
John Longden, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 69-71
President McKay this morning gave recognition to the servicemen who had traveled many miles to be here, some coming from Texas and Oklahoma. I trust I shall be in order if I ask those servicemen to stand at the present moment, please, wherever you are. Thank you very much. That is a glorious sight, and I commend you for your evidence of faith in having a desire to mingle here in this great conference where you will receive a spiritual uplift, where the word of the Lord goes forth in truth and in power.
The servicemen of this Church are in a position to do great missionary work with their fellow men by just living the gospel, maintaining the standards and ideals of the Master.
Customs may change, but principles do not. On one occasion we are told that the Master
... went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
The principles the Master taught in the temple almost two thousand years ago are just as true today and important to the welfare of our lives as they were to the people whom he taught. There is a promise that if any man will do the will of the Father he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God. This is evidence to me that a man may receive a positive assurance of truth if he will but humble himself before the Lord and do the will of the Father.
Yes, the gospel of Jesus Christ is positive. Here in the sessions so far, we have heard everyone who has spoken bear witness and testimony regarding the truth which they have spoken. It is a marvelous thing to have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was possible to receive a positive assurance, or testimony, in the days of the Master; so it is possible today, for this is an eternal truth. Many times we hear the statement: "The gospel is true; I know the gospel is true." I have a witness and testify to you also that I know this thing called Mormonism is true, for it embodies the full gospel of Jesus Christ. When individuals have that testimony, though there may be periods of confusion-periods of deliberation-they are always able to come through, provided the roots of their testimony are deep within their hearts.
The Psalmist declared,
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
I have a witness that this gospel must go to all people and that all people must come to a knowledge of the truths which are taught from this pulpit before they can bend the knee and bow the head and confess that Jesus is the Christ.
Recently I saw the testimony of a young mother manifest as she had her three young sons around her. She had just become a widow, her husband having suffered a dreadful disease for three years. Only the light and knowledge of the gospel had given her hope and courage. Yes, the roots of her testimony were deep.
Through the restoration of the Church and kingdom of God, we understand our responsibility to take the gospel to all the world, working with those who are nonmembers of the true Church. Also we are to labor patiently with members who have become somewhat delinquent and dilatory to their duties, their testimonies having been weakened through inactivity or other reasons. A keen interest is manifest in this reactivation program and much good is being accomplished.
Some months ago it was my privilege to attend what we term a men and wives meeting. On the stand was a husband who had been reactivated. His wife was with him. Their seven children sat with them. The wife was with child. They had a son in Korea, and they had lost a little girl some six years before. The wife stood in the pulpit that morning expressing sweet, humble gratitude that there was now spirituality in their home and happiness because the priesthood was being honored. Truly, happiness was reflected in the faces of those lovely children who sat with them. Then the husband related briefly some of his experiences. He told how he had been born in a little town just north of Logan, Utah, where I should judge ninety-nine percent are members of the Church. His mother passed away when he was six years of age. The children had been farmed out to various relatives, and this boy was with an aunt and uncle until he was thirteen years of age. At twelve he had been ordained a deacon because he had been obedient to the teaching and training received through attending Primary and Sunday School and all the services he could attend. When he became thirteen, his father decided to move into the backwoods of Wyoming, where they were some distance from a Church. There was no transportation, so he didn't attend his meetings. He got out of the habit of going to Church, he said, and took up other habits. Later, he married a lovely woman who had faith, who had a precious spark in her heart and her soul. She continued to yearn for the day when he would see the light and would know this gospel as the Master had taught it.
He said, "I have done many things that I am ashamed of. I smoked, I drank-and stronger than beer on occasion. I am not proud of it. I have not been the father that I should have been to these children. There has not been true happiness in our home; I have not been the husband that I should have been to my good wife; but I stand here today to testify to you that I would not return to that old life for all the gold in Fort Knox. I have not missed a Sacrament meeting from that time to this, which is five years, except when I have been in Salt Lake City attending general conference."
How grateful I am that the gospel can work in the lives of individuals when they have the desire, when they understand the meaning of being doers of the word, referred to in President David O. McKay's message at the opening of this conference.
May we all, I pray, have the desire to demonstrate by our works that we truly are followers of the Master. May our testimonies be cultivated and fed by the spirit of truth to remain strong, regardless of trials or obstacles, that we may be able to rise above them, even as John on the Isle of Patmos, who recognized that he was there because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ:
I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Yes, customs may change, but principles do not; for assurance, knowledge, and testimony are eternal principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ today as they were yesterday; I so testify to you in all sobriety. May God bless us to live in accordance with his glorious eternal truths I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Elder Eldred G. Smith
Eldred G. Smith, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 71-74
I as the others who have preceded me, seek an interest in your faith and prayers while I take this time.
I have been thankful for this chorus, for the music that they have rendered to us. I am more thankful for that wonderful hosannah anthem they sang at the close of this morning's session. It was a real thrill, and coming on this day it has another and vital importance. Today is the eightieth anniversary of the dedication of the St. George Temple.
Those who have been reading their IMPROVEMENT ERA would know that.
Many people wonder about the difference in the many buildings that we have in the Church. I think we have more variety of buildings than anyone else. We have the temple, which is different from any other building in the world, and people outside the Church, of course, have to be instructed in the difference, and they wonder why until they are taught what is different about our temples.
The word temple comes from the Latin templum-which was the equivalent of the Hebrew "beth Elohim," and signified the abode of Deity; hence, as associated with divine worship, it meant literally the "house of the Lord."
Temples have never been regarded as places of ordinary public assembly or public houses of worship, but as sacred enclosures consecrated to the most solemn ceremonials of religion. Whether a house of the Lord be the gift of a man or of a nation, the best, if offered willingly and with pure intent, is always excellent in the sight of God, however poor by other comparison that best may be.
There are always materials and means available to build temples whenever and wherever there are enough Saints worthy to receive the blessings to be had therein. The best way to build temples is to do missionary work and bring souls unto him, and the temples will then be built.
As the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, the Lord requested a house of the Lord, or a tabernacle, to be built. To the call for material wherewith to build the tabernacle there was such willing and liberal response that the need was more than met. It is recorded:
For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.
After Israel had become established in the land of promise, after four decades of wandering in the wilderness, the tabernacle with its sacred contents found a resting place in Shiloh; and thither came the tribes to learn the will and word of God. Afterward it was removed to Gibeon, and yet later to the City of David, or Zion.
David, the second king of Israel, desired and planned to build a house unto the Lord. But the Lord made it plain that to be acceptable to him, it was not enough that the gift alone be appropriate, but that the giver must also be worthy. Nevertheless David was permitted to gather materials for the house of the Lord, which edifice not he, but Solomon, his son, built.
Solomon the king, the man of wisdom, the master-builder, was led astray by the wiles of idolatrous women, and his wayward ways fostered iniquity in Israel. The nation was no longer a unit; there were factions and sects, parties and creeds, some worshiping on the hilltops, others under green trees, each party claiming excellence for its own particular shrine. The temple soon lost its sanctity.
Are we, in this generation, immune to the same disaster? How often have I heard people say that they prefer to commune with their Maker in the canyons, or elsewhere, instead of attending their Sacrament meetings. They prefer the trees and the mountains to their church. As President Smith has told us today, many people are losing the right attitude toward keeping the Sabbath day holy. As a result they lose the desire and the right to go to the temple. Some intend to go later, when it is more convenient. These people lose the blessings of eternity, and to them the temple loses its sanctity.
Solomon's temple was finally destroyed. The temple of Zerubbabel was erected by the Jews 515 years before Christ, again using the best the people could give. Sixteen years B.C. Herod I, king of Judea, reconstructed the run-down temple of Zerubbabel, which was later partially destroyed at the time of the crucifixion of Christ. In 70 A.D. it was utterly destroyed by fire when the Jews became the captives of the Romans under the rule of Titus. The temple of Herod was the last temple or house of the Lord on the Eastern Hemisphere. Since then, many church buildings have been built, but no offer of a sanctuary was made unto the Lord; indeed it appears that no need of such was recognized. The apostate church declared that direct communication from God had ceased, and in place of divine administration, a self-constituted government claimed supreme power.
James Cardinal Gibbons, in explaining the infallibility of the pope in Faith of Our Fathers, says:
1st. The infallibility of the Popes does not signify that they are inspired. The Apostles were endowed with the gift of inspiration, and we accept their writings as the revealed word of God.
No Catholic, on the contrary, claims that the Pope is inspired, or endowed with divine revelation properly so called.
A more complete denial of the power of God could not be made.
Today we have the sacred temples again, not one, but many, today being the eightieth anniversary of the dedication of the first temple to be completed among the mountains of the west-the temple in St. George. And these temples stand as evidence and a witness that the gospel of Jesus Christ is again in the earth, restored by revelation to authorized servants of God.
Anciently, to gain salvation had two requirements: first, to live a righteous life, keeping the commandments of God; second, to accept and participate in the ordinances of the gospel, administered by authorized servants of God.
These requirements have never changed. Today we believe that man may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. We believe that man must be called of God to administer in the ordinances thereof.
Jesus said:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Baptism, then, is a requirement for all, both the living and the dead, for entrance into the kingdom of God, except those who died before the age of eight. How then can the dead be baptized? Many who are dead lived at a time when the gospel was not on the earth. Would it be just to deny them the kingdom of God? Certainly not. The Lord has provided that the living may be baptized by proxy for the dead. A man may be baptized by proxy for a man who has died.
Evidence that such vicarious work was performed in the early Christian Church is found in the words of Paul to the Corinthians:
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?.
Peter tells us:
For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
This scripture is evidence that those who have died will have the opportunity to hear the gospel and accept of the ordinances performed by proxy for them.
The ordinance of baptism for the living may be performed wherever there is sufficient water, but when being done for the dead, this ordinance is so sacred the Lord has required that it be done only within his holy house, the temple.
The Lord has declared that baptism is necessary for entrance into the kingdom of God. He has also said, "In my Father's house are many mansions". Therefore, other ordinances are necessary for advancement within his kingdom. One such ordinance is that of marriage.
In the sight of the Lord, the marriage covenant is so sacred that he has required that it be solemnized in his temple for time and all eternity. Brother McConkie yesterday gave us a very fine talk on the principles of that ordinance of the gospel, which I recommend to all of you to study again. Love is eternal, even as God himself is eternal. And President McKay told us last evening of the eternity of love, and I am sure that I will go on loving my wife and our children after death, as well as here. Your love for your wife and family will also continue. It would not be heaven if it were otherwise.
When the Savior was upon the earth, he told his apostles:
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
That same authority to bind on earth that it may be bound in heaven, is the priesthood of God which is now upon the earth again, that husband and wife may be sealed together for time and all eternity; that we may have our loved ones in the next world the same as here. That makes a real heaven.
This ordinance, vital for the living, is also just as vital for all God's children, including those who died without these glorious opportunities. Therefore, the ordinance of marriage and sealing children to parents must also be done vicariously for the dead, and also in the temple. The great genealogical work of the Church is of vital importance.
A temple then, has two main purposes: It is a holy edifice in which the most sacred ordinances of the gospel may be performed for the living and for the dead.
A great responsibility rests upon the living in this day: first, to prepare themselves by so living that they may be found worthy to receive these saving blessings for themselves; second, that they may also be worthy of doing the vicarious work for their kindred dead. Without the living, the dead have no hope, and the earth would be cursed at his coming.
Too many who claim to be Latter-day Saints do not avail themselves of these eternal blessings. I do not think the Lord will accept their flimsy excuses. Brother Lee told us yesterday how we should be concerned about this situation in the Church.
The steady growth of the Church today is increasing the demands upon the temples. Additional temples are being built, and many more will follow. They stand today as a witness to the world, testifying that the heavens have been opened and the gospel of Jesus Christ is again restored to the earth, with the power and authority to act in his name. This I testify to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Delbert L. Stapley
Delbert L. Stapley, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 74-78
My beloved brothers and sisters, I am indeed grateful for the messages of this conference, starting with the great message of our beloved President yesterday morning. Several have established the springboard that I should like to start from in what I have to say this afternoon.
It is gratifying to witness the leaven of the gospel at work, infused and invigorated by faithful and devoted Church leadership, which is awakening faith, encouraging renewed activity, and promoting an upsurge of spirituality among members whose lives heretofore have not responded fully to the teachings and ordinances of the everlasting gospel covenant, restored in this dispensation of God's providence as a light to the world and as a standard for his people. The results are so pronounced, as evidenced by activity reports, that they can be measured and totaled. It all adds up to a satisfying accomplishment which has brought joy, happiness, peace, and contentment to many families. The wisdom of the present program to reach out and touch the lives of all Church members with the gospel of salvation cannot be gainsaid because the benefits thus far have been most fruitful and stimulating. Many have been motivated to give up bad habits, also indifferent attitudes, and in so doing have prepared, qualified, and made themselves worthy for the choice privileges and sacred blessings of the Church, the priesthood, and the temples of God. Those engaged in this worth-while service also have been blessed and fully recompensed. The Apostle James gave this admonition and promise:
Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
If I understand the plan of exaltation correctly, all eternal blessings are obtained by and through the Holy Priesthood of God. They cannot be obtained in any other way. That being true, then, the Holy Priesthood, which is God's authority and sealing power, is not only of great importance to the man who possesses it, but also to his wife and children, for they cannot enjoy in full measure the blessings, opportunities, and privileges of the gospel unless the husband and father worthily honors and faithfully and righteously functions in his sacred priesthood calling. The husband and wife relationship was planned of God to be an eternal partnership. The family that is united in faithfulness and sealed together by the binding power of the Holy Priesthood can be assured the great privilege of sharing eternal glory together in perfect companionship. No true parent would want to deny loved ones opportunities for blessings both here in mortality and eternally. Our families and the desire for eternal association with them as a family unit in celestial glory are worth all the sacrifice we are required to make to secure such blessings. We cannot afford indifference because life hereafter is too important. The joy and happiness of all our loved ones depends upon our actions and spiritual activities. No man can be saved and exalted in the kingdom of God without the woman, and no woman can reach perfection and exaltation in the kingdom of God alone. There is no union for time and eternity that can be perfected outside the law of God, and the order of his house. An individual may attain a degree of salvation alone, but when they are exalted they will be exalted according to the law of the celestial kingdom. The Apostle Peter exhorted the husbands to,
... dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
Having perfect knowledge through ancient and modern revelation concerning the eternity of the marriage relationship, we can understand how husband and wife are heirs together of the grace of life. We also know that individually and separately they cannot attain to the highest glory in the celestial kingdom. No man holding the Holy Priesthood can cast it aside and then wear it as desired and expect to have his bestowed blessings ratified and sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. That heavenly sealing power to all covenants, vows, and performances is gained by the righteousness of individuals. The ordinances, endowments, and blessings received are otherwise not efficacious in the eternal celestial mansions of God.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that the power, glory, and blessings of the priesthood could not continue with those who received ordination, only as their righteousness continued. The Apostle Peter refers to this authority as a royal priesthood. The right of this power belongs to the Gods and is shared by them with faithful, divinely called men. It is the authority by which the Lord Almighty governs his people, also by which he creates and controls all the works of his hands. Disregard of this authority leads to darkness, sin, and often apostasy, which severs an individual from all rights and privileges of the house of God. Those who receive a bestowal of this divine authority should honor it and be worthy of the gifts, powers, and obligations it confers upon them. Every man who receives the endowment of the Holy Priesthood of God can trace his line of authority in an unbroken chain back to the Savior. The Lord has made it clear that every man who holds this priesthood must learn his duty and act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence; and if he is slothful and shows himself not approved, he shall not be counted worthy to stand.
The Lord also has admonished that he will not command in all things but instructs every man to be anxiously engaged in a good cause and do many things of his own free will and bring to pass much righteousness. He declares that if a man obeys not his commandments, he will not be guiltless before him.
These scriptures enjoin faithfulness and devotion of those who receive the authority of God's Holy Priesthood, which permits them to officiate in the sacred ordinances of the true gospel of Christ. In an important revelation on priesthood the Lord has declared:
The power and authority of the higher, or Melchizedek Priesthood, is to hold the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the church- To have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, to have the heavens opened unto them, to commune with the general assembly and church of the Firstborn, and to enjoy the communion and presence of God the Father, and Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.
Therefore, because of its sacred nature and authority, possessing binding and sealing powers into the eternities, the priesthood is accepted by those who receive its bestowal with an oath and covenant which involves obligations and trusts of the most sacred character. Those who receive it must, like God, abide in it, for they share and enjoy with him the right of his authority and power; therefore, they must not permit themselves to be moved out of the right way nor to fail.
According to a revelation on priesthood recorded in the 84th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, there are two main requirements of this oath and covenant. First is faithfulness, which denotes obedience to the laws of God and connotes true observance of all gospel standards. For better understanding of the oath and covenant of the priesthood, may I propound these questions:
1. Can a man be faithful who does not abide by the first two great commandments, to love the Lord God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind, and his neighbor as himself?
2. Can a man be faithful who is not honest and truthful in all dealings and relationships with his fellow men?
3. Can a man be faithful who does not honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy, attend the Sacrament and priesthood meetings; also worthily fulfil all other duties in keeping with his callings and obligations that day?
4. Can a man be faithful who does not plan and arrange for daily family prayer in the home?
5. Can a man be faithful who does not teach his children the true principles of the gospel of Christ and then set them a worthy example by living according to those truths?
6. Can a man be faithful who does not observe and keep the Word of Wisdom?
7. Can a man be faithful who does not pay an honest tithing and fast offering?
8. Can a man be faithful who does not obey the law of chastity and is not morally clean in his life and habits?
9. Can a man be faithful who does not, through obedience and sacrifice, prepare himself worthily for the holy temples of God where he can receive his endowments and sealings in the higher ordinances of the gospel and thus bind his family happily and eternally together in love and understanding?
10. Can a man be faithful who does not honor and obey the laws of the land?
Perhaps we could summarize by asking, "Can a man be faithful if he does not keep all the commandments of God?" The Savior counseled the man who came to him and inquired, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"-by saying, "... if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments". This counsel from the Lord is all inclusive and clearly points the way to joy and happiness.
These enumerated thoughts are just a few requirements associated with faithfulness, but each is important. As you meditate the full meaning of the word, other attributes that are important qualities of faithfulness will also impress and inspire your mind and heart for better understanding and personal resolves.
The second requirement of the oath and covenant of the Holy Priesthood is to magnify one's calling. To magnify is to honor, to exalt and glorify, and cause to be held in greater esteem or respect. It also means to increase the importance of, to enlarge and make greater. Keeping this definition in mind, may I again resort to a few questions for more lucid understanding:
1. Can a man magnify his office and calling without honoring and abiding in the priesthood faithfully and worthily as a devoted and true servant of God?
2. Can a man magnify his calling without giving spiritual and humble dignity to his office?
3. Can a man magnify his calling who refuses to accept positions and responsibilities of trust when called upon to serve by his stake president, bishop, or other constituted authority?
4. Can a man magnify his calling if he is not obedient to gospel standards and requirements, and if he also fails to be amenable to the counsel and direction of righteous men who are properly called and approved by the people as their authorized leaders?
5. Can a man magnify his calling who refuses to sustain by his faith, prayers, and works those whom God has called and ordained to preside over him?
6. Can a man magnify his calling who does not use his priesthood in righteousness for the blessing and benefit of his fellow men?
7. Can a man magnify his calling who does not banish all iniquity from his soul, that he may gain favor with God and thus enjoy power in the use of the priesthood to bless people?
Again, may I summarize by asking, "Can a man magnify his calling who is not willing to sacrifice and consecrate all for the building of God's kingdom in righteousness, truth, and power in the earth?"
Here also by prayerful meditation you can add other important considerations applying to holders of the Holy Priesthood magnifying their callings, but these will suffice for the purpose of this talk.
To be faithful and devoted to priesthood obligations is the only way man can gain favor and power with God and have rightful claim upon him for blessings to himself, his family, and others to whom he may minister. The priesthood will not abide in force and power with him who does not honor it in his life by complying with the requirements of heaven. The Prophet Joseph Smith declared, "A man can do nothing for himself unless God direct him in the right way; and the priesthood is for that purpose" To magnify his calling in the priesthood a man must use it in righteousness and service to his fellow men. If he does so, he will gain power in its use and thus become enlarged in his gifts and abilities to perform greater service. Every man who receives the Holy Priesthood and is ordained according to the gifts and callings of God unto him, and faithfully magnifies his sacred calling, which fulfils the conditions of the oath and covenant, is sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of his body. He is then worthy to be numbered among the elect of God, having also received the Father's kingdom. By the power of the Spirit, which is light and truth, and through honoring the Holy Priesthood in faithfulness and obedience, a man develops holiness of life and character; therefore, he is set apart by this regeneration of soul for special and sacred trusts with the glorious promise for having continued in the oath and covenant of the priesthood, that "all that my Father hath shall be given unto him".
The Lord is bound to fulfil this promise to those who abide by the conditions of the oath and covenant. If men are not faithful in magnifying their callings, they have no right to expect the blessings of this promise. Now the Lord has affixed a penalty for violating the oath and covenant of the Holy Priesthood by proclaiming,
... whoso breaketh this covenant after he hath received it, and altogether turneth therefrom, shall not have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come.
This severe penalty for violating altogether the oath and covenant should cause the unfaithful to repent of their actions, sins, and transgressions and do the works of righteousness, that they might obtain forgiveness and gain a renewal of God's promises and blessings to them. If men recommended for the office of elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood thoroughly understood the oath and covenant, also the penalty for its violation, at the time of accepting the priesthood, fewer of them, I feel certain, would transgress its obligations and drift into inactivity and thereby come under condemnation.
Fathers holding this great gift of the Holy Priesthood should set the example they desire their children to follow. The eternal happiness of their families depends upon the father's obedience to God's laws and his faithful performance in the sacred calling of his priesthood office.
It is my hope, my brothers and sisters, that this great and important work among the inactive that has been mentioned in this conference, will not only go forward unabated but will also go forward with renewed and increased devotion and vigor. The compensations are soul-satisfying, and the inactive are given opportunity for rich experiences and choice blessings. It is also my sincere wish and prayer that every father with his family may attain this blessed privilege and exalted state of eternal unity and companionship in the celestial mansions of God.
I bear witness to the truthfulness of these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report April 1957, pp. 86-89
My brethren, I have been intensely interested in the accounts of Brother Romney and Brother Coombs and as I sat here there came to me a thought that I have had many times before. I wonder how much our presumed scientific knowledge, so-called, has cost us in faith. I lived among those people myself for four years. I loved them. I loved their innocence of things worldly. I loved the simplicity of their lives. I loved the simplicity of their faith. Some transgressions because of their innocence seem to leave them untouched in faith.
And I wonder how much the little I know about the material gains in physical sciences and the presumed great laws of nature which we do not yet have in their fullness nor fully understand, I wonder how much that is worth to me in terms of faith. I do have a testimony. I do know that God answers prayers. I do know that he can heal. I do know that I have seen his healing. I repeat, I do know that he answers prayers. But I often wonder how much better I might know it if my faith had not been tampered with. Sometimes our faith waits on our presumed knowledge. I hope and I pray that we can bring into our hearts, into our souls the simple principles of the Gospel. Why should we worry about the things that the Lord has not made clear. Why should we worry about the things that he has not revealed, usually relating as they do, to matters that are not of much importance in the way we live. Why not put all extraneous things out of our minds as affecting our faith and just believe not only but come to know the power of faith and what it can do for us.
Brethren, I feel, speaking for myself, that I do not yet appreciate or understand what I might do if my faith were perfect.
I thought tonight that I might say just a word or two, not too much, about what I have thought of as "The Chaste Life." I would like to pay my respects and my congratulations to the tens of thousands of our people and of our young people who are clean and pure, who are enjoying all of the blessings that cleanliness and purity can bring and they are among the richest blessings that our Heavenly Father has to bestow. I honor those, those of clean lives, free from transgression, respected. I pray God to keep them clean and pure and so far as possible innocent. But when I partially realize how much the radio and the television and the play impart into the minds of our youth, who know far more than some of the older of us people about sex, I wish it were possible not to pollute their young minds.
And I think that we, bearers of the Priesthood, should do all in our power to keep them as innocent as we may while at the same time giving such instructions as they should have to help them keep clean, not to teach them how to avoid evidences of uncleanliness.
But we have a few, as Brother Joseph Fielding said today, speaking of the Sabbath, too many-one, said he, is too many-we have a few who are not as we would like, and I blame in part for their views, their habits, their thoughts, their transgressions, the teachings that they receive. And one of the worst of the teachings that come to them is that teaching which is becoming too common, that the sex-urge is a natural urge to be gratified like the urge for drink or for food. Satan has not invented any more unrighteous, hideous doctrine than that, and he knows it, and yet, brought up as some of us are brought up, under environments where we do not hear sufficient antidotes for this poison, we hear it, we listen, we believe, we try, and then comes all the woes that attend to unchastity.
You know, when we read in the great law books in the Old Testament, specifically Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, we may think that the Lord there is chastising and perhaps prescribing for the sins of Israel, and I thought I would just like to read to you two or three paragraphs taken from the Book of Leviticus, the 18th chapter:
"Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the Lord your God. "After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. "Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the Lord your God. "Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord".
And following this throughout the Books, there are a series of commandments regarding sex sins. And in order, as it seems to me, to keep the Children of Israel from committing these sins, the Lord proceeds to name them and to prescribe penalties for their commission. I am going to just mention a few of them.
First is incest. I am not enlarging on it. In the law incest included more than we now ascribe to it. It included marriage between people within prohibited relationships. The penalty for incest was death to both parties.
Fornication-sometimes adultery and fornication are used interchangeably. But for certain kinds of fornication, the penalty was death.
For adultery, it was death for both parties.
For homosexuality, it was death to the male and the prescription or penalty for the female I do not know.
For beastiality, it was death for both the man involved and for the woman.
Prostitution was called an abomination.
After the Lord finished his listing of abominations recorded here, he continued:
"Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: "And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. "Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: " "That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. "For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. "Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the Lord your God".
I wonder if the defilement of the land by abominations still has force and effect, and if it has any significance for us?
That was the way in which the Lord taught the Israelites what they should not do. Death was to be by burning or by stoning. You will remember the story of the woman taken in adultery, found in John 8. You will remember the incident of David and Bathsheba, you will find that in II Samuel, the eleventh chapter and following. And then you will remember the story of Corianton and Isabel. I am going to read that in just a minute. I am mentioning these things merely to show that Israel lived under a code that would not tolerate any such doctrine as that the sex-urge was a natural one and to be gratified just as the urge of thirst and of hunger.
I would like ourselves, the Priesthood, and our youth to understand that sex transgression is tragically serious, not something to be lightly considered, and I would call your attention to a statement, if I can find it, from the Prophet, who said that wrong always gnaws at the heart of the transgressor. "Those who have done wrong always have that wrong gnawing them".
Now, I want to read you the story of Corianton as told by Alma, in that Book of Alma, and this tells the transgression sufficiently, as well as the doctrine involved. Alma, speaking to his son Corianton said:
"For thou didst not give so much heed unto my words as did thy brother, among the people of the Zoramites. Now this is what I have against thee; thou didst go on unto boasting in thy strength and thy wisdom. "And this is not all, my son. Thou didst do that which was grievous unto me; for thou didst forsake the ministry, and did go over into the land of Siron, among the borders of the Lamanites, after the harlot Isabel. "Yea, she did steal away the hearts of many; but this was no excuse for thee, my son. Thou shouldst have tended to the ministry wherewith thou wast entrusted. "Know ye not, my son, that these things are an abomination in the sight of the Lord; yea, most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost?" And then after a verse on the Holy Ghost, he continues: "And now, my son, I would to God that ye had not been guilty of so great a crime. I would not dwell upon your crimes, to harrow up your soul, if it were not for your good. "But behold, ye cannot hide your crimes from God; and except ye repent they will stand as a testimony against you at the last day. "Now my son, I would that ye should repent and forsake your sins, and go no more after the lusts of your eyes, but cross yourself in all these things; for except ye do this ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. Oh, remember, and take it upon you, and cross yourself in these things".
My purpose in saying what I have said and reading what I have read is to bring home to us the seriousness of these sex transgressions. Everything that we can do, and here the unity of the Priesthood comes again, we should do. Satan had Cain ask the Lord, "Am I my brother's keeper?". That question did not come from the spirit of the Lord. We are our brothers' keepers. It is our duty, each and every one of us, to do all that we possibly can do to restrain our brethren and our sisters, and particularly our young people from committing themselves as some are doing. There is no happiness in it for them here or hereafter. There is grief and sorrow and regret. There usually is an effort to repent but repentance brings an agony of spirit.
Let us all without obtrusion, without offense, in gentleness, in persuasion, and above all, in good example, try as best we can to improve the few who are in or going into transgression and to prevent others from following their course. It is no light thing to transgress sexually; it is a tragedy.
God give us the power and the knowledge to know how to do the things that I am suggesting, namely, help others to keep themselves pure, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President Stephen L Richards
Stephen L Richards, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 89-91
I could wish that all of the Priesthood assembled in the 96 meeting halls where they are met tonight might have been present last evening in the Tabernacle to have listened to and seen the program of the missionary work of the Church. I think had all been present there, it would have been unnecessary for me thus to bring an item or two of missionary work to your attention.
We have all been deeply impressed by the reports of missions which have come to us, and I am sure they have stirred us to a sense of great responsibility in carrying the Gospel to the world.
I wish to appeal to all of the Priesthood, and to the families of the Church through the Priesthood, for more missionaries at this time. You have heard that we have a considerable force in the field, but I must apprise you of the fact that they who are returning from the field in such large numbers require more replacements than we can furnish from those whom you are recommending to us week by week and month by month. If everyone could realize the problems of a mission president, I am sure that all would be appreciative of the need for missionaries to keep up a more or less standard quota in our missions. As the missionaries extend the work, they usually organize small branches of the Church, Sunday Schools, small groups, which have to be nurtured and cared for by the missionaries.
When a sufficient number of missionary terms expire so that the mission president is not able to keep in those branches the number who are requisite to carry them on, it not infrequently means that a small branch that had a good start must be more or less disorganized because possibly no one of sufficient stature in the Church is there to administer it, and it therefore means something of a loss in the forward motion of our missionary work. We do need more missionaries at the present.
We need, of course, those who are able to carry forward the work, and as we mentioned to the brethren and sisters last night, they must be in good health-preferably younger people who can stand the more strenuous effort. They must be, too, impressed with the necessity and the desirability of missionary work. I am sure we were touched tonight as we heard these mission presidents express their interest in the people where they served. They knew they were blessing their lives, and every missionary should know that, if he would render the best and most effective service.
So, we appeal to you, my brethren of the Priesthood, to attempt to send from the homes of the people those who can meet the needs of the various missions. And may I make a suggestion, too, that may prevent some disappointment. So many of our young folks make up their minds where they would like to serve, and perhaps there is a certain legitimacy to their having a preference, but it can readily be seen that if all preferences were to be observed, that we would fail to meet the needs of the missions as those needs arise. Therefore, they who are called to serve in the missionary field should be impressed with the necessity of answering the calls that come to them with gladness and willingness, wherever the mission might be, in order to carry forward our Father's work for the reclamation of the souls of his children.
I take occasion to mention to the Priesthood, too, that all of our missionaries who come into the field now, or who contemplate coming in the near future, should have their polio inoculation. If they do that in advance of the time when they come to the mission home, considerable time will be saved, and they will be able to have the complete inoculation earlier than if they left their inoculations until they arrived here.
All missionaries who come to the Mission Home should come with temple recommends. We had thought that was clearly understood throughout the Church, and yet there is scarcely a company which comes to the Mission Home in which some temple recommends are not forthcoming, and time is required in order to get those recommends to go to the temple. All of the missionaries who come to the Home go through the temple twice while they are here.
I think I will not take occasion to mention any further items about our missionaries. I scarcely need to impress upon the Priesthood of the Church the necessity of furnishing to the Church those who shall carry forward this great work. One of the most encouraging things to me, following the long journeys that our President has made throughout the world, is the growth of our work in distant lands of the earth, of which you had example this evening. This great Gospel is intended for all men. There is no nation to be favored, if the children of our Father will but open their hearts to the reception of the truth, and there is no one to carry that message excepting you, the great Priesthood of the Church, and the sisters who assist us in missionary labors.
I have been thinking that there is something significant in the vastness of this Priesthood congregation that we have the honor of addressing tonight. You have already been told by the President that there are assembled in 96 different places groups of the Priesthood to hear the messages of this evening, stretched all the way across this Continent from Canada on the north to Mexico on the south. With this wide coverage one might reasonably ask the question, "Why do we not have a general broadcast of these services?"
I think that this most unusual situation in what we call a closed circuit broadcast consists in the unique character of the Holy Priesthood which we have the honor to represent. This great society of men and boys living in different nations of the earth is admittedly an exclusive society, not made so, however, by any prohibitory rules and regulations set up for initiation and membership which we may prescribe, but made so by the Lord himself. He stands at the head of this great order in his Kingdom. He it is who has caused his delegated power and the rights of membership in this order to come to us, his servants. It is he who has made provision for the establishment of this vast exclusive society, with his chosen High Priest at its head. And thus it is that those only who have received and accepted their divine commissions are entitled, so to speak, to a ticket to this great meeting which is held tonight. You do not have to pay for your admission here, or in any of the assemblies where our Priesthood meet. You are invited guests of the President of the Church tonight to a very select and exclusive assembly. We have occasion to feel grateful and proud that we are eligible for this invitation.
It is sometimes thought that when things become widely distributed that they are common and cheap. That is not so with the Priesthood. It is widely distributed among the men and boys of the Church, as you heard from the reports read today, but it is not cheap. It is precious, and it is priceless, and the numbers who bear it, apportioned among the whole population of the world, make it very rare indeed. I one time figured out, some years ago, about how many that would be, and I estimated that there would be one member of the Priesthood to every ten thousand persons in the world. If it were so geographically apportioned, we should certainly feel that we had a rare calling.
The potential power residing in the membership of this great assemblage is so vast and so far-reaching as to defy almost any attempt to measure it. Here among these men of God, old and young alike, is a fund of knowledge-"pure knowledge", the revelations call it-essential and vital to the peace and happiness of mankind. Here upon this great assembly rests the obligation by divine command to disseminate that "pure knowledge" among all the Father's children. In the men gathered in this great congregation is vested the right, the power, and the duty to establish in verity the Kingdom of God, to set up, to man, and to operate the organizations and agencies comprised within the Kingdom, with the express duty to prepare the Kingdom for transfer to the Savior himself when he shall come, as he surely will, to take delivery of it.
I ask you to pause a moment in the thought of this awesome, lofty undertaking-to prepare the Kingdom for delivery to the Master. I said you were an exclusive society. You are, because no other body of men in all this world are authorized and equipped to make that preparation and that delivery except yourselves. Fortunately, we are divinely organized for the achievement of that herculean task. A true representative of the Master stands at our head to guide us and to lead us in this great endeavor. If we follow his leadership, and that of his associates, and adhere to the counsels they give, we shall not fail. In preparing the Kingdom for delivery, however, let one thing never be forgotten: our preparation of the Kingdom proceeds no faster than the preparation of ourselves to enter into the presence of our Lord and partake of the fruits of obedience and righteousness.
I do not believe that the Kingdom can be nurtured in any degree of wickedness and unrighteous dominion. We controvert the age-old assertion that the Kingdom has been preserved over the centuries under wicked and sinful potentates and a perversion of the pure laws of the Christ, who was and is the founder of the Kingdom. It is not our practice, my brethren of the Priesthood, to cast aspersion on others, but we are constrained by the truth to make the assertion I just made-that the Kingdom was lost and is now restored. To prepare the Kingdom for the Master is the most exalted objective that I can think of for the men and boys of the Priesthood of the Church of Christ. It comprehends and entails unity and brotherhood, spirit and endeavor, obedience to law and counsel, example-stimulating, worthy example-as a premise for missionary work among all men, wide and effective teaching of the principles and practices of the Church, loyalty-unswerving loyalty-to principle and to authority.
When the Christ comes to receive his Kingdom, whom will he call to assist him in its administration? I am just as convinced as I am that I stand before you tonight that he will first call upon you-his Priesthood. I expect him to be merciful and kind to all the good and well-intentioned of the world, but I know he will respect and honor the organization he has caused to be set up and the man whom he has entrusted with his divine power, and I confidently expect that when he shall personally take charge there will be perpetuated without great change the organizations and the procedures which have prevailed in the Kingdom of the latter days, organized under the revelations of God. If any word of mine might serve to enlarge your appreciation and your vision of the precious power you hold, my dear brethren, I would be grateful indeed. I have complete confidence, without doubt or wavering, in the account we have of the bestowal of the holy power which we bear, and in its authority as descended to us from those who received it from heavenly messengers.
I know that it is divine. Respect it. Honor it, my brethren. Use it, and employ it for the high purposes for which the Lord gave it. Then if you will magnify it, it will magnify you, and make even the humblest great and mighty in the sight of God and the esteem of men.
The Lord bless you, my associates in the great Priesthood of the Living God, I humbly ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 92-94
Thank you brethren who have so ably discharged your duty in ascertaining the attendance this night in 97 houses of worship, including this Tabernacle. It is complete.
General Priesthood Conference, April 6, 1957
Salt Lake Tabernacle 7,291 Assembly Hall, Barratt Hall, and Grounds 3,294 94 Groups reporting in 26,595 Total tonight 37,180
That is the largest attendance in the history of the Church!
We do not favor taking photographs in our meetings, but I do wish that we could get a picture of this assembly tonight. All who can see it as we from the rostrum will never forget it. If anybody have his flashlight camera, he may take a picture, so we may have it enlarged.
I think this is wonderful, it is glorious! What a power assembled tonight in 97 groups, men of the Priesthood-men of God! We just feel in our hearts to say, "O Father," as Christ pleaded with Him, "keep us one as thou, Father, and thy Son are one". Nothing can stay the progress of the kingdom of God as long as this mighty army of Priesthood will keep united.
We heard tonight from two released missionaries-presidents from missions. They represented all mission presidents tonight, first, in their ready response to the call that came to them-one a prominent businessman, another a professional man, and their wives with them. So have all other mission presidents. I happen to know some of the sacrifices that their sweet wives have made in the missions represented. So the other mission presidents' wives make these sacrifices. Do they complain? No. They rejoice in the opportunity. Other mission presidents could tell us of interesting items just as Brother Romney and Brother Coombs gave us tonight.
The world does not realize what this missionary work in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints entails, and what a mighty contribution the members of the Priesthood are making to make it a success. I, too, wish that all had heard that program last evening. One thing they realized was that one of the influential factors in missionary work is personal contact, that is one of the most potent, most effective.
And so it is in the field of activity to which I wish to refer in a few words-our ward teaching.
Especially during the last year, I have been impressed with the realization that we are not reaching those whom the Lord would like us to reach. Now, the ward teachers are doing an excellent work. They visit homes regularly. They have their lessons prepared. And they make their report.
Statistics show that the ward teaching is in good shape. So what I say is not reflecting upon the effort that is made by this group of Priesthood. But tell me, fellow workers, are we doing all that is implied by the Lord's statement that it is the ward teacher's duty to watch over the Church always?
A man who knows about the ills that befall our Government because of criminals wrote recently-I refer to F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover-about the responsibility of parents. He said:
"Criminals are not born with a stamp of criminality affixed to them. They are created by the forces and influences surrounding them. Certainly parental influence is a vital element in determining the direction in which a child will go. The parent who fails his duty by neglecting to provide moral training and essential consistent discipline in the home should be accountable for the delinquencies which emanate from that neglect. I firmly believe that the tide of juvenile crime could be stemmed if neglectful parents were made to face legal and financial responsibility for the criminal acts of their children.
"I am convinced that parental incompetency, parental indifference are at the root of the vast majority of youthful behavior problems.
"Back of the majority of cases of juvenile delinquency lies, in some form or another, the abdication of parental responsibility; broken homes; lack of parental supervision; over-protective parents, drunken parents; over-indulgent mother; overly strict father; parent works nights; poor home conditions; parental neglect; lack of religious training; no discipline; depraved home environment. Nothing is sadder, in my opinion, than those cases in which children lack nothing in material things, and yet parental irresponsibility destroys their potential development as good citizens."
One cause of delinquency he names is broken homes. I appreciate the statistics sent me every month by the Salt Lake County Sheriff and his associates. I brought two here tonight regarding broken homes.
In November, 1956, 96 criminals were fingerprinted; 4 women among them; 23 repeaters. In December, 1956, there were 95 fingerprinted; 6 women; 22 repeaters. In November, among those 96, 60 were from broken homes; 24, in which the father was dead; 12, the mother was dead; 22, both dead; and 2 were divorced. Among the 95 in December, 1956, 56 broken homes. Note, it is over half of the people, half of the criminals. Father was dead in 16 of the homes; mother was dead in 10; and in 25, both were dead.
Well there are other statistics, but I do not have time to refer to them.
Now, it is the duty of the ward teacher to watch over the Church always, to be with and to strengthen.
I wish we could see tonight how many of those 60 who came from broken homes were on the list of the ward teacher; how many of those 56 offenders last December from broken homes were listed by the ward teacher. Do not go away with the idea that they are not members of the Church. The Sheriff's report gives the number of deacons, the number of teachers, the number of priests, and the number of elders among those who were fingerprinted. As it is the duty of the teacher to "watch over the Church always" every one of the children from these broken homes should be on the ward teachers' list.
I have a case in mind that will illustrate:
A mother died and left a large family, none of whom were married, and a little baby boy. The father was quite indifferent. He had been born in the Church. We all felt sorry when his wife died and left him with a large family. The oldest girl took care of that family wonderfully well. They are all in the Church. But the young boy grew up and did not attend his school until winter came, and then he left it as soon as spring opened up. He liked to ride horses and he could ride the bucking horse. He learned to shoot. Early in his teens he went out to herd sheep, and he made money. But when he came back, he did not go to Sunday School, he did not go to M.I.A. His interest was in activity-a life of activity.
Well, I will not go through the whole story. He was skillful in herding, riding, shooting, and the outdoor life.
I have referred several times to that rhyme given by the Presiding Bishopric to the Aaronic Quorums about the boy who stood alone...
The boy stood at the crossroads all alone, The sunlight in his face. He had no thought for the world unknown, He was set for a manly race. But the roads stretched east and the roads stretched west, And the lad knew not which road was best. So he chose the road that led him down, And he lost the race and the victor's crown. He was caught at last in an angry snare, Because no one stood at the crossroads there To show him the better road.
That is just what this boy did. While still in his teens, he entered a grocery store, bought something, paid with a bill, $10 or $20, and a dispute arose about the change. The merchantman attempted to throw him out. The young boy had his sixshooter and was caught "at last in an angry snare."
Personally, I made inquiry, when that boy went to the penitentiary, as to whether the Sunday School teacher had ever visited him. No. Nor had the Mutual worker nor the ward teacher. I do not know that they could have won him. I think they could have. Personal contact would have won that boy.
It is the teacher's duty to watch over the Church always. That boy's name should have been on some teacher's list.
So it is with these 60 people-let us say there are only 30-half of these who were fingerprinted belong to us-thirty last November, were from broken homes.
Ward teachers, when you go home tonight, make a complete list of all those in your district, every boy, every girl. You may not go to a broken home, you may not find them there. Find out where they are and reach them. God bless you, and bless us all as we watch over the Church always.
For first, Priesthood means service; it is not given just as an honor. I congratulate you and commend you that you are worthy to receive it, but it is given to you for service, and you act as an authorized representative of our Lord Jesus Christ in whatever position you may be assigned.
God bless you that you may serve worthily, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Marion G. Romney
Marion G. Romney, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 133-136
Fellow worshippers at Columbia's Church of the Air: What I have in mind to say about "The Voice of the Spirit," our theme for this morning assumes the premise that the Biblical doctrine of revelation, signifying the making known of divine truth by communication from heaven, is in fact a reality.
The great universal and basic truths with respect to God and men, and their relationship to each other, have been revealed and have been recorded in the scriptures in every dispensation. The identity of God and the origin of men was revealed by the Father Himself.
"... I, God, created man in mine own image, in the image of mine Only Begotten created I him: male and female created I them".
"... I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God", said Jesus to the sorrowing Mary.
The Apostle Paul declared:
"... in Him we live, and move, and have our being... For we are also His offspring".
The destiny of man, which is to rise from the grave in resurrection to live forever, has also been revealed, as has the fact that as a son of God he is endowed with the potential to reach the perfection of his Heavenly Father, provided he successfully passes the test of mortality.
The scriptures further reveal that God, having placed us in mortality to meet this test, did not leave us in ignorance, confusion and despair to find our way by chance, but that from the very beginning He has made known for our benefit the gospel of Jesus Christ, His divine plan for our salvation and exaltation. These great, basic truths were given by revelation which came "... not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost".
Now I am painfully aware that Christianity does not today evidence a uniform understanding of the foregoing basic doctrines. The scores of churches with their varied creeds and different interpretations seem to lead away from, rather than toward, that glorious consummation foreshadowed by Paul when all shall "... come in the unity of the faith". This confusion, tragic as it is, does not however, disprove the thesis that the doctrines came by revelation and declare the word of God. What it proves is that the conflicting interpretations of these basic revelations are being made in the feeble, flickering light of man's wisdom. This naturally brings confusion, because the things of God cannot be understood through the learning of men. You will recall how Paul pressed this point.
"... Eye hath not seen, not ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."
That is to say, the things of God cannot be comprehended through the natural senses of man.
"But," he continues, "God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God".
Now if this doctrine of Paul's be true, and we witness that it is true, there must be personal revelation, that is, revelation to individuals, by which they may understand the basic revelations and receive soul-satisfying confirmation as to their divinity. That there is such a "Voice of the Spirit," the scriptures clearly affirm.
For example:
"When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? "And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. "He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? "And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. "And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven".
Here the Redeemer Himself declares that Peter received from His Father in Heaven by revelation the knowledge that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Why did not the others know who He was? They who said he was John the Baptist, Elias, Jeremias, or some other of the prophets, why did they not know the identity of Jesus? Obviously, it was because His identity had not been revealed to them by "the Voice of the Spirit" as it had been to Peter. Until it was so revealed they could not know Him, for "... no man can... that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost".
That this "Voice of the Spirit" is available to all who will receive it, is apparent from the universal call and promise of Jesus.
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden," He said, "and I will give you rest". And again:
"Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost".
Since God has revealed all things essential for man's guidance through mortality to his glorious destiny, and has provided that men individually by the "Voice of the Spirit" may receive personal revelation to enlighten their understandings and confirm to them the truth of God's revealed word, the all-important question arises, "How can we individually attune our ears to that Voice, so indispensable to our comprehension and appreciation of these things so vital to our eternal lives?"
From the scriptures we draw the answer: first, prayerfully search the scriptures, and second, obey the commandments therein written.
No principle of the Gospel is more clearly taught than that God will reward the sincere seeker. It was Jesus Himself who, in the following words, gave specific assurance that such reward includes the gift of the Spirit.
"... Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you," He said.
"... For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."
To emphasize this important truth, He put the following question and added the conclusion:
"If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?".
As to searching the scriptures, you will remember that to them who sought His life because He said, "that God was his Father," Jesus declared, "Ye have neither heard his voice... nor seen His shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you; for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not." Then He told them that if they would learn of Him, they should, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." Continuing He pointed out that a search of the scriptures would reveal to them that Moses himself, whom they professed to believe, would condemn them for rejecting Him. "For," He concluded, "he wrote of me".
Luke commends the Jews of Berea as being, "... more noble than those in Thessalonica... searched the scriptures daily..." whether the word of God was so. As a result, "many of them believed".
If we will add to our prayerful searching of the scriptures, obedience to the commandments therein revealed, we shall assuredly obtain "the Voice of the Spirit." For Jesus said, "... My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself". Now there is just one source from which such knowledge can come, and that is from God. And there is just one way in which it can come, and that is by "the Voice of the Spirit."
To the men of Judea and others dwelling at Jerusalem who, pricked in their hearts by the powerful witness borne by the Apostles that Jesus was the Christ, cried out, "... Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Peter answered:
"... Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call".
In these two short paragraphs, Peter covered three phases of this important matter. He specified two of the commandments which must be obeyed, i.e., repentance and baptism, He named the chief agent of "the Voice of the Spirit," the Holy Ghost, and he declared the promise to be universal.
Never has the Lord required one of us to rely solely upon the witness of another. This voice of the Spirit enabling each individual to know for himself is as much a part of God's plan for the salvation of men as is the principle of free agency. He has endowed His children with both free agency and "the Voice of the Spirit" and He puts upon each of them the responsibility for the proper use of these endowments. The Lord has always urged His children to obtain a knowledge and witness of the truth for themselves.
In conclusion I give you my own witness. By "the Voice of the Spirit" I have learned and know that the things I have said this day are true. I know that God is a personal being in whose image men are fashioned. I know that He is our Father, that we are His children, that as such we are endowed with the potential to eventually come to Him. I know that mortality is a necessary phase of our development, that according to the Father's divine plan the earth was created for our habitation, that we were sent here to receive physical bodies and to be tested to see if walking by faith we will keep His commandments.
I further know that through prayerfully searching the scriptures and through obeying God's commands as therein written, we may individually be led safely through life by "the Voice of the Spirit" according to the divine and glorious, soul-satisfying promise that:
"... the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit. "And every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father".
God grant that we may all so hearken and be so enlightened through the world, I humbly pray.
President Stephen L Richards
Stephen L Richards, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 95-100
I lay aside the beautiful lei made of baby orchids, presented to us so graciously by our Hawaiian sisters, while I speak, fearing too sharp a contrast between the brilliance of its beauty, and the drabness of what may follow.
My brethren and sisters and friends, I believe that most families or parts of families to whom I have the honor of speaking today are deeply and anxiously concerned about reports that reach us constantly regarding the waywardness of youth. I can think of no milder term than waywardness to characterize what I have in mind. You know of many other harsher terms more frequently used, and I do not say without justification. I use wayward because there is an element in the term which deserves our thoughtful consideration. The word literally means taking one's own way, and the connotation, of course, is in contravention of, or at variance with, an established way or order.
Is there an established way or order? Under the law the answer must be yes-at least to the extent that the law covers the ways of life. The Ten Commandments is not a legal document, but its principles are all incorporated into the law by means of penalties prescribed for infraction of these commandments, at least so far as violations of the commandments may be manifest in social behavior.
Would it not be a great gain in winning respect for the law to make it more clear that the laws of the land in the main have their origin in divine pronouncements, and that in the main they win approval only as they conform to such generally accepted standards of morality and righteousness? Is that not the vital distinction between democracy and communism? The test of democratic law has always been, and will continue to be, is it right in accordance with revealed principles of righteousness? The test of communistic law seems to be, is it effective in the maintenance of controls superimposed by arbitrary authority? It seems to be of no concern that there is no conformity to divine principles of human conduct, and no recognition of divinity as well.
Could we help wayward youth if we confronted each one with wayward tendencies with these forthright questions: "Are you a communist and an anarchist? Is it your purpose to overthrow the government and forfeit all the safeguards, the rights, and liberties derived from our ancestors who fought so valiantly and made so many sacrifices for the free society we now enjoy? Are you an atheist? Do you believe there is no divine source of right and wrong? Would you like to see this country of ours, and other peace-loving democratic countries, turned over to communistic domination and dictatorship? You should know that vice and crime in sufficiently extended proportions can do that without a single foreign bomb being exploded in our territory. Vice and crime are rebellion. They can bring on war as devastating as that between states, and they have able and clever leadership, for their general is the father of lies, the author of clever seductions and enticements, the deceiver, the adversary, the opponent of all that is good and virtuous. That leader is Satan, given power to tempt humanity in mortality that they may develop resistance and strength. They who follow his lead, though they may think themselves tough, are weaklings without resistance. They are without vision. If they had vision, they could see and understand the gravity and the futility of their offenses, and they would be able to see prison walls stronger and more impenetrable than those built of steel and concrete which will separate them from all the finer things of life-family, friends, the love of God and fellow men."
I do not know that such an imaginary conversation and approach would have a deterrent effect upon those with wayward tendencies. I do believe, however, it would be good for those who ask the questions-fathers, mothers, teachers, and other guardians of youth. Such questions might serve to set in the minds of all some fundamental principles concerning respect for authority, loyalty, and duty. Most unfortunately there are many young folk who have no one to ask the questions. What a pity! May the Lord bring repentance to those parents whose selfishness, whose untimely separations, and whose misguided lives have inflicted such tragic conditions on their offspring and on society.
I think it is a mistake for those charged with the custody of children to lose sight of or abandon the principle of reproof. The Lord has used that principle in dealing with his children during all the time of which we have record, and he has never given us any indication that it should be abandoned. No one who advocates love as the most important and potent factor in parent and teacher and child relations can go too far to suit me, but let it never be forgotten that reproof may be, and very often is, an important element in that loving relationship.
The Lord has told us how to reprove. I should like to remind my brethren and sisters, and tell my other friends, what he has said about it. Before I do so, however, I am going to tell you of an incident which occurred on a ship while I was returning from a visit to South America a number of years ago. On this voyage, which included two Sundays, I was asked by those representing the captain of the vessel to conduct what were called "divine services." There was no one on board of our own faith to whom I might appeal for assistance. I had made the acquaintance of a rather elderly man who was a retired minister of another church, so I asked him if he would participate and offer prayer. He gave a very beautiful prayer at one of the services. After the prayer I engaged him in conversation, and among other things we spoke of the care of youth and family responsibility. He recited an impressive incident in his own experience. He said that while he was an active minister there was among his parishioners a very lovely family. They had a promising son who married. He established a home and began to have his own family. Most unfortunately, however, he took up the habit of drinking, and within a comparatively short time reached the stage where he might be classed as an alcoholic. His wife and his family were, of course, greatly distressed. They pleaded with him, and so did this minister, to abandon his wayward course, but seemingly to no avail.
One day my friend, the minister, met this young man coming down the street. He recognized him some little distance before they met. The young man offered his hand in greeting, but the minister rejected the offer, and he said, in substance, to the young man: "John, I rebuke you, and in the authority of my ministry I command you to cease the terrible practices which are ruining your home and bringing such sorrow to your loved ones." With these words the minister left the young man, confused and shocked, standing on the sidewalk. My friend told me that after he had gone a short distance he was tempted to go back and apologize. He said that he had never done such a thing before, and he could not understand how he had come to speak such seemingly cruel words to one of his friends for whom he felt such responsibility.
When he had finished telling me of the incident, I picked up a volume which I had with me, and I read to him these words:
"No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; "By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile- "Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; "That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death".
"That's it, that's it!" the old minister said to me excitedly. "Where did you find that?" I told him that it was part of a revelation concerning the nature of the Holy Priesthood, given to the Prophet Joseph Smith more than a hundred years before this conversation took place. The minister then told me that after he had given the rebuke to the young man, a few weeks passed, and the man came to him and thanked him, and said to him, "All the pleading of my family and friends made me sorrowful but did not bring to me the courage to act. That rebuke which you gave to me that day on the street has given me a strength that I could not acquire before. I have never taken a drink since, and I have the resolution and the faith to believe that I never will again."
It is a kindness to reprove in the spirit of love. It is an unkindness to mitigate the gravity of offenses in those for whose guidance and direction we have responsibility.
Next, I would like to ask this question. Has the word duty come to have anything in the nature of an unpleasant reaction on the part of those undertaking to lay down principles for the guidance of youth? Sometimes I hear so much about uninhibited independence of action and free development of personality that it makes me wonder if the concept of duty has gone out of the picture. Conformity also seems to be a term that has come in for a measure of odium. The only place where I hear duty and conformity spoken of with great acclaim is in the military establishments. Everybody there seems to be most exacting without toleration for any departure or insubordination, and I have never heard of reproof there being administered in any such way as I have described. I suppose it would be shocking to the proponents of the so-called individualistic development theory to assert or assume that discipline is just as necessary for the success of an orderly society as it is for the success of armies and navies.
Why should the inculcation of the principle of duty in the training of youth be regarded in any unfavorable light whatsoever? Do we obtain anything of worth except by conformity to this principle? It is true that the concept of duty may entail some self-denial, but do we not all suffer for success, in the sense, at least, that we discipline ourselves to the conditions of success? In athletics, which often seem so important to youth, no one achieves distinction except by conformity to training, which is duty, and to the governing rules. In business the same is true. There are governing rules and principles which must be observed. Sometimes men think they can gamble and get something for nothing, but in the end they cannot succeed in business by this method, for legitimate business is built upon the principle of exchange of values. There are some who think that in professional and academic life the so-called individualist without conformity may win great success and distinction. In reality, this is not true, for the great researchers and contributors to the welfare of humanity are generally not non-conformists-they are expansionists-building upon the knowledge already acquired for the extension of principles and formulae to good purpose.
I hope I do not labor this point too much, but when I hear occasionally-not often-of teachers, and some parents, too, who decry the old-fashioned concepts of conformity and duty, and place a premium on non-conformity without its alleged abridgment of intellectual freedom, I cannot help feeling grave concern about students and youth who are subjected to such views by those whose scholarly attainments they respect and admire. I wish all who project such teaching might find a way of discovering its relation to deviations in youth which so much plague society today. I am bold enough to say, whether it be wisdom or not, that any teacher taking advantage of the prestige which his position gives him, who advocates or permits the impression to prevail that the traditional standards of morality prevailing in the good homes of his students are not binding on the individuals who make up his class, is untrue to both his constituency and his calling, and remembering that these moral principles and standards have been incorporated into the laws of the land, it may not be going too far to view his teaching as traitorous to the law and the government under which he operates.
I make these drastic statements not so much by way of indictment, because I am sure there are very, very few who would intentionally mislead their students, but rather by way of caution against a philosophy which could greatly add to this waywardness of youth.
What chances do we take when we teach our youth that there are well-recognized standards of morality incorporated into the very structure of the law of the land? And if a teacher has the mind to give the history of our institutions and our laws, is it objectionable to tell the truth about the source of these moral concepts and principles which have come down to us? Is it an infringement on any personal liberty to reveal the fact that the Ten Commandments furnish the foundation and basis for much of our law? If it is not an infringement, why should not all of our students and our youth know this? I think it would greatly enhance their respect for the laws of our land and bring to them a more clearly defined understanding of duty and obligation in a country governed by such law. They ought to know that they cannot enjoy property, money, and all the advantages they bring without the duty to protect property and rightful owners in the possession thereof they ought to know that they cannot enjoy personal health and personal freedom of motion without the corresponding duty to protect from assault and molestation. And they ought to be made fully aware of the fact that there can be no happy homes, no contentment and security therein without the duty of everyone to preserve the sanctity of the home, the virtue of womanhood, and manhood, too. He who would disparage the principle of duty, the controlling factor in our living, has a very narrow and constricted view of the purpose of life in the universe, for without hesitation I say: Teach duty, require duty, if need be, in children to bless their lives with proper understanding and practices essential to their happiness.
Now, there are other concepts and principles indispensable to happy living in a good society which are not incorporated as such into the laws of the land. No penalties are provided for their infraction. The Ten Commandments were given largely by way of injunction: "Thou shalt not..."
The Beatitudes come to us as persuasion and incentive. They are not negative, but positive, in character. All who believe in the standards of righteousness and morality set up by the Ten Commandments know and understand that the gracious persuasion of the Beatitudes and other of the Savior's teachings furnish the highest incentive to yield obedience to the commandments and attain the blessings which are held out as a reward for compliance. It is essential that this be made clear to youth, that they may understand that moral standards and principles are not just prohibitive and negative in character, but that they are the essential foundation to happiness and the attainment of joy. If they could once be persuaded that there is no enduring happiness in sin, but only in goodness, the battle would be won.
I know that a great effort is put forth by millions of good people to hold before youth the advantages and the lasting values emanating from the teachings of our Lord. I rejoice in these efforts, and I am sure that unmeasured good comes from them to countless of our Father's children. If I may make any contribution whatever to this great undertaking of persuasion for the adoption of the Christian principles as a way of life, it is this: to make clear that the kingdom of God is a kingdom of law; that the governing laws are of divine origin; that they are eternally right and do not change-interpretations may vary, but the laws are eternal; that infraction of the law is sin and draws a penalty. We know of the penalty attached to the breaking of these laws when they are incorporated in the laws of the state. We have not been shown the exact nature of the penalties which the Lord imposes, but we do know that no law of his may be broken with impunity.
I want this taught to youth so that they may comprehend it. It is their due and their right to have these things given to them without dilution or apology. This is justice and mercy. Neither shall rob the other. How can it be a kindness to any youth to whitewash and ameliorate the crime and the sin of stealing, of assault to bodily injure, of vandalism, the wanton destruction of property, of malicious scandal, of lying and deceit, and perhaps the greatest of all, that robbery which steals virtue from either woman or man?
Perhaps at this point I should tell those not of the Church something they may not know. Within our society the law of virtue is applicable equally to men as to women, and all are taught that it is better to lose life than virtue. To some these teachings may seem extreme. We believe they are justified and have approval of the Christ whom we follow.
I will repeat a circumstance which came under my observation some years ago, with apologies for its repetition to those who have heard it. I presided over a conference session in one of our older meetinghouses in which there was a relatively small balcony in the rear of the chapel. This balcony was filled with young men and women in their teens. I called upon the president of the stake to speak at the conference. To my surprise, and I think to the surprise of the large congregation in the body of the house, he addressed himself directly and exclusively to the young people in the gallery. Looking straight at them, he said, in substance:
"Young people, in the not too distant future, nearly every one of you will come to me to be interviewed; some for advancement in the priesthood-these will be young men; some for recommendations to go on missions-these will be both young men and young women; and many of you for recommendations to go to the temple for marriage-both men and women. When you come to me for interview separately, I will ask each one to sit down in a chair directly facing me. I will look each one squarely in the eye, and this is the first question I will ask: Are you clean? If you answer yes, you will be happy. If you answer no, you will be sorry. If you lie to me, you will regret it all the days of your life."
That is all that he said to these young people. There was profound silence. I think that no one who was present will ever forget the occasion and the impression made on these young men and women. I think that this man did not overemphasize the moral principle which he impressed on these young people. May it not be that when we come to the final judgment, as all of us will, that may be the first question propounded for each of us? Are you clean?
Washington said that morality and religion were the firmest props of government. I say morality-private morality-is indispensable to a good society rounded on happy homes in nations of freedom. One of the disappointments that has come to me in the observation of our political life is that all too frequently our citizens are prone to tolerate private immorality in public office, and that by comity neither side will accuse the other. I do not make this indictment general, but I firmly believe that there are a sufficient number of cases of hypocritical living in public affairs, and a sufficient number of instances of infidelity in the homes of the land, exposed and unexposed, as to have furnished an example for youth which has not been encouraging. The need of the hour is for good example and good teaching, and teaching is very difficult without the fortification of example.
You may have observed that I have not used the term delinquency. I chose waywardness for this discussion, because I wanted to give to youth the benefit of all doubt possible. Wayward youth has gone his own way, in large measure because he has not adequately been shown the right way.
I humbly pray that all the forces at our command, the home, the church, the school, the government, and the exemplars of the nation, shall all combine to show wayward youth the right way, which is God's way, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder George Q. Morris
George Q. Morris, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 100-102
My dear brethren and sisters, I sincerely pray that the Lord will direct me to say that which I should say to you this morning. He has blessed us through this great conference from the inspired and powerful address of President McKay through all the sessions. I sincerely pray that his blessings may be with me, that that Spirit shall be continued.
This is fast day in the Church, the regular monthly fast day, and I should like to dwell with you for a few moments upon its importance and our relation to it.
In the early days of the Church, there were urgent needs to be met, and so the Prophet Joseph Smith, who had a plea made him from Kirtland for help for the poor and the needy, told the Saints to establish a fast day. Each month it was to be observed, and they were to fast for the day and bring to the one in charge the food that they would have consumed so that it might be dispensed to the poor.
What a beautiful, simple, direct, and inspired provision the Lord made through the Prophet Joseph Smith! People were to endure hunger and not partake of food they had but bring that food that others might not endure hunger.
The Lord revealed to Isaiah the true observance of the fast day; after rejecting the methods used by Israel at that time, he then points out the right way that the day should be observed.
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall the light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day: And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
What a beautiful description of a day that we should follow once a month for the alleviation of suffering, for our own spiritual growth and development, and to carry out the purposes of the Lord that there shall be no want, no suffering, but every attention given to those who are afflicted and in distress.
I was told the other day that a bishop invited some of the members of his ward to a banquet, and as one man had his plate presented to him there was on it a small piece of meat and a small piece of carrot. I do not know what the man's impressions were or what questions arose in his mind, but it was explained to him that that represented the fast offering that he had been giving to the needy. Now that was surely a very realistic way of pointing out his relation to the fast offering and his obligations. And it reminded me of a sobering statement that the Prophet Joseph Smith made at the funeral of James Adams in 1843, and refers back to the powerful statement and announcement made by President McKay, that it is by doing the will of God that we will attain salvation and accomplish his purpose, and in no other way.
Incidentally, as we build up false hopes on something else, there will be a time of terrible awakening. So the Prophet Joseph Smith declared:
If men will acquire salvation they have got to be subject before they leave this world to certain rules and principles which were fixed by an unalterable decree before the world was.
The disappointment of hopes and of expectations at the resurrection will be indescribably dreadful.
It is for us to avoid that dreadful experience that he refers to and keep the commandments of God and bring to pass the purposes of the Lord. It is not only that we do not obey the Lord as far as we personally are concerned, but it is a serious sin as well that we frustrate the purposes of God, at least for the moment; and a condition that he wishes to bring to pass among his people for the alleviation of suffering, for the comforting of the afflicted, and for the strengthening of his Church, fails because we do not keep his commandments. That is a most serious thing. It seems to me that we must take it into account. The first is, in a way, personal, but the second is rejecting God and blocking his plans and his purposes, by which he means to bless his people.
I think we may not and must not be casual or indifferent regarding this fast day which is so common among us. I am sure we are not giving it the thought that it deserves. Many people seem indifferent. But what a wonderful thing it would be if the stake presidencies and bishoprics of wards and presidents of branches, through the help of the Lord, could instruct the people and inspire them all so that they would give in full to the Lord their free-will fast offering. What a strength and power it would be towards the bringing to pass of the purposes of God among his people and in the earth.
And the way to do that is simple, if the people would understand and accept this principle and obey it. I believe it hinges on the one fact, so far as I am concerned, that it is just as necessary to pay an honest fast offering as it is to pay an honest tithing.
The Lord has told us how we shall pay our tithing and we are able to pay it properly and we call it a full tithing. The Lord has told us what the fast offering shall be, that it shall be the equivalent of the food of which we did not partake.
Great strength and power would come to us, so far as having means in the Church to accomplish his purposes. Yesterday we were advised that we are approaching a million and a half people. Let us consider a million people and realize that if we paid a full and honest fast offering, joyfully and gladly before the Lord, there would come into the hands of the servants of God each year, paid by a million people, the value of twenty-four million meals. What a strength that would be to the great welfare movement, what a spiritual blessing would come to all of the Church, for God promises great blessings, and what means would be in hand to bring about the alleviation of the suffering and the needs of the people!
This thing goes right to the heart of the gospel. The Lord found it necessary to charge ancient Israel with robbery, that they had robbed him in their tithes and their offerings, and they were under a curse, but he said,
... prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
I wish to read some of his words, just a few short selections, to emphasize the need of obeying the law of the fast and giving offerings for the poor and afflicted. They affect our salvation; they affect the forgiveness of our sins; they affect our souls being saved. We will not be saved, our prayers will not be answered, and the Lord will reject us as his disciples if we do not remember the poor and the afflicted.
These are his words directly through his prophets:
Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment.
And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you-that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God-I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.
Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you. And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose that this is all; for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need-I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith.
We unto you rich men, that will not give your substance to the poor, for your riches will canker your souls; and this shall be your lamentation in the day of visitation, and of judgment, and of indignation: The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul is not saved!.
And remember in all things the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted, for he that doeth not these things, the same is not my disciple.
May the Lord help us to discharge this great obligation in gladness and in joy, with all our hearts, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Hugh B. Brown
Hugh B. Brown, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 102-106
I humbly pray that I may have the liberty which comes from the possession of the Holy Spirit and that your prayers and mine may be effective to that end.
As mentioned, we have just returned from a tour of the missions in the South Pacific, and we are sure that you parents, friends, and relatives of the missionaries who are laboring there will be interested in knowing that they are well, happy, and doing a wonderful work. They send to you and to all members of the Church their love, greetings, and gratitude. We met 575 of them while there, held meetings with them, listened to their testimonies, discussed with them some of their problems, and were inspired by their faith and devotion.
Everywhere we went the people were living in the afterglow of the recent visit of President David O. and Sister McKay. To thousands it marked the pinnacle of their spiritual experiences. We wish publicly to thank him and his counselors for the priceless privilege of visiting the wonderful people of those islands and for the honor of attending the ceremony of the laying the cornerstone of the New Zealand Temple.
Two other names are immortal among the Polynesians. Their love for Elder and Sister Matthew Cowley borders on devotion. They mention their names in hushed tones and sing special hymns written in remembrance of their years of loving and devoted service.
In addition to these regular missionaries, there are another 500 local labor missionaries and 120 Zion labor supervisors working there under the inspired and able leadership of President Wendell B. Mendenhall.
There are now forty-one chapels under construction, five major college projects, four mission homes, and another thirty chapels will be under construction within the year. I think in all the history of the Church we have never had a more inspiring example of voluntary co-operative effort than we saw in the college and temple projects in New Zealand and Hawaii. Not only do the missionaries and supervisors work on these projects without pay-often singing as they work-but most of them are also housed and fed by the local members of the Church. A representative of the press, after visiting the New Zealand project, expressed amazement and said, "A more completely unselfish work has never come to my attention."
There are now over 59,000 members of the Church in the South Pacific, and as we traveled among them we were reminded of the early missionaries who were there when conditions were quite different. We thought of President Joseph F. Smith, President George Q. Cannon, of my own grandfather, James S. Brown, and others, who endured hardship and privation under those primitive conditions. In fact, some of them were in danger at times of becoming the chief ingredient for an old-fashioned stew. They were mercifully preserved from that. We hope that they who planted those early seeds are sharing with us the joy of a wonderful harvest. We bring you then, from the dignified, humble, faithful Polynesians and others in the South Pacific, who covered us with love and leis, their "Aloha-Kiaora Kenton Katoa," or in other words, "Greetings, and God bless you."
During our tour, many questions were asked concerning the Church and its activities. The one most frequently asked was, "Are the Mormons Christians, and if so, how does the Church differ from other Christian churches?" Now, if to be a Christian means to believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world, and to follow his teachings; if being a Christian means to live or try to live the Christian life as he directed, then we answer the first part of that question with a categorical, "Yes, we are Christians."
The answer to the second part of the question is a complex one and cannot be given in a short address. However, perhaps some of our nonmember friends who have honored us with their presence here or in the radio and television audiences would be interested in a brief reference to some of those differences.
The thirteen Articles of Faith, published by the Church in 1842, are roughly the equivalent of creeds in other religious organizations. Therein is set forth a concise and authoritative statement on the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Of course, to point out the differences between these teachings and others would require an analysis and discussion far beyond the time limits of this occasion and the ability of the speaker. We may, however, refer in passing to some of them. It is worthy of note and doubtless surprising to some that everything we teach or practice is based upon and is in strict harmony with the King James Version of the Holy Bible, which we accept as the word of God.
We believe in other scriptures in addition to the Holy Bible; scriptures that were produced as scriptures have always been produced, by, as Peter said, "holy men of God, spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost". There is meticulous agreement between the Book of Mormon and the Holy Bible, agreement not only on basic doctrine, but each also has the same central theme, viz: predicting the event, recording the advent, and bearing witness to the import of the life and mission of Jesus the Christ. The fact that these sacred volumes were written on different hemispheres, at times when there was no intercommunication, is not only evidence of divine purpose but also indicates inspired authorship.
The Latter-day Saints, like the former-day Saints, believe in the gifts of the Spirit as enumerated by the Apostle Paul: tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healings, interpretation of tongues, etc..
We believe that these gifts as enjoyed now are part of the blessings that have come through the restoration of the gospel. We realize that when we say they have been restored to the Church it implies they were taken away or were no longer enjoyed. History, both profane and sacred, confirms that fact. Many candid and devout Christian writers assert and deplore the loss of these gifts and agree with John Wesley that they were not enjoyed beyond the second or third century and were seldom known after "that fatal period when the emperor, Constantine, claimed to be a Christian."
Our observance of the Word of Wisdom, God's law of health, is distinctive and is a physical and spiritual blessing to the people. Reference has been made in this conference to the awful price the world is paying for the use of things which God has said are not good for man.
We practice the law of tithing as it was taught and practiced anciently, and, being the Lord's financial law, we find it superior to any man-made economic system. Fast offerings, the welfare program as administered by the priesthood, the Relief Society, and other agencies are an extension of the Church's economic policy, always having in mind the physical as well as the spiritual well-being of the people.
Some complain that we are too materialistic, that our teachings lack spiritual emphasis; they say we should keep the spiritual life free from contamination with the material, which, according to them, is gross and evil. But we are reminded that man's body was made in the image of God, from the dust of the earth. That the Savior did not consider earthly substances as evil is evidenced by the fact that he was baptized in the earthly element of water and pointed to such baptism as the gateway to his kingdom to all who would follow him. Furthermore, he taught the deepest truths about the human spirit by reference to common material things, such as the birds of the air, the lilies of the field, sheep and shepherds, and farmers sowing seed. He chose humble fishermen for his disciples and not only taught them to become fishers of men but also gave them a lesson in fishing for fish. He and his apostles spent much of their time ministering to the poor, healing the sick, moving among the common people as they were engaged in the mundane affairs of life, mending the bodies as well as the souls of men.
We believe that religion should touch the lives of men redemptively here and now, at every point of human experience, that matter is not essentially evil but that its purpose is to serve spirit, while spirit controls and glorifies matter. There is a beneficent and eternal relationship between spirit and element. The Lord, speaking through the Prophet Joseph Smith, declared,
For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy; And when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy. The elements are the tabernacle of God; Yea, man is the tabernacle of God, even temples".
We believe the gospel of Jesus Christ must be preached to all the world, and to this end we have a great and unique missionary system. Young men and women are called, thousands of them each year, to spend two or three years of their life in missionary service, at their own expense. They are willing to interrupt their education, postpone their marriage, or give up their employment in order to perform this service. As we heard yesterday, there are now 13,000 of them at home and abroad, in various phases of missionary activity. These young people are instructed that they are not to attack or cast any aspersions on other churches but to respect every man's right to worship God as he may see fit.
The organization, government, and discipline of the Church have attracted wide and favorable attention. The Church bestows the priesthood upon all worthy male members over twelve years of age. With a total membership of fewer than a million and a half, we have 372,530 men and boys who hold some office in the priesthood. This means a sharing of authority and responsibility and results in widespread interest and activity. Last night, for instance, a general priesthood meeting of the Church was held in this tabernacle and the proceedings carried by closed circuit radio to groups in ninety-six chapels in surrounding cities and states, where a total of 37,180 men holding the priesthood received instructions from the leaders of the Church.
So we might go on, far beyond the limits of time here, in simply listing the distinctive teachings of the Church. But there is one basic and fundamental difference to which we call attention for a moment, namely, the doctrine of Deity. On this transcendently important subject we take sharp but friendly issue with the creeds of men, and we are willing to rest our case upon biblical precedents and divine revelation. We worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Jehovah of the Old Testament. We believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God and the Messiah who was expected through the centuries but rejected when he came.
We believe that the Godhead consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, generally known as the Holy Trinity, but we believe that they are separate and distinct Personages, that the Father and the Son are personal and material and increasingly comprehensible as men progress and gain understanding; that the Father and Son have bodies composed of parts and possessed of feelings; that the Holy Ghost is a Personage of Spirit.
If Jesus of Nazareth was and is God, as John the Beloved and others declared him to be, then God must be personal and material. It was not an incomprehensible, immaterial essence that came forth from the tomb, but the glorified, resurrected body of Jesus the Christ; it was a body of flesh and bone, as he himself declared, and as Thomas was called upon to verify by touch as well as sight. It was this body which ascended into heaven in the presence of the amazed disciples. It was this body which the attending angels declared should come again when they said,
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
When Jesus came and revealed God to men, he held up to them a personal, living ideal and exhorted them to become perfect, even as his Father is perfect. The value of having an ideal is that it inspires emulation. We seek to become like that which we adore. Surely no one aspires to become diffused, immaterial essence, devoid of body, parts, or feeling and without center or circumference. Faith that a living, personal God is the Father of the human spirit encourages men to push back their horizons, to look up instead of down for their source. It enlarges their vista and life takes on new interest and new meaning. It encourages men to live more abundantly, and he said this was one purpose of his coming.
Because the Father called us sons and the Savior called us brothers, we posit for man an exalted Godlike status with almost limitless possibilities. This God-image quality in man, which is the root of his dignity, gives deeper meaning and a higher purpose to life, establishes faith and fortitude, and supplies the necessary valor to realize the vision without which people perish. It renews man's determination to pursue the eternal quest for answers to the whence and why and whither of life.
Again, if God is not comprehensible, then man's salvation is impossible, for Jesus said,
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
If, therefore, we cannot know him, then we cannot have life eternal, and if this be so, then the whole plan of salvation fails, the doctrine of the atonement is false and meaningless, and men are left in Dante's deepest hell, "desiring without hope." We agree with Milton that "the end of all learning is to know God and out of that knowledge to love and emulate Him."
Unfortunately, in the minds of many religious people the term God is ambiguous. But there was nothing ambiguous about the Hebrew prophets' concept of Jehovah. To them he was a living God with whom Moses and others talked. Certainly there was nothing mysterious or hard to understand in Christ's revelation of his Father. He said, "he who hath seen me hath seen the Father". We believe in a living God, a conscious, sentient, intelligent Being with whom we associate the highest attributes of personality in their fullest development.
If this claim of a restoration be true, then we should expect the pristine Church to be a prototype of the restored Church, for not only he but also his teachings are the same, yesterday, today, and forever. It follows then that to outline and delineate the difference between the restored Church and other churches, one needs only to become familiar with the Church as it was organized by Christ and his apostles in the Meridian of Time and then compare the churches of modern times with that pristine Church. Whatever differences appear they are the differences between the churches of men and the restored Church of Jesus Christ.
Also, our faith in the materiality and separate individualities of the Father and the Son sustains faith in the doctrine of the second coming of Christ, when he shall reign during the millennium and we shall have a thousand years of peace. The prophets of old predicted his second coming in no uncertain or mystical terms. We refer to Job, Psalms, Isaiah, Joel, Zachariah, Malachi, and others. He himself promised that he would come in the glow of the Father with his angels. We read in Matthew,
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.
Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, said,
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
We bear witness to the restoration of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We bear witness that the Church has been organized and that it like its prototype, the primitive Church, is built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Through this restoration men have been given the right to speak and act in the name of God as anciently, and through the endowment and employment of these gifts among men, the truth has been restored, and we humbly proclaim it.
Time will not permit even the mention of other, and there are many other, differences, but we repeat, we are Christians; we believe in the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in the holy scriptures, ancient and modern; we believe in the doctrine of the second coming of the Christ, and we believe that when he comes he will be as the Bible has promised, a glorified, resurrected Being, whose feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives. We look forward to that coming and pray that God will help us and all men to prepare for it, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Sterling W. Sill
Sterling W. Sill, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 107-110
Each year on the second Sunday in May we set aside a very special day which we call Mother's Day. This is a day for honoring our mothers, and is traditionally a day of family unity and happiness. On this day we put on our best clothes and perform our most thoughtful acts to honor and please our mothers.
Two days ago was a kind of special Mother's Day to me, inasmuch as it was my mother's birthday, and though she has long since departed this life, I am very grateful for the privilege which is mine to remember and honor her.
Closely associated with Mother's Day, we set aside another special day on the third Sunday in June which we call Father's Day. The importance of both of these great days was given divine emphasis and approval some 3,400 years ago when God descended in fire upon Mt. Sinai, and to the accompaniment of lightnings and thunders, said-
Honour thy father and thy mother....
As I understand it, the observance of this commandment brings more benefit to the children than to the parents, for when we honor an ideal, our lives are uplifted by it. It has been said that "the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children", but that may also apply to their virtues; for, as the poet said-
When the high heart we magnify And the sure vision celebrate And worship greatness passing by, Ourselves are great.
In President McKay's great book Gospel Ideals, he said, "The other night I dreamed about my mother." And then he said, "I would like to dream about my mother more often." That is, in his dream, his mind went back and relived those important experiences when he learned from his mother the lessons of life that helped to prepare him for his present high place in the world. Each time we relive some sacred experience, that experience is renewed in vitality, and we are able to reabsorb the original good.
It was while trying to relive my own mother's devotion on her birthday, that I selected the title for what I would like to say to you this morning. The title that I think would please her most is "Father's Day." And I don't mean the Father's Day that comes on the third Sunday in June. I mean the Father's Day that comes on the first day of each week, when we try to honor and please our Heavenly Father.
The Apostle Paul has reminded us that
... we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live?.
The relative importance of this great day that we call the Sabbath might be indicated to us by the frequency of its reoccurrence. That is, we have one day to honor Washington, one day to honor Lincoln, one day for Thanksgiving, one day for our nation's birthday. And then our Father in heaven, in his wisdom, has set aside one-seventh of all of the days to honor God. This day is also set aside primarily for our benefit. When one honors a wonderful mother, he tends to make her standards his own, and when one honors God he tends to become like God, and thereby helps to bring about his own eternal exaltation.
These fifty-two Father's Days have also come down to us from that awe-inspiring day on Sinai thirty-four centuries ago when out of the fire God said-
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
In fact, it has been thought that our civilization could never have survived for half a century if it had not been for this one day in seven that we call Sunday. This is the day when we try to reach a pinnacle in our lives by living at our best. This is the day when we pay particular attention to the washing of our bodies. This is the day when we put on our best clothes and think our best thoughts and read our best books. This is the day when we associate with the people we love the most. This is the day for which we usually reserve the best meal of the week. This is the day when we lay aside the cares that usually concern us during the other six days while we go to the house of prayer and let our minds reach upward to try to understand the things of God and eternity. This is the special day when we worship God, and honor Him in our lives. The proper observance of the Sabbath is the process by which we put our lives in harmony with Deity.
Because President McKay has loved his mother and tried to please her, she has been enabled to help guide and enrich his life. And because President McKay has honored and loved his Heavenly Father, God has been able to magnify him and make him great.
One thing that greatly disturbs me as I go around a little bit is the consciousness of the great number of people who are losing their opportunities and their blessings by the misuse of the Sabbath day. All of our lives we have heard of the great wonders that can be accomplished by even fifteen minutes a day devoted to well-directed study and concentrated thought. We know of many who have raised themselves to great heights of achievement by this simple means. But think how wonderfully we can upgrade our spirituality by making effective use of "The Lord's Day", which he has set aside especially to enrich our lives.
Alexander Hamilton once gave the secret of his extraordinary success and we can apply his formula to the observance of the Sabbath day. Mr. Hamilton said: "Men give me some credit for genius. But all the genius I have lies in this. When I have a subject in mind I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before me. I explore it in all its bearings. My mind becomes pervaded with it. The result is what some men call the fruits of genius, whereas it is in reality the fruits of study and labor."
It is a thrilling idea to think of the possibility of becoming a "genius" in the things of the spirit, a "genius" in the work of the Lord. This can actually be brought about by devoting our minds and our hearts to the important considerations for which this one day in seven was set aside.
It is still true that, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he". Everything starts from that one beginning.
Mind is the master power That molds and makes, And man is mind. And evermore he takes the tools of thought And fashions what he wills, Bringing forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills. He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass Environment is but his looking glass.
James Lane Allen Morning and Evening Thoughts
Someone has made this challenging proposition: "How would you like to create your own mind?" But isn't that exactly what each of us does? William James said, "The mind is made up by what it feeds upon."
This idea was strikingly illustrated to me sometime ago in conversation with a friend who said, "But I am just not religious," and he shrugged his shoulders as if to say, "There is nothing that I can do about it." With the hope of helping him, I said, "Bill, I am sure that what you say is true, that you are not religious. But have you ever thought about the circumstances that brought that situation about? How could you ever hope to be religious? You don't study religion; you don't read the scriptures; you don't go to church; you don't pray to God; you don't think about him; you don't meditate about religious things. How could you ever hope to be religious?"
Someone once said to a small boy, "Who gave you that black eye?" The boy said, "No one gave me that black eye. I had to fight for it." That is what we must do for every worthwhile thing in our lives. We must fight for them. Certainly we must earn the right to be religious.
I told my friend about a little toy clown that I saw at Christmas time. It was a little plastic figure that had a lead weight in the crown of his head which could always be depended upon to bring him to an upside-down position. If you laid him on his back, he would immediately flip up on his head. If you stood him on his feet, he would quickly reverse his position and light on his head.
But isn't that exactly our own method of response? We can absolutely depend upon this fact, that wherever we place the weights of our interest, that will be the place at which we will more or less automatically respond; for example, my friend was very much interested in athletics; he spent his Sundays and other free time reading about and participating in various kinds of sports. He told me that he could quote the batting averages of every important major league baseball player in the United States, and at the same time, he confessed that he could not quote one single verse from the word of God.
My friend thoroughly understood the importance of taking a vitamin pill every day, but he had no conception of the desirability or the methods for developing spiritual health and vitality. Someone once said, "I never put religion out of mind. I was so open-minded it fell out."
Our spiritual health must always be primarily our own responsibility. A physician judges the health by the appetite, and our spirituality may be judged the same way. It is easy to ruin our appetite for the things of God when we build bars in our homes instead of altars. By the desecration of the Sabbath Day we may become more interested in a horse race than in the celestial kingdom.
William James said, "That which holds our attention determines our action." That rule applies to a prize fight or the celestial kingdom. We ourselves choose the interests that will shape our destiny. But no life can in its final analysis ever really be successful that is primarily concerned with its own shallow pleasures and narrow interests, but can find no time for the author of our lives and our blessings. Someone said-
No time for God, What fools we are To clutter up our lives With worthless things And leave without the Lord of life And life itself. No time for God? Better to say No time to eat, to sleep, to live, to die. Take time for God Or a poor misshapen thing you'll be To step into eternity And say to Him I had no time for Thee.
Only when we make God and his word central in our lives, can we develop that wonderful religious talent that will lead us back into his presence.
In 1935, Clarence Day, Jr., wrote a play entitled, Life with Father, and I would like to borrow that title this morning to apply to your eternal life. In Section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord names those who will qualify for the celestial kingdom. He says-
These shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever.
Wherefore, as it is written they are gods, even the sons of God.
These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun in the firmament is written of as being typical.
Then by way of contrast, I would like to offer for your consideration the prospect of "life without father." Suppose that we should become a part of that innumerable company who will spend eternity in the telestial kingdom, of whom it is said, "Where God and Christ are, they cannot come, worlds without end".
I would just like to point out in passing that that is a very long time to be excluded from association with those we would like most to be with.
One of the most devastating of all human emotions is the sense of being alone, of not being wanted, of being unworthy. Suppose that sometime we find that because we have weighted our interests in the wrong places, that we have become unfit for the presence of God and have therefore lost our greatest blessing. A peculiar thing happens when we stand on our heads so to speak, for then it seems to us that all the world is upside-down, and we are then unable properly to appraise values.
The most valuable thing in life is life itself. The greatest gift of God is eternal life, that is, "Life with Father." Therefore, these fifty-two wonderful days have been set aside especially to help us prepare for that magnificent experience which lies just beyond our mortality. One of our most inspiring hymns says-
We feel it a pleasure to serve Thee, And love to obey Thy command. William Fowler
And one of the most important of those commands has to do with our observance of that great day on which we try to please God, the day I like to think of as "Father's Day," the divine command concerning which not only came down to us across the ages from the fires of Sinai, but it has been given anew by the direct command of God in our own day. For God has said again to us in substance, in our own interests,
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
May God help us so to do, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 110-113
Since we last met in general conference, we have passed the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of President Heber J. Grant. I call this to your attention because I have great appreciation for that wonderful man, for the remarkable influence he had upon my life, particularly in my younger years.
It was President Grant who gave to me my first real introduction to the Book of Mormon. When I was about ten years of age, he came to the ward in which I lived and spoke in one of our Sacrament meetings. As he has done on other occasions, that day he told of his own first reading of the Book of Mormon and of the great impression made upon him by the life of Nephi. In his address he made Nephi such a reality to me that I had a desire to read about him for myself.
I took my father's Book of Mormon, and I read the story of Nephi, having in mind what President Grant had said. As I read, not only did I learn to appreciate that great prophet of old, but I had come into my soul also a deep love for the Book of Mormon, even as a boy.
You will remember another address that President Grant gave, sometimes repeating, pertaining to the Book of Mormon. I would like to read to you an excerpt from that address. Said President Grant: "When I was a young unmarried man, another young man who had received a doctor's degree ridiculed me for believing in the Book of Mormon. He said he could point out two lies in that book. One was that the people had built their homes out of cement, and they were very skilful in the use of cement. He said there had never been found and never would be found, a house built of cement by the ancient inhabitants of this country, because the people in that early age knew nothing about cement. He said that should be enough to make one disbelieve the book. I said: 'That does not affect my faith one particle. I read the Book of Mormon prayerfully and supplicated God for a testimony in my heart and soul of the divinity of it, and I have accepted it and believe it with all my heart.' I also said to him, 'If my children do not find cement houses, I expect that my grandchildren will.' Now, since that time, houses made of cement and massive structures of the same material have been uncovered.
"Not very far from the City of Mexico there is a monument two hundred and ten feet high, built of cement... My first counselor has stood on that monument. You could put forty tabernacles like this one inside of it. It covers more than ten acres of ground and is two and a half times higher than this building. From the top of that monument one can see small mounds, and as these mounds are being uncovered, they are found to be wonderfully built cement houses, with drain pipes of cement, showing skill and ability, superior almost to anything we have today so far as the use of cement is concerned.
"Another statement that this doctor made," continued President Grant, "was this: that the voice of man can only carry a few hundred feet, and yet the Book of Mormon teaches that... Jesus Christ... spoke to the people and his voice was heard all over the land. 'That is a lie,' said he, 'and you know it.' I said, 'That is no lie at all. Jesus Christ, under God, was the Creator of this earth, and if he had the power and ability to create the earth I believe that he could arrange for his voice to carry all over the world at one and the same time.'
"The radio is doing what?" asks President Grant. "I read the other day that a song had been heard nine thousand miles away, not only every word of it, but every note... We had four letters from New Zealand or Australia, I have forgotten which, to the effect that people there had heard perfectly the programs that had been broadcast over the radio. In that program the announcement was made that if anybody in a foreign land who heard the program would so indicate there would be sent to him a pound box of candy, and four people wrote for the boxes of candy. It takes the sun eighteen and one half hours to travel that far, yet the voice carried that distance as quickly as you can snap your finger.
"I said to this man," continued President Grant, 'the voice of the Savior could go all over the world if he so arranged it.' The radio has proved what I said.
"Faith is a gift of God, and I thank God for the faith in and the knowledge of the divinity of the Book of Mormon which I had in my youthful days, and that these two alleged scientific facts, which are now known to be fallacies, did not destroy my faith".
This was very interesting to me because I had an experience similar to it. When I was a young missionary, I came to a professional man and his wife and told them the story of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and of its having been translated by Joseph Smith through the power of God from a set of gold plates. This professional man laughed at me and ridiculed the idea that gold plates were ever used as records of the past. "Why," he said, "I have specialized in ancient history, and I know from all my reading there is not one single instance in all of the textbooks where it says that ancient records were inscribed upon gold plates." He said, "If you know anything at all about ancient history, you know that clay tablets were used, and that papyrus was used, but never is there a mention of gold plates."
I was a student at school when I was called on my mission, and I had read some little bit in ancient history. I remembered that there was not any mention in my textbooks, either, about gold plates, although much had been said about the clay tablets. So I had no scholastic answer for this man. But as I stood before him, I remembered President Grant and his testimony that I heard as a ten-year-old boy, and then as I later heard, this declaration that he made which I have read to you.
In my simplicity I bore testimony to this learned man that although I knew little about the history of the past, and I had no scholastic material to present to him about the gold plates, God had given me a testimony that indeed Joseph Smith did have gold plates, and that from them the Book of Mormon was translated, and that I knew it was true.
I used to think a lot about that conversation and wondered about the historians, and why they had said nothing about gold plates. It did not disturb me, however.
But how different are things today! History is no longer silent about the gold plates. Historians not only are vocal, but they are also eloquent in announcing to the world that many sets of plates of precious metal have been found containing many records of the past engraved on their pages by skilful men who knew how to write on plates of metal. Archaeologists have found gold plates and silver plates, copper plates and brass plates and bronze plates. They have found big plates and little plates, thick plates and thin plates. Some of them were found separately and singly, and others had been brought together in book form-many with pages of gold and silver as thin as modern paper, many of them skillfully and beautifully engraved with the record of the civilizations of the past.
Quite as interesting to me as the discovery that there have been many other plates was the manner in which these plates were found. Under the stones of the palace of the Chaldean monarch, Sargon, was found a set of plates, some of gold and some of silver, and do you know how they were deposited? They were placed in a box made of stone carefully put together and buried in the ground. In Iran have been found some plates of King Darius, dating back to 518 BC. They were gold and silver also, and beautifully engraved. And how had they been preserved? By having been placed in a carefully made box of stone and buried in the ground.
As I read these things, my mind went quickly back to the description of Joseph Smith, pertaining to the manner in which the Book of Mormon plates had been preserved, for Joseph Smith wrote:
Convenient to the village of Manchester, Ontario county, New York, stands a hill of considerable size, and the most elevated of any in the neighborhood. On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box. This stone was thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner towards the edges, so that the middle part of it was visible above the ground, but the edge all around was covered with earth.
Having removed the earth, I obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up. I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate, as stated by the messenger. The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones together in some kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were laid two stones crossways of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other things with them.
When I read the reports of these other plates and remembered the story of Joseph Smith, I said to myself: "Thank the Lord. Surely God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform!"
Plates have been found in many places, in both the Old World and the New. They have been found in Palestine, in Egypt, in Babylonia, ancient Assyria, Rome, ancient Carthage, Portugal, Italy, ancient Phoenicia, India, Pakistan, Arabia, several places in South America and Central America, Mexico, and in the United States. A set was found in the state of Ohio. Many copper plates have been found, including one set of eight in Dunklin County, Missouri. Another set was found near Mound City, Missouri, and still another in the state of Georgia. Five copper and two brass plates were found among the Tuckaubatchee Indians, who have a tradition that these plates were given to them by God.
When I thought about the plates being discovered in Ohio, Georgia, and Missouri, I asked a friend of mine: "Which is more difficult to believe: that plates were found in Georgia and Missouri and Ohio, or that they were found in the state of New York?"
Then he said, "Yes, but you involve an angel with your plates."
I said, "Do you believe the Bible?" And he said, "Yes." I asked him, "Which is more difficult: to believe that an angel came down from heaven and showed Joseph Smith the resting place of a set of plates made by ancient man; or to believe that God would come down from heaven himself and with his hand engrave the Ten Commandments upon two tablets of stone and give them to Moses?"
Then I remembered that we do not receive a testimony from scientific research, nor from argument. I remembered that the only way we get a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is in the way President Grant received it, in a way that I received it, and as a million other Latter-day Saints have received it-the way explained by Mormon when he said:
And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
With all the fervor of my soul I thank the Almighty that he has given to me a testimony of that book. And what is the testimony? That the Book of Mormon is true, that it is the word of God, a new volume of scripture for this modern world. And I testify to you and all others who listen that if they will but read the Book of Mormon prayerfully with a sincere heart and ask God for a testimony of it, they will receive it, as so many of the others of us have, and this is my testimony, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Oscar A. Kirkham
Oscar A. Kirkham, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 114-115
President McKay, I am very grateful for this hour and for this opportunity. Your words have sustained me as have also those of your Counselors which have been spoken. The wisdom and the inspiration of this Church and its teachings have been a great boon in my life.
There are two things that deeply impress me in the Latter-day Saint teachings as I labor with youth. First, you must live worthy that you may go on a mission for the Church-the second I will give later.
In the Doctrine and Covenants, section 68, we read:
Go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature, acting in the authority which I have given you, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Then the Lord will be with you and bless you.
Thousands have heard and obeyed this word of the Lord. Now why not you, young men, take this opportunity? There will be something seriously wanting in your life unless you have this experience. Here is one of the finest things you can do for peace, happiness, and personal progress. Plan now, now!
As the thought crosses your mind, let it meet high resolve in your own life. There are thousands who are waiting to hear the word of the Lord. Yes, many are waiting to hear your voice.
My religion is your religion; let us live this great life fully together.
The second thing I suggest to you, my young friends-you must be worthy to be married in a temple of the Lord for time and for eternity.
It may take time for you and your young bride-to-be to understand all that it signifies, it may take a little courage, for it all seems so strange, but it is beautiful and understandable. It will be an answer to your prayer and to mine.
Remember, you said that night as you proposed, "It must be in a temple of God."
It was in an early testimony meeting, after you made that declaration, that I saw you both stand together, and you, young man, courageously spoke for both of you. I was sitting in the audience. My, how you thrilled me. I said, "Now you are on the way. This will be a great life. Joy will fill your hearts. This is the Mormon way of life."
To go on a mission, to be married in the temple of God for time and for eternity!
One father, a nonmember of the Church, said, when his son was ready for departure for his mission: "Son, I am very proud of you. Your life and your conduct have been an inspiration to your mother and me. Son, I want to be your first convert to the Church. Take hold of me. Don't let me turn back. I want to be your first convert."
For these lovely experiences for our youth, I humbly pray. There is much that can be said for the Latter-day Saint Church program. It has been blessed and inspired of the Lord. As you have listened this day, the day before, and the day before that, your meditations have been enriching. The Lord has been talking to you.
I have selected merely these two great teachings, which I feel are especially vital to the lives and happiness of our youth.
In a few days thousands of youth from all parts of the United States will meet at Valley Forge, and then a few days later, thousands more will meet in London, England. They will come from all over the world. They are of many colors and races; I have camped with them; I know these men and boys; and if I may be bold to say, they have faith in God!
May the Lord bless us as we make more and more friends, as we mingle with people that we may give freely that which God has given us so abundantly, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Adam S. Bennion
Adam S. Bennion, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 115-118
Four years have come and gone since I was called to this position, and they have been tremendous years: Here with these devoted brethren, out in the stakes and wards with our wonderful people, in representative military camps from Canada to Germany, and in the mission fields with the inspiring devotion of our young men and women and the heart-warming response of the Saints.
Together with these assignments have come opportunities to attend stimulating Religious Emphasis Weeks at representative universities of America. It is an intriguing experience to be invited to be a member of a team made up of a Catholic priest, an Episcopalian minister, a Presbyterian, a Methodist, a Baptist, a Seventh-Day Adventist, a Christian Scientist, a Jewish rabbi, and a Mormon elder.
To meet with faculties of those institutions and with students and then to spend the evening in joint sessions of fraternity members and sorority girls, attempting to answer the questions which they ask-and I think I have never been asked so many questions in my life before, and I have never been so grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and so proud of the program which it carries forward.
One of the most meaningful questions ever put to me was this one in one of the universities: "Mr. Bennion, what has your Church given to America that America didn't already have?" I have been thinking about that question ever since, and one day I hope to have a complete answer.
When it was first put to me, I offered five simple answers. Today I should like to do something I have not done in a conference here before. You good people who sit out there by your radios, I hope you have a pencil handy, because I am going to violate all the rules of psychology. The psychologists say we ought to limit ourselves to three ideas, or to five, at most. I am going to take you to a score of them today, and I am sure you cannot remember them all, but if you will jot them down, my thought is that it is a wonderful thing to get the whole scope of the gospel, to run it through in its entirety as best we can in these few minutes.
Well, I started out with my answer to "What has your Church given to America that America didn't already have?" and I said, first of all A Welfare Plan. A plan to insure against want, an assurance that no man, woman, or child shall ever be left in distress, a plan which is not a dole, a plan which does not involve beggary, a plan involving honest work and mutual helpfulness, a plan inspired of God for the blessing of his children.
Wherever this welfare plan has been explained, men have said, "Certainly that is a contribution to America."
The second thing I named was A Great Pioneer Story. I love to live over again the heroic experiences of our forebears when, driven out of their homes in Nauvoo in the dead of winter, they trudged across three hundred miles of snow and mud and muck to Winter Quarters, then to launch another trek of a thousand miles through an uninhabited wilderness to a haven characterized significantly by their prophet leader, Brigham Young, when he said:
We will go so far that our enemies will not choose to follow us and we will pick so unpromising a place that nobody will covet it.
We love now to sing the song:
We'll find the place which God for us prepared, Far away in the West; Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid; There the Saints will be blessed.
"Come, Come, Ye Saints."
In that story is a tale to match Plymouth, a tale reminiscent of Israel on her way to the Promised Land. There are courage and devotion and sacrifice and faith triumphant over hardship, and I submit to you, as I have submitted to the universities of this country-there is a contribution.
In the third place, and the men of these universities are impressed with it, we have given to the world and to America A Religious Literature. Try naming a modern church which has given to America anything to match the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.
I love to read to inquirers after truth those masterful and moving and inspired messages such as are found in the Doctrine and Covenants. May I commend to you when you go home from this conference, that you try in your family circle, reading aloud once more, sections 76 and 84 and 88 and 93 and 121 and 130.
The fourth thing we have given to America is A Wonderful Concept of Deity. If you will read representative descriptions of Deity popular a hundred and thirty-five years ago, with all their intangible vagaries, you will be grateful, as I am, for the Prophet Joseph Smith's forthright and simple declaration in his account of his glorious vision:
When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other-This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!.
It will stir you to read again his final testimony as recorded in section 76.
The fifth thing that we have given to America is The Priesthood. It was similarly wonderful for the Prophet Joseph not only to announce the personalities of God the Father and the Son, but also to announce the return of John the Baptist to confer the Aaronic Priesthood, and the return of Peter, James, and John, bringing the Melchizedek Priesthood.
We declare to the world that the priesthood, long lost, has been restored in this the last great dispensation, the authority to act in the name of God given us through the laying on of hands by messengers out of heaven. And that is a contribution.
Other inquiries have prompted me to extend my analysis. Over and over again I have been asked throughout America and Europe to name the features that are distinctive of Mormonism. I can only name them here but taken together they set out a pattern which deserves the thoughtful consideration of men everywhere. I leave them with you in the hope that they might heighten your appreciation of a wonderful program. I have given you five, and with a temerity that perhaps exceeds my good judgment, I want to add the list up to twenty-odd. And you will appreciate the fact that all I can do is to name them. You take them and fill them in. They make a wonderful study.
Item 6. The Principle of Free Agency. The glorious privilege of choosing what we shall believe, what we shall do, and what we shall become.
Item 7. The Idea of Eternal Progression. An everlasting becoming! As Professor Rugh once said: "Life can become the achievement of a perpetual triumph." I think the poet Browning had some such idea in mind when he penned the lines: "A man's aim should exceed his grasp-or what's a heaven for."
Item 8. Tithing. The key to the financing of the program of the Church, a returning to God of one-tenth in appreciation for the nine-tenths he so generously gives to us his children.
Item 9. Temples and Temple Ordinances. Try to name the modern church that builds temples for sacred ordinances, that teaches genealogical research, that does vicarious work for the honored dead of other generations.
Item 10. Ward Teaching. This was stressed so beautifully and effectively last night in our General Priesthood meeting by our beloved President. It is heartening to know that every family in the Church may receive an official call each month by a representative of a bishop to inquire in a friendly spirit into the health and well-being of the members of the family and to leave a stimulating gospel message for meditation during the month.
Item 11. Lay Leadership. Leadership inheres in the membership of the Church. Leaders are chosen from the ranks. The door is open for any worthy young man or young woman to enter upon the path that leads to presidency in the various organizations of the Church.
Item 12. A Wonderful Organization. The genius of that organization is reflected in the fact that in a typical ward-and it is interesting to call the roll as we did in this one ward, a ward of 600 members-236 men and women are actually engaged in leadership responsibility, and the channels of activity are perfectly clear.
Item 13. A Work-a-Day Program. Mormonism is not merely a system of belief-it is a gospel of activity. It is not confined to church worship on the Sabbath Day-it reaches into the daily lives of its members every day in the week. As someone said happily in Europe: "The Church doesn't work its members to death-it works them to life."
Item 14. A Philosophy of Grace and Works. So often in discussions men get lost as between faith and grace and works. It is clear that our redemption is made possible by the grace of our Lord and Savior, but it is inconceivable that the greatest gift of God to man can be realized without effort. Such an idea runs counter to the scripture and to every experience we have in life. It squares with reason that when we have done all that we can in and of ourselves, then God sublimates our efforts through his mercy.
Item 15. The Word of Wisdom. In the interest of health and spiritual power, it is good to know that we have section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants for our guidance.
Item 16. The Great Missionary System. One of the finest evidences of the vitality and selflessness of Mormonism is the fact that regularly some 5,000 of her choice youth, at their own expense, go out into almost all the corners of the globe and for two years devote themselves to proclaiming the truths of the restored gospel for the blessing of their fellow men.
Item 17. A Great Program for Youth. A good friend of mine out of New York recently said he wished he could have his own children to live in Utah, to come under the benedictions of our program for young folk. I feel sure there is no element of boasting in proclaiming that in the matter of a well-rounded program for the development of the talent of youth through recreation, scouting, dramatics, public speaking, athletics, social leadership, and religious study and contemplation, the Church offers some of the finest training in the world.
Item 18. Continuing Revelation. It seems so reasonable to believe that the God who created the world and all of us, should still reach out in love toward us and guide our destinies. The thought of retirement for God seems repugnant to an intelligent evaluation of his purposes. Certainly the world is in need of direction quite as much today as it was in the days of Moses.
Item 19. A Precious Fellowship through Service. One of the most satisfying rewards for working in the Church is the privilege of coming to know fully how wonderful a companionship grows out of the mutual devotion to volunteer service in the interest of our fellow men. There is a rare joy in joining hands with friends in the service of our Father in heaven.
Item 20. Intellectual Liberty Coupled with Intellectual Responsibility. The basic belief, "the glory of God is intelligence", puts a premium on the search for truth. Men are encouraged to reach out for enlightenment wherever it is worthily to be found. But they are also charged with the responsibility of proofreading their thinking against good common sense and against the revealed word of God.
Item 21. Dedicated Home Membership. Latter-day Saints honor the home as the foundation of civilization in keeping with two great scriptural declarations:
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord... As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
And then that wonderful declaration to Latter-day Saint parents everywhere-Doctrine and Covenants 68:25 -on our responsibility in the training of children, coupled with the wonderful suggestions offered in this conference; we bid parents accept their full responsibility to the spirits that have been entrusted to their keeping here in mortality.
Item 22. The Anchor of Testimony. The strength of the Church inheres in a mingling of two influences: revelation from God on high and individual testimonies in the hearts of men and women. Testimony is the stability of those people.
And finally, item 23. The Assurance of Eternal Life and Exaltation. Through keeping the faith and through keeping the commandments of God, confidence is born in the reality of a literal resurrection through the atoning sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In humble gratitude I give you my witness that in these twenty-three distinctive features we have the completest program for life-here and hereafter-that I have been able to discover.
May the Lord inspire us to live worthy of it, I pray in his name. Amen.
Elder S. Dilworth Young
S. Dilworth Young, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 118-120
I cannot remember the time when I have not heard the story, quoted by Brother Bennion, concerning the coming of the Father and the Son to the Prophet Joseph Smith. I am convinced as I grow older and become proportionately wiser that if boys and girls in our Church could keep that story uppermost in their hearts, believing it, having a testimony of it, much of the ills of our youth which President Richards so graphically portrayed this morning would not be.
I am concerned however with one item which has recently been called to my attention on this matter. There appears to be going about our communities some writing to the effect that the Prophet Joseph Smith evolved his doctrine from what might have been a vision, in which he is supposed to have said that he saw an angel, instead of the Father and Son. According to this theory, by the time he was inspired to write the occurrence in 1838, he had come to the conclusion that there were two Beings.
This rather shocked me. I can see no reason why the Prophet, with his brilliant mind, would have failed to remember in sharp relief every detail of that eventful day. I can remember quite vividly that in 1915 I had a mere dream, and while the dream was prophetic in its nature, it was not startling. It has been long since fulfilled, but I can remember every detail of it as sharply and clearly as though it had happened yesterday. How then could any man conceive that the Prophet, receiving such a vision as he received, would not remember it and would fail to write it clearly, distinctly, and accurately?
It seems to me, too, that had he evolved such a thing, his enemies would have used it against him. In 1838 there was a crisis in the Church. Men were falling away. It was at that time that Oliver Cowdery became disaffected. If any man in this Church had ever heard that story of the first vision, Oliver Cowdery must have heard it. Yet his reasons for disaffection were never given as an evolution of the first vision. Other men of that time did not use it as their excuse. In 1844, when the final conspiracy was concocted to murder Joseph Smith, the reasons given by those men were not discrepancies in his story of the first vision, but rather other matters far removed from it.
When Joseph wrote the story in 1838, men and women who had known him ever since he had started this work took the story in their stride; that is, it was common enough knowledge from the beginning that no one took an exception to it. Everybody knew it; everybody had heard it; not exactly in the words in which he wrote it-I believe no man will speak extemporaneously in the same manner that he will write something-but essentially the same, and when the Saints read it, it merely confirmed what they had heard over and over again.
His mother should have known something about it. You will remember, he walked into her house that morning and told her that the church to which she had given allegiance was not true. To my way of thinking, he must have told her all about the vision. When she chose to write the story of her son's experience, she did not put it in her own words. I suspect that she must have felt that so nearly was what he had written the way he had described it to her, that she quoted his written statement.
All of these things seem to me to add up to irrefutable evidence, although not said exactly, that Joseph Smith, in 1838, told the correct story of his vision of 1820.
Recently I made some slight investigation, although not enough, trying to find the testimonies of some of those who had heard Joseph say these things before 1838. I did not find much-I did not have time to look far-but I have one, which I should like to give you.
Edward Stevenson told how in 1834 the Prophet came to Pontiac, Michigan, Stevenson's home town, and there held a series of meetings, attended by Brother Stevenson. Brother Stevenson wrote that the following was the Prophet's testimony on that occasion:
"I am witness that there is a God, for I saw him in open day, while praying in a silent grove in the spring of 1820." Then Brother Stevenson wrote: "He further testified that God the Eternal Father, pointing to a separate Personage in the likeness of himself, said, 'This is my beloved Son. Hear Him'".
I submit this excerpt as enough like the story that the Prophet wrote to bear witness that he wrote it accurately and correctly.
I am of the fifth generation. I can remember the second generation. My grandchildren are of the seventh generation. Likely in their day, they will remember not only my generation, but will see also, before they die, the tenth or the eleventh generation. It is just possible that some of them may be interested enough to want to know what their grandfather thought about these things, and they will investigate the conference reports. I should like them to have in my words what I believe about this great event.
So will you indulge me while I talk a moment to my grandchildren and to my great-great-grandchildren, to Loraine, to Parkie, to Charlotte, to Annette, and Wendy, and any that may come hereafter. I want you to know that I know that Joseph Smith walked into a grove in 1820, inspired of the Lord to do so, knelt down, as he said, among the silent trees, offered up a prayer, and there he was given a vision in which he saw God the Eternal Father, who in his turn introduced to Joseph his beloved Son. The Son told Joseph many things which would transpire but of which he was not allowed to speak. Beginning with that vision, which gave us our first knowledge since the time of the Savior of the true relationship of our Father and his Son to us, has grown this Church. That is my solemn and humble testimony to those of my house who in the future will want to know what I thought and believed.
In order that they will have no doubt, and that no carping critic may read into my words things that are not there, I should like to repeat for their benefit what the Prophet said when he wrote his vision:
... I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.... when the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other-This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!.
I will stand on that witness and add mine that I know by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost that it is true, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin
Joseph L. Wirthlin, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 120-124
President McKay, my beloved brethren and sisters, I sincerely trust I may have an interest in your prayers that I might express a few thoughts I have with reference to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I do not recall ever having attended a more inspirational conference. Our prophet has received revelation for our good and benefit. If I have one thought above another, it is that as we go home and continue to live from day to day, we should remember what President McKay has said to us. If we will live accordingly day by day, without a doubt the Lord will bless, inspire, and help us in all of our endeavors.
As I think of President McKay, I see him as a prophet and as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has always been deeply interested in the young people and children, as well as older individuals. I have made many trips with him and always the children have looked forward to the opportunity of coming in contact with him. He invariably shakes hands with them.
I cannot help recalling Saturday night when, coming to our priesthood meeting here, a group of the Aaronic Priesthood were standing by the door at the rear of the Tabernacle. I approached them and asked if they did not care to come inside and find a seat. They said, yes, they would like to have a seat, but in the meantime they were waiting to shake hands with President McKay. I thought to myself, now, if all of these young people accept our President as a prophet and follow his leadership as he directs them in their lives, they will live the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and become strong in carrying forward his work here upon the earth.
I also think of President McKay as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of what the Savior said in Luke,
But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
I am sure that is the attitude and the feeling of our prophet. I am sure that the young people who come in touch with him feel that they are actually shaking hands with a prophet, with an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Brethren and sisters, I am sure that is the attitude and the feeling of all of us after having attended this grand conference.
Concerning the responsibility of parents to their children, the Lord said to the Prophet Joseph Smith:
But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth.
In the Lord's words, brethren and sisters, we have great responsibility in seeing that our children are brought up in the light and truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as it has been revealed through the Prophet Joseph, and as it is further revealed from time to time.
I also think of the wonderful opportunities all of our young people enjoy in this great Church, wherein they hear and are taught the gospel truths. We have our great Sunday School organization in which our children, regardless of age, may become acquainted with the teachings and life of Jesus Christ; where they may learn about the establishment of the Church and the fact that the Prophet Joseph actually saw the Father and the Son; where they learn that both the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood were given back to mankind. They are also taught something with reference to the Sacrament, its purpose and what it represents.
We have another great organization-the Primary Association, which is interested in teaching our young children the gospel, teaching them the manner of prayer, what it means to be baptized and to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
There is another great organization, the YWMIA, where our young women are taught the necessity of living a life so sweet and clean that the day will come when they may enjoy the blessings of motherhood, where they are taught the necessity of attending Sacrament meeting and Sunday School and of taking full advantage of all the training available in the YWMIA.
To provide for our young men we have the YMMIA, where our sons may enjoy the opportunities of recreational activities, public speaking, drama, and singing. In the YMMIA our young men are taught to live lives that will be modest and clean that when the time comes, they may become honorable fathers and be in a position to receive divine direction from on high in the care and training of their families.
There is still another great system for the blessing of our youth, one established by the Presidency of the Church: our great seminaries of religious education, where our sons and daughters are taught the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, where their questions are invited and answers given by trained and efficient teachers.
Through it all, brethren and sisters, as we think of what has and is being done by the Church, there is no reason why your sons and daughters, and mine, should not become the kind of people the Lord needs to carry on this great work before the second coming of Jesus the Christ.
After all, our young people have opportunities of rendering service. In most instances, if they have followed all of the advancements they have had, taken advantage of all the opportunities afforded them in these great organizations, and particularly in the seminary schools, they should be able to go forward and meet their Church and family responsibilities.
I do not suppose the Lord is looking so much at ages in calling individuals to do his work as he is at whether or not they accept him and live the gospel day by day. I often think of Jesus the Christ-I know you are all familiar with the story when he was in the temple where Joseph and Mary found him. When they came to him, he said:
How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?.
At the age of twelve he realized what his assignment was, and he did not hesitate to declare to the world, "... wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"
Brethren and sisters, I am sure that all our young people who have taken, and who will continue to take advantage of the opportunities afforded in these great institutions that have been prepared for them will say, "... wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"
With reference to the matter of ages, as I said, the Lord does not worry so much about the age as he does about the loyalty and devotion of those assigned to do his work.
When speaking of youth, I think of the accomplishments of Mormon as recorded in the Book of Mormon. As a young man at the age of fifteen, he desired to ask the Lord a question in prayer, and his answer was the appearance of the Father. Can you imagine God the Father revealing himself to a boy at the age of fifteen? Well, that is exactly what happened in Mormon's experience.
At the age of sixteen, Mormon became the general of the Nephite Army. It is something to think about that at the age of sixteen Mormon was called to be the general of the great army of the Nephite people. It was not so much a matter of age. The thing that counted was the fact that Mormon knew the Lord, and the Lord knew him, and Mormon met his assignment with all of the responsibilities involved therein and was very successful.
Then, of course, we think of the Prophet Joseph Smith who, at the age of fourteen, as has already been indicated here many times during this conference, asked the Lord where the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ might be found. In answer to his prayer, there appeared the Father and the Son, and, of course, he was called upon to establish the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ to which you and I belong.
Then, too, I think of President Joseph F. Smith who, at the age of fifteen, was ordained an elder and sent on a mission into the Hawaiian Islands. Upon arriving there, he found he was among a people whose language he did not understand and who did not understand his language. But having complete faith in God, he made it a matter of prayer and, thereafter, was able to talk with that people. They understood what he said, and he understood what they said. Within one year, at the age of sixteen, he became the president of that mission. It was not a matter of age again, brethren and sisters, it was a matter of understanding the will of the Lord and living the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is glorious to think of the opportunities that our sons and daughters have in these great organizations within the Church. But I am sure there is also a tremendous responsibility that devolves upon us as fathers and mothers. I think the greatest source of inspiration for young people is found, of course, in the home, where they notice the attitudes and the feelings of the father and the mother. If the father and the mother are living the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as they should, there is little question but that the children will follow them very closely.
I think it is a wonderful opportunity when we can talk with our children about the matter of prayer. I am so grateful for my dear mother who taught me to pray. I recall at the age long before we children were reading, during the evening hours, she would call us together and say, "Now, we will have prayers." She would then explain to us the existence of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. Those teachings became a reality to us, that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and those teachings remain with us today. When she talked to us about the Prophet Joseph, there was no question in our minds but that Joseph Smith actually saw the Father and the Son.
Therefore, because of the fact that Mother taught us how to pray, why we should pray, and what to pray for, prayer has always been a great source of comfort and inspiration to me. I always enjoy reading the admonitions of the Prophet Amulek:
Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save. Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him. Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks. Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening. Yea, cry unto him against the power of your enemies. Yea, cry unto him against the devil, who is an enemy to all righteousness. Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them. Cry over the flocks of your fields, that they may increase. But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness. Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you.
I am sure that our sons and daughters will have that same attitude and that same inspiration if we teach them the necessity of prayer, of becoming acquainted with God the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, and also of remembering that if they will live the right kind of lives, and be sweet and clean, they will enjoy the power and the gift of the Holy Ghost. I am sure they do enjoy these blessings, as a short time ago I attended a fast meeting during which a little girl about twelve years of age stood up and bore her testimony. Among other things, she said, "I know that God lives. I know that Jesus Christ is his Son. I know that Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son," and she went on and bore her testimony very impressively.
Brethren and sisters, I was convinced as I listened to that little girl that, without a doubt, she had been given the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost.
If our sons and daughters realize the blessings of this great gift, I am sure they are going to live and pray and work to the end that the power and the gift of the Holy Ghost will come to them as they live throughout the years.
It is a wonderful thing, as I said, to teach them to pray. I cannot help thinking of another experience that comes to mind in connection with three children, one boy and two girls, the boy about ten and the daughters about eight and five. It was a Sunday afternoon. The mother was taken suddenly ill. The doctor was called. The sisters of the Relief Society came in to render whatever service they could. The children could not get into the room because it was so small. They walked around the house as they wondered about their mother. Finally, one of them said to the others, "Mother has taught us time and time again to pray if we have difficulty and trouble. Now, Mother has trouble. Mother is sick and ill. Let us pray." So, going around to the rear of the building, they found a little old hut where coal was kept. They knelt down in the coal, and first the son called upon the Lord to bless the mother; secondly, the older sister prayed and asked the Lord to heal their mother. That day before the sun went down, that mother was comparatively well.
Brothers and sisters, that came about because three children had been taught to believe in God. They believed what their mother had told them, that if they had difficulty, or if anyone else in the family had difficulty, to call upon the Lord. As a result of the mother's teachings, the children prayed for her, and she was made well.
There is no question in my mind but what our children believe in God and in his Son, Jesus Christ. If in our homes, we will teach them to pray, to remember that the Lord hears and answers prayers, it will make a great difference to them in the way they will live and the kind of Latter-day Saints they will become.
It is as Brigham Young said upon one occasion:
Whether we are poor or rich, if we neglect our prayers and Sacrament meetings, we neglect the Spirit of the Lord, and the spirit of darkness comes over us. How true it is in the lives of individuals who fail to pray, and how dark is the darkness that comes into their souls.
And again, we must remember this in connection with our children, that we owe something each Sunday to the Lord. The matter of remembering that the Sabbath is a holy day has already been stated by President Joseph Fielding Smith. We should remember that the Sabbath day is the Lord's day-the holy day. Concerning our responsibilities, President Brigham Young said that we should teach our children to attend Sacrament meeting. His statement was, "After the Sunday School is over, let the parents take the pains to bring their children to meeting."
Of course, we all know the meeting President Young had in mind-the Sacrament meeting where our children have the privilege of partaking of the Sacrament and learning of its significance.
I am sure if our sons and daughters have that experience and realize they are partaking of the Sacrament, they will understand its sacred purpose, and out of it there will come a great source of inspiration. I am sure of that.
Now, concerning the Aaronic Priesthood: Fathers and mothers who have sons who are deacons, teachers, or priests, please help them to realize that they have the greatest gift of God to his sons. With that thought in their minds, and living lives that are sweet and clean, and with the encouragement of Father and Mother, without a doubt they will receive the assignments that are given to them from time to time, and the faithful performance of their responsibilities will be a great source of inspiration to live as the servants of the Lord should live.
It is wonderful to know that in a home where probably the father holds the Melchizedek Priesthood, he may have a son who is a deacon, a teacher, or a priest. What an inspiration it must be when the father will say to his sons, "Now, Sons, let's go to our meeting together. Let us be together. We both hold the priesthood. You hold the Aaronic Priesthood, and I hold the Melchizedek Priesthood." By attending their priesthood meetings together, I am sure it must be a great source of inspiration to the father, the mother, and, of course, to the sons who are endeavoring to carry out the assignments that come to them. In the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, our people have so many responsibilities, so much that brings to them the sure knowledge that this is the work of the Lord. In conclusion, if we continue to pray, there is no doubt in my mind but that we will always have divine direction in all of our endeavors. I am sure we will. Should there come a time of difficulty and trouble, we should remember what the Savior said through the Prophet Joseph Smith: "Pray always, that ye may not faint." That ye may not faint! I am sure, brethren and sisters, that in our lives we have some difficulties perhaps when we do feel faint. To all such, the Savior said:
Pray always, that ye may not faint, until I come. Behold, and lo, I will come quickly, and receive you unto myself. Amen.
I am sure that if we will all live the gospel as we should, we will enjoy its blessings, and when we have difficulties, through the power of prayer, the Lord will bless and inspire us in our work and in our homes.
Now, may the Lord continue to bless us and so inspire us that each one of our children will be happy and thrilled to follow our attitudes in the matter of living the gospel as it has been restored.
My humble testimony to you is that this is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he who stands at the head is a prophet, an apostle, who receives from time to time the mind and the will of our Heavenly Father as it should be given to his people for their blessing, for their benefit, and for their inspiration, which I humbly say in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Marion D. Hanks
Marion D. Hanks, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 125-129
The Seventy are traditionally minutemen. I have just been multiplied. Under the stimulation of the great song we have sung together, I should like to put into the record a story and a statement which I think President McKay probably does not know of, but which I think should be known to him and to all of us.
In the last few years it has been my occasional blessing to take distinguished visitors to our city, who have come to Temple Square, into the offices of the President of the Church to greet him, to be greeted by him, and to feel the strength and stimulation and love which always emanates from him.
A few months ago Brother Evans and I with some others were privileged to attend a conference in the office of President McKay with one of the leading labor leaders in America, possibly as influential and important a man as there is in his field. He was accompanied by his wife and two little daughters, and the experience was a beautiful and impressive one. There was no posturing, no pretense or effort to impress by President McKay-only genuine friendliness, interest, and love. The part of the story I would want remembered and on the record was what occurred when we had left the office. We stood in the halls of the Church Office Building, and this man, who in his employment and administration influences the lives of many millions of men, said to those of us who stood with him, and he said it with a moist eye, "I have lived in many lands. I have been in the presence of kings and presidents and rulers, and I want to say to you men that I do not think our generation will produce another character like that."
This has happened not once, but many times. And for no other purpose than to express my own faith and convictions about President McKay and the office and calling which he holds, I repeat to you who may not have enjoyed such privilege my observation that many men who are good and stalwart and powerful in their own right recognize in him who leads us a great man and an authorized representative of our Heavenly Father.
There have been many things in this conference which have inspired sincere gratitude in me. With no desire to be lengthy I would like to express my appreciation for the return to the measure of health which they enjoy of our two good Brethren in the Council of the Seventy. We have learned to love and respect Brother Kirkham and Brother Hunter and feel for them the esteem and brotherhood which this wonderful service opportunity should engender in us.
I would like humbly to express another feeling of gratitude. There sits in this building today a man who was among the very first to whom I bore testimony of the gospel on these grounds when I came out of the service eleven years ago. He is here today as a bishop of a ward in one of the great new stakes in the Church. Having been touched with the spirit of the gospel on Temple Square, he, through his own earnest efforts, through the effective teaching of good missionaries and the living of the gospel by the members of the Church in his home town, soon came to a knowledge of the truth and accepted it.
It is a privilege also to express gratitude for the magnificent music which we have enjoyed here. The Tabernacle Choir is known to the whole Church as a great missionary organization, and yet perhaps we who work on these grounds are more aware, through our opportunities, of their effectiveness than others could be. I honor them. During this conference we have heard two other groups-a wonderful choir of young singers from Brigham Young University, and a great, and to me thrilling, group of young people from the Institute of Religion at the University of Utah.
I have great love for these young people, and I desire to express publicly my appreciation for the privilege of having been a teacher of some of them. I would like to say how proud I was of the group from the Institute of Religion. They have not had the privilege of singing here before and of being thus excellently represented before the Church. Anything fine that can be said of other young men and women in the Church can properly be said of them, for they are intelligent and loyal and steadfast. Not all of you would understand the pressures that are upon them in their daily learning. I want to express my gratitude and faith and confidence in the good men who teach them, some of whom also taught me, and I express my own appreciation for the great contribution in faith and good lives that has come out of that institute and others like it.
There are a few simple suggestions I would like to make today to these who are young.
Some weeks ago it was my privilege to go into one of the great subterranean caverns in the southwestern part of our land. Thousands upon thousands of people visit it annually. The day I went into it, far below the surface of the earth, I was in the company of a large group, but no one whom I knew personally. The path on which we walked through this great cavern over a period of more than an hour was quite a narrow one, permitting two to walk abreast, if a bit crowded. The trail was lighted in sections as we went and was very clearly marked with white stones at the edges and with signs all along the way. We were accompanied by three forest rangers and met others as we went. I walked near the front and heard some of the comments of the ranger as we were led into the magnificent scenery of this underground wonderland.
As we walked, we passed beneath a huge, high dome. Below it, appropriately named, was a deep hole called "The Bottomless Pit." There was conjecture among the people as to what might have caused this empty place in the earth. Some thought it might have been an early fossil deposit, others an area of highly soluble materials, others the result of an earth movement or some other like occurrence of nature. It was discussed for a time with no conclusion reached. The ranger informed the party that there is divided opinion on the question among the experts.
A little farther along the trail we came into an area where there was another vast vaulted dome, but the debris from that cavity lay below it in a mountainous pile. Again there were comments along the trail. One said: "My, I'll bet there was a tremendous clap of noise when that fell!" An army man replied, "Do you really think there was? After all, there was no one here to hear it!"
They discussed this issue at some length, whether or not in the absence of someone to hear, noise actually occurs. I listened and said nothing, but thought of Bishop Berkeley, Irish philosopher, whose theory was that "to be is to be perceived," that is, that so-called material things exist only in being perceived-if it is not perceived, it does not exist. It is said that a group of the bishop's students at Oxford taught him the true nature of reality one very dark evening when they placed a tree stump on a certain unlighted path where he habitually walked. His perception of the stump was said to be a realistic shock to George Berkeley.
Well, when we left the cavern, the people were still discussing whether or not when things fall there is a noise in the absence of human ears to hear it.
As I left the cavern, I thought to myself that these may be legitimate fields for inquiry, and it may be that someday someone will discover the answers, though that seems doubtful. But would it not be a most foolish thing to abandon the cave because we do not know the answers? Suppose someone should take it into his mind that all the glory of this wonder-work, God's handiwork, should be abandoned and never enjoyed more because those mysterious questions were not answered. Suppose one with ready access to the place and with personal knowledge of its great beauty should decide that he would never enter more because there were things he did not fully understand about it-or go about seeking to dissuade others from enjoying the majesty of it because it took effort to reach and there were certain hard-to-understand problems. Would not this be foolish and tragic?
Do you know that some of our wonderful young people of great potential intelligence and capacity and contribution are abandoning their faith and their way of life in the gospel, with all the strength and beauty of it, because they have come to questions for which they have not learned satisfactory answers?
May I read you a statement from the pen of one of the most learned among us, who left us a legacy of scientific research and useful knowledge, and of great faith. Dr. Widtsoe, after encouraging "mature examination," said:
"Wise men do not throw the Church overboard because they have not satisfied themselves concerning every principle of the gospel. Under the law of progression every principle may in time find lodgment in the inner consciousness of the seeker."
To abandon the marvelous demonstrable truths of the gospel because there are some questions one cannot satisfactorily resolve would be foolishness in the extreme. As President Clark said the other evening, "A foolish man can ask questions that the wisest cannot answer." It is no reproach to our religion or to us not to be able to answer definitively, categorically, finally, every question that can be asked. I plead with you, and I talk not theoretically but with some of your faces in my mind, not to abandon all that is good in your religion because there are some things you do not understand.
Now, President Clark in his two great sermons in the evening meetings, Brother Evans in his conference address and in this morning's wonderful short sermon, and President Richards this morning, have all alluded in some measure to something I would now like to say. I could not presume to add to what they have said, but I can raise my voice with them and testify as to my own experience and observation. What I say I say humbly, knowing my own limitations, and not from any position of personal arrogance or assumed unusual competence. I would speak to some who influence these young people in causing them to abandon what they believe.
Along the trail down in the cavern, well-marked and defined as it was, with signs and guides to make clear that we were to stay on it, some "boy play" occurred between some young Scouts in uniform who walked the trail just a short distance behind me, supervised by a scoutmaster and several assistants. The boys were jostling and pushing each other all the way along, trying to get some adventurous, "progressive" soul to get off the trail and go out and explore a little. I watched it all and observed the instance I now think of, when a larger boy who had been tantalizing a younger one, pushed him off the trail and into a dimly lighted, muddy area. The boy went near the edge of a crevice, and with an outcry that startled us all and got the rangers quickly to his side, signalized the danger he was in and the possibility that he might have perished in the darkness.
You see, along this trail at periodic intervals the ranger would stop and bend over and turn a switch which was hidden from the view of the rest of us, and an area ahead of us would suddenly become lighted. The ranger at the back, when we were safely through a certain area, would turn off the light. The youngster had gone into a section of the cave where the light did not reach.
I thought, as the lights went on and off, how realistic this experience is to life. We talk of questions, some solvable. We know that the Lord has encouraged us to seek truth, to "knock," "ask", and "search diligently". Yet there come times when we reach the end of our capacity to reason and to understand. We must learn to walk by faith. There has been given us enough light to walk the paths we are here to tread. As the Lord in his wisdom desires that we have more light, we have the assurance that it will be given. I bear my witness that from the beginning of the history of the Church the lights have come on when the need arose. It has always been so; it is so now; it will always be.
When the little boy was brought back on the trail, the ranger was very angry, chastised him severely, declared him banished from the group, and started to send him away, while the real culprit in the case stood silent. He was not going to be punished, just the boy. Then the scoutmaster spoke up and said, "If he goes, this boy ought to go, too." He was a wise man. The ranger talked to them both for a moment, and on promise of good behavior, allowed both of them to stay. Though God and wise men may forgive, there is no happiness to be found in leaving the narrow path of gospel principle to adventure in strange paths and forbidden ways, in the enticement of dark places, in "looking beyond the mark", as Jacob said.
We left the cavern a while later. My teacher's mind and my interest in youth had brought me to some renewed conclusions, and I pass them on earnestly to mature persons who are given to assisting young people off the trail. The dictionary has a word for them: iconoclast. It is defined as, "One who attacks cherished beliefs as shams." What if the cherished beliefs that are attacked along the trail are true? What if they are the very beliefs that make these boys and girls the worthwhile, promising people they are? What if the foundations of their faith are effectively shaken at this crucial period, and they dangle, with no substantial footings to stand on? President McKay in his opening address quoted the economist, Babson, from whose writings I should now like to read a sentence:
"Many of the most important men in America, who are what they are because of what they learned at their mother's knee, now deny their own and other people's children those same blessings, in the name of 'liberalism' or 'progressivism' or 'emancipation.'"
Such men, Babson says, deny others the very blessings that made them what they are.
Do you know that when one who has influence with youth, be he teacher, leader, or parent, seriously weakens the foundations upon which a young person has built, by faith-destroying challenges the youngster is not yet equipped to meet, he fashions a disciple who has been effectively cut loose from fundamentals at a time when he needs most to rely on them? The challenger may himself be a moral, educated, well-meaning person of integrity, doing what he does in the name of honesty and truth. His own character may have been formed in an atmosphere of faith and conviction which through his influence he may now help to destroy in his young follower. "Disenchanted" himself in his mature years, he turns his powers on an immature mind and leaves it ready prey for nostrums and superstitions and behavior he himself would disdain.
Let me ask a question or two, as I hurry to a conclusion. To you who influence this boy, to "emancipate" him, in your way of thinking, may I ask you: Have you really helped him develop his capacity to contribute to the world's useful knowledge and useful work? In which particular is he a better person when you get through with him? In what aspect of life has his ability to serve been strengthened? Does he love God and his fellow men more? Is he a more moral, clean, virtuous, decent man? Is he a more faithful husband, father, or son? Has he learned more gratefully to honor his father and mother? Does he merit their increased respect and esteem as he matures? Is his power for good increased? Has he acquired a greater influence for motivating others to constructive, participating citizenship? Is he a more worthy, admirable person to his younger brothers and sisters? Has he experienced increase of generosity, unselfishness, thoughtfulness for the needs of others through your tutelage? Is he more kind, considerate, gentle, sensitive? Does he have more sympathy, love, and understanding for those who are distressed? Does he live life more courageously, manfully? Will he endure tribulation more patiently and understandingly because of you?
I have answers to these questions. Again I do not talk from theory but with faces and lives in my mind. My experience is that when you get through with him, as fine a man as you are, as much respect as I may have for your education and your brilliance and your effectiveness and your personal integrity, you have not improved him in any of these important ways. He may be, in fact, he often is, cynical, destructively critical, vain, high-minded, impervious to instruction. Quite often he has acquired habits and attitudes toward society and moral behavior which break the hearts of those who love him most and which you yourself would never stoop to. He sneers at his parents, those whom he once respected, and often at God and holy things. It is quite a responsibility you have assumed.
May I commend to you what Richard L. Evans said this morning: "A teacher is responsible for the total effect of his teaching." So is it true of a parent, an official, a leader of youth. What is the total effect of your influence on the young?
I want to mention one other thought that came in the cavern. As we walked in that subterranean beauty, I thought what each of you under like circumstances would have thought. I thought how wonderful it would be if my lovely wife and little girls could be with me; I wanted to share with them the wonder, the inspiration, the nearness to God I felt then. A verse of scripture came to mind. It is recorded in First Nephi:
And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen. And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceeding great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also....
We should all desire to share the goodness and beauty and, truth of the gospel with others of God s children.
In the story of Ammon's missionary work among the Lamanites there is one statement the unusual language of which sometimes evokes mirth in a student when he first hears it, but which to me is one of the most sacred and provocative verses in all the record. The king has been stricken and lies as if he were dead. Ammon is summoned by the queen, his loving, loyal wife. She says:
... I would that ye should go in and see my husband, for he has been laid upon his bed for the space of two days and two nights; and some say that he is not dead, but others say that he is dead and that he stinketh, and that he ought to be placed in the sepulchre; but as for myself, to me he doth not stink.
The love of this faithful wife for her beloved husband seems typical to me of the love which will obtain in the heavenly kingdom and which should here characterize our relationships with those dear to us.
I pray that the Spirit of the Lord will guide the young people of the Church as they seek answers to their questions, for this is encouraged, that they may seek "by study and also by faith"; that they may with dedication and honest effort seek for useful knowledge, for the Lord has said that "to be learned is good," if we hearken to the counsels of God.
I caution those who influence young people, and ask you to look at the total effect of your teaching. I bear my witness as to the truthfulness of the message of the Prophet Joseph in his testimony of the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the restoration, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report April 1957, pp. 129-131
At the conclusion of this great conference, I am sure you would have me express appreciation to all who have contributed to it, including those who have so inspired us with their uplifting sermons. I shall repeat, of course, some expressions which we have already given directly at the time of service.
You have been blessed by the sight of these beautiful flowers, so profusely displayed before you-the calla lilies from the high priests' quorum of the Oakland-Berkeley Stake; the daffodils from Puyallup Valley Daffodil Festival, Inc., sent here through the Tacoma Stake; the spring flowers here from the Phoenix and the East Phoenix stakes; the bird of paradise flowers from the Los Angeles Temple Grounds. We express appreciation for the thoughtfulness of all who have desired to make pleasant these gatherings through these "messengers of love."
We thank representatives of the public press for their fair and accurate reports throughout the sessions of conference; the city officials, Chief W. Cleon Skousen, and traffic officers for their cooperation in handling the increased traffic here in the city. We express appreciation to the fire department and to the Red Cross for being on hand to render any service that might be needed.
To the Tabernacle ushers, who have rendered service early and late in seating the great audiences!
For assistance rendered by the various radio and television stations, here in our own city and state, and other states named in the various sessions of the conference, we are grateful. This truly has been the means of permitting tens of thousands of people to hear the proceedings of the 127th annual general conference of the Church.
We appreciate the choirs. Never have we had better service than the choral groups have rendered during these three days, beginning Friday with the Brigham Young University combined choruses, with Norman Gulbrandsen and Newell B. Weight conducting; the Institute of Religion chorus from the University of Utah, with David Austin Shand conducting; the Tabernacle Choir male chorus last evening under the direction of J. Spencer Cornwall-all these choir seats filled-a larger group, I think, than we have ever had before. It was appropriate, too, because it was the largest priesthood meeting ever held in the Church. And now, today, we appreciate the singing of the Tabernacle Choir under the direction of Brother Cornwall. We express appreciation, also, to the organists, Alexander Schreiner and Frank W. Asper, and Brother Roy M. Darley, assistant organist.
I should like to say just a word in conclusion.
I do not know how many of you heard Brother Marion G. Romney this morning. I hope all of you listened to his excellent address over the Church of the Air broadcast, speaking about the reality of inspiration from God to individuals. I was reminded of what Peter said. But as I have read his life, I find that he rose from a seeming indifference to religion to the heights of spirituality, and I find confirmation of that in the following reference in his First Epistle General. He refers to an "inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled," and that inheritance the "lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," a hope that "fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
"Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations".
Then he continues in his Second Epistle, referring to the sacredness of the priesthood, "that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature".
Happy is the man who has experienced that relationship to his Maker, wherein we are "partakers of the divine nature." That is a reality, and I so testify to you here in this sacred hour.
Then Peter says that we must go on from that...
"... giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; "And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; "And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity".
Note those virtues from that practical man who had experienced the relationship, the real relationship to his Creator. And you have had that experience, many, and I hope all may have it. It is glorious. And then the promise:
"For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ".
And you have heard in this conference what that knowledge means; to know God and Jesus Christ, his Son, is eternal life. Or, in the exact words, as recorded in the 17th chapter of John:
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent".
That, my brothers and sisters, is the highest purpose of life. It has been put in one sentence that the whole purpose of life is "to subdue matter", "to subdue matter that we might realize the ideal," and that is the ideal-"life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
With all my soul, at the conclusion of this highly spiritual conference, I bless you that you may attain that testimony, that high spiritual state, which will make all who attain it ready to enter through the veil into the presence of God, our Eternal Father.
Thank you, Brethren and our fellow workers of the General Authorities, for the messages you have given during this conference. You have been blessed. Thank you, brethren and sisters, here especially in this great Tabernacle, for your reverent attitude in every session. May you go home now with your children to your neighbors, and radiate that high spirit of love, brotherhood, virtue, integrity, which will lead them to investigate the gospel of Jesus Christ and eventually accept those principles, that they too, someday, may realize what it is to be "partakers of the divine nature", I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 4-9
May I say to these students that their presence and especially their inspiring singing add much to the sacredness of this assembly. It is glorious to have several hundred students sing with such spirit and devotion. We are proud of them and of the university from which they come. We appreciate the cooperation of President Wilkinson, members of the faculty, and the students in postponing their regular day's work in school to join in this worship.
It is over fifty years since I stood here for the first time as one of the General Authorities of the Church. I remember well then my trembling and humility at facing such an audience and accepting a position as one of the leaders. The passing of a half a century has made it no easier to face this vast audience and to realize the responsibility that one holds in discharging such a responsibility. This morning, as then and during the intervening years, I solicit your sympathy and your prayers.
A year has passed since we met on such an occasion. In behalf of the First Presidency I bid you welcome, not only those who are here in the Tabernacle, the Assembly Hall, and other surrounding halls, but also the vast audience listening in over radio and television. We are very happy indeed that you are taking time out to participate in the general conference of the Church.
We extend welcome especially to the 31,817 converts of the Church during this past year. That group alone will constitute six stakes of five thousand each. We bid you welcome and trust that you, with all others listening in, will realize the added responsibility which is yours as you assume the responsibility of membership in the Church of Christ.
We wish to commend the missionaries in the stakes and in the field who have been instrumental in bringing these added numbers to the Church of Christ-six new stakes, more than that if we limit the number to three thousand each.
"And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!".
And as you bring many souls, how much joy you will experience. We commend those who have been diligent during the past year in carrying the message of glad tidings to so many people.
I shall not take time to report the advance in priesthood work, in auxiliary work, and other phases of the Church, but you may feel gratified indeed with the work of the past year.
It has been difficult for me to put even in outline the message that I have had in my heart for the people of the Church and the people of the world. There is a saying by Paul, that "to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace".
Carnal relates, as you know, to the physical. It includes sensual. But we have in mind this morning the physical surroundings and our animal instincts, the anger that comes to us, the unpleasant words that are spoken, making life unpleasant, rather than emphasizing the spiritual side, the real side of our nature.
The text was suggested several weeks ago, particularly emphasized at that time, by a report that came to me of unpleasantness in a home, and I wondered why we cannot emphasize spiritual attitudes in our homes instead of unpleasant attitudes; why, having before us all the admonitions of the Lord, all the opportunities offered by the Church, we cannot express spiritual attitudes every day of our lives. What good is religion if it does not make our daily lives better? Why need there be emphasis put upon the carnal side of our natures? True, that is the natural reaction for all animals. But having in our possession the high principles of the gospel as revealed through Christ, why cannot members of the Church at least in the home, in school, in all their associations, emphasize the spiritual side of their natures instead of the carnal side?
I learned through a letter of a condition which I think, so far as members of the Church are concerned, is absolutely inexcusable. A husband and wife quarreling-the husband demeaning himself to such an extent as to curse his wife, and in a mad fit of anger overturning a table spread with dishes-a creature in the form of a man harboring the nature of an animal! A man in such a mental state that the anger itself does him more harm than the condition which aroused his anger, and in reality, brothers and sisters, he suffers more from the vexation than he does from the acts that aroused that vexation.
I wonder how long it will take us to realize that in matters of temper nothing can bring us damage but ourselves-we are responsible for what helps us and for what injures us-that the harm that each one sustains he carries about with him, and never is he a real sufferer but by his own fault. I think you get that thought, and yet the tendency of each one is to blame somebody else, the wife blaming the husband, the husband blaming the wife, children finding fault with the parents when the fault lies with themselves. If in the dignity of manhood such a man would cease to magnify his troubles; would face things as they really are; recognize blessings that immediately surround him; cease to entertain disparaging wishes for another; how much more of a man he would be, to say nothing about being a better husband and a more worthy father! A man who cannot control his temper is not very likely to control his passion, and no matter what his pretensions in religion, he moves in daily life very close to the animal plane.
Religion is supposed to lift us on a higher level. Religion appeals to the spirit in man, the real person, and yet how often notwithstanding our possessing a testimony of the truth, we yield to the carnal side of our nature. The man who quarrels in his home, banishes from his heart the spirit of religion. A mother in this Church who would light a cigarette in the home is yielding to the carnal side of her nature. How far below the ideal of the Church! Any quarreling in the home is antagonistic to the spirituality which Christ would have us develop within us, and it is in our daily life that these expressions have their effect.
Man is making great progress in science and invention, greater perhaps than ever before, but is not making comparable progress in character and spirituality.
I read awhile ago of a remark of General Omar N. Bradley, formerly Army's Chief of Staff, who on one occasion said: "With the monstrous weapons man already has, humanity is in danger of being trapped in this world by its moral adolescence. Our knowledge of science has clearly outstripped our capacity to control it.
"We have too many men of science; too few men of God. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Man is stumbling blindly through a spiritual darkness while toying with the precarious secrets of life and death.
"The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living."
Our living comes hourly and daily in the home, in our association in business affairs, in our meeting strangers. It is the attitude of the person during the daily contacts by which we show whether we are appealing to the carnal or to the spiritual within us and within those with whom we associate. It is a daily matter. I do not know whether we can get the thought over or not. And it is within the power of each one, especially members of the Church who make such pretensions. You cannot imagine a real, true Christian, and especially a member of the Mormon Church, swearing at his wife. Why, it is inconceivable that such a thing as that could be in a home and especially with children around. How can anyone justify parents quarreling in front of children! In the instance to which I have referred the man even struck his wife. Such a thing should never be. That is out of the life of Church members.
Christ has asked us to develop the spiritual within us.
Man's earthly existence is but a test as to whether he will concentrate his efforts, his mind, his soul upon things which contribute to the comfort and gratification of his physical nature or whether he will make as his life's purpose the acquisition of spiritual qualities.
"Every noble impulse, every unselfish expression of love, every brave suffering for the right; every surrender of self to something higher than self; every loyalty to an ideal; every unselfish devotion to principle; every helpfulness to humanity; every act of self-control; every fine courage of the soul, undefeated by pretence or policy, but by being, doing, and living of good for the very good's sake-that is spirituality."
The spiritual road has Christ as its ideal-not the gratification of the physical, for he that will save his life, yielding to that first gratification of a seeming need, will lose his life, lose his happiness, the pleasure of living at this present time. If he would seek the real purpose of life, the individual must live for something higher than self. He bears the Savior's voice, saying: "I am the way, the truth, and the life". Following that voice he soon learns that there is no one great thing which he can do to attain happiness or eternal life. He learns that "life is made up not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things in which smiles and kindness and small obligations given habitually are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort."
Spirituality, our true aim, is the consciousness of victory over self, and of communion with the Infinite. Spirituality impels one to conquer difficulties and acquire more and more strength. To feel one's faculties unfolding, and truth expanding in the soul, is one of life's sublimest experiences.
"The thing a man does practically lay to heart," says Carlyle, "and know for certain concerning his vital relations to this mysterious Universe, and his duty and destiny there, that is in all cases the primary thing for him, and creatively determines all the rest...
And, I say, if you tell me what that is, you tell me to a very great extent what the man is, what the kind of things he will do is."
The man who sets his heart upon the things of the world, who does not hesitate to cheat his brother, who will lie for gain, who will steal from his neighbor, or, who, by slander, will rob another of his reputation, lives on a low, animal plane of existence, and either stifles his spirituality or permits it to lie dormant. To be thus carnally minded is to be spiritually dead.
On the other hand, keeping in mind our daily vocations, the man who tills the soil, garners his fruit, increases his flocks and his herds, having in mind making better the world in which he lives, desiring to contribute to the happiness of his family and his fellows, and who does all things for the glory of God, will, to the extent that he denies himself for these ideals, develop his spirituality. Indeed, only to the extent that he does this will he rise above the plane of the animal world.
Years ago we read in school the following from Rudolph Eucken:
"I cannot," he says, "conceive of the development of a powerful personality, a deep-rooted, profound mind, of a character rising above this world, without his having experienced a divinity in life above, beyond the world of sensible reality, and as surely as we create in ourselves a life in contrast to pure nature, growing by degrees and extending to the heights of the true, the good, and the beautiful, we may have the same assurance of that religion called universal."
Paul, you will remember, expresses it more specifically:
"But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. "But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. "Now the works of the flesh," he says, "are manifest, which are these; Adultery..."
The young man who leaves his home at night having in mind anything that would injure either the character or the life or the reputation of a young woman with whose company he is entrusted, is carnal-minded instead of spiritual-minded.
"... fornication, uncleanness... "...hatred, variance, emulations... strife, seditions... "Envyings... drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, "Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit," daily, hourly.
It can be done, and it should be done in every home of the Latter-day Saint Church.
With all our boasted civilization there never was a time when spiritual awakening and spiritual ideals were more needed. Civilization has grown too complex for the human mind to visualize or to control. Unless mankind come to a speedy realization that the higher and not the baser qualities of man must be developed, the present status of civilization is in jeopardy. Life on the animal plane has as its ideal the survival of the fittest, crush or be crushed, mangle or be mangled, kill or be killed. For man, with his intelligence, this is a sure road to anguish and death.
About fifty years ago, Lord Balfour, Prime Minister of Great Britain, delivered a lecture in the McEwen Hall of the University of Edinburgh on the subject, "The Moral Values Which Unite the Nations." In an interesting and convincing manner, the gentleman presented four fundamental ties that unite the different nations of the world: "Common Knowledge"; "Common Commercial Interests"; "The Intercourse of Diplomatic Relationship"; "The Bonds of Human Friendship." The audience greeted his masterful address with a great outburst of applause.
As the presiding officer arose to express his appreciation and that of the audience, a Japanese student who was doing graduate work at the University stood up, and leaning over the balcony, said, "But, Mr. Balfour, what about Jesus Christ?"
Mr. Robin E. Spear, to whom Professor Lang related this incident, writes:
"One could have heard a pin drop in the hall. Everyone felt at once the justice of the rebuke. The leading statesman of the greatest Christian empire in the world had been dealing with the different ties that are to unite mankind, and had omitted the one fundamental and essential bond. And everyone felt, too, the dramatic element in the situation-that the reminder of his forgetfulness had come from a Japanese student from a far-away non-Christian land."
Life, brethren and sisters, is an ever-flowing river on which one embarks at birth and sails, or is rowed, for fifty, seventy, eighty, or more years. Every year that passes goes into an eternity, never to return; yet each carries with it into the past no personal weakness, no bodily ailment, no sorrow, no laughter, no thought, no noble aspirations, no hope, no ambition: all these with every trait of character, every inclination, every tendency remain with each individual. In other words, our lives are made up of daily thoughts and actions. We may resolve to let all our sorrows and weaknesses go with the passing time, but we know that every thought, every inclination has left its indelible impression upon our souls, and we shall have to deal with it today.
So live, then, that each day will find you conscious of having wilfully made no person unhappy. No one who has lived a well-spent day will have a sleepless night because of a stricken conscience. Daniel Webster once said that the greatest thought that had ever occupied his mind was the realization of the fact that, and I quote, "there is no evil we cannot face or flee from but the consequences of duty disregarded. A sense of obligation pursues us ever. It is omnipresent like the Deity. If we take to ourselves the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, duty performed, or duty violated is still with us, for our happiness or our misery. If we say that night shall cover us, in the darkness as in the light, our obligations are yet with us. We cannot escape their power nor fly from their presence. They are with us in this life, will be with us at its close, and in that scene of inconceivable solemnity which lies yet farther on, we shall find ourselves followed by the consciousness of duty-to pain us forever if it has been violated, and to console us so far as God has given us grace to perform it. Weighed against conscience the world itself is but a bubble. For God himself is in conscience lending it authority."
Mankind needs a spiritual awakening, brethren and sisters; the carnal minded are causing heartaches and threatening the extinction of the race.
But the sun of hope is rising. Thinking men and women are recognizing the need of man's looking up towards the heavens instead of groveling in response to the animal instinct. One man, commenting upon this, said that if all the destroyers of civilization could be eliminated, and the traits of the rest of us that come from destructive strains could be eliminated, an approach to the millennium some hundred years hence is by no means inconceivable.
"Can you imagine," he continues, "what this country would be like if ten or twenty billion dollars a year" "were added to our national income? That would mean five hundred dollars, or one thousand dollars per family; but the average today, even if we include Henry Ford, is only twenty-five hundred, or three thousand dollars. What would happen if that sum were increased by twenty or even forty percent all around? Even if you cannot imagine the result, do you realize what it would be like to feel no need of locking doors and windows, no fear of leaving your car unprotected, no danger that your wife or daughter would be insulted, or you yourself sandbagged if you went out at night, no fear that you would have any uncollectible bills except through accident or unpreventable misfortune, no fear that in political election there would be any bribery, or in politics any graft, and no fear that anyone anywhere was trying to 'do you'-can you imagine all that? It would almost be heaven on earth. Of course, it cannot happen" "... and yet if all the destroyers of civilization could be eliminated, and if the traits of the rest of us that come from destructive strains could be eliminated, an approach to such a state some hundred years hence is by no means inconceivable."
Spiritual awakening in the hearts of millions of men and women would bring about a changed world. I am hopeful, my brethren and sisters, that the dawning of that day is not far distant. I am conscious, as I hope all of you are, that the responsibility to try to bring about such a day rests upon the priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ and upon the membership and upon husbands and wives and upon children in Mormon homes.
May that message be felt throughout the conference that we are now holding. We cannot just come and meet and talk about good things and then go home and express our feelings, the feelings of our carnal nature.
My faith in the ultimate triumph of the gospel of Jesus Christ assures me that a spiritual awakening must come. It will come through the acceptance of Jesus Christ and obedience to his gospel and in no other way completely. I believe there never was a time in the history of the world when there was such a need for a united, determined stand to uphold Christ and the restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith as there is today.
God bless you here assembled that we may sense as never before the efficacy of the restored gospel and that we hold as a duty our application of spiritual traits in our daily association with one another in home, in business, in society, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Sterling W. Sill
Sterling W. Sill, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 9-13
Since the last general conference it has been my privilege, in company with President and Sister Henry A. Smith, to tour the Central Atlantic States Mission. Our travels took us to Jamestown, Virginia, where during this past year some $25,000,000 has been spent to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the establishment of the first English settlement in America. During this 350 years, there has been built upon this continent the greatest nation, having the highest standard of living, ever known in the world. I have thought many times, what a wonderful investment this $25,000,000 would be if it could help us to understand the source of our blessings and what we might do to preserve them.
As I stood at Jamestown thinking of the wonderful advantages of living in this land of freedom and opportunity, my mind went back to make a comparison with the ancient Hebrews being established in their promised land. Before they crossed the Jordan, God said to them,
Thou shalt inhabit cities which thou didst not build, and thou shalt eat from vines which thou hast not planted, and thou shalt drink from wells which thou didst not dig.
Every American is in that same situation. Certainly there is no one within the sound of my voice who doesn't eat from vines which he did not plant.
Then the Lord said something to the Hebrews that is particularly appropriate to us. He said, "But when thou hast eaten and are full, beware lest thou forget the Lord, thy God".
There is a stimulating power derived from remembering our blessings and the source from which they come. Nations, like individuals, in the past have fallen when they have forgotten God. Certainly the greatest danger facing America as we pass this important milestone in our history, is not inferior armaments, and it is not a lagging industrial production, and it is not an inadequate food supply. In fact, it has been said that our national problem is surplus; our national disease is overweight; our national sin is forgetfulness. And the greatest need of our lives is to remember the source of our blessings.
To help ancient Israel remember, the Lord instituted among them the custom of wearing phylacteries. That is, they were required to write out the most important passages of their scripture upon pieces of parchment and then bind them across their foreheads and between their eyes and upon their wrists and around their necks, so that no matter where they were, or what they were doing, these passages would always be in their sight, and consequently in their thoughts.
One of these phylactery passages is recorded in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy, wherein the Lord pointed out their need by saying:
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
And then he added:
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine band, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
I suppose that a modern adaptation of this idea would be one that is familiar to some of you husbands. When your wife has wanted you to remember some particular thing, she may have tied a red string on your finger, with a bow on the top so that no matter where you went, or what you were doing, you would always be conscious of the string on your finger and be reminded of the particular thing to be done. We need to make some of our own adaptations of this idea to help us remember God and what he requires at our hands. Our eternal lives depend upon it.
Kipling once wrote what might be called a phylactery prayer, entitled, "The Recessional," in which he repeated over and over this important phrase,
"Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget, lest we forget."
That is, there are certain things that we must remember if our lives are to be successful. One of these is that man's greatest need is for God. And for that reason God made our relationship with him the subject of the first and the greatest of all the commandments. And if we would retain our national and our individual blessings, we should make every day of the year a Memorial Day. To help us understand, and to help us remember, the Lord in our day has given us three great volumes of new scripture. One of these has particularly to do with our land and those who have occupied it before us. In this great American volume of scripture, we learn of the decrees of God which have governed this land and which must always govern the lives of those who occupy it. Without this important information, we are largely strangers in our own land, not being aware of the laws governing our own welfare.
George Washington is often referred to as the "Father of his country." But I would like to suggest the name of another man who might qualify in a more real sense as the "Father of America." After the flood waters had receded from off the face of this land, a little group of people were led by the Lord from the confusion of tongues at Babel, back to this land of promise, to repeople and to restock America with plant and animal life. The Lord said to the brother of Jared, who, under his direction, led this little colony to this new beginning,
I will go before thee into a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth.
The Lord gave to the Jaredites many divine decrees concerning this land: that it should be preserved forever as a sanctuary of freedom, that there should be no kings upon this land, that he would be the God of this land, and that whatsoever nation should possess it, from that time henceforth and forever, should serve him, the only true God, or they should be swept off when the fulness of his wrath should come upon them. The Lord said that the fulness of his wrath would come upon them when they were "ripened in iniquity".
I would just like to note in passing, that these decrees have never been revoked.
The Jaredites became a great nation and flourished upon this land for approximately nineteen hundred years, or almost the exact length of time that has elapsed since the birth of Jesus to our own day. It was also more than five times the length of the period from the beginnings at Jamestown to the present. The Jaredites loved this land and enjoyed its blessings, as we have done. The Lord promised them that there should be no greater nation on the earth than the one which he should raise up for them upon this land. The Jaredites lived contemporaneously with Babylon, Assyria, China, and the other great nations of that day.
But after they had eaten and were full, they forgot God, and they were destroyed. Other cultures upon this land followed the same pattern and met the same end.
As I stood at Jamestown, I thought how grateful we ought to be in America for this new beginning, this last chance to serve the God of this land, and how carefully we ought to study the divine decrees that control our blessings and destiny. Certainly no one can be familiar with the history of our great nation to date without being acutely aware of the special providential favor which has attended this land from the very beginning. Abraham Lincoln pointed out this remarkable fact in his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of 1863, which sounds as if it had been dictated by one of the great Book of Mormon prophets who knew, even better than Lincoln, of the special relationship existing between God and this land. President Lincoln said:
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.
Then he indicated our perennial problem, and he said,
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand that preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all of these blessings were produced by come superior wisdom or virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us. It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
But in spite of our many weaknesses, and in spite of the mild chastenings that God has administered from time to time in the interests of our reformation, he has still blessed us with the highest standard of living ever known in the world. It is said that in the United States, with some 6 percent of the world's population, we have approximately 50 percent of the telephones, the radios, the automobiles, the television sets, and the other devices of civilization.
But the crowning event in the blessing of America came in the early spring of 1820, when God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, reappeared upon this continent in what is probably the greatest divine manifestation ever given in the world. They came to re-establish among men a belief in the God of Genesis, a belief in the God of this land. They came to establish the gospel on this earth for the last time, and to let us know that these timeless decrees of God still govern in this land which we presently possess.
What an important beginning. What an inspiring way to open this age of wonders and enlightenment and opportunity and abundance and freedom, which we know as the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times! Most of the conflicting religions of the present day have been imported into America. They have been brought from Italy and England and Switzerland and Scandinavia and Scotland, Arabia and China and Japan and India. But the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was born in this chosen land of America to open the greatest and the last of all the dispensations.
But America was a divinely favored land before Columbus and before Jamestown and before the Mormon pioneers. We know, by means of divine revelation, that the Garden of Eden was established in this land. This was the home of many of the greatest prophets who have ever lived. But the greatness of America is not all in the past. This will also be the place of the New Jerusalem. The Tenth Article of Faith says that "... Zion will be built upon this continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth;..." with one of his capitals in this western land, "... that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory". This earth will eventually become the celestial kingdom of God.
Then even those who have lived here but who have forgotten God, must be cast out; they must live some other place. But those who are entitled to live upon this earth when it is celestialized will then not only enjoy the highest standard of living, but also the highest standard of happiness ever known by man. But all of this is based upon our ability to remember and serve God.
On this important anniversary, we need to remember that we are not the first but the fifth culture that has lived upon this land, each of the other four having been destroyed because they have forgotten God. We must forever keep in mind that our national as well as our individual welfare has been put in our hands, and the law governing our welfare has been clearly stated to us.
We not only have the greatest blessings, but we also have the greatest responsibilities. We have the responsibility to carry the message of the gospel to "every nation and kindred and tongue and people". We have the responsibility of putting the gospel in force in our own lives. We must exercise a kind of leadership corresponding to our opportunities and our blessings. Certainly we must not be content to dwell in the house built by the Pilgrims and the Pioneers. We must make history ourselves. The highest standard of living is important, but it is far more important to have the highest standard of honor and the highest standard of obedience and the highest standard of "remembering." Then our country will be safe and our freedom and our happiness will be secure. Then we may earn the right to live forever in this favored land upon this celestialized earth.
I close with the inspiring poem of Henry Carey,
"America"
My country! 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrim's pride, From every mountain side, Let freedom ring.
My native country, thee, Land of the noble, free, Thy name I love; I love thy rocks and rills, Thy woods and templed hills; My heart with rapture thrills Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze, And ring from all the trees, Sweet freedom's song; Let mortal tongues awake, Let all that breathe partake, Let rocks their silence break, The sound prolong.
Our father's God! to thee, Author of liberty, To thee we sing; Long may our land be bright With freedom's holy light, Protect us by thy might, Great God, our king!
That we may always remember the source of our blessings, and that we may prove ourselves worthy of him who is their Author, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Spencer W. Kimball
Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 13-17
My beloved brothers and sisters, first I should like to acknowledge the goodness of the Lord to me.
As I heard the President speak of the converts of the past year, I tried to visualize four huge tabernacles, or one twice as wide and long, as this one, full of all new converts from last year only.
I am conscious this morning of three empty places among our Brethren. I am thinking today of Brother Oscar Kirkham, a great man who has influenced youth tremendously and has given a long life of service. I am remembering Elder Thomas Evans McKay as one like Nathanael, a man without guile. And my mind returns to Elder Adam S. Bennion, our very close colleague, and I think of the scripture which says, "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him". And then when they went down to Nazareth, it was said of the Lord, again, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God". An already great man, Elder Bennion increased in wisdom, greatness, spirituality. We express to the families of these three men our affection and our sympathy.
In the moments allotted to me may I address my remarks to any here and in the radio and television audience who have not experienced the glow, the warmth, the peace which come to those who see the eternal path clearly and know positively of its correctness, and who are courageously toiling toward those eternal goals.
In experiences of mortality we sometimes suffer from optical illusions; we hear noises that do not exist; we experience nocturnal adventures quite unreal, and distorted; but in the spiritual realm one can have positive certainty, for the Lord has repeated numerous times the definite promise here expressed:
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
In courts of law the witness is asked to take an oath that the information he is about to give is "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," and the statements made are called his "testimony." In spiritual matters, we may likewise have a testimony. This sureness of the spiritual is unique and pertains to the realness of a personal God; the continued active life of the Christ, separate from but like his Father; the divinity of the restoration of the organization and doctrines of God's Church on the earth and the power of the divine, authoritative priesthood given to men, through revelations from God. These can be known as surely as that the sun shines, by every responsible person, and to fail to attain this knowledge is to admit that one has not paid the price. Like academic degrees it is obtained by intense strivings. That soul who is clean through repentance and the ordinances receives it if he desires and reaches for it, investigates conscientiously, studies, and prays faithfully.
A sure knowledge of the spiritual is an open door to rewards attainable and joys unspeakable. To ignore the testimony is to grope in caves of impenetrable darkness; to creep along in fog over hazardous highways. That person is to be pitied who may still be walking in darkness at noonday, who is tripping over obstacles which can be removed and who dwells in the dim flickering candlelight of insecurity and skepticism. The testimony is the electric light illuminating the cavern; the wind and sun dissipating the fog; the power equipment removing boulders from the road. It is the mansion on the hill replacing the shack in the marshes; the harvester shelving the sickle and cradle; the tractor, train, automobile, and plane displacing the ox team. It is the rich nourishing kernels of corn instead of the husks in the trough. It is much more than all else, for-
... this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Eternal life is the greatest gift. To obtain it is not easy. The price is high.
Nicodemus of old inquired the price. The answer perplexed him. Let us interview that good man who came so near and yet evidently missed the mark.
Your name is Nicodemus? You are a member of the powerful sect of the Pharisees? You are a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin? You knew the person from Nazareth called Jesus Christ? You heard his sermons and witnessed his miracles? You looked into his eyes and heard his voice?
You are a good man, Nicodemus, honorable and just, for you will yet defend our Lord before your colleagues, asking he be not condemned without a hearing. You are also generous, for you will yet bring one hundred weight of aloes and myrrh to his burial. You have at least some faith, but have you courage enough to face criticism? You are identified as one who came under cover of darkness. In your senatorial seat you and your colleagues have impressive powers, making laws and controlling destinies.
It is night now. You have not been seen. You are addressing our Lord:
Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
His ready answer wrinkles your brow. This is the simple total answer to the weightiest of all questions.
Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.
You are well versed in the law, Nicodemus, but what of the gospel? To gain eternal life there must be a rebirth, a transformation, and an unburdening self of pride, weaknesses, and prejudice. You must begin as a little child, clean, teachable. You seem not to understand.
"How can a man be born when he is old?". Your question is strange for a learned man. Must you reduce all to human logic? Must everything be rational to your finite, materialistic mind?
He says:
Come unto me, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and... ye shall find rest unto your souls.
He expects you to divest yourself of every foreign thought, act, and inclination, and accept him and live his plan. And the "rest", which is exaltation, will be your glory.
But you still do not seem to understand, Mr. Pharisee. Is it so complex? Are you afraid of what your brother Pharisees may think of you, fearful of losing your exalted place in the Sanhedrin? Or, do you not see? Certainly a little glimpse has been given you. You acknowledged the miracle worker must be sent from God, but the curtain so slightly opened will close again if you do not act upon the new knowledge being offered you.
You are highly educated, my good man. Many sit at your feet to learn. Does your superior training blind you? Must a prophet or a God be measured in the test tubes of a physical laboratory? Can you not accept anything you cannot prove by the rules of the schools in which you studied?
You are not accepting it. The Lord is postulating again the necessary requirements:
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
That total answer came in one sentence of thirteen small words. You are wondering, weighing, Mr. Rationalizer. You seem impressed, but you are bound. How much you do not realize! Did you expect it in eloquent, impressive words? Is it frustrating in its simplicity? You are rationalizing, Sir. You cannot weigh this on the scales of your secular knowledge and training. They are too crude, mundane. You need finer mechanism.
Your question about returning to the mother's womb for rebirth-was it intended as a question, Mr. Intellectual, or to prove your superior logic; or to point out that Christ was irrational; or was it mere perplexity? He knows your professional background and culture and the analytical training you have had. He is so kind and patient. He will explain further in eighty-nine words, sixty-five of which are one-syllable ones:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
How beautiful-how forceful-how positive! Is there excuse to question, to hesitate, to reject? O Nicodemus, this moment of crisis cannot last long. You are on a perilous summit. Your decision can mean the difference between exaltation and a deprivation greater than you know. You had a spark of desire. Why did you extinguish it?
What made you refer to our Master as "a teacher come from God"? Do you not believe in prophets? Have you not all your life waited for a Redeemer? After all his sermons, testimonies, and miracles, is he still only an inspired teacher to you? Could he not be the long-awaited Christ? Have you tried to believe and accept, or are you bound down with fetters of tradition, chains of materialism, and handcuffs of losable prestige? O timid one, awaken, exert yourself, draw back the curtains your training and background have hung over the windows of your soul! You are speaking to no ordinary man, no common philosopher, no mere prophet. You are in the presence of the real Messiah, the great physician, the master psychiatrist, the very Christ. You are questioning the maker of heaven and earth, the Son of God.
Open the curtains, my skeptic brother. Rid yourself of your intellectual conservatism. This is a crucial moment. You are being offered a gift priceless beyond your imagination. Will you let it pass? Talking with Christ, you should be awed to a tremble, quaking in shoeless feet on such holy ground, and on your knees in reverent humility. This is your Lord, your Savior, your Redeemer. Can't you understand, O ye of little faith? Can't you feel his love and kindness and see the sadness and disappointment in those penetrating eyes as he notes your withdrawal? He is saying:
Set aside your pride and arrogance. Cast from you all worldly burdens. Repent of your transgressions, purify your hands, and mind, and heart, believe that I am the bread of life, the waters from the pure spring. Accept me and my gospel; go down into the waters in proper baptism.
Can you envision the cleanliness as one emerges from the watery grave, washed, and the freedom and joy and glory of it? But after all this you still ask, "How can these things be?". Your question astonishes us and brings from the Master this chastisement:
Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?.
O my brother, opportunity's doors are closing. Why can't you understand? Too many materialistic obstacles? He knows your influence, wealth, erudition, your exalted place in community, in government, in the powerful church group.
He offers you not a dependent, decadent kingdom like your doomed and dying Judah. He invites you to rule, not as emperor of a temporary world power like Rome, which is destined to crumble as clay, but is offering you citizenship in the kingdom of heaven, eventually to rise in stature and authority until you are a king in your own right with a dominion greater than the combined empires of all the earth.
Your decision seems weighted with earthly treasures and the plaudits of men and the conveniences of affluence. My heart weeps for you, friend Nicodemus. You seem such a good man, philanthropic, kind, generous. You could have been such a power in the Lord's kingdom. You had a spark of desire. It could have been kindled into a living flame. You might have been one of his seventies, to proselyte as an advance agent, or an apostle, or even the President of his Church. You might have filled the vacancy when Matthias was called or have been an apostle to the gentiles with Paul and suffered with him in his perils of the sea, among robbers, in prisons, in his beatings and stonings, and even in his death. How little we realize the doors of opportunity which we oft close with one wrong decision. But the price was too high, wasn't it, man of wealth?
Unwilling that you slip back in your darkness without having every opportunity, Christ will bear you his testimony again. He will not leave you guiltless. You cannot escape the condemnation of this testimony, Mr. Rationalizer. Hear him:
If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness, italics added).
O Nicodemus, why did you receive not his witness? Why did you not open your heart to understanding? Why did you hesitate when the Redeemer of the world so condescended? Had you humbly taken the first step of repentance and then proper baptism, then would have come to you the Holy Ghost through the laying on of hands by one of his apostles, or be himself might have done it.
The Holy Ghost would have abided with you so long as you merited and would have whispered to you so that you, too, could have exclaimed with your Redeemer,
We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen.
And John wrote:
... what he hath seen and heard, that testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
O my disbeliever brother, the New Testament could have recorded your name countless times instead of thrice. You could have lived forever in the minds and hearts of countless millions. Because of your many abilities you might have been one chosen to walk up the slopes of the Holy Mount of Transfiguration, to have unspeakable revelations, to join others in martyrdom, and rule eternally with Christ.
You might have walked where Jesus walked and stayed where he was staying; You might have eaten bread and sop and knelt where he was praying; He might have washed your weary feet and wiped them with his dryer; He might have laid his precious bands upon your head with Fire.
You might have eased his weary way and wiped away his bleeding; You might have helped in his defense when he was sorely needing; Most disappointing words are oft expressed by tongue and writing; The saddest words, "It might have been" are always the most biting.
Now, my beloved, listening friends, you too are generous and kind. You too are prayerful and religious. But are you also like Nicodemus, burdened down with preconceived and prejudiced notions? Do you think that no good thing can come out of Nazareth, or Palmyra, or Salt Lake City? Are you too biased to accept new truth? Too wealthy and fettered with the cares of this world to accept the difficult demands of Christ's Church? Are you so influential as to fear to prejudice your position or local influence? Are you too weak to accept and carry a load of service? Are you too busy to study and pray and learn of Christ and his program? Are you too materialistically trained to accept the miracles, visions, prophets, and revelations?
If any of you, my listeners, is a modern Nicodemus, I beg of you to grasp the new world of truths. Your Lord Jesus Christ pleads with you:
My true Church is restored to earth with my saving doctrines. I have placed in authoritative positions apostles and others divinely called, and in leadership a prophet who today receives my divine revelations. Churches are many, but they are churches of men, not mine. Creeds are numerous, but they are not of my authorship. Organizations are everywhere, but they are not organized nor accepted by me. Pretended and usurping representatives are legion, but I called them not; nor do I recognize their ordinances. My second coming is near at hand.
... I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne... He that hath an ear let him hear.
This testimony I bear, in the name of Jesus Christ our Master. Amen.
Elder John Longden
John Longden, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 17-19
Much has been said this morning regarding the Spirit, and I feel that we have felt the Spirit of the Lord here this morning. In order to feel the Spirit of the Lord we must understand God; he must be known to us, and not unknown.
I should like to draw from Holy Writ two experiences, one in the life of the Apostle Paul on Mars' hill and the other in the life of Moses.
You will recall that when Paul visited Mars' hill he said:
For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
The following experience in the life of Moses is recorded in Exodus 32:1-8. Moses delayed in coming down from the mount. The children of Israel became restless and said unto Aaron, "Make us gods which shall go before us; this Moses, we know not where he is." So Aaron persuaded them to bring their jewelry, and he fashioned it with a graving tool and made a molten calf. "These be thy Gods!". And so Aaron built an altar and proclaimed, "We feast, drink and play".
Then the Lord said unto Moses,
Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: .
From both these experiences-the prophet Moses, and the Apostle Paul on Mars' hill-we learn these lessons: The people had their devotions, built altars, worshiped an unknown God, and worshiped in ignorance. In each case, as today, authorized servants taught the true and living God.
We have heard this morning about the spiritual and the carnal. May I say that the golden calf is the carnal or the carnal may be likened unto the worship of the golden calf, or the material things of life-feasting, drinking, and playing, and forgetting the spirit?
It is essential to know God and to worship him in truth, for Jesus said:
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
We cannot serve both God and mammon. It is necessary to know to whom we pray and to pay our devotions so that such may be done in spirit and in truth. We have heard the mouthpiece of our Heavenly Father, President David O. McKay, this morning from this pulpit draw conclusively to our attention the need to develop the spirit within us, to understand God, and then to have these things apply in our lives.
The Apostle Paul further declared:
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
We can be influenced by man's device today which is contrary to enjoying the spirit; "... for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life".
Are we worshiping God in the full spirit of truth or are there any golden calves or idols in our lives? Do we on occasion worship the gods of hate, bitterness, vanity, deceit, profanity, dishonesty, disloyalty, immorality, apostasy, money, gold, silver, uranium, power, clothes, passions, styles, a broken Sabbath, new cars with higher speed, in fact, all material things? The New Testament poses a very important question:
Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?.
It is easy to follow the world and think in a material or physical vein. I am reminded of an experience which happened as we toured the Western States Mission four years ago with President and Sister A. Lewis Elggren. As we journeyed through the state of Nebraska, we saw road signs, "Do not fail to see the Pioneer Village and the Progress of Man." As I am always interested in the pioneers and the progress of man, I was anxious to see what progress man had made. When we finally arrived, we found, a new, very modern building: In it were the various styles of automobiles, beginning with one of the first ones produced up to and including the new high-powered, streamlined, most modern car. And this was supposed to represent the progress of man! Yes, it is easy to follow the world and think of the material, the carnal, rather than the spiritual.
Do we worship these carnal or material things in preference to the spiritual? We do need a balance. We may prefer to worship the movies, movie stars, television, radio, and all forms of recreation. Do these things take us from our quorum meetings, Sunday School, and Sacrament meetings? If so, these are just some of the modern golden calves which can come into our lives, and we worship them in preference to developing our spiritual lives.
In the days of Moses the children of Israel merely gave material things to make their golden calf. Today we are giving our precious time. Material things can be replaced, but time cannot be called back, and time is allotted to each of us on an equal basis-twenty-four golden hours each day.
What are we doing with them? Are we using them to the best advantage?
Now is the time to do something about it! We all no doubt have approached a railroad crossing and have been exposed to the sign which reads, "Stop! Look! Listen!"
May we sincerely take this to heart. What if Paul should pass by today as he passed Mars' hill? What if Jesus should appear today? Are we as ready to meet him as we can be? I trust we will banish from our lives any worship of golden calves, and worship our Father in spirit and in truth.
It is my privilege to know many young couples on the campuses of the universities in this and other areas who are getting their education and at the same time having their babies, raising their families, and finding time to serve the true and living God. I thrill at their devotion.
Then I think of the couple who went to the bank and placed a mortgage on their home in order to finance their sixth son on his mission. They wanted all their sons to have this privilege and honor. They had a witness of the true and living God and were worshiping him and assisting in this great work.
As I toured the Southwest Indian Mission last fall, I met a Lamanite brother. I learned he was eighty-four years of age. A few years ago in this little branch where he lived, there were but a few members of the Church. Several times when he went to priesthood meeting, he was the only one present, but he didn't leave; he would sing a hymn and pray. His witness had come to him through worship of the true and living God.
Then I think of the parents who are humbly proud of their sons and daughters receiving all the awards and achievements possible through constant Church activity and participation. These are the homes where joy and happiness prevail because they are worshiping the true and living God. This is the type of home President McKay has spoken of this morning.
Now as to idols, they were prevalent in the days of Moses, of Paul, and are among us today. Paul's words to the Thessalonian saints, First Thessalonians, the first chapter and the ninth verse-"... and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God", would indicate that they had seen the error of their ways and had turned to the worship of God.
So if there need be repentance in any of our hearts today, let us exercise the courage and fortitude necessary to turn from our idols to worship and serve the true and living God. If anyone within the sound of my voice has not yet been blessed with membership in the true Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I pray that the Spirit of the Lord will prevail upon him to receive the witness that the words spoken from this pulpit are divine and for the benefit of our spiritual and eternal lives.
It is our individual responsibility to see that our spiritual lives are in tune with the teachings of the Master, who said, "... seek ye first the kingdom of God" I testify to you that the material and physical things which we need to sustain life will be granted us. I testify further that God is our Heavenly Father. He is not a mystery but can be known if we desire to know him. This is my witness and testimony to you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 29-30
I will address my remarks, if I may have the right inspiration, to the fathers and mothers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, likewise to those who are engaged in the organizations of the Church looking after the youth of Israel.
Some few months ago I read in the paper that the majority of crimes committed in the United States were committed by those who were of teen ages. That was a shock to me and I think to thousands of others, many thousands throughout this land, for it seemed to be so unusual and a trend that boded only evil for this country. We have been troubled even in our own city, and this trouble has existed in all parts of the land, with vandalism, the wanton destruction of property, crimes by children and teenagers, which show a tendency that will lead only to serious trouble within the borders of our country in years to come.
So I appeal to you, my dear brethren and sisters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, to take advantage of every opportunity the Church affords to have your children trained in the various organizations provided for them by the revelations of the Lord: the Primary, the Sunday School, the Mutual Improvement organizations, and the quorums of the Lesser Priesthood under the direction of our bishoprics.
I hope that you are teaching your children in your homes to pray. I hope that you are having family prayers, morning and evening, that your children are taught by example and by precept to observe the commandments that are so precious and so sacred and mean so much to our salvation in the kingdom of God.
The Lord said in a revelation given to the Church in 1831:
And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents. For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized.
And I think I could add with equal truth in any branch of the Church in any mission or any other place outside of the stakes of Zion. The Lord requires this at our hands. I am reminded of a statement that was made in a discourse by President Brigham Young one time which I am not able to quote correctly, but the substance of it is this:
You say this is my wife. You say these are my children. That all depends upon your keeping the commandments of God.
That is the substance of it. In other words, the Lord can take away from you this wife. He can take away from you these children. He has not relinquished his claim upon any of the children that have been entrusted to our care.
So I make this appeal because the tendency in this country today, as you all know who read the papers, is towards nuclear energy, traveling to the moon, getting off the earth, and going somewhere else. But people have forgotten God. We cannot afford to do that.
Let us as members of the Church, no matter what else we may think about space travel, keep our feet on the ground, spiritually and in the home.
One thing, too, that I would like to call attention to-young people, when they marry, are not satisfied to begin with a little and humbly, but they want to receive just about as much as their parents have at the time they, the children, get married. They must have an automobile; they have to have a television set, a radio, all kinds of conveniences, many of which, of course, are very helpful. But they want to start out with every convenience under the sun to make them comfortable. I think this is a mistake. I think they should begin humbly, putting their faith in the Lord, building here a little and there a little as they can, accumulating piecemeal, until they can reach a position of prosperity such as they wish to have.
Now this condition of wanting everything leads to this great trouble: Both the mother and the father find employment. That means that children are left either to run the streets or somebody has to be called in to take care of them in the absence of the parents, and generally, it is my opinion that these children are left to wander the streets, to get into mischief, and they do not have the proper attention that ought to be given to them by the mother in the home.
Now, let us try humbly to keep our families intact, to keep them under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, trained in the principles of the gospel that they may grow up in righteousness and truth. I think the Lord requires that at our hands. He has said, as I have read to you here, that he will hold the parents responsible for the acts of the children and they are given unto us that we might train them in the ways of life, eternal life, that they might come back again into the presence of God, their Father.
Now, some may think I am a little extreme but I think that the training of the children, the watching care over the children in the home by the mother, is worth far more than to have her seek employment, even if it is a matter of pinching a little in order to keep going in the home.
Again, we have throughout the Church, wherever it is possible for us to have this opportunity, seminaries and institutes which our children who are old enough to go to the public schools or even to the colleges may attend. Brethren and sisters, send your children to these seminaries. Those who are going to college will be old enough, if they have the proper training in their youth, to attend the institutes of the Church. They are old enough to take care of themselves. But help your children in every way you can to grow up with a knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Teach them to pray. Teach them to observe the Word of Wisdom, to walk faithfully and humbly before the Lord so that when they grow up to manhood and womanhood they can thank you for what you have done for them and look back over their lives with grateful hearts and with love for their parents for the manner in which those parents cared for them and trained them in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And so I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Eldred G. Smith
Eldred G. Smith, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 32-34
I pray that I shall have an interest in your faith and prayers while I take this precious time. We have heard of the successes of the missionary work and the other activities of the Church. The growth of the Church is glorious in all its activities. The success of man and the Church can be measured, I think, in the answer to the question, "How near to God are you?"
Every one of us came from a pre-earthly existence. We always existed. Before coming to this earth we lived with our heavenly parents. We were their children. Challenging Job, the Lord said:
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
And again Abraham said:
Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.
We are all children of our heavenly parents. We lived with them in the celestial kingdom. We walked by sight. We knew what the celestial glory was. As spirits only, we could not partake of the fulness thereof. We knew how our Heavenly Father came to his exaltation. Was it any wonder, then, that we shouted for joy when it was made known unto us that we could come to earth? We knew this was the step necessary and the opportunity for us to gain that glory which we there knew so well. We were promised that if we were faithful in all things we would have the opportunity to return unto our Father in heaven. We knew we would come here, having forgotten all, and be tried and tested. This was to be an opportunity where we would learn from our own experience. We were to learn good from evil, right from wrong. We would learn obedience.
To prove our obedience, among other things, there was a gospel plan given. This plan made necessary a Savior. Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, came in the Meridian of Time, and through his atoning sacrifice broke the bonds of death and opened the gates of the resurrection.
This Sunday all Christians celebrate the anniversary of this great day. Through him all shall have a glorious resurrection. We were promised the right and opportunity to return to our Father in heaven. Jesus Christ was our Elder Brother in that pre-earthly existence. He was, however, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. It was he who created this earth. Thus, as a God, begotten of the Father in the flesh, he had power over life and death. No power could take his life unless he gave it. He could have lived forever. But no, be chose to do the will of the Father and give his life that all might live. Thus he broke the bonds of death and opened the doors of the resurrection, giving all mankind, all God's children, the opportunity to be resurrected and come unto him.
Through Christ we shall all be resurrected, but not all to the same glory. In Corinthians we read:
There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.
The highest glory is the celestial, and naturally, the abode of our Father in heaven. To attain this glory there are special requirements. For this purpose is the gospel given to man. How well we, individually, accept and fulfil the laws of the gospel determines how near to God we will come.
How near to God are you? The Lord has said:
Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Brother Kimball reminded us this morning, and I have often heard him say, "Rest is not relaxation and lounging. It is exaltation."
Christ has given us the gospel as a way of life that will lead us, if we will live it fully, to exaltation. He has not left us to stumble blindly in the dark. It is there for us to follow and obey. Christ said to Nicodemus:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus did not understand, and the Lord added,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
How near to God are you? If you have not entered the waters of baptism yet, I suggest that you seek God in prayer and ask for understanding that you also may come nearer to him. Through prayer and wholehearted desire we may come near enough to him to receive extra added strength, to keep his commandments, to overcome evil, to change from bad habits to good habits.
Johnson said "bad men excuse their faults; good men leave them." Have you placed a barrier between you and God through misdeeds, neglect, omissions, or habits displeasing to God which keep you from coming nearer to him? How near to God are you? Repentance is a very difficult task, yet we all have plenty of it to do. Prayer is needed to help us repent. The feeling of guilt ties our tongues so that we cannot speak to him or approach him, yet God is always there to help. The door is never completely closed. Adversity is often the tool used to humble us and bring us closer to our Heavenly Father.
How near to God are you? Do you have the strength to repent? Yes, you may even be given added physical strength if you live near enough to God. I recall the experience of the Prophet Joseph Smith when he received the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. Before bringing them directly home he secreted them in a grove of trees, and upon returning for them he found them safe, and as he started homeward he was encountered by a man who tried to force them from him. He fought this man off, knocking him down, then in going farther the Prophet met another man whom he likewise knocked down. He continued again, and met a third man with the same result, then ran the rest of approximately three miles to his home. I think the Lord gave that experience to show him that he could receive extra added physical strength, because though he had the plates in his possession which would handicap or hinder him physically, he was still able to overcome the physical powers that were forced upon him.
Yes, how near to God are you? To be exalted with God in the celestial kingdom requires both righteous living and fulfilling the ordinances of the gospel. There are those who live a good life, but do not accept the ordinances of the gospel. On the other hand there are those who think that because they have been baptized, ordained, endowed, and sealed, that is enough. Yet they do not live righteous lives. Both righteous living and fulfilling the ordinances of the gospel are necessary to come unto God. Jesus Christ said to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove in that greatest of all visions:
... they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.
I wonder how many of us who are members of the Church draw near to him with our lips, but our hearts are far from him. Are we near enough to pay a full tithing? Are we near enough to keep the Word of Wisdom? Do we attend our Sacrament meetings? Do we do our ward teaching? Do we partake of the Sacrament and covenant to keep his commandments, and then keep them? Do we go to the temple to be sealed as husband and wife for time and eternity? Do we have peace, love, and harmony in our homes? Or are we like the ten virgins the Lord referred to of whom only fifty percent would measure up to come into his presence?
Patriarchal blessings are given to help us to return unto God, to be exalted in his kingdom. The blessings of the Lord are given to all who will come unto him. Seek his guidance in prayer and faith and humility, that the blessings of the Lord shall be unto you as you draw near to him with your hearts, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder ElRay L. Christiansen
ElRay L. Christiansen, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 35-37
I had had a desire to discuss a few truths of the gospel, having in mind particularly those Saints who are in somewhat of a quandary as to what it is all about, particularly those young people who have asked us such questions as: "Why worry so much about us?" "What difference does it make?" "Why is it necessary that we do this?"
For a wise and glorious purpose Thou hast placed me here on earth, And withheld the recollection Of my former friends and birth. Yet ofttimes a secret something Whispered, "You're a stranger here." And I felt that I had wandered From a more exalted sphere.
So sang the poetess, Eliza R. Snow. Since the Lord has seen fit to open again the windows of heaven and reveal his mind and will to his servants, the prophets, beginning with the Prophet Joseph Smith, greater understanding and knowledge has come to man in relation to his origin, his place on earth, and his relationship to God. As we have already heard, this earth was organized for a special, definite, and divinely designed purpose-that we might live here and by following the plan of the gospel of Jesus Christ work out our destiny, our future, our salvation.
Every one of us will die. All of us will be resurrected, and all of us will live forever-somewhere. Where we shall live in the hereafter is left entirely to each one of us as an individual. It is possible for us to rise to exaltation in the celestial world, or, if we are dilatory or disobedient or indifferent, it is possible for us to remain with those of that category.
There are varying degrees of salvation, of happiness, of joy, and the frightening thing to me is that it is left to me to determine where I will fit in, in that life to come. There is nothing, certainly, that I would like more than to find myself with my family, with those I love, with my friends, and with my Brethren, but I know that in order to merit that, I must conform to certain principles, accept all the laws and ordinances of the gospel. I must yield valiant service in the cause of righteousness, in helping to build up the kingdom, and I must, of course, have accepted baptism by immersion by proper authority in order to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Those ordinances are indispensable and essential for all of us. I hope that those boys and girls who have talked to me about this, and others who may be in the same frame of mind, who are seeking for happiness, will begin by conforming their lives to the principles of this glorious gospel, which is a gospel of happiness, a gospel of joy, a gospel that will bring us peace, even the peace that passeth understanding.
The Prophet Joseph Smith once made this statement, which is wonderful to contemplate:
Happiness is the object and design of our existence, and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it, and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and in keeping all of the commandments of God.
That is a simple prescription and it is just as easy to follow as it is to follow the compass once we set our course and get our directions.
Now, I am sure that we must have been faithful, even valiant, in that preexistent world because we have graduated, so to speak, with some degree of honor into this state of our existence, which was necessary in order to continue the next phase and rise to the heights of joy and happiness and receive all that the Lord desires us to receive. It is here, now, that we determine where and what we will be in that life which follows this one upon the earth. The precious right to direct the life that has been given to us by our Father should be cherished by each individual, for each may determine for himself whether he will perfect his life by keeping the commandments of God or whether he will follow his own inclinations and wayward ways. All of us, however, will be rewarded according to our works, and our salvation will be graded accordingly. In the gospel of Jesus Christ we have the perfect plan for the happiness that we may achieve.
There is no need for any of us to get lost in the wilderness of doubt and uncertainty, and of foolish doctrines, because the way is clearly defined.
It was Emerson who said: "Man has two creators-his God and himself." Having this life given us to live and to plan and direct, it is a tremendous responsibility that rests upon us. We must constantly segregate the things which endure from the things which are transitory. Split-second decisions, which all of us sometimes have to make, can be more safely made if there have been set up beforehand some "musts" and some "must nots." In this day of glamour, enticement, pressure, new temptations, in this day of moral laxity when more and more are feeling less and less the individual and personal responsibility for wrongdoing, it is imperative that each of us develops a firm desire to choose the right regardless of the circumstances.
Someone has aptly said: "Good character is determined by what you stand for, not by what you fall for." Why does the Lord, through his servants, constantly admonish us to choose the right and to keep his commandments? Simply because he is our Father, and he wishes us to be led into eternal happiness. He wants us to be free by avoiding the bondage of sin and of wrongdoing. His commandments are given to help us, not to hinder us. He would impose nothing upon us except it be for our good. He wishes to assist us through these commandments, which are principles by which we must learn to keep in order to find joy and peace, rather than regret and remorse.
"Be faithful and diligent in keeping my commandments and I will encircle thee in my arms of love", the Lord tells us. Why are your parents so deeply concerned over you, their boys and girls, hoping and praying constantly for your welfare? Because they love you; because they realize that there is in the world a force of evil just as certain as there is being directed a work of righteousness, and that between those two forces there is an eternal conflict with a human soul as the stake.
The Prophet Mormon had this in mind when he wrote these marvelous words:
Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually. But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.
My, what a revelation that is! Only when the spirit yields to the body has the devil power to overcome the spirit and prevail. The Adversary lives! He is not dead! He is active. He is powerful, even though his power is limited. I noted last night a statement of President Brigham Young that I would like to read in regard to this:
The adversary presents his principles and arguments in the most approved style, and in the most winning tone, attended with the most graceful attitudes; and be is very careful to ingratiate himself into the favor of the powerful and influential of mankind, uniting himself with popular parties, floating into offices of trust and emolument by pandering to popular feeling, though it should seriously wrong and oppress the innocent.
Satan is cunning. I will never forget what Brother Thomas E. McKay said in an address from this pulpit, "We do not lose our faith by a blowout-just by slow leaks." That is the way the Adversary works. The Book of Mormon makes the statement that he ensnares us, and if we do not repent, he "leads us carefully down to hell". He never jerks, just rather eases us along, unless we turn from the path of wrongdoing.
Your parents, my young brothers and sisters, do not wish their association with you to end with this life, but they realize that now is the time and the place and the opportunity to prepare for that grand reunion beyond the grave. A week or so ago a young couple came to the temple and received their endowments and were sealed in holy matrimony. In the group that met with them in the sealing room were represented three generations on each side. That, it seems to me, is as it should be. Families should participate as families in holy places. If we expect to be together as families in the next life, and it seems to me that is the center and the objective of the whole, then it is best and well that we get together as families in these holy temples under such circumstances as that.
The overwhelming desire that should be in the mind of every young boy and every young girl as he or she moves into young manhood and womanhood is to prepare himself or herself each day that he or she lives to be worthy of entering into the house of the Lord, and there receive the fabulous blessings that the Lord extends to those who desire them. How glorious is the doctrine that man was in the beginning with God! How glorious is the doctrine that families may be perpetuated forever! Of all the people upon the earth today the Latter-day Saints should manifest the greatest faith in God-not because we are a more gifted people or a better race, but because through the goodness of God we have received evidence upon evidence of our divine origin, and the knowledge that we are indeed his children.
Not only the Bible but also modern scriptures have revealed to us great and fundamental truths which are not generally understood as to the origin and destiny of man. In addition, appearances of the Lord himself and appearances of his heavenly messengers have added to the faith and knowledge of this people. I pray, brothers and sisters, that all of us, especially those who are coming into manhood and womanhood, may give sober thought to these glorious principles and be able to build our lives upon the sure foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, "whereon if men build they cannot fall".
I testify that he is real, he is the Savior. He was resurrected and he lives, and this is his plan for happiness and exaltation, and I do it humbly in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Amen.
Elder George Q. Morris
George Q. Morris, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 37-40
My dear brethren and sisters, I sincerely pray that the Lord will direct me by his spirit to say what I should say today. I had been thinking along lines similar to what the last two brethren have been speaking of. We have avoided a head-on collision, but we have been pretty close to it.
I have had in mind a statement of Job: "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble". I suppose at times we all may have that feeling ourselves. That leads to the matter of troubles and evils and sins and adversity which have been referred to today. I rejoice greatly in the revelations that God has given us so that we will understand life, and if we can get the right relation to sin and adversity and its opposites we can intelligently understand life. There has always been a debate through the centuries as to what sin is, and more particularly why there should be so much sin in the world. Some who believe in God think that it is only an illusion. Some faiths are based on the belief that there is no sin-that it is only an idea in the mind. Others who believe in a God think that perhaps he did not quite make a perfect job of the creation, and there are other various ideas advanced as the reasons for sin. The sin and suffering in the world, says the atheist, proves there is no God.
It has been a great satisfaction to me just to look over the Lord's explanation of why there is sin, and I want to bring to you the few short sentences in which he explains why sin is in the world. I think it will be enlightening to us and enable us to have the right understanding regarding this matter.
He said to his disciples:
Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!.
This is a very definite and clear declaration so far as we are concerned that in the world there must be offenses. There must be sin in the world, but the Lord blocks any illogical reasoning that because there is sin we cannot be blamed for having partaken of it with his statement: "but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!"
He also says, in the Doctrine and Covenants, 29:39, "And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men". That is a necessary situation in our lives. Then we are told what happened when transgression occurred. Because of Adam's transgression, the Lord said: "... cursed shall be the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life". I think we should bear in mind that the Lord said for the sake of Adam he would curse the land, and he followed this by saying,
By the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, until thou shalt return unto the ground-for thou shalt surely die-for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou wast, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Now this seems to paint a very gloomy picture, and some people do not go much farther than this, and try to blame Adam for the sins and troubles that come into their lives. I just want to say here in passing that I hope none of us-no member of this Church-will speak lightly of Adam, an august and glorious personage close to the throne of God, the father of our race, and identified as Michael, the great archangel. We should think of him and speak of him with love and with reverence, and not tolerate any other attitude in our presence.
That gloomy picture does look serious, and life is serious, but the Lord explains further:
And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet-.
This is a clear and definite statement that I think we must accept literally.
Further, the Lord said, after Adam had transgressed: "And I, the Lord God, said unto mine Only Begotten: Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil"; testifying that through his transgression Adam had attained a knowledge of good and evil which he did not have before.
Then the Father gives further instructions to Adam:
And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying: Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good.
This being "conceived in sin," as I understand it, is only that they are in the midst of sin. They come into the world where sin is prevalent, and it will enter into their hearts, but it will lead them "to taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good." And then with further emphasis on the matter of agency, the Lord says, "... it is given to them to know good from evil; wherefore they are agents unto themselves.
This matter of agency is the very essence of our existence. The Lord said unto Enoch:
Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency.
Also the revelation in the 93rd section of the Doctrine and Covenants emphasizes again this matter of agency. We are intelligences, and the Lord says,
All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence.
If we take away their free agency we nullify the purpose of the existence of mankind in the world. Satan attempted to do that.
By these revelations we see why sin is in the world and adversities and evils of various kinds. We can picture the plight of Adam and Eve. They had been condemned to sorrows, woes, troubles, and labor and they were cast out from the presence of God, and death had been declared to be their fate. A pathetic picture, indeed. But now a most important thing happened. Adam and Eve had explained to them the gospel of Jesus Christ. What would be their reaction? When the Lord explained this to them, that a redemption should come through Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father, Adam exclaimed:
Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh shall I see God.
And what was the response of Eve, his wife. She
heard all of these things, and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and... eternal life.
There is the key to the question of evil. If we cannot be good, except as we resist and overcome evil, then evil must be present to be resisted.
So this earth life is set up according to true principles, and these conditions that followed the transgression were not, in the usual sense, penalties that were inflicted upon us. All these that I have named to you that seem to be sad inflictions of punishment, sorrow, and trouble are in the end not that. They are blessings. We have attained a knowledge of good and evil, the power to prize the sweet, to become agents unto ourselves, the power to obtain redemption and eternal life. These things had their origin in this transgression. The Lord has set the earth up so we have to labor if we are going to live, which preserves us from the curse of idleness and indolence; and though the Lord condemns us to death-mortal death-it is one of the greatest blessings that comes to us here because it is the doorway to immortality, and we can never attain immortality without dying.
So these are all real blessings. We come to the earth with all these conditions arranged as they are so that we have to struggle constantly against evil, struggle to preserve our lives, struggle for everything of true value-that is the thing for us to understand-this is the course of life that is most desirable, and for our good. We have no need to find fault with these conditions. The Lord has ordained them all for our welfare and happiness. The truth as I understand and feel about it is simply that circumstances placed Adam in a position where by a technical transgression he could come into mortal life, moving out of immortality into these earth conditions for his blessing, for the blessing of the race, without which no immortality and eternal life and exaltation could ever come. And in doing this, also, of course, his body, taken from the earth, was made mortal-an absolute essential.
There is no salvation or exaltation except through the possession of a body of flesh and blood.
In conclusion I want to give this inspired declaration by the Prophet Lehi.
For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so... righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end. And they would have had no children; therefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin. But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
The answer to all the problems in the world is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which enables us to overcome all adversities, sin, and death, and go back into the presence of God fit to dwell in his presence, through the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.
I bear this humble witness that this is the Church of Jesus Christ, organized by him personally; that President David O. McKay is conducting the affairs of this Church as the Lord Jesus Christ directs him, and I bear this witness in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder LeGrand Richards
LeGrand Richards, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 40-43
I rejoice, my brothers and sisters, in the privilege of attending this conference with you and with my Brethren here on this stand. I love them, I love the Saints.
I thought when we listened to the report of the growth of the Church, how your hearts must rejoice! When I think of our visits to your stakes and your missions and what you and your families are contributing to the growth of the Church, surely that is what we labor for with all our hearts and souls and that is what we pray for! The Lord is blessing the efforts of the Saints throughout the world. May he continue to do so.
I thought that in the few moments I have here today I would like to make a few comments on a question that was asked me in a letter I received a few weeks ago from a nonmember of the Church whom I met on one of my visits in the Church. The question was this: "Please, sir, tell me why you think Joseph Smith was a prophet of God." I have preached on that subject for fifty years, and the more I do the more my heart is made to rejoice. I make these comments:
I believe the Bible to be the word of God. I believe, as has already been stated here today, that God had a plan when he created this earth, when he placed man upon it, just as definitely as any architect ever draws a plan for a building before it is constructed.
I believe the words of Isaiah when he said that the Lord declared the end from the beginning. I think it is our duty to understand that plan, to study it, that we might know and understand the purposes of the Lord in the creation of this world and what is yet to transpire before the coming of Christ, our Lord, to rule and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords, as he and the prophets have declared.
I believe the words of the Apostle Peter when he said that:
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
I believe that the word of prophecy is a more sure word than anything else we have in this world.
I like the words of the Savior on that same subject as he walked beside his disciples on the way to Emmaus when he said:
O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
And then beginning with Moses and the prophets, he showed them how that in all things they testified of him.
Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.
Just as the prophets of old declared the coming of Christ in the Meridian of Time and gave the signs that would accompany his coming, even to the casting of lots for his raiment when he was crucified, so have the prophets looked forward to the latter days when he would come in the clouds of heaven, and so have they proclaimed the events that would precede his coming. When he was here upon this earth, he was always looking forward to his final coming when he would come in power to reign among the children of men as King of kings and Lord of lords, and we should know something of the events that are to transpire to prepare the way for his coming.
I like the words of the prophet Amos in which he said,
Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
Never has there been a dispensation of God's truth in the earth without a prophet at its head except for the brief time that Jesus labored among men and stood as the head, and he called his Twelve, and as Paul tells us:
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God... That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.
You only need to look at the world today to know how we are becoming more divided year after year instead of more united because the apostles and prophets whom God put in his Church to bring unity of the faith were done away with.
I would like to refer to a few prophecies of the things that are to transpire before he comes. I quote first from the third chapter of Malachi, the first verse:
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, be shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
When he sends his messenger, who could he be other than a prophet of God, since God will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets? And if he sends his messenger to prepare the way for his coming, that he may come swiftly to his temple, we could expect that all the promises of the prophets pertaining to the preparation for his coming would be fulfilled under the direction of this messenger. And these promises could not be fulfilled except there was a prophet unto whom God could reveal his mind and will and give wisdom beyond the wisdom of man to accomplish all the prophets have foretold.
Briefly, let us refer to the promise given by Daniel in his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. He had already forgotten his dream, and he called for the wise men and the soothsayers and astrologers, and none of them could tell him his dream. Then he sent for the prophet in Israel, and Daniel took it up with the Lord. And he said that there was a God in heaven who maketh known Nebuchadnezzar's dream and the interpretation thereof. Then Daniel told him of the rise and fall of the kingdoms of this world until the latter days when the God of heaven would set up a kingdom that would never be destroyed or given to another people, but it would go forth until it would become as a great mountain and fill the whole earth, and it would stand forever, until one like the Son of Man would come in the clouds of heaven, to the Ancient of days.
And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Why do we read these things in the scriptures if they are not meant to be fulfilled? How can the world accept the scriptures and then believe that all these things can transpire without a prophet of the Living God to whom God can reveal his mind and will?
I bear you witness that Joseph Smith was the messenger sent, that he was the instrument in the hands of God in setting up this kingdom.
There is not time to go into details, but anyone with a fair mind who will analyze the organization of this Church and what it is accomplishing and the great order of the priesthood, could not hope to find anything else to compare with it in all the world. There just is not such an organization.
In the olden days they used to liken this Church to the German army. You know what happened to that, but the Church is still going on. One of our Presidents of the United States made the statement not long ago that the greatest organization in the world for the development of men and women was the Mormon Church. And one of our great writers recently said he considered it the most dynamic church in America. We know there is no other organization like it in this world, and any thoughtful person who will investigate will come to that conclusion; and that is one of the tangible evidences that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that he was the instrument in the hands of our Father in heaven in setting up his kingdom in the earth.
If we could but take time to go into some of the achievements of the Church-take, for instance, our welfare program. Of those who come here and see what we are doing, one man wrote recently, "Why aren't we all Mormons?" Another wrote, "I guess I am on the wrong boat." The world begins to see that we have a program the like of which cannot be found anywhere in this world today.
Then we come to our youth program, and those who come among us bear witness that there is nothing like it in the world. We know that is true.
Then we come to the great missionary program of this Church, and there is not anything like it in all this world. I tell you, the sacrifices that men and women and their children make to help carry this gospel message to every land and every clime must be a most wonderful, acceptable thing to our Father in heaven because he has indicated his interest in carrying the gospel to the nations of the earth,
So I give to my friends this great organization as one of the tangible evidences that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.
I would like to refer briefly to the promise in the fourth chapter of Malachi:
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Does the world believe this promise? And if Elijah were to come, to whom would he come other than to a prophet of God, since God will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets?
We bear witness that Elijah has come. You heard something of our microfilming program here today. Since Elijah came, there has been a wave sweep over this world in the interests of genealogy and record keeping such as the world has never dreamed of in years before. We have referred to the promise of the Lord through Malachi that he would send his messenger to prepare the way before him that he might come suddenly to his temple. How can he come to his temple except a temple is built in the earth to prepare for his coming, and who could build such a temple except a prophet of God?
Now, compare that with the work of Elijah who brought the keys of the great temple program, and then the words of Isaiah whom the Lord permitted to look down through the stream of time for three thousand years and who saw the last days with the mountain of the Lord's house established in the top of the mountains and exalted above the hills, and that all nations would flow unto it and say:
... Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.
You people who are here, and your parents before you, have been gathered from the nations to come to the house of the Lord in the top of the mountains. That could not have transpired without a prophet unto whom God could reveal his mind and his will and give instructions as to what temples are for; and this all is a part of the work of Elijah. This temple standing on this block is another tangible evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.
Let me give you the Book of Mormon. No man can believe the Bible and believe the words of the prophets without knowing that there is a companion volume of scripture that God the Eternal Father commanded should be written and declared that he would bring forth and join to the stick of Judah, which is the Bible, making them one in his hands, and one before his eyes.
How could he do that without a prophet of God to bring forth that marvelous record and join it to the record of Judah? We have that record before us. It has been before the world now for one hundred and thirty years, and people by the thousands and hundreds of thousands have borne witness that the promise contained in that book has been realized in their behalf in that God has manifested unto them the truth of the words of that book.
In Washington just recently, while holding a missionary meeting, a young mother of two children, a new convert to the Church, was asked to say a few words, and when she stood up, she said,
The missionaries promised me if I would read the Book of Mormon and ask God the Eternal Father, that he would manifest the truth of it unto me by the power of the Holy Ghost. I did that. I got down on my knees, and then I read that book, and my whole soul was illuminated, and I knew that that book was divine.
This is another tangible evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and one that the world has not yet been able to account for except as the Prophet Joseph declared.
In closing I leave you this one thought: We have been told that our convert baptisms last year reached nearly 32,000. If anybody who wants to know the truth would go out into these missions and interview those men and women who have left the teachings of their parents and joined this Church, he would find that they will testify that their membership in this Church has literally changed their lives.
One convert put it in words like this: "When I think of who I was when the gospel found me and what I am today, I cannot believe I am the same man. I do not think the same thoughts. I do not have the same habits. I do not have the same ambitions and desires in life." Membership in this Church will make bad men good and good men better.
That is what the Lord meant when he said we were to be born again. So I say to you that it is not what people know about this Church that holds them out, it is what they do not know about it, because it is God's eternal truth, and that is another of the tangible evidences that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I bear you my solemn witness that I know it in every fiber of my being, and I pray God to bless you all, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 45-49
My brothers and sisters, here present, those on the air, and our friends who may be listening: It is with a deep sense of the responsibility which rests upon me by virtue of my position that I stand before you this morning and with a prayer in my heart that the Lord will bless me and help me to say something that will be useful and upbuilding to you. And to that end may I ask that you be good enough to mingle your prayers with mine that we may accomplish this purpose.
For many years I have tried at this particular season of the year to have in mind some of the essentials of that great, last three days of the Savior's mortality. I have tried to run over in my mind some of the chief events, the death, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of him who has given us the plan by which we may come back into our Heavenly Father's presence. With your permission, l should like to run over this account, as briefly as may be, because it is the crucial incident in the life of the world.
I shall adopt that time we now celebrate in commemoration thereof which is usually accepted by Christendom, and therefore I will go forward beginning on Thursday night, the night of the Last Supper in the Upper Chamber, begun by an unseemly controversy as to precedence and signalized by the institution of the Sacrament, which occurred, I feel, after Judas had left the Chamber to arrange to betray the Master. That was a great Supper. There were great sermons preached by the Master.
When they had finished they went out to the Mount of Olives, where he preached again, and then a little later they retired to the Garden, and the Savior, taking Peter, James, and John, left the rest of the Disciples and went a little farther on.
Then the Savior left them and went still farther on, and asked them to wait and watch while he was gone. He went, and the burden of his prayer was: "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:... nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done".
He returned and found his three Disciples sleeping. Reproving them gently, he went away again, and gave the same prayer. He knew what was ahead of him. He knew the end was near. He returned to find the three Disciples sleeping again. Again a slight reproval, and the third time he went, the third time he prayed, and then came back and, finding them again asleep, said: "Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand".
And shortly after that, Judas returned with the crowd that was to arrest the Savior and did arrest him. When they came up, Peter drew his sword and struck off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the high priest. The Savior restored it and then gave utterance to that great principle: "... they that take the sword shall perish with the sword".
He was arrested. He was taken first, in what they say was an illegal examination, to Annas, the real high priest, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the titular high priest, who had been installed by the Roman Government. From Annas he went to Caiaphas, and it was Caiaphas who, in an agony of fear and apprehension, said, "I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God." And the Savior said to him, "Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power".
From Caiaphas he was sent to the Sanhedrin, later on in the morning, and the Sanhedrin passed what apparently was a formal judgment that he was to be crucified.
As the Jews could not impose the death penalty, from the Sanhedrin he was taken to Pilate, against whom Christendom has for nearly two thousand years vented its dislike, and yet, as I read the record, Pilate did practically all that the law under which he operated as stated in the Gospels, permitted him to do. Pilate came back to the multitude on at least five occasions and sought to secure the release of Jesus. At first he returned merely saying, "I find no fault in this man". And the multitude renewed their demand for his crucifixion.
Then Pilate sent him to Herod, and Herod sent him back, and Pilate began again the examination of Jesus. This time, and from then until the end, he pleaded that they take Barabbas and release Jesus. Three times at least this was done and each time they said, "Release unto us Barabbas"-it was their right, apparently, to demand the release of one man on this occasion-"Crucify him," Jesus.
During this latter examination it was that Pilate's wife sent to him a letter beseeching him not to do anything to this man. The result of one of the latest examinations was that Pilate took a basin and washed his hands and said, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it"; and the multitude cried, "His blood be on us, and on our children". It is my faith that this has been so for nearly two thousand years.
Then Jesus was turned over to be crucified. He was scourged, had a wreath of thorns placed on his head. He was stripped of the royal trappings they had mockingly placed upon him; reclothed in his own raiment; then started for the place of crucifixion. They picked up Simon, a Cyrenian, and forced him to carry the cross. When they came to the place of crucifixion, they, of course, made the necessary preparation.
It is said that this crucifixion was perhaps the cruelest way of taking human life that was practiced by the Romans. A hole was dug as you dig a post-hole. The cross was laid down, and the Savior was laid upon it and nailed with his hands and his feet. Two thieves were likewise crucified, and they were put one on each side.
As apparently they raised the cross to let it slip down with a thud into the hole that had been dug, the Savior cried out, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do". It is said that this dropping of the cross into the hole was the most painful part of the entire crucifixion. Modern revisionists have cast doubt on the verity of this divine invocation for love and forgiveness and yet it seems as well attested by ancient manuscripts and sources as any of Jesus' divine utterances.
Of the thieves, one began to upbraid him and the other to plead for mercy, and it was then that what was called the second outcry from the cross occurred, Jesus saying to the one who spoke kindly, "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise".
As the Savior looked down into the multitude before him, he saw his mother and John, and "he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!".
It would seem that at about this time, which was midday, or the sixth hour, darkness fell over the land of Palestine. It is not quite clear, according to some scholars, whether the darkness lasted in Palestine all the rest of the time of the crucifixion, but apparently it did not.
But the darkness came not only there, it also came on this continent, and the darkness on this continent, which seems to have been coincident with the falling of the darkness there, lasted for three days. The darkness in Palestine lasted only for three hours.
Apparently when the darkness was over in Palestine, the Savior made that outcry of almost human desperation, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?".
A little later, he said, "I thirst", and those in attendance gave him the sponge saturated with vinegar, which he drank. A little later, he cried out, "It is finished", apparently meaning that his earthly work was done. He had gone through his life. He had made the sacrifice.
Finally, just before his death, he cried out, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit".
Thus he became the true sacrifice for the Fall, ordained from the beginning of the world and before.
I will not touch upon his burial further than to say that Joseph of Arimathaea had nearby a newly hewn rock sepulchre, to which he and Nicodemus took the body of Jesus -Joseph was recognized as a follower of the Savior; Nicodemus would have been, if he had had the courage, as was so beautifully told yesterday by Elder Kimball. It is interesting to remember that the day that he was buried was the day fixed under the Mosaic law for the gathering of the first sheaf of the harvest, and as some commentators have noted, that while the women who were seated near the sepulchre returned, sorrowful, to their homes in the darkness, for their light had gone out, another group from across the Kedron returned joyously, carrying the sheaf, the first sheaf of the harvest.
That was Friday, yesterday.
This morning, Saturday, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate and petitioned, saying, "We remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can".
That was this morning.
Meanwhile, there was darkness on this continent, the darkness having cleared, as I have said, about three o'clock the day before in Palestine. There was a voice on this continent, heard all over the land, which declared: "Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God". He told of the calamities that had befallen them of this continent during the first three hours of violent storm and earthquakes; he told of his own mission and gave them hope. On this continent they could feel the darkness, it was so dense. They could light no fires.
That was today, Saturday.
Tomorrow morning, Sunday, while it is still dark, there will be an earthquake, for an angel of the Lord will come down and roll back the stone that closed the sepulchre.
While it is still dark, Mary Magdalene will be coming, and finding the sepulchre open, will rush back to Peter and John and tell them that the sepulchre is vacant. They will run, John outrunning Peter, to the sepulchre, look in and find it vacant.
Meanwhile Mary will have come and the Savior will appear to her, a repentant and forgiven sinner, a woman, the first witness of the resurrection. You will remember, she will try to touch him and he will say to her, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father".
Shortly after, the women from Galilee will come, expecting to go in, the Sabbath now being past, and prepare the body finally for burial. There will be two angels in the sepulchre, and they will say to them: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? ... Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here... go quickly, and tell his disciples".
And so there will thus be worked out in the morning, the atoning sacrifice, predicted, provided for, before the foundations of the earth were laid.
I have been interested in reading why the Savior himself said he came here. In that first great sermon of which Brother Kimball spoke to us yesterday, the Savior said to Nicodemus:
"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved".
When Pilate was questioning the Savior about his Kingship, the Savior said: "Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth".
To them on this continent he said: "Behold, I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the world, to save the world from sin".
You know, I have thought about that a bit. He came not to condemn the world, but to save it, to save you, to save me. He has told us there are many mansions. He has told us there is no space without a kingdom. He has told us that there are kingdoms with glory and kingdoms without glory. He has made a place for all of us, no matter who we are, where we are, how or when we lived.
I have a feeling, my brothers and sisters, that when the time comes for passing judgment, that great principle not to condemn the world, but to save it, will be fully operative and that for every good deed we have done, we shall receive the full reward that it is possible to bestow under the rules and laws governing, and having in mind justice. And I have the further feeling that for every ill thing we do there will be imposed upon us the least penalty that may properly be bestowed, having in mind the principles involved-eternal justice seasoned by mercy and love.
In the Passover Chamber, the Savior had said they could not go where he was going, but they knew where it was. Thomas said he did not know. Where was it? And then the Savior uttered those great words: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me".
Over and over again in his ministry, he proclaimed those principles. He is the way, he is the life, he is the truth, he is the light. That is the message which comes to us, and may God give to each of us the power to follow him, to live in his light, tread his way, observe his truths, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus, his Son. Amen.
Elder Antoine R. Ivins
Antoine R. Ivins, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 49-51
My beloved brethren and sisters, it is almost a frightening situation to face you and realize the obligation that that implies on my part. I seek an interest in your faith and prayers that anything that I may say may be directed by the Spirit of God our Heavenly Father.
First, I desire to say to Sister Bennion, Sister McKay, and Sister Kirkham, that I loved their husbands dearly and miss their presence today and hope that God will comfort the sisters in the absence of these wonderful men.
As you have been told, I am a member of the First Council of the Seventy, a group selected to proclaim the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and I am always interested in the progress that that great movement makes. There are many ways of doing it, of course; there are many fields of labor in which we embark to spread a knowledge of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
I have enjoyed the remarks of President Clark. I believe that there has come into my heart through inspiration and revelation a testimony that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he has worked out for us the means by which we can return to the presence of God, even in exaltation.
Last night we had a very interesting missionary meeting, and from my point of view, one of the most pleasing features of it was the very sweet and humble testimony of a new member of the Church as to the joys and the satisfactions that have come into his heart after having found what he called the pearl of great price. That comes about because the priesthood of God has been restored to the earth. The men who hold that priesthood have the obligation, which is really a privilege, of carrying to the world a knowledge of the plan of life and salvation, which through experience and observation I can testify is really true and effective in the lives of men and women who accept it and live it. People who accept that testimony have the privilege of coming into the fold and enjoying the many blessings that can result through the ministry of the priesthood of God.
It is a wonderful responsibility to hold that priesthood. It is a tremendous opportunity that we have in its administration, not only for the benefit of others who have not understood it and appreciated it, but for our own sakes as well.
It is now twenty-four years since I first stood at this pulpit and bore my testimony to you. In that time I have had the pleasure of ministering among the people of the stakes and the wards, and I have been in the territory of all the mission fields of Mexico, Canada, and the United States. I have seen it effective in the lives of people, and verily it is, as we were told last night, a pearl of great price which is within the reach of all who will strive to get it.
Now the pearl of great price is not a bound volume. We have one we call the Pearl of Great Price, of course, but that is not the pearl of great price to which I refer. The pearl of great price-what is it? It is the opportunity, I believe, to earn an exaltation in the kingdom of God, which comes to us as a merciful gift from Christ our Lord. Now, there are many others who have the privilege of earning that great gift.
I like to think of the pearl of great price as being in escrow, brethren and sisters, and we can only receive it-and perhaps we will not know whether or not we have done it successfully until the end of our days-by obtaining and exercising and magnifying the offices of the priesthood. That is what it means, brethren and sisters, the opportunity of the priesthood magnified in the lives of men and women, and the exaltation that can come about through that exercise.
To me that is the pearl of great price. It will never be retrieved from escrow until God gives us the word of commendation for a life well lived.
There are many, many men in the priesthood of God; we were told yesterday that there are almost 203,000 men in the Melchizedek Priesthood, and those men have that opportunity and that responsibility. As I have moved about among the stakes and checked in recent years, I have discovered, however, that there are many people who have gone through the formality of having that blessing bestowed upon them who evidently do not appreciate it. I have come to think that the Melchizedek Priesthood, perhaps, in certain sections, is the most unappreciated gift that we have. In many sections where I have been there are at least thirty percent of the elders who are reported inactive. Of course, I do not know just what "inactivity" means, but certain it is that when they are reported as such they are not striving fully to magnify their calling.
I like to suggest to those people the advantage of doing it-to hold up to them an incentive for it, and I would like to read you a little from the Doctrine and Covenants, which sets up that privilege:
For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God.
Now that means, to become the elect of God one has to magnify his calling in the priesthood.
And also all they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord; For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me; And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father; And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father's kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him. And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood. Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved.
Now that, my brethren and sisters, is the blessing that may be obtained by magnifying the calling we have in the priesthood. Two hundred and three thousand men have that opportunity. Two hundred and three thousand men, if they live to avail themselves of all of the privileges of the Melchizedek Priesthood, will be able to take from escrow that pearl of great price which is, in my opinion, exaltation in the kingdom of God our Heavenly Father.
The culminating privilege in the testimony of that fine brother last night was the fact that he had been able to take his wife and children to the temple in Los Angeles, to be sealed to his wife and have his children sealed to him. In many, many meetings which I have attended, meetings of elders and their wives and of reclaimed members of the Church, if you will permit that expression, the culminating blessing to which these brethren have testified is the privilege of being sealed to their wives and having their children sealed to them in the temple of God; and still, not fifty percent of our people who marry avail themselves of that privilege. All that our Father hath shall be given to him who magnifies that calling, and that means that he shall take his wife to the temple, because we are told also that men who succeed in fully living up to all of the privileges and responsibilities of the Melchizedek Priesthood shall become gods with the power of eternal increase. That is the pearl of great price, brethren and sisters.
Then, why should we not strive, once we have been offered that privilege, to magnify it?
Now it is our duty, the duty of those of us who strive to do it, to help others to realize the importance of it and then give aid and succor where it is necessary to strengthen in their determination these people who have not yet seen fit to qualify for all these blessings. We have many of them, yes, many of them, and who are they? They are our brothers, our cousins, our uncles, and in cases, our fathers. I had an elder in my chair, setting him apart one day, and asked his father if he could help me, it being a Melchizedek Priesthood function, and he said, "No." I said, "Well, brother, you have to be careful, because as soon as this son of yours gets in the mission field he is going to start to work on you to convince you of these things." He said, "Brother Ivins, he is not waiting to get in the mission field; he is starting now."
Well, there we are, brethren and sisters. That is just a typical instance of many men who are willing that their sons should go out and serve in this cause and are hopeful that their sons will be able to live better lives than they have.
On another occasion, as one of those fathers left my office, I said, "Now, the next time you bring a son in, and you say it is going to be soon, be sure that you can help me." He said, "I will."
Now, brethren and sisters, we all know that these things are important in our lives, but why cannot we develop the courage that it takes to qualify for the Spirit of God through exercising the priesthood that has been given to us to the very fullest of our ability? Why cannot we? That is the great and important problem, it seems to me, brethren and sisters.
I testify to you that priesthood is virile in the lives of men, that it is actual, that it has been restored. Bless your soul, in one direction, there are only two steps between my ordination as an elder and the Prophet Joseph Smith. It is here, brethren and sisters, in its vigor and in its strength and in its purity in unbroken line. Now why cannot we live worthy of it and magnify it?
May God help us to do it, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bishop Carl W. Buehner
Carl W. Buehner, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 53-56
I esteem it a great honor, my brothers and sisters, to be in your presence and to bear you my humble testimony of the divinity of this great work. As I look into the faces of this large audience of leaders gathered from all parts of the Church, fully aware of the tremendous activity going on in the Church, I feel to say, "God bless you every one."
Last Wednesday and Thursday, I enjoyed the honor of attending and participating in a number of sessions of the outstanding Primary conference. I came to a realization, more than ever before, of the marvelous influence of these sisters on the lives of our children. I would like wholeheartedly to commend them for the fine work they are doing and assure them that they have the love and blessing of each of us.
Among other things, they are teaching the Articles of Faith in language the children can understand. This after all is the very heart of the gospel. They are also conducting departments which are providing a great stimulation in preparing the young boys to receive the Aaronic Priesthood.
I heard a story the other day that could well be the result of the teaching of the Primary organization. This concerned a family who came to the bishop at tithing settlement time. In the group were the father, mother, and a number of children. As they came into the bishop's office, he greeted each of them, and when they were all seated, the bishop said, "I assume you have come to talk to me about your tithing and that you would each like to express your wishes concerning your own tithing account. Shall we start with little Johnny on the end of the line? Johnny, would you like to come forward and settle your tithing?" To this Johnny replied, "Yes," and he reached in his pocket, brought out a little worn purse, and after fumbling around in it a little while, found a dime, two nickels, and two or three pennies. He put these on the bishop's desk and said, "Bishop, this is my tithing in full." The bishop congratulated Johnny, wrote him out a receipt, indicated on it that it was tithing in full, and gave it to him. Returning to his seat, Johnny very proudly displayed the receipt to his father and said, "Dad, when you settle yours, I hope you will get one that says on it, 'Paid in full.'"
Faith-promoting stories such as this indicate to me that someone is providing our children with a desire to keep the principles of the gospel.
I feel honored and very grateful that I have been found worthy to be one of those selected to preside over the Aaronic Priesthood in this growing Church of ours. I sincerely hope that the Lord will assist us in our objective of saving every boy who comes under our direction. Some of the bishops are catching the vision and spirit of this. Not long ago I sat with one of these brethren while attending a ward teaching convention. He said to me, "Bishop, we have not lost one boy of Aaronic Priesthood age in our ward in the past five years." And just recently in a ward in the West Jordan Stake, a ward Aaronic Priesthood adviser made a similar statement, "Bishop, we have lost only one boy in six years." Then I recall at Christmas time being in my own ward and hearing my own bishop say to me, "This morning out of forty-eight boys holding the Aaronic Priesthood in our ward, forty-four were present at priesthood meeting, three had good excuses, and out of the forty-eight, only one is a problem boy." I imagine when all of the big guns are centered on that one boy, he will succumb, too. It will be easier for him to come to church than to endure all the pressure that will be put on him to bring him back into activity.
I have always been a great believer in our young men. I am happy to be associated with them, and I appreciate what you are doing to help us keep every one of them active in the Church.
A charming sister, Janet Frame Mecham, whose husband is the chairman of the Aaronic Priesthood committee in one of our stakes, observing the activities of her husband as he went about the work assigned to him, wrote the following lines:
Let's Accelerate in Fifty-Eight
In fifty-eight let's co-operate To accomplish what we designate. Our record we'll accentuate As each member we will stimulate. In the plan we want to instigate, Let's not one of us procrastinate. But each thing we shall inaugurate, Let's unanimously corroborate.
There are methods we'll incorporate, And others we must perpetuate. But some we cannot tolerate As we keep our plans right up-to-date.
Let each one our time here dedicate To each job our leaders delegate, And our efforts unitedly concentrate So each priesthood bearer will participate.
Joy and blessings forever compensate For the work and plans we consummate. There are stakes we could impersonate, But each one we should evaluate.
Take the best from each and contemplate How their methods we'll accelerate So our record will reverberate Through the Church in nineteen fifty-eight.
I am sure her husband could not have produced such a masterpiece.
Our problem does not concern us so much with the boys under twenty-one since their records are improving each year but with those who are over twenty-one who through the years have slipped into inactivity. These brethren we designate as senior members of the Aaronic Priesthood. I do not know when these brethren all got away from us, but I do know that we now have the greatest program we have ever had to bring them back to an appreciation of this great power called the priesthood-Aaronic Priesthood. Last year some three hundred and fifty schools for senior members of the Aaronic Priesthood were held in the Church. From these schools came a tremendous result for good. I have heard men bear their testimonies with tears dripping from their cheeks, grateful for the program of reactivation and that someone has gone out of his way to put his arm around them and invite them back into the activities of the priesthood program.
Brethren, we have some eighty thousand men like this. I hope through the united effort of all of the organizations that can make a contribution that we will have success in bringing back into activity most of these men who are depriving themselves of the blessings of our Heavenly Father, because they are now outside and not inside enjoying the blessings which come from magnifying the priesthood that they bear.
Recently, a sister who is the wife of one of these brethren said among other things while addressing a session of quarterly conference, "All I want for Christmas is a temple marriage." Her husband sitting in front of her heard this request. I would like eighty thousand other women to challenge their husbands to prepare their lives so that there can be eighty thousand temple marriages of this same type. We would strengthen the activity in this Church as we have never seen it before.
Responding to an assignment to give a talk, a senior member of the Aaronic Priesthood in the Portland Stake quoted a few familiar lines from Benjamin Franklin's Almanac:
For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For the want of the shoe, the horse was lost. For the want of the horse, the rider was lost. For the want of the rider, the battle was lost. For the loss of the battle, the kingdom was lost, And all because of a nail.
This senior member paraphrased these few lines, and this is what he said:
For the want of activity, the love was lost. For the want of love, the service was lost. For the want of service, the faith was lost. For the want of faith, the repentance was lost. For the want of repentance, the salvation was lost. For the loss of salvation, a place in God's kingdom was lost. And all because of the want of activity.
I do not have time to elaborate on this, but I think that man had a great thought.
What is the Aaronic Priesthood? It is a power that has been delegated to man that has in it great blessings and great opportunities to serve. The Aaronic Priesthood was named after a devoted and faithful man, Aaron, the brother of Moses, who was given to Moses as a spokesman since, as the scriptures record, Moses was slow of speech. It was by the power of the Aaronic Priesthood that John the Baptist came crying in the wilderness and told of one coming who was greater and mightier than he and who would perform great miracles. It was by the power of this same priesthood that the Savior of the world was baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. It was this same John the Baptist who under the direction of Peter, James, and John restored the Aaronic Priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. After his ascension, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, by the authority of the Aaronic Priesthood that had come to them, baptized each other in the Susquehanna River. It is the power by which the emblems of the Sacrament are administered each Sunday and given to the members of the Church in remembrance of the broken body and the spilt blood of the Savior of the world.
It is the power by which young men are designated as ward teachers to go with their senior companions into the homes of members of the Church to preach, teach, expound, and the other things spoken of in the Doctrine and Covenants. It is also the power by which a young boy twelve years of age comes to your door and offers you a blessing by inviting you to make a contribution to the fast offering funds of the Church. It is a great honor to be a bearer of the Aaronic Priesthood and to magnify that power which has come through being so honored.
I would like to say to the seventy or eighty thousand other bearers of the Aaronic Priesthood who are men, now likely heads of families, I wish that to you, too, could come the blessing that comes to every active bearer of the Aaronic Priesthood. I would like you to know that you are invited to come into our chapels. There have been many who have said, "I have been away so long, I think I am not wanted." You will never know how much you are wanted, and you will never know how much good it will do you, too. The Church needs you, but you also need the Church. Your family needs you, as a man magnifying the priesthood, to stand at the head of your home.
I have heard a few verses of poetry quoted that have a line which goes something like this, "And I stepped in your footsteps all the way." Would we be proud if our boys stepped in our footsteps all the way? We would if we were magnifying the priesthood and enjoying the blessings that come to us through faithful participation.
In conclusion I would like to say that it has been reported that someone said a dirt-road traveler traveling along the highway saw a sign that read, "You had better pick your rut now because you are going to be in it for the next twenty miles." There is nothing that says you are going to be in it for the rest of your life, and while most of us may detour a little-we get in trouble, and we may be in a rut for a little while-it does not mean we cannot get out of the rut and get on a good, hard highway and make up for the years we were in the rut by getting on that road that leads us to life eternal.
I bear you my testimony, my brethren of the Aaronic Priesthood, that if you will magnify that priesthood and work for its great blessings, even greater blessings will come to you, and then one day will come to pass that which this one sister asked for, "All I want for Christmas is a temple marriage."
May it come to each of us, and may we find joy in assisting these brethren back into activity in the Church, I pray humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Clifford E. Young
Clifford E. Young, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 56-58
My brethren and sisters, you will readily understand that in the interest of time I can only bear my witness to the truth of the messages we have received thus far in this conference. As I have listened this morning, I have been profoundly impressed. I think that it would be a good thing for all of us, after listening to President Clark, if we could become familiar with the manual that our brethren of the Melchizedek Priesthood are using this year. As you doubtless know, we are using Our Lord of the Gospels, that splendid book Brother Clark has given to us after years and years of careful study. We are not Bible readers. Here is an opportunity for us in our homes to become such, and I would like to recommend that the members of the families-not only the priesthood-but all the members, become familiar with this monumental work by reading the Melchizedek Priesthood manual. At first it may appear to be somewhat complicated and involved, but it is not. It is beautiful because of its simplicity, and I am sure all will so regard it if they read it.
Now, to make a comment or two in harmony with what has been said on this occasion: We are celebrating Easter. It is a time when our hearts are turned to our fathers, to our children, to those whom we love who have passed to the other side. I have thought a lot about my colleague, Brother Thomas E. McKay, by whom I have sat for seventeen years. I had a deep affection for him and he for me. We understood each other. This understanding of which I speak is impressively expressed in the Letters of Franklin K. Lane published after his death. He was the Secretary of the Interior under Woodrow Wilson, and a man from the West. He was ill in the Mayo Hospital. It was his last illness. He wrote his memoirs, or Letters, and as he concluded he wrote the following the day he died:
But for my heart's content in that new land, I think I would rather loaf with Lincoln along a river bank. I know I could understand him. I would not have to learn who were his friends and who his enemies, what theories be was committed to, and what against. We could just talk and open our minds, and tell our doubts, and swap the longings of our hearts that others never heard of. He would not try to master me nor make me feel how small I was. I would dare to ask him things and know that be felt awkward about them, too. We would talk of men a lot, the kind they call the great, and I would not find him scornful...
I feel that way this morning as I have thought about these Brethren, and especially about Brother Thomas E. McKay, whom I learned to admire so much.
Now, the message, briefly, is this, my brethren and sisters: These, our associates, of whom we have heard, whom we all learned to appreciate because of their devotion to the Church-and they were devoted men-I have known them for many years and had their help when I was working in stake organizations; in the MIA, the help of Brother Oscar A. Kirkham; Brother Adam S. Bennion visiting us as a member of the general Sunday School board; and then our association with Brother Thomas E. McKay for these past seventeen years.
In their passing we have learned, I think, two lessons-and I will just mention them. The first one is this: As we think of tomorrow, Easter Sunday-the Savior died on the cross, but that was not the end. He merely laid his body down to be healed of its infirmities. It was the cloak that covered his spirit. That is precisely what we will do. During those three days that his body lay in the tomb he was active. Peter tells us:
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
Here Jesus was again teaching them. How beautifully that harmonizes with the message of hope that Brother Clark has given us.
Of course, we have to repent and make amends, but there is this message of hope because God wants to save his children. And so we lay our bodies down. The Savior laid his down, but he was active and busy, and then in three days he took it up, a body of flesh and bones. It doubtless was not entirely healed. The scars were still there. He showed them to the doubting disciples. "... handle me, and see;" he said, "for a spirit hath not flesh and bone; as ye see me have".
And so we lay our coats away. These Brethren whom we love have laid theirs away, but not their spirits. They are active on the other side. I dare say that they know this day what we are doing, and they may be near us as we meet today. It is a glorious thought-this message of Easter and the resurrection.
Now, the other lesson: As we met in the final services-we were in the Assembly Hall for Brother Thomas E. and Brother Oscar, and here in this Tabernacle for Brother Bennion-we were all touched. Our hearts were mellowed. They were full of compassion. Brethren and sisters, is not that spirit the agency that is going to make this world better prepared for the second coming of the Savior? We were all sympathetic and thoughtful of those in sorrow with no unkindness in our hearts. To me that is one of the purposes of death. We do not understand all of its purposes, but there is a refining element, a healing balm that comes from the sorrow incident to the passing of those we love.
I want to read these lines from Catherine Marshall, who wrote so feelingly after her husband's passing. Peter Marshall had been Chaplain of the U. S. Senate and was widely known for his faith and integrity.
For the first time I understood why the Bible speaks of God's love as a refiner's fire, which burns us clean but does not consume. The pain of parting was like a burning flame in my heart, but it was a cleansing, refining action, consuming the dross and leaving the imperishable part of me intact and stronger than ever before..
Is not that what these experiences do for all of us? And it is true whenever we are called to a house of mourning. The Lord said, "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting". He knew what sorrow, affliction, and death would do for his children, and we know from experience what they do for us.
You multiply that attitude of sympathy and thoughtfulness throughout the world-and no one is immune; it is an experience vouchsafed to everyone-and you will comprehend the saving grace that lies in sorrow, anguish, and affliction. The Lord knew what it would mean to his children; how such would rekindle in the hearts of men love, sympathy, and greater compassion and thoughtfulness toward one another.
Paul wrote of Jesus, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered". Obedience of mind and of soul! We learn obedience of the soul, and we learn to harmonize our thinking and our feelings with all that is good because of these blessings, and then with these blessings there comes a glorious blessing of a reuniting as there came the glorious blessing of the Savior coming back to his disciples as a living reality-the Resurrected Lord.
And to you and me this has been reaffirmed in this day through the Prophet Joseph, for which we are humbly grateful to our Heavenly Father. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Ezra Taft Benson
Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 58-61
My brethren and sisters and friends, seen and unseen: I am grateful beyond my power of expression for the blessings of this conference. I have in my pocket a perfectly good manuscript which I feel impressed not to impose upon you today. There is something in my heart I should like to say in the few moments remaining in this meeting.
Like some of my Brethren who have referred to the recent passing of our three beloved associates, I, too, miss them deeply. It may come as somewhat of a surprise to some when I say that Brother Adam S. Bennion, who was older than he appeared, was my teacher. I am probably younger than I appear, but Brother Bennion was one of the truly great teachers who have touched my life.
For a term at the Alpine summer school, of Brigham Young University, I was fortunate enough to sit at the feet of Adam S. Bennion in a course that I shall never forget-a course in biography. I remember the term paper which he assigned to us. It caused us to turn the searchlight on our own lives. The subject was "Why I Am What I Am." Under his stimulating direction that group of students searched their souls for the influences that had come into their lives, the examples that had been set them, the temptations that had crossed their paths, and the influences of the Church and of good men and women. I still have that term paper; I am grateful to Brother Bennion that he turned my thoughts inward and made me analyze my own life and the influences which had affected the life of a young man up to that time. I am grateful for the contribution which he made as one of the great teachers of the Church. My life has been enriched. He helped inspire me to seek the good things which I enjoy.
I had the glorious privilege of traveling to stake conferences with Brother Thomas E. McKay. I think I never met a sweeter, more humble, and more beloved man. He was good to be with. I loved him. My life has been enriched through my association with Thomas E. McKay.
As an MIA worker I was stimulated and inspired as a boy, and later as a stake superintendent of the YMMIA by Brother Oscar A. Kirkham. He had the power to inspire youth and their leaders to noble achievement. I loved him as he loved the youth of the Church.
God bless the memory of these three noble souls whom we miss so much today. The world is a better place to live because they lived in it. I hope to live worthy to meet them in the eternal world.
My brethren and sisters, I love the Church and all that pertains to it. It has been my pleasure in the last few years to mingle with many people in and out of the Church. I am very grateful for the spirit of brotherhood and fellowship which we find in the Church. This spirit is a somewhat intangible thing. It is difficult to describe. But it is real-powerful-sweet. You have to feel it to appreciate it.
Recently with my wife, two daughters, and members of my staff, I made a world trade trip which took me into fourteen countries. In most of these countries I was very proud and happy to meet members of the Church. They were at the airports to welcome us and bid us farewell as we departed. Several groups came to the embassies to see us.
In far-off Japan it was a joy to join with some four hundred Japanese members of the Church in a Sunday morning service. We rejoiced to have the privilege to meet with our Mormon servicemen, some of whom had traveled a thousand miles to attend meetings on the Sabbath day. I will long remember the meeting with the Saints in Hong Kong, some of them refugees from Red China, and the spirit present as I met with local and full-time missionaries, and mingled with the Saints. We met with groups of the Saints in Turkey, in Greece, in Spain, in France, in England. Yes, even in the country of Jordan we met a family or two of the Saints in a Union Sunday School, a Christian Sunday School attended by many fine people of various faiths. I had the glorious privilege of addressing the group, and I was very pleased to find in the leadership of the Sunday School a member of the Church living the gospel, promoting the kingdom through example and through word of mouth.
I had many pleasant gospel conversations. Good people-heads of states and other high officials in India, Pakistan, Jordan, Israel, Italy, Portugal, and other countries showed sincere interest in the Church and its people. Much Church literature has been mailed to new-found, good friends around the world. Their hospitality and friendliness will never be forgotten. Although we felt especially close to members of the Church, we were impressed with the fact that people everywhere are essentially good. They long for peace. They love their families and seek to improve themselves and raise their standards of living. I came back with a greater love for all of God's children-for he has truly "made of one blood all nations".
So, my brothers and sisters, as I travel about the world, it is a glorious thing to note how the Church is growing and increasing. One very fine leader of a foreign state, when I asked him if there were any Mormons in his particular capital city, said: "Mr. Secretary, I have traveled a great deal, and I have come to believe that the Mormons are everywhere. Wherever I go, I find them." His statement called to mind an incident when we first moved to Washington, back in 1939 or 1940. I had gone to my office early to get some work done before the telephones started ringing. I had just seated myself at the desk when the telephone rang. The man at the other end said, "I would like to have lunch with you today. I am a stranger to you, but I have something that is very urgent." I consented reluctantly, and a few hours later we faced each other across a luncheon table at a downtown hotel.
He said, "I suppose you wonder why I have invited you here." Then he added: "Last week as I came out of a luncheon meeting in Chicago, I told some of my business associates that I had been given the responsibility of coming down to Washington, D. C., to establish an office and employ a man to represent our corporation." Then he listed some of the assets in his great business organization. He said, "I began telling my associates of the kind of young man I would like to represent us in this office in Washington. First of all, I said to my associates, I wanted a man of sterling character. You know, where there isn't character there isn't much that is worthwhile. I would like a man who is honest, a man of real integrity, a man who lives a clean life, who is clean morally, who, if married, is a devoted husband, and who, if unmarried, is not chasing lewd women."
Well, of course it was not difficult to give him the names of three or four or a dozen who fully met the standards he outlined. I mention this, my brethren and sisters and friends, because in the Church we have certain standards, standards of living, standards of morality, standards of character which are coming to be well known to the world. These standards are admired. People with such standards are sought after. These standards are based upon true, eternal principles. They are eternal verities.
In the Church we have no fear that any future discovery of new truths will ever be in conflict with these standards-with any fundamental basics principle which we advocate in the gospel. Truth is always consistent. This fact gives to us, as members of the Church, a feeling of great security, a feeling of peace, a feeling of assurance. We know beyond any question that the truths which we advocate, the truths of the gospel restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph, are in very deed the truths of heaven. These truths will always be consistent with the discovery of any new truths, whether discovered in the laboratory, through research of the scientist, or whether revealed from heaven through prophets of God. Time is always on the side of truth.
I am grateful for this assurance. I am grateful for the knowledge which I have regarding the purpose of life, regarding the meaning of life, regarding the truths of the restored gospel. At this Easter season I would like to join my testimony to the testimonies of my Brethren which have already been borne, and those that will be borne in the remaining sessions of this conference.
In a world filled with doubt I am grateful for the knowledge which I have that God lives, that Jesus is in very deed the Redeemer of the world, the Savior of mankind; that that beautiful story which President Clark related here this morning is in very deed the account of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus the Christ, the Redeemer of mankind. I am humbly grateful for the knowledge that I have that God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, as glorified beings have again come to this earth in our day, in this dispensation; that they did in very deed appear unto the boy prophet, the boy Joseph, in the Sacred Grove in 1820. This was the most glorious manifestation of God the Father and the Son of which we have record. It is, no doubt, the most glorious and most important event that has transpired in this world since the resurrection of the Master. It is of world-wide significance.
I testify to you, my brethren and sisters and friends, that Joseph Smith was and is a Prophet of the Living God, an instrument in the hands of God in revealing to earth again the truths of the everlasting gospel, in bringing back the priesthood, the authority to act in God's name.
I am grateful for the privilege of living in this day when the gospel is again upon the earth in its purity, in its fulness, and that we are permitted to enjoy the fruits of the gospel through membership in the Church and kingdom of God. This is the Church of Jesus Christ. He stands at its head. We serve him in striving to build up his kingdom, and in promoting the cause of truth throughout all the world.
God bless us, my brethren and sisters, and hasten the day when the gospel will touch the lives and the hearts of all God's children in all lands, that they too may know of the sweets of the gospel, and the blessing of a testimony of the truth, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Henry D. Moyle
Henry D. Moyle, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 62-66
Heber J. Grant once said at Brigham Young University:
"This Church is founded upon the statement 'the glory of God is intelligence'. In addition to that, in this school we are seeking to implant in the hearts of the young men and women an absolute testimony of Jesus Christ and of the restitution again to the earth of the plan of salvation."
Men cannot be saved in ignorance. What a glorious understanding of life these eternal truths give to us. The leaders of the Church from the beginning have pursued a consistent course in endeavoring to give life to these truths. We can be justly proud of our accomplishments in seeking to educate our youth in the eternal principles of the gospel.
As early as 1832 in Kirtland the Lord directed his people to establish the school of the prophets. The Lord said in part:
... the school of the prophets, established for their instruction in all things that are expedient for them, even for all the officers of the church, or in other words those who are called to the ministry in the church, beginning at the high priests, even down to the deacons-.
From the day of the establishment of the school of the prophets and later the school of the elders until now, we have never stood still.
The organization of the Relief Society is nearly as old as the Church. What wisdom and foresight inspired our leaders to educate and train our women for the responsibilities of motherhood, to develop their minds and qualify themselves to teach their children and inspire them to gain wisdom and understanding in their generation! So today we view with the just pride of accomplishment the work of all our auxiliary organizations.
Sisters who are actively engaged in Relief Society work and who have been blessed by it, are the ones who take the little children to Primary when they are six years of age. They encourage them to follow through and to graduate from Primary. The boys are there prepared and qualified to enter into the Aaronic Priesthood and receive the blessings and powers incident thereto, the young girls, with the young boys, to pursue their week-time Church activities in the Mutual Improvement Associations.
These same Relief Society sisters are the mothers who uniformly throughout the Church take their families to Sunday School where parents and children, the entire family, join in studying the principles of the gospel and worship God on the Sabbath day.
How grateful we all are for our parents whose kindly insistence and persuasion gave us the benefits of all these great organizations. Thus we had instilled in our hearts the love of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
All our activities in the Church tend to develop our minds and increase our understandings. In all our work we are called upon to participate. We speak, we sing, we pray-each in his own individual right entitled to take part in every appropriate activity.
We understand that man cannot be saved in ignorance.
We cannot overlook the great work which is accomplished in our priesthood quorums, where every man is taught to be his brother's keeper, where the necessity exists for us to know the gospel, to be capable of fulfilling our responsibilities in the priesthood, finally to go into the mission field prepared to deliver the message of truth and light to the world. This is our crowning achievement.
Our Sacrament meetings are sacred gatherings where we partake of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper and meet thus to renew our covenants and to worship God. Here we are likewise inspired to learn. It is in these gatherings, with their rich outpouring of the spirit of the Lord, that we learn some of the greatest truths of the gospel from the lips of our inspired ward and stake leaders. In our quarterly conferences, which are intended for all, the instructions of the General Authorities of the Church are received.
Now the experience of one hundred and thirty years has taught us that over and above and beyond all these opportunities for learning, unexcelled as they are, there is a need for a more intensive, detailed study of the Church. Born of these needs of the past is our present Unified Church School System. I can speak with feeling and a deep sense of appreciation for what the Church schools did for me. I wish every Latter-day Saint boy and girl the same glorious experience. The spirit of our Church schools is contagious. It is wonderful to be a part of a student body where all teachers and students alike are dedicated to their work with like ideals, ambitions, and understanding of life, determined to fulfill life's destinies to the fullest extent, where confidence in one another reigns, a brotherhood of man recognizing the Fatherhood of God, an atmosphere of righteousness and virtue where trust and confidence abide.
"If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves."
For the most part, it can be said that those who attend our Church institutions of learning have been inspired to do so as a result of the training and inspiration they received in the Primary and Sunday School and Mutuals, encouraged by mothers trained in the Relief Society and fathers active in the priesthood. It is the co-operation of parents and students that accomplishes our full purpose.
Our children are entitled as a matter of right to our encouragement, patience, perseverance. Likely no people have received such a challenge as is ours.
The Lord has said:
And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old the sin be upon the heads of the parents. For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion or in any of her stakes which are organized. And they shall also teach their children to pray and to walk uprightly before the Lord.
The Unified Church School System can play a great part in helping us fulfil our duty to our children. It is in our weekday schoolwork, whether it be seminary, institute, college, or university, that we can in large measure make up for the deficiency in all other activities, a wonderful systematic presentation of religion, our own and other religions as well. We believe it important to know the history of religion generally, the origin, purpose, and practice of the religions of the world with which we are surrounded and with which we come in contact throughout life. We believe the greater, the more general our knowledge is, the freer we become and the more intelligent the use we make of our free agency.
We are called upon daily to judge, to decide, to determine for ourselves the innumerable problems that arise in our lives and the lives of our families and friends.
If we are familiar with the basic principles of the gospel, our decisions are far more likely to be based on truth rather than error.
See Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
The cause of God is one common cause, in which the Saints are alike all interested; we are all members of the one common body, and all partake of the same spirit, and are baptized into one baptism and possess alike the same glorious hope. The advancement of the cause of God and the building up of Zion is as much one man's business as another's. The only difference is that one is called to fulfil one duty, and another duty; "but if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, and if one member is honored, all the rest rejoice with it, and the eye cannot say to the ear, I have no need of thee, nor the head to the foot I have no need of thee;" party feelings, separate interests, exclusive designs should be lost sight of in the one common cause, in the interest of the whole.
The Prophet further said:
This is a work destined to bring about the destruction of the powers of darkness, the renovation of the earth, the glory of God and the salvation of the human family.
John Taylor once said:
We want... to be alive in the cause of education... And instead of doing as many of the world do, take the works of God to try to prove that there is no God, we want to prove by God's works that he does exist, that be lives and rules and holds us, as it were, in the hollow of his band.
And then we want to study also the principles of education, and to get the very best teachers we can to teach our children; see that they are men and women who fear God and keep his commandments... Let others who fear not God take their course; but it is for us to train our children up in the fear of God. God will hold us responsible for this trust...
You will see the day that Zion will be far ahead of the outside world in everything pertaining to learning of every kind as we are today in regard to religious matters. You mark my words, and write them down, and see if they do not come to pass. We are not dependent upon them, but we are upon the Lord. We did not get our priesthood nor our information in regard to his law from them. It came from God.
Heber J. Grant stated:
There is one thing, and only one thing that church schools should do, and that is to make Latter-day Saints.
We are prepared to take care of the religious training of every Latter-day Saint boy and girl who lives within the areas where seminaries, institutes, colleges, and universities of the Church have been instituted. There are few if any places within the organized stakes of Zion that need be without appropriate religious training for their families if they so desire. We are constantly expanding our seminaries and institutes.
We are confident as General Authorities of the Church that we have pretty well done our part within the limits of our current income.
We realize the economic waste when all do not participate. Serious as this is, it cannot be compared with our spiritual loss. Measured by any conceivable standard, graduates of our seminaries and institutes are better qualified to meet all of life's problems than those who have absented themselves from these opportunities. Some of these problems to which I specially refer are:
l-Schoolwork 2-Professional study 3-Compulsory military service 4-Competitive employment 5-Missionary labors-stake and foreign 6-Marriage 7-Parenthood 8-Politics 9-Church
Better take an extra year of high school than miss such an essential basic preparation for our life's work.
Every returned missionary realizes the importance of a Church school education. Those who go on missions first invariably come home with a desire to learn more, both in their academic studies and of the gospel. Last year we had over 1300 returned missionaries at Brigham Young University and large numbers registered in our institutes at other great seats of learning.
Each of the student body presidents at Brigham Young University for the past six years has been a returned missionary.
Our seminary attendance has increased 26.6 percent in four years.
Another important detail. Our division of religion in our educational system has been organized to train and direct stake missionaries. In one school, out of a student body of 400 nonmembers, 60 were converted and baptized in a year.
There may be some problems, some obstacles, some inconveniences in endeavoring to register for and attend seminary and institute classes regularly. It is the things in life for which we are compelled to struggle that generally are worth the most to us in the long run. The fruits of our educational system can be observed in the lives and accomplishments of our graduates from seminaries, institutes, and schools. A recent survey showed 87 percent of a group of graduates married in the temple and another 6 or 7 percent later sealed to each other for time and for all eternity.
Brigham Young in the Deed of Trust to the BYU in 1875 wrote:
That the pupils shall be instructed in such branches as are usually taught in an academy of learning, also in the Old and New Testaments, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants.
Brigham Young said to Karl G. Maeser:
I want you to remember that you ought not to teach even the alphabet or the multiplication tables without the spirit of God. That is all. God bless you.
Academic rank among our teachers in the Church school system depends upon:
1-Personal qualities, including attitude toward and adherence to the principles and teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 2-Worth as a teacher. 3-Academic scholarship and competence, degrees and distinction. 4-Achievement and competence in scientific research, philosophic investigation, artistic production, or other professional endeavors. 5-Public service to Church and community.
To assist in building up our Unified Church School System we have organized district, stake, and ward education committees:
1-To contact during the summer all students of high school and college age and persuade them to enroll in seminaries and institutes.
2-To act as a transportation committee to create ward transportation pools to transport students from home to seminary classes; to encourage all students away from home to enter into active participation in the Church; to give bishop or branch president names of all students moving into his area.
Stake, and in some places district, boards are organized to meet regularly with seminary and institute personnel.
Acquaint stake and ward officers with details of the Church educational system, inviting them to be active in the support and direction of its program.
We as Latter-day Saints should learn to stand alone. We should insure our children doing likewise in their generation. We have all been instructed of the Lord to act for ourselves in whatever sphere God places us. We have been instructed of the Lord to be a free people.
Wherefore, hear my voice and follow me, and you shall be a free people, and ye shall have no laws but my laws when I come, for I am your lawgiver, and what can stay my hand?.
The Lord has said:
That through my providence, notwithstanding the tribulation which shall descend upon you, that the church may stand independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world.
With the knowledge of our destiny and our purpose on earth, we readily understand the great emphasis placed by the Church on the education of our youth.
It should need no argument for those of us who are grounded in the faith to accept without hesitancy the great educational program prescribed, prepared, and made available for our people by our great leaders. The First Presidency stand at the head of our Unified Church School System. How could they encourage us more than they do to accept and utilize that which they prepare for us?
Again the Lord has said:
And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation. Behold, this is the promise of the Lord unto you, O ye my servants.
Great strength is given us by the knowledge we have of the inspiration which directs our leaders.
A weekday religious training is the ideal established for us all. These daily classes do much toward inspiring our youth to follow onward and upward to obtain an education far beyond that which they might otherwise be expected to attain.
No other time, no other effort in our school careers will bless us more than our Church schoolwork. Faith, devotion, stability, ambition will be engendered in our hearts by the study of the gospel under men who hold the priesthood, inspired of our Heavenly Father, dedicated to the development of intellects and the establishment of virtue in the hearts and lives of their students.
I attended a wonderful seminary meeting in Canada last Saturday, just at this time, and the coordinator there gave this instruction to those seminary teachers: "Go out and tell the students and the parents that if they have to take an extra year of high school in order to get in seminary that it will be worth more than all else to them."
May God bless us to appreciate the privileges and the opportunities afforded us in this great institutional system, I pray humbly in Jesus' name. Amen.
Elder Levi Edgar Young
Levi Edgar Young, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 66-69
I pray that I may say a few words that will be helpful in connection with the great ideals that we have already heard during this conference.
I want to mention very briefly an organization in America known as "The America-Christian Palestine Committee," of which I have the honor of being a member with Right Reverend Arthur W. Moulton of the Episcopal Church. The two of us are on the executive committee of this great organization. There are over two hundred different religious sects in the United States, and many sects here in Utah. They vary, of course, in their activities, but every group follows ideals and looks to God for help.
When Christopher Columbus reached this western world in 1492, he in time expressed to the king and queen of Spain that he was "the agent in the hands of God, to go forth upon the mighty waters." According to Washington Irving, Columbus when he set foot on the island of San Salvador uttered the following prayer in Latin. Translated it reads:
Oh God, our eternal Father, eternal, eternally an omnipotent creator of heaven and earth and sea, we glorify thy holy word for our protection and the protection of the world.
That is one of the most singular statements that could possibly be made, for it has been carried out and the world has been blessed with an organization which is for the world.
The words of Pastor Robinson recall what Roger Williams, the founder of Providence, Rhode Island, once said. Williams was much disturbed as to his right to administer the ordinances of the church, and finally he came to the conclusion that there could "be no recovery out of the apostasy till Christ shall send forth new apostles to plant churches anew."
Edward Winslow was the third signer of the Mayflower Compact, and it was he who recorded the following parting words of Pastor Robinson, as the Pilgrims left the shore of Holland for their long journey:
Brethren, we are now quickly to part from one another, and whether I may ever live to see your face on earth any more, the God of Heaven only knows: but whether the Lord hath appointed that or not, I charge you before God and His blessed angels, that you follow me no farther than you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus Christ. If God reveal anything to you, by any other instrument of His, be as ready to receive it, as ever you were to receive truth, by my ministry; for I am fully persuaded, I am very confident that the Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of His holy word. For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go at present no further than the instruments of their reformation. The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw; whatever part of his will or good God has revealed to Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it, and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast, where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things. This is a misery much to be lamented; for though they were burning and shining lights in their times, yet they penetrated not into the whole counsel of God; but were they now living, would be as willing to embrace further light as that which they at first received. I beseech you to remember it as an article in your church Covenant. "That you be ready to receive whatever truth shall be made known to you from the written word of God." But I must herewith exhort you to take heed what you receive as truth. Examine it, consider it, and compare it with other scriptures of truth, before you receive it; for it is not possible that the Christian world should come so lately out of thick anti-Christian darkness, and that perfection of knowledge should break forth at once.
It is interesting to know that God has never forsaken his children. All nations have had something of the truths of God.
Carlyle in his Heroes and Hero Worship notes that the "calling of a prophet, the Man of God, the man, that is, who speaks to the people of God, has penetrated into the secret of the sacred mystery of the Universe. The prophet is the revelator of what we are to do."
Throughout the ages, the truths of religion have become closely identified with the thoughts and habits of mankind. Religion in the most intelligent use of the term confesses the divine relationship between man and his God. It is more than knowledge and obedience, for its home is in the deepest nature of man, where, in its allegiance to truth and its devotion to right, it governs life.
The religious principles of ancient Israel brought about the highest system of ethical life, which to this day remains the most vital to human conduct. The elements the Israelitish character idealized were the homely virtues of a rustic people: industry, frugality, chastity, uprightness; and then the hardier virtues, like bravery, and a fortitude that can endure all except defeat. Finally, the people to whom God spoke in the days of Abraham, Moses, and the ages after them learned a deep-seated piety, obedience to the declarations of the Lord their God, and perfect trust in the revelations of him who mode the world and created man. Superbly did Israel rise to the knowledge of the true and living God.
The early history of Israel shows a people with aspiration for a righteous social order and an ultimate unification of mankind. "Of these ideals," says Israel Zangwill, "the race of Abraham originally conceived and still conceives itself to be the divine medium for a knowledge of God." The characteristics of the people are made known to us.
The Israelites had their planting and harvest songs, and like the Navajo Indians, they ascribed all the gifts of nature to a merciful and loving God. The Prophet Isaiah describes the glory of redeeming the land:
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
We can see on the frescoes in the tombs of the Pharaohs, dams enclosing basins-"Just as they are built today," says Emil Ludwig, "and it can be concluded from inscriptions by what state-craft the water, after the lapse of fixed periods, was conveyed from one basin into another." We know how the shepherds dug wells and cisterns four thousand years ago and how the farmer prepared the land for the seed and made the threshing floors. There is an aqueduct near Jerusalem with an inscription on it written by King Hezekiah about 700 B. C. Palestine has been referred to as a "dry and thirsty land", and yet the melting snows of Lebanon, Mermon, and Carmel, as well as other heights sink into the ground and come forth again as springs of water. Wells became the center of community life, supplying water for household purposes as well as for the flocks and herds.
There have been holy men, prophets of God, throughout the ages. They have felt the divine, creative presence of God. They believed in Providence, and felt there was a power around and beyond them which gave them a concept of their ever-loving Father. Those holy men knew their Creator, listened to him, spoke to him, loved him. Moses communed with him on Mount Sinai and received from him the commandments which have molded the true concept of government throughout the civilized world. History knows no more magnificent men than the prophets of Israel. They were the idealists of the ancient world. They grappled with the same problems which we have today: war, hate of one nation for another, hunger, wrong, sin, and dishonor. They were the servants of God who gave the world light and guidance which have lasted to this day.
It is the idealism of the different ages that has saved the world. There is a hidden reality in the hearts of men. Truth, beauty, and goodness belong to the ideal world of men's hopes, and to God they have turned for revealed truth. The prophets taught man the glory of the invisible world and gave him the glow of heavenly light. They lived with the eye of faith and knew that nature and man had glory beyond that which the senses could understand.
A new nation had come into being at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It had been ordained of God to accomplish his divine purposes. The past and the future met within it, for the formation of the government of the United States was an event ordered of God for the bringing in of his Kingdom upon the earth. A republic is the highest form of political institution, De Tocqueville wrote, and this we know to be true. Our government was made up of different nationalities brought under one government and one flag. Such a republic had been unknown before in history. John Winthrop, one of the founders, wrote concerning it:
It will be a service to the Church of great consequence to carry the Gospel into those parts of the world to help on the coming of the fulness of the Gentiles.
These words of the early statesman and missionary truly record the suggestion and intention which brought Englishmen to these shores, and the historic spirit leads us to an understanding of the exalted purposes of God in this world, who like the ancient astronomers looked into the sky and sang: "The heavens declare the glory of God". The founders set forth and longed for a knowledge of how to live life as it should be lived.
When Joseph Smith went into the woods to pray on a spring morning in 1820, "grace was poured out upon his lips and God blessed him forever". God came to him and spoke, and with him was Jesus Christ the Redeemer of the world. Joseph heard from the divine lips the message that a new day was at hand. Out of it came the knowledge of the weaknesses of the necessities of man's spirit. The eternal truth that man is himself a God in latent power had long been forgotten, for the religion of Jesus Christ had taught faith in the possibility of ascent from height to height. So the boy prayed for light and understanding.
When we get the spirit of this new age, then it is that we come to understand the divine truths of the gospel more and more. Many things make our history beautiful. The Prophet Joseph Smith inaugurated a new age of culture and heavenly gifts. We all know what this means through our testimonies of divine truths. In conclusion, may I give just one example of what I mean. During the days when the pioneers were working hard to establish their homes and redeem the soil they gave examples of their culture in many ways. For example, they built a theatre here in Salt Lake City which became known throughout America and in England, France, and Italy. Famous actors came to play on its stage. President Brigham Young gave the people a love for the drama. It was he who had the theatre built. One time a noted actress, Julia Deane Hayne, in leaving to return to New York, gave her good-bye message to President Young and the people in a very beautiful statement. The theatre became known to the world as a place of divine art years before the railroad reached Salt Lake City. It was truly a creation of pioneer days, the theatre, for it was built by the inspiration of God. May we learn more and more every day about the history of the gospel in this day and age of the world, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Bruce R. McConkie, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 69-71
President McKay opened the conference yesterday with a fervent and forceful plea to the Latter-day Saints to rise above the carnal and animal things of the world and attain to a state of spirituality, a plea for them to crucify the flesh and turn their hearts and interests to the things of the Spirit.
In this connection I call attention to the words which the beloved disciple wrote:
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
There is, of course, a difference between the earth and the world. The earth is this sphere, this planet upon which we reside. It is composed of natural elements-the things that make up the dust and the rocks and the trees. The world, on the other hand, is the society of men living on the face of the earth, a society that is carnal and sensuous and evil, a society which is living, in effect, a telestial law; and there will be a not distant day when the end of the world will come, which means by definition, the destruction of the wicked. This will take place in the day of millennial cleansing.
We have been sent from a pre-existent sphere to this earth; as a consequence we have received bodies made of the dust of the earth. Through the grace of God and the atoning sacrifice of his Son we will get these bodies back again in immortality in eternity.
We have also been sent from the preexistent sphere and placed in the world, that is, in circumstances where we will be enticed to do evil, where we will be subject to the lusts of the flesh and the passions that go naturally with a mortal existence. The object in placing us in the world is to try us, to test us, to see if we can overcome the world, to see if we can walk in the things of the Spirit in spite of the worldly enticements that surround us.
I suppose that in our day-in this age, with all the pressures of advertising, made possible by the use of all the modern inventions-that the enticements and pressures of the world exceed anything that has existed or prevailed in any age past.
Our Lord, in speaking to his ancient disciples about the lusts of the world, said that both he and they had overcome the world. He told them that they would be hated by the world because they were not of the world. In his great intercessory prayer he prayed that the Father would keep the disciples free from sin. He said,
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me... I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Well, then, an omnipotent God has deliberately and advisedly placed us in the circumstances in which we now find ourselves, with enticements and lusts of every sort around us, for the very purpose of determining whether we will overcome the world, whether we will turn to spiritual things rather than be engulfed in carnal things.
We had a probationary experience, a testing of a different sort, in the pre-existent sphere. We were there as spirit beings only, without these temporal bodies. Now we have mortal bodies that are subject to different enticements; and this particular portion of all eternity is that which is segregated as the time when we will be tested and tried and examined in the very manner in which we are now being examined. May I suggest to you some of the things that there are in the world which stand as tests in determining whether we will turn to the things of righteousness or whether we will go off after the manner of the world, walking as carnal men do.
If, for instance, we gratify the appetites that there are in this body, taking into the body food and drink that are unclean and unwholesome, we are walking after the manner of the world and manifesting love therefore. But if, on the other hand, we abstain completely from tea, coffee, tobacco, and liquor, and from every other unwholesome and impure food or drink, thereby developing self-control, then to this extent we are both overcoming the world and acquiring a godly attribute.
If we walk in this life in such a manner as to use all of the time that there is, seven days a week, either for the purpose of gaining a livelihood or for engaging in recreational pursuits, we are walking after the manner of the world. But if, on the other hand, we honor the Lord's holy day, keep his Sabbath, go to the house of prayer and offer up our vows and sacraments so that we may gain strength to become and to remain unspotted from the world, if that is our course, then we are rising to a plane of spirituality.
Paul said, "The love of money is the root of all evil". Now, if we get the love of money or the love of the things of this world in our hearts, so that we desire those things in preference to the things of the Spirit, we are walking in carnal paths. But if, on the other hand, we pay an honest tithing; pay our fast offerings; contribute to the great missionary cause, to the Church educational system, to the building programs of the Church, and so on; if we make our means available to the Lord and to his kingdom and to his work-then we are rising above the plane of covetousness and lust that is inherent in the nature of our mortal existence.
The Lord has placed in our bodies certain passions and certain appetites; perhaps the strongest of these deal with what we call the sex urges. Now if we walk in an unbridled manner, after the way of the world, and are immoral and lascivious and unclean, then we are reveling in the basest sort of carnal existence. But if, on the other hand, we have the strength of character and the fortitude and ability to stand up like men and bridle our passions and control our lusts and use the sex urges in the manner in which the Lord has ordained that they should be used-which is wholesome and pure and right-if we walk without any form of sex immorality, then we are rising above the animal plane, and we are walking in the realm of spiritual things.
And so it is with every situation in which we find ourselves. If we play cards; if we visit beer halls; if we lie or steal or cheat; if we take advantage of our neighbor for a word; if we oppress the hireling in his wages; if we are immodest in our dress; if we do any of the things that are commonly done by the great masses of ungodly people in the world-we will be living after their manner and certifying that we love the things of the world more than we love the Lord. But on the contrary, if we abide in the truth and keep our covenants and walk in the manner that we were counseled to walk by our President as he opened this conference-and do it consistently, acting uprightly, with integrity and devotion-then we will be putting off the natural man; we will be born again; we will become new creatures of the Holy Ghost. Then it will be our right to have the constant companionship of that member of the Godhead. And finally, if we endure in faith and in devotion to the end, we will be inheritors of eternal life in the kingdom of God hereafter.
He who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin
Joseph L. Wirthlin, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 71-75
My dear brethren and sisters, I sincerely trust that I might have an interest in your prayers in my behalf. Without prayer, it would be impossible to express one's thoughts and give testimony of the existence of the Lord Jesus Christ and his Church.
Our general conference being held on April 4, 5, and 6 recalls vividly those memorable days of the crucifixion and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The words of Paul voice the testimony of each of us when he said,
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
As Latter-day Saints, we are particularly interested in two great individuals: one, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the other, Joseph Smith-the one at the age of twelve, the other at the age of fourteen. Christ visited Jerusalem for the first time with Mary and Joseph, who had gone there to attend the Feast of the Passover and to pay their taxes. When they started homeward, and after one day's travel, they discovered the Christ was not in their company. Returning to Jerusalem, they found him in the temple where he was engaged in discussion with the great men of the day and was, no doubt, telling them of his future assignments and teaching them the gospel that was to be given to the world. Mary and Joseph entered the temple. Mary said, "... Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing". Christ then made that marvelous answer, "... How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?".
Some years later, the Christ sought John the Baptist who was preaching repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, and John impressed those with whom he came in contact, saying that the Christ, "... shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire".
Christ requested baptism of John,
But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.
As Christ came up straightway out of the water, a voice was heard from the heavens saying... "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased".
In requesting baptism of John, Christ recognized that John held the Aaronic Priesthood, the office of a priest.
After the Church was organized, we read in Ephesians 4:11, "And he gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers". The teachers held the Aaronic Priesthood.
We read in Philippians 1:1 from a statement of the Apostle Paul as follows,
Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.
It is a great source of inspiration to every member of this Church to know that the Aaronic Priesthood actually existed in the days of the Christ and the apostles. Others were called to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. Elders were called and ordained, as we read in Acts 14:23,
And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and bad prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
In addition to elders, there were selected seventies receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood, for in Luke 10:1 it states,
After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.
The Christ was the great high priest. Others were also so blessed, including the apostles. We read in Hebrews 5:1,
For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.
The history of the New Testament points out definitely the existence of the Aaronic Priesthood, wherein there were deacons, teachers, and priests, and the Melchizedek Priesthood with elders, seventies, and high priests. There stood at the head, the apostles and the bishops, guiding and directing the two priesthoods. The members of the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods taught the membership of the Church faith, repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, and laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost by those who held the Melchizedek Priesthood. The seventies with the apostles were assigned to preach the gospel to the known world at that time. Those who held the priesthood were directed to be helpful to the poor, teach the membership of the Church to pay their tithing, to observe the Lord's day, not to profane, to be honest, and to attend Sacrament meeting. Again, the New Testament makes it clear that work was being done for the dead, for did not the Apostle Paul say in 1 Corinthians 15:29,
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?.
So with both the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods, the saints of the Church 2,000 years ago enjoyed the same privileges, divine direction, and inspiration as do the membership of the Church in this day. The Church 2,000 years ago was one of activity and opportunity for services to be rendered by every individual member to assist in building up the kingdom. For again, reading the words of the Apostle James,
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
After the resurrection of the Christ, there stood as the president of the Church the Apostle Peter, who through divine direction and inspiration continued to teach the gospel and the existence of the Lord Jesus Christ to the people and those not of the faith. To those who were loyal, devoted, true, and active in the gospel, it is said,
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
It was Paul who realized there was soon to come about a change in the Church, for did he not declare in 2 Timothy 4:3-4,
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
He realized that the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ would soon be changed from the teachings of the Christ and the apostles to that of individuals who were teaching false doctrine.
Two hundred years later, the gospel had been changed, the priesthood had been taken away, and the earth was left in spiritual darkness; but this was not to exist forever, for John the beloved had said in Revelation 14:6,
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.
Two thousand years later, there was a boy at the age of fourteen, Joseph Smith, who lived in Palmyra, New York. Among the churches in Palmyra, New York, was great misunderstanding of the gospel. It was impossible to find the church organization and the priesthood as it existed nearly 2,000 years before. Joseph was very much concerned about the differences of opinion among the various churches and the doctrines they were teaching. He was one in whose heart was a testimony that in the Bible could be found the answers to his many questions. The statement of James the Apostle gave him the necessary information,
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Joseph followed the admonition given to him by the Apostle James and made it a matter of prayer, asking God where he might find the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. In answer thereto, there appeared the Father and the Son, the first appearance of the Father and the Son since Jesus Christ was upon the earth nearly 2,000 years before. The Lord said to the Prophet Joseph, "This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!". Instructions to Joseph by the Christ indicated that his Church was not upon the earth, but in time it would be re-established.
There appeared other heavenly beings to the Prophet Joseph, among whom was Moroni, who had lived upon the American continent and had prepared the history of the great events that had taken place in the coming of Lehi and his sons and in the establishment of both the Nephite and Lamanite nations and that Jesus Christ the Son of God actually appeared upon the American continent, established his Church, and organized the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods. Jesus taught the Nephite people the gospel as he had the people in Israel, bestowing upon them the same rights, blessings, and privileges. Moroni also indicated to Joseph that he would receive the gold plates containing the history of America. The gold plates were written in a strange language, which the Prophet Joseph translated, and Oliver Cowdery acted as scribe. In so doing, they came across the manner of baptism, which was not clear to them. They made it a matter of prayer to the Lord, and there appeared a heavenly being who introduced himself as John the Baptist. This event took place on May 15, 1829, in Harmony, Pennsylvania. He placed his hands upon the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and uttered these words,
Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.
Through the appearances of the Father and the Son, Moroni, and John the Baptist, the Aaronic Priesthood was restored and placed upon the earth. Some few weeks later, three apostles, Peter, James, and John, appeared and bestowed upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery the Melchizedek Priesthood. We can readily see that the Church of Jesus Christ was again restored, organized, and placed upon the earth with both the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods, for the salvation, inspiration, and guidance of the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father.
As the Aaronic Priesthood and Melchizedek Priesthood 2,000 years ago had very definite assignments, it is now true that those who hold the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods have the same assignments to teach faith, repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost by those who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, fasting, missionary work to preach the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, helping the poor, paying tithing, observing the Lord's day, being honest, attending Sacrament meeting, and doing work for the dead. The Prophet Joseph Smith received a marvelous revelation from the Lord which is recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 2, wherein the membership of the Church were instructed to do work for the dead. The Lord said,
Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
My brethren and sisters, I bear you my testimony that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the organization of the Church with the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods have been restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph. He actually saw the Father and the Son. Those of us who have the privilege and blessing of membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have very definite responsibilities and assignments, particularly in connection with the marvelous revelation wherein the Lord said,
For I will raise up unto myself a pure people, that will serve me in righteousness; And all that call upon the name of the Lord, and keep his commandments, shall be saved.
This is a definite promise for each and every one of us who is sweet and clean in body and mind, wherein there will come the gift of the Holy Ghost in building up our testimonies and giving us the full understanding of the restored gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition thereto, in our hearts will be that testimony that there stands at the head of the Church an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ as there was 2,000 years ago in the days of Peter, with the same desire to inspire the Saints of today. Peter visited many of the saints, as does our president and apostle today, with the same attitude and feeling with reference to the membership of the Church as Peter had when he said,
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
My brethren and sisters, it is wonderful to know that all of us are here enjoying the blessings of the Church and the gospel because we are among those who have literally been called out of darkness into his marvelous light. One hundred years ago, our grandfathers and grandmothers and many of our own fathers and mothers were literally drawn out of the darkness of the world into the marvelous light of the Lord Jesus Christ through missionaries. Men and women today are accepting the truth and becoming members of his Church. There is no other Church in the world where individuals have as great responsibilities, particularly those who hold the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods.
I humbly pray that we shall be worthy to follow in his footsteps and be inspired by the statement of the Christ 2,000 years ago when he said,
... wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?,
and I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Richard L. Evans
Richard L. Evans, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 75-77
President McKay and my brethren and sisters, I acknowledge my need for help in this humbling position and would wish to go back, in these few moments which I have, to the theme set by President McKay yesterday morning and recall as a text and a title:
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
I cannot think of a greater blessing nor anything more earnestly to be sought after than life and peace.
As I have heard the words of life and peace spoken in this conference these past two days, as I have contemplated the ways of life and peace, I have thought inevitably of some voices and faces of the past mingled with those of the present. Those three who most recently have left us have been mentioned a number of times in this conference. I have counted others, especially during the late hours of last night and the early hours of this morning, and have written down some nineteen or twenty names of beloved Brethren with whom I have here sat during some nineteen and a half years, and who have since left this life.
I would read the list, but am afraid I might miss some; but I should like to recall from some of those voices of the past some things that they have said, that they may mingle again with us in the present.
Melvin J. Ballard is one. A printed card which has crossed the desk of some of us these past few days gives these sentences of a paragraph by Brother Ballard:
Man is a child of God, therefore he partakes of the divine nature of his Father. Within him lie germs of infinite development. Potentially he is a godlike being. Therefore he may rise eternally towards the likeness of his Father in heaven. Upward, divine, unending is man's destiny.
I thought of Brother Albert E. Bowen, a choice spirit with a profound mind, and from the last talk he gave at a general conference, I have taken these sentences:
Our religion comprehends more than just the ethical code. It contains a body of principles, through the observance of which we are promised the great reward of eternal life and salvation in the kingdom of God... It all centers in Jesus the Christ. Our religion comprises the teachings and life and actions of Jesus of Nazareth. That constitutes our religion.
I have thought of Brother Matthew Cowley and the last talk he gave here, as I recall, a beautiful talk on prayer:
Some people think it is a sign of weakness to get upon one's knees and pray to our Heavenly Father. It's the greatest sign of strength that exists. No men are greater than when they are upon their knees in communion with God and having a sacred interview with him.
The voice of Thomas E. McKay, you will remember it, pleading for love at home. I think it was the last talk he gave here:
I never heard my father, and nobody else did, speak an unkind word to my mother, so it has not been difficult for me to say kind words.
You will remember those two phrases recalled by Brother Hanks at the funeral service of Brother Oscar Kirkham:
"Your name is safe in our home"-and "What will it do to the man?"
And many other voices come to mind.
Dr. Adam S. Bennion-this bench this day is a lonelier place without his sitting beside us. To say that he is much missed would be an acute understatement. You may recall his most outstanding University baccalaureate address in the stadium under the starlight, some six or seven years ago, with the hills to the east in their beauty catching the last tints of the sunset:
Here in the shadow of these everlasting hills I bring you no argument-I bring you a conviction. A conviction that we and the world in which we live are the product not of chance-not of the mere interplay of lines of force-but the master work of a great Creator. A conviction that we are the children of our Father in heaven, who created the universe and all of us, and that He still guides our destinies. Hence the title, "Candle of the Lord." Or, if you prefer the whole text: "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord".
There is a light that lights all of us who come into the world. We have the assurance of John for this:
In him was life; and the life was the light of men... the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
I think that one of the worst things we could say of any man is that there is not light in him. And in thinking of the candle of the Lord, I am thinking of the candle of conscience, and of much else, also.
I could not think of the voices and faces of the past without thinking of my beloved friend who was my mission president, Dr. John A. Widtsoe. I can hear him say many times: "I would rather go through life trusting my fellow men, and have a few of them disappoint me, than to go through life mistrusting everyone."
I can hear him say to the discouraged, to the penitent, to those who are weighted with problems and weighted with sin: "Look up, not down. Look forward, not back."
I can hear him recall an old and ancient thought, many versions of which have been recalled and restated over the ages: "Count no man happy until he is dead"-which is another way of saying, "He that shall endure to the end shall be saved". We have to finish the race. There is a reward for consistency in life.
I can hear him say: "He giveth twice who giveth quickly."
The time when men need things is when they need them. The time when a man needs nourishment is when he is hungry. The time when youth need counsel may be a very perishable time. It may be this very night and not when it is convenient, not tomorrow, not next week. "He giveth twice who giveth quickly."
I can hear Dr. Joseph F. Merrill saying: "No one ever falls over a precipice who never goes near one."
Do not tempt temptation. None of us knows his own strength. We should not flit around the edge of anything that we should not flit around the edge of, unless we want to hazard what hanging too near the edge hazards. Do not tempt temptation.
I can hear President George Albert Smith: "Give the Lord a chance," and "Keep on the Lord's side of the line."
I can hear the voice of President Grant ringing out here, and I can almost hear him thumping the pulpit: "That which we persist in doing becomes easy to do; not that the nature of the thing has changed, but that our power to do has increased."
I have quoted many times a letter of President Grant's which his family republished parts of, with other quotations, on the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth a year ago last November, a letter he wrote from Japan as a young man, in 1903, from which these paragraphs are taken:
We have no right to go near temptation, or in fact to do or say a thing that we cannot honestly ask the blessing of the Lord upon, neither to visit any place where we would be ashamed to take our sister or sweetheart.
The Good Spirit will not go with us on to the Devil's ground, and if we are standing alone upon the ground belonging to the adversary of men's souls, he may have the power to trip us up and destroy us. The only safe ground is so far from danger as it is possible to get. Virtue is more valuable than life-
There are some who come and say they have not been taught, that they wish they had known differently. But the commandments are pretty plain. I would not worry too much about the obscure passages of scripture. We will not be held accountable for things we do not know, but we will be for those we do know.
Back to President Grant:
-Virtue is more valuable than life. Never allow yourself to go out of curiosity to see any of the "undercrust" in this world. We can't handle dirty things and keep our hands clean.
These are some of the voices of the past. They are true voices, mingled with those of the present, in counsel to this generation and to those yet in the future.
I would plead with my beloved young friends, many of whom come, some of whom are burdened with sin and sorrow, and older ones also, not to quibble about definitions, and shades of meaning and obscure passages and try to rationalize and outreason the scriptures. The commandments are basic to our very nature. They are not arbitrary. The Lord God has not just sat down and thought up a series of thou shalt nots. He knows us. He knows our natures. He knows what will lead to happiness, to "life and peace", to refer back to the text of President McKay. He knows what will help us to realize our highest possibilities.
There are consequences in all things. As surely as we live the law we shall reap the rewards of living the law. As surely as we break the law we shall pay some penalties, but blessedly with that mercy of which President Clark spoke so beautifully.
I give you these voices of the past, and bring your attention, my beloved young friends, to the commandments and ask you to look beyond the sophistries of men and the rationalizing that would wave them away, and remember the strong, terse language of our Savior, who was no more sharp in his language at any time than when he was talking to hypocrites and such, when he said: "Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel".
Attaining "life and peace" is not a matter of quibbling. It is not a matter of obscure meanings. It is just a matter of knowing the simple commandments of God and living and keeping them.
May I bring your attention in closing to some sentences from Mr. Cecil B. DeMille in his great address to the graduates of Brigham Young University last June:
We cannot break the Ten Commandments. We can only break ourselves against them-or else, by keeping them, rise through them to the fulness of freedom under God. God means us to be free. With divine daring, He gave us the power of choice.
One choice sentence from an unknown source:
Human harvests are not just gathered in the autumn of life. They are planted, cultivated, and reaped, each and every day.
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
May God help us and our youth and all the generations, as we mingle the voices of the past with those of the present, to walk the ways that will lead to life and peace, I pray in the name of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Milton R. Hunter
Milton R. Hunter, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 78-81
In the session of conference this morning, I am sure that all of you listened with great satisfaction and joy as did I to President Clark's very wonderful account of Christ's last few days upon the earth, his crucifixion, and his glorious resurrection, which broke the bands of death and brought about the resurrection for the entire human family. Thus the Only Begotten Son gave general salvation to all the people who have lived or who shall live in this world as a free gift, in that he redeemed them from the grave. Paul declared:
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
In addition to this, Jesus Christ through the gospel plan of salvation made it possible for all people who will pay the price to come back into his presence and dwell forever in celestial glory.
Perhaps the greatest statement in the scriptures which defines the work of the Father and the Son-consummated however through the "Lamb of God"-declares that "... this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". Thus through Christ's resurrection he gave every man, woman, and child who live in this world immortality, i. e., resurrection from the grave. Through the plan of salvation, or the gospel of Jesus Christ, he made it possible for all people who would receive him and the gospel the opportunity to work out their exaltation. For those who would receive the gospel without entering into the covenant of celestial marriage, but however remain faithful to the end of their lives, Christ's redemption and their faithfulness promises them a place in celestial glory.
This afternoon I desire to talk upon the phase of the atonement of Jesus Christ which will be effective in the lives of that part of the human family whom God the Father hath given unto the Son-those who will enter celestial glory. If I were to give a title to what I desire to talk about, it would be, "Cleansed or Sanctified through the Blood of the Lamb."
After Adam and Eve were cast from the Garden of Eden, through diverse ways the gospel of Jesus Christ was given to Father Adam; namely, by the administration of angels, by the voice of Jehovah, and by the witness of the Holy Ghost. We read in the scriptures:
And thus the Gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost.
On a certain occasion Adam was offering a sacrifice, and an angel appeared unto him and asked:
Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me. And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth. Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.
And the voice of God spoke from heaven, commanding all men everywhere that they must repent of all of their sins, and take upon themselves the name of the Son and be baptized:
And as many as believed in the Son, and repented of their sins should be saved; and as many as believed not and repented not, should be damned.
Thus in the very beginning Adam and his posterity were given the law of sacrifice. They were to take lambs-perfect lambs without spot or blemish-shed their blood, and sacrifice them. The blood and bodies of the lambs represented the great atoning sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God-the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world to redeem his people. Adam was told that the Lamb of God would come to earth in the Meridian of Time, and that his name was "... Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven whereby salvation shall, come unto the children of men". Thus Adam and his posterity who accepted the gospel observed the law of sacrifice to commemorate the Savior's sacrifice.
The night before the Israelites left Egypt, in compliance with a commandment of the Lord given to Moses, each family took a lamb without spot or blemish. They shed the blood of these lambs, and sprinkled it upon the doorposts of their homes. During that night the destroying angel passed through Egypt, and passed by all the homes on whose doorposts blood had been sprinkled; but in the households where there was no blood on the doorposts the firstborn died. After the Israelites had left Egypt, the Lord commanded them to commemorate that great event by the observance of a feast once each year known as the Feast of the Passover.
The pastoral lambs were of special importance in that feast; as I have already said, they were lambs without spot or blemish, which lambs symbolized the Lamb of God, he who would come in the Meridian of Time to redeem those who would accept him.
We find that many of the ancient prophets spoke of Christ under such terminology as the "Lamb of God" or the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world to redeem his people". For example, John the Baptist was standing on the banks of the Jordan River conversing with John, the son of Zebedee, and Andrew, Peter's brother. That ancient prophet, seeing Jesus coming toward them, said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world".
Nephi, after having had a vision, said that the garments of the apostles of Jesus "... are made white... in the blood of the Lamb". Amulek, speaking of those who would inherit celestial glory, said: "... their garments should be made white through the blood of the Lamb," whose sacrifice would be "infinite and eternal". And then Amulek explained in some detail that no mortal man could sacrifice his blood for the salvation of the human family. It must be the sacrifice of a Divine Being, even the Son of God, whose sacrifice must be infinite and eternal.
The night before King Benjamin was to turn his throne and the leadership of the people over to his son Mosiah, an angel appeared to him and told him that in the near future Christ would come into the world. The angel described the great work that Jesus would perform, and then he said:
And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and abominations of his people.
President Clark told us this morning about the Last Supper, and I would like to refer to that great event once more. It was at the Last Supper, held the night before the Savior's crucifixion, that Jesus broke the bread and passed it to his disciples and told them to eat it in remembrance of his flesh; and then he gave them the cup-the wine-and told them to drink it in remembrance of his blood, thus instituting new symbols or emblems of his great atoning sacrifice to take the place of the body and the blood of the lamb.
Then Jesus left the upstairs room in Jerusalem and with his apostles went to the Garden of Gethsemane. There he suffered terrifically, as Benjamin had predicted, "even more than man can suffer." In fact, we read in Luke:
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
There he shed much of his blood and took upon himself the sins of those who would receive him.
Now I would like to ask a question: Who will be cleansed or sanctified through the blood of the Lamb?
Perhaps it would be best to go to the scriptures and see what the prophets of God have said on this subject. King Benjamin claimed that "the blood of Christ atoneth for" the sins of little children who die before they reach the age of accountability. Mormon wrote a revelation from Christ to his son Moroni, stating that
... little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me... But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world.
In modern revelation, we read:
But little children are holy, being sanctified through the atonement of Jesus Christ.
Also, according to King Benjamin, Christ's blood will cleanse or sanctify those people who do not have a chance to receive the gospel in mortality but who live lives sufficiently good that temple work will be effective for them and who receive the gospel in the spirit world. To quote that ancient prophet-king:
For behold, and also his blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned.
Third-and this is of great importance to every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to all people throughout the world who are honest in heart and who desire to come back into the presence of God-Christ's blood will cleanse or sanctify all those who take upon themselves the name of Christ through faith, repentance, baptism, and confirmation, and then by keeping his commandments live faithfully to the end.
When the gospel was first given to Adam, certain ordinances were established which were necessary for entrance into celestial glory, and they were very beautiful in their symbolism. Adam was commanded that all men must repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and keep God's commandments, preparatory to being sanctified through the blood of the Lamb. I would like to read a very powerful statement from the Pearl of Great Price:
That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory; For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified.
Alma, Amulek, Nephi, John the Revelator, the Prophet Joseph Smith, numerous other prophets, and even the Master, definitely declared that Christ's blood would cleanse or sanctify those who would accept the true church, keep God's commandments, and eventually enter celestial glory. Speaking of the great patriarchs who lived in ancient times, Alma wrote:
Thus they became high priests forever, after the order of the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father... and it was on account of their exceeding faith and repentance, and their righteousness before God... Therefore they were called after this holy order and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb.
One of the clearest and most definite statements on this subject was made by Amulek.
And he shall come into the world to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else.
Therefore the wicked remain as though there had been no redemption made, except it be the loosing of the bands of death; for behold, the day cometh that all shall rise from the dead and stand before God, and be judged according to their works.
Let us quote the words of the resurrected Lord to the Nephites on this subject:
And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.
Ether described the second coming of Christ, accompanied by the hosts of heaven, to dwell upon the earth during the millennium, as follows:
And then cometh the New Jerusalem; and blessed are they who dwell therein, for it is they whose garments are white through the blood of the Lamb... And then also cometh the Jerusalem of old; and the inhabitants thereof, blessed are they, for they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.
In closing I would like to remind all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that you and I have taken upon ourselves the name of Christ through faith, repentance, baptism, and confirmation. All of us have entered into a covenant that we will keep all of God's commandments. The Lord has promised us that if we do so and remain faithful to the end that someday we shall be quickened by a celestial power. At that time we shall rise as celestial beings, and enter into the presence of God. Then the righteous shall be sanctified through the blood of the Lamb and be worthy to dwell in the presence of the Lamb of God forevermore.
May this be our happy lot and also the happy lot of all those who will receive the gospel of Jesus Christ, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 88-89
My brethren, and as the phrase in Holy Writ goes, from Dan to Beer-sheba, north, south, east, west:
President McKay, I can envision within the reasonable future that we shall broadcast throughout the civilized world, a broadcast in which by means of the proper interpreting organization here in Salt Lake City, perhaps in this building, the French will hear what we say in French, the German in German, the Spanish speaking people in Spanish, and so on throughout the whole earth.
It is a great, a great triumph which we already have.
I had intended to say a little something tonight more by way of suggestion than anything else. I would like to recommend that you people read the Prophet's translation of the 24th Chapter of Matthew. I am not acting as a prophet or a seer, I am only asking that you read that chapter. We have heard during this Conference certain passages of scripture repeatedly referred to. The Prayer, so-called, of the Great High Priest:
"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent".
We have heard the statement made by Peter to the Sanhedrin responsive to their question, by whom did he do these things:
"By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified... for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved".
We have heard the scripture where Thomas was told by the Savior, responsive to his question, that no one could come to the Father, save through him.
And I have in mind and will read to you, what was said by Alma to his son Shiblon:
"And now, my son, I have told you this that ye may learn wisdom, that ye may learn of me that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness".
And then I want to read to you or call your attention to those various statements by Paul in which he compares the wisdom of men and the wisdom of God, pointing out how great God's wisdom is and how slight is the wisdom of man. Then I want to read to you from the sermon which the Savior made to the multitude after he had met and answered the visitors from John, the sermon in which he paid that great tribute to John and turning to the multitude he said:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light".
Christ is the only one through whom, through his teachings and his work and his sacrifice and his atonement, by which we can reach the divine destiny which has been declared for us. We are living in perilous times. That is trite. Man has discovered and is trying to learn how to use some of the great forces that evidently were operative at the time of the creation of the universe. We know nothing about them, we play with them as a child plays with the live end of a high voltage transmission wire. We know not how to control them nor what they will do. We are equally challenged in all walks of life, economic, financial, social, religious, with new theories, new problems, new solutions. We live in a maze of unknown, untried ideas and concepts.
Be not dismayed. Remember what I have read to you and referred you to. Christ is our answer. Christ is our salvation. "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid". And remember, you who may be influenced by discoveries of science today, that the discoveries of science in my day have been thrown away and given up and in so far as present discoveries are not in accord with truth, they will be thrown away and discarded. "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Brethren, keep your eye on the beam, the Word of God, and he will bless you.
May that blessing come to all of us, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 90-92
I hold in my hand the number of the men of the Priesthood in the quorums of this fraternity to which President Richards has referred, Melchizedek and Aaronic: In round numbers, in the Melchizedek quorums-High Priests, Seventies, Elders-High Priests, 41,552; Seventies, 20,649; Elders, 120,230-approximately 190,000 men; 150,000 Aaronic Priesthood members.
As I have listened to the wonderful messages given tonight, there came to my mind the words of the Savior:
"... whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock; "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. "And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it".
Over three hundred thousand men holding the Priesthood, carrying the responsibility of exemplars as well as proclaimers. Exemplars! If we could get but half of these men to apply in their lives every practical suggestion given tonight what a mighty influence for good would be accomplished! May I take, for example, some suggestions from the theme of Brother Lowell Bennion?
Young people, young girls in high school, going daily in courtship with young boys of their age, of the girls' age, in their early teens, depriving themselves of becoming better acquainted with other companions; and in that daily courtship in their early age, becoming so intimate as to arouse their passions for an hour's pleasure, bringing misery upon themselves through life. And that is not imagination! You men in the Presidencies of Stakes and Bishoprics of Wards, and you fathers and mothers of some of them, know that that is not imagination.
What practical suggestions Brother Bennion has given us in regard to this early association! The Mutuals are trying to work out Saturday night dances to entertain these young people. They merit entertainment, and we must furnish it for them. In our own wards, young men and young women come to those dances, and the young man and his girl spend the entire time they are there in that social in each other's company, dancing together hour after hour.
Years ago we did not use to do that. Now, they say, "Well, I pay my ticket; I bring my girl, and I have the right to dance with her." I wonder if we can do something, Bishops, to help our Mutuals make more effective their plans to have all the young people become well acquainted with one another as suggested by Brother Bennion. That is just one means.
We have young people who go out in society, our young boys and girls; they are not quite strong enough to say no when the cigarette and wine glass are passed around. They look upon father and mother and some of us teachers as old-fashioned. They erroneously think that it is all right to participate in the "wine cup" in the social ethics of the crowd, out in the canyon and other places. Some of our boys and girls are so eager to be the "hale fellow, well met" that they go to an extreme, and disappoint, not to say disgust, visitors from outside who look upon the Mormon boys and girls as abstainers from these things.
Can we go from this great Priesthood Meeting with just a little more determination to put into effect the suggestions given by Brother Bennion at the request of the Authorities? They were excellent and you are now expected to carry out those suggestions. "Whoso ever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man".
I think this has been a wonderful meeting. We shall get the number who are in attendance later. But now the question is, what shall we do about it? Two hundred and fifty thousand members in this fraternity. Are we equal to holding up the standards? Take just the number we have assembled here tonight-let us hold to the ideals given. We know they are right. There are many, for example, who be come addicted to tobacco. We know it is wrong. Those who use it know it is wrong and injurious. Those who advertise it know it is wrong, and we sit in our homes and hear of the safety of one kind of cigarette over another, indicating that those who manufacture those cigarettes know they are injurious, and yet we go on violating the Word of God who a hundred years or more ago said, "tobacco... is not good for man".
Many who are listening to us to night use it. You will not be excommunicated for using it, but the use of tobacco is not good. It is so stated in the Word of Wisdom, given by revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith. Do not you think that it is time, brethren, just man to man, that we unite now in this brotherhood of Christ, this great, this most sacred fraternity in all the world, to stand by one another, helping one another and set an example to the world, if only from a social standpoint? All within the hearing of our voices tonight, and all who belong to the Priesthood quorums should realize in all earnestness that here are four hundred thousand men in the world who hold the Priesthood, who should be exemplary as fathers, as sons, as brothers, and each one has the responsibility of being an exemplar. What an influence throughout this world! Let us decide to do it. We will not condemn you, brother by our side, who does not do it; you have your free agency. We extend the hand of fellowship to you, and we shall help you. What an influence for good if we could have a hundred, two hundred, three hundred thousand men who say, "We are going to stand for the principles of our group!" We can do it!
"And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it".
Brethren, the Church of Jesus Christ, as you know and I know, is the mightiest force in the world, but you and your companions constitute the source of that force. The Lord cannot use his quorums without you; and every one has the responsibility of doing his best to maintain the standards of life.
And our boys and girls in high schools, in universities, junior colleges, need our help. Their parents need our help. Let us try to follow the suggestions given tonight to aid them when they go to their socials.
It is time now to put forth extra effort to maintain the standards of right, the Word of Wisdom, and to pay attention as we have never done be fore to the efforts sent out by our Church Committee under the caption, "Be Honest With Yourself." These records that will be sent out, will you please use, make them effective in directing the boys and girls in the right way.
We are facing conditions which demand the highest intelligence, the deepest spirituality, the greatest effort that the Priesthood of God can possibly put forth.
Tonight in the Salt Lake Tabernacle we have 7,478 men of the Priesthood; in the Assembly Hall and in Barratt Hall and on the grounds, 3,600; in the one hundred and twenty-eight groups that have reported in, 34,076; a total of 45,154 men holding the Priesthood. President Clark was right when he said that the time will come when we shall be able to reach every part of the world. This is the largest attendance ever assembled in the Church. Last year we had 37,180; an increase this year of 7,970 people in Priesthood meeting.
With all my heart I say, God bless you.
Thank you, brethren, who have taken part tonight, Brother Lowell Bennion, Brother Mark Petersen, and those who are associated with him and those who are sending out these standards of action, appealing to our young folks in a way which we hope will be more impressive than just sending printed matter to them.
I conclude, that "... whosoever heareth these sayings of mine," said the Savior, "and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock; "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock".
I like to think in that connection that here are several hundred thousand married men in the Melchizedek Priesthood, not even counting some of the Aaronic Priesthood, several hundred thousand men, every one of whom should be an exemplary husband. If that one thing were true, what an example to the civilized world! And that is not imagination, it really should be-Several hundred thousand men, fathers, to whom every son should be respectful and obedient, especially those sons who hold that Priesthood. Several hundred thousand men, fathers, to whom their daughters should be respectful, whose wives should be cooperative with them; no quarreling in the home-homes in which you would never hear the name of God taken in vain. And it should not be. Several hundred thousand homes in which prayers are offered, children participating, the blessing asked on the food. Suppose that were published as a fact, as it should be, what an example to the civilized world! We need not worry about going out into space, we can bring evolutions right here in our own towns, in our own cities, and in our own communities. Is this saying too much, fellow members of Priesthood quorums? I can feel your spirit; that is just how you feel. You feel mine. We feel our neighbor's.
Let us realize that we are members of the greatest fraternity, the greatest brotherhood-the brotherhood of Christ-in all the world, and do our very best each day-all day-to maintain the standards of these quorums, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Harold B. Lee
Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 133-137
"Now upon the first day of the week, early in the morning, the women came unto the sepulchre... They found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass that as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold two men stood by them in shining garments! And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, the angel said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? Fear not ye, be not affrighted; for I know that ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified.
He is not here, for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay-where they laid him.
And go quickly and tell his disciples and Peter that He is risen from the dead-that He goeth before you into Galilee; there ye shall see Him. Remember how He spoke unto you while He was yet in Galilee saying: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again. Lo, I have told you".
Thus do the writers of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, record the greatest event in the history of the world, the literal resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind. Dramatically had been demonstrated the greatest of all the divine powers of an incarnated Son of God. He had declared to the sorrowing Martha, at the time of the death of her brother Lazarus: "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live!".
To the Jews with murderous intent, His pronouncement of His divine power was even more explicit and meaningful.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. "For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself: "And to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of God".
Following swiftly His own resurrection, there came an evidence of a second transcendent power to raise from the grave, not only Himself, but others "who though dead, had believed in Him." Matthew makes this simple, forthright record of the miraculous resurrection of the faithful, from mortal death, "And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves, after His resurrection, and walked into the holy city and appeared unto many".
Nor was this to be the end of the redemptive powers of this illustrious Son of God. Down through the ages, in every dispensation, has come the cheering promise: "For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive", "... they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation". Time is rapidly moving on to a complete consummation of His divine mission.
If the full significance of these thrilling events were understood in this day when, as the prophets foretold: The wicked are preparing to slay the wicked; and "fear shall come upon every man", this understanding would put to flight many of the fears and anxieties which beset men and nations. Indeed if we "fear God and honor the king" we can then lay claim to the glorious promise of the Master: "If you strip yourselves from jealousies and from fear, you shall see me".
In the brief time allotted for this Easter message, I should like to cite a few of the "inevitables" which all may one day face, and draw some parallels from sacred writings in the hope of vitalizing the mission of the Redeemer to all who listen and hopefully to those who may read. This evidence will demonstrate, to some extent, how an unshakable faith in the reality of the resurrected Lord and in the certainty of the resurrection of all mankind would provide the essential courage to accept "insecurity with equanimity" in a material world. Thus may all successfully combat the apprehensions and tensions which are so destructive among us today.
Consider as one of life's inevitables, if you will, the condition of one suffering from an incurable malady, or faced with the heart-breaking prospect of impending death to a loved one. Have you ever felt yourself spiritually devastated by an inconsolable grief?
May I take you to a sacred scene portraying one whose all seemed slipping from her grasp and let you feel her strength in a fateful hour! Huddled at the foot of the cross was the silent figure of a beautiful middle-aged mother with shawl drawn tightly about her head and shoulders. Cruelly tormented on the cross above her was her first-born son. One can but feebly understand the intensity of the suffering of Mary's mother-heart. She now faced in reality the import of old Simeon's doleful prediction as he had blessed this son as a tiny infant child, "He shall be as a sign for to be spoken against; Yea, a sword shall pierce thine own heart also".
What was it that sustained her during her tragic ordeal? She knew the reality of an existence beyond this mortal life. Had she not conversed with an angel, a messenger of God? She undoubtedly had heard of her son's last recorded prayer before His betrayal as it has been written by John: "And now, O Father," he had prayed, "Glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was". This sainted mother with bowed head heard His last prayer murmured from the cross through tortured lips: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" thus inspiring her with resignation and a testimony of reassurance of a reunion shortly with Him and with God her Heavenly Father. Heaven is not far removed from him who, in deep sorrow, looks confidently forward to a glorious day of resurrection. It was a wise man who said: "We cannot banish dangers but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death."
Now to mention another of the "inevitables": As the press, the radio and television brings to you daily the frightening prospect of devastating war with atomic or hydrogen bombs and guided missiles, are you filled with forebodings of impending doom? What is there to set your soul free from such terrifying anxieties?
May I take you to the example of Peter whose loyalty to the Master seemed to have exceeded his courage, when in the face of physical hazard, he denied the Master thrice on the night of the betrayal. Compare this fear-torn Peter with the boldness in him manifested shortly thereafter before those same religious bigots who had so recently demanded the death of Jesus. He denounced them as murderers and called them to repentance-suffered imprisonment, and later went fearlessly to his own martyrdom.
What was it that had changed him? He had been a personal witness to the change which came to the broken, pain-racked, body taken from the cross, to a glorified resurrected body which could pass thereafter unhindered through walls of mortar and stone, which could eat broiled fish and honey comb; which could appear and disappear suddenly from the sight of mortals. The plain and simple answer is, that Peter was a changed man because he knew the power of the risen Lord. No more would he be alone on the shores of Galilee, or in prison, or in death. His Lord would be near him.
And now still another of the all-too-often "inevitables" among us:
In the writings of Luke, just an inference is made as to what may have been thought to be the reason for mental and spiritual turmoil and which may have been as much in evidence then as it is among us today in those who have advanced degrees in their higher learning in secular fields but have neglected spiritual nourishment. Such a one, no doubt, was Saul of Tarsus, the Apostle Paul to the Gentiles. During his interview and defense before King Agrippa, Festus who was present "said with a loud voice, Paul thou art beside thyself; much learning hath made thee mad". Indeed it may have seemed so to those who had known of his zealous persecution of the followers of the Master, in contrast to his now declared allegiance, to that Jesus he had before so loudly denounced.
The insinuation of Festus suggests what higher education could do to a frustrated man, with but a smattering of unrelated bits of information with no unifying philosophy. Psychologists today tell us that one such, without a belief in either God or the Devil, "like a blocked body of water turns back upon itself, collecting scum, refuse, and silt, so the soul turns back upon itself and collects instinctive, dark forebodings," which makes of his days and nights torture-chambers of discontent.
Years later, Paul explained to his beloved Timothy the simple formula which makes for a contented soul: "Godliness with contentment is great gain", and then explains the source from which that essential "godliness" comes; "But godliness" he said, "is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come".
That promise of eternal life had given meaning and purpose to the life of Paul as it does to all of us who so believe. He had heard the Master's voice at the time of his conversion, declaring the reality of the Resurrected Lord, and whose teachings by his authorized servants, Paul now knew were the "power of God unto salvation".
As the challenge of dictator nations is before us with their advances in destructive military science, it is a challenge, of course, for us to be strong in military science. We must beware, however, lest our much learning in these worldly matters likewise makes us mad. It is also a challenge for us to be holy through faith in that Divine Redeemer by whom all who obediently serve Him might be saved. Atomic power and guided missiles, are dangers only when they are in the hands of evil men.
And now, finally, may I make one further reference to another "inevitable" with which many are confronted:
Have you never stood seemingly defeated after years of grueling struggle and faced with the prospect of programs, or principles, or policies, dear to your heart, ruthlessly condemned to failure? Why do some men commit suicide when their bank fails or their earthly possessions are swept away? Why do some rise above the heartbreak of disaster and calamity while others go down to inglorious and pitiful despondency of bitterness as though the struggle of life had all been wasted? These and others are sobering questions.
I am indebted to one of the leading educators in our own state university to impress this problem. After noting the great interest in industrial, governmental, and university circles in clinical psychology or in what he called behavioral science, he summarizes the thinking of eminent authorities with this significant statement: "This interest derives not only from the trend cited above, but because of the tremendous social conflicts, such as war, which demonstrate behavioral breakdown."
This final illustration may suggest a solution to such as these and other similar frustrating problems.
The prophet Joseph Smith in this modern day was facing martyrdom at the hands of enemies for saying that he had seen visions in which God the Father and His Son and others who had lived upon the earth had appeared to him as living, resurrected, glorified beings. Like the Apostle Paul; he dared not deny having had these heavenly manifestations lest by so doing he would offend God and come under condemnation.
In the midst of bitter persecution with his coming doom already foreshadowed, the word of the Lord came to him: "if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than He? Therefore hold thy way... for the bounds are set, they cannot pass... Fear not what men can do, for God shall be with you forever and forever".
"Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God... and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion".
There you have your answer, you strong, noble statesmen in worldly councils of men involving human welfare. Better, as Paul said it, "godliness with contentment", than an empty compromise for the sake of expediency or the plaudits of men. You, too, can know that your Redeemer lives, as did Job in the midst of his temptation to "curse God and die", and know also that you, too, can open the door and invite Him in "to sup with you". See also yourselves one day as resurrected beings claiming kinship to Him who gave His life that the rewards to mortal men for earthly struggle and experience will be the fruits of eternal life even though as measured by human standards ones life's labors seemed to have been defeated. This is what the voice of wisdom has said, "The best thoughts, affections, and aspirations of a great soul are fixed on the infinitude of eternity. Destined as such a soul is for immortality, it finds all that is not eternal too short, all that is not infinite too small."
Today in commemoration of the world's greatest victory I invite the honest in heart everywhere in deep humility to rise above their human fears and frustrations and rejoice as did the apostle to the Gentiles "Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ".
All of which I pray for us and for all men everywhere who seek to serve Him and keep His commandments.
President Stephen L Richards
Stephen L Richards, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 93-97
My dear brethren and sisters and friends listening to the proceedings of our conference, I extend to all of you my warmest greetings and my sincere and earnest solicitude for your happiness and well-being. I rejoice with you on this Easter Sunday in the opportunity we all have to pay homage to our Savior and to give to him our thanksgiving and veneration for the incomparable gift of eternal life which he brought to all mankind. We remind ourselves on this day that we are charged with the transcendent responsibility of building and maintaining his kingdom in the earth. It is in the hope that I may add a word of contribution to that greatest of all causes that I bring to you a somewhat practical suggestion on this sacred day. Termites are permeating the foundation of the kingdom-the homes of the people-even more destructive and elusive than those semi-microscopic little animals that break down our walls. Corrective measures are imperative.
I have chosen to make some comment on a theme which I earnestly hope may not prove to be too provocative, and certainly not offensive, to our sisters and to other women who may listen. I lift my text, with full acknowledgment, from an article appearing in This Week Magazine of some months ago, and recently reprinted in the Reader's Digest, written by Judge Samuel S. Leibowitz, senior judge of Brooklyn's highest criminal court. The article is entitled: "Nine Words That Can Stop Juvenile Delinquency," and the nine words used by the Judge are these: "Put Father Back at the Head of the Family."
It is likely that many of our audience have read this challenging article, and there is no time at my disposal to do more than to set before you a few statistical items and a few conclusions drawn by this eminent judge who has spent 21 years of his life as a criminal lawyer and 16 years as a judge in the criminal court, with long years of study and observation on causes of teenage crime. He went to Europe and discovered from official reports that the percentage of crimes committed in each of the following countries by offenders 18 years of age or under was as follows:
In Italy: 2 percent of sex crimes, and 1/2 of 1 percent of homicides. In France: 7 percent of sex crimes, with 8 percent of homicides. In Belgium: 12 percent of sex crimes, with 1 percent of homicides. In Germany: 15 percent of sex crimes, with 2 percent of homicides. In Britain: 16 percent of sex crimes, and 1 percent of homicides.
And-here is the tragedy-in the United States 35 percent of all sex crimes are committed by offenders under 18, and 12 percent of all murders are committed by offenders under 18. Teenage offenders in the United States exceeded those of other countries reported, ranging from 1800 percent to 100 percent. The judge reached the conclusion that there must be some principal factor in this great disparity so unfavorable to our own country, and he discovered, as perhaps might well have been assumed, that the primary reason for the reduced percentages of juvenile delinquency in the European countries was respect for authority, and that the principal contribution to that respect, which might not have been so readily assumed, was respect for authority in the home, which, as he points out, normally reposes in the father as head of the family.
These conclusions reached by this judicial investigator I believe would seem more sensational and surprising to people outside of the Church to which we have the honor to belong than to our own members. For generations we as a Church have been endeavoring to do just what the judge advocates-to put and keep Father at the head of the family, and with all our might we have been trying to make him fit for that high and heavy responsibility.
May I take a few minutes to give you our concept of home, fatherhood, and motherhood? Nothing occupies a more unique and distinctive and important position in our theology and understanding of God's purposes for his children.
We define a home as being a divinely appointed institution established on the enduring compact of a good man and a good woman, wherein spiritual children of our Eternal Father are permitted to receive mortal bodies endowed with eternal intelligence, these children so received in the home to be nurtured in health and so guided in the ways of living by loving and wise parents that they may be conditioned on completion of their lives to return to the presence of the Lord whence their spirits originally came. In this greatest of all enterprises the man and the woman are partners-co-signers, if you will, of the enduring compact which binds them together.
In this eternal compact, however, there is a feature which may not be understood by many thousands of men and women who enter into Christian marriage. It is the element of priesthood. Two things have been revealed about priesthood and marriage which are of most vital importance. First, that no marriage which is to endure forever, so that in essence a home may be projected into eternity, may be established without the authorization and sanction of divinely appointed priesthood. And secondly, that no marriage is eligible for the solemnization of divinely appointed priesthood without the man party to the compact having first received the endowment of the Holy Priesthood himself.
We call the ordinance of marriage when performed not only for time but for all eternity a sealing-a sealing of a good woman to a good man of the priesthood, with the express understanding and covenant that the priesthood of the man, if he shall be faithful and live worthy to enjoy it, shall be the supreme authority of the household, and no good woman of our faith begrudges her worthy husband of the priesthood the respect which goes with his high calling. She knows that to build him up in the esteem of their children, and thus make him conscious of the responsibility of leadership is the surest safeguard she can bring to her family in a world of temptation. The women of the Church rejoice in the priesthood of their husbands. They know that that priesthood is not expressed in autocratic or unrighteous dominion. They know that it is a divinely given power to be exercised only in long-suffering and patience, kindness and mercy, "reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him" who hast been reproved. They know that that priesthood has true virtue within it-the power to bless, the power to heal, the power to counsel, to make peace and harmony prevail.
Perhaps the saddest of all our women are they who see their husbands fall away from that priesthood with which they have been endowed. They are the wives who are filled with anxiety for the future of themselves and their, families. In the true companionship of a husband of the priesthood a good woman may pass through any trouble and have comfort, resignation, and peace. But if her husband fails her and fails his holy calling, it is hard indeed for consolation to come to her. She grieves, she prays, she pleads-sometimes seemingly in vain.
You husbands of the priesthood who have been neglectful of your covenants, I plead with you, in behalf of sorrowing wives and families, to relieve the pain you are causing those who love you, to regain manhood and strength and be worthy to assume in righteousness the leadership of your families. They want to respect you. They will if you will let them.
I think I have spoken for the great majority of our wives and mothers. There may be, however, a few who are not helping as much as they may do in the maintenance and re-establishment of respect for proper authority and leadership in the home. We have many brilliant women. I have admiration for their superior accomplishments. They are continually becoming more influential in all aspects of life and living, and I have no doubt but that their contributions will be of lasting value. If any of these brilliant women is a mother, I give it as my firm belief that however potent she may be in matters extraneous to the home, she has no higher, loftier, and more divinely given calling and obligation than to be the right kind of wife and mother in her home. And however superior her attainments may be, she owes a duty to her husband, to respect him as head of the family and adequately teach her children to do likewise.
The judge to whom I referred says: "If mothers would understand that much of their importance lies in building up the father image for the child, they would achieve the deep satisfaction of children who turn out well... And no mother would ever have to stand before me with tears in her eyes and ask, `What did I do that was wrong, Judge? What did I do that was wrong?'"
It seems indelicate in an address of this character even to use the expression, "nagging wives." If I did not regard the matter pertinent to the subject I am discussing, I would not mention it. I feel that women who may be said to be in this category cannot be fully conscious, whatever their provocation may be, of the damage they do to the morale of a home. I give to women generally the credit for being long-suffering and patient, and I think that in the foreseeable future they will still be called upon for great toleration, but I hope they will still be able to show kindness and patience to those who may annoy them. I think that parental disputes before the children are one of the most regrettable and lamentable of all aspects of domestic relations. They are responsible for more disruption of domestic tranquility and inimical effects on children than almost any other occurrences in family life. I suppose inevitably parents will have some differences. For the sake of everybody concerned let them be settled privately, and of course they can be settled privately if a spirit of tolerance and a recognition of responsibility prevail. I think that "nagging wives" cannot nag their husbands into doing anything that is worth while. Nagging is futile in the main, and disruptive of any spirit of harmony and peace. In homes where the priesthood presides rebellion and devotion will not thrive together.
Now, my brethren and sisters and friends, this idea of putting Father back at the head of the family is not just a novel and catchy phrase. It conforms to the revelations of the Lord, as I think the judge who advocated it must have well known. In Ephesians, chapter 5, verses 22 through 25, we read:
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. "Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it".
Scripture given in modern times also lends support to this fundamental doctrine. When properly interpreted and applied I do not see how good women should take exception to it. No woman can be a good mother without desiring the goodness and well-being of her children. If the establishment of headship in the family contributes to their welfare, as the learning on the subject seems to indicate, how can she do other than strive to establish respect and regard for her husband? I admit that some husbands and fathers have made it difficult for respect to be maintained for them, but to abandon the principle and thus remove from fathers the responsibility of maintaining virtue and goodness among their children would certainly avail nothing.
It is needless to say that if a father is to be respected as the head of the household he must be an exemplar. The article to which I have referred sets forth the principle that students of juvenile delinquency seem agreed upon the fact that the child, to be safe for society and his home, must have dependable standards to live by. There must be clear recognition between right and wrong, and there must be sound, wise, and kindly discipline. In the midst of the somewhat confusing theories advanced by the sociologists and criminologists, it seems to me we cannot be going far afield by endeavoring to furnish to youth criteria for the guidance of their lives. There are no criteria which seem dependable excepting only those which have been tried and not found wanting, principles of righteousness and truth, coming to us from divine sources. I cannot see how any intelligent parent can feel much in the way of hazard and uncertainty in having his child brought up to recognize the traditionally divinely approved virtues and principles of conduct.
Yesterday we read of a youth of rather high social standing gratifying a passion to kill, which resulted in the murder of a girl. Tomorrow we will read of another such case, or the next day, or shortly thereafter. Certainly there is something lacking in the training for life of such perverts. I noted with satisfaction the observations of J. Edgar Hoover in the paper night before last on that same subject.
The other day Billy Graham wrote an article for the same magazine from which I have quoted, under the caption, "Why I Believe in the Devil." He gave three reasons. First, because the Bible plainly says he exists. Second, "because I see his work everywhere." Third, because great scholars have recognized his existence.
The first reason is enough for me. The Lord has revealed the existence of Satan and his place and function in the eternal plan of life and salvation. Billy Graham apparently did not know what modern scripture contained in the Book of Mormon and our Doctrine and Covenants reveals on this subject, or he would have quoted it, or at least I hope he would. Here is a quotation:
It must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet.
This and other illuminating scriptures indicate that man could not have had his free agency to develop strength of character, resistance to evil, and go on to perfection except he be subjected to the power and the influence of Satan, the father of evil. Some sophisticated people ridicule the idea of such a personage of power, but that does not dispense with the revealed account of his actuality and the record of his accomplishments.
Sunday School teachers and others may give to the growing child teachings concerning good and evil, but who like the father of the family can teach the power of the Adversary and the resistance necessary to be built up to resist his seductive temptations to the children for whom he is responsible? Who can demonstrate to the child by the power of example the virtues and the standards of righteousness as can this head of the family?
To all who believe that order is the law of heaven and that the kingdom of God is established on the principles of righteousness, I submit these questions: Can order be maintained without acceptance of law and without discipline? Is discipline possible without recognition of authority? In human institutions and the government of men is it not essential that authority be vested in personalities? Where is the personality more perfectly endowed by nature and divine ordinance to receive and exercise authority in his own household than the father of that household?
Where can we hope for a greater contribution to come to the order of the kingdom than from the homes of our land? What greater tribute may we pay to our beloved Savior on this Easter day than to rededicate ourselves to the maintenance of a righteous discipline in his kingdom, and in all the worthy institutions which have been set up in the societies of men? Can you think of a greater kindness to youth than to prepare them in love and firmness to be worthy of the love of God and the eternal blessings which he holds out to all who obey?
So, my friends, I have no hesitancy, no feeling of dubiety and uncertainty in advocating the adoption in your homes of this salutary promising idea to bring Father back as the head of the family. I have no words to express my admiration and deep-seated regard for the mothers in our homes, and I am fully aware that their loving, patient care shall always be a major factor in the development of good and virtuous men and women. Because of their intense love of home and family I believe they will the more readily respond to the idea I am advancing. I know that they will welcome anything that is right to guard against an ever-increasing calamity that shakes our very national life, not only for present generations but that may shape its course for ages to come.
God bless the homes of our own land and of all the whole world. God bless the children that they may come to know truth and righteousness and adopt all that is good in their lives. God bless the mothers for the love they bring into our homes, and God bless the fathers that they may be worthy to take their appointed places as heads of the house holds over which they may preside in gentleness, love, dignity, and honor, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Marion D. Hanks
Marion D. Hanks, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 98-100
Perhaps no conference in my remembrance has devoted such effective and repeated emphasis to the home and the family, to children and youth, and to those who have to deal with them. Not attempting to correlate or specifically to fit in with what has been said, and out of my modest experience and ability, I would like today, in the time allotted to me, to talk not to the young, nor exclusively to their parents, but about the young to the adult generation in and out of the Church.
Out of my love for young people and the blessing of teaching them over the years and the association and friendship I have enjoyed with them, I have learned a few things, some of which I would like to mention today as pertinent to the general theme of home and family and the relationships of adult and youth.
About the young people I have learned these things, among others:
l. That by and large they are inclined to be like their parents, to be what their parents are. President Richards has impressively given the basis for my brief repetition of this thought. There are, I am certain, exceptions, since each child, like each of us, is an agent before God, blessed with the right to choose and responsible for his choices. They, like we, must choose, and therefore some of them are not like their fine parents, while some improve upon their parents. But we may repeat with absolute assurance that by and large they are inclined to be like their parents.
Now, this characteristic of youth can result in great good or in bad, depending upon what parents are, what kind of example and precept they present.
2. A second thing I mention about the young: they can be tremendously influenced by interested adults other than their parents, by teachers, leaders, counselors, bishops, by interested adults who will take time to love and give attention to them, to have confidence in them, and faith, because young people, like the rest of us, respond to those who show interest in them. They love those who love them, trust those who trust them, and in general can be counted upon responding to the type of adult who is interested in them.
Of course, this can be a good or bad thing, depending upon the kind of adults who show interest, and what their motivations are.
3. A third thing I have learned about the young: They love an ideal. They are great followers. Their ideal may be a singer, an actor, a teacher, a parent, an author, an explorer, a scientist, an athlete, but they are inclined to choose someone to idealize. Usually it is someone older than they, more mature and adult, but not always.
This, like other characteristics of the young, can be good or bad, depending upon the persons whom they choose to idealize.
4. I have learned about the young that they can be taught, that they are responsive to the atmosphere and environment of the world around them. They respond to advertising and example, to filth and evil and degradation and bad influence, and they will respond likewise to virtue and decency and integrity and honor, if these qualities are manifested to them in language they can understand. They can be taught.
This can be good or bad, depending upon the fare their minds and eyes are fed upon.
5. I note about the young that they are not easily misled as to individuals. They can often detect quickly one who seeks to deceive them. They can uncover in interested adults with questionable motivations the real purposes of their interest. Again and again I have seen it demonstrated that they can spot one who tries to deceive, who pretends to represent virtue and integrity and does not. It is also true that young people sometimes are more willing to follow an openly evil or cynical person than one who is not what he should be and pretends to be. Therefore, it matters a great deal that we be genuine and earnest and honest in our relationships with them.
Believing that the young can be taught, and desiring to surround them with virtuous and uplifting and ennobling ideals, the Church has endeavored to provide experiences and influences and opportunities in the lives of the young which will bring into their beings, their minds, their very souls, the high and noble and decent things which will motivate them to contributing, participating citizenship in the world and in God's kingdom.
For that purpose, the Brethren have provided a series of small cards and large posters, with a general theme, "Be Honest with Yourself," and some magnificent contributions have been made to the young, contributions with which I am sure every right thinking adult, in or out of the Church, would be sympathetic. My experience as I have traveled the country and passed on the idea to others not of the Church is that they have responded with great interest to the program. Last night Brother Petersen announced that records have been added to this program-recordings of voices of successful, spiritual men, whose example and whose counsel will bless the lives of the young.
Now, I have one serious question to ask. I have talked about the young, and have said of them that they are going to be like their parents by and large, but that they will respond to interested adults outside of the home; that they are responsive also to ideas and ideals; that they can be taught; and that we are attempting to get them to "be honest" with themselves. The question I ask is: "Are we, the adult generation, honest with ourselves and with them?"
Time will not permit any kind of extensive treatment of the problem or question, but I repeat it and ask: Is it possible that in our approaches to the youth we are missing the significance of the opportunity to teach them that is ours? Could it be that Thoreau speaks of many of us when he says there are "thousands hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the roots"?
I read a statement by an interested modern observer a time ago, which is a little harsh, perhaps, but which I repeat because I am sure it has some truth in it. He says,
Youth has more to teach its parents than to learn from them. The real savages are the old, not the young. Much of what the young learn from their elders they acquire at their peril. The world's tragedy is that it must be grown up-in other words, that it must be run by men, who though they know much, have forgotten what they were in their youth.
And as a key to what I am hoping to suggest to you, in and out of the Church, interested adults, these words of Quarles:
Thou canst not rebuke in children what they see practised in thee. Till reason be ripe, examples direct more than precept. Such as is thy behavior before thy children's faces, such is theirs behind thy back.
May I point out an example or two. The Lord has given us counsel about the significance of this magnificent machine, the body with which we are mortally blessed, and has taught us that the body is an eternal component of the soul-that "the spirit and the body are the soul of man". We teach the young that their bodies matter, and that their care of them is important.
On an airplane a week ago last Friday headed toward the East, I read out of the same section of one newspaper two interesting items-one a statement by a director of the American Cancer Society that if Americans would stop smoking it is likely 25,000 of them would be saved from certain death by lung cancer in the next few years. And in the same section, the notation that in 1957 Americans smoked 409 billion cigarettes, an increase of four percent and more over the year before. Can you say to a youngster, "Be Honest with Yourself," in a world where this goes on? Do you yourself contribute to the confusion that must result in his mind?
I read in that same newspaper another interesting item-a statement about a 62-year-old practicing attorney in a Midwestern city who had given himself up under the pressures of a tremendous man hunt for a hit-run driver. A prominent leading citizen, he confessed that he had a hazy notion of having hit something on his way home from a cocktail party. The something he hit was a 31-year-old father of five children, a scoutmaster who died on the street where he was hit. In newspapers and magazines on the airplane were the blandishments of the liquor trusts, encouraging youngsters to be like certain "men of distinction," like this man, perhaps.
There are so many elements of the theme that there is not time to touch them, but I ask you today that when we cry to the young to "be honest" with themselves we consider what goes on in the world around us, the movies and television, the books and plays, the advertising in the newspapers we read, that so pervert the great creative capacity of man given us of God in order that we might find a partner, get married in his appointed way, establish a home and build a family, an outpost on earth of heaven's promise. So many have perverted this magnificent gift of God that we live in a world where sexual adventuring is almost, it would seem, a rule among many, looked upon as a form of amusement. I say I cannot believe that we can with honor and honesty tell the young to "be honest" with themselves knowing that they are responsive to the example we interested adults set.
It is so with us-we who claim to be followers of the Risen Christ and yet do not obey his commandments. It is so especially on this significant Easter day. He said:
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
Yet there are those preaching in his name who are willing to be quoted in the newspapers as saying that they prefer not to have the term Christian applied to themselves, for Jesus Christ, to them, said one recently, was a folk tale like Santa Claus.
I say to you that there are those who know for certain for themselves that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that living his commandments and being honest with ourselves is the only way really to motivate the young to do what we would like them to do. I testify that I do know these things. God bless us that we may bless them as he intends we shall, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Bishop Thorpe B. Isaacson
Thorpe B. Isaacson, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 100-104
Surely we all owe a debt of gratitude to this marvelous choir. Brother Condie and the choir have won our hearts this morning. There are many individuals in the Church and out of the Church all over the world who greatly appreciate their beautiful music and the selections of their renditions.
While standing before you today, I pray that the Lord may sustain me and direct me, and I shall be grateful to each of you for an interest in your faith and prayers. Truly, this is a humbling experience. I am sure it would be a humbling experience for you, too, but probably that is as it should be because we are here this morning-this beautiful Sabbath Easter morning-in true worship. We acknowledge God as our Heavenly Father. We accept Jesus Christ as the Savior and the Redeemer of the world. We teach his birth in Bethlehem, his life in Galilee, and his sojourn in Jerusalem. We accept the mission of Jesus as the Savior of the world. We recount that mission, his contribution, the trial of Jesus that President Clark so beautifully told us about yesterday, and finally the crucifixion of the Savior on the hill of Calvary in Old Jerusalem.
A few years ago as I stood by the side of that tomb in Old Jerusalem I think I loved Jesus more then than I have ever done before in my life. We accept the resurrection of Jesus as true, and we know he came forth from the tomb as the Resurrected Christ, thereby giving eternal life, probably God's greatest gift to man.
We teach and we recognize the appearance of God, the Father, and his Son, Jesus Christ, to the Prophet Joseph in the Sacred Grove. There are some of our friends who can hardly accept that as truth, but we would plead with them to study and pray, and that testimony will come to them. We acknowledge Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. He was raised up, preserved, and divinely called. We teach and we believe in the revelations received by the Prophet Joseph. These revelations are true, and this chosen prophet left to the world more doctrines of life and salvation than any other person who ever lived, save Christ himself. He was truly a divinely called and inspired prophet, and sealed his testimony with his life and blood along with his wonderful brother, Hyrum, who was also martyred at Carthage Jail in Illinois.
Yes, we accept these things as factual, and we know without a doubt that they are true; that the Lord revealed his will to this prophet, and after the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith another great prophet was raised up, preserved, and divinely called-the prophet and President Brigham Young, who had a great mission to perform in leading this people on that unknown journey. After the death of the Prophet Brigham Young, other prophets were raised up and divinely called to lead the Church, each one in his time a true prophet of the Lord. At the present time one stands at the head of this Church and is the mouthpiece of God, our Eternal Father. President David O. McKay is a prophet of the Lord, just as were the prophets of old. I bear testimony to you that I know this to be true, and I know it by the power and gift of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of the Lord testifies to our spirits and we believe.
I would like to address some of my remarks to a very large group of brethren whom I regard as fine men and of great potential power and strength and in whom I have great interest, the senior members of the Aaronic Priesthood. I know many of them, and I want to express to them our love and our friendship. We have only one desire, that we can share with them some of the joys and blessings that we are privileged to enjoy. When you stop to think of this large group of men, if it were possible to assemble them, we would fill this tabernacle ten times as it is filled this morning.
Where are they today, and what have we done about it? We want to tell them that we love them, and we welcome them back into activity in the Church. We want to assure them of our interest in their welfare. We have been greatly impressed with the progress made by these wonderful men, and we would plead with all of our brethren of this group and other groups that if for any reason you may have become inactive in the Church, we want you back because it will bring you greater joys and blessings than have ever come to you any other way in your life. We can promise you that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ changes the pattern and the attitude and the personality and the personal spiritual strength of men who will accept Christ and the teachings of the gospel.
May I give you a quotation from Alma to express to you how we feel:
Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee.
In a recently completed survey, with 224 stakes reporting regarding the activity of their schools for senior members of the Aaronic Priesthood, we are pleasantly encouraged and grateful to see what is taking place. We have, for instance, at the present time, approximately 367 schools now in session for the senior members of the Aaronic Priesthood and their wives, some of them on a ward and some on a stake basis. We have had enrolled in these schools in the last year more than 17,000 of these wonderful men and their wives, and we are learning of some glorious experiences that have come into the lives of these brethren.
Just yesterday I shook hands with a former senior member of the Aaronic Priesthood who now is a stake president. It is not uncommon for us to shake hands with some who are now bishops.
May I give you a few excerpts from some of the special survey sheets regarding these schools, the comments of which are from the senior members of the Aaronic Priesthood?
Perhaps the greatest benefit that I received from the school was the feeling that my Church was still very much interested in me in spite of my inactivity for so many years, and that I was still needed and wanted in the Church; that I still had a chance to make up in a way for years of absence; that there was still time left, but that I must not procrastinate longer.
Another:
I have completed the first school, and I recommend that all the senior members of the Aaronic Priesthood attend these schools. It is a great feeling to feel yourself grow as you get interested again in the Church. This school seems to give us the spark that we need for most of us to get started again, and I would recommend to every senior member of the Aaronic Priesthood that you attend these schools.
It was through this school that my wife and I received the spark of hope, and now we are working our way to the temple.
It is wonderful to see how the lives of individuals may be changed, and the lives of sons and daughters likewise are changed, because they are happy when their fathers and mothers make adjustments in their own lives. To sons and daughters who come from a divided family-the father a member of the Church or the mother a member of the Church-you can do so much for your mother and your father. A girl, a while ago, sent this letter to her father and mother in answer to a letter that she had received.
Dear Mother and Daddy: I received your letter, and I have never had such a pleasant and wonderful surprise in my life as when I read it, telling me that Dad was now going to join the Church. I started to cry, and I cry every time I think of it because really, I have never been so happy. This is the blessing that I have been praying for ever since I was big enough to know how to pray.
Young people, you, too, can do that for your fathers and your mothers.
Dad, I know you will now be greatly blessed, and if you will live the commandments our Heavenly Father has given us, you will soon have the Holy Priesthood which will give you the power to do the things that you have never dreamed of doing before. I think it will be so wonderful if you will both live worthy of being married in the temple some day.
I cannot think of a more glorious wedding gift for me than to be sealed to both my mother and father and my sweetheart, Jim, on the same day. Another great thing will be that now, Daddy, you will be able to assist in many ordinances of the Church, and someday assist in the blessings of my babies. That will mean so much to me. Nothing could have ever made me happier than this has made me.
I love you, and as your daughter, I am very proud of both of you. You have made me so happy, and I will always be what you expect me to be.
We are humble and truly grateful for our membership in this Church. We do not wish to appear arrogant or haughty, because we realize that we are not as good as we should be, but we are thankful we are as good as we are, and are grateful to God for what we can yet become.
The Church offers us the opportunity to worship God and a chance to come into an awareness of him. With him there is healing of sorrows, strength for the day, and peace at the last. If we have been at odds with ourselves or with God, our Father, and the universe, reconciliation with the Master, with our fellows, and our soul can come. That change will come about if we are humble, repentant, and seek the assistance of our Heavenly Father, but it can never take place without communion with the Lord and a spiritual religious belief and faith.
The understanding of God's goodness enables man to meet everyday needs, problems, and troubles. We can come to a reconciliation with God, with people, and with ourselves. Despair and discouragement can be transformed to confidence, guilt to forgiveness; cross purposes and uncertain goals can be changed to spiritual strength. Yes, one's real personality heretofore utterly alone can take on a new character with true humility. True religion gives one strength to ask forgiveness of one's fellow men. If that be difficult, and sometimes it is, all we need to do is to become humble, and it gives us spiritual strength to ask for God's forgiveness. If we can only accept and thoroughly recognize that God is our Father, if we will listen to his words, we will not be troubled.
The gospel as taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will lift one higher than any other philosophy on earth. It will give one a higher knowledge, more to live for and more to die for than any other church on the earth, because it is the true Church of Jesus Christ. The truths of the gospel are beautiful. As a church and as a people, we are particularly blessed with the scriptures of the Book of Mormon, and I would like to say to my friends who may be inactive, or those not of the Church, the Lord has made all of us a very definite promise in the Book of Mormon, and I hope that every man within the sound of my voice who has never done so will read the following. The Lord said:
Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember bow merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
Elder Orson F. Whitney has written the following concerning Mormonism:
Mormonism's magnanimity-And yet "Mormonism" is said to be narrow, small and illiberal. Narrow, forsooth! Then where will you find breadth? Where find justice, mercy, magnanimity, if not in a religion that saves the living, redeems the dead... and glories all who repent? "Mormonism" a small thing? It's the biggest thing in the universe! It is the Everlasting Gospel, the mighty soul-ship of the dispensations, launched in the days of Adam upon the heaving ocean of the ages, and now on its last voyage over the stormy billows of Time to the beckoning coast of Eternity!.
God can win strange victories in the hearts and lives of those who believe in him. Too many people have been trying to do without God, perhaps that is the reason for some of their failures.
Too many people are trying to give irreligion the garb of respectability. They have acted as if we could acquire education without acquiring a knowledge of religion, and wisdom without the experience and practice of religion.
Perhaps we have not found peace within ourselves. The lack of peace usually goes with the lack of belief in the Almighty God and a knowledge of the availability to us of his guidance. We have not been able to establish peace among the nations of the world. With all our knowledge, we yet urgently need to gain sufficient understanding completely to recognize that there is an inescapable cause and effect relationship between these mounting failures and our diminishing faith. Unless we are willing to prepare for a new dark age, we must soon acknowledge that as good as we think we are, we are not good enough to get along without the God our forefathers found indispensable.
Every person might follow the admonition of Alma:
Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down into the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God.
May I close with this thought:
We expect to pass through this world but once; therefore, any good that we can do or any kindness that we can show to any living person, let us do it now. Let us not defer it or neglect it, for we shall not pass this way again.
May God favor us by granting to each of us the companionship and the association of his sweet, holy Spirit, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 104-107
As we pay tribute to the Savior of the world on this Easter day and express gratitude to him for his great atonement, we must remember, also, that to be a true Christian means that we love Jesus Christ and that to love him means to obey him.
How can we truly love him unless we walk in his footsteps. How can we sincerely honor him unless we follow his teachings?
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
His great fundamental teaching was that of love, and out of love he taught unity, harmony, brotherhood, sisterhood. He prayed, you recall, that his disciples might be one, even as he and his Father were one. He taught that a house divided against itself cannot stand. A man cannot divide his loyalty, either. No one can serve two masters.
When he placed apostles and prophets in the Christian church, as Paul explains, he did so to help the saints to be united, to reach a unity of faith, to understand what is true harmony. Yet, as we contemplate these teachings, we must realize that Christianity itself is sadly divided. Thoughts of unity among the churches are repugnant to most Christians, and still they claim to believe the Master's teachings urging unity and brotherhood, not division and lack of harmony.
One of the most difficult things about this division in modern Christianity is the effect it has upon family life. In these days of far too much discord in the average American home, religious differences frequently become the important cause of discord, sometimes to the extent of breaking up homes, causing separations and divorce, with all their accompanying heartaches.
Every young couple on making plans for marriage hopes for a happy home life. Everyone wants to make a success of marriage. Most young couples have faith in God and seek his blessings upon their marriage. But in so many instances the very religions to which they hold tend to bring unhappiness to them because the couples belong to different religious faiths. This difference becomes a source of irritation, conflict, quarreling, and unhappiness. It becomes so to such an extent that those who have studied marriage most are convinced that so-called interfaith marriages generally are a mistake.
Christianity is too divided to permit Christians of different denominations to live together in peace and harmony. It may be a great reflection upon Christian living and Christian concepts, but it is nevertheless true. Interfaith marriage jeopardizes the stability and happiness of the home.
The Christian denominations are the first to recognize this. They, themselves, advise their young people to avoid marital disharmony by marrying within their own faith. I have written to many clergymen of various faiths from coast to coast, asking their views on this subject, and have received back a whole sheaf of letters, all advising against interfaith marriage. To give you a small cross section of their opinions, I read to you a few of the letters, at least excerpts from them.
From New York City, St. Patrick's Information Center, the Rev. Charles J. McManus writes:
You can gather the position of our Church from the fact that Catholics are forbidden to marry non-Catholics by Church law.
And from the Salt Lake Diocese of the Catholic Church, a letter signed by the Rev. Francis T. Kelleher, says:
His Excellency, Bishop Hunt has requested that I answer your letter of August 23.
... a mixed marriage is always potentially dangerous. Disagreement on religion can lead to unhappiness for both parties, confusion and indifference on the part of the children, and even breakup of the family. We have seen it happen time and again.
From the First Presbyterian Church of Salt Lake City, the Rev. E. E. Bollinger writes:
The Protestant tradition has always taken a firm stand in advising young people to marry within their own historic faith.
We... agree with the LDS Bishop, the Jewish Rabbi, and the Roman Catholic Priest, that chances for harmony in marriage are greatly minimized when there are two major religious traditions in the home.
The Rabbi Mordecai Podet of the Congregation B'Nai Israel of Salt Lake City, writes:
To my knowledge no clergyman, marriage counselor, or other person professionally trained and experienced in marital matters recommends mixed marriages... The Central Conference of American Rabbis, which is the organization of liberal rabbis, is on record opposing mixed marriage.
The Christ Lutheran Church and School, of Murray, Utah, has as its pastor, the Rev. William C. Naatz, and he writes:
... we urge our young people to marry within their church if that is at all possible. The tragedy of intermarriage is that far too often when children are born into families of split faiths there are serious complications. It has been my experience that the great majority of unchurched homes in our country today are homes where there were originally two different faiths involved, and as a compromise finally the family ended up going nowhere.
The First Unitarian Society of Salt Lake City writes over the name of Harold Scott, Pastor: The literature on the subject indicates that when Jews, Protestants, Catholics, and Mormons intermarry, there are more difficult adjustments to be made than as though the contracting parties were of the same faith...
... interfaith marriages... mean additional strain on the marriage bond.
We wrote to the Greek Orthodox Church in New York City. The Director of Public Relations, Mr. Arthur Dore, wrote and said:
... our Church... never encourages mixed marriages because, speaking from experience, mixed marriages are likely to be a failure...
The Colorado Woman's College recently conducted a discussion for the students of the college in which a Jewish rabbi, a Catholic priest, and a Protestant minister spoke. Following this discussion, the Rocky Mountain News summarized the information given in their issue of February 5, 1958, and said:
Marriage between people of different religious faiths is often the start of loss of faith, delinquency or divorce...
The New York Times on June 24, 1956, carried an article entitled, "Why Marriages Go Wrong," and among other things said:
... there are approximately three times as many divorces or separations in Catholic-Protestant marriages as there are when the marital partners are of the same faith, and about four times as many when a Catholic father is married to a Protestant mother. And here again the story of marital unhappiness is far larger than divorce and separation statistics show.
Being further interested I decided to write to judges in divorce courts of the nation, and went from New York to San Francisco and Los Angeles, and I read only a few of the replies given us by these gentlemen:
From the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Judge B. Fain Tucker writes:
... there is an obvious advantage in the same church membership. Dissimilarity of interest in any field may prove a hazard in marriage. This is particularly true with religion... I believe that family worship-family prayers-help tremendously in strengthening marriage ties. Family worship is easier if both spouses belong to the same church...
He goes on to say:
Difference in religion undoubtedly will aggravate the "in-law" problem where the parents of one or both spouses are deeply religious... The religious training of the children when the spouses are of different churches, is one of the most vexing problems of all.
Then from the Superior Court of San Francisco, Judge Orla St. Clair writes:
Where the parents are of different religious faiths, we often find that if the marriage fails the bitterness over the religious problems for the children seems to be all out of proportion... if the marriage is a failure, this mixed faith problem is an extremely vexatious one from the point of view of the court trying to decide custody and visitation matters.
From the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Justice Samuel M. Gold writes:
... religion does play a part in maintaining a happy marriage and... the chances of a marriage being successful are greater when young people marry within their own faith.
And from Denver, Colorado, District Court, Judge Joseph E. Cook writes:
... interfaith marriages do not succeed as well as between people of the same faith; especially where children are involved.
Educators have made considerable research into this problem. I quote only one, Dr. Earl E. Emme, Professor of Psychology and Religion, Florida Southern College, who, on October 16, 1957, addressed an open meeting of Pi Gamma Mu, a National Honor Society in Social Science. He listed numerous reasons why people of different religious faiths should not marry. He advocated marriage within your own church. I only give two comments from him in the interest of time. First, he says:
A survey of representative textbooks used in marriage courses shows that they all counsel the students against mixed marriages.
And second.
The slogan of religious groups that "Families that pray together, stay together" might be restated to say that "families that can do things together, plan things together, stay together."
"The key word," he says, "is together." And then he adds, "The happy-together family cannot remain so if religion is not included."
Even the Lord has spoken on this subject. Anciently he asked through one of his prophets:
Can two walk together, except they be agreed?.
Through Moses, he commanded his ancient people to refrain from marrying unbelievers. Said he:
Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
For they will turn away thy son from following me... so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you.
And the Apostle Paul said:
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
What are we to do then? Shall we bring upon ourselves the unhappiness of a divided household? Shall we profit by the voice of experience and marry within our own faith?
God lives, it is true. Christianity, divided as it is, claims to believe that. The gospel is the way to peace. This also is true in spite of the great divisions existing in modern Christianity. But Christianity of today is so divided that if we bring its conflicting philosophies into our homes, they can and do become a source of discord which may jeopardize the very foundations of our family life.
Then, what are we to do? The obvious answer to everyone is, marry within your own faith. If you are a Presbyterian, marry a Presbyterian. If you are a Catholic, marry a Catholic. If you are of the house of Judah, marry within your own faith. If you are a Mormon, marry a Mormon.
But to the Latter-day Saints we have something still further to say. Not only should the Latter-day Saints marry Latter-day Saints, but also the Latter-day Saints must marry Latter-day Saints within a Latter-day Saint temple. Just as God has his mode of baptism, so he has his mode of marriage. Should a Latter-day Saint ever reject God's mode of baptism? Then why should a Latter-day Saint ever reject God's mode of marriage?
Marriage is intended by the Lord to last forever, eternally, as President Richards says, "to be projected out into the eternities." That takes temple marriage. It brings together two Latter-day Saints of faith and devotion. If they will be united, if they will come and participate in the great saving blessing of a temple marriage, if they then will live the gospel and keep sacred their marriage covenant, they need never worry about divorce because of religious or other serious differences in the home, nor need they ever fear that death itself will serve as a divorce court, and break the bonds which were made for time only.
They who are married in the temple of God are married for all eternity, according to God's mode of marriage.
May we have the foresight to live in such a way that we may fulfil this great commandment of our Father and reap the great blessings he has for us, is my humble prayer, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Elder Hugh B. Brown
Hugh B. Brown, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 107-110
An ancient prophet gave the assurance that God would require nothing of his children save he provided a way for them to carry out his commandments. I rely on that promise and pray for divine guidance. Speaking of the Lord making provision for the carrying out of his commandments, I am reminded that in ancient days and in our time he required that the gospel of the kingdom should be preached to all the world. When this commandment was given to the founders of the Church, perhaps it seemed to be an insuperable task, but God has kept his promise and has made provision whereby we are able to reach more people with the gospel in a few minutes than our fathers could reach in years. We are grateful for the microphone, the radio and television; but these facilities, great as they are, as President Clark indicated last night, are just in their infancy, and God will, in his own due time, give us such improvements and amplifications as will enable us to carry out his great commandment.
We greet you, our friends out there in the radio and television audience who are not members of our Church. We join with Christians everywhere, as has been indicated all through this conference, in commemorating and giving thanks to God for the resurrection of the Lord. The significance of this transcendent event was emphasized by the Apostle Paul in that matchless sermon recorded in Corinthians, in which, among other things, he said: "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain".
We believe that the greatest story ever told in all the annals of history is the story of the atonement of Christ. The record of his resurrection and ascension, without which the atonement would not have been complete, is the climax to that story; and now, two thousand years after the event, it is still central and pivotal in all true Christian thought.
Christ was both mortal and divine-mortal through his mother, Mary; divine through his Father, God-and because of that unique combination he was able to yield voluntarily to death in order that through his divinity he might conquer death, break its bands, and make the resurrection possible to all men. The resurrection is not for a select few, nor is it alone for believing Christians; but every man and woman who ever lived upon earth, or who ever shall live thereon, will be raised from the dead.
Paul, the apostle, epitomized the cause and consequences of the atonement in one sentence... as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive". And the Savior said,
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
But we must not assume because of this promise that regardless of what we may do we shall have exaltation and eternal life. Those blessings are reserved for those who accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and observe and keep the commandments of God.
We not only commemorate the resurrection of the Lord as an event in history, but we also recognize it as a harbinger of things to come. When he gave his life on the cross, he did not indicate that his interest in his fellow men had ceased. He promised, and his apostles predicted, as did the prophets of the Old Testament, that there should be a second coming of the Lord when, as Paul said,
... the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
But before his coming certain things must happen. Among them, as he said in answer to the question of his apostles as to what should be the sign of his coming and the end of the world, "... this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come". It is significant that he said "this gospel of the kingdom," not "a gospel," or "some gospel," but "this gospel." And the Apostle Paul, always precise and zealous said:
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
And still there are some who say it matters little or not at all which church one joins, which gospel one preaches, whether it be the gospel of Luther, Knox, or Calvin, whether one belongs to the Roman or Greek Catholic Church, to one of the numerous protestant denominations, or to some group which emphasizes some one aspect of the gospel such as faith healing, mode of baptism, which day is the Sabbath, etc. Unfortunately the world is faced with a variety of religious denominations which in some measure neutralize each others' influence in the minds of people.
The question then arises, "Where shall we find that gospel?" The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes certain definite statements with respect to what the gospel is. A commission was appointed in England recently by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to make a complete survey of modern evangelism, and they were asked to seek and discover if they could the causes for the wide and deep gulf that exists between the church and the people. This commission in the preamble to their report, emphasized the irrelevance of the church in the life and thought of the community in general.
The most arresting observation made by the commission was, "We believe that the tendency to preach another gospel, or a partial gospel, has been the weakness of the church." This observation reminds us of Paul's warning and anathema which for emphasis he repeated:
As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
What gospel did Paul preach? All will agree that he was converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ as now taught in the New Testament through personal communication and instruction. He became one of its chief exponents, most effective and fearless defenders, and finally one of its martyrs. Many are asking, "Where can one find a church which teaches the gospel as Paul taught it?" Any search for the true gospel leads at once to the matter of origin and authority.
In a brief consideration of that subject we shall not challenge the claims of other churches unless our claim that we have the gospel is taken as a challenge. The Catholic Church bases its claims to authority on the long line of apostolic succession. Many of the other churches began with a protest against or an attempted reformation of the so-called mother church. As the great reformers failed to change or reform the false teachings and undesirable conditions they claimed to have discovered, and as they were successively excommunicated, some of them undertook to establish new churches without claiming new revelation or authoritative ordination.
The restored gospel of Jesus Christ does not base its claim to authority on apostolic succession, nor did it begin with a protest against or attempt to reform other churches. Furthermore, this Church did not have its beginning in scholarly analysis of the gospel as taught in the Bible. Its founder, at the time of his first vision, did not claim to be a profound student of theology, and he knew little of the writings of the early church fathers. His message came as a direct revelation from heaven.
We say humbly but fearlessly that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is the divinely inspired way of life, the plan of salvation. It is the gospel of the kingdom of which Jesus spoke. It is, as was its prototype in the Meridian of Time, the fulness of the everlasting and unchangeable gospel, the very power of God unto salvation, the everlasting gospel which, through angelic ministration in the latter days, was, according to John the beloved, to be carried to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.
Some express amazement and disbelief when we claim that the restoration began with a vision of heavenly beings and revelations from God. These claims should not be thought incredible to anyone who believes in the Holy Bible, for such events were standard procedure in both the Old and New Testaments.
Mormonism is a message of glad tidings to all people, a glorious declaration that the prophecies recorded in both Old and New Testaments concerning the latter days have been and are being fulfilled. It is an announcement that the God of heaven has set up a kingdom as predicted by Daniel. It is a proclamation that the times of refreshing have come from the presence of the Lord, when there is to be a restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouths of all his holy prophets since the world began as predicted by Peter. We humbly and gratefully announce the opening of the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times in which, as promised by Paul, all things are to be gathered together in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth.
The above scriptures concerning the restoration refer to the whole gospel. We think neither individuals nor groups of men, under whatever title, are justified in their attempts to pick and choose between particular aspects of the whole gospel. We profoundly dissent from the opinion that there is an element in the message which changes with varying conditions. The message of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that there has been a restoration of the identical gospel which Jesus taught and which the apostles preached at his command. It is a gospel of glad tidings of great joy, a gospel of hope and saving power as was enjoyed by members of the Church in the days of the Savior and his apostles.
The restored gospel is also a warning of judgment to come, a judgment which is neither fiction nor superstition but is a tremendous and solemn truth, when all that is found valueless or out of harmony with the purposes of God must be abolished.
Some may not understand how this message of good news can include a warning of judgment to come, but judgment is integral to the gospel. It is the assertion of the final triumph of good and the abolition of evil.
While the Church, which was organized under divine direction, is the kingdom of God on earth, its membership consists of men and women who are not yet made perfect. It is a mixed society with an international complexion, subject in varying degrees to the weaknesses of humanity. It does not claim to be a picture gallery where every portrait is a masterpiece; therefore, Church membership requires continued tolerance, charity, and love of fellow men.
We do not claim to have achieved perfection; we often fall short of our ideals; but with additional revelations from the Lord, and with the gift of the Holy Ghost to help us, we hope it may be said of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints what Peter said to the Church of Jesus Christ of former-day Saints:
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
We look upon the restoration and the second coming of Christ as sequels to the resurrection. We believe that a full understanding of the significance of the resurrection must include consideration of and belief in his second coming which, as he himself declared, must be preceded by the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom to all the world.
There are those who wonder at our assurance, and sometimes they say our presumption-as we make such positive and definite statements, but we ask you, our friends: If you knew of a revelation from God, and knew it to be a revelation, would you equivocate or water it down, or be afraid to defend it, or assert it? In my opinion, no greater message has come to this world since the angel standing at the open tomb said: "He is not here; he is risen".
The announcement of the Church today, and let all people heed as they hear, is that this same Jesus has appeared again, established his kingdom, organized his Church with apostles and prophets, and set in motion a great missionary system by which the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be carried to all the world as a witness, and then the end shall come.
Humbly I bear my testimony to you, my friends, and brothers and sisters, that from the center of my heart to the ends of my fingers and toes I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. I know that he came forth from the tomb with his body, which he displayed to his disciples, and invited them to feel of the wounds. I know that he has spoken again. I know that the gospel has been restored to the earth. If this message be true, it should be heard and heeded by all men everywhere, for it has in it the saving principles of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I leave this testimony with you, and thank God that he has given it to me, and pray that I may be able to live so as to come back into his presence, and I remind all of you that any of us may come into his presence when our conduct has been such that we can feel at home there.
God bless us to that end I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Delbert L. Stapley
Delbert L. Stapley, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 115-119
My brothers and sisters and friends, I should like to express my appreciation for the Brethren sustained among the group of General Authorities with all my heart. I welcome them in these new positions. I know each personally for his faith, devotion, and dedication to the great cause of the Lord. I pledge to them my faith, my prayers, and my help.
This has been a great spiritual conference with choice, enlightening messages. I hope my message will not detract from this sacred day and the important event we commemorate, the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Often in conversation with devout and sincere men not of our faith, the subject of religion routinely comes up as an important and interesting topic for discussion. After answering questions and supplying information about the restored Church of Christ, also following an exchange of doctrinal beliefs, the friendly discussion usually terminates with their saying something like this:
"We are all God's children; therefore, it makes no difference to which church a person belongs; we are all working for the same place." Then, apparently without profound thinking, they add: "There are many roads to get to heaven; therefore, it does not matter which road we take, we will all end up in God's presence."
This man-made philosophy-for such it is-sounds good, but the scriptures do not support it. I assure each of you that the road to God's presence is not that easy. I feel certain that the devil chuckles whenever this false opinion is expressed, for it pleases him that the minds of men have been so blinded to revealed truth by his cunning craftiness and deceit that they will believe any religion to be acceptable to God regardless of its tenets and ordinances or how or by whom those ordinances are administered.
Occasionally, to justify or bolster their Christian belief and church allegiance, men will simply say, "We admire your church, but you agree, do you not, that although of different faiths we are all striving for the same goals?" True, we are, but to me this statement evidences an uncertainty and lack of personal assurance of the rightness of their convictions and church membership, because the conversation had neither solicited nor suggested any explanation of their religious choice.
Recently a father wrote an unchristianlike letter to his son, who, after prayerful study, gave up the church of his parents, in which he had been most active, to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The father, apparently suffering from a vain and injured false pride, used this argument as one of many, which were most unfair and bitter, in order to win his son back to the church of his youth and young manhood: "My father often told us that if we lived by God's Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule every minute that we were awake, we would have all the religion we needed to live a good, wholesome, and righteous life on this earth, thereby pleasing God and reaping our rewards in heaven." And then he quoted a noted evangelist of our day as saying, "There is no true church," and the father added, "I believe the same."
No one will deny the everlasting importance of the Ten Commandments. They are as binding today upon mankind as they were at the time God gave them to Moses upon Mount Sinai. Also, the Golden Rule today is basic to our Christian way of life. However, this father, like so many others, is blinded in his concept of what true religion is and what it requires of an individual. Many people, no doubt, would agree with the statement attributed to the evangelist, that there is "no true church." Many others would not be certain because of the confusion caused by so many churches all claiming to be right. I testify in all sincerity and humility that the true Church of Christ is upon the earth, and every person, in the interest of his salvation and exaltation, is duty bound to find it and to obey its way of life.
A few months ago I saw a large 1957 calendar hanging on a church wall with this caption in bold letters, challenging all who looked upon it to "Go to Church Sunday," followed with this message: "I'll go to my Church, you go to yours, but let us walk together." How can people going to different churches of divergent faiths, doctrines, and tenets, walk together in understanding and peace when they disagree on basic Christian principles and true gospel teachings and faith concepts? Does not walking together imply agreement, unity of faith, and oneness of purpose?
The Lord, reasoning with the children of Israel because of their waywardness and failure to follow the prophets, declared to them through the Prophet Amos:
You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together, except they be agreed?.
A great and important lesson is taught in this scripture; namely, that we should walk together, agreed in faith and doctrine with the Lord. Is not that admonition and counsel just as applicable today to the people of the world as it was in the days of the Prophet Amos?
It was the Apostle Paul, writing to the Ephesian saints, who taught the "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" doctrine, and also testified to them that Christ
... gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
These officers, since the days of Christ, are and always will be in the true Church of Christ as long as the earth shall stand.
With the multiplicity of churches in the world today all claiming the right way, and so many yielding to the generally accepted opinion that all roads or churches lead to eternal life, how important it is that these officers of the true Church of Christ, enumerated by the Apostle Paul, reveal light and truth in the midst of confusion and darkness of teaching, to guide mankind unerringly to the safe harbor of God's everlasting kingdom.
If truth is consistent, and I testify it is, can there be more than one true way to God and eternal life? The Savior said to the Jews who believed on him:
If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
A man cannot truly be free who is handicapped by false tradition, false teachings, error, and a lack of true knowledge that saves.
Among the eternal truths taught by our Redeemer in his great Sermon on the Mount is this important and challenging obligation: "... seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness". The Lord specified a certain kingdom, not many kingdoms or any kingdom, but only God's kingdom. It is the gospel of this kingdom that the Lord declared, when outlining the signs and events that would precede his second coming, was to be preached in all the world as a witness unto all nations before the end should come. The duty, therefore, of every man is to search honestly and sincerely in faith until he finds God's kingdom and yields obedience to its full requirements.
When Thomas asked the Lord, "... how can we know the way?" the Savior answered, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me". Thomas did not ask his Lord what different ways could be chosen or taken, nor did the Savior reveal more than one way or plan by which eternal life can be obtained. He presented the plan he received from his Father, for he declared:
"My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself".
When Christ ministered among men, he did not accept the sects of the Pharisees and Sadducees, but admonished his listeners to beware of their doctrine. He called them blind guides and referred to them, with the scribes, as hypocrites who built the tombs of the prophets;... compared them unto whited sepulchres and said they omitted the weightier matters of the law. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of man, but the Sadducees did not accept this doctrinal belief. Both could not be right.
Just as the Judah kingdom of the house of Israel had departed from the right way into error and apostasy because of tradition and false teachings, even so today many people are in spiritual darkness because they do not have the light of truth found in the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
It was not the purpose and calling of Christ's apostles anciently to convert and permit people to join any church, but only the true church that Christ had established among men. The Apostle Paul, addressing himself to the Corinthian saints, warned them by Saying:
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
He then calls attention to reports that there were contentions among them and asks, "Is Christ divided?". Later in this same epistle he refers to himself as a wise master-builder and states:
I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed, by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
Writing to the Galatian saints, Paul was just as emphatic. He said to them:
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Doesn't this statement describe religious conditions in our day and time? Paul continued by declaring:
But though we or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
And then to re-emphasize it, Paul repeated:
As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Does not this scripture clearly reveal that there is only one true gospel plan?
Luke, the physician, recording the historic events that occurred on the Day of Pentecost, proudly relates:
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized... And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship... And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.
When Jesus was taken before Pilate to be judged of him, he said to Pilate, "Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice".
Again, when he was in Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication, he answered certain Jews who gathered about him wanting to know if he was the Christ, by saying,
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life.
How can people truly hear and know the voice of their Shepherd and become so confused in understanding his teachings and doctrines that they divide into many denominations of divergent beliefs and practices? Can they follow him by branching off into different directions contrary to the path Jesus marked out for them?
The Savior authoritatively taught: "... there shall be one fold, and one shepherd". He did not suggest there were to be many folds and many shepherds in his kingdom.
Alma, a great prophet of ancient America, declared:
Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd. And now if ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd, of what fold are ye? Behold, I say unto you, that the devil is your shepherd, and ye are of his fold; and now, who can deny this? Behold, I say unto you, whosoever denieth this is a liar and a child of the devil.
In this world of many churches with their diversity of beliefs and teachings, can they all be right and enjoy true authority of ministry? The scriptures teach that God is consistent and unchangeable, that his kingdom is one of order, not chaos. If the scriptures are interpreted according to the light of truth, there is only one path to God, not many. A kingdom divided against itself will fall and become desolate. The laws of God and the requirements for entrance into his kingdom are the same for all. Even the governments of men do not permit a variety of plans by which people can obtain citizenship; the requirements apply to all alike. Can we think of God's kingdom advocating many different ways to salvation and glory to suit the fancy of men? Sincerity of belief is not enough and cannot save any man. Exaltation is founded upon true faith and good works, for it is by works that faith is made perfect.
The Savior asked this thought-provoking question: "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?". He also taught: "The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master". If we are not above our master, then we are obligated to do the things that he did to obtain eternal life. We cannot follow a different course of teachings and beliefs and rest securely with him in the kingdom of our Father. Christ said he came not to do his own will but the will of him that sent him. He also advocated, "Come follow me". To do so would lead us into the waters of baptism, even as Christ was baptized, and by one who has the authority to perform that sacred ordinance. John the Baptist was divinely commissioned and sent from the Father to baptize his Lord and Redeemer.
The Savior taught:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
Every seeker after truth should searchingly and honestly ask himself or herself this question: Am I attempting to climb heavenward by some other path than the one marked out by the Redeemer and Savior of men?
Another important saying of the Savior in his discourse upon the mount that significantly applies to one Lord, one faith, one baptism, is this:
Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but be that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils: and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
If God's children close their minds and hearts to truth and refuse to obey the saving ordinances of the true kingdom of God and thus fail to obtain rightful citizenship in it, this will place the disobedient in that group of iniquity workers that the Lord will refuse to recognize at his coming. Our Savior has warned that every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
John the Beloved reasoned wisely and correctly when he taught:
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
If all people walked as Christ walked, guided by the Holy Ghost, which is the spirit of truth, they would accept and follow his teachings and do the things which he did. This would unite them in one fold under the leadership of the true Shepherd, Christ our Lord.
In the midst of present-day religious confusion, false teachings, and questionable faith in the true purposes and power of God, it is most difficult, without honest effort and sincere searching, to find Christ's kingdom with its plan of life and salvation. Fortunately for us, God has not left mankind alone in this world of uncertainty, but has promised the guidance of his spirit to enlighten the understanding of his children upon the earth with truth and light if they will faithfully and prayer-fully seek after him.
I testify to you, my brothers and sisters and friends, that there is only one true gospel plan, of which our Savior is the author, that embodies all the teachings, principles, and ordinances revealed for the salvation and exaltation of mankind. I testify also that there can be only one true kingdom of God on earth with the authority and power to teach and administer the sacred gospel ordinances for the blessing of the human family.
May God grant that through the restoration of his kingdom in this, the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, his will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven, as our Savior taught us to pray, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Albert Theodore Tuttle
A. Theodore Tuttle, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 120-121
President McKay, my brothers and sisters: at this time I would surely like to have Brother Benson share with me the manuscript he has in his pocket.
I am sure I need not try to tell you what a humbling experience this is. Perhaps the only people who fully understand the impact of such an assignment are these Brethren who sit before you.
Knowing something of Brother Oscar A. Kirkham, his life and his tremendous stature, gives me no consolation in fulfilling the vacancy which resulted from his passing. On the contrary, it has increased the weight of this responsibility. I must confess that at the present time I do not know why the Lord has called me to this position. I have been taught a principle all of my life to which President Clark has given expression, that we neither seek nor do we decline the calls that come to us in this Church. Acceptance of this principle coupled with my faith that the Brethren who direct the affairs of this Church are acting for the Lord, lends strength sufficient to accept this assignment, and to pledge my heart, might, mind, and strength to the future assignments which shall be given to me. I thank you for your sustaining vote. I trust that in the days to come you will feel inclined to carry out the admonition of President Clark and help sustain me with your prayers.
Occasions such as this give one cause for serious reflection. If I have a message today it is an expression of gratitude for those who have helped to bring me to this position of high honor. First, I want to express my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for the blessings and opportunities that he has made mine throughout my life; secondly to my sweet and devoted companion, who has been in every sense what Brother Cowley has termed a "companion-wife." For her sweet and silent and effective support, I express my appreciation.
I am thankful, too, to my five children from whom I have learned many lessons of life and who have given me a better understanding of my Father in heaven and his relationship to all of us, his children. To have them climb upon my knee and throw themselves upon my neck and express in their innocent way their love and their affection typifies, I am sure, what our Father in heaven wants us to do: to come to him, to rely upon him, to ask of him, that we may receive.
I think I have learned another lesson from my children, too, when they have remembered to express appreciation to me for some kind act. We all may well learn to express our appreciation to our Father in heaven for his many blessings.
I am grateful for my wonderful mother and father and for the boundless love and valuable teachings received in our home. I am grateful, too, for my only sister. In our home we had both precept and example, which, I think should be found in every Latter-day Saint home and to which I owe most of what I am.
I owe a debt of gratitude also to my other forebears who joined the Church when they heard the truth and came to the valleys of the mountains and built what we now enjoy. I am grateful that they had the courage to leave their homes and accept calls which came to them to colonize in the Great Basin area.
I am also deeply grateful for my teachers, both within and without the Church. I am a product of this Church. I hope and pray that I can be counted a worthy one, because from my early youth I have been taught in all of the organizations of the Church, in the Primary, the Mutual, the Sunday School, and the priesthood classes, and have had opportunity to learn and serve in them. Today I cannot help thinking of the lovely women and the fine men in these auxiliaries and priesthood quorums who have taught me the gospel and strengthened my testimony. To them I voice my appreciation.
Because of my association in the educational program of the Church, I feel a greater appreciation and kinship to my seminary and institute teachers and those at Brigham Young University than perhaps to others. I certainly would echo the eloquent plea of Elder Moyle that all parents in this Church see to it that their sons and daughters enroll in seminary, and that those college students who do not attend the Church schools should enroll in institutes of religion, where men of devotion and dedication can balance their religious education with their secular learning. It is my belief, my brothers and sisters, that we do not lose young people who go away to college and further their education if while they are so engaged secular learning is balanced with teachings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
I realize that young people are under tremendous pressure from school to complete the requirements both for graduation and for entrance into a university, and sometimes we think we do not have time to get daily religious training. It seems to me that while we are in this life, sent here for the purpose of getting acquainted with the physical things of this earth, and to work out our salvation, that we might well pay attention first to the learning of the gospel plan and our part in it. And I would urge, because of my close experience with daily religious education and my testimony of its fruitfulness, that every young person in the Church enroll in seminaries. Such instructions will help prepare youth for life; will supplement the teachings in the home, the teachings of the auxiliaries of the Church; will more adequately prepare missionaries, as we have heard explained; will lead them into the temples for proper marriage, and help to make faithful members of them.
Now it is true that there are pressures on these young people for such courses as they should take, but may we ever keep in mind the admonition of our Lord and Savior to "... seek... first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness"; and then add the other things where we can.
I would like to pay my respects to that corps of devoted men and women who teach in the Church educational system, for their devotion and their dedication to duty in going the extra mile.
In closing, I wish to leave my humble testimony with you that there has been a conviction borne upon my soul that God lives, that his Son, Jesus Christ, lives, that he was resurrected and now rules with his Father in the affairs and destinies of men, and that he is at the head of this Church.
I have a testimony in my heart that God the Father and his Son appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the spring of 1820 and there commissioned him to restore the gospel which had been taken from the earth. I have a conviction also in my heart that these men before you are the commissioned servants of our Father in heaven, delegated to administer the affairs of this Church and kingdom until he shall come and reign.
I am grateful for this testimony.
My brothers and sisters, I pledge my life to the Lord in his cause and to your service, reserving only sufficient time and means to rear my children honorably before him and before my fellow men.
I pray for the blessings of the Lord to be upon me and trust that you, too, will join in that prayer that I might adequately serve.
This testimony I bear in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Henry D. Taylor
Henry D. Taylor, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 122-123
At 4:15 yesterday, as the afternoon session of conference was concluding, I was handed a note written by Sister Clare Middlemiss, President McKay's secretary, requesting that I be in President McKay's office at five o'clock. I was there. Shortly after that the lightning struck.
President McKay pointed out that a vacancy or vacancies would exist in the Assistants to the Council of the Twelve, and it was his desire and the desire of the Brethren that I should fill one of those vacancies. There was only one answer that I could give and that was, "Yes, President McKay, I will accept. I will do all I can." This, brethren and sisters, is in spite of a feeling of inadequacy and a knowledge of my limitations.
Today I also would like to pay tribute to my forebears, the Taylors and the Dixons, who joined the Church in foreign countries and came to this land. I am grateful for my parents who have long since passed away, for the training which they gave their six sons and two daughters that whenever a call came from the Brethren, there could be but one answer, and that was to say "Yes," accept the calling, and then serve with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength.
In accepting this calling, I take comfort from a few factors. First is the promise of the prophet that has been quoted once today here, that whenever the Lord has a work for us to do, he prepares a way for us to accomplish it. Grandmother Taylor used to say that "the Lord broadens the back to carry the burden".
I also rely upon the assurance that prayers are being offered up daily throughout this Church for the General Authorities, and I know those prayers are heard and that the Brethren are sustained by the spirit of our Heavenly Father in answer to those prayers.
As we have called missionaries, also branch and district presidencies and others to positions of leadership and responsibility, we have pointed out to them that "often men are called not for what they are, but for what they may become." Now, it is an easy thing to give advice and counsel like that. Sometimes those words come back to us, so in giving counsel it might be well to keep in mind this adage, to "let our words be sweet and tender because tomorrow we may have to eat them."
For the past two and a half years, Sister Taylor and I have been presiding in the California Mission. I am grateful for Sister Taylor, a beautiful and lovely daughter of Zion. Our present calling is probably the most satisfying experience that we have ever had in our lives. We work shoulder to shoulder, traveling about the mission together. Over the years as I have served in other Church positions, Sister Taylor has had to assume the major responsibility in the rearing of our four fine sons. I am grateful for her, for her companionship, and for the support and strength that she is to me.
I would like to express appreciation this day for the missionaries in the California Mission, also for the Saints who reside in southern California and Arizona, in the mission as well as in the thirty-four stakes in southern California and Arizona where the missionaries are working. The stake presidents, the bishops, and all the Saints have been most kind, and very thoughtful and generous to us. We have learned to love the people there and to appreciate them.
I would like to pledge my support this day to the Brethren, that I will do all within my power to help build up the kingdom. Elder Mark E. Petersen once remarked that President Clark had made the suggestion that there are two times when a short talk is in order, at least two times-once is when you are starting a job, and the other is when you are finishing. Well, I am just starting a new calling, so it gives me encouragement to make my remarks brief.
I would like to leave with you today, brethren and sisters, my witness that I know that we have a Heavenly Father, that he loves us, that he is interested in us. I bear my witness to you today on this Easter Sabbath that I believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer of mankind, and that through his atonement we will have salvation and also the possibilities of exaltation through our acts.
I am grateful for the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I truly believe he talked to our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, in the Sacred Grove in the year 1820. It is my firm belief that under instructions which were given him this Church was organized, and I am so grateful for my membership in this Church. I love it very much.
I am grateful to belong to a Church that is directed and led by inspiration and revelation in this day, and with all my heart I uphold President David O. McKay and these other Brethren in the General Authorities.
God bless you, brethren and sisters. I hope that you will pray for me as I will pray for you.
I bear this witness to you and humbly pray for this, in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
Gordon B. Hinckley, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 123-125
My dear brethren and sisters, I am reminded of a statement made by my first missionary companion when I received a letter of transfer to the European Mission office. After I had read it, I turned it over to him. He read it, and then said: "Well, you must have helped an old lady across the street in the preexistence. This recognition has not come because of anything you've done here."
Humbly, I seek the blessings of the Lord. I am overwhelmed with a sense of inadequacy. I feel shaken, and if what I say is largely in the nature of personal testimony, I hope you will forgive me.
Since President McKay spoke with me late last evening I have been thinking about the road that led here. I know that I have not come that road alone, and I feel very grateful for the many men and women-the great and good men who are here today, and the small and obscure, but, wonderful people, many of whose names I do not remember-who have helped me. It is the same with each of us in the Church. No man proceeds alone. We grow according to the help given us by those who teach us and lead us.
I have been marvelously fortunate and greatly blessed. I have had a wonderful opportunity in working closely with the Brethren-all of those who are on this stand, and many who have sat here in years past and who are gone. I have had a sure conviction that President McKay is a prophet of the Lord since the day he was sustained as the President of this Church, and I have had many experiences which have confirmed that conviction.
I had the great opportunity of being with him at the Swiss Temple, and as I saw those people gathered from ten nations to participate in the temple ordinances; as I saw elderly people from behind the Iron Curtain who had lost their families in the wars that had washed over them, and witnessed the expressions of joy and tears of gladness which came from their hearts as a result of the opportunities that had been given them; as I saw young husbands and wives with their families-their bright and beautiful children-and saw those families united in an eternal relationship, I knew with a certainty even beyond what I had known before that this man was inspired and directed of the Lord to bring these priceless blessings into the lives of those men and women of faith gathered from the nations of Europe.
I do not know why under the blessing of Providence I have had the marvelous association which I have had with President Richards. In 1935 when I was released from my mission, Elder Joseph F. Merrill of the Council of the Twelve, who was my mission president, asked that I meet with the First Presidency to tell them of some conditions in the European missions. Following that interview President McKay assigned me to work under the supervision of Brother Richards, and for almost a quarter of a century I have worked under his direction and have been tutored by him. I have partaken of his wisdom-his great wisdom-and his kindness and graciousness. I shall ever be in his debt, and I want him to know of my love and appreciation for him.
President Clark has been my ever-ready friend and adviser. I do not know how to say thanks enough to him. And to all of these Brethren whom I have come to love, and who have been so generous and good to me, I am deeply grateful.
I have been touched by the mission presidents with whom I have worked. As I have known their stories, the great sacrifices which they have made to go into the world, the devotion with which they labor, the manner in which they give of themselves, I have been humbled. I have been inspired by the missionaries with whom I have had association. I have seen them as they have gone out in all kinds of weather, late and soon, doing their work and bearing testimony, often at great sacrifice, and bringing a marvelous harvest of souls into the kingdom of God. I have been touched by their parents, with many of whom I have talked. There are still many widows in this Church who wash and iron, who sweep and empty wastebaskets to keep sons and daughters in the mission field, and who would mortgage all they have to give whatever might be felt necessary to make more effective the work of a son or daughter in the mission field.
I have thought, as has Brother Tuttle, of my teachers of the Primary, the Sunday School, and the MIA, and of the Aaronic Priesthood leaders who helped me along when I was a noisy boy, and who exercised patience and forbearance. I do not remember many of the specific lessons they taught, but somehow there was born in my heart a conviction concerning the truth of this work.
I shall always be grateful to the bishop who recommended me for a mission, for my companions in the field, to the humble men and women of faith among whom I labored; to Brother George D. Pyper of the Sunday School, who invited me to serve on the general board; to my stake president who invited me to become his counselor. To Brother Harold B. Lee I feel particularly indebted for a blessing which he gave me when he set me apart as a stake president. I shall never forget the language and spirit of that blessing.
Now, in conclusion, I should like to express my appreciation to my father. He lies critically ill in the hospital. If I feel any selfish satisfaction in this honor, it is the satisfaction that comes from the realization that one of his sons has been found worthy of the confidence of the Brethren. And if I feel any regret, it is that, unless the Lord rules to the contrary, he will not know of this in mortality because of the condition in which he lies today.
No son ever had a better father. He was busy in the Church-for twenty-five years he was in the stake presidency and fulfilled many other responsibilities-but he never forced his views upon us and never compelled us to participate. He never touched one of his children. But by some inspired psychology he planted in us a faith, a love for the restored gospel, and, I think, a desire to do the right thing.
I would like also to express appreciation to my marvelous and faithful mother. She died three years before I went on a mission. I received my call in the days of depression, and money was scarce, and the mission to which I went was then the most costly in the Church. But we found that she, through the years, had banked some of her small change and set up, as it were, a trust fund so that her boys might go on missions regardless of any economic catastrophe that might hit the family.
I would also like to express appreciation for the wonderful women who have come into our home and for my own beloved companion and our five children.
I say these things for two reasons: first, because I am grateful to all who have helped me along the way, and secondly, because I would like to make the point that all of us, in our various situations, are the result, largely, of the lives that touch ours; and that as teachers and officers in the Church we affect for good or ill all who come under our direction according to our diligence in meeting our responsibilities.
It was Emerson, I think, who was asked what book had had the greatest influence upon his life, and he said he could no more remember the books he had read than he could remember the meals he had eaten, but they had made him. Likewise, all of us are largely the products of the lives which touch upon our lives, and today I feel profoundly grateful for all who have touched mine.
Now, in conclusion, on this sixth day of April, significant under the revelations of the Lord, I, too, would like to bear testimony that I know that God lives, that Jesus is our Redeemer, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, the Savior of mankind who gave his life to atone for our sins; that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet of God, the prophet of this dispensation; that the Lord's work is here and is real and under his direction; and that President David O. McKay stands, as did the prophet of this dispensation, to lead the kingdom of God, as the stone which was cut out of the mountain without hands, which should roll forth and fill the earth.
God help us, you and me, to live up to the testimonies which we carry in our hearts, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Marion G. Romney
Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 125-129
My beloved brethren and sisters: I loved and respected our leaders who have gone to their rewards since last conference. To Sisters Bennion, McKay, and Kirkham I pay my respects and pray the Lord to comfort, sustain, and bless them and their families.
I have been touched by the testimonies of these men who have this day been called into service as General Authorities. I feel certain that the Lord inspired President McKay to name them. From my acquaintance with them and my knowledge of their work, I can testify that all of them are faithful and devoted servants of God.
I want to say just a word about Brother Joseph T. Bentley who has this day been called to preside over the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association. I joined wholeheartedly in the vote of appreciation to the brethren who are being released. I know they have rendered long and able service, and I feel sure that Brother Bentley will prove to be a worthy successor to them. I have known him from the time he was born. I knew his father, Joseph C. Bentley. He was my bishop from the time I was born until we left Mexico. I remember how when my mother was in need, my father being away from home, he let me chop wood from some old stumps in the tithing office yard. I can still remember the blisters. He was a very wise man. He did not permit us to suffer for the necessities of life, but he saw to it that we worked for what we got.
Today I desire to do three things; first, make a short report on the Mexican missions I have just visited; second, draw a lesson from the history of the Mexican people and their progenitors; and, third, make an application of that lesson to the people of our day.
I have taken as my text the words of Nephi:
Wherefore, I write unto my people, unto all those that shall receive hereafter these things which I write, that they may know the judgments of God, that they come upon all nations, according to the word which be hath spoken.
In the main the missionaries in Mexico are in good health, working hard, and therefore enjoying the spirit of their callings. We visited with and heard the reports and testimonies of 254 of them.
Many of the people among whom they labor are receptive to the gospel. Last year there were 1,288 convert baptisms. As of the first of the year the Church membership in Mexico was 11,249.
The missionaries tell of many faith-promoting experiences. To me, however, the greatest is the transformation taking place in the feelings, thinking, and interests of the missionaries themselves. Their adjustment to the environment and the language, together with the love they develop for the humble people they serve, must be seen to be appreciated. It could not be accomplished but by the power of God. Imagine, if you will, an English-speaking twenty-year-old lad be coming so absorbed in Spanish that after but three months he has difficulty bearing his testimony in English. Like all true missionaries, each regards his own field of labor as choice above all others.
My fellow countrymen, Harvey H. Taylor and Claudious Bowman, the mission presidents, are wise and able men. With their devoted wives they give faithful service.
In Mexico, itself, marked advancement has been made during the past forty years. Reforms forged in the Revolution have measurably advanced the democratic process. A comparatively stable government has arisen. Phenomenal progress has been made in education. Industry has expanded. Hard-surfaced roads and air lanes crisscross the country. The population is rapidly increasing. For many, living standards have improved.
It occurred to me that by these and other means the Lord is beginning to prepare the remnant of Lehi to receive their promised blessings.
Jesus said to their progenitors,
... ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with... Abraham. And... this people will I establish in this land... and it shall be a New Jerusalem. And the powers of heaven shall be in the midst of this people; yea, even I will be in the midst of you.
Looking into the faces of nearly 10,000 Church members and investigators, I thought of their promised blessings and contrasted their present status with that to which they must rise to attain them. I thought also of our divine commission to carry the gospel to them and was all but overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task. But then I remembered, too, the Lord's assurance that he will hasten his work in its time and was comforted with the knowledge that the acceptance of the gospel will greatly accelerate their advancement. Personally, I am very grateful for the impetus being given by the First Presidency to the work among them.
Many other matters weighed upon my mind as throughout our extensive traveling we observed conditions among them. The effects of the Spanish conquest and of four centuries of domination by secular and ecclesiastical tyrants are everywhere painfully apparent. The ruins, with their mute evidence of so-called fertility cults and human sacrifice, eloquently testify to the degraded status to which they had fallen long before the Spanish conquest.
My heart was saddened as I contrasted their present circumstances with the blessed conditions which prevailed among their progenitors following the post-resurrection ministry of Jesus. At that time, as you will remember, they developed a society superior to any since Eden, save that of Enoch only; a society in which, "there was no contention... because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people"; a society in which, "there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness;" a society in which every member had conquered the lusts of the flesh. "... and surely," concludes the record, "there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God".
"... my joy is great, even unto fulness, because of you," Jesus said to them, "yea, and even the Father rejoiceth, and also all the holy angels". As I contemplated this golden era, I remembered also that even as Jesus spoke his joy was turned to sorrow and he said, as he pre-visioned the apostasy into which their posterity would fall:
But behold, it sorroweth me because of the fourth generation from this generation... for they will sell me for silver and for gold, and for that which moth doth corrupt and which thieves can break through and steal. And in that day will I visit them, even in turning their works upon their own heads.
They who spurned the light of his gospel and began the descent into the awful darkness through which the remnant has since passed not only had this warning before them, they also had the warning of Nephi given some six hundred years earlier. He foretold their apostasy, concluding with this doleful note:
And I looked, and beheld three generations pass away in righteousness; and their garments were white even like unto the Lamb of God... And I... saw many of the fourth generation who passed away in righteousness. And... I looked and beheld the people of my seed gathered together in multitudes against the seed of my brethren; and they were gathered together to battle. And... I beheld... that the seed of my brethren did overpower the people of my seed.... and I saw wars and rumors of wars among them; and in wars and rumors of wars I saw many generations pass away. And... after they had dwindled in unbelief they became a dark, and loathsome, and a filthy people, full of idleness and all manner of abominations.
Notwithstanding these warnings, they wilfully took the downward course. The judgments of God which have since been visited upon them have been but the inevitable fruits of their rebellion. These judgments came, however, as Nephi said they would, according to the word which the Lord had spoken.
But, the time for them to prepare to receive their blessings is now at hand. Of this we are assured, because Jesus said that when the Book of Mormon should be brought to them, "... it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of" his promises.
Great is the message of the Book of Mormon to the remnant of Lehi. From it they may learn of their origin, that they are of the house of Israel, that they are heirs of the covenant. It reveals to them and teaches them of Jesus Christ and his gospel. If they will study, learn, and accept it for what it in truth is, they will come to know and understand their past, they will obtain a vision of and a hope in their future, and they will realize as did their progenitors that only through accepting and obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ can they obtain their promised blessings.
But I would not leave you with the impression that the message of the Book of Mormon is for the remnant only. It has peculiar application to us of the United States. The message expressed by Nephi and confirmed by the epic of the Book of Mormon peoples is universal,
... the judgments of God ... come upon all nations, according to the word which he hath spoken..
This law embraces two divinely revealed constants. Amos put one of them in these words,
Surely the Lord will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
Jesus thus stated the other:
Although, the days will come, that heaven and earth shall pass away; yet my words shall not pass away, but all shall be fulfilled.
Understanding and applying these truths, men and nations may determine for themselves the cycle of their own lives, whether it shall terminate in the shadow or in the light.
History amply testifies to this conclusion. Through Noah the Lord warned the antediluvians of their impending destruction. With the warning, he presented the means of escape-the gospel of Jesus Christ. His hearers spurned the warning; rejected the gospel; the floods came.
The Lord sent many prophets to the Jaredites, who
... prophesied of the destruction of that great people except they should repent.
As the end approached, Ether,
... did cry from the morning even until the going down of the sun, exhorting the people to believe in God unto repentance lest they should be destroyed.
The prophets were rejected and the Jaredite nation perished.
"... in the... reign of Zedekiah... came many prophets, prophesying unto the people that they must repent, or the great city Jerusalem," would be destroyed with many of its inhabitants, while others, "should be carried away captive into Babylon". The prophets and their message were rejected, and the Babylonian captivity followed.
Jesus told the multitude at Jerusalem that their rejection of him would bring desolation to their homeland; the buildings of the temple would be thrown down, and not one stone would be left upon another; that in the destruction the Jews would suffer great tribulation, and thereafter be scattered upon the earth to be hated of all nations. True, they crucified Jesus for his warning. But Titus besieged Jerusalem. The temple was destroyed, and the Jews were scattered.
We today are at the crossroads of another cycle in the universal pattern, a cycle fraught with everlasting consequences. Whether it shall close in the light or in the shadow is for us to determine. The ominous signs are upon us, and the issues are crystal clear.
Our whole world is in confusion. The wisdom of our wise men has proved inadequate to stay the rising crisis. With the means to unleash universal destruction in the hands of evil men, fear and apprehension ride with every breeze. In the past, situations similar to ours have generally terminated in destruction. It would seem that the judgments of God are about to be once more poured out upon the nations.
The world situation being as it is, I feel impelled to emphasize the fact that, as already pointed out with respect to similar situations in the past, the Lord saw this one coming, and, in harmony with his universal pattern, sounded the warning and prescribed the means of escape. For although the pattern is universal so that the lesson may be clearly drawn from history, the Lord always warns the people of a new dispensation through prophets raised up unto them in their own day. This he has done for this generation through the great prophet of the restoration, Joseph Smith, Jr. Through him the Lord repeatedly declared that the world was ripening in iniquity and that unless men repented destruction would overtake them.
For example, in March 1829, he said:
... a desolating scourge shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth, and shall continue to be poured out from time to time, if they repent not, until the earth is empty, and the inhabitants thereof are consumed away and utterly destroyed by the brightness of my coming. Behold, I tell you these things, even as I also told the people of the destruction of Jerusalem; and my word shall be verified at this time as it hath hitherto been verified.
You will note that this prediction, as were like predictions in the past, is conditional. "If they repent not," is the condition. For this generation as for all others, the Lord has provided the means of escape. This means is now, and has always been, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In the preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, the book in which the revelations sounding the warning and declaring anew the saving principles and ordinances of the gospel are published, the Lord said:
Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments; And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world.
"These things" are, of course, the revelations published in the Doctrine and Covenants. In them the issues of our day are as clearly set before us as were the issues of the past set before the antediluvians by Noah; the Jaredites by Ether; the people of Zedekiah by Jeremiah; the Jews by the Master. They are set before us as clearly as they were set before the Nephites by Nephi and the Resurrected Jesus.
By spurning the warning and rejecting the means of escape, we shall most certainly bring upon ourselves the predicted destruction, for the words of Jesus, "Although... heaven and earth shall pass away... my words shall not pass away", are still immutable.
On the other hand, if men will hearken to and accept the means of escape, the gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, the rewards shall as certainly follow. Fears will give way to confidence; war clouds will fade; righteousness will come; peace will reign. Again there shall return to earth that glorious state of felicity which blessed the Nephites in the days of Jesus. To these truths I bear witness.
When I see the tangible evidence of them in the light shining from the faces and the happiness enjoyed by those in every land who receive and live the gospel, there wells up in my heart the desires expressed by Alma when he said:
O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people! Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1958, pp. 130-131
And now another annual conference of the Church has become history. In conclusion, none of us should leave this conference, first, without a resolution in his or her heart to live a better life. True religion cannot be worn only on Sundays, laid aside as you put aside your Sunday clothes, and left to lie in mothballs during the week. True spirituality should be expressed in daily activity. That has been a theme of this great conference.
No father, no mother, no husband, no wife, and no children who have been here in attendance with them should return home without going into a better home than that which they left when they came. No fathers and mothers who have listened in can be true to their ideals as members, and to the noble thoughts inspired by the remarks of these Brethren of the General Authorities, without living tonight and in the future in a more spiritual home than heretofore. That is our duty.
No man or woman who has listened in can be true to himself or to herself without doing something to make life sweeter and better in their home than it was. That is our responsibility.
Secondly, the great theme has been that salvation and peace, contentment of the human family, not only in the home but also in community life, will come through obedience to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It has been the season of Easter, and every speaker has referred to the salvation, glorified life, the eternal gospel of the Resurrected Christ. We cannot be true to ourselves and to our loved ones and our associates, without being determined to live more in accordance with those divine principles. I mean in daily life, in our speech, in our self-control, in home associations, with business associates, in political fields-that is the obligation we have taken upon us by participating in the high ideals of the messages given by these speakers.
We cannot be true to ourselves and to our loved ones, to our associates, without feeling a determination to know more about this great truth to which testimonies have been borne. The spirit within bears testimony that truth exists in this old world, and the spirit feeds upon that truth. I have much to say, but I shall summarize it, because of the lateness of the hour, by applying to the truth of the gospel what Mr. Jordan says about truth:
We cannot truly believe that we are the children of God and that God exists without believing in the final inevitable triumph of truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And as we leave this conference we shall have less worry about the destruction of the world and the present civilization because God has established his Church, never to be thrown down or given to another people, and as God lives and his people are true to him and to one another we need not worry about the ultimate triumph of truth.
If you have that testimony of truth on your side, you can pass through the dark valley of slander, misrepresentation, and abuse, undaunted as though you wore a magic suit of mail, that no bullet could enter, no arrow could pierce. You can hold your head high, toss it fearlessly and defiantly, look every man calmly and unflinchingly in the eye, as though you rode, a victorious king returning at the head of your legions, with banners waving and lances glistening and bugles filling the air with music. You can feel the great expansive world of more health surging through you as the quickened blood courses through the body of him who is gladly, gloriously proud of physical health. You will know that all will come right in the end, that it must come, that all must flee before the great white light of truth, as the darkness slinks away into nothingness in the presence of the sunburst.
So, brethren and sisters, with truth as our guide, our companion, our ally, our inspiration, we may tingle with the consciousness of our kinship with the Infinite, and all the petty trials, sorrows, and sufferings of this life will fade away as the temporary, harmless visions seen in a dream. That is our privilege through God's blessing and guidance if we apply in daily activity the spiritual blessings and privileges of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
God help us all to do so and to enjoy such blessings I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Stephen L Richards
Stephen L Richards, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 5-9
My dear brethren and sisters and friends: I join in the welcome and greeting extended to you by President McKay. I respond humbly to the assignment to speak to you in the opening of our conference with unusual anxiety in the thought that many may expect the usual inspirational opening address by the President. I counsel those who are disappointed to be patient, because they will be amply rewarded in a later session.
I am taking the liberty of addressing my remarks in large measure to our friends who compliment us by listening to the conference over radio and television. The message I have for them I give with frankness, hoping that they will not misconstrue my frankness for disrespect of them and their beliefs. Only by being outspoken can I hope to make any contribution.
Some time ago a member of my family sent to me a critical article written by Mr. Edmund Fuller in a publication called Saturday Review. The criticism of the writer is directed against the effort made to satisfy what the author designates as "general religious hunger," with books, articles, and public appearances of nationally advertised individuals, carrying on a propaganda for what is characterized as "the good life," "peace of mind," "positive thinking," and "successful" or "confident living." What the author objects to most strenuously is not so much that propaganda should be issued for the optimism of "peace of mind" and "positive thinking," but that this psychological optimism should be held out in any form as an interpretation of or a substitute for the real Christian religion.
He expresses deep concern in the situation, not so much because such propagandists are taking from an uninformed and unthinking public millions of dollars from the sale of their books and services, but that the uninformed victims of the propaganda are losing something far more important than their money-an intelligent and true concept of religion and Christianity.
Mr. Fuller, the critic, asks, "Where, in all the morass of false witness, whether in quests for successful living or in saccharine sentimentality-where are the great, historic central themes, subjects, words of Christianity through the ages? Where are considerations of the Trinity, incarnation, covenant, atonement, redemption, salvation, sin, offering, judgment, worship, sacrament, sacrifice, communion, and the idea of the Holy?"
In general, I find myself in agreement with this criticism. I think, however, that Mr. Fuller himself is only partially informed with reference to the true Christian religion, and I think, too, that the trends which he analyzes and criticizes have come about and are in part tolerated by people of the world because of inadequate understanding of the vital concepts of true religion.
Not infrequently do we see and hear the statement published that what the world needs is to come to Christ, and that only Christ can save the world. We subscribe, of course, to these statements, but we question with ample justification the interpretation of the Christ and his teachings which has been brought to the world these many years. I believe we are justified in ascribing many of these attempts to find substitute for the real Christian faith, and the failure of that faith to find true lodgment in the hearts of innumerable people, to this inadequate interpretation.
We criticize no honest soul in choosing his religion and living by it, but when the truth is available, we take the position that every individual, adequately to exercise his free agency and power of choice, should have and must have, wherever and whenever circumstances will permit, the truth about the Christian religion presented to him. We feel that he cannot be ultimately bound in the sight of God by the choice he makes unless he does have such opportunity. We agree with the critic, Mr. Fuller, that it is an intolerable imposition upon the unsuspecting and uninformed to offer to them what he calls "ersatz foods" to satisfy their religious hunger, but we go further. We believe it is likewise an imposition to foist upon the uninformed an incorrect and unwarranted interpretation of Christ and his gospel, and we believe that generation after generation over centuries of time have been held in darkness and denied the saving truths of the gospel because of such misinterpretations. Indeed, we ascribe the present condition of the world and the limited acceptance of the true Christian faith largely to ignorance of the true gospel.
How much of tolerance should be allowed for the mistakes in interpretation and practices of the past, as pertaining to the followers of Christ, we are not prepared to say. The Lord will judge, and his judgment will be righteous and merciful. We are constrained to deplore the results of these misinterpretations. The revelations predict the outcome which has literally come to pass. Isaiah foresaw both the conditions and results. You will recall this impressive and portentous statement:
"... Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: "Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder".
This great statement is corroborated by the Savior in Matthew 15:8-9, and by revelations and prophecies of modern times. In March of 1831, less than a year after the organization of the Church, the Prophet Joseph Smith received from the Lord a comforting and encouraging assurance confirmatory of the predictions which had been made centuries before, which reads as follows:
"And when the times of the Gentiles is come in, a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness, and it shall be the fulness of my gospel".
That light, my brethren and sisters and friends, has come to the world. It is the light of revelation, and through revelation has come the true interpretation of the Christ, his mission, and his gospel. All men of all nations embraced within the family of the Eternal Father are entitled by his decree to receive the light and to receive an understanding of the true, revealed order of the kingdom of God. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, established under the direction of the Father and the Son, is the custodian of the revealed principles of the restored gospel and the authority to administer its ordinances under divine commission. I am aware that by many this will be regarded as an extreme and presumptuous statement. We make it only because we are constrained by the revelations so to do. I assure you it would be much easier to attempt to win a reputation for tolerance by modifying and ameliorating our position. If we did so, we and our message would be of little value to our brothers and sisters in the world, and we should be untrue to our commission.
Revelation is the foundation of our faith. We are not ashamed to declare that the Lord has spoken through his servants in modern times as he did in days of old. Why should men find so much difficulty in accepting revelation? I assume that it is because it seems to them unnatural that messages should come from the unseen world, but certainly it is no more unnatural in the present day than in the past, and few would deny the need of God's guidance in the world of today.
I think that the Apostle Paul was inspired to foresee the conditions of the world when he gave his famous definition of the gospel: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth". He must have foreseen that men, lacking in faith, would be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, and particularly revelation, the seemingly unnatural process by which the Lord communicates with man.
Now, we assert that there is no true religion without revelation. Men may contrive all sorts of societies, associations, and establishments, but men of themselves cannot create the gospel of Christ and the kingdom of God. That is a divine function limited to divine power only.
I submit this conclusion in humility to my friends, hoping and praying that they may recognize the logic and truth of it, and muster sufficient faith to accept revelation as the basis for all true religion and the interpretation of the gospel. I assure all my friends who listen that this custody of the truth and divine commission is not a light assignment. It is heavy, weighted with a responsibility both institutional and personal, not exceeded, and I think not equaled, by responsibilities borne by any other people or cause. All of us within the restored Church of our Lord take this responsibility most seriously. The assumption of responsibility of membership in the Church often brings a radical change in living, behavior, and philosophy. The obligation felt by the membership to consecrate and dedicate themselves to the dissemination of what the revelations call "pure knowledge" among the inhabitants of the world becomes an obsession, not fanatical, but practical. In the concept of each member is the recognition of a debt-a debt to be paid not so much to the donor of the gift he has received, but a repayment in terms of conscious effort to give to others the light and truth which someone has brought to him.
Many people have asked: "What is the sustaining philosophy behind your marvelous missionary system?" Well, I have just stated it. It is the recognition of a noble obligation and purpose to extend the knowledge of truth, born out of gratitude for blessings received.
This condition creates zest and enthusiasm for missionary work, and what to many is a very strange feature of it, is that the enthusiasm is not evanescent. It does not die periodically and then have to be revived. It persists. And why? First, I think, because of the absolute unquestioning conviction in the cause. And secondly, because of the love of humanity engendered by the gospel, that all are in reality of the family of God, and that such parentage makes all men brothers.
I wish I had some way of making all friends who listen appreciate the depth of conviction that actuates the members of the Church in carrying forth its great work in the world. Perhaps it is a little indelicate to cite a personal experience in the effort to give my friends understanding on this point. I hope, however, you will tolerate the recital of my experience.
More than fifty years ago I began the practice of law with a deep love for the profession, and a long-cherished ambition to succeed. I went through what is commonly called the starvation period, and after thirteen years achieved some modest success, at least sufficient to encourage me and build up my hopes for the future.
One day while sitting in my office I received a telephone call. I was advised that the President of the Church wished to see me immediately. I went as requested to a meeting in the temple, where the President of the Church, his Counselors, and the Council of the Twelve Apostles were in attendance. I was told by the President of the Church that I had been selected to become a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and then asked if I would accept this position. Obeying my concepts and convictions regarding the government of the Church, I accepted and was ordained to the position.
Within the space of twenty minutes the whole course of my life had been changed. My professional career and ambitions were abandoned, and for more than forty years I have devoted myself to the ministry under my call, although I had no previous preparation, as the churches of the world give, for this undertaking.
I cite this circumstance merely as an example of everyday occurrence in the restored Church of Jesus Christ. Of course apostles are not called every day, but so-called laymen are being called every day to serve in positions of trust and honor. These calls in numerous cases involve substantial change in occupations and professions, and in some instances, as in the callings of mission presidents and missionaries, complete abandonment for a period of years of all gainful occupation, and a personal assumption of considerable responsibility to fulfil the assignment.
Now, my point is, and I think it ought to be clear to our friends, that men do not do these things without complete conversion and complete conviction as to the rightness of their course. I am aware that many may say that sincerity of belief is not proof of the truth, and I am not contending, as the old cliché has it, "that fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong." There are, however, at least two legitimate and justifiable deductions that our friends may make from the circumstances I have mentioned. First, that the unmistakable evidence of conviction in the rightness of their cause and conduct are exceptional in a day of materialistic living and purpose, not readily duplicated in other causes; and the second point of appeal held out to our brothers and sisters in the world is that the circumstances warrant investigation. That is all our missionaries the world over are advised to request of the people they visit-investigate, discover for yourself. Use your own Bibles. Diminish none of your love for God and Christ and your fellow men, but study and investigate the Christian religion with the light which the restored gospel has brought to it. Why should any true searcher for truth have objection to these two elements-a demonstrated sincerity and conviction on the part of the missionary, and an invitation to hear and investigate the message?
Now, I wish to extend my remarks to cover an additional aspect of this subject. I am of the definite opinion that the religious hunger of the people, as Mr. Fuller puts it, cannot be satisfied with the current interpretation of the Christ put forth by many professing Christianity. All proclaim him a great teacher. Most assert that he is Savior of mankind, and all invest him with the highest and noblest attributes. Altogether too many, however, worship at the shrine of his attributes, but deny the sovereignty of the King. In my humble opinion, what the world so urgently needs is a present realistic concept and recognition of the Christ as Lord of this earth, as Lawgiver and Judge. If he were recognized as the author and projector of all moral codes and righteousness, and if it were recognized that infraction of his law is sin, I am sure there would be less violation than we see today, and there would be far less tolerance for violation, which is today undermining the morality of nations. Christ will save the world when and only when men and women of the world put themselves in position to be saved. It is unthinkable that he can deviate from the inexorable laws of righteousness, which from the beginning to the end he has set for mankind. When men sin, there is no substitute for repentance to bring to them a restoration of blessings they have forfeited. So any interpretation of the Christ as Lord of the earth which would invest him with capricious and variable judgment founded on so-called grace and pity is harmful and not true. The true gospel is not a spiritual sedative. It is a challenge to the strength and will of mankind to enter into an everlasting covenant with injunctions and promises, the observance of which yields the reward of exaltation in the eternal presence. Christ is the author of mercy, but he himself said that he came to fulfil the law and not do away with it, and he declared that mercy shall not rob justice.
I am deeply concerned, too, with the tendency to invest the Lord our Savior with a mystical character. I am not sure that I know just what is contemplated by "mystical." He is not mystical to me, nor to the great body of his followers with which I have the honor to be associated. It is true that he does not move about among us in the form in which he once presented himself to humanity, but he is real. He was resurrected in the form in which he was crucified, and he lives in the heavens he has described. He will return as he has promised, and in the meantime he has left an organization which he established through his commissioned servants, in fulfillment of prophecy, to build his kingdom and prepare the way for his coming. I hope that they who profess to love and adore him will not make him less than he himself said that he was-the Son of the Father, on the right hand of God, Lord, Lawgiver, and Judge of all men in the earth, invested with powers and authorities everlasting.
So, it is the worship of our Lord so interpreted, it is the acceptance of his revealed and restored gospel, and that alone, which will adequately and perpetually satisfy the "hunger for religion," which I sincerely hope pervades the world today. Christ has been seen in modern times. There are creditable witnesses whose testimony has never been successfully refuted to two such appearances-first, when he appeared to the young prophet, Joseph Smith, in answer to prayer, accompanying his Father, the Eternal God. This heavenly vision, without argument, brought to the world an irrefutable and true concept of the Father and the Son. Then he appeared to this same prophet with an associate when he was more mature in a temple which had been erected to his name. This is the testimony of that appearance:
"And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! "For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father- "That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God".
Every fiber of my being responds to that testimony. I am completely convinced that the men who bore the testimony told the truth. Every interpretative sense which I possess tells me without doubt or equivocation that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lives as a resurrected eternal being, and that he is my Lord and my Savior, and the Lord of all men. I could wish for no greater happiness, peace, and satisfaction to come to all our friends than that they should enjoy the blessing, the incomparable blessing, of this knowledge and assurance.
May the world come to peace and happiness through the recognition of the true Christ, I ask humbly in his name. Amen.
Elder Antoine R. Ivins
Antoine R. Ivins, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 9-11
My brethren and sisters, I hope that the few words I attempt may be directed by the Spirit of God, and that perchance they may be helpful to us and give us courage in the efforts that we are making to carry forward the work of God.
I am happy to be here today and listen to these fine sisters sing as they did Wednesday when I attended the meetings of the Relief Society, where I always gain a wonderful respect for the women of the Church, and the effort they are putting forth to further the work of God.
I want to bear my testimony to the truth of all that we have listened to this morning from President Richards. As I look forward and see this great number of men, many of whose faces are not familiar to me but many of them are, and when I try to figure in my mind the responsibility that rests upon them individually and collectively as the bearers of the priesthood, I wonder how I could make that plain, what words it would take to impress upon us all the dignity and responsibility of the Melchizedek Priesthood.
I presume that all of us who are here today believe the things that President Richards has told us, that we believe that Jesus Christ is actually the Son of God. He told Peter that upon that testimony that he is, he would build his Church. I hope we have, as I have said more than once from this pulpit, the testimony that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, for as long as we do, and live true to it, no danger will ever befall the Church.
I believe in the verity of the story of the Prophet Joseph Smith, that Christ appeared to him and gave him a commission, and that true to that commission he was finally authorized and empowered to reorganize the Church of Jesus Christ; that through the revelations which have come to us through him we have a true conception of the purpose of life and of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe, moreover, that the priesthood was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith and that it has come down to us in an unbroken line, authoritative, and that only through the operation of that priesthood can the ordinances which are designed for the exaltation of men and women be performed in their behalf.
Now, this being true, this being the testimony of all who are here today, as I presume it is, then we have a real responsibility, and I stand before you today representing a group of men in the priesthood whose major purpose it is to bear that testimony to the world-the seventies of the Church. It happens, however, that in carrying that message to the world, we avail ourselves of men who have not yet been ordained seventies and of sisters in the Church, and also we use men who have perhaps been through the order of the seventy and become high priests, or at any rate who are high priests. So we have a large force of men whom we use to spread this knowledge of the gospel to the peoples of the world. The largest part of these male missionaries is made up of the elders of the Church and many of them of rather limited experience.
It is the duty of the older members, the fathers, uncles, grandfathers, cousins, and so forth, who have this testimony in their hearts, to establish it in the hearts of these growing young men, so that at such time as they may come to us and offer their services that they may have a living testimony that Christ is the Son of God, that the Church was authoritatively organized, that the priesthood is in the earth, all of which is essential to the exaltation of men.
If every elder who goes into the mission field could go with that testimony, he would be a power of strength and vigor, and his example would be above reproach as he labors among the people of the world.
Now, who is going to impress these young people with this and how are we going to do it? We all have that responsibility whether we be fathers of these young men, or relatives, or just friends and acquaintances, or even strangers; when occasion may permit, we have the responsibility of striving to instill in their hearts a firm and living testimony of the truth of these things.
It happens, occasionally, that young men go out who cannot say they know it. Sister Ivins and I were on a train one time with a group going into the Central Atlantic States Mission. A very outstanding young man was in that party. In the testimony meeting that we held in Roanoke the night of our arrival, he said, "I cannot tell you definitely that I know the gospel is true." But he believed it, and he sought that testimony. I think it was about ten days or two weeks later, that we met him again in a testimony meeting. Then with all the fervor that one could ask for, he bore testimony to the truth of the gospel.
"If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine" the Savior said; and this elder had found it out. Perhaps it would have been a bit better had he had that testimony in his heart as he accepted his call for missionary service.
It has been a long time since I first sat on the missionary committee with President McKay, who was a Counselor then to President Grant, and after him with President Richards. We have seen many, many men come to us for interview and go into the mission field. It is my testimony that most of them, brethren and sisters, are worthy of the call that is given them. Occasionally, however, we have problems with some of them, and the problems frequently arise because, either they have not been properly taught or, having been taught, they have been a bit adverse and felt that they were being circumscribed in their liberties.
We must not let them feel that way, brethren and sisters. We must build in them a love for the Church and the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we must present to them an attitude not of criticism of the operation of the Church, but of approval, the testimony that there is actually today among the leaders of the Church inspiration.
I have lived in this Church a long time, and since I was eight years old I have been a baptized member of the Church, and I have seen some of its practices change. I cannot remember ever hearing of a change of the doctrine of the Church, but it has been possible to change some things. I remember when the Mutual Improvement Association came to St. George in its, shall I say, primeval condition, and I have watched it change its policies and practices, always for the better.
There are some people who feel that there never ought to be a change of that kind in the Church, but it happens.
I bear testimony, too, that those changes in my opinion have been inspired. But there are some of us who feel that we cannot accept those things. We have no right, brethren and sisters, to teach our young, growing people that it should not have been done.
I remember meeting a boy years ago out in Shreveport, who came from a family that was divided in that respect, a mother that was firm in her faith, a father that had an idea that certain things should not have been changed, and I found that boy following the line of thinking which his father had instilled in his heart. Repeated promises on his part to refrain from worrying his companions with those teachings failed.
Now, brethren and sisters, these are serious conditions, and who is responsible for them when they exist in the hearts of boys and girls? Somebody, and usually somebody who holds the Melchizedek Priesthood, is responsible for it, brethren and sisters. We have that great obligation to build faith in the leadership of the Church, faith in the revelations of God to guide this Church, and when we fail to do it, perhaps there will come a time when we may answer for our failure.
I think that is one of our greatest responsibilities, today, brethren and sisters-to live the gospel of Jesus Christ in our homes, in our families, in our ministry among the people, in our business relationships, so that growing men and women can see the results that may come from an inspired testimony that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that the gospel has been restored, that as has been said this morning, the Church is the custodian of the priesthood and that we have the responsibility of carrying this message to the world.
We are happy, brethren and sisters, in the contributions you are making of the services of your sons and daughters. They are coming to us in great numbers and most of them are eminently worthy. When they come to me, I hope you will have taught them that they must not be afraid to tell the truth as some of them say they are. We have nothing but good will toward those young people. Our sole and only purpose is to help them to see as they should see, to live as they should live, and to serve as they should serve; and may God bless us all with the power to so impress these young people with the truth of these grand and glorious teachings, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
Gordon B. Hinckley, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 12-14
President McKay, President Richards, President Clark, my dear brethren and sisters:
I seek inspiration of the Lord at this time.
During the past six months Sister Hinckley and I have had the opportunity of participating in the dedication of the New Zealand and London temples. If I may, I should like to make some observations out of the experiences of those occasions and comment with appreciation on five great qualities or aspects that I have noted in this, our Father's work: its breadth; its depth; the devotion of its advocates; the effect of their teaching; the strength of its leadership.
I am grateful, my brethren and sisters, for the breadth of this kingdom. My testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith has been strengthened by the manner in which this work has spread over the earth. I think of the statement made by Moroni in 1823 to an unknown farm boy in western New York that his "name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues". I think of the word of the Lord to the Prophet in the loneliness of Liberty Jail: "The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools shall have thee in derision, and hell shall rage against thee;
"While the pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the virtuous, shall seek counsel, and authority, and blessings constantly from under thy hand".
My brethren and sisters, I have witnessed the fulfillment of these marvelous promises. In the temples in Europe I have seen the people of Finland, Sweden, and Norway, of Denmark, Belgium, and Holland, of Germany, Austria, France, and England and even from South Africa-pure in heart, noble, virtuous men and women of those lands seeking blessings under the authority which came through the Prophet Joseph Smith. In New Zealand I have seen the people of that land, of Australia, Tasmania, Samoa, Tonga, Rarotonga, Fiji, and Tahiti, with the smile of truth upon their faces as they sought blessings in the house of the Lord, each in his own tongue testifying of this great latter-day work.
I marvel at, and am grateful, for the breadth of the kingdom, its spread over the world, and I know that the end is not yet-that this stone which was cut out of the mountain without hands, as the prophet foretold, shall roll forth and fill the earth, touching the hearts and lives of the virtuous and the wise and the pure in heart, wherever it is taught-for it is the kingdom of our God.
Secondly, as I am grateful for the breadth of the kingdom, I am likewise grateful for the depth of its teaching. To spread laterally is one thing. To grow in "the third dimension of religion," as one writer put it, is another.
I think we witnessed in these temples that third dimension. I shall never forget the testimony of a young man who had come from Perth on the west coast of Australia. He and his wife and children had traveled across Australia, a distance approximately as great as from San Francisco to New York, and then across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. He said they had to sell their furniture, their car, their dishes, and many other of their prized possessions, but, he said, as he looked at his wife and their lovely children, he knew these were more precious than car, furniture, or china. By hard work and careful saving he could replace his worldly goods, but he could never afford to lose those he loved.
And so they had come, with a sustaining conviction in their hearts that life, love, and family may all be eternal under the plan of the Lord. And as they kneeled about the altar of the temple and were bound together under the authority of the Holy Priesthood in an imperishable relationship, one glimpsed the great, eternal purposes of God-the everlasting verities that transcend in beauty and satisfaction the thin values by which most men gauge their lives.
Inherent in the events of that day in the temple-in the instruction given in the endowment, in the covenants made, in the ordinances performed-were answers to the great eternal questions of where we come from, why we are here, and where we are going-of the purpose of life under the plan of our Creator. These are the things which give depth and meaning, a third dimension to our faith, for which I feel deeply grateful this day.
Thirdly, our experiences of the past six months have given me a new appreciation for the devotion of the advocates of this cause, our missionaries. I have come to a renewed sense of gratitude for the sacrifices of those who laid the foundations of this great work.
While in England I spent a few hours in Preston, my first field of labor as a missionary twenty-five years ago. It was in this city that missionaries first preached the gospel in Europe in 1837. As we moved along those old cobbled streets and flagstone walks, I thought of those seven men of 121 years ago-strangers in a strange land, walking in poverty, but with a great conviction and a great enthusiasm.
We stood beside Vauxhall Chapel where they first spoke, beside the River Ribble where they first baptized, on the site of the old Cockpit where they bore testimony. In spite of bitter opposition, in spite of mobbings, arrests, and every manner of persecution, they went forward, garnering souls in a harvest that will go on forever as the posterity of their converts increase in number.
And as they sacrificed and labored, so labor their successors. We met more than five hundred missionaries of Europe. One cannot witness these young men and women at work without marveling at their devotion. One cannot see the maturity that has come into their lives without recognizing the inspiration of this great program. One cannot hear their testimonies without sensing the tremendous power of truth. The Lord bless them for their wonderful devotion and for their wonderful faith. You can be proud of them.
Fourthly, I am grateful for the effect of their teachings. The Lord has declared: "... this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". You need not wait for the life beyond to see the accomplishment of that purpose. You may witness that process every day in the mission field. The revelation declares that "That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day".
That sublime principle of growth was evident in the lives of those who came to these temples. Whether they were brown-skinned Maoris, Samoans, or Tongans, or fair-skinned Europeans, they seemed to have a quality indefinable and wonderful. Perhaps it was a certain kind of cleanliness-no more cigarettes, no more liquor, no more tea. Perhaps it was the company they kept-the kind of company one ought to find in the Church. Perhaps it was their knowledge of the gospel, their assurance concerning the purpose of life. In any event, it was there, and it was inspiring.
I am grateful for the power of the gospel in the hearts and lives of men and women, and I never saw that power more evident than when the Saints came to the house of the Lord.
Finally, there came out of these experiences an increased gratitude for our leader and for a conviction of his divine appointment.
A short time ago while doing some research in the missionary records of the Church, I came across the appraisal made by Elder David O. McKay's mission president when he completed his first mission in the British Isles. That appraisal reads as follows:
"As a speaker: Good. "As a writer: Good. "As a presiding officer: Very good. "Has he a good knowledge of the gospel? Yes. "Has he been energetic? Very. "Is he discreet and does he carry a good influence? Yes sir! "Remarks: None better in the mission."
That was written in 1899.
As I read that I thought of another David, the son of Jesse, who was ordained to become the leader of Israel. And I thought of the solid consistency of President McKay's life, from the time he first labored in the British Isles as a young man, through the sixty years that passed prior to his return to dedicate the House of the Lord in this same land.
The affection in which he is held, his unfailing kindness and consideration, his ease in meeting every situation, the fruits of his ministry, all attest to his prophetic calling.
On his arrival at the New Zealand Temple he was given a great welcoming festival. As he walked through the crowd, elderly men and women, who first had met him in the islands in 1921, wept at the return of their apostle-prophet.
In London we watched him face with ease a battery of newspaper and television men and bear testimony to them. In both temples we heard him give counsel that was inspiring and offer prayers of dedication that were solemn and beautiful and moving.
In eleven languages today the worthy of the Church are enjoying the blessings of the temple because of the inspiration that has come through him. No one witnessing the joy of those who have received these blessings, could doubt the inspiration of his leadership.
I recall a little widow in New Zealand, the mother of seventeen children. Her husband was gone. A number of her children were gone. As she knelt about the altar with the beautiful children who were left to her and received the assurance that all that she had lost would also be hers, she wept. And all who were with her on that sacred occasion in that dedicated room, wept also.
As I have witnessed these and many more inspiring situations during the past six months in these widely scattered lands, I have felt to sing with that convert from the steel mills of Sheffield: "We thank thee, O God, for a Prophet, to guide us in these latter days."
The other day I talked with a misguided young man who has become bitter. After he told his story, I said to him: "If you had seen what I have seen, if you had experienced what I have experienced, you would not feel as you now do."
I bear you witness that God's kingdom is here, that it is growing in breadth and depth, and in power in the lives of the people, and that those whom he has placed to lead it are his chosen and ordained servants. I so testify in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Delbert L. Stapley
Delbert L. Stapley, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 16-19
My brothers and sisters, I am indeed grateful for the splendid spirit of this conference session this morning. I hope what I have to say will not detract from the spirit of the messages given. I would like to touch upon a few things connected with the New Zealand Temple dedication mentioned by Brother Hinckley.
Since the last general conference of the Church Sister Stapley and I have enjoyed the great privilege and blessing of accompanying our beloved President David O. McKay, Sister McKay, Elder and Sister Marion G. Romney and others to New Zealand for the dedication of the new temple in that faraway land. Brother Gordon Hinckley and his wife had preceded us there to finalize the preparation for the dedication and opening of the temple for ordinance work. He mentioned the welcome and reception accorded the official Church party by the Polynesian Saints. It was a tremendous tribute and demonstration of love and affection for all of us, but more particularly for their beloved President and Prophet, "Tumuaki" David O. McKay.
It was a glorious spectacle, so different, colorful and unique that the sweet memory of the occasion will remain forever. Each Polynesian group, in native costume, entertained with pageantry, song, and dance for the space of three and a half hours. I believe it is the only time in the history of the world that four such widely scattered Polynesian peoples have been brought together where each featured its individual native entertainment to welcome an official party. Such an assembly of mixed talent may never happen again, for it isn't likely that another similar event of such importance will occur to bring them together.
The majority of the Saints of the South Pacific attending the temple dedication activities did so, as Brother Hinckley has indicated, at great personal sacrifice. Ever since the building of a temple was announced they have been saving in earnest for that important and historic dedication day. To them it was the spiritual opportunity of their lives, the fulfillment of their prayers and dreams. It would be difficult for the people of the world, not knowing the sacred value and eternal nature of temple ordinances, to understand why people possess such strong religious beliefs and faith that would cause them not only to save money, but also to sell their cars, mortgage furniture and other chattels to raise sufficient funds to visit a temple. To those who do understand, no sacrifice is too great to achieve the greatest blessings of their lives-the holy temple endowment with the ordinances and sealings that bind husband and wife and families together in an eternal family relationship and companionship.
In visiting with this mixed group of Saints the evidences of a living and motivating faith were found on every hand. Tears of happiness flowed freely down the cheeks of these faithful and worthy people as the significance of these eventful days unfolded more clearly to their understanding. Each session of the dedication was a glorious spiritual experience. To watch the faces of the Saints was a reflection of the joy and happiness they felt.
The simple and trusting faith of the Polynesian Saints was reflected in the answer of Brother Lafi Toilupi to President McKay's query, "Can you do it?" when he asked Brother Toilupi if he could translate the dedicatory prayer from English into the Samoan tongue. Brother Toilupi replied sincerely and humbly, "I can do it if you will bless me." President McKay answered, "I do bless you," and the translation was accomplished perfectly regardless of the fact the limited Samoan language does not have equivalent words corresponding in meaning to the English.
The New Zealand Temple, situated on a prominence overlooking the valley, with its remarkable floodlighting effects, stands out majestically at night with a brilliance of lighting intensity which can be seen for miles around, and truly represents "a candle of the Lord" to reveal light and truth in the midst of error and spiritual darkness. The favorable publicity of all happenings there, revealing the purpose of temples, Church beliefs, principles, and practices, gave to the people of New Zealand and Australia new knowledge and gospel light which has stimulated a tremendous spiritual upsurge to the work of the Church.
My soul is full of gratitude for the restored gospel of Christ and the blessed power it has to enrich the lives of people. I bear humble testimony, my brothers and sisters, that the gospel taught by the Latter-day Saints is the true gospel of God's kingdom which the Savior testified "shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come".
The missionary system of the Church was established by revelation of the Lord to fulfil this latter-day obligation. He declared to the Prophet Joseph Smith:
"And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days. "And they shall go forth and none shall stay them, for I the Lord have commanded them. "Behold, this is mine authority and the authority of my servants... O inhabitants of the earth".
During the spring and summer Sister Stapley and I visited three Church missions: the two in Australia, and the Northwestern States Mission. I personally interviewed over 350 young missionaries. I pay sincere and humble tribute to them for their faithful devotion to a great cause. I know many families make tremendous financial sacrifices to support their missionary sons and daughters while away from home in the service of the ministry. The compensations, however, for faithful and devoted service are rich and rewarding. Faith is increased; testimonies are strengthened; principles of righteousness and truth are acquired which build into the missionary fundamental moral and spiritual values which upgrade his character attainments for successful and happy living. With few exceptions, the more than 5000 missionaries now serving represent the Church honorably and effectively, and are a great credit to it. Thousands of converts each year result from their devoted service.
Recently a mission president reporting his mission made this significant statement: "If the Church were not true, the 5000 missionaries representing it would have proved it long ago." I have often thought how true that statement is. Actuated as they are by the same spirit, the Holy Ghost, and officiating by the authority of the true priesthood of God, it is not too difficult to understand the truth of the mission president's statement.
The tempo of the proselyting program has stepped up in Australia, and with nineteen new lovely buildings to meet and worship in and to carry forward the full Church program, prospects for increased conversions are constantly improving. The chapel-building program alone has set forward the work of the Church many years. From the beginning of construction of a beautiful and serviceable chapel in one small branch to the time of dedication, thirty-three converts were baptized and twenty-five passive members reactivated who are now in full fellowship.
In two widely separated towns of the Australian Mission where lovely buildings are completed and in service, the mayors attended the appointed meetings to bid us welcome. One, acquainted with the Word of Wisdom, told how he had been prevailed upon to give up the habit of tobacco and of the personal satisfaction he experienced in doing so. He complimented the Church and its people for building such a lovely edifice in which to worship and to foster cultural activities for the wholesome and broad enrichment of their lives. He also pledged to them the full support of his office and the town council he represented. It was a beautiful tribute and a marvelous pledge of co-operation. The second mayor also gave like praise and commendation and declared that the Church building was most attractive and inviting, which added spiritual strength and prestige to their progressive city. He expressed the hope that the work of the Church would prosper there, and wished the people every success in their religious program. He promised, in conclusion, to return again. He made a profound observation by saying that to many people churches were like elevators-they could just get on at any time and be taken to heaven without the good life and good works to their credit. He firmly believed faith and works go together.
At the dedication of the New Zealand Church College, the Prime Minister of New Zealand gave an interesting and challenging talk most favorable to the Church and its program to serve and bless people. He took exception to the organized unfriendly group opposing the Church efforts there, who questioned our right to Christian status, and who also were guilty of maligning the integrity of the Church leaders in Zion. He called attention to a few of our brethren who were or are now in high United States government positions, whom he was privileged to know personally. Some had befriended and supported him, which permitted the Prime Minister to become acquainted with their qualities of goodness and sound political integrity and leadership. He made particular reference to Elder Ezra Taft Benson, with praise for his integrity and excellent government service. He indicated favorableness to religious education in the schools of New Zealand, and praised the character and teachings of Jesus which he encouraged all to accept and follow.
Such recognition and unsolicited favorable contributions from outstanding leaders not of our faith are helpful to the work. Their comments call attention to a letter I received from a non-member friend of mine while we were yet in New Zealand, who closed by saying, "May the propagation of the Latter-day Saint faith ever spread over the world." Such is the encouragement of those who know us best.
The faraway converts of New Zealand and Australia-and I listened to many-teach and preach the same truths, principles, and gospel ordinances as orthodox as we do here. Their testimonies are fervent, spiritual, and convincing. To associate with and listen to them, one would think and feel as if he were in the congregations of the Saints at home. Truly, all who belong to this Church and yield obedience to its teachings are actuated by the same spirit, the Holy Ghost, whose function it is to guide into all truth, to bear witness of the Father and the Son, and to keep the Saints of God united wherever they are. What a blessing it is to be guided by a power which prevents misunderstandings and divisions among the true followers of Christ.
I would like to share with you briefly three choice experiences resulting from these mission tours. A good woman, called upon by the missionaries while tracting in her neighborhood, advised them that her niece had joined the Church eight months previously. "Your Church has done so much for her," she said, and then asked, "Can you do the same for me?"
A woman investigator, after a few home visits from the missionaries, said to her husband, "The elders take something with them when they leave our home; when they return that something is here." They both recognized that "something" present when attending Church services held by the elders. "What is it?" this good woman asked. The answer came to her and she exclaimed, "The priesthood of God," to which her husband agreed.
A faithful sister, eighty-nine years of age but young in spirit, related to me this testimony and experience. As a young woman, her father informed her a new scripture was to come, and the Church presenting it would be true. She was greatly impressed by this statement and remembered it. Her father passed away, and time moved on, but still the new scripture had not come to her attention. Some years later two missionaries knocked at her door. When she received them they introduced to her the Book of Mormon which they advised was a new scripture revealed by God. She immediately recalled the words of her father. She had her witness. She said to me, "I didn't need the elders to teach me the gospel. I knew they represented the true Church." She was quickly converted and baptized by them. For over fifty years this good sister has remained a faithful and devoted member. Her home has been, and is now, a rallying point for missionary work. The evening we spent with her was enriched by her testimony and charm of character.
How wonderful it is, my brothers and sisters, that the true gospel of our Lord can be understood by the simple, yet is so profound it can challenge the most learned thinker with its depths of knowledge and wisdom. The gospel has the power to bring people together in love and understanding and give purpose and wise direction to life. Our message to the world is one of faith in God and his beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. It is a message of brotherhood, hope, peace, and salvation, and is therefore of great importance and value to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. We possess the truth, the fulness of the gospel of Christ with all its glorious principles, high moral standards of conduct, ideals of noble character, and all saving ordinances for the joy and eternal happiness of mankind.
We cordially invite all people to investigate the restored Church of Christ, and accept its teachings and way of life as revealed for their salvation and glory. President Richards made an excellent appeal in his opening address here this morning. I testify, my brothers and sisters, that God has established his work for the last time among the children of men, and preparations are now going forward for the second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
God help us, my brothers and sisters, to be true to our obligations as members of his kingdom, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 20-22
This morning we listened to a wonderful discourse addressed to friends and businessmen, prominent individuals outside of the Church, which I think was most timely, but I wish to address my remarks to the members of the Church, and more especially to those who are wayward and indifferent, and who do not seem to realize the value of their membership. I would like to read to you a covenant which is taken by each individual who enters the waters of baptism.
"And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism-All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church".
Now, baptism into the Church is not enough to save us. It is for the remission of sins, that is true, but there is another baptism which is just as essential, and that is the baptism of the spirit, or the bestowal of the gift of the Holy Ghost. After we are baptized, we are confirmed. What is that confirmation for? To make us companions with the Holy Ghost; to have the privilege of the guidance of the third member of the Godhead-companionship, that our minds might be enlightened, that we might be quickened by the Holy Spirit to seek for knowledge and understanding concerning all that pertains to Our exaltation in the kingdom of God.
Now in this same revelation from which I read, the Lord has also said:
"And we know that justification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true; "And we know also, that sanctification through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is just and true, to all those who love and serve God with all their mights, minds, and strength. "But there is a possibility that man may fall from grace and depart from the living God; "Therefore let the church take heed and pray always, lest they fall into temptation; "Yea, and even let those who are sanctified take heed also".
Baptism and confirmation into the Church do not necessarily insure our exaltation in the kingdom of God. They do, provided we are true and faithful to every covenant and obligation required of us in the commandments of our Eternal Father. It is he who endures to the end that will be saved, and there is a danger that confronts us through the temptations of the adversary if we yield to those temptations that we may lose it all. The greatest punishment that can come to any individual in this world is punishment that will come to those who have received the light and truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who have passed through the waters of baptism, who have hands laid upon their heads for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then turn away from the truth, for the Lord will not hold them guiltless.
I think I am safe in saying that no man can become a Son of Perdition until he has known the light. Those who have never received the light are not to become Sons of Perdition. They will be punished if they rebel against God They will have to pay the price of their sinning, but it is only those who have the light through the priesthood and through the power of God and through their membership in the Church who will be banished forever from his influence into outer darkness to dwell with the devil and his angels. That is a punishment that will not come to those who have never known the truth. Bad as they may suffer, and awful as their punishment may be, they are not among that group which is to suffer the eternal death and banishment from all influence concerning the power of God.
Now, I say I want to talk to those who are indifferent and a little wayward sometimes, those who do not appreciate the privileges and the opportunities that are given unto them to serve God and keep his commandments. If they are not here, I hope they are listening to what is going on in this building today. They do not come to the conferences-at least, not very many of them. But after receiving the light and the knowledge and the information which the Spirit of the Lord can give, it is an awful thing to turn away.
However, it is my judgment that there are many members of this Church who have been baptized for the remission of their sins, who have had hands laid upon their heads for the gift of the Holy Ghost, who have never received that gift, that is, the manifestations of it. Why? Because they have never put themselves in order to receive these manifestations. They have never humbled themselves. They have never taken the steps that would prepare them for the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Therefore they go through life without that knowledge, and they have not the understanding. Therefore when those cunning and crafty in their deceit come to them, they disturb them in their faith, if they have faith left. They criticize the Authorities of the Church. They criticize the doctrines of the Church, and these weak members do not have understanding enough, information enough, and enough of the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord to resist the false doctrines and teachings of those who come to them, the wolves in sheep's clothing, and they listen to them, and think that perhaps after all they have made a mistake, and first thing you know they find their way out of the Church, because they do not have understanding.
I get letters frequently from people, members of this Church, who have been disturbed principally by two organizations which seem to have dedicated their lives to the destruction of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These people go into the homes of our weak members, disturb them in their faith, get them all riled up, and they do not know whether they did the right thing when they were baptized or whether they did not; but if they had lived as they should and had received the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they would not be moved. They would not be influenced by the false teachings and false statements regarding our doctrines that these people present to them.
The gospel is simple. There is nothing difficult about it. There are mysteries, no doubt. We do not need to bother about the mysteries, but the simple things pertaining to our salvation and exaltation we can understand.
Now let me refer to another passage of scripture.
"But ye are commanded in all things to ask of God, who giveth liberally; and that which the Spirit testifies unto you even so I would that ye should do in all holiness of heart, walking uprightly before me, considering the end of your salvation, doing all things with prayer and thanksgiving, that ye may not be seduced by evil spirits, or doctrines of devils, or the commandments of men; for some are of men, and others of devils".
So the Lord has given us a warning.
"Wherefore, beware lest ye are deceived; and that ye may not be deceived seek ye earnestly the best gifts, always remembering for what they are given; "For verily I say unto you, they are given for the benefit of those who love me and keep all my commandments, and him that seeketh so to do; that all may be benefited that seek or that ask of me, that ask and not for a sign that they may consume it upon their lusts. "And again, verily I say unto you, I would that ye should always remember, and always retain in your minds what those gifts are, that are given unto the church".
Now the Lord would give us gifts. He will quicken our minds. He will give us knowledge that will clear up all difficulties, and put us in harmony with the commandments that he has given us, and with a knowledge that will be so deeply rooted in our souls that the knowledge can never be rooted out, if we will just seek for the light and the truth and the understanding which is promised to us, and which we can receive if we will only be true and faithful to every covenant and obligation pertaining to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Lord bless you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Eldred G. Smith
Eldred G. Smith, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 22-24
I pray that the spirit of the Lord will be with me, and that I may have his inspiration as has been given to others in this conference.
I noticed in an article on the editorial page of the News last evening, calling our attention to the troubled world we are in. Have you had any problems? Have you had any difficulties? Have you had any trials? Have you ever been discouraged? Have you had any heartaches? Have you ever felt that disaster had fallen upon you and completely submerged you? Have you been tempted to cry out, "Why this to me?" You can always find someone in worse straits than you.
I talked to a middle-aged woman who was blind. I have met others who were converts to the Church who were blind or crippled or mute; others who have physical difficulties and handicaps in this life. Even though this woman was blind from birth, she was a convert to the Church. I asked her how she became a member of the Church, and she explained how, through the facilities the missionaries had made available to her of Braille and "talking books," she had received a knowledge of the gospel, and through her study, through the Spirit of the Lord, a testimony of the gospel had come to her.
I asked her about her family. She mentioned she had two sisters who had their sight, but she said, "They do not see." Even though they had the sight of their eyes they did not understand the gospel. They could not see it. She bore testimony to me that she would rather be as she was and have the gospel of Jesus Christ, than to trade places with either of her sisters who did not have the gospel. It really thrilled me.
God gives us darkness to see into the distance. He gives us light to see close up. The stars shine in the daylight as much as they do at night, yet we need the darkness in which to see the stars. We can see into the distance, as this blind woman did, through the Spirit even farther than we can see with our natural eyes. This life is full of contrasts. We have pleasure and pain, good and evil, virtue and vice. One purpose of this life is to be tried and tested, and as some have said, they wondered why they did not receive the gospel when they were younger. They had to wait until they were thirty, or forty, or fifty years old, and some even older, before they heard and accepted the gospel. Probably part of the testing purpose of this life was that they were so born into the world that they would be tried and tested to see whether they would have the faith under those circumstances to accept the gospel when
So, this life is a testing period that man may learn obedience by his own experience. Through modern revelation the Lord tells us, "... it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet-". Again the Lord said:
"For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; "For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward. "But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned".
The Lord expects us to use our free agency. That is the reason we have free agency. The Lord also extends his help in answer to our prayers. "We ask for strength, and God gives us difficulties to make us strong. We plead for wisdom, and God sends us problems, the solution of which develops wisdom. We plead for prosperity, and God gives us brawn and brains to work. We plead for courage, and God gives us dangers to overcome. We ask for favors, and God gives us opportunities."
This is a tempering process of life, that we may become stronger and eventually attain perfection. It is much the same as we do to temper steel. There are several processes of tempering steel. One is to take a bar of steel, put it into a process of hammering and beating, and the more it is pounded and hammered and beaten, the tougher the steel gets. This is cold rolled steel. We do not change the content of the steel. After this process it has the same content it had before, but through the process of a good beating it becomes tougher, stronger, more valuable, and more endurable.
Another process is that of heat treatment. We can take a bar of steel and cut it in two, one part of it we put through a heat treatment where it is heated to a terrifically high degree of temperature and held through a given length of time, and then quickly plunged into a solution of brine, cold water, oil, or some other method of quenching-an extreme reverse again from the heat to the cold. Then that piece of steel, so treated, becomes so hard that it can cut the counterpart from which it was previously cut, yet we have not changed the content of the steel. And so is life a tempering process.
To me the story of Job has a great lesson in it. In all the trials of Job, Lucifer did unto Job only that which the Lord permitted. Lucifer does not have power over us only so far as he is permitted. The trials of Job came only by steps or degrees, not all at once. Job may not have been able to withstand everything all at once, but coming in steps each trial gave him the strength to take the next. Finally, Lucifer was given full control over Job, except that he could not destroy his soul. As Job conquered, he became more perfect. As it was with Job, so shall it be with us. We also must withstand trials and difficulties through which we attain perfection. This process thus strengthened Job until he uttered that immortal testimony: "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
"And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God".
Many of us say, "I believe," but can we say as Job did, "I know." Can we say we know that God lives, and that Jesus is the Christ, and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in this, the latter day? This is the question that we have to answer, and the gospel of Jesus Christ gives us the answer thereto. Through the tempering process of life we may become strengthened even to perfection, as we conquer and endure to the end, that we too may have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Lord said: "... he that endureth to the end shall be saved". To the Nephites he said: "Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life", which is the greatest gift that God can give to man.
And so I, with all good members of the Church, testify to you that the gospel of Jesus Christ is now restored to the earth in its fulness, that I with others can say "I know" that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that the Prophet Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God, and through him the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in this, the latter-day, by which we may receive the blessings of the Lord, even eternal life, and this I testify unto you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Alma Sonne
Alma Sonne, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 24-26
My brethren and sisters, I believe I sense fully the responsibility which rests upon me at this moment. I believe, also, that all who speak from this stand sense a similar responsibility. I realize that there may be thousands who are listening eagerly to the messages which come from this building, and among them are many who desire very sincerely to increase their faith and to strengthen their testimonies concerning the divinity of God's work.
The Latter-day Saints have been abundantly blessed. Without God's blessings the work could not proceed. Without God's blessings the many settlements made in this Rocky Mountain region by the pioneers could not have been accomplished. Without divine inspiration and guidance the great missionary system could not operate as it does today. Without his blessings temples could not be erected at home and abroad as at present. And without his blessings we could not sustain upwards of five thousand missionaries in the field to proclaim the gospel truths. Neither could we build the churches and support the schools and places of education which have been developed in our midst.
I feel sure, as I stand here, that God's work will not diminish in the earth. Eventually every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Christ. The adversary, powerful as he is in the world today, will be defeated in his plans and in his purposes. The end of evil, so rampant in the world, will come when the gospel of the kingdom has been preached as a witness in all the world and when the power of Satan is broken.
The Church stands for the principles of eternal truth proclaimed by Jesus Christ and the holy prophets. The appointed mission of the Church is to preach the gospel and to administer the ordinances thereof. The work is going forward today, at home and abroad, and we have reason, you and I, to rejoice at its success; and so I say, again, God's work will not diminish in the world or in the Church, it will continue its onward course. It has survived attacks from without and crises and threats from within, but it has never weakened. It is full of vitality and power.
The large gathering of Latter-day Saints here and in other places, the recent expansion and the enlarged projects now under way, are evidences of virility and strength. The work being done is destined to conquer and to touch the human heart and even where Christian sentiments are still slumbering.
I was interested this morning when Elder Hinckley read from Section 122 of the Doctrine and Covenants. They were words of reassurance to the Prophet Joseph Smith. They came at a moment when he needed to be reassured, when he was being maligned, betrayed, and imprisoned. They were given to him in Liberty Jail where he received words of comfort and strength from his Heavenly Father. Few men have discharged their responsibility with greater confidence and a firmer trust in God than did Joseph Smith. I marvel as I contemplate the soundness of his program and the durability of his teachings.
I recall the words of the Savior about John the Baptist. He said:
"What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? "A man clothed in soft raiment?". They went out to see a man who had been true to his calling, a spiritual giant, a great prophet.
You may rest assured that no worldly allurements could swerve him from his sacred calling. When you find a man who discharges his obligations to God, first and foremost, you will find a strong man, an unconquerable spirit, not a reed shaken by the wind. He is not swayed by popular motives nor by passing currents. He stands on a foundation that will never give way.
When you find a group of men and women similarly endowed, devoted to a God-given trust, counseling together and working for a divine cause in the service of God, you will find an invincible community struggling and striving for the betterment of all.
In the year 1831, the Latter-day Saints gathered in Kirtland, Ohio. They were poor from the standpoint of worldly possessions, but they had been taught correct principles of government. They lived in peace. They were united in their common cause. Within the short period of five years they had built homes for themselves, they had made civic improvements, and they had built a temple which cost them $75,000. It was a stupendous sum in those days, yet economically, they were on a par with their neighbors and friends.
The year following the settlement in Kirtland a part of the Church settled in Jackson County, Missouri. What they accomplished there within a year or two incited the hatred and envy of their neighbors. A series of persecutions commenced which resulted in the expulsion of the Latter-day Saints. They were driven from their homes and despoiled of their property.
They moved into the counties northward.
In 1838, according to Church history, four years after being driven from Jackson County, there were in Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri, one hundred fifty dwellings, seven stores, six blacksmith shops, two hotels, and a printing house prepared to issue a Church periodical. Schoolhouses were erected, and homes had been built in the country round about. The exodus from Missouri to Illinois with its suffering, exposure, hardship, and trial, has few parallels in history.
The destination of the people was a bog which had to be reclaimed to make it fit for human habitation. This was in 1839. And in 1844, five years later, the population of their city had reached 20,000. Did the Lord bless the Latter-day Saints in those early days? These refugees built comfortable homes, public buildings, schools, and a temple which cost the enormous sum of one million dollars. How could they accomplish this thing? All of this, as you know, they abandoned and left to their enemies so the Latter-day Saints could worship God according to the dictates of their consciences. They wanted to be free from persecution and malice.
The next movement was to the Rocky Mountains, beyond the confines of civilization in the great unexplored West. The Salt Lake Basin was at that time regarded as an irredeemable waste. What has happened in this intermountain region, you already know. The desert has blossomed as a rose. The climate has been tempered. Miracles have been wrought and the precious things of the earth are coming to light.
I mention these things, brethren and sisters, not to bring up the past but to point out the constructive spirit of the Mormon faith. I conclude that any worthy project which will enhance God's work can be accomplished by the Latter-day Saints-for God's work will not fail. It will triumph in the world beyond the wildest dreams of those who laid so firmly the foundation of all we have and are. The same authority which actuated and inspired Joseph Smith and Brigham Young is directing the present leaders of the Church today. I know this to be a fact.
I know God is with his people. I know his inspiration is resting upon those who are directing its affairs, and I know God's work will triumph in the earth and the Latter-day Saints will carry forward the great program successfully until it is fully realized, for God is still blessing his people.
May we always remember it and may we live worthily before him so that these blessings can come to all of us, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Milton R. Hunter
Milton R. Hunter, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 26-30
In this morning's session of the conference, President Stephen L Richards stated that Isaiah prophesied that in the last days the Lord would establish "a marvelous work and a wonder" among the children of men. In connection with that marvelous work and a wonder, Isaiah said:
"And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit".
"And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: "And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
"Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
"And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. "The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel".
The Prophet Nephi, who lived about a hundred years after Isaiah died, was commanded by the Lord that he and his posterity should write a religious record which should contain especially testimonies and evidences that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world. It would contain the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed to his people. As part of that revelation from the Lord, Nephi wrote:
"For, behold, saith the Lamb: I will manifest myself unto thy seed, that they shall write many things which I shall minister unto them, which shall be plain and precious; and after thy seed shall be destroyed, and dwindle in unbelief, and also the seed of thy brethren, behold, these things shall be hid up, to come forth unto the Gentiles, by the gift and power of the Lamb. "And in them shall be written my gospel, saith the Lamb, and my rock and my salvation".
Nephi was picked up by the Spirit of the Lord and taken on top of a high mountain. There he was shown a glorious vision of the history of the world. As part of that vision, Nephi saw that in the latter days the Spirit of God would come down upon a man. He would get in a ship and cross a large body of water and come to the "promised land," or the land which was inhabited by the seed of his brethren. History indicates that Columbus was this man.
Nephi also saw that following the discovery of this land-America-by the man who was brought here by the Spirit of the Lord, that the Spirit of God would come down upon many people who lived in the countries across the large body of water. Seeking religious freedom, they would leave their native homes and, crossing "the many waters," come to "the promised land". He saw that there they would develop a young nation; and this young nation would be prospered and blessed by the Lord. It would rise up in revolt against its mother nation. And then he saw that the Spirit and power of God would rest down upon the inhabitants of this young nation, "and also that the wrath of God was upon all those who were gathered together against them to battle." He saw that the inhabitants of the young nation would win their independence from the mother nation and that they "... were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations".
It is evident that Nephi saw in vision the coming of the Pilgrims and others, the rise of the thirteen colonies, the Revolutionary War, and the establishment of the United States of America.
As his vision continued, he observed that through the power of God this young nation would become a free nation, a nation which would be "lifted up by the power of God above all other nations". It would be established in a "choice land above all lands," the land which the Lord had covenanted with Lehi to give to his seed for an inheritance.
Now, why should the Lord, as is evidenced from what I have said, make the United States a free nation, a greater and more powerful nation than any other nation under heaven?
Nephi gives us the exact reason. He said that in the latter days that Christ was going to establish such a nation and people upon this the promised land so that he would have a place and a people where he would perform his "marvelous work and a wonder." Let us quote the words of Jesus Christ which were given through his Prophet, Nephi:
"Therefore, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, yea, a marvelous work and a wonder".
"For the time cometh, saith the Lamb of God, that I will work a great and a marvelous work among the children of men; a work which shall be everlasting, either on the one hand or on the other-either to the convincing of them unto peace and life eternal, or unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, both temporally and spiritually, according to the captivity of the devil".
Now, what is this marvelous work and a wonder prophesied about by both Isaiah and Nephi?
The Prophet Nephi tells us in detail what this marvelous work is. First, he declared that in the latter days and on this land of promise the Savior would restore his gospel and establish his Church and kingdom. The true gospel of Jesus Christ would be revealed from heaven to a prophet; and that prophet's name, according to Father Lehi, would be Joseph and his father's name would be Joseph. Certainly Joseph Smith fits all of the requirements.
Another phase of "a marvelous work and a wonder" would be the fulfilling of the covenants made by the Lord with the children of Israel. Nephi predicted that at the time that Jehovah would establish his gospel among the Gentiles in the land of promise he would remember the covenants he had made with the house of Israel-the covenant to return the Jews to Palestine, the covenant to establish Ephraim with the birthright in the promised land, the covenants with the Lamanites-and he would fulfil all of these covenants.
Third, the record of the Nephites, the Book of Mormon, would be given to this American prophet. He would translate and publish a book which would contain the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nephi predicted that the words of this book will judge the inhabitants of the earth at the last day.
And, fourth, the Book of Mormon, as a portion of this "marvelous work and a wonder," would be given through the seed of Ephraim-who would have the birthright-or as Nephi stated, through the Gentiles, to the Jews, to the Lamanites, and to all of the dispersed of the house of Israel, wherever they are throughout the world. This book would come forth to bear witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world, to be a new witness to the Bible, and to help proclaim the gospel to the honest throughout the earth.
Now, let us see how these prophecies have been fulfilled. In the spring of 1820, in the state of New York, a boy named Joseph Smith retired to a grove of trees, and there he knelt down and prayed to his eternal Father, asking which of all the churches he should join. In answer to this prayer, one of the most glorious and marvelous heavenly manifestations that has ever been seen by man occurred. The eternal Father and his Only Begotten Son appeared to this boy-prophet. The latter told him to join none of the Christian churches, that Christ's true Church wasn't upon the earth, and that Joseph had been selected to be an instrument in the hands of God through which the true Church would be established.
Thus the Eternal Father and his Only Begotten Son inaugurated this "marvelous work and a wonder" with this greatest and most wonderful heavenly manifestation that mortal man has seen in the latter days.
John the Revelator looked down through the stream of time and he saw the day about which Nephi had prophesied. He wrote:
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, "Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters".
Certainly reason tells us that if the gospel of Jesus Christ were upon the earth at that time there would have been no need for an angel to "fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel" to bring to earth again.
On September 21, 1823, that angel did fly in the midst of heaven. He appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and declared himself to be the Angel Moroni, the last of a great race of ancient Americans. He told Joseph Smith about that sacred record which God had preserved to be brought forth in the latter days. Four years later the record was given to the Prophet. Through the gift and power of God and the Urim and Thummim, he translated the Book of Mormon and published it on March 26, 1830, thus fulfilling this portion of the marvelous work and a wonder.
Eleven days later the Prophet Joseph Smith established, as the result of a direct revelation from the Savior, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was accepted by the Master as his, declaring it to be"... the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased".
Previous to this time Joseph Smith had received the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood, also, as part of this marvelous work and a wonder; and as time passed he received through revelation and heavenly visitations all of the ordinances and doctrines necessary to the salvation and the exaltation of the human family.
As another important phase of "a marvelous work and a wonder," the Prophet was commanded that he and the Church members should take the gospel and the Book of Mormon to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, searching out the honest in heart, in order that all of the covenants that had been made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and others of the house of Israel might be fulfilled. Thus through this missionary work, Christ would fulfil his covenants which he had made with the children of men by sending his messengers throughout the earth, declaring the restoration of the gospel and proclaiming Jesus to be the Christ, the only name given under heaven whereby man can be saved. The honest in heart-those who would receive the Book of Mormon and the restored gospel and take upon themselves the name of Christ by joining his Church-were sought out of the world preparatory for the second coming of Christ, that his kingdom might be fully established here upon the earth.
Thereupon the Prophet Joseph Smith inaugurated the greatest and most extensive missionary program that has ever been known in the world. During more than one hundred years' time since the Church was founded, thousands and thousands of missionaries have proclaimed the everlasting gospel throughout most of the world; and missionary activities are going forward today even at a greater momentum than ever before. The honest in heart are being searched out, and the kingdom of God is being developed.
According to the word of the Lord through his ancient prophets, Ephraim was to receive the birthright through his father Joseph. Jacob gave his son Joseph a blessing in which he said:
"Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall... "The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph".
If we select a spot away from Palestine, where could the utmost bound of the everlasting hills be better located than here in the Rocky Mountains, centered here in Salt Lake City. This certainly is the place.
Micah looked down through the stream of time and also made a confirmatory prophecy. He said:
"But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
"And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem".
The Salt Lake Temple stands on this Temple Square not far distant from this tabernacle where we are assembled. It is the house of the Lord; and so the Lord's house has been established in the top of the mountains and exalted above the hills. Through the missionary program during the past hundred years converts have been gathered from all nations of the earth. Many of the Saints have made their homes in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains. As they have migrated here to build their homes and also as they have come to Salt Lake City to attend general conference twice each year, they say: "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways," that they might walk in his path.
The "Law of the Lord" has gone forth from Zion in the Doctrine and Covenants, in the Book of Mormon, in the Pearl of Great Price, and through the inspired teachings of the holy prophets of this dispensation to confirm the "Word of the Lord" which has gone forth from Jerusalem in the Holy Bible.
Thus the prophecies made by these ancient prophets have been and are being fulfilled.
In humility and from the depths of my heart, I want to bear testimony that I know that "a marvelous work and a wonder" has been established-the true Church of Jesus Christ is here upon the earth founded through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know as I know that I am alive that he is a prophet of God, one of the greatest that the world has known. I also solemnly bear witness that all the presidents who have presided over the Church in this dispensation, including our beloved President David O. McKay, are prophets of the true and living God. President McKay holds the keys of the kingdom, which keys and position of prophet, seer, and revelator, he shall continue to hold through divine appointment until death and then another will be appointed by the Lord to replace him.
The holy prophets have declared that the kingdom of God has been established, never to be taken from the earth again, nor given to another people-thus Nebuchadnezzar's dream, interpreted by Daniel, is being fulfilled. The God of heaven has set up his kingdom up on the earth in these the last days, "which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people." Like "the stone cut out of the mountain without hands," it shall roll forth until it fills the whole earth. And "the saints of the Most High shall... possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever".
The climax of this whole marvelous work and a wonder will be the coming of Jesus Christ through the clouds of heaven to his kingdom to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. To him shall be given "... dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him".
These things I know through the power of the Holy Ghost which has borne testimony to my heart; and I bear this testimony to you humbly in Jesus' name. Amen.
Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin
Joseph L. Wirthlin, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 30-34
President McKay, my brethren and sisters, I sincerely trust that the Lord will give me the inspiration and the desire I have in my heart to bear testimony to you that I know Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet, that he actually saw the Father and the Son. There appeared to him an angel called Moroni, and through Moroni, he received the golden plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated and made available to the people of the world.
The Book of Mormon in and of itself is important because we have the history that has to do with the people who lived upon this, the American continent. In it we find the prophets of old indicating that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would be upon this, the American continent, which event took place when he appeared to the Nephites after his resurrection. He organized the Church, and gave them the same privileges and opportunities that existed among the people in Jerusalem.
Through Joseph Smith, we received the priesthood, both the Aaronic and the Melchizedek. John the Baptist appeared to the Prophet and Oliver Cowdery and bestowed upon them the Aaronic Priesthood, the priesthood that he held at the time he baptized the Christ nearly two thousand years ago. Later Peter, James, and John appeared and bestowed upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery the Melchizedek Priesthood.
The Prophet Joseph was visited by Elijah, the prophet of old, who gave him the authority and direction whereby he was to go forward with the work for the dead, that families would have the opportunity of being sealed for time and eternity in our marvelous temples. He was given many other revelations, those that had to do with the organization of the Church itself, the Church of Jesus Christ as it existed over two thousand years ago. It was called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by revelation.
He received many other revelations. And I sincerely hope and trust, my brethren and sisters, that all of us will read these revelations and understand what they mean to us as individuals and what they can do for us in our families and particularly in contact with those not of our faith.
One revelation in particular I am interested in. It is called the Word of Wisdom. It was given to the Prophet Joseph on February 27, 1833. This marvelous revelation had to do with the use of tobacco and alcohol, and also indicated what we should take into our bodies to keep them sweet, clean, and strong.
Now, it has been a hundred and twenty-five years since the Prophet Joseph gave this marvelous revelation to the world. It has taken medical science a long time to discover that tobacco and alcohol are not good for the body.
In section 89, the Doctrine and Covenants, verse 4 it reads:
"Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation".
There are some individuals in the Church who feel that the Word of Wisdom did not come by revelation, but here we have it, in the words of the Lord. We have received it as revelation.
When he said, "... In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days..., " surely these are the last days when great companies are endeavoring to sell to men and women over the country, regardless of age, alcohol and tobacco.
In 1956, the American people spent $10,500,000,000 for alcohol. They spent for tobacco in 1956, $5,373,000,000, proving the truth of this statement made by the Prophet that in the last days conspiring men would endeavor to encourage and suggest to the people that they should use tobacco and alcohol. On the use of these two poisons, the American people spent approximately $16,000,000,000. I mention that to you because we have only spent $14,350,000,000 for education. We have been spending less for education than we have for the use of tobacco and alcohol.
On a religious basis and for welfare purposes in the United States, we have spent $3,356,000,000-approximately one-fifth of the amount we have spent for the use of tobacco and alcohol.
Now please keep in mind this wonderful revelation was given to us 125 years ago. At that time, medical science had not given any consideration to the use of tobacco and alcohol. So, we can come to but one conclusion: Joseph Smith received a revelation of the Lord whereby we are to protect ourselves against these individuals who are anxious that young men and young women over the country shall use alcohol and tobacco.
There is another marvelous revelation given to the Prophet Joseph that has to do with the welfare program. This wonderful revelation is found in the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 78, Verse 3:
"For verily I say unto you, the time has come, and is now at hand; and behold, and lo, it must needs be that there be an organization of my people, in regulating and establishing the affairs of the storehouse for the poor of my people, both in this place and in the land of Zion-".
This was given to the Prophet in Hiram, Ohio, in March 1832. The Lord realized then as the Church was organized, there must be an organization of some kind whereby those who were in need could be helped. He said there should be an organization, "... regulating and establishing the affairs of the storehouse... both in this place and in the land of Zion-"
The great welfare program was given first to the Prophet Joseph in the form of a revelation from our Heavenly Father. Now we find these storehouses all over Zion, and wherever you find stakes, you also find these wonderful storehouses for the benefit and the ask assistance of those who are in need.
This brings us to the conclusion, in the final analysis, that Jesus Christ and the Father appeared to the Prophet Joseph and gave him the direction, inspiration, and the revelations that were necessary to organize the Church, not only to organize it, but to protect the people and guide and direct them against all that is evil and contrary to the mind and will of our Heavenly Father.
In the Saturday Evening Post of October 11, 1958, there appeared a wonderful statement on the establishment of the welfare program. The world is beginning to recognize that the welfare program is necessary and essential in assisting those who are in need of help, be it food or clothing or whatnot.
Joseph Smith actually received the revelation whereby the great welfare program came into existence. The Lord realized that the time would come when we would need it all over the land of Zion, wherever our people are to be found that we might be able to assist them and provide them with the necessities of life.
Another marvelous revelation is one that is not encouraging, but nevertheless is true, and we must give it consideration. It is section 87 of the Doctrine and Covenants and it reads:
"Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls; "And the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place." He could only have known this through the revelations that were given to him by the Lord. Then also He said, "For behold, the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they shall also call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves against other nations; and then war shall be poured out upon all nations. "And it shall come to pass, after many days, slaves shall rise up against their masters, who shall be marshaled and disciplined for war".
In many cases I am quite sure we all think this has to do particularly with the slaves in the Southern States, but I believe, brethren and sisters, that it was intended that this referred to slaves all over the world, and I think of those, particularly in the land of Russia and other countries wherein they have been taken over by that great nation and where the people are actually the slaves of those individuals who guide and direct the affairs of Russia and China, and where the rights and the privilege to worship God and to come to a knowledge that Jesus Christ is his Son is denied them.
He also said, "And it shall come to pass also that the remnants who are left of the land will marshal themselves, and shall become exceedingly angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation. "And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations".
In the matter of famine and plague and earthquakes, we can go back to World War I, where 40,000,000 individuals lost their lives either through the war or through famine or plague. And in the world war just passed wherein our own nation was involved, we lost 408,789 of our men. In Korea, we lost 33,629.
The Prophet Joseph gave us this marvelous revelation in 1832. The Civil War came in 1861; the war between Denmark and Prussia in 1864; Italy and Austria in 1865 and 1866; Austria and Prussia in 1866; Russia and Turkey in 1877; China and Japan in 1894 and 1895; Spanish-American in 1898; Japan and Russia in 1904 and 1905; World War I in 19 14 1918; then the next war was a comparatively small one, Ethiopia and Italy, when the people in that land of Ethiopia were taken over and controlled by Italy. I am grateful to the Lord that they now have their freedom. Then, the World War just passed and, of course, the Korean War.
These nations of Russia, China, Korea, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Arabia, Lebanon-all of these nations are now in an attitude of war of some kind. Just what the results are going to be, I do not know. Of course, from the revelations we can and do know that someday there will be one great war in a certain area, that area possibly may be in and around some of these countries I have mentioned, probably around Israel.
In thinking of these nations, there is another marvelous revelation given by one of the prophets over three thousand years ago, from Proverbs, Chapter 6, Verses 16, 17, 18, and 19, wherein Solomon said:
"These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: "A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, "An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief. "A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren".
This statement by Solomon, thousands of years ago, was given for the information that in the last days some of these individuals who lead and guide and direct nations would have in their hearts, "A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood."
As we think of the events that have taken place in the last years, we wonder whether or not these are the individuals who are going to cause the great world war which sometime will come before the Christ appears.
What is going to be our position? What is yours and what is mine? What is that of the membership of the world? What is that of the membership of all of those who believe in Jesus as the Son of God? In the marvelous revelation given to the Prophet Joseph in the Doctrine & Covenants, section 88, verse 126, he said this:
"Pray always, that ye may not faint, until I come, behold, and lo, I will come quickly, and receive you unto myself. Amen".
So, if we are loyal and devoted to Jesus Christ, if we live the gospel as we should, if we are sweet and clean, and if war and difficulties come, as he said, "Pray always," for if we will pray to God and to his Son Jesus Christ, there is no question but that the Lord will help us solve our problems and give us the guidance and the direction that we need.
Then, finally, he said this, "Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen".
As I think of this statement, "stand ye in holy places," I wonder what these holy places are. I am sure these holy places, one of which, brethren and sisters, could be our own homes if we are prayerful, if we are teaching our sons and daughters to know that God lives, to know that Jesus Christ is his Son, to know that Joseph Smith actually saw the Father and the Son, if we have our prayers day and night, if the whole family has the knowledge and the testimony that God actually lives, and the Lord will help us solve our problems and overcome them. Our homes should be a holy place. There is the holy place where we may go once a week and partake of the Sacrament and be taught the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ by those who are assigned to teach us and give us more knowledge about the gospel.
Another holy place, of course, is the temple-these wonderful buildings of the Lord Jesus Christ wherein we can go and be sealed together, father and mother, sons and daughters, for time and eternity. In this holy place, we can do the work for the dead who did not have the same privileges and opportunities that you and I have had.
I do testify to you that Joseph Smith was a prophet who saw the Father and the Son and other heavenly beings in establishing the priesthood and organizing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. May all the world accept this testimony, I pray humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Henry D. Moyle
Henry D. Moyle, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 34-36
My brethren and sisters, I am grateful for this opportunity to bear my testimony to you today and to bring to you a message from those who claim membership in the Church, who are part of this great society of friends in the world living under circumstances much less favorable than those under which we live.
I believe one of the most inspiring instances in my life was the opportunity I had this summer, at the direction of President McKay, to visit our Saints in East Germany. We held a great conference in the city of Leipzig. Into that city came busloads of members of the Church from all of Saxony, from Dresden, Freiberg, Chemnitz, Stuttgart, Plauen, as far away as Mecklenberg.
I have never seen an exhibition of greater unity, of greater devotion one to another, nor have I ever seen a greater appreciation in the hearts of my brethren and sisters for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I think you would have to live the experience in order to appreciate what I am trying to say to you.
These people have had trials and tribulations, losses to undergo. I know of one family in which all of the male members of that family for four generations just disappeared in the war. But those who were left behind, the mothers and the children, remained true to the faith. There are people there today who have had membership in the Church for more than fifty years, men and women whom I knew when I was on my mission in 1909 and 1910 in that very country, men and women who have withstood the persecutions heaped upon them not only from outside but from within and have stayed true to the Church.
As I understand it, there are many people, almost every day, leaving East Germany for West Germany, and so one of the questions that I propounded to many of the Saints with whom I had the opportunity of talking, was the question as to whether or not they did not desire to come out of East Germany and to migrate West. Without a single exception in that group in Leipzig, they all said that they felt that their place was to be in their own native country. They wanted to stay there. They wanted to help build up the Church. They wanted to do missionary work among their neighbors and their friends.
We have a great leader behind the Iron Curtain, a young man by the name of Henry Burkardt. I met him five years ago. I marveled then at his faith, his loyalty, and his devotion to the Church. Then he was unmarried. Now he is married and has a family, and the Lord has magnified him in his calling as first counselor to the mission president of the North German Mission, President Burtis Robbins. He has served in this capacity under several mission presidents. I had a meeting there that lasted all one Saturday, with the missionaries, the local missionaries, with the branch presidents, with the district presidents, of those branches and districts, and every one of them bore witness to the devotion of Brother Burkardt and of their love and affection for him. He has all of the attributes of a great leader. And there he stands, practically alone so far as help from the outside is concerned.
Those people would like to know what we are doing here today. They look forward to our general conferences, never to know what happens here, never to have any conference reports, except in rare instances, and all they know is what they hear occasionally, when our mission president finds it possible to go behind the Iron Curtain and to meet with them for a day or two, not oftener than twice a year. And then in those meetings, there is so much business to transact, that he has little opportunity to tell of the progress of the Church.
I was very much impressed with the thought that there had not been a General Authority enter into the lives of those people in twenty-nine years. Well, they just could not come up and shake hands with you without expressing their gratitude, with tears coming into their eyes. They wanted all of them to share what little they had there to eat, with us. I tell you, it would have done all your hearts good if you had been there to see them.
I realized as never before, the extent to which our Saints in Europe sustain President McKay as a true prophet of God. Those who attended the London Temple dedication and heard his inspired dedicatory prayer need no one to tell them that he is a prophet of God. They knew it as they met and associated with him. They received the witness that he is guided by inspiration and revelation in leading the Church.
Everywhere in Europe the Church seems to be progressing, growing and developing, and multiplying. And so my thoughts turned to the words which are to be found in the Acts of the Apostles, when the brethren visited Caesarea. This was after Paul's conversion:
"Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied".
I do not know how the situation in Europe could be described better, because that is exactly what is happening.
Then I turned to the words of Paul in his statement to the Corinthians, which applies so definitely to the conditions of these wonderful Saints back of the Iron Curtain:
"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; "Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed".
These brethren and sisters are part and parcel of this great organization, this society of friends, of Saints, to which we all belong. I have no hesitancy in stating that we constitute the greatest society of brethren and sisters the world has ever known, and if that were not true, I am sure it will shortly be brought to pass, because that is what the Lord wills of us, his people. I am further satisfied that there was never a time in the history of the world when the Lord had bestowed upon his servants a greater power than is manifest in the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. It is not only found in our great Prophet leader, but it is found in the mission field, in the lives and in the works of the missionaries. I am sure that missionaries in the world have never been blessed to a greater degree than are the missionaries today throughout the world, and I am also conscious of the fact that the Adversary is mindful of this, and is not inactive in seeking to thwart the purposes of our Heavenly Father.
The power of the priesthood made manifest through our elders in the mission fields, our sons and our daughters, will overcome all the obstacles that the Adversary can put in their way and the work of the Lord will go forth and we will be multiplied, web will be edified, and we will have the comfort of the Holy Ghost in our work.
I tell you, the message that we bear to the world that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, is bearing fruit in every land and in every city. Cities and countries which heretofore have turned a deaf ear to us are now opening their doors, and it is difficult for us to find meeting places large enough to accommodate the crowds of investigators.
I must tell you one instance. Just a few months ago we went into the city of Innsbruck, up in the mountains of Austria, a city in which I understand we have never previously done missionary work. I had the privilege of speaking to a branch there of some twenty Saints and over thirty investigators, the work, as I remember it, of less than six months. And that is the report that we get all over Europe.
I tell you it is a privilege, my brethren and sisters, to be able to bear witness to the world of that testimony which has come into our hearts. Joy and satisfaction beyond measure is reaped by those of us who are able thus to do.
I know that God lives, that he has given to us, his children, that light and knowledge by which we can understand and appreciate God and his ways, and through obedience thereto be brought back, eternally, into his kingdom, saved and exalted with his people. I pray the Lord that we may all so live that we may emulate the example of our leaders and teach his everlasting gospel to our friends and our neighbors and thus become saviors upon Mount Zion as we save the souls of our fellow men, which I pray humbly, in Jesus' name. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 45-47
My brothers and sisters: In deep humility and I believe a realizing sense, at least in a measure, of my own responsibility, holding the position through your sustaining vote, I stand before you asking an interest in your faith and prayers, that the few remarks I may make will be directed by the Spirit of the Lord.
I, along with you, am a believer in prayer. Prayer is the royal road between each of us and our Heavenly Father. Whether it remains open or is closed is for our determination. We are a Church, with all that we have received in that capacity and all that we, individually, have received, as the result of prayer. A boy, troubled, uncertain, faithful, desiring to know the will of the Lord had in mind those great verses from James:
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. "For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord".
The Prophet Joseph went into the woods in his innocent faith and reliance, prayed for light and received in answer the greatest theophany of which we have any record, for the Father and the Son came to him in person and told him of the work there was for him to do. And from there on, the line of communication, the royal line, between him and our Heavenly Father was never broken.
We believe in the doctrine of continuous revelation. We advocate it boldly and with rightful pride, boast of it. It is seriously challenged by many, by many great Church organizations. But I would like to challenge those organizations on their position. If, as they contend, God no longer informs his children, advises them and counsels them, that being their position, then I ask them why they pray. The fact that they pray seems to me to give the falsehood to their opposition.
I would like to say just a word or two about prayer. I assume that all of us pray because we want what we pray for. I think there is no common denominator for all the peoples of the world that can equal the desire to pray and the resulting prayers. We do not all pray alike. We do not all pray to the same God. We do not all understand to whom we address our prayers in the same way. But the commonest instinct of all humanity is to pray to a superior Being, some Being somewhere, of some kind, who knows more than we know and who has the power to change events to suit our prayers if he so desires.
I take it that none of us under those circumstances would pray for something that was unwholesome or would pray for something that the Lord would not approve that we should have. We do not pray, should not pray for the bad, the unwholesome things of this earth.
I recall that when the Savior began his mission he cleansed the temple. He likewise cleansed it at the close of his mission, driving out the moneychangers, driving out those who bought and sold animals for a sacrifice. He declared, "... ye have made it a den of thieves".
I take it that none of us would wish to pray for anything that would bring us within that classification. We normally think of it, these incidents, as being indications of the violation of the sanctity of the temple. But I think the rebuke goes below and beyond that.
Where should we pray? Amulek is quoted in Alma as telling us about this. I have a feeling that it should be our business never to go anywhere where we cannot ask our Heavenly Father for his protection and approval. It is a sad thing to consider that sometime we might be where we could not ask the Lord for his help.
We might pray, I think usually, perhaps always, with the admonition which the Lord gave when he taught the multitude how to pray, the admonition being that the Lord knows more of what you need than you know yourselves, and then he taught us a very short prayer, all embracing, and as I recall it, he there uttered a warning not to use too many words and pray as the pagans pray.
Another thing-the Lord knows, as I have just indicated, what we need. I have a feeling that we should make praying a habit. I am not speaking of morning and evening prayers only. I feel that we should pray whenever we need prayer, and whenever we need the help of our Heavenly Father, and that is most of our lives. And if we shall be where we must pray or may pray, always our lives must be in accordance therewith.
I have always been somewhat impressed with the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. They built their altars. They implored their god, the priests of Baal did. Elijah said, as the day wore on, "Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awakened". I do not think we ought to give the Lord any opportunity to feel that we have forgotten him or that he is asleep. Let us pray always, not just in emergencies.
Another thing-let us not try to tell the Lord what to do. I will not take time to narrate that beautiful story of Naaman, the Syrian general, who came to have his leprosy cured by Elisha, who was insulted because Elisha sent word to go and bathe seven times in the Jordan River. Naaman declared that the rivers out in Syria were as good as Elisha's rivers. He had thought Elisha would come out, strike an attitude, place his hand over the afflicted part and then speak to his God to heal Naaman. You will remember when he hesitated and was insulted by Elisha's direction, his servants came and said that if Elisha had told him to do something great he would have gone and done it, and then, not exactly in these words, but, "Why don't you try it?" He did try and he was healed.
There are one or two incidents in the Savior's life to which I would like to refer. I am thinking of the closing hours of his freedom, a day or two before the day of the Passover. He had been in the temple, and he prayed to the Lord, Saying, or indicating that he wished that this hour about to come could pass, and yet said he, "... but for this cause came I unto this hour".
Then he went to Gethsemane. I will not take time to relate the details of that great occasion. But I urge you to read them and ponder them. Three times he left Peter, James, and John, and went on a little farther and prayed. The first time, the second time, and the third time, he came back and found them sleeping. "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?". But I call your attention to each prayer: "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done".
Three times he went to the Father, having earlier indicated that he knew his hour was come. I have never been able to understand that. But I can understand the central thought of that prayer-"Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done".
And I urge on you, brothers and sisters, that when you pray, let that central thought always be with you, and do not always expect that the answer to your prayer will come in the way in which you desire it.
I think in that connection, though not strictly in point, of the time when Elijah fled from the angry Jezebel. He went to a cave. He was lonesome. He was fleeing for his life, obedient to the Lord's command. He lamented his lot greatly to the Lord; he stood forth upon the mount, waiting for the Lord. There came a great wind that rent the rocks, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. Then the Lord came in a still, small voice, and Elijah, wrapping his face in his mantle, came to the mouth of the cave and received the words of the Lord.
The Lord speaks in gentle terms as well as in terms of great catastrophe and grief.
Brethren and sisters, let us continue to be a praying people. Let us pray, keeping in mind some of the great principles involved therein. Let us go to our Heavenly Father for his advice, his counsel, his help. He will always answer if we are righteous in our asking, and if we are asking for righteous things that would be for our good and benefit.
The great foundation in one way of this Church is the doctrine of continuous revelation, continuous revelation to the individual, to the leaders of the Church, all for our good and benefit and for the advancement of his work.
May God give us this spirit of prayer, may God give us the power to pray and may we pray always with that great central thought in mind, "nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done". I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Elder Albert Theodore Tuttle
A. Theodore Tuttle, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 47-48
President McKay, my beloved brothers and sisters: This has been a glorious six months-glorious not in the fact that I have been able to meet the challenges which almost daily pertain to this call, but glorious in the opportunity of teaching the gospel and of meeting with the Saints. May I take this occasion to express my gratitude to those who have been so kind and hospitable to me.
I would like to extend my personal welcome to President Critchlow and Elder Dyer. I know the reception they are going to receive from these Brethren. This has been a glorious six months in association with these men. They have been kind, considerate, and helpful. When you consider the varied talents they bring and the many walks of life that this group of men represent, when you know the individual strength and power that they bring, it is a marvelous thing to me to see the harmonious, intelligent unity that exists among these brethren.
And as I understand it, it is the mission of the Church to develop and extend this unity and brotherhood throughout the world.
How can peace come without brotherhood? What is peace? Is peace the cessation of hostilities? Is peace a cold, rather than a hot war? Is peace coexistence? Is peace to live and let live? Is peace a relationship based on force? Is peace servitude and slavery based on power? What is it that brings peace: arms, bombs, pacts, arbitration, and compromise? What perpetuates peace: armies and navies, planes and missiles, and anti-missile missiles? What is the basis of peace? Is it based on a balance of power? I think that each one of us would have to answer that it is none of these, and that at best they are but temporary measures.
What is peace based on? May I try to illustrate it with a story with which I think many of you are acquainted. It is entitled "Abram and Zimri" by Clarence Cook. Two brothers farmed together. Abram had a wife and seven sons. Zimri lived alone. At harvest time the crop was divided equally. Zimri lay in bed and thought: "Here am I, just one mouth to feed, while my brother Abram has a wife and many sons. I must go to the field and share my half with my brother, Abram." So he girded himself and went down and gave a generous third of his portion to his brother.
Abram, on the other hand, thought that same night: "Here am I with a wife and seven sons-someone to share my load and to work with me. Here is my brother, Zimri, he works alone and has no one to help. I shall gird myself and go down to the field and share my portion with him." And he took a generous third and put it with Zimri's sheaves. The next morning the sheaves were the same.
The next night, determined to change it, Zimri went again to the field and carried another third from his pile to his brother, Abram's, and then lay in the field to watch. Soon Abram came and took his sheaves and put them with his brother's share. Then Clarence Cook closes with these words: "And Zimri arose and caught him in his arms, and wept upon his neck, and kissed his cheek; and Abram saw the whole, and could not speak; neither could Zimri, for their hearts were full."
Now, as I read the record of history, there is but one force strong enough to motivate a universal acceptance of brotherhood. That is, the acceptance of the Fatherhood of God and the divine Sonship of his Son, Jesus Christ, and thence all men as brothers. This has been the power that has united men in the past. This has been the plan of our Heavenly Father from the beginning, and it is no illusion. It has worked. We all know the story of Enoch who taught this gospel plan to his brethren, and when it was accepted they lived happily-so much so that the Lord walked and talked with them, and took them.
A similar unity of brotherhood occurred on this continent after the Lord had been here and taught his gospel to the Nephites. I quote the account of the condition that existed for two hundred years afterward:
"And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people. "And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God. "There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God".
Now, this blessed condition is attainable today, but it is attainable only upon the basis of accepting God as Father and all men as brothers and living the plan of salvation. My testimony is that this plan, which the Lord introduced in the beginning with Adam, and that has successfully brought about true brotherhood in the past, has been restored; that the priesthood that activates it and operates it is in our midst, and that the leaders thereof in this Church are servants of our Heavenly Father. This plan is bringing about a true brotherhood in this day and it is up to you and me to make it function even more perfectly. To show our appreciation for the privilege we have of belonging to this great brotherhood, may we be ever willing to share it with all of our brothers and sisters, I humbly ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Alvin R. Dyer
Alvin R. Dyer, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 51-53
Early yesterday morning I received two very important telephone calls. One was from President McKay, and the other was from a young man who was a priest in my class when I was a bishop. The time that passed from President McKay's call until I reached his office seemed almost like an eternity, but in actuality it was only about thirty minutes. I can assure you, my brethren and sisters, that it is a moment of great pressure as well as inspiration to sit closely facing the President of our Church, a prophet of God in this dispensation, and be called to serve in such a capacity as this.
As you look into the face of this wonderful man, your life suddenly becomes bare, and then there is a surge of gratitude that comes over you, a gratitude not because you have personally been called to serve but because you have inherent in your heart a desire to serve, and I am so grateful for that feeling. It is not because of any abilities that I may have that I have accepted the call, but because it is in my heart to serve the Lord.
I think it was Nathaniel Baldwin, the great philanthropist, a very generous giver, who made the statement that he was grateful not so much for the ability to give as for the desire he had to give. I recall so vividly the Lord, in speaking to the tired, worn, and weary Saints in the early days in Missouri, when he said unto them, in substance: "Be not weary in well-doing, for you are laying the foundation of a great work, and the Lord requires the willing heart", and then he proceeded to say that if you do not have a willing heart to serve you are not of the blood of Ephraim. So, I am grateful in my heart for the desire to serve the Lord in whatever capacity I may be called to serve.
This young man who called me almost five minutes after President McKay called yesterday said, "Bishop, I am one of the rascals who used to be in your priests class. I have been made a bishop, and I need some help. Will you spend some time with me today?"
And I had the great joy of spending some time with him yesterday.
But I feel the same way that he felt. I need some help, and I know, my brethren and sisters, from the many opportunities that have come to me to serve the Lord, that if I will do my part, the Lord will bless me, will lift me up, and give me the strength and the understanding to accomplish the work that is before me.
I think one of the great sermons that has been delivered in this Church was delivered at Far West, Missouri, when Heber C. Kimball delivered what is known in our writings as the "clay sermon," and in it he said that we should as clay to be molded as the Lord would mold us, and to do the will of the Lord. His sermon was acclaimed by the Prophet Joseph Smith as one of the great contributions to the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times in the reflection of the attitude that we should have in serving the Lord.
It seems natural, my brethren and sisters, at a time like this, to reflect with gratitude on the many influences that come into your life. I think of my grandparents and have since yesterday morning, of their great devotion in accepting the gospel and coming across the waters many years ago. The other day I had a letter from my brother who is now serving a mission in England, and he said that he had visited an old church in Coventry, England, and there on a stone plaque are engraved the words: "The Church of the Dyer Guild."
I am grateful, as I re-read this letter, in the knowledge that we have had the great privilege of doing the temple work for more than three thousand of this guild.
I am grateful to my grandparents who eventually made this possible, and to my mother and father, who are not here upon the earth, but whose influence I feel today, for their faith and their great love of the gospel. I am so eternally grateful for my missionary companion wife, who stood by my side, not only in the mission field, but also when I served as bishop, and in other positions in the Church, always encouraging me to perform my responsibilities, and always seemingly making it easy for me to do so. I am grateful to her for her great faith and devotion. I got so used to having her by my side that recently as I have traveled to a number of MIA conventions I have found myself nudging Sister Bennett or Sister Longden, thinking that my wife was still by my side.
I am grateful to my fine stalwart son, whom I have never heard utter a word of profanity; for his clean life, and for his great zeal to seek for an education; now at Brigham Young University, and who has a desire to go on a mission. I am grateful for my wonderful daughter. These are our two children, but they are wonderful, and I am grateful for them and for their love of the gospel and for their support of our work.
I am grateful to Nephi L. Morris, who was once my stake president, and Bishop Edwin F. Parry, and George Lund, my scoutmaster; grateful for my brother Gus who has always lived by a high spiritual concept. These are men that I think of now as I gird for the responsibility that will be mine in this calling.
President McKay has always been a great ideal of mine. I have always looked up to him, tried to assimilate some of the great characteristics which he has. You cannot be in his presence and hold his hand, and have him pierce your countenance with his wonderful eyes without feeling truly that here is a prophet of God. I am grateful for President McKay; for President Richards, with whom I became so closely associated in missionary work, and for his great devotion and faith and determination to serve the Lord even against adversity; and for President Clark who has expressed so many kindnesses to me and my family.
I am grateful to these men, my brethren and sisters, and to the others of the General Authorities, all of whom I know, and many of them intimately. I am grateful for them. I sustain them with all my heart, and will endeavor to do their bidding and to follow their wishes and desires as I go forward in this work.
I am grateful for my associates in the MIA. I do not, as yet, have my bags unpacked from the mission field, but I am grateful for the time that I have had with these wonderful men and women who are so devoted to the cause of youth, for I feel very strongly the great obligation we have to preserve the integrity of our young people, and know of the great responsibilities that devolve upon this organization to carry that work forward.
I have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that it is true.
I know with every fiber of my being that Jesus Christ is a reality; that he is the Son of God; that he is divine; that he is not an ethereal substance; that he is a glorified resurrected Being, as he is proclaimed to be by the Prophet Joseph Smith.
I bear record that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God; that in reality he did see God the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, and that he has given to us through divine bestowals all of the needed things to bring exaltation, joy, and happiness to mankind.
And I know that this is his Church, and that if we will be faithful and true in it, and serve him as we ought to, adjusting our lives to the things that are needful, we will find the joy that he has promised; and I leave this testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Spencer W. Kimball
Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 53-57
My brothers and sisters: Attendance at this conference is a great privilege. This historic tabernacle filled to capacity, mostly with Church leaders is an evidence of the spectacular growth of the Church. Every week there are many changes in leadership in stakes, wards, branches, and missions. Good people are released and others are sustained in their places, sometimes because of death or moving, often to relieve those who are ill or weary; frequently to give others opportunity to serve. This has gone forward since the beginning of time and the Lord's program has not varied much through the centuries.
Two General Authorities visit a stake conference and return having installed one good man to replace another who has served well and made a noteworthy contribution.
The process follows a rather definite pattern:
1st: The need for the new leader;
2nd: The leader is chosen through the process of elimination by prophecy and revelation;
3rd: The newly chosen one is officially called by one with unquestionable authority;
4th: He is presented to a constituent assembly of the people, and
5th: He is ordained or set apart by the laying on of hands by those who are fully authorized.
And this is in keeping with our Fifth Article of Faith:
"We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands, by those who are in authority to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof".
Today you have participated in that established pattern of the call to high service. You have taken part in a meaningful procedure. You have seen the filling of a vacancy in high places. Some weeks ago Elder Clifford E. Young, Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, passed away after a glorious and eventful period of service. We all miss him. We all loved him. His contribution was monumental. Now comes the filling of the vacancy and you are seeing the revelations of the Lord made manifest.
The same steps are followed as indicated above:
1st: The death of Elder Young vacated a position which needed filling;
2nd: Through a process followed by the President of the Church, whose authority is unquestioned, Elder Critchlow has been chosen through prophecy and the revelations of the Lord;
3rd: The prophet has officially called this good man to service;
4th: You, the constituent assembly of the Church, with full authority to act for the Church, have approved the choice, and
5th: Soon after the conference Elder Critchlow will be officially set apart to his new responsibility by the prophet himself, or under his direction.
It is interesting to note that even in olden times much the same procedure was followed. Unfortunately, all the steps are not always recorded but there is considerable evidence that they were taken. The "anointing" of ancient days seems to have been much the same and closely associated with the setting apart of today, with the accompanying blessing.
The first apostles were called by the Lord: "Come follow me," he said, "and I will make you fishers of men." This was more than a casual statement. It was a definite call.
"And they straightway left their nets, and followed him". "For he taught them as one having authority". "And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power". This included their commission to preach and perform ordinances. It included the setting apart, the charge, the blessing. The promise given these leaders was most spectacular. Full authority was given them as the Redeemer said: "He that receiveth you receiveth me". "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth: Go... teach all nations... to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you".
This same procedure must have been followed in the filling of the vacancy made by Judas' death. The need for replacement explained by Peter:
"Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection".
Matthias was chosen through a process of elimination. Our record is brief but it seems that the Apostles had eliminated all other brethren of the Church down to the two, then asked for the final revelation from God:
"And they appointed two, Joseph, called Barsabas... and Matthias.
"And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,
"... and the lot fell upon Matthias".
"... and he was numbered with the eleven apostles".
Next, the voice of the people was undoubtedly given for they were in conference assembled.
And Matthias was associated with the apostles and went forward in his ministry.
The Apostle Paul was called to the apostleship. The original revelation from the Lord sent him to a high Church leader for his call and charge and authority. Ananias feared the new leader because of the havoc he had played among the Saints, but the revelation was specific:
"Go thy way for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:"
And that authorized leader baptized Paul and laid his hands on his head, through which came the Holy Ghost, the call and the blessing. His setting apart made a noticeable change in him. As he preached in the synagogues "... all that heard him were amazed..." "... Saul increased the more in strength".
Every Bible reader is aware of the great power which came to Paul with his call, charge, and ordination to his apostolic post.
The call to Barnabas and Saul to do specific work was noteworthy. The revelation to the Church leaders came: "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them". The presiding authorities now fasted and prayed in the selection and having made the call, they laid their hands on the two brethren, setting them apart to go to Cyprus and elsewhere.
Even among the kings the Lord seems to have followed the pattern. It appears that the Old Testament Saul became king of Israel after this manner. The people came to Samuel rejecting the former program of judges. They demanded a king like their idolatrous neighbor nations, and the Lord yielded to their persistence:
"Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me".
"Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear a day before Saul came, saying,
"Tomorrow... I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him".
Next, the person was specified by revelation:
"And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said unto him, Behold the man whom I spake to thee of!".
Then came the official call from the prophet:
"And on whom is the desire of Israel? Is it not on thee?".
"... Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house".
"Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over Israel".
He set Saul at the head of the group in the parlor in the chiefest place and gave him the special meat saved for him. As they went on their way Samuel said:
"... stand thou still a while, that I may shew thee the word of God".
Saul was most humble in accepting and said:
"... Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me?".
Years later when Saul had turned arrogant through years of power and might, Samuel denounced him:
"When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?".
Now came the setting apart and blessing:
"Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance?".
With this came a great blessing which, like all blessings, are conditional upon worthiness, a blessing which remained with Saul only so long as he remained righteous.
The blessing continued:
"And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shall be turned into another man.
"And let it be... that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee".
"And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day.
"And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the spirit of God came upon him and he prophesied among them".
A positive change came over Saul. The setting apart turned him into another man and gave him another heart. New powers came to him at once. Those who knew him were astounded at his increased spirituality, his newly acquired wisdom and judgment and his newly attained maturity and powers, and exclaimed in amazement:
What has happened to Saul? He is not the same! "What is this that has come unto the son of Kish. Is Saul also among the prophets?".
Who has not watched the transformation of a newly set apart person to high responsibility? Who has not seen men already great rise to new plateaus of superior attainment braced with the authority, the keys, the mantle? And conversely, who has not seen the loss in stature, influence and power after a great leader has relinquished the reigns of direction, and the mantle of authority diverted to other shoulders? It is not imaginary but very real.
Now the people were given opportunity to sustain their king:
"And Samuel called the people together... and said... See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king".
This presentation to the people was an important element and like that specified in modern revelation:
"The elders are to receive their licenses from other elders, by vote of the church to which they belong, or from the conferences.
"No person is to be ordained to any office in this church, where there is a regularly organized branch of the same, without the vote of that church".
Apparently Saul chose other strong men for his court who likely were set apart as well, for the record states:
"And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and there went with him a band of men, whose hearts God had touched".
Now that the new leader was chosen, called, set apart, and sustained by his people with their votes expressed in their cry: "God save the king," the superior young man was ready to serve, and was promised the blessings of the Lord so long as he was worthy; but not too many years had elapsed until, through unrighteousness, he had forfeited his blessings and kingdom. The same prophet now chastised him:
Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God".
When Saul had disobeyed again and again, the prophet said:
"... I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord; and the Lord hath rejected thee..."
"... The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou."
"... Samuel mourned for Saul: and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel".
Similarly came the call to David. The Lord revealed to Samuel:
"And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me, him whom I name unto thee".
Jesse and his sons came to Bethlehem. Each stalwart stood before him in turn and Samuel's heart was stirred, "Surely, the Lord's anointed is before me". But the revelation of the Lord manifested otherwise.
"... Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the, outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart".
And as each came before him the spirit whispered, "Neither hath the Lord chosen this".
"Send and fetch him," said the prophet, "for we will not sit down till he come hither". And through the process of elimination David was chosen through revelation: "Now he was ruddy, and withal beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he".
Now the setting apart:
"Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward".
It was some time before the people could sustain him since vicious Saul still reigned.
" Saul eyed David from that day and forward".
"And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David".
"David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was much set by".
And eventually when Saul was dead:
"... the men of Judah came and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah".
And later:
"... all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron... and they anointed David king over Israel".
"And David went on, and grew great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him".
And again in the case of Solomon, the anointing was emphasized:
"And Zadok the priest, took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon".
And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, and received this blessing with his setting apart:
"And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart...
"And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all".
Again in the call to Joshua, these steps were stressed: The need, the call, the laying on of hands with the blessing. There was the revelation as to the need since Moses could not go over Jordan and realizing it, pleaded that a shepherd be given Israel. The specific man was named:
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;
"And set him... before all the congregation and give him a charge in their sight.
"And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him".
"But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see".
"And he laid his hands upon him and gave him a charge".
And the blessing gave him power and authority.
"And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him".
The setting apart is an established practice in the Church and men and women are "set apart" to special responsibility, in ecclesiastical, quorum, and auxiliary positions. All missionaries are set apart and it is remarkable how many of them speak often of the authority who officiate and of the blessings promised and their fulfillment.
To some folk the setting apart seems a perfunctory act while others anticipate it eagerly, absorb every word of it, and let their lives be lifted thereby.
The setting apart may be taken literally; it is a setting apart from sin, apart from the carnal; apart from everything which is crude, low, vicious, cheap, or vulgar; set apart from the world to a higher plane of thought and activity. The blessing is conditional upon faithful performance.
In a hotel in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania long years ago, I learned an important lesson when the president of the Rotary International said to the district governors in the assembly:
"Gentlemen: This has been a great year for you. The people have honored you, praised you, banqueted you, applauded you, and given you lavish gifts. If you ever get the mistaken idea that they were doing this for you personally, just try going back to the clubs next year when the mantle is on other shoulders."
This has kept me on my knees in my holy calling. Whenever I have been inclined to think the honors were coming to me as I go about the Church, then I remember that it is not to me, but to the position I hold that honors come. I am but a symbol.
Someone has given us this:
"There is a spirit which, if it can get into men, will make them tall of soul, gentle of spirit, courageous of heart, just and honest toward their fellow men, faithful in life, and fearless in death."
This is the spirit of the "setting apart" when the recipient magnifies the calling.
This special endowment can make of one a "new creature," "an understanding judge", "a wise and behaving servant," "a discerning leader."
It is my testimony to you that the leaders in this the Church of Jesus Christ are divinely called and set apart to lead through the spirit of prophecy as in other dispensations.
In my experience there have been numerous people who like Saul and David and Matthias, like Paul and Peter and Joshua have, through the setting apart, received "largeness of heart", extended influence, increased wisdom, enlarged vision, and new powers. I have seen many who have been given "a new heart" and who have been turned "into another man" and made into a "new creature".
I bear witness, too, that revelation is with the Church constantly and in marked degree, not only in the call of leaders, but in the interpretation of the gospel truths and in the practices of the Church. This I know.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Richard L. Evans
Richard L. Evans, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 58-60
My beloved brethren and sisters, in that spirit of prayer of which President Clark spoke so beautifully this morning, I pray that I may be given utterance to say that which would best be said in this place and at this time.
I think to those of you who have heard what has preceded at this conference, it must be somewhat apparent that there has been a considerable and, I think, significant emphasis and reaffirmation of the principle of revelation, of continuous revelation-or at least it has seemed so to me, as I have sat and listened with you.
There were some events associated with the dedication of the London Temple which I should like to relate, also. Our President went there, and we had arranged a press conference for him on the late afternoon following what was to have been the morning of his arrival, thinking that he would have time for rest and still time to face that arduous task. But his plane was three hours late, or more. He had been up all the night before with those who accompanied him, President and Sister Smith and Brother Reiser, and there was no time for rest; and he faced that battery of some thirty or forty newsmen representing the great London dailies and others of the British Empire and the wire services, and the BBC television camera.
They pressed many questions, difficult and sometimes tenacious and penetrating questions, as is the function of alert and seasoned newsmen. He met them forthrightly, with some declarations of affirmation as to things we would know and how we could be assured of knowing them. They were respectful, but one always wonders what will happen the morning after when what was said appears in print, with the reporter's personal color or understanding or misunderstanding on it. Some of us worried about it considerably. I saw the President in the lobby of the hotel that evening and expressed some of my concern, and he made a very significant statement. I do not know whether he remembers it or not, but I think I shall not forget it. He said, "When I have said what I know to be true, I do not worry about the consequences."
This put me in mind of that great statement of the Prophet Micaiah as he declared to Ahab, the king, those things which the Lord God had given him to speak. The king had previously said that he hated the prophet because he never prophesied him good, and the prophet replied: "As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak".
It is the burden of the prophets always to speak what the Lord God saith, no matter who likes it or who does not, or what one would wish to be the truth. It takes a kind of courage beyond what most men have reason to reach down for.
We might just as well have slept, those of us who didn't sleep so well that night, because the newspapers the next morning were factual and respectful, and none of them that I knew of had reached for the sensational, or the old false representations, that some of us had been accustomed to in times gone by.
President McKay's calm and assurance, which is so characteristic of him, was in evidence again.
To hear him six times deliver significant addresses at six of the dedicatory sessions, to hear the repeated notable dedicatory prayer, a meaningful document, inviting attention to the fact that the Magna Charta, 1215 A.D., had been signed in that same County of Surrey where the temple was now being dedicated, was a great privilege and a moving experience. And to celebrate with him his eighty-fifth birthday in that far land was a sweet occasion that some of us will never forget. And long before he arrived, he was with us, many times a day, because we had made a motion picture explaining the purpose of temples, with President McKay's voice and picture in colored film, and as those 76,000 and more visitors came and went into tents where this film was being shown, we heard his voice from fifty to one hundred times a day as the tents filled and emptied about as fast as the film could be shown. It was a choice and glorious occasion.
Now, one thing these newsmen wanted to know, some of them, is, "How do you know? How can you know some of these things?"
Does it seem a thing strange that the Lord who admittedly had prophets in former days should have them in this day? Does it seem a thing strange that there should be living prophets as well as dead ones? Does it seem that this people in this time should need less, for these changing times and changing conditions, the interpretation of the everlasting principles and standards, and less need a living voice to help to find the way? Is there less of wilderness in our generation and in our world than ever there was? Or less need for living prophets? Does it seem that the Lord would give prophets to one small people in one small place at one limited time, and leave all the rest of his children for all of the rest of time without the living witness of his words, and the interpretation of them according to their own time and day? Just consistency and reason would seem to suggest living prophets and continuous revelation without any deep-seated affirmation of it within our souls.
As to answering the question of the newsmen, "How can you know?" Of course, you can go back and read the record. We invited the attention of some of them to the fact that a prophet a century and a quarter ago had said that tobacco was not good for man, and that medical science was now affirming it. And they said, "Then in this respect your prophet was a century or so ahead of the findings of medical science." And we let them say it. We did not have to say it for them.
But beyond tangible and specific historical evidences, there are things a man can know inside his soul that are beyond the things he can touch and see and rest his feet upon, which are undeniable.
And as to those friends to whom President Richards spoke so earnestly yesterday morning, I would witness to them, also, with him, that this in which we are engaged is not merely a vocation or a profession, but the dedication of a life to a conviction that cannot be denied.
And as to how one can know: He who does not know cannot know that another man does know, and some things are so certain within the souls of men that they cannot be denied.
A few days ago President Clark spoke a sentence that I have not been able to forget. He said, "We are no better than we are." It is profound in its simplicity and it leads into many applications. Our positions do not make us better, or do not assure our being better than we are. I know of no generalizations that would save the souls of men. It is the specific performance of specific things that make men better-not theory, not merely the fact that there is a set of principles or that there are commandments, or that there is counsel, but the living of it.
I am thinking of the Danish sculptor of great fame, Thorvaldsen, who chose to be buried in the midst of his works-not in a cathedral or a cemetery, but in a museum among the monuments of his own making-in the midst of his statuary; and there what he made and what he did with his life surrounds him. He did not theorize upon sculpturing, only, but with his hands and with his creative gift he fashioned those things and he lies there in the midst of his works, as we all shall do someday-and it will not be the theories or the discussions or the speculations or the set of principles or the set of commandments that shall save us. We shall be no better than we are. We are no better than the tithing we pay, no better than the teaching we do, no better than the service we give, no better than the commandments we keep, no better than the lives we live, and we shall have a bright remembrance of these things and we shall, in a sense, lie down in the midst of what we have done when that time comes, and never in my life have I felt more fully to say with all the earnestness of my soul, "We thank thee, O God, for a prophet, to guide us in these latter days."
My beloved brethren and sisters, may we take counsel with each other. There is safety in counsel: counsel with our children, with the family, with our friends, with our Father in heaven, and not attempt to live life alone and to make the decisions alone, but to strengthen each other, and encourage each other, and go forward and do what there is to be done and follow the living leadership as the prophet interprets for us the great principles and commandments of all time.
I thank God for a prophet this day, for an assurance that I am not alone in life, and that you are not, that we none of us are, nor are left without inspired leadership. Thank God for it. And I leave this witness with you, in the name of him in whose name we do all things, and in whose name we are met, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Hugh B. Brown
Hugh B. Brown, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 61-63
As we grow older and have more experience in the ministry, we become increasingly aware of our utter dependence upon divine guidance and inspiration, and therefore it is not just habit that causes us so frequently to ask for that guidance and to solicit your help, sympathy, and prayers.
Like Elder Richard L. Evans, it was my pleasure to attend the dedication of the temple in London, England, and I appreciated the privilege.
Two of the most frequent questions asked of us as we travel are, "What is your creed?" and "What distinguishes your Church from others?"
We do not have a written creed in the usual sense of the word. However, we do have a concise and authoritative statement of the beliefs of the Latter-day Saints given by the Prophet Joseph Smith, in the early days of the Church, known as the Articles of Faith. In that statement we declare our faith in God the Father, in Jesus Christ his Son, and in the Holy Ghost; known generally as the Holy Trinity. We declare our conviction that men will be held accountable for their own sins and will not be answerable for the sins of others,, that there are certain principles and ordinances that must be believed and observed by those who would fain salvation, and that those principles and ordinances must be taught and administered by men who have authority in the apostolic Church as organized in the Meridian of Time, of which Jesus Christ was, and is, the chief cornerstone.
In this declaration we affirm our faith in the atonement of Christ and its universal applicability. We believe that he will come again, that there will be a thousand years of universal peace. We make the statement that we believe in sacred scriptures, ancient and modern; that we believe that men are entitled to freedom of religious belief. We honor and sustain the laws of the land. We commit ourselves to Christ's standard of moral conduct, and service based on love of God and of fellow men.
As many sermons have been preached and much has been written on each of these articles, I shall not elucidate, but I should like to refer for a moment to the Ninth Article of Faith.
"We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God".
This simple and forthright statement of faith in revelation has elicited the criticism of some of our friends, because it includes past, current, and future revelation. Many other churches profess belief in the revelations recorded in the Bible, but they do not believe that God still reveals his will through chosen prophets on the earth.
We declare that the line of communication between heaven and earth is open, and operating, as anciently. We believe that revelation is continuous and expedient, and is suited to the times in which it is given. When we make that statement, it follows that we believe in scriptures other than the Holy Bible, because divine revelation is the word of God, and his word is scripture. We unequivocally declare our faith in the Bible as the word of God, and we specify the King James version thereof.
Our acceptance of other revelation does not diminish our faith in the Old and New Testaments. On the contrary, our belief in the Bible is strengthened and our understanding of it clarified by these new corroborative revelations.
Among the volumes of scripture in which we believe, the one most frequently referred to by friends and critics is the Book of Mormon. It has had the largest circulation and has elicited more comment during the past century, favorable and otherwise, than any other modern book.
This book is an inspired text, having been written by various prophets who lived in America at the times of which they write. It is a sacred record of the ancient inhabitants of America, covering in the main that portion of their history from about 600 B.C. to 400 A.D.
Its message was inscribed on metallic plates by various authors. These writings were abridged by the Prophet Mormon, one of the last survivors of a dwindling race. It is therefore known as the Book of Mormon. He entrusted the plates to his son, Moroni, who was the last of the Nephite historians. Moroni deposited the plates in a stone box on a hillside and some fourteen hundred years later he, at that time a resurrected being, revealed their hiding place to Joseph Smith, the prophet, who translated what is said to be reformed Egyptian characters into English by the gift and power of God.
It is doubtless this element of the miraculous which disturbs many who hear of this record and causes some to shrug it off without further interest. It seems strange to us that believers in the Judeo-Christian Bible should be skeptical of the miraculous.
Miracles form an important part of the Old and the New Testaments. The story of the earth life of Jesus of Nazareth continues to grip the hearts and intrigue the minds of men, largely because of the miracle of his birth, the almost daily miracles he performed during his ministry, and the transcendent miracle of his resurrection and ascension. Moreover, he left his apostles and disciples with a promise of a miraculous reappearance in the last days. Paraphrasing the Apostle Paul we ask, "Why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should reveal his will to his servants, the prophets, as he promised to do".
One remarkable fact about this book is its continued popularity and appeal. One hundred thirty years after the first edition was published, it is still a best seller, over thirty-five thousand copies being printed in English each year, and other thousands distributed in the twenty-seven different languages into which it has been translated. Nearly three million copies of this book have been distributed in almost all countries of the world in the last century.
Yes, we do believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, and we believe in the miraculous that was involved in its preservation and production. There have been many who have sought to discredit it, many things have been written against it, but in more recent times some of our friends who have made a careful study of the book have made statements which are significant I shall refer to one or two taken from a little book called, The Book of Mormon Message and Evidences by Dr. Franklin S. Harris, Jr. Charles H. Hull, professor of American history in Cornell University wrote:
"I am perfectly willing to say to anyone that I suppose the Book of Mormon to be one of the most famous and widely discussed books ever published in America."
Says a Rochester newspaper, "The book itself remains on which was founded the greatest religion of the continent and the century. It was not the book itself, but the wonderful influence it had on America that counted."
And a former Secretary of Agriculture, who had read the book carefully said, "Of all the American books of the nineteenth century, it seems probable that the Book of Mormon was the most powerful. It reached perhaps only one percent of the United States, but it affected this one percent so powerfully and lastingly that all the people of the United States have been affected, especially by its contribution, in opening one of our great frontiers."
Now, our declaration regarding the Book of Mormon is a solemn one. If it is false, it is almost blasphemous. If it is true, then all who believe it are under a solemn obligation to its author to proclaim its truth.
One of the prophets of that book emphasized this fact in the following words, and I read from Second Nephi:
"Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise".
And further in his same book, after reciting the miraculous events in the history of the Israelites, he said,
"I say unto you, that as these things are true, and as the Lord God liveth, there is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ, of which I have spoken, whereby man can be saved".
It is the message of the Book of Mormon that has caused people from almost all nations of the earth to accept it as the word of God. Its inspiring theme and divine message, from the title page to the last chapter, constitutes the testimony or witness of a whole nation of people that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Creator of the world, the Redeemer of mankind. It bears witness to the efficacy of the atonement, of its universal application and its value to all individuals who will accept his word and keep his commandments.
We urge our friends to examine the book itself, to check its claims, listen to its message and to feel of its spirit. Yes, we believe in continued revelation, ancient, continuous, current, and future.
And personally, I wish to bear my testimony with those that have already been borne that the Church today, the kingdom of God, is being led by revelation. God is not the author of confusion. He does not work in dark places. He makes it known to the world when he appoints a prophet, and I testify that I know as I know I live, that this Church today is guided by prophecy and by revelation, and that these men whom we honor are prophets of God.
I pray that he may help us to live as though we believed it, to be true to ourselves, to them and to God, by carrying out the instructions they give, and living the gospel of Jesus Christ, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Levi Edgar Young
Levi Edgar Young, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 63-64
In the Doctrine and Covenants we read these words of the Prophet Joseph Smith, "Seek ye knowledge out of the best books, words of wisdom". Today I should like to read to you some of the words of wisdom which I have found in good books. Some of these words are from the Bible, some are from the writings of Abbott Lawrence Lowell, late president of Harvard University, and from other sources. All these sources and many more good books are easily available to all of us. I am very much interested in them and wish to pay attention to the Prophet's words.
Our pioneer fathers read the best books. Sometime I shall tell you what books they brought to this valley with them. The founding fathers read most of the best books of their time and in many languages. They were educated and wise men.
What is "wisdom"? President Lowell says, "We think of wisdom as a part of religion. In its highest strains it involves wisdom as an attribute and emanation of God, such that, if a man take her as a companion and guide, he shall find righteousness and happiness. Such wisdom demands serenity of temper, a judicial attitude of mind, a habit of seeking what good reasons and motives, rather than what bad ones, others may have for differing from us.
It demands not only a negative, but a positive intellectual integrity, a desire to understand that which contradicts, as well as that which supports, one's own views of what is just and wise. This means an open, earnest mind, a mind based upon wide and deep insight into ultimate realities."
Men are not born with wisdom, they acquire it by habitual self-control, by looking not at the popular impulse of the day, not by conforming, not by mass participation, but at those principles that endure and are eternal.
The following words, which I now quote, will be particularly helpful to our missionaries: There are thousands of men in the world who live on a high moral plane and are not thought self-righteous. If we have any insight into the deeper springs of human nature, we will meet them constantly in the journey of life. If we have not the insight, we will not see them, for they do not make a show of virtue. But they have upheld it in others by their example, and make the world better by their presence.
What does Paul mean when he says, "... they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise". He further says, "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ". Let us integrate this wisdom into our lives.
Let us be wise in training our children, and remind ourselves often that all young people need heroes to emulate. There is no life of the mind or aspiration of the spirit without emulation of great heroes. Let us remind them too, that opportunity is often made or seized upon by men, rather than thrust upon them. The lives of two of the most eminent American historians-Prescott and Parkman beautifully teach this great lesson. Our children must feel at times that they are in the company of a great human spirit.
May I pause here to say some words on juvenile delinquency. William Ellery Channing, the great historian, writer, and teacher said, "No state of mind, not even positive suffering, is more painful than the want of interesting objects." In other words, boredom causes crime. If we had wisdom enough in the community one cannot doubt that crimes, which all good men reprobate, would be less prominent... we should be so wise as to discover the causes and remove them.
To leaders and workers I say ponder on these words in Genesis, "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
"And he said, Let me go for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me".
We read-wisdom is better than strength. Wisdom is better than weapons of war.
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight.
We read in our newspaper the other morning these words of Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell. They are, I believe, wise words. "Civil rights is not solely a legal problem. Basically it is a moral problem." It will always be a problem in America, as long as children hear parents and neighbors utter derogatory remarks about other races, creeds, and religions. Our hiring practices in labor in the future, he says, will have to be based on ability and qualifications for the job, without regard to age or sex or race or creed or national origin.
Let us not be satisfied with a mediocre standard of our life's work. Destiny does not bless a man unless he has endurance to wrestle until the breaking of the day.
Our Father in heaven, help us to get wisdom and use it in our lives, we humbly pray. Amen.
Elder John Longden
John Longden, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 68-70
Thank you, my brethren and sisters, those of you who were here this morning for your sustaining vote. I assure you that I will do everything within my power to be worthy of that vote as I go about the Church serving the membership, our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.
I would be ungrateful if I did not mention something about one of our colleagues, Elder Clifford E. Young. It was not my privilege to be here when he passed away, so I did not attend his funeral service. I was touring a mission at the time. I am most grateful for his companionship, for the splendid characteristics exemplified in his life, integrity to his calling, his faith and testimony of the gospel, and his unselfish service, many times, I am sure, filling his assignments when he was suffering physically though he did not indicate it.
I pray that I may imbibe and partake of these excellent lessons.
Then I welcome and look with joy and great anticipation toward associating with these two splendid men you sustained this morning, Elders Critchlow and Dyer. I have known them both for many years, thirty or upwards. Having been employed by the same company that Elder Critchlow has been with for so many years, I have seen him under fire, but he has always come through a devoted son of God.
Likewise with Brother Dyer. I have known of his work in the Church and just recently as I had the privilege of attending the Kansas City Stake conference, I felt of his spirit there and the spirit of many of his missionaries. So I am looking forward to closer association with these splendid servants of the Lord.
And now I would give you words to live by if the spirit will so dictate. I am reminded of an experience that happened in the life of President George Albert Smith. Several years before he became President of the Church, he gave a home for some months to a couple from Holland. They could speak but a few words of English and could understand very little English. However, the Dutch brother insisted on going to the English-speaking fast meetings and after about the third fast meeting as President Smith and he were walking back to the Smith home, President Smith asked, "Why is it that you insist on going to the English-speaking fast meeting when you understand so little of what is being said?" Here was the significant reply from the Dutch brother, "It is not what I see that makes me happy. It is not what I hear that makes me happy. It is what I feel that makes me happy, and I can feel just as good as anybody."
Yes, there are many who hear and yet do not hear. There are many who see, yet do not see. If our lives are in tune with the glorious teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we can feel just as good as anybody. We feel as good as anybody because we have a witness and a conviction that Jesus is the Christ. "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself". There is no hesitancy, no surmising, no groping, but an assurance that God lives, that he is the Father of our spirits and that Jesus is his Divine Son, that they have again appeared in the earth in this dispensation as we have so gloriously sung a few moments ago.
Yes, I am grateful for the testimony of Joseph Smith.
It is interesting that I should have copied that testimony and his witness and that this song should be sung just previous to my being called to occupy this position. May I give it to you? He likened his experience to that of Paul when he said:
"However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision. I have thought since, that I felt much like Paul, when he made his defense before King Agrippa, and related the account of the vision he had when he saw a light, and heard a voice; but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others said he was mad; and he was ridiculed and reviled. But all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision, he knew he had, and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise; and though they should persecute him unto death, yet he knew, and would know to his latest breath, that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking unto him, and all the world could not make him think or believe otherwise".
Then Joseph further says:
"So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation".
My, what a powerful testimony! And there are thousands throughout the Church today, yes, thousands upon thousands who have a witness within their hearts that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that they did appear to the boy Joseph Smith, even though they have not seen or experienced a like privilege. The Holy Spirit bears witness to this in the hearts of young and old alike. They feel good inside because they are living the truths of the gospel which have been revealed in this day.
I should like to give you the witness from a young girl, seventeen years of age, a beautiful young lady, growing into womanhood. There was a period in her life when she might not have been too sure of her religious convictions, but she is being reared in a good home where the tenets of the gospel are lived, where parents feel good because they are in tune. Then she has some wonderful teachers and instructors in the organizations of the Church. Today she feels good because she has a burning testimony.
May I read her witness?
First, she said a group of MIA young folk invited some young people of another church to visit a fireside. Sixty of them responded; there were only forty members of our Church present. She says there was a great impression made upon many of the young folk, both members and nonmembers. They loved their teacher, Sister Nona Dyer, who happens to be the daughter of Brother and Sister LeGrand Richards. Here is her witness:
"I really love the gospel, and it is the most powerful influence in my life. It seems that the older I get, the deeper the spirit of the gospel penetrates my soul, and the more beautiful life becomes.
"I certainly do admire Daddy for the way he lived the gospel and the example he set for others, and Mother, who is so unselfish. I just hope that someday I can learn to be that kind of person and give something to others in return for what has been given to me."
These words we have heard, my brethren and sisters, are words to live by. They bring peace and joy and hope in our hearts, regardless of what the conditions in the world may be. As we follow truth and abide by gospel teachings, we have no need to fear, I assure you. Regardless of who we are, we must keep alive this testimony in our hearts.
In conclusion, I will give you an experience that came to me from my colleague, Elder Clifford E. Young, a year or so ago. It seems that before President Heber J. Grant passed away, and many of you know that he was ill for many months, but three or four weeks before he passed away, Brother Young was in his home visiting him. President Grant uttered this prayer: "O God, bless me that I shall not lose my testimony and keep faithful to the end!" Here was the prophet of the Lord at that time, holding the keys of the kingdom, praying that he would not lose his testimony, that he would remain faithful to the end, even though he lay on his sickbed and must have known that he would never be well again.
Does it behoove us, then, brothers and sisters, to be faithful to the end that we may keep alive our testimonies through our works? The Holy Spirit will keep us feeling good if we do our part and remain faithful to the end.
I bear witness to you that I know that good feeling because I know God lives, that Jesus Christ is his divine Son, that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God and those who have succeeded him down to President David O. McKay are prophets of God, and he, President McKay, has the mantle of authority and holds the keys of the kingdom of God in the earth. And I bear this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Elder George Q. Morris
George Q. Morris, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 70-72
My dear brethren and sisters, I am wholly dependent upon your faith and the blessings of the Lord in directing me to say what I shall say upon this occasion. I have been thrilled with the proceedings of this conference. Many things have been referred to, and among them was the testing that we undergo in this life. Patriarch Smith referred to that, and in the few moments for me to speak I should like to make some reference to the uses of adversity. We are all subject to adversities. I need not enlarge upon that.
The Lord said to Adam that for his sake the earth was cursed and that he should eat his food in sorrow all the days of his life. The scriptures say that man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward, which means that it is in the design of God that we should have these adversities and experiences in the world. In the midst of life, death and a sea of trials and troubles are ever with us. So none of us are free from them, and it follows that we should find some way of meeting them successfully. As the Lord planned this earth, and in these plans were these problems, trials, and difficulties, he would not leave us without the means of meeting them, and so sent his Only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to the world to bring us the means of meeting all the conditions that we have to meet in this world.
As the Apostle Paul in the midst of Mars' hill was declaring to his pagan listeners the unknown God, he said: "For in him we live, and move, and have our being" and the Lord Jesus Christ in whose hands the Father gave all things has said, "I am the light and the life of the world". It follows that if we are truly intelligent we will center our lives in him.
I should like to read to you a few short testimonies of those who may have done so. The scriptures say: "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting.
"Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better".
I wonder if we realize the truth of that. Let me read these testimonies. There are a number of them, but they are very short and to the point, and they may have messages that will uplift and bless many who are here or who will hear them, who are in need of them.
"Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like a toad, though ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in its head."
"Affliction is the wholesome soil of virtue, where patience, honor, sweet humility, and calm fortitude, take root and strongly flourish."
"Paradoxical as it may seem, God means not only to make us good, but to make us also happy, by sickness, disaster and disappointment."
This short one, which evidently came from the heart of the woman who expressed it, struck me forcibly: "Ah! If you only knew the peace there is in an accepted sorrow."
"It is a great thing, when the cup of bitterness is pressed to our lips, to feel that it is not fate or necessity, but divine love working upon us for good ends."
"Affliction comes to us all not to make us sad, but sober; not to make us sorry, but wise; not to make us despondent, but by its darkness to refresh us, as the night refreshes the day; not to impoverish, but to enrich us."
The Prophet Joseph Smith one time said, when someone had remarked that somebody had affliction because of their sins, that it is an unhallowed statement to make, that afflictions come to all. And M. Henry said: "Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces. Sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions."
I wonder if we may not at some later time envy those splendid people who have had so many afflictions. "No Christian but has his Gethsemane; but every praying Christian will find there is no Gethsemane without its angel."
The final one: "Strength is born in the deep silence of long-suffering hearts: not amid joy."
The Lord has expressed himself about these adversities that come, and I speak, for example, of the Prophet Joseph Smith, who had adversity from the moment he delivered his glorious message of the vision in the grove. You will remember in Liberty Jail he cried out:
"O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? "Yea, O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward them?".
What was the Lord's answer to this prayer? "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine affliction shall be but a small moment;
"And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes". Then the Lord held up before him other trials and difficulties that were to come, some even worse than he had had, but then said to him: "... know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
"The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?".
So, in adversity we may have that which will exalt us, or we may have that which will degrade us. We may have that which, "if we endure it well," will ennoble us, and we may have that which, if we indulge in self-pity and bitterness, may destroy us. In all our adversities there are these two elements, and the determining factor is how shall we endure them? Shall we endure them well? If not, they may destroy us.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the one perfect being in the world, was described by Isaiah as "despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows; and acquainted with grief". That describes his life, the one perfect life lived in the world, full of love and of service. President Clark referred to his Gethsemane, and I will read the detail of it, the Savior crying to the Father:
"Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. "And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground".
And then on the cross, in the lonesomeness and terrible suffering of his dying moments, he cried out, using the words of the twenty-second Psalm, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?".
Someone has said that in every great soul there must come a moment when he is left to himself, and no doubt at that time that was the feeling of the Lord Jesus Christ. The purpose of the Father in not removing the cup from the Savior in the depth of his suffering and the place sorrow may have in our lives is made clear in his answer to the Prophet Joseph's prayer, and in the testimony of the Apostle Paul as follows:
"Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him".
"For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings".
I should like to close with the testimony of President David O. McKay.
"Upon the membership of this Church rests the obligation to teach the divinity of Jesus Christ, in whose perfection we find every virtue; in whom are combined in wonderful harmony all the powers of the soul; in whose life and teachings we can find every comfort, and if we go to him in humility and faith, every guidance and inspiration we need.
"Our Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the head of this Church. I know the reality of his existence, of his willingness to guide and direct all who serve him."-"The Man of Nazareth," The Improvement Era, December 1957.
I add to that testimony my humble testimony that Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world, organized this, his Church, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and in it is the power of God unto salvation, and that he is directing it as here implied, through his servant, President David O. McKay. I bear this witness in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder S. Dilworth Young
S. Dilworth Young, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 72-73
With all my heart I find echo in the testimonies which have been borne yesterday and today respecting the mission of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and his relationship to the Son of God, even Jesus Christ. In the same breath I wish, also, to tell President McKay, so that he can hear me say it, that I uphold and sustain him as a successor of Joseph Smith and a prophet of the living God. And I pledge myself, as I have in the past, to support him, his counselors, and the Twelve in doing whatsoever I shall be assigned to do.
I say this now because I am going to do something which I dislike very much to do. For the few minutes that I have I want to change the tenor of this conference and talk of something else. Also, I should like to explain to you that I am going to reverse the process which I normally would use. I am going to make a conclusion, and then explain the reasons for it. Normally I would give the reasons, and then state the conclusion.
If I had a loaded gun in my closet, and ignored the possibility of my children using it, I would be a derelict parent. And if I said, in addition to that, "Why doesn't the Church do something about it?" I would be thought a fool, and justly, too. If I as a father knew of a condition which, though it might not be able to kill the body as a gun might, could slay my son's spirit eternally, and did nothing to change it, to the extent that I remained passive, the sin would be upon my head. Then if I should say, in addition to that, "I cannot understand why the Church doesn't do something about it," I would be vain, for so far as my family is concerned I am the Church. It is my responsibility to protect my family and not depend upon anyone else to do it. I may ask for help from Church members and others, but I am the primary protector.
In 1910 I stood next to the back fence of the Lowell School with several of my classmates. A seventeen-year-old boy was there-we were about eleven years of age-and he was exhibiting a picture and bragging to us small children his enjoyment of the situation depicted thereon. I need not tell you that the picture was pornographic in its nature, nor describe it further in detail. I saw it for not more than four seconds-just that long. It has been nearly fifty years, and I cannot, and have not been able to forget it. It has a way of boring itself into my mind, generally during the times I especially would not want it to.
The other day I was standing in a store near a magazine rack. In front of the rack were two young men, I should judge about sixteen years of age. They each had in their hands a copy of a magazine they had picked from that stand. I was not so far away but what I could see at what they were looking. One boy would turn a page, then snicker and nudge his companion who would look, and then he in his turn would guffaw and in a moment or two repeat the process.
They did not purchase these magazines. After they had satiated themselves with the material therein, they put them back on the rack and went out of the store. I followed them for a moment and watched them go up the street. When they got out into the open, where they were not inhibited, from the noises they made, from the laughter, and the joking and the kidding with each other, I would not need to have been a prophet to have been able to predict what they would do that night.
Those pictures in the magazines were not one whit less than what I saw fifty years ago. How widespread do you brethren think that practice is? How far does it extend? I would ask you. My father never knew what I saw. I never did tell him. Do you know what your sons are looking at when they stop in front of drugstore, department store, other store magazine racks?
May I take from the Doctrine and Covenants two verses of scripture which I am sure have not been applied to this particular thing, but which I should like to apply. One is a prophecy and a warning: "... In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you".
And the other: "... inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes... that teach them not to understand... the sin be upon the heads of the parents... And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord".
May God bless us to become alert to probably the most insidious danger that confronts our boys today, I humbly ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 80-83
My brethren, this is an awesome place to occupy, with the hope and the prayer in my heart, and I hope in yours, you who are seen and you who are unseen, but listening, that what I shall say, and it will not be too long, will be of some benefit to us.
I am sure, President McKay must be heartened and pleased by the report of the practical measures which these two bishops have taken to secure reverence. I am sure that you bishops who are here, and who are listening, will find in these two very able reports from these two young bishops, much food for thought and much ground for the adoption of measures that will bring the reverence that President McKay has been urging for years and the reverence which I believe our Heavenly Father expects if he is to lend to us his listening ears, when we pray to him.
As I said today, there is a royal road from here to our Sovereign, and unlike any other sovereign of whom we know by some means of which we do not know, our petitions reach him instantly. Whether that royal road be open to city traffic or not depends entirely upon us.
I wanted to say a few words, if I might and I will be as brief as I can, because I know you are waiting to listen to the others who will speak here it night, about the Priesthood. I am not going to undertake to define it. I will regard it as the power of God delegated to those whom he chooses directly or through his regularly ordained servants. It is a part of his power which each and every of you has, for the offices and for the work which is entrusted to those who occupy the offices which hold.
As I see the work of the Church, I will divide it for my purposes, tonight, into three parts: First, there is the obligation resting on all the Priesthood to keep the home fires burning. By which I mean, as you will guess, the obligation to keep the Church going.
Secondly, and depending upon the efficacy of the first, is the obligation to spread the Gospel among the living and bring them to a knowledge of the truth.
Thirdly, the obligation upon us to see to it that those who have gone before, without opportunity to hear and embrace the Gospel, have their work vicariously done for them and for this work you in your home capacity are responsible.
But I want to say more particularly, something about this homework which we have. You know, this Church was badly driven in its early days. The third field, work for the dead was not known in the earliest days. They began the work of the second field and carried it on from the first, but it was hampered and more or less delayed by the mobbings and the drivings and the other indignities and persecutions which were heaped upon the early Church.
We began in New York, we went to Ohio, we went to Missouri, we came back to Illinois, and then we came West. And apparently we seemed to think that when we got West, we should be free from persecution. Such was not the fact.
But in the midst of our wanderings-shall I say-in the East, during the time that the majority of the Saints were in Missouri, grievous and terrible persecution came upon us. We read of the persecution of the early Christians. Those persecutions in the time of Rome were far more dramatic than those which we suffered, but in considerable part they were different and did not involve the humiliation and degradation of families in the way in which our persecutions involved them.
In the midst of all this, in Missouri, they arrested, on charges that apparently involved the death penalty, Joseph and Hyrum, Alexander McRae, Lyman Wight, Caleb Baldwin, and Sidney Rigdon. For some reason that I have not been able, in my casual search, to learn, Sidney Rigdon was released, leaving the five men there. I will not go through that. Four and a half months, as nearly as I can count, they were in Liberty Jail, and during the time they were in Liberty Jail, the Prophet wrote a great epistle and certain parts of the epistle have been taken out and placed in the Doctrine and Covenants as revelations, as they were, glorious in their language, in their principle, and in their instructions.
Out of that Missouri situation arose among some of the Saints, not many, but some of the Saints a feeling of vengeance and revenge that resulted in one of the incidents of our history that we wish we did not have to try to forget. But there were reasons.
You know, I have been in Liberty Jail. There is not much left there of what was there at the time the Prophet and his associates were there, but there is something. And for a long time the Authorities have been talking about restoring that Liberty Jail, or erecting there some kind of a memorial building. I have my own ideas about that but I will not present them.
But these revelations, these great outpourings of wisdom and the Spirit of the Lord, came at a time when the Church was struggling for existence. They were threatening to exterminate us in Missouri. They were threatening to kill our leaders. The great concern at that time was the keeping of what I have termed the home fires burning. They were still going, or had already begun and were still going on converting people, trying to carry out going into all the world and all the rest. But they were having their troubles.
I have been just a little bit disappointed in noting that some of our historians are rather inclined to excuse or to explain the burnings, the robbings, the plunderings, the rapings, and all the rest. Personally, I have no desire to forget all those things-not that I want to cherish them and build hate in my heart, but I do want to have some understanding of what our forefathers went through in order that we might come here. And I recommend to you that you read the last chapters of Volume I, I think it is, of Roberts' Comprehensive History of the Church, in which he sums up what happened in Missouri after they had gotten rid of us. It is an amazing story, and I assume accurate.
While the brethren were in prison, the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum and the rest, the Saints were led from Missouri to Illinois. Brigham Young led them. He tried to get Bishop Partridge to take out, provide for the getting out of Missouri, of the poor but Bishop Partridge did not and would not take on the work, so Brother Brigham had to do it himself. That was a great experience, one that every descendant, literally or spiritually, and all of us come in the latter group, should find a demonstration, a proof, of the great faith which those stalwarts had.
Now, I want to read, in conclusion, a few verses from Section 121, in which the Lord, through the Prophet Joseph, talks to all of us, not to those engaged just in missionary work, nor to those engaged in vicarious work for the dead, but to them and to all of us, also. I may stop here and there and say a word, but not much.
These are commandments, as I read them, to us for our daily conduct.
"Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?
"Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson-"
-That hits some of us.
"That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.
-You bearers of the Priesthood have there a rule as to your own conduct.
"That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.
-Very strong language-not mine, but the Prophet's through revelation!
"Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks, to persecute the saints, and to fight against God.
"We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.
-He had just told us what happens to those who exercise unrighteous dominion and then he repeats what he had said above-
"Hence many are called, but few are chosen.
"No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
"By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile-"
-And the following verse contains what might be one of the greatest tests of what we can do and how we feel.
"Reproving betimes with sharpness when moved upon by the Holy ghost..." and now note "and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;..."
And in carrying forward that, the escape from hypocrisy and believed hypocrisy can be very, very doubtful, we must exercise what is called for there, with greatest care and discretion and without any hypocrisy.
"That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.
"Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
"The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever".
I conceive these to be the rules by which we bearers of the Priesthood shall conduct ourselves.
Recently a letter came before me written to be signed by the Presidency, and it gave direction such as would be given in a letter written with reference to the ordering of goods, or something of that sort.
Brethren, be careful, be prayerful, be wise, when you undertake to make your reproof, when you undertake to direct men who have nothing but their love of the Gospel and their respect of you to impel them to obey you.
Be careful of their feelings. Speak kindly and in such a way that there never will be any question as to your love for them and your desire merely to be helpful.
I bear my testimony to the truth of the Gospel. I bear my testimony that I do have a testimony that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that there is the Holy Ghost. I bear my testimony that the Gospel and the Priesthood were restored through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith and those associated with him. I bear my testimony that the same authority which was given to him has come down to us through all of the Presidents since the time of Joseph Smith, and that it is possessed now by President McKay, who I know strives to carry out these commandments of the Lord regarding the Priesthood and the exercise of its powers as the Lord has commanded.
May God be with us always and help us to do all we need to do in order to make the home Church strong and vigorous, that we may be able to cover the other fields, spreading the Gospel among the living and by vicarious work among the dead, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President Stephen L Richards
Stephen L Richards, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 83-86
My dear brethren, in some respects I regard this great meeting as of foremost importance in our Conference. When I contemplate standing in the presence of the ten thousand who occupy this building and its environs, plus the many more thousands of the Priesthood gathered in the Church edifices all across the country, I am overawed with the responsibility of taking even this small part of your time. I think, if I know my own heart and mind, that there is nothing that I prize higher than the Holy Priesthood which has come to me, and I gather, if you search your own hearts, that throughout these many meeting places where the Priesthood are assembled tonight, that that same feeling of appreciation exists with you. We all hope and pray that we may so magnify this marvelous power and influence which has come into our lives that we may be worthy of it, and that it may perform for us the high purposes for which it was given to our Father's children.
Now, without taking too much time tonight, I wish to repeat, and I hope repetition is not too serious an offense, something about two matters that I have brought to your attention on previous occasions. I think it was two and a half years ago this Conference that I took the liberty of bringing to you something from an eminent judge which I thought might operate to some extent to save life on the highways. I remember telling you at that time that whenever I observed the report of an accident on the highway in our area, I was always careful to look up the notice-often the funeral notice-to find out whether the person who had met with the tragic accident was a member of our Church, and one holding the Priesthood. In our own area I was surprised to find such a large proportion of all of the accidents involving fatalities among our own people.
I always felt-whenever I found that out-that I had lost a fellow member of the Priesthood or a sister in the Church unnecessarily, and in most cases I think that thought is justified because we learn that much of the frightful accident rate is due to some kind of carelessness.
I recall giving that address two and a half years ago, and I received a letter just the other day dated October 3, 1958. I will not disclose the name of the writer now because I have not asked his permission, but I think he would readily grant it. He says to me:
"I am writing this letter to thank you for bringing me to my senses in my responsibility in obeying the laws of the highway. Two years ago last April conference I invited my bishopric to go to conference with me. I wanted to show them just how easily we could be in Salt Lake for the first session in my new car. I didn't think we were moving if we slowed up to the speed limit, it was early in the morning and very few cars on the highway so I thought it smart to go 80 and 90 miles an hour.
"I attended the Saturday night priesthood meeting and heard you talk on speed demons, and I wondered how you had found out about my fast driving so soon. I felt you were talking right to me but I found out after the meeting there were a lot of ears burning. When you said it was just as bad to break the laws of the land as it was the laws of God and when we break the speed laws we are on the devil's side of the line and the Lord is not bound to answer our prayers for safety if we deliberately break the law, encouraging every judge to throw the book at the first offender, it really struck home to me.
"I can truthfully say, since then, I have never deliberately broken a traffic law, knowingly, except our 20 mile speed limit in our town, and the last few months I have obeyed this. I have a family of six children and before last April they were always saying, 'faster Dad, faster,' and Dad went faster. Now they watch that speedometer and if it even gets close to the speed limit they warn me. My boy's ticket to take the car is to obey all traffic laws and we have a father and son agreement that we will not break them.
"A year ago I asked my bishopric to raise their hand in support of our highway laws, this they have done. About a month ago I wrote a pledge and asked the priesthood quorums to sign. They responded wonderfully well. Six out of ten of my priests have signed a similar pledge, two of them are away and the other two have not been contacted. The teachers quorums are all willing to sign to help stop the slaughter on our highways. Two of our town's seventeen-year-old high school boys lie in the hospital now, not expected to live due to the fact that they were traveling 100 miles an hour at night and missed a curve. I am on the City Council so I asked the City Officials if they would set an example and sign, and 100 percent signed the pledge. Many of our Rotary Club members have signed and they want to have 500 copies made and send them to clubs all over the world with a challenge to them to do the same. I had photostatic copies made of each of the pledges that were being signed. I am sending you a copy of each of the pledges of the quorums and also the city officials, and I dare say there are very few city officials that would sign a pledge of this kind."
"I want to thank you again for setting me straight because I feel sure it has saved me and my family from accident. It is teaching us to better obey all laws and has helped me to repent."
Now I do not read that letter because it flatters me, but because I think he has hit upon a constructive thing. I gather that he has pledges from more than 200, I should say, that they will rigorously obey every traffic law, and he got all of his own quorums to sign the pledge that they would never drink at all and of course it was the understanding none would drink when driving. So, this bishop has done something about the problem, and I thank him for sending me this letter because it seems to me it makes a suggestion that we might follow in many quarters, and reduce this great tragedy on the highway. I solicit your help in this regard.
The other matter which I want to refer to, and which I mentioned once before in the Priesthood meeting, relates to gambling. I notice in the issue of the Saturday Evening Post under date of August 23, 1958 an article entitled: "I Was a Compulsive Gambler." It is a long article, and I do not propose to read it, but it says in the heading: "For ten wretched years the author lived on the edge of ruin. He tells anonymously how he became a gambling addict, and how he finally licked the 'tiger on his back."' I will just read the first paragraph.
"Drug addicts say they have monkeys on their backs. For ten years I had a tiger on mine. I was a gambling addict. During that time, out of an income that varied between $5000 and $10,000 a year, I lost more than $25,000 in bets. At that, I was lucky. Time and again, driven by the gambling fever, I risked public disgrace, even jail."
Then he goes on to show how, during these sad ten years of his life, he had yielded to the gambling instinct to such a point that he just simply ruined his life for himself and his family and came nearly landing in jail because of issuing checks without funds and doing other illegitimate things. If you have the magazine handy, I think you would do well to read the article, and I think when you read it none of you would ever want to subject either himself or any of his family or friends to the possibility of becoming a gambling addict.
I have had a little opportunity to watch business for a good many years, and in my time I have seen a good many tragedies. I have seen fine young men with high promise for the future yield to the temptation to pay their gambling debts by stealing money, some of our own boys, who may still be in Leavenworth Prison after 20 years. I have never heard whether all of these boys got out. Our Brethren know something about it.
I have known prominent men of this city with brilliant futures who have yielded to this gambling instinct and lost every prospect they had, lost the respect of all who knew them, and have died in disgrace. It is a dangerous thing. As this author points out, it gets into the very blood of people, and so I have no hesitance in advising my brethren to stay clear of it, and I go so far as to urge no one to begin even on the smallest basis. After my experience I have reached the point where I hate to see a youth, or even a man, put a nickel in a slot machine because I do not know where it will lead.
Now, there are a good many who will try to defend gambling. I have heard people say that all business is a gamble, that even life is a gamble. The latter statement is absolutely false to anyone who knows anything about life. There is no gamble about life, as everyone of you knows. You know that it is all planned from the very beginning, and while we cannot foresee all the circumstances that will transpire, we know what life is. We know the course that life should take. We know its rewards and we know its penalties for infractions of the law. Life is not a gamble, and it is a mistake to say that business is a gamble. Anybody who understands the fundamentals of good business knows that it is not a gamble. Every legitimate business contemplates an exchange of values. One thing of value, services, for another thing of value, money or some other thing. All sound business is based solely on that principle-an exchange of values.
That is not true of gambling-absolutely not. That is an effort to secure either something for nothing, or much more than what is invested in the gambling, and this man whose article I quoted tells about gambling machines, and how if one were inclined to bet on chances he has no chance in winning against these devices in the long run. But it is the morality of it, my brethren, that I so much deplore because it puts men and women in a position where they are unable to appraise the sound values in life and in business, and it leads them on and on, like one who takes his first drink, until they may end up as alcoholics, or they may end up as gambling addicts, as this man calls them-compulsive gamblers. He could not stop, he could not get away from it. I hope you are sympathetic with that position because I know from long experience that it is the wise thing to do never to bet, but keep on the safe side and never trust your powers of resistance with the wrong thing. You would not with many other things, why trust yourself with this nefarious habit?
Now, brethren, I will not take more of your time, but at the risk of repetition, I wanted to mention those two items again to you tonight. It is a tremendous responsibility to bear the Holy Priesthood. I wish all of you-perhaps all did not-had heard what President Joseph Fielding Smith told us yesterday, something I have long believed, and I was glad to have sanction for my belief. He said in substance that there will be no Sons of Perdition who do not hold the Priesthood. I have believed that for years because I do not think that the Lord in his mercy would ever condemn a man to that indescribable penalty of being put out entirely from the Kingdom and from all grace unless that man knew that Jesus was the Christ, unless he knew the power of the Christ, and he could only know that, I think by holding the Priesthood. I believe that in the main that can be said to be true-that only men who hold the Priesthood of God stand in danger of that terrible penalty of being classed as outcasts.
On the other hand, only men who hold the Priesthood can aspire to the highest things of life, and that is the balance-to use this Priesthood to reach exaltation in the Eternal presence or to abuse it and lose it and be cast out. I think that is a solemn thought for all of us, and I trust that as we ponder it we shall all decide, as I have reason to believe we will, that we will aspire to the highest ideals, to the loftiest stations attainable with this holy power that God has given to us. If we aspire to attain that exaltation, work for it consciously, serve faithfully, keeping the commandments, our rewards will exceed even our fondest expectations. Of that I am convinced.
May the Lord bless you, my brethren, and be with you always, I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 86-89
When this vast congregation responded to Brother Condie's baton on the first note of "Do What Is Right," I was thrilled. The strength of your voices expressed a spirit which is sublime, and strangely enough, I was reminded of a statement that a leading businessman in the United States made to me on the plane that carried us to South Africa a few years ago. There were three businessmen-one who was president of the Board of a mining company there on the Coast of Africa; another who was a member of the Board going down to a Board meeting; and this gentleman who was head of a national Drug Store chain.
When he found out we are Mormons, be said, "Whenever I can find a young Mormon boy to take charge of running our drug stores, I tell my men to give him a position. I have many of them in my employ." He has found integrity in them. I thought I felt the strength and source of that integrity tonight.
I thought when the gentleman made that statement, that any young member of this Church who gets a position in that chain of stores may cast a reflection upon the entire body if he failed in upholding the standard of the Church. That is what he would do. Whenever anyone, any husband in this Church, treats his wife unfairly, or stoops so low as to strike her, as I heard only recently a man did, he disgraces his Priesthood, casts reflection upon the whole Church. That would be true if he were only a member, but if he holds a prominent position in the Church as this man does, he disgraces his Priesthood, and proves himself untrue to his fellows. He disgraces his quorum, and proves himself unworthy of membership in it.
It is an inspiring sight to see this body in the Tabernacle, and to realize that assembled in 139 other houses there are members of the Priesthood, from the high priests to the deacons, meeting tonight and feeling the power of the Priesthood.
One principle emphasizes itself in my mind tonight, and that is the virtue of self-control. When a man accepts the Priesthood, he accepts the obligation of controlling himself under any circumstances. That is the first lesson that the Savior gave to us after his baptism-the power of resistance. Arising from the plain through which the Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea, near the spot of Christ's baptism, there is a precipitous cliff called the Mount of Temptation. People point to it and say, "It is on that Mount that Jesus went alter he was baptized in the River Jordan."
Those three temptations which were given to Him are given to us. The first was an appeal to his appetite after 40 days of fasting, which temptation is really an appeal to the appetite. Second, an appeal to his vanity. "Cast thyself down. I dare you this; and I dare you that." And third, "the kingdoms of the world and all the wealth thereof will be yours if you follow me." When Satan reached that point he was not challenging, he was pleading. "All these I will give thee if thou wilt bow down and worship me".
As Christ resisted the temptation of appetite, of passion; as he resisted the appeal to his vanity and pride, he grew in power. I had better put it this way: that Satan's bombastic attitude, his challenging attitude, "If thou be the Son of God," is changed to one of pleading, and when Christ said, "Get thee behind me Satan, for it is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve", we glimpse what it means to be the victor over temptation, and we understand also how temptation loses its power and leaves us. As Satan slunk away, angels came and administered to Christ.
Well, the temptations come to every man who holds the Priesthood. One of the bishops who spoke to us tonight referred to the relationship of self-control, self-mastery, and reverence. That is one of the great lessons in this matter of reverence. Both bishops, who gave us some excellent suggestions, and 'whom I thank at this time, referred to the necessity of reverence in the home, control of presiding authority in conducting meetings, controlling their own tongues. I know of no attribute, no quality, more conducive to peace in the home than self-control. If the husband sees something in the wife about which he could find fault, it would be better for him to say nothing, to control his tongue. That is an excellent thing to do, say nothing about it. And if the wife would practice that same thing, how many disputations and quarrels would be stopped, quenched at their beginning.
Parents who suddenly become angered or hurt or injured at some act of a child innocently committed might hurt the child's feelings. Parents should manage to exert control of themselves, control of their hands, control their tongues particularly, then the child's feelings would not be hurt.
Every Sunday when we partake of the Sacrament we covenant that we will do just this one thing at least, wherever we are. Read what James says about controlling the tongue, an unruly member, and you will see that this is one of the fundamental principles. We covenant on that Sunday that we will take upon us the name of the Son, we witness that we will do it. It takes some control to keep that promise. We witness that we will always remember him.
We should be always dignified, self-possessed. When Pilate said, "Behold the man", he asked all to behold the perfect man. He was just that. We covenant that we will keep the commandments which he has given us. One reason why nonmembers, disbelievers in Christianity and in religion, so express themselves against it is because of the inconsistency between the Christian who pretends to do these things, and then in business affairs and in his home life he does just the opposite, and I apply to him that terrible title, "hypocrite," a sin condemned more vehemently by the Savior than any other excepting the great sins of adultery and murder.
I plead with the members of the Priesthood throughout the Church to practice self-mastery. That applies to prospective missionaries and to missionaries who are in the field. Be master of yourselves, master of your appetites, master of your passions. Husbands, wives, be as a light set upon a hill, that men seeing your good deeds and your good lives will glorify our Father in Heaven.
What was it that made the president of I suppose the greatest Drug Store chain in the United States say, "I choose the Mormon boys wherever I can get them." He has confidence in you. You will resist the temptation of taking any of his money. You will represent him in his business in giving returns for his investment. The poet has said:
It is easy enough to be pleasant When life flows by like a song, But the man worth while is the one who will smile, When everything goes dead wrong. For the test of the heart is trouble, And it always comes with the years, And the smile that is worth the praises of earth Is the smile that shines through tears.
It is easy enough to be virtuous, When nothing tempts you to stray, When without or within no voice of sin Is luring your soul away; But it's only a negative virtue Until it is tried by fire, And the life that is worth the honor on earth Is the life that resists desire.
By the cynic, the sad, the fallen, Who had no strength for the strife, The world's highway is cumbered today; They make up the sum of life. But the virtue that conquers passion, And the sorrow that hides in a smile, It is these that are worth the homage on earth For we find them but once in a while.
-"Worth While," by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
I commend Bishop Wirthlin and Bishop Richards for their excellent messages to us on reverence, and as one of them said at the base of it all is this virtue of self-control, self-mastery. There is no whispering by parents during the administration of the Sacrament when they exercise this virtue. There is no whispering after entering the House of God. There is communion between the spirit, and the Spirit of the Lord. There is no whispering on the rostrum, because all preparation is made beforehand.
And children should know, though they want to play, that they have to resist it during the worshipping hour so they will not intrude upon the concentration and the spiritual communion of others.
God bless us that we may be true to the responsibilities given us directly from heaven. There is no use excusing it or modifying it, that is the truth, and the body of Priesthood listening in tonight, representing the hundreds of thousands who hold the Priesthood, carry the responsibility of setting an example to the whole world.
May God give us power to discharge our duties honorably and well-in our homes, in our business relationships, and especially in our association with leaders in the world who, seeing our characters, our leadership, may be influenced to lead many others of their members nationally under their control to favor acts and laws necessary that the missionaries, representatives of this Church may carry the Gospel to all the world. That is our duty-to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever he has commanded, and he says, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world".
I leave my blessing with you, my dear fellow workers. Our hearts are full of pride-righteous pride-for the brotherhood exemplified last night by those young boys of the Aaronic Priesthood, and tonight by the tens of thousands of men holding the Melchizedek Priesthood.
I pray God to give us power, to enlighten our minds, quicken our understandings, give us good judgment under all conditions, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 90-94
My brethren and sisters, please believe me that never before have I felt so keenly the need of your sympathetic cooperation, and particularly the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord. I have in mind and in my heart the feeling that the religious influence, sincere religious influence in the heart, or the life of the individual, is the most refining influence in the world. That spirit has actuated each one, I am sure, who has spoken to us in previous sessions of this conference, and I should like to emphasize that with your help and the inspiration of the Lord in the few remarks that I make on this occasion.
It is a wonderful influence-to see this vast audience, to realize that the Assembly Hall and Barratt Hall are also crowded, and that tens of thousands are listening in by television and radio this morning.
Jesus, in a wonderful prayer-I think it must have been the most impressive ever offered in this world-said these words:
"And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are... "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil".
A number of years ago, a stake president upon being honorably released from his position in which he had served well, made the remark: "Now I am reduced to just a humble member." Because he had been released, he felt, that he had lost something. Well, he had. He had lost the privilege of serving the members of his stake as president, for to be a stake president, or to hold any other position in the Church is an honor as well as a great responsibility. But to be a lay member is also a great obligation as well as a great opportunity.
Membership is obtained by baptism, which is at once a burial and a birth-a burial of the old person, with all his frailties, faults, and sins, if any, and a coming forth to walk in a newness of life. Backbiting, faultfinding, slander, profanity, uncontrolled temper, avarice, jealousy, hatred, intemperance, fornication, lying, cheating, are all buried. That is part of what baptism by immersion signifies. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom God", said Jesus to Nicodemus. He comes forth to walk in a newness of life, signifying that in the new life ahead there will be an effort to maintain honesty, loyalty, chastity benevolence, and of doing good to men.
Wordsworth once said of Milton: "Thy soul was like a star and dwelt apart." That is what membership of the Church does to those who keep the ideals they profess.
James said that, "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world".
It is in this sense of keeping ourselves "unspotted" from the world that the lay members, as all officers, are obligated.
Speaking of the apostles, Jesus prayed:
"... these are in the world... "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil".
In the Book of Mormon, in the forty-second chapter of Alma, we are told why the children of God are here in the world-namely, to mingle with the sons of men, to gain an experience that will bring them back to God, but not to partake of the sins of the world. The Savior said to his apostles on the same evening that he offered that beautiful prayer: "... be of good cheer; I have overcome the world". Going soon to meet his Father, he admonished them to follow his example, praying that God should not take them out of the world, but should keep them from evil.
I have never met a member of the Church who would not express himself, and, if occasion arose, who did not so express himself as being willing to defend his membership if this Church were attacked. I have seen boys apparently indifferent to Church interest on occasions stand out and express defiance of an attack upon the Church. All very commendable, but perhaps at the very moment of that gallant defense there were encroachments upon their souls which weakened their power to defend the truth. Trees that can stand in the midst of the hurricane often yield to the destroying pests that can scarcely be seen with the microscope, and the greatest foes of humanity today are those unseen microscopic microbes that attack the body.
So there are influences at work in society which are undermining the manhood and womanhood of today. It is these unseen influences which come from the world that influence us when we are least prepared to defend ourselves. When we do not withstand the encroachments of these evil influences, we weaken the possibility of defending the Church of Jesus Christ. This is an individual work. What the individuals are, that the aggregate is. Jesus influenced individuals, knowing that if the individual is pure, strong, a thousand individuals would make a strong community, and a thousand communities would make a strong nation. Individual responsibility!
Some time ago, a party of friends were driving over a beautiful valley not far from Salt Lake City. They passed a wheat field. It was an impressive sight to see that dry farm of wheat, and one of the party expressed his admiration at the luxuriant growth in the field, and looked at it in general. There it stood, apart from the sagebrush and barren surroundings. But another member of the party was not satisfied with looking at it in the aggregate. He asked the conveyance to stop. Getting out, he looked at the individual heads of wheat, and exclaimed: "What large heads!" He cut an individual stalk which gave him that impression. But that was not enough. He broke the head, shuffled it in his hands, blew the chaff away, and examined each kernel. "The kernels," continued he, "are plump and solid." After all, the test of that wheat field was the individual kernel of wheat, and so it is in a community-so it is in the Church.
The test of the efficiency of God's people, is an individual one.
"What is each one doing," one should ask, "to foster the group known as the Church of Christ in the world? Is he living so that he is keeping unspotted from the evils of the world?" God wants us here. His plan of redemption, so far as we are concerned, is here, and we, my fellow workers in the Church of Christ, are carrying the responsibility of testifying to the world that God's truth has been revealed; that men and women can live in this world, free and uncontaminated from the sins thereof, following as nearly as humanly possible, Jesus as he walked about two and a half years in his day.
Now, what do we mean by the world? I take it that the world refers to the inhabitants who are alienated from the Saints of God. They are aliens to the Church, and it is the spirit of this alienation from which we should keep ourselves free. We are told by Paul not to conform to the fashions of the world. Timothy was warned not to partake of the evils of the world. One or two I quote:
"Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart". Zion is the pure in heart, we have been told, and the strength of this Church lies in the purity of the thoughts and lives of its workers. Then the testimony of Jesus abides in the soul, and strength comes to each individual to withstand the evils of the world.
Temptations come in our social gatherings. They come to us at our weddings. They come to us in our politics. They come to us in our business relations, on the farm, in the mercantile establishments, in our dealings in all affairs of life. In our home associations, we find these insidious influences working, and it is when they manifest themselves in the consciousness of each individual that the defense of truth should exert itself.
There may never come a great opportunity to defend the Church. We sing:
"It may not be On the mountain height, Or over the stormy sea; It may not be at the battle's front My Lord will have need of me; But if, by a still, small voice he calls To paths that I do not know, I'll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine: I'll go where you want me to go."
When that still, small voice calls us to the performance of duty, insignificant though it may seem, and its performance unknown to anyone save the individual and God, he who responds gains corresponding strength. Temptation often comes in the same quiet way. Perhaps yielding to it may not be known by anyone save the individual and his God, but if he does yield to it, he becomes to that extent weakened and spotted with the evil of the world.
Let me cite an instance: A young missionary was invited to a wedding in a foreign country, at which two of his acquaintances were joined together in bonds of matrimony, the ceremony being performed by a minister of another church. This young man was the only member of the Mormon Church present amidst the one hundred or more guests at the table in the hotel. By each plate was a wine cup, filled to the brim, and also a glass of water. After the ceremony, as the guests were all in their places, the minister arose and said: "Now I propose that the company drink to the health of the newly married couple." They all arose. Now propriety suggested that this young man take up the wine in his wine cup. But he was a missionary. He belonged to a Church that preaches a Word of Wisdom. Science since has proved it to be indeed a Word of Wisdom. He was preaching that, and he was pretending to live it. Here was a time when he could indulge. No one would know-indeed, it seemed to be the act of propriety, but he resisted. Now was the opportunity to defend his Church, and that is what he did. He took the glass of water. Some of his immediate friends by him, dropping their wine cups, followed his example, and at least half a dozen wine glasses remained untouched. Others saw it, and the circumstance furnished an excellent opportunity to converse with those guests upon the Word of Wisdom.
Now, was he humiliated? No. He was strengthened. Were the guests embarrassed? No. Did they feel to condemn him? No. Condemnation was replaced by admiration, as it always is in the hearts of intelligent and God-fearing men and women.
Converts to the truth walk out of the waters of baptism with a glow upon their countenances, especially after confirmation which they have never had before. They realize that they leave taken upon themselves the name of Christ, and covenant to walk in accordance with the ideals of his gospel. During Sunday School and Sacrament meetings they are permitted to make a covenant, as does every lay member. In the presence of his fellow members of the Church, he covenants before God that he is willing to take upon him the name of the Son, always to remember him and keep his commandments which he has given him, and by so doing to always have the Spirit of the Lord to be with him. That is true religion.
What a covenant for every lay member! Is he virtuous in thought and action? Is he dealing honestly with his neighbor in the horse and cattle trade, in the purchase of property, in any business transaction? If he believes in the covenants he has made, if he is true to the covenants he has made, if he believes in the efficacy of the Church to which he belongs, he has obligated himself to do these things. If called to a prominent position, it is his duty to be true, and he is more obligated than ever to set an example to others. He may not be called, however, but his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ obligates him to these high ideals. Only in that way can religion become the most influential and potent power in life.
It is generally understood that every member of the Church should be a missionary. He is probably not authorized to go from house to house, but he is authorized, by virtue of his membership, to set a proper example as a good neighbor. Neighbors are watching him. Neighbors are watching his children. He is a light, and it is his duty not to have that light hidden under a bushel, but it should be set up on a hill that all men may be guided thereby.
Here is a good example of how a lay member may preach by example:
Over a hundred years ago a man in his early forties who had already won distinction as a great writer heard of a company of Mormons who would be sailing from the docks in London on a certain day in June 1861. In charge of those Mormons was Elder George Q. Cannon. It was an emigrant ship. This great writer, Charles Dickens, was then writing what afterwards became known as The Uncommercial Traveller. He took his pad and paper, walked down to the docks. You who have read this book will remember how he describes those docks and the various characters around them. He got permission from the captain to go aboard the vessel which had been chartered to carry eight hundred Mormons across the sea on their journey to Great Salt Lake.
He recognized the passengers as some coming from Wales, some from Scotland, some from Yorkshire, and others from near London. He listened to the inspector call their names-Jesse Jobson, Sophronia Jobson-lay members of the Church. Next group: Susanna Cleverly, William Cleverly, etc.-layman after layman passed on board the vessel. Dickens went down to the lower deck and then he came up on the higher deck to investigate. He studied each group and each individual carefully. Among other things he said:
"Nobody is in an ill temper. Nobody is the worse for drink. Nobody swears an oath or uses a coarse word. Nobody appears depressed. Nobody is weeping, and down upon the deck in every corner where it is possible to find a few square feet to kneel, crouch, or lie in, people in every unsuitable attitude for writing letters, are writing letters." Then he says: "Now I have seen emigrant ships before this day in June, and these people are so strikingly different from all other people I have seen in like circumstances whom I have ever seen that I wonder aloud, 'What would a stranger suppose these emigrants to be?"' Then he adds: "What is in store for the poor people on the shores of the Great Salt Lake? What happy delusions they are laboring under now. On what miserable blindness their eyes may be opened then, I do not pretend to say. But I went on board their ship to bear testimony against them if they deserved it, as I fully believed they would. To my great astonishment, they did not deserve it; and my predispositions and tendencies must not affect me as an honest witness. I went over the Amazon's side feeling it impossible to deny that so far some remarkable influence had produced a remarkable result, which better known influences have often missed."
My dear fellow workers, lay members of the Church of Jesus Christ, what would have happened to this one hundred-year-old testimony by a world-renowned author if those members of the Church, Brother Jobson, Sister Jobson, and those other humble people from Wales, had not observed the principles of good conduct in the Church? What would have happened if they had taken the Lord's name in vain? If they had taken an oath? If Charles Dickens had seen them quarreling? Instead, not an oath did he hear. He saw no quarreling, heard no bickering. He was compelled to say: "Some remarkable influence had produced a remarkable result in the lives of these English people, which better known influences have often missed."
In other words, some influence had changed men's lives and made women and children better than they had ever been before. That is the mission of the gospel of Jesus Christ-to make evil-minded men and women good, and to make good men and women better; in other words, to change men's lives, to change human nature.
Beverley Nichols, author of The Fool Hath Said, writes impressively on changing of human nature: "You can change human nature. No man who has felt in him the Spirit of Christ, even for half a minute, can deny this truth, the one great truth in a world of little lies. You do change human nature, your own human nature, if you surrender it to him. To deny this is only to proclaim yourself as an uneducated fool.
"Human nature can be changed, here and now.
"Human nature has been changed, in the past.
"Human nature must be changed, on an enormous scale, in the future, unless the world is to be drowned in its own blood.
"And only Christ can change it.
"Twelve men did quite a lot to change the world nineteen hundred years ago. Twelve simple men, with only the wind to bear them over the seas, with only a few pence in their pockets, and a shining faith in their hearts! They fell far short of their ideal; their words were twisted and mocked; and false temples were built over their bones, in praise of a Christ they would have rejected. And yet, by the light of their inspiration, many of the world's loveliest things were created, and many of the world's finest minds inspired.
"If twelve men did that nineteen hundred years ago, what might not twelve men do today? For God has now given us the power of whispering across space, of transmitting our thoughts from one end of the earth to another. What shall we whisper-what shall we think? That is the question!"
To be just a lay member of the Church means that every man is a Christian gentleman, that every husband is true to the ideals of chastity, that every young boy and every young girl refrains from indulgence in tobacco, in strong drink, and keeps himself or herself free from the sins of the world. That is what Mormonism means in daily life. If you are called upon to render service in any position, render it. If you are released, you will accept your release, always remembering that the Church is established for your benefit, and the benefit and happiness of your children and your children's children. If you will live in accordance with those humble principles under the covenants you made at the water's edge, and since that time in Sacrament meetings, and many of you in the House of God, you will fill a noble mission, and God will reward you.
May every member of the Church experience this transformation in this life, and so live that others, seeing his good deeds, may be led to glorify our Father in heaven, I humbly pray in name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Marion G. Romney
Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 94-97
My beloved brothers and sisters and friends: I have sought earnestly to prepare myself for this occasion and now that it has come my hope and prayer, in which I ask you to join, is that we may continue to enjoy the sweet influence we have felt while listening to the great message of President McKay.
As I stand before you this morning I realize that many of you, unseen by me, are listening in on radio and television. You are most welcome. Indeed, we feel complimented by your participation with us. As I speak I shall have you in mind, particularly you who may not be members of the Church of Jests Christ of Latter-day Saints.
If you have been with us during the last hour you have heard, and perhaps seen, President David O. McKay deliver a most timely and inspirational address. Moved by it, as I know you were, perhaps you will be even more impressed if I tell you something about his high and holy calling.
You have already observed that he is an unusual personality-tall, straight, dignified, and gracious. Through a devoted lifelong service to his God and to his fellow men he has partaken so deeply of the divine nature that he is filled with that charity defined by one of the Book of Mormon prophets as the pure love of Christ.
Fine as he is in his own right, the great office to which he has been called adds to his stature. For he is not just the presiding officer of an ordinary church, he is the rightful successor to the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. He is God's prophet and personal representative in the earth. Just as Peter was the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of former-day saints, so President McKay is today the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is the President of the priesthood of that Church. He is in fact and in truth a prophet, seer, and revelator. To this high station he was called through revelation from heaven. He was not appointed nor elected to it by men.
In 1906, under divine inspiration, President Joseph F. Smith, then God's personal representative and mouthpiece in the earth, laid his hands upon President McKay and conferred upon him the holy apostleship with all its gifts and powers. Pursuant to the order of God's Holy Priesthood which is the government operative in the Church of Christ, he was, in April 1951, sustained in and ordained to his present high office.
President Joseph F. Smith, who conferred the apostleship upon President McKay, had received his authority in like manner from President Brigham Young. President Young had received his authority from Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith, Jr.
And who was Joseph Smith, Jr.? He was none other than God's great prophet of the restoration.
At the head of every gospel dispensation the Lord has placed one of his mighty sons-Adam, Noah, Abraham, for example. Jesus Christ, himself, stood at the head of the Dispensation of the Meridian of Time. Joseph Smith, Jr., than whom none of these save Jesus only was greater, was appointed and ordained in the heavens to head this last and greatest dispensation, the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, into which, as rivers into a mighty ocean, flow all former dispensations. Joseph Smith was and is to modern Israel what Moses was to ancient Israel, leader, lawgiver, prophet, seer, and revelator.
You will recall that John the Beloved saw in vision an "... angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people". Joseph Smith was the person to whom that angel came.
Born of humble parents, he lived less than thirty-nine years. In June 1844, he died a martyr, sealing with his own blood his witness to the truth, even the gospel of Jesus Christ, which through him God had restored to earth for the benefit of all men.
This gospel has often been spoken of as a way of life. This however is not quite accurate. Consisting as it does of the principles and ordinances necessary to man's exaltation it is not just a way of life, it is the one and only way of life by which men may accomplish the full purpose of their mortality.
The gospel begins with God and man's relationship to him.
In the early 1800's, the days of the Prophet's youth, no living man had a correct understanding of God. Professed believers knew no more about him than did the Athenians who posted inscriptions to the "Unknown God".
Stirred by a religious revival, moved with a sincere desire to know which, if any, of the contending sects was right and relying upon the promise of James that, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him", Joseph Smith in simple faith and earnest prayer sought wisdom from God.
The time was spring, 1820. Joseph was then in his fourteenth year.
The place was Palmyra, Western New York state.
The result: God the Eternal Father and his Son Jesus Christ appeared to him. "I saw two Personages," he said, "whose brightness and glory defy all description." These two Personages spoke to him and called him by name. He heard their voices and asked them questions. They gave him answer.
When he came out of that sacred interview he knew with certainty the nature of God. He had seen and conversed with him. From him he had received a personal introduction to his resurrected Son Jesus Christ.
In after years Joseph referred to God as an "exalted man," and said that both he and the Son were personages of flesh and bone, as tangible as man.
Through subsequent revelations he learned that the relationship between God and men is that of parent and children. "The inhabitants" of the "worlds"... "are begotten sons and daughters unto God," said the Lord to him in one of the revelations.
The Prophet further learned through communication from heaven that as the begotten children of God we are endowed with the potential to become like him, even as mortal children may become like their mortal parents. He came to understand the high ideal projected by the Savior, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect".
Not only did Joseph Smith receive through divine revelation knowledge concerning God, man's relationship to him, the doctrine of eternal progression, and all the other glorious principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ upon obedience to which man's exaltation is conditioned, he was also divinely commissioned to organize, and again establish upon earth, the Church of Jesus Christ; the organization through which these principles and ordinances can be authoritatively taught and administered. To enable him to do so he was endowed with the Holy Priesthood which is delegated authority to act in the name of God.
John the Baptist, who held the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood in the days of Jesus, now a resurrected person, came to earth and laid his hands upon the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and conferred upon them "the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins".
Peter, James, and John, who as the presidency of Christ's Church in the apostolic dispensation held the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood, came and conferred this priesthood and the keys thereof upon Joseph and Oliver. Other holy beings delivered to them gospel keys which they had received and held in former dispensations. For example, in April of 1836, Moses "committed unto... the keys of the gathering of Israel..." and the restoration of the ten tribes. Elias "... committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham," and "Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before ... and said: Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi-testifying that he should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come-To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse-Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors". Thus was the gospel for the salvation of the dead restored.
Having thus received from heavenly beings the foregoing and other endowments, Joseph Smith the prophet and his associate Oliver Cowdery conferred them upon the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as they were directed by the Lord to do. Brigham Young, one of the original Twelve succeeded the Prophet Joseph as president of the Church. President David O. McKay, as already pointed out, is today the rightful successor to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He now holds all the priesthood, keys, and powers received by the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Now, my beloved brothers and sisters and friends, it is our solemn obligation and great joy to testify to you that these things are so. They are not "cunningly devised fables". They are realities of the utmost significance. We know them to be true with the same certainty that Peter knew Jesus was the Christ when, in answer to the Master's question, "But whom say ye that I am?" he boldly declared, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." This he knew, said Jesus, because his Father in heaven had revealed it unto him. The conviction with which we speak was obtained in the same way.
In like manner every child of God if he will but do the work as Jesus said, may know of the divinity of the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith and that President David O. McKay is now his legal successor; he may likewise know that the gospel as restored through the Prophet Joseph is the gospel of Jesus Christ, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the repository of that gospel, that the Church possesses the priesthood of God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit of God and that to the Church God has given the commission and the power to preach the gospel and administer all the ordinances necessary to the salvation and exaltation of us, his children.
The Lord is no respecter of persons. He himself has said that, "... every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am".
If enough people can be brought to this knowledge they will exercise such power for righteousness that the strifes and contentions of this world will melt away as the hoarfrost before the burning rays of the rising sun. Upon the slim prospect that such will be the case hangs the issue of the preservation or termination of our present civilization.
To provide an escape from our threatened destruction was one of the reasons specified by the Lord for restoring the gospel. "... knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth," he said, "I the Lord, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments". Obedience to the commandments here referred tithe principles and ordinances of the gospel constitute the sure and only means of escaping the impending calamity. That the peoples of the earth will avail themselves of this means of escape is by no means certain. But whether they do or whether they do not they who know the truth are not dismayed, for they know that the promised blessings do not depend upon the conduct of others and that that peace promised by the Savior flows into the heart of every soul who keeps his commandments regardless of what others do. Even as Jesus "endured the cross" "for the joy that was set before him", so his true disciples are sustained in their trials by an inner peace and the glorious hope and assurance of eternal life. Such are the fruits of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Of these glorious gospel truths I bear humble and solemn witness. To each of you I extend an urgent invitation to:
"Come listen to a prophet's voice, And hear the word of God, And in the way of truth rejoice, And sing for joy aloud. We've found the way the prophets went Who lived in days of yore; Another prophet now is sent This knowledge to restore."
-Joseph J. Daynes
God bless you, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Elder Ezra Taft Benson
Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 98-102
My beloved brethren and sisters and friends, humbly and gratefully I stand before you in response to the call of him whom we sustain as Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and President of the Church. With all my heart I endorse and rejoice in the counsel received at this conference.
About a month ago our beloved leader, President David O. McKay, delivered an inspiring prayer at the dedication of the London Temple.
As an introduction to what I trust the Lord will be pleased to have me say today, I quote a short paragraph from that memorable prayer:
"Next to life, we express gratitude for the gift of free agency. When thou didst create man, thou placed within him part of thine Omnipotence and bade him choose for himself. Liberty and conscience thus became a sacred part of human nature. Freedom not only to think, but to speak and act, is a God-given privilege."
Our heritage of freedom is as precious as life itself. It is truly a God-given gift to man. Since the time of the council in heaven, the fight of liberty-loving people for freedom has continued.
Free agency is an eternal principle vouchsafed to us in the perfect law of liberty-the gospel of Jesus Christ. Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any earthly possession. It is guaranteed in our heaven-inspired Constitution. Yes, freedom is an inherited, inalienable, divine gift to men.
When the Savior of mankind wished to impress on his hearers the fruits of his teaching, he used these words: "... the truth shall make you free".
We are moral agents with freedom to choose between right and wrong.
Past material advances have been the fruit of our freedom-our free enterprise system-our American way of life-our God-given freedom of choice. The progress of the future must stem from this same basic freedom.
Because our forefathers fought for the ideal of freedom; because our fathers preserved that ideal through our free enterprise system under our God-given free agency; because they were willing to make religion the vital force of daily living, all of us have climbed through the years to new heights of well-being and inner strength.
But it is not only in the moral choice of right and wrong that man is free. Among the relentless quests of human history, is the quest for political freedom. When Patrick Henry shouted his immortal "Give me liberty or give me death," he did not speak idly. When at Philadelphia in 1776, the signers of the Declaration of Independence affixed their signatures to that sacred document, they, in a very real sense, were choosing liberty or death. Not one of them but knew full well that if the revolution failed, if the fight for freedom should come to naught, they would be branded as rebels and hanged as traitors.
The inspired founding fathers formulated a system of government with checks and balances protecting the freedom of the people. But even this was not enough. The first order of the new congress was to draw up a Bill of Rights-ten amendments guaranteeing for all time the fundamental freedoms that the American people insist are theirs by the will of God, not by the will of government.
Yes, the founders of this nation bequeathed to us a heritage of freedom and unity that is our most priceless political possession.
But to be enjoyed, freedom must be won continually. The major responsibility of government is to guard the lives and safeguard the freedom of its citizens. Yet even in the operation of government-especially big government-there are real dangers to our freedom.
Today the scope and variety of governmental operations have become amazingly wide. We are touched by government from before we are born until after we die. Government impinges on our lives every hour of the day and night.
Most of these governmental activities are helpful in greater or lesser degree, of course. But we must face the central problem of just how much of our lives, of our freedom, of our economy, and of our society, we want to entrust to government.
And we must face the further fact of just what division of functions we want to make between Washington and our state capitals. We must be aware of the price we pay when we place more and more of our lives in the hands of centralized government
It is high time we awakened to the dangers of excessive government in business and in agriculture. It is time we realized the perils of too great a centralization of power, and too much dependence on public agencies.
We have seen in the past quarter century a tremendous shift from individual to governmental responsibility in many phases of economic and social life. We have seen a rapid shift of responsibility from the states to the federal government.
The magnitude of these changes is revealed by a few simple figures. Twenty-five years ago the federal government received one-fourth of all the taxes collected in the United States. Today the federal government-in spite of the biggest tax cut in history of $7,400,000,000 in 1954 Collects not one fourth but three-fourths of all our taxes. Twenty-five years ago all taxes, federal, state and local, took 14 percent of our national income. Today taxes take 31 percent.
I recognize that there have been reasons for doing more things through government, and for doing them from Washington. Fighting first a prolonged depression and then a war, unavoidably shifted responsibility to the federal government. The shrinking of time and distance and the growing interdependence of our economic lives have all contributed to a centralization of authority at the national capital.
Yet, deep in their hearts, the American people instinctively know that great concentration of power is an evil and a dangerous thing. They do not need to have it proved.
What lies behind this conviction? Basically, it is an intuitive knowledge that, sooner or later, the accumulation of power in a central government leads to a loss of freedom. Once power is concentrated, even for helpful purposes, it is all there, in one package, where it can be grabbed by those who may not be helpful in its use.
If power is diffused, this cannot happen. This is why the founders of our country carefully divided power between the state and federal levels. Nothing has happened in the meantime to call in question the validity of this arrangement.
Our traditional federal-state relationship, we must never forget, starts with a general presumption in favor of state and individual rights. Under the constitutional concept, powers not granted to the federal government are reserved to the states or to the people.
Many forces work toward the concentration of power at federal level. It somehow seems easier to impose so-called "progress" on localities than to wait for them to bring it about themselves. Raids on the federal treasury can be all too readily accomplished by an organized few over the feeble protests of any apathetic majority. With more and more activity centered in the federal government, the relationship between the costs and the benefits of government programs becomes obscure. What follows is the voting of public money without having to accept direct local responsibility for higher taxes.
If this trend continues, the states may be left hollow shells, operating primarily as the field districts of federal departments and dependent upon the federal treasury for their support.
It has been truly said by our present Chief Executive that, "The federal government did not create the states of this Republic. The states created the federal government... if the states lose their meaning our entire system of government loses its meaning and the next step is the rise of the centralized national state in which the seeds of autocracy can take root and grow."
Those are strong but true words.
The history of all mankind shows very clearly that if we would be free-and if we would stay free-we must stand eternal watch against the accumulation of too much power in government.
There is hardly a single instance in all of history where the dictatorial centralization of power has been compatible with individual freedoms-where it has not reduced the citizenry to the status of pawns and mere creatures of the state. God forbid that this should happen in America. Yet I am persuaded that the continuation of the trend of the past twenty-five years could make us pallbearers at the burial of the states as effective units of government.
The drift toward centralization of power is not inevitable. It can be slowed down, halted, reversed.
How? By state and local governments insisting that theirs is the responsibility for problems that are essentially local and state problems-insisting upon this, with the knowledge that responsibility and authority go hand in hand.
Inevitably, in centralized federal programs the money is not as wisely spent as if the states participated financially.
The people come to look to the federal government as the provider, at no cost to them, of whatever is needful.
The truth is that the federal government has no funds which it does not first, in some manner, take from the people. A dollar cannot make the round trip to Washington and back without shrinking in the process. As taxpayers we need to recognize these facts; programs which obscure them are contrary to public interest.
The thought that the federal government is wealthy and the states poverty-stricken is a dangerous illusion. The federal debt is now eight times as great as the combined debt of the forty-eight states. It is difficult for the states to make a strong case for assistance from the federal government when anything the federal government spends must come from the states.
The states not only have rights, they also have responsibilities, and they have opportunities.
In the last analysis, we are not trying to protect one government entity from another. We are trying to protect the rights of individual people. If we ever forget this, the whole process of government is pointless.
George Washington said: "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence-it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master!"
"It is hardly lack of due process," said the Supreme Court, "for the government to regulate that which it subsidizes." But we must remember as President Clark has counseled us that a planned and subsidized economy weakens initiative, discourages industry, destroys character, and demoralizes the people.
Our people must remain free. Our economy must remain free-free of excessive government paternalism, regimentation, and control.
As a nation, we are strong. With the freedom of economic enterprise that we possess, we are able to produce as much industrial goods as all the rest of the world combined-even though we are only six percent of the world's people and possess only six percent of the world's land.
These abundant blessings have come to us through an economic system which rests largely on three pillars:
1. Free enterprise... the right to venture... the right to choose. 2. Private property... the right to own. 3. A market economy... the right to exchange.
Working together, we can maintain the strength of these three pillars.
There are some in our midst, nevertheless, who decry free enterprise, who would place business, agriculture, and labor in a government strait jacket.
Our economic order is not perfect, because it is operated by imperfect human beings, but it has given us more of the good things of life than any other system. The fundamental reason is that our economy is free. It must remain free. In that freedom ultimately lies our basic economic strength.
Let us admit the weaknesses that exist. Let us work aggressively to correct them. But never let us make the catastrophic blunder of putting chains on our basic economic freedom.
Yes, our phenomenal material advances have been the fruit of our freedom-our free enterprise system-our American way of life-our God-given freedom of choice.
The progress of the future must stem from this same basic freedom.
Yet these basic American beliefs, principles, and attitudes are threatened today as never before.
By whom are they threatened?
They are threatened by well-meaning but uninformed people who see the shortcomings of our economic system and believe they can legislate them out of existence. They try to reach the promised land by passing laws. They do not understand our economic system and its limitations. They would load it down with burdens it was never intended to carry. As their schemes begin to break down, more and more controls must be supplied. Patch is placed upon patch, regulation is added to regulation and ultimately, by degrees, freedom is lost-without our desiring to lose it and without our knowing why or how it was lost.
Our heritage of freedom is threatened by another group-self-seeking men who see in government legislation a way to obtain special privilege for themselves or to restrain their competitors. They use demagoguery as a smokescreen to deceive. These people have no love for freedom or enterprise. They would bargain away their birthright for a mess of pottage. They would learn the value of freedom only after it was gone.
A third, still much smaller group is dedicated to the overthrow of the economic and social system that is our tradition. Their philosophy does not stem from Jefferson, but is foreign to our shores. It is a total philosophy of life, atheistic, and utterly opposed to all that we hold dear as a great Christian nation. These men understand our system thoroughly-and they hate it thoroughly. They enlist innocent but willing followers from the uninformed and the unprincipled. Through rabble-rousing and demagoguery they play upon the economic reverses and hardships of the unsuspecting. They promise the impossible, and call black white, and mislead with fallacies masqueraded as truth.
If we lose our freedoms, it will be to this strange and unlike coalition of the well-intentioned, the slothful, and the subversives.
It will be because we did not care enough-because we were not alert enough-because we were too apathetic to take note while the precious waters of our God-given freedom slipped-drop by drop-down the drain.
Heaven forbid that this should come to pass!
Let us remember that we are a prosperous people today because of a free enterprise system founded on spiritual, not material values. It is founded on freedom of choice-free agency-an eternal God-given principle.
The founding fathers, inspired though they were, did not invent the priceless blessing of individual freedom and respect for the dignity of man. No, that priceless gift to mankind sprang from the God of heaven and not from government. Yes, the founding fathers welded together the safeguards as best they could, but freedom must be continually won to be enjoyed. Let us never forget these facts.
This is America-the land of opportunity! A land choice above all other lands. Let us keep it so!
We, here in America, as Theodore Roosevelt said a half century ago, "hold in our hands the hope of the world, the fate of the coming years, and shame and disgrace will be ours if in our eyes the light of high resolve is dimmed, if we trail in the dust the golden hopes of men."
With God's help the light of high resolve in the eyes of the American people must never be dimmed! Our freedom must-and will-be preserved.
Yes... this is a choice land-choice above all others. Blessed by the Almighty, our forebears have made and kept it so. It will continue to be a land of freedom and liberty as long as we are able to advance in the light of sound and enduring principles of right. To sacrifice such principles for momentary expediency-often selfishly motivated-is to endanger our noble heritage and is unworthy of this great American people.
With all my heart I love this nation. I have lived and traveled abroad just enough to make me appreciate rather fully what we have here. To me, this is not just another nation. This is not just one of a family of nations. This is a nation with a great mission for the benefit and blessing of liberty-loving people everywhere. It is my firm conviction that the Constitution of this land was established by men whom the God of heaven raised up unto this very purpose.
The days ahead are sobering and challenging and will demand the faith, prayers, and loyalty of every American. Our challenge is to keep America strong and free-strong socially, strong economically, and above all, strong spiritually, if our way of life is to endure. There is no other way. Only in this course is there safety for our nation.
God grant we may resolutely follow this course in humility and faith, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Sterling W. Sill
Sterling W. Sill, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 102-105
One of the most important businesses in the world is the business of holding conventions. This week in every important center in this and other countries men and women will be assembling in groups to discuss their problems, exchange ideas, and develop techniques for accomplishment. I have had an interesting experience during these past few months of meeting with several occupational groups and listening to them discuss their interests. After each experience I have thought how much more interesting, and how tremendously more important, are the things that we discuss in the Church, where we meet and talk about God and eternal life and how to build character and godliness into our own lives.
All education is primarily about ourselves. We study medicine to learn how to keep ourselves well physically. Through the studies of the mind-psychology and psychiatry-we learn how to keep ourselves well mentally. Agriculture is how we feed ourselves. The social studies teach us to live together, successfully. We study law to try to keep ourselves out of trouble. Then we have this important field of religion by use of which we look out for our spiritual welfare.
The biggest problems involved in any of these fields center in us. Probably the thing that we know less about than anything else in the world is our own individual selves. You can ask a man many questions about science, invention, or history, and he will answer you. But if you ask him to write out an analysis of himself, to tell you about his mind and soul qualities, or if you ask him how he became the kind of man he is-you may not get very good answers. Or suppose that you ask him where he came from, why he is here, or where he is going. What kind of answer do you think you would get? How long do you think it would take someone to get to a given destination if he didn't know where he was going or why the journey was being made? "The Big Three" among life's questions are: Whence? Why? Whither?
The old Persian philosopher Omar Khayyam wrestled long and hard with these questions without getting any very satisfactory answers. He summarizes his conclusions as follows:
I came like Water, and like Wind I go.
Into this Universe, and why not knowing Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing: And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing.
Up from Earth's Center through the seventh Gate
I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate, And many a Knot unravel'd by the Road; But not the Master Knot of Human Fate. There was a Door to which I found no Key: There was a veil past which I could not see.
Shakespeare's Macbeth gave his opinion of the importance and purpose of existence by saying,
"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". And Hamlet added,
"How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, seem to me all the uses of this world!... 'Tis like an unweeded garden, that goes to seed; things rank and gross in nature possess it merely".
What I would like to say this morning is that some of the most stimulating ideas ever known in the world are the thrilling answers to the big three given in the revelations of the Lord.
Our lives have been divided into three general periods. First there was a long pre-mortal existence when we lived as the spirit children of God. This is followed by a brief mortality. Then comes an everlasting immortality. There is a definite purpose to be accomplished in each of these periods, and our success in each depends upon what we did in those periods preceding. In this respect we might compare life with a three-act play. If you came into the theater after the first act had been finished and left before the third act began, you might not understand the play. For about the same reasons this life, taken by itself, simply did not make sense to Hamlet, Macbeth, or Omar Khayyam. Yet each period has great significance.
The Lord has said, "And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added, upon their heads for ever and ever".
In order to make an intelligent road map for the accomplishment of our lives we need to know what happened in the first act. We also need to understand the tremendous importance of those purposes to be achieved in the second act. And we need to know many things about the third act-and we need to know them before the third act begins. I have a relative who when she reads a book always reads the last chapter first she wants to know where she is going before she gets started. And that is a pretty good idea to apply to our own future. An intelligent "preview" of the third act can be all-important to the final outcome. But first, suppose that we go back and review briefly the first act.
In the pre-existence, as in the two other periods, Jesus is our example. Nothing could be plainer from the scriptures than that the life of Christ did not begin at Bethlehem, nor did it end on Calvary. It is equally true that our lives do not begin or end within the narrow boundaries of mortality. The first things we knew about ourselves were in the grand council in heaven where our own future was being discussed. You were there; God was there; all the spirit children of God were there. Then we walked by sight. We have all seen God; he is our father; he was helping to prepare us for the great experiences of our second estate.
All life is primarily a preparation. We prepare for school; we prepare for marriage; we prepare for our life's work; we prepare for death. Our preexistence was also a preparation. It was the childhood of our immortality. We had come to a place in our preparation where all young people always come, where it is desirable for them to move away from the homes of their parents where they can be by themselves. Even though their newly-established homes may lack some of the advantages of the homes of their parents, it is still important for them to learn to stand on their own feet, to be tested, and proven and tried. In our own case, God wanted us to see good and evil side by side and learn to make the right choices on our initiative. We would have far more freedom in this if we were living by ourselves than in the more immediate presence of God.
In the grand council our second estate was explained to us. An earth was to be created to serve as our new home. We were to be given wonderful, beautiful bodies of flesh and bones without which we could not have a fulness of joy. For the first time in our existence we were to be endowed with the powers of procreation. We were to have the privilege of organizing a family to last through time and eternity. This should be bound together by the authority of the priesthood and sealed and sanctified in the temple of the Lord. We were to have the opportunity to gain experience in exercising our free agency to help us to become sovereign souls. At this grand council the Savior was selected and ordained to come to the earth and redeem us from our sins.
Abraham, in telling of a vision that he was given of the pre-existence said,
"Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones. "And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them and he said, These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good, and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou was born".
Adding to Abraham's statement that there were many noble and great who were ordained to positions of responsibility, Joseph Smith indicates that we were also ordained. He said, "Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of this earth was ordained to that very purpose in the grand council in heaven before the world was".
After this part of our preparation had been completed, we are told that "all the sons of God shouted for joy". I feel certain that if we knew now what we understood perfectly then, we would be willing to go on our hands and knees through life for the opportunity of proving ourselves faithful and deserving of our magnificent opportunities.
Then we came into our second estate through the miracle of birth. There are some who claim to have difficulty in believing in the possibility of a literal physical bodily resurrection. It seems to me that no one should have any problem believing in the eternal life of the body who can believe in its creation through birth to begin with-that two microscopic cells can unite and by a spontaneous process of subdivision create this great masterpiece which is a human being, including body, mind, and personality.
Referring to the Savior's birth, Matthew said:
"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, "Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him". That is the question that wise men have been asking ever since. Ever since that day nearly two thousand years ago, wise men have been inquiring, "Where can we find Jesus? How can we know the Savior?" For "there is none other name given whereby man can be saved". The journey of the wise men was over when they had found the king; and so is ours.
Then we enter the third act. Most of the rewards come in the last act. There is where we find "the happy endings." That is also where we discover the tragedies, depending upon the kind of life we have lived in our second estate.
There is an old Greek play written around the fall of Athens. It tells of a Roman general who had captured an Athenian philosopher. The Roman had told the Athenian that he was to be put to death, but the philosopher did not seem greatly disturbed and the Roman thought that probably he didn't understand. And he said to the Athenian that maybe he did not know what it meant to die. The Athenian expressed himself that he understood but he felt the Roman did not understand. He said to his captor:
"Thou dost not know what it is to die, for thou dost not know what it is to live. To die is to begin to live. It is to end all stale and weary work and to begin a nobler and a better. It is to leave the company of deceitful knaves for the society of gods and goodness."
That is our proper objective for the last act. Death is the gateway to immortality. The most important part of life is death. James M. Barrie's little character, Peter Pan, in an extremity cried out bravely, "To die will be an awful big adventure." Who can doubt that it will be so? We live to die, and then we die to live.
Yesterday the singing mothers inspired us with John Howard Payne's immortal verse, "Home, Sweet Home." When this song was written in 1822, John Howard Payne was living in Paris, far away from the old homestead which he knew and loved so well. But he was in the process of preparing to go home for a much-anticipated holiday. He knew, as we know that the happiest holidays are those we go home for. To go home is to go back where you grew up; home is where mother and father are; and John Howard Payne was going home. But it will not be very long before every one of us will also be going home. We will also be going back to where we grew up; we will be going back to where God is, to where our mothers, fathers, and families are.
After the resurrection we will have these wonderful bodies, celestialized and glorified, with quickened senses, amplified powers of perception and vastly increased capacity for understanding, love, and happiness. Not only will our bodies be immortal and celestial but our personalities will be immortal and celestial also. If we have properly prepared during our second estate, then with what enthusiasm we will sing with John Howard Payne, "There is no place like home."
I would like to leave with you my testimony that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth with the authority to administer in all of the ordinances having to do with the celestial kingdom. A great flood of new knowledge has recently come into the world, including three great volumes of new scripture outlining in every detail the answers to the most important questions of our lives. May God help us to understand and live those answers, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Marion D. Hanks
Marion D. Hanks, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 107-110
Through this conference I have been feeling a great warm surge of gratitude-gratitude that I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gratitude that there has come to me, in spite of my limitations, the blessing of service and the blessing of learning to know and to love so many of you, to feel your strength, understand your purpose, and observe your dedication,
I have been grateful for the marvelous sermons, the great themes of truth which have been here uttered. I was very grateful this morning as these strong and forthright and inspired messages went out to the world.
Last night I read on the editorial page of the Deseret News an account of a survey, actually a clinical research inquiry, of a number of men incarcerated in the Utah State prison as compared with an equal number outside the prison who were of the same general background as to age, intellect, social, and economic circumstances, etc. The report re-emphasized strongly the vital importance to the well-being of young people of a home where love and interest are shown, where there are fair rules consistently enforced, where there is a religious atmosphere in the home and religious activity outside it, and where parents set the proper affirmative example.
Since I read the article I have been even more grateful for the home I grew up in, humble as it was in terms of material things; for a loving father, who was called home in our infancy; for a wonderful mother and brothers and sisters through whose love, unselfishness, and cooperative effort I came to enjoy some blessings that they did not have themselves.
I am grateful that I know something about some of the problems that exist in the world and that I have the privilege of counseling, weeping, and sympathizing with some of the people who have them.
I am grateful for the kind of mountains that the choir has just sung about and that God blesses us with strength enough to climb if we are humble enough.
Recently I have been thinking about three great areas of problems which actually encompass the whole of human experience, the whole of an individual's life, thinking about them in terms of the Church program and the principles of the gospel. We have a lot of youth problems and we know it, difficulties in many fields of youth behavior and experience. Then there is in our communities, and the nation, a great problem with unhappy adults-broken homes, marriages, and lives; increasing incidence of moral decadence, of alcoholism; increasing prison incarcerations and so forth. There is a third problem that I am not sure we have thought much about, and that is the field of geriatrics, the subdivision of medicine dealing with the elderly and the aging, many of whom lose status in the family, community, and business with advancing age.
Some recent experiences have permitted me the privilege of observing and participating in activities having to do with some of these problems. Out of those experiences I have come with increased gratitude to my Heavenly Father that in the graciousness and goodness of his love we have been blessed with the principles, programs, and inspiration which can preserve us from the most serious of these problems, help us overcome them to the measure we find ourselves in them, and lead us, through God's good gifts, to the happiness here and the eternal opportunity hereafter which we are meant to enjoy. There is no occasion today to do more than recognize the existence of the problems and to testify of my deep assurance that through proper parenthood and leadership and instruction, and through a willingness to learn, hearken, and participate, the principles of the gospel and the great programs of the Church will help us avoid or overcome most of the difficulties which beset us.
There is a story in point which I thought of as I read last night. A young man who had lost his father in his earliest years went to an elderly medical man who had been a close friend of his father and asked the doctor what kind of man his father had been. The old doctor answered the question with a question: "Suppose you could have chosen your father-that is, what kind of man he would be-what would your choice have been?"
The young man replied that he would have chosen one who was courageous and forthright and true; a kind, wise, and loving man; a worshiper, worker, and servant of God. He described clearly and forcefully an ideal father, then asked: "Doctor, is that the sort of man my father was?"
Said the doctor, "As your father's friend, let me ask you another question. Is that the sort of man you have chosen to be the father of your own children?" The young man said, "With all my thinking about life and its responsibilities, I confess I have not thought about this important matter in just that way before. Though I had nothing to do with choosing my own father, I have everything to do with choosing what sort of father my own children shall have. I give you my word that I shall think about and act upon it from now on."
My wonderful young friends, in the Church and out of it, you face real challenges and great pressures, but the objectives and opportunities before you are marvelous. When I look at you, I do not see in you the leaders of tomorrow, only; I see what you now are, the boyfriends and girlfriends, the young husbands and wives of today. In your hands, stretching ahead before you, there are important occasions for decision and choice, decisions that will affect your happiness in this world and your eternal future.
Do you make negative judgments about the parents, leaders and teachers you now have? Have you thought enough about what kind of parents, leaders and teachers you are going to be? These are not far-off challenges, they are upon you; in less time than you can now conceive these blessings and burdens will be yours.
A few weeks ago I sat in an auditorium in the East with some of the leading businessmen in America and heard Brother Benson discuss the Youth Fitness Program now underway across the land. As the viewpoints of the Church were so impressively presented I was again moved with gratitude that through revelation the Lord has blessed us with the principles and the programs which can lead us to effective, participating citizenship in the community and in the kingdom; which, whatever kind of home we came from, can lead us to be the sort of father or mother we would have been pleased to choose had we had the opportunity.
Without the intention or occasion to be detailed, may I mention a principle or two given us by the Lord for our well-being, physically, intellectually, emotionally, socially, and spiritually.
Consider the understanding the Lord has given us as to the nature of this physical body which houses our spirit. "... the spirit and the body are the soul of man". "For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy.
"The elements are the tabernacle of God; yea, man is the tabernacle of God, even temples; and whatsoever temple is defiled, God shall destroy that temple".
I am grateful to understand that my physical body is an eternal, non-evil component of my eternal soul, and that I have, therefore, a duty to honor and respect and care for it, and to refrain from knowingly imposing upon it any treatment or substances deleterious to it. While I could not choose nor govern the condition of the body into which I came, I have the responsibility to give it the best care I can, and if I do not I am acting in derogation of a great gift of God.
For some time I have wanted to put into the record a statement by Thomas Edison in his autobiography, made in the twilight of his productive life:
"The useful man never leads the easy, sheltered, knockless, unshocked life. At thirty-six he ought to be prepared to deal with realities, and after that until he is sixty he should be able to handle them with a steadily increasing efficiency.
"Subsequently, if he has not injured his body by excess indulgence in any of the narcotics, and if he has not eaten to excess, he very likely may continue to be achievingly efficient up to his eightieth birthday, and in some cases until his ninetieth."
The testimony of the times corroborates what Edison said, and what the Lord told us-information that has been in our hands for more than sixscore years.
The Lord has blessed us with knowledge that we are under obligation to develop our minds, for "The glory of God is intelligence", and "It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance". He has given particular emphasis to spiritual truth, but in addition to charging the early brethren to teach one another the doctrines of the kingdom, he also instructed them to prepare themselves in a wide field of knowledge, including languages, history, and law. In the Church there are the principles and program which can lead us to the possession of minds that are clean and honest, educated, trained, controlled, creative, productive, and useful.
We have received the word of the Lord that "... men are, that they might have joy", and we know that there is joy in responsible relationships with our fellow men. As this is true of other men, it is especially true of our own families. The family, sealed together under the law of God, is the eternal unit, and our own high possibilities in the eternities are contingent upon our relationship with our family, as well as with our Heavenly Father and his other children.
Underlying all that has been revealed to us the Lord has given us to know that we are his children, that life is purposeful and meaningful, and that we are blessed with the possibility of a high destiny. I thank God that I know these things, and I pray that he will bless us to understand that though we may have partaken of some of the problems of the world, though we may have undergone some of the tragedies of the world, there is hope and answer for us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Though we could not choose or direct in our earliest days the home we grew up in or the parents who bore us, yet we can do something about the sort of parents we are or will be, and about the home our children will grow up in.
I thank the Lord for the good things he has blessed us with, and pray that we may have the wisdom to be steadfast and faithful and to do that which will perpetuate for those who are to come the blessings which the Lord has made available through the principles and programs and inspired leadership of his great Church.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder LeGrand Richards
LeGrand Richards, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 110-114
I feel very grateful, brothers and sisters, for the privilege that is mine to be associated with you in this great conference, and my heart has been made to rejoice in the wonderful messages we have received and the testimonies that have been borne. Not only that, but I have been made very happy to greet so many of you on the block and in the building whom it has been my privilege to meet as I travel through the Church and visit the various stakes of Zion. I have a profound respect and appreciation for the faith of you Latter-day Saints, for the great work you are accomplishing in your own localities. I never return from a conference but what I say to my good wife, "My, the Saints are wonderful," and I thank the Lord that I am a part of this great organization.
It has been my privilege to spend much of my life in the missionary work of the Church. I imagine today that through the courtesy of the radio and television stations there will be many listening in who are not yet members of this Church. I am sure they will be some day when they know what we know about it. I have always said that there is not an honest man or an honest woman in this world who really loves the Lord who would not join this Church if he knew what it was.
Those of us who have had missionary experience know how our hearts have been made to rejoice when we find people who really love the Lord and who want to serve him the way the Lord wants to be served, and they come to a knowledge of the truth. Sometimes we find people who have looked for years and years to find the truth. I had a letter from a man recently, a prominent attorney who had investigated many churches, and when he found "Mormonism," as it is known to him, he said he had found an answer to all of his seeking. And some years ago, in my missionary work, we brought an attorney into the Church. He was an intelligent man. We asked him to talk in one of our conferences, and he said something like this-we had asked him to tell what he had found in Mormonism that appealed to him. He said, "If you have hunted for something all your life until you decided it did not exist, and then you just happen to stumble on to it, you do not need anybody to tell you that you have found it, do you?" He said, "That is what I did when I found Mormonism and the thing about it that is most wonderful to me is the fact that the more I know about it the more wonderful it becomes."
I have a testimony here, copied from a letter from a lady who wrote in to the Bureau of Information for information about the Church. She said she had hunted for fifty-three years to find the truth, and then she told about the various institutions and churches she had investigated, and after getting our literature, she finally joined the Church, and after so doing this is what she wrote:
"I now have a serenity and composure and inner strength and an inward joy which I never before possessed. Do all souls receiving enlightenment exclaim within their silent heart, feeling compassion for a blind, groping, and grieving world, 'O suffering world, I come. I come.'"
The missionaries find ample compensation for the great work they are doing when they see honest souls who seek after righteousness brought to a knowledge of the truth through their instrumentality. The Lord said to the early elders of the Church that if they should labor all their days and bring save one soul unto him, how great would be their joy with that soul in the kingdom of the Father.
I want to bear you witness that many of us have great joy in the companionship of those to whom it has been our privilege to bring the restored gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I want to say to you that the Latter-day Saints are doing a great work in providing missionaries. It is the most unselfish movement I think this world has ever known. There is no thought of any monetary compensation. Sacrifices are made by young and old alike in order to carry the gospel to those who are yet in darkness, and we invite everyone to join with us.
Sometimes I wonder if we have invited our neighbors and our friends to become a part of us, and if we do, then we will find the joy that comes in being instruments in the hand of the Lord in carrying the truth to them.
President McKay indicated today that we are all missionaries. In fact, he has told us that each of us should be a missionary, and while we are not all called and set apart to go from door to door, we are called by the Lord, for he said: "Let every man who is warned, warn his neighbor", and that is a call from the Lord, and President McKay has asked that each of us should be a missionary and try to bring someone into the Church.
I repeated that request in a stake conference a few months ago, and a few weeks thereafter, I received a two-page typewritten letter from a young man who was in that conference. He was a son of the stake president. He was only there visiting on an assignment. He said, "Brother Richards, I heard you request each of us to try to bring someone into the Church. I believed that you meant me, so I wrote my wife and said, 'When I come home I have a proposition to make to you,"' and the proposition was that they should bring some family into the Church. Then he said to his wife, "The young man that I work with in the office seems to be quite a fine man, and if you are willing I will invite him and his wife to our home and we will have them for supper."
Well, of course when the supper was over they had to talk about something, and you know what they talked about, and the letter was written to tell me the joy he and his wife had because that couple had now joined the Church. I tell you, it will bring great joy into the lives of people when they know what the Church is.
I want to say to you today that my testimony is such that I believe we live in the great day of fulfillment. As I think of the history of the past, two great events stand out paramount above all others in religious history, and all the prophets have looked to those days and testified of them. The first was the coming of the Redeemer of the world, and you will remember that when he came, he took the Holy Scriptures to prove to the people that he had come in fulfillment of the words of the prophets. You remember his statement as he walked along the way toward Emmaus with two of his disciples following his resurrection, and their eyes were holden that they did not recognize him. After he had heard what they had to say and seeing that they did not realize what his mission was, he said, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken", and beginning with Moses and the prophets, he showed them how that in all things the prophets had testified of him. Then he opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures for all the prophets had looked to that great event.
The second great event is when he shall come in power and great glory in the latter days, to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords, and all of the prophets have looked to our day. I wonder sometimes if we are mindful enough in order to interpret the promises of the prophets. I think of the words of the Savior when he said:
"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me".
I like to look upon the scriptures as a blueprint that shows the things that God intended to do, and I think it is a wonderful thing to know what the prophets have had to say, but I think it is more wonderful to live in the day of the fulfillment of the promises of the prophets. The Savior puts his stamp of approval upon the necessity of knowing the scriptures. He said to the Pharisees who endeavored to catch him in his words: "Do you not therefore err because ye know not the scriptures?".
If we knew the scriptures, we would understand them. Let me give you an illustration. While I was still the Presiding Bishop, we brought the plans of the great Los Angeles Temple to show to the First Presidency. There were eighty-five pages, and we did not have them complete-the electrical work and the heating facilities were not done-eighty-five pages about five feet long and three feet wide. It was glorious to look upon those plans and see that temple, but not a hole had been dug in the ground. Compare that with when we went to the dedication, and in the evening when the floodlights were turned on that magnificent building, it was just as if some ethereal thing had been dropped down from heaven. I thank God that it is my privilege to live in the day of fulfillment of the things that the prophets have foretold for the latter days to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.
I give you the words of the Apostle Peter. He said:
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost".
If you will think about that for a minute, and then consider the words of Isaiah where he said that the Lord had proclaimed the end from the beginning, then the prophets have, as it were, drawn a blueprint of what the Lord intended to do, and we live now in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times that has been referred to in this conference, for the Apostle Paul said that the Lord had revealed unto him the mystery of his will,
"That in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him".
I want to say unto you that no other people have a program of uniting all things which are in heaven and which are on earth. We understand this in the great work that is being done by the living for the dead, and that brings us to another great event that was to transpire in the latter days, to which Brother Romney referred this morning-the coming of Elijah the Prophet to turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest he come and smite the earth with a curse. Who knows anything about that great program of uniting the children on the earth with their parents who have gone beyond except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Lord has revealed these great truths in our day?
Referring again to the words of Peter where he said, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy", I now give you his words on the day of Pentecost to those who had crucified the Lord when he called them back to repentance, saying:
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; "And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: "Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began".
If we believe the Holy Scriptures, as we are admonished to do, and the words of the prophets, we cannot look for the second coming of Christ in power until there is a restitution of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began. I want to say unto you that that is what this Church is, as it has been pointed out in this conference-the restoration of the Holy Priesthood, the re-establishment of the Church of Christ in the earth, founded upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, with Christ our Lord as the chief cornerstone, which God placed in the Church according to the Apostle Paul:
"For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man... "That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive".
How can anybody look at the Christian world today and see its divided condition and know that the Lord intended that we should come to a unity of the faith, without realizing that we must return again to the organization that he placed in the Church? And what an organization that is, where every man and every man s son can be co-partners, as it were, with the Lord through bearing his Holy Priesthood, to help establish his kingdom in the earth.
If there is to be a restitution of all things, that presupposes that it cannot be a reformation. It also presupposes that the truth did not remain upon the earth. There is not time today for me to go into the prophecies of the falling away, but men of our day have borne witness that the truth is not upon the earth. I like the statement contained in Smith's Bible Dictionary, prepared by seventy-three divines and bible students, in which they say:
"We must not expect to see the Church of Holy Scripture actually existing in its perfection on the earth. It is not to be found thus perfect, either in the collected fragments of Christendom, or still less in any of those fragments."
How wonderful, when seventy-three noted divines trying to find the truth just by reading the scriptures without the living testimony of the Spirit, come to know that the world has drifted away from the teachings of the scriptures. You will recall that great leader among the Baptists, Roger Williams, who resigned as pastor of the oldest Baptist Church in America and gave these reasons:
"There is no regular constituted Church of Christ, on the earth, nor any person authorized to administer any church ordinance, nor can there be until new apostles are sent by the great head of the Church for whose coming I am seeking."
If he had lived in the day of the restoration of the gospel as taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith, he would have known that apostles had been sent again in our day with the same authority, the same organization, the same truths that were taught in the Meridian of Time.
There is not time to discuss all the great truths that we have received through the restoration of the gospel, but if you will think of the things that have been mentioned in this conference: the gathering of Israel, the building of temples, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon-and nobody can read the Bible without knowing that there is a companion volume of scripture that must be united with it, which is to become one in the hands of God-and when you think of a record of over 500 pages of history and words of prophets who have lived upon this land of America, and when you read the promises to Joseph of a new land in the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, and his blessings which were to be greater than the blessings of his progenitors, you cannot help but wonder why the Lord would have made such promises unto that chosen of the House of Israel, without providing for the recording of the fulfillment of those promises. So we have the record of the fulfillment of all these promises.
I leave you one more passage of scripture before I close, and that is in the third chapter of Malachi, where the Lord said he would send his messenger to prepare the way for his coming, that he would come swiftly to his temple, and who would abide the day of his coming, because he would be as refiner's fire and fullers' soap.
I call attention to the fact that he did not come to his temple in the Meridian of Time, and I ask you today, where is a people in all the world that are building temples to the Most High? You know the record of this Church, the number of temples that have been dedicated in recent years. This great temple that stands upon this block, and yet the churches know not what temples are for, nor do they have a knowledge of the ordinances that are to be performed therein. We would not know either, except that we live in the day that Peter spoke of, to prepare the way of the Lord when there was to be a restitution of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began, truly the day of fulfillment.
In closing I leave you a testimony of a man who sat in my office recently, who spent thirty years as a minister of the gospel. Then he met the Mormon elders. He said, "I had always thought I had as much authority as any man to perform the ordinances of the gospel, until I met the Mormon elders and then I knew that I must accept baptism at their hands." And then he added: "Brother Richards, when I think of how little I had to offer my people as a minister of the gospel compared to what I now have in the fulness of the gospel as it has been restored, I want to go back and tell all my friends what I have found. Now, they will not listen to me. I am an apostate from their church."
But such are the testimonies of people, who, as Jesus said "hunger and thirst after righteousness". He also said:
"My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself".
I bear you witness, and make the promise to all who are not members of this Church that if they will investigate our message and ask God, the Eternal Father, that they can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the truth has been restored in its fulness to the earth to prepare the way of the coming of the Lord.
This testimony I give to you in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Bruce R. McConkie, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 114-117
Brother LeGrand Richards, one of the forceful and eloquent preachers of righteousness in this latter-day kingdom, has just spoken to us in a powerful manner, setting forth the restoration of the everlasting gospel in our day. Now, if I may be guided by the same Spirit, and be under the same power, I have it in my heart to make a brief expression relative to the stability, growth, and eventual destiny of the great latter-day kingdom that has been established as part of the restitution of all things.
When I speak of the kingdom, I mean the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which, in the most complete, real, literal, and accurate sense, is the kingdom of God on earth. For a text I will read some words originally written by the great prophet Isaiah, words which later were quoted by the resurrected Christ as he ministered among the Nephites. When Jesus quoted these words, he put them in their perspective, in their context. He had just announced that the restitution of all things was to take place; that the gospel was to come again in its fulness; that Israel was to be gathered; and that the kingdom of God on earth was to be established in the last days. Then he quoted these words from Isaiah, words which are addressed to the Church and which specifically describe the stability, growth, and eventual destiny of the Church.
Thus saith the Lord unto the Church of Jesus Christ:
"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes; "For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. "Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame".
"For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my people be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee".
The everlasting covenant is the gospel. This promise is, then, an assurance that the gospel of Jesus Christ will remain in and be administered by the Church and kingdom as set up and established in this day.
"And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. "In righteousness shalt thou be established; thou shalt be far from oppression for thou shalt not fear, and from terror for it shall not come near thee. "Behold, they shall surely gather together against thee, not by me; whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake".
"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord".
Now, I think we all understand that this great latter-day kingdom has been set up for the last time, never again to be destroyed, and that never again will the necessity arise for another and future restoration. The ordinances and principles of salvation, the requirements which men must abide in order to gain a celestial inheritance, are ever, eternally, and always the same. God is no respecter of persons, and every person from Adam to the last man must abide the same identical law in order to qualify for a celestial inheritance.
But there is one great thing about this dispensation which differs from all the dispensations of the past. It is that this time, with the opening of the heavens and the revealing of the gospel in our day, there came the positive, unqualified assurance that the gospel was to remain on earth; that the kingdom was to be secure; that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was to remain among men to prepare a people for the second coming of the Son of man.
We are familiar with the visions that Enoch received. You will recall that he saw our day. He saw the restoration of the gospel, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, truth springing out of the earth and righteousness looking down from heaven. He saw the hosts of scattered Israel gathered to a holy city. He saw the tribulations, the wars, the desolation, the troubles that would prevail in this day, and then the voice of God spoke to him and said: "... great tribulations shall be among the children of men, but my people will I preserve". That is an immutable, positive assurance.
Some things we get, provided we abide the law which entitles us to receive them. Some promises come from the Lord without conditions attached to them. We die whether we like it or not. That is immutably decreed. We will be resurrected and have immortality. There is no question of that; we cannot avoid it. In that same category is the promise that the Lord will preserve his people in this day.
We are familiar with the great vision and revelation that Daniel had, in which he saw the successive kingdoms of the world set up by the power of men's hands, and then finally saw this kingdom, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, set up by revelation, without the hand of man. And then he said that this kingdom would never be given to another people; that it would grow and increase and break in pieces all kingdoms and fill the whole earth.
Well, after the Lord had set up this Church and restored the gospel, he said by his own mouth to the Prophet Joseph Smith: "The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth". That is an immutable, irrevocable promise. That promise we have.
May I quote one sentence which the Prophet Joseph Smith, writing by revelation and inspiration, included in that famous document, "The Wentworth Letter." He said: "... No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done".
You and I are in this kingdom at its beginning. The groundwork is being laid. Out of small beginnings come great things. We have had tremendous progression and growth; we are established and recognized in the world already; but there will be an eventual day when the whole earth will be converted to the truth, when every living soul will come into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
We are in the kingdom of God now which is exclusively an ecclesiastical kingdom. This kingdom is going to grow and increase, multiply and abound, and nothing can stop it, until the day comes that it will be both an ecclesiastical kingdom and a political kingdom, and it will govern in all things-spiritual, civil, temporal, and political. The kingdoms of this world are going to become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ.
President John Taylor said this: "It has been asked... whether this kingdom will fail. I tell you in the name of Israel's God it will not fail. I tell you in the name of Israel's God it will roll forth, and that the things spoken of by the holy prophets in relation to it will receive their fulfillment. But in connection with this I will tell you another thing: A great many of the Latter-day Saints will fail, a great many of them are not now and never have been living up to their privileges, and magnifying their callings and their priesthood, and God will have a reckoning with such people, unless they speedily repent". He said many similar things.
One more quotation, this one from President Wilford Woodruff:
"When the Lord gave the keys of the kingdom of God, the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood, of the apostleship, and sealed them upon the head of Joseph Smith, he sealed them upon his head to stay here upon the earth until the coming of the Son of man. Well might Brigham Young say, 'The keys of the kingdom of God are here.' They were with him to the day of his death. They then rested upon the head of another man-President John Taylor. He held those keys to the hour of his death. They then fell by turn, or in the providence of God, upon Wilford Woodruff.
"I say to the Latter-day Saints, the keys of the kingdom of God are here, and they are going to stay here, too, until the coming of the Son of Man. Let all Israel understand that. They may not rest upon my head but a short time, but they will then rest on the head of another apostle, and another after him, and so continue until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven to 'reward every man according to the deeds done in the body'.
"I say to all Israel at this day, I say to the whole world, that the God of Israel, who organized this Church and kingdom, never ordained any President or Presidency to lead it astray. Hear it, ye Israel, no man who has ever breathed the breath of life can hold these keys of the kingdom of God and lead the people astray".
Now these things are amply attested to. The revelations and inspired utterances of living oracles give us the full account. We should know these things from the records which are before us. Then, also, we should go to the Lord, in faith and in mighty prayer, and get in our hearts the revealed assurance that this work is true. Brother Richards quoted: "... my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
"If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself". Every living soul in this world who will abide the law that entitles him to know by personal revelation from the Holy Ghost of the divinity of this work, of the stability and destiny of this kingdom, can get that knowledge, and I for one have that knowledge and so certify to you in sincerity and solemnity, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bishop Carl W. Buehner
Carl W. Buehner, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 117-120
My dear brethren and sisters, after the concluding session of conference yesterday afternoon, I was congratulated six times on the fine talk I had given at that session of conference, and wanting to be an honest man, I should like now to pass on those compliments to those who gave my talk yesterday afternoon.
It has been most inspiring to be in attendance at this conference. I have had a long time to think. Some observations that have gone through my mind I felt might be interesting to you, even though most of these things have already been said in a better way than I will ever be able to say them.
The first observation I should like to make is the terrific impact that a general conference of the Church has upon its membership and upon the many thousands of people who are friendly toward the Church. We will leave this great conference, I am sure, more enthusiastic and more desirous of furthering the purposes of our Heavenly Father. We will be better men and women because of our attendance here and of hearing the word of the Lord go forth as it has done. More than thirty-five profound sermons have been delivered in this conference already.
I have been wondering, too, if we realize that this is probably the greatest religious gathering held any place in the earth. Have you ever thought about this? A general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints comprised of those who are present, those listening in on the radio, and those who might be viewing this conference on television all become part of this greatest of all religious gatherings that are held
I think of the people who have come here, representing many nations of the earth. I have shaken hands with people from New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Switzerland, Hawaii, Canada, and Mexico. I feel certain there are those here representing other foreign countries also, and practically every state in this great nation of ours.
I have been thinking of the thousands, yes, many thousands who would give their all to be here at this conference today, but their all is not sufficient to buy them a ticket and to take them back to their homes at the conclusion of the conference. To them, this conference will come either through the missionaries, the mission presidents, or by the printed word as it will be circulated through the periodicals of the Church.
Another observation I should like to make is that we are sitting in the presence of three of the great men of the world-the First Presidency of this Church. My close association with them, and the honor and privilege I enjoy of sitting in meetings with them two or three times each week bears testimony to me that there are no greater men living today. As you already know, they have been appointed by our Heavenly Father to preside over his Church. They have been sustained by you to be the leaders of the Church, and I hope that to us sustaining them means we will work as we have never worked before to promote the great purposes of the Lord.
A further observation I should like to make is that when revelation, counsel, the interpretations of the doctrines of the Church, or the law of the Church goes forth to the members in all parts of the earth, it is going to go forth from this source. Therefore, I would say, keep your eyes and ears on the First Presidency, and listen to the counsel that comes from them. If any person ever becomes confused, disturbed, or critical, I would say to you, come to the fountainhead of the Church for the answers to your questions. You will discover that these brethren are more than willing to give you the answers that you require so that you may not get lost or wander astray. Do not go to those who are undermining the Church, to apostate groups, or to those whose intent it is to destroy the work of our Heavenly Father.
Another observation that has impressed me is that as we look at those on the stand in the Tabernacle, there are represented here the great councils of the Church-the Council of the First Presidency who preside over the high priesthood of the Church; the Council of the Twelve Apostles who are special witnesses of Jesus Christ, who travel the length and breadth of the Church, and whose work has increased to such proportions that they cannot entirely carry the responsibility. Therefore, eight other men have been appointed and set apart to assist them, known as the Assistants to the Council of the Twelve. All of these brethren may be considered as counselors to the First Presidency of the Church. On the stand also is the Patriarch to the Church. There are also seven men who comprise the First Council of the Seventy who have a definite and specific responsibility. Finally, there is the Council of the Presiding Bishopric who preside over the Aaronic Priesthood of the Church. Has it ever occurred to you that as you sit here in conference, you are in the presence of these great councils and also that you hear a personal message from each of these brethren during the course of a general conference?
Another observation that has impressed me as I have been sitting here is that those of us who had the honor of being here at 9:30 this morning and listening to the broadcast of this great choir could not help but realize that from this spot every Sunday morning, for nearly thirty years now, has gone a living broadcast to the people of the nation and as far elsewhere as radio carries the inspirational music and message of the spoken word that emanates from this great Tabernacle Choir organization. As I thought about them, I began to realize the sacrifices that many of these people have made in spite of wind, snow, sleet, rain, cold, heat, and all other conditions. These brethren and sisters dedicate every Sunday morning, except the few Sundays they are away on tour, to the presentation of these wonderful hymns and anthems. Aside from this, there are many, many hours of rehearsals required for the preparation of these programs. I should like to say, "God bless them for their devotion and faithfulness to this great cause."
Another observation I should like to make is that the priesthood about which we have heard so much during this conference is so important that heavenly messengers personally brought it to the earth. The priesthood is the very lifeblood of the Church. It is an honor to be a bearer of and a worker in the priesthood. It is through this power that the gospel was restored to the earth in this the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. It is through this priesthood that the Church continues to remain organized and to function in the earth.
I was proud of the great audience of Aaronic Priesthood boys who were in attendance last Friday evening when we held the dedicatorial services for the beautiful Aaronic Priesthood Memorial Monument, located just north of the Tabernacle, depicting John the Baptist, a heavenly messenger, conferring the Aaronic Priesthood on Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. On this occasion, more than five hundred boys sang a number of inspirational songs that thrilled all who were present. Four young boys whose voices had not yet changed singing the song, "On Lovely Susquehanna's Banks," brought a lump to my throat. They stood right behind me on the stand, and as they began to sing in their soft, unchanged voices, I was really touched.
In my humble opinion, we are building a greater youth today than we have ever had before and preparing them to take over positions of responsibility which will certainly come to them as they prove worthy. In passing I would like to add that we should stay close to these young men, and assist in molding their lives, which will be a blessing to them and an honor and credit to the Church they represent. When I think of the millions of men and boys living in the earth and appreciate that we are but a few of those who have been selected, called, and honored, and knowing that our leaders are depending upon us to do our part, I begin to realize the privilege it is to serve and the blessings that come from serving.
Through the power of the priesthood, miracles are performed in this day as they were in other periods in the history of the world when the gospel was upon the earth. As long as men magnify their callings in the priesthood, we will have miracles, and so also will the Church grow in influence, in strength, and in favor among the people of the world. Therefore, may all of us who have been so honored to bear the priesthood, magnify our callings, appreciate it to the fullest, and stand at the head of our homes in dignity where we can be a blessing and a strength to our families. Our children look to us for counsel and leadership, and I am afraid that in some of our homes the situation is in reverse. Sometimes the father is reactivated through the boy who holds the Aaronic Priesthood or even a younger child. Many thrilling stories have been told about youngsters who have helped their fathers back into activity. I heard one not too long ago about a father and a son who were asked to be ward teaching companions, and it rather thrilled me as the mother related to me some of the experiences they were enjoying and how they learned to know each other through this experience. She indicated that after they had been teaching together for a number of months, her son came to her and said, "Mother, you know Dad is really quite a man. I am amazed at how well he understands the gospel and how well he teaches when we visit the homes on our district. I have learned many things from Dad that I did not understand before, and I am glad to be his ward teaching companion; otherwise, I may never have learned to know him so well." This mother remarked that a day or two later, her husband came to her and said, "You know, I think the world of John. I did not know he had it in him, but when I say to him, 'Tonight it is your turn to give the lesson,' you would be proud of John if you could hear him present the topic to the families that we teach. He is developing into one capable of going on a mission." I began to think what a lovely thing it is for a father and a son to become acquainted through one of the great programs of the Church-the ward teaching program.
Finally, I feel to say: "What is the objective of our Heavenly Father after all"? I should like to quote a passage of scripture that Brother Hinckley gave in his message last Friday. One of the Lord's objectives has been put in these words: "For behold this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man".
Brethren of the priesthood, we are the assistants of our Heavenly Father in helping him to achieve this great objective for the blessing and benefit of those who live upon the earth. When we magnify our callings in the priesthood to the extent that we are willing to put our arms around our brethren who need assistance and encouragement, we are strengthening the kingdom of God. If every man in the Church who holds the priesthood magnified his calling in that priesthood, we would go forward with a power the like of which this world has never seen before. Nothing could stay it.
Literally, we are engaged in our Father's business. Have you ever thought of the impact of this statement, to be engaged in our Father's business? Many of us are engaged in a business or we work for men engaged in a business, but how many of the eternal blessings will come to us from our work in these businesses? Compare your business with our Father's business, and then thank the Lord that you have an opportunity of being engaged in his business. It is a tremendous responsibility and yet a wonderful opportunity.
I sincerely hope and pray we will always be found engaged in our Father's business, helping to carry his great message of glad tidings and peace on earth to the people of the world, and keeping active those who are members of his kingdom now established in the earth.
My testimony is that if we dedicate our lives to magnifying our calling in the priesthood and awake and arise to our opportunities, the work of our Heavenly Father will grow and prosper until no power can stay it. This is my conviction and my testimony to you. I pray that our Father in heaven will give us the deep and abiding appreciation for our membership in the Church and then nudge us all to serve as we have never served before, and I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1958, pp. 127-128
My brethren and sisters, we have come to the closing exercises of a great conference. My soul, with yours, has been filled with thanksgiving and gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the outpourings of his Holy Spirit. We have heard some great messages from the leaders of this Church, and what I have noticed with great satisfaction, are the receptive audiences, showing that the messages were received graciously, with gratitude.
At noon today, there came to me the memory of something I had read years ago in a book entitled, The Simple Life, written by Charles Wagner. He said:
"Your religion is good-first, if it is vital and active; second, if it nourishes in you confidence, hope, love, and a sentiment of the infinite value of existence; third, if it is allied with what is best in you against what is worst, and holds forever before you the necessity of becoming a new man; fourth, if it makes you understand that pain is a deliverer; fifth, if it increases your respect for the conscience of others; and sixth, if it renders forgiveness more easy, fortune less arrogant, duty more dear; the beyond less visionary."
The gospel when obeyed does all that and more. To this every true member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can bear witness.
I love these associates of the General Authorities, and love them in the spirit of the true meaning of that word, the love of the brotherhood of Christ. God bless them and bless their wives and their children that the ideals that make for the dignity of manhood, that lead into the presence of our Heavenly Father may eventually continue to be perpetuated in our homes, in our association with our business fellows, and in all our travels.
God bless Zion, the pure in heart. God bless our friends with whom we associate, who are contributing, too, to the advancement of this great Church. We appreciate their fellowship.
God bless those who speak evil against us because they do not know us, and give us charity in our hearts for them, and may he enlighten their minds and open the vision of their souls that they may see Christ's Church as it is and that for which it stands. Hasten the coming of our Lord when peace shall reign and the kingdom of God be established, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 5-7
My brothers and sisters, here in the building and on the air, all children of our Heavenly Father, I stand before you in humility, in need of help from our Heavenly Father. I have asked him to help me. I would appreciate an equal prayer from you to the same end.
This is Easter time. The celebration of the resurrection has just passed, and sometimes there is a tendency to think that thereafter the Lord ascended, and we have nothing more to do about it. I have had particularly in mind two or three passages that I shall try to recall.
In the Passover chamber, the Lord said, "... I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me". At various times in his mission, he added the word "light," so that in its complete form it stands, "I am the way, the truth, the life, and the light."
I remember that at the time of the raising of Lazarus, the Lord said, in response to a statement from Martha:
"... I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: "And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? "She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world"
Peter, speaking to the Sanhedrin, in response to their question, "... By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?" replied, "... by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified,... for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved"
As I have read the record, I have been persuaded that not so fully did the apostles themselves, up until after the resurrection, understand who the Savior was or might be, as did the learned men of Israel, who saw, who partially understood, and who feared.
The Savior, the Book tells us in Acts, remained on the earth after his resurrection for forty days, during which time he worked and preached and, I would assume, assisted in setting in order his Church.
But I thought that I might run over, so far as my memory serves me, a few of the visual demonstrations that were given in those early days of the Resurrected Christ. You remember that an earthquake came before the break of day and rolled back the stone from the sepulchre. We are not given an account as to how the Savior came from the sepulchre except that we read that the burial clothes were left in the sepulchre itself.
You remember that Mary Magdalene was the first, even before the dawn broke, to go to the sepulchre. Seeing it open, she rushed to tell Peter and John. They not realizing, not understanding, not knowing what to look for, rushed to the sepulchre and found it empty.
Shortly after that the women came with spices because there had been no time on the previous Friday night properly to prepare the Christ for his burial. They did not understand that he was to be resurrected on the morning of the third day, for they came on that morning properly to dress and prepare the body for burial. Mary Magdalene was with them and Mary the mother. You recall that while he forbade Mary, to whom he had already shown himself, to touch him, he permitted the women to hold his feet.
They saw him. They heard his voice. They knew he was resurrected.
A little later on that day, two of the disciples were on their way to Emmaus. The Savior joined them. He seemed to be uninformed about what had happened in Jerusalem which seemed to have been common talk in Jerusalem by that time, and they talked a bit about that. The Savior did not appear apparently to them as he had appeared before his resurrection. So he went along with them and began to tell them all about it, who he was, and began to repeat the scriptures to them. Coming to an inn they invited him in with them. They went in, sat down, preparing to eat. He broke bread and offered it to them. Then they recognized for the first time who he was, and he vanished.
That night the ten-there were only eleven altogether now because Iscariot had committed suicide; were sitting in a room together and suddenly the Savior stood among them. They were frightened. They thought he was a spirit. He said, "... Why are ye troubled?... Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have". They had thought he might be a spirit.
And then he asked them-and this has always been interesting to me-he asked them for food-they were at dinner-and they gave him broiled fish and honeycomb, and he ate-a resurrected being ate of these earthly foods.
Thomas was not there, and Thomas said that he would not believe if he could not touch the Savior to be sure. Eight days following, the apostles were all together again, this time Thomas with them, and the doors being shut, so the record says, the Savior suddenly appeared in their midst and addressing himself to Thomas, with his unbelief, invited an examination of his body. "Reach hither thy hand," said he, "and thrust it into my side:..." Whether Thomas did as he was bid or not, is not clear, but at the end of it, Thomas said, "My Lord and my God".
Thereafter, or on that same day, he had shown himself to Peter as was disclosed in the report which was made by these disciples who had seen him on their way to Emmaus.
Thereafter, he appeared several times; among others he appeared to five hundred at one time, and the writer of Acts declared that some were then living of that five hundred when he wrote.
He appeared to the disciples and talked with them thereafter, particularly on the occasion when Peter and six others of the apostles, apparently, decided that they would go fishing, that everything was over. So they went fishing. You will all remember, I am very sure, the incidents of that fishing trip. The apostles had fished all night and caught nothing. As they neared the shore of the Sea of Galilee they saw a figure on the shore by a fire. The figure asked them if they had caught any fish. They answered no. Then said he, "Cast the net on the right side of the ship" which they did, and it was filled with fish. Then John perceived that this was the Lord and so told the group.
Peter, the impetuous Peter, who sometimes apparently talked before he thought, cast himself over the side of the boat, having first wrapped himself with his coat, for he was naked and did not want to appear before the Christ in that kind of condition-which carries its lesson, I think, as to chastity and morality and modesty-and he hurried to the shore. They all went to the shore. They found there the Lord whom they then recognized. He had already prepared something to eat and invited them to partake of it.
It is not clear to me whether or not the Lord ate at that time, though the inference might be that he did.
That was the time when he questioned Peter a bit, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" referring, I assume, to the fish and the food. "Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee." "Feed my lambs".
The second inquiry came and the same answer, except that at this time the Lord said, "Feed my sheep." And even a third time did this question come, and the third time Peter, with what quite evidently was something of irritation, said, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee."
"Feed my sheep".
A great lesson in three words of the mission and duty of the Church then under organization and which has been the obligation and the duty from that day until now of those who possess the priesthood of God, as we do.
Finally, he called them together again on a mount in Galilee, the disciples, and at that time he gave them the great commission, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned".
Those are the words of the Christ. Then he told them of the signs which should follow them that believed.
We, brethren and sisters, are the recipients of the great blessings that attach to the work of the last dispensation. We are also the obligees of the great responsibilities which have been placed upon those whom God has called to lead this last dispensation. I personally try to think more frequently of the obligations I have than of the blessings that I have enjoyed, and yet as I cast my mind back over a long life, I think of no one in my acquaintance who has received greater blessings of health and strength than have I myself, for which I am grateful.
I am grateful, as we all are, for the prayers of the Saints in our behalf. We know we have them, we know they are efficacious. We pray that you will overlook our weaknesses and failings, for each and all of us are human; make us humble but never let us forget our gratitude for the blessings which we enjoy.
The Lord is good to us. He is giving us direction if we will take it. I urge you to bring your thoughts back, as I did last night, from space, about which we know nothing in comparison with what there is to know-and fix our minds upon the great powers and authorities which we have as members of the priesthood, representing our Heavenly Father, endowed with a portion of his authority to work out his purposes, not ours.
I bear my testimony to the truthfulness of the gospel, that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that the Prophet Joseph was a prophet raised up under his direction, who with his authorities through the revelations of our Heavenly Father, founded the Church. I bear my testimony that the same Spirit and the same power and the same authority with which he, the Prophet Joseph, was invested, now exists in the Church and has since its foundation, that President David O. McKay is the recipient of that power and that authority today.
I urge upon you with all the fervor that I can express, that we follow the leadership of the Church, know that President McKay is the prophet, seer, and revelator of the Church, that we bring our lives into complete harmony with the commandments of the Lord, all to the end that having fulfilled our obligations to the dead and to the living, we may be finally saved and exalted in his presence, which I ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Marion G. Romney
Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 9-12
Brethren and sisters: I ask you to join your faith and prayers with mine, that what I say will be in harmony with what has already been said. What I have been thinking about is, I believe, in harmony with President Clark's great message. I pray that I may have the Spirit of the Lord as I speak.
To suggest what I have in mind to say, I quote these words which Jesus spake to the unbelieving Jews: "... if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins".
I should like to direct my remarks particularly to this great group of singers here in the choir from Brigham Young University, and to all other students-students who are challenged by the wonders of the universe, and who want to learn more about them, and at the same time prove faithful and true to the faith of their parents.
Such a student returning from a celebrated eastern university recently said in substance: "Some of my fellow students are apparently as well off as we are. They seemingly observe our standards with respect to chastity, Word of Wisdom, clean speech, and have lofty ideals. What do we have which they do not have? If there is a difference between us just what is it?"
A little reflection, I believe, will suggest a number of differences, but the one I wish to emphasize this morning is our beliefs and faith in Jesus Christ-not our belief that there is a God, but rather our peculiar concept about his nature and identity, and our relationship to him. It is when we descend to particulars that the differences show up. As a matter of fact, it seems that belief in the existence of a God is almost universal. Thinking people everywhere, particularly scientists, are accepting the hypothesis that there is a God who created and is now controlling the universe. The materialistic concept which denies God altogether is being replaced with the theory set forth by the late French scientist, Dr. Pierre Lecomte du Nouy, in his great book Human Destiny. His thesis is that there is "an idea, a transcendent will, a supreme intelligence," an "anti-chance" sustaining the universe. This supreme intelligence he calls God.
Aroused by what he terms "the universal demoralization" and loss of faith which has resulted from "paralyzing skepticism and destructive materialism," he examines "critically the scientific capital accumulated by man": and derives "therefrom logical and rational consequences" which to him and many other eminent scientists "lead inevitably to the idea of God." The existence of such a Being is, he concludes, a scientific fact. It is his hope that the acceptance of his thesis will supply men with a basis, and give them a motive which will sustain faith in God and in the high destiny of man-a faith which will keep men struggling to reach the moral and spiritual plane exemplified by Jesus. "Men must be made to understand," he says, "that the important thing is to develop what is within them, to purify themselves, to better themselves, to come closer to the perfect ideal which is Christ."
Now, of course, we believe with him that there is a God who is the Creator and ruler of the universe. His statement that God's purpose is to bring men "closer to the perfect ideal which is Christ" is, when interpreted in the light of our belief in Jesus, in harmony with the Lord's declaration that "... this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". However, we do not see eye to eye with him as to the nature of that perfection, nor as to the process by which it may be attained. Our differences on these matters arise from our incompatible beliefs about the nature and the identity of God and Jesus, and our relationship to them. A comparison of these beliefs will point up the differences. As to his beliefs, we will let him speak for himself. First, as to God:
"Any effort to visualize God," he says, "reveals a surprising childishness. We can no more conceive Him than we can conceive an electron." And again "... the idea of God is a pure idea like the idea of force, or of energy, and does not need to be visualized: nor can it be..." And finally: "When we were led to call on an external action so as to account for the birth of life and the development of evolution, we admitted that the only possible, logical interpretation coincided with that which recognized the existence of God. And... we were driven, in order to explain the universe and evolution, to accept the idea... However, we were careful not to define the attributes of this force, which evidently corresponds to the admitted idea of God. We, therefore used the consecrated name, but avoided as much as possible any anthropomorphic idea."
Now of course this is not our concept of God. But I think we should respect this scientist's desire to establish a scientific basis for faith in God. He did the best he could with the light under which he worked. We will not be disturbed nor disappointed by his conclusion if we keep in mind the fact that the truth about Deity does not lie within the range of scientific research nor philosophical interpretation, but rather in the field of direct revelation.
As to his concept of Jesus he says: "... let us not forget that the perfect man is not a myth; he has existed, in the person of Jesus," who he says "can be assimilated," "to one of the intermediary... forms, perhaps a million years in advance of evolution."
Because they are familiar to most of us I shall not here review in detail our beliefs about Jesus. President Clark set them forth with much clarity this morning. But I do submit to you that these postulated concepts of God and Jesus omit every essential aspect of the divine Redeemer whom we worship. They rule out his and our pre-existence, his divine Sonship, the fall of Adam, and Christ's atonement, Christ's and our resurrection, his past, present, and future role in the courts on high, and our eternal progress and destiny in the world to come.
I repeat that in our peculiar beliefs and faith in Jesus Christ, comprising the foregoing and other revealed truths concerning him, we greatly differ from other people of the earth.
But does it make any difference which beliefs men accept? Remembering that Jesus said a tree may be known by its fruit, let us look at this question for just a moment. One of the fruits of the foregoing conceptions of Jesus is that the good life which he projected may be attained by accepting and applying his so-called "ethical and moral teachings" such as those expressed in the Sermon on the Mount, while at the same time denying his divinity and ridiculing the fundamental doctrines of his gospel. Here is a quotation from one of the most ardent proponents of this theory.
"What was Jesus' ancestry? Was He a descendant of Joseph and Mary, or of God and Mary? He was a descendant of Joseph and Mary. He was the most perfect human being who ever lived, but He was not the Son of God." And further, "belief in... the Virgin Mary, the atonement, trinity, etc., will not help to make a better world, but belief in the fundamentals of Jesus' democracy and the social values named in the Sermon on the Mount will".
Now I submit to you that all history, including the present state of world affairs, testifies that the fruits of the teachings of Jesus Christ cannot be had by accepting some of his teachings, rejecting the rest, and denying his divinity. Of all the world's ills, none is more tragic than the denial of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, by so many people who profess to believe in him.
Another fruit of the supreme intelligence theory is that God set a goal for man, but "did not prescribe the means" by which that goal may be attained. This was left, so the theory runs, for man to discover by trial and error. Such a doctrine is the antithesis of our knowledge that Jesus Christ prescribed the exact course by which men may come to the perfection he enjoined.
"He marked the path and led the way, And ev'ry point defines, To light and life and endless day, Where God's full presence shines."
Now to come directly to the point of these remarks, let us consider the fruits of believing Jesus to be what he claimed to be-the literal Son of God in the spirit and in the flesh, the revelation of God to man, the Redeemer, our advocate with the Father. What does such a belief do for one?
Speaking generally, it becomes the motivating force in one's life. Specifically, it induces one to render obedience to the initiatory principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is, to have faith in Jesus, to repent, to be baptized by immersion for the remission of sins, and to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. Wholehearted obedience to these purifying and sanctifying principles and ordinances works in the life of the true believer a far-reaching miracle. For one thing, it confers upon him membership in the literal kingdom of God, identifying him as a sheep of the true Shepherd.
Through obedience to these principles and ordinances there is introduced into one's life a new light, a light which conveys to his mind, and opens his understanding to, "... pure knowledge which shall greatly enlarge the soul". Such an one is in a real sense readmitted into the presence of God. The direct line of communication from God to him is reopened. By this he is sustained in his belief in Jesus Christ with an assurance beyond the understanding of the uninitiated.
This great source of pure knowledge, wisdom, light, and intelligence is, of course, the Holy Ghost who the Savior said would lead men into all truth. To understand and appreciate this great gift it must be experienced. But I bear you witness that it is real and will work a miracle in your understanding. You will remember that without it Peter denied Jesus on the night of his great trial. Possessing it, Peter and John defied their captors, with this declaration: "... whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
"For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard". While one enjoys this gift his belief in Jesus Christ is secure.
Now, the third effect of complying with these principles of the gospel is forgiveness of sins. This is in itself a mighty miracle. Sin is wickedness and "... wickedness never was happiness".
Most of the suffering and distress endured by people of this earth is the result of unrepented and unremitted sin. Paul spoke two universal truths when he said to the Romans, "... the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord". Just as suffering and sorrow attend sin, so happiness and joy attend forgiveness of sins.
Alma said of his suffering for sin "... there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains," and then, speaking of the joy which came to him when, through repentance, he had received forgiveness, he said, "Yea, and again I say unto you,... that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy".
Forgiveness of sins is prerequisite to a full fellowship in the Church of Jesus Christ. It is a prerequisite to enjoying the gift of the Holy Ghost. As a matter of fact every blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ is predicated upon receiving forgiveness of sins; for, as Jesus said, "... no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore, nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end". Then he added: "Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day".
In this statement Jesus Christ gave the only prescription there is for obtaining forgiveness of sins, and, therefore, the only way to happiness, the only way to a pure knowledge of God our Eternal Father and his Son Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. The following of this prescription depends wholly upon one's belief in Jesus Christ.
I sincerely pray that should the question arise as to, "What do we have which others do not have?" we will remember and try to understand the eternal truths implied in Jesus' statement to the unbelieving Jews, "... if ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins".
God grant that each of us may escape such a death by believing with Peter that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the Living God", I humbly pray in his name. Amen.
Elder ElRay L. Christiansen
ElRay L. Christiansen, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 12-15
I pray humbly, my brothers and sisters, that what I shall say may be appropriate. I have been so uplifted by that which has already been spoken from this pulpit this morning, that my heart is filled with gratitude for the goodness and blessings of the Lord, especially for the absolute testimony that I have of his divinity.
Almost two thousand years ago he said, "If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me". And again he said, "Let no man be afraid to lay down his life for my sake; for whoso layeth down his life for my sake shall find it again.
"And whoso is not willing to lay down his life for my sake is not my disciple".
We can place ourselves in either category we wish.
In my opinion, one of the noblest expressions of unselfish devotion and a willingness to give of one's self is found in missionary work. We believe that every Latter-day Saint who has the capacity to so do carries the obligation to share with others the truth of the restored gospel. The depth of this belief is adequately demonstrated by the more than ten thousand missionaries at home and abroad, full time and part time according to their calls, who are serving at their own expense in the missions of the world and in the stake missions.
They answer the calls to serve without equivocation or hesitancy. It matters not one whit to which land or country or clime they may be assigned, even though it might require the learning of a new and difficult language; even though it requires personal sacrifice for him or his family or both, he goes forth and figuratively loses his life for that period of time in the hope that he may bring to others a newness of life and hope and understanding-which may lead to salvation.
Missionary service is not only a test of faith but a real test of character. This is seen in the remarks of a young missionary who said: "In the Army I was forced to obey orders, but in the mission field I am given instructions and then placed on my honor. This has been to me one of the greatest tests in my life."
Although a few months have passed since we visited your sons and daughters in the ten missions of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, North Germany, West Germany, Swiss-Austria, France, and Great Britain, I wish to fulfil a promise and bring the greetings, not only of the missionaries, the mission presidents and their devoted wives but also of many of the faithful members in the fourteen countries that comprise those missions.
In addition to our meetings with the missionaries in report and testimony meetings, I had the privilege of interviewing practically all of the nearly twelve hundred who are laboring in those various missions. It was an arduous undertaking, but it was compensating and worth while to look into their handsome faces across a table and inquire about their work, their thinking and their faith, their living, and to ask about their parents at home and to receive almost without exception the assurance that they are living clean lives, that they are doing well as ambassadors of truth, that they know the gospel of Jesus Christ, as it has been restored, is true. Not only can you be proud of them but they, too, are proud of you, their families at home, and have deep concern about you.
One young missionary from Canada reported: "My greatest moment came this morning. You see, my father is a baptized member, but he is inactive. He was not in favor of my coming on this mission, but this morning I received a Christmas card from him on which he wrote, 'I am proud of you, my son, and I wish you success on your mission.' This has been the best Christmas gift that my dad ever gave me."
In Denmark, one of these fine young men said, "When I received my call my grandfather was using tobacco. Then and there he said that he would quit, and he did. He never went to Church much before I left, but now he goes regularly. And, he has lately gone to the temple. Now the greatest hope that I have is that my dad will prepare himself to go to the temple with his family so that we can enjoy our family association forever as we now do." He said, "If my mission does nothing more than to bring my family to a realization that the gospel is the most important thing in their lives it will have been worth while."
It is true that parents live in their thoughts every day and almost every hour with their missionary sons and daughters.
One young man from Springville said, "Every time my mother tells anyone that she has a son in the mission field, she can hardly keep from crying because she is so proud of me. She feels that I am filling a mission for two. You see, when my father received his call, he was financially unable to go. I am determined to give this mission the best I have, both for him and for myself."
Working hand in hand with the missionaries from the stakes of Zion there are in each of these ten missions a surprising number of local, full-time missionaries as well as part-time missionaries. The devotion of these young men and young women as well as their effectiveness are equal to that of our missionaries from America.
When we met in Berlin in our conference, which was attended by nearly six hundred members of the Church, there were present a number from the east part of Berlin. Among them were twenty-one missionaries who were laboring under Brother Berkhardt, a counselor in the mission presidency. After the general meeting we met with them and heard their testimonies and their reports. It touched our hearts to feel their faith, their spiritual strength, and their love of the gospel. I said to them in conclusion, "Remember that the brethren and the Saints are praying for you.
One of them raised his hand and stood up and said, "Brother Christiansen, tell the Saints and the brethren that we are praying for them." I thought that was wonderful to think that they would be concerned about our well-being.
Directing the labors of these missionaries are the mission presidents who, along with their capable wives, are carrying out their heavy assignments with complete devotion. I pay my tribute to their unselfish and efficient service.
In these ten missions there are nearly forty-five thousand members of the Church. I could see that the gospel is a compelling instrument in transforming the lives of those who accept it and who live it.
One convert, a teacher in a university, put it this way: "It is like coming out of the darkness into the light. It is so consistent with reason, and it gives understanding and assurance which all men need."
The faith of many is something to behold. In Heidelberg, Germany, a local district president stood before the pulpit with one arm gone, having lost it in the war. He formerly was a high officer in the SS. Then, he carried out the orders of the war lords for the destruction of men, but now having been converted to the gospel, he stood before this group of Saints, humbly, carrying out the wishes and the plans of the Lord for the salvation of men.
A convert of a year or so, living in Hallein, Austria, who is a self-supporting woman, insists on paying twenty percent in tithing. When we talked to her, she said, "Why, I have been a member of the Church only a short time, and I have missed out on many blessings. I feel that I can never repay the Lord for what I have received in finding the truth. Let me go forward with this program."
My brothers and sisters, I felt a surge of interest amongst the people in those missions. Respect for the Church and even admiration on the part of the people, generally, is evident. This has come not only because of a better plan of presenting the gospel and increased effectiveness of the missionaries, but also where new buildings of our own design have been erected it is not difficult to see that the respect and the interest of the people, beyond that of curiosity, has increased and a wider interest is manifested by many fine people.
Where public meetings were held in our own buildings the attendance of friends and investigators was far beyond our expectations. Fifteen buildings were dedicated in these missions on this tour.
I found that in place of mere tolerance there is an ever-increasing desire to recognize and to investigate, and I am convinced that an epoch of growth and progress is immediately before us in the various missions in Europe and Scandinavia. In practically every city, except in one mission where the state has not recognized this Church as such, we were visited by polite, interested reporters who gave very good and honest publicity. Twenty-six reporters attended a news conference in the city of Berlin and stayed for an hour and fifteen minutes asking pertinent questions about the Church. I was informed that very acceptable newspaper articles appeared in the press the following day.
The presence of the Swiss and the London temples has had a very definite and noticeable effect upon the people in the areas surrounding them and far into the other lands as well. These temples bring to Europe not only a newness to the landscape, but more importantly, they bring also a newness of thought and of purpose to the lives of thousands of people who know about them and their purposes.
This newness of life's purpose is expressed in the words of a visitor to the London Temple prior to its dedication. After the nature of the work to be done in the temple had been explained, members of the group were asked if they wished to comment or ask questions. One said, "I can say nothing. I'm overwhelmed because of the beautiful and desirable principles that have been revealed to me here today." People are still coming onto the grounds, feeling the influence of those sacred edifices and learning from the guides there the true purpose of life and of salvation.
I was instructed, by the First Presidency, to encourage the members to engage in genealogical research. I did this to the best of my ability. I was pleased to note the willing response and the certain interest that was manifested on the part of the Saints everywhere and to find that now in almost every district there is a genealogical organization set up with men and women who have considerable understanding as to the procedures of genealogical research.
I am happy to return in service to the Church and to the Lord a little of that which I have received in such abundance. I am happy to bear my testimony. I know that Jesus is the Redeemer, the Savior of mankind. I know that the gospel has been restored according to the promise of the Lord through his prophets and that Joseph Smith was the instrument in his hands; that all Presidents of the Church were and are prophets, seers, and revelators. I know that in due time of the Lord our testimonies will be vindicated, because in the words of another, "Truth like the sun permits itself to be obscured, but like the sun only for a time."
May God bless us that we may be true and faithful, I pray, humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Amen.
Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin
Joseph L. Wirthlin, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 15-17
President McKay, my brethren and sisters, I sincerely hope that I may have the inspiration and guidance necessary to express to you one or two thoughts.
I have been thinking about the Israelites when they were in Egypt and were slaves, but through the guidance and direction of the Prophet Moses, it was possible for them to become free and leave Egypt and go to the Promised Land. The Lord gave them inspiration through Moses and guided them which built them up in the faith that God actually lived and that in the future his Son, Jesus Christ, would appear upon the earth. He gave them the Ten Commandments. I draw to your attention the fourth commandment. I shall only read part of it. The Lord said, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: "But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God".
As the Israelites traveled along, they forgot the Ten Commandments. They gathered together their gold and built the golden calf which they worshiped in place of the Lord, and they forgot the Lord's day-the Sabbath day. They failed to meet together on the Sabbath day and thank the Lord for all of the blessings that he bestowed upon them, namely freedom and the right to hold the Promised Land.
This event with reference to keeping the Sabbath day holy by commandment from God took place 3,500 years ago. Two thousand years ago, the Christ taught the world to keep the Sabbath day holy, for he declared, "And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath". Conditions in the world then as of today indicate that man is made for the Sabbath and not the Sabbath for man. Brethren and sisters, if people will give consideration of the Sabbath as a holy day and remember God who has given them life as their Father and Jesus Christ, his Son, as their older Brother, meeting together in priesthood meeting and Sacrament meeting with the attitude of prayer, they will be blessed, guided, and directed by divine inspiration whereby they can bear testimony that God actually lives and that Christ is his Son.
Again, it was necessary for the Lord to make it clear to the people that the Sabbath day is his day, a holy day, for on August 7, 1831, one hundred and twenty-seven years ago, an American Prophet, Joseph Smith, received a revelation from the Lord, "And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day; "For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High".
We of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accept this marvelous revelation, and we accept and look upon the Sabbath day of the Lord as the most sacred day of the week. As a people, we have a great responsibility not only living the gospel but also in constantly keeping the Sabbath day of the Lord holy and sacred, thereby setting an example to the world as a whole.
The Sabbath day is indeed a day of rest and one wherein we express our appreciation to the Lord for the many blessings that we have and do receive.
As the Israelites worshiped the golden calf, in many respects in various areas the golden calf is again being worshiped wherein nations and individuals are interested in the matter of recreation, the earning of money, farming, and different kinds of other businesses on the Sabbath day, all of which is contrary to the mind and will of him who gave us life, even our Father in heaven.
I am positively sure that after the organization of the Church on April 6, 1830, the membership kept the Sabbath day holy. Originally, they were in New York, Ohio, Missouri, and finally Illinois and were driven out of Nauvoo by their enemies. The Prophet had borne his testimony of the existence of God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, for he saw them and lost his life for bearing this testimony; but another new prophet was selected, even Brigham Young, who led the membership of the Church in making the long trip across the plains to the area of these mountains where the Church is now located and where we, its membership, have the privilege of dwelling. The pioneers on Sunday recognized the day of the Lord-the Sabbath. They thanked him for all the blessings that had been bestowed upon them. They partook of the Sacrament and received inspiration and divine guidance from their leadership which included the prophet and members of the twelve. The pioneers not only accepted the Sabbath day as the Holy Day of the Lord as they traveled over the plains, but also after arriving here and in various areas they saw to it that the Sabbath day was a holy day wherein they held Sacrament meeting and gave consideration to the Holy Priesthood which they held. They looked upon one another as brethren and sisters, sons and daughters of God, and Jesus Christ his Son, as their older Brother. The pioneers have set us a great example with reference to keeping the Sabbath day holy, and therein we have a great responsibility in so teaching the world the holiness of the Sabbath day by the kind of example we set. We have many opportunities not only for ourselves but for others; for example, the great Sunday School organization is available to teach the gospel as it has been revealed through Jesus Christ and the prophets from the days of the Prophet Joseph down to the present time. Brigham Young declared upon one occasion, "In some of our Wards and settlements the administering of the Sacrament has been introduced in the Sunday Schools. It is very pleasing and gratifying to the spirit that I possess, for the parents to see that their children attend Sunday school and receive the proper instruction with regard to their faith. After the Sunday school is over, let the parents take the pains to bring their children to meetings". He recognized the most important meeting of the week-the Sacrament meeting on the day of the Lord, the day when they should come together and partake of the Sacrament and remember exactly what the Christ had done in dying for all men and making it possible for us to have the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, our guidance and our direction. I pray the day will come that all of these men of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood will attend Sunday morning priesthood meeting, Sunday School, and particularly the Sacrament meeting.
There comes to my mind the history of a wonderful man. I knew him at the age of twelve. His name was Jesse Knight. As a boy I lived with my family in Eureka, Utah, until I arrived at the age of fourteen, and during my boyhood days, I knew and came in contact with Jesse Knight. He opened up five of the great mines in the Eureka area and became a very wealthy man but with all of it, he was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He paid his tithing and made contributions to the Church, and particularly to Brigham Young University, but in spite of his wealth and greatness, he did not see the golden calf. He was one of those individuals who accepted the Sabbath day as the day of the Lord. On the Sabbath day, his mines were closed His miners had the opportunity of rest and of attending their various meetings. There was erected a mining camp which carried his name, Knightsville, wherein he immediately saw to it that a chapel was erected, a ward was organized, and at the head of this ward as bishop was John Roundy, the general superintendent of all of these mines. I knew him when I was a boy and up until the time he passed away some few years ago. But the thought is this, that to Jesse Knight the Sabbath day was a holy day not only for himself but also for all of those who were employed by him. Upon closing his mines on the Sabbath day there were other individuals who owned mines in the area who complained, indicating that closing the mines on Sunday would create difficulty for them, but, nevertheless, Brother Knight went ahead and closed his mines. In a short time, the owners of these other mines soon followed his example, and in this large mining camp for several years all miners had the privilege of attending their meetings and keeping the day of the Lord holy which unfortunately has since changed wherein the holy day of the Lord is forgotten in many such areas.
Once again, brethren and sisters, I bear testimony to you that if we will keep the Sabbath day holy, the Lord will bless us, guide us, inspire us, and direct us in solving our many problems. The Lord will never forget us if we do not forget him. The Apostle Paul said "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost". Do you suppose that we can enjoy righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost if we fail to keep the Sabbath day holy? With reference to the statement of the Apostle Paul, "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink;..." he had in mind of keeping the Sabbath day unholy by participating in recreation and the opening of businesses on the Sabbath day, all of which is contrary to the mind and will of our Father in heaven.
How inspiring it is to thank the Lord in our homes, and not only in our homes, but to have the privilege of coming together on the Sabbath day in Sacrament meeting and expressing our gratitude and thanks for the many blessings that we have and do receive from day to day.
I again draw to your attention the statement of the Prophet Moses over 3,500 years ago when he said, "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God".
And the statement of the Christ 2,000 years ago wherein he declared, "And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: "Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath".
And the revelation to the Prophet Joseph, "And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day; "For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High".
In conclusion, my brethren and sisters, I bear testimony to you if we will follow and live the words of the Prophet Moses, of Jesus Christ the Son of God and the Prophet Joseph Smith, a divine prophet, in keeping the Sabbath day holy, the Lord, in turn, will bless us guide us, direct us, and inspire us which I pray will be the blessing of all of us, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder LeGrand Richards
LeGrand Richards, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 18-20
I am very happy, brothers and sisters to have the privilege of attending this conference with you. I rejoice in my membership in the Church and in the faith of the Latter-day Saints, and the work that they are accomplishing for good in the world.
Last night we were told in our missionary conference meeting here, that during 1958 we had 33,330 convert baptisms into the Church. Now that represents a lot of work, and it represents people who have left the teachings of their youth and joined this Church because the Lord has given them a witness by the power of the Holy Spirit, that this work is truly divine.
I returned a week ago from touring the West Spanish-American Mission, among our Spanish-speaking people. I was impressed as I listened to President Christiansen here today tell of the testimonies he heard while touring the missions of Europe. Such testimonies you hear wherever you go. One little Mexican widow we met while touring the mission, left with six little children, and asked to bear her testimony, thanked the Lord that she had the gospel now to raise her children by. That was typical of many of the testimonies we heard.
Recently at a conference in Arizona, a prominent banker, who had just joined the Church, said, "This Church is not just a religion, it is a way of life." And when you find the joy and the happiness that come to people through accepting the gospel, it makes you feel as if we should put forth every effort in our power to share our message with all of our Father's children.
The Lord indicated when he gave the signs of his second coming, that this gospel of the kingdom, the gospel that he preached, the gospel that he left with his twelve, would be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then should the end come.
It is not that we expect everybody will accept the truth, because their minds are blinded, but if they would it would greatly enrich their lives. I thought as I listened to these testimonies, that if I could have the desire of my heart above all other things, it would be that all men everywhere, our Father's sons and daughters, might share with us the glorious truths of the restored gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think I felt like Alma of old. After hearing the testimonies of his brethren of their experiences in the mission field he made this statement:
"O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!".
On Wednesday of this week, we spent eight and one-half hours listening to our mission presidents. Thirty-eight of them spoke and bore their witness of the joy they found in their labors, and of the happiness that comes to those who accept the gospel, and of the miraculous manner in which the Lord had led some of the missionaries to the homes of those who have been seeking after truth.
So I feel that the greatest desire of our hearts should be to share this message with all the world.
One of our noted commentators is reported to have said that he was once asked what message could be broadcast to the world that would be considered more important than any other, and he said, after giving it consideration, he decided that to be able to broadcast to the world that a man who had lived upon this earth and had died had returned again with a message from God, would be the greatest message that could be broadcast to the world.
That being true, the Latter-day Saints have the greatest message. You have heard the testimony borne this morning that the Father and the Son appeared to the boy, Joseph Smith. You listened to President Clark tell of the doubt in the hearts of even the followers and the apostles of Jesus when the report came to them from the women that he was not in the tomb but that he was risen and they thought it was an idle tale. When we talk today of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ coming back to this earth and holy messengers visiting this earth in our day, the world thinks that these are idle tales and yet they profess to believe in the Bible, how the Lord appeared to the prophets of old and the Bible bears witness that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever without shadow of changing, and how can they believe in that kind of a God and then believe that the heavens are sealed so that he cannot talk to us today as he did in days of old.
I would like to say to those who are not members of the Church who might be listening in over the air, or those who are here present today, that our witness is true. We know it is true, and someday, if you have listened to our testimonies and you do not go to the trouble to find out whether these testimonies are true or not, you are going to be held accountable; for our message is to be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.
I have thought that it would not be necessary to study everything and read all the scriptures if one really wanted to know if our message is true. There is no other message like it in all the world; no other people profess an opening of the heavens and the visitation to this earth of holy messengers in our day; for the most tangible evidence of the truth of the story of the Prophet Joseph Smith is the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon has been distributed by millions of copies all over the world, and there are many, even not members of the Church, who believe that the Book of Mormon is true.
Just read the testimony of the three witnesses in the front of every book where they testify that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before their eyes, that they beheld and saw the plates and the engravings thereon, and the angel declared unto them that they were translated by the gift and the power of God.
Why cannot the world believe such a testimony as that? And then there is the testimony of the eight witnesses to whom the Prophet was privileged to show the plates. Then there is the testimony that comes from those who accept the gospel.
I attended a conference recently where a young woman, a convert, the mother of two little children, was asked to bear her testimony. She said something like this:
"When the elders came into my home, they read me the promise in the Book of Mormon that when that book came to us, if we would read it, asking God the Eternal Father in sincerity, that the Lord would manifest the truth of it unto us by the power of the Holy Ghost".
She said, "I believed that promise, and I went into my bedroom and got down on my knees and asked God the Eternal Father to let me know whether that book was true or not, and I read it, and my whole soul was illumined, and I knew that it was divine."
We had a man here as a tourist on Temple Square a few years ago, a minister from Texas, and after returning home he wrote a letter back saying that he had purchased a copy of the Book of Mormon. He said, "I have a library of important books that cost me over twelve thousand dollars, but I have one book that is more valuable than them all because it is the word of God and it is the Book of Mormon."
Just recently a letter came in to the headquarters of the Church from a minister in the East. He said he bought a copy of the Book of Mormon years ago from a Mormon elder who called at his home. He said, "I put it in my library. I never read it until recently, and now I have been reading it, and I have been quoting from it in my sermons." In his letter he mentioned the words of Alma and the words of Nephi out of the Book of Mormon which he had used in the preparation of his sermons.
Why cannot the world believe? Why cannot they accept it? Some of you remember a few years ago how Brother Nicholas G. Smith told us of being invited by the dean of religion at the University of Southern California in California to lend him a copy of the Book of Mormon. He gave him a copy used by the missionaries that had passages underlined in red ink, or a lead pencil, and that minister invited Brother Smith and the missionaries to attend his next meeting in his own parish, and he stood before his people and read verse after verse that had been underlined by the missionaries, and then he said something like this:
"Why cannot we fellowship a people who believe in such wonderful things as I have been reading to you here today?" And then he went on to say, "We have here a volume of scripture which has been in our midst a hundred years, and we have not known anything about it."
I see that my time has gone. I love the Book of Mormon. I know that no honest soul searching after God can study that book without knowing that it is divine, that it was not written by Joseph Smith; and when it is evident that it is what it purports to be, a volume of scripture that the Bible promised should come forth in our day, then all of the message of the Prophet Joseph Smith is true, then they will open their hearts and their minds to the messages of Moroni, John the Baptist, Peter James, and John, Moses, Elijah, Elias the prophets who have visited this earth in the restitution of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began, which Peter declared and promised would occur in this world before the coming of Christ.
The Book of Mormon was preserved to be a witness that Jesus is the Christ the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.
In 1934 a questionnaire was sent out to five hundred Protestant ministers by the Northwestern University, and out of 500, 130 of them denied the Deity of Jesus. When the blind lead the blind, Jesus said "... both shall fall into the ditch".
We invite all men everywhere to make an investigation, and we promise them as servants of the Living God that they can know that this work is divine and that is my testimony to you, and I give it to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.
President Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 21-24
My dear brethren and sisters, I need the help of the Spirit of the Lord. Elder Christiansen reported his visit to the various branches of the Church in Europe. I made a promise to the good members of the Church in the far Pacific that when I returned I would remember them to you and express to you their love and fellowship. It is a glorious thing to go into a country, one so far away, and find members of the Church who think and act just as we do here, with the same testimony of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am fulfilling my promise in expressing to you their goodwill and fellowship.
For the few minutes that I have I would like to take a text from the words of our Savior, "... except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God".
I am firmly convinced that nowhere else in the world, outside of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is there anyone who has the authority to perform the ordinances that would bring the birth of the water and of the Spirit to mankind. That would have to be from someone who has the authority of the priesthood of God, and that authority was revealed in these latter-days, the Aaronic Priesthood first by John the Baptist to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and then the Melchizedek Priesthood under the hands of Peter, James, and John, also to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.
And from that source we have obtained the priesthood of God by which we act and by which we go forth into the world to preach the gospel to those who sit in darkness. I know this statement is not pleasing to the great majority of people upon the face of the earth, but nevertheless it is true. And I realize that it is impossible for us-all things are possible, of course, to the Lord-but it is impossible for us with all the means that we have at our command and the means at our command have increased wonderfully in the last few years-but we cannot reach every soul living upon the face of the earth. They are dying off every day. They are being born every day into the world.
However, the Word of the Lord being true, the time must come when the message of salvation will reach every soul. How is that to be done? We do the best we can with all the facilities at our command, through the preaching of the gospel, disseminating the truth by word of mouth, by the many facilities that are at our command, through the magazines that are published through the press and every other means. But it is impossible for us with the facilities such as they are, to reach every soul.
Furthermore, there have been millions upon millions of people who have lived in this world who never had the opportunity to hear of Christ, never heard his name; they lived at a time and in a place where his name was not known, where the gospel did not reach them not because of any fault on the part of our Father in heaven nor of his servants to reach the peoples of the earth, but because from the beginning of time men have loved Satan more than they loved God, and they have turned away and refused to receive the truth, have raised their children in darkness, and they have died in darkness, so far as the gospel of Jesus Christ is concerned.
Nevertheless, the promises of the Lord must and will be fulfilled. From the very beginning of this dispensation, just a few months after the organization of the Church, the Lord gave a revelation in which he foreshadowed the salvation of the human family, all of those who would repent and believe. I shall read to you this part of the Lord's Preface to the book of his commandments; the words of Jesus Christ, himself.
"Hearken, O ye people of my church, saith the voice of him who dwells on high, and whose eyes are upon all men; yea, verily I say: Hearken ye people from afar; and ye that are upon the islands of the sea, listen together".
Now, that is to all those who are living. But the Lord goes on to enlarge this thought. And he says:
"For verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men, and there is none to escape, and there is no eye that shall not see, neither ear that shall not hear, neither heart that shall not be penetrated".
The Lord has not limited that to any dispensation or any age upon the face of the earth. He has made that just as broad as the history of mankind and he adds:
"And the rebellious shall be pierced with much sorrow; for their iniquities shall be spoken upon the housetops, and their secret acts shall be revealed".
It seems so strange to me that the peoples of this world since the days of the great apostasy, when the apostles of old were removed and those who held the priesthood were destroyed, that the world could fall into the awful condition which today prevails, which denies salvation to every soul born into this world who never heard the name of Jesus Christ or never had an opportunity to repent and be baptized or receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. They have held out no hope for all of these people of the nations, pagan or otherwise, who have dwelt upon the face of the earth without the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Lord is just, and he has made it clear that the time will come when every soul shall have an opportunity to hear the truth. That does not mean that every soul has the opportunity or will have that opportunity in this mortal world. Millions have died without that opportunity. It has been no fault of theirs, but the fault lies with their fathers before them, who turned away from the truth which truth was given in the beginning to Adam who was commanded to teach these things to his children. The scriptures say that Adam did teach these things to his children but that they loved Satan more than they loved God, and Satan came among them and said, "I, too, am a son of God, believe it not, and they believed it not and from that time forth men became carnal, sensual and devilish", and so darkness spread over the face of the earth.
In his justice, the Lord has revealed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, just as he revealed it in the days of the apostles, that there is a salvation even for the dead and the time must come when every soul must have an opportunity to hear it. Those who did not get the opportunity to hear it in this world will have that opportunity in the world of spirits, and Peter made that very clear in his Epistles, and it is only fair that those who died without a knowledge of the gospel should have the opportunity to hear it, and the Lord revealed that great truth to the Prophet Joseph Smith, that the time would come when the gospel of the kingdom would be declared to the dead and they who never had the opportunity of hearing it should have that opportunity given to them, and if they would repent in that spirit world then we could go into the temples of the Lord and perform the ordinances for them vicariously, being saviors upon Mount Zion, and thus give unto the dead the opportunity to hear the truth, to repent of their sins, and if they will repent and turn away from evil and accept the truth, we can go into the temples of the Lord and perform the ordinances for them which will be valid unto them just the same as if they were living upon the face of the earth.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a vicarious work. Christ came into this world and died for mankind. He did not die just for those who repented of their sins and received his gospel. His death upon the cross brought salvation to every living soul, so far as the resurrection from the dead is concerned, and every soul born into this world shall receive the resurrection from the dead because he was not guilty of bringing death into the world, and man is not penalized because death came into the world, but naturally he has to die-that is part of the mortal life-but he will be raised again in the resurrection no matter who he is, no matter when he lived, no matter what he believed or what he failed to believe. That is a universal gift from Jesus Christ to every soul.
It is a different matter, however, so far as the kingdom of God is concerned, and no soul is going to enter into that kingdom until he has received either in this life in person or by proxy because he was not here to do it for himself, baptism for the remission of his sins and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. What a wonderful gift it is the Lord has placed into our hands, to bring salvation to the dead, to those who are willing to repent and receive the truth.
I have no idea in my mind that every soul that has lived upon the face of the earth, who has died and gone to the spirit world, is going to repent and receive the gospel. There will be many that will not do that. Our scriptures point to that fact. They are not going to receive the gospel in the spirit world, when their souls are full of bitterness and hate towards the truth, but they have a right to have it taught to them.
The Lord went into the spirit world, himself, turned the key for the salvation of the dead and our elders when they pass to the next world, go into that world to continue their labors of preaching the gospel, bringing to repentance all who are willing to repent and receive the truth, that they might come into the kingdom of God, or as Paul calls it, "the family of God in heaven and on earth". For it is the family of God. The kingdom of God will be one great family. We call ourselves brothers and sisters. In very deed we become joint heirs with Jesus Christ through the gospel of Jesus Christ, sons and daughters of God, and entitled to the fullness of the blessings of his kingdom if we will repent and keep these commandments.
In conclusion I want to read to you one or two statements dealing with our responsibilities towards the dead. First from the Prophet Joseph Smith:
"The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us, is to seek after our dead".
"This doctrine was the burden of the scriptures. Those Saints who neglect it, in behalf of their deceased relatives, do it at the peril of their own salvation".
"It is one of the greatest and most important subjects that God has revealed. He should send Elijah to seal the children to the fathers, and the fathers to the children... without us, they could not be made perfect, nor we without them; the fathers without the children, nor the children without the fathers... I wish you to understand this subject, for it is important".
"We have a work to do just as important in its sphere as the Savior's work was in its sphere. Our fathers cannot be made perfect without us; we cannot be made perfect without them. They have done their work and now sleep. We are now called upon to do ours; which is to be the greatest work man ever performed on the earth.".
"The ordinance of sealing must be performed here man to man, and woman to man, and children to parents, etc. until the chain of generation is made perfect in the sealing ordinances back to Father Adam".
"Brethren and sisters, lay these things to heart. Let us go on with our records... I pray God that as a people our eyes may be opened to see, our ears to hear, and our hearts to understand the great and mighty work that rests upon our shoulders, and that the God of heaven requires at our hand".
"This is the day in which the Lord expects his Church at least to inaugurate the great work of turning 'the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers'".
"What about your great great ancestors who never heard the name of Jesus Christ?... You may have the opportunity of gathering the names of your ancestors and, by being baptized for by proxy, they may become members of the kingdom of God in the other world as we are members here".
Now, brethren, these are our responsibilities, and the Lord requires this work at our hands. The Church has gone to great expense endeavoring to gather the records of the dead, and I want to say to you, has been very, very successful in that labor to gather in the records of your ancestors so that we could go into the temples of the Lord and perform these labors for them so that all who are willing to repent and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ may be brought into his kingdom and into that great family of God, which is both in heaven and on earth.
And I humbly pray that this spirit will take hold of the members of the Church, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Alma Sonne
Alma Sonne, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 25-26
My brethren and sisters, just as I arose to step up here to the rostrum my good friend and associate, Elder Christiansen said, "The Lord bless you." I think I have never needed his blessing more than I do at this moment, and I pray for the good Spirit, and pray also for your support and your sympathy.
I was impressed very much with the remarks of President Joseph Fielding Smith. He referred to the comprehensiveness of Mormonism, how this gospel of the kingdom must be preached to every creature-all of God's children-whether they be living or whether they be dead. A few years ago I was over in Norway and visited the little town of Trondheim where a car took us up to an elevated place just back of the Viking Monument in that city. As the car stopped I said to the driver, "Do you know where Brother John A. Widtsoe and his mother lived when their home was in this city?" He said, "Of course. Everyone knows that. Would you like to see it?" Of course, I would.
He drove us down through the city and we finally stopped in front of a little white dwelling. Everything about that place was immaculate. Even the stones around the walks were painted white. I knocked at the door, and I said to the woman who opened it "May I go around to the back and see the premises in the rear?" She said "Of course!" I walked around to the back and as I stood there I saw some lettering on the fence. I walked nearer so I could better see the lettering, and I deciphered the name, Karl Vidtsoe. I wrote the name in my book, and when I came back to Salt Lake City I immediately went up to see Brother Widtsoe. I said to him, "Brother Widtsoe, who is Karl Vidtsoe?" He said "Oh, that is Uncle Karl. Uncle Karl was a good man, but he never could see the beauty and the strength of the restored gospel. But Sister Widtsoe and I have been over there," he pointed to the temple, "and we have done the work for Karl-all we can do for him in this life, but when we get over on the other side I will surely find Karl, and I will preach the gospel to him until he is ready to receive it."
Do you see the beauty of the restored gospel? Do you see the anxiety of Brother Widtsoe to proclaim the gospel truths to his relative? It occurs to me as I stand here that our work is probably never done. We will commence on the morrow, or whenever we pass on, just where we left off today. We will search for our relatives and our friends until we will find them, and we will preach to them the self-same gospel which we are teaching the world today, both at home and abroad. It is glorious, brethren and sisters, to contemplate this phase of the restored gospel.
I jotted down here in just a moment, two or three passages of scripture. One reads like this: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all shall be added unto you". Here is another one which has come to us through modern revelation. "... Many are called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?
"Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men". Have you seen men depart from the faith because their hearts are centered in the things of this world? And because they aspire to the honors of men?
Another statement made by the Savior: "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God?". I do not know exactly what the Lord meant when he said that, but I do believe that we have no right as members of the Church to put our first thoughts to the accumulation of worldly things, and I believe he expects us, as stated in that verse I first read, to seek first his kingdom.
He said to the rich young ruler: "If thou wilt be perfect, go sell all thou hast, and give to the poor, and take up thy cross and follow me". The rich young ruler could not comply because he had many possessions, and as a result he went away sorrowing.
Judas Iscariot thought he could get nowhere without money, so he betrayed his Lord for thirty pieces of silver. The sequence to that is that Judas hanged himself. I know a man who gave up his responsibilities in the Church in order to make money. As a result he is wealthy, and has become a power in the business world, but I now observe that he has lost his family and destroyed his chances and his opportunities for a place in God's kingdom. That is tragic, my brethren and sisters.
I know another man who gave up his position in a large business concern rather than give up his calling as a bishop. I loved that man. He died a year ago, but he left his widow enough for her care while she lives, and I have observed that his sons are recognized leaders in the business world. The Lord blesses devotion and faithful performance.
I have been reading just recently the life of Dr. Karl G. Maeser. Brother Maeser was a remarkable man. Somewhere in the book it tells about a group of missionaries who had met together in Meissen, Germany, the birthplace of Dr. Maeser. One of the missionaries made this remark: "Think what Dr. Maeser has done for the Church." Another responded promptly: "Think what the Church has done for Dr. Maeser." That remark offers a real suggestion. Have you ever stopped to think what the Church has done for you individually? How it has enriched your life? How it has given you courage and strength to go forward in your daily pursuits, and how it has brought you comfort in times of sorrow and distress? It is wonderful to belong to the Church.
Many of our leaders, past and present have made great contributions to the Church. I know men who have laid upon the altar every worldly possession they had for the gospel's sake.
They have gone into strange lands, sometimes far away from home and friends, to teach the gospel of the kingdom, and to explain God's revealed plan of salvation to others. Dr. Maeser, as I have read, was reared in an environment of culture and refinement. He associated with the elite in Germany. He had access to libraries. He was familiar with the best books of his day. His education was broad and varied and included the study of music and art and several languages. God in his own way had prepared Dr. Maeser for his mission in the Church among the Latter-day Saints.
I can well imagine that it was difficult for Dr. Maeser to make the adjustment, yet I am sure that this good and great man did not complain nor compromise. He did not permit difficulties to obscure his vision of the truth. Brother Maeser had heard the voice of the Shepherd. That voice brought conviction to his soul. That conviction transformed his entire life but whatever happened, confusion and uncertainty disappeared, and he stood for the first time on the solid foundation of faith in the True and Living God.
Brethren and sisters, may we appreciate our membership in this great Church. May we have the courage and the strength to devote ourselves unselfishly for the promotion of God's work among his children. That is our responsibility. It is our obligation, and may we not fail therein, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Spencer W. Kimball
Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 26-29
Beloved brethren and sisters, it is a joy to be back in this part of Zion. As the other brethren have mentioned their tours in foreign lands, my very recent memories were stirred. I bring to you also the greetings of the thousands of members of the Church of all nationalities in South America.
Last Saturday and Sunday I was in Peru with various gatherings of Saints. I have enjoyed greatly the touring of the missions in those countries. They are like giants just yawning and stretching and ready to go to work. There are great agricultural empires, mines, cattle and industries, and a great people made up of immigrants from all over the world, particularly Europe, and much influenced by European immigration and culture. They are a great people.
It was inspiring to me to note the thousands of Italians in the Church and the thousands of members with Spanish and Portuguese backgrounds and from these places where we have not yet established regular missions. But our work is telling and the leaven is leavening the lump. There are four hundred missionaries in those six countries in which we are proselyting in South America, your sons and daughters of whom you can well be proud.
The work is progressing and accelerating in speed. It took twenty-four years to get the first thousand converts in Argentina. It took only eight years for the second thousand, a year and seven months for the third thousand, and they expect from now on to get a thousand plus each year. The other countries, likewise, are inspiring, and it was a joyous experience. In most of the many branch chapels there hangs the picture of the prophet of the Lord with his counselors, and the prayers of the Saints are constantly for them.
We were received well by the countries, by their officials, and by the press. I was interested in a comment made by a representative of one of the largest papers in Brazil. She had heard my sermon the day before, on Sunday, in which I had spoken rather strongly about the restoration of the gospel. She said to me, "Why was Joseph Smith persecuted and martyred?" I replied, "Well, very much for the same reason that the Christ was crucified." And she asked, "Why was that?" I answered: "Because he said, 'I am the Son of God'". And her next remark shocked me: "He should not have said it, should he? He really was not, was he?"
I thought she was joking. I looked into her eyes for a moment and thought she was going to smile. But she did not. And I said firmly: "He said he was the Son of God because he was the Son of God."
Last Sunday I read the Easter paper of one of the largest cities in South America. The author was a minister with letters after his name. I read the entire article and in the half a page given front page notice, he never mentioned the Lord of heaven and earth the Redeemer, the Savior. He always spoke of "Jesus." He quoted two or three scriptures which mentioned Jesus of Nazareth as being more than the carpenter's son, but never in his writing did he ever give any other title to the Christ who shed his precious blood for him.
I asked four hundred missionaries, "What think ye of Christ and the claims that are made?" And I heard four hundred inspiring testimonies from youth-sure testimonies, ringing with conviction.
I am reminded of what Paul said: "And I, brethren, when I came to you came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. "For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified".
I could not see how we could really celebrate an Easter without discussing the Lord Jesus Christ. Why even the devils know that Jesus is the Christ. On one occasion the devils came crying out and saying, "... Thou art Christ, the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was the Christ". On another occasion "... the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?". And another time "... they cried out saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God, art thou come hither to torment us before the time?".
As was suggested this morning, I believe that there was a considerable conviction in the heart of Pilate, who was constrained by his conscience to let the Savior go free, but because of political ambitions and other reasons, in spite of his wife's importuning, he delivered him to be crucified. But even after that, he wrote on the cross in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, this famous statement: "... Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews." The Jews offended came and said,
"... Write not, The King of the Jews but that he said I am King of the Jews.
"Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written".
I think there was more than casualness in Herod's taking the lives of numerous little boys. I think he really believed that this could be and might be the promised and prophesied Redeemer who might take his kingdom from him.
You have read of Nathanael, the man without guile, who said, as he saw the Christ: "... Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel".
Paul had hardly made his transformation, he had just barely received back his sight from his unusual experience and he went straightway into the synagogues and preached Christ, "that he is the Son of God".
Why will the divines of the day purposely avoid the names of the Deity whom they would choose to call only Jesus. There are tens of thousands of Jesuses in the world. In all the Spanish-speaking countries you find them on every hand. They call it Jesus, but it is Jésus. But there was only one Jesus who became the Prince of light, the Author of our salvation.
Joseph Smith said: "... I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision, and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation".
Almost every time a man of the press approached me in South America, his first question was: "What are you doing and what is your objective in South America?" And I said to him: "Do you remember in the Acts of the Apostles, of the travels of Paul, where he went into Asia Minor, to Greece, and to Rome, and possibly even farther west? That is what we are doing. One of my colleagues is just returning from the South Seas; another has just returned from South Africa, another from Europe. We are doing what the Lord said, '... Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
"'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved- but he that believeth not shall be damned'".
"And you mean to say that you are doing the work that Paul did?"
And then I said, "No. I never could do the work of a Paul, but I am covering the world with my brethren as did Paul and Peter, only that Paul covered a small part of the earth. Today we are going to the ends of the earth and this is one of the four corners."
The Lord testified of himself in addition to the numerous testimonies of him. He said to his Father in that glorious prayer: "Father, glorify thy name. Then came a voice from heaven, saying I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again".
There is a very interesting distinction between the introduction of our Father in heaven of his Son on the waters of Jordan, the one on the Mount of Transfiguration, and a little later in the Nephite country. He said to John at Jordan, and those others who may have heard it, perhaps those who became the apostles of the Lord, "... This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased". He said on the Mount of Transfiguration, as reported by Peter, "... This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him". To the Nephites after some transcendently glorious things had happened, he said a little more. Introducing his Son, Jesus Christ, his words were: "Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name-hear ye him".
There had been a glorification program since, there had been a death, a resurrection, an ascension, and now he had returned to the earth again.
As he went into the clouds and was received and absorbed by them after his forty days upon the earth, there were many standing looking up into heaven, and the angels stood by and said, "... Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven".
After his appearance to the Nephites, it was a long time before he returned. He could not well return to a people who did not believe in him. He needed somebody who had a great, consuming faith, who would receive him as Jesus Christ, Redeemer, Savior, Son of God. That happened in a grove in New York State in the early part of the nineteenth century, and the same words were said again by a Loving Father, who had already delegated this particular work to a Glorified Son, and he said again to a young boy, "... This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him!".
You remember what Peter said when the disciples were asked, "... Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?" They spoke up and said men thought him to be Elias or one of the other prophets, and then the Lord said again, and I can imagine his piercing eyes, wondering and expectant eyes, "... But whom say ye that I am?" And the answer was one of the most stirring and glorious of all statements made, "... Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And the next statement followed which must never be overlooked: "... flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven". In other words, man has not told you this, but my Father has revealed it unto thee, a great revelation has come unto thee, and ye know it.
I asked four hundred missionaries the Lord's question which faces every man, woman, and child on this earth: "Whom do ye say that I the Son of man am?" And I was gratified at the hundreds of replies from your sons and daughters, saying "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God".
And that is my testimony to you, my brothers and sisters, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Levi Edgar Young
Levi Edgar Young, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 29-31
I am happy to say something to my brethren and sisters on this occasion and I sincerely pray for their faith and prayers. We are all interested in the Christian world today. I have the honor of being a member of the American Christian Palestine Committee with the Reverend Bishop Moulton of the Episcopal Church to work for the redemption of Palestine, and its restoration. A few weeks ago we were asked to write about the Constitution of the United States and what it means as a civic document. To us all, the Constitution of the United States is a very sacred document, and it has never been equaled in the history of the world.
I wish to read a paragraph written ages ago by a famous Greek orator whose name was Isocrates.
"The age in which we live should be distinguished by some glorious enterprise... Let world leaders contrive to put to an end our present troubles. The treaties of peace are insufficient for their purpose; they may retard, but cannot prevent our misfortunes. We stand in need of some more durable plan, which will forever put to an end our hostilities and unite us by the lasting ties of mutual affection and fidelity."
Quoting the words of Herbert L. Willett,
"The divisions of Christendom today are its most conspicuous reproach, and its chief cause of inefficiency. They present a moral affront to the enterprise inaugurated by Jesus Christ, and constitute the outstanding limitation of its progress. The divided state of the Church is an affront to Christianity. We wonder if Christianity can survive; we wonder if the Christian groups can fight the evils of the social order of our times."
Only the true Church can furnish the program and power to meet the emergencies that confront the world today.
The Holy Bible is not only the masterpiece of the world's literature, but it is also the most majestic exposition of religion ever given to man. It contains the writings of the inspired prophets of God, and embodies the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. It enlightens us on the great themes of revealed religion: man, scripture, salvation, faith, prayer, and immortality. God reigns in heaven and in earth, he is the rightful King of nations, and the Source of supreme good to men. In his image was man created. Great prophets like Moses, Isaiah, Hosea, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Micah were divinely appointed servants, and they wrote the holy scriptures and inspired the peoples of the ancient world to believe in God and to hope for the Redeemer of the world. They had the highest possible knowledge of moral and religious laws.
How one loves to read the Ten Commandments, one of the greatest lessons of the Bible. They were given to Moses, the prophet, hundreds of years before the birth of the Savior.
Then we have such words from the Jewish Talmud which were written soon after the Ten Commandments. Let me quote to you a few sentences which show the dignity of the teachings of ancient Jewish writings.
"The name of the Lord shall be loved through thy treatment of thy fellow man. "Do God's will as thy own will, submit thy will to his will. "Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of reward. "Thy neighbor's honor must be as dear to thee as thy own. "Keep aloof from grumbling. "Do not hate the one who reproves thee. "If you humble yourself, the Lord will lift you up. "Pass not judgment upon thy neighbor, until thou has put thyself in his place."
However highly we may estimate the truths we have today, it is for us to understand the gospel. Rudolph Kittel of Leipzig University wrote some years ago: "Some one has got to rise to give to the world the doctrines of Jesus Christ, our Savior, for the world is in need of them." This calls to my mind an experience that some of the actors of the old Salt Lake Theater had one evening. A noted American actor had just closed the play of Hamlet, and was about to leave to take the train for San Francisco. Standing in the doorway of the so-called "Green Room," Mr. Clawson, the manager of the old playhouse, asked him to say a few words. Mr. Edwin Booth stopped for a minute or two, then said: "It is seldom I speak in public, but I would like to repeat on this occasion the most beautiful words ever uttered. Bowing his head he said:
"Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."
With these words from the Lord's Prayer, Booth turned and said "Goodbye" to the few people and walked from the theater to the sidewalk where he took a carriage to the depot.
The Prophet Joseph Smith has done the mightiest work of all:
We first see Joseph Smith in the woods on the frontier of America praying as a child might pray, and the Lord appearing to him. Using the words of the Psalmist, "Grace is poured into thy lips, therefore, God hath blessed thee forever more". With the Father was Jesus the Savior. Joseph heard the voice of God and the divine words: "This is my Beloved Son". A new day was at hand. From that moment he was heart and mind for the word of the Lord. What a message for our missionaries of today!
He learned that day that the divisions of Christendom are its most conspicuous reproach and the chief cause of its inefficiency. They present a moral affront to the enterprise inaugurated by Jesus Christ, and constitute the outstanding limitation of its progress. Christianity is weakened by its divisions in facing the problems of today, among which are class hatreds, race antagonisms, blindness to social justice, the lure of vicious literature, crime-instigating narcotics, and the spread of military spirit in the world.
The supreme test of religion is revelation. No religion can be persuasive unless it relies on the principle of revelation. The living Church of Jesus Christ must be revelatory. One readily sees that the very lifeblood of the Church is the principle and potency of redemption. Christianity in its pure sense is the religion of redeemed personality. While all true men reveal God, the complete carrier of revelation can be no other than a chosen personality.
By the power of the Holy Priesthood which he received from heaven, Joseph Smith established our true relationship to God. Out of this grows the salvation of man-his true immortal life.
The nations all bear witness to the need of a light that is not of man. We can give our word to the world that the forces which are to make the world the world it ought to be are now within it.
Thousands, yea millions of people are waiting to hear the voice of our Father in heaven. Millions are turning to God, and we are in these days of world turmoil experiencing a rising tide of understanding and goodwill that is constantly ebbing and flowing among us all. The fact that the movement has been reserved for our day fills us with the deepening sense of our responsibility and duty to make sure that the golden opportunities it offers are not lost.
"It changes everything. I can see the end of war in this, some day. I can see the joy of women and little children-some day. I can see the cities and great spaces of land full of happiness. I can see love shining in every face. There shall be no more sin, no pain, no loss, no death- Only life, only God-some day when the world shall have learned."
-Charles Rann Kennedy
I pray God to bless us all this day. Amen.
Bishop Carl W. Buehner
Carl W. Buehner, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 31-34
My dear brethren and sisters, it is always an honor to greet you at a general conference of the Church and to bear you my testimony of the divinity of this great, ever-growing, latter-day work. What I have read, heard, and observed concerning serious conditions confronting this world in which we live makes me more appreciative than ever before of the testimony I have of things eternal.
I am sure we are all interested in security, and would like to say to all people living that if we are interested in security, we should live close to the teachings of the God of this land, who is Jesus Christ, for he has said, "... and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away". I think more people than ever before are turning their hearts to religion for an answer to some of the perplexing problems we face.
I find great joy in my work in the Church, and I hope it will always be my desire to have the work of the Church come first. I like people who put "first things" first in the Church.
It is very encouraging to know that progress is being made all along the line. I enjoy my experiences in the stakes with you people.
Recently, a young man speaking at a stake quarterly conference said: "I am a very important person in my ward. I hold the office of a priest. I am the only priest in my priests' quorum. In our quorum, it is either one-hundred percent or nothing." It did not take long for this young man to prove to us that he was a hundred percenter. I admire the young men and young women who are achieving to be hundred percenters by the standards with which we measure them. I am sure we cannot measure all of their activities, but many of them are making remarkable progress. This is even carrying over to some of our bishops and some of our other leaders.
I learned not long ago while attending a Fathers' and Sons' banquet in the Summit Stake that one bishop in a ward-and I guess he has been the bishop a long time or else it is the continuous record of two bishops-said they have not lost a boy to inactivity in their ward for thirteen years.
In another stake I attended, I heard a bishop make a similar report, but his was for six years, and still a third bishop in another stake said, "We haven't lost a boy in our ward for five years." Then I began hoping for the day when we could say to the whole Church, "We have not lost a boy or a girl in the Church this year, or for five years, or ten years." I think we are moving forward and accomplishing things that we have never accomplished before.
I was interested in hearing a young Latter-day Saint girl speak on the topic, "When and How Does a Young Woman Make Preparation for Marriage in the Temple." As she developed her subject, she said: "I have come to one conclusion. There is a right way to get married, and there is a wrong way to get married. If some young man does not propose to me who can take me to the temple, I will convert one who can. I have a desire to be married the Lord's way, and I am going to insist that the man whom I marry is one who can take me to the House of the Lord."
I heard another little experience of a man who had recently been asked to supervise a district in ward teaching. He said, "Bishop, I will accept on one basis, that we do one-hundred percent ward teaching, and when I am unable to maintain one-hundred percent, I quit." I got a letter from his bishop the other day, who said, "For forty months, he has had one-hundred percent, and we see no reason why this will not continue indefinitely."
There come to us many experiences of devoted and dedicated ward teachers to the ever-expanding ward teaching program. I learned of a pair of ward teachers who travel 180 miles each month to visit three families, and they always get the three families visited. In another stake-I think in Florida-two ward teachers travel 160 miles each month to visit the families in their district, and they are always doing one-hundred percent teaching. If I remember right, we had a report some time ago of two teachers in one of the Canadian stakes who traveled approximately 4,000 miles a year to visit those in their district, and they faithfully visited every family each month.
I learned of a faithful ward teacher up in the Ogden area who has just completed fifty-six years as a ward teacher with a perfect record of never missing one month in the fifty-six years' time that he has been a teacher, even though for the first ten years or more he had twenty-five families in his district. He underwent a serious operation; he had some other difficult problems, but his perfect record was maintained in spite of these conditions. He is held in high esteem by the families in his district.
I learned of two high priests who impressed me very much. One of them is ninety-two years of age and served as a ward teacher for seventy years. The other at the age of ninety-four had been a ward teacher for eighty-two years, having started when he was twelve years of age. This good brother indicated that he had only missed visiting his district four or five times in this eighty-two year period. In my humble opinion, I think when men, who give this type of service to the responsibilities that come to them, report to the other side, someone is going to stand there with outstretched arms, welcoming them into the kingdom of our Heavenly Father.
The ward teaching program is one of the oldest programs in the Church, having come to the Prophet Joseph Smith by revelation sometime between the first and sixth day of April 1830, in what is known as the twentieth section of the Doctrine and Covenants. The program is designed to reach the fireside of every family in the Church with a spiritual message at least once each month and more often if necessary.
Ward teachers carry a challenging responsibility, that is, to watch over the Church. Residing within a ward teaching district may be families and individuals whose activities represent a commendable peak, while there may be some totally indifferent to things spiritual. You may be interested to know that at the present time there are in excess of 139,000 men and boys serving as ward teachers in the organized stakes of Zion. During the year 1958, 3,386,000 visits were made to the homes of these families, and this represents eighty percent of the families visited every month during the year, which is the highest record we have achieved in the Church.
Ward teachers are expected to promote the spirit of goodwill; be prepared to meet the criticism of those who find fault. They are always to defend the Church, uphold its doctrine, and support its leaders; to strengthen those who are offended or weak in the faith; to comfort those who mourn or have sorrow; to be among the first to offer assistance in cases of emergency and sickness; and to deliver a message of good cheer to the discouraged, the unfortunate, the aged, and the homebound. Their message should be gauged to meet the understanding of both the young and the old in each family.
If ward teachers faithfully perform their duties, each family-and for that matter, each member who is willing-will find themselves enfolded in the arms of the Church. In some instances faithful ward teachers have been responsible for bringing people into the Church. A member now residing in Arizona made this report to the stake president in my presence. He said: "You do not know who I am. A few years ago, I came here from the East, having been retired because of poor health, and I was told that if I came to Arizona I may have an opportunity to prolong my life. I had a little money, and I invested in some real estate. The city grew out my way, and my property became very valuable. I sold it, bought more, and I have made a lot of money. In short, this is what has happened to me.
"I have recovered my health. I have become a member of your Church, first having been contacted by the ward teachers, who had the stake missionaries sent to me. I have made a lot of money. Now I would like to show my appreciation for the goodness of the Lord to me by having you select a number of young people who might serve as missionaries, but who haven't the finances to take care of their own expenses. You call them and send me the bill." I thought that was a nice way to express his appreciation.
I should like to close with another experience I have heard related in which ward teachers entered a family's home who were rather lukewarm, and even a little bitter, when the ward teachers came to pay a visit.
In a brusk voice, the head of the family said, "I am a very busy man. You can have fifteen minutes to get on with your message." This startled the ward teachers, and because their experience had not been too great, they paused and wondered just how to approach the subject. They learned about some of the children in the family, and discovered among them, a little girl who was going to turn eight years of age in just a few days. While they were talking to the children, the head of the family said, "Five minutes are gone; you have ten minutes left." They inquired a little further into the family, and after a few more minutes, the man reminded them again that they had five minutes left. In desperation, the ward teachers suggested that the family kneel down and have prayer with them before they left. This they did, and during the prayer, the ward teacher prayed that the Lord would protect this little girl who was about to become eight years of age, that nothing harmful would happen to her but that she might be baptized a member of the Church.
The following day, this man was mowing hay in the field behind his home. A number of children were playing in the yard, among whom was his little daughter. While making one of the rounds with his tractor, the wheel of the tractor went over a mound. As he quickly looked around, he observed that his daughter was missing. A sickening feeling overcame him. He went to the mound, pushing aside the hay, and deep below was his little daughter, who looking up said, "Daddy, don't tell them where I am. I am hiding from them." The prayer of the ward teacher had been heard. The little girl's life had been preserved, and needless to say, the family's reaction to the ward teachers was from this time forward, completely reversed.
May we all have a desire to fulfil our assignments faithfully and well, and if possible, be hundred percenters. I cannot help but be reminded of the statement that the Savior made: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect". To a great degree, we can accomplish this one-hundred percent perfection.
I leave you my testimony of the divinity of this great work, and my blessing, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder John Longden
John Longden, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 34-36
From the inspiration of these two meetings today and after listening to the reports of my brethren from the four corners of the earth, along with my own deep-seated testimony as to the divinity of this great latter-day work, I should like to address my remarks to the subject of nine great latter-day prophets.
I reflect back 130 years last February when the Lord spoke to Joseph Smith saying,
"Now, behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men",
During this conference we have heard about the prophets in the Old and New Testaments. In the few moments which are mine I should like to speak briefly about the nine great men, modern-day prophets, who have been responsible under the inspiration of the Almighty for directing this latter-day marvelous work.
First, of course, there was Joseph Smith, the prophet, the seer, the revelator. Yes, he was given the keys of the kingdom in this, the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. He received a personal visit from God the Father and Jesus Christ, his Divine Son. Reflect upon his accomplishments in the thirty-nine years of his mortal life: organized the Church of Jesus Christ in correct and lawful manner; translated the Book of Mormon; received the revelations from the Lord as contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, also the book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price; translated some writings of Abraham from one ancient record; wrote a 3200 page history of himself and the Church; and was visited and given instructions and authority by the Savior, John the Baptist, Peter James, and John, Moses, Elias, and Elijah and then sealed his testimony to the truthfulness of all these things with his life's blood, following the pattern of the Savior himself.
Before Joseph Smith was murdered, he had told the Council of the Twelve on several occasions as reported by Brigham Young:
"I have laid the foundation and you must build thereon, for upon your shoulders the kingdom rests".
Upon the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the keys of the kingdom and mantle of authority were passed on to the second great latter-day prophet, Brigham Young, the leader of modern-day Israel. He was a great colonizer in the face of adversity, crossing the plains under most difficult conditions but with great and simple faith in God and his Son Jesus Christ. Though persecuted and reviled, he knew Joseph Smith was a true prophet.
Upon hearing of the death of Joseph Smith, he declared "The keys of the Kingdom are right here with the Church," for Brigham knew that the Prophet had conferred upon the twelve "keys of the kingdom." How often had Joseph said to the twelve, "I have laid the foundation, and you must build thereon, for upon your shoulders the kingdom rests". Brigham Young died at the age of seventy-six having built a great empire in the desert.
He was succeeded by John Taylor, a loyal devoted servant of the Lord, who was honest and industrious; loving liberty, truth, and righteous living-sweet-spirited, kind to friend and stranger alike, tolerant, he nevertheless set his face as flint against any form of evil or wrongdoing. He received the appropriate title, "Champion of Liberty."
Upon his death, the keys were then passed to another great leader, Wilford Woodruff. Wilford, the faithful! This title was earned because of "his integrity and unbounded devotion to the worship and purposes of his God." While on a mission in the Southern States in 1834 he and his companion walked sixty miles between sunrise and 10 o'clock at night without a morsel of food to eat. At the end of this journey, he asked himself the question: "For what?" He answered his own question, "To teach the gospel of Jesus Christ!" Wilford had loved to mingle with the Prophet Joseph Smith and had this to say of him:
"There is not so great a man as Joseph standing in this generation. The gentiles look upon him, and he is like a bed of gold, concealed from human view. They know not his principles, his wisdom, his virtue, his calling. His mind is like Enoch's, expands as eternity, and God alone can comprehend his soul".
One prophet speaking of another prophet of God! Wilford Woodruff lived to be ninety-one.
Lorenzo Snow then received the mantle of authority. Though he was eighty-four when called to this responsible position, he carried on the great work. The people and the Church at the time were heavily indebted, and he promised that they would get out of debt if they would pay their tithes and offerings. That doctrine has not changed. It is just as effective today as it was in the day of President Lorenzo Snow. Tithing became a spiritual gift rather than a material duty.
Then the keys of the kingdom passed on to Joseph F. Smith. He was the first prophet, seer, and revelator with whom it was my privilege to shake hands. Since then I have personally known all the other prophets. I shall ever be grateful for the experience as a boy to feel the tenderness of the Prophet Joseph F. Smith. He was kind; he was lovingly devoted. If you desire to understand the depths of his spirituality, read his messages of inspiration contained in the volume Gospel Doctrine on such subjects as "Priesthood," "First Principles of the Gospel," "The Mission of the Church," "Prayer," "Spiritual Gifts," "Tithing," "Industry," "Many Duties of Man," "Marriage," "Home," "The Family," "Political Government," "Eternal Life and Salvation," and many others. He, like all the others, left his strong testimony to bless the generations to come.
Then the keys of the kingdom passed to President Heber J. Grant, a man who taught all a lesson in persistence, proving what could be accomplished by sheer persistence. He learned to write. He learned to sing. He learned to speak. His example reminds me of the counsel given by my mission president, Samuel O. Bennion, thirty-seven years ago, "You learn to do by doing."
In 1901 before he was President of the Church and before leaving to fill a mission to Japan, Heber J. Grant addressed a congregation of young people in which he bore this testimony:
"Young men and young ladies, I leave with you my testimony that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God, and that Lorenzo Snow, today is a prophet of God. How do I know it? I know it as well as I know that I stand before you tonight. I know heat. I know cold. I know joy and I know sorrow, and I say to you that in the hour of sorrow, in the hour of affliction, in the hour of death, God has heard and answered my prayers, and I know that He lives, and I leave my testimony with you".
Then at his death, the keys of the kingdom passed to another great leader, President George Albert Smith, an apostle of love. He had a great love in his heart for all men, not only the membership of the Church, but also all men! He desired to share with others the light of the gospel which had come into his life. I have heard him suggest many times to those not of our faith that they do not give up the truths they have, but that they accept further truths from us.
After he had received the keys and the mantle of authority and was sustained by the membership present in this marvelous building, he expressed his great love for his counselors who stood by his side on that occasion, President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., and President David O. McKay.
President Smith held positions of responsibility and was honored by such organizations as the Sons of the American Revolution, International Irrigation Congress, Boy Scouts of America, Utah Pioneer Trails and Land Marks Association. At eighty-one his mortal life came to a close. The keys of the kingdom and the mantle of authority were passed on to President David O. McKay, the missionary prophet! I believe President McKay has visited all the missions of the Church where in each one he has touched the lives of people for good. He has built them in their faith and in their courage and strengthened their testimony in the divinity of this great work.
President McKay has also dedicated four temples: one in Berne, Switzerland, in Los Angeles, California, in Auckland, New Zealand, and in London, England. Also he has dedicated many, many other Church buildings. Not only has he dedicated buildings, but his whole life has also been dedicated to the building of the kingdom of God. I am grateful for his life, for his power and strength. He and his lovely, devoted wife have set the world a high example in the concept of a good marriage good in all its connotations! He has said so much about the importance of a clean life, of honoring womanhood, of understanding the gospel and of serving the Master. He will leave so many truths for coming generations. I give you one admonition from President McKay which is so timely and most important for all of us, young and old, "We are here to develop the power of self-mastery." Analyze this statement. Live by it and see what it will do for you!
Truly, as his predecessors passed on the keys of the kingdom, the mantle of authority is now held by our Prophet David O. McKay. Because of this authority, we have been given the right to legitimately administer in the name of our Heavenly Father, the Father of our spirits, and in the name of his Son Jesus Christ.
And so upon the shoulders of nine great men in our day has fallen the mantle of priesthood leadership. The chain is unbroken. God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, bestowed upon Joseph Smith the authority to act in their names. There have been nine prophets who have held the keys of the kingdom-nine Presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in this generation. None other on the earth has this authority. Each prophet has left behind a monument for good that time cannot efface or obliterate. No individual has ever gone astray by following the counsel of these prophets, but many have experienced tragedy and sorrow by going counter to their counsel.
I should like to suggest to young people as they study their history lessons that they reserve enough time to the history of the lives of these fine great men and seek a witness of their divine authority.
May we realize the power of these great men. I bear witness that they were and are prophets of God; that David O. McKay is the mouthpiece of our Heavenly Father in the earth today who does hold the keys of the kingdom and the mantle of authority, and this testimony I bear in humility and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 45-46
My brethren: I do not wish to bring a light thought to this very solemn and wonderful occasion, so rich in its spirituality, but I cannot but remember a story I read recently, where a man got up without any presumed preparation-that is not quite what my position should have been-but as he got up, he said, "I guess you gentlemen are wondering what I am going to say. So am I."
We have pictured in strong language, painted with vivid colors, our duty to our dead. President Joseph Fielding led off and Brother Bowring and Brother Clissold have supported in a wonderful way. I think that none of us-perhaps that is not quite the way to say it-but I think that many of us, including myself, have had presented to us this matter not altogether in a new way, but in a way that has brought home a little more clearly than perhaps we have heretofore enjoyed, our duty and responsibility with reference to the caring for our dead.
I should like to say this much in justification for myself. I think I have never while I have been in the First Presidency, raised any objection to the gathering of the materials necessary to be gathered in order that we might do work for our deceased ancestors. I always regarded it as money properly spent, perhaps not always has it been spent in the most wise way-I have no criticism to offer, for I know nothing about it-but I do know this, that in the carrying on of human undertakings, wherever you begin to make great expenditures of money, there is always some lack of wisdom, sometimes lack of foresight, occasionally, oh so occasionally in this Church, a lack of integrity.
Just branching off for a moment-the amount of money that is collected by you bishops and sent in to the treasury of the Church is enormous. And the percentage of malfeasance in the collection of that money is simply microscopic. This is a great Church in its integrity in the handling of Church funds.
Now, as I sat and listened here, one or two thoughts came into my mind. I do not wish to speak long because I know that you want to hear from President McKay and I am sure he will have a great message for you. But I do want to say this: if we are to go forward in the manner suggested by the two brethren who have spoken to us, we must have a supporting force. It cannot be done merely by words. We the Priesthood, the Melchizedek Priesthood, must support it, work for it, make it our job. And in making it our job, there is something more than words, more than pretence. There must be living. We must live as we know we should live.
We are endowed with some portion-and pardon my repetition of what I have already said-endowed with some portion of the authority of God himself. He does not live in unclean temples. We must be clean. We must keep his commandments, for if and when he leaves us, as he will if we do not live as we should, we shall for the time being lose our power, lose our usefulness, lose our enthusiasm, lose all that we ought to have in order to go forward, and it will take some time after we have found out our mistakes and our errors to get back into the work.
Repentance is not easy. Repentance, as the Lord has said, is marked by two elements-a confession in the proper way to the proper person, and a forsaking of the sin.
I repeat, if you will pardon, that the authority which you brethren and all of us have who have the Melchizedek Priesthood, is a type of authority that carries with it the greatest power that has ever been revealed to humankind. The mighty forces of which we now talk so glibly, and ignorantly, are subject to the powers which you have, and they are powers which can rest effectively and fully in the humblest, the very humblest. It takes no elaborate equipment, no great funds of wealth, no tremendous political power, in order for the humblest of us to have in us the power which over-tops everything else of which we know.
It requires no elaborate equipment, no great institutions, no scholars of years and years and years to direct us. One of the ancient prophets declared regarding the way of blessings, "the way of holiness," that it is so plain that "the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein".
We do not need any expensive equipment in order to live righteously, in order to have within our reach under the inspiration and power of the Lord the greatest force, the greatest authority of which God has ever made us aware.
And so while we must do this missionary work which is so important, we must remember to keep the supporting army, the whole Church, in proper shape, with proper equipment, with righteous living, with a determination to do the right, to the last extremity if necessary.
I do not wish to speak longer. I only ask you, do not forfeit the power and the authority which you have; paraphrasing, do not sell your great spiritual birthright for a mess of pottage of some slight worldly value.
May God bless all of us, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President Stephen L Richards
Stephen L Richards, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 46-48
My brethren, I rejoice with you in this semi-annual reunion of the Priesthood. It is a marvelous reunion, made possible by miracles of the modern day, for it comprehends not only those filling the Tabernacle and the areas round about, but all of the men and boys assembled across the nation. I believe that, while we are not in each other's presence, our hearts are unified, that we share the same sentiments, and that the same resolutions for the advancement of our Father's Kingdom come to all of us.
I like to see the reunion of these great powers-these powers of the Priesthood. I like to see unity in quorums. I believe the Lord expected, when quorums were instituted, that they should provide a unified strength necessary to meet the problems of this great latter-day work.
In the earlier days of the Church there were serious physical problems to meet. Sometimes our Priesthood was required to defend, other times to build, in unison, by cooperative effort. They had to stand together. I remember not long ago when an application came to the Presidency of the Church through a family for the restoration of the father's blessings. We learned that he had been excommunicated from the Church. As I remember he lived in upper Cache Valley. And when we investigated we discovered the cause of his excommunication-trading at the store of a Gentile. Now that would seem trivial and most unjustifiable in this day. Perhaps in that day it meant much to a community of Latter-day Saints engaged in a common enterprise, seeking to establish the necessary industry for that community, and for one of the Priesthood to forsake his brethren, in the eyes of the men was regarded as a serious offense.
We do not have conditions like that today, but we do have tremendous problems to meet in the incursion of the sins of the world in our midst. In our subjection to adverse conditions morally we have to stand together to protect ourselves, and there is great strength in standing together. The fortification that comes to an individual when he knows that his quorum members have real and abiding interest in him, when knows that they are watching him, has a salutary effect and it helps him, and is oftentimes a great need.
So I think that we have a necessity confronting us in all parts of the land where the Church is organized to unite our forces, our spiritual forces and strength, to resist everything that tends to prevent men from achieving their highest station in this great work of the Lord.
Now I would not take your minds far away from the temple work which has been spoken of tonight, but it occurs to me that in addition to the great necessity of compiling our genealogy and doing the work for our kindred dead there are those living whom we should carefully keep in mind. I think of two classes tonight: first, those men among us bearing the Priesthood who have not taken their wives to the temple. I do not know how many may be represented of that class in these great meetings held throughout the land, but I venture that there are some. I ask them to pause and consider what they are depriving their wives and their families of. I know that many a good woman is hoping and praying that her husband will prepare himself to go to the temple to have her and her children sealed to him and prepare themselves for the exalted blessings which await them through the ordinances of the House of our Lord. Brethren, you love your wives. They love you. You can do nothing more important for them than to prepare yourselves to take them to the House of the Lord.
There is another class, and they are young men, and I imagine there are literally thousands of them scattered throughout our audiences tonight, who looking forward to life, looking forward to marriage, looking forward to careers, and with life's ambitions looking forward with great hope. I would like to say to these young men, from the very beginning you can do nothing more profitable, more contributive to your happiness, than prepare yourselves for marriage in the temple. I know of nothing that will more strengthen family life, contribute more to its happiness than will this sacred and beautiful ceremony which is provided for us in the House of the Lord.
And how do you prepare yourselves for this beautiful and rewarding experience? Just by good living, keeping all the commandments, doing your duty within the Church, and securing a testimony of the truth which will give to you the power of the Holy Ghost. Remember, it will never profit you anything by deception to win your way into the temple. It is true that we may deceive our bishops, our presidents of stakes. Some may get recommends without revealing what they ought to reveal. It is useless. All the blessings of the temples are predicated upon faithfulness, upon obedience to the commandments. No blessing is effective unless it is based upon the good life of him who receives it. It is a mistake for anyone to think that by concealing or suppressing something that ought to be known he can secure a recommend to go to the temple. That is futile, and even worse than futile, because the suppressing of the fact is itself an additional offense.
I hope all of my young brethren and sisters, young brethren particularly since we speak to them tonight, will prepare themselves to be worthy first of the companionship of a good girl, and then to take her where she would like to go-to the temple of our Lord. Our sisters, even young ones, look forward to that great experience, and if we do not take them where they wish to go we disappoint them.
I pray that our Father will bless our young folk, our young men, that they may prepare themselves for this great and beautiful experience-the most beautiful experience that comes into our lives, the very basis of our hopes for eternal life and happiness-for after all, a home sanctified by the holy sealing in the temple forms the foundation of our eternal happiness in the life to come. And as I have often said, our exaltation is little more than the projection of our home into eternity.
The Lord bless you, brethren. May you not only live such lives yourselves as to be worthy of these transcendent blessings, but may you teach others so to do and help them to understand the great and beautiful blessings that the gospel of our Lord holds out. You remember that wonderful statement of the Savior's: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you".
I do not claim to have read theological commentaries to any great extent, but I have never heard an explanation of that wonderful statement by any theologian in this world, because I think no one has an explanation except that which has come with the restored gospel, defining the way in which men and women may prepare themselves for that high station in the mansions of our Father. May we reach that station-all of us-I humbly pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 48-50
Associated with the temple work, dwelt upon tonight by the two brethren appointed, and corroborated by the two counselors in the First Presidency, is the little simple ordinance of baptism. Many Christians do not believe that it is essential to salvation. I was but a boy when a minister visiting Huntsville shocked me by saying it was not essential, and especially by immersion. I knew of no other way but by immersion. Baptism is essential to salvation and Christ gave the first real view of it to a member of the Sanhedrin when Nicodemus called upon him by night. I think that he was not ashamed of calling upon Jesus by day, but he was a busy man. I like to interpret that phrase, "by night," because, Nicodemus with his work in the Sanhedrin and other ways, could better spend an hour or two with the Savior at night.
A great conversation took place, and they dwelt upon salvation, and Christ's first statement was, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." That is a sentence well worthy of consideration and contemplation. It is easier to see the temporal things, it is easier to see the lascivious things, it is easier to indulge in anything physical and animal-like. It is the animal world. But to be born out of that world into a spiritual world is advancement that the Lord requires of us, and the example that Jesus set for us. Except a man be born again, out of that world, he cannot see that spiritual light where love, kindness, self-denial, self-mastery, self-control-all of the spiritual virtues-contribute to the development of the real man. Nicodemus could not understand that, and he spoke literally.
"How can a man enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born again?" See the physical interpretation? Then the Savior was more explicit. He said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God". There is the essentiality of baptism, whether the world thinks it merely a form or not. In those two sentences we have the purpose of life the overcoming of the physical, the animal life, the striving and the living in the spiritual realm. There you have the threefold purpose of baptism.
First, it is an entrance into the kingdom of God. It is the doorway, and it is significant that that doorway is by immersion. Sprinkling will not give it. It spoils the symbol. Pouring will not give it. Only by immersion can that birth mentioned by Jesus be properly carried out. There are three elements in which we are buried-the air, which is our natural element; the earth, in which we can be buried, which takes the physical and ends it; we can be buried in water and come out, and the typical comparison of birth is complete because it means when you get a glimpse of the spiritual you want to leave off the animal life, with its appetites, indulgences, and to develop the spiritual instead of the physical side of your nature.
So we are buried in that element, burying the old man with his appetites, passions, enticements, and coming forth anew. We are born again, buried with Christ in baptism, said the Apostle, for like as Christ was buried, and came forth in a newness of life, so we also all come forth in a newness of life with all our bad habits, our enmities, our hatreds, buried in the water.
Christ thought it was so essential that he came to John the Baptist. John protested, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?"
"Suffer it to be so now: for thus it cometh us to fulfil all righteousness," said the Savior. And then we are told that John suffered him. Fulfilling all righteousness is a command of God, so there you have the entrance into his kingdom. You have obedience to a command of God, and you have the beautiful, the most applicable figure that can possibly be given in fulfilling all righteousness. You bury yourself, you bury your bad habits, you bury your sins, and you come forth in newness of life, just as Christ came forth the resurrection.
It is a good thing, bishops, to tell this simply to the little boys who are going be baptized. They can remember it. You remember when you were eight years of age when you were baptized. If your father did not talk to you properly, or your bishop, they failed in their duty. Of course the sins of an eight-year-old boy will be telling "fibs," probably, or taking what does not belong to him, a lot of little things, but they are important, and the boy or girl can understand that those things now are buried beneath the water, and they are going to start to be a better brother or better sister, etc. That can explained.
My point tonight is that there is no salvation without that baptism. "Suffer it to be so now to fulfill all righteousness". What about the hundreds of thousands of people who have not had an opportunity for it? And that baptism, that burial and that birth must be done by proper authority. You cannot become a citizen of the United States without complying with certain laws, certain requirements. Christian divines will tell you it does not matter what road you take. They will all lead to Rome just the same. They will lead to the United States, too, so you may enter the country; but if you want to become a citizen of the United States you have to obey certain laws, and so you do in the Church of Christ, and baptism is the one door.
Now, what about those who have never heard of the Gospel-choice people? You travel anywhere in the world and you meet true gentlemen, lovely people everywhere, many honest people. It is surprising how many honest upright people are living in the world. I will illustrate it with an instance that I have quoted before.
A Chinese student was on a ship going from the United States back home a graduate of one of our universities. On the vessel was a minister who was advancing Christianity. Well, the young student knew a good deal about it. He knew also about the high ideals of the Chinese. During the conversation the necessity of believing in Jesus Christ was emphasized. The Chinese student said, "Well, what about my ancestors who never heard of Jesus?"
The answer was rather flippant, but it is in keeping with the false ideas of Christianity generally. "Oh, they are lost."
Rightly that young student said, "I will have nothing to do with a religion so unjust." If you had been there you would have given them the ideals of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the revealed word, the true Christianity, that the work will be done for them, but they will have to accept baptism, just as Jesus and all others must accept it. They must be born again before they will glimpse even the high spirituality required of a true Christian. They have to be born of the water and of the spirit before they can enter into the kingdom of God.
Brethren, God bless you, you messengers of the gospel, you authorized servants of the Almighty, you true representatives of the Son, the Savior of men! God give you power to live in the spirit, walk in the Spirit. How frequently we hear those phrases from the scriptures.
That means that those who make covenants for their loved ones and participate in the highest ideal of marriage ever given to man will walk in the spirit and not indulge in the flesh. You will be true to the covenants you make in the House of God. So will your wives walk in the spirit, resisting temptation, keeping conscience clear and feeling by so doing that you can go to the Lord in prayer and ask him for strength and guidance just as Jesus did when he was in the flesh. He knew his Father. He could go to him.
He went to him just before he performed the great miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. He said, "I know that in the past thou hast heard me", and he exercised the power of his Father, the power of his God-creative power. He was always with his Father. He was God himself, and he said to one of the disciples when they said to show them the Father, "Have I been with you so long and ye ask Show us the Father? If ye have seen me ye have seen the Father". Spirituality at its highest.
I was thrilled when we came in here tonight and saw this crowd and realized that hundreds were listening in. To be one with you is one of the greatest blessings of mortality. We all prize a friend and know the value of a friend. Next to wife and loved ones, the sweetest thing in life is a friend, true and loyal. But even more than that is the brotherhood of Christ which makes us partakers of the divine nature. Peter used that phrase. That rough old fisherman realized what it was, and yet he had only a few years' experience. But we have that brotherhood which we feel tonight until it becomes intimate to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I pray that the sense of responsibility of Priesthood will increase and make us feel the mission before us-worldwide-and then make us go beyond the veil and realize that in some way we may help the Lord to bring about this great purpose, which has been repeated here tonight, to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man, for all his children, and all of them will have an opportunity some way, somehow, somewhere to say, "Yes, I accept it," or "No, I reject it."
I pray that the blessings of the Priesthood will be ours in our homes, in our business, in our associations with the world, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Stephen L Richards
Stephen L Richards, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 51-55
My dear brethren and sisters and friends, I assure you that I appear before this vast audience without self-assurance, and with deep humility, and with an earnest prayer that the Lord will bless me and you with a bond of sympathetic understanding.
Some time ago I heard over the radio a minister begin his address with the following question: "Can a man be a Christian without belonging to a Christian church?" His discussion of the subject was very interesting. If I correctly interpreted his argument, his answer was, "No-a man cannot truly be a Christian without belonging to a Christian church."
I do not propose on this occasion either to support or oppose the conclusion reached by the reverend gentleman. The reasons he presented seemed plausible to me, and I have no doubt they seemed so to many of his listeners. I should like to use the theme of his arresting address to bring forward some thoughts and concepts I have on the nature and vitality of the Christian religion.
Just what is Christianity, and what does it mean to be a Christian? In assuming to make comment on these important questions, I wish it to be understood that I make no pretention to scholarship or academic learning on the subject matter involved. I believe that academic learning is not itself essential for me or any other man to reach some important conclusions. We are told that things of the Spirit in divine revelation are so plain and simple to those of faith and understanding that he "who runs may read."
Surely most, if not all, Christians will agree that any adequate concept of the Master must involve a spiritual interpretation. When the Savior uttered those great words, "I am the way, the truth, and the life," it is entirely clear that he had no intention of defining merely a moral code of which he was the exemplar, for following these words he declared a great spiritual truth which lies at the basis of the whole Christian faith when he said: "... no man cometh unto the Father but by me".
Herein lies the very crux of the question which the minister proposed: Can a man be a Christian without allying himself with a Christian church? Is it sufficient that one adopt the Christian virtues in his life-be unselfish kind, considerate, long-suffering, patient, gentle, serving his fellow man after the pattern set by the Savior? Is this alone sufficient? There is no question that a man so living commands the utmost respect and esteem of good people. There is no question but that such a life is filled with happiness and satisfactions-satisfactions that endure. Is all this good living of itself enough?
At this point I must introduce to my friends-my fellow members of the Church are well acquainted with it-a scripture from modern revelation, which brings clarity to our thinking. These are the words of the Lord to his Prophet: "And verily, verily, I say unto you, he that receiveth my gospel receiveth me; and he that receiveth not my gospel receiveth not me".
Now if it is essential to receive the gospel in order to receive the Christ, what follows? To answer this we must understand and define the gospel. Is the gospel itself anything more than the sum total of the Savior's divine attributes and qualities? I think that all who give careful consideration to the scriptures and the works of the Master will agree that it is. Perhaps the most famous of all definitions of the gospel is that given by Paul when he said: "... I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth".
It is certainly not difficult to gather from the words, "power of God unto salvation," a meaning beyond that of a moral code for living based upon the attributes of the Savior. The gospel as a power unto salvation must embrace not only all the Christlike characteristics of living, but also the means essential to salvation. These indispensable means or essentials for salvation have been clearly set forth by the Savior on numerous occasions and in unmistakable terms. He prescribed ordinances and proclaimed their indispensable nature. He declared to John the Baptist who protested his application for baptism that baptism "becometh us to fulfil all righteousness". Time and again he and his apostles after him exhorted all to repentance and baptism and to faith, firm and abiding faith in him and the holy gospel.
And Paul, his apostle, certified that there was but one authentic gospel. These are his words: "But though we or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed".
And further he declares: "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
"For I neither received it of man neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ". And the Christian scriptures are replete with the injunction that the gospel of our Lord is to be preached "... to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people".
If there should be any uncertainty in the mind of anyone professing to be Christian as to the essentiality of the gospel and its ordinances, it seems to me it should be completely resolved by the final charge to his disciples, given in almost the closing hours of his mortal life, when he uttered these portentous words: "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen".
Now if gospel ordinances are essential they must be administered, and in logical sequence it follows that they must be administered by those having a delegation of authority to do so. So it follows also that the delegation of authority must come from one source only-the Author of the gospel plan, the Christ, who derived his authority from the Eternal Father. Those who held and exercised such authority in ancient Israel, as in the Meridian of Time, were endowed with what is called "priesthood," being a divinely bestowed commission to represent the Father and the Son and perform the ordinances of the gospel.
This divine authority is a special kind of power, differing widely in many respects from other forms of delegated authority. I am indebted for a description of its nature and constituency to a modern revelation, unique so far as I know in the whole field of theological learning. This is the revelation:
"... the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and... the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. "That they may be conferred upon us it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man".
Here is a divine endowment, a marvelous gift to man, which may be lost by failure to exercise the power in its true meaning and spirit. It has been lost, my brothers and sisters and friends, to men of old as in modern times by failure both to understand its true nature and to exercise its functions in a manner compatible with the spirit and essence of the power itself.
Listen to these lovely words further defining the nature of this holy power:
"No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; "By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile- "Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven".
The priesthood which the revelations so define was lost to those following his apostles when they failed to preserve the spirit and essentials of this divine power, just as the Lord said in the revelation it would be: "Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man", are the words of the Lord. When it was lost, it had to be restored, and it had to be restored authentically.
The powers of the priesthood may never be assumed. They must always be conferred, and of course by someone having the power to confer. My friends I wish you to know-and I hope you will not regard it as presumptuous in me to inform you-that the powers of the Holy Priesthood have been conferred authentically in modern times. Time will not permit me to detail all the circumstances attendant upon this bestowal of divine power, but I give it to you as my considered judgment and my firm conviction that there is evidence-credible and reliable evidence-to support and verify the account of such bestowal as contained in the records of the Restored Church of our Lord. And in addition to such credible evidence I believe that an open-minded investigator will discover from the operations of this divine power results, benefits, and blessings corroborative of the divine authenticity of the Holy Priesthood as it exists today in this sorry world which so much needs it.
Now we return to the specific theme with which we began-the relationship of a Christian to a church. Perhaps I had better begin with a few statements which may seem rather trite. The kingdom of God is a kingdom, not a democracy. The king is the author and source of the law, the judge, and the omnipotent administrator. He and he only prescribes the rules governing eligibility for membership in his kingdom. I grant that this may sound arbitrary and dogmatic. In organizations formed by men no such autocratic power would be tolerated. But the kingdom of our Lord is not an organization formed by men. Liberty loving men can accept such omnipotent power only because they have faith and complete confidence in the beneficence of such power.
What then is the standing of a so-called Christian with reference to the kingdom of God? Is he rightly classified as Christian unless he has taken the steps necessary to receive the gospel of our Lord and enter into his kingdom? I believe, my friends, that a careful survey of all pertinent scriptures, as well as the whole history of Christ's work among men, will demonstrate that only by the complete acceptance of the Christ as our Lord, and subscribing to all the conditions and requirements of his holy gospel, including its sacred ordinances governing induction into his kingdom, can a man fully justify a claim to the honorable distinction of being a Christian. So it seems to me that the crucial question is not so much whether a man must belong to a church to be a Christian, but whether he has prepared himself and taken the necessary steps to enter into the kingdom of God.
It would seem beyond question that there could not be more than one kingdom of the Lord. So the concern of all who seek Christian salvation must be: Where is that kingdom? Where is it set up in the earth that men may come to it and receive its transcendent blessings? This is a delicate question because the feelings of people about religion are deep and sensitive. No one likes to offend. I assure you I do not, but I would be untrue to my calling if I did not undertake to the best of my ability to give to all men the revelations of the Lord about this question: Where is the kingdom of God set up in the earth?
First I must take you back to an ancient prophecy with which many are familiar. You will remember that when Daniel was asked to interpret the king's dream of the great image whose head was of gold, whose breast and arms were of silver, whose belly and thighs were of brass, with legs of iron and feet of clay, he uttered these portentous words:
"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. "Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away".
Then follows a description of the kingdoms represented by parts of the image which the king saw, and finally following a description of the kingdoms of the world, these words:
"And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever".
This and other prophecies of ancient days predict with certainty the setting up of a kingdom of God in the earth. In the mind and heart of the prophets no mere mystical kingdom is predicted, but an actual institutional power which shall not only have sway among men, but among the kingdoms and establishments of the world.
In a later day, after the Savior had completed his ministry on the earth, to his beloved apostle, John, came the following revelation:
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, "Saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters".
It is true that times are not set in these revelations for the fulfillment of the prophecies therein contained, but all will agree that they contemplated a time of fulfillment. That time came, my friends, more than a century ago in the free land of America with guarantees of liberty sufficient to protect men in the free expression of religious convictions. I think in no other land at the time of fulfillment could the great spiritual experiences lying at the foundation of a great cause have been tolerated sufficiently to come to fruition.
In this land of liberty fulfillment came. The predictions of old came to pass. The prophets were vindicated. Through the instrumentality of an intelligent, unsophisticated young man of great faith, through men of humility the Lord's kingdom was set up in the earth, his own true Church established with the power of the Holy Priesthood to administer the ordinances of the gospel, and with the same organization that the Christ himself gave to men when he ministered in flesh among them.
I hope you will realize, my friends, that it is impossible in this short period of time to present in any detail and with any sufficient measure of adequacy the circumstances which justify the statement which I have made in your hearing. All I can do in these few minutes is to give you assurance that proof is available, proof not only for mental assurance but soul conviction as well, which in my humble judgment is sufficient to satisfy the searcher after the truth.
Therefore, if you would be truly Christian, if you would be classified as a disciple of our dear Savior, I hold out to you the one sure way of achieving that great distinction. Come into his kingdom through the door which is open to all who will abide his law and his gospel. Come to participate in blessings and high privileges which surpass even the vision of your highest hopes and ambitions.
I have one more thought to give you, fearing that some may appraise my remarks as too fanatical and visionary. I remember years ago reading a book written by Walter Lippman, who I think has the reputation of being a rather keen analyst of human affairs. Writing of man and religion, he said in substance that they who give serious thought to religion are of two classes-the humanists and the authoritarians. Either one must interpret the spiritual and religious in terms of human origin, attributes, and characteristics, or in terms of a God of revelation, power, and authority.
Well, I am of the latter class. I believe in God implicitly. I believe in the divinity of our Lord and Savior as the Son of God. I believe that the Lord has revealed himself to men in days past, and that he has not denied to his children of later generations the blessing and benefit of his revelations. I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that his gospel has been restored in its fulness with all its ordinances, and the powers authentically to administer them in these last days. I give you my solemn witness that his kingdom is set up in the earth, and that it is established forever; that they whom he has chosen to be his special representatives from period to period have not been pretenders. I have lived long enough to have known personally four, and two more at a distance, of the nine Presidents who have presided over the Church since its beginning, and I have had intimate association with our leader who guides the Church today for more than fifty years. Of my own knowledge I testify that these revered leaders and their associates in the Presiding Councils of the Church, acting under the authority of the Holy Priesthood, have administered the affairs of the kingdom with the fear of God in their hearts, fearing to offend him in any degree, and seeking to serve him and his children with humility and complete dedication.
And I must ask all of you, my friends, not to forget that truth is not determined by numbers, nor the number of its adherents. Christ began alone. Then as always, as the old saying goes, "God and one man are a majority." With him we are safe.
I pray for spiritual understanding to come to all our dear brethren and sisters in this world, that men may know in their hearts what it truly means to be a Christian, a disciple of Christ. The Lord bless us all, I ask humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Henry D. Taylor
Henry D. Taylor, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 56-58
My dear brethren and sisters, conference time is always a thrilling time as the Saints assemble from all over the world here at Church headquarters. Friends warmly greet each other as friendships are renewed. Former missionaries meet in reunion and recall the soul-satisfying experiences they enjoyed while in the service of the Lord.
I always approach this historic Tabernacle with a feeling of reverence and awe when I consider that the Saints have been coming here for ninety-one and one-half years to hear the word of the Lord and receive inspiration from their appointed leaders. The building of the Tabernacle being completed, the first conference was held here in October of the year 1867.
We gain strength from each other, brethren and sisters, and I am confident that the Brethren who stand in this pulpit feel the strength of your prayers and the inspiration that you bring with you.
Many years ago I copied an inscription appearing above one of the entrances to the Union Depot in Washington, D.C., which reads:
"He that would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him; so it is in traveling, a man must carry knowledge with him if he would bring home knowledge."
That same principle is true today. If we would carry spirituality from this conference, we must have brought a spirit of spirituality with us.
Springtime is a glorious time of the year as new life begins to stir and the earth seems to awaken from its long winter nap. An ancient biblical prophet has exclaimed:
"For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; "The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land".
This awakening is reminiscent of the death and the resurrection of the Savior and we can appropriately dwell on the great debt of gratitude that we owe him for his atoning sacrifice.
It has been said that, "while gratitude may be one of the least of the virtues, ingratitude is one of the greatest of the vices."
Selfishness, greed, and indifference are by-products of ingratitude. A classic example of ingratitude occurred during the ministry of the Savior while here upon the earth. Luke records the event in these words:
"And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. "And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: "And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. "And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. "And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, "And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. "And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? "There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. "And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole".
Gratitude, brethren and sisters, results in love, unselfishness, and consideration for others. It has a refining influence, and when expressed, can be a beautiful thing. A recent newspaper account carried an interesting incident:
"The District of Columbia police auctioned off about 100 unclaimed bicycles Friday. 'One dollar,' said an eleven year-old boy as the bidding opened on the first bike. The bidding however, went much higher. 'One dollar,' the boy repeated hopefully each time another bike came up.
"The auctioneer, who has been auctioning stolen or lost bikes for 43 years noticed that the boy's hopes seemed to soar highest whenever a racer was put up.
"There was one racer left. Then the bidding mounted to $8.00. 'Sold to that boy over there for $9.00,' said the auctioneer. He took $8.00 from his own pocket and asked the boy for his dollar. The youngster turned it over-in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters-took his bike and started to leave. But he went only a few feet. Carefully parking his new possession, he went back, gratefully threw his arms around the auctioneer's neck, and cried."
President Richards, in a recent talk at Brigham Young University, quoted this beautiful thought expressed by Sir Isaac Walton:
"God has two dwelling places; one in heaven, the other in a thankful heart, which O Lord grant to me."
The Lord expects us to receive our blessings with a grateful heart. Through a modern prophet he has made this promise:
"And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more".
Many opportunities are constantly afforded us for expressing appreciation and gratitude for our numerous blessings.
Daily, we should gather our families about us as we kneel in family prayer.
Many times during each day we can profitably pause and in secret prayer give grateful acknowledgment for the multitudinous bounties of which we are recipients.
On the first Sunday of each month a fast and testimony meeting is held in each one of the wards and branches. Members of the Church are encouraged to rise and give public utterance of their gratitude for the countless blessings that the Lord has showered upon them.
An excellent way of showing our love for our Heavenly Father and our appreciation for his blessings is through our righteous actions and righteous living.
"If ye love me, keep my commandments," said the Savior, in emphasizing this principle.
We have many things for which to be grateful. Among them is the privilege of being born in this dispensation, when the gospel has been restored to earth in its fulness through heavenly messengers. And this gospel is a plan, a plan of salvation, and it can be a guide and a blueprint which, if followed, can lead us back once again into God's presence.
Certainly we should recall with gratitude the mission of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, and his willingness to give his life that we might have salvation and the opportunity of obtaining exaltation.
We can be properly grateful for the life of the first prophet in these latter days, Joseph Smith, and give praise to this "man who communed with Jehovah," for it was through the Prophet Joseph that the gospel was restored and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints established.
We can give thanks for the Presidents who have succeeded Joseph Smith, and especially for our present-day President. As we consider President McKay's kindness, goodness, and greatness, we can sing with all our hearts, "We thank thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us in these latter days."
Finally, I am deeply grateful for the knowledge that I am truly a spiritual son of our Heavenly Father, created in his image and after his own likeness and although temporarily deprived of the privilege of dwelling in his presence, I can still communicate with him through the medium of prayer and can receive strength, comfort, and guidance.
May the Lord bless us all that we may have grateful hearts, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder S. Dilworth Young
S. Dilworth Young, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 58-60
I presume that listening in are a large number of those of us who are of an age where they can say "teen" after the number of years since they have been born, and I would direct what I have to say to them-thirteen, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen.
I should like to read briefly two stories. The first is told by Luke.
"And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, "To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. "And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. "And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. "And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. "And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: "And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. "Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? "And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God".
I should like also to state that in the account given in Matthew, Joseph was minded to put her away privily when he discovered she was expecting and an angel came to him and told him not to do it, whereupon he assumed the place that you know about in history.
The second story is one told by Joseph Smith:
"After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desire of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. "But, exerting all my powers to cal] upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction-not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being-just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun which descended gradually until it fell upon me. "It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other-This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!".
These two accounts have two things in common-both are of supernatural events; both are true. One tells of a miraculous conception, the other of a miraculous restoration. The one confirms the fact that Jesus Christ is literally the Son of God; the other that the Father and the Son are indeed one in purpose, although separate individual Personages.
Now, young folks, in the course of your growing up you will associate with teachers who will try to persuade you that the first account could not have happened, and that the second was a hallucination of an epileptic. But you will also be surprised at the wide range of people of all classes of learning who not only take comfort from these stories but also declare them to be true. During the 129 years of the Church on earth many educated people have branded its teachings as the rantings of an ignoramus. Scientists have laughed to scorn its explanations, and evil people have declared it to be deceitful and adulterous. Yet educated men have found its claims to be true and have been enlarged by them. Scientists have accepted it without explaining it and have found comfort in it, and evil men have repented and have found peace within its fold.
Any young person can take his choice as to which kind of belief he wants to accept. You will be exposed to both kinds. You may have a sure way of knowing. President Richards briefly referred to it. You can know by the whispering of the Spirit that the statements I have read to you this morning are true, and that all of the things which have happened supernaturally in this Church have actually happened.
Some of you may have had great adventures in the hills, and some of you may have had them on the water and the sea, some have had them or will have them in the air, but I can testify to you that there will be none of you have any adventure greater, more thrilling, and more joyful than finding out how to interpret the Spirit which comes into you bearing testimony of the truth. Young folks have to learn how, so do we older folks. We have to find out the technique by which the Spirit whispers in our hearts. We have to learn to hear it and to understand it and to know when we have it, and that sometimes takes a long time.
But no matter what your age, you do not need to wait until you are old to know. Any child, age eight, having been baptized and having received the gift of the Holy Ghost, is a fit candidate to have the Holy Ghost bear its imprint upon him as to the truth of the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As he grows and has that imprint upon him, he will have joy and satisfaction and peace and happiness beyond anything that can be described with words.
So I would say to the young folks of the Church, some of whom come to me confused, if you will ask, not doubting that you can have an answer, the answer will come in the whispering. Then you must learn to interpret the whispering. At first it likely will come as something akin to a feeling, although not a feeling. There will finally come into your minds the words expressive of the feeling, and those words properly interpreted will be the whispering of the Spirit. You may know as I know that Jesus is the Christ, that he was born of a virgin, that his Father was the Eternal God, and that he was chosen in this last day to re-establish his work, after having his prophets prophesy of it, through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The account of its beginnings I have read to you, and that testimony is true, and this Church now with its million and a half people stands as a witness. Each one of us in this audience knows for himself, not because of what somebody says, but in his own way and for himself, by the whispering of the Spirit, that indeed it is true.
I bear you that testimony and add to it that I know that President McKay is a prophet of the Living God, a seer, and a revelator, as are his counselors, and the twelve, and the patriarch, and I uphold them as such. I commend them to you as being what I have witnessed. I ask a blessing upon us all, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Sterling W. Sill
Sterling W. Sill, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 60-63
After the Last Supper, Jesus was giving some final instructions to his disciples. He was trying to prepare them for the heavy load of responsibility which would soon rest upon them. He talked with them a great deal about his own mission, his association with his Father and what their relationship with God ought to be. During the discussion Philip said to Jesus, "... Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us".
This question points out what is probably the greatest responsibility of our lives-not only to know God but also to understand the plan of the gospel and to live in harmony therewith. The proper relationship between men and God gives life its purpose. It doesn't matter very much whether we ride in an oxcart or on an interplanetary missile if our journey is purposeless.
Think how important it is that we understand that Jesus is the Redeemer of the world, that he expressed the divine will to men, that he was literally begotten of the Father. Jesus tried to help his disciples to understand the Father by understanding the Son who was in the express image of his Father's person. To Philip he said "... he that hath seen me hath seen the Father". As it was with the disciples, so it is with us. Our relationship to God involves the greatest rewards and the most important responsibilities that ever come to men and women in mortal life, and it is perfectly natural and proper that we should join Philip in his request to "... shew us the Father".
That is, the greatest need of man is for God. God created us. It is his Spirit that "... giveth light to every man that cometh into the world". Every day he sends us food, energy and vitality from the sun. That is, our world is not an independent world. If the sun's rays were shut off for a very short time no life could survive upon this earth. Not only does God literally give us each day our daily bread, but he is also responsible for our mental and spiritual vitality.
It is because our greatest need is for God that the first and most important commandment centers in our maintaining a proper relationship to him. And the most serious sins are our abuses of that relationship, wherein we turn away from God. Satan sinned in the presence of God, which sets the high water mark for sin.
Occasionally we ought to ask ourselves, how effective we are-individually and collectively-in this all-important relationship. We may be able to get a clue from some interesting statistics recently broadcast over the radio. A survey indicated that ninety-five percent of all of the people in America claim to believe in God. Eighty percent of those surveyed said they accepted the Bible as the authoritative word of God. Each year in America we spend over a hundred million dollars for Bibles. A bigger percentage of Americans presently claim membership in some Christian church than ever before in our history. Yet paralleling this great upsurge in religion is a corresponding upsurge in crime, delinquency, and actual spiritual illiteracy. This survey indicated that only thirty-five percent of all of those questioned even knew the names of the four Gospels. And over one-half said that religion played no significant part in their business or political affairs.
Last summer in Madison Square Garden, Billy Graham indicated one of our problems when he said, "For all of our talk about religion there is tragically little actual personal Christian commitment in America today." It is very easy for us to get disturbed when we hear about the Russians closing up their churches or trying to banish God from their country and the lives of their people. But what Russia has done officially millions of people are doing privately and individually. That is, what does it profit that our churches are open if we are not in them, or even if we spend a billion dollars for Bibles that we do not read? One thing is sure, and that is that not one of us can afford to fail to observe properly the first and most important commandment. Our eternal lives depend upon it.
It should stimulate us to remember that when Jesus was born in Bethlehem there was no room found for him in the inn. But there is a strange foreboding in this thought. "No room" was the Master's experience throughout his life. There was "no room" for his doctrines, "no room" for the spirit of his mission. We must not allow history to repeat itself because we make no room in our country or our lives for the Savior of the world. Nor have we discharged our obligation to God and our own souls by thoughtlessly saying, "We believe in God," and then let it go at that, without understanding either God or the specific nature of our responsibility to him.
Teachers of religion who "call themselves" to the ministry and then "teach their own doctrines" must bear an awful share of the responsibility for our unfortunate world situation. Even Jesus did not teach his own doctrine. He said, "... My doctrine is not mine but his that sent me". How much confusion and actual harm would be avoided if every religious teacher would follow the example of "the great Teacher."
Recently I read a book written by a popular minister, in which he attempted to analyze the great Christian doctrines as taught in the Bible, and then he made comparisons with some of the doctrines currently being taught.
For example, he said that the God of the Bible is a personal God-there can be no question about that. But he said, "We don't believe that any more." And then to substantiate his statement he quoted answers to direct questions about what some prominent ministers had said about their conception of God. One minister said, "No one can possibly know about God. He is absolutely immeasurable, undiscoverable and indiscernible. He is not limited to boundaries and we can be sure that he has no body or shape." Another minister said that "God is an eternal principle." Another said that God is "a giant electronic brain." Another said that God is "a mobile, cosmic ether." This minister pointed out how completely contrary these concepts were to those of the scriptures. He said, "Imagine Jesus praying to a mobile, cosmic ether. Jesus prayed-`... Our Father which art in heaven'. He said to Mary, '... go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God, and to your God'". That statement must be perfectly clear to everyone. And yet this great minister said, "We don't believe that any more."
Then he discussed the resurrection. He said that those who wrote the Bible believed in a literal bodily resurrection. There could be no question about that. The body of Jesus came out of the tomb and ministered among men for forty days. He said to Thomas "... Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing" . Then he read the paragraph in which Matthew said, "... And the graves were opened; and many of the bodies of the saints which slept arose,
"And came out of their graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many". But this great minister also disposed of this particular doctrine by saying, "We don't believe that any more."
There are those who through their teachings would deprive God of his body, deny his personality, take away his senses, faculties, and feelings. They would leave him sexless, thoughtless and helpless, without boundaries, shape, identity, or location. Some indulge the hopeless absurdity of merging three into one, and then in some mysterious incredible way, expanding the result to fill the immensity of space.
These false doctrines have contributed greatly to the indifference and unbelief of our day. That is, much of the current disbelief in God is not a denial of God but a denial of the false and unbelievable ideas about God. In the light of this tragic situation the importance of Philip's plea for understanding God takes on an urgent and compelling significance. What more important request could our generation make than a united, sincere, wholehearted prayer saying, "Show us the Father".
The work and message of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is centered in the literal physical fulfillment of Philip's request in our own day. In the early spring of 1820, in answer to this important need, God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ reappeared upon this earth to re-establish among men a belief in the God of Genesis, a belief in the God taught by Jesus, a belief in the God of the Bible, a belief in the Father of spirits whose will is that not one of his children should perish. The voice of the Father was heard at the baptism of Jesus; and again at the transfiguration. But in our own day he has manifest himself with a complete literalness which cannot be mistaken, misunderstood, or disregarded. In speaking about this important manifestation the Prophet Joseph said:
"... I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head above the brightness of the sun which descended gradually until it fell upon me. "... When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages whose brightness and glory defy all description standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other, `This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!'".
In the midst of the persecution which followed, the Prophet said:
"... I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of the light I saw two Personages and they did in reality speak to me. And though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true. And while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led in my heart to say: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God? Or why does the world think to make me deny that which I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision. I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it; neither dared I do it".
What a thrilling message! What a tremendous testimony! How eagerly it should be welcomed by every child of God as a solid basis for his faith. During the long dark night brought upon the world by apostasy, there may have been room for many doubts. But now these doubts could be dispelled. There was now someone in the world who had actually seen God and who knew for a certainty, not only that he lives, but the kind of Personage that he is. It was now possible to know that above the dictators and above chance and above circumstance, there is God our Heavenly Father to whom all mankind is responsible, and from whom all of our blessings come. How important that everyone should investigate and learn the truth. If one should err in believing the gospel of Jesus Christ to be true, he could not possibly be the loser by the mistake. But how irreparable is his loss who should err in supposing the gospel of Jesus Christ to be false.
Benjamin Disraeli once said, "The secret of success in life is to be ready for success when it comes." How unfortunate when one is not ready, especially when the matters involved are so tremendously all-important. The worst tragedy of the last two thousand years is that the testimony of Jesus concerning the Father and himself has largely gone unheeded. That tragedy is being repeated in our day in that so many are still not ready. We are so much involved in ourselves that we tend to crowd God out of our lives.
Life in this world is not man centered-it is God centered. As so many are doing in our day, the prodigal son squandered his inheritance because his world was centered in himself rather than in God. The greatest possible accomplishment of our world is to know God, and to believe in God, and to obey God.
Philip said, "... shew us the Father and it sufficeth us". The overwhelming importance of that plea was emphasized by the Master himself when on that last fateful night as he prayed to his Father he said, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent".
How tremendously important it is therefore, that both of these great Personages have reappeared to men upon the earth in our own day, that we may know for ourselves.
I would like to close with a quotation of one of the most important utterances ever made in the world. After Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had received an informative and glorious heavenly manifestation at Hiram, Ohio on February 16, 1832, an account of which is recorded in the seventy-sixth section of the Doctrine and Covenants they wrote these thrilling lines:
"And now, after the many testimonies that have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: that he lives! "For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father- "That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God".
To this I would like to add my own personal testimony, that I know that God lives and that his priesthood and his Church, teaching his doctrines, are now upon the earth, that we may in very deed be his disciples. May God help us to avail ourselves of this tremendous opportunity I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Bishop Thorpe B. Isaacson
Thorpe B. Isaacson, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 63-66
President McKay, President Richards, President Clark, my beloved brothers and sisters:
I always need the blessings of the Lord when I am called to this position. I could hardly proceed without the assurance of those blessings. I shall be grateful for your prayers, your patience and your understanding. After much fasting and much praying, I trust that the Lord will sustain me. We do believe in praying, and we believe in fasting, and I testify to you that therefrom comes great strength to us.
I am sure we were deeply touched this morning by this wonderful choir both at the broadcast and at this session. They are a great credit to us, a great credit to themselves and to the Church. Truly, they are regarded as wonderful servants, and they are not alone wonderful singers, but they are wonderful people. Regarding the divinely appointed responsibility of parents, the sobering counsel is given to us that "... they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord". These and many other scriptures make it crystal-clear the heaven-imposed responsibilities of teaching our children properly. If we fail in our duty toward them, we are weakening the foundation of our own influence.
Marriage is the gateway through which a man or woman obtains personal experience in human relationships. Parenthood is the opportunity for putting that experience to heavenly and practical use. It is a God-given right for parents to have children so that they can give them intelligent, mental, moral and spiritual training. Parent love is beautiful, but parent love combined with intelligent discipline is the force that turns children into great characters. Misdirected and misguided offspring result in one of civilization's appalling wastes and present-day problems. Good citizens are necessary to civilization but good parents are obligatory if civilization is to continue.
We hear very little nowadays about the strength of character that our forefathers drilled into their children. In those days, a boy grew up with the understanding that he could get somewhere in this world through hard work, rather than looking for short-cuts. Promotion was considered on performance, results, ability, and talent. Parents implanted in their children a desire for sound knowledge and a yearning for excellence and a willingness for hard work. The sense of personal responsibility was as basic as love itself.
Somewhere in our recent past, many of us have adopted the idea that a father's firm influence is not essential in the raising of children. All too often father's role in family discipline has been dismissed to, "You ask your mother." This may be all right with daughters, but with a son, it is an invitation to disaster. A boy who grows up unable to look to his father for guidance and decision and help will not have much respect for authority whatever its source.
Ninety percent of the youngsters who have had troubles are the products of homes where the father's influence was lacking. As unattractive as the task may seem, a father is the guiding director of the family, and when he fails in his job, there can be only chaos and trouble. Should a father surrender to his wife his own position as head of the household, then the results may be the same.
Faithful parents are entitled to the inspiration of the Lord. What would we do as parents without that inspiration? But sometimes parents do not have the courage to follow that inspiration, and they yield, when they should stand firm.
There should be well-established rules of behavior for growing boys and girls. The word "no" is now practically obsolete. Is it wrong for youngsters to have to toe the line? Discipline-why, we all need discipline! Someone has said that respect is no longer a part of the everyday living. The lack of discipline will bring a lack of respect. Are parents smart to give in? Would we not be better parents if we put our "foot down"? Youngsters are still youngsters, perhaps immature. They need so much help and so much counsel. They have a lot to learn but as parents we should not be afraid to teach them.
Perhaps we should let our youngsters know that they are supposed to achieve-they will be required to work, and that celebration comes only after victory, accomplishment, and achievement. A sensible youngster does not necessarily want his freedom. All he wants and needs is love, and he knows deep down in his heart that the people who love him the most are the ones who will have the courage to say "no." Discipline-yes, it is necessary to save our youngsters from themselves!
There is no strength comparable to the strength of a nation whose people know the meaning of sacrifice. Some parents say, "We do not want our youngsters to sacrifice." Young people should be taught the meaning and the law of sacrifice. They will have to pay a price for success. The price of success is high, but it is not nearly so high as the price of failure!
There are so many unwholesome outside influences working against us today, that it is a challenge to all parents to teach their children properly and watch over them carefully.
During the last year, many of us have become increasingly alarmed by the fact that prolonged exposure to television is having a disastrous effect on our children. Many times, parents use television as a built-in substitute for parental guidance.
According to Edward R. Murrow, and I quote:
"As a child's mind and character is shaped by what he sees and hears and as TV trends continue, the nation faces the danger of mass imbecility."
Television has taken the place of reading, studying, and true family life in many homes. If this continues for another generation, we may be shocked at the results.
During the past year, the greatest wave of crime and horror shows of all time has deluged this nation.
Last fall, a prominent magazine stated that networks were devoting twenty-four hours a week to violence. Of the thirty-one new programs introduced, half are devoted to violence. It also states that one week's television programs showed 160 murders, 500 percent more than five years ago; 60 justifiable homicides; 192 attempted murders; 83 robberies; 15 kidnappings; 24 conspiracies to commit murder; 21 jail breaks; 7 attempted lynchings, 6 dynamitings; 11 extortions; 2 cases of arson; and 2 cases of torture; plus an unaccountable number of fights, sluggings, maulings, etc.
I wonder if we realize what effect this is going to have. It seems a shame that children should be subjected to such atrocities. What we need are more producers and sponsors who are interested in educational programs and character building.
Judge Frank J. Kronenburg of New York says that "television is an instrument of undue pressure that convinces the immature mind that violence is an accepted way of life... The results will best be known by posterity..."
James V. Bennett, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons states: "The increasing number of prisoners young and old whose crime closely parallels what they have seen on television is a matter of great concern to me. The impressionable maladjusted or emotional young person sees these crimes and re-enacts them."
Since all of us are so deeply concerned, it is up to us to encourage and suggest to sponsors, stations, public officials, radio commissioners, newspapers, and magazines, new and different programs; and patronize good programs. Television is a great modern invention. It can be so educational, it can be such a help in character building. Many programs are already very excellent, and we should support them.
The proper use of leisure time is very important, and the proper use of it has been the means of helping many young men and women to greatness.
I recently heard someone say, talking about television, that it was a good way to kill time. Then I thought at that time of what Thoreau once said: "As if you could kill time without injuring eternity."
Of course, we as parents cannot blame all juvenile delinquency on television. We must take the responsibility in the home. Make no mistake about that. Most parents love their children and want them to have as much freedom as is necessary, but as Sam Levenson says, "We don't want the Bill of Rights to turn into the rights of Billy."
"It is a full-time job to be decent"-to be decent to everybody all the time. To be decent is to cease bitterness jealousy, and hate, to refrain from gossip, refrain from backbiting, and from passing on untrue comments and unreliable stories about another, to be considerate, thoughtful, and sympathetic. After all, everyone that I know of already has a very heavy load to carry.
Referring to the life of Jesus, there was no hate in him, but only gentleness and patience. Through him, it was not just a religion that was born. It was man reaching out for something clean and good, yearning for something decent and dignified. Men had known for centuries that happiness did not evolve from violence and injustice, not even from power. They knew cruelty always defeated itself.
Jesus taught that respect and love should be the primary guides of human behavior and human decency. There is an eternal hope that this can be a good world, that nations can live in harmony, that people can produce and trade and serve, each for the profit of the other. It is a beautiful thing that man after all his tragic experience with war, brutality and despair, can hold to this wonderful belief.
Remember, young people, there is a price for success, but the price of success is not nearly so high as the price of failure. Remember, young people, that you are holding our hearts and your future in your hands.
I want to bear my testimony to the Lord for his kindness and mercies to me, for his blessings, for his help and his guidance. I know that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. I know that God lives, that he is our Father. I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, our beloved Savior and Redeemer.
I wonder how near we can get to our Heavenly Father and to our Savior. I know from my own experience that when I can become humble, it is possible for me to get very close to the Lord. I know that there is divine inspiration and revelation in the Church today. I know that our beloved President David O. McKay, a prophet of God, is at the head of the Church. I know he is inspired of the Lord. I know that the priesthood is in the Church today, and that inspiration and revelation in the Church today is as strong or stronger than we have ever known it before.
May God bless us that we may live up to the standards of this beautiful gospel, to this Church which is our life, which makes our life as it is, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Harold B. Lee
Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 66-69
I am prompted in the subject of my few remarks by a recent saddening experience, which I had with some young people of Latter-day Saint parentage who have allowed their faith to dwindle while they have sought for higher education in the so-called secular fields, and I am encouraged in discussing some of these matters by what has appeared to be the theme of this session of our conference. I therefore seek for the sustaining of your faith and prayers for these next few minutes.
Some two years ago I came across a report in the New York Times of a statement made by Dr. O. H. Mowrer of the University of Illinois, psychologist and former president of the American Psychological Association. This statement came out of a symposium on the relationship between religion and mental health at the sixty-fifth annual meeting of the American Psychological Association held in the Statler Hotel in New York City. This is what Dr. Mowrer says:
"Psychology does not know enough about religion, psychology does not have all the answers. In fact," he observed, "it has not even asked all the right questions-the great soul-shaking questions of life and death which lie at the very heart of human experience and existence." Dr. Mowrer further said: "It is striking how many psychologists are themselves going back to church, or at least carefully sending their children to Sunday School." He concluded then by saying: "This symposium is far from an occasion for celebration, but rather a call to labor in a vineyard which we psychologists have rather systematically neglected and despised."
It has been a source of great satisfaction for me to have observed in my contacts with men in various fields that other great men in other fields are likewise seeking for the answers to the soul-shaking questions, as he put it, which lie at the heart of human experience and existence.
Some time ago I was privileged to have a telephone conversation with one of the religion editors for a great national news chain. He was preparing an article that was to precede the showing of the great Hill Cumorah Pageant. He said he wanted to talk with me about what he called-I think he called it the "intricate" teachings of the Church. When I asked him to explain what he meant, he said, "Well, this baptism for the dead." So, as I explained to him the teachings of the Church, he said, "Well, your teaching regarding baptism for the dead is like praying souls out of purgatory." I said, "Well, I suppose the intent may be said to be the same, but there is one distinctive difference. One is scriptural and true, and the other is not." Then he challenged me to prove from the scriptures-this over the telephone-how we could take this stand.
I called his attention to what the Lord said to the evilly intended Jews who sought his life: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live". That hour that he spoke of was explained, undoubtedly, by the Master to his disciples-at least Peter understood it so well that in his epistles he wrote very clearly about it. After the resurrection he said: "... being put to death in the flesh, quickened by the Spirit... went and preached to the spirits in prison, which had been disobedient in the days of Noah".
And he further said: "For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the spirit".
Then I called his attention to the fact that the method or practice of this gospel ordinance was used by the Apostle Paul as an argument for the resurrection, when he asked the question as he wrote to the Corinthians: "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?".
Some while later, after his article had been written, I had occasion to visit this man again in a hospital where he was convalescing from a major operation. This time his wife was present and after the necessary introduction, he said: "I wish you would explain to my wife here what you told me about the intricate teachings of your Church." And so, with the realization that I was in a man's hospital room and he was convalescing, I proceeded to explain what I had previously said to him, at the conclusion of which he said to her: "I told you that the teachings of the Mormon Church are like bricks in a wall of a house, put together with no gaps in them. They have an answer for everything."
Then I said to him, "Of course, you realize that your comment is to us but another testimony of the divine origin of this Church and the gospel principles which do supply an answer for everything affecting life and death."
The principles of the gospel are unchangeable, and they are fixed according to the gospel plan. I came to that conclusion in a rather startling way. Brother Kimball and I had an experience with one of Brother Moyle's friends, a great industrialist, to whom Brother Moyle had presented a Book of Mormon, and with whom he had had many gospel conversations. In our presence, and before the Brigham Young University student body this man declared that he accepted the Book of Mormon as a true record of his ancestors, he being of Cherokee Indian descent. When we questioned him about that, then if he accepted the Book of Mormon as a true record what did that make of Joseph Smith, and he said he accepted Joseph Smith as a prophet, and he accepted the Church as divine, but he could not believe the principle of baptism for the dead. He said, "I believe God could save those who have died in any way he wanted to."
I made, what I came to realize a little later, a loose remark that I have repented of many times, when I said to him, "Yes, I suppose God could have said, `Throw your hat over a cliff, and you will be saved.' But he did not say that. He said, `... Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit, only then could he be saved'".
I told that to a friend of mine, and when I repeated that last, "He could have said, `Throw your hat over a cliff,'" he said, "Brother Lee, I am surprised to hear you say that. Could there have been any other way than the way he said?" Then, too late, I remembered what the Master said: "... strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it", and in the controversy that followed the healing of the blind at the pool of Siloam, "... He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber".
The Lord has summed up the gospel in these words: "And this is my gospel-repentance and baptism by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which showeth all things and teacheth the peaceable things of the kingdom".
What is the gospel then? What a glorious definition we have listened to this morning in President Richards' address. So often I hear my brethren saying something that I wish we would not say quite that way-that the gospel is a way of life. It is not a way of life-it is the way to eternal life. It is the science of salvation. I quote from something that our late beloved brother, Orson F. Whitney, wrote some years ago when he said:
"The principles which compose the gospel-and not merely the first principles, but all that have been or will ever be revealed are self-existent and everlasting in their nature. They have existed from all eternity, and will endure through all eternities to come, for they are absolute, essential, uncreated truths, without beginning of day or end of years, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Concerning the time, place, and method of their compilation... it is not man's present province to enquire".
Yes, our religion editor of the national newspaper chain, you are right. Gospel truths are as brick upon brick in a solid wall. There are no gaps. Will you choice young Latter-day Saints and our friends in the fields of science and psychology and philosophy-will you heed the call of Dr. Mowrer, one of the most brilliant leaders in your secular world, and as he said, heed his call to labor in the vineyard, which all too often you have systematically neglected and despised.
Our beloved late Dr. James E. Talmage, an eminent scholar, has set forth in clearness the essential relationship between scientific theory and truth in an article entitled: "Prophecy as the Forerunner of Science." It was written many years ago, and this is what he said:
"The man of truly scientific spirit regards a theory in its real character-as a provisional and tentative explanation of phenomena not otherwise easy to comprehend. Theory is but the scaffolding necessary to the work of rightly placing the building blocks of truth in the wall of the rising edifice of science. These building blocks are demonstrated facts, truths made plain and when they are in place, their proper relation to each other duly established, the scaffolding, which is inadequate and unsightly at best, is torn down. Theory becomes unnecessary as our knowledge of facts increases".
Nearly twenty years ago because of, shall I say, some immature observations at that time I wrote something that I read again the other day to see if I could now say the same thing. The testimony of those nearly twenty years that have intervened convinced me all the more that these facts are true. That person who thinks he has outgrown his Church and his religion has in reality proved himself too small to bear the responsibilities his membership entails and has shut himself up in his small intellectual world, and the vast treasures in the unseen world of spiritual truths are closed to his understanding. "And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with right comprehendeth all things".
The gospel of Jesus Christ does have the right answers to the great soul-shaking questions which lie at the heart of human experience and existence, for it is indeed the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And I bear humble testimony that I know it is true, the science of salvation, the power of God unto salvation, and I bear that testimony humbly in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 71-75
Frequent reference has been made throughout this conference by previous speakers to the importance of training youth. Several messages have been directed specifically to the young people of the Church. I should like to say a few words on this important theme.
Our children are our most precious possessions. They are treasures of eternity. None of them should be lost. Our Father's glory is in their salvation. As a Church we have great opportunity to reach these young people, and as individuals-teachers and officers-we have a great responsibility in teaching them correct principles.
Emphasizing the opportunities of the Church in this regard, Paul wrote to the branch at Corinth:
"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors, and teachers; "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ".
Fitness of American Youth
On November 21, 1957, the President of the United States appointed the Presidents Council on Youth Fitness, composed of the Secretary of the Interior as Chairman, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Agriculture, Ezra Taft Benson, who sits here with us this afternoon, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.
He said it was the duty of this council to promote the efficacy of existing programs and the launching of additional programs which will enhance the fitness of American youth. He also established at that time the President's Citizens Advisory Committee on the Fitness of American Youth. That was in 1957.
On the thirty-first day of January of this year, the President issued another proclamation:
"Whereas the ongoing strength of our Nation depends upon the health of our young people; and
"Whereas we must always strive to improve the fitness of our youth by determined and coordinated efforts; and
"Whereas, in this challenging world, it is essential that our young people recognize their obligation to themselves, to their families, and to the Nation, to endeavor to keep themselves mentally, emotionally, spiritually, socially, and physically fit; and
"Whereas the President's Council on Youth Fitness has recommended that a National Youth Fitness Week be designated:
"Now, therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning May 3, 1959, as National Youth Fitness Week.
"I request officials of the Government, and I urge parents, young people, and interested local and national organizations, to use all appropriate means during that week to promote programs and activities demonstrating the importance of youth fitness to the end that we may assure the continuing strength and well being of our people."
Over a quarter of a century ago another President of the United States made the following significant reference to the importance of training childhood and youth
"These questions of child health and protection are a complicated problem requiring much learning and much action. And we need have great concern over this matter. Let no one believe that these are questions which should not stir a nation; that they are below the dignity of statesmen or governments. If we could have but one generation of properly born, trained, educated, and healthy children, a thousand other problems of government would vanish. We would assure ourselves of healthier minds in more vigorous bodies, to direct the energies of our Nation to yet greater heights of achievement."
President Eisenhower's council has as its scope not only "muscle making" and "tendon stretching," as set forth by Shane McCarthy, Executive Director, but also the mental, moral, emotional, and spiritual development of youth. This youth program is most timely and fitting. I am glad that two of our General Authorities are connected with it-Elder Ezra Taft Benson, of the Council of the Twelve, and Elder Marion D. Hanks of the First Council of the Seventy.
Recently one of my sons called attention to an address delivered by Major Mayer of the Brook Army Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, San Antonio, Texas. It was delivered to the officers and supervisors of the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, and the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory on the fourth of October, 1956. The major pointed out that the communists have gained control over many people in this world by the well-known devices of wars, purges, Siberian war camps, mass executions, etc. But he says more significant is the fact that for every person brought under the Russian banner by violence, many hundreds have been controlled without violence, and yet such control has been absolute.
Then he gives the result of his study of 4000 returning prisoners of war from Korea, and he finds a technique which has been termed "brainwashing." Before the communists could put their plan into effect they had to segregate these prisoners, which they did very simply by putting them into what was called "reactionary" camps. Note whom they put into these "reactionary" camps.
First, people who tried to be leaders or who showed what the communists called "poisonous individualism." If the soldier had the temerity to try to organize anything, off he went to the "reactionary" camp. He was obviously hopeless.
Second, those "reactionaries" or people with a higher education, who were considered automatically pretty reactionary unless they volunteered to cooperate, and some of these did.
Third, overtly religious people. The communists felt that they could not do much with them.
Out of these 4000 prisoners, what percent do you think they put in the "reactionary" camp? Five percent, and after getting rid of those, they began the process of "brainwashing." It is surprising how many soldiers knew so little about our way of life-the American way of life.
Once they had the leaders segregated they invoked the techniques which have become universal throughout the communist world.
Youth's Responsibility
We are living in an age of gadgetry which threatens to produce a future generation of softness. Flabbiness of character more than flabbiness of muscles lies at the root of most of the problems facing American youth.
The youth of yesterday are carrying the responsibilities and directing the affairs of the world today. The youth of today will contribute to the destiny of the world tomorrow.
Never a day passes but gives some reminder of the fleetness of time and the brevity of life-childhood-youth-maturity-old age. In childhood there is no past-no future-happy in the present-heaven lies about him, and it is all for him.
Youth-beautiful-sweet-rash-inexperienced! In the words of Longfellow:
"How beautiful is Youth! How bright it gleams With its illusions, aspirations, dreams! Book of Beginnings, Story without End, Each maid a heroine, and each man a friend!"
Then comes manhood with all its responsibilities, duties, failures, successes, each spending his time and worry on how much he can get, instead of how much he can give to this world and make it better. Before he knows it old age is upon him. "The easiest thing for our friends to discover in us, and the hardest thing for us to discover in ourselves is that we are growing old." But of one thing we are keenly aware-that
"Years rush by us like the wind We see not whence the eddy comes, Nor whitherward it is tending, And we seem, ourselves, to witness their flight Without a sense that we are changed. Yet time is beguiling man of his strength As the winds rob the trees of their foliage."
The President's Council on Youth Fitness should be commended in recommending that a National Youth Fitness Week be designated. By so doing they recognize that in this challenging world it is essential that our young people be aware of their obligations to themselves, to their families, and to the nation. In this recognition they endeavor to keep themselves mentally, emotionally, spiritually, socially, and physically fit.
Parents have a responsibility in this education. Youth needs guidance, direction, and proper restraint. "Let thy child's first lesson be obedience, and the second will be what thou wilt," said Benjamin Franklin. A child learns this lesson early at his mother's knee-sometimes across his mother's knee. The child should learn early that the world is not created for him alone; that he has an obligation to others; that he owes his parents, particularly, a debt unpayable except in only one way-in living a life that will honor his name and bring joy to them in their old age. He should learn that
"He ought to be true for the sake of the folks who think he is true. He should never stoop to a deed that his folks think he would not do. If he is false to himself, be the blemish but small, He has injured his folks, he has been false to them all."
It was old King Lear who cried in his anguish, "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child." He is recreant, indeed, who for selfish indulgence would bring disgrace upon his parents, and upon the good name he bears.
Parents, too, have a responsibility in this training not to provoke children to wrath. They should be considerate not to irritate by vexatious commands or place unreasonable blame. Whenever possible they should give encouragement rather than remonstrance or reproof.
The obligation of the Church is to spend not just one week this coming month on Youth Fitness, but fifty-two weeks every year. Quorums and organizations have been set up in the Church, as our text says, for the "perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ;
"Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ".
Now, let us just take a glimpse of the completeness of the Church organizations, and we shall find it discloses the fact that in the auxiliary organizations, quorums, and other groups, there is an army of officers and teachers ready to guide and direct youth in the proper way.
In the Sunday School for example, there are 82,449 officers and teachers, having under their charge 664,750 people. Primary: 51,053 officers and teachers, having under their charge 290,789 children. YMMIA: 24,754 officers and teachers, and 178,766 youth under their direction. YWMIA: 32,988 officers and teachers, and 194,094 girls under them. Aaronic Priesthood: 28,837 officers and teachers, having 86,176 youth. Foreign missionaries: 5,512, and stake missionaries, 5,934, or 11,446 missionaries. Or a total of 231,527 officers and teachers in the Church who first of all should be exemplars. "Children have more need of models than of critics." No officer or teacher should be continued in office who persists in the obnoxious use of tobacco. The elder who hesitates to teach the Word of Wisdom is shirking his duty. He who fails to live it robs himself of strength of body and strength of character to which he is entitled.
Truth is loyalty to the right as we see it; it is courageous living of our lives in harmony with our ideals; it is always power. With the ideals of right living before him, no member of the Church can continually violate the Word of Wisdom with impunity.
In this old world, the easiest way seems to be the indulgent way. If a person has the least desire or inclination to drink tea and coffee or to smoke cigarettes, temptations to indulge the appetite are on every hand. At parties, during social calls, at chance introductions or friendly visits, in restaurants or trains, indulgence in these stimulants and narcotics is not only encouraged but also too often urged. Under such influence and environment, the easy way is to yield and become one of the crowd. But not one of these officers, 231,527 of them, should ever yield to that easy way. One never develops character by yielding to wrong. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life". Strength comes by resisting!
We are living not only in a commercial age, but also in a nicotine age, and viciously the cigarette habit is fastening itself upon the human race. Government, medical, and other statistics are constantly warning us of the enormous strides that this insidious enemy to health and morals is making; but we little realize how active and potent are the forces at work to foster this and kindred vices, and all for commercial gain.
In "Habits that Handicap," Charles B. Towne, a quarter of a century ago, explains how "salesmen and demonstrators a few years ago were employed by manufacturers to go throughout China 'to show the people how to smoke cigarettes.' It is estimated that as a result of this campaign, one half of the cigarette consumption in the world is in China. It is little wonder, when we learn that because of cheap labor twenty cigarettes could be sold for a penny!" The author also makes this remarkable statement: "I consider that cigarette smoking is the greatest vice devastating humanity today because it is doing more than any other vice to deteriorate the race."
Think of the effect of an army of officers and teachers, with hundreds of thousands of youth under their care, not one of whom should ever put a cigarette in his or her mouth! What a potent example! The voice of the Church will ever be raised against the increasing tendency among men and women to stain their lives with nicotine. Especially does it deplore this growing evil among women. Heretofore, virtuous Anglo-Saxon womanhood has been above this indulgence, and has therefore been a restraining and uplifting influence on men. Now, this influence is being subjected to the insidious lure of the cigarette; and mothers of men, around whom center the sweetest, purest, noblest sentiments of our lives, are contaminating their sweetness and purity by indulgence in one of man's vices. The more woman becomes like man, the less he will respect her; civilization weakens as man's estimate of woman lessens.
That it is woman's right to indulge in this habit, we do not question, yet, we lose some of that sweet respect and admiration for women when we see them walk deliberately into mire holes that have heretofore besmeared only men. It is difficult to conceive that any mother would arrogate to herself the thought that staining her lips with tobacco would add to her dignity as mother, or increase the admiration and pride that children hold for true motherhood.
The mission of the Church is to proclaim the truth of the restored gospel to uplift society that people may mingle more amicably one with another; to create in our communities a wholesome environment in which our children may find strength to resist temptation and encouragement to strive for cultural and spiritual attainment. It is the binding duty of leaders of youth and particularly mothers, by example to make ineffective the influence of designing men who would make profit out of their fellows who have fallen so low as to be slaves to vice and passions.
The restored gospel is a rational philosophy that teaches men how to get happiness in this life and exaltation in the life to come. The mission of the Church is to establish the kingdom of God upon the earth, "which is not a mythical but a real kingdom," says a prominent writer not of the Church. "It is a body of people dominated by ideals of productivity, which is mutual service. We do not strive for the things which satisfy but for the moment and then leave a bad taste. We strive for the things which build us up, and enable us and our children to be strong, to flourish, and to conquer. We strive to make ourselves worthy to receive the world by fitting ourselves to use the world more productively than others. We believe that obedience to God means obedience to the laws of nature which are but the manifestations of his will; and we try by painstaking study to acquire the most complete and exact knowledge of that will in order that we may conform ourselves to it."
To live an upright life, to conform to high ethical standards, is the responsibility and duty of every teacher of the land. Greater than this is the responsibility of the religious teacher for in addition to his belief in the efficacy of ethical and moral precepts, the religious teacher assumes the responsibility of leading the youth into the realm of spirituality.
Example is the best and most effective way of teaching. Let us be exemplary in our speech. No true leader of the Church will ever profane the name of God or his Beloved Son, especially in the presence of his sons, or in the presence of any other young people. Profanity is a vice. We can set a proper example also by speaking well of others. The Lord has admonished us not to engage in backbiting. Another worthy example is exercising self-control, controlling our temper by not speaking angrily in the home. Let calmness be characteristic of our home life.
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord:" said Paul, "for this is right. "Honour thy father and mother which is the first commandment with promise; "That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord".
To this admonition of Paul, we add the word of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph as follows:
"And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents. "For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized... "And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord".
The training of youth is an obligation, first, upon the parents; next, upon teachers in the Church, in auxiliaries and quorums, in the missionary field proclaiming the gospel wherever they may be called, and upon all the citizens whether in the Church or out of the Church. It is one of the obligations to which our attention is now called by the President of the United States who has placed the responsibility upon his cabinet, who have appointed a citizens' committee, and asking the entire nation to combine in this great educational campaign.
Fellow workers, may inspiration from on High be given each of us to discharge our responsibilities throughout this Church in training the youth, not only during Youth Training Week throughout this land but always, having in mind God's saying found only in this revealed Church: "For behold, this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man".
God help us to be true instruments in his hands in accomplishing this divine ideal, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Marion D. Hanks
Marion D. Hanks, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 76-78
With you I rejoice in this forthright and impressive statement by President David O. McKay of our interest and our position in a great national program. My earnest and humble prayer is that we who have influence with the young may proceed from this conference throughout the Church to give adequate emphasis to the great responsibility of developing fitness in our young. I think, if we do we may expect three great results: that, first, much good will come to the nation, and the nations of which we are citizens; second, that the missionary work of the Church will receive great impetus through the marvelous example of the influence of the program of the Church in the lives of its young; and third, that the Church itself and its people may profit measurably by a renewed dedication to following the direction of the Lord and the leadership of the brethren in providing opportunities for development in every aspect of the personality in our young.
Early this week our seven-year-old daughter, leading our family in prayer, thanked God for her and our eyes and our ears and our mouths, and asked the Lord to bless us that we could say good things through our mouths, and because she knew her daddy had to talk that morning to some people not of the Church, she prayed that he would be able to explain the gospel understandably to them. I echo her great appreciation for God's gifts and her earnest petitions also.
A time ago I had the privilege of going to a university campus to participate in what they called "Religion in Life Week." Their theme, which I was to treat at the beginning of the week was "Something Missing." I walked about the campus and into some of the buildings in the period preceding the appointed hour, and in a certain building where there were advertisements placed by students, I saw this written, line by line as I shall repeat the words:
For Sale 1929 Ford Good body and fenders New paint job No engine $20 See................
And I had the idea which permitted me to treat the theme, "Something Missing." The car looked all right, I suppose. It may have seemed adequate from the exterior appearance to fulfil its purposes, but in fact, it was not. Something was missing, and that something was the chief element, the motivating power.
As President McKay spoke to the missionaries of the Church Friday night, I thanked God in my heart that over a large part of my life I have been blessed to serve on that interesting frontier where the Church meets the world-in the missionary cause. I rejoiced last evening as he talked of the wonderfully fine, loyal, intelligent people of integrity in the world, because though I seek premier position in few things in this world, I would not want to be second in my appreciation of the wonderful people there are who are not of us and not like us, but who are good and decent and honest and live to the light they have received. But I confess that much as I have learned to love them, and as honest as is my respect for them and their integrity, I have recognized... that in them there is something missing, and time and again I have had the blessing, with many of you, of attempting to bear witness to them of what that something is.
Why do they miss it? Why do they not enjoy it? Perhaps because they have not been taught. Perhaps because they have a seemingly satisfactory circumstance in life. Perhaps because though they may sense they miss something, the pressures and problems and influences of their lives keep them from responding, from being willing to pay the price.
I read with some of you some time ago in an eastern newspaper a little article which had no prominent place but which represented something meaningful. It was the story of a fire in one of the clothing districts in New York City. It told of the death in this fire of more than a dozen people-fifteen, as I recall, and one sentence from the latter part of the short article was impressive and important to me. It said that these people had perished within easy access of an escape door, but had not used it rather had huddled together and had died in the middle of the floor because of "smoke and fear." I have wondered if some one of the fifteen or so who died had been conscious enough of the door, if he had known of it and realized its importance he might have led the others through it to life.
And I have thought a good deal more, as perhaps you will in contemplation, about what may have happened in that clothing factory. Apparently they had been sitting within easy access of that door, some of them, at least, for years, yet had paid no heed to it. It had not apparently meant much to them, and in their hour of extremity they were not able to find it.
There are many wonderful people in the world for whom I have personal respect and love, and whose intelligence and integrity I consider at least equal to our own, in terms of what they are willing to do for what they believe. Yet I testify with all my heart that there is something here for the finest of them, but it requires a consciousness that not all is well, that there is something to be had in the world besides social competence or other of the earthly pursuits which satisfy the ambitions of men.
"Smoke and fear" are everywhere about us. I read again this morning, at an early hour, out of the eighth chapter of First Nephi, and then in the subsequent explanatory chapter, the vision of Lehi. You remember the chief symbols-the tree representing the tree of life, or the love of God; the path to it; the rod by which one holding fast could reach it, and the chasm; the large and spacious building on the other side; the mists of darkness, of vapor, rising from the river of filth to overcome those who would try to reach the tree. Do you remember these words? An exceeding great mist of darkness came up and obscured the path, while across it the great spacious building was filled with people, old and young, male and female, their manner of dress exceeding fine, and who were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers toward those who had come and were partaking of the fruit. Some of those who had tasted it were ashamed because of those who were scoffing at them, and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost. Note these words in the twelfth chapter of First Nephi: "... the mists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish and are lost.
"And the large and spacious building which thy father saw,, is vain imaginations and the pride of the children of men".
My testimony and witness and the assurances of my heart are that though there are wonderfully fine people all about us, with whom I have the occasional privilege of association, some of whom I have the blessing of attempting to teach, and to many of whom I have the privilege of bearing witness, and while I have great respect for what they represent and are, yet there is something missing in them if they have not found willingness to realize that within easy access is a door leading to life and that the Savior stands there and knocks, but they must open and walk through.
I have been deeply blessed by the great strong statements of the brethren this conference reaffirming that there is something in the gospel and Church of Jesus Christ which will bless the lives of the very finest of men who do not have it, and who therefore have something missing.
To conclude, I mention that such a sermon as President Richards delivered this morning is sometimes greeted by some of the people of whom I have spoken, with murmurings as to arrogance and smugness, with some objection on the basis of lack of goodwill, even sometimes, they say, lack of Christianity in such a statement. I say, and humbly, that though the prophets were good and compassionate men who loved brotherhood and goodwill, yet in every instance they testified that there is a way, that men must follow that way and obey the commandments of God. We could proceed from the beginning to the end of the sacred records, but I choose just one as the example, and this, section 52 of the Doctrine and Covenants, where the Prophet, under the inspiration of God, encouraging and suggesting compassion and love and brotherliness, and prayer and humility and every other virtue, also had something else to say:
"Wherefore he that prayeth, whose spirit is contrite, the same is accepted of me if he obey mine ordinances.
"He that speaketh, whose spirit is contrite, whose language is meek and edifieth, the same is of God if he obey mine ordinances".
I thank God for the blessing of the gospel, of some understanding of it, and of certain witness that it is the very plan of God, and that they who speak for God are his servants in this day, as anciently, which I say, and which witness I bear, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Ezra Taft Benson
Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 78-80
My beloved brethren and sisters and friends: Humbly, gratefully, and prayerfully I approach this assignment and face this great audience and the unseen audience of thousands more. Since listening to the inspiring address of President McKay I have felt impressed to leave in my pocket a manuscript which I had intended to present as my small part of this conference.
I would like to say just a word about youth, if I may, the theme which the President has so impressively emphasized in our hearing by his inspiring address. With all my heart I respond to this great message of the president, prophet, seer, and revelator of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And I hope and pray that leaders of youth everywhere who were fortunate enough to hear his message, or will be fortunate enough to read it, will heed the counsel given therein.
I love the youth of the Church and of this great country. I know that our future as a nation, as a people, and our future as a Church depends very largely upon our young people.
I rejoice as I look into the faces of the leaders of youth who have been called to represent the Church. I was thrilled as we met at Camp David in the mountains north of Washington and found that Elder Marion D. Hanks had been appointed a member of the Citizens' Advisory Committee of the President's Council on Youth Fitness, already referred to by President McKay. We have a group of great leaders in the Church who have been assigned to work with young people, and I think nowhere in all the world will you find a finer youth program than we have right here in the Church.
Everywhere I go I hear praise of the youth program of the Mormon Church, and I am sure that the praise is well merited. I have thrilled with the recent series of articles, cards, and displays on the general subject, "Be Honest with Yourself." It is our appeal to the young people of the Church to adhere strictly to the basic, eternal concepts which make for the good life. It is an appeal for them to live clean, upright lives, to adhere to those basic principles which their parents and their grandparents and their great-grandparents adhered to, and upon which they builded in this western land.
It is my hope and prayer, my brethren and sisters, that those of us who have responsibility for leadership, among the youth of Zion particularly, will have the courage and the good common sense to speak frankly and honestly with our young people, that they might know what the Church expects of them, that they might know what is best for them as citizens of this great land, and citizens of the kingdom of God.
Now, what is it that we seek for our young people? It has been said that they are the greatest group of young people in all the world. I am sure they are the greatest in opportunity of any group of young people anywhere. No group of youth has ever had richer opportunities than our young people have today. What do we seek for them? I have concluded that there are four essential things that we seek for them.
First of all, we want them to be happy. "Men are, that they might have joy". There is no happiness in sin. Wickedness never was happiness. There are no shortcuts to happiness. It pays to live the good life. It pays to heed the counsel of one's faithful parents and the teachers of youth. It pays to heed the counsel and the instruction given by the General Authorities of the Church. If our young people would be happy then they must adhere to the eternal, basic principles and concepts of our belief and follow the advice given them by the leadership of the Church.
Secondly, we want them to be successful in their chosen field of life's work, whatever that field may be so long as it is honorable. We would like to see them excel. The Lord wants them to excel, and he will help them. I am convinced, my young brethren and sisters, that while the world may not live our standards, I am confident in my own heart from observation, experience, and broad contact with the world, that the world is willing to pay for the services of young Latter-day Saint men and women who are willing to adhere strictly to the standards and ideals of the Church. If a young man and woman were thinking only of getting ahead materially or financially in their chosen field, it still pays to live the standards of Mormonism. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose by adhering strictly to the standards which you have been taught from childhood, and which the Church emphasizes today.
Thirdly, we hope that our youth will develop a love for freedom and become good citizens of this great Christian nation. We hope that our youth will develop in their hearts a conviction, a testimony, that this is not just another nation, not just one of a family of nations, but a nation with the responsibility of a great mission to perform for liberty-loving people everywhere. We hope they will realize that the Constitution of this land was established by men whom the God of heaven raised up unto that very purpose. Our young people have a responsibility as citizens of this land to see to it that the basic concepts, and principles, and ideals, upon which this great Christian nation has been established are preserved, and strengthened, and safeguarded.
Fourthly, and most important of all and really all-inclusive, we hope that the youth of the Church will live so that eventually they will be able to go to the house of the Lord with a choice companion, and receive the priceless blessings which are in store for the faithful there. And we hope that they will then continue to live worthily so as to eventually be exalted in the celestial kingdom of our Heavenly Father.
Yes, we want them to have a good time. We want them to be happy. We want them to succeed in their chosen fields. We want them to become good citizens. We want them to become good fathers and mothers. We want them to establish happy homes, and in order to do that they must live good lives. They must keep themselves clean and pure.
I thrilled as I listened to Sister Jessie Evans Smith sing the solo part of that lovely song this afternoon: "He that hath clean hands and a pure heart". Our young people must lead clean lives-clean in their actions, clean in their thoughts. This means that they cannot indulge promiscuously in so-called petting and necking. It means that they should look very carefully at a common practice which we find on American dance floors today of close bodily contact-cheek to cheek dancing-which I think, my brethren and sisters, has in it real danger.
I think our young people want to know this. My advice to them would be not to engage in these promiscuous relationships, these close and intimate contacts, including cheek to cheek dancing on the ballroom floor, whether it be at a Church dance, a public dance, or wherever it might be. I urge that they never do anything, on the dance floor or off the dance floor, that they would be ashamed to have their own fathers and mothers witness.
If they are wise, our young people will reserve for the marriage covenant those sweet and intimate associations. They will reserve such intimacies for their companions for eternity. Such a course is pleasing to our Heavenly Father and will bring peace and happiness-eternal happiness.
I know this may seem strong doctrine for some. I stress it because I believe that the young people of the Church want to know. I believe they are entitled to know. I believe it is best for them.
In all your relationships, my young friends, when in doubt then do not enter into the act or practice. In fact, our young people should not enter into any activity if there is any doubt as to its propriety. If you are living right, my young brethren and sisters, you will have the prompting of the Spirit which will tell you whether it is right or wrong. Do not fail to heed that prompting, as I hope you will heed the counsel of your own parents and your leaders in the auxiliaries.
Just one thought in closing: As you resolve in your hearts to live the standards of the Church-and you cannot afford to do otherwise, from a material standpoint, from a spiritual standpoint, from the standpoint of getting ahead in the world-I hope you will remember that your prescribed standards are a part of a great body of truth-the gospel of Jesus Christ-revealed truth from heaven. Please remember that no discovery of the future, in the laboratory or anywhere else, no other truth will ever be in conflict with the teachings of the gospel. Truth is always consistent. It is never in conflict. The gospel encompasses all truth. When doubts come to your mind because of instructions you may receive in the classroom, I urge you to remember that time is always on the side of truth, and Mormonism is truth.
God bless you and protect you and guide you, and give you the courage to live the gospel, to maintain the standards of the Church, so that the blessings which have been promised to the faithful may be yours eternally, and here in mortality also, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder William J. Critchlow, Jr.
William J. Critchlow, Jr., Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 80-84
"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils. The motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus". Certainly some of the loveliest, and I am sure the sweetest, sermons that we have heard in this conference have been rendered by this choir, and the choir we heard yesterday.
Six months ago I was the president of a large Ogden stake which, I was told, would be divided at our next stake conference, and that I would be retired as its president. Before that conference arrived, I came to general conference, and there I found myself suddenly and unexpectedly retreaded instead of retired, and I have traveled several thousand miles on those treads to the stakes of Zion to keep stake conference appointments. I thought the people in my stake were the best and the happiest people in the world. I still think so, but in my travels I have found thousands of people just like them. I found them in Phoenix, in Denver, in Salt Lake, and in the Big Horn. Wherever I have gone I have found these people, so I will have to revise my thinking and say that the South Ogden Stake people are just some of the finest people in the world.
These people have certain characteristics in common. Friendliness is one of them; humility is surely another; the hospitality of their leaders is another which I have greatly enjoyed. But the outstanding characteristic, it seems to me, is happiness. Their countenances literally radiate happiness. They seem to have left all of their worries and troubles at home. They obviously came to conference to feast, spiritually, of course, and they seem to delight in paying their devotions.
They should be happy. They should be the happiest people in the world. I believe they are the happiest people in the world because they observe our Father's laws of happiness.
Our Heavenly Father loves us. I love my children dearly, but his love for us, his spirit children, is infinite, divine.
His announcement of our coming to this earth made his children extremely happy. "... the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy", so we are told, and we soon learned that, "Adam fell that man might be; and men are, that they might have joy". He provided for our happiness here on earth by giving us a plan for happiness. We call it the "gospel plan." It comprises a number of laws some ordinances, and a few principles which if obeyed will bring a state of blessedness to his children. And blessedness, my brothers and sisters, is a deep, refined joy or happiness.
An example of his laws of happiness is his law of health which we call the "Word of Wisdom."
"And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall have health in their naval, and marrow to their bones... "And shall run and not be weary".
A young man came to a bishop in my stake and said, "Bishop, I have observed the Word of Wisdom all the days of my life, yet I do not enjoy good health. Why doesn't the Lord respect his promise?"
This wise bishop replied, "Sit down, we'll read the law together." Then as he turned the pages to find the law, he said, "I haven't seen you in priesthood meeting this year, nor have I observed you in Sacrament meeting for a long, long time, nor have I had your name on the tithing list for several years."
"I know, Bishop," the young man replied, "I'm not faithful in all things, but I have faithfully kept the Word of Wisdom and I have not received the promised blessing."
"Here," said the bishop, "is the law." He read it slowly.
"And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments".
No need to read farther! In kindness he explained, "Our Heavenly Father has commanded us to pay tithing, to go to Sacrament and to priesthood meetings. You apparently have not understood the law and, therefore, have not fully complied."
Like this young man, others may not understand these laws of happiness. Ignorance is no excuse for violating civil laws; perhaps our Heavenly Father may not accept it as an excuse for violating his laws.
Another law, apparently misunderstood by some is the Sabbath day law.
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. "Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work: "But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God".
"... thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day".
I have seen our members, along with other people, in stores purchasing supplies and food on Sunday. May I ask, with what consistency can one go to a store on Sunday in violation of this law, purchase food, and then place it on a table, and ask Heavenly Father to bless it?
Another example is his financial law-the law of the tithe.
"... prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it".
"... for he that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming".
Another is his priesthood law.
"And also all they who receive this priesthood receiveth me... "For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me; "And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father; "And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father's kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him".
Still another example is his marriage law-celestial marriage law.
"Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me nor by my word, and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the world".
There is another law, which I heard President McKay quote this afternoon. I call it the "law for the parents."
"... inasmuch as parents have children... that teach them not... repentance, faith in Christ... baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost... when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents. "For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion".
There are other laws designed for our happiness, obedience to which will bring that deep-refined joy which we might call blessedness. But underlying all of these laws is one master law "... irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated-
"And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated".
My son told me about a man who declined to join our Church because, he said, "Observance of the laws would deprive me of my happiness. I like," he continued, "a cup of coffee at breakfast, another cup mid-morning to pick me up. After dinner in the evening I like to relax with my pipe and newspaper. On Sunday I like to get out under blue skies with my fishing pole in summer, and in winter I enjoy a late, lazy breakfast with the Sunday paper. If I paid a tithe of my earnings on top of my income tax, doctor bills, installments on my home and car-well, I'm afraid I'd be jailed for writing checks with insufficient funds."
What this man implied, and implied quite effectively, was this: I have no faith, no assurance that God will reward me with anything better than a pipe or cup of coffee for keeping his laws.
"... O ye of little faith?".
"And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments".
"... according to men's faith, it shall be done unto them".
"... without faith it is impossible to please him".
Faith is the first principle of our gospel. If this man could have seen the happy countenances of thousands of members in the stakes which I have visited and could he have heard, as I have heard, the testimonies of those men and wives who have come into Church activity, he surely would have paused before he spoke so facetiously.
In contrast to this man's lack of faith, let me tell you about a man who came one evening to a stake president and asked for baptism. I see that president in this congregation. This man stood in the president's home, dressed in an army officer's uniform of high rank. In answer to the president's question, "What missionaries have been instructing you?" he replied, "None." Then he explained that he supervised LDS men and women at Hill Air Force Base and found these people to be honest, industrious and happy. "My wife and I are religiously inclined, and we would like to be not only one with them but also one of them. We would like to be baptized."
I had an opportunity to interview this officer, and when I asked him if he understood the principles of the gospel, he replied, "I understand the tithing law, and I will observe it. Other laws I do not understand, but we will conform. We want to be happy with you and one of you." He had faith. I think he found real happiness.
Now let me tell about another man who lectured brilliantly in Salt Lake City a dozen or so years ago. He was a silver-tongued orator who reportedly had lectured in nations around the globe and had more degrees behind his name than many of us could interpret.
The following day he visited in Ogden and was taken sightseeing up Ogden Canyon. Returning, he relaxed in the office of the president of the Ogden Chamber of Commerce where he remarked, "You Mormons are certainly a friendly, hospitable, and happy people. Will one of you tell me something of your philosophy of life?" His finger pointed to me, so I told him about our concept of God, why we were here, where we come from, and what we expected hereafter. I also quoted our Articles of Faith. When I had finished, he said in substance:
"My father was a minister. I, too, am a graduate of a school of divinity. But what I learned in that school, or rather what I did not learn, and what you have told me today confuses me. As a result I am what you would call an agnostic."
"Now," he continued, "if what you believe-this philosophy of yours-makes you happy, then stick to it and live it. I tell you there is no happiness in unbelief. Your philosophy is interesting. It could be taught in colleges along with other philosophies and people would read it-if you would disassociate and leave Joseph Smith out of it."
My brothers and sisters this gospel plan which he called "our philosophy" is not a philosophy. It is truth. And Joseph Smith can no more be "disassociated" than can this earth be taken out of the solar system. He was foreordained before the foundations of this earth to head this the greatest of all dispensations, the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.
I wish I could talk to that doctor again. I would tell him as I tell you that in my book I have added another Article of Faith which I call my 14th Article of Faith. This is it:.
"I believe that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God; that he was visited by heavenly messengers, among them Peter, James, John, Elijah, Moses, and one Moroni who directed him to some hidden plates from which he translated the Book of Mormon. I also believe the Father and the Son appeared to him and that the Son instructed him."
Let me add another Article of Faith. Call it the 15th if you like.
"I believe that David O. McKay is a prophet of God; that he holds all of the keys, priesthood, and powers formerly held by all of the ancient prophets which were later conferred upon Joseph Smith and through him to his successors down to President David O. McKay."
When Joseph Smith wrote the thirteen Articles of Faith, he might well have added another. This one would sum up nicely for me what I have hurriedly tried to say and would account for the happiness that I have discovered in the countenances of our people. I quote the Prophet:
"Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it".
I have tried to outline that path-obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. Let the Prophet continue "... he never has-He never will institute an ordinance or give a commandment to His people that is not calculated in its nature to promote that happiness which He has designed".
My brothers and sisters, I think the ultimate in happiness will be ours if and when we attain exaltation in his celestial kingdom.
I hope that I and I hope that you, as we travel life's highway, may enjoy the happiness, even the blessedness that will be ours if we obey these laws, and may we later earn and enjoy the ultimate in blessedness-exaltation in his kingdom, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder A. Theodore Tuttle
A. Theodore Tuttle, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 84-85
Once upon a time, so the fable goes, there was a wise monarch who wanted to teach his subjects an important and vital lesson. He said: "Make me a man." They acquired the finest artist in the kingdom who painted the picture of a man on canvas. They took it to the king, but he was displeased and repeated: "Make me a man." They tried other media, sculpture in wood and stone, but to each the king said: "Make me a man." Finally they caught the vision of the king's instructions. They found a man, tattered, degraded. They bathed him, shaved him, dressed him, taught him, and presented him to the king. The king was pleased that they had learned this lesson and said these words: "Next to the God who creates is the individual who saves another."
Brothers and sisters, you and I are engaged in and dedicated to the work of saving men's souls. In view of what President McKay has said about youth fitness, I would like to address my remarks to that vast corps of teachers in the Church who are saving men's souls in the hope that instruction might improve in the Church. For if one teacher increases the level of his competence and ability, that class will improve; and if many teachers improve, all classes in the ward will. And if each of us improves the instruction, the whole Church will grow in strength and power and will be blessed. Remember that no class can rise higher than its teacher.
The second reason is, that I would like to lead all of us to the source of unfailing inspiration, the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Savior's teachings, we find the finest methods used that are known today. We see his objective of changing man's behavior clearly set forth. We find the Savior being acclaimed an authority, because he knew his subject, and likewise we find a knowledge of students put to use in a beautiful way.
Teachers, if you would improve your teaching, use and adapt illustrations and examples to fit the present knowledge and experience of your students. May I illustrate:
We find in the teachings of the Savior such words as camels, sheep, salt, light, candles, fish, leaven, hens and chickens, lilies, sparrows, things that people knew about and had experience with. He likened the abstract ideas of his teaching to these concrete things that people knew about. His new ideas were related to known facts.
Secondly, if you would become a better teacher, learn to answer questions the way the Savior did. He gave direct answers, but equally as often he would ask another question of his hearers. You recall this instance:
"Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou?... "But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? "Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. "And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? "They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's".
I would like to give another example which shows many things about teaching. You recall this instance:
"And behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? "He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? "And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. "And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. "But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? "And Jesus answering said: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves..." and then related the story of the Good Samaritan.
Now, notice the teaching technique. Teachers, you who make up this vast corps of 231,000, and others, for we are all teachers regardless of our position whether it be president or other officer-notice what the Savior said.
"... love thy neighbour as thyself".
He might just as well have said, "Love thy neighbor as thy wife or husband or son or daughter or uncle or aunt," but he gave it universal application, when he said "thyself," for each man loves himself. Each man, however, does not have a wife, a son or a daughter, and thus would not have been included in the Master's teaching.
Here we find in the teachings of the Master, a blending of all of the techniques, methods, ideas, that will help us to be effective in teaching the gospel and in achieving the lofty ideals that President McKay has outlined for us to achieve.
Thirdly, if you would be a better teacher, teach by the Spirit. You recall that in the Doctrine and Covenants, the Savior said:
"And ye are to be taught from on high. Sanctify yourselves and ye shall be endowed with power, that ye may give even as I have spoken".
That is the thing that gives strength and power, meaning and life, to our otherwise weak efforts.
The fourth thing, is to live your teachings. William E. Berrett, who is vice-president of Brigham Young University, once remarked that many years ago there was a Danish immigrant who taught his class. Though he spoke in broken English his life was such that you could warm your hands by the flame of his testimony.
Remember, teachers, you cannot give away that which you do not possess.
Study the life of the Master. You do not have to have a college degree to be an efficient teacher. But you do have to become acquainted with the life and teachings of the Master to be an effective teacher in the Church.
Teachers of the Church, there is an eternal extension of the power and influence of a good teacher. May we live so that we may teach by the Spirit, so that the youth of the Church might pattern their lives after the life of the Master.
I am grateful for his life and mission. He lives. He directs the brethren who direct this Church. This is my humble witness, and I bear it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 85-86
The President is a very generous, wonderful man.
I never listen to the President of the Church except my mind goes back to section 21 of the Doctrine and Covenants. I would like to talk about that section for the moments that are given to me.
You remember that this section was given by revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith on the day of the organization of the Church. The people who were there assembled had come out of the various religions of the day, and were not accustomed to the procedures and principles that once had been known to the Saints and now were being restored. It, therefore, became necessary that the Lord announce anew the significance of having at the head of the Church a prophet, seer, and revelator.
For that reason, as the Lord gave this revelation, he made it known to those who were assembled that Joseph Smith as President of the Church was also prophet, seer, and revelator. It was a great lesson to the Church that now again the leadership of the Church should be vested in an inspired prophet of God and that this prophet should be the President of the Church.
Then he spoke directly to the membership of the Church and he said this:
"Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; "For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth".
Is not that a remarkable thing? That is the manner in which the Lord designated the President of the Church as his mouthpiece in these, the last days.
He gave us this commandment with a marvelous promise, and this is the promise:
"For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name's glory".
We are living in perilous times. We are face to face with every kind of difficulty. In the midst of these times, would you like to have the assurance that the gates of hell will never prevail against you? In these perilous times, would you like to have the confidence that the very heavens will shake for your good? You may have these blessings by keeping this commandment.
"Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments,, which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them walking in all holiness before me;
"For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth".
This is my testimony to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Henry D. Moyle
Henry D. Moyle, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 96-98
We have already had quoted the passage of scripture with which I desire to start. "But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear". And Matthew further tells us that "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
"But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!".
Matthew further says: "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven".
To us the prophecy of Daniel has great significance, as was pointed out by President McKay in his inspired message to the world yesterday. Daniel says, "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
"... and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure".
The world needs the restored Church and kingdom of Jesus Christ, of which David spoke. The world needs the help of those who have recognized and received the gospel of the kingdom. The world needs their inspiration and active participation in the affairs of life. We are an inspired people. That I know as well as I know that I live. We are responsible for the proper use of this inspiration. This inspiration is not confined to our spiritual lives but carries over into all temporal responsibilities, and included therein is our moral, our civic, our political, our social, our financial responsibilities. We stand ready to exercise this divine guidance together with the power of our priesthood in behalf of a neighbor, as well as in our own behalf. We look upon the children of our Heavenly Father as our brothers and sisters, no matter where they live, or what they believe, or what their ancestry may be. We cannot expect to do our full duty as we are inspired to do unless we can live and work in an environment of love, of peace, of freedom-freedom at home and throughout the world.
Plato has put into words that the spirit of freedom is not a matter of laws and constitutions. "Only he is free," Plato says, "who realizes the divine order within himself, the true standard by which a man can steer himself." And I say true standards, ideals that lift life up, mark the way of true progress. Such ideals followed will never permit our light to be extinguished.
Pericles said: "But we regard him who holds aloof from public affairs as useless." They called the useless man a "private" citizen, idiotes from which our word idiot comes. The citizens of the kingdom of God should set the pattern for the citizens of the kingdoms of men.
A reflective Roman traveling in Greece in the second century, A.D. said, "None ever throve under democracy save the Athenians. They had self-control and were law-abiding." That is what Athenian education aimed at, to produce men who would be able to maintain a self-governed state because they were themselves self-governed, self-controlled, self-reliant. It is said of the Athenians, "We yield to none in independence of spirit and complete self-reliance."
This is not much different from conditions found in the Church in the Meridian of Time. Brother James L. Barker, in his history of the early Church, which is soon to be printed, writes: "In the Church organized by the Savior two important principles were reconciled-divine authority and individual liberty."
The Father sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world; the Son chose his apostles, gave them authority, and they chose the presiding elders, bishops, and other local officers, always seeking the guidance and approval of the Holy Spirit. In the Church of Jesus Christ there must always be this divine leadership. Any church without his leadership is not his, as President Stephen L. Richards so beautifully demonstrated yesterday. However, the Lord has always safeguarded human liberty. There can be no progress without liberty. The great purpose of this life is that man shall gain experience and strength in freely making his own choices. Divine guidance will be given, but man must be free to choose obedience or disobedience, otherwise his actions have no ethical or religious value. "God has always preserved freedom and the powers of self-government in man," wrote Irenaeus when he wrote against heresies in the third century.
"The Church organization carefully safeguarded this freedom," Brother Barker continues. "Nominations were made by authority," just as they have been made here this morning in our presence, and in which we have participated, "but the members of the Church were given the right to accept or reject those nominated. The Lord has never forced the acceptance of his prophets. If the Lord sends a prophet, he will be a prophet, even if no one accepts his message, but the Lord has at no time forced the acceptance of a prophet's message on the people; nor has he forced a prophet on the people as president of his Church, nor a bishop on his congregation.
"In the Church he organized, the members were an important part of the organization: they were free and responsible, because the Holy Ghost was not given to their leaders, the apostles, bishops, and elders, alone, but to every worthy member of the Church. Both leaders and members were free to obey or disobey the inspiration of the Spirit, and both were equally responsible for their individual choices and the consequences entailed by their choices. Thus each member of the Church was made, in part, responsible for the government and conduct of the Church," says Brother Barker.
We read in Acts of the council of Jerusalem: "Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch..." and the next verse is again repeated, "And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren".
What is our position today? Take, for example, public affairs. I read recently a comment of one of our national statesmen, Adlai Stevenson, "Our condition has nothing to do with any deficiency of technology or resources. It is a matter of people forgetting that political freedom can be sustained only by continuing individual commitment." As he continues: "The great German poet Goethe, who also lived through a crisis of freedom, said to his generation `What you have inherited from your fathers, earn over again for yourselves or it will not be yours.' We inherited freedom. We seem unaware that it has to be remade and re-earned in each generation of man."
Stevenson says, "The natural government of man is servitude. Tyranny is the natural pattern of government." If that be true, it is in direct opposition to the government of God. "We do not slip into freedom or happiness. It is strenuously sought and earned."
When will we realize that the very power and success of US society demand more not less individual dedication for its citizenship. It is interesting to note that the concern of our leaders today is not expressed in terms of security but in terms of survival. What else but individual dedication can stay the Soviet assault on free civilization?
In an oft-quoted passage from Shakespeare there is a warning given which we might well heed:
"There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries.".
When in the course of life one arrives at a fork in the way, a decision must be made and a course selected often results in a choice that later becomes completely irrevocable. President McKay told us yesterday of the 231,000 teachers in the Church. I say they stand as watchmen at the crossroads to direct us aright in the course we pursue. Our decisions, once executed, can never be erased. This is because such selections introduce a new series of conditions, setting in motion events which cannot later be recalled. The good done, the evil accomplished, are all there. It is a faithful axiom that he who would not when he might, shall not when he would.
Happy is he who profits by the experiences of the past, like those of the Athenians in ancient times so that he may make right decisions in the present and face the future with confidence, divinely assured that his hope concerning things to come will have full and lasting realizations. Faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, and obedience to his restored gospel assures inevitably this glorious result-the enjoyment of that peace which passeth understanding now as in all prior time.
Let us all live in all that we do, guided and directed by the inspiration which comes to the faithful as a gift of the Holy Ghost. "But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear".
May the Lord bless us all, I pray humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Eldred G. Smith
Eldred G. Smith, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 98-101
I pray for an interest in your faith and prayers while I fulfil this assignment. Many of the brethren have already given my talk several times, nevertheless I feel that it is an important subject and can stand repetition.
In the beginning of this dispensation on September 21, 1823, Moroni appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith. In that visit he quoted the prophecies of Malachi:
"For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch... "... Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord... "... And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming".
Thus renewing this ancient promise which even the Jews at the time of Christ were looking forward to receive this promise was fulfilled 123 years ago on April 3, 1836. Following a Sacrament service in the Kirtland Temple Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery retired behind the veil of the temple and after fervent prayer, there appeared to them the Lord Jesus Christ who accepted the Kirtland Temple and gave his approval. This temple had just previously been dedicated. Moses appeared and gave unto them the keys of the gathering of Israel. Elijah the prophet appeared to them and bestowed upon them the keys of the sealing power of the priesthood.
The Prophet Joseph Smith said this about the mission of Elijah:
"The spirit, power and calling of Elijah is, that ye have power to hold the key of the revelations, ordinances, oracles, powers and endowments of the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood and of the kingdom of God on the earth; and to receive, obtain, and perform all the ordinances belonging to the kingdom of God, even unto the turning of the hearts of the fathers unto the children, and the hearts of the children unto the fathers, even those who are in heaven".
Again the Prophet Joseph Smith said:
"What is this office and work of Elijah? It is one of the greatest and most important subjects that God has revealed. He should send Elijah to seal the children to the fathers, and the fathers to the children".
The mission of Elijah is to restore to earth the power, that whatsoever is sealed on earth will be sealed in heaven. This sealing power is not alone for the dead. The dead cannot receive these blessings unless there are those living who have performed these same sealing ordinances for themselves, first-that is, a wife to a husband and children to parents.
Without the coming of Elijah there would be no need for temples, there would be no sealing in marriage for time and eternity, no sealing of children to parents, no need for genealogy. There would be no sealing for the living or the dead. This is not for the dead alone, it is for the living first.
I testify that Elijah did come, and others have testified also, and we have heard other testimonies in this conference. In addition to the testimony of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and others currently, we have factual evidence that Elijah came. One year after Elijah's coming, in 1837, laws were passed in Great Britain compelling the preservation of duplicate records of the dead. In the 400 years preceding the coming of Elijah, there were catalogued by Mr. T. B. Thompson 192 British family histories. In just one hundred years after the coming of Elijah in 1836, there were 1,879 British family histories published.
In addition to the published family histories, about the only family record was one made in the old family Bible, such as the one I have here. This happens to be the family Bible of Hyrum Smith, my great-great-grandfather, the brother of Joseph Smith who was martyred in Carthage. In the middle of these old Bibles that we are all familiar with is a page for births, a page for deaths, a page for marriages; and that was about the extent of the family records which were kept at that time.
In 1844, just eight years after the coming of Elijah, the year of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith, the first organization for the purpose of the gathering together records of the dead, and compiling genealogical records, was formed in the city of Boston, Massachusetts-The New England Historical and Genealogical Society.
In 1869 The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society was organized. Since then literally hundreds of genealogical organizations have been organized all through the Atlantic Coast states and spreading all over Europe and the United States.
Instead of gathering the records in the old-time family Bibles, we now have special charts. Most of you are familiar with the pedigree charts which we now use. In the old family Bible, the records that were given were, first, a record of themselves and then of their posterity. Today we make a record of ourselves and then our ancestors, going back in the other direction. The living come first in this work. Many have said to me, and I hear the expression often, "My genealogy is all done. My mother did our genealogy," or "An aunt did our genealogy," or "Our father did our genealogy." But I do not think that very many of such people, if they will investigate and fill the charts similar to this one I have here, will find that all of their genealogy is done. If you go back five generations, you have thirty-two different lines, and in the chart I just showed, going back seven generations, you will have 128 different lines to follow. You only need to go ten generations back, and you get 1024 different lines to follow.
Genealogy is not just a chain line. I have a record of a chain line that starts with the Smith family and goes back branching off from the Smith family when they could not go farther with that line. It goes back to 443 B.C. Yet this is not all of the Smith genealogy.
This is your responsibility, brothers and sisters, to make sure that your genealogy is gathered. I see the effects of this spirit of Elijah becoming stronger all the time. Often it is just one member of the family who joins the Church. I have many husbands and wives come to me, each one being the only member of the Church in his immediate family. I believe the Lord deliberately designates and sends a valiant spirit into a special family in a special location, even in far-off missions, for the explicit purpose of having a spirit who will accept of the gospel of Jesus Christ, hear the voice when it comes to him, and recognize it as true. Then, after becoming a member of the Church, he will gather the records that the promises to the fathers may be fulfilled.
Many people who join the Church are the only ones in their family in the Church and are especially assigned and their special mission is to gather their genealogy and perform the sealing blessings that the fathers may receive the blessings promised in the promise of Elijah. I am reminded of a Japanese boy, a convert to the Church here in the States, who, in fulfilling his obligation in the military service, was taken to Japan. During his leaves of absence, on his furloughs, he went to Hiroshima where he found relatives who were more than willing to give him records of his genealogy, pictures of family members, and records. Some were insulted to think that they had not been thought of sooner, and they are continuing to send records to him. He unrolled on the floor of my office a pedigree chart he had made up which stretched clear across the room and was still not all unrolled-one member of a family bringing the blessings to the fathers, which is the promise of Elijah. This is typical of many families.
Do not leave this for others to do. Each has his own responsibility. Are you back in the horse and buggy days in the days of the old family Bible where you just gather your own posterity records? Or, are you gathering together pedigree charts wherein for each couple on the pedigree chart you have a family record sheet? Most of you are familiar with these sheets. And if you are, you will soon have a book built up of those loose sheets as thick as this old family Bible with just genealogy, instead of just one or two sheets in the middle of a book.
I believe it was worth all of the efforts, and the costs, and the sacrifices to build the Kirtland Temple, just to have a place where the keys could be restored, if for no other reason, if we avail ourselves of these blessings. However, if we do not avail ourselves of these blessings, they will not be of much value to us. We have heard the record of the microfilms that are available to us, and we have temples available. President Bowring reported the other night that there were 2946 endowments in one day in the Los Angeles Temple; over three million endowments in a year in the Church, it was reported.
These temples are here, and these records are here for us to use, brethren and sisters. Put them to use that they may be of value to us and that we may receive the blessings and that our ancestors too may receive these grand and glorious sealing blessings for all eternity, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder George Q. Morris
George Q. Morris, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 101-103
My dear brethren and sisters, I sincerely pray for the Spirit of the Lord to direct me and for your faith to assist to that end.
I have been impressed with the emphasis placed upon the principles of the gospel in this conference. And I have been impressed with the emphasis that has been laid upon the prophecy of Daniel which foretold the setting up of the kingdom of God, the overcoming of all other kingdoms, and that this kingdom was to stand forever.
There is a striking and interesting difference between this dispensation and all other dispensations. All other dispensations have faded away in a comparatively short time into apostasy. This is the only dispensation from the beginning that is not to follow that pattern.
When the Lord Jesus Christ came to perform his glorious mission in the world and established his Church, he established it among an apostate people who, if they had believed the teachings of their prophets, would have received him as their Messiah. But they crucified him, so it makes a great difference with us in our attitude and in our objectives and in our mission in the world.
The statistics given this morning were interesting. We now number over a million and a half people. Some experts have estimated the future growth of the Church, and they estimate upon recognized principles of such estimations, that in the year 2000, forty-one years from now, the population of the Church will be six million people, and I see no reason why we should not expect that to be so.
So we see with regard to our mission to the world and with regard to our relation to the world, not a fading out gospel dispensation, but a gospel dispensation that is to build and build until the Lord Jesus Christ shall come. He shall not come to an apostate group of Israel, but he shall come to the millions and millions of Israel who shall be gathered into his Church and kingdom. This Church and kingdom has already been established in the earth, and this is that kingdom. And testimonies of God's servants have been borne to that fact for one hundred and twenty-nine years and will continue to be borne to that fact to the end.
We say that in love and consideration for our fellow men, but it is our duty to declare that fact, that this is the kingdom of God established by the Lord Jesus Christ and that its mission is to fill the earth until the Lord Jesus Christ shall come. And we must bear that testimony, and we must bear the responsibilities that attach to that testimony. Our lives and all that we have and are should be devoted to the upbuilding of this great kingdom preparatory for our Lord and Savior to come and reign in the earth.
Another striking thing that is different in this dispensation from any other dispensation, is that there is involved the overcoming of the powers of evil in the earth; there is involved the overcoming and the ending of all nations in the earth; and the Lord has declared that the time will soon come when peace will be taken from the earth, and the devil will reign in his dominion and that the Lord Jesus Christ will reign among his Saints.
So we are living in that great dispensation when the culmination of all the history of the world and the work of God among the children of men, up to the time of the millennium, will be brought to pass.
These great changes in nations cannot be brought to pass without great political upheaval, without wars and calamities that the scriptures make very plain will come.
But bear in mind that the Lord is directing this world. We are frequently reminded that conditions have been so developed in the powers of warfare that an accident or a rash move could set in operation those powers which might destroy our civilization. But let us bear in mind that this world is in the hands of God. All these things will happen only so far as they are in accordance with his plans and his purposes. And let us not waste our time and our energy and get into a nervous condition about what is going to happen to the world. That is not our sphere of responsibility. The Lord will take care of that. It remains for us to be devoted to the upbuilding of his kingdom and facing whatever conditions may come to us.
I should like to read what the Lord has said about that in just a few words, for he has promised that this land that he established in the beginning for a special purpose-that Israel should accomplish its destiny in the world-bringing gospel truth to the world-is a special land, not only a promised land but also a protected land, and the Lord will protect this land against the enemies of righteousness. It is for us to be faithful and for all the people of this land, not just the members of this Church, to be true to its Constitution and to be true to Jesus Christ, the God of this land. Those are the things that we need to worry about. Those are the things that we need to center our hearts upon. The Lord has said that he planned this land to be choice above all other lands for the blessings to come to Israel. He also said in exact words: "I established the Constitution of this land," saying that it was done to preserve our liberties.
And the Lord brought about the discovery of this land as a preliminary arrangement for the establishment of his kingdom. This land has been occupied by the blood of Israel from the beginning, hidden by thousands of miles of ocean from any other group and has produced its scriptures and its prophets and has borne witness to the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this land will be protected, and the cause of God will be protected. It is for us to devote ourselves with all our hearts to the building up of this kingdom and preserve peace in our hearts and not give way to the weakening influences that would come from any other attitude. The Lord says:
"I, the Lord am angry with the wicked; I am holding my Spirit from the inhabitants of the earth. "I have sworn in my wrath, and decreed wars upon the face of the earth, and the wicked shall slay the wicked, and fear shall come upon every man; "And the saints also shall hardly escape; nevertheless, I, the Lord, am with them, and will come down in heaven from the presence of my Father and consume the wicked with unquenchable fire".
The Lord has also declared that any powers and forces that fight against Israel and against Zion shall be destroyed.
"For I, the Lord, have put forth my hand to exert the powers of heaven; ye cannot see it now, yet a little while and ye shall see it, and know that I am, and that I will come and reign with my people".
"Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion, for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God. "Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scattered".
"For I, the Lord, rule in the heavens above, and among the armies of the earth".
Let us with all our hearts build up the kingdom of God, for the time is coming when gross wickedness and corruption will be swept from the earth God has restored his gospel. It is being preached to all the world, so that as many as possible will forsake wickedness and join the people of God and become the seed of Israel, the sons of Abraham, the followers of and believers in Jesus Christ the Redeemer of the world. After that, those others who will not do that may have to be swept away as they war one with another and fall into the pits that they dig for others.
I bear my humble witness that this Church is the Church of Jesus Christ, the Creator and Redeemer of the world, that he has set it up through the Prophet Joseph Smith, a prophet of the Living God, and that it is being conducted by the servant of God, David O. McKay, our beloved prophet and leader. And I call the attention of the people of the world and the Saints to the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants which is a formal proclamation to all peoples by the Lord God himself, declaring that he has restored the gospel to the world and set up his kingdom and that his voice calls out to all the world to repent and enter into that kingdom and listen to the voice of his servants and disciples whom he has raised up in these last days.
This work is the work of God. I bear this humble witness in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Milton R. Hunter
Milton R. Hunter, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 103-106
My dear brethren and sisters, I humbly pray that the Spirit of God will direct me that I may bear my testimony this morning along with the testimonies borne by the other brethren.
During the past year I have had several most unusual experiences. I desire this morning to recount one of them. I had the opportunity to go to the Holy Land last July, a privilege which I had desired for many years. My son was released from the Swiss-Austrian Mission, having completed two and one-half years' service. I joined him and three other outstanding elders, and the five of us went to the places made famous and sacred through the life of the Master.
We were met at the airport at Tel Aviv by a very outstanding man named Joseph, a Jew who had fled from Germany at the time that Hitler killed four or five million of those unfortunate people. Joseph spoke several languages fluently. He was a very cultured person, a historian by profession before he left Germany. He was familiar with the history of Palestine, both the ecclesiastical and the profane, and of course he told us about numerous historical events in a very pleasing and faith-promoting way.
When we entered the Holy City, we were psychologically and spiritually prepared for the wonderful experiences that we were to have that day and the following few days while in Israel. I said to my traveling companions, "I have a feeling of peace and contentment such as I have experienced only a few times in my life. It is a feeling similar to one that I had the first time I entered the Sacred Grove or when I go into the house of the Lord."
Each of these young men said, "We are experiencing a similar feeling."
Joseph, our guide, took us from place to place in Jerusalem and described many of the important events that had taken place in ancient times, especially those that pertained to the life of Jesus. My traveling companions hummed the tune, "I walked today where Jesus walked." We were thrilled when we were shown the traditional place where Christ was born in Bethlehem, the place in Jerusalem where he was crucified, the spot where he was buried and where he later rose from the grave. We were reminded that he met Mary Magdalene near the tomb before he ascended to heaven. All of these events as well as numerous other important events which had occurred in the Holy City were explained to us in a masterful way.
We went northward to Galilee. There we saw many marvelous things which recalled to our memories important events connected with the life of Christ. One outstanding experience that comes to my mind vividly at this moment occurred in Nazareth. We were standing in front of what is known as "Mary's Well," the place, according to our guide, where Mary, when a girl went to get water just as the girls do in that part of the world today. During the past few days we had eagerly listened to Joseph's accounts of the events that had occurred during the life of Jesus of Nazareth. He had told these stories with great faith.
I said to him, "Joseph, I would like to ask you a question." As I think about it, it appears, I realize, that I perhaps was a little unfair in taking advantage of him as I did.
He replied, "If I can answer your question, I will be very happy to do so."
I then said, "You have told us about the miraculous things that took place at the birth of John the Baptist and explained these things with much faith. You have told about the Angel Gabriel's appearance to Mary, announcing the birth of Christ and declaring that he would be the Son of God. You have told about the birth of Jesus, and have showed us the place where the shepherds were feeding their flocks, as well as the place where Christ was born in a manger. You have told us about the new star that appeared at his birth and about the wise men who came to see him soon thereafter. You have told us about Christ's various visits to the temple from the time he was twelve years old until his last visit there shortly before his crucifixion. You have taken us to the room which is claimed to be the one in which Jesus and his apostles ate the Last Supper. You maintained that that was the place where Christ had appeared to the apostles the day of his resurrection. You reminded us that the doors and windows were shut and locked, and yet he suddenly stood in their midst. Jesus observed that the apostles thought that he was a spirit. Perceiving their thoughts, he said, `... handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have'. You showed us Golgotha, the Place of the Skulls, and said, `There is where Christ was crucified.' And then you told us that Jesus had been taken down from the cross and buried in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. You pointed out a spot in a swale to the south of Golgotha where it is claimed that Christ was buried. Then you said that an angel came to the tomb and rolled the stone away from the door and that Christ was resurrected from the dead and appeared first to Mary Magdalene. You have repeated to us many passages of scripture related to the importance of Christ's ministry. For example, `Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go tell my brethren and say unto them, I ascend to my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God'". This famous statement declares the universal brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God.
"You said that Jesus did ascend into heaven, and then you declared that later he descended to earth to visit his apostles. You pointed out that he appeared to several groups of people following his resurrection. And you have shown us the place of his final ascension.
"You have said that Christ healed the sick and raised the dead, and you have shown us various places where he did those miraculous things. You have claimed that Christ cast out devils, restored sight to the blind, and performed all sorts of miracles. You showed us where he stilled the waves on the Sea of Galilee, and where he walked on the waters of that same sea."
Joseph replied, "Yes, I have explained these things to you."
I then remarked, "This is my question: Do you actually believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world, the universal Messiah, your Savior, my Savior, and the Savior of the entire human family?"
He looked very perplexed, a little dumbfounded. When he regained his composure he replied, "I suppose that since I am an orthodox Jew that in giving an answer to that question I am forced to say that I do not accept Jesus to be the Christ, the Savior of the world, your Savior and my Savior. The Jews regard Christ as a great prophet, one of the greatest that has ever lived, but they do not accept him as the real Messiah. We are looking for the Messiah to come."
Then I said, "Joseph, I want to bear witness to you that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world, the only true and living Messiah. All the things you have told us are true-those things recorded in the New Testament which you have accounted with much faith. Jesus Christ broke the bands of death; he not only rose from the grave, being the first fruits of the resurrection, but he also made it possible for all human beings, regardless of how righteously or how wickedly they live, to rise from the grave. And furthermore, he gave us the gospel of Jesus Christ, a plan of salvation, promising that if we render obedience to it and remain faithful to the end, we shall come back into his presence and dwell with the Father and the Son forever. Jesus did ascend into heaven. He now sits on the right hand of the Father, where he reigns as our Lord, our God, our Judge, and our Savior."
Curiously he asked: "How do you know that all of these things are true?"
I replied, "First, I know these things are true through the power of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost has borne witness to my heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world; and so I am as certain that he is as I am sure that I am alive. It is only through the power of the Holy Ghost that any person can declare Jesus to be the Christ, and that we can know that he is the Only Begotten of the Father.
"Second, following Christ's death and resurrection, he appeared to another branch of Israel over in America. These people were called the Nephites. Their ancestors had come from Jerusalem."
And then I described the great storm, the earthquakes, the intense darkness, and terrific destruction that took place on the western hemisphere at the time of Christ's crucifixion. I then told him about the Resurrected Lord's appearance to the inhabitants of ancient America, explaining that he taught them the gospel and established his Church among the Nephites. I also explained that for nearly two hundred years they were a righteous people, developing one of the most perfect societies that the world has ever known. Finally, those people dropped into wickedness, and then the Nephites as a nation were destroyed by the Lamanites.
And I further explained: "My third reason for my positive conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, and Savior, lies in the fact that in the spring of 1820 he appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith, a boy in the state of New York, at a place known today as the Sacred Grove. He was accompanied on this glorious visitation by the Eternal Father. There he told the boy not to join any existing church, but that he would be the instrument in the hands of God through which the true Church would be established in due time. During the following several years, Joseph Smith was taught the true gospel of Jesus Christ through the ministration of angels and through visitations from Jesus Christ. Acting in accordance with divine command, this prophet organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the 6th day of April, 1830. The Church was declared by the Lord to be `the only true and living church in the world with which he was well pleased'. That Church was endowed with all the powers, priesthood, authority, doctrines, and ordinances that have been held by any and all dispensations from Adam's day down to the present time. It possesses all that is necessary and requisite for the salvation and eternal exaltation of the human family.
"Furthermore," I said, "some day members of the Church of Jesus Christ will bring the gospel to your people, and then God's covenants with your ancient prophets will all be fulfilled."
Also, I told him that when the Jews repent and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ, which, according to the ancient prophets, will take place at the time of the fulness of the Gentiles, and when they look not for another Messiah to come but accept him who has come as their Messiah, then God will remember the covenants made with their ancestors. At that time missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having the true gospel, will take that gospel to the Jews. Many of them will believe and accept Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world.
In all sincerity, Joseph remarked: "These are the most marvelous things I have ever listened to in my life. I would like to learn more." He asked for a copy of Orson Hyde's prayer when he dedicated the Holy Land for the return of the Jews, and also for a copy of the Book of Mormon.
May God bless us.
I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world, that he is our Redeemer, our Lord and our God. May we keep his commandments and remain faithful unto the end, that we may come back into his holy presence I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Elder Delbert L. Stapley
Delbert L. Stapley, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 107-110
My brothers and sisters, I am indeed grateful for your fellowship as we assemble in worship in this great conference of the Church today. I am grateful for my brethren of the General Authorities, for the messages which they have given, so stimulating to our faith and, I hope, encouraging to all of us to keep more faithfully the commandments of our Lord.
In the midst of today's worldly enticements which are glamorous but deceptive, it is so easy to become careless and digress from the straight and narrow way that leads to life eternal. The Savior recognized the weakness of men to transgress and sin even though they possess the truth and knowledge of all gospel ordinances with their requirements for salvation.
His parable of the Ten Virgins teaches a profound lesson of great value to his disciples, present and future. Its application reaches into the homes of the Saints and forewarns of possible unpreparedness on the part of some for the great day of his coming. In this parable the Savior likened the kingdom of heaven unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. As members of the Lord's kingdom, they were entitled to the wedding invitation. However, only five were wise and by greater vision and good works had prepared themselves acceptably for this joyful privilege and were permitted entrance to the wedding. The five foolish virgins were unprepared and unready, having procrastinated obtaining oil for their lamps, and when they belatedly sought admittance to the wedding, the Lord replied, "... I know you not."
"Watch therefore," he admonished, "for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh".
I wonder, my brothers and sisters, which of the two categories we as members of the Church fall into? Do we and our families belong with the wise virgins or the foolish? Will we heed the Savior's warning given in this parable and make honest and wise preparation for entrance into his kingdom? Preparation for eternal glory must go progressively forward every day of our lives if we are not to be caught unprepared when earth life is finished or the great day of the Lord comes.
As descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob we are heirs to all the promises pledged to them and their posterity throughout their generations. We are bound by covenants and obligations to God even as our forefathers were.
Perhaps we should define the meaning and significance of a covenant. In a spiritual application a covenant is a solemn, binding compact between God and man whereby man agrees to keep God's commandments and serve him in righteousness and in truth unto the end. The gospel covenants and obligations bind Church members to obedience to laws and principles given of God which lead to happiness, love, and eternal joy. A covenant then is an agreement which includes obligations and is given as a principle with promise of blessings for obedience.
The Lord revealed to Moses that if the Children of Israel would obey his voice and keep his covenant, they should be a peculiar treasure unto him above all people.
Belonging to the house of Israel, we today are also a covenant people to whom the choice promises of God apply. Blessings, however, are predicated upon faithfulness in keeping the commandments of God. Israel was bound by covenants and obligations which they were required to keep by sacrifice.
Perhaps in Church assemblies today we do not stress sufficiently the importance of gospel covenants and the Saints' obligation to them. It is our duty to learn and understand the sacred and binding nature of the covenants we accept at baptism and the covenants and obligations associated with all other ordinances of the gospel found along that narrow path which leads to life eternal.
During the ministry of Moses, the Lord gave the Sabbath as a perpetual covenant to Israel throughout their generations. Faithful observance of the Sabbath, freeing it for a day of worship and meditation, is as binding upon the people of the world now as it was at the time given. The Ten Commandments also were given by way of a covenant and have always been in force upon the peoples of the world.
When the Savior came among men he established a new covenant and gave a new testament, even the sacrifice of his own life for the great cause of truth, of which he was the author. The new covenant established by our Lord, with its obligations, was maintained for a brief time only. Shortly after the death of the apostles, spiritual darkness covered the earth. It was not intended that this spiritual darkness should continue always upon the earth. The Lord promised that in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times all things were to be gathered together in Christ in preparation for his glorious second coming. Today is the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times spoken of.
Through revelation all the ordinances and covenants belonging to the gospel of our Lord have been restored in this time for the salvation, happiness, and eternal life of God's children.
The ordinance of baptism into the kingdom of God is a binding covenant upon all who receive that ordinance. Early in the history of the Church, in consequence of some who had previously been baptized into other churches and desired to unite with the Restored Church without yielding to another baptism because they considered their former baptism efficacious, the Lord gave a revelation which made clear and unmistakable the course which they should follow. He declared:
"Behold, I say unto you that all old covenants have I caused to be done away in this thing; and this is a new and an everlasting covenant, even that which was from the beginning. "Wherefore, although a man should be baptized an hundred times, it availeth him nothing, for you cannot enter in at the straight gate by the law of Moses, neither by your dead works".
President Brigham Young added this significant contribution to the obligation associated with the covenant of baptism:
"All Latter-day Saints," said President Young, "enter the new and everlasting covenant when they enter this Church. The covenant to cease sustaining, upholding and cherishing the kingdom of the Devil and the kingdoms of this world. They enter the new and everlasting covenant to sustain the Kingdom of God and no other kingdom. They take a vow of the most solemn kind, before the heavens and earth, and that, too, upon the validity of their own salvation, that they will sustain truth and righteousness instead of wickedness and falsehood, and build up the Kingdom of God, instead of the kingdoms of this world".
These admonitions and instructions emphasize the sacred and binding nature of the covenant which baptism into the Church places upon every soul receiving this gospel ordinance.
The ordinance of the Sacrament is also a sacred covenant. It reminds us of the great sacrifice of the Son of God upon the cross, which makes possible our redemption, salvation, and, if worthy, exaltation and eternal glory. It also gives us the opportunity to renew and keep in force the sacred covenants and obligations which we have entered into with our God.
President David O. McKay made this choice statement to the Council of the Twelve regarding the blessings of this ordinance:
"What a strength there would be in this Church if next Sunday every member who partakes of the Sacrament would sense the significance of the covenant made in that ordinance-every member willing to take upon him the name of the Son, a true Christian, proud of it, and always remember him, in the home, in business, in society, always remember him and keep his commandments that he has given them. How comprehensive that blessing and how significant the covenant we make each Sabbath day."
This admonition, my brothers and sisters, we should always remember as a part of the preparation necessary in meeting the requirements of the covenant of the Sacrament.
The Holy Priesthood is accepted by an oath and covenant and is binding upon those who receive it. They obligate themselves to keep faithfully all the commandments of God and to magnify their callings by honoring and exercising the priesthood in righteousness for the benefit and blessing of mankind.
Like the Children of Israel of old we, today, cannot meet the obligations of gospel covenants without sacrificing the things of this world-our personal ambitions, our time and means and, if need be, membership in every organization not established for the building up of Zion.
The Lord has promised that those who faithfully keep the oath and covenant of the Holy Priesthood will be given all that he has. And what does this promise mean? President Wilford Woodruff made this explanation:
"Who in the name of the Lord can apprehend such language as this? Who can comprehend that, by obeying the celestial law, all that our Father has shall be given unto us -exaltations, thrones, principalities, power, dominion..."
And then again, President Woodruff asks: "... Who can comprehend it?".
Can we, my brothers and sisters, comprehend the significance and far-reaching benefits of this promise? To realize fully these expectations, the Lord has revealed another covenant, the new and everlasting covenant of marriage, which binds together by the authority of the Holy Priesthood, man and wife for time and for all eternity. Children born to them, or later sealed to them, become theirs if true and faithful throughout all the eternities of time. What a glorious covenant this is, so full of blessings and promise of rich rewards.
Perhaps the sacredness and far-reaching effects of all these covenants and obligations and others unmentioned can be summed up in the words of two past Presidents of the Church.
President Wilford Woodruff taught:
"`We are under sacred covenants to stand by the truth.'... We have received the light, the knowledge of God; we are under sacred covenants to stand by the truth, and by one another in righteousness".
President Joseph F. Smith emphasized with forceful language the obligation of Latter-day Saints to the covenants they have received with this counsel and admonition:
"Among the covenants are these, that they will cease from sin and from all unrighteousness; that they will work righteousness in their lives; that they will abstain from the use of intoxicants from the use of strong drinks of every description, from the use of tobacco, from every vile thing, and from extremes in every phase of life; that they will not take the name of God in vain; that they will not bear false witness against their neighbor; that they will seek to love their neighbors as themselves; to carry out the golden rule of the Lord, do unto others as they would that others should do unto them".
Now, my brothers and sisters, the Lord has not left us without instruction concerning how the covenants and obligations of the gospel are to be maintained in our lives. In the revelation setting forth the oath and covenant which belongs to the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood, the Lord gave this comprehensive warning and advice:
"And I now give unto you a commandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life. "For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God".
If we prayerfully meditate this instruction, we can understand why it is profitable for each of us to be more careful henceforth in observing and keeping our vows with the Lord.
It is well to remember that we kept our first estate in the pre-existent world; therefore, how tragic it would be if in this interlude of mortality, which is such a small part of our eternal existence, we should forget our heritage and transgress the commandments of God and thus lose all the credits acquired there.
Our safety and happiness lie in keeping fully the commandments of God and maintaining, through good works, all obligations connected with the covenants entered into with him to the end of our days.
I pray God will give us the strength, my brothers and sisters, to do so, for our joy and happiness, which I ask humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Hugh B. Brown
Hugh B. Brown, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 110-112
As we are still enjoying the afterglow of Easter, the emphasis throughout this great conference has been on the divinity of Christ. From the profound and scholarly opening address of President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Saturday morning, through all the sessions of the conference, all have borne witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. I cannot hope to add anything to what has been said unless, perhaps, emphasis by repetition.
Little is known of the details of the Master's sojourn on the earth except during those three transcendent years of his ministry, the most eventful years of history. If we are to get a proper concept of the moral and spiritual significance and splendor of his unique life-from Bethlehem to Bethany-we must view it in the light of eternity. He lived his life on this earth at the summit of time, and on the high point of that summit we see the light of the resurrection, the most glorious beacon in the universe, flashing hope and courage to a benighted world. Let us from that eminence look back-back beyond Eden, and there we shall find that Jesus the Christ was with God the Father in the beginning.
And that beginning must have antedated the beginning of which we read in Genesis when the earth was created, for the obvious reason that he was its Creator. Yes, he lived before time began as we understand time. There is ample scriptural evidence to support the belief that Christ had a pre-mortal existence. Time will not permit quoting or reading many of the passages of scripture, but I should like to refer to one or two.
John, in his inspired preface, said:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. "The same was in the beginning with God. "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made... "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth".
To this wonderful testimony Paul adds this corroboration:
"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: "And he is before all things, and by him all things consist".
And the writer of Hebrews adds:
"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. "Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made worlds".
Jesus himself referred to his pre-existence many times; for instance he said:
"For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me".
And then in that greatest of all prayers we find the poignant passage:
"And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was".
At another time he chidingly spoke to his uncomprehending followers and said:
"... Doth this offend you? "What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?".
These proofs of Christ's pre-existence confirm our faith in the immortality of the soul for if the spirit had an existence before the body was created, so that spirit is capable of independent existence after the body dies.
The fact that he came forth from the tomb with spirit and body reunited-and this is the central fact in the teachings of the apostles gives divine assurance that we too, through his atoning sacrifice, shall partake of the blessings of the resurrection. Hearken to his promise:
"... I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: "And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die".
And let us read together the words of John, written while he was on the Isle of Patmos, as recorded in Revelation,
"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him".
"And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore".
John continues:
"And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God... "And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS".
Furthermore:
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband... "And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end".
Zechariah said that when the Master shall appear he will stand on the Mount of Olives, and the mount shall be cleft in twain, and they beholding the wounds in his hands shall ask whence these wounds, and he shall reply,
"... Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends".
"And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is be fore Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south".
We proclaim the pre-existence and divine nature of Christ, the purpose of his life, the reality of his resurrection and the certainty of his second coming as eternal and well-attested truths and prophetic promises. They have illuminating and inspiring significance for our troubled world. They are our heritage from the Judeo-Christian world, clarified and amplified by modern revelation.
They are relevant to our time and age, which, as Adlai Stevenson recently pointed out, "is a time of conflict of ideology, as a time of ferment in technology, a period of revolution in science... an era when at last the means lie at hand to free mankind from the ancient shackles of pain and hunger. It is all these things, but the true crisis of our times lies at a deeper level. All this freedom and elbow room only thrusts onto us with more force the fundamental issue of the faith that is in us."
As the late A. Powell Davies said: "The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but brotherhood."
There must be a reaffirmation of the truths concerning the fatherhood of God, the Godhood of Christ, and the brotherhood of man. Truths for which the Savior gave his life. Truth and brotherhood, love of God and fellow men, will make men free and establish peace in a world which is threatened with a devastating and final war.
The truculent and blasphemous attempts of communist ideologies to erase Christ from their literature and to expunge all memory of him from the hearts and minds of men, in order to degrade and enslave men, must fail, for as God made man in his own image, so his image is indelibly stamped on the souls of men, and instinctively they know that they are the sons of God.
The challenge of evil with its inevitable confusion tends to make the relevance of Christ's life and message more apparent and the application of his divine teachings more urgent.
It would be cowardly almost to the point of treason to dilute, water down and make insipid the soul-saving power of these glorious truths. Indeed, as Paul said:
"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow... "And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father".
We humbly but fearlessly add to the testimonies of the prophets and apostles of old our own witness that he lives, that he is a personal being, that he will come again with his resurrected glorified body still bearing the marks of the crucifixion and that there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, to which I testify in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Richard L. Evans
Richard L. Evans, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 112-115
I have in my library, I think, the conference addresses so far as they are available back to the beginning, including the Journal of Discourses, and I think all the conference pamphlets or discourses published since then. In each one is a statement of counsel, of eternal principles, of commandments, of practical advice for the day in which we live.
This conference in which we have now sat nearly three days is no exception to that. With you I have marveled at the breadth and the depth of the advice here given, the need for it, and the manner in which it touches the needs of the day in which we live. We have been fed. Our lives have been enriched and steadied and encouraged in all things pertaining to life, and I feel to express the gratitude of my heart for these recurring conferences when we get together for reminder and renewal of faith, and of witness, and of instruction in eternal truth.
Some time ago, as I am sure many of you have done, I saw a rather unusual documentary film produced by the Bell Telephone system, in which a panel of scientists and others were reviewing the great breadth of creation: this world, and men, and space beyond. It was developed as if it were a mystery story, and was called, as I remember, "The Strange Case of the Cosmic Rays," in which scientists were telling what had been discovered and what the current thinking was about what had been discovered. They had selected a panel of distinguished men recalled from history, including some celebrated names. I think Charles Dickens was among them, and Edgar Allen Poe, and Dostoyevsky, the eminent Russian writer, men who were, in a measure, sitting in judgment on the work of the scientists.
I made some notes at that time, and although they are cold and not rechecked, they have been running through my mind. The men of science asked this panel to appraise their findings, first bringing attention to the fact that the universe is a unified whole, that there is evidence of planning and intelligence and order and law throughout the entire universe.
Then one of the witnesses, before he would commit himself to an opinion, asked a very significant question, which one is always disposed to ask in mystery stories: "What is the motive of it all? You have told us about space. You have told us about the earth. You have told us about cosmic rays, and life, and atoms, and all the natural phenomena. What is the motive of it all?" Then they concluded, as I recall, that they did not know enough about the motive of it all, and suggested that the panel come back fifty years hence and see whether they were any closer to an answer-with the scientists themselves conceding that however much they may have discovered, they were like Newton, who said: "I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."
I think the motive of it all is an ever-present and ever-insistent question: What has been the motive of this conference? What is the motive of the gospel? What is the motive of all this teaching, all this traveling, all this missionary endeavor? Of all the work and the effort and the struggle of life, of all the striving, all the learning, all the living?
Blessedly the Lord God has told us what the motive of it all is, and it is no small motive, pertaining not only to time nor to life on earth. It is a motive pertaining to eternity, and the great summarizing sentence of the motive, of course, has already been recalled in this conference a number of times. The Lord God himself has declared it to be his purpose and his glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
The motive is happiness; it is peace; it is progress; it is everlasting life, and not just a few short days or a few short years. It is a motive of such consequence and such endlessness that it transcends all else. It is this for which we do all we do, this for which we gather, this for which we teach, encourage, and bear witness to each other, this for which we remind each other of these great and everlasting things of life.
"But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. "Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. "This is the first and great commandment. "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets".
I read into this something, or would like to read into it today, something which is not always read into it: I think this implies not only that we should love our neighbors, but in a very sincere and real and unselfish way we should also love ourselves. I think the Lord God must have intended that we should have a high regard and respect for ourselves as well as a high regard and respect for other men.
I am thinking of a line from Ruskin, in which he said: "There is no wealth but life." The life each of us has is, after all, the sum and substance of all that we have in time and in eternity. And I think no intelligent man would ever deliberately do anything which would not make him happy. I cannot think of an intelligent man's doing what would make him unhappy. I think when we err, we err in that we lose our sense of values or our sense of direction, or do not quite have in mind what will make us happy or unhappy. All the motive all the commandments, all the counsel of God, all this great effort of living and of life, all the striving, the learning and all else, should make us basically happy. Our Father had no other motive for us but our happiness, our peace, and progress and limitless life with our loved ones everlastingly, ever with accomplishment, ever with growth, ever with opportunity, ever with the highest possibilities that the Lord God could help his children to realize in life-this is the motive, this is the source of happiness, of service, of all we do for each other, of all we do for ourselves.
Now, as we go from here and ask ourselves what comes of all of this, what the motive of it all is, and what life is, I think we have the summary in the lines given and so oft repeated, "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man", and no shortsighted decisions and no short-sighted objectives should ever be the determining factors of our lives.
I was impressed this morning with the counsel of Brother George Q. Morris in advising us to go forth and live our lives with steady purpose, and not worry too much about the uncertainties and about the things we do not know. I would leave this counsel with our youth: We all live in uncertainties, and we always have. All generations have, and if we were so concerned about the uncertainties that we did not make solid preparations for the future and turn in a solid performance we should have wasted life. With a calm, quiet peace and purpose, and with prayer in our hearts, and with the clean living of life and the keeping of the commandments, we ought to go forward into the future and lay as broad a base and acquire as much knowledge and prepare ourselves as well, and serve as well as we can or ever could, despite all ominous threats and all else that seems to disturb the present scene.
From a young missionary's report given a few nights ago came a sentence that was great in its implications. Speaking of enduring to the end, he said: "We must not only endure, but we must prevail."
There is great motive; there is great purpose. As has been asked through all the ages, "What is Man?". I recall a scientist's answer to a great group of men last summer as he suggested some elements of the answer as to what man was. He endeavored to tell us how many atoms each man had in his physical anatomy, and we thought we were something very considerable when he said that we each had an octillion atoms in us in our physical frames. Then he tried to tell us what an octillion is. He said if it should start to rain peas, just ordinary garden peas, and rain peas four feet deep over the whole face of the earth, water and land surface included, and then rain peas four feet deep over 250,000 planets this size, that would be an octillion-give or take a few, more or less. We began to feel quite puffed up and important. Then he said if you squeeze out all the space between all the atoms in and between the electrons and all the component parts of these atoms, you would then be about as big as a speck of dust. Then we began to acquire our humility back again.
But beyond all the atoms, he witnessed to us as a scientist, memory is perpetuated; man is more than a machine; and there is something eternal which persists always and everlastingly. That, of course, we knew by other witnesses. Life is everlasting, and the motive we know, and the purposes of our Father we know. His plans we know in sufficient amount to help us to realize them in their fullest and highest if we will, and I leave my witness with you as to the truth of the counsel which has been given in this conference, as to the prophetic leadership which we are privileged in this day and generation to have, and as to the great motive which supersedes all the transitory things of life, to the realization of which I pray God we may leave here and rededicate ourselves and teach our children, and devote all the effort and earnestness we have within us, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Elder Alvin R. Dyer
Alvin R. Dyer, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 115-117
I have learned a little more realistically what is meant by the scripture, "he that endureth to the end." Brother Hinckley says it is "the survival of the fittest." I do not know what that means but I do know this, that what has been said at this conference has greatly increased my faith and testimony and desire to serve the Lord.
In the few minutes that I shall occupy I should like to testify of the prophets and read to you from section one of the Doctrine and Covenants these words:
"Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments".
I had an experience some few months before I left the mission field, of a ministerial association from one of the states in our mission, writing a letter and saying that they were receiving ever-increasing inquiries about the Mormon Church and would we please supply them with literature and information. We did this, and I had occasion also to visit the headquarters of this association. And there in the presence of a number of these men, and some of them were ministers, had the opportunity of explaining to them the premise under which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been organized.
I took occasion at that time to read to them from section twenty of the Doctrine and Covenants, and I would like to read to you what I read to them, beginning with verse 7:
"And gave unto him commandments which inspired him; "And gave him power from on high, by the means which were before prepared, to translate the Book of Mormon; "Which contains a record of a fallen people, and the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and to the Jews also; "Which was given by inspiration, and is confirmed to others by the ministering of angels, and is declared unto the world by them- "Proving to the world that the holy scriptures are true, and that God does inspire men and call them to his holy work in this age and generation, as well as in generations of old; "Thereby showing that he is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. Amen. "Therefore, having so great witnesses, by them shall the world be judged, even as many as shall hereafter come to a knowledge of this work. "And those who receive it in faith, and work righteousness, shall receive a crown of eternal life; "But those who harden their hearts in unbelief, and reject it, it shall turn to their own condemnation- "For the Lord God has spoken it; and we, the elders of the church, have heard and bear witness to the words of the glorious Majesty on high, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen".
This had a profound effect upon these men, and I was grateful to leave my witness with them as to the premise for the organization of God's Church upon the earth in this day and time.
Some years ago there appeared an article in Fortune magazine, which had to do with the failure, according to the editors and authors of this article, of the Christian churches of America to supply the needed inspiration for the direction of the Christian churches in this land. This article has very recently been referred to by one of our noted educators from the West Coast, Dr. Robert Gordon Sproul, president of the University of California. I read from this article, which stresses the need of divine direction in the Christian churches of America. I quote:
"We have the peculiar spectacle of a nation which, to a limited extent, practices Christianity without actively believing in Christianity. We are asked to turn to the Church for our enlightenment, but when we do this we find that the voice of the Church is not inspired. The voice of the Church today is the echo of our own voices. And the result of this experience, already manifest is disillusionment...
"The way out," continues Dr. Sproul, "is the sound of a voice, not our voice, but a voice coming from somewhere not ourselves, in the existence of which we cannot disbelieve.
"It is the task of the pastors to hear this voice, cause us to hear it, and to tell us what it says. If they cannot hear it, or if they fail to tell us what it says, we, as laymen, are wholly lost.
"Without it we are no more capable of saving the world, than we were capable of creating it in the first place."
I think one of the great messages of this Church is to declare unto the world that God has raised up a prophet and that there is a need for a prophet of God in this day and age. We go to the ends of the earth to proclaim this unto the children of men and if they will but listen to the direction and the inspiration of the prophets of God we could be led from our dilemma and from the disillusionment that settles over the earth today.
I read recently of a statement of Winston Churchill which gives some evidence of the need of inspired direction in the earth today, for said he "As the years go by, the process of government-I suppose in every modern country and certainly in our own-grows ever more complicated and burdensome.
"I have perhaps a longer experience than almost anyone, and I have never brooded over a situation which demanded more patience, composure, courage and perseverance than that which unfolds itself before us today."
Is there a need for a prophet of God? The answer is yes. Look at the evidences of this. The world of politics and relationships between nations is not improving since that statement was made, in fact they have grown worse. There is a worldwide lack of trust between peoples. We stand each dawn, as it were, on the brink of open hostilities.
Atomic and hydrogen power, with their many implements of destruction serve only to add to the menace of our way of living. The pressure conditions under which we live today are taking a tremendous toll in heart and mental disturbances. The status of home life, spiraling trends of drunkenness, surging infidelity in the home of husband and wife, with an over-all laxity of morals among both young and old, increased personal and community delinquencies all pointing to a growing disregard for the worth of the individual. One would have to be blind not to recognize these disastrous trends and the need of divine direction to save those who will hear, understand, and follow the truth. The ancient Prophet Amos declared, that God would do nothing, save he reveal his mind and will to his servants the prophets. The need of the mind and will of our Heavenly Father, through his servant, a prophet, is greatly in evidence.
I want to leave my testimony, my brethren and sisters, that God does live and that he and his Son, Jesus Christ, are at the helm, and that prophets have been raised up from the very inception of this Church, commencing with Joseph Smith and others who have followed him, and that we are blessed to have standing at the head of the Church today and directing us, a prophet of God, and if the children of men would but listen to the voice of that prophet we all could be led away from the difficulties that are oppressing us this very day. I bear this record in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Bruce R. McConkie, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 117-118
May I call attention to the great gospel truth that salvation is a family affair, that it is attained in and through, by and because of families.
For a text, may I read the words quoted by Moroni to Joseph Smith on the evening of September 21, 1823:
"Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. "And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. "If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming".
Now, what were the promises made to the fathers? Since the coming of Elijah, on April 3, 1836, in what way have these promises been planted in the hearts of the children?
In answer, and by way of illustration may I read one of the greatest promises ever made to the fathers, one which is perhaps pre-eminent above all others. To Abraham the Lord said:
"... I am the Lord thy God... "My name is Jehovah, and I know the end from the beginning... "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations; "And I will bless them through thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father; "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee and in thy seed " and now note particularly what follows; it is the heart and core of all the promises made to the fathers-"for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal".
In the nearly four thousand years since Abraham, uncounted millions of his literal seed have lived in the world, most of them in a day when the gospel, with its saving ordinances and truths, was not found among men. Yet the Lord promised Abraham, their father that these millions who have sprung from him, these millions who are his literal seed, these hosts of his posterity who comprise a major portion of a multitude of nations, that all these are entitled by lineage and as of right to the blessings of the priesthood, of the gospel, of salvation, and of eternal life.
May I here note that in order for men to gain salvation in the kingdom of God, they must receive the ordinances of baptism and of the laying on of hands for the receipt of the Holy Ghost; and in order for them to gain eternal life, which is the fulness of the Father's kingdom, and be joint-heirs with his Son, they must in addition enter into the ordinance of celestial marriage.
Now by revelation the Lord in our day has singled out and identified the children in whose hearts the promises made to the fathers have been planted. To the elders of the Church in this day he said:
"Thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers- "For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God- "Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began. "Therefore, blessed are ye if ye continue in my goodness, a light unto the Gentiles, and through this priesthood, a savior unto my people Israel. The Lord hath said it".
Well, we are latter-day Israel; we are part of the seed of Abraham; we hold the power and authority of this priesthood; we are a light to the gentile nations, and as a result we are under command to carry the message of salvation to them. But we are also chosen and appointed to be saviors to Israel itself, to the seed of Abraham-to the whole kingdom and nation of people of the chosen lineage, who have lived in all the days since Abraham-whether they lived when the gospel was here or whether they did not.
May I now show how these principles work by using myself as the illustration. I have received the gospel; I have been baptized under the hands of a legal administrator; I have received the gift of the Holy Ghost-all of which has put me on a path leading to an inheritance of salvation in the celestial world. Also, I have gone to the temple and been sealed to one of God's choicest handmaidens and have thereby obtained a place on the path leading to an inheritance of eternal life in the highest heaven of the celestial world. By obedience I have power to press forward and obtain these great rewards.
Because I have some understanding and realization of the glory, importance, and worth of these gospel blessings, there has come into my heart a great desire to have my children after me become inheritors of the same identical blessings that I have received, and so I strive to bring up my children in light and truth. Next to my own salvation and that of my wife, there is nothing so important to me as the salvation of my children.
Further, because I know the priceless worth of the gospel and the blessings that flow from it, I have a desire that my ancestors-those who lived when the gospel was not on earth and who have not had the privileges which are mine-I have a great desire that they also should be inheritors of these blessings. In other words, the promises made to the fathers have been planted in my heart, and I am obligated to act as a minister for the salvation of those in my line who have lived and died without having the gospel preached to them.
And now, if I do what I should, I will search out and identify those who have gone before in my lineage, and will see that the ordinances of salvation and exaltation are performed for them.
Salvation is a family affair. It is I, my wife, my children, and my ancestors. It is you, your wives, your children, and your ancestors. Salvation is a family affair.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
Gordon B. Hinckley, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 119-121
My brethren and sisters, I seek the Spirit of the Lord that what I say may be consonant with the inspirational things to which we have listened during the past three days. As I look into your faces, I see the fulfillment of prophecy. In your presence I see a realization o the words of Jeremiah: "... I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
"And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding".
You are here, each of us is here, enjoying the blessings of the Lord because the servants of the Lord have gone into the world to teach the glad tidings of the gospel for the blessing of our Father's children. More than eighty thousand of them have gone. They have given more than two hundred thousand man-years of dedicated service. I am sure that few of us appreciate the cost, the heartaches, the sorrows the sacrifices, and the results of this magnificent effort.
I read the other day a story written by a little girl whose father was on a mission in Denmark when she and her mother lived in Parowan. She writes:
"My little mother had to work like a slave to keep her children while Father was on his mission. I remember how every night she would spin, and how in the daytime, I would split fine splinters off from the pitchy wood, and at night I would sit with her and tend the baby and keep holding and lighting these pitchy sticks for her to see to spin by, and how I would cry when I went to bed to think my sweet little mother had to work so hard...
"I remember the Christmas of 1862. All of us children hung up our stockings. We jumped up early in the morning to see what Santa had brought, but there was not a thing in them. Mother wept bitterly. She went to her box and got a little apple and cut it in little tiny pieces and that was our Christmas, but I have never forgotten to this day how I loved her dear little hands as she was cutting that apple."
A few years ago I did some research on the discovery of gold in California, in which men of the Mormon Battalion participated. I learned that while men were traveling westward over land and sea in search of gold, missionaries from these valleys were traveling eastward over land and sea in search of souls. And the days of sacrifice are not over. As you heard this morning among the statistics that were read to you, the parents and friends of our missionaries last year sent them between five and six million dollars. That money was spent not only in dollars, but also in pounds and shillings, in crowns and kroner, in francs and marks, in yen, in pesos, and cruzeros.
Add to that the value of the time of the missionaries. Estimate it conservatively at another five or six million dollars, and you have a consecration of at least ten million dollars a year for the purpose of declaring the reality and personality of God, the deep meaning of the Atonement, and the restoration of the Lord's Church, guided by apostles and prophets.
I think you may be interested in these remarkable words of the Prophet Joseph Smith written in 1842, two years before his death:
"... no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done".
That is the magnitude of our mission, brethren and sisters, and it shall not be accomplished until the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.
I am sure we are all gratified by the many good things said concerning the Church. We are deeply grateful for the opportunities of radio and television, and the generosity of the public press, all of which help to build a favorable atmosphere in which to teach the gospel. But I am confident that the time will never come when we shall not need vigorous men and women of faith to go into the world as missionaries for this cause. We have never found, and I think we never shall find, an adequate substitute for the situation in which two wholesome young men meet with a family, reason with them, teach them, testify to them, and pray with them. We shall always need missionaries. With that thought in mind I should like to suggest a five point program for the membership of the Church, a program which I feel is easy of attainment, and which would prove fruitful to this great cause.
1. That we cultivate in our homes a proper attitude toward missionary service. We enjoy the blessings we so greatly treasure because of those who have gone before us. Out of a sense of appreciation, out of simple gratitude we should make an effort to extend these same blessings to others. Our young people have an obligation to prepare themselves for missionary service.
We should also build the attitude that there is nothing of a vacation, nothing of a holiday in this great missionary service. It is hard, and at times discouraging, work. Last year our missionaries averaged sixty-seven hours a week in actual proselyting effort. Let those who contemplate missions realize that they will work as they have never worked before, and that they may expect such joy as they have not previously known.
2. That we foster training for missionary service. One of the great compliments paid the Savior was that he taught as one having authority. The missionary who knows scripture and can quote it speaks with the voice of authority. It is not essential to memorize five hundred citations, nor even three hundred. Fifty well chosen verses of scripture will become a remarkably effective tool in the hands of a missionary. May I suggest that in our family night gatherings we make it a project to memorize one scripture citation a week pertinent to this work. At the conclusion of a year our children will have on their lips a fund of scripture which will remain with them throughout their lives.
3. That we make financial preparation. Missionary work, like everything else, has become more costly. I was heartened by my experience in interviewing a young man in Arizona recently. I asked whether he had a sincere desire to go on a mission. He replied, "I have wanted to go since I was seven, and, moreover, since that time I have saved for it. I have $1600 in the bank to make certain that I shall have the means to go." A little at a time, systematically saved, will assure our children that the necessary means will be available when a missionary call comes.
4. That we see that our public and private deportment backs up the missionary cause. No member of this Church can let down his standards without throwing an obstacle in the way of those who are striving to teach the gospel in the world. Likewise, no member can uphold the standards of the Church in public and private life without reflecting strength to the cause.
5. Finally, that we all get the missionary spirit, that we seek opportunities to teach the gospel, to distribute the Book of Mormon, to let people know what we believe. I am having a delightful correspondence with a man in England with whom I struck up conversation on a plane while flying across the Atlantic. He has now read the Book of Mormon and some of our other literature. I am pleased to note a significant change in his attitude toward the Church.
One of the most fruitful sources of contact for our missionaries lies in referrals sent to them. A member of the Church will suggest to an associate or a relative that he invite the missionaries to come to his home. President J. Leonard Love tells me that in the Northern California Mission their experience indicates that forty percent of the referrals given them join the Church. Think of it! Forty percent of the names sent to them result in convert baptisms! In the British Mission at one time it was discovered that sixty-eight percent of those who had come into the Church had made their first acquaintance with the doctrines through members of the Church.
My brethren and sisters, this assignment to teach the gospel belongs to all of us, not only to the fifty-five hundred devoted men and women who presently are serving in the field. It belongs to each of us, and we shall not be through with it until the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.
God help us to sense and fulfil our mission honorably, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1959, pp. 121-122
And now we come to that moment when we should like to express our thanks and appreciation. We have had a glorious conference. Many have contributed to its inspiration and success. Will all who have participated in the inspiration of these gatherings please accept of the gratitude of our hearts.
The singing for this session, as we have already informed you, has been furnished by the Ricks College choir under the direction of Chester W. Hill, with Frank W. Asper at the organ. We wish to express appreciation to these young men and women of the Ricks College for the hours they have spent in practice in weeks that have gone by, resulting in the inspiration of their singing to this congregation today. The Lord bless you young people. We are proud of you! We have enjoyed your presence as well as your inspirational singing. May the Lord's protecting care be with you as you go back to your homes, and may this experience ever be a happy memory for you, as it will be for all of us.
I should like to express again our appreciation to the Brigham Young University combined choruses. They occupied these seats last Saturday-another choice group of young people. We cannot help feeling confident that the Church is in good hands when we see such representatives of youth as have participated in this conference.
We wish to express appreciation to the Tabernacle Choir, and the Tabernacle Choir men's chorus for their participation during the various sessions of our annual conference. Forty-five thousand two hundred eighty-seven men of the priesthood were moved by the inspirational singing of those young men from the choir last Saturday night.
We are not unmindful of the public press and you reporters for your fair and accurate reports throughout sessions of the conference. We want the city officials to know that we are not unmindful of the help they have rendered during the last five days, to Chief W. Cleon Skousen, and his associates, the traffic officers-in handling increased traffic, for the fire department, and the Red Cross, who stood on hand ready for an emergency; for you tabernacle ushers who have rendered service early and late in seating the great audiences.
We are grateful for the radio and television service-twenty-seven television and twenty radio stations throughout our own city and the nation have carried the messages of this conference to untold thousands of people who have listened to the proceedings of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Annual Conference of the Church.
We have already named those who have sent these lovely flowers, sweet messages of their love, and best wishes for a successful and inspirational conference.
The closing prayer of this session will be offered by Elder Alfred E. Rohner, formerly president of the Southwest Indian Mission.
Now I should like to say, brothers and sisters, the Lord bless us with a desire to live better than we have ever done before. No individual can go away from this conference, even as a listener, without a heavier responsibility upon him. One of the happiest experiences that I have had has been to meet young people, and hear the young man or young woman say, as he or she introduced his or her companion, "I want you to meet my friend who is an investigator." And that has happened frequently during this conference.
In 1923 in the British Mission there was a general instruction sent out to the members of the Church advocating what Brother Gordon B. Hinckley has emphasized today. We did not spend money advertising in the press. The feeling in England was quite bitter at that time, but we said: "Throw the responsibility upon every member of the Church that in the coming year of 1923 every member will be a missionary. Every member a missionary! You may bring your mother into the Church, or it may be your father; perhaps your fellow companion in the workshop. Somebody will hear the good message of the truth through you."
And that is the message today. Every member-a million and a half-a missionary! I think that is what the Lord had in mind when he gave that great revelation on Church government, as recorded in the 107th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. He describes the Melchizedek Priesthood and the men who stand at the head of that priesthood, and the Aaronic Priesthood and the presidency of the Aaronic Priesthood, those who are active in the priesthood quorums-both the Melchizedek and the Aaronic. He then goes into detail about the duties of members and concludes:
"Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence.
"He that is slothful shall not be counted worthy to stand, and he that learns not his duty and shows himself not approved shall not be counted worthy to stand. Even so. Amen".
I think that includes the father of a little girl who sent a letter to me this week. She first gave her age. She loved her father and mother, she said, but "Father doesn't take Mother to the temple. I wish he would. I love them both, and I want to be sealed to them." "Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty and walk in the performance of it in all diligence." That is the responsibility of every man and woman and child who has listened to this great and wonderful conference, to the inspiring messages of the Council of the Twelve and other General Authorities.
God help us to be true to our responsibility and to our callings, and especially to the responsibility we bear as fathers and mothers of the children of Zion-heaven's treasures given to us.
O Father, bless those who hold this priesthood, who have been married in accordance with thy instructions, and God help all to take advantage of this eternal blessing, that we may be united together and with thee forever, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 4-9
"I charge thee therefore before God," Paul wrote to Timothy, "and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. "But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry".
Those are among the last words written by Paul to his son in the faith, Timothy, who was ordained bishop of the Ephesians. When Paul wrote those words, he was a prisoner under Nero. Two charges were pressed against him: one, that he had conspired, so it was alleged by Nero's partisans, to set fire to Rome; second, he was accused of introducing a novel and unlawful religion. That was Paul's second imprisonment. Many of his friends had left him. Demas, who had been in the Church, had forsaken him and gone home. Alexander, the coppersmith, an apostate, had testified against him; but Luke remained by his side.
Evidently Peter, Paul, and other leaders of the Church were troubled in their day by apostate groups even as leaders today are troubled by apostates who usurp authority, misinterpret scripture, and preach false doctrine. In the spirit of charity perhaps we should say, troubled by apostates who are mentally ill.
It seems that every age in the world has been afflicted with just such apostates and such perverted truth, and with incorrigible youth, degenerate groups, who make every age seem worse than those which preceded it. For example, listen to this: "The world is passing through troublous times. Young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they alone know everything. As for girls, they are forward, immodest, and unwomanly in speech, behavior, and dress." No, that was not for today-that was written in 1274 A.D.-685 years ago!
Here is another: "President Frederick C. Perry of Hamilton College, expressing distrust of gloomsters who view the world with alarm, has cited these writings taken from an Assyrian tablet dated 2800 B.C. as proof that political prophecy for a dismal future has always been prevalent:
"'The earth is degenerating in these latter days. There are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end. Bribery and corruption abound. The children no longer obey their parents. Every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is speedily approaching.'" That was written 2800 B.C.!
Well, the era through which we are passing is no exception. On the flyleaf of the book, The Naked Communist, by W. Cleon Skousen, we find this quotation,:
"The conflict between communism and freedom is the problem of our time. It overshadows all other problems. This conflict mirrors our age, its toils, its tensions, its troubles, and its tasks. On the outcome of this conflict depends the future of mankind."
Elaborating that statement, I should say that the most urgent problem of our day is a spiritual problem. I agree with one leading educator who said, and I quote: "Unless the spiritual problem is solved, civilization will fail; indeed we already have a foretaste of that failure in many parts of the world:
"The Nazi creed presents a new conception of civilization. It is the supposition, advanced with fanatical zeal, that civilization consists primarily in material achievements, and can reach its goal without ethical considerations. It accents power, authority, and obedience, denies human equality and the worth of the individual."
In their false teachings the Communists accept the doctrine of Marx, who denies the existence of God, and repudiates man's immortality. Second, they deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, and of course, his resurrection. They challenge the free agency of man.
In that first sentence that I read from Paul to Timothy, Paul declares the existence of God, and we shall see how authoritatively he supports that. He declares the divinity of Jesus Christ, and the reality of his resurrection. I read again what he said to Timothy, and this is almost his farewell message to that boy, "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom"
The United States recently entertained the leading man of the ideology that denies the God, Jesus Christ, and the right of free agency and dignity of man. Even while he was here we could hear echoing his own words: "We remain the atheist that we have always been; we are doing as much as we can to liberate those people who are still under the spell of this religious opiate." Those are his words. He said further: "Those who expect us to abandon communism will have to wait until a shrimp learns to whistle."
A number of years ago, Lord Balfour, Prime Minister of Great Britain, delivered a lecture in the McEwen Hall of the University of Edinburgh on the subject, "The Moral Values Which Unite the Nations." In an interesting and convincing manner, Lord Balfour presented the following fundamental ties that unite the different nations of the world:
1. Common Knowledge. 2. Common Commercial Interest. 3. The Intercourse of Diplomatic Relationship. 4. The Bonds of Human Friendship.
The audience greeted his masterful address with a great outburst of applause. As the presiding officer arose to express his appreciation and that of the audience, a Japanese student, who was doing graduate work at the University of Edinburgh stood up, and leaning over the balcony, said, "But, Mr. Balfour, what about Jesus Christ?"
Mr. Robert E. Spear, to whom Professor Lang related this incident, writes: "One could have heard a pin drop in the hall. Everyone felt at once the justice of the rebuke. The leading statesman of the greatest Christian empire in the world had been dealing with the different ties that are to unite mankind, and had omitted the one fundamental and essential bond. And everyone felt, too, the dramatic element in the situation-that the reminder of his forgetfulness had come from a faraway non-Christian land."
"Preach the word," Paul admonishes Timothy. What "word"? That "... Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel". Those words were named in that letter. Let us consider that.
"Behold the man," said Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judea, as Jesus, mockingly bedecked with a purple robe, his hair plaited with a crown of thorns, stood before the mob who cried, "Crucify him; crucify him!"
As on the occasion of that historic trial, so through the ages men have beheld Christ from different viewpoints. Some who reject him as venomously as did the rabble, see in him and in his disciples "investors of a Christian moral system that has undermined and sapped the vigor of the European world." Others with clearer insight, begotten by experience, behold him as the originator of a system that "promotes industry, honesty, truth, purity, and kindness, a system that upholds law, favors liberty; is essential to it, and would unite men in one great brotherhood."
Others behold him as the "one perfect character-the peerless personality of history," but deny his divinity. Millions accept him as the Great Teacher, whose teachings, however, are not applicable to modern social conditions. A few-O how few!-of the approximately two billion inhabitants of the globe, accept him for what he really is-"the Only Begotten of the Father; who came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness."
Today civilized nations are sitting on a mountain of explosives, accumulated in defiance of Christ's teachings. Let the heat of hatred, suspicion, and greed become a little more intense, and there will be such an international explosion as will greatly retard, if not forcibly drive from the midst of mankind, the hoped-for peace heralded by the heavenly hosts when Christ as a babe was born in Bethlehem.
Prove it as a fact, and it is, that Christ did appear after death as a glorified resurrected Being, and you have the answer to the question of the ages: "If a man die, shall he live again?" Let us look at the deep significance of the testimony of the disciples of Jesus, which may be better understood when we realize that with Jesus' death the apostles were stricken with gloom. When he was crucified, their hopes all but died. That his death was a reality to the disciples is shown in their intense grief, in the statement of Thomas, in the moral perplexity of Peter, and in the evident preparations for a permanent burial of their Master. Notwithstanding the assurance of Christ, often repeated during the two and a half years he was with them, that he would return to them after death, the apostles seemed not to have accepted, or at least not comprehended the statement as a literal fact.
What was it, we ask the world, that suddenly changed these disciples to confident, fearless, heroic preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ? It was a revelation that Christ had risen from the grave his promises had been kept, his Messianic mission fulfilled. "The final and absolute seal of genuineness had been put on all his claims, and the indelible stamp of a divine authority upon all his teachings. The gloom of death had been banished by the glorious light of the presence of the risen, glorified Lord and Savior."
On the evidence of these unprejudiced, unexpected, incredulous witnesses the resurrection has its impregnable foundation. There was one young man among them. I do not know whether we know about his life, but I like to think of him as a sort of independent thinker, not paying much attention to his mother's religion-his mother had joined the Christian Church, but he did not pay much attention to it until he was disturbed one night by his mother's voice asking him to rise quickly, "don't stop to dress, throw a cloak around your body and rush to Gethsemane and tell Jesus that Judas and soldiers are coming to arrest him." I think that young man who fled naked from the men who snatched the sheet from his body, was John Mark, the author of one of the four Gospels. We know he did join the Church, later, and that he labored with Peter. We know that Paul, in that letter to Timothy, said: "Bring Mark with you. He is profitable to our ministry, and let us hear his testimony". We know he went on a mission to the northern part of Africa, and you travelers today can walk over ruins built to his memory.
We have no evidence that Mark joined the Church while the Savior was on the earth. Undoubtedly the Savior was in Mark's home. At any rate we are justified in assuming that he was acquainted with the Master. Mark does not himself recount any appearance of the Risen Lord, but he testifies that the Lord would meet his disciples. From Mark we hear the glorious proclamation of the first empty tomb in all the world. For the first time in history the words "Here lies" were supplanted by the divine message, "He is risen". No one can doubt that Mark was not convinced in his soul of the reality of the empty tomb, and if my inference is right, he knew about the trial, the humiliation to which Jesus was subjected, and the crucifixion, and he became a minister of the gospel. To the proclaiming of this truth he devoted his life, and if tradition can be relied upon, he sealed his testimony with his blood.
The text we read said that Luke stood by Paul's side at the jail. It was not long after that before Paul, according to tradition, was beheaded. Luke was a physician. He spent many years of his life studying about this man, Jesus, who was crucified. He experienced the darkness that spread over that country when Jesus was crucified. According to all trustworthy testimony we have the gospel of Luke as it came from his own hand. In chapter 24 Luke testifies to the divine message: "Why seek ye the living among the dead?
"He is not here, but is risen".
With equal assurance as to their accuracy we can accept his statement and witness in regard to Peter's and Paul's and other apostles' testimony regarding the resurrection. "To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God".
Who can doubt Luke's absolute confidence in the reality of the risen Redeemer? Contrast his testimony, his life, with that of upstarts who deny the existence of God and laugh at the claims of Jesus Christ as the Redeemer.
It is true that neither Mark nor Luke testify as to having personally seen the Risen Lord, and therefore some urge that their recorded testimonies cannot be taken as firsthand evidence. That they do not so testify, and yet were convinced that others did see him, shows how incontrovertible was the evidence among the apostles and other disciples that the resurrection was a reality.
Fortunately, however, there is a document which does give the personal testimony of an eyewitness, a witness to an appearance of Jesus after his death and burial. This personal testimony also corroborates the testimony not only of these two men, Mark and Luke, but of others also. I have in mind Saul, a Jew of Tarsus, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, a strict Pharisee, and before his conversion a bitter persecutor of all who believed in Jesus of Nazareth. And there is a quotation from the oldest authentic document in existence relating or testifying to the resurrection of Christ, in which we find Saul's words, sent back to people who had joined the Church, whom he loved and who loved him, saying:
"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: "And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: "After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. "After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. "And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. "For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God".
In addition to the ancient apostles, we have the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith who gives in an unequivocal description the following stirring testimony in relation to his first vision:
"... When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages... standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other-This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!". These words were spoken nearly two thousand years after the events to which I have already called your attention!
Thus, my dear fellow workers and my friends in the world, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stands with Peter with Paul, with James, and with all the other apostles in accepting the resurrection, not only as being literally true, but also as the consummation of Christ's divine mission on earth. Other great religious leaders among the nations of the world since history began have taught virtue, temperance, self-control, service, obedience to righteousness and duty; some have taught a belief in one supreme ruler and in a hereafter; but only Christ broke the seal of the grave and revealed death as the door to immortality and eternal life.
If Christ lived after death, so shall men, each one taking his place in the next world for which he is best fitted. Since love is as eternal as life, the message of the resurrection is the most comforting, the most glorifying ever given to man; for when death takes a loved one from us, we can look with assurance into the open grave and say, "He is not here; he will rise again".
My dear fellow workers, it is just as easy for me to accept as a divine truth the fact that Christ preached to the spirits in prison while his body lay in the tomb as it is for me to look at you from this pulpit. It is true! It is just as easy for me to realize and note this-that one may so live that he may receive impressions and direct messages through divine inspiration. The veil is thin between those who hold the priesthood and divine messengers on the other side of the veil.
Let us say today as Paul wrote to Timothy: "Preach the word... do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry".
"... The Lord is God, and beside him there is no Savior. "Great is his wisdom, marvelous are his ways, and the extent of his doings none can find out. "His purposes fail not, neither are there any who can stay his hand. "From eternity to eternity he is the same, and his years never fail. "For thus saith the Lord-I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end. "Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory".
God help us in this age so threatened with an ideology of benighted people of disbelief in God our Father and in his Son Jesus Christ and in the restored gospel through those divine Personages, to preach the Word and to be true to our callings no matter what or where they may be, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder William J. Critchlow, Jr.
William J. Critchlow, Jr., Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 10-13
President McKay, my brothers, sisters and friends:
President McKay, setting me apart one year ago, charged me: "to be a special witness to the name of Christ in all the world". I shall use my few minutes pursuing the business of that charge.
In fancy, I made a pilgrimage back through nineteen centuries of time to Palestine. I went to seek the man of Galilee called Jesus. I fancied I was in that fabulous city of Tiberius on the shore of the Sea of Galilee where I observed, along the water's edge, miles of palaces and fashionable residences surrounded by palm groves and rich gardens, gay with tropical luxuriance. On an almost deserted thoroughfare I saw the markets of rich merchants and the stands of oriental trades people.
Approaching a merchant, I inquired if he knew the whereabouts of the man of Galilee, named Jesus. For a moment he just stared at me; then said, "Where have you been? Look at this deserted street. Only minutes ago he came this way going west, and all the customers followed him. I would have followed, too, had I someone to watch my merchandise."
I overtook the multitude before it settled on a little hill. Fortunately, I found myself near him with sitting space for some of you out there who, in fancy, will stretch your imagination one thousand nine hundred years back into the past. Come quickly. He is speaking:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth".
He pauses, and arises from his sitting position upon a large rock as if to survey the multitude.
He is tall in stature, perfectly formed without spot or blemish. He wears a tunic and an outer robe. Sandals are on his feet.
He settles back upon the rock and speaks:
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God".
I find it difficult to concentrate on what he is saying, just for gazing at him.
His brow is smooth. His complexion is clear. His eyes are blue. His hair is long. His beard is brown like his hair. His every feature is perfect. His motions are graceful. His voice is soft and low.
Listen to him: "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. "Give us this day...".
Need I repeat more of it?
"Lay up not for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also".
"And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: "Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these".
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you".
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you".
You priesthood fathers would bless your wives and children if you would gather them around you and read to them the full text of the great Sermon on the Mount. Do it soon. It is the greatest speech ever delivered from the lips of men. It is the most widely circulated speech ever heard among men. It has been printed in thousands of books and uttered by thousands of speakers from thousands of pulpits to millions of people.
Another time, when he sought seclusion, he went into a desert place to be away from the crowds. The multitude found him, and he received them. And when the day began to wear away, he gathered up five loaves and two fishes, blessed them, and fed five thousand people. After the feeding, there remained twelve baskets of fragments.
Another time he fed four thousand, after blessing seven loaves and a few fishes.
The feeding of these thousands was only one of the many kinds of miracles he performed.
He cleansed the leper; -turned water into wine; -stilled the wind; -calmed the waves; -walked on the water; -healed the sick and the halt; -cast out evil spirits; -returned sight to the blind; -restored life to the dead.
Words of his deeds spread throughout the countryside, even to Greece and Rome, and when it was time for the Feast of the Passover, Jerusalem was crowded with people from far and near who had come to see this marvelous man of Galilee. And they were not disappointed. Down from the Mount of Olives and through the streets of Jerusalem he came, riding a little donkey.
His path was strewn with flowers, palm branches, and the robes of friends who watched his entry and who sang:
"Hosanna to the Son of David: "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: "Hosanna in the highest".
Witnessing the procession, I fancy, were two slaves, filled with rabid curiosity.
"Who is he?" asked one of the other.
"I don't know," was the reply.
"Is he a king?"
"No, he's not a king."
"Well, is he crazy?"
"No-he's not crazy."
"Then who is he?"
"I don't know-he's not a king-he's something greater than a king."
Not all who watched his triumphal entry into Jerusalem were his friends. Members of the Jewish Sanhedrin, disturbed by Jesus' miracles and preaching, and definitely alarmed by his growing popularity with the people, plotted as they watched, for his arrest-even for his death. Not many hours later they bribed one of his apostles with thirty pieces of silver to betray him. After a trial of mockery, held informally, irregularly, and illegally during the night while his friends, the people, slept, he was scourged, then led to a place called Calvary where he was nailed to a cross. Among his last words were, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do".
The morrow was the Sabbath of the Lord their God. Lest his presence on the cross desecrate that holy day, his body was hurriedly removed and laid away in a borrowed tomb where it lay for three days.
Resurrected, he tarried off and on with his disciples for forty days.
One day, as he walked with his disciples on a lonely road, he paused to bless them and then in their presence he ascended heavenward. As he disappeared a heavenly messenger announced:
"... Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven".
Whence came this Jesus of Nazareth-this man of Galilee?
Some thirty years before his ministry began, Mary, his mother, laden with child and in the throes of her travail, had just arrived at Bethlehem.
Hers had been a long four-or-five day journey on the back of a little donkey, when she was not afoot. When she arrived, there was no place for her at the inn where she had expected to stay, and no one round about would give her space to stay. So a bed of clean straw was hastily made for her in a manger in a nearby stable.
There, Jesus of Nazareth was born. The dumb animals tethered there were the first to hear the infant cry.
"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. "And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. "And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. "And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger".
And there in the manger the shepherds found him.
Later wise men from the East brought the babe gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
If Jesus had come, as these wise men, riding on a camel, bearing gold, frankincense, and myrrh, with a crown on his head, he undoubtedly would have been accepted-king of the Jews.
His coming had been long awaited, but they could not accept one, born so humbly and lowly in a stable.
He came born away from home, in obscurity.
He preached-the clearest, most simple, teacher of profound truth that ever came among men.
He healed-
He called followers about him, even apostles.
He suffered-betrayed, denied, and deserted.
He died-a horrible death upon a cross.
He was resurrected-after three days in a tomb.
He lives.
He will return again.
Listen; these words are his:
"I am from above. I came down from heaven. All power is given unto me. I am the light. Ask in my name. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I am the way. Keep my commandments. I am the Lord of the Sabbath. I am greater than the temple. I am the life. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the truth. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. I will rise from the dead. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Ye call me Master and Lord; and ye say well for so I am ".
"I know," said the woman at the well, "that Messias cometh, which is called Christ."
Jesus answered-"I that speak unto thee am he".
When Caiaphas shouted-"... tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God."
Jesus answered-"Thou hast said".
"Nearly two thousand years have passed and none has reigned, or served, or dreamed who has so touched and molded human life. He is the ideal-the example-the greatest unalterable, wholesome, growing influence in a world of blood and tears. Books on his life fill libraries; the name of Pharaohs, Caesars, emperors, kings of all ages that have come and gone are but ghosts upon a printed page. Their legions dust upon the land; their proud armadas rust upon an ocean floor."
"But this one solitary life, surpasses all in power. Its influence is the one remaining hope of future years."
In a Roman court, nearly two thousand years ago, the skeptic Pontius Pilate demanded of Jesus: "Art thou a king?"
Jesus answered: "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth."
The perplexed Pilate muttered: "What is truth?".
The truth, my brothers and sisters and friends is,-and I say it in all solemnity-it is my witness: Jesus the man of Galilee, is Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Pilate spoke again: "What shall I do with this man?".
What he did is history. Now twenty centuries later-what will you, my listening brothers sisters and friends, do with this man?
Speaking for myself, I have accepted him as the Son of God.
He is the living Son of the Living God-that is my testimony-my witness-and I declare it boldly, yet humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Mark E. Petersen
Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 13-17
With you, my brothers and sisters, I have been very deeply impressed by the conference session this morning. I do not know when I have been so deeply touched by the words of a prophet of God as I have been this morning by the remarkable address of our President.
I love this President. He is the prophet of Almighty God. I bear you my solemn testimony he is the prophet, seer, and revelator of the Almighty for us today, and I testify to you that if we follow in his footsteps and accept his teachings the Lord will bless us and prosper us and guide us throughout our days.
And I have been so deeply touched, with you, by these other two addresses that we heard. I am so grateful for these testimonies pertaining to the Savior of the world. I love Jesus Christ. I love him as my Redeemer and my Savior. I know that you love him likewise, but I know that our love for him is interpreted strictly in terms of our service to him. "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me". So said the Savior.
I would like to talk with you today in a projection of some of the ideas presented to us by President McKay. These words that he gave us, that we must be preachers of the Word, and be evangelists for the Lord, are so filled with meaning for us all. I hope each one of us will take these words to heart. Each one of us is a minister. Each one of us is an evangelist for Christ. Where is your ministry?
I would like to talk with you about your ministry among your own children, because you are ministers of the Lord unto your children, and if you will do your duty by your children, you will be as saviors on Mount Zion to them . But if you fail in your responsibility in serving the Lord pertaining to your children, they may go astray, and the Lord has said that their sins shall be upon the heads of the parents.
A few days ago I received a letter. It is like some other letters I have received, and I would like to read a part of this letter to you. It comes from a mother. She says: "I have a daughter who is 15. Her boy friend is 16. They have been going steady for over a year. We have just now learned that they are in serious trouble. For the first few months of their friendship they dated only occasionally. Then they decided to 'go steady.' That was the beginning of their trouble. It seemed they were always in each other's company. Now my little 15-year-old girl is soon to become a mother, and we are all just brokenhearted."
This letter is typical of a nationwide problem, one which has become of major concern to both federal and local officials, and which poses a difficult situation for school executives in many parts of the nation. It is a situation which is forcing an increasing number of young people into child marriages and child divorces, with broken hearts and broken lives, and the problem is a growing one.
In the September 6, 1959 issue of Parade magazine there appeared an article with pictures discussing this problem. It was entitled, "Married Teenagers." One of the pictures showed a 17-year-old mother of triplets. The article discussed conditions in Dallas, Texas, and reported that in the schools of that city there are 480 married children: 459 in senior high schools, 12 in junior high schools, and 9 in elementary schools.
The Family Service Society of San Bernardino County in California reports that from the year 1940 to 1958 the number of marriages involving two teenagers increased twelve times, and the marriages involving one teenager increased six times. The average age of these children is 17 for girls and 18 for boys, but many of them involve 13, 14, and 15 year-old girls, and 14, 15, and 16 year-old boys.
The U.S. News & World Report for December 12, 1958 reports that there are child mothers, some married and some not, in twenty-two of the twenty-three high schools in the city of Washington, D. C., as well as in four of the elementary schools of that city.
The Associated Press, in a nationally published article written out of Washington by Roger Greene, dated August 9 of this year, reports: "An all-time record of babies born out of wedlock-more than 200,000 a year-has set off a new storm of controversy over ebbing standards of American morality... Latest figures show the rate of such births per 1,000 unmarried females has tripled in the last two decades, with a particularly alarming rise among teenage girls... 5,000 illegitimate babies are born each year to girls under 15... A tragic byproduct is that at least 20,000 young unwed mothers sell their babies on the 'black market' annually, with price tags ranging from $1,500 to $3,000."
Life magazine recently carried an article on this trend toward child marriages resulting from the present dating tendencies of American children. After showing what leads up to these tragic marriages, the article discussed the divorces which result. It quoted Judge Willard Gatling of Charlotte, North Carolina on the subject. Said the judge: Teenage marriage has almost no possibility of succeeding. Ninety percent are total failures."
The fact is that neither the boy nor the girl at this tender age is in any way prepared for marriage. The boy and girl want what they think is the fun, but they do not want the responsibility. Said one youngster quoted in Life magazine: "I'm a party boy. I just ain't cut out to be married."
What are the reasons for these early child marriages? Why do we have so many of these adolescent tragedies? Let me list a few of the reasons.
1. Early dating. Unfortunately this early dating is often encouraged by parents, school officials, and occasionally by some church groups. Children are actually urged at times to date when they are but 11, 12, and 13 years of age.
2. Early dating soon grows into early steady dating. Some go steady at 13 and 14, while many do so at 15 and 16.
3. Steady dating is encouraged by steady dancing where one boy dances with one girl all evening.
4. Early steady dating demands the use of automobiles. In North Carolina, where one study was conducted it was learned that many ninth grade girls, 13 and 14 years old, dated only boys with cars, and many of those boys were under 16, which is the legal driving age. One 13-year-old boy said, "I asked a girl of my age for a date. She asked me if I drove a car. I said no. 'Well,' she said, 'come back and ask me when you do.'"
5. Early steady dating and the free use of automobiles by children lead to early intimacies and immorality. Said one girl who was asked about this subject: "We loved each other so much, and we were together just all the time. And there's not much to do, you know-the drive-in movies, and the movies downtown, and that's about all. So after you've seen all the movies, you just park the car and if you're in love-well, that's it."
6. Early intimacies bring early child marriages.
7. Child marriages bring on divorce, as Judge Gatling said, in ninety percent of the cases.
Writing in Better Homes and Gardens magazine recently, Howard Williams discussed the great moral breakdown of the so-called "enlightened era," and said: "Promiscuity, illegitimacy, heartbreak, and misery are all that the enlightened era has brought us. Let's put an end to them."
But how can we put an end to them? In order to do so we must see the problem clearly. To help us in our study permit me to ask some pointed questions of you as parents.
1. How early should young people date? Do you think it is wise for 12 and 13 and 14 year-old children to date?
2. Should schools or other public organizations sponsor dances for early teens and require that only couples come? Should schoolteachers force early dating upon these youngsters? By what right do they exclude children from school-sponsored socials because they or their parents oppose dating at this early age?
3. At what age should girls begin wearing lipstick and dressing and acting like grown-ups? At 12 or 13, or even younger? This may seem like a trivial thing, but does not the early use of lipstick mean an early invitation to dating, and does not early dating so often lead to early tragedy?
4. Should little boys and girls kiss and neck? The youngsters themselves should think carefully about that question. They may kid themselves into thinking that early necking is a sign that they have now grown up. But is it? In reality it is but the first step to the more serious and tragic petting which drags so many 13, 14, 15, and 16 year-old children down into a loss of virtue and into forced marriages or illegal operations.
5. When should young people begin going steady? Should it be while they are yet in junior and senior high school? Or should steady dating be reserved for the time when young people are actually considering marriage, and are old enough to consider it sensibly and realistically, and are capable of carrying on the responsibilities of marriage?
6. After their first ruinous experience in child marriage and child divorce, do the young people consider that in the future they might desire a good marriage, a permanent one, with a respectable and well-established partner? And do they consider that when they come to that age, the good fellows and the desirable girls may not wish to marry someone else's castoff?
What are some of the remedies for this situation? First and foremost I believe that it lies in large part in the parents' assuming their proper role as guardians of their children. Parents need not forever be slaves to the philosophy that they must obey their children in every whim. Parents must assume the position of leadership in the family. They must make the basic decisions of family life and not leave these decisions to the spoiled children of the household.
In an article in a recent issue of This Week magazine, under the caption, "Don't Let Them Grow up Too Fast," the author referred to a study made in North Carolina, where parents got together to slow down early dating and early marriage in that state. The parents formed a league to do so. The article said: "The kids themselves approve of the slow-down program. They don't want to be pushed into adulthood. And far from resenting clear-cut rules and regulations they appreciate guidance and discipline.
"One 14 year-old girl said: 'Since my parents joined the league, they've begun telling me what I can do and what I can't do, and frankly, it's a big load off my mind. And anyway, isn't that what parents are for?'"
Parents must screen the playmates and dating partners of their children. Parents must decide when the child is old enough to date. Parents must provide chaperonage for early social activities of their children. Parents must make certain that their children have a proper conception of true values, moral, economic, and religious.
It is an interesting thing that studies made in the Family Service Agency of San Bernardino showed that among divorcees forty-three percent never went to church at all; thirty-five percent went occasionally; and only twenty-two percent attended church with any regularity.
Parents must decide on the use of the family car by their youngsters. In this connection they must be obedient to the law, and not permit their children to drive until they reach legal age.
They might also have in mind the paragraph about automobiles contained in an article by Jacob M. Braude, circuit court judge in Chicago, who listed the fifteen chief causes of juvenile delinquency, and said:
"A boy or a girl under 21 has no business owning a car, period. These young people simply don't have the sense of moral and social responsibility that should go hand in hand with the ownership of an automobile.
"Now I don't mean by this that it is wrong for properly licensed boys or girls to drive the family car under effective parental supervision... But the key to the automobile problem is proper adult supervision-and this is difficult, indeed, when the juvenile himself owns the car. Youngsters who buy automobiles legitimately are faced with the constant drain of buying gas and maintaining the car, a problem that too many of them solve with a siphon hose or money stolen from home. A large percentage of the sex offenses can also be traced directly to juvenile ownership of cars."
Parents must be exemplary themselves. How can they expect their children to respect them if they themselves are not respectable, or if they themselves are not obedient to law and order? How can parents expect their children to accept their discipline if the parents refuse to discipline themselves?
And then parents, as adult citizens and taxpayers, must express themselves on school problems which affect their own children. They must become vocal and active members of parent-teacher groups and other organizations which can sway opinion and policy with respect to the social life of their children at school. Parents must cooperate with law and enforcement officers in their efforts to preserve law and order in their communities.
Parents must develop good character in children, a love of righteousness, faith, a respect for other people, and they must help their children to overcome selfishness, and to live for the future, and not for the momentary lusts or so-called pleasures of today.
Does it seem that I lay too much upon the parents? Not when you realize that the parents hold the key to the situation.
The Boy Scouts of America engaged the Institute of Social Research of the University of Michigan to make a study of adolescent young people. That study showed that the vast majority of young people-ninety-four percent-desire and expect that their parents will provide leadership for them and give them guidance; ninety-five percent said they are willing to take parents' rule on what time to come in at night; eighty-seven percent are willing to accept their parents' advice pertaining to money; seventy-six percent accept their parents' guidance in personal problems; sixty-two percent accept their parents' advice on how to act when out in a crowd; ninety percent believe that when parents make rules, those rules are for the benefit of the youngsters, and not for the convenience of the parents.
But the survey also showed a tragic note-the parents do not live up to the expectations of the youngsters. They fail to provide the leadership their own children expect of them.
When the study endeavored to find out how many parents plan family activities to include the children, it was discovered that only seventeen percent provide such activities regularly; sixty percent only occasionally; and twenty-two percent not at all.
All of this points up the wisdom of the Lord in laying upon the parents the responsibility of rearing and training their own children, and adding that if they fail to do so, the sin be upon the head of the parents.
Now I ask you-do you want an early child marriage for your youngster, with only a ten percent chance of that marriage being successful? Do you want to take the chance on immorality that forcefully confronts you if you permit your child to date early, and especially if you permit the child to date steadily?
Are you willing to assume the full guardianship of your own child, and protect that child from its own whims and the whims of others?
Are you willing to stand at the crossroads with your child and protect him or her from the temptation and degradation that usually accompanies early and steady dating? Are you willing to do for your child what the Lord asks you to do, to rear that child as a faithful Latter-day Saint, a good citizen, and give him an opportunity to work out his future successfully?
You as parents hold the key to the situation. You are the custodians and the guardians of your own children. If you do not guard and protect and rear them, who will?
I humbly and earnestly pray that we will assume the responsibility which is ours, and love our children well enough to train them and guide them, and give to them the leadership and direction which most young people expect of their parents, and this is my humble and earnest prayer, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 18-21
To stand before this great body, members of the Church, mostly priesthood, is something that creates in my soul a feeling of awe and of responsibility. I trust that I may have the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord in the words that I may utter. I am very grateful for what was said in our meeting this morning by our President and those who followed after him. I am sure that we have been edified in the remarks that have been made, and I feel my dependence upon the Spirit of the Lord to aid me in saying something that might be profitable on this occasion.
There may be some who wonder why we hold general conference twice a year, bring our people, particularly the presiding officers, together from all parts of the Church. But, brethren, I do not know what we would do if this privilege should be withdrawn from us. I have wondered what, in the days of Peter, James, and John and following, the condition might have been if they could have met quarterly and semi-annually in conferences. Perhaps the apostasy would have been postponed, if not altogether avoided. But those privileges were not theirs.
I think I feel the importance of these gatherings, and the bringing together the men who hold the priesthood particularly, to receive counsel, to be encouraged, and to return to their stakes renewed in their spirits. We can reach our people today better than they could anciently. We have many facilities that they did not have, and our people are naturally under present conditions, drawn closer together than they were in former days.
And now, my good brethren and sisters, what is our duty? To keep the commandments of God. And we are instructed to do that in our quarterly conferences, in our general conferences, and in all the meetings that are held in the various stakes and wards of Zion. Even as it is, there are conditions arising which should cause us to be alert, on our guard, diligent, persevering in the keeping of the commandments of the Lord, and in instructing the members of the Church. By all means, this is needed. Satan is not dead.
I think frequently of the words of the Lord to John when he said that Satan raged because "he knoweth, that he hath but a short time". And he is more active today, perhaps, than ever before in the history of the world. His emissaries get among the Latter-day Saints. Some of them are very cunning and crafty. Some of them at one time had the light and understanding of the gospel but have lost it. They come among our Latter-day Saints and if we are not prepared by our faith, by our obedience, and knowledge of the gospel, many of us stand in danger of being led astray.
The Prophet Joseph Smith made the statement that a man cannot be saved in ignorance. When he said man he meant mankind. Ignorance of what? Of the saving principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now we are taught faith in God our Father and in his Son Jesus Christ. We are taught to study, make ourselves familiar with his life when he was upon the face of the earth, why he came, the nature of his work, how it concerns us, to prepare ourselves by our study and by our faith to stand worthy before him in the keeping of his commandments.
We read in the Doctrine and Covenants where the Lord says that all those who repent and are baptized are to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. Now we baptize our children at the age of eight years -that is the age that the Lord has designated as the age of accountability. Little children before that age are redeemed, should they die, without any act upon their part. One of the most wicked doctrines ever taught in this world was that little children were born in sin, contaminated, and have to be cleansed from that sin for which they themselves were not responsible. Little children were innocent in the beginning, the Lord says, and by his decree until they reach the age of accountability they are free from sin, but from that age on they are under the necessity of baptism for the remission of sins, and entrance into the Church and kingdom of God.
Now, we are promised that when we are baptized, if we are true and faithful, we will have the guidance of the Holy Ghost. What is the purpose of it? To teach us, to direct us, to bear witness to us of the saving principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Every child old enough to be baptized, and who is baptized, is entitled to the guidance of the Holy Ghost. I have heard people say that a little child eight years of age could not understand. I know better than that. I had a testimony of this truth when I was eight years old, coming through the Holy Ghost. I have had it ever since.
We are commanded also to bring up our children in light and truth, to teach them the fundamental principles of the gospel, so that when they grow older they will understand, and have a knowledge of the gospel, a testimony of its truth, and be prepared to resist the persuasions and doctrines and teachings of those who would destroy that belief.
I am grateful for our Primary organizations and our Sunday schools, and the other organizations of the Church, but brethren and sisters, the Lord has not placed all the responsibility upon our auxiliary organizations, nor upon the bishops of wards to teach the children of Zion the gospel of Jesus Christ. That should be taught them in their homes.
As we travel from stake to stake, we discover in many places that children who are eight years of age, nine years of age, even older sometimes, have not been baptized. Why? Who has neglected this? We cannot blame the child, but somebody is at fault. When a child gets to be nine or ten or eleven or more years of age and has not been baptized a member of this Church, then someone's at fault. Primarily, I would say that fault is in the home. But the fault is not altogether in the home. The fault rests with those who have charge in the wards of looking after the interests of the young, and the bishops who are to look after all the members of the Church. No child should be permitted to go unbaptized after he or she reaches the eighth year, and when there is that kind of neglect someone is responsible.
Bring up your children, my brethren and sisters, in light and truth. Teach them by example. Fathers and mothers have to set the example. They cannot say to their children, "You follow the teachings of the Church, but in our lives we are going to make exceptions." It cannot be done, not properly. You parents, set the example. There should be unity in the home, and if there is unity in the home, then there is likely to be unity in the Church. But we begin in the home.
Now, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the means of our salvation and exaltation. I have often wondered why some members of the Church were members of the Church, because they do not live in accordance with the principles of eternal truth. There is only one reason for membership in this Church, as I understand it, and that is as a means of receiving salvation and exaltation in the celestial kingdom of God. If that is not our aim then why are we in the Church?
I know a man who went to school when I went to school, we played together, went to school together. When he grew to be a man he went East and became a scientist. He came back, and then he began to create a great deal of disturbance in the Sunday School classes, questioning the revelations that had been given through the Prophet Joseph Smith. This came to my attention when one of the members of that class came to me and said, "This brother comes to our class, and he is just a disturbance." As I was well acquainted with him, I made it my duty to get hold of him, and I asked him why he did those things; and was disturbing the members of the class.
"Well," he said, "I cannot accept all of the revelations that were given to the Prophet Joseph Smith."
"Are there any of them that you can accept?"
"Yes," he said, "I can accept some of them," but he could not accept all of the doctrines that had come through the revelations of our Father in heaven and his Son Jesus Christ to the Church.
After we got through with the conversation, and I had a long conversation with him, he said, "Now, I am going to ask you one favor. Please do not take any step to have me excommunicated."
I said, "Why do you want to stay in the Church when you are opposing its doctrines?"
He said, "I will tell you why. I was raised in the Church, and my friends are members of the Church. I have few associations outside of the Church. If I should be excommunicated that means that I should be cut off from all communication, all fellowship with the people with whom I am now associating, and I do not want that to happen. So please do not take any steps to have me excommunicated."
I thought there was some hope for him so I did not take any such step, but I did talk to him kindly and try to get him to see the folly of his ways, to repent, and when he went to the classes and he could go to the classes, he should not go with that spirit of defiance or opposition to the doctrines which the others believed. I said, "If you don't believe them, then keep still and see if you cannot get the Spirit of the Lord so that you can accept them."
Well, he is dead now. I do not know whether he repented or not, but brethren, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most vital thing in all the world to us. We should so live that we can accept every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God, and that is a commandment from him.
Now if we have the right spirit, that is what we are going to do. If there is any doctrine or principle connected with the teachings of the Church that we do not understand, then let us get on our knees. Let us go before the Lord in the spirit of prayer, of humility, and ask that our minds might be enlightened that we may understand. This Church is not teaching false doctrine. All the revelations given to the Prophet Joseph Smith are absolutely true. They are given for our salvation, for our knowledge, for our understanding, that we may draw nearer and nearer to our Father in heaven, and be found worthy before him and eventually have the privilege of coming into his presence, there to be crowned as sons and daughters of God, receiving the fulness of his kingdom.
The Lord bless you, my good brethren and sisters, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Alvin R. Dyer
Alvin R. Dyer, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 21-24
My dear brothers and sisters, I feel it is a great privilege to be in your presence here today, in the presence of my Brethren, and to be under the inspiration and leadership of our Prophet and those who are associated with him in the Presidency of the Church, and I have felt here this day the power and the inspiration of the Spirit as it has been manifested in what has been said.
A number of years ago there was a noted historian sent to Salt Lake City, to study the customs and the way of living of the Latter-day Saints. He remained here many years among our people and published a book in the year of 1922 telling of his findings. I should like to read a paragraph or two from what he said about our people. He never knew the Prophet Joseph Smith. He could only tell of his work by the results as it was manifest among the people who were guided by the revelations from God which their prophet had received. I quote:
"Who can explain Joseph Smith? What are the 'revelations from God'? What is their test? Is it not beyond all reason that a lad, born of poor parents devoid of any save the commonest education, too poor to buy books, should have accomplished what he did in less than forty years, unless there was some great reason for it?
"Let anyone, even a literary genius, after forty years of life, try to write a companion volume to the Book of Mormon, and then almost daily for a number of years give out 'revelations' that internally harmonize one with another, at the same time formulate a system of doctrine for a Church, introduce many new principles, resuscitate extinct priesthoods, and formulate a system of Church government which has no superior upon earth... to deny such a man a wonderful power over the human heart and intellect is absurd. Only fanatical prejudice can ignore it. However he may be accounted for by the reasoning mind, Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, was one of the wonders of his time."
One of the great distinguishing characteristics of the Latter-day Saint people is that they are governed by revelations from God, and whether people come into our midst, or whether we go out into the world, this characteristic remains a distinguishing factor.
I recall that some few years ago in one of the communities of Oklahoma a minister, in an effort to discredit the effects of our missionary work in that area had an article placed in a daily newspaper, from which I quote a part. He said: "The first thing that you should know is that these missionaries are a part of a church that claims to have a revelation and a prophet."
How well he placed the facts. Yet it seems rather strange that a Christian minister would make such a statement in derision, for revelation and the prophets have ever been a part of God's plan to convey commandments and teachings of righteousness unto his children. There are others, like this minister, who feel that we have no right to receive revelation, but if we do not receive revelation for the guidance and direction of the true Church of Jesus Christ, then we do not have the oracles of God, and if we do not have the oracles of God, then we are not the people of God.
But this is not the fact, for over and over again God has revealed his will unto this, his people, through his servants, the prophets. In the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants, which is a book of revelations given through the Prophet Joseph Smith unto the Latter-day Saints, the Lord has said:
"Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments".
These commandments are revelations from God which provide the laws and ordinances of the gospel, and by obedience to them will exalt man in the presence of our Heavenly Father. The Prophet Jacob, one of the Book of Mormon prophets, speaks of the need of revelation in this manner. He says:
"Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God".
Again Moroni, another Book of Mormon prophet, speaks of those who would deny revelation.
"And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues; "Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them. "For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing?".
The revelations from God are a great expediency in leading man unto eternal life and exaltation. Yet in every age, where God's will has been expressed unto his people, there have been those who have failed to obey and who have in some instances rebelled against the revealed word of God.
This was true with the greatest of all prophets, Christ the Lord. Early in his ministry multitudes of people followed him everywhere, for he blessed them, raised their dead, and fed their hunger. But, upon that occasion when he announced to them for the first time that he was the Son of God and that he would reveal unto them the mind and will of the Father, that he was the living bread sent down from heaven, they turned and walked no more with him, seeing the people turn from him because of revelation, he turned to his disciples and said, "Will ye go away also?"-but his nearest disciples led by Peter, did not leave him, for they accepted his revelations; gone, however, were the crowds of people who had followed him on the shores of Galilee and the hillsides of Judea. From that day forth, save for his closest disciples, he walked alone.
Unfortunately, in the early days of the Church not all of the Latter-day Saints accepted the revelations. I suppose that as each revelation was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and it was made known unto the people, just that many more of the weak Saints rebelled and turned away from the Church. This became one of the great problems to our people in the days of Kirtland and Missouri, for some of the members and leaders alike opposed and did all that they could to prevent the coming forth of further revelation, and the progress of the Church.
The Prophet Joseph Smith, speaking of this at Far West, had this to say: "Many men will say I will never forsake you, but will stand by you at all times, but the moment you teach them some of the revelations of the kingdom of God that are retained in the heavens and are to be revealed to the children of men when they are prepared for them, they will be the first to stone you and put you to death."
The Prophet continued in this very significant meeting to make this further statement: "Would to God, brethren, I could tell you who I am! would to God I could tell you what I know! but you would call it blasphemy, and there are men on this stand who would want to take my life." Continuing further, he said, "When God offers a blessing, or knowledge to a man, and he refuses to receive it, he will be damned." Thus by the implied remarks of the Prophet, the rebellion of the weak Saints in the days of Kirtland and Missouri continued, yes, even unto the days of Nauvoo. They seemed, unfortunately, not to understand the things of God, which had been revealed.
When the work of the Prophet Joseph Smith was completed, when he had received the keys, powers, and ordinances, and had conferred them upon the heads of the Quorum of the Twelve, when he realized and sensed that the time had come when he would give his life for his work, he seemed to speak, upon occasion, more emphatically than ever before with regard to the truth of the revelations which he received, indicating that there were those within the Church then who opposed and did not accept all the revelations which God had given through him. These were his words upon the memorable occasion of one of his last addresses to the Saints.
"Oh! I beseech you go forward and make your calling and election sure-when did I ever teach anything wrong from this stand? When was I ever confounded? I want to triumph in Israel before I depart hence and am no more seen. I never told you I was perfect-but there is no error in the revelations which I have taught."
I have mentioned these things, my brethren and sisters, only in reflection to bring it down to us today. Can we say, with regard to revelation, in a similar sense, that those who fail in the Church today to accept and live fully the revelations given are somewhat rebellious perhaps not in the same antagonistic manner which was manifest in the early days, but nevertheless rebel within themselves against the word of the Lord. There are some who perhaps sense the great value of these God-given truths, yet fail in their appropriation. They will not let go for fear of losing something greatly worthwhile, but still hold back when it comes to fully accepting the revelations from God.
May I consider with you for a few moments some of the vital revelations given through the Prophet Joseph Smith and perhaps as we go back to our homes from this great conference of the Church we can regenerate in our own thinking the desire to conform more closely to the commandments which the Lord has required of us through these revealed writings. I refer to a revelation with regard to the magnifying of the priesthood found in section 84 and section 121, given at Kirtland, Ohio, in 1832, and at Liberty, Missouri, in 1839, and when we find that perhaps two thirds of the elders who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, are found not to be in their priesthood meetings each Sunday morning, we realize the need of greater adherence to this instruction. Would we say that those who are not fully living in accordance with this revelation are perhaps opposing the divine will of our Heavenly Father as it is expressed through his prophets?
There is the revelation given on tithing and offerings at Far West, Missouri, in 1838. Would you say, my brethren and sisters, that a man, especially one who holds the Melchizedek Priesthood, and who does not pay an honest tithing is rebelling against the revelations of God?
What about attendance at Sacrament meeting? I remember as a young man being placed in a bishopric, and of being told we ought to achieve twenty percent attendance at Sacrament meeting. Today the current average attendance is thirty-three percent, and yet each Sunday finds sixty-seven out of one hundred of our people not attending their Sacrament meeting. Would you say that this failure to attend, on the part of some, is something of a rebellion against this revelation given at Jackson County, Missouri, in 1831?
Then what about the revelation on virtue and the receiving of the Holy Ghost, given in Liberty Prison in 1839, when the Prophet revealed to us that if we would have the companionship of the Holy Ghost, our lives must be virtuous and we must live constantly under that influence? Would you say that those who have evil thoughts and would permit unclean practices to come into their lives are opposing the will and the revelations of God on purity of life?
There are still other revelations-the reiteration of the Ten Commandments at Kirtland, Ohio, in section 42; the great principle of righteous dominion, in section 121, wherein we are to live with our fellow men in kindness, in long-suffering, in meekness, and love unfeigned, in the true spirit of brotherhood as becomes a Latter-day Saint; the revelations on temple work in sections 124, 127, and 128, given in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1841 and 1842.
Are we doing all that we can in accordance with these revelations, and if we are not are we inwardly opposing them? My brothers and sisters, you be the ones to answer that for yourselves.
Then there is this last one I will refer to, the revelation on harmful indulgences-the Word of Wisdom -and we see the manifest desire of many within the Church to twist the meaning of this great revelation, and those who do this, are they rebelling against the will of God as they did in the earlier days?
I bear record to you, my brethren and sisters, that these revelations have been given to us for our enlightenment, for our growth, that we may return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. They are a distinguishing characteristic of the Latter-day Saints. We are to use them for our upbuilding and growth within the kingdom of God.
Would it not be profitable to review the revelations-to learn afresh-to "know our duty" and then where needful adjust our lives fully to the laws and commandments of God?
I bear record to the truthfulness of the revelations given to the Prophet Joseph Smith. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Marion D. Hanks
Marion D. Hanks, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 24-26
I seek only to be able to speak the truth, to merit the Spirit of the Lord which will direct me and bless me in so doing. I appreciate the wonderful sermons which have been delivered here from the first through Brother Dyer's.
I sat thinking a moment ago of my sainted father who left his little family and departed this earth more than thirty-five years ago, how he went into the missionary field at the call of the Lord through the Brethren, in his late teens, carrying copies of the Book of Mormon with testimony and conviction, expressing his deepest assurance of the validity of the work he represented and yet without adequate knowledge, perhaps, because he was but a boy and because much knowledge now available was not had, to defend his viewpoint in the eyes of the world. He had but his testimony, his faith, and the Book.
As President Smith spoke I marveled that we have lived long enough and that we live in a time, you and I, when the wise men, the honest men of the world, are coming to understand some of the things the Lord has taught us through all the years since the establishment of the Church.
As President Smith referred to the age of eight and his faith that a youngster at that age can know, I thought of my little children and then of a book published recently, written by two of the most accepted, and I think effective, child psychologists of the day, commenting on the age "eight" in the lives of the young.
"Eight seems to be an age when much that was not comprehended before is often easily understood. At that age it is almost as though a new dimension has been added to the child's understanding."
It is remarkable that qualified and earnest seekers after truth should discover that at age eight a new dimension enters into the life of the child. The Lord assured us of this when he talked of the age of accountability long ago; D&C; 68:25,27).
Of one thing implicit in both President Smith's and Brother Dyer's remarks, I would speak for just a few moments.
A thoughtful friend phoned this morning to tell me of a book he had just received-I had not seen a copy nor is it available in our bookstores yet-a book called, I Found God in Soviet Russia, in which a man tells of his own experiences as a prisoner in a concentration camp in Siberia.
He talks of the religious faith that permitted people to endure and survive. He mentions in at least four different places, and this would perhaps be a satisfying if sorrowful and surprising thing for us to know, that in a concentration camp in Siberia there is a little band of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, meeting faithfully and loyally, unwilling to deny or let rest or become indifferent to their responsibilities even though to be a member of the Church makes them liable to life imprisonment according to the book.
The book notes that these Mormons insisted on coming together in the name of the Lord-that when they had a few minutes they met to worship God in their own way.
When I think how the Lord must love and look with compassion upon such individuals, when out of my own experience as a parent I can see how much I love my little ones, I can understand what the Lord meant when he talked about the worth of souls in his sight. And I believe I may understand it more impressively and movingly today than I have ever understood it before.
May I read you some words with which all are familiar, and read them in context of what has been said?
"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; "For behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him".
There follows the great statement of the joy of the Lord in the soul that repenteth, and this:
"And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my father!" And then the marvelous statement that "... if your joy will be great with one soul... how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!".
I have in mind to express my testimony about the importance of the one, to add my humble witness to the charge that has been given every teacher and parent, every youth-influencing, every adult-influencing Latter-day Saint, to be concerned about the one individual child of God.
I heard a statement as I drove toward Brigham Young University the other morning from the Talmud, or so it was quoted: "To save one life is like saving a whole nation." And I began to think of other statements, including the one from the eighteenth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, to which we have alluded. I thought of the statement of Oliver Wendell Holmes, who said, "Every individual is an omnibus." Do you see the significance and implication of this?
As we have the marvelous blessing of setting missionaries apart, I can seldom refrain from thinking of them that in each of them, as in each of us, is wrapped up a heritage and a promise, for each is a distillation of much that has gone before, and beyond all that is represented in the individual now and of the past, there is also the future, because in each of us are the seeds of the future; in each of us there is, in fact, the capacity and possibility of becoming many.
Could I tell you one story which bears repetition-and I have had the blessing of repeating it in some of the stakes of the Church. It is the most significant single experience I have ever had, personally, about the importance of one. It happened long enough ago that I think the individual involved would not be conscious of our noting him, though I see no harm if he is.
A man walked into these grounds and into an office in the Bureau of Information one day long ago. He interrupted a conversation which was private and serious, and did it without apology. He was quite an elderly man; he was not what you would call an attractive human being. He was unkempt, unshaven; he reeked of alcohol and tobacco.
He walked over to the desk where I sat, pointed his hand in the direction of the temple, and said, "How do you get in there?" I assumed that he was a tourist, one of the infrequent but occasional few who do not understand the purpose and the reason of temple-going and who have become affronted because they are not taken into the temple, and perhaps had come to complain.
I told him as best I could, or began to, the story of the temple, but had proceeded only a little distance when he interrupted. He waved me away and said, "Oh, you don't have to tell me all that, I know that. I am a Mormon."
"Well," I said, "if you are a member of the Church and you know all of this, what is it you want from me?" He said, "Frankly, nothing. There isn't anything you have to give me. I am here because my wife insisted on my coming in, but I have fulfilled my errand," and out he went.
I tried to pick up the threads of the conversation and finish it, and later, as I sat thinking about him and his story, I looked out the window and saw him walking by the Joseph and Hyrum monuments with a younger woman. I went out to talk with them. She identified herself as his wife. He had been married three times; each previous wife had died after bearing a large family.
There are two questions I asked him, which I think each person here would do well to hear answered as he answered them. I asked, in effect, how he had come to his feeling of antagonism and indifference. He told me that at age nineteen he had been ejected from a chapel by a bishop's counselor who had been summoned because of the boy's trouble-making in class. One thing that had been said, this man remembered for nearly sixty years. As he was thrown out, someone objected. The answer that came from the counselor who had the task in hand was, "Ah, let him go, he is just one kid!"
He went, and he never came back, nor was there ever any visiting, never any outpouring or increase of the love that should follow reproof, according to the Lord. He moved to another area of the land, married, had a family; his wife passed away and he married again, his second wife died after bearing a family also. He had come to Salt Lake City at the insistence of his third wife, who, having been taught by the missionaries and converted to the principles of the gospel, had brought him here hoping that somehow he might be touched-he, the member.
This, also, I would like to report: I asked him how many living descendants he had. He counted them and answered, "Fifty-four." I asked him then, how many of them are members of the Church, and I expect you know the answer, though perhaps not his interesting expression. He said, "Huh, ain't any of them members of the Church. They're a pretty hard lot."
This last question: who was it the bishop's counselor propelled out the door that morning? Just one boy? Just one? This one has in his own lifetime become, in effect, a multitude, and the current has but begun to run, and every one of them denied, according to his own witness, the love of the gospel and the brotherhood of the Saints, the warmth and strength and direction of the programs of the Church.
Oh, I can understand a little more, why the Lord said that one soul was precious to him.
I close with a statement Horace Mann made. This is well-known also, but worth the repetition. To a man who questioned Horace Mann's statement at the dedication of a boy's home or school, that if all the work and energy and effort and money put into this endeavor had been to save just one boy, it would have been worth it, and had said to Horace Mann, "You became too oratorical, didn't you? You didn't really mean that, did you?"-Horace Mann answered, "Oh, yes, I meant it. It would have all been worth it, if the one were my son."
Every son of God is important in his eyes. Every unbaptized child, unordained boy, young man who is not in the right stage of his priesthood progression, every boy and girl not attending seminary when they can and should, every boy and girl not being married the temple when they could-these are vitally important in the eyes of God and should be, in our eyes.
God bless us to understand the infinite importance of the one, in God's eyes, and to do all that we can to fulfil his purposes for them, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder John Longden
John Longden, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 27-28
My testimony has been strengthened and my faith increased in the glorious truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ to which we have listened today. It does answer the questions: why these general conferences, why these quarterly conferences, why these conferences of the auxiliary organization-"For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ", until we all come to a knowledge of the truth.
I have reminisced as Brother Hanks has been speaking. I am sure he will pardon me if I make reference to him and his marvelous family. It was my privilege to live in the Nineteenth Ward in the Salt Lake Stake. On October 12, 1921, I left for my mission to the Central States. The day after, there came into the home of Brother and Sister Hanks, not a small boy-he was rather large, I understand-I was not there, but I have heard-and he was named Marion. Well, you have seen his works; you have felt his spirit. There are others in this family just as good and just and devoted to building up the kingdom of God.
Theirs in an example of a good Latter-day Saint home, wherein are taught the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ; wherein they gather in humble prayer and thanksgiving for the blessings which have come into their lives; wherein they are taught the true joys of service to God and our fellow men. My, what a contrast to the story he has just related to us.
There is another anniversary this week-if I may be pardoned for making reference to it-just fifty years ago on the 7th of October my father and I arrived in Salt Lake City-a boy of ten, coming to a new world with one purpose in mind, to be close to the center of the Church and to serve the Lord.
I am grateful for that father who listened to the missionaries some sixty-three years ago in England, about two years before I was born, who accepted these truths and for about forty-five years was associated with the Scout program of the Church.
I shall ever be grateful for my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ, and to the young people today may I say that there is no obsolescence in the teachings of the gospel. As I understand the definition of obsolete it means something that is old-fashioned, that we have outgrown, something that is ancient or antiquated and maybe, in the terms of modern language, "old stuff" or "for the birds."
The gospel of Jesus Christ is just as vital and essential today as it was when it was instituted in our pre-existent estate. Jesus Christ is the Author of salvation. I know this as I know I am standing here today. I have that witness.
We may be termed peculiar, but that is nothing new. Whenever there has been a dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the earth, the followers have been referred to as "a peculiar people." Moses so declared. Peter and Paul so declared. I would recall the words of Peter:
"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light".
It is wonderful to bask in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ which banishes fear, which banishes confusion and frustrations, and, oh, the need for remembering these things today.
So I pray that we will acknowledge the hand of God as we have listened to his mouthpiece and prophet in his keynote address to us this great conference, admonishing us to teach the word. We make no apology for teaching truth, we need make no compromise with the philosophies and teachings of men. The only time we are on dangerous ground is when we pull away from the teachings of the Master, for I assure you the Master does not pull away from us. As individuals we are prone to pull away from him because of things we do and say not in harmony with his teachings.
May we have a desire reburnished in our minds and our hearts as we leave this conference, to be more dedicated in the service of the Master, putting our own homes in order, having family prayer, our individual prayer, paying our tithes and offerings, keeping the Word of Wisdom, and being chaste and benevolent. As I speak of putting our homes in order, I should like to suggest that we take note of what comes into the hands of our youth, our own children. We must make sure they are not having their minds poisoned by the garbage, if you please, that is on many of the newsstands and available through other channels throughout the nation.
Time will not permit me to go into this subject further, but I call to mind a headline which I read just recently as I visited one of the stakes in the East and it told of this sad story:
As the story was told, a man, an employee of the city of New York for some thirty years, a respected employee, married, with grown children who were married, had working with him a young man about twenty-five, also married. Unknown to their wives, they had been in the dastardly business of producing vile film, pornography, and were arrested with over $500,000 worth of the filthy stuff in their possession in one of their garages. I mention again, they were married men with children of their own, deliberately poisoning the minds of young people, taking advantage of living in a land where our forefathers came to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience, a land built upon freedom and liberty.
I call to mind a statement made by a minister a couple of weeks ago as the Premier from Russia visited in the United States. He said he hoped that Mr. Khrushchev would come to his church "... to see how we worship."
How are we worshiping? Are we the followers of Jesus Christ only on the Sabbath day, or just when we are in priesthood meeting, or is it that worship which reflects good and his peace as we go forth in our various travels, endeavors, and walks of life, truly being an influence every day, every hour, every minute for good to our fellow men?
I pray that we as parents will seek to know what our children are feeding upon, and see that they feed upon the truths found in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, the four Standard Works of the Church. Then they will not suffer from malnourishment of the Spirit, and we will be fitting them to withstand the buffeting of Satan.
I bear you my witness and testimony that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the Divine Son of our Heavenly Father, that Joseph Smith was and is a Prophet of God, and that those who have succeeded him as Presidents of this Church down to President David O. McKay today, have been and are mouthpieces and prophets of our Lord.
I bear you my solemn witness that President McKay holds the keys and authority, the keys of the kingdom, and that the mantle of authority is upon him. I am so thankful for that witness, and I pray that I may be able to continue to bear this testimony as the Lord permits. I pray his peace and blessing upon us humbly, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder LeGrand Richards
LeGrand Richards, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 32-35
I rejoice with you, my brothers and sisters, in the privilege of attending this wonderful conference and listening to the testimonies of the servants of the Lord, including the great witness borne to us this morning by President McKay. I thank the Lord for my testimony that I know this work is true, and I know the power of God is in it; that this Church is built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, and that Christ our Lord is truly the head of his Church today, as he has always been.
I have just had the privilege, with my wife, by appointment of President McKay, of touring five of the missions of Europe-the Danish, the Swedish, the Norwegian, the Finnish, and the Netherlands Missions-and Sister Richards and I appreciate that opportunity very, very much. I love missionary work. I love the spirit of missionary work. I know the Spirit of the Lord is in the missionary work.
When Jesus was resurrected and sent his disciples into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature, he said, "And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world,", indicating that when his kingdom should be set up in the latter days that he would be with his servants until the end of the world. And I know that the Spirit of the Lord is in this great missionary movement.
It was our privilege to visit and hear the testimonies of over five hundred missionaries, and each one I interviewed personally; and if you parents could have heard the testimonies of those missionaries, you would have been proud, and you would have felt compensated for the sacrifices you are making to keep them in; the mission field. Many of them bore testimony of their gratitude to their parents for the privilege of being in the mission field. Some told of the financial struggles their parents had had. One boy said that his father was out of work when he was called to go, but he would not stand in the way of that son of his being an ambassador of eternal truth, and many of them testified that their parents had prospered financially as never before while their sons were in the mission field.
Another thing that thrilled me in their testimonies: Many of them testified that their parents and the members of their families had become more interested and active in the Church while their sons were in the mission field, so that this great missionary program in a way is like a two-edged sword. It does a marvelous work in the mission field, and it does a marvelous work here at home.
One missionary whom I interviewed in Denmark said, "I almost worship President Petersen, my mission president. It was he who brought the gospel to my father in this land, and there are now fifty-seven of us in the Church by virtue of that one conversion."
Another young man who was a counselor in the mission presidency in that mission was the seventh son of a convert from that mission to go back into the mission field-a wonderful young man-and he said, "Brother Richards, couldn't I stay another six months?" I said, "No, you had better go home. You have your military work to get back of you and your schooling, and then you ought to get married, and then you can raise your boys as your father did and send them back on missions, and they will do the rest of your missionary work for you."
It was a wonderful thing to be with those missionaries and feel their spirit, and I thank the Lord for the experiences that have been mine. They say the proof of the pudding is in the eating of it, and I have had the privilege of filling four missions and presiding over two, and touring many of the missions, and I would not want to raise a boy in this day and generation and not have him go on a mission for his good and, because I think we owe so much to the world, to share with them the wonderful truths of the gospel.
If you parents could have seen the glow in their faces when the missionaries would bring their investigators up to shake our hands, you would not figure that there was anything in this world that could compensate and take the place of the experiences that were theirs.
The missionaries fast for their investigators. Two of the missionaries fasted all day that their investigator would not disappoint them when they had a baptismal service arranged for her that night up in Trondheim, in the northern part of Norway. We went out to the bank of a fjord after ten o'clock at night, the sun still shining, and what a marvelous sight to see the missionaries and the sister dressed in white! The missionary led her out into the waters of baptism, and when she came back, my wife said, through the interpreter, "Was it cold?" She said, "It's deilig." That means, it's beautiful. I do not know whether any of you Scandinavians will recognize that or not, but that was her way of saying it was wonderful.
It was wonderful. It was a wonderful thing to witness that baptism. We stood there watching it, and many of the tourists or the vacationers were watching it and a little sailboat that sailed up the fjord because this was out in the open. We have no baptismal fonts there yet. However, they are building a beautiful new chapel and had the foundation in when we were there. As I looked and watched that beautiful sight, I thought of the account in the Bible where John led the Redeemer of the world down into the waters of baptism. He did not take a little water and sprinkle upon the head of the Savior. He led him down into the water, and we read that when he was baptized they came up out of the water, and I wondered how Christians could satisfy themselves having a little water sprinkled upon their heads instead of really being baptized as the Redeemer of the world was baptized, especially when they read so many predictions of the prophets and apostles that the day would come when men would "transgress the laws and change the ordinances".
I visited with quite a number of people who had been to the temple. They had just had a tour from each of those Scandinavian missions and from up in Finland to the temple. About one hundred went in each group. And I want to pay tribute here to you members of these foreign-speaking groups. I have something to do with your work. But you have sent money to these mission presidents to help some of these underprivileged members to go to the temple. You should see the joy that it brings into their lives! Those temples have literally changed the attitude of the Saints in many respects.
I was visiting with one young man and his wife who had three children. They had just returned from the temple in Switzerland, and she said this: "Brother Richards, we have been members of the Church for only six years, and we figure we are only six years old. We did not know how to live, and what to live for, until we found the Church."
When you stop to think in those lands, according to reports, there are only about five percent of the people of those lands who attend church at all of any kind, and then you know how little there can be in their lives really to live for. Sometimes I thought as we went through those missions that about all they live for was their vacation, because they are great people to have a vacation every summer. I will not take time to go into detail about that. But they did not seem to be looking to eternal life or eternal exaltation or eternal companionship with those whom they love. They did not know anything about things like that. The newspapers even write articles discussing the fact that there is no God.
I was told that many of the ministers will openly admit to their members that they do not know whether there is a God or not. So, you see, they need the missionaries. They need this wonderful message that we have.
Speaking of the temples, I remind you of when Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and said:
"Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
And Nicodemus, you will remember, could not understand that, so he said,
"How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
And Jesus said:
"... Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
And Nicodemus could not understand and Jesus said,
"Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
"If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?".
And I have always thought that the heavenly things that Jesus spoke of were these wonderful blessings that we receive in the temples of the Lord, and I thank the Lord that temples are reaching out to our people in these far-off lands.
In 1906 I heard President Joseph F. Smith make this statement in Rotterdam, Holland: "The day will come when temples of the Lord will dot this whole land of Europe," and I have lived long enough to see two of them there, and I tell you it is changing the feeling of our people toward the Church to know that these glorious blessings are coming within their reach.
As we went to leave the London Temple to come home, one good brother, who must have been in his sixties, said, "Brother Richards, why couldn't I have known this thirty years ago? Why couldn't I have had the joy all these years of helping to build the kingdom?"
That is the spirit of this work. There is not much time left, but I would just like to reminisce a moment. When I went on my first mission as a young man of nineteen, we were instructed by President Anthon H. Lund before we left for our missions. Among other things he said, "Brethren, the people will love you. Now don't get lifted up in the pride of your hearts and think that they love you because you are better than other people. They will love you because of your calling and the Spirit of the Lord that you take with you and the priesthood that you bear."
I didn't understand too much what that meant as a boy, but after I filled my first mission there in Holland, I wept more tears a hundred times over as I took the train from Amsterdam to Rotterdam than I shed when I said farewell to my loved ones to go to that land.
I went into one home where I had the privilege of bringing the gospel, and the little woman, a mother of about eight children, looked up into my eyes, and the tears rolled down her cheeks, clear down the front of her dress, and she said, "Brother Richards, it was hard to see my daughter leave for Zion a few weeks ago, but it is a lot harder to see, you go," and then I knew what Brother Lund meant when he said, "They will love you. They will love you because of the message that you bring to them."
Then I went to say good-bye to a man who was in the government service. He stood erect in uniform. He was old enough to be my father. He got down on his knees, took my hand in his and hugged it and kissed it and bathed it with his tears, and then I understood what Brother Lund meant when he said, "They will love you."
I tell you, brothers and sisters, we should be grateful for this great missionary system that is bringing so much joy, happiness, and peace into the lives of our people. That little family who did not know how to live until they had found the Church, and then just think of the revelation to them of the marvelous truths of the gospel, eternal duration of the marriage covenant-they will have their children in the eternal world-and that they can be exalted in the presence of God, the Eternal Father, and his Son, Jesus Christ! Compare that to what they have in a nation where the people have almost deserted their faith in God.
I pray God to bless us all and help us to be worthy of our heritage and to give freely, and I do want to commend others who have sent money into those missions to help the local young people to fill missions, for they are doing a great work. And if any of the rest of you are financially able and you would like to lay up a few more treasures in heaven, I invite you to do the same.
I leave you my blessings and pray God to be with you all, and bear witness of his truth in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 45-46
First, I am grateful for your promotion to First Counselor. I am grateful for your sustaining vote for Brother Moyle, who fills a great need that we had in the First Presidency. He is indomitable in his courage and has only the welfare of the Church at heart.
But we miss Brother Stephen L Richards. We miss his gentleness, his kindness, his wisdom, his experience, his courtesy, his loyalty to the Church, and his great work in connection with the missionary service. We miss President Richards.
I now recall vividly the great address of President McKay, and I endorse all that has been said, not only by him in that address but by all the Brethren who have followed. This has been a great conference, filled to overflowing with the Spirit of the Lord.
I am grateful for all this and with the President's permission, I want to add a word or two, more particularly on the world condition.
When Christ came to the earth, there was, so far as I know, only one nation, the Hebrew nation, that understood and worshiped the true God, the God of Sinai-"Thou shalt have no other gods before me".
He commissioned his apostles:
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned".
The latter "and is baptized" was added in our day, for we received the very same commission. And there was entrusted to us the opening, and the carrying on, of the Last Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, and we have been authorized further and commissioned thereto, by the ordination and conferring at the hands of heavenly messengers, the Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God, divided into two, the Melchizedek and the Aaronic, that we might avoid the constant repetition of the name of the Son.
The whole world, when Christ left, except the Hebrews, on the eastern continent, except the Hebrews and the few that Christ left, a few hundred, were pagans, not believing in the God of Sinai and of course, not believing in the gospel as did not generally the Hebrew nation. We have been fighting for two thousand years until today, titularly at any rate, not quite half of the inhabitants of the world believe in this God of Sinai and in the Christ. The other half is pagan who do not accept God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and our God, the God of the Christian world, but who have something that is equivalent thereto that satisfies them, but it is pagan.
But we have this added situation: we have the man described by President McKay and commented upon so well, who in effect is the directing head of this whole great body of paganism in their ideology and in their non-belief in God. I think this is the first time in all history when God's people have been faced with an organized paganism more or less guided and directed by one who denies God and says he is unconvertible from his atheism.
We get the impression that he has in mind that his Marxian ideology, and his atheism, shall gain control somehow and make of all of us the followers of his doctrines. He preaches peace, I may say, and then he preaches the abandonment of certain weapons of war, then he preaches that we go back to traditional warfare, where numbers count, he preaches that we shall destroy our military installations, and if he gets rid of these, I see no end to what he may try to do.
The whole Western world, the Christian, the God-fearing world, with the exceptions that exist in each country that follows Marxism, with the exception that exists in Russia, relatively few, but perhaps in good part many, these are the things which we face under his direction.
Now, let us have no illusions about this, brethren and sisters. The plan is really one of exterminating God and Christianity. Into our hands has been placed through divine ordinations the Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God. In our hands is the responsibility of carrying forward.
We do not have now a united front to this united paganism. We are still torn and divided among many sects. But the problem we face, if the plans of the Marxian paganism are carried out, is our extermination.
God has declared that the Lord will never take away or give to another people the authority and the gospel plan which we have. I want to bring home to every one of you brethren and sisters of the Church, and to others so far as I may speak, the seriousness of this situation. You cannot mollify an unconvertible, you may not hope that after his ends are gained, for any but the treatment he has administered upon others.
There are good people in Russia. There are faithful people in Russia. Elder Benson has recently met a few of them. But they live under this Marxian theory, and one of the elements of that is the destruction of free agency which was given to the sons of God before the world was created. Through it there was the rebellion in heaven. Through free agency we climb to the heights that lead us into exaltation. The Marxian theology repudiates God.
I have a feeling, brothers and sisters, that any man or woman who voluntarily subjects himself to this pagan ideology, who voluntarily lives within its jurisdiction, who voluntarily under this theory gives up his free agency, has lost his testimony and is on the road to apostasy.
I cannot bring too strongly that here in the last days, paganism is under one head, and that head is guided by Satan himself. Please, brethren and sisters of the Church, keep the home fires of testimony and knowledge of the gospel and of God and of Jesus Christ, keep the home fires burning in your homes, in your priesthood quorums, and all the rest, for I am sure, one way or another, we shall have to face dire persecution.
I bear my testimony that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world, the Redeemer of mankind, the first fruits of the resurrection. I bear my testimony that the authority of the Holy Order of the Priesthood of the Son of God is upon the earth, bestowed through heavenly messengers upon Joseph Smith, who has given to us the plan of the gospel. I bear my testimony that the powers and authority that were given to Joseph Smith have passed on down through, from President to President, until we have now President David O. McKay, who stands by your sustaining vote, as the prophet, seer, and revelator, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that he possesses all that his predecessors have had who have gone before.
May God bless us all.
I thank you for the strength that has been mine, and I do it in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Elder George Q. Morris
George Q. Morris, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 47-50
My dear brethren and sisters, I am wholly dependent upon the blessings of the Lord, and pray that his Holy Spirit may direct me to say that which he would have me say.
Yesterday we heard something about youth marriages, ninety percent of which end in divorce. A very deplorable condition was reported as prevailing in some places among some people. I should like, if the Lord will bless me to that end, to say something about a form of marriage that our people, young and old, may enter into, one that our people should look forward to and be prepared for, and I am persuaded that because many are not so prepared, there is a lack of proper understanding among parents and children and a lack of proper appreciation of the great importance of this marriage that involves the salvation and eternal life of our people.
We speak of salvation, and I am wondering if we know what it means. The Lord made this wonderful declaration among the glorious things that he has told us: "For behold, this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man".
What is eternal life? What is immortality? What is exaltation and salvation? The Lord says: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent".
The Lord Jesus Christ said, as we have it in the New Testament: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up:
"... That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life". This is understood as salvation through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
First, what is immortality? In the 29th section of the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord said: "And thus did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man the days of his probation-that by his natural death he might be raised in immortality"-death is the door to immortality-and then the Lord continues, "unto eternal life, even as many as would believe;
"And they that believe not unto eternal damnation".
So through the atonement of Jesus Christ immortality comes, and has come to every human soul and will always come. The Lord also says in the 29th section that the trump should sound for the resurrection, "... and then shall all the dead awake, for their graves shall be opened, and they shall come forth-yea, even all". This is in agreement with the teachings in the New Testament which declare:
"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, "And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation".
So they shall all come forth from the grave. What then? The Prophet Amulek says: "Now, behold, I have spoken unto you concerning the death of the mortal body, and also concerning the resurrection of the mortal body. I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body, that is from death, even from the first death unto life, that they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided; thus the whole becoming spiritual and immortal, that they can no more see corruption". This is immortality. It comes to every soul, good or bad, believer or nonbeliever. It has already been established for all the souls of man who ever have lived or who will live in the future.
Now what is eternal life? In attempting to discuss this great subject, and the time so short, I thought I might bring to you the words of the Lord himself upon this subject so that you may ponder them as you may have opportunity. The Lord defines eternal life very clearly in the 88th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, fourth verse.
"This Comforter is the promise which I give unto you of eternal life, even the glory of the celestial kingdom." Then to make plain that eternal life is the fulness of the celestial glory, he explains further, "Which glory is that of the church of the Firstborn, even of God, the holiest of all, through Jesus Christ his Son".
I refer you to section 76:53-70 of the Doctrine and Covenants, which explains in more detail the fulness of the glory of the celestial kingdom, which the Lord says is eternal life, which he further confirms when he said, "... if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God". This then is eternal life.
And how shall we obtain eternal life? Well, only through the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no other way, and as President Smith emphasized yesterday, the salvation that we are talking about as servants of God and the people of God with this dispensation of the gospel given to us for the world, is exaltation, a fulness of God's gift, eternal life.
Now, the Lord revealed the glorious principles of the gospel in the Book of Mormon as restored through the Prophet Joseph, and for fourteen years the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith principles of life and salvation. One of these revelations is the 132nd section of the Doctrine and Covenants, regarding the "new and everlasting covenant of marriage," which is very specific in its character, and the Lord, in mentioning it and introducing the subject to the Prophet, makes these very striking and significant statements:
"For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory".
Remember that statement-the covenant of celestial or heavenly marriage, if rejected by us, shuts us out of his glory.
"For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world. "And as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the fulness of my glory; and he that receiveth a fulness thereof must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned".
Now that is as explicit and plain as anything could be, and the fulness of God's glory is eternal life, the greatest gift that God can give and that is involved in this principle of marriage, as instituted of God by the authority of God, and in being true to the covenants of that marriage.
Then the Lord, to explain the principle more clearly, refers to the ordinary marriage. He says: "And everything that is in the world, whether it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, or things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not by me or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God. "For whatsoever things remain are by me; and whatsoever things are not by me shall be shaken and destroyed. "Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me nor by my word, and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world and she with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world".
Then note what follows: "Therefore, when they are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory".
The status has changed. The Lord continues, "For these angels did not abide my law; therefore, they cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity; and from henceforth are not gods, but are angels of God forever and ever".
They may be saved in the celestial kingdom, but they cannot be enlarged, and forever and ever they remain a person of a lower degree-a lower order of being, stripped of the greatest power, that of eternal increase.
"For strait is the gate," the Lord continues, "and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world neither do ye know me... "Broad is the gate, and wide the way that leadeth to the deaths; and many there are that go in thereat, because they receive me not, neither do they abide in my law".
Therefore we see that eternal life which God says it is his glory and honor to bring to mankind is gained by obedience to the law of eternal marriage, which is instituted before the foundations of the world, to bring about the fulness of exaltation.
In the 132nd section of the Doctrine and Covenants, verses 19-21, the Lord explains the covenant and blessings of celestial marriage as follows:
"And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them-Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection; and if it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection, and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths-then shall it be written in the Lamb's Book of Life, that he shall commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, and if ye abide in my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever. "Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory".
Now I believe that our teachers, our leaders, and our parents must be taught and must teach these principles. They are as clear as words can make them, as the Lord has explained them. I cannot help feeling that many are not being properly married because they are not properly taught. It is not enough to urge temple marriage. They must know what temple marriage means. It is a matter of eternal life and exaltation in the presence of God forever and forever.
I close with a statement of the Prophet Joseph Smith: "In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; "And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood; "And if he does not, he cannot obtain it. "He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase".
May the Lord help us to awaken our youth and the parents, and all of us, to the need to know what this marriage is, to live worthy of it, to be prepared for it, for our youth to enter into it when they are mature enough, and trained enough, and for all who have been married for time only to prepare themselves for this glorious covenant-because in this marriage that God has instituted there are three parties to it. God is the principal party, and the union is consummated by his power and his authority, and his promises are attached to that union. If, in it, we are faithful and true to the gospel of Jesus Christ, we shall be exalted in his presence and dwell with him forever.
May God give us the power to make clear to all these glorious revelations, now available to the world, because the gospel has been restored in its fulness, and for the full salvation of the human soul.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Bruce R. McConkie, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 50-51
May I take as a text these words which were dictated by the Holy Ghost to an inspired man in ancient Israel:
"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. "More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. "Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward".
Now if I may be enlightened by the same Spirit that rested upon him who wrote these words, I would like to indicate the great compelling necessity, the overwhelming obligation, that rests upon us as members of this great latter-day kingdom, to come to a knowledge of the law of the Lord, to know the doctrines of the gospel, to understand the principles, requirements, and ordinances which we must comply with in order to be heirs of salvation in the Lord's kingdom.
We believe and advocate that every member of this Church should have a testimony of the divinity of the work; that he should know for himself, independent of any other person, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that salvation is in him; that Joseph Smith is the agent and instrument through whom the knowledge of salvation has come again in our day; and that the mantle of the Prophet rests upon President David O. McKay at this time. By first gaining a testimony and then by being valiant in testimony, we can be heirs of salvation.
But no man can have a testimony of this work until he begins to get a knowledge of the gospel. A testimony is based on knowledge; first a man must learn about God and his laws, and then by obedience to these laws he will gain a testimony. Jesus said, "... My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
"If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself".
We believe that all members of this Church should be fully and completely converted, so much so that they are changed from a natural and fallen state into saints of God, changed into a state where they have in their hearts desires for righteousness. By following such a course they are born again; they are renewed of the Spirit; they are in line for eternal salvation. But no one can attain unto such a state until he knows the laws that govern the process of being converted.
We believe that after we join this Church it is incumbent upon us to press forward in steadfastness and in devotion, living by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God, desiring righteousness, seeking his Spirit, loving him with all our hearts, mights, minds, and strength; and yet we cannot do any of these things until we first learn the laws which govern them. In the full gospel sense, there is no such thing as living a law of which we are ignorant. We cannot worship a God of whom we know nothing, as far as gaining eternal life through that worship is concerned. And so I think we have the obligation, the great underlying responsibility, to learn the doctrines of the Church so that we will be able to serve in the kingdom, so that we will be able to carry the message of salvation to our Father's other children, and so that we will be able to live in such a manner as to have peace and joy ourselves, and gain this hope of glorious exaltation and eternal life of which Brother George Q. Morris has been speaking.
We have been commanded to do this thing. We say, for instance, that no man can be saved in ignorance, and we mean in ignorance of Jesus Christ and the saving truths of the gospel. We say that men are saved no faster than they gain knowledge, and we mean knowledge of God and the principles and doctrines which he has revealed. We say that the glory of God is intelligence, and we mean that his glory is light and truth -including the revealed light of heaven and the truths of salvation.
When Moses was finishing his ministry in ancient Israel, after he had led that people through all their travails in the wilderness, he, being moved upon by the Spirit, took occasion to summarize the laws, the statutes, the judgments, the ordinances, the things that they, Israel, would be required to do; and after having so done, he said this:
"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. "And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. "And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates".
In other words, Moses was commanding that Israel should center their souls and hearts upon studying and knowing and learning the laws of the Lord so that they would be in the position and have the ability to live them, and thus gain salvation and perform the mission appointed to that chosen people.
Now in our day we have the standard works of the Church. We have the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. There are in these four books a total of 1579 chapters. I think it would not be too much to say that we could with propriety, day in and day out, consistently, read three chapters in one or the other of these works; and if we pursued such a course, we would read all of the Gospels in less than a month. We would read the entire New Testament in three months. We would read the Old Testament in ten months, and the whole Bible in thirteen months. We would go through the Book of Mormon in two and two-thirds months, the Doctrine and Covenants in a month and a half, and the Pearl of Great Price in five days. Taken altogether, we would read all the standard works in less than eighteen months and be ready to start over again.
Well, it does not seem to me that the Lord is viewing us any differently from the way he viewed ancient Israel. Our whole hearts and souls and our continual meditation should be centered on the gospel and the things of the Lord, so that we can work out our salvation and fulfil our missions. By regular, systematic study of the standard works we can go a long way toward keeping in a course that will please the Lord and further our own eternal progression. In this way we can gain for ourselves peace and satisfaction and happiness in this life and have a hope of eternal life in the world to come.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bishop Carl W. Buehner
Carl W. Buehner, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 52-55
My dear brethren and sisters, with you I have enjoyed every moment of this great conference. I have had a lump in my throat a number of times as I have felt the power and Spirit that has been present in these sessions. I am very grateful to you for your sustaining vote which permits me to be with my Brethren for six more months.
I should also like to express my gratitude in the selection of Elder Howard W. Hunter to become a member of the Council of the Twelve and sincerely pray that the Lord will magnify and sustain him in this high and holy calling.
I must confess to you that in making preparations for these few precious moments, I conferred with a very choice friend of mine. He has given me a number of suggestions. He said, "Warn the young people how the evil one, through his power, would like to destroy all that is good in them, defame their character, undermine their physical body, and poison their mind even as the lowly termite can destroy a building."
Do you know what a termite is? A termite is an ugly, little ant-like looking insect, very light in color, that does all its work in the dark. If it has to get from the earth where it gets its moisture, to the area in which it finds the timbers in which it works, it builds itself a little channel so that it cannot be seen as it goes back and forth. It costs citizens of this country hundreds of millions of dollars annually to replace the damage done to the wood in buildings by these little destroyers. The exterior of a structure can look beautiful and sound, but because the strength of its timbers has been eaten away by termites, and only an outer shell is left standing, it can become very dangerous and of little value. "So also can evil influences undermine us and darken our vision to the wonderful blessings ahead," my friend said.
My friend also gave me this idea: He said, "How about the message in the song that says,
"'The world has need of willing men, Who wear the worker's seal. Come, help the good work move along. Put your shoulder to the wheel.'"
I thought of thousands of our organizations in all parts of the world, officered with those willing and able to keep the good work moving along. A tremendous effort to further our Father's business is in progress, and for each of us to put our shoulder to the wheel would not only increase this effort but also bring in return, happiness, and blessings that could be secured from no other source. "Urge everyone to go to work in this great cause," said my friend.
I asked him for one more idea. I had to admit that he did have wonderful suggestions. He said, "What this world needs is people who go about doing good." One of the greatest compliments paid to the Savior was given by his great disciple, Peter, when among other things, he said, and he "... went about doing good". Then my friend reminded me that in my travels I had surely observed instances and had experiences that illustrate this very thing. Said he, "Why not tell the people some of these things?"
In my mind's eye, I immediately saw an army of 140,000 men and boys, visiting among the wards as ward teachers making in excess of three and one-half million visits each year to the homes of the members of the Church. The good that is being accomplished by them and the blessings they are bringing into these homes cannot be measured. I learned recently that one of these ward teachers had served in excess of eighty-two years. It is said that in those eighty-two years, he missed visiting his district only four or five times. I heard one of the bishops who presided over this ward pay a tremendous tribute to this man. He indicated that if there was ever a man alive who went about his ward doing good, it was this man. I have learned of some who served for over seventy years, and many who have given sixty years of service as ward teachers. I cannot help feeling that they certainly have been a power and influence for good among the people of the Church.
Only a few days ago in a stake quarterly conference I heard a young man, who, with his parents, had been living in the mission field, say that he had the responsibility of visiting three families each month. He, together with his companion, in order to make these visits was required to travel 160 miles in one direction from the place they lived to visit two of these families and had to go 130 miles in the opposite direction to visit the other family, but they did the visiting every month.
I learned of the dedication of some others. While visiting a stake in the Northwest, I learned that there are communities which become isolated from the rest of the world during the winter months. Here some of our members reside. Ward teachers who have the responsibility of visiting these families have been so eager to make contact with them that they have traveled by horseback, jeep, and even used a tractor to make the visit to be sure that all was well and to learn whether or not they could be of any assistance. Then I realize that the same thing exists with the great Relief Society visiting teachers' program. They, too, go into the homes of members every month with probably 140,000 teachers. This makes 280,000 teachers visiting among our families, and this cannot help being a powerful influence for good.
I heard a story about a little Primary child who came from a home where the parents were inactive. The child faithfully attended Primary and apparently listened carefully to each lesson. One night as the family gathered around the dinner table and were ready to partake of the meal, the little girl suddenly said, "I can't eat tonight." After careful questioning by the parents, the little girl finally said, "Mother, I have learned in Primary that we should not eat the food that is placed before us until we thank our Heavenly Father for it." The father and mother looked at each other, wondering what to do, and the little girl, observing the anxiety in their eyes, said, "If you are wondering who can do this, I can." The little girl asked the blessing on the food; her appetite returned; and everything seemed all right until the same situation occurred the following evening. The little girl just could not eat her dinner, and the mother, remembering the experience of the night before, said to her, "You asked the blessing last night, ask it again tonight." The little girl said, "Mother, I can't do it. I learned in Primary that there are some things the Lord does not want us to take into our bodies, and some of these things are on this table." When the cups of coffee and the coffee pot had been removed and disposed of, the little girl asked the blessing on the food, and the family resumed eating. "You will never know the change that came over our home through the teaching of our little Primary child," the mother remarked.
An appreciative wife whose husband was a very inactive man in the Church related the following experience: "Through the personal missionary program of the priesthood quorum, a fine, active man was assigned to contact my husband to see if he could bring him back into activity in the Church. This man faithfully telephoned our home every Saturday night, telling my husband that he would call again in the morning in the hope that he would be ready to go to priesthood meeting with him. 'It would be a pleasure to let me come and take you to meeting with me. You just don't know what you are missing,' he said. Each time for twenty weeks, my husband found an excuse, not only on Saturday evening but on Sunday morning; but on the twenty-first Sunday morning, my husband came out of his bedroom all dressed up. Excitedly, I said to him, 'My heavens, where are you going this morning?' He remarked that in a few moments he would be getting a telephone call. 'I have had them for twenty weeks, you know, and I will receive one again in a few moments. When I tell this man that I am all dressed and ready to go to priesthood meeting with him, it could be such a shock to him that he may not be able to come and get me.'" "Well," said his wife, "you don't miss the blessings of the priesthood in the home until you realize what has been denied you. My husband will never get over thanking this man for calling him persistently until finally he yielded. What it has done for him and our family is tremendous."
I have learned in the last day or two of many of the great services our servicemen are lending in the building program of the Church. As you know, they are assigned to military camps in all parts of the world. In many of these areas, buildings will be erected, and servicemen will make very substantial contributions to those buildings in cash and in time. In many instances, they will not be able to use these buildings when they are completed. They will have been transferred to another area. I learned yesterday of a man who, with his family, had decided to take a vacation. When all preparations had been made, and because they were in the midst of a building program in their ward, he said to his family, "Well, let's just buy a plane ticket for mother so she can go and visit her family, and while she is gone, the boys and I will give our vacation time to the construction of our chapel." I saw that chapel. I saw this man and his sons working on this chapel. I shook hands with each of them. I caught the thrill that came to them. Probably the best vacation this man will ever have will be the one he gave to assist in building one of these beautiful chapels in the Church.
Many stories of the efficacy of our welfare program have been told, and I realize I must not take too much time to speak about these, but let me tell you of one case that happened recently. A man and his wife came to our office, the man bandaged from his head to his feet, to pay tribute to the work of the welfare program. Fire had struck this man's home. Two of his children were burned to death in the fire; two others sustained serious burns, and he, too, was burned practically over the entire surface of his body. He had now recovered sufficiently to leave the hospital and was so overjoyed when he saw what the brethren of his ward had done to rebuild his burned home that he came to the office of the Presiding Bishopric just to thank the Church for the great welfare program. We were about to have a meeting with the First Presidency and so invited this man and his wife to go downstairs with us and shake hands with these brethren. I am sure no greater thrill will ever come to this couple than to have this privilege, and I heard this man say to the First Presidency, "I do not think I could have endured that which has happened to us had it not been for the warmth, the love, and the blessing of the brethren who came to my rescue." The day he came to our office, he said, "Fifteen or twenty masons are there today installing my block walls, and by tonight my house will be up to the square. They told me that tomorrow that many carpenters will be there to place the rafters on the roof, cover them with sheathing, and I am told by tomorrow night, it will be shingled, all this done in one day."
There are many instances where farmers through illness or accidents have not been able to plant their farms in the spring and harvest their crops in the fall, but their farms were planted and their crops were harvested because of the love of their quorum members.
I learned of individuals who sacrificed for the missionary program. Just one or two expressions: one given by a grandmother who was on her way to the mission field. In bearing her testimony the last night the missionaries were in town, she said, "I would be willing to scrub floors the rest of my life if my twelve grandsons could have the wonderful experience of going on a mission." Could you ask for any greater dedication than this? One other young man said, "My mother is doing janitor work to sustain me while I am in the mission field."
I feel there are many people in the world who are going about doing good. I wish all had a desire to do good.
I want to thank my friend for these thoughts. I hope my friend may also be your friend. My friend is the still small voice. He and I have had an interesting experience on many occasions as we have pondered over the work of the Church.
God bless you, inspire you, and help you to go about doing good, blessing our people. I pray for this and bear you my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Alma Sonne
Alma Sonne, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 55-56
My brethren and sisters, the good and fervent prayer offered at the beginning of this session by President Lewis has been answered in blessings upon our heads. I hope the good Spirit will continue with us throughout this service.
I am very happy, and I was delighted to hear that President Hunter had been called to fill the vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve. President Hunter has been for many years a leader in Zion. He has been proved, and I say that a Church is very fortunate indeed that can call upon men of his caliber to serve freely and pleasantly in the great position which he now occupies.
I was also very happy this morning for the vigor and the strength demonstrated by President Clark in his sermon to us. The Lord has blessed him, and I am sure you join with me in expressing gratitude for his recovery, that his leadership may continue amongst us.
Yesterday, I was thrilled and greatly by that masterful sermon delivered by President McKay on the character, the teachings, and the life of Jesus Christ, the Lord. I was also pleased with his references to the Sermon on the Mount delivered by the Savior before a small group of people gathered on the mountainside. That sermon has lived for centuries. It has survived the Dark Ages. It has survived the Renaissance. It has survived modern speculations and the conflicts and the contention among nations.
That sermon will live forever. There is nothing more fundamental in God's word than the sermon which the Savior gave and which is called the Sermon on the Mount.
A few years ago I attended a Sacrament meeting in the South London Branch in London. The occasion was a Christmas program. On that program appeared a Jewish musician. He played a selection on the cello. It was very good. The presiding officer tried to get him to play another selection, but he refused. He said, however, "I will sing a solo, if that will be acceptable." He stepped forward, and he sang the song we all love, "The Lord's Prayer," after which he took his seat in the audience.
When the meeting was over, he walked up to me and said, and these are his words, "You will have to get something more practical than the Sermon on the Mount if you expect to convert the Jews."
I said to him, "Have you ever read the Sermon on the Mount?"
He said, "I must have read it."
"I hope you have," I suggested, "before you criticize it." And then I said to him, "You sang a wonderful song tonight, 'The Lord's Prayer.' Did it ever occur to you that that prayer was a part of the Sermon on the Mount?" He did not seem to realize it.
"Now," I said, "Will you tell me one single teaching in that sermon which is not practical. Name one thing in it that cannot be practiced and introduced into your daily life." He was silent.
Then I began to repeat for him that wonderful prayer offered by Jesus as an example to his disciples. "'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven'. Isn't that a practical aspiration to have?" I said.
He made no reply.
Then I repeated this: "'Give us this day our daily bread.' Surely, that is practical to a man like you."
And he said, "Oh it is very practical."
I continued, "'And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.' We are having a lot of trouble with debts these days, individual and national. Don't you think we ought to pray about it once in a while?" I asked.
"It wouldn't be amiss," he replied.
And then I gave him this statement: "'... deliver us from evil.' Is that not a prayerful hope that all of us should have? It refers to the evil that appears in our pathways, evil that frustrates and stultifies us as we go forth in our daily affairs. 'Deliver us from evil,' is a plea for strength to resist temptation.
I called his attention to two or three other statements in the sermon: "Judge not, that ye be not judged.
"For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again".
At last he was impressed. He said, "Oh, if you Christians would honor that last commandment, 'As you measure out to others, it shall be measured back to you.'"
I said, "Not only the Christians, but the Jews as well."
Then he began to explain if that commandment were believed today we would be living in a different world. Fancy someone believing a teaching which declares, as we measure out to others, it will be measured back to us. There would then be no dishonesty in the world. There would be no persecution. There would be no war. There would be no bloodshed. There would be no contentions in our civilized society because the world stands on one of the great laws taught by the Lord Jesus.
I quoted again from the sermon:
"'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you'. Can't you see the practical thing in that teaching, my brother? If we desire something, something that is precious, something we need, certainly it will require effort on our part."
My friend left me. He said, "I will go home and read the Sermon on the Mount."
I asked, "You have a New Testament?"
He said, "I believe I have, but it must be covered with dust."
And now it occurs to me that when Joseph Smith penned his thirteen Articles of Faith, he stated in the fourth one that the first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There may be other kinds of faith, but the faith that will lead us on to eternal happiness and salvation is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
May we be true to that sermon, and may we acquit ourselves in such a way that we may be worthy of an exaltation in God's kingdom, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Spencer W. Kimball
Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 57-62
My beloved brothers and sisters, it is a delight to welcome into our circle our new member, Brother Hunter. He has our admiration and our affection.
In the few moments at my disposal I should like to address my remarks to our kinsmen of the isles of the sea and the Americas. Millions of you have blood relatively unmixed with Gentiles. Columbus called you "Indians," thinking he had reached the East Indies. Millions of you are descendants of Spaniards and Indians, and are termed "mestizos," and are called after your countries, for instance: Mexicans in Mexico; Guatemalans in Guatemala; Chilianos in Chile.
You Polynesians of the Pacific are called Samoan or Maori, Tahitian or Hawaiian, according to your islands. There are probably sixty million of you on the two continents and on the Pacific Islands, all related by blood ties.
The Lord calls you "Lamanites," a name which has a pleasant ring, for many of the grandest people ever to live upon the earth were so called. In a limited sense, the name signifies the descendants of Laman and Lemuel, sons of your first American parent, Lehi; but you undoubtedly possess also the blood of the other sons, Sam, Nephi, and Jacob. And you likely have some Jewish blood from Mulek, son of Zedekiah, king of Judah. The name "Lamanite" distinguishes you from other peoples. It is not a name of derision or embarrassment, but one of which to be very proud.
You came from Jerusalem in its days of tribulation. You are of royal blood, a loved people of the Lord. In your veins flows the blood of prophets and statesmen; of emperors and kings; apostles and martyrs. Adam and Enoch sired you; Noah brought you through the flood; in the sandals of Abraham you walked from Ur of the Chaldees to your first "promised land"; you climbed in faith with Isaac to the holy mount of sacrifice; and you followed the path of hunger to Egypt with your father Jacob, and with Joseph you established, under the Pharaohs, the first great known welfare project.
You are the children of Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph's sons and of Judah, his brother. Your fathers crossed the Jordan River with Joshua, and after centuries' absence you were again in your first "promised land."
The Genoese Italian boy, with his three ships from Spain, thought he had discovered a new world, but he was thousands of years late. Your people were on the shores to welcome Columbus and his men. Cortez, Pizarro, and their contemporaries, conquerors, exploiters found your "old people" already decadent intellectually, culturally, and spiritually, but populous in your wealth and poverty. Norwegian Vikings are said to have discovered this land before Columbus, but your people were already scattered from the Arctic to the Antarctic before there was a Norway or Vikings.
When your prophet Lehi led you out of Jerusalem about 600 years B. C., you brought with you the best of the culture of Egypt and Palestine and of the then known world; also the written language of your fathers and the holy scriptures from Adam down to your own time, these engraved upon brass plates. You brought with you an absolute knowledge of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and maintained for a long time thereafter open vision and clear, unobstructed lines of communication with your Lord.
In the new "promised land" the seeds you brought from Palestine multiplied and brought to you great prosperity on the extensive lands you farmed. In your explorations you found gold, silver, copper, and iron, and processed brass and steel. Your factories turned out machinery and tools for agriculture, architecture, and road building. And with those tools you builded cities, such as you knew in Egypt and Palestine, highways which would carry your traffic, and temples after the order of the world-famed Solomon's Temple.
Your culture was beyond the imagination of moderns. In your prosperity you wore "silks, scarlets, fine-twined linen, and precious clothing". You bejeweled yourselves with ornaments of gold and silver and other metals, and with precious stones. You were fabulously wealthy in your day.
In the long years of prosperity and righteousness, your wealth graced temples and synagogues. You read, quoted, and lived by the teachings of the books of Moses and the inspired writings of the prophets. Your people knew faith such as has seldom been found upon the earth. There were years of conflict and wickedness, but also years of peace and unparalleled goodness.
You produced prophets of stature. There were your Lehis, Nephis, and Jacobs; your Almas, Abinadis, and Mormons. Your Lamanite prophet, Samuel, who prophesied of the Christ, had few peers and perhaps no superiors. Your scientists and teachers and engineers were able and efficient, and left notable monuments.
Then was the transcendently important coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to you. Many of you retain this experience in your traditions. Your people gathered about their temple en masse to hear the words of life from the lips of their Redeemer, who had so recently experienced death, resurrection, and ascension in the Holy Land, as recorded in the New Testament. As they sat with bated breath and eyes uplifted, he came to them from the clouds of heaven as he had so recently left his Saints in Judaea. As they looked into his kindly eyes and wondered about his wounds, he told them of his birth and ministry. He repeated to them the vital and priceless sermons on the mount, on the Sea of Galilee, in Samaria, in Jerusalem. He taught them the power of faith, of the battle between truth and evil. He told them of the voice of God, his Father, at the time of his baptism, and of the special endowments to Peter, James, and John on the Holy Mount of Transfiguration, when they also heard the voice of God, the Father. Now Nephite-Lamanite ears were to hear the same voice of the same God, introducing the same Jesus them: "Behold my Beloved Son".
He told them of his Church in Jerusalem, and displayed to them his hands, his feet, his side, torn by nails and spear and the hands of his own. He healed their sick, their lame, their blind, as he had in the Holy Land, and blessed their little children around whom fire came down from heaven to glorify. He called his twelve disciples apart to carry on his Church, then ascended into heaven again.
Your Lamanite ancestors were not more rebellious than their Israelitish forebears, but their way of life guaranteed eventual decimation. You had a rugged history with many tribulations, but you have a brilliant future. You are a chosen people; your destiny is in your own hands, your friends', and the Lord's. You were scattered in the great dispersion six centuries before Christ, and again on this continent in the pre- and post-Christian eras, and your more complete dispersion came since Columbus, and the explorers and the colonists.
Someone has said that "the darkest hour is just before the dawn," and your shades of night are giving way to the brighter day. Yesterday you roamed the wilderness in feast or famine; today you are finding security in education and industry; and tomorrow your destiny will be brilliant in self-sufficiency, faith, fearlessness, and power. Like the Israelites released from Egyptian bondage, you have been promised deliverance from your foes of superstition, fear, illiteracy, and from the curses of want and disease and suffering.
Yesterday you traveled uncharted oceans, wandered over trackless deserts, lost your high culture, your written tongue, and your knowledge of the true and Living God. Today you are arising from your long sleep and are stretching, yawning, and reaching. Tomorrow you will be highly trained, laying out highways, constructing bridges, developing cities, building temples, and joining in inspired leadership of the Church of your Redeemer.
Historians have written about your past; poets have sung of your possibilities; prophets have predicted your scattering and your gathering; and your Lord has permitted you to walk through the dark chasms of your ancestors' making, but has patiently waited for your awakening, and now smiles on your florescence, and points the way to your glorious future as sons and daughters of God. You will arise from your bed of affliction and from your condition of deprivation if you will accept fully the Lord, Jesus Christ, and his total program. You will rise to former heights in culture and education, influence and power. You will blossom as the rose upon the mountains. Your daughters will be nurses, teachers, and social workers, and, above all, beloved wives and full-of-faith mothers of a righteous posterity.
Your sons will compete in art, literature, and medicine, in law, architecture, etc. They will become professional, industrial, and business leaders, and statesmen of the first order. Together you and we shall build in the spectacular city of New Jerusalem the temple to which our Redeemer will come. Your hands with ours, also those of Jacob, will place the foundation stones, raise the walls, and roof the magnificent structure. Perhaps your artistic hands will paint the temple and decorate it with a master's touch, and together we shall dedicate to our Creator Lord the most beautiful of all temples ever built to his name.
Sad have been your experiences of the last sixteen centuries. From the unexcelled righteousness of the post-Christian era, your ancestors slipped into an apostasy which has brought centuries of suffering and distress to their posterity. Fabulously wealthy, they forgot their God. They divided into tribes and clans and went to war with each other, driving and plundering, till the continent was a pulsating war camp.
You had great warriors like Ammoron, Helaman, and Mormon, who in cunning strategy and leadership rivaled the Cyruses, Alexanders, and Caesars. Your downfall came when your people walked the way to war. Revenge and hatreds made cold wars flame into hot shooting ones. Baptismal waters became rivers of blood. The parched earth policy was followed, and enemy armies surged back and forth across the land, tramping down crops, squandering livestock, and changing a stable people into nomads.
When armies march and people fight, education suffers, art languishes, buildings crumble, forests are exploited, farms return to desert, and orchards to jungle. Fighting men build temporary bridges, forts, and towers instead of homes, public buildings, and observatories. There is neither time nor inclination to carve statues, paint landscapes, compose music, or record history. Communities on the march or in retreat have no schools nor teachers. Priceless records are destroyed with the buildings and cities which are burned and pillaged. Artists, scholars, writers, and clergy alike shoulder arms, stalking enemies, and laying siege to cities. Plunder replaces honest industry. Cattle, goats, and poultry are devoured by voracious soldiers. Calves, kids, and piglets are eaten as are the seed-corn, and the wheat. Fruit is devoured, and trees are burned for wood. Today's insatiable hunger swallows tomorrow's plenty. Armies carry movable tents and abandon homes and churches. Temples fall in ruins and are overgrown by vegetation. With ever-decreasing flocks to shear, no weaving or knitting is done, and clothes are replaced with short skin girdles, and heads are shaven. Plowshares are turned into swords, and pruning hooks into spears. The manufacture of farm implements is turned to the making of the scimitar, the ax, and the sword. Life becomes a sordid existence, bloody, with little purpose except to survive.
Mormon said: "... they are led about by Satan, even as chaff is driven before the wind, or as a vessel is tossed about upon the waves, without sail or anchor, or without anything wherewith to steer her".
In all this prolonged period of war and drivings, your immediate ancestors lost their written language, their high culture, and worst of all their knowledge of God and his work. Faith was replaced by fear, language by dialects, history by tradition, and a knowledge and understanding of God and his ways by idolatry, even to human sacrifice. Your priceless thousand years of history, laboriously engraved on plates of metal, and the brass plates of the Old Testament, were hidden by your inspired prophet-historian in the sacred hill in a stone box, to remain undisturbed until a wise Heavenly Father should bring them forth for you, their resting place known only in heaven.
In the business of killing human beings, there could be little inclination to face a Creator and a gospel of peace; the many-times restored gospel of Jesus Christ was lost; and spiritual darkness enveloped the whole world.
When Columbus came, your tribes had covered the islands of the Pacific, and the Americas from Tierra del Fuego to Point Barrow. Every school child is familiar with that period of history when your more recent ancestors were pushed from the Appalachians to the Sierras, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. All know about the four hundred year "battle of America," wherein a disunited multitude of small Indian tribal nations retreated constantly with much bloodshed to far corners, and then on reservations in areas unwanted.
In all this distress your greatest miracle was aborning. When you were decimated by war and disease and all seemed lost, and you were spoken of as "the vanishing American," then hope discovered a star. The colonist, the Gentiles, took your lands, your streams, your forests, but brought something to you immeasurably more valuable-the Holy Bible with its glorious truths, and a written language and progressive schools, scientific development, and intellectual progress.
Centuries earlier your prophets saw in vision and foretold the coming of Columbus and the colonists, of the Revolutionary War, of the creation of the great Gentile nation of the United States of America; of your scattering, and, above all, and most important to you now, of the gathering of your people and their restoration. Prophecies emanating from our Lord never fail, and the oft-predicted miracle of the "marvelous work and a wonder" was soon at hand. The war brought independence to the struggling colonies, and a mighty nation was born with a divinely inspired Constitution, granting to its people religious freedom. Early in the nineteenth century preparations were complete for the marvelous miracle. The long-sealed heavens opened. God, the Father, came down with Jesus Christ, whom he introduced to a young modern prophet, Joseph Smith, saying: "This is my Beloved Son".
Your Redeemer, who ascended in the clouds in the Holy Land eighteen centuries earlier, and who had soon thereafter visited your ancestors on this continent, was now back upon the earth for a stay long enough to open a new dispensation, and charge his new prophet with responsibility, and to introduce the successive events which were to be world-shaking. His visit was brief but momentous. The gospel was returning. The wondrous work continued. Your priceless records, having lain in a vault for centuries, were revealed, Moroni, fourteen centuries dead but now resurrected, led the Prophet to the place. He removed the soil, took from the stone box the golden plates, and blessed with supernatural power gave to you and to your contemporaries the English translation of the miracle book written for you, preserved for you, and dedicated to you.
For you there were prayers of numerous prophets, including Nephi: "For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night".
Enos said:
"... I prayed unto him with many long strugglings for my brethren the Lamanites... that the Lord God would preserve a record of my people... that it might be brought forth at some future day unto the Lamanites, that, perhaps, they might be brought unto salvation." "And I had faith, and I did cry unto God that he would preserve the records and he covenanted with me that he would bring them forth unto the Lamanites in his own due time".
Many moderns, lay and trained, have speculated on the origin of the early Americans. Your history sets at rest that question. Many people have questioned the divinity of the Holy Bible. Your record establishes it as the Word of God. Many have denied that Jesus was the very Son of God. Your record leaves no doubt. With its companion scripture, the Bible, there is proof for every honest soul that God lives, that Jesus Christ who was begotten by him is the Redeemer, the Savior. It establishes the truth of the exalting gospel which now came rapidly from the throne of God to the Prophet, to you and to us. Missionaries are now teaching the true gospel to you and your children. You heard today of the organization of the first Lamanite mission in the southern hemisphere-the Andes Mission.
Your record, the Book of Mormon, named after one of its chief historians, makes clearer the numerous predictions of the Bible. Other plates will have their seals broken, and additional truths will be revealed. It tells of your brethren, the Ten Tribes of Israel, who disappeared from Babylon into north countries when your people headed west to this world. They will return with their prophets, and their sacred records will be a third witness for Christ. They, the Ten Tribes, you, the Lamanites, and the believing of us, also carrying the blood of Israel, will jointly build the city to our God, the New Jerusalem, with its magnificent temple. The end of time will come; the millennium will be ushered in; the Lord, Jesus Christ, will return to lead his people; and the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
My Lamanite brothers and sisters, we love you. Our bringing the gospel to you is "likened unto their being nourished by the gentiles and being carried in their arms and upon their shoulders". Your God has performed many miracles to get the story written by his prophets, to preserve the records against threats of enemies and the ravages of nature, and to get them translated into a language you can understand, and bring to you this second witness of Christ. Your Book of Mormon record is as a voice from the dust, messages from the dead, warnings from the Lord:
"Return unto me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts".
Our Lord cries, "Wo unto him that spurneth at the doings of the Lord; yea, wo unto him that shall deny the Christ and his works!".
You have been preserved to this epochal day, and the gospel is available to you now. Wash your souls in the blood of the Lamb. Cleanse your lives, study the scriptures, accept the gospel and ordinances.
These predictions can be fulfilled and come to you through one channel only, the path of righteousness and faith; else all these promises are but empty, unfulfilled dreams.
May God bless you that you may accept the truths now revealed to you, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Eldred G. Smith
Eldred G. Smith, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 62-64
My brothers and sisters, I pray that the Spirit of the Lord will be with me to give me utterance of the thoughts that I have in mind to give in this conference. It is a privilege, that I enjoy very much, to meet with many of the new converts of the Church, for many who come to me to receive blessings are the results of our missionary work, and I want to express praise and commendation to the missionary work in the Church because I see the results of it. They are good, and I think it is probably the cream of the crop that come to me.
I enjoy very much hearing their stories of how they have become members of the Church, the processes they have gone through in overcoming difficulties and in receiving a testimony of the divinity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many tell miraculous experiences-experiences of miraculous healing, experiences of divine guidance, experiences of assistance to accomplish what otherwise would be impossible-and the Lord has said to us that "signs shall follow them that believe".
I would like to emphasize the word follow just a little bit. He did not say they would precede and be a guide and a testimony to us to prove in advance that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. He said that the signs shall "follow" those that believe, and I find this to be the case in the stories that I hear.
The Lord has also warned us, saying, "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect".
Also, in referring to the day of the judgment, he said, "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity".
Those who have told these experiences, even miraculous experiences, testify to me that it is not the experiences alone that give them a testimony of the divinity of the gospel. True, they strengthen their testimony; true, they are experiences that make them think, cause them to investigate the Church, but they alone are not the things that give them a testimony of the gospel.
For instance, just recently a woman told me of her experience. She became very ill. It had been determined that she had cancer. She had gone through surgery on numerous occasions, until she had come to a point where the doctors had given her up and told her that she did not have months to live, but only weeks. There was no hope for her. She was living at home with a nurse to take care of her. A neighbor called one day. She had a phone near her bed so she could answer it, and the neighbor said to her, "Now when the doorbell rings, don't answer it. It is just those Mormon missionaries coming down the street; so when the doorbell rings, just don't answer it. Don't pay any attention to it."
So the woman thanked her for her consideration, her kindness. She told her nurse that when the doorbell rang she was not to answer it; it was just those Mormon missionaries and to pay no attention to them. Well, the doorbell rang after a few minutes, and the nurse, from force of habit, opened the door, then realized that she had been told not to. She quickly disposed of the missionaries. Immediately after, the nurse left the house to get some groceries. There came a knock on the door. For some reason or other the missionaries had returned. They knocked and got no answer, so they opened the door and called in. Hearing a response from an inner room they went on in. The woman said the missionaries came and stood beside her bed and mumbled a little between themselves something she did not understand. Then one of them said, "Well, it's highly irregular, but I guess if you say so it is all right." The next thing she knew she had been administered to by these Mormon missionaries.
She said when they took their hands off her head she sat up in bed. She got out of bed and went into the kitchen and got some food from her refrigerator. Then she excused herself while she dressed. The missionaries made an appointment to come back at another time. When the nurse returned and saw the woman was up and around, she told her to get back into bed. "No, I'm not going back to bed. I am healed. I am well," the woman said.
The nurse, thinking she was delirious, called the doctor. The doctor also ordered her to get back into bed, but she refused again and said she was well. Over a year later, after the doctor had told her she had but weeks to live, she came to Salt Lake City and went to the temple, then came to my office for a blessing. She was very happy, thrilled as she had never been before in her life. The happiest part of her life has been since the doctor told her she couldn't live. Yet she said it was not the experience of healing alone that gave her a testimony of the gospel.
There are other experiences such as Brother Bates from England told me. He had been working in the MIA or youth work, in Manchester, England. A large group of circulars had to be sent out in the mail in order to have a youth conference at a scheduled time. He and his group worked feverishly together to get these circulars in the mail. It seemed an almost impossible task, but somehow or other they accomplished it. In order to do so, however, he had spent all morning at it. He had previously made a business appointment for one o'clock at a distance which he knew he could not drive in the time he had left. He had often driven there before, and the time he had left was but a small fraction of what he knew it would take to cover that distance. But he said, "I will take care of the Lord's work first, and then I will leave it up to the Lord as to how my business works out."
He got into his sports car and drove that distance as fast as he could in safety, as he had done many times before. His appointment was for one o'clock, I think he said. When he drove through the gates of the establishment, the clock in the tower struck one. He could not believe it. He said it was impossible. There was something wrong. He got out of his car, and the man he was to meet was waiting for him. He said, "That's what I like about you-your punctuality. Right on the stroke of the time you are supposed to be here, you are here. That is what I like about you." In the course of proceedings the man gave him an order worth 10,000 pounds, without Brother Bates even asking for it, or without his even selling the man on his goods. He said, "That is what the Lord did because I did my Church work first. But these experiences alone are not what is giving me a testimony of the divinity of the gospel."
I could go on with many similar experiences. We hear them in our testimony meetings all the time. An instructor in a Sunday School class was talking about the Book of Mormon. All the members of the class had testified that they had a testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon. They were discussing the three witnesses, and the eight witnesses-discussing why there were these witnesses. Some said that the reason for them was to give others a testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon. Then the teacher asked the class, "How many here have a testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon because of the three witnesses?" There was not one who raised a hand. He said, "What is it, then, that gives you a testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon or the divinity of the gospel of Jesus Christ? It is something down inside, isn't it? There's something inside of us that testifies to us of the truth of the gospel."
Many might explain away these miraculous experiences. They might say that the woman would have been healed anyway. They might say that Brother Bates got his time mixed up or some other way of explaining the distance he had traveled, which to him was impossible. But you ask the individual who had the experience-it doesn't make any difference what the other people say, he knows down inside that there is something else there that no one can take from him. That is the knowledge, I think, that Brother Bruce McConkie was talking about this morning when he said that we have to have knowledge to obtain a testimony of the gospel. It is that knowledge that comes to us from down inside.
We are made up of a spirit and a physical body. That spirit body lived in the pre-existence, and that spirit that is down inside of us and gives us light is what prompts us to a knowledge of truth. When we are in tune with the Spirit of the Lord, that spirit within us gives us that knowledge that no one else can take from us. When we keep the commandments of the Lord, and one of the primary purposes of being on this earth is to learn obedience by our experience and to seek the gospel so that we can have as a reward through our free agency for having lived the law of the gospel, the many blessings which the gospel plan gives us, that spirit within us prompts us and gives us that knowledge.
By that method, the Lord has said: "... seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you". It does not come by just sitting by and waiting and expecting it to come to us; we have to reach for it. And after we have reached for it, after we have fulfilled the law by which we may receive these blessings, then, through faith, these signs follow. And these signs that follow testify to us again that this is God's work; that he is directing his Church here upon the earth.
Many may ask, "How do we get these testimonies?" They come to us through experience, yes, by our own efforts. I would like to refer to the well-used passage in the Book of Mormon, the admonition of Moroni to obtain a testimony of the divinity of the gospel of Jesus Christ:
"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. "And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things".
We have here the promise that truth and knowledge in all things shall be given unto us if we shall seek in faith, and if we shall put ourselves in tune with the Holy Spirit, that Spirit will speak to us and give us those experiences that will give us knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I testify to you that I know this is the gospel of Jesus Christ; that I know that God lives and Jesus is the Christ; and that this gospel which has been restored to us through the Prophet Joseph Smith by revelation is the plan of life and salvation, and the way by which we may receive all the blessings of exaltation which have been promised down through the ages, and I testify to you to this end in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin
Joseph L. Wirthlin, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 65-68
My brethren and sisters, it has been a great source of inspiration to have the privilege of attending this wonderful conference. As I listened yesterday to our prophet, I felt that we were receiving the same direction, the same inspiration, the same guidance, as did the members of the Church two thousand years ago when Peter and the apostles stood before them periodically and taught them the gospel. Yesterday we had that Spirit here. We have had it today. It is the Spirit of the Lord. Each and every one of us can feel it as we listen to what is said by our Brethren.
It is a marvelous thing to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and know that there stands at the head, a prophet who receives from on high the guidance and the direction that is necessary for the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, not only those here, but those all over the world. Our President in the years gone by has traveled to many lands for the purpose of preaching to the people that they can understand the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and have the privilege of living it and enjoying all the blessings therein.
I often think that I happen to be a member of the Church, not because I accepted it, but because I was born in the Church, and I assume most of you who are present this afternoon have membership in the Church because you were born in it. On the other hand, we have quite a number of our brethren and sisters who are converts, those who had the privilege of receiving the gospel from the missionaries in various parts of the country. You and I who were born in the Church have received it, brethren and sisters, without any great demands on our part, except that we live the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and set the proper example to those not of our faith.
I often think of my two grandfathers-one was born in England and the other was born in Switzerland. The one in England at the age of twenty-one was very anxious to find the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, he belonged to another church, a great church, but he was not satisfied. He could not understand the matter of baptism. He could not understand the matter of authority. He could not find it.
One Saturday evening on retiring to his bed, he made it a matter of prayer. He asked the Lord if the Church of Jesus Christ was upon the earth could he be directed to it. That night he had a dream, and in the dream he saw not too far from where he lived a road, and at the end of it was a little chapel. When he arose Sunday morning, he was so impressed with the dream he immediately dressed and went down the road, and there was the little chapel. In it two men were preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and who were they-two Mormon missionaries! My grandfather immediately joined the Church. There was no question about it in his mind.
I am positively sure that over the world where individuals have a desire to find the true Church, they can find it. They may find it in the way of a dream, or they may find it by the missionaries who may come to their homes and teach them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
My grandfather finally made the long trip to America and came into this area with his family of ten children of which my mother was the youngest. It was a difficult thing to find the right kind of work. He worked in a coal mine, an experience he had never had. He labored there for some six months, then came to Salt Lake City to get his pay. He was paid for three months. He quit his job and finally settled on a little farm near Tooele, Utah, but there was no water and that created a problem. As I have read his history he had written day by day, there was difficulty on every hand, but not once did I ever find my grandfather finding fault or condemning the Church. When general conference was held comparable to this one, he used to hitch up his old team, and it was an old team, and drive into Salt Lake City, and here he remained for four days and attended all of the meetings. It is marvelous to read of the great inspiration he received hearing the Prophet Brigham Young at that time. When he attended conference, they were the best four days of the whole year, hearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ taught by the prophet. Brigham Young was a prophet to him, and is it not a wonderful thing to know, brethren and sisters, that from the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith until the present time, we have a prophet, seer, and revelator, so that through the direction of our Heavenly Father we will be guided and directed wherein we will receive the blessings that we need.
President Clark told of conditions that might exist in the world because there is a great nation and a government which does not teach or permit its people to believe that Jesus Christ actually lives and is the Son of God. As President Clark said, some day that may create difficulties for us. Nevertheless, I hope and pray that each and every one of us will so live the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that when that day of difficulty comes, we through prayer, faith, and divine direction from our Heavenly Father will be able to meet our problems and solve them.
We have a great responsibility of living the gospel because the world expects us to be a different people, which brings to mind the statement of an individual who had the privilege of visiting the Los Angeles Temple before it was dedicated. This individual said, "The temple is beautiful. It is a marvelous building, but the Mormons have something that is different." I do not know exactly what that individual had in mind, whether she thought the temple in and of itself was beautiful or something that was different, whether she thought we have the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ, or whether or not she was giving consideration to the fact that we are doing work for the dead. Nevertheless, an impression was made upon that individual. So, in all of our lives, wherever we go, we are going to make an impression on those with whom we come in contact. As a people, we are indeed a "different" people.
It is a wonderful thing to know that in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, brethren and sisters, the choice young men at the age of twelve may receive the Aaronic Priesthood-the Aaronic Priesthood, a divine gift which was bestowed upon the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by John the Baptist himself. I humbly pray that in your homes where your sons hold the office of deacon, teacher, or priest, there is going to be positive assurance that these young men realize that they have the most divine gift of God to his sons.
If we have any difficulty at all in connection with the Aaronic Priesthood, where some of them may become inactive and not as interested as they should be, I think it comes about many times because fathers and mothers are not giving consideration to the fact that their sons hold the Aaronic Priesthood, the priesthood that was held by John the Baptist.
It is a wonderful thing to sit down with your son-he may be a deacon, a teacher, or a priest-and say to him, "You hold the Aaronic Priesthood. John the Baptist held the Aaronic Priesthood. He was a priest. He baptized Jesus Christ."
Is it not wonderful to know that your son at the age of sixteen may have the same privilege of baptizing as did John the Baptist about two thousand years ago. It is so impressive, brothers and sisters, that these young men will come to the conclusion that holding the Aaronic Priesthood is the most important gift that God can bestow upon them at their particular age. So teach them, inspire them, and direct them in connection with their assignments in the Aaronic Priesthood work, that when the day comes for them to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, they are going to feel in their own souls, "Now I hold the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ," for the Christ himself is the Great High Priest, and everyone of these young men, if worthy, sooner or later is going to have the privilege of holding the office of an elder or a seventy or a high priest.
It is most inspiring and encouraging to me as I have the privilege of coming in contact with these young men who have a desire to go out and preach the gospel, as they may have been called by the President of the Church in connection with the bishop of the ward. In interviewing them, I always ask them the question, "Can you bear testimony that Joseph Smith actually saw the Father and the Son? That is the statement you will have to make because we stand on that wonderful event as a Church, that Joseph Smith at the age of fourteen actually saw the Father and the Son."
It is most thrilling and inspiring to know that these young men at the age of twenty can say, "Yes, I can bear testimony that Joseph Smith actually saw the Father and the Son." They should be able to do that, brothers and sisters, because they have held the Aaronic Priesthood from the age of twelve until the age of twenty when they receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. They should have been taught and should have the knowledge that they can bear these wonderful testimonies which are so important.
In the final analysis, this Church is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the testimony, brothers and sisters, that we ought to bear to our sons our daughters, and our grandchildren. This is the Church which is preparing the way for the second coming of Christ. That is our responsibility. It is one of the most important responsibilities that any group of people can have.
Now with reference to these other nations that do not have the privilege of hearing or understanding the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is my feeling that some day they will have that opportunity. They are going to have that privilege. Was it not said to whom the gospel was to be preached-to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Whether or not we will be able to send missionaries into Russia to preach the gospel, I do not know, but I do remember President Clark said something about two years ago, and I have never forgotten it. He said that perhaps we will be able to preach the gospel to the people of Russia out of Salt Lake City over television or radio or something else. That day will come when the Russian people will hear and understand the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only the people of Russia, but also the millions in China and the millions in India. They are all the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, and I am satisfied that Jesus Christ is just as anxious that they hear the gospel and enjoy all the same privileges that we have. In some way and at some future time, these great events are going to take place.
We have a great responsibility, and I think of the words of Peter when he said, speaking to the people:
"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light".
If we live the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are "a chosen generation." We are a chosen generation because through the wonderful revelations that were given to the Prophet Joseph, we have the commandments, we have the direction, we have the guidance that is necessary to so live the gospel that we indeed are going to be a chosen generation.
And "a royal priesthood"-the Aaronic and the Melchizedek-the Aaronic Priesthood coming, as I have already indicated, when John the Baptist appeared and bestowed it upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. Then, Peter, James, and John, the apostles of old and the Presidency of the Church some eighteen hundred years before, appeared and bestowed upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery the Melchizedek Priesthood. Indeed, might we say, it is a royal priesthood.
"An holy nation," of course, an holy nation, as I understand it, is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is an holy nation, and all of those who have membership in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ are in that holy nation as long as they live the gospel.
"A peculiar people"-a peculiar people because we accept without question Jesus Christ as the Son of God! A peculiar people because we declare to the world that God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ appeared to that fourteen-year-old young man and gave him the direction and inspiration whereby the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could again be established upon the earth for the benefit, the direction, and the inspiration of all the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, and "... that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light".
My testimony to you is this: if my grandfather in Switzerland, if my grandfather in England had not had the privilege of hearing and understanding the gospel, we as a family, without a doubt, would still be in the darkness of the world, but because they accepted the gospel, it is possible now for all of us to go into the marvelous light of the Church, the marvelous light of Jesus Christ himself.
We have a great responsibility of so living the gospel that it will be a great source of inspiration and divine guidance to all of those with whom we come in contact.
In the final analysis, as we live the gospel, it is a wonderful thing to think of the words of Jesus Christ, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free". That is the promise and the blessing that each and every one of us may live and understand-that we shall know the truth and the truth shall make us free.
May the Lord continue to inspire us in all of our endeavors, I humbly ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder ElRay L. Christiansen
ElRay L. Christiansen, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 68-70
I humbly pray, my brothers and sisters, that what I say may give encouragement and fortitude to someone. We have had some marvelous addresses given, some wonderful music, all of which should inspire us to go forth and live better lives.
I believe that each of us needs a spiritual checkup just about as often as we need a physical checkup; that each of us, the young, and the rest of us, needs to make an appraisal of himself as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, and as the head of a family, or as a member of a family, from time to time to determine the degree of our fidelity and our allegiance and adherence to the accepted rules and doctrines of the Church.
One of the ancient prophets of whom Elder Kimball spoke, had this day in mind-when he said:
"Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die... "And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God-he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God".
Is this prediction of Nephi coming to pass in our day? Are there those of us who would justify ourselves in committing a little sin? Are there those of us who would yield to the enticement and the pressure of acquaintances and associates to "eat, drink, and be merry," on certain occasions? Would we, for instance, when in the company of certain others, forsake principles, propriety, and decency in order to conform with and be accepted by the group? So called social drinking, for example? Would we forsake the high principles of conduct which we as a people espouse and yield to the unapproved practices when we know that to do so weakens one's character, discredits his family name, and will bring sorrow and unhappiness in place of joy and peace?
"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men... If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things".
This being the case-this being our standard, could it be then that any of us would lie a little, or take advantage of one because of his words, perhaps by misquoting or exaggerating what he said? Are there any of us who would figuratively dig a pit for his neighbor, hoping that he will fall into it? Perhaps by taking unfair advantage of him, by shrewd maneuvering, thinking that as long as one gets away with it that he is a trustworthy and honest man.
"Make of yourself an honest man," said Carlyle, "and then you may be sure that there is one rascal less in the world."
Are there any of us who would justify ourselves in any of these things, these wrongdoings? If there be, let us repent as of today. Farther on, this same great prophet, Nephi, points out that those who feel justified in sinning a little, being enticed by the vain practices of the world, are placing themselves in a position where, he says, "the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them carefully down to hell". How well put that is, and how true!
The evils and the vanities of the world, and the corruption thereof are thrust close to our lives. Enticings and pressures to depart from the right are found on every hand. Some of these wrongdoings are almost glorified.
Realizing this, we must, as Latter-day Saints, young and old, be firm for that which we know to be right, and in the right be steadfast and immovable. Each of us must set his own course. Each household must determine whether its members will follow the worldly pattern of loose, reckless living, or be obedient to the commandments of the Lord.
When the tribes of ancient Israel inclined their hearts toward the worship of heathen gods, forsaking God-given principles, you remember that Joshua, their leader, fearing for his people, "... gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God". Then it was that he pointed out to them what was happening among them, and admonished them to put away their strange gods and their evil ways, and he called upon them to repent, exhorting them to serve the Lord God of Israel with sincerity. Then in the majesty of his calling as a prophet, he said to them, "... choose you this day whom ye will serve;... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord".
Just as Israel in that day had to make that decision, so must that decision be made by us today. I must make that decision. You must make that decision. For example, in this day of widespread desecration of the Sabbath, when it is considered merely a part of a weekend, and when it is used by many for amusement and pleasure-hunting, shopping, etc., do I, do you, serve the Lord by being where we ought to be, doing what we ought to do, on his holy day?
Again, when friends or acquaintances urge the use of tobacco or intoxicating liquor, do we yield just to be sociable? If I and my house are determined to serve the Lord in the law of health, there will be no yielding to such pressures.
When marriage is contemplated, will the plan be a temporary legal arrangement where eternal association is forfeited, or will it be administered according to the ordinances of God; according to his sweet and wonderful way of making possible a grand family reunion in the resurrection? That is the question we must determine when it comes to that occasion, or before it comes to that, for we must plan ahead of time for that great episode in our lives.
One other matter-the destroying sin of unchastity and moral laxity has been one of the dominant factors in the downfall of many proud people and many great empires. Among the people today, this same destroyer of happiness presents a dismal picture for the safety and peace of this and future generations.
A few years ago the First Presidency issued a warning to the Latter-day Saints and to the world generally against this sin. Among other positive statements they made, they said this: "The doctrine of this Church is that sexual sin, the illicit sexual relationship of men and women stands in its enormity next to murder. The Lord has drawn no essential distinction between fornication, adultery, and harlotry or prostitution. Each has fallen under his solemn and awful condemnation. You youth of Zion," they pleaded, "you cannot associate in illicit sex relationship, which is fornication, and escape the judgments and punishments of the Lord which he has declared against this sin. The day of reckoning will come just as certainly as night follows day."
A similar warning was given to those husbands and wives who break the moral laws. Then, by the right they have as leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ, spokesman for the Lord himself, they gave this solemn warning, along with a plea for strict morality: "By virtue of the authority vested in us as the First Presidency of the Church, we warn the people of the degradation, the wickedness, the punishments that attend upon unchastity. We urge you to remember the blessings which flow from the living of a clean life. We call upon you to keep, day in and day out, the way of strict chastity, through which only God's blessings can be achieved and received, and his Spirit abide with you. How glorious it is to him who lives the chaste life. He walks unfearful in the glare of the noonday sun, for he is without moral infirmity."
Now, will we listen to those who would minimize the seriousness of this transgression and who would have us believe that the Lord has changed his mind in regard to it? Will we listen to those who say that chastity is outmoded and old-fashioned? Each of us must stand for and encourage such principles as honesty, trustworthiness, virtue. Let us turn a deaf ear to the advocates of wrongdoing, and be prepared with Joshua to say, as he did to his people: "... choose you this day whom ye will serve; but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord".
May we so do, I pray humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Delbert L. Stapley
Delbert L. Stapley, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 70-73
My brothers and sisters, I am happy indeed to extend the hand of fellowship to Elder Howard W. Hunter, called this day as a member of the Council of the Twelve. I look forward with joyous anticipation to association with him in that council. I assure him of my support and my love and my help.
Today I feel to share with you my witness and humble testimony that this Church is the true Church of Christ, established upon the earth in this dispensation of God's providence for the last time. It was divinely set up by our Lord, and possesses every truth, principle, and ordinance for the salvation and exaltation of those who receive and obey its plan of life.
I solemnly testify that every President of this Church has been called of God, and sustained by him and by the faithful Church members who with uplifted hands before God, angels, and fellow disciples, agreed to accept and sustain their leader as prophet, seer, and revelator. We so sustain our beloved President David O. McKay today. According to the spirit of truth within me, I accept him in this high position of prophet, seer, and revelator with all my heart, and uphold him without question and without reservation. I say to you, my brothers and sisters, that if everyone would keep his eyes on the President of this Church and follow his example, he would never go wrong. I have that faith and confidence, and so testify to you with full knowledge that ultimately I must answer to God for my teachings and personal acts.
The members of the Church must, by implicit obedience to gospel principles and ordinances, stand firm and true to the faith and not be tossed about by every wind of doctrine from deceiving teachers who wrongfully and wilfully suggest that the Church in this day has gone astray, which claim I humbly testify to you is untrue. Dissenters from the Church in all ages of the world, influenced by evil design, have zealously taught deceptive and false doctrines and led many unsuspecting and unthinking souls into the broad way of apostasy from the truth. The true servants of the Lord have consistently and humbly warned against self-appointed leaders, and have always admonished the Saints to be faithful and true in keeping the commandments of God, and thus develop faith and strength against the powers of evil which are constantly leveled at them.
In the early history of the Church, because the elders did not understand the manifestations of different spirits abroad which were disturbing the members, the Lord, in answer to prayerful inquiry, warned:
"Behold, verily I say unto you, that there are many spirits which are false spirits, which have gone forth in the earth, deceiving the world".
What was true then is true now, and ever will be until Satan and his evil hosts are forever bound and shorn of their power to deceive and destroy. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, "Nothing is a greater injury to the children of men than to be under the influence of a false spirit when they think they have the Spirit of God". How true this statement is, and how important to know correct Church doctrine and procedures to prevent stumbling along life's way. It is a great blessing and gift to be able to discern and choose rightly between truth and error.
To protect the faith of Church members the Lord has revealed:
"But ye are commanded in all things to ask of God, who giveth liberally; and that which the Spirit testifies unto you even so I would that ye should do in all holiness of heart, walking uprightly before me, considering the end of your salvation, doing all things with prayer and thanksgiving, that ye may not be seduced by evil spirits, or doctrines of devils, or the commandments of men; for some are of men, and others of devils".
In all the teachings and prophecies of the prophets concerning the establishment of God's kingdom in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, there is no mention nor indication that the Church, when once established, would fail or be given to another people. That was not true of the Church in the Meridian of time. The prophets before the time of Christ, and the apostles after, warned and predicted a falling away from the truth and the true Church.
As members of the Church, we must always remember that this is the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, or, the last of all gospel dispensations, when all things are to be gathered together in Christ before his coming to earth again. The destiny of this Church is too great and the time too short for so important a work to be bounced from one group of people to another. The Lord would not have it so and has decreed the permanency of his latter-day kingdom.
When John the Revelator, in a vision of important latter-day events, witnessed an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people; he quoted the angel as saying: "Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come". Our era of time is the hour of God's judgment; therefore, this prophecy could not be fulfilled if interruptions were to occur in the progress and work of the restored kingdom.
The Prophet Daniel, interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, informed him that its fulfillment would be in the latter days. Then, calling attention to the kingdoms that should follow that of the king until many kingdoms resulted, Daniel declared:
"And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
"God," said Daniel, concluding his interpretation of the king's dream, "hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure".
Here is prophetic evidence of the continuity of God's latter-day kingdom when established upon the earth. Daniel emphasized that point dramatically when he said, "The dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure." The kingdom, prophesied Daniel, is not to be destroyed; it is not to be left to other people; and it shall stand forever. How convincing and certain this declaration is!
The Lord, in a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith shortly after the organization of the Church, made this pronouncement: "For behold, the field is white already to harvest; and it is the eleventh hour, and the last time that I shall call laborers into my vineyard".
Again, the Lord revealed to the Prophet: "The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth until it has filled the whole earth".
This latter declaration accords with and confirms Daniel's interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, for the Prophet Daniel spoke of the stone which was cut without hands which smote the image and became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
The Prophet Joseph Smith gave this wise counsel, which is a true principle in Church government and is the order of the Holy Priesthood: "I will inform you that it is contrary to the economy of God for any member of the Church, or any one, to receive instruction for those in authority, higher than themselves; therefore you will see the impropriety of giving heed to them".
Again he taught: "Revelations of the mind and will of God to the Church, are to come through the Presidency. This is the order of heaven, and the power and privilege of this Priesthood".
And then a powerful declaration of an eternal principle which the Prophet Joseph Smith said is eternal, undeviating, and firm as the pillars of heaven: "I will give you one of the Keys of the mysteries of the Kingdom. It is an eternal principle, that has existed with God from all eternity: That man who rises up to condemn others, finding fault with the Church, saying that they are out of the way, while he himself is righteous, then know assuredly, that that man is in the high road to apostasy; and if he does not repent, will apostatize, as God lives".
How clear and forthright these statements are, and so powerfully and convincingly stated that there can be no doubt of their truth.
The Lord gave this instruction and warning to the elders of his Church, and to all the inhabitants of Zion against those individuals making false claims and purporting to receive revelations: "And this shall be a law unto you, that ye receive not the teachings of any that shall come before you as revelations or commandments; "And this I give unto you that you may not be deceived, that you may know that they are not of me. "For verily I say unto you, that he that is ordained of me shall come in at the gate and be ordained as I have told you before, to teach those revelations which you have received and shall receive through him whom I have appointed".
Baptism at the hands of an authorized servant of God permits a person to come in at the gate; and the way prescribed by the Lord, as outlined in the preceding quotation, by which those ordained can be known and accepted by the members of his Church is clearly set forth in the following revelation: "Again I say unto you," said the Lord, "that it shall not be given to anyone to go forth to preach my gospel, or to build up my church, except he be ordained by some one who has authority, and it is known to the church that he has authority and has been regularly ordained by the heads of the church".
As in past ages, men will continue to arise to plague the work of God, for this is the intent of Satan and ever has been since the beginning of man on the earth.
There are infallible guiding principles found in the revelations and in the historical records of the Lord's dealings with his people for their guidance and protection. Here is a very important one given in this last dispensation to the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Lord gave it as a guiding admonition to his people. Said he:
"And all things shall be done by common consent in the church, by much prayer and faith, for all things you shall receive by faith".
If the members of the Church will follow this counsel and act together in prayer and true faith, the Holy Ghost will not permit them to yield to the influence of error and false teachings of those who seek to overthrow the work of God. The great Nephite prophet, Mosiah, warning his people against kingcraft, counseled them concerning the manner in which judges to govern them should be selected, and wisely advised:
"Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye observe and make it your law-to do your business by the voice of the people".
All wavering and disaffected individuals should remember the safeguards to faith and testimony given by the Lord through revelation, and, recognizing and working through constituted channels of priesthood authority, submit their views or claims and be willing to abide by the voice of the people, who, conforming to the above-quoted revelation, are to decide the matter after exercising much faith and prayer. If they would do this before permitting themselves to follow a deviating or contrary course, and manifest the faith to abide by the voice of the Saints, they would not go astray nor depart from the right way, and their souls and those of their posterity would, through obedience to the commandments, be saved in the kingdom of God.
There are many other scriptural references and revelations, also statements by Church leaders, bearing upon this subject which could be quoted, but I close with two additional quotations from the revelations of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith. The first concerns the keys of priesthood power committed to the First Presidency and the Twelve of the Church:
"For unto you, the Twelve, and those, the First Presidency, who are appointed with you to be your counselors and your leaders, is the power of this priesthood given, for the last days and for the last time, in the which is the dispensation of the fulness of times. "For verily I say unto you, the keys of the dispensation, which ye have received, have come down from the fathers, and last of all, being sent down from heaven unto you".
And now the second and concluding admonition from the Lord, which also is a perfect safeguard to the membership of this Church:
"Hearken, O ye elders of my church whom I have called, behold I give unto you a commandment, that ye shall assemble yourselves together to agree upon my word; "And by the prayer of your faith ye shall receive my law, that ye may know how to govern my church and have all things right before me. "He that receiveth my law and doeth it, the same is my disciple; and he that saith he receiveth it and doeth it not, the same is not my disciple, and shall be cast out from among you".
Wherefore, my brothers and sisters when assembled together, as today, it is to instruct and edify each other and thus learn how to act and how to direct the affairs of God's latter-day kingdom. May I encourage all of you to listen to and accept the teachings and counsel of your brethren given in this general conference of the Church. How important it is for the Saints of the kingdom to be guided aright, knowing that false spirits are abroad in the land to deceive, yes, even the very elect of God if they are not careful in keeping the commandments and walking in faithful obedience to God's laws.
God bless you, my brothers and sisters, that you may walk in obedience to God's laws. This I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Henry D. Moyle
Henry D. Moyle, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 82-85
My brethren, this is a solemn moment for me, I can assure you. I have been coming to these Saturday evening Priesthood meetings for a good many years-all my life since I was ordained a deacon. I was here when President McKay was called into the Twelve. I was here when President Richards was called into the Twelve. I have come here many times with my father. I have realized that the instructions that were given to the Priesthood by the Brethren on these occasions were equally good for father and for son.
This is the first call that has come to me to address this great body of Priesthood, and I assure you that if I am able to give you any thoughts this evening that will be beneficial to the work, we shall have to ascribe the honor to our Father in Heaven. I am sure we must all of us feel dependent upon him for the guidance, the direction and the inspiration essential for each one of us to have ever present in order to fulfill the calls which are made of us by those who preside over us in the Priesthood.
I have a deep sense of appreciation for the work of these Brethren who have preceded me, and especially President Stephen L Richards. For many years past it has been my great pleasure to be here and to expect to hear words of inspiration and wisdom from him, and I have never been disappointed. We miss President Richards, and we continue, as we undertake to carry on, to remember his beloved wife and all of his posterity, and pray that the blessings of the Almighty may continue to be with them, to guide and direct them in the footsteps of their illustrious father and husband.
We do not need, however, to eulogize men who perform their duties and responsibilities in the Priesthood. Certainly that which we undertake to do is not done for the purpose of being praised of men. It is to give us that solemn deep-seated satisfaction in our hearts that we in some small way have helped to establish the Kingdom of our Heavenly Father here upon this earth in these latter days. To this purpose we dedicate our lives and all that we have and are, and our constant prayer to our Heavenly Father is that we might have added strength, added capacity, added capability to accomplish more and more in his service. If I have any complaint tonight it would be that the days are not long enough. Some of you were here last night when I was suggesting to the bishops that we ought to increase the hours of proselyting of our stake missionaries, and I said I thought that we ought to strike an average of about 40 hours a week. I, of course, misspoke myself-I meant 40 hours a month.
But I have been thinking about that incident, and I know many men in this Church whose time would permit them to live up to the ideal which I spoke unintentionally. We have these-I was going to say, eight-hour days-but I suppose nobody works eight hours any more, do they? Six times eight would be forty-eight, and it seems to me I heard something about a 40 hour week, and sometimes weeks that call for lesser labor.
It may not be entirely a coincidence that these shrinking hours of labor required of us in our daily employment should come about coincident with the tremendous need that we have in the Church for work in the service of the Master. This subject of ward teaching that Bishop Cheever and Bishop Hill have so beautifully discussed with us tonight has at its root the performance of a service, a labor. It is time-consuming, but how tremendously rewarding to know that every month of our lives we have contacted somebody, made their lives happier and better than they otherwise would have been.
Now, I know one of these bishops pretty well. He had no more been called into the bishopric than he said to himself and to me and to some others in the ward, "I wonder if it's necessary for a young man to ever reach the age of 20 and not be worthy and ready and willing to go on a mission?" It is little wonder that he has ward teaching in his heart, because he could not have hoped for such a result had the homes in which those young men lived not been visited regularly.
Sometimes I get off on my statistics, but my best knowledge and understanding is that since he became bishop there hasn't been a single boy escape, and if there have, perchance, been one or two that I do not know about, I still say the record is miraculous, and it comes about as a result of work. Everyone of those young men who have gone into the mission field-and I can speak with some feeling about this subject because one of them is my own son-loves his bishop, and when they come back from their mission fields, as they do nearly every month, they go to their bishop and tell him they are ready to go to work in the ward.
I tell you, brethren, this ward teaching is basically fundamental. It is the foundation, so to speak, upon which we can build in any of our Church activities, to accomplish any results that are desirable. Now, we have in the Church today about one out of every four young men who reach the age of 20 who go on a mission. I want you bishops to ask yourselves this question: "Where have we failed with reference to the other three?" That was the plea that Bishop Isaacson made to you last night with reference to your Senior Aaronic Priesthood Group. I am sure that a bishop should either have that young man ready to go on a mission, or have the satisfaction of knowing that he had exhausted the resources at his command in attempting to qualify him therefore.
We have a tremendous need for missionaries, and I have a feeling, brethren, that if we started to exercise our Priesthood in our relationships with our families, our intimate relationships, early in our family history, that our young men would have become so well assured of the power and the efficacy of the Priesthood held by their fathers, that it would become in very deed their principal ambition in life to receive that same Priesthood, and I cannot think of any greater satisfaction that comes into the life of a righteous father than to himself be worthy when the time arrives, and his son has qualified himself to receive either the Lesser or the Higher Priesthood, to confer that Priesthood upon him under the direction of his bishop or his stake president.
I want to leave this thought with you this evening, brethren. I do not believe that any one of us who are recipients of the Priesthood ever exercise that Priesthood in the performance of a single ordinance, the performance of a single act, in which we invoke the power of our Priesthood, without having in our hearts simultaneously therewith a deep-seated, genuine, true testimony of the divinity of the work in which we are engaged, and a knowledge that God has in very deed restored his Priesthood to the earth, and that we have been the beneficiaries of that great gift.
My thoughts go back at the moment to when I was a little boy. I was awfully sick, I thought. I do not think my sickness was very serious. I may have had a bad case of measles or something like that, but I was sick, and I was miserable, and my father had lived so closely to me that I was just as certain as that I lived that when my father came home and I asked him to administer to me that I would be healed. Do you think a boy can go through that kind of an experience with his father and have his prayers answered, have his faith justified, and not love that father? And even more important than that, not, have a keen realization and appreciation of the power that his father has by virtue of the Priesthood which has been conferred upon him? I am sure that from that moment on I lived, as far as I can review my life in my own mind, to receive that same Priesthood, to perform that same service in behalf of my family when I might be blessed with one, and I never cease to be grateful to the Lord for the almost innumerable instances when I have had the privilege of exercising my Priesthood outside the family circle in behalf of my brethren and sisters throughout the Church, and being absolutely conscious when I laid my hands upon their heads that there was a power there making itself manifest in my ministry, that would bring about the purposes of our Heavenly Father here upon this earth.
And so I say if we exercise this Priesthood in behalf of our families we cannot help but have our families grow up to follow in our footsteps, and what father is there among us that would not have his son go on a mission. I have made this statement many times in the Church in many of your stakes-I have never yet been contradicted, I have never yet had a case brought to my attention that would disprove what I have said-and that is this: that the Lord has so blessed and prospered the Saints that today we are well enough off to send anybody on a mission that is worthy and willing to go, and supplement whenever necessary whatever means he and his family may have to keep him on the mission. We are not having missionaries come home in the middle of their missionary terms because their families have run out of finances.
Now the Lord has blessed us for a purpose. His blessings have not been showered upon us for the purpose of our following the ways of the world. Why do you think we pay our tithing? Isn't it to put our hearts in tune with the Spirit of our Heavenly Father, to enter into a partnership with him and dedicate the other nine tenths to the best possible use available to bring about his purposes, first with the family, and second, with the ward.
I am sure the generosity of the Latter-day Saints knows no bounds. Some people say that there are too many calls made upon us, but I never yet, and I think I can truthfully say this, in all my experience in the Church heard anyone complain about the cost of a mission. There is something about a mission. Sometimes I think it affects the family at home even more than the missionary himself.
I remember one night many years ago in Charleston, West Virginia. We had a little group of missionaries there as we toured the East Central States Mission-about 20, as I recall it-and one elder got up and said: "Brother Moyle, I have only been on a mission for a year, but every day that I am on my mission I have a stronger assurance come to me that as a result of my mission I will bring my father into the Church. Do you know why I want to bring my father into the Church? It is because I have seen and heard my mother pray for that event to happen as far back as I can remember. I just have a feeling that if, through my diligence, my effort, my worthiness as a missionary, spending my two years in this mission, I can accomplish that result, I will have been able to give my mother that which she wants above all else on earth, and incidentally, make it possible for me to be sealed to my father and my mother, and give to them the benefits of the Holy Endowment."
I would like to charge, if it were possible, every Latter-day Saint home to produce a missionary. It would be easy to divide the homes in the Church between those who are presided over by returned missionaries, and those who are presided over by men who have not filled that call. I am sure that the latter group have always been anxious, always just a little disappointed that they did not go on a mission themselves. There need be no disappointment in the heart of any Latter-day Saint father, whether he has been on a mission or not. If I were the head of a family and I had not been on a mission, I would devote myself to receive the blessing of a mission through my son.
I want to say to you tonight, brethren, in all solemnity, that we can receive those blessings if we rear our children to qualify for that great service, the greatest service of all. That is the service to which the Twelve have been called, and all their Assistants and Associates. It is the prime charge that the Savior gave his Apostles of old-to go into the world and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of life and salvation, to all the children of our Heavenly Father here upon this earth.
I know that God lives. I know that the power of the Priesthood is with us, and I know that there is vested in President David O. McKay all the keys of the Priesthood. There has flowed into this dispensation all of the power and all of the authority and all of the keys and blessings of all other dispensations. That we know. And I am sure that you brethren will have difficulty in realizing how deep-seated my gratitude to my Heavenly Father is for this testimony, this knowledge that God lives, and that he sustains his mouthpiece upon this earth with power and authority to speak in his name every day of his life.
I do not know what in the world I could have done to be worthy of this close association with these men whom I revere and idolize. For 53 years President McKay has been as dedicated a man as ever lived upon the face of the earth to the tasks which have been his, and now I have the privilege of undertaking in my weak way to be of some assistance to him.
President Clark and I have been thrown together in our Welfare work these many years, and I have learned to love and respect and revere him. I do hope and pray that the Lord will bless me that my labors may in some small measure reflect the deep sense of gratitude I have in my heart for this call, and make me capable, qualified, worthy, to continue to associate and to counsel with you, my beloved brethren. I love the brethren of this Church. I am so grateful that I have had these years of opportunity to associate with President Joseph Fielding Smith and the members of the Twelve. It was brought rather sternly to my realization that I was not a member of the Twelve any more when my beloved friend, Howard W. Hunter, was called to take my place in the Twelve. I love and respect and revere him, as I do all of the members of the Twelve, and my prayer daily is that with this call which has come to me, the Lord may make it possible for me to stand even closer and be more intimate, and draw greater strength from these Brethren who have sustained and upheld me all these years as a member of their Quorum.
Now, I do invoke the blessings of the Lord upon us all, and pray that we will constantly unite our faith and prayers that the Lord will bless and sustain President McKay and President Clark with the health and strength and vigor and vitality of body and of mind and of spirit, which will make it possible for them day to day to fulfill the righteous desires that they have in their hearts, the desires that they have to carry this work on, and this I pray humbly in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 85-86
My brethren, holders of the Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God: I address you as such, I wish to speak to you as such. I have enjoyed this meeting. I have enjoyed the Brethren, the bishops who spoke about ward teaching. I have enjoyed, of course, Brother Moyle. I paid a brief compliment to him this morning and likewise to President Richards. I shall have to be brief, because you want to hear President McKay and so do I. "The audience only laughs when the king speaks!"
But there are one or two points that I would hope briefly to make to you in the very few minutes that I wish to speak.
There is a saying that "all roads lead to Rome." As Brother Christiansen pointed out today and made suggestions, too many of us seem sometimes to offer this excuse or that excuse or the other excuse for not obeying the commandments of the Lord because we will all go to the same place, and we know that that view is held by many of the sectarian churches of the world. That, so far as this Priesthood is concerned, is not true, it is an apostate principle.
I have already suggested that we face perhaps the greatest crisis in the history of the world. These are the "latter days." I have already suggested, following the excellent address of President McKay, that the Marxist principles and policy wherever found look to the temporal, not to the spiritual. They exalt the temporal; they belittle the spiritual.
You know, I find no place in the Scriptures, the New Testament and otherwise, where the Lord ever promised that those who followed him would gain wealth. His mission was to the poor and the lowly.
Do you remember the first great miracle performed by the old Apostles? It occurred at the Gate Beautiful. There was there a man who was born from his mother's womb with crippled feet. They brought him there daily. Peter and John were going in and as they went by him, lying there seeking alms, they looked at him and then they said "Look on us." And he looked at them. Then Peter delivered that great message that brought him before the Sanhedrin, and performed the first miracle:
"Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk."
He reached his hand, and took him. The man arose. His ankles straightened. He leaped for joy.
Now, I want to talk a little, just a minute more, to you about that.
I do not wish to be a croaking raven. But I am so disturbed by the revelations recently made by this man Khrushchev that a deliberate attempt will be made to conquer the Western world, the Christian world; first, by peaceful means. But if they can get us for peace, and then for retiring from Europe, demobilization, largely, the destruction of our installations for protection, then you will see what he will do.
Now, brethren, I want to urge on you this consideration. I have had some time to reflect recently, and my condition has been such as to bring home to me how terrible would be the condition if I had been deprived of my daughters and of my doctor, and the saving thing about it was the prayers of my Brethren and of the Church. There is where the healing came from.
Visualize, if you will, for a moment what would be the condition if we suddenly had a bomb landed here, many wounded, many doctors out, perhaps the hospitals gone. What are you going to do?
"Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk".
Brethren, if you face a situation where there is no nursing available, no doctors available, only the Priesthood, are you going to be living so that you can go and in the name of Jesus Christ, bless and heal?
I was reared in a household of faith. In my father's home we had no doctor in the town. We had none short of Salt Lake City, forty miles away. My father and my mother reared almost entirely their ten children without a doctor-time and time again pneumonia, scarlet fever, typhoid, six of us sick at one time in bed in the same room with diphtheria. And what did they do? Father and the elders went to the Lord. That is how we lived.
Read what happened on what is called the Day of Miracles on the banks of the Mississippi, when the Prophet went out and administered here and there and healed. Joseph sent his handkerchief as Paul of old sent handkerchiefs and aprons, and, their faces being wiped, the sick were healed.
Now, if you have no doctors, no nurses, none but you and the Lord, you Priesthood bearers, is it not worth living so that when that time comes, your prayers will be heard, and your sick healed?
May God be with us and help us to live as the Priesthood should live.
I conclude by bearing my testimony as I did this morning, but will not repeat for time, save to say that I know God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph was a Prophet through whom came the Priesthood and the Gospel, that those who succeeded him have had that same right and that same power held today by President David O. McKay.
God give us all this testimony and give us the strength to live so that if, when, and as a crisis shall come, we may be a Church, a community of doctors representing the Priesthood, holding the Priesthood and exercising the great gift which filled the work of Jesus, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 87-90
This is an historic occasion. The young men of the Aaronic Priesthood in attendance will remember this, as we all shall.
We have just received a report of the attendance as follows: In the Salt Lake Tabernacle 7,563; in the Assembly Hall, Barratt Hall, and grounds, 2,285; in the 204 groups reporting in, 38,516; making a total reported to this moment of 48,364, every one of whom holds the Priesthood, which is an authorization to represent our Father in Heaven in whatever position or assignment each may be placed, and to do it authoritatively.
It is a humbling experience, even to have the privilege of being one of those 48,000 men of the Priesthood-a power in the land and a power never so greatly needed in the history of the world to thwart the plans and schemes of the Adversary as today. God grant that we may have wisdom and knowledge and most of all, divine guidance as we perform our duties assigned to us.
There are a few details that we should like to mention, and ask for the Bishops' cooperation in making more effective the work.
But before so doing, I wish to say a word about our servicemen mentioned in the beginning, twenty-one of whom flew in to attend this meeting tonight. I said we should have something more to say. A short time ago we received a letter from a group of service boys, a part of which I wish to read. They are aboard the United States steamship "The Pine Island."
"On behalf of the group aboard the U.S.S. Pine Island we would like to take this time to write to you with humbleness and sincerity in our hearts...
"We a few of the Lord's servants striving to do the work that we have to do before the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through your words, guidance, and leadership and the help of our Father in Heaven, and if we live worthy we will be able to do this work which is here for us to do...
"We are now touring the Pacific Ocean for six months, visiting different lands and people. We learn a lot of the ways of other people. How they live and what they do, their religion. We find out personally how important missionary work really is and how much has to be done yet. Most of these people do not even know that there is a Father in Heaven.
"We do our very best, especially over here to set examples of the Church and to live as righteously as we possibly can, to live the commandments of the Lord and the teachings of our Church; to give unto all of those desiring to attend our meeting of worship, to let them partake of the spirit and blessings we receive at our little group meetings.
"We hope that we have not kept you from some important task with the time spent reading our letter. We just wanted to write to you to let you know that we are always thinking of you and our prayers are with you. We thank you for your time. May God bless and help you in all things you are in need of.
Very Humbly Yours,
Edwin E. Bigler, Elder L. D. S. Group Leader U. S. S. Pine Island Elder Danny G. Davis, Secretary"
It is not easy for the boys in the service to live up to the ideals of the Priesthood, especially if they have been tempted before they went into the service. It is not easy for the Elders who are in the missionary field, either, especially if they have been tempted before they go into the mission field, and I emphasize that exception.
Young men and young women who grow up through their teens and keep themselves unspotted from the world can resist temptation in the field and in the service, or wherever they are. It is not difficult when they meet temptation.
But some of our young men and our young women fail to live up to the standards of the Priesthood and they slip and fall. They ask forgiveness and go into the field and are tempted, and they are tempted, and they fall again. It is just as necessary for young men and young women to live up to the principles in their high school training here at home, and some of them are narrow in their training and teaching, as it is for them to keep themselves pure and unspotted when they go into the field.
You cannot tamper with the Evil One. Resist temptation, resist the Devil and he will flee from you.
The Savior on the Mount gave us the greatest example in all the world and the 48,000 men tonight must ever have him in mind as their ideal. Just after the Savior's baptism, he was led up to the mount that is known now as the Mount of Temptation. I do not know whether that is where he stood, where he fasted for forty days, or not. But it was on some mount that he went, and after fasting forty days, the Tempter came to him, so we are told, and as the Tempter always does, he struck at him in what the Tempter thought was his weakest point.
After having fasted, the Tempter thought he would be hungry, and the first temptation, you will remember was, "If," and he said it sarcastically, "If thou be the Son of God," referring to the testimony of the Father when he said, "This is my beloved Son,"-"If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." And there is a stone there in that area which is not unlike a Jewish wheat-loaf, so that would make the temptation of it appeal all the stronger. Christ's answer was: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God".
The next temptation quoted scripture also. It was an appeal to vanity, an appeal to gain ascendancy over our fellows: "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down... " "... for it is written... " "... for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." And the answer was, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God".
The third temptation was of love, of wealth and power. The tempter took Jesus to a high mountain and showed him the things of the world and the power thereof. He was not sarcastic in this temptation. He was pleading, for the resistance of the Savior had weakened the Tempter's powers. He showed him the things of the world. "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." Rising in the majesty of his divinity, Jesus said: "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." And the Tempter slunk away; and we are told that angels came and administered to the Lord.
There is your story, young man. Your weakest point will be the point at which the Devil tries to tempt you, will try to win you, and if you have made it weak before you have undertaken to serve the Lord, he will add to that weakness. Resist him and you will gain in strength. He will tempt you in another point. Resist him and he becomes weaker and you become stronger, until you can say, no matter what your surroundings may be, "Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve".
Now, I mention this because there are too many broken hearts in our Church, because men, some of whom hold the Priesthood and prominent positions, are tempted right wherein they are weak, and they forget that they have made covenants with the Lord and step aside from the path of virtue and discretion and will break their wives' hearts because of foolish indulgence and because of their yielding.
We have one of the most sacred covenants in all the world pertaining to the happiness of the home, and there are men within the sound of my voice who have forgotten how sacred that covenant is. The Brethren of the Twelve, the General Authorities of the Church, the stake authorities, are urging youth everywhere to go to the temple to be married. Don't you go to that temple unless you are ready to accept the covenants that you make.
Marriage in the temple is one of the most beautiful things in all the world. A couple is led there by love, the divinest attribute of the human soul. A young man looks upon that bride, rightfully, who will be the mother of his children, as being as pure as a snowflake, as spotless as a sunbeam, as worthy of motherhood as any virgin. And I will tell you that it is a glorious thing for a woman thus to bear the robes and be the pride of a young Elder's heart, one who trusts her to be the head of his household.
And she trusts him as being as worthy of fatherhood as she of motherhood, and rightfully, too, because on his shoulders are the robes of the Holy Priesthood, testifying to his young bride and to all, that he is as worthy of fatherhood as she of motherhood.
And together they stand in the House of the Lord and testify, covenant before him that each will be true to the covenants they make that day, each keeping himself or herself to the other and none else. That is the highest ideal of marriage ever given to man. If those covenants were kept as sacred as sacred covenants should be kept, there would be fewer broken hearts among wives and fewer among the husbands, when wives forget. A covenant is a sacred thing, and a man who is married in the temple, has no right to be looking at young women, whether they are in the choir or in the Relief Society or on the General Board, or doing any of the duties of the Church. You have a covenant to be true to that wife.
Brethren of the Priesthood, keep it true, be true to it.
"It's easy enough to be prudent, When nothing tempts you to stray, When without or within no voice of sin Is luring your soul away. But it's only a negative virtue Until it is tried by fire, And the life that is worth the honor of earth, Is the life that resists desire. By the cynic, the sad, the fallen Who had no strength for the strife, The world's highway is cumbered today; They make up the item of life. But the virtue that conquers passion And the sorrow that hides in a smile, It is these that are worth the homage of earth For we find them but once in a while."
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox
I plead with the army assembled tonight in this Priesthood meeting, to keep true to the covenants made in the House of God. You have no right to neglect your wives and go and seek the company of others who seem to be more attractive to you because you are thrown with them in daily life, in your business affairs, or in Church affairs. This may seem general, but while I speak to you, a wife with her tears and her pleadings comes to me now, asking, "Won't you just say a prayer, won't you offer a prayer to try to bring my husband back?" Well, she may have been to blame for the trouble she said she was partly to blame-but I know he was to blame, for he is a man who holds the Priesthood and he has no right to break his covenants. We have too many divorces in the Church, and men, I think we are to blame for most of them-not all, but most of them.
With regard to temple work, bishops, be more careful about issuing recommends. First, in the details: Many persons come to the temples with recommends incompletely prepared, lacking essential information, often without indication as to the purpose of the ordinance.
Next: Missionaries not infrequently come to the Mission Home without temple recommends. That should never be, bishops. Most of them, not having received their endowments, must go to the temple, and the program at the Mission Home provides for at least two temple sessions.
Please be careful, bishops and stake presidencies, for we ask that you give special attention to the correction of these two matters and save much inconvenience, expense, and time to temple and general office staff and the people of the Church as well.
I see that the time is gone and I must not detain you longer.
If you will have your testimonies strengthened, to have it revealed to you now individually that Christ is aiding you in your work, guiding his Church, well the best way to do that is to follow the admonition of my brethren who have spoken to you tonight-doing your duty, as President Moyle urged, attending to missionary work, no matter what the cost may be or how many hours you have to spend.
There is an old saying that "man's extremity is God's opportunity." You remember the story I have told about James McMurrin, who had to fill an appointment in Falkirk, Scotland, on Sunday. He was in Burntisland Saturday night and he had a sixpence or a shilling in his pocket to pay for his boat ride across the Leith Walk to Edinborough. When that was spent he was alone. The only way he could get to Falkirk was by the one train that was then running between Edinborough and Glasgow.
He had an appointment with the Branch in Edinborough from ten to twelve. He filled that appointment. When they asked him to go to lunch, he said, "No, thank you, I have to be in Falkirk and I have to take the train that leaves at one o'clock"-or thereabouts. One by one the Saints bade him goodbye, all but Brother Robertson, who was president of the Branch. "Why," he said, "Well, if ye canna go hame with me, I'll gae ye Scotch convoy," and together they walked across Princess Street down to Waverly Station, and crossed under the glass covered canopy, over to the gate from which the train was to leave.
The only possible way that Brother McMurrin could have kept his appointment that night was to get that train. He had faith that the Lord would open up his way. He did not ask anyone for a shilling, nor for sixpence, nor for twopence, nor for two and six, and as the time approached, Brother Robertson said, "Well, Brother McMurrin, it is time just to get your ticket, so I will say good-bye." "Goodbye, Brother Robertson," and Brother McMurrin was left alone. There was his extremity.
"Father,"-I will give you his words as he gave them to me "Father, I have come just as far as I can in fulfilling my duty. Open up the way that I may get on this train and go to Falkirk." He had in mind, he said, that the gatekeeper would probably let him go through. He did not think of the fact that the gatekeeper was a Scotchman. He would never do that. What happened? Brother Robertson had just returned to the steps leading up to Princess Street and the thought came to him, "I wonder if Brother McMurrin has enough money." Quickly retracing his steps, he walked across the station, pulled out of his pocket a two and six piece, and said, "Here, Brother McMurrin, perhaps you need this." "Thank you, Brother Robertson, I need that to get my ticket." "Man's extremity is God's opportunity."
You brethren in the Church will come against the wall. It seems to be across your path. It may be morally. You cannot overcome it, or you cannot get through it, you cannot see. You can walk from here to that wall, having faith that God will give you a ladder, or show you a hidden ladder or an opening, and he will do it, if you will walk just as far as you can in the performance of your duty. No matter what it is or how difficult your duty, do it; walk that distance, and then say in all sincerity and faith, "Father, help me. Open up the way for me. Give me strength to do my duty, give me strength to overcome temptation."
God help us as men representing him through the Priesthood, the Holy Priesthood, to do our duty and do it well, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Richard L. Evans
Richard L. Evans, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 126-128
Each year on a day so designated, we recall the birth and accomplishment of Christopher Columbus, a man no doubt inspired of God to do what he did, against all ignorance, against all odds and obstacles. He is a symbol, one among many, of the difficulties men can endure if they have sufficient faith in an ultimate objective.
The heroes of history, and the lives of those less known, have proved they could endure working and waiting and great difficulty and discouragement, if there were some purpose, some hope, some reasonable assurance of the ultimate objective.
The long hard journey is not too long if "home" is at the other end. But aimlessness would give men little reason for lengthening out the effort, without some assurance, without some real and solid incentive.
Remembered are the words of Robert Browning:
"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?"
But his reach should know that he is reaching for something real-or his reach will weary of the reaching.
Everything has to have a reason, a purpose, an ultimate answer. And for such answers men have searched and sought: Why do we live? What are the purposes of life? Why did the Creator create? Why, indeed, were worlds brought into being?
For answer we would have to go back to the basic, literal facts of our relationship to God, who gave us the opportunity of life, and who is in fact the Father of us all.
"In the beginning," we read in sacred writ, "God created the heaven and the earth".
But for answer we would have to go back before this beginning, with God's great plan and purpose: the Gospel, we have come to call it, which we heard in the heavens before time began, where we were with our Father, the Father of our spirits, and where we agreed to enter mortality to prove ourselves and learn the lessons of life, and where we were assured our Father would send his own beloved Firstborn Son to redeem us from death-that Son of whom Paul said, "God... hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being... the express image of his person... when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high".
The whole intent of scripture is one of establishing our relationship with God, our Father, and with his Son, our Savior, and with the eternal plans and purposes for each and all of us, and our relationships to life-and to one another also.
And what are these plans and purposes? What would a loving Father want for his children? What would any father want for his children? Peace and health and happiness; learning and progress and improvement; and everlasting life, and everlasting association with those we love. What less could heaven be? What less would a Father plan or propose, for those he loves, for those whom he made "in his own image"? He has declared his work and his glory "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". This is the ultimate objective. This is the whole purpose of the Gospel he has given.
This makes life meaningful, everlastingly so. This is the assurance that gives incentive-that gives faith in the face of all searching uncertainty. This makes life worth all the anguish, all the effort, as we make our way through the world-learning that life is for learning, that our Father sent us here for a period of proving, not to lose our way, but with a light within us to lead us, if we will be led, to our highest possibilities, with freedom and faith and with a few simple rules to keep, which we call commandments.
And as to keeping these commandments, we have our choice-our free agency, as it has come to be called. How could it be otherwise? How could we grow without it? Who can learn to make decisions if someone else always does the deciding? As we have to learn to let our children learn much for themselves, so our Father in heaven has sent us here with freedom to decide for ourselves. And to help us to decide, he has given us standards, advice, laws, rules. And they are not arbitrary, unrealistic rules, but are simply counsel from a loving Father, who knows us, who knows our nature. It is not his purpose that his children should be unhappy. No father intends to have his children unhappy. And for this reason he has given us commandments for our health and happiness, and peace and progress and quiet conscience.
In a remarkable commencement address, some months before he left this life, Mr. Cecil B. DeMille made this moving observation concerning freedom, and the purpose of life, and the keeping of the commandments:
"We are too inclined to think of law as something merely restrictive," he said, "something hemming us in. We sometimes think of law as the opposite of liberty. But that is a false conception. That is not the way that God's inspired prophets and lawgivers looked upon the law. Law has a twofold purpose. It is meant to govern. It is also meant to educate...
"God does not contradict himself. He did not create man and then, as an afterthought, impose upon him a set of arbitrary, irritating, restrictive rules. He made man free-and then gave him the commandments to keep him free.
"We cannot break the Ten Commandments. We can only break ourselves against them-or else, by keeping them, rise through them to the fulness of freedom under God. God means us to be free. With divine daring, he gave us the power of choice."
In our own day and dispensation, the Lord has restated the law of cause and effect, with these words: "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated-And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated".
The commandments are not old-fashioned, out-dated, or merely man-made. They apply to our own as to other ages. And whenever we do anything basically against them, we pay a price-not because someone has said so, but because we are what we are, and because we are irrevocably affected by the very laws of life. No matter what someone says, and no matter who would set them aside, there are still heartaches and heartbreaks and inescapable consequences for those who lie and cheat and bear false witness; for those who are immoral and unfaithful to loved ones; for those who abuse themselves physically, who indulge appetites, who acquire harmful habits; for those who set aside sure and safe standards, who are coarse in conduct, and run contrary to the commandments, to the basic laws of life.
To find peace the peace within, the peace that passeth understanding-men must live in honesty, honoring each other, honoring obligations working willingly, loving and cherishing loved ones, serving and considering others, with patience, with virtue, with faith and forbearance, with the assurance that life is for learning, for serving, for repenting, and improving. And God be thanked for the blessed principle of repenting and improving, which is a way that is open to us all.
There is a Kingdom, and there is a King. And there are requirements for citizenship in the Kingdom-commandments, laws, ordinances, and obligations, and what is required of us for peace in this world, and exaltation in the world to come, is to follow him and keep his commandments.
We would witness this day that the Lord God lives, and that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, his Divine and only Begotten Son, did redeem us from death, and even now is our advocate with the Father, and sits by his Father's side, and that the fulness of the Gospel is again on earth with power and authority to administer in its saving and exalting ordinances.
There is this certainty of assurance also: that he is willing to reveal his mind and will to us today, to guide us, to hear and answer prayer, to open his arms to the prayerful and repentant, even as he has done in other days.
And against the tension and trouble of our time-against injustice, threats, and force and fear; want and worry; discouragement and despondency; unfaithfulness and duplicity; and much of misunderstanding, and much of inhumanity from man to man-against all this there is the blessed assurance of the glorious ultimate objective: of salvation for all, as offered by our Savior, and of exaltation for those who will work at it and win it; of justice, of compensation, of the ultimate defeat of evil; of peace and of progress and health and happiness, of everlasting life with sweet reunion with loved ones.
And this day we would plead with all men, the searching and the sorrowing, the sick, the discouraged, those burdened with sin and unquiet conscience; those who feel lost and lonely, and those who have lost those they love-to all we would plead: take courage and faith and assurance, according to the promises and purposes of Him who is the Father of us all, who is mindful of us all.
By walking in his ways and keeping his commandments, God grant that all of us together may move on to the glorious ultimate objective that is offered all of us-to the highest opportunities of everlasting life, with our loved ones with us, always, and forever, in Jesus' name. Amen.
President Henry D. Moyle
Henry D. Moyle, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 91-95
"We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost".
Upon this article of our faith is the Church founded. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master, is the Son of the Living God. Christ is our Head. His life and works in mortality had a twofold purpose in the eternal plan of man: first, to redeem man from the fall. Therefore, has he been called the Redeemer of mankind. We believe with Paul of old:
"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive".
The atonement of Christ was in turn twofold, as I have said: first, to redeem man from the fall. It is through this atonement that man is resurrected from the dead that he might gain eternal life in its fulness, that there might be a reuniting of the body and the spirit after death. This constitutes the fulness of man.
The second purpose of the atonement was that we might be resurrected, free from our transgressions in mortality, and not live forever in our sins. Christ also atoned for all of our individual sins. Thus, we say he took upon himself the sins of the world. John tells us, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life".
We say in our Second Article of Faith: "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression".
Thus we see that the atonement of Christ brings upon us the redemption from the dead. We all become fruits of the resurrection. Redemption from our own sins depends upon us. We are not saved from ourselves by grace alone as we are from Adam's transgression. To understand this simple difference gives us the power to differentiate in large measure truth from error. When we seek the inspiration of God in answer to our prayers; he inspires us. We repent, and repentance leads us to an appreciation of the laws and ordinances of God by which man can, through his own effort, through the exercise of his own will power, lift himself from sin to righteousness. When he does this, he is on the way to eternal salvation and exaltation in the kingdom of our Heavenly Father.
Paul said of Christ: "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him".
In all things Christ has set us the pattern. For this purpose he came to earth. No deviation from his plan can be justified or tolerated either in the judgment or the mercy of God. Furthermore, no excuse, no reason, exists why all men should not lend obedience thereto, rather than to try to justify themselves in pursuing any other course in life. Christ came to help us work out our salvation.
There are two phases of Christ's earthly mission. First, he taught his followers the plan by example as well as by precept. His teachings began with his own baptism in the waters of Jordan at the hands of John the Baptist by immersion, and John had theretofore been duly commissioned of the Lord to perform this ordinance. Could he have emphasized the importance of baptism in any better way?
"And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: "And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased".
"... for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness".
We next see Christ in the hands of the tempter. Thus he taught us by his example to overcome the power of evil. We must all recognize in our lives the existence of two great powers, and learn early in life that with the power and inspiration of God we can overcome and resist and turn aside every evil force. Even his fasting for forty days gave us an understanding of how we can likewise efficaciously reach the source of power essential for our own progress. How could the Savior have taught us better how to begin a life of humility and of service?
We next see Christ on the mountain teaching his disciples whom he had chosen, and with them other listeners-yes, the multitude-the principles by which men could control their lives, and should control them. Out of these teachings we have the Sermon on the Mount. Would that it were understood by all men! But all men do not understand the teachings of Christ. His teachings are sufficient to have taught all who have heard and all who have read or now read that they should all have recognized him as the Son of the Living God.
There were only a relatively few who followed him. Too many were steeped in the paganistic practices of the past, too self-satisfied to open their minds and their hearts to the truth, even when spoken with the conviction and knowledge and power of God, made manifest through his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master.
Time will not permit the enumeration of all his teachings. How grateful we are that he gave us the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper and commanded us to meet frequently and partake of that Sacrament and renew our covenants to keep his laws and obey his commandments, even as we covenanted to do at the waters of baptism.
His second purpose was not finally completed until after his crucifixion and resurrection, just prior to his ascension to heaven, when he charged his apostles of old to go into all the world and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, and that they that believed should be baptized and thereby bring about their own salvation.
"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen".
Here again he set the great pattern to be followed by his disciples in every generation of time. The plan Christ thus gave us can be stated very simply:
We hear the gospel. We repent. We are inspired. We are converted by that inspiration, the gift of the Holy Ghost. We accept, and we learn the gospel. We teach the gospel to others.
Its divinity is revealed to those who seek the truth by the gift and power of God. That is what is meant by the scriptures: "... seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you".
We ourselves must act. We must initiate our own search for truth of our own free will. Once we do, the Lord magnifies us, fills our souls with his Holy Spirit, and leads us on to faith and to repentance. When we have received and understood the word, we accept the gospel and lend obedience thereto.
Our third and fourth articles of faith read: "We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel".
"We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost".
We express our love and devotion to God for our conversion by proclaiming his word to others, even as he has given it to us. We spend our lives teaching the gospel to each other in the Church, in our homes, in all our worshiping assemblies. We proclaim the truths of the gospel to our neighbors and our friends far and near. We fill our missions on earth by trying to follow in this respect, as in all others, the charge and the example and the teachings of Christ, our Lord.
After Peter and the apostles of old received this commission to preach to every nation, we see them next actually preaching the gospel, and our first recorded history of their missionary labors is recorded thus:
"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. "And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance... "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call".
"But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; "And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; "Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. "And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people".
"Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, "If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom Ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. "This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner".
Today, and for the past 130 years of the existence of the restored Church of Jesus Christ, the Spirit which prompted Peter and his associates of old has impelled the elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to do likewise. Ever since 1830 we have had in the world young men and women who, because of their love of the gospel and the witness of its divinity which they have received of the Holy Ghost, preach the gospel in its truth and in its purity. They devote their time and their means to accomplish this mission, to call all people to repentance and to teach the plan of life and salvation given us of the Savior. The gospel has been restored to the earth in its fulness, in its simplicity and purity in this day through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Like Paul of old, they say, and they say it with pure hearts and clean hands, as they dedicate their lives to their missionary labors:
"For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. "And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. "And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: "That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God".
Every convert to the Church today has this desire in his heart to tell others what he has found. There is joy in knowing the truth, and there is joy in intuitively sharing it with others. This is the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is the sure sign of our conversion. Not all of the members of the Church leave their homes to go on missions into the world, my friends, to bring to you the gospel in your homes, but within the sphere of their influence our people continue through life to bear their testimony of the existence of God which gives to them that peace which can come alone from our Father in heaven.
As elders in Israel today we are charged with the responsibility of proclaiming his word to the world and crying repentance to the sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. Our brothers and sisters throughout the world, those who are listening in, who may not be of our number, let us beg of you to give our missionaries the opportunity they so earnestly seek to give to you the simple principles of the gospel as taught by Jesus Christ himself. These missionaries come to you holding the priesthood of God. They have received his power and authority to preach the gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof. They have brought joy to hundreds of thousands in the past. All of us here today are here as a result of similar labors upon the part of former missionaries.
My friends, you cannot afford to turn a deaf ear to the truth, for we declare to you in all soberness that God lives and has once again spoken from the heavens, once again restored his power and his priesthood in its pristine strength and purity upon those of us whom he has called to carry on his work in this, the dispensation of time in which he has brought together all that he has given his children in all previous generations of man, all as foretold through his prophets of old.
We have the power and the authority to confer these same blessings upon all nations, as the blessings which were given by the apostles of old to the nations in which they served as missionaries.
Daniel tells us: "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever".
John, the Revelator, gave us one of the most beautiful predictions of all of the restoration of the gospel in these latter days, for he said: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, "Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters".
These prophecies have, in large measure, been fulfilled. The gospel has been restored to the earth. God continues to magnify those upon whom he has bestowed his authority in these latter days to serve his people and to guide and direct the honest in heart the world over into the paths of truth and of right. We declare most solemnly that we have been called of God, and that we proclaim his word to the world by virtue of his power and authority. We invoke his blessings upon all mankind, and particularly that their hearts might be opened, their desires might be toward righteousness, and that they might lend an ear and understand and appreciate the truth when it is presented to them by his duly ordained and constituted servants-the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
God bless them, and bless us, and bless all who lend ear to their teachings, we pray humbly this day, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bishop Thorpe B. Isaacson
Thorpe B. Isaacson, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 95-98
President McKay, President Clark President Moyle, President Smith, my beloved brothers and sisters, and the radio and television audience; I am very grateful for the prayer this morning of a wonderful man, former mission president, Brother Theodore Jacobsen. I know that the Lord will answer that prayer, and I shall be grateful to you for your prayers this morning because I confess to you that I feel very humble and very weak.
As I have listened to these inspired messages today and yesterday and the day before, I have thought of the words of Riddle: "Those who know books know much, but those who know nature know more, and those who know God have reached the goal of human wisdom."
This great choir, I am sure, has uplifted us this morning along with thousands and perhaps millions who have heard them. They are a great credit to the Church and to the city, to the state and the nation. These choir leaders, the choir members, and the officers, are not just good musicians: They are good Latter-day Saints, and they are wonderful missionaries. They are devoted. I have a very choice brother singing in the choir, and I know how deeply devoted and what great love he has for this organization. May God bless every single one of them.
I know we have been deeply touched this morning by the inspiring address of President Henry D. Moyle. May I be pardoned if I tell you this morning that I thought his humble and yet beautiful address was just like the prayer he offered a few days ago in an upper room of the temple when the General Authorities met there preparatory to this great conference. As he spoke to you this morning, he had a prayer in his heart for you, the membership of the Church, and for our friends not of the Church; and as he offered that prayer in the temple, in the true order of prayer, I felt sure our Father in heaven had called him to his present position. Brother Moyle has no selfish interests. He has lived above selfishness. He will be a great blessing to the membership of this Church. Those of our friends not in the Church, as well as all of us, will sustain him and pray for him in the great load that he has to carry. The mantle of Presidency has fallen on his shoulders. Last night the priesthood assembled was deeply blessed as a result of his marvelous address. President Moyle will be a great comfort and blessing and assistance to President McKay and President Clark, whom he dearly loves.
A year ago it was the privilege of my wife and myself to visit many countries of Europe, and only by coincidence we came into countries, missions, branches, and districts where Brother and Sister Moyle had recently visited. I have never heard anyone speak so beautifully as the humble Saints of Europe spoke about President and Sister Moyle. I think we will never know the amount of good and the help that he rendered to so many of our humble Saints in far-off countries of Europe. In many places he spoke to them in their native tongue. How grateful they were for his presence. Sister Moyle likewise spoke to them. They are dearly loved in the far-off countries of Europe.
Faith promotes faith, and testimony inspires testimony.
Today, if I may, I would like to take just one sentence from President McKay's beautiful dedicatory prayer offered at the London Temple, and may I quote from that one sentence. Speaking to the Lord, he said: "May we express overwhelming gratitude just to be alive."
I have a personal reason this morning for repeating this sentence from President McKay's dedicatory prayer, because today I am truly grateful just to be alive. A few months ago I became critically ill, and I learned then, as I have never learned before, that the line between life and mortality and death and immortality is very thin indeed. It only takes a few seconds yes, a very few seconds-to change from life and mortality to death and immortality, and I saw how close one can get to the pale of death. I thought I was passing from this life to the other, and I am truly grateful to the Lord that he permitted me to live. I fully realized then that I was not prepared or ready for that passing, and it brought to my mind a few words that I have read in a poem that goes something like this:
"There is no time that we could set for parting. Ever our prayer would be," "Not yet, dear Lord, not yet, just another day."
I realized then more than ever before how dependent we are upon God, our Eternal Father, even for the preservation of our lives. When one faces such a change, and we are all going to face it, when we come close to it, many things come to our minds. I wonder if you are ready for that change. I wonder if you are prepared to change from life to death. I believe that we can become prepared and ready, and I concluded then that if the Lord would permit me to live longer, I intended to live better so that I could die better.
Even though one may not be completely conscious or aware of what is going on about him, I shall always be truly, humbly grateful, I hope, more grateful than ever before in my life for the blessings and the prayers of my friends and family and my Brethren.
I am more grateful now because I realize the power of the Holy Priesthood of God that we have heard so much about in this conference, often referred to as the greatest power on the face of the earth. Some of the Brethren, who are prophets and servants of God, came to my room in the hospital and laid their hands upon my head and anointed me with holy consecrated oil, and then said unto me, "By the power of the Holy Priesthood, and in the name of Jesus Christ, we bless you that you shall be well."
Do you know of any such power as that in the world? I bear testimony to you that the power of the priesthood is here in the Church. I testify to you that one knows and one feels that influence and that power, and is mindful of the blessings of the Lord received through the administration of his servants holding that Holy Priesthood.
I am grateful to be alive, and I promised the Lord that I would bear testimony of that power and that healing influence whenever I could have the strength to do so. I thank God, and I hope that you thank God just to be alive. If you feel that you are not quite prepared or ready for that change from life to death, let me urge you now-today-to change your life. Remember it only takes a few seconds to change from life unto death. Let me urge you to make the necessary adjustments in your life. Yes, make new resolutions. Turn back, if you have reason to believe that you are on the wrong road, turn back now. It isn't too late.
May I quote from Amulek's testimony in the book of Alma, wherein he states: "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors... for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world".
Repent! Forsake those things that are wrong so that when the time comes for you to make that change you can say as Paul said to Timothy: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
"Henceforth there is laid up for me crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing".
And as quoted in the last verse of the hymn, "Come, Let Us Anew":
"O that each in the day of his coming may say, 'I have fought my way thro'- I have finished the work thou did'st give me to do.' O that each from his Lord may receive the glad word: 'Well and faithfully done, Enter into my joy and sit down on my throne.'"
That reminds me of a prayer that I read recently, and may I quote: "Your day is almost done. When the night and the morning meet, it will be an unalterable memory. So let no unkind word, no careless doubting thought, no guilty secret, no neglected duty, no wisp of jealous fog becloud its passing."
May God grant us the ability to change our lives where they need to be changed. I wonder if we are absolutely satisfied with the life we are leading, with the thoughts we are thinking, and with the deeds that we are doing. Every one of us can thank God, our Heavenly Father, for our very life, and may we let God be our confidant-every one of us-that "thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly".
As we pass from day to day, each day bringing us closer to the time when we will change from life unto death may we ask: "Heavenly Father, for what purpose hast Thou given me this day? To what end do its hours point? Help me not lightly to dismiss this question. Let me not be carried unthinkingly with the drift of the times. Give me grace to reflect seriously upon the course of my life, for days are numbered and precious."
May this group here today, and those who listen on the radio and television, resolve to live better hereafter so that we can die better. May God bless every single one of you, that you may live as long as you want to live and as long as you ought to live. Remember, each day of life is so precious we must not let it carelessly slip away.
I bear testimony to you humbly that God lives, that he is our Father, that Jesus Christ is our beloved Savior and our Elder Brother. Oh, how grateful we should be for the power and the blessings of the Holy Priesthood of God that are constantly in our midst today. Oh how important it is to have the faith and ability to recognize, not only our blessings, but the source of those blessings.
God bless every one of you, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Henry D. Taylor
Henry D. Taylor, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 98-99
The calling of Brother Moyle to the First Presidency, and that of President Hunter to the Council of the Twelve, is added evidence, my brethren and sisters, that this Church is guided and directed by revelation and by inspiration. These are two wonderful men. I know the Lord has a great mission for them to perform.
We live today, my brethren and sisters, in a world of unrest and insecurity, where mistrust, suspicion, and disloyalty exist between nations as well as among individuals. Loyalty to oneself and to the principles he believes to be true, is a noble virtue.
In Shakespeare's Hamlet is expressed this impressive thought: "To thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."
Latter-day Saints should be taught early in youth the fundamental principles of the gospel. These teachings of the Savior, if observed, will serve as an anchor and guide throughout life, and bring happiness to the individual.
We have been privileged to come to this earth to be tested and proved, to see if we will be loyal and true to the commandments given by our Heavenly Father. We have the responsibility of being loyal to righteous and correct principles. Satan and his followers are zealous and loyal, but to causes and principles which are unrighteous and opposed to the will of our Heavenly Father.
There are two opposing forces operating to win the souls of the children of men-one force for good, and one for evil. The Prophet Mormon gave a test that may be applied in determining one from the other, when he said: "Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually...
"For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil". Through righteous living we may have the companionship of the Holy Spirit, which will assist us in discerning right from wrong, good from evil.
Joseph Smith was permitted to behold the contrast between the glory of God and the power of darkness and received this explanation: "All this is shown, the good and the evil, the holy and impure, the glory of God and the power of darkness, that you may know hereafter the two powers and never be influenced or overcome by that wicked one... You have beheld the power of God manifested and the power of Satan: and you see that there is nothing that is desirable in the works of darkness; that they cannot bring happiness; that those who are overcome therewith are miserable, while on the other hand the righteous are blessed with peace in the kingdom of God where joy unspeakable surrounds them".
The Savior came to earth with a mission to perform. He was loyal to the confidence and trust placed in him. This was in spite of his awareness of the magnitude of his mission, including the atonement. As the hour of the betrayal and his great sacrifice drew near, he entered the Garden of Gethsemane, and in anguish prayed to our Heavenly Father, saying: "... O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt".
The Prophet Joseph Smith fully realized the fate that awaited him and could have undoubtedly escaped martyrdom by going West beyond the reach of his enemies. Rather, he chose to return to Nauvoo and Carthage, being loyal to the Saints he loved so dearly, and who returned his love and affection. Many of his associates pleaded for the privilege of accompanying him and his brother Hyrum to the jail, aware that death could easily result. Willard Richards and John Taylor were granted this permission, and when the armed mob stormed the jail, they fought valiantly with all their might and strength to defend the Prophet and Hyrum. John Taylor was seriously wounded in the assault. This display of loyalty and affection could well impress and inspire each of us. These men were ready to give their very lives for those they loved.
They believed the words of the Savior when he said: "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends".
As we come into your stakes each week to attend quarterly conferences, we are deeply impressed with the devotion, steadfastness, and firmness of you good people in the wards, stakes, and missions of the Church. We are pleased to observe your love and loyalty for the gospel and for the inspired leaders of the Church and of your desire to sustain them and assist them in building up the kingdom of God here upon the earth.
To President McKay and the other brethren in the First Presidency, I express my love, and pledge them my loyalty and support. I sustain them with all my heart.
May we all be blessed with the ability to discern good from evil and have the courage and desire to be loyal to those principles which are righteous, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Levi Edgar Young
Levi Edgar Young, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 99-101
My brethren and sisters, we are all very glad to assemble in this great conference of the Church, and oh, the wonderful messages we have received, and the testimonies that strengthen our lives.
I wish to say a few words about President Joseph Young. My grandfather was chosen by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and when grandfather met the Prophet for the first time, the Prophet told him that the Lord had already a place for him in the priesthood.
Grandfather was a Methodist minister. He had become a preacher, going through the different parts of western Ohio, then crossing Lake Erie into Canada, holding meetings, preaching the Methodist beliefs. Then one morning he was holding a meeting, and he saw his brother, Brigham Young in the audience, and he could not understand it at first. Grandfather was the elder of the two. After the meeting, Brigham walked up to his brother, Joseph, and said, "Joseph, I have found the gospel. Come with me."
Joseph immediately felt the truth of what his brother said, and taking him by the arm and bidding his congregation good-bye, they made their way back to Kirtland, Ohio where Grandfather met the Prophet. He was baptized immediately, and within a few days the Seventy organization was made, and Grandfather found himself in the First Council of the Seventy. He was always so proud of it. He became a wonderful teacher and went among the people in a simple childlike manner. He was a great reader of the Bible and the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. He loved literature, and because of his prayers to God, he was able to grasp the meaning, and he used to say to the people: "That is a simple thought, isn't it?" And the way he said it, the Saints agreed, and it became known that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest in thought of today, and yet so great that it becomes simple and pure-an ideal for the person who goes to God and prays for understanding.
Grandfather Young passed away in 1884, and then his son, Seymour, succeeded him. It is a story that becomes very personal, I realize, but one of the seventies asked if I would say something about Joseph Young in my address. He was a great reader, and he had come to know the story of Israel, and taught it to the people. He was a reader of literature, as I have said, especially English literature, and just after the Prophet Joseph Smith had asked that some of the people learn Greek and Latin, Grandfather was learning those languages.
I must not take too much time, but I will read these few words to you. "To learn is to bring into your being a thought that gives strength and a better understanding of the power of your own mind." That was what Grandfather used to teach. Go to your Bible again and turn to verse or chapter that you have already learned to love, and read it again. Pick out some noble lesson; learn the substance of its thought. Who wrote the words? Where are they found and why were they written? That is for us all-the words, when were they written and why?
In time, an incentive to learn more and more will be the result of our study. The beauty of it is that you are learning for yourself. You become your own teacher. Try this exercise every day for a few minutes and you will be surprised at the number of noble truths you will learn. The worth of this self-teaching is the habit of thought and attention it stimulates within us. The steadfast pursuit of such an ideal is the truest recreation that we can have, and is the road to a personal understanding of the gospel.
"My brethren and sisters," said Joseph Young one time, "if you can learn how to learn, you have acquired something that will make of you a real teacher. You have acquired a habit that will not only give you much joy every day, but will also strengthen your character and lead you on daily to greater truths and more abundant life."
It is our own study, with faith and prayer to God, that gives us strength, that gives us life and light; and therefore we are ready to become more devoted readers of the great Church works. Remember the words of Jesus: "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me".
To know Christ is life eternal. To become like Christ is happiness everlasting. We know the steps that Jesus trod: obedience, devotion, purity, truthfulness, kindness, resistance of temptation, self-sacrifice. It was John Ruskin who wrote:
"He only is advancing in life whose heart is getting softer, whose blood warmer, whose brain quicker, whose spirit is entering into living peace."
And the men who have this life in them are the true lords and kings of the earth.
God bless us in this holy purpose of learning the gospel in its simplicity, for how true it is that the greatest thoughts become simple to our souls and spirits as we approach God by faith and prayer. I pray that we Seventies may all become wise and good teachers of the gospel. Amen.
Elder S. Dilworth Young
S. Dilworth Young, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 101-102
It seems to me that there have been two themes in this conference. One is our love and devotion and our determination to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. The other is a great concern for our children. May I speak briefly on the second of these two themes? May I quote you a scripture, briefly?
"... inasmuch as parents have children in Zion... that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents".
That was quoted twice earlier in this conference. I would like to add that we should also teach children ethical living. I believe that the tendency of the times and the forces of evil around us are so great that unless we unite on our objectives, and obtain a program to which we can expose our children and have them unite with us, we can easily fail in this great project of keeping our children in the Church. Unity of ideals and purposes is hard to achieve. May I illustrate?
Many years ago I was invited to a high school to talk to a group of parents who were present on a "leadership week" basis. It was not connected with Brigham Young University but was a local affair. There was invited to accompany me, and to take part in this discussion, a psychologist from one of our colleges. We both went, and I was the first speaker. I can remember how hard I labored to convince these parents that if they wanted to have their children obey, they themselves would have to obey the principles which they espoused.
One of the subjects they brought up was the matter of driving cars when under age. Everybody knows that the state law is clear in this respect-sixteen years of age is the legal limit under which a child should not drive. Many fathers had been beset with importuning from their children. Many fathers and mothers had allowed their children to drive, even under legal age.
I expressed myself quite vehemently on the subject and said I thought it was wicked, really, for a parent either to set an example of breaking or allow a child to break the law-not because of that particular law being either good or bad,-but because the tendency to break law would be implanted in that child, and perhaps sometime he would choose to flaunt a law more serious and important.
My companion followed me, and this was his solution. He said: "I will tell you how I solved that problem in my family. My boy is fourteen and a half years of age. I took him down to the bureau where they issue licenses, told the folks he was sixteen, and got him a drivers' license so that he could drive legally on the highway."
Another scripture:
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. "Honour thy father and thy mother; "That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord".
I think we might just as well recognize the fact that while we parents are "in for it," so to speak, if I might use a slang term, if we do not teach our children, I think the children are equally responsible to do a little for themselves to have respect for their parents, and to learn to obey their parents. It is a two-way thing. If parents are going to teach children, the children ought also to learn that they must be obedient to their parents.
I have another example. A certain man living in my town had a son. The son was invited to join a high school club. This high school club was one of a number. He wanted to have some social life with the other boys, I suppose, and after he talked to his father about it decided he would join. After a while there was to be an initiation.
He went to his father and said, "Father, I need some advice. I have heard in a roundabout way that they do things to you at these initiations. What would be your advice to me as to what I ought to do?"
The father said to him, "Do not let them do anything to you that will involve your dignity as my son or as a man. Do not let them compromise you in your priesthood, in your family, or in your good name."
So he went. The story comes to me that it was a cold winter's night, and the boys of the club, without chaperonage, had hired a cabin in the canyon near our town, and there they prepared to initiate their friends. I suppose the father had an anxious moment or two as he sat through the evening, wondering what was going to happen. The boy left him and took his sleeping bag and his sleeping equipment, because this was to be an all-night affair. The thermometer measured zero during the night.
About two o'clock in the morning the father said he heard the front door open. He got up to see who was entering the house without permission, and there stood his boy, sleeping bag slung on his back, overcoat on. He said, "What's the matter, Son?"
The boy said, "They tried it, Dad, and I fought them off and came home." He had walked nine miles in that zero weather. After he got warm, the boy retired. The father went upstairs, stood at the foot of his son's bed, and said, "You've done well. I am glad you are an obedient son."
Now, fathers must make decisions. Mothers must make decisions. But so must sons and daughters. If the sons and daughters do not make correct decisions, they are more at fault than their fathers and mothers, if their parents have taught them what is right. A most important purpose of this Church is to bring up children in righteousness and to keep parents righteous also.
I bear my witness that President McKay is a prophet of the Living God, and I bear witness also that his great concern, if I might be so bold as to interpret him, is for the youth of Zion, that they might grow in righteousness and carry the torch of this Church until it fills the earth.
I humbly pray we may find the right and the way to do it.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Sterling W. Sill
Sterling W. Sill, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 102-106
Recently a seat companion in an airplane was telling me something about the very interesting science of ballistics. He pointed out that when a bullet is shot through a gun barrel, the bullet receives a set of characteristic markings which will forever identify it with the particular gun barrel through which it is shot.
Our conversation then moved to another set of facts which might be called mental ballistics or spiritual ballistics. That is, when an idea is passed through the mind, the mind receives a set of characteristic markings; for example, when one thinks negative thoughts, he gets a negative mind. If he thinks depraved thoughts, his mind becomes depraved. If he thinks damned thoughts, a damned mind will be the result. Solomon was speaking as a kind of ballistics expert when he said, "For as he thinketh in his heart so is he".
In the course of our journey we were obliged to lay over for an hour between planes. During our wait we made an examination of the kind of literature that was being distributed through the magazine stand in the airport. We were impressed-as anyone must be impressed, with the fact that one of the most serious problems of our day, whether considered from the point of view of the church or the nation generally, is the very low-grade of ideas which makes up such a substantial part of our mental diet. William James once said, "The mind is made up by what it feeds upon." We would not think of feeding our bodies contaminated food, and yet we often feed our minds and our souls with contaminated thoughts, and thereby we run contaminated emotions through our hearts, sometimes with fatal results.
One of our most urgent present-day needs is to houseclean our thinking. Because two opposite thoughts cannot co-exist in the mind at the same moment, the best way to get rid of undesirable thoughts is by antedoting them with good. The best way to get darkness out of a room is to fill it with light. The best way to kill the negative is to cultivate the positive, and the best way to improve our lives is to improve our thoughts. And one of the best ways to improve our thoughts is to develop a love of great literature.
Young Abraham Lincoln once said, "What I want to know is in books, and my best friend is the one who will get me a book I haven't read." And in one of the most authoritative voices of latter-day scripture the Lord said, "It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance". And it is just as impossible to be saved by reading the kind of sex stories and murder mysteries that makes up such a large part of our contemporary literature.
This morning I would like to share with you some quotations having to do with the values of great ideas and stimulating ideals as they are made available to us through good books. Someone has said, "Books are among life's most precious possessions. They are the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that man builds ever lasts. Monuments fall, civilizations perish, but books continue."
"The perusal of a great book is as it were an interview with the noblest men of past ages who have written it."
Charles Kingsley once said, "There is nothing more wonderful than a book. It may be a message to us from the dead, from human souls we never saw who lived perhaps thousands of miles away, and yet these little sheets of paper speak to us, arouse us, teach us, open our hearts and in turn open their hearts to us like brothers."
"Without books God is silent, justice dormant, philosophy lame."
John Milton said, "Books are not dead things but contain a certain potency of life in them as active as the soul whose progeny they are. They preserve as in a vial, the purest efficacy of the living intellect that bred them."
Of course, the great literature of the world centers in the Holy Bible. The writings of Shakespeare alone contain some 550 Bible quotations and allusions. The works of Tennyson have 330 Bible references. Emerson's works are filled with Bible ideas, and the New Testament records eighty-nine occasions when the Master himself quoted from the great scriptures.
Think of the effect that the Bible has had in individual lives. Looking backward we see young Abraham Lincoln lying before the open fire reading the Bible, and it is easy to follow the Bible influence in his life throughout his entire career. One Bible passage in the mind of another young man by the name of Joseph Smith helped to change the religious history of the world.
Or, think of the effect that Bible teaching has had in the rise and fall of nations. Most of the nations of the past have fallen because they have disobeyed divine law. Certainly this will continue to be a determining factor in every national success.
With keen insight Daniel Webster once made this prophetic statement, "If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering, but if we, or our children, shall neglect its teachings and its authority, no one can tell how suddenly some calamity may overwhelm us and bury all of our glory in profound obscurity." We inscribe our coins with the motto "In God We Trust." At least we ought to know the kind of God we are talking about.
It has been pointed out that, "We do not know what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future." And we may be sure that our national prosperity as well as our individual exaltation depends upon how well we utilize this great reservoir of spiritual truth. In our uncertain age we need the great scriptures as never before.
Our problem, of course, is that no matter how great our literature may be, even if we have the word of God himself spoken in our own day, it doesn't help us very much unless we know what was said and then govern ourselves accordingly.
The fifth chapter of the book of Moses recounts how God tried to teach the posterity of Adam to live the principles of the gospel. But Satan came among them saying, "Believe it not," and many believed it not. This same problem has been plaguing the world ever since.
One of our great Articles of Faith says, "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God". But not only is Satan among us saying, "Believe it not," he goes much further and also says, "Don't even read it." And readership surveys show that most people in and out of the Church are following that unfortunate direction. There are very few people who regularly read the Bible with a purpose, and the vast majority read it almost not at all.
It was reported that a Sunday School teacher once asked the members of her class if they knew what was in the Bible and one little girl held up her hand. The teacher said, "All right, Mary Jane, you stand up and tell the class what is in the Bible." And Mary Jane said, "There's a lock of baby's hair in it; some pressed violets from sister's beau are in it; and some of grandmother's love letters are in it." We ought to remember that there are some things in the Bible that Mary Jane apparently had never heard about.
First, the doctrines of eternal life are in it. The Bible teaches us about God our Eternal Father, and what our relationship to him ought to be. Lord Calvin was once asked to name the greatest discovery that had ever been made, and he replied, "The greatest discovery that is ever made is when a man discovers God." Jesus indicated this same truth when he prayed, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent".
Think of the advantage that young Timothy had over many of our children. Paul said to Timothy, "... from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." Then he said, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness".
Think of the profit our lives would show if we could absorb the lessons of the great parables, or the philosophy of the Golden Rule, or the spirit of man's individual responsibility to God, or the stimulation contained in the doctrine of eternal progression. Or, suppose that we get God's answers to life's great questions including the one expressed by the rich young ruler when he asked, "Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?".
There are some important "thou shalt nots," in the Bible. The Lord has said that there are some things that we just must not do. Most of the Ten Commandments come in this category. The Bible tells us of forbidden fruit, of forbidden ground, of forbidden desires, and forbidden thoughts. As Cecil B. De Mille has pointed out, "It is not possible for us to break the Ten Commandments, we can only break ourselves against them."
There is a set of what someone has called "promissory notes" in the Bible. Every commandment has a blessing attached for faithful performance. But the Lord has said, "I, the Lord am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise". He said, "I command and men obey not; I revoke and they receive not the blessing". That means that all blessings do not apply to us individually. Only those laws apply to us that we actually live; for example, the Lord said through Malachi, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse..." then he promised, "and prove me now herewith... if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it". But that does not apply to us, unless we pay our tithing.
Suppose that we tear out of the Bible those portions which do not apply to us personally. That is, if we do not keep the Sabbath day holy, or if we fail to observe the laws of honesty, chastity, temperance, repentance, and baptism; then we had better tear those parts out of the scripture, so we will not deceive ourselves unnecessarily by imagining that they apply to us. It would be interesting for each of us to find out just how big our own particular version of the Bible would be under these circumstances. Someone was once asked whether or not he was a Christian and he said he was, in spots. I suppose that it is better to be a Christian in spots than not to be a Christian at all. But we ought to keep in mind that when our Christianity comes in spots, then our blessings will come in spots also.
So far as I know, the most thrilling, exciting idea there is in the world is that if we choose, we may live every single one of these great commandments of God, and thereby we may make ourselves payees on every one of these scriptural promissory notes.
There is great inspiration in the Bible. Some time we express an important human need by saying, "If only I had someone to give me a lift occasionally, someone to look up to. Someone to stir up my faith and wind up my enthusiasm." The greatest need of most of us is just for some plain, honest-to-goodness inspiration. When you feel such a need, suppose that you turn to this great volume that someone has called, "God's Who's Who"; that is, the scriptures tell of the men who are important to God, and they are the ones who can best upgrade our lives. Thomas Carlyle once said, "You cannot look upon a great man without gaining something from him."
Through the Bible we may draw upon the accumulated experiences of some of the greatest men who ever lived. A consistent student of the scripture gains a new power to think, to feel, and to enjoy. It is a source of the most exquisite and enduring delight to have one's mind stored with worthwhile thoughts, beautiful expressions, and stimulating ideals.
Or, we may relive the great events of the Bible in our own lives. Suppose, for example, that in imagination we go and stand upon Mount Sinai where to the accompaniment of the lightnings and thunders of that holy mountain God gave Moses the law. We see the great prophet as he came down from the presence of Jehovah with the glory of God resting upon him with such intensity that the people could not abide his presence.
Then in a moment we might choose to pass over the next 1500 years and go out onto the hills of Judea for the first Christmas, and with that angelic company celebrate the most important event that ever occurred upon this earth, the birth of the Savior of the world. Then suppose that we follow him during those thirty-three years while he walked the dusty roads of this earth and try to learn the lessons that his life teaches.
One of the most inspiring lines in all of the scripture was spoken by the mother of Jesus at the marriage feast at Cana. She said to the servants, "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it". What an inspiring motto that would make for our individual lives! Or, suppose that in feeling we go with him into the Garden of Gethsemane while under the burden of our sins he sweat great drops of blood at every pore. Or, we might go and stand with uncovered heads and contrite hearts before the uplifted cross upon that barren Judean hill, while this thorn-crowned Sufferer paid the last full measure of the price of our redemption. How our appreciation would be increased and our lives sanctified by a sympathetic reliving of these great events which all took place in our interest. We must not blame the people of that day alone for putting Jesus to death upon the cross. We must also bear our share of guilt. It was your sins and mine that made it necessary for him to volunteer his own death. But now the greatest opportunity of our lives is to see to it that his atonement was not made in vain.
Emerson once touched upon one of our greatest present-day dangers when he said, "On the brink of an ocean of life and truth we are miserably dying. Sometimes we are furthest away when we are closest by." Think how near they were who lived contemporaneously with Jesus. He walked among them. They heard his teachings. They knew of his miracles, and yet they were so far away. When Satan came among them saying, "Believe it not", they pronounced their own doom upon themselves by saying, "His blood be upon us and our children". And so it has been, and so it may be with us.
We are so near. We have the great scriptures. We have the judgment of time shining upon the life of Christ. The gospel has been restored in a fulness never before known in the world. We have the written testimony of many witnesses, both ancient and modern, and yet if we "believe it not" we may be so far away. Even in this great age of wonders and enlightenment, Satan is still inducing us to mark our souls with the contamination of inferior thoughts, whereas the greatest opportunity of our lives is to read more and study more and believe more and live more, that word of God which is still able to make us wise unto salvation.
One of the most thrilling accomplishments that I can think of, is that as a Church and as a nation we may aspire to say out of a full understanding, "We believe the Bible to be the word of God". May we so order our lives that this great accomplishment may be brought about, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Hugh B. Brown
Hugh B. Brown, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 106-109
My brethren and sisters, and I hope our friends, who are present and who are listening in, who are not members of the Church, will permit me to include them in that salutation, "brothers and sisters," because we believe in the brotherhood of men under the Fatherhood of God, and that Fatherhood which is universal.
Although I come to this assignment semiannually, it is always humbling and sometimes almost overwhelming. But it is reassuring to know that one has the sympathy and prayers of this great congregation and, we hope, the interest of an even larger audience of friendly listeners who are attending conference by means of radio and television.
We are mindful of the unseen audience and prayerfully attempt to assist all who seek a better understanding of some phases of what has been called the "Phenomenon of Mormonism."
In the past, unfortunately, when discussing basic religious questions, it was more difficult to find common ground of understanding than when considering, for instance, science or philosophy. The prejudice of the past closed some minds to truth and made communication impossible. Victor Hugo promised that "A day will come when the only battlefield will be the market open to commerce and the mind open to new ideas." Thank the Lord that day is dawning, at least in our western world. As A. Powell Davies said, "The world is too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but brotherhood."
I should like to enter a plea for friendship, understanding, brotherhood, and tolerance, all so badly needed in our confused and troubled world. In one of our Articles of Faith we claim for ourselves, and freely accord to all men, the untrammeled right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience.
Intolerance, one of the bitter fruits of ignorance and bigotry, has plagued the world from the beginning and has been responsible for much of its sorrow and misery. Maurice Samuel, defender of the Jews, wrote in The Professor and the Fossil:
"For all peoples, are, alas, in the habit of killing their prophets and teachers. The English martyred their protestant teachers, the French martyred Joan of Arc, the Bohemian princes betrayed John Huss. If these do not rank among the world's greatest, Socrates, put to death by the Athenians, does."
When we think of historic intolerance, two names come immediately to mind. In chronological order, but not in the order of importance, they are Socrates of Athens and Jesus of Nazareth. They, of course, cannot be compared but their experiences illustrate the subject.
As we read in "Great Books of the Western World" the first named gave to Plato and Aristotle their lofty inspiration, and the name of Socrates has come down through the centuries as the most virtuous man of his time. Yet he was convicted of impiety and immorality, and he was condemned to die-mercifully by hemlock.
The second, the only perfect person who ever lived, took upon himself the sins of the world and suffered the ignominy of crucifixion-to him more agonizing than physical pain. He is now, after nearly twenty centuries, supreme above all others in moral grandeur and to millions is revered as the Only Begotten Son of God, the Savior of the world.
These two, and many others since their time, were rejected by their contemporaries because they dared to question current belief, were impatient of the status quo, and pioneered new areas of thought and teaching.
Phillips Brooks reminds us that there are different brands of tolerance. He named six as follows:
"First, the tolerance of pure indifference. We may be tolerant because we do not care, because the issue at stake does not concern us.
"Second, the tolerance of policy. We may be tolerant because we think we would lose more than we gain by fighting the man or the measure.
"Third, the tolerance of helplessness. We may be tolerant because we realize that the enemy holds the field and that resistance will be futile.
"Fourth, the tolerance of pure respect for man. We may be tolerant because we respect even a man's right to think wrong, because we agree with Voltaire when he wrote to Helvetius, 'I wholly disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.'
"Fifth, the tolerance of spiritual sympathy. We may be tolerant because we feel a spiritual comradeship with the man whose purpose is fine even if his proposition is false.
"Sixth, the tolerance of an enlarged view of truth. We may be tolerant because we have come to realize that truth is larger than any one man's conception of it, even if we are the one man in question."
The first three are mean; the last three magnificent.
The early members of the Mormon Church were forced to drink to its bitter dregs from the cup of prejudice and intolerance. They were mobbed, dispossessed of their homes and properties, beaten, imprisoned, banished, and some of them, including their leaders, were murdered; the main charge against them being that they were unorthodox, dared to question the teachings of other churches, and claimed new revelation.
John Stuart Mill, in his well-known essay on liberty, said:
"I cannot refrain from adding to these examples of the little account commonly made of human liberty, the language of downright persecution which breaks out from the press of this country whenever it feels called on to notice the remarkable phenomenon of Mormonism."
Mill further called attention to the fact that such persecution, far from being in any way countenanced by the principle of liberty, was a direct infraction of that principle and was a mere riveting of the chains of one half of the community and an emancipation of the other from reciprocity of obligation toward them.
History shows that not only individuals and smaller groups, but also governments and powerful church organizations have been guilty of cruel intolerance toward those who differ with them. The alleged universal church resorted to violent acts of intolerance and went to almost unbelievable extremes in their attempts to enforce adherence to the orthodox view. By persecution, torture, expulsion, and extermination of so-called heretics they sought to stifle inquiry and investigation, as though men could by fire and sword be compelled to profess certain doctrines. The remarkable thing is that they who first broke the yoke of that church were themselves unwilling to permit differences of religious opinion as soon as they became established. Unbridled power often breeds intolerance and leads to tyranny.
The Christlike life is always a combination of earnest, personal conviction and generous regard for the other man's opinion. Dedication to and defense of truth never require or justify breaking the second commandment to love our fellow men. A divine code was given by revelation for the guidance of all who exercise authority.
"No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by longsuffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; "By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile- "Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; "That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death".
However, the Church must not condone evil or wrongdoing in the name of tolerance. It must not acquiesce or become an accessory, even by silence, when error and sin are arrayed against truth and righteousness. We must be on guard against alien ideologies and subtle, subversive concepts, leading to immoral conduct and apostasy. Whenever symptoms of apostasy appear in propaganda or conduct, remedial measures are applied. But when counsel, admonition, and instruction fail, the Church has a duty to its members to take positive action and either heal or amputate malignant growths.
The Savior said: "... if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell". But the Church has no jurisdiction outside its own membership; nor does any church have jurisdiction over any other. Various churches stand in much the same relation to each other as private persons among themselves. As John Locke said long ago:
"If any one of the churches has power of treating the other ill, which of them is it to whom that power belongs, and by what right? It will be answered undoubtedly that it is the orthodox church which has the right of authority over the erroneous and heretical. This is, he says, in great and specious words to say just nothing, for every church is orthodox to itself. The decision as to which is right is a question which belongs to the supreme judge of all men."
Some traditionally orthodox churches have seemed to be concerned primarily with the perpetuation of conventional beliefs, formulas, rituals, and institutions. They require meticulous conformity to traditional modes of belief and ceremony. Their chief objective seems to have been to maintain the status quo.
But the Church of Jesus Christ, whenever organized on the earth, whether during the brief sojourn of the Savior in the Meridian of Time and the subsequent activities of his apostles, or since the restoration in the fulness of times, has always subjected traditional beliefs and ritual to searching criticism in the light of continued revelation and ever-increasing knowledge. Its inspired appraisals of human and spiritual values go directly to the core of individual and social living here and now with a constant reminder of the effect of such living on the life hereafter. Its latter-day organization was preceded by a sweeping indictment of sectarianism and the creeds of the time and a proclamation of a new revelation from God. Criticism of traditional beliefs and ritual has often been met by persecution rather than sound argument.
When Jesus was on the earth, he was frequently met with objectors and hecklers who, looking backward, appealed to the law of Moses. His characteristic forward-looking reply was, "It has been said by them of old... but I say unto you...". In other words, he spoke with divine authority. He was concerned as we are with the individual, with the social order, and with establishing the kingdom of God on earth preparatory to the coming of the kingdom of heaven. He invited his listeners to put his teachings to the test of actual experience, saying if any man would do his will he would know of the doctrine. That is a continuing promise to all men everywhere.
In the spirit of friendship and brotherhood we ask our listeners to consider prayerfully our message, put our doctrines to the test of which Jesus spoke, and we promise you that you shall know whether our doctrine is of God or merely of men.
Briefly the message of Mormonism is that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the true God, the Messiah of the New Testament; that the King James version of the Holy Bible is in fact the word of God and that Jesus of Nazareth is in fact the Christ; that the prophecies recorded in the Bible concerning the last days are now in the course of fulfillment; that a new dispensation of the gospel has been given to men and that the kingdom of God is now divinely organized on earth preparatory to the coming of the kingdom of heaven. This message, if it be true, and to its truth we humbly testify, is the most important message that has come to this world since the resurrection and ascension of the Savior of the world. This may seem to some to be an extravagant statement but it refers to a visit of the same glorified being who ascended into heaven with his resurrected body in the presence of his followers and of angels who promised he would come again. He appeared to men in our time preparatory to his promised second coming when he is to rule and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.
We declare that God has intervened in the affairs of men in anticipation of the final struggle against the hosts of Hades, the Anti-Christs, who are organized and marshaled for war against religion and God and all the principles of freedom, justice, love, and tolerance for which the Savior died.
Coupled with this declaration of faith in a personal God and in his nearness to this world is a re-affirmation of the Biblical doctrine that man was created in the image of God and therefore has a potential godlike status, with capacity to live and progress forever. We believe in the essential dignity of man, that he was intended by his Creator to be free and not a slave to any man or nation. We shall never surrender to the belief that man is a soulless device made to serve a machine or a state. We believe that his freedom is, next to life itself, his most precious gift. In fact, man is willing to sacrifice his life to secure and preserve freedom.
We believe in the immortality of the soul; that death is integral to life, a phase of life, its continuance, not its end; and that men who keep the commandments of God need not fear death, for we shall, as Tennyson said, meet our Pilot face to face when that which drew from out the boundless deep turns again home and we have "Crossed the Bar."
Grant us peace, oh Lord, the peace which comes from understanding, from tolerance and brotherhood, from love of our fellow men and love of thee, the Lord. May thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Ezra Taft Benson
Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 111-116
My beloved brethren and sisters, humbly and gratefully I approach this sobering responsibility. First, may I say that I welcome and sustain with all my heart, my good friend and brother as a member of the Council of the Twelve. President Howard W. Hunter can look forward to the sweetest association known among men in this world. God bless him.
With Sister Benson and two of our daughters, I returned to the shores of this blessed land last Friday. Two weeks ago today we spent a glorious Sabbath with the Saints and friends in West Berlin. A week ago today we spent an inspiring Sabbath with Saints and friends in Helsinki, Finland.
It is truly good to be home, and it is an inspiration and an uplift to attend this great conference. How I wish and pray that every one of the millions of good people, citizens of Russia and other communistic-dominated nations, could sit through one of the general conferences of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sometime I would like to say more on this subject of communism. It would be inappropriate for me to do so now. I feel a bit like Alma of old, when he said, "O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart".
My brethren and sisters, I commend to you the counsel and the warnings that have been issued in the instructions of President David O. McKay and President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., on this subject during this conference. I would add only one word, a word which I hope we will never forget. Any system which denies the existence and power of God, which robs men of their God-given free agency, and which destroys the basic institution of the home, is of the evil one. No true Latter-day Saint can ever become a part of any such system.
I know there are difficult days ahead, politically, economically, socially, and spiritually. But God rules this world. He is at the helm. May he help us to be prepared for any eventuality.
We live in a choice land. But we live in a time of anxiety-a time when the basic concepts and values of a free society, which we cherish, are being seriously challenged. This challenge is not only from godless, imperial communism abroad, but also from dangerous ideologies and practices here at home.
It is true that outwardly everything seems prosperous. More people are working at higher wages and enjoying a better standard of living than ever before in the history of our country. More of our people are enjoying travel, cultural and educational opportunities than any time in our history. New churches are being erected at a rapid rate, and an increasing number of people are church-affiliated. Our nation is at peace.
All these things should give a feeling of stability, inner assurance, and a sense of satisfaction, but they do not seem to do so. Discontent among our people, nationwide, seems to be high. We view with alarm the ever-rising level of public and private debt and the threat of inflation. We note with fear the increase in crime, juvenile delinquency, alcoholism, drug addiction, and sex offenses.
We pay lip service to the principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution without realizing what they are and the danger of ignoring them. We demand more and more of government, so "government grows larger all the while, marking the stampede away from personal responsibility which occurs at all levels of life." We passively contribute to the spirit and demoralizing philosophy of "something for nothing."
Because sin is rampant and increasing, I make bold enough to call this nation to repentance. Only through righteousness is there safety for our beloved country. There is no other way.
Today I speak out against one of the insidious and rapidly increasing threats against our young people.
As a Church we have always placed great emphasis on youth. Our young men, if worthy, receive the priesthood at twelve years of age. We enlist a higher percentage of our young boys in scouting than any other group. We have a comprehensive program, combining Sunday School, Primary, MIA, priesthood activities, and weekday seminary classes, to guide the activities of our youth, instill within them a testimony of the gospel, and help them to grow up to be good citizens and faithful members of the Church. Yes, we recognize full well that our boys and girls, our young men and women, are our greatest asset. They are our hope.
The youth of today are the trustees of the future. Sooner than we think the leadership of the Church and the future of our country will rest in their hands. It is our grave obligation to help prepare American youth to be worthy trustees, to help them fit themselves for their coming responsibilities. This is the obligation of every adult citizen.
We have confidence in our youth, yes. But we know they face troubled times. They are beset by many temptations-temptations, which, if not new, are certainly more blatant, more prevalent, than ever before.
We know how important it is for our youth to possess clean minds in healthy clean bodies. "... be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord". Moral purity is an eternal principle. The Spirit of God "cannot dwell in an unclean tabernacle". Purity is life-giving; impurity is deadly. God's holy laws cannot be broken with impunity. Great nations have fallen when they became morally corrupt, because the sins of immorality left their people scarred and misshapen creatures who were unable to face the challenge of their times.
I speak about one aspect of this question of morality which affects all our youth. There are forces at work in this country today which are victimizing many thousands of our youth, undermining their moral fiber, poisoning their minds. There is being spread about in this land a veritable flood of obscene photographs, movie films "for private showings," filthy books, and so-called comics that drip with depravity and obscenity.
Every day some 200,000 circulars are flooding our cities and towns, seeking to sell obscenity and filth to the American people. It is a $500,000,000 a year business and growing fast. The sales volume of mail-order obscenity has doubled in the last five years.
Who are the targets of this drive? Three-fourths of these circulars are sent to our youth. Our school children are the targets, our boys and girls, particularly between the ages of eleven and sixteen.
The United States Post Office department estimates that between 700,000 and a million children in American homes will receive unsolicited obscene and pornographic literature through the mails this year.
Our boys and girls need not have shown any interest in this vile stuff. It is thrust into their hands by racketeers who go to great lengths to get the names of our children. They buy mailing lists from standard sources. They get names from high school yearbooks and classbooks. They set up fake business "fronts." A boy sends away for a model airplane, a baseball bat, a toy automobile, a stamp collection, often advertised at bargain prices-and the muck merchant has his name and address on his list.
Then the solicitations begin.
The smut dealers last year mailed out an estimated fifty million sales circulars under the protection of first-class mail. Some of these circulars are in the form of pseudo-personal letters in girl's handwriting, signed with a girl's name.
The smut dealers go farther. They even seek to involve our youth as salesmen of their trash. One scheme is to sell our youngsters playing cards decorated with lewd pictures for perhaps $3.00 a deck-to be resold at 25˘ or 50˘ a card.
Many children fall into the trap of ordering obscene material. Traffic with children is a major and growing part of the filth merchants' business.
Postal inspectors in York City recently raided one dealer in pornography. They confiscated seventeen tons of highly obscene printed and filmed materials. They found mailing lists containing the names of thousands of high school graduates taken from high school yearbooks.
Some parents are almost frantic because of their inability to keep this unwanted material out of their homes. A mother in a midwestern state writes to the Post Office department as follows:
"Enclosed you will find the filth that has been sent to my son for the past year. He is fourteen. Think what this could do to him, and how many other innocent boys and girls he could corrupt by passing this literature on to them. Can't you do something to stop it?"
Another parent in the East writes:
"Ads like this come to my minor son at the rate of one or two a week."
A lawyer tells how his son answered an innocuous appearing ad in a national magazine and received a batch of obscene pictures and an order blank for more. His name is on the mailing list, and nearly every week an ad for pornographic material comes in the mail. The lawyer says, "My wife and I are beside ourselves as to how to stop this flood of mail."
Now, what are the effects of this material on our youth?
Juvenile delinquency has become a blot on our country. Gangs roam the streets of some of our big cities. Arrests of juveniles for major crimes rose about ten percent last year. Authorities have observed on repeated occasions that the obscenity racket is a prime contributor to the increase in juvenile delinquency.
FBI figures show that more boys of eighteen and nineteen are now committing the heinous crime of rape, than males in any other age group. The percentage of convictions of boys under twenty has grown substantially in recent years.
Now, of course, some people will argue that many children exposed to these pictures and books never become delinquent. This argument has no merit at all. Your child may be exposed to tuberculosis or polio and never contract either disease. Is this a reason for deliberately exposing children to infection? Of course not.
It is true that people go wrong for many reasons. Children become delinquent in part because of such factors as broken homes, drinking parents, indifferent parents, and bad companions. But the wish is father of the deed. Thought precedes action. We cannot help being influenced by what we read and what we see. A dirty book, a filthy picture, may be the trigger that sets off a terrible crime.
Reports from police chiefs and sheriffs indicate the tie-up. Here are typical statements from city officials in Massachusetts, Colorado, and Pennsylvania:
"Teenager criminally assaults 16-year-old girl. Search of his room revealed 50 pornographic pictures beneath his mattress."
"Student molesting two teenage girls found to have pornographic literature in glove compartment of his car."
Let me quote from a report of a Senate subcommittee that has studied this problem. The report says in part:
"There is a peculiar resemblance to narcotics addiction in exposure of juveniles to pornography. There is the same pattern of progression. Once initiated into a knowledge of the unnatural, the impressionable young mind with the insatiable curiosity characteristic of those reaching for maturity inevitably hunts for something stronger, something with more 'jolt,' something imparting a greater thrill.
"The dealer in pornography is acutely aware of this progressive facet; his array of material to feed this growing hunger is carefully geared to the successive stages. Like the peddler of narcotics, his only interest is to insure that his customers are 'hooked.' He knows that once they are 'hooked' they will continue to pay and pay."
These are some of the direct results of the smut campaign. There are indirect results too. Our children, our wives, our friends, may be the horrified victims of criminals who are triggered by obscene materials.
Well, what is the response of the smut publishers and dealers to these facts?
Their attitude is summed up in some such sentiment as this: My job is to make a dollar, not to look out for unstable children or adults. No wonder J. Edgar Hoover has said:
"The activities of the muck merchants are national in scope. Your child can easily become one of their victims."
What are we going to do about it? Shall we fold our arms, shake our heads dismally, and do nothing?
Shall we permit organized crime to continue and extend the obscenity racket-already a half billion dollar a year business - and make it really big and immeasurably more vicious?
Shall we allow more and more of our children to be victimized, allow them to be "hooked" by this menace to clean and right living, this threat to moral purity?
Shall we sit by and watch sex crimes grow and grow in number and violence?
Shall we permit these cheap peddlers of filth to undermine the moral fiber of our youth, the moral strength of our nation?
I believe I know what our pioneer forefathers would have answered to these questions.
And I think I know what you and other responsible citizens will answer. They would have said, as we say today: "Forbid it, Almighty God. We shall not sit by any longer. We shall act in defense of decency and order and in the name of our country."
Our government is striking with all the weapons it possesses against the obscenity menace. Until last year, purveyors of filth had to be prosecuted at the point from which they mailed their smut. This was a severe handicap to prosecution. Courts, notably in Los Angeles and New York, where the great bulk of the mail-order business in obscenity originates, handed down soft rulings on obscenity. Few offenders were convicted, and these usually paid a small fine and began operating again.
Legislation passed by Congress last year has now made it possible to prosecute where the mail is received.
The first case prosecuted under the new law was in Boise, Idaho. A man and his wife, who were mailing extremely obscene material from the west coast, were given ten years in jail, plus a heavy fine.
A Virginia man and his wife dealing in obscenity were sentenced to a year in the Federal Penitentiary and fined $2,000. In Louisiana, two more dealers in filth were given a year and eighteen months in jail respectively.
This is a good start. But it is only a start.
If government is to make full use of the new legislation, it needs and must have the co-operation of all our citizens and especially of all our parents.
The privacy of the mail is a basic American right. It will not be violated. The Post Office cannot open first-class mail even if it is certain the envelope contains obscene material. The Post Office can act only if parents supply the evidence after the mail has been delivered. Here is what we as parents can do, what we must do:
1. If mail coming to your home is obscene, or solicits the sale of obscene materials: save all the material, including the covering envelope; put it promptly in the hands of the local postmaster either personally or by mail.
2. Do not wait for this danger to strike your home. Join with other parents, teachers, local law enforcement officers, and civic groups in drawing public attention to the menace of this traffic in filth.
3. Work closely with teachers in your community to detect obscene materials in the possession of children and to determine the origin of such material.
4. Join with other parents and teachers in making a special effort to impress upon the community the fact that even children who are never exposed to the obscene material may be victimized by sex criminals.
5. Co-operate with the schools in taking positive, long-range steps to help children develop wholesome interests in good literature and art-making it readily available to them at home, in the classroom, through literary and library clubs, and through student groups.
6. Help civic groups bring about the establishment of a decent literature committee, broadly representative of the interested civic organizations in the community.
7. Get local judges, law enforcement officers, and representatives of the police force to talk before civic groups telling what they, as guardians of the community's laws, know of the relationship between the traffic in obscene literature and juvenile delinquency and sex crimes.
We must defend our youth, in the interests of this nation which God has blessed above all others. We must rise to this task, stand up, and be counted on the side of decency. We must show by our lives and actions that we possess the virtues that made America great.
There will be those who will cry "censorship" and "suppressing of freedom of information." To these people there does not seem to be any difference between liberty and license-but there is a real difference. It is not a denial of liberty to forbid the sale of narcotics or alcohol to children, and neither is it a denial of liberty to ban the distribution of filthy, obscene, character destroying materials.
There has developed in this country, I am sorry to say, a species of so-called "broadmindedness" which tolerates anything and everything. It is high time right-thinking citizens showed they are fed up with such false broadmindedness. I, for one, fail to see where this so-called "tolerance" of evil has made society any better or individuals any happier. We cannot steer a safe course without a compass. We cannot build an enduring society except on principles of righteousness.
As Dr. Daniel A. Poling recently wrote in the Christian Herald, "It's time for a new crusade," a crusade for decency.
The youth of the Church and of America deserve that we parents live up to our responsibilities in this regard.
Many centuries ago, a celebrated Roman matron, Cornelia, was asked by an acquaintance to display her jewels. Cornelia called to her children to step forward. "These are my jewels," she said.
The youth of the Church and of America are our jewels. Let us prize them as they deserve. A clean America will be a strong America, a secure America, a prosperous America, a peaceful America, a free America, an America that will continue to merit God's blessings in the future as it has in the past.
God grant it may be so, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Antoine R. Ivins
Antoine R. Ivins, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 116-117
My brethren and sisters, you will pardon me if I say it has been a nervous wait. Twenty-eight years ago, at the October conference, I was sustained as one of your Presidents of the seventies quorum. That means that this is the fifty-sixth time I have stood here to bear my testimony to you. I have to confess that while I like to bear my testimony, the overwhelming sense of responsibility is almost more than I can stand. I seek therefore, your interest and your faith and your prayers that perchance I may drop a word or two that may be comforting to us.
I am happy this afternoon to be one of you, to be engaged in this wonderful work of the Church. I am especially happy and grateful this afternoon for the privilege of bringing my wife with me to this meeting. Some of you will remember that, just a little more than two years ago, reporters came over from the Deseret News and asked for a story they could publish in the event she would pass away. Through the faith and prayers of the Brethren, through her faith and courage, she is still with us, and for the whole time that I have been one of your servants, she has stood by my side and traveled with me being a great help and support and a blessing to the people with whom I have ministered. For this I am truly thankful. I am thankful also, regardless of the dangers that threaten us and the unholy conditions that prevail, that I live in this nation.
On Saturday morning, this body exercised the privilege of expressing approval and acceptance of the officers listed by the Presidency of the Church. It was the voice of the people-President Clark expressed it, as the Doctrine and Covenants does, as the common consent of the people. That is basic in the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the voice of the people. If we are going to meet, successfully, the conditions of which we have just heard, it must be because the voice of the people shall rise up in defense of honesty, integrity, righteousness, and correct living conditions. I think it is within the power of the people to bring that about once the voice of the people could be so aroused.
Then I remember the two years or more I studied the constitution of a nation in which I was resident, a constitution which was not, as ours, the expression of the body of the people, but a constitution which was gathered out of ours and the French Constitution and adapted to that nation. It has taken more than a hundred years for those people to sense the import of their constitution.
I once heard a man say, "Democracy is not what is written on a piece of paper. It is the expression of what is within the heart of men." Our country came into existence just that way, in that the power is resident in the people and that every right and every privilege that is given to our officers is a concession, a direct concession from the people.
I remember reading about when in the Magna Charta, the right of kings was circumscribed in Great Britain, the voice of the people determined that certain things only could be exercised, even by men who claimed that they presided by divine right, the divine right of kings.
That voice, brethren and sisters, has come down to us. It was the voice which produced the Constitution of the United States of America, the grandest country in the world, and with all its shortcomings, and with all the evil that there is in it, I believe that it comes the nearest to being a civil government that is in harmony with the principles that govern in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With us the power is resident in the priesthood and in the voice of the people. If we could bring our priesthood to a proper appreciation of its function, its privilege, we could determine these things. Just think that last evening nearly 50,000 holders of the priesthood scattered all over these United States, heard the proceedings of the priesthood meeting. If each one of that 50,000 persons who heard could rise up in righteous indignation against this curse of which we have heard, it would in a great measure be reduced if not eradicated.
I fear, brethren and sisters, that we approach these topics with too much apathy. We hardly realize the power that there is in the organization which we have. Even though it be small in numbers compared to the total population of the United States, it could exercise a tremendous influence, and does, as a matter of fact, for righteousness throughout the country.
I wish that we could appreciate it, that we could fully magnify it. Some of us are very late in coming to an understanding of our privileges. Just after the morning meeting I was made very happy by a brother who came to me and told me that his father had recently been able, eager, and willing to gather his family together with him and have his endowments in the temple. That man has been a friend of mine over the years. Just why he never came along before, I do not know. I know that I have loved him and honored him and befriended him in our association over the years, and I am happy beyond expression to realize that he now is assuming a part of his rights in the Melchizedek Priesthood of the Church.
We have so many of those men, brethren and sisters, who are slow in understanding the advantages of it. If we could add that hundred thousand men to the number who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood now, there is no question but that we could influence, very greatly, a reduction in these things of which we have heard.
I do not care to talk a long while this afternoon, brethren and sisters, but I do want to express to you my love and appreciation for our leaders and to hope that I may always be able to sustain them and uphold their hands, and may I be able yet many years to mingle with you brethren and sisters and do what I can to help with the organizations of the Church with which we deal.
May God bless us all, may he strengthen us, give us courage, may he give us a proper understanding and appreciation of the source of power in these United States, and the reasons for the Constitution, so that we may be willing to support it and sustain it, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
Gordon B. Hinckley, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 118-120
My dear brethren and sisters, I seek the direction of the Lord that the things I say may be in harmony with the inspirational things to which we have listened these past three days.
This has been a marvelous conference. I have missed one voice. That is the voice of President Stephen L Richards. His wisdom, his kindly persuasion, his unfailing courtesy were always an inspiration to me, and I shall be eternally grateful to him.
I rejoice in the appointment of President Henry D. Moyle as a member of the First Presidency. I am grateful for the opportunity of working under his direction in the great missionary program of the Church. I pledge him my loyalty and my energy.
I rejoice likewise in the appointment of Howard W. Hunter to the Council of the Twelve.
I am satisfied that the Lord guides this work. I echo the words of the Psalmist "... he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep".
I wish to say a few words in furtherance of the theme set before us by President McKay in the opening address of the conference-"Preach the Word." I have in mind one of the great facilities available to us in carrying forth this assignment.
The other day in a stake conference, I heard an officer of the Air Force stand before the group and tell of the circumstances surrounding his coming into the Church. He said in substance:
"I had a date with a lovely young woman. When I called for her, I noticed on the table a copy of the Book of Mormon. I had never heard of it before. I began to read. I became interested. I secured a copy of the book and read it through.
"I had only the traditional idea of God and Jesus Christ. I had never given serious thought to the matter. But as I read this book there came into my mind light and understanding of eternal truths, and into my heart a testimony that God is our Eternal Father, and that Jesus is our Savior."
I am confident that the experience of this man who was influenced by the Book of Mormon is similar to that of many others of our people.
Brethren and sisters, if there are miracles among us, certainly one of them is this book. Unbelievers may doubt the First Vision and say there were no witnesses to prove it. Critics may scorn every divine manifestation incident to the coming forth of this work as being of such an intangible nature as to be unprovable to the pragmatic mind, as if the things of God could be understood other than by the Spirit of God. They may discount our theology. But they cannot in honesty dismiss the Book of Mormon. It is here. They can feel it. They can read it. They can weigh its substance and its content. They can witness its influence.
Faced with its presence, but unwilling to believe the story of its coming forth, they have sought an explanation for it, other than the one given by the Prophet that it was engraven on golden plates by ancient prophet-historians, and that their record was revealed and translated by the gift and power of God.
The Book of Mormon was first printed on a little hand-operated flat-bed press in a backwoods village of New York in the year 1830. From that first edition, while critics have published volume after volume in an effort to discredit the Prophet's story, the book has gone through one edition after another. From English it has been translated into thirty-one other languages, and printed in twenty of these.
While its detractors have called it blasphemous, the work of a paranoiac, the outpouring of a myth-maker, the result of a man's environment, the book has gone forth to change for good the lives of men and women in a score of nations. What a concourse of the people of the earth we would have if all of those who have read this book and been influenced by its message were gathered together in one place.
The first edition was comprised of 5,000 volumes. That edition met all demands for a number of years. I think you may be interested to know that during the first nine months of this year, more than 350,000 copies were sold in English alone. I am satisfied that by the close of the year we shall have sold more than 500,000 copies of the Book of Mormon in various languages, all within a period of a single year. We now distribute every three or four days, more copies than were included in the entire first edition.
The same book which converted Brigham Young, Willard Richards, Orson and Parley Pratt, and many others of the early leaders of the Church, is also converting people in Germany, in the British Isles, in Finland, in Japan, in Tonga, and wherever else men and women are reading it prayerfully and with real intent. The promise of Moroni, written in his loneliness, following the destruction of his people, is being fulfilled every day.
Each time we encourage a man to read the Book of Mormon we do him a favor. If he reads it prayerfully and with a sincere desire to know the truth, he will know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the book is true. And from that knowledge there will flow a conviction of the truth of many other things.
For if the Book of Mormon is true, then God lives. Testimony upon testimony runs through its pages of the solemn fact that our Father is real, that he is personal, that he loves his children and seeks their happiness.
If the Book of Mormon is true then Jesus is the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, born of Mary, "a virgin most beautiful above all other virgins", for the book so testifies in a description unexcelled in all literature.
If the Book of Mormon is true, then Jesus is verily our Redeemer, the Savior of the world. The great purpose of its preservation and coming forth, according to its own statement, is "to the convincing of the Jew and the Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations".
If the Book of Mormon is true, then this land is choice above all other lands, but if it is to remain such the inhabitants of the land must worship the God of the land, the Lord Jesus Christ. The histories of two great nations, told with warning in this sacred volume, indicate that while we must have science, while we must have education, while we must have arms, we must also have righteousness if we are to merit the protection of God, as Brother Benson has so eloquently indicated here this afternoon.
If the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, for he was the instrument in the hands of God in bringing to light this testimony of the divinity of our Lord.
If this book is true, David O. McKay is a prophet, for he holds all of the keys, the gifts, powers, and authority held by the Prophet Joseph who brought forth this latter-day work.
I repeat, if the Book of Mormon is true, the Church is true, for the same authority under which this sacred record came to light is present and manifest among us today. It is a restoration of the Church set up by the Savior in Palestine. It is a restoration of the Church set up by the Savior when he visited this continent as set forth in this sacred record.
If the Book of Mormon is true, the Bible is true. The Bible is the Testament of the Old World. The Book of Mormon is the Testament of the New. The one is the record of Judah, the other is the record of Joseph, and they have come together in the hand of the Lord in fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel. Together they declare the Kingship of the Redeemer of the world, and the reality of his kingdom.
Here is a voice that has spoken from the dust with a familiar spirit, and touched the hearts of men and women in many lands. Those who have read it prayerfully, be they rich or poor, learned or unlearned, have grown under its power.
Let me tell you of a letter which we received a few years ago. A man wrote saying in substance: "I am in a federal reformatory in Ohio. I recently came across a copy of the Book of Mormon in the prison library. I have read it, and when I read Mormon's lamentation, over his fallen people-`O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you! Behold, if ye had not done this, ye would not have fallen'. When I read this I felt that Mormon was talking to me. Can I get a copy of that book?"
We sent him a copy. He walked in the office some months later, a changed man. I am happy to report that a boy who had stolen gasoline, and then stolen automobiles, and then done other things until finally he was placed in a federal reformatory, was touched by the spirit of this book, and the report today is that he is now a successful man, rehabilitated, earning a living honestly for himself and family in a west coast city.
Such has been the power of this great book in the lives of those who have read it prayerfully.
I give you my testimony that it is true. That I know by the witness of the Holy Ghost, and that knowledge to me is certain.
Sidney Rigdon did not write it. Oliver Cowdery did not write it. It is not the result of a paranoiac or of a dissociated personality, as some have said. It is not the product of a myth-maker. It is not the result of the environment of a farm boy who grew up in western New York. Joseph Smith did not write it. He, the Prophet of this dispensation, translated the writings of prophets of old under the power of God, to testify in our day.
We invite all men everywhere to read it. Its witness lies within itself.
I so testify. This marvelous record, preserved over fourteen centuries, has confirmed my faith in God, in my Redeemer, in the land in which I live, in the work of which I am a part. I leave you my witness in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay
David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1959, pp. 122-125
And now, my brethren and sisters, just a word in parting.
This has truly been a great conference. We have met during a critical time in the history of our own great country and the history of the world. I have been impressed with the answer that you have given through the Brethren here and through your acceptance, to some of the false ideologies and teachings that are rampant in the world. One of those is, that man is not a spiritual being, but that he is just as any other animal, subject to his passions, subject to his yearnings, desires, and justified in achieving his ambitions no matter how many others may suffer in that achievement.
You have said today and yesterday and the day before, in your testimonies that man is a dual being-he is physical, has his appetites, passions, desires, just as any animal has, but he is also a spiritual being, and he knows that to subdue the animal instincts is to achieve advancement in his spiritual realm; that a man who is subjected to his physical appetites and passions only, who denies any reality of a spirit, is truly of the animal world; that man is a spiritual being, and his real life is the spirit that inhabits his body.
Ex-President Adams was right, when he was accosted on the streets of Boston one day and was asked, "How is John Quincy Adams today?" and he answered, as he tottered along with his cane, "John Quincy Adams is well, thank you, quite well. But the house in which he lives is tottering on its foundations, the windows are shaking, the roof is leaking, the doors are not hanging straight, and so on, and I think that John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon. But John Quincy Adams himself is quite well, I thank you, quite well." He sensed that the real John Quincy Adams was an immortal being, a son of a Father in heaven.
That is one great truth to which you have borne testimony in this conference-that man is spirit, the son of his Father, and has within him that which will cause him to yearn and to aspire to become dignified as a son of God should be dignified. The dignity of man, not the degradation of man, has been emphasized throughout this conference.
Another false ideal which has been mentioned as rampant by a small group of men, controlling millions now, is the denial of the existence of a Creator, that there is no God. The man who represents that group was recently entertained in this nation. Just before he came he declared over his own signature that he is still an atheist and will continue to be, and will fight religion as an "opiate" to the human mind.
Every man who stood at this pulpit, I think without exception, has borne witness that God lives, and he knows that he lives. And there has been quoted the evidence of men who have lived through the ages who have borne that same testimony. And they are honorable men. They are honest men. They would not lie. They sent their written messages to people whom they loved, as you and I love our loved ones, our children, our husbands, and our wives.
Paul sent his letter saying, "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: "And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: "After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present," "but some are fallen asleep. "After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. "And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. "For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God".
But he bore his testimony and gave his life for this testimony and was happy in doing it.
One of the Brethren quoted him today, from his last letter to Timothy:
"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing".
Thank heaven there are hundreds and thousands who believe that testimony and repudiate the claims of the atheists who boast that man is his own god, and have already poisoned the minds of a generation of young men and women. They started this, as some of you will remember, forty years ago, and during that forty years they have poisoned those young boys and girls with the thought that there is no God.
At the conclusion of this session today, I wish to emphasize the fact that this great conference has testified to the hundreds of thousands listening in, and all the world-for these testimonies will be printed-that God lives and furthermore, that Jesus is his Beloved Son, the Savior of the world, and those who have seen Jesus, who walked with him, who testify of him, as I have narrated, heard him say, "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
You remember during the Last Supper, Philip said to Jesus, "Lord shew us the Father." And his answer was, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?... and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?".
We have given an answer to the world. I think it is glorious.
Furthermore, you have given an answer to the false teachings that man is not a free individual, that he is a creature of the state, that the state is supreme, that the state can tell what you should do, what you should not do. Man is a spiritual being and has within him as a gift from God, his Creator, the power of choice. Part of man's divinity, part of his spirit-being, is the power to choose-the only creature on earth that has that power. It is God-given. Men who will deny him that, take from him part of his divinity. You have answered that. Your testimonies are now on record.
Another thing-you have borne testimony throughout this conference to the right of the family, its influence and fundamental contribution as a unit to the state. The family is the foundation of the state and should not be broken up. In China where they love their children and where they train them and teach them to be obedient, where the children respect their parents and obey their parents, the family is broken up now, and they have to meet in communistic groups. They will not stand for that very long; they will break away from it. You, during this conference, have borne testimony to the sacredness of the family, the father and the mother and the children. You have borne testimony of the responsibility of the father and the mother to train those children in the ways of the Lord, teach them baptism and repentance, or the responsibility will be "upon the heads of the parents".
Furthermore, you have borne testimony to the world that man is not living for himself, that his selfish desires should be overcome and controlled, and he should render service to others. One of the greatest sayings of Jesus when he was among the Twelve during his two-and-a-half years here, was the one that touched upon that same principle: "He that findeth his life shall lose it..." "and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it". A paradoxical statement, but oh, how true. You have had an evidence of it here today when Elder Hunter said, "I give my life now for the service," the same with these other apostles, the same with all the General Authorities of the Church, with all the congregation, with thousands and hundreds of thousands throughout the world who have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are willing to lose your life-that is, to devote your time and your talents and your strength for his sake; and in so doing you will find your life.
I often quote a man who was impressed with that great principle, who wrote-
"Supposing today were your last day on earth, The last mile of the journey you've trod; After all of your efforts, how much are you worth? How much can you take home to God?
"Don't count as possessions your silver and gold; Tomorrow you leave these behind; And all that is yours to have and to hold Is the service you've given mankind."
Anon.
Quoted from Gospel Ideals, page 58.
That is true, but to you it is not all that you take home to God, because you take home to him your character, and he will judge you accordingly, and you will take home to him, if you have been through the temple worthily, your loved ones.
Now these are just some of the thoughts that came at the conclusion of this great conference.
Yours is a great mission. Our thanks to God our Father for it. Our membership in his Church, and our privilege of association in the brotherhood of Christ cannot be overstated. Morning, noon, and night, all through our lives our souls are filled with gratitude for the blessings that are ours in our associations in the Church of Jesus Christ. It is a glorious opportunity!
Now, my brethren and sisters, I bless you with increased testimony of God's existence, increased testimony of the divinity of Christ's mission, his life, his death, his establishing of the gospel, with increased testimony of the value of the individual-oh, how important and how glorious-how full of significance are the glorious words, "For behold, this is my work," said the Lord, "and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". Is not that wonderful? What would this old earth be if there were no human beings on earth, even if there were no animals-only rocks, the barren shores, the rolling seas-no life, no human beings? What a wonderful statement, what a wonderful religious revelation to the human family: "This is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life" of each individual.
God help us so to live that we may be found worthy to hear from him the whisperings of his Spirit, the whispering of his voice, as he guides us and warns us and tells us what to do in order to come back and help him crown his glory.
That is a wonderful saying of Peter's, the rough old fisherman, when after two years and more, after he had a testimony in his heart that God lives, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, he wrote to the people over whom he was presiding and used the phrase, which I wish all of you would think about and cherish, that God has made us "partakers of the divine nature". Read it in his epistle.
And I hope you brethren, presidents of stakes, bishops of wards, and you who preside over missions, auxiliaries, priesthood quorums, will some day appreciate, every one of you, just what that means, to be in touch with that divine nature through the Holy Ghost.
God bless you in your homes. Do not be cross. Be courteous. Have the same courtesy in your homes that you have when you are out in society. Thank your wives, thank your children, say, "if you please," "excuse me,"- those little things which make life sweet. Let us be kind in our homes. The gospel is the spirit of kindness. Let us be considerate. Let us be true. "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men... If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things".
I pray God to sanctify to our good and to the good of all who have listened in this day and to the Church everywhere, the blessings and testimonies of this great conference, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.