President David O. McKay
Conference Report, October 1953, pp. 5-12
Elder Joseph W. Anderson has just read the vital statistical data, the changes in ward and stake organizations, and the obituaries of the Church.
There are a few more items which might be mentioned, in which you will probably be interested.
The Church construction of chapels, classrooms, and recreation halls continues without abatement, indeed, with acceleration. During the last nine months, the Church has spent $5,568,000.00 in stakes, and $2,109,000.00 in missions, a total of $7,677,000.00, or a total to date this year, including local funds contributed for this purpose, in stakes, $10,337,000.00, and in the missions, $2,704,000.00 (I am not reading the full amount), or a total of $13,041,000.00.
TEMPLE CONSTRUCTION
You already know about the dedication of two temple sites in Europe—the first in the history of the Church—one at Berne, Switzerland, and another between London and Brighton, England.
The construction of the temple in Los Angeles is proceeding satisfactorily. We wish to commend the members of the Church in the Los Angeles Temple district for their magnanimous contribution to this edifice. As has already been announced, they volunteered to contribute over a million dollars towards the construction and completion of this edifice, and their payments are practically up-to-date. In addition to giving this large cash contribution they recently volunteered to assist in the landscaping, and even now they are planting shrubbery and getting trees so that at the time of dedication of the temple, the grounds will be properly and beautifully landscaped. May the Lord bless these faithful people and enable them to fulfil their promise in order that this edifice may be completely paid for by its dedication within a year and a half or two years.
The plans already are drawn for the temple in Switzerland, and the architect and contractor are proceeding so that that edifice will be completed without delay.
STAKE MISSIONARY WORK
You will be interested to know that the stake missionary work is meeting with unprecedented results: 6518 stake missionaries are now working within the organized stakes. To date there have been 3441 who have accepted the gospel through the efforts of these stake missionaries, and the work is continuing with unabated zeal.
YOUTH PROGRAM
We might mention, too, for your interest, that the youth program is being carried on most ably. I shall not take time to weary you with statistics, but in the girls' program, covering all the girls from twelve to nineteen, for August 1953, there were 56,332 enrolled. We believe that is one hundred percent of all the girls between those ages. The average attendance of the girls at the three meetings for this month, August, were as follows: Of those young girls, forty-nine percent of them attended sacrament meetings; fifty-nine percent attended the Sunday Schools; and fifty-four percent attended the MIA meetings. We commend you, sisters. A very definite program is carried out by the MIA for getting in touch with inactive girls and in trying to interest them in the Mutual Improvement Association.
In YMMIA during the past three years there has been an increase of 11,872 in enrolment in the scouting program. According to a report (we have this from Brother D. L. Roberts, who is director of the Mormon relationships in the Boy Scouts, and from Brother Elbert R. Curtis, general superintendent), on Sunday evening, during the jamboree at Los Angeles, July 19, a great convocation was held. Attending were more than forty-five thousand Boy Scouts, and there were present fifty thousand or more visitors. During the convocation great attention was paid to the churches of America, and religious training, and our Church received favorable attention. This made us happy to see an organization such as scouting bring such favorable comments about the work that is being done for the young in the Church.
I have notes before me emphasizing particularly what the Primary Association is doing for our eleven-year-old boys who are now taking up preliminary Scout work, also commending the high percentage of attendance at Primary meetings, and the most excellent work that is being done by the Primary hospital.
UNIFICATION OF CHURCH SCHOOL SYSTEM
Since our meeting of last April there has been a unification of the Church school system. We have had, heretofore, as you know, a Church board of education with a commission presiding over the colleges, institutes, and seminaries. Then we had a board of trustees presiding over Brigham Young University. Those two great branches of education are now united under the direction of Dr. Ernest L. Wilkinson, who is appointed administrator of the Church board of education, in addition to his presidency over Brigham Young University.
Here I wish to say a word of commendation for the excellent service rendered by Commissioner Franklin L. West. For years he has devoted his entire time to the advancement of the institutes and seminaries and colleges of the Church. His heart has been in the work. He has expressed and radiated a fervent testimony of the divinity of the restored gospel, and his heart has been centered upon the instructing of the youth in the fundamentals and ideals of the Church of Jesus Christ. He retires with the confidence and blessing of the Authorities of the Church.
Under his direction there has been a steady increase in the number enrolled in our institutes and seminaries. Last year there were enrolled 36,081 seminary students, 4202 institute students, 1140 in the schools of the islands of the Pacific, or a total of 41,423.
I am glad to report to you that the Church is moving on with great rapidity and its influence being extended throughout the world.
PASSING OF TWO GENERAL AUTHORITIES
Since our last meeting, as already reported by Brother Anderson, two members of the General Authorities have passed away: Elder A. E. Bowen of the Council of the Twelve, and Elder Stayner Richards, Assistant to the Twelve—two stalwarts, clear in vision, sound in judgment; men loyal and true to their callings, to the ideals and doctrines of the Church! We pay respect to their memory. May their acts and services during their lifetime continue to reverberate for good in the hearts not only of all members of the Church, but of all those outside of the Church who were fortunate enough to come in contact with these two great men.
COMMENDATION OF TEACHERS AND CHURCH GROUPS
I have mentioned particularly the work of the Church among the youth, because the future of this world is largely determined, as Goethe says, "upon the opinions of its young men under five and twenty."
If that be true, to awaken in the minds of the youth of the land a desire to achieve life's truest values is to render the greatest of all great services to our country.
With this thought in mind, I commend the teachers in our public schools, who under present difficulties, are remaining true to their post of duty. Let us hope that they will continue to do so, and not go off on a tangent vainly seeking redress in unions, which will only aggravate a condition already regrettable. We have confidence in the teachers. They will be loyal to their profession, teaching the young to be loyal and true to our country, to love the best in life, rather than to seek that which leads to selfishness.
This morning I want, also, to commend the Presiding Bishopric, the bishops of the wards, the presidencies of the Aaronic Priesthood quorums, for their efforts to bring into activity all the boys between the ages of 12 and 19, and what is equally commendable, they are reaching out to incorporate in this great spiritual uplift those who are classified as the "senior members of the Aaronic Priesthood," a group of potential power for great good, not only in the Church, but in the world, many of them leading businessmen and professional men. I commend you, brethren, for organizing these able men into groups that their influence may be felt for good.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD OR CATASTROPHE
With this in mind, I should like to give the following message, feeling as I do this morning, the potency and divinity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. With all my soul I feel this morning that there is truly ". . . none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" Acts 4:12 I cannot see how men can doubt that.
When I was a boy, there hung above the pulpit in the chapel in Huntsville, (Utah), a picture of President John Taylor. Under it in gold letters were these words: "The Kingdom of God or Nothing."
In childhood I gave little if any thought to its implication, nor in youth did I try to comprehend its significance.
This morning, with world conditions in mind—international suspicion and enmities—threatening war clouds—"man's inhumanity to man," and other discouraging aspects of human relationships, I am inclined to paraphrase that motto to read: "The kingdom of God or catastrophe."
Tradition tells us that Peter, when on the Appian Way going toward Rome, was met by this question "Quo Vadis?" (Whither goest thou?) Were that question put to people today, many pessimists would answer that we are headed for catastrophe, if not total destruction. One has already said of Europe:
"On the whole, during many generations, there has been a gradual decay of religious influence in European civilization. Each revival touches a lower peak than its predecessor, and each period of darkness, a lower depth. The average curve marks a steady fall in religious tone. Religion is tending to degenerate into a decent formula wherewith to embellish a comfortable life.
"Russia officially sanctions irreligion, and approves a system of sex relations lower than any sanctioned by the lowest African tribe.
"The paleolithic savages so far as we know had no such practices" (Man's Social Destiny, p. 23).
WHAT MEN THINK
And Hayden, writes as follows: "Today, as never before, mankind is seeking social betterment. Today, as seldom if ever before, human society is threatened with disintegration, if not complete chaos. All the ancient evils of human relationships, injustice, selfishness, abuse of strength, become sinister and terrible when reinforced by the vast increase of material power. The soul of man cowers, starved and fearful, in the midst of a civilization grown too complex for any mind to visualize or to control. Joy and beauty fade from human living. Yet life, abundant, beauteous, laughing life, has been our age-long labor's end. What other conceivable worth has the mastery of the material world, the exploitation of the resources of nature and the creation of wealth, except as a basis for the release of the life of the spirit. We are witnessing either the crumbling of civilization under the weight of its material mechanism or the birth of a new organization with a spiritual ideal."
Oswald Spengler thinks, and has so written: "This machine technics (referring to the world) will end with the Faustian civilization and one day will lie in fragments, forgotten—our railways and steamships as dead as the Roman roads and the Chinese Wall, our giant cities and skyscrapers in ruins like old Memphis and Babylon. The history of this technics is fast drawing to its inevitable close. It will be eaten up from within like the grand forms of any and every culture. When, and in what fashion, we know not."
These references indicate what some men are thinking about the present-day conditions, and where such conditions are leading. Whether you accept them as true, or not, we must face the fact that we are in a changing world, and that the destruction of present-day civilization is a possibility.
But, brothers and sisters, the Lord has something better in store for his children than complete destruction. Nations may be born, live, flourish for a time, and through internal corruption or other causes, die or be destroyed; but the human race will continue, and the kingdom of God be established.
" . . . behold," said Daniel, "one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came 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" Daniel 7:13-14
The paramount need in the world today is a clearer understanding by human beings of moral and spiritual values, and a desire and determination to attain them.
Never before in the history of the world has there been such a need of spiritual awakening. Unless there is such an awakening, there is danger of catastrophe among the nations of the world.
But I feel this morning, with all my soul, that the sun of hope is rising. Many thinking men and women are recognizing the need of man's looking up towards the heavens instead of his groveling in response to his animal nature. One man commenting on this said, that "If all the destroyers of civilization could be eliminated, and the traits of the rest of us could be eliminated, an approach to the millennium some hundred years hence is by no means inconceivable."
The Savior of the world said: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" John 10:10
Whether we live miserably or live abundantly depends upon ourselves. Look introspectively, young man and young woman, and determine whether your innermost thoughts hold you on the animal plane or whether they tend to lift you into the mental, moral, and spiritual realm. And you be your own judge. Are you scheming to exploit another for personal gain? Are you justifying a lie? Are you entertaining the thought of robbing a young woman of her virtue? Are you, young woman, justifying an act of unchastity in exchange for the attention or favor of a male companion? If these or any other selfish sinful thoughts obsess you, then you are not following the path of the abundant life, but are contributing to the continuance of a sordid, unhappy world.
FOUR FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS
In the brief sojourn of Jesus upon the earth, he marked clearly "the way the truth, and the life" (see John 14:6
I shall take time this morning to call your attention to four incidents in his life, and mention probably, but of course, briefly, some connotations of those incidents, I repeat, because I feel and know, that through him and through him only, and by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ, can we find happiness and salvation in this world and eternal life in the world to come. But I am thinking particularly of happiness and joy here and now, in this atomic age.
First, recall His experience on the Mount of Temptation Matthew 4:1-11In that experience we find taught the sublime necessity of subordinating the animal part of our natures to the spiritual. Man is a dual being—he is human, physical, of the earth, earthy, but he is, also, divine the offspring of God.
Well might Carlyle say: "There are heights in man which reach the highest heaven, and depths that sink to the lowest hell—for are not both heaven and hell made out of him, everlasting miracle and mystery that he is?"
"Beloved," said John, "now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" 1 John 3:2
On the Mount of Temptation Jesus resisted every appeal to his physical appetite—" . . . command that these stones be made bread"; every appeal to his vanity—"If thou be the son of God cast thyself down"—from the pinnacle; every appeal to his selfishness and pride, every bribe offered by way of power and wealth in exchange for spiritual companionship with his Father Matthew 4:3,6,9 Resisting all he said to the tempter: "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" Matthew 4:10
VALUE OF NOBLE THOUGHTS
Then during his brief mission among men, he emphasized the value of entertaining noble thoughts, what you think will determine your character, not alone what you do, and knowing that what one thinks about in one's secret moments determines what he is Matt. 5:28 He "decried the fatal effects of hatred and jealousy in the mind of the individual more vehemently than he did the acts that hate and jealousy prompt. Modern physiology and psychology confirm the practical wisdom of his teachings. These evil passions destroy a man's physical vigor and efficiency—they pervert his mental perceptions and render him incapable of resisting the temptations to commit acts of violence. They undermine his moral health. By insidious stages they transform the man who cherishes them into a criminal. On the other hand, if they are banished, and wholesome, kindly thoughts and emotions take their place, the man is incapable of crime. Right thoughts and feelings, if persistently kept in the forefront, inevitably lead to right acts." "A good tree bears good fruit; an evil tree, evil fruit" (see Matthew 7:17 A good tree, he says, cannot bring forth evil fruit, nor an evil tree bring forth good fruit Matthew 7:18 That teaching lies at the very bottom of Christ's ethical teachings. His whole effort was to make the tree good, for when that end was achieved, the good qualities of the fruit were assured. Resist evil, members of the Church, young and old, and the devil will flee from you.
The second incident I take from the Sermon on the Mount—a mountain in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" Matthew 6:24 Then he added, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33 Do you believe that? I believe in every word that Jesus spoke and to me the teaching is applicable in my life and yours.
Keeping in mind the fact that we are the children of our Father in heaven, when we seek the kingdom of God, first we become conscious of a new aim in life. To nourish and delight the body with its appetites and passions, as animals do, is no longer the chief end of mortal existence. Spiritual attainments not physical possessions become the chief goal. God is not viewed from the standpoint of what we may get from him, but what we may give to him. Only in the complete surrender of our inner life may we rise above the selfish sordid pull of nature.
"Giving God the glory" is a sure means of subduing selfishness—a willingness on the part of the individual to keep God as the ideal in his life. Faith, therefore, is a foundation element in true character building; for an upright character is the result only of continued effort and right thinking, the effect of long-cherished associations with Godlike thoughts. He approaches nearest the Christ spirit who makes God the center of his thoughts; and he who can say in his heart, "Not my will, but thine be done" Luke 22:42 approaches most nearly the Christ ideal.
TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS
The third incident is the scene with the Pharisees when a lawyer asked him: "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" Matthew 22:36-39
For two thousand years, practically, men have considered this sublime doctrine as impractical—too ideal, they say, but if we sincerely believe in Christ's divinity, that he is "the way, the truth and the life" (see John 14:6 we cannot consistently doubt the applicability of his teachings to everyday life.
True, there are weighty problems to solve—evils of the slums, the ever-recurring conflicts between labor and capital, drunkenness, prostitution, international hatreds, and a hundred other current questions. But if heeded, Christ's appeal for personal integrity, honor, fair-dealing, and love is basic in the proper solution of all these social and economic difficulties.
CHANGE MEN'S HEARTS
Most certainly before the world even approaches these ideals, men's hearts must be changed. Christ came into the world for that very purpose. The principal reason for preaching the gospel is to change men's hearts and lives, and you brethren who go from stake to stake and hear the evidence and testimony of those who have been converted recently through the stake missionary work, can testify how the conversion has changed their lives, as they have given their testimonies. By such conversion they bring peace and good will to the world instead of strife, suffering. On changing men's hearts Beverly Nichols, author of The FoolHath Said, writes truly:
"You can change human nature. No man who has felt in him the spirit of Christ even for a half 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... 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."
"Live in all things outside yourself by love," says Browning through Paracelsus, "and you shall have joy. This is the life of God; it ought to be our life. In him it was perfect, but in all created things, it is a lesson learned slowly and through difficulty."
LESSON FOR YOUTH
The fourth scene I name is with his disciples just before Gethsemane, when he said, "And now I am no more in the world, but 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" John 17:11,15
There is your lesson, young folk! You are in the midst of temptation, but you, as Christ on the Mount of Temptation, can rise above it.
We can so live, it is possible, that as members of the Church we can say to all the world in the words of Thomas Nixon Carver: "Come, our way of life is best because it works best. Our people are efficient, prosperous and happy because we are a body who aid one another in the productive life. We waste none of our substance in vice, luxury, or ostentation. We do not dissipate our energy in brawling, gambling, or unwholesome habits. We conserve our resources of body and mind and devote them to the upbuilding of the kingdom of God, which is not a mystical but a real kingdom. 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."
Yesterday, in this Tabernacle, seven or eight thousand women gathered—our mothers, members of the Relief Society. I wish the whole Church might have partaken of the spirit of that great conference. If so, we should have greater assurance in our souls that these ideals to which I have made brief mention will be effective throughout the world in bringing about a desire for greater spirituality, a greater need for the testimony that God lives, that his Son Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and that divine beings restored to the Prophet Joseph Smith the gospel of Jesus Christ as he established it in the Meridian of Time.
I bear you that testimony this morning and pray that the influence of priesthood quorums, of auxiliaries, and of the missionaries may be more effective from this time on than ever before in leading the honest in heart of the whole world to turn their eyes upward to the worship of God, our eternal Father, and give them power to control the animal nature and live in the spirit, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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The Kingdom of God or Catastrophe
President David O. McKay
Conference Report, October 1953, pp. 5-12
Elder Joseph W. Anderson has just read the vital statistical data, the changes in ward and stake organizations, and the obituaries of the Church.
There are a few more items which might be mentioned, in which you will probably be interested.
The Church construction of chapels, classrooms, and recreation halls continues without abatement, indeed, with acceleration. During the last nine months, the Church has spent $5,568,000.00 in stakes, and $2,109,000.00 in missions, a total of $7,677,000.00, or a total to date this year, including local funds contributed for this purpose, in stakes, $10,337,000.00, and in the missions, $2,704,000.00 (I am not reading the full amount), or a total of $13,041,000.00.
TEMPLE CONSTRUCTION
You already know about the dedication of two temple sites in Europe—the first in the history of the Church—one at Berne, Switzerland, and another between London and Brighton, England.
The construction of the temple in Los Angeles is proceeding satisfactorily. We wish to commend the members of the Church in the Los Angeles Temple district for their magnanimous contribution to this edifice. As has already been announced, they volunteered to contribute over a million dollars towards the construction and completion of this edifice, and their payments are practically up-to-date. In addition to giving this large cash contribution they recently volunteered to assist in the landscaping, and even now they are planting shrubbery and getting trees so that at the time of dedication of the temple, the grounds will be properly and beautifully landscaped. May the Lord bless these faithful people and enable them to fulfil their promise in order that this edifice may be completely paid for by its dedication within a year and a half or two years.
The plans already are drawn for the temple in Switzerland, and the architect and contractor are proceeding so that that edifice will be completed without delay.
STAKE MISSIONARY WORK
You will be interested to know that the stake missionary work is meeting with unprecedented results: 6518 stake missionaries are now working within the organized stakes. To date there have been 3441 who have accepted the gospel through the efforts of these stake missionaries, and the work is continuing with unabated zeal.
YOUTH PROGRAM
We might mention, too, for your interest, that the youth program is being carried on most ably. I shall not take time to weary you with statistics, but in the girls' program, covering all the girls from twelve to nineteen, for August 1953, there were 56,332 enrolled. We believe that is one hundred percent of all the girls between those ages. The average attendance of the girls at the three meetings for this month, August, were as follows: Of those young girls, forty-nine percent of them attended sacrament meetings; fifty-nine percent attended the Sunday Schools; and fifty-four percent attended the MIA meetings. We commend you, sisters. A very definite program is carried out by the MIA for getting in touch with inactive girls and in trying to interest them in the Mutual Improvement Association.
In YMMIA during the past three years there has been an increase of 11,872 in enrolment in the scouting program. According to a report (we have this from Brother D. L. Roberts, who is director of the Mormon relationships in the Boy Scouts, and from Brother Elbert R. Curtis, general superintendent), on Sunday evening, during the jamboree at Los Angeles, July 19, a great convocation was held. Attending were more than forty-five thousand Boy Scouts, and there were present fifty thousand or more visitors. During the convocation great attention was paid to the churches of America, and religious training, and our Church received favorable attention. This made us happy to see an organization such as scouting bring such favorable comments about the work that is being done for the young in the Church.
I have notes before me emphasizing particularly what the Primary Association is doing for our eleven-year-old boys who are now taking up preliminary Scout work, also commending the high percentage of attendance at Primary meetings, and the most excellent work that is being done by the Primary hospital.
UNIFICATION OF CHURCH SCHOOL SYSTEM
Since our meeting of last April there has been a unification of the Church school system. We have had, heretofore, as you know, a Church board of education with a commission presiding over the colleges, institutes, and seminaries. Then we had a board of trustees presiding over Brigham Young University. Those two great branches of education are now united under the direction of Dr. Ernest L. Wilkinson, who is appointed administrator of the Church board of education, in addition to his presidency over Brigham Young University.
Here I wish to say a word of commendation for the excellent service rendered by Commissioner Franklin L. West. For years he has devoted his entire time to the advancement of the institutes and seminaries and colleges of the Church. His heart has been in the work. He has expressed and radiated a fervent testimony of the divinity of the restored gospel, and his heart has been centered upon the instructing of the youth in the fundamentals and ideals of the Church of Jesus Christ. He retires with the confidence and blessing of the Authorities of the Church.
Under his direction there has been a steady increase in the number enrolled in our institutes and seminaries. Last year there were enrolled 36,081 seminary students, 4202 institute students, 1140 in the schools of the islands of the Pacific, or a total of 41,423.
I am glad to report to you that the Church is moving on with great rapidity and its influence being extended throughout the world.
PASSING OF TWO GENERAL AUTHORITIES
Since our last meeting, as already reported by Brother Anderson, two members of the General Authorities have passed away: Elder A. E. Bowen of the Council of the Twelve, and Elder Stayner Richards, Assistant to the Twelve—two stalwarts, clear in vision, sound in judgment; men loyal and true to their callings, to the ideals and doctrines of the Church! We pay respect to their memory. May their acts and services during their lifetime continue to reverberate for good in the hearts not only of all members of the Church, but of all those outside of the Church who were fortunate enough to come in contact with these two great men.
COMMENDATION OF TEACHERS AND CHURCH GROUPS
I have mentioned particularly the work of the Church among the youth, because the future of this world is largely determined, as Goethe says, "upon the opinions of its young men under five and twenty."
If that be true, to awaken in the minds of the youth of the land a desire to achieve life's truest values is to render the greatest of all great services to our country.
With this thought in mind, I commend the teachers in our public schools, who under present difficulties, are remaining true to their post of duty. Let us hope that they will continue to do so, and not go off on a tangent vainly seeking redress in unions, which will only aggravate a condition already regrettable. We have confidence in the teachers. They will be loyal to their profession, teaching the young to be loyal and true to our country, to love the best in life, rather than to seek that which leads to selfishness.
This morning I want, also, to commend the Presiding Bishopric, the bishops of the wards, the presidencies of the Aaronic Priesthood quorums, for their efforts to bring into activity all the boys between the ages of 12 and 19, and what is equally commendable, they are reaching out to incorporate in this great spiritual uplift those who are classified as the "senior members of the Aaronic Priesthood," a group of potential power for great good, not only in the Church, but in the world, many of them leading businessmen and professional men. I commend you, brethren, for organizing these able men into groups that their influence may be felt for good.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD OR CATASTROPHE
With this in mind, I should like to give the following message, feeling as I do this morning, the potency and divinity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. With all my soul I feel this morning that there is truly ". . . none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" Acts 4:12 I cannot see how men can doubt that.
When I was a boy, there hung above the pulpit in the chapel in Huntsville, (Utah), a picture of President John Taylor. Under it in gold letters were these words: "The Kingdom of God or Nothing."
In childhood I gave little if any thought to its implication, nor in youth did I try to comprehend its significance.
This morning, with world conditions in mind—international suspicion and enmities—threatening war clouds—"man's inhumanity to man," and other discouraging aspects of human relationships, I am inclined to paraphrase that motto to read: "The kingdom of God or catastrophe."
Tradition tells us that Peter, when on the Appian Way going toward Rome, was met by this question "Quo Vadis?" (Whither goest thou?) Were that question put to people today, many pessimists would answer that we are headed for catastrophe, if not total destruction. One has already said of Europe:
"On the whole, during many generations, there has been a gradual decay of religious influence in European civilization. Each revival touches a lower peak than its predecessor, and each period of darkness, a lower depth. The average curve marks a steady fall in religious tone. Religion is tending to degenerate into a decent formula wherewith to embellish a comfortable life.
"Russia officially sanctions irreligion, and approves a system of sex relations lower than any sanctioned by the lowest African tribe.
"The paleolithic savages so far as we know had no such practices" (Man's Social Destiny, p. 23).
WHAT MEN THINK
And Hayden, writes as follows: "Today, as never before, mankind is seeking social betterment. Today, as seldom if ever before, human society is threatened with disintegration, if not complete chaos. All the ancient evils of human relationships, injustice, selfishness, abuse of strength, become sinister and terrible when reinforced by the vast increase of material power. The soul of man cowers, starved and fearful, in the midst of a civilization grown too complex for any mind to visualize or to control. Joy and beauty fade from human living. Yet life, abundant, beauteous, laughing life, has been our age-long labor's end. What other conceivable worth has the mastery of the material world, the exploitation of the resources of nature and the creation of wealth, except as a basis for the release of the life of the spirit. We are witnessing either the crumbling of civilization under the weight of its material mechanism or the birth of a new organization with a spiritual ideal."
Oswald Spengler thinks, and has so written: "This machine technics (referring to the world) will end with the Faustian civilization and one day will lie in fragments, forgotten—our railways and steamships as dead as the Roman roads and the Chinese Wall, our giant cities and skyscrapers in ruins like old Memphis and Babylon. The history of this technics is fast drawing to its inevitable close. It will be eaten up from within like the grand forms of any and every culture. When, and in what fashion, we know not."
These references indicate what some men are thinking about the present-day conditions, and where such conditions are leading. Whether you accept them as true, or not, we must face the fact that we are in a changing world, and that the destruction of present-day civilization is a possibility.
But, brothers and sisters, the Lord has something better in store for his children than complete destruction. Nations may be born, live, flourish for a time, and through internal corruption or other causes, die or be destroyed; but the human race will continue, and the kingdom of God be established.
" . . . behold," said Daniel, "one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came 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" Daniel 7:13-14
The paramount need in the world today is a clearer understanding by human beings of moral and spiritual values, and a desire and determination to attain them.
Never before in the history of the world has there been such a need of spiritual awakening. Unless there is such an awakening, there is danger of catastrophe among the nations of the world.
But I feel this morning, with all my soul, that the sun of hope is rising. Many thinking men and women are recognizing the need of man's looking up towards the heavens instead of his groveling in response to his animal nature. One man commenting on this said, that "If all the destroyers of civilization could be eliminated, and the traits of the rest of us could be eliminated, an approach to the millennium some hundred years hence is by no means inconceivable."
The Savior of the world said: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" John 10:10
Whether we live miserably or live abundantly depends upon ourselves. Look introspectively, young man and young woman, and determine whether your innermost thoughts hold you on the animal plane or whether they tend to lift you into the mental, moral, and spiritual realm. And you be your own judge. Are you scheming to exploit another for personal gain? Are you justifying a lie? Are you entertaining the thought of robbing a young woman of her virtue? Are you, young woman, justifying an act of unchastity in exchange for the attention or favor of a male companion? If these or any other selfish sinful thoughts obsess you, then you are not following the path of the abundant life, but are contributing to the continuance of a sordid, unhappy world.
FOUR FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS
In the brief sojourn of Jesus upon the earth, he marked clearly "the way the truth, and the life" (see John 14:6
I shall take time this morning to call your attention to four incidents in his life, and mention probably, but of course, briefly, some connotations of those incidents, I repeat, because I feel and know, that through him and through him only, and by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ, can we find happiness and salvation in this world and eternal life in the world to come. But I am thinking particularly of happiness and joy here and now, in this atomic age.
First, recall His experience on the Mount of Temptation Matthew 4:1-11In that experience we find taught the sublime necessity of subordinating the animal part of our natures to the spiritual. Man is a dual being—he is human, physical, of the earth, earthy, but he is, also, divine the offspring of God.
Well might Carlyle say: "There are heights in man which reach the highest heaven, and depths that sink to the lowest hell—for are not both heaven and hell made out of him, everlasting miracle and mystery that he is?"
"Beloved," said John, "now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" 1 John 3:2
On the Mount of Temptation Jesus resisted every appeal to his physical appetite—" . . . command that these stones be made bread"; every appeal to his vanity—"If thou be the son of God cast thyself down"—from the pinnacle; every appeal to his selfishness and pride, every bribe offered by way of power and wealth in exchange for spiritual companionship with his Father Matthew 4:3,6,9 Resisting all he said to the tempter: "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" Matthew 4:10
VALUE OF NOBLE THOUGHTS
Then during his brief mission among men, he emphasized the value of entertaining noble thoughts, what you think will determine your character, not alone what you do, and knowing that what one thinks about in one's secret moments determines what he is Matt. 5:28 He "decried the fatal effects of hatred and jealousy in the mind of the individual more vehemently than he did the acts that hate and jealousy prompt. Modern physiology and psychology confirm the practical wisdom of his teachings. These evil passions destroy a man's physical vigor and efficiency—they pervert his mental perceptions and render him incapable of resisting the temptations to commit acts of violence. They undermine his moral health. By insidious stages they transform the man who cherishes them into a criminal. On the other hand, if they are banished, and wholesome, kindly thoughts and emotions take their place, the man is incapable of crime. Right thoughts and feelings, if persistently kept in the forefront, inevitably lead to right acts." "A good tree bears good fruit; an evil tree, evil fruit" (see Matthew 7:17 A good tree, he says, cannot bring forth evil fruit, nor an evil tree bring forth good fruit Matthew 7:18 That teaching lies at the very bottom of Christ's ethical teachings. His whole effort was to make the tree good, for when that end was achieved, the good qualities of the fruit were assured. Resist evil, members of the Church, young and old, and the devil will flee from you.
The second incident I take from the Sermon on the Mount—a mountain in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" Matthew 6:24 Then he added, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33 Do you believe that? I believe in every word that Jesus spoke and to me the teaching is applicable in my life and yours.
Keeping in mind the fact that we are the children of our Father in heaven, when we seek the kingdom of God, first we become conscious of a new aim in life. To nourish and delight the body with its appetites and passions, as animals do, is no longer the chief end of mortal existence. Spiritual attainments not physical possessions become the chief goal. God is not viewed from the standpoint of what we may get from him, but what we may give to him. Only in the complete surrender of our inner life may we rise above the selfish sordid pull of nature.
"Giving God the glory" is a sure means of subduing selfishness—a willingness on the part of the individual to keep God as the ideal in his life. Faith, therefore, is a foundation element in true character building; for an upright character is the result only of continued effort and right thinking, the effect of long-cherished associations with Godlike thoughts. He approaches nearest the Christ spirit who makes God the center of his thoughts; and he who can say in his heart, "Not my will, but thine be done" Luke 22:42 approaches most nearly the Christ ideal.
TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS
The third incident is the scene with the Pharisees when a lawyer asked him: "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" Matthew 22:36-39
For two thousand years, practically, men have considered this sublime doctrine as impractical—too ideal, they say, but if we sincerely believe in Christ's divinity, that he is "the way, the truth and the life" (see John 14:6 we cannot consistently doubt the applicability of his teachings to everyday life.
True, there are weighty problems to solve—evils of the slums, the ever-recurring conflicts between labor and capital, drunkenness, prostitution, international hatreds, and a hundred other current questions. But if heeded, Christ's appeal for personal integrity, honor, fair-dealing, and love is basic in the proper solution of all these social and economic difficulties.
CHANGE MEN'S HEARTS
Most certainly before the world even approaches these ideals, men's hearts must be changed. Christ came into the world for that very purpose. The principal reason for preaching the gospel is to change men's hearts and lives, and you brethren who go from stake to stake and hear the evidence and testimony of those who have been converted recently through the stake missionary work, can testify how the conversion has changed their lives, as they have given their testimonies. By such conversion they bring peace and good will to the world instead of strife, suffering. On changing men's hearts Beverly Nichols, author of The FoolHath Said, writes truly:
"You can change human nature. No man who has felt in him the spirit of Christ even for a half 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... 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."
"Live in all things outside yourself by love," says Browning through Paracelsus, "and you shall have joy. This is the life of God; it ought to be our life. In him it was perfect, but in all created things, it is a lesson learned slowly and through difficulty."
LESSON FOR YOUTH
The fourth scene I name is with his disciples just before Gethsemane, when he said, "And now I am no more in the world, but 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" John 17:11,15
There is your lesson, young folk! You are in the midst of temptation, but you, as Christ on the Mount of Temptation, can rise above it.
We can so live, it is possible, that as members of the Church we can say to all the world in the words of Thomas Nixon Carver: "Come, our way of life is best because it works best. Our people are efficient, prosperous and happy because we are a body who aid one another in the productive life. We waste none of our substance in vice, luxury, or ostentation. We do not dissipate our energy in brawling, gambling, or unwholesome habits. We conserve our resources of body and mind and devote them to the upbuilding of the kingdom of God, which is not a mystical but a real kingdom. 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."
Yesterday, in this Tabernacle, seven or eight thousand women gathered—our mothers, members of the Relief Society. I wish the whole Church might have partaken of the spirit of that great conference. If so, we should have greater assurance in our souls that these ideals to which I have made brief mention will be effective throughout the world in bringing about a desire for greater spirituality, a greater need for the testimony that God lives, that his Son Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and that divine beings restored to the Prophet Joseph Smith the gospel of Jesus Christ as he established it in the Meridian of Time.
I bear you that testimony this morning and pray that the influence of priesthood quorums, of auxiliaries, and of the missionaries may be more effective from this time on than ever before in leading the honest in heart of the whole world to turn their eyes upward to the worship of God, our eternal Father, and give them power to control the animal nature and live in the spirit, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Conference Report, October 1953, pp. 5-12
Elder Joseph W. Anderson has just read the vital statistical data, the changes in ward and stake organizations, and the obituaries of the Church.
There are a few more items which might be mentioned, in which you will probably be interested.
The Church construction of chapels, classrooms, and recreation halls continues without abatement, indeed, with acceleration. During the last nine months, the Church has spent $5,568,000.00 in stakes, and $2,109,000.00 in missions, a total of $7,677,000.00, or a total to date this year, including local funds contributed for this purpose, in stakes, $10,337,000.00, and in the missions, $2,704,000.00 (I am not reading the full amount), or a total of $13,041,000.00.
TEMPLE CONSTRUCTION
You already know about the dedication of two temple sites in Europe—the first in the history of the Church—one at Berne, Switzerland, and another between London and Brighton, England.
The construction of the temple in Los Angeles is proceeding satisfactorily. We wish to commend the members of the Church in the Los Angeles Temple district for their magnanimous contribution to this edifice. As has already been announced, they volunteered to contribute over a million dollars towards the construction and completion of this edifice, and their payments are practically up-to-date. In addition to giving this large cash contribution they recently volunteered to assist in the landscaping, and even now they are planting shrubbery and getting trees so that at the time of dedication of the temple, the grounds will be properly and beautifully landscaped. May the Lord bless these faithful people and enable them to fulfil their promise in order that this edifice may be completely paid for by its dedication within a year and a half or two years.
The plans already are drawn for the temple in Switzerland, and the architect and contractor are proceeding so that that edifice will be completed without delay.
STAKE MISSIONARY WORK
You will be interested to know that the stake missionary work is meeting with unprecedented results: 6518 stake missionaries are now working within the organized stakes. To date there have been 3441 who have accepted the gospel through the efforts of these stake missionaries, and the work is continuing with unabated zeal.
YOUTH PROGRAM
We might mention, too, for your interest, that the youth program is being carried on most ably. I shall not take time to weary you with statistics, but in the girls' program, covering all the girls from twelve to nineteen, for August 1953, there were 56,332 enrolled. We believe that is one hundred percent of all the girls between those ages. The average attendance of the girls at the three meetings for this month, August, were as follows: Of those young girls, forty-nine percent of them attended sacrament meetings; fifty-nine percent attended the Sunday Schools; and fifty-four percent attended the MIA meetings. We commend you, sisters. A very definite program is carried out by the MIA for getting in touch with inactive girls and in trying to interest them in the Mutual Improvement Association.
In YMMIA during the past three years there has been an increase of 11,872 in enrolment in the scouting program. According to a report (we have this from Brother D. L. Roberts, who is director of the Mormon relationships in the Boy Scouts, and from Brother Elbert R. Curtis, general superintendent), on Sunday evening, during the jamboree at Los Angeles, July 19, a great convocation was held. Attending were more than forty-five thousand Boy Scouts, and there were present fifty thousand or more visitors. During the convocation great attention was paid to the churches of America, and religious training, and our Church received favorable attention. This made us happy to see an organization such as scouting bring such favorable comments about the work that is being done for the young in the Church.
I have notes before me emphasizing particularly what the Primary Association is doing for our eleven-year-old boys who are now taking up preliminary Scout work, also commending the high percentage of attendance at Primary meetings, and the most excellent work that is being done by the Primary hospital.
UNIFICATION OF CHURCH SCHOOL SYSTEM
Since our meeting of last April there has been a unification of the Church school system. We have had, heretofore, as you know, a Church board of education with a commission presiding over the colleges, institutes, and seminaries. Then we had a board of trustees presiding over Brigham Young University. Those two great branches of education are now united under the direction of Dr. Ernest L. Wilkinson, who is appointed administrator of the Church board of education, in addition to his presidency over Brigham Young University.
Here I wish to say a word of commendation for the excellent service rendered by Commissioner Franklin L. West. For years he has devoted his entire time to the advancement of the institutes and seminaries and colleges of the Church. His heart has been in the work. He has expressed and radiated a fervent testimony of the divinity of the restored gospel, and his heart has been centered upon the instructing of the youth in the fundamentals and ideals of the Church of Jesus Christ. He retires with the confidence and blessing of the Authorities of the Church.
Under his direction there has been a steady increase in the number enrolled in our institutes and seminaries. Last year there were enrolled 36,081 seminary students, 4202 institute students, 1140 in the schools of the islands of the Pacific, or a total of 41,423.
I am glad to report to you that the Church is moving on with great rapidity and its influence being extended throughout the world.
PASSING OF TWO GENERAL AUTHORITIES
Since our last meeting, as already reported by Brother Anderson, two members of the General Authorities have passed away: Elder A. E. Bowen of the Council of the Twelve, and Elder Stayner Richards, Assistant to the Twelve—two stalwarts, clear in vision, sound in judgment; men loyal and true to their callings, to the ideals and doctrines of the Church! We pay respect to their memory. May their acts and services during their lifetime continue to reverberate for good in the hearts not only of all members of the Church, but of all those outside of the Church who were fortunate enough to come in contact with these two great men.
COMMENDATION OF TEACHERS AND CHURCH GROUPS
I have mentioned particularly the work of the Church among the youth, because the future of this world is largely determined, as Goethe says, "upon the opinions of its young men under five and twenty."
If that be true, to awaken in the minds of the youth of the land a desire to achieve life's truest values is to render the greatest of all great services to our country.
With this thought in mind, I commend the teachers in our public schools, who under present difficulties, are remaining true to their post of duty. Let us hope that they will continue to do so, and not go off on a tangent vainly seeking redress in unions, which will only aggravate a condition already regrettable. We have confidence in the teachers. They will be loyal to their profession, teaching the young to be loyal and true to our country, to love the best in life, rather than to seek that which leads to selfishness.
This morning I want, also, to commend the Presiding Bishopric, the bishops of the wards, the presidencies of the Aaronic Priesthood quorums, for their efforts to bring into activity all the boys between the ages of 12 and 19, and what is equally commendable, they are reaching out to incorporate in this great spiritual uplift those who are classified as the "senior members of the Aaronic Priesthood," a group of potential power for great good, not only in the Church, but in the world, many of them leading businessmen and professional men. I commend you, brethren, for organizing these able men into groups that their influence may be felt for good.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD OR CATASTROPHE
With this in mind, I should like to give the following message, feeling as I do this morning, the potency and divinity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. With all my soul I feel this morning that there is truly ". . . none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" Acts 4:12 I cannot see how men can doubt that.
When I was a boy, there hung above the pulpit in the chapel in Huntsville, (Utah), a picture of President John Taylor. Under it in gold letters were these words: "The Kingdom of God or Nothing."
In childhood I gave little if any thought to its implication, nor in youth did I try to comprehend its significance.
This morning, with world conditions in mind—international suspicion and enmities—threatening war clouds—"man's inhumanity to man," and other discouraging aspects of human relationships, I am inclined to paraphrase that motto to read: "The kingdom of God or catastrophe."
Tradition tells us that Peter, when on the Appian Way going toward Rome, was met by this question "Quo Vadis?" (Whither goest thou?) Were that question put to people today, many pessimists would answer that we are headed for catastrophe, if not total destruction. One has already said of Europe:
"On the whole, during many generations, there has been a gradual decay of religious influence in European civilization. Each revival touches a lower peak than its predecessor, and each period of darkness, a lower depth. The average curve marks a steady fall in religious tone. Religion is tending to degenerate into a decent formula wherewith to embellish a comfortable life.
"Russia officially sanctions irreligion, and approves a system of sex relations lower than any sanctioned by the lowest African tribe.
"The paleolithic savages so far as we know had no such practices" (Man's Social Destiny, p. 23).
WHAT MEN THINK
And Hayden, writes as follows: "Today, as never before, mankind is seeking social betterment. Today, as seldom if ever before, human society is threatened with disintegration, if not complete chaos. All the ancient evils of human relationships, injustice, selfishness, abuse of strength, become sinister and terrible when reinforced by the vast increase of material power. The soul of man cowers, starved and fearful, in the midst of a civilization grown too complex for any mind to visualize or to control. Joy and beauty fade from human living. Yet life, abundant, beauteous, laughing life, has been our age-long labor's end. What other conceivable worth has the mastery of the material world, the exploitation of the resources of nature and the creation of wealth, except as a basis for the release of the life of the spirit. We are witnessing either the crumbling of civilization under the weight of its material mechanism or the birth of a new organization with a spiritual ideal."
Oswald Spengler thinks, and has so written: "This machine technics (referring to the world) will end with the Faustian civilization and one day will lie in fragments, forgotten—our railways and steamships as dead as the Roman roads and the Chinese Wall, our giant cities and skyscrapers in ruins like old Memphis and Babylon. The history of this technics is fast drawing to its inevitable close. It will be eaten up from within like the grand forms of any and every culture. When, and in what fashion, we know not."
These references indicate what some men are thinking about the present-day conditions, and where such conditions are leading. Whether you accept them as true, or not, we must face the fact that we are in a changing world, and that the destruction of present-day civilization is a possibility.
But, brothers and sisters, the Lord has something better in store for his children than complete destruction. Nations may be born, live, flourish for a time, and through internal corruption or other causes, die or be destroyed; but the human race will continue, and the kingdom of God be established.
" . . . behold," said Daniel, "one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came 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" Daniel 7:13-14
The paramount need in the world today is a clearer understanding by human beings of moral and spiritual values, and a desire and determination to attain them.
Never before in the history of the world has there been such a need of spiritual awakening. Unless there is such an awakening, there is danger of catastrophe among the nations of the world.
But I feel this morning, with all my soul, that the sun of hope is rising. Many thinking men and women are recognizing the need of man's looking up towards the heavens instead of his groveling in response to his animal nature. One man commenting on this said, that "If all the destroyers of civilization could be eliminated, and the traits of the rest of us could be eliminated, an approach to the millennium some hundred years hence is by no means inconceivable."
The Savior of the world said: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" John 10:10
Whether we live miserably or live abundantly depends upon ourselves. Look introspectively, young man and young woman, and determine whether your innermost thoughts hold you on the animal plane or whether they tend to lift you into the mental, moral, and spiritual realm. And you be your own judge. Are you scheming to exploit another for personal gain? Are you justifying a lie? Are you entertaining the thought of robbing a young woman of her virtue? Are you, young woman, justifying an act of unchastity in exchange for the attention or favor of a male companion? If these or any other selfish sinful thoughts obsess you, then you are not following the path of the abundant life, but are contributing to the continuance of a sordid, unhappy world.
FOUR FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS
In the brief sojourn of Jesus upon the earth, he marked clearly "the way the truth, and the life" (see John 14:6
I shall take time this morning to call your attention to four incidents in his life, and mention probably, but of course, briefly, some connotations of those incidents, I repeat, because I feel and know, that through him and through him only, and by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ, can we find happiness and salvation in this world and eternal life in the world to come. But I am thinking particularly of happiness and joy here and now, in this atomic age.
First, recall His experience on the Mount of Temptation Matthew 4:1-11In that experience we find taught the sublime necessity of subordinating the animal part of our natures to the spiritual. Man is a dual being—he is human, physical, of the earth, earthy, but he is, also, divine the offspring of God.
Well might Carlyle say: "There are heights in man which reach the highest heaven, and depths that sink to the lowest hell—for are not both heaven and hell made out of him, everlasting miracle and mystery that he is?"
"Beloved," said John, "now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" 1 John 3:2
On the Mount of Temptation Jesus resisted every appeal to his physical appetite—" . . . command that these stones be made bread"; every appeal to his vanity—"If thou be the son of God cast thyself down"—from the pinnacle; every appeal to his selfishness and pride, every bribe offered by way of power and wealth in exchange for spiritual companionship with his Father Matthew 4:3,6,9 Resisting all he said to the tempter: "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" Matthew 4:10
VALUE OF NOBLE THOUGHTS
Then during his brief mission among men, he emphasized the value of entertaining noble thoughts, what you think will determine your character, not alone what you do, and knowing that what one thinks about in one's secret moments determines what he is Matt. 5:28 He "decried the fatal effects of hatred and jealousy in the mind of the individual more vehemently than he did the acts that hate and jealousy prompt. Modern physiology and psychology confirm the practical wisdom of his teachings. These evil passions destroy a man's physical vigor and efficiency—they pervert his mental perceptions and render him incapable of resisting the temptations to commit acts of violence. They undermine his moral health. By insidious stages they transform the man who cherishes them into a criminal. On the other hand, if they are banished, and wholesome, kindly thoughts and emotions take their place, the man is incapable of crime. Right thoughts and feelings, if persistently kept in the forefront, inevitably lead to right acts." "A good tree bears good fruit; an evil tree, evil fruit" (see Matthew 7:17 A good tree, he says, cannot bring forth evil fruit, nor an evil tree bring forth good fruit Matthew 7:18 That teaching lies at the very bottom of Christ's ethical teachings. His whole effort was to make the tree good, for when that end was achieved, the good qualities of the fruit were assured. Resist evil, members of the Church, young and old, and the devil will flee from you.
The second incident I take from the Sermon on the Mount—a mountain in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" Matthew 6:24 Then he added, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33 Do you believe that? I believe in every word that Jesus spoke and to me the teaching is applicable in my life and yours.
Keeping in mind the fact that we are the children of our Father in heaven, when we seek the kingdom of God, first we become conscious of a new aim in life. To nourish and delight the body with its appetites and passions, as animals do, is no longer the chief end of mortal existence. Spiritual attainments not physical possessions become the chief goal. God is not viewed from the standpoint of what we may get from him, but what we may give to him. Only in the complete surrender of our inner life may we rise above the selfish sordid pull of nature.
"Giving God the glory" is a sure means of subduing selfishness—a willingness on the part of the individual to keep God as the ideal in his life. Faith, therefore, is a foundation element in true character building; for an upright character is the result only of continued effort and right thinking, the effect of long-cherished associations with Godlike thoughts. He approaches nearest the Christ spirit who makes God the center of his thoughts; and he who can say in his heart, "Not my will, but thine be done" Luke 22:42 approaches most nearly the Christ ideal.
TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS
The third incident is the scene with the Pharisees when a lawyer asked him: "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" Matthew 22:36-39
For two thousand years, practically, men have considered this sublime doctrine as impractical—too ideal, they say, but if we sincerely believe in Christ's divinity, that he is "the way, the truth and the life" (see John 14:6 we cannot consistently doubt the applicability of his teachings to everyday life.
True, there are weighty problems to solve—evils of the slums, the ever-recurring conflicts between labor and capital, drunkenness, prostitution, international hatreds, and a hundred other current questions. But if heeded, Christ's appeal for personal integrity, honor, fair-dealing, and love is basic in the proper solution of all these social and economic difficulties.
CHANGE MEN'S HEARTS
Most certainly before the world even approaches these ideals, men's hearts must be changed. Christ came into the world for that very purpose. The principal reason for preaching the gospel is to change men's hearts and lives, and you brethren who go from stake to stake and hear the evidence and testimony of those who have been converted recently through the stake missionary work, can testify how the conversion has changed their lives, as they have given their testimonies. By such conversion they bring peace and good will to the world instead of strife, suffering. On changing men's hearts Beverly Nichols, author of The FoolHath Said, writes truly:
"You can change human nature. No man who has felt in him the spirit of Christ even for a half 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... 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."
"Live in all things outside yourself by love," says Browning through Paracelsus, "and you shall have joy. This is the life of God; it ought to be our life. In him it was perfect, but in all created things, it is a lesson learned slowly and through difficulty."
LESSON FOR YOUTH
The fourth scene I name is with his disciples just before Gethsemane, when he said, "And now I am no more in the world, but 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" John 17:11,15
There is your lesson, young folk! You are in the midst of temptation, but you, as Christ on the Mount of Temptation, can rise above it.
We can so live, it is possible, that as members of the Church we can say to all the world in the words of Thomas Nixon Carver: "Come, our way of life is best because it works best. Our people are efficient, prosperous and happy because we are a body who aid one another in the productive life. We waste none of our substance in vice, luxury, or ostentation. We do not dissipate our energy in brawling, gambling, or unwholesome habits. We conserve our resources of body and mind and devote them to the upbuilding of the kingdom of God, which is not a mystical but a real kingdom. 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."
Yesterday, in this Tabernacle, seven or eight thousand women gathered—our mothers, members of the Relief Society. I wish the whole Church might have partaken of the spirit of that great conference. If so, we should have greater assurance in our souls that these ideals to which I have made brief mention will be effective throughout the world in bringing about a desire for greater spirituality, a greater need for the testimony that God lives, that his Son Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and that divine beings restored to the Prophet Joseph Smith the gospel of Jesus Christ as he established it in the Meridian of Time.
I bear you that testimony this morning and pray that the influence of priesthood quorums, of auxiliaries, and of the missionaries may be more effective from this time on than ever before in leading the honest in heart of the whole world to turn their eyes upward to the worship of God, our eternal Father, and give them power to control the animal nature and live in the spirit, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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