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The One Hundred Fifteenth Annual Confer-
ence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The One Hundred Fifteenth Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convened in Salt Lake City, Utah, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 6, 7, and 8, 1945.
Sessions of the Conference were held in the Assembly Hall, Temple Square, Friday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and Saturday at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sessions were held in the great Tabernacle Sunday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Through the courtesy of Radio Station KSL of Salt Lake City and Radio Station KSUB of Cedar City, Utah, the proceedings of the Conference, with the exception of the Saturday evening meeting, were broadcast for the benefit of the general public. In addition, Radio Station KFXD of Nampa, Idaho, carried the Saturday after- noon and Sunday morning meetings.
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., First Counselor in the First Presi- dency, presided at all of the sessions of the Conference and conduct- ed the services.
Owing to conditions incident to the war emergency, the general public were not invited to attend the Conference. Those present con- sisted of the following:
General Authorities of the Church Present
Of The First Presidency: *, J. Reuben Clark, Jr., and David O. McKay.
The Council of the Twelve Apostles: George Albert Smith, George F. Richards, Joseph Fielding Smith, Stephen L Richards, John A. Widtsoe, Joseph F. Merrill, Charles A. Callis, Albert E. Bowen, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra T. Benson, and Mark E. Petersen.
Patriarch to the Church: Joseph F. Smith.
Assistants to the Council' of the Twelve Apostles: Marion G. Romney, Thomas E. McKay, Clifford E. Young, Alma Sonne, and Nicholas G. Smith.
The First Council of the Seventy: Levi Edgar Young, Antoine
^President Heber J. Grant was absent because of illness.
2 GENERAL CONFERENCE
Friday, April 6 First Day
R. Ivins, John H. Taylor, Richard L. Evans, Oscar A. Kirkham, Mil- ton R. Hunter *. Seymour Dilworth Young**.
The Presiding Bishopric: LeGrand Richards, Marvin O. Ashton, and Joseph L. Wirthlin.
Other Authorities and Officers Present
Church Historian and Recorder: Joseph Fielding Smith, and A. William Lund, assistant.
Members of the General Committee, Church Welfare Program.
Superintendency, Deseret Sunday School Union Board.
Superintendency, General Board of Y.M.M.I.A.
Commissioner of Education and Seminary Supervisors.
One member of the Presidency of each Stake.
The President of the High Priests Quorum in each Stake.
The senior member of the High Council of each Stake.
One member of the Bishopric of each Ward, the President of each Dependent Branch in the wards, and one member of the Presi- dency of each Independent Branch in the Stakes.
i
FIRST DAY MORNING MEETING
The opening session of the Conference was held in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Friday, April 6, at 10 o'clock a.m.
In the absence of President Heber J. Grant, who was convalesc- ing from an illness, President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., First Counselor in the First Presidency, presided and conducted the services.
PRESIDENT J. REUBEN CLARK, JR.
First Counselor in the First Presidency
This is the opening session of the 115th Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are convened in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Church was organized under the direction, of the Lord 115
* Milton R. Hunter was sustained at this conference as a mem- ber of the First Council of the Seventy, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Rufus K. Hardy March 7, 1945.
** Seymour Dilworth Young was sustained as a member of the First Council of the Seventy at this Conference to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Samuel O. Bennion March 8, 1945.
PRESIDENT J. REUBEN CLARK, JR. 3
years ago today, with six members. Its membership today is ap- proaching 1,000,000.
This conference is meeting with the approval of .the proper Fed- eral authorities. In conformity with the policy announced by those authorities for the curtailing of attendance at conventions, confer- ences, and like gatherings, and acceding to their request that we do so act, the attendance at this Conference has been drastically limited. This accords with the policy regarding attendance at these Con- ferences and other Church gatherings that was voluntarily adopted and put into force by the Church itself immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The attendance is based upon a representation of Church administrative units and has been worked out on a Church- wide basis, irrespective of geographic location, as was only fair and just. Our attendance at this Conference will be only about 14% of the normal attendance at such gatherings. We eagerly look for- ward to the time when we may again resume the holding of General Conferences with unlimited attendance.
There are on the stand this morning all the General Authorities of the Church, except President Heber J. Grant, President of the Church, who on the advice of his physicians is remaining at his home. However, he is able to listen to the Conference proceedings on a di- rect wire from the Assembly Hall to his home. We of this body rep- resenting the priesthood leadership of the Church send to you, Presi- dent Grant, our love and our greetings and our prayers in your behalf for your early and complete recovery. We thank our Heavenly Father for the preservation of your life, and for the degree of health and strength He has given you. We ask Him to give you his richest blessings. We honor and revere you and we thank our Heavenly Father for your wisdom and. guidance over the years and now.
Elder Joseph Anderson is the Clerk of the Conference.
President Grant has requested his First Counselor, President Clark, who is speaking, to conduct the Conference services.
The full service will be broadcast over Station KSL, Salt Lake City, as will also the service this afternoon beginning at 2:00 p.m. The services tomorrow, Saturday, at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. will likewise be broadcast over KSL, and also the two services on Sunday at the same hours. These same sessions will be broadcast over station KSUB at Cedar City.
The s.inging will be by the congregation, composed of about 1 500 male members, representing the priesthood leadership of the Church. Elder Richard P. Condie is the conductor; Elder Frank W. Asper is the organist.
The first song will be "Redeemer of Israel," Song Folder No. 3, L.D.S. Hymns No. 231, Hymn Book No. 194.
We suggest that our audience of the air join in the singing of the Conference.
The opening prayer will be offered by President Axel J. An- dresen of the South Salt Lake Stake.
4
Friday, April 6
GENERAL CONFERENCE
First Day
The congregation sang the hymn, "Redeemer of Israel." Elder Axel J. Andresen offered the invocation. The congregation sang the hymn, "Come, Let Us Anew," (Song Folder No. 1 8, L.D.S. Hymns No. 1 95 ) .
President Clark:
President Heber J. Grant, President of the Church of Jesus' Christ of Latter-day Saints, has prepared a message for the people, which will now be read by the Clerk of the Conference, Elder Joseph Anderson.
PRESIDENT HEBER J. GRANT
It does not seem possible that another six months have passed since we- last had the privilege of meeting here in a general conference of the Church. Since then much has happened — in our own lives and in the events of the world. Since then, I have been privileged to com- plete my eighty-eighth year and to live into the eighty-ninth year of my life. The Lord has blessed and sustained us, both Sister Grant and me, and among the richest of our blessings are our brethren and sisters and our friends, whose prayers in our behalf have blessed our lives, and whose thoughtfulness in many ways has made our days happier.
Joy in the Integrity of the Officers of the Church
I rejoice exceedingly in the many blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we enjoy. I rejoice in having the fellowship and the faith and prayers and good feeling of those with whom I associate, I re- joice in the integrity, the faith, and the diligence of those who preside in the various stakes of Zion. I realize that we are beset with faults and failings and imperfections, but I am convinced that almost with- out exception those who have the charge of the Saints in the wards and stakes of Zion, and in the missions are men of God, and that their integrity is beyond question, and that, if need be, they would be ready and willing to lay down their lives for the advancement of the king- dom of God. I believe that the elders of Israel in all the different wards and stakes of Zion earnestly desire to know the mind and will of our Heavenly Father, and that they are ready and willing to do anything that is within their power, to fulfill that mind and that will and to carry it out in their lives. It is this integrity and this desire that give me joy and satisfaction, and that encourage me in the re- sponsibilities that devolve upon me.
The Passing of Elders Samuel O. Bennion and Rufus K. Hardy
Since we last met, the Church has been called upon to mourn the passing of two of our brethren of the General Authorities, Brothers
PRESIDENT HEBER ]. GRANT
5
Samuel O. Bennion and Rufus K. Hardy, both of the First Council of the Seventy. I honored them and loved them. They were true men of God, and rendered great -service in the Lord's latter-day work. We miss them and shall continue to miss them in the presiding coun- cils of the Church — but their place in our Father's kingdom is assured. They were valiant preachers of righteousness and will receive the blessings of the valiant and of the righteous. May God our Father give his peace and comfort to their devoted wives, Sister Hardy and Sister Bennion, and to their families.
Concerning Tithing and Other Principles
I rejoice in the increased tithes and offerings of this people, and in the increased numbers who are fulfilling their financial obligations to the Lord, and I hope and pray that this principle and all the other principles of the gospel are being taught our children in our homes, and in our Church organizations.
It should be the pride of every bishop and of every bishop's counselor, and of the president of every stake and his counselors, and of every officer and teacher, and of every member of this Church, young and old, that they earnestly and conscientiously pay their tith- ing. We are capable of accomplishing this if we will only think so" and labor to that end.
I realize and appreciate the fact that the Lord could pour out up- on us an abundance of the wealth of this world, that he could make us all rich, because the mountains are full of wealth, and he could open up avenues to us that we could all become wealthy, but in doing this we would have no opportunity of showing our faith by our works; we would have no opportunity of developing our manhood and of fitting and preparing ourselves by actual labor to go back and dwell .in the presence of our Heavenly Father.
As I understand the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they were that it would profit no man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul. It is by the faithful discharge of the duties and the obligations that rest upon us in the Church of God that we are developed. It is by the exercise of our mental faculties that we improve upon them; it is by the exercise of our physical pow- ers that we strengthen them; it is by the cultivation and the exercise of our spirits that we grow in spirituality, that we grow in the testi- mony of the gospel, that we grow in ability and strength to accomplish the purposes of our Heavenly Father upon the earth.
On the subject of tithing I heard a very splendid illustration giv- en by a teacher in one of our children's classes: She brought with her ten beautiful red apples. She explained that everything we have in the world came to us from the Lord, and she said, "Now, if I give one of you these ten apples, will you give me one of them back again? Now, any one of you children that will do that, hold up your hand."
Of course, they all held up their hands. Then she said, "That is
6
Friday, April 6
GENERAL CONFERENCE
First Day
what the Lord does for us. He gives us the ten apples, but he requests that we return one to him to show our appreciation of that gift."
The trouble with some people is that when they get the ten ap- ples, they eat up nine of them, and then they cut the other in two and give the Lord half of what is left. Some of them cut the apple in two and eat up one-half of it and then hold up the other half and ask the Lord to take a bite. That is about as near as they see fit to share properly and show their gratitude to the Lord.
Our children often feel that we are under obligation to them if they learn their lessons in school; they feel that they have done some- thing that places the parents under obligation, while, as a matter of fact, they have done something, if they have learned their lessons, that for all time will be of benefit to them individually. Likewise, a great many people in the Church act as though the Presidency of the Church, or the presidency of the stake, or the bishopric of their ward are under obligation to them if they obey the Word of Wisdom or if they obey the law delivered to us regarding tithing, or any other prin- ciple of the gospel. They feel that they have done something that places the Church, or the authorities of the Church locally, or the General Authorities, under obligation to them. But every law that is given to us in the Church is for our own individual benefit.
Looking After Our Youth
I wish to impress upon the workers in all the organizations of the Church, the need for laboring prayerfully, untiringly, and diligently at this time to persuade the youth of Zion to be more faithful, more diligent in all their obligations and responsibilities, in safeguarding their virtue, and in observing what is known as the Word of Wisdom. I feel that while there are tens of thousands of. our young men who are doing this, there may also be some who in order to be counted as hail-fellows-well-met, may be tempted to become careless and forget- ful.
I ask our young people, wherever they are in all the world, to remember well all of their principles and ideals, under all conditions and circumstances, when they are at home, and when they are away from home.
There is nothing like looking after people. It is just the same in the gospel as it is in business. If a man does not look after his trade, it is sure to go from him. We must look after the people, our young people and all others, no matter where they may go, if we hope to keep them in the line of their duty.
To Our Young Men in the Armed Forces
Our hearts, our thoughts, and our prayers go out to those who are in the armed forces. It would appear from all the figures we can gather, that more than one hundred thousand of our young men are
PRESIDENT HEBER J. GRANT
7
in the services of their country, in uniform. We pray for them con- tinually. We pray for the preservation of their lives and for their faithfulness to those things which are dearer than life.
We say to you again to be clean, to keep the commandments of God, to pray, to live righteously; and if you do, peace and understand- ing will come into your hearts, and our Father in heaven will comfort you; and will let his presence be felt in the hour of your need.
Young men of Zion, when you return to your homes, return with clean hands and clean hearts — and great will be your happiness, your faith, and your testimony. Your brethren and your loved ones cher- ish you, pray for you, and await the day of your coming.
And I pray with all my heart that if there are those who have made mistakes, that they will repent; and by this we may know that they have repented — that they will confess their sins -and depart from them.
To Those Who Are in Sorrow
Into many of our homes sorrow has come since last conference. In the days ahead we must face the fact that more homes and more families will be broken by news of death and of other tragedies. May the peace and comfort of our Father in heaven bring its healing in- fluence to all who are called upon to mourn and to bear affliction. And may we be strengthened with the understanding that being blessed does not mean that we shall always be spared all the disappointments and difficulties of life. We all have them, even though our troubles differ. I have not had the same kind of trials that others have had to undergo, yet I have had my full share. When, as a young man, I lost my wife and my only two sons, I was earnestly trying with all my heart to keep the commandments of the Lord, and my household and I were observing the Word of Wisdom and entitled to the blessings of life. I have been sorely tried and tempted, but I am thankful to say that the trials and temptations have not been any greater than I was able to endure, and with all my heart I hope that we may never have anything more to endure than we will be blessed of the Lord with the ability to withstand.
And may we always remember, because it is both true and com- forting, that the death of a faithful man is nothing in comparison to the loss of the inspiration of the good spirit. Eternal life is the great prize, and it will be ours, and the joy of our Father in heaven in wel- coming us will be great, if we do right; and there is nothing so great that can be done in this life by anyone, as to do right. The Lord will hear and answer the prayers we offer to him and give us the things we pray for if it is for our best good. He never will and never has for- saken those who serve him with full purpose of heart; but we must always be prepared to say "Father, thy will be done."
May the Lord bless and keep you who are away from home, and bless your wives and your children, your mothers and your fathers.
GENERAL CONFERENCE
First Day
May God bless and preserve the Saints and the righteous every- where, in all nations, in the far-off islands, and in lands torn by war, as well as here among us. To all faithful, we extend anew the hand of fellowship, and hold you in remembrance before God; and may he accomplish his purposes, overrule in the affairs of nations, hasten the end of the war and of wickedness, and bring peace on earth.
I plead with all the Saints at this time, as all my predecessors in the presidency of the Church have done, to be honest, truthful, in- dustrious, and thrifty; to get out of debt and stay out of debt; to pre- pare for the time when money may not flow as freely as it does now.
Even now, we are told that there will be leaner days ahead — not- withstanding that the war has progressed as far as it has. Let all of us who can, raise what we can of our own food and sustenance. Let all of us be industrious and useful to the full extent of our strength and ability. We are told to earn our bread by the sweat of the brow. I believe there may be a disposition on the part of some Latter-day Saints to say, "Well, after we get to be sixty-five we will not have to work any more." There should be in the heart of every man and woman ,the cry, "I am going to live and work. There is nothing given to me but time in which to live, and I am going to endeavor each day of my life to do some labor which will be acceptable in the sight of my Heavenly Father, and if it is possible, do a little better today than I did yesterday." It is an easy thing to throw a dollar to a man, but it requires sympathy and a heart to take an interest in him and try to plan for his welfare and benefit.
And it is a principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ, now, as it always has been, to help every man to help himself — to help every child of our Father in heaven to work out his own salvation, both tem- porally and spiritually.
I pray for the righteous among all peoples. I ask the Lord to bless those who preside in the nation; in the states, in the cities, and in the counties. I pray God to inspire the people that they will obey his commandments and elect good men to positions of public responsibil- ity, that they will bury their political differences, their personal am- bitions, and selfish interests, and seek for good men to hold office.
I tell you it is the duty of the presidency of this Church to ask the people to do anything and everything that the inspiration of God tells them to do, and you need have no fear that any man will ever stand at the head of the Church of Jesus Christ unless our Heavenly Father wants him to be there.
Several times I have gone to meetings in the old Endowment House, knowing that a certain matter was to be discussed, and my
Work, Thrift, and Integrity
Responsibility of Leadership
PRESIDENT HEBER J. GRANT
9
mind was as perfectly set upon a certain position on that question as it is possible for a man to have his mind set, and I believe I am as de- cided in my opinion as the majority of people. ( I have heard it said that there is nobody as stubborn as a Scotchman except a Dutchman : and I am Scotch on my father's side and Dutch on my mother's. ) And although I have gone to meetings determined in favor of a certain line of policy, I have willingly and freely voted for the exact opposite of that policy, because of the inspiration of the Lord that came to give direction. And upon every such occasion the action taken was vindi- cated and proved by later events to be for the best good of the people.
I could also relate circumstances when the brethren have been sent out to accomplish certain labors under the inspiration of the Lord when they thought they could not accomplish those labors. They have returned and been able to bear testimony that by and with the help of the Lord they had been able to accomplish the labor placed upon them.
The Lord gives to many of us the still, small voice of revelation. It comes as vividly and strongly as though it were with a great sound. It comes to each man, according to his needs and faithfulness, for guid- ance in matters that pertain to his own life. For the Church as a whole it comes to those who haye been ordained to speak for the Church as a whole — and I say to you again, that it is the duty of the presidency of this Church to ask the people to do anything and every- thing that the inspiration of God tells them to do. We as Latter-day Saints, holding the priesthood of God, should magnify it, and we should respect the General Authorities of the Church; and as we re- spect them, God will respect us.
The Path of Duty, the Path of Safety
There is but one path of safety for the Latter-day Saints, arid that is the path of duty. It is not a testimony only; it is not marvelous manifestations; it is not knowing that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, that it is the plan of salvation — it is not actually knowing that the Savior is the Redeemer, and that Joseph Smith was his prophet, that will save you and me; but it is the keeping of the commandments of God, living the life of a Latter-day Saint.
I pray constantly for all the officers of this Church, whether in the priesthood or in the auxiliary associations. I am sure, in my secret prayers particularly, that I never forget, morning or night, those that have been called to preside, to direct the affairs in the priesthood quorums and in the auxiliary associations. My prayer is that each of you holding a place of responsibility shall so order your lives that they shall be examples of diligence and energy and of the Spirit of the Liv- ing God, that can be followed in every part by those over whom you preside.
If we do this, what a wonderful power we shall have with the Lord in the furtherance of his mighty purposes in the earth. If we
10 GENERAL CONFERENCE
Friday, April 6 First Day
keep his commandments, our influence will be not only with the world, but with our own young people. Their strength and power will be mul- tiplied if we shall succeed in having them feel the necessity of observ- ing the commandments of God, particularly concerning the principles of clean and righteous living.
I say to all Latter-day Saints: keep the commandments of God. That is my keynote — just these few words : keep the commandments of God!
Closing Testimony
The most glorious thing that has ever happened in the history of the world since the Savior himself lived on earth, is that God him- self saw fit to visit the earth with his beloved, only begotten Son, our Redeemer and Savior, and to appear to the boy Joseph. There are thousands and hundreds of thousands who have had a perfect and in- dividual testimony and knowledge of this eternal truth. The gospel in its purity has been restored to the earth, and I want to emphasize that we as a people have one supreme thing to do, and this is to call upon the world to repent of sin, and to obey the commandments of God. And it is our duty above all others to go forth at home and abroad, as times and circumstances permit, and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is our duty also to be mindful of those children of our Father who have preceded us in death without a knowledge of the gospel, and to open the door of salvation to them in our temples, where we also have obligations to perform.
I bear witness to you that I do know that God lives, that he hears and answers prayer; that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of the world; that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of the true and living God; and that Brigham Young and those who have succeeded him were, and are, likewise prophets of God.
I do not have the language at my command to express the grati- tude to God for this knowledge that I possess. Time and time again my heart has been melted, my eyes have wept tears of gratitude for the knowledge that he lives and that this gospel called Mormonism is in very deed the plan of life and salvation, that it is in very deed the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That God may help you and me and everyone to live it, and that he may help those who know not the truth, that they may receive this witness, is my constant and earnest prayer, and I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President Clark:
We have just heard a message from President Heber J. Grant, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, read by Elder Joseph Anderson, Clerk of the conference.
President Grant: The people are again built up and enheart- ened by your great faith, your living testimony, your ripened wisdom, by your words of encouragement and admonition, by your example
GENERAL AUTHORITIES SUSTAINED 1 1
of righteousness and of humility, by your charity, and your love for the people and for the great cause of building up the Kingdom of God. We thank our Heavenly Father for the inspiration which he has made your companion and for the revelations of his mind and will which day by day he has sent and is sending to you. May your lengthening years continue to be filled by his comfort and by the peace which the Lord alone can give.
Singing by the congregation, "We Thank Thee, O God, For A Prophet, (Song Folder No. 8, L.D.S. Hymns No. 298, Hymn Book No, 152).
President Clark:
President David O. McKay of the First Presidency will now present the General Authorities and Officers of the Church for your sustaining vote. We suggest that all members of the Church listen- ing in participate in the vote, thus witnessing to the Lord by their up- lifted hands, as do we who are present here, that they will uphold and be completely loyal to those bearing the holy priesthood of God, whom he has chosen to lead, guide, and direct his Church on earth.
President McKay:
Before presenting the General Authorities and General Officers of the Church, we submit to you the following :
It is proposed that we honorably release Sister Amy Brown Ly- man as general president of the National Woman's Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with Sister Marcia ' K. Howells, her first counselor, and Sister Belle S. Spaf f ord, her sec- ond counselor, and all the officers and members of the Relief Society general board, with our appreciation of the excellent service they have rendered, and commendation for their faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All who favor this proposition please manifest it.
(the vote was unanimous)
President McKay then presented for the vote of the Conference the General Authorities, General Officers, and General Auxiliary Of- ficers of the Church, and they were unanimously sustained by those present, as follows:
GENERAL AUTHORITIES OF THE CHURCH
First Presidency
Heber J. Grant, Prophet, Seer and Revelator, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., First Counselor in the First Presidency. David O. McKay, Second Counselor in the First Presidency.
12 GENERAL CONFERENCE
Friday. April 6 First Day
President of the Council of the Twelve Apostles George Albert Smith
Council of the Twelve Apostles
George Albert Smith Charles A. Callis
George F. Richards Albert E. Bowen
Joseph Fielding Smith Harold B. Lee
Stephen L. Richards Spencer W. Kimball
John A. Widtsoe Ezra Taft Benson
Joseph F. Merrill Mark E. Petersen
Patriarch to the Church Joseph F. Smith
The Counselors in the First Presidency, the Twelve Apostles, and the Patriarch to the Church as Prophets, Seers, and Revelators.
Assistants to the Twelve
Marion G. Romney Clifford E. Young
Thomas E. McKay Alma Sonne
Nicholas G. Smith
Trustee-in-Trust Heber J. Grant
As Trustee-in-Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints.
The First Council of the Seventy
Levi Edgar Young Richard L. Evans
Antoine R. Ivins Oscar A. Kirkman
John H. Taylor Seymour Dilworth Young
Milton R.. Hunter
Presiding Bishopric
LeGrand Richards, Presiding Bishop. Marvin O. Ashton, First Counselor Joseph L. Wirthlin, Second Counselor
GENERAL AUTHORITIES SUSTAINED 1 3
GENERAL OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH
Church Historian and Recorder Joseph Fielding Smith, with A. William Lund as Assistant.
Church Board of Education
Heber J. Grant Adam S. Bennion
J. Reuben Clark, Jr. Joseph F. Merrill
David O. McKay Charles A. Callis
Joseph Fielding Smith Franklin L. West
Stephen L. Richards Albert E. Bowen John A. Widtsoe
Frank Evans, Secretary and Treasurer.
Commissioner of Education Franklin L. West
Seminary Supervisors
M. Lynn Bennion • " J. Karl Wood
Auditing and Finance Committee
Qrval W. Adams George S. Spencer
Albert E. Bowen Harold H. Bennett
Tabernacle Choir
Lester F. Hewlett, President; J. Spencer Cornwall, Conductor, Richard P. Condie, Assistant Conductor.
Organists
Alexander Schreiner Frank W. Asper
CHURCH WELFARE COMMITTEE Advisers
John A. Widtsoe Nicholas G. Smith
Albert E. Bowen Antoine R. Ivins
Harold B. Lee John H. Taylor
Marion G. Romney Oscar A. Kirkham
Thomas E. McKay LeGrand Richards
Clifford E. Young Marvin O. Ashton
Alma Sonne Joseph L. Wirthlin
General Presidency of Relief Society
14 GENERAL CONFERENCE
Friday. April 6 First Day
General Committee
Henry D. Moyle, Chairman
Robert L. Judd, Vice-Chairman
Harold B. Lee, Managing Director
Marion G. Romney, Assistant Managing Director Mark Austin Sterling H. Nelson
William E. Ryberg Stringham A. Stevens
Clyde C. Edmunds Howard Barker
Roscoe W. Eardley Ezra C. Knowlton
GENERAL AUXILIARY OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH
National Woman's Relief Society
Belle Smith Spafford, President Marianne Clark Sharp, First Counselor Gertrude Ryberg Garff, Second Counselor
Deseret Sunday School Union
Milton Bennion, General Superintendent George R. Hill, First Assistant Superintendent A Hamer Reiser, Second Assistant Superintendent with all the members of the board as at present constituted
Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association
George Q. Morris, General Superintendent Joseph J. Cannon, First Assistant Superintendent Burton K. Farnsworth, Second Assistant Superintendent with all the members of the board as at present constituted
Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association
Lucy Grant Cannon, President Verna W. Goddard, First Counselor Lucy T. Andersen, Second Counselor with all the members of the board as at present constituted
Primary Association
Adele Cannon Howells, President LaVern W. Parmley, First Counselor Dessie G. Boyle, Second Counselor with all the members of the board as at present constituted
REPORT OF CHANGES
15
President McKay:
The voting in each case has been unanimous in the affirmative.
Brother Milton R. Hunter, will you please come to the rostrum. Brother Seymour Dilworth Young is on his way from Ogden. He probably heard this assignment if he had his radio on in his car. If so, that would he his first intimation of his call to the First Council of Seventy.
President Clark:
Thus the Lord calleth men to His service.
Elder Joseph Andersen, Clerk of the Conference read the follow- ing report of changes, statistical data, and obituaries:
CHANGES IN CHURCH OFFICERS, STAKE, WARD, AND BRANCH ORGANIZATIONS SINCE LAST OCTOBER CONFERENCE — 1 944
New Mission Presidents:
Dr. Thomas D. Rees appointed to succeed Elvon W. Orme as president of the Australian Mission.
Richard W. Madsen, Jr., appointed to succeed Elbert R. Curtis as president of the Western States Mission.
Harold M. Rex appointed to succeed W. W. Seegmiller as pres- ident of the Brazilian Mission.
James H. Riley appointed to succeed William L. Warner as president of the Texas Mission.
Joseph Y. Card appointed to succeed Walter Miller as presi- dent of the Western Canadian Mission.
Stake Presidents Chosen :
Henry H. Rawlings chosen president of the Franklin Stake to succeed Leslie V. Merrill.
Elmo S. Sorensen chosen president of the Gunnison Stake to succeed Charles S. Hansen.
Abel S. Rich chosen president of the South Box Elder Stake.
John P. Lillywhite chosen president of the North Box Elder Stake.
Stephen E. Busath chosen president of the Sacramento Stake to succeed I. Homer Smith.
John Howard Shawcroft chosen president of the San Luis Stake to succeed John B. Reed.
William C. Stolworthy chosen president of the Young Stake to succeed Roy B. Burnham.
Frank C. Simmons chosen president of the Weber Stake to suc- ceed James H. Riley.
Henry Golden Tempest chosen president of the East Jordan Stake to succeed Heber J. Burgon, •
GENERAL CONFERENCE
First Day
Dale H. Petersen chosen president of the North Sevier Stake to succeed Edwin Sorenson.
Monte L. Bean chosen president of the Seattle Stake to succeed Alexander Brown.
Lawrence T. Dahl chosen president of the West Jordan Stake to succeed Vernal C. Webb.
New Stake Organized:
North Box Elder Stake organized November 12, 1944, by a division of the Box Elder Stake, and consists of the Bear River, Brig- ham City 3rd, Brigham City 4th, Corinne, Harper, Honeyville Wards and Evans Branch.
South Box Elder Stake organized November 12, 1944, by a di- vision of the Box Elder Stake, and consists of the Brigham City 1st, Brigham City 2nd, Brigham City 5th, Brigham City 6th, Mantua, Perry and Willard Wards.
New Wards Organized:
Monument Park Ward, Bonneville Stake, formed by a division of the Yalecrest Ward.
Pocatello 13th Ward, Pocatello Stake, formed by a division of the Pocatello 4th and Pocatello 8th Wards.
Sugar Ward, Rexburg Stake, formed by combining the Sugar 1st and Sugar 2nd Wards.
Laurelcrest Ward, Sugar House Stake, formed by a division of the Mountain View Ward.
Geneva Ward, Sharon Stake, formed by a division of the Timp- anogos Ward.
Vermont Ward, Sharon Stake, formed by a division of the Sharon Ward.
Vernal 3rd Ward, Uintah Stake, formed by a division of the Vernal 1st and Vernal 2nd Wards.
Wards Disorganized:
Sugar 1st Ward, Rexburg Stake — membership annexed to Sug- ar Ward.
Sugar 2nd Ward, Rexburg Stake— membership annexed to Sug- ar Ward. .
Grant Ward, Portneuf Stake— membership annexed to Downey
Ward.
Independent Branches Organized:
Fontana Branch, San Bernardino Stake. Birdseye Branch, Palmyra* Stake.
STATISTICS
17
Independent Branches Made Wards
Lark Ward, West Jordan Stake, formerly Lark Branch. • Lajolla Ward, San Diego Stake, formerly La Jolla Branch.
Branch Transferred:
Thistle Branch, Kolob Stake, transferred to Palmyra Stake.
Independent Branches Disorganized:
Strawberry Branch, Duchesne Stake. Romedell Branch, Blaine Stake.
General Authorities Who Have Passed Away :
Elder Rufus K. Hardy of the First Council of Seventy died March 7, 1945.
Elder Samuel O. Bennion of the First Council of Seventy died March 8, 1945.
Others:
Elder Stephen L. Chipman, president of the Salt Lake Temple, died March 31, 1945.
William H. Richards, former president of the Malad Stake, died April 2, 1945.
STATISTICS
Number of Stakes of Zion 148 Number of Wards 1,150 Number of Independent Branches 128
Total Wards and Independent Branches 1 ,273
Number of Missions 39
Church Membership:
Stakes 792,362
Missions 161,642
Total 954,004
Church Growth:
Children blessed in stakes and missions 27,522
Children baptized in stakes and missions ' 16,511
Converts baptized in stakes and missions 5,493
Social Statistics:
Birth rate per thousand , 36.2 Marriage rate per thousand 13.6 Death rate per thousand, including those re- ported killed or missing in military service 6.4
18 GENERAL CONFERENCE
Friday, April 6
Missionaries :
Number of missionaries in the missions of the Church
Number engaged in missionary work in the Stakes
Total missionaries Number of missionaries who received train- ing in the mission home during 1 944 Service men from stakes reported killed and miss- ing in military action
First Day
478 2,947 3,425 386 986
Church Disbursements, 1944
The following annual financial report covering all disbursements of the Church for 1944 and summarizing the Church Welfare Program for the same year, was read by President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
Part 1 — CHURCH BUDGET CASH EXPENDITURES FROM GENERAL CHURCH FUNDS BOTH TITHING AND NON-TITHING INCOMES
Total Cash Budget Appropriations for 1944
...$5,326,239.00
Budget Ap- propriation for 1944
Office of the Corporation of the President: Including salaries of 49 employes; ex- penses of office; equipment; maintenance of the Administration Building; and the living allowances and traveling ex- penses of the General Authorities, all of which are covered by non-tithing income $
Office of the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop:
Including the salaries of 173 employes; office expenses and equipment; main- tenance of Bishop's Building; expenses of the Aaronic Priesthood program; traveling expenses of the Presiding Bishopric; taxes; special printing; and maintenance of the Purchasing Depart- ment and Motor Avenue supply store- house, all of which are covered by non- tithing income
Temples:
For the operating expenses, including salaries of 226 employes, and building maintenance, repairs and renovating of the Alberta, Arizona, Hawaiian, Idaho Falls, Logan, Manti, St. George, and Salt Lake Temples 319,644.00
Budget Ex- penditures for 1944
1944 Expend- itures Under or in Excess of Appropriation
310,500.00 $ 274,722.00 $ 35,778.00
153,950.00 164,998.00 11,048.00
285,991.00 33,653.00
FINANCIAL REPORT 19
1944 Expend-
Budget Ap- Budget Ex- itures Under propriation penditures or in Excess of for 1944 for 1944 Appropriation
Missions and Missionary Work:
For the maintenance and operating expenses of the 20 missions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Ha- waiian Islands, and South America; liv- ing and traveling expenses of the mis- sion presidents; return fares of mission- aries; free literature; servicemen's wel- fare; the erection, purchase, remodel- ing, maintenance and renting of build- ings; the expenses of the Bureaus of information in Salt Lake City, Wash- ington, D. C, Carthage Jail (Illinois), Cumorah (Palmyra), and Joseph Smith Farm (South Royalton, Vermont), and
the mission home in Salt Lake City 744,500.00 624,176.00 120,324.00
Stake and Ward Expenses: Allowances to 148 stakes and 1,278 wards and independent branches, in- cluding the maintenance of 115 stake and 1,286 ward and branch buildings; expenses and mileage allowances to stake presidents and bishops; furnish- ings for stake and ward offices; stake and ward taxes; and stake and ward
printing 1,014,500.00 1,069,519.00 55,019.00
Church Welfare:
For the purchase of canning and other equipment and commodity purchases: for the operating expenses of General Committee storehouses, the Deseret In- dustries and the Deseret Clothing Fac- tory; for land and building purchases and General Committee administrative expenses. This sum accounts tor bud- get expenditures only, total welfare ex- penditures to follow in detail 392,100.00 285,949.00 106,151.00
Church Schools:
For the operating expenses of the Brig- ham Young University, Ricks College, Juarez Stake Academy, 12 institutes and 99 seminaries; for the operating ex- penses of the Department of Education, including the salaries of ' 355 teachers and 8 administrative officers and office employes; and for maintenance, repairs,
and improvements to buildings 907,320.00 857,098.00 50,222.00
Educational Institutions (other than Church Schools, Institutes and Semi' naries) :
Consisting of the McCune School of Music and Art; Lund Home for Boys, Deseret Gymnasium, Society for the Aid of the Sightless, and the General
Music Committee 51,200.00 46,843.00 4,357.00
20 GENERAL CONFERENCE
Friday, April 6 First Day
1944 Expend-
Budget Ap- Budget Ex- itures Under propriation penditures or in Excess of for 1944 for 1944 Appropriation
Building Operations:
For the maintenance of the buildings and grounds, Temple Block; for the maintenance of other Church properties situated immediately adjacent to the Temple Block; for repairs and renova- tion of ward buildings; and $109,322.00 for the construction of hospital build- ings 1,033,908.00 758,057.00 275,851.00
Historic Monuments and Properties: For the repair and maintenance of prop- erties at Palmyra, New York; South Royalton, Vermont; the Carthage Jail;
and memorial cemeteries 15,257.00 16,272.00 1,015.00
Indian Projects:
In the Papago and Washaki Wards. There is to be credited against this deficit the returns from sale of 1944 crops, which will amount to more than
the deficit 5,000.00 20,299.00 15,299.00
Church Committee on Radio and Public- ity:
For publicity and mission literature 24,644.00 11,163.00 13,481.00
Genealogical Society o[ Utah and Index Bureau :
For the maintenance of the Church Genealogical Library, Record Archives, Temple Index Bureau and allied de- partments, and for the recording, index- ing, photographing and filing of gen- ealogical and temple ordinance data, including the records of 114,212 fami- lies forwarded to the 8 temples for bap- tisms, endowments and sealings; also for the salaries of 124 full-time em- ployes :.. 151,016.00 165,908.00 14,892.00
(Deficit due to delay in receiving funds in 1943 which, if paid and charged in that year, would have resulted in a budget credit balance of $665.00 at the close of 1944). Other Expenses:
Consisting of contributions to civic organizations, such as the Red Cross, Community Chest, State University, etc.; salaries of tabernacle choir con- ductors and organists; taxes, legal ex- penses; contributions to hospitals, wel- fare assistance by the general Church office; public liabilitty and other in- surance, etc 202,700.00 163,283.00 39,417.00
Total Budget and Expenditures: $ 5,326,239.00 $4,744,278.00 $ 581,961.00
All unexpended balances revert back into the unappropriated funds of the Church.
FINANCIAL REPORT
21
Part II— NON-BUDGET AND NON-TITHING EXPENDITURES FROM CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH FOR THE YEAR 1944
The expenditures budgeted from general Church funds and paid principally from the tithes are detailed above. The following expenditures were made from further contributions my mem- bers of the Church:
Paid for stake and ward building purposes $ 526,047.00
Expended for stake, ward, and mission maintenance purposes,
expenses of auxiliary organizations, and for recreation 1,542,920.00
Expended from ward and mission fast offerings 497,304.00
Expended from welfare contributions 283,357.00
Assistance rendered to missionaries _ 31,679.00
Expended from General Board dues and children's contributions
to the Primary Hospital 128,615.00
Expended by Church schools, in addition to amount listed under budget expenditures, from funds derived from tuitions and
other sources 386,180.00
Disbursed by the Relief Society for direct assistance and for gen- eral welfare purposes and health work . .'. .-. 92,115.00
Total non-budget cash expenditures 1944, from contributions,
other than tithing, donated by the Church membership $ 3,488,235.00
Expended by the hospitals for the care of the sick in addifion
to the amount paid from the tithes and included in Part I 38,140.00
Total budget cash expenditures by general Church offices
brought forward from above 4,744,278.00
Total cash expenditures, budget and non-budget, of the
Church for 1944 $ 8,270,653.00
Part III— THE CHURCH WELFARE PROGRAM
Fast Offering Data:
Number of Church members who paid voluntary fast offerings and welfare contributions: (
In the Wards 193,031
In the Missions 28,153
Total 221,184
Per cent of Church membership who paid fast offerings 29.6%
Average fast offerings per capita in wards 80c
Average fast offerings per capita in missions (based on mem- bership of missions reporting) 38c
Average fast offerings per capita — wards and missions 74c
Amount of voluntary fast offerings and welfare contributions: In the wards:
Fast Offerings $ 523,700.00
Welfare Contributions 305,303.00
In the Missions:
Fast Offerings 43,189.00
Total fast offerings and welfare contributions $ 872,192.00
22 GENERAL CONFERENCE
Friday. April 6 First Day
Welfare Program Cash Expenditures:
Expended from ward and mission fast offerings and welfare con- tributions for the care of the needy, consisting of food, clothing, rents, light, heat, hospitalization, burials, etc., and for the opera- tion of bishops' and regional storehouses and the purchase of
commodities for storehouses 780,661.00
Disbursed by the Relief Society for direct assistance and for
general welfare purposes and health work 92,115.00
Disbursed by the General Welfare Committee for direct assist- ance and welfare purposes and for the overhead expenses of
the General Committee 73,549.00
Disbursed by the office of the General Authorities for direct as- sistance , 24,933.00
Expended by the hospitals for the care of the sick 38,140.00
Total relief cash expenditures for the year, all included in above grand total of budget and non-budget cash expendi- tures $ 1,009,398.00
This is an increase over the year 1943 of 88,014.00
Total amount of Relief Society wheat stored in Church elevators December 31, 1944 (bushels) 315,135
In addition to the cash expenditure of $1,009,398.00 for welfare purposes, the General Church Welfare Committee makes the following further financial report, with a statement indicating the production and distribution of commodities for bishops' storehouses and inventory of commodities December 31, 1944:
Summary of the Annual Report of the Church Welfare Plan:
December 31, 1944 FINANCIAL REPORT
Present Net Cash Value:
Current Assets (Net) $ 658,265.88
Inventories (Principally Commodities) 584,062.30
Fixed Assets (Land, Buildings, etc.) 1,522,172.54
TOTAL $ 2,764,500.72
Fixed Assets Include:
Deseret Industries, Deseret Mills and Elevators, Deseret Clothing Factory, Emery Ccjal Mine.
Ninety-five bishops' storehouses having a total floor area of 381,392 square feet. This is fifty times the area covered by the Assembly Hall; ten times the area cov- ered by the Tabernacle; and nine-tenths the area of the whole Temple Block. There are sixty-seven canneries included in the bishops' storehouses.
Farms, ranches, dairies, and other regional and stake properties, made up of 3,453 acres of land, together with buildings, improvements, equipment, and livestock.
The Fixed Assets Were Acquired With:
$ 564,480.69 Cash from general Church funds, through the General Committee. 688,279.33 Cash from wards, stakes, regions, and Priesthood quorums. 269,412.52 Donations, Labor and Property.
$ 1,522,172.54
FINANCIAL REPORT 23
The Fixed Assets Consist of:
$ 325,445.77 Land. 941,326.64 Buildings 189,329.85 Equipment.
41,446.28 Furniture and Fixtures.
24,624.00 Livestock.
$ 1,522,172.54
Production, Distribution, Inventory, and Burget Assignment o[ Commodities Con- nected with Bishops' Storehouses.
|
Items |
Unit |
1944 Pro- luction |
1944 Distri- bution |
Inventory December 1945 Budget 31, 1944 Assignment |
|
|
v->dimeu irroauce ^ iviuk, Vegetables, Fruits, Jams and Spreads) |
quarts |
646,381 |
485,338 |
1,494,854 |
1,282,639 |
|
Animal Products ( Butter, |
pounds |
346,114 |
440,785 |
80,726 |
701,636 |
|
Vegetables, Fruits and Sug- ar (Not Canned) |
pounds |
2,300,530 |
2,226,250 |
848,954 |
2,024,300 |
|
Grains (and Grain Prod- ucts) |
bushels |
36,240 |
16,400 |
52,753 |
87,940 |
|
Other Foods (49 Different Items) |
pounds |
50,324 |
25,919 |
63,993 |
52,383 |
|
Various Drugs and House- hold Supplies and Soaps.. |
items |
94,494 |
110,055 |
98,745 |
79,700 |
|
Hay |
tons |
332 |
790 |
1,283 |
270 |
|
Cotton |
500 lb. bales 12 |
47 |
38 |
25 |
|
|
Seeds and Miscellaneous |
pounds |
7,000 |
13,000 |
714 |
7,500 |
|
Fuel (Mostly Coal) |
tons |
438 |
1,339 |
1,161 |
500 |
|
Clothing • and Dry Goods (329 Different Items) |
articles |
89,069 |
59,117 |
119,208 |
112,738 |
|
Furniture |
articles |
50 |
142 |
246 |
500 |
When the inventories and the 1945 budget assignments in the foregoing tabula- tion are compared with 1944 distribution, it is apparent that a surplus is being built in some non-perishable foodstuffs. To protect this surplus, distribution of food- stuffs, in so far as possible, is first made from the oldest stocks, which are from the 1942 pack. Most of the inventories are made up from 1943 and 1944 production.
Unavoidably there is some spoilage in the program, but expert investigation shows it is now not more, in the canning of fruits and vegetables, than occurs in commercial businesses handling similar items; nor is it greater with fresh fruits and vegetables, handled as such, taking into consideration the condition and grades of the product when received. ;
24 GENERAL CONFERENCE
Friday, April 6 First Day
Activities of the Program During 1944, Canning and Processing {or Storehouse Program :
Vegetables, Fruits, Jams, and Spreads 494,264 quarts (697,554 cans)
Meat, Fish, and Fowl 18,749 pounds ( 21,273 cans)
Milk, Canned (Each Can Equivalent to One
Quart of Fresh Milk) 143,856 cans
Miscellaneous Foods (Spices, Flavoring, etc) .. 13,980 pounds
Flour, Cereals, and Livestock Feeds 251,097 pounds
Group Canning:
The following canning was done at Welfare canneries for their own use by 540- groups, consisting of 45,615 people:
Fruits and Vegetables 652,659 quarts (893,053 cans)
Meat and Fish 15,756 pounds ( 23,143 cans)
(916,196 cans)
Field Activities:
Field activities carried on in the production of the 1944 Welfare Budget in- clude 1,217 crop projects, cultivating 2,729 acres of land; 361 livestock projects, which produced 754 head of livestock, 2,641 chickens, 1,907 rabbits, and 170 stands of bees.
In addition to the work done on these projects, 17,220 man days of donated work were done in the storehouse and processing plants.
For the purposes other than the production of the budget for the bishops' storehouse program, there were 326 crop projects, 11 livestock projects and 32 manufacturing projects operated during 1944. These projects utilized 440 acres of land.
Assistance Rendered:
Each year since 1938 there have been from 17,913 to 55,460 persons receive temporary assistance as to food, shelter, fuel, or clothing, through the bishops' store- house program. In 1944 there were 27,164 persons so assisted. The Church has relieved the government of that much load.
In addition to this, there were, during this period (1938-1945) more than 851 distressed families that have been made entirely self-supporting; 6,041 persons have been assisted towards a permanent betterment in other ways, such as contributions to prevent business failures and mortgage foreclosures, to build or remodel homes, to aid families suffering from sickness or infirmities, to help needy farmers get equipment and to plant and harvest crops, to aid families to get necessary furniture for homes, and for many other like purposes; and 1,611 construction projects (shel- ter and housing) have been completed in addition to the construction of the bishops' storehouse program.
Persons Taken From Government Relief Rolls:
During 1944, 173 males and 319 females (total 492) have been removed from government relief rolls. Of this number 139 have been rehabilitated and are receiv- ing no aid from the Church or from the governmentt; 249 are receiving part of their support from the Church; and 104 are receiving all their needs from the Church. Of those receiving aid from the Church, 78 are working on Welfare projects, and only 96 are entirely unemployed. Since January 1, 1943, 707 persons have been removed from government relief rolls.
PRESIDENT }. REUBEN CLARK, ]R. 25
President Clark:
The primary purpose of the welfare plan has always been the supplying of food and clothing, shelter and fuel. There seems to be a great deal of uncertainty today as to what the real food situation of the country is. Some tell us we are faced with the greatest surplus that has ever existed in the history of the country. Others tell us that the food supply is short and that we should raise all we can.
Under these circumstances the only safe thing is to assume a food shortage and proceed accordingly. I therefore urge you breth- ren to urge your wards and stakes to fill their quotas in order that we may be prepared should the predicted shortage occur.
A Whispering Campaign Against the Welfare Plan
Reports come to us that some persons, we hope not many, are carrying on what politicians call a "whispering campaign" against the welfare plan, proclaiming it a failure. At least some of these whisperers seem to. have been against the plan from the first, profes- sing to see in it some deep-laid political scheme.
I am sure you will let me say now, and I was with the brethren when the plan was first worked out, that there was not then, there has not been since, and there is not npw, any political purpose or end whatsoever in the plan. Those who proclaim the contrary are either wholly ignorant or completely misinformed.
The report I have read is a full demonstration that the plan is not a failure. Of course, if the people will not support it, so that the Lord withdraws his blessings from it, 'the plan will fall, but to this time the great loyal body of the Church, following the inspirattion of the Lord, has supported the plan which has had a truly marvelous growth both in extent and in efficiency. All of us thank the brethren and sisters who have had immediate charge of the building up and opera- tion of the plan, and sincerely congratulate them upon the outstanding success which has attended their work.
The general committee, composed in large part of business and professional men, have given unstintedly of their time and effort with- out any monetary compensation whatsoever, in a service which has brought needed aid and succor to tens of thousands who> needed help. The Lord has blessed and will continue to bless them in their labor and lives. To the sisters of the general board of the "Relief Society, and to the Relief Society workers throughout the Church, we offer our especial thanks' and gratitude for their great service, without which we should have been almost helpless.
You will remember that back in the early days of the Church, it took the people in Missouri approximately three years and four
26 GENERAL CONFERENCE
Friday, April 6 ■ First Day
months to forfeit the blessings of the United Order. If you will read the revelations and the history of the time, you will find that it was the greed, rapacity, idleness, and covetousness of the people that caused the Lord to withdraw the principle from their midst. After they reached Nauvoo, the Prophet forbade our people then in Iowa to attempt to set it up there.
The welfare plan, which I once more repeat is not the United Order but is motivated by the same lofty and divine principles and purposes that underlay the Order, has now been in operation nine years. Through the blessings of the Lord and the faithfulness of the people, it has steadily grown and expanded its activities during the whole period; and it stands today stronger than ever before in its operation.
Its opponents have not destroyed and cannot destroy it, so long as the Lord blesses it and faithful members support it.
Aid of All Church Members Needed I might add another word:
To those opponents who are Church members, I wish earnestly to say: We need you now; we have needed you in the past; we would welcome you amongst us. Furthermore, we wish to say that if you desire or hope to keep the Spirit of the Lord and enjoy his blessings, you must cease your fault-finding and sometimes even your maligning of those doing their appointed tasks as servants of the Lord, and fall in and work with them, not against them. We need the aid of every member of the Church; we ask ypur help, but not so much on our ac- count as on yours. This is a plea directed towards helping you to save yourselves from a threatened apostasy, which seems usually to follow fault-finding, disloyalty, and opposition to the Lord's plans.
However, if you refuse to aid, if you refuse to receive the bless- ings of joy and satisfaction which come from treading along the ways the Lord points out, we should point out to you that the welfare plan has lived, and we feel certain it will live so long as the Lord continues to give his blessings to the plan, and so long as the loyal, faithful mem- bers of the Church support it. But for your sakes we should rejoice beyond measure in your assistance.
We ask you bishops and presidents of stakes and chairmen of regions, not to 'substitute cash for the actual produce called for in fill- ing your quotas. We need the produce, so please furnish your quotas in the kinds requested.
ELDER STEPHEN L RICHARDS
27
REPORT OF CHURCH AUDITING COMMITTEE
Elder Orval W. Adams read the following report of the Church Auditing Committee:
Salt Lake City, Utah April 4, 1945
President Heber J. Grant and Counselors 47 East South Temple Street Salt Lake City, Utah
Dear Brethren:
Your Committee reviewed the annual financial report of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the year ending De- •cember 31, 1944. That report discloses the Church to be in the strong- est financial position in its history.
The expense of administration is very conservative. The Church is free of all debt. The sustained Authorities are administering with great care the sacred funds of the membership, which funds are con- tributed by the tens of thousands of devoted members, most of whom are people of limited income.
Respectfully submitted,
Orval W. Adams A. E. Bowen George S. Spencer Harold W. Bennett
Church Auditing Committee
ELDER STEPHEN L RICHARDS
Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
I propose to use the opportunity afforded me at this general con- ference of the Church to read a letter which I have prepared. My thought in presenting it here is that the message of my letter may have better prospects of reaching those to whom it is addressed, and also that the sentiments which I have expressed may serve some useful purpose with my brethren and sisters in an endeavor comparable to my own. I shall be most grateful if this thinking proves to be justifi- able. The letter is addressed:
To my friends and associates in various lines of endeavor who are not identified with the Church which I have the honor to represent.
Teachings of the Church Set Forth In A Letter
i
My dear friends:
For many years it has run in my mind a desire to approach you on the subject of religion. I find it difficult to justify my delay and to discover any good reason why I have been so hesitant to talk with you
28 GENERAL CONFERENCE
Friday. April 6
First Day
about spiritual matters. I suppose that it is chiefly because I have indulged the assumption that everyone's religion is to be regarded as such a personal and private thing that I have felt more or less con- strained to keep off the subject, except where casual questions have arisen which have brought on brief conversations. You will wonder, perhaps, in view of such diffidence in talking to you, why I now choose this medium of an open letter to broach the subject and express my sentiments to you. The only answer that I can give, and it is not a very good one, is that it seems to be the easiest way of expressing myself to you without intruding on the privacy of your views without your consent.
I hope you will not resent my concern in your spiritual welfare. I must frankly admit, and I hope the admission will not too seriously affect your consideration of what I have to say, that I am prompted in part by an earnest desire to disseminate what I regard to be vital principles of truth among all men. You will be inclined to immediate- ly label this as "propaganda," and unfortunately that word has come to bear the stigma of the imposition of one man's views on another. I hope you will accept my disclaimer of any attempt to force my ideas on you, and I hope, too, you will believe me when I say to you in ad- vance that my personal regard for you is the chief motivating factor in the writing of this letter.
Without affectation, I express my admiration for the splendid virt- ues which I have seen in many of you. Your integrity, impeccable honor, generosity, courtesy, and ability command my esteem. I often think of you as representatives of the best types of Christian gentle- men and ladies. I have gained much from your association. I am sure that a great part of your thinking and good works is prompted by Christian ideals. I have no doubt that many of you have been schooled in and accept the almost universal Christian doctrines of the Father- hood of God and the brotherhood of man, the atonement of the Savior, the immortality of the soul, and the good life of virtue and altruism taught and exemplified by our Lord.
I cheerfully and gratefully acknowledge the beauty and efficacy of these great doctrines and teachings and the universal distribution of the spirit of God in the earth. I am sure that the Christian doctrine and faith over the centuries have been the mainsprings of the civilizing processes which have brought beauty, culture, science, and education to their present high state of attainment. Christian doctrine is also responsible for the finest concepts of liberty and justice which prevail in the world. I have profound gratitude for the great brotherhoods and congregations it has fostered and every good cause which has emanated from it.
It is needless to say also that I have the deepest admiration for many individual Christians who ally themselves with the various Christian denominations of the world. I do not question the sincerity of countless thousands who give themselves to God — who strive with all the power and knowledge they have to serve him and keep his com-
ELDER STEPHEN L RICHARDS 29
mandments. I feel sure that he accepts their devotion; that he an- swers their prayers of faith and humility and that he recompenses their every good act.
I have deemed it desirable to so set forth my appreciation of the general Christian doctrine and faith in order to make clear to you that it is not a substitution of these lofty Christian principles which have been disseminated throughout the world for so many centuries which we have to offer, but it is in essence, a refinement, an extension, an enlargement, and a perfection of them which I take the privilege of bringing to your attention. You will pardon me, I hope, if I venture the observation that many of you, for whose ability in normal investi- gation and research in the discovery of facts I have the highest opin- ion, have been distracted from the attainment of a real understanding and concept of the work in which I labor, by having your attention focused upon some aspects of it which seem to differ from the teach- ings and practices prevalent in -other Christian denominations. For instance, you are all pretty well acquainted with what we call the Word of Wisdom, with the tithing system of the Church. These and other somewhat unique practices of the Church have, I often fear, stood out so prominently in your observation and contemplation of the Church and its doctrine that you may not have troubled your- selves, because you may not be particularly attracted by these unique things, to delve into the fundamental concepts and principles under- lying not only these special teachings and practices but the whole body of truly Christian doctrine which we have to give to man. It is true that we regard it as important to refrain from the use of liquor and tobacco and to pay tithing, but adherence to these standards does not alone constitute complete conversion to and understanding of the latter-day work, although generally they are very acceptable evi- dences of it. I would like, if I can, at least, to glimpse for you what I regard as being the more basic foundation principles set forth in the latter-day interpretation and presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope I can make you see that these concepts and interpreta- tions are not in any way antagonistic to the true Christian principles to which many of you subscribe, but that they serve to make the Christian doctrines you have accepted more vital and real and more potent in the realization of the hope and faith your Christian experi- ence has brought to you.
Now I must proceed upon the assumption that if you have any interest in religion, and in the Christian religion in particular, your interest prompts you to want the truth and to' secure for your life the best which is obtainable. I am sure you will agree that the chief ob- jectives of the whole Christian doctrine are to improve life here and to attain a good and eternal life hereafter. Perhaps these two objec- tives are in reality one, for I think it safe to say that most Christians contemplate a relationship between life here and life hereafter. Now, one of the first contributions which the latter-day interpretation has to offer is in this very matter.
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I do not pretend to be such a student of the exposition of Chris- tian doctrine over the centuries as to enable me to say with assurance that the distinction between general salvation and individual exalta- tion was never set out in Christian teachings prior to the advent of the latter-day work, but I am certain that it has not been stressed in recent Christian utterances. This distinction between salvation and exalta- tion we regard as being indispensable to a true understanding of Christian truths. We, as many of you, are persuaded that the teach- ings of Christ fully justify the conclusion that he came to earth as the Savior to atone for the transgressions of our first earthly parents which removed men in mortality from the presence and association of God, our eternal Father. We may not be able to explain the meth- od by which the atoning sacrifice of this one man could accomplish the redemption of all men from the original fall, but we do know that that was the purpose and the effect of the atonement, and we have full justification for believing that the atonement brought life after death to all humanity irrespective of the goodness or the badness of indi- viduals. Resurrection from the grave is just as universal as death, and general salvation in the sense that all are saved from the effects of original sin and that all will be immortal souls is the universal gift of the Son of God. Individual exaltation, however, is something dif- ferent. Through a latter-day revelation came the information that there are stations and gradations of position in the future life as in this life, and naturally there are places of preference. These various stations are referred to in the revelation as being kingdoms or degrees of glory, and their exposition serves to amplify and clarify the Savior's reference to the "many mansions" in his Father's house, and other scriptural passages. By exaltation is meant the attainment of the highest station, the most preferential position in the future world of varying kingdoms and glories. The highest place or kingdom is called celestial, and it is in the celestial kingdom that the highest aspirations of the Christian are realized. This is exaltation.
I cannot tell you in this letter all that exaltation comprehends. Our concept of heaven is a study of no small proportions, and it pre- supposes a considerable knowledge of other revealed theological prin- ciples. It must suffice for this writing to tell you that it contemplates not only the preferential condition in the hereafter — a coming back into the presence of the Father and the Son, but it projects into the future a state of perfection of the human soul. The immortal soul which is the union of body and spirit becomes invested with the divine nature of our eternal Father and our elder Brother, Jesus Christ. One's powers of accomplishment are unceasingly multiplied by the eternal acquisition of knowledge. As a companion of the Father and the Son, he joins and assists in their work. While it is impossible for the finite mind concretely to visualize the scope and nature of divine operations we have sufficient knowledge to teach us that they are of the highest order and satisfy the most idealistic craving and aspira-
ELDER STEPHEN L RICHARDS
31
tion of the human soul. In purpose and scope it is a never-ending ex- perience in eternal progression and achievement.
We learn also from the revelations that in this lofty state of ex- altation we are to enjoy a perpetuation of the kinship and ties which have bound us to our dear ones in earth life. We have the assurance that the things which we have prized most here in this life — home and family — are not to be denied us when we pass from mortality. Hus- band and wife will still be companions, sons and daughters forever our children, and the sacred establishments of home wherein they were bred and nurtured will be spiritually perpetuated. And then we learn, too, of a profoundly sacred principle and p'romise held out for those who attain exaltation which I mention to you with a little hesita- tion because I have not yet laid the foundation for it, and that is this: That these eternal homes of the future life shall be blessed with etern- al increase so that families never cease growing in number, in virtue and power, ever continuing to subserve the eternal and beneficent purposes and designs of the Creator of. the universe.
I am keenly aware that much of this may seem highly theoretical and ethereal to you, and some of it I would not mention to you at this stage of discussion if I did not deem it necessary to an understanding of that which is to follow. Although it may have taxed your credulity and faith somewhat to entertain in your thinking the ideas which I have endeavored to project concerning exaltation in the celestial king- dom of God, I wonder if many a devout Christian not of our persuas- ion does not in his heart hope and pray reverently for some such con- dition as I have outlined as the embodiment of his future state wheth- er or not he has ever consciously formulated his ideas into words. To see the Eternal Father and his Son; to enjoy something of their as- sociation and direction; to acquire more and more knowledge and more and more ability; to use increased talent in the prosecution of God's work; to continue to enjoy the dearest relationships we know on earth; to build an eternal home with never-ending posterity, may not these be the embodiment of the hopes and righteous aspirations of a Christian, although he may never have tried to visualize them concretely before?
If it so happens that you have never asked yourselves the ques- tion: What does heaven hold out to me, a Christian: what do I hope to secure in life after death? I wish you would ask yourselves this question and be frank with yourselves in answering it. If you honest- ly conclude that you have never attempted any visualization of a fu- ture state, it may be that the concepts I have given you from modern revelation will help you to formulate your ideas. It may be, too, that if you have heretofore entertained views on the subject, the condi- tion which I have described which obtains in the hereafter may pretty largely embrace the hopes and aspirations which you have had in more vague and uncertain terms.,
In any event I am going to ask you to accede for the moment that in Christian theology there is a preferential state in the hereafter. It
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First Dag
seems to me that it is not difficult for Christians who accept Christ's teachings of the rewards for the good life to make this concession. If, therefore, the ultimate goal of the true follower of Christ is to at- tain exaltation in the celestial kingdom, not just general salvation and resurrection from the dead which come to all through the atonement of the Savior, not immortality which is the lot of every person wheth- er he will or no, but this supreme glory, this incomparable blessing which I have tried so feebly to describe; if that is the ultimate objec- tive, how may it be achieved?
In answering this question I am obliged to discriminate. It would be a very easy and simple answer and one that I am sure would be ac- ceptable to many people to say that nothing more is necessary than to live a good virtuous Christian life, all of which is necessary and in- dispensable to the attainment of exaltation. In one sense the Christian life is all that is necessary, but it is not the sense in which it is usually construed. Through latter-day revelation we learn that the true fol- lowers of Christ not only incorporate into living all the so-called Christian virtues, but they also accept, adopt, and conform to every law, principle, and ordinance of the Gospel of Christ. They believe that the gospel in its entirety is designed and divinely instituted for the single purpose of leading the sons and daughters of God into his celestial kingdom. They recognize the fact that it has been in ages past and now is and will continue to be an immense gain for people to adopt the Christian virtues as a standard of living, but they know that exaltation, the supreme blessing, may be had only through obedi- ence to every specific requirement laid down therefor.
Among the formal requirements, in addition to the good life, are membership in the Church of Christ, baptism, the laying on of hands for the bestowal of the Holy Ghost, the receipt of the priesthood and sacred temple ordinances revealed to and performed for those only who prepare themselves for initiation into the beauties and blessings of the celestial order.. You may wonder why these formal ceremonies and ordinances are requisite. In this brief correspondence I can only tell you that they are prescribed by the Lord in his revelations to men, both ancient and modern, and that they are consistent with the prin- ciples and practices laid down by the Savior who is the Author of the gospel plan during his ministry in the flesh. There is much that might be said by way of explanation and argument in support of these ordi- nances and their essential symbolism and vitality in the gospel plan. I am sure that an impartial investigation would persuade y*ou of their reasonableness and desirability, but in the last analysis their accept- ance must be based on faith in the revealed word of God.
Even in this brief sketch there is one more basic principle to which I must invite your attention. I am sure you would regard it as a serious omission if I did not present it, for if you gave any consider- ation at all to the essentiality of the ordinances which I have men- tioned as necessary for axaltation, you would surely want to know about the authority to administer them. Is this authority available?
ELDER-STEPHEN L RICHARDS
33
L am sorry I have not time at this writing to give you a full account of its bestowal by authorized messengers and its derivation down to the present time. I will have to content myself by giving you a legal opin- ion. It so happens that I have had some training in the law, and I have some knowledge of the competency and admissibility of evidence to sustain an allegation in a judicial tribunal. I do not hesitate to give it to you as my opinion, that there has been at various times since the origin of this latter-day work, competent legal evidence available for introduction in any court of law for the establishment and verification of the claims put forth by those chosen to originate the restored gospel as to divine authority conferred upon them, and as to the transmission of that authority to the present day. I cannot reasonably expect you to rely on this opinion. The most that I can hope for is that it may serve to prompt investigation.
There are other factors inherent in the nature of this divine com- mission which bring irrefutable assurance to me and my associates of its genuineness. I believe some of. them would appeal to you.
Now, my friends, I am forced to a quick summation. In taking the liberty of writing you, I have assumed your interest in Christian religion and your acceptance of the Christ as the Author of the gospel. I have all too briefly reviewed the Savior's atonement and its effect in bringing general salvation and redemption to the human family. All will be resurrected and secure the boon of immortality. There is an order in the resurrection of which some day I would like to tell you. I have pointed out the difference between general salvation and in- dividual exaltation in the celestial kingdom, which is designed to be the highest and final goal of the faithful Christian. I have mentioned the requirements for admission into this preferential state and the authority essential for the administration of the ordinances. This is but a skeleton outline of. a few basic principles which have come in these latter-days with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. There are countless other arresting concepts resulting from this new interpreta- tion which make priceless contributions to the Christian doctrine. Out of my friendship for you, I have a great desire that you might hear these concepts, enjoy them, and adopt them. I know they will bring richness into your lives as they have done in mine, and I know they are good for the world in the solution of its problems, but that is an- other subject, into which I must not enter.
I hope you will accept this letter in the spirit in which I write it, as one friend to another. If it shall serve to intrigue your interest in the least degree in the cause that is so dear to my heart, I shall li- very grateful.
There is but one thing more. If you are prompted to give con- sideration to the things I have written about, I hope you will not be dissuaded in their acceptance by the deficiencies you may observe in the lives of some of us who have espoused this noble cause. We con- fess our weaknesses. We are trying to develop strength to overcome them. I ask you to try to look at the excellence of the message and
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overlook the faults of. some of its adherents. Please judge it by what it has done in the elevation of the lives of thousands of our Father's children and by its inherent truth.
With kindest regards and the best of good wishes, I am
Sincerely and fraternally yours,
Stephen L Richards
My brethren of this assembly:
I thank you very much for patiently listening to my reading of this letter. If perchance it should contain a thought which might be helpful to you in bringing the gospel message to some of your friends, I shall feel that your indulgence has been in some measure justified. That we may all have the urge and the courage to bring the truth to the understanding of our neighbors and associates is my earnest prayer. I ask it numbly in the name of him whose servants we are, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ' .
President Clark:
In the last few minutes President Seymour Dilworth Young has come into the building. As Brother McKay told you, we have been trying to reach him since this morning very early. Brother Young, while you were on the road coming here, we have sustained you as one of the members of the First Council of Seventy. This calling without notice or previous consultation, is the way the call of the Lord frequently comes. We would like you to come to the stand this after- noon Brother Young, and take your place with your brethren.
The congregation will now sing, "How Firm a Foundation," Song Folder 14, L.D.S. Hymns No. 339, Hymn Book No. 227.
The closing prayer will be offered by President John D. Hill of the Oquirrh Stake, after which the conference will stand adjourned until 2 o'clock this afternoon. This afternoon's session will be broad- cast over KSL of, Salt Lake City and KSUB of Cedar City.
The congregation sang the hymn, "How Firm A Foundation," L.D.S. Hymns 339, Hymn Book 227.
Elder John T. Hill, President of the Oquirrh Stake, offered the closing prayer.
Conference adjourned until 2 p.m.
FIRST DAY AFTERNOON MEETING
The second session of the Conference convened at 2 o'clock p.m. in the' Assembly Hall, with President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., First Coun- selor in the First Presidency, presiding and conducting the services.
President Clark:
This is the second session of the 1 1 5th Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are convened in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City.
ELDER ALBERT E. BO WEN
35
There are present on the stand this afternoon all the General Authorities of the Church as sustained this morning, except President Grant, who is resting at home and who has a direct wire leading from the Assembly Hall to his home so that he is able to listen in on the services.
The proceedings of this session will be broadcast over KSL at Salt Lake City, and KSUB at Cedar City.
We will begin the services by the congregation singing: "Come Ye Children of the Lord," Song Folder No. 15, L.D.S. Hymns, No. 238. Our Conductor this afternoon is Elder Richard P. Condie; our organist, Elder Frank W. Asper.
The opening prayer will be offered by President James M. Smith of the St. Joseph Stake.
The congregation joined in singing the hymn, "Come, Ye Chil- dren of the Lord."
Elder James M. Smith, President of the St. Joseph Stake, offered the invocation.
Singing by the congregation, "O Say, What Is Truth?" L.D.S. Hymns No. 191, Hymn Book No. 59.
ELDER ALBERT E. BOWEN
Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
Portrayal of Home Conditions Related In Magazine Article
A few years ago I read an article in a national magazine written by an obviously well informed and high principled woman. Apparent- ly she had never married and after many years of separation made a visit to an intimate friend of her college days who had by then two well grown children, a boy and a girl. Her story is mainly about the shock she experienced from the conduct of these two children. She noted that their mother, her old friend, had substantially no in- fluence with them. The daughter's bearing towards her mother was condescending. Her mother's exhortations and protests were re- ceived with a patronizing air of wearied tolerance as if to say that this superior young lady would have to bear with what resignation she could the hopelessly old-fashioned, outmoded and impossible notions of her matured mother.
The visitor heard the worried mother protest the indelicate in- discretions of the girl in her behavior with young men without even the precaution of privacy and heard the daughter's mockery of her mother's prudery and lack of sophistication.
The boy of. the household went and came pretty much as he pleased with no questions asked or answered. Home to him was a place to sleep and have meals, if convenient.
Exhibitions of this kind were a source of deep wonder and un-
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easy concern, as well as of embarrassment, to the guest in the house. But the climax came as the period of her visit was drawing to its close. She was awakened in the night by a disturbance in the house and was the unwilling ear witness of a family scene. The girl it seems had come home from a late party pretty thoroughly intoxi- cated and was leading her escort, in like condition, to her room when they were detected and intercepted by her aroused parents. There was a noisy scene before the boy was finally sent off home and the girl put to bed.
The girl made no pretense of concealing from her mother her habit of flouting the conventions so far as modesty and maidenly purity were concerned. So the author ended her visit and went home to clear her head and do some thinking. The result was the article mentioned.
Apparently she had a quite thorough-going acquaintance with the ideas and attitudes of the youth of the day, and she undertook a searching analysis of conditions as she knew them to be and as pointedly focused upon her attention by her recent visit. Her whole sense of propriety and even decency was outraged by what she had seen at her friend's home.
That friend, in the days of their girlhood association, had spon- taneously, and as a matter of habit and acceptance, observed the conventions and proprieties. She had been a girl of robust health and exuberance, happy, wholesome, a delightful companion of high ethical and moral standards. She had a wholesome zest for life and enjoyed living. How to account for her children!
Examination Into Cause of Delinquency
The author examined her own life and the atmosphere in which she had been reared as well as the lives of the youth of her time in- cluding the friend she had just visited. They recognized certain self-restraints which were expected of. girls of good upbringing and conformed to established standards of decorum and good breeding. They still did, now that they were come to maturity of life, and were pained by the departures of today. This naturally led back into an examination of the influences that had gone into the shaping of their characters. And that carried the examination inevitably back to the homes in which they had been reared.
The religious note was strong in those homes. The Bible was read and believed in. Families prayed there. Daily on their knees they talked to God who was revered and was a reality. They were church-going people and set apart one day a week as a holy day to hold sacred and on which to do reverence to the Author of life. The majestic hymns they sang carried messages to their expanding souls. They heard the simple, direct, soulful, and convincing words of the gospels whose grandeur somehow silently carried over into their hearts and furnished the ideals for their living. Those ideals through
ELDER ALBERT E. BOW EN
37
practice were silently woven into the pattern of their lives, and they came out with established characters, and stable guides to conduct, which made them secure against the waves of laxity which washed about them with the changes of time.
Then the author did what to me seemed a most astonishing thing. She proceeded to explain that, of course, she and her friend and their associates had in their college years given up the simple faith of their youth, had ceased to give credence to the beliefs which had sustained them, had given up their Bible reading and their church-going and their Sabbath observance and their prayers. They found that these artificial props were not necessary to their living of the good life. They didn't need the church — group practice of re- ligion— they had their own religion which was quite sufficient, though really it was only a certain code of ethics originally rooted in their religion but now cut loose from its roots and dying because no longer nourished from the roots. With an amazingly artless sim- plicity, she deplored and was baffled by the barbarity of her friend's children without apparent consciousness of her own incredible fail- ure to recognize the relations of cause and effect. Her friend's atti- tude toward religion and religious practices was similar to her own. Yet here she was mystified by the moral bankruptcy of her friend's children who had been deprived of the very character-forming in- fluences upon which the strength of her own character and of her friend's character, and the characters of their generation had de- pended for formation and growth.
What right have parents or others to complain that children's standards are not up to their own when they have deprived those children of the very faith and practices upon which their standards have been established? By her own confession the author whose analysis we are considering and likewise the mother of. the children whose conduct had provoked her study had been themselves living on the early-gathered fruits of a now discarded faith.
That might suffice to carry them through from the force of established habit. But with that faith discarded there was nothing to bear new fruit for the nourishment of the next generation. She and her friends had been living upon and had consumed their spiri- tual capital, and there was no inheritance left for the children.
It seems incredible that this highly intellectual woman whose penetrating insight had so unerringly led her to put her finger on the factors most powerful in the stabilization of herself and friends could have been so wholly oblivious to the need of those same in- fluences in the lives of new generations.
Because sh'e and her friends had been able to maintain integrity of life after they had discarded their early beliefs, she apparently thought that such beliefs and the practices to which they led were not necessary to stability, failing to discern that ethical principles lose their convincing, motivating power when divorced from the re- ligious faith which gave them birth. It is a common error. We all,
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I am sure, can call to mind friends of the highest standards of charac- ter who have drifted away from the religious convictions in which they were reared and have been pained to see that their children's characters have so sadly deteriorated. It is hard for character pat- terns to carry over for more than one generation beyond the one which witnessed the forsaking of the faith in which those patterns were fashioned.
The lady we are speaking of deplored the degeneracy she was compelled to admit, but never once did she even so much as hint that the remedy lay in the revival in the homes of the land of the influences under which she herself had grown strong.
Christian Faith the Root of Civilization
Now, if religion goes into decay in enough homes, it will fade out in the nation, which after all is but the aggregate of the individ- ual home units. That would be a change of fundamental and of far- reaching consequences. For the truth is that the whole western civil- ization was built upon the basis of the Christian religion. Termin- ology itself tells how completely this is so. Christendom is the word employed to designate that large area of the world where the Chris- tian religion became dominant. With its establishment and accept- ance in the Roman empire, it became the most powerful influence in shaping the course of the western nations where Rome had con- trolled and of new nations which came into being. So important was that influence that the advent of Christ was made the new base for the reckoning of time. All events in Christendom are dated as having occurred before or after that meridian. It marked the begin- ning of a new era which still is spoken of as the Christian era. The whole new civilization had its roots in the Christian faith. Of course its ideals of perfection could not at once be assimilated or even grasped by the peoples who received them. They made plenty of mistakes and committed many excesses and grafted on plenty of false interpretation. Nevertheless the Christian faith remained the central idea that dominated all else. It has remained so through many centuries, and you can't cut loose from it now without effecting a revolutionary change. So long as the abstract idea is adhered to as the guiding notion, no matter how imperfectly lived in practice you can always hope for improvement, a moving away from errone- ous conceptions toward the ideal. But when the ideal itself as a central controlling force is gone then a basic change has come. Christian convictions made the west dominant over the centuries. A departure from them is portentous in the extreme.
No Peace Except Upon A Spiritual Basis
Where does the world of Christendom stand today? Right in its heart, not in some pagan land, the present cataclysmic upheaval broke out. It was freely recognized that there was irreconcilable an- tagonism between the old Christian basis and the ideals of the new
ELDER ALBERT E. BO WEN
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order. We had not only a physical war but a war of basic beliefs as well. So long as disputants profess the same basic beliefs and purposes but differ about the means of their realisation you have merely a struggle for control. But when fundamental beliefs are at war, you have the inception of revolution. It is no longer a mere struggle for control but a struggle that reaches down to the spiritual depths. Any mature person who wants to take a retrospective glance must see that between 1914 and 1939 something very fundamental has happened. That first named year saw the beginning of a great war. We got into it with a fanfare of great national exhilaration. Our soldiers marched off to the blare of trumpets and the stirring strains of martial airs as the bands led them away. Everybody had unshaken faith in the soundness of our institutions and the unques- tioned merits of our system. The war was but a bothersome inter- ruption in a course of life which would pick up again when the nasty business was over. Today it is not so. There is no fanfare, no sparkl- ing enthusiasm, but a sombre, sober resignation to an ugly, unwel- come task which must be done. I am not saying that there is less of determination or of efficiency than there was before. But the spirit of the approach is different. Neither are people so sure about what will happen afterwards nor what it is all about. There is a grave anxiety and uneasiness of feeling evidenced by the voluminous talk about the postwar world. There seem even to be some who think our system is wrong — the basic concept on which our institutions have rested — and they are willing to see it all die. Others think evils have fastened themselves like barnacles upon us, and they need to be pared away. There is contrarity of opinion as to what is worth saving and what should be consigned, without struggle or regret, to the limbo of oblivion. New conceptions are thrusting themselves for- ward. The strong faith of half a century ago is crumbling; we are losing our spiritual basis. Dr. Sproul of the University of California has said we are in a race with catastrophe. But people don't seem to believe it, nor to know that the spiritual problem lies at the core of our trouble and demands solution if we are to recover our national health.
Look at the liberated countries of Europe. No sooner is the heel of the oppressor lifted than bitter strife embroils them anew. Self seeking, greed for power, groundworks for a new supremacy, irre- concilable differences about the spiritual basis of government, its functions, and relationships to those who live under it — all clamor- ing for recognition and control. Unless they can be reconciled on the basis of an underlying spiritual end there can be no contentment, hence no peace.
But everybody seems still to pin faith to economic and techno- logical reconstructions. We hear much about elevating the stand- ard of living of peoples. But almost exclusively those improvements seem to be conceived of as providing more things— greater physical satisfactions, greater ease, more leisure, less work, more guarantees
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of physical security. Long ago Jesus taught that "life consisteth not in the abundance of the things one possesseth" and that "life is more than meat and the body more than raiment." Principles are pushed aside in the interest of immediate gain. When the American col- onies were having their disputes with the mother country, the latter fixed it so that they could buy their tea and pay the tax cheaper than they could smuggle the tea in without tax. It was thought this would beguile them into yielding and paying the inconsequential tax. But the colonists were standing for a principle. If they could be sub- jected to a small tax, they could, when the custom was firmly estab- lished, be subjected to a larger tax. They resisted and took the con- sequences. That is the essence of spiritual supremacy. What is needed today in Christendom is a revived faith in the spiritual basis upon which it was built rather than more machines and things. De- votion to principle rather than victims of the bribery of easy satisfac- tion through immediate gain!
The war is not the cause of the world's trouble; it is only the outward manifestation of an inner decay. When the war is over, the trouble will not be over, which is the reason for the great concern about the postwar world. The world will still have the spiritual sickness, which is the real cause of the war, to deal with. The moods and notions which have permeated the minds of men cannot be shot with bullets. They will still be rampant when the fighting is over. We may not flatter ourselves that they are confined to the aggressor countries. In one degree or another they have penetrated into all lands. They are doing their work of corroding, corrupting, under- mining, destroying.
You can't pick up peace and put it on people; it is a state of the spirit. You can't hand over liberty or freedom as a gift to people who are not spiritually prepared to receive it. Disputes about means of accomplishing ends agreed upon are of little consequence, but when the ends themselves are in dispute you have a difference that goes right into the heart and spirit of things.
And the disputes which divide the peoples of the world today are disputes about ends, about the whole spirit that governs in hu- man relationships. Nothing but spiritual unity will work the cure.
And that spiritual essence must rest in a power standing above all to command their allegiance. It must rest in God.
The Gospel the Foundation of Peace
You who are gathered here may properly have keen interest in plans for the curing of the ills of the world, but you may be assured to start with that there are no values which form so safe, a guide as the gospel which formed the basis upon which the nations of Christ- endom were founded and which attained their highest expression under the Constitution of our own land. The disintegrating forces are such that no passive piety or lip service will do. It must be an active, motivating assertive faith cultivated, and fostered, and main-
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tained in the homes and among the families of the people. It calls for a revival of the worship of God in the homes, where he is be- lieved in, revered, prayed to — where a day is given to reverence when people assemble in worship and hear again the majestic words of the Master and gain a rebirth of the spirit. Go home and teach your people that, and you will be ministering to their salvation as well as to the good of the world. That we may all do so, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
ELDER MARK E. PETERSEN
Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
One day an ancient prophet called his son to his side and talked with him about liberty. They discussed the free agency which God has given to us all, which permits every man to choose his own course in life, whether good or bad. The father told his son that it is impos- sible for a man to exercise his right of choice unless alternatives are placed before him: virtue and vice, light and darkness, the bitter and the sweet. Then he said, "Man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other." Therefore, "it must needs be that there is an opposition in all things." The ancient prophet told his son that this opposition in all things had existed from the beginning of time and that even in the Garden of Eden the forbidden fruit stood in opposition to the tree of life. ( See ' II Nephi 2:11-16.)
The Right To Choose Given To Mankind
When Jesus began his ministry, he also dealt with this opposition in all things. He recognized that evil is in the world, and he acknowl- edged that all men have their free agency and have the right to choose between the good and the evil. All through his ministry he taught men to choose the right and told them of the many blessings they would receive if they would do so.
Again he said that if men were to choose the evil they would be condemned; that their offences would bring sorrow, not only upon other men but upon themselves. Therefore, he said:
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. (Matt. 18:7.)
As he went about in his ministry, Jesus was met with' varied re- actions. There were some who gladly accepted him, followed him wherever he went and tried to live his teachings. There were some who were indifferent, and then there were others who openly opposed him. So the people of that day had before them a clear working example of the law of opposition in all things. On the one hand was Jesus preaching the way of life; on the other were the Scribes and the Pharisees who fought him at every step. Then there were the indif-
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ferent ones. Can we say that they were for the Lord or against him, or were they merely, as we say, indifferent? I call to your mind that the indifferent ones did not keep the commandments, and by their in- difference they encouraged others to be indifferent, and as the others became indifferent, they also refused to obey the commandments of the Lord their God.
These indifferent ones built up a barrier against the Christ, and as they spread the example of disobedience they became a hindrance to him in his work, and for that reason the Lord said :
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. (Matt. 12:30.)
At another time he said, "Ye are my friend, if ye do whatsoever I command you"; and then again he said, "He .that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings."
His attitude regarding the indifferent ones is further shown by the message of the Lord to the seven churches as given to John on Patmos; and you remember what was said to one of those churches:
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. (Rev. 3:15, 16.)
So with the Lord we take sides. We are either for him or we are against him. We are strengthening his work or we are weakening his work. Every Latter-day Saint should ask himself whether he is for the Lord or whether he is against the Lord; whether his deeds are sustaining and strengthening the work of God or whether his deeds, even his indifference, are weakening the work of the Lord. , * ■
Men Are Authorized To Carry On God's Work
Then there is another lesson which the Lord taught in those days, and that lesson was this: that we cannot be for the Lord and at the same time be against his authorized servants.
Jesus well understood that he would not remain long in mortality and that his ministry would necessarily be limited, and so he planned to follow the age-old example of the Lord in raising up and calling to the ministry living prophets, authorized men of God, to carry on the work.
But in doing so it was necessary for the Lord to warn these serv- ants in the-ministry of -the attitude of the people. He remembered that in the ages past there had been a tendency on the part of the people to resist, reject, persecute, and even slay the prophets of God, and Jesus knew that that tendency continued even in his own day because he had felt it. And now, as he was about to send forth his authorized servants to minister among the people, and having in mind this ten- dency, he said to them, "I send you forth as lambs among wolves."
What a commentary upon those who reject and resist and per-
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secute the authorities of the Church. What a rebuke from the Lord himself to those who stand in opposition to the servants of the Lord.
He tried to comfort these disciples. He told them that who- soever would receive his authorized servants would receive him; and whosoever received him would receive him who sent the Lord. But then he said :
... he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me. (Luke 10:16.)
Remember, he was speaking to the authorities of the Church. Then he said further:
. . . whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, . . . Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Go- morrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. (Matt. 10:14-15.)
Modern Authorities on Same Basis
Then with his warning these chosen servants of the Lord, these authorities of the early day Church, went forth as commanded by the Lord, and they tasted of the opposition in all things. There was op- position within the Church, and there was opposition out of the Church. Persecution both within and without increased. The spirit of apostasy spread, and finally apostasy overcame the Church. The leaders of the Church were destroyed, and taken out of the ministry. The people were left in darkness, and gross darkness covered their minds, and we had a complete apostasy from the truth.
It was decreed, however, that in the last days there should be a restoration of the Church, and we who are here are witnesses of the fact that the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored in these last days. But it has been restored upon the same basis that the Church was built upon in ancient times and is founded upon a foundation of apostles and prophets. In other words, the authorities of the present day Church were especially appointed by the Lord to represent him in these last days because he could not be here always in person any more than he could in the days of Paul. Therefore, the Lord spoke to his modern authorities in the same way in which he spoke anciently, and he said:
And as I said unto mine apostles, even so I say unto you, for you are mine apostles, even God's high priests; ye are they whom my Father hath given me; ye are my friends. Therefore, as I said unto mine apostles I say unto you again, that every soul who believeth on your words, and is baptized by water for the remission of sins, shall receive the Holy Ghost. And these signs shall follow them that believe — In my name they shall do many wonderful works: In my name they shall cast out devils; In my name they shall heal the sick; In my name they shall open the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf; And the tongue of the dumb shall speak; And if any man shall administer poison unto them it shall not hurt them; And the poison of a serpent shall not have power to harm them. Doc. and Cov. 84:63-72.)
While speaking in these last days, the Lord remembered again
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the tendency of the people to resist the living prophets of God, and to persecute them, to say all manner of evil against them and to under- mine the work they are doing. The Lord remembered that there were people in his own day and in earlier days who possessed such a tend- ency, and he knew in these last days there would be men and women who would continue to fight against the living prophets of God. But he comforted these modern living prophets and said to them, He that receiveth you, receiveth me, and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me; but conversely he taught, "... Wo unto that house, or that village or city which rejecteth you, or your words, or your testi- mony concerning me." (Doc. and Gov. 84:94.)
So you see, he placed the modern authorities of his Church on the same basis as that on which he placed the ancient authorities of the Church, and he again preached the doctrine that if the people re- ceive you, the living prophets, whether you live in 1945 or whether you live in A.D. 30, "they receive me, and whosoever rejecteth you, rejecteth me." That was the doctrine of the Church anciently. It is the doctrine of the Lord himself in these days, and whosoever rejects or receives the living authorities of his Church rejects or receives the Lord himself.
Disloyalty to Authority Weakens the Cause
Now, recall the scripture I read to you earlier in this discussion : "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." Keeping in mind the doctrine of the Lord with respect to his servants, that if we, the people, reject the servants of the Lord, we reject the Lord, and that if we receive the servants of God we receive God, we are fully justified in interpreting this scripture, that I have just read to you, in this way: "He that is for the living prophets of God is also for the Lord; and he that is not for the living prophets of God is against the Lord." We may interpret it also in this way: "He that is loyal to the living authorities of the Church is loyal to God; and any Latter-day Saint who is disloyal to the authori- ties of the Church is disloyal to God." Or we may read it this way and still be within the truth: "He that sustains the authorities of the Church sustains the Church and the Lord, but any Latter-day Saint who does not sustain the authorities of the Church places himself in a position where he weakens the cause of God instead of lending it strength."
Now look at the other part of that scripture. "He that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." When we speak of "gathering with" the Lord, or assisting him in gathering in the souls of men, gathering them into the fold of Christ, we speak of an organized effort, and we speak of an organized program. We speak of the fold of the Church of God and therefore, if we are "gathering with" him, we are working with him, working in his Church, working in his program, accepting his program and lending our strength to it.
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And then there is another thought in connection with it, that if we are "gathering with" him we engage in a cooperative effort, co- operation on the part of us, the Latter-day Saints, cooperating with the leaders of the Church, cooperating with the Lord in gathering in- to the fold of Christ the souls of men.
Now, are we gathering with the Lord, or are we, by our efforts, scattering abroad the sheep that he is trying to gather into the fold? Are we cooperating with the authorities of the Church, are we gather- ing with them; are we assisting them in bringing into the fold of Christ the people the Lord would save? Are we gathering with them, co- operating with them in the prosecution of the program of the Church, or are we criticizing the authorities of the Church and undermining them and their efforts?
I call to your minds the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith in this connection:
I will give to 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 on the high road to apostasy, and if he does not repent, will apostatize, as God lives. The principle is as correct as the one that Jesus put forth in saying that he who seeketh a sign is an adulterous per- son; and that principle is eternal, undeviating and as firm as the pillars of heaven.
So spake the Prophet Joseph Smith.
I ask you again, my brethren, and my sisters on the air, are you for the Lord and his program or are you against them? Are you for the authorities of the Church or are you against them? Are you gather- ing with them, or are you scattering abroad? Are you on the Lord's side?
Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
Now is the time to show;
We ask it fearlessly,
Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
The pow'r of earth and hell In rage direct the blow That's aimed to crush the work; Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
We serve the living God; And want his foes to know That if but few, we're great; Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
We're going on to win, Nor fear must blanch the brow; The Lord of hosts is ours, Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
— H. Cornaby
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There is an opposition in all things. You have your free agency. Are you using that free agency to strengthen or to weaken the cause of God? And if you are weakening the cause of God, I say to you with Joshua of old, "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve."
I earnestly pray, also in the words of Joshua, that each one of us will say, "... as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" ( Joshua 24: 15 ), and this I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
ELDER CHARLES A. CALLIS
Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
One of our poets put into song form this sublime thought:
The works of God continue, And worlds and lives abound; Improvement and progression Have one eternal round.
Comfort In the Scriptures
In this dark and cloudy day, when, like the leaves of the forest, many sad tears are falling, we can go to the holy scriptures, those wells of salvation, and draw from them peace and comfort which only Jesus Christ and his prophets can give.
The Apostle Paul eloquently declared :
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. ( Hebrews 12:2.)
How wonderful it is to have a finisher of our faith. There are many beginners in this world, but there are few finishers.
The Lord Jesus Christ, centuries before he came into mortality, uttered these words. They are found in that treasure house of knowl- edge, the Book of Mormon, and are as follows:
. . . for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever. (II Nephi 29:9.)
The work of God must be noble and grand. The Redeemer said :
For this is my work and my glory — to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:39.)
I think that a Mormon elder who expects to pass away his time in the hereafter singing and amusing himself or resting is not worth his salt. God Almighty is ever engaged in the glorious work of bringing to pass the salvation of man.
Faith In the Promises of the Lord
I have faith that those heroes who sink in death, paying the su- preme sacrifice on the field of battle — the faithful young men, trust-
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ing in God, shall have everything made up to them. They are heirs of the promises; they shall inherit the promises. I do not know in what way God will provide the means by which these splendid men shall reach the celestial kingdom and experience all the promises ful- filled in their lives, but I have firm faith in the Lord, for his words are true; and sometime, somewhere, the power and the glory of God shall rest upon them; for the Creator will finish what he has begun.
The Prophet Joseph told a weeping mother, who had lost her baby in death, that in the resurrection she would have the privilege of rearing that baby up to its full stature, and have more joy in doing that than she could have had in mortality.
An eminent divine, nationally known, said the other day:
But my friends, I could not stand in this radio pulpit, if I did not be- lieve that the good God takes these unfinished lives, with their unfinished work, and somewhere, somehow, in his house of many mansions, gives them the glory of going on. A just and loving Heavenly Father will keep faith with those who keep faith with him.
• Thus the glorious light of heaven is spreading. Heaven's morn- ing, with the joy and knowledge of hope and progression beyond the grave, is breaking in upon the lives of, men. The notion that in this life only we have hope in Christ, we do not accept, for "if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."
Our grief, by the power of God, the Author and the Finisher of our faith, is lifted from earth to heaven, and the tears are wiped away by a loving God. Glory, majesty, and power be unto Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life, the Author and the Finisher of our faith, forever and forever. Amen. ~ri .'
The congregation sang the hymn, "I Need Thee Every Hour," L.D.S. Hymns No. 387, Hymn Book No. 378.
ELDER JOSEPH FIELDING SMITH
Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
, As I stand here before you, I seek the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord and your help in what I may say. First of all, I wish to ex- press my appreciation for the timely message that came this morning from President Heber J. Grant. May the Lord continue to bless him, I am likewise grateful for the fine testimonies that we have heard so far, and I hope the powerful words spoken by Elder Mark E. Peter- sen will sink deeply into our hearts.
Commandments Given for the Benefit of the Church
On the second day of January, in the year 1831, the Lord gave a revelation to the Church and in that revelation commanded them to move from the headquarters then established in New York to the Ohio. He gives the reason for it;
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And that ye might escape the power of the enemy and be gathered unto me a righteous people, without spot and blameless — Wherefore, for this cause I gave unto you the commandment that ye should go to the Ohio; and there I will give unto you my law; and there you shall be en- dowed with power from on high. (Doc. and Cov. 38:31-32.)
In obedience to this commandment the people moved to the Ohio. The law the Lord gave, spoken of here in this promise, is found in Section Forty-two, in large part at least, of the Doctrine and Cove- nants. In this revelation many things are recorded for our benefit. I am only sorry that we have not always adhered strictly to these com- mandments. Of course, I cannot mention all of the things recorded in this revelation, for there are many, but I desire to speak of one or two that were given for the benefit of the Church. First of all, let me say that when Adam was driven out of the Garden of Eden, the Lord passed a sentence upon him. Some people have looked upon that sen- tence as being a dreadful thing. It was not; it was a blessing. I don't know that it can truthfully be considered even as a punishment in dis- guise. The Lord said to him: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," and all down through the ages the Lord has called upon his people to be diligent, to serve him in faithfulness, to work. And here in verses forty to forty-two in this revelation I read :
And again, thou shalt not be proud in thy heart; let all thy garments be plain, and their beauty the beauty of the work of thine own hands; And let all things be done in cleanliness before me. Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer. (Doc. and Cov. 42:40-42.)
And to this I wish to speak.
The Saints Admonished to Produce What They Needed
In the early days of the Church in these valleys, great stress was placed upon industry by President Brigham Young and the other brethren, and it was necessary because our forefathers came here with nothing. They had to work. They had to be industrious. It was essential that they produce the things they needed, and therefore counsel to that extent and in that direction was given to them constant- ly that they should be industrious. They were taught not to be proud in their hearts. They came out here where they could worship the Lord their God and keep his commandments. They were told to be humble as well as to be diligent. They were to make their own gar- ments, and they were to be plain. Oh, I wish we could remember that. I am sorry that we have forgotten. And President Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and others of the brethren in those early days taught the people and prevailed upon them to start industries through- out this country, to raise sheep, to gather the wool, to make their own clothes out of that wool, to plant cotton that they might have cotton also to make clothing, to plant flax that they might get linen, to build tanneries that they might tan the hides and make themselves leather,
ELDER JOSEPH FIELDING SMITH 49
and a thousand other things. We used to have some of these indus- tries here among us, and would still have them if we had been willing to adhere to these counsels that had been given to us in those early days by the authorities of the Church, which we would not do. I used to wear suits that were made at Provo, in the woolen mills. I did that as long as I could get them. The suit I have on now was not made at Provo, nor was it made in Utah — that is the cloth — but the tailor made it here. Last week at a stake conference, I made the statement that I did not believe there was in that building an individual born in this country who knew how to make a suit of clothes. If there was one there, would he please make himself manifest, and nobody made him- self manifest. Then I said, "If there's a cobbler in this room, he was not born in this country. If there is a cobbler here, let him stand up." Nobody stood. There was no cobbler. And so we might go on.
Now, the Lord said, "Let all things be done in cleanliness before me." I could spend some time on that, but time will not permit; so I continue, the Lord said, "Thou shalt not be idle for he that is idle shall not eat the bread, nor wear the garments of the laborer." That is good sound sense, isn't it? Why should a man in idleness partake of the industry of the industrious — provided that this man who is idle, is in a physical condition that he can work? I am not at all in sympa- thy with any kind of movement that tends to destroy manhood by en- couraging men to be idle, and I don't care what age that is. It doesn't matter how old he gets, if a man is physically strong and is able to perform services, he should take care of himself; that the Lord expects him to do.
The Lord said in another revelation:
And again, verily I say unto you, that every man who is obliged to provide for his own family, let him provide, and he shall in nowise lose his crown; and let him labor in the Church. Let every man be diligent in all things. And the idler shall not have place in the Church, except he repent and mend his ways. (Doc. and Cov. 75:28, 29.)
So that is the counsel the Lord has given the Church today. And this is not merely to be applied to plowing fields, or to reaping and harvesting and engaging in industry, but it means likewise that a man should be industrious in spiritual things as well as in the temporalities by which he makes his living.
Again, here is another commandment the Lord gave:
And the inhabitants of Zion also shall remember their labors, inas- much as they are appointed to labor, in all faithfulness; for the idler shall be had in remembrance before the Lord. Now, I, the Lord, am not well pleased with the inhabitants of Zion, for there are idlens among them; and their children are also growing up in wickedness; they also seek not earn- estly the riches of eternity, but their eyes are full of greediness. (Doc. and Cov. 68:30, 31.)
If the Lord were speaking to us today, I wonder if he would not put even more emphasis upon this commandment.
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And again, the Lord said of his servants who preach the gospel:
... I give unto them a commandment, thus: Thou shalt not idle away thy time, neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known. (Doc. and Cov. 60:13.)
And that means whatever that talent may be, the man should not bury it. If he is a mechanic, if he is skilled in some other direction, if he has the power and ability to preach the gospel, whatever it is, the Lord expects him to use that talent in His service.
There should be no idlers in Zion. Even the poor who have to be assist- ed should be willing to do all in their power to earn their own living. Not one man or woman should be content to sit down and be fed, clothed, or housed without an exertion on his or her part to compensate for these privileges. All men and women should feel a degree of independence of character that would stimulate them to do something for a living and not be idle; for it is written that the idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer in Zion, and he shall not have place among us. Therefore, it is necessary that we should be industrious, that we should intelligently apply our labor to some- thing that is productive and conducive to the welfare of the human family. (Gospel Doctrine, pp. 235, 236.)
And then, President Brigham Young, out of all the many things that he has said, let me present this:
We want you henceforth to be a self-sustaining people. Hear it, O Israel! hear it, neighbors, friends and enemies, this is what the Lord re- quires of this people. . . . Ye Latter-day Saints learn to sustain yourselves, produce everything you need to eat, drink or wear; and if you cannot ob- tain all you wish for today, learn to do without that which you cannot purchase and pay for; and bring your minds into subjection that you must live within your means. . . . Who are deserving of praise? The persons who take care of themselves or the ones who always trust in the great mercies of the Lord to take care of them? It is just as consistent to expect that the Lord will supply us with fruit when we do not plant the trees; or that when we do not plow and sow and are saved the labor of harvesting, we should cry to the Lord to save us from want, -as to ask him to save us from the consequences of our own folly, disobedience and waste. . . .
Brethren, learn. You have learned a good deal, it is true, but learn more; learn to sustain yourselves; lay up grain and flour and save it against a day of scarcity. Sisters, do not ask your husbands to sell the last bushel of grain you have to buy something for you out of the stores, but aid your husbands in storing it up against a day of want, and always have a year's or two, provision on hand. (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 293.)
I hope the time will come when we will not feel restricted and will be able to lay up in store for a year or two in advance. The Lord bless you, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Advice From Leaders of the Church
Let me present a statement here from President Joseph F. Smith :
ELDER CLIFFORD E. YOUNG
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ELDER CLIFFORD E. YOUNG
Assistant to the Council o[ the Twelve Apostles
My brethren, we have just listened to what may be termed the gospel of Jesus Christ in a practical application. . We have been told what it means to work and what the Lord expects us to do, and this brings to mind the fact that our forebears who came here learned well those principles and had it not been for the fact that they did work and they did struggle we would not have the commonwealth that we have here, nor would we have the foundation of faith that is a part of this great work. It wasn't in luxury. It wasn't in idle- ness that was made possible what we have, but it was in poverty and in hard work and in struggle, and these experiences, my breth- ren, and those who are listening, contributed to other things. They contributed to a richness of faith. Somehow or other the Lord has seen fit, or the human makeup is such, that it is in adversity and sor- row that we grow.
General McAlexander's View of War
At the close of the first world war there was stationed here at Fort Douglas the thirty-eighth infantry that is credited with having stopped the second battle of the Marne in World War I. The commanding officer who had been a colonel in the infantry, was then General Ulysses G. McAlexander. While stationed here, the gen- eral became a friend of both President Ivins and President Grant. Years later he was retired and moved to the Northwest, where his wife passed away. He subsequently married again and coming back here to Salt Lake City with his wife, renewed his acquaintance and friendship with these two churchmen. On one occasion President Grant drove the general down to the stake where I reside and we had the privilege of hearing him speak in one of our school assem- blies. He had a very vital message to deliver, and after his speaking there, we invited him to speak in one of our stake union meetings where the general told of his experiences in the second battle of the Marne, and then he gave his reaction to war. At the close of the talk, one of our brethren went up to him and very frankly said, "Gen- eral, do you not think this a very cruel message to be giving in a re- ligious meeting?" His answer was very significant. "Brother Booth" — he had met him a few hours before — "I want to impress, if pos- sible, upon you people one fundamental thing, as I would like to im- press it upon all the world, and that is that war is a terrible, cruel monster, and whenever .we speak of it and whenever we deal with it, we speak and deal with terrible things. Until the human family be- comes conscious of the tragedy and the sorrow and the terribleness of war we'll always have war. You church people," he said, "have a very vital message and mission; namely, to try to teach the prin- ciples of. righteousness in the hearts of your people and in the hearts of mankind, that war may be no more."
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I have never forgotten that, my brethren, and it seems to me that that, after all, is one of the lessons that we need to learn. If we can bring again righteousness into the hearts of the people, we will be able to outlaw war, and the terribleness and the tragedy of it will be no more, but we can not do it until we put into practical applica- tion some of the teachings we have heard here today.
The Gospel A Help Under Every Condition
We are a practical people; we need to till the soil; we need to make a living; we need to deal with the physical things of life just as our forebears did, for they did a magnificent job in assimilating the two aspects -of man's nature. They understood how to harmonize the physical with the spiritual, and in their great faith they were able to bring a harmony out of seeming chaos. God grant that we may be able to do that, that we may outlaw hatred and animosity and so live that the spirit of our Heavenly Father will be a part of us.
Someone the other day, someone who had had great sorrow be- cause of this war, raised this question, "What has the Church to offer in times like these when it seems the very props are taken from under us?" Well, the Church has all of these practical things, and it has more. It brings to you and me faith and hope. When the shepherds stood on those Palestine hills, they heard the voices of the angels declaring the event of the new-born Babe, "Behold . . . [there is] born this day in the city of. David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11.) Good tidings of great joy they were told, which were to be for all people. It wasn't merely the event of the Babe of Bethlehem, but it was the ushering in of the mes- sage of eternal truth that was to bring comfort and joy through the living of the precepts that he was to teach. That was the message that was to bring joy to the human heart.
When Paul stood before King Agrippa he declared his conver- sion and told of the appearance of Jesus Christ to him in midday, and King Agrippa being touched in his heart, turned to Paul and said, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." (Acts 26:28.) "And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds-." (Ibid. 29.) He knew that Jesus was the Christ; he had in his heart and soul what this testimony and the gospel does for us in times of trial and adversity. The Prophet Joseph came in this day and brought the same message, a message that has come through sorrow, privation and tribulation, and yet it brings the same good tid- ings of great joy that were sung by the shepherds two thousand years ago. It is the translating into our lives, my brethren, not only these practical things, but it is also a stimulating of the faith that comes from God, our Eternal Father, through faithful service to his cause. The lovely thing about the Church to which you and I belong is that it permits of the application of these two, the practical with the spirit- ual, and thus we grow and become strong.
PRESIDENT J. REUBEN CLARK, JR. 53
May the Lord help us that we may appreciate in our everyday affairs the counsel given in this conference. May we appreciate the great message of peace that comes into our hearts even in time of sor- row, and may we have the power through living these eternal truths ultimately to do away with unrighteousness, so that war may be no more. God bless us, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
PRESIDENT J. REUBEN CLARK, JR.
First Counselor in the First Presidency
A part of the obligation of the presiding officer at these con- ferences is that he shall take his turn in speaking to the people. For that reason I wish to fulfill my duty and try to say something to you that may be helpful and encouraging and to the furtherance of the cause of the Lord. I sincerely trust that while I speak I shall have with me the benefit of that spirit which has been poured out in such rich abundance upon us today. So many themes have been touched, that we might further discuss that it is a bit difficult to know what one might most profitably do.
The Golden Rule A Safe Guide For Mankind
To the man who says, what has the Church to offer, in times like these, we might perhaps, without being too cruel, say: what is to be offered to the man who jumps off the house and breaks his leg. Well, we can mend his leg, but it will always be a mended leg; but we have also to offer to the man the advice, do not jump off the house again.
And so to this war-torn world, war-torn from the beginning, we have to say to such a questioner: What has the Church to offer? The Church has to offer to you, and to the world, and has offered to you and to the world the principles that had they been accepted would have made this war impossible, and that if now accepted will make a recurrence of war impossible. We bring you that message, the mes- sage of the gospel of Jesus Christ, restored in this day and age of the world. Do unto others as thou wouldst be done by contains the rule which ought to guide us as members of a community and as one of the family of nations.
God Will Pass Sentence Upon the Guilty
In these days of terrible trial and stress the question is frequently repeated by those who lose their dear ones under circumstances that ten years ago were not believed possible. These dear ones sometimes write and say: I hope that God will forgive me for the things I am having to do. The parents want to know what is the answer to that fear. I would like to read to you what the First Presidency said on April 6, 1942, four months after the attack at Pearl Harbor.
54 GENERAL CONFERENCE
Friday. April 6 First Dag
In this terrible war now waging thousands of our righteous young men in all parts of the world and in many countries are subject to a call into the military service of their own countries. Some of these, so serving, have already been called back to their heavenly home; others will almost surely be called to follow. But "behold," as Moroni said, the righteous of them who serve and are slain "do enter into the rest of the Lord their God," and of them the Lord has said "those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them." (Doc. and Cov. 42:46.) Their salvation and exaltation in the world to come will be secure. That in their work of destruction they will be striking at their brethren will not be held against them. That sin, as Moroni of old said, is to the condemna- tion of those who "sit in their places of power in a state of thoughtless stupor," those rulers in the world who in a frenzy of hate and lust for unrighteous power and dominion over their fellow men, have put into mo- tion eternal forces they do not comprehend and cannot control. God, in his own due time, will pass sentence upon them. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay saith the Lord." (Romans 12:19.)
I have no doubt of the truthfulness of the theme developed by Brother Callis, that those who die as described by Moroni, will not be held guilty of the death of their brethren, and they will have the opportunity to go on to salvation and exaltation in the celestial king- dom.
Planning For the Return of the Soldiers
I would like to say a word about the returning soldier, that being a question about which we all talk and hear so much. I said some- thing about postwar planning at the last conference and pointed out that we could and should plan to bring our soldiers back to homes of purity, chastity, and of righteousness, and that it took no worldly po- sition, no wealth to carry on that postwar planning. I want to add just a word along that line today.
These boys out in the field have placed before them constantly, achievements and the value of achievement in the destruction of hu- man life. The thing for which they now receive praise, the things for which they work to get commendation, are unknown to us in our lives of peace. When they return they will bring back with them, of neces- sity, something of those urges that led them to their achievements,' and we are going to be cold, however warm we try to be, to those achievements, which do not fit in with the gospel, nor with our meth- ods of life.
To bridge over the time when they return as heroes for achieve- ments in war, until they may resume their peacetime occupations and become heroes in peace and in peaceful occupations, to bridge that over is one of the tasks we shall have to undertake and to which we must give our best effort and best thought. I am not thinking of the temporal side of the bridge-over, I am thinking of the spiritual side, and what that means; and in that connection it seems to me that they who are to play the greatest part are the mothers, the wives, and the sweethearts of those who return.
PRESIDENT ]. REUBEN CLARK, JR. 55 The Responsibility of the Women
When all is said and done it will be our sisters who must take on that great load and that tremendous responsibility. Radio pro- grams, magazines, and newspaper columns are more and more filling with instructions about how to treat our returning soldiers. All the deductions of modern psychology, and its kindred mental sciences are paraded for the guidance of the wives, the mothers, the sweethearts, in meeting, winning, and holding the boy back from the war. But I would not exchange the unerring, inspired instinct of a good woman, fired with mother love, or wife love, or the love of a loyal, chaste sweetheart, for all that men have ever written. The boys say they do not wish to be regarded as problem children. They want to get home and enter again the family circle, and in its sacred precincts again to take up life and forget hate, carnage, and death. I believe their cry will be, "Let us live again in love"; and you mothers, wives, and sweethearts can bring to them this blessing. None other can. So in this crisis we turn to the women of the earth to save them and to save us men from ourselves. So it has been, in reality, in every great world crisis, however much it may have seemed otherwise. Yours, you sisters, has been the loyalty that has never wanted; your courage has not failed, has not been daunted, whatever the odds. You have often recognized a lost cause long before your men folks; you fre- quently have seen victory long before it came within the vision of those who battled. Your joy and tenderness and fortitude have suc- cored the wounded and eased the passing of those who are called beyond. You never fail in kindness and mercy; your love endures forever. May God bless you, for you are angels of mercy. So, you mothers, wives, sweethearts, take into the sacred precincts of your heart around the altars of your homes these souls wounded in body, in mind, in spirit, and heal them as you alone can.
The Leaders of the Church Inspired of God
I had intended to say something, but my time is past, along the line that Elder Petersen spoke. He used even the scriptures that I had intended using; but I would like to endorse all that he said, and I would like to say to the priesthood of the Church, among whom there are many who are steadiers of the ark — please do not be too much concerned. The Lord will take care of the Church, if, we shall but take care of ourselves. He has laid down the appointed way; he is the he^ad of the Church. President Grant is his representative on earth. The Lord declares his will through his representative here.
There is much talk nowadays about democracy. I do not know of any democracy in the world. There are liberal monarchies, and there are republics. We are democratic in our concepts of the Church, but we are not a democracy; we are a kingdom, the Church and king- dom of God on earth; and our guidance and our direction comes and must come through the head of the Church, who always has been
56 GENERAL CONFERENCE
Saturday, Apri[ 7 Second Day
possessed of the Spirit of the Lord and of his inspiration, and his rev- elation. So it will always be.
President Joseph F. Smith said to President Grant, shortly before President Smith died, "the Lord knows whom he wants to be presi- dent of the Church, and he never makes a mistake." The Lord has laid .down the rule and the regulation by which that president of the Church is chosen.
It is for us of the priesthood and for us the members of. the Church to hearken and to obey in matters which the president of the Church directs, and to see to it that we do not modify in any way the holy laws which the Lord has laid down. God grant that we may all be faithful to the end, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
President Clark:
The congregation will now sing "Now Let Us Rejoice in the Day of Salvation." Song Folder No. 6, L.D.S. Hymns No. 218, Hymn Book No. 182.
The closing prayer will be offered by President Wesley E. Ting- ey of the South Davis Stake, after which this conference will stand adjourned until 10 o'clock tomorrow morning, Saturday, April 7, 1945. The proceedings of that session will be broadcast over KSL at Salt Lake City, and KSUB at Cedar City.
Singing by the congregation, "Now Let Us Rejoice in the Day of Salvation."
The closing prayer was offered by President Wesley E. Tingey of the South Davis Stake, after which Conference adjourned until Saturday morning, April 7, at 10 a.m.
. SECOND DAY MORNING MEETING
Conference reconvened promptly at 10 o'clock, a.m., Saturday morning, April 7.
President Clark:
This is the third session of the 1 15th Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are convened in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah.
There are present on the stand this morning all the General Authorities of the Church as sustained yesterday, except President Grant, who is able to listen to the services over a direct wire from the Assembly Hall to his home.
The proceedings of this session will be broadcast over KSL at Salt Lake City, and KSUB at Cedar City.
ELDER SPENCER W. KIMBALL
57
We will begin the morning services by the congregation singing, "Lord, Accept Our True Devotion," two verses, Song Folder No. 43.
Elder J. Spencer Cornwall is conducting the singing; Elder Alex- ander Schreiner is at the organ.
The opening prayer will be offered by President Edward E. Drury, Jr., of the Denver Stake.
Singing by the congregation, "Lord, Accept Our True Devo- tion."
Elder Edward E. Drury, Jr., President of the Denver Stake, of- fered the opening prayer.
The congregation sang the hymn, "Sweet is the Work, My God, My King," L.D.S. Hymns, No. 91, Hymn Book No. 121.
ELDER SPENCER W. KIMBALL
Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
My beloved brethren here and brethren and sisters of the radio audience: It is a great privilege and inspiration to be here in this conference of the Church of our Lord, Jesus Christ. May the peace of heaven be with, you and us. •
The Advice of A Brahman To A Mother
A woman in the Far East who had lost her boy went to the Brahman and said: "You must give me back my boy, you must, you must." The Brahman with calm dignity said to her: "Come, daugh- ter, you must go out and get the leaves of. a plant (which was as com- mon as the commonest weeds with us ) and make a tea of the leaves, and drink the tea, and I will give you back your boy. But the leaves must be gathered from the dooryard of a family that has never known sorrow."
The woman traveled from village to village, and from province to province, and finally heartsore and footsore, she returned to her leader saying: "Father, I have traveled all over the land, but I cannot find one home where sorrow has not been." She had returned, not to get her son back, but to be content with her lot.
Yesterday we were told in conference that about nine hundred of our stalwart sons had been sacrificed in this diabolical world holo- caust. It has seemed to me even more than that, for as I have gone about the Church I have been confronted with such sorrow in all parts of the country.
These tragic stories of sons killed in the training fields and theatres of war have not been limited to any individual, or locality, but everywhere our relatives and friends weep in their loneliness and sorrow.
58 GENERAL CONFERENCE
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A Letter Written To A Sorrowing Mother
■
May I read to you a letter which I wrote sometime ago to a mother of my acquaintance whose son had just been killed in battle? I do earnestly pray that some thought contained therein might have brought to her and may bring to others a bit of hope and comfort and courage.
Dear Sister :
Very recently I have been entertained in the homes of parents who have lost young sons, still in their teens and early twenties; sons who were as clean and sweet in their lives as their mothers; sons who had ability and had developed their talents and possessed also the spirit and desire to use them for the advancement of the work of the Lord. It has caused me to ponder deeply.
One particular mother who poured out her soul to me was in- clined to be bitter. She said:
Why would the Lord take my son from me? Why didn't the Lord answer my prayers and save him? I know my son has remained clean; why should he be taken? Not only he, but the entire family has always been faithful; why is our worthiness not recognized? Why should he die so young when he was so righteous?
Well, you know the responsibility I felt in attempting to an- swer her. With all my soul I prayed that the Father would help me to bring her comfort.
As I sat in meditation my mind went back to a little hill, far away, on which were silhouetted against the deepening shadows of a black, tragic day, three crosses on which were human beings writh- ing in the agonies of death, and the central One cried out:
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me! (Matt. 27:46.)
And I seem to see at the foot of the heavy cross the crouching figure' of a mother torn in agony, saying:
Why should he die? So young, so pure, so able to teach the world a better way? Why, oh, why?
Then I seem to see another more modern picture of a mother grief-stricken, watching the approaching caravan which was bring- ing two beloved sons home from a foul martyrdom in a jail some dis- tance away, and I can almost hear her through her sobs:
Why should they be killed? Why should they be taken from the in- fant Church which needs them so much? Why must they die, so young, so pure, so strong?
Then I realize that God does not take' these lives. It is per- mitted because men have their free agency.
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! (Matt. 18:7.)
ELDER SPENCER W. KIMBALL
59
Was there frustration in the martyrdom of Joseph Smith? Jo- seph was protected and his life saved in every instance of persecu- tion until his work was finished and he had done his part in the res- toration of the gospel and the priesthood and all other keys of the dispensation, and until the organization of the kingdom was effected. He could not be killed before that time, though all hell raged against him. He wanted to live. Life was sweet to him. It held promise of sweet associations with his family, his brethren, and the satisfaction of seeing the work blossom into a full-blown flower. But his work was done; other strong leaders could now carry on; he was needed in other fields. Only in his thirties, a very young man, he died, and commenced his work in other realms.
Was there defeat in the crucifixion of Jesus the Christ? If so, all creation were doomed and man would have remained in sin. If so, the crucifixion would not have taken place until a later date — until his hour had come. His life was not taken from him — he gave his life. To Peter, whoi smote off the ear of one of the mob, he said :
. . . the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? (John 18:11) and thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? (Matt. 26:53.)
He was young, only 33. He loved life also. He wanted to live for the richness that he could see in it — his friends, his growing king- dom, his brethren, his mother. Life was sweet to him. Did he not pray in Gethsemane:
. . . O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; never- theless not as I will, but as thou wilt. (Matt. 26:39.)
Then as the time passed, and no positive answer came to his supplication, he cried out again in his torture:
O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. (Matt. 26:42.)
In the first prayer he still seemed to have a glimmer of hope that something could be done about it, but in the latter it seemed to have been definitely settled in his mind that no adjustment could be made, and in order that the purposes of God might not fail he must drink the bitter cup.
He was taken from his mother, though it broke her heart. His prayer, perhaps the most sincere and worthy ever uttered, was not answered as she would have had it. His was the perfect life, clean, guileless, divine, and yet he passed. His mother was devout as also were some of his people, yet his life ebbed. He was young and had not had time to establish himself in life. His first thirty years were spent in preparation; his next three years in originating and develop- ing his program, and now when he could have turned over to his followers much of the detail of the work, and could have perhaps
60
Saturday, April 7
GENERAL CONFERENCE
Second Day
' enjoyed family and other associations, he was crucified. Why? There was a definite reason. Being divine and mortal, he had a work to do which could not be done in mortality, which required his transfer to other spheres of activity. Was his work frustrated? It did leave a sorrowing mother. There were brethren who were numbed. There were perhaps many loved ones who doubted and questioned. But in his death, and in his resurrection, came a boon to mankind that only this Son of God could bring. Would we have had indifferent? Would we have saved his life, if we could, now that we know that he through this very circumstance brought re- demption to the world? Would his agonized mother today have it otherwise as she looks back on the entire program? Would the apostles on whom the burden of the kingdom fell have it otherwise?
And I am sure that the thousands of our Latter-day Saint moth- ers, who like Mary, the mother of the Lord, today stand grieving helplessly at the foot of a heavy cross, shall come in time to see clearly and may even bless the day when their clean, talented, stal- wart sons went forward into other spheres.
In death do we grieve for the one who passes on, or is it self- pity? To doubt the wisdom and justice of the passing of a loved one is to place a limitation on the term of life. It is to say that it is more important to continue to live here than to go into other fields. Do we grieve when our son is graduated from the local high school and is sent away from home to a university of higher learning? Do we grieve inconsolably when our son is called away from our daily em- brace to distant lands to preach the gospel? To continue to grieve without faith and understanding and trust when a son goes into an- other world is to question the long-range program of God, life etern- al with all its opportunities and blessings.
God is good, so good in fact that we can hardly conceive the depth and richness of his goodness. He is just; so just that we mortals cannot comprehend the fairness of his justice. I am sure that no mortal will ever fail to receive every blessing and glory which he merits. Mortal death cannot rob him. There will be a way, and every promise of God will be fulfilled. A virtuous, progressive, ac- tive young man will sacrifice no blessing to which he was entitled by his (to us) premature passing into eternity. We may not under- stand fully just how it will be accomplished, but we may know that it will be. Remember what the Lord himself said:
. . . 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. (I Cor. 2:9.)
Can we not trust in the goodness of the Lord? Remember that he is the Father also of this son. He is the Parent of the living part, you of the tabernacle only. Will he not be infinitely more concerned with the welfare of this son than we mortals could ever be? Can we not know this: "His purposes fail not, neither are there any that can
ELDER NICHOLAS G. SMITH
61
stay his hand"? There is no tragedy except in sin. Let us know therefore that life is eternal, and that God doeth all things well; and this righteous son, the offspring of God, was not born for a day, a decade, or a century, but for eternity. Only his own lack of right- eousness could ever deprive him of any blessing promised by the Lord. "Thy Son liveth" and continues to radiate life, not death; light, not darkness; commencement, not termination; assurance, not uncertainty; joy eternal, not sorrow; sweetness, not bitterness; youthful maturity, not senility; progress, not stoppage; sunshine, not clouds; clearness of vision, not confusion and dimness; fulfilment, not frustration; an open gate with light ahead, not barred windows with darkness beyond.
May our Heavenly Father bring his peace to all of. you who are now passing through your Garden of Gethsemane.
Sincerely your brother,
Spencer W. Kimball
ELDER NICHOLAS G. SMITH
Assistant to the Council of the Twelve Apostles
My brethren, as I look into your faces I endeavor to place you. I have visited half of the stakes of Zion, up to the present time, and should know half of this congregation, but I have only been able to pick out about two dozen faces. As I walk amongst you, if you will just punch me one in the ribs I shall know I have been in your town.
An Incident About Judge Elias A. Smith
As Brother Joseph Fielding spoke yesterday of the sanctity of work, I could not help thinking of Judge Elias A. Smith who cele- brated his eighty-eighth birthday just about two weeks ago. Think- ing, of course, that a man eighty-eight years of age would be resting in his home, I went over to his place, only to> discover that he was at work, about two o'clock in the afternoon. So I wended my may down to his office, but he was so busy that he was unable to stop to have anyone congratulate him on his eighty-eighth birthday. The following day I met him on the street and said, "Judge, I went to your home and your office yesterday to wish you many happy re- turns." "Well," he said, "I am a busy man."
"Yes, I noted that. I couldn't get to see you in the office. I thought you would be home. I didn't know you were working." "Why," he said, "working, earning my own way. I am so much happier doing that than I could possibly be in any other way." I wish a lot of folks could follow Judge Elias A. Smith's way of life, and the way of life which our President has followed. Day before yesterday morning, down in back of the Church Office Building in his car, sick and afflicted, our worthy President sat and signed the letters that he had dictated to go out to different parts of the Church.
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Saturday, April 7 Second Dag
He isn't too old to work, nor too sick, nor feeble to work. God bless him.
The Keeping of the Sabbath
• Brother Mark Petersen brought to my mind the words of our Savior:
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 false- ly, 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. (Matthew 5:10-12.)
And then our" President's message, speaking of the many com- mandments and reminding us of our responsibility as leaders, to keep the commandments of our Heavenly Father, made me think of one commandment especially. As I have traveled about attending your conferences, of necessity I have had to travel on Sundays through- out the intermountain states, and I have seen men in the fields plow- ing, and hauling their hay, and putting their grain into the stacks. I have seen lined up on this sacred Sabbath day many people in front of the moving picture theatres waiting to purchase their tickets. I have noted crowds lined up at sporting events, buying their tickets that they might go in and participate in that recreation upon this holy day. It may surprise you when I say that my grandfather, George A. Smith, was one of the ffrst men to break the Sabbath day here in Utah. Being rather a practical sort of man, he felt that it was just as necessary that hunger should be appeased as that we should lift the sheep out of the pit upon the Sabbath day (see Matt. 12:11), and according to his journal, on July 24th, 1847, you re- member, the Saints came down into the valley. Grandfather's diary records that:
... it was cloudy but quite warm. Potatoes were planted. I planted the first. At about two o'clock President Brigham Young and his company came up all better. Water was let on the ground on the twenty-fourth. Toward evening there was a slight shower. Sunday, July 25th, it was clear and warm. Meetings commenced at half past ten. In the morning, I, in company with some others, planted some corn, beans and peas. Meeting again at two p.m. That afternoon Brigham Young chastised me, directing that the brethren must not work on Sunday. He said they would lose five times as much as they would gain by it. None were to hunt that day, and there should not any man dwell among us who would not observe these rules. They might go and dwell wherever they pleased but they should not dwell amongst us.
Grandfather must have taken that lesson to heart after he had been plowing and planting seeds upon that Sunday morning, for he got into the soul of my father the great ideal that Sunday was the Lord's day, the day that we should observe' and rest and refrain from all types of work.
While we had horses and our whitetop, we couldn't use them
ELDER NICHOLAS G. SMITH 63
on the Sabbath day. I remember on one occasion when my brother, Winslow, and I went to our father and asked him if we might have the whitetop, he said, "Boys, we must follow so-and-so's example, and you can't take the horses and the wagon out." That afternoon we saw so-and-so's boys out in their whitetop, so the following Sun- day we came to father and said, "Father, may we take the whitetop out today?" "What did I tell you last Sunday, boys?" "Well, you said to follow so-and-so's example, and last Sunday we saw them out in their whitetop." Father said, "Well, we won't follow any- body's example. We will set one of our own. You can't have the whitetop."
Advice from Church Leaders
Some years later, after Brigham Young had spoken about the Sabbath day he was again called upon to speak of it. Apparently they hadn't moved away, those who desired to break the Sabbath, for he said, "Now remember, my brethren, those who go skating, buggy riding, or on excursions on the Sabbath day — and there is a great deal of this practice — are weak in the faith. Gradually, little by little, the spirit of their religion leaks out of their hearts, their -af- fections and in time_they begin to see faults in their brethren, faults in the doctrines of the Church, faults in the organization, and at last they leave the kingdom of God and go to destruction."
He felt very seriously about this subject, as have all of the men who have presided over this Church. All of them have stressed this important matter. I think that perhaps the greatest and finest ex- pression was by President Grant when he said, "The Lord's day is a holy day and not a holiday. It has been set apart as a day of rest and worship, and we accept the Lord's day as the first day of the week in accordance with the instructions given by the Prophet Jo- seph Smith. A sacred Sabbath begets reverence for God." And how essential that is. "It is not pleasing in his sight that the day be given over to pleasure-seeking in places of amusement or elsewhere. Sunday Schools and meetings have been so arranged that they meet the convenience of the people and leave a considerable portion of the Sabbath day without Church appointments. We earnestly ap- peal to the people to keep their appointments faithfully and to uti- lize that part of Sunday not appointed, for meetings in promoting family association in the home, with the purpose of stimulating and establishing greater home fealty, a closer companionship among par- ents and children; and more intimate relations among all kindred. We believe it is unnecessary for families to go beyond their homes or those of their kindred for the relaxation and associations which are proper for the Sabbath day, and we therefore discourage more traveling than is necessary for this purpose and attendance upon ap- pointed meetings. Let all unnecessary labor be suspended, and let no encouragement be given by members of the Church at places of
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Saturday, April 7 Second Day
amusement and recreation on the Sabbath day. If Sunday is spent in our meetings and in our homes, great blessings will come to our families and to our communities."
So I would appeal, my brethren, to you who are the presiding officers in the Church, that in your actions nothing can be laid at your door that would cause anyone to start on that path of desecrat- ing the Sabbath day, and I would bring to your minds that message which was written by the finger of God upon tablets of stone:
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: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:8-11.)
Amen.
PRESIDENT LEVI EDGAR YOUNG
Of the First Council of Seventy
We first see him in the woods on the frontier of America pray- ing 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 for ever more."
Joseph Smith's First Vision
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 to 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 division in facing the problems of to- day, among which are class hatreds, race antagonisms, blindness to social justice, the lure of vicious literature, crime-instigating narcot- ics, 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 re- demption. Christianity in its pure sense is the religion of redeemed
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personality. While all true men reveal God, the completest carrier of revelation can be no other than a chosen personality.
The Message of the Restoration
By the power of the Holy Priesthood which he received from heaven, Joseph 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. The Prophet Jo- seph Smith gave a new idea of the duty of man toward God; of man's duty to man in religion, politics, and society; of the duties of nations towards one another. His message was for the fireside, for we are taught that the gospel must be in the home; it is "pure religion breath- ing household laws." The father holds the priesthood of God; the mother is heir to the same influence of the priesthood. It brings the truest conception of home life, which lies at the root of civilization. Here are the children born and reared. Here are the teachings of faith expressed in prayer. Every child is taught faith, hope, charity, and love, with an eye single to the glory of God. Reverence for God is the basis of morality.
Joseph Smith's concept of government and law was divinely en- lightened. Government was instituted by Almighty God, and the Constitution of the United States was written by men inspired of God to bring just civic life to the world, for there is a sacredness of citizen- ship which we all should know. It requires the faithful use of po- litical rights. He saw the wrong of slavery and advocated that the government buy the slaves from their masters, and give them the op- portunity to develop their own lives adapted to them. What a trag- edy this could have averted. There must be a revival of civic pride in America, a keener respect for law and order. All the written laws in the world cannot bring back that fine old love of justice and the ways of God. There must be the spirit of consecration, of selfdis- cipline, of devotion to the righteous teachings of God. Far back in the ages, Isaiah, six hundred years before the Savior of mankind came, wrote: "Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in." (Isaiah 26:2.) There is a con- science of nations as there is of individuals. We had once a national conscience, as expressed by the Puritans, Quakers, and the many other religious devotees who settled these shores. They knew moral integrity, moral purpose, moral restraint.
, The Meaning of Civilization
Our civic ethics, our social idealism should rest securely on what an eminent lord chief justice of England said:
Civilization is not dominion; wealth, material luxury. Not a great literature and education, good though these things are. Its true signs are
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thoughtfulness for the poor and suffering, chivalrous regard and respect for woman, the frank recognition for human brotherhood, the doing away with war, the love of ordered freedom, abhorrence of what is mean and cruel, ceaseless devotion to the claims of justice.
Yes, we need the old-fashioned ethics, "when it was taught that every man should give account of himself to god."
The vision of the boy Prophet revealed two mighty truths: the reality of the spiritual life — the divine life; and the divinity and sanctity of the human body. The proper knowledge of the the per- sonality of God and of Jesus Christ gave foundation for the redemp- tion of the world from sin.
Body and Mind Closely Related •
The connection between body and mind is a commonplace of thought with us, but it is not a commonplace of practice. The rela- tion of mind and body is a very close one in which each affects the other for good or evil. We are more dependent on physical condi- tions for our happiness, and even for our goodness, than we perhaps like to admit. The keenest brain and the spirit of man need a found- ation of physical health to do their best work. The treatment of the body must be put on a moral basis. Every act of intemperance of whatever sort, every sin against the .physical constitution, every wil- ful neglect of the laws of health and moral life, is injuring the self in ways too delicate to estimate, and is dimming the radiance of the soul. There is such a thing as physical morality.
Beautifully has the Prophet depicted in the Doctrine and Cove- nants that God reigns in heaven and in earth. He is the rightful King of nations, and the source of supreme good to man. It is through forgetting God and forsaking him that spiritual and moral degradation and all the sorrows of this war-torn world result. It will be by mankind acting for God and responding to his call that a new age will come. More majestic are his words: "Man must be called of God to administer in his holy ordinances and to teach his eternal word." Must be called of God! Do we of the priesthood of the Lord deeply feel and deeply know what this means? "It administer- eth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God." "In the ordinances the power of Godliness is manifest."
If the priesthood is a living reality in our lives, all thought and action will be regulated by our relation to God. Through a knowl- edge of God alone can human life assume its true destined signifi- cance. "All duties will become in the highest sense duties to God; morality will become holiness.
The congregation arose and sang the hymn, "God Moves in a Mysterious Way," L.D.S. Hymns No. 50, Hymn Book No. 22.
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ELDER JOSEPH L. WIRTHLIN
Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric
I sincerely trust, my brethren and my sisters of the radio audi- ence, that I might have an interest in your prayers and faith this morning as I stand before you to express one or two thoughts.
Gratitude for Blessings of the Gospel
As I listened to the Lord's anointed, yesterday, there came into my heart a feeling of profound gratitude — gratitude to my forebears who left the Alps of Switzerland and the villages of England and came to the valleys of these mountains where their posterity might enjoy all of the blessings and gifts of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am profoundly grateful to them, because it has brought me under the direction of the Lord's prophets. And anyone who listened to President Grant's message yesterday couldn't help feel- ing that he was speaking to us as God's mouthpiece and servant. It is my firm conviction and testimony that if all of us will heed the ad- vice and counsel of these men who guide and direct the destiny of this great work that God will sustain us and bless us through all the vicissitudes, trials, and tribulations of life.
As I grow older, I become more convinced in my heart and spirit that this is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. One evidence to me that it is his work, is that the Lord is not only mindful of those who live, but he is 'mindful of those who passed on without having had the opportunity of hearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh. The Lord ordained his Son to be the judge of both the dead and the quick. David, who transgressed sorely, understood fully that there would come a time when he, too, would have an oppor- tunity of repenting and enjoying the good will of our Heavenly Father. He said:
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleas- ures for evermore. (Psalms 16:9-11.)
Baptism A Necessary Ordinance
With the advent of the Savior upon the earth, there came to him one of the learned Pharisees, Nicodemus. Nicodemus was in- terested in the miracles the Savior performed, and finally out of the discussion that ensued, the Savior said to Nicodemus, "Verily, ver- ily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus could not understand this statement. Thinking that once a man had been born of woman that was enough, and then to clarify the statement the Lord said:
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. . . 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. (John 3:5, 6.)
The Savior here laid down the mandate of baptism that applies to every son and daughter of the Lord that is born in the flesh, that if they expect entrance into the kingdom of our Heavenly Father they must be born of the water, or baptized of the water, born of the spirit or baptized of the spirit. This declaration was so import- ant that the Savior himself submitted to the ordinance of baptism. We all recall the time when John was baptizing by the Jordan and then cometh Jesus from Galilee unto John to be baptized of him, but John forbade 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 becom- eth us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heav- ens 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. (Matt. 3:14-17.)
Christ not only inaugurated the initiatory ordinance into the kingdom of heaven, but he also placed upon his followers the mantle of authority. For said he this to Peter:
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 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. (Matt. 16:18, 19.)
Then there came Calvary Hill when the Savior of the world was crucified between two sinners, and upon the cross he conversed with one of these men, Christ making him this promise:
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43.)
This statement has been confusing to the Christian world, in view of the fact that the Savior said unto Nicodemus, "Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." (op. cit.) There is no ques- tion but that the thief had never heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ until the Savior preached it to him on the cross, and yet the Savior promised him that he would be in paradise; the world in its confused thinking believes that paradise is heaven. The Apostle Peter clarifies this misconception of paradise when we read his state- ment found in I Peter:
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
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waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. (I Peter 3:18, 19, 20.)
After the Savior was resurrected and meeting Mary, he said to her, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father . . ." (John 20:17), which is an indication to us that during the time his spirit and body were separated, he was in paradise, preaching the gospel message to those who, as Peter tells us, sinned in the days of Noah and were swept from the earth by the great flood.
Another very important statement with reference to baptism was made by Paul when he was preaching the resurrection. 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? (I Cor. 15:29.)
Changes Made Through Apostasy
Thereafter, according to prophecy, there came the great apos- tasy. It was only a matter of a century or two after the apostles had disappeared from the earth until the ordinances and doctrines of men were substituted for those of the Lord Jesus Christ. The words of the old prophet Amos were fulfilled wherein he said:
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. (Amos 8:11.)
We find one of the world's greatest ecclesiastical leaders mak- ing this statement in a book that he wrote, the book written by Card- inal Gibbons called The Faith o/ Our Fathers, wherein he said that the ordinance of baptism was changed from that of immersion to sprinkling for convenience's sake. Said he:
There are those who are ill. There are those where there may be but little water found, consequently there being little water it is right to sprin- kle them, and that sprinkling is just as efficacious as immersion.
The important thing is that this great ecclesiastical leader ad- mits that baptism was by immersion just as Christ indicated, and as he was baptized by John the Baptist, and as he indicated to Nico- demus, that if a man must be born again he would have to be born of the water, completely submerged and come forth, symbolical of the birth.
With the apostasy there came into the world many doctrines. There came into the world erroneous doctrines that there is no place in the kingdom of our Heavenly Father for those who have not heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; but the Lord said in the begin- ning he ordained his Son to be the judge of not only the living but also the dead. The world has lost sight of this concept, and the great churches teach the following:
There is nothing any human being can do to change the condition of the dead. ' After one dies there is no more that can be done or that he can do.
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Another one declares:
Don't believe we can help those who have died, neither believers nor nonbelievers; no ordinance for the dead that recognized intercession for the dead as well as for the living. Man cannot help those who have died. We have no form of work for the dead. After the death, the judgment.
Another one:
We are powerless to do anything for those who are dead. Don't believe in any form of work for the dead. We are powerless to aid those who are dead.
I am sure that if these great religious organizations understood the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ, they would not declare to the world nor to their followers that nothing can be done for those who have passed on. Without having heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and those who have not submitted themselves to the ordi- . nance of baptism, they would have us believe that they are lost for- ever and ever.
Then Cardinal Gibbons makes another rather pertinent state- ment in his book (op. dr.) wherein he said this:
For if baptism by immersion only is valid, how many sick and delicate persons; how many prisoners and seafaring people, how many thousands living in the frigid zone, in the depth of inclement weather, though craving the grace of regeneration would be deprived of God's seal or receive it at the risk of their lives. Surely God does not ordinarily impose ordi- nances upon us under such a penalty. Moreover, if immersion is the only form of valid baptism, what has become of the millions of souls in every age and country that have been regenerated by sprinkling of water in the Christian churches?
Promises of the Restoration Fulfilled
When the Lord, through his servants, predicted that there would be a famine for his word in the land, knowing that men would change the ordinances and substitute their own, he also gave the world a promise that the day would come, as he said, when:
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. (Mai. 4; 5, 6.)
That promise has been kept. John the Baptist appeared to Jo- seph Smith and Oliver Cowdery upon the banks of the Susquehan- na River bestowing upon them the Aaronic Priesthood, the same priesthood that John the Baptist held when he baptized the Savior. They immersed one another just as Christ was immersed by John the Baptist. Later, there came three other heavenly beings, Peter, James, and John, who bestowed upon these men the Melchizedek Priesthood, that priesthood which Christ himself bestowed upon Peter and his associates, giving them the right to bind on earth and to bind in heaven and to loose on earth and it would be loosed in heaven.
Elijah conferred upon Joseph Smith the keys of this great work,
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the work for the dead, wherein children perform the ordinance of bap- tism for their dead progenitors, which is a vicarious form of work just as was Christ's atonement for the sin of Adam of a vicarious nature wherein he represented all of us upon the cross. Furthermore, Presi- dent Joseph F. Smith in 1918 indicated that he had been caught up by the spirit and was permitted to see what was going on in the spirit world. The sight he beheld was one wherein the brethren were preach- ing to the spirits in paradise just as the Savior nineteen centuries ago in spirit form preached them the gospel. By performing the ordinance of baptism here in proxy form for the dead, there are no obstacles in their way whereby they might embrace the gospel in its entirety though they be in paradise. I wish to declare that with the appearance of Elijah to the Prophet Joseph, the restoration of the priesthood, bap- tism for the dead, and the preaching to spirits as President Joseph F. Smith indicates, constitute an answer to Cardinal Gibbons with ref- erence to those who have not been born of the water and the spirit, as the Savior indicated to Nicpdemus a man must needs be before he can enter the kingdom of heaven. Think, if you will, of the millions who have died without the performance of this ordinance and the ac- ceptance of the gospel during the period when the gospel was not upon the earth. To me it is only justice that our kind Father in heav- en would institute a plan whereby all his children, be they alive or dead, might have the privilege of accepting or rejecting the gospel of his beloved Son. I could not worship a God who would permit some of his children to enjoy the blessings of the gospel and deprive others who for some reason or another had not heard the gospel be- cause of some circumstances over which they had no control and were denied the privilege of accepting it. I do not believe in that kind of a God, and neither do you. We believe in a God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to suffer, to bleed, and die to the end that everyone of us might enjoy salvation and exaltation in his kingdom.
This is the philosophy of Mormonism, a plan of salvation so broad that it provides an opportunity for everyone of the Lord's children to gain entrance to his kingdom as was prescribed by the Savior to Nicodemus.
This is my testimony to you, and I am grateful beyond words of expression to know that I enjoy membership in God's Church, the same Church that Christ established upon the earth with apostles, prophets, eyangelists, and teachers, for the purpose of teaching us the gospel in its fulness and to the ultimate end that we may all come to a unity of faith. And we may come to a unity of the faith if we abide by the counsel given to us by the Lord's anointed, and that unity of faith will exemplify to the whole world the destiny of this great organization — a destiny of leadership to direct men from the paths of error into the paths of truth, salvation, and exaltation, which I pray will be the blessing of everyone of the Lord's children, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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ELDER MILTON R. HUNTER
Of the First Council o[ the Seventy
President Grant, President Clark, President McKay, members of the priesthood, and all the radio audience: I stand before this assembled group today in deep humility, in trembling and weakness. I have no words to express the intense feelings that have completely filled me during the past twenty-four hours. The more I contem- plate-the call which has been made upon me the greater the respon- sibility looms before my mind, and the more I recognize my weak- ness and incapability in filling this position. I know that without the help of God the. task will be t$o great, but I do trust and pray with all my heart that I might have his Holy Spirit to be with me, that in this new call I may be a worthy servant in helping to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. I do covenant before my Heavenly Father and before you that I will put forth my very best efforts, that I will give all of my time and talents and anything that God has blessed me with for the upbuilding of his Church and kingdom here upon this earth.
I hope you will pardon me this morning if I say a few things that are personal, but during the past twenty-four hours with such a sudden change coming into my life, my mind has been going back in retrospect over the events of my past life and also of my future. I desire to express, with the help of the Lord, a few of my feelings, a few of my hopes.
Experience In Seminary Work
I have always loved the gospel of Jesus Christ more than any- thing else in life. I have continuously labored in the Church from my boyhood up, willingly and happily. The gospel and the oppor- tunities to serve in the Church have been the greatest blessing and joy in my life. When I was attending high school seminary under one of our very excellent teachers, Brother William Tew, I made up my mind that if I ever had the opportunity I should like to be a seminary teacher and devote my time and my entire life to teaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. With that thought in mind I went on through school. Elder Joseph F. Merrill offered me the op- portunity, which I gladly accepted, and in happiness I undertook the work.
I have had the great privilege of spending seventeen years in the Church system of education in the high school seminaries and in the institutes. They have been years of much happiness to me, years I know that have furnished me wonderful opportunities. Through- out that time I have never lost opportunity on any occasion to bear testimony to the students of the truthfulness of the gospel and to try to help them with all evidence possible to gain a testimony of the
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gospel; and to gain facts and the proper spirit which will sustain this great Church of our Master to which we belong.
I would like on this occasion to remark to the parents of the young people of the Church and to the First Presidency and to the officers of the Church, that I have found through working with the young people that they are great; they are wonderful; they are filled with the testimony of the gospel; they are just as staunch, just as true, just as faithful, I am sure, as were their parents or their grandpar- ents. I have never seen more faith exhibited in my life by any group of people than I have seen among the young people of our Church with whom I have had the privilege of working. I do not fear for the future of the Church so long as our young people are of this splendid type, and so long as they are filled with the spirit of the gospel and continue living their present type of lives. I am sure that they will take leadership in the Church in due time and carry it on very effectively. I accept the promise made to the Prophet Joseph that the gospel is upon the earth never to be taken from the earth again and never to be given to another people.
We should thank the Presidency of the Church and all those working for this great cause who have made possible our educational system. They foster the great opportunities that we have therein. I speak of that subject definitely this morning because of my close con- tact for many years with that particular work. I am convinced that the educational program is completely in line with the gospel as re- vea'led to the Prophet Joseph Smith — that man "cannot be saved in ignorance"; that "we are saved no faster than we gain knowledge"; that "the glory of God is intelligence." The educational program is also definitely in line with the practices of the Church from the beginning, during pioneer days, and on down to the present time. We are a group of people who know that we must gain knowledge of truth in order that we may progress on to godhood. So I do express my appreciation to the First Presidency and their associates for the privilege I have had of spending seventeen years in that very excel- lent work and also for all the opportunities that I have had in the Church.
When I completed my doctor's degree in California, I was giv- en the opportunity to teach at the institute in Logan. I was delight- ed; but when I went down to California and told the professors under whom I had taken my graduate work, they tried to persuade me to not come back to Utah to teach. They wanted me to teach in history, the field .that I had taken my special work in, but I talked to my wife — who is a very faithful and devout Latter-day Saint and a splendid companion — and her feelings agreed with mine. We recog- nized that we had a great opportunity at Logan to help the young people of the Church, and we felt that we wanted to rear our family in Utah, and so we turned our backs upon that suggestion and re- turned to our home state. We have been very happy in our decision.
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Personal Testimonies
Before closing my remarks, I would like to bear my testimony. I know that God lives. I know that Jesus the Christ is his Beloved Son. He is the Savior of the world, the Redeemer, the author of the eternal plan of salvation. I know that God, the Eternal Father, through his only begotten son, restored the gospel upon the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith in our dispensation; that it is the true gospel; that it is the power of God unto salvation. I know that if we live by these eternal principles we shall gain a great reward, even that of eternal life in the kingdom of God. I know that our Heaven- ly Father is good; that he hears and answers prayers; that he is gracious and kind even beyond our comprehension; and that he de- lights in blessing those who keep his commandments. The Holy Ghost has borne this testimony to my soul so strongly that I am as sure of these facts as I am that I live. I pray that I may ever live worthy enough to retain this testimony.
Everyone in this audience no doubt has had many experiences which to them have testified to the goodness of God and which have given them a testimony of the truthfulness of the restored gospel. Herein lies the strength of Mormonism. I would like to give an ex- perience or two of mine.
At least twice in my life I was at the point of death and was brought back to life through the power of the priesthood, through the goodness of God. One June day when I was twenty-one years old, I had climbed the hay pole to thread it in order that we might harvest our crop. Just as I had finished, the guy wire broke, and the pole came crashing to the earth. It splintered into many pieces. The hayfork lit with the tines straight up just a few feet from where I lit. Although I fell nearly fifty feet, the only injury that I received was a broken foot. Of course the shock was terrific. I went to bed, and the next day I thought I could get up. I crawled out of bed and im- mediately everything went black, but through the power of God I was restored to health and strength.
Eleven years later, when I finished my doctor's degree, ■ my physical condition was poor because I had worked very hard. I was teaching seminary in Provo. In November I went to Salt Lake City and had my wisdom teeth extracted. On the way home a storm arose and within twenty-four hours I was seriously ill. A strepto- coccus infection had settled in my throat, and for the next three weeks I lay at the point of death. The doctor had no hopes that I would recover. The bishop came to our home, and as kindly as he could, told my wife I should not be able to recover. But the seminary teachers I worked with came daily and administered to me. Never once did I have the thought in my mind that I would not get well. I knew there were many things in this world that I was to do yet. In three weeks' time I got out of bed and went back to my schoolroom. It took a year, however, to get the infection out of my system. I am
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sure that it was through the help and blessings of God that I was re- stored to life. Upon returning to my school, the students asked me to what I attributed my recovery from such a severe sickness. I testified to them on that occasion, and have done so on many oc- casions since, that it was through the power of the priesthood and because of the goodness of God that my life was preserved.
I want to bear my testimony today that I know these things are true and that my Heavenly Father has been kind and good to me, blessing me more abundantly than I have deserved. I sincerely hope and pray that 1 have the full support and the faith of all the members of the Church and the same help from God in the performance of my duties as a member of the First Council of the Seventy. This is my humble prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
ELDER THOMAS E. McKAY
Assistant to the Council of the Twelve Apostles
President Grant, President Clark, President McKay, members of the Council of the Twelve, and brethren: I am truly grateful at this time for the inspired leadership of this Church as manifested in the selection of these two very fine brethren, Elder Dilworth Young and Elder Milton R. Hunter to succeed those two great missionaries, members of the First Council of the Seventy, who were recently re- leased from their earthly missions, Presidents Bennion and Hardy, and I am sure that they also are pleased with these very fine selec- tions.
Suggestions for Postwar Planning
One of the four new features in this year's program for stake quarterly conferences is the outlining, or partially so, of the general priesthood session. One of the topics suggested in the quarterly conference emphasizing elders' work is: "Quorum responsibility in postwar readjustment of soldier quorum members (by a president or member of an elders' quorum)."
Some excellent talks have been given; I believe one or two of them should be published. As a result of these talks and discussions in the priesthood leadership meetings — another new feature of this year's conference program — a number of the quorums have already initiated some definite postwar plans. I shall not take time to dis- cuss these projects, nor those already under way in the wards spon- sored by the ward welfare committees, as I should like to use the time allotted to me in a brief reference to a certain phase of postwar planning in the home — planning on the part of different members of the family.
After all, the thoughts of our boys in the service are centered about loved ones at home — these thoughts spur them on to give the best they have to our country — many of them have already given
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their all in their effort to bring this terrible war to an end so they can come home as soon as possible.
An article in a recent issue of the Reader's Digest illustrates this point:
One evening in Albany, New York, I asked a sailor what time it was. He pulled out a huge watch and replied, "It is 7:20." I knew it was later. "Your watch has stopped, hasn't it?" I asked.
"No," he said, "I'm still on mountain standard time. I'm from southern Utah. When I joined the navy, Pa gave me this watch. He said it'd help me to remember home.
"When my watch says 5 a.m. I know Dad is rolling out to milk the cows. And any night when it says 7:30 I know the whole family's around a well-spread table, and Dad's thanking God for what's on it and asking him to watch over me. I can almost smell the hot biscuits and bacon.
"It's thinking about these things that makes we want to fight when the going gets tough," he concluded. "I can find out what time it is where I am easy enough. What I want to know is what time it is in Utah."
What kind of planning can be done to make the homecoming even greater than their dreams? What can fathers do?
About two years ago a young sailor in whom I had shown an interest called at my office. He told how he had enjoyed himself at the training center at Farragut; of the Sunday School where about ninety percent of the more than two 'hundred stationed there would attend every Sunday, but his face fairly beamed and his eyes moist- ened when he said: "My father has quit the use of tobacco; he stopped soon after I enlisted, so mother told me, and is now attend- ing his priesthood meetings." Not so many fathers in the Church are users of tobacco; it may be something else, such as fishing, or hunting, or working in the fields on Sunday that keeps them away from priesthood and sacrament meetings; whatever it is, I commend to all such the course taken by the father of this young sailor.
The breaking of the Word of Wisdom, or the Sabbath day, applies to a comparatively few, but nearly all fathers could plan a pleasant surprise for their boys by being a little kinder, more thoughtful and considerate in and around the home, and express ap- preciation for services rendered.
The snake crawls out in the sun to get warm, and crawls back under the rocks — voiceless. The bird comes out into the sun and sings his grati- tude and expresses his thanks for the sunshine. Everyone loves a bird.
I like the words "continuous courtship" with reference to home life. Wlien we were courting and in the early days of our married life, we would always express our appreciation for the well-cooked meal, the extra dessert; we occasionally brought home a bouquet of flowers or a box of candy. If some husbands did that now, the wife would probably ask, "Is there anything wrong?"
So much for the father's preparation. What about the mother? As a general rule she is just about right. She writes the letters, pre- pares and sends the cookies and other surprise packages. We hope that these mothers will take care of themselves, so that they will look
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just as young, or even younger, when the boys come home, as when they left; they might even indulge in a new dress, or a visit to a hair- dresser.' Once in a while, however, we do find a mother or wife who scolds, or is given to nagging. Speaking of nagging, may I quote the following :
A chaplain, after expressing the wish that those at home would spare their kinsmen in uniform, news of troubles about which nothing can be done, adds: You have heard of the husband who wrote to his wife: "Please do not write any more nagging letters. I am five thousand miles away and it doesn't do any good. And besides, I want to fight this war in peace."
What a joy it will be for the big brother in uniform to come home and find the children so grown up; and what a thrill it will be to find more thoughtfulness, courtesy, and love manifested toward one another. What a surprise to find the young brother as tall and straight and clean as the soldier brother himself, and the baby sister, after three or even more years* absence, blooming into young wom- anhood— even engaged, or perhaps married. There are hundreds, even thousands of our girls either engaged or married. And what about postwar planning on the part of these young girls and war brides? I am taking the liberty to quote four short paragraphs from a talk by a chaplain given to young husbands and prospective hus- bands, and I ask the young wives and sweethearts to apply the ad- vice to themselves and use it in their postwar planning. It is entitled "An Appeal to Sportsmanship."
The Meaning of Sportsmanship
We in America pride ourselves on our sportsmanship, on our love of fair play. If a fellow is running the 440-yard dash, we like to see him cross the finish line even though all the other runners have already finished. Even men and women who make no claim to being religious speak with disgust of unfairness. The bum on the street will boo the man in the ring when he fights dirty. Fair play and Americanism go hand in hand.
This same spirit of fair play, should prevail in the matter of clean living. Some of you men are married. That fact in itself should challenge you to play fair with that wife of yours. You have no right to expect more of her than you are willing to give. Be as good a man when you go home as when you left, and you can expect her to be as good a woman. [May I add, Be as good a woman when he comes home as when he kissed you good-bye.]
Some of you fellows aren't married. I believe that all of you, when" you get ready to marry, will want a girl who is pure and clean. Then be fair with her. Give her as good a man as she is a woman.
That is Americanism. That is sportsmanship. That is fair play. That is what we pride ourselves on in America, the giving as good as we expect to receive. .
Greater Production Necessary
I haven't time, as I have stated, to speak of postwar planning in the wards and the quorums. But I would like to urge the ward
78 GENERAL CONFERENCE
Saturday, April 7 Second Dag
welfare committees to devote much of their time upon this very im- portant subject, emphasizing especially production. Encourage home gardens, welfare gardens, processing of all kinds of foods. I am very grateful that President Clark said what he did about pro- duction. I thought immediately about our members and friends in the war-torn countries in our European missions. We still hear from some of them and about them through some of our servicemen. They are still carrying on. This cablegram was received this morn- ing. It is dated April 6th, Basel, Switzerland, Leimenstr. 49:
Reports from European Missions
Swiss Saints send greetings and best wishes to you and other General Authorities and brethren assembled in conference. Just finished most suc- cessful missionwide Easter convention attended by two thousand Saints and friends. Received news from boys in German prisoners' camp. (Signed) Max Zimmer.
I have a few interesting letters recently received, but will not have time to read them. I may get permission to publish them. I will say, however, that after five years of this unprecedented horrible destruction, the food shortage is becoming increasingly desperate. The concluding sentence of a letter from a brother in southern France says: "We have all suffered from hunger and cold, but the members still have faith in God and are awaiting the return of the missionaries."
All our European missions are fairly well supplied with money, but when there is no food to buy, money doesn't help much. In ar- ranging the annual churchwide welfare budget for 1945, the gen- eral committee assigned everything in commodities, but in the break- down by the regional committees to the stakes, and the stakes to the quorums and wards, in all too many cases the line of least resist- ance has been followed and assessments in cash substituted for com- modities. So, instead of so many hundred pounds of butter, for example, we have so many dollars earmarked butter; instead of so many tons of sugar beets, dollars again, earmarked sugar; beef, chickens, and cheese,