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On the Cover 



A church on the move. This is the 
import of the photographs reproduced 
on this issue's cover. Progress on 
the new Church office building is 
portrayed with- the Salt Lake Temple — 
the old with the new. Members of the 
Church have always sought the best of 
both. The smaller photographs were 
taken at the October general confer- 
ence. They represent the Church 
membership on the move — building, 
growing, doing meaningful things. 
These seem timely themes on which 
to close the 878th consecutive issue 
of the Improvement Era. 





Voice of the Church 
Volume 73, Number 12 
December,1970 



Special Features 

2 "That the Fullness of My Gospel Might Be Proclaimed," President 
Joseph Fielding Smith 

5 Goodbye to the Era, Elder Richard L. Evans 

6 The Christmas I Remember Best, Royal R. Meservy 
8 Yea, Though I Walk, Melvin DeGraw 

10 Sixty-nine Years of the Children's Friend, Mary R. Jack 

13 Thorpe B. Isaacson, 1898-1970 

14 Emma Ray Riggs McKay, 1877-1970 
14 Anonymous Miracle 

18 How Children Learn, Rodger A. Pool 

26-127 ConferenceAddresses 



Regular Features 

Witness the Christ, Mabel Jones Gabbott 

Lest We Forget: They Who Served, Albert L. Zobell, Jr. 

LDS Scene 

The Church Moves On 

Presiding Bishop's Page: The Presiding Bishop Talks to Youth About 

Being in the World But Not of the World, Bishop John H. Vandenberg 

Buffs and Rebuffs 

Today's Family: "Welcome to My World . . . ," Mabel Jones Gabbott 

On This Christmas Day, Greetings 

These Times: Ensignship for Future Times, Dr. G. Homer Durham 

End of an Era 

The Spoken Word, Richard L. Evans 
49, 93, 104, 128 

bra OT YOUth Marion D. Hanks and Elaine Cannon, Editors 
And After the Manger Scene, What? Kenneth W. Godfrey 
A Capsule of Conference for Youth 
Scout Sub, Dora D. Flack 
The Fragrance of Christmas, Marion D. Hanks 
Quiet Thoughts for Christmas 
Beautiful Things Happen At Christmas, Elaine Cannon 



24 
129 
130 
132 
136 

137 
138 
140 
141 

144 



146 
148 
150 
152 
154 
157 



Fiction and Poetry 



20 
19, 



A Matter of Direction, Lael J. Littke 
105 
Poetry 



Joseph Fielding Smith, Richard L. Evans, Editors; Doyle L. Green, Managing Editor; Jay M. Todd, Assistant Managing Editor; Eleanor 
Knowles, Copy Editor; Mabel Jones Gabbott, Manuscript Editor; Albert L. Zobell, Jr., Research Editor; Bernell W. Berrett, Editorial 
Associate; G. Homer Durham, Hugh Nibley, Albert L. Payne, Truman G. Madsen, Elliott Landau, Leonard Arrington, Contributing 
Editors; Marion D. Hanks, Era of Youth Editor; Elaine Cannon, Era of Youth Associate Editor; Ralph Reynolds, Art Director; Nor- 
man Price, Staff Artist. 

W. Jay Eldredge, General Manager; Florence S. Jacobsen, Associate General Manager; Verl F. Scott, Business Manager; A, Glen 
Snarr, Circulation Manager; S. Glenn Smith, Advertising Representative. 

© General Superintendent, Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1970; 
published by the Mutual Improvement Associations. All rights reserved. 

Entered at the Post Office, Salt Lake City, Utah, as second class matter. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided 
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Official organ of the Priesthood Quorums, Mutual Improvement Associations, Home Teaching Committee, Music 
Committee, Church School System, and other agencies of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

The Improvement Era, 79 South State, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 



Era, December 1970 1 



"That theFulness of My Gospel 




The 
Editor's F&ge 



By President 
Joseph Fielding Smith 



• My beloved brethren and sisters, we 
bid you welcome at the commencement 
of this the 140th Semiannual Confer- 
ence of The Church of Jesus Christ of 
Latter-day Saints. 

We are grateful that the Lord has 
given us this privilege of coming to- 
gether again to worship him in spirit 
and in truth, and we pray that there 
may be a great outpouring of his Spirit 
in the sessions of this conference. 

We extend a special welcome to 
our Father's other children, devout and 
good people of many faiths who join 
with us by listening to the radio and 
television broadcasts. 

I hope that I may now have the 
sustaining power of your faith and 
prayers as I speak to you. I rejoice in 
the privilege of raising my voice in 
doctrine, in testimony, and in thanks- 
giving. 

For more than sixty years I have 
preached the gospel in the stakes and 
missions of the Church — pleading with 
the Saints to keep the commandments, 
inviting our Father's other children to 
accept the truth of salvation which 
has come to us by revelation in this 
present dispensation. 

All my days I have studied the 
scriptures and have sought the guidance 
of the Spirit of the Lord in coming to 
an understanding of their true mean- 
ing. The Lord has been good to me, 
and I rejoice in the knowledge he has 
given me and in the privilege that has 
been and is mine to teach his saving 
principles. 

As I ponder the principles of the gos- 
pel, I am struck forcibly by the uniform 
manner in which I and all the Breth- 
ren have taught them over the years. 
The truths of the gospel are ever- 
lastingly the same. Like God himself, 
they are the same yesterday, today, 
and forever. What I have taught and 



written in the past I would teach and 
write again under the same circum- 
stances. 

And what I say of myself should be 
true for all the Brethren and for all 
the elders of the Church. We are all 
called to preach the gospel, to be 
ministers of Christ, to. raise the warn- 
ing voice, and to "teach one another 
the doctrine of the kingdom." 

In the early days of this dispensa- 
tion, the Lord said to those called in 
his ministry, "that every man might 
speak in the name of God the Lord, 
even the Savior of the world; . . . That 
the fulness of my gospel might be 
proclaimed by the weak and the sim- 
ple unto the ends of the world, and 
before kings and rulers." (D&C 1:20, 
23.) 

To those called "to go forth to 
preach" his gospel and to all "the 
elders, priests and teachers" of his 
church, he said: They "shall teach the 
principles of my gospel, which are in 
the Bible and the Book of Mormon," 
and the other scriptures, "as they shall 
be directed by the Spirit." (See D&C 
42:11-13.) 

As agents of the Lord we are not 
called or authorized to teach the 
philosophies of the world or the specu- 
lative theories of our scientific age. 
Our mission is to preach the doctrines 
of salvation in plainness and simplici- 
ty as they are revealed and recorded 
in the scriptures. 

After directing us to teach the prin- 
ciples of the gospel found in the stan- 
dard works, as guided by the Spirit, the 
Lord then made that great pronounce- 
ment which governs all the teaching of 
his gospel by anyone in the Church: 
"And the Spirit shall be given unto 
you by the prayer of faith; and if ye 
receive not the Spirit ye shall not 
teach." (D&C 42:14.) 



Might Be Proclaimed' I 



Address delivered at general conference Friday morning, October 2, 1970 



In harmony with the spirit of these 
revelations, and with a heart full of 
love for all men, I ask the members 
of the Church to learn and live the 
gospel and to use their strength, energy, 
and means in proclaiming it to the 
world. We have received a commission 
from the Lord. He has given a divine 
mandate. He has commanded us to go 
forth with unwearying diligence and 
offer to his other children those sav- 
ing truths revealed to the Prophet 
Joseph Smith. 

God our Eternal Father is the author 
of the plan of salvation. This plan is 
the gospel of Jesus Christ; it is that 
"through the Atonement of Christ, all 
mankind may be saved, by obedience 
to the laws and ordinances of the 
Gospel." (Article of Faith 3.) 

In every age when the gospel is on 
earth, it must be revealed to the Lord's 
prophets, and they must be called to 
stand as legal administrators to per- 
form and to direct the performance 
of the ordinances of salvation for their 
fellowmen. 

Joseph Smith is the prophet whom 
the Lord called in this day to restore 
the truths of salvation and to receive 
the keys and powers to administer 
these saving truths. 

To him the Lord said: ". . . this 
generation shall have my word through 
you." (D&C 5:10.) And then, referring 
to the gospel restored through Joseph 
Smith, the Lord said: "This Gospel of 
the Kingdom shall be preached in all 
the world, for a witness unto all na- 
tions, and then shall the end come, or 
the destruction of the wicked." (Joseph 
Smith 1:31.) 

Thus we link the names of Jesus 
Christ and of Joseph Smith. Christ is 
the Lord; he worked out the atoning 
sacrifice; he is the resurrection and the 
life; through him all men are raised 



in immortality, while those who be- 
lieve and obey his laws shall also gain 
eternal life. 

Joseph Smith was a prophet, called 
in these last days to receive by revela- 
tion the saving truths of the gospel 
and to stand as a legal administrator, 
having power from on high, to admin- 
ister the ordinances of the gospel. 

Since these truths revealed through 
him are the ones which shall go forth 
to every nation before the Second Com- 
ing, it is little wonder that we find 
Moroni saying to Joseph Smith that 
his "name should be had for good and 
evil among all nations, kindreds, and 
tongues, or that it should be both good 
and evil spoken of among all people." 
(Joseph Smith 2:33.) 

Nor is it any wonder when we later 
find the Lord saying to the Prophet: 
"The ends of the earth shall inquire 
after thy name, and fools shall have 
thee in derision, and hell shall rage 
against thee; 

"While the pure in heart, and the 
wise, and the noble, and the virtuous, 
shall seek counsel, and authority, and 
blessings constantly from under thy 
hand." (D&C 122:1-2.) 

The ends of the earth are now be- 
ginning to inquire after the name of 
Joseph Smith, and many people in 
many nations are rejoicing in the 
gospel restored through his instru- 
mentality. 

Since the beginning of this dispensa- 
tion, the testimony of Jesus, as revealed 
to Joseph Smith, has been preached in 
the United States, Canada, Great Brit- 
ain, most of Europe, and the islands 
of the Pacific. 

In recent years there has been an 
almost unbelievable expansion of the 
work in Mexico, in the Central Ameri- 
can countries, and in South America. 

And Asia is now being opened to the 



message of the gospel in a way that 
surpasses anything of the past. The 
Church is becoming established in 
Japan and Korea, in Taiwan and Hong 
Kong, and we are getting started in 
Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia. 

And the day will come, in the provi- 
dence of the Lord, when other nations, 
now closed to the message of truth, 
shall have their doors opened to us, 
and the elders of Israel will go in to 
tell the honest in heart in those na- 
tions about Christ and the gospel of his 
kingdom that has come upon the earth 
in this day through the Prophet Joseph 
Smith. 

Indeed, there are more doors opened 
to us now than we can enter with the 
number of missionaries who are avail- 
able. We hope to see the day when 
every worthy and qualified young 
Latter-day Saint man will have the 
privilege of going forth on the Lord's 
errand to stand as a witness of the 
truth in the nations of the earth. 

We now have many and can use 
many more stable and mature couples 
in this great missionary cause, and we 
hope that those who are worthy and 
qualified will set their affairs in order 
and respond to calls to preach the gos- 
pel and will perform their obligations 
acceptably. 

We also have and can use many 
young sisters in this work, although 
the same responsibility does not rest 
upon them that rests upon the breth- 
ren, and our greater concern with 
reference to young sisters is that they 
enter proper marital unions in the 
temples of the Lord. 

We invite members of the Church to 
assist financially in sustaining the 
missionary cause and to contribute 
liberally of their means for the spread 
of the gospel. 

We commend those who are serving 



Era, December 1970 3 



so valiantly in the great missionary 
cause. Joseph Smith said: "After all 
that has been said, the greatest and 
most important duty is to preach the 
gospel." (Teachings of the Prophet 
Joseph Smith, p. 113.) 

We invite our Father's children 
everywhere to give heed to the words 
of the missionaries who are reaching 
the nations of the earth. 

We plead with them to accept the 
Lord as their God and to come and 
worship him in spirit and in truth 
and in the name of Jesus Christ our 
Lord. 

We invite all men to believe in 
Christ, to accept him without reserva- 
tion as the Son of God, as the Only 
Begotten of the Father, to have faith 
in his holy name, and to signify their 
love for him by keeping his command- 
ments and receiving those whom he has 
sent in his name to preach his gospel. 

We know that if men will have faith 
in Christ, repent of their sins, cove- 
nant in the waters of baptism to keep 
his commandments, and then receive 
the Holy Ghost by the laying on of 
hands by those who are called and 
ordained unto this power — and if they 
will then keep the commandments — 
they shall have peace in this life and 
eternal life in the world to come. 

Now may I say to all those who for- 
sake the world and join the Church, 
and to all the members of the Church, 
that Church membership alone will 
not assure us of the full blessings of 
the gospel or guarantee us an entrance 
into the celestial kingdom. After bap- 
tism we must keep the commandments 
and endure to the end. 

Speaking to members of the church, 
Nephi said: ". . . after ye have gotten 
into this straight and narrow path, I 
would ask if all is done?" 

Then he answered: "Behold, I say 



unto you, Nay; for ye have not come 
thus far save it were by the word of 
Christ with unshaken faith in him, 
relying wholly upon the merits of him 
who is mighty to save. 

"Wherefore, ye must press forward 
with a steadfastness in Christ, having 
a perfect brightness of hope, and a love 
of God and of all men. Wherefore, if 
ye shall press forward, feasting upon 
the word of Christ, and endure to the 
end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye 
shall have eternal life." (2 Ne. 31:19- 
20.) 

There is no more important thing 
that anyone in the world can do than 
to receive the gospel and inherit its 
glorious blessings. 

And there is no more impotrant 
counsel that can be given to any mem- 
ber of the Church than to keep the 
commandments after baptism. The 
Lord offers us salvation on condition 
of repentance and faithfulness to his 
laws. 

I plead with the world to repent 
and believe the truth, to let the light 
of Christ shine in their lives, to keep 
every good and true principle they 
have, and to add to these the further 
light and knowledge that has come by 
revelation in this day. I plead with 
them to join The Church of Jesus 
Christ of Latter-day Saints and reap 
the blessings of the gospel. 

I plead with the members of the 
Church to do the works of righteous- 
ness to keep the commandments, to 
seek the Spirit, to love the Lord, to put 
first in their lives the things of God's 
kingdom, and thereby work out their 
salvation with fear and trembling be- 
fore the Lord. 

And now to all men — in and out of 
the Church — I bear my testimony to 
the truth and divinity of this great 
latter-day work. 



I know that God lives and that Jesus 
Christ is his Son. I have a perfect 
knowledge that the Father and the Son 
appeared to Joseph Smith in the spring 
of 1820 and gave him commandments 
to ' usher in the dispensation of the 
fulness of times. 

I know that Joseph Smith translated 
the Book of Mormon by the gift and 
power of God, and that it has come 
forth "to the convincing of the Jew 
and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, 
the Eternal God, manifesting himself 
unto all nations." 

I know that The Church of Jesus 
Christ of Latter-day Saints is the king- 
dom of God on earth, and that as now 
constituted and officered it has the 
Lord's approval and is moving in the 
course so directed. 

Let all men know assuredly that this 
is the Lord's Church and he is directing 
its affairs. What a privilege it is to 
have membership in such a divine 
institution! 

And I pray that the gospel cause 
shall spread, and that the honest in 
heart in every nation shall be brought 
to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

I pray for the preservation and suc- 
cess of the missionaries and new con- 
verts, and ask God our Father to look 
down upon them in love and in mercy 
and give them the desires of their 
hearts in righteousness. 

I pray for the youth of the Church 
and of the world in these perilous 
times, times when gospel standards are 
needed as much as has been the case 
in any age of the earth's history. 

And I thank the Lord for his good- 
ness and grace and for all the bless- 
ings he has so abundantly poured out 
upon the world, upon his church, and 
upon us as individuals. In the name 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. O 





By Elder Richard L. Evans 

Editor 
• And so we come to the end of an Era— an end that is a beginning. The 
Improvement Era ceases publication with this issue. The Ensign, the New 
Era, and the Friend begin their mission next month. 

Emerson said that "an institution is the lengthened shadow of one 
man." The Era has been the lengthened shadow of many— too many to 
mention— and the lengthening of it is beyond measure in the lives it has 
touched in its seventy-three years of service. 

Thanks to all of you— you who brought it into being under difficult 
conditions, with no money but with a conviction that the need was there. 

Thanks to the Presidents of the Church under whose guidance the 
magazine was started and who served as its editors through all these 
years— Presidents Joseph F. Smith, Heber J. Grant, George Albert Smith, 
David O. McKay, and Joseph Fielding Smith. 

Thanks to you, you other editors— past and present— you business man- 
agers, you the staff. 

Thanks to you the contributors through all the years— an illustrious long 
list. O what great ones there were— and are. 

Thanks to you, the MIA, the general board members, the Presiding 
Bishopric, the priesthood quorums and committees, the Department of 
Education, the Genealogical Society, the Era representatives in wards and 
stakes— thanks to all who have helped make the Era an influence for great 
good, in many ways helping to hold the Church together— worldwide. 

Thanks to you, the subscribers, the readers— for the whole intent is 
that the message be read and touch the hearts and minds and lives of 
people. 

"The greatest use of a life is to spend it on something that outlasts it." 

The Era will forever outlast itself in its far-reaching effects, as it has 
brought the written word to the homes of countless people— worldwide. 

It shouldn't take too long to say goodbye when there is a happy 
ending— and this one is: an ending that is but a beginning. 

Goodbye to the Improvement Era! 

Welcome to the Ensign, the New Era, and the Friend! 

The old and the new— but the message is constant, and the purpose is 
that each of us shall find peace and happiness and the highest possibilities 
of everlasting life. 

"God bless us, everyone." O 



Era, December 3970 5 



0. 




• It was the Sunday before Christ- 
mas, and our family was discussing 
memorable Chris tmases. After some 
discussions among the children, my 
eleven-year-old son Greg asked, 
"Dad, which Christmas do you re- 
member best? Will you tell us 
about it?" 

That was a big Order, but after a 
few minutes' hesitation, I pro- 
ceeded to tell them this experience: 

The Christmas that stands out 
most in my mind was that of 1944, 
during World War II. We had, 
fought through the Battle of the 
Ardennes and were then sent to the 
Siegfried Line to replace the Sec- 
ond Division. We had been "there a 
week when the German offensive 
known as the Belgian Bulge began. 
We were right on the nose of that 
thrust and were commanded to hold 
at all costs. For two and a half days 
we fought and held. But finally, 
on December 19, 1944, we were 
forced to surrender. 

After we were searched, we stood 
out in a barnyard all night. The 
next morning we began a march of 
thirty-eight miles. There was no 
food, except part of a raw sugar 
beet that I dashed into a field to 
get as we marched along. 

The following morning, after 
sleeping on the cold, damp ground, 
we moved slowly forward. We ar- 
rived at a big building about noon 
and were given two packages of 
German emergency ration crackers 
and a ride to the Geroldstein, Ger- 
many, railway station, where we 
slept on the hard cement. On 
December 21, we were loaded 
aboard a train of boxcars, with 65 
men to each car. The sliding doors 
on either side of the car were wired 
shut from the outside. There was 
no food or water. 

December 23, 1944, found us out- 



Dr. Royal R; Meservy, assistant 
clerk and choir director in the 
Whittier (California) Fifth Ward, is 
counselor at Fullerton Junior Col- 
lege. 



side of Diez, still cramped up m| 
boxcar, hungry and thirsty. It was* 
on this memorable afternoon that 
I learned the true meaning of 
Christmas. 

Just before dark American 
bombers flew overhead, and bombs 
fell so close that one boxcar door 
was ripped entirely off. As the-, 
bombing continued, someone asked, 
"Has anybody got a Bible?" I 
reached into my pocket and handed 
him my pocket edition of the New 
Testament. He turned to the sec- 
ond chapter of St. Luke and read: 

"And there were in the same 
country shepherds abiding in the 
field, keeping watch over their 
flock by night. 

"And, lo, the angel of the Lord 
came upon them, and the glory of 
the Lord shone round about them: 
and they were sore afraid. 

"And the angel said unto thenv 
Fear not: for, behold, I bring you 
good tidings of great joy, which 
shall be to all people. 

"For unto you is born this day 
in the city of David a Saviour, 
which is Christ the Lord. 

"And this shall be a sign unto 
you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped 
in swaddling clothes, lying in a 
manger. 

"And suddenly there was with 
the angel a'multitude of the heav- 
enly host praising God, and saying, 

"Glory to God in the highest, and 
on earth peace, good will toward 
men." (Luke 2:8-14.) 

I had heard that scripture read 
year after year, but never before or 
since with the emotion and feeling 
with which It was read in that 
boxcar. 

Peace came over us* He hanaed 
the Bible back^ to me, and we all 
sat quietly, each deep in his own 
thoughts. 

The next day, after eighty-eight- 
hours without water, we were given 
water and later some food. Christ- 
mas of 1944 is the one I remember 
best because I was grateful just to 
be alive. O 






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Jfea,Thoiigh I Walk 



By Melvin DeGraw 

Illustrated by Richard Bird 

• I can remember Jotun very 
faintly now. As the years have 
dimmed the recollection of those 
childhood experiences in central 
Norway, so also have they intensi- 
fied my memory of a few events of 
so many years ago. Tiny white 
flakes of snow now swirling around 
my window remind me of Jotun and 
that Christmas many years ago. 



It was 1918 and winter was 
severe in the northern valley of 
Jotun, Norway, where my father 
struggled with a small farm. Al- 
though the farmland was never 
blessed with the rich soil so abun- 
dant in western continents, we man- 
aged to make ends meet with small 
crops. It was always hard work, 
and we enjoyed few luxuries. 

Christmas was a day we all 
looked forward to with impatience. 
We began to decorate the house 
early in December, and during the 
following weeks we would gather 
around the old piano to sing Christ- 



Melvin DeGraw became deeply interested in the Church as a result of read- 
ing some anti-Mormon literature in the public library. Now a convert of six 
years, he is an active member of the St. Louis (Missouri) First Ward. 





mas songs. There was always much 
laughter and reverence as the spirit 
of our Messiah's birthday cheered 
the atmosphere. 

When we were very young, my 
sisters and I would cut out little 
decorations for the tree, getting 
everything ready for the big night 
when St. Nicholas would pay his 
nocturnal visit. 

It was on the night before Christ- 
mas that the incident so deeply 
imbedded in my memory happened. 
I was bringing the milk out of the 
barn, walking briskly across the 
newly fallen snow toward the tiny, 
brightly lit house. The air was 
bitterly crisp, and stars twinkled 
brilliantly through the vast black- 
ness overhead. 

Suddenly I heard the noise— a 
faint, sharp, cracking sound that 
echoed slightly through the valley. 
I stood paralyzed in my tracks, with 
the heavy milk buckets hanging at 
my sides. Now I could hear noth- 
ing, as the silence engulfed the tiny 
plateau and the immense valley. I 
strained my ears, every fiber in my 
body alert to the perception of any- 
thing audible. As I stood for what 
seemed to be an eternity, the sound 
came again, slightly more distinct 
than the first time. It was a grating, 
cracking noise, only an echo from 
the distant peaks by the time it 
reached me. 

Although I had never heard this 
sound before, I knew what it was. 
Millions of tons of ice, accumulated 
layer upon layer over the years, 
were slipping slowly from one of 
the gigantic peaks! 

I burst into the house with a 
hysterical scream, the words chok- 
ing in my throat. "Father, the ice 
is going to fall! I heard it crack 
just now. It will fall in the valley 
and kill all the people!" 



My voice seemed to lock on me, 
arid I stopped suddenly, my hands 
gripping the back of a chair. My 
father calmly but swiftly came to 
my side. He did not doubt what I 
had heard. He could tell by the 
frightened look on my face. He 
went to the open door and stood 
silently, his breath visible in the 
quickly chilling room. Turning to 
us, his handsome face was long 
and drawn, and the even lines of 
his brow were fashioned in worry. 
His simple statement was conclu- 
sive : "It is the ice on Galdhoping. 
The people in the valley must be 
warned." 

Should the ice slip, we all knew 
that it would avalanche devas- 
tatingly through the valley, annihi- 
lating everything in its terrible 
wake. Such a disaster had occurred 
the year before my older sister was 
born, and both of my father's 
parents had perished. 

Father thought swiftly. Time 
would be against him, and the deep 
snow would be an almost insur- 
mountable handicap. He could 
easily fall in one of the treacherous 
powder snowdrifts, which were im- 
possible to detect at night; or he 
might perish along with the people 
in the valley, should the avalanche 
develop before he could return. 

Our house was relatively safe 
from danger because it sat on a 
little plateau, with the descending 
valley rolling steeply to the south 
of us. But there were nine houses 
in the valley. Father would warn 
each household and invite them to 
start back with him toward the 
plateau. 

Throughout the long night my 
mother, my sisters, and I sat in the 
tiny room, transfixed by the flick- 
ering yellow candlelight as it re- 
flected grotesque shadows against 
the wall. The sound of cracking ice 
was now audible, echoing through 
the valley at sporadic intervals. It 
was slipping maybe an inch, maybe 



a foot at a time. How many more 
seconds, minutes, or hours before 
disaster would visit the valley 
below? 

As the first rays of dawn came 
through the windows, we thought 
of this special day— Christmas. And 
we thought of father, somewhere 
in the valley, who, with God's 
strength and power, was being 
guided on a dangerous mission. 

It was bitterly cold and the sky 
was clear and crisp as we finally 
gathered at the door, watching a 
thin column of people walk slowly 
toward us on the snowy path below. 
Father, his face unshaven, was in 
the lead. 

At 11:13 that Sabbath morning, 
the whole of Mount Galdhoping 
seemed to empty into the valley 
with a rumbling that would leave 
nothing in its wake but destruction. 
There would be no houses left, no 
homes to go back to, but the people 
were alive. Yes, it was Christmas! 
Despite the destruction, we rejoiced 
that day and gave our thanks to a 
kind and merciful God who had 
spared our lives . . . 

Now I rise from my chair and 
walk to the window, watching a 
tiny snowflake come to rest against 
the wide pane. Tears have formed 
in my eyes as again the memory of 
that eventful day comes back to me. 
I turn from the window and my 
heart warms. Our Christmas tree 
this year isn't big. The presents for 
our grandchildren are waiting to 
be opened by the starry-eyed 
youngsters on Christmas morning. 
Youthful and innocent, they do not 
yet know of winters in Jotun many 
years ago. Oh, but they will know 
when they are old enough, for this 
is a story that must be repeated by 
them to their children. 

It does a man good to pause and 
recall the stories of his father. It 
brings humble joy and a spirit that 
will last long after the memories of 
Christmas have passed. O 



Era, December 1970 9 



• Sixty-nine years of joy for the 
children, 

Sixty-nine years of help for the 
home, 

Sixty-nine years of Primary achieve- 
ment, 

Sixty -nine years of a labor of love! 

As the Primary Association move- 
ment spread to the various com- 
munities and a general board was 
appointed to prepare lessons and 
give general supervision, the need 
for a magazine was felt. The matter 
was discussed, but there were diffi- 
culties in the way. There were no 
funds. 

Later the matter was referred to 
the First Presidency, who replied 
on April 28, 1896: 

"The First Presidency considered 
the subject matter of your late 
communication in which you desire 
their mind in regard to starting a 
paper in the interest of the Primary 
Associations. Presidents Woodruff 
and Smith (President Cannon ab- 
sent in the east) are clearly of the 
opinion that such a venture could 
not be made to pay financially for 
the reason that papers of years' 
standing in our community are to- 



day on the verge of failure, and in 
fact the Church is being appealed 
to to come to their assistance. In 
the light of these facts, and the in- 
ability of the Church to render any 
assistance whatever in such a direc- 
tion, they could not consent to an 
attempt on your part to put a new 
periodical in the field. 

"The Presidency send you their 
kind regards, and hope that you 
will be able to continue your labors 
without the assistance of a paper, 
for the present at least." 

But the Primary women were per- 
sistent, and in 1901 they decided to 
try again. This time consent was 
given, and the new magazine was 
started. 

Although there still were no 
funds and the printer was dubious, 
the women rolled up their sleeves 
and went to work. The first edition 
appeared in January 1902. Sub- 
scriptions were sold at a rate of one 
dollar a year. By January 29, 1902, 
868 subscriptions had been sold, 
and the magazine was safely 
launched. 

Olive Derbidge ( Christensen ) is 
given credit for naming the maga- 
zine, but she said it named itself. 



Mary R. Jack began working on the Children's Friend in 1913 and has since 
served as associate editor and as managing editor. Since 1940 she has also 
been secretary to the Tabernacle Choir. 



In a Primary general board meeting 
where a name was being discussed, 
it was decided that Primary Friend 
would be a good name. Miss Der- 
bidge, then assistant secretary, was 
appointed to write up the notices. 
When she had completed her task 
and was showing the papers to the 
other members of the board, it was 
found that she had unconsciously 
written Children's Friend. Every- 
one thought this was a better name, 
so the Children's Friend it became. 

Miss May Anderson, a convert to 
the Church from England, a trained 
kindergarten teacher, and general 
secretary of the Primary board, be- 
came its first editor. (Although she 
was initially appointed for a six- 
month term, she was to serve for 
38 years! ) 

In the office in the Templeton 
Building, she and Louie B. Felt- 
general Primary president, ad- 
dressed the magazines by hand, 
wrapped and tied them with mate- 
rials brought from home, and 
personally delivered them to the 
post office. The Children's Friend 
in the beginning was one-half its 
present page size. 

The opening feature in that first 
issue was a poem by L. Lula Greene 
Richards, "Our Work and Our 
Wealth," which was written during 
the meeting of the board when the 



Sixty-nine Years of the Children's Friend 



By Mary R. Jack 



THE CHILDREN'S 
FRIEND. 



"- " i» <••' • NUtMIHUi 



First edition of 

the Children's Friend, 

published January 1 902 




May Anderson, first editor of the 
Children's Friend (1902-1939) 



LaVern W. Parmley, last editor of 
the Children's Friend (1 951 -1 970) 



10 



new magazine was being discussed. 

The second feature was a greet- 
ing signed by Sister Felt: 

"Beloved Sisters:— With feelings 
of intense joy, deep devotion and 
profound gratitude we introduce 
this little book. Hope and fear 
alternately plead for supremacy 
and we humbly ask that you will 
exercise charity and assist us by 
your faith and prayers. 

"If in any way our little book will 
help the young to learn that 'Wis- 
dom's ways are pleasant ways and 
all its paths are peace,' our reward 
will be ample." 

Although the magazine contained 
lessons for the Primary classes, the 
lessons had many supplementary 
stories and memory gems that the 
boys and girls read and reread. 
Thus the magazine from that very 
first issue became their magazine. 
Subscriptions increased, and by the 
end of February the list of sub- 
scribers had grown to 1,248. 

As time went on, stories, serials, 
verse, crafts, pictures, and other 
features were added, and the les- 
sons were published in bulletins 
for the teachers. 

In 1924, the page of the magazine 
was enlarged to its present size. 
The enlarged magazine carried a 
continuing series of two-color cov- 
ers by C. Nelson White, a convert 



to the Church from Denmark. He 
also contributed the first illustra- 
tions and the first picture story 
series, "Zippo-Zip and His Friends." 

With the reorganization of the 
Primary Association in January 
1940, May Green Hinckley became 
president and editor (1940-1943). 
She was followed by Adele Cannon 
Howells (1943-1951) and LaVern 
W. Parmley (1951-1970). 

Outstanding features in the mag- 
azine during May Green Hinckley's 
term included Church history arti- 
cles, articles from Church leaders, 
cut-out and color pages, excerpts 
from pioneer diaries, children's 
hobbies, and series on manners, 
music, foods, and children's art. 
The November 1940 number carried 
the magazine's first birthday greet- 
ing to a President of the Church, 
Heber J. Grant, which practice has 
been followed every year since. 
The magazine also added a depart- 
ment of lessons for mission Pri- 
maries. One particularly interesting 
cover featured the picture of a 
child from each stake and mission 
of the Church (November 1940). 

Adele Cannon Howells added to 
the magazine a department of pen 
pals and one of children's contribu- 
tions. An outstanding feature for 
the Utah pioneer centennial year in 
1947 was covers featuring chil- 



dren in pioneer settings. The entire 
year carried features commemora- 
tive of this important anniversary. 

Editor Howells planned and 
sponsored a series of Book of Mor- 
mon paintings by a noted artist, 
Arnold Friberg, for the fiftieth an- 
niversary of the Children's Friend. 
In a way, these brought interna- 
tional renown to Mr. Friberg, for 
copies of the magazine prompted a 
representative of Cecil B. de Mille 
to ask for loan of the artist for 
The Ten Commandments. 

Also honoring the fiftieth anni- 
versary of the magazine, two Chil- 
dren's Friend story books, one for 
younger and one for older children, 
were published. 

A radio series, "Children's Friend 
of the Air," was carried on a local 
radio station for several years, with 
dramatized stories from the maga- 
zine. The program later moved to 
television, where a series on kind- 
ness to animals, an outgrowth of the 
Children's Friend Kindness to Ani- 
mals Club, was featured. 

Several awards earned by the 
Children's Friend were presented 
to LaVern W. Parmley, who fol- 
lowed Adele Cannon Howells as 
editor. The National Offset-Lithog- 
raphy Competition gave the maga- 
zine its first award in 1953, for the 
Book of Mormon paintings by 




A. Two-color cover by C. Nelson White, March 1926 

B. December 1941 cover, featuring sculpture by Avard Fairbanks 

C. Wrap-around cover for first International Issue of the Children's Friend, 
October 1966, designed and painted by Dorothy Wagstaff 

D. First of photographic series of children in pioneer settings, January 1947 

E. November 1970 Children's Friend in four-color by Neva Schultz 



Era, December 1970 11 



Arnold Friberg, and its second 
award in 1954. Three awards were 
received from the National Safety- 
Council for "exceptional service to 
safety." There was also an award 
from the National Association for 
Press Women; one from the Simp- 
son Gallery of Fine Printing and 
Lithography; and the Mead Award, 
in national competition for out- 
standing printing. 



... 69 years 
of a 
labor of love" 



An effort to modernize the Chil- 
dren's Friend and give it a new 
look was made in 1961. Many 
children and their parents were 
pleased with what was termed its 
"ultra-modern look," but the vote 
opposing it was three to one. After 
six months, the magazine continued 
to be modern but not "ultra." 

The first color in the magazine 
appeared in 1933. This was very 
primitive compared to the lovely 
four- and five-color art introduced 
later during the editorship of La- 
Vern W. Parmley. 

With a beautiful magazine that 
was selling for two dollars and 
fifty cents a year, it was felt that 
more children should be reached. 
Under the direction of Editor 
Parmley, and with Leone W. Doxey 
as circulation manager, the "Friend 
on a Mission" campaign was in- 
augurated, giving children an op- 
portunity to follow the admonition 
of President David O. McKay, 
"every member a missionary." Chil- 
dren earned and contributed their 
pennies; ward and stake Primary or- 
ganizations prepared programs and 
dinners; and funds were raised to 



send the magazine to missions and 
missionaries everywhere. 

The following from a stake Pri- 
mary president is typical of the 
response : 

"I am writing concerning the 
'Friend on a Mission.' My wards 
are anxious to get started; we had 
such good results last year. . . . 
Some of the wards are planning a 
special banquet for the Primary 
children and their friends to be 
held in the afternoon. . . . They 
really like this 'Friend on a Mis- 
sion. 

A lady missionary wrote that she 
and her companion had knocked on 
the door of a home but were not 
admitted by the mother. Since 
there were children in the home, 
the next day the missionaries re- 
turned with copies of the Children's 
Friend and asked the mother if the 
children might look at them. She 
smiled and said yes. Before long 
the parents and children were 
baptized. 

From Australia a missionary 
wrote: "Fredia is a nine-year-old 
girl. Fredia and her mother have 
set a date for baptism. They first 
started investigating the Church 
when a missionary brought the 
Children's Friend to their home. 
Their conversion began with the 
reading of the magazine." 

The Children's Friend has been 
the "voice of the Church to chil- 
dren." Its editors and editorial 
boards have endeavored to supply 
the children of the Church and 
children everywhere with materials 
that inspire testimony, faith, rever- 
ence, obedience, service, and other 
virtues in keeping with the restored 
gospel of Jesus Christ, and to oc- 
cupy their leisure time in a whole- 
some way. 

Under the present able direction 
of Editor LaVern W. Parmley, her 
associate editors and editorial 
board, and with the production 
skill of Gladys Daines, managing 



editor, the magazine has reached 
an all-time high, with a circula- 
tion of nearly 170,000. 

The following, selected from 
many such testimonials, will attest 
to the popularity and editorial qual- 
ity of the Children's Friend: 

"Please convey to the Children's 
Friend staff my sincere congratula- 
tions on their splendid work. The 
format, illustrations, stories, and 
features are outstanding. Chil- 
dren's Friend ranks with the best 
of children's magazines. It is an 
asset to any home— Mormon or non- 
Mormon." 

"Thanks so much for sending me 
a sample copy of your magazine. I 
have ordered several samples of 
magazines and to me yours is tops! 
I'm sure children enjoy it." 

"May I say how much our twins 
and my husband and I enjoy your 
little booklet. It is both educational 
and amusing. We all love it, and 
we happen to be Catholics!" 

"I take and enjoy reading the 
Children's Friend even if I am 
getting old. I especially like to have 
it in the home for my grandchildren 
or neighbor children." 

"I consider the Children's Friend 
to be the best publication in its field 
—bar none." 

"I just started to Primary and I 
am in the Sunbeam class. I didn't 
like to go to class by myself, but 
Mommie said if I was good and 
brave I could have the Children's 
Friend come to me just like my big 
sister. Will you send it to me, 
please? (I have been good and 
brave for 4 weeks.)" 

"I like your books very much. I 
hope my mother will sign up again. 
Your stories are very good. I like 
the things to do. I have learned a 
lot of things out of your books. My 
brother likes them, too!" 

So end the 69 years of the Chil- 
dren's Friend— 69 years of joy, help, 
achievement ... 69 years of a labor 
of love. O 



12 



Thorpe B. Isaacson 
1898-1970 

Assistant to the Council of the Twelve, 1961-1965,^970 

Counselor to the First Presidency, 1965-1970 

First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, 1952-1961 







• Elder Thorpe B. Isaacson counseled his sons: "If 
there is any work that has to be left undone, it must 
not be the work of the Church." This remark char- 
acterized his devotion to the Church, expressed in 
tremendous spiritual and physical energy. For Elder 
Isaacson, the principles of the gospel were the sources 
from which he directed his great enthusiasm in many 
fields of endeavor-in athletics, education, business, 
civic affairs, and the work of the Lord. 

Elder Isaacson was born September 6, 1898, in 
Ephraim, a little farming cbmmunity in central Utah. 
His grandparents accepted the gospel in Europe, and 
it was instilled in him by his pioneer parents, Martin 
and Mary Beal Isaacson. 

An outstanding athlete in his youth, he attended 
Snow Academy (now Snow College) at Ephraim, 
Brigham Young University, Utah Agricultural College 
(now Utah State University), and the University of 
California at Berkeley. 

While teaching in Box Elder County, he met Lula 
Maughan Jones, and they were married in the Salt 
Lake Temple June 16, 1920. Following their marriage 
he worked as a teacher, coach, principal, and a faculty 
member at various schools in Utah and Idaho. He 
later became a successful life insurance executive, and 
one year was selected as the most outstanding life 
insurance man in America. 

Elder Isaacson's civic and church service was 
greatly diversified. He was chairman of the Church's 
historical sites committee, vice-president of the board 
of trustees of Brigham Young University, vice-president 
of the Church Board of Education, president of the 
board of trustees of Utah State University, and a 
member of the University of Utah board of regents. 

Serving in government appointments, Elder Isaac- 
son was a special consultant to the U.S. Commissioner 
of Education, consultant in U.S. foreign aid adminis- 
tration, and a member of Utah's Little Hoover Com- 
mission. He also served on several business and civic 
boards of directors. 



Elder Isaacson was sustained as second counselor 
in the Presiding Bishopric December 12, 1946; as 
first counselor to the Presiding Bishop April 6, 1952; 
as Assistant to the Council of the Twelve September 
30, 1961; and set apart and sustained as counselor in 
the First Presidency to President David O. McKay, 
October 28, 1965. He was released from that position 
when President McKay died in January of this year. 

President McKay headed the list of distinguished 
speakers at a public program honoring Elder Isaacson 
at the Snow College auditorium in 1955. 

"As I see it," said President McKay, "Bishop Isaac- 
son's outstanding success in so many fields springs 
from three principal sources. First is his strength of 
character and integrity inherited from his forebears. 
Second would be his environment-his early life spent 
in this country. And third would be what he has 
made of himself, his own industry and effort." 

As a General Authority, Elder Isaacson traveled into 
many parts of the Church, where his friendly spirit 
and enthusiasm were well received. His special atten- 
tion to the program for adult members of the Aaronic 
Priesthood stimulated efforts in this area on a Church- 
wide scale. 

Elder Isaacson died on November 9, 1970. Funeral 
services were held two days later in the Assembly Hall 
on Temple Square. 

For Elder Isaacson, death came as a blessing at this 
time, releasing him from the inactivity that ill health 
had forced upon him in recent years. But even in his 
illness he maintained a keen interest in the affairs of 
the Church. 

Survivors include Sister Isaacson; a daughter, Mrs. 
Royal (Joyce) Tribe; a son, Richard A. Isaacson; 
nine grandchildren, four brothers, and one sister. 

Elder Isaacson's great enthusiasm for the gospel of 
Jesus Christ will be missed in contemporary Church 
affairs. "If there is any work that has to be left undone, 
it must not be the work of the Church" may well be 
good counsel for all of us. O 



Era, December 1970 13 




Emma Ray Riggs McKay 

1877-1970 J 

• Mrs. Emma Ray Riggs McKay, 93, widow of Presi- 
dent David O. McKay, passed away Saturday, Novem- 
ber 14, 1970, at her Hotel Utah apartment in Salt Lake 
City. President McKay died January 18, shortly after 
the couple celebrated their sixty-ninth wedding 
anniversary. 

Little is publicly known about this remarkable 
woman who long stood by the President's side as his 
"sweetheart-wife," as he called her. She was born in 
Salt Lake City June 23, 1877, a daughter of O. H. and 
Emma Robbins Riggs. 

She met David O. McKay, a young man who 
planned to be a schoolteacher, when he came to Salt 
Lake City from Huntsville to enroll at the University 
of Utah and rented a room at the Riggs home, which 
was near the university. Their courtship blossomed 
while they were at the university, but after David's 
graduation in 1897, their plans for marriage were 
postponed when he received a call to serve as a mis- 
sionary in Great Rritain. Meanwhile, Emma Ray 
completed her university training, graduating in 1898. 
They were married January 2, 1901. 

Emma Ray served in the auxiliaries of the ChurcJi 
in Ogden, raising her family at Ogden, on the McKay 
farm at nearby Huntsville, and later in Salt Lake City. 

After her husband was called to serve as a member 
of the Council of the Twelve in 1906, Sister McKay 
was often left at home to care for their seven children 
(one of whom died in infancy) while he traveled on 
assignments. 

President McKay once said to their children, "All 
through the years you have seen how perfectly your 
mother fills the picture. I want to acknowledge to you 
and to her, how greatly her loving devotion, inspira- 
tion, and loyal support have contributed to whatever 
success may be ours." 

As the family grew older, Sister McKay was more 
and more at her husband's side. He was called as 
second counselor in the First Presidency at the Octo- 
ber 1934 semiannual general conference and became 
President of the Church April 9, 1951. In the years 
of his presidency they traveled together to the conti- 
nents of the earth and the islands of the sea. 

Sister McKay is survived by four sons, David Law- 
rence, Llewelyn R., Edward R., and Robert R. McKay, 
all of Salt Lake City; two daughters, Mrs. Russell H. 
(Lou Jean) Rlood, Chicago, and Mrs. Conway A. 
(Emma Rae) Ashton, Salt Lake City; 22 grandchildren 
and 25 great-grandchildren. 

Funeral services were held in the Assembly Hall 
November 18, under the direction of the First 
Presidency. O 



Geraldine Hurst, the mother of five 
children, is Relief Society president 
of the Visalia (California) Stake and 
an elementary school teacher. 



• The first one came early in De- 
cember. Buried in a pile of colorful 
advertisements, newsy letters from 
relatives, and Christmas cards, it 
was a plain white envelope with 
no return address and had been 
mailed in our own city. Inside the 
envelope was a full sheet of white 
typewriting paper with only two 
words on it: "For Mike." Neatly 
folded inside was a bill of currency. 

We received the money with a 
sort of wondering awe. Along with 
many others, we had not yet 
learned how to receive gracefully. 
It had been our pleasure to be help- 
ful to others rather than to need 
assistance from anyone else. The 
money was welcome, however. 
Coming as it did in a month when 
our expenditures had been extra 
high in order to provide a satisfying 
Christmas for the four children still 
at home, it was very welcome in- 
deed. 

Mike was our missionary son. 
The money was earmarked for 
him, and receive it he would. A 
budget still straining from the pur- 
chase of everything Mike would 
need for two years could certainly 
profit from any aid. Our two 
younger sons had already pledged 
their support, and they faithfully 
paid a share of their earnings to- 
ward the monthly checks that 
began their long journey from our 
home to Argentina. We appreciated 
their helpfulness, but young news- 
boys need to save for their own 
missions, too. So we limited the 
amounts of their contributions. 



14 



By Geraldine Hurst 



Anonymous Miracl 



At first we found ourselves won- 
dering who the generous person 
might be. There was the excitement 
of a mystery about the white enve- 
lope. We all felt quite helpless 
because we did not know whom to 
thank. And the air of mystery 
heightened as each month a similar 
anonymous gift arrived. 

The father of our home soon ad- 
vanced some wise advice. He has 
been a bishop and has known about 
such things happening to others. 
He assured us that the donor had 
good reason to wish to remain 
anonymous. We could feel certain, 
too, that he would be rewarded by 
his Father in heaven. Although we 
could not personally thank the 
donor, there were many ways that 
we could show our gratitude. 

We realized first of all that this 
was a wonderful tribute to our fam- 
ily. As parents we had felt that we 
had an obligation not to misuse 
material gains with which we might 
be blessed. This person was telling 
us that he approved of our manage- 
ment enough to want to add to that 
material increase. As a result, we 
felt that we must be even more 
watchful of our earthly stewardship. 
We felt a duty to him in addition 
to ourselves and our Heavenly 
Father. 

As a result of the strange monthly 
gift, we knew that someone of our 
circle of acquaintances had ex- 
pressed his love for our son and by 
so doing had touched our hearts. 
The gifts had even more far-reach- 
ing effects. Many dear people 



greeted us in our daily pursuits, at 
church, home, school, and work. 
We found that now we met each of 
them with more concern. Our 
handshakes were a little firmer; 
our smiles were warmer; and we 
took no one for granted. One of 
these gentle persons had awakened 
within each of us a keen sense of 
appreciation for our fellowmen. 

In South America Michael was 
most grateful for the support that 
he received. His every letter mani- 
fested it. He told his younger 
brothers that they could find no 
better place for their money than 
to put it to work for the Lord. He 
who had used his own life savings 
to begin his mission was humbly 
grateful that we were sustaining 
him. He who had worked hard at 
gardening, cleaning, fruit packing, 
and many other jobs knew that 
money came by the sweat of the 
brow. 

And because he appreciated the 
efforts made by many to accumu- 
late his support, he became a better 
missionary. 

Thus it was that in the form of a 
simple white envelope there came 
monthly into our home an increased 
blessing. By this single act, some- 
one caused all seven of us to be 
motivated to live better lives, and 
the lives of those around us were 
influenced by thoughtful kindness, 
gratitude, and love. In fact, people 
on two continents felt the impact 
of this loving gift. We hope that 
the giver realizes what a miracle 
he has wrought. O 




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Dec. 1970 Era 




■ iiaSSissi" IssSti JT : 

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"v ■■■.. ■ ■.:: :: :... 



By Rodger 
A. Pool 




" ! !:■ .. " 



Dr. Rodger A. Pool, YMMIA superin- 
tendent in the Olympia (Washing- 
ton) Ward, is a first lieutenant in 
the U.S. Army and aide-de-camp to 
the commanding general at Mad- 
igan General Hospital, Tacoma. 



child. One psychologist has defined nature of rewards, but also upon 

this by stating that "the reward that who gives them. 

is most gratifying to the child is 

that of love from the adult. When 

the child loves the adult, he will 

do anything to please him!" 1 




• The Church of Jesus Christ of 
Latter-day Saints has always em- 
phasized that it is a parental 
responsibility to teach children. Re- 
cently, in the face of increasing 
delinquency and unrest among 
youth, there has been added em- 
phasis on this dimension of parental 
concern. Of increasing importance 
to the Latter-day Saint parent, 
therefore, are answers to the ques- 
tion, How do children learn? 

What do we know about the way 
a child learns? From psychologists 
we have the following observations: 




□ A child learns best when he 
is motivated to learn. The most 
basic incentives parents can supply 
are acceptance and approval, for 
the motives for most human learn- 
ing reside in the interpersonal re- 
lationship between parent and 



D Learning takes place best 
when the act that is performed is 
rewarded. Rewards may be tangi- 
ble or intangible. Surprisingly, the 
most effective rewards for learning 
seem to be based upon intangible 
relationships. For children, the 
most effective rewards for learning 
are parental acceptance and ap- 
proval. 

The question of who gives re- 
wards is important. A reward means 
more if it comes from one who is 
well-liked and respected. The most 
successful parents seem to be those 
whose children are deeply con- 
cerned about whether their parents 
approve of them or not. On the 
other hand, parents who are dis- 
agreeable and cross often find that 
the rewards they offer are not 
sought because they are associated 
with unpleasantness. Thus learn- 
ing depends not only upon the 



□ What about the influence of 
punishment on learning? The 
words of a song say, "Accentuate 
the positive and eliminate the 
negative." Hurlock has shown that 
praise is three to four times superior 
to reproof as an incentive for 
learning. 2 Several studies have 
demonstrated that having one's 
errors pointed out is less effective 
for learning than having one's cor- 
rect responses acknowledged. 

It should be noted that the effect 
of punishment is in part a function 
of the attitude of the punisher. If 
the punisher is motivated by anger 
and hate, the child will probably 
respond in a similar manner. But 
if punishment is administered in a 
spirit of love, motivated by the feel- 
ing that only through punishment 
can a child be taught self-control, 
the child may alter his behavior 
without resentment. 

It is important to add that the 
alternative to punishment is not 
indifference or submission to the 
child. Firmness is not synonymous 
with punishment. By definition, 



18 



punishment hurts, but firmness 
need not hurt. It is the parent's 
obligation to lead, direct, influence, 
and persuade along desirable paths; 
and the effective parent is one who 
is determined, persistent, and as- 
sertive, if need be, without being 
domineering or authoritarian. 



that those around him will have to 
exhibit the desired behavior. Or the 
child may need to be helped in 
forming a different concept of him- 
self. It is only through the oppor- 
tunity to practice new ways of 
behaving that change in behavior 
can be effected. 



□ Psychologists generally agree 
that one learns best what he experi- 
ences. While many parents believe 
that merely to teach a child what 
is right is sufficient to determine 
right behavior, evidence seems to 
indicate that knowing what is right 
may be unrelated to doing what 
is right. One group of college 
students, asked to express their 
attitude toward cheating, over- 
whelmingly disapproved of it. But 
when given an opportunity to cheat 
in a situation in which they graded 
their own papers after they had 
been secretly graded, three-fourths 
of the students cheated by changing 
their answers. One study of de- 
linquency made some years ago 
indicated that many delinquents 
had more religious knowledge than 
a similar group of nondelinquents. 

Telling the child what to do gen- 
erally results in a behavioral change 
only with children who have 
learned to do as they are told. Un- 
fortunately this method often 
proves ineffective with children 
whom parents want to influence 
most. Such a child can usually be 
helped to learn new and approved 
behavior if he is placed in an en- 
vironment where he will have a 
chance to practice different be- 
havior. This may mean that the 
environment of the home will have 
to be changed. It may mean also 



D The facts of individual differ- 
ences, as every parent can attest, 
must be considered before one can 
determine how a child learns. For 
parents to expect all their children 
to behave in the same way is to 
expect that which never has been 
and probably never will be. 



□ Personality development is 
primarily a product of learning and 
is largely formed in infantile experi- 
ences, especially in the interaction 
between mother and child. One 
psychologist concludes from his 
studies that "barring starvation, dis- 
ease, or actual physical injury, no 
other factor is capable of so influ- 
encing the child's development in 
every field as its relation to its 
mother." 3 And of course, the rela- 
tionship between father and child 
can be equally significant. Another 
psychologist attempted to trace 
some of the factors that may have 
accounted for differences in the 
way two-year-old children reacted 
to being taken for an all-day 
visit to a center for research on 



child health and development. 
Some adjusted well. Others were 
very upset. The psychologist fi- 
nally concluded that "a child's level 
of adjustment depends little upon 
the extrinsic features of the day, 
and little even upon his health. It 
depends much more upon the 
wholesomeness of his upbringing in 
the home, and the security and 
confidence and affection given him 
by his parents. A secure and whole- 
somely loved child goes forth to 
meet new experiences in a spirit of 
adventure and comes out trium- 
phant in his encounters with new 
places, new materials, and new 
friends, young and old. A child 
that is oversheltered and under- 
loved goes forth from home with 
misgivings and doubts, and gives 
an impression of inadequacy and 
immaturity in his encounter with 
new experiences that make him 
unwelcome either in the society of 
adults or children." 4 

"Every moment of a child's life 
that he spends in contact with his 
parents has some effect on both his 
present behavior and his potentiali- 
ties for future action." 5 

Thus we see that learning, which 
begins shortly after birth and con- 
tinues in varying degrees through 
infancy, childhood, and into adult- 
hood, is strongly interconnected 
with the basic patterns of person- 
ality that are formed during the 
first five or six years of life. This 
knowledge places a great responsi- 
bility on parents, for personality 
and the learning process are largely 
formed through parent-child rela- 
tionships. O 

FOOTNOTES 

1 G. H. J. Pearson, Psychoanalysis and the 
Education of the Child (New York: W. W. 
Norton and Company, 1954), pp. 148-50. 

2 E. B. Hurlock, "An Evaluation of Certain 
Incentives Used in School Work," Journal of 
Educational Psychology, Vol. 16 (1925), pp. 
145-59. 

3 R. A. Spitz, "The Role of the Ecological 
Factors in Emotional Development in Infancy," 
Child Development, Vol. 20 (1949), pp. 145- 
55. 

4 M. M. Shirley, "Children's Adjustment to a 
Strange Situation," Child Development, Vol. 37 
(1942), pp. 201-217. 

5 R. R. Sears, E. E. Maccoby, and Harry Le- 
vin, Patterns of Child Rearing (Evanston, Illi- 
nois: Row, Peterson, 1957), p. 466. 



Era, December 1970 19 




r 



n the morning of her 
seventieth birthday 
Amelia Wallace looked 
into her mirror and saw an old 
woman. At first she thought it was 
just bad lighting that made her 
face look so wrinkled and her hair 
so white. But when she hurried 
to the sunny kitchen to reassure 
herself by a peek in the small mir- 
ror by the back door, she found the 
same somber-faced elderly person 
peering back at her. 

"Seventy years old," she whis- 
pered. "How did it happen so 
quickly?" 

She was still standing there, star- 
ing numbly at her reflection, when 
her husband, Harvey, burst through 
the back door. 

"How about a bite of breakfast?" 
he said. "Think 111 trot over to the 
nursery and pick up a few more 
apple trees this morning. There is 
room for three or perhaps four more 
along the fence." 

Harvey and his apple trees! He 
just couldn't seem to accept the 
fact that their small city lot could 
not produce the volume of apples 
their farm with its big orchards 
had. 

"Harvey," Amelia said, "it's my 
seventieth birthday." 

Harvey's face fell. "Oh, Amelia, 
I'm sorry. It clean slipped my mind. 
I didn't even pick up a box of 
chocolates." 

Amelia was exasperated. "Harvey, 
I don't care about the chocolates. 
Don't you understand? I'm seventy 
years old today. Seventy years 
old." 

Harvey blinked, uncomprehend- 
ing. "Well," he said, "seventy usual- 
ly comes after sixty-nine, doesn't 
it?" 

"Harvey," Amelia said softly, 
"I'm old." 

Hajvey came close to her and 
looked into her face. "You don't 
look old to me," he said. His blue 
eyes twinkled. "I'd say you're still 



good for twenty-five, maybe thirty 
years." 

Any other time she would have 
laughed and patted his hand or 
kissed him on his remarkably 
smooth cheek. Now, however, she 
merely turned away, saying, "I'll 
cook your eggs." 

While she prepared the food, 
Harvey briskly washed his hands 
and set the table for the two of 
them, all the while talking about 
his plans for more apple trees. 

"You know Bill at the produce 
department of Cullen's store?" he 
asked. "He told me he'd buy all 
the apples I can supply. Says mine 
are the best apples around. Cus- 
tomers ask for them." A note of 
pride crept into his voice. "I figure 
if I put in a few more trees, in a 
few years I'll be producing enough 
to do some special packaging." 

Amelia barely listened to his 
chatter. How could he think in 
terms of four or five more years? 
Didn't he realize that he was now 
seventy-five years old, and by that 
time he would be nearly eighty? 

Amelia hardly spoke during 
breakfast, but Harvey had plenty 
to say. Amelia was glad when he 
finally left for the nursery, saying 
as he went, "I think I'll pick up 
half a dozen new rose bushes for 
your garden. That's a better birth- 
day present than chocolates. You 
can enjoy the roses for years." 

She watched him as he strolled 
whistling down the path toward the 
battered pick-up truck. He had 
insisted on keeping the truck when 
they sold the farm. His step was 
spry and his lanky body was still 
wiry and straight, a denial of the 
rheumatism she knew occasionally 
afflicted him. He was old too, but 
she wondered if he ever thought 
about it. 

I just can't stand all that cheer- 



fulness today, Amelia thought to 
herself. / think Til go see Dora. 
Dora could be counted on to com- 
miserate with her. Dora always 
kept her voluminous photograph 
album handy, which made it easy 
to remember when they were young 
and pretty. 

Dora was glad to see her. "I 
was just thinking about you, 
Amelia," she said, leading her vis- 
itor into the darkened living room. 
Usually it annoyed Amelia that 
Dora kept her blinds down all the 
time, but today it fitted her mood. 

"I just read in the paper from 
home that Arthur Bronson came 
back for a visit," Dora continued, 
"and I was remembering when he 
was our high school English teacher 
and all of us girls had such a crush 
on him. It says in the paper that 
that was his first teaching assign- 
ment, so I guess he just came back 
to see where he got his start." 

"Oh, I remember him well," 
Amelia said, smiling. "We learned 
so much English that year because 
we wanted to please him. He was 
so handsome." 

Dora dug into a pile of news- 
papers and pulled one out. "Look 
at him now," she said. 

The picture Amelia looked at was 
of an old man, bent and gray, 
whose only claim to good looks 
was his still brilliant dark eyes. 
Amelia was depressed. 

"He's changed some, hasn't he?" 
she said. 

Dora nodded gloomily. "I could 
have cried when I saw his picture. 
I like to remember him as young 
and romantic as he was when all 
the girls in our class thought they 
were in love with him. Wait just 
a minute. I'll find our graduation 
picture. He was in that, since he 
was our class adviser." 

Dora flipped the pages of her 



I 



Lael J. Littke, a Sunday School teacher in the East Pasadena (California) 
Ward, is a housewife and mother whose stories have recently appeared in 
Ladies' Home Journal and other national magazines. 



20 




Matter of Pi 
Direction 



Fiction 



By Lael J. Littke 




□dan 

D D 



photograph album until she came 
to the picture she wanted of the 
twenty-three-member senior class 
of Melton High School. "Look at 
all of us. We were all so young." 

Amelia looked closely at the 
handsome face of the young teacher 
and then at the other young faces, 
some smiling, some sober. Her own 
was dreamy, a faraway look in her 
eyes and a small smile on her lips. 
She tried, for a moment, to recap- 
ture the thoughts of that eighteen- 
year-old girl of more than fifty years 
before, but the girl was like a dif- 
ferent person, and the seventy-year- 
old woman she had become could 
not remember. She had probably 
been building air castles around 
her handsome young teacher, 
Amelia thought, feeling slightly 
superior to the silly young girl she 
had been. 

Her eyes searched the group of 
faces for Dora's and she found her 
standing next to Bill Knowlton, 
who was to become her husband 
in a few years. Dora's and Bill's 
faces were solemn. 

"Can you remember what you 
were thinking that day?" Amelia 
asked suddenly. 

Dora, bent over the album, 
nodded. "Bill and I had been talk- 
ing about how the best days of our 
lives were over now that we were 
graduating from high school." 

Amelia laughed a little. "Funny 
that you should think that when 
there was so much to come." 

Dora nodded. "But it's all over 
now." She dug a handkerchief 
from her apron pocket and wiped 
her eyes. Dora would always find 
something to cry about. "Oh, 
Amelia, I wish we could go back 
to the time when our children were 
young. Or when they were grow- 
ing up and doing so many things. 
Those were the best times, weren't 
they?" 

Amelia thought back over her 
vast expanse of years. It would be 



Era, December 1970 21 



hard to pick the best time. "There 
were good times all along the way," 
t t , 4 »vshe said. "Even when there was 
too much work and too little 
money." Yes, even those had been 
good years. It was fun to remem- 
ber them, but Amelia was not at 
all sure she would care to go back 
and relive them. When they were 
going through them they had al- 
ways been thinking ahead to when 
life would be better and easier, so 
what would be the purpose in going 
back? 

"Dora," she said, "did you know 
it's my seventieth birthday today?" 

"Oh, no," Dora said, as if some- 
one had just told her the roof had 
fallen in. "That means I'll be sev- 
enty next month." She shook her 
head and then echoed Amelia's own 
earlier thoughts. "Oh, Amelia, how 
did we get there so fast? Seems 
like just yesterday that we gradu- 
ated from high school." She 
hunched over the photograph al- 
bum again. "Look at us all there. 
Thinking we would do something 
great in the world." She sighed. 
"Guess none of us ever amounted 
to much. And now it's too late." 

Amelia straightened. "Dora, how 
can you say we never amounted to 
much? Maybe none of us ever got 
our names on the front pages of the 
newspapers, but we've lived good 
lives, raised good families. And 
look at what our children are doing 
—your Bill, Jr., making a name for 
himself, and my David, and all the 
others doing so well. I like to take 
a little credit for starting them out 
on the paths they took, even if all 
I did was fill them full of love and 
homemade bread. Then look at 
Arthur Bronson and all the lives he 
influenced in the years he taught." 
And as far as its being too late, 
Amelia thought, Harvey was still 
working away at his orchard and 
gaining a little modest fame as a 
producer of fine apples. 

Thinking of Harvey, she sud- 



denly wanted to go home. "I guess 
I'd better go along, Dora," she said. 
"Harvey will be home soon, and 
he'll wonder where I am." 

Dora walked with her to the lawn 
gate. "Bill will be sorry he missed 
you," she said. "He gets so lonely. 
He went out for a walk this morn- 
ing. Just can't seem to find anything 
to do. Just sits around wishing he 
could work like he used to." She 
waved as Amelia started down the 
street. "Come again soon." 

Amelia arrived home ahead of 
Harvey. She could hardly wait to 
hear his cheery whistle. What was 
it about him that seemed so young 
when Dora and Bill— and even she 
—seemed so old? Was it just his 
cheerfulness? Why was he so 
cheerful? 

When she heard the chug of his 
pick-up truck, she went out to greet 
him. 

"Got you some roses you'll really 
like," Harvey called as the truck 
came to a shuddering stop. "Climb- 
ing ones." He opened the squeaky 
door and got out. "Remember, 
Amelia, how you always wanted a 
rose bower? Well, I'm going to 
build a frame there in the south- 




east corner and plant the climbers 
all around it. In a couple of years 
you'll be able to sit in there all sur- 
rounded by roses." 

There he went again, thinking in 
terms of the future years. 

"That will be nice, Harvey." She 
watched him lifting rose bushes 
and apple striplings from the back 
of the truck. "Harvey, do you ever 
think about when we were young? 
All the things we were going to do 
then?" 

"Not very often," he said, grab- 
bing his wheelbarrow and loading 
it full of plants. "Too busy thinking 
about all the things I'm going to do 
now." Gripping the handles of the 
wheelbarrow, Harvey pushed it off 
toward his small orchard. 

There it was. That was the dif- 
ference. Harvey was facing for- 
ward, finding things to do now and 
things to look forward to doing, 
while Dora and Bill and she, this 
very day, looked backward to the 
past, to the things already done. It 
was the thinking ahead that had 
made life interesting when they 
were young. Maybe a big part of 
feeling old or young was a matter 
of direction, of which way you 
faced. 

She smiled as she listened to Har- 
vey's whistling. She felt like whis- 
tling herself. There were still quite 
a few things she planned to do. The 
first of them was to plant those rose 
bushes so she could look forward 
to sitting in her bower, completely 
surrounded by roses. 

"So what's wrong with being 
seventy?" Amelia said aloud. Grasp- 
ing the side-view mirror of the 
truck, she adjusted it so she could 
look at the reflection, which smiled 
back at her. The hair, though 
white, was soft and shining and the 
eyes twinkled merrily in the glow- 
ing face. 

Why, I don't look seventy at all, 
Amelia thought. Gracious no. I 
could pass for sixty-five any day. O 



22 Era, December 1970 





Principles 

of 

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by 

Hyrum L. Andrus 



Second in a unique 4-volume series on the whole 
range of Joseph Smith's teachings. Explore the 
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amount Of $ (Residents of Utah add 4 ] / 2 % sales tax.) 

□ Principles of Perfection □ The Strength of Great Possessions 

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Mary lifted her eyes to the radiance filling 
The little stable, as though all heaven and earth 
Were glad for her small son, the stars spilling 
Their glory to announce Messiah's birth. 



S 



Thus had the angel Gabriel, she thought, 
So thrilled her being ivith the word he brought: 
"That . . . born of thee shall be .,. . the Son of God. 
Call his name Jesus, Mary. Fear not." 

Now he was here, her firstborn. With great love 
She wrapped him in soft swaddling clothes. He lay 
Warm and snug in the manger. And lo, above 
Their restless flocks the shepherds heard an angel say: 

". . . unto you is born ... a Saviour . . . Christ the Lord/' 
And a multitude of the heavenly host were heard, 
Praising God in song, in holy hymn. 
The shepherds hurried unto Bethlehem. 

And so it was that wise men from afar 
Came, bearing gifts of frankincense and myrrh and gold. 
Long had they journeyed, following the star, 
Asking, "And where is he . . . born King of the Jews?" 

Behold, they too were led to quiet Bethlehem 
And found the Christ and knelt and worshiped him. 
And Mary pondered in her heart all these things, 

And sang to Jesus — Son of God, Savior, King of kings. 





A DIRTY EXHAUST DOES MORE 
THAN DUTY THE AIR. 

It can waste enough jud 
to run a second engine. 



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is now in all 4 gasolines. 
They help keep an engine's 
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What does a dirty exhaust mean? 

That your engine is building up 
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Your engine's dirty so it takes in 
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This unburned fuel goes into the 
air as dirty exhaust. 

How does cleaner-air additive help? 

The new additive is a super-cleaner 
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Yes. These new Conoco gasolines 
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(Look at this remarkable demonstration) 




few. *< 



Enough wasted fuel in this exhaust 
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The engine in the car on the right was pur- 
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carburetor's set for a rich fuel mixture. Its ex- 
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(left). 2750 rpm (inset) on just exhaust alone, 
no fuel line. That's a lot of mileage going up 
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Addresses delivered at 
the 140th Semiannual 

General 
Conference 

of The Church of Jesus Christ 
o) c Latter '= day Saints 



The Oath andCovenant of the 



• My dear brethren of the priesthood: 

I welcome this opportunity to speak 
to the priesthood holders who are 
gathered in many places throughout 
the Church. 

I desire to call your attention to the 
oath and covenant of the Melchizedek 
Priesthood. I think if we have a clear 
understanding of the covenant we make 
when we receive offices in the priest- 
hood, and of the promise the Lord gives 
if we magnify our callings, then we 
shall have a greater incentive to do 
all the things we must do to gain 
eternal life. 

May I say further that everything 
connected with this higher priesthood is 
designed and intended to prepare us to 
gain eternal life in the kingdom of 
God. 

In the revelation on priesthood, given 
to Joseph Smith in September 1832, the 
Lord says that the Melchizedek Priest- 
hood is everlasting; that it administers 
the gospel, is found in the true church 
in all generations, and holds the keys 
of the knowledge of God. He says that 
it enables the Lord's people to be sanc- 
tified, to see the face of God, and to 
enter into the rest of the Lord, "which 
rest is the fulness of his glory." (See 
D&C 84:17-24.) 

Then, speaking of both the Aaronic 
and Melchizedek priesthoods, the Lord 
says: "For whoso is faithful unto the 
obtaining these two priesthoods of 
which I have spoken, and the magnify- 



ing their calling, are sanctified by the 
Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. 

"They become the sons of Moses and 
of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, 
and the church and kingdom, and the 
elect of God. 

"And also all they who receive this 
priesthood receive me, saith the Lord; 

"For he that receiveth my servants 
receiveth me; 

"And he that receiveth me receiveth 
my Father; 

"And he that receiveth my Father re- 
ceiveth my Father's kingdom; therefore 
all that my Father hath shall be given 
unto him. 

"And this is according to the oath 
and covenant which belongeth to the 
priesthood. 

"Therefore, all those who receive the 
priesthood, receive this oath and cove- 
nant of my Father, which he cannot 
break, neither can it be moved." 

The penalty for breaking the cove- 
nant and altogether turning therefrom 
is then given, together with this com- 
mandment: ". . . beware concerning 
yourselves, to give diligent heed to the 
words of eternal life. 

"For you shall live by every word 
that proceedeth forth from the mouth 
of God." (D&C 84:33-44.) 

As all of us know, a covenant is a 
contract and an agreement between 
at least two parties. In the case of 
gospel covenants, the parties are the 
Lord in heaven and men on earth. 



Men agree to keep the commandments 
and the Lord promises to reward them 
accordingly. The gospel itself is the 
new and everlasting covenant and em- 
braces all of the agreements, promises, 
and rewards which the Lord offers to 
his people. 

And so when we receive the Mel- 
chizedek Priesthood we do so by cove- 
nant. We solemnly promise to receive 
the priesthood, to magnify our callings 
in it, and to live by every word that 
proceedeth forth from the mouth of 
God. The Lord on his part promises 
us that if we keep the covenant, we 
shall receive all that the Father hath, 
which is life eternal. Can any of us 
conceive of a greater or more glorious 
agreement than this? 

Sometimes we speak loosely of mag- 
nifying our priesthood, but what the 
revelations speak of is magnifying our 
callings in the priesthood, as elders, 
seventies, high priests, patriarchs, and 
apostles. 

The priesthood held by man is the 
power and authority of God delegated 
to man on earth to act in all things 
for the salvation of mankind. Priest- 
hood offices or callings are ministerial 
assignments to perform specially as- 
signed service in the priesthood. And 
the way to magnify these callings is 
to do the work designed to be per- 
formed by those who hold the particu- 
lar office involved. 

It does not matter what office we 



26 



General Conference Index 



Speakers 

Joseph Anderson 
Marvin J. Ashton 
William H. Bennett 
Ezra Taft Benson 
Bernard P. Brockban 
Victor L. Brown 
Theodore M. Burton 
James A. Cullimore 
Lorin C. Dunn 
Paul H. Dunn 
Alvin R. Dyer 
Richard L. Evans 
David B. Haight 
Marion D. Hanks 
Gordon B. Hinckley 
Howard W. Hunter 



54 
59 
122 
46 

120 

109 
57 
60 
62 
37 

124 

88. 98 

87 

66 

71, 97 

115 



Spencer W. Kimball 
Harold B. Lee 28, 103, 
Neal A. Maxwell 
Bruce R. McConkie 
Thomas S. Monson 
Boyd K. Packer 
Mark E. Petersen 
Hartman Rector, Jr. 
Franklin D. Richards 
LeGrand Richards 
Marion G. Romney 
Sterling W. Sill 
Robert L. Simpson 
Eldred G. Smith 
Joseph Fielding Smith 
26, 



73 
126 
92 

112 
99 

106 

117 
76 
82 
69 
50 
78 
95 
41 
2, 

127 



Delbert L. Stapley 
N. Eldon Tanner 
Henry D. Taylor 
A. Theodore Tuttle 
John H. Vandenberg 



Subjects 

Aaronic Priesthood 

Action 

Beatitudes 

Blessings 

Book of Mormon ! 

Children 

Church presidency 



64 
31, 91 
43 
84 
35 



91, 
109 

59 
124 
127 
117 

62 
126 



Church publications 

Commandments 

Drugs 

Education 

Ensign magazine 

Exaltation 

Expo '70 

Faith 

Family 46, 

Family home evenin 

Free agency 

Friend magazine 

Gathering of Israel 

Genealogy 

God 

Great White God 



103 

88 
62 
92 
92 
76 

120 

43 

62, 64 

g 106 

122 
97 
69 
57 
60 

117 



Heritage 

Home 

Home teaching 

Honesty 

Hypocrisy 

Indians 

Individual 

Jesus Christ 35. 112, 



Joseph Smith 
Leadership 
Life 

Locusts 
Lost souls 
Love 3 1 , 

Meekness 
Memory 



69, 



87 
46 
35 
82 
31 
117 
66 
117 
112 
59 
88 
73 
35 
115 
124 
54 



Missionaries 

New Era magazine 

Oath and covenant 



Obedience 



41 
103, 



Objectives 

Opportunity 

Parents 

Patriotism 

Personal achievement 

program 
Personal involvement 
Plan of salvation ! 

Pornography 
Priesthood 
Principles 



, 37 
98 
26 
43, 

122 
66 
73 
62 
78 

95 

59 

, 28 

103 

84 

66 



Prophecy 

Restoration 

Repentance 

Resurrection 

Self-discipline 

Seventy 

Spirit 

Sunday closing 

Spiritual values 



69 

69 

76, 122 

76 

71, 91 

84 

66 

103 

115 



Teacher development 

Temptation 

Testimony 37, 87 

Thankfulness 

Virtue 

Wasted time 

War 

Word of wisdom 

Work 



99 
91 

122 

87, 127 

71 

73 

122 
91 



NOTE: Elder Hugh B. Brown of the Council of the Twelve 
and Elder Thorpe B. Isaacson, Assistant to the Twelve, 
did not speak. Elders Alma Sonne and EIRay L. Christian- 
sen, Assistants to the Twelve, and Presidents S. Dilworth 
Young and Milton R. Hunter of the First Council of the 
Seventy offered prayers at the conference. 



Py10 cHinnn President Joseph 
L I ICDlllVUl/L Fielding Smith 



hold as long as we are true and faithful 
to our obligations. One office is not 
greater than another, although for ad- 
ministrative reasons one priesthood 
holder may be called to preside over 
and direct the labors of another. 

My father, President Joseph F. Smith, 
said: "There is no office growing out 
of this priesthood that is or can be 
greater than the priesthood itself. It is 
from the priesthood that the office de- 
rives its authority and power. No office 
gives authority »to the priesthood. No 
office adds to the power of the priest- 
hood. But all offices in the Church 
derive their power, their virtue, their 
authority, from the priesthood." 

We are called upon to magnify our 
callings in the priesthood and to do the 
work which goes with the office we 
receive. And so the Lord says, in the 
revelation on priesthood: "Therefore, 
let every man stand in his own office, 
and labor in his own calling; . . . that 
the system may be kept perfect." (D&C 
84:109-10.) 

This is one of the great goals toward 
which we are working in the priesthood 
program of the Church, to have elders 
do the work of elders, seventies the 
work of seventies, high priests the work 
of high priests, and so on, so that all 
priesthood holders may magnify their 
own callings and reap the rich bless- 
ings promised from such a course. 

Now may I say a few words about 
the oath which accompanies the recep- 



tion of the Melchizedek Priesthood. 

To swear with an oath is the most 
solemn and binding form of speech 
known to the human tongue; and it 
was this type of language which the 
Father chose to have used in the great 
Messianic prophecy about Christ and 
the priesthood. Of him it says: "The 
Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, 
Thou are a priest for ever after the 
order of Melchizedek." (Ps. 110:4.) 

In explaining this Messianic proph- 
ecy, Paul says that Jesus had "an 
unchangeable priesthood," and that 
through it came "the power of an end- 
less life." (See Heb. 7:24, 16.) Joseph 
Smith said that "all those who are or- 
dained unto this priesthood are made 
like unto the Son of God, abiding a 
priest continually," that is, if they are 
faithful and true. 

And so Christ is the great prototype 
where priesthood is concerned, as he is 
with reference to baptism and all other 
things. And so, even as the Father 
swears with an oath that his Son shall 
inherit all things through the priest- 
hood, so he swears with an oath that 
all of us who magnify our callings in 
that same priesthood shall receive all 
that the Father hath. 

This is the promise of exaltation of- 
fered to every man who holds the 
Melchizedek Priesthood, but it is a con- 
ditional promise, a promise conditioned 
upon our magnifying our callings in 
the priesthood and living by every word 



that proceedeth forth from the mouth 
of God. 

It is perfectly clear that there are no 
more glorious promises that have or 
could be made than those that came to 
us when we accepted the privilege and 
assumed the responsibility of holding 
the holy priesthood and of standing as 
ministers of Christ. 

The Aaronic Priesthood is a prepara- 
tory priesthood to qualify us to make 
the covenant and receive the oath that 
attends this higher priesthood. 

It is my prayer that all of us who 
have been called to represent the Lord 
and hold his authority may remember 
who we are and act accordingly. 

May I conclude by saying how grate- 
ful I am that I hold the holy priest- 
hood. I have sought all my days to 
magnify my calling in that priesthood 
and hope to endure to the end in this 
life and to enjoy the fellowship of the 
faithful saints in the life to come. 

I bear my testimony that we do in 
fact have the holy priesthood, that it 
is God's power, and that through it we 
may inherit the fullness of our Father's 
kingdom hereafter, in the name of 



Jesus Christ. Amen. 



Address delivered 

at general priesthood session 

Saturday, October 3, 1970 



O 



Era, December 1970 27 



Address delivered Sunday morning, October 4, 1970 



3s;< 






Time to Prepare to Meet God 






V ::: M: 

r 




• This morning in my remarks I de- 
sire to direct your attention to some 
principles of vital importance to every 
human soul, by relating an incident 
with which almost everyone will be 
familiar, which may serve as some- 
thing of an introduction to what I 
would say to you in this great con- 
ference, on this the Lord's day, in this 
historic Tabernacle, which has been 
the forum for some of the greatest 
discourses given in our generation. 

Humbled by this realization, I seek 
for divine guidance, that I might be in 
harmony with the spirit of this won- 
derful occasion. 

To introduce my text I want to use, 
as an illustration, a well-remembered 
incident to which other speakers at 
this conference have already made 
reference. 

Some months ago, millions of watch- 
ers and listeners over the world waited 
breathlessly and anxiously the precari- 
ous flight of Apollo 13. The whole 
world, it seemed, prayed for one signifi- 
cant result: the safe return to earth of 
three brave men. 

When one of them with restrained 
anxiety announced the startling infor- 
mation, "We have had an explosion!" 
the mission control in Houston imme- 
diately mobilized all the technically 
trained scientists who had, over the 
years, planned every conceivable detail 
pertaining to that flight. 

The safety of those three now de- 
pended on two -vital qualifications: on 
the reliability of the skills and the 
knowledge of those technicians in the 
mission control center at Houston, and 
upon the implicit obedience of the men 
in the Aquarius to every instruction 
from the technicians, who, because of 
their understanding of the problems of 



the astronauts, were better qualified 
to find the essential solutions. The de- 
cisions of the technicians had to be 
perfect or the Aquarius could have 
missed the earth by thousands of miles. 

This dramatic event is somewhat 
analogous to these troublous times in 
which we live. The headlines in the 
public press only this week made an- 
other startling announcement by a 
presidential commission to the Presi- 
dent of the United States. "U.S. Society 
Is in Peril." Many are frightened when 
they see and hear of unbelievable 
happenings the world over — political 
intrigues, wars and contention every- 
where, frustrations of parents, endeav- 
oring to cope with social problems 
that threaten to break down the sanc- 
tity of the home, the frustrations of 
children and youth as they face chal- 
lenges to their faith and their morals. 

Only if you are willing to listen and 
obey, as did the astronauts on the 
Aquarius, can you and all your house- 
holds be guided to ultimate safety and 
security in the Lord's own way. 

There are, in these troubled times, 
agonizing cries of distress among the 
peoples of the earth. There are intense 
reelings of a need for some way to find 
a solution to overwhelming problems 
and to ease this distress from all that 
affects mankind. 

To one who is acquainted with and 
well versed in the prophetic teachings 
of the past generations, there should 
be little question as to the meaning of 
all that is going on among us today, 
when it seems as though everything is 
in turmoil. 

Prophecy may well be defined as 
history in reverse. Before our very eyes 
we are witnessing the fulfillment of 
prophecies made by inspired prophets 



in ages past. In the very beginning of 
this dispensation we were plainly told 
in a revelation from the Lord that the 
time was nigh at hand when peace 
would be taken from the earth and the 
devil would have power over his own 
dominion. (See D&G 1:35.) The 
prophets of our day also foretold that 
there should be wars and rumors of 
wars, and "the whole earth shall be in 
commotion, and men's hearts shall fail 
them, and they shall say that Christ 
delayeth his coming until the end of 
the earth. And the love of men shall 
wax cold, and iniquity shall abound." 
(D&C 45:26-27.) 

When the disciples asked the Mas- 
ter, prior to his crucifixion, as to signs 
that should immediately precede his 
coming again to the earth, as he fore- 
told, he answered by saying that "in 
those days, shall be great tribulations 
on the Jews, and upon the inhabitants 
of Jerusalem; 

". . . and except those days should be 
shortened, there should none of their 
flesh be saved. 

"But for the elect's sake, according 
to the covenant, those days shall be 
shortened. 

"For nation shall rise against na- 
tion, and kingdom against kingdom; 
there shall be famine and pestilences, 
and earthquakes in divers places." (In- 
spired Version, Matt. 24:18-20, 30; see 
also Joseph Smith 1:18-20, 29.) 

The Master undoubtedly spoke of 
times such as these when he foretold 
that a man would be "at variance 
against his father, and the daughter 
against her mother, and the daughter 
in law against her mother in law. 

"And a man's foes shall be they of 
his own household." (Matt. 10:35-36.) 

With all of this in mind, one may 



28 



ask: To whom may those in distress 
and in great anxiety look for the an- 
swer and for "refuge from this storm"' 
raging all about them? 

Almighty God, through his Son, our 
Lord, has pointed the way and has 
given to all mankind a sure guide to 
safety, when he declared that the Lord 
shall have power over his saints and 
would reign in their midst, when his 
mighty judgments would descend upon 
the world. (SeeD&C 1:36.) 

He said to all men: "Watch there- 
fore: for ye know not what hour your 
Lord doth come. 

"Therefore be ye also ready: for in 
such an hour as ye think not the Son 
of Man cometh." (Matt. 24:42, 44.) 

He has counseled that his "disciples 
shall stand in holy places, and shall 
not be moved; but among the wicked, 
men shall lift up their voices and curse 
God and die." (D&C 45:32.) 

From the incident of the Apollo 13 
as I have related, and having in mind 
the promises of the Lord to which I 
have made . reference, I will now, in a 
few moments, undertake to outline 
briefly the wondrously conceived plan 
upon obedience to which the salvation 
of every soul depends in his journey 
through mortality to his ultimate des- 
tiny — a return to that God who gave 
him life. This is that way by which 
the Lord will keep his promise "to have 
power over his saints and to reign in 
their midst." 

This plan is identified by name, and 
the overarching purpose is clearly set 
forth in an announcement to the 
Church in the beginning of this gospel 
dispensation. 

More than a century ago the Lord 
declared: 

"And even so I have sent mine ever- 
lasting covenant into the world, to be 
a light to the world, and to be a 
standard for my people, and for the 
Gentiles to seek to it, and to be a 
messenger before my face to prepare 
the way before me." (D&C 45:9.) 

This plan, then, was to be as a cove- 
nant, which implied a contract to be 
participated in by more than one per- 
son. It was to be a standard for the 
Lord's elect and for all the world to 
benefit by it. Its purpose was to serve 
the needs of all men and to prepare 
the world for the second coming of 
the Lord. 

The participants in the formulation 
of this plan in the premortal world 
were all the spirit children of our 
Heavenly Father. Our oldest scriptures, 
from the writings of the ancient 
prophets Abraham and Jeremiah, af- 
firm also that God, or Eloheim, was 
there; his Firstborn Son, Jehovah, 
Abraham, Jeremiah, and many others 
of great stature were there. 



All the organized intelligences be- 
fore the earth was formed, who had 
become spirits, were there, including 
many great and noble ones whose per- 
formance and conduct in that premor- 
tal sphere qualified them to become 
rulers and leaders in carrying out this 
eternal plan. 

The apostle Paul in his writings to 
the Corinthians taught that "there be 
gods many, and lords many," and then 
he added, "But to us there is but one 
God, the Father, of whom are all 
things, and we in him; and one Lord 
Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, 
and we by him." (1 Cor. 8:5-6. Italics 
added.) 

I would have you note particularly 
the use of the preposition "of," in ref- 
erence to the Father, and the preposi- 
tion "by," in reference to our Lord, 
Jesus Christ. In this statement is 
clearly defined the role of each, the 
Lord to do the bidding of the Father, 
in the execution of the whole plan of 
salvation for all mankind. (See Abr. 

4.) 

Understanding this principle in the 
plan of the government of God, we are 
given a glimpse of the council meeting 
of_ Gods, as briefly recorded in revela- 
tions to ancient prophets. 

Under the Father's instruction and 
by Jehovah's direction, the earth and 
all pertaining thereto was organized 
and formed. They "ordered," they 
"watched over" and "prepared" the 
earth. They took "counsel among them- 
selves" as to the bringing of all man- 
ner of life to the earth and all things, 
including man, and prepared it for the 
carrying out of the plan, which we 
could well liken to a blueprint, by 
which the children of God could be 
tutored and trained in all that was 
necessary for the divine purpose of 
bringing to pass, "to the glory of God," 
the opportunity of every soul to gain 
"immortality and eternal life." Eternal 
life means to have everlasting life in 
that celestial sphere where God and 
Christ dwell, by doing all things we 
are commanded. (See Abr. 3:25.) 

The plan embodied three distinctive 
principles: 

First, the privilege to be given to 
every soul to choose for himself "lib- 
erty and eternal life" through obedi- 
ence to the laws of God, or "captivity 
and death" as to spiritual things be- 
cause of disobedience. (See 2 Ne. 2:27.) 

Next to life itself, free agency is 
God's greatest gift to mankind, provid- 
ing thereby the greatest opportunity 
for the children of God to advance in 
this second estate of mortality. A 
prophet-leader on this continent ex- 
plained this to his son as recorded in 
an ancient scripture: that to bring 
about these, the Lord's eternal pur- 



poses, there must be opposites, an 
enticement by the good on the one 
hand and by the evil on the other, or 
to say it in the language of the scrip- 
tures, ". . . the forbidden fruit in 
opposition to the tree of life; the one 
being sweet and the other being bitter." 
This father further explained, "Where- 
fore, the Lord God gave unto man that 
he should act for himself. Wherefore, 
man could not act for himself save it 
should be that he was enticed by the 
one or the other." (2 Ne. 2:15-16.) 

The second distinctive principle in 
this divine plan involved the necessity 
of providing a savior by whose atone- 
ment the most favored Son of God be- 
came our Savior, as a "Lamb slain 
from the foundation of the world" 
(Rev. 13:8), as revealed to John on the 
Isle of Patmos. Another prophet-teacher 
explained that the mission of the Son 
of God was to "make intercession for 
all the children of men; and they that 
believe in him shall be saved." (2 
Ne. 2:9.) 

We hear much from some of limited 
understanding about the possibility of 
one's being saved by grace alone. But it 
requires the explanation of another 
prophet to understand the true doctrine 
of grace as he explained in these mean- 
ingful words: 

"For," said this prophet, "we labor 
diligently to write, to persuade our 
children, and also our brethren, to be- 
lieve in Christ, and to be reconciled to 
God; for we know that it is by grace 
that we are saved, after all we can do." 
(2 Ne. 25:23.) Truly we are redeemed 
by the atoning blood of the Savior of 
the world, but only after each has done 
all he can to work out his own sal- 
vation. 

The third great distinctive principle 
in the plan of salvation was the provi- 
sion that "all mankind may be saved, 
by obedience to the laws and ordinances 
of the Gospel." (Article of Faith 3.) 
These fundamental laws and ordi- 
nances by which salvation comes are 
clearly set forth: 

First, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Second, repentance from sin, mean- 
ing the turning away from the sins of 
disobedience to God's laws and never 
returning again thereto. The Lord 
spoke plainly on this point. Said he: 
", . . go your ways and sin no more; 
but unto that soul who sinneth [mean- 
ing, of course, returning again to the 
sins from which he has repented] shall 
the former sins return, saith the Lord 
your God." (D&C 82:7.) 

Third, baptism by water and of the 
Spirit, by which ordinances only, as 
the Master taught Nicodemus, could 
one see or enter into the kingdom of 
God. (See John 3:4-5.) 

This same teaching was forcibly 



Era, December 1970 29 



impressed by the resurrected Savior to 
the saints on this continent, in what it 
appears likely was his final message 
to his disciples. The Master taught 
his faithful saints that "no unclean 
thing can enter into his kingdom; 
therefore nothing entereth into his rest 
save it be those who have washed their 
garments in my blood, because of their 
faith, and the repentance of all their 
sins, and their faithfulness unto the 
end. 

"Now this is the commandment: 
Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and 
come unto me and be baptized in my 
name, that ye may be sanctified by the 
reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye 
may stand spotless before me at the last 
day. 

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, this 
is my gospel. . . ." (3 Ne. 27:19-21.) 

If the children of the Lord, which 
includes all who are upon this earth, 
regardless of nationality, color, or 
creed, will heed the call of the true 
messenger of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
as did the three astronauts on the 
Aquarius to the trained technicians at 
Mission Control in the hour of their 
peril, each may in time see the Lord 
and know that he is, as the Lord has 
promised, then their calling and elec- 
tion will be made sure. They will 
"become the sons of Moses and of 
Aaron, and the seed of Abraham, . . . 
and the elect of God." (D&C 84:34.) 

This promise of the glory which 
awaits those who are faithful to the 
end was plainly portrayed in the Mas- 
ter's parable of the Prodigal Son. To 
the son who was faithful and did not 
squander his birthright, the father, 
who in the Master's lesson would be 
our Father and our God, promised 
this faithful son: "Son, thou art ever 
with me, and all that I have is thine." 
(Luke 15:31.) 

In a revelation through a modern 
prophet, the Lord promises to the 
faithful and obedient today: ". . . all 
that mv Father hath shall be given 
unto him." (D&C 84:38.) 



Or will we be like those foolhardy 
ones on the river above the Niagara 
Falls who were approaching the dan- 
gerous rapids? Despite warnings of the 
river guards to go toward safety before it 
was too late, and in complete disregard 
of the warnings, they laughed, they 
danced, they drank, they mocked, and 
they perished. 

So would have been the fate of the 
three astronauts on the Aquarius if 
they had refused to give heed to the 
minutest instruction from Houston 
Control. Their very lives depended 
upon obedience to the basic laws which 
govern and control the forces of the 
universe. 

Jesus wept as he witnessed the world 
about him in his day which had seem- 
ingly gone mad, and continually 
mocked his pleading that they come 
unto him along "the strait and narrow 
way," so plainly marked out in God's 
eternal plan of salvation. 

O that we could hear again his 
pleadings today as he then cried out: 
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that 
killest the prophets, and stonest them 
which are sent unto thee, how often 
would I have gathered thy children 
together, even as a hen gathereth her 
chickens under her wings, and ye 
would not!" (Matt. 23:37.) 

O that the world would see in an- 
other parable to John the Revelator the 
sacred figure of the Master calling to 
us today as he did to those of Jeru- 
salem: 

Said the Master, "Behold, I stand at 
the door, and knock: if any man hear 
my voice, and open the door, I will 
come in to him, and will sup with him, 
and he with me. 

"To him that overcometh will I grant 
to sit with me in my throne, even as 
I also overcame, and am set down with 
my Father in his throne." (Rev. 
3:20-21.) 

Here, then, is the plan of salvation 
as taught by the true church, which is 
founded upon apostles and prophets, 
with Christ, the Lord, as the chief 




cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), by which only 
can peace come, not as the world 
giveth, but as only the Lord can give 
to those who overcome the things of the 
world, as did the Master. 

"Neither is there salvation in any 
other: for there is none other name 
under heaven given among men, where- 
by we must be saved." (Acts 4:12.) 

To all of this I bear my sincere wit- 
ness in the name of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

In a recent meeting I listened to a 
young girl's heartwarming testimony. 
Her father was afflicted with what the 
doctors had pronounced was an incur- 
able malady. To his wife one morning, 
this stricken father, after a night of 
pain and suffering, had said with great 
reeling, "I am so thankful today." 
"For what?" she asked. He replied, 
"For God's giving me the privilege of 
one more day with you." 

Today I could desire with all my 
heart that all within the sound of this 
broadcast would likewise thank God 
for one more day! For what? For the 
opportunity to take care of some un- 
finished business. To repent; to right 
some wrongs; to influence for good 
some wayward child; to reach out to 
someone who cries for help — in short, 
to thank God for one more day to pre- 
pare to meet God. 

Don't try to live too many days 
ahead. Seek for strength to attend to 
the problems of today. In his Sermon 
on the Mount, the Master admonished: 
"Take therefore no thought of the 
morrow: for the morrow shall take 
thought for the things of itself. Suffi- 
cient unto the day is the evil thereof." 
(Matt. 6:34.) 

Do all that you can do and leave 
the rest to God, the Father of us all. 
It is not enough to say I will do my 
best, but rather, I will do everything 
which is within my power; I will do 
all that is necessary. 

In a plaque on the walls of the Radio 
City Music Hall in New York City are 
these profound words of wisdom: 

"Man's ultimate destiny depends, not 
upon whether he can learn new lessons, 
or make new discoveries, and conquests, 
but upon his acceptance of the lessons 
taught." 

My prayer is that the message of 
those words of wisdom may be trans- 
lated into a determination on the part 
of all of us listening here this day, to 
the end that our eyes will be so single 
to God, that our whole bodies shall be 
so filled with light, that there shall 
be no darkness in us, to the end 
that we may be able to comprehend all 
things. (See D&C 88:67.) 

God grant that it might be so, I pray 
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Amen. O 



30 




• This great audience assembled here 
in this historic Tabernacle is an inspir- 
ing sight indeed. I wish to welcome 
you and all those who are listening in 
this morning, and invite you to partici- 
pate with us in our discussions. It is 
our purpose to disseminate the teach- 
ings of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and 
by so doing to strengthen the faith and 
testimony of all who will believe on 
his name, for his is the only name 
under heaven whereby we may be 
saved, and following his teachings is 
the only way for us to enjoy peace on 
earth and eternal life hereafter. 

Just the other day I was talking to 
someone who said, "There goes a man 
in whom you can place full confidence. 
You always know where he stands. He 
never pretends, but is always sincere 
and just his best self." 

The same day, someone, referring to 
another man, said, "Isn't it too bad 
that you never know just where he 
stands? You are never sure you can 
depend on what he says. I think the 
Lord would have called him a hypo- 
crite." I felt to agree with him. 

It is about hypocrisy that I wish to 
address my remarks today, especially to 
the members of The Church of Jesus 
Christ of Latter-day Saints, wherever 
they may be. We have approximately 
three million members, made up of all 
kinds of people, ranging from those 
who are fully dedicated and prepared 
to give all that they have in the service 
of the Lord and their fellowmen, to 
those who have not yet been fully con- 
verted and who do not see the im- 
portance of living the teachings of 
Jesus Christ or of being active and 
prepared to give service wherever 
possible. 

If we are to enjoy the blessings of 
the Lord and the confidence of the 
people with whom we associate, we 
must be prepared to live the gospel 
and to be honestly and actively en- 
gaged in practicing and teaching its 
concepts, never pretending to be what 



we are not. The gospel of Jesus Christ 
tells us how we should live. Let us 
refer to some of its great truths. 

The Lord has said: ". . . this is my 
work and my glory — to bring to pass 
the immortality and eternal life of 
man." (Moses 1:39.) 

"I am the resurrection, and the life: 
he that believeth in me, though he 
were dead, yet shall he live: 

"And whosoever liveth and believeth 
in me shall never die." (John 11:25- 
26.) 

And then in answer to the lawyer 
who asked, tempting him, ". . . which is 
the great commandment in the law?" 
he replied: "Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and with 
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 

"This is the first and great com- 
mandment. 

"And the second is like unto it, Thou 
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

"On these two commandments hang 
all the law and the prophets." (Matt. 
22:36-40.) 

We are told that "pure religion and 
undefiled before God and the Father 
is this, To visit the fatherless and 
widows in their affliction, and to keep 
himself unspotted from the world." 
(Jas. 1:27.) 

The Ten Commandments are given 
to us in very clear language, and need- 
ing no enlargement, and leaving no 
question. The Sermon on the Mount 
leaves no doubt as to Christ's message 
to the human race and what our re- 
sponsibilities are if we wish to enjoy 
his blessings and his Spirit to guide us. 
We also have our Articles of Faith, 
which outline the high code by which 
we should govern our lives. 

Jesus said: "Not every one that saith 
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into 
the kingdom of heaven; but he that 
doeth the will of my Father which is 
in heaven." (Matt. 7:21.) 

In these, the latter days, he said: 
"I, the Lord, am bound when ye do 
what I say; but when ye do not what 



I say, ye have no promise." (D&C 
82:10.) 

And he gave us this glorious promise: 
"All saints who . . . [walk] in obedi- 
ence to the commandments, shall re- 
ceive health in their navel and marrow 
to their bones; 

"And shall find wisdom and great 
treasures of knowledge, even hidden 
treasures; 

"And shall run and not be weary, 
and shall walk and not faint. 

"And I, the Lord, give unto them a 
promise, that the destroying angel shall 
pass by them, as the children of Israel, 
and not slay them." (D&C 89:18-21.) 

We are admonished to be true to the 
faith, and warned against evil and 
hypocrisy. In fact, the Savior placed 
great emphasis on the evils of hypoc- 
risy. He was very severe in his con- 
demnation of those who professed one 
thing and practiced another. He said: 
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites! ... Ye serpents, ye genera- 
tion of vipers, how can ye escape the 
damnation of hell?" (Matt. 23:29, 33. 
Italics added.) 

"Woe," according to the dictionary, 
means miserable or sorrowful state, a 
condition of deep suffering, misfortune, 
affliction, grief. "Hypocrite" is one 
who pretends to have beliefs or princi- 
ples which he does not have, or to be 
what he is not, especially a false as- 
sumption of an appearance of virtue 
or religion. 

As recorded in the Gospels, the Savior 
refers to different examples of hypoc- 
risy, and in each case he says: "Woe 
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo- 
crites!" 

I should like to refer to these and 
other charges of hypocrisy. As I do so, 
we might well look at ourselves to see 
how these apply to us. As we look at 
the conditions in the world today, I am 
sure we will find that hypocrisy and 
the violation of the principles of righ- 
teousness and decency have brought 
our national and individual affairs to 



Era, December 1970 31 



the sorry state in which they are now. 

The Lord said: ". . . they bind heavy 
burdens ... on men's shoulders; but 
they themselves will not move them 
with one of their fingers. 

"But all their works they do for to 
be seen of men. . . . 

"And love the uppermost rooms at 
feasts, and the chief seats in the syna- 
gogues. 

". . . ye devour widows' houses, and 
for a pretence make long prayer: there- 
fore ye shall receive the greater 
damnation. 

". . . ye pay tithe of mint and anise 
and cummin, and have omitted the 
weightier matters of the law, judgment, 
mercy, and faith: these ought ye to 
have done, and not to leave the other 
undone. 

"Ye blind guides, which strain at a 
gnat, and swallow a camel. 

". . . ye make clean the outside of the 
cup and of the platter, but within they 
are full of extortion and excess. 

". . . ye are like unto whited sepul- 
chres, which indeed appear beautiful 
outward, but are within full of dead 
men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 

"Even so ye also outwardly appear 
righteous unto men, but within ye are 
full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 

". . . ye build the tombs of the 
prophets, and garnish the sepulchres 
of the righteous, 

"And say, If we had been in the days 
of our fathers, we would not have been 
partakers with them in the blood of the 
prophets." (Matt. 23:4-6, 14, 23-25, 
27-30.) 

We might well ask ourselves if such 
fallacies are present in our own alleged 
Christianity. In those days, as is so 
common today, they had brotherhoods 
in which the law was strictly kept, but 
they ignored those on the outside 
by regarding all others with contempt 
and condemnation, thereby avoiding 
the heresy of form but committing the 
heresy of the spirit. 

How many of us are guilty of keep- 
ing the letter of the law and forgetting 
the spirit of the law in that we fail to 
show mercy and faith in our fellow- 
men? Do we place more stress on an 
external act to be seen of men than on 
a change of heart? The only way to 
cleanse the inside of the cup is to be 
pure in heart by being humble and 
turning from our evil ways and by 
living the gospel of Jesus Christ to the 
best of our ability. We may be able 
to deceive men, but we cannot deceive 
God. 

Is there danger that our whole 
civilization is like whitewashed tombs? 
We have marvelous machines, tower- 
ing buildings, and thousands of signs 
of what we call progress; but within 
we have unrest, strife between men and 



nations, and unrelieved burden of the 
poor, and the dead men's bones of 
wholesale wars. Someone has said: 
"Still we try to safeguard ourselves by 
calcimining the tomb." 

With all the crime, changing of 
population from rural to urban, loos- 
ened morals, pornographic movies and 
literature, etc., we must stand firm in 
the cause of right. How can persons 
for selfish reasons be hypocrites enough 
to urge the opening or widening of the 
liquor laws when they know that 
where consumption of liquor is greatly 
increased, there is a similar increase in 
multitudes of social problems? 

How can a newspaper which records 
the highway accidents, the deaths, the 
health problems, and broken homes as 
a result of drinking advocate making 
liquor more easily available in order to 
attract more tourists and industry? The 
cost to communities and individuals far 
outweighs any benefits. 

The American Council on Alcohol 
Problems passed a resolution which 
states: "While we share the concern 
of a majority of our citizens about the 
dangers in the use of marijuana, we are 
firmly convinced that alcohol remains 
the number one drug problem in Amer- 
ica and that its damage to life, limb 
and the welfare of our people is vastly 
greater." 

We must be equally concerned about 
the use of drugs that destroy lives and 
bring crushing misery, not only to users 
but to those around them. But hypoc- 
risy in the lives of adults has a serious 
influence on our young people who are 
turning to this form of protest. What 
we are trying to say is that the kids 
are affected by the hypocrisy of those 
who accept the cocktail hour and other 
evil practices and yet get hysterical 
because the kids have found other ways 
to imitate their parents' behavior. The 
kids will pay attention only when the 
adults set the proper example. 

As great as our responsibility is 
through legislation or other means to 
prevent our young citizens from falling 
prey to those intent on their becoming 
victims of these evil habits, we cannot 
minimize our responsibility to help 
rehabilitate those who have succumbed. 
How can we call ourselves Christians 
and say we love our neighbor — who is 
anyone in need of help — and fail to 
work with others who are endeavoring 
to set up facilities to assist alcoholics, 
drug-users, or parolees from our pris- 
ons? Yet there are those who would 
actually hamper such efforts because 
they object to having such facilities in 
their midst. These unfortunate people 
need our help. Surely we must be 
prepared to be the good Samaritan and 
help wherever possible. 

How many of us keep the Word of 



Wisdom strictly, but are most in- 
temperate in our prejudices and con- 
demnations of others? Are there any of 
us who, as businessmen, are meticu- 
lously polite and most regular in church 
attendance and yet accept glaring in- 
equalities in the social structure, and 
who may be unfair or dishonest in 
dealing with our neighbor? 

Are we truly interested in and con- 
cerned with the well-being of our 
neighbors? Do we visit the widows and 
fatherless, and feed, clothe, and com- 
fort the poor and needy? The prophet 
Alma in his day "saw great inequality 
among the people, some lifting them- 
selves up with their pride, despising 
others, turning their backs upon the 
needy and the naked and those who 
were hungry, and those who were 
athirst, and those who were sick and 
afflicted." 

We read: "Now this was a great 
cause for lamentations among the 
people, while others were . . . succor- 
ing those who stood in need of their 
succor, such as imparting their sub- 
stance to the poor and the needy, feed- 
ing the hungry. . . ." (Al. 4:12-13.) 

Recent changes in their structure and 
program will now enable our Relief 
Society sisters to devote more of their 
time and energy to the main purposes 
for which they were organized — 
namely, to look after the spiritual, 
mental, and moral welfare of the 
mothers and daughters in Zion. They 
should be teaching the gospel, prepar- 
ing our women of all ages to be better 
homemakers, and giving compassionate 
service to those in need. 

The sisters of this great organization 
give thousands of hours weekly in com- 
passionate service, yet there are still 
many who are sick or lonely or in need 
of comfort who are not reached. We 
all should be seeking for opportunities 
to give aid and comfort to the needy 
among us. We should not neglect this 
duty and opportunity in order to engage 
ourselves in seeking only after our own 
selfish worldly pleasures and material 
gain. 

Too often we excuse ourselves from 
religious activity, which includes both 
showing love for our neighbors and 
regular church attendance, by com- 
paring our activities with those of 
others, and by saying we are doing just 
as much as they, or we are no worse 
than they. Some say: "I don't go to 
church because I don't want to be a 
hypocrite, as he is. I can be religious 
without going to church. I can worship 
God on the lake or in the mountains, 
communing with nature." 

Hear what the Lord has said: 

"And that thou mayest more fully 
keep thyself unspotted from the world, 
thou shalt go to the house of prayer 



32 



and offer up thy sacraments upon my 
holy day; 

"For verily this is a day appointed 
unto you to rest from your labors, and 
to pay thy devotions unto the Most 
High; 

"Nevertheless thy vows shall be of- 
fered up in righteousness on all days 
and at all times." (D&C 59:9-11.) 

We cannot choose which part of the 
gospel we think is true or which part 
we should live. We cannot compart- 
mentalize our lives. As the Savior said: 
". . . these ought ye to have done, and 
not to leave the other undone." (Matt. 
23:23.) We must be Christians in very 
deed, and by our lives show our love 
for the Lord, our God, and show love 
for and be interested in one another. 
We, you and I, must put our personal 
houses in order. We must not be 
hypocrites. 



Harry Emerson Fosdick observed 
that there are two kinds of hypocrisy: 
when we try to appear better than we 
are, and when we let ourselves appear 
worse than we are. We have been 
speaking of the kind of hypocrisy 
where people pretend to be more or 
better than they are. Too often, how- 
ever, we see members of the Church 
who in their hearts know and believe, 
but through fear of public opinion fail 
to stand up and be counted. This kind 
of hypocrisy is as serious as the other; 
it makes it difficult for others to 
respect us, and often adversely affects 
or influences the lives of other mem- 
bers of the Church who expect us to 
stand by our commitments to the 
Church and not hesitate to manifest 
our faith. 

Only when we are seriously striving 
to live the teachings of Christ can we 



make any real spiritual progress. We 
must not fear, wherever we are, to live 
up to our convictions and to the 
standards of the Church. People, 
though they may criticize and ridicule, 
expect us to and respect us if we do. 
Living high standards cannot offend 
conscientious, fair-minded people. 

Not long ago I was talking to a 
father and mother and their little boy 
who were converts of not many months. 
During our conversation the father said 
they had become inactive and were 
not attending church, and I asked them 
why. He explained that the mission- 
aries were such fine examples of good 
and clean-living, righteous people; but 
when they came to the ward they found 
so many people who were not living 
what the Church teaches, or what they 
professed to be, and as a result they 
became discouraged and lost faith in 




Era, December 1970 33 



.*€*< ■ 




THE TROUBLE WITH 
OUR FOOD RE9ERVE 19 
NOBODY CAN KEEP IT. 



NITED COMMODITIES INTERNATIONAL 
L SAM- ANDY FOOD DIVISION 



*a 




•— 


SfeiJ^j?" 






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vL 


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ill 













Don't get us wrong our food can be stored. It's just 
that once people try it they love it and use it every day. 

That's why we adopted the trade mark of the 
cornucopia (of cans and containers) pouring out lus 
cious prepared food. 

Take Mrs. Sampson's blueberry cookies (pictured). 
Last week she was making some to send to her son who 
is on a mission. Well, he finally got his share but only 
after the rest of the family, including Dad, had con 
sumed over 100 cookies. 

We use the most advanced technogenic cans, coat 
the inside with enamel and create a stabilized storage 
atmosphere. Everything possible has been done to insure 
that our food could be stored for long periods of time. 

However, we also use the finest naturally produced 
foods and that's why people seem to eat our food rather 
than store it. The simple facts are these, our food is not 
only less expensive to use in daily meals, it is also the 
best food you can get. 

If you want a food reserve to keep, then buy one 
of ours, but don't try it. 



UCI MINI-MOISTURE FOOD 
SO GOOD YOU CANT STORE IT. 



:£&$££» 




For Information Write To: UNITED COMMODITIES INTERNATIONAL 
BOX 2125, BEAUMONT, CALIFORNIA 92223 



the Church. I think this gives us two 
very important lessons: First, it is our 
responsibility to live so that we will 
influence the lives of people for good 
and that we will never cause doubt in 
their minds because of hypocrisy in 
our own lives. 

The other lesson is that we should 
always guard against letting hypocrisy 
in the lives of others influence our lives 
or cause us to doubt and fail to live 
according to the teachings of the gospel. 

It is most important that we as 
members of the Church stand firmly 
and unitedly in the cause of truth and 
righteousness. We have declared to 
the world that we have the gospel of 
Christ, that we are going to stand 
against vice. Shall we stand firm, or 
shall we waver and be driven by the 
wind and tossed? Shall we forsake the 
cause of righteousness in order to please 
men, because we desire to give lip 



service rather than heart service, or be- 
cause of some political power that is 
brought to bear upon us? 

We must not be like those to whom 
John referred when he said: "Neverthe- 
less among the chief rulers also many 
believed on him; but because of the 
Pharisees they did not confess him, . . . 

"For they loved the praise of men 
more than the praise of God." (John 
12:42-43.) 

Imagine the great influence the 
Church, with its approximately three 
million members, could have upon the 
world if each of us would be what we 
profess to be; if everyone were a real, 
truly dedicated Christian, living every 
day and not pretending; if we were 
honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtu- 
ous, doing good to all men, and always 
seeking for things virtuous, lovely, or 
of good report and praiseworthy. 

Let us listen to the prophets and live 



by their words. Let us not be guilty, 
as were the scribes and Pharisees of 
old, of increasing the agony of our 
Savior by rejecting him and his teach- 
ings, which he gave to us, together 
with his life, that we might have hap- 
piness here and eternal life hereafter. 
Let us not find ourselves in the condi- 
tion which he describes as he concludes 
his chastisement of the hypocrites: 

"Behold, your house is left unto you 
desolate. 

"For I say unto you, Ye shall not see 
me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed 
is he that cometh in the name of the 
Lord." (Matt. 23:38-39.) 

I bear testimony that God lives; that 
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living 
God; that the gospel has been restored; 
and that by living its teachings we will 
gain eternal life, for which I humbly 
pray in the name of Jesus Christ. 
Amen. O 




• My dear brothers and sisters: I hope 
that what I might say will be in keep- 
ing with the spirit of this conference. 

Recently I was perusing a newspaper 
and observed a column entitled "Lost 
and Found." Some of the lost items 
seemed particularly valuable, and un- 
doubtedly those of less monetary value 
would have sentimental significance to 
the owner. One notice read as follows: 
"Lost — in local department store, 
folder containing photos of a little boy 
and girl. Cannot be replaced. Re- 
ward." 

"Cannot be replaced." It might have 
been that the little boy and girl had 
grown up and left home, and these 
photos were precious memories of their 
childhood. To the owner they are 
priceless. It occurred to me that many 



people would be made very happy if 
all the items listed as "lost" could be 
transferred to the "found" list. 

In a very real way there are not only 
valuable items lost, but, of far greater 
value, lives that become lost — men and 
women and young people whose lives 
have been caught in the current maze 
of political economics and social strife 
that is causing crosscurrents of con- 
fusion, neglect, apathy, permissiveness, 
and wrongdoing. 

In our office, we frequently receive 
letters from bishops and parents in 
various parts of the country asking for 
help in locating a teenager who has 
left home. These letters tear at our 
emotions as we share the feelings of 
parents in their great concern for the 
welfare of their son or daughter. 



Notices are sent to all the wards, 
containing pictures and descriptions of 
these young people, with the hope that 
they may be located and persuaded to 
return home. We usually hear nothing 
more, and we wonder if these "lost" 
young people are ever found, for we 
know they "cannot be replaced." 

We hope that in all cases they "come 
to themselves" or "find" themselves 
and return home, as did the prodigal 
son who took his inheritance and went 
to a far country and spent it in riotous 
living. 

And we hope also that when and if 
they do return, they will receive the 
kind of welcome described in the 
parable Jesus taught. For this father, 
ever praying and ever watching, saw his 
son from a great way off and had corn- 



Era, December 1970 35 



passion, and ran and fell on his neck 
and kissed him. It is hoped also that 
those who return are as penitent as 
was the son when he said to his father, 
'I have sinned against heaven, and in 
thy sight, and am no more worthy to 
be called thy son," and that parents 
are as loving and as forgiving as 
the father who said to his servants, 
"Bring forth the best robe, and put it 
on him; and put a ring on his hand, 
and shoes on his feet: 

"And bring hither the fatted calf, 
and kill it, and let us eat, and be 
merry: 

"For this my son was dead, and is 
alive again; he was lost, and is 
found " (Luke 15:21-24.) 

I imagine this son was a sorry sight 
after what he had been through, hav- 
ing just left a job as a swineherd, but 
his rather did not treat him like the 
vagrant he appeared to be. He put the 
best robe upon him and treated him 
like a prince. Do you suppose this 
made any difference in the way the son 
reacted? Do you believe the statement 
of the German dramatist Goethe when 
he said: "If you treat a man as he is 
he will stay as he is, but if you treat 
him as if he were what he ought to be, 
and could be, he will be that bigger 
and better man." 

From the teachings of the Savior we 
know that he was greatly concerned 
with those who were lost. 

You will remember the story of 
Lazarus, the brother of Mary and 
Martha. When Jesus received the mes- 
sage, "Lord, behold, he whom thou 
lovest is sick," he stated, "This sick- 
ness is not unto death, but for the glory 
of God, that the Son of God might be 
glorified thereby." 

Nevertheless, Lazarus died, and Jesus 
knew he was dead; yet he tarried for 
two days where he was before saying 
to his apostles, "Let us go into Judea 
again." Apparently astonished, they 
tried to dissuade the Master, saying, 
". . . the Jews of late sought to stone 
thee; and goest thou thither again?" 
Then, in his teaching wisdom, Jesus 
answered, "Are there not twelve hours 
in the day? If any man walk in the 
day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth 
the light of this world. 

"But if a man walk in the night, 
he stumbleth, because there is no light 
in him." 

Having taught his disciples that he 
was the "light and life" of the world, 
is it possible that he was teaching them 
again that, regardless of whatever ob- 
stacles might present themselves, the 
real purpose of his gospel and of their 
mission was to bring light into the lives 
of those who are in darkness, that they 
might not stumble? Was he saying 



that reclaiming men from sin and 
darkness was one of the prime purposes 
of his gospel? 

After this lesson, Jesus then stated 
to his disciples: "Our friend Lazarus 
sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake 
him out of sleep." The disciples re- 
marked that if the man was sleeping 
it would be well with him. Jesus made 
it plain by saying, "Lazarus is dead." 

When Jesus arrived on the outskirts 
of the town, Martha met him, saying, 
"Lord, if thou hadst been here, my 
brother had not died." And when 
Jesus told her, "Thy brother shall rise 
again," Martha, understanding the 
meaning of the resurrection, answered, 
"I know that he shall rise again in the 
resurrection at the last day." Then 
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection, 
and the life: he that believeth in me, 
though he were dead, yet shall he live: 

"And whosoever liveth and believeth 
in me shall never die. . . ." 

Having asked to be taken to the 
tomb, Jesus directed that it be opened, 
answering the objection that the body 
had lain in the tomb four days by 
saying, "Said I not unto thee, that, if 
thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest 
see the glory of God?" 

The stone was removed, and Jesus, 
standing before the open portal, after 
praying to his Father in heaven, cried, 
"Lazarus, come forth." (See John 11:3- 
44.) The dead man heard this voice of 
command, and Lazarus, restored to life, 
came forth. He came forth to life and 
light — to the light of this world, Jesus 
Christ — that light to which all of us 
are entitled. If we walk in that light 
we will not stumble. Without it we 
will stumble in darkness. 

A number of years ago a group of 
Americans stood on a hilltop in north- 
ern France looking down on one of the 
old cities that had been partially de- 
stroyed during the war. As they 
watched, they saw the French lamp- 
lighter begin to light the lamps of the 
city, moving from one to another. Some 
lamps he found easy to light; others 
needed to be cleaned or adjusted before 
the light came forth. The old lamp- 
lighter moved from one side of the 
street to the other, performing his duty, 
and finally his faithfulness was re- 
warded as the highway was lighted 
and made safe for the traveler. 

So does Christ light the way for all 
of us, that we may not stumble in 
darkness on the path to eternal life. 
And so it is our responsibility to light 
the way for others. 

Some of these young people about 
whom the bishops write may be like 
the sheep that wandered off in igno- 
rance, bewildered in the darkness, as 
the rest of the flock returned to the 



fold. But the good shepherd left the 
ninety and nine who were safe and 
went in search of the one that was 
lost until he found it. This parable 
shows the great love of the Master for 
all of his children, for Jesus gave it in 
answer to the criticism of the Pharisees 
who felt that he should not associate 
with the publicans and sinners. 

Jesus knew the status of these so- 
called "outcasts." They had come to 
him as he supped. They knew that in 
him they had a friend who would give 
them courage to live a good life. 

Someone has said, "Some men die at 
thirty but are not buried until they are 
seventy," having observed that when a 
person ceases to grow in knowledge, 
ceases to grow in spirit, and fails to 
live up to his responsibilities, he 
withers and dies, even though he still 
walks upon the earth. People bring 
this premature death upon themselves 
by their own attitudes, as a self- 
inflicted punishment for turning away 
from the light of truth. Jesus may have 
had reference to these, hoping that 
they might change, when he said: ". . . 
he that believeth in me, though he 
were dead, yet shall he live; And who- 
soever liveth and believeth in me 
shall never die " (John 11:25-26.) 

The Master knows that even men in 
such a dormant status, more dead than 
alive, can be changed, and so he pur- 
sues them in his ever-loving, ever- 
caring, ever-forgiving way. 

Just as he organized his church in his 
day, conferring his authority upon his 
brethren, commanding them to pursue 
the salvation of mankind, so has he 
in these latter days restored his church 
and revealed his priesthood and com- 
missioned those who receive the priest- 
hood to warn, expound, exhort, teach, 
and invite all to come unto Christ. 
Then, as members do come into his 
church, he also commissions his priest- 
hood to visit the house of each member, 
exhorting them to pray vocally and in 
secret and to attend to all family duties. 
For this is the only way to keep his 
kingdom strong. His charge to us is to 
be with and strengthen our brethren. 

To those who diligently pursue such 
a course, miracles come to pass, evi- 
denced by testimonies that declare: 
"He was dead, and is alive again; he 
was lost, and is found." 

So wrote one sister : She, having been 
born and raised in another church, 
states that she and her Mormon hus- 
band lived the first years of their 
marriage without any religious activity. 
One evening two pleasant fellows ap- 
peared at their door and introduced 
themselves as home teachers. With 
little encouragement, they kept coming, 
month after month. Then the hus- 



36 



band began, for the first time, to read 
such Church books as he had. 

The sister said that when they moved 
to another town she packed the books 
away where she hoped her husband 
would never find them again. Sure 
enough, the couple again forgot about 
religion until other home teachers ar- 
rived at their new home. 

After the first visit of these new 
teachers, her husband searched for his 
books until he found them. The sister 
states that the one teacher was so 
friendly that they couldn't help liking 
him, and when he began inviting them 
to church affairs, they accepted because 
he seemed to really want them there, 
and they didn't want to disappoint 
him. 

"Finally," said the sister, "after call- 
ing for many months, he asked if he 
could offer a prayer in our home, and 
we didn't know how to refuse. So the 
first prayer ever offered in our home 
was by this home teacher. 

"About this time our teenage son 
began to complain at being sent to 
my church while neither his father nor 



I was attending church ourselves. So 
we compromised by attending the Mor- 
mon Church and my church on alter- 
nate Sundays. 

"Our home teachers had been call- 
ing on us for about two years when 
they asked if the missionaries might 
call. (We had had them in our former 
town, but I had refused to listen to 
them.) This time I agreed to hear the 
missionaries but failed to make any 
effort to listen or understand and re- 
fused to read any of the material that 
was given to me. After the fourth call, 
the missionaries handed me more 
pamphlets and suggested that I read 
fifty more pages in the Book of Mormon 
(I had read none of the book yet) ; then 
one of them said good-naturedly, 'Now 
you can get further behind.' 

"Suddenly I was ashamed of my 
attitude and determined to read the 
entire Book of Mormon before his next 
visit. I carried out this promise, and 
when the missionaries returned I told 
them I wanted to be baptized." As a 
result of these efforts by the priesthood 
brethren, the family was unified and is 



now enjoying the true purpose of life 
in harmony with the principles and 
teachings of the gospel. 

Certainly we do not lack for oppor- 
tunities to help those who have turned 
away and become dormant. Nor do we 
need to lack courage in our pursuit as 
we listen to the words of the Lord: 

"Verily I say, men should be anx- 
iously engaged in a good cause, and do 
many things of their own free will, and 
bring to pass much righteousness; 

"For the power is in them, wherein 
they are agents unto themselves. And 
inasmuch as men do good they shall in 
nowise lose their reward." (D&C 
58:27-28.) 

No obstacle can keep a faithful 
servant from his blessing as he brings 
light into the life of his brother or 
sister, for the blessing is this: 

"And if it so be that you should labor 
all your days . . . and bring, save it be 
one soul unto me, how great shall be 
your joy with him in the kingdom of 
my Father!" (D&C 18:15.) 

In the name of Jesus Christ. 
Amen. Q 




• I am grateful this morning, my 
brothers and sisters, both seen and 
unseen, for the message of our great 
President, for his challenge to us to 
return to the fundamentals. I thought, 
if only the world would heed his 
words and get down to the things that 
matter most. 

It reminded me of a little experi- 
ence I had recently in Vermont. I 
was attempting to find a shortcut to 
the little town of Rutland, and I took 
one of those exciting back-road routes 
and soon became hopelessly lost. I 
came to a fork in the road. I noticed 
a farmer standing in the field, so I 
wound down the window and I asked, 
"Say, fella, does it matter which road 
I take to Rutland?" He said, "It 
doesn't matter to me at all." I think 
sometimes the world has that problem. 



In the upper part of New England 
we sometimes get snowbound, and 
once after a rather heavy storm I fol- 
lowed a snowplow into Saint Johns- 
bury. The town had been isolated 
some eight days. Again, I was lost. In 
seeking help I went into a little country 
store, and sitting there on the typical 
cracker barrel was another Vermonter. 
I asked, "Tell me, sir, what do you do 
all winter when you get snowbound?" 
He said, "We just sit and think, mostly 
sit." 

I think that might be a major prob- 
lem in the world: we are sitting rather 
than thinking and acting. 

I am grateful for the opportunity to 
greet you once again and to bring spe- 
cial greetings from America's birth- 
place, New England. It is wonderful 
to see the mountains of the West and 



the beauty of fall as it unfolds before 
us. I love this great country. 

Fall also brings the crisp days and 
chilly nights- that signal the start of 
the football season. Those of you who 
take an active interest in sports, and 
know of football's importance in turn- 
ing boys into men, were saddened J 
recently as I was in learning of the 
passing of that great football coach and 
builder of men, Vince Lombardi. Here 
was a man who came to a last-place 
team comprised of men who had for- 
gotten what winning was — a team with 
no spirit, no confidence, and no respect 
—and in three short years he turned 
them into a team of world champions. 
But being a champion once didn't 
satisfy Vince Lombardi. He and his 
team went on to win again and again, 
game after game, title after title. The 



Era, December 1970 37 




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Green Bay Packers soon became the 
winningest team in professional foot- 
ball. Here was a man who could be as 
mean as a lion, yet gentle as a lamb. 
A man who said God and family 
should come first. A man who taught 
that not only physical toughness is 
important, but spiritual and mental 
toughness are also essential to success, 
and a man who said to all those who 
have problems and sometimes get dis- 
couraged, that "winning isn't every- 
thing, but wanting to win is." 

I submit to you that we as a people, 
member and nonmember alike, can 
learn some meaningful and timely 
lessons from the life of that great man. 

One of the great attributes of the 
Church is that we too are building 
men. I have under my direction in 
New England some 175 of the finest 
young men and women anywhere in 
the world. I have great faith and 
confidence in them and the things they 
do. We appreciate you fine parents 
who sacrifice so that your sons and 
daughters can fulfill missions. You are 
doing them a great service, and you in 
turn are being blessed. In private in- 
terview and in testimony meetings, 
they often express love for you and for 
their families. You may rest assured 
they are very happy. 

I might just say here parenthetically 
that one of the challenges of a mission 
president is to keep a physical balance 
in missionaries as well as the spiritual 
and mental. I saw two of my assistants 
on my return home, and I noticed they 
had taken off about thirty pounds 
which was needed. The Saints are good 
to them in the field. These same two 
assistants, in trying to help a little 
97-pound weakling put on a little 
weight, on one occasion approached 
him and said, "Elder, it looks like 
you've been through a famine." And 
this sharp little elder came right back 
and said, "And you two look like you 
caused it." 

Since the days of Joseph Smith, over 
seven hundred million dollars have 
been spent by parents to send their 
children on missions. One mother re- 
cently said to me, "I agree with you, 
Brother Dunn, that the accent is on 
the youth, but the stress is still on the 
parents." 

Sister Dunn and I recently visited 
with a Harvard professor and his wife 
who had had some contact with the 
Church and the missionaries. This 
learned man, holder of many degrees, 
and his charming wife had noted some- 
thing special in these two young men 
who had borne their testimonies of the 
reality of God, the divinity of Christ, 
and of the restoration of the Church 
in these latter days. As we spoke, this 
professor said, "Mr. Dunn, what is it 
that gives these young men such a 



38 



strong conviction? What is this mis- 
sionary work really doing for people? 
What motivates them to give up two 
years of their lives? Why do you go to 
those who are already Christian? 
Wouldn't two years of college be of 
more value?" 

To answer these questions, we turn, 
as do all missionaries, to the scriptures, 
both ancient and modern. We read, 
for example, in Isaiah and Ephesians 
of the restoration of all things. We 
turned to Mark and read the words of 
Jesus, "Come ye after me, and I will 
make you to become fishers of men' 
(Mark 1:17), and "Go ye into all the 
world, and preach the gospel to every 
creature" (Mark 16:15). 

As the evening progressed, Sister 
Dunn and I were able to explain to 
this couple the very purpose and the 
fruits of missionary work. We told 
them that a mission helps a young- 
man to find out who he really is. It 
helps him to set patterns, attitudes, 
and habits that will carry into his 
adult life. I just personally believe it 
is easier to build a boy than to mend a 
man. We told them that for our young 
people a mission is life in miniature; 
it's a journey, not a camp. 

We answered their inquiry when we 
explained to them the visitation of the 
Father and the Son to the Prophet 
Joseph in 1820. Although we realize 
the great good that other churches are 
doing in the world, the Lord said, and 
I remind you: ". . . they teach for 
doctrines the commandments of men, 
having a form of godliness, but they 
deny the power thereof." (Joseph 
Smith 2:19.) 

A mission most of all provides the 
chance for people to accept the gospel 
and to take upon them the name of 
Christ through faith, repentance, bap- 
tism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. 
The reason we go to those who are 
already of a Christian faith is because 
we believe that the was in Christianity 
still is. We believe that Paul on the 
road to Damascus is no different from 
Joseph Smith in the grove — now called 
sacred. God speaks today! 

About knowledge: We read from 
Moses that "the glory of God is intelli- 
gence." This great educator was much 
impressed with the Mormon philosophy 
of education that includes the whole 
man. College and money are impor- 
tant, and I don't want to minimize 
them, but in making a living don't 
forget to make a life. The words of the 
Savior, filled with truth and wisdom, 
sounded again as we read, ". . . what 
shall it profit a man, if he shall gain 
the whole world, and lose his own 
soul?" (Mark 8:36.) A mission teaches 
that spirituality is important. 

I related to this educator and his 
fine wife how acceptance of the gospel 



Era, December 1970 39 




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and the way of life can provide the 
opportunity for people to change atti- 
tudes, and thus their lives. 

During the past year I have watched 
one of society's outcasts, an ex-convict, 
rise from the depths of a prison cell to 
become a responsible citizen, a worthy 
Latter-day Saint. This man's life was 
changed because two of our mission- 
aries brought him a message of hope 
and of salvation. He had thought 
because of his past all was lost and 
his chance had passed. But these two 
young elders brought him the gospel 
and a new way of life. 

Unfortunately there are some in this 
world who continue to ignore or in- 
validate the principle of true repen- 
tance and say, "Once a thief, always 
a thief," or "Leopards don't change 
their spots." Need I remind you who 
say such things that we don't work with 
leopards; we work with men, and men 
change every day. 

Our missionaries knock on each door 
knowing and believing that a basic 
premise of this church is that when 
men and women are motivated by the 
proper spirit, they can and do change 
their lives. 

Only a few short years ago President 
McKay stood at this very pulpit and 
said that the purpose of the gospel was 
to make bad men good and good men 
better. This same young man whose 
life was once tattered and scarred with 
sin sat in our living room just a few 
days ago and said, "Brother Dunn, I 



thank God every day for the elders who 
brought me the gospel and had the 
patience to teach me. I know the 
gospel is true for I have lived it; and 
although I'm not what I ought to be, 
and I'm not what I'm going to be, I am 
not what I was." 

Such are the fruits of missionary 
work. Again the words of the Savior 
ring through the ages to the convert, 
to the missionaries, to the college pro- 
fessor, to you, and to me. It was Jesus 
who said that when we lose ourselves 
in the service of others, then, and only 
then, can we find ourselves and possess 
true joy and happiness. Gratitude, is 
the memory of the heart, and if a mis- 
sionary did no more than to help one 
convert like this catch the vision of the 
gospel, his two years would be well 
spent. 

The Lord told us that if we labor 
all our days and bring save it be one 
soul to him, great shall be our joy 
with him in the kingdom of our Father. 

As the evening passed, Sister Dunn 
and I gave this couple from Cambridge 
a brief history of the missionary system 
of the Church. We told them of the 
day when Parley P. Pratt stood in a 
river for six hours, baptizing people 
one after the other. We told them how 
Wilford Woodruff converted 1800 
people in eight months. We reviewed 
the proselyting program of the Church 
from Samuel Smith in 1831 up to 
1970, and we noted that close to one 
thousand of their New England neigh- 



bors would join the Church this year. 

The visit ended. We closed with our 
personal testimony and extended an 
invitation to this couple to come join 
with us. What a spiritual thrill to see 
distinguished, capable, academic giants 
humble themselves before the Master 
and accept his simple gospel teachings. 
Yes, missionary work is a calling in 
which one may find many rewards, for 
true joy comes in giving and teaching 
the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The first prophet of this dispensa- 
tion, Joseph Smith, who lived and died 
a missionary, gave us his summary of 
the importance of this work when he 
penned the following to John Went- 
worth: "Our missionaries are going 
forth to different nations, and in Ger- 
many, Palestine, New Holland, Aus- 
tralia, the East Indies, and other 
places, the Standard of Truth has been 
erected; no unhallowed hand can stop 
the work from progressing; persecutions 
may rage, mobs may combine, armies 
may assemble, calumny may defame, 
but the truth of God will go forth 
boldly, nobly, and independent, till it 
has penetrated every continent, visited 
every clime, swept every country, and 
sounded in every ear, till the purposes 
of God shall be accomplished, and the 
Great Jehovah shall say the work is 
done." (Documentary History of the 
Church, vol. 4, p. 540.) To this I 
testify as I bear my solemn witness to 
the work, in the name of Jesus Christ. 
Amen. O 




• If you want to get the most out of 
this life — or as a result of this life — 
you need to know first the purpose for 
which this earth was created and why 
we are here. 

The Lord revealed to Abraham, in 
vision, the council of the Gods con- 
templating the creation of this earth, 
and God said: 

"We will go down, for there is space 
there, and we will take of these ma- 



terials, and we will make an earth 
whereon these may dwell; 

"And we will prove them herewith, 
to see if they will do all things what- 
soever the Lord their God shall com- 
mand them; 

"And they who keep their first estate 
shall be added upon; and they who 
keep not their first estate shall not have 
glory in the same kingdom with those 
who keep their first estate; and they 



who keep their second estate shall have 
glory added upon their heads for ever 
and ever." (Abr. 3:24-26.) 

This is a concise statement of the 
primary purpose for this earth. 

To "prove them herewith": That 
means to test us, to see if we will do all 
things whatsoever the Lord our God 
shall command us. 

No wonder the law of obedience is 
called the first law of heaven. In 1 



Era, December 1970 41 



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Samuel 15:22, we read, obedience is 
better than sacrifice. All the bless- 
ings and benefits of sacrifice come as 
a result of obedience. 

The first law taught to Adam and 
Eve was the law of obedience. After 
they were driven from the Garden of 
Eden, Adam built an altar and offered 
sacrifice. An angel of the Lord ap- 
peared to him and asked why he was 
offering sacrifice, and he answered, "I 
know not, save the Lord commanded 
me." (Moses 5:6.) 

Then the angel taught him why, 
saying that "this thing is a similitude 
of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten 
of the Father, which is full of grace 
and truth." (Moses 5:7.) 

Often commandments are given 
without our knowing why; then the 
reasons come later. ■ 

We are too often afraid of what is 
called blind obedience, but obedience 
to God is always right — blind or other- 
wise. To Abraham the Lord said: 

"And in thy seed shall all the na- 
tions of the earth be blessed; because 
thou hast obeyed my voice." (Gen. 
22:18.) 

In Deuteronomy the Lord said: 

"Behold, I set before you this day a 
blessing and a curse; 

"A blessing, if ye obey the command- 
ments of the Lord your God, . . . 

"And a curse, if ye will not obey the 
commandments. . . ." (Deut. 11:26-28.) 

Paul declared to the Hebrews, speak- 
ing of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 
"Though he were a Son, yet learned 
he obedience by the things which he 
suffered." (Heb. 5:8.) 

If it was necessary for Jesus, the Son 
of God, to learn obedience, then how 
much more is it necessary for us? 

The Prophet Joseph Smith has said: 

"There is a law, irrevocably decreed 
in heaven before the foundations of 
this world, upon which all blessings 
are predicated — 

"And when we obtain any blessing 
from God, it is by obedience to that 
law upon which it is predicated." (D&C 
130:20-21.) 

We have several laws given to us 
today that are opportunities for us to 
express in outward evidences that we 
desire to be obedient to the laws of 
God. To name a few: 

We have tithes and offerings and 
the Sabbath day. I don't know why we 
should need legislation to force us to 
keep the Sabbath day holy. 

Also, we are commanded to attend 
sacrament meetings, and there are other 
outward evidences. 

The Lord has also said: 

"And all saints who remember to 
keep and do these sayings, walking in 
obedience to the commandments. . . ." 
(D&C 89:18.) 



42 



This means all the commandments, 
including tithes and offerings, Sabbath 
day, sacrament meetings, etc. Then he 
adds the promise of the blessings of 
health, then adds this promise: "And 
shall find wisdom and great treasures 
of knowledge, even hidden treasures." 
(D&C 89:19.) 

What is a more "hidden treasure" 
than a testimony of the divinity of the 
gospel of Jesus Christ? This comes as 
a result of obedience to the laws of 
God, not just because we have good 
health. I have heard many converts 
tell how they learned to live the Word 
of Wisdom to join the Church. Good 
health is not a requirement to join the 
Church. Obedience is. Each one has 
said if that's what the Lord wanted, 
he would do it. 

The next step is natural : If you want 
to do what the Lord wants, then you 
must pray to him for help. It is not 
easy to change these habits; one needs 
the help of the Lord. After praying for 
help, it becomes much easier. 

Two things naturally follow: One 
loses the taste or desire for the tobacco, 
or coffee or other habits. Also, he gets 
a testimony of the divinity of the gospel 
of Jesus Christ. 

A classic and typical example is 
found in the current September issue 
of The Instructor. Marion Proctor and 
his wife, as investigators, had just been 
shocked with the law of the tithe and 
the Word of Wisdom. 

"... I hope you can appreciate what 
a shock this was, especially to a Scots- 
man. At first we said, 'No, we can't 
pay ten percent of our income.' The 
elders then promised us that we would 
be blessed by the Lord if we would do 
so. I thought this over for a couple of 
minutes, and told them we would pay 
tithing. 

"My wife slept well that night, but 
I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned, 
thinking about my telling the mission- 
aries I couldn't stop smoking right 
there and then, but would have to 
wait until the next night. I got up and 
went into the living room and knelt in 
prayer, and I talked to my Father in 
heaven. I asked him to give me help, 
to give me strength, to take away my 
craving for cigarettes, so that I could 
be baptized and enter His kingdom. I 
had tried to give up smoking on several 
previous occasions — even to the point 
of sending away for a smoker's cure — 
but had not been successful. As I knelt 
in prayer that night, however, I felt 
with all my heart that my Father in 
heaven would help me. I heard a voice 
say to me, 'Do not wait until tomor- 
row, but give up the smoking habit 
now. I will help you in every way, and 
you will be successful in giving up 
tobacco.' I felt joy and peace in my 



heart as I arose from my knees. 

"The next morning before I went to 
work, I looked at my tobacco and told 
myself I would leave it there and not 
smoke. When I came home I threw it 
in the fire. And since that time I have 
not had any desire to use tobacco." 
("Halfway Around the World," In- 
structor, September 1970, pp. 331-32.) 

Then his wife tells a similar story of 
her experiences. I have heard hundreds 
of similar stories. 

I'll never forget the two elderly sisters 
from down in the southern states — both 
widows. The older sister told me that 
when the missionaries told them of the 
Word of Wisdom, they gave it some 
serious thought. She asked some of 
her friends what they thought about her 
quitting. She had used tobacco all 
her life. They told her it was foolish at 
her age — in the mid-80s. She then 
asked her doctor. He warned her that 
she couldn't stand the shock — it might 
even be the end of her. 

Then she said she started to reason: 
"I am over 80 — I don't know how much 
longer I can live anyway. I need to 
prepare to meet my Maker. If I try, 
and I die in the attempt, I can say to 
my Maker, 'I was trying to do what I 
thought you wanted me to do.' " 

Any way she looked at it she was 
doing what she thought "He" would 
want her to do, literally putting her 
life in the balance. 

She quit and waited for something 
to happen — which didn't. Instead of 



its hurting her, she noticed that she was 
feeling better all the time. 

She told her sister what had hap- 
pened to her, and her sister said, "If 
you can do it, I can. You wait for me 
and we'll both join this church." 

A year later they came to my office 
and told me their story. Each had been 
to the temple and been sealed to her 
husband. 

Though they were in their upper 80s, 
they had not only gained the blessings 
of health promised, but had gained the 
blessings of eternal sealings for ever 
and ever. 

Do you think the blessings for living 
the Word of Wisdom are just health 
blessings? If you keep the Word of 
Wisdom you will be obedient to all the 
laws, including tithing, keeping the 
Sabbath day holy, and loving your 
fellowmen. The Savior has said: "You 
shall have glory added upon your head 
for ever and ever." 

When Jesus was asked by the lawyer, 
"Master, which is the great command- 
ment in the law? 

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
all thy mind. 

"This is the first and great com- 
mandment. 

"And the second is like unto it, Thou 
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

"On these two commandments hang 
all the law and the prophets." (Matt. 
22:36-40.) 



What a different world this would 
be, if we all heeded this counsel. 

I like this statement by President 
George Albert Smith. He said: 

". . . When I was a child I recog- 
nized, or thought I did, that the com- 
mandments of the Lord were His laws 
and regulations for my guidance. I 
thought I recognized in the disobedi- 
ence to those laws that punishment 
would follow, and as a child, I presume 
I may have felt that the Lord had so 
arranged affairs and so ordained mat- 
ters in this life that I must obey certain 
laws or swift retribution would follow. 
But as I grew older I have learned the 
lesson from another viewpoint, and 
now to me the laws of the Lord, 
so called, the counsels contained in 
the Holy Scriptures, the revelations 
of the Lord to us in this day and age of 
the world, are but the sweet music 
of the voice of our Father in heaven, in 
His mercy to us. They are but the 
advice and counsel of a loving parent, 
who is more concerned in our welfare 
than earthly parents can be, and conse- 
quently that which at one time seemed 
to bear the harsh name of law to me is 
now the loving and tender advice of an 
all-wise heavenly Father." (Conference 
Report, October 1911, pp. 43-44.) 

The Savior said, on another occasion, 
"If ye love me, keep my command- 
ments." (John 14:15.) May we all, with 
all our efforts, be obedient to his com- 
mandments, I pray in the name of 
Jesus Christ. Amen. Q 




• We are privileged to live in a beau- 
tiful world. As we admire its majesties 
and beauties, with man as its final 
and crowning creation, we are filled 
with wonderment and awe. Surely 
these developments did not come about 



by mere chance, but must be the re- 
sult of the handiwork of a divine and 
inspired architect and creator. 

An illustrious biologist, after many 
years of study and meditation, con- 
cluded that "the probability of life 



originating from accident is comparable 
to the probability of the Unabridged 
Dictionary resulting from an explosion 
in a printing office." (Professor Edwin 
Conklin, as quoted in Reader's Digest, 
April 1956.) 



Era, December 1970 43 



We are torn on every hand by man- 
made intellectual theories and doctrines. 
And among us we have "doubting 
Thomases," who lack faith and who 
do not recognize a Heavenly Being as 
the creator of all these wonders. They 
cry out, "There is no God," or "God 
is dead." 

Faithful Latter-day Saints heartily 
disagree with these extreme, false, un- 
true statements. We declare to the 
world that God is not dead, but rather 
that he is "the beginning and the end, 
the same which looked upon the wide 
expanse of eternity, and all the seraphic 
hosts of heaven, before the world was 
made." (D&C 38:1.) We bear solemn 
witness that God does live and that 
the first principle of the gospel is to 
have faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, 
and in God, our Heavenly Father. We 
further declare to the world and bear 
witness that we are the spiritual off- 
spring of heavenly parents. 

Our true genesis, we declare, is that 
we did not come here by chance or by 
a whim of nature, but we came here 
by divine right, which we earned be- 
cause of our faithfulness in a previous 
estate. Our eternal spirits are clothed 
in mortal bodies made in the image of 
our Father. We do not remember what 
happened in that former estate, as a 
veil has been drawn that obscures our 
memory. We don't have all the an- 
swers here. 

The Lord has made it plain that we 
must be prepared to grope and see as 
"through a glass darkly," but we have 
been given the assurance that one 
bright day we shall see clearly and our 
vision will be undimmed. 

In the meantime we must be con- 
tent to accept many things on faith. 
Some have referred to this as blind 
faith or blind obedience. But I have 
never been persuaded that faith or 
obedience was blind when the request 
to perform some duty or task came 
from one in whom I had complete 
confidence and trust. Rather than term 
it blind obedience, I prefer to call it 
trusting or implicit faith. 

I like the beautiful lesson taught and 
the impressive example set by our first 
parent, Father Adam. He was com- 
manded by the Lord to offer the first- 
lings of his flocks as a sacrifice. He 
did not know the reason for the request, 
but without hesitation he was obedient 
to the commandment: "And after many 
days an angel of. the Lord appeared 
unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou 
offer sacrifices unto the Lord?" Adam 
responded with this magnificent, trust- 
ing reply: "I know not, save the Lord 
commanded me." (Moses 5:5-6.) To 
Adam it was not a matter of blind 
obedience, but rather it displayed his 
complete and unwavering confidence 



and faith in the word and instruction 
from the Lord. 

During our lifetime there will un- 
doubtedly come times when we may 
be asked by our Church leaders to 
carry out an assignment or perform 
some duty. We may not be aware of 
the reason for the request at the time 
nor after. But I am confident that if 
we have faith in our leaders and render 
obedience to them, the Lord will bless 
and reward us for our faithfulness. 

The Lord has endowed some indi- 
viduals with a gift and capacity for 
possessing and exercising great powers 
of faith. Such a man was Henry A^ 
Dixon. Although married and with a 
family of many children, when called 
by the First Presidency to fill a mis- 
sion to Great Britain, he readily ac- 
cepted the call without hesitation. With 
three missionary traveling companions, 
he embarked from St. John Island at 
Newfoundland on the steamship Ari- 
zona. 

En route a furious storm arose. As 
the missionaries were preparing to 
have their evening prayers prior to 
retiring, they felt a shocking jolt that 
caused the entire ship to quiver. As 
they rushed to the deck they discovered 
that the ship, traveling at full speed, 
had rammed a gigantic iceberg. A 
huge, gaping hole had been torn in the 
prow of the vessel, which extended 
even below the water line. The captain 
advised that only in a calm sea could 
he and the crew bring the ship to the 
nearest port, which was some 250 miles 
away. 

The wind and the storm continued 
unabated. Many hours later and un- 
able to sleep, Elder Dixon arose, 
dressed, and walked to the deck. Stand- 
ing there alone in the dark, with deep 
humility and great faith, by the power 
of the Holy Priesthood, he rebuked the 
waves and commanded them to be 
still. 

Thirty-six hours later the ship was 
able to return and dock at Port St. 
John. In accordance with Elder Dixon's 
promise, not a single life had been lost. 

When the ship's owner, a Mr. Guion, 
learned of the accident, and knowing 
that Mormon missionaries were aboard, 
he was quoted as saying: "There is 
nothing to worry about. My line has 
transported Mormon missionaries for 
forty years and has never lost a boat 
with Mormon missionaries aboard!" 

Not only was faith a powerful force 
in this instance, but it is also a strong 
and motivating factor in the lives of 
numerous individuals, bringing to them 
comfort and peace of mind. 

During the winter of 1834-1835 a 
theological school was established in 
Kirtland. It was the custom at the 
school to call upon a certain member 



to speak for the edification of the 
others. Heber C. Kimball, on one 
occasion, was invited to address them 
on the subject of faith. He began by 
relating an incident that had occurred 
but recently in his own family. "My 
wife, one day," commenced Brother 
Kimball, "when going out on a visit, 
gave our daughter Helen Mar charge 
not to touch the dishes," as they were 
very scarce, expensive, and hard to 
replace. She advised her that if she 
broke any during her absence, she 
would punish her when she returned. 
"While my wife was absent," con- 
tinued Brother Kimball, "my daughter 
broke a number of the dishes by letting 
the table leaf fall " 

The little girl was greatly fright- 
ened and "went out under an apple 
tree and prayed that her mother's 
heart might be softened, that when she 
returned she would not spank her. 
Her mother was very punctual," said 
Brother Kimball, "when she made a 
promise to her children, to fulfill it, 
and when she returned, she undertook, 
as a duty, to carry this promise into 
effect. She retired with [the little girl] 
into her room, but found herself 
powerless to chastise her; her heart was 
so softened that it was impossible for 
her to raise her hand against the child. 
Afterwards, Helen told her mother she 
had prayed to the Lord that she might 
not whip her." 

Brother Heber paused in his simple 
narrative. Tears glistened in the eyes 
of his listeners; the Prophet Joseph, 
who was a warm and tender-hearted 
man, was also weeping. He told the 
brethren that that was the kind of 
faith they needed: "the faith of a little 
child, going in humility to its Parents, 
and asking for the desire of its heart." 
He complimented Brother Kimball and 
said "the anecdote was well-timed." 
(Orson F. Whitney, Life of Heber C. 
Kimball [Bookcraft, 1945], pp. 69-70.) 

At the general conference held last 
April, at a solemn assembly here in the 
Tabernacle, the names of a new First 
Presidency were presented and sus- 
tained. These brethren, whom the 
Lord has chosen and designated to be 
the three presiding high priests, did 
not seek the high and holy callings 
that came to them; but throughout 
their lives they lived and worked 
so that when the positions sought them, 
they were prepared to humbly accept 
those callings. I have faith in them 
and earnestly pray that they may be 
blessed, magnified, and sustained, and 
that we as members of the Church may 
have the faith and good judgment to 
follow their inspired leadership, as we 
go forward in this, the Lord's work; 
for this I pray, in the name of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen. O 



44 Era, December 1970 



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• As a people, we have three great 
loyalties: loyalty to God, loyalty to 
family, loyalty to country. ■ 

I come to you today with a plea to 
strengthen our families. 

It has been truly stated that "salva- 
tion is a family affair . . . and that the 
family unit is the most important or- 
ganization in time or in eternity." 

The Church was created in large 
measure to help the family, and long 
after the Church has performed its 
mission, the celestial patriarchal order 
will still be functioning. This is why 
President Joseph F. Smith said: "To be 
a successful father or a successful 
mother is greater than to be a success- 
ful general or a successful statesman 
. . . ," and President McKay added: 
"When one puts business or pleasure 
above his home, he, that moment, 
starts on the downgrade to soul 
weakness." 

And this is why President Harold B. 
Lee said only yesterday, "The Church 
must do more to help the home carry 
out its divine mission." 

President Joseph Fielding Smith has 
stated that never "in the history of the 
Church have there been so many 
temptations, so many pitfalls, so many 
dangers, to lure away the members of 
the Church from the path of duty and 
from righteousness as we find today." 
(Take Heed to Yourselves, p. 127.) 
And he has also said: "This world is 
not growing better . . . wickedness is 
increasing." (Ibid., p. 207.) 

Never has the devil been so well 
organized, and never in our day has he 
had so many powerful emissaries work- 
ing for him. We must do everything 
in our power to strengthen and safe- 
guard the home and family. 



The adversary knows "that the home 
is the first and most effective place for 
children to learn the lessons of life: 
truth, honor, virtue, self-control; the 
value of education, honest work, and 
the purpose and privilege of life. Noth- 
ing can take the place of home in 
rearing and teaching children, and no 
other success can compensate for fail- 
ure in the home." (President David O. 
McKay, in Family Home Evening 
Manual, 1968-69, p. iii.) 

And so today, the undermining of the 
home and family is on the increase, 
with the devil anxiously working to dis- 
place the father as the head of the 
home and create rebellion among the 
children. The Book of Mormon de- 
scribes this condition when it states, 
"And my people, children are their 
oppressors, and women rule over them." 
And then these words follow — and 
consider these words seriously when 
you think of those political leaders who 
are promoting birth control and abor- 
tion: "O my people, they who lead 
thee cause thee to err and destroy the 
way of thy paths." (2 Ne. 13:12.) And 
let me warn the sisters in all seriousness 
that you who submit yourselves to an 
abortion or to an operation that pre- 
cludes you from safely having addi- 
tional healthy children are jeopardizing 
your exaltation and your future mem- 
bership in the kingdom of God. 

Parents are directly responsible for 
the righteous rearing of their children, 
and this responsibility cannot be safely 
delegated to relatives, friends, neigh- 
bors, the school, the church, or the 
state. 

"I appeal to you parents, take noth- 
ing for granted about your children," 
said President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. 



"The great bulk of them, of course, are 
good, but some of us do not know when 
they begin to go away from the path 
of truth and righteousness. Be watch- 
ful every day and hour. Never relax 
your care, your solicitude. Rule kindly 
in the spirit of the Gospel and the spirit 
of the priesthood, but rule, if you wish 
your children to follow the right path." 
Permissive parents are part of the 
problem. 

As a watchman on the tower, I feel 
to warn you that one of the chief 
means of misleading our youth and 
destroying the family unit is our edu- 
cational institutions. President Joseph 
F. Smith referred to false educational 
ideas as one of the three threatening 
dangers among our Church members. 
There is more than one reason why 
the Church is advising our youth to 
attend colleges close to their homes 
where institutes of religion are avail- 
able. It gives the parents the oppor- 
tunity to stay close to their children; 
and if they have become alert and 
informed as President McKay admon- 
ished us last year, these parents can 
help expose some of the deceptions of 
men like Sigmund Freud, Charles Dar- 
win, John Dewey, Karl Marx, John 
Keynes, and others. 

Today there are much worse things 
that can happen to a child than not 
getting a full college education. In 
fact, some of the worst things have 
happened to our children while attend- 
ing colleges led by administrators who 
wink at subversion and amoral ity. 

Said Karl G. Maeser, "I would rather 
have my child exposed to smallpox, 
typhus fever, cholera, or other malig- 
nant and deadly diseases than to the 
degrading influence of a corrupt 



46 Era, December 1970 



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teacher. It is infinitely better to take 
chances with an ignorant, but pure- 
minded teacher than with the greatest 
philosopher who is impure." 

Vocational education, correspondence 
courses, establishment in a family 
business are being considered for their 
children by an increasing number of 
parents. 

The tenth plank in Karl Marx's 
Manifesto for destroying our kind of 
civilization advocated the establish- 
ment of "free education for all children 
in public schools." There were sev- 
eral reasons why Marx wanted govern- 
ment to run the schools. Dr. A. A. 
Hodge pointed out one of them when 
he said, "It is capable of exact 
demonstration that if every party in the 
State has the right of excluding from 
public schools whatever he does not 
believe to be true, then he that believes 
most must give way to him that be- 
lieves least, and then he that believes 
least must give way to him that 
believes absolutely nothing, no matter 
in how small a minority the atheists 
or agnostics may be. It is self-evident 
that on this scheme, if it is consistently 
and persistently carried out in all parts 
of the country, the United States sys- 
tem of national popular education will 
be the most efficient and widespread 
instrument for the propagation of 
atheism which the world has ever 
seen." 

After the tragic prayer decision was 
made by the Court, President David O. 
McKay stated, "The Supreme Court of 
the United States severs the connecting 
cord between the public schools of the 
United States and the source of divine 
intelligence, the Creator, himself." 
(Relief Society Magazine, December 
1962, p. 878.) 

Does that make any difference to 
you? Can't you see why the demand 
of conscientious parents is increasing 
the number of private Christian and 
Americanist oriented schools? 

Today, Brigham Young University is 
the largest private school in the United 
States. Parents from far and near are 
looking to Brigham Young University 
as never before. 

Now, whether your child attends this 
type of school or not, it is important 
that you stay close to your children, 
daily review, if possible, what they 
have learned in school, and go over 
their textbooks. 

President Joseph Fielding Smith has 
stated that in public schools you can- 
not get a textbook, anywhere that he 
knows of, on the "ologies" that doesn't 
contain nonsense. (Take Heed to Your- 
selves, p. 32.) 

I know one noble father who reviews 
with his children regularly what they 
have been taught; and if they have 



been taught any falsehoods, then the 
children and the father together re- 
search out the truth. If your children 
are required to put down on exams the 
falsehoods that have been taught, then 
perhaps they can follow President 
Joseph Fielding Smith's counsel of 
prefacing their answer with the words 
"teacher says," or they might say "you 
taught" or "the textbook states." 

If your children are taught untruths 
on evolution in the public schools or 
even in our Church schools, provide 
them with a copy of President Joseph 
Fielding Smith's excellent rebuttal in 
his book Man, His Origin and Destiny. 

Recently some parents paid for space 
in a newspaper to run an open letter 
to the school principal of their son. 
The letter in part stated: 

"You are hereby notified that our 

son, , is not allowed by his 

undersigned parents to participate in, 
or be subject to instruction in, any 
training or education in sex, human 
biological development, attitude de- 
velopment, self-understanding, person- 
al and family life, or group therapy, or 
sensitivity training, or self-criticism, or 
any combination or degree thereof, 
without the consent of the undersigned 
by express written permission. . . . 

"We intend to retain and exercise 
our parental rights to guide our child 
in the areas of morality and sexual be- 
havior without any interference or 
contradiction imposed by school per- 
sonnel. 

" [Our son] has been taught to recog- 
nize the format of sensitivity training, 
group therapy, self-criticism, etc., as it 
is being broadly applied, lowering 
the standards of morality and replac- 
ing American individual responsibility 
with the dependency on, and con- 
formity to, the 'herd consensus' concept 
of collectivism. 

"He has been instructed to promptly 
remove himself from any class in 
which he is exposed to the aforemen- 
tioned indoctrination and to report to 
us any such disregard of this letter." 

The Lord knew that in the last days 
Satan would try to destroy the family 
unit. He knew that by court edict, 
pornography would be allowed to 
prosper. 

How grateful we should be that God 
inspired his prophet over half a cen- 
tury ago to institute the weekly home 
evening program. This is the van- 
guard for getting parents to assume the 
responsibility of instructing their 
children. An increasing number of 
faithful Saints are holding more than 
one home evening a week and are 
adding to or deleting from the home 
evening manual as the Spirit dictates.. 

Designed to strengthen and safe- 
guard the family, the Church home 



evening program (one night each week) 
is to be set apart for fathers and moth- 
ers to gather their sons and daughters 
around them in the home. Prayer is 
offered, hymns and other songs are 
sung, scripture is read, family topics 
are discussed, talent is displayed, prin- 
ciples of the gospel are taught, and 
often games are played and home- 
made refreshments served. 

Now here are the promised blessings 
for those who will hold a weekly 
home evening: 

"If the Saints obey this counsel, we 
promise that great blessings will result. 
Love at home and obedience to parents 
will increase. Faith will be developed 
in the hearts of the youth of Israel, 
and they will gain power to combat 
the evil influences and temptations 
which beset them." (First Presidency, 
April 27, 1915, Improvement Era, vol. 
18, p. 734.) 

Now what of the entertainment that 
is available to our young people today? 
Are you being undermined right in 
your home through your TV, radio, 
slick magazines, rock records? Much 
of the rock music is purposely designed 
to push immorality, narcotics, revolu- 
tion, atheism, and nihilism, through 
language that often has a double 
meaning and with which many par- 
ents are not familiar. 

Parents who are informed can warn 
their children of the demoralizing, 
loud, raucous beat of rock music, which 
deadens the senses and dulls the sensi- 
bilities — the jungle rhythm which 
inflames the savagery within. 

Said President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.: 

"I would have you reflect for a mo- 
ment upon the fact that a tremendous 
amount of the modern art, of the 
modern literature and music, and the 
drama that we have today is utterly 
demoralizing — utterly. . . . Your music 
— well, I do not know how far above 
the tom-tom of the jungle it is, but 
it is not too far. . . . 

"These things you must watch. They 
all have their effects on the children. 
Make your homelife as near heaven- 
like as you can." (Relief Society Maga- 
zine, December 1952, p. 798.) 

Youth leaders, are you holding aloft 
our standards or have you compromised 
them for the lowest common denomi- 
nator in order to appease the deceived 
or vile within the Church? Are the 
dances and music in your cultural halls 
virtuous, lovely, praiseworthy, and of 
good report, or do they represent a 
modern Sodom with short skirts, loud- 
beat, strobe lights, and darkness? 

Will our youth leaders accept the 
standards set for young John Wesley 
by his mother? Hear her sound 
counsel : 

"Would you judge of the lawfulness 



Era, December 1970 49 



or unlawfulness of pleasure? Take this 
rule: Now note whatever weakens your 
reason, impairs the tenderness of your 
conscience, obscures your sense of God, 
takes off your relish for spiritual things, 
whatever increases the authority of the 
body over the mind, that thing is sin 
to you, however innocent it may seem 
in itself." 

Have we, as Moroni warned, "pol- 
luted the holy church of God?" (Morm. 
8:38.) The auxiliaries of the Church 
are to be a help, not a hindrance, to 
parents and the priesthood as they 
strive to lead their families back to 
God. Do any of us wear or display the 
broken cross, anti-Christ sign, that is 
the adversary's symbol of the so-called 
"peace movement"? 

"My people are destroyed for lack 
of knowledge," lamented Hosea. (Hos. 
4:6.) Today, because some parents 
have refused to become informed and 
then stand up and inform their chil- 
dren, they are witnessing the gradual 
physical and spiritual destruction of 
their posterity. If we would become 
like God, knowing good and evil, then 
we had best find out what is under- 
mining us, how to avoid it, and what 
we can do about it. 

It is time that the hearts of us fathers 
be turned to our children and the 
hearts of the children be turned to us 
fathers, or we shall both be cursed. 
The seeds of divorce are often sown 
and the blessings of children delayed 
by wives working outside the home. 
Working mothers should remember 
that their children usually need more 
of mother than of money. 

As conditions in the world get pro- 
gressively worse, it is crucial that the 
.family draw closer together in righ- 
teousness and that family solidarity be 
established.' As one has said, "There 
are too many pulls away from the 
home today. We should seriously con- 
sider whether or not too many activi- 
ties and other interests take too much 
time and attention from our families, 
from our children, from those whom 
the Lord God gave us to love, to nour- 
ish, to teach, and to help through 
life." 

The stick-together families are happier 

by far 
Than the brothers and the sisters who 

take separate highways are. 
The gladdest people living are the 

wholesome folks who make 
A circle at the fireside that no power on 

earth can break. 
And the finest of conventions ever held 

beneath the sun 
Are the little family gatherings when 

the busy day is done. 
There are rich folk, there are poor folk, 

who imagine they are wise. 



And they're very quick to shatter all 

the little family ties. 
Each goes searching after pleasure in 

his own selected way. 
Each with strangers likes to wander, 

and with strangers likes to play. 
But it's bitterness they harvest, and it's 

empty joy they find, 
For the children that are wisest are the 

stick-together kind. 
There are some who seem to fancy 



that for gladness they must roam, 
That for smiles that are the brightest 

they must wander far from home. 
That the strange friend is the true 

friend, and they travel far astray 
And they waste their lives in striving 

for a joy that's far away, 
But the gladdest sort of people, when 

the busy day is done, 
Are the brothers and the sisters, who 

together share their fun. 




"The Spoken Word" from Temple 
Square, presented over KSL and 
the Columbia Broadcasting System 
October 11, 1970. ©1970. 



There is much said that isn't so 

By Richard L. Evans 

\ A A e l' ve ' n a t' me °f much talk, with opinions often expressed, 
\f \ /sometimes without much substance, and rumors that swiftly 
V Vcirculate, because someone heard that someone said that some- 
thing is so — and so opinions proliferate, and rumors run rampant, be- 
cause so many have the means of saying so much to so many, and 
because so much that is unproved is repeated, often without thinking 
much whether or m. i it is or isn't so. "What is the hardest task in the 
world?" asked Emerson. "To think."' And to this Dr. Frank Crane added 
some interesting sentences: "Don't pick up some opinion you hear, 
and make it your own because it sounds fine, and go to passing it out, 
without carefully examining it, scrutinizing, cross-questioning and test- 
ing it. . . . Don't be afraid to say, 'I don't know.' . . . What you ought to 
be ashamed of is seeming to understand when you don't. . . . Ask 
questions. Define— practice defining. Practice telling what a thing is 
not, as well as what it is. Get a clear idea of what you don't know. 
Then you can see better what you do know. . . . Don't let anybody 
make you think you owe a certain amount of belief in a thing simply 
because you can't disprove it. . . . You don't have to believe or dis- 
believe everything that comes along; most things you just hang up 
and wait." 2 Well, it all adds up to a simple conclusion: There is much 
said that isn't so. There is much opinion expressed that isn't proved. 
There is much rumor running around— and if we let ourselves be run 
by rumor we would find ourselves as James said: "like a wave of the sea 
driven with the wind and tossed." 3 

"The flying rumors gather'd as they roll'd, 
Scare any tale was sooner heard than told; 
And all who told it added something new 
And all who heard it made enlargements too." 4 
Everything we think and everything we hear aren't necessarily so. 



'Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, First Series: Intellect 

2 Dr. Frank Crane, four Minute Essays. 

3 |as. 1:6. 

4 Alexander Pope, The Temple of Fame. 



50 



It's the stick-together family that wins 

the joys of earth, 
That hears the sweetest music and 

that finds the finest mirth; 
It's the old home roof that shelters all 

the charm that life can give; 
There you find the gladdest playground, 

there the happiest spot to live. 
And, O weary, wandering hrother, if 

contentment you would win, 
Come you back unto the fireside and 

be comrade with your kin. 

(Adapted from a poem 
by Edgar A. Guest.) 

And so let's strengthen the family. 
Family and individual prayer, morning 
and evening, can invite the blessings of 
the Lord on your household. Mealtime 
provides a wonderful time to review 
the activities of the day and to not only 
feed the body, but to feed the spirit 



as well, with members of the family 
taking turns reading the scriptures, 
particularly the Book of Mormon. 
Nighttime is a great time for the busy 
father to go to each child's bedside, to 
talk with him, answer his questions, 
and tell him how much he is loved. 
In such homes there is no "generation 
gap." This deceptive phrase is another 
tool of the devil to weaken the home 
and family. Children who honor their 
parents and parents who love their 
children can make a home a haven of 
safety and a little bit of heaven. 

Does this poem describe your family 
gatherings? 

We are all here: 

Father, mother, 

Sister, brother, 
All who hold each other dear. 
Each chair is filled, we are all at home. 



Tonight, let no cold stranger come; 
It must be often thus around 
Our old familiar hearth we're found. 
Bless, then, the meeting and the spot. 
For once be every care forgot; 
Let gentle peace assert her power, 
And kind affection rule the hour. 
We're all — all here. 

(Adapted from a poem 
by Charles Sprague.) 

God bless us to strengthen our fami- 
lies by avoiding the crafty designs of 
the adversary and following the noble 
ways of the Lord, so that in due time 
we can report to our Heavenly Father 
in his celestial home that we are all 
there, father, mother, sister, brother, 
all who hold each other dear. Each 
chair is filled, we are all back home. 

In the name of Jesus Christ. 
Amen. O 




• Brethren and sisters: I have taken for 
my theme this afternoon, "The Key- 
stone of Our Religion." 

The Prophet Joseph Smith wrote in 
his diary for November 28, 1841: 

"I spent the day in the council with 
the Twelve Apostles at the house of 
President Young, conversing with them 
upon a variety of subjects. ... I told 
the brethren that the Book of Mormon 
was the most correct of any book on 
earth, and the keystone of our religion, 
and a man would get nearer to God by 
abiding by its precepts than by any 
other book." (Documentary History of 
the Church, vol. 4, p. 461. Italics 
added.) 

The authenticity of the Book of Mor- 
mon and the restoration of the gospel 
rest upon the same two fundamentals: 
first, the reality of modern revelation, 
and second, the fact that Joseph Smith 
was a prophet of God. These two veri- 



ties are inseparably connected in their 
relationship to the Book of Mormon 
and the restored gospel. To accept one 
of them is to accept the other. 

When Joseph Smith retired to bed 
on the night of September 21, 1823, 
he had no thought (and he had never 
had a thought) about the Book of 
Mormon. The matter that concerned 
him at that moment was his standing 
with the Lord. This, in prayer and 
supplication, he sought to determine. 
While praying, he was visited by 
Moroni, a personage sent from the 
presence of God, who told him that 
"there was a book deposited [in nearby 
Cumorah], written upon gold plates, 
giving an account of the former in- 
habitants of this continent, and the 
sources from whence they sprang. He 
also said that the fullness of the ever- 
lasting Gospel was contained in it, as 
delivered by the Savior to the ancient 



inhabitants; also that there were two 
stones in silver bows . . . deposited 
with the plates; . . . and that God had 
prepared them for the purpose of trans- 
lating the book." (DHC, vol. 1, p. 12.) 

In this interview, the Prophet re- 
ceived his first concept of the Book of 
Mormon. From that night until the 
book was published, Joseph was con- 
stantly guided from heaven in obtain- 
ing, caring for, and translating the 
sacred record. One of the most remark- 
able things concerning the Book of 
Mormon is the frequency and the final- 
ity with which the Lord himself testi- 
fied to its truth and divinity. 

Confirming his own participation in 
bringing forth the Book of Mormon, 
the Lord, in August 1830, said to the 
Prophet: "I . . . sent [Moroni] unto 
you to reveal the Book of Mormon, con- 
taining the fulness of my everlasting 
gospel..." (D&C27:5.) 



Era, December 1970 51 



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In the preface to the Doctrine and 
Covenants, the Lord said that he called 
upon "Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake 
unto him from heaven, and gave him 
commandments" that he might "have 
power to translate through the mercy 
of God, hy the power of God, the Book 
of Mormon." (D&C 1:17, 29.) The 
Lord also told the Three Witnesses that 
the Prophet had "translated the hook," 
and then he added, "as your Lord and 
your God liveth it is true." (D&C 17:6.) 

As the Prophet proceeded with the 
translation, he learned many great 
and marvelous truths. He learned that 
the concept of the Book of Mormon 
originated in the mind of the Lord 
Jesus himself — that both the source 
material for the record and the engrav- 
ings that he was translating were pre- 
pared by righteous men directed by 
God. 

He learned that, under the guidance 
of the Lord, the gathering of source 
material for the book began as early as 
2200 b.c, when the Lord commanded 
the brother of Jared "to go down out 
of the mount from the presence of the 
Lord, and write the things which he 
had seen." (Eth. 4:1.) He learned that 
the record thus begun was continued 
by commandment of the Lord until 
the end of the Jaredite era; that the 
complete Jaredite record miraculously 
came into the hands of Moroni, who, 
about a.d. 400, abridged it into the 
short record we know as the book of 
Ether. He learned that the things in 
this short abridgment were written by 
Moroni upon the plates he, Joseph, 
was translating, because, according to 
Moroni's own words, "the Lord hath 
commanded me to write them"; and 
Moroni continues: "... I have written 
upon these plates the very things 
which the brother of Jared saw" and 
the Lord "commanded me that I should 
seal them up; and he also hath com- 
manded that I should seal up the in- 
terpretation thereof; wherefore I have 
sealed up the interpreters, according 
to the commandment of the Lord." 
(Eth. 4:4-5.) 

Similar direction was given con- 
cerning the Nephite records: 

"The Lord commanded me [said 
Nephi], wherefore I did make plates of 
ore that I might engraven upon them 
the record of my people. . . . 

"And this have I done, and com- 
manded my people what they should 
do after I was gone." (1 Ne. 19:1, 4.) 

Thus, pursuant to divine command 
and direction, the comprehensive rec- 
ord on the large plates of Nephi, from 
which Mormon made his abridgment, 
was kept for nearly a thousand years. 

Jesus himself edited part of that 
record. During his post-resurrection 
ministry among the Nephites, he in- 



52 



structed them to write the things which 
he had taught them. He also reminded 
them that they had not made record of 
the prophecy of his servant Samuel the 
Lamanite, to the effect that at the time 
of his resurrection "many saints" 
should arise from the dead. When he 
drew this to their attention, his disci- 
ples remembered the prophecies and 
their fulfillment. (Jesus commanded 
that it should be written; therefore it 
was written according as he com- 
manded.) 

From the title page of the Book of 
Mormon, the Prophet learned that one 
of the two purposes of the book was 
"the convincing of the Jew and Gentile 
that Jesus is the Christ." 

For the accomplishment of this pur- 
pose, the book is from beginning to end 
a witness for Christ. Its first chapter 
contains an account of a vision in 
which Lehi beheld Jesus "descending 
out of the midst of heaven" in luster 
above the noonday sun. (1 Ne. 1:9.) 
Its last chapter concludes with Moroni's 
great exhortation to come unto Christ 
and be perfected in him, with this as- 
surance: ". . . and if ye shall deny 
yourselves of all ungodliness and love 
God with all your might, mind and 
strength, then is his grace sufficient for 
you, that by his grace ye may be . . . 
sanctified " (Moro. 10:32-33.) 

Numerous and great are the stirring 
testimonies that illuminate the five 
hundred pages between these two 
chapters. 

I bear you my witness that I have 
obtained for myself a personal knowl- 
edge that the Book of Mormon is all 
the Prophet Joseph said it is; that from 
it radiates the spirit of prophecy and 
revelation; that it teaches in plain 
simplicity the great doctrines of salva- 
tion and the principles of righteous 
conduct calculated to bring men to 
Christ; that familiarity with its spirit 
and obedience to its teachings will 
move every contrite soul to fervently 
pray with David, "Create in me a clean 
heart, O God; and renew a right spirit 
within me." (Ps. 51:10.) 

One's soul is lifted above the sordid 
things of this world and soars in the 
realm of the divine, as in spirit he 
stands with the brother of Jared on 
Mount Shelem in the presence of the 
premortal Redeemer and hears him 
say: "Behold, I am he who was pre- 
pared from the foundation of the world 
to redeem my people. Behold, I am 
Jesus Christ. ... In me shall all man- 
kind have light, and that eternally, 
even they who shall believe on my 
name. . . . 

". . . Seest thou that ye are created 
after mine own image? Yea, even all 
men were created in the beginning 
after mine own image. 



"Behold, this body, which ye now 
behold, is the body of my spirit; and 
man have I created after the body of 
my spirit; and even as I appear unto 
thee to be in the spirit will I appear 
unto my people in the flesh." (Eth. 
3:14-16.) 

One's soul is likewise lifted as in 
spirit he mingles with the multitude 
"round about the temple ... in the 
land of Bountiful," who, as Mormon 
said, "were marveling and wondering 
one with another, and were show- 
ing one to another the great and mar- 
velous change which had taken place. 

"And . . . also conversing about this 
Jesus Christ, of whom the sign had 
been given concerning his death. 

"And it came to pass that while they 
were thus conversing one with another, 
they heard a voice as if it came out of 
heaven; . . . and it was not a harsh 
voice, neither was it a loud voice; 
nevertheless, and notwithstanding it 
being a small voice it did pierce them 
that did hear to the center, insomuch 
that there was no part of their frame 
that it did not cause to quake; yea, it 
did pierce them to the very soul, and 
did cause their hearts to burn. 

". . . and it said unto them: 

"Behold my Beloved Son, in whom 
I am well pleased, in whom I have 
glorified my name — hear ye him. 

". . . and behold, they saw a Man 
descending out of heaven; and he was 
clothed in a white robe; and he came 
down and stood in the midst of them; 
and the eyes of the whole multitude 
were turned upon him, and they durst 
not open their mouths, even one to 
another, and wist not what it meant, 
for they thought it was an angel that 
had appeared unto them. 

"And it came to pass that he 
stretched forth his hand and spake unto 
the people, saying: 

"Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom 
the prophets testified shall come into 
the world. 

"And behold, I am the light and the 
life of the world. . . ." (3 Ne. 11:1-3, 
6-11.) 

No one can read Alma's resume of 
the experiences of his father with the 
saints who joined the church at the 
waters of Mormon; of the Lord's mercy 
and long-suffering in bringing them 
out of their spiritual and temporal 
captivity; of how by the power of the 
Holy Spirit, they were awakened from 
their deep sleep of death to experience 
a mighty change wrought in their 
hearts — no one, I say, can contemplate 
this marvelous transformation without 
yearning to have a like change wrought 
in his own heart. 

And no one can answer for himself 
these questions, which Alma put to his 
brethren : 



Era, December 1970 53 



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"[si] . . . have ye spiritually been 
born of God? [2] Have ye received 
his image in your countenances? [3] 
Have ye experienced this mighty 
change in your hearts? 

"[4] Do ye exercise faith in the re- 
demption of him who created you? 
[5] Do you look forward with an 
eye of faith, and view this mortal body 
raised in immortality, and this corrup- 
tion raised in incorruption, to stand 
before God to be judged according to 
the deeds which have been done in the 
mortal body? 

"I say unto you, can you imagine 
to yourselves that ye hear the voice 
of the Lord, saying unto you, in that 
day: Come unto me ye blessed, for 
behold, your works have been the 



works of righteousness upon the face of 
the earth? 

'[6] Have ye walked, keeping your- 
selves blameless before God? [7] Could 
ye say, if ye were called to die at this 
time . . . that ye have been sufficiently 
humble? That your garments have 
been been cleansed and made white 
through the blood of Christ ..-.?" 
(Al. 5:14-16, 27.) 

I say, no one with the spirit of the 
Book of Mormon upon him can honest- 
ly answer to himself these soul-search- 
ing questions without resolving to so 
live that he can answer them in the 
affirmative on that great day to which 
each of us shall come. I leave my 
humble testimony that the Prophet 
knew whereof he spoke and uttered 



divine truth, when he declared: 

"I told the brethren that the Book 
of Mormon was the most correct book 
on earth, and the keystone of our re- 
ligion, and a man would get nearer 
to God by abiding by its precepts, than 
any other book." 

As do all the works of God, the Book 
of Mormon bears within itself the evi- 
dence of its own authenticity. 

I urge you, my brethren and sisters 
and friends, all of you who hear my 
voice, to become familiar with the 
teachings and spirit of the Book of 
Mormon — "the keystone of our reli- 
gion." Its teachings and its spirit will 
lead us to Christ and eternal life. To 
this I bear solemn witness, in the name 
of Jesus Christ. Amen. O 




• I stand here in a great presence, 
surrounded by the First Presidency and 
the other General Authorities of the 
Church. Sitting before me are those 
who are appointed to administer the 
affairs of the Church in the stakes, 
missions, temples, wards, priesthood, 
and other organizations of the Church. 
In addition are faithful, devoted Latter- 
day Saints and other good people who 
are in this great assembly and those 
listening in on the air. It is a weighty 
responsibility and a humbling experi- 
ence. I am dependent upon the Lord, 
in whose presence I also stand, as his 
Spirit is most certainly here. I depend 
also upon your faith and prayers, 

Someone has said that memory is the 
library of the mind and recollection is 
the librarian. There are stored in that 
library things we have read and in- 
formation that has come to us in many 
other ways. Sometimes when we call 
upon the librarian for help, he is slow 
to bring to us the things we would like 
to have. And sometimes he brings to 
us material that would better be for- 
gotten. 



As I stand before you today, the li- 
brarian brings from the library of the 
mind some wonderful, impressive, and 
enduring experiences. I recall many 
years of close and intimate acquaint- 
ance and association with great men of 
the past and present. Twenty-three 
years of unforgettable experience with 
President Heber J. Grant, one of the 
sweetest associations that man could 
have, and with that memory comes the 
recollection of a wonderful association 
with his counselors during those years. 

From the memory of the past comes 
to mind an association with President 
George Albert Smith and his coun- 
selors. President David O. McKay com- 
pleted in January of this year an 
administration of nearly 19 years, and 
the association with him and the 
counselors he has had during that 
period has been a glorious experience 
and privilege. I have known their 
hearts and their innermost desires; they 
have been and are good and righteous 
men. 

While not knowing them personally, 
I have become acquainted, through a 



perusal of the records they have left, 
with the Presidents of the Church and 
their counselors and brethren of the 
Twelve who have preceded those whom 
I have named; and I bear testimony 
that they too were inspired men, 
prophets of God, whose actions and 
teachings were in harmony with the 
lives of those with whom I have had 
personal acquaintance over the years. 

And now we are blessed with the 
administration of President Joseph 
Fielding Smith and his counselors, 
Presidents Harold B. Lee and Nathan 
Eldon Tanner. I testify to you that 
they too are men whom the Lord loves, 
men called of God to preside over his 
church here upon the earth, prophets, 
seers, and revelators; and that great 
strides are being made in the work of 
proclaiming the gospel to the nations 
of the world and carrying out the Lord's 
program for his church in these the 
latter days. 

In addition, I think of the brethren 
of the Twelve Apostles whom I have 
known intimately over these many 
years, many of whom have passed to 



54 Era, December 1970 



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Phone: (801)363-2775 



$1500 ACCIDENTAL MEDICAL EXPENSE 
BENEFIT - NO DEDUCTIBLE 

Under this benefit, costs of medical, surgical, ambulance, 
hospital, dental and professional nursing services which are 
incurred within one year from the date of accident, will be 
paid up to a maximum of FIFTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS 
(S1 ,500.00) as the result of any one injury. Each and every 
insured member is eligible for this S1 ,500 expense benefit for 
each injury received. 

$2500 ACCIDENTAL DEATH AND 
DISMEMBERMENT BENEFIT * 

When an injury results in any of the following losses, 

within 90 days after an accident, the following benefits will 

be paid IN ADDITION to any medical expense benefits: 

(Loss of life . . . 52,500. Loss of both hands, feet or 

irrecoverable sight of both eyes or any combination of these 

. . . S2,500. Loss of one hand, one foot, one arm, one leg or 

irrecoverable loss of sight of either eye . . . S1 ,250) . 

# Limited to fifty percent for loss occurring as a re- 
sult of traveling to or from a scheduled actlvrty. 



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L. D. S. Youth Group Insurance 

Please send us further information concerning your Group 
Accident Insurance. 



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□ SENIOR ATHLETICS - No. not already included in M.I.A.. 



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the great beyond, and those who are 
with us today. I think too of all the 
other General Authorities of the 
Church. It has been a unique experi- 
ence, a beloved experience, one that I 
truly treasure more than my weak 
words can express. I have loved them 
all, each and every one, and I have 
gained great benefit, blessing, and 
inspiration from each. 

One of the sweetest and most profit- 
able experiences in life is the associa- 
tion with great and good people. I can 
testify to you in all sincerity and sober- 
ness that these men are and have been 
men of God, God's noblemen, men 
raised up in this, the last dispensation, 
the dispensation of the fulness of times, 
to carry out the Lord's mandate as set 
forth in the first section of the Doctrine 
and Covenants, which is a marvelous 
revelation given through the Prophet 
Joseph Smith and "constitutes the 
Lord's Preface to the doctrines, cove- 
nants, and commandments given in 
this dispensation": 

"Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the 
calamity which should, come upon the 
inhabitants of the earth, called upon 
my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and 
spake unto him from heaven, and gave 
him commandments; 

"And also gave commandments to 
others, that they should proclaim these 
things unto the world; and all this 
that it might be fulfilled, which was 
written by the prophets — 

"The weak things of the world shall 
come forth and break down the mighty 
and strong ones, that man should not 
counsel his fellow man, neither trust 
in the arm of flesh — 

"But that every man might speak in 
the name of God the Lord, even the 
Savior of the world; 

"That faith also might increase in 
the earth; 

"That mine everlasting covenant 
might be established; 

"That the fulness of my gospel might 
be proclaimed by the weak and the 
simple unto the ends of the world, 
and before kings and rulers. 

"For I am no respecter of persons, 
and will that all men shall know thai 
the day speedily cometh; the hour is 
not yet, but is nigh at hand, when 
peace shall be taken from the earth, 
and the devil shall have power over 
his own dominion. 

"And also the Lord shall have power 
over his saints, and shall reign in their 
midst, and shall come down in judg- 
ment upon Idumea, or the world." 
(D&C 1:17-23; 35^36.) 

I thank the Lord for faith — faith in 
our Heavenly Father and in his Son 
Jesus Christ. I thank him for inspired 
leadership. 

I thank the Lord for faith in and 



56 



knowledge of the truth of the re- 
stored gospel. As the Prophet Joseph 
Smith said: "I can taste the principles 
of eternal life, and so can you. They 
are given to me hy the revelation of 
Jesus Christ. . . . You say that honey 
is sweet, and so do I. I can taste the 
spirit of eternal life. I know it is 
good." 

I am enjoying visiting the members 
of the Church and their leaders in the 
stakes of the Church. To me there is 
no experience sweeter than that which 
comes from mingling with good people, 
faithful and devoted people, who love 
the Lord and whose hearts have been 
and are touched with the fire of the 
Holy Ghost, whose souls are filled 
with gratitude for the knowledge and 
understanding that have come to them 
through the operation of the Holy 
Spirit, which has borne witness to 
them that this is the truth, revealed 
from heaven in answer to sincere and 
earnest prayer. As stated by President 
Brigham Young on one occasion, in 
answer to the question as to what is 
the difference between our church and 
other churches, "We have the truth, 
the Gospel includes all truth, wherever 



found, in all the works of God and 
man, visible or invisible to the naked 
eye." 

I want to express appreciation for 
my wife, my family, and my loved 
ones, who have blessed me by their 
love and confidence. As the song says, 
"No man is an island." We are all, in 
part at least, the product of our en- 
vironment, the result of the influence 
upon us by our friends and associates, 
and of course the inheritance we ob- 
tained from our progenitors. 

I am thankful for the library of the 
mind and the rich treasures that are 
stored therein, the treasured memory 
of association with prophets called of 
the Lord in this dispensation, and the 
words of eternal life that are inspiring 
and cause me to rejoice more and more 
each day. 

I am highly honored and yet greatly 
subdued in my feelings that I should be 
considered worthy of the love and 
confidence of the Lord and of his liv- 
ing prophets to receive the call that 
has come to me to serve as one of the 
chosen servants of the Lord. I am 
humbled by my inadequacy, and my 
constant prayer is and will be that the 



Lord will qualify me to do my part in 
assisting in the rolling forth of this 
great work in which we are engaged. 
I love the Lord, I love the gospel, and 
I love the Brethren. 

I bear witness that God lives; that 
Jesus is his Beloved Son, the Redeemer 
and Savior of the world; that as pro- 
claimed by Joseph Smith and Sidney 
Rigdon, he came into the world, even 
Jesus, to be crucified for the world, to 
bear the sins of the world, and to 
sanctify it from all unrighteousness; 
that through him all might be saved 
whom the Father had put into his 
power and made by him. 

I testify that Joseph Smith was a 
prophet of God raised up in this dis- 
pensation, the dispensation of the ful- 
ness of times, to lay the foundation for 
this great work upon the earth prepara- 
tory to the coming of the Son of Man, 
our Lord and Savior, to reign upon the 
earth in peace and righteousness; and 
that these men of whom I have spoken 
have been called of God to represent 
our Savior in building up the Church 
and kingdom of God upon the earth. 
Of these things I testify in the name 
of Jesus Christ. Amen. O 



TheSpiritand Power of Elijah 



Elder Theodore M. Burton 

Assistant to the Council of the Twelve 



• My brethren, sisters, friends: the 
focal point of all our activity in this 
church centers around Jesus Christ. 
The Church bears his name. All ordi- 
nance work done in the Church is done 
in the name of Jesus Christ by those 
who bear the priesthood, i.e., who hold 
this power of Jesus Christ. 

This devout worship of Jesus Christ 
is in accord with the instruction given 
in the Book of Mormon, where King 
Benjamin taught his people: 

"And under this head ye are made 
free, and there is no other head where- 
by ye can be made free. There is no 
other name given whereby salvation 
cometh. . . ." (Mosiah 5:8.) 

The Book of Mormon then explains 
why this scripture was written: "For 



we labor diligently to write, to per- 
suade our children, and also our 
brethren, to believe in Christ, and to 
be reconciled to God; for we know that 
it is by grace that we are saved, after 
all we can do." (2 Ne. 25:23.) 

It is for this reason that the Book 
of Mormon is known as a second wit- 
ness of the divinity of Jesus Christ as 
the Son of God. 

". . . we talk of Christ, we rejoice in 
Christ, we preach of Christ, we 
prophesy of Christ, and we write ac- 
cording to our prophecies, that our 
children may know to what source they 
may look for a remission of their sins." 
(2 Ne. 25:26.) 

I turn then to Jesus Christ for my 
subject for this sermon. Jesus taught 



the following doctrine one Sabbath day 
as he stood up in the synagogue to 
teach the people who called themselves 
the children of God. 

"And there was delivered unto him 
the book of the prophet Esaias. [We 
write his name today as Isaiah.] And 
when he had opened the book, he 
found the place where it was written, 

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 
because he hath anointed me to preach 
the gospel to the poor; he hath sent 
me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach 
deliverance to the captives, and recov- 
ering of sight to the blind, to set at 
liberty them that are bruised, 

"To preach the acceptable year of 
the Lord. 

"And he closed the book, and he 



Era, December 1970 57 



gave it again to the minister, and sat 
down. And the eyes of all them that 
were in the synagogue were fastened on 
him. 

"And. he began to say unto them, 
This day is this scripture fulfilled in 
your ears." (Luke 4:17-21.) 

Such a statement filled his listeners 
with many doubts and apprehensions, 
yet the doctrine is so important that I 
would like to quote this passage again 
as it is now written in Isaiah: 

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon 
me; because the Lord hath anointed 
me to preach good tidings unto the 
meek; he hath sent me to bind up the 
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to 
the captives, and the opening of the 
prison to them that are bound; 

"To proclaim the acceptable year 
of the Lord, and the day of vengeance 
of our God " (Isa. 61:1-2.) 

It is amazing to see what happened 
in the minds of his listeners when 
Jesus Christ proclaimed this marvelous 
doctrine and told the people that this 
work of salvation was his assigned task. 

"And all they in the synagogue, 
when they heard these things, were 
filled with wrath, 

"And rose up, and thrust him out of 
the city, and led him unto the brow 
of the hill whereon their city was built, 
that they might cast him down head- 
long. 

"But he passing through the midst 
of them went his way." (Luke 4:28-30.) 

Thus Jesus Christ was rejected by 
the people because he told them what 
saving work he would do for the cap- 
tives then confined to a spiritual prison 
and for those who had been bruised 
in their souls through iniquity. Instead 
of rejoicing in this liberation, the 
people hated Jesus for being so pre- 
sumptuous as to tell them that he had 
been anointed to open the prison doors. 
Even his very life was threatened. 
Nevertheless, he continued to preach 
this doctrine even more clearly, in the 
hopes that people would understand 
him and the importance of the work 
he had been called to do. Thus he 
explained: 

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He 
that heareth my word, and believeth 
on him that sent me, hath everlasting 
life, and shall not come into condem- 
nation; but is passed from death unto 
life. 

"Verily, verily I say unto you, The 
hour is coming, and now is, when the 
dead shall hear the voice of the Son 
of God: and they that hear shall live. 
"For as the Father hath life in him- 
self; so hath he given to the Son to 
have life in himself." (John 5:24-26.) 
It was for this concept of his saving 
grace that Jesus gave his life. Peter 
informs us that the gospel actually was 



preached to those who were dead, just 
as Jesus prophesied he would do. 
Jesus actually did open the gates of the 
spiritual prison, that those confined 
therein might live and even be exalted 
if they would accept his doctrine. 

"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 sometimes were disobedient, 
when once the longsuffering of God 
waited in the days of Noah, while the 
ark was a preparing, wherein few, that 
is, eight souls were saved by water." 
(1 Pet. 3:18-20.) 

Peter also explained why Jesus did 
this work for the dead: 

"For for this cause was the gospel 
preached also to them that are dead, 
that they might be judged according 
to men in the flesh, but live according 
to God in the spirit." (1 Pet. 4:6.) 

Now, how does all this affect us? 
Perhaps I can state it in this way. If 
Jesus Christ made such a point of stress- 
ing this doctrine in his day, it must 
be just as important for us in our day 
also. Jesus taught that it was important 
that his gospel be preached to those 
who lived before he was born as well 
as to those then living. It must be just 
as important for that gospel to be 
preached since his day to those who 
have died without hearing these glad 
tidings, as well as to those now living 
on the earth. 

Where, however, in the so-called 
Christian churches of our day do you 
find that deep concern for those good 
men and women who died without a 
knowledge of the gospel? Far from be- 
ing considered, they are ignored by 
some and even damned by others. 
Why are such persons condemned to 
everlasting damnation, as many church 
leaders have done in the past and still 
do today, simply because such people 
were born at a time and in a place 
where they could never hear of Jesus 
Christ, let alone learn of the message 
of the resurrection and eternal life? 

How can the physically dead who 
nevertheless still live in the spirit be 
prepared for that resurrection which 
Paul proclaimed applied to every per- 
son born upon this earth? This 
preaching of the word of God can only 
be done in the way in which Jesus 
taught that it has to be done. We who 
are living today must assist in this 
work as was prophesied by Obadiah 
when he said of the last days: 

"And saviours shall come up on 
mount Zion to judge the mount of 
Esau; and the kingdom shall be the 
Lord's." (Obad. 21.) 



Thus, those living today must per- 
form the physical ordinance work on 
the earth that will qualify persons in 
the spirit world to receive that proxy 
work done for them, even as we living 
today receive the proxy work done for 
us by Jesus Christ. In other words, we 
work in partnership here on the earth 
with those missionaries in the spirit 
world who preach the gospel of Jesus 
Christ to those persons living in the 
spirit world, that they might be judged 
according to men in the flesh. This 
combination effort can free them from 
their spiritual prison and heal their 
bruised souls through Jesus Christ. 
This is why the members of the Church 
who can qualify through righteous 
living must go to the temple in ever- 
increasing numbers and why they 
must attend the temple more fre- 
quently than they have ever done in 
the past. 

The full understanding in our day 
of the importance of Christ's work for 
the dead as well as for the living came 
slowly. Although not understood fully 
at the time, when the angel Moroni 
came to teach Joseph Smith at the 
opening of this gospel dispensation, he 
quoted Malachi as follows: 

"Behold, I will reveal unto you the 
Priesthood by the hand of Elijah the 
prophet, before the coming of the great 
and dreadful day of the Lord. 

"And he shall plant in the hearts 
of the children the promises made to 
the fathers, and the hearts of the chil- 
dren shall turn to their fathers. 

"If it were not so, the whole earth 
would be utterly wasted at his coming." 
(D&C 2:1-3.) 

Thus it was the power of the priest- 
hood that was to make this uniting of 
all generations possible, both those 
dead and those living. The power to 
do this work was subject to the restora- 
tion of the keys controlling the sealing 
power that Elijah was to give again to 
the earth when so requested by Jesus 
Christ. 

Before the Church was officially es- 
tablished, when the so-called "consti- 
tution" of the Church was laid down 
by revelation in Section 20 of the Doc- 
trine and Covenants, a statement of the 
universality of the mission of Jesus 
Christ was given which included the 
dead as well as the living: 

"Not only those who believed after 
he came in the meridian of time, in the 
flesh, but all those from the beginning, 
even as many as were before he came, 
. . . should have eternal life." (D&C 
20:26. Italics added.) 

Much of the work we do in the 
Church is preparatory work for us to 
qualify ourselves so that we can be of 
service not only to our fellowmen now- 
living on the earth, but to those who 



58 



lived before us. These good men and 
women are our ancestors, our fathers 
and our mothers through whose blood 
we receive our bodies and our life. 
What a debt we owe them to see that 
they too receive eternal life in Jesus 
Christ through the work and sacrifices 
we make in their behalf. 

This work of salvation for the dead 
is so important that Paul stated that 
they who are dead cannot be made 
perfect without our help. (Heb. 11:40.) 
Joseph Smith added that neither can 
we be made perfect without doing 
proxy ordinance work for our deceased 
ancestors. (D&C 128:18.) The power 
of the priesthood was restored so that 
this perfection in uniting all the family 
of God who lived in all ages could be 
accomplished. This priesthood power 
was given when Elijah restored the 
sealing power to Joseph Smith in these 
latter days so that the work of perfec- 



tion could be continued. As Joseph 
Smith said: 

"Then what you seal on earth, by 
the keys of Elijah, is sealed in heaven; 
'and this is the power of Elijah, and this 
is the difference between the spirit and 
power of Elias and Elijah; for while 
the spirit of Elias is a forerunner, the 
power of Elijah is sufficient to make 
our calling and election sure; and the 
same doctrine, where we are exhorted to 
go on to perfection, not laying again 
the foundation of repentance from dead 
works, and of laying on of hands, resur- 
rection of the dead, &c. 

"We cannot be perfect without our 
fathers, &c. We must have revelation 
from them, and we can see that the 
doctrine of revelation far transcends the 
doctrine of no revelation; for one truth 
revealed from heaven is worth all the 
sectarian notions in existence." (Joseph 
Fielding Smith, Teachings of the 



Prophet Joseph Smith [12th ed.; Salt 
Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 
1961], p. 338. Italics added.) 

I testify of the need to understand 
the importance of this work of Elijah 
— this work of salvation for the dead 
as well as for the living. I testify of the 
divinity of this doctrine of Jesus Christ, 
which applies to both those living and 
those dead. I testify of the power of 
the priesthood by which revelation 
is received and say that Elias has al- 
ready come and so has Elijah. The 
keys they revealed are being used to- 
day in The Church of Jesus Christ of 
Latter-day Saints to do the total work 
of salvation for which Jesus Christ gave 
his life to accomplish. Thus through 
this doctrine and through this priest- 
hood power we can unite the whole 
family of God into everlasting life. 

In the name of Jesus Christ. 
Amen. O 




• Years ago while walking with a wise 
friend of mine, we passed one of his 
neighbors as he stood in the front yard 
of his home. My friend greeted the 
man with, "How are you, Bill? It's 
good to see you." To this greeting, Bill 
didn't even look up. He didn't even 
respond. 

"He is an old grouch today, isn't 
he?" I snapped. 

"Oh, he is always that way," my 
friend responded. 

"Then why are you so friendly to 
him?" I asked. 

"Why not?" responded my mature 
friend. "Why should I let him decide 
how I am going to act?" 

I hope I will never forget the lesson 
of that evening. The important word 
was "act." My friend acted toward 
people. Most of us react. At the time 
it was a strange attitude to me, because 
I was in grade school and following 
the practice of "if you speak to an 



acquaintance and he does not respond, 
that is the last time you have to 
bother," or "if someone shoves you on 
the school playground, you shove him 
back." 

I have thought many times since 
this experience that many of us are 
perpetual reactors. We let other people 
determine our actions and attitudes. 
We let other people determine whether 
we will be rude or gracious, depressed 
or elated, critical or loyal, passive or 
dedicated. 

Do you know people who are cool 
toward an acquaintance because last 
time they met she wasn't warm in her 
greeting? Do you know people who 
have quit praying to the Lord because 
he hasn't answered (so they think) 
their prayers of last month or last year? 
Do you know people who give up on 
others because they don't respond in 
the ways we think they should? Do 
you know people who fail to realize 



that Christlike behavior patterns en- 
courage us to be the' same yesterday 
and forever? 

The perpetual reactor is an unhappy 
person. His center of personal conduct 
is not rooted within himself, where it 
belongs, but in the world about him. 
Some of us on occasion seem to be 
standing on the sidelines waiting for 
someone to hurt, ignore, or offend us. 
We are perpetual reactors. What a 
happy day it will be when we can 
replace hasty reaction with patience 
and purposeful action. 

I am acquainted with a man who 
has a brother serving time in a state 
penitentiary. On several occasions I 
have asked this friend of mine to 
accompany me to visit his confined 
family member. When asked most re- 
cently, he responded with an emphatic, 
"No, I don't want to go. It's no use. 
He won't talk. He won't listen. He's 
no good. He will never change." His 



Era, December 1970 59 



last statement, "He will never change," 
prompted me to think, "and apparently 
neither will you." 

This man is allowing his confined 
hrother to control his actions; in fact, 
he has created a negative attitude in 
his relationship. The free man has not 
maintained a positive drive to do what 
he feels is right; instead, his brother 
has set the pace for both of them — no 
communication, no visits, no change 
in either life. 

What a pleasure it is today to be 
part of a great action program in the 
Church that makes it possible for us 
to take a prisoner or others with social 
problems from the level we find them 
and help them move forward. Our con- 
cern must be to impress our associates 
with the fact there is a better tomor- 
row, and it belongs to those who live 
for it! Forgiveness and repentance are 
action principles. What a blessing it 
is in our lives when we come to realize 
there is hope and help for all of us 
in the days ahead, regardless of where 
we find ourselves at this hour. 

When Jim Lovell of Apollo 13 
radioed across almost a quarter of a 
million miles of space to Houston, 
Texas, a few months ago that some- 
thing had gone wrong in their space- 
craft, he taught the world a mighty 
lesson with his statement: "We've got 
a problem." Here were three brave 
men on a voyage to the moon faced 
with the staggering realization they 
might never see the earth again. Some- 
thing had gone wrong. What do they 
do now? Act or react? Instead of 
demanding, "Who's responsible for this 
error?" his statement, "We've got a 
problem," rallied our best to their 
.support. When Jim Lovell and his 
crewmates were later asked if they had 
fears of not reaching earth again, they 



responded that they just concentrated 
on the jobs they had to do. They did 
everything in their power to get back 
to earth. A terrifying problem was 
theirs, but they were determined to 
handle it a step at a time, and hoped 
and prayed their efforts would succeed. 
Through action they overcame fear; 
through action and teamwork they 
triumphed. What happened is history, 
but the lesson of action is for our use 
today. 

Shakespeare had a glimpse of the 
importance of man's personal action 
when he wrote the following lines in 
Hamlet: "This above all: to thine own 
self be true, And it must follow, as the 
night the day, Thou canst not then be 
false to any man." (Hamlet, Act 2, 
sc. 3.) 

Being true to ourselves can mean 
knowing where we are, where we are 
going and why, and assisting our asso- 
ciates in traveling the right paths 
with us. 

Scriptures such as "be ye doers of 
the word . . ." (Jas. 1:22), and "But 
my disciples shall stand in holy places, 
and shall not be moved . . ." (D&C 
45:32) take on new significance as we 
realize our responsibility to act and 
not react. 

Our Prophet Joseph Smith was a 
man of action. Torture, belittlement, 
and all manner of inhumane affliction, 
including a pending martyr's death, 
did not halt nor even slow down his 
life of purposeful action. He acted as 
one totally committed to "I am not 
ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it 
is the power of God unto salvation. . . ." 
(Rom. 1:16.) He didn't just think 
about the gospel or react to it; he lived 
it. He was true to himself and to those 
principles he valued more than life 
itself. 



The gospel of Jesus Christ is pur- 
poseful action. "Ask," "Seek," "Knock," 
and "Judge not" and "Love" are words 
of action, not reaction. Jesus led his 
fellowmen as a mighty master because 
"he taught them as one having author- 
ity, and not as the scribes." (Matt. 
7:29.) Jesus was true to himself and 
to his Father; and so important to all 
of us, he was true to us. 

How weak the following reaction 
philosophies are: "See if your neighbor 
loves you first before you manifest love 
toward him." "See if your acquaintance 
is friendly before you offer your friend- 
ship." How powerful the action com- 
mandment of "Thou shalt love thy 
neighbour as thyself." 

I humbly pray that we may be men 
and women of action, and not let any- 
one else lead us from his paths. If we 
follow the teachings of this great gospel 
of Jesus Christ to the fullest of our 
ability, it can truthfully be said of us, 
through our actions also, that we "in- 
creased in wisdom and stature, and in 
favour with God and man." (Luke 
2:52.) 

We start to fail in our homes when 
we give up on a family member. We 
fail in our positions of leadership when 
we react by saying, "It's no use, they 
won't come." "It's no use, they won't 
respond." Let us thrust in our sickles 
with all of our might in the fields in 
which we have been called, and not 
spend our time reacting to the location 
or type of crop we have been called to 
harvest. 

I bear witness to you that the gospel 
of Jesus Christ is ah action way of life 
and that the gospel of Jesus Christ is 
true. May our Heavenly Father help 
us to actively be about his business I 
pray in the name of Jesus Christ. 
Amen. O 




• My brethren and sisters: How de- 
lightful it is to be here today. Sometime 
ago Brother Guy B. Rose, who is 
usually present on the front row of 
these meetings, told me of an inter- 
esting experience in his work. He had 
been a superintendent of schools in 



the East. One day as he visited one of 
the classes in a school, the teacher had 
the students drawing on the board 
something that would be representative 
of Thanksgiving. All were busy com- 
pleting their sketches, but one child 
was obviously concerned about what 



she was to do in completing what she 
had started. As Brother Rose ap- 
proached her, he asked if she was hav- 
ing trouble. She said, "Yes. How do 
you draw God?" She had ably por- 
trayed the mountains, the trees, and the 
boy kneeling under the trees in an 



60 



attitude of prayer but was confused as 
to how to draw God. Brother Rose 
quickly assured her that God was a 
man, that he looked much like men 
on earth, that men are created in the 
image of God. 

Men everywhere seem to be con- 
fused as to what God is like. Strange, 
incomprehensible concepts of God have 
been taught apparently to enlighten 
men, but in their uncertainness they 
only tend to further confuse men. 

The Reverend Harold O. }. Brown, 
in his book The Protest of a Troubled 
Protestant, expresses his concern over 
the fact that in many of the pulpits 
today, ministers are getting away from 
the strict concepts of the Bible. He 
said, "People are being converted to 
the most fanciful cults from the very 
parishes in which the clergy are un- 
willing to preach historic Christian 
doctrine. They fear being thought out- 
of-date and therefore incredible." (Pp. 
20-21.) 

As Paul came to the Athenian saints, 
he found them worshiping false gods 
and called them to repentance. He 
said: "... I perceive that in all things 
ye are too superstitious. 

"For as I passed by, and beheld your 
devotions, I found an altar with this 
inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN 
GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly 
worship, him declare I unto you. 

"God that made the world and all 
things therein, seeing that he is Lord 
of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in 
temples made with hands; 

". . . as though he needed any thing, 
seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, 
and all things; 

"For in him we live, and move, and 
have our being; as certain also of your 
own poets have said, For we are also 
his offspring. 

"Forasmuch then as we are the off- 
spring of God, we ought not to think 
that the Godhead is like unto gold, or 
silver, or stone, graven by art and 
man's device. 

"And the times of this ignorance 
God winked at; but now commandeth 
all men every where to repent." (Acts 
17:22-25, 28-30.) 

The Savior indicated the great im- 
portance of knowing God, as he prayed 
unto the Father before his crucifixion: 
"And this is life eternal, that they 
might know thee the only true God. 
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast 
sent." (John 17:3.) 

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, 
"It is the first principle of the Gospel 
to know for a certainty the Character 
of God, and to know that we may 
converse with him as one man con- 
verses with another, and that he was 
once a man like us; yea, that God 
himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on 



an earth, the same as Jesus Christ 
himself did." (Teachings of the Prophet 
Joseph Smith, pp. 345-46.) 

The scriptures are clear as they 
teach us of God. In the story of the 
creation as recorded in Genesis, it 
states: "And God said, Let us make 
man in our image, after our likeness: 
and let them have dominion over the 
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of 
the air, and over the cattle, and over 
all the earth, and over every creeping 
thing that creepeth upon the earth. 

"So God created man in his own 
image, in the image of God created 
he him; male and female created he 
them." (Gen. 1:26-27.) 

Jesus spoke of God as a just and lov- 
ing Father, dwelling in the heavens. 
His teachings were explicit as to the 
nature and character of God the 
Father. Unto Thomas he said: "If ye 
had known me, ye should have known 
my Father also: and from henceforth 
ye know him, and have seen him." 
(John 14:7.) 

Philip said unto the Lord: ". . . shew 
us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 

"Jesus saith unto him, Have I been 
so long time with you, and yet hast 
thou not known me, Philip? he that 
hath seen me hath seen the Father; 
and how sayest thou then, Shew us 
the Father?" (John 14:8-9.) 

Paul plainly told the Hebrew saints 
that Christ was in the image of God. 
"God, who at sundry times and in 
divers manners spake in time past unto 
the fathers by the prophets, 

"Hath in these last days spoken unto 
us by his Son, whom he hath appointed 
heir of all things, by whom also he 
made the worlds; 

"Who being the brightness of his 
glory, and the express image of his 
person, and upholding all things by 
the word of his power, when he had 
by himself purged our sins, sat down 
on the right hand of the Majesty on 
high." (Heb. 1:1-3.) 

I believe sincerely that our faith in 
God, our works of righteousness, and 
our sincerity of purpose are greatly 
determined by our concept and under- 
standing of God. If, like the young 
lady trying to draw God, I can't visual- 
ize him, if I don't really know him, 
how can my faith in him be strong? 
How can I really pray to someone I 
don't know? 

It is really "life eternal" to know 
God; that he is a personal being; that 
he is the Father of our spirits; that we 
are his children; that he has concern 
for us; that there is a meaningful plan 
in which we might regain his presence 
and have eternal life with him. 

The understanding of the nature of 
God and his Son Jesus Christ was im- 
pressed upon the Prophet Joseph Smith 



in the first vision, in the opening of 
this dispensation, in which he saw the 
Father and the Son. Whatever his con- 
cept of God might have been, there 
was now no doubt in his mind as to 
God and Christ. This understanding 
was his because he saw them and 
heard and conversed with them. The 
Father spoke to him and introduced the 




Son. Listen to the words of the Prophet 
Joseph as he describes his vision: . . . 
When the light rested upon me I saw 
two Personages, whose brightness and 
glory defy all description, standing 
above me in the air. One of them 
spake unto me, calling me by name 
and said, pointing to the other — This 
is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" 
(Joseph Smith 2:17.) 

In a revelation to the Prophet Joseph 
Smith in 1843, it is declared: "The 
Father has a body of flesh and bones 
as tangible as man's; the Son also; 
but the Holy Ghost has not a body of 
flesh and bones, but is a personage of 
Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost 
could not dwell in us." (D&C 130:22.) 

It is necessary to believe in God as a 
personal, corporeal being in order to 
understand that he can reveal himself 
to man as he did to the Prophet Joseph 
Smith in open vision. One who 
doesn't believe in a personal God may 
also believe in revelation, but it would 
be the kind of revelation that would be 
compatible with his concept of God. 
Brother William E. Berrett made an 
interesting observation as to the im- 
portance of our concept of the nature 
of God in .reference to revelation. He 
said: "Any discussion of revelation re- 
volves basically around our concept of 
the nature of God. Unless we conceive 
God in the same light we never arrive 
at the same conclusions in regard to 
revelation." 

Brother Berrett illustrates this 
thought by referring to the viewpoint 
of a great contemporary thinker in the 



Era, December 1970 61 



field of religion, Dr. Henry Wieman 
of the University of Chicago. 

"Both Dr. Wieman and I," he said, 
"believe in God, but our concepts are 
wholly different, for I conceive God as 
a perfected corporeal personality, while 
Dr. Wieman would think the idea of 
a personal God as juvenile, and for 
himself conceives Him as the sum 
total of all that is good and progressive 
in the Universe. To quote his words: 

" 'God is not a personality, but God 
is more worthful than any personality 
could be. God is not nature and He 
is not the universe; He is the growth 
of living connections of value in the 
universe. If one wishes he can say, 
this is not God but it is the work of 
God. Practically it comes to the same 
thing.' " 

Elder Berrett continues, "Having di- 
vergent views as to the personality of 
God it follows that we must have 
divergent views upon the matter of 
revelation from Him. Both Dr. Wie- 
man and I believe in revelation as a 
continuous principle of life but when 
we use that term we are thinking of 
entirely different things. Dr. Wieman 
would not accept such a vision, as that 
to Joseph Smith in the grove because 
it does violence to his concept of God. 



He would reject the reality of heavenly 
messengers, and the reality of any 
direct words from God to man. . . . 

"This then is the real nature and 
place of revelation. It is not a miracu- 
lous giving of knowledge. But it is 
that change in personality which, in 
one way or another, is required before 
man can get any knowledge of any- 
thing that lies outside the range of his 
established organization of interest. It 
is a reorganization of his interests 
which enables him to know a new 
kind of reality," (From an address 
given at LDS Department of Educa- 
tion Regional Convention, November 
8, 1941, in William E. Berrett, Con- 
tinuous Revelation in the Church, 
p. 6.) 

Not only is it important in our 
understanding of revelation to know 
God, but our understanding of all the 
principles of the gospel are greatly in- 
fluenced by our concept of him as a 
personal, loving Father and of the great 
plan of salvation that he has provided 
for all his children. The kind of a 
God as described by the Prophet Joseph 
Smith makes me understand him as 
my literal Father in heaven. He said: 

"God himself was once as we are 
now, and is an exalted man, and sits 



enthroned in yonder heavens! That is 
the great secret. If the veil were 
rent today, and the great God, who 
holds this world in its orbit, and 
who holds all worlds and all things by 
His power, was to make himself visible 
— I say, if you were to see him today, 
you would see him like a man in form — 
like yourselves in all the person, image, 
and very form as a man; for Adam was 
created in the very fashion, image and 
likeness of God, and received instruc- 
tion from, and walked, talked and 
conversed with Him, as one man talks 
and communes with another." (Docu- 
mentary History of the Church, vol. 6, 
p. 305.) 

In the Sermon on the Mount, the 
Savior gave us the key as to the need 
of really knowing the Father when 
he said: "Be ye therefore perfect, even 
as your Father which is in heaven is 
perfect." (Matt. 5:48.) 

It is man's purpose in life to learn 
to know God, to know the nature and 
kind of being God is, and then to con- 
form to his laws and ordinances; to 
progress, to be exalted to that high 
state wherein man becomes perfect as 
the Father is perfect. 

May we be able to do this, I pray 
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. O 




• I remember a story told by a forest 
ranger about a tourist coming to a na- 
tional park to take pictures of wildlife. 
Not far from the campground he found 
what he was looking for — twin bear 
cubs rummaging around in a garbage 
dump, half playing, half looking for 
dinner. Grabbing his camera, he pro- 
ceeded to take a series of pictures from 
a number of different angles. In his 
haste, he failed to realize that when 
you find bear cubs in the forest, the 
mother bear is never very far away. 



As he moved to get a close-up shot 
of the playful cubs, he inadvertently 
came between the cubs and the mother 
bear, who was in the trees a short dis- 
tance off. The bear struck out imme- 
diately for her cubs, and a near 
disaster was averted when a passerby, 
noticing the scene, alerted the tourist, 
who demonstrated unusual athletic 
ability as he vacated the garbage pit. 

We often hear of the ferocity with 
which animals protect their young, and 
usually these stories are associated with 



incidents about parents who for some 
unexplainable reason abandon their 
children. While these actions can and 
should be condemned, nonetheless, we 
seem to live in a day and age where 
there is another kind of abandonment, 
which is almost worse than a mother 
leaving an unwanted baby on a door- 
step. 

What I am talking about is the 
temptation of parents to give up on 
their children, especially when those 
children seem to flaunt and disregard 



62 



the laws of morality and conduct, 
which the parents hold dear and which 
govern the home, and when the chil- 
dren seem to rebel against every effort 
parents make to correct their behavior 
or show them a better way. 

At least a baby who has been left on 
a doorstep will be looked after by the 
appropriate agencies, and usually 
placed in a home where parents who 
want it will adopt it and love it and 
raise it as their own. 

A boy or a girl who has been given 
up by his or her parents because they 
(the children) are off on the wrong 
foot and possibly even surly and re- 
bellious to any parental effort is in a 
much more serious predicament. When 
the hard times come — and they will — 
who is going to care if the parents 
don't? 

The tragedy of our times as we look 
around us is that we see too many 
young people cut adrift — some of them 
in trouble and some of them causing 
trouble for society. Perhaps it is hard 
to realize that our Eternal Father also 
refers to these as son or daughter; and 
if we are to understand the parable of 
the lost sheep, perhaps they are even 
a little more important to him in that 
they are not safely in the fold. 

Society has given us a thousand rea- 
sons why some begin to rebel and 
wander. Yet, -I can't help but feel that 
in many cases it all must come back to 
those who gave them life and those 
who somewhere along the line gave 
up on them, either by deserting them or 
ignoring them or simply not caring 
enough to build their children into 
their lives. 

I had a young girl come in to see me 
the other day, a beautiful girl, neat 
and clean, giving a good appearance. 
But the story she told was anything but 
clean, and far from beautiful. 

From her early teenage years, she 
had become involved in drugs. It be- 
came so bad that at one time in her 
life she had moved away from her 
family and was more or less drifting 
from one pot party to another. She had 
taken up the so-called hippie culture 
and was high on drugs most of the 
time. 

"Strangely enough," she says, "dur- 
ing all this time my father never gave 
up on me, and although I knew I was 
breaking my parents' hearts, I could 
always go home to my father and know 
that he loved me, and that he wouldn't 
condemn me as an individual, although 
he condemned everything that I did." 

This girl went on to say that one 
night she had what she called a bad 
trip; I believe she referred to it as 
"freaking out." She said it was such a 
terrifying experience that she went 
home to her parents and spent the rest 




of the night in bed with them, just as 
she must have done as a child when 
she had a nightmare. She had no real 
rest until her father finally gave her 
a blessing, which seemed to ease her 
mental and physical torture. 

This happened to be the turning 
point in this girl's life. She said she 
always knew it was wrong but was just 
determined to rebel. Bit by bit she has 
now put her life back together again, 
and although she still has a way to go, 
she is going to make it now. 

She had a father, you see, who never 
gave up on her. 

Another experience comes to mind 
about a mother and her 18-year-old 
son, not of our faith. Let me quote her 
story. 

"Three years ago my son made a new 
friend — his first link with 'the drug 
scene.' I tried very hard to let him 
know what this boy was and to say, 
'You don't need drugs in your life.' 
But he ignored me. Aside from mov- 
ing away, there seemed to be nothing 
I could do. 

"As my noes became more numerous, 
his rejections became unbearable. . . . 
One night at the dinner table he an- 
nounced, 'I won't obey the rules in this 
house any longer.' He said that as soon 
as he saved enough money, in about 
three months, he was going to move 
out. 'Until then,' he said, Tm going 
to say what I want to say, smoke what 
I want to smoke.' " 

The mother said she got up from the 



table, walked down the hall, and then 
came back and said, "I've got news for 
you, son. Either you abide by the rules 
or you can find a room elsewhere in 
three days, not three months." 

He was shocked. But the next day he 
did get a job, and he soon moved out. 
Leaving home, however, did not mean 
giving up membership in the family. 
"I let him know that the door was 
always open," she said. "I went to see 
his new apartment, took an interest in 
his new job, invited him for a snack 
when he finished moving his things 
out. And he knew that coming home 
would never be interpreted as a defeat 
for him, but as a new decision. 

"He had several jobs," said the 
mother; "one in a restaurant. But 
while he was working out problems for 
himself, he also was ready to put him- 
self out to help others. Eventually he 
became a full-time staff member at 
Project Place, a center for runaways 
and people with drug problems. 

"From time to time, he would come 
to see me," continued the mother, "and 
I would ask him, 'Where are you at? 
Are you ready to come home?' One day 
he decided he was, and he moved back 
in. He had lost his preoccupation with 
drugs." 

Then the mother made a very signifi- 
cant point. She said, "My son has 
made some mistakes, experienced some 
pain he probably didn't have to, but I 
think he has come out rejecting what's 
wrong in the world and taking upon 



Era, December 1970 63 



himself what is real and beautiful. . . . 
I think a child has a right to be right 
and a right to be wrong, and to know 
that his parents will stay with him 
through it all." (Christian Science 
Monitor, September 9, 1970.) 

Perhaps you remember a story that 
took place a few months ago. It ap- 
peared in most of the newspapers. A 
little girl was found clinging to a fence 
that divides a super freeway in one of 
the world's largest cities. The police 
were summoned, and as they brought 
the girl to safety, she unfolded this 
pathetic story. 

It was her parents, you see, who put 
her there. They had said, "Now hang 
on to the fence and don't let go for any 
reason." Then the parents drove off, 



planning to desert her. The newspaper 
account was graphic. You could pic- 
ture the little girl, a tear in her eye, 
lower lip quivering, but holding fast 
to the rail as cars and huge trucks 
went roaring by on each side, not dar- 
ing to let go because daddy had told 
her to hold on — standing there deter- 
mined, waiting patiently, for a mother 
and father who never intended to 
return. 

Oh, parents, no matter what the dif- 
ficulty, -may we never desert our chil- 
dren in some dark and dangerous 
thoroughfare of life, no matter what 
prompted them to get there. When 
they reach the point — and for some it 
may be a painfully long time — when 
they reach the point that they need us. 



I pray that we might not let them 
down. 

". . . But when he was yet a great 
way off, his father saw him, and had 
compassion, and ran, and fell on his 
neck, and kissed him. 

"And the son said unto him, Father, 
I have sinned against heaven, and in 
thy sight, and am no more worthy to 
be called thy son. 

"But the father said to his servants, 
Bring forth the best robe, and put it 
on him; and put a ring on his hand, 
and shoes on his feet: 

"For this my son was dead, and is 
alive again; he was lost, and is 
found " (Luke 15:20-22, 24.) 

In the name of Jesus Christ. 
Amen. O 




• My brothers and sisters and friends: 
The scriptures teach us that our God is 
a God of love. It is the greatest 
thing God can give us and the great- 
est thing we can give him. The true 
measure of loving God is to love him 
without measure. His love toward us 
was manifested when he sent his Only 
Begotten Son into the world that we 
might live through him. (See 1 John 
4:9.) 

A degree of the love between the 
Eternal Father and his Only Begotten 
Son has existed between other fathers 
and sons. We should not feel that such 
love is beyond our ability to receive 
and to give. We may not be able to 
match the perfect love shown to us by 
the Savior, because Christ is the epi- 
tome of this God-given quality, but it 
is a goal toward which all of us should 
strive. 

The most important need of the 
world today to remedy its follies and 
problems is for man to return to God 
in love and obedience to his will. 



Without love, the world will continue 
in turmoil with worsening conditions 
until it is steeped in wickedness and 
sin, at which time the judgments of 
God will fall upon the unrighteous of 
the earth. The cures for all the ills 
and wrongs, the cares, the sorrows, and 
the crimes of humanity lie in one 
word — love. 

Love, if used in its proper context, 
will hold the peoples of the world to- 
gether in understanding and peace. 
Today the most trampled-upon ingredi- 
ent for a happy and joyous life is the 
word love. 

'If the tender, profound, and sympa- 
thizing love practiced and recom- 
mended by Jesus were paramount in 
every heart, the loftiest and most glori- 
ous ideals of human society would be 
realized and little would be wanting 
to make this world a kingdom of 
heaven. Love is indeed heaven upon 
the earth, since heaven above would 
not be heaven without it. 

The apostle Paul calls love the bond 



of perfection and peace. It is the old, 
the new, and the great commandment, 
for love is the fulfilling of the law. 

Love is manifest in charity of the 
soul. It is made up of many things, 
all of which lead to a high idealism in 
standards of living, personal behavior, 
and purpose. It is expressed in Christ- 
like example, in words, in actions, in 
thoughtful attentions and kindly deeds. 

Love is not real when one demands 
attentions and fancied needs, then is 
not appreciative of them and gives 
nothing in return for the favors re- 
ceived. That attitude is one of pure 
selfishness and reflects a lack of grati- 
tude, decency, and respect. Such a 
person is self-centered and cares not for 
his failure to acknowledge courtesy or 
express thanks and appreciation. 

Love is the purification of the heart. 
It strengthens character and gives a 
higher motive and a positive aim to 
every action of life. The power to love 
truly and devotedly is the noblest gift 
with which a human being can be 



64 



endowed. True love is eternal and infi- 
nite. It is equal and pure without 
violent actions and demonstrations, 
which are so much in evidence today. 

Love begins in the home by con- 
genial parents bestowing affection and 
loving care upon their children. They 
deal in kindness and understanding, 
seeking the love and confidence of their 
sons and daughters. They also show 
concern about the welfare and happi- 
ness of their children. 

The apostle Paul gave this wise 
counsel: "But if any provide not for 
his own, and specially for those of his 
own house, he hath denied the faith, 
and is worse than an infidel." (1 Tim. 
5:8.) 

Physical and temporal needs for 
children do not fulfill their most press- 
ing wants. Parents' righteous teachings 
and good example are so important. 
The family should be unified by a 
close-knit relationship, doing things 
together, loving each other, and en- 
joying each other's companionship. 

The first emotion a child learns and 
needs is love. The first emotion he 
expresses is love. A child reacts to love 
— or to the lack of it. What is sweeter 
than having a child put his arms 
around your neck and saying, "I love 
you." Love is the real basis of life. 

If parents are immature and cannot 
settle their differences without anger, 
fighting, and name-calling, a child 
becomes most insecure, and as he grows 
older he is apt to take up with the 
wrong type of friends just to get away 
from an unhappy home environment. 

Let us look at some undesirable 
things that can happen when a grow- 
ing child feels unloved and neglected 
at home. He is often found with 
questionable companions — persons with 
lower standards than his own — simply 
to feel that he is somebody. Unfor- 
tunately, that person rarely brings 
others up to his standards of living, but 
usually lowers himself to the level of 
his so-called friends. 

Girls particularly who feel unloved 
are more willing to give of themselves 
to the smooth-talking boy. They will 
sacrifice chastity just to get love. Where 
does the real blame of this tragedy be- 
long — with the girl who so desperately 
needs to be loved or with the parents 
who failed in their responsibility to 
make their love known to her? 

And what about the boy? What 
kind of teaching and love has he re- 
ceived in his home? How will he treat 
and protect the girls he dates, as a 
result of his home life? 

When children are left to fend for 
themselves, it often destroys the spiri- 
tual and orderly environment of the 
home. If children feel that their par- 
ents really care, they will respond to 



their wishes. When there is mutual 
love and respect in the home, there is 
a desire to please. Girls and boys would 
probably dress in a more modest way 
if they felt their parents cared about 
how they look. 

Recently in Australia I noticed most 
of the girls were wearing extremely 
short miniskirts that left nothing to 
the imagination. The appearance was 
most immodest and scandalous, but the 
girls seemed unashamed, unembar- 
rassed, and at perfect ease. Obviously 
these girls have no one interested 
enough to guide them in their mode of 
dress. Perhaps it is because their moth- 
ers also are clad in miniskirts and fail 
to set a personal example of. modesty. 
These same conditions prevail also in 
our own country. 

Shortly after the miniskirt came into 
vogue, a woman dress designer was 
asked in a radio interview if the mini- 
skirt was contributing to the moral 
delinquency of young girls. She an- 
swered with a positive yes. The statis- 
tics of unwed mothers has proved this 
statement to be true. Will mothers and 
daughters continue to wear immodest 
clothing, or is it time to get out the 
sewing machine and attire themselves 
in respectable standards of dress? 

A family discussion of dress standards 
in a weekly family home evening 
could change these improper dress 
styles to those of modesty — and this 
applies to boys as well as girls. In the 
spirit of love and wise parental teach- 
ing, many of the problems of today's 
youth can be corrected. 

Former President Joseph F. Smith 
gave this warning: ". . . parents in Zion 
will be held responsible for the acts of 
their children, not only until they be- 
come eight years old, but, perhaps, 
throughout all the lives of their chil- 
dren, provided they have neglected their 
duty while they were under their 
guidance. . . ." (Gospel Doctrine, 1966, 
p. 286.) 

Often the duty parents neglect is 
failure to correct and discipline their 
children. Permissiveness does not show 
love — nor can you buy a child's love. 
You cannot ignore his misdeeds and let 
them go unnoticed. When a child 
does wrong, he should expect to be 
punished accordingly. However, this 
should not be done in anger. Often a 
parent can better communicate with 
his child following the punishment. A 
loving arm about the child manifests 
the love the parent feels, and often 
opens the door of communication be- 
tween them. When children are ready 
to talk, that is the time for parents to 
listen, regardless of the hour. 

Solomon counseled: "My son, despise 
not the chastening of the Lord; neither 
be weary of his correction: 



"For whom the Lord loveth he cor- 
rected! ; even as a father the son in 
whom he delighteth." (Prov. 3:11-12.) 

When parents think only of their 
own pleasures and friends, where does 
this leave the child? When they en- 
deavor to keep their "social standing," 
the child is left alone while parents 
participate in other activities away from 
home. They give the child full use of 
the home with all kinds of refresh- 
ments arid feel that if the child has 
some of his friends in, it can compen- 
sate for their not being with him. 

Then what happens? Children are 
alone for an evening — often until the 
wee hours of the morning. What do 
they do when they get bored? The 
answer may shock and upset many 
neglectful parents. 

Our beloved late President David 
O. McKay has said: "Another element 
which makes for a happy home life is 
mutual service, each member of the 
home working for the other. . . ." 
(Treasures of Life [Deseret Book Co., 
1965], p. 330.) That home is most 
beautiful in which you find each per- 
son striving to serve the other. A child 
has the right to feel that in his home 
he has a place of refuge, a place 
of protection from the dangers and 
evils of the out,side world. Family 
unity and integrity are necessary to sup- 
ply this need. He needs parents who 
are happy in their adjustment to each 
other, who are working happily toward 
the fulfillment of an ideal of living, 
who love their children with a sincere 
and unselfish love; in short, who are 
well-balanced individuals, gifted with 
a certain amount of insight, who are 
able to provide the child with a whole- 
some emotional background which will 
contribute more to his development 
than material advantages. 

One of the soundest and safest bul- 
warks of society that is being under- 
mined today is the family. Modern 
life is disintegrating the very founda- 
tion of the home. In the well-ordered 
home, where confidence and love abide, 
you will find life at its best. There is 
no real home without love. Homes 
are made permanent through love. 

"Love, it has been said, flows down- 
ward. The love of parents for their 
children has always been far more 
powerful than that of children for their 
parents; and who among the sons of 
men ever loved God with a thousandth 
part of the love which God has mani- 
fested to us?" (Hare.) 

Parents and youth are forgetting 
what pure love really means. The 
meaning has not changed; but, like 
so many other virtues accepted as es- 
sential to proper standards of behavior, 
it is being chipped away until the real 
meaning is so adulterated that hate is 



Era, December 1970 65 



becoming more and more a substitute. 

How can a man or woman say they 
love each other and become sexually 
involved with someone else? How is it 
that by our actions we hurt those whom 
we should love the most? 

What about parents who break up 
their homes? Who suffers most, the 
parents or the children? The selfish- 
ness of some people is appalling. The 
breaking of marriage vows and cove- 
nants does not seem to be significant 
or meaningful. 

It is most important that parents 
remain together and hold their family 
in an ideal relationship. Parents, do 
not fail to hold the weekly family 
home evening. It will draw your chil- 
dren closer to you and you to them. 
Pray with your family. Establish the 
traditions of righteousness in your 
home. Develop love, companionship, 
and unity. Watch trends — are they up 
or down? Remember, where family 
ends, delinquency begins. 

How blessed is the family where 
love abides. How blessed are the chil- 
dren whose fondest memories are those 
of a happy childhood and youth. 
Parents, take time to give your children 
these happy years and happy memories. 
The world is moving fast. The pres- 



sure upon one's time is consuming. 
Many fathers neglect families. Working 
mothers with children at home do like- 
wise. Find the time to do things to- 
gether as a family. 

I wish to share with you, in part, a 
testimony of Sister Davidina Bailey, a 
devoted mother, looking into the future 
for the care, welfare, direction, and 
happiness of her children. This was 
written 16 years before her death this 
past July. It is a most beautiful tribute 
from a mother who truly loved her 
children. 

"I have lain awake tonight and can- 
not sleep, which is unusual for me as I 
am a good sleeper. I wish to leave this 
message to you, my children. ... If 
you love me . . . keep the command- 
ments of God, for my sake, if not for 
your own, as I would want you to be 
with me unto whatsoever glory your 
father and I attain to. 

"I charge you ... do not stray from 
this gospel if I am not here to look after 
you in this life. Do not be jealous of 
one another, as I have loved you all 
the same. I have tried to be fair to 
all of you. . . . Do not reprove each 
other. ... Do not look for worldly 
pleasures. Be alert to the powers of 
Satan and his angels, for his power is 



mighty and not to be forgotten. 

"Always remember, I love you all. 
You are the spirit children of God. 
Your father and I have been entrusted 
in this mortal life to be your parents, 
so live that we can once again be. a 
family throughout the eternities." 

May God grant us parents the love, 
wisdom, and good judgment to plan 
effectively for the care, welfare, and 
happiness of our children. May we 
help them to live righteously, to love 
truth, and to do good. 

May God bless youth to follow the 
wise teachings of loving and exemplary 
parents and all live together in under- 
standing, harmony, and peace. 

I humbly pray, my brothers and 
sisters, that we shall teach the gospel, 
its principles, its standards, its ideals 
to our children, and set the kind of 
example that we can say to them, 
"Come, follow me and do the things 
you have seen me do." 

I love the Church. I know it is true. 
I know the gospel is the plan of life 
the Lord has given to guide and direct 
us as we meet all the conditions present 
in the world today. May he keep us 
firm and steadfast and true in the 
path of righteousness, I humbly pray 
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. O 



Saturday morning session, October 3, 1970 



"BearYe One Another's Burdens' 



Elder Marion D. Hanks 

Assistant to the Council of the Twelve 



• There was a tear at our house this 
morning when the incident President 
Lee referred to was discussed [the 
crash in Colorado of a plane carrying 
University of Wichita football players 
to Logan, Utah, for a game at Utah 
State University], and also as we read 
in another less prominent place in the 
paper of the loss of a comparable num- 
ber of lives in a crash overseas among 
service people. We join in compassion. 
This is an emphasis again on the 
ephemeral nature of mortal life and 
the importance of enduring principles. 



Thank God for that straightforward 
address by President Tanner. 

Three recent experiences form the 
core of my message this morning. I 
would like to relate them briefly. 

In the northwestern area of the 
United States an alert young adult, 
who is actively involved in his own 
church, attended an open house at a 
new Mormon . Church structure with 
a friend. He was respectfully respon- 
sive as he viewed the lovely chapel 
where our people worship and then 
became increasingly interested as he 



was conducted through the rest of the 
building. He saw the cultural hall 
where drama and music and recrea- 
tional dancing and sports activities are 
enjoyed; he saw the Scout room and 
the Junior Sunday School room, the 
classrooms where we learn and teach. 
He was shown photographs of mis- 
sionaries at their work across the world, 
of a baptism, of a family home evening 
where parents and children were pic- 
tured in counsel, at prayer, and at 
play. He listened to the principles of 
temple marriage, this uniting of a 



66 



couple and a family for time and eter- 
nity. He heard about the priesthood 
and its importance as a man presides 
in love as the head of his home, and 
teaches and blesses his family. 

Finally, he stopped at the lovely Re- 
lief Society room, where he heard the 
story of the honored role of women in 
their homes and in the Church and 
where he heard one of the ladies who 
was explaining the program that eve- 
ning refer to another as "sister." He 
inquired about this and was told that 
in the Church a woman is often called 
"sister" as a man is called "brother." 

The visitor shook his head in won- 
derment and said, "Every woman a 
sister, every man a priest, and every 
home a parish in itself." 

Last week a wonderful young lady 
just beginning her university training 
talked with me about her experience 
as a youth representative on govern- 
mental agencies studying problems of 
young people who have been involved 
with drugs. Earnestly and often tear- 
fully she related the feelings she had 
had as she learned about the breadth 
of this problem in various cities across 
America, and as she had discussed it 
not only in the council room with ex- 
perts from various disciplines, but on 
the streets, in the communes, in cus- 
todial and treatment centers, and in 
many personal conversations with dis- 
affected young people. She repeated 
some of what she had heard from these 
alienated and confused and fearful 
youngsters, of heartbreaking scenes and 
troubles. 

"And what about you," I asked her. 
"What has this done to you? What 
did you have to say to them?" 

Through the tears and the sweet 
compassion and concern came answers 
I can only abstract this morning: "I've 
never been so grateful," she said. "I 
found myself talking about the things 
I've been learning all my life — the im- 
portance of faith in God, of genuine 
concern for others, of commitment 
to Christ; the need for goals, for 
work, for prayer; the significance of 
a self-image based on self-discipline, 
responsible relationships, worthwhile 
accomplishments, rather than on the 
temporary, the trivial, the tainted." 

Many of them, she said, were critical 
of their parents and the older genera- 
tion, and "I found myself wondering 
what their descendants would have to 
thank some of them for." 

The third incident involved two 
young men, one a young American 
born in Mexico who had started ninth 
grade at the age of 19, while still a 
migrant farm worker, the other a part- 
Indian, born in a small village near the 
reservation where many of his relatives 
lived. Both of them were handsome, 
articulate, exuding strength and sin- 



cerity and a sense of urgency. Each is 
pursuing advanced university training; 
each is working to serve the special 
needs of those with whom he shares 
proud heritage. 

The two were interviewed separately 
by a civic comittee seeking help from 
them in understanding the problems 
of their people and offering possible 
solutions. Each answered searching 
questions knowledgeably, effectively, 
earnestly. When asked what could be 
done to help, each responded repeat- 
edly and firmly that what his people 
need is not handouts but opportunities, 
equal opportunities in order that 
through their own efforts they can 
reach the goal. They will do the rest 
themselves. Both pointed to faith in 
God and a religious commitment as 
basic needs of their people, and each 
explained that active involvement in 
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
day Saints is the key to his own growth 
and development. How had this bless- 
ing come about? 

To the young Mexican-American, 
it was through a school administrator 
in a small LDS community in Nevada 
where the verbal answers concerning 
salvation and redemption through 
Christ had been personalized in the 
experience of kindness and concern and 
contagious love. There the young man 
had found not only the answers which 
gave meaning to life, but direction and 
inspiration and purpose in living it. 
The love he found came not chiefly 
from books or sermons or lessons, but 
from persons in a community of saints 
who were able and willing to give it. 

For the part-Indian it had been a 
man living next door, a Mormon bish- 
op whose interest and kindness had 
operied his heart and his home to this 
youngster. There he found acceptance 
and affection and unconditional love. 
Theological answers the little boy was 
not prepared to understand; loving 
concern he could readily comprehend. 
Through the life of a good man he 
learned to care about and to know 
Christ. 

To summarize these three incidents, 
then, the man who visited the church 
building in the Northwest only dimly 
understood on first contact much of 
what he saw, but he had caught a 
glimpse of what can be. 

The lovely girl to whom I listened 
had found many who had no con- 
sciousness at all of being children of 
God, who were frantically trying to ar- 
range, in the words of a wise observer, 
"some acceptable horizontal relation- 
ship with their social environment," 
instead of seeking to establish a "su- 
premely important vertical relationship 
with God." She learned again the im- 
portance of the principles of Christ. 

The two young men had seen those 



principles applied and had accepted 
them. 

There are many strong efforts in the 
Church to bring the principles of the 
gospel of Jesus Christ and the full im- 
pact of his church into the lives of its 
members and all who will participate. 
A number of these have gained wide 
attention and respect: the youth and 
welfare programs, the family home 
evening, military relations activities, 
Indian placement. In educational ef- 
fort, missionary work, genealogical 
undertakings, home teaching, student 
wards and stakes, and other correlated 
efforts, the Church is effectively serv- 
ing the Lord's children. 

All of these are praiseworthy en- 
deavors, but we are clearly aware that 
it is not the programs of the Church 
themselves that save; yet it is often 
through the programs that the love 
and graciousness of God are expressed 
and communicated. 

As I think of the wide efforts of our 
people in these various ways, three 
other related words come to mind of 
which, with their meanings, we must 
continually remind ourselves. If we 
had a giant chalkboard upon which I 
could write, I would like to print in 
large letters three words: OBJEC- 
TIVES, PRINCIPLES, SPIRIT. May 
I comment briefly about them? 

OBJECTIVES 

Recently we have been discussing 
throughout the stakes of the Church 
the great effort currently being made 
to keep closely in touch with our young 
men in the military forces, to prepare 
them for the experiences they face in 
military service away from home. Al- 
ways as we discuss the operation and 
mechanics of this important activity 
we are asking ourselves the meaning 
of it, the purpose and goal for which 
it has been established. 

The answer is in the boy sitting 
against the bulkhead of the Navy ship 
reading a letter from his bishop or 
from his quorum at home. It is in the 
young man wading through the refl 
dust of Takhli or Nakhon Phanom or 
the heat or rain of the Delta to get 
to his group meeting with three or 
four or a dozen other members of the 
Church to partake of the sacrament 
of the Lord's Supper and to participate 
in the worship service that will 
strengthen him against envelopment 
by the hollow world around him. 

In the Church's educational effort 
the objective is the young man or 
woman surrounded by issues and pres- 
sures and voices of unwisdom, needing 
the stabilizing strength of the Lord 
and the companionship of others who 
know the way. 

In the priesthood quorums the ob- 



Era, December 1970 67 



jective is those who are accounted for, 
and the prodigal; in the auxiliaries, 
every available individual. What was 
quoted this morning? The work and 
the glory of God is to bring to pass 
the immortality and eternal life of 
man. 

In every effort of the Church the 
purpose is to tie in God's children to 
his community and kingdom, to bless 
the individual with a knowledge of his 
origins and heritage, a sense of his 
purpose and a plan to fulfill it, and a 
vision of his eternal potential. It is to 
strengthen and qualify God's children 
in the application of the eternal prin- 
ciples we have been discussing here; 
to learn and to serve, to grow and to 
give. It is to help him face the burn- 
ing, urgent problems of the moment, 
grateful for his relationship with God 
and for the great marvel of being 
alive to the richness of life; to revere 
God, who demands and expects some- 
thing important of him. 

The objective of it all, then, is not 
counting the sheep but feeding them, 
not the proliferation of buildings or 
units or organizations or statistics, but 
the blessing of the individual child 
of God. 

Christ, we know, had a great inter- 
est in human beings of every descrip- 
tion, and great love for them. He 
companied with little children, sought 
out the sinner; he summoned men to 
follow him from the fishing boat and 
the counting table. So conscious was 
he of individuals that in the midst of 
the multitude he felt the woman's 
touch of his robe. He memorialized in 
a magnificent parable the selfless con- 
sideration of a despised Samaritan to- 
ward another human being in need. 
He enfolded the ninety and nine and 
went seeking the lost one. Our pur- 
pose is to follow him. 

PRINCIPLES 

And what of principles? 

What are the principles through 
which we can help God's children to 
realize his purpose for them? We can 
start — and almost end — with love. God 
so loved the world that he gave his 
Only Begotten Son that whosoever be- 
lieveth in him should not perish but 
have everlasting life. Christ so loved 
God and God's other children that he 
willingly undertook his pivotal part in 
the great plan of salvation, knowing 
what it meant, what it was going to 
cost. 

Another special son, brilliant — the 
scriptures call him "an authority in 
the presence of God" — but lacking love 
except for self, disdained the Father's 
plan and rebelled against it. He had 
strong opinions of his own; he con- 
trived some rules of his own, seemed to 



feel his Father's way inefficient and 
imperfect. He rebelled, and misled and 
led away a multitude of his Father's 
children. 

Christ loved his Father and desired 
to do his will. He used his agency to 
willingly accept the responsibility to 
open the door to salvation and to 
eternal life to every individual child of 
God who would manifest his accep- 
tance of the gift and his love of the 
giver by obeying his commandments. 

Tillich has spoken of God's love as 
"ultimate concern" — that is, that God 
cares about us as much as can be. We 
are here to learn to care that much 
about each other. 

I often think of the young bishop 
who, against pressures and problems 
and at considerable inconvenience, 
traveled to another city to visit a be- 
reaved widow on the eve of her hus- 
band's funeral. The couple had long 
since moved from the bishop's area, 
but he had made the effort to be with 
his good, wonderful old friends at this 
tender time. He found the elderly 
lady standing alone beside the body of 
her beloved of more than half a cen- 
tury. As he comforted her she said 
through her tears, "Oh bishop, I knew 
you would come." 

I think, too, of an admired friend 
who has written of the night he took 
his little boys to an outing. They had 
the whole package of games and good- 
ies. On the way home one little boy 
went to sleep on the back seat of the 
automobile, and his daddy took off his 
coat and covered the lad. The other 
youngster cuddled up by dad as they 
drove home, discussing the exciting 
events of the evening. The little boy 
dutifully answered his father's ques- 
tions about the things he'd enjoyed 
most, and then, in a moment of pause, 
asked the thing that was really on his 
mind. "Daddy," he said, "if I got cold 
would you cover me with your coat?" 

Every child of God needs and wants 
love. 

The principle of agency must be 
mentioned too, of course, for not even 
through love can one against his will 
be conveyed to useful, constructive 
living or to eternal, creative life. Each 
must individually choose that destina- 
tion and qualify for it. 

SPIRIT 

The third word is spirit. In what 
spirit must we act to help our brother 
achieve God's purposes for him? Paul, 
who knew remorse as perhaps few men 
have, said to the Galatians: "Brethren, 
if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye 
which are spiritual, restore such an 
one in the spirit of meekness; con- 
sidering thyself, lest thou also be 
tempted. 



"Bear ye one another's burdens, and 
so fulfil the law of Christ. 

"For if a man think himself to be 
something, when he is nothing, he de- 
ceived himself." (Gal. 6:1-3.) 

Alma, who also knew error and re- 
morse, prayed for the apostate Zoram- 
ites: "Behold, O Lord, their souls are 
precious, and many of them are our 
brethren; therefore, give unto us, O 
Lord, power and wisdom that we may 
bring these, our brethren, again unto 
thee." (Al. 31:35.) 

The programs of the Church are im- 
portant, but they are not ends in them- 
selves. They permit organized efforts 
to be made to reach and bless the 
individual. They are designed to help 
God's children to achieve the purposes 
of the Lord for them, to operate in the 
principle of real love, to be imple- 
mented in the spirit of compassion and 
contrition. They are to help us bear 
one another's burdens and thus ful- 
fill the law of Christ. 

The basic problem of our time is 
loneliness — the insecurity and anxiety 
that come with separation from God, 
and from one's fellowmen, and from a 
sense of alienation from self that is 
almost always present. The source of 
reconciliation and wholeness is Jesus 
Christ. 

The function of the true Church of 
Christ is to provide for the individual 
that concerned, loving, accepting, for- 
giving community, animated by the 
spirit of Christ, in which the individual 
can find a place, establish true friend- 
ships, and gain confidence in God's 
presence. 

Through it every woman will have 
opportunity ultimately to become what 
the most fortunate of women are 
blessed to be in this world — the heart 
of a loving home. Every man may be 
a true priest of God in his own home. 
And every home may be a true sanc- 
tuary where the love of God may dwell 
and where the spirit of God is. 

It is important to learn to apply the 
programs of the Church — they are 
great and wonderful and inspired and 
effective — but the only way this can 
truly be achieved is with a constant 
understanding of the objectives for 
which a program exists, of the prin- 
ciples that apply, and of the spirit 
that must be present in those who are 
called to serve and lead. 

In our Father's house are many man- 
sions, and a place for each of his chil- 
dren who will qualify. Our assignment 
is to accept God's gift and know that 
we are accepted, and to seek to share 
the warmth of his love and the power 
of his example with all who will heed 
his call. 

So bless us, O God, to understand 
and to do, I pray in the name of Jesus 
Christ. Amen. Q 



68 




• Brothers and sisters, it is wonderful 
to be gathered here with you again in 
one of these great conferences of our 
church. Led by the Tabernacle Choir, 
we have just sung a song that finds an 
echo in my heart: "God moves in a 
mysterious way his wonders to per- 
form." 

Having done as much missionary 
work as I have, I have always con- 
sidered the great wonders the Lord has 
done in our day in connection with 
the restoration of his gospel to the 
earth in this dispensation. This is a 
day of wonders, a day when so many 
things are happening in the world. If 
I were to ask what you consider the 
most wonderful thing that has hap- 
pened in this world in the last 150 
years, I imagine that most people would 
say the landing of the astronauts on 
the moon. That truly was a miracle, 
and how it happened only those who 
worked it out can tell you. 

Then I think of how we were able 
to sit in our homes and watch on tele- 
vision as those men got down from 
the capsule to walk on that land with- 
out the power of gravity to pull them 
back. Then I think of what has been 
the result. (Now I am admitting to 
you that I don't know enough about 
science to know how much good that 
great achievement will be to me or my 
family.) 

Then I think of another event that 
transpired within the last 150 years 
that from my way of appraisal far ex- 
ceeds that in its majesty and magni- 
tude and in its good for humanity, and 
for me and my family and for all other 
people in this world who really love 
the Lord and want to serve him. That 
was when the boy Joseph Smith went 
out in the woods to pray, having read 
the words of the apostle James: "If any 
of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, 
that giveth to all men liberally, and 
upbraideth not; and it shall be given 
him." (Jas. 1:5.) Then he went out 
into the woods to pray, believing in 
that promise, and a pillar of light 
descended from heaven, as it did to 



Saul of Tarsus on the way to Damas- 
cus, and in the midst of that pillar of 
light were God the Father and his Son 
Jesus Christ. 

When that boy asked which of all 
the churches he should join, the 
Father, pointing to the Son, said: "This 
is My Beloved Son, Hear Him!" (See 
Joseph Smith 2:17.) The answer came 
that he was to join none of them, for 
they all taught for doctrines the pre- 
cepts of men, and then he was told 
of the work that was about to come 
forth. 

If that story is true, and I know that 
it is, is there anything like it in all 
this world? For when the heavens 
opened, heavenly messengers appeared, 
the Father and the Son who created 
this earth; we are told in the holy 
scriptures that God created the earth 
by the power of his Only Begotten, 
and could anything that has happened 
in this world in the last 150 years 
compare with the visit of the Father 
and the Son to this earth? We bear 
solemn testimony, all of us gathered 
here in this conference this day, and 
millions throughout the earth who 
have put this message to the test, that 
this is the truth. As Jesus said to 
Nicodemus: "We speak that we do 
know, and testify that we have seen; 
and ye receive not our witness." (John 
3:11.) And so we are testifying to all 
the world that this glorious event 
transpired. 

After Jesus had spent some forty days 
with his disciples and ascended to 
heaven in the presence of 500 of the 
brethren, as they stood gazing into 
heaven, two men in white apparel 
stood by their side and said: "Ye men 
of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up 
into heaven? this same Jesus, which is 
taken up from you into heaven, shall 
so come in like manner as ye have seen 
him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11.) Why 
then should it be so difficult to believe 
that he would appear when two angels 
stood there to say that he would come 
again? And we are looking forward to 
his coming. When I think of all of 



the things the prophets have foretold 
that should precede his second com- 
ing, then I say truly that God moves 
in a mysterious way, his wonders to 
perform. 

I like the statement in the third 
chapter of Malachi, where the Lord, 
speaking through the prophet Malachi, 
said: "Behold, I will send my messen- 
ger, and he shall prepare the way be- 
fore me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, 
shall suddenly come to his temple. . . . 

"But who may abide the day of his 
coming? ... for he is like a refiner's 
fire, and like fuller's soap." (Malachi 
3:1-2.) 

Now that obviously had no refer- 
ence to his first coming, because he 
didn't come suddenly to his temple. 
All men were able to abide the day of 
his coming. He did not come cleans- 
ing and purifying as refiner's fire and 
fuller's soap, but we are told that when 
he shall come in the latter days the 
wicked shall cry out to the rocks, "Fall 
on us, and hide us from the face of 
him that sitteth on the throne, and 
from the wrath of the Lamb." (Rev/ 
6:16.) And so when God sends a 
messenger to prepare the way before 
him, that messenger could be none 
other than a prophet. 

You remember what Jesus said of 
John the Baptist, who was sent to 
prepare the way for his coming in the 
meridian of time. He said that there 
was no greater prophet in Israel than 
John the Baptist. And so we bear 
solemn testimony to the world that 
this prophet whom God raised up in 
this dispensation was the Prophet 
Joseph Smith. He was the messenger 
that was sent to prepare the way for 
these wonderful things that the Lord 
promised to send to this world to pre- 
pare the way for the coming of the 
Lord. 

He was the prophet of this dispen- 
sation whom, according to our scrip- 
tures, the Lord had in waiting over 
3,000 years after he declared his com- 
ing, waiting for his day and time just 
as did the prophets of old, such as 



Era, December 1970 69 



Jeremiah, when he was called to be 
a prophet. He could not understand 
this, and the Lord said, "Before I 
formed thee in the belly I knew thee; 
and before thou earnest forth out of 
the womb I sanctified thee, and I or- 
dained thee a prophet unto the na- 
tions." (Jer. 1:5.) The prophet of this 
dispensation was ordained to be a 
prophet unto the nations before he 
ever came here, and we have the word 
of the Lord that he should be great in 
his eyes. (See 2 Ne. 3:8.) 

Then I think of the statement of 
Peter following the day of Pentecost, 
when he talked to those who put to 
death the Christ, and he told them that 
the heavens would receive the Christ 
"until the times of restitution of all 
things, which God hath spoken by the 
mouth of all his holy prophets since 
the world began." (Acts 3:21.) Is it 
difficult to believe this prophecy of 
Peter's that there should be a restitu- 
tion of all things spoken by the mouths 
of all the holy prophets since the 
world began? No other church in this 
world, as far as I know, claims such a 
restitution, and that includes the visit 
of many holy prophets of the dispen- 
sations past. 

Following the coming of the Father 
and the Son to the Prophet Joseph, a 
few years later Moroni, a prophet who 
had lived here upon this earth in the 
land of America 400 years after the 
Christ, came back to tell the prophet 
about the former inhabitants of this 
land and the record that had been 
prepared, which is the Book of Mor- 
mon. 

Brother [Marion G.] Romney gave 
us an inspiring talk yesterday about 
the teachings of that book. It was 
preserved for the convincing of the 
Jew and the Gentile that Jesus is the 
Christ, the very eternal God, mani- 
festing himself unto all nations. It 
was preserved by the hand of Almighty 
God; and it was written by the com- 
mand of the Lord to Ezekiel the 
prophet that two records should be 
kept, one of Judah and his followers, 
the House of Israel, and one of Joseph 
and his followers. The Lord promised 
he would take the record of Joseph 
that was in the hands of Ephraim and 
put it with the record of Judah and 
make them one in his hands. (See 
Ezek. 37:16-17.) Can't we believe 
that God would do that which he said 
he would do? If the Book of Mormon 
isn't that record, where is it? 

In order to fully appreciate what 
that book is, we need to go back a 
little further to the promises made to 
the twelve sons of Jacob, and Joseph's 
promise, if you will read it, far exceeds 
that of his other brethren. He was 
promised through Jacob many bless- 



ings. "The blessings of thy father have 
prevailed above the blessings of my 
progenitors unto the utmost bound 
of the everlasting hills. . . ." (Gen. 
49:26.) 

In describing the new land that 
should be given to Joseph, who would 
be separated from his brethren, Moses 
used the word "precious" five times in 
just four verses as recorded in the Bible 
describing that new land. (See Deut. 
33:13-16.) That new land was none 
other than this land of America. The 
Lord had it preserved, waiting for the 
day of the restoration of the gospel in 
this latter day. 

What does the world know about 
that record of Joseph? And why should 
they hesitate to accept it? And with 
its acceptance, even the Jewish people 
have no occasion to question who their 
Messiah is because that record so defi- 
nitely tells of the signs of the birth 
of the Savior of the world, of his cruci- 
fixion, and then of his visit to this land 
of America when he visited his people, 
as Brother Romney told us yesterday. 

It has been said that if that book had 
been found by a man plowing in his 
field, it would have been considered the 
greatest event of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. We have testimonies from many 
who are not members of the Church. 
The book contains a promise that if 
we would read it, the Lord would man- 
ifest the truth of it unto us by the 
power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moro. 
10:4.) 

Some years ago Brother Nicholas G. 
Smith, speaking from this pulpit, told 
us of an experience he had while pre- 
siding over the California Mission. The 
dean of religion at the University of 
Southern California asked him for a 
copy of the Book of Mormon, and 
Brother Smith gave him one that had 
been marked by the missionaries, with 
the important passages underlined; 
then the dean invited Brother Smith 
and the missionaries to attend his meet- 
ing. He took that Book of Mormon and 
he would read passage after passage to 
his congregation and would say: "This 
isn't a dead book, it's a live book." He 
said, "We have here a volume of scrip- 
ture that has been in our midst for a 
hundred years, and we haven't known 
anything about it." And then he would 
say to his congregation: "Aren't these 
beautiful teachings? Why can't we 
fellowship a people who believe in such 
beautiful things as I have been read- 
ing to you here today?" Well, that is 
just another testimony of the divinity 
of this work, but the Lord preserved it 
to fulfill his promises to Joseph in this 
land, choice above all other lands. 

There isn't time today to go into 
these other wonderful things that the 
Lord has created in a way that is mys- 



terious to the world. You just take 
this temple standing here on this 
block. Isaiah and Micah were both 
permitted to look down through the 
stream of time (3,000 years) to the 
latter days, and they named the lat- 
ter days when the mountain of the 
Lord's house would be established in 
the top of the mountains and all na- 
tions would flow unto it; and they 
would say, "Come ye, and let us go up 
to the mountain of the Lord, to the 
house of the God of Jacob; and he will 
teach us of his ways, and we will walk 
in his paths. . . ." (See Isa. 2:2-3.) As 
far as I know there is no building in 
the history of this world that has gath- 
ered people from all nations like this 
temple, and many of you who are here 
today are no doubt descendants of 
some of those who have been gathered 
to this land. 

When I was doing missionary work 
over in Holland, I had a very earnest 
investigator, a businessman. He said, 
"I will never join your church." I said, 
"Why?" He said, "I don't want to go 
to America." I said, "Good for you." 
I then added, "You just stay right here 
and help strengthen these branches." 
He had been a member of the Church 
only a few months when he came rush- 
ing into my office one day and said, 
"Brother Richards, I have a chance to 
sell my business." I said, "What do 
you want to sell your business for?" 
"Oh, I want to go to Zion," he said. 
I wish you could see the accounts we 
had on the mission books, when I was 
secretary of the mission, of the good 
Dutch people saving their nickels and 
their dimes to come here before we 
had any temples in Europe. 

I heard President Joseph F. Smith 
say in Rotterdam in 1906 that the day 
would come when temples of the Lord 
would dot that whole land of Europe, 
and I have lived long enough to see 
two of them built. Well, that is just 
another of these wonders that are mys- 
terious to the world that the Lord has 
given us. If we would take time to 
study the prophecies of the gathering, 
we would know that the Lord kept this 
land away from the eyes of the world 
to make it the gathering place of his 
people. 

Brothers and sisters, we have so 
much to be grateful for. Yesterday 
Brother Burton talked to us about the 
coming of Elijah the prophet. Just 
think of that promise of Malachi, that 
before the coming of the great and 
dreadful day of the Lord, the Lord said 
he would send Elijah the prophet, 
"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.) How could anybody 



70 



believe the holy scriptures and not pray 
for the day to come when Elijah would 
come? And then we bear solemn wit- 
ness to the world that lie has come. 

I was in Israel a year ago last July, 
and we went into three of the syna- 
gogues on a tour, and in one of them 
there was hanging on the wall an arm 
chair. I asked the rabbi what it was 
there for. He said, "So we could let it 
down for Elijah to sit in when he 
comes." And of course I couldn't tell 
him that Elijah had already been, 
and that his coming has given us this 
assurance that has been mentioned 
in this conference of the eternal dura- 
tion of the marriage covenant. Not 



only that, but God has also pre- 
pared a thousand years under the 
leadership of Jesus until every knee 
shall ■ bow and every tongue confess 
that Jesus is the Christ, which means 
that this message has got to go into 
the eternal worlds. 

I bear you my solemn witness that 
this is God's work, and I know it in 
every fiber of my being, and I know 
that it is what Isaiah saw when he 
said: "Forasmuch as this people draw 
near me with their mouth, and with 
their lips do honour me, but have re- 
moved their heart from me, and their 
fear toward me is taught by the precepts 
of men: 



"Therefore, behold, I will proceed to 
do a marvellous work among this 
people, even a marvellous work and a 
wonder: for the wisdom of their wise 
men shall perish, and the understand- 
ing of their prudent men shall be hid." 
(Isa. 29:13-14.) 

That is the message we have to all 
the world, and I bear you my witness 
that there isn't an honest man or an 
honest woman in this world who really 
loves the Lord who wouldn't join this 
church if they would take time to find 
out what it really is. I bear you that 
witness and pray God to bless you all, 
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Amen. O 




• I should like to speak out across the 
land to the youth who are the future 
of the Church and the hope of the 
nations. 

I found my theme in a conversation 
with a young man in a South Ameri- 
can airport, where we were both de- 
layed by late planes. His hair was 
long and his face bearded, his glasses 
large and round. Sandals were on his 
feet, and his clothing such as to give 
the appearance of total indifference to 
any generally accepted standard of 
style. 

I did not mind this. He was earnest 
and evidently sincere. He was edu- 
cated and thoughtful, a graduate of a 
great North American university. 
Without employment and sustained by 
his father, he was traveling through 
South America. 

What was he after in life? I asked. 
"Peace — and freedom" was his imme- 
diate response. Did he use drugs? Yes, 
they were one of his means to obtain 
the peace and freedom he sought. Dis- 
cussion of drugs led to discussions of 
morals. He talked matter-of-factly 
about the new morality that gave so 



much more freedom than any previous 
generation had ever known. 

He had learned in our opening intro- 
ductions that I was a churchman; and 
he let me know, in something of a 
condescending way, that the morality 
of my generation was a joke. Then 
with earnestness he asked how I could 
honestly defend personal virtue and 
moral chastity. I shocked him a little 
when I declared that his freedom was 
a delusion, that his peace was a fraud, 
and that I would tell him why. 

Our flights were called shortly after 
that, and we had to separate. Since 
then I have thought much of our dis- 
cussion. I would hope that he might 
be listening somewhere today. He is 
part of a challenging generation num- 
bered in the millions who, in a search 
for freedom from moral restraint and 
peace from submerged conscience, have 
opened a floodgate of practices that 
enslave and debauch, and which, if 
left unchecked, will not only destroy 
individuals but also the nations of 
which they are a part. 

I thought of this freedom and this 
peace when I recently faced a young 



man and a young woman across the 
desk of my office. He was handsome, 
tall, and manly. She was a beautiful 
girl, an excellent student, sensitive and 
perceptive. 

The girl sobbed, and tears fell from 
the eyes of the young man. They were 
freshmen in the university. They were 
to be married the next week, but not 
in the kind of wedding of which they 
had dreamed. They had planned that 
would come three years from now, 
following graduation. 

Now they found themselves in a 
situation both regretted and for which 
neither was prepared. Shattered were 
their dreams of schooling, the years of 
preparation they knew each needed for 
the competitive world that lay ahead. 
Rather, they would now have to estab- 
lish a home, he to become the bread- 
winner at the best figure his meager 
skills could command. 

The young man looked up through 
his tears. "We were sold short," he 
said. 

"We've cheated one another," she 
responded. "We've cheated one an- 
other and the parents who love us — 



Era, December 1970 71 



and we've cheated ourselves. We were 
betrayed. We fell for the rubbish 
that virtue is hypocrisy; and we've 
found that the new morality, the idea 
that sin is only in one's mind, is a 
booby trap that's destroyed us." 

They spoke of a thousand thoughts 
that had crossed their minds in the 
fearful days and the anxious nights of 
the past few weeks. Should she seek 
an abortion? The temptation was there 
in the frightening contemplation of the 
ordeal that lay ahead. No, never, she 
had concluded. Life is sacred under 
any circumstance. How could she ever 
live with herself if she took measures 
to destroy the gift of life even under 
these conditions? 

Perhaps she could go to some place 
where she was not known, and he 
could go on with his schooling. The 
child could be placed for adoption. 
There were excellent organizations that 
could assist in such a program, and 
there were good families anxious for 
children. But they had dismissed that 
thought. 

He would never leave her to face 
her trial alone. He was responsible, 
and he would meet that responsibility 
even though it blighted the future of 
which he had dreamed. 

I admired his courage, his determina- 
tion to make the best of a difficult 
situation; but my heart ached as I 
watched them, bereft and sobbing. 
Here was tragedy. Here was heart- 
break. Here was entrapment. Here was 
bondage. 

They had been told of freedom, that 
evil was only a thing of the mind. 
But they found they had lost their 
freedom. Nor did they know peace. 
They had bartered their peace and 
their freedom — the freedom to marry 
when they chose to marry, the freedom 
to secure the education of which they 
had dreamed, and, more importantly, 
the peace of self-respect. 

My young friend in the airport 
might have countered my story by 
saying that they were not smart. Had 
they been wise to the things available 
to them, they would not have found 
themselves in this sorry situation. 

I should have replied that their 
situation is far from unique and that 
it is daily growing more acute. In 
1968 there were 165,700 births to un- 
wed schoolgirls in the United States 
alone, with an average annual increase 
of 12,000. (Reader's Digest, September 
1970, p. 170.) 

Can there be peace in the heart of 
any man, can there be freedom in the 
life of one who has left only misery 
as the bitter fruit of his indulgence? 

Can anything be more false or dis- 
honest than gratification of passion 
without acceptance of responsibility? 



I have seen in Korea the tragic 
aftermath of war in the thousands of 
orphans born of Korean mothers and 
soldier fathers. They have been aban- 
doned, creatures of sorrow, unwanted, 
the flotsam of a miserable tide of 
immorality. 

It is so in Vietnam. Tens of thou- 
sands of such, according to reports. 
Peace and freedom? There can be 
neither for him who has wantonly 
indulged nor for those left as the 
innocent and tragic victims of his lust. 

Men are prone to gloat over their 
immoral conquests. What a cheap and 
sullied victory. There is no conquest 
in such. It is only self-deception and 
a miserable fraud. The only conquest 
that brings satisfaction is the conquest 
of self. It was said of old that "he that 
governeth himself is greater than he 
that taketh a city." 

Are not the words of Tennyson still 
appropriate: "My strength is as the 
strength of ten, Because my heart is 
pure." (Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Sir 
Galahad.") 

You expect me to speak in this fash- 
ion. But listen to the conclusion of 
renowned historians Will and Ariel 
Durrant. Their language may sound a 
little indelicate for an occasion like 
this, but my young friends will under- 
stand it. Out of the vast experience of 
writing a thousand years of history, 
Dr. and Mrs. Durrant say: 

"No one man, however brilliant or 
well informed can come in one life- 
time to such fullness of understanding 
as to safely judge and dismiss the cus- 
toms or institutions of his society, for 
these are the wisdom of generations 
after centuries of experiment in the 
laboratory of history. A youth boiling 
with hormones will wonder why he 
should not give full freedom to his 
sexual desires; and if he is unchecked 
by custom, morals, or laws, he may 
ruin his life before he matures suffi- 
ciently to understand that sex is a 
river of fire that must be banked and 
cooled by a hundred restraints if it is 
not to consume in chaos both the indi- 
vidual and the group." (The Lessons of 
History, pp. 35-36.) 

Self-discipline was- never easy. I do 
not doubt that it is more difficult today. 
We live in a sex-saturated world. Not- 
withstanding the conclusions of a 
government commission, which I am 
happy to say has been widely repudi- 
ated, I am convinced that many of our 
youth, and many older but no less 
gullible, are victims of the persuasive 
elements with which they are sur- 
rounded — the pornographic literature 
which has become a $500 million a 
year business in this country alone, 
seductive movies that excite and give 
sanction to promiscuity, dress standards 



that invite familiarity, judicial deci- 
sions that destroy legal restraint, par- 
ents who often unwittingly push the 
children they love toward situations 
they later regret. 

A wise writer has observed that "a 
new religion is emerging throughout 
the world, a religion in which the 
body is the supreme object of worship 
to the exclusion of all other aspects 
of existence. 

"The pursuit of its pleasures has 
grown into a cult ... for its ritual no 
efforts are spared. 

"We have bartered holiness for con- 
venience, . . . wisdom for information, 
joy for pleasure, tradition for fashion." 
(Abraham Heschel, The Insecurity of 
Freedom, p. 200.) 

Nakedness has become the hallmark 
of much public entertainment. It 
reaches beyond this into the realm of 
sadistic perversion. As one seasoned 
New York critic remarked, "It's not 
only the nudity; it's the crudity." 

Can there be any reasonable doubt 
that in sowing the wind of pornog- 
raphy, we are reaping the whirlwind 
of decay? 

We need to read more history. Na- 
tions and civilizations have flowered, 
then died, poisoned by their own moral 
sickness. As one commentator has re- 
marked, Rome perished when the 
Goths poured over its walls. But it 
was "not that the walls were low. It 
was that Rome itself was low." (Jenkin 
Lloyd Jones, U. S. News & World Re- 
port, May 26, 1962, p. 90.) 

No nation, no civilization can long 
endure without strength in the homes 
of its people. That strength derives 
from the integrity of those who estab- 
lish those homes. 

No family can have peace, no home 
can be free from storms of adversity 
unless that family and that home are 
built on foundations of morality, fidel- 
ity, and mutual respect. There cannot 
be peace where there is not trust; there 
cannot be freedom where there is not 
loyalty. The warm sunlight of love 
will not rise out of a swamp of im- 
morality. 

As with the bud, so with the blossom. 
Youth is the seedtime for the future 
flowering of family life. To hope for 
peace and love and gladness out of 
promiscuity is to hope for that which 
will never come. To wish for freedom 
out of immorality is to wish for some- 
thing that cannot be. Said the Savior, 
"Whosoever committeth sin is the 
servant of sin." (John 8:34.) 

Is there a valid case for virtue? It is 
the only way to freedom from regret. 
The peace of conscience which flows 
therefrom is the only personal peace 
that is not counterfeit. 

And beyond all of this is the unfail- 



72 



ing promise of God to those who walk 
in virtue. Declared Jesus of Nazareth, 
speaking on the mountain, "Blessed 
are the pure in heart: for they shall 
see God." (Matt. 5:8.) That is a cove- 
nant, made hy him who has the power 
to fulfill. 

And again, the voice of modern reve- 
lation speaks a promise — an unmatched 
promise that follows a simple com- 
mandment: 

Here is the commandment: ". . . let 
virtue garnish thy thoughts unceas- 
ingly." And here is the promise: ". . . 
Then shall thy confidence wax strong 
in the presence of God. . . . 

"The Holy Ghost shall be thy con- 
stant companion, . . . and thy dominion 
shall be an everlasting dominion, and 
without compulsory means it shall 
flow unto thee forever and ever." 
(D&C 121:45-46.) 

Just a word or two concerning this 
marvelous promise — 



It has been my privilege on various 
occasions to converse with Presidents 
of the United States and important 
men in other governments. At the 
close of each such occasion I have re- 
flected on the rewarding experience of 
standing with confidence in the pres- 
ence of an acknowledged leader. And 
then I have thought, what a wonderful 
thing, what a marvelous thing it would 
be to stand with confidence — unafraid 
and unashamed and unembarrassed — 
in the presence of God. This is the 
promise held out to every virtuous 
man and woman. 

I know of no greater promise made 
by God to man than this promise made 
to those who let virtue garnish their 
thoughts unceasingly. 

Channing Pollock once remarked: 
"A world in which everyone believed 
in the purity of women and the nobil- 
ity of men, and acted accordingly, 
would be a very different world, but 



a grand place to live in." (Reader's 
Digest, June 1960, p. 76.) 

I assure you, my young friends, that 
it would be a world of freedom in 
which the spirit of man might grow to 
undreamed-of glory, a world of peace, 
the peace of clear conscience, of un- 
sullied love, of fidelity, of unfailing 
trust and loyalty. 

This may appear an unattainable 
dream for the world. But for each of 
you it can be a reality, and the world 
will become so much the richer and 
the stronger for the virtue of your 
individual lives. 

God bless you to realize this free- 
dom, to know this peace, to gain this 
blessing, I humbly pray, as I leave with 
you my witness of the truth of these 
things; and as a servant of the Lord, 
I promise you that if you will sow in 
virtue, you will reap in gladness now 
and in all years yet to come, in the 
name of Jesus Christ. Amen. O 



Saturday afternoon session, October 3, 1970 



The Years That the Locust Hath Eaten 



Elder Spencer W. Kimball 

Acting President of the Council of the Twelve 



• My brothers and sisters and friends, 
and especially our good folks from 
overseas and of a different tongue: It 
is a joy to be with you in this great 
conference. 

To the right of us a hundred yards 
is a beautiful granite monument 
crowned with a stone globe, and on it, 
two bronze seagulls. Before this monu- 
ment have stood millions of tourists, 
as they heard the absorbing story of 
the "Mercy of God to the Mormon 
Pioneers." 

The bronze wings of the birds are 
spread wide, as are the great arms of 
the Church, to envelop all the peoples 
of the world; and the granite globe is 
prophetic of the worldwide Church and 
reminiscent of Daniel's envisioned 
stone cut out of the mountain without 



hands, to roll forth and fill the whole 
earth. 

On the tablets is told the story of 
the virgin desert lands, of ox teams, of 
plowmen and wide-flung arms sowing 
grain. It pictures the invasion of the 
merciless insects, and the hopeless bat- 
tle represented by the man sinking to 
the earth, listless, with his hanging 
hands and bowed head. Despair has 
engulfed him. The woman is also 
toil-worn, with something pathetic in 
her body-weariness, her head raised to 
the pitiless skies. They see the gulls 
overhead. Are they coming to complete 
the devastation? The conquest of the 
gulls and the harvesting of the grain 
that was saved is pictured. Total 
famine would now be averted. 

The Egyptian scourge was not the 



first, nor was the Mormon disaster the 
last of the invasion by the crickets, the 
grasshoppers, the locusts. Years ago, 
when we visited Australia, we fre- 
quently heard that a man had "dropped 
his bundle." We came to know that 
it had a similar meaning there to the 
phrase we often use here: "He didn't 
make the grade" or "He missed the 
boat." As I read the old scriptures, I 
find that the ancients characterized 
such a situation with the phrase "The 
years that the locust hath eaten." 

We are told that the locust is a 
species of a large family of insects with 
blunt antennae, long hind legs, thick 
thighs that make the familiar sound 
when scraped on the fore wings. They 
breed in river bottoms and sunny de- 
pressions and multiply at an alarming 



Era, December 1970 73 




An audio engineer in the sound control room follows the text of an address being de- 
livered at the pulpit. 



rate and fill the air, obliterating the 
daylight. Hordes of these insects have 
plagued western United States as well 
as many other parts of the world and 
caused billions of dollars of damage 
and ruin. They have caused numerous 
famines and the deaths of great num- 
bers of people. 

These insects, as with the cricket 
war in Utah, were heavily involved in 
the Egyptian story: 

Moses and Aaron pleaded, and 
threatened Pharaoh to release his army 
of slaves. The monarch was obdurate, 
deceptive, and stubborn. During the 
suffering of each plague he made the 
promise, but when relief came, he 
ignored his promise. 

Moses warned: "Thus saith the Lord 
God . . . How long wilt thou refuse to 
humble thyself . . . ? let my people go, 
that they may serve me." (Exod. 10:3.) 

In sucession came the plagues: when 
"all the waters that were in the river 
were turned to blood"; and when "the 
frogs came up, and covered the land of 
Egypt"; and when "there came a 
grievous swarm of flies"; when "the 
dust of the earth . . . became lice"; 
when ashes sprinkled by Moses "be- 
came a boil breaking forth with blains 
upon man, and upon beast." 

There came "thunder and hail, and 
the fire ran along upon the ground; 
. . . And the hail smote ... all that was 



in the field, . . . every herb . . . , and 
brake every tree of the field." "And the 
flax and the barley was smitten; for 
the barley was in the ear, and the flax 
was boiled." (Exod. 7:20; 8:6, 24, 17; 
9:10, 23, 25, 31.) 

Upon Pharaoh's repeated rejection, 
Moses quoted the Lord: 

". . . let my people go. . . . Else, if 
thou refuse . . . , behold, tomorrow 
will I bring the locusts into thy coast." 
(Exod. 10:3-4.) 

"Thou shalt carry much seed out into 
the field, and shall gather very little in; 
for the locust shall consume it." (Deut. 
28:38. Italics added.) 

". . . and when it was morning, the 
east wind brought the locusts. 

". . . so that the land was darkened; 
and . . . there remained not any green 
thing in the trees, or in the herbs of 
the field, through all the land of 
Egypt." (Exod. 10:13, 15.) 

What the palmerworm left, the lo- 
cust ate, and what the locust left, the 
caterpillar ate. And another crop was 
gone. 

And as I remembered the "years that 
the locust hath eaten," I reflected on 
the lost weekends and wasted years of 
many people. 

From a distant state a letter came 
from a man who had been baptized 
a year before. I quote from his letter: 

"I will appreciate it if you will re- 



move my name from the roster of the 
Church. I find the . . . requirements 
of the Church too great. I was . . . led 
... by the missionaries to the receiving 
of instructions. The next thing I knew, 
my baptism was planned. I do not 
regret this completely, for it was edu- 
cational. 

"Finally, I came to realize what 1 
had gotten myself involved in. 

"I was unable to forgo the four 
No's — tobacco, liquor, coffee and tea. 
... It causes me more anxiety than I 
am able to cope with. And my person- 
ality requires acceptance . . . and I 
feel unaccepted when unable to par- 
take of the pleasures of my companions. 

"Also, I find that I cannot give from 
three to five hours on Sunday and one 
tenth of my earnings. This is against 
my basic nature. . . . 

"I am very sorry that I have caused 
you this trouble. No one should con- 
sider himself at fault. ... It is mine 
alone. I hope that you can forgive 
me . . . my decision is final." 

His final decision was sad indeed. 
His years follow each other and are 
figuratively eaten by the locusts, the 
cankerworm, and the caterpillar, while 
he returns to the world. 

Contrary to this, generally, our 
people are not disturbed about four or 
five hours of devotion on the Sabbath 
and giving one tenth of their income 
and the four no's. 

Marden says: ". . . the mill can 
never grind with the water which has 
passed." (Orison S. Marden, Pushing 
to the Front, vol. 1, p. 13.) 

Some days ago, a family of new 
members were beaming as they shook 
my hand. I asked them how long they 
had been members of the Church and 
the answer was "Two months." Then, 
with enthusiasm and regret, they said, 
"Think of all these years we could 
have been so happy in the Church!" 
The locusts had eaten their years. 

Someone said, " 'O, that I had!' or 
'O, that I had not!' is the silent cry of 
many a man who would give life itself 
for the opportunity to go back and re- 
trieve some long lost error." (Marden, 
p. 15.) 

In 1834, a high council was being- 
organized by the Prophet Joseph Smith. 
This account comes from L. D. Young: 

"... I committed a grave error, and 
desire to leave a record of it, for a les- 
son to others. The prophet requested 
me to take a seat with the brethren 
who had been selected for this [high] 
council. Instead of doing so, I arose 
and pled my inability to fill so re- 
sponsible a position, manifesting, I 
think, considerable earnestness in the 
matter. 

"The prophet then said he merely 
desired I should take the place; but 



74 



as I still excused myself, he appointed 
another to fill it. I think this was the 
reason that he never again called me 
to fill any important position in the 
priesthood. I have since learned to go 
where I am called, and not set up my 
judgment against that of those who 
are called to guide in this kingdom." 

The locust went to work. Think of 
the years of opportunity this good man 
lost. 

Harriet Winslow said of opportunity: 

"The golden opportunity 

Is never offered twice; seize then the 

hour 
When Fortune smiles and Duty points 

the way. 

"Why thus longing, thus forever sigh- 
ing, 

For the far-off, unattained and dim, 

While the beautiful, all around thee 
lying 

Offers up its low, perpetual hymn?" 

I know one man who was greatly 
concerned when his stake president 
invited him to be the bishop of the 
ward. His face became ashen. He 
stammered a rejection. He declined 
the great privilege of being a judge in 
Israel, a father of a people, a leader of 
men. The stake president, feeling that 
it was mere timidity and a feeling of 
inadequacy, attempted to persuade, but 
the decision was made. 

Since that day there have been many 
years that "the locusts hath eaten." 

In this connection, I also think of the 
Sidney Rigdons, the Oliver Cowderys, 
the Martin Harrises, and the many 
others who closed the doors upon their 
opportunities. 

"Remember the four things come not 
back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, 
the past life, and the neglected oppor- 
tunity." (Marden, p. 67.) 

Another young man who was a 
faithful member of the Church be- 
came infatuated with a beautiful girl 
not a member of the Church, and when 
their courtship reached the marriage 
state, it was set to be a civil one, "till 
death do you part." He weakly re- 
monstrated, but she with greater 
strength prevailed. Temple and eter- 
nal marriage had no meaning for her. 

He would hope someday to bring 
her into the Church, but the years 
moved on at a rapid pace, and the 
children came and grew up without the 
gospel. The opportunities passed; 
years were lost — years never to be re- 
covered, for time flies on wings of 
lightning, and you cannot call it back. 
Were these locust years? 

Shakespeare wrote: 

"There is a tide in the affairs of men, 



Which, taken at the flood, leads on to 

fortune; 
Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
Is bound in shadows and in miseries; 
And we must take the current when 

it serves, 
Or lose our ventures. 

"Tis never offered twice; seize the hour 
When fortune smiles, and duty points 

the way; 
Nor shrink aside to 'scape the specter 

fear, 
Nor pause, though pleasure beacon 

from her bower; 
But bravely bear thee onward to the 

goal." 

(Julius Caesar, Sc. 4, act. 3.) 

The locust has always been abroad. 
Civilization is cankered by the canker- 
worm. 

Benjamin Franklin said: "Dost thou 
love life? Then do not squander time, 
for that is the stuff life is made of." 

And another said: "Eternity itself 
cannot restore the loss struck from the 
minute." (Ancient Post.) 

"I wasted time, and now doth time 
waste me." (Shakespeare.) 

When I was a little boy, I was 
much impressed by a young couple just 
being married in a civil marriage. He 
was a handsome swain, with a sleek 
horse and rubber-tired buggy and with 
money to spend. She was the "belle of 
the ball," coming from a well-to-do 
family so that her clothes and her 
popularity made other girls envy her. 

Their marriage was what might be 
called an extravaganza. 

There had been many children in 
both families, but their first determina- 
tion was that "they would have no 
kids." 

There was some sort of surgery — no 
children ever came to that home. Their 
fun continued — dancing, riding, par- 
ties. Through the years, I saw them 
grow old and lonely. He died first. 
On. a main street in the little town, she 
lived on and walked daily to the post 
office and to the grocery store. The 
years sped on and brought a bent back 
and a slow walk with a cane added. 
Loneliness surrounded her. Her broth- 
ers and sisters were occupied with their 
families. Visits to her were less often 
and for shorter periods. There was no 
radio or television that long ago. Read- 
ing was reduced as eyes grew dim. 
People saw her less often and missed 
her less. 

One day someone found her. She 
had been dead for days. Alone in death 
as she had been alone in life. No lov- 
ing, dutiful children to bury her — no 
tear shed — no lament. They had been 
wasted years. Were they years that the 
locust hath eaten? 



Someone said: 

"Destiny is not about thee, but with- 
in — 

Thyself must make thyself." 

(Marden, p. 404.) 

Failure to plan brings barrenness and 
sterility. Fate brushes man with its 
wings, but we make our own fate 
largely. Karl G. Maeser gives us this 
thought: 

"And the books will be opened and 
my guardian angel will stand by me 
and as he opens the book he wijl say, 
'Look,' and I will look and say: 'How 
beautiful.' And the angel will say, 
'That is what you could have been,' 
and then he will turn the leaf and say, 
'This is what you have been.' " 

And Ingalls gives us this: 

"Master of human destinies am I, 
Fame, love, and fortune on my foot- 
steps wait. 
Cities and fields I walk, I penetrate 
Deserts and seas remote, and, passing 

by 
Hovel, and mart, and palace, soon or 

late 
I knock unbidden, once at every gate! 

"If sleeping, wake — if feasting, rise be- 
fore 
I turn away. It is the hour of fate, 
And they who follow me reach every 

state 
Mortals desire, and conquer every foe 
Save death; but those who doubt or 

hesitate 
Condemned to failure, penury and woe, 
Seek me in vain and uselessly im- 
plore — 
I answer not and I return no more." 
— John James Ingalls, 
"Opportunities" 

The world is full of opportunities 
missed. Many of the impressive talks 
of this conference have told of people 
who failed to accept the gospel when 
presented; of dropouts from high 
school, college, and employment; of 
waste through drugs and immoralities; 
of failures to accept Church and com- 
munity service; of bypassing a proselyt- 
ing mission; of a temporary civil mar- 
riage substituted for a permanent 
eternal one; of the use of the pill, 
abortion, and other means of damaging 
or destroying the family and home life 
so strongly urged as vital to our con- 
tinued civilization. All this reminds us 
that though we must be in the world, 
we need not be of the world. 

May we grasp our opportunities, live 
the gospel fully, and prepare ourselves 
for the eternity of glory which is our 
possible destiny, I pray, in the name 
of Jesus Christ. Amen. O 



Era, December 1970 75 




• Man is a spirit living in a house of 
clay called a physical body. This com- 
bination of spirit and body is called a 
living soul. 

Physical bodies are made of flesh 
and bone and, therefore, have tangible 
form and shape and are easy to see and 
feel and recognize. The spirit also has 
a definite form and shape but does not 
have flesh and bone and, therefore, is 
not easy for mortals to see, feel, and 
recognize. 

The scriptures tell us that the spirit 
and the body in which it lives look 
very, very much alike — and are, in fact, 
made in the image and likeness of God. 

The word life means that the spirit 
is at home in the physical body. Death, 
on the other hand, means that the 
spirit has departed the physical body. 
When death occurs or when the spirit 
leaves the physical body, the physical 
body decays and returns to the dust 
whence it came. However, the spirit 
continues to exist in another realm 
called "the spirit world" and still 
maintains its form and shape and 
identity. 

Resurrection is a process whereby 
after death the spirit returns and re- 
enters the body and becomes again a 
living, immortal soul, immortal mean- 
ing not subject to death or separation. 
It is the spirit that sees, hears, feels, 
knows passion and desire; it is the 
spirit that becomes addicted to drugs, 
bad habits, and evil desires. It is not 
the physical body that is addicted, but 
the spirit, which, of course, is the real 
you and me. We are spirits just as God 
is a spirit. 

Sometimes we make excuses for our- 
selves, when we do what we should not 



do or fall short of what we should have 
done. We use such expressions as, "Oh! 
the spirit is willing but the flesh is 
weak." With such rationalizations we 
insinuate that it is our physical body's 
fault that we sin. As a matter of fact, 
this is not true. In reality, the physi- 
cal body is the strongest part of us. 
Among other reasons, it was given to 
us to help us overcome our addictions, 
bad habits, and evil desires. The body 
is very obedient; generally speaking, it 
will do exactly what the spirit tells it 
to do. So it is not the physical body 
that we are struggling with; it is the 
spirit we must bring into subjection. 

Sometimes we seem to get the idea 
that in the spirit world, we will be 
completely different individuals; we 
will suddenly undergo a miraculous 
change in our character when we die. 
But nothing could be further from the 
truth. "We," our spirits, do not change 
at death; we are still the same. Amulek, 
a great Book of Mormon prophet, tells 
us plainly what the conditions in the 
spirit world will be. 

"And now, as I said unto you before, 
as ye have had so many witnesses, 
therefore, I beseech of you that ye do 
not procrastinate the day of your re- 
pentance until the end; for after this 
day of life, which is given us to prepare 
for eternity, behold, if we do not im- 
prove our time while in this life, then 
cometh the night of darkness wherein 
there can be no labor performed. 

"Ye cannot say, when ye are brought 
to that awful crisis, that I will repent, 
that I will return to my God. Nay, ye 
cannot say this; for that same spirit 
which doth possess your bodies at the 
time that ye go out of this life, that 



same spirit will have power to possess 
your body in that eternal world." (Al. 
34:33-34.) 

Thus we see that we are here upon 
the earth to "prepare for eternity," or 
more simply said, we are here to get 
in condition to leave. And everybody 
is going to leave. Nobody gets out of 
this life alive. Someone has said that 
everybody wants to go to heaven, but 
nobody wants to die to do it. But as a 
matter of fact, we have to die to do it. 

Amulek plainly states that the "same 
spirit which doth possess your bodies 
at the time that ye go out of this life, 
that same spirit will have power to 
possess your body in that eternal 
world." So, we do not change just be- 
cause we die. If we are addicted to 
drugs, bad habits, or evil desires here 
upon the earth, we shall be addicted 
to the same things in the spirit world; 
if we are a "pill" or a "crank" or a liar 
here, we will still be a "pill" or a 
"crank" or a liar there. 

The scriptures speak of the spirit 
world as being two different places — as 
paradise at one time, and as spirit pris- 
on at another time. But as a matter of 
fact, the spirit world is really just one 
place; it merely depends on the con- 
dition we are in when we go there 
as to what it will be for us. If we go 
there addicted to drugs, bad habits, or 
evil desires, it will be a prison. 

Our Heavenly Father wants us to 
be free; he doesn't want us to be in 
bondage to our appetites and passions. 
Therefore, he has given us command- 
ments that are only calculated to make 
us free. And he tells us that all of his 
commandments are spiritual. (See D&C 
29:34.) Never at any time has he given 



76 



a commandment that is not spiritual. 
Even the Word of Wisdom is a spiri- 
tual commandment in that it primarily 
affects our spirits, and certainly it does. 

To illustrate, I knew a man who was 
a member of the Church but had re- 
turned to his habit of smoking ciga- 
rettes. He said he didn't want to smoke 
but just couldn't help it. Of course, 
he could have overcome the habit if 
he had really wanted to while he had 
his body to help him. If the spirit 
tells the body not to pick up the 
cigarette, the body won't pick it up, 
and abstinence over time allows the 
spirit to overcome the desire. This man 
finally suffered a stroke. His body was 
paralyzed with the exception of his 
right arm and his eyes. As his son-in- 
law picked him up from the porch 
of his house, where he had fallen, with 
the only arm this man could move, he 
reached for the cigarette in his son-in- 
law's mouth, but he could not hold 
onto it. His son-in-law held the lighted 
cigarette to the stricken man's lips, but 
in his condition he could not hold it in 
his mouth. 

For nine months this man lay on 
his bed. He actually wore out the 
pocket of his pajamas reaching into it 
for a cigarette that was not there. Then 
he died and went into the spirit world. 
Do you suppose he still wants a ciga- 
rette? On the basis of Amulek's state- 
ment, he does. But there is just one 
catch — there are no cigarettes in the 
spirit world. Would you suppose he is 
in paradise or in spirit prison? The 
answer seems only too obvious. 

Oh yes, it is possible to repent in the 
spirit world, although we are given to 
understand that it is much more diffi- 
cult to repent there because we will 
not have our physical bodies to help 
us. Also an integral part of repentance 
is that we must make restitution. This 
means that if you have stolen five dol- 
lars, you have to return five dollars to 
the person whom you have robbed. 
This may be very difficult to do in the 
spirit world. You can also understand 
then why murder and adultery or 
fornication are such grievous sins; how 
can you make restitution? Virtue once 
gone cannot be replaced. Neither can 
a life be restored. 

It may be very difficult to gain for- 
giveness for these kinds of sins. Presi- 
dent Brigham Young said it is a 
hundred times easier to repent here on 
the earth than it is in the spirit world. 
By the same token, if we go there in 
the right condition, it is a hundred 
times easier to learn in the spirit world 
than it is here in this life. So we 
should do what we can do best where 
we are. Now is the best time to repent; 
then will be the best time to learn. 

The resurrection is a reality made 



Era, December 1970 77 



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possible by our Lord Jesus Christ, who, 
in the words of Paul, was "the first- 
fruits of them that slept." And because 
he was resurrected, everyone who has 
lived or will live upon the earth will 
also be resurrected. (See 1 Cor. 15:20- 
22.) Whether they wish to be or not 
really makes no difference — they are 
going to live again anyway and be 
judged according to their works; and 
the condition they are in at the time 
of their resurrection will to a great 
extent determine their reward. Then 
they who are filthy shall be filthy still. 
and they who are righteous shall be 
righteous still. (See 2 Ne. 9:16.) And 
each one will get what he has prepared 
himself to receive. 

As much as our Heavenly Father 
loves us and wants to help us to avoid 
heartache and unhappiness, still there 
is nothing much he can do for his 
children unless they desire it done. It 
is a startling fact to most Christian 
people when Mormon elders tell them 



that God is not all-powerful so far as 
man is concerned, that there are some 
things he cannot do. Heading the list 
is the fact that God, our Father, cannot 
save his children in their sins. The 
prophet Alma, in a conversation with 
a man professing to be religious but 
not believing in God, said, "And I say 
unto you again that he [God] cannot 
save them in their sins; for I cannot 
deny his word, and he hath said that 
no unclean thing can inherit the king- 
dom of heaven; therefore, how can ye 
be saved, except ye inherit the king- 
dom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot 
be saved in your sins." (Al. 11:37. 
Italics added.) 

If the Lord cannot save a man in his 
sins, neither can he force a man to 
repent. Repentance is required for 
exaltation, but repentance is a volun- 
tary matter and, in the words of Paul, 
a gift of God — not a gift in the usual 
sense of an object presented but never- 
theless a gift in a real sense, presented 



to each of us by the Savior, the Lord 
Jesus Christ, who has paid the price 
for our sins on condition of our accept- 
ing his sacrifice for us through repen- 
tance. The Lord has given us a key,, a 
sign of repentance. "By this ye may 
know if a man repenteth of his sins — 
behold, he will confess them and for- 
sake them." (D&C 58:43.) 

I bear witness that Jesus is the Christ 
and that he lives and has made re- 
pentance possible and necessary and 
required of all; that the command- 
ments of God are given by a loving 
Father to make us free here on earth 
and in the spirit world, that we may 
enter the spirit world as uninhibited 
spirits, ready to receive the new knowl- 
edge that will be there for us, and to 
get us into condition to receive a far 
greater and eternal weight of glory 
through the resurrection of the just. I 
bear this witness in the name of 
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 
Amen. Q 




• During the last six months of this 
year, the Saturday night leadership 
meetings of our stake conferences are 
being used to promote the double ob- 
jectives of the military relations pro- 
gram of the Church. It is of primary 
importance that every person in the 
world should understand that the 
Church of Jesus Christ has been re- 
established upon the earth. It is also 
important to know that governments 
were instituted of God for the benefit 
of man and that he holds us account- 
able for our acts in relation to them. 
(See D&C 134:1.) 

We have a direct revelation from 
the Lord that he raised up wise men 
to establish the Constitution of this 
land, and he requires that it be main- 



tained for the protection of all flesh, 
according to just and holy principles, 
that everyone may act according to his 
God-given moral agency. It is a di- 
vine decree that this land should serve 
as the citadel of liberty. And it is the 
American mission to keep freedom, 
righteousness, and human dignity alive 
in the world. (See D&C 101:77-80; 
Preamble to the Constitution.) 

How grateful we ought to be that 
God raised up such men as our found- 
ing fathers to stand in the forefront 
of our civilization and give our nation 
its start toward its destiny. The history 
of our world would have been vastly 
different if the kind of men who use 
Stalin blood purges, Hitler gas ovens, 
Castro indignities, and Communist de- 



ceptions as instruments of government 
had laid our national foundations or 
were presently manipulating the con- 
trols of American wealth and power. 

It seems to me that above most other 
things we need to learn to be good 
soldiers. Whether we are in or out of 
uniform, we should develop those sure 
and steady qualities of always being 
faithful, of always being loyal, of al- 
ways living at our best, and of always 
being successful. 

In 1835 a French visitor, by the name 
of Alexis de Tocqueville, made a de- 
tailed study of our national operations. 
Later he wrote in his book: "America 
is great because she is good. And if 
America ever ceases to be good, she will 
cease to be great." This is a divine 



78 



law that applies to all nations and to 
all individuals. But it applies particu- 
larly to us, because our extraordinary 
power and our extraordinary mission 
give us extraordinary responsibilities. 

When we sing "God Bless America," 
what kind of an America should we 
have in mind? Certainly not a 
drunken America, nor a criminal 
America, nor an irresponsible America. 
We must not build an atheistic Amer- 
ica; nor a disloyal America, nor a weak 
America, nor an immoral America. And 
to effectively serve God and our 
country, every good church member 
and every good citizen should be con- 
stantly waging war — not a war against 
anybody, but a war for everybody, a 
war for God and for freedom and for 
truth and for righteousness and for 
success. 

Sometime ago a 43-year-old man 
reenlisted in the army. A friend said 
to him, "Don't you think that you have 
already done enough for your country?" 
He replied, "Can anyone ever do 
enough for his country?" And President 
John F. Kennedy pointed the American 
way to success in his inaugural address 
when he said, "Fellow Americans, ask 
not what your country can do for you, 
ask what you can do for your country." 
Then, in the tradition of the prophets, 
he sealed his testimony with his blood. 

Every God-fearing, freedom-loving, 
truth-seeking person in the world, re- 
gardless of nation, creed, color, or race, 
should constantly be praying and con- 
tinually be working for a strong, en- 
during, righteous United States of 
America. For if any communistic 
combination of nations should ever 
reach their announced goal of world 
domination, then none of our other 
problems would ever again seem of 
very great consequence. As Emerson, 
the spokesman for an earlier America, 
said: "For what avail the plow or sail, 
Or land or life, if freedom fail?" 

Too often we accept the blessings of 
religion and the advantages of govern- 
ment and then ignore our duties and 
deny our responsibilities. We pledge 
allegiance to the flag, but we allow 
ourselves to be divided by foreign 
troublemakers, despoiled by irrespon- 
sible vandals, weakened by criminal 
race-rioters, and sickened by traitors 
conducting senseless demonstrations 
against the government and our duly 
elected leaders. 

That fundamental principle is still 
in effect that says, "United we stand, 
divided we fall." And the Master him- 
self has said, "If ye are not one, ye 
are not mine." It is significant that 
many of the greatest men that God 
has ever raised up out of the dust of 
this earth have been military men. 

We have national holidays to com- 
memorate the birthdays of George 



Washington, the father of his country, 
and Abraham Lincoln, who saved it 
from dissolution. Both were our 
commanders-in-chief during important 
wars. Some of our more recent war 
heroes were John J. Pershing, Douglas 
McArthur, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and 
our present great commander-in-chief, 
Richard M. Nixon. We should also 
keep in mind that the greatest of all 
military men was the Son of God him- 
self. In the war in heaven, he led the 
forces of righteousness against the 
rebellion of Lucifer. We can also draw- 
great significance from the fact that 
before the Savior of the world was the 
Prince of Peace, he was Jehovah the 
warrior. 

The Bible says that the Lord is a 
man of war. And the Lord is his name. 
(Exod. 15:3.) It should be very helpful 
for each soldier, as he enters military 
service, to receive a Book of Mormon 
from the Church. This important book 
of scripture was written by ancient 
prophets who occupied our continent 
before us. And it was compiled by 
Mormon, that great pre-Columbus 
American general whose name it bears. 
This is significant, as he was one of 
the greatest authorities about those 
very principles on which our present 
success depends. 

When he was only ten years of age, 
Mormon received the divine call to his 
life's work of compiling this book for 
our benefit. (Morm. 1:2.) Then, like 
young Samuel at Shiloh, he received a 
personal visitation from the Lord at 
age 15. (Morm. 1:15.) At age 16 he was 
appointed to lead the armies of the 
Nephite republic against its adversaries, 
the Lamanites, and his commission ex- 
tended over 58 years, until his death at 
age 74. (Mor. 2:2; 6:6; 8:3.) No weak- 
ling or coward survives a test like that. 
Mormon was a prophet, an author, a 
historian, and he had the most ex- 
tended military career on record. 

He taught his soldiers the arts and 
strategies of war. But he also taught 
them that the most important qualifi- 
cation for being a good soldier is to be 
a good man. Through Mormon, God 
offered the Nephite army victory at 
any time that they would obey those 
laws of righteousness on which all 
military as well as all other success 
finally depends. The greatest nations 
of the past have fallen because they 
have disobeyed God's laws of success. 
And if we desire to be good soldiers, 
we must avoid their mistakes. A road- 
side billboard for an oil company says 
"A Clean Engine Produces Power" — 
and so do a clean mind and a loyal 
heart. 

It is extremely unfortunate that so 
many, while officially representing 
"this nation under God," should use 
the army as an excuse to throw off their 



moral restraints and do those things 
to which the Ruler of the Universe so 
seriously objects. Anyone who lays 
aside his religion when he enters mili- 
tary service is like the one who removes 
his armor under fire. And from any 
point of view, no drunken, immoral, 
irreverent, cowardly, disobedient army 
is entitled to win victories. Washing- 
ton was at his best when on his knees 
at Valley Forge. Lincoln said that he 
was not so much concerned about 
whether or not God was on his side, 
but it was very important for him to be 
on God's side. How inspiring it ought 
to be for our present-day soldiers to 
carry with them into battle the inspired 
teachings of this great prophet-general, 
who, over a long period, had the 
closest kind of association with the 
God of success. He failed only, as the 
Savior failed, because his soldiers re- 
fused to follow, but he tried magnifi- 
cently. Mormon said, "I speak it 
boldly; God hath commanded me." 
(Moro. 8:21.) And he carried out every 
command. 

With prophetic vision, Mormon 
looked down to our time. And he was 
greatly concerned about what he saw. 
He tried to stimulate our responsibility 
by recalling the divine decree that says 
that we must obey the God of this 
land or we shall be swept off when 
the fullness of his wrath shall come 
upon us. Mormon said: 

"Behold, I speak unto you as though 
I spake from the dead; for I know that 
ye shall hear my words." (Morm. 
9:30.) "Listen unto them and give 
heed, or they will stand against you 
at the judgment-seat of Christ." (Moro. 
8:21.) 

And I imagine that when that 
great tribunal sits and we shall stand 
before it, how grateful we shall feel if 
we have been wise enough to follow 
his inspired leadership. 

Instead of getting all we can out of 
the government, we should generate 
more of the spirit of Nathan Hale, who 
said, "I only regret that I have but one 
life to lose for my country." The Re- 
deemer himself has said: "Greater 
love hath no man than this, that a 
man lay down his life for his friends." 
(John 15:13.) And then in this, he 
also set us a personal example. This 
stimulating idea has been condensed 
into verse, wherein the poet said: 

"To every man upon this earth 
Death cometh soon or late; 
But every man may give his life 
To something good and great. 

"And how can man die better 
Than in facing fearful odds, 
For the ashes of his fathers 
And the temples of his gods." 

(Author unknown.) 



Era, December 1970 79 



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Dec. 1970 Era 



And so again we might ask ourselves, 
Can anyone ever do enough for his 
country or for God or for the people 
of our planet with whom we live? 
Before signing the Declaration of In- 
dependence, our founding fathers wrote 
above their signatures their own de- 
termination to live by their convictions. 
They said: "And in support of this 
declaration, we mutually pledge to 
each other our lives, our fortunes, and 
our sacred honor." That was about all 
that any of them had to give. And 
they offered it freely, without any 
reservation. We have much more at 
stake, and certainly we should not do 
less. 

Major Martin Treptow, who fought 
in World War I, was a good soldier. 
Before he gave his life in the battle of 
Chateau-Thierry, he wrote in his 
diary, "I will work, I will save, I will 
sacrifice, I will endure. I will fight 
cheerfully and do my utmost as though 
the entire conflict depended upon me 
alone." And whether we are engaged 
on a moral or a military battlefield, 



even one man can, if he will, change 
the morale of a whole community. 

Our lives and our civilization itself 
depend upon our being good soldiers. 
This great truth was stated by Daniel 
Webster, in prophetic language before 
the New York Historical Society on 
February 22, 1852, just before his death. 
Even then he saw some of those dan- 
gers which are now gathering about us. 
He was trying to help us to be good 
soldiers when he said: 

"If we and our posterity shall be true 
to the Christian religion; if we and 
they shall live always in the fear of 
God and shall respect his command- 
ments; . . . we may have the highest 
hopes of the future fortunes of our 
country, and we may be sure of one 
thing: Our country will go on prosper- 
ing. But if we and our posterity reject 
religious instruction and authority, 
violate the rules of eternal justice, 
trifle with the injunctions of morality, 
and recklessly destroy the political con- 
stitution which holds us together, no 
one can tell how sudden a catastrophe 



may overwhelm us, that shall bury all 
our glory in profound obscurity. 

"Should that catastrophe happen let 
it have no history. Let the horrible 
narrative never be written. Let its 
fate be that of the lost books of Livy 
which no human eye shall ever read, 
or the missing Pleiad of which no man 
can ever know more than that it is lost, 
and lost forever." 

But this catastrophe must not happen 
and it will not happen if we but fol- 
low the directions that have already 
been given by the greatest of all mili- 
tary authorities. God offered to save 
Sodom and Gomorrah if only ten 
righteous people could be found there- 
in, and God will prosper us if we will 
faithfully carry forward our doubly 
assignment of so serving God and our 
country that many hundreds of mil- 
lions of truth-seeking, freedom-loving, 
God-fearing men and women may be 
entitled to the everlasting blessings of 
our eternal Heavenly Father. For this 
I humbly pray in the name of Jesus 
Christ. Amen. Q 




• My dear brothers and sisters, I am 
happy to participate with you in the 
wonderful spirit of this conference and 
in the beautiful music and inspira- 
tional messages we have listened to. I 
feel that these messages are particularly 
applicable at this time. 

Frequently we hear that our nation 
is at the crossroads of advancement or 
fall, and this could well be a correct 
analysis of the present situation. 

Many have twisted moral values to 
suit themselves, have scoffed at in- 
tegrity, and have become victims of a 
feverish tension, lacking the one thing 
they want most — inner peace. To a 
considerable extent this nation has be- 



haved like great civilizations of the 
past when they have become self- 
indulgent and pleasure ridden, just 
before they crumbled. 

But where do we go from here? Do 
we have a new frontier or goal? 

It seems to me that we should seek 
the success of the inner man, now that 
our affluent society has furbished the 
outer man so extensively. 

We could search for paths to family 
harmony, more and better relatedness 
to God and our fellowmen, and inner 
ease instead of tension. 

Our new frontier and goal might 
well be that of making a rich and re- 
warding life. 



Let me suggest that we reexamine 
our standards of right and wrong and 
determine what standards are best for 
ourselves and for the common good of 
our fellowmen. 

I am convinced that neither science 
nor philosophy can satisfactorily an- 
swer these questions but that the gos- 
pel of Jesus Christ can. 

We bear witness to the world that 
God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ 
have appeared to the Prophet Joseph 
Smith in this dispensation and restored 
the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness 
and that there is a prophet of God on 
the earth today, our beloved President 
Joseph Fielding Smith. 



82 



The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan 
of life and teaches that all men are 
children of God. The gospel clearly 
sets out standards of right and wrong. 

As an example, in this dispensation 
the Lord has counseled, "Thou shalt 
not steal," and "Thou shalt not lie." 
(D&C 42:20-21.) 

These standards require a person to 
be honest and truthful and respect the 
property rights of others, and are for 
the common good of all. 

The apostle Paul, in facing a situa- 
tion somewhat similar to our time, 
wrote the Roman saints and enumer- 
ated several standards, saying, "The 
night is far spent, the day is at hand: 
let us therefore cast off the works of 
darkness and let us put on the armour 
of light. 

"Let us walk honestly, as in the day; 
not in rioting and drunkenness, not in 
chambering and wantonness, not in 
strife and envying." (Rom. 13:12-13.) 

Many times the apostle Paul empha- 
sized the importance of being honest, 
and his life, in every way, exemplified 
this great eternal principle. 

As we incorporate the gospel princi- 
ples or standards into our lives, we 
have the confidence and respect of our 
fellowmen, enjoy love and harmony in 
our family relationships, and are 
blessed with peace of mind. We are 
indeed living the good life. 

The English author Charles Dickens 
wrote, "We wear the chains we forge 
in life." How true this is, and how 
important it is to forge a chain that 
will bring a rich and rewarding life — 
and remember that the diminutive 
chains of habit are generally too small 
to be felt until they are too strong to 
be broken. 

In forging a strong chain of life, the 
habit of honesty can well become one 
of the brightest and strongest links. 

There is great power in centering 
one's attention upon an ideal or prin- 
ciple such as honesty. But in the minds 
of many the real meaning of honesty, 
as a moral value, has been terribly 
twisted. 

Honest thinking and honest acting 
are desperately needed in today's 
society. 

The dictionary defines honesty as 
the quality of being truthful, incor- 
ruptible, and free from deceit and 
fraud. 

In thinking of honesty, we may first 
think of our relations with others, but 
in many respects it is more important 
to be honest with ourselves. 

In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare has 
his character Polonius saying to his son 
Laertes, "This above all: to thine own 
self be true, And it must follow, as the 
night the day, Thou canst not then be 
false to any man." (Act 1, sc. 3.) 



When one accepts the standard of 
being honest with himself and commits 
himself to this end, he has made a 
tremendous step toward happiness and 
success. 

Each of us is endowed with the 
right to choose good or evil, and we 
should recognize that men do not suc- 
ceed, neither are they destroyed by 
other people or conditions, but rather 
by their own decisions. 

Honesty to one's own self embraces 
good health habits, good work and 
study habits, a determination to be 
of some useful service to others, and, 
as the apostle Paul says, an avoidance 
of rioting, drunkenness, chambering, 
wantonness, strife and envying. 

We recognize that our body is the 
temple of God and that the Spirit of 
God dwells in us, and with such 
knowledge we should do everything 
possible to strengthen our bodies. This 
necessarily means the avoidance of 
tobacco, liquor, tea, and coffee, the use 
of drugs and anything that harms or 
defiles the body. 

Likewise, good thoughts that assist 
one to grow and develop and to be of 
use and service to his fellowmen stimu- 
late mental and physical health, 
whereas degrading thoughts built 
around obscenity, immorality, strife, 
stealing, cheating, and lying result in 
ultimate destruction. 

To be honest with ourselves, we must 
adopt good mental and physical health 
habits as our standards; we know that 
good health of body and mind con- 
tribute to a rich and rewarding life, 
a clear conscience, and inner peace. 

Again, good work and study habits 
are of major importance in living a 
rich and rewarding life. 

There are some who contend that 
hard work isn't necessary today in 
order to be successful and happy, but 
this is not true. 

The gospel plan requires each of us 
to work out our own salvation, our 
happiness, growth, and development. 

Let me quote a part of a letter writ- 
ten by an anxious father to his son 
to emphasize this matter: 

"My son, remember you have to 
work. Whether you handle a pick or 
wheelbarrow, or a set of books, editing 
a newspaper or writing a funny story, 
you must work. 

"Work gives you appetite for your 
meals, it lends solidity to your slumber, 
it gives you an appreciation of a 
holiday. 

"There are young men who do not 
work but the country is not proud of 
them. It does not even know their 
names. So find out what you want to 
be and do. Take off your coat and 
make the dust fly. The busier you are 
the less harm you are apt to get into, 



the sweeter will be your sleep, the 
brighter your holidays and the better 
satisfied the whole world will be with 
you." (Bob Burdette, in Leaves of 
Gold.) 

Good work habits include such 
qualities as dependability, loyalty to 
employer, willingness to go the extra 
mile, and finding happiness and pur- 
pose in your work. 

Now, concerning good study habits, 
let us consider why we read and study: 
to be informed, to gain wisdom and 
knowledge that will be of value to us, 
to grow and develop. Yes, reading can 
become a most pleasant and profitable 
way to regularly spend a portion of 
our time. 

The Lord has told us that "the glory 
of God is intelligence, or, in other 
words, light and truth" (D&C 93:36), 
and that "it is impossible for a man to 
be saved in ignorance" (D&C 131:6), 
and "whatever principle of intelligence 
we attain unto in this life, it will rise 
with us in the resurrection. 

"And if a person gains more knowl- 
edge and intelligence in this life 
through his diligence and obedience 
than another, he will have so much the 
advantage in the world to come." 
(D&C 130:18-19.) 

Mr. Alfred C. Fuller, the founder of 
the Fuller Brush Company, had this 
to say about his study of the Bible: 
"What most impressses me as I look 
backward, is the immense application 
I have made of Bible truths in my 
family life. From lack of education, I 
relied on the Bible as my text book, 
in every conceivable problem that 
arose. Only when I deviated from this 
teaching did I fail. 

"He who does not live daily in its 
guidance is foolish for he is rejecting 
the greatest source of personal profit 
that exists in the world. The Bible is 
the best 'how-to-do-it' book ever com- 
piled and it covers every fundamental 
that anyone really needs to know." 

Let us be honest with ourselves and 
get into the habit of reading and study- 
ing, the Bible and the other standard 
works of the Church as a guide to a 
rich and rewarding life. 

One of the greatest blessings the 
Church affords its members is an op- 
portunity for each to serve his fellows 
in many different ways. We receive 
great joy, happiness, and individual 
growth and development by being 
active in church service. 

Let us be honest with ourselves and 
never turn down an opportunity to 
serve in building and serving the king- 
dom of God. 

When one is honest with himself, 
he cannot be unfaithful to his family, 
unfair to his employer, or disloyal to 
his God and country. 



Era, December 1970 83 



We should exert our best efforts to 
accomplish our righteous objectives, 
utilizing every legitimate means but 
not permitting ourselves to commit a 
wrong in our quest for the right. It is 
better to lose than to win an unjust 
or dishonest cause. 

What better, then, can a person 



learn than honesty? What better can 
he learn than to use the principle of 
honesty in doing his best? in learning 
the best things in life? in reading the 
best books? in mingling with the best 
people? in doing the best things? 

In so doing we are seeking the suc- 
cess of the inner man and will find 



family harmony, more and better re- 
latedness to God and our fellowmen, 
and inner ease instead of inner tension. 
Thus we will achieve our new frontier 
and goal of a rich and rewarding life. 
May we commit ourselves to this end, 
I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. 
Amen. O 




• When the Savior walked the earth, 
he chose twelve men and placed them 
in charge of his Church. These men 
were the Twelve Apostles. They were 
also designated especial witnesses. They 
testified that Jesus was the Christ. 
They directed all the work of the 
Church. 

Luke tells us, in a sketchy account, 
of another body of men likewise called 
to a special calling. No doubt these 
men were to assist the Twelve. 

"After these things the Lord ap- 
pointed other seventy also, and sent 
them two and two before his face into 
every city and place, whither he him- 
self would come. 

"Therefore said he unto them, The 
harvest truly is great, but the labourers 
are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of 
the harvest, that he would send forth 
labourers into his harvest." (Luke 
10:1-2.) 

It is recorded later in this same 
chapter: 

"And the seventy returned again 
with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils 
are subject unto us through thy name." 
(Luke 10:17.) 

During the subsequent apostasy that 
followed the establishment of the 
Church, an understanding of this 
priesthood office and the duties of the 
seventy was lost to the world. Without 
revelation men could know neither the 
duties nor power of the seventy. 

When the gospel was restored in 



our day, a knowledge of the proper 
place and function of priesthood offices 
was revealed. Apostles and prophets 
were again placed at the head of the 
Church, with power to administer all 
the affairs of the kingdom. 

Two weeks after the calling of the 
Twelve, another body of men was 
called and organized. This body was 
the First Quorum of the Seventy. Their 
duties, and the duties of seventies in 
general, were unfolded in revelations 
to the modern prophet. Several things 
were made clear: 

First, that the presiding officers of 
this quorum were constituted different 
from those of any other quorum: 

"And it is according to the vision 
showing the order of the Seventy, that 
they should have seven presidents to 
preside over them, chosen out of the 
number of the seventy; 

"And the seventh president of these 
presidents is to preside over the six." 
(D&C 107:93-94.) 

Second, that these brethren were to 
act under the direction of the Twelve: 

"The Seventy are to act in the name 
of the Lord, under the direction of the 
Twelve or the traveling high council, 
in building up the church and regu- 
lating all the affairs of the same in all 
nations, first unto the Gentiles and 
then to the Jews." (D&C 107:34.) 

The third thing made clear was that 
other seventy also were to be called: 

"And these seven presidents are to 



choose other seventy besides the first 
seventy to whom they belong, and are 
to preside over them; 

"And also other seventy, until seven 
times seventy, if the labor in the vine- 
yard of necessity requires it. 

"And these seventy are to be travel- 
ing ministers, unto the Gentiles first 
and also unto the Jews." (D&C 
107:95-97.) 

Their special duties were designated: 

"The Seventy are also called to 
preach the gospel, and to be especial 
witnesses unto the Gentiles and in all 
the world — thus differing from other 
officers in the church in the duties of 
their calling." (D&C 107:25.) 

And so it is today. The first seven 
presidents of the First Quorum of the 
Seventy act under the direction of the 
Twelve. We consider it an honor to 
serve under the inspired leadership of 
these great men. We wholeheartedly 
sustain the leadership they give to 
the great missionary program of the 
Church, in both the full-time and the 
stake missionary work. 

Worldwide missionary work actually 
began when the Savior introduced an 
apostolic dispensation in the meridian 
of time. His commission to his Twelve 
was: 

"Go ye therefore, and teach all na- 
tions, baptizing them in the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost: 

"Teaching them to observe all things 



84 Era, December 1970 




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whatsoever I have commanded you. 
. . ." (Matt. 28:19-20.) 

With the restoration of the gospel, 
that same commission was announced. 

"Verily, verily, I stay unto you, they 
who believe not on your words, and 
are not baptized in water in my name, 
for the remission of their sins, that 
they may receive the Holy Ghost, shall 
be damned, and shall not come into 
my Father's kingdom. . . . 

"And this revelation unto you, and 
commandment, is in force from this 
very hour upon all the world, and the 
gospel is unto all who have not re- 
ceived it. 

"But, verily I say unto all those to 
whom the kingdom has been given — 
from you it must be preached unto 
them. . . ." (D&C 84:74-76. Italics 
added.) 

Our mandate is clear. We have a 
divine commission. We have been 
counseled by modern prophets that 
every member has a missionary obliga- 
tion. Today, in the new Priesthood 
Missionary Handbook, a program is 
outlined that can make that great con- 
cept become a reality. The program 
rests on the members of the priesthood. 
Since the seventies have a special mis- 
sionary calling, the Brethren have 
placed the primary responsibility upon 
the seventies quorums in the Church. 
As the First Council of the Seventy, 
we are determined to accomplish the 
mission the Twelve have given us. We 
now call upon all seventies everywhere 
to learn their duty and to be anxiously 
engaged in doing it. We propose to 
have this great work go forward in a 
better, more effective way than ever 
before. 

Some presidents of the seventies will 



remember a meeting held in the As- 
sembly Hall in 1965. At that meeting 
President Harold B. Lee said: 

"The door is opening for you as 
leaders to bring your seventies and 
walk through that open door. You 
must see to it that with all the strength 
you possess from training, from an un- 
derstanding of the gospel, to support 
the leadership of the First Council of 
the Seventy, acting under the direction 
of the Twelve and the First Presidency 
. . . walk through that open door and 
demonstrate now that never again so 
far as you have strength will you lose 
your grasp upon the opportunity that 
is now being offered to you." 

We have been heartened, brethren, 
by the response which you have given 
to the various projects which we have* 
administered in the past. In reality, 
they have been training exercises to 
strengthen us for this great task which 
the Twelve have now laid upon our 
shoulders. I quote excerpts from the 
new Priesthood Missionary Handbook: 

"Seventies serve as stake missionaries 
by virtue of their priesthood office 
without being set apart. . . ." 

". . . the stake mission presidency are 
. . . [to] serve ... as presidents in the 
seventies quorum. . . ." 

". . . Seventies and stake and full- 
time missionaries . . . are to coordinate 
with home teachers, under the direction 
of the bishop and quorum leaders, . . ." 
— thereby helping families to discharge 
their missionary responsibility. 

". . . missionary work should be done 
on a ward basis." 

"The seventies group leader . . . 
serves as the ward mission leader." 

". . . the ward mission leader should 
conduct among the Seventies the pro- 



gram for finding families, and may be 
invited to train High Priests and 
others to assist in this program and in 
various other ways of finding the in- 
vestigator." 

As you can see, the work is to go 
forward in an orderly and systematic 
way. 

The Regional Representatives of the 
Twelve will soon come to stake leaders 
with a full explanation of this program. 
Stake mission presidents will be invited 
to attend these regional meetings dur- 
ing the first six months of 1971. 

This is the decade of the seventies! 

This is the time to step forward, to 
honor the confidence placed in us by 
the Twelve. This is the time to mag- 
nify the priesthood assignment given 
to us through revelation today. We are 
confident, brethren of the seventies, 
that you will accept and accomplish 
this work. 

"Therefore, let every man stand in 
his own office, and labor in his own 
calling; . . . that the system may be 
kept perfect." (D&C 84:109-110.) 

There is reason for this great empha- 
sis upon missionary work in the world 
today. The Lord gave that reason in 
the eighteenth section of the Doctrine 
and Covenants: 

"Remember the worth of souls is 
great in the sight of God; 

"And if it so be that you should 
labor all your days in crying repentance 
unto this people, and bring, save it be 
one soul unto me, how great shall be 
your joy with him in the kingdom of 
my Father!" (D&C 18:10, 15.) 

Some may wonder how one soul 
could be worth the labor of a lifetime. 
We live in a world of temporal and 
transitory things. Many fail to under- 
stand the nature of man — that his soul 
is eternal! Man's soul is indeed worth 
a lifetime of effort to save. 

One other thing — the saver of souls, 
together with him who is saved, shall 
be found in the kingdom of our Father. 

To you brethren of the Twelve, we 
of the First Council pledge our greatest 
effort to bring many souls into the 
kingdom. We will move forward in 
faith in this ministry of sharing the 
gospel of Jesus Christ. We feel humble 
as we view the magnitude of the task 
you have assigned us. We nevertheless 
have courage and confidence that be- 
cause this is the work of the Lord, and 
because you and we are his servants, 
there will be a plenteous harvest. 

As for myself, I really want to help 
save a soul. I would like to have some 
one person stand in the congregation 
of the righteous at that great day and 
say, "He it was who brought me into 
the kingdom." 

In the' name of Jesus Christ. 
Amen. o 



86 




• I stand before you, my beloved fel- 
low Saints, in deep humility. As I 
view this vast audience of Church 
leaders and many friends for the first 
time as a General Authority, the feel- 
ings in my soul on this day have been 
expressed by Alfred, Lord Tennyson as 
he wrote, "There are times which are 
too full for sound or foam." Some 
events and incidents happen in our 
lives that somehow are so overwhelm- 
ing, and yet seem to be tied so closely 
to Divine Power — and influence — and 
yet we feel so inadequate and un- 
prepared. 

Six months ago, as President Tanner 
directed me by the arm down the long 
corridor to the First Presidency's office, 
there to look into the faces of our living 
prophet and President Lee. and Presi- 
dent Tanner, I knew in my soul that 
I was in the presence of the Lord's 
anointed. I knew not what may lie 
ahead, but one thing was certain: I 
was already committed in my heart to 
serve the Master, wherever and when- 
ever called. 

We have been taught, and we be- 
lieve, that we all are children of God 
and fellow citizens in the body of 
saints. We are sincere believers, thus 
enabling us to know him better, to 
trust him absolutely, to serve him 
faithfully, and to proclaim to all the 
world, as did Andrew to his brother 
Simon, 'We have found the Messiah." 
I know he lives, that he is real, that he 
stands at the head of this, his church, 
the only true church on the face of 
the earth. 

These first few weeks of my new 
calling have been most eventful with 
deep, rich spiritual experiences. I have 



participated in some of your stake con- 
ferences, stayed in your homes, and 
felt your humble spirit of service and 
true dedication to the task of "strength- 
ening thy brethren." 

I have had the privilege of going to 
some of the overseas missions and visit- 
ing individually with your sons and 
daughters — many future leaders of this 
church — and I have borne testimony 
with them to those out in the world 
who seem to say, "Is there any word 
from the Lord?" "Where shall we 
turn?" "Is there something true and 
real to believe?" And I have been able 
to proclaim with your sons and daugh- 
ters to them that the gospel of Jesus 
Christ has been restored with all the 
authority, keys, and blessings necessary 
for the individual salvation of all who 
will repent and be baptized and keep 
his commandments. 

The testimony of the truthfulness 
of this work that burns in my soul has 
been assisted and encouraged in its 
nurturing by the lives of many people, 
some of whom I must humbly acknowl- 
edge on this particular day. Someone 
has compared our lives to that of the 
mighty Mississippi. As it flows into the 
ocean, it is the end product of many 
sources: streamlets — some large, some 
small — melting snow from the Rockies, 
and tiny springs; but they have all had 
an influence and effect. So it has been 
with me. Many of those great influ- 
ences have passed on, but many of 
them are here today. 

It has been said that to develop good 
thoughts and acts, we must live and 
associate with good people. The Lord 
blessed me with my lovely companion 
— my, how he blessed me — one who 



has stood by my side through trial 
and joy, disappointment and triumph, 
and has contributed inspiration and 
strength to our family as a loving wife, 
mother, and counselor. Our sons and 
daughter and their loved ones are 
strong, sturdy, and dependable and 
committed to the building of the king- 
dom of God as a result of her great 
influence. 

I can also appreciate and understand 
Nephi's acknowledging good parents. 
My own mother, left a widow far too 
early in her life, never shirked her duty 
to her children's spiritual training. 
Many a lesson was taught me at her 
bedside during her long illness. Her 
testimony never wavered; I understood 
and felt it early in life. 

My father has always been my ideal. 
Ever since I was a small boy, I've 
wanted to be like my father — to serve 
people, to assist them whenever pos- 
sible, to be concerned and to assist the 
Church and community. My father, as 
did his father, responded to calls from 
the leadership of the Church and fol- 
lowed their direction. I hope and pray 
that it will ever be thus with my pos- 
terity. When my father died, the local 
newspaper editorialized: 

"We have lost our greatest and be- 
loved citizen. He was ever foremost 
in every movement to better the com- 
munity. As bishop of the First Ward, 
he was the very father of it. His loss is 
felt throughout the state of Idaho. . . . 
He was ever on the side of morality 
and good government." 

My grandfather set the tone for his 
sons. Starting at age 17 he made seven 
trips across the plains, assisting immi- 
grant trains requiring help. He served 



Era, December 1970 87 



with Lot Smith, scouting Johnston's 
army in the interest of the Saints. With 
his wife and family he responded to 
the request to leave his green acres in 
Farmington and help colonize and 
organize a stake in southern Idaho. 
They were a close-knit family. 

My grandmother was the first coun- 
selor to Aurelia Rogers in the original 
Primary organization. Her eight chil- 
dren helped swell the first class. 

On this day I honor the memory of 
some who have helped mold my life 
and character. Someone has written. 
"No better heritage can a father be- 



queath to his children than a good 
name; nor is there in a family any 
richer heirloom than the memory of a 
noble ancestor." 

I prayerfully and humbly request 
the help that only the Lord can fur- 
nish. Perhaps I need it to a greater 
degree than anyone else, as I embark 
on this calling in the ministry. I take 
comfort from the Lord's promise in 
the Doctrine and Covenants when he 
said, "The weak things of the world 
shall come forth and break down the 
mighty and strong ones, . . . and all 
this that it might be fulfilled,- . . ." 



(D&C 1:19, 18.) May my weaknesses 
be made strong enough to fulfill my 
obligation and desire. 

I pledge my love and support to the 
First Presidency, the Council of the 
Twelve, and to my other fellow asso- 
ciates of the General Authorities; and 
to them, and to all of you, I testify 
that I will labor diligently and, I hope, 
effectively in using the talents that the 
Lord has given me to help prepare for 
his coming and to assist in the building 
and strengthening of his kingdom here 
on earth now. In the name of Jesus 
Christ. Amen. O 



We Are Going to Be 
What We Live Like 



Elder Richard L. Evans 

Of the Council of the Twelve 



• President Smith; my beloved broth- 
ers and sisters — all our Father's chil- 
dren everywhere: These choice young 
people here, whose music we have 
heard, bring to mind all the unnum- 
bered others who, worldwide, are look- 
ing for a way of life. If what follows 
shall reach their hearts and yours, it 
will be so because of your faith and 
prayers, and I pray that it may be so. 

There comes to mind a mother who 
was concerned with what her daughter 
was, or wasn't, doing with her talents 
and opportunities, and the mother one 
day shook her daughter impatiently 
and said: "I've given you life. Now you 
do something with it!" 

We could conceive of the Father of 
us all saying about the same: "I've 
given you life. Now you do something 
with it! Now make the most of it! I've 
given you time, intelligence, the good 
earth and all it offers — now use it." 

One of the most wasteful wastes in 
the world is the waste of time, of op- 
portunity, of creative effort, with indif- 
ference to learning, indifference to work 
— the don't-care, drop-out, what's-the- 
use attitude. And one of the steadying 



factors in life — one that could reduce 
restlessness, protest, and discontent — 
would be for all of us to use in more 
useful ways the best of our abilities, 
with some awareness that the Father of 
us all might somehow, sometime shake 
us and say (which he has, in more 
ways than we sometimes seem to be 
aware of ) : "I have given you life. Now 
you make the most of it!" 

When our Father sent our first par- 
ents out from Eden, he pronounced, as 
I read it, the principle of work: "In 
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat 

bread " (Gen. 3:19.) ". . . cursed is 

the ground for thy sake," he said. 
(Gen. 3:17. Italics added.) 

For thy sake. Work is a principle, 
a privilege, a blessing — not a curse — 
but an absolute essential, a physical 
and spiritual necessity. 

Much restlessness and difficulty on 
the part of young people comes because 
they have often been overly insulated 
from challenging and meaningful as- 
signments, with an overemphasis on 
leisure and on working less and less. 
Even if a person has all the wealth 
he wants, he still needs to work for 



the sake of his soul — and the same is 
true of those who have learned to live 
on very little. Work is a physical and 
spiritual necessity. 

Anyone, young or old, would be rest- 
less if he didn't have a useful part in 
helping to bring good things about; a 
rewarding and meaningful work to do. 

Some don't know where things come 
from as well as they once did. It's 
so easy to go to the shop or the market 
without being aware of the toil of 
plowing and planting, of making and 
producing, or what it takes to bring 
things about. Someone has to do 
everything — not only the easy and 
glamorous things, but every routine and 
tedious task. Someone has to do every- 
thing. 

We need to give our young people 
the economic facts of life — as well 
as the moral and spiritual facts: what it 
means to produce; what it means 
to meet a payroll; what it means to pro- 
vide for a family; what it means to 
save — what it means to stay solvent. 
I think those who provide productive, 
wholesome work for other people are 
in a way heroic. Thank God for them. 



88 Era, December 1970 



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The haunting story of a 
lonely boy somehow 
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ed by his teachers and 
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Now to touch a moment or two on 
some other subjects: 

We have the laws of life. We have 
God-given standards, and we realize 
the results of the way we live life — 
and rationalizing won't change the out- 
come. Virtue is still virtue. Evil is still 
evil. 

And I come to you today with a 
simple assertion that God does not 
deal in theories. "I know this world is 
ruled by Infinite Intelligence," said 
Thomas A. Edison. "It required Infi- 
nite Intelligence to create it and it 
requires Infinite Intelligence to keep it 
on its course. ... It is mathematical 
in its precision." 

The seasons, the sunshine, the grow- 
ing of seeds; heat and cold; the life of 
a child; the harvest we have — these are 
not theory, and the same authority that 
runs the universe on such precision 
also gave us commandments to keep, 
commandments that are still in force. 
And I wouldn't know anywhere to turn 
for a purposeful way to live life, ex- 
cept the way prescribed by the Admin- 
istrator of heaven and earth. After all, 
whose little wisdom would we turn 
to? He has given us no commandment 
that is not necessary— and I witness to 
you that the spiritual and moral laws 
are as much in force as are the physi- 
cal laws, and each person is going to 
he what he lives like. 

There is a statement from William 
James that President McKay occasion- 
ally used to quote: "Rip Van Winkle, 
in Jefferson's Play, excuses himself for 
every fresh dereliction by saying, T 
won't count this time!' Well, he may 
not count it; and a kind heaven 
may not count it, but it is being 
counted nonetheless. Down among his 
nerve cells and fibres, the molecules are 
counting it, registering and scoring it 
up to be used against him." (The Laws 
of Habits.) 

Since this is so, thank God for the 
principle of repentance — a principle he 
gave us because he knew we'd need it. 
But our repentance must be sincere 
and not the kind that keeps repeating 
the same foolish, stupid mistakes. We 
must move from weak or willful mis- 
doing to an honest, resolute repentance, 
if we are to have the peace and happi- 
ness of life. 

Evil is raw, lewd, bold, and un- 
abashed- — and greedy — but there is no 
gain in this world's goods that is worth 
compromising the life or morals of one 
young person. We should never patron- 
ize evil in any degree, but should 
dedicate ourselves to create a clean and 
wholesome environment in our homes, 
our communities, our country. In 
many ways we can have a better moral 
and physical environment if we really 
want it — we can have in many ways 



90 



what we are willing to uphold, to 
support, to pay for. But we can't do it 
in indifference. And each one will 
realize the results of what he does and 
thinks — the results of how he lives his 
life. 

And to you, beloved young people 
everywhere, to you who are searching 
for answers, you who have made mis- 
takes, to you who have been mistaught 
or carelessly or adversely influenced: 
Don't let pride, or wrong habits, or 
appetites, or stubbornness get in the 
way of your realizing the highest pos- 
sibilities of life. 

Youth passes quickly. The waning 
years come sooner than you suppose, 
and then there comes the leaving of 
this life, and the everlasting future that 
follows. 

Live so as to be at peace. Be clean, 
beloved young friends. Clean is one of 
the most wonderful of words. Be com- 
fortable. No one will ever be comfort- 
able without being clean. Life can be 
wholesome, with inner peace and solid 
hope as you live the law, keep the 
commandments, and humble your- 
selves before our Father. 

Live so that you can face yourself, 
your Father in heaven, and all men 
everywhere. 

Each one of you is precious, priceless. 
Each one of you is all he has. Life is 
all you have. Be kind, be virtuous. 
Respect and cherish parents. Make 
prayerful choices. Love and serve sin- 
cerely. Live in dignity and honesty and 
honor. Respect facts. Test them by the 
standards God has given. Live by the 
law, and the gospel of our Lord and 
Savior will lead you to peace and 
happiness and the highest possibilities 
of everlasting life. 

Remember, O remember, my beloved 
young friends, that our Lord and 
Savior hasn't deceived us. He hasn't 
said that it was a broad way, an easy 
way, or that it could be reached by 
indifference or indulgence. He has said 
to us fairly and forthrightly: "Enter ye 
in at the strait gate: for wide is the 
gate, and broad is the way, that lead- 
eth to destruction, and many there be 
which go in thereat: 

"Because strait is the gate, and nar- 
row is the way, which leadeth unto 
life. . . ." (Matt. 7:13-14.) 

There aren't any careless, easy short- 
cuts that go anywhere that anyone 
who knew what he was doing would 
really want to go. 

I leave you my witness that God 
lives, and that this is his work, his 
church, his plan and purpose for his 
children, restored for all who will sin- 
cerely seek, and sincerely accept, and 
he will enter into your lives as fully 
as you let him. And to you — to all of 
us — to all his children everywhere, he 



is saying: "I have given you life. Now 
make the most of it!" 

It takes a long time to make a beauti- 
ful world. It takes a long time to build 
a beautiful life, but the process of 
tearing down can quickly do much 
damage. O my beloved young friends, 
your Father in heaven doesn't deal in 
theory. What he has said is so. Trust 
him. Trust him who gave you life to 



tell you the truth. Whom else would 
you trust? Where else would you turn? 

Respect yourselves. Respect others. 
Respect life. Respect law. Be faithful. 
Be fair. Be productive. Live to be clean 
and comfortable. Life is all you have. 
O make the most of it in cleanliness, in 
honor and honesty. Don't run your 
life against the light. 

"My message to you," said Thomas 



Edison, in his last public address — 
"My message to you is: Be courageous! 
I have lived a long time. I have seen 
history repeat itself again and again. 
... Be as brave as your fathers before 
you. Have faith! Go forward!" 

God bless you, and peace be with 
you, this day — and always, I pr^y in 
the name of our Lord and Saviojf Jesus 
Christ. Amen. O 




• President Smith has asked me to 
speak to you briefly. It is always a 
privilege to me and an inspiration to 
stand before the priesthood and speak 
to them. It is also a great responsi- 
bility. 

President Smith has directed his 
remarks almost entirely to the mem- 
bers of the Melchizedek Priesthood. I 
should like to address mine to a group 
of the finest young men in all the 
world, the holders of the Aaronic or 
Lesser Priesthood. 

I should like to address my remarks 
to my grandsons. We have in our 
family five sons-in-law who hold the 
Melchizedek Priesthood, four grandsons 
who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, 
six grandsons who hold the Aaronic 
Priesthood, and eight grandsons who 
are preparing themselves to hold the 
priesthood. I should like to address my 
remarks to them tonight. 

No greater responsibility can be given 
to a young man than to hold the priest- 
hood of God, which is the power of 
God delegated to him to act in his 
name in the office which he holds, and 
to prepare himself for the Melchizedek 
Priesthood, and to enjoy the blessings 
of one who is faithful in the priesthood. 

The Aaronic Priesthood is so impor- 
tant that the Lord saw fit to send John 
the Baptist to Joseph Smith and Oliver 
Cowdery to bestow it upon them, and 
in these words was it done: 



"Upon you my fellow servants, in the 
name of Messiah I confer the Priest- 
hood of Aaron, which holds the keys of 
the ministering of angels, and of the 
gospel of repentance, and of baptism by 
immersion for the remission of sins; 
and this shall never be taken again 
from the earth, until the sons of Levi 
do offer again an offering unto the 
Lord in righteousness." (D&C 13.) 

What a tremendous privilege, oppor- 
tunity, and responsibility to hold the 
priesthood! It is just as binding on us 
as the covenant which President Smith 
read to the Melchizedek Priesthood, 
because the covenant applies to both 
priesthoods to the extent that we hold 
those priesthoods, and it will determine 
our status. 

If we will prove ourselves as we 
are tried and tested, we will be given 
the opportunity to hold this Melchize- 
dek Priesthood. It is somewhat like 
going from elementary school to 
high school and from high school to 
college; also going from mortal life 
to eternal life. We will be blessed 
according to the way we live. And 
may it be said of us, "Well done, 
thou good and faithful servant: thou 
hast been faithful over a few things, I 
will make thee ruler over many things: 
enter thou into the joy of thy lord." 
(Matt. 25:21.) 

How fortunate we are to hold the 
priesthood. If you would stop and 



think today that of every 1,000 young 
men of your age in the world, one man 
holds the priesthood; with this hall full 
of young men of Aaronic Priesthood age 
tonight, there would be only eight 
holding the Aaronic Priesthood. What 
a tremendous privilege, opportunity, 
blessing, and responsibility. 

How important it is to live to enjoy 
the Spirit and blessings of the Lord, 
and the respect and confidence of par- 
ents, friends, and church leaders, and 
the Lord himself, particularly so you 
can look them in the face with a clear 
conscience, and also yourself in the 
mirror, and know that you have been 
living as you should. 

The Lord, speaking of Satan when 
he was cast out, said: 

"And he became Satan, yea, even the 
devil, the father of all lies, to deceive 
and to blind men, and to lead them 
captive at his will, even as many as 
would not hearken unto my voice." 
(Moses 4:4.) 

He tries to tempt every one of us, 
every one from a deacon to Christ him- 
self. You remember how he tried to 
tempt Christ. He chooses emissaries, 
those who follow him and those who 
are too weak to do what is right. These 
emissaries will try to point out the 
weaknesses in an individual, in the 
leaders of the Church, in the organiza- 
tions, and every place they can find 
any weakness at any time, and they 



Era, December 1970 91 



will be saying, "Don't be a coward; 
don't be a sissy; come on." 

I should like to say to you young men 
tonight that not one young man who is 
living according to the teachings of the 
gospel and honoring his priesthood 
would ever say that to you. 

Thank the Lord that he was strong 
enough to say to Satan, "Get thee be- 
hind me, Satan," and I hope we will 
be able never to be afraid, as one in 
one thousand in this world, to honor 
our priesthood. Those who succumb 
to temptation are always defeated and 
miserable, unless they repent. 

Vice-President Spiro Agnew, when 
he was speaking to us the other day 
as he visited with the First Presidency 
of the Church, said that one thing that 



appealed to him about, our youth, as he 
was on the BYU campus, is that they 
are well self-disciplined; and they 
seemed to be doing their own thing, 
which was doing what they should be 
doing, and were happy in doing it. 

I would like you young men to know 
that those who are frustrated, who are 
complaining, who are not living as 
they should, are not happy. They are 
frustrated. There is no happiness in 
wrongdoing. They have their prob- 
lems, and they are not trying to accom- 
plish. Of course I feel sorry for them 
because they do not know as you know- 
that all of us are spirit children of God. 
They do not know that God really 
lives, that Jesus is the Christ; that 
through his birth, death, and resurrec- 



tion we may all be resurrected; and 
that this life is not the end but just the 
beginning of eternal life. 

May we all appreciate this and do 
our best wherever we are to live worthy 
of it so that we can look into the mirror 
and see ourselves and say, "Thank the 
Lord I was strong enough to overcome, 
to resist." To you who have weak- 
ened in any way, who have taken a 
cigarette, or anything of the kind, just 
quit it tonight and be happy. You will 
be happy. The Lord will bless you. 
People will respect you, and you will 
be successful, and you will be doing 
your duty in helping to bring about the 
immortality and eternal life of man. 

May we do this, I humbly pray, in 
the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. O 




• President Smith, President Lee, and 
President Tanner, it is an anxiety- 
producing privilege for one to respond 
to your invitation to communicate 
with the priesthood about the Church 
Educational System, but it is proper to 
give time and attention to the needs 
of our youth engaged in education. We 
have, for instance, 12,000 full-time 
missionaries, who matter very much; 
26,000 men and women in the service, 
who matter very much, also; but there 
are around 200,000 LDS students en- 
rolled imhundreds of colleges and uni- 
versities around the world. 

Sixteen percent, or approximately 
32,000, of those 200,000 are enrolled in 
the four post-high school institutions in 
our own Church Educational System, 
and this is a very important "fold." 
But there are 168,000 other LDS stu- 
dents, "which are not of that fold," 
and they, too, need to hear the "voice" 
of the Master through our institute 
program. 

The scope and variety of the Church 



Educational System is impressive: in 
addition to the students already men- 
tioned, there are 13,000 LDS children 
and youth in dozens of Church ele- 
mentary and secondary schools in Mex- 
ico, Chile, and in the Pacific; there are 
also over 175,000 students in our insti- 
tutes and seminaries. 

The basic guidelines for our Church 
Educational System have been well 
laid down by our Church leaders over 
the years and need not be repeated 
here. A new but basic document, how- 
ever, is the letter of the First Presi- 
dency dated January 30, 1970, which 
urges Church members to have their 
sons and daughters attend post-high 
school institutions of learning near 
their home, so that our young can 
benefit from the influence of the home, 
especially during their first two years 
of post-high school education. That 
document also urges leaders and par- 
ents to make full use of our seminary 
and institute programs to supplement 
the home. In addition, the letter indi- 



cates that the Presidency, in their wis- 
dom, believe the enrollment at BYU 
should not exceed 25,000. There are 
numerous considerations which, I be- 
lieve, underlie the wisdom of the points 
in that presidential letter: 

1. The density of Church member- 
ship occurs in America where states 
have highly developed and accessible 
public post-high school systems of edu- 
cation. 

2. Members of the Church are tax- 
payers to local, state, and federal 
governments in America and their 
equivalents in Canada, and are fully 
entitled to send their sons and daugh- 
ters to tax-supported institutions. The 
influence of Church members (whether 
as students or taxpayers) on our public 
institutions is needed now — more than 
ever. 

3. The increased effectiveness of 
correlated Church priesthood programs, 
such as home teaching, family home 
evenings, of student stakes and wards, 
MIA, and the Student Associations now 



92 



permits the priesthood leaders, in some 
instances, to cross^-the traditional geo- 
graphical boundaries governing some 
Church programs, in order to support 
and to involve the young members of 
the Church. 

4. Those of us who live in areas 
where there are highly developed pub- 
lic systems of post-high school edu- 
cation, in the spirit of brotherhood, 
should defer to the needs of our 
brothers and sisters in other lands 
where, often, even an elementary edu- 
cation is not possible unless the Church 
assists in the process. 

One of the great challenges the 
priesthood faces in our time is the inter- 
nationalization of the Church. This is 
not an American church — it is the 
Church of Jesus Christ, who is the 
God of all people on this planet, and 
we must, as the scriptures urge, be as 
independent as possible so that the 
kingdom is not too much at the mercy 
of men and circumstances, or the tides 
of nationalism, or the mercurial moods 
abroad about America. 

We have, for instance, more mem- 
bers of the Church now in Brazil than 
in all of the Scandinavian countries 
combined, plus Holland. We have as 
many members in Uruguay as in the 
state of New York, where the Church 
was founded. We have as many in 
Peru as we do in Missouri, where so 
much Church history was made. We 
have as many in Tonga and Samoa 
combined as in Nevada, and more in 
these two island clusters than in the 
state of Wyoming. We have more in 
French Polynesia than in Switzerland, 
and more in the Philippine Islands 
than Nebraska, through which our pio- 
neer caravans passed. We have more 
in Honduras than in Norway. 

These comparisons are sobering and 
challenging not only for the Church 
Educational System, but for the entire 
Church. Thus, the transculturalization 
of curricular materials (which is more 
than translation) represents one of our 
greatest challenges. The scriptures urge 
the Church to speak to men "after the 
manner of their language," taking their 
various weaknesses into account that 
all "might come to understanding." 
(D&C 1:24.) 

We want our Church Educational 
System to respond as much as we can 
to the special conditions in which our 
members live. Our seminary home 
study program, for instance, was or- 
ganized especially for the benefit of 
young members who are isolated from 
their Church counterparts, and the 
response of over 7,000 to this program 
has been excellent! 

There are several specific things 
priesthood leaders and parents can do. 

First, priesthood leaders need much 



closer identification with our institute 
and seminary programs (through the 
Regional Representatives of the Twelve 
and stake presidents) so that two-way 
communication can exist concerning 
the needs of the young, the quality of 
teaching they receive, and, importantly, 
the need for priesthood support in re- 



cruiting top-flight men for careers in 
our diverse Church Educational Sys- 
tem; men, some of whom we now 
have, such as the spartan seminary 
teachers who live with their families 
in small trailers on remote reservations 
in heat, wind, sand, in places with 
names like Many Farms, Arizona, or in 



The 
Spoken Word 



"The Spoken Word" from Tem- 
ple Square, presented over KSL 
and the Columbia Broadcasting 
System October 4, 1970. ©1970. 



// . . . and give me yesterday" 

By Richard L. Evans 

Some three centuries ago Thomas Browne said: "There is another 
roan within me that's angry with me."' This is descriptive of the un- 
easiness of those who fail to find peace inside themselves. Peace of 
mind is so earnestly wished for, sometimes desperately so. And what is 
it within us that is angry with us? The cause is variable, of course, but 
in some way or other it would generally be running against the light 
of life: failing to live as we know; disharmony with others, sometimes 
with ourselves; failing to have a quiet conscience, sometimes from not 
doing what we should and could be doing— and sometimes deliberately 
misdoing. This brings to mind a sentence of Elbert Hubbard, who said, 
"Men are punished by their sins, and not for them." 2 This is a universe 
of law and order. Nature observes law. The spheres and planets move 
majestically in their times and seasons. If we want specific results in 
the physical world, we have to observe law, as scientists, engineers, 
and the makers and builders of things have long since learned. And why 
should man, physically, spiritually, mentally, morally so complex and 
sensitive, feel that he can run against law and still have the best of life. 
It simply isn't so. When we abuse ourselves physically, when we do that 
which damages the sensitive mental and spiritual and moral mechanism, 
we pay a price, although sometimes the full price isn't immediately 
apparent— and the tragedy is that the price we pay. is beyond anything 
we can calculate. We remember the words of the person who pleaded: 
"O God! Put back Thy universe and give me yesterday." 3 But we can't 
go back to yesterday. Life moves only one way. We can repent, we can 
improve, we can do our best to make amends, and we can find peace in 
wholesome, righteous purpose. But until we change wrong ways, sin- 
cerely so, in absolute honesty, there is something angry in us— and 
that isn't a very happy way to live life. "O God! Put back Thy universe 
and give me yesterday." That isn't the way life runs. But we can live to 
have peace of mind, without any angry man inside ourselves. 



'Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, II, 1642. 
2 Elbert Hubbard, The Philistine, vol. xi, p. 7. 
'Henry Arthur Jones, Silver King. 



Era, December 1970 93 



blizzard country like Pine Ridge, South 
Dakota, in order to serve and to teach 
hundreds of the children of Father 
Lehi. One expression of appreciation 
from an Indian boy included these 
moving words: "Before I took LDS 
seminary I didn't have very much to 
live for. ... I had always felt that 
Indians could not do things as well as 
white people. Now I know that I am 
a child of God. I know that my people 
are of the house of Israel. . . . The 
Church has given me a reason and 
purpose for living. There is more to 



Where our young are committed 
enough, and fortunate enough, to be 
able to take institute classes and persist 
through graduation, their rate of tem- 
ple marriage is 95 percent, which is 
a higher percentage than for our re- 
turned missionaries. Of course, the 
mere act of attending an institute rep- 
resents self-selection, just as attending 
a Church school involves some self- 
selection. But if we are trying to 
identify paths that our youth can pur- 
sue that will give them a better chance 
of succeeding spiritually, attendance at 




President Joseph Fielding Smith and President Harold B. Lee, right, meet a conference 
visitor, the Most Reverend Eugenios Psalidakis, Archbishop of Crete, left. 



living now than just worrying about 
what I will have to eat or what I will 
wear." 

Elsewhere, in hundreds of homes and 
chapels every weekday, early-morning 
seminary students and teachers rub 
sleep from eyes that often shine an 
hour later with appreciation. 

Thousand of miles away in lush, 
tropical islands, our young members 
learn to read and write, and elsewhere 
many of our Mexican brothers and 
sisters are rapidly preparing themselves 
as schoolteachers to instruct their own. 

Truly, careers in the Church Educa- 
tional System offer full scope for all 
the idealism of the world, but com- 
panied with the saving gospel message. 

Seminary and institute classrooms 
represent some of the golden teaching 
moments for our youth in preparing 
them for crowning gospel ordinances. 



seminaries and institutes is clearly a 
major tributary to the stream of 
spirituality. 

A second matter that priesthood lead- 
ers and parents should consider is the 
need to counsel all of our young more 
consistently and helpfully about the 
planning of their vocations and careers. 
This will be a continuing task; it is not 
something we can talk about once in a 
stake priesthood meeting and forget. 
One of the basic reasons for the pur- 
suit of education is to equip oneself 
with marketable skills. The less ad- 
vantaged national economies within 
which many of our members outside 
America live, and the shifting prospects 
with regard to where the career and 
job opportunities will be even in 
America — both suggest that some addi- 
tional emphasis is needed in the direc- 
tion of technical education, which bears 



on a middle group of skills. For some 
of our young, earning power, job oppor- 
tunities, and satisfaction will be greater 
if they pursue the path of technical 
education in their post-high school 
years, including paramedical careers. 
Professional education in medicine, 
law, nursing, etc., is going to be needed 
even more than ever, but all of our 
youth need not be neurosurgeons, and 
the youth who becomes a craftsman 
should feel just as "approved" as his 
friend who is a microbiologist. Parents, 
bishops, and educational counselors 
will do well to approach career coun- 
seling, bearing in mind that the selec- 
tion of a career is usually a matter of 
preference and not principle. 

A third suggestion: Education, when 
joined with service to others (for learn- 
ing loses its moral authority unless it 
reaches out) is clearly related to the 
development of deserved self-esteem, 
which controls our capacity to love 
God, to love others, and to love life. 

We can pursue learning without 
fear, for the gospel of Jesus Christ in- 
corporates all truth, but it distinguishes 
between mere fact and saving truths. 
We can be patient with the imponder- 
ables, especially in view of the rele- 
vancy of the gospel of Jesus Christ to 
the social and political problems of our 
time, but we must do much more to 
help our young to see the preventive 
and prescriptive powers of the gospel 
for those very problems about which 
our young are rightfully concerned. For 
the gospel tells us that we have a real 
brotherhood that will last beyond the 
grave: it is not merely a biological 
brotherhood. 

The gospel tells us that unchastity 
can cause inner spiritual "concus- 
sions" and "bleeding." Jacob described 
people in a time of gross unchastity 
as being in a circumstance in which 
"many hearts died, pierced with deep 
wounds." (Jac. 2:35.) The gospel is 
relevant in its preachment of love at 
home, which is a solution to many 
problems ranging from aid to de- 
pendent children to alienation. And 
orthodoxy is vital because it increases 
human happiness, whether in prevent- 
ing the misery that grows out of alco- 
holism or in treating the guilt. 

A fourth observation: We will also 
do our young' a great favor if our ef- 
forts to teach the gospel to them in- 
clude not only teaching by exhortation 
and explanation, which are vital, but 
also by the eloquence of example and 
the confirmation of experience, for the 
latter two methods weigh very heavily 
on the scales of today's youth. 

Fifth: The home will always be our 
most vital teaching institution. When 
the home fails, it will be difficult for 
the other institutions of any culture or 



94 



society — political, economic, and even 
educational — to compensate for the 
failures in the home. If we poison the 
headwaters of humanity — the home — it 
is exceedingly difficult to depollute 
downstream. If we wish to make our 
efforts count in meeting the vexing 
^challenges of our time, the ecology of 
effectiveness suggests of the home that 
'truly, "This is the place!" 

Within the basic correlation con- 
cepts, which stress the primacy of 
priesthood and home, I see a new 
spirit of cooperation moving in the 
Church. Those charged with programs 
that support the home — Elder Marion 
D. Hanks, who manages the Student 
Association; Elder Marvin J. Ashton, 
who manages Social Services; Brother 
James Mason, Commissioner of Health 
Services; and the staff of the Church 
Educational System — -are approaching 



common, overlapping problems in the 
spirit of serving Church members, 
rather than letting organizational lines 
hecome immovable, bureaucratic walls, 
for, especially in saving souls, "some- 
thing there is that doesn't love a wall." 
(Robert Frpst.) 

Finally, let us assure our young that 
the cadence of the divine commitment 
to education and the quest for truth 
echo, like a drum roll, through the 
corridors of dispensational history — 
Abraham, a man of God and a brilliant 
astronomer, who pondered the planets 
and considered the cosmos in the lone- 
liness of the desert; Jesus, the Master, 
who while yet a youth taught his 
elders in the seat of learning, having 
prepared himself intellectually and 
spiritually; Joseph Smith's School of 
the Prophets, where the enthusiasm for 
education overrode the discouraging 



circumstances of the moment; the 
schools and university that were started 
in this valley so soon after the wheels 
on pioneer wagons and handcarts had 
ceased turning. 

Those who possess absolute truths 
need fear no ancillary truth but should 
pursue learning vigorously, since learn- 
ing is good so long as we "hearken unto 
the counsels of God." When education 
is thus pursued by our young today, 
they should be assured by all of us 
that they are "about" their "Father's 
business," and be witnessed to; that 
when man has reached the small 
"periphery of the spider web of his 
own reason and logic," he will find 
the ropes of revelation on which he 
can climb upward, forever! May we 
help our youth, I pray in the name of 
the Master Teacher, Jesus Christ. 
Amen. O 




• My dear brethren of the priesthood, 
I feel great strength in your presence, 
and I am grateful to my Heavenly 
Father for the great discourse of our 
prophet, President Joseph Fielding 
Smith. 

One of the great bits of advice that 
I have received in my life came during 
my teenage years when a great bishop, 
just before the President of the Church 
was going to visit our area, told a 
group of us "when a prophet of God 
speaks, you listen well." I have tried 
to do that all of my life. I am grateful 
for that advice. 

I have been thrilled with the meet- 
ings of this conference, especially this 
morning when I realized that that ses- 
sion was going to be telecast through- 
out the Midwest and the eastern 
states. And my prayer tonight when I 
retire will be "Heavenly Father, in that 
potential audience of millions, I pray 



that many will be led to their television 
sets to hear what I heard this morn- 
ing." I know that many will be led 
to the truth as they so do. 

Speaking of television, last Monday 
night my high-school-age son per- 
suaded me to sit down and watch the 
second half of a football game. I have 
always made it a policy that no sacri- 
fice is too great for my boy. So we sat 
down and watched football. While 
watching this game, some facts became 
very apparent. In fact, it had gospel 
application and priesthood application. 

I noticed, for example, that there 
were no shortcuts to the goal line. It 
was a hundred yards in both directions. 
I also noticed that the team that 
seemed to have had the most practice, 
that did the best planning, that exe- 
cuted their plays the best, and that 
had the best team attitude was the 
team that made the most points. 



I also noticed that when team mem- 
bers cooperated and helped one an- 
other, the team made the most yardage. 

It was also obvious that when some- 
one broke the rules, there was always 
a penalty imposed. It sounds a lot 
like life, doesn't it? In talking about 
this to my boy, he said, "Fifteen yards 
is nothing; but, Dad, when you ground 
me for three days, that is too much." 

We also noticed that no one was 
allowed to make up his own rules as 
the game progressed. They all lost 
their free agency to do that when they 
agreed to join the team and play ac- 
cording to the established rules. 

And last but not least, I noticed 
when it was all over, the winning team 
was a lot happier than the team that 
lost. 

Now brethren, we believe that "men 
are, that they might have joy"; and 
joy can best come as we obtain victory 



Era, December 1970 95 



in the game of life, played according 
to the only acceptable rules — those set 
down by our Heavenly Father. 

Speaking of happiness, achieving vic- 
tory, and finding the right tools for 
reentering the presence of our Heav- 
enly Father, may I use as a springboard 
for my remarks four or five of the 
most frequently asked questions and 
comments from youth as they come to 
members of the Presiding Bishopric. 

Comment No. 1 from a deacon 
right here in Salt Lake City: "This new 
achievement program is OK, but why 
not let us do our own thing about 
church? Some of us don't like to be 
tied down to specific goals and com- 
mitments." 

May I say. first of all, you young 
men of the Aaronic Priesthood are not 
ordinary young men. Each of you has 
made a sacred covenant in the waters 
of baptism. Each of you has been given 
that rare privilege of the Holy Ghost 
as a constant companion. Each of you 
has received the sacred covenant of his 
holy priesthood about which President 
Smith spoke so eloquently here to- 
night. Each of you has access to the 
truth. Yes, each of you is a member 
of the world's greatest brotherhood, the 
priesthood, with God the Father and 
his Son Jesus Christ at the head. 

With all of these advantages, what 
are we going to do about it? The scrip- 
tures tell us that where much is given, 
much is expected. Sometimes an eternal 




goal can seem rather remote in the 
mind of a teenage boy. To travel from 
where you are to where you would like, 
to be seems overwhelming and almost 
impossible. The secret is to live the 
best you know how just one day at a 
time, and if the day seems too long, 
we should break it down into hours or 
even minutes. This is exactly what a 



kind and loving Heavenly Father had 
in mind as he planted in the minds 
of the brethren the new personal 
achievement program for the Aaronic 
Priesthood. 

Each of you is now being introduced 
to an achievement journal that, in my 
opinion, is one of the greatest tools ever 
developed to prepare a young man for 
the Melchizedek Priesthood. The 
Aaronic Priesthood is a preparatory 
priesthood, preparatory for only one 
thing, the Melchizedek Priesthood. It 
is the Melchizedek Priesthood that will 
show us the way to temple blessings 
and to other great horizons that are not 
visible nor understood by many who 
are starting out. 

No longer will the bishop spend two 
or three minutes asking a few routine 
questions pertaining to personal worthi- 
ness. Each of you young men will have 
as much time as may be required with 
the bishop to talk just about you and 
about your personal problems, about 
your hopes and about your ambitions, 
and about your goals for the coming- 
year. All this is made possible by 
starting your achievement year on or 
near your birthday. By this process, 
not more than one or two young men 
a week will be on the bishop's agenda, 
thus giving ample opportunity and time 
to get to know one another better and 
to set goals for the next year that will 
be meaningful. Your goals will per- 
haps be unlike any other set of goals 
in the entire Church. They will be 
customized just for you according to 
your needs, not just on meeting at- 
tendance alone but other Church- 
related goals such as mission prepara- 
tion, missionary activity, seminary and 
institute training, perhaps even welfare 
and genealogical work in terms of your 
interest and understanding. 

There will be personal goals that 
might well touch on your day-to-day 
and week-to-week planning, your fi- 
nancial program (such as it might be), 
personal prayer habits, a program for 
keeping your body well and strong, 
plus other ideas for self-improvement, 
including goals on being a better 
neighbor, a better member of your 
community; yes, even some academic 
or vocational goals. 

Let's hear another question. A priest 
in Idaho wants to know, "What does 
the length of my hair have to do with 
passing or blessing the sacrament?" 
Lately, this has been the most popular 
question. 

For good reason, the First Presidency 
have not stipulated the number of 
inches. I would feel bad if the good 
Navajo brother could not administer at 
the sacrament table because his hair is 
long enough to be braided. Long hair 
is the custom of his people. He is not 



out of place where he serves. 

Would you young men here tonight 
believe skirts as a dress standard for 
deacons? I have seen them in Samoa 
as our young men pass the sacrament. 
The accepted attire of their com- 
munity is the lavalava. I am sure our 
Samoan brethren hope we never have 
a rule against deacons' wearing skirts. 

Our objective should be grooming 
appropriate to the area, and in all cases 
cleanliness. 

Anything that symbolizes either re- 
bellion or nonconformity to the local 
community standard will likely be a 
distraction to those partaking of the 
Lord's Supper. Conservative dress and 
manner have always been the keynote 
of priesthood service. If there is a 
probability that the members you serve 
are thinking more about your non- 
standard appearance than about the 
atoning sacrifice of the Savior, then 
you had better take a long, hard look 
at yourself before next Sunday. As we 
consider these matters, I speak not only 
to the Aaronic Priesthood but also to 
those who preside in the Melchizedek 
Priesthood. 

Here is an interesting comment from 
a priest: "If I could just know for 
sure — by some special manifestation — 
then I would devote my life to the 
work." 

A miracle in the heavens tonight 
could be simply performed by our 
Heavenly Father, who created heaven 
and earth, but I am grateful that such 
is not part of his plan. Firm and last- 
ing testimonies are not created in such 
a manner. As the Lord has said, ". . . 
line upon line, precept upon precept. 
. . ." (D&C 98:12.) He further stated: 
"My doctrine is not mine, but his that 
sent me. If any man will do his will, 
he shall know of the doctrine, whether 
it be of God, or whether I speak of 
myself." (John 7:16-17.) 

Many of us had similar thoughts as 
we became impatient along the way, 
particularly during our teenage years. 
Even President David O. McKay has 
told us about kneeling by a service- 
berry bush as a boy in Huntsville to 
find out once and for all about the 
truth of the work. May I quote Presi- 
dent McKay as he tells of that occa- 
sion: 

"I knelt down and with all the fervor 
of my heart poured out my soul to 
God and asked him for a testimony of 
this gospel. I had in mind that there 
would be some manifestation; that I 
should receive some transformation that 
would leave me absolutely without 
doubt. 

"I got up, mounted my horse, and 
as he started over the trail, I remember 
rather introspectively searching myself 
and involuntarily shaking my head, 



96 



saying to myself, 'No, sir, there is no 
change; I am just the same hoy I was 
hefore I knelt down.' The anticipated 
manifestation had not come. . . . 

"However, it did come, hut not in 
the way I had anticipated. Even the 
manifestation of God's power and the 
presence of his angels came; but when 
it did come, it was simply a confirma- 
tion, it was not a testimony." (Treas- 
ures of Life, [Deseret Book Company. 
1962], pp. 229-30.) 

Young men, you, too, will have many 
remarkahle revelations and manifesta- 
tions as a confirmation of the testimony 
that you earn. 

Do you have this problem, young 
men? This is a problem stated by a 
young man who contemplates military 
call-up. This is what he says: "Didn't 
the Savior teach peace? To me, peace 
means no fighting. I am not sure about 
our present military involvements." I 
say to this young man, the following 
facts helped me and they may he 
helpful to you: 

Where the Book of Mormon talks 
about a land choice above all others, 
I believe it. 

When we are taught that our found- 
ing forefathers prayed for and received 
inspiration as they framed our Con- 
stitution, I believe it. 

When a prophet suggests that the 
gospel could best be restored in a land 
of freedom and democracy, I believe it. 



When the standard works of the 
Church instruct me about obeying, 
honoring, and sustaining the law, I 
want to do it. I even believe that our 
elected national leaders are basically 
honest men and base their decisions 
upon what they believe to be for the 
good of the people as they see it. 

Last but not least, I also believe that 
a prophet of God will let me know 
about any change of policy in the 
foregoing line of reasoning. Young 
men, to whatever country your citizen- 
ship commitment might be, you honor 
it, you obey it, you sustain it. To do 
otherwise would be contrary to law 
and order; and law and order is the 
basis of the priesthood, wherever it is 
established. 

Just one more: Some young people 
feel the same as this member of a 
teachers quorum from California. "We 
like what our ward and stake leaders 
teach us. The gospel plan is perfect, 
but they too often fall short of that 
perfection in their personal living." 
Young man in California, I hope you 
are listening tonight. 

Without qualification, I can say that 
the Lord Jesus Christ is the only per- 
son to remain perfect through mor- 
tality. Stevenson has said something 
like this: The saints are just the sinners 
who are trying a little harder. I want 
to promise you young men of the 
Aaronic Priesthood that no one in all 



this world is trying harder to achieve 
perfection than your fine leaders in 
the priesthood: your bishopric, your 
stake presidency, your high council, 
and your advisers. But we are all in 
this mortal stream together, all of us, 
you and your leaders, and me. We are 
all in together and, I hope, trying to 
do better each day. Let us all try to 
help one another with shortcomings. 
To criticize and run down is to aid the 
adversary in his plan of destruction. 
Young men, we, your leaders, will con- 
tinue to encourage you in kindness and 
sincerity. Will you help us, your 
priesthood leaders, in the same way? 
That is what true brotherhood in the 
priesthood means. 

O my wonderful young brethren, this 
work is true. Priesthood is the center 
core of it all. You can't win any game 
without a plan. Look sharp. Be clean. 
Be proud to represent your priesthood. 
The only real peace in this world is 
peace of mind. You listen to the voice 
of a prophet and let your priesthood 
leaders show you the way, and I will 
promise you that life will be sweet. 
Your priesthood will be meaningful, 
and yours will be victory. There will 
be no greater day in your life than to 
enter the presence of your Heavenly 
Father and hear him say, "Well done, 
thou good and faithful servant," and I 
pray it in the name of his Son, Jesus 
Christ. Amen. O 




• My dear brethren: 

Some twenty-five years or more ago 
my wife and I built a home. The first 
of many trees that we planted was a 
thornless honey locust. I remember 
the day we brought it home from the 
nursery, a spindly little whip of a tree, 
so small and supple I could have tied 
it into a knot. I dug a hole, put in the 



roots, shoveled back the earth, watered 
it, and forgot it. It stands at the south 
side of the house, where the wind 
coming from the canyon to the east 
blows hardest. 

One winter day a few years ago I 
chanced to look out the window at the 
tree. I noticed it was terribly mis- 
shapen, leaning ungracefully to the 



west, so much so that a heavy storm 
might have uprooted it. I went to my 
toolhouse, where I save things for two 
years before throwing them away, got 
a block and tackle, anchored one end 
to the tree and the other to another 
tree, and pulled and pulled to no avail. 
The little whip of a tree was now a 
giant with a diameter of almost a foot. 



Era, December 1970 97 



After debating with myself for a week 
or two, I finally took a pruning saw 
and cut off the great west limb. I al- 
most wept at my butchery. It looks 
better today. It has straightened some- 
what, but where the heavy cut was 
made, it developed a great scar, which 
has cracked and let in decay. 

The tree that might have been gra- 
cious and beautiful leaves much to be 
desired. Once it could have been kept 
straight with a string for an anchor. 
Now neither block and tackle nor 
pruning saw can make up for the 
neglect of its younger years. 

It is so with people. It takes only a 
string, as it were, to help children grow 
strong and straight in the Church. One 
such string has been their own maga- 
zine, the Children's Friend. This has 
been a great magazine. All who have 
been acquainted with it have regarded 
it as an outstanding children's journal. 

An eminent child psychologist wrote: 
"I have known the Children's Friend 
as one of the only decently edited 
magazines for children in the United 



States." Under the program of correla- 
tion, instituted by the First Presidency, 
the name of the magazine will be 
changed. It will simply be the Friend, 
dropping the word children's, because 
when some youngsters get to be ten 
and eleven years of age, they think 
they are no longer children. But they 
still need a Friend. 

The Primary Association will no 
longer be its sole sponsor. It will be 
published by the Church, with the 
Children's Correlation Committee and 
representatives of both the Primary and 
the Sunday School as editorial con- 
sultants. It will be edited by men and 
women with long experience, and will 
be a new friend, a better friend, for the 
children of the Church, and we hope 
for many others. With wonderful 
stories and fascinating art, it will open 
small and delightful windows and 
bring to young minds understanding of 
eternal and marvelous gospel princi- 
ples. It will be a blessing in every 
home into which it goes. 

Children are so very important. I 



never get over the thought that every 
man, good or bad, was once a little 
boy, and that every woman was once 
a little girl. They have moved in the 
direction in which they were pointed 
when they were small. Truly, "As the 
twig is bent, so the tree is inclined." 
The time to mold the pattern of virtu- 
ous youth and faithful adults is child- 
hood. 

Most of you brethren are fathers, 
fathers of young children. Some of 
you are grandfathers. Others are 
bishops or in other capacities with 
responsibility for children. We ask 
your support in seeing that the Friend 
is in every Latter-day Saint home 
where there is a child. 

It will bless the child and it will 
bless the home. 

May I leave with you a motto: "A 
Friend for Every Child." As children 
grow in faithfulness, anchored against 
the storms of life, so in strength will 
the Church and the nation grow. I 
pray that it may be so, in the name of 
Jesus Christ. Amen. Q 




• President Smith and my beloved 
brethren of the priesthood: Hanging 
in my office are two moving portrayals 
of the importance of the written word: 
One is a picture of Mormon working 
on the gold plates, and the other of 
Moroni, in his anguished loneliness, 
about to leave the records in Cumorah's 
Hill. 

I think how Nephi and his brothers 
were sent to obtain the written 
records, and of the Ten Command- 
ments inscribed on tablets of stone. I 
have long been associated with the 
"Spoken Word," but never do I suppose 



that it will take the place of the writ- 
ten word. 

Since the beginning of this dispen- 
sation, the Church has provided various 
periodicals and publications for its 
people. They would make a long and 
distinguished list, published for a sea- 
son, and then supplanted, according to 
circumstances. And now with the 
Church reaching worldwide, further 
changes are with us. 

The Improvement Era, established 
some 73 years ago by President Heber 
J. Grant, President Joseph F. Smith, 
and others, has served an important 



purpose, along with the other maga- 
zines of the Church. I am privileged 
to have been associated with the Era 
nearly half the length of its life. 

And now, as announced, all such 
periodicals are to be published directly 
through the priesthood channels of the 
Church. 

We are pleased that the magazine to 
be published for the young people shall 
be named the New Era — and the title 
would seem to be timeless. In its first 
issue, the Improvement Era announced 
as its purpose to uplift the lives of 
youth and to aid parents and teachers 



98 



in the same effort. The New Era will 
be pointed to the same purpose. 

Brother Doyle Green, Brother Jay 
Todd, and Sister Elaine Cannon, under 
the general direction of the First Presi- 
dency, with others of the General 
Authorities, including President Kim- 
hall, Brothers Marion G. Romney, 
Howard W. Hunter, Marion D. Hanks, 
Bishop John H. Vandenberg, and a 
long list of distinguished contributors, 
are committed to making the New Era 
serve the youth and young adults of 
the Church, from deacons on through 
Aaronic Priesthood, with girls of 
like age — seminaries, institutes, Sunday 
School, MIA, LDSSA; and in general, 
those young people in the searching, 
decision-making years of life who are 
as yet uncommitted to marriage; those 
concerned with college, careers, mis- 
sions, military service, dating, dress and 
grooming, books, art, science, literature, 
doctrinal questions that arise in the 
pursuit of education, and the whole 
moral tone, and conduct and principles 
and standards that so much need to be 



retaught and reemphasized in these 
times. (President Lee reminded us 
within the last few hours that 31.1 per- 
cent of the membership of the Church 
are between the ages of 12 and 25.) The 
years before marriage, these years of 
searching and decision, affect the fu- 
ture forever. 

And now, I have a most embarrassing 
admission to make. We are scheduled 
to bring out the first issue of the New 
Era in January — and we don't know 
how many to print. So far as I offi- 
cially know, we don't yet have a single 
subscriber! The Friend that Brother 
Hinckley has been talking about and 
the adult magazine concerning which 
Brother Monson will tell us took all the 
subscribers. And yet they're such nice 
people; you would think they would 
have left us just a few! They left us 
with the nucleus of a wonderful staff, 
and a good name — but not a single 
subscriber! And so you, the young 
people of the Church, see your ward or 
branch magazine representative and 
offer him three dollars or its equiva- 



lent, according to the country in which 
you live, for a subscription to the New 
Era. We won't refuse a subscription 
from anyone that I know of! And right 
now we're offering the first free sub- 
scription of the New Era to President 
Smith, if he will accept it! 

We pledge you our best to make the 
New Era challenging, attractive, full of 
substance, exciting, with much expres- 
sion in it from the young people of the 
Church themselves and from all their 
organizations, and from the First Presi- 
dency and other General Authorities, 
with a candid, open, practical, con- 
temporary approach — yet firmly tied to 
the revealed and timeless truths on 
which our faith and our lives are 
founded. We pledge you our best to 
make the New Era something that you 
will want to have in your homes, 
something to read, something that will 
be sincerely significant in your lives. 

God bless you all, my beloved young 
friends, Churchwide and worldwide, 
and be with all of you — always — I pray 
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Q 



"Thou Art aTeacher Come From God' ' 



Elder Thomas S. Monson 
Of the Council of the Twelve 



• President Smith, when I am in your 
presence I think of the principle of 
courage, for it was 15 years ago in the 
building to the south of us, the As- 
sembly Hall, when you presided at a 
conference where I was called as a 
member of the stake presidency. I 
remember the day well. I was singing 
in an Aaronic Presthood chorus. I 
was a bishop, and bishopric members 
always sing when the Aaronic Priest- 
hood participates. 

As President Smith stepped to the 
pulpit, he read my name as a member 
of the stake presidency. It was the first 



notification I had had of my appoint- 
ment. He then used these words to 
introduce me: "If Brother Monson 
would now like to accept this calling, 
we would be pleased to hear from 
him." 

May I quote to you the last line of 
the hymn we had just concluded sing- 
ing: "Have courage, my boy; have 
courage, my boy, to say no." I used 
as my theme that bright June day: 
"Have courage, my boy, to say yes," 
and it requires courage every time I 
stand at this pulpit. 

My brethren, tonight we have heard 



stimulating messages relating to a 
magazine for our small children and 
another magazine for our youth. Speak- 
ing as an adult, your thought and con- 
cern could well be, "What about 
Mother and me?" To this question I 
would reply: "Let not your heart be 
troubled. You, too, will have your 
magazine." 

The new adult magazine will replace 
three well-known publications: the 
Improvement Era, the Relief Society 
Magazine, and the Instructor. How- 
ever, the most outstanding and useful 
features of each of these excellent 



Era, December 1970 99 



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publications will be retained and be- 
come a vital part of the new magazine. 
The readership audience will be the 
adult membership of the Church. 

Just as a new city or child receives 
a name, so must the new adult 
magazine. The selection has not been 
made without thorough study and 
much prayer. You will recognize the 
name. The prophet Isaiah particularly 
stressed its significance. He declared 
that the Lord will lift up "an ensign 
to the nations"; ye shall "be left as a 
beacon upon the top of a mountain, 
and as an ensign on an hill." (Isa. 
11:12; 30:17.) And in this dispensation, 
the Lord spoke: ". . . Zion shall flour- 
ish, and the glory of the Lord shall 
be upon her; And she shall be an 
ensign unto the people. . . ." (D&C 64: 
41-42.) The name of the new adult 
magazine will be The Ensign of The 
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
Saints. Its contents will be as a beacon 
upon the top of a mountain and as an 
ensign on a hill, that the adults of 
the Church might be more adequately 
prepared to be examples to their chil- 
dren and to the world. 

Several significant questions have 
accompanied the announcement in the 
Church News relative to the new adult 
publication. Perhaps a review of them 
would be helpful: 

Question #1: Who should subscribe 
to the Ensign? 

Answer: The First Presidency is 
encouraging every English-speaking 
family in the Church to be a sub- 
scriber. Month-for-month subscrip- 
tion credit on the new adult magazine 
will be given present subscribers to the 
Era, Instructor, and Relief Society Mag- 
azine. For instance, when the Instruc- 
tor ceases publication December 31, 
those subscribers who have perhaps 
three issues due them on their present 
Instructor subscription will receive, 
without charge, three issues of the 
Ensign. The same applies to the Era 
and Relief Society Magazine as they 
conclude their publication at the end 
of the year. 

Question #2: What will be the an- 
nual subscription price of the Ensign? 

Answer: In the past we have rather 
expected our families to subscribe to 
all three adult publications, which at 
present rates amounts to $10.50. Fami- 
lies wall now pay just $4.00 for the 
Ensign — a savings to families of $6.50. 

Question #3: Will lessons for Relief 
Society appear in the Ensign? 

Answer: No. These will be pub- 
lished in lesson manual style as is 
presently the practice in other auxiliary 
organizations and in priesthood quo- 
rums. The sisters should note, how- 
ever, that the Relief Society lessons for 
the period January 1, 1971, through 



100 



August 30, 1971, will already have been 
published in the Relief Society Maga- 
zine, concluding with the December 
issue. 

Question #4: What will be the an- 
ticipated beginning circulation for the 
Ensign? 

Answer: The Ensign will be the 
largest in circulation of the three new 
magazines, with an initial print order 
or press run of over 325,000 copies. 

Question #5: Who will have the re- 
sponsibility of publishing the Ensign? 

Answer: The magazine will be pub- 
lished under the supervision of the 
First Presidency. Members of the 
Council of the Twelve and other Gen- 
eral Authorities who have supervisory 
responsibility for Church programs for 
adults will have special assignments 
with the magazine, as will the presi- 
dencies and superintendences of auxil- 
iary organizations at the level of the 
general boards. The correlation pro- 
gram secretaries also will play a vital 
part in producing the publication. The 
Ensign will have a talented and expe- 
rienced staff, headed by Doyle L. 
Green as managing editor, with M. 
Dallas Burnett as associate editor. 

Question #6; What will the maga- 
zine contain? 

Answer: The Ensign will be written 
in such a way as to enhance its use. 
There will be articles on home teach- 
ing, family home evenings, missionary, 
welfare, and genealogical work. Leader- 
ship and teacher development will also 
be vital features. Material from the 
Ensign will be used widely in every 
teaching classroom of the Church, in- 
cluding that special classroom called 
home. In addition, there will be fic- 
tion, poetry, and those feature articles 
which have been so popular in the 
present adult publications. 

This, then, will be The Ensign of 
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
day Saints — your adult publication. 
Subscribe to it. Read its contents. Apply 
in your lives its lessons. You, too, will 
then be as an ensign, even the light of 
the world, a city of righteousness set 
on a hill that cannot be hid. 

As mentioned, information about the 
new teacher development program will 
be one of the features contained in the 
Ensign. The First Presidency has asked 
that I now introduce to you this in- 
spired new program, which has the 
potential to improve the quality of 
teaching throughout the Church. 

Brethren, have you as a father ever 
asked your son this question: "Dick, 
how did the Sunday School class go 
today?" Young men, on occasion have 
you answered: "Not so good, Dad. My 
teacher didn't show up"? Perhaps your 
reply was: "My teacher, Brother Camp- 



bell, tries hard, but he just doesn't 
communicate. " 

If we are honest with ourselves, some 
version of this same dialogue has been 
heard in every Latter-day Saint home. 
Nor is it restricted to Sunday School, 
but it also extends to Primary, MIA, 
Relief Society, and the quorums of the 
priesthood. 

John Milton described this plight in 
these words: "The hungry sheep look 
up but are not fed." (Lycidas.) The 
Lord himself said to Ezekiel the 
prophet, "Woe be to the shepherds of 
Israel that . . . feed not the flock." 
(Ezek. 34:2-3.) 

Are wise shepherds, even skilled and 
righteous teachers, needed today? Our 
fast-moving jet-propelled world har- 
bors pressures and temptations not 
previously known. 

More than $500 million a year are 
spent on pornographic literature by 
which evil men try to "dig gold out of 
dirt." Magazines, movies, TV pro- 
grams, and other mass media are 
frequently utilized to lower moral 
standards and induce improper behav- 
ior. Crime and delinquency are ram- 
pant. Spiritual values are questioned. 
The effective teacher is desperately 
needed to help us understand what is 
genuine and important in this life and 
develop the strength to choose the 
paths that will keep us safely on the 
way to eternal life. 

Knowing this situation and sensing 
the need for effective action, the First 
Presidency in October 1968 called a 
committee to work to improve the 
quality of teaching throughout the 
Church. They counseled that the pro- 
gram should: 

1. Be priesthood sponsored and 
Churchwide; 

2. Help teachers and leaders to im- 
prove; 

3. Assist prospective teachers to be- 
gin their assignments with the training 
and spiritual understanding necessary 
to be effective. 

In January of this year, in an inter- 
view published in the Deseret News. 
President Joseph Fielding Smith and 
his counselors stressed anew the im- 
portance of the teaching role. I quote: 
"Teaching members of the Church to 
keep the commandments of God was 
described by the new First Presidency 
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Lat- 
ter-day Saints as its greatest challenge." 

The goal of gospel teaching today, as 
emphasized in the teacher development 
program, is not to "pour information" 
into the minds of class members. It 
is not to show how much the teacher 
knows, nor is it merely to increase 
knowledge about the Church. The 
basic goal of teaching in the Church is 
to help bring about worthwhile changes 



in the lives of boys and girls, men and 
women. The aim is to inspire the indi- 
vidual to think about, feel about, and 
then do something about living gospel- 
principles. 

To help achieve this goal and meet 
this aim, we now introduce to you, the 
priesthood, the new teacher develop- 
ment program of the Church. 

On Thursday, October 1, 1970, in a 
special seminar for Regional Represen- 
tatives of the Twelve, the teacher 
development program was presented in 
detail. These devoted and capable 
brethren will, in the next six weeks, 
outline the program to stake presi- 
dencies; and then, January 1, 1971, it 
will commence. During the first six 
months of 1971, when the General 
Authorities visit each stake quarterly 
conference, they will emphasize this 
program and will report on its imple- 
mentation. 

A cardinal principle of industrial 
management teaches: "When perfor- 
mance is measured, performance im- 
proves. When performance is measured 
and reported, the rate of improvement 
accelerates." I think the visit to your 
stakes by the General Authorities will 
bring the desired acceleration. 

Time dictates that my introduction 
of the program itself be presented in 
headline form: 

1. The new Churchwide program is 
priesthood sponsored and supersedes 
any other teacher training program now 
in use. 

2. The stake president has responsi- 
bility for teacher development in his 
stake. He will call a member of the 
high council to be stake teacher devel- 
opment director. This high councilor 
should be an outstanding teacher who 
has the ability to motivate and inspire. 

3. The bishop has responsibility for 
the teacher development program in his 
ward. He will call a capable bearer of 
the Melchizedek Priesthood to be the 
ward teacher development director. 

4. Similar responsibility will rest 
with mission presidents, district and 
branch presidents in the missions of the 
Church. 

5. The new teacher development 
program consists of three parts: (a) 
the basic course; (b) inservice program; 
(c) supervision (to be introduced Sep- 
tember 1, 1971). 

6. The basic course is designed to 
help prospective and current teachers to 
acquire knowledge and develop skills, 
that they might become more effective. 
It will be conducted over an 11-week 
period, usually during the Sunday 
School hour, and involve perhaps eight 
persons interviewed and called, by the 
bishop, to the course. The instructor 
of the basic course will be the ward 
teacher development director. 



Era, December 1970 101 









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7. The inservice program will be an 
outgrowth of the basic course and will 
encompass both spiritual principles 
and teaching skills. The inservice les- 
sons will be offered ten times per year 
for instructors in all priesthood quo- 
rums and auxiliaries. 

8. The manuals for the basic course 
and the inservice program are now 
ready for distribution. The administra- 
tive manual will be sent to appropriate 
stake and ward leaders at no cost to 
them. A special order form will be 
sent to each bishop, that he may order 
the necessary materials to implement 
the program. Funds for same may ap- 
propriately come from ward and stake 
budgets. Individuals may then make 
payment to the ward or stake for their 
personal binders and materials. Quan- 
tity purchasing has provided minimum 
unit costs. 

9. The program allows for consider- 
able flexibility. In most areas of the 
Church, the program should operate 
on a ward level. However, options are 
available for the basic course and in- 
service lessons to be conducted on 
a multi-ward or stake level where 
necessary. 

10. The program uses the strengths 
and resources of small group participa- 
tion, with emphasis on doing and 
participating in real learning experi- 
ences. 

This, then, is the new teacher de- 
velopment program. It has been pre- 
tested on a carefully supervised and 
controlled pilot basis in the Monument 
Park, Walnut Creek, and Gunnison 
stakes and the Victoria District of the 
Alaska-British Columbia Mission. Will 
it bring forth in your ward or stake the 
hoped-for results? Listen to the testi- 
monies of but two who have completed 
the course: 

"For the first time in my life I have 
an idea of how to teach." 

"Like all blessings in the gospel, this 
program will be only as helpful as 
those who use it will make it. There 
will be those who will say, 'I am a 
master teacher. I don't need this.' 
They will gain nothing. There are 
those who will say, Tm too busy for 
this. The Church has too many meet- 
ings.' They will gain nothing. There 
will be those who will say, 'Here is an 
opportunity to learn.' They will gain 
much, and the Lord's work will move 
ahead." 

In The Church of Jesus Christ of 
Latter-day Saints, each member, each 
priesthood bearer, will likely have an 
opportunity to become a teacher. There 
is no privilege more noble, no task so 
rewarding. May I extend to you, my 
brethren of the priesthood, a sincere 
invitation to become participants in the 
teacher development endeavor. May I 



102 



challenge you in the words from the 
epistle of James to be "doers of the 
word, and not hearers only" (Jas. 1:22). 
remembering: 

I hear and I forget; 
I see and I remember; 
I do and I learn. 

Others then will follow your exam- 
ple. Teaching will improve. Com- 
mandments will be lived. Lives will 
be blessed. 

In Galilee there taught a master 



teacher, even Jesus Christ the Lord. He 
left his footprints in the sands of the 
seashore, but he left his teaching prin- 
ciples in the hearts and in the lives 
of all whom he taught. He instructed 
his disciples of that day, and to us he 
speaks the same words, "Follow thou 
me." Then, as now, foolish, unwise 
persons will stop their ears, close their 
eyes, and turn away their hearts. Let 
us remember, there is no deafness so 
permanent as the deafness which will 
not hear. There is no blindness so in- 
curable as the blindness which will not 



see. There is no ignorance so deep as 
the ignorance that will not know. 

May we, like Thomas of old, not 
doubting but believing, respond, "Let 
us go." Yes, may we go forward in the 
introduction and implementation of 
this new program for teacher develop- 
ment. As we do so, in this spirit of 
obedient response, it may be said of 
each teacher as it was spoken of the 
Redeemer, ". . . thou art a teacher come 
from God." (John 3:2.) May this be 
so, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. 
Amen. Q 




• Someone has said, "An event is an 
idea whose time has come." 

For over thirty years — it will be next 
April — since I became a member of 
the Council of the Twelve, there has 
been talk of unifying the magazines of 
the Church. It has always been 
thought that it was right, but the time 
was not yet. The event now has be- 
come so because the time has arrived. 

You will note that we have said these 
magazines are to be available to all 
English-speaking countries where we 
have members of the Church. You will 
be asking, what about the other of the 
19 languages in which we are now 
teaching the gospel — 11 into which we 
have translated the lessons of the 
Church. May I explain that we have 
a unified magazine printed in many of 
the languages of these foreign-speaking 
peoples. The materials for these maga- 
zines are edited through our editorial 
department, with a few pages left for 
each mission, to be used for that par- 
ticular area. All the material that 
would go into these magazines will be 
the same, but printed in the language 
of those peoples, so that the entire 
Church, in every language where we 



have the translations, will have a mag- 
azine that will be a direct communica- 
tion from the priesthood of the Church. 

Much thought has gone into this. 
On the first Thursday of every month 
a very important meeting is held in an 
upper room of the temple where all the 
General Authorities come fasting. The 
first part of the meeting is a business 
meeting, at which time all the pro- 
posals for new ideas or new methods 
or new undertakings are brought for- 
ward, after having been processed 
through the month preceding, for the 
perusal and consideration of all the 
General Authorities of the Church. At 
that meeting, then, action is taken, 
and by that action it then becomes the 
official action of the General Authori- 
ties of the Church — which must be 
considered to be the constitution of the 
Church and kingdom of God upon the 
earth. 

That is the process by which these 
new magazines might be said to have 
become an "event." That is the pro- 
cess by which the future development 
has come. That is the process by which 
a bishops' training program will now 
be inaugurated throughout the entire 



Church. That is the process by which 
a Churchwide budget system will be 
inaugurated, and so will every other 
program that will be launched, as it 
comes now from the General Authori- 
ties of the Church, out to all the mem- 
bership of the Church. 

You will understand why we are so 
concerned. As President Tanner and 
I first considered the excitement at the 
June Conference when they knew that 
there was to be a youth magazine, 
President Tanner said to me, "Because 
of the loyalty of our people, we must 
be sure that we are right." And that 
becomes a great concern. To be as 
certain as we know how, these things 
are subjected to prayer and fasting and 
careful, mature consideration, in order 
that we might have "the will of the 
Lord, ... the mind of the Lord, . . . the 
voice of the Lord, . . . and the power of 
God unto salvation." (D&C 68:4.) You 
may understand, then, that these things 
that have been announced to you have 
come with the official approval. We 
ask the loyalty of the membership of 
the priesthood now to get behind these 
magazines and see to it that they be- 
come the greatest magazines printed 



Era, December 1970 103 



for each group of our people that may 
be available throughout the world. 

One more thought: If you had to sit 
facing these blazing lights for these 
hours, as we do here on the stand, you 
would have seen beads of perspiration 
on Elder Monson's brow as he talked to 



you, and as you will see on my brow, 
and on others who will speak. We 
understand that the temperature here 
is about fifteen degrees higher than 
where you brethren sit. I say that so 
that you will be a little more com- 
fortable. 



The 
Spoken Word 



"The Spoken Word" from Tem- 
ple Square, presented over KSL 
and the Columbia Broadcasting 
System September 20, 1970.©1970 



Debt: "a tanglesome net" 

By Richard L. Evans 

It has been long since Samuel Johnson said, "Do not accustom your- 
self to consider debt only as an inconvenience; or you will find it 
a calamity." In a world that needs so much to search itself in spiritual 
and moral and ethical matters, one feels defensive in mentioning a 
matter so mundane as money, but always there is need of honesty 
and balance and soundness and solvency. And in marriage, in the home, 
and in all of life, many difficulties and much misunderstanding come 
from the mismanagement of money — and many difficulties come from 
attitudes of immaturity and irresponsibility toward debt. It is not the 
necessary borrowing that we are speaking of, but the often too easy 
attitude that debt doesn't matter very much. But aside from the neces- 
sities of sickness, education, buying a home and some other such es- 
sentials, "Getting into debt," in the words of Benjamin Franklin, "is 
getting into a tanglesome net." And borrowing for luxuries would seem 
exceedingly shortsighted. Recognizing the reasons for borrowing in 
business, and sometimes for personal essentials, it is still true that 
what we owe to anyone is a mortgage on our future, and that what we 
owe, we owe and it must be paid if we are to keep our credit, our hon- 
est moral obligation, and our good name among men. And while bor- 
rowing sometimes seems relatively easy, paying back is relatively difficult 
to do— with interest added. The home is the source of stability in society. 
And home and marriage are happier if there is responsibility and good 
management in money matters, with parents and children facing and 
living within the financial facts. These simple rules are suggested: Buy 
wisely. Control debt. Save regularly. Use a family budget. Get good ad- 
vice. Read the fine print in all contracts and commitments. Don't 
plunge. Don't buy on impulse. And except for absolute necessity, 
borrow only according to the ability to pay back. Honesty calls for sin- 
cere commitment to pay our debts when due. And finally, "If you want 
the time to pass quickly, just give your note for 90 days." 1 "Do not 
accustom yourself to consider debt only as an inconvenience; or you 
will find it a calamity." 



'R. B. Thomas: Farmers' Almanack, 1797. 



I was up in Preston, Idaho, sometime 
ago, dedicating a meetinghouse, and 
I thought as I sat there in that lovely 
place, My, isn't it wonderful that we 
have these air-conditioned buildings 
today, such as we didn't have in my 
younger years. In the course of the 
meeting, the bishop announced that 
their air-conditioning system was not 
working. Suddenly I became very un- 
comfortably warm. That is what hap- 
pens to us when our minds take 
precedence over matter. 

I said to Brother Evans one day, 
"These punishing lights — they are 
devastating." And he said something 
to me that caused me some thought. 
He said, "If you want to be seen, you 
must be lighted." 

Now I want to translate that into 
something for you to think about. If 
you want to have the power of the 
priesthood to be of any benefit to you 
or before the world, you must keep it 
lighted. You must exercise it. 

The Master said, "Neither do men 
light a candle, and put it under a 
bushel, but on a candlestick; and it 
giveth light unto all that are in the 
house." Then he added, "Let your 
light so shine before men, that they 
may see your good works, and glorify 
your Father which is in heaven." 
(Matt. 5:15-16.) 

If you want to be seen as holders of 
the priesthood, you have to keep your 
lamp lighted. 

The Lord said in a great revelation, 
". . . if you will that I give unto you a 
place in the celestial world, you must 
prepare yourselves by doing the things 
which I have commanded you and 
required of you." (D&C 78:7.) 

I want now to make one more com- 
ment. The kingdom of God must be 
a continuing revolution against the 
norms of the society that fall below 
the standards that are set for us in the 
gospel of Jesus Christ. In the field of 
public life, it must be a continuing 
revolution against proposals that con- 
tradict the fundamental principles as 
laid down in the Constitution of the 
United States, which was written by 
men whom God raised up for this very 
purpose. If we remember that, we will 
be in the forefront of every battle 
against the things that are tearing 
down our society. 

I am sure we were all impressed 
when Brother Eldred G. Smith said in 
his address that it shouldn't be neces- 
sary to make laws to persuade the 
Latter-day Saints to keep the Sabbath 
day holy. If the body of the priesthood 
— if you 150,000 members of the priest- 
hood who are in these various gather- 
ing places — would resolve here and 
now that neither you nor your families 
will hereafter patronize any business 



104 



that is open on Sunday, it wouldn't be 
long until they would close their busi- 
nesses on Sunday. You would wield 
such a force and power that you would 
dry up the businesses that are making 
their Sunday opening profitable. They 
are only catering to the needs of the 
people who are demanding Sunday 
service. You think about it, you 
brethren. 

Pornographic literature! It has been 
a shock, I am sure, to all of us to read 
the' report of the commission that has 
been studying obscenity reports, and 
the recommendation that there should 
be a repeal of all laws prohibiting the 
distribution of explicit, sexual materials 
to consenting adults. Shocking! Now 
brethren, this is a thing that we must, 
as a priesthood, take a firm stand 
against, and do everything within our 
communities to see to it that by every 
means within our power we are going 
to play down the showing of or the 
distribution of any kind of porno- 
graphic literature, films, or advertise- 
ments. It has been a delight to us to 
have our Deseret News announce that, 
shortly, there will be no advertising 
of "R" and "X" rated films. We would 
wish it would be so in every com- 
munity. If you brethren, in all of 
your communities, would now take a 
firm stand, I think there would be a 
time shortly when somebody would 
wake up to the fact that we are no 
longer going to tolerate these kinds of 
things that are placed before our people 
to tear down their morals. 

One more thought and then I shall 
be through. President Smith talked 
about the oath and covenant that be- 



longs to the priesthood. This is but 
another way of saying what the Lord 
has said in revelations when he spoke 
of those who would be heirs to the 
celestial kingdom. He said, "They are 
they who received the testimony of 
Jesus, and believed on his name and 
were baptized, . . . and receive the Holy 
Spirit by the laying on of the hands . . . 
and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of 
promise." (D&C 76:51-53.) 

In another revelation, he said that a 
man and wife who are sealed by the 
Holy Spirit of promise shall pass by 
the angels and gods that are set there 
to their exaltation and glory in all 
things, as has been sealed upon their 
heads. 

In an explanation of what it means 
to be sealed by the Holy Spirit of 
promise, one of our brethren said this: 
"While we receive eternal blessings at 
the hands of the priesthood which has 
the right to seal on earth and it shall 
be sealed in the heavens, this revela- 
tion clearly states that it must be sealed 
by the Holy Spirit of promise also. A 
man and woman may by fraud and 
deception obtain admittance to the 
House of the Lord and may receive the 
pronouncement of the holy priesthood, 
giving to them so far as lies in their 
power these blessings. We may deceive 
men but we cannot deceive the Holy 
Ghost, and our blessings will not be 
eternal unless they are also sealed by 
the Holy Spirit of promise. The Holy 
Ghost is one who reads the thoughts 
and hearts of men, and gives his seal- 
ing approval to the blessings pro- 
nounced upon their heads. Then it is 
binding, efficacious, and of full force." 



(Melvin J. Ballard, "Three Degrees of 
Glory.") 

Remembering that then, brethren, 
we are prepared to understand what 
the brethren meant when they spoke at 
the dedication of the Idaho Falls Tem- 
ple about the stand we could take now 
in such matters as politics. We are 
approaching another election. Let us 
hear again what the brethren prayed 
for in that dedicatory prayer: 

"We pray that kings and rulers and 
the peoples of all nations under heaven 
may be persuaded of the blessings en- 
joyed by the people of this land by 
reason of their freedom under thy 
guidance, and be constrained to adopt 
similar governmental systems, thus to 
fulfill the ancient prophecy of Isaiah, 
that out of Zion shall go forth the law 
and the word of the Lord from Jeru- 
salem." 

Brethren of the priesthood, if we will 
be united and let our light shine, and 
not hide our light under a bushel but 
exercise it righteously, and let our 
priesthood callings be an eternal revo- 
lution against the norms of society or 
against any proposals that fall below 
the standards as set forth in the gospel 
of Jesus Christ or as laid down by the 
Constitution of the United States writ- 
ten by inspired men, then we will be a 
force in the world that will be "the 
marvelous work and wonder" which 
the Lord said the kingdom of God was 
to be. 

I pray that it might be so, brethren, 
arid we would thus magnify, as Presi- 
dent Smith has said, our callings in the 
priesthood, in the name of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Amen. Q 



Winter Sonnet 
By Larry Hiller 

Come, walk with me in quiet ivinter's wood 
Beneath the boughs of fir bent down by snow, 
While the leaden sky is in a somber mood 
And a muffled tinkle marks a brooklet's flow. 

Black water swirls through high-domed, glittering caves, 
Beats feebly at the ice-bound rocks, and then 
Glides swift and darkly grim through crystal naves 
And comes to rest in icy, leaf-choked fen. 

Now silent stand the firs with downy hood, 
Until from far beloiv come farmyard noises — 
The sharp, stacatto crack of ax on wood 
That splits the air and on the hillside poises — 

Then falls in silver shards among the firs. 
And in the deepening darkness nothing stirs. 



Era, December 1970 105 




• I come to this pulpit this Sabbath 
morning with a new obligation, anx- 
ious perhaps as never before for the 
sustaining influence of the Spirit of 
the Lord, for an interest in your faith 
and prayers for us here and for those 
who shall be listening, as I speak to 
the parents of wayward and lost 
children. 

Sometime ago, a father, worried 
about a serious problem with his son, 
was heard to remark, "When he leaves 
and we don't know where he is, there's 
pain in our hearts, but when he's here 
there are times when he's a pain in 
the neck." It's about that pain in the 
heart that I want to speak. I speak to 
a very large audience, I fear. 

Hardly is there a neighborhood with- 
out at least one mother whose last 
waking, anxious thoughts and prayers 
are for a son or a daughter wandering 
who knows where. Nor is there much 
distance between homes where an 
anxious father can hardly put in a 
day's work without being drawn within 
himself time after time, to wonder, 
"What have we done wrong? What 
can we do to get our child back?" 

Even parents with the best inten- 
tions — some who have really tried — 
now know that heartache. Many par- 
ents have tried in every way to protect 
their children — only now to find they 
are losing one. For the home and the 
family are under attack. Ponder these 
words, if you will: 

Profanity 

Nudity 

Immorality 

Divorce 

Pornography 

Addiction 

Violence 

Perversion 



These words have taken on a new 
meaning in the last few years, haven't 
they? 

You are within walking distance, at 
least within a few minutes' drive, of a 
theater in your own neighborhood. 
There will be shown, within the week, 
a film open to young and old alike that 
as recently as ten years ago would have 
been banned, the film confiscated, and 
the theater owner placed under indict- 
ment. But now it's there, and soon it 
will be seen at home on your television 
screens. 

The apostle Paul prophesied to 
Timothy: 

"This know also, that in the last 
days perilous times shall come. 

"For men shall be lovers of their own 
selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blas- 
phemers, disobedient to parents. . . ." 
(2 Tim. 3:1-2.) 

There is more to that scripture, but 
we stop on that phrase "disobedient to 
parents." 

We have no desire to touch the sub- 
ject that causes you so much pain, nor 
to condemn you as a failure. But you 
are failing, and that's what makes it 
hurt. If failure is to end, one must 
face squarely problems like this, how- 
ever much it hurts. 

A few years ago I was called in the 
wee hours of the morning to the side 
of my ailing mother, who was hospital- 
ized for a series of tests. 

"I'm going home," she said. "I'll not 
continue with these tests. I want you 
to take me home right now. I won't go 
through another day of this." 

"But mother," I said, "you must go 
through with this. They have reason 
to believe that you have cancer, and if 
it is as they suppose, you have the 
worst kind." 



There! It had been said. After all 
the evading, all the whispered conver- 
sations. After all the care never to say 
that word when she was around. It 
was out! 

She sat quietly on her bed for a long 
time and then said, "Well, if that's 
what it is, that's what it is, and I'll 
fight it." Her Danish dander was up. 
And fight it she did, and winner she 
was. 

Some may suppose she lost her battle 
to that disease, but she came away a 
glorious, successful winner. Her victory 
was assured when she faced the pain- 
ful truth. Her courage began then. 

Parents, can we first consider the 
most painful part of your problem? If 
you want to reclaim your son or 
daughter, why don't you leave off try- 
ing to alter your child just for a little 
while and concentrate on yourseli The 
changes must begin with you, not with 
your children. 

You can't continue to do what you 
have been doing (even though you 
thought it was right) and expect to 
unproduce some behavior in your child, 
when your conduct was one of the 
things that produced it. 

There! It's been said! After all the 
evading, all the concern for wayward 
children. After all the blaming of 
others, the care to be gentle with par- 
ents. It's out! 

It's you, not the child, that needs 
immediate attention. 

Now parents, there is substantial help 
for you if you will accept it. I add with 
emphasis that the help we propose is 
not easy, for the measures are equal to 
the seriousness of your problem. There 
is no patent medicine to effect an im- 
mediate cure. 

And parents, if you seek for a cure 



106 



that ignores faith and religious doc- 
trine, you look for a cure where it never 
will be found. When we talk of re- 
ligious principles and doctrines and 
quote scripture, interesting, isn't it, how 
many don't feel comfortable with talk 
like that. But when we talk about 
your problems with your family and 
offer a solution, then your interest is 
intense. 

Know that you can't talk about one 
without talking about the other, and 
expect to solve your problems. Once 
parents know that there is a God and 
that we are his children, they can face 
problems like this and win. 

If you are helpless, he is not. 

If you are lost, he is not. 

If you don't know what to do next, 
he knows. 

It would take a miracle, you say? 
Well, if it takes a miracle, why not. 

We urge you to move first on a 
course of prevention. 

There is a poem entitled "The Fence 
or the Ambulance." It tells of efforts 
to provide an ambulance at the bottom 
of a cliff and concludes with these 
two verses: 

"Then an old sage remarked: It's a 
marvel to me 

That people give far more attention 

To repairing results than to stopping 
the cause 

When they'd much better aim at pre- 
vention. 

Let us stop at its source all this mis- 
chief, cried he, 

Come neighbors and friends, let us 
rally; 

If the cliff we will fence, we might al- 
most dispense 

With the ambulance down in the 
valley. 

"Better guide well the young than re- 
claim them when old, 

For the voice of true wisdom is calling: 

'To rescue the fallen is good, but 'tis 
best 

To prevent other people from falling.' 

Better close up the source of temptation 
and crime, / 

Than deliver from dungeon or galley; 

Better put a strong fence round the top 
of the cliff, 

Than an ambulance down in the 
valley." 

— Joseph Malins 

We prevent physical disease by im- 
munization. This heart pain you are 
suffering perhaps might likewise have 
been prevented with very simple meas- 
ures at one time. Fortunately the very 
steps necessary for prevention are the 
ones that will produce the healing. In 
other words, prevention is the best 
cure, even in advanced cases. 

Now I would like to show you a very 



Era, December 1970 107 




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practical and a very powerful place to 
begin, both to protect your children 
and, in the case of one you are losing, 
to redeem him. 

I have in my hands the publicatio'n 
Family Home Evenings. It is the 
seventh in a series and is available 
across the world in 17 languages. If 
you would go through it with me, you 
would find that this one is based on 
the New Testament. The theme is free 
agency. While it draws lessons from 
New Testament days, it does not con- 
tent itself with them back then and 
there. It leaps across the centuries and 
concerns itself with you, and here and 
now. 

It is well illustrated, much of it in 
full color, and has many meaningful 
activities for families with children of 
any age. 

Here (page 35), for instance, is a 
crossword puzzle. And here (page 20) 
on this colorful page is a game. Cut it 
out and make a spinner of cardboard, 
and the whole family can play. You'll 
find yourselves, depending on the 
moves you make, somewhere between 
"Heavenly Treasures" and "Earthly 
Pleasures." 

Here is a lesson entitled "How Our 
Family Came to Be" (page 51). ". . . 
tell your children," it suggests, "how 
you met, fell in love, and married. Be 
sure both parents participate, and illus- 
trate your story with pictures and me- 
mentoes you have saved — the wedding 
dress, the announcements; wedding- 
pictures. It might be a good idea to 
tape your narrative and keep it for 
your children to play to their children 
some day." 

Let me list some of the other titles: 
"Our Family Government," "Learning 
to Worship," "Speaking Words of Pur- 
ity," "Family Finances," "Parenthood, 
a Sacred Opportunity," "Respect for 
Authority," "The Value of Humor," 
"So You're Going to Move," "When the 
Unexpected Happens," "The Birth and 
Infancy of the Savior." 

Here is one entitled "A Call to Be 
Free." That's the siren call your child 
is following, you know. This lesson 
includes a page of very official-looking 
colored certificates with instructions to 
"choose for each family member some 
activity he has not learned to do; then 
give each member a certificate . . . 
signed by the father: This certificate 
gives the owner permission to play a 
tune on the piano as a part of family 
home evening.' " (Of course, the child 
has never had piano lessons.) 

Other certificates may include (de- 
pending on the age of the child) "walk- 
ing on one's hands, speaking in a 
foreign language, or painting an oil 
portrait." Then as each member says 



108 



he cannot do the thing permitted, talk 
about why he is not free to do the thing 
he is permitted to do. The discussion 
will reveal that "each person must 
learn the laws that govern the de- 
velopment of an ability and then learn 
to obey those laws. Thus obedience 
leads to freedom." 

Here, under special helps for families 
with small children, it suggests they 
put toy cars on the table top and feel 
free to run them anywhere they want 
and in any manner they like. Even 
little minds can see the results of this. 

There is much more to this lesson 
and to all of these special lessons — 
subtle, powerful magnets that help to 
draw your child closer to the family 
circle. 

This program is designed for a fam- 
ily meeting to be held once a week. 
In the Church, Monday night has been 
designated and set aside, Churchwide, 
for families to be at home together. 
Instruction has recently gone out, from 
which I quote: 

"Those responsible for priesthood 
and auxiliary programs, including 
temple activities, youth athletic activi- 
ties, student activities, etc., should take 
notice of this decision in order that 
Monday night will be uniformly ob- 
served throughout the Church and the 
families be left free from Church ac- 
tivities so that they can meet together 
in the family home evening." (Priest- 
hood Bulletin, September 1970.) 

With this program comes the promise 
from the prophets, the living prophets, 
that if parents will gather their chil- 
dren about them once a week and 
teach the gospel, those children in such 
families will not go astray. 

Some of you outside the Church, 
and unfortunately many within, hope 
that you could take a manual like this 
without accepting fully the gospel of 
Jesus Christ, the responsibilities of 
Church membership, and the scriptures 
upon which it is based. You are per- 
mitted to do that. (We could even give 
you a "certificate" to permit you to 
raise an ideal family.) You still would 
not be free to do so without obeying 
the laws. To take a program like this 
without the gospel would have you act 
as one who obtained a needle to im- 
munize a child against a fatal disease 
but rejected the serum to go in it that 
could save him. 

Parents, it is past time for you to as- 
sume spiritual leadership of your fam- 
ily. If there is no substance to your 
present belief, then have the courage 
to seek the truth. 

There is, living now, the finest gen- 
eration of youth that ever walked the 
earth. You have seen some of them 
serving on missions. Perhaps you have 



turned them away. You ought to seek 
them out. If they are nothing else, they 
are adequate evidence that youth can 
live in honor. And there are tens of 
thousands of them who are literal 
saints — Latter-day Saints. 

Now parents, I desire to inspire you 
with hope. You who have heartache, 
you must never give up. No matter 
how dark it gets or no matter how far 
away or how far down your son or 
daughter has fallen, you must never 
give up. Never, never, never. 

I desire to inspire you with hope. 



"Soft as the voice of an angel, whisper- 
ing a message unheard, 

Hope with a gentle persuasion whispers 
her comforting word. 

Wait till the darkness is over, wait till 
the coming of dawn. 

Hope for the sunshine tomorrow, after 
the shower is gone. 

Whispering hope, Oh how welcome 
thy voice. . . ." 

God bless you heartbroken parents. 
There is no pain so piercing as that 
caused by the loss of a child, nor joy 



so exquisite as the joy at his redemp- 
tion. 

I come to you now as one of the 
Twelve, each ordained as a special 
witness. I affirm to you that I have 
that witness. I know that God lives, 
that Jesus is the Christ. I know that 
though the world "seeth him not, 
neither knoweth him," that he lives. 
Heartbroken parents, lay claim upon 
his promise: "I will not leave you 
comfortless; I will come to you." (John 
14:17-18.) In the name of Jesus Christ. 
Amen. Q 




• My dear brothers and sisters, I seek 
an interest in your faith and prayers, 
that I might say something this morn- 
ing that will have lodging in the hearts 
of boys and parents and leaders. 

"Upon you my fellow servants, in 
the name of Messiah I confer the 
Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the 
keys of the ministering of angels, and 
of the gospel of repentance, and of 
baptism by immersion for the remission 
of sins; and this shall never be taken 
again from the earth, until the sons of 
Levi do offer again an offering unto 
the Lord in righteousness." (D&C 13.) 

This historic event took place on 
May 15, 1829. It was an answer to the 
prayer of Joseph Smith and Oliver 
Cowdery respecting baptism for the 
remission of sins, which was mentioned 
in the Book of Mormon. The heavenly 
being who performed this ordinance 
introduced himself as John, the same 
who is called John the Baptist in the 
New Testament. It was he who, in 
the River Jordan over 1,800 years be- 
fore, baptized the Savior, the Son of 
God. 

He further stated to Joseph and 
Oliver that he acted under the direc- 



tion of Peter, James, and John, who 
held the keys of the Melchizedek 
Priesthood. John the Baptist held the 
keys of the Aaronic Priesthood, which 
is known also as the lesser priesthood, 
being an appendage or preparatory 
priesthood to the higher or Melchizedek 
Priesthood. 

Today in the Church approximately 
360,000 boys and men bear the Aaronic 
Priesthood. They outnumber by sev- 
eral thousand those who hold the Mel- 
chizedek Priesthood. An analysis of 
these figures, which I shall not go into 
here, points up the urgency of the 
proper training and preparation of boys 
and men of the Church to assume the 
responsibility of leadership that will 
fall upon their shoulders as they ma- 
ture in the gospel. The Lord has made 
it very clear that this preparation for 
leadership is the responsibility of the 
Aaronic Priesthood. 

This, then, my brothers and sisters, 
is the subject about which I wish to 
speak today — the Aaronic Priesthood. 
John the Baptist, in conferring this 
priesthood on Joseph Smith and Oliver 
Cowdery, told in part what it is: "I 
confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which 



holds the keys of ministering of angels, 
and of the gospel of repentance, and of 
baptism by immersion for the remis- 
sion of sins." 

The priesthood is the authority and 
power to act in the name of God in 
accomplishing his work in righteous- 
ness. The Aaronic Priesthood has 
power in administering outward ordi- 
nances. Someone said, "It is the power 
to make things happen." 

The power of the priesthood makes 
it possible for a young man to fulfill 
the commitment he made with the 
Savior before coming to this earth, 
which commitment was to help build 
the kingdom of God on the earth in 
a most significant and authoritative 
way. 

Many of our young men understand 
in great depth their responsibilities as 
holders of the priesthood and are living 
lives that bring honor to it. Of course, 
there are those who do not take advan- 
tage of these blessings. I am convinced 
the reason for this lack of interest, or 
casual attitude, is largely due to a lack 
of understanding. Perhaps the experi- 
ence of the late Elder James E. 
Talmage, one of the great men of the 



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Church, who was recognized by the 
world for his keen intellect, will shed 
some light on what the Aaronic Priest- 
hood can mean in the life of a boy. 

"I was called and ordained one 
Sunday morning, without any previous 
notice; and that afternoon was placed 
as a sentinel at the door of the house 
in which the Saints had met for wor- 
ship. As soon as I had been ordained, 
a feeling came to me such as I have 
never been able to fully describe. It 
seemed scarcely possible, that I, a little 
boy, could be so honored of God to be 
called to the priesthood. I had read of 
the sons of Aaron and of Levi who were 
chosen for the sacred labors of the 
Lesser Priesthood, but that I should be 
called to do part of the service that 
had been required of them was more 
than my little mind could grasp. I 
was both frightened and happy. Then, 
when I was placed on duty at the door, 
I forgot that I was but an eleven-year- 
old lad; I felt strong in the thought 
that I belonged to the Lord, and that 
he would assist me in whatever was 
required of me. I could not resist the 
conviction that other sentinels, stronger 
by far than I, stood by me though in- 
visible to human eyes. 

"The effect of my ordination to the 
deaconship entered into all the affairs 
of my boyish life. I am afraid that 
sometimes I forgot what I was, but I 
have ever been thankful that oft-times 
I did remember, and the recollection 
always served to make me better. When 
at play on the school grounds, and 
perhaps tempted to take unfair advan- 
tage in the game, when in the midst of 
a dispute with a playmate, I would 
remember, and the thought would be 
as effective as though spoken aloud — 
7 am a deacon; and it is not right that 
a deacon should act in this way.' On 
examination days, when it seemed easy 
for me to copy some other boy's work 
or to 'crib' from the book, I would 
remember again — 'I am a deacon, and 
must be honest and true.' When I saw 
other boys cheating in play or in 
school, I would say in my mind, Tt 
would be more wicked for me to do 
that than it is for them, because I am 
a deacon.' 

"Nothing that was required of me 
in the duties of my office was irksome; 
the sense of the great honor of my 
ordination made all service welcome. 
I was the only deacon in the branch, 
and had abundant opportunity to work. 

"The impression made upon my 
mind when I was made a deacon has 
never faded. The feeling that I was 
called to the special service of the Lord, 
as a bearer of the priesthood, has been 
a source of strength to me through the 
years. When later I was ordained to 
higher offices in the Church, the same 



110 



assurance has come to me, on every 
such occasion — that I was in truth 
endowed with power from heaven, and 
that the Lord demanded of me that I 
honor his authority. I have heen or- 
dained in turn a teacher, an elder, a 
high priest, and lastly an apostle of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and with every 
ordination there has come to me a new 
and soul-thrilling feeling which first 
I knew when I was called to be a dea- 
con in the service of the Lord." (Course 
of study for the quorums of the priest- 
hood: Deacons, 1914, pp. 135-36. 
Italics added.) 

Brother Talmage was a boy in Eng- 
land at the time of his ordination. The 
reason he was placed as a sentinel at 
the door was to warn the members of 
the approach of their enemies, for there 
was much persecution of the Church 
in that area. Imagine, a newly ordained 
deacon being given this responsibility! 

There are two observations I would 
like to make from Brother Talmage's 
account of this experience. First, he 
was given something worthwhile to do 
by his leaders. They exhibited faith in 
him. He immediately became involved. 
Second, and even more important, he 
recognized that even though still a 
young boy, he had the authority and 
power to perform the task given him 
because he held the priesthood. This 
recognition replaced fear with courage. 
I believe he actually experienced the 
ministering of angels. 

There is every reason that our young 
men today can have the same spiritual 
experience, giving them a feeling of 
worth and destiny, as felt by Elder 
Talmage. 

The society in which we live has 
many divergent viewpoints about life; 
and because we have been given our 
free agency to choose for ourselves, it 
is vitally important that we carefully 
evaluate all aspects of life before mak- 
ing our choices. In this process of 
evaluation, it is not uncommon for us, 
particularly in our younger years, to 
look to someone we admire as our ideal 
or our hero. It might be a parent, an 
athlete, a leader in the community, etc. 
I suggest to the young men of the 
Aaronic Priesthood, yes, to all young 
men everywhere, that the greatest hero, 
if you will, who has ever lived is the 
Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ. I also 
suggest that his life and teachings are 
just as relevant today as at any time 
in history. 

It is particularly important that 
young men holding his priesthood be- 
come intimately acquainted with him 
in order to know and to understand 
him. Unfortunately, artists and others 
have pictured him as effeminate, soft, 
and sad. If we analyze his life at all, 
we see a person who was masculine, 



strong, vigorous, interested in all that 
was going on about him, surely loving 
and kind, but at the same time one 
who could exhibit righteous anger. If 
this were not true, how could he have 
caused rough fishermen to follow him 
with just one sentence: "Follow me, 
and I will make you fishers of men"? 
(Matt. 4:19.) He spent his youth and 
young adulthood as a carpenter, a trade 
requiring strength and skill. Would 
he have dared drive the money 
changers from the temple had he not 
been a man of great strength and cour- 
age? It takes a man of unusual warmth 
to attract throngs of little children as 
the Savior did. No other man has lived 
whose influence has been so profound 
in directing the course of human be- 
havior. 

As the young men of the Aaronic 
Priesthood become better acquainted 
with the life and teachings of the 
Savior, and as they emulate these 
teachings, new purpose and direction 
will come into their lives. They will 
find that the Savior was concerned 
with many of the same complex prob- 
lems that exist today; for example, 
hypocrisy, one of today's most serious 
problems. Of all the weaknesses of 
men, this one was most strongly de- 
nounced by the Savior. He said: "But 
woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom 
of heaven against men: for ye neither 
go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them 
that are entering to go in. 

"Woe unto you, scribes and Phari- 
sees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' 
houses, and for a pretence make long 
prayer: therefore ye shall receive the 
greater damnation. 

"Woe unto you, scribes and Phari- 
sees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint 
and anise and cummin, and have 
omitted the weightier matters of the 
law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these 
ought ye to have done, and not to 
leave the other undone." (Matt. 23:13- 
14, 23.) 

It took a man of great courage and 
vitality to speak and act as Jesus did. 
At the same time, all that he said and 
did was tempered by love, compassion, 
and charity. 

As he hung on the cross suffering the 
agony of cruel torture, he said, "Father, 
forgive them; for they know not what 
they do." (Luke 23:34.) 

In today's world of confusion and 
conflict, the life and teachings of Jesus 
of Nazareth stand alone as the certain 
solution to man's problems. No greater 
opportunity or blessing can come into 
the life of a young man than to be 
called and ordained to the Aaronic 
Priesthood, thus being authorized to 
act for him who gave his life on 
Calvary. 



Era, December 1970 111 



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The Aaronic Priesthood is not a 
make-work activity designed to keep 
young men busy and out of trouble. It 
is a segment of the government of the 
kingdom of God on the earth. Those 
holding it are empowered to perform 
the duties that will aid the Lord in 
accomplishing his work and his glory, 
which he said was "to bring to pass the 
immortality and eternal life of man." 
(Moses 1:39.) 

No greater nor more important as- 
signment can come to a boy or a man 
than this. President Wilford Wood- 
ruff, a prophet of God, supports this 



assessment of the Aaronic Priesthood: 
"... I went out as a Priest, and my 
companion as an Elder, and we trav- 
eled thousands of miles, and had many 
things manifested to us. I desire to 
impress upon you the fact that it does 
not make any difference whether a 
man is a Priest or an Apostle, if he 
magnifies his calling. A Priest holds 
the keys of the ministering of angels. 
Never in my life, as an Apostle, as a 
Seventy, or as an Elder, have I ever 
had more of the protection of the Lord 
than while holding the office of 
Priest." (Wilford Woodruff, in Millen- 



nial Star, October 5, 1891, p. 629.) 

I bear my humble witness to all who 
hear my voice this day, that John the 
Baptist actually and literally did ap- 
pear to Joseph Smith and Oliver 
Cowdery and conferred upon them the 
keys of the Aaronic Priesthood. If par- 
ents, leaders, and holders of this 
priesthood will recognize it for what 
it truly is, and if our young men will 
make themselves acquainted with him 
who stands at the head and emulate 
his life, a mighty and great generation 
of'leaders will come forth. In the name 
of Jesus Christ. Amen. O 



:: 



■ 



■■::,.. 



Our Belief in Christ 



President Bruce R. McConkie 

Of the First Council of the Seventy 



• I desire very much to be directed by 
the Spirit, because I know that when a 
man speaks by the power of the Holy 
Ghost, that holy being carries the word 
of truth into the heart of every recep- 
tive soul. 

We are servants of the Lord, and he 
has sent us into the world to say to 
every creature: "God has a message for 
you," and then to deliver that message 
in his name. 

The message he has given us to pro- 
claim in the ears of all who dwell 
upon the earth is the gospel of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. It is the plan of 
salvation. It is that Christ hath abol- 
ished death and brought life and im- 
mortality to light through the gospel. It 
is a message of peace in this life and 
eternal life in the world to come. 

This message comprises the most 
sobering and glorious truths of which 
the human mind can conceive. It is a 
voice of joy and gladness and thanks- 
giving; of glory and honor; of immor- 
tality and eternal life. And it is 
destined to make of this earth, a heav- 
en; and of man, a god. 

Known to the apostles and prophets 



of old, this glorious message was first 
revealed in modern times to the 
Prophet Joseph Smith and has since 
been planted in the hearts of all the 
true servants of the Lord by the revela- 
tion of Jesus Christ. 

And so now, obedient to the divine 
command, we proclaim the saving 
truths of the gospel, not in the spirit 
of contention or debate, but by way of 
announcement, of exhortation, and of 
testimony. 

We are bold to say that there is a 
God in heaven, an infinite and holy 
being who is our Eternal Father and 
whose offspring we are in the spirit; 
that he ordained the plan of salva- 
tion whereby we, his spirit children, 
might advance and progress and be- 
come like him; that he chose his First- 
born in the spirit to be the Savior and 
Redeemer in his great plan of salva- 
tion; and that ever thereafter, to honor 
its chief advocate and exponent, this 
plan of salvation has been known as 
the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

We testify that according to the 
terms and conditions of God's eternal 
plan, salvation is in Christ. He is the 



Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
world whose blood atoneth for the sins 
of all those who believe in his name. 

In the words of a holy angel who 
ministered to a Book of Mormon 
prophet: ". . . there shall be no other 
name given nor any other way nor 
means whereby salvation can come 
unto the children of men, only in 
and through the name of Christ, the 
Lord Omnipotent." (Mosiah 3:17.) 

Also: ". . . salvation was, and is, and 
is to come, in and through the atoning 
blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent." 
(Mosiah 3:18.) 

In pleading with men to believe in 
Christ and be reconciled to God so as 
to gain a remission of their sins, Nephi 
said: ". . . we talk of Christ, we rejoice 
in Christ, we preach of Christ, we 
prophesy of Christ, . . . [for] the right 
way is to believe in Christ, and deny 
him not; and Christ is the Holy One 
of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down 
before him, and worship him with all 
your might, mind, and strength, and 
your whole soul; and if ye do this ye 
shall in nowise be cast out." (2 Ne. 
25:26, 29.) 



112 



Thus we are bold to extol his holy 
name, to proclaim that he is the Lord 
Jehovah, the Great I Am, the Creator of 
heaven and earth and all things which 
in them are. And thus we testify that 
he is the God of Israel, the promised 
Messiah, the Only Begotten, the Son 
of God. 

Our proclamation is that he came 
into the world to ransom men from the 
temporal and spiritual death brought 
upon them through the fall of Adam; 
that he was born of Mary, inheriting 
from her the power of mortality, which 
is the power to die; that he is literally 
the Son of God, in the same sense in 
which all men are the offspring of 
mortal fathers; and that he inherited 
from his Father the power of immor- 
tality, which is the power to live. 

We know that because he is the 
Only Begotten in the flesh, he was able 
to work out the infinite and eternal 
atonement, whereby all men are raised 
in immortality, which is redemption 
from the temporal fall, while those 
who believe and obey his laws are 
raised also unto eternal life, which is 
redemption from the spiritual fall. 

Now we join with Peter and Paul 
and his servants of old in announcing 
that he is risen; that he broke the bands 
of death and gained the victory over 
the grave — which thing they knew be- 
cause they saw him after the resurrec- 
tion, ate with him, felt the nail marks 
in his hands and feet, and thrust their 
hands into the spear wound in his 
side; and which thing we know because 
he has returned to earth in our day, 
manifesting himself anew to modern 
prophets, and because the Holy Spirit 
of God bears witness to us that he is 
the risen Lord. 

We accept without reservation the 
testimony of the ancient prophets that 
after their day there would be a falling 
away from the faith once delivered to 
the saints; as also their prophecies that 
God, by angelic ministration, would 
restore the everlasting gospel in the 
last days and gather scattered Israel to 
its standard. 

And we now add to their testimony 
our witness that God has in these last 
days restored those truths by obedience 
to which salvation may be won. 

We are one with the ancients in our 
belief in Christ. We accept him as the 
Son of God, as the Savior and Re- 
deemer of the world. We are grateful 
that he has seen fit to add to the canon 
of holy scripture, revealing anew, with 
a plainness and perfection which sur- 
pass the record of old, those things 
which men must do to be justified 
through faith in him and to work out 
their salvation with fear and trembling 
before him. 

We believe the witness born by the 



Era, December 1970 113 



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Lord's servants of old and gain great 
satisfaction from studying and ponder- 
ing in our hearts the doctrines they 
taught and the testimonies they bore 
as these are recorded in the Bible. 

But the fire of testimony which 
burns in our hearts was not lighted at 
ancient altars, nor is the knowledge 
we have of the doctrines of salvation 
based solely upon the partial and 
fragmentary accounts of what God re- 
vealed to men in ancient days. 

The ancient saints had the gospel, 
which is the power that saves men, and 
they recorded many of its truths in 
their scriptures. The world today has 
the record of part of what the saints 
of old possessed. 

But thanks be to God, we have the 
gospel, with all its saving power, re- 
stored again. God has given us the 
same doctrines, the same keys, and also 
the same powers possessed by those of 
old. All these things have been dis- 
pensed anew in this final, glorious 
gospel dispensation. 

I shall call your attention to three 
heavenly visions which are part of this 
restoration of the gospel: 

First: In the spring of 1820, Joseph 
Smith sought wisdom from God. In the 
providences of the Lord, he then re- 
ceived one of the most marvelous 
visions of all time, which he recorded 
in these words: 



"... I saw a pillar of light exactly 
over my head, above the brightness of 
the sun, which descended gradually 
until it fell upon me. 

". . . I saw two Personages, whose 
brightness and glory defy all descrip- 
tion, standing above me in the air. 
One of them spake unto me, calling 
me by name and said, pointing to the 
other — This is My Beloved Son. Hear 
Him!" (Joseph Smith 2:16-17.) 

Second: Nearly twelve years later, 
Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon "be- 
held the glory of the Son, on the right 
hand of the Father," together with a 
great concourse of "holy angels," and 
recorded their testimony in these 
words: 

"And now, after the many testi- 
monies which have been given of him, 
this is the testimony, last of all, which 
we give of him: That he lives! 

"For we saw him, even on the right 
hand of God; and we heard the voice 
bearing record that he is the Only 
Begotten of the Father." (D&C 76:20- 
23.) 

Third: In April 1836, Joseph Smith 
and Oliver Cowdery saw the Lord of 
heaven, of which this is the scriptural 
account: 

"The veil was taken from our minds, 
and the eyes of our understanding 
were opened. 

"We saw the Lord standing upon 




the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; 
and under his feet was a paved work 
of pure gold, in color like amber. 

"His eyes were as a flame of fire; 
the hair of his head was white like the 
pure snow; his countenance shone 
above the brightness of the sun; and 
his voice was as the sound of the rush- 
ing of great waters, even the voice of 
Jehovah, saying: 

"I am the first and the last; I am 
he who liveth, I am he who was slain; 
I am your advocate with the Father." 
(D&C 110:1-4.) 

Now, as servants of the Lord, we an- 
nounce and testify that these three 
visions were as real and true as any 
ever received by any prophet in any 
age. 

There is no room for contention or 
debate. We are not quoting the Bible 
to prove what happened any more than 
Peter turned to the writings of Isaiah 
to prove he had felt the nail marks in 
the hands and feet of the risen Lord. 
We are saying with words of soberness 
that men in our day have heard the 
voice of God and seen the visions of 
eternity, and that the power of God 
whereby salvation comes is once more 
held by living apostles and prophets. 

And all men everywhere have exactly 
the same obligation to heed and be- 
lieve our testimony as men had in 
former days to accept the witness of 
the prophets of old. 

The issue in Peter's day was: Did 
Christ rise from the dead? If so, he 
was the Son of God, and the religion of 
the ancient saints had saving power. 
To prove their message, the Lord's 
ancient servants reasoned out of the 
scriptures and bore testimony of what 
they knew by personal revelation. 

The issue today is: Was Joseph 
Smith called of God? If so, the religion 
of the Latter-day Saints has saving 
power. And to prove our message, like 
our brethren of old, we reason out of 
the scriptures and bear testimony of 
what we know by personal revelation. 

And so we testify that the Holy 
Ghost certifies to us that Jesus Christ 
is the Son of the living God; that 
Joseph Smith is the great latter-day 
prophet through whom the knowledge 
of Christ and of salvation was restored; 
and that this Church of Jesus Christ of 
Latter-day Saints is in very deed the 
kingdom of God on earth, the one 
place where men may come to find 
peace in this life and become inheritors 
of eternal glory in the life to come. 

We are servants of the Lord, and he 
has commanded us to proclaim his 
gospel message to all men. And of that 
message we now testify that as our 
Lord and our God liveth, it is true. In 
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Amen. o 



114 




• We live in an interesting period of 
the history of mankind. The slow pace 
of man's progress from the beginning 
gradually commenced to accelerate and 
gain speed. Today we find advance- 
ment moving at such increased mo- 
mentum that we are often frightened 
by the, thoughts of the future. Man 
takes pride in the rapid strides of sci- 
ence that have created conveniences for 
his everyday living. His health has 
been improved by the progress of medi- 
cine, and his life-span has been ex- 
tended. Sweeping reforms in many 
areas of society have enhanced his 
well-being. Business and industry are 
moving forward at a pace never before 
known, and this generation has the 
highest standard of living ever enjoyed 
by man. We are proud to be living in 
a modern world of achievement. 

Will all of this spiraling progress be 
good for man in the years that lie 
ahead? Will it be beneficial in every 
respect to our children and grand- 
children? We would agree, no doubt, 
that many things give us concern. 
What of the future of the family and 
home life, which in past generations 
have been great stabilizing forces in 
society? What of the solidarity of 
community and national life? What of 
the future of our economy, as the con- 
sequence of inflation and increased 
debt? What of the modern course of 
deterioration of morality and its effect 
upon individuals, families, nations, and 
the world? We are forced to admit 
that what we term as progress brings 
with it many consequences of serious 
concern. 

We are entering into, or going 



through, a period of history in which 
so-called modern thought is taking 
precedence in the minds of many per- 
sons who classify themselves as advo- 
cates of a modern generation. The 
more extreme of these lean toward 
free thinking and free action without 
assuming the responsibility men owe 
to fellowmen. Where will we be led 
if we follow those who advocate free- 
dom of use of drugs and freedom of 
morality? What will be the result of 
universal free love, abortions at will, 
homosexuality, or legalized pornog- 
raphy? 

What of spiritual values and the re- 
ligious ideals of past generations, 
which have been the great stabilizing 
influence on society? Modern thinkers 
claim these have been the great deter- 
rents to man in the freedoms he now 
seeks. There is a great effort on the 
part of so-called modernists to change 
religious beliefs and teachings of the 
past to conform to modern thought and 
critical research. They de-emphasize 
the teachings of the Bible by modern 
critical methods and deny that scrip- 
ture is inspired. The modernist teaches 
that Christ is not the Son of God. He 
denies the doctrine of the atoning sac- 
rifice by which all men may be saved. 
He denies the fact of the resurrection of 
the Savior of the world and relegates 
him to the status of a teacher of ethics. 
Where, then, is hope? What has be- 
come of faith? 

The Old Testament unfolds the 
story of the creation of the earth and 
man by God. Should we now disre- 
gard this account and modernize the 
creation according to the theories of 



the modernists? Can we say there was 
no Garden of Eden or an Adam and 
Eve? Because modernists now declare 
the story of the flood is unreasonable 
and impossible, should we disbelieve 
the account of Noah and the flood as 
related in the Old Testament? 

Let us examine what the Master said 
when the disciples came to him as he 
sat on the Mount of Olives. They 
asked him to tell them of the time of 
his coming and of the end of the 
world. Jesus answered: "But of that 
day and hour knoweth no man, no, not 
the angels of heaven, but my Father 
only. 

"But as the days of Noe were, so 
shall also the coming of the Son of 
man be. 

"For as in the days that were before 
the flood they were eating and drink- 
ing, marrying and giving in marriage, 
until the day that Noe entered into the 
ark, 

"And knew not until the flood came, 
and took them all away; so shall also 
the coming of the Son of man be." 
(Matt. 24:36-39.) 

In this statement the Master con- 
firmed the story of the flood without 
modernizing it. Can we accept some of 
the statements of the Lord as being 
true and at the same time reject others 
as being false? 

When Martha heard that Jesus was 
coming, she went out to meet him 
and they discussed the matter of the 
death of her brother and the resurrec- 
tion. "Jesus said unto her, I am the 
resurrection, and the life: he that be- 
lieveth in me, though he were dead, 
yet shall he live." (John 11:25.) 



Era, December 1970 115 




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Both of these statements, the one re- 
garding Noah and the fact of the flood 
and the one in which he declared him- 
self to be the resurrection and the life, 
were made by the Lord. How can we 
believe one and not the other? How 
can we modernize the story of the 
flood or refer to it as a myth and yet 
cling to the truth of the other? How 
can we modernize the Bible and have 
it be a guiding light to us and a vital 
influence in our beliefs? 

There are those who declare it is 
old-fashioned to believe in the Bible. 
Is it old-fashioned to believe in God, 
in Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living 
God? Is it old-fashioned to believe in 
his atoning sacrifice and the resurrec- 
tion? If it is, I declare myself to be 
old-fashioned and the Church is old- 
fashioned. In great simplicity the 
Master taught the principles of life 
eternal and lessons that bring happi- 
ness to those with the faith to believe. 
It doesn't seem reasonable to assume 
the necessity of modernizing these 
teachings of the Master. His message 
concerned principles that are eternal. 
Following these principles, millions of 
persons have found rich religious ex- 
periences in their lives. People of 
today's world are seeking a meaningful 
purpose in life, and thousands are 
seeking a religious experience that is 
meaningful. Can such an experience 
be found in meditation only, or by a 
seance? Can a meaningful experience 
be found in trips with drugs or in love- 
ins? Such an attempt is to go through 
the back, the side door, or over the 
wall, not through the way pointed out 
by the Lord. 

When the Lord spoke to the Phari- 
sees at the Feast of the Tabernacles, 
he used these words: "Verily, verily, I 
say unto you, He that entereth not by 
the door into the sheepfold, but climb- 
eth up some other way, the same is a 
thief and a robber. 

"Then said Jesus unto them again, 
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the 
door of the sheep." (John 10:1, 7.) 

A meaningful religious experience 
can come in no other way than by that 
door, through the Lord Jesus Christ. 

There have always been those who 
wanted a sign before they would be- 
lieve. During his ministry the Master 
was asked on many occasions for a 
sign. 

"The Pharisees also with the Saddu- 
cees came, and tempting desired him 
that he would shew them a sign from 
heaven. 

"He answered and said unto them, 
When it is evening, ye say, It will be 
fair weather: for the sky is red. 

"And in the morning, It will be foul 
weather to day: for the sky is red and 
lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can dis- 



116 



cern the face of the sky; but can ye 
not discern the signs of the times? 

"A wicked and adulterous genera- 
tion seeketh after a sign. . . ." (Matt. 
16:1-4.) 

Perhaps it was with them, as with 
many today, truth is not recognized as 
truth unless accompanied by the sen- 
sational. What would have been ac- 
complished had the Lord called down 
thunder and lightning, or plucked a 
star from the sky, or divided the water 
to satisfy the curiosity of men? They 
would probably have said it was the 
work of the devil, or their eyes deceived 
them. 

Signs are evident to the faithful. 
Sick persons are healed; prayers are an- 
swered; changes are wrought in the 
lives of those who believe, accept, and 
live the commandments. We prove 
Christ by living the principles of his 
gospel. He made great promises of 
blessings to those who live the com- 
mandments: "I, the Lord, am bound 
when ye do what I say; but when ye 
' do not what I say, ye have no promise." 
(D&C 82:10.) Many of the command- 
ments are restrictive, but reason dictates 
they are for man's good. In addition to 
the restrictive commandments are the 
positive admonitions. The two great 
imperatives are to love God and love 
one's fellowmen. 

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, and with all thy mind. 

"This is the first and great com- 
mandment. 



"And the second is like unto it, Thou 
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

"On these two commandments hang 
all the law and the prophets." (Matt. 
22:37-40.) 

What greater laws could be given 
to bring peace, prosperity, and progress 
to man if he will faithfully live the 
commandments to love? 

In this time of rapid change, we 
can maintain an equilibrium if we pre- 
serve a belief in God and a love for 
him, but we cannot love God unless 
we love his children also. These are 
our neighbors, and true love of them 
knows no class or culture, race, color, 
or creed. 

The members of The Church of 
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints open 
their arms to neighbors everywhere. 
The restored Church of Christ as- 
sumes its charge and responsibility to 
take the gospel of Jesus Christ in love 
to its neighbors over the world and 
endeavors to help those who receive 
the gospel to live the teachings of the 
Master. 

In this world of confusion and rush- 
ing, temporal progress, we need to 
return to the simplicity of Christ. We 
need to love, honor, and worship him. 
To acquire spirituality and have its 
influence in our lives, we cannot be- 
come confused and misdirected by the 
twisted teachings of the modernist. We 
need to study the simple fundamentals 
of the truths taught by the Master and 
eliminate the controversial. Our faith 
in God needs to be real and not specu- 



lative. The restored gospel of Jesus 
Christ can be a dynamic, moving in- 
fluence, and true acceptance gives us 
a meaningful, religious experience. One 
of the great strengths of the Mormon 
religion is this translation of belief 
into daily thinking and conduct. This 
replaces turmoil and confusion with 
peace and tranquility. 

The Church stands firmly against 
relaxation or change in moral issues 
and opposes the so-called new morality. 
Spiritual values cannot be set aside, 
notwithstanding modernists who would 
tear them down. We can be modern 
without giving way to the influence of 
the modernist. If it is old-fashioned to 
believe in the Bible, we should thank 
God for the privilege of being old- 
fashioned. 

Permit me to conclude with my per- 
sonal conviction and testimony. I know 
God lives, the same God described in 
the Old and the New Testaments. I 
know Jesus Christ is his Son. He gave 
his life in the great atoning sacrifice 
whereby he became my Savior, your 
Savior, and the Savior of all mankind. 
I also know there is a prophet of God 
on the earth today who speaks the 
mind and will of the Lord to his chil- 
dren in the same manner that prophets 
have spoken to God's children in all 
ages of the past. May the Lord give 
us the capacity to understand his 
teachings and the strength to follow 
with conviction and steadfastness, I 
pray in the name of Jesus Christ. 
Amen. O 




• In recent months the plight of the 
American Indians has been brought to 
public attention in a most impressive 
manner. 

As a result, further steps will be 
taken to improve the lot of these 
people, who are among the most ne- 



glected of all the minorities on this 
continent. 

We are thankful that the Latter-day 
Saints have taken an active part over 
the years in providing extensive aid to 
them. Particularly have we given assis- 
tance in the educational field. This year 



daily seminary classes are being pro- 
vided for more than 15,000 Indian 
students, and through the efforts of the 
Church an additional 5,000 are receiv- 
ing full-time elementary and high 
school education at no cost to them- 
selves. 



Era, December 1970 117 



We also provide a college program 
for many of our Indians, of whom 475 
are enrolled this year at Brigham 
Young University; 426 took college 
work there last year. 

Brigham Young University has con- 
ferred B.A. degrees upon 85 Indian stu- 
dents recently, and 20 have received 
masters or doctors degrees. More than 
a score are now enrolled in graduate 
school there. 

Brigham Young University also has 
an Institute of American Indian Re- 
search and Services, and through it 
supervises more than thirty agricultural 
projects for Indians in the Western 
America. 

Ecclesiastical training is likewise be- 
ing provided for more than 35,000 In- 
dians who are members of our church. 

They are bright and adaptable and 
are proud of their ancestral heritage, 
for they know they are descended from 
a great people. 

Recently we attended a gathering of 
Mexican residents of Salt Lake City 
and heard them express great pride in 
their Indian ancestry, and well they 
may, for the more we learn about the 
early inhabitants of Mexico, the more 
we realize that indeed they were truly 
a great race. 

This conclusion was reached also 
by Dr. Alfred V. Kidder, one of the 



The Marvels of Copan, the historian 
Munoz wrote: "Architecture, astron- 
omy, mathematics, painting, weaving 
and all the arts that embellish life, 
once flourished here." 

He emphasized that the forefathers 
of the Indians were not savages in any 
sense, for no savage, he said, ever con- 
ceived of the wonders which were 
commonly known among the Mayans. 

Dr. Wissler, on page 147 of his book 
on Mayan civilization, explains that the 
Mayans manufactured paper through 
a process similar to that of the Egyp- 
tians in making writing materials from 
papyrus. 

The American Heritage Book of In- 
dians, on page 19, says: 

"The Mayans attained the highest 
civilization known in ancient America 
and one of the highest known any 
place in the early world." 

These people had a well-developed 
irrigation system. They built dams and 
aqueducts. They terraced hillsides, 
turning them into productive farm 
lands by the use of irrigation. These 
water systems were in general use 2,000 
years before the Spaniards came, and 
some of them still exist. 

The early Americans were a numer- 
ous people. About the time of the con- 
quest there were 25 million in Central 
Mexico alone. 




leading authorities on Mayan culture. 
In his book A Guide to Quirigua, this 
eminent scholar said: 

"The great cities of the old Mayan 
Empire were built during the first part 
of the Christian era. For nearly 600 
years these gifted people were leaders 
in art and architecture, mathematics 
and astronomy. They evolved a cal- 
endar in some ways more accurate than 
ours. . . . The growth of the Indian 
civilizations, although differing in de-, 
tail, was strikingly like that of our own, 
which originated in Egypt and Meso- 
potamia. . . . Social and economic 
systems were organized, cities grew, re- 
ligion developed, and temples were 
built for worship." 

Writing in a similar vein, in his book 



But more impressive than any of 
these facts about the early Americans 
is their account of a visitation among 
their ancestors nearly 2,000 years ago, 
of a divine personage who remained 
among them for many days, teaching 
and blessing them. 

These highly intelligent and skillful 
early Americans affirmed that this per- 
sonage taught them a divine religion, 
healed their sick, raised some of the 
dead, taught new and more productive 
agricultural methods, and established 
a government of equity and peace. 

Their accounts say that he came 
among them suddenly and left equally 
so, in a supernatural manner. The 
ancients regarded him as the Creator, 
come to earth in bodily form. 



That he was a Christian divinity 
none can successfully deny. 

That his teachings were akin to the 
Bible is now readily admitted. 

And that he promised to return in a 
second coming is also an acknowledged 
fact. 

The account of his appearance was 
preserved through generations of In- 
dians from Chile to Alaska, and inter- 
estingly enough, it is likewise well 
known among the Polynesians from 
Hawaii to New Zealand, giving one 
more evidence of the close relationship 
between the Polynesians and the early 
inhabitants of the Americas. 

In the main all such accounts agree. 
They differ in name and minor details 
from island to island and from country 
to country, but the overall conclusion 
is the same — there was a visitation by a 
heavenly being among those people 
nearly 2,000 years ago. 

Of such veracity is the information 
now available concerning him that 
Paul Herrmann was induced to say in 
his book The Conquest of Man: 

"Carefully considered this leaves no 
conclusion open than that the Light 
God Quetzalcoatl was a real person, 
that he was neither the invention of 
Spanish propaganda nor a legendary 
figment of Indian imagination." (Page 
72.) 

Keep in mind that this comes from 
the highly intelligent early Americans 
who knew astronomy, mathematics, ir- 
rigation, and architecture. It was not 
the dream of an ignorant or super- 
stitious people. It was history from one 
of the highest civilizations known 
among ancient men. 

This great being was known as 
Quetzalcoatl in parts of Mexico, pri- 
marily in the Cholula area. He was 
Votan in Chiapas and Wixepechocha 
in Oaxaca; Gucumatz in Guatemala; 
Virachocha and Hyustus in Peru; 
Sume in Brazil, and Bochica in 
Colombia. 

To the Peruvians he was also known 
as Con-tici or Illa-tici, tici meaning 
both creator and light. To the Mayans 
he was principally known as Kukulcan. 

In the Polynesian islands he was 
known as Lono, Kana, Kane, or Kon, 
and sometimes as Kanaloa, meaning 
the great light or great brightness. He 
was also known among some Poly- 
nesians as Kane-Akea, the great pro- 
genitor, or as Tonga-roa, the god of the 
ocean sun. 

What did he look like, this divine 
personage? 

He was described by the ancients as 
a tall white man, bearded, and having 
blue eyes. He wore loose, flowing robes. 
He seemed to be a person of great au- 
thority and unmeasured kindness. He 
had power to make hills into plains and 



118 



plains into high mountains. He could 
bring fountains of water from the solid 
rock. 

One of the remarkable things about 
his coming was that he appeared after 
several days of dense darkness during 
which the people had prayed constantly 
for a return of the sun. While the 
darkness yet prevailed — and I refer to 
the book The Incas, by Pedro de Leon 
— the people suffered great hardships 
and offered earnest prayers to God, 
seeking a return of the light that had 
failed. 

When at last the sun did shine, this 
divinity appeared. Says Pedro de Leon: 
He was a "white man of large stature 
whose air and Person aroused great 
respect and veneration. . . . And when 
they saw his power they called him 
the Maker of all things; their Begin- 
ner; the Father of the sun." (The 
Incas.) 

This personage, as he taught his re- 
ligion, urged the people to build tem- 
ples for worship, and his followers 
became very devout. (Pierre Honore, 
In Quest of the White God.) As he 
left them, he promised to come again, 
which caused the natives for many 
generations to look for his return even 
as the Jews look for their promised 
Messiah. 

This faith led to disaster on two 
occasions, however, when the Spaniards 
came to America and when Captain 
Cook sailed to the Hawaiian Islands. 
But these tragedies served only to rein- 
force the truth of the tradition. 

When Cortez came to Mexico and 
the coastal natives saw him, they ob- 
served that he was a large white man. 
They hurried to their king, Monte- 
zuma, and announced that the Great 
White God had finally returned. 

This had a striking effect upon 
Montezuma. He remembered that 
when he was crowned as emperor, the 
priests of the native religion reminded 
him: "This is not your throne; it is 
only lent to you and will one day be 
returned to the Great One to whom 
it is due." (Honore, p. '66.) 

The Spanish author Duran, in his 
book The Aztecs, says that when 
Montezuma sent his faithful servant to 
greet Cortez and lead him to the palace, 
the servant addressed Cortez as "O 
Lord and True God," and added, "wel- 
come to this your country and king- 
dom." Duran further says that the 
Indians considered Cortez' companions 
as divine beings also. 

This Spanish author then continues: 

"There is no doubt that Montezuma 
was greatly preoccupied with the re- 
turn of Quetzalcoatl who had left the 
Vera Cruz coast and had promised to 
return. 

"Montezuma and the other digni- 



taries of his kingdom were totally con- 
vinced that Cortez and Quetzalcoatl 
were one and the same, as can be seen 
in the chronicles. . . . 

"As late as 1864 when the blond 
bearded Emperor Maximilian arrived 
in Vera Cruz, reminiscences lingered 
in the minds of the Indians which re- 
minded them of the promise of the 
return of Quetzalcoatl." 

Montezuma accepted Cortez as 
though he were Deity, but the treach- 
ery of the Spaniards and his men soon 
soon changed that, and warfare re- 
sulted. Poor, trusting Montezuma lost 
both his throne and his life, but the 
tradition remained. 

A similar situation occurred when 
Captain James Cook, the British ex- 
plorer, came to Hawaii. Peculiarly 
enough, he landed there when the na- 
tives were celebrating their Makahiki 
Festival, which kept alive the tradition 
of the White God among the Poly- 
nesians. Cook also was received as 
Deity and taken to the sacred temple 
of Lono. But his men were far less 
than angelic, and their depredations 
brought down the wrath of the natives 
upon the entire landing party. In the 
battle which ensued, Cook lost his 
life. 

But in reality, who was the Great 
White God? It was not Captain Cook, 
and certainly it was not Cortez. Who 
was he? 

When Jesus Christ ministered in 
Palestine, he told the people there, 
as is recorded in the tenth chapter of 
the Gospel of John, that he had other 
sheep, not of the fold of Palestine, but 
elsewhere. ". . . them also I must 
bring," he said, "and they shall hear 
my voice; and there shall be one fold, 
and one shepherd." (John 10:16.) 

Jesus of Nazareth was this White 
God I After his resurrection in the Holy 
Land he did in reality visit the early 
Americans. How do we know? 

In the western hemisphere, as in 
ancient Palestine, prophets ministered 
among the people, giving them inspired 
direction. As did the prophets in the 
Holy Land, they also compiled records 
of all important events. 

They had predicted the coming of 
Christ among them, and the people 
fully expected him. 

After the three days of darkness 
which had afflicted them, the people 
were gathered about their temple when 
they heard a voice from heaven which 
said: 

"Behold my Beloved Son, in whom 
I am well pleased, in whom I have 
glorified my name— hear ye him." 

This caused them to look into the 
skies, and there they saw, descending 
to the earth, a glorious Personage who 
came and stood before them. And as 



the ancient volume records it: 

". . . he was clothed in a white robe; 
and he came down and stood in the 
midst of them; and the eyes of the 
whole multitude were turned upon 
him, and they durst not open their 
mouths, even one to another. . . . 

"And it came to pass that he 
stretched forth his hand and spake unto 
the people, saying: 

"Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom 
the prophets testified shall come into 
the world. 

"And behold, I am the light and the 
life of the world; and I have drunk 
out of that bitter cup which the Father 
hath given me, and have glorified the 
Father in taking upon me the sins of 
the world. . . ." 

Then the Savior said to them: 

"Arise and come forth unto me, that 
ye may thrust your hands into my 
side, and also that ye may feel the 
prints in my hands and in my feet, 
that ye may know that I am the God 
of Israel, and the God of the whole 
earth, and have been slain for the sins 
of the world. 

"And it came to pass that the multi- 
tude went forth, and thrust their hands 
into his side, and did feel the prints 
of the nails in his hands and in his 
feet; and this they did do, going forth 
one by one until they had all gone 
forth, and did see with their eyes and 
did feel with their hands, and did know 



"But in reality, 

who was the Great 

White God?" 



of a surety and did bear record, that 
it was he, of whom it was written by 
the prophets, that should come. 

"And when they had all gone forth 
and had witnessed for themselves, they 
did cry out with one accord, saying: 

"Hosannah! Blessed be the name of 
the Most High God I And they did fall 
down at the feet of Jesus, and did wor- 
ship him." (3 Ne. 11:7-11, 14-17.) 

He taught them his true religion, 
healed their sick, blessed their chil- 
dren, and organized his church on the 
western hemisphere as he had done 
in Palestine. 

This is what gave rise to the tradi- 
tion of the Indians and Polynesians. 
And it has lived until now, being 
transmitted from generation to gen- 
eration. 



Era, December 1970 119 



But how may we be sure that it was 
the Christ? 

As we mention, the many prophets 
who lived in ancient America wrote 
their histories and revelations as did 
the prophets, in Palestine. They made 
many volumes. Finally these records 
were abridged and compiled into one 
by a prophet named Mormon, who 
lived about 400 years after Christ, here 
in America. 

Because he was the compiler, the 
book was called after him — the Book 
of Mormon. It was brought forth in a 
miraculous manner in our day and 
identifies the Christ as the White God 
of ancient times. That book is a vol- 
ume of scripture as is the Bible. In 
the twenty-ninth chapter of his writ- 
ings, Isaiah predicted that in the latter 
days this new volume of scripture 
would appear, and he describes its com- 
ing forth in the manner in which the 



Book of Mormon actually was given 
to the world. This is not mere coinci- 
dence. It is a modern fulfillment of 
Bible prophecy. 

Isaiah said it would be a sealed book, 
and it was. 

He said the words of the book would 
be delivered to a learned man who 
would reject the record, and this was 
true. Peculiarly enough, and this most 
certainly helps to identify the book, 
he said it would pass through the 
hands of an unlearned man as it came 
to world attention, and this is exactly 
what happened. 

By way of pointing to the time of its 
publication, he said the book would 
appear in the latter days as Palestine 
became a fruitful field, and this was 
so. 

He predicted that even the deaf 
would hear the words of the book, and 
that through it the blind would see 



out of darkness and the meek among 
men wpuld increase their joy in the 
Lord. All of this came to pass. 

And while this was taking place he 
said the Almighty would perform a 
marvelous work and a wonder during 
a period of unbelief in the world, and 
this too has been accomplished. 

The Book of Mormon is the volume 
to which Isaiah refers. It is scripture, 
the holy writ of ancient America, pub- 
lished now for the enlightenment of 
modern men. 

It is a new witness to the divinity of 
Christ and bears testimony that he is 
truly and in fact the Son of God, the 
Savior of the Christians, the Messiah 
of the Jews, the White God of ancient 
America, and the Redeemer of all man- 
kind. And this too is our own testi- 
mony, and we bear it to you in the 
sacred name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Amen. O 




• My dear brethren and sisters: As I 
have reflected on many of the profound 
messages given at this conference, a 
passage of scripture kept reflecting in 
my mind. The Lord said to the Prophet 
Joseph Smith, ". . . the hour is not yet, 
but is nigh at hand, when peace shall 
be taken from the earth, and the devil 
shall have power over his own domin- 
ion; And also the Lord shall have 
power over his saints, and shall reign 
in their midst, and shall come down in 
judgment upon . . . the world." (D&C 
1:35-36.) We may be in that time. 
It's a great day to be a saint, with the 
Lord at the head. There seems to be 
room on this earth for both saints and 
for those who choose another course. 
When the Savior closed his ministry 
on this earth, he left a message in 
closing that it would be unto the ends 
of the earth: "Go ye into all the world, 



and preach the gospel to every crea- 
ture." (Mark 16:15.) 

We have just returned from Japan, 
a marvelous experience there, helping 
supervise and direct the work of the 
Mormon Pavilion at the World's Fair. 
We have a great body of Japanese 
people here at this conference. They 
are an interesting people. They are a 
great people. Many of them are going 
to have patriarchal blessings while they 
are here. Those who have had patri- 
archal blessings that I have spoken 
with come from the tribe of Joseph, a 
fruitful bough. 

Expo '70 was the first world's fair to 
be staged in Asia and has been ac- 
claimed by many to be the most suc- 
cessful world's fair ever to be held. 

Seventy-seven countries and 42 do- 
mestic organizations sponsored pavilions 
at the fair. There were only two 



religious pavilions represented — the 
Christian ecumenical pavilion, spon- 
sored by the Catholic and Protestant 
churches of Japan, and the Mormon 
Pavilion, representing The Church of 
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The 
Mormon Pavilion was very popular and 
crowded each day from the time the 
fair was opened until it closed. 

During the six months that the fair 
was running, almost 65 million people 
attended the fair, and over ten percent 
of that 65 million visited the Mormon 
Pavilion. Our attendance was 6,658,- 
532 — almost a miracle for the small 
pavilion we had to even come close to 
accommodating them. 

Many of this number were not able 
to see all of the exhibits because of the 
crowds or to hear the dialogue and 
testimonies of the missionaries. But out 
of those who were able to follow the 



120 



missionaries and receive the full presen- 
tation, 780,000 signed the guest register 
referral books, and many of them asked 
to know more about the doctrines and 
teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ 
of Latter-day Saints. 

The main objectives of our exhibit 
were to make friends with these people, 
teach them about a living God and 
a living Jesus Christ, and to explain 
with visual aids the Lord's plan and 
purpose of life. 

Our most impressive exhibit was the 
spirit of the dedicated, loving, inspired 
missionaries. The missionaries radiated 
a great love for the Oriental people and 
the Oriental people had great respect 
for the missionaries. One Japanese 
gentleman said to me, "I can hardly 
believe that such fine, clean young 
people would leave their homes, pay 
their own way, and learn a new lan- 
guage. They must truly love us." 

All the missionaries serving in the 
four missions in Japan will have many 
additional opportunities to reach and 
teach the people as a result of the fair. 

Convert baptisms have doubled in 
Japan in the past few months and are 
still increasing. The Japanese mem- 
bers of the Church are very dedicated, 
sincere, loving people. 

The country of Japan covers an area 
about the size of the state of California 
and has a population of over 101 mil- 
lion people and room for many more. 
It is a land filled with religion. There 
are 106,000 Buddhist temples and over 
100,000 Shinto shrines. Less than one 
percent of the Japanese people are 
members of a Christian church. There 
are about 350,000 who belong to the 
Catholic Church, and 400,000 belong 
to the various Protestant churches, and 
approximately 12,000 are members of 
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
day Saints. 

The Japanese people are seeking and 
looking for better ways and seem to 
be looking for a living God and for a 
greater purpose in both life and death, 
and many seem to be receptive and 
interested in the doctrines and teach- 
ings of Jesus Christ. 

I would like to read from a letter 
we received from Dr. Lorin F. Wheel- 
wright, dean of the College of Fine 
Arts and Communications at Brigham 
Young University. He sent this letter 
after his visit to Expo '70 and the Mor- 
mon Pavilion: 

"May I share with you the feelings 
that sweep over me as I contemplate 
my visit with you and as I witnessed 
the manner in which our missionaries 
used Expo '70 to bring the gospel to 
the Japanese people. Never have I 
seen such crowds of people, curious 
and eager to witness the 'Progress of 
Mankind.' Each day I was there more 



than 700,000 thronged the fairgrounds. 
They fascinated me more than the 
spectacular^ electronic, space, and mo- 
tion-picture extravaganzas that awaited 
them. These patient people would 
queue up for two to three hours at each 
of the major pavilions. I was impressed 
by their orderliness and quiet deter- 
mination to see what obviously they 
had saved their yen to see. 

"Our pavilion stood as a landmark 
of spirituality in a sea of materialism. 
It is true that many pavilions showed 
the historical and present concern of 
nations and industries for man and his 
strivings for a better life. But ours had 
the unique contribution of inviting all 
men and women to 'the peace that 
passeth all understanding.' With the 
terrific crowds surging upon you, I 
marveled at the calmness of our mis- 
sionaries, the almost stark simplicity of 
our exhibit, the opportunity to sit down 
and see a film without distraction, 
which told in understandable language 
and appealing picture that the quest 
for happiness must be a spiritual quest 
if ever man is to find it. 

"Your kind invitation for me to meet 
two groups of missionaries gave me 
insight regarding the real reason our 
pavilion was different from all others. 
These young men and women were 
obviously serving beyond the call of 
duty. They radiated the fire of St. 
Paul and the persistence of Moses. 
Their friendly smiles and patient ex- 
planations must have been a joy to 
the Japanese who personify these char- 
acteristics so beautifully. They treated 
people with courtesy and let the spirit 
of their callings reach out to touch the 
spirits of those who came to look and 
inquire. When I learned that after 
each long day they put on their work 
clothes and cleaned the building, I 
knew that they personified the bended 
knee of reverence and work — both of 
which the Savior said were essential 
to man's salvation. 

"After talking with you, I realized 
anew that our message to the world is 
not expressed in the slickness of our ex- 
hibit. Our appeal is in the sincerity 
and truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus 
Christ. It is this power that brings 
men of all faiths to ask, 'Not who is 
right, but what is right?' It is this 
testimony which invites the devout 
Protestant, Catholic, Buddhist, or athe- 
ist to ponder his ultimate values and 
open his heart to the greater truth that 
we bear to the world. Although our 
exhibit showed pictures of Mormonism 
at work in the lives of our members, 
I am convinced that it was the heart 
of the message that touched people and 
the honesty of the messengers who 
opened their eyes and hearts to see and 
feel. 



"I was thrilled that you called these 
missionaries together at the beginning 
and closing of each shift to share in 
the spirit of devotion. Their prayers 
and testimonies touched me deeply." 

I would like to read a few of the 
many thousands of comments that were 
written by visitors to the Mormon 
Pavilion: 

One employee at the fair said, "This 
pavilion is our oasis at Expo '70. The 
theme of Expo is 'Progress and Har- 
mony for Mankind' and that is 'man's 
search for happiness.' I pay my re- 
spects to your pavilion for giving us 
the living God." 

Another: "I think this pavilion gives 
me a good opportunity to change my 
life. Thanks for the missionaries." 

"The movie helped me to know 
about my life and that death is not 
the end." 

"The film made birth, living and 
death part of 'man's search for hap- 
piness.' 

"I am not a Christian, but now I 
want to know about Christianity." 

"The Mormon Pavilion is my best 
memory of Expo. I want to know 
more." 

"This pavilion moved me to think 
about God. I felt his spirit here." 

"The moving picture made me re- 
consider my life and my happiness." 

"I found love and truth in this 
pavilion." 

"I think your religion is true." 

"I want to know about Joseph Smith 
and the Book of Mormon." 

"This is the second time I have 
visited the Mormon Pavilion. I want 
to know more about Jesus Christ and 
true happiness." 

"I do not have a religion. I have 
found something here to help direct my 
life. I want to come again." 

"My religion has not taught me 
about a living God. I am looking for 
God and happiness." 

"I have thought that God existed 
far from us, but today I felt God near 
me. Thanks for this pavilion." 

"I am glad to learn that man is a 
child of God. I pray for the success 
of this pavilion." 

"I had no interest in religion when 
I came to the fair, but I was moved by 
the spirit of the missionaries." 

"I felt comfortable without any re- 
sistance. I want to know more about 
your religion." 

"I have always believed that there 
was a God, and today I felt deeply his 
power." 

We had literally thousands and 
thousands of comments comparable 
to these. 

A young lady, Miss Reimi Yoma- 
mota, who served as secretary at the 
pavilion and was not a member when 



Era, December 1970 121 



she started but later joined the Church, 
made this statement as we were leav- 
ing the station: "I received the greatest 
blessing of all the people who came to 
Expo. I received a testimony of Jesus 
Christ and of his gospel. I know that 
Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and 
that the Book of Mormon is from God." 
A young man who worked at the 
Russian pavilion came as we were 
closing and said, "I feel bad that 
this building is closing. I have felt 
more happiness and more religion and 
more love here than at any other place 
I have been in my life." 



Brothers and sisters, I must close. 
You who have a testimony of the 
Lord's work, you who are saints, you 
have the answers the world is looking 
for, the world would like to know 
about a living God. The world would 
like to know that the scriptures of God 
are true. You have these answers. 

Probably the greatest message that 
has come to this earth since the resur- 
rection and the ascension of Jesus 
Christ is the Joseph Smith testimony. 
This was distributed extensively at 
Expo. 

As the Japanese people come into 



the Church, they make great saints 
when they are converted. 

I bear witness that Jesus Christ is 
the God of all mankind, the God of 
the yellow race, the red, the black, and 
the white races. I bear witness that 
Joseph Fielding Smith is the prophet 
of all mankind on this earth, to all 
races, kindreds, tongues, and people; 
and that the only way mankind can 
receive celestial glory is by following 
the prophet of God and by accepting 
the program of Jesus Christ. I so bear 
witness in the name of Jesus Christ. 
Amen. q 




• My brothers and sisters: It is a choice 
and wonderful experience to be called 
to be an Assistant to the Council of the 
Twelve, but it is also a very humbling 
experience. I feel especially humble 
this afternoon as I stand before you for 
the first time as a General Authority 
and contemplate the sacredness and the 
importance of this great call. I ask for 
an interest in your faith and prayers, 
not just here today but on a continuous 
basis, that I might be able to serve in 
the way the Lord would like me to 
serve. 

I am grateful for this call because I 
love the Lord, and I have found great 
joy and satisfaction in being in his 
service, in helping to build the kingdom 
of God here upon the earth, and in try- 
ing to serve my fellowmen. 

I know that God lives; that Jesus 
Christ is his Son, the Redeemer of the 
world; that Joseph Smith was indeed a' 
true prophet of God, through whom the 
gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in 
these the last days and through whom 
the Church of Jesus Christ was re- 
established. I know that President 
Joseph Fielding Smith is a true prophet 



of God, and I sustain him and all the 
other brethren with all my heart. 

How grateful I am for this testimony, 
and how grateful I am to those who 
helped me gain it early in life, and who 
have helped me strengthen it with the 
passage of time. 

I should like to pay tribute today to 
my ancestors who accepted the gospel, 
joined the Church, and gave me a rich 
heritage, and to my parents and broth- 
ers and sisters, all of whom taught me 
the gospel by example. My mother was 
ope of the sweetest women who ever 
lived, and my father was truly a noble 
man. It has been said that an honest 
man is the noblest work of God. That's 
the kind of man my father was. Those 
of you who knew him and had dealings 
with him' know that I speak the truth. 

I married rather late in life. The 
Lord went the extra mile with me and 
gave me a wonderful person to be my 
wife and blessed our home with six 
lovely children. I love them dearly, 
and they are all supporting me whole- 
heartedly, without reservations, in this 
new assignment. 

Let me take a moment to share a 



choice experience we had together on 
Father's Day. It happened in a Sunday 
School service. I didn't know anything 
about what was planned. At the ap- 
propriate time the chorister asked my 
family members to come forward. Then 
my wife and five daughters sang "We 
Ever Pray for Thee, Our Father 
Dear." They substituted the word 
Father, in place of the word prophet, 
in the song for this occasion and sang 
it that way. Then my only son re- 
cited the poem "I Follow a Noble 
Father." My heart was touched and 
so were the hearts of all others who 
were there. I am grateful for my won- 
derful family. 

I should like to say thanks to all you 
wonderful people in Alberta, Canada, 
who taught me in my early youth, in 
Sunday School, Primary, and MIA; 
to my colleagues and students at Utah 
State University; to people throughout 
the state of Utah with whom I have 
worked over the years; and to President 
Glen Taggart, president of Utah State 
University, who has been very help- 
ful and understanding during the 
transition period between my assign- 



122 



ment at Utah State University and my 
assignment with the Church. 

Four others to whom I am deeply 
indebted are President Hugh B. Brown, 
who was my stake president in the 
Lethbridge Stake when I was a boy; 
Asael E. Palmer, a counselor to Presi- 
dent Brown at that time, who later 
became president of the Lethbridge 
Stake, where he served for many years; 
my uncle, Archibald F. Bennett, one of 
the great teachers of the Church, who 
lived about as close to his Father in 
heaven as any man I know; and my 
Scoutmaster, Vernon Bigelow. These 
men had the ability to reach me when 
I lacked confidence in myself as a boy. 
They helped me set worthwhile goals 
and objectives and to gain a vision of 
the importance of the gospel in my life 
and in the scheme of things. I just 
want to say I will be eternally grateful 
to these men for what they did for me 
and are still doing. 

Let me take a moment to share a 
choice experience that I had with Presi- 
dent Brown. I have always been in- 
terested in athletics. One day when 
I was about 15 years of age, I was tak- 
ing part in the high jump in a tri-stake 
MIA track meet. We had reached the 
height where most of the jumpers were 
eliminated; there were just two of us 
still in there. I knocked the bar off 
twice and had one jump remaining. 
President Brown, who was watching 
the event, came over, put his arm on 
my shoulder, and said, "Young man, 
you can clear that bar; I know you can. 
I have been watching you. You are 
not over the bar when you are at the 
highest point. If you adjust your take- 
off just a bit, you will clear that bar, 
young man. I know you will!" 

Something happened to me inside. 
It seemed as though new strength had 
come into my body from President 
Brown. I went up to that bar with 
complete assurance that I could clear 
it and I did. I shall never forget that 
experience. 

In the days of my youth the Lord 
saw fit to bless me with an inferiority 
complex. I say "blessed" because in 
wrestling with this problem I learned 
the meaning of humility. I learned 
what it meant to get close to my Father 
in heaven through prayer on an almost 
continuous basis. I learned that in 
problems we find our challenges. In 
those challenges lie opportunities. If 
we can just identify those opportunities 
and capitalize on them, growth, prog- 
ress, and success will result. I learned 
that strength comes from facing up to 
problems squarely and realistically, not 
from disregarding them or avoiding 
them. 

The world today is beset by many 
problems, and mention has been made 



of this in various ways during this 
conference. When man unaided tries 
to solve these problems, he frequently 
finds that new problems arise, and 
there is confusion, more confusion, con- 
tradictions, strife, and contention. Fi- 
nally, man may resort to war to try to 
solve his difficulties. But war does not 
solve difficulties. This was brought 
forcibly to my mind recently when I 
was in Europe participating in a semi- 
nar for mission presidents and their 
wives. The seminar was held in Brus- 
sels, Belgium, just a few miles from 
Waterloo, where the forces of the Duke 
of Wellington engaged the forces of 
Napoleon in a great battle, back in 
about 1815. And it was just a few 
miles from Flanders Field and not very 
far from Dunkirk, where other battles 
and fighting took place at different 
times in the history of the world. 

And now war is with us again, and 
many people are deeply troubled and 
confused. But I should like to say that 
the great battles of the world are 
not fought on the battlefields. They are 
fought in the hearts and in the minds 
of men and women everywhere, as they 
wrestle with their problems, try to meet 
the difficulties and issues that confront 
them, exercise their free agency, and 
make choices. The forces of evil and 
the forces of righteousness are both try- 
ing to influence the decisions, and 
there is conflict in the hearts and minds 
of men everywhere. If the forces of 
righteousness triumph universally, there 
will be love, harmony, and peace on 
earth. If the forces of evil dominate, 
there will be outward expressions that 
lead to war and destruction. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ can re- 
solve those inner conflicts and bring 
inner peace and outer peace as well. 
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the most 
valuable, the most needed message in 
the world today. It is the answer to the 
problems that grow out of man's 
selfishness and greed, where such a 
high percentage of the problems arise. 
The gospel teaches us to build rather 
than to destroy, to help people to give 
of themselves in unselfish service to 
others rather than being on the receiv- 
ing end of things most of the time. 

Over the years men and women have 
learned to appreciate the importance 
of free agency. But all too frequently 
they overlook the fact that along with 
free agency there must be responsibility 
and accountability. One has his free 
agency to determine what he will do 
and what he will not do, but he does 
not have his free agency to determine 
the consequences, because laws operate. 

The gospel teaches the importance of 
obedience to law. President Lee re- 
ferred to that so beautifully this 
morning when he talked about the 



astronauts. Let me make a further ap- 
plication. You will remember tha the 
astronauts on one of the missions had 
an outward trip and a return trip. On 
the outward trip their goal was the 
moon. On the return trip their goal 
was the earth, their home base. They 
reached their goals both going and 
coming because they themselves, the 
engines and the instruments under 
their control, and those at mission 
control at home base were able to oper- 
ate in accordance with law. 

Do you remember what happened 
on the Apollo 13 mission that Brother 
Lee referred to? As they made their re- 
turn trip they were almost home when 
they found out that they were off course 
a bit. They had to make a correction. 
To do so, they had to fire their engine. 
If that engine hadn't fired, the cor- 
rection could not have been made; they 
would have missed the earth by eighty 
miles, and we wouldn't have been able 
to bring them back. But the engine 
did fire, the correction was made, and 
they returned to earth safe and sound. 

Is there not an important lesson there 

"In the days of my 

youth the Lord saw fit 

to bless me with an 

inferiority complex" 



for us? Is it not true that we, too, had 
an outward trip when we left our 
Father in heaven in the spirit world 
and came to earth? Are we not now 
walking around on our earth, which 
might be likened to the astronaut's 
moon? And is it not true that whether 
or not we will be able sometime in 
the future to return to our Father in 
heaven, our home base, will be de- 
pendent on our willingness and our 
ability to observe the laws and keep the 
commandments that pertain thereto? 
And is it not true that the Lord has 
provided us with a way through re- 
pentance for making a correction to 
put us back on course when we have 
strayed because of sin? 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the an- 
swer to all problems. However, men 
and women everywhere must be doers 
of the word, and not hearers only, if 
they would have peace within them- 
selves and peace in the world and 
would find joy and happiness in this 
life and in the life to come. This is our 
great and important test. May we be 
equal to it, I humbly pray, in the name 
of Jesus Christ. Amen. O 



Era, December 1970 123 




• I know now, my brethren and sisters, 
what it is to dig the last fence-post 
hole. Being one of the last speakers 
at this conference has prompted my 
mind in the reflection of some other 
last things, and I thought of my 
grandparents who were convert immi- 
grants from England. They were on 
one of the last wagon trains to Utah 
before the coming of the railroad. 
That officially makes them pioneers. 

My father, with long, curly, black 
hair, was a member of this pioneer 
family. While they were on the trail 
camped for the night, well-meaning 
Indians came into the camp in search 
of food. The chief of the Indian band 
later that night stole back with seven 
Indian ponies and tied them to the 
wagon wheel and took my father. This 
held up the wagon train for several 
days until the scouts could find the 
Indian camp. They waited for the 
braves to go on a hunting expedition. 
Then they rescued my father from a 
wickiup and left in payment, in In- 
dian fashion, the same seven ponies, 
but they placed on the back of each 
pony a pioneer blanket. This is a true 
Indian trading principle, and I believe 
it is a good principle, because it is 
always better to give more than we 
receive. 

Two of my aunts, Valentina and 
Annie Etta, died on that entourage; 
Valentina was buried on the plains. 
This black-haired boy grew to man- 
hood and became a part of the Old 
West. For a number of years as a 
young man he used to light the gas 



lamps on Main Street. There were 36 
of them. I have often heard him tell 
that they chose him because he was 
tall and he could reach and turn them 
off in the morning and on at night. 

There is another story that I re- 
membered of him, as Victor Brown was 
speaking about the deacons. My father 
had a great influence with young 
people. There in the area where he 
lived, one of the deacons had been 
seriously reprimanded by the bishop or 
someone who was teaching the class of 
deacons, and he became belligerent and 
vowed that he would never go back to 
church again. This young man was 
so influential that he influenced 11 
other deacons to stay away from 
church, and these 12 boys bound 
themselves together and called them- 
selves the twelve apostles. They built 
a hut that was partially submerged 
under the ground, and this is where 
they held their private meetings. Their 
sole purpose was to bother any boy 
who would try to go to priesthood 
meeting, and many of them were 
beaten up on their way and intimidated 
to try to prevent them from going to 
church. 

My father was given the assignment 
to try to get these boys back into ac- 
tivity in the Church, and he did this 
by going to their hut and visiting with 
them for long periods of time, until 
one by one he got them to come back. 
This is a success story, for every one of 
those boys except one went into the 
mission field. I have often thought of 
this experience accomplished by the 



boy who was taken by the Indians, 
who left seven ponies to pay for him. 
I am glad, of course, that they didn't 
keep him. 

I rejoice with you, my brothers and 
sisters, in the faith-promoting inspira- 
tion of what we have heard and felt 
at this great conference, which will 
soon come to a close. 

Such gatherings in ancient times are 
scriptural ly referred to as feasts, and 
I suppose that description is appropriate 
today, for surely we have had a feast 
of the gospel. As always, when the 
saints of God meet in conference, 
there is an outpouring of the Spirit, 
causing a renewal of faith and a reas- 
surance of our convictions, that we 
might continue steadfast through grati- 
tude and sacrifice in meeting the 
challenge of a rightousness in the pro- 
gressive journey of life. 

Perhaps if a central motif or master 
theme could be deducted from this 
conference, it would emphasize the 
need of testimony, of a contriteness of 
spirit, a greater meekness in serving the' 
Lord and in working out our salvation. 
I think it was Pogo who said, "We have 
met the enemy and he is us." 

In a revelation especially applicable 
to the Saints in Zion, who at that par- 
ticular time were assembled in Jackson 
County, Missouri, the Lord gave this 
commandment, among others that were 
stressed at the time, and which I think 
finds application among us today as it 
did then: 

"Thou shalt thank the Lord thy 
God in all things. 



124 



"Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the 
Lord thy God in righteousness, even 
that of a broken heart and a contrite 
spirit." (D&C 59:7-8.) 

This divine commandment is related, 
I believe, to other utterances of the 
Lord and is characteristic of his person. 

In one of his never-to-be-forgotten 
sermons unto the multitudes that fol- 
lowed him, he uttered the sayings 
which have become known as the 
Beatitudes. Herein is described the 
moral character required in those who 
are to constitute his kingdom. These 
are familiar to all of us. May I repeat 
them. 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for 
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

"Blessed are they that mourn: for 
they shall be comforted.' 

"Blessed are the meek: for they shall 
inherit the earth. 

"Blessed are they which do hunger 
and thirst after righteousness: for they 
shall be filled. 

"Blessed are the merciful: for they 
shall obtain mercy. 

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for 
they shall see God. 

"Blessed are the peacemakers: for 
they shall be called the children of 
God. 

"Blessed are they which are perse- 
cuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs 
is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:3- 
10.) 

To seemingly emphasize the impor- 
tance of these characteristics, and that 
they were displayed in the Master him- 
self, we have his utterances upon an- 
other occasion. 

"At that time Jesus answered and 
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of 
heaven and earth, because thou hast 
hid these things from the wise and 
prudent, and hast revealed them unto 
babes. 

"Even so, Father: for so it seemeth 
good in thy sight. 

"All things are delivered unto me of 
my Father: and no man knoweth the 
Son, but the Father; neither knoweth 
any man the Father, save the Son, and 
he to whomsoever the Son will reveal 
him. 

"Come unto me, all ye that labour 
and are heavy Laden, and I will give 
you rest. 

"Take my yoke upon you, and learn 
of me; for I am meek and lowly in 
heart: and ye shall find rest unto your 
souls. 

"For my yoke is easy, and my burden 
is light." (Matthew 11:25-30.) 

Concerning the inheriting of the 
earth by the meek, this no doubt has 
reference to its condition after it has 
received its regenerated glory unto that 
of a celestial glory. Of this the Lord 
has plainly spoken in this dispensation. 



"Therefore, it must needs be sancti- 
fied from all unrighteousness, that it 
may be prepared for the celestial glory; 

"For after it hath filled the measure 
of its creation, it shall be crowned 
with glory, even with the presence of 
God the Father; 

"That bodies who are of the celes- 
tial kingdom may possess it forever and 
ever; for, for this intent was it made 
and created, and for this intent are 
they sanctified." (D&C 88:18-20.) 

I believe there is perhaps a distinc- 
tion between humility and meekness. 
It may be said that meekness is a con- 
dition of voluntary humility. The 
prophet Alma seemed to recognize a 
distinction, as we may gather from 
these words: 

"And now, as I said unto you, that 
because ye were compelled to be hum- 
ble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose 
that they are more blessed who truly 
humble themselves because of the 
word? 

"Yea, he that truly humbleth him- 
self, and repenteth of his sins, and 
endureth to the end, the same shall 
be blessed — yea, much more blessed 
than they who are compelled to be 
humble because of their exceeding 
poverty. 

"Therefore, blessed are they who 
humble themselves without being com- 
pelled to be humble; or rather, in other 
words, blessed is he that believeth in 
the word of God, and is baptized with- 
out stubbornness of heart, yea, without 
being brought to know the word, or 
even compelled to know, before they 
will believe." (Al. 32:14-16.) 

The beatitude said, "Blessed are the 
pure in heart: for they shall see God." 

While speaking unto the weary and 
oppressed of the Saints, who had par- 
ticipated in laying the foundation in 
Zion, the Lord proclaimed that only 
those with the obedience and willing- 
ness of the pure in heart and mind 
were of the house of Ephraim. Here is 
his important counsel given to the 
Prophet Joseph Smith, which is appli- 
cable today as preparations go forward 
in the destiny of God's people. 

"Wherefore, be not weary in well- 
doing, for ye are laying the foundation 
of a great work. And out of small 
things proceedeth that which is great. 

"Behold, the Lord requireth the heart 
and a willing mind; and the willing 
and obedient shall eat the good of the 
land of Zion in these last days. 

"And the rebellious shall be cut off 
out of the land of Zion, and shall be 
sent away, and shall not inherit the 
land. 

"For, verily I say that the rebellious 
are not of the blood of Ephraim, where- 
fore they shall be plucked out." (D&C 
64:33-36.) 



It is the good and honest of heart 
among the people of the world who 
most readily respond to the message of 
the Restoration as declared by the mis- 
sionaries who bring it to them. And 
these who are truly spiritually con- 
verted become and are the more faith- 
ful of the Latter-day Saints. For the 
Lord himself declared that only those 
who "doeth good" are ready to receive 
a fullness of the gospel. (D&C 35:12.) 

Perhaps the impact of meekness and 
honesty of heart can be more fully 
appreciated by the characteristics that 
are opposite. These are appropriately 
spoken of by Paul the apostle in rela- 
tion to the very day and age in which 
we live, wherein he has said: 



believe 

there is a distinction 

between humility 

and weakness" 



"This know also, that in the last 
days perilous times shall come. 

"For men shall be lovers of their 
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, 
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, 
unthankful, unholy, 

"Without natural affection, truce- 
breakers, false accusers, incontinent, 
fierce, despisers of those that are good, 

"Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers 
of pleasures more than lovers of God; 

"Having a form of godliness, but 
denying the power thereof: from such 
turn away. 

"For of this sort are they which creep 
into houses, and lead captive silly 
women laden with sins, led away with 
divers lusts, 

"Ever learning, and never able to 
come to the knowledge of the truth." 
(2 Tim. 3:1-7.) 

I bear testimony of the fact that we 
have the truth. The course of the true 
Latter-day Saint is to nurture and live 
by that truth which we accept, casting 
aside the extraneous things that can 
only mar and distort the simple effec- 
tiveness of the gospel. For truly the 
everlasting gospel is the glad tidings 
of great joy. 

In closing, I quote these words from 
the apostle Peter, which I think make a 
good code for our protection: 

"Honour all men. Love the brother- 
hood. Fear God. Honour the king 
[Christ]." (1 Pet. 2:17.) 

I bear my testimony to you, in the 
name of Jesus Christ. Amen. O 



Era, December 1970 125 




• Before we announce President Smith 
as the next and concluding speaker of 
the conference, it seems appropriate to 
say one or two things. 

When the Church was first orga- 
nized, in fact, the day on which it was 
organized, the Lord was speaking to the 
Church. He didn't mean just the six- 
members that were then the consti- 
tuted number of the Church: he was 
speaking about the President of the 
Church, who was the Prophet Joseph 
Smith at that time. And this is what 
he said: 

"Wherefore, meaning the church, 
thou shalt give heed unto all his words 
[the President's words] and command- 
ments which he shall give unto you as 
he receiveth them, walking in all holi- 
ness before me; 

"For his word ye shall receive, as if 
from mine own mouth, in all patience 
and faith. 

"For by doing these things the gates 
of hell shall not prevail against you; 
yea, and the Lord God will disperse the 
powers of darkness from before you, 
and cause the heavens to shake for your 
good, and his name's glory." (D&C 
21:4-6.) 

We have some tight places to go 
before the Lord is through with this 
church and the world in this dispen- 
sation, which is the last dispensation, 
which shall usher in the coming of the 
Lord. The gospel was restored to pre- 
pare a people ready to receive him. The 
power of Satan will increase; we see 
it in evidence on every hand. There 
will be inroads within the Church. 
There will be, as President Tanner has 
said, "Hypocrites, those professing, but 
secretly are full of dead men's bones." 
We will see those who profess member- 
ship but secretly are plotting and trying 
to lead people not to follow the leader- 



ship that the Lord has set up to pre- 
side in this church. 

Now the only safety we have as 
members of this church is to do exactly 
what the Lord said to the Church in 
that day when the Church was orga- 
nized. We must learn to give heed to 
the words and commandments that the 
Lord shall give through his prophet, 
"as he receiveth them, walking in all 
holiness before me; ... as if from mine 
own mouth, in all patience and faith." 
(D&C 21:4-5.) There will be some 
things that take patience and faith. 
You may not like what comes from 
the authority of the Church. It may 
contradict your political views. It 
may contradict your social views. It may 
interfere with some of your social life. 
But if you listen to these things, as if 
from the mouth of the Lord himself, 
with patience and faith, the promise is 
that "the gates of hell shall not prevail 
against you; yea, and the Lord God 
will disperse the powers of darkness 
from before you, and cause the heavens 
to shake for your good, and his name's 
glory." (D&C 21:6.) 

Now we have a President of the 
Church who has grown to great years. 
Since he was installed as President six 
months ago, he has been down in 
Mexico with Sister Smith. He has 
been to the Arizona Temple, where he 
gave the sealing keys to a new temple 
presidency. He has been in the Ha- 
waiian Islands, where he participated 
in an anniversary of the Church Col- 
lege of Hawaii, and some of the early 
events in the history of that place. 

In connection with this conference, 
there has been an intense assignment 
to the President of the Church. 

A week ago Thursday, all the Gen- 
eral Authorities met in an upper room 
of the temple fasting and praying, 



trying to prepare themselves spiritu- 
ally for this conference. I believe we 
witnessed the outpouring of the Spir- 
it, which is an evidence of the 
Lord's answer to the prayers that were 
offered at that time. President Smith 
addressed the General Authorities. He 
participated in the Relief Society con- 
ference and spoke to the sisters. He 
spoke at the Sunday School conference. 
He addressed this conference in the first 
session. He addressed the priesthood 
session, and he will address this session. 
As I thought of the role of President 
Tanner and myself as his counselors, 
I thought of a circumstance in the life 
of Moses, when the enemies of the 
church in that day were just as they 
are in this day. They were threatening 
to overcome and tear down and to stop 




126 



the work of the church. As Moses sat 
upon a hill and raised the rod of his 
authority, or the keys of his priesthood, 
Israel prevailed over their enemies; but 
as the day wore on, his hands became 
heavy and began to droop at his side. 
And so they held up his hands so they 
would not be weakened and the rod 
would not be lowered. He would be 
sustained so that the enemies of the 
church would not prevail over the 
saints of the Most High God. (See 
Exod. 17:8-12.) 

I think that is the role that Presi- 
dent Tanner and I have to fulfill. The 
hands of President Smith may grow 



weary. They may tend to droop at 
times because of his heavy responsi- 
bilities; but as we uphold his hands, 
and as we lead under his direction, by 
his side, the gates of hell will not 
prevail against you and against Israel. 
Your safety and ours depends upon 
whether or not we follow the ones 
whom the Lord has placed to preside 
over his church. He knows whom he 
wants to preside over this church, and 
he will make no mistake. The Lord 
doesn't do things by accident. He has 
never done anything accidentally. And 
I think the scientists and all the philos- 
ophers in the world have never dis- 



covered or learned anything that God 
didn't already know. His revelations 
are more powerful, more meaningful, 
and have more substance than all the 
secular learning in the world. 

Let's keep our eye on the President 
of the Church and uphold his hands 
as President Tanner and I will con- 
tinue to do. 

President Smith, we honor and sus- 
tain you in that high place because the 
Lord has put you there. It will now be 
our delight, our beloved President, to 
give you an opportunity to leave us 
your blessing as we conclude this great 
conference. Q 




• My dear brethren and sisters: As we 
conclude another great conference of 
the Church, I desire to leave my bless- 
ings upon you. 

The priesthood is the power to bless 
mankind, and all ot those who hold 
the priesthood are expected to use it 
within the sphere of their assignment 
to bless their fellowmen. When any 
of us use this authority in righteous- 
ness, and as directed by the Holy Spirit, 
our acts are binding and will be recog- 
nized by the Lord both in time and in 
eternity. 

And so I feel to bless the saints, 
all those who love the Lord and who 
signify their devotion to his cause 
by keeping his commandments. I wish 
to bless them temporally and spiritual- 
ly and pray God our Father to pour out 
his bounties upon them so they may 
be prospered in all their righteous en- 
deavors. 

I speak for myself and for all of you 
and pour out my soul in thanksgiving 
to the Lord for all he has so bounte- 
ously bestowed upon us. 

We have been set up as a free people 



by the power of our Eternal Father. 
The beauties and bounties of nature 
are ours, and we have these truths by 
obedience to which we can live lives 
that will be pleasing in his sight, that 
will give us peace and joy in this life, 
and assure us of an eternal and abun- 
dant life with him in his everlasting 
kingdom. 

I feel to say, O our Eternal Father, 
pour out thy Spirit more abundantly 
upon these thy saints, upon this rem- 
nant of scattered Israel which has 
gathered to thy gospel in these last days. 

Thou knowest that as a people we 
desire to serve thee, to keep the com- 
mandments, and to carry thy message 
of truth and righteousness to thy people 
everywhere. For this reason we send 
our missionaries to every part of the 
world. I have had my sons in the 
mission field constantly for many years. 
One is in the mission field at this pres- 
ent time in a foreign country, where 
he has been for several years. 

We thank thee, our Father, for- the 
great outpouring of truth and light that 
has come from the lips of thy servants 



at this conference, and which has been 
carried into the hearts of honest men 
everywhere by the power of thy Holy 
Spirit. 

We thank thee that we have been 
fed the bread of life, that we have been 
strengthened spiritually and are now 
renewed and refreshed and ready to 
go forth on thy errand, doing to the 
best of our abilities those things which 
thou wouldst have us do. 

Our Father in heaven, we are grate- 
ful for all thou hast given us; we 
acknowledge thy hand in all things, 
and we pray for the success and tri- 
umph of thy purposes in all the earth. 

We know that thou hast spoken in 
this day as thou didst in days of old, 
and we are pleased to be instruments 
in thy hands of carrying thy message 
to the world, and of standing as lights 
to the world so that they, seeing our 
good works, may be led to glorify thee. 

And unto thy holy name we ascribe 
the honor and glory in all things both 
now and forever. 

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Amen. O 



Era, December 1970 127 



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"The Spoken Word" from 
Temple Square, presented 
over KSL and the Colum- 
bia Broadcasting System 
December 21, 1 969. ©1969. 



Christmas— and memories 
to your children 

By Richard L. Evans 

At this season there is so much intermingled: 
/-\ children— innocence, expectancy; loved ones— 
/ \ homecoming, happiness, gay and mellow 
moods; sometimes loneliness— serious concerns; 
generosity in some measure, and some emerging of 
our better selves; and so much else besides— all 
intermixed with a measure of forgiving and forget- 
ting, and with memories from all past years that 
merge and mingle with the present moment. Oh, 
parents, we would plead, give good and happy mem- 
ories to your children— not pampering or overin- 
dulging, not satisfying everything they take a fancy 
to— but memories of love, encouragement, of peace 
and harmony and happiness at home— memories 
that will bless and lift their lives wherever they are, 
always and forever. Well, swiftly now it comes and 
goes, and so does life. Oh, let us live it with repen- 
tance and improvement, with honesty and honor, 
and with a balance of mind and heart and spirit- 
along with all the tangibles that are so much in 
evidence. And one could not, of course, conceive of 
Christmas without him whose coming it commem- 
orates: the Prince of Peace, the Son of God, our 
Savior and Redeemer, concerning whom we witness 
that he lives, from deep within the certainty of our 
souls. "I know that my Redeemer liveth." Oh, may 
we not forget at any time what God has given, or 
overemphasize the troubles of our time, but go with 
patience, gratitude, and faith into the future, remem- 
bering from Longfellow these hopeful, moving lines: 

I heard the bells on Christmas day 
Their old familiar carols play; 
And wild and sweet the words repeat 
Of peace on earth, good will to men. 

And in despair I bowed my head: 
"There is no peace on earth," I said, 
"For hate is strong and mocks the song 
Of peace on earth, good will to men." 
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: 
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep; 
The wrong shall fail the right prevail, 
With peace on earth, good will to men." 1 



'Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." 



128 




They Who Served 

By Albert L. Zobell, Jr. 

Research Editor 

• It hardly seems possible that this Era. Many persons' lives have been 
is the last of 878 inspiration-filled changed with a single issue. 



issues of the Improvement Era, 
whose approximately 73,000 pages 
have reflected the Church during 
more than half of its restored life- 
time during the administrations of 
seven of the ten Presidents of the 
Church. 

But that final issue is here, and it 
is a day for momentarily looking 
back. 

The Improvement Era was a mis- 
sionary. It followed and preceded 
missionaries in many areas. Many 
persons have joined the Church as 



The Improvement Era has been 
most fortunate in its writers— Gen- 
eral Authorities who have shared 
their prophetic callings as well as 
members of the Church who have 
gained a place of insight and of 
leadership in their chosen fields 
among mankind. ' 

The Improvement Era has had a 
great and devoted readership. One 
reader, Louis O. Turley, of Mesa, 
Arizona, submitted an analysis 
covering the Era from November 
1897 to August 1970. He found that 



a result of gift subscriptions to the Richard L. Evans had signed 1,492 



articles; that the next closest was 
Franklin S. Harris, Jr., with 369, 
while John A. Widtsoe had 349. 
Hugh Nibley, who first came to the 
Era pages in 1926 while prepar- 
ing for his mission call, has been 
our most voluminous writer, with 
more than 130 major articles. 

The Improvement Era— it's like 
asking me to make the funeral 
oration for a lifelong friend. For 
more years than I would willingly 
admit, the Era has been close to me, 
and I have often retired with its 
problems. Illnesses and vacations 
have been planned so as not to 
conflict with Era requirements. It's 
been a most rewarding association! 

Listed below are the great names 
and leaders who have guided lov- 
ingly this magnificent contribution 
for good among the Latter-day 
Saints. O 





Era Editors 






Era Business Department 




Year 


Editors 


(1) Managing Editor 

(2) Associate Editor 

(3) Assistant Managing Editor 

(4) Associate Managing Editor 


Year 


General Manager 


Business Manager 


Assistant (1) or 
Associate (2) 
Business Manager 


1897-98 
1898-99 


Joseph F. Smith 
B. H. Roberts 

Joseph F. Smith 
B. H. Roberts 
Edward H. Anderson 


None 
None 


1897 
190506 
1908 
1909 




Heber J. Grant 
Heber J, Grant 
Heber J. Grant 
Heber J. Grant 


Thomas Hull (1) 
Alpha J. Higgs (1) 


1899-1918 
1918-27 


Joseph F. Smith 
Edward H. Anderson 

Heber J. Grant 
Edward H. Anderson 


None 
None 


1910 
1918 
1922 




Heber J. Grant 
Edward H. Anderson 
Melvin J. Ballard 


Moroni Snow (1) 
Moroni Snow (1) 
Moroni Snow (1) 


1927-29 


Heber J. Grant 
Hugh J. Cannon 


None 


1927 
1929 




Melvin J. Ballard 
Melvin J. Ballard 


Clarissa A. Beesley (2) 


1929-30 


Heber J. Grant 


Hugh J. Cannon (1) 
Elsie T. Brandley (2) 


1930 




Melvin J. Ballard 


Clarissa A. Beesley (2) 
0. B. Peterson (1) 


1930-35 
1935-36 
1936-43 


Heber J. Grant 

Heber J. Grant 
John A. Widtsoe 

Heber J. Grant 
John A. Widtsoe 


Harrison R. Merrill (1) 
Elsie T. Brandley (2) 

Harrison R. Merrill (1) 
Marba C. Josephson (2) 

Richard L. Evans (1) 
Marba C. Josephson (2) 


1935 
1938 
1944 
1948 
1955 


George Q. Morris 
George Q. Morris 
George Q. Morris 
Elbert R. Curtis 
Elbert R. Curtis 


J. K. Orton 
J. K. Orton 
John D. Giles 
John D. Giles 
Verl F. Scott 


Clarissa A. Beesley (2) 
Lucy G. Cannon (2) 
Lucy G. Cannon (2) 
Bertha S. Reeder (2) 
Bertha S. Reeder (2) 


1943-45 


Heber J. Grant 
John A. Widtsoe 


Richard L. Evans (1) 
Marba C. Josephson (2) 
William Mulder (2) 


1958 
1961 


Joseph T. Bentley 
Joseph T. Bentley 


Verl F. Scott 
Verl F. Scott 


Bertha S. Reeder (2) 
Florence S. Jacobsen (2) 






(beginning in June 1945) 


1962 


G. Carlos Smith, Jr. 


Verl F. Scott 


Florence S. Jacobsen (2) 


1945-46 


George Albert Smith 
John A. Widtsoe 


Richard L. Evans (1) 
Marba C. Josephson (2) 
William Mulder (2) 
(ending in March) 


1966 
1969 


G. Carlos Smith, Jr. 
W. Jay Eldredge, Jr. 


Verl F. Scott 

A. Glen Snarr (acting) 

Verl F. Scott 


Florence S. Jacobsen (2) 
Florence S. Jacobsen (2) 


1947-49 


George Albert Smith 
John A. Widtsoe 


Richard L. Evans (1) 
Doyle L. Green (3) 
Marba C. Josephson (2) 










1950-51 


George Albert Smith 
John A. Widtsoe 


Doyle L. Green (1) 
Marba C. Josephson (4) 










1951-52 


David 0. McKay 
John A. Widtsoe 
Richard L. Evans 


Doyle L. Green (1) 
Marba C. Josephson (4) 










1952-65 


David O. McKay 
Richard L. Evans 


Doyle L. Green (1) 
Marba C, Josephson (4) 










1965-68 


David O. McKay 
Richard L. Evans 


Doyle L. Green (1) 










1969 


David O. McKay 
Richard L. Evans 


Doyle L. Green (I) 
Jay M. Todd (3) 










1970 


Joseph Fielding Smith 
Richard L. Evans 


Doyle L. Green (1) 
Jay M. Todd (3) 











Era, December 1970 129 











Church School Appointments 

The First Presidency has appointed 

six Latter-day Saint educators to the Church 

Educational System. They will serve under 

Neal A. Maxwell, Church Commissioner 

of Education. Photos left to right. 

Dee F. Andersen, formerly controller of the 

University of Utah, has been called to be 

associate commissioner for finance and 

business. Dr. Joe J. Christensen, 

recently released as president of the Mexico 

Mission and former director of the institute 

of religion adjacent to the University 

of Utah, has been called to be associate 

commissioner for seminaries and 

institutes. Dr. Frank D. Day, assistant 



administrator of seminaries and institutes, 
will continue in that same position. 
Dr. Dan J. Workman, director of the 
institute adjacent to the Utah State 
University campus, has been called 
to be an assistant administrator 
of seminaries and institutes. 
Dr. Kenneth H. Beesley, executive dean 
of Fresno State College in California, 
has been called to be associate 
commissioner for Church Schools. 
Dr. Keith R. Oakes, assistant 
administrator of Church Schools, has been 
called to be administrator for elementary 
and secondary schools. 




Danish Saints Fly to Conference 

October general conference was also memorable 

for 284 Danish members of the Church who flew nonstop 

to Salt Lake City from Copenhagen. Many of the 

group had been saving and dreaming for such 

a trip for years — and there was many a tearful reunion 

with former acquaintances, friends, and relatives. 

Among the Danish Saints were 57 members 



of the Latter-day Saint Danish Choir. 

Under the direction 

of Brother Jorgen Ljunstrom, the choir has sung 

widely throughout Northern Europe. The choir 

has "helped tremendously the missionary effort in Northern 

Europe," said Finn Nielsen, public relations specialist 

for the Church in Denmark and Scandinavia. 




130 



Japanese Visitors Attend Temple Sessions 

Over the Pole they came, 184 Japanese 

Latter-day Saints, the first of two planeloads, to participate 

in Japanese language sessions at the Salt Lake Temple 

and to attend general conference. 

Down the ladder from the huge jet they spilled, 

just hours from Tokyo, in a torrent of smiles, 

flight bags, and baggage, proceeding through customs with 

the orderliness and courtesy born of generations 

of refinement. 



When they entered the airport waiting room, to be 

greeted with warm handclasps and strong embraces 

of missionaries who had served in their country, 

the excitement needed no words to express the flashes of 

recognition and the joys of reunion. 

Most of the visitors were young married 

couples, many of whom received 

their own temple endowments while in 

Salt Lake City. 




Era, December 1970 131 



r 



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Spanish gifts 

TOLEDO WARE LETTER OPENERS 

Exact reproductions of Spanish 
swords of the 18th Century. 



( 



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-.-% hilts, hand- 

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Set of 2 swords— 

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Single sword— 

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From Denmark 
CLOWN-MONEY BANK 

The people of Sjaelland, the isle 
on which Copenhagen is situated, 
are experts in 
woodworking to 
such a degree 
that these handi- 
crafts are much 
sought after 
throughout the 
world. Made of 
teak/beech, 
6 inches high. 

$3.98 



From Holland 

DUTCH WINDMILL TABLE LAMP 



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The Church 
Moves On 



September 1970 

El "We are a temple-building people 
and this is one of the things which sets 
us apart from the world. . . . Temple 
building and temple ordinances are the 
very heart of our religion," President 
Joseph Fielding Smith said this morn- 
ing, as he presided at the cornerstone 
ceremonies at the Ogden (Utah) Tem- 
ple. President N. Eldon Tanner of the 
First Presidency offered the dedicatory 
prayer and laid the marble corner- 
stone. 



The appointments of Man/a S. 
Christensen, Carolyn Y. Hunsaker, 
Georgia C. Faux, and Earleen R. Gregory 
to the general board of the Young 
Women's Mutual Improvement Associa- 
tion were announced. 

The appointments of Dean L. Larsen 
and J. Fielding Nelson to the general 
board of the Deseret Sunday School 
Union were announced. 



Chesapeake Stake, the 526th now 
functioning, was organized by Elder 
Thomas S. Monson of the Council of 
the Twelve from portions of the Wash- 
ington (D. C.) Stake. President June B. 
Thayn and counselors John R. Smith 
and Victor D. Merrell were sustained. 

New stake presidencies: President 
Wendell G. Eames and counselors Rich- 
ard G. Scott and Frank L. Shafer, Wash- 
ington (D.C.) Stake; President David O. 
Dance and counselors Dale A. Harrison 
and Bernard J. Barnes, Seattle (Wash- 
ington) Stake. 



132 



m 



The appointment of Eran A. Call, 
Provo, Utah, as president of the Mexico 
Mission was announced by the First 
Presidency. 



E2 



Announced today were names of 
the new magazines of the Church: the 
Ensign (adult), the New Era (youth), 
and the Friend (children). 

ES "I don't think the nation would 
have the welfare problems it does if we 
had a welfare program like yours," U. S. 
Secretary of Labor James D. Hodgson 
said to members of the First Presi- 
dency, as he and three assistant secre- 
taries, Malcolm R. Lovell, Jerome M. 
Rosow, and Joseph Loftus, visited in 
Salt Lake City today. 



m The appointment of Mrs. Gwen C. 
Anderson to the general board of the 
Young Women's Mutual Improvement 
Association was announced. 

The appointments of Bruce Lake, 
Reid H. Johnson, Robert G. Vincent, 
Howard C. Badger, William N. Jones, 
and Rulon H. Bradshaw to the general 
board of the Young Men's Mutual Im- 
provement Association were announced. 



m 



New stake presidency: President 
John Sonnenberg and counselors Dallin 
H. Oakes and LaVon S. Fife, Chicago 
(Illinois) South Stake. 



The First Presidency urged mem- 
bers to exercise their faith and prayers 
on behalf of the people of Southern 
California whose homes and lives are 
endangered by devastating and un- 
controlled fires. 



id The annual Relief Society confer- 
ence began today, with sessions on 
Temple Square and an evening recep- 
tion at the Relief Society Building. 

October 1970 

I Assignments of nine new Regional 
Representatives of the Council of the 
Twelve are: Adney Y. Komatsu, Hawaii 



Era, December 1970 133 







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and Tokyo regions; Wendell B. Menden- 
hall, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney 
regions; Lysle R. Cahoon, Oklahoma 
and Winter Quarters regions; Derek A. 
Cuthbert, Leeds and Manchester re- 
gions; Thomas Y. Emmett, Salem and 
Seattle regions; F. Arthur Kay, Alaska, 
Vancouver, and Portland regions; H. 
Burke Peterson, Mesa and Phoenix 
regions; L. Aldin Porter, Boise and 
Weiser regionsr.Robert D. Hales, Louisi- 
ana and Minneapolis regions. 

At the same time, the releases of 
eight Regional Representatives who 
have served since 1967 were an- 
nounced: A. Lewis Elggren, Cecil E. 
Hart, Heber J. Heiner, Jr., David E. 
Heywood, Howard J. Marsh, S. Reed 
Millar, Wilford H. Payne, and C. Bryant 
Whiting. 

Sunday School workers began three 
days of conference to discuss improved 
teaching methods and to hear Church 
leaders speak. 

The three-day Instructional Media 
Fair in the Salt Palace was begun to- 
day, as one of the conference features. 

The day for the Relief Society con- 
ference was one of departmental 
sessions. 



The 140th Semiannual General 
Conference of the Church began this 
morning in the Tabernacle on Temple 
Square. In all, some 300 radio and 
television stations will broadcast por- 
tions of this important conference. 

This was a season of renewing ac- 
quaintances and of reliving old times 
as missionaries and servicemen began 
holding their traditional reunions to- 
night. 



Conference sessions continued, 
with general sessions at 10:00 a.m. and 
2:00 p.m. 

The priesthood session of the con- 
ference was heard by priesthood bear- 
ers in attendance at 650 meeting places 
in the United States and Canada, in 
addition to those attending on Temple 
Square. 

The board of trustees for the new 



134 



Health Services Corporation of the 
Church were announced: Presiding 
Bishop John H. Vandenberg, chairman; 
Bishop Robert L. Simpson and Bishop 
Victor L. Brown, vice-chairmen. Board 
members include Elder Marvin J, Ash- 
ton, Assistant to the Twelve, managing 
director, Social Services; James E. 
Faust, secretary; Dr. James O. Mason, 
Church commissioner of Health Ser- 
vices; Neal A. Maxwell, Church commis- 
sioner of education; Mrs. LaVern W. 
Parmley, general president of the 
Primary; and Clarence E. Wonnacott, 
assistant commissioner of Health Ser- 
vices, treasurer. 

U At the concluding session of the 
general conference, Mrs. Naomi W. 
Randell was sustained as first counselor 
in the general Primary Association 
presidency, succeeding Mrs. Lucile C. 
Reading, who has been appointed editor 
of the new Friend magazine. 



LJ Elder Ezra Taft Benson of the 
Council of the Twelve gave the dedica- 
tory address and prayer dedicating 37 
buildings on the Brigham Young Uni- 
versity campus. 

iQj The setting aside of Monday night 
as a uniform home evening time was 
announced by the First Presidency. 

The appointments of Keith R. Oakes 
as administrator of elementary and 
secondary Church schools and Kenneth 
H. Beesley as an associate commis- 
sioner of education were announced. 

The appointment of Cecil E. Hart as 
president of the Idaho Falls Temple was 
announced. 



Cache North Stake was organized 
from portions of Cache East Stake in 
Logan, Utah, by Elder Howard W. 
Hunter of the Council of the Twelve. 
Charles L. Hyde was sustained as presi- 
dent, with James L. Shupe and Louis 
B. Hoggan as counselors. 

Pleasant Grove (Utah) Stake, the 
529th now functioning, was organized 
from portions of Timpanogos Stake by 



Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Council of 
the Twelve. Leon R. Walker was sus- 
tained as president, with Thomas A. 
Adams and Kenneth H. Gillman as 
counselors. 

New stake presidencies: President 
Glen T. Baird and counselors Martin T. 
Karren and Grant S. Sorensen, Cache 
East Stake; President Fredrick J. 
Schoenfeld and counselors Lewis R. 
Child and Carl G. Fowers, Lake View 
(Utah) Stake; President Vaughan J. 
Featherstone and counselors John R. 
Clarke and Ronald L. Rice, Boise 
(Idaho) North Stake; President Philip 
E. Jones and counselors Frank W. Bush- 
man and Kenneth M. Shepherd, Nebo 
(Utah) Stake. 



The appointments of Franklin D. 
Day and Dan J. Workman as assistant 
administrators of seminaries and insti- 
tutes were announced. 

The appointments of Lucy Jayne 
Clark, Helen G. Wright, Donna Lora 
Waters, and Beatrice R. Berg to the 
general board of the Primary Associa- 
tion were announced. 

The appointments of Rosalie Reese 
and MacCene M. Grimmett to the gen- 
eral board of the Young Women's Mu- 
tual Improvement Association were 
announced. 



Lil Oklahoma South Stake, the 530th 
now functioning, was organized from 
portions of Oklahoma Stake by Elder 
Thomas S. Monson of the Council of 
the Twelve. H. Aldridge Gillespie was 
sustained as president, with Harry L. 
Gibbons and Blythe E. Crow as coun- 
selors. 

New stake presidency: President Wil- 
ley E. Callister and counselors Leland 
J. Housley and Robert L. Ezell, Okla- 
homa Stake. 

E£J The appointment of Reed Whipple 
as president of the St. George Temple 
was announced. 

Plans for remodeling the old Lafay- 
ette School in Salt Lake City as the 
new mission home were announced. 



Era, December 1970 135 




FILMING THE 
MORMON TRAIL 

Max and Harriette Howe, seasoned veterans of 
over 175 travel film productions, recently com- 
pleted filming THE GREAT MORMON EPIC from 
THE SACRED GROVE to SALT LAKE CITY. 
Professionally filmed, edited and reproduced to 
Super 8mm color. Each title is 50 feet in 
length and contains many colorful scenes of the 
history in the Restored Church. A detailed script 
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The reel tours are in sequence so that they may 
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at home, classroom or fireside. 

SPLICE ■ IN ■ 
READY - TO - SHOW ■ MOVIES 



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# 2. Hill Cumorah 
#3. Priesthood Restored 
#4. The Church 

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#6. Missouri Exile 

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The Presiding Bishop 
Talks to Youth About 



Being in theWorld bill Hot Of t 



By Bishop John H. Vandenberg 



• As selfishness, violence, and un- 
controlled morals become more and 
more the prime motives in the ac- 
tions of men, there is an increase 
in the desire of many to flee such 
an environment. Some try to find, 
or return to, an area where most of 
the people are members of the 
Church. They may seek admittance 
for their children to one of the 
Church schools, where gospel prin- 
ciples are openly taught and ap- 
plied as a matter of educational 
policy. 

It is becoming more evident all 
the time that there is a limit to the 
degree to which we can put our- 
selves physically beyond the effect 
of the evil influences of our world 
by isolating ourselves in certain 
communities or schools. Church 
colleges have reached or are reach- 
ing enrollment limits that cannot be 
increased. Young people may there- 
fore need to reorient their thinking 
as they face adulthood in a per- 
missive, Godless, sensual world 
society. 

Perhaps the first item in this ad- 
justment is one of perspective. The 
Prophet Joseph Smith stated his 
perspective in Section 127 of the 
Doctrine and Covenants, verse 2: 
"And as for the perils which I am 
called to pass through, they seem 
but a small thing to me, as the envy 



and wrath of man have been my 
common lot all the days of my life; 
for what cause it seems mysterious, 
unless I was ordained from before 
the foundation of the world. . . ." 
" The Prophet believed that this 
destiny, this mission in life, was 
and would be true of all who would 
choose to embrace the gospel and 
dedicate themselves to full service 
in building the kingdom of God. 

"Every man who has a calling to 
minister to the inhabitants of the 
world was ordained to that very 
purpose in the Grand Council of 
heaven before this world was." 
(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph 
Smith, p. 365. ) 

With such an understanding of 
their mission in life, young people 
of the Church should be proud to 
shoulder the burdens of building 
the kingdom wherever they live. 
No generation since the beginning 
of history has been without its 
problems in contending with evil. 
Evil and sin soon penetrate isolated 
pockets of population, especially in 
this age of instant communication. 
These areas are favored for a few 
years. After that, strength of char- 
acter and dedication to gospel prin- 
ciples are necessary to withstand 
the downgrading effects of a bad 
environment. 

True strength of character comes 



from being engaged in a noble 
cause. Young people of the Church 
have been given a cause, which is 
outlined in the epistle written by 
the Prophet Joseph on September 
6, 1842: 

". . . for it is necessary in the 
ushering in of the dispensation of 
the fulness of times, which dispen- 
sation is now beginning to usher in, 
that a whole and complete and per- 
fect union, and welding together 
of dispensations, and keys, and 
powers, and glories should take 
place " (D&C 128:18.) 

Daniel saw that in our day the 
gospel would fill the whole earth, 
until Christ's kingdom would re- 
place earthly kingdoms. Only as 
those who have accepted and live 
the gospel are present everywhere 
can this happen. The lives of 
people are more effective than 
formal sermons. The youth who are 
in the world will find great satisfac- 
tion in being spiritual lights to 
counter the darkness in which the 
world finds itself. 

The Church has the programs 
.through which young people can 
anchor themselves in a confused, 
frustrated world. The Aaronic 
Priesthood program gives leader- 
ship training, gospel instruction, 
and opportunities for service that 
prepare young men for their tasks 



136 



he World 



in the Church. The Mutual Im- 
provement Associations offer the 
best in social, cultural, athletic, and 
scouting programs. Through the 
personal achievement programs for 
young men and women, personal 
goal setting can be practiced as a 
bulwark against the evil influences 
in the world. 

Gospel instruction is available 
each Sunday in almost all parts of 
the world in the Sunday Schools. 
Home-study seminaries and non- 
released-time and released-time 
seminaries give daily opportunity 
for well over 120,000 young people 
in the world to meet together, study 
the gospel, and strengthen one an- 
other to face the trials of the day. 
College students can find strength 
and guidance in institutes of re- 
ligion, available on a large number 
of campuses, where counseling, 
instruction, and sociability are 
offered. 

With the help of these programs 
and the support of a testimony re 
ceived through the Holy Ghost, 
young men and women of the 
Church can confidently be "in the 
world, but not of the world," and 
can carry out their divine mis- 
sion to usher in that "whole and 
complete and perfect union, and 
welding together of dispensations, 
and keys, and powers, and glo- 
ries. ..." O 



Buffs 

and 

Rebuffs 



'After Ten Years' 

The fellow I've dated for the past four- 
teen months is leaving in two weeks for a 
mission. Your article "After Ten Years— 
A Tribute to Missionaries" [September] 
consoled me a great deal. I find it hard 
to imagine not being with him, especially 
because we have grown together in the 
gospel since he was converted, but the 
article made me realize how greatly he 
will influence the lives of many others by 
bringing them the gospel. It made me 
think, where would each of us be today 
if it weren't for missionaries? Thanks for 
the support the article gave us. 

Debbie Hamilton 
Marshalltown, Iowa 

Evil 

William E. Berrett's "The Problem of 
Evil" [October] was most inspiring. I 
understand that philosophers want to 
know if men suffer because God could 
help them but won't, or because God 
would help them but can't. I admire 
Brother Berrett's facile answer: "Both." 

Rustin Kaufman 

Mountain View, California 

Long Hair 

I'm writing about a letter in "Buffs" in 
September that commented on long hair. 
I read the passage in 1 Corinthians 11:14- 
16, and I feel that if we are going to fol- 
low one part, let's follow all the scripture 
and take nothing out of context. I must 
have missed some definite Church teach- 
ing in the length of hair and the evils 
that are inherent in long hair. I've been 
taught to accept people as individuals 
and not to condemn anyone. I've cer- 
tainly seen some young men with long 
hair who bear their testimonies and help 
others find the truth in the gospel. 

D'Wayne Baird 

South Pasadena, California 

Mormon Philosophy of Speech 

Concerning "B. H. Roberts: A Mormon 
Philosophy of Speech" [September], B. H. 
Roberts was not taken to Utah by his 
widowed mother at age nine. His mother 
left England nearly four years earlier, 
leaving him in the care of converts to the 
Church. "Harry" traveled to Utah with 
his sister at age nine. His mother was 
not widowed. His father was very much 
alive, and in later years B. H. Roberts 
hoped to find him when he traveled in 
England. 

Mrs. Anita L. Mott 
Sudbury, Massachusetts 



'The Risk of Love' 

No Mormon who reads President Joseph 
Fielding Smith's definitive comment on 
"The Sacredness of Marriage" [Septem- 
ber] could do anything but bear his 
testimony. Then, on page 58 of the same 
issue, is to me the most moving story in 
the magazine, "The Risk of Love." It 
relates in simple but appropriate words an 
incredibly beautiful love story. My faith 
in the priesthood has been strengthened 
even more by the words of the bishop to 
Taney: "Love him and teach him, but if 
you see that he's hardened his heart 
against the Church, then you must have 
the strength, through the Holy Ghost, to 
leave him and make a new life." 

Ben Crowell 
Salt Lake City 

'The Mormon Miracle' 

Your September issue used the conserva- 
tive projected estimate of 20,000 people 
in attendance at the 1970 fourth annual 
presentation of The Mormon Miracle 
pageant at Manti, Utah. Over 37,000 
people witnessed this presentation under 
the stars before the sublime spectacle of 
the beautiful Manti Temple, built on a 
hill rising from a majestic mountain 
setting. The 1971 pageant will be pre- 
sented six nights, with a conservative 
projected estimate of 75,000 attendance. 
Dorothy Gray 
Pageant Coordinator 
South Sanpete Stake 

Library Program 

Although not a member of the Church, 
I read with excitement of your expanded 
library program [September]. I have 
visited the local chapel of your church 
many times and wished an adequate 
library program could be established for 
member and nonmember. 

This new program as outlined in the 
September magazine raises many exciting 
prospects for a knowledge explosion. I 
visualize a multi-media center that will 
serve all— the teacher, the student, the 
member, and the nonmember. I would 
hope that you plan to allow us on the 
"outside" access to the collection. I have 
found that materials I wish to obtain 
are not available at the public library. 
As an ex-public librarian, I can under- 
stand the reasons for this lack, but it 
does make a gap in research. 

I am presently a high school librarian 
and can only compliment the First Presi- 
dency on its stand for a strong library 
program. "The glory of God is intelli- 
gence," and the library is the center for 
ideas and the challenge of gaining intel- 
ligence. 

Please do not allow your libraries to 
become storehouses of materials. A well- 
stocked, neat library is an unused library! 
I hope that your librarians and library 
aides will be devoted both to the princi- 
ples of the Church and to the philosophy 
of the library profession. 

Allan A. Cuseo 
Rochester, New York 



Era, December 1970 137 



Todays Family 




• A popular song says, "Welcome 
to my world . . ." So does the 
kitchen at Christmas time. It smells 
so good: fruit cakes in the oven! 
cookies on the cooling racks! and 
good smelling yeast dough rising 
in the pan! 

The warming custom of present- 
ing home-baked goodies is a 
wonderful way to say "Merry 
Christmas" to neighbors and friends 
and a traditional way to welcome 
everyone into the kitchen. 

As you share the nourishing gifts 
of your kitchen, remember to share 
also your own spiritual gifts. 

How often we have been told to 
gain "faith, hope, charity, and love, 
with an eye single to the glory of 
God." We have been counseled to 
"be not afraid," to "be of good 
cheer." We have also heard, "Seek 
not for riches but for wisdom," and 
"Search the scriptures . . . for they 
are they which testify of me." And 
always "let virtue garnish thy 
thoughts unceasingly; then shall 
thy confidence wax strong. . . ." 

If we have heeded these words, 
we have been continually increas- 
ing our stores of faith, hope, and 
love, of courage and cheerfulness, 
of wisdom and testimony, and of 
sympathy, kindness, and forgive- 
ness. Spiritual stores have a mar- 
velous way of being replenished in 
double measure when they are 
given away and used. 



By Mabel Jones Gabbott 

Manuscript Editor 

This Christmas from your warm- 
smelling kitchen and from your 
spiritual storehouse share with 
your friends hot bread and cinna- 
mon rolls, with accompanying ex- 
pressions of gratitude, confidence, 
and love; sweet rolls with orange 
icing, wrapped generously in cheer- 
fulness, faith, caring; and hot rolls, 
cut in dainty small twists or shaped 
in man-sized circles, garnished with 
kindness, concern, and courage. 

It has been done before, as these 
stories will tell. It can be done 
again and again and again. 

1. It had been a good spiritual 
living lesson, but the teacher was 
nervous. Her child, ailing with 
croup, had kept her up most of the 
night. The stake Relief Society 
board member had visited. All in 
all, the teacher felt unhappy. Lis- 
tening and sympathizing, Dorothy 
had sensed the teacher's dissatis- 
faction with herself. That evening 
Dorothy took a loaf of warm fresh 
bread to the teacher's home with a 
reassuring word of gratitude for the 
lesson taught. This is Dorothy's 
bread recipe: 



Dorothy's Bread 

6 tablespoons sugar 
2 tablespoons salt 
6 tablespoons shortening 
1 quart scalded milk 
1 package dry yeast 
12-14 cups flour 



Mix the sugar, salt, and shortening. 
Add scalded milk. Cool. When the 
mixture is lukewarm, add the yeast; 
then add 4 cups flour. (This may be 
either white or wheat.) Mix. Let rise. 
Add more flour until the dough does 
not stick to your hands. Let rise again. 
Mix down and let rise once more. 
Knead. Cut into four loaves. Let rise 
until double in bulk. Bake at 420° F. 
for 20 minutes, then at 320° for an- 
other 10 to 20 minutes. 

Or make only two loaves of bread. 
Roll out the remaining dough for two 
pans of cinnamon rolls. Roll the dough 
into an oblong sheet 9" x 18" and 
spread with 2 tablespoons of softened 
butter; sprinkle with l / 2 cup raw or 
brown sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 
and y 2 cup raisins. Beginning with the 
long side, roll the dough as for a jelly 
roll, sealing the edge by pinching the 
dough with fingers. With a sharp knife, 
cut the roll into %" slices. Place cut 
side down on baking pan, allowing a 
little space for rising. Use well-greased 
9" x 13" pan or muffin cups. Cover 
and let rise until double in bulk. Bake 
25-30 minutes at 350° F. 

Wrap a warm loaf in shiny foil 
for your home teacher when he 
makes his Christmas visit, and ex- 
press your thanks to him for his 
faithfulness. Take a hot loaf, to- 
gether with the confidence of your 
testimony, to the new neighbor on 
the block, or the nonmember you 
have meant to visit. And wouldn't 
the bishop's family love a pan of 
cinnamon rolls, delivered with an 
expression of your love for their 
devotion and your trust in their 
calling! 

2. Early one December morning, 
while the household slept, the 
mother and her teenage daughter 
moved expertly about the kitchen 



138 



with whispered excitement. The 
chorus members would be there 
soon for breakfast after their final 
early morning practice. And then 
the doorbell rang. There stood 
Mary, beaming with cheerfulness 
and offering a pan of warm sweet 
rolls. "Just to ne lp out a bit," she 
said. 

Mary's Sweet Rolls 

iy 3 cups milk 

3 tablespoons sugar 
IV2 teaspoon salt 
Y 2 cup salad oil 
2 eggs 

2 packages dry yeast, dissolved in 
Y 2 cup water with 2 teaspoons 
sugar added 
5 cups flour 

Heat oven to 425° F. Mix all in- 
gredients together. Beat well with a 
spoon. Let rise. Knead lightly. This 
will make a soft dough. Roll one-half 
of the dough at a time into a rectangle. 
Cut in one-inch strips (about 12). Dip 
in butter and tie in knots. Let rolls rise 
until double in bulk. Bake in preheated 
oven at 425° F. 8 to 10 minutes. Mix 
1 cup powdered sugar with y 2 cup 
orange juice and orange rind, and drip 
over the hot rolls right from the oven. 

Are you involved with carolers, 
Christmas cantatas, or school or 
Church practices, where sweet rolls 
would reinforce encouragement 
and confidence in their perfor- 
mance? 

3. Some of us grow old and some 
of us grow wise. Our third story 
involves two who grew old and 
wise. In a little home off a busy 
highway, tucked behind heavily 
leafed, ancient trees, lives a most 
wise and gracious lady. Myrtle 
grows beautiful flowers and writes 
delightful poetry. When a friend 
reached the age of 75, Myrtle hon- 
ored her with a luncheon, graciously 
sharing her treasures of kindness, 
concern, love, and courage. Very 
special among the items on the 
menu were Myrtle's hot rolls. 

Myrtle's Hot Rolls 

1 package dry yeast 
l / 2 cup warm water 
IV2 teaspoons salt 



Vi cup sugar 

2 eggs 
y 3 cup shortening 

1 cup warm milk 

5 cups flour 

Soften the yeast in the warm water. 
Mix the salt, sugar, eggs, shortening, 
and milk. Stir in the yeast. Add 5 
cups flour gradually. Cover. Let rise. 
Remove dough from mixing bowl and 
knead well. Roll dough y 2 " thick and 
form into rolls. Bake at 425° F. 

Myrtle cuts small rounds of the 
dough and folds them over once for 
dainty, lady-like rolls. Just the right 
size for that Christmas luncheon 
you have been meaning to plan for 
the loved elderly women in your 
ward. 

4. And not the least: Welcome 
your own family into this wonderful 
world of Christmas baking and 
spiritual sharing. Let them know 
you love them most of all. Let your 
family share in the preparations, in 
the wrapping, and in the giving. 
Then some cold frosty morning let 
them awaken to the delicious aroma 
of orange muffins, hot from the 
oven. Our favorite recipe is made 
with wholewheat flour, ground 
fresh by the man in our house. 

Wheat Muffins 

1 egg, beaten 

1 cup milk 

2 tablespoons raw or brown sugar 

1 tablespoon butter or oil 

2 cups sifted wholewheat flour 
y 2 teaspoon salt 

3 teaspoons baking powder 

Combine beaten egg, milk, sugar, and 
oil or melted butter. Sift together twice 
flour, salt, and baking powder, and add 
to egg mixture. Stir only until flour 
mixture is absorbed. Bake in greased 
muffin tins 20-30 minutes at 375° F. 
Substitute orange juice for one-third 
of the milk and add two tablespoons 
grated orange rind to the flour for a 
delicious orange muffin. Serve with 
generous expressions of affection and 
gratitude for those whom you love and 
with special empathy for their strivings 
and their yearnings. 

What a special way to say "Merry 
Christmas! It's a wonderful world! 
Welcome to the love we have for 
you and the faith we have in you! 
Lean on our testimonies, and be 
not afraid!" O 



Era, December 1970 139 




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• Receiving original and unusual 
Christmas cards is one of the joys 
of the holiday season. Especially 
blessed are the friends and loved 
ones of Jennie Knight Mangum* of 
Provo, Utah, who personally de- 
signs the covers for her cards and 
sends greetings in appropriate 
verses, hand penned, on the inside. 

Jennie Knight Mangum is the 
daughter of Jesse and Amanda Mc- 
Ewan Knight. Her father and moth- 
er gave unselfishly to help build 
Provo and the Brigham Young Uni- 
versity. Jennie, following the coun- 
sel and example of her parents, has 
also given unlimited aid and service 
to the Church and to the univer- 
sity. Many young students have 
been blessed by the generosity of 
the Jennie Knight Mangum scholar- 
ship. 

Remembering her pioneer heri- 
tage, Jennie sent to her friends in 
1965 an attractive card, picturing a 
couple in pioneer dress following a 
star to their cabin, with the dream 
of the temple in the distance. The 
verse said in part: 

A pioneer couple 
Found their star, 
Ever so far— 
In the very best 
High mountain lands. 
They built a cabin 
With their hands. 
Warmth glowed within, 
Without 'twas clear, 
A guiding star 
Had led them here. 

Jennie Knight was born on No- 
vember 7, eighty-five years ago. 
She attended Brigham Young Uni- 
versity and was married in the Salt 
Lake Temple on September 6, 1905, 



to W. Lester Mangum. Eight chil- 
dren were born to them. Her 
jewels, she says, are her grand- 
children and great-grandchildren. 
In 1966 her Christmas card featured 
nine great-grandchildren peeking 
out of Christmas bells hanging on 
the tree. Inside, the poem said: 



Bells peacefully toll 

To gladden and cheer, 
Binding loved ones together, 

More closely and near. 
This year's Christmas tree 

Shields treasured bells nine; 

Creat-grandchildren these 
Are proudly claimed mine. 

Other Christmas cards have fea- 
tured such scenes as a snow-covered 
tree with colorful birds in flight, 
the structural beauty of a gnarled 
old tree, and a lighted candle. Her 
words in the latter card included 
this stanza: 
The struggle of man, like that of a 

tree, 
Is reflected in the gnarled branch 

standing free; 
Weathered but strong, goals gar- 
nered by time 
Make for this Christmas a symbol 
sublime. 

Through the years Sister Man- 
gum has known her share of strug- 
gle and has gained and shared her 
goals and her strengths. 

Her philosophy, "Not the good 
that comes to us, but the good that 
comes to the world through us is 
the measure of success," is a heart- 
warming guide for us this Christ- 
mas season. O 



°Christmas cards, courtesy of Mrs. Henry D. 
Taylor; biographical information, courtesy of 
Dorothy O. Rea. 



en:sign:ship\ 

:f or future times 



TheseTimes 



By Dr. G. Homer Durham 

Commissioner and Executive Officer, 
Utah System of Higher Education 



• "TheseTimes" has been a regu- 
lar monthly feature of the Im- 
provement Era for one-third of its 
73-year history. Beginning in the 
summer of 1946, it pointed to 
"Christ versus Marx" as the major 
issue of the century. I am grateful 
for the privilege afforded me these 
nearly three hundred months by 
the editors. I have assumed full 
responsibility for each monthly 
commentary, while recognizing the 
responsibilities attaching to having 
the contributed material published 
in the Church magazine. 
1 My first contributions to the 
Era began in 1934 under the edi- 
torship of the late Harrison R. 
Merrill and Elsie Talmage Brand- 
ley. Occasional articles appeared 
over the next 12 years, written 
from the British Mission and from 
subsequent academic posts at 
UCLA, Utah State University, 
Swarthmore College in Pennsyl- 



vania, and the University of Utah. 
In 1941 I was privileged to com- 
pile Gospel Standards, an Im- 
provement Era book, which was 
comprised of selections from the 
discourses of President Heber J. 
Grant, a founder and the first 
business manager of the Era. In 
1946, following the great second 
World War, with wide expansion of 
the Church in prospect, the grow- 
ing interest of its members in 
world and public affairs, I was 
honored with the invitation to sub- 
mit a contribution for monthly 
publication. Elder Richard L. 
Evans, with his rare skill and culti- 
vated art for concise, meaningful 
expression, provided the name, 
"These Times," for the column. 
In 1952-53, I was again privi- 
leged to compile the book Gospel 
Ideals for the Era, selections from 
the writings and discourses of 
President David 0. McKay. 



So it has gone, since Editors 
Merrill and Brandley first encour- 
aged me, 36 years ago. The 
column, since 1946, has had to be 
written some two months before 
publication. It has, therefore, been 
challenging to write something 
that would not be outdated by the 
time of publication. In doing so, 
effort has been made to stimulate 
the reader to think a matter 
through for himself, to study 
things out in his own mind. By this 
means, individuals, as citizens, 
can react positively and fruitfully 
to the world of events. Too, the 
column has been conscious of the 
college-aged, of the large num- 
bers of professional people that 
increasingly characterize member- 
ship in The Church of Jesus Christ 
of Latter-day Saints. Once or twice, 
rather lengthy analyses have ap- 
peared in the column. An example 
was the study of the Church and 
the Ph.D., which appeared in two 
consecutive issues in the 1950s. 
When the Era began publication in 
1897, not a single member of the 
Church held an earned Ph.D. de- 
gree. By 1946, when "These 
Times" began, several hundred 
had joined Joseph F. Merrill and 
John A. Widtsoe, the Ph.D. pio- 
neers of 1899. In December 1970, 
as the Era and "These Times" 
terminate, there are thousands of 
Church members with doctorates 
— presidents of stakes, bishops, 
varieties of Church officers, as 
well as those earned and held by 
six or more of the General Au- 
thorities. I have especially hoped 
that the Era's readership may have 
received the encouragement of 
faith to study things out in their 
own minds, to be anxiously en- 
gaged in good causes of their own 
free will and choice, and not re- 
quire to be commanded in all 
things (see D&C 58:26-29). 

In retrospect, concern for the 
home and family life, as well as 



Era, December 1970 141 




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used the L.D.S. method of trade, but not 
until now has there been a really organized 
system. With our new Business and Pro- 
fessional Exchange License we feel there is 
an unlimited potential for not only our 
customers but also for us." These are the 
words of Mr. & Mrs. Hugh Yancey of West 
Los Angeles. 

Two other well known L.D.S. businessmen, 
Harold F. (Stew) Stewart and Ross Rigby, 
have recently purchased the B&PE License 
for Salt Lake City. 

Through B&PE, goods and services can be 
bartered or traded for painting, dental work, 
furniture, appliances, medical services, car- 
pet cleaning, trust deeds, drapery, tailoring, 
carpentry and a wide variety of other 
valuable services and merchandise. 
No money ever changes hands. B&PE does 
everything. Members are sent monthly 
statements showing the totals of their 
credits and purchases. 
B&PE centers are being located across the 
country on a license basis. A B&PE license 
is ideally suited for a husband and wife 
team. A small investment will secure you a 
B&PE License. If you want a B&PE ex- 
clusive license for your city ...phone, write 



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for states and nations, permeates 
the series from its beginnings in 
1946. A welcome and prognosis 
for a truly great piece of LDS 
music ("New Music for the 
World"), Leroy J. Robertson's Ora- 
torio from the Book of Mormon, 
also appeared. The attempt to 
provoke and stimulate thoughtful 
individual citizenship has been 
supplemented with other cultural, 
social, and educational concerns 
of our religion. 

All this is to say, as with an 
earlier Church publication during 
the Nauvoo period, that all things 
have their times and seasons. 

So, in the last of "These Times" 
and of the Era, this series con- 
cludes with a comment on the pos- 
sible significance of the future 
magazine, Ensign. 

The name Ensign is significant. 
The Era's predecessor was known 
as the Contributor. The Church 
had acquired a modest base in 
Utah Territory, USA. There was 
need to encourage and cultivate 
the literary talents of the people 
of the Church. Then in 1896, 
statehood and a new era came to 
Utah. With it, in 1897, came the 
Improvement Era. In the next 
thirty years, the first stakes ap- 
peared in California, an extension 
from the several stakes in Utah, 
Idaho, and Arizona, and one each 
in Alberta, Canada; Colorado, and 
Mexico. By 1970, an international 
church, with numerous overseas 
missions, has experienced what 
President Joseph Fielding Smith 
has termed "an almost unbeliev- 
able expansion of the work," in 
Latin America, Japan, Korea, Tai- 
wan, Singapore, Thailand, and 
Indonesia. Today there are stakes 
throughout Europe, the Americas, 
and the Pacific Basin. From 1897 
to 1970 has indeed been "an im- 
provement era"! 

The Church is growing through- 
out the world. The work of mani- 



142 



testing Jesus Christ "unto all na- 
tions" is now properly the work of 
ensignship. 

The word ensign, in the Eng- 
lish language, conveys interesting 
meanings. It has been both noun 
and verb. Both words were 
adapted into the English language 
in the late fifteenth century. It de- 
rives from Latin, through Old 
French, into Middle English. The 
Latin root appears to have been 
signum (sign) with the prefix in 
attached. 

The Oxford Universal Dictionary 
on Historical Principles (3d. ed., 
1955) indicates that ensign as 
verb appeared first in strength. 
This was about the year 1474, in 
Middle English. It meant "to indi- 
cate." A secondary meaning was 
"to direct to an object; to instruct; 
to teach" (1598). About the same 
time, the word began to be used as 
the verb "to mark with a distinc- 
tive sign or badge." By 1600, 
ensignment (ensign plus ment) 
carried the meaning of "instruc- 
tion; a lesson; or a means of in- 
struction." 

The use of ensign as a verb, 
with the above significances, has 
largely become obsolete. The new 
magazine may revive it! Meantime, 
some of these older historical verb 
usages have entered the noun. It 
may well be, as a consequence of 
the new magazine and its future 
worldwide mission and influence, 
that a historical dictionary of the 
twenty-first century could well as- 
sert that "the noun, ensign, re- 
acquired some of its former verb 
meanings, such as to direct to an 
object or objective, to instruct, to 
teach, as a consequence of Mor- 
mon activity in the late twentieth 
century." 

Ensign, as noun, acquired mean- 
ing as "a signal or battle cry," 
principally in Scotland, by about 
1573. A secondary meaning 
(growing out of the verb), a noun 



for "sign or token," parallels the 
first use of the word as a verb 
about the year 1474. By 1579 
ensign meant an "emblem or 
badge," and "a naval or military 
standard or banner." This mean- 
ing has more or less continued in 
the English language. When the 
King James Bible appeared about 
1611, for example, the references 
in Isaiah (translated from Greek 
and Latin texts) appear thus: 

"And in that day there shall be 
a root of Jesse, which shall stand 
for an ensign of the people; to it 
shall the Gentiles seek. . . . 

"And [the Lord] shall set up an 
ensign for the nations, and shall 
assemble the outcasts of Israel, 
and gather together the dispersed 
of Judah from the four corners of 
the earth." (Isa. 11:10, 12. Italics 
added.) 

The word is used in the same 
light in Doctrine and Covenants 
64:41-42: 

"For, behold, I say unto you that 
Zion shall flourish, and the glory 
of the Lord shall be upon her; 

"And she shall be an ensign 
unto the people, and there shall 
come unto her out of every nation 
under heaven." (Italics added.) 

By 1650, ensign was occasion- 
ally used in a special sense to de- 
note "a company or troop under 
one banner." The soldier who 
carried the banner, the ensign 
himself, had become known as "an 
ensign" by the year 1513. Thus, 
gradually the company or troop 
who followed the "ensign" (or 
banner) carried by "the ensign" 
(the banner carrier) also became 
known, frequently, as an ensign. 
This use of the noun became obso- 
lete, as did the designation of rank 
for the British soldier banner-car- 
rier. However, in 1886, the United 
States Navy designated its pres- 
ent, beginning commissioned offi- 
cer as an ensign. This designation 
has continued in that organization. 



Ensign is thus a word rich in 
meaning. Its historical derivation 
and uses, both as verb and noun, 
are peculiarly fitting to the new 
publication. The word Era con- 
tinues in the New Era youth mag- 
zine. That is good. And the 
Friend will extend its pages to 
children everywhere. 

Let us hope, as these times 
move into future times, that the 
Friend will lead many bright-eyed 
children into a New Era; and that 
Ensign will "ensign," instruct, 
teach, and direct all to the grand 
objectives of the kingdom of God. 

From ensign, it is possible to 
coin a new word — "ensignship," 
meaning the application of crea- 
tive intelligence as service to 
others. 

Not everyone can write for the 
Ensign, New Era, and Friend, any 
more than all who contributed to 
the Contributor or Era saw their 
words in print. But if world tele- 
vision, movies, and theater are to 
have joyous (not sordid), intelli- 
gent, uplifting (not depressing) 
productions, someone must write 
and create the books, articles, 
plays, dramas, sketches, scenarios 
for such. And many, many more 
must joyously live and work, to in- 
spire the creative artists to so 
create, write, and produce. If 
pornography is to be relegated into 
disuse, some must produce and 
circulate the better art and litera- 
ture. Good is more powerful than 
evil. Good can overcome evil. 
But someone will have to write, 
speak, and act the better plays, 
compose the better music, create 
the more attractive art. These are 
a few of the great opportunities 
ahead. The creative and lively arts 
have been particularly significant 
in affecting human conduct and 
behavior during these times. They 
will have greater influence in the 
future. This will require "ensign- 
ship," in many, many fields. o 



Era, December 1970 143 



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End of an Era 



Life Among 
the Mormons 



During his opening 
remarks at a stake 
conference, our stake 
president discreetly said 
that occasionally the 
crying of small babies 
might disrupt the 
speaker as well as the 
congregation in a 
church meeting. If this 
should happen, he 
continued diplomatically, 
it might be well if the 
parent were to take 
the child out long enough 



to soothe and quiet it. 
Precisely at that 
moment an infant on the 
front row began to wail, 
and his embarrassed 
mother hurriedly took 
the long walk to the foyer, 
The president beamed. 
"Brothers and sisters," 
he exclaimed, "just how 
often does a speaker 
have such a cooperative 
visual aid as this?" 
-Helen S. Phillips, 
Denver, Colorado 



The compass of the spirit 
of Christmas points constantly 
toward others, never toward 
ourselves, except to beckon us in 
to the realm of service > 
and comradeship. The spirit of 
Christmas is ever buoyant, never 
earth-bound or grounded 
by accumulated mundane 
things. It soars over by the 
lifting wings of love and 
distils its blessings, even as 
the dews from heaven. 

— Elder Hugh B. Brown 

Two spinsters were discussing 
men. "Which would you 
desire most in a husband — 
brains, wealth, or appearance?" 
asked one. "Appearance," 
said the other, "and the sooner 
the better." 



A woman in the suburbs 
was chatting over the back fence 
with her next-door 
neighbor. "We're going to live 
in a better neighborhood 
soon," she said. "So are we," 
volunteered the neighbor, 
confidently. "What? Are 
you moving too?" "No, we 
are staying here." 

Christmas is a time 

for laughter, a time of good 

cheer, a time to sing, a 

time of happiness. But it is also 

a time to pray, a time to give 

thanks, a time of appreciation, 

a time of genuine worship 

of the Prince of Peace, 

whose birth ushered in the 

true Christmas. 

— Elder Mark E. Petersen 



No man who is in a hurry 
is ever quite civilized. 

—Will Durrant 

"What are you children 
playing?" asked mother one 
day. "We're playing 
church, " replied her 
six-year-old son. "How 
nice," said mother, 
"but worshipers shouldn't 
whisper in church. " 
"We know that, mother, " 
the son replied, "but we're 
in the choir. " 

Impatient man (outside 
phone booth) : Can I help you 
find the number you want? 
Young woman (sweetly) : 
Oh, I don't want a number. I'm 
looking for a pretty name 
for my baby. 

We are always more anxious 
to be distinguished for 
a talent ivhich we do not possess 
than to be praised for the 
fifteen which we do possess. 
— Mark Twain 

To profit from good advice 
requires more wisdom than 
to give it. 

— John Churton Collins, 
English literary critic 

Teacher: Why are you so 
late? Bobby: It's so windy outside 
that every time I took one 
step forward, I slid back two. 
Teacher: At that rate, how 
did you get here at all? 
Bobby: I finally give up trying 
and turned around to go home. 



144 



• 





f 



TeEra 
of Youth 



"i/larion D. Hanks 
and laine Cannon, Editors 



ecember 1970 





aJP* 



nun in 



and again 

and auain in 



this issue 



we remind vou to make this your most beautiful Christmas 



Era. December J 970 145 




By Kenneth W. Godfrey 



• I love all of those famous scriptures that tell 
the story of the first Christmas, and I whole- 
heartedly agree that such verses as ". . . Joseph 
also went up from Galilee . . .to be taxed with 
Mary his espoused wife, being great with child" 
(Luke 2:4-5) are what Christmas is really all 
about. I am also moved by the glitter of the tinsel, 
the hurrying, friendly, cheerful crowds, and the 
tang of the Christmas air, filled with "Deck the 
Halls/' "Away in a Manger," and " O Come All 
*Ye Faithful." Yet my favorite Christmas scrip- 
tures number three, all having a common theme. 
I confess that I have never heard them quoted 
alone, and I have never talked with anyone who 
has said they were their favorite scriptures, and 
as far as I know they have never been the central 
theme for an eloquent sermon or an oratorio. 

My favorite Christmas scriptures are : "And the 
shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God 
for all the things that they had heard and seen" 
(Luke 2:20) ; and "being warned of God in a 
dream ,-.. . they [the wise men] departed into 
their own country another way" (Matt. 2:12) ; 
and finally, "And he came and dwelt in a city 
called Nazareth . . ." (Matt, 2:33). The reason 
the scriptures appeal to me is because they indi- 4 
cate that after all of the excitement, the wonder- 



ment, the frills, and the awe of the first Christmas 
were over, the wise men returned home and the 
shepherds returned to their sheep. Though they 
had heard an angelic choir, had seen the Son of 
God, still the real test came as they returned to 
their flocks and to the day-by-day tasks of shep- 
herding them. The wise men, who had traveled so 
far, returned home, forever lost in obscurity. They 
had given presents to the Christ child, yet failed 
to present him with the greatest gift of all — 
discipleship. One wonders why they were not the 
Peters, the Pauls, the Andrews, and the Johns. 

And Jesus himself went, with Joseph and Mary, 
to a town where he would become a man. Though 
angels announced his birth, the heavens declared 
his arrival, and choirs of heavenly beings sang 
his praises, yet he alone could have "sold his birth- 
right" had he lived other than a perfect life. 

I was always impressed with the fact that after 
a whole night of conversation with the angel 
Moroni, the morning found Joseph Smith in the 
fields working. Such is the test of our devotion 
of Christ. Can we be his disciples while washing 
dishes, at a high school basketball game, on a date, 
in a science exam, with Mom and Dad? In the 
daily, often boring aspects of life, can we be 
Christlike, or only when we hear heavenly choirs, 



Illustrated by Phyllis Lucft 



k>g€R sceve lobXc? 




p*^« 












i * 



>: 



■>»• 



*l^&3»fii^^ 



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talk with angels, or win acclaim from our asso- 
ciates ? 

"And the shepherds returned," "they departed 
into their own country," and "he came and dwelt 
in a city called Nazareth" serve to remind me 
further that the Christmas spirit should last all 
year. 

This spirit should be like that of the family who, 
upon receiving word on Christmas Eve that a 
grandfather was seriously ill in a hospital 800 
miles away, found themselves in a station wagon, 
hurrying to his aid. Though the night was' dark 
and the road long, still they had to make the 
journey. Dawn found them outside a small 
community in Nevada. With the dawn came 
wakening children. Even the anxiety over the 
grandfather's condition could not hide the joy in 
the mother's eyes as she saw the wonderment, the 
thrill as they looked at all their presents and won- 
dered how Santa Claus could have delivered them 
while they traveled in their car. Years later the 
family would remember this as their most excit- 
ing Christmas. Why? Not only because of the 
uniqueness of Santa Claus delivering presents in 
a rapidly moving station wagon, but also because 
they were thinking of, caring about, and hurrying 
to their grandfather. 



Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a modern Christian mar- 
tyr, called Christ "the man for others." As has 
been said so many times, this is the true test of 
our devotion to him whose name we bear. Martin 
Luther put it this way : 

"The Virgin Mary, after she had heard the 
amazing news that she was to be the mother of the 
Savior, instead of sitting back to preen herself 
went on with the housework. How strange. The 
shepherds, too having seen and adored the Babe, 
went back to their flocks. Surely that is wrong. 
Surely the passage would read, they went and 
shaved their heads, fasted, told their rosary beads, 
and put on monk's hoods. Instead the Bible tells 
us, they returned, where to? To their sheep. The 
sheep would have been in sorry plight if they 
hadn't. It is what a man or woman has done for 
others that will count on Judgment Day." 

So after the presents are opened, the toys 
played with, and while the Christmas dinner is 
digesting, I try to resolve anew to return to my 
sheep, to my work, and to my covenant of 
discipleship, and then I know that that "silent 
night, holy night," when all was calm and all was 
bright, can be as real for me all year as it was 
for the shepherds and the wise men that first 
Christmas two thousand years ago. O 



Our concern must be to impress our associates with the fact there is a 
better tomorrow, and it belongs to those who live for it! Forgiveness and 
repentance are action principles. What a blessing it is in our lives when 
we come to realize there is hope and help for all of us in the days ahead, 
regardless of where we find ourselves at this hour. 

— Elder Marvin J. Ashton 



conference 



In today's world of confusion and conflict, the life and teachings of Jesus 
of Nazareth stand alone as the certain solution to man's problems. No 
greater opportunity or blessing can come into the life of a young man 
than to be called and ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood, thus being author- 
ized to act for him who gave his life on Calvary. 

— Bishop Victor L. Brown 



Is there a valid case for virtue? It is the only way to freedom from regret. 
The peace of conscience which flows therefrom is the only personal peace 
that is not counterfeit. And beyond all of this is the unfailing promise 
of God to those who walk in virtue. Declared Jesus of Nazareth, speaking 
on the mountain, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." 
That is a covenant, made by him who has the power to fulfill. 

— Elder Gordon B. Hinckley 




One of the most wasteful wastes in the world is the waste of time, of 
opportunity, of creative effort, with indifference to learning, indifference 
to work — the don't-care, drop-out, what's-the-use attitude. And of the 
steadying factors in life — one that would reduce restlessness, protest, and 
discontent would be for all of us to use in more useful ways the best of 
our abilities, with some awareness that the Father of us all might some- 
how, sometime shake us and say, "I have given you life. Now you make 
the most of it!" 

— Elder Richard L. Evans 




mm' 



Love is manifest in charity of the soul. Love is not real when one demands 
attentions and fancied needs, then is not appreciative of them and gives 
nothing in return for favors received. That attitude is one of pure selfish- 
ness and reflects a lack of gratitude, decency, and respect. Such a person 
is self -centered and cares not for his failure to acknowledge courtesy or 
express thanks and appreciation. Love is the purification of the heart. It 
strengthens character and gives a higher motive and a positive aim to 
every action of life. The power to love truly and devotedly is the noblest 
gift with which a human being can be endowed. 

— Elder Delbert L. Stapley 




J bear you my witness that I have obtained for myself a personal knowl- 
edge that the Book of Mormon is all the Prophet Joseph said it is; that 
from it radiates the spirit of prophecy and revelation; that it teaches in 
plain simplicity the great doctrines of salvation and the principles of 
righteous conduct calculated to bring men to Christ; that familiarity with 
its spirit and obedience to its teachings will move every contrite soul to 
fervently pray with David, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew 
a right spirit within me." (Ps. 51:10.) 

— Elder Marion G. Romney 



Era, December 1970 149 



• "Wipe your feet on that rug!" warned Mark 
Severin, senior patrol leader of Troop 108, as 
each boy entered the ancient log Scout house. 
Mark's fair skin was a sharp contrast to his dark, 
neatly combed hair. The trousers of his Scout 
uniform inched a little closer toward his calf each 
week, and the sleeves appeared to shrink. But it 
seemed a waste to buy a new uniform now that 
he was almost ready for Exploring. If only he 
could finish his Eagle requirements. 

When the meeting was over, Mark stayed be- 
hind. Joe Palmer, his Scoutmaster, was sitting at 
the table straightening papers. He looked up at 
Mark. "Say, Mark, when are you going to move 
ahead on your service project? Can't get your 
Eagle without it, you know." 

"I know," Mark replied. "That's what I want 
to talk to you about, Brother Palmer. Over 
Thanksgiving, my family and I decided about this 
service project." 

"Good. What is it?" Joe asked. 

"I want to sub for Santa." Mark watched Joe's 
jaws drop in amazement. 

"You're too skinny, boy. I know — you really 
want me to stand in for you. Right?" And Joe 
patted his ample middle. 

Mark laughed. "Hadn't thought of that." 

"How do you propose to earn money for a thing 
like this?" Joe asked. "You're not loaded — we 
know that. Are you sure you haven't got a tiger 
by the tail?" 

"How did you know what I had planned to do?" 



"I don't follow you, Mark. How would I know 
what?" Joe was puzzled. 

"Well — that 'tiger by the tail' bit. I had planned 
to rent the film The Tiger Walks." Brother Palmer 
laughed heartily at the coincidence. "Perhaps I 
could get permission to use the cultural hall. I 
figure this is a community project because the 
residents can participate in an unselfish effort by 
supporting the movie. Here's a sample of a ticket 
I've typed." It read : 

"The Tiger Walks" 

Second Ward 

December 15 

Suggested Contribution : 

Adults 75c Children 35c 

Mark continued, "I'd sell popcorn and candy to 
make extra money. The proceeds would provide 
Christmas for a family. I'd learn a lot in a service 
project of this kind." 

"A whole lot," agreed Joe. "What happens if 
you don't have a good turnout for the movie and 
you don't make much money?" 

"It just has to succeed. If the troop could also 
sell tickets and put up chairs and help sell pop- 
corn and candy that night, it would make them a 
part of the project. They'd be giving of them- 
selves this Christmas." 

"What about a prospective family?" 

"Mom called the community council for needy 
families. We can get one all right," Mark replied. 

"I suppose you know this will take your own 




Christmas," Joe warned. 

"Of course. I'm not asking for a thing for 
myself. You know, I never realized there are 
people who wouldn't have any Christmas if some- 
one didn't sub." 

Joe nodded. "We're behind you all the way, 
Mark. I think you've got a great idea." 

The two weeks following were busy ones. Even 
in school Mark found himself worrying over all 
the details that must be handled. But when every- 
thing was over, Mark was overjoyed when he 
counted his proceeds. He had over $70 profit. He 
was amazed to have a few people at church shake 
his hand and say, "Here's a little money for your 
project," or to donate something special for the 
cause. 

The agency assigned him a family consisting of 
a mother and her two small children — a boy, 4, 
and a girl, 6. Mark and his mother went to call 
on Mrs. Smith to ascertain the family's Christmas 
needs. When she greeted them at the door, she 
couldn't mask her disappointment. She brushed 
her hand across her forehead. "But I thought only 
rich people did this. And they've sent a boy!" 
She managed to check the tears. 

"I'm sure we can provide a good Christmas for 
your children. What do they need?" Mrs. Severin 
asked. Armed with the list, Santa's Subs went to 
work. 

Christmas morning Mark woke before anyone 
else. "Merry Christmas, everybody!" he shouted. 
He felt deliriously happy. As the Severins were 



opening packages, the telephone rang. Mark 
picked up the receiver. "Merry Christmas!" he 
greeted cheerily. 

"Santa?" the voice asked tentatively. 

Mark, recognizing Mrs. Smith's voice, replied, 
"Yes." Then silence on the other end. His heart 
sank — had he failed ? 

"I — " More silence. Then, "I just want you to 
know that a boy has given us the most wonderful 
Christmas we've ever had. How can I ever thank 
you 7" Mark could hear the Smith children clamor- 
ing to talk to him. For the next half hour they 
excitedly told him what a wonderful, wonderful 
Christmas this was. 

As he hung up the receiver, his brown eyes 
were shining. "Golly, this is the neatest Christ- 
mas I ever had! Thinking of others and doing 
for them — even people I didn't know — is the real 
spirit of Christmas!" 

Two weeks later Mark sat on the cement floor 
of the Scout cabin as Joe Palmer listened to his 
report of his Eagle project. Joe asked, "What do 
you think you really learned from this undertak- 
ing — aside from the thrill of giving?" 

"I learned that you can't do anything worth- 
while alone. It took my whole family and the guys 
in the troop." 

"Anything else?" Joe prodded. 

"Yes, I never before realized how much my mom 
helps me, in so many ways. Now I know why an 
Eagle Scout's mother is always given a pin along 
with her son." q 



(A true story) 

By Dora D. Flack 

Illustrated by Dale Kilbourn 




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"Give way; go on giving way; be superior to all 
provocation this single summer through. . . ." 

• It seemed strange that the words of the old 
letter in the strongbox carried with it for me the 
fragrance of Christmas; there was no mention 
whatever of Christ and the Yuletide. Yet as I 
thought about it later, and meditated, the feeling 
was there. I read again the entreaty of Colonel 
Thomas L. Kane to Brigham Young in a personal 
letter dated July 5, 1858 : 

"Give way; go on giving way; be superior to all 
provocation this single summer through. . . ." 

Johnston's army was east of Salt Lake Valley, 
poised to march into the city and carry out their 
mission of suppression. The Saints were deter- 
mined to resist ; they had been driven and mobbed 
and imposed upon quite enough. 

Colonel Kane, resolute friend of the Church, 
wrote to President Young, urging forbearance 
"this single summer through," pledging his ef- 
forts to bring about a sensible settlement, and 
offering his assurance that it could be accom- 
plished. 

It happened just as Colonel Kane promised. 
Johnston's army crossed the valley, leaving the 
people and their city undisturbed. The new gov- 
ernor of the territory was welcomed, an accom- 
modation reached, and a tragedy averted. 

What has this to do with Christmas? 



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By Marion D. Hanks 



Everything ! 

Christmas is much more than the celebration af 
a day or an event; it is a season of appreciation 
for life, for a plan to live it, for Godly love, for 
the gift of salvation. Christ is the heart of all 
this, and among the things he showed and taught 
was the way of forgiveness, patience — the way of 
superiority over provocation. 

In every community there are those suffering 
from injustice, those who smart under the sting 
of unfairness. Quarrels, estrangement, bitterness 
abide over wrongs often not even clearly re- 
membered. 

The Lord's teaching was that we forgive, cleanse 
our souls, renovate and regenerate our lives. The 
spirit of Christ must be poured in, cleansing, 
purifying, transforming, making sweet. Then we. 
can show mercy. Then we can return good for 
evil, overcome evil with good. Then we can cross 
the room, or the street, or the city, and make right 
the wrong, real or fancied. We can eradicate re- 
sentments, bitterness, hate. We can be whole 
again. 

Are we wronged? misunderstood? not appre- 
ciated? misjudged? threatened? persecuted? 
forced to go an unwilling mile? 

"Give way; go on giving way; be superior to all 
provocation this single summer through. . . ." 

Then it will be a Merry Christmas for sure — 
and a Happy New Year. O 

Illustrated by Phyllis Luch 



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Here is a collection of Christmas quotes to 

enrich your understanding of the occasion 

and your delight in the season. 

From 3 Nephi, chapter one: 
8. But behold, they did watch steadfastly for 
that day and that night and that day which should 
be as one as if there were no night, that they 
might know that their faith had not been vain. 

12. And it came to pass that he [Nephi] cried 
mightily unto the Lord, all the day; and behold, 
the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying: 

13. Lift up your head and be of good cheer; 
for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night 
shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come 
I into the world, to show unto the world that I will 
fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken 
by the mouth of my holy prophets. 

14. And behold, the time is at hand, and this 
night shall the sign be given. 

21. And it came to pass also that a new star 
did appear, according to the word. 



Some day that ever 'gainst that season comes 
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, 
The bird of dawning singeth all night long; 
And then, they say, no spirit can. walk abroad ; 
The nights are wholesome ; then no planets strike, 
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, 
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time. 

— Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act. 1, sc. 1.) 




By Pat Hardman,. age 15 



all the stars in the heaven 
could not shine enough 
for that one night, 
so they chose one star 
and gave it the brightness 
all the rest would have had. 

and it went before the others- 

a guide, 

a hope, 

a never-again. 

all earth's lifetime 

and a hundred billion hearts 

could not redeem themselves 

with their own pain. 

One soul took all 

that they had ever felt — 

and breaking, set them free. 

a star and Christ — 

never-agains, 

things to always reach for, 

always alone, never equaled. 



By President S. Dilworth Young 

Of the First Council of the Seventy 

The snow is on the land ; 

The hay is in the barn — 

The cattle sheltered warm. 

If any of thy people, Lord, 

Are cold, 

Lead thou them here 

Where food and warming heart 

Abound. 

Around my hearth 

May there be found 

The needy poor. 

What need at Christmas time 

To have expensive gifts 

From greater ones 

If I can give 

Thy blessed gifts of earth 

To needy sons ? 




By Phillips Brooks 



Said Jesus to his people on the western hemi- 
sphere : 

"Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and 
this is the gospel which I have given unto you — 
that I came into the world to do the will of my 
Father, because my Father sent me. 

"And my Father sent me that I might be lifted 
up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted 
up upon the cross, that I might draw all men 
unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even 
so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand 
before me, to be judged of their works, whether 
they be good or whether they be evil — 

"And for this cause have I been lifted up; there- 
fore, according to the power of the Father I will 
draw all men unto me, that they may be judged 
according to their works. 

"And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth 
and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if 
he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold 
guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall 
stand to judge the world. 

"And no unclean thing can enter into his king- 
dom; therefore nothing enter eth into his rest save 
it be those who have washed their garments in my 
blood, because of their faith, and the repentance 
of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the 
end. 

"Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye 
ends of the earth, and come unto me and be bap- 
tized in my name, that ye may be sactified by the 
reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand 
spotless before me at the last day. 

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my 
gospel. . . . 

". . . Therefore, what manner of men ought ye 
to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am." 
(3 Nephi 27:13-16, 19-21, 27.) 



Then let every heart keep its Christmas within, 
Christ's pity for sorrow, Christ's hatred for sin, 
Christ's care for the weakest, 

Christ's courage for right, 
Christ's dread for darkness, 

Christ's love of the light, 
Everywhere, everywhere, 
Christmas tonight! 



By George MacDonald 

They all were looking for a king 

To slay their foes, and lift them high ; 

Thou cam'st a little baby thing, 
That made a woman cry. 



156 





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By Elaine Cannon 



• Christmas is a beautiful time of the year. 

Hidden somewhere beneath the wrappings, 
among the greens and candleglow, behind the 
laughter and delightful confusion of the holiday, 
ever shines the secret of the season — the ideal of 
our Savior's life, that we love one another. 

"Beloved, let us love one another" is an easy 
command if there is a new diamond on your finger. 
It's a natural when a missionary has brought the 
gospel to a true seeker. But to have mercy on the 



sinner, to be patient with the stubborn, to find 
appeal in the less attractive and understanding for 
the one who differs with us, that is indeed a 
different matter. The idea of Christ's counsel that 
we love even our enemies and that we accept 
them in spite of how they look or act might seem 
to be unattainable perfectionism. After all, who 
is doing it really? 

Yet imperfection doesn't mean the idea is at 
fault, or that the principle won't work. It isn't 
who is or who isn't complying. Rather, for us it 
is how steadily we're moving in the direction of 
perfection in love and experiencing the resultant 
joy along the way. 

Christmas is a beautiful time of awakening once 
more to the ideal. Beautiful things happen when 
families and friends love each other in a Christ- 
like way and work at widening their circle of 
loved ones and dear acquaintances. ► 




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The wrought iron gate around the temple marks the be- 
ginning for a beautiful family and the beautiful Christ- 
mases that follow ever after, with pine boughs and 
lamplight, the caroling, the packaging, the welcoming 
door, the colorful lights, the baking, the tree with its 
mood-making decorations, and most memorable of all, the 
scripture reading that strengthens the "twigs" that sprout 
from the family tree. That's what a beautiful Christmas 
is. all about. 

Photos of the Maynard M. Sorensen family, taken by Eidon K. Lixischoten 




■ 



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1 HERITAGE HILLS 

I p O. Box 603 

\ prove, Utah 84601 ^ . 

Name __ ! 

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GENEROUS TERMS 



State 



Address 

City 
" i , 

Resident Broker BUSHNELL REAL ESTATE, Inc. P.O. Box 603 Provo, Utah 84601 Telephone (801) 373-6650 




e find inspiration in our great heritage of 
banking service dating back practically 100 
years. 

The Bank of Deseret (which became the 
)eseret National Bank and later First Security 
Bank) was founded under Territorial Law in 
1871. 

President BRIGHAM YOUNG of the Church 
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the 
bank's first president. 

The organizational meeting was held in the 
old city hall and the election of the board of 
directors took place in the Tabernacle in Salt 



Lake City. The bank was located at the north- 
east corner of Main Street and First South 
Street. Headquarters of First Security Bank 
remain in this same location— the oldest con- 
tinuous banking corner in Utah. 

Church officials continue to help guide the 
destinies of First Security. At the present time 
more than 150 officers of First Security in 
Utah and Idaho are Church leaders . . . past 
and present Stake Presidents, Bishops, Priest- 
hood and auxiliary organization officers and 
teachers, including members of the First Presi- 
dency and Council of Twelve. 



First Security Bank 

Member First Security Corporation System of Banks 
RESOURCES OVER ONE BILLION DOLLARS 

FIRST SECURITY BANK OF UTAH. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 

FIRST SECURITY BANK OF IDAHO, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 

FIRST SECURITY STATE BANK. 

FIRST SECURITY BANK OF ROCK SPRINGS. WYOMING. 

MEMBERS FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION.