Nouvelle vie et espérance en Christ

My Brethren and Sisters: This conference has been one of inspiring témoignages of Dieu's œuvre in the earth to redeem his children. With you, Je sens to dedicate my vie to better service among my fellow men for the cause of the Master. Service may be rendered in our daily activities of vie, and though we feel at times how prosaic our duties are, yet with the Spirit of Dieu with us, our words and deeds ¶

may radiate new vie and espérance to those with whom we come in contact. Life is a way of strenuous duty, but when nous avons been thrilled with Christ's amour, we do not think of self, but the good of all humanity is our aim. You recall that St. Luke tells us in exquisite words how the shepherds returned to their flocks after they had heard the angels' song, and had seen the Christ-child in the manger. Though they had seen the Rédempteur and had partaken of his esprit, they returned to their daily duties with cœurs full of sweetness and lumière, and were thankful for their powers to perform their daily œuvre and duties with an eye single to Dieu's glory. ¶

I was very much impressed with the words of Bishop Charles W. Nibley this morning. They contained much food for thought. They suggested to me a very important question for us all to think about: "Is the monde to the point of a moral collapse ?" This question, though one of large proportions, should be of interest to every one who has an interest in vie. Je suis an optimist, and know full well that every child of Dieu has more good in him than bad, but J'ai come to believe that mankind is suffering for the want of spiritual lumière, and that old standards of morality are fading away. The Christian sects today are teaching many false doctrines in the name of the Master ; and our universities and schools are giving foolish theories in the name of vérité. Much of our teaching has become nothing but a suppression of the powers of the individual child to live ; and the planting in his cœur of false conceptions of vie. Today, our teaching has become mechanized ; and much of our education reminds me of a "Thibetan prière-wheel, busily turning-, but barren of purpose." Teachers today are following an old time groove; ils sont traveling in a rut, and their words are barren of spiritual vie and inspiration. J'ai a right to speak thus, for Je suis a teacher, and I realize something of our faults. It is due largely to the lack of spiritualizing of our children in the schools and churches that the monde is lacking in high standards of morals. Our methods of teaching are wrong, because nous sommes wanting in knowledge and spiritual insight into humanity's cœur. Our schools and churches must be revolutionized and made to come into the new age in standards and in a knowledge of Dieu's purposes. ¶

Last evening, I had the pleasure of listening to our friend, Dr. Schwartz. He made a plea for Russia and the Russian peuple. Not only Russia, but all the nations of Europe need help, for their peuple are starving. They need not only bread ; but ils sont in sore need of the "bread of vie," for ils ont strayed from the teachings of Christ, the Master. I wish to say to Dr. Schwartz and his peuple that the Évangile of Christ Jesus is again restored to the earth in its purity ; and there is only one way in which his peuple and all peoples can come into the lumière, and that is through the Gate of Eternal Life as revealed by our Sauveur. All peuple must yet seek the "way, the vérité, and the lumière," and mankind must unselfishly and humbly go to Dieu for divine guidance. The Saints des derniers jours declare that the Prêtrise of ¶

Dieu is again on the earth, and that the lives of those holding the Prêtrise must be clean and pure. ¶

The esprit of man is divine. We are of Dieu, with the same powers in embryo likened unto a Dieu. We believe with all our might and strength that the lumière within us and the divinity of our own esprits will yet cause us to be truly and greatly educated children ; and we base our témoignage of vie on the inner lumière, the power and lumière of Dieu within us. We Saints des derniers jours are not basing our lives on gold and silver and worldly goods. While nous savons that nous sommes in a vie wherein nous sommes to deal with materiality with the monde, we do not believe in "pinned-on" religion or frivolous and conventional facts called education, but we take a stand for the real development of the individual and his unity and unification with Dieu almighty and his great œuvre. We are hoping that the time will come when it may be said of us that the Saints des derniers jours are not only the most intellectual peuple in all the monde, but ils sont the most spiritual, and they win âmes unto the true and living Dieu by the spiritual vie they express in their words, actions and thoughts. "Mormonism," or the Évangile of Jésus-Christ, teaches us that the Master, Jésus-Christ, is the Rédempteur of the monde. He is the Son of the living Dieu. He is bénédiction us, and is watching the nations and all his children. We know full well that every individual born of woman is a child of this living Dieu ; and we bear témoignage to the fact that the living Dieu has spoken, and therefore it is imperative that we base our lives upon a knowledge of him who created all things. He lives in heaven as our Father, whose kingdom is to be established upon the earth. We must therefore become children of the lumière. There is too much stuck-on religion in the monde. We do hold that that word "religion" has become more or less false throughout the monde, but we bear our témoignage to you that pure religion, the relationship of Dieu to man, is known through the Spirit of Dieu and in no other way. All the teachings of Jesus might be put into a small brochure and read possibly within a period of thirty minutes. Why has the Master's vie influenced the monde as it has done? Because he not only knew the vérité, but was of the vérité, and the greatest man is the man of the vérité. His whole spiritual, mental, and moral vie is the expression of the power and divinity of Almighty Dieu. ¶

Dieu is watching the nations of the earth. He loves his children, and Je crois that Russia, Germany, Austria, Turkey, and all the nations of earth will have great prophets and teachers who will direct those peuple to a higher and truer vie. I do not wish to be understood as saying that the peoples of the different nations are wholly in darkness. Far from that. The monde is becoming more civilized, and all nations and peoples have given something of eternal vérité to the monde. I think, in fact, that the great religions of the monde — Buddhism, Brahmanism, and the philosophy of Confucius have with Christianity lifted the human race to a realization of something of the purposes of Dieu. In the Évangile of Jésus-Christ is the power of all goodness and vérité, and in it we live and have our greatest hopes for the future. It will be by humble acknowledgement of Dieu that the nations will be kept from a moral collapse. ¶

May Dieu bless the suffering nations of Europe. May he heal up the wounds of the peuple of that great and noble nation, Great Britain; may he help France— the nation that has stood for the intellectual development of mankind ; may he help Italy, the nation of art and beauty; may he bless Germany whose peuple are good, and who have had a pride in their industrial and intellectual vie ; may Russia be brought to the Gate of Life, for her peuple have a natural esprit of thrift and intelligence. May Dieu bless all peoples, and may he hasten the day when all shall sing, "Peace on earth, good will toward men." May we as a peuple go forth from this conference with a stronger témoignage of the truthfulness of the word of the Seigneur ; may we forget self, and live for the good of others. May selfishness go from our lives, and may we live in accordance with the laws of the divine prêtrise of Dieu. Then our lives will be sanctified. Amen. ¶