Du premier conseil des soixante-dix et président

[FR] Of the First Council of Seventy and President of the Temple Block Mission ¶

[FR] I have enjoyed this conference. It has given us the spirit of the Psalmist when he exclaimed: "Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul." ¶

Reference has been made to the work of the missionaries on this block. This is an important mission, and the twenty frères et sœurs, who come to help us meet the strangers within our gates, are doing a fine work — a work that is noble and true. They meet all people with a Christian-like attitude of mind. They love people, and that is why the tourists see that our message is one of love. If we can always keep here the spirit of Jésus-Christ our Lord as expressed by the beloved John: "God so loved us, we ought also to love one another," then people will partake of the spirit of truth. ¶

We receive many letters expressive of the gratitude of the strangers who come to visit us. A famous Japanese educator recently spoke of our hospitality, and among the things he said was that on these grounds he felt the spirit of Christ. I am very thankful for this ; and very grateful that we have frères et sœurs working here who know the true service of the Master. ¶

[FR] We may surely say that it is to a large extent through such men and women that the Spirit of God kindles the fire of divine love and the longing for divine knowledge in the hearts of others. ¶

Mormonism recognizes that in this great age of new thought and progress, the power of the Divine is in the living present. The religion of Jésus-Christ our Lord gives us power to distinguish between the true and the false ; the eternal and the temporal ; spiritual substance and human opinion. Our great mission is to advocate an understanding between religion and the civilization of to-day ; and we must never fear to advocate the four great fundamentals of religion that we solemnly believe to be true. These are as follows : ¶

[FR] First, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him." We are gods in embryo. The human mind is infinite in its power to progress. In one of the finest passages of our great world-poet Shakespeare, he gives us his conception of the grandeur of the human mind when he writes : ¶

[FR] "What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty ! In form and moving, how express and admirable ! In action how like an angel ! In apprehension how like a god !" ¶

The second point that is fundamental to Mormonism is that Jésus-Christ died for you and me. He atoned for the sins of the world and gave us eternal life. In the Livre de Mormon we have these words of the prophet Helaman: ¶

[FR] "Therefore, my sons, I would that ye should do that which is good, that it may be said of you, and also written, even as it has been said and written of them. ¶

[FR] "And now my sons, behold I have somewhat more to desire of you, which desire is, that ye may not do these things that ye may boast, but that ye may do these things to lay up for yourselves a treasure in heaven, yea, which is eternal, and which fadeth not away ; yea, that ye may have that precious gift of eternal life, which we have reason to suppose hath been given to our fathers. ¶

"O remember, remember, my sons, the words which king Benjamin spake unto his people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jésus-Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the world. ¶

[FR] "And remember also the words which Amulek spake unto Zeezrom, in the city of Ammonihah ; for he said unto him that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins. ¶

[FR] "And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls. ¶

[FR] "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation." ¶

[FR] Through Joseph Smith, the priesthood has been restored in this day for man's salvation. This gives the Christian religion a new life force, and it becomes a demonstration in this modern day of divine life. It calls forth new activities in man, and is in keeping with the general development of humanity. We are expressing a divine — a very divine and vital truth — when we say that the priesthood of God was restored in this age by John the Baptist and Peter, James and John. Therefore our task is a great one, for mankind must come to think of religion otherwise than they think of it today. We may feel then with the great writer Fichte : 'We should rejoice at the sight of that vast field which we are called to cultivate, and rejoice that we feel strength within us, and that our task is endless." ¶

[FR] Then there is the fourth great point of the Christian religion that "The Lord God hath prepared his throne in the heavens ; and his kingdom ruleth over all." We are working for the establishment of God's kingdom upon the earth. No nobler purpose could be in the hearts of men ; no greater motive could ever move them. With these principles, we shall be able to work out the highest principles of morality, for faith in God and his work is the true basis of morality. ¶

[FR] I think we are held responsible for a rich creative work. One may call the principles I have cited old or new as one will. The question is whether they are true or not. I think that such ideas and ideals have always been common to man and have been expressed in different ways. There are today far more forces working — consciously and unconsciously— towards the goal of the Kingdom than we realize. These principles are not gained from books nor from experience, but from our contact with the Spirit of God which Jesus taught us could be done. So the simple truth of God's kingdom and man's divinity remain forever and ever. ¶

[FR] In closing, let me read to you the words of Adolf Harnak, one of the world's great scholars: ¶

"It is religion, the love of God and neighbor which gives life meaning ; knowledge cannot do it alone. Pure knowledge is a glorious thing, and woe to the man who holds it light or blunts his sense for it. But to the question, Whence 'whither, and to what purpose? It gives an answer today as little as it did two or three thousand years ago. It does indeed instruct us in facts ; it detects inconsistences ; it likens phenomena; it corrects the deceptions of sense and idea. But where and how the curve of the world and the curve of our own life begin, and whither this curve leads, knowledge does not tell us. But if with a steady will we affirm the forces and the standards which on the summits of our inner life shine out as our highest good, nay as our real self ; if we are earnest and courageous enough to accept them as the great reality and direct our lives by them ; and if we then look at the course of mankind's history, follow its upward development, and search in strenuous and patient service, for the communion of minds in it, we shall not faint in weariness and despair, but become certain of God, whom Jésus-Christ called the Father and who is also our Father." Amen. ¶