Amusements and Recreation in Moderation

Closing Session. In the Tabernacle, at 2 p. m. President Joseph F. Smith called the meeting to order, and announced that an outdoor meeting would be held under direction of Elder George Albert Smith, also another overflow meeting in the Assembly Hall. ¶

The choir sang the hymn: ¶

An angel from on high The long, long silence broke ; Descending from the sky, These gracious words he spoke r "Lo! in Cumorah's lonely hill A sacred record lies concealed." ¶

Prayer was offered by Elder Lewis W. Shurtliff. ¶

The choir sang the anthem,. "Grant Us Peace, O Lord." ¶

I think, if my memory serves me correctly, it was St. Paul, in one of his epistles to Timothy, who said that in the last days men shall be "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." It occurs to me that the truth of this is now being realized, and that the tendency to become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God is growing in many parts of the world ; nor are we ourselves as free from this disposition as we should be. President Lund this morning, in dwelling upon reverence and respect for the Sabbath day, recognized by the Christian peoples of the world as the day appointed for rest and worship, pointed out to us the necessity of remembering the suggestions contained in the revelations of our Heavenly Father to us in our own time. I believe we are more censurable in regard to this tendency of pleasure-seeking than perhaps in any other respect, without it may be our continued disregard of the Word of Wisdom, concerning which the brethren have been speaking. The spirit of the times leads us in the way of amusement. I am not one of those that have serious objections to amusement ; on the contrary, I am in sympathy with a reasonable amount of recreation and pleasure. But when we note the fact that the weekdays are devoted largely to pleasure, and the Sabbath day is also taken for that purpose, we cannot help but feel that there is an overstepping of legitimate bounds in this direction. From the beginning of this work, the Latter-day Saints have been accorded the privilege by our Heavenly Father, through His servants, of enjoying themselves in a reasonable way in the dance, in representations upon the mimic stage, and in social gatherings in keeping with legitimate exercise, to lighten the heart and give the mind release from the turmoils and struggles that come to every man and woman who perform their part and discharge the responsibilities of life. But when we find our young people engaged in a variety of amusements nearly every evening in the week,with scarcely an evening spent at home, and indulging in companionships that are not in keeping with the right, going to places of amusement where men and women of all classes are permitted to congregate, and mingling with influences that tend to demoralization, it would seem to be time to call a halt. I believe that a more thoughtful and prudent course of conduct should be pursued by us in connection with these matters, and that these general gathering places, wherein our sons and daughters are permitted to congregate, should be modified in their effects. Where places are open continuously for those classes of amusement that bring the immoral and impure into contact with the innocent and the pure, and the door is opened for the introduction of immorality and crime into every village, town and city throughout the land, the Latter-day Saints should be much more thoroughly upon their guard in regard to this than they have been perchance. As I remarked before, I am a believer in legitimate and proper amusements. The boys and girls, the fathers and mothers, should mingle together and have proper recreation and pleasure, but free from the possibility of vicious and impure association. The children entrusted to our watchcare should not be turned loose thoughtlessly, without guardians or chaperones, into the companionship of men who scheme and devise for the injury and overthrow of their kind, who boast of their conquests, and who rejoice in the opportunities offered them to lead from the path of rectitude any young or thoughtless girl that may be brought into their company. The same is true in regard to the other sex, where there are abandoned and impure women, whose companionship is a menace to thoughtless and imprudent boys. Thrown into that species of company, they are apt to be led from the path of rectitude and the mark of shame written upon their brows by some overt act of an impure character. ¶

I trust that the suggestion of St. Paul may be held in remembrance by the Latter-day Saints, as well as by all other Christian people who reside in the communities where we have companionship, that in the enjoyment of the pleasures which come from legitimate association we shall show reverence and regard for our Father in heaven, that blight shall not come upon us by the spread of that spirit of thoughtlessness and recklessness and extreme desire for pleasure which shall carry from the home circle every evening and during much of the day, as well as upon the Sabbath day, members of so many households among us. I ask my brothers and sisters to look at this matter thoughtfully and prudently, and that as a community, standing at the head of homes, having the salvation of the community at heart, we shall seek to make this impress upon our own children ; and that we may not find ourselves, because of the liberality of our neighbors in connection with these things, unable to throw around our own the proper restraints necessary to keep them in that purity of life and that consistent course of conduct which we so much desire ; that respect and regard for the Supreme Being may be maintained, and that they may not drift with the current, lose their power of control, and become unthankful, inconsiderate, and in every way improvident, so far as reverence for our Father in heaven is concerned. I believe that when the great judge of the quick and the dead shall look into the lives of His children and consider the problems involved in the well-being of his sons and daughters, we will find ourselves under most serious condemnation for the extent to which we are permitting these children of ours to go unchecked. I recognize the experiences through which you go, from my own experiences along the same line. It is impossible to put a wise head upon young shoulders, and to impress upon the mind of a boy or a girl that their companionship should be guarded most carefully. They say to you, Why, this brother or that sister allow their boys and girls to go hither and yonder; they have no objection to their being found in restaurants, enjoying the companionship of undesirable persons ; they do not object to their sons and daughters frequenting the skating rinks, or in the great resorts that grow up in our communities ; why should you object to our going when all around us have these privileges? I presume such remarks are brought to the home of every father and mother. But I am satisfied that our regrets will be much greater in the future than they have been in the past unless we shall bear in mind the sacredness of the obligation of fatherhood and motherhood in this connection. Let them sing the songs of Zion ; let them enjoy themselves legitimately in the dance; let them have their privilege of visiting these pleasure resorts under conditions that shall restrain them from the possibility of being thrown into the companionship of vile men and women who would lead them from the path of rectitude and implant in their hearts the seeds of their overthrow and destruction. I ask you to weigh this problem, that our children may not stand with those who shall be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, but that in the enjoyment of the proper pleasures of life, guarded by the companionship of the wise and prudent, they shall receive their lawful opportunities, rightly honoring the Supreme Being and the moral rules given of Him, sustaining the principles of righteousness, and bringing out the powers with which their Father has endowed them in the most complete and proper manner. I realize that in order that we may accomplish this, and restrain our children from the possibilities of immorality and crime, more care and thought must be bestowed upon these matters than we have been wont to give them in the recent past. Not that I would deny any boy or girl those proper pleasures which relieve them from the toil and struggle that some may have to undergo in life ; but when they break out in open rebellion against every principle of good government, when they propose to mingle with the vile and the impure, when they find companionship pleasurable with those whose lives are to be censured by every thoughtful father and mother, we shall be under condemnation if we permit them without effort on our part to drift in the line of that destruction, and our regrets will be great at no distant day, for it may be your boys and my boys, your girls and my girls, that will by their misdeeds bring to us sorrow and heartache. ¶

I bear my testimony to the truth of the Gospel, and to the wisdom of the Apostle Paul when he appealed to the people to guard against becoming more the lovers of pleasure than the lovers of God. I commend the spirit that has been manifest in this conference, in the instructions that have fallen from the lips of the elders from first to last. Reformation is requisite among the Latter-day Saints in the care we bestow upon the children which God has given to us. May the Lord bless you with understanding and faith. May the good work move forward in the accomplishment of its great destiny, that as our boys and girls shall go into the world they shall be entrenched in the moral virtues of the Gospel of Jesus, and be clean and sweet among the children of men, in the fulfillment of the great destiny He designs they shall accomplish; that they shall indeed not be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, but that they shall be lovers of God and enjoyers of legitimate pleasures, under the influence of the good Spirit that comes from on high, designed for their uplifting and betterment. This is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶

Sister Emma Ramsey Morris sang, as a solo, the hymn, "Come, come ye Saints." ¶