(President of B. Young University.)

(President of B. Young University.) ¶

My brethren and sisters, this is a very unexpected circumstance in my life. I shall need your faith and prayers for the few moments that I stand before you. ¶

I have found that one of the great ills that comes to humanity is through the incapacity to judge motive. It appears that there were intelligences in the heavens before this world was made, that were incapable of comprehending motives. There were at least some spirits there who could not judge the motive of the great Father. I fancy that there must have been a tremendous unheaval in the realm of the spirit world when that brilliant spirit — brilliant as to some forms of concepts, brilliant as to expression, intelligent, keen, active in certain lines, and yet he could not understand the motives of his Father. It would appear that he looked upon what the great Master was doing, what Jesus Christ was doing, as something calculated to rob men, or rob spirits, of their freedom. He could not comprehend that the work of his Father had been one of sacrifice, one of toil, one of labor, mental and physical, for the good of the spirits there. He could comprehend his Father only as one who used His children as instruments to enhance His own glory, regardless ¶

of the children. Now why was that? Well, it is because intelligences are bound by certain laws of the mind to measure the motive of others by the motive that would actuate themselves under similar circumstances. And I today pity myself, I pity my fellow men, when I consider or know of either myself or my fellowmen indulging in criticisms that question the motives of my brethren whom God has honored with a position of leadership in the midst of this people. They are not about questioning my motive. I have often thought, in my close communion with my brethren, that they have been daily hoodwinked. And when I study these problems that thev are working with, I can plainly see that what to me seems emphatic trust, or mis-placed trust or credulity in the honesty of men, comes from this great law that permits men to judge the motives of other men by the motives that would actuate them in similar positions. It appears sometimes that our brethren, in trusting the saints, in trusting the stranger, know no bounds of confidence that they repose in them. And why is it? Why, the laws that govern the human intelligence govern them in a consciousness within their bosoms of unselfishness in their work, honesty of purpose, nobility of character in their communion with their fellow men. I say to the world, there is no greater proof of the integrity of men than the fact that they do so trust their fellow-men. ¶

My brethren and sisters, I came here to this conference for one thing more especially than any other, and that was to vote. O, I think so much of my franchise, my franchise as an American citizen, to be able to speak and pray as any man ; and ¶

I no less appreciate my franchise in this Church. I have today voted to sustain my brethren, and I hope before the Lord and His angels, that I shall not be in my household with a desire to criticize, or be in the assemblies of our University, in the class-rooms with such a feeling. I hope the walls of no other place shall echo the sound or voice of a negative criticism of my brethren. I hope it will not be heard in the home. Do you know, there are plenty to do these things. It is not our mission. I read here in the revelation of John where it says, "He is fallen, is fallen, he who accused, the accuser of our brethren before God day and night." I would not be able to go before the Lord in my prayers with any spirit of fault-finding with my brethren. I would not be able, with any spirit of fault-finding, to meet my fellow-men. I desire to sustain and support my brethren by my spirit. I want to support them. I don't want to have to say good things about them without feeling them. Is there a Latter-day Saint here today, is there in yonder building (the tabernacle) under the influence of the spirit that has dominated this meeting, the Spirit of God, that is not filled with the spirit of supporting the brethren and sisters we voted for today? This spirit should be taken to our schools, to our home meetings, and right into our own household. ¶

It is a splendid thing that in the economy of the gospel there is an adversary. That very adversary, will not let you nor me receive one iota of exaltation at the hands of our Father that we are not entitled to. He would stand there and say: "Stop, I demand that the law be executed here." But for all that the debts that the Savior pays for us he ¶

cannot stop, he cannot prevent us getting a reward for what we have done, for ourselves, if the Lord will, through our Savior, forgive us. Now I want to be, not simply forgiving to my brethren, but I want to be loyal. May the Lord help us to be so loyal to our brethren, loyal to their priesthood. May the Lord help me to be loyal, loyal to the covenants that I have made in raising my hand, in your presence, to sustain and support my brethren, that I may not even feel like criticising my brethren before men, any more than I would feel like denouncing them before high heaven. ¶

May the Lord help us to stand by our covenants, and He will ^tand by us ; and He will redeem us. He will forgive us, and blot out our sins that we cannot blot out ourselves, and we will stand before Him in the eternal worlds as being one with Him, and we will not be in the attitude of fighting against the Lord, but always working with Him; which is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶