A Study in Social Intelligence

An overflow session of the Conference was held in the Assembly Hall, adjoining the Tabernacle, at 10 a.m., Sunday, April 6th, 1913. The services were presided over by Elder George F. Richards. ¶

The Thirty-first ward choir rendered the musical services, under direction of H. E. Dewsnup. ¶

The choir sang the anthem, "Hark, hark my soul." ¶

Prayer was offered by Elder Nathaniel V. Jones. ¶

Thomas L. Doxy and choir sang the anthem, "Crowned with the tempest." ¶

(Of the First Council of Seventy.) I hope that what is said this morning may be dictated by the Spirit of the Lord. I have been very greatly impressed with the services of this conference. There is one phase of the meetings of yesterday and day before that, to me, is a study in social intelligence. I think you were all impressed in the same way. When a man of the type of President Joseph F. Smith as leader of this Church, can stand before an audience of eight or ten thousand people, and call men from the congregation to the stand, in a magnificent building like the tabernacle, and have those men come forth and speak with the intelligence that they did, I say that it is a study in social intelligence which should impress everybody greatly. It is a known fact that in the Christian world there are few men, comparatively speaking, who can give any reason for their lives, for the hopes that they have, for their attitude toward the higher life, and I doubt if you could get as many men in all of this country to speak on the spur of the moment, as we can get within the membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am this morning impressed with the thought, that "Mormonism" finds its power and efficacy after all in the human heart, that it is directed and inspired by the best that is in life and the best that can come from the throne of Almighty God. ¶

I can speak to you but a few moments, but I want to leave this message with you. If there is anything needed today in the world, it is a knowledge of Jesus, the Christ. I believe that after all the only salvation for the social, political, economic and religious conditions of the world today is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

We hear a great deal of what we call the philosophy of "Mormonism." It was only yesterday that I was asked this question: Of what I believe to be the philosophy of the social aspect of "Mormonism?" I did not know what the question meant. It was indefinite. But I wish to make this reply to it: If people would only hark back to the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and get that simplicity in their hearts, first, last and all the time, there would be no time whatever for idle gossip, idle talk and idle thoughts, if you please, concerning the meaning of this religion and the meaning of life. We are becoming, I sometimes think, too complex. We are growing out of harmony with all that is best in life, because of our trying to cope with what I call the mechanical fads and fashions of the day. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rests upon the teachings of the greatest Soul, yet the simplest Soul, in expression and in thought; it rests upon the thought of the Redeemer of the world, whose every act, whose every word, was so simple, so childlike, so clean, so enlightened, that kings would bow to him. And we are told by tradition, in the Talmud, that little children kissed his hand. Now there is a thought there that we must not forget, and in this day and age of the world, in this confusion of life, all of us are working very, very hard to make life full of meaning, and to get out of it all that is best. He lives best who thinks best; he acts best, who loves best; he becomes the greatest light, the greatest influence in his religion of the pure Christ, when he passes on through life honestly, and when his whole body and soul in activity vibrates to the simplicity of the gospel of Christ. Now I say I was impressed with this thing on yesterday, and it is a study of social intelligence. ¶

I am proud of this people. I believe we are already taking the leadership of intelligence and morality in the world. That is my candid belief, and I have a right to say it. I believe that we have already set the pace for the solution of the social problem. I think we have set the pace for the solution of all the problems that concern the human race. I believe in the efficacy and in the power of men who hold the priesthood of God, because it is only through the priesthood that these problems will ultimately be solved. Another thing that I think has been impressive in this conference is this fact — you know, by the way, we all go home asking ourselves what lessons we have got out of the meeting; we should certainly do that — this meeting will do me and you no good unless you and I carry into our hearts a real, good reason, thought and suggestion to put into our lives tomorrow and the next day and all the days to come. ¶

Now I say another thought has impressed me very forcibly in this conference thus far. It is the fact that there is a difference between priestcraft and priesthood. Priestcraft is the hierarchy of a man-made government; it is a result of man's force and energy. Priesthood is the expression of the power of Almighty God in the soul, the very being of men who bear that divine calling. Historically, socially, religiously, there is a difference between priestcraft and priesthood. ¶

My brethren and sisters, we are living in a very great age. I believe that we are all going to be more or less agitated at times in our feelings concerning things that are said and done towards us and said about us. But the glorious thing about this Church, if we are living our religion, is that nothing in the world can hurt us. You know nothing can injure truth. Truth has, it is quite true, but one enemy, and that is untruth. Untruth has two enemies, truth and itself. And my faith is that truth in any line will always become pre-eminent, predominant, and will always win out in the end. If we are living our religion as best we can, nothing from outside can ever injure us. The injury would come from our own hearts, our own activities, our own passions. So I say it behooves us as Latter-day Saints to study very hard, to think very accurately, and to allow our activities and our words to become mere expressions of our inner souls, and lives. ¶

We ought to have ideals. We ought to have greater ideals every day. We ought to have greater dreams. I claim there never has been anything accomplished by a man unless he dreamed dreams and had visions of greater things. I glory when a Latter-day Saint says to me: "I dream, I have my vision of greater things," because that is pre-eminently the gift of God to man, and when men do dream, when men have their visions, then will men have their ideals, and will strive to carry these ideals out and make of life the greatest, the glorious thing that God had intended it to be. I love the man or the woman who goes from day to day, staking his whole being upon the fact that in his life there is but one sum and substance, and that is work. ¶

Recently, in an interview, a man asked when these "Mormon" men and women found time, for joy or fun, for, he said, "it seems to me that the men and the women you have here are all working, working." It is in our work that we find our joy. It is in our work that we find our light and our happiness. It is in our work that we discover our lives. So we must work and never become discouraged. We must study and look up to the higher light, for there is always a higher light. God pity the man or the woman who has never seen it. We must learn to live ideally and idealistically. We must learn not always to say things that are practical in the sense of being materialistic. We must become practical but we must get away from the materialistic at times, and live the spirit which comes of God. That is practical. Some people get the idea, you know, that if any one lives a spiritual life, he is not practical. That is another thing that has impressed me in this conference, that men say by their lives that they are spiritualistic, and yet they make life real, practical, and true. We should then study the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We should study the Holy Bible. We should study that equally great book, the Book of Mormon. We should find our rest, our peace, expressed in the Doctrine and Covenants. I want to say here — and every man has a right to believe what he wishes and to hold what he wishes to be true — I want to say to you, Read the book, the Pearl of Great Price, and read the Book of Abraham. The Pearl of Great Price I hold to be one of the most intelligent, one of the most religious books that the world has ever had; but, more than that, to me the Pearl of Great Price is true in its name. It contains an ideal of life that is higher and grander and more glorious than I think is found in the pages of any other book unless it be the Holy Bible. It behooves us to read these things, understand them; and I thank God when they are attacked, because it brings to me, after a study and thought, back to the fact that what God has given He has given, and He has nothing to retract. ¶

God bless you in your work, and may we be united as a people, for in unity there is strength. Let us learn. Let us learn to look up. Let us learn that God made the stars and the sun and the moon for us. Life is too big, too noble, too true for us to stoop to low things. We have not time to talk about our neighbor. We have not time to speak unkind thoughts. We should be so active that every moment counts for the better life, and our dreams and our hopes and our ambitions should be lodged in the light of God, and our very activities should be making for His Kingdom. This applies to us all. And so let us take from this conference great thoughts. Let us find in it the kernel in the nut. Let us see to it that we carry these great thoughts home with us, and as much as possible weave them into our lives, that our lives may be made more resonant, more fruitful, that we may harmonize our very beings with the light, and with the will and the kingdom of God more each day. Then will the world say of us, that our light, the light of "Mormonism," so shines that it becomes the ideal for the world to follow. ¶

The gospel is true, every word of it. Jesus is the Christ. Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and the revelation of God to his children will make it known better and better every day and every hour. God bless you. Amen. ¶