Recurrence to Fundamental Principles

I have greatly rejoiced at the testimonies, teachings and spirit of this conference, and I trust that by the blessings of the Lord the feast may continue. ¶

The Constitutional Convention, over which the late lamented Prest. John Henry Smith presided, declared that "a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is essential to the security of individual rights and the perpetuity of free government." I think that truth is equally applicable in the Church, and that it was altogether timely and appropriate for the Presidency of the Church to refer to the fundamental principles underlying the organization of the Church and the practice of the priesthood, so that the exceptional, justifiable under exceptional circumstances, might not tend to crystalize into the established rule of practice. Like others of the speakers, I am not afraid that the third, the fourth and subsequent generations in the Church will forsake the gospel, if they are only properly indoctrinated in the principles of the Church. The danger is when they do not know the truth. ¶

I met, sometime ago, a young student from the East, of "Mormon" parentage, who was a little adrift and had his doubts, because so called evil exists in the world. His attention had not been called to the doctrines of the Church in reference to that subject, which poets and philosophers have wrestled with. The poet Pope discussed the question when he reached the conclusion that, ¶

"All nature is but art unknown to thee, ¶

All chance, direction which thou canst not see; ¶

All discord, harmony not understood, ¶

All partial evil, universal good." ¶

A familiar song declares that, "There is no song within our glad heart singing but has an echo of some minor strain." That amid the leaves of the most beautiful rose, a thorn is to be found; that the brightest day closes in shadows and in darkness, etc. ¶

The poet Holland, in his beautiful poem entitled, "Bitter Sweet," considered the question in a very deep and thoughtful way, and when faith came to him, finally concludes: ¶

"Evil is only the slave of good; ¶

Sorrow the servant of joy, ¶

And the soul is mad that refuses food ¶

Of the meanest in God's employ. ¶

The fountain of joy is fed by tears, ¶

And love is lit by the breath of sighs, ¶

The deepest griefs and the wildest fears ¶

Have holiest ministries. ¶

Strong grows the oak in the sweeping storm ¶

Safely the flower sleeps under the snow; ¶

And the farmer's hearth is never warm ¶

Till the cold wind starts to blow." ¶

The poet Tennyson considers the question also, and concludes, or exclaims: ¶

"O yet we trust that somehow good ¶

Will be the final goal of ill, That nothing walks with aimless feet, ¶

That not one life shall be destroyed ¶

Or cast as rubbish to the void, ¶

When God hath made the pile complete; ¶

That not a worm is cloven in vain; ¶

That not a moth with vain desire ¶

Is shriveled in a fruitless fire, ¶

But subserves another's gain. ¶

I can but trust that good will fall ¶

At last—far off—at last, to all, ¶

And every winter change to spring." ¶

But I know of no literature that discusses the question more intelligently or philosophically than it is discussed in the Book of Mormon. Lehi, in speaking to his son Jacob, says: ¶

"For it must needs be that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness, nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one. Wherefore if it should be one body, it must needs remain as dead, having no life, neither death nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility. Wherefore it must needs have been created for a thing of naught. Wherefore there would have been no purpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power and the mercy and the justice of God. And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness; and if there be no righteousness, there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness, there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not, there is no God. And if there is no God, we are not, neither the earth, for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon. Wherefore all things must have vanished away. And now, my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning. For there is a God, and He hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon, and to bring about His eternal purposes in the end of man, after he had created our first parents, and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and in fine all things which are created, it must needs be that there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter; wherefore the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore man could not act for himself, save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other." ¶

My young friend would really have done away with the free agency of man, if the universe had been planned after his order. Everything would be on the dead level of sameness; no extreme of cold, no extreme of heat, the temperature always being medium; no darkness in contrast with light, no evil in contrast with good, no sorrow in opposition to joy, etc. These opposites, as we are clearly informed in the Book of Mormon, really go to the question of free agency in this world of ours. ¶

Some of the speakers commented upon the fact that we might expect, or that it was a little strange that there were not, larger numbers in the world flocking to the standard of "Mormonism," in view of its glorious principles. One reason there are not greater numbers converted is that the "Mormon" people have been misunderstood and their doctrines misunderstood. We have been to the world as "ships that pass in the night," as Longfellow gives us the figure in his Tales of a Wayside Inn: ¶

"Ships that pass in the night, ¶

They speak one another in passing, ¶

Only a signal shown ¶

And a distant voice in the darkness ¶

So on the ocean of life, ¶

We pass and speak one another. ¶

Only a voice and a glance, ¶

Then darkness again and a silence." ¶

Individuals living even under the same roof do not in all respects understand one another. Some of the most serious tragedies that have come to my attention have been on account of a misunderstanding even by those who were very close to one another by the ties of kinship and affection. If those beneath the same roof may not understand one another aright, is it to be expected that those living remote from us should not have a misconception of our ideals and doctrines? Those brethren who responded yesterday, and who gave such strong testimonies to the truth of the gospel, were men who probably have not had the direct call of a heavenly messenger. The voice does not come to all as it came to Moses in the burning bush; not always as it came upon the Mount, amid the thunderings and lightnings; not always with cloven tongues of fire; and yet the silent call of the still small voice, the call of the divine, led these men and tens of thousands of others into the Church, in many cases in the face of contumely, scorn, sarcasm, and disinheritance; but the call was so potent to them, the call of the divine in their souls, that they were willing to bear ostracism of society, the disinheritance of their parents, to devote their lives to the truth, although it might mean, in a certain sense, a life of hardship, toil and trouble. Yet joy unspeakable came to them, the supreme joy of knowing that their lives were in harmony with the Infinite, and that they were responding to the silent call of the divine voice. ¶

I must not occupy more of your time. May the Lord bless you, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶