God's Laws Should Govern All Life's Affairs, Trivial or Great

I sincerely trust that I may be able to express what I have in my heart to say. To me, it seems important and practical; but I rather fear that when I attempt to say it, it will seem to the Saints trivial and unimportant, so I pray that the inspiration of this conference, the blessings of the Lord that have attended the brethren who have occupied this position before, may direct me this afternoon. ¶

The Gospel principles are glorious, they are divine, and I believe that there is not a soul in this house who does not believe that they are glorious and divine. Most of us know the source of these principles and these ordinances. We know that God is revealing and has revealed His will to men ; but the great important thing to me is, To what extent do we introduce these glorious principles into our lives. In other words, how do we apply our religion? We just sang the opening hymn, ¶

"How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord, ¶

Is laid for your faith in His excellent word; ¶

What more can He say than to you He hath said, ¶

You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?" ¶

When we think of the revelations He has given to the human family since the beginning of time, down to this last and greatest of dispensations in which He has revealed, through the greatest of prophets, revelations that are glorious and practical, when we contemplate, I say, all that God has given us, it does seem that we can say with the poet, "What more can He say than to you He hath said ?" But on the other hand, when we contemplate how little we apply these principles in our individual lives, in our civic lives, in our national lives, we begin to realize how much more God has done for us than we are doing for Him. We should apply these principles, too, in what seem to be trivial things. There is no one great thing that we can do to obtain eternal life, and it seems to me that the great lesson to be learned in the world today is to apply in the little acts and duties of life the glorious principles of the Gospel. Let us not think that because some of the things named this afternoon may seem small and trivial, that they are unimportant. Life, after all, is made up of little things. Our life, our being, physically, is made up here of little heart beats. Let that little heart stop beating, and life in this world ceases. The great sun is a mighty force in the universe, but we receive the blessings of his rays because they come to us as little beams, which, taken in the aggregate, fill the whole world with sunlight. The dark night is made pleasant by the glimmer of what seem to be little stars ; and so the true Christian life is made up of little Christ-like acts performed this hour, this minute, in the home, in the quorum, in the organization, in the town, wherever our life and acts may be cast. ¶

I want to call your attention to part of the farewell address that an aged man gave to his people many hundreds of years ago, for it seems to me that the power of that address as it influenced the people of his time is applicable to the world today. Many hundreds of years ago an old prophet, tried and proved by a life of service to God, gathered his people around him, related their history, and pointed out the hand of God over them, how He had preserved them, led them through trials, temptations, delivered them from their enemies and blessed them time after time, notwithstanding their frequent departures from His will. Then He appealed to them to say whether or not they were going to serve Him, or whether after all the Lord had done for them they were going to fall back and worship false gods. They were so impressed that they cried out in their hearts, "The Lord, our God will we serve and His voice will we obey," and then Joshua, the aged prophet, gathered them around him and, under an old oak tree that stood close by the sanctuary, erected a pile of rocks which was to stand as a reminder of the covenant which they had that day made, and so long as they should see that, they were to remember the covenant which they had made ; they were going to serve God and His voice obey. ¶

Brethren, these conferences appeal to me as opportunities for us to renew our covenants. This conference, particularly, is a time of refreshing, a time of renewal of spirit, and an opportunity for all Israel to ¶

say after all they hear, after all they know to be true, "We will serve the Lord and His voice we will obey." ¶

I said that the great need of the world today is applied religion. When I think or read of the horrors of the most wicked of wars, now going on in Europe, when I picture young men who have been forced to carry the gun and slay their fellowmen, running across a field, burrowing into the earth as animals, to protect themselves from their fellowmen, when I read of these men lying heaped in trenches, and in fancy hear their groans as they turn their ghastly faces to heaven, when I think of the devastated towns and see fleeing from those towns husbandless women, dragging fatherless children, when I think of the thousands of human beings who are going to die of starvation and disease,— because we are told that for every soldier that dies in battle five others at least will die of exposure, disease and starvation — I say when I think of all these horrors that come in the wake of war, I try to find out the cause of it all. Each nation is calling its people to "Come to the defense of the nation, because the war is forced upon us." Germany says, "We are forced to fight Austria says, "We are forced to fight ;" so France and England. As a matter of fact, thus far it seems clear that only the little nation of Belgium is forced to fight. They seem to have such right on their side -that they are fighting for their life, for their country, their God. But the real causes are not evident; however you will discover that one cause of the disastrous war lies deeply rooted in the fact that those highly so-called Christian nations have never applied the Gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

The leaders and rulers who brought this war upon the people failed to apply the little, simple principles that Christ taught centuries ago. Why, if they had applied only one of His teachings the whole war might have been averted. For example, "If you bring your gift to the altar and there rememberest that thou hast aught against thy brother, leave there thy gift upon the altar and go first to thy brother ; first reconcile thyself to him, then come and offer thy sacrifice." If the first two nations that clashed, because of having misunderstood each other, had applied that little simple doctrine and live it, may be the whole thing would have been averted for a time. But that is only one. The roots of the causes of this war lie deeply bedded in vanity, one monarch feeling above another, so far above him, in fact, that he would not arbitrate, would not go to his brother and have an understanding of the misunderstandings that had risen. Vanity, selfishness, unjust commercialism, unrighteousness, and other things contrary to, the Spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. O, if they could only apply the Gospel in their nationalism ! But they have considered it only as a thing apart from daily life — as something to be treated as a mere social function. They haven't felt that it is a vital force, the vital force in humanity. ¶

It may be that this dreadful carnage which is going on — the toppling of thrones, the destruction of monarchies, may be but a step to prepare the way 'for the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the giving to the millions of honest souls in those countries the opportunity of accepting it. I, for one, believe it with all my soul. Upon ¶

whom, then, rests the responsibility of carrying this message to them, after the way is prepared? Upon whom but those unto whom has been given the power and authority to represent God in this world? That is you, my brother ; that is you, my sister. How glorious the Gospel seems to us ; but oh, how mighty the responsibility upon the Elders of the Church ! The first step toward carrying this responsibility is to apply our religion in our lives. ¶

Did you notice the last part of President Smith's impressive prayer last night in the Sunday School Union ? Read it after this meeting and see how his heart went out and prayed that we might have the spirit of peace in our hearts. That is the true beginning of peace. When we talk to the world about the need of applying religion, our first duty is to apply it in our lives. ¶

Let us see what this means. In one of our meetings recently, President Lyman said, in substance, "I believe, that there was never a time when it was more necessary to teach to the people the necessity of abstaining from the use of tobacco, intoxicants and stimulating beverages." In other words, though for many years we have heard the word of wisdom taught, yet it is still just as necessary to teach it to the Saints. The word of wisdom is a simple little thing, isn't it, but if we could say to the world that here in the west there are one hundred thousand people not one of whom indulges in intoxicants, not one of whom has violated the law of chastity, what would it mean ? To accomplish this among Latter-day Saints isn't impractical. Let us particularize : Here are these men in the leading counsels of the Church who subscribe to those things. There are sixty-six presidencies and sixty-six stake clerks of whom the same can be truthfully said. There are sixty-six times eighteen who ought to do it ; and if they cannot, they are not true to the responsibility which they have accepted. If those men can do it, cannot the seven hundred and twenty-five times three men who occupy the bishoprics in this Church, do it ? They must do it. They have said they would do it. If these men can comply with these requirements because of the offices they hold and the responsibilities that are before them as leaders in Israel, cannot the men who occupy positions in the quorums do it? Why. Bishops, you ask them to when you put them in, and each man can do it if he will only desire to. If he will only say in his heart, "I love to do it because it is true, because it is my duty." Do you realize what it means to have the Priesthood — all the men who hold responsibility, live temperate, chaste and righteous lives? Sixty-six stake presidencies and clerks aggregate two hundred and sixty-four men ; High Counselors, eleven hundred eighty-eight ; seven hundred and twenty-five Bishoprics, including the ward clerk, twenty-nine hundred ; Deacons, just the officers and class instructors, about twenty-nine hundred ; Teachers and Priests, approximately, fourteen hundred and fifty; three hundred and fifty quorums of Elders, each one presided over by three men who carry the responsibility of pure living just as much as the Bishopric of the ward, one thousand and fifty ; there will be seven hundred class instructors with those Elders, every one of whom is an unfit teacher unless he teaches by his life ; one hundred and ninety quorums of Seventy, thirteen hundred and thirty men ; sixty-six quorums of High Priests, one hundred and ninety-eight, with seven hundred and twenty-five class instructors ; making a grand total of over twelve thousand men, every one of whom has the strength and I hope he has the love to live up to those principles and to apply them in his daily life. Or, to approach the question another way. Since the year, 1900, over ten thousand young men in this Church have gone out to the nations to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Those young men have stood on the streets of some of these nations now in war; they have stood on the street corners in our own cities here in America, and have declared the eternal principles of the Gospel revealed through the Prophet, Joseph Smith. Those ten thousand young men during that time were clean and pure and sweet in their lives, or else they were hypocrites. Now, they have come back and are mingling here in our social life, in our political life; some of them are on the road acting as drummers. Are they applying these Gospel principles? There are ten thousand young men on whom the responsibility rests to apply these influences in their lives. And we may add others. There are the teachers in the auxiliary associations. Do you want a girl to teach your children in Sunday School who does not live a life of purity, a consistent life in her home and in society? Why, the responsibility is upon the girls just as much as it as upon the men. And when you class just the teachers, eliminating the general boards, eliminating the Ward teachers, eliminating the membership of quorums, — which ought not to be done, — we have an army of fifty thousand teachers, men and women, every one of whom can apply this principle in daily life and every one of whom should do it. Think of it! Suppose that during 1915 and the remaining part of this year each one of those fifty thousand teachers touches the life of five boys and girls, only five, and influence those boys and girls to practice absolutely a life of temperate living and of chastity and of devotion to the principles of life — for that is what the Gospel is, principles of life, salvation here, happiness here, as well as hereafter — we should then have a community of two hundred and fifty thousand people applying the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I think such a condition not impracticable, to obtain ; for most of them are living it now, and the Gospel truths are dearer to them than life. ¶

Let us go from this conference feeling in our hearts as Israel of old felt, we will serve the Lord and His voice we will obey. God help us to do it, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶