An Ensign to the Nations

"Even so, I have sent mine everlasting covenant into the world to be a light unto the world and to be a standard for my people, and for the Gentiles to seek to it, and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way before me." ¶

An Ensign to the Nations

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was scarcely one year old when that declaration was made through inspiration by the Prophet Joseph. He himself was but twenty-six years of age. It is a marvelous declaration, great in its pretension, comprehensive in its scope: "Mine everlasting covenant" (the gospel), is sent into the world "to be a light unto the world, to be a standard for my people and for the Gentiles to seek to it." ¶

On Bedloe Island, at the entrance of New York harbor, there stands the Statue of Liberty, a light to the nations. What it has meant to thousands and hundreds of thousands of the down-trodden of Europe has been most graphically expressed by Israel Zangwill in that impressive production, The Melting Pot. I shall read a few words. David the emigrant, the little Russian Jew, is speaking: ¶

All my life America was waiting, beckoning, shining, the place where God would wipe away tears from off all faces. To think that the same great torch of Liberty which threw its light across all the seas and lands into my little garret in Russia is shining also for all those other weeping millions of Europe, shining wherever men hunger and are oppressed, shining over the starving villages of Italy and Ireland, over the swarming, starving cities of Poland and Galicia, over the ruined farms of Romania, ¶

over the Shambles of Russia. When I look at our Statue of Liberty, I just seem to hear the voice of America crying: "come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest, rest." ¶

What inat Statue of Liberty symbolizes to the oppressed and down-trodden of Europe, the gospel of Jesus Christ is to the world. "Mormonism," so-called, has reared an ensign to the nations and, with words as comprehensive as those I have read in the revelation, invites the1 world to peace, to rest, to contentment. ¶

To Whom Does the Ensign Now Wave?

High on the mountain top ¶

A banner is unfurled; Ye nations, now look up; ¶

It waves to all the world; In Deseret's sweet, peaceful land -- On Zion's mount behold it stand! ¶

Then hail to Deseret! ¶

A refuge for the good, And safety for the great, ¶

If they but understood That God with plagues will shake the world Till all its thrones shall down be hurled. ¶

And to whom does that Ensign now wave? To what sort of world does the beacon-light of the everlasting gospel extend its invitation? A mew world, or rather a world struggling to make itself new. The terrible war that has just passed was but the birth-pangs -- and now the world is ready to be reborn. "We stand at a creative moment in human history," says Sherwood Eddy. "Never before has the whole world had the chance to make all things new, old customs and contentions, old rules and ruts, old traditions and enslavements have been broken forever. We are living in the birth-pangs of a world struggling to be reborn, and the issues of our time will reach into eternity." ¶

I believe that mankind today is earnestly seeking after the truth. I believe, notwithstanding some of the terrible conditions that prevail across the sea, and even here in our own United States, that the efforts men are putting forth are but the results of yearning souls desiring to know the truth. The truth is the child that is to be born, and I believe that most of these men are honest in their desires to claim it as their own. ¶

Many Honest Seeking for Truth but Cannot Find It

Leading thinkers and statesmen are calling upon mankind everywhere to get back to the religious ideals, and yet when men come back to the churches they find that when they ask for bread they are given only a stone. Doctor Joseph Post Newton makes this startling declaration, regarding the ineffectiveness of the churches to reach these struggling souls: "Twenty per cent of. the pastors, who were with us before the war, have resigned to enter other occupations. Of the one hundred and ten million people in the United States, not more ¶

than forty-four million attend services in any religious denomination." And the editor of the World Outlook thinks this: "A very liberal estimate. There are today," continues Dr. Newton, "three million fewer children attending Sunday school in the United States than before the war." And then the editor of the paper quoted makes this significant remark: ¶

If anything is evident it is that Protestantism is going to pieces faster than the tale can be told or the figures be compiled. The great majority of people, and of intelligent people, have lost all confidence in existing churches and have washed their hands of them for good. If religion is to be saved a revolution in thought and methods and organization must take place, no less complete than that of the Protestant reformation. The times are ripe for a second Martin Luther to do to Protestantism today what the first Luther did to Catholicism yesterday. ¶

Where the Truth May Be Found

On the face of that condition, we have this declaration, made ninety years ago, that "the Everlasting Covenant, the gospel, is to be a light to the world and is to be a standard for my people and for the Gentiles to seek to it." If this is truly the light for which the world is seeking, it is well to realize that never before has there been such a responsibility upon you men, upon you women, who assume to declare that already in the world is the truth for which the world is struggling. What you claim must be substantiated by facts. The tree must be judged by its fruit, and mankind today are ready to test the fruit and act accordingly. The responsibility of showing to the world that the gospel of Jesus Christ will solve its problems rests upon the men who make the claim, who believe that the declaration made by the Prophet Joseph is true. We heard this morning from my brother, Stephen L. Richards, that the Church is so constituted that every human need may be supplied. I believe in his statement. I believe, too, that every world problem may be solved by obedience to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

An Eminent Statesman's Suggestion

An eminent statesman of our own nation, one who has won national and international eminence, not only as a great leader in the political world, but as a speaker and writer on religious topics, gave to the world, in February, some of his views regarding the solution of the difficulties which the churches now meet in answering the needs of humanity. That eminent statesman is here today. I intended to quote him. I am sure that I should not hesitate now to say in his presence what I was going to say in his absence. In an excellent article entitled: "In the World, of the World, and for the World," Col. William Jennings Bryan, in the World-Outlook, of February, in giving suggestions on how the churches can make the world a better place to live in, proposes first a change of attitude toward amusements. He writes: ¶

The tendency has been to prohibit amusements which are hurtful rather than to encourage those which are healthful and wholesome. Amuse- ¶

ments are necessary; and if those which uplift are not introduced, harmful pastime will be resorted to. This explains why so many young people are drawn away from the Church just at the age when they ought to be drawn into it -- they are influenced by the worldly minded with whom they find amusement during their leisure hours. * * * My suggestion, therefore, is that an effort should be made to set up a Christian standard for Christian communities and to create an environment that will be helpful to the Church and the spiritual things for which the Church stands. ¶

Helpful Environment in the Church of Christ

The "Mormon" Church has always encouraged legitimate amusements; in this respect, at least, it has set a worthy example to the world. That "helpful environment" mentioned by Mr. Bryan has been in the Church of Jesus Christ ever since its organization. Away back in the days of Nauvoo we find the drama introduced by the Prophet Joseph. We find acting in that drama men who later became prominent leaders in the Church. Among them was the man who succeeded the Prophet Joseph, Brigham Young. He, imbued with the necessity of influencing the people in their amusements and of using their recreation as a means of instilling virtue, integrity, and honesty, brought to these valleys that spirit. Why, even on the plains, after a day's march, the wagons were drawn up in a circle, a man with the violin would take his place by the campfire and there on the prairie the sturdy Pioneers would join hands in a dance, opening it by prayer, and participate in amusement that fostered the spirit of the gospel. Two years had not passed after their entrance into the "Valley" before they built the "bowery," and there presented, undoubtedly, the first drama that was ever given in the West. Later they built the Social Hall. Perhaps, there are those in the audience today who, after listening to the opening prayer, joined hands in the cotillion, dancing in a spirit best understood by the remarks of President Brigham Young, who once said, in substance: "The atmosphere of the dance should be such that if any elder be called from the party to go to administer to a sick person, he could leave with the same spirit that he would go from his elders' quorum meeting." All over this land, today, in the excellent community centers established by those early pioneers, you will find the amusements characteristic of the spirit of the community, fathers, mothers, boys and girls, mingling together in the dance, in the drama, and in other social functions, the modifying and uplifting influence of the Church permeating all gatherings. And here, I add that the Latter-day Saints Church was the first Church in the world, I am informed, to give approval to the Boy Scout movement. So, the world, in order to get into their churches the spirit of proper amusements which our eminent visitor suggests, and which I accept with all my heart, need only to accept the ideals of the Latter-day Saints. ¶

Another Example-- Helping the Poor

To quote further from Mr. Bryan: ¶

Another matter which, to my mind, needs attention is provision for the needy of the Church. Is there any reason why a member of the church ¶

should be compelled to pay cut-throat pawnshop rates, for short loans, or loans made on chattel-mortgage security? It seems to me that there is imperative need for a church corporation financed by church members which will make loans to other members at a rate sufficient only to cover actual risk, and the risk ought to be very small in such cases. ¶

We have in the Church of Christ a condition which has been operated ever since its organization, which will supply the needs of every worthy person who happens to be financially unfortunate. It is a simple little thing, but in its power, in its comprehensive benefit it smacks of the divinity with which this Church is impregnated. I refer to the Fast offering that every Latter-day Saint is asked to contribute on the first Sunday of each month. It is suggested that all shall fast once a month. The requirement of the Church is that all members shall observe the first Sunday of every month as Fast day. Back of that, however, is this, that after abstaining from eating, from the evening meal on Saturday to the evening meal on Sunday, the value of those two meals shall be given to the bishop for the purpose of alleviating the needs of those who require substantial assistance. Now, at first thought, that does not amount to much, and yet I find that when the principle is applied to the largest stake in the Church, this is the result: That stake last year found it necessary to expend $6,256.09 for the relief of the poor. If the members of that stake had placed a value upon each meal only at 10c per capita the bishops would have had at their disposal, $21,190, sufficient to meet not only all the demands of their own stake, but the needs of the poor in other stakes in which the fast offerings might have been insufficient. It applies to the smallest stake just the same. In the smallest stake in the Church, with a population of 1,070, they expended, last year approximately, only $100 for the need of the poor. It is a rural community in which there are practically no poor. Had they placed upon each meal the value I have named, the bishops in that stake would have had at their command fifteen times more than the actual amount needed to supply their needs. Such application may be multiplied by eighty, the number of stakes in the Church. You may multiply it by eight hundred or more, the number of wards in the Church and you may extend the plan over all the world and the application of that simple principle will supply the wants of every needy person. It is God's way. You say people don't like charity? Why, it should not be administered as charity; but as a co-operative plan of mutual service adopted for the benefit of all. ¶

So we might go on with other propositions on applied Christianity named in the article from which I have quoted, and we should find that the solution of the great world problems is here in the Church of Christ. Ample provision is made not only for the needs of individuals, but for the nation and groups of nations. ¶

"MORMONISM" THE APPLICATION OF GOd's PLAN TO SOLVE WORLD ¶

Problems

I realize that it is a great claim. I grant you that we may seem to be arrogating to ourselves superior wisdom, but we are not. It is ¶

simply the application of God's plan to the world problems. I said you who hold the Priesthood have greater responsibility today, now that you live in this creative moment in the world's history, than ever the Church has had before. I repeat it. If we make the claim to hold the truth it is obligatory upon every Latter-day Saint so to live, that when the world comes, in answer to the call, to test the fruit of the tree, it will find it wholesome and good. ¶

O may we be able to say truthfully, to the world, in the words of Thomas Nixon Carver: ¶

Come, our way of life is best, because it works best. Our people are efficient, prosperous and happy because they help one another in the productive life. We waste none of our substance in vice, luxury or ostentation. We do not dissipate our energy in brawling, gambling, or unwholesome habits. We conserve our resources of body and mind and devote them to the upbuilding of the kingdom of God, which is not a mystical but a real kingdom. It is a body of people dominated by ideals of productivity, which is mutual service. We do not strive for the things which satisfy but for the moment and then leave a bad taste, we strive for the things which build us up, and enable us and our children to flourish and to conquer. We strive to make ourselves worthy to receive the world by fitting ourselves to use the world more productively than others. We believe that obedience to God means obedience to the laws of nature which are but the manifestations of his will and we try by painstaking study to acquire the most complete and exact knowledge of that will in order that we may conform ourselves to it. * * * We offer you hard work, frugal fare, severe discipline, but a share in the conquest of the world for the religion of the productive life. ¶

The Lord help us to be able to prove to the world that we possess just what these great thinkers desire, just what the world today is longing for, and when they see it, may they know, as you know, as I know, that the everlasting gospel is a light to the world. May it ever be upon the hill a light to the nations, a savior to them, and solution of all the world problems, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶