Our Missionaries Have a Notable Message

As a result of the promise and resolution I made in our General Conference six months ago, I am standing before you this afternoon in what is probably the largest pair of shoes ever made at Z. C. M. I. And who can say that the making of this suit of mine, of Provo-made cloth, has not so increased the demand for wool that its price has advanced from something like fourteen cents, six months ago, to something like thirty-five cents now. ¶

OUR MISSIONARIES HAVE A NOTABLE MESSAGE ¶

President Grant read a statement yesterday from Prest. Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University that it is significant that in this ¶

period of vigorous and able-bodied reaction the world should be "without a poet, without a philosopher, and without a notable religious leader. The great voices of the spirit are all stilled just now, while the mad passion for gain and for power endeavors to gratify itself through the odd service of destroying what has already been gained or accomplished." ¶

While our missionaries as individuals may not be regarded as "notable religious leaders," by the great mass of people in the world, they do speak with authority and they do have a message for the world that to them is of such importance that they are willing, at their own expense, to give their time and devote themselves thus unselfishly to carrying the gospel message "to every nation, kindred, tongue and people." ¶

Sooner or later the world will learn that in these days the heavens have been opened, God the Father has spoken, the Son has appeared, the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored, and it is being preached "as a witness" and that when this message has been carried to "every nation, kindred, tongue and people" our Lord and Master will come rgain in accordance with prophecies clearly made in Holv Writ. ¶

THE GREATEST NEED OF THE WORLD TODAY ¶

The greatest need of the world today is the return to simple Christian religious ideals. One of the world's greatest financial statisticians ( Roger W. Babson, Fundamentals of Prosperity, p. 55) has stated the situation clearly in. the following words: ¶

"Much of the prosperity of this nation is due to the family prayers which were o'nce he'd daily in the homes of our fathers. Tg a very large extent this custom has gone by. Whatever the arguments pro and con may be, the fact neverthelesss remains that such family prayers nurtured and developed these spiritual resources to which the prosperity of the nation is due. The custom of family prayers should be revived along with many other good New England customs which some modern radicals may ridicule, but to which they owe all that they possess." ¶

HOW THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS MAY PERFORM THEIR TASK ¶

The work that has been given us to do, that of preaching the gospel to all the world, is a tremendous undertaking. This work can be accomplished only if we, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, live in fairly strict conformity with the teachings of the gospel of our Master. Of these teachings there is none more thoroughly fundamental and important, perhaps, than that of family prayer. Are the fathers and mothers of the Church devoting themselves faithfully to this important duty, and are they teaching their sons and daughters to place their trust in Divine Providence? ¶

If it were possible for me to do so, I should be glad, this afternoon, to teach you some sure method of making money, to teach you how to save money, to teach you some method of going forward with ¶

certainty to secure honor, to secure distinction, to accomplish some unusual or tremendous success. But giving such instruction would not be of greatest importance, for the accomplishments I have named are not in and of themselves the greatest of the fundamentals. ¶

That Scripture quoted yesterday by President Charles W. Penrose and this morning by Brother George Albert Smith, is founded upon the essential fundamentals. We must, if we are to achieve the greatest success, "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," then all these things will be added unto us. ¶

PRAYER ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF SUCCESS ¶

The forefathers, the founders of our country, sought first the kingdom of God. This great nation of ours is builded upon a religious spirit. Our forefathers were religious men. Washington, Franklin, Lincoln — these great Americans were all prayerful. The great leaders of our country all the way along the line have been men who were firm believers in, and who placed their confidence in, Almighty God. ¶

The wise men of the world seem these days to be pretty well agreed that in all time the peoples of the world have been in no more serious situation than they are today. ¶

Lincoln's proclamation for a day of prayer ¶

For Lincoln's time the situation faced was a serious one. What he did then ought the world not to do now ? In what was probably the darkest hour of the Civil War, he set apart March the 30th, 1863, as a day of fasting and prayer by issuing a proclamation which read in part as follows : ¶

"Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutedly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and nations; has by a resolution requested' the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation ; and ¶

"Whereas, it \s the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humbled sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord : ¶

"And, insomuch as we know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisement in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven ; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have ¶

become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. ¶

"It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemdicy and forgiveness ¶

-"This fasting and praying being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the divine teachings that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high aind answered with blessing no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace." ¶

TEACH THE YOUNG PEOPLE TO PRAY ¶

To the last degree I am interested in the welfare of this people. The ambition of my life is to use my physical strength and mental power for the good of the young people in the Church. I want them to succeed. May heaven help us to induce them to live in accordance with the principles of the gospel. I desire1 them to have eyes that are brighter, intellects that are clearer, minds that are more active than are the minds and intellects and the vision of other people. These blessings must be ours if we, the people of the Church, though few in numbers, are to accomplish so much. ¶

If there is before me now any father or any mother who has not taught his or her son, his or her daughter, to lead in family prayer I beg of you, accept my sympathy. Teach them to pray. ¶

Only last Tuesday a mission president reported that when he called upon a young man to lead in family prayer, who had come into the mission field, the young man hesitated, stumbled, uttered but a few words, finally finished in considerable embarrassment and then said : "That is the first time in my life I have spoken a word of prayer." ¶

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD ¶

Let us, I beg of you, remember the Lord, "Seek ye first the kingdom," and all these things shall be added unto us. ¶

Our obligation to train our children as they ought to be trained is an important one. While "We believe the Bible to De the word oi God," we believe that what is written in the Doctrine and Covenants, and what is recorded in the Book of Mormon, applies with a greater degree of accuracy to us in these days and in this age than does that which is recorded in the Bible. I shall read to you now Scripture from the sixty-eighth Section of the Doctrine and Covenants beginning with the twenty-fifth verse. This scripture is intended for us here and now : ¶

"And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism ;<nd the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents ; ¶

"For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized : ¶

"And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of the hands. ¶

"And they shall also teach their children to pray and to walk uprightly before the Lord. ¶

"And the inhabitants of Zion shall also observe the Sabbath day — "And the inhabitants of Zion shall, also, remember their labors, inasmuch as they are appointed to la,bor in all faithfulness, for the idler shall be had in rememberance before the Lord. ¶

"Now, I the Lord, am not well pleased with the inhabitants of Zion, for there are idlers among them; and their children are also growing up in wickednss ; they also seek not earnestly the riches of eternity, but their eyes are full of greediness. ¶

"These things ought not to be, and must be done away from among them." ¶

Let us, then, primarily seek not honor, nor position, nor money, not social standing, but let us seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then incidentally all these very desirable things will follow. ¶

May the Lord bless us to this end I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶