Remarks by David A. Smith

Those who have been called upon to speak during this conference have dwelt upon subjects which to them seem most important. Each man who feels his responsibility is anxious for the cooperation and help of the Church members. I sincerely hope that I may be assisted by the Spirit of the Lord in delivering to you the message I have in my heart. ¶

The Apostle James counseled us as follows : ¶

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we . should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and' receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, arid not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man ¶

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beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful bearer, but; a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." ¶

What a blessing it would be if we could only remember and obey this counsel. It is a common thing for one to find grounds for criticising others, and how seldom db we make a careful examination of our own lives, with a view to correcting our own faults. ¶

This was forcibly impressed upon me the other day when, upon returning to Salt Lake City from the north, where I had been with a number of Salt Lake business men, I made the remark in the presence of President Grant, that we had covered the distance in very fast time ; a time which far exceeded the speed allowed by law. His reply was : "How foolish we are. We get up in the morning and pray that God will protect us during the day, and then go straightway and do things we know to be foolish and dangerous." I answered that with a high-powered, heavy car, forty or fifty miles does not seem fast. "No," said he, "but if you should hit a telegraph pole you would know how fast it is." ¶

I have been unable to get away from this thought. How many of us fail to prove by our life's work that we are doing our part toward the protection of our own lives, as well as to protect and elevate those who have an equal right with us to live and enjoy happiness. Sometimes this is only impressed upon us when we, figuratively speaking, hit a telegraph pole, or some other object, thus doing injury, not only to ourselves but to others. ¶

I imagine that we have improved very little since the days of Nephi, and that perhaps we are living in the day he spoke of, when he said, "In that day there shall be many which shall say, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrqw we die, and it shall be well with us ; and there shall also be many which shall say, eat, drink and be merry, nevertheless fear God ; he will justify in committing a little sin. Yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die ; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes and at last we shall be saved in the Kingdom of God." ¶

We have been warned time and time again that God's blessings are dependent upon the fulfilment of his law; to receive his promise we must comply with the law. For the purpose of helping us to understand and prepare more fully to comply with the law, we have had given to us certain organizations. ¶

During this conference considerable has been said concerning the work of the Mutual Improvement Association. Brother Lyman appealed especially to the members of the Church to encourage young men between the ages of seventeen to twenty-three to become active in the Mutual Improvement Association. Dr. Widtsoe spoke on the great work being accomplished by our Church school system. These organizations are necessary and very helpful, but in my opinion the main responsibility for the training of young men in this Church, rests upon the Priesthood organizations, which is God's plan, "which Priesthood continueth in the Church of God in all generations and is without beginning of days or end of years." ¶

At times man seems to feel that he can improve upon God's plan, and in his anxiety to do so may overlook the greater object in his endeavor to see his own work succeed. The auxiliary organizations and Church schools are in the Church as helps in government ; steppingstones in the Priesthood, — the final reward is to come to man through his Priesthood activities. ¶

In considering these organizations we must not overlook the value and importance of home training, for, after all, it is in the tender years that habits are formed that have a great influence in directing the lives of God's children. We have the Primary, kindergarten, Religion class and Sunday school, which are given to us for the purpose of helping to train children during these tender years, and sometimes I wonder if parents are content to leave the training of their children wholly with these organizations. The age of twelve has been fixed as about the time a young man should be prepared to receive the Aaronic Priesthood — the first step in authority in God's great work. How wonderful is his great plan, and yet how simple. ¶

The child when born into the world learns largely from observing others. It sees its parents or brothers and sisters do things and makes an attempt to imitate them. By untiring effort it learns to' do the things it sees them do, and learns to repeat the words they encourage it to speak; thus step by step it grows and develops and becomes less dependent upon them, although their life and actions have exerted an influence, and has so impressed the child that this influence, whether good or bad, will thereafter have its effect upon the child's life. ¶

As a deacon in the Church, the boy is given his first experience in Church government. As the baby learns through observation, the deacon learns to do by doing. His duties require that he perform outward ordinances, such as passing the Sacrament, visiting the homes of the members for the purpose of collecting fast offerings, or to distribute substance to the poor. He may go upon errands for the bishop, act as usher, and should at all times be made to understand that he should have reverence and respect for the House of the Lord. ¶

Think of the effect of this work upon a young man just commencing his labor in the Priesthood. Think of the strength that comes to him in knowing that he is, in a sense, custodian of the Lord's properties. Think of the joy that should come to him in assisting to ¶

comfort the poor and needy and those in distress. Think what might happen in the life of this young man, when passing the Sacrament he sees a brother or sister partake of the Sacrament, or perhaps his own parents, and knows at the time, that those parents are not keeping the commandments of God, and are breaking the Word of Wisdom. Think of the effect upon a young man, after having seen a brother partake of the Sacrament, and then that afternoon or the following day to see him smoking a cigar or cigarette or profaning the name of the Lord. Do these acts have a tendency to create in the life of the boy a spirit of respect and reverence for this ordinance ? Or do they have a tendency to make them mechanical with him, and thus cause him to lose his respect for this ordinance, and his interest in the work he should be performing as a servant of the Lord? ¶

Can a young man of this age, the age when his life is being molded for good or bad, hear his parents complain of the bishop, the president of the stake, or the general authorities of the Church, and have the respect for these men he should be taught to have ? Oh, how different it would be if all these influences were for good, and the purpose of encouraging the young man to greater faithfulness in the Church, and to create a greater spirit of reverence and a desire to become more active in his labors as an officer in the Church. To taste the sweetness of service, under the constant encouragement of members of the Church would bring to the young man of this age a safeguard that would be everlasting, and would help to prepare him for the next step in authority which comes with the ordination to the office of teacher. ¶

Often I have wondered if the members of the Church really grasped the importance of this office and the magnitude of its possibilities. Many times have I heard men holding the holy Melchizedek Priesthood refuse to be burdened in their labors with a young man whom they thought was poorly prepared to labor in the Church as a teacher. I have heard them say, Of what real use in the teaching corps is a young man of fifteen or sixteen? When it has been possible to answer these queries, I have referred to the fact that at this age Joseph Smith went into the woods to pray, and in answer to his prayer, through his faithfulness, received the visitation from the Father and the Son. At this age, the late President Joseph F .Smith was sent to the Islands of the Sea to preach the gospel. At twelve the Savior heard and asked questions of the doctors, and declared he must be about his Father's business. ¶

Have we ever stopped to consider that the mission of the teacher is not to preach or to teach the people concerning the principles of the gospel, but that his duty is, "to watch over the Church always, and be with and strengthen them, and see that there is no iniquity in the Church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting, nor evil speaking, and see that the Church meet together often, and ¶

also see that all the members do their duty." This requirement, to my mind, fixes the home as the training ground for young men just beginning their ministry among the people. Think of the influence upon a young man to know and to be encouraged to feel that his mission is to watch over the Church always — not to labor with the outsider, with those who are unfriendly or unsympathetic, but to "watch over the Church, and be with and strengthen them, and see that there is no iniquity in the Church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting nor evil speaking." ¶

Can a young man of the age of fifteen to seventeen years enter the homes of members of the Church and there find that the members of those homes are keeping the commandments of God, and are complying with this requirement, and go from those homes and engage in doing the things he knows to be wrong, and which will bring reproach upon him, and lessen his influence to do good in the office to which he has been called? Think what a wonderful opportunity of training and helping to fix indelibly upon the mind of the young man God's purposes and promises through the encouragement he may receive from members of the Church. And again, think of the discouragement that may come when he sees that members of .the Church are giving very little thought to these matters, and criticize the actions of the Church officers in calling boys of this age to this important work. If we engage in this we have not hearkened to the words of the Apostle James to "lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls." We are not doers of the word but hearers only, deceiving our own selves, and we cause the young man thus discouraged to look, as it were, in the glass, wherein he sees the picture we, in our distorted condition of mind, picture him to be, rather than the servant of the living God he was intended to be. . It is through this discouragement, I believe, that so many of our young men withdraw from Church activity and fail to measure up to the requirements of the Priesthood. ¶

The next step in authority is the office of priest. The young man, after having received his training as a deacon and teacher, is required, to "Preach, teach, expound, exhort, and baptize, and administer the sacrament, and visit the house of each member, and exhort them to pray vocally and in secret, and attend to all family duties." Thus as his experience increases, his opportunity for service increases, his labors being with the members of the Church where, .through their example and help he can grow and develop into a useful instrument in the hands of the Lord to deliver his word to those who are unfriendly and know not of the plan of salvation. What a wonderful opportunity is a here given to the Church in laying the foundation for the future usefulness of God's children. You can see that the responsibility of carrying on this work, and of making God's plan serve its purpose, rests .mainly upon the members of the Church : ¶

that the ward bishopric is the guiding hand for them, standing as the presidency of the Lesser Priesthood. ¶

Do we as ^parents, as members of the Church, fully realize the responsibility that rests upon us? Are we teaching our boys and girls in their youth to respect the principles of the gospel, and to labor diligently and faithfully in 'the office and calling whereunto they have been called, where they can learn the joy of service and feel the love that comes through a united effort in the service of the Lord ? Are we paying our tithes and our offerings ? Are we providing the way by which our children can learn in their youth to obey the commandment of the Lord, that we remember him with our tithes and our offerings? I often recall the words of the Psalmist: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." ¶

I pray, my brethren and sisters, that in humility, we will take advantage of the opportunity God has given to us for the training of young men who are called to positions in the Lesser Priesthood, and feel fully the responsibility that rests upon us in carrying on this great work. May God give us strength and determination to do our part, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶