Of the First Council of Seventy

Of the First Council of Seventy ¶

It has been a number of years since I have followed Elder Roberts in the pulpit. The first time I ever saw President Roberts was in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The first time I ever heard him preach the gospel was in Burk's Garden. I confess, at that time and for a considerable length of time afterwards, I was always awe-struck, and almost beaten into silence when asked to follow him in his public addresses. But I am thankful to the Lord that I have gotten over it, that I no longer feel that way. It has been a fight all my life to follow men who have great ability and who were greatly blessed as public speakers. My lesson came to me in this way, that I discovered that no man was ever created that could reach all the people at one time, and I figured that there must be some poor soul with bowed head who was discouraged and disheartened to whom I might, through the blessings of the Lord, and under the influence of his holy Spirit, give a word of cheer ; and it has proved to be true, for I think now of several occasions — three distinct places, I remember at the present moment, at different times when persons met me on the street disheartened. ¶

They had fallen by the way; they saw no way out of their difficulties, and were in a suicidal condition. For the first one who came to me in that condition I had no answer. I did not know what to do. "Why didn't you go to your bishop? Why did you come to me?" "Brother Kimball, I heard you preach, and I thought there might be a chance." In those cases I went to the Presidency of the Church, and that is where I learned the great magnanimity and the charitableness and bigness of the Presidency of the Church. In each of those cases I was used as an instrument. They never asked me the names of the young men, they simply wanted me to take up a labor with them, and if they repented I was authorized, not by the bishop nor the president of the stake, in those particular cases, but by the Presidency of the Church, and the young men were baptized, they were confirmed, and they were started out to serve God and as far as I know in each and every case, they made good. ¶

I remember one young man, highly cultured and educated in the University of Utah. I will never forget that young man, no matter how long I live. It was at the time of the World War, and he had been unfortunate. I did not know him; I never saw him before. He came to me in great distress. I went to the Presidency and that young man repented, and he was baptized and confirmed. He went into the war, became a lieutenant, and the last I heard of him— he wrote me several times — his letter stated : "I know God forgave me, for I have felt the influence of his holy Spirit in the army, that has brought me joy and peace and happiness." ¶

So that I feel to encourage the priesthood of God. We never know how much good we do when we speak in the name of the Lord. I don't believe, I can't believe, that I ever converted a man in my life, but I have taught the truth, I have preached the gospel, and my voice has been heard from Canada to Mexico, more times than one. I was in the General Board of the Young Men's Association for thirty years, and I have never had greater joy or greater happiness than in lifting up my voice among the rising generation. How much good we do, as I stated before, no man knoweth. I claim that every man fills his niche when he is called of God and set apart and ordained to an office. He may not fill it in the way someone else fills it, but if he is a man of courage he will fill it in his own way, under the influence of the holy Spirit. ¶

I have no apology to make for my origin. I was told once that my trouble was, I was trying to be like my father. Well, thank God I can try to be like him a little, but I was too young, when my father died, to remember his mannerisms and his method of speech. ¶

My brethren and sisters, in conclusion I want to lift up a danger signal to the rising generation. In doing it I want to be very careful the way in which I express it, so I shall attempt to read it, although it is against my grain to do so. In our great city with its wonderful streets, I can't but think of the danger that menaces the people. ¶

We see your red lights, we see your green lights, and the officers of this city are doing everything in their power to protect the people, but the people do not pay any attention to the signals — some of them do not. There is nothing else annoys me so much as for a man to run on to me with one of those great, powerful machines, and just before hitting me, honk his horn. My legs go right from under me. I can't even hit a trot, and the feeling I have is that he is saying: "Get out of the way, we are coming." I got that the other night on First North street here. I can see only one way at a time, and then I am not quite clear, but I had to see four ways that night. Here came two machines around that corner, with these cars all parked right up to the corner, and they tried to beat each other through and caught me in the center. The only thing that saved my life was my being thin. I am not trying to be funny, I am trying to be serious. Now all these danger signals with your yellow marks — I have stood there and watched the lights, listened to the bell, and yet last year, if I remember right, the automobiles killed over twenty thousand people in the United States, one-half, perhaps, as many as were killed in the World War — referring, of course, to the American soldiers. Now I don't want to get killed. What I am worried about is that they might not make a good job of it I would hate to be maimed and crippled for life through the carelessness of men and women. Now I want to set up signals that are a hundred thousand times more important than dodging autos : ¶

IMPRESSIONS AND REFLECTIONS ¶

Shall we be brave, courageous men, standing upon the secure heights of virtue and righteousness where God's sun shines, and preach the truth and cry repentance unto this people? ¶

This great country, America, the Prophet Joseph Smith declared, is Zion, North and South America, the pure in heart. It would seem to me that this great responsibility rests almost entirely with the young men and women of this generation. ¶

The question naturally arises : What is the trend of the times for the modern sons and daughters of Zion ? Riches and culture, ease and luxury. Everything is money and money is everything. ¶

The Golden Key unlocks all doors, that is, it prys them open. ¶

Plenty of money entitles you to anything and everything, honor, society and emoluments. The rising generation, who are poor, look upon this pleasure-loving people with envy and a yearning for worldly things, and as the spirit of the age in which we live takes hold of them, they assert their individual independence and break away from what is called "old fogy ideas, old bigotries, old superstitions," and go recklessly wild, at sixty miles an hour, claiming what is termed the "new Liberty of the twentieth century," and run daringly into forbidden pastures Today all over America we see everywhere amongst the rich and poor, the cultured, educated and ignorant, the indications of the sensual tendencies of the age, forgetting for the moment the degradation and destruction to which such a life leads. ¶

No single instance can be given as evidence that unlawful sensual pleasure can be indulged in without paying for it a thousand times in pain and remorse. ¶

"The danger signals are set up at the gate of the garden of sensual pleasure, and the angel stands with his sword of flame, and no man, woman, youth or maiden enters unsmitten of him." "In the path of sensuality in all its multiplied forms our heavenly Father has placed barriers mountain high to stop us and frighten us back from ruin, disease and degradation." ¶

As wealth increases in any country and with any people, the tendency to sensuality, through the many temptations of ease, idleness and gratification of ones appetite, the elevation of fashion, style and in living beyond a certain point of safety and security, is the cause of the downfall of hundreds of thousands of God's children. ¶

"That 'money devil', if not used in doing good, is the lion right across the highway of our future, standing, teasing, menacing — just at the forks of the road, to lead us to ruin and unhappiness. If the roofs could be lifted off the palaces of the rich, what sights might not be seen, what skeletons in the closets, what sorrows, what shams, what sights." — Watson. ¶

If we open our eyes to the danger that menaces the rising generation, life would seem to be a very dangerous sea, if we take note of the ruined thousands that strew its shores. ¶

We therefore cannot look upon death as a great sorrow and calamity, when it involves no stain of honor and no loss of character. We wisely conclude the hand of Providence is in it and good must come out of it and we are comforted. ¶

When we contemplate and think of our young men and women with their bright hopes of love, of truth and purity, of honor, of manhood and womanhood, of genius and talent, of all goodly gifts from God, of mind, of all sweet affections, and aspirations, gone down, blotted out and spoiled, we cannot feel otherwise, be as hopeful and cheerful as we may, that life is dangerous unless we are guided and influenced by the holy Spirit and directed by steady hands, by men and women as teachers of virtue, truthfulness and happiness, who are not afraid to speak in the name of the Lord. ¶

The fruit of religion manifests itself in the lives of men. By their fruits ye shall know them. There can be no deception by men who love God and keep his commandments. We are one and all God's children. He created us and he never created a failure, and he created you. ¶

Men are that they might have joy. Happiness is the object and design of our creation and will be to the end of our existence if we pursue the path that leads to it. This path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness. To keep God's commandments we must know them. To know them we must read the scriptures and repent and be in tune with the holy Spirit and he will lead us into all truth and show us things to come. I promise you that you shall hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way, walk ye in it. ¶

Remember this always : Temptation somewhere in the life of all finds us, as this life is a testing time. Therefore, watch and pray and ask God to leave us not in temptation but deliver us from evil, as temptation is ever lying in wait and in a thousand forms is temptation repeated. ¶

There is divine wisdom in praying always and avoiding the very appearance of evil. ¶

There is very little use of preaching religion or morals, or honesty, virtue and truthfulness to those whose motives and tendencies all point toward vice and sensuality unless they repent and sin no more. These wild, reckless, dissipated young people will not come to us, we must reach out a helping hand and go to them. ¶

This great change for the uplift and betterment of this great country — Zion, the pure in heart — rests very largely, almost entirely, with the home and the parents. ¶

We must, for the safety of the youth of Zion, come back to Jesus Christ's religion and its spiritual forces. We must teach the gospel of repentance and forgiveness which has made men's and women's lives happier, tasks lighter, judgment steadier, as it truly comforts the disconsolate, forgotten sinner, and makes to them a clear life of virtue, love and happiness. ¶

No child of God can escape Christ's religion, intelligence and knowledge, of the right kind, walks ever close to religion. ¶

My conclusion is : There is just one great, big, life-and-death duty of the parents of children, the Church and the State, and that is, to keep every boy and girl under proper schooling and give to them "love, pleasure, work and worship." ¶

You good people and parents living in the country, on your farms, I plead with you not to send your children to cities where the beautiful spirit of things God created perish. ¶

Let them live in the open, in the beautiful valleys, on the mountains, in God's sunshine, near streams, rivers, and trees and let his Spirit teach them of the things of God. ¶

My testimony, brethren and sisters, in all confidence, is that I know this work is true. I have tested it out. I have found God. I am a man of weakness ; I am a man full of faults ; but God knows I have given him the best effort there was in me. I know God lives, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world ; and when men have tempted me to deny this — which they have tried to do — I have talked to some of them, learned men, I have talked to doctors, I have talked to young men who have gone out and filled missions, come home and got education, and they have tried to burn all my bridges behind me ; but, thank God, I had a testimony, and I knew ! I have told them : "in what you offer me there is no happiness." If any man can prove to me that Joseph Smith is not a prophet of God, he has taken everything; he has burned every bridge behind me. I never saw the Prophet, but I have heard my father often talk about him and I have read his revelations and his prophecies, as a witness for God, and I know they are true. He is a prophet of God. I sustain the Church and uphold the hands of the priesthood as best I know how. God bless you. Amen. ¶