There Is No Situation That Has Arisen Since

There is no situation that has arisen since the organization of this Church, neither will there be, in the future, that the Lord has not made ample provision to meet. No matter how complicated it may seem to be or how difficult, there is, ample provision made in the wisdom of the Lord to solve it. ¶

THREATENING DANGERS FORESEEN ¶

We read in the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants : ¶

"Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant, Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments: ¶

"And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled which was written by the prophets." ¶

The Lord has seen fit to warn his sons and daughters, has anticipated their danger and foreseen their needs, in ample time to save them. He has submitted not only the warning that there is danger ahead, but the means of escape have been provided and in ample time to save his children. So that I say the Lord knew the perils of this hour that were spoken of yesterday, the dangers that threaten the world, this country, and this present civilization. These things were known by the Lord when he laid the foundations of this work, and he prepared his work to be able to withstand all the storms that should beat upon it, and that it should stand as a shining light before the nations of the earth. He ¶

endowed us not only with the responsibility of becoming the salt of the earth but with every facility to attain unto that distinction. ¶

In the 115th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord says to all the Church: ¶

THE GOSPEL, A KEY TO THE SOLUTION OF ALL PROBLEMS ¶

"Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard to the nations; ¶

"And that the gathering together upon the land of Zion, and upon her stakes, may be for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth." ¶

I say that the Lord has made ample provision that we may arise and shine. The obligation is upon us. There is coming a day when we shall see the fruits of the gospel as it has been lived in the lives of the Latter-day Saints, and discover that it has not only brought peace and happiness to them while they live, but made them a light to the nations, and their salvation. In keeping these simple gospel commandments, men and women are also fortified to stand when the storms do beat upon the children of men, and in them lies the key to the solution of all the problems that at present distress the world. ¶

DANGERS AHEAD ¶

I confess to you, my brethren and sisters, that I have felt in my own spirit that there is danger ahead, not only for the world but for the Church. I recognize that the powers of evil have been arrayed against this Church from the beginning. When the prophet's life was taken, that was but one item in the program of the adversary. The driving of the Latter-day Saints from their homes to this western country was another ; and their long years of struggle to maintain their right to exist has been contested until that right, apparently, is conceded. And yet I can plainly see that the adversary of this work is not yet satisfied. I believe that the thing he has at heart is to realize his first great ambition ; namely, to have the privilege of ruling over the kingdoms of this world. He has never lost sight of it, and when he met the Redeemer of the world and tempted him, while Jesus was among men in mortality, the great purpose of that temptation was manifest in the last effort when the kingdoms of the world passed in panoramic vision before the mind of Jesus. The tempter said, Are they not wonderful? Would you not love them? They are mine. Bow down and worship me, and you may have them on easy terms. He knew that this was the purpose for which Christ came into the world to die — to earn the right to become the King of kings and Lord of lords and rule over them. Satan's purpose was not to give the kingdoms of the world, but to overcome the elect and chosen Son of God. Jesus went to Calvary and paid the price and earned the right to rule over the kingdoms of the world. But the enemy was not satisfied, and he encompassed Christ and brought about his death, and planned the death of the apostles and the destruction of the Church. ¶

ESTABLISHING THE WORK THAT SHALL NOT FAIL ¶

No wonder when the boy Joseph Smith knelt in the grove that before the Father and the Son could appear unto him the powers of evil knew that this humble instrumentality was God's means of establishing once again the work that shall not fail. He is vain enough to believe, the enemy of our souls, that he is yet to win the contest, for he has an ambition to become the king of this world, and has sought to frustrate every proposition that our Father has made permanently to establish here God's work. ¶

How grateful I am for the assurance that we have in the vision which the Lord gave to Daniel of old that in the last days, when our Father should set up his kingdom, it should not be overthrown nor left to another people; and yet that kingdom shall be buffeted, and has been buffeted. Nephi saw it. He saw its trials, saw its dangers, dangers that are past and dangers that are yet ahead of it; and yet out of it all, we cling with joy and gladness to the assurance that these are the last days, that this is the last time when God shall set his hand to accomplish his work, and that it shall not fail no matter how the powers of evil may conspire against it. ¶

EVERY INDIVIDUAL TO BE TRIED ¶

Powers of evil are not through with their opposition, neither have they conceded to us the right of way, but are seeking to tempt the Latter-day Saints, to turn away from the promises of the Lord, seeking to blind their eyes. The spirit of self indulgence that is rampant in the world, that leads to such lawlessness as was described here yesterday will naturally have its influence over the Latter-day Saints. There will not be a man or woman in this Church, a boy or a girl, who shall not be tempted or tried. The adversary will lay individual siege against every man's faith and against every woman's faith, to seek to darken their spirits, and have them believe that they have perhaps been deluded in some of these great and wonderful things ; that the Lord is not sustaining the establishment of this work, or that the Lord delayeth his coming, or, that after all it is only a matter of opinion. The love for things of this world will take possession of the hearts of men even in this Church and blind their eyes, for the desire for material things will darken their spirits. But the most damning thing that shall happen is the sin and transgression into which men and women will go, who, yielding to that spirit of self-indulgence, will not be able to keep the commandments of God because of not observing the Word of Wisdom, and they will weaken themselves until they shall succumb to a greater and more terrible evil, the evil of immorality, which is the end of self-indulgence, which has brought about the destruction of men and nations. ¶

HOW TO GAIN STRENGTH TO RESIST ¶

Yet the Lord has fortified the Latter-day Saints in these simple gospel principles, if only we shall adhere to them, to enable us to stand when the storms do blow, and when the dangers threaten. Men and women who keep the Word of Wisdom, observing to abstain from the things that the natural appetite of men may crave, shall develop a strength and power to resist greater temptations when they come. But whosoever has been unable to observe this law that is suited to the capacity of the weakest of the weak, may not be able to survive the dangers that shall come. ¶

A WARNING OF DANGER ¶

Now, I do not want to paint a dark picture, I simply want to lift my voice in warning as a watchman upon the towers of Zion, that there is danger ahead ; that the time of peace and prosperity of the people becomes their most perilous time, and has been so in all the ages of the past. And yet with perfect confidence I look forward throughout those days of individual testing to a time to come when vindication will arise for those who are true and faithful under all circumstances and adhere to these gospel principles. It is not an idle boast. We have lived long enough to see the fruits of "Mormonism" in the lives of Latter-day Saints, and by their fruits they shall be judged, and that is a just and righteous judgment. ¶

Behold how the application of the law of tithing has helped to solve a problem for the Latter-day Saints. It has brought them into the enjoyment of facilities and opportunities, not only in a religious, but in a social way. It has enabled the authorities of the Church to provide ways and means for the social welfare of people by the building of recreation halls, by the building of temples and the building of tabernacles, by the provisions such as are not found in any other church. And this by reason of the fact that the great majority of the Latter-day Saints have observed the law of tithing. ¶

SOLVING THE CONFLICT BETWEEN CAPITAL AND LABOR ¶

That is only, however, an incident along the way, for all this is a training and preparation for other things that are to come. The eternal conflict that has been waged between capital and labor cannot be solved nor shall it be solved by all the legislation that men shall enact. When men become their brothers' keepers, when the love of God is in the hearts of men, and they are willing to pay their honest tithing they are making a step towards the establishment of an order that obtained once in the days of Enoch and shall obtain again when the Lord Jesus Christ comes to rule and reign. And there shall be no rich and no poor. The Lord's gospel plan is the true and only solution of that problem. ¶

GOVERNMENT'S STRENGTH LIES IN THE PEOPLE'S OBSERVANCE OF LAW ¶

I rejoice in every measure that is put forth to curtail the use of alcoholic beverages. I rejoice to know that at one time at least in the history of our own country we rose to the height that we were enabled to establish in the Constitution of the United States a law that prohibits the use of liquor or strong drink which every intelligent man knows is positively an injury to the human body. Yet I grieve to see a spirit rampant in the hearts of men who ought to know better, to temporize with and alter this law. If we do recede from the high ground we took when this country made an attempt to free itself from the destructive influences of alcoholic beverages, we shall start on a downward program that is full of danger and destruction to the people of this country. ¶

So far as the Latter-day Saints are concerned, we rejoice in every measure that seeks to preserve us from these destructive influences, and yet I recognize that all the legislation that can be enacted will not charge the appetites of men or control their will. If it becomes necessary for us to use half the people of this country to police the other half, civilization will be in dire peril. The strength and power of the American government was in the willingness on the part of the great masses of the people to observe the constitutional law and honor and respect it. We have been changing year by year from that time until the present, and never before in the history of our government has there been such a police force in use in the nation, in the states, and in the counties and in the cities to attempt to maintain law and order. There must come an awakened respect for law and order or we shall reach the point where 51% of the people shall be lawless, and then our interests will be in danger, our constitution, our privileges and our rights will be in imminent jeopardy. ¶

CIVILIZATION RESTS UPON SELF-CONTROL OF PEOPLE ¶

I heard an eminent economist of our country, (I refer to Dr. Thomas Nixon Carver) deliver an address at the commencement exercises of the University of Utah a few years ago, wherein he discussed the subject of how much civilization can the world maintain. He undertook to prove, and I believe he was successful, that the present civilization can endure only because the majority of the people of this country can maintain the power of self-control ; that a nation or a people who have lost the power of self-control have lost all possibility of preserving unto themselves and their children a civilization. There was published last year by Professor Wiggam, an interesting treatise upon that very subject. He draws attention to the fact that ours is not the only civilization that has reached a glorious eminence. He refers to Egypt in all its glory, to Greece, and to the civilizations that arose and flourished on this American continent, that perhaps in some respects excelled our own civilization. And said he : ¶

"We need not feel that we are secure as the mountains, or that our present civilization shall stand and endure no matter what may come." ¶

DANGERS THAT THREATEN OUR CIVILIZATION ¶

He points out the dangers that threaten our civilization and asks the question whether or not we have reached the summit and shall begin to recede, and whether there is in humanity itself the power to preserve forever a civilization. He said that it is only a short step, as nations in the past have shown, back to the jungle ; that while there has always been an element, a few, that have contended for the maintenance of these high standards, they have been gradually absorbed and overcome, and the will of the majority has prevailed and darkness has come over the spirits of men again. As I read this gloomy forecast I was filled with this hope and absolute conviction, that the Lord God Almighty knew the dangers and determined to preserve a civilization that shall withstand all the troubles of the future. But that civilization cannot be maintained by the wisdom of man. God alone can do it, and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ alone is the path and the way and the means by which that civilization may be preserved. ¶

KIND WORDS FOR THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS ¶

This same author that I am referring to calls attention, in a treatise of that subject, to the strength and power of the "Mormon" Church. It is gratifying to me to know that while we ourselves know the plans and purposes of the Lord and have faith in those plans, that men who are looking from the outside are also noticing the fruits of "Mormonism" in the lives of the people. And so it ought to be. We should be attracting the attention of the world. ¶

I remember that a few years ago Dr. Carver said from this very place where I now stand, that if he were going to search the world over to study the highest state of civilization being developed he would come to Utah and find it among the "Mormons." I discovered in Boston, during my recent visit there with President Rolapp, that Dr. Carver is just as freely speaking there of his findings among the "Mormons" as he did here. For he said, on his return in 1925 from teaching summer school in the Agricultural College, the philosophy of life involved in the "Mormon" Church is the most constructive thing he has seen in American life. He sees only a church which embraces the whole faith and has a tremendous value for the adherents, so well is it organized, so much is it the center of all community pleasure, so closely does it endeavor to establish heaven upon earth. ¶

Dr. Wiggam, in his observations, has the following to say in Next Age of Man : ¶

"There can be little question that in all ages religious appeal has had great influence upon the birthrate." ¶

He is calling attention to the fact that nation after nation is receding in its birthrate, that decay is setting in and the end may be that nations will destroy themselves by their own suicide ; and in the solution of this question he sees a ray of hope in what he calls the "Mormon" plan : ¶

"As an illustration the 'Mormon' people of Utah, under the influence of their religious belief, have kept up a higher birthrate among their intellectual and professional classes than the people of any other state of the Union. Their theology teaches that every child that is born means that this act of human beings gives another soul its opportunity to pass from a lower state of existence through the trial state of this bodily life to a higher state of spiritual evolution. Dr. Johnson, a professor in the University of Pittsburgh (I met this gentleman in the east. He was in one of our meetings in Pittsburgh) believes that the 'Mormon' religion is the most eugenical religion in the world." ¶

ETERNITY OF THE FAMILY RELATIONSHIP ¶

In this time of trouble that is threatening not only the peace of the nation but its life, in the destruction of the home, the "Mormon" example is attracting attention, wherein we plan to be united in companionship not only until death does us part, but for eternity, which is quite in contrast to the spirit of the age that seeks for companionship marriage that may be dissolved at will, without the edict of the court. Upon an enduring foundation we look forward to the perpetuation and the establishment of these unions throughout time and all eternity. God never could have provided for the strength and endurance of this Church on a more solid basis than he did when he established in it the union of families for time that shall endure throughout all the ages, and gave us the conception that the children who come to us are his sons and daughters, entitled as much as we are to the rights and privileges of earth life, and that it is one step onward towards their glorious destiny. ¶

There has been inculcated into our hearts, therefore, by the example of our fathers and mothers, through the observance of the first great commandment of God to multiply and replenish the earth, the true conception of one of the chief purposes of life that cannot and must not be lost sight of by the Latter-day Saints, and through adhering to it we shall survive and shall not perish. ¶

THE KERNELS OF LIFE IN GOSPEL TEACHINGS ¶

So each simple gospel principle has in it the very kernel of life. We need no new revelation. All we need to do is to get a new conception, perhaps, of those simple gospel principles contained in these doctrines taught during this conference: The observance of the Fast day, thereby taking care of the poor of the Latter-day Saints, and also providing for a spiritual growth and development on the part of the membership. The adherence to these gospel principles shall bring honesty, for the man who pays an honest tithing is inculcating deep in his heart the elements of honesty such as no other practice or teaching can do. The old "Mormon" slogan that "a 'Mormon's' word is as good as his bond" should be the watchword of all Latter-day Saints if we are to seek to distinguish ourselves and establish integrity the like of which is not known elsewhere. ¶

I think as I said a moment ago, the Lord has overlooked nothing in enabling us to realize these great promises. He has selected the right people. They are the house of Israel, sons and daughters of Joseph. ¶

WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF JOSEPH ¶

I read, a few years ago, an article by an eminent author in one of our national magazines in which he discussed the question, "Are the Jews the chosen people of God"? He granted to them a claim to all the blessings that were pronounced upon their father Judah. "But when," said he, "they assume to be the inheritors of those blessings that were pronounced upon his brother Joseph, they are usurping that which they have no right to." And he concluded his article with the statement that if somewhere in the world we could find the descendants of Joseph, the descendants of Ephraim, we would indeed find the chosen people of God. ¶

WE SHOULD THEREFORE RISE TO THE LORD'S EXPECTATIONS ¶

How we ought to rejoice in knowing that they are found and that we are the children of Joseph. These are the chosen people of God, and yet not in boastfulness, but as the natural inheritors of blessings and privileges. We should arise to the Lord's expectations ; and through his providing we ought to become distinguished and unlike the world, a peculiar people. The Lord brought us to the right place, in the right part of the United States, where, with all its natural privileges and advantages, there can be developed an unusual race of men. Every environment, every setting, every struggle through which this people have passed and the very nature of their employment, means that there is in these things the building of men and women who shall arise and shine. I am glad to know that we have the only plan, God's plan, that would make any people, I care not who they are, distinguished people — with inspired leaders, with a man to whom the revelations of God are given, to tell the people what to do next in the unfolding of this program. With such possibilities, nothing, overlooked on the part of the Lord, why shall we not arise and shine, that our light indeed may be a standard to the nations, that we may become the salt of the earth? The power is in this Church, to become a mighty people. ¶

God bless us that we shall treasure our heritage, that we shall recognize that we are to do an unusual thing. We are not called to be imitators, we are called to be exemplars to the world, a light that shall shine until the day will come when from the east to the west, the north to the south, they will come, not to look upon our lands nor our fields nor our factories, but to learn of our ways that they may walk in our paths, and thereby find peace, preservation and salvation now and eternally. ¶

May God bless us to keep our eye upon our glorious destiny and recognize that within our hands are the means of accomplishing such an end, and not be blind to our privileges. The Lord help us thus to see his wonderful providing and go forward towards that which is ours, through our faithfulness, and may God grant it, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶