The Church as a Divine Organization

ELDER DAVID O. McKAY ¶

"Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek Ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, where abidest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see." ¶

"What seek ye?" "Master, where abidest thou?" "Come and ¶

see." ¶

These three significant expressions were probably uttered immediately following the Savior's return from the Mount of Temptation. "What seek ye?" is the first recorded utterance of the Savior of men as he entered upon his public ministry. The question, "Master, where abidest thou?" was asked by two disciples of John the Baptist, undoubtedly, Andrew and John. ¶

In that second question, I read some such meaning as this: "Rabbi, where can we find Messiah ? Where may we obtain deliverance from the oppression of Rome, or, possibly, deliverance from the, evils of our age?" The Savior's answer is most significant and important. If I may put it in my own words I read in that "Come and see," such a fact as this: If you will follow me, you yourselves may discover the way." ¶

"what seek ye?" ¶

My purpose in calling your attention to this text this afternoon is to apply those questions to the world today. Suppose that the Son of Man said to mankind in the present age, "What seek ye?" what would be the answer? Many would say: We seek pleasure; some, wealth; others, fame and power; but the most thoughtful would answer, We are seeking the light of the ages, as mankind has ever sought. We are seeking a social Utopia. We want a society in which we may be relieved of some of the ills of mankind, free from the troubles and toils of life. ¶

UNSUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENTS ¶

With every progressive age of the world intellectual, noble-minded leaders have sought for a better way of living than that which was current. The good life, a social Utopia, has been the quest of the ages. To sense the need of reform has been easy; to achieve it has been difficult and often well-nigh impossible. Ideas and suggestions proposed by the wisest of men have seldom been practical, often fantastical; yet in most cases the world in general has been made better by the disseminating of new ideas, even though the experiments proved failures at the time. In this respect the century just past has been no exception. ¶

The first half of the 19th century was marked by a general feeling of social unrest. Observant people became dissatisfied with social and economic conditions, and thinking men sought for remedial changes. In France, early in the century, the fanciful theories of Charles Fourier were circulated. He attempted to outline the future history of our globe and of the human race for eighty thousand years. Today his books aren't even read. Robert Owen founded a commercial society at New Harmony, Indiana. Although supported by a fortune that he had amassed by intelligent and frugal efforts, and although he was encouraged by the Duke of Kent who became his patron, his scheme for the betterment of mankind came to naught in 1827. He returned to England where he tried several similar experiments with the same result. ¶

George Ripley, a Unitarian minister, conceived a plan of "plain living and high thinking." He had as his associates such able men as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles A. Dana, afterward assistant Secretary of War in the United States, and John S. Dwight. Ripley's impulse was really religious rather than economic, and "was due to a kind of monastic desire for withdrawal from a sordid world rather than a desire for a new society." He and his associates became the founders of what was known as the Brook Farm, a "Great Experiment" as it was called, to make the world an agreeable place to live in. It came to an end in 1846. ¶

"Some of these Colonies" writes Phillip Russell, "were religious in purpose, others educational, and still others economic; but all, including Brook Farm, were social symptoms — rashes and growths indicating a sick and strained America." ¶

THE CHURCH AS A SOCIAL ORGANIZATION ¶

It has been charged by a cynical writer that the Mormon Church was but one more excrescence of the fermenting body politic of this religious-social reaction. ¶

It is true that "religious excitement" led Joseph Smith to seek the right church, the proper mode of worship, the right way to live. A desire to know this impelled the youth to seek the Lord for wisdom in the spring of 1820, the greatest result of the answer to his prayer being the organization of the Church, in Peter Whitmer, Sr.'s home, on Tuesday, April 6, 1830. ¶

In considering the Church purely as a social organization having as one object, at least, what other worthy organizations had in view; viz., the amelioration of social ills, and the advancement of mankind, it is well to keep in mind at the outset the facts: ¶

First: That Joseph Smith was unschooled and "unacquainted with men and things." Undoubtedly, he had never even heard of Fourier's phalanxes, the Owen experiment, nor any other scheme, religious or economic, for the bettering of social conditions; ¶

Second: That the six original members were practically unknown, were financially poor, and had no political or social standing; and ¶

Third: That Joseph Smith did not organize the Church by man's wisdom but by divine direction, "in accordance with the order of the Church as recorded in the New Testament". ¶

For one hundred years this organization has survived financial panics, social upheavals, and religious turmoil, and today conforms to the best concepts of sociologists as a means of supplying the highest needs of mankind. ¶

CHURCH GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL ¶

"Government represents the authority of the group, usually exercised in an external coercive way, to enforce the will of the group upon its individual members." That government is best which has as its aim the administration of justice, social well-being and the promotion of prosperity among its members. ¶

Considered politically the world is upset at the present time in its opinion as to the best form of government. We are just witnessing the downfall of monarchies. Rising from these monarchial ruins have come democracy as exemplified chiefly in Great Britain in her dominions and in the United States; the dictatorship of the proletariat as in Soviet Russia; and the Fascist regime in Italy, with Mussolini as chief dictator. It is apparent that men are seeking for a better form of government than most nations now have. Will they find it in the government by a dictator or in the government by the people, or in a combination of both ? ¶

One clear writer, Mr. Kirkpatrick, says that "Efficiency and progress are favored when the government is such that the local community has a great deal of responsibility of its own affairs and the central government has final authority to introduce those institutions and rules of procedure that have been shown to be permanently useful." ¶

Now my fellow workers, and thinking honest men of the world, take that fundamental definition of true government and see how admirably the Church of Jesus Christ conforms to it. A careful analysis of the organization of the Church reveals the fact that it embodies all the strength of a strong central government and every virtue and necessary, safeguard of a democracy. ¶

First, it has the authority of priesthood without the vice of priestcraft, every worthy man being entitled to a place and a voice in the governing quorums. ¶

Second, it offers a system of education, universal and free in its application — the safety valve, the very heart and strength of a true democracy. ¶

Third, it offers a judicial system that extends justice and equal privileges to all alike, applicable to the poor and to the millionaire. ¶

Fourth, in its ecclesiastical groupings of stakes and wards and branches and districts, efficiency and progress are enhanced inasmuch as every local group attends to its own affairs, and yet each is so closely united with the central government that every mode of procedure proved useful and beneficial to the people can be adopted without delay for the good of the entire group. ¶

Truly, from the standpoint of enhancing efficiency and progress, the Church of Christ has that form of government which the nations today are seeking. ¶

A REVERSION TO THE TEACHINGS OF CHRIST ¶

This is because it is patterned after that order which Christ himself established. I call your attention again to the fact that the Prophet Joseph stated on the 6th day of April, 1830, that the Church was organized after that order given in the New Testament. I read recently in a book published last year by Charles A. Ellwood, Ph. D., L. L. D., author of "The Social Destiny of Man," that "The religion of the future cannot be based upon historical Christianity, but must, in order to avoid misunderstanding, go back to the teachings of Christ, as recorded in the Gospels." Isn't it significant that a young man not twenty-five years of age, unacquainted with the social systems of his age, or of any age, should have realized and declared one hundred years ago just what this thinker realizes today ! ¶

Says the sociologist of 1930: "The religion of the future must go back to the teachings of Christ, as recorded in the Gospels." ¶

Said Joseph Smith one hundred years ago: "The Church of Jesus Christ was organized in accordance with the order of the Church as recorded in the New Testament. And the practical and beneficent workings of the organization prove its divine authenticity." ¶

FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS ¶

Mr. A. Euston Haydon, author of "The Quest of the Ages," names four fundamental elements as an ideal of the satisfying life: ¶

First: Man must feel a sense of security in regards to the basic needs of living. He must have food, shelter, proper family relationships and protection, and a recognized place in the group. ¶

Second: Religion must contribute to the joy of personality, by permitting individuals to share in racial and cultural achievements. This calls for an educational discipline for poise and self-control, ability to think, in order to live more abundantly and free and to achieve kindness and tolerant sympathy for all people through understanding. ¶

Third: The joy of human comradeship. No other community or organization in the world offers sweeter, more wholesome comradeship than does the Church of Jesus Christ. The love of husband and wife is an eternal bond, not sealed lightly in frivolity or passion but entered into by premeditation, careful observation, sacred association and prayer. The laughter of little children is music in the well-ordered home, and youthful pleasures and associations in home, ward society and auxiliary organizations, quorum service, and mutual helpfulness from babyhood to old age, offer an opportunity for comradeship that fills the soul with a joy that is unknown to the sordid and self-indulgent. ¶

Fourth: The joy of contributing something of value to the common life. ¶

Another writer, scanning the social needs of the world today with clear vision declares that "A church that will enthuse men not only for the redemption of individuals but for the redemption of communities and of mankind may never arrive. But if not, the cause of Christ will perish from the earth. ¶

"I see the church as a life-boat launched to save a stranded world perishing amidst material prosperity, misdirected scientific achievements, and moral decay." ¶

The author quoted says further: "We are witnessing either the crumbling of civilization under the weight of its material mechanism, or the birth of a new world organization with a spiritual ideal." ¶

My testimony is that we are witnessing the birth, or rather the continuance of a great spiritual enlightenment. ¶

WHAT OF THE FUTURE? ¶

What of the future ? "Come and see." "Life abundant, beauteous, laughing life," more brotherhood, securer peace, better social relations are some of the fruits of Mormonism as seen by the eye of faith. ¶

"The increasing prospect tires our wandering eyes. Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise." ¶

Can you not see many nations yet to hear the truth — Jew as well as Gentile ! India and China both awakening, Russia but in the throes of the birth of a new nation, a new religious freedom it must be. God will overrule it, for that people must hear the truth, and the truth in simplicity. Truly there is much for the Church to do in the coming century ! ¶

THE SOLUTION OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS ¶

Brethren, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has in it all that the world would require. I am not associating political government with our religious government; I am merely pointing out that system of organization established by the revelations of God to man. ¶

Let me conclude: The Church, established by divine inspiration to an unlearned youth, offers to the world the solution of all its social problems. It has stood the test of the first century successfully. In the midst of brilliant concepts of men in this twentieth century, who seek conscientiously for social reforms and who peer blindly into the future to read the destiny of man, the Church shines forth as the sun in the heavens, around which other luminaries revolve as satellites of minor importance. Truly it is the creator and preserver of man's highest values. Its real task, the redemption of our human world. "It is the light of truth radiating everywhere in the world, and this light cannot fail to reveal to man, sooner or later, the divine ideals by which man should live." ¶

God help us and qualify us for the mission of carrying to the world this light. May we labor even more zealously than heretofore for the establishment of a social order in which God's will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven — a kingdom of God which shall foster the brotherhood of man and acknowledge the fatherhood of God. May we so live that men seeing our good deeds may be led to glorify our Father in heaven, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶