Rejoicing in the Gospel

Today, my brethren and sisters, I rejoice in my lot. I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for the privilege of laboring in authority of the holy priesthood. ¶

As I have listened to the remarks made during this Conference I have wondered if this so-called depression is not really a blessing. I recall six months ago President Charles W. Nibley called this condition to our attention and urged that we prepare ourselves to be ready to live according to the United Order. ¶

May I be pardoned if I take a moment to speak of him. He was as a father to me, for he was all a kind and loving father should be to a son. He came into our family life before I was born. In my youth I learned to call him "uncle." He loved my father with a devotion seldom found in men. Because of that devotion I have been exceedingly blessed. It was my good fortune and great privilege to work with him many years, to know of his faith and his integrity ; and I want to testify to you that he was, through faith, the service he rendered and his life's work, in a position to advise us to prepare to meet the requirements of these Gospel teachings. He lived them and never taught anything that he did not believe, and that which he taught he believed with all his heart. As he learned the joy of service in the Lord's work during times of poverty and ¶

the need of such service in times of plenty, should we not accept his advice and example to guide us during this period of depression ? I want to relate just one incident. While he was the presiding bishop of the Church the majority interests of the Sugar Company were held by eastern capitalists. They were declared by the Government to be a trust and ordered dissolved. It appeared that if that were carried out the sugar industry of the intermountain country would cease to be, for sugar could be made much cheaper elsewhere. He went to New York, negotiated for the purchase of that stock, pledged every cent he had in the world to secure it and came home thinking it would be an easy matter to persuade his friends and business associates to help him carry the load. But few of them helped. On every hand men looking at dollars, not with the viewpoint he had, refused to help. ¶

I remember one day while sitting in the office he said : "I have been impressed that this industry should be preserved for this people. I may lose every cent I have in the world, but if I save the industry for this people I shall be satisfied." ¶

Later on, the demand seemed to grow in the East for that stock. It increased in value. Day after day men came to the office, the telephone rang, for people were then willing, when they could see a chance for an increased monetary value, to give him support. Later, during the great war, when the price of sugar was at the highest it has ever been, I had the honor of representing him on a committee to deal with the beetraisers to negotiate a contract ; and his only advice was, "I want you to endeavor to secure an agreement for the division of profits between the beet-growers and those who have put their money into this industry." ¶

For days we argued, labored and pleaded with those who represented the beet-growers. Finally we were unable to reach an agreement. I shall never forget the final answer. I shouldn't repeat it but perhaps I can make a lesson of it. When I finally said : "Now let us be reasonable ; let us reach an agreement in this matter that will be equitable and just," the spokesman of that committee said : "To hell with equity and justice. We know what we want and we are going to have it." And he evidently did know, for he got what they wanted and the beet-growers and the stockholders of the Sugar Company are still paying the debt. ¶

President Nibley was always ready to enter into the United Order. He taught it. He paid his tithes and his offerings, and every call made of him through the Gospel of Jesus Christ was uppermost in his mind and his soul. He never overlooked that statement which the Lord made, warning the rich man that unless he gave of his substance to the poor his riches would canker his soul. He had been poor, he knew what it was to go hungry and cold. He knew that the salvation of man, that which would secure for him exaltation in the kingdom of our Lord, must be obtained by faith and work. ¶

Again I say, I believe this time of depression is really a time of blessing, a time of fasting, a time in which we are called to turn to God, a time of purification. How can we live the United Order when we have not learned to live according to the law which teaches us to pay our tithes ¶

and offerings? How can we live according to the law of the United Order, which is only a counterpart of the great law of eternal salvation, which does not mean that every man shall share alike in amount, but only, as we have already learned in this Conference, insofar as he earns through his faith and his works the right to participate in the blessings ? Not all shall enjoy the celestial glory, but those only who earn that privilege. ¶

And so it comes right back to us, are we worthy, are we worthy to enjoy the blessings the Lord has promised? It seems to me that there is something more than to feed men and women bread. Oh, how many are there who are dying, slowly dying, spiritually, for want of spiritual food. We cannot help them by ridicule. We know ridicule and abuse are the methods of hell. The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches that we shall love one another, and how many of us who hold the priesthood really love our neighbor ? How many of us are trying to feed those who are hungering for the Gospel ? If we could only touch the spark of life and cause it to burn within their souls, we should have no further concern, for the Gospel teaches men to do good. The testimony of the Gospel leads into the path of truth and righteousness and there is no greater work that we can do during this time of depression than to take advantage of this forced condition of humility in which we find ourselves and go forth to carry the Gospel message to those who are hungering, dying spiritually, for lack of spiritual food. ¶

May the Lord bless us, my brethren and sisters, may his Spirit be upon us, that we may carry his Gospel message to those who are careless and indifferent, who because of careless habits have lost the spirit and are wandering in darkness. Let us give them a helping hand and lead them into the light, that we may be blessed eternally, is my prayer, which I ask in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶