Trust, Responsibility, and the Gospel

My brethren and sisters, once more I stand before you, the beneficiary of your trust and confidence. You have honored me as I have never been honored before. You have placed upon me a responsibility which I never before had. I can only say to you that every atom of strength which I possess will be used so to live that I may merit the trust and the confidence which you have indicated, and that I may receive the inspiration and the blessings which I must ask you to ask the Lord to give unto me. ¶

We are missing today the face, perhaps not the presence, of one who has been with us during a long life, President Ivins. For his great work, for the lesson of his life, for his faith, for his counsel, we are all devoutly grateful. The most earnest hope that I myself have is that while it shall please the Lord to have me in the place which he held, I shall be measurably able to do the work which he performed. ¶

CONFERENCES TO IMPART SPIRITUALITY ¶

I missed this morning, speaking personally, the broadcast of the choir. It has seemed to me, in the times that I have been here, that nothing has given us more of the Spirit with which to begin a session than their beautiful singing. I accompanied them to Chicago. I rejoiced in their ¶

success. I congratulate them in their excellence. I pray the Lord to continue to bless them. ¶

We are met today in a general conference. Sometimes, I hear, the people feel, some of them, that perhaps we are not quite as "peppy" as we ought to be. But this is not a Church convention. This is a general conference where we meet for general counsel and advice. It is a place to which we come for the results of the reflective operations of our minds. We expect to hear reflective discourse. It is a sort of spiritual stock-taking for us. It is not so much the mechanics of the operation of the Church, that is concerned in a general conference, as it is the spirituality with which each and every one of us shall approach his respective duties in the Church. ¶

I want to approve, with all of my heart, all that has been said during this conference. This morning, if the Lord shall so lead me, I want to follow along the lines that were drawn by Brother Stephen L. Richards and referred to by Brother George Albert Smith, and in doing that I wish to assure you that I have in my heart nothing but the deepest sympathy for those who are in distress. And yet, as Brother McKay has beautifully pointed out to us this morning, there are other things in life than those material blessings to get which so many of the world have solely set their hearts. ¶

LATTER-DAY SAINTS SHOULD SET EXAMPLE ¶

Eighteen months ago, when first I stood before you I called attentention, as earnestly and seriously as I knew how, to what looked to me to be the dangers that were ahead, and I urged you at that time to practice the old virtues of thrift, of honesty, of truthfulness, of industry, and so on through the list of those I named. All that I said then I say again. ¶

One year ago, on this occasion, I called your attention to the abuses that had crept into the distribution of our public funds, and I urged you and pleaded with you that, so far as the Church and its membership were concerned, we do not soil our hands with the bounteous outpouring of funds which the government was giving unto us. I renew that plea now. My brethren and sisters, for the sake of the government which we love, for the sake of the government which we believe was divinely inspired, be honest with it. Be honest, just ordinarily gold honest. That is all I ask. ¶

Do you know that all of the money that we are spending, that the government is spending, must come from you ? The government has no great pile of gold to which it can go to -get what it gives you. The government has not one cent that it does not take from your pockets. Do not imagine, do not believe, do not go on the theory that you are not to pay this bill, unless the fundamentals of our government are to be overturned. ¶

What we get, we members of the Church, compared with the total mass that is distributed, is almost microscopic, but the spirit in which we might take it, the spirit in which we might spend it, is the leaven that ¶

might leaven the whole lump. Let us be patriotic; let us love the government under which we live. ¶

I am persuaded, from all the facts that have come to me, that it would have been possible, if we had functioned as the Lord intended us to function, if we had paid our tithes and our offerings as the Lord intended us to pay them, we might have gone on without one dollar from our federal government. And has it ever occurred to you what a mighty influence we should have exercised for good and for respect and for all of the virtues that we have been taught, and that God has commanded us to exercise and cultivate and practice, if we had just followed along what he has asked us to do ? ¶

DESPOTISM, DESTRUCTIVE TO RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT IDEALS ¶

My brethren and sisters, there are abroad in the world forces — and this I have been saying to you on every occasion that presented itself for the last fifteen years, here in this pulpit — there are forces abroad that do not come from God. There is no dictatorship in the world today, whether that dictatorship be of one man or of a group exercising such control as exists in Russia, that is not striking first and foremost at religion. They are trying to tear down the worship of God and to substitute something else in its stead, and I regret to say that in some parts of this country, in some states of this Union, the issue now seems to be between an ordered, law-governed society and a despotism destructive of religion and of all that our government stands for. I assume this because of the past record of those who are advocating the measures to which I refer. ¶

May I say this : We believe that Christ will come and reign personally upon the earth. But that is no reason why I should advocate the establishment of a monarchy to overturn the government of the United States. We believe in the United Order, something that was taken away from us because we could not live it, and the lesser law was given, the law of tithing — which we are not living either; but our belief in the United Order is no reason why we should support a movement for Communism, to the overturning of our government. These two propositions are absolutely parallel, the one as rational and reasonable as the other. When the Lord wants his people to move into the United Order he will use his anointed servant to direct the way. ¶

SUBSTITUTION ¶

My brethren and sisters, this same element of which I speak — small, I feel sure, and I thank God for this — this same element would substitute for the law that has come to us for over thirty-five hundred years, "Thou shalt not steal," and "Thou shalt not covet," they would substitute the opposite "Steal from those who have. Covet all that your neighbor possesses." ¶

The Lord has spoken very clearly about these things. He has not left us in darkness on these matters. I am going to read a few verses from Section 56 of the Doctrine and Covenants, given in connection ¶

PRESIDENT 7. REUBEN CLARK, JR. ¶

with the rapacity, the pride, and the selfishness of one of the early members of the Church: ¶

Behold, thus saith the Lord unto my people, you have many things to do and to repent of; for behold, your sins have come up unto me, and are not pardoned, because you seek to counsel in your own ways. ¶

And your hearts are not satisfied. And ye obey not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. ¶

Wo unto you rich men, that will not give your substance to the poor, for your riches will canker your souls; and this shall be your lamentation in the day of visitation and of judgment, and of indignation: The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul is not saved ! ¶

RELY ON THE LORD'S PLAN ¶

I refer to the words of Elder Richards, and I tell you that any Latter-day Saint who does pay an income tax, and who at the same time pays his tithing, his fast offerings, his donations, his help for the poor, will never be able to get the full benefit under the fifteen per cent which the tax income provides for. In other words, those men among us who have the Spirit of the Lord, and who obey his laws, will always spend more than fifteen per cent of their income for the Church and its work and people. That is one reason why I say to you as I said a few moments ago, that if we had but hearkened to the Lord and obeyed his commandments there would have been no occasion for us to have drawn on the federal government. I also say to you that in my opinion, reached after mature reflection, this people would have been better off materially and spiritually, if we had relied on the Lord's plan and had not used one dollar of government funds. ¶

This revelation goes on: ¶

Wo unto you poor men, whose hearts are not broken, whose spirits are not contrite, and whose bellies arel not satisfied, and whose hands are not stayed from laying hold upon other men's goods, whose eyes are full of greediness, and who will not labor with your own hands ! ¶

Those are not my words, my brethren and sisters. Those are the words of the Lord, a commandment to this day and generation. ¶

For behold, (the revelation continues) the Lord shall come, and his recompense shall be with him, and he shall reward every man, and the poor shall rejoice; ¶

And their generations shall inherit the earth, from generation to generation, forever and ever. And now I make an end of speaking unto you. Even so. Amen. ¶

THROUGH HONESTY COMES POWER AND DIGNITY ¶

My brethren and sisters, once more I appeal to your patriotism, I appeal to your integrity, I appeal to your standing in the Church — in your dealings with the government be just plain, simple, money honest. Then there will come among this people such a spirit of power and dignity and of uplifting, that has not been known in my generation at least. ¶

I thank you for those of you who are faithful — and you are the great majority — for those of you who are trying to follow after the foot-steps of the Master, for those of you who are doing your utmost to live the ¶

Gospel of Christ, for those of you who can say, as did Paul of old to Timothy, — and I want to read it : ¶

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith : ¶

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto al] them also that love his appearing. ¶

Again, my brethren and sisters, in this hour, filled with love and with respect for this government of ours, which if men do not change their greediness and their avarice and their covetousness, stands in gravest danger, — again I plead with you, be money honest with our government. ¶

May God give us his Spirit at all times and in all circumstances, and enable us to live as he would have usl live, always true and faithful to his principles, I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶