Keeping the Commandments

My beloved brethren and sisters, I rejoice with you in the spiritual feast that we have enjoyed during the last three days. Reference has been made to the music furnished by the various organizations. To me it has been inspiring. From each of the speakers we have received suggestions that have been highly beneficial. The teachings of the Master have been so beautifully set forth that a stranger to this Church would certainly be impressed with the fact that we believe in and earnestly advocate the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the only plan for salvation in the celestial kingdom. ¶

BELIEVING THEIR PROFESSIONS ¶

When we realize that those professing Christianity are often arrayed against their fellows selfishly and unkindly I am not surprised that there are many in the world who are unable to accept the various interpretations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we see the manner in which many men and women who claim to be Christians are deporting themselves it has a tendency to destfoy the faith of those who do not differentiate between the effect of living and just pretending to live the Gospel of our Lord. ¶

OUR BELIEF IS IT DEMONSTRATED BY OUR CONDUCT t ¶

I am assuming today that I am looking into the faces of a group of men and women, and the same is true of those who have been here the last several days, who are here because they believe that there is a God. We believe that he is the author of our being. We believe that he created this earth and placed our parents upon it. We believe that he sent his only begotten Son into the world to establish the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe that he gave to us the Holy Bible, known to us as the Old and New Testaments. We believe that he gave to us the Book of Mormon, the history of the ancestors of the American Indian. We believe that he revealed himself to the prophets of old and to the Prophet in oui day who organized this Church under the direction of the Redeemer of mankind. We believe that the Church has been guided by those whom the Lord has sustained as his prophets since then. I say, we believe that, but are we demonstrating to the world that we believe it? Are we willing that this Church should be judged by our personal conduct? Are we willing to stand in the presence of our Maker and say: "With the knowledge that thou gavest me, I have been worthy of thy truth," or are some of us in the position that we would be compelled to say: "Because of our selfishness and our sinfulness we have failed"? ¶

BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO HEED ADVICE ¶

When I think of the harm that is being done to the youth of this Church because men and women belonging to it, contrary to the advice of our President, were willing to legalize the thing that has been a curse to humanity from the beginning, I ask myself the question, "What will they say when they stand in the presence of the Heavenly Father of these sons and daughters who are being destroyed?" If the Lord were not more merciful to us than some of us are to our fellows, I fear that we would not enjoy the blessings that we enjoy. But he is long-suffering and patient, although he had told us plainly that he will not always be so, that he will not always overlook our mistakes; but he has helped us by giving us counsel and advice, informing us what we ought to do. ¶

VIOLATING THE SABBATH ¶

Ten commandments were given to ancient Israel. Do we believe that they were given by our Heavenly Father? If we do, then we know that they are binding upon latter-day Israel. Let me read: ¶

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: ¶

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt net do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: ¶

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. ¶

This very day upon which we meet here to worship, viz, the Sabbath, has become the play-day of this great nation — the day set apart by thousands to violate the commandment that God gave long, long ago, and I am persuaded that much of the sorrow and distress that is afflicting and will continue to afflict mankind is traceable to the fact that they have ignored his admonition to keep the Sabbath day holy. Where are your sons and daughters and mine today? If they are observing this commandment of our Heavenly Father then they are entitled to his blessings. If they are failing, then sorrow and not blessings may be theirs. I want to say to this body of men that it is your duty and mine, not in an indifferent way, but in the majesty of the priesthood of the living God, to set our own houses in order, to teach our sons and daughters, to exercise our influence in the communities in which we live as fully as we have ever done, and if we have failed in any particular, that we increase in our desire to bless mankind. ¶

OTHER COMMANDMENTS VIOLATED ¶

The Lord said further: ¶

Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. ¶

Do you believe that he said that? Are we honoring our fathers and our mothers? Is the Christian world honoring father and mother ? ¶

Thou shalt not kill. ¶

The roar of the artillery of a supposedly Christian nation may be heard in Ethiopia while we are here in worship. Human beings are violating that commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." ¶

Thou shalt not commit adultery. ¶

Do you believe that the Lord said that? Do you believe that he meant what he said? I say to you that this world is suffering from the very fact that they ignore that loving, kind advice, and there is sorrow and disaster abroad in the land because men and women refuse to observe the moral law and earn the blessings that result from obedience to the same. ¶

Thou shalt not steal. ¶

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. ¶

Are we guiltless or are we among those, who, when we stand in the presence of the great Judge will be humiliated when Ave realize that because of our avarice and deceitfulness we have wronged these children of his of whom he has said: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." ¶

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. ¶

Do you believe that the Lord said that ? Do you believe that he meant what he said? If we only understood how near we are to the Judgment Day there are men and women in the various communities of this world who would now be on their knees in sack-cloth and ashes; but they think that time is so far off that the}' procrastinate the day of repentance. ¶

Not only did the Lord reveal his will to ancient Israel but he has spoken to latter-day Israel and warned us against the sins and bad habits of the .world. Read prayerfully Section 89, Doctrine and Covenants. Read it all. It is called the Word of Wisdom. ¶

NEED FOR REPENTANCE ¶

Do you believe that the Lord gave to us the Word of Wisdom ? Do you really think that he knows what is good for us? Do you think it would please him if we would observe that law? He says it would. Do you think he meant it? There is need for repentance in Israel. There is need for the men and women of this Church to gather their loved ones around their family shrines and say to our Heavenly Father, If you will forgive us for our past foolishness we will be better in the future. We need to do that and until many homes are set in order the blessings of our Heavenly Father cannot be there. He will not be mocked. He has told us so and he has given to us wrhat he has given to no other people. All that the people of the world have that is really precious we also have, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ in addition. Do you believe it? I marvel when I see how careless some of our Father's children are. When the world is aflame from one end to the other with jealousy and wickedness, I marvel that we are so . complacent and selfsatisfied and go on day by day indifferent as to the condition of our fellows, almost saying by our conduct, "Are we our brother's keeper?" ¶

OBSERVANCE OF COMMANDMENTS NECESSARY ¶

God gave to us a wonderful blessing when he gave to us the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He gave to you and me a marvelous privilege in that we can associate with good men and women who are desirous of keeping the commandments. But in return for that gift and that blessing he holds us responsible not only to say that we believe, but to live that we may be blameless before him when we stand there at the last day. ¶

You will pardon me if I have talked with intense earnestness. It is not because I am angry — I am hurt; my feelings are wounded at the indifference, the carelessness, yea blindness, of many who belong to this great Church, because I know what the result will be. The Lord himself has spoken. Now let us go to our homes and wherein they are not in order, let us set them in order, get the Spirit of the Lord and keep it, observe the commandments of God that we may obtain his blessings, and let us demonstrate day by day by loving kindness and charity, and consideration to one another in these trying times, that we do know that God lives. ¶

NOT ASHAMED OF TRUTH ¶

I know that he lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the Lord. I have never been anywhere that I have been ashamed to say that. I do not know why a man should be ashamed of knowing the truth because somebody else does not know it, especially when it pertains to the everlasting Gospel, the power of God unto salvation. Let your light so shine that men and women everywdiere observing your good works may be constrained to glorify our Father which is in heaven. ¶

our father's work ¶

Sustain the constitution of the United States. The Lord himself has said that he raised up the very men who prepared it to the end that it might be an example to all the world. Do you believe it? If you do then sustain it and don't let your voice be among those that shall deride and break down the things that are so important for us. This is our Father's work. We are his children, heirs to all blessings. All that any man or woman ever enjoyed in all the wide world will be ours if we keep the commandments and we will obtain it in no other way. That we may be worthy of the welcome home, "Well done thou good and faithful servant," when our day's labor is completed, I humbly ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen. ¶