A Judgment to Come

I humbly pray that I may be aided by that good spirit which comes from on high. With you, my brethren and sisters, I believe that we are blessed with a religion that establishes our relationship to our Heavenly Father. ¶

A Judgment to Come

Many thoughtful people believe that the appalling increase in crime is due, in part at least, to the fact that men are forgetting that they will be required to stand before the throne of God and give an account for the deeds done in the body. Young men rejoice in their youth but they should never forget that God will bring them into judgment for all the things they do that are contrary to his commandments. Old age does not make up for the deficiencies that are allowed to grow in the life of the youth. ¶

More thinking of the next world produces a restraining effect upon men whose inclinations urge them to sin. We should never cease to teach of a judgment to come, persuading men to work with a daily unceasing hope and an ambition to make their lives better. What a miserable state a man is in when the latter end of his days are the worst of his life. ¶

Assisting in Bringing People to God

Jesus said, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." Through virtue of this lifting up, through virtue of the sacrifice the Lord Jesus made for sin and through the atonement he made to win our redemption, this matchless Teacher, by his word and spirit, draws us unto God. It should be our aim to bring not only ourselves but other people nearer to the Lord; each man has a part to play in these dark days of trouble and woe. ¶

The poet said: ¶

God give us men; the time demands ¶

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and willing hands. ¶

Men whom the lust of office does not kill, ¶

Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; ¶

Men who possess opinions and a will ; ¶

Men who can stand before a demagogue ¶

And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking. ¶

Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog ¶

In public duty and in private thinking; ¶

For while the rabble with their thumb-worn creeds, ¶

Their large professions and their little deeds ¶

Mingle in selfish strife, Lo! Freedom weeps, ¶

Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps. ¶

Men with these qualities will cure the evils of the world — men, strong men. ¶

The Present a Part of Eternity

We love the Gospel because it teaches a continuing personality in the next life. We must not live for this life alone. And yet our present state is a part of eternity. ¶

John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, when he was eighty years of age met a friend on a Boston street. "Good morning," said the friend, "and how is John Quincy Adams today?" "Thank you," was the ex-president's reply, "John Quincy Adams himself is well, quite well, I thank you. But the house in which he lives at present is becoming dilapidated. It is tottering upon its foundation. Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it. Its roof is pretty well worn out. Its walls are much shattered and it trembles with every wind. The old tenement is becoming almost uninhabitable and I think John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon; but he himself is quite well, quite well." ¶

The immortal spirit of man lives, as a continuing personality, forever and forever. This is the hope implanted in our hearts by the Gospel ; it is the destiny of mankind. God is the father of our spirits. ¶

Continual Improvement

The thought of continual improvement is expressed in the following lines : ¶

Build thee more stately mansions, oh my soul, ¶

As the swift seasons roll ¶

Leave thy low-vaulted past. ¶

Let each new temple nobler than the last ¶

Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, ¶

Till thou at length art free, ¶

Leaving thine outgrown shell ¶

By life's unresting sea. ¶

It should be the ideal of Latter-day Saints to be at the close of each day one step nearer heaven. They should have in mind the building of more stately mansions, mansions of character, of patriotism, of thrift, of morality. We do not live for ourselves. Every man can wield a tremendous influence for good, more than he thinks. ¶

Benjamin Franklin wrote his own epitaph. This is it : ¶

Like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and gilding, lies here food for worms. But the work shall not be lost, for it will, as he believes, appear once more in a new and more elegant edition, revised and corrected by the author. ¶

The Resurrection of the Just

We believe in the glorious resurrection of the just. The Apostle Paul declares this heavenly truth : ¶

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. ¶

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. ¶

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first: ¶

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. ¶

'Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (I Thess. 4:14-18.) ¶

This is an ideal, this is a stately mansion which we can visualize because we know the hope and the comfort the Gospel brings to our souls that our lives are going to continue in that eternal world where every power shall find sweet employ. A glorious resurrection, my brethren and sisters, is the chief gift among the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. ¶

God help us all to attain that, I humbly pray in the name of the Savior. Amen. ¶