In Fulfilment of Ancient Prophecy

My brethren and sisters, a feeling akin to awe comes today as never before in the history of the world to any person who occupies this position. He speaks to thousands of his fellowmen, facing them; he speaks to thousands who listen in on the radio ; he speaks into space, for the radio waves never die — they enter the remotest corner of the universe— they speak to eternity. That is a solemn thought. ¶

In Fulfilment of Ancient Prophecy

I suppose we all had that thought this forenoon when we were listening to the wonderful broadcast of the Presidency to all the world. With the coming of television, with the possession of radio, it seems that the fulfilment of the prophecy of old is near at hand: "There is no eye that shall not see, neither ear that shall not hear, neither heart that shall not be penetrated." ¶

I enjoyed the message of our President yesterday, a message of gratitude because of the growth of the Church. Zion is growing, he said, and we all rejoice. It is not a selfish joy, for while we rejoice that we are spreading abroad and succeeding, we rejoice more that because of that spreading we shall be able to serve better our fellowman. This great Latter-day cause is not for us alone. Our mission is to all the world. And every gain that we make must be used for the benefit of our fellowman. ¶

A Courageous Experiment

May I for a few moments direct your minds to some thoughts of mine in connection with the work that I have been doing the last few months? I have been engaged in a direct, positive experiment to solve ¶

some of the social and economic ills that have been talked about today and yesterday in this conference. I have had the privilege of teaching Mormonism, the principles, practice, and history of it, to university classes for university credit — as if the subject were one of the recognized university subjects. It has been a rare opportunity. Four other churches have had the same privilege. It is a courageous experiment undertaken by the University of Southern California. The reason for undertaking this experiment is simple enough. Thinking men have come to the conclusion that there is only one way out of our difficulties in this country and throughout the world. No plan made by congress or by private individuals for economic and social recovery will succeed except upon the basis of the acceptance of religion. By the acceptance and practice of spiritual truth alone shall we find our way back to economic stability and social happiness. ¶

Teaching Religion in the Schools

We have attempted at the University of Southern California this winter to teach religion, living religion, followed by large groups of living people, to those who have cared to listen, in the hope that thereby they might be made better citizens than they otherwise could be and that they would go out to contribute to the solution of our national and international difficulties. Our nation, as we know, is today a school-made nation. The schools are making our citizens. The school has made most of us who are here today. The schools are training our children for life's activities ; and as the schools teach, as the schools direct the thinking of our young people, so our nation will become, indeed has become. ¶

It is a curious fact that a child, an American child, may go through the elementary schools, compelled to do so by the law, may go through high school, may go through the state college and university and never hear the name of God mentioned nor take any subject of study telling him how he shall conduct himself in life. Character — we all admit the importance of it — is practically forgotten in the curriculum of the schools of the United States. Thinkers talk about it, there is much said about it on the public platform, but little is done about it. ¶

The Place of Character in Education

It is for that reason that the university with which I have been associated the last few months has had the courage to say, "We will raise religion to academic dignity. We will give it a place in the sun, in the educational sun, that thereby we may help change the thinking and improve the conscience, as Professor Young has just said, of the people of this great country. It has been said that there is no substitute for character. Character is the thing that makes us do certain things. Our conduct depends upon our character. Nevertheless, one great university president, the president of one of the great universities of America, said at a public meeting in my hearing, and later published the statement in pamphlet form, that the purpose of a university is to train ¶

men and women mentally and that character must be a by-product of education. We Latter-day Saints take just the opposite view, that the direct purpose of all life, of every life activity, of our schools in particular, of all training and teaching institutions, must be the formation and development of a proper character. We do not accept the doctrine that character is a by-product of education. That doctrine, intolerable to Latter-day Saint understanding, has much to do with the social and economic chaos in which we find ourselves in this country at the present time. ¶

God and Man What They Are

That is not all. Character may be built on ethics, on simple laws of human conduct to avoid offending our neighbor. We believe that an acceptable character must include, as Professor Young has stated, belief in the living God, a God of whose race we are. Here, again, we find a difficulty to be considered, at least by Latter-day Saints. I heard the leader of one of the greatest divinity schools in America, the trainer for a generation of time of the ministers of churches in America, say in so many words that man is but the product of cosmic forces, unknown forces, and that the word God is but a name for those cosmic forces, and nothing more. To Latter-day Saints God is a personage, the greatest intelligence in the universe, our spiritual Father. We are of his kind and we may approach nearer and nearer his likeness, if with all our might we live righteously throughout our eternal life. ¶

The Kind of Concepts Needed Today

We need to teach the youth of our Church and of the world the reality of the living God. Not only that, but that God lives in the unseen world, and that the unseen world is real. Into that unseen world we shall go some day, and there we shall find those who have gone before us. In course of time there will be a resurrection of the body, a reunion of the spirit and the body. There will come a judgment based upon our deeds. These are real concepts that America needs to understand and to accept and must understand and accept before peace can be fully restored in our economic and social life. The whole program of life is governed by law, according to a great plan in the mind of the Creator. He governs and directs all that happens on this earth. We can not defeat the purposes of the Almighty, though we may delay them through our stubbornness. A plan for human salvation has been laid out, and somehow the Lord through his power will see to it that his purposes fail not. "The God of Israel, he slumbers not nor sleeps." ¶

We need today to have the conception of God and the things of God that were given to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery one hundred years ago last Friday, — I need not take the time to read it, but do ask you to read in Section 1 10 of the Doctrine and Covenants the description of God as given in poor human words by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. They tried to describe the glory of the personage who stood ¶

before them — not a cosmic force, but a living being — who spoke to them with a voice like thunder. After he had gone others came, beings of the unseen world who had been upon this earth, who had lived here, who had gone into the spirit world and now were commissioned to come back to perform certain important tasks. They unrolled, as it were, the plan and purpose of human existence. ¶

That is the type of faith, with its applications to human conduct, that we try to teach to these special classes, in living religions, so far as I am able, at the University of Southern California. I think my colleagues serving other churches are doing the same as best they can. Our country needs that kind of instruction. ¶

Our Character-Training Organizations

I trust that we Latter-day Saints are making good use of our Sunday Schools, Primaries, Mutual Improvement Associations, seminaries and institutes, since our public schools are not yet ready to give us the character training that we need. Dare we, fathers and mothers, withhold such training from our children? And dare you, young people who are assembled here this afternoon, dare you avoid and deny yourselves the kind of training which in the end will determine your true success? ¶

God be with us, bless us in our attempts to bring righteousness into our lives and to serve God as he would desire us to serve him, I pray in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶