Teachings of the Master Necessary

My brethren and sisters, I crave at this time a portion of the Spirit of the Lord, that what I may say may be along the same lines, and that the same spirit may be manifest as in the first session of this conference. ¶

Teachings of the Master Necessary

I have been worried somewhat over the conditions existing in the world today, and particularly our own country. I am quite sure that the same feeling is in the hearts of many of the leading men of this country, and I do not want the people here to think that what I say or even intimate is directed by any other thought than with a hope that conditions will right themselves, not only in our own country, but in the world at large. As I think of them I pray to my Heavenly Father every day of my life that the teachings of the Master may enter the hearts of the people of the world, and that through the spirit of the Master they can conceive and understand the direction in which the world is going, and that the nations of the world may call a halt and return to first principles. May they realize that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and make as a basis of the thought and actions of the nations of the world the words that the Master gave to the world while here upon the earth. ¶

The Crime of Indifference

In this connection I want to call attention to just a short statement in a speech that was made by Chauncey M. Depew, and this is what he said upon the occasion I refer to : ¶

One of the great crimes which shorten life is indifference. As one loses interest in his church, in his political party, in his club, in his friends, in his acquaintances, he dries up, and the grave claims one whom no one wants to eliminate. The two most fatal phrases and the most common are : "What is the use?" and "Why should I?" And when we or anyone else, be it an individual, a state, a country, comes to that position, we are in danger. ¶

Faith Lacking

And yet sometimes I think how can it be otherwise, for you go into every country now, including our own and you find great lack of faith in the true and living God ; in fact a majority, I was going to say a great majority, of the people of our country have ceased offering supplications to our Heavenly Father. Very few attend services, and I was going to say the half that do go do so not particularly because they believe in the church, but because of their wife or associates. ¶

Illiteracy in America

I picked up the American Scrap Book the other night, and I turned to page 107, and this is what I read — this in America : ¶

Dwelling within four hundred miles of our national capital are upwards of four million men, women, and children, of pre-Revolutionary American stock, the great majority of whom cannot name the President of the United States, and never heard of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, General Pershing, or Charlie Chaplin, even. Nineteen in every one hundred Cumberland mountaineers are illiterate, equally ignorant of the railroad and the automobile. ¶

This is what an observer says about them after making an extensive trip through the mountainous section of the country, and, my brethren and sisters, I do not know that it is exaggerated, but I do know that it is of sufficient worth for the American people to take some notice of it. ¶

The Free Agency of Man

I received yesterday morning the Millennial Star of March 19th, and in it under the title of "Britain's Task" I read the following: ¶

But if God lives and we are his children why does he permit war? This question is frequently asked. Its answer is that God has given man his free agency; hence he may do as he likes — choose to serve God and follow his plan or permit himself to become subject to the power of evil that is, Satan, a spiritual being engaged in the work of leading men to their destruction. He it is who is the champion of war and all other agencies that bring hate, misery and suffering to men. But with God's help man, if he wills, may overcome Satan. Hence the problems of war and peace are made by man himself and must be solved by him with God's help or Satan's, depending on the influence he chooses to govern him. ¶

That is true. And when I look over this vast audience I cannot help but feel that there is a power with the people that are gathered in this holy house at this time which if it were manifested in our daily lives, not in any dictatorial manner, but in the spirit of the Master, conditions in this State would be better, and it would preach the Gospel as no words perhaps could. ¶

America, the Land of Opportunity

I remember upon one occasion an address that was given by President Herbert Hoover, and I think perhaps a number of you heard it. Upon that occasion he said this: ¶

My country owes me nothing. It gave me, as it gives every boy and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of action, opportunity for service, and honor. In no other land could a boy from a country village, without inheritance or influential friends, look forward with unbounded hope. My whole life has taught me what America means. I am indebted to my country beyond my human power to repay. It conferred upon me the mission to administer America's response to the appeal of afflicted nations during the war. It has called me into the cabinets of two Presidents. By these experiences I have observed the burdens and responsibilities of the greatest office in the world. That office touches the happiness of every home. It deals with the peace of nations. No man could think of it except in terms of solemn consecration. ¶

Loyalty to Nation and Church

My brethren and sisters, that is true as to our country, and I do not believe that there is a people on the earth that is more loyal to her laws than the Mormons. We believe that the Constitution of the United ¶

States was an inspired instrument of God. We have so declared, and though persecution came we never thought for a moment of laying it to the fundamental laws, the principles contained in that great instrument. ¶

I do hope and pray that we shall always be loyal and true to our country, devoted and sincere to our Church and to our God. I testify to you, my brethren and sisters this day that I know that this is God's work. I know that the Presidency of the Church are men whom God through his wisdom has selected, if I may say it, as leaders of his Church at this time. I support them with all my heart. Knowing the Gospel to be true, as I do, the balance of my life, be it short or long, I want to devote to the advancement of God's church, and I think that men holding the priesthood, and the young men and the young women of the Church, are now showing to the world an example of loyalty to God's laws, and they are just as loyal to this nation of ours. ¶

May God's blessings be with us, direct us in what we say, and protect us wherever we go, and may we never forget him as the giver of life and all that is worth while in this world, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶