The Church Security Plan

The Lord has said : "My soul delighteth in the song of the heart ; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads." ¶

Your unison in song in the national broadcast this morning deeply impressed me — yours were truly songs of the heart. I pray that they will be visited with blessings upon your heads, and that this choir in rendering such a wonderful service to the Church, to the State, and to the Nation may receive added blessings. I would that the same oneness, unity and harmony manifested in that congregational singing might characterize ¶

every righteous endeavor of the Church. God bless those who have this music in hand, and bless him also who arranged the continuity and carried it out so successfully. ¶

THE CHURCH SECURITY PLAN ¶

Throughout this Conference frequent reference has been made, and appropriately so, to the plan inaugurated by the General Authorities of the Church for the relief of those who are unemployed. It is at present one of our greatest, and one of the most important concerns of the Church. During the few minutes allotted to me I desire to call attention to the spiritual value of this important and far-reaching undertaking. ¶

In the 29th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, we are told that "all things unto the Lord are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal ; neither any man, nor the children of men ; neither Adam, your father, whom I created. ¶

"Behold I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself ; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual ; they are not natural nor temporal, neither carnal nor sensual." ¶

The development of our spiritual nature should concern us most. Spirituality is the highest acquisition of the soul, the divine in man ; "the supreme, crowning gift that makes him king of all created things." It is the consciousness of victory over self and of communion with the infinite. It is spirituality alone which really gives one the best in life. ¶

It is something to supply clothing to the scantily clad, to furnish ample food to those whose table is thinly spread, to give activity to those who are fighting desperately the despair that comes from enforced idleness, but after all is said and done, the greatest blessings that will accrue from the Church Security Plan are spiritual. Outwardly, every act seems to be directed toward the physical : re-making of dresses and suits of clothes, canning fruits and vegetables, storing foodstuffs, choosing of fertile fields for settlement — all seem strictly temporal, but permeating all these acts, inspiring and sanctifying them, is the element of spirituality. ¶

SPIRITUALITY EVEN IN ADVERSITY ¶

There are those who have met disaster, which almost seems defeat, who have become somewhat soured in their natures, but if they stop to think, even the adversity which has come to them may prove a means of spiritual uplift. Adversity itself may lead toward and not away from God and spiritual enlightenment ; and privation may prove a source of strength if we can but keep the sweetness of mind and spirit. "Sweet are the uses of adversity," said Shakespeare, "which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head." ¶

Job at one time possessed wealth in abundance. He numbered his sheep, camels, and oxen by the thousand. His sons and daughters were prosperous, and Job was happy and righteous in his prosperity. He was the greatest of all men in the East. Then came disaster. The Sabeans ¶

stole his cattle and slew his servants ; fire consumed his sheep and the men who tended them ; Chaldeans drove away his camels ; his sons and daughters perished in a cyclone. Then he himself was smitten with a loathsome skin disease. In the depths of his affliction his wife came to him and said: "Dost thou still retain thy integrity? Curse God and die." Yet from the depths of financial ruin, physical suffering and harrowing accusations of his would-be friends, Job rose to the very heights of spiritual exultation when he declared : ¶

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth : ¶

And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. ¶

"To bear adversity with meek submission to the will of God, to appear cheerful amid surrounding gloom, hopeful amidst despondent circumstances, happy in God, when there is nothing else to make one happy ; he who does this has indeed made great advance in the divine life." ¶

CONTEMPLATION OF PLAN GIVES SPIRITUAL UPLIFT ¶

There is spirituality even in the conception of the plan that is going to carry alleviation to the suffering and comfort to the down-trodden and poor. An intellectual glow, if not a spiritual blessing, comes even in the contemplation of such things. No one can consider, however superficially, its motives and objectives without comparing in his mind the strife and selfishness as exemplified in the law of nature, which is a law of the survival of the fittest, with the spiritual law expressed by Jesus when he said : "He that will lose his life for my sake shall find it." And associated with that thought this : "Inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." ¶

You see on every hand the struggle that goes on in nature. Birds are killing birds, animals are killing animals ; men, too, in the highest scale of existence are struggling and taking advantage of one another. "Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like" manifestations of the "works of the flesh" are rampant ; "and they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God ;" they are not in accordance with the law of the Lord, nor in accordance with the law of happiness. ¶

Thank heaven, we can see also indications of tendencies to deny oneself for the good of others. Evidences are increasing daily of the fact that man is striving for higher things than the mere selfish and the sordid. "The race of mankind would perish," says Sir Walter Scott, "if they ceased to aid one another. We cannot exist without mutual help. All, therefore, that need aid should receive it from their fellowmen, and no one who has the power of granting can refuse it without guilt." ¶

SPIRITUALITY EXPRESSED IN GIVING ¶

There is more spirituality expressed in giving than in receiving. The greatest spiritual blessing comes from helping another. If you want to be miserable, just harbor hate for a brother, and if you want to hate, just ¶

do your brother some injury. But if you would be happy, render a kind service, make somebody else happy. The poet was right when he expressed the truth in these lines : ¶

If you sit down at set of sun ¶

And count the acts that you have done, ¶

And, counting, find ¶

One self-denying deed, one word ¶

That eased the heart of him who heard — ¶

One glance most kind, ¶

That fell like sunshine where it went — ¶

Then you may count that day well spent. ¶

But if, thru all the livelong day, You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay, If through it all, ¶

You've nothing done that you can trace That brought the sunshine to one face — ■ No act most small ¶

That helped some soul and nothing cost — Then count that day as worse than lost. ¶

There is another thought, however, which I think reflects this spirituality, and that is the realization, the consciousness that we are approaching, in desire at least, the two great commandments : "Love the Lord thy God with all thy might, mind and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself." All who have participated in the achievements reported October 1 by the stake presidencies have experienced this feeling. Tens of thousands of people who have cooperatively worked to make this plan a success have been motivated by a desire to have the Church a living activity for good. Christ's Church is his vineyard in which he invites everybody to work. The almost universal response seems to indicate that the Latter-day Saints throughout the land realize that a lazy church "tends towards unbelief ; and that an earnest, busy church, in hand-to-hand conflict with sin and misery, grows stronger in faith." ¶

Associated with this thought is the realization that we are doing something to make the world better. The well-known statistician, Mr. Babson, says : ¶

People should understand that before prosperity can return there must be a renewed interest in the spiritual life by both individuals and nations. Nations should realize that the world has always possessed raw materials and labor, but has been prosperous only when the people have been actuated by a religious faith to use these resources for advancement in service. This is the law of life, and now is the time when it should be taught in churches, schools and colleges. ¶

The Church is a means of rendering in order and wisdom mutual service. Jesus Christ is its author and the divine head. He himself, while in mortality, was the personification and exemplification of brotherhood and spirituality, and it is he who says to you and to all the world, "Learn of me and listen to my words ; walk in the meekness of my spirit and ye shall have peace in me." ¶

God help us to obtain that peace by mutual helpfulness I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶

The congregation and the Tabernacle Choir sang the hymn, "Come, Let Us Anew." ¶