Conference Address

of the New England Mission ¶

New England is one of the distinct geographical sections of the United States, and is the most thickly populated part of our country. All the sectarian groups of America are naturally found among the people, who are as a rule very religious. They cherish the memory of the Pilgrim fathers, who have left us a great example of mighty courage, for they never thought of themselves as making history. Of the one hundred and one passengers on the Mayflower, over half of them died the first winter. They gave us our Mayflower Compact, a document that has influenced the form of our government more than any other with the exception of the Magna Charta. ¶

EDUCATION IN NEW ENGLAND The New England people sponsored education from the first, and today, metropolitan Boston boasts of twenty-seven colleges and universities. It is a section that has the oldest colleges of the United States — Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, and many other famous universities. To these higher institutions of learning, students come from all over the world, and many of our own Utah boys and girls are studying in them. We feel that New England is a fruitful field for the Gospel because its people naturally have a high regard for culture and the principles of Christianity. ¶

FAITH NECESSARY TO THE HIGHER LIFE In this Conference, our brethren have emphasized the subject of faith in God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is one of the principal characteristics of a soul, seeking the higher things of life. It is that something which tells us that God lives. George Santayana, who was at one time professor of Spanish and Spanish literature at Harvard College, has expressed the beauty of faith in his poem called "Columbus." It reads. ¶

O world, thou choosest not the better part! ¶

It is not wisdom to be only wise, ¶

And on the inward vision close the eyes; ¶

But it is wisdom to believe the heart. ¶

Columbus found a world and had no chart, ¶

Save one that faith deciphered in the skies. ¶

To trust the soul's invincible surmise ¶

Was all his science and his only art. ¶

Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine That lights the pathway but one step ahead ¶

Across a void of mystery and dread. ¶

Bid, then, "the tender light of faith to shine By which alone the mortal heart is led ¶

Unto the thinking of the thought divine. ¶

If we will direct our thoughts to the last days of Jesus Christ on earth, we will have our faith strengthened in such a manner that will give our souls a joy divine. On the night He was taken to meet His death, He said to His Disciples : ¶

THE MESSAGE OF JESUS ¶

"Because I live ye shall also live." The Easter Day was the vindication of what He knew. "It must needs be," He said, "that the Son of man should suffer and be put to death and rise again. Because I live, ye shall also live." We may be sure that this word of the Savior is one of the eternal truths of God. And then He left us another word : "I am not of this world," and the people said : "This man speaks with authority and not as the scribes." There are in these words something transcendent in meaning and something more beautiful than this world today can understand. There is a sureness to them ; there is a something that goes deep into our hearts that all the education of the world cannot efface. To all Christian people and to all Pagan nations, Jesus also utters other words today with more power than ever : "Fear not ; I am the first and the last, but am alive forevermore." Ringing down through all the centuries, this eternal message of Him who died for us gives us the renewed faith and hope as nothing else can do. You and I are citizens of the aeons of time that have created our present day. Will we forget them in our onward march in the conquest of material things? ¶

MODERN ACCOMPLISHMENTS The ends of the earth are brought to us at our breakfast tables. Wonders and powers have been put into our hands before which the men and women of the days of Jesus would have trembled with fear. Yet ye are not living peaceably with ourselves nor with our neighbors, nor with nations. We live on sensation rather than on divine truth. Civilization has strewn the paths of progress with the spoils of science and the fruits of invention. Distance has been conquered, bodily diseases are within our power to cure, humanity is crowned with the diadem of intellectual progress and material success, but parallel with all this growth, our hearts are swollen with pride, and we are not living buoyantly and serenely. I remember the healing word of a great physician who said one day to his invalid child: "My child, the hand that sent you to earth will give you strength forever more." This is what Jesus meant by His other words when He said: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." ¶

THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL The laws of the spiritual world and the laws of the material world are God's laws and are eternal. Spiritual laws are suffering at the hands of men. This is why darkness prevails and the dawn of the new day is delayed. We citizens of this great nation of the United States, have a mighty duty which we are forgetting. A duty that can only be carried out as we come into the knowledge of the Gospel of the Kingdom, which by His gracious and merciful word has again been given to man. The word must be carried to the ends of the earth, that it may be established in the hearts of men. We have three great visions of truth : First, the word of God given to Moses at Sinai : "I am the Lord thy God." Secondly, the voice of America proclaiming the liberty and equality of man; and third, the mightiest voice of all : "Because I live, ye shall also live." These are the messages that will save the world. ¶

Our duties are fraught with portentious responsibilities. This present life must be made richer by the men of nations, states, and churches. All peoples will have to enter into more unselfish relations with the peoples of the earth ; with the men and women with whom they live and serve. They will have to enter into richer relations with God, that the reign of righteousness, good-will, and brotherhood will declare once and for all "that never again shall they lift up the sword against nations, neither shall they learn war any more." ¶

CHRISTIANITY MUST BE VITAL TO MEET PROBLEMS The Church of which we are members has a divine message for the world, for it was founded by revelation and declares that God has spoken again. It declares that religion must affiliate itself with all the pursuits of mankind. The Holy Bible is resplendent with legislation in reference to land and wealth, and the Jewish Talmud develops in some detail the rights and privileges of all men who work, and all men should work. A living religion must grapple with living issues. While it is true that today, the social and economic problems are far more complicated than ever before in history, measures must be designed by all Christian peoples to deal with our complex problems. If Christianity is to recapture the vitality of creative religion, it must seek to follow in the footsteps of the path-finders of old. The Latter-day Saint Church is demonstrating its concern with social problems and that is why we have our Priesthood and Auxiliary organizations. Organized religion with us is playing a mighty part in bringing about social and economic reform. We shall not solve the problems for ages to come, but we may take courage from the words of an ancient sage, who declared : "Not thine to complete the work, neither art thou free to lay it down." ¶

RELIGION AND EDUCATION ¶

One of the largest factors for the proper teaching of the higher spiritual values of life should be our public schools and colleges. For our youth should participate in the religious life of the communities where they live. Religion should be the most constructive part of our culture, for that culture wherein religious idealism prevails, is a culture that loves beauty, truth, and goodness. The great souls who in 1776 won for us our independence and the right to have religious freedom were men and women who wanted to exercise that right. It is religion we want, but not secularism. The inhibitions written in our State laws are not against religious teaching, but against sectarian teaching. Religion and education cannot be separated. The minute education assumes an attitude that religion is for a special class of thinkers, then our schools miss that quality in human life that make for the happiness of mankind. We who advocate religious training, however, have missed the larger issue at times. We should not require credit for religious subjects, for we should think of something higher than marks. We should require something more fundamental and that is the truth that the school's responsibility should be to lay a foundation of religious principles, and this can only be done by the teachers consecrating their lives to the highest religious ideals of the Holy Bible. The consciences of teachers must be quickened and inspired with faith and courage to lift their voices against wrong and infidelity. This does not mean that teachers should adopt or accept any one rule of life or agree on any one concept of religious thoughts. "There is, however, within every soul a divine light, a divine impulse for good and truth, and when this light is developed, then life reaches its highest vision and man his greatest happiness," said the philosopher, Swedenborg. It is this light that must be made to glow in the souls of our children, for it is the light of God and immortality. Dr. James Conant, the President of Harvard College, has recently written in his report to the Board of Overseers, "Our Puritan ancestors thought of education and theology as inseparably connected. It is hard for us to recapture their point of view." ¶

It is religion that man needs, for when all the ideals of culture find their inspiration and nourishment in the divine ideals of Jesus ¶

Christ, and take their place in the great living purpose of the world's Savior ; when thought and art and literature and knowledge and life are brought into subjection, to the obedience of Christ, then mankind shall have attained the true victory, and will say : "Thou hast conquered, O Galilean." ¶

a writer's prayer ¶

May we turn in solemn worship and adoration of Him who died that we might live. May the Easter spirit of a few days ago remain with us to lead us to greater heights; may we keep in mind the lovely words of John Drinkwater who wrote just before he died : ¶

MY PRAYER ¶

We know the paths wherein our feet should press, Across our hearts are written Thy decrees Yet now, O Lord, be merciful to bless with more than these. ¶

Grant us the will to fashion as we feel, Grant us the strength to labor as we know, Grant us the purpose, ribbed and edged with steel, to strike the blow. ¶

Knowledge we ask not — knowledge Thou has lent, But Lord, the will — there lies our bitter need. Give us to build above the deep intent the deed, the deed. ¶

God help us to walk through this world, now opened to us as through a Kingdom, with uplifted hearts and larger faith to the life more glorious, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶