The Worth of Souls

President of the Council of the Twelve ¶

My brethren and sisters: You see here on the pulpit a movable platform that can be raised up and let down to suit the speaker. It is not a Republican platform; it is not a Democratic platform; (Laughter) it is a Church platform and I can hardly reach up to it. (Laughter) ¶

An Inspiring Conference

Brethren and sisters, I feel that it is a high honor to be asked to stand here and address this wonderful congregation of Latter-day Saints. ¶

Sunday, October b Third Day ¶

This is a marvelous attendance, a marvelous work and a wonder, to have a building here that will accommodate between 8000 and 9000 people. "That was the attendance last night at the General Priesthood meeting. It was a very inspirational and instructive meeting as were all the meetings of the Conference. And haven't we had a wonderful day today? Think of the beautiful music that is furnished by the Tabernacle Qioir. Their voices go out to all the country around, to all the world, as it were, and yet they remain with us. The Choir is entitled to great credit for the wonderful work it is doing. ¶

I am sure, my brethren and sisters, that you feel as I do, that we are very happy indeed to have the President of the Church, who has been ill, with us on this occasion and at this Conference. It is fitting that he should be here, and we could not be fully satisfied without him. But he is here. He is looking pretty well and he feels well. I heard him say that he is feeling fine. ¶

Now there is hardly anything lacking, but if there is one thing above another that I would like it would be the gift of eloquence to express myself before this congregation. You know some of the brethren of the Twelve, if not all of them, except myself, have the gift of eloquence; and it helps to stir up the congregation, and it is restful to have a little eloquence punctuate one's remarks when speaking. ¶

Let me tell you at this point that I forgot to look at the time when I came to the pulpit so I shall ask President Clark, when I have talked about twenty minutes, to let me know without your knowing it. (Laughter) ¶

The Gospel Furnishes Texts

Permit me to say this: There is a wealth of material in the standard Church works sufficient to furnish texts for our brethren who speak from the pulpit, and also the sisters when they speak. I think we should be pretty careful in our religious gatherings to preach the Gospel. That's the important thing. Lectures, in many instances, are very fine aids in their place, and there is a place for them -- particularly scientific lectures and historical talks. The Lord has intimated that we ought to read good books and become acquainted with the things of the world, but in our special gatherings of the Saints we ought to be sure to preach the Gospel. It is an elaborate subject, it is very comprehensive. The Gospel covers a wide range, and the principles of the Gospel are most important, and therefore I am to tell you right now that I would like to say a few words upon two great movements in the Church. ¶

Temple Work for the Dead

One is the missionary movement which was mentioned by Brother Joseph Fielding Smith in his talk. That is one of the subjects that I wanted to bring before you, and the other subject is the work for the dead. These are two highly important subjects, because we are under ¶

injunction of the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith to look after the matter pertaining to the dead. The living can take care of themselves if they will, the opportunity is before them. We have the temple and they can go into it and get their endowments, their blessings and sealings but the dead cannot do that. I am speaking now of our ancestors in the spirit world, because every man here has a line of ancestors behind him, and every woman here has a line of ancestors and it is our business to look up our ancestors and get what information we can. ¶

Now upon my mother's side we have done a very good work because we have had the names to do it, but on my father's side we have been stopped because of a break in the line somewhere, and we have not until lately been able to get back very far. The names we did get we have done the work for and that is very fortunate. I hope the Lord will open up the way and give us some more names. I would say to you, my brethren and sisters, do not forget your dead, because you owe them this much effort to do something for them. They lived in a day when the Gospel was not upon the earth; they certainly have a claim upon us and I am prompted to say that if we refuse to recognize our obligation to do the work for our dead the Lord will reject us as a Church, because you know that souls are very precious unto him and we cannot afford to neglect this matter. ¶

With some people it is difficult to get to the temple because they live some distance away, but they should make an extra effort to do so, and some people living very near to the temple have not done their work for the dead, and yet they have means but they have overlooked it. We cannot afford to go to sleep over this matter. ¶

Perhaps my time is up, but I have not heard from President Clark yet. (Laughter) A person sometimes gets more interested in his own talk than does the congregation. (Laughter) So we have to ask the man in charge to notify us when to stop. I am rather glad it is that way because if we did not feel an interest in what we were saying ourselves, who would feel an interest in it? (Laughter) ¶

Missionary Preparation

I am very much interested in the missionary work that has been going on in our Church for a hundred years. It is brought down to a fine point because one of the Presidency of the Church, Brother David O. McKay, has a hand in it. A committee looks after the groups of missionaries who come up to Zion for a little training; they have to have a little teaching before they can go out and preach the Gospel. They ought to have a good deal, but they will get some experience in the mission field. It is wonderful what the Lord can do with these young men who are going out; and mark you, these young men who are going out as missionaries could not do very effective work without divine authority, so they come up here and get it. They go to the Temple and get the Temple blessings, and they go into the study room and listen to lectures on the Gospel, after which the hands of the Council of the Twelve ¶

Apostles and First Council of Seventy are laid on their heads conferring the authority to preach the Gospel. The result is that there are hundreds of thousands of people in the spirit world who benefit from the work of these young men. ¶

The Worth of Souls Is Great

I think I might have time to read just a -stanza or two in relation to this subject. The Lord said in Section 18 (I have heard President Grant quote this section -- it is a very important matter): ¶

Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; ¶

For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore He suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto Him. ¶

And He hath risen again from the dead, that He might bring all men unto Him, on condition of repentance. ¶

And how great is his joy in that soul that repenteth!_ Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people. And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto Me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of our Father! ¶