Choice Diamonds from Heaven

As always, I stand before this Church in these great gatherings with a sense of adoration, realizing, as I do, through the study of its history from its commencement, God's blessings upon it. ¶

Labor in the Church Brings Compensation ¶

I think frequently as I meet with groups of the Priesthood, and particularly today, that this is like unto the great organized corporations, and you the governing body in its Priesthood are the directors thereof. ¶

I reflect upon the temporal remuneration which you receive, and in contrast to this the great results which come from your untiring efforts. I am reminded also of the sacrifice which so many of you have made and are making; you men whom I associate with and know, you who have walked virtually barefooted for the advancement of God's work in your mission fields and yet, out of it all you come home, go into business, and devote thereafter a good portion of your profits and earnings back into this Church, to this great institution which God has established, never again to be taken from the earth. So, I marvel and constantly give praise and homage to each member of the Priesthood of this Church. ¶

I am grateful indeed for the kindness and consideration which you fine presidents of stakes have given to me as I come into your midst. ¶

I am fully aware that we perhaps are the best paid board of directors that God has on earth, and if each one of us were asked, nothing could be given Him which in the slightest degree could compare with the compensation which God has given him for the unselfish labor and interest he has shown in God's great work. ¶

Instructions to Early Day Missionaries ¶

You know that in the beginning when this Church was young, extremely young, nearly all the membership of it had a great urge to proclaim its message, and a very restless feeling to go out to do something. They could not remain inactive, and, so, they kept the Prophet Joseph Smith very busy answering their questions, particularly the question which arose in the hearts of so many men: For many times you have desired of me to know that which would be of the most worth unto you. ¶

Behold, blessed are you for this thing, and for speaking my words which I have given you according to my commandments. ¶

And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. (D. & C. 15:4-5-6.) ¶

You will find as you read the Doctrine and Covenants say from, I think, the 12th Section on throughout this great volume of scripture that in almost every instance the answer was the same. ¶

Leave thy house and home, except when thou shalt desire to see thy family; And speak freely to all; yea, preach, exhort, declare the truth, even with a loud voice, with a sound of rejoicing. (D. & C. 19:36-37.) ¶

One after another of the brethren received that answer, and they all went forth to do God's bidding and to receive God's commendation, and from that start, to the present time, the Church has grown through this great and marvelous system of missionary activity unequaled anywhere. ¶

A Labor to Be Performed At Home ¶

Now, we find in our own midst here at home situations which call for additional help, situations which have been so eloquently and beautifully spoken of today. The touching of the hearts of the young, and turning of the minds of those who are innocent and free into channels which will bring back the results which we here desire in the Church. ¶

You all have had the experience of meeting these situations. It was my experience to contact recently on one of our unfrequented streets a very little child, perhaps three years of age, with streaks down its face where the teardrops had run, who couldn't talk plainly, with another child but a year or two older, left to guard it. I had gone to ask for a certain person. No one was home. The parents were at work and these children left alone. You will understand what I mean when I say that this little one came and hugged me by the knees, and looked at me with the most intelligent and imploring gaze, hungering for parental love and attention. I can't forget, and never shall, but I do remember God's words which I have written here to quote accurately: But, behold, I say unto you, that little children are redeemed from the foundation of the world through mine Only Begotten; Wherefore, they cannot sin, for power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children, until they begin to become accountable before me; For it is given unto them even as I will, according to mine own pleasure, that great things may be required at the hand of their fathers. (D. & C. 29:46-48.) ¶

I think these things which God requires at our hands can't be fully realized until we have performed our duty and come with clean hands concerning this younger generation which is here among us. ¶

Francis Thompson wrote this about a child: Know you what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of today. It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism. It is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness. It is to believe in belief. It is to be so little that the elves can reach and whisper in your ear. It is to turn pumpkins into coaches and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness and nothing into everything, for each child has its fairy godmother. ¶

Changing Conditions in Home Life ¶

Well, in our day, we see many changes. We have relegated to the scrapheap the sayings of yesterday. We make fun of the old horse and buggy days. ¶

We have more or less gone from that most beautiful commodious home with a few acres of choice land around it where we played as boys, where there came joyous gatherings in the evening to that house, and where the hospitality of parents and children made it a blessed joyful place of dwelling and retreat. We live now in apartment houses where five hundred live in the same house, and yet we don't know any of them. God says this: Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God. ¶

And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers. ¶

But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth. ¶

And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion [where we are] or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents. ¶

For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized. (D. & C. 68:25-26.) ¶

Duty of Stake Missionaries ¶

I am acquainted with this great body of men who go forth to teach the beautiful Gospel of Jesus Christ — I speak now of our stake missionaries, and I do earnestly plead with them that they will put forth an extra effort, not alone to those who belong to this Church, but to those with whom they constantly come in contact who are not members of the Church; to devote some of their time and attention to the children, those choice diamonds from heaven which God has given us, that they may be taught in the truth, for in this generation of which I speak the coming glory and grandeur of this nation must be through the growth and development of the children, in paths of virtue and righteousness, and that their hearts and energies be centered in "light and truth." ¶

God bless us, I pray, and give us this understanding that the children may be helped by our efforts and I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. ¶