Our Daily Conduct

I am very happy to be with you here today, my brethren, and to bring you the good news that President Hardy of our Council is reported better today and continually improving, and to elicit upon his behalf your faith and prayers that his recovery may be rapid and complete. ¶

As I came into the building, I met a very dear brother who has suffered something similarly to him, for a number of years, who reports now that he has been completely healed through the blessings of the Lord. We know that it is possible, and if we unite our prayers in behalf of President Hardy we feel sure that he can come back to service and our companionship. ¶

One feels a sense of responsibility in occupying the time of this group of men, and I pray that God may give me His spirit, the few moments that I stand here, that I may say something that may possibly be helpful to a few of us. Before I start out, however, I want to express my very great pleasure at the presence on the stand of the President of the Church, my venerable uncle, and tell him that our constant prayer in our family is for his well-being. ¶

Our Daily Conduct

We are a missionary group, the First Council of the Seventy, and as we go forth, we constantly have in mind the dissemination of the word of God, the bearing of testimony as to the restoration of the Gospel in the latter dispensation. We study the Doctrine and Covenants for themes to use in approaching the people. I remember that when some of the brethren in early days asked the Prophet to ask the Lord what they could best do for their own welfare, the Lord told them, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, that they could do nothing better than to call the world to repentance ; and as I came to the stand, President Young suggested that I talk about this subject. ¶

I have come to the conclusion that there is never a day in my life when it is not essential to my well-being. I think sometimes some of us think of repentance in a rather narrow way, but I am coming to feel that it applies to everything we do in life, whether its purpose be temporal or spiritual. The Lord has told us that there is nothing purely temporal, that in all we do there is a spiritual aspect. I believe that is true, that every activity, every honest and honorable activity of life should be directed toward the well-being of the sons and daughters of God ; and if it is, it is spiritual in its nature. ¶

As we meet each other in our daily walks, we strive to help each other to live better, more successfully, that we may prosper. Some of us are not particularly careful in our dealings with each other, to be honest, and to give all a fair chance. I believe that in all of our dealings there is something to be gained, that a fair exchange is justified ; for a fair exchange is no robbery, and that men can deal honestly and honorably with each other, so that there may be profits on both sides of the deal. I believe that we should strive to that end and purpose in all our labors. ¶

I believe that all of us, when we view our own conduct, and can see that we have taken undue advantage of another, have reason to repent. I believe that all of us who, when we think of our sons and our daughters, feel that we have not given them the type of teaching and leadership that they should have had, have reason to repent. There is nothing on earth that is of greater value to us than our children, and there is little that has less care at certain times from certain people. We travel around from place to place, we see frequently children who are allowed just to grow up ; they have no leadership in their homes, they have no guidance, and they have no care. Fortunately, that is a condition which is not prevalent in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ¶

Repentance A Principle of Growth ¶

I do feel, however, that there are occasions and instances in which even our children do not have the type of leadership that they should have, and the prominence of certain sins among us indicates that very thing. ¶

I think that when we go to our rest at night, we should thank God for any success we have had during the day, and ask Him for faith in guiding our children. We should do the same thing when we start upon the duties of the day in the morning. We should ask God for faith in caring for them. Now, if we have not done so, we have reason for repentance. ¶

If we have misrepresented any act, anything in our business activities of the day, we have reason for repentance. ¶

We are constantly repenting of the practical things that we do in life. Whenever a man comes to us and tells us that we can grow more wheat by changing our system, we repent, although we do not call it that. We abandon an old practice that was not good, and take on a new one which is better, but we are not so prone to adopt the suggestions of people who are inspired of the Lord when they come to us and tell us how we can better our spiritual lives. We ought to pay attention to those suggestions because they are prompted by the Spirit of God. ¶

Now, we are daily confronted with the task of deciding what we would like to do, and what we can best do, from the many things we would like to do. None of us can do everything we would like ; we have to make that decision. We have to decide what is the worth-while thing, and what is not. If we have been in the habit of doing things that our better judgment tells us are not quite the best thing that we might do for our good and the good of those depending upon us, we have there a chance for repentance. ¶

Let us inspect our lives and see if we do not, all of us, have room to change our way of living. I feel that many of us do. We, who are here, are the priesthood of God. We are the leaders of the people ; we have a charge ; we have a duty ; and if we can feel that we have fully acquitted ourselves of that duty and responsibility, all is well and good. ¶

Perhaps, as leaders of wards and branches and priesthood quorums, we have need to repent, because we have not fully done our duty. I feel sure that many of us have not. If we all had, perhaps our quorums would be in better condition than they are. ¶

Responsibility of Leadership ¶

When we accept these offices, we accept a definite responsibility, very, very definite, one to lead. Now, people like leadership when it is good and just, and they approve of it. They follow it. But it is not a common thing for a man to be able to guide a community according to a program that he himself will not subscribe to. Perhaps some of us need to repent of some of our priesthood leadership practices, so that we may be able to say : "Come, let us go in this direction." ¶

I think that is one of our greatest responsibilities as leaders of this Church, that we should be honest and true, absolutely honest and true to the standards of the Church and the obligations of leadership which we assume. ¶

There is no place in all our activities for us to forget this responsibility, and to forget that from day to day we should better our way of living. We should increase our power of leadership ; we should be more eager to serve and better qualified to serve. If we cannot gain through the experience of today more power for tomorrow, we are unfortunate. If we should see in the work we do today wherein we have failed, we, as leaders of the priesthood, have reason to repent, to abandon the bad of today, and to replace it with a better system for tomorrow. ¶

Brethren, do not get the idea that repentance is something that is only for the man who does not belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, because it is a thing that applies to us every hour, and every day, and every year of our lives. We will never be perfect, and the last act of our lives may be one of repentance. We should remember it, and apply it. ¶

I pray that God will bless us, that He will make us strong, that we, the leaders of Israel, will have the inspiration of His holy spirit in leading this people, that they can honestly support us and follow us in the things we ask them to do. God bless you. Amen. ¶