Service the Manifestation of Love

I realize that I am standing before a large body of leading representative men of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, men of ability, experience and devotion to the work of the Lord. ¶

I sincerely hope that what I have to say will be considered appropriate for the occasion, and stimulate some of us to greater effort, along lines of religious activity, particularly that of individual missionary work, one of the most important, and most neglected, of all the responsibilities resting upon us, as members of the Church. ¶

Service the Manifestation of Love ¶

The scriptures plainly teach, and we, the Latter-day Saints, most sincerely believe in the doctrine, of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and we rejoice in the nobility of our ancestry, and this suggests to the mind love for God and for man. We believe in the two great commandments, upon which hang all the law and the prophets : "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." ¶

We believe that service is the best manifestation of love, and that the greatest service that can be rendered to man, and to our God, is that of bringing souls unto Him and His kingdom. Hence, we willingly make the sacrifice of preaching the gospel to the world, and in other respects, to serve our God and our fellow man in a religious way. All the work of the Church is of this character. The Lord said to His servant, Moses : "For behold, this is my work and my glory — to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39.) This is the end our Father has had in view from the beginning. All else is but a means to this end. For this purpose the Gospel was instituted from before the foundations of the world. For this purpose the Church of Christ was established, in the various gospel dispensations on the earth, and for this purpose the gospel has been restored anew in these last days, and the responsibility rests upon the Latter-day Saints to preach it to all the world, and to carry forward the work of the Lord in all the earth. What we have done and are doing to discharge ourselves, as a people, and as individual members, of this responsibility, is an evidence of our sincerity, in what we profess. For more than a century we have been preaching the gospel in the nation of the earth and on the islands of the sea, and many thousands of honest-hearted souls have been brought into the fold of the Master. We are organized also, as a Church, to preach the gospel to non-members within the stakes of Zion, and splendid results have attended our efforts in this direction. ¶

Missionary Work of Great Importance ¶

There is one system of missionary work, however, definitely prescribed by revelation, that has not received the attention of members of the Church, that its importance deserves; it is individual missionary work. ¶

Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned, to warn his neighbor. Therefore, they are left without excuse, and their sins are upon their own heads. (D. & C. 88: 81, 82.) If every man who has received the Gospel were to regard himself as a missionary for the Lord, as the Lord intends he should be, and then discharge himself conscientiously and fully of that responsibility, there would be an accomplishment in missionary work, exceeding anything we have in the Church today. The results of stake missionary work show that people are here to be converted, and what might be accomplished through individual effort. ¶

How sweet 'twill be at evening If you and I can say, Good Master, we've been seeking The lambs that went astray. Heartsore and faint from hunger, We heard them making moan, And lo, we've come at nightfall Bringing them safely home. ¶

When people out in the world become converted and join the Church, they pretty generally use their influence to interest their neighbors and friends in the gospel. I have thought that where we have regular branch organizations in the missions, the Saints do as much toward making converts as do the regular missionaries. But at home we are prone to leave the non-members alone, to their serious loss, and our own condemnation. ¶

At a conference I at one time attended in North Davis Stake, President Henry Blood related an experience had by him, while filling a mission in England, which is a fair example of these two classes — Saints in the mission and Saints in the stakes toward individual effort in missionary work. ¶

President Blood said that in answer to a missionary call, when a young man, he went to England. After being there some time, he was made president of a district, and at the close of one of their conferences a good sister invited him to go with her to dinner, saying that she had invited a gentleman investigator to dinner, and she would like President Blood to meet him. Our missionaries are looking for such opportunities, and President Blood cheerfully accepted the invitation and went with the sister. While she was preparing dinner, President Blood was sitting, in the front room looking out onto the street, when a man walked past the window on the sidewalk and entered the gate, whom President Blood recognized as a man who had lived in Kaysville, President Blood's home town, for some years. He had for some reason returned to the land of his nativity, and this lady had made his acquaintance and was teaching him the gospel. President Blood had to go to England to do what might and should have been done at home. ¶

I regard our responsibility as members of the Church, much as that which the Lord placed upon his servant, Ezekiel, in his day : Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel : therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shall surely die ; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity ; but thou hast delivered thy soul. (Ezekiel 3:17-19.) There are souls about us to be saved and in the process, if we do our full duty by them, we deliver our own souls. We who have received the gospel know the great need our non-Mormon friends have for what we have to offer them, and the value it will be to them, when they receive it, which value exceeds the wealth of this world. ¶

In this kind of service both giver and recipient are greatly enriched. The Lord has indicated the spirit in which this missionary work is to be done. ¶

And no one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope and charity, being temperate in all things, whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care. (D. & C. 12:8.) We are rich in a knowledge of the things of the kingdom of God. All about us are men and women who are in abject poverty, pertaining to a knowledge of the gospel. ¶

We do not want to be in the same class with the rich man who, through neglect of his poor neighbor, Lazarus, found himself in hell and torment. ¶

Our Responsibility to Serve ¶

As members of the Church we are under obligation to respond to every Call that may be made upon us by those who are in authority. The Lord has said, "Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." (D. & C. 1 :38.) And when we accept a call, we should regard that acceptance as a solemn covenant on our part to magnify that calling. ¶

Should we not be called to any particular office, we will have ample opportunity to labor and do good, and assist in saving souls, the most important work in which a person can be engaged. ¶

For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things ; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant ; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness ; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward. But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned. (D. & C. 58:26-29.) There is no shelving of a good man in this Church. With the responsibility of individual missionary work, and of genealogical and temple work staring one in the face, he needs have no other calling to occupy his time and his efforts to do good, to please the Lord, and to work out his own salvation. ¶

This suggests service to others and labor for self. But there is no excellence of service without labor. ¶

The man that wants a garden fair, ¶

One small or very big, With flowers growing here and there, Must bend his back and dig. ¶

The things are very few in life, That wishes can attain. ¶

Whatever we want of any worth We've got to work to gain. ¶

It matters not what goal we seek, Its secret here reposes, We've got to work from week to week, To get results or roses. ¶

A Strong Testimony ¶

The knowledge I have of the gospel, and the testimony I have of its truth and saving power, make my appreciation and love for it beyond my power to express. I do know that the work in which we, as Latter-day Saints, are engaged is the work of the Lord, the plan of the Gods for the existence of the earth, and of man upon the earth, for their glory and for man's exaltation, through obedience unto the laws and ordinances of the gospel, and through the atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His is the only name under heaven by which man may be saved in the kingdom of God. And no man can be saved in the kingdom of God except he believe on the name of Jesus Christ and in the efficacy of His atoning blood. ¶

In a most solemn manner, I bear to you my testimony that God the Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ did reveal themselves to Joseph Smith, whom God raised up to be the mighty prophet of the last days. That the Prophet Joseph, as an instrument in the hands of God, accomplished the work of establishing the Church and kingdom of God on earth, and of restoring the gospel in its fulness, and following in the footsteps of the Savior, sealed his testimony with his blood. ¶

That Brigham Young was his legal and lawful successor, as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And that those who succeeded to the presidency, down to and including the present president— Heber J. Grant — have been men of God led and directed by him in their ministerial labors, so that the work has progressed and prospered, and it will continue so to do until the Savior shall come, and the kingdom of our Lord, and He shall dwell personally upon the earth, and rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords forever. ¶

This testimony is true and faithful and I bear it to you and to all the world in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶