The Keeping of the Sabbath

stay his hand"? There is no tragedy except in sin. Let us know therefore that life is eternal, and that God doeth all things well; and this righteous son, the offspring of God, was not born for a day, a decade, or a century, but for eternity. Only his own lack of righteousness could ever deprive him of any blessing promised by the Lord. "Thy Son liveth" and continues to radiate life, not death; light, not darkness; commencement, not termination; assurance, not uncertainty; joy eternal, not sorrow; sweetness, not bitterness; youthful maturity, not senility; progress, not stoppage; sunshine, not clouds; clearness of vision, not confusion and dimness; fulfilment, not frustration; an open gate with light ahead, not barred windows with darkness beyond. ¶

May our Heavenly Father bring his peace to all of. you who are now passing through your Garden of Gethsemane. ¶

Sincerely your brother, ¶

Spencer W. Kimball ¶

My brethren, as I look into your faces I endeavor to place you. I have visited half of the stakes of Zion, up to the present time, and should know half of this congregation, but I have only been able to pick out about two dozen faces. As I walk amongst you, if you will just punch me one in the ribs I shall know I have been in your town. ¶

An Incident About Judge Elias A. Smith ¶

As Brother Joseph Fielding spoke yesterday of the sanctity of work, I could not help thinking of Judge Elias A. Smith who celebrated his eighty-eighth birthday just about two weeks ago. Thinking, of course, that a man eighty-eight years of age would be resting in his home, I went over to his place, only to> discover that he was at work, about two o'clock in the afternoon. So I wended my may down to his office, but he was so busy that he was unable to stop to have anyone congratulate him on his eighty-eighth birthday. The following day I met him on the street and said, "Judge, I went to your home and your office yesterday to wish you many happy returns." "Well," he said, "I am a busy man." ¶

"Yes, I noted that. I couldn't get to see you in the office. I thought you would be home. I didn't know you were working." "Why," he said, "working, earning my own way. I am so much happier doing that than I could possibly be in any other way." I wish a lot of folks could follow Judge Elias A. Smith's way of life, and the way of life which our President has followed. Day before yesterday morning, down in back of the Church Office Building in his car, sick and afflicted, our worthy President sat and signed the letters that he had dictated to go out to different parts of the Church. ¶

He isn't too old to work, nor too sick, nor feeble to work. God bless him. ¶

The Keeping of the Sabbath

Brother Mark Petersen brought to my mind the words of our Savior: ¶

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. (Matthew 5:10-12.) ¶

And then our" President's message, speaking of the many commandments and reminding us of our responsibility as leaders, to keep the commandments of our Heavenly Father, made me think of one commandment especially. As I have traveled about attending your conferences, of necessity I have had to travel on Sundays throughout the intermountain states, and I have seen men in the fields plowing, and hauling their hay, and putting their grain into the stacks. I have seen lined up on this sacred Sabbath day many people in front of the moving picture theatres waiting to purchase their tickets. I have noted crowds lined up at sporting events, buying their tickets that they might go in and participate in that recreation upon this holy day. It may surprise you when I say that my grandfather, George A. Smith, was one of the ffrst men to break the Sabbath day here in Utah. Being rather a practical sort of man, he felt that it was just as necessary that hunger should be appeased as that we should lift the sheep out of the pit upon the Sabbath day (see Matt. 12:11), and according to his journal, on July 24th, 1847, you remember, the Saints came down into the valley. Grandfather's diary records that: ¶

... it was cloudy but quite warm. Potatoes were planted. I planted the first. At about two o'clock President Brigham Young and his company came up all better. Water was let on the ground on the twenty-fourth. Toward evening there was a slight shower. Sunday, July 25th, it was clear and warm. Meetings commenced at half past ten. In the morning, I, in company with some others, planted some corn, beans and peas. Meeting again at two p.m. That afternoon Brigham Young chastised me, directing that the brethren must not work on Sunday. He said they would lose five times as much as they would gain by it. None were to hunt that day, and there should not any man dwell among us who would not observe these rules. They might go and dwell wherever they pleased but they should not dwell amongst us. ¶

Grandfather must have taken that lesson to heart after he had been plowing and planting seeds upon that Sunday morning, for he got into the soul of my father the great ideal that Sunday was the Lord's day, the day that we should observe' and rest and refrain from all types of work. ¶

While we had horses and our whitetop, we couldn't use them ¶

on the Sabbath day. I remember on one occasion when my brother, Winslow, and I went to our father and asked him if we might have the whitetop, he said, "Boys, we must follow so-and-so's example, and you can't take the horses and the wagon out." That afternoon we saw so-and-so's boys out in their whitetop, so the following Sunday we came to father and said, "Father, may we take the whitetop out today?" "What did I tell you last Sunday, boys?" "Well, you said to follow so-and-so's example, and last Sunday we saw them out in their whitetop." Father said, "Well, we won't follow anybody's example. We will set one of our own. You can't have the whitetop." ¶

Advice from Church Leaders

Some years later, after Brigham Young had spoken about the Sabbath day he was again called upon to speak of it. Apparently they hadn't moved away, those who desired to break the Sabbath, for he said, "Now remember, my brethren, those who go skating, buggy riding, or on excursions on the Sabbath day -- and there is a great deal of this practice -- are weak in the faith. Gradually, little by little, the spirit of their religion leaks out of their hearts, their -affections and in time_they begin to see faults in their brethren, faults in the doctrines of the Church, faults in the organization, and at last they leave the kingdom of God and go to destruction." ¶

He felt very seriously about this subject, as have all of the men who have presided over this Church. All of them have stressed this important matter. I think that perhaps the greatest and finest expression was by President Grant when he said, "The Lord's day is a holy day and not a holiday. It has been set apart as a day of rest and worship, and we accept the Lord's day as the first day of the week in accordance with the instructions given by the Prophet Joseph Smith. A sacred Sabbath begets reverence for God." And how essential that is. "It is not pleasing in his sight that the day be given over to pleasure-seeking in places of amusement or elsewhere. Sunday Schools and meetings have been so arranged that they meet the convenience of the people and leave a considerable portion of the Sabbath day without Church appointments. We earnestly appeal to the people to keep their appointments faithfully and to utilize that part of Sunday not appointed, for meetings in promoting family association in the home, with the purpose of stimulating and establishing greater home fealty, a closer companionship among parents and children; and more intimate relations among all kindred. We believe it is unnecessary for families to go beyond their homes or those of their kindred for the relaxation and associations which are proper for the Sabbath day, and we therefore discourage more traveling than is necessary for this purpose and attendance upon appointed meetings. Let all unnecessary labor be suspended, and let no encouragement be given by members of the Church at places of ¶

amusement and recreation on the Sabbath day. If Sunday is spent in our meetings and in our homes, great blessings will come to our families and to our communities." ¶

So I would appeal, my brethren, to you who are the presiding officers in the Church, that in your actions nothing can be laid at your door that would cause anyone to start on that path of desecrating the Sabbath day, and I would bring to your minds that message which was written by the finger of God upon tablets of stone: ¶

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:8-11.) ¶

Amen. ¶