The Tragedy of War

And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. ¶

But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. (Micah 4:3-4.) ¶

The Tragedy of War ¶

So wrote the Prophet Micah, probably quoting Isaiah, seven hundred fifty years before Christ. Nearly twenty-seven hundred years have passed since the eye of prophecy visioned a time when "war shall be no more." During the intervening centuries, many nations have lifted up sword against nations; and war has continued to be one of mankind's greatest evils. Truly it seems that human beings are more prone to war than to peace. ¶

The latest ( I wish we could say confidently the last ) was one of the most devastating in the history of the world. What destruction, sorrow, and suffering it has caused. According to reliable estimates, its direct cost is over one trillion thirty billion dollars, not counting the destruction and damage of property. There have been over a million casualties in the United States. Another million and a half in Britain, making a combined loss in these two countries alone of killed, wounded, missing, and prisoners, of two and a half million. Flying bombs cost British civilians a hundred and forty-seven thousand seven hundred and sixty casualties. Of these, fifteen thousand three hundred fifty-nine were children under sixteen. ( A half thousand bodies never have been identified. ) The Russian and Chinese losses exceed those numbers by millions. Add the millions of dead, wounded, and missing by the Germans, the Japanese, and those of the crushed countries of Europe, and the cost in wealth and in human life becomes staggering. We are close enough to the tragedy to realize that war is "the greatest curse that can be entailed upon mankind." "Under its standards gather violence, malignity, rage, fraud, perfidy, rapacity, and lust." ¶

We wonder how many more years will pass before "they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid," when, in Alfred Lord Tennyson's words: ¶

The war-drums shall throb no longer, and the battle-flags be furled, In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. ¶

Future Safety of the World Depends upon Change of Human Hearts ¶

Restrictions incident to the great conflict have largely been abrogated, and once again we meet in a general conference of the Church without fear of molestation from a murderous enemy. We join the Allied Nations in giving thanks that gangsters who, through evil manipulations and clever strategies, seized control of nations, have been defeated; that their attempt to set up dictatorial government has been frustrated; that freedom has been preserved, and liberty kept within the grasp of those who cherish the right of self-government. ¶

In the outcome of this great conflict God's overruling power has been manifest. Let the nations not forget him in the hour of victory. ¶

Because of terrible forces, newly discovered, scientists and military experts are now saying that all present means of defense are inadequate, are in fact already antiquated, and must be changed if the world is to be protected from future devastation. ¶

I would that these men of reputed wisdom and foresight would lay equal emphasis on the fact that the future safety of the world depends not so much upon the changing of defenses as upon the changing of men's way of thinking, and acting. Men and nations must have a change of heart. Hate and envy, suspicion and greed must be supplanted by sympathy, forbearance, tolerance, and justice before the hoped-for time comes that "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." ¶

Now that another terrible war is over, the paramount question is — are human minds equal to the problems they must face; are hearts sufficiently filled with virtues needed in the present crisis? I echo the cry of one who pleads — ¶

O human hearts, beating through fear, through jealousy, through pride, through avarice, through bitterness, through agony, through death; beating shame and forgiveness, bewilderment and love. ¶

O my own country, my new world, prepare, prepare — not to avenge wrong, but to exalt right. Not to display honor, but to prove humility. Not to bring wrath, but vision; not to win war, but a people. And not people only, but all peoples. Not to exact justice from your enemies only, and not from your friends only, but from yourselves! ¶

Truly, ¶

The world is in the Valley of Decision. ¶

And out of it there is but one sure road; Eyes unsealed can still foresee the mighty vision ¶

Of a world in travail turning unto God. ¶

Yes, World War II is ended, but old battles are yet to be fought; new victories yet to be won before the peace for which we pray can be realized. ¶

One is man's suspicion and lack of trust in his fellow man. ¶

Man's suspicion and lack of trust is one of the greatest enemies of peace. Nations are distrustful of one another. Russia is afraid that Britain will scheme to win Germany as an ally. Great Britain and the United States look with suspicion upon Russia and fear her possible alliance with China or Japan. Argentina impugns the motives of the United States, and the United States is suspicious of Argentina. Thus the seeds of envy and enmity are sown. ¶

This lack of confidence in one's fellow man is even more of an individual than a national vice. We are prone to magnify weaknesses and to imagine vices in others that do not exist. We chew the cud of slander with satisfaction — slander, "whose whisper over the world's diameter, as level as the cannon to its blank, transports his poisoned shot." Talk about battles yet to be fought! Backbiting and evil speaking head the list! ¶

Third DaS ¶

If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue,... this man's religion is vain. (James 1:26.) ¶

The Gospel Taught by the Savior a Sure Guide ¶

The battle against godlessness must still be fought. Nietzsche even before the first World War denounced Christianity as a cunningly devised system that has "debauched and undermined and sapped the vigor of the modern European world, and is the most powerful instrument of racial degeneration ever devised by common herd. ¶

» » ¶

Nietzsche is dead, but the poisonous seeds that he and others like him have sown in blindness and bitterness still produce fruit of skepticism and unbelief. In charity we can say that the Christianity Nietzsche condemns is not the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by the Redeemer of man. But egotists and misled people who cannot discriminate between truth and error still find themselves wavering with respect to the divine mission of Jesus Christ. Every true Christian, and especially every faithful member of the Church of Christ should be militant in defending the principles of the gospel as given by our Lord and Savior, for, in the words of Mark Hopkins, true Christianity "promotes industry, honesty, truth, purity, kindness. It humbles the proud, exalts the lowly, upholds law, favors liberty, is essential to it, and would unite men in one great brotherhood. It is the breath of life to social and civil well-being here, and spreads the azure of that heaven into whose unfathomed depth the eye of faith loves to look." ¶

There has been but one perfect character in this world — the peerless personality of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world. No man can do better than to accept Christ as the great Exemplar and the safest Guide. ¶

It is not an easy thing in this old world to make God the center of our being. To do so we must determine to keep his commandments. Spiritual attainment, not physical possessions, not the indulgence and the gratification of the body, must become the chief goal. ¶

Only in the complete surrender of our inner life may we rise above the selfish, sordid pull of nature. We should seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. What the spirit is to the body, God is to the spirit. As the body dies when the spirit leaves it, so the spirit dies when we exclude God from it. I cannot imagine peace in a world from which God and religion are banished. ¶

Selfishness the Cause of the World's Ills ¶

Another old battle still raging, and one we must win before permanent peace is established on earth is the battle against selfishness. ¶

Selfishness is the root from which spring most human ills and suffering. Selfishness promises satisfaction, but its fruit is disappointing, and produces only ill will and unhappiness. Selfishness and enmity caused the first recorded murder and the first implied rejection of the great truth that man is his brother's keeper. ¶

It was selfishness that caused the violation of the Munich Pact, which led, in September, 1939, to the murderous invasion of Poland, and the subsequent destruction of European nations with all its attendant horrors and human suffering. It was selfishness and inordinate ambition that caused the Pearl Harbor tragedy. ¶

Unless the battle against selfishness is won at the peace table, our hopes for a permanent peace may be shattered, and the world again stricken in warfare. ¶

Nature's law demands us to do everything with self in view. Self-preservation is the first law of mortal life. But Jesus says: ¶

He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. (Matt. 10:39.) ¶

Jesus on the Mount of Temptation triumphed over all appeals to selfishness, and thereby set an example to all men who would strive for spiritual attainment. As Jesus resisted the tempter, so selfishness must be overcome by subjugation and resistance. There is no development of character without resistance; there is no growth of spirituality without overcoming. ¶

And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. (Rev. 2:26.) ¶

Intemperance an Enemy to Peace ¶

A fourth battle still raging, and in which the opposition seems to be gaining ground, is the battle against intemperance. The attitude of the Church of Jesus Christ towards temperance is unmistakable. February 27, 1833, the Prophet Joseph Smith received what is known as the Word of Wisdom for the benefit of the council of the high priests assembled in Kirtland, and the Church, and also the Saints in Zion, given by revelation which sets forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all Saints in the last days. Wine and "strong drinks'' are condemned as beverages, and the use of them discountenanced in all cases except in the use of wine for sacramental purposes, and even this should be "pure wine of the grape of the vine, of your own make." ¶

Tobacco is condemned also as being "not good for man." ¶

At the time the Church took this decided stand against whisky and tobacco, no state in the Union had passed any law against the liquor traffic. It is true that temperance societies had been organized, and the cause of temperance was gaining impetus, but it was not until 1851 — eighteen years after the revelation on the Word of Wisdom — that the first permanent prohibition law was passed in Maine. Later religious denominations began to organize temperance societies. It appears, therefore, that the Mormon Church was among the very first organizations, if not the first organization or church in the United ¶

States to legislate as an organized body against the use of alcoholic drinks and tobacco. ¶

In 1908, President Joseph F. Smith in his opening address at the seventy-eighth annual conference said: ¶

There is a general movement throughout the land looking toward local option of temperance among the people of our state and adjoining states. I sincerely hope that every Latter-day Saint will cooperate with this movement in order that we may curtail the monstrous evils that exist especially in our cities. I wish to say that I am in sympathy with this movement, and I know my brethren are united with me, and in harmony with the efforts that are being made to establish temperance throughout the land. ¶

Many of you will remember how President Grant pleaded with the people of Utah to retain the Eighteenth Amendment. To the day of his death he regretted that Utah was in the column of states that repealed the prohibition law. ¶

Statistics today seem to indicate that our fight for temperance is making little progress. For example, there was spent in Utah during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1945, for ¶

Cigarets ¶

Beer ¶

Liquor.. ¶

Total ¶

$ 4,978,196 11,197,806 10,862,677 ¶

$27,038,679 ¶

Intemperance goes hand in hand with lawlessness, and lawlessness is an enemy of peace. ¶

True Religion Alone Brings Peace ¶

I know of no force so potent in eradicating these and all other enemies of peace from the human heart as the gospel of Jesus Christ. True religion is today the world's greatest need — in a sense by the individual of a relationship with God — that indefinable something which enters into the soul of man and which unites him with his Creator. ¶

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8.) ¶

A celebrated British statesman, Edmund Burke, in the latter half of the eighteenth century wrote: "True religion is the foundation of society. When that is once shaken by contempt the whole fabric cannot be stable nor lasting." ¶

"I have now disposed of all property to my children," said Patrick Henry; "there is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian religion. If they had that, and I had not given them one cent, they would be rich. If they have not that, and I had given them all the world, they would be poor." ¶

Only through the application of righteous principles by individuals and by governments, can nations learn war no more, and establish a permanent peace. ¶

O Brother Man! fold to thy heart thy brother; ¶

Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there; To worship rightly is to love each other, ¶

Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer. ¶

Follow with reverent steps the great example ¶

Of him whose holy work was "doing good"; So shall the wide earth seem our Father's temple, ¶

Each loving life a psalm of gratitude. ¶

Then shall all shackles fall; the stormy clangor ¶

Of wild war music o'er the earth shall cease; Love shall tread out the baleful Are of anger, ¶

And in its ashes plant the tree of peace. ¶

After the passing of centuries God has given mankind another opportunity to end war. The most momentous decision of all time must now be made by the peoples of the world. ¶

God grant that they will never again revert to the law of the jungle but will "beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks, neither shall they learn war any more," I earnestly pray with you in the name of the Prince of Peace, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. ¶