A New Appreciation from Service Men

I desire to bear testimony this afternoon, my brethren and sisters, to the great work in which we are engaged, that it is the work of our Father and that those who preside as the Presidency of the Church are prophets, seers, and revelators of whom the Lord has said he would do nothing save he would reveal his secrets to them. In this day, a day perhaps when the youth of the Church have been faced with the greatest problems with which the youth of any age have been faced, particularly so in this dispensation, it is not a mere coincidence that there should come to the Presidency of the Church a man who in our day has had more to do with presiding over youth organizations than any other man. He brings a wealth of experience that to me augurs a program of care and attention to the problems of youth, the like of which we need greatly this day. ¶

A New Appreciation from Service Men

There came to our hands recently a resolution passed by a group of our servicemen who were in the European theater of war. They styled this document which they had prepared and had agreed upon, "A New Appreciation," and this is the way it read in part: ¶

Out of a world of chaos and confusion, out of the hopeless depths of a universal catastrophe spring new convictions, a new appreciation for the finer virtues of life. We left a world where certain fundamental truths were accepted lightly, where our thoughts and actions were characterized by a tendency to be too proud and a little arrogant. We have been guilty of appraising the desirability of a girl by the standards established by a judge in a Hollywood beauty contest. Perhaps some of us have been more guilty than others but we have; all been guilty. Last Sunday in a meeting we openly confessed that regrettable error; we asked forgiveness of all we may have neglected by that total misconception. We think we can speak for the greater percentage of L.D.S. servicemen all over the world when we say that through this new inlet God has given us the true light of real beauty. A girl is beautiful when her virtue cannot be questioned, when her stability and faith in the Church is steadfast. A girl is beautiful when she is sincere and humble, when she looks upon a child,' with affection, or upon a sufferer with compassion. She is beautiful because she has a smile and a cheerful word for her associates. Beauty does not lie in the face alone but rather it is measured by character and the sweetness of her disposition, as we expect it to be. But you can be sure of one thing, those of us who are yet single and have the desire for the companionship of a beautiful girl will be going to the Mutual Improvement Association to find her. We have traveled to many different parts of the world and such travel has only tended to convince us more thoroughly than ever that our greatest hope for complete happiness lies in Zion. There we can rest assured the girls are beautiful. (See Improve* ment Eta, August 1945, p. 435.) ¶

As I read that lofty sentiment, coming from out of the world where quite the opposite is found on every side, I thanked my Heavenly Father that these sons of Zion were holding up a standard and an ensign of moral purity to the world. If the faithful daughters of Zion were called upon, they would echo back that sentiment to these sons, and would say that if the young men of the Church are to measure up to the standards of the girls they must come home and bring to the marriage altar minds and bodies that are as clean and pure as the servicemen expect of their companions here. To true Latter-day Saint girls, far more to be desired than wealth and handsome profile is a young man who is virtuous, who is honest, who has integrity and is true to the teachings of the gospel. ¶

As I think of our young people thus expressing themselves, I am mindful that they are heeding the words of our Father who gave us a divine injunction in these words: ¶

Verily I say unto you all: [meaning every member of the Church] Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations. (D. 6 C. 115:5.) ¶

The Responsibility of Choice

Clearly it was the intent of our Heavenly Father that this, our day, was to be a day of demonstration of the power and effectiveness of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the lives of all who are to be members of his Church. This likewise according to the scriptures, has evidently been his purpose, concerning his chosen people in every dispensation. To the unembodied spirits, so the scriptures record, the Lord said: ¶

... We will go down,... and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God command them. (Abraham 3:24-25.) ¶

Father Lehi explained to his son that in order to accomplish that eternal purpose there must be opposition in all things, and that to every individual upon the earth there had to be given the right of free agency and also that there must be in the world the power to entice to do evil and the power to entice to do good. ¶

In the spirit world there were some who were valiant — more valiant than others — in choosing to do good, and thus they became the noble and great ones of whom the Lord said, "These I will make my rulers" (Abraham 3:23), and so in this earth, coming through a chosen lineage, those noble and great ones are expected, as members of the Church and kingdom of God in every age, to be rulers of the world of sin and wickedness. ¶

It was of the same responsibility that the Master spoke to his disciples when he said: ¶

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matt. 5:14-17.) ¶

Indeed he declared that his chosen children would be known by their works: ¶

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit... Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (Matt. 7:16-17, 20.) ¶

The Church of Christ to Be a Light to the World

To Noah the Lord declared that because all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth, that he proposed to destroy man from the face of the earth. So, in a lesser degree, in every dispensation, the Lord has commanded that if members of his Church, having taken upon them his name, should sin grievously and refuse to repent, they should be cut out from among his people, lest they be a stumbling block to the world. To continue all such in membership would be to reflect discredit and dishonor upon the work of our Heavenly Father. ¶

The Lord has told us that his purpose in sending to us, in this dispensation, the everlasting covenant was that it would ¶

,.. be a light to the world, and to be a standard for my people, and for the gentiles to seek to it, and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way before me. (D. & C. 45:9.) ¶

Hundreds of years ago the Prophet Isaiah saw our day and prophesied of it: ¶

... the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths. (Isaiah 2:2-3.) ¶

Obviously that prophecy had reference to the Lord's covenant children in this dispensation who were to be as a leaven to the world, to lead them to that glorious day of peace when men should "beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruninghooks" and when nations would learn of war no more. ¶

Words of Warning and Blessing

The Lord spoke of this our day of terrible conflict as a day when the whole world would seem to be in commotion, but he counseled his people, ¶

Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord, come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. (D. 6 C. 87:8.) ¶

And then he comforted his people with these words: ¶

And the glory of the Lord shall be there, and the terror of the Lord also shall be there, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it, and it shall be called Zion. (D. & C. 45:67.) ¶

And again he has said concerning the blessing that would come to the faithful in his day: ¶

Mine indignation is soon to be poured out without measure upon all nations; and this will I do when the cup of their iniquity is full. And in that day all who are found upon the watch-tower, or in other words, all mine Israel, shall be saved... Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God. (D. & C. 101:11-12, 16.) ¶

Against the daily temptations that come to influence us to live below the standards that we profess and teach, the Lord admonishes us first with a blessing as he has said to his disciples: ¶

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.... for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. (Matt. 5:11-12.) ¶

And then he warns us: ¶

Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets. (Luke 6:26.) ¶

While it becomes us to seek the good will of righteous men and women everywhere, it is well for us to remember that when the lewd, the immoral, and the corrupt begin to compliment us and to curry favor with us, that we had better begin to examine ourselves to see if we, are doing our full duty. The Apostle Peter said to the Saints in his day: ¶

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (I Peter 2:9.) ¶

Our failure to be a "peculiar" people in maintaining our standards, despite the jeers and the criticisms of the crowd, will be our failure to be chosen for that calling to which we are called. ¶

The Lord has told us, ¶

Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. (D. 6 C. 121:34.) ¶

And then in the same revelation points out two reasons why men fail of their blessings. The first reason he gives is that their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and the second is that they aspire so much to the honors of men. So then as Church members let us beware lest we set our hearts upon the things of this world and lest we aspire so much to the honors of men that we compromise our standards. If we do so, we will be cut off in the day of judgment and will lose our blessings. Our reward for daring to live the gospel despite the oppositions from the outside world will be to have blessings added upon our heads forever and forever. ¶

The Gospel Taught by Example

As the Lord counsels us in this day to be mindful of the standards that we should maintain before the world, I have remembered the repeated incidents that have been told which indicate that the eyes of the world are upon this Church and its young manhood and womanhood. In almost every incident where a young man has been converted to the Church by our boys in military service, he has told us that he was drawn to the Church because of the clean, pure life of some Latter-day Saint boy with whom he was associated. This is a day of demonstration when we as Latter-day Saints by our lives will preach more the gospel of truth than by all the words that we may conjure up. The Lord has said to us: ¶

For Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness, her borders must be enlarged; her stakes must be strengthened: yea, verily I say unto you, Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments. (D. 6 C. 82:14.) ¶

May the Lord bless us with the strength to do so, and may everyone who has named his name, be true to that name and live the covenants that he has taken as a member of the Church, and may youth everywhere echo the sentiments that these fine young men have reported to us, and remember that virtue and purity and integrity are the things that mark them as living above the things of the world. May the Lord bless us all with the power and strength to maintain the standards which our Father has given to us in his everlasting covenant, I pray humbly, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶