Conference Address

I could ask for no preface more fitting for what I desire to say this morning, than the singing of that grand hymn, "Come, Come, Ye Saints." As I sit through the conferences from year to year, I contemplate the great effort and sacrifice that have gone into the efforts you have made in coming to these conferences and the seriousness with which you attend, regulary and faithfully, and in listening to all that is said and the actions taken. I have asked myself the question as to the purpose, after all, of a general conference, and I am reminded of the words of the Lord when he gave us, in a revelation, the pattern by which important matters pertaining to his Church should be presented to the people. This is what he said ¶

... let it be done as it shall be counseled by the elders of the church at the conferences, according to the knowledge which they receive from time to time. (D. & C. 58:56.) ¶

Will of the Lord Again Revealed ¶

As in olden times, so in our day, holy men of God speak as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and whatsoever they speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the word of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation. It should be a great comfort to the Latter-day Saints in this day of which the Lord foretold, when peace should be taken from the earth, and the devil would have power over his own dominion, to hear the Lord say in revelation that in that day he would reign in the midst of his people and would have power over his Saints. But in this day when the arm of the Lord shall be revealed, they who will not listen to the voice of the Lord, neither to the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the apostles and prophets, shall be cut off from among the people. Some of the most profound thinkers in our generation, other than Church members, have realized the need for revelations from the Lord in order to give vitality to the teachings of a church. It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said: ¶

The Hebrew and Greek scriptures contain immortal sentences that have been the bread of life to millions, but they do not have epical integrity, are fragmentary and are not shown in their order to the intellect. . . . Nor can the Bible be closed until the last great man is born. . . . Men have come to speak of revelation as somewhat long ago given and done, as if God were dead. That injury to faith throttles the preachers and the goodliest of institutions become an uncertain and inarticulate voice. The need was never greater for revelation than it is today. ¶

The Purpose of Revelation ¶

In our day the Lord has given us the reason and the purpose for which revelations are given. He said to us in one of the earliest revelations in this day of the restored Church: ¶

Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun and gave him commandments; And also gave commandments to others, that . . . The weak things of the world shall . . . break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh — But that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, . . . That faith also might increase in the earth; That mine everlasting covenant might be established; That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed. . . . Behold, I am God and have spoken it; these commandments are of me, and were given unto my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, that they might come to understanding. And inasmuch as they erred, it might be made known; And inasmuch as they sought wisdom, they might be instructed; . . . And inasmuch as they were humble they might be made strong, and blessed from on high, and receive knowledge from time to time. (D. & C. 1:17-28.) ¶

And so, obedient to that purpose, there have been in this day, our day, men commissioned of the Lord with power and authority, and he has given them the inspiration to teach and proclaim these things to the world for the purpose the Lord has set forth, and he has done it here in this conference and will continue to do so until the end of the conference, that the important things might be counseled by the elders of the Church to this people according to the inspiration and revelation they receive from time to time. As the Latter-day Saints go home from this conference, it would be well if they consider seriously the importance of taking with them the report of this conference and let it be the guide to their walk and talk during the next six months. These are the important matters the Lord sees fit to reveal to this people in this day in the year 1946. ¶

Foresight of Church Leaders ¶

The divine nature of the activities of this Church was never more attested than in the developments of this last decade, when, under the inspiration of heaven, our leaders have been trying to prepare this people against the calamities which were shortly to come upon the inhabitants of the earth. At the time when the nations of the world were fomenting hate and racial prejudices, this, the Church of Jesus Christ, was sending missionaries to many of these nations, preaching the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God. We were exemplifying that brotherhood here at home by the teamwork of priesthood quorums and by ward and stake groups working on welfare projects and in missionary activities. When a false and inflated prosperity was abroad in the land, caused by the demands of the recent war, this people, largely by volunteer labor, were filling storehouses with surpluses that would otherwise have ¶

gone to waste. They were building a grain elevator and storing grain at the time when wheat was being destroyed because it was not needed. They were, in obedience to the counsel of the leaders of the Church, filling their own cellars and their own basements with the commodities necessary to meet the needs that were foreseen in a day to come, and in order to reduce the drain on the public supply that would otherwise be needed for the prosecution of the purposes of this government. The things, it seems to me, that we need most in the world today, are, first, a recognition of the "modern Josephs" represented in the leadership of the Church today, because of the prophetic vision they have exercised in seeing this day of want and destruction; and second, we need "modern Pharaohs" in this and other nations, who will recognize the statements of these leaders of the Church as the mind of the Lord and the word of the Lord to the world in this day. ¶

An unintentional testimony was given to us recently in the nation's capital by a high-placed government official when he said after we had explained to him the welfare activities of the Church "You have done the very thing in your Church that the government is now trying to do in its present program to provide food for the starving nations of Europe." ¶

As the carloads of foodstuffs and clothing and bedding move down to the seaports to be transported overseas to feed our needy people, and as the truckloads in our country go to meet similar needs in that distressed area, I have felt in my heart that surely this is sufficient evidence of the hand of the Lord being laid bare in behalf of his people. ¶

Tenth Anniversary of Church Welfare Program ¶

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the inauguration or the announcement of the churchwide activity known as the Church welfare program. I cannot come to this day without looking back over the days that have passed. I have remembered some of those who fathered this work, since its inception, who have been called to their eternal home: President Heber J. Grant, Melvin J. Ballard, Nicholas G. Smith, Campbell M. Brown, J. Frank Ward, Robert L. Judd, Elias S. Woodruff, Byron D. Anderson. As I think of their passing, I can't help contemplating what their interest is in the welfare program wherever they are today. I can't believe that it is less than it was here; and if the Lord gives them the opportunity to exercise that influence, I am certain they will be exercising it. What of us here? In paying due honor to what they attempted to build, I wonder if we have remembered their words. We have repeated often the statement that was given to us by President Grant when this program was launched. These were his words and you heard them repeated, time and again, when he said: ¶

Our primary purpose is to set up, insofar as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, and thrift and selfrespect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership. (The Improvement Era, April 1946. p. 209.) ¶

Foundation Stones of Welfare Work ¶

I traveled over the Church by request of the First Presidency with Elder Melvin J. Ballard in the early days of the welfare program to discuss with local Church leaders the details essential to its beginning. There were three favorite passages of scripture that he frequently quoted to the people. One statement that he often repeated was this "We must take care of our own people, for the Lord has said that all this is to be done that: ¶

. . . the church may stand independent above all other creatures beneath the celestial world." (D. & C. 78:14.) ¶

And again he taught, after quoting from the one hundred fifteenth section of the Doctrine and Covenants: ¶

Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations, (verse 5.) ¶

this is the day of demonstration of the power of the Lord in behalf of his people. And again quoting the one hundred fourth section: ¶

Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment, (v. 18.) ¶

I read these quotations to you today to remind you of the foundation stones on which the welfare work of the Church has been laid. ¶

Obligation to Care for Our Own ¶

As I have recalled the experiences of the last ten years, I have thought of the welfare work as a kind of temporal turning of the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers. ¶

You who may think that a far-fetched statement, may I remind you of one or two scriptures? To Timothy, the Apostle Paul said : ¶

But if any [man] provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. (I Tim. 5:8.) ¶

And again the commandment from Mt. Sinai, and interpreted by the Master, you will remember, to mean the taking care of aging parents by children: ¶

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. (Ex. 20:12.) ¶

From these two scriptures I make these two conclusions: In the first place those who refuse to care for their own are subject to a judgment more severe than that which would be meted out to one who lost his faith and had become as an infidel; and second, that those who refuse to honor father and mother in the way the Master explained, are jeopardizing their tenure upon this land which the Lord hasi given us. I have thought a great deal about that. I wonder whether that tenure shall be jeopardized because of the burdensome taxation that shall increase and grow until we are virtually displaced in our ownership, if we don't take care of our own, or I am wondering whether the Lord will withdraw his blessings, as Amulek declared in the thirty-fourth chapter of Alma, if we refuse to succor those who stand in need of help. ¶

And on the other hand, so far as children are concerned, I have remembered what the Apostle Paul said about that: He predicted a time that would come in the last days, a perilous time when men should be lovers of their own selves, covetous, disobedient, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection. That sounds strangely familiar to the language of the Lord in this day, when he declared : ¶

Now, I, the Lord, am not well pleased with the inhabitants of Zion, for there are idlers among them; and their children are also growing up in wickedness; they also seek not earnestly the riches of eternity, but their eyes are full of greediness. These things ought not to be, and must be done away from among them. (D. & C. 68:31,32.) ¶

I have asked myself if the failure of children to take care of their aging parents, when they come to a day of want and are in need of sustenance, is due to the failure of parents, in the day gone by, to teach those same children to avoid the curse of idleness, and to be responsible in righteousness before our Heavenly Father. Unless we teach our children today correct principles, they, like some children today, will be thankless and without the natural affection necessary to cement this society upon a firm, determined foundation. Yes, it seems to me that in very deed, the welfare plan has been a kind of turning of the hearts of the children to the fathers and the fathers to the children, that we might be prolonged upon this land which the Lord our God has given us. ¶

The Lord's Plan [or Security ¶

The Lord has given us in this day the greatest organization upon the face of the earth, with his power and his authority to direct it. He has given us sound principles; he has shown us the plan and the way by which want and distress may be done away among us. He has shown us the way to brotherly love. If the afflictions which have been predicted do come upon us, they will come upon us because we have not kept the faith and because we have been disobedient and have thrown away the opportunities that our Heavenly Father has given us to prepare for the day of calamity which he foretold, over one hundred years ago, would come in this generation. ¶

I remember at the dedication of the grain elevator in 1940 hearing President McKay in an inspired and prophetic prayer utter these words: ¶

May this be an edifice of service, a contribution of love, and as such we dedicate it unto thee and ask thy blessings to attend all who have contributed to its erection and all who may contribute to the keeping of these bins filled with the wheat which is considered necessary to be preserved preparatory to the judgments that await the nations of the earth. ¶

My prayer is today that those who contribute, and those who receive as well, shall so live in the bonds of brotherhood and unity and oneness, that the Lord can reign in the midst of his Saints and be a power over them and a shield, as he promised in the ninety-seventh section of the Doctrine and Covenants he would be, if we his Saints would keep his commandments in the day when the judgments were about to descend upon the earth. ¶

God help us so to live and to keep in harmony with his Spirit that these things may be with the Saints in our day, I pray humbly in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶