Conference Address

Somehow or other, this task never seems to become any easier. In fact at times I feel that it becomes more difficult, and I earnestly hope that you will sustain me with your thoughts and prayers and that my Father in heaven will give me utterance. ¶

Testimony of Informed Witness ¶

I was struck by a thought that Dr. Merrill presented in the opening paragraphs of his talk, that the testimony of one informed witness is worth infinitely more than the testimony of many who don't know. I have often made the observation that an idiotic opinion multiplied by fifty million is still an idiotic opinion. Sometimes our children endeavor to induce us to give them permission to do things we know they shouldn't do, with the well-worn phrase that "everybody is doing them." ¶

But no matter what everybody does, an error is still an error even though it is multiplied millions of times. So is an evil, and it doesn't matter how popular or how glamorous or how universal evils become, they are still evils. Some evils have been made very glamorous, very appealing and very popular, but we must be aware of the fact that they are still what they are, regardless of who partakes of them or what they are called, or what appearance they assume. History has proved many times over that the opinion of one man who knows and who knows that he knows, the opinion of one man who has the truth and proclaims it, is much more important than the opinions of many millions who don't know. ¶

Events of a Century Ago I can't look at this audience this morning without thinking of another audience that gathered on Temple Square a hundred years ago. It is one hundred years this month since the first general conference was held on Temple Square. A bowery was built here in 1847. A special conference was held in that year, in August, I believe, and the two general conferences following that one, one on Christmas day, 1847, and one in April 1848, were held back in Kanesville, Iowa. The first general conference of the Church on this square was one hundred years ago now, and what has happened since then, here and elsewhere, is almost beyond belief. ¶

The picture of those people comes before us — men and women who faced the harsh realities of physical existence, who had been, that summer and that spring, through the ordeal of seeing their crops threatened by complete destruction, and many of whom had witnessed the deliverance through their Father in heaven by the episode of the seagulls, which is now immortalized in stone on this block. ¶

With what little they had, ragged, I am sure, many of them, and worn and weary, nevertheless they continued to consult their convictions rather than their convenience, and the fact that they did so accounts for what we have here today, physically and tangibly, as well as the greater spiritual and intangible values that have so blessed our lives and the lives of our children. May God bless their memories and help us to be worthy of the heritage they gave us. ¶

Fame of Temple Square ¶

This square has since become one of the most visited and most talked-of ten acres in the world, I am sure. President Smith told you yesterday that we had had more than eight hundred forty thousand visitors up to this time this year. About a million people a year are coming here currently, a little more or less. There are still many people who come here from all parts of the country who remember and who speak feelingly of their visits in decades gone by, when they met such men as Joseph Peery who so greatly influenced what went on, on this block, for so many years. ¶

But we are facing new circumstances so far as the operation of this square is concerned. It was only fifteen years ago, in 1933, that there were about one hundred thousand people who visited this place, and I rather think that that figure might have included the general conference visitors. We have about ten times that number now, excluding general conference visitors. It was only three years ago, 1945, that we had about a third as many people come here as we have now, three hundred seventy-seven thousand in 1945. You can see that we are facing new problems of organization and administration, and if the activities on these grounds continue to multiply in the next ten or fifteen years as they have in the past, these ten acres literally will not accommodate them. ¶

Temple Square Guides ¶

We have some seventy-five guides functioning now on these grounds, faithful men and women who take time from their businesses and their professions and their homes at a moment's notice to come here and render such service as is needed. We have about eight lawyers, three or four doctors, and many successful businessmen, who leave their clients, their patients, and their customers waiting in their offices while they come here to conduct strangers about these grounds. There are many times when we have five or six groups moving on the grounds at once, and if one building is tied up, it means that there are many times when we have no place to take these people who come. They come at their convenience, not at ours, and we have to take care of them when they come or not see them at all. ¶

These grounds are open about fourteen hours a day at the present time, and they are open almost every day of the year, seven days a week. The only day we have been closed in my experience here is Christmas Day, and I am sure we could have conducted some people about the grounds even on that day. This is our window to the world, and I want to express my appreciation to the Presiding Bishopric for their most helpful and sympathetic cooperation in maintaining the personnel and the physical appearance of these grounds, and to the First Presidency, President Smith and President Clark, and President McKay, in helping us to get the help we need and in helping us with many of our problems and in acquiring the physical facilities we need here. I almost believe at times, without being able to prove it, that not only do we see more people here than anywhere else in the Church, but that more strangers see us here than in all the rest of the Church put together. ¶

Teachings of Karl G. Maeser ¶

I am grateful to Brother Frank Otterstrom for inviting again to my attention a few sentences from the mind and heart and experience of Brother Karl G. Maeser who had such an influence on this Church and its educational policies in his generation, and on the lives of those who have succeeded his generation, ¶

Here is one which we may all have heard many times over but repetition of which is well worth while: ? ; ¶

The Lord has unconditionally declared the triumph of his Church, but his promises to me are all conditional. My concern, therefore, is about myself. ¶

I have no fear, and I know you haven't, as to the ultimate destiny of this Church, and of the Lord's work in the earth. But many individuals fall by the wayside, and in the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord has in a number of places distinguished between his pleasure with the Church collectively and his pleasure with people individually, or displeasure as it may be. One -such utterance is in the first section, where he declares that he is pleased with the Church speaking collectively but not individually. Regardless of the great strides the Church has made, in the words of Karl G. Maeser, "my concern ... is about myself" and my own part and contribution to it. I commend to you the beautiful and profound thought of President Ivins yesterday: "Serving for the sheer joy of service, without thought of self." Another sentence from Brother Maeser: ¶

No man shall be more exacting of me or of my conduct than I am of myself. ¶

And another one: ¶

I would rather trust my child to a serpent than to a teacher who does not believe in God. ¶

Here is another: ¶

The Lord never gets in debt to any man. ¶

I am reminded of Bishop Richards' remarks here yesterday. And here is another sentence from Karl G. Maeser that is pertinent to our present problems: ¶

Youth demands recreation, and if it is not provided in high places they will seek it in low places. ¶

Brother Moyle touched on that yesterday: Spending time with our children regardless of our other pressing professional and business pursuits. These children of ours are going to grow up. What we have said about the visitors who come here, that they come at their convenience and not at ours, is true of children. They grow up at their convenience, or at Nature's convenience, and not at ours, and we had better touch their lives while they are with us and while we have the opportunity. They are going to find companionship somewhere, and if it isn't our companionship, it will be the companionship of someone else. If it isn't our influence, it will be some other influence that shapes and molds them, because they are not going to be isolated from outside influences, and we shall have no cause for complaint about the influences that do mold their lives unless we do our best to see that ours is dominant in the shaping and moulding of their characters. ¶

A final sentence from Brother Maeser: ¶

If you want excuses, go to the devil — he can give you any number. ¶

We can go to the devil for a good many things, and sometimes, in some instances, I'm afraid that is the source of too much that is plentiful in the world. The law of supply and demand does not seem to work as well as it should in this instance. ¶

Repentance and Forgiveness ¶

I am grateful, however, as Bishop Isaacson expressed yesterday, that this is a Church that proclaims the principles of repentance and forgiveness. If it weren't for repentance and forgiveness, life would be hopeless for most of us, if not for all of us. ¶

I was talking a day or two ago with two of our brethren who are attorneys, and we were speaking of some of our penal practices and problems, about life imprisonment, for example. A man who is imprisoned for life, and who knows that there is no hope for him, hasn't much inducement, perhaps, to be on his good behavior. I recall a scene to which I was a witness not long ago, which involved a small boy who had been invited to stay in the house for the rest of the day because he needed some disciplining. He was rather obstreperous during the day and said, "Why should I be good? I can't go out anyway." ¶

Well, he had to be reminded that there was another day coming. If there isn't another day coming, there isn't much inducement, and I am grateful for the principle of repentance and forgiveness. There is another day coming for all men, with some rare exceptions, on terms of repentance and forgiveness, and obedience. "Go thy way, and sin no more." There are two parts to that equation and they involve both forgiveness and sincere repentance. ¶

I am grateful for my fellowship with you, my brothers and sisters, more than I can speak. And I am grateful that the mysteries of the kingdom have never troubled me much. I think that the simple truths of the gospel are so plain and so beautiful that I don't worry much about the things that no man can explain; and I am sure in my own heart that if we will just live as well as we know how to live, we will be all right here and hereafter. It won't be the things that we don't know that will give us trouble. It will be the things that we do know and fail to abide by. ¶

May God help us to go forth and live our lives and meet our problems and counsel our families and render service in his Church and be accepted into the kingdom of our Father in heaven, with his approbation, when that time shall come, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶