My Brethren And Sisters I Am Indeed...

My brethren and sisters, I am indeed grateful for this opportunity to bear my testimony to you and to those who listen in. I am grateful to be counted a member of the great Church and kingdom of God here upon earth. And I am especially grateful that my life was touched as closely and as intimately as it was by the life of our departed President, George F. Richards. I want to join with my other brethren today in paying respect to his memory. He will always stand in my memory as a man of God whose testimony of the divinity of the work in which we are engaged will ever burn in my heart. It has increased my testimony and the intensity thereof because I know that what he knew and what he testified to was true. I am also very grateful for the close association I have had both in the Church and out with our departed brother, Frank Evans. ¶

I had the privilege of practising law in the same courts and in the same counties as did he. And whether it was in his profession or in his Church activities, he exemplified the highest virtues that we find in our fellow men. ¶

Army of Righteousness

As I have sat here during this conference and looked into your faces, I have been conscious of the fact that we represent but a small part of this great body of men and women whose lives are dedicated to the work incident to the establishing of the kingdom of God here on earth. If we had a building which would hold twenty times as many people as are here today, we would hardly have as many people as we meet every three months in our quarterly conferences throughout the Church. Just think of it: A great army of righteousness contending against evil! What a power and what a force we are in the world. It was in 1899 that President Heber J. ¶

Grant spoke these words: ¶

The Latter-day Saints are indeed, as the Prophet Joseph Smith said they would be, a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains, and we are simply in our infancy. We are beginning to grow and become a mighty people, but we are nothing to what we will be. There is no question in my mind but what the Lord is going to multiply the Latterday Saints and bless them more abundantly in the future than he has ever done in the past, provided of course that we are humble and diligent, provided we seek for the advancement of God's kingdom and do not do our own mind and will. (Conference Report, April 1899, p. 28.) ¶

What Is Important?

I'd like to say a few words this afternoon about that Latter subject. There are so many people on the earth today who desire to do their own will rather than the will of the Father. And whenever I think of these people, I wonder what there is that we can do in our ministry to touch their lives, cause them to realize the blessings that are incident to obedience to the laws of God. What is there in life, after all, that is so important that we cannot and should not set it aside to do our full duty to our maker? The Savior said to his disciples of old: ¶

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (I John 2:15.) Is there anything the world has to offer us today that is as precious as the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ? The gospel brings comfort and joy into our lives, gives us a sense of security which the world cannot offer to us. Some people today, and today is a day of prosperity, become so attached to their wealth that they become sufficient to themselves. They cease to be dependent upon God. They sense no necessity for any direction from him, and they go their own way. Just as certainly as they do, they gradually lead themselves on toward destruction. When the Lord blesses us with wealth and with prosperity, we have a great mission to perform. We can utilize that which the Lord has given us so beautifully to build up his kingdom, to help one another, and to accomplish good, and to be the more dependent upon our Father in heaven rather than less. As a matter of fact, prosperity, economically speaking, is not the only force in the world that draws us away from the things of God and builds us up in our own estimation — leads us to criticize the prophets of God here upon the earth, thinking that our judgment and our wisdom are superior to theirs. It seems that when men gain power on this earth, whether it be political or otherwise, they build up within themselves an egotism which destroys that simple faith in God which is so essential for men who are charged with important responsibilities in public life and elsewhere to possess. ¶

Religion, Morality Necessary

Brother Bowen read to us this morning from the farewell address of President George Washington. Washington realized that religion and morality are the pillars which uphold the Constitution of the United States, and without which the Constitution would fall. Washington also realized and exemplified in his life the necessity for religion and morality in the lives of those charged with the responsibility of maintaining our Constitution, and without which men will be led away from the truth. Men will be led to follow the course which will ultimately destroy the Constitution rather than uphold it, against their very oaths of office, if they once throw off the cloak of morality and of religion. No one can fail to uphold the Constitution and be a good citizen, much less a worthy public officer. One who disregards the Constitution is not worthy of our patronage, politically or otherwise. ¶

It grieved me very much this year to hear a man running for public office decry the fact that another man in the opposite political camp had religion with him, as though that totally disqualified him for public office. When men, in the exercise of the power which they hold by virtue of the offices in the government to which they are elected, begin to discredit religion, they cease to become fit to hold public office. And I hope and pray that we as a people shall be led to exercise the rights which are ours in this great government of ours to vote for those men who have some religious conception and who seek to ordain their lives in accordance with the principles of truth and of right; men who respect, uphold, obey, honor, and sustain the Constitution of the United States. ¶

Organizations Spring Up

We have in our midst social organizations. They seem to be springing up every day in one shape or another; and because there is some power, some distinction, some prerogative that goes with those who become members and the heads of these organizations (whether they be purely social or otherwise), many seem to think that's more important in their lives than to magnify the callings which are theirs in the priesthood. We have heard something said this morning about learning, and the same thing holds true for that. As we become absorbed with the wisdom and the learning and the philosophy of men, unless we have a humility and a faith about us, we shall be led astray just as certainly as wealth or power might accomplish the same purpose. There is a very slight margin between good and bad in our lives. Sometimes when I see my friends erring a little, I wonder why it is they can't remove that margin and be as strong and faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord as their neighbor. ¶

I want to say that my heart goes out to you brethren and sisters here today and to those in the wards and stakes of the Church who are so faithful to the callings which are yours, and who seek so earnestly to magnify the priesthood which is yours. I am sure that history in no age of the world could record any greater faithfulness than we find today in the lives of our bishops, our stake presidents, and those who labor under them in the stakes and wards of this Church. When I look into the faces of these brethren who have returned from their missions as mission presidents, I have a sense of reverence for their integrity, their loyalty, their faithfulness, their courage. These men have been willing to give up their business and their professions, leave their families and homes, and go out into the world, and remain just as long as their call extends, not worrying about what happens in the future. There is no wealth, there is no political position, there is no power or social distinction which could come to these men that could tempt them in the least. ¶

Instil Faith, Devotion

And so it is our purpose in the Church to go out among the people in the wards and stakes and see whether we can instill in their hearts the kind of faith and devotion which we find in these great mission presidents of ours. It is one of the joys of my life to be able, to go into a mission and become intimately acquainted and associated with these men as they direct the efforts of the sons and daughters of Israel in the mission field. They give to us an example which we, that is, most of us, endeavor to reflect in our own lives. I am sure that as we reflect this into the lives of those over whom we preside, this great Church and kingdom of God on earth will continue to grow and develop even as President Grant said it would in 1899. I am sure that prophecy is yet unfulfilled. We are still in our infancy, and we still have all these worldly forces and powers to combat and to overcome. ¶

We have a few simple remedies which have been given to us of the Lord by which to accomplish his purpose; I don't know of any remedy more effective than ward teaching. If the bishops and the stake presidents would see to it that this work was entered into in the true spirit of the priesthood, the spirit of this work as the Lord intended it, we'd be able to touch the lives of these people. As a matter of fact, we'd even be able to live close to those who hold public office if our ward teachers visited them once a month and called their attention to the duties and responsibilities they owe to the people who elected them to that office. ¶

Righteousness in Office

I would like to say one more word about public office. There seems to be a tendency among us in this state, and I presume even more so in others, to think that when we act as mayor of a city or in a city council, we are not required to exercise that same degree of righteousness that we would in our own individual lives. I have particularly in mind today a case where a mayor and a city council thought that it was perfectly proper for them to violate the laws of the state of Utah and to carry on in their city parimutuel betting, gambling in one of its worst forms, in connection with horse racing held there during one of their city celebrations. They seemed to think, when their acts were challenged, that because they held public office and the city treasury received the income from those vices they were completely justified. Let us stop for a moment and see where such reasoning would ultimately lead us. If every city in Utah did that same thing, then the mayors and the city councils would nullify the laws of the state legislature. They would take unto themselves powers that do not belong to them. They would abrogate the law by their own illegal and immoral practices. But, say the people of this one town, they don't all do it, and we're the ones that got this idea up and we ought to be able to continue to profit by it. I asked them one simple question. Who is it that comes to your city to attend these races? Well, they come from all over the state. Now isn't that the answer? Has any mayor, has any city council the right to carry on illegally, gambling in the city under the auspices of the police power of the city and invite everybody else from the state in, so that city might profit by preying upon the weaknesses of others, inviting as it were the public to come there and not only exhibit their weaknesses but also lose their money. It cannot be any more objectionable for the individual to carry on gambling within the city than it would be for the city itself. It seems to me, as a matter of fact, that those who have taken a solemn oath to uphold and sustain the laws and the Constitution of the land should be the last to violate them no matter in whose name they might do it. ¶

Exercise Franchise Intelligently

I hope and pray that this coming election will indicate to the world the steadfastness of the Latter-day Saints in their determination to move forward as an army of righteousness, to fight evil in all its forms wherever it is met by putting into office men and women who will stand for our highest ideals, morally and religiously. We should be discerning when we seek to exercise any of the rights that are ours. We should see that those rights are exercised intelligently, that we know whom we are voting for, and what they stand for when we vote for them. It is our privilege, yes, our duty, to know the position legislators will take on all matters of interest to us. Will those who seek our patronage at the ballot box, if elected to the legislature of this state, vote for sale of liquor by the drink? Will they vote for horse racing with parimutuel betting, gambling on the side? Will they otherwise let down the bars of morality and permit men to come into our communities and prey upon the weaknesses of the flesh. No man ought to be very proud of his accomplishments if those accomplishments consist of capitalizing upon the human weaknesses and frailties of others. Generally speaking, it is the young people, the boys and girls, who are naturally inclined to be a little reckless. They get in the groove, as it were, in the habit of gambling, by learning that most vicious habit of trying to get something for nothing. It is prevalent today in the individual lives of our people and in all of our government units to give the people as much as possible for nothing and to see how little the people shall ultimately be required to work for what they get. I hope and pray that the day will come when every Latter-day Saint will stand for the enthroning of labor and industry and thrift. God bless us to be wise, to be discreet and discriminating and discerning, and to utilize every force and every asset that we have to see to it that our governments are conducted by men who uphold the Constitution unconditionally, who believe in God, who lend obedience to his commandments, I pray humbly in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. ¶

Amen. ¶