Naturally The Thoughts Of The Speakers At...

Naturally the thoughts of the speakers at this conference have turned to President Smith, so recently departed. Mine run the same way. If he were standing here today where I stand, I can easily conjecture him as pleading with the people to live their religion, that is, to live in practice up to the high standards of what they have been taught. ¶

Judged According to Works

I should like, if I may, to say a little about that, with particular reference to the personal responsibility of each individual for what he turns out to be. ¶

It was permitted to John the Revelator to glimpse the future as the revelation of things to come passed in panoramic view before his vision. Among other things, he says: ¶

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; . . . and they were judged every man according to their works. (Rev. 20:12.) Two lines of thought closely related and of tremendous consequence to all of us are stimulated by this graphic statement. First, there is implicit in it the thesis that death is not the end of man. ¶

Those marshalled for rating had died, for it was the dead whom John saw. Second, their classification and recompense depended upon their own deeds, what they had done while they yet lived. It is this second feature of the vision to which I wish to direct attention. ¶

As the hosts from the dead passed before the throne, they were judged every man, according to his works. That is justice in the highest sense of the term. It is judgment founded in righteousness. ¶

It reaches completely up to the perfect ideal. No fault can be found in it, for every man is to be classified and rewarded on the basis of his own individual performance. It has always been the conception of enlightened nations of free men, particularly those whose laws are rooted in the Christian code, that only to that degree in which judgments have embraced righteousness have they approximated justice. Long ago the Prophet Amos coupled the two together in their proper relationship, and no right-thinking man has ever been able, or tried to sever the bond which inseparably unites them. ¶

Amos admonished his nation: ¶

... let judgment roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. (Amos 5:24.) ¶

Meaning of Righteousness

I hesitate to use the word righteousness because it has come to have attached to it the malodor of hypocrisy. Too commonly, one who is spoken of as possessed of the quality of righteousness is derisively sneered at, as if the term characterized him as a pretender, a self-exalter, one who arrogates to himself superior virtues, as exemplified in the parable of Jesus about the Pharisee who publicly thanked God that he was not as other men and loudly proclaimed his own virtues. Jesus said that the publican who, standing apart, alone, humbly prayed God to be merciful to him a sinner would be justified before the other. ¶

No sense of opprobrium properly attaches to the term righteousness. It signifies that which is in accordance with right, or characterized by uprighteousness or morality. There is no other word to take its place. I am therefore obliged to use it and trust to its being understood in its proper sense. ¶

John's statement about the basis of judgment must be read as affirming that there are things which everybody is expected to do. ¶

The promise of rewards based upon works presupposes that there are requirements prescribed. Where there is no law, there can be no judgment under the law is a principle of divine as well as secular governance. The prescribed requirements, naturally, are to be sought in the teachings of Jesus for John was his disciple. And by his revelation, John tells us, he was shown the things he saw. ¶

Observance of Law

On his final visit to the disciples before his ascension, as has before been stated today, Jesus commissioned them to carry his message to all people, telling those whom they proselyted to observe all things whatsoever he had commanded them. Here, then, is the law on the basis of which all are to be judged. So far as I can discern, there is not one thing in all that Jesus taught that would not, if practised, promote righteousness and justice in the earth. Nobody would be harmed by universal conformance to every rule governing human conduct which he promulgated. One cannot think that it was ever intended that man should be consigned to live perpetually in this earth amid the carnage and bestiality and bickering and hatred and cruelty; the plundering of one by another; the deception and greed; the striving for advantage of one over another; the despoiling of fellow creatures; the stifling and crushing out of all sentiments of mercy and human kindness by the violence of brute force and by submerging righteousness and everything that makes life beautiful, under the vile, putrid, hideous, and ugly flocks of vice which swirl over the land. All this and all the groveling ugliness of human degradation paraded before us in the daily press are in direct antagonism to the benevolence and brotherhood, the worth and dignity of the human soul with its God-given right to be free from the bondage of oppression; the admonitions to love and mercy, to be pure in heart, and to hunger and thirst after righteousness, expounded as guides to righteousness and abundant living by the Christ. ¶

The other day J. Edgar Hoover told the Senate committee investigating syndicated crime in America that gambling could be cleansed out at once if officials in states and cities would honestly enforce the law, instead of conniving with those who are willing to pay the price of protection for the violation of the law. Following gambling would go the whole brood of loathsome evils spawned by it. If that could be done, how infinitely more could the earth be cleansed by a simple observance of the laws laid down as the basis for divine judgment and justice. ¶

Be Ye Therefore Perfect

On another occasion, even before his crucifixion, holding up to view the mission and purpose of life, the goal of man's striving, his ultimate destiny, the Lord said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt. 5:48.) This terse sentence epitomizes all that Jesus taught about the mission of life and the destiny of man. It seems on its face a hard saying, and many have felt that it sets a task beyond all possibility of accomplishing, and that there is no use trying; that it projects an ideal so utterly unrealistic as to make it of little value. There might be some validity to this objection, if life is to be thought of only in terms of mortal probation. To get full value of the admonition we need a broader understanding of the work of life. ¶

President Brigham Young let some light in on that in one of his sermons. After quoting the saying, he remarked: "If the . . . passage I have quoted is not worded to our understanding, we can alter the phraseology of the sentence, and say: Be ye perfect as ye can,' for that is all we can do." ¶

"When we are doing as well as we know how in the sphere and station which we occupy here, we are justified in the justice, righteousness, mercy, and judgment that go before the Lord of heaven and earth. We are as justified as the angels who go before the throne of God. The sin that will cleave to all the posterity of Adam and Eve is that they have not done as well as they know how." (J. D. 2:129.) ¶

Righteous Judgment

That puts the admonition to be perfect on a practical working basis. It is within the range of the possibility of attainment. It tells us, too, something about how high a prerogative rendering judgment is. It requires for righteous dispensation of justice divine omniscience. That is perhaps why God reserved judgment to himself. They whom John saw stood before God. ¶

He would have complete knowledge of all the essential facts, which mortals rendering human judgments perhaps never have, and which so often results in miscarriage of justice. God would have complete understanding of all the influences that have gone into the shaping of the life to be judged; the knowledge possessed and the opportunity for knowing; the capacity for understanding what he had been taught; the kind of association and society he has the capacity to mingle congenially with; and from all the manifold factors involved, put the one judged where he belongs, which is what final judgment really is. ¶

Progressive Beings

This interpretation introduces the principle that it is not intended that we shall accomplish everything in this life, but that we are expected to be progressive beings, growing toward our final destiny. ¶

But that principle in no way excuses us from doing the best we can, or from acquiring all the knowledge that we have capacity and opportunity to assimilate as we go along. We have some very specific teachings about that. The scriptures say: ¶

Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. ¶

And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come. (D. & C. 130:18-19.) Intelligence has been interpreted as the ability to comprehend and respond to light and truth. But it is clear from what has been quoted that knowledge and intelligence are congenial companions; and moreover, that to achieve them requires industry, study, diligence, and obedience. Their acquisition is governed by the universal law of reward for effort. They do not come as gratuitous bestowals upon the idler or the indifferent. ¶

Excellence Through Effort

This is the point I wanted especially to emphasize here today, and it is the reason, perhaps, for all that I have said before. There is nothing in all the history and experience of the race, nothing in the teachings of Jesus, nothing in the doctrines of the Church, which warrants the assumption that excellence may be attained without effort, either in the spiritual realm or the temporal domain; or that high exaltation may be achieved by a mere profession of faith, or passive adherence to a creed or body of doctrines. Jesus made that abundantly clear in saying: ¶

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven. (Matt. 7:21.) It is to be noted that the teachings of Jesus pertained mostly to this life. From time to time he gave us glimpses of a glorious future. But these were conditioned upon what we do here, just as by John's revelation the dead were judged by the works they had done while they lived. We are not here just to prepare to die, but rather to live, and to use all our powers to perfect ourselves by acquiring knowledge, developing our talents, building virtue unto ourselves, conquering evil, by practising the things we know. The progress we make here determines our status hereafter. ¶

A Practical Religion

We have a very practical religion. It pertains to our lives now. And the reward of observance of the law is not altogether postponed to a future on the other side of the grave. Building up the kingdom involves some very practical things. It is not altogether concerned with the non-material lying out in the ethereal realm. The building of meetinghouses, places of worship, schools, temples, for example, clearly is for spiritual purposes. But they involve a large element of the material. They are essential to the building up of the kingdom of God. And where would you classify the beautifying of your home; the making of refined surroundings? ¶

It is necessary to provide the things that sustain life, to master the arts and crafts and trades that meet the needs of progress and improvement. I do not think I can find the line that divides the spiritual from the temporal. ¶

Nobody in this life can gain proficiency in all the realms of human knowledge or skills or endeavors, yet they complement each other, and each is essential to the completeness of the whole. By the cooperative endeavor of all in an organized body, each doing what his talent suits him for, the kingdom can be prepared. I suppose the rightness of what either one does depends upon the purpose or the motive which stimulates the pursuit, whether that be the promoting of good among men, the furtherance of righteousness, or whether it be the gratification of a selfish ambition, to be achieved without regard to consequences to others, or its influence on human progress or improvement. ¶

Growth Through Activity

Knowledge lying dormant and not employed to useful purposes is of very little value. One may attain membership in the Church, for example, by complying with all the requisite initiatory ordinances, but if he stops there, as some do, he may not assume that his salvation is assured, no matter how correct in the abstract his personal conduct may be. One must progress or retrograde. One cannot stand still. Activity is the law of growth, and growth, progress, is the law of life. Obedience to the governing law, cooperation with others, helping them to build up the kingdom of God is indispensable. ¶

There are, properly speaking, no laymen in this Church. There is labor for all, and labor, toil, effort in harmony and accord with established law is the only known road to progress. Salvation is a relative term, admitting of varying degrees. There can be no other meaning to John's revelation that "each will be rewarded according to his works." The slothful or indolent or indifferent can expect no high rating, no matter how voluble in professions of faith, or how profuse they may be in protestations of devotion to their creeds. ¶

And I humbly pray that each of us as we go from here will go with a full realization that whatever we hope for, whatever we aspire to achieve will be dependent upon our willingness to pay the price in individual endeavor. We may not lean upon any other human being but can be aided by the help we receive from God if we serve him faithfully and keep his commandments every day, which I pray we may do, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶