I Sincerely Trust, My Beloved Brethren...

I sincerely trust, my beloved brethren and sisters, that I might enjoy the Lord's favor during the few minutes that I shall stand before you. ¶

I should like to read to you the thirty-fifth verse of the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants: ¶

For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion. ¶

As we observe conditions in the world today, I am sure we are all agreed that peace has literally been taken from the nations of the earth. We see in Korea a bloody struggle which seems to have no end. Europe is an armed camp. On the other side of the Iron Curtain preparations are being made for a great Third World War. In Iran and in Egypt we observe rebellion. There seems to be a spirit of unrest all over the world. We have been in the midst of war for almost thirteen years. It is true that the representatives of nations have tried to negotiate peace, but we have no peace. ¶

We have all of the difficulties that the Lord spoke of, that peace would be taken from the earth, and that the spirit of Satan would have dominion over the world. ¶

I question if those who sit at the peace table have in their hearts the real spirit of peace. The spirit of peace is the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. I regret when the United Nations was founded, the name of the Redeemer of the World was not used, and for that reason I feel the genuine spirit of peace has not and does not influence the dealings of peace negotiations. ¶

Those who have been sitting around the so-called peace tables of the world, have been cunning and cagey men, negotiating for the sole purpose of acquiring more power, more territory, and in the final analysis of it all, millions of people now find themselves under the heel of the dictator; they have lost their free agency and liberty. They have lost their land. ¶

And as I contemplate these terrible conditions that exist in the world, with me you ask, what counsel or advice has our Heavenly Father for us? Please read the eighth verse of the eightyseventh section, therein you will find the counsel of the Lord. He said: ¶

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. ¶

What are these holy places? They are the holy temples of God. They are the meetinghouses, one in each ward, dedicated to the worship of our Heavenly Father. I would say that our homes can become holy places, if we cultivate the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, the spirit of peace. ¶

As I look into the faces of this vast congregation and I think of the vast radio audience, I know there are many among you who live under a cloud of uncertainty. Present are fathers and mothers and sons and daughters, wives and sweethearts of the soldiers engaged on the bloody battlefields of Korea. The word may come that your loved one has made the supreme sacrifice, or that your loved one has been wounded and is maimed for life, or your loved one is a prisoner in the hands of a heathen enemy. ¶

There are other perplexing problems that many of us have. Men of affairs walk the floor at night, wondering how their problems are to be solved. We fail to think of the Savior, of his counsel, and his teachings. ¶

I quote to you the twenty-eighth to the thirtieth verses in Matthew eleven, wherein the Savior said: ¶

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ¶

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. ¶

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. ¶

And again he said to us, in the twentythird verse of the nineteenth section of the Doctrine and Covenants: ¶

Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me. ¶

These declarations of the Savior are the peace-call to the faithful, to the obedient, to those who have accepted him as the Redeemer of the World. ¶

With the peace-call comes this admonition to attend the peace meeting of the Prince of Peace. ¶

But remember that on this, the Lord's day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord. (Ibid., 59:12.) And again the peace-call comes, And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day. ¶

(Idem, 9.) Here we find the source of real peace in the house of the Lord, upon the Sabbath day, here a peace conference is in session with the Savior of the World. ¶

The presiding officers of this peace conference are three high priests, the bishopric of the ward. Under their direction the peace table is prepared by the Aaronic Priesthood, the emblems of the broken body and the spilt blood are laid upon the table before the congregation. Those officiating are priests, teachers, and deacons of the Aaronic Priesthood. And in turn, the sacramental prayers are offered. ¶

I think of the sacramental prayers as prayers of the covenant, for after all, in the blessing upon the bread and the blessings upon the cup there are covenants that we all ascribe to. First, when the bread is blessed, it is sanctified to all those who partake of it. ¶

Secondly, they covenant to eat in remembrance of the body of the Prince of Peace, they covenant to remember the spilt blood. Thirdly, they agree to witness unto God their willingness to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, and remember him always. To take upon one the name of Jesus Christ, to me, means that we will accept the Son of God as the Redeemer of the World, that we will accept his plan of salvation and live it as he has commanded us, and then to remember the great sacrifice that he made upon Calvary's hill. ¶

I feel as we attend the peace meeting of the Savior in holy places of worship, that we have no idea of the suffering that the Savior passed through both in the Garden of Gethsemane, and also on the cross. ¶

We covenant to keep his commandments which he has given us. And the Lord covenants with us, if we will keep his commandments, if we will remember his great sacrifice, if we will accept him fully, that he, in turn, will reward us with the association of his Holy Spirit. ¶

And as the Sabbath comes to an end, and we return to our homes, we should go forth with the determination to keep the commandments of the Savior of the World. The first one being: ¶

. . . love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. . . . ¶

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Matt. 22:37, 39.) We speak of love. As I define it, it is the great motivating, stimulating passion which activates us to render service to God, to keep his commandments, and to express our love for him by obedience to his commandments. And if we love our neighbor we will render service to him, whether it be of a materialistic or a spiritual nature. ¶

Third, the Savior said to pray always that ye may not faint. I am sure that we will all agree these are times when the hearts of men are faint, when their hearts fail them. ¶

But in our homes, with the Spirit of Jesus Christ in our souls, we can pray to God, father and mother, sons and daughters meeting together around the family altar of prayers, the Spirit of the Christ will be there in rich abundance, giving us the spirit of love for one another, the spirit of wanting to serve God, the spirit of unity, and the spirit of cooperation in all of our endeavors. ¶

Fourth, that we garnish our thoughts and our minds with virtue. Only clean minds and clean bodies can enjoy 'the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, the spirit of peace. ¶

Fifth, as servants of God, holding his Holy Priesthood, we will recognize our responsibility therein and perform our duties with willing and prayerful hearts. ¶

Sixth, that we will remember the widow, the orphan, the unemployed, and the aged, that we will pledge our support to the welfare program, to the end that there will be in the storehouse of the bishop, the necessities of life to take care of those who are in distress. ¶

This is pure and undefiled religion. ¶

Herein we are expressing love for our neighbor who may be in need. ¶

We must remember our dead ancestry, that we will follow the admonition of the prophet, when he declared the time would come when the hearts of the fathers would be turned to the children, and the hearts of the children would be turned to the fathers lest the Lord come and smite the earth with a curse. ¶

We will meet all of our obligations with glad hearts, remembering that if the kingdom of God is to grow and expand in the earth, it is necessary that finances be available to pay for the operation and the expense of the Church. ¶

That none of us are going to find means and ways where we might deduct from the Lord's tenth this item or that item. ¶

If we will pay our tithing in full, the promise of the old prophet will be ours when he said if we would take our tithes to the storehouse of the Lord, the heavens would be opened and abundant blessings would come upon us to the extent that we would not be able to hold them. ¶

Brethren and sisters, if we love the Christ, if we keep our covenants at his peace table, each Sabbath day, and keep his commandments throughout the week, there is no question in my mind but what our homes will become holy places, where the Spirit of Christ will abide in rich abundance, and where we will be protected from harm and the evils of the world. I am sure if we will do this, subscribe to the peace covenants made at his peace table, through his Holy Spirit the words will come, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27.) Yes, there may be war, there may be famine, there may be the disturbances of nature, nations may crumble into dust at our feet, but I promise you that our Redeemer, the Prince of Peace, will keep his covenant with us. He will give us hope and assurance, and whether it be in death, or whether it be in life, he will receive us. ¶

How many of us are attending the peace meeting of the Lord Jesus Christ. ¶

In the Church at the present time twenty-five percent of its members attend the sacrament meeting on the Sabbath day. However, it is inspiring and encouraging to know that the Latter-day Saint girls between the ages of twelve and nineteen attend sacrament meeting in the summertime to the extent of forty-eight percent and in the wintertime fifty-five percent. The average attendance at sacrament meeting of the Aaronic Priesthood bearers is thirty-seven percent. ¶

What a grand and wonderful thing it would be if this holy place of the Lord on the Sabbath day were filled to capacity, that each and every individual member of this Church that has made covenant in the waters of baptism, would follow the commandments of the Christ and in particular attend the sacrament meeting. ¶

Who am I to say that we should have a fifty percent attendance at sacrament meeting, or a seventy-five percent attendance at the sacrament meeting? I have no right to put a limitation on the number that should attend. The Lord has put no limitation on it any more than to expect every member of this Church to attend to the revealed meeting, the most important meeting of the week, the peace-meeting of the Lord Jesus Christ and to partake of the emblems of the Last Supper and renew our covenants with him. ¶

And in partaking of the sacrament it is well that we follow the admonition of Paul to the Corinthians: ¶

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. ¶

For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. ¶

For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. (I Cor. 11:28-30.) ¶

Paul declared to the Romans in the seventeenth verse of the fourteenth chapter of Romans: ¶

For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost I submit the question, "How many of us think that the kingdom of God is meat and drink, made up entirely of the materialistic things of the world?" ¶

When we spend our time in the fields plowing, when we spend our time in our businesses, when we spend our time in seeking pleasure in the world on the Lord's day, it is an indication that we accept the kingdom of God as one of meat, drink, and the materialistic things of life, rather than righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, the things of the kingdom of God. ¶

There is a growing tendency in the Church to think if we attend Sunday School on the Sabbath morning and partake of the sacrament, all of the requirements have been met. I hear the words of the Prophet Brigham Young on this point. He said, speaking of the sacrament, Teach its observance to your children; impress upon them its necessity. Its observance is as necessary to our salvation as are any of the other ordinances and commandments that have been instituted in order that people might be sanctified. (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 171.) He further declared, In some of our wards and settlements the administering of the sacrament has been introduced in the Sunday schools. It is very pleasing and gratifying to the spirit that I possess, for the parents to see that their children attend Sunday school, and receive the proper instruction with regard to their faith. [And I want you to mark this and I emphasize it]: After the Sunday school is over, let the parents take the pains to bring their children to meeting. (Ibid., 173.) What meeting? The sacrament meeting, the peace meeting of the Prince of Peace. ¶

The Sunday School is under mandate to teach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the membership of the Church. ¶

I am sure in the Sunday School they teach the children the significance of the sacrament, and I am sure along with it, they also teach them the necessity of attending the sacrament meeting. ¶

The sacrament meeting, brothers and sisters, should become the family meeting of the Church, where father, mother, sons, and daughters attend together and renew their covenants as they partake of the emblems of the Last Supper. ¶

The Lord Jesus Christ said: ¶

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 19:14.) If we fail to take our children to the sacrament meeting, we are not taking them to the Savior as he commands us. ¶

I am sure that every child that partakes of the sacrament, and has an understanding of it, must feel the kindly spirit of the Savior of the World. ¶

The Lord Jesus Christ keeps his promises if we keep ours. This terrible war is constantly upon my mind. I think of young men in the foxholes and in the bunkers on the rocky hillsides of Korea, where under the direction of their group leader, or possibly one of our chaplains, they surround the peacetable of the Lord Jesus Christ, partake of the emblems of the Last Supper, make covenant with him to always remember him, and as a reward, I am sure that his Spirit whispers to them, "My peace I give unto you." They are comforted, they have solace in their hearts, and whether in life or in death, the Lord will bless them and receive them unto him. ¶

The great obligation that rests upon us as long as we enjoy membership in the Lord's Church, is to attend the peace meeting, to participate in the negotiations of the sacrament table wherein we again renew our covenants with the Lord Jesus Christ. And just as surely as we live, regardless of what the conditions in the world may be, the word of the Savior will be kept when he said, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27.) Brethren and sisters, in these hours of distress, war and destruction, I promise you if we will go to the peace meeting of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, every Sunday, his Spirit will be there in rich abundance, we will take it into our homes, and by keeping his commandments our homes can become a holy place, they can become houses of God, which blessing I pray we will all enjoy, in the name of the King of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶