Here Are Always Overwhelming Feelings

Here are always overwhelming feelings on these occasions. ¶

Two of those that rise to the top at this time are inadequacy, and gratitude for fellowship with you and for any part in the Church. ¶

I recall reading a statement that President McKay is reported to have made, as he alighted at the airport of one of the large South American cities on his recent tour: that "there are three beautiful things in the world — love and friendship and brotherhood." They are all in evidence here and help to feed and sustain us and to send us away encouraged and enriched. ¶

I am mindful of the glorious principles that have been enunciated here, which, with others, make this a most satisfying gospel to feed the human soul. ¶

Some of these are: faith, repentance, the assurance of forgiveness with proper repentance; the eternal continuance of personality, of individual identity; the assurance that we may have everlasting association with those we love; testimony; the knowledge that no man stands between us and our God; the assurance of eternal plan and purpose; continuous revelation; free agency; and the fact that this is an inclusive message and opportunity and gospel and Church, and not an exclusive one — that its blessings are to all men who are willing to partake of them, and are not reserved to a special few predestined by our Father in heaven to have the blessings and benefits. It is his purpose to save all his children and to exalt all his children, not merely to warn and turn them away, but to labor with them in love and in patience, and to bring them back into his presence, if they will. ¶

A great man has been in our midst here for a few days, one of the notable men of medicine, Sir Alexander Fleming, whom we have had the pleasure in this community of meeting and hearing on one or two occasions. He told the story of how, in working in a laboratory in a London hospital back in 1928, he observed the action of an accidental mold that had drifted into his laboratory from some source and which had an arresting effect on some germ colonies that were in the culture in one of his petri dishes. His statement, as he recorded it in his diary, was this; "I was sufficiently interested to pursue the subject. The appearance of the culture plant was such that I thought it should not be neglected." Thus, penicillin was discovered and put to immeasurable human benefit. ¶

"I was sufficiently interested to pursue the subject." Well, with a mold so common, so accessible, one wonders why someone did not see it sooner, why someone did not "pursue the subject" sooner. That the world should go so long without such a discovery from such a common and available source would seem to be but a further indication that there is ever before us an infinity of undiscovered things and that opportunities are limitless, and that "revelation" of this kind is continuous, as is direct revelation from our Father in heaven. ¶

The songs of birds that are all around us, we often do not hear. Two enterprising scientists not long ago made some "visual recordings" of bird songs with an audio-spectrograph, so that the human eye could "see" the music that the birds were making, but the human ear could not hear it as it reached above the range of "normal" human hearing. ¶

Who knows what unseen and unheard things may be all around us? There are limitless possibilities; there is infinity before us, and revelation must be continuous. ¶

Sometimes we wonder why others cannot see some of the things that we see. Sometimes we wonder why we cannot see some of the things that they see. There may be many reasons for this. We differ in our experience; we differ in our perception; we differ in our preoccupation. Some of us have our thoughts fixed on one thing at one time, and some on another. But there are great things to be discovered if we will have ears to hear and eyes to see and be sufficiently interested "to pursue the subject" as was this great man of medicine. ¶

There may be things that some of us do not see — as Peter and Paul, seemingly did not always see the same things — but they both loved the gospel; they both lived for it, and both were willing to die for it. There are some great fundamentals and requirements and commandments on which there can be no doubt and no differences, of which the Lord has spoken definitely. Beyond this, some, such as Sir Alexander Fleming, see some things that some of us do not see. ¶

As to free agency: mercifully and wonderfully that was settled in the heavens a long time ago when Lucifer challenged it. It is one of the great and glorious principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

I recall a comment reported to have been made by President Clark to a graduating class last spring, in which he said, in substance, that Lucifer must have thought that God was very "old-fashioned." Lucifer was proposing some very different ways of doing some things. ¶

It seems that he would have done some things in a much more "efficient" manner, if you will put "efficiency" in quotations. He would have delivered all our Father's children back to him — but in a strait jacket! ¶

The only kind of "efficiency" that the Lord God is interested in for us is that kind of efficiency which contributes to and promotes the development and growth of his children in helping them choose for themselves the great things and the right things, the right way of life — for the eternal salvation and exaltation of their souls. And I would say today, keep faith in freedom. Avoid the principle of compulsion. ¶

And now for a moment or two, may I yield to the temptation to speak another thought or two to these young people who are here from Brigham Young University, to these others who are here in this congregation, and beyond here, to all who will hear or read, and to all those of this generation, whom they represent, following along the lines of the moving and impressive instructions of Brother Lee and Brother Petersen this morning: ¶

It is apparent that man has acquired the power to destroy the works of man. The instruments of destruction are ever more fearful with each passing day. But man has not acquired the power to destroy the works or the plans or the purposes of God. All of us at times have our fears. All men have their fears, their uncertainties. But may I say to you: Go ahead and live your lives. You are not alone in life. ¶

The Lord God is there and ever accessible to you. ¶

This is no time for panic. Our Father made us in his image. He sent us here. ¶

He looked out at what he had made during the creation, and he saw that it was very good. It was good, and it is still good. He intends happiness for us, and it is not only our privilege but also our duty to be happy, and we shall be if we have the courage to live as we ought to live and to be what we ought to be. ¶

Be honest, clean, chaste, humble. ¶

Keep your lives well-balanced. Always reserve some of your time and means to the things of the spirit and to the service of your Father in heaven as well as to the things of the mind and the things of physical sustenance. Work, study, and pray. Keep an open mind to truth; keep the faith; live so as to have a quiet conscience. The rewarding way of life is to keep the commandments. The hard way of life is to live contrary to conscience and contrary to the commandments. ¶

We are in this world, and I do not know anything to do about it except to make the most of it, to live good and useful and purposeful lives, and to find joy in the opportunity that the Lord God has given us until the time comes to leave this life, which will be swiftly and soon enough. There is no running away from life, no running away from ourselves. We can run away from where we are, but not from what we are or from who we are; and all we have to do is to live a day at a time to the best of our ability. The weight of the future is not on us except as it comes moment by moment. ¶

In the words of Thomas Carlyle, "The crash of the whole solar and stellar systems could only kill you once." There is no point in living in fear, in panic, or in apprehension. Endure to the end, keep faithful, for he who made us and gave us life and who keeps creation in its course will not forsake us. And though we have acquired the instruments for destroying the works of man, if we should be so foolish as to set them loose, yet the power and the purposes of God as concerning us and all his creations are constant and ever surround us with their protection and their peace, if we will be partakers of these things. ¶

God lives. He has eternal plans and purposes for his children. Jesus is the Christ. The gospel has been restored, and despite all the answers we do not know and all the areas where there may be differences of opinion, we know all we need to know for our everlasting salvation and exaltation and happiness — if we will use what the Lord God has given us. Truth will triumph; justice will be done; and there will be no good thing lost in the life of him who will live as best he knows how to live and will partake of these things which our Father has prepared for us. ¶

May I close with the testimony of a beloved friend, who is not with us, Dr. John A. Widtsoe. In one of the closing sentences of his book, In a Sunlit Land, in which he looked back on his life as a scientist, as a convert, as an educator, as an Apostle, and as a great and humble servant of men and of God, as a man who had seen much of life from many sides and who had come forth from it all with a sweet and simple faith — on the last pages of this book he wrote these words which he left for the record of posterity: ¶

During this long life, I have had occasion to test, time and time again, the verity of the foundations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The answer has always been the same: Joseph Smith told the truth. (In a Sunlit Land, pp. 243-244.) I leave this with you as a witness of my soul this day, to you a choice and blessed generation of youth. God bless you and be with you; go forth and live your lives; rely on him; keep sweet and humble, and his blessings and guidance will be with you. May he bless you in all your decisions, I pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. ¶