Several Days Ago My Attention Was Attracted...

Several days ago my attention was attracted to a picture in one of the local newspapers. The picture shows two men with a shovel setting a highway sign. Within the block "U," which is the official designation of the Utah state highway department, is the figure 187, and then a sign underneath the block "U," which reads: "The shortest designated highway in the state." Then I read the cutlines underneath and the accompanying article which described this short highway as being only one-quarter of a mile in length. It curved gracefully off to the right of the main highway 91 going south and led down over the brow of the hill, seemingly to invite anyone who wanted to travel that pleasant way. Then I looked more closely to see what the picture was. One of the men in the picture was the warden of the Utah State Penitentiary, and the other was a member of the state prison board. The highway marked U 187 led to a building which I could distinguish at the foot of the hill. With somewhat of a shock I recognized this building as the Utah State Penitentiary. ¶

The shortest designated highway in the state was a wide paved road from the mainly traveled road to the state prison! ¶

If I could get the spirit of this great conference, I think probably I would like to title the few words of my brief address this afternoon as "The Shortest Designated Highway in Life" and draw something of a parallel to that other "shortest designated highway" to which I have made reference. As I seek for that guidance, my earnest prayer would be that what I say would be in harmony with the great messages of our beloved leaders, the First Presidency. I suppose there is nothing that a General Authority desires more than that what he does and what he says will be in harmony with their desires, and more than that, what he says would be in harmony with Him of whom we have sung so beautifully at the opening of this service. ¶

This other highway in life is also broad. It is a way to destruction, as the Master explained to his disciples when he said in a very significant statement, ¶

. . . for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. (Matt. 7:13.) ¶

I would like now for the next few minutes to talk about that highway because it is clearly blueprinted in the records of life which the Lord has given us. I remember a remark the late President Charles A. Callis made to me one day — we were talking about some of these matters, and he remarked, "You know, I think that probably the most important thing we as General Authorities ought to be preaching is not only repentance from sin, but even more important than that, to teach the young people particularly, and the entire Church generally, the awfulness of sin and the terror that follows him who has so indulged." ¶

Years of experience since that time and interviews with those who have unfortunately taken that short, broad highway, have convinced me that because of their suffering, those who have or are living lives of unrepented sinning would have given all that they possessed if someone could have warned them and could have told them of the awfulness of the sins from which they now suffer. ¶

Nephi predicted and spoke of the sad state of those who habitually sinned and would not repent when he said: ¶

For the Spirit of the Lord will not always strive with man. And when the Spirit ceaseth to strive with man then cometh speedy destruction, and this grieveth my soul. (2 Nephi 26:11.) ¶

Mormon described some people, his people, from whom the spirit of the Lord had departed, and when I read that and then read what I shall now read to you, it seems clear to me that what he was talking about was not merely the inability to have the companionship of or the gift of the Holy Ghost, but he was talking of that light of truth to which every one born into the world is entitled and will never cease to strive with the individual unless he loses it through his own sinning. This is what Mormon said: ¶

For behold, the Spirit of the Lord hath already ceased to strive with their fathers; and they are without Christ and God in the world; and they are driven about as chaff before the wind. ¶

. . . behold, they are led about by Satan, even as chaff is driven before the wind, or as an vessel is tossed about upon the waves, without sail or anchor, or without anything wherewith to steer her; and even as she is, so are they. (Mormon 5:16, 18.) ¶

The story is told of the late President Calvin Coolidge who was a master of few words in his expressions. He came home from his church meeting one morning, and his wife asked, "What did the preacher talk about this morning?" His reply was, "Sin." She again asked "What did the minister say about it?" His reply was, "The minister was agin' it." And so are all preachers of righteousness, they are against this thing called sin. ¶

What is sin? The Apostle John described it or defined it as the transgression of the law. ¶

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. (I John 3:4.) Brigham Young made that definition still more meaningful when he said that "Sin consists in doing wrong when we know and can do better and it will be punished with a just retribution in the due time of the Lord." (J of D 2:242.) The source of sin is a subject oft debated and theorized by philosophers and others as to how it originates and from whence it comes, but we with the sacred scriptures are left with a certainty which removes all question as to the author and the beginning of sin. The record tells us that Satan came among the children of Adam and Eve and said unto them: ¶

I am also a son of God; and he commanded them, saying: Believe it not; and they believed it not, and they loved Satan more than God. And men began from that time forth to be carnal, sensual, and devilish. ¶

(Moses 5:13.) And then King Benjamin taught: ¶

. . . neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness. ¶

(Mosiah 4:14.) The Master understood how powerful was this master of sin when he spoke of him as the "Prince of this world," ¶

and he taught his disciples to pray that they might not be led into temptation. ¶

This like that other highway to the Utah state prison is also a very short highway down the road of sin. You will remember the Lord's warning to Cain when he said, If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. . . . (Gen. 4:7.) It is just that short to the way of sin — right at our very doors. ¶

Now the scriptures have told us about the identity of those who are going to inhabit that prison which lies at the end of that short highway: ¶

These are they who are liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. ¶

These are they who suffer the wrath of God on earth. ¶

These are they who suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. ¶

These are they who are cast down to hell [and that is the name of the prison] and suffer the wrath of Almighty God, until the fulness of times, when Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet, and shall have perfected his work. (D & C 76:103-106.) ¶

And again, the nature of the punishment which shall be received in that prison is clearly explained: ¶

"For behold," said the prophet Amulek, "if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked." (Alma 34:35.) Now as to the location of that place, reference is made to it in these words: ¶

And the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows. (D & C 76:45.) ¶

Like all broad highways of life which beckon to that prison, there are allurements which we are oftimes encouraged to follow. As Father Lehi explained to his son, Jacob ¶

. . . it must needs be that there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter. (2 Nephi 2:15.) ¶

In other words, he set the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in opposition to the tree of life. The fruit of the one which was "bitter" was the tree of life, and the forbidden fruit was the one which was "sweet to the taste." ¶

James Russell Lowell caught this great truth in his poem, "The Present Crisis:" ¶

Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record ¶

One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the word; ¶

Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne, ¶

Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown ¶

Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own. ¶

We see some of the signs which like the signs to the state penitentiary we know lead us downward. Some are called taverns; some are called lounges; and some are called roadhouses. They have bright, neon-lighted signs outside with catch-phrase names. They are dimly lighted inside; they have sensuous music. These are the unmistakable trademarks of the hell holes of Satan. ¶

Nephi spoke of some teachings against which we must be on guard lest we follow that road, when he said that in a day to come, which we realize now is our day, there would be those who would "teach us to become angry against that which is good, to lull us away into carnal security and to flatter us by telling us there is no devil, there is no hell." (See 2 Nephi 28:20-22.) In President Joseph Fielding Smith's impressive discourse this morning over the CBS broadcast, he explained the meaning and the need of a Redeemer, in order to redeem a "fallen" world. ¶

The "fall," by which men became subject to the temptation of the devil, is as necessary to the progress of man as is the creation. ¶

Dr. J. M. Sjodahl makes this rather interesting comment: ¶

Some have asserted that the story of the fall is but a myth, or an allegory, but it is given in the Scriptures as part of the history of the human family, and must be either accepted as such, or rejected as fiction. The fall was as necessary for the development of the race as was the creation. ¶

Now mark you this statement: "The story of the first fall is, moreover, the story of every sin." (D & C Commentary, 1919 edition, p. 211.) Now consider, for illustration, the various sins; the breaking of the Word of Wisdom, unchastity, dishonesty, etc. ¶

and then think of what is said here: ¶

Temptation begins with doubt as to the truth of the prohibition. "Has God said?" [is always the question of him who doubts and is tempted to sin.] "It is continued by a contemplation of the pleasure that may be derived from doing that which has been prohibited. It ends with a sense of shame and degradation and dread of the presence of God. Such is the beginning and development of every transgression. (Idem.) ¶

Now the way to eternal life has fortunately been marked out just as plainly. There sits in this congregation a young woman who was about to fail in her faith because of a sudden sorrow which she was not quite prepared to bridge over after having been a convert of a few years. She had a dream in which she saw herself going back to the church of her previous acquaintance. ¶

As she drove along in her car, she came to a road which she took only to find that it was a road under construction, and after ten tortuous miles returning she found to her amazement that there were plain warning signs all along the way which, if she had observed, would have guided her along a safe detour road and passed the shoals of difficulty. ¶

Well, the Master said it: ¶

Enter ye in at the strait gate: . . . ¶

Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matt. 7:13-14.) As Jesus was teaching in the cities and villages towards Jerusalem as to what the kingdom of heaven was like, one asked him, "Are there few that be saved?" That question reminded me of the remark of a good friend of mine who had heard one of the brethren talk about the requirements in order to attain the celestial kingdom. This friend said to me somewhat wearily after he had heard the sermon, "He has made it so difficult that I don't think anyone could qualify for the celestial kingdom." ¶

Contrary to that, the Master said, ¶

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." (Matt. 11:29-30.) ¶

When you think about it there is so much promised in the gospel for so little required on our part; for example, the ordinance of baptism is given us for the remission of sins, for entrance into the kingdom — a new birth; the gift of the Holy Ghost gives us the right to companionship with one of the Godhead; administration to the sick, qualifies the individual with faith for a special blessing; by paying our tithing, the windows of heaven may be opened unto us; by fasting and by paying our fast offerings, we are told that then we might call on the Lord and he will hear our cry and our call; celestial marriage promises us that family life will exist beyond the grave. But all of these blessings are ours on one condition, and this is spoken of by Nephi, when he said: ¶

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, [but mark you this condition,] after all we can do. (2 Nephi 25:23. Italics added.) The Master did not directly answer that question, "Are there few that be saved?" But he answered, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate." Strive means to struggle in opposition or contention, to contend, to battle for or against a person or a thing opposed, to strive as against temptation, and to strive for truth. ¶

Well, in all that striving, remember Temple Bailey's parable for mothers: ¶

"The young mother said to the guide at the beginning of her way, 'Is the way long?' And the guide replied, 'Yes, and the way is hard, and you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning.' " ¶

Oh, that we might think of these warnings and remember the prayer of the Prophet Joseph in the midst of his persecutions, when he cried out, asking why the Lord would not see and hear the sufferings of the Saints, and then hear the Lord answer: ¶

My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; ¶

And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. (D & C 121:7-8.) ¶

Oh, may we pray the prayer of the Alcoholics Anonymous, those men who are striving to come back: "O Lord," ¶

they pray, "give me the humility to accept the things I cannot change, and the courage to change the things I can change, and then the wisdom to tell the difference." ¶

And may we pray that prayer which I heard set to beautiful music at a stake conference just recently: ¶

Lord, when the twilight of life is falling ¶

Help me and guide me where you want me. ¶

Lord, when I hear that your voice is calling, ¶

Make me worthy to abide with thee. ¶

Lord, when I feel that at times I'm straying ¶

Lead me, O Lord, lead me aright. ¶

Send forth thy light and thy love I'm praying ¶

That the dark and dreary way be bright. ¶

Lord, give me faith that I may heed thy call ¶

Lord, give me strength that I may never fall. ¶

Help me to find the path that thou hast trod, ¶

Help me to love, and obey thee, my Lord, my God. ¶

—C. S. Thornwall ¶

Which I pray humbly for all of us, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. ¶

Amen. ¶