The Passing of Years...

The passing of years and the repetition of experience fail to lessen the sense of great responsibility of addressing the congregation in this great tabernacle and others listening in over the radio. I have prayed and now pray for the inspiration of the Lord, that I may be able to perform this duty acceptably to him and to you, my brethren and sisters. ¶

What I have in mind I should like to associate with this passage of scripture taken from Matthew: ¶

"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. ¶

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. ¶

"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? ¶

"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." (Matt. 16:24-27.) ¶

Before emphasizing one or more particular points contained in that remarkable passage, I should like to give a brief report regarding some activities of the Church since our conference six months ago. During that interim the Church has been moving forward most encouragingly. Priesthood quorums have increased in number, particularly in the mission field, and, through the efficient efforts of the priesthood committees among the General Authorities, a greater enrolment in the quorums generally has resulted. There are today in the stakes and missions of the Church 237 high priests quorums; 449 seventies quorums and 17 units; 1,750 elders quorums and two units; 171 quorums and 1,725 groups of priests; 737 quorums, and 1,230 groups of teachers; 1,988 quorums, and 551 groups of deacons. ¶

Those are all organizations established by revelation for activity in spiritual things, as well as temporal, for boys, and for young men under nineteen years of age, most of them seventeen and eighteen. ¶

The general boards of auxiliaries are functioning efficiently, and local organizations are co-operating with them in earnest efforts to instil high ideals in the minds of childhood and youth. ¶

It is a sobering thought, my brothers and sisters, to realize that all quorums, all auxiliaries, all Church schools, seminaries, institutes, colleges, the Church university, all Church edifices, all preparations of lessons, the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars monthly for the publication of books, equipment, illustrative material, and so forth — all efforts of thousands of officers and teachers — are for one purpose: namely, the education and proper training of your boys and girls and the edification of all members of the Church. Everything that has been and is now being done points to that one general purpose. Do you appreciate it by co-operating with these forces and sending your young children, and your young men and women to these various organizations in the Church? If not, you are shirking part of your duty. ¶

We have only words of commendation to the Twelve, the Assistants to the Twelve, and other General Authorities, including the Presiding Bishopric; to the general boards, the members of the general Church building committee, the stake and ward officers, each and all working for the good of the individual to bring to pass the Lord's purposes, who declared: ". . . this is my work and my glory — to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (P of G P, Moses 1:39.) ¶

You will be interested to learn that since the first of the year there have been 136 Church edifices dedicated. It is estimated that in the final quarter of 1956 there will possibly be added to this number forty-four more buildings, making a total of buildings dedicated in English-speaking wards and stakes and missions of 180. In foreign missions it is estimated that there will be somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty to sixty houses of worship dedicated in this year 1956, making a total in all of approximately 240. ¶

A means to an end! From the standpoint of numbers and material prosperity, therefore, the Church has every reason to be encouraged. All these things, I repeat, are means to the perfecting of the soul — that is the end. ¶

The great question is: Have we progressed spiritually as well as in these physical and teaching organizations? The answer is "yes." ¶

The accomplishments before mentioned, the efforts put forth, are in themselves really expressions of spirituality, and here we offer in our hearts a prayer that God will bless the total membership of the Church who have contributed of their means, talents, and efforts to the accomplishment of the purposes named, the means, and structures and Church edifices especially. It is marvelous what you have done. ¶

"Every noble impulse, every unselfish expression of love, every brave suffering for the right; every surrender of self to something higher than self; every loyalty to an ideal; every unselfish devotion to principle; every helpfulness to humanity; every act of self-control; every fine courage of the soul, undefeated by pretense or policy, but by being, doing, and living of good for the very good's sake — that is spirituality." ¶

And our text emphasizes the fact that the human being consists of spirit and body: "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:26.) ¶

Indeed, man's earthly existence is but a test, whether he will concentrate his efforts, his mind, his soul upon things which contribute to his comfort and gratification of his physical instincts and passions, or whether he will make as his life's purpose and aim the acquisition of spiritual qualities. ¶

The spiritual road has Christ as its ideal, not the gratification of the physical, for he that would save his life, yielding to that present gratification of a seeming need, will lose his life. ¶

If he would seek the real purpose of life, the individual must live for something higher than self. He hears the Savior's voice saying: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." (John 14:6.) Following that voice, he soon learns that there is no one great thing which he can do to attain happiness or eternal life. He learns that "life is made up not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things in which smiles and kindness and small obligations given habitually are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort." ¶

Spirituality, our true aim, is the consciousness of victory over self and of communion with the Infinite. Spirituality impels one to conquer difficulties and acquire more and more strength. To feel one's faculties unfolding and truth expanding the soul is one of life's sublimest experiences. Would that all might so live as to experience that ecstasy! ¶

Being "honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men" are attributes which contribute to spirituality, the highest acquisition of the soul. It is the divine in man, the supreme, crowning gift that makes him king of all created things. ¶

The spiritual life is the true life of man. It is what distinguishes him from the beasts of the forests. It lifts him above the physical, yet he is still susceptible to all the natural contributions that life can give him that are needful for his happiness or contributive to his advancement. "Though in the world, not of the world." (See John 8:23.) ¶

Jesus taught that men and women fail to live truly, unless they have spirituality. In Jefferson's Life and Teachings of Jesus, we read that the spiritual force underlies everything, and without it nothing worthwhile can be accomplished. And I quote: "Spiritual needs can be met only by spiritual means. All government, laws, methods, and organizations are of no value unless" spirituality guides them. All "men and women are filled with truth," with this spirituality — and "righteousness, and mercy. Material things have no power to raise the sunken spirit. Gravitation, electricity, and steam are great forces, but they are all powerless to change the motives of men and women." "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (See John 3:3.) ¶

Spirituality and morality as taught by the Church of Jesus Christ are firmly anchored in fundamental principles — principles from which the world can never escape even if it would, and the first fundamental is a belief — and among the members of the Church who are truly converted, a knowledge — of the existence of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. Children of the Church are taught, at least should be taught, to recognize him and to pray to him as one who can listen and hear and feel just as an earthly father can listen and hear and feel, and they have absorbed into their very beings, if taught rightly, from their mothers and their fathers, the real testimony that this personal God has spoken in this dispensation. ¶

Inseparable from the acceptance of the existence of God is an attitude of reverence, to which I wish now to call attention most earnestly to the entire Church. The greatest manifestation of spirituality is reverence; indeed, reverence is spirituality. Reverence is profound respect mingled with love. It is "a complex emotion made up of mingled feelings of the soul." Carlyle says it is "the highest of human feelings." I have said elsewhere that if reverence is the highest, then irreverence is the lowest state in which a man can live in the world. Be that as it may, it is nevertheless true that an irreverent man has a crudeness about him that is repellent. He is cynical, often sneering, and always iconoclastic. ¶

Reverence embraces regard, deference, honor, and esteem. Without some degree of it, therefore, there would be no courtesy, no gentility, no consideration of others' feelings, or of others' rights. Reverence is the fundamental virtue in religion. It is "one of the signs of strength; irreverence, one of the surest indications of weakness. No man will rise high," says one man, "who jeers at sacred things. The fine loyalties of life," he continues, "must be reverenced or they will be foresworn in the day of trial." ¶

Parents, Reverence, as charity, begins at home. In early childhood children should be trained to be respectful, deferential — respectful to one another, to strangers and visitors — deferential to the aged and infirm — reverential to things sacred, to parents and parental love. ¶

Three influences in home life awaken reverence in children and contribute to its development in their souls. These are: first, firm but Gentle Guidance; second, Courtesy shown by parents to each other, and to children; and third, Prayer in which children participate. In every home in this Church parents should strive to act intelligently in impressing children with those three fundamentals. ¶

Reverence in the houses of worship: Churches are dedicated and set apart as houses of worship. This means, of course, that all who enter do so, or at least pretend to do so, with an intent to get nearer the presence of the Lord than they can in the street or amidst the worries of a workaday life. In other words, we go to the Lord's house to meet him and to commune with him in spirit. Such a meeting place, then, should first of all be fitting and appropriate in all respects, whether God is considered as the invited guest, or the worshipers as his guests. ¶

Whether the place of meeting is a humble chapel or a "poem in architecture" built of white marble and inlaid with precious stones makes little or no difference in our approach and attitude toward the Infinite Presence. To know God is there should be sufficient to impel us to conduct ourselves orderly, reverently. ¶

In this regard, as members of the Church in our worshiping assemblies, we have much room for improvement. Presiding authorities in stake, ward, and quorum meetings, and especially teachers in classes, should make special effort to maintain better order and more reverence during hours of worship and of study. Less talking behind the pulpit will have a salutary effect upon those who face it. By example and precept, children should be impressed with the inappropriateness of confusion and disorder in a worshiping congregation. They should be impressed in childhood, and have it emphasized in youth, that it is disrespectful to talk or even to whisper during a sermon, and that it is the height of rudeness, excepting in an emergency, to leave a worshiping assembly before dismissal. ¶

One of the most pronounced outbursts of Jesus' indignation was caused by the desecration of the Lord's temple. As he overturned the tables of moneychangers and ordered out those who were bartering and trading in the holy sanctuary, he gave a warning admonition that has come down through the centuries: ¶

". . . make not my Father's house an house of merchandise." (John 2:16.) Making and spending money, even in conversation, faultfinding, and particularly gossiping about neighbors in a house of worship, are essentially violations of this command given nearly two thousand years ago. ¶

If there were more reverence in human hearts, there would be less room for sin and resultant sorrow; more capacity for joy and gladness. To make more cherished, more adaptable, more attractive this gem among brilliant virtues, is a project worthy of the most united and prayerful efforts of every officer, every parent, and every member of the Church. ¶

I repeat now: ¶

"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. ¶

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. ¶

"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, [physical desires, gratification of appetites, money, wealth] — gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? ¶

"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." (Matt. 16:24-27.) ¶

In these words of the Savior we have designated either by direct statement or implication four eternal truths — ¶

First, the existence of God our Eternal Father. ¶

Second, the divine Sonship of Jesus Christ. ¶

Third, that man has a spirit as well as a body, and he may direct his life to serve him, ¶

Fourth, that soul development results from complete control of physical desires and passions. ¶

With that scripture in conclusion I desire to call attention to another fundamental truth: ¶

". . . a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men. ¶

"Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day. ¶

"Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work; ¶

"For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul; ¶

"And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work. ¶

"Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence. ¶

"Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." (D & C Sec 4.) ¶

That this work has come forth and is now established by divine revelation testifying to the existence of God the Father, his son Jesus Christ, and that through Jesus Christ and his gospel mankind will be brought back into his presence, I bear witness to you, and to the world, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶