We Have Already Had Quoted The Passage...

We have already had quoted the passage of scripture with which I desire to start. "But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear." (Matthew 13:16.) And Matthew further tells us that "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. ¶

"But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Ibid., 6:22-23.) Matthew further says: "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." ¶

(Ibid., 5:19.) To us the prophecy of Daniel has great significance, as was pointed out by President McKay in his inspired message to the world yesterday. Daniel says, "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. ¶

". . . and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure." (Daniel 2:44-45.) The world needs the restored Church and kingdom of Jesus Christ, of which David spoke. The world needs the help of those who have recognized and received the gospel of the kingdom. The world needs their inspiration and active participation in the affairs of life. We are an inspired people. That I know as well as I know that I live. We are responsible for the proper use of this inspiration. This inspiration is not confined to our spiritual lives but carries over into all temporal responsibilities, and included therein is our moral, our civic, our political, our social, our financial responsibilities. We stand ready to exercise this divine guidance together with the power of our priesthood in behalf of a neighbor, as well as in our own behalf. We look upon the children of our Heavenly Father as our brothers and sisters, no matter where they live, or what they believe, or what their ancestry may be. We cannot expect to do our full duty as we are inspired to do unless we can live and work in an environment of love, of peace, of freedom — freedom at home and throughout the world. ¶

Plato has put into words that the spirit of freedom is not a matter of laws and constitutions. "Only he is free," ¶

Plato says, "who realizes the divine order within himself, the true standard by which a man can steer himself." And I say true standards, ideals that lift life up, mark the way of true progress. Such ideals followed will never permit our light to be extinguished. ¶

Pericles said: "But we regard him who holds aloof from public affairs as useless." They called the useless man a "private" citizen, idiotes from which our word idiot comes. The citizens of the kingdom of God should set the pattern for the citizens of the kingdoms of men. ¶

A reflective Roman traveling in Greece in the second century, A.D. said, "None ever throve under democracy save the Athenians. They had selfcontrol and were law-abiding." That is what Athenian education aimed at, to produce men who would be able to maintain a self-governed state because they were themselves self-governed, self-controlled, self-reliant. It is said of the Athenians, "We yield to none in independence of spirit and complete selfreliance." ¶

This is not much different from conditions found in the Church in the Meridian of Time. Brother James L. ¶

Barker, in his history of the early Church, which is soon to be printed, writes: "In the Church organized by the Savior two important principles were reconciled — divine authority and individual liberty." ¶

The Father sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world; the Son chose his apostles, gave them authority, and they chose the presiding elders, bishops, and other local officers, always seeking the guidance and approval of the Holy Spirit. ¶

In the Church of Jesus Christ there must always be this divine leadership. ¶

Any church without his leadership is not his, as President Stephen L Richards so beautifully demonstrated yesterday. ¶

However, the Lord has always safeguarded human liberty. There can be no progress without liberty. The great purpose of this life is that man shall gain experience and strength in freely making his own choices. Divine guidance will be given, but man must be free to choose obedience or disobedience, otherwise his actions have no ethical or religious value. "God has always preserved freedom and the powers of self-government in man," ¶

wrote Irenaeus when he wrote against heresies in the third century. ¶

"The Church organization carefully safeguarded this freedom," Brother Barker continues. "Nominations were made by authority," just as they have been made here this morning in our presence, and in which we have participated, "but the members of the Church were given the right to accept or reject those nominated. The Lord has never forced the acceptance of his prophets. ¶

If the Lord sends a prophet, he will be a prophet, even if no one accepts his message, but the Lord has at no time forced the acceptance of a prophet's message on the people; nor has he forced a prophet on the people as president of his Church, nor a bishop on his congregation. ¶

"In the Church he organized, the members were an important part of the organization: they were free and responsible, because the Holy Ghost was not given to their leaders, the apostles, bishops, and elders, alone, but to every worthy member of the Church. Both leaders and members were free to obey or disobey the inspiration of the Spirit, and both were equally responsible for their individual choices and the consequences entailed by their choices. Thus each member of the Church was made, in part, responsible for the government and conduct of the Church," says Brother Barker. ¶

We read in Acts of the council of Jerusalem: "Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch . . ." and the next verse is again repeated, "And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren. . . ." (Acts 15:22-23.) What is our position today? Take, for example, public affairs. I read recently a comment of one of our national statesmen, Adlai Stevenson, "Our condition has nothing to do with any deficiency of technology or resources. It is a matter of people forgetting that political freedom can be sustained only by continuing individual commitment." ¶

As he continues: "The great German poet Goethe, who also lived through a crisis of freedom, said to his generation, What you have inherited from your fathers, earn over again for yourselves or it will not be yours.' We inherited freedom. We seem unaware that it has to be remade and re-earned in each generation of man." ¶

Stevenson says, "The natural government of man is servitude. Tyranny is the natural pattern of government." If that be true, it is in direct opposition to the government of God. "We do not slip into freedom or happiness. It is strenuously sought and earned." ¶

When will we realize that the very power and success of US society demand more not less individual dedication for its citizenship. It is interesting to note that the concern of our leaders today is not expressed in terms of security but in terms of survival. What else but individual dedication can stay the Soviet assault on free civilization? ¶

In an oft-quoted passage from Shakespeare there is a warning given which we might well heed: ¶

"There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries." ¶

(Julius Caesar, Act. IV, Sc. 3.) When in the course of life one arrives at a fork in the way, a decision must be made and a course selected often results in a choice that later becomes completely irrevocable. President McKay told us yesterday of the 231,000 teachers in the Church. I say they stand as watchmen at the crossroads to direct us aright in the course we pursue. Our decisions, once executed, can never be erased. This is because such selections introduce a new series of conditions, setting in motion events which cannot later be recalled. The good done, the evil accomplished, are all there. It is a faithful axiom that he who would not when he might, shall not when he would. ¶

Happy is he who profits by the experiences of the past, like those of the Athenians in ancient times so that he may make right decisions in the present and face the future with confidence, divinely assured that his hope concerning things to come will have full and lasting realizations. Faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, and obedience to his restored gospel assures inevitably this glorious result — the enjoyment of that peace which passeth understanding now as in all prior time. ¶

Let us all live in all that we do, guided and directed by the inspiration which comes to the faithful as a gift of the Holy Ghost. "But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear." (Matthew 13:16.) May the Lord bless us all, I pray humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. ¶

Amen. ¶