President McKay And My Beloved Brethren...

President McKay and my beloved brethren: As I see you before me here and contemplate some three hundred other congregations meeting elsewhere at this hour, a pride and gratitude fill my soul for being part of this great brotherhood of the priesthood. ¶

Before turning to the specific topic that Brother Lee has so ably and comprehensively and understandingly presented (and my remarks will be only by way of emphasis of what he has already said) I should like to express my missing of President Clark, who so long has been so much a part of these gatherings, and my love for President McKay, which he knows of and, with you, my loyalty and sustaining of him with all my heart, and of those associated with him. ¶

Earnestly I have sought help in this assignment and would now suggest some few side lights on the subject that may re-emphasize the need for that which has long been contemplated and considered and studied and is now about to be. ¶

In a recent world tour, as we touched in some sixteen countries, we became more aware of the hundreds of millions of mankind; we became more aware also of the ever-widening responsibility of the Church and of the need for our widening influence and greater distribution of our effort. ¶

Brother Lee has mentioned the growth of the Church. If we were to cover the world with ten million people in each mission (if my decimal point is put in the right place) it would take about three hundred or some five times more missions than we now have. (If my decimal point is in the wrong place, we are really in trouble!) In a book which Brother William E. ¶

Berrett has prepared cor priesthood quorum study of Book of Mormon subjects and themes, he recalls this startling illustration on population from some years ago: that if all people in the world were to line up thirty-six abreast and pass a point in military marching order, they would never pass completely, because the rate of those arriving in the world would be such that the parade would be never-ending, and the Church and kingdom of God has responsibility for all of them — however many there are and however many there may be coming! If we project such figures to the present and the future and add to them in geometric ratio, we can glimpse the complexities and the responsibilities. ¶

I heard, in a great gathering in Tokyo, Dr. Henry Heald, president of the Ford Foundation, give an account of some of the world-wide projects which his organization has undertaken in its philanthropic distribution of many millions of dollars among many millions of men, in trying to solve some problems and alleviate some conditions, and he quoted a phrase that may be pertinent to the point at which we have arrived. He spoke of the "elimination of the insignificant," and I think it is apparent to all of us that we may have arrived at that point: the elimination of the insignificant and of the inconsequential. To borrow a sentence recently read, "It is getting to where our necessities are too luxurious and our luxuries too necessary." I think this phrase used by Dr. Heald, the elimination of the inconsequential or insignificant, is pertinent to this problem. ¶

In the June issue of the Era, is a sentence from a poet, which says: "I am full fed, and yet I hunger." Now, we have been full fed in many areas, and yet we hunger in others, and we will, it seems, have to have a wider distribution of our effort and our influence, the elimination of unnecessary duplication, of internal competition, if there is any, and a fuller coverage of some neglected areas. We have recognized that there is "One Lord, one faith, one baptism, . . ." (Eph. 4:5.) We must recognize that it is one boy, one girl, one person, with whom we are working and always and ever have in mind what every program does to the person, to the man, the boy, the girl, and know that the organizations are there so that there shall be a fulness of life for each and all, and not for their own sake or to perpetuate any particular program. We must have balance and feed all sides of ourselves, as suggested by an eminent churchman who said, "The Church can be interested in no less than God is interested in. Religion has to do with everything." ¶

The gospel enters into everything, and it would not be the purpose of this newly proposed program, as I understand it, to take anything essential from any area, but to add unto as to essentials and to do all things more fully and effectively. And as to superficial or unessential things, I think we must have courage to look at all programs in the light of present needs, as did the founders of these organizations before us, as they brought them into being. ¶

This does not necessarily mean a thinning out of the over-all program, but it means a reappraisal, and perhaps if the First Presidency so suggests a redistribution, a redefinition, and an abridgment in unessential areas, a better use of time, of effort, and energy. It could mean, and well could, I would suppose, more emphasis on the home. ¶

I am thinking of a phrase: flexibility and firmness. These the Church must have: the flexibility to change, to meet conditions as they come, with firmness of principles and of instruction and of gospel precepts and commandments, never tampering with the solid foundations, but ever keeping flexible in meeting current conditions and being discriminating as between what is superstructure and what is bedrock foundation, and always being prepared to make the necessary adjustment between the two. ¶

Our opportunities with young people are perishable. We are aware of this as young men leave us, sometimes suddenly, under the circumstances in which we live, and this calls for the teaching of the whole gospel to everyone, and perhaps earlier than we have before, in a well-rounded program that will reach every person on all facets and all sides of himself. There is no magic formula for it except the simple teaching of the truth to everyone in an orderly program and procedure. ¶

This would not necessarily change the names or basic traditions of any organizations, but it would define them and prescribe their function as to each area and as to any overlapping. This will require more of everything from all of us, this great growth of the Church and the extending of our organization and influence — more of our tithes, more of our time, more of our offerings and our effort, as we seek to absorb those who come to us as well as those who already are with us. ¶

Now may I close with one or two short quotes, one from the Psalmist, which I think is pertinent to this program as proposed: "Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, . . ." (Psalm 27:11.) The other, which I borrow from a distinguished friend, as I heard him give it at a meeting far from here: "Face the future courageously and with determination. Echo not the cowardly words of the nerveless Hamlet who voiced the thought, familiar to all, 'the time is out of joint: Oh, cursed spite, that I was ever born to set it right!' Cry, rather, with Rupert Brooke who, sailing, for the hard campaign in Gallipoli, declared, 'Now God be thanked who hath matched us with this hour.' " ¶

With you, I thank God that we are matched with this hour and, with you, pray for his guidance and acknowledge to him our thanks for the prophet who leads us, who directs this program, who has long had it close to his heart, and pray with you that it may go forward for the simplification, the elimination of all duplications and competition and unessentials, and the enriching of all that is essential in every life, everywhere in the world. ¶

God bless you, my brethren. I leave with you my witness of the truth of this work, of the reality that God lives, of the divinity of his Son, our Savior, and of the reality of the restoration of the gospel, and the inspired leadership of the prophet of the present time, and I do it in Jesus' name. Amen. ¶