I Would Like To Visit With The...

I would like to visit with the young people of the Church this afternoon. ¶

I would like to relate several experiences that have made a deep impression on my life. ¶

One of them occurred nearly thirtyfive years ago down in Manti in a testimony meeting when I was twelve years of age. Several of us boys were to be ordained deacons in the Aaronic Priesthood. We were called to the front of the chapel where we stood as our names were presented. Then, after the sustaining vote, we were asked to sit on the stand. During the testimony meeting which followed, I remember that my grandpa Beal bore his testimony. As was his usual custom, he came up to the front of the congregation and spoke. I remember only one part of his testimony, but it made an indelible impression on my memory. ¶

As he turned to us young boys, he pointed his finger at us and said: ¶

"Young men, I want you to remember — and never to forget — that when you are ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood as deacons, you will hold more power in your little finger than the king of England, because those who ordain you will have the authority direct from God." ¶

To Honor the Priesthood

I did not realize at the time the magnitude of what he said, but through the years I have reflected on it many times. I have come to realize that by virtue of the priesthood which we hold, we do have more power to save ourselves and ultimately others than any earthly ruler, for power to move oneself or others toward exaltation comes only from God — from whence this priesthood comes. Our obligation as young people is to honor the priesthood and maintain the high standards of the Church. ¶

Our friends can help us do that, and we can help our friends. One of my friends told me his experience. He said: ¶

"When I was growing up in our town my friend and I used to hear lots of the boys swearing and taking the name of the Lord in vain. This offended us. ¶

Our parents had taught us not to swear. We knew that we should not take the name of the Lord in vain. ¶

One day as we were talking about this, my friend and I promised each other — we made a covenant — that we would never take the name of the Lord in vain. During the intervening years, each of us kept the vow which we had made. ¶

"A few years later," he said, "I moved away from our home town to a farm in another valley. It was there that I met head on with trouble. We were hauling hay one hot summer day and had taken a break for lunch. After we unhitched the horses, my father sent me down to the well with a gallon jug to bring back some cool water. I mounted one of our work horses and loped down to the well. After filling the jug I put my finger through the handle, threw the jug over the back of the horse, and tried to jump up on its back. But before I could get completely on the horse, he wheeled around and started off on a trot back to the hayrack, jogging me on his back. ¶

There I was, half on and half off, bouncing along on the bony withers of that horse. My finger was so twisted it was about to break with the weight of that jug of water. I tried to jerk on the reins to stop the horse with the other hand, but he would not stop." ¶

Then my friend continued, "With everything going all wrong I got so angry that I swore at the horse and took the name of the Lord in vain. ¶

At the very moment I did this, I realized what I had done. A great wave of guilt swept over me because I had broken my covenant with my friend. ¶

But worse, I knew that I had offended the Lord, and I had failed to be true to the standard I knew. As I finally managed to fall off of the horse, I kneeled immediately — right there in the stubble of the field — and asked the Lord to forgive me. I vowed again, this time with repentant fervor, that I would never again break the pledge which my friend and I had made about swearing." ¶

And he said, "I never have." ¶

And Maintain the Standards of the Church

As young people, we ofttimes think it's hard to live the standards of the Church because they are so high. It is true that no church on earth has higher standards than The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — you'd expect that to be so, wouldn't you? Would the true Church of Christ have lower standards than a man-made church? Because our standards are so high — so different from the standards of the world — we tend to feel that it is difficult, if not impossible, to live them. But it is not nearly so hard to live the standards as not to live them. ¶

This was impressed upon me some years ago as I interviewed a young girl of seventeen or eighteen years of age. ¶

She said: "I have broken all of the Ten Commandments, except the sixth one, and lots of other laws besides." ¶

During the course of the interview, which, incidentally, was conducted behind bars, she confessed ashamedly some of the sins which she had committed. Near the close of the interview she pulled up the sleeve of her sweater and pointed to the telltale puncture wounds left by a hypodermic needle. ¶

"Those aren't mosquito bites," she said pathetically. I asked her if she had found happiness in the type of life she had lived. As she shook her head negatively, tears began to fill her eyes. She buried her head in her arms and sobs literally racked her body. As I watched her suffer, helpless at the moment to bring much comfort, I thought of the statement of Alma, made in the Book of Mormon: "Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness." (Alma 41:10.) I have thought since of the statement Cecil B. DeMille made at the beginning of the film The Ten Commandments. Most of you have seen it. You will recall how, at the beginning of the motion picture, he walked through those large curtains and came onto the stage to give a short introduction to the film. As I remember he said something like this: "The history of mankind teaches us that we cannot break God's laws, rather we break ourselves against them." ¶

Easy to Live: Hard NOT to Live God's Laws

I thought of this girl behind bars — she had not broken God's laws at all, but rather had broken herself against them, and so it is with anyone who tries to violate the laws which God has given to us for our own happiness. ¶

They are for our good, and when we violate them, we suffer spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Remember, oh youth, it's not nearly so hard to live the commandments as not to live them. ¶

The burden of keeping the commandments of the Lord is light compared to the burden of sin which we carry when we violate the commandments of God. The Savior said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ¶

"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. 11:28-30.) May you, the youth of this Church, remember, as my grandpa Beal impressed upon us deacons that day, that there is more authority in the priesthood of God than in the hand of any monarch that ever lived. While you'll find it the greatest challenge in life to be true to the high standards which you know — as did my friend who repented of swearing at his horse — you'll find it easier, I promise you, to keep the commandments of God than not to keep them. You needn't carry the heavy burden of sin if you will carry his burden, for the Lord has said, "Come unto me, . . . and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Idem.) I bear you my humble witness that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that President David O. McKay is the prophet and mouthpiece of the Lord on the earth today, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶