BYU SPEECHES OF THE YEAR, 1988-89

                           Table of Contents



  EDUCATION: UNLOCKING OPPORTUNITY

	Barbara W. Winder



  "LISTEN TOGETHER"

	Henry B. Eyring



  BE RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND

	Patricia T Holland



  AT THEIR MOST ENLIGHTENED AND ALERT

	Jeffrey R. Holland



  MAKING MEMORIES

	John Sonnenberg



  A UNIQUE AND WONDERFUL UNIVERSITY

	Gordon B. Hinckley



  THANKS FOR THE COVENANT

	Russell M. Nelson



  "MORE, SAVIOR, LIKE THEE"

	Barbara W Winder



  FILLING THE MEASURE OF YOUR CREATION

	Patricia T. Holland



  THE WILL OF THE FATHER IN ALL THINGS

	Jeffrey R. Holland



  PERFECTING THE SAINTS

	Jacob de Jager



  CHOICE--THE CRUCIBLE OF CHARACTER

	J. Richard Clarke



  HE LOVETH THAT WHICH IS RIGHT

	Marvin J. Ashton



  "FEAR NOT, LITTLE FLOCK"

	Howard W. Hunter



  THEREFORE CHOOSE LIFE

	Dennis Rasmussen



  THAT WE MAY PREPARE TO DO OUR PART

	Ardeth G. Kapp



  OUR MORTAL BODY--A SACRED GIFT

	Sara Lee Gibb



  BRIGHAM YOUNG, PROPHET OF GOD

	L. Tom Perry







                   EDUCATION: UNLOCKING OPPORTUNITY



                           Barbara W. Winder



	Barbara W. Winder is the Relief Society general president of The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This devotional address

was given on 16 August 1988 in the Marriott Center during Campus

Education Week.



	I hope that you, brothers and sisters, recognize that it is not an

easy assignment to give the keynote address.  But it is wonderful for

us to just take time out from the classes you've been attending and

gather here together in this wonderful edifice and feel the excitement

of what we're about and of this wonderful BYU Education Week.



	As you are aware, this year's theme is "Education: Unlocking

Opportunity," and I've been invited to develop that theme.  I know each

one of you would perhaps do it in a little different way, but the

Spirit has directed me to talk about education in a broader sense its

application in our lives and our responsibility



Temples of Learning



	I want to reflect for just a moment on the history of this great

institution.  The impressive academy building on University Avenue was

completed in 1892.  Principal Karl G. Maeser knew the BYU Academy was

just beginning to blossom.  Prior to this, physical difficulties had

brought him to the verge of leaving his post.  Accordingly, his wife

and daughter got things packed and sat on their trunks.



	When the daughter finally mustered enough courage to ask her

father when they were moving, his response was, "I have changed my

mind.  I have had a dream--I have seen Temple Hill [which is the

present site of this campus] filled with buildings--great temples of

learning, and I have decided to remain and do my part in contributing

to the fulfillment of that dream." [Brigham Young University: The First

One Hundred Years, eds.  Ernest L. Wilkinson and Leonard J. Arrington,

vol. 3 (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1976), p. 31



	President Holland has told us that the moral, spiritual, and

intellectual guidance we seek can be found at BYU in large part because

of the example set, the initial work performed, and the promise of the

future first given us by Karl G. Maeser, a man of great personal

integrity In the foreword of Karl G. Maeser's biography, past BYU

president Ernest L. Wilkinson stated, "We go to the East for Learning;

but the East will come to the West for wisdom" (Alma P. Burton, Karl G.

Maeser, Mormon Educator (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1953), p. vii). 

And President Holland emphasizes that that is still our pledge.



	In this learning process, perhaps we can all relate to the words

of Robert Fulghum:



	Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to

do, and how to be I learned in kindergarten.  Wisdom was not at the top

of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandbox.



	These are the things I learned: Share everything.  Play fair. 

Don't hit people.  Put things back where you found them.  Clean up your

own mess.  Don't take things that aren't yours.  Say you're sorry when

you hurt somebody.  Wash your hands before you eat.  Live a balanced

life. Learn some and think some, and draw and sing and dance and play

and work every day some.



	Take a nap in the afternoon.  When you go out into the world,

watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together.  Be aware of wonder. 

Remember the little seed in the plastic cup.  The roots go down and the

plant goes up, and nobody really knows why, but we are all like that.



	Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in

the plastic cup--they all die.  So do we.



	And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word

you learned, the biggest word of all: look.  Everything you need to

know is in there somewhere.  The golden rule and love and basic

sanitation.  Ecology and politics and sane living.



	Think of what a better world it would be if we all had cookies and

milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our

blankets for a nap.  Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and

other nations always to put things back where we found them and cleaned

up our own messes.  And it is still true, no matter how old you are,

when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick

together. [Robert Fulghum, "We Learned It All in Kindergarten,"

Reader's Digest, October 1987, p. 115]



	We are 25,000 strong, gathered together at this great university

to sharpen our instruments, to hone our tools, to refresh those lessons

we learned in the sandbox, that we might be better citizens in the

kingdom of God. "To be learned is good if [we] hearken unto the

counsels of God" (2 Nephi 9:29).



Thirst for Knowledge



	Eliza R. Snow asked and answered the question "What is the object

of life?"



	There certainly must be a grand and holy purpose at the foundation

of our creation, else why this innate longing and thirst for

knowledge--this perpetual desire for improvement and advancement.  I

have reflected upon this, and feel that our Heavenly Father has

implanted these feelings and desires in our hearts, that this earthly

probation may not be in vain.  And the object of this life must be to

test us, to try us in all things, and to make us more perfect, even as

our Father in Heaven is perfect. [Woman's Exponent, vol. 7, no. 11, 1

November 1878, p. 81]



	In Doctrine and Covenants 88:118 it states: "Seek ye diligently

and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best

books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith."

And further from that same section:



	Teach ye diligently . . . that you may be instructed more

perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine ... ;



	Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth;

things which have been, things which are ... ; things which are at

home, ... abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations . . . ;

and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms--



	That ye may be prepared in all things. [D&C 88:78-80]



	President Holland shared some insight with us into the personal

stories of two BYU graduates in August 1984 who had a great thirst for

knowledge and achieved in spite of personal barriers.  I would like to

share their stories.



	The oldest graduate that day was Lyle M. McDonald.



	Lyle was born in Salina, Utah.  At the appropriate time he entered

BYU, his most enduring reminder of those years still being the

permanent knee injury he received playing football. Lyle later left

BYU--without a degree--to become a teacher and principal at the Page

Elementary School on North Canyon Road here in Provo.  It is fitting

irony that BYU now owns that old Page School building, which is

situated directly across the street from a slightly newer, and larger,

football stadium....



	Now, after a full and fitting life, Brother McDonald returned to

school . . . to finish that degree begun so long ago because "he wanted

to improve himself, he wanted to help others, and he wanted more

association with the 'great and qualified' professors at BYU." (Those

are his words.) Furthermore, he wanted a university diploma to go along

with his Master M-Man award and his World War I discharge papers.

That's right.  "The Great War.  Old WW I," as Colonel Sherman Potter

would say-"The war to end all wars." . . . Yes, our soldier returned to

school for a diploma partly so his World War I discharge papers

wouldn't be lonely.  But an even loftier purpose ultimately prompted

our veteran to return.  He says simply and directly, "I wanted

knowledge.  We can't get into the celestial kingdom without knowledge. 

Knowledge is about the only thing we are allowed to take with us." 

[Jeffrey R. Holland, BYU commencement address, 17 August 1984, pp. 3-4]



	The other student President Holland told about that day was Sauan

Sukhan.  He was not as old as Lyle McDonald; he was only thirty-five

years old.  But that same day he received 



	a Ph.D. degree in sociology.  There is nothing very startling

about that except he . . . has a personal story of valor and triumph in

which private or public challenges have been overcome.



	Sauan was born in a remote village in Thailand some 350 miles

northeast of Bangkok.  To say his parents, and indeed his entire

village, were poor is to pathetically understate the case. Their home

was a shelter of bamboo and grass. At three years of age Sauan was

working full days tending water buffalo and cultivating rice paddies. 

To this very day there is still no such luxury in that village as

running water or electricity.  The closest hospital is a hundred miles

away--four days by foot and ox cart, the only available means of

transportation.  It is something of a miracle that Sauan survived the

myriad childhood diseases so common to that country.  Eight of his

fourteen brothers and sisters did not, and he watched his devout

Buddhist parents bury them one by one.



	At his village school there were no textbooks, no library, no

paper or pencils.  Two teachers helped 400 children practice their

lessons on slate or dry clay.  Only four years of even that rudimentary

education were available in their small village.  But like ... you,

Sauan wanted knowledge--as much as he could get.  So from grades five

through ten he walked fifteen miles to a school in the neighboring

village. That was, he says, three hours each way in the dry season, but

considerably more than that when it rained. Later, his parents spent

virtually all of their savings (which, as you might guess, wasn't much

for a family whose income in 1984 is still only $150 a year) and bought

Sauan a second-hand bicycle so that his quest for an education might

not be so burdensome.



	They gave him everything they had; when that was gone, they gave

him encouragement.



	But after the tenth grade there was no money for him to go to the

city.  So, like untold generations of his ancestors before him, he

returned to the water buffalo and rice paddies that would forever mark

the dimensions of his very narrow world.  But even in the remote

reaches of rural Thailand the Spirit of the Lord bears sway.  In a

story too long to tell here, Sauan did, with the encouragement of these

destitute but faithful Buddhist parents, get to the city briefly.  And

in the most providential of moments, he opened his door one day to two

young Americans who had short hair, wore white shirts, and spoke

impeccable Thai.  The rest is history--sweet history.   [Jeffrey R.

Holland, BYU commencement address, 17 August 1984, pp. 5-6]



	Education, we see, is not merely gaining knowledge or skills

helpful toward productive work, though certainly that is a part of it.

Rather it is a replenishment and an expansion of the natural thirst of

the mind and soul.  Learning is a gradual process of growth, each step

building upon the other.  It is a process whereby the learner organizes

and integrates not only facts but attitudes and values.  The Lord has

told us that we must open our minds and our hearts to learn.  There is

a Chinese proverb: "Wisdom is as the moon rises, perceptible not in

progress but in result." As our knowledge is converted to wisdom, the

door to opportunity is unlocked.



Converting Knowledge into Wisdom



	Some years ago, in an article about Admiral Peary's effort to

reach the North Pole, the writer suggested an analogy that has great

significance to our time.



	On this trip, [Admiral Peary] traveled a whole day toward the

North, his sled dogs unflagging in their speed.  At night, when he

checked his bearings to determine his latitude, he found to his

surprise that he was much further South than he had been in the

morning.



	All day, it seems he had been driving toward the North on an

immense iceberg drawn southward by an ocean current.



	And sometimes it occurs to me that we are all standing on this

iceberg, racing forward in one direction, while the very ground beneath

us moves implacably in the other direction.



	With tremendous speed and power, we are moving toward discoveries

and inventions that utterly dwarf Peary's conquest of the North Pole. 

In medicine, in technology, in food supply, in materials and techniques

and processes, we have made more progress in the last fifty years than

was made in the previous five hundred.



	Yet, at the same time, the ground we are standing on steadily

seems to move backward, drawn not by ocean currents, but by social

currents too vast and deep for us to comprehend, much less to control.



	As we check our bearings to determine the latitude of the human

condition at this point in history, we are more surprised and appalled

than Peary to learn that we are "farther South" than our fathers or

grandfathers were. [Sydney J.  Harris, "Moving Forward in Backward

Direction," Deseret News, 7 January 1964, p. A-14]



	In talking about this story, Marion G. Romney stated:



	Certainly mankind is more knowledgeable in many areas than it has

ever been before.  "In medicine, in technology, in food supply, in

materials and techniques and processes," we have made and are making

unprecedented progress. Not only is knowledge in these areas being

accumulated so fast that one can hardly keep abreast of it, even in a

very narrow field, but the application of much of it is literally

transforming our way of life.



	We are also gaining knowledge in other fields--those, for

instance, which relate to men's personal conduct and to their dealings

with one another.  Unfortunately, however, we do not seem able to put

the knowledge we acquire in these areas to similar beneficial use.  An

example of this is the continued use of tobacco in the face of

knowledge that it greatly increases the incidence of lung cancer.



	Another example is found in the area of family relations.  In

spite of all we know about the causes and evils of divorce, and in

spite of the tremendous work done by marriage counselors and other

welfare agencies, the divorce rate is still going up.



	These are but two of many illustrations which could be cited to

sustain the conclusion that "as we check our bearings to determine the

latitude of the human condition at this point in history, we are more

surprised and appalled than Peary to learn that we are 'farther South'

than our fathers or grandfathers were." [Marion G. Romney, "Converting

Knowledge into Wisdom," Ensign, July 1983, p. 41



	Never before have we had so many opportunities to be educated in

the learning of the world.  Our weakness seems to be our inability to

apply with wisdom the knowledge we have in its practical relationship

to life and its problems.  The development of the capacity to convert

knowledge into wisdom is a blessing that comes from the Holy Spirit as

we gain profound reverence for the Lord and hearken to his counsels. 

As we seek learning by study and by faith, we are taught that we will

receive the fullness of the Holy Ghost and be organized according to

his laws and be prepared to obtain every needful thing.



Service and Dedication



	Walsh McDermott, one of the most renowned physicians of the

twentieth century, was an extraordinary human being.  While widely

acclaimed for the contributions he made to the rise of modern medicine,

he is equally well remembered and endeared for the personal impact he

made on the lives of many.  He offered the gift of himself, which

ultimately was profoundly sacred and spiritually enriching for those

whose lives he touched.  When McDermott died in 1981, it was said of

him: "He was a people builder--a teacher-counselor of the young, the

old, and the in-between.  His understanding of the human condition and

his affection for his fellow man was his most endearing and compelling

quality." It was his caring and his sharing, his conduct in dealing

with others that mattered most. (Taken from Claudia B. Cluff,

"Spiritual Intervention Reconsidered," Topics in Geriatric

Rehabilitation, vol. 1, no. 2, January 1986, pp. 77-82.)



	Built long after the original academy on University Avenue, BYU's

continuing education building was appropriately named for a woman of

profound reverence for the Lord as she continued to serve with great

wisdom and long-suffering, gentleness and meekness, kindness and pure

knowledge throughout her life.  Caroline Hemenway Harman teaches much

about moving northward in human relationships.



	Elaine S. McKay tells the story of this remarkable woman, Aunt

Carrie, in the Ensign.



	Aunt Carrie would not have expected to be remembered by anyone but

her family.  She lived quietly in a small Utah community. [In fact, the

family home is still standing just down the road from our home.] To

anyone outside an area twelve miles square, she was and is a stranger. 

And yet, there is something familiar about her uncommon courage.  She

is like our mother, our grandmother, an aunt, a niece or sister.  Aunt

Carrie represents countless women, unknown and unsung, who patiently do

the thing that needs to be done and who in reality accomplish the

important work of the world.  She reminds us that deeds need not be

great to be heroic....



	. . . On 26 January 1895 George [Reese Harman] and Caroline were

married in the Salt Lake Temple. [Caroline was twenty-two.] During the

next fourteen years they bought land, built a home, and became parents

of seven children.  Happiness grew out of industry, and they sorrowed

only at the loss of their eldest child, George Luther, who died when he

was four months old....



	During irrigation turns, George often worked at night.  One

evening, wet and chilled, he caught a cold which developed into

pleurisy. He died 12 August 1912, and Caroline, at 39, was left with

the responsibility of a farm and six children.  Her oldest daughter,

Annie, was fifteen; the baby, Maurice, had just turned three.



	Four months later Caroline's sorrow deepened as she endured the

death of her mother.  But Caroline rallied to the responsibilities of

life.  Each day she arose at 5:00 a.m.--to tend to household duties and

to work in the fields and orchards. During the weekly irrigation turns,

she would make beds in the wagon, hitch up the horses, and drive with

her young sons to the fields to set the water.  Three or four times

during the night, Caroline would awaken the boys and help them "change"

the water.  Only during haying season did they hire help.  Caroline

wanted her family to develop and use its own resources....



	During World War I, Caroline's Relief Society responsibilities

multiplied.  In 1914, the sisters began meeting one day a week to knit

sweaters for soldiers, roll bandages, and prepare other Red Cross

supplies to be shipped overseas.  In 1917, Caroline became Relief

Society president of the Granger Ward.



	When the war ended, the deadly flu epidemic followed the soldiers

home.  Funerals were frequent.  The Granger Relief Society made burial

clothing, lined caskets, draped the chapel podium in white, cared for

the sick, and comforted the bereaved.



	David and Grace [her sister and brother-in-law] were both

stricken.  In January of 1919, Grace gave birth to a son; a few hours

later, weakened by the flu, she died.  Grieving for her beloved sister,

Caroline brought to her own home a six-hour-old baby boy-her sister's

child, but a child whom she would always look upon as her own.



	Less than a month after Grace's death.... in February, her

daughter Annie died of the flu, a month before she expected her first

child....



	When Annie, with her unborn child, died, Caroline's health broke. 

Weeks later, she arose from her bed, calm and determined.  The doctor

diagnosed her illness as sugar diabetes.  From that time on, she gave

herself three insulin shots daily and carefully weighed her food.  It

was a private matter; she never spoke of her health.  In the years to

come, she maintained energy, strength, a cheerful countenance, and an

indomitable sense of humor.



	Following Grace's death, David came to Caroline's home each day to

see his baby son, Pete.... David's nine children needed a mother and

he, a wife.  On 29 October 1919, David and Caroline were married in the

Salt Lake Temple. So, seven years after George's death, Caroline and

her five children came to live in the big house on 3600 West and 4100

South.



	For many years this house was a central gathering place for

neighborhood children who liked teeter-totters, swings made of rubber

tires, kick-the-can games, and run-sheepie-run.  Like all visitors, the

children seldom left without a "bite to eat. . . .



	But at least twice a day the house was quiet. At breakfast and

dinner time, all the leaves of the sixteen-foot-square table came out

of the closet, the meal was spread, and it was time for family prayer. 

The huge Harman household tolerated teasing, wrestling, and noise.  But

quarrels were not permitted.  Family members felt a unity that had

begun long before David and Caroline married.  Caroline honored David

as patriarch, supported him as first counselor in the bishopric, and

loved him deeply.



	In the spring of 1924, an itching rash spread over David's body. 

Despite his discomfort, he worked long hours.  While dipping sacks of

potatoes (or wheat, depending on the account) in a solution to prevent

disease, he noted that the rash on his hands healed.  After checking

with a doctor, David decided to bathe in the solution. Accounts differ

as to what and how much he used, but the result was that the solution

literally ate him alive.  His skin came off on clothing and bed sheets;

his tongue and teeth fell out; his internal organs were burned beyond

use.  After one week, during which David never lost consciousness, he

passed from this world.



	David died with great courage and little complaint.  Caroline

lived in the same manner.  At age 51, she was again a widow.  She was

now responsible for fourteen children, the youngest of whom was

five-year-old Pete.  She suffered complications from diabetes.  She was

also Relief Society president of a ward with 948 members, 22 of whom

were widows; and for Caroline, who served in the days before Welfare

Services, this meant "mothering" the entire twelve-mile-square ward. 

Her way was not to ask for help, but to give it.  Always someone was

being born or someone was dying; someone was ill or unhappy or hungary. 

Caroline knew what to do about illness, childbirth, and death.  And she

knew how to find happiness.  When others were wild with grief, she was

there to make beds, mop floors, fix meals, and sit up through the night

with the bereaved to comfort them with her quiet strength.  She became

known throughout the territory as Aunt Carrie--kind, cheerful, loving,

wise.



	How did she do it all with her large family? She did it with her

large family.  Year after year, the Harman sons drove her in a horse

and buggy to visit every home in the ward--many times. Her black buggy

would go to the houses of those who had "enough and to spare" to gather

goods to be shared with those who had little or nothing.  The Harman

girls frequently cooked and served meals to neighbors in need, and the

boys stayed overnight with the aged or afflicted when Aunt Carrie could

not be there.



	Aunt Carrie was a resourceful manager, and the children learned

her ways.  They had no money to spend, but the Harmans did not think of

themselves as being "poor."  They made bread, butter, cheese, horse

radish, corned beef, apple cider, vinegar, and soap.  Both sons and

daughters farmed the land and cared for their animals, their orchard,

and their garden.  Every fall they bottled fruit, meat, and tomatoes

and buried turnips, parsnips, carrots, and potatoes beneath the sawdust

in the basement ice room.  The girls sewed their few articles of

clothing and kept their home scrubbed and orderly.  If their chores

were not done before the school bus came, they finished their tasks and

walked to school.  Aunt Carrie believed that idleness was a sin and

taught that selfishness was the seed of misery. Everyone in the family

learned to work--and more important, they learned to share.



	Within [a few weeks following a third marriage on 11 March 1925,

her new husband] Eugene suffered a stroke and became an invalid.  For

five years until his death in October 1930, Aunt Carrie prepared his

food, helped him bathe and dress, and ministered to his many needs.



	In 1929 Aunt Carrie was released as president of the Relief

Society.  She had served in that organization under three bishops for

some eighteen years....



	Aunt Carrie devoted much of her time to developing her chicken

business.  Her chickens had become a symbol of her doctrine of hard

work and independence.  During the worst of the Great Depression, the

well which provided water for the house and chicken coops went dry.

Aunt Carrie refused the help of government programs under which she

qualified for a new well; so Pete, Jack, and Jake carried water from

across the road.  Carrying water for the house was one thing, but

quenching the thirst of hundreds of chickens was quite another. 

Finally, when Aunt Carrie had saved sufficient funds, she had the well

repaired.



	Years later, when all the children were gone, the pump sometimes

failed.  During winter time, Aunt Carrie would scoop snow into a big

oval "boiler," melt it on the back of her coal stove, and carry warm

water to her flock....



	... Aunt Carrie expected everything around her to be productive,

and she would not have a lazy chicken.  A hen who lacked commitment was

invited for Sunday dinner...



	[As she neared the end of her life, Aunt Carrie said,] "I can face

Grace ... because I know that I did all she would have done if I had

been called away and she had stayed.  I have no regrets.  Of course,"

she added quietly, "in some ways all our children could do better.  And

they will.  We taught them right." ...



	... Aunt Carrie, . . . according to her son Leon Weston (Pete)

Harman, -had every reason to be waited on.  Yet she continually served

others.  She never complained.  She never quit.  Aunt Carrie asked for

so little, and gave so much. [Elaine S. McKay, "Remembering Aunt

Carrie," Ensign, October 1982, pp. 56-60]



	What can we learn from Caroline Harmon's life? She exemplified

service and dedication to life's responsibilities.  She had no college

degrees but learned from experiences thrust upon her to respond to

human needs.  She truly knew the importance of family and the

relationships between members of the family.  She learned and taught

principles of self-reliance, opening opportunities for herself and her

family.  And she learned wisdom and the application of knowledge.  From

Aunt Carrie, from Karl Maeser, from Lyle McDonald, from Dr. McDermott,

and from Sauan Sukhan, and from the countless others we have learned

from, it is important that one's life become a reflection of the

possibilities of hope, of meaning, of purpose--a reflection of God.  It

is, after all, not so much what we know but what we are willing to

share that makes the difference.  This is the challenge for each of us

here today



	We have come to seek knowledge, both spiritual and temporal, to

help those around us respond to life's challenges.  The usefulness of

this learning comes in wise application as we become better able to

fill our responsibilities to serve, that we might get a little closer

to our destination, that north latitude.



	Here we are in these beautiful temples of learning with qualified

teachers, countless books, and resources.  All of this and the Spirit,

too.  Yes, "Because [we] have been given much, [we] too must give"

("Because I Have Been Given Much," Hymns, 1985, no. 219).



	May we each receive the knowledge that is here.  Use it in wisdom

to unlock eternal opportunities.  I know we are engaged in the work of

the Lord, and it is my prayer that this knowledge we gain will be used

in building the kingdom on earth today.  I say this in the name of

Jesus Christ.  Amen. 





                           "LISTEN TOGETHER"



                            Henry B. Eyring



	Henry B. Eyring is the First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric

of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This fireside

address was given on 4 September 1988 in the Marriott Center.



	I am grateful for the opportunity to be with you tonight, and I

pray that the Holy Spirit may help us learn something about listening. 

I believe the Savior was speaking to you and me in the very first verse

of the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants.  It reads:



	Hearken, O ye people of my church, saith the voice of him who

dwells on high, and whose eyes are upon all men; yea, verily I say. 

Hearken ye people from afar; and ye that are upon the islands of the

sea, listen together.



	Let me tell you something about the opportunity you will have in

the next few weeks to learn how to "listen together."



"By the Mouths of My Disciples"



	Your stake presidencies and bishops are organizing their wards and

stakes.  I am not sure where you are in the process in your ward.  I

imagine the elders quorum president and the Relief Society president

have been called.  Perhaps some counselors have been called, and maybe

some teachers.  I hope some teachers have been called because next week

there will be some classes that will need to be taught, and it will

help if the people who will teach know about it now.



	If I can read your hearts, this is a time of testing.  Some of you

are disappointed that you were not called.  A few will be glad you were

not called.  Some of you may be sad that you were overlooked again. 

And some of you are wondering about a person who was called whose

weaknesses you know.  Perhaps someone was called--someone you now must

follow--whom you do not admire, or perhaps don't even like.



	I bear you two testimonies that I pray the Spirit will confirm to

you.  First, God directs those who issue cans to even the apparently

minor offices in the Church.  And, equally important, God honors and

respects those calls to his servants by using them to serve you.



	Most of you believe that, and yet you shall have a challenge.  I

have one, too.  I have had experiences where even after I had a clear

spiritual conviction that a person had been caged to lead me or to

teach me, it was still hard to really listen to them.  You may think

that is just your problem.  Or you may think, "If only I were in a

higher calling, then I wouldn't have to worry about getting my

instructions from anyone else." But you know that is not true.



	Every Sunday your bishop, for instance, makes a choice whether he

will hold some meetings or some interviews or go to a Sunday School

class.  Teaching that Sunday School class will be someone whose

weaknesses he knows and who likely will not have prayed and studied and

struggled and served as much as the bishop has in the past week.  But

the bishop will go.  And he, like you, will need to know how to listen.



	A few may wonder about the requirement to listen to other people

and ask, "Why do I have to get my directing and teaching from somebody

else? Why can't I go to God for myself and get my own revelation? Why

can't I have the Holy Ghost inspire me? Why does every call to lead, in

fact, call others to listen?  Why are we all, therefore, called to

listen? Why should even a prophet have a home teacher?"



	I don't know all the answers, but this much I do know: The

revelations of God make it clear that his voice will sound to all

people.  We are told that in the fourth verse of the first section of

the Doctrine and Covenants.  It says this: "And the voice of warning

shall be unto all people." That voice, of course, is the voice of God. 

Verse 2 says, "For verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men" (D&C

1:2).  But in verse 4 when it says "the voice of warning shall be unto

all people," it concludes with "by the mouths of my disciples, whom I

have chosen in these last days."



	More than once the Lord simply says you will need to hear his

voice, but you will need to hear his voice from him and from his

servants.  In verse 14 it says:



	And the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that

they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his

servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles,

shall be cut off from among the people.



	I know a few of the reasons why the Lord requires us to listen to

mortal servants.  One of the reasons is that you and I need a check on

our own inspiration occasionally.  We can be mistaken.  We at times,

even with real intent and with faith and with careful prayer, may come

to wrong conclusions.  Listening to others can provide correction.  It

can promote more careful consideration.  I hope you will always

remember that there is safety in counsel.



	I can think of another reason why we are blessed to be required to

be taught by other human beings.  For me, that is made clear in the

first section of the Doctrine and Covenants, verse 23, which says:

"That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the

simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers."



	Now why in the world would the weak and the simple be sent to

kings and rulers?  You and I sometimes feel that we are wise and we

know a good deal.  We have increasing experience.  So why should a

Sunday School teacher who seems to us weak and simple and less

experienced be called by inspiration to teach us?



	One reason is that it requires humility on our part.  It requires

a humble heart to believe that you can be taught by someone who

apparently knows a good deal less than you do, and perhaps seems less

likely to get revelation.



	When I was the president of Ricks College years ago, I remember

having a man who was my priesthood leader come to my house each month

to interview me about my home teaching.  He brought with him a gray

notebook in which he wrote notes.  He recorded not only my report as a

home teacher, but my observations about the gospel and life as well.



	I remember at first being very flattered.  Then one Sunday he and

I were visiting what was then called junior Sunday School.  He was a

few rows in front of me.  The speaker was a little girl, no more than

six or seven, probably not yet old enough to have the gift of the Holy

Ghost.  I glanced over at the man and noticed with surprise that he had

that same gray notebook open.  As the little girl spoke, he was writing

with as much speed and intensity as he had in the study of my home.  I

learned a lesson from him that I haven't forgotten.  He had faith that

God could speak to him as clearly through a child as through the

president of a college.



	I watched that man in later months and years deal with great

difficulties and with important assignments.  I saw miracles--at least

to me they seemed to be miracles--in his wisdom and in his ability to

lead and to direct.  Those miracles came, I believe in large part,

because he could hear the voice of God confirmed by the Holy Spirit in

words of the weak and the simple.



	If you and I are going to live up to the glorious promises of the

first section of the Doctrine and Covenants, I think we will have to

learn how to have the everyday faith of my friend with the gray

notebook.  You remember verses 20 through 22 of the first section of

the Doctrine and Covenants:



	But that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even

the Savior of the world;



	That faith also might increase in the earth;



	That mine everlasting covenant might be established.



	You have often heard verse 38 quoted.  It is the next to the last

verse in the section.  It is the way the Lord chooses to end his

preface to his Doctrine and Covenants.  He says:



	What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not

myself, and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall

not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or

by the voice of my servants, it is the same.



	Clearly, my problem and your problem is to hear the word of God

from and through imperfect teachers and leaders.  That is your test and

mine.  And it is our opportunity.  All of us--today, next week, and for

the rest of our lives--are going to be sitting somewhere while someone

leads us or teaches us who will seem weak and simple because they are

human, like us.  God has said that if we are going to make it home

again, we must not only hear his voice privately by our own effort, but

also through the voice of his servants who, when they speak by the

power of the Spirit, speak as if it were his voice.



	Now the practical question is, How can we do it? Next week, for

instance, you will go into a class where someone will teach you.  They

will look a little afraid and be imperfectly prepared, no matter how

hard they have worked.  You will have the challenge not simply to be

attentive, but to listen the way my friend with the gray notebook did. 

He could hear the voice of God in the words of a child.



	Our problem is to have the Spirit confirm to us the truth of the

words of our leader or teacher just as it has, for instance, confirmed

the words we have read in the Book of Mormon.  Most of you, I would

hope, have read in the Book of Mormon and have felt something in your

heart or in your mind that told you it was true.  I bear you my

testimony that that is the voice of the Spirit speaking to you.  Our

pride is less likely to be aroused when we open the book than when a

stranger or the fellow from the next apartment begins to speak. 

Nevertheless, whatever method works when we study alone should work as

well when we listen together.



The Guidance of the Spirit



	To me, the best directions of how to get the help of the Holy

Ghost (directions that I have tested and know to be true) were given by

President Marion G. Romney.  If you will listen carefully, I will give

you his instructions in his own words.  Then together let us see if we

can figure out how we can work to prepare for that Sunday School

teacher or quorum leader or sacrament meeting speaker to whom we will

listen next week.



	Here are President Romney's instructions:



	If you want to obtain and keep the guidance of the Spirit, you can

do so by following this simple four-point program.



	One, pray.  Pray diligently.  Pray with each other.  Pray in

public in the proper places....



	Learn to talk to the Lord; call upon his name in great faith and

confidence.



	Second, study and learn the gospel.



	Third, live righteously; repent of your sins by confessing them

and forsaking them.  Then conform to the teachings of the gospel.



	Fourth, give service in the Church.



	And then President Romney concludes this way:



	If you will do these things, you will get the guidance of the Holy

Spirit and you will go through this world successfully, regardless of

what the people of the world say or do. ["Guidance of the Holy Spirit,"

Ensign, January 1980, p. 5]



	That four-point program makes no distinction between the moments

we seek the Spirit when we are alone in our scripture reading and those

moments when we are listening to a human being.  I bear testimony that

it works in both settings.  It takes some extra effort sometimes when

the words come from people instead of from the gilt-edged pages of

scripture with which you have had long and sacred experience, but it

can be done.  Let us see how we might make that effort.  In fact, we

can decide together how we might start to do it tonight.



Pray Diligently



	You remember President Romney began by saying: "Pray.  Pray

diligently Pray with each other.  Pray in public in the proper places.

. . . Learn to talk to the Lord; call upon his name in great faith and

confidence."



	You might (and I assure you I will) find a moment tonight to get

in the proper place, perhaps alone, where you can pour out your heart. 

Among the things you will pray about, you might ask for a blessing on

those who will teach you next Sunday--I promise you that I will.  Try

to visualize where you will be and who will teach you.



	Next Sunday I am going to be sitting in a stake conference on one

of the islands of the sea.  Some of you know in a stake conference how

it works.  The visiting authority does a lot of listening.  I will

speak at the end of each meeting that I am in, but the rest of the time

I will be listening.  I will hear those people speak and their words

will be translated for me.  It is likely that the speakers will not

have had as much education as I have had, nor have seen as many things

as I have seen, nor have been taught as often as I have been taught by

prophets.  But tonight I will pray for them.  I don't know all their

names.  I haven't seen the fun program yet, but I am sure they have

been told who they are.  They may be frightened, and they may be

preparing right now.  I will pray for them tonight with faith and with

confidence.  I will talk to God about them and tell him how much I

desire for him to teach me through them.  And I will promise tonight

that, as I give my concluding talks, I will bear testimony of that

which I have heard that I know is true.  I will tell you now that I win

be taught things that neither education nor experience nor the previous

teaching I have received has ever provided me. From those humble,

simple people I will be taught things that I will be able to bear

testimony of.



	You may not know who your Sunday School teacher or quorum teacher

or Relief Society teacher will be next week, so you may not know their

names either, but you can do the same thing.  You can pray specifically

that the Holy Ghost will come to them as they prepare to teach, and

then come again as you sit at their feet to listen next week.



	I am not sure I understand how this works, but I know it works. 

Last Monday night I was preparing to come here.  I felt some

impressions of something I was supposed to teach you.  They came with

more than the normal intellectual force.  In fact, I felt that power I

have come to know as the teaching of the Holy Spirit.  But something

else came.  As I received the idea for this talk, I felt with it an

impression that I was receiving it because of the prayers of one or

more of you.  Now I am not so egotistical to think that many of you

even knew I was coming.  I wouldn't think I was on very many people's

minds, but I must have been on someone's mind.  Perhaps it wasn't so

much that you were naming me, but you must have been pleading to be

given some help, to be taught something, to be given some assurance,

and I must have been the most available servant, or at least the one

who was going to come here next.



	Now you blessed me, but I want you to know there are limits to

that, of course.  The companionship of the Holy Ghost is one that you

earn.  Your teacher cannot depend upon you alone.  You cannot with your

faith force the attendance of the Holy Ghost on him or her.  As you

know, when we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost is not

told to come to us.  We are told to receive the Holy Ghost.  That is

done by faith and repentance, by making covenants and accepting

ordinances, and then working hard to get and keep the gift.  Your

teacher cannot be compelled by you to receive it, but by your prayers

you can and will bring down the blessings of heaven, and particularly

the gift of the Holy Ghost, which will help your teachers and your

leaders.



Study and Learn



	As you will recall, President Romney's second suggestion for

obtaining and keeping the guidance of the Spirit was to study and learn

the gospel.  That won't be hard for you to apply tonight in getting

ready for next week either.  There will be a lesson in that class next

Sunday With a little effort you could probably get a manual, or with a

phone call find out what the subject will be.  Then you could go to the

topical guide, or from your own knowledge of the scriptures you could

begin to learn something now about what you will listen to then.



	Most of you have been teachers at one time or another in the

Church, and so you know how rare it is for a student in your class to

have done that.  You knew who they were.  It was not so much what they

said, although it may have been in what they asked in the class.  It

may have been simply the look in their eyes.  It may have been their

attentiveness.  But you knew that some people prior to coming to your

class had studied and by doing so had let heaven know that they wanted

to be taught.  That changed the class, and it changed your teaching.



Live Righteously



	President Romney's third injunction was to "live righteously;

repent of your sins by confessing them and forsaking them.  Then

conform to the teachings of the gospel." I hope a day doesn't begin or

end that you don't consider whether something you did might have

offended the Holy Ghost or made it harder for the Spirit to influence

you.  That is what it means to me to have a repentant heart.



	You might, in addition, be eager to conform to the quiet

promptings that urge you to take action.  Make a commitment tonight

that the next time you are taught by one of the servants of God you

will heed any prompting, even the faintest prompting, to act, to do

better.  In fact, you could commit to opening your heart now to those

promptings.  That also is the spirit of repentance.



	I have had that happen to me recently.  I was sitting in my home

ward in the presence of a teacher who said something, and I felt a very

faint prompting from the Spirit to act that day.  I bear you my

testimony that the scriptures are not being poetic when they describe

the Holy Ghost as the still, small voice.  It is so quiet that if you

are noisy inside, you won't hear it.  It is real.  I felt also that if

I didn't do it promptly, I would not again, at least not soon, feel

that gentle instruction.  So I did it.  It is already changing my life

and the lives of my children, some of whom are here tonight.  I am

confident that because I went and did the small thing that I felt

impressed by the quiet voice to do, I made it more likely that I could

receive a spiritual nudge again.



	I pray that you will make a commitment to act on those promptings

you receive when listening to your teachers and leaders.  If you have

felt a prompting to do something that you heard tonight, and if you do

it, you will reinforce a pattern in your life of repentance--which is

to be eager to be instructed, even to be reproved, and then to act.



	What the scripture calls a "humble and contrite heart" has always

been exemplified for me in two paragraphs from the autobiography of

Parley P. Pratt.  Perhaps it touched me because I admired so much the

strength of Elder Pratt and also because I like so little to be

rebuked.  Here is the first paragraph of the two--I will have to break

between the two because you need a little background.



	After journeying for several hundred miles up the Platte, we at

length met two messengers from the pioneers under President Young, from

Salt Lake Valley.  These were P. Rockwell and E. T Benson; who had been

sent out to try to find us and report our progress and circumstances.

Having visited all the camps, they returned to the valley, or rather to

where they met the President and pioneers, on their way back to Winter

Quarters on the Missouri.  I accompanied them back nearly one day's

ride on the way, and then bid them God speed, and returned to my own

camp.  Soon after this our fifty met the President and company of

pioneers and camped with them one day.



	Now this is where you need a little background.  For a moment,

think of yourselves as Parley P. Pratt.  He was leading a hard, hard

march.  He was doing the best he knew how.  He was an apostle of the

Lord Jesus Christ.  He was meeting his leader, one with whom he had

been in great difficulties.  Elder Pratt saw himself as an experienced

man, as indeed President Young was experienced.



	Can you young men now picture yourselves having a priesthood

interview with your elders quorum president? He is going to talk to you

about what you have been doing.  You have been working hard.  Aren't

you prepared for a little praise? Wouldn't you like him to tell you how

wonderful you were?



	Parley P. Pratt had arrived in Winter Quarters after President

Young and the Quorum of the Twelve had made some very specific

arrangements.  Elder Pratt had taken a look at the plans and thought he

could do better.  He changed the arrangements.  He did not know

that--at least according to one of the other members of the Twelve who

had been there--they were a decision of the Council and were

revelation.  Listen to Parley P. Pratt's description of that day with

his priesthood leader.



	A council was called, in which I was highly censured and chastened

by President Young and others.  This arose in part from some defect in

the organization under my superintendence at the Elk Horn, and in part

from other misunderstandings on the road.  I was charged with

neglecting to observe the order of organization entered into under the

superintendence of the President before he left the camps at Winter

Quarters; and of variously interfering with previous arrangements.  In

short, I was severely reproved and chastened.  I no doubt deserved this

chastisement; and I humbled myself, acknowledged my faults and errors,

and asked forgiveness.  I was frankly forgiven, and, bidding each other

farewell, each company passed on their way.  This school of experience

made me more humble and careful in future, and I think it was the means

of making me a wiser and better man ever after. [Autobiography of

Parley P. Pratt (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1985), pp.

330-31]





Serve in the Church



	Fourth, President Romney said to give service in the Church.  That

works in powerful ways when you are seeking the Holy Spirit and its

direction privately In my life, I have felt the most guidance when I

was in God's service, doing something for one of his children.



	It can work in the next class or executive meeting you attend in

the Church when some very mortal person is in front of you.  Rather

than thinking, "Well, let's see whether this teacher or leader can

convince me" or "How good are they going to be today?" you could think

another way.  You could say to yourself, "What is it they are trying to

accomplish?" Then you could ask yourself quietly, "What can I do to

help?"



	You will change your whole experience in that hour by making their

service your service.  That choice of an attitude will change the way

you listen.  Thoughts will come to you during a class or in a meeting

that would not come otherwise.



The Giving of a Gift



	We have talked mostly about what can come to you as you listen if

you apply President Romney's guide, but there is something even more. 

Seeking the Spirit can bring you blessings.  Seeking to bring it down

on someone else brings it to you, but it also adds the joy of

gift-giving.



	What we have been talking about is giving a gift to your teacher

or your leader.  It is done by the way you pray, by the way you study,

by the way you have a contrite heart, and by the way you add your

service to theirs.  You make it more likely that they will feel the

power of the Holy Ghost in their service.



	Elder Bruce R. McConkie described the magnitude of that gift. 

Listen carefully to what he said:



	The Holy Ghost is a Revelator; he is a Sanctifier; he reveals

truth, and he cleanses human souls. He is the Spirit of Truth, and his

baptism is one of fire; he burns dross and evil out of repentant souls

as though by fire.  The gift of the Holy Ghost is the greatest of all

the gifts of God, as pertaining to this life; and those who enjoy that

gift here and now, will inherit eternal life hereafter, which is the

greatest of all the gifts of God in eternity. [The Mortal Messiah (Salt

Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979-81), 2:122]



	Now, I have tried to give you some reasons why our Heavenly Father

had the Savior organize his Church so that we have to be led and taught

by his weak and simple servants.  And we have talked about how to make

it more likely that we can hear the words of God in their words.  If we

will try to apply President Romney's advice, not just for our own

revelation' but to bring the Holy Ghost as a revelator to those who

lead and teach us, we will add the blessing to our lives of

participating in the giving of a gift.



	President David O. McKay describes what it means when the Holy

Ghost comes into a life.  He said it this way: "What the sunshine is to

the field and to the flowers the Holy Spirit is to the life of man"

(CR, October 1930, p. 10).  It has been my experience that that

sunshine comes into my life even more powerfully when my effort is to

try to help those who lead or teach me.



	Some of you are perhaps already thinking about general conference. 

You may be praying that the Brethren who speak and who lead us will

have the Holy Spirit.  I will make a two-fold promise to you.  First,

your prayers will be answered if they are offered with faith and with

confidence.  Second, not only will you bring sunshine to the lives of

others, but you will bring sunshine into your own life.  As the

Brethren speak, you will be able to listen and hear the words of God as

he instructs you through his servants.  You will recognize the words of

truth that you need.  And that is sunshine.



	George Q. Cannon gives one of the marvelous descriptions of how

you will recognize the influence of the Holy Ghost.  He said this:



	I will tell you a rule by which you may know the Spirit of God

from the spirit of evil.  The Spirit of God always produces joy and

satisfaction of mind.  When you have that Spirit you are happy; when

you have another spirit you are not happy.  The spirit of doubt is the

spirit of the evil one; it produces uneasiness and other feelings that

interfere with happiness and peace. [JD 15:375]



	I do not know how you are feeling tonight, but I hope you feel

happiness.  I do.  That is an indication that we are on the right

course.  I can promise you that you can not only feel that now, but you

can look forward to it over a lifetime, even a lifetime that may have

its trials and its great difficulties.



"When the Speaker Begins, I Listen"



	Years ago I was sitting in a sacrament meeting with my father,

whose name is the same as my own, Henry Eyring.  He seemed to be

enjoying what I thought was a terrible talk.  I watched my father, and

to my amazement, his face was beaming as the speaker droned on.  I kept

stealing looks back at him, and sure enough, through the whole thing he

had this beatific smile.



	Our home was near enough to the ward that we walked home.  I

remember walking with my father on the shoulder of the road that wasn't

then paved.  I kicked a stone ahead of me as I plotted what I would do

next.  I finally got up enough courage to ask him what he thought of

the meeting.  He said it was wonderful.



	Now I really had a problem.  My father had a wonderful sense of

humor, but you didn't want to push it too far.  I was puzzled.  I was

trying to summon up enough courage to ask him how I could have such a

different opinion of that meeting and that speaker.



	Like all good fathers, he must have read my mind because he

started to laugh.  He said: "Hal, let me tell you something.  Since I

was a very young man, I have taught myself to do something in a church

meeting.  When the speaker begins, I listen carefully and ask myself

what it is he is trying to say.  Then once I think I know what he is

trying to accomplish, I give myself a sermon on that subject." He let

that sink in for a moment as we walked along.  Then, with that special

self-deprecating chuckle of his, he said, "Hal, since then I have never

been to a bad meeting."



	I don't suppose he used all of the steps I have described to you. 

He may very well have prayed for that speaker.  Over a lifetime he had

studied.  When he knew what the speaker was trying to say, he had a

deep well to go to so he could give himself that sermon.



	My father was the kind of man who would have listened to that high

council visitor.  If he had felt a little pricking in his heart to do

something, Dad would have done it.  He could listen to anybody.  He

used to embarrass me when we stopped to get gas because he would seek

advice from the gas station attendant.  Dad would always treat him as

an equal.  Dad would say: "Look, I can learn something from anybody. 

They have had experiences I haven't had."



	I think you can have faith and confidence that you will never need

to hear an unprofitable sermon or live in a ward where you are not fed

spiritually. Wherever you are can always be a place in the kingdom

where the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants is not poetry but

pure description.  These words will be true for you when you are taught

in your home or in your apartment or in a class or in a council

meeting.  These words for you will simply be the truth.



	But that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even

the Savior of the world;



	That faith also might increase in the earth;



	That mine everlasting covenant might be established;



	That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and

the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers.

[D&C 1:20-23]



	What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not

myself, and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall

not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or

by the voice of my servants, it is the same. [D&C 1:38]



	I pray with my whole heart that we may listen together and that we

may have the gift of the Holy Ghost, both in our private search for

truth and as we sit at the feet of the servants of God wherever we may

be.



	I am blessed in my calling to sit at the feet of prophets.  I have

spent hours in their presence.  I bear you my testimony that Ezra Taft

Benson is God's prophet upon the earth.  I sit with him and hear him

speak on a wide variety of issues.  He is careful.  He speaks with

deliberation.  I have had the Spirit confirm to me that the words he

spoke were what the Lord would have him speak.



	Today I sat in a Sunday School class and heard a man who had

worked hard to prepare.  I heard him speak words that the Holy Spirit

also bore witness to me were true.



	I know God lives.  He is your Father and he loves you.  There are

some in this room who need to know that to him you are very important

and perfectly known.  I bear you my testimony that his son, Jesus

Christ, came into the world and atoned for our sins.  I testify that

the Atonement works.  If you will have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ

and repent and submit to the ordinances at the hands of those who have

authority and then receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, in time and by

your effort sins will be washed away and you can have confidence that

you can go again into the presence of your Heavenly Father.



	The Holy Ghost is real.  There is a still, small voice of truth

that can speak to you.  I pray with my whole heart that you have felt

it in some way this day, perhaps not while we have been together, but

when someone spoke to you in a meeting earlier today.  I pray that it

will happen again this evening.  If someone who is trying to serve you

calls you on the phone or speaks to you in some way, I hope you will

see their human kindness and their interest.  But beyond that, I hope

you will understand that God's servants are going out across the earth

called and empowered by him.  They can bring blessings and guidance and

help to you.



	I pray that will come to you this day and always, and I pray that

you will do all  you can to help it come.  I bear you this testimony

and pray these blessings for you and for myself in the name of Jesus

Christ.  Amen.





                 BE RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND



                          Patricia T Holland



	Patricia T Holland is the wife of BYU President Jeffrey R.

Holland.  This devotional address was given on 6 September 1988 in the

Marriott Center.



	If some of you left emotional mothers back home, joyfully

hysterical at seeing you leave for school, please know that there is

someone here who welcomes you in exactly the same way.  I delight in

the assignment of being your mother-away-from-home. (That's the joyful

part.) And of course I want each of you to come by and tell me when you

will be in each night. (That is the hysterical part!) Please know that

we love you and that we are happy you are back.



	Because of the very special family feeling we have here at BYU,

this campus can be your alma mater, literally your "fostering mother."

There is an army of people here anxious to nurture you in faith and

knowledge, to help you understand that Christ-centered learning will

give you an inner core of confidence and the strength to succeed in

life's tasks.



Be Your Own Best Friend



	I know something of the anxieties with which you start the school

year, so as you begin this fall, my deepest, most earnest wish for you

is that you will approach this year with peace and self-assurance--that

you will be more caring for yourself and as kind to yourself as you

would be to a friend in need.  You are in need, and you ought to be

your own best friend.



	Military historians tell us that an army can seldom fight a

successful war on two fronts.  Napoleon learned that lesson too late,

and we should make certain that we learn it in a less painful way than

he did.  We will always have some external battles to fight on an

exterior front--those battles of life that the Lord in his wisdom

allows us to face so we can grow and be purified and become skillful

problem solvers.  These "outside" problems might include a poor grade

in a difficult class or some dating frustrations or perhaps the very

real financial challenges you face.  My prayer for you is that such

troubles on the external front can be faced and finally conquered.



	However, the battle that many of you wage on an interior front

concerns me more than these external ones I have just mentioned.  Many

of us create a civil war within ourselves by internalizing problems of

fear, uncertainty, self-doubt, and worry--often over things we can do

preciously little about.  If we spend our time and energy worrying

about being too tall or too short or about our freckles and warts and

big noses, then I fear we are doomed to certain defeat.  The person who

is engaged in such a constant internal fight has little energy and

power left to win the outside battles.  To be successful in the many

skirmishes of life, you cannot afford to be your own worst enemy.  And

taking the battles inside--firing mortar shells into your very soul--is

potentially one of the most damaging of all human activities.  Believe

it or not, you can recover from poor grades or a missed date or a flat

tire and dead battery on the car.  But if you turn such outside matters

into self-recrimination and self-criticism, letting them damage your

spirit and your sense of self-worth and esteem, then you have begun a

battle with a very high mortality rate indeed.



Exercising Right Thinking



	When I was your age (and sometimes even now), there was often a

struggle over how I saw myself.  I was very "skilled" in the art of

pummeling myself.  I had a terrible habit of bringing problems inside

when, in fact, they should have been handled in practical, external

ways.  I seemed to have a real knack for fighting life's battles on two

or three or four fronts at once--and I took a lot of needless shrapnel

as a result.  So as an old casualty myself, I plead with you to make a

distinction between your problems and yourselves--there is a crucial

difference.  Problems can be painful and dark and disappointing--but we

are not painful and dark and disappointing.  We are children of God and

must see ourselves as God sees us, recognizing the positive in

ourselves, the part God loves so much, even as we work on what we may

think are our freckles and warts and blemishes and big noses.  You can

change how you see yourself.  You can! That is why a new year is so

exhilarating.  We have the opportunity to see things better than

before.  We can, as Shakespeare said, "Pluck from the memory a rooted

sorrow, Raze out the written troubles of the brain" (William

Shakespeare, Macbeth, act 5, sc. 3, lines 40-41).



	Dorothy Hulst has written,



	As the physically weak woman can make herself strong by careful

and patient training, so the woman of weak thoughts can make them

strong by exercising herself in right thinking.



	To put away [weak and negative thoughts] and to begin to think

with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only

recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment; and make all

conditions serve them, and who think strongly, attempt fearlessly, and

accomplish masterfully.  [Dorothy Hulst, As a Woman Thinketh, a

transcription for women of James Allen's essay As a Man Thinketh

(Marina Del Rey, California: DeVorss and Company), p. 41]



	I am pleading with you not to wait until you get to my age before

you understand this.  It is possible to live with all your power in the

present.  You can replace old doubts with new hopes.  So clean out that

closet in your mind and haul a load of needless negative baggage off to

D.I.



	You can begin by practicing just three simple exercises in right

thinking: (1) Remember that any failure is only temporary in the gospel

of Jesus Christ.  The decision to carry on in spite of disappointment

turns the worst circumstance into success. (2)  There can be no

self-pity--and that means no self-pity.  Nothing dissipates our

strength faster or more quickly drives away those who would truly wish

to help us than self-pity. (3) Eliminate all "would haves," "could

haves," "should haves," and "if onlys." What has happened is past and

finished.  Leave it there.  Profound power will come in living and

making things right in the present.



Be Patient in Your Pursuit



	I have not only lived long enough now to believe that God gives us

weaknesses so they may become strengths, but I have also lived long

enough to see that promise from the book of Ether fulfilled (see Ether

12:37).  I have lived long enough to see some of my earlier limitations

become my greatest blessings.  I have also seen growth in areas in

which I didn't particularly want any strength--but growth which a

loving Father in Heaven knew I surely must have needed.



	To recognize areas of vulnerability and needed growth in our life

is to recognize a chance for divine influence.  I have loved this

thought: If you are willing to serenely bear the trial of personal

disappointment and weakness, then you will be for Jesus a pleasant

place of shelter. (Quoted by M. Scott Peck ' M.D., in Further Along the

Road Less Traveled [New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988], cassette

recording.)



	I think the Lord is looking for people who are truly contrite. 

Humility is very becoming to any of us, and humility comes from an

honest and balanced recognition of both our limitations and our

strengths.  But I also think that the Lord will not be particularly

comfortable dwelling with a person who (to the exclusion of all other

joys and blessings in life) ponders continually his or her problems,

who is obsessed and finally immobilized by them, who hasn't learned to

bear those limitations serenely.  That isn't humility, it is

near-blasphemy.  When you dwell on your limitations excessively, to the

point that they affect your inner view and strength, you mock God in

his very creation.  You deny the divinity within you.  You resist the

gift of Christ on the cross.  So be patient in your pursuit of

perfection.



Conversation with Ourselves



	May I close with one very practical approach to a new beginning. 

Brother James T. Duke of our faculty recently wrote a provocative and

inspiring article for the Ensign.  In it he said,



	I often discussed with my sociology students the work of George

Herbert Mead, a great analyst of human behavior.  George Mead was

especially interested in the human mind and in the way it operates....

According to Mead, thinking is essentially a conversation we hold with

ourselves. "We can hear ourselves talking, and the import of what we

say is the same to ourselves [as] it is to others." (Mind, Self, and

Society, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1934, P. 62.) James T.

Duke, "Drawn Out in Prayer Continually," Ensign, February 1987, p. 25]



	That is a profound idea! We all talk to ourselves, don't we? Then

why don't we improve the quality of the conversation? I am constantly

saying, "I wonder if my alarm will go off? Will Duffy get the teachers

he wants this year in school? Yes, I know I should start exercising.  I

do hope the Lord will forgive me for eating mocha-flavored ice cream."



	If that kind of thinking is simply a conversation with

ourselves--and it is--why not turn it just a bit more into a

conversation with God? To do so, in essence, is to fulfill the

scriptural injunction to pray continually.  As Brother Duke says, "My

thoughts become more meaningful and more holy when I direct them toward

[my] Father [in Heaven]" (Duke, "Drawn Out in Prayer," p. 25).



	When I follow that practice, my self-talk becomes more lofty, more

encouraging, and it loses the ingredients of fear and doubt.  I find

myself shifting my thinking this way:



	"Father in Heaven, please let me awaken on time to a full,

pleasant day Bless Duffy, as well as Matt and Mary, that they will have

a superb academic experience this year.  Grant me the discipline to

improve my health with a good physical fitness program.  And please

forgive my mocha-flavored ice cream, unless of course thou canst see

fit to approve of it."



	Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "Be renewed in the spirit of your

mind.... Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but

that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace

unto the hearers" (Ephesians 4:23,29).  Edify and minister grace unto

your hearers--especially when every waking hour of the day that hearer

is you.



	The result of that kind of personal conversation can bring, for

virtually all of us, near-perfect inner peace and a much more positive

view of those outward battles we face.  Best of all, we win no longer

fight on two fronts; we will focus our strength on the kinds of battles

God very much prefers that we fight.



	As Paul said in another setting, "Therefore if any man be in

Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all

things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).  Welcome to a new year and

what can be literally a new life in Christ, where all things become new

and old things pass away.  I bear my testimony of this and leave my

love, in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                  AT THEIR MOST ENLIGHTENED AND ALERT



                          Jeffrey R. Holland



Jeffrey R. Holland is the ninth president of Brigham Young University. 

This devotional talk was given on 6 September 1988 in the Marriott

Center.



	Welcome back to school.  As Sister Holland has said, we love you

and miss you when you are away, and we are praying for you to have a

bright and beautiful year together.  Work hard.  Learn much.  Make your

opportunities count.  And do come in on time at night, but don't come

by our house to tell us.



Another Election Year



	This first semester of our brand-new academic year, it should be

duly noted, is going to be spiced up by a national presidential

election.  It is now the first week of September, the conventions are

over, and we have nine weeks to the day to go.  And we know only two

things for certain: first, that as Reinhold Niebuhr once said, "Man's

capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to

injustice makes democracy necessary" (The Children of Light and the

Children of Darkness, 1944).  Democracy is indeed, in that sense, still

"on trial."  The civic loyalty and involvement of our people is its

fundamental appeal and its only protection.  Take your responsibilities

seriously, document and discuss the issues, and cast your vote if you

are of age. (And almost all of you are.) Democracy only works if you

do.  That's the first thing we need to know in an election year.  The

second thing we know is that the humorists are going to have a heyday,

and indeed already are.



	Americans love to joke about their public figures.  Thomas E.

Dewey is said to have been the first presidential casualty of a

political joke when, in the campaigning of 1948, some comedian said he

looked like he had just fallen off a wedding cake.  Now you are all too

young to have even seen pictures of Governor Dewey, but with his

impeccable dark suits and pencil-thin mustache, that is exactly how he

looked-and people laughed.  President John E Kennedy may not have

laughed, however, when Bob Hope kept snickering about his youth.  Mr.

Hope said they had served milk at Kennedy's first cabinet meeting, but

it hadn't turned out well because they spent the next half hour just

burping each other.



	Comedians are especially tough on politicians who move from

unknown to nationally famous in an instant, like Senator Dan Quayle,

for example.  Now, regardless of your personal political persuasion,

you have to admit that Senator Quayle has been the object of plenty of

"fowl" jokes.  Mark Russell said he didn't know whether the ticket of

"Bush and Quayle" was the title of a hunting magazine or the name of an

English pub.  Nevertheless, Republicans are insisting that this ticket

is the nation's best possible insurance against turning back the clock

to those bitter days of the sixties when this country was torn apart

over the war in Indiana.  It was absolutely terrible, says Russell--the

bombing of Indianapolis, the mining of harbors along the Ohio River,

crawling through those jungles just outside Gary and South Bend.  But

Jay Leno has defended Senator Quayle's military service devoutly.  He

said National Guardsmen are necessary, even though all they can do is

"sit around waiting for something to happen.  If that isn't training

for the vice presidency, I don't know what is."



	Military service aside, many feel that Senator Quayle has distinct

advantages over his Democratic counterpart, Senator Lloyd Bentsen. 

Someone said that at least two things Quayle has that Bentsen doesn't

have are a hair blower and a discernible pulse.  Governor Dukakis'

advisers wanted him to pick a running mate who was less exciting than

himself, one not likely to overshadow him.  Inside sources say it came

down to either Senator Bentsen or Orville Redenbacher.



	As for the presidential candidates themselves, the comedians are

not a whit more reverential.  To them Bush is a wimp and Dukakis a

shrimp, with neither of them threatening Webster's or Calhoun's

reputations for oratory.  Mark Russell said he didn't think there was

enough caffeine in the whole world to keep us awake through these next

nine weeks. (I don't know where that leaves us at BYU.)



	Johnny Carson may have rendered the unkindest cut of all when he

said that Governor Dukakis was so confident he had already ordered

Phone Book One to sit on in the Oval Office.  Carson quickly noted,

however, that Dukakis had reason to be confident because after one of

Vice-President Bush's recent stem-winding addresses, a police officer

and the district attorney came up, drew a chalk outline around him, and

said no one could approach the podium until they had identified the

next of kin.



"He Built for Eternity"



	Well, enough of this nonsense.  There really is method in my

madness this morning.  In addition to the very important matter of a

presidential election year--and it is a very important matter, all

joking aside--BYU is also saluting in something of a final way the

bicentennial anniversary of the U.S. Constitution, the document William

Gladstone once described as "the most wonderful work ever struck off at

a given time by the brain and purpose of man" ("Kin Beyond Sea," North

American Review 127 [September/October 1878], p. 185).  In fact, BYU is

this very moment in the midst of producing a feature-length film on the

Constitutional Convention that will premiere on 30 April 1989, the

bicentennial anniversary of George Washington's inauguration as the

first and, arguably, the greatest of this republic's forty presidents.



	Surely when the Lord speaks in section 101 of the Doctrine and

Covenants of raising up "wise men" for the founding of this nation and

the establishment of constitutional government, he must have been

speaking first and foremost of George Washington.  As unassuming as he

was, Washington's impact on the new republic and on the framing of its

government was greater than that of any other living man.  His prestige

as the victorious colonial general was immense, and his character, his

very presence, inspired confidence.



	Note this language used by a journalist of the day to describe

Washington's arrival for that first inauguration.  It is unclear

whether the writer is describing royalty or deity



	It is impossible to do justice ... to ... the Scene exhibited on

his Excellency's approach to the city.  Innumerable multitudes thronged

the shores, the wharves, and the shipping--waiting with ...

anticipation his arrival....



	This great occasion arrested the publick attention beyond all

powers of description.... All ranks and professions expressed their

feelings, in loud acclamations, and with rapture hailed the arrival of

the FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY...



	The Scene . . . was ... beyond any descriptive powers of the pen

to do justice to--How universal ... the sentiments of respect and

veneration! "All ranks [exclaimed,] "WELL, HE DESERVES IT ALL!"



	The spontaneous [expressions] of gratitude..... are the highest

reward that virtue enjoys....



	Many persons . . . were heard to say, that they should now die

contented--nothing being wanted to complete their happiness ... but the

sight of the Saviour of [their new nation]. [From the Connecticut

Courant of 4 May 1789, in Everett Carll Ladd, The American Polity (New

York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1987), pp. 72-73]



	That was written two hundred years ago.  Two hundred years later

the adulation is still nearly the same in both tone and content. 

Listen to this from a resolution passed by Congress and read by the

president of the United States on the two-hundredth anniversary of

Washington's birth:



	Washington has come to personify the American Republic.  He

presided over the convention that framed our Constitution.  The weight

of his great name was the deciding factor in securing its adoption by

the States.  These results could never have been secured had it not

been recognized that he would be the first President.  When we realize

what it meant to take 13 distracted colonies, impoverished, envious,

and hostile, and weld them into an orderly federation under the

authority of a central government, we can form some estimate of the

influence of this great man....



	We have seen many soldiers who have left behind them little but

the memory of their conflicts; but . . . the power to establish among a

great people a form of self-government which the test of experience has

shown will endure was bestowed upon Washington, and Washington

alone.... His was the directing spirit without which there would have

been no independence, no Union, no Constitution, and no Republic. His

ways were the ways of truth.  He built for eternity.  His influence

grows.  His stature increases with the increasing years.  In wisdom of

action, in purity of character, he stands alone. We can not yet

estimate him.  We can only indicate our reverence for him and thank the

Divine Providence which sent him to serve and inspire his fellow men.

[Handbook of the George Washington Appreciation Course for Teachers and

Students (Washington, D.C.: U.S. George Washington Bicentennial

Commission, 1932), pp. vii-viii]



	To co-opt a line from James Madison regarding those crucial times,

George Washington "decided] forever the fate of Republican government"

(Ladd, The American Polity, p. 73).



	I have gone to some length this morning to pay tribute to

Washington for at least two reasons.  The first is because he is a

genuine hero, and I have always wanted to make some public expression

about the truly remarkable man I believe he was.  I think we may never

fully appreciate the magnitude of his impact upon those neonatal days

of this nation when it could have so easily died aborning.



	The second reason is to draw all of this closer to home, to see

what lessons Washington and his age have for us here at the start of

another school year at BYU.  To make that transition I quote a recent

BYU visitor, political pundit and journalistic gadfly Garry Wills. 

Said he:



	[In an election year] we get the presidents we deserve.  A great

people is what you need for a great president.  Washington was the

greatest president, because the people were at their most enlightened

and alert. [America] right now is escapist.  It wants to be soothed,

and told it doesn't have to pay or sacrifice or learn. ["Things That

Matter," Vis a Vis, July 1988,



	p.	70; emphasis added]



	Now our jokes about candidates and campaigns leave a bit of a

taste in our mouths.  Can that possibly be true, that the people made

Washington great? That they, as well as he, were "at their most

enlightened and alert"? What does that mean for a university,

especially for Brigham Young University? I know it means there must be

no concession to escapism here, that we must not be "soothed" regarding

sacrifice and learning.  This university was born out of pioneer effort

and anguish.  We have a century-long tradition here of asking very much

of those who come, and we are asking more and more every year.  We

intend to be a great people here.  We intend be one of the great

universities of the world, a unique university whose light casts a very

special gospel glow.  But to do that, to become that, will require the

commitment and loyalty of every one of us.  As Ben Franklin said at the

fateful signing of the declaration that started it all, "We must all

hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately" (to John

Hancock, on signing the Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776). 

This is still true, two hundred and twelve years and two months and two

days later in Provo, Utah.



Knowledge Wedded to Virtue



	Study diligently this year.  You owe it to both your prophetic and

political ancestors.  The inestimable Thomas Jefferson said, "If a

nation expects to be ignorant and free . . . , it expects what never

was and never will be" (letter to Colonel Charles Yancey, 6 January

1816).  That sounds very much like something revealed through our own

Joseph Smith--that men and women cannot be saved in ignorance, and

indeed, that they can be saved no faster than they gain knowledge (D&C

131:6; Teachings, p. 217).



	The Prophet Joseph, who shortly before his untimely death had

determined to run for the office of president of the United States,

said to all of us at BYU:



	Thy mind, O man! if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must

stretch as high as the utmost heavens, and search into and contemplate

the darkest abyss, and the broad expanse of eternity....



	... Your minds will expand wider and wider, until you can

circumscribe the earth and the heavens, . . . and contemplate the

mighty acts of Jehovah in all their variety and glory. [Teachings, pp.

137,163]



	This university is one of the "mighty acts of Jehovah," so far as

I am concerned, and we need to pledge to it our devout and loyal

citizenship.  "Just say no" to some pleasures and some distractions. 

Be a little more serious about the responsibilities you have here. 

Stretch your minds, study, and pray.  Learn what great people must

always learn.  Seek wisdom out of the best books.  Seek it "by study

and also by faith" (D&C 88:118).  Have appropriate fun at a great time

in your life, but do not wish to be soothed in the rigor of a superior

education.  If we are to be all God wants us to be, we must be "at our

most enlightened and alert."



	Brigham Young, who did not run for president of the United States

but for a brief moment did run from one, said,



	All the knowledge, wisdom, power, and glory that have been

bestowed upon the nations of the earth, from the days of Adam till now,

must be gathered home to Zion. [JD 8:279]



	Put forth your ability to learn as fast as you can, and gather all

the strength of mind and principle of faith you possibly can. [JD

8:146]. Learn everything that the children of men know. [JD 16:77]



	Take pains and pride to ... rear your children so that the

learning and education of the world may be theirs. [JD 12:326]



	Whether building countries or wilderness cabins, whether crossing

the Delaware or the American desert, the Founding Fathers of this

nation and the prophets of the Restoration knew that ignorance as the

enemy, literally and profoundly a tool of the adversary.  "The glory of

God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.  Light and

truth forsake that evil one" (D&C 93:36-37).  "If men would be great in

goodness, they must be intelligent" (Brigham Young, Manuscript History

of the Church, manuscript in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

Saints Archives, Salt Lake City, 22 September 1851, vol. 21, p. 88). 

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was

and never will be."



	Of course, from the earliest beginnings of Western civilization,

it has always been understood that knowledge had to be wedded to

virtue, that mere information untempered by qualities of justice and

mercy and duty and compassion could leave one simply a sophisticated

barbarian in the end.





"Live Appropriately"



	Perhaps the greatest essayist ever to put pen to paper wrote, "To

compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win,

not battles and provinces, but order and tranquillity in our conduct. 

Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately" (Donald M.

Frame, trans., The Complete Essays of Montaigne [Stanford: Stanford

University Press, 1958], pp. 850-51; emphasis added).



	That is true whether one speaks of founding a republic or pursuing

a university degree.  So is this from the brilliant Edmund Burke:



	Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their

disposition to put moral chains on their own appetites.... Sociey

cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be

placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there

must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things,

that men of intemperate minds cannot be free.  Their passions forge

their fetters. [The Works of the Right Honorable Edmund Burke, vol. 4

(Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1889), pp. 51-52; emphasis added]



	That was said, for all intents and purposes, at the very hour this

nation was being born, but it sounds like something someone would say

today at BYU.  Who would speak that way? Joseph Smith? Or Brigham

Young? Or Karl G. Maeser? Or Ezra Taft Benson? Or your freshman English

teacher? All of them would say it.  Ignorant, intemperate minds and

behavior are the enemies to all true possibility--social, intellectual,

and theological.  On the other hand, educated, disciplined, virtuous

lives are the mark and hope of true godliness, true strength, and

freedom--in this life and forever.



	We want you to feel a genuine sense of freedom at BYU, but that

can only come with an appreciation for the moral expectations and

academic standards we have cultivated here for more than one hundred

years.  You are absolutely free--perfectly free--Founding-Father and

George-Washington free to embrace the vision of this university

established by apostles and prophets, and agreed upon by this community

in common consent.  We plead with you to seize fully and luxuriate in

that opportunity.  At BYU you are free to become more than you can

become at any other university in the world--but then you know, of

course, that I am very biased.  "To compose our character is our duty

... and to win, not battles and provinces, but order and tranquillity

in our conduct.  Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live

appropriately."



	Such public and personal virtue was understood by the Founding

Fathers to be the precondition for republican government, the base upon

which the structure of all government would be built.  Such personal

ideals as John Adams' "virtuous citizen" and Thomas Jefferson's "moral

sense" and "aristocracy of talent and virtue" were fundamental.  Even

the pessimistic James Madison said,



	I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have

virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom.  Is there

no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. 

No theoretical checks, no form of government, can render us secure.  To

suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness

without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. [20 June 1788,

in The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the

Federal Constitution, arr.   Jonathan Elliot, vol. 3 (Philadelphia: J.

B. Lippincott, 1901), pp. 536-37]



To Be Honorable



	We have a code of honor at BYU, and I invite you to join with us

this year in discussing and enhancing it.  I especially invite you to

join with your BYUSA officers in reviewing this code, examining its

tradition and meaning, and reexamining its premises and its promises. 

If as a university community it is possible, as some are already

helping us consider, to write a yet better expression of what it means

to be honorable here, we will do so.



	Inasmuch as this is your code, and it is the broad basis upon

which we form a moral community at BYU, it is important for you to

understand it and come to feel a sense of personal ownership for it. 

It means much more than keeping your hair trimmed and well groomed, and

more than dressing modestly and cleanly, though we expect that of every

one of you.  Surely all can understand why shorts and miniskirts and

sloppy clothing and bizarre hair fashions are inappropriate at BYU.  We

want a clean, modest, dignified appearance because we stand for

something here.  We are not a high school and we are not just any

university.  At BYU, disciplined appearance represents an external

aspect of a much more important and sacred inner discipline.  Perhaps

good grooming and modest, clean clothing are for BYU what some

religions speak of as symbolic sacraments--"an outward sign of an

inward grace." And that "inward grace" ought to be dealing with what

Jesus called "the weightier matters of the law." These include honesty

and chastity and integrity and service--the consequential issues of the

Honor Code.



	Be honest in class and out.  Be women and men of integrity with

your teachers, your roommates, your bishops, and yourselves.  Don't

cheat on an exam or steal a bicycle or backpack and then stand in

slack-jawed wonder when a high-ranking government official commits

espionage or a wealthy businessman goes to jail for embezzlement.



	How true it is that our destinies are decided by nothings and that

a small imprudence helped by some insignificant accident, as an acorn

is fertilized by a drop of rain, may raise the trees on which perhaps

we and others shall be crucified. [Henri Frederic Amiel, Journal, 9

April 1856, tr.  Mrs. Humphry Ward]



	Be clean in thought and word and deed.  I told you last winter how

strongly I feel about the symbols and sacraments of human intimacy. 

That intimacy is not yours to violate, and you do so at your peril.  It

will never matter at BYU if we have immaculate buildings and manicured

grounds and clean clothing and well-groomed hair if in our inner selves

we are, as Christ once said to the hypocritical, "like unto whited

sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full

of dead men's bones, and . . . uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27).



Steven Blake's Sacrifice



	I started with George Bush and Michael Dukakis and went on to

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.  That is all pretty heady

company for us here in Utah County.  Let me end on a more local note,

with one brand of BYU citizenship much closer at hand.  I tell this

story for its virtue, not for sensationalism or sentimentality.



	Last Tuesday, just one week ago this very hour, Steven Eugene

Blake was buried, a twenty-one-year-old sophomore, son of faculty

member and friends Reed and Katie Dean Blake.  Steven was a BYU student

majoring in just about everything, one who believed in learning and

virtue and sacrifice.  He interrupted his university experience to

serve a mission, as so many of you will do or have done, and he served

with devotion and faith and immense enthusiasm.



	Two months to the day after returning from his mission, as Steven

was preparing to reenter BYU, he witnessed a terrible accident at 225

West 2230 North in Provo, Utah.  Two employees of a local company were

erecting a large metal sign near that street.  Unfortunately, the

mechanical boom they were operating from their service truck came in

contact with the mega-sized 7200-volt power line that runs along 2230

North.  When that current flashed down the boom to the truck, the

employee working near it was immediately knocked unconscious, falling

onto the electrified ground wire and onto other perhaps now highly

charged metals that were nearby.  The other employee, who had been

operating the boom and had barely jumped to safety, called for medical

assistance and then tried to free his colleague from the current.



	Driving by this scene was Mr. Enthusiasm himself--big, handsome,

fun-loving Steven Blake, BYU student, returned missionary, citizen.  A

wrestler and football player in high school, Steven, knowing that a

human life was at stake, but perhaps not realizing that life would be

his own, stopped his car and joined the employee in trying to muscle

his colleague away from contact with the penetrating voltage.  In doing

so, both men were immediately knocked unconscious, the employee falling

away from the truck but Steven falling forward onto the wire and highly

charged soil near the rear of the truck.  His body immediately began to

convulse from the relentless electrical pulse surging through him.



	Another valiant Samaritan happening by, Dave Conley of Salt Lake

City, then tried to rescue Steven, but was immediately knocked back. 

He fell unconscious, free from the electrical field.



	Emergency medical personnel soon arrived but were unable to free

Steven from the current until after the power had finally been shut

off.  For some seventeen minutes Steven Blake--BYU student, returned

missionary, citizen--lay with 7200 volts pounding through his muscular

frame.



	I sat in the Edgemont Fifth Ward Chapel one week ago this very

moment and thought of Steven and thought of you and thought of the

beginning of new school terms for us and for him.



	"A great people is what you need for a great university," to

paraphrase Mr. Wills.  "Not those who wish to escape, or be soothed,

but a people willing to pay and sacrifice and learn." Steven Blake's

sacrifice seems an immense one this morning as I look at you and look

at his family who are here with us.  We could speak of what one should

and should not do when a lethal electrical current is exposed and in

force.  But that is not my purpose.  My purpose today is only to pay

tribute to "virtuous citizenship": "Greater love hath no man than this,

that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).



	I tell this story this morning for its Christian significance on a

campus where we pledge and profess Christian belief.  I submit to you

that our effort this year must be perhaps different in degree but not

in kind from the effort that a ragged bunch of irregulars made during a

winter at Valley Forge, that a beleaguered band of pioneer outcasts

made in these valleys for the privilege of freedom and worship and

growth, and that Steven Blake made on behalf of seventy-year-old Johnny

Wakamatsu.  I submit to you that your devotion to your educational

opportunity and the life of service that must follow it is to be

different in degree but not in kind from that gift given by the Son of

God himself, made for friend and foe alike--none of whom could possibly

have comprehended the full meaning and majesty of the privilege he was

providing them.  In this academic year of presidential elections and

bicentennial celebrations, I salute you, the students of Brigham Young

University who have chosen to educate your minds, discipline your

appetites, and serve, indeed sacrifice for your fellow men and women.



	God bless you for being the generation you are, "fair as the moon,

clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners" (D&C 109:73). 

God bless you for wanting to be at your "most enlightened and alert,"

for preparing to live as "a great and glorious masterpiece." I pray for

every blessing upon you this year as you strive to fill that full

measure of your creation, in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                            MAKING MEMORIES



                            John Sonnenberg



	Elder John Sonnenberg is a member of the Second Quorum of the

Seventy.  This fireside address was delivered on 25 September 1988 in

the Marriott Center.



	Sensing the importance of this occasion and knowing how valuable

your time is, I have decided to speak upon a subject that is vastly

important to all of us--that of making memories.



Early Times



	It was forty-eight years ago that my brother and I arrived in this

beautiful valley from Chicago, Illinois, and enrolled as freshmen at

BYU.  We were two bewildered young men as we gazed at those majestic

mountains surrounding this valley.  As newcomers from the fertile

flatlands and cornfields of the Midwest, we were warmly welcomed by

friendly students, most of whom were members of the Church.  Our

parents wanted us to be in a spiritual setting that would enhance our

academic pursuits, so they encouraged us to come to Provo for our

college education.



	My parents, as well as my brother and sister and I, were born in

Germany.  I was born in the city of Schneidemuhl. (I've always had a

hard time trying to spell that name.  Now if any of you can spell it, I

think you are deserving of a degree from BYU.) Today, the name of the

city has been changed to Pila, and it lies behind the Iron Curtain and

is part of Poland.  Because of escalating financial problems, and at

the suggestion of the local priesthood leaders, many of the LDS people

immigrated from Germany to the United States.



	Upon arriving in the United States, we faced the devastating

depression of 1929.  We left unbelievable spiraling inflation in

Germany and were immediately tossed into an economic depression in this

country.  Jobs were scarce, and my mother became the breadwinner as my

dad looked anxiously day after day for work without success.  He was

unemployed for several years, and this caused him great discomfort.



	As Nephi of old proclaimed, I was born of goodly parents.  My

father and mother were humble, prayerful, and obedient convert members

of the Church.  They always followed the counsel of the Church leaders. 

Their loyalty to the prophet and priesthood leaders was firmly rooted

in their testimonies.  They urged us to get as much education as

possible--primarily because they had so little formal education

themselves.  They worked hard and long to help pay for our education,

and I shall always be grateful for their sacrifice in our behalf.



	Sister Sonnenberg and I have been blessed with seven children.  In

fact, six of them have received their degrees here.  Their companions

have also attended BYU, and so we are indebted to you, the

administration, the faculty, and the Church for your contributions

toward their academic pursuits.  In turn, our children have blessed us

with thirty-two grandchildren, and we hope, President Holland, that you

will have room for them and can do for them what your predecessors have

done for us.



Precious Experiences



	Since receiving the call to be a General Authority on October 6,

1984, I've had the opportunity to labor among the Saints as a member of

the European area presidency with Elders Joseph B. Wirthlin and Russell

C.  Taylor. It was a choice experience to labor and serve among the

Saints in the countries of Europe and Africa.  We've witnessed much

growth in this area.



	I would like to share with you some of the memories and

experiences we had while serving in Europe.  As we toured the Portugal

Lisbon Mission, I recall hearing the story of Sister Asencao Frango. 

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin has also told her conversion story in a

conference address in October 1986.  Sister Frango lived in the city of

Funchal, on Madeira Island.  She had been a nun for twenty years.  As a

matter of fact, she was a mother superior at a home for poor children

and orphans.  Hearing of the gospel of Jesus Christ, she attended her

first meeting in a member's garage with a dirt floor, but the spirit of

the meeting touched her heart.  The elders began teaching her the

gospel, and she listened.  She read the Book of Mormon and gained a

strong testimony.  Later she requested to be baptized.  A year later

she went to the Swiss Temple to receive her endowments.  Since becoming

a member of the Church, she has found a new dimension of happiness and

purpose to life.



	In Cardiff, Wales, we held a regional conference in St. David's

Hall with Elders Boyd K. Packer and Neal A. Maxwell of the Council of

the Twelve.  The Saints from the Bristol area were also invited.  The

attendance was so large that we had to hold two sessions.  The Spirit

of the Lord prevailed as the members and visitors were enlightened by

the testimony of these two special witnesses of Christ.



	On another occasion, President Thomas S.  Monson and his wife,

Francis, came to Salzburg, Austria, for a regional conference.  Over

4,000 Saints assembled in the concert hall, the Neues Grosfestspiel

Haus, to hear an apostle of the Lord.  It was the largest gathering of

Saints in Austria.



	Sister Sonnenberg and I were also privileged to attend the

dedication of the Freiberg Temple.  There we witnessed the gathering of

a few thousand Saints who had come to participate in this great event. 

Most of them were from Germany, but some came from neighboring

countries.  The Freiberg Temple is beautiful, and the Saints in this

area made many sacrifices for and in behalf of those coming to the

temple.  Food and commodities were purchased months in advance by the

local sisters in preparation for a dinner for the Brethren who would be

attending the dedication.  They were honored to have in attendance at

the dedication President Hinckley and Elder Thomas S. Monson and their

companions, and several members of the First Quorum of the Seventy

along with their companions.



	We witnessed the faith and dedication of these members of the

Church.  We heard their testimonies and their expressions of gratitude. 

We're grateful for the influence that they have had on our lives.



	At the conclusion of the cornerstone laying and the dedication of

that beautiful holy temple, we found it as difficult to say auf

wiedersehen as they did.  But the bus was waiting-tears filled their

eyes as they waved their clean white handkerchiefs as a farewell

gesture in hopes of a return visit.  As we drove away, we looked back

at the Saints as they lingered on the temple grounds.  We thanked the

Lord silently for this glorious spiritual experience--another memory.



	From there, we had the opportunity of traveling with President

Hinckley and Elder Monson to Friedricksdorf, where they broke ground

and dedicated the land for the building of the first temple in West

Germany We also had the privilege of attending the open house of a

beautiful temple in Sweden.



	These precious experiences with the Saints of other countries have

caused us to thank the Lord for his mercies unto the people of these

lands and to us.  As I think about these beautiful edifices that are

being dedicated unto the Lord for the purpose of performing his sacred

ordinances, I am reminded of a revelation found in D&C 131:1-4, which

the Lord gave to the Prophet Joseph Smith in Ramus, Illinois, on July

12, 1843:



	In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees;



	And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this

order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of

marriage];



	And if he does not, he cannot obtain it.



	He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom;

he cannot have an increase.



	It is interesting to note that this revelation was given in a town

that no longer exists.  Section 130 of the Doctrine and Covenants was

also given in Ramus, Illinois.  Whether or not the town exists is of

little importance.  However, the revelations that came to the Prophet

Joseph Smith there are applicable all over the world and will bless the

Lord's children in every country where temples have been built.



	The Saints who attend the temple are trained and taught the higher

ordinances of the gospel.  President Spencer W. Kimball said that

"temples are built, in the first place, for the living and then for the

dead." Temples promote a spirit of love in the family, in the home, in

the missionary work, and for those who receive the endowment.  They

enhance the spirit of service and reverence.  They enhance the spirit

of obedience to the commandments and covenants of the Lord.  Temples

also bring forth the spirit of sacrifice and the spirit of order.  You

are fortunate to have this beautiful temple in Provo, and I would

encourage you to attend as often as possible.



	Elder Boyd K. Packer said, "If we have participated in the

ordinances of the gospel and have made our covenants with our Father in

heaven, it does not really matter what other things we may have missed

in this life.... We have not lived in vain." All other things of the

world to other people will make no difference.



	As I reflect upon the many experiences we have had in the past

four years and cherish the memories we've made, I think of the

opportunities each of you have to make memories of your experiences

here at BYU.  If I could invite you to do some things that would

enlarge your perspective and strengthen your testimony, I would

encourage you to keep the commandments of the Lord.  In doing so, you

will make memories that will enrich your lives in countless ways.



	May I suggest that you first listen to the word of the Lord.  The

following revelation was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith as a voice

of warning to the Saints during a special conference of elders of the

Church in Hiram, Ohio, on November 1, 1831:



	Hearken, O ye people of my church, saith the voice of him who

dwells on high, and whose eyes are upon all men; yea, verily I say:

Hearken ye people from afar; and ye that are upon the islands of the

sea, listen together.



	For verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men, and there is

none to escape; and there is no eye that shall not see, neither ear

that shall not hear, neither heart that shall not be penetrated....



	And the voice of warning  shall  be  unto  all people, by the

mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days.



	And they shall go forth and none shall stay them, for I the Lord

have commanded them.



	Behold, this is mine authority, and the authority of my servants,

and my preface unto the book of my commandments, which I have given

them to publish unto you, O inhabitants of the earth....



	Wherefore the voice of the Lord is unto the ends of the earth,

that all that will hear may hear;



	Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is

nigh. [D&C 1:1-2, 4-6, 11-12]



Memories from the Pacific



	Recently we had the privilege of being in Samoa for its centennial

celebration.  It was one hundred years ago that Joseph Harry Dean and

his wife and infant son set foot on Anuu and began to preach the gospel

of Jesus Christ.  The centennial celebration marked the opening of the

Samoa Mission in 1888.  President Thomas S. Monson and Elder James E.

Faust of the Council of the Twelve invited Joyce and me to accompany

them on this historic occasion.



	Thousands of people filled the Apia Park Stadium in Western Samoa. 

You had to come early in order to get a seat.  The governor of Samoa

attended, as well as the Speaker of the House, the lieutenant governor

of American Samoa, and many other dignitaries and heads of state.



	As President Monson spoke, he stated that "when God speaks and man

obeys, that man will always be right." I watched the attentiveness of

those near me as they listened to him--also evident when Elder Faust

spoke.  As they spoke, I thought of the Lord's admonition: "Whether by

my own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same" (D&C

1:38).



	Then President Monson blessed the Saints by the power and

authority of his holy calling.  Thousands will be grateful for the

testimonies and blessings given by the Brethren.  The people came from

the islands of Tutuila, Upolu, and Savaii on this memorable occasion,

and their hearts were filled.  To us it was a most memorable

experience.



	You might be interested to learn that in Samoa there are now

50,699 members of the Church.  In June of 1888 Elder Joseph Harry Dean

accepted a call to serve the Lord as a witness of the restoration of

the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Polynesian people.  Since then, there

have been forty-one mission presidents and over 4,100 missionaries that

have served in Samoa, most of them local members.



	The first person to be baptized was a man by the name of Samuela

Manoa, a native Samoan who had waited twenty-five years for someone to

come and baptize him with power and authority and to administer in the

ordinances thereof.  Today there are eleven stakes of Zion, and it is

not uncommon to have 80 or 90 percent attendance at their stake

conferences.  The faith of these Polynesian Saints and their eagerness

to build the kingdom of God is commendable.



	Another memorable experience was in Micronesia in the islands of

Tarawa and the Gilbert Islands.  We felt the power of prayer in those

people's lives.  We witnessed the faith and dedication of the Saints in

Fiji, where harmony is displayed among the members of the Church. 

Because of the political unrest in this country, the government leaders

are asking, "How do you do it?"



	The Church is growing in Vanuatu.  Last year the branch president

and his counselor and their wives went to the New Zealand Temple to be

endowed and sealed.  It was at great personal sacrifice and it took all

of their savings.  In fact, one of them sold his car.  They couldn't

afford to take their children because of the expensive airplane fare. 

They also attended a magnificent pageant on the grounds of that

beautiful temple.  They returned to Port Vila in Vanuatu with added

dedication to build up the Church in that area.  Two local missionaries

have been called, and the work is expanding.  As we visited these

beautiful Melanesian people, we witnessed another miracle.  A cyclone

had swept through the island.  Huge trees were uprooted and many, many

buildings were destroyed, but the chapel was spared.  There was no

damage although two huge trees fell at the edge of the fence.



	We witnessed the protective hand of the Lord on Rarotonga Island

when a devastating cyclone severely damaged much of that island.  On an

emergency visit with President John Lasater, we saw how the Lord

preserved our chapels.  Cyclones are a way of life in the islands, but

so is faith.  The people's faith and courage are almost indescribable.



	We have frequently gone to Tonga.  On one visit we went to

reorganize the Nuku'alofa Tonga South Stake.  On Sunday evening

following stake conference they had a special fireside where the king

of Tonga was being honored on the occasion of his seventieth birthday

Members of the royal family as well as many other dignitaries from

several countries were in attendance.  The stake center was filled to

capacity with over 1,200 people.  Tongan music and the Spoken Word were

presented.  There was a Tongan choir of some 200 children, youth, and

adults.  At the appointed hour the king arrived and sat with regal

dignity on a special chair.  The king is head of the Wesleyan church. 

It was a wonderful experience to see and hear his granddaughter sing a

solo to him, "I Am a Child of God." That young girl also sang with the

choir and then sang, "I Love You, Grandpa." I think hearts were beating

a little faster that day as we all felt the influence of the Spirit.  I

hope, with the passing of time, those memories will always remain

fresh.



	Elder James E. Faust was in attendance.  Both he and I were asked

to speak, and we bore our testimonies.  After Elder Faust bore his

testimony, he felt impressed to bless the king.  The Saints and friends

of the Church felt the power and authority of one who was called of God

as a special witness.



	The king responded graciously.  At the conclusion of the fireside,

the king personally greeted Elder and Sister Faust and Sister

Sonnenberg and me and pronounced that Elder Faust is an apostle of the

Church.



	How grateful we were for the prayers and sustaining influence of

the Spirit.  Here was another choice experience that has been etched

into our memory book.



	The people of Polynesia have many talents and gifts.  There is a

great promise to the Polynesian people in 2 Nephi 10:21.  The scripture

says, "But great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon

the isles of the sea; wherefore as it says isles, there must be more

than this, and they are inhabited also by our brethren."



	Sister Sonnenberg and I have truly come to love these people who

are our brethren.



	Another memorable experience was when we toured the Tahiti Mission

along with President George Hilton, the mission president, his wife,

and Elder Victor Cave, the Regional Representative.  We had to fly down

to Rurutu Island, which is about three hours south of Papeete.



	As we arrived on this remote island, we were greeted warmly with

leis and love and sincere embraces.  It's their way of showing "thanks

for coming." As we drove along a lonely road, I learned that President

Hilton had served a mission here as a young man some thirty years

before.  Now the Lord had called him to be the mission president.  This

man had blessed the Saints and bore witness to them for two years.  To

come again to help them now was exciting for him.  He knew the

language, the people, the Saints, and the missionaries.  But most

important, he knew the Lord and was leading this mission with love,

kindness, and compassion.



	We went to a small, improvised meetinghouse and held a wonderful

testimony meeting.  Sister Mitiara, the district Relief Society

president, fed us and fed us and fed us. I wondered about the five

loaves and two small fishes spoken of in John 6:9.



	Sister Mitiara asked if we would visit her eighty-six-year-old

elderly mother who was ill.  At President Hilton's suggestion we went

to her little adobe home.  The outside of this humble home was

beautiful with colorful flowers by the front steps.  As we walked into

the home, we saw only one chair and a bed or two.  It was a very humble

setting.  Sister Mitiara's mother is not a member of the Church.  As we

walked into her bedroom, a sweet spontaneous smile came over her face. 

She spoke to us very quietly and with difficulty, but she recognized

Dr. George Hilton.  Her eyesight had been restored by him in Papeete

six months before when he performed delicate retinal surgery on her. 

President Hilton has restored the sight to many people both spiritually

and with his professional skills.  The operation was done free of

charge.  She now recognized him and expressed her thanks.  She then

asked if we could give her a blessing by the power of the priesthood. 

President Hilton and I blessed this sweet lady in the name of our

Savior, Jesus Christ.  She thanked us, quietly and sincerely



	We then flew to Tubuai--another tiny island in the Pacific that is

about an hour's flight from Rurutu.  It was here on this island that

Addison Pratt baptized the first convert in the Pacific, Ambrose

Alexander, on June 15, 1844, just twelve days before the Prophet Joseph

Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred in Carthage, Illinois. 

Addison Pratt was the first missionary to the South Pacific.  He was a

member of the Quorum of the Seventy and served valiantly to bring the

light of the gospel to the Polynesian people.  Today, we have over

252,000 members in the Pacific area, with fifty-eight stakes, eleven

missions, almost five hundred buildings, and five temples.  The Lord

has truly blessed these people.



	We have had many more memorable experiences that display courage,

faith, and perseverance.  We have seen and felt the love of the Maoris

in New Zealand.  Elder Matthew Cowley made a great contribution here,

and they have a great love for him.  The scripture "Trust in the Lord

with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In

all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs

3:5-6) describes his total commitment to these people and to the Lord.



	While touring the New Zealand Christ-church Mission with President

and Sister Dean Baxter, we were driving along a highway one day in a

van.  Two elders were in the front seat, the mission president and his

wife in front of us, and Sister Sonnenberg and I in the back of the

van.  As we were driving along, I asked the elders to stop a short

distance ahead so we could take a picture of some sheep grazing on the

lush grass.  We moved ahead about fifty yards and Sister Baxter got out

of the van to take a picture.  At that precise moment, unnoticed to us,

a camper passed us going in the opposite direction.  The camper stopped

about a block behind us.  At first the elders thought they were in

distress or had car trouble.  But to our amazement, while the rest of

us were still in the van, the mission president looked behind the back

seat and saw someone coming toward us.  He immediately noticed that it

was his brother and his wife.  They had come to tour the North and

South Island.  Here, on a lonely road in New Zealand, a brother meets

his brother from Utah.  There were, of course, warm and happy embraces. 

President Baxter had said that he wanted his brother to meet us, but

had wondered how this would ever be possible.  Oh, yes, the Lord

directs his servants.



	Our visits among the Saints have been happy ones, and we have

stored many memories of spiritual experiences.



	Perhaps I can best describe the faith and testimony of these

people by reading a poem by Shondelle Pratt.  She's a wonderful,

talented teenager.  She has the kind of faith that is reflective of the

Saints in Australia--a land that has been blessed abundantly by the

Lord.



	When the Savior came down to the earth,

	He said he'd come again.

	So we battled to stay righteous

	Through the wind and stormy rain.





	We kept the ten commandments,

	And all did so abide.

	But when he didn't come along,

	Some of us began to slide.



	Thru the stormy seas and billows

	Of life's stony-crusted path,

	We fought for straight and narrow,

	Hoping that he would embark.



	I've never, ever doubted,

	Though sometimes I've had to think.

	I know that he will come again--

	I'll never have to blink.



	It's hard to write a poem

	On a person some can't see

	And hear the things that he had done--

	One time it was for me.

	He struggled on that bloodied cross

	For all of us, you see.

	He did it so that we could live

	With him eternally.



	It's what my dreams describe him as

	That keeps my feelings clear

	And wants me to keep precious

	All the things that I hold dear.



	He has that special kind of face

	That shines for all to see

	And a special kind of wisdom

	That makes you want to be

	A person that's just like him,

	With love and patience sweet,

	And have all of his righteous ways

	From his head down to his feet.



	Someday I know I'll meet him,

	And all round will abide

	As one big happy family--

	I'll be right by his side.



	So just when life has let you down

	And tempers are debating,

	Don't take upon you worldly ways;

	Remember, someone's waiting.



	I have witnessed the gift of giving and the gift of gratitude. 

I've come to know some of the relatives and friends of Meli Mulipola

(although I don't know him personally) of whom President Monson speaks. 

Two Polynesian women helped Meli Mulipola to the village and led the

way.  He had lost his eyesight but had heard of the restoration of the

gospel.  His life conformed to the teachings of the Savior.



	One who held the sacred priesthood of God was visiting the small

island in the Pacific.  A blessing was given and tears fell from his

sightless eyes and upon his lavalava, or native dress.  He dropped to

his knees and prayed, "O God, thou knowest I am blind.  Thy servants

have blessed me that my sight may return.  Whether in thy wisdom I see

light or whether I see darkness all the days of my life, I will be

eternally grateful for the truth of Thy gospel, which I now see and

which provides the light of my life."



	As a General Authority, we are that to all the Church, whether in

South America, Asia, the United States, or the Philippines.  We should

have the same love and respect for all our brothers and sisters.  And

inasmuch as we have labored in Europe and the Pacific area, I elected

to recount some of our memorable experiences there.



As You Live, Learn All You Can



	The people of the Pacific and Europe are choice.  They sing

beautifully.  They have the gifts of courage, love, obedience, prayer,

and faith that we have witnessed among you.  They express and display a

loyalty to the prophets of God.  They are dedicated to serve their

fellowmen and will go the extra mile.



	As I think of the marvelous opportunities that you have here at

BYU, I think of your motto: "Enter to learn, go forth to serve." To

continually learn is part of the gospel plan.  In the thirteenth

article of faith it states: "If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or

of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." Your

education is an important part of your preparation for joy and service

in the Lord's kingdom.



	President Monson said:



	The past is behind you, honor it.

	The future is ahead, prepare for it.

	The present is here, live in it.



	As you live, listen to the voice of the Lord.  As you live, learn

all you can.  The more you listen, the more you learn, and the more

your opportunity to serve will be enhanced.



	The Lord has given many revelations concerning our learning

experiences.  Learn by studying the scriptures.  I like what the

scriptures teach us about learning:



	Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which

he suffered. [Hebrews 5:8]



	But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of

God. [2 Nephi 9:29]



	O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in

thy youth to keep the commandments of God. [Alma 37:35]



	Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea,

seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by

study and also by faith. [D&C 88:118]



	Your time at BYU is short.  I would say to you, "Relish the

moment." And I would couple that with Psalms 118:24, "This is the day

which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."



	President Spencer W. Kimball said, "In all the world, Brigham

Young University is the greatest institution of learning. . . . The

uniqueness of Brigham Young University lies in its special

role--education for eternity--which it must carry in addition to the

usual tasks of a university.  This means concern ... for not only the

'whole man' but for the 'eternal man'" (Education for Eternity, Brigham

Young University Speeches of the Year [Provo, 12 September 1967], p.

1).



	And in an address to the BYU faculty (12 September 1966, pp. 5-6),

President Ernest W. Wilkinson said,



	I hope this school can never be totally described in terms of

other universities, no matter how celebrated.  Fundamentally our roots

spring from Palmyra, rather than Cambridge.... If most institutions of

higher learning aspire to be only communities of scholars, we are

privileged to be also a congregation of disciples....



	My concern that men of letters and science at B.Y.U. be men of God

before anything else must not be construed to support the substitution

of rectitude rather than academic competence.... Our academic training

must be as impeccable as our lives.



	Listen, learn, live, and serve, and as you do so you will carve

out memories that will be etched into your heart and soul.





	One of our sons, Brent, expressed a thought of a commitment to

service:



	Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged,

sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the wrong. 

Sometime in life you will have been all of these.



	With a personal vision, you are in the driver's seat.  The

clarity, context, and focus that you develop is powerful.  Promise

yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. 

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.  To

make all your friends feel that they are special.  To look at the sunny

side of everything and make your optimism come true.  To think only of

the best, to work only for the best, and expect only the best. To be

just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your

own.  To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater

achievements of the future.  To wear a cheerful countenance at all

times and give every living creature you meet a smile.  To give so much

time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize

others.  To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for

fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.



	Our memories and experiences, our friendships and closeness that

we have developed will last with us wherever we go. In closing, let me

share with you a final thought for us all to consider:



	I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing

therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow

creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall

not pass this way again. [Attributed to Stephen Grellet, 1773-1855]



	I bear witness to you that this church is true, that Jesus is the

Christ, the Son of the living God.  I bear witness that the Book of

Mormon is the word of God.  I testify to you that President Ezra Taft

Benson is a living prophet.  I share my testimony with you, and bless

you by the power and authority vested in me.  I say this in the name of

Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                   A UNIQUE AND WONDERFUL UNIVERSITY



                          Gordon B. Hinckley



	Gordon B. Hinckley is First Counselor in the First Presidency of

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This devotional

address was delivered on 11 October 1988 in the Marriott Center.



	President Benson was scheduled to be here this morning.  He spoke

wonderfully in the general conference just concluded, but it was

wearisome for him.  He is now in his ninetieth year and does not have

as much energy as he once had.  Neither will you when you reach that

age--if you ever reach it.  I bring you his love and blessing.  He

asked me to fill his assignment this morning, and that is what

counselors are for.  I hope and pray for inspiration to say something

that will be helpful to you because I believe that we all need help.



A Great and Singular Institution



	I have been thinking of this great institution that you have the

rare privilege to attend.  This is a unique and wonderful university. 

It is unique because of its Church sponsorship.  It is wonderful

because of its quality.  A number of universities in this nation were

begun under the sponsorship of various churches.  They so continued for

a season, but most of them have drifted far from that mooring post. 

Some might have within their framework a school of theology, but its

influence is scarcely felt in the secular day-by-day operation of the

larger institution.



	Here, in contrast, the board of trustees is chaired by the

President of the Church.  It is chaired by him whom we sustain as a

prophet of God.  I know of no other university in all the world,

certainly not in this nation, whose governing board is chaired by a

prophet.  And I, with you, can sing, "We thank thee, O God, for a

prophet to guide us in these latter days" (Hymns, 1985, no. 19).





	This is certainly a major element in qualifying BYU as a unique

university.  The spirit of that direction filters down through the

board of trustees, the administration, the faculty, and the student

body.  As one who has sat on the board for many years, I know and

testify that the inspiration of the Lord is manifest in the

deliberations of that governing council.



	The board is made up of men and women who serve not because they

sought office or received a political appointment but because they were

"called." And they bring to that service only one desire that is to

consider policies that impact you, the students, in such a way as to

bless your lives with enrichment of opportunity and enlargement of

understanding.  In the meetings of the board there is freedom of

discussion.  Each member comes from a different background.  But there

is commonality in one thing, and that is that this is a

Church-sponsored institution designed and operated to stimulate and

encourage the acquisition of both secular and ecclesiastical knowledge

in an environment of spiritual values.



	I am satisfied that, as the years pass, and as we continue to

pursue this course, this university will become increasingly unique

among the universities of the nation and the world.  We must never lose

that uniqueness.  We must hold tenaciously to it.  Without it there

would be no justification whatever for sponsorship by the Church and

the use of the tithing funds of the Church to support it.



	The courses in religion that you take are all part of this

designed program.  I hope you feast upon this opportunity to grow in a

knowledge of the great, eternal things of God.



	The honor code to which you subscribe is also related to this.  It

is designed to insure the presence on this campus of a student body of

young men and young women with standards above the cut of the world at

large, ideals that are conducive to spiritual relationships and a

social atmosphere of respectability.  I hope you will not resent this

code of honor and its requirements.  Rather, I hope you will subscribe

to it whole-heartedly.  In so doing you will affect in a very positive

and meaningful way the distinctive quality of this university.



	I said at the outset that I regard this as a unique and wonderful

university I use that word wonderful in its literal sense--that is,

full of wonder.  Represented in this faculty is the accumulated wisdom

of all of the ages of mankind.  Whether their learning be in the

sciences, the humanities, theology, the law, or whatever, these people

have qualified themselves in the accumulated wisdom of the ages.  It is

not necessary that you experiment and stumble by personal experience

through mistakes and accomplishments of the past that have resulted in

a vast accumulation of knowledge.  The sum total of all of this is here

for you to acquire in a relatively short time under the direction of

able and dedicated teachers.



	This is the chief purpose of this wonderful institution--to pass

on to students in a stimulating and provocative and effective way the

wisdom of the ages in all fields of man's endeavors.  The process is at

times difficult.  I know the pressures are painful.  The stress is

unremitting.  But the rewards are tremendous.  When the Lord in

revelation invited us, yes, even commanded us, to "obtain a knowledge

of history, and of countries, and of kingdoms, of laws of God and man,

and all this for the salvation of Zion," he set the broad parameters of

the wonderful curriculum of this great and singular institution (D&C

93:53).  He also declared:



	Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be

instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the

law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God,

that are expedient for you to understand;



	Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth;

things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly

come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the

wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are

on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms. [D&C

88:78-79]



	We must never diminish that broad expanse of learning.  We must

constantly add to it as the knowledge of mankind increases across the

world.  This university must be in the forefront of such learning

because the Lord himself has marked the breadth and depth of that field

that is as vast as the universe and as complex as the human personality



Dr. Boyer's Appraisal



	I was not here for August commencement.  I was out of the country

at that time.  As you know, Dr. Ernest L. Boyer was honored and spoke

to the congregation.  Dr. Boyer is president of the Carnegie Foundation

for the Advancement of Teaching and former U.S. Commissioner of

Education.  At the risk of repeating some of the significant things he

said on another occasion, I wish to add a few comments from his

observations growing out of his experiences here at Brigham Young

University.  He is reported to have said,



	These days at BYU have been for Kay and me a time of special

inspiration and renewal.  During our time together, I have been

profoundly moved by the openness and candor of your communication, by

your commitment to the highest of academic standards, and by your love

of God and your reverence for all of his creation and, above all, by

your willingness and the willingness of your children to bring a

message of hope and reconciliation to a needy world. [Ernest L. Boyer

in an address to the BYU General Education Workshop, Provo, Utah, June

1988]



	I submit that this is a tremendous appraisal of this unique and

wonderful university I think Dr. Boyer would be the first to say that

his experience on this campus was different from that experienced

anywhere else.



	I repeat that I did not hear his enlargement of those

observations.  But I am going to take the privilege of making my own

comments on his outline.



	He stated that he had been "profoundly moved by the openness of

your communication."



	That says a great deal about the spirit of this institution.  It

speaks of the true atmosphere of a university where there is free and

open discussion and candor in expression.  We are sometimes accused of

being narrow and secretive.  Nothing could be further from the truth. 

We have nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to be embarrassed about.  Our

history, our actions, our programs are not such as to cause us

embarrassment when and if they are discussed in the full and true

context of the environment and time of their occurrence.



	Of course there are some things that are sacred to us that we do

not bandy about in open forums.  We are under no obligation to discuss

these in a secular atmosphere.  We are, as a matter of fact, under

strong obligation to hold them sacred and not expose them before the

world.



	However, these are few, and of no substantial concern to the

world.  But in matters that appropriately may be of concern to the

world as well as to ourselves, there can be openness and candor with

the full and certain assurance that when and if all the facts are known

there win be no reason for embarrassment and much cause for pride.



	If Dr. Boyer, out of his experience on this campus, was led to

compliment us on "the openness and candor" of our communication, then I

am greatly heartened.  I am grateful for his observation and his

expression.  It is evident that we are achieving one of the basic

purposes of a unique and wonderful university.



	He next observed "your commitment to the highest of academic

standards."



	That is a tremendous compliment.  And it says a remarkable thing

worthy of note by university officials across the land.  It says that

the pursuit of secular knowledge in an environment of spirituality is a

feasible and possible and desirable objective.



	On this campus we must have the highest of academic standards.  We

must be second to none.  That does not mean we are trying to copy some

other great institution.  It does mean that in the pursuit of our

academic goals we must not be sullied by lack of integrity as scholars,

but rather that we must pursue our quest for truth in a diligent and

excellent way without forsaking the perspective that comes of

recognition of God as the eventual source of all truth.  We must

acquire learning "by study and also by faith" as the Lord has

instructed us (D&C 88:118).



	In speaking of the highest of academic standards, has anyone a

more inspiring yardstick by which to measure the acquisition of

learning than that given by the Lord himself? "The glory of God is

intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth" (D&C 93:36).  Is not

that what we are after? Light and truth become the summum bonum of all

true learning.  One of my favorite verses of scripture is found in

section 50 of the Doctrine and Covenants:



	That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and

continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth

brighter and brighter until the perfect day. [D&C 50:24]



	I submit that in that one verse is found an expression of the

whole purpose of the pursuit of light and truth.  I am grateful that

Dr. Boyer felt constrained to compliment the university on our

commitment to the highest standards of academic excellence.  In so

doing he placed this institution in the company of the great

institutions of learning in all the world.  We must never let down nor

slacken our pace.  We must go forward in our unending search for light

and truth, whose author, I repeat, is the God of heaven whom we worship

"in spirit and in truth" John 4:24).



	I move now to Dr. Boyer's third statement: "Your love of God and

your reverence for all of his creation."



	Again, this is a tremendous recognition of a unique quality he

found on this campus.  That becomes, in effect, a restatement of the

Lord concerning the great commandments:



	Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all

thy soul, and with all thy mind.



	This is the first and great commandment.



	And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as

thyself. [Matthew 22:37-39]



	Love of God is basic.  It is the very foundation of true worship. 

It puts heart and soul and spirit into our lives.  It subdues arrogance

and conceit and greed.  It leads to love for all of God's creations. 

It leads to obedience to the second great commandment, love of

neighbor.  In the world in which we now live, that love of neighbor

finds expression not only in Christian acts of charity and kindness to

those in need, but in a larger sense includes a sacred regard for the

environment in which all men as neighbors across the earth must live.



	I am glad that Dr. Boyer recognized that spirit of love on this

campus.  We must give it preeminence.  We must never downgrade it or

belittle it or deny its importance.  It is of the very essence of our

faith and must be in the structure of all of our thinking.



	I come to his final comment, that he has been "profoundly moved

... by your willingness and the willingness of your children to bring a

message of hope and reconciliation to a needy world."



	We can never hold within ourselves the great blessings of light

and truth that have come to us from the Almighty.  Ours is an

obligation, a serious responsibility to carry to the world not only the

secular truth we acquire here, but also the great good news of the

gospel of Jesus Christ.  Ours is truly a message of hope and

reconciliation.  It is a word of hope for all mankind, a beacon of

eternal truth to which men may look as they lift their eyes and souls

to their Creator and in the process come to recognize their common

brotherhood.  That sense of brotherhood must bring reconciliation among

those who differ and argue over their differences.



Ours Is a Mission



	This sick world cries out for healing.  Christ, the Son of God,

was the Master Healer, and he has shown us the way.  It is his message

of peace and reconciliation that we teach.  His is the gospel of

charity and peace and love.  Ours is a mission of understanding, ours

is a mission of teaching, ours is a mission of reconciliation.  It is

accomplished in substantial measure through our great missionary

program.  That program is essentially concerned with carrying a message

of hope and reconciliation to a needy world.  This great university is

part of it.  As President Holland has indicated, thousands of you on

this campus have so served in a hundred nations across the world. 

Thousands of others are now preparing so to serve.



	The Book of Mormon, so widely taught on this campus, is a

testament to the folly of men who forgot God and sank to war and

degradation.  And on the other hand it is a witness to the rich and

marvelous blessings that come to those who recognize God and his

Beloved Son and who walk in peace with one another.



	We were in St. George Sunday and attended a sacrament meeting

there.  A young man, a missionary laboring there, spoke.  He held in

his hand a well-worn copy of the Book of Mormon.  He told us of that

book.  It had been left in his parents' home years before by

missionaries.  It was put aside without being read.  His mother, in

cleaning the bookshelves, dropped it with other books into a box on the

back porch to be put in the garbage.  Her son saw the box and, out of

curiosity, looked at its contents and found the Book of Mormon.  He

commenced reading it.  He was intrigued with it.  It eventually led to

his finding the missionaries.  They taught him and he was baptized.  He

is now serving in southern Utah--an effective missionary.  He stated

that this same Book of Mormon passed about for reading by his friends

had led to the conversion and baptism of seven other young men who are

now serving in the mission field.  They, with their associates, are

literally carrying a "message of hope and reconciliation to a needy

world."



	From the halls of this great institution, this unique and

wonderful university, there have gone over the years literally hundreds

of thousands of young men and women imbued with the gospel of Jesus

Christ to carry its healing message to those hungering for eternal

truth.  The knowledge here acquired has become the seed stock of the

great flowering of this work in many lands.  To you who have been in

the mission field, may your knowledge and understanding grow as you

pursue your studies here on this campus, and may there be nurtured

within you a love for mankind and a desire to help our Father's

suffering children wherever they may be.  To those of you who are here

and preparing to go into the world as missionary teachers of eternal

truth, may the knowledge you here acquire build your faith and

understanding and your capacity to serve as teachers of the gospel, as

messengers of hope, and as those prepared to lift up the distressed.



	God bless you, my beloved associates, you of the administration,

you of the faculty, and particularly you thousands of young men and

women blessed with eager minds and open hearts who have come here to

drink of the refreshing waters of light and truth offered at this

unique and wonderful university.



	Do not forget why you are here.  Do not resist the rules and

requirements that are necessary among so large a body of students.  Do

not compromise your standards and principles.  This is one of the truly

great and fruitful seasons of your lives.  Be honest in all of your

activities.  Be virtuous in your words and actions.  Stretch your minds

and dig and dig to master the studies you select.  It may not be easy,

but I promise you that you will then be happy, and to your happiness

will be added gratitude.  I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. 

Amen.





                        THANKS FOR THE COVENANT



                           Russell M. Nelson



	Russell M. Nelson is a member of the Council of the Twelve of The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This devotional address

was delivered on 22 November 1988 in the Marriott Center.



	Sister Nelson and I are thrilled to be with you on this special

occasion.



	Whenever we come to BYU and are privileged to rub shoulders with

members of the faculty and student body, we are better for it.



	In two days, people in this nation will set aside their usual

labors and celebrate Thanksgiving Day.  This custom fosters gratitude

to God for the good things of life.  Each one of you will offer your

own expressions of gratitude in your own way, wherever you are.  We

have so much for which we are grateful--family, friends, food, freedom,

faith--all of which come to us from a loving Father in Heaven.



	On my list of things for which I am thankful are items that may

not be on your list.  I would especially like to express my gratitude

for the privilege of being here today.  In the past five weeks my

calling has taken me to thirteen different nations on three different

continents.  So I'm grateful for the jet airplane and competent people

who work to help us travel in safety.  I'm pleased that I don't have

jet lag.  My poor brain has long since given up trying to keep track of

which time zone I'm in.  I find that if one travels eastward to Europe

and then westward to the East, time zones get fuzzy anyway, and

opposing jet lags hopefully just cancel out.



	I am grateful also for the fact that wherever I travel, the

reputation made by groups from Brigham Young University has preceded

me.  I salute cultural ambassadors of goodwill who represent this

institution.  What you have done is of inestimable value.  Literally,

the world is your campus.



	Another observation for which I am grateful is that graduates from

BYU are widely disseminated throughout the earth.  Precious seedlings

of faith blown by winds of responsibility reach fertile soil of

opportunity in lands near and far.



	Wherever I go in the world, I see amazing growth of the Church. 

People once uninformed are learning of the gospel.  I am an eyewitness

to fulfillment of the promise made to the Prophet Joseph Smith when the

Lord said, "The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name" (D&C

122:1).



	National governments once hostile to this Church are now

cautiously opening doors because they have learned that doctrines

restored through that great Prophet will strengthen citizens of their

nations.



	I would like to speak to each individual here with the hope that I

may give you a new perspective of gratitude at Thanksgiving.  Against a

historical backdrop I should like to paint a mental picture that would

allow you more fully to comprehend who you really are.



	The panorama of history will extend so far back you will wonder if

I have forgotten to relate my message to you.  But if you'll pay

careful attention and follow the thread of thought, you will see that

the relationship is real.  In fact, if you should view your own

identity without this broader understanding, such limitation would

constitute an unfortunate injustice.



Going Back in Time



	Each one here no doubt has at one time or another had some sort of

identity crisis.  On those occasions one has wondered with true

introspection, "Who am I really? Why am I here? What am I to do?" To

find identity, direction, and purpose, it helps to be reminded of the

past.



	Before we start, I'd like to give you a little quiz.  Nothing

you'd rather have today, is there? I won't ask for answers aloud, but

perhaps you can silently answer these questions or even write them in

your notes.  



	Who are your parents?



	Where is your home?



	Are you of Israel?



	Are you Hebrew?



	Are  you  related  to  Abraham?  If  so,   how?



	Are you Jewish?



	To what countries do you trace your ancestry?



	Do any of you trace your ancestry to Egypt?



	To find answers, let's go back in a mental time tunnel.  Before

the world was made, "Jesus Christ, the Great I AM, . . . looked upon

the wide expanse of eternity, and all the seraphic hosts of heaven"

(D&C 38:1).  The Lord had shown Abraham "the intelligences that were

organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of

the noble and great ones" (Abraham 3:22).  We are no doubt among those

he envisioned.



	"And God saw these souls and he said: These I will make my rulers;

. . . Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast

born" (Abraham 3:23).  Contemplating the plan to create an earth on

which those spirits could dwell, our Heavenly Father said to those

about him, "We will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all

things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them" (Abraham

3:25).



	The Creation was accomplished.  The fall of Adam took place that

man might be.  Dispensations of the gospel were entrusted to Adam, to

Enoch, to Noah, Abraham, and others. (See Joseph Fielding Smith,

Doctrines of Salvation, comp.  Bruce R. McConkie [Salt Lake City:

Bookcraft, 1954], 1:161.)  Then the Savior of the world was born. 

Prior to his planned atonement, he ministered among men.



	You may recall the conversation the Master had with Jews who

questioned his knowledge about Abraham:



	Then said the Jews unto [Jesus], Thou art not yet fifty years old,

and hast thou seen Abraham?



	Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before

Abraham was, I am. [John 8:57-58]



	"I am" was the name the Lord applied to himself.



Abraham's Covenant



	After Abraham withstood the severe trial commanded of God in which

Abraham was willing to offer his special son, Isaac, the Lord

personally appeared and made a covenant with Abraham.  Included were

assurances that



	1.	 Christ would come through the lineage of Abraham.



	2.	 Abraham's posterity would receive certain lands as an

inheritance (see Genesis 17; Galatians 3; Abraham 2).



	3.	All the nations of the earth would be blessed through his

seed (see Genesis 17:7; Acts 3:25; 1 Nephi 15:18, 22:9; 3 Nephi 20:25,

27).



	These divine declarations are known as the Abrahamic covenant.



	So important were these promises that the Lord personally appeared

to Isaac and renewed that covenant (see Genesis 26:1-4, 24).  So

important were these promises that the Lord personally appeared again

to Jacob and reconfirmed that same covenant a third time to a third

generation (see Genesis 28, 35:9-13, 48:3-4).  Jacob's name was changed

to Israel (see Genesis 35:9-10), so we may use the terms Jacob and

Israel interchangeably.



	Well, happily, as men are wont to do, Jacob fell in love.  In an

act I would not recommend today, Jacob kissed Rachel on their first

date (see Genesis 29:11).  But on that occasion Jacob also kissed her

father (see Genesis 29:13). I wouldn't recommend that either. 

Concurrent kisses for both a father as well as his daughter would

surely restrain any amorous enthusiasm.  Jacob worked for years for the

hand of his intended bride, Rachel.  He asked Rachel's father for

permission to marry her.  But after agreeing, the father veiled faces,

switched daughters, and gave his oldest girl, Leah.  Her father cited

the tradition of giving the hand of his first daughter before allowing

the younger daughter to be married (see Genesis 29:26).



	Later, Rachel and Jacob were permitted to marry.  He worked

another seven years for her. (That's even longer than waiting for a

missionary today!) So great was his affection for Rachel that he

described the period as "but a few days, for the love he had [for] her"

(Genesis 29:20).



	Leah bore sons Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.  Meanwhile, Rachel

was barren.  So desirous was she of having children that she gave to

Jacob her handmaiden, Bilhah, as another wife, with the expectation

that children born to Bilhah would become Rachel's own, because Rachel

owned Bilhah.  Bilhah had been given to Rachel as a wedding gift by her

father.  Bilhah did conceive and gave birth to a son upon Rachel's

knees (see Genesis 30:3).  It was customary for names of babies to be

selected by their mothers.  "Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath

also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his

name Dan" (Genesis 30:6).  Dan in the Hebrew language means "judge."

Rachel wanted Dan judged as though he were her own offspring.  Bilhah

later bore a second son named Naphtali (see Genesis 30:8).



	When Leah saw that pattern of surrogate motherhood successfully

practiced by her sister, Leah decided to do the same.  Her maid,

Zilpah, was given to Jacob as a fourth wife, and she bore sons named

Gad and Asher (see Genesis 30:9-13).  Leah subsequently had two more

sons named Issachar and Zebulun (see Genesis 35:23).



	So Israel had ten sons before Rachel finally conceived and bore a

son of her very own.  She called his name Joseph (see Genesis 30:24). 

This name had a very special meaning.  The word Joseph relates to the

Hebrew word yasaph, meaning "to add." Rachel wanted all to know that

this son was added to sons that she already had through her maid

Bilhah.  Joseph also relates to the Hebrew word asaph, which means "to

gather" (see Genesis 30:24, footnote 24a in the LDS edition of the King

James Version).  The name and lineage of Joseph were destined to play

an important later role in the gathering of Israel.



	In time, Rachel conceived again.  As they were traveling from

Beth-el in the north to Bethlehem in the south, Rachel went into labor

and experienced a fatal complication.  Scriptures indicate that it was

a particularly hard labor.  She endured severe pain.  The midwife

announced that the baby was a boy and asked for a name.  As Rachel was

dying, she gave the baby the name Ben-oni (see Genesis 35:18), which

means "son of my sorrow." Rachel then died and was buried just north of

Bethlehem.  Her husband was grief-stricken.  I suppose he could not

bear the thought of being reminded of the death of his beloved Rachel

every time the name of the child was mentioned.  So Jacob changed the

name to Benjamin, which means "son of my right hand" (see Genesis

35:18).  To me, this is one of the most tender love stories in all of

holy writ.



The Birthright



	This history takes on an additional dimension of importance when

one considers the Hebrew law of primogeniture, or the birthright. 

Under this law, for example, if a man had three sons, his estate would

be divided not three ways, but four, with a quarter going to each of

the three sons and the fourth quarter going to the birthright son.  To

have the birthright meant power, property, and a measure of wealth to

help defray the cost of managing the estate, to take care of any

daughters and, who knows, maybe there would be a little left over for

an executor's fee.



	Being the first son, Reuben held the birthright.  But he lost it

because he defiled his father's bed.  The question is, who was to get

the birthright now? Was it to go to the second son, Simeon, or to any

of the older boys? No! The Hebrew law of primogeniture required that

the birthright go to the first son of the second wife.  So the

birthright went to Joseph (see 1 Chronicles 5:12).  That's why he was

given the coat of many colors.  It wasn't because he was a favorite

son, necessarily. It was because he was the birthright son.  The coat

carried that special designation.  Of course, this infuriated his ten

older brothers.  You remember that they angrily sold Joseph into Egypt.





	Joseph then married Asenath, and she gave birth to two sons,

Manasseh and Ephraim (see Genesis 41:45, 50-52).



	Patriarchal blessings were as important then as they are now. 

When the father of these two sons felt that the time was appropriate

for his boys to receive patriarchal blessings, he took them to

patriarch Israel, who by that time was elderly.  His eyes were

described as "dim for age" (Genesis 48:10). (I presume he had

cataracts.) You remember the story.  Israel crossed his hands, put his

right hand on the head of the younger Ephraim and his left hand on the

head of Manasseh.  Joseph tried to correct his father, but Israel

persisted in his plan to give the patriarchal blessings in that order. 

He bestowed upon them blessings of greatness and conferred the

birthright upon Ephraim (see Genesis 48:20; also D&C 133:34).



Promises from the Past



	What does this ancient history have to do with you and your

identity? It has everything to do with your identity.  It also relates

to the direction your lives may take, your choices, and your

challenges.  It should even influence your selection of your partner in

marriage.



	This connection became clear when in our latter day, God the

Father and his Son Jesus Christ came to earth.  In addition to other

actions of eternal consequence, they established once again the

Abrahamic covenant, this time through the Prophet Joseph Smith.  These

are the words of the Lord:



	And as I said unto Abraham concerning the kindreds of the earth,

even so I say unto my servant Joseph [Smith]: In thee and in thy seed

shall the kindred of the earth be blessed. [D&C 124:58; see also D&C

110:12]



	The Master conferred upon Joseph Smith priesthood authority and

the right to convey blessings of the Abrahamic covenant to others.



	Joseph Smith, whose father's name was Joseph, had the same name as

Joseph who was sold into Egypt, who millennia before had prophesied of

Joseph Smith.  This fact is documented in the Book of Mormon (see 2

Nephi 3:6-21).  The name Joseph carried the connotation both that he

was "added" to, and that his mission related to the "gathering" of

Israel.



	Have the promises of the Abrahamic covenant been fulfilled?

Partially.  Christ indeed has come from the seed of Abraham through the

lineage of judah.  That line was entrusted with responsibility for

preparation of the world for the first coming of the Lord.  On the

other hand, responsibility for preparation of leadership of the world

for the second coming of the Lord was assigned to the lineage of

Joseph, through Ephraim and Manasseh.



	This remarkable fact was foreknown centuries before the birth of

the Lord.  In the earliest pages of the Book of Mormon, this revelation

is recorded:



	Wherefore, our father hath not spoken of our seed alone, but also

of all the house of Israel, pointing to the covenant which should be

fulfilled in the latter days; which covenant the Lord made to our

father Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth

be blessed. [1 Nephi 15:18]



	Now, what of the promise of possession of certain lands?

Territorial inheritance destined for the sons of Israel provided

property in the Holy Land for Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,

Gad, Asher, Dan, Naphtah, and Benjamin.



	But where was the inheritance for Joseph? From the Book of Mormon

we learn that his inheritance was this land in the American hemisphere

(see Ether 13:8)identified as being choice above all other lands (see

Ether 1:42, 10:28, 13:2; D&C 38:20).  It was choice, but not

necessarily from the standpoint of scenery or wealth.  It was choice

because it was chosen.  America was to serve as the repository of

sacred records written on metallic plates.  It one day was to become

the location for the restoration of the gospel.  It was to host

headquarters of the Lord's restored church.



	Now do you see the importance of your patriarchal blessing? I hope

each one of you has obtained one.  It is precious.  It is personal

scripture to you.  It declares your special lineage.  It reminds you of

your linkage with the past.  And it will help you realize your future

potential.  Literally, you can lay claim upon the Lord for fulfillment

of those blessings through your faithfulness.



	Many of you have already qualified for endowment in the temple,

and others will have that great privilege yet in the future.  In the

temple, with the authority of the sealing power, blessings of the

Abrahamic covenant will be conferred.  There, we may truly become heirs

to all the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.



	Each of them had severe trials in life.  So will each of us,

without exception.  Speaking to the Saints of our day, the Lord said,



	They must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was

commanded to offer up his only son.



	For all those who will  not  endure  chastening ... cannot be

sanctified. [D&C 101:4-5; see also D&C 136:31]



	Submissive suffering is just as essential to our sanctification

now as it was to patriarchs and prophets before.  Knowing who we are

helps us to endure our own Abrahamic tests.



Heirs to the Promise



	Every man who has received the Melchizedek Priesthood has been

foreordained from the foundations of the world for that privilege (see

Alma 13:2-3).  Every woman here today has been foredetermined to come

at this time to participate in partnership in building up the Church

and kingdom of God upon the earth as part of the preparation for the

second coming of the Lord.



	Now, let's review those questions I asked earlier.  Are you of

Israel? Absolutely.  You are the "Hope of Israel, Zion's army, Children

of the promised day" (Hymns, 1985, no. 259).  Once you were spirit

children in premortal realms with Elohim, Jehovah, Abraham, and other

elect rulers-to-be.  There you were held in reserve to come forth in

this latter day when this great and marvelous work of restoration was

to come forth.



	Are you Hebrew? Yes, as scriptures define the term.  You are

related to Abraham, who was the great "Eber" from which the term Hebrew

was derived (see Genesis 10:21, 14:13; see also 2 Corinthians 11:22).



	Are you Jewish? That precious lineage may be claimed if your

ancestors are from the loins of Judah.  But most of us are of the

lineage of Joseph through Ephraim or Manasseh.  That was the lineage

selected to pioneer the gathering of Israel, the seed to lead

throughout the world in blessing all the nations of the earth.



	Missionary work is only the beginning of that blessing.  The

fulfillment, the consummation, of those blessings comes as those who

have entered the waters of baptism perfect their lives to the point

that they may enter the holy temple.  Receiving an endowment there

seals members of the Church to the Abrahamic covenant.



	Can you trace your lineage to Egypt? If your patriarchal blessing

indicates that you are of the lineage of Joseph, Ephraim, Manasseh, or

other descendants of Israel, yes, you may claim Egyptian ancestry.



	And, of course, each of you is a child of God, created in his

image.  And you are disciples of his Beloved Son.  If you really

comprehend the power of that identity, other elements of your

background matter less.  Paul described this well.  He said:



	For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on

Christ.



	There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,

there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.



	And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs

according to the promise. [Galatians 3:27-29]



	That promise is the promise of the Abrahamic covenant.



	The angel Moroni so taught the Prophet Joseph Smith.  On September

21, 1823, Moroni appeared to the Prophet, quoting scripture from the

fourth chapter of Malachi, "though with a little variation from the way

it reads in our Bibles" (JS-H 1:36).  The difference in text from the

Bible is highly significant.  You recall it refers to the heart of the

fathers being turned to the children, and the heart of the children

being turned to the fathers (see Malachi 4:6).  Joseph Smith tells us

that Moroni



	quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold, I will reveal unto you the

Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the

great and dreadful day of the Lord.



	He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in

the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the

hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. [JS-H 1:38-39]



	The concept the Prophet was taught emphasized that the hearts of

the children will become aware of the promises made to their fathers. 

Then, with that comprehension, the hearts of the children shall turn to

their parents.  That includes parents, grandparents,

great-great-great-grandparents including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

Once we know who we are and the royal lineage of which we are a part,

our actions and our direction in life will be more appropriate to our

inheritance.



	Now you can better understand this revelation given through the

Prophet Joseph Smith.  It applies to each one of us.  He said:



	Thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath

continued through the lineage of your fathers--



	For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid

from the world with Christ in God-



	Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must

needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all

things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world

began.



	Therefore, blessed are ye if ye continue in my goodness, a light

unto the Gentiles, and through this priesthood, a savior unto my people

Israel. [D&C 86:8-11]



	The Lord has called you.  He has chosen you.  You have inherited

greatness of transcendent worth.



"Children of the Prophets"



	Why are you here today? At least two great reasons emerge.  One:

You are to learn in your youth to keep the commandments of God (see

Alma 37:35).  There is no other way you can achieve your divine destiny

A prophet said:



	As you have commenced in your youth to look to the Lord your God,

even so I hope that you will continue in keeping his commandments; for

blessed is he that endureth to the end. [Alma 38:2]



	Reason number two: Learn wisdom so that you can render significant

service of worth to your fellowmen.  How frustrating it would be to

have desire only and little or no ability to help people.  Prepare your

minds and your hands so that you can qualify to serve people and bless

their lives.  Gain competence that others do not have.  That takes

work--it takes effort--but it is worth the price.



	And for some, a third reason emerges.  Here you may fall in love

and find your eternal companion.  Now with your understanding of the

Abrahamic covenant, you may clearly see the importance of marrying

within the covenant to obtain all the blessings of the covenant.



	Long ago, when Jacob's parents pondered the risk of his dating

certain ladies not of covenant Israel, their concern was evident.  His

mother, Rebekah, said to Isaac:



	If Jacob take a wife ... such as these which are of the daughters

of the land [and not of Israel], what good shall my life do me?

[Genesis 27:46]



	So today your parents and predecessors are pulling and praying for

you.  Be wise in selecting your companion.  Keep courage to be morally

clean.  Let fidelity and trust distinguish all you do.  Don't ever

defile your chosen lineage or demean your boundless potential for

greatness.



	These words from the mouth of the Lord recorded in 3 Nephi may

summarize my message today:



	And behold, ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the

house of Israel; and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with

your fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall all the

kindreds of the earth be blessed. [3 Nephi 20:25]



	At Thanksgiving time, express gratitude to your Heavenly Father

for blessings uniquely yours.  Echo in your heart this prayerful plea

recorded in the Book of Mormon:



	Take upon you the name of Christ, . . . humble yourselves ... and

worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, . . . live in

thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth

bestow upon you. [Alma 34:38]



	Gratefully add to your list of blessings thanks for the

covenant--the Abrahamic covenant--by which you will be vital and

precious participants in God's promise to bless all the nations of the

earth through that choice seed.



	I express my love and invoke the blessings of our Father in Heaven

upon you--that you will reach the potential of your divine destiny. 

God bless you always, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                       "MORE, SAVIOR, LIKE THEE"



                           Barbara W Winder



	Barbara W. Winder is the Relief Society general president of The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This fireside address was

given on 8 January 1989 in the Marriott Center.



	As difficult as this assignment is, I am delighted with the

opportunity to be in your midst, to feel the spirit on this campus--a

spirit that is here at least in part because of your strivings for

righteousness and excellence.  Thank you for your graciousness.



"Come unto Christ"



	Now we have packed away the tinsel and the ornaments of the

season.  But I hope the warm memories of fellowship, expressions of

love, cheerful greetings, giving of gifts, gathering of famines

together, and reflecting upon the birth of our Savior and the

significance of this event will linger long in our hearts.  It seems

that during this time we are more charitable and have better feelings

toward each other than at any other time during the year.



	Now comes the beginning of a new year, and, though we make New

Year's resolutions to improve ourselves, often the good feelings of the

Christmas season are forgotten and disregarded.  But the image of the

Savior, what he taught, what he sacrificed and did for us planted

firmly in our minds can help us remember all that we must do.



	While enjoying the opening presentation and listening to the

words, "Just let your heart believe him; never let his light go; never

let your love grow dim . . . I heard him come," I reflected on the

account in 3 Nephi, chapter 11.  While the people were marveling and

wondering about this Jesus Christ and the sign that had been given

concerning him, they heard a voice, "not a harsh voice, neither was it

a loud voice," but "being a small voice it did pierce them that did

hear to the center," and it caused "their hearts to burn" (verse 3). 

Again they heard, but they did not understand.



	Then, in hearing the voice the third time, they did "open their

ears to hear it," and "they cast their eyes up again towards heaven;

and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed

in a white robe" (verses 4-8).  It was the Savior, who came down and

ministered unto them.  He taught them there should be no disputations

among them, and they were baptized and took his name upon themselves.



	What a wonderful way for us to begin a new year--open our ears

that we may hear, then resolve to follow Moroni's admonition (Moroni

10:32):



	1.	 "Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him," by establishing

Christlike attributes in our lives.  We can be more thoughtful, kind,

and considerate of our fellowmen.



	2.	 "Come unto Christ ... and deny yourselves of an

ungodliness."



"Remembering to Choose Love"



	As I think of striving to rid ourselves of contention and living

peaceably with our fellowmen, I am reminded of an experience President

Gordon B. Hinckley tells:



	For a number of years, while I had responsibility for the work in

Asia, I interviewed each missionary one-on-one.  I asked each what

virtue he or she saw in his or her companion....



	When I raised that question, almost invariably the missionary, an

elder for example, would stop with a surprised look on his face.  He

had never thought of his companion that way before. He had seen his

faults and weaknesses but had not seen his virtues.  I would tell him

to pause and think about it for a minute.  Then the answers would begin

to come.  Such answers as, "He's a hard worker." "He gets up in the

morning.  " "He dresses neatly." "He doesn't complain."



	It was a remarkable thing, really.  These young men and women, for

the most part, had been oblivious to the virtues of their companions,

although they were well aware of their companions' faults, and often

felt discouraged because of them.  But when they began to turn their

attitudes around, remarkable things began to happen. ["Strengthening

Each Other," Ensign, February 1985, pp. 3-4]



	Campus living is very similar to this, as is family living. 

Developing skills and positive attitudes in living with roommates now

will enable you to have happier eternal companionships.



	Sometimes we hear of priesthood bearers being overly critical of

their wives and children.  Sometime ago I was visiting a region where a

joint priesthood/Relief Society leadership meeting was held.  One of

the priesthood leaders was the husband of the Relief Society president. 

During the meeting principles of cooperation were discussed and

expressions of appreciation were given for the opportunity to work

together.  But the actions of this couple spoke louder than words.  He

treated her as a servant, thrusting her his coat to hang up,

criticizing her cooking and homemaking skills, and scolding the

children for minor infractions.



	President Spencer W Kimball said,



	Our sisters do not wish to be indulged or to be treated

condescendingly; they desire to be respected and revered as our sisters

and our equals.  I mention [this] because in some situations our

behavior is of doubtful quality. ["Our Sisters in the Church," general

conference priesthood session, Ensign, November 1979, p. 49]





	Sisters, too, have a responsibility to build harmonious

relationships.  There are times when we are not as thoughtful as we

should be.  The most important place all of us should be practicing our

own "perfecting skills" is right where we live, with those nearest and

dearest to us.



	David O. McKay's wife, Emma, was credited with this statement:

"The most important thing one can take to marriage is a cheerful

disposition."



	President and Sister McKay always seemed to be the ideal couple. 

He was such a gentleman, and she was so gracious.  Seldom did a cross

word come between them.  How wonderful it would be if we could be

cheerful always, not only with our own marriage partners, but with all

people.



	In recent years we have witnessed great changes in the

relationships between men and women.  Some of this has been beneficial

as it relates to equal pay, education, and opportunity.  But sometimes,

in our desire for equality, we have eliminated those common courtesies

that are so important for harmonious relations.  The prophets have

taught that in his wisdom and mercy our Father made men and women

dependent upon each other for the full flowering of their potential. 

Because their natures are somewhat different, they can complement each

other.  Because they are in many ways alike, they can understand each

other.  Let neither envy the other for their differences; let both

discern what is superficial and what is basic in those differences and

act accordingly.  And may the brotherhood of the priesthood and the

sisterhood of the Relief Society be a blessing in the lives of all

members of the Church as we help each other along the path to

perfection.



	Often our roles change.  For many years I supported my husband in

his priesthood callings.  Then almost overnight a change came.  He was

asked to give up what he was doing, be released as a mission president,

and come home so that he could support me. This he has done cheerfully. 

I am always grateful when he can accompany me on my assignments because

it demonstrates that we can work together as a team, supporting and

helping each other.



	I watch the supporting relationships of your campus and church

leaders.  I watch the loving relationships of the Brethren and their

wives, but especially I love to watch the adoration President Benson

has for his wife, Flora, and she for him.



	Just recently I heard President John Larson of the Jordan River

Temple tell of the weekly visit of President and Sister Benson to that

temple.  He mentioned that President Benson, though not strong

physically himself, is determined to help Sister Benson as she gets out

of the car or to hold her chair as she is seated for lunch after the

session, and he will not relinquish that right to anyone else.  Their

love and devotion to each other are obvious.



	These are relationships that have "weathered the storms"--the

difficulties--and have endured through the years.  They have learned to

control their feelings and not say or do things that were offensive to

the other.



	It's interesting that when we are dating, we usually try to be our

very best in order to impress our date.  Young men are perfect

gentlemen.  The young women are perfect ladies.  Why should we change

our behavior just because we "catch" each other? A woman never gets so

old or has been married so long that she doesn't appreciate common

courtesies.  A man never gets to the point where he doesn't appreciate

being treated as an important human being.



	The development of this kind of behavior is told in the story of

Tom Anderson.



	I made a vow to myself on the drive down to the vacation beach

cottage.  For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father.

Totally loving.  No ifs, ands or buts.



	The idea had come to me as I listened to a commentator on my car's

tape player.  He was quoting a Biblical passage about husbands being

thoughtful of their wives.  Then he went on to say, "Love is an act of

will.  A person can choose to love."  To myself, I had to admit that I

had been a selfish husband--that our love had been dulled by my own

insensitivity.  In petty ways, really: chiding Evelyn for her

tardiness; insisting on the TV channel I wanted to watch; throwing out

day-old newspapers that I knew Evelyn still wanted to read.  Well, for

two weeks all that would change.



	And it did.  Right from the moment I kissed Evelyn at the door and

said, "That new yellow sweater looks great on you."



	"Oh, Tom, you noticed," she said, surprised and pleased.  Maybe a

little perplexed.



	After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a

walk on the beach.  I started to refuse, but then I thought, Evelyn's

been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone

with me.  We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.



	So it went.  Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street investment

firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum, though I

usually hate museums (and I enjoyed it); holding my tongue while

Evelyn's getting ready made us late for a dinner date.  Relaxed and

happy, that's how the whole vacation passed.  I made a new vow to keep

on remembering to choose love.



	There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. 

Evelyn and I still laugh about it today.  On the last night at our

cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest

expression.



	"What's the "matter?" I asked her.



	"Tom," she said, in a voice filled with distress, "do you know

something I don't?"



	"What do you mean?"



	"Well ... that checkup I had several weeks ago ... our doctor ...

did he tell you something about me? Tom, you've been so good to me ...

am I dying?"



	It took a moment for it all to sink in.  Then I burst out

laughing.



	"No, honey," I said, wrapping her in my arms, "you're not dying;

I'm just starting to live!" [Tom Anderson, "How Love Came Back,"

Reader's Digest, October 1986, pp. 129-30]



	We are taught that we should deal kindly with one another even in

difficult situations.



	True love is unselfish.  President Kimball said,



	For many years, I saw a strong man carry his tiny, emaciated,

arthritic wife to meetings and wherever she could go. There could be no

sexual expression.  Here was selfless indication of affection.  I think

that is pure love.  I saw a kindly woman wait on her husband for many

years as he deteriorated with muscular dystrophy.  She waited on him

hand and foot, night and day, when all he could do was to blink his

eyes in thanks.  I believe that was love. [Love vs. Lust, Brigham Young

University Speeches of the Year (Provo, 5 January 1965), p. 18]



Following the Golden Rule



	I have always been impressed with the instructions given to Joseph

Smith by the Lord at a most difficult time in his life.  The Prophet

had been incarcerated in Liberty jail for a number of months under most

distressing conditions.  It was cold and dark and uncomfortable.  He

knew that his people were being driven from their homes and scattered. 

He worried for the welfare of his fan-lily.  It is only natural that at

such a time he would be discouraged.  He cried out, "O God where art

thou?" "How long shall [thy people] suffer these wrongs and unlawful

oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them?" And

then the answer came, "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 121:1, 3, 7-8).



	Really hearing the Savior's voice as he taught the Golden Rule

would help us: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men

should do to you, do ye even so to them" (Matthew 7:12).  Surely we do

not need to hear this three times before we really hear it.



	Learning to say, "I'm sorry," learning to say, "I forgive; it's

all right"--these are part of perfecting ourselves, too.



	President Kimball said,



	If we forgive all real or fancied offenses before we ask

forgiveness for our own sins ... if we manage to clear our own eyes of

the blinding beams before we magnify the motes in the eyes of

others--what a glorious world this would be! Divorce would be reduced

to a minimum; courts would be freed from disgusting routines; family

life would be heavenly; [and our community lives would be blessed].

["Except Ye Repent . . . " general conference, Improvement Era,

November 1949, p. 771]



	The Lord offered a warning and some instruction on how we are to

deal with each other.  This was given particularly to priesthood

holders, but it seems to apply equally well to all of us.  The Lord

said,



	When we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our

vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon

the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness,

behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of God is grieved.

[D&C 121:37]



	And this is how he said we should deal with others: "By

persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love

unfeigned; By kindness. . . . Let thy bowels also be full of charity

towards all men,. . . and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly"

Then comes the promise: "Then shall thy confidence wax strong in the

presence of God" (D&C 121:41-42, 45).



	President George Albert Smith had a nine-point creed by which he

lived.  Two of the points seem to be particularly relevant to share

with you at this time.  First, "I would not knowingly wound the

feelings of any, not even one who may have wronged me, but would seek

to do him good and make him my friend." And second, "I would overcome

the tendency to selfishness and jealousy and rejoice in the success of

all the children of my Heavenly Father" ("Greatness in Men --

Superintendent George Albert Smith," by Bryant S. Hinckley, Improvement

Era, March 1932, p. 295).



	During the past election campaign, President-elect Bush said that

his desire was for us to be a kinder, gentler nation.  Possibly this

was campaign rhetoric, but the idea is certainly laudable and can be

achieved as each of us seeks to be perfected in the Savior, to be more

thoughtful and considerate of others.



	Jesus said, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one

another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (John

13:34).  It was not to be just friends and family that we love.  He

also said, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to

them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and

persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).



	I remember reading an incident of true Christian charity recorded

by columnist Jack Anderson:



	The remarkable thing about Joann Jones is the way she smiles

through the tears.  Her neighbors in Paris, Arkansas, can tell you she

has been dogged by hard times.  Yet her whole personality always seems

to smile.



	Left with three children to support, Joann found work as a cook

and eventually opened her own small restaurant.  But her 22-year-old

son was stricken with a rare disease.  He lost a leg and, because she

couldn't keep up with the medical bills, she lost the restaurant.



	Yet these tragedies didn't dampen her spirit. All that mattered,

she told friends, was that her son was alive and preparing to become a

missionary.



	The financial squeeze left her with no money to pay insurance

premiums.  Then her small home burned down.  She remained cheerful.  At

least the family was still together--almost too close together, cramped

into a cheap, secondhand trailer.



	Then the other day, a cold front sent the temperature plunging

below zero in western Arkansas.  Joann stopped at a country store to

use the pay phone.  Across the road in a frozen field, she noticed four

Mexicans huddled under a cedar tree.  They were shivering in

shirt-sleeves in the cruel cold, with only one blanket to keep them all

warm.



	She put down the phone and strode over to the freezing men.  She

couldn't speak Spanish, and they didn't understand English.  But with

gestures and a few words in common, they let her know they wanted to

return to Mexico.  But they had no money, no food, no warm clothing.



	Joann, though impoverished herself, brought the migrant Mexicans

home.  The family took two blankets off their beds, and the afflicted

son gave up his wool coat so each Mexican could wrap himself against

the cold.



	Joann remembered her church was holding a fireside service that

evening in Fort Smith.  She carefully counted out enough quarters to

buy gas for the 65-mile round trip.  She drove the forlorn four to the

Latter-day Saints church, where she found two dozen members still

assembled.



	Interrupting, she announced she had four destitute Mexicans who

needed help.  The church members rustled up more warm clothing and

collected enough cash to buy four bus tickets to Dallas, with pocket

money for food along the way. The members also put through a call to

Dallas and arranged for some Spanish-speaking members to meet the bus.



	Joann Jones gave her widow's mite expecting nothing in return.  I

learned about her act of kindness from others.  Because she cannot

afford a telephone, I reached her at the diner where she now works. 

She didn't want to talk about her good deed; it didn't seem right, she

said.



	"Charity should be given in secret," she said. "Anyway, it was no

big deal.  Anyone would have done the same thing." ["Charity Deserves

Reward," Washington Merry-Go-Round, Winter 1983]





	Joann lived the law of charity.  Moroni describes charity as "the

pure love of Christ" (Moroni 7:47).



"More Holiness Give Me"



	I would like to say just a word now about Moroni's advice to deny

all ungodliness in our perfecting process.  Ungodliness has crept into

our society and is manifested in many ways.  It would persuade us from

our eternal course of perfection.  We must be aware of its many

disguises.  I speak tonight specifically of inappropriate music,

videos, and television that encourage unacceptable moral and sexual

behavior.  I would plead for you to avoid them even as the very plague

that they are.



	For as we seek to "come unto Christ," we must also come to his

holy house.  We must prepare to do so by denying ourselves all

ungodliness.



	Let us not have to be called three times as were the Nephites when

the Savior came to them, but hear him now that he may minister to us,

and then pray for strength that we might come unto him.



	I close with this prayer that it may be ever on your mind to help

you in this quest:



More holiness give me,

More strivings within,

More patience in suff'ring,

More sorrow for sin,

More faith in my Savior,

More sense of his care,

More joy in his service,

More purpose in prayer.



More purity give me,

More strength to o'ercome,

More freedom from earth-stains, 

More longing for home.

More fit for the kingdom, 

More used would I be,

More blessed and holy--

More, Savior, like thee.

["More Holiness Give Me," Hymns, 1985, no. 131]



	I know our Savior lives.  I pray that each of us will let our

hearts believe him, be more receptive to his voice, be more willing to

respond, and faithfully come unto him.  I say this in the name of Jesus

Christ.  Amen.





                 FILLING THE MEASURE OF YOUR CREATION



                          Patricia T. Holland



	Patricia T. Holland is the wife of BYU President Jeffrey R.

Holland. This devotional address was given on 17 January 1989 in the

Marriott Center.



	When my daughter, Mary, was just a small child, she was asked to

perform for a PTA talent contest.  This is her experience exactly as

she wrote it in her seven-year-old script.



"What Can I Be?"



	"I was practicing the piano one day, and it made me cry because it

was so bad.  Then I decided to practice ballet, and it made me cry

more; it was bad, too.  So then I decided to draw a picture because I

knew I could do that good, but it was horrid.  Of course it made me

cry.



	"Then my little three-year-old brother came up, and I said,

'Duffy, what can I be? What can I be? I can't be a piano player or an

artist or a ballet girl.  What can I be?' He came up to me and

whispered, 'You can be my sister.'"



	In an important moment, those five simple words changed the

perspective and comforted the heart of a very anxious child.  Life

became better right on the spot, and as always, tomorrow was a brighter

day.



	All of us face those questions about our role, our purpose, our

course in life--and we face them long after we are children.  I visit

with enough of you (and I remember our own university years well

enough) to know that many of you, perhaps most of you, have occasions

when you feel off-balance or defeated--at least temporarily.  And we

ask, 'What will I be, when will I graduate, whom will I marry, what is

my future, how will I make a living, can I make a contribution?"--in

short, "What can I be?"



	Take heart if you are still asking yourselves such questions,

because we all do.  I do. We should concern ourselves with our

fundamental purposes in life.  Surely every philosopher past and

present agrees that, important as they are, food and shelter are not

enough.  We want to know what's next.  Where is the meaning? What is my

purpose?



	When asking these questions, I have found it extremely reassuring

to remember that one of the most important and fundamental truths

taught in the scriptures and in the temple is that "Every living thing

shall fill the measure of its creation."



	I must admit that when I first heard this directive, I thought it

meant only procreation, having issue, bearing offspring.  And I'm sure

that is probably the most important part of its meaning, but much of

the temple ceremony is symbolic, so surely there can be multiple

meanings in this statement as well.  Part of the additional meaning I

now see in this commandment is that every element of creation has its

own purpose and performance.  Every one of us has been designed with a

divine role and mission in mind.  I believe that if our desires and

works are directed toward what our heavenly parents have intended us to

be, we will come to feel our part in their plan.  We will recognize the

"full measure of our creation," and nothing will give us more holy

peace.



Each of Us Playing Our Part



	I once read a wonderful analogy of the limitations our present

perspective imposes on us.  The message was that in the ongoing process

of creation--our creation and the creation of all that surrounds

us--our heavenly parents are preparing a lovely tapestry with exquisite

colors and patterns and hues.  They are doing so lovingly and carefully

and masterfully.  And each of us is playing a part--our part--in the

creation of that magnificent, eternal piece of art.



	But in doing so we have to remember that it is very difficult for

us to assess our own contributions accurately.  We see the rich

burgundy of a neighboring thread and think, "That's the color I want to

be." Then we admire yet another's soft, restful blue or beige and

think, "No, those are better colors than mine." But in all of this we

don't see our work the way God sees it, nor do we realize that others

are wishing they had our color or position or texture in the

tapestry--even as we are longing for theirs.



	Perhaps most important of all to remember is that through most of

the creative period we are confined to the limited view of the

underside of the tapestry where things can seem particularly jumbled

and muddled and unclear.  If nothing really makes very much sense from

that point of view, it is because we are still in process and

unfinished.  But our heavenly parents have the view from the top, and

one day we will know what they know--that every part of the artistic

whole is equal in importance and balance and beauty.  They know our

purpose and potential, and they have given us the perfect chance to

make the perfect contribution in this divine design.



	The Lord has promised us in D&C 12:7 that the only qualification

required to be a part of this magnificent plan is to "have desires to

bring forth and establish this work."



	Yea, whosoever will thrust in his sickle and reap, the same is

called of God.



	Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you will

knock it shall be opened unto you. [D&C 14:4-5]



	Sometimes in our sowing and reaping and sifting, it may seem that

God says "no" or "not now" or "I don't think so" when what we want for

him to say--what we wish our tapestry to receive--is an affirmative

"yes" or "certainly, right now" or "of course it can be yours." I want

you to know that in my life when I have had disappointments and delays,

I have lived to see that if I continue to knock with unshakable faith

and persist in my patience--waiting upon the Lord and his calendar--I

have discovered that the Lord's "no's" are merely preludes to an even

greater "yes." I have learned in the twenty-five years since I was your

age that the very delays and denials we worry about most, the very

differences from each other that trouble our self-esteem, are the

differences and delays that are the very best for our happiness and

fulfillment.



	I've often wondered of the struggles that may have plagued the

mind of Moses when the Lord asked him to leave his royal privileges and

position in order to serve him in abject poverty and meagerness. 

Contrast his mission with the Lord's design for Joseph to stay in

Egypt, to use his power and prestige for righteous purposes. 

Apparently Jeremiah was never given the blessings of marriage or

children although Jacob had the comfort and companionship of four

righteous women and many children.  Joshua seems to have been an

incredibly confident, charismatic, take-charge kind of leader, but

Moses was often reluctant and tentative and sometimes had to ask the

Lord twice for directions.  Each had a crucial--but very

different--role to play.



	Furthermore, age seems to make little difference in the diversity

of this tapestry.  David was a mere child when he deftly dispatched

Goliath, but Abraham was more than one hundred years old when he gave

us the supreme mortal example of faith and obedience.  Esther had the

wealth and attention of kings, giving her the opportunity to help save

a nation, whereas Ruth was a poor, unaccepted Moabite--but one whose

royal blood, ironically, carried the lineage of the Son of God himself. 

The Lord uses us because of our unique personalities and differences

rather than in spite of them.  He needs all of us, with all our

blemishes and weaknesses and limitations.



	So what can I be? What can I be? We can be what heavenly parents

designed us and intend us and help us to be.  How does one fill the

measure of his or her creation? We do so by thrusting in a sickle and

reaping with all our strength--and by rejoicing in our uniqueness and

our difference.  To be all that you can be, your only assignment is (1)

to cherish your course and savor your own distinctiveness, (2) to shut

out conflicting voices and listen to the voice within, which is God

telling you who you are and what you will be, and (3) to free yourself

from the love of profession, position, or the approval of men by

remembering that what God really wants us to be is someone's sister,

someone's brother, and someone's friend.



	I bear my testimony that each of you has a purpose.  It is

different, it is distinct, it is divine.  God lives.  God loves you. 

And I do, too.  I say this in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.




                 THE WILL OF THE FATHER IN ALL THINGS



                          Jeffrey R. Holland



	Jeffrey R. Holland is the ninth president of Brigham Young

University.  This devotional talk was given on 17 January 1989 in the

Marriott Center.



	At a university it seems appropriate to introduce such a message

with a piece of great literature--but I decided to use this verse

anyway.  Rudyard Kipling, eat your heart out.



If you can smile when things go wrong

And say it doesn't matter,

If you can laugh off cares and woe

And trouble makes you fatter,

If you can keep a cheerful face

When all around are blue,

Then have your head examined, bud,

There's something wrong with you.

For one thing I've arrived at:

There are no ands and buts,

A guy that's grinning all the time

Must be completely nuts.

["Smile, Darn You, Smile"]



	I begin with a bit of humor only because the task I wish to

discuss with you this morning is a sobering one--not something we can

laugh off or say doesn't matter.  It is not an issue limited to

university-educated people, but it may be a particularly poignant one

for them.  It is a matter central to our salvation, and it may involve

great pain.  Unless we are "nuts," we probably won't grin through it

all.



"I Have Suffered the Will of the Father"



	Let me take a moment to set the stage.  I use the word advisedly. 

I want to imply divine theater.



	Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "If the stars should appear one

night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and

preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which

had been shown [them]!" (Nature [1836], section 1).



	In the spirit of that very provocative thought, I invite you to

consider another startling--and much more important--scene that should

evoke belief and adoration, a scene which, like the stars at night, we

have undoubtedly taken too much for granted.  Imagine yourselves to be

among the people of Nephi living in the land of Bountiful in

approximately A.D. 34.  Tempests and earthquakes and whirlwinds and

storms, quickened and cut by thunder and sharp lightning, have

enveloped the entire face of the land.



	Some cities--entire cities--have burst into flames as if by

spontaneous combustion.  Others have disappeared into the sea, never to

be seen again.  Still others are completely covered over with mounds of

soil, and some have been carried away with the wind.



	The whole face of the land has been changed, the entire earth

around you has been deformed.  Then, as you and your neighbors are

milling about the temple grounds (a place that has suddenly seemed to

many like a very good place to be), you hear a voice and see a man

clothed in a white robe descending out of heaven.  It is a dazzling

display.  He seems to emanate the very essence of light and life

itself--a splendor in sharp contrast to the three days of death and

darkness just witnessed.



	He speaks and says simply, with a voice that penetrates the very

marrow of your bones, "I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified

shall come into the world" (3 Nephi 11:10).



	There it is--or, more correctly speaking, there he is! He is the

focal point and principal figure behind every fireside and devotional

and family home evening held by those Nephites for the last six hundred

years, and by their Israelite forefathers for thousands of years before

that.



	Everyone has talked of him and sung of him and dreamed of him and

prayed--but here he actually is.  This is the day, and yours is the

generation.  What a moment! But you find you are less inclined to check

the film in your camera than you are to check the faith in your heart.



	"I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into

the world." Of all the messages that could come from the scroll of

eternity, what has he brought to us? Get a pencil.  Where's my

notebook? Turn on every tape recorder in town.



	He speaks:



	I am the light and the life of the world; ... I have drunk out of

that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the

Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, ... I have suffered the

will of the Father in all things from the beginning.



	That is it. just a few lines.  Only fifty-two words.  "And ...

when Jesus had spoken these words the whole multitude fell to the

earth" (3 Nephi 11:11-12).



	This introductory utterance from the resurrected Son of God

constitutes my only text today.  I have thought very often about this

moment in Nephite history.  I cannot think it either accident or mere

whimsy that the Good Shepherd in his newly exalted state, appearing to

a most significant segment of his flock, chooses first to speak of his

obedience, his deference, his loyalty, and loving submission to his

father.  In an initial and profound moment of spell-binding wonder,

when surely he had the attention of every man, woman, and child as far

as the eye could see, his submission to his father is the first and

most important thing he wishes us to know about himself.



	Frankly, I am a bit haunted by the thought that this is the first

and most important thing he may want to know about us when we meet him

one day in similar fashion.  Did we obey, even if it was painful? Did

we submit, even if the cup was bitter indeed? Did we yield to a vision

higher and holier than our own, even when we may have seen no vision in

it at all?



	One by one he invites us to feel the wounds in his hands and his

feet and his side.  And as we pass and touch and wonder, perhaps he

whispers, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and

take up his cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24).



	If such cross-bearing self-denial was, by definition, the most

difficult thing Christ or any man has ever had to do, an act of

submission that would, by the Savior's own account, cause him, "God,

the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every

pore, and to suffer both body and spirit"--if yielding and obeying and

bowing to divine will holds only that ahead, then no wonder that even

the Only Begotten Son of the true and living God "would that [he] might

not drink the bitter cup, and shrink" (D&C 19:18)!



	Even as we rehearse this greatest of all personal sacrifices, you

can be certain that with some in this world it is not fashionable nor

flattering to speak of submitting--to anybody or anything.  At the

threshold of the twenty-first century it sounds wrong on the face of

it.  It sounds feeble and wimpish.  It just isn't the American way.



	As Elder Neal A. Maxwell wrote recently,



	In today's society, at the mere mention of the words obedience and

submissiveness hackles rise and people are put on nervous alert....

People promptly furnish examples from secular history to illustrate how

obedience to unwise authority and servility to bad leaders have caused

much human misery and suffering.  It is difficult, therefore, to get a

hearing for what the words obedience and submissiveness really

mean--even when the clarifying phrase, "to God," is attached. ["Not My

Will, But Thine" (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988), p. 1]



	After all, we come to a university, at least in part, to cultivate

self-reliance, to cultivate independence, to learn to think and act for

ourselves.  Didn't Christ himself say, "Ye shall know the truth, and

the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32)? Such freedom is exactly

what universities are about, especially this one.  We try very hard

here to unshackle you from the bondage of ignorance and the captivity

of wrong opinions.  We want you to be strong and to have the most

enlightened intelligence possible.  We want you to be powerful and

high-principled free agents.



	So how do we speak of such spiritual freedom and intellectual

independence in one breath only to plead with you to be submissive and

very dependent in the next breath?



	We do so because no amount of university education, or any other

kind of desirable and civilizing experience in this world, will help us

at the moment of our confrontation with Christ if we have not been

able--and are not then able--to yield, yield all that we are, all that

we have, and all that we ever hope to have to the Father and the Son.



	The path to a complete Christian education passes through the

Garden of Gethsemane, and we will learn there if we haven't learned it

before that our Father will have no other gods before him--even (or

especially) if that would-be god is our self.  I assume you are all far

enough along in life to be learning that great discipline already.  It

will be required of each of us to kneel when we may not want to kneel,

to bow when we may not want to bow, to confess when we may not want to

confess--perhaps a confession born of painful experience that God's

thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are his ways our ways, saith the

Lord (see Isaiah 55:8).



	I think that is why Jacob says to be learned--or, we would

presume, to be any other worthy thing--is good if one hearkens unto the

counsels of God.  But education, or public service, or social

responsibility, or professional accomplishment of any kind is in vain

if we cannot, in those crucial moments of pivotal personal history,

submit ourselves to God even when all our hopes and fears may tempt us

otherwise.  We must be willing to place all that we have--not just our

possessions (they may be the easiest things of all to give up), but

also our ambition and pride and stubbornness and vanity--we must place

it all on the altar of God, kneel there in silent submission, and

willingly walk away.



	I believe what I am describing here is the scriptural definition

of a saint, one who will "yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit,"

and "through the atonement of Christ ... becometh as a child,

submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to

all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a

child doth submit to his father" (Mosiah 3:19).



Obedience, the First Law of Heaven



	As the Great Exemplar and Daystar of our lives, is it any wonder

that Christ chooses first and foremost to define himself in relation to

his father--that he loved him and obeyed him and submitted to him like

the loyal son he was? And what he as a child of God did, we must try

very hard to do also.



	Obedience is the first law of heaven, but in case you haven't

noticed, some of these commandments are not easy, and we frequently may

seem to be in for much more than we bargained for.  At least if we are

truly serious about becoming a saint, I think we will find that is the

case.



	Let me use an example from what is often considered by foes, and

even by some friends, as the most unsavory moment in the entire Book of

Mormon.  I choose it precisely because there is so much in it that has

given offense to many.  It is pretty much a bitter cup all the way

around.



	I speak of Nephi's obligation to slay Laban in order to preserve a

record, save a people, and ultimately lead to the restoration of the

gospel in the dispensation of the fulness of times.  How much is

hanging in the balance as Nephi stands over the drunken and adversarial

Laban I cannot say, but it is a very great deal indeed.



	The only problem is that we know this, but Nephi does not.  And

regardless of how much is at stake, how can he do this thing? He is a

good person, perhaps even a well-educated person.  He has been taught

from the very summit of Sinai "Thou shalt not kill." And he has made

gospel covenants.



	"I was constrained by the Spirit that I should kill Laban; but . .

. I shrunk and would that I might not slay him" (1 Nephi 4:10).  A

bitter test? A desire to shrink? Sound familiar? We don't know why

those plates could not have been obtained some other way--perhaps

accidentally left at the plate polishers one night or maybe falling out

the back of Laban's chariot on a Sabbath afternoon.



	For that matter, why didn't Nephi just leave this story out of the

book altogether? Why didn't he say something like, "And after much

effort and anguish of spirit, I did obtain the plates of Laban and did

depart into the wilderness unto the tent of my father?" At the very

least he might have buried the account somewhere in the Isaiah

chapters, thus guaranteeing that it would have gone undiscovered up to

this very day.



	But there it is, squarely in the beginning of the book--page

8--where even the most casual reader will see it and must deal with it. 

It is not intended that either Nephi or we be spared the struggle of

this account.



	I believe that story was placed in the very opening verses of a

531-page book and then told in painfully specific detail in order to

focus every reader of that record on the absolutely fundamental gospel

issue of obedience and submission to the communicated will of the Lord. 

If Nephi cannot yield to this terribly painful command, if he cannot

bring himself to obey, then it is entirely probable that he can never

succeed or survive in the tasks that lie just ahead.



	"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded" (1

Nephi 3:7).  I confess that I wince a little when I hear that promise

quoted so casually among us.  Jesus knew what that kind of commitment

would entail, and so now does Nephi.  And so will a host of others

before it is over.  That vow took Christ to the cross on Calvary, and

it remains at the heart of every Christian covenant.  "I will go and do

the things which the Lord hath commanded." Well, we shall see.



	In all of this we are, of course, probing Lucifer's problem--he of

the raging ego, he who always took the Burger King motto too far and

had to have everything his way.  Satan would have done well to listen

to that wisest of Scottish pastors, George MacDonald, who warned:

"There is one kind of religion in which the more devoted a man is, the

fewer proselytes he makes: the worship of himself" (C.  S. Lewis, ed.,

George MacDonald: An Anthology [New York: Macmillan, 1947], p. 110).



	But Satan's performance can be instructive.  The moment you have a

self there is the temptation to put it forward, to put it first and at

the center of things.  And the more we are--socially or intellectually

or politically or economically--the greater the risk of increasing

self-worship.  Perhaps that is why when a newborn baby was brought

before the venerable Robert E. Lee and the hopeful parents asked for

this legendary man's advice, saying, "What should we teach this child?

How should he make his way in the world?" the wise old general said,

"Teach him to deny himself.  Teach him to say no."



	Often such an exercise in submission is as lonely as it is

wrenching.  Sometimes, in those moments when we seem to need the Lord

the very most, we are left to obey seemingly unaided.  The psalmist

cries out on behalf of all of us in such times: 'Why standest thou afar

off, O Lord? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?" 'Why art

thou so far from helping me?. . . I cry in the daytime, but thou

hearest not; and in the night season, [I] am not silent." "Hide not thy

face far from me; ... leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my

salvation." "Be not silent [unto] me" (Psalms 10:1, 22:12, 27:9, 28:1).



	The psalmist's plea rings most painfully of that ultimate anguish

on Calvary, the cry that characterized an act of supreme submission:

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46 and Psalms

22:1).  And to a lesser degree we hear the supplication from Liberty

Jail: "O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth

thy hiding place? How long shall thy hand be stayed ... ? Yea, O Lord,

how long ... ?" (D&C 121:1-3).



	We know a good deal about the abuse that Joseph and his colleagues

suffered at the hands of their jailors.  Furthermore, we know of

Joseph's submissive spirit at that time, choosing then of all moments

to pen some of the most sublime language in holy writ--the appeal to

maintain influence "only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by

gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned" (D&C 121:41).  What a

setting in which to speak so kindly. What a brutal context in which to

bring out such compassion.



	But part of the story we don't remember as well is that of fellow

prisoner Sidney Rigdon.  Sidney was actually released from jail some

two months before the Prophet Joseph and the others, but Rigdon left

muttering that "the sufferings of Jesus Christ were . . . fool[ish

compared] to his" (HC 3:264).



	Now it would not behoove us here in the security of our pleasant

quarters to pass judgment on Brother Rigdon or anyone else who suffered

these indignities in Missouri, but to say that Christ's atoning

sacrifice, bearing the weight of all the sins of all mankind from Adam

to the end of the world, was foolishness compared to Brother Rigdon's

confinement in Liberty jail smacks of that defiant and finally fatal

arrogance we so often see in those who end up in spiritual trouble.



	Professor Keith W. Perkins of our Church History Department has

written that this moment marks the turning point for ill in Sidney

Rigdon's life (see "Trials and Tribulations: The Refiner's Fire" in The

Capstone of Our Religion: Insights into the Doctrine and Covenants,

eds.  Robert L. Millet and Larry E. Dahl [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft,

1989], p. 147).  After this experience he was no longer the

distinguished leader he truly had been in the early years of the

dispensation.  Soon Joseph Smith no longer felt him to be of use in the

First Presidency, and after the Prophet's death, Rigdon plotted against

the Twelve in an effort to gain unilateral control over the Church.  In

the end he died a petty and bitter man, one who had lost his faith, his

testimony, his priesthood, and his promises.



	Joseph, on the other hand, would endure and be exalted when it was

over.  No wonder the Lord told him very early in his life, "Be patient

in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I

am with thee, even unto the end of thy days" (D&C 24:8).



	"Who are those arrayed in white before the throne of God?" John

the Revelator is asked in his mighty vision.  The answer: "These are

they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes,

and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:14).



	Sometimes it seems especially difficult to submit to "great

tribulation" when we look around and see others seemingly much less

obedient who triumph even as we weep. But time is measured only unto

man, says Alma (see Alma 40:8), and God has a very good memory.



"Thou Hast Sought My Will"



	Elder Dean L. Larsen writes of a Sabbath-observing farmer who was

troubled and dismayed to see his Sabbath-breaking neighbor bring in far

better crops with a much higher, more profitable yield.  But in such

times of seeming injustice, we must remember that God's accounts are

not always settled in October (see "the Peaceable Things of the

Kingdom" in Hope [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1988], p. 200).



	Sometimes, too, we underestimate the Lord's willingness to hear

our cry, to confirm our wish, to declare that our will is not contrary

to his and that his help is there only for the asking.



	Note this example taken from Elder E Burton Howard's biography of

President Marion G. Romney.  I quote Elder Howard generously in

summarizing this story.



	In 1967 Sister Romney suffered a serious stroke.  The doctors told

then-Elder Romney that the damage from the hemorrhage was severe.  They

offered to keep her alive by artificial means but did not recommend it. 

The family braced themselves for the worst.  Brother Romney confided to

those closest to him that in spite of his anguished, personal yearning

for Ida's restored health and continued companionship, above all he

wanted "the Lord's will to be done and to take what he needed to take

without whimpering."



	As the days wore on, Sister Romney became less responsive.  She

had, of course, been administered to, but Elder Romney was "reluctant

to counsel the Lord about the matter." Because of his earlier

unsuccessful experience of praying that he and Ida might have children,

he knew that he could never ask in prayer for something which was not

in harmony with the will of the Lord.



	He fasted that he might know how to show the Lord that he had

faith and that he would accept God's will in their lives.  He wanted to

make sure that he had done all he could do.  She continued to fail.



	One evening in a particularly depressed state, with Ida unable to

speak or recognize him, Brother Romney went home and turned as he

always had to the scriptures in an effort to commune with the Lord.  He

picked up the Book of Mormon and continued where he had left off the

night before.



	He had been reading in the book of Helaman about the prophet

Nephi, who had been falsely condemned and unfairly charged with

sedition.  Following a miraculous deliverance from his accusers, Nephi

returned home pondering the things which he had experienced.  As he did

so he heard a voice.



	Although Marion Romney had read that story many times before, it

now struck him this night as a personal revelation.  The words of the

scripture so touched his heart that for the first time in weeks he felt

he had tangible peace.  It seemed as if the Lord was speaking directly

to him.  The scripture read:



	Blessed art thou, . for those things which thou hast done. . . .

And thou . . . hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will,

and to keep my commandments.



	And now, because thou hast done this ... I will bless thee

forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and

in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according

to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.

[Helaman 10:4-5]



	There was the answer.  He had sought only to know and obey the

will of the Lord, and the Lord had spoken.  He fell to his knees and

poured out his heart, and as he concluded his prayer with the phrase,

"Thy will be done," he either felt or actually heard a voice which

said, "It is not contrary to my will that Ida be healed."



	Brother Romney rose to his feet.  It was past two o'clock in the

morning, but he knew what he must do.  Quickly he put on his tie and

coat, then went out into the night to visit Ida in the hospital.



	He arrived shortly before three o'clock.  His wife's condition was

unchanged.  She did not stir as he placed his hands upon her pale

forehead.  With undeviating faith, he invoked the power of the

priesthood in her behalf.  He pronounced a simple blessing and then

uttered the incredible promise that she would recover her health and

mental powers and yet perform a great mission upon the earth.



	Even though he did not doubt, Elder Romney was astonished to see

Ida's eyes open as he concluded the blessing.  Somewhat stunned by all

that had happened, he sat down on the edge of the bed only to hear his

wife's frail voice for the first time in months.  She said, "For

goodness' sake, Marion, what are you doing here?" He didn't know

whether to laugh or to cry.  He said, "Ida, how are you?" With that

flash of humor so characteristic of both of them, she replied,

"Compared to what, Marion? Compared to what?"



	Ida Romney began her recovery from that very moment, soon left her

hospital bed, and lived to see her husband sustained as a member of the

First Presidency of the Church, "a great mission upon the earth" indeed

(F. Burton Howard, Marion G. Romney: His Life and Faith [Salt Lake

City: Bookcraft, 1988], pp. 137-42).



	We must be careful not to miss the hand of the Lord when it is

offered, when it is his desire to assist.  My daughter Mary made this

point in a recent conversation, and I asked her permission to repeat

it.



	She was speaking of this ironic tendency to fear and avoid the

very source of our help and deliverance, to retreat from rather than go

toward our safety.  She recalled the account in the fourteenth chapter

of Matthew, when a storm arose on the Sea of Galilee and the ship

containing the disciples was "tossed with waves: for the wind was

contrary" (Matthew 14:24).  In the midst of their anxiety, the

disciples looked toward the shore and a being, a ghost, an apparition,

was seen walking directly toward them.



	This only increased their panic, and they began to cry out in

fear.  But it was Christ walking on the water toward them.  "Be of good

cheer," he called out.  "It is I; be not afraid" (Matthew 14:27).  He

was coming to help in their moment of need, and they, misunderstanding,

were fleeing.



	"Th[is] miracle is rich in symbolism and suggestion," writes Elder

James E. Talmage.



	By what law or principle the effect of gravitation was superseded,

so that a human body could be supported upon the watery surface, man is

unable to affirm.  The phenomenon is a concrete demonstration of the

great truth that faith is a principle of power, whereby natural forces

may be conditioned and controlled.  Into every adult human life come

experiences like unto the battling of the storm-tossed voyagers with

contrary winds and threatening seas; ofttimes the night of struggle and

danger is far advanced before succor appears; and then, too frequently

the saving aid is mistaken for a greater terror.  As came unto Peter

and his terrified companions in the midst of the turbulent waters, so

comes to all who toil in faith, the voice of the Deliverer--"It is I;

be not afraid." [Jesus the Christ (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1916), p. 337]



Our Part in This Human Drama



	With that image of Christ again appearing in grandeur before us,

let me conclude this drama where I began.  We are taught that each one

of us will come face-to-face with Christ to be judged of him, just as

the world itself will be judged at his dramatic Second Coming.



	I close with an adaptation of an account by C. S. Lewis entitled

"The World's Last Night," which I have commandeered and changed for our

purposes here this morning.  The metaphor and most of the language is

Lewis's, but the application is my own.



	In King Lear (III, vii) there is a man who is such a minor

character that Shakespeare has not even given him a name: he is simply

called "First Servant." All the characters around him--Regan, Cornwall,

and Edmund--have fine long-term plans.  They think they know how the

story is going to end, and they are quite wrong.  The servant, however,

has no such delusions.  He has no notion how the play is going to go. 

But he understands the present scene.  He sees an abomination (the

blinding of old Gloucester) taking place.  He will not stand for it. 

His sword is out and pointed at his master's breast in an instant. 

Then Regan stabs him dead from behind.  That is his whole part: eight

lines all told.  But, Lewis says, if that were real life and not a

play, that is the part it would be best to have acted.



	The doctrine of the Second Coming teaches us that we do not and

cannot know when Christ will come and the world drama will end.  He may

appear and the curtain may be rung down at any moment--say, before we

have filed out of the devotional this morning.  This kind of not

knowing seems to some people intolerably frustrating.  So many things

would be interrupted.  Perhaps you were going to get married next

month.  Perhaps you were to graduate this spring.  Perhaps you were

thinking of going on a mission or paying your tithing or denying

yourself some indulgence.  Surely no good and wise God would be so

unreasonable as to cut all that short.  Not now, of all moments!



	But we think this way because we keep on assuming that we know the

play.  In fact, we don't know much of it.  We believe we are on in Act

II, but we know almost nothing of how Act I went or how Act III will

be. We are not even sure we know who the major and who the minor

characters are.  The Author knows.  The audience, to the extent there

is an audience of angels filling the loge and the stalls, may have an

inkling.  But we, never seeing the play from the outside (as Sister

Holland has just suggested), and meeting only the tiny minority of

characters who are "on" in the same scenes as ourselves, largely

ignorant of the future and very imperfectly informed about the past,

cannot tell at what moment Christ will come and confront us.  We will

face him one day, of that we may be sure; but we waste our time in

guessing when that will be.  That this human drama has a meaning we may

be sure, but most of it we cannot yet see.  When it is over we will be

told.  We are led to expect that the Author will have something to say

to each of us on the part that each of us has played.  Playing it well,

then, is what matters most.  To be able to say at the final curtain "l

have suffered the will of the Father in all things" is our only avenue

to an ovation in the end. (See "The World's Last Night," in Fern-Seed

and Elephants and Other Essays on Christianity by C. S. Lewis, ed. 

Walter Hooper [Great Britain: Fontana/Collins, 1975], pp. 76-77.)



	The work of devils and of darkness is never more certain to be

defeated than when men and women, not finding it easy or pleasant but

still determined to do the Father's will, look out upon their lives

from which it may seem every trace of God has vanished, and asking why

they have been so forsaken, still bow their heads and obey.

[Paraphrased from C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York:

Macmillan Publishing Co., 1961), p. 39]



	That it may be so in your rich and beautiful and blessed young

lives--faithful to the Father in all things and to the very end--I pray

in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                         PERFECTING THE SAINTS



                            Jacob de Jager



	Elder Jacob de Jager is a member of the First Quorum of the

Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This

fireside talk was given on 5 February 1989 in the Marriott Center.



	Here is a story that I would like to share with you.  The closing

speaker at a stake conference was a General Authority.  He had talked

for about ten minutes when all of a sudden, from way back in the

chapel, came a five-year-old boy strolling down the aisle.  The boy was

all dressed up by his mother for the occasion in gray slacks, a white

shirt, and a red bow tie, and his hair was sticking up in the air with

a lot of "greasy kid stuff." This dapper young man came down the aisle

and stopped right in front of the pulpit.  He looked up at the speaker

and said, "You talk too loud." Then he turned around and went back to

his mother.



	Now the speaker hoped there would be no further interruptions. 

But, lo and behold, after fifteen minutes there came the boy walking

down the aisle again, and he stopped for the second time in front of

the speaker.  This time, he looked up and said, "And you talk too

long."



	The speaker, however, did not react and continued to finish his

talk.  After all, we have been trained to keep our cool under all

circumstances.  Then there was a beautiful congregational closing hymn

and the benediction to finish the meeting, followed by the usual

socializing and shaking of hands.  The mother of the five-year-old boy

also came to the stand and said, "Elder, I hope you did not pay too

much attention to my five-year-old boy because he was only repeating

what other people were saying."



	We love the Saints and especially the mothers of five-year-old

boys, because, after all, none of us is perfect.



Being Worthy



	Today I would like to teach you about one of the aspects of the

mission of the Church, namely, "perfecting the Saints." I say teach

because I feel I am assigned to be your teacher tonight, and all of you

are my students--including the ones that are sitting on the stand. 

Now, I also know that on this campus and on other campuses represented

here tonight--there are many good students, and if we talk about

perfection, I want you to remember these points:



	1.  Our perfection started already in the premortal existence.  It

is a lifelong process while we are on earth and continues beyond the

veil.



	2.  Also, most of the perfecting is done in your own home, or, if

you are a student, in your own room.



	Although the words perfect and perfection are used several times

in the scriptures, it is easier to describe them than to define them.



	If I may use the words of Father Israel in the Old Testament that

he spoke to his son Reuben, I would like to describe perfection as

"excellency of dignity." Let me explain.  The English word dignity is

derived from the Latin word dignus, which means "worthy." Excellency,

in its original meaning, is "being superior in." So this results then

in the definition of perfection as "being superior in worthiness." Now,

this may raise immediately with you the next question: But what exactly

is "to be worthy"? Well, we can describe worthiness as follows: "to

live in accordance with all the teachings of the Lord as revealed

throughout the dispensations of time." We find and can read these

teachings in the four standard works of the Church.



	To be worthy is also to free one's mind of all ill feelings toward

other people.  We can add to this that worthy people have a great

personal desire to renew the covenants they made during the ordinance

of baptism by immersion into the restored Church.  In other words, they

have a great desire to attend sacrament meeting each Sunday.



	Worthiness is determined solely on the basis of personal

righteousness.  For instance, accountable persons who have faith in the

Lord and repent of their sins are worthy of baptism.



	Church members who have a godly walk and conversation are worthy

to partake of the sacrament.  And those who have proven to keep all of

the standards of the Church, after one year, are worthy of the

blessings of the temple.



	Worthiness always has reference to meriting a blessing or reward

because of obedience to that law upon which its receipt is predicated. 

Perfection is truly the crowning reward of complete worthiness.



The Pathway to Perfection



	I also want to make it clear that there are two kinds of

perfection; namely, perfection during our earthly life and eternal

perfection.  The latter, of course, is to a great extent the result of

the former.



	What is required for our earthly perfection is living a

God-fearing life of devotion to the truth, of walking in complete

submission to the will of the Lord, and of putting first in one's life

the things of the kingdom of God.  Eternal perfection is reserved for

those who overcome all things and inherit the fullness of the Father in

the mansions hereafter.  It is gaining eternal life, which is the kind

of life God our eternal Heavenly Father lives in the highest heaven

within the celestial world.



	Many scriptures exhort the Saints to be perfect in this life; this

condition will lead to eternal perfection hereafter unless a departure

is made from the straight and narrow path, which is also called the

pathway to perfection.  This is the reason why we are repeatedly

encouraged to endure in faith until the end.  It is interesting to note

that the word perfect



is used to refer to men in the Old Testament like Noah and Job, who, we

are told, were perfect in their generations.  We also find in the

Doctrine and Covenants that Seth, the son of Adam, was perfect (D&C

107:43), and that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have already received their

exaltation (D&C 132:37).



	When the Lord said in Matthew 5:48, "Be ye therefore perfect, even

as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (emphasis added), he was

speaking of ultimate, eternal perfection in his Father's kingdom. 

After his own resurrection, and when all power had been given to him in

heaven and in earth, he amplified his exhortation by saying, "Therefore

I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in

heaven is perfect" (3 Nephi 12:48; emphasis added).



	From what I have taught you so far, it is clear that perfection is

multi-dimensional.  It involves various aspects of an individual's

life, not just overcoming one or two undesirable character traits or

conquering one or two bad habits.



	I would also like to point out that there is an "internal" as well

as an "external" perfection.  As I see it, internal perfection is

persistently applying gospel thinking in our daily lives.  It involves

our thoughts and our attitudes.  We can say that internal perfection is

what people around us cannot see.



	External perfection involves our daily actions, our good deeds,

and our spiritual conversations.  That is what people can see and hear.



	We truly have to learn to leave Babylon talk and Babylon behavior

behind us and fill our lives with Zion talk and Zion behavior because

Zion is where the pure in heart are.  We must give heed to the loving

pleadings of the Redeemer and adjust our lives accordingly



	It is also advisable to measure our progress to perfection against

ourselves rather than measure it in comparison to other people.  Think,

for instance, how much progress we have made since we were baptized. 

See how much we have advanced through our near-perfect understanding of

the plan of salvation.



	Perfection is a subtle process, and the outcome depends much on

our kinship with our Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ and our

continuing relationship with worthy people, with faithful, exemplary

priesthood and auxiliary leaders in the Church.



	Furthermore, how is the relationship with our family members in

our home, with our married children (if we have them), and with our

grandchildren? These aspects we have to consider also if we want to

measure our perfection.



	What other practical advice will keep us on "the straight and

narrow path"?



	The Savior's revelations as written in the scriptures and the

inspired curriculum of the Church--the handbooks, the manuals, the

videotapes, the filmstrips, and the personal study guides--when acted

upon correctly, will promote optimal perfection.



	But there is no real perfection without the ordinances and

covenants that we make in the house of the Lord, especially the sealing

of husband and wife to one another and children to their parents.



	I have come to the conclusion that perfection is obtained more

through self-development and self-study than through listening to the

teachings and reminders of others. I have also come to the realization

that the average member of the Church spends only about nine hours per

week in church; namely, three hours on Sunday during the regular

consolidated meeting schedule, another three hours per week because of

callings that require his or her presence in church, and another three

hours for other church activities.



	In Holland, where I was born, I learned early in school that there

are twenty-four hours in a day. And I believe that is the same in the

United States.  And in Holland I also learned that there are seven days

in a week.  I think that is the same here, too.  I have calculated with

my calculator that there are therefore 7 times 24, or 168 hours in

every week.  And of these 168 hours, on the average, we spend only 9

hours in church.  That is just a little over 5 percent of the total

available time each week.  Do we all understand now from this simple

calculation that the home is indeed the ideal place to lay a firm

foundation for our own perfection?



	Increased faith through prayer and study and controlled behavior

through self-discipline also are excellent tools for working on our own

perfection.  Faith, good works, and holding on to the iron rod keep a

person on the road to perfection that leads to salvation and

exaltation.



	Let's therefore not suffer from what Elder Neal A. Maxwell calls

the "escalator syndrome." Some members, after being baptized into this

church, have the mistaken idea that they have stepped on an escalator

that will carry them smoothly and automatically to heaven.  They think

that all they have to do is hang on to the iron rod, which they

conceive as the handrail of the escalator that moves up and up with

them to heaven.  Have you ever watched people on an escalator? Have you

been in the mall in Orem? Have you been in the department store? Have

you seen the angelic smiles on the faces of the people who move up and

up and up and up? They just stand there and smile because that's where

they are going.  And architects always plan it this way, so that one

escalator is going up and the other is going down, and they cross

halfway.  And you should also see the look of disdain on some of the

people's faces who are going up: "We are going to heaven, and you

dismal people are going in the wrong direction." That's what Elder

Maxwell calls the escalator syndrome, and I thought you should be aware

of that.  There are no escalators in this kingdom.



	When I mentioned controlled behavior through self-discipline, I

thought of the scripture in the Book of Mormon where the prophet Jacob

says to the multitude, "O be wise; what can I say more?" Jacob 6:12). 

Now, isn't that a wonderful teaching? Maybe we should write these two

words on a piece of paper, just simply, black on white for our

perfection, "Be Wise." You know how I translate that, or paraphrase it?

He said, "Oh, don't do dumb things.  What can I say more?" I think

these are marvelous teachings.



	I suggest that we hang a sign like this on the door of our

refrigerator in the kitchen at home because I understand that is the

information center in most LDS homes.  "Come unto Christ," "Families

Are Forever," "Lengthen Your Stride," to name a few, have adorned the

refrigerator door in our kitchen in years past.



	If we truly understand the sacred meaning of these things, we will

do everything in our power to set our lives in order.  We then will

accomplish the things that need to be done to make us a little bit more

perfect every day.



	Let us therefore strive to be 100 percent worthy so that all may

be eligible to enter the temple to perform the ordinances there and

make covenants with the Lord of a higher order than the covenants of

baptism and confirmation.



	Elder Boyd K. Packer, a member of the Council of the Twelve,

expressed this idea very clearly during a training meeting of the

members of the First Quorum of the Seventy with the following words

about the higher covenants in the temple: "If we have our ordinances

performed, and if we have made the higher covenants, what other things

we might have missed in this life here on earth really do not matter. 

We can even be sick and we can be afflicted and we can be poor and we

can be ignorant of many things, but if we have received our ordinances

and covenants and keep them, we have truly lived.  If we do not have

these sacred things anchored in our lives, whatever else we may have

achieved in mortality will be of very little value in eternity."



The Foundations of Perfection



	Because you are such good students, I want, as your teacher, to

share with you six points that are really the foundation for the

perfection of every member of the Church.  I would call perfection a

"do-it-yourself' job, and you will need these six tools when you travel

on the pathway to perfection.



	I.  Revelation



	The first part of the foundation of man's perfection is

revelation. To be perfected, each individual must accept revelation

through prophets and other priesthood leaders and seek personal

revelation.  By definition, revelation is communication from God to man

with divine truth and divine guidance.  Every devoted, obedient, and

righteous person receives revelation from God.  Revelation is the

natural inheritance of all the faithful.



	The gift of the Holy Ghost will be poured out upon all those who

abide the law entitling them to that divine companionship.  Speaking

through the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord revealed, "If thou shalt

ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon

knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable

things--that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal" (D&C

42:61).  Every person who is sufficiently faithful and sufficiently

spiritual has the promise that God himself will appear to him.  In D&C

93:1 we read: Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that

every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my

name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my

face and know that I am."



	All Saints are expected (because they have the gift of the Holy

Ghost) to gain personal revelation and guidance to go through this life

and be perfected and return to their Father in Heaven.  As a convert to

the Church, I always marvel at the sight of very young children in the

Primary organization folding their arms and standing reverently to

recite by heart the Articles of Faith.  I always was, and I still am,

impressed to hear four- or five-year-olds say the ninth article of

faith: "We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now

reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important

things pertaining to the Kingdom of God."



	I also now understand perfectly that this ninth article of faith

is for all of us, without exception.  This is the divine guidance that

Heavenly Father wants us to receive while traveling through our earthly

journey in order to return unto him.  As Latter-day Saints, we simply

cannot live one day without revelation.  Therefore, it is truly the

foundation of our perfection.  And the Latter-day-Saint father, being

the spiritual leader in his own home, must see to it that he receives

divine direction to lead his family in righteousness and to teach his

family members to receive personal revelation also, that all may be

perfected.



II.  The Scriptures



	The second part of the foundation of man's perfection is the

scriptures.  To be perfected each individual must search and obey the

doctrine and commandments in the scriptures.  President Ezra Taft

Benson has said, "Always remember, there is no satisfactory substitute

for the scriptures and the words of the living prophets.  These should

be your original sources." And then he said, "Read and ponder more what

the Lord has said and less what others have written concerning what the

Lord has said" (CES Seminar, 17 September 1976).



	I testify that the book of scriptures I hold in my hand contains

the revelations of God through all dispensations of time from Adam to

Joseph to President Spencer W Kimball's declaration on the priesthood.



	I also testify that all the promises and blessings recorded in

this book shall be fulfilled.  In section 1, verse 37, of the Doctrine

and Covenants we read: "Search these commandments, [It doesn't say,

"Read these commandments," it doesn't say, "Study these commandments,"

it says, "Search." That includes the footnotes.] for they are true and

faithful, [which means dependable or trustworthy] and the prophecies

and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled."



	If we truly seek perfection through prayerful study, we should

accept the following challenges in the year that has just started.



	Challenge Number 1: Members and leaders of the Church carry their

scriptures to all church meetings, plus church and religion classes.



	Challenge Number 2: Members and leaders of the Church mark their

scriptures during talks, lessons, and self-study.



	Challenge Number 3: Members and leaders of the Church and their

children read the scriptures each day at a specific time.



	We are all familiar with the scripture in Luke 12:48 where it

says, "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much

required." We have received much in the scriptures and therefore how

much is required of us? This is required: that we carry and mark and

search the scriptures.  Do you know why? So that we all may receive the

Spirit of the Lord as the guiding force in our lives; so that we all

may receive the power to resist the temptation that will come to all of

us, without exception; so that we all may hold on to all the good

things we have received and therefore find joy in this life.



	I am sure that the majority of you have heard about the three-fold

mission of the Church (1) to proclaim the gospel, (2) to perfect the

Saints, and (3) to redeem the dead.  This has been taught in so many

church meetings since April 1981 that by now practically all have

received a knowledge of it.  But today I would like to share with you

another important mission--namely, the mission of the scriptures.  This

mission also has three important points that we must become equally

familiar with.



	a.	Place the scriptures in the hands of all the people.  Every

member should have a copy of the four standard works of the Church in

his or her own language for personal daily use.  You are the first ones

tonight to hear that the Council of the First Presidency and the Quorum

of the Twelve have last week approved to translate the Book of Mormon

into seventy more world languages, besides the thirty-four languages in

which the Book of Mormon has already been translated and printed.  This

will make the Book of Mormon available worldwide in 104 major languages

in the world, and the time given by the Brethren when it must be ready

is the year 2000.  In the next eleven years a group of dedicated people

must find the translators and the spiritual reviewers and all the

things that go into translating the Book of Mormon into seventy more

languages because it is part of the mission of the scriptures.



	b.	Get the people into the scriptures.  The members must be

obedient and willing to sacrifice their time to really become

acquainted with the revelations of the Lord.



	c.	Get the Spirit of the Lord into the hearts of the people. 

With the aid and inspiration of the scriptures all may be sanctified

and perfected and all may therefore receive the spirituality and

perfection required to return to their Father in Heaven.



	President Ezra Taft Benson has repeatedly challenged us to reread

the Book of Mormon.  And I presume he will continue to do so until

every member of the Church has shown obedience in this respect.  There

are, however, many time challenges in our lives.  I have a little

write-up here that I would like to share with you tonight; it makes

interesting reading.  It is called "The Choice Is Ours." Listen

carefully; it may sound very familiar to you.



The Choice Is Ours



On the table, side by side,

Lie the Book of Mormon and TV Guide.



One is well-worn and cherished with pride--

Alas, not the Book of Mormon, but TV Guide!



As the pages are turned, what shall they see? 

Oh, what does it matter? Turn on the TV!



The word of God is rarely read--

A verse here and there before going to bed.



Exhausted and tired as can be,

Not from reading the scriptures, but watching TV



The Plan of Salvation is full and free;

But it is found in the Book of Mormon--not on TV



	I like that.  And you must too; you are good students.  Brothers

and sisters, let us be obedient to the counsel of the living prophet

and study the scriptures every day for our own development and

perfection.



III.  The Holy Priesthood of God



	Another important point in the foundation of man's perfection

is--and we can't do without it in this kingdom--the holy priesthood of

God.



	If we look at the holy priesthood from an eternal perspective, we

can truly say that the priesthood is the eternal power and authority of

Deity by which all things exist; by which they are created, governed,

and controlled; by which the universe and worlds without number have

come rolling into existence; by which the great plan of creation,

redemption, and exaltation operates throughout immensity.  It is truly

the power of God. (See Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 594.)



	It is proper and common in the Church to speak of the two great

orders of the priesthood.  As we can read in Doctrine and Covenants

107:1, "There are, in the church, two priesthoods, namely, the

Melchizedek and Aaronic, including the Levitical Priesthood." These

priesthoods are conferred upon worthy individuals who are then ordained

to offices in the priesthood.



	Once the Melchizedek Priesthood has been conferred upon a worthy

man, there is no advancement from one office to the other within the

Melchizedek Priesthood.  Every elder holds as much priesthood as an

apostle or even as the President of the Church, though these latter

officers hold greater administrative assignments in the kingdom.  It

follows also that any holder of the Melchizedek Priesthood could

perform any priestly function he was appointed to do by the one holding

the keys of the kingdom.  Normally, a priesthood bearer works in the

particular segment of the priesthood circle in which his primary

responsibility lies. (See Gospel Doctrine, 5th edition, pp. 148-49.)



	An elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood has all the priesthood he

needs to qualify for exaltation in the highest heaven of the celestial

world.  If in a stake of Zion or on a ward level the office that is to

be filled requires such, an elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood is

ordained a high priest.  This, however, is done only in the stakes of

Zion and not in the mission field where the mission organization has

only districts.



	Now, let me give you an interesting thought on this.  When I was

still living in Holland, I was a counselor in the Netherlands Mission

presidency to three different mission presidents, but I happily served

in that calling as an elder.  Even when, in 1972, I was called to serve

as a Regional Representative, I was not ordained a high priest because

I was living in a branch in the mission field, and my new calling did

not require me to be ordained a high priest.  I possessed all the

authority of the priesthood to carry out my duties.  So when I was

called to the First Quorum of the Seventy in April 1976, I was holding

the office of elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood, not having served as

a bishop or stake president.  Now, this was kind of unusual.  As far as

I know I am the only one in this century that was called to serve on

the presiding councils of the Church who was holding the office of an

elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood when called.  President Spencer W.

Kimball was the one who called me, and after I was sustained, he

ordained me a seventy and a high priest at that time.



	In the nineteenth century the same had happened in a few

instances.  Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball and a few others after

them were called to be General Authorities of the Church when they were

elders in the Melchizedek Priesthood.  So I feel I am in good company.



	Talking about the perfecting of the Saints, I can state that every

worthy man must receive and honor the oath and covenant of the

Melchizedek Priesthood.  And every father in the home has the great

responsibility to prepare his sons to receive the priesthood and the

other family members to honor the priesthood.



	I testify to all of you that the holy priesthood is truly the

foundation of men's perfection and exaltation.



IV The Holy Ordinances



	The next point to consider in the foundation of man's perfection

concerns the holy ordinances.  To be perfected, each individual must

receive all the sacred ordinances, including the highest ordinances in

the temple, and be true to the covenants that are made.  For better

understanding, let me give some definitions.  A saving ordinance is a

sacred act, prescribed by the Lord Jesus Christ, on the conditions of

which we receive the purifying and exalting blessings of his atonement. 

A covenant is a sacred, binding, and solemn agreement with mutual

promises between God and men.  The new and everlasting covenant is the

fullness of the gospel and embraces within its terms and conditions

every other covenant that Deity ever has made or ever will make with

men.



	The terms and conditions of the new and everlasting covenant are

accepted by every individual incident to baptism under the hands of a

representative of the Lord who holds the proper office in the

priesthood and who has been properly authorized to do so.



	In effect, by baptism an individual signs his or her name to the

covenant of salvation.   If after baptism a person keeps the covenant

and endures in faith until the end, his or her salvation is assured.



	Ordination to office in the Melchizedek Priesthood and entering

into that order of the priesthood named "the new and everlasting

covenant of marriage" are both occasions when men make the covenant of

exaltation, being promised through their faithfulness all that the

Father has (D&C 131:2; 84:38).



	The ultimate purpose of these ordinances is perfection, because we

have to learn how to reach and live in the presence of our Heavenly

Father.  We also have to learn the laws of heaven and how to obey them

so we may learn how to become exalted.



	I am sure that you now begin to understand why we presently have

forty-one temples in operation worldwide.  And it is certain that more

temples will be announced by the First Presidency, built, and dedicated

in the Lord's due time.



	The temple ceremony clearly teaches the doctrine of where we came

from, why we are here, and where we are going after this life.  Through

the knowledge gained in the temple, we can determine more quickly

whether our daily behavior is right or wrong, and know of the need for

repentance.  Whether attending an endowment session, or witnessing the

sealing ceremony of an eternal marriage, or just pondering and

worshiping in the temple, we will feel close to God.  The temple is

God's house, where we have the Privilege of learning of him and his

purposes.  To go through the temple, receive our endowments, and

regularly attend is to receive some of the highest learning of

eternity. [Rulon G.  Craven, The Pursuit of Perfection (Salt Lake City:

Bookcraft, 1988), pp. 19-20]



	It was President Harold B. Lee who expressed the thought as

follows:



	The temple ceremonies are designed by a wise Heavenly Father who

has revealed them to us in these last days as a guide and a protection

throughout our lives that you and I might not fail of an exaltation in

the Celestial kingdom where God and Christ dwell. [Harold B. Lee,

Decisions for Successful Living (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company,

1973), p. 141]



	Participating in the ordinances and truly living the higher

covenants made in the temple take faith, courage, and obedience.  The

responsibility to be obedient to these covenants and receive those

great blessings lies with each of us.  We are individually responsible

for keeping the covenants necessary for exaltation.  Each week, as we

attend sacrament meeting, we participate in renewing our covenants by

partaking of the sacrament.  In so doing, we covenant again and again

to always remember Jesus Christ and to keep the commandments that he

has given us, and then we are promised that we will always have his

Spirit to be with us.



	His Spirit, accepted by us and acted upon in faith, will always

lead us in the path of righteousness.  In Doctrine and Covenants 78:7,

the Lord has revealed: "For if you will that I give unto you a place in

the celestial world, you must prepare yourselves by doing the things

which I have commanded you and required of you."



	I testify that there is no perfection without the holy ordinances

of the gospel of Jesus Christ.



V. Personal Talents and Gifts



	The next point of the foundation of man's perfection is the

development of personal talents and gifts.  We must be mindful that

these gifts come from God and were acquired in the premortal existence

to be used and developed after we start our mortal probation.  Their

purpose is to enlighten, encourage, and edify the faithful so they will

be guided on the pathway to perfection.



	I looked up the definition of talents in Webster's Dictionary, and

this is what it says: "Talents: inborn creative abilities making for

ease and dexterity in performance." Well, if this is true, then we

surely have a vast reservoir of talents in the Marriott Center here

tonight.  And the presence of so many truly gifted people is proof of

the divinity of the Lord's work.



	Now, I realize that your personalities may be different--all of

you have different personalities.  Your temperamental makeup is

different and your prevailing moods and inclinations may be different,

but some things we all have in common.  At one time we lived as spirit

children with our Heavenly Father, we all were born through earthly

parents, and we all shall leave this mortal existence in the Lord's due

time.  The big question is how do we live our lives between arrival and

departure? All those who have been received in the kingdom of God on

the earth through the covenant of baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ

of Latter-day Saints belong to the covenant people of the Lord and as

such have received tremendous blessings of spiritual gifts to be led,

guided, and directed.



	In the scriptures we find many of the gifts mentioned by name; for

instance, knowing by revelation that Jesus is the Christ, and knowing

that the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God.  There is also the

gift of being valiant to proclaim the gospel as well as the gift of

healing, the gift of discernment, and the gift of speaking different

languages.  I have only time to name a few.  There are, however,

numerous other gifts of the Spirit.  They are infinite in number and

endless in their manifestations.  I quote from the Book of Mormon

again, Moroni 10:8:



	And again, I exhort you, my brethren, that ye deny not the gifts

of God, for they are many; and they come from the same God.  And there

are different ways that these gifts are administered; but it is the

same God who worketh all in all; and they are given by the

manifestations of the Spirit of God unto men, to profit them. [Emphasis

added]



	We have to develop the divine gifts to teach, to strengthen, and

to serve others, and in so doing we work on our own perfection also.



	The duty and responsibility of the LDS father in the home is to

assist his family members to develop their talents and gifts for the

same purposes and to become indeed an eternal family.



VI.  Keeping the Commandments of God



	The next and last point is more or less a resume or a summing up

of what I have taught you tonight: keeping the commandments of God. 

There is no perfection without obeying the commandments and enduring in

faith until the end.



	Elder Bruce R. McConkie, who is so sorely missed from our ranks,

phrased it so beautifully in his book Mormon Doctrine under the heading

"Commandments" that I would like to quote him.



	Those things which men are directed to do to attain peace in this

life and gain eternal life in the world to come are collectively called

the commandments.  They are the laws, ordinances, covenants, contracts,

statutes, judgments, decrees, revelations, and requirements which come

to man from God.  They are "the words of eternal life," with reference

to which it is proclaimed: "You shall live by every word that

proceedeth forth from the mouth of God." (D&C 84:43-44) [MD, p. 149;

emphasis in original]



	I think, brothers and sisters, that is the great challenge for

each and every one of us, to live by every word that proceedeth forth

from the mouth of God.  And I hope that through my teachings I have

been able to make this great challenge more visible and the ultimate

goal more attainable.  Let's simplify the challenge by accepting the

invitation to live a perfect day one at a time.



	Will you try to live tomorrow a perfect day? And if you fail to do

so, then try again the next day.  Then we truly make progress in

carrying out one aspect of the mission of the Church, which is the

mission of every individual member of the Church, namely, "to perfect

the Saints."



	I humbly pray that we may all be successful in doing so, in the

name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                   CHOICE--THE CRUCIBLE OF CHARACTER



                           J. Richard Clarke



	J.Richard Clarke is a member of the Presidency of the Seventy of

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This devotional

address was delivered on 14 February 1989 in the Marriott Center.



	It was exactly thirty-nine years ago, about this time of the

month, that I gave my best girl my South African diamond.  We are

delighted to be here today on this special Valentine's Day, and also at

a time when we recognize our national leaders.  I'm happy I brought my

valentine with me.  She will always be one of my very special heroes. 

She personifies as much as anyone some of the important principles I

hope to articulate today.



Our Character



	It is the ultimate design and purpose of our Divine Creator that

we develop a Christlike character.  A noble character is the product of

a life well invested.  While our intellect may be the gift of God or

ancestral pedigree, our character is man-made and the fruit of personal

exertion.  In this sense we are a co-creator with our Heavenly Father. 

Our character is produced from the crucible of human experience.  The

forging process removes impurities and tempers and shapes us so that we

might realize the measure of our creation.  Character is the Liahona

for our moral conduct.



	The philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote,



	No doubt it is a good and desirable thing to have intelligence,

sagacity, judgment, and other intellectual gifts, by whatever name they

may be called; it is also good and desirable in many respects to

possess by nature such qualities as courage, resolution, and

perseverance, but all these gifts of nature may be in the highest

degree pernicious and hurtful if the will which directs them, or what

is called character is not itself good. Fnt. 1 





	Character is the power to act upon principle--the discipline to

follow through with resolutions long after the spirit in which they

were made has passed.  As another writer states: "In the crisis of

temptation, in the battle of life, when struggle comes from within or

without, it is our strength, heroism, virtue and constancy--our

character which defends and secures our happiness and honor." Fnt. 2 



	Life is a test, a formidable test, but one each of us can pass. 

As you know, blessings are predicated upon laws--laws that we must

learn and obey if we are to be happy and successful.  The scriptures

teach us that we must be proven--to see if we will do that which the

Lord commands us.  To prove means "to establish or ascertain as true or

genuine." We must know what is expected of us, exercise correct

choices, and be responsible for the consequences of our choices.



Are We Accountable?



	The Lord established a pattern of behavior and discipline in the

Garden of Eden that is worthy of adoption.  He explained the system to

Father Adam and Mother Eve.



	1.	 Clear instruction was given.  "Of every tree of the garden

thou mayest freely eat, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and

evil, thou shalt not eat."



	2.	 Freedom of choice was emphasized.  Father said,

"Nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto

thee."



	3.	 Father's stand was reiterated.  "But, remember that I forbid

it."



	4.	 He established the consequence.  "For in the day thou eatest

thereof thou shalt surely die" (Moses 3:16-17; emphasis added).



	You are familiar with the events that followed.  The tempter

beguiled Eve with half-truths, resulting in her spiritual death and

mortal change.  Adam made a conscious choice with the same

consequences.



	The wisest and noblest of us have demonstrated from the beginning

that voluntary obedience to the saving truths brings joy and peace in

this life and eternal happiness hereafter.  We know that consequences

are set as choices are made.  Obedience to divine law, then, is the

highest expression of love and intelligence.  Rebellion, not

intelligence, has been the stumbling block of many of the talented and

the proud.



	Within our physical world, we have choices to exercise as we gain

dominion over our environment.  Some great forces of nature are beyond

our power to regulate.  But within our environment is the world of

values; here we can be in command.  I am not suggesting that all are

equally advantaged or disadvantaged, but I am saying that in your world

of values, you can choose what you are to be.



	There is in our society a subtle and pernicious philosophy that

leaves a wake of distress and makes a mockery of the divine gift of

agency I believe it to be satanic in origin and the enemy of

righteousness.  It can be expressed in four simple words: "I can't help

myself." Dr. William Lee Wilbanks, professor of criminal justice at

Florida International University, refers to this philosophy as "the new

obscenity"--obscene, he says, "because it is offensive to the core

concept of humanity .... [denying] the very quality that makes us human

and not simply animals."  Fnt. 3 



	He cites examples.  A rapist, who had broken into the house of a

twenty-six-year-old woman and raped her for the third time over a

three-month period, justified his actions before the jury by claiming a

hormonal defect that increased his sexual appetite to the point that he

couldn't help himself.  The jury bought the idea and only put him on

probation.



	In a more recent case, Ted Bundy confessed that, after saturating

himself with pornography, he became the incarnation of his sensual

appetites.  This time, however, a wise judge ruled that Bundy was

indeed responsible for his actions.



	What about temptation, choice, appetite, habit? Are we

accountable? As one eminent authority reported, "Temptation--resisted

or indulged--has been supplanted by drives, instincts and

impulses--satisfied or frustrated.  Virtue and vice have been

transformed into health and sickness." Fnt. 4   This condition leads

us to echo the question of the famous psychiatrist, Karl Menninger:

"Whatever became of sin?"



	In our world of values and choice, is deviant behavior

uncontrollable or simply uncontrolled? In my opinion, we can develop

any appetite, or form any habit, by repetitious behavior.  When we are

habituated to drug dependency or other serious transgression, can we in

fairness say that we are not responsible? Was there no choice involved?

It is easy to blame forces outside ourselves for our own lack of

self-discipline.  To do so conveniently removes us from the encumbrance

of accountability as we use the excuse "I can't help myself."



	Dr. Wilbanks, in studying the power of human will in responsible

behavior, examined the on-court activity of two professional tennis

players--Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe.  I quote:



	You probably remember Borg as the Swede who rarely showed any

emotion on the tennis court and who decided never to be angry at the

linesmen and the umpire.  But Borg's self-control was made, not born. 

Borg displayed an on-court temper similar to McEnroe's when he was in

his early teens in Sweden when he was known for his swearing and

throwing rackets.  At the age of 13 he was suspended by his tennis club

for six months.  And his parents supported that expulsion by locking up

his racket and refusing to let him play at all.



	Borg now says that he learned his lesson and simply decided from

that day forward to control his temper--and he did.



	By contrast, John McEnroe indicated in a recent "60 Minutes"

interview that he believes he is "addicted" to his outbursts of temper.

Fnt. 5  [Emphasis added]



	It is, however, interesting to note that McEnroe said the one time

he did control his temper was when he played Borg because "he couldn't

afford to waste one bit of energy when playing Borg." Dr. Wilbanks

concludes his example by saying McEnroe's verbal obscenities on the

court are a result of the obscene concept of addiction.



	One final example from this interesting study.



	Thousands of American soldiers in Vietnam became "addicted" to

hard drugs but only 14 percent remained "addicted" upon their return to

the United States.  The 86 percent who quit simply decided that they

did not want to get involved in the American drug culture.  Their value

system and self-discipline helped them to "Say No." Fnt. 6  [Emphasis

added]



	News reports have recently outlined two regrettable stories

regarding prominent athletes--1984 Olympic silver medalist Bruce

Kimball, and Cincinnati Bengals fullback Stanley Wilson--men who have

robbed themselves of brilliant sports futures by succumbing to

temptation and relinquishing their self-control and self-respect to

alcohol and cocaine.



	Kimball, himself the past victim of a drunk driver, struggled

valiantly to overcome injuries from that severe accident to contend for

a place on the 1988 Olympic diving team.  Now, instead of what might

have been a glorious memory of standing on an Olympic platform with a

medal of victory around his neck, he must live with the horrific

nightmare of one evening of foolish choices that sentenced him to

seventeen years in prison and the recurring guilt of having been

responsible for the deaths of two teenagers.



	After completing a rehabilitation program, having a terrific

season, and earning a starting position in the game football players

dream about most of their lives--the Super Bowl--Wilson succumbed just

one more fateful time to the lure of drugs.  "Cocaine," he said, "was

like a slow suicide." At one point Wilson recalled doing drugs in his

car with his five-year-old son watching.  "My son looked at me and

said, 'Daddy, why are you doing this?"' A good question, Stanley--why?



	And these tragedies are not the onus of athletes alone.  Movie

stars, politicians, religious leaders, businessmen, students, even our

neighbors and friends often surrender their integrity in exchange for

one momentary thrill or passion.



	Arthur Berry, the jewel thief who gained notoriety by stealing

jewels from the royal family, was interviewed toward the end of his

life.  The reporter asked him what was his largest theft.  Berry

replied, "When I was young, I had all the advantages--intelligence,

education, and financial means.  I could have become anything I

desired; I could've gone anywhere.  But rather, I chose a life of

crime.  So when you write, don't say, 'Arthur Berry robbed the queen's

jewels.' Put the biggest theft at the top.  Simply say, 'Arthur Berry

robbed Arthur Berry!'" Robert Benchley said,



	One of my fears for the future stems from the fact that in recent

years some of the nation's brightest, best educated, and most richly

rewarded career people have committed acts that destroy their careers

and cancel all their bright promise.  One interpretation is that they

betrayed their values--for money, or power, or sensual pleasure. 

Another interpretation is that they didn't have any values to betray,

that the values had been jettisoned long ago in the swift upward climb.

Fnt. 7 



	We are not without guilt in the Church; but surely we ought to be,

because where much is given much is expected.  In matters of character,

we should stand preeminent.  Integrity must be our hallmark.  For

Latter-day Saints who have clearly stated values and standards, the

compromise of personal integrity comes before committing a

transgression.  Integrity--or another word I like, veracity--is the

taproot of our value system.  Veracity has been defined as "habitual

observance of the truth." It is not just knowing and thinking the

truth, but it is doing the truth.  It is instinctive honesty.



	We have a classic example from the scriptures with which you are

familiar.  In the thirty-ninth chapter of Genesis we read of Joseph in

Egypt.  Joseph was the first role model that I remember my mother

counseling me to emulate.  I have loved and admired him ever since

boyhood.



	You will remember how the Lord blessed Joseph and how he found

favor in the eyes of Potiphar, the wealthy and powerful officer of the

pharaoh.  He was made overseer of Potiphar's house and all that he had. 

And the Lord blessed the Egyptian for Joseph's sake.  Potiphar left all

that he had in Joseph's hands and "he knew not ought he had." In other

words, so great was his trust of Joseph that he didn't even know what

he owned--"save the bread which he did eat" (Genesis 39:6).



	Joseph was goodly and handsome.  Potiphar's wife found him

attractive and tried to seduce him, but he refused.  He reminded her

that Potiphar had entrusted everything to him.  "Neither hath he kept

back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then

can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" She persisted and

he resisted.  "He hearkened not unto her," and he avoided her (Genesis

39:7-10.) One day she grabbed him, and the scripture records the famous

clarion call of moral valor: "[He] fled, and got him out" (Genesis

39:12).



	Joseph refused to compromise his integrity, his master's trust,

and his covenant with the Lord.  It was a matter of personal honor

before even considering the enticing advances of Potiphar's wife.



	Joseph Smith taught, "That person who never forsaketh his trust,

should ever have the highest place of regard in our hearts" (Teachings,

p. 31).



Resisting Temptation



	Anciently, the Romans worshipped virtue and honor as gods.  They

built two temples that were so situated that none could enter the

temple of Honor without passing through the temple of Virtue, thus

symbolizing the truth that all honor is founded on virtue.  He whose

soul is set to do right finds himself more firmly bound by the

principle of honor than by legal restraints.  One's personal honor

should exceed the norm of his society.  As Seneca observed, "What the

law does not forbid is forbidden by decency." Fnt. 8 



	Sometimes we blame the devil for our sins.  The Prophet Joseph

also observed "that Satan was generally blamed for the evils which we

did..... The devil could not compel mankind to do evil; all was

voluntary." Then he made this sobering statement: "Those who resisted

the Spirit of God, would be liable to be led into temptation"

(Teachings, p. 187).



	We tend to resist or reject the Spirit first, then we succumb to

temptation.  King Benjamin taught: "After ye have known and have been

taught all these things, if ye should transgress and go contrary to

that which has been spoken, . . . ye do withdraw yourselves from the

Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in you to guide you in

wisdom's paths that ye may be blessed, prospered, and preserved"

(Mosiah 2:36; emphasis added).



	We also read in the Doctrine and Covenants, "The Spirit

enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice

of the Spirit" (D&C 84:46).



	Too often we place ourselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

King David, for example, "tarried still at Jerusalem" for some R and R

when it was "at the time when kings go forth to battle." In other

words, he had left his post.  At eventide he walked along the roof of

his house and looked down at the beautiful, bathing Bathsheba.  His sin

began, not when he saw her, but when he lingered until a carnal

appetite was quickened, uncontrolled but certainly controllable (2

Samuel 11:1-4).  The rest of the story ranks among the saddest in all

of our scriptures.



	We recall the profound words of Thomas Aquinas: "Perfection of

moral virtue does not wholly take away the passions, but regulates

them." Fnt. 9 



	My young brothers and sisters, as the earth is ripening in

iniquity, we must not obscure our appreciation for the beautiful and

the wholesome and the godly.  We plead for sustenance of the higher

values and senses within us.  That is character.



	In Greek mythology, Ulysses was so concerned that the seductive

music of the Sirens would destroy his sailors that he plugged their

ears and tied them to the mast.  But Orpheus, the god of music, said

that the solution was to play sweeter music than that of the Sirens.



	We do not deny that sin may provide fleeting pleasure or fun, but

its consequent damage to the soul produces great sorrow.  We have been

given sweeter music in the principles and standards of the gospel of

Jesus Christ.  Let us play God's music; let us popularize decency. 

There is a better way.  We have been endowed by the Lord with a

spiritual power that raises us above all creatures.  We are given

reason and values rather than mere instinct.  If we give up the reins

to our impulses and passions, from that moment we surrender this higher

prerogative.



	Self-control is the highest form of courage.  Sometimes it is

necessary to stand alone against the crowd.  I know that feeling.  It

is rarely popular.  It is even more difficult to resist the pressure

from members of the Church who, having compromised their own standards,

apply even heavier pressure on you to surrender your own.  But, as you

seem to stand alone, there is another with you even the Lord.



	John, the apostle, warns of the spirit of the anti-Christ in the

world and then reminds us: "Ye are of God ... greater is he that is in

you, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4).



	"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye

in him," wrote Paul, and be "rooted and built up in him ... lest any

man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition

of men" (Colossians 2:6-8).



	What does it mean to be rooted in Christ? Several years ago I was

in Jacksonville, Florida, the day after a hurricane had hit.  What a

mess! Uprooted trees were lying across the streets, on houses, and over

automobiles.  What amazed me were the tall palm trees that had been

uprooted.  I discovered that their roots were shallow.  They had run

horizontally in the sand just a few feet below the ground.  When the

heavy winds came, they were not anchored.



	Daily, we are faced with tests that require decisions of

character.  "Our moral 'muscles,'" William James wrote, "grow with

exercise and use.  If we want them to be strong for the times of

greater temptation, we must make them strong by using them to resist

the ever-recurring small temptations." Fnt. 10 



	Society tends to place value on the basis of cost.  Preeminent

then, must be the value of the human soul when we consider the

incomparable price paid by our Savior through his atoning sacrifice. 

To the Prophet Joseph Smith, he declared:





	Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;



	For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh;

wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent

and come unto him. [D&C 18:10-11]



	I believe that our conduct reflects our depth of understanding and

appreciation for our Savior and his atonement.  As your scriptural

theme for Book of Mormon week states: "If ye have experienced a change

of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, . . .

can ye feel so now?" (Alma 5:26).  Our love for the Lord should be our

greatest motivation to live righteously When we have a knowledge of and

feeling for his suffering, how can we consciously contribute to that

suffering through choosing to commit sin?



	John Milton made this very incisive observation:



	He that can apprehend and consider vice with all her baits and

seeming pleasures and yet abstain, and yet distinguish, and yet prefer

that which is truly better, he is the wayfaring Christian.  Fnt. 11  



	My beloved friends, may we always remember who we are.  Let

character prevail in all our choices.  May we never forget that through

the grace and mercy of our Redeemer, eternal life may be ours.  Then,

through the righteous, honest exercise of our free agency, may we be

privileged at some future day to greet our Savior with confidence and

to echo the words of the prophet Enos: "I rejoice in the day when ...

[I] shall stand before him; ... [and] see his face with pleasure"

(Enos, verse 27). I say this in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.



Notes



	1.  "Essay on the Metaphysics of Morals."



	2.  Source unknown, Elder Clarke's personal file.



	3.  William Lee Wilbanks, "The New Obscenity-I Can't Help Myself,"

Vital Speeches of the Day, 15 August 1988, pp. 65859.



	4.  Dr. Thomas Szasz, quoted by William Wilbanks in "The New

Obscenity," p. 659.



	5.  Wilbanks, "The New Obscenity," p. 661.



	6.  Wilbanks, "The New Obscenity," p. 662.



	7.  John W Gardner, Stanford Business Magazine, December 1988.



	8.  Source unknown, Elder Clarke's personal file.



	9.  Source unknown, Elder Clarke's personal file.



	10.  Speaker's Desk Book of Quips, Quotes, and Anecdotes, Jacob M.

Braude, ed. (PrenticeHall, Inc., 1963), pp. 269-70.



	11.  John Milton, Areopagitica, p. 728.





                     HE LOVETH THAT WHICH IS RIGHT



                           Marvin J. Ashton



	Marvin J. Ashton is a member of the Council of the Twelve of The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This fireside talk was

given on 5 March 1989 in the Marriott Center.



	I want to talk about the significance of a special painting that

hangs on a wall on the fourth floor of the Salt Lake Temple.  It is

where the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve meet weekly to

discuss Church affairs as they pertain to worldwide structuring and

management.



	On this fourth floor is the beautiful First Presidency and Council

of the Twelve Room.  It is approximately 30 feet wide, 50 feet long,

and has a ceiling height of 12 feet.  It is decorated in soft pastel

colors with fixtures and furnishings that are in good taste and

practical.  In the front of this room and in the center are three

chairs for the First Presidency to occupy. In a semicircle across the

room from them are twelve seats where the members of the Twelve sit. 

In this setting of privacy and temple warmth, the various divisions,

departments, councils, programs, and other needs of the Church are

studied and reviewed and decisions are made.  Worldwide areas and

growth challenges are examined and supervised.  Personnel needs are

discussed, prayed over, and service calls determined.



	On the front wall of this fourth-floor temple room are three

original Harry Anderson paintings, each 40 x 34 inches.  One painting,

titled "Christ Calling Peter and Andrew," is of the Savior in white

robes walking along a seashore.  He is beckoning to Peter and Andrew,

who are on a fishing boat with other fishermen, to follow him and "be

fishers of men." The painting depicts Christ's calling of Peter and

Andrew, later ordained as his apostles, to follow him.



	Another painting, titled "The Crucifixion," is a rendering of the

Savior hanging on a cross at Calvary Two thieves, also hanging on

crosses, are at the left and right of Christ.  Numerous observers,

including Mary, the mother of Christ, Mary Magdalene, other mourners,

and Roman soldiers are gathered around the crosses.  Thunder clouds are

gathered in the sky



	The third painting is titled "The Resurrection." Mary is in the

garden by the open tomb, looking up at the resurrected Christ before

his ascension.



	Around the other walls and parts of the room are pictures

beginning with Joseph Smith and including the other twelve presidents

of the Church; namely, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff,

Lorenzo Snow, Joseph E Smith, Heber J. Grant, George Albert Smith,

David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W.

Kimball, and Ezra Taft Benson.  In this setting there is only one other

picture in the entire room, and that is of Joseph Smith's brother

Hyrum.  It is not only appropriate but a genuine tribute, proper and

purposeful, that the portrait of this great man is on display with the

Savior and the prophets of this dispensation.  Not only a faithful

brother and advocate of Joseph's, but to all of us who meet there

regularly he is the personification of integrity. 



"The Integrity of His Heart"



	"And again, verily I say unto you, blessed is my servant Hyrum

Smith; for I, the Lord, love him because of the integrity of his heart,

and because he loveth that which is right before me, saith the Lord"

(D&C 124:15).



	John Taylor said of Hyrum: "If ever there was an exemplary,

honest, and virtuous man, an embodiment of all that is noble in human

form, Hyrum Smith was its representative." John Taylor also said of

Joseph and Hyrum Smith that they are "two of the best of Adam's race."

Hyrum was an older brother, six years senior to Joseph, and stood by

his side in life and death.  The age differential never seemed to make

a difference in Hyrum's attitude toward his younger brother.  He was

his friend, his advocate, and strength.



	Joseph maintained an especially close tie to his brother Hyrum. 

"Never in all my life have I seen anything more beautiful than the

striking example of brotherly love and devotion felt for each other by

Joseph and Hyrum," recalled a friend of the Smiths, William Taylor.  "I

witnessed this many, many times.  No matter how often or when or where

they met, it was always with the same expression of supreme joy. It

could not have been otherwise, when both were filled to overflowing

with the gift and power of the Holy Ghost! It was kindred spirits

meeting!"



	In section 11 of the Doctrine and Covenants, verses 6 through 10

cover some direct revelation instructions, guidelines, and promises for

Hyrum Smith.



	Now, as you have asked, behold, I say unto you, keep my

commandments, and seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion.



	Seek not for riches but for wisdom; and behold, the mysteries of

God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich.

Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich.



	Verily, verily, I say unto you, even as you desire of me so it

shall be done unto you; and, if you desire, you shall be the means of

doing much good in this generation.



	Say nothing but repentance unto this generation.  Keep my

commandments, and assist to bring forth my work, according to my

commandments, and you shall be blessed.



	Behold, thou hast a gift, or thou shalt have a gift if thou wilt

desire of me in faith, with an honest heart, believing in the power of

Jesus Christ, or in my power which speaketh unto thee.



	Also, in section 138, verse 33, the mighty ones in the spirit

world are mentioned--Hyrum was one of these.  "These were taught faith

in God, repentance from sin, vicarious baptism for the remission of

sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands."



	And verse 55 reveals that Hyrum was "among the noble and great

ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of

God."



	It has been rightly said that the role of Hyrum Smith in the

restoration of the gospel subsequent to the organization of the Church

was second only to that of his brother Joseph.  History points out to

us that the Prophet Joseph Smith did nothing of importance without

first counseling with his brother Hyrum.  Always it seemed when he was

in trouble or in deep danger or heavy in burdens, he was to seek out

his older brother for help and advice.  Hyrum was always wise and

consistent.



	Joseph's faith and trust in his remarkable brother Hyrum is

displayed in the beginning of the Nauvoo period.  Hyrum acted as

President of the Church while Joseph went to Washington, D.C., to

obtain a redress for losses in Missouri.  Hyrum was a peacemaker, a man

of integrity, an honest individual.  It was said of Hyrum that he would

never knowingly offend any man.  Nevertheless, he was relentless in

hating wrong.



	On one occasion, Joseph said that if Hyrum could not make peace

between two who were in disagreement the angels themselves might not

hope to accomplish the task.  About the twentieth of June, 1844, only

seven days before the martyrdom, Joseph urged Hyrum to take his family

to Cincinnati for safety Hyrum answered simply, "Joseph, I cannot leave

you."



	It is not uncommon when a younger brother is highly honored for

the elder brother in a family to manifest a spirit of jealousy, envy,

and resentment, resulting sometimes in discontent and open opposition,

but not so with Hyrum.  He accepted the great vision and mission of his

brother Joseph in the most sacred and loyal spirit of humility On one

occasion, when William Smith, the Prophet's younger brother, took

occasion to abuse Joseph with words of violence, Hyrum came to the

defense of the Prophet.  This loyalty and action elicited the following

expression of appreciation from Joseph: "I could pray in my heart that

all my brethren were like unto my beloved brother Hyrum, who possessed

a meekness and humility of Christ; and I love him with that love that

is stronger than death, for I never had occasion to rebuke him, nor he

me, which he declared when he left me today."



	Hyrum was honest in his dealings with all of his fellow men.  He

was versatile and could apply himself in all situations.  It is

reported he could shoe an ox, plow, sell books, trade potatoes, preach

a funeral sermon, try a case, administer to the sick, ordain, rebuke

the wicked, give counsel, aid the poor, perform ordinances, and preach

the gospel with equal effectiveness.  He was trusted and believed.  It

is reported by one of the biographers: "When Lydia went to his home he

[Hyrum] was about thirty-five or forty years of age, tall, well-framed,

with a fine, handsome countenance, and blue eyes and his face was full

of intelligence and spirit.  His manner was dignified, but he was

amiable and vivacious withal exceedingly courteous and fascinating to

all with whom he ever had [a relationship].  He was really a worthy

brother of the Prophet, and together they were a worthy pair" (Pearson

H. Corbett, Hyrum Smith--Patriarch [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book,

1963], p 148).



	The pride Joseph Smith, Sr., had for his two sons, Joseph and

Hyrum, was a delight to behold.  On one occasion the father laid his

hands upon Hyrum's head and said: "My son, Hyrum, I seal upon your head

your patriarchal blessing, which I placed upon your head before, for

that shall be verified.  In addition to this, I now give you my dying

blessing.  You shall have a season of peace, so that you shall have

sufficient rest to accomplish the work which God has given you to do. 

You shall be as firm as the pillars of heaven unto the end of your

days.  I now seal upon your head the patriarchal power and you shall

bless this people.  This is my dying blessing upon your head, in the

name of Jesus,. . . Amen" (Corbett, Hyrum Smith, p. 240).



	When Oliver Cowdery lost his standing, the Lord transferred to

Hyrum Smith all the power and authority that had been given to Oliver

Cowdery, and Hyrum Smith became the Associate President of the

Church--holding these keys jointly with his brother Joseph and standing

with him at the head of the great and last dispensation.  It was

because of this great honor that Hyrum Smith was called to be the

companion of the Prophet Joseph in martyrdom.



	After sharing many persecutions and life-threatening experiences

together, the Prophet wrote: "There was my brother [Hyrum] who next

took me by the hand--a natural brother.  Thought I to myself, Brother

Hyrum, what a faithful heart you have got! Oh, may the Eternal Jehovah

crown eternal blessings upon your head, and a reward for the care you

have had for my soul!  O how many are the sorrows we have shared

together; and again we find ourselves shackled with the unrelenting

hand of oppression.  Hyrum, thy name shall be written in the book of

the Law of the Lord, for those who come after thee to look upon, that

they may pattern after thy works."



	During his whole life Hyrum walked uprightly before the

Lord--meaning he was morally correct, honest, just, and honorable. 

Hyrum Smith seemed to be the embodiment of the thirteenth article of

faith:



	We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous,

and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the

admonition of Paul--We believe all things, we hope all things, we have

endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things.  If

there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy,

we seek after these things.



"Better to Be Trusted Than Loved"



	President David O. McKay frequently said: "It is better to be

trusted than to be loved." A good friend of mine learned the importance

of this and the significance of being a person of integrity at a

relatively young age in life.



	In one of her high school classes, there was a requirement to

attend a lab period before school officially began.  It was early in

the morning, and in order to get credit for this lab, the students

would sign their names in a roll book at the beginning of the class

period.  This roll book was located on the teacher's desk at the front

of the room.  One morning, while standing in line waiting to sign the

book, Roxanne, a very popular girl in school who was standing in the

doorway, motioned my friend to come and talk.  She did, and Roxanne

asked her if she would sign her name for her so that she could get

credit for attending the class even though she wouldn't actually be

there.  Roxanne was a student body officer and had to attend a special

meeting for the student body officers.  Without hesitating at all, my

friend said, "Sure, I'll do that for you." She didn't really know this

girl very well.  She was someone whom everyone liked and who was very

popular in school, but she was only an acquaintance of hers.



	Meanwhile, she went back to the desk and signed her name.  Then,

below her own signature she signed Roxanne's name in her handwriting. 

The teacher was obviously smarter than my friend and realized that

there were twenty students attending class, and twenty-one students who

had signed the roll.  Because the handwriting was the same, she knew

that my friend had signed Roxanne's name for her.



	In the middle of the lab session the teacher announced that there

was a discrepancy in the number of students who had signed the roll and

the number who were there in class.  Then she called out my friend's

name and asked that she go to the back of the room while the rest of

the class continued their lab assignments.  This teacher then proceeded

to impress upon her a most important lesson, one that she was never to

forget.  She can't remember most of what the teacher said to her,

except that she was very embarrassed and ashamed.  But the one thing

she does remember was this question that the teacher asked: "Why were

you willing to sacrifice your integrity for the sake of that girl?" You

see, she was a very good student, a student who was trusted and

respected in that high school, and she had let her teachers down.  She

was willing to sacrifice something that was most precious to her

because of peer pressure, because of the fear that someone wouldn't

like her if she didn't do a favor for her.  My friend learned in a very

significant way that it is more important to be trusted than to be

loved, that a person's integrity is of supreme importance.



	Never in the history of mankind or the Church has there been a

greater need for honesty in personal lives--honesty with neighbors and

integrity in discussions and total commitment on the basis of full

trust and respect from those who are about us.  Certainly we have

reason to be disappointed and concerned when we see too many business

and professional associates not adopting honesty as the best policy,

but instead asking, What can I get away with without being caught? Or

what is expedient? What will be the most profitable? What will be the

most rewarding for me without regard to permanence or other people?

Integrity must be the foundation of moral life.  In school and in daily

associations we must teach students and children, as well as adults,

that honesty must be 100 percent and not treated as a convenience or

escape in some situations.  We must fight corruption and graft and

return people to the basics of integrity, honesty, and fair play. 

Achievement and talent without character are hollow.



	Dr. Madison Sarratt, who taught mathematics at Vanderbilt

University for many years, before giving a test would admonish his

class something like this: "Today I am giving two examinations--one in

trigonometry and the other in honesty.  I hope you will pass them both. 

If you must fail one, fail trigonometry.  There are many people in the

world who can't pass trig, but there is no one who can't pass the

examination of honesty"



An Example to Us Now



	The Lord said to Hyrum:



	Behold, I speak unto you, Hyrum, a few words; for thou also art

under no condemnation, and thy heart is opened, and thy tongue loosed;

and thy calling is to exhortation, and to strengthen the church

continually.  Wherefore thy duty is unto the church forever, and this

because of thy family.  [D&C 23:3]



	Very often when we think about honesty and integrity, it is well

for us to ask the question, How will I feel about my conduct today,

tomorrow? Will character and integrity be the foundation of all my

performances?



	Jesus said, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35).  "I am the light

of the world" (John 8:12).  "I am the door" (John 10:9).  "I am the

good shepherd" (John 10:11).  "I am the way, the truth, and the life"

(John 14:6).  Hyrum Smith made these goals and characteristics part of

his life on a continuing steadfast basis.



	As I look at the oil painting of Hyrum Smith as it hangs

prominently in the Salt Lake Temple on the fourth floor among the

pictures of other great leaders of the Church and other renditions

showing events worthy of remembrance in the life of our Savior, Jesus

Christ, I am impressed with Hyrum's life, his attitude, and the love

that the Lord had for him.  The Lord will always have a special love

for those who embrace the right.  May God help us to realize that in

Hyrum Smith we have a man who is as worthy an example today as he was

in the early history of the Church--firm, steadfast, and true not only

to his prophet, to his father, but to the Savior Jesus Christ and his

Eternal Father.  May we, when we hear of him or see his picture,

recommit ourselves to the principles that he lived for and died for. 

May our chosen paths lead us to do what is right and let the

consequences follow.  The consequences of doing what is right, as did

Hyrum, will bring personal victory and the love and continuing trust of

the Lord.



	I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                       "FEAR NOT, LITTLE FLOCK"



                           Howard W. Hunter



	Howard W. Hunter is the President of the Council of the Twelve

Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This

devotional address was given on 14 March 1989 in the Marriott Center.



	It's always a delight to be with you on this campus.  My children

and grandchildren have attended this university, and I love it very

much.  Thank you for your attendance today.  President Holland informed

me that you would probably all be sitting down, so I have decided to do

the same if you will permit me.



Surviving the Hard Times



	I know enough about your busy and hectic lives to know that you

sometimes get frustrated.  You might even worry a little bit from time

to thine.  I know all about that.  You're probably somewhere between

midterms and final papers, and the semester seems as if it will never

end.  Some of you may be farther behind than you thought it was

possible to be in a single semester.  I've had semesters like that. 

They pass.  You may not pass, but semesters do.  Now you know I'm

kidding, don't you? You're going to do just fine, even if the bank has

called to offer a special tutor in balancing your checkbook.



	My message to you today is to "fear not, little flock." It is to

encourage you to rejoice in the great blessings of life.  It is to

invite you to feel the great thrill of gospel living and our Father in

Heaven's love.  Life is wonderful, even in the hard times, and there is

happiness, joy, and peace at stops all along the way, and endless

portions of them at the end of the road.



	Sure, there are plenty of things to worry about--some of them very

serious things--but that is why we speak in gospel terms of faith, and

hope, and charity.  As Latter-day Saints, ours is "the abundant life,"

and we try to emphasize our blessings and opportunities while we

minimize our disappointments and worries.  "Search diligently, pray

always, and be believing," the scripture says, "and all things shall

work together for your good" (D&C 90:24). I want to remind you of that

promise.



	Set aside any worries you may have long enough to go with me to

Independence, Missouri, where we will observe the worries of another

generation of Saints.  The year is 1833; the Church is only three years

old and is struggling for its very survival.



	On Saturday, July twentieth of that year, a mob destroys the

Church printing office in Independence, Missouri, and tars and feathers

two members of the Church.  Three days later, Church leaders are forced

to sign a written agreement to leave Jackson County by January first of

the next year.  Upon learning of this from Oliver Cowdery, who was sent

from Jackson County to report these unfortunate events to Joseph Smith,

the Prophet calls a meeting to discuss the matter.  It is decided that

all "measures should be immediately taken to seek redress by the laws

of our country" (HC 1:417).



	Church leaders in Missouri approach the governor of the state and

are advised by the state attorney general to seek redress under the

provisions of the law.  This does not please local nonmembers, however,

and mobs destroy several Mormon homes and whip a number of men.  Four

days later, on 4 November 1833, one Mormon and two Missourians die in a

skirmish on the Big Blue River.  The violence continues, but local

judges refuse again and again to issue warrants against the mobsters. 

You know what follows.  The Church members faced death and difficulty

for well over a decade before they finally fled to the Rocky Mountains.



	Some survived these difficult times spiritually, and others did

not.  Those who survived knew and believed and did certain

things--things that those who fell away did not know or do.  What they

knew was the reality and divinity and mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

They knew that Joseph Smith was his chosen prophet.  Later, they

sustained Brigham Young in that same capacity, then John Taylor, and

Wilford Woodruff, and so on.  What they did, knowing these things to be

true, was exercise their faith, in spite of their worries and concerns. 

They were believers, and there was peace and joy and safety in the

Church as established and led by the Lord Jesus Christ.



	Please remember this one thing.  If our lives and our faith are

centered upon Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, nothing can ever go

permanently wrong.  On the other hand, if our lives are not centered on

the Savior and his teachings, no other success can ever be permanently

right.



	I commend to you the revelations of God as the standard by which

we must live our lives and by which we must measure every decision and

every deed.  Accordingly, when you have worries and challenges, face

them by turning to the scriptures and the prophets.



Academic Worries



	Let's begin with your academic worries.  You do not need me to

catalog the academic challenges of this week or this month, or to

remind you how long and discouraging some days can be.  You worry about

papers and tests, about grades and classes and graduate school.  For

many of you, being here is a financial sacrifice, but you are here

anyway.  That's a good sign.



	It might help to remember that by laboring here you are answering

a divine mandate to study and learn "things both in heaven and in the

earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which

are.... things which are at home, things which are abroad;... and a

knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms" (D&C 88:79).



	In this connection, consider the oft-quoted words of Nephi:



	I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I

know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men,

save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing

which he commandeth them. [1 Nephi 3:7]



	The Lord will help you in your school work if you give your own

very best academic effort and try to live worthy of his help.



	The scriptures will not tell you what classes to take from which

professors, or what major to choose, or what topic you should select

for the paper that is due Friday morning.  But what they do have to

offer on the subject of your university career is infinitely more

important.  They tell you how and why to learn; they encourage you to

prepare and grow.  You recognize these words:



	Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea,

seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by

study and also by faith. [D&C 88:118]



	Whether the subject is scripture or sociology, you cannot ignore

study or faith if you wish to succeed.  At least have faith that you

can succeed, that every semester eventually comes to an end, that your

righteous efforts will be rewarded.  Of course, no amount of faith will

help you pass this afternoon's pop quiz if you haven't done the

required reading.  When Dr. Ernest L. Boyer was on campus last year, he

said the only universal prayer offered in school was, "Dear Lord, don't

let her call on me today" So work hard, and pray, but do not worry.



	While you study the world and its many problems, resist the

temptation a few have to be cynical.  Do not lose sight of the divine

wonder all about you.  Do not give yourself cause to share the regrets

expressed by the dying young man in Dostoevsky's The Brothers

Karamazov:



	The windows of his room looked out into the garden, and [the]

garden was a shady one, with old trees in it which were coming into

bud.  The first birds of spring were flitting in the branches,

chirruping and singing at the windows.  And looking at them and

admiring them, he began suddenly begging their forgiveness...... Birds

of heaven, happy birds, forgive me, for I have sinned against you....

Yes," he said, "there was such a glory of God all about me; birds,

trees, meadows, sky, only I ... dishonored it all and did not notice

the beauty and glory." [Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov,

Norton Critical Edition, rev. and ed.  Ralph E. Matlaw, tr.  Constance

Garnett (New York: W. W. Norton, 1976), p. 268]



	Remember the Lord's encouragement in these matters.  Look at life

and its wonders "with cheerful hearts and countenances,. . . [for] the

fulness of the earth is yours, . . . Yea, all things which come of the

earth ... are made for the benefit and use of man, both to please the

eye and to gladden the heart; Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste

and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul" (D&C

59:15-19).



	Wonder and reverence for God's handiwork is a form of worship, and

the spiritually attentive soul will find such wonders in one's studies,

in the sky and the mountains, and, believe it or not, in that most

unique of all creations, your roommate.



Financial Worries



	When you're not worrying about classes, you probably spend a fair

amount of time trying to balance your funds between tuition and pizza

and a little gasoline for the car, if you have one.  Look to the

scriptures.  You have a lot of company if you are poor.  You have read

these verses:



	And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will

follow thee whithersoever thou goest.



	And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of

the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

[Matthew 8:19-20]



	You will find, as you follow Christ, that the path to him often

leads through poverty.  And if you are not struggling financially, your

trial may be the greatest of all--prosperity.  Whatever your financial

circumstances may be, there are some principles that apply to you.



	Pay a full tithe and be generous in your other offerings.



	Acknowledge that whatever wealth you have, great or small,

monetary or otherwise, belongs to the Lord and is to be used as he

directs.



	Do not covet what you have or what you do not have.  Brigham Young

once said, "I am more afraid of covetousness in our Elders [and

sisters] than I am of the hordes of hell" (DBY, P. 306).  Things

eventually work out financially; hang on and have faith.



Challenges of Many Kinds



	I mentioned roommates a moment ago and heard a few of you laugh a

bit.  One of the more trying aspects of student life can be living with

your roommates--or even in some cases, with spouses or parents or

children.  There is room in every home, however humble, however

temporary, for repentance and forgiveness, for charity and service.  If

something is wrong, it should be dealt with, but "only by persuasion,

by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned"

(D&C 121:41).



	If you are inclined to be troubled about roommates or spouses, try

to remember to worry less about your own welfare and more about that of

others.  If charity is what every apartment needs--and what home

doesn't?--you be the one to initiate and encourage it.  Read Mormon on

the subject, who said, "Pray unto the Father with all the energy of

heart, that ye may be filled with this love" (Moroni 7:48).  Someone

has to begin, to try, to reach out.  Someone has to assume

responsibility and make good things happen.  Why not you? Why not now?



	Unless I'm seriously mistaken, many of you also worry about

courtship, marriage, and starting a family.  You probably will not find

the name of your future spouse in Nephi's vision or the book of

Revelation; you probably will not be told it by an angel or even by

your bishop.  Some things you must work out for yourself.  Have faith

and be obedient, and blessings will come.  Try to be patient.  Try not

to let what you don't have blind you to that which you do have.  If you

worry too much about marriage, it can canker the very possibility of

it.  Live fully and faithfully as one person before having undue

anxiety about living as two.  If you are married and struggling, your

course is the same: have faith, be obedient, and trust in your

covenants.  All can be well and will be well if you build on true

gospel principles.



	We all struggle with health problems occasionally-others do so

constantly. Illness and disease are part of the burden of mortality. 

Have faith and be positive.  The power of the priesthood is real, and

there is so much that is good in life, even if we struggle physically

It is a joy to know that there will be no injury or disease in the

Resurrection.



	Some of our concerns may come in the form of temptations.  Others

may be difficult decisions pertaining to education or career or money

or marriage.  Whatever your burden is, you will find the strength you

need in Christ.  Jesus Christ is Alpha and Omega, literally the

beginning and the end.  He is with us from start to finish, and as such

is more than a spectator in our lives.  There is hope in the testimony

of Paul:



	For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the

feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we

are, yet [was] without sin. [Hebrews 4:15]



	If the yoke under which we struggle is sin itself, the message is

the same.  Christ knows the full weight of our sins, for he carried it

first.  If our burden is not sin nor temptation, but illness or poverty

or rejection, it's the same.  He knows.  Alma saw his day, and

testified:



	And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and

temptations of every kind; ... he will take upon him the pains and the

sicknesses of his people....



	And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of

death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their

infirmities. [Alma 7:11-12]



	He suffered so much more than our sins.  He whom Isaiah called the

"man of sorrows" (Isaiah 53:3; Mosiah 14:3) knows perfectly every

problem through which we pass because he chose to bear the full weight

of all our troubles and our pains.  Why? "That [he] may be filled with

mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to flesh how

to succor his people according to their infirmities" (Alma 7:12).



	Brothers and sisters, you have and will have worries and

challenges of many kinds, but embrace life joyfully and full of faith. 

Study the scriptures regularly.  Pray fervently.  Obey the voice of the

Spirit and the prophets.  Do all that you can to help others.  You will

find great happiness in such a course.  Some glorious day all your

worries will be turned to joys.



	As Joseph Smith wrote to the struggling Saints from his cell in

Liberty Jail:



	Let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then

may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of

God, and for his arm to be revealed.  [D&C 123:17; emphasis added]



	Fear not, little flock, do good; let earth and hell combine

against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail....



	Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.



	Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of

the nails in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and

ye shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. [D&C 6:34-37]



	I know that God is our Father, and that we are his spirit

offspring.  I know that Jesus Christ is his Son, the Redeemer of the

world; that he came in the meridian of time to provide the example of

perfect love and to perform the ultimate sacrifice.  I know that he

rose from the tomb on the third day with a resurrected, perfect body of

flesh and bone, and that he appeared to his prophet Joseph Smith.  I

know that this is his Church, and it is led today by his prophet, Ezra

Taft Benson.



	I know that, as Nephi says, God "loveth his children," and "He

doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world" (1 Nephi

11:17; 2 Nephi 26:24).  May those words of Nephi help you to worry less

and enjoy life more, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                         THEREFORE CHOOSE LIFE



                           Dennis Rasmussen



	Dennis Rasmussen is an associate professor of philosophy at

Brigham Young University.  This devotional talk was given on 9 May 1989

in the de Jong Concert Hall.



	In the thirtieth chapter of Deuteronomy we read, "I have set

before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life"

(19).  With these words Moses challenged the children of Israel to

renew their covenant with the Lord.  We may have heard the same words

earnestly addressed to us by parents, teachers, and church leaders.  We

know what they mean.  Or do we? Perhaps we could gain by pondering them

together one more time.



Gifts from God



	When Moses stood before all Israel and said, "Therefore choose

life," he was only repeating what had first been heard by Adam: "Thou

mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee" (Moses 3:17). 

The word choose is not merely a command; it also refers to a power, a

gift given from God.  But if the power of choice is a gift given at

birth, then what was the prophet's purpose in saying, "Therefore choose

life"? just this: the gift can be kept only by being used.  Choosing is

like breathing.  At birth we receive the breath of life.  But we keep

it only so long as we continually use it.  In a physical sense, to stop

breathing is to stop living.  In a spiritual sense, to stop choosing is

also to stop living, for living involves growth and development, and

these can come only by means of our free choices.  That is why the

power to choose is so precious.



	We come to earth, then, with these two gifts of breath and choice,

but they are not invulnerable.  Our way of using them is just as

important as our act of using them.  If we protect and care for them,

if we use them in pursuit of wholesome and holy ends, they will be our

servants.  But should we neglect them, we will not endure in health or

peace for long.  Our generation knows better than any other the

diseases caused by foolishly abusing our powers of breath.  In a

similar way, spiritual life may be damaged by reckless choices.  How

long does it take, either way, to destroy these priceless gifts of God?

No one knows.  But who could ever sanely wish, in his own case, to find

out?



	What does it mean to exercise the gift of choice? Choosing is not

just acting on impulse or doing whatever we feel like.  Choosing

involves thinking, weighing alternatives, and then selecting one to

pursue.  Such weighing of alternatives makes sense only if we have some

higher end or purpose that we use for a guide.  The question What is

the best way to get there? cannot seriously be considered until we have

decided where we want to get.



Rules, Training, Discipline



	In the course of life we have many goals or ends.  Sometimes they

conflict.  To find harmony in our lives, we must have an ultimate end,

one for the sake of which we make all our other choices.  We here today

have such an end.  It is eternal life.  But we know that not everyone

shares that end.  More specifically, we know that we face an adversary

whose consuming purpose is our misery and death, and whose cunning is

employed daily toward that end.  In the awareness of that adversary and

our peril, all the prophets have echoed the words of Moses to the

children of Israel, "Therefore choose life."



	How, then, shall we choose life?  We cannot choose it by acting on

whim, rushing after every desire or appetite or passion that beckons to

us.  We choose life by following the right rules or laws.  We first

encounter rules as we seek to learn.  They are given to us for our

training.  Following them helps us to develop discipline.  In our

earliest years our parents have charge of us and must teach us the

rules we ought to follow.  We are too young then to comprehend the full

nature and purpose of the rules or the ends that following them will

help us reach.  We adopt the rules of our parents by imitation.  Much

later we come to see how rules and ends are linked and how following

certain rules helps us to achieve certain ends.



	Consider for a moment the three words I have used: rules,

training, discipline.  There are at least two areas in which many of

you have learned to deal with sets of rules that are given for your

training and discipline.  The first area is athletics, the second is

music.  Those of you who have been athletes understand how rules,

training, and discipline help you to achieve your end: being a

successful athlete.  When you are in training you are expected to

follow the training rules and the discipline they involve.  Suppose you

stop by a friend's place and the friend offers you a certain dessert. 

You reply, "No, thank you, I can't eat that."



	"Can't eat it?" says your friend.  "It's delicious.  I made it

myself."



	"Oh, I don't question that," you respond.  "It's just that I'm in

training."



	'What's that got to do with it?"



	"Well, this isn't on our training table; it's not a part of our

diet." This response says nothing against the particular dessert in

itself.  That is beside the point.  But you are in training, and that

means you cannot eat certain foods--not if you want to remain committed

to the team and its training rules.  You did not create those rules. 

But you did choose for your end a particular sport.  The coach, knowing

that sport well, told you about the rules of training and the

discipline that would be required of you. You wanted to be on the team,

you wanted to play well--so you accepted the rules.



	I think coaches generally do not encourage a lot of debate

concerning training rules.  They tolerate breaking those rules even

less.  You ate the wrong foods? You stayed up too late? You failed to

appear at practice? Fine.  Your resignation from the team is accepted. 

Another athlete is waiting to take your place.  Once again, the point

here is not the intrinsic value of a given food or bedtime.  The point

is that when you choose the sport or the team, you also choose the

corresponding rules.  To violate the rules is to violate your

commitment to the end they serve.



	In just the same way, a music student becomes subject to the rules

of the music teacher.  When the teacher lays down certain rules about

how to hold the bow, or how to place the fingers, or how to position

the wrist, the teacher knows that following these rules and accepting

their discipline will help to train you to become a good musician.  The

teacher knows that the rules will lead you to form the right habits and

that if you form the wrong habits, your musical development can be

blocked.  Here too, if you show no effort to practice the rules your

teacher gives you, you may find yourself soon looking for another

teacher.



	These few remarks about athletics and music were designed to show

one thing: to choose the end is to choose the rules that lead to it. 

In other words, rules have a purpose, even when we do not fully

understand what it is.  When we try to choose an end and at the same

time reject the rules that go with it, we are really contradicting

ourselves.  We are trying to do what cannot be done.



	I offer a final example of the union between rules and ends: the

university honor code, especially the dress and grooming standards. 

This case resembles the two I have already given in an important way. 

That is, the issue does not in the first instance concern the merits of

any particular rule or standard.  The issue concerns only whether

someone wants to be on this team or wants to study under this teacher. 

If the answer is yes, the answer is also yes to the corresponding

rules.



	If you choose to become a part of the BYU community, you choose to

make the BYU rules become a part of you.  And, I repeat, this choice

exists quite apart from the nature of those rules.  Learning the

importance of rules and learning how to follow them faithfully are two

of the most valuable aspects of general education because this

knowledge is transferable.  Once you know how rules, training, and

discipline help lead you to a specific end, you can develop the proper

procedure for achieving other ends.  But with respect to our BYU rules

of honor, there is this important difference.  Not just the procedure

but also the end is transferable.  You may sometime stop being an

active gymnast or cease playing in an orchestra, but you will never

reach a point in your life when the code of honor and the goal of

virtue cease to apply.



	I have known a few students who looked forward to a time when they

could leave at least the dress and grooming standards behind.  But you

should know that other institutions also concern themselves with

matters of dress and grooming.  For example, one of America's largest

retail companies recently opened a new telecatalog center here in

Provo.  The employees meet their customers only on the telephone, but

they are still expected to dress in a certain way, which is spelled out

in detail: no denim is ever to be worn by anyone.  Women wear dresses

or skirts and blouses.  Men wear dress slacks, dress shirts, and ties. 

Dozens of other large companies have similar rules.  They have them

because they have found that these rules help them to achieve the end

for which they are working.  They have found that how people dress

affects how people act.



Choosing the Law of Life



	Now some people may say that talking about rules without talking

about their specific content is one-sided.  Some may point out that

rules change over time.  This is no doubt true.  But the real issue is

the principle of following rules.  In the words of John Silber,

president of Boston University, speaking in the context of widespread

campus lawlessness in the late sixties, "The law is not worth changing

unless lawfulness is worth preserving." That is a profound comment,

which all who note or seek change should bear in mind.  If we are not,

in the first place, thoroughly committed to rules or to law, it will

matter little, in the end, what the specific laws happen to be. 

Loyalty to lawfulness is fundamental.



	I have tried to make clear the reason for rules and the way rules

are linked to ends.  Let me now return once more to the words of Moses,

"I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore

choose life." With respect to the rules or commandments of God, we know

that without exception they have one fixed, unchanging purpose, and the

choice that we must make is stark and clear: life or death, blessing or

cursing.  Through the Prophet Joseph Smith the Lord said,



	Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are

spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was

temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your

father, whom I created.



	Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself;

and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I

unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural nor

temporal, neither carnal nor sensual. [D&C 29:34-35]



	All the Lord's commandments or rules or laws are spiritual.  We

find what this means in Romans: "To be carnally minded is death; but to

be spiritually minded is life" (8:6).  The key to choosing rightly is

to remember: To choose the end is to choose the law that leads to it. 

But just as truly, we now see, to choose the law is to choose the end

to which it leads.  Consider these words from section 88 of the

Doctrine and Covenants:



	And again, verily I say unto you, that which is governed by law is

also preserved by law and perfected and sanctified by the same.



	That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by law, but seeketh to

become a law unto itself, and willeth to abide in sin, and altogether

abideth in sin, cannot be sanctified by law, neither by mercy, justice,

nor judgment. Therefore, they must remain filthy still. [34-35]



	The Lord tells us that law is the means by which he seeks to raise

us up to eternal life in his presence, to be sanctified and perfected

as he is.  But we must choose life.  He will not force, for the gift of

spiritual freedom is one he will not take away If we reject the law of

life, offered for our own good, if we say no, then, in the current

idiom, God himself can only reply, "Have it your way"



	No person can ever be better than the rule or law of his life. 

Find what that law is and you have found what the person is.  It may

not be a simple thing to discern the law of someone's life.  Often it

takes a long period of watching.  Once in a while some crucial event

reveals it dramatically.  But no one can rise higher than the law of

his life.  How important, then, to choose that law wisely.



Choosing the Master



	I have spoken of rules or laws as essential elements in our

decision to choose life.  But they themselves are not the end we seek. 

They are the means for helping us to achieve it.  The end is eternal

life, or, more fully and correctly stated, eternal life in the presence

of God our eternal Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.  Our highest hope

can never be separated from our hope to live with them.  Finally, all

rules come from a ruler, all laws come from a lawgiver.  They always

point to a person who gave them: the parent, the coach, the teacher,

and, ultimately, the Lord.  To choose life is to choose the law of

life.  To choose the law of life is to choose the Lord of Life who gave

it.  "I am come," he said, "that they might have life, and that they

might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).  The true end we seek, the

true source of the eternal life we aspire to, is personal.  "And this

is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus

Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3).



	Once we understand what eternal life is, then all the rules and

laws of life can become stepping-stones that lead us safely and surely

to the divine presence.  In contemplating such thoughts as these, I am

reminded of the title of a book I read a few years ago, a title that

touched me as deeply as did its contents.  It was a book by Elie

Wiesel, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.  It told of some of the great

teachers of eastern European Judaism.  The title was Somewhere a

Master.  In those three words I seemed to feel the universal longing of

the human heart for one who is better and wiser than we are, one who

can be a guide, friend, teacher, one we can learn from, be like,

please, follow, and love.  I later was fortunate enough to meet the

author.  When Mr. Wiesel delivered a forum lecture at BYU, I was

invited to introduce him and had the chance to talk with him before his

lecture.  Because I had once studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary

of America in New York, we had both some interests and some friends in

common.



	But I never met the man of whom he spoke with the greatest

affection, Rabbi Saul Lieberman, probably the most gifted Talmud

scholar in the world.  He was already old when I was at the seminary

and could devote only limited time to teaching a few advanced students. 

Elie Wiesel was one of these.  He told me how he traveled to New York

every month to meet with his master and how he studied the sacred words

of their faith with him.  Listening to a man who was himself a master,

speaking reverently of his own master, was a moving and unforgettable

experience.



	The conversation reminded me anew that all learning, all laws, all

ends, and all life are finally personal.  Though we grope and wander,

waiting for each of us somewhere is the person who lifted the heart of

Mary just by speaking her name and led her to forget the empty tomb and

greet the promise of life with her answer, "Rabboni; which is to say,

Master" (John 20:16).



	Those few moments with one of the great human beings of our time

later drew my mind to a former time and to a passage from the final

words of King Benjamin, one of the most vividly personal rulers in all

the Book of Mormon: "How knoweth a man the master whom he has not

served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts

and intents of his heart?" (Mosiah 5:13).  That question is the

ultimate question that each one of us must ask and answer.  Have we

found, somewhere, the Master?



	In all our comings and goings, in the midst of all our goal

settings and achievements, have we known him? Have we served him? Is he

near our hearts? Have we written in our memories the fervent words of

Moroni as he ended his record: "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected

in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness" (Moroni 10:32)? I pray

that if we have not, we will, starting this very day.



	When Joshua, following the pattern of Moses, gave his last counsel

to Israel, he said, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve" (Joshua

24:15).  What day is this day? Surely every day is this day.  What we

chose yesterday, if we chose well, we must renew again this day.  And

what we chose that was wrong, we must admit and amend this day.



	As we strive to place Christ at the center of our lives, he has

promised as our Master to make us his servants and also his friends,

and to share with us the eternal life that he died to gain.  There is

no higher end than this, that we should choose to accept his

discipline, become his disciples, and do his work throughout our lives. 

Nothing else, no other choice, can make of us what he can.



	Let us this day choose him, knowing that as we do, we choose life. 

And let us then trust that we in turn shall be chosen of him, I pray in

the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                  THAT WE MAY PREPARE TO DO OUR PART



                            Ardeth G. Kapp



	Ardeth G. Kapp is the Young Women general president of The Church

of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This fireside talk was given on

4 June 1989 in the Marriott Center.



	A few weeks ago I was at Dick's Market shopping for groceries as

we all do. A young lady reaching for a head of lettuce just as I was

looked up in surprise and said, "Do you buy groceries?" I smiled and

said, "Yes, and I eat them too."



On Stage for a Season



	We are all so ordinary, and yet each is special and unique.  It is

when we come to know that we are literally brothers and sisters in the

same family away from our heavenly home for a time that we begin to

really recognize each other--not in relation to positions, possessions,

prestige, or power, but rather as brothers and sisters, heart to heart

and soul to soul.  And then when we meet we don't exchange just

words--a wonderful exchange of the spirit takes place.  We learn to

share and trust and risk and become not so concerned about what we do

but rather with who we are and, even more important, whose we are.  We

begin to reveal how we feel.  We laugh together and cry together and

learn how to bear one another's burdens that they may be light.  At

least that is what we, as covenant people, hope to do.  And yet at

times we fall short of the mark and feel some disappointment in

ourselves because we are not always doing as well as we could or should

or would given another chance.  And it's so good to have friends who

know you and believe in you and give you another chance.



	But above all, it is important for you to know you and me to know

me.  As the hymn suggests, "Let each man learn to know himself; To gain

that knowledge let him labor" ("Let Each Man Learn to Know Himself,"

Hymns, 1948, no. 91).





	On occasion, when we conduct a private and sometimes sobering

interview with ourselves, we recognize the distance between the ideal

and the real.  It humbles us and increases our desire for an improved

performance, given the wonderful gift of another day We all hope for

the final commendation of our performance: "Well done, thou good and

faithful servant."



	Prior to the opening of the fall season for the musical play Annie

at the Promised Valley Playhouse some years ago, 320 girls auditioned

for the part of Annie.  Twelve dogs were brought by proud owners hoping

their dog might be selected to be Annie's companion, Sandy.  Not

everyone who tried out got a part, and some who got parts didn't get

the ones they thought they wanted.



	However, following a period of intensive rehearsals, the opening

night was absolutely spectacular.  But as magnificent as Annie's

performance was under the spotlights on the stage before a packed

house, her greatest moment, I believe, was after the show.  Following a

standing ovation, this young girl graciously acknowledged the praises

from admirers crowded in the lobby of the theater.  In the corner near

the door I observed an elderly gray-haired gentleman stooped with age,

his eyes moist, eagerly searching the crowd.  Somehow, through a small

opening in the crowd, Annie caught a glimpse of the old man. 

Forgetting all the public acclaim and with arms outstretched, she

called, "Grandpa, Grandpa." The crowd parted, leaving a narrow

passageway for this precious moment.  Stooped as he was, the elderly

man reached out his arms like parentheses and nestled his young and

precious granddaughter close to him, his gray hair falling against her

curly red hair and their arms entwined around each other.  He spoke

softly.  The audience was hushed.  Although I could not hear, I think

he must have said, "My dear, my dear, you played your part so very,

very well."



	Since that memorable occasion, I have replayed that final scene

over and over in my mind a hundred times or more and contemplated the

greeting we will each receive following our final performance.  We are

all on stage for a time.  This is not the first or the final act.  This

is the second act.  And we have been assured that we performed our

first act very, very well.  Concerning the second, our Father in Heaven

has said,



	And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things

whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;



	And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; ... and

they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their

heads for ever and ever. [Abraham 3:25-26]



	As each of us participates in this great drama of earth life, we

often find the parts we so much desire may not be available to us for a

time.  We find ourselves placed in other roles, only to discover after

some years and after the trial of our faith that those "other roles"

may even be the very ones we auditioned for--roles for which we

received coaching and divine guidance from our Heavenly Father before

we left our heavenly home to come onstage for a season.



	President George Q. Cannon gives us great insight as he explains

that



	God has chosen us out of the world and has given us a great

mission.  I do not entertain a doubt myself but that we were selected

and fore-ordained for the mission before the world was, that we had our

parts allotted to us in this mortal state Of existence as our Savior

had His assigned to Him. [Gospel Truth, vol.  I (Salt Lake City:

Deseret Book Company, 1974), p. 22]



	In the production of Annie, Sandy, the dog, broke loose, missed

his cue, entered too soon, and came in from the wings center stage.  He

could have spoiled the show, but Annie came to the rescue and helped

him wait until it was his time to enter.



	As participants on the stage of life, we too must be sensitive to

the timing and must work to support each other.  There are times that

some will, for a brief moment, move center stage in front of the

lights, then backstage or even offstage into the wings for a time,

confident that the entire cast will participate in the final curtain

call.



	I believe the sensitivity we each have for another's part, major

or minor, will have a tremendous impact on the quality of our

individual and final performance.  And it is often in the supportive

roles that we see the finest and most magnificent examples.



	This analogy of being onstage with a particular part is not

intended to suggest that we perform as puppets on a string.  That would

violate the basic doctrine of agency that is so critical to the very

purpose of this earth life.  And yet many young people I talk to, and

sometimes older ones, have a mistaken idea that they should wait for a

prompting of the Spirit on every decision.  If things go well, the

Spirit prompted them to do this or that, and if things don't go well,

the devil made them do it.



	President Brigham Young gives us some great insight into our

responsibility for choosing well.  He said,



	God is the author of all good; and yet, if you rightly understood

yourselves, you would not directly attribute every good act you perform

to our Father in heaven, nor to his Son Jesus Christ, nor to the Holy

Ghost; neither would you attribute every evil act of a man or woman to

the Devil or his spirits or influences; for man is organized by his

Creator to act perfectly independently of all influences there are

above or beneath.  Those influences are always attending him, and are

ready to dictate and direct--to lead him into truth or to lead him to

destruction.  But is he always guided by those influences in every act?

He is not.  It is ordained of God that we should act independently in

and of ourselves, and the good is present when we need it.  If we will

ask for it, it is with us. [JD 9:122]



	We are responsible! President George Q. Cannon wrote,



	It is true that some have greater power of resistance than others,

but everyone has the power to close his heart against doubt, against

darkness, against unbelief, against depression, against anger, against

hatred, against jealousy, against malice, against envy.  God has given

this power unto all of us, and we can gain still greater power by

calling upon Him for that which we lack.  If it were not so, how could

we be condemned for giving way to wrong influences?



	There could be no condemnation for our doing what we could not

help; but we can help doing these things. [Gospel Truth, p. 19]



	We are always at liberty to ad-lib and be distracted by seemingly

more exciting parts.  Some of us may spend too much time (which is our

life) in the costume and wardrobe department selecting, designing,

modeling, combining this with that, including all of the accessories,

and as a result miss our cue.





	For some of us, it may not be the costumes that distract us.  It

may be the props, the scenery, the set, the furniture--like cars and

stereos, skis and VCRs--that, although important in their place, pale

by comparison to the joy that comes from touching another's life in

some quiet, small act of service.  Would we ever let our things stand

in the way of the joy that service brings when we share our lives with

others?



It Is Easy to Be Distracted



	Even as we endeavor to play our various parts in their appropriate

seasons, there will continually be self-appointed stage managers who,

not knowing or caring about the script, will shout from the wings,

"You're playing the wrong part.  You don't want the supporting role. 

That isn't important.  Why be a supporting actor when you can be a

star? Be front stage.  Move in.  Let them know who you are.  This is

your chance to win the applause."



	There are those who would attempt to revise, rewrite, and

restructure the script, changing the sacred roles of men and women,

modifying the scenes and seasons, adjusting the morals and models where

possible, and even altering the main stage, the home, in which the most

important drama of life should unfold.



	There are always loud voices assuming authorship while abdicating

stewardship.  You and I may never win an Academy Award, and society may

never know us beyond the street where we live.  And some of us, because

of a calling or a position, may be in the public eye more than others. 

But I am sure that when the lights have gone out and the curtain is

closed on our second act, the opinions of others, the acceptance and

the applause of the crowd, will be haunting echoes if our Father's

approval is in question.



	For many years I have carried in my wallet a copy of a statement

by Leslie Weatherhead as a reminder of the perfect example:



	Men I am tempted to listen to hot, egotistic voices within my own

heart; when it seems that love can never win but always loses; when it

seems as though humility is ruthlessly trodden down by those who pass

over it on their way to their own selfish ambitions; when it seems as

though God cannot possibly triumph; when pity and love and mercy and

kindness and tenderness are weakness; when it seems as though greatness

is only possessed by those who know how to grab, and have the power to

snatch at it, no matter what the cost to others--ah, yes, when the

voices sound in my own heart which say you must play for your own hand,

you must think of number one, you must not let yourself be trodden

down-when I am thus tempted, my God! May I hear in imagination the

tinkling of water, poured into a basin, and see, as in a vision, the

Son of God washing the disciple's feet. [Leslie D. Weatherhead, Eternal

Voice (New York: Abingdon Press, 1940), pp. 81-82]



	It won't matter if we play center stage or in the wings if our

Lord and Savior is at the very center of our life.  He reaches out to

us with this promise: "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear

not.  Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of

the nails in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and

ye shall inherit the kingdom of heaven" (D&C 6:36-37).



	President Kimball has given us a guide to help keep us focused in

our daily rehearsals.  He said, "Since immortality and eternal life

constitutes the sole purpose of life, all other interests and

activities are but incidental thereto" (Spencer W Kimball, Miracle of

Forgiveness [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969], p. 2).



	And Alma reminds us, "This life is the time for men to prepare to

meet God: yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to

perform their labors" (Alma 34:32).  Our labors come in a variety of

ways.



	The other evening I was visiting with a young woman in her early

twenties.  She poured out her heart saying, "If I was just pretty, then

I'd feel more confident." Let me say here that even if at one time you

have that youthful beauty, it will fade with age.  My friend gives

comfort by reminding me that as your eyesight wanes, you don't look so

bad when you can't see so well.



	It is so easy to be distracted by vanity and pride.  I believe

that's one of the reasons we have over 300 references in the scriptures

to the word remember.  When we remember our parts, who we are, and

whose we are, we are no longer distracted by foolish intruders. 

Remember Alma's question to those who would gain exaltation, "And now

behold, I ask of you, my brethren [and, I might add, sisters] of the

church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his

image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in

your hearts?" (Alma 5:14).  When this takes place, our beauty will be

unsurpassed and assured.



	Of course, it is appropriate that we look our best, but before we

become dazzled with the glamour of our outerwear, we might heed the

words of Alma, "Yea, can ye be puffed up in the pride of your hearts;

yea, will ye still persist in the wearing of costly apparel and setting

your hearts upon the vain things of the world, upon your riches?" (Alma

5:53).  There are many attractive distractions that would interfere if

possible with our command performance.



	When we come to know who we are, something of our divine nature

and our individual worth, and realize our part in the eternal plan, we

will be prepared to respond as Lamoni's father did after Aaron taught

him.  He said, "I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake

my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy." Then he prayed, "And I

will give away all my sins to know thee" (Alma 22:15,18).



	When we let go of our sins and our eye is single to the glory of

God, we are promised that our whole body shall be filled with light and

that there shall be no darkness in us (D&C 88:67).  We will hear the

still, small voice prompting us from the wings, reminding us of our

lines day by day.  And even when we may question our own strength and

ability, we can take comfort in the promises of the Lord when we are on

his errands: "For I will go before your face.  I will be on your right

hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine

angels round about you, to bear you up" (D&C 84:88).



	On those days when we feel we aren't doing very well, we can do as

Nephi did on his challenging days: "Go into the mount oft, and ... pray

oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord [will show] unto [us] great

things" (I Nephi 18:3).  I know this can happen.  I always thought it

could, but I want to bear witness that it can and it does, and it will

for each of you as you "ask with a sincere heart, with real intent,

having faith in Christ" (Moroni 10:4).





Those Who Mix the Mortar



	As we consider our individual parts, I am impressed with the words

of Ralph Waldo Emerson in his American literary essay on self-reliance:



	There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the

conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he

must take himself for better for worse as his portion; that though the

wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to

him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given

to him to till.  The power which resides in him is new in nature, and

none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until

he has tried....



	What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. 

This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may

serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness.  It is

the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what

is your duty better than you know it.  It is easy in the world to live

after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our

own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with

perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. [Ralph Waldo Emerson,

Essays: First Series (1841, rev. 1847), Self-Reliance]



	The plot of ground given to us to till is not always at the center

of the stage.



	Some years ago my husband and I arose early in the morning wanting

to arrive on the grounds of the Jordan River Temple well before the

crowd that would gather for the occasion of laying the cornerstone for

that magnificent edifice.  Our plan was ill timed.  The crowd was

already there when we arrived.  Due to the contour of the land, I was

not only stretching to see over the heads of those in front of me, but

we were on the low side of the slope in front of the temple and I

couldn't see what was going on. Heber, being considerably taller, tried

to ease my disappointment by reporting to me the observations from his

vantage point.  "The choir is assembling," he reported.  "The General

Authorities are taking their places.  The TV cameras are in place."

This only added to my frustration as I faced the backs of those in

front who were seeing this historic event that I was missing.



	After reaching and stretching without success to catch even a

glimpse of the drama, I decided to settle down, hoping to just feel the

spirit of the occasion.  It was when I relaxed that I changed my

perspective and was attracted by an activity at the far northeast side

of the temple just beyond the corner.  This became the focal point of

my interest.  There I observed two men dressed in dark pants, white

shirts, and ties.  They each had a shovel.  They were busily engaged

around a wheelbarrow.  I saw them empty sacks of concrete, pour in

water, and mix the contents in the wheelbarrow.  In time, after hearing

the choir and the impressive messages given by the presiding

authorities, Heber reported to me that the cameras were now moving from

center stage to the location for the placement of the cornerstone.



	I watched.  At that moment the men who mixed the mortar pushed the

wheelbarrow to the front of the building and then quickly disappeared

behind the scenes.  The cornerstone was carefully anchored in place

with the mortar prepared for this important event.  On the news that

evening I saw what the cameras saw.  But they did not see what I had

seen.





	Now, years later, I never drive by the Jordan River Temple,

especially after dark with the bright lights shining like beacons of

refuge to a darkening world, without thinking of the men who mixed the

mortar--those whose quiet, unsung labors played a major role in the

placement of the cornerstone for the house of the Lord in a building

that will stand against all of the storms of life.



	Given a choice, would you be willing to serve with the men who mix

the mortar?



	Tonight I'd like to pay tribute to the men and women who mix the

mortar, so to speak, in my life--those who so often work quietly in the

wings.  After twenty-seven years of continuous front-stage

responsibilities in the Church, my husband was released as stake

president.  I wondered how life would be.  Now I see him happily,

joyfully, and ambitiously mixing mortar in quiet ways that help hold

life together for many who need encouragement.  I am constantly

inspired by his private performance.  I believe there is a close

correlation between mixing mortar and ministering.



	In the Young Women office where I spend much of my time, I see

those who quietly mix mortar every day so that nothing falls between

the cracks--unsung heroines, models for my life like the men who mix

the mortar.  The Lord tells us,



	Be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a

great work.  And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

[D&C 64:33]



	Small acts of service, small sacrifices, small notes and calls,

words of encouragement one to another--these "small things" are the

mortar that help hold life together.



Every Day of Our Lives



	Now the routine of life may sometimes seem a little humdrum,

repetitious, and routine--maybe even boring on occasions.  Don't let

that happen, ever.  It's all right to get tired, but don't ever become

bored with life.  I think of the words in the poem "Renascence" by Edna

St. Vincent Millay.  The introductory lines reveal a very limited and

narrow point of view about life--a tone of boredom, I believe.  The

poem begins:



	All I could see from where I stood 

	Was three long mountains and a wood;

	I turned and looked the other way,

	And saw three islands in a bay.

	  . . .

	And so I looked, and, after all, 

	The sky was not so very tall.

	  . . .

	The sky, I thought, is not so grand; 

	I 'most could touch it with my hand!



	She is bored with life; after all, she thinks it's not so grand.



	Then she dies and finds herself finally released from the routine

and monotony of life.  She is deep in the earth and resting, and the

rain begins to fall.  From the vantage point of being down and looking

up she begins to see things differently.



	Oh God, I cried, give me new birth,

	And put me back upon the earth!

	Upset each cloud's gigantic gourd

	And let the heavy rain, down-poured

	In one big torrent, set me free,

	Washing my grave away from me!



	Her earnest prayer is heard.  The rain comes and washes her grave

away, and she is alive again, this time with eyes to see and ears to

hear--able to know and understand.  She says,



	And as I looked a quickening gust

	Of wind blew up to me and thrust

	Into my face a miracle

	Of orchard-breath, and with the smell--

	I know not how such things can be!--

	I breathed my soul back into me,



	Ah! Up then from the ground sprang I

	And hailed the earth with such a cry

	As is not heard save from a man

	Who has been dead and lives again.



	About the trees my arms I wound;

	Like one gone mad I hugged the ground;

	I raised my quivering arms on high;

	I laughed and laughed into the sky,

	Till at my throat a strangling sob 

	Caught fiercely, and a great heart-throb 

	Sent instant tears into my eyes;

	O God, I cried, no dark disguise 

	Can e'er hereafter hide from me 

	Thy radiant identity!

	Thou canst not move across the grass 

	But my quick eyes will see Thee pass,

	Nor speak, however silently,

	But my hushed voice will answer Thee.



She concludes,



	The world stands out on either side

	No wider than the heart is wide;

	Above the world is stretched the sky,--

	No higher than the soul is high.

	The heart can push the sea and land

	Farther away on either hand;

	The soul can split the sky in two,

	And let the face of God shine through.



	But East and West will pinch the heart

	That cannot keep them pushed apart;

	And he whose soul is flat--the sky

	Will cave in on him by and by.

	["Renascence," Edna St. Vincent Millay]



	How long has it been since you have celebrated the dawn of a new

day, studied the dew on a spider web, or counted the petals on a daisy?

Oh, that we might remain alive as long as we live.



	At times when "my part" seems difficult and when there are more

demands than I can meet, I'm forced to prioritize because I can't do it

all.  Then I read again the words of our Savior in the New Testament

that help me as I try to separate the urgent demands from the vital

virtues.



	A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I

have loved you, that ye also love one another.



	By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have

love one to another. [John 13:34-35]



	Our greatest performance is when we take time to give of ourselves

in love, one for another, often away from the crowd.  Of the multitude

of happenings during the past several years in my life, permit me to

share with you what I would like to have recorded in some quiet note on

a page of history as possibly a noteworthy performance.



	A few years ago, as it was nearing Christmas, I found myself

confronted with a very full schedule.  The streets were crowded, my

calendar was crowded, and my mind was crowded.  There was so much to do

and so little time.  An invitation to give a brief Christmas message to

the residents of a nursing home nearby was one activity I could check

off rather quickly and then hurriedly move to the next appointment.



	As I rushed past the receptionist at the door of the nursing home,

I was ushered into a large room where I suddenly stopped.  Life was

moving at a different pace here, if it was moving at all.  There were

wheelchairs, bent shoulders, gray hair, tired eyes, and the impression

of so little going on.  I reviewed quickly in my mind the message I had

planned to share and hoped that it would fit and lift some heart, or at

least be appropriate for this occasion.  It was warm in the room but,

in spite of this fact, many of the elderly had knitted shawls draped

over rounded shoulders and woolly slippers covering tired feet.



	Following my message, one of the visitors, a granddaughter of one

of the elderly, asked if I would have time to visit with her

grandmother in her own private room for even a few moments.  She made

the comment, "She thinks she knows you," indicating perhaps that her

grandmother's mind might also be tired.  I agreed that I could take a

few moments, and I followed behind as the younger woman helped this

elderly sister down the narrow hall back to her room.  This dear lady

reached her bedside, then shuffled haltingly as she turned around, let

go of her granddaughter, and dropped onto the side of her bed.  She

then raised her head so that I could look into her face.  My eyes

caught hers.  "Sister Myrtle Dudley," I said, "you were my Primary

teacher."



	The wrinkles on her face formed a smile as she pulled on her

granddaughter's jacket and said, "See, I told you she would know me."



	I continued, "I remember when you used to lead the singing. You

wore that wine-colored dress with the big sleeves that waved back and

forth as you taught us the songs."



	Again she pulled on her granddaughter's jacket.  "I told you she

would know me."



	"Yes," I said, "and you made carrot juice for my mother when she

was sick."



	Then she asked, "Did you come all the way from Canada just to see

me?"



	"Oh, Sister Dudley," I said, "I have come a long way.  It has been

over forty years." She then reached out her arms and drew me close to

her.  I felt like a child once again, back in Primary, in the arms of

my teacher who loved me.



	Then she whispered in my ear, "I knew you would know me."



	There in the arms of my Primary teacher the world stood still for

a moment.  The busy streets were forgotten.  The crowded calendar was

no longer pressing on my mind.  The spirit of Christmas filled my soul. 

A small miracle was taking place, not because of what I brought but

because of what I had received.



	After a time, I reluctantly and thoughtfully left the presence of

my Primary teacher and walked slowly back to my car.  I sat there

pondering while the snowflakes of the season fell gently on the

windshield that was piling high with snow.  It was the season of

celebration for the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  It was

he who asked us to love one another and to serve one another.  He said

to each of us, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of

these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40).



	"Yes," I thought, "I knew her because she had served me, and she

knew me because she had served me." And then the vision cleared before

my eyes like windshield wipers removing the snow.  We will know him

when we serve him, and he will know us when we serve him.  This

question filled my mind: "Can I one day say with the same conviction

with which Sister Dudley spoke, 'I told you he would know me'?"



	What if I hadn't taken time to do what mattered most, when in the

press of the moment it seemed to matter least? I don't do those things

enough, but when I do I know it is in the Lord's service that we

qualify best to be called his disciples.



	Let us keep ever in mind an anticipation of that glorious day when

we will be with our Father again.  President George Q. Cannon helps us

envision that event with these words:



	We existed with Him in the family relationship as His children....



	... when we see our Father in heaven we shall know Him; and the

recollection that we were once with Him and that He was our Father will

come back to us, and we will fall upon His neck, and He will fall upon

us, and we will kiss each other.  We will know our Mother, also.

[Gospel Truth, pp. 1, 3]



	We might add, "I told you he would know me."



	One day, like Annie, we will leave the stage.  And I am confident

that having done our part, with arms outstretched, we will receive an

embrace and experience the greatest commendation we could ever hope for

from the only one that really matters: "You played your part so very,

very well." I believe we will hear our Father and Mother say, "My son,

my daughter, I have you home again." Then we will hear not with our

ears, but with our spirit, the echoing applause of multitudes of

heavenly hosts, our brothers and our sisters, rejoicing in our safe

return to have glory added upon our heads forever and ever.



	May we find our constant example in that part played by the

greatest model in the greatest moment of all time when our Savior spoke

these lines,



	And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true

God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.



	I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which

thou gavest me to do. [John 17:34]



	May the curtain never close until our work is finished.  And when

it does close, I pray that we will each feel the satisfaction of having

listened to the whisperings of the Spirit every day of our lives, that

we may prepare to do our part.  God bless you, my brothers and sisters,

in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.





                    OUR MORTAL BODY--A SACRED GIFT



                             Sara Lee Gibb



	Sara Lee Gibb is an associate professor and director of modern

dance at Brigham Young University.  This devotional address was given

on 27 June 1989 in the de Jong Concert Hall.



	This is an inspiring, humbling, awesome moment for me--one that I

have been anticipating for some weeks.  I want to say that it is a

tremendous honor to be here with you in this setting.



	As I projected myself into this moment and as I prepared, I

pondered what I could share with you that might in some way change your

lives.  What a solemn responsibility! I assume that is why you are here

at this university and in this assembly--to be enlightened, enriched,

and changed.  I reflected on President David O. McKay's words given in

an address here at BYU in 1947 that life is a constant state of

radiation and absorption.  To live is to radiate who we are and what we

are, and to live is to absorb that radiation from others--by our life

we affect, to some degree, the life of the whole world.  The

implication, I think, is that each of us has responsibility for and

influence in this experience.  I am grateful for the invocation in our

behalf and the music that has invited the Spirit, and I pray that we

may be edified together.



The Importance of This Earth Life



	As a young faculty member, I was interviewed by Elder Theodore M.

Burton.  He counseled me to remind the choice young men and women who

would come to be my students who they really were.  It struck me as

rather curious at the time.  Of course everyone knows who they are--or

do they? Over the years I have learned that there was great wisdom in

his counsel.



	Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here on this earth?

Why was it necessary to come here?



	Most civilizations have asked these questions since the beginning

of mankind's sojourn upon this earth.  The answer is not so

simple--there are many divine purposes for our being here.  But few in

the world today seem to have a clear understanding of who we are or of

the importance of this earth life and its relevance in the eternal

scheme of Heavenly Father's plan.



	In the beginning we were with God the Eternal Father.  We are his

literal spirit children (Numbers 27:16).  We must have been happy there

in the presence of our Eternal Father and Mother and elder brother,

Jesus Christ.  This was a period of testing, proving ourselves,

growing, and learning--a time of probation much like our time of

probation now upon this earth.  This was called our first estate. 

Abraham was told we had intelligence and agency to make our own choices

and decisions (Abraham 3:22-28).  Why then did we need to come to this

second estate? Were we not able to prove our worthiness there in the

premortal world?



	It seems that in this perhaps very long period of premortal life

we had progressed about as far as we could without a mortal, physical

body.  In order to continue to progress, that we might obtain

immortality and eternal life, we had to have a physical body as our

Heavenly Father has.  The Father has a body of flesh and bones just as

tangible as man's.  He has allowed Joseph Smith and others to witness

this and has revealed this knowledge to us in the Doctrine and

Covenants (D&C 130:22).



	The Son also has a body of flesh and bones.  When Christ revealed

himself to the brother of Jared, he had not yet taken a physical body

Christ said:



	Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit;

and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I

appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my people in

the flesh. [Ether 3:16]



	Christ came into the world to get his mortal body and to become

our Savior.  After his death, he appeared in his resurrected body to

his disciples in Jerusalem and to the Nephites on this continent. 

"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see;

for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Luke 24:39).



	If we were to progress eternally, it was clearly necessary to gain

a mortal, physical body



	The spirit and the body are the soul of man (D&C 88:15); neither

is complete without the other.  And the absence of the spirit from the

body is looked upon as a bondage (D&C 45:17,138:50).



	The body was formed from the dust (Abraham 5:7), lifeless without

the living spirit.  Therefore, a major purpose for coming to this earth

was to gain a physical body and become one with our spirit.



	Other significant purposes for coming to this earth were to gain

experience, to grow, to learn, to improve our talents, to give service,

and to choose an eternal marriage companion to multiply and replenish

the earth.  In order to fulfill these commandments we had to have a

physical body.  Jesus made it plain from his teachings that we are

given gifts and talents to be magnified and used in the service of our

fellow mortals.  "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be

much required" (Luke 12:48).  Through his parable of the talents, it is

clear that there will be an accounting from each of us as to how we

used our talents and the opportunities we were given (Matthew 25).  He

further taught his followers that "whosoever will be chief among you,

let him be your servant" (Matthew 20:27).



	Still another purpose of coming to this earth was to prove

ourselves.  Had we not had opportunity to gain experience and prove

ourselves in our pre-earth life? Had we not beheld the unfolding of a

most amazing plan created by a loving Heavenly Father that provided a

way for us to progress beyond that spirit state and work toward our

exaltation even as our Father had done before us?



	Did we not have the option to accept or reject that plan? Yes, we

did.  In the pre-earth life there were laws established, and the

spirits there had the choice of accepting or rejecting the laws and

counsel given.  This was our first estate.  We kept this first estate

by choosing to be obedient to the requirements God had set for us.  And

thus we qualified ourselves to come into this prepared earth to prove

ourselves in our second estate (Abraham 3:24-26).  The difference

between the first and second estate was the acquiring of the mortal

body in the second estate.



	There were many who did not keep their first estate who chose to

follow Satan; for doing so they were cast out with him and lost the

privilege of coming to this earth to gain a body (Abraham 3:28).



	It is almost impossible to understand the complete significance

and privilege of receiving a body of flesh and bone.  When Christ cast

out the evil spirit from the man whom no man could bind with chains, he

asked its name.  The spirit answered, "Legion: for we are many" (Mark

5:9).  Upon command to leave the body of the man who was possessed, the

spirits asked permission to enter the bodies of feeding swine: "The

herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea" (Mark 5:13).  It is

so important to have a physical body that these spirits who had

forfeited the right to have bodies of their own were even anxious to

enter the bodies of swine.



	Each of us here kept our first estate or we wouldn't be here.  We

must have been an enthusiastic lot.  From the book of Job (38:7) we

understand that "all the sons of God shouted for joy" when the

foundations of the earth were laid.  Through this gospel plan that was

prepared in the beginning we realized that by obedience we could

progress, obtain a mortal body, and prepare ourselves for immortality

and eternal life.  The next step was to prepare a new environment for

this probationary period.



	And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said

unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space

there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth

whereon these may dwell;



	And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things

whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them. [Abraham 3:24-25]



	We had proven ourselves in our first estate or in the spirit

world; but in order to progress, we needed to prove ourselves with the

physical body.



	The great Book of Mormon prophet Alma indicates we will be judged

according to the deeds that have been done in the mortal body (Alma

5:15).  Nephi, son of Lehi, also reaffirms that the time should come

that we must be judged of our works that were done by the temporal body

in our days of probation (1 Nephi 15:32).



The Greatest of All Creations



	Our mortal bodies are so consequential that they merit the

creation of an earth to make it possible to fulfill the eternal gospel

plan of our Heavenly Father.  But let us consider the body for a moment

just as a physical entity.



	Depending on age and size, the body is a composite of tens of

trillions of tiny cells.  Each little cell is a very independent unit

with its own specific function.  Each is busily manufacturing who we

are, how we function and, in many ways, the quality of our lives.



	There is no aspect of our existence--whether it be social,

intellectual, or spiritual--that is not affected by our physical

well-being or lack of it.



	Each of us--whether tall or short, stout or lean, blond or

brunette, young or old--is incredibly unique because we are created in

a divine image: "In the image of his own body, male and female, created

he them" (Moses 6:9).



	What a masterpiece the human body is.  What a miracle of creation. 

In my view, it is the greatest of all creations worlds without end.



	How shall we show respect for this precious gift? How shall we

care for this divine creation?



	In a year's time many of the trillions of little cells and

components that make us who we are will replace themselves.  What are

the raw materials we give those cells to work with? If we use inferior

materials to work with, we will end up with an inferior product.  If,

however, we are willing to provide superior materials, we may end up

with a superior product.



	We have been given a Word of Wisdom, wise counsel in how to care

for our bodies (D&C 89): "Strong drinks are not for the belly ...

tobacco is not for the body ... hot drinks are not for the body or

belly" (7-9).  "Yea,... flesh ... of beasts and of the fowls of the

air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving;

nevertheless they are to be used sparingly" (12).  "All grain is good

for the food of man; as also the fruit of the vine" (16).



	We are given a wonderful promise if we obey:



	And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking

in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel

and marrow to their bones;



	And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even

hidden treasures;



	And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. [D&C

89:18-20]



	What wonderful promises--just a few among many.



	We have much scientific knowledge as to what should and should not

be taken into the body.  We also need to rest, exercise, refine,

nurture, and perfect our bodies--for they are the vehicles that will go

with us throughout the eternities.



	The physicality, the self-healing power, the potential for the

highest forms of personal and artistic expression make the body a

monument of God's creative mastery.  There is so much we have learned

about this prodigious body, and we have so much more to learn.



	We do know that the body will respond positively or negatively

according to the care we provide or fail to provide.  It will adapt to

the stresses placed upon it.  If we require it to sit bent over and

curved for a long period of time, the muscles in the back and neck will

lengthen to compensate and the muscles in front will shorten-soon it

will feel just great to carry the body around with very poor alignment,

which may lead to other problems.  However, if we require the body to

strengthen all the muscles and give the cardiovascular and respiratory

systems work and experience, they will continue to function as they

were meant to do.  If we give each joint the opportunity to maintain

its full range of motion, we can have efficient, full use of our

instrument.  We can accomplish our work, enjoy our play, relieve

debilitating stress, and push back our fatigue threshold.  If this were

not so, dancers and athletes could not improve by training, and none of

us could improve our physical condition at any age.  We are not

vegetables--we are living, springing, dynamic beings whose vital

systems all depend upon movement and use.  We rarely lose our physical

capabilities in normal living, but we give them up through nonuse.  Of

course there are notable exceptions such as disease and injury.  But we

were made to move.  Our bodies do adapt to the stresses placed upon

them--gradually, carefully, respectfully, little by little.



Turning Stumbling Blocks into Stepping-Stones



	As a young dancer I studied with a distinguished teacher in

California, Rozelle Frey.  She had been a member of the Anna Pavlovs

Dance Company in her youth.  Her story and influence had remarkable

lessons and impact for me.  Initially she had trained to become a

concert pianist, but when she was taken to see a classical ballet

concert, she knew immediately what she wanted to do with her life. 

There, in her naive Sweden, her family, having means, took her to study

with a great ballet master teacher.  After looking at her work in her

audition, he told her that she should continue her career in her piano

work, that she had little hope of becoming a dancer.  She had a problem

that in those days was called "banana legs." Her legs curved outward

like bananas.  This simply was not compatible with the turnout or

rotation of the legs required in the positions of ballet.  She pleaded

with this teacher to give her a chance to study, to prove herself.  She

was told that his time was simply too important to work with students

who had no potential.  However, she could come to the classes, stand

back by the piano, and satisfy herself, but she would receive no help

or criticism from him and would be completely on her own.  She accepted

with great enthusiasm.



	This was before the time of seriously practiced physical therapy,

so the result was unexpected.  For seven years she worked

diligently--pulling, strengthening, stretching, working.  At first she

went unnoticed, and then gradually she was accepted into the class and

finally placed as an example at the front of the class where the

students had to pass the teacher's review.



	Through the continued, repeated effort of working the muscles

correctly and placing on them certain demands, the body responded by

adapting to those demands.  Because she was young and some of the bone

was not yet solidified but cartilaginous, her legs became straight and

tall.  Remember I said she became a member of the Anna Pavlovs Dance

Company eventually.  That is remarkable in itself; but even more

startling to me was the fact that of the group of dancers she trained

with for seven years, she was the only one who was ever chosen to dance

in a professional company.  Why? Perhaps the others did not have to try

as hard or care so much.  We all have stumbling blocks placed in our

way--those are our growth--promoting experiences.  If ever there was a

stumbling block for a dancer, it was banana legs.  But she made those

stumbling blocks into stepping-stones.  They caused her to have to try

harder, to be more committed.  So Miss Frey rose above those in the

ordinary, easier paths, and she was able to reach greater heights.



	In Ether 12:27 we are told that we are given weaknesses that we

might be humble and that if we are humble, our weaknesses may become

our strengths.  We might look at our weaknesses as gifts to humble

ourselves before our God and pray that we can have the will to

withstand temptations and weaknesses of body and spirit in whatever

form.



	Many temptations, testings, and challenges come through the body

There must be opposition in all things.  This is part of our proving

ourselves.  Most of the evil and temptations in our society today are

directed at the body.  Satan and his followers are seeking our

destruction that we may become subject to him.  Pornography, physical

abuse, drugs, moral transgression, perversion, abortion, suicide, and

murder are all vicious designs of Satan to destroy the souls of man. 

All are directed at the body.  Our choice of music, literature, dance,

movies, videos, television, friends, etc., can lead to base thoughts

and actions regarding the body or to uplifting, respectful thoughts and

feelings about the body.  Those choices are ours.



	Can we recognize the temptations for what they are and reject

them, not falling into Satan's traps? We knew there would be

temptations and trials, but we knew we could meet them or we wouldn't

have shouted for joy



	We have guidance and help in this life.  King Benjamin spoke of

the model that Christ would be: "And lo, he shall suffer temptations,

and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can

suffer, except it be unto death" (Mosiah 3:7).  Even suffering as he

did, he did not succumb.



	If we understand the significance of the body in the eternal plan

of salvation in even a small way, could we permit ourselves to be

dressed immodestly, to allow our bodies to be defiled or to defile that

of another, to slash or cut the body--a practice forbidden by God

because it was being done in some early cultures (Leviticus 19:28)--to

weaken the body with inappropriate substances, to try to strengthen the

body with inappropriate substances, to allow our muscles to atrophy and

become weakened through lack of movement and disuse, to deny

nourishment to the point of anorexia, or allow other destructive

behaviors?



	There will be challenges in this life, for our bodies are subject

to the natural processes of this mortal world.  We are all subject to

pain, disease, injury, aging, and infirmity.  But the hope and

understanding in this lies in the fact that these problems are part of

our experience, and they are temporary.  Whether young or old, we must

all pass through death at the end of our days or probation upon the

earth.



	God formed man from the dust (Abraham 5:7), and to the dust we

return.  From the Doctrine and Covenants we read:



	Their sleeping dust was to be restored unto its perfect frame,

bone to his bone, and the sinews and the flesh upon them, the spirit

and the body to be united never again to be divided, that they might

receive a fulness of joy. [D&C 138:17]



	As a result of Christ's atonement in our behalf, his suffering of

body and spirit, we will rise again.  We can read his own words

describing his suffering:



	Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to

tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both

body and spirit--and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and

shrink--



	Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished

my preparations unto the children of men. [D&C 19:18-19]



	These preparations were for us that our bodies and spirits could

be restored one to the other by the power of the resurrection of the

Holy One of Israel (2 Nephi 9:12).



Spirit and Body Shall Be Reunited



	Alma assures us that "the spirit and the body shall be reunited

again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its

proper frame" (Alma 11:43).  And Nephi counseled his people on this

doctrine:



	For I know that ye have searched much, many of you, to know of

things to come; wherefore I know that ye know that our flesh must waste

away and die; nevertheless, in our bodies we shall see God. [2 Nephi

9:4]



	One last significant observation about our physical bodies is

given by Paul, who warns,



	Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of

God dwelleth in you?



	If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for

the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. [1 Corinthians 3:16-17]



	Here is a marvelous promise--one which should be particularly

encouraging to all engaged in the pursuit of knowledge:



	And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be

filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body

which is filled with light comprehendeth all things. [D&C 88:67]



	In summary, Who are we? We are the literal offspring of God the

Eternal Father.  Why are we here? We are here because of the brilliant

plan of salvation of a loving Heavenly Father and his Son, our Savior. 

The earth was prepared in our behalf that we might come (1) to get a

mortal body, (2) to get experience with our body of flesh and bone, and

(3) to prove ourselves in every way in keeping all of God's

commandments in the flesh.



	I have profound esteem for the human body as I have studied, given

birth, trained, taught, and observed.  Certainly our spirit and body

become one--our eternal soul.  In times past the body has been looked

upon as evil; it was purged and punished as a way of purifying the

spirit.  That is not our Heavenly Father's way



	In Thessalonians we are told that all should know how to possess

his vessel in sanctification and honor (1 Thessalonians 4:4).  And in

Romans, Paul pleads,



	I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye

present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,

which is your reasonable service. [Romans 12:1]



	Just as Alma asked his people, let us ponder this scenario, "Can

you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying

unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works

have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?" (Alma

5:16).



	Through Abraham our Lord tells us that his expressed work and his

glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man

(Moses 1:39).



	So, as I mentioned at the beginning, if we are to be changed

today, let us change together.  Beginning today, let each of us try

harder to care for our bodies, to keep them clean and undefiled inside

and out and keep our passions and appetites within the bounds the Lord

has set.  We will feel better and will be able to give more service. 

We will be able to fulfill all of those things that we desire to do

here upon the earth so we might lift up our hearts and be glad (D&C

29:5), that we might have a fulness of joy



	Finally, to the Prophet Joseph Smith the Lord said:



	And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall

have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God.

[D&C 14:7]



	It is my plea and humble prayer today that each of us can

recognize the sacredness of our bodies; that we can have a reverence

for them and use all of the manifold information available to us to

nourish and edify them, even celebrate them in righteousness; that they

can facilitate all of the experiences here and in the worlds to come;

that we can recognize Satan's ploys in degrading this precious gift

that permits us to have eternal life.



	May this be our desire and resolve, I pray in the name of Jesus

Christ.  Amen.





                     BRIGHAM YOUNG, PROPHET OF GOD



                             L. Tom Perry



	L.Tom Perry is a member of the Council of the Twelve of the Church

of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This fireside talk was given on

6 August 1989 in the Marriott Center.



	And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of

the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and

shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.



	And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the

mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will

teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion

shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

[Isaiah 2:2-3]



	Each year as we celebrate the twenty-fourth of July, I reflect on

this scripture and marvel at the accomplishments of the Mormon pioneers

who settled here in the tops of the mountains.  I have a special

respect and admiration for President Brigham Young as he led the

colonization of the pioneers here in the West.  As we meet tonight on

the campus that bears his name, it seems appropriate to remind

ourselves of some of the teachings, philosophy, and vision of this

great leader.



	Brigham Young first saw the light of day in a rough-hewn log cabin

in Whitingham, Vermont, on 1 June 1801.  His arrival swelled to nine

the number of John and Abigail Howe Young's children, divided unevenly

with five girls and four boys.  Shortly before Brigham Young was born,

the family moved in the middle of winter from Hopkinton, Massachusetts,

to Vermont.  So Brigham Young really had his beginning in

Massachusetts, but was born in Vermont, not many miles from the

birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith.



	In those days the people were surprisingly mobile.  When they

found farming not very productive in one place, they would migrate to

another, almost on impulse.  This had prompted the Young family to move

from Massachusetts to Vermont to see if they could open up a greater

farming potential.  Survival under these conditions depended entirely

on one's industry and on the weather.



	The farmer is usually more susceptible to the ideas of God than

are those in most other occupations--mostly because farmers are so

dependent on God, and especially as they witness the recurring miracle

of life and growth in the planting, nurturing, and maturing of crops. 

So John Young had a religious upbringing, as did his wife.  By the time

he left Whitingham in 1804, he was impelled to move west to find more

fertile land and more congenial surroundings.



	The next stop for the Young family was Sherbourne, New York, a

rural village in the Cherry Valley.  The Youngs stayed here for nine

years, and in this place the family was increased by the birth of the

tenth and eleventh children.  However, it was diminished by the death

of their second child, a fourteen-year-old daughter.



	From Sherbourne they migrated to Cayuga County, New York, in 1813. 

This was the last home that the wife of John Young would occupy. 

Careworn after bearing eleven children in twenty-one years and

mothering them under harsh conditions, she finally gave up her life for

her family.



	Brigham Young was only fourteen years of age at the time of his

mother's death.  It was a difficult time, and he mourned her passing as

any teenage child would at a time like that.  The passing of his mother

brought about many changes in the Young family.  Marriages that

occurred would have a tremendous impact on his life in future years. 

Rhoda, a sister, married John P. Green, and his brother John married

Theodosia Kimball, a union that brought the family to the gospel of

Jesus Christ.  John Young, his father, later married Hannah Brown.



	When Brigham was a robust sixteen-year-old, he was already

learning the skills of a carpenter, joiner, painter, and glazier that

gave him such a good foundation for the rest of his life.  About this

time there was an economic boom in the construction of the Erie Canal. 

Young Brigham left to work for a while in Auburn.  There he applied his

carpentry skills in the construction of a prison.  Then he moved to

Port Byron, a few miles north on the route of the Erie Canal, where he

used his skill chiefly as a painter.



	Here it was noticed that young Brigham was emerging into a

powerful character.  He was intelligent, energetic, and tough-minded,

standing 5'10" tall and weighing 190 lbs.  He was an imposing physical

specimen with broad shoulders--a powerful man, his body developed over

years of toil on his father's farm.  His hair had a reddish tint and

framed a high forehead.  His blue eyes looked out on a world with a

steady gaze that, to some, had a definite quality of strength.  He had

a determined jaw.  On seeing Brigham for the first time, one knew

instinctively that he was a man not to be trifled with.  Yet he had a

tender side, almost a poetic quality about him that was evidence of the

loving relationship he had had with his mother.



	He searched for cultural development and loved the finer things of

life.  In Port Byron he joined a debating society, which helped him

develop his skills as a speaker.  Also during this period, Brigham's

first formal affiliation with a church occurred, and at twenty-two

years of age he joined a church, following a pattern set by his parents

and older brother.  It was also about this time he began to court

Miriam Works, who would soon become his bride.  Miriam, like Brigham,

traced her ancestry back to Hopkinton, Massachusetts.



	Soon they were married, and Miriam gave birth to their first

child, whom they named Elizabeth.  When Elizabeth was four, Brigham and

Miriam decided to move to Mendon, New York--a decision that had

far--reaching consequences for their future lives.  It was during this

move to Mendon that Brigham came in contact with the Church.  His

conversion was really brought about by one of his brothers, who was an

itinerant preacher.  This brother had come in contact with Samuel H.

Smith, who was carrying in his backpack several copies of the Book of

Mormon.  He was impressed with Samuel's sincerity, but he could not

exercise much zeal for the story about the coming forth of the book. 

He decided to purchase a copy out of curiosity and intended to spend

some time finding flaws and exposing it.  He studied and cataloged the

book, looking for errors, but soon became convinced of its

truthfulness.



	His father, John Young, also read the book.  Then Brigham's sister

Fanny, and then the Greens, the Kimballs--all had an opportunity to

read it.  This is a classic story of the Book of Mormon bringing to a

family the light of the gospel.  They soon came in contact with Solomon

Chamberlin, another itinerant preacher who had been converted to The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Brigham's brother, after

meeting this man who believed that a man must have authority from Jesus

Christ in order to baptize another into the true church, lost all of

his enthusiasm for preaching and became completely converted to the

message of the Book of Mormon.



	Five elders showed up in Mendon and preached the gospel.  Heber C.

Kimball wrote:



	As soon as I heard them, I was convinced that they taught the

truth, and that I had only received a part of the ordinances in the

church in which I belonged.  I also saw and heard the gifts and spirits

manifested by the elders.



	Brigham Young himself also became thoroughly convinced of the

message of these five elders.  He said this five years after they

arrived in the Salt Lake Valley:



	When I saw a man without eloquence or talents for public speaking,

who could only say, "I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the

Book of Mormon is true, and that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of the

Lord," the Holy Ghost proceeded from that individual, illuminated my

understanding, and light, glory, and immortality were before me.  I was

encircled by them, filled with them, and I knew for myself the

testimony was true.



	Brigham's brother had a powerful influence on his conversion. 

This brother's name was John.



	Brigham Young (coming forth to the stand): No, no, no, it was not

John! It was my brother Phineas.  Let me tell this conversion story. 

In January of 1832, several months after these elders had visited

Mendon, myself, Phineas, and Heber C. Kimball had thoroughly digested

the spiritual fare we had received in abundance, and we decided to make

a perilous midwinter trip to confirm our conclusions.  We traveled

through ice and snow, crossing rivers until we were almost discouraged;

still, our faith was to learn more of the principles of Mormonism.





	We remained with our new friends about a week, assimilating all

they had to offer until we had such a conviction of the gospel of Jesus

Christ that we wanted to learn more about the Prophet Joseph Smith and

his ministry.



	After my father, John Young, and my brothers, Phineas and Joseph,

were baptized on 5 April 1832, they made the 120-mile trip to Mendon

accompanied by one of the elders and their teacher, Eleazar Miller. 

There they found me waiting expectantly for the gospel.  On April

fourteenth, 1832, I was baptized into the Church by Elder Miller.  It

was a glorious celebration on this day of baptism. (Extracted from

Brigham Young, Modern Moses, Prophet of God by Francis M. Gibbons [Salt

Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981], pp. 7-20.)



	Elder Perry: Yours is a remarkable conversion story of how the

Lord guides the footsteps of his servants and brings the leadership

required to further his purposes here on earth.  How often we see the

powerful witness of the Book of Mormon in conversions with whole family

units embracing the gospel of our Lord and Savior.  President Young,

thank you for sharing your conversion story with us.  This is such a

rare opportunity to have you with us this evening.



	Would you allow us to take advantage of this situation by having

you share with us some of the observations and instructions you would

like to give these great young people who have gathered here tonight in

this eighteen-stake fireside? Are there two or three special

instructions you would like to leave with them?



	Brigham Young: The messages I would give you now have not changed

a great deal through the generations from the time I was here.  The

first lesson I would like to leave with you tonight is to be obedient

to the will of God.



	It is written that God knows all things and has all power.  He has

the rule and command of this earth, and is the Father of all the human

beings that have lived, do live and will live upon it.  If any of his

children become heirs to all things, they in their turn can say,

by-and-by, that they know all things, and they will be called Supreme,

Almighty, King of kings, Lord of lords.  All this and more that cannot

enter into our hearts to conceive is promised to the faithful, and are

but so many stages in that ceaseless progression of eternal lives. 

This will not detract anything from the glory and might of our Heavenly

Father.  For he will still remain our Father, and we shall still be

subject to him, and as we progress in glory and power, the more it

enhances the glory and power of our Heavenly Father. This principle

holds good in either state, whether mortal or immortal.



	All that the Lord requires of us is a perfect submission in our

hearts to his will. [DBY, p. 20]



	Obedience is one of the plainest, most everyday and home

principles that you ever thought or know anything about....



	I cannot save you.  I can tell you how to save yourselves, but you

must do the will of God.



	How shall we know what to do? By being obedient to every

requirement of the Gospel....



	Do you think that people will obey the truth because it is true,

unless they love it? No, they will not.  Truth is obeyed when it is

loved.  Strict obedience to the truth will alone enable people to dwell

in the presence of the Almighty.



	The Lord has sent forth his laws, commandments, and ordinances to

the children of men, and requires them to be strictly obeyed, and we do

not wish to transgress those laws, but to keep them.  We do not wish to

change his ordinances, but to observe them; we do not wish to break the

everlasting covenant, but to keep that with our fathers, with Jesus,

with our Father in Heaven, with holy angels, and to live according to

them. [DBY, p. 220]



	Great peace have they who love the law of the Lord and abide in

his commandments.



	If you wish to receive and enjoy the favor of our Heavenly Father,

do his will. [DBY, p. 223]



	Elder Perry: Your first counsel then to these great young people

would be to be obedient to the will of our Eternal Father, not for

reasons of constraint or compulsion, but because it brings the only

true joy to be found as we progress through mortality.  There is great

safety in staying as far away from being disobedient as possible.  We

should not try to devise ways to satisfy our appetites, to see how

close we can come to the line that separates obedience from

disobedience.  We should decide here and now to stay as far away from

even the so-called gray areas between the two and be completely

obedient to the will of the Lord.



	What would be your second instruction to these great young people,

President Young?



	Brigham Young: I am concerned with the trend I see in the social

order in this great land in which we live.  Suppose we had the power to

take the poor and the ignorant, the low and the degraded, all those who

are trodden under foot by the great and powerful among earth's

inhabitants, and bring them together, purify them, fill them with

knowledge and understanding, and make a nation of them worthy of

admiration? What would you say to this? My greatest hope in my day was

to transform these people into being ambitious and to be exemplary in

their communities, where dedication, cooperation, unity, and

pioneer-building were sacramental rituals.



	As for the women--in my day I used to say that I wished for them

more than relief from domestic labor.  Certainly their utility extended

beyond the need to sweep houses, wash dishes, make beds, and raise

babies.  After breakfast they might go to work making bonnets and hats

and clothing.  Even though I think manual labor for women is unfitting,

let the professions be opened to them.  They could stand behind

business counters, study law or physics, or become good bookkeepers and

be able to do their business in counting houses--and all of this to

enlarge their sphere of usefulness for the benefit of society at large.



	I encouraged the men in my day to use the sinew of their bodies in

labor, to plow fields, to harvest, to organize.  I wasn't very fond of

those frontier bone surgeons; I thought they generally did more harm

than good.  Lawyers were even a greater bane to me. I had very little

use for them.  They simply tried to make white black, and black white. 

To be sure, lawyers had their place, but I could not find it. 

Merchants to me in those days scored no higher.  I never could, in the

poorest day I ever saw in my life, descend so low as to stand behind a

counter.  Taking that class of man as a whole, I think that they are of

extremely small calibre.  The problem was several fold.  Commercial

profits drained Zion's precious capital resources and often placed

wealth at the disposal of enemies.  Moreover, merchants were always

seeking a chance to buy a widow's cow for ten cents on the dollar

rather than the real cash value.  Then, after having made the purchase,

they thanked the Lord that he had so blessed them.



	The fundamental reason for my dislike for doctors, lawyers, and

merchants in an ideal society in those days was that they were not

producers of real wealth.  I always believed that the labor of bone,

sinew, nerve, and muscle was to be used to transform the natural

resources into usable products--a contrast to those who live by their

wits and only earn the scorn of mankind.  Such a man never did a good

thing to produce a morsel of bread.  He never took pains to raise a

goose, a duck, a lamb, or a sheep.  No, he never did anything useful,

but still he eats, drinks, wears, and lives in luxury.  In the name of

common sense, what use is such a man? My policy is to see that every

man, woman, and child is busily employed, that there is no idle time

for hatching mischief in the night or making plans to accomplish their

own ruin.  I do not believe in giving to the idler, for it is as wicked

as anything else.



	I recommend physical labor balanced with mental activity. Then you

will enjoy health and vigor! My encouragement is to learn, learn,

learn, and continue to learn, to study by observation and from all good

books.  Study the gospel and what it means to us in our lives.

(Extracted from Brigham Young on the Social Order by associate

professor Ronald W. Walker at Brigham Young University.)



	I shall not cease learning! I did not while I lived on this earth,

and I will not in the spirit world where I shall learn with greater

facility. And when I again receive my body, I shall learn a thousand

times more.  I will never cease learning because I must continue in my

research.  We shall never see the time when we shall not need to be

taught, or when there is not a need for an object to be gained.  I

never expect to see the time when there will not be a superior power or

superior knowledge and, consequently, incitement for further progress

and further improvement.



	If I do not learn what is in this world from the first to the

last, someone will be wiser than I am.  I intend to know the whole of

it, both the good and the bad.  Shall I practice evil? No, neither have

I told you to practice it, but to learn by the light of truth every

principle that exists in the world.  We need constant instruction, and

our great Heavenly Father requires of us to be diligent pupils in

school, that we may in time reach his glorified presence.  If we will

not lay to heart the rules of education that our Teacher gives us to

study, and continue to advance from one branch of learning to another,

we can never be scholars of the first class and become endowed with the

science, power, excellency, brightness, and glory of the heavenly

hosts; and unless we are educated as they are, we cannot associate with

them. (See DBY, chapter 22, Education.)



	Elder Perry: Let me see if I can understand what you are saying to

us of this generation.  It is all right to be a doctor, lawyer,

merchant, or chief, or homemaker, but do not allow our society to shift

entirely into service-oriented occupations.  Man cannot exist on

service only.  The majority of our efforts must be directed toward

taking the raw materials the Lord has blessed his children with in such

abundance and fashioning this material into something productive for

the use of mankind.



	It would be true whether it be a nation, a region, or a household. 

We cannot rely on the microwave and the frozen food section of the

grocery store to supply all of the nourishment we need to support life. 

We cannot allow all of our basic industries to go to foreign shores and

still remain independent and free.  We must retain our ability to use

our hands and our heads to fashion and produce finished goods required

for our wants and our needs.  Certainly as individuals we need to learn

how to cook, to sew, to build, repair, plant, and harvest.  We need to

experience the fulfillment that comes from producing a product

fashioned of the labor of our own hands.  This is an essential part of

our education, along with the preparation for our chosen professions. 

Now, President Young, are there any other words of counsel you would

like to leave with us here tonight?



	Brigham Young: Oh, there are many things I would like to say to

this great group of young people here tonight.  Perhaps I could take

time to counsel you on just one more subject.



	Beauty must be sought in the expression of the countenance,

combined with neatness and cleanliness and graceful manners.  Anything

is ridiculous, more or less, that is not comely.



	Create your own fashions.  Make your own clothes to please

yourselves, independent of outside influences.  Make your hats and your

bonnets to shade you.  I wish you sisters would take this counsel. 

Place yourself in the condition of using your own hands and your own

talents to create the clothing that you wear.



	The Lord instructs us in a revelation to let our clothing be

plain.  "Let all thy garments be plain, and their beauty the beauty of

the work of thine own hands" (D&C 42:40).  He never said to us, "Do not

make a silk or satin ribbon, or fine broadcloth." But he has said to

us, "Make the articles of clothing that you wear." If you do not, you

shall find by and by that you will not be able to get them.



	If my mother and her grandmother got one silk dress, and they

lived to a hundred years old, it was all that they wanted.  I think my

grandmother's silk dress came down to her children.  She put her silk

dress on when I went to see her.  It was, I think, her wedding dress,

and she had been married some seventy years.  That which is convenient

should be beautiful.



	As for fashion, it does not trouble me.  My fashion is convenience

and comfort. (See DBY, chapter 18, Some Womanly Duties.)



	The "ding-dong" fashions of my day were a bane to me.  I would

rather see an Indian maiden go through the streets with very little on

than to see clothing piled up until it reaches, perhaps, the top of a

hedge or a fence as the wearer is passing by.  In my feeling, it is

positively ridiculous, and these fashions are useless and unbecoming. 

Do you recall the fashions of my day when a woman could not walk

through the street without holding her clothing two feet in front of

her if her arms were long enough? I wondered if some of those skirts

did not, in fact, conceal a six-horse team with a dozen dogs under the

wagon.  Then it changed.  Then they had humps on their backs.  And some

of the men were just as bad--one-half of their hats covered with

feathers and the other half with a cockade, and frills up and down the

sleeves of their coats and the legs of their pantaloons!



	Keep your clothing so that it is comfortable, useful, and becoming

to you.  Follow the fashions that are appropriate for sons and

daughters of the Lord. (Extracted from Brigham Young on the Social

Order by Ronald W. Walker.)



	Elder Perry: President Young, I know that our appearance has

always been important to our Eternal Father.  It seems to me a true

statement that we act the way we dress.  People are quick to form first

impressions of us as a result of our dress and grooming standards. 

When we came up out of the waters of baptism, we made a visible

statement to the world that we are followers of our Lord and Savior. 

Our very appearance should carry that message.  Immodest, revealing

clothing is not appropriate before the Lord, whether it be for dancing,

for swimming, for school, or for work.  Improper grooming and dressing

immediately sends forth a signal of our being cheap, careless, or

slothful.  A modest, well-groomed, properly dressed person sends forth

a signal that commands respect, admiration, regard, and esteem.



	There is really only one image we should show to the world after

we become members of the Lord's Church, and that is an image of modesty

with proper grooming and dress.  Let us have the courage to have a

proper style of our own and not be persuaded to adopt worldly fashions

of this day.



	President Young, now I think it would be proper for you to leave

your testimony with us as we conclude this meeting tonight.



	Brigham Young:



	My testimony is positive.  I know that there are such cities as

London, Paris, and New York--from my own experience or from that of

others; I know that the sun shines, I know that I exist and have a

being, and I testify that there is a God, and that Jesus Christ lives,

and that he is the Savior of the world.  Have you been to heaven and

learned to the contrary? I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God,

and that he had many revelations.  Who can disprove this testimony? Any

one may dispute it, but there is no one in the world who can disprove

it.  I have had many revelations; I have seen and heard for myself, and

know these things are true, and nobody on earth can disprove them.  The

eye, the ear, the hand, all the senses may be deceived, but the Spirit

of God cannot be deceived; and when inspired with that Spirit, the

whole man is filled with knowledge, he can see with a spiritual eye,

and he knows that which is beyond the power of man to controvert.  What

I know concerning God, concerning the earth, concerning government, I

have received from the heavens, not alone through my natural ability,

and I give God the glory and the praise.  Men talk about what has been

accomplished under my direction, and attribute it to my wisdom and

ability; but it is all by the power of God, and by intelligence

received from him.  I say to the whole world, receive the truth, no

matter who presents it to you. [DBY, pp. 433-434]



	Elder Perry: Thank you for that testimony, Brother Brigham.



	In our mind's eye we can see Brigham Young here tonight stepping

to the pulpit.  His presence was always dominating.  When he spoke

women would arouse themselves in expectation, men stopped coughing,

even children stopped their noisemaking.  Typically, his first words

were almost inaudible, but warming to the subject he soon achieved

fluency and control.  His manner was effective, but impromptu, spoken

rather than preached.  The scene was produced hundreds, perhaps

thousands of times, as the Saints gathered in the West.





	Ralph Rogers, thank you for taking the part of Brigham Young for

us here tonight.  Your great talent has been enjoyed by the Saints in

so many different places.  It is good to have you back in Utah after

your outstanding direction of the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii

for the past few years.  We are looking forward to seeing you many,

many times as we have the opportunity to have you back in our great and

noble state.



	Please accept my sincere appreciation for your assistance in this

eighteen-stake fireside.



	Now, to the testimony of Brigham Young, I humbly add mine.  God

lives! Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world! We are engaged in

his work as members of his Church.  May God bless us to have the

courage and the will to build his kingdom here on earth, I humbly pray

in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  Amen.