My brethren, we have just listened to what may be termed the gospel of Jesus Christ in a practical application. We have been told what it means to work and what the Lord expects us to do, and this brings to mind the fact that our forebears who came here learned well those principles and had it not been for the fact that they did work and they did struggle we would not have the commonwealth that we have here, nor would we have the foundation of faith that is a part of this great work. It wasn't in luxury. It wasn't in idleness that was made possible what we have, but it was in poverty and in hard work and in struggle, and these experiences, my brethren, and those who are listening, contributed to other things. They contributed to a richness of faith. Somehow or other the Lord has seen fit, or the human makeup is such, that it is in adversity and sorrow that we grow.

GENERAL McALEXANDER'S VIEW OF WAR

At the close of the First World War there was stationed here at Fort Douglas the thirty-eighth infantry that is credited with having stopped the second battle of the Marne in World War I. The commanding officer who had been a colonel in the infantry, was then General Ulysses G. McAlexander. While stationed here, the general became a friend of both President Ivins and President Grant. Years later he was retired and moved to the Northwest, where his wife passed away. He subsequently married again and coming back here to Salt Lake City with his wife, renewed his acquaintance and friendship with these two churchmen. On one occasion President Grant drove the general down to the stake where I reside and we had the privilege of hearing him speak in one of our school assemblies. He had a very vital message to deliver, and after his speaking there, we invited him to speak in one of our stake union meetings where the general told of his experiences in the second bottle of the Marne, and then he gave his reaction to war. At the close of the talk, one of our brethren went up to him and very frankly said, "General, do you not think this a very cruel message to be giving in a religious meeting?" His answer was very significant. "Brother Booth"—he had met him a few hours before—"I want to impress, if possible, upon you people one fundamental thing, as I would like to impress it upon all the world, and that is that war is a terrible, cruel monster, and whenever we speak of it and whenever we deal with it, we speak and deal with terrible things. Until the human family becomes conscious of the tragedy and the sorrow and the terribleness of war we'll always have war. You church people," he said, "have a very vital message and mission; namely, to try to teach the principles of righteousness in the hearts of your people and in the hearts of mankind, that war may be no more."

I have never forgotten that, my brethren, and it seems to me that that, after all, is one of the lessons that we need to learn. If we can bring again righteousness into the hearts of the people, we will be able to outlaw war, and the terribleness and the tragedy of it will be no more, but we can not do it until we put into practical application some of the teachings we have heard here today.

THE GOSPEL A HELP UNDER EVERY CONDITION

We are a practical people; we need to till the soil; we need to make a living; we need to deal with the physical things of life just as our forebears did, for they did a magnificent job in assimilating the two aspects of man's nature. They understood how to harmonize the physical with the spiritual, and in their great faith they were able to bring a harmony out of seeming chaos. God grant that we may be able to do that, that we may outlaw hatred and animosity and so live that the spirit of our Heavenly Father will be a part of us.

Someone the other day, someone who had had great sorrow because of this war, raised this question, "What has the Church to offer in times like these when it seems the very props are taken from under us?" Well, the Church has all of these practical things, and it has more. It brings to you and me faith and hope. When the shepherds stood on those Palestine hills, they heard the voices of the angels declaring the event of the newborn Babe, "Behold . . . [there is] born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord"  Luke 2:10-11 Good tidings of great joy they were told, which were to be for all people. It wasn't merely the event of the Babe of Bethlehem, but it was the ushering in of the message of eternal truth that was to bring comfort and joy through the living of the precepts that he was to teach. That was the message that was to bring joy to the human heart.

When Paul stood before King Agrippa he declared his conversion and told of the appearance of Jesus Christ to him in midday, and King Agrippa being touched in his heart, turned to Paul and said, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian"  Acts 26:28 "And Paul said, 'I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds"  Acts 26:29 He knew that Jesus was the Christ; he had in his heart and soul what this testimony and the gospel does for us in times of trial and adversity. The Prophet Joseph came in this day and brought the same message, a message that has come through sorrow, privation and tribulation, and yet it brings the same good tidings of great joy that were sung by the shepherds two thousand years ago. It is the translating into our lives, my brethren, not only these practical things, but it is also a stimulating of the faith that comes from God, our Eternal Father, through faithful service to his cause. The lovely thing about the Church to which you and I belong is that it permits of the application of these two, the practical with the spiritual, and thus we grow and become strong.

May the Lord help us that we may appreciate in our everyday affairs the counsel given in this conference. May we appreciate the great message of peace that comes into our hearts even in time of sorrow, and may we have the power through living these eternal truths ultimately to do away with unrighteousness, so that war may be no more. God bless us, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.