I am grateful once again, my brethren and sisters, to be in this great historic Tabernacle and to enjoy the spirit of the conference. I greet all who are listening, both seen and unseen.

I have reflected with bat interest and personal satisfaction upon the messages of this conference, particularly the keynote address by the President, as he brought to our attention very forcefully the conditions of the world and of this nation.

School thy feelings

One of the things that impressed me deeply was the comment that President McKay made concerning the need for self-conquest. He indicated that in the life of our Savior self-control was divine. I have reflected upon that. My mind was brought quickly to the hymn that we often sing, penned by Charles W. Penrose, which suggests that we school our feelings. Let me just refer to the first verse as perhaps a text that I would like to develop:

"School thy feelings, O my brother;
Train thy warm impulsive soul;
Do not its emotions smother,
But let wisdom's voice control.
School thy feelings; there is power
In the cool, collected mind;
Passion shatters reason's tower,
Makes the clearest vision blind."

    (Hymns, 340.)

I thought about that as we listened to the comments of others concerning the condition of our nation, the riots, pestilence in the land, some of the concerns that we all have today. It is interesting to note that there conditions start in such small ways, with the individual, in the home. Our nation and our communities are no stronger than the individual or the home and its basic make-up.

Personal experience

I hope my wonderful partner will forgive me if I share a little experience that occurred during our adjustment period shortly after we were married. I recall that one day as I was at my work I felt ill, a little blue, and sensing the need for added physical comfort and attention, I left my office a little early to go home. The heavy traffic of the Los Angeles freeway did nothing but add to my anxieties. When I arrived home, I found that my wife was not there. Here I was, expecting tender love, care, and understanding, and of all days she could have picked, this was the one she decided not to be at home. I couldn't imagine why she couldn't read my mind.

When I arrived home, I settled myself on the couch, actually growing a little more angry with each moment that she was absent. And then finally, after about an hour of anxious waiting, she appeared on the scene. Can you imagine what she had been doing? Shopping! I looked at her somewhat wonderingly and asked where she had been. "Couldn't you be more thoughtful of your husband?" I said.

She responded, "I couldn't know that you were coming home early."

I was still a bit upset.

She wanted to show me the treasures she had just purchased, and I wasn't particularly interested. One by one she unwrapped the various purchases, and finally getting to the last she had saved for the big surprise, she said, "Just wait until you see the material that I finally found to cover the couch." And she showed it to me. She said, "What do you think?"

I said, "It is terrible."

She was hurt, and with her emotions showing she left the room. I was still upset, so I let her go. An hour passed. And you know women sometimes have an interesting way of striking back. It was one of my first lessons on this subject. Without saying a word, she just did not fix my supper.

Well, one act begets another, and I thought, "Two can play this game." So in my moment of real concern, I started to play the mature adult game that sometimes goes on in the homes of people—it is known as the silent treatment. I didn't talk to her for the rest of the evening, and she responded by not answering.

I am sorry to confess to you that we retired to our beds that night without saying a word, and I was still unfed. That night as I tried to find comfort and solace in the night, I failed to go to sleep. It was a month later before I discovered that the two of us were having a like experience. All night I lay clinging to my side of the mattress, being fearful that I might roll over and touch her.

The next day added more to our anxieties, and it was not until the following night that I gained control of my compassion and feeling and took her by the hand into the living room, where we knelt down together and sought our Heavenly Father. The impression of the great discovery was that I was able in part to school my feelings. I had remembered an oath and a covenant that I had taken in the temple before my Heavenly Father as a husband and as a father-to-be.

These are great challenges in our lives, brethren and sisters, and I see in this a direct relationship to a condition of our nation and of the world, that to understand why is to discover the great eternal truths.

Things that cause anger

Not long ago, in fact it was just on last New Year's Eve, a very interesting experience unfolded before me that brought to my mind again this great verse and the comment of our President. One of my very close associates made a promise concerning his new year's resolution that I thought was very interesting. He swore on that occasion that he would not commit another sin as long as he lived. He said he had made a lot of mistakes in the past, but from that time on he was going to exercise perfect self-control. And then when another acquaintance who was standing nearby commenced to make fun of him and his resolution, the first man became so angry that he wanted to fight.

Someone has said that "the measure of a man is the things that make him angry." And I believe that we have plenty of confirmation of this statement in the life and teachings of Jesus, as well as in the experiences of other noble souls who have lived since his time.

Jesus' anger against evil practices

We note that, although Jesus warned his disciples against the evil results of uncontrolled temper, he became angry himself, and on at least one occasion he prepared to use force, if necessary, in driving evil practices from the halls of the temple. (See  John 2:15 But think, if you will, of the size of the things that aroused his anger. Men called him the prince of devils, and he paid little attention to their criticism. They had said that he was ignorant, but this had not caused him to lose his temper. They had spit in his face, mocked him, hit him, and later even hanged him to the cross, but he did not lose control of his feelings.

It was quite different, however, when they criticized him for doing good on the Sabbath. Realizing that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, he started to heal a poor fellow on the sacred day. And when he found the crowd in a critical mood, he "looked round about on them with anger . . ."  Mark 3:5

So long as men held him up personally to ridicule, he paid little attention. But in the presence of injustice, when men would be unfair and unkind toward each other, he threw the influence of his great, tempered personality against their evil practices. No one could hurt him by attempting to punish him as an individual, but they touched his heart when they were cruel to each other.

Let us not confuse the well-controlled use of unselfish enthusiasm with the harsh roaring of a weak, tempestuous spirit. In the teachings of Jesus there is a definite place for the former; there is neither time nor place for the latter. "Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

"But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother . . . shall be in danger of the judgment"  Matt. 5:21-22

Self-control requires determined effort

Coming back to my friend who became angry, after making the new year's resolution that he was going to exercise perfect self-control, I guess the poor fellow did not realize that such a goal required determination and a plan of accomplishment. Sometimes one has to work all kinds of tricks on himself to hold his emotions in check. He had set for himself a desirable goal that would be meaningful in the lives of all of us.

An energetic person works hard and studies several hours a day sometimes to develop other types of abilities. Is it not worth some practice to gain control over one's emotions? I believe that it is, but from my own experience I am quite sure that it is no easy job. It is a happy and successful person who can gain control of his emotions and use them to improve his relationships with others and bring into his own life greater peace, joy, and serenity that are so desperately needed in our world today. Suppose we look for a moment at some of the plans that others have found helpful in controlling temper as well as developing other desirable habits and characteristics.

Lindbergh's plan for character growth

When Colonel Charles Lindbergh was asked what method he used, he said that he came to the conclusion that if he knew the difference between the right way to do a thing and the wrong way to do it, it was up to him to train himself to do the right thing at all times. So he drew up a list of characteristics that he wished to develop and wrote them, one under the other, on the left side of a sheet of paper. Then each evening he would read off this entire list of characteristics. After those that he felt he had developed to some extent during the day, he would place a red check, and after those character factors that he felt he had violated, he would draw a black check. Those that he had not been called upon to demonstrate that day would receive no mark.

After checking himself in this way over a definite period of time, he would compare the number of red and black checks to see whether or not he was getting any better. He said that he was generally glad to note improvement as he grew older. He had altogether developed 58 character factors, among which were altruism, calmness in temper, clean speech, justice, modesty, no sarcasm, and punctuality.

Others have noticed considerable development in character by picking one person who has achieved an extraordinary degree of moral strength and then by judging all his own actions by the life of this ideal. Have I been as good and kind in all of my own dealings this day as he would have been? If not, then I need to be more careful tomorrow. Do I have as perfect control of my temper, am I as sympathetic, do I go out of my way as much as he does to help someone in trouble? Only when we can say yes to such questions dealing with the whole field of moral endeavor may we be satisfied with our accomplishment of self-control. And if we pick some personality that is sufficiently perfect, we shall no doubt be struggling upward to the end of our lives.

Christ as an ideal

Sheldon's book In His Steps laid emphasis on the value of picking Jesus Christ as an ideal for every activity of the day, to do as he would do if he were here today. Reaching back over a period of nearly two thousand years, to a time when conditions were quite different from those of the present day, one senses the difficulty of knowing in every case what Jesus would do. Yet in the face of this obstacle, I have a feeling that our very attempt to catch his spirit and follow his example, the example of the greatest personality of all time, will prove a constant stimulus to higher living in the present day.

It was Jean Paul Richter who said: "He is the mightiest among the holy and the holiest among the mighty. He has, with his pierced hands, lifted empires off their hinges, turned the stream of centuries out of its channels, and still rules the ages."

In the words of a great modern religious leader, David O. McKay, "Christ's life was a life of unselfish service—always helping those who were living incompletely to live completely—his mission was to give them life. In his life and death, Christ not only fulfilled the law of sacrifice but he fulfilled every conceivable condition necessary for man to know in order to rise or progress from earthly life to eternal life."

I am convinced, my friends, my brethren and sisters, that regardless of the technique that we may employ, there are as many techniques as there are individuals hearing my voice; that if we will apply a method, using Jesus Christ as our ideal, we will come to know that he is the Christ; and that there is waiting for us, not only in this life but in the life to come, peace, joy, and eternal happiness.

May I too leave my witness in this conference that I know that Jesus is the Christ, that God lives, that he is real, that we have a living prophet to direct us. I give you my solemn witness and testimony in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.