President McKay opened the conference yesterday with a fervent and forceful plea to the Latter-day Saints to rise above the carnal and animal things of the world and attain to a state of spirituality, a plea for them to crucify the flesh and turn their hearts and interests to the things of the Spirit.

In this connection I call attention to the words which the beloved disciple wrote:

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever  1 Jn. 2:15-17

There is, of course, a difference between the earth and the world. The earth is this sphere, this planet upon which we reside. It is composed of natural elements—the things that make up the dust and the rocks and the trees. The world, on the other hand, is the society of men living on the face of the earth, a society that is carnal and sensuous and evil, a society which is living, in effect, a telestial law; and there will be a not distant day when the end of the world will come, which means by definition, the destruction of the wicked  JS—M 1:4 This will take place in the day of millennial cleansing.

We have been sent from a pre-existent sphere to this earth; as a consequence we have received bodies made of the dust of the earth. Through the grace of God and the atoning sacrifice of his Son we will get these bodies back again in immortality in eternity.

We have also been sent from the preexistent sphere and placed in the world, that is, in circumstances where we will be enticed to do evil, where we will be subject to the lusts of the flesh and the passions that go naturally with a mortal existence. The object in placing us in the world is to try us, to test us, to see if we can overcome the world, to see if we can walk in the things of the Spirit in spite of the worldly enticements that surround us.

I suppose that in our day—in this age, with all the pressures of advertising, made possible by the use of all the modern inventions—that the enticements and pressures of the world exceed anything that has existed or prevailed in any age past.

Our Lord, in speaking to his ancient disciples about the lusts of the world, said that both he and they had overcome the world  John 16:33 He told them that they would be hated by the world because they were not of the world  John 15:19 In his great intercessory prayer he prayed that the Father would keep the disciples free from sin  John 17:14-15 He said,

I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me . . .
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil (see  John 15:18-19  John 17:9-18

Well, then, an omnipotent God has deliberately and advisedly placed us in the circumstances in which we now find ourselves, with enticements and lusts of every sort around us, for the very purpose of determining whether we will overcome the world, whether we will turn to spiritual things rather than be engulfed in carnal things.

We had a probationary experience, a testing of a different sort, in the pre-existent sphere. We were there as spirit beings only, without these temporal bodies. Now we have mortal bodies that are subject to different enticements; and this particular portion of all eternity is that which is segregated as the time when we will be tested and tried and examined in the very manner in which we are now being examined. May I suggest to you some of the things that there are in the world which stand as tests in determining whether we will turn to the things of righteousness or whether we will go off after the manner of the world, walking as carnal men do.

If, for instance, we gratify the appetites that there are in this body, taking into the body food and drink that are unclean and unwholesome, we are walking after the manner of the world and manifesting love therefore. But if, on the other hand, we abstain completely from tea, coffee, tobacco, and liquor, and from every other unwholesome and impure food or drink, thereby developing self-control, then to this extent we are both overcoming the world and acquiring a godly attribute.

If we walk in this life in such a manner as to use all of the time that there is, seven days a week, either for the purpose of gaining a livelihood or for engaging in recreational pursuits, we are walking after the manner of the world. But if, on the other hand, we honor the Lord's holy day, keep his Sabbath, go to the house of prayer and offer up our vows and sacraments  D&C 59:9 so that we may gain strength to become and to remain unspotted from the world, if that is our course, then we are rising to a plane of spirituality.

Paul said, "The love of money is the root of all evil"  1 Tim. 6:10 Now, if we get the love of money or the love of the things of this world in our hearts, so that we desire those things in preference to the things of the Spirit, we are walking in carnal paths. But if, on the other hand, we pay an honest tithing; pay our fast offerings; contribute to the great missionary cause, to the Church educational system, to the building programs of the Church, and so on; if we make our means available to the Lord and to his kingdom and to his work—then we are rising above the plane of covetousness and lust that is inherent in the nature of our mortal existence.

The Lord has placed in our bodies certain passions and certain appetites; perhaps the strongest of these deal with what we call the sex urges. Now if we walk in an unbridled manner, after the way of the world, and are immoral and lascivious and unclean, then we are reveling in the basest sort of carnal existence. But if, on the other hand, we have the strength of character and the fortitude and ability to stand up like men and bridle our passions and control our lusts and use the sex urges in the manner in which the Lord has ordained that they should be used—which is wholesome and pure and right—if we walk without any form of sex immorality, then we are rising above the animal plane, and we are walking in the realm of spiritual things.

And so it is with every situation in which we find ourselves. If we play cards; if we visit beer halls; if we lie or steal or cheat; if we take advantage of our neighbor for a word  2 Ne. 28:8 if we oppress the hireling in his wages  Mal. 3:5 if we are immodest in our dress; if we do any of the things that are commonly done by the great masses of ungodly people in the world—we will be living after their manner and certifying that we love the things of the world more than we love the Lord. But on the contrary, if we abide in the truth and keep our covenants and walk in the manner that we were counseled to walk by our President as he opened this conference—and do it consistently, acting uprightly, with integrity and devotion—then we will be putting off the natural man  Mosiah 3:19 we will be born again  John 3:3-5 we will become new creatures  2 Cor. 5:17 of the Holy Ghost. Then it will be our right to have the constant companionship of that member of the Godhead. And finally, if we endure in faith and in devotion to the end, we will be inheritors of eternal life in the kingdom of God hereafter.

He who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come  D&C 59:23

In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.