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I desire earnestly, while I stand before you this afternoon, to have the words I speak prompted by the spirit of our heavenly Father.
Like Brother Stephen L. Richards, I was greatly pleased to have the President in his opening address make a special appeal to parents and to the members of the Church generally in the interest of proper training for our young people. I propose this afternoon to make an appeal, as strong as is in my power, to all the people of the Church to take advantage of the training that is being offered in practically every ward in the Church in the teacher-training classes.
We are a community of teachers. Only by teaching effectively can our real mission be accomplished. By taking this work in teacher-training, certainly all who desire to do so can increase their teaching efficiency. If you have a son over whom you do not have satisfactory control, I believe the teacher-training course will help you to secure that control. If you have a daughter who does not seem to take kindly to your instructions, if she is not willing to go in that way which you indicate, your influence with her, I believe, will be greater if you study teacher-training.
If you are presiding over a ward, or a stake, or any organization, if you are a teacher in a class, I believe you will be able to do your work more effectively if you take up this course of study. In the Church we want more men like George Goddard; more men like Karl G. Maeser, and George H. Brimhall. These are unusual teachers. By study, real struggle, and inspiration, they have acquired the information contained in the lessons that we are attempting to teach in our teacher-training classes.
Long years ago in one of our "'Mormon" villages, there was a great teacher. He had taken no college honors, nor was he a public school teacher. This man was a farmer. His hands were plainly marked with the indications of arduous toil. He wore common clothing. He was just an ordinary laborer, but he was a natural teacher, a great teacher--a teacher of the Bible. He taught my Sunday school class. This man did not confine his teaching to the Sabbath day, nor to the hours of Sunday school. During the evenings of the week he used to have a group of us bare-footed, commonly-clad little youngsters in the country go to his home, and there he would teach us our Sunday school lessons.
This man was a diligent student of the gospel, of the scriptures, and of human nature. He studied thoroughly both his subject and his class. Through hard work and inspiration he became an unusually inspirational and successful teacher.
I shall refer somewhat fully to one lesson which he taught because it illustrates what teachers can do who by faithful effort acquire splendid teaching ability.
This man magnified the Priesthood which he held. He was filled with a burning testimony, a love for studying the scriptures and an ardent desire to assist in teaching the gospel to all the world--for he believed the scripture which says that when this has been accomplished "then shall the end come" (Matthew 24:14). In his life, his work and teaching, he certainly sought first the kingdom. The logic in the following Bible lesson on the apostasy and restoration, as he gave it, illustrates what can be accomplished by those who use the methods that are taught in our teacher-training classes. The teacher was preparing us for our Sunday school jubilee. He would instruct us something like this:
"There is to come a time when the gospel will not be found anywhere in all the world. I learn this from the Bible. The scripture says: (II Tim. 4:3, 4) 'For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap unto themselves teachers having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables'."
"Now boys," he would continue, "that prediction is recorded in holy writ. Furthermore, the Bible says: (Isaiah 24:5) 'the earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant;' that is the Bible, and here," he said, "recorded in holy writ, are the words of our heavenly Father himself. He said in a most positive fashion that sometime or other, the gospel shall not be found anywhere in all the world. These words are as follows: (Amos 8:11, 12).
"'Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor of thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, shall they run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and .shall not find it.' Thus there is predicted a time when the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be found anywhere.
"But I want you boys to remember," continued this farmer teacher, "that the scripture also says: (Matthew 24:12), 'And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will wax cold.' But you must be cheered up, all the time, by these words written in this splendid book; (Matthew 24:13) 'But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved'."
This man with a group of country boys, bare-footed, sitting before him, was a real master. He said: "And the scripture describes a little more clearly the conditions that are to prevail in the world, for: 'This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me,' saith the Lord, 'teaching for doctrines the commandments of men'." (Matthew 15:8, 9).
A passage he used to emphasize was quoted yesterday by Dr. Talmage. It reads: (II Tim. 3:1-3) "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good."
"That is the condition, that is going to prevail in the world. Men will even be despisers of those that are good' (II Tim. 3:3, 4), 'traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.' I want you boys to remember," said this great farmer teacher, "that in the world there is to be a time when people will be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, traitors, heady, highminded lovers of pleasures, as I have said, more than lovers of God,' (II Tim. 3:5) 'having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.' These are they who rely upon themselves; these are they who are called scientific; these are they who rely upon their own judgment. These are they who think they have no need of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These are they who boast of their own intelligence, of their own knowledge, of their own studies, of their own conclusions, these are they who have no reliance in, and think they need no help from the God of Washington, the God of Franklin and the God of Lincoln. The scripture tells what their condition is. They are always studying, yes, in the language of the Bible, they are (II Tim. 3:7) 'Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth'."
Then he drew our attention to that splendid vision of Nebuchadnezzar, the King, and the result of Daniel's appeal to divine Providence for information concerning the dream and its interpretation. The king had forgotten the dream. And Daniel prayed that he might be able to draw the dream to the remembrance of the king and give him the interpretation thereof. He told the king that in the dream he saw a great image with a head of gold, with shoulders and arms of silver, with body and thighs of brass, with legs of iron, with feet and toes of iron and clay, miry clay, mixed together. And that he saw a little stone cut out of a mountain without hands; and that it rolled forth and smote upon the great image and broke it into pieces, and the little stone grew into a mountain that filled the whole earth.
Now for the interpretation: The head Daniel saw, represented the king himself. There are to be other kingdoms afterwards and these are to be divided--the arms, the legs, the feet, the toes--these represent many kingdoms. See with what clearness the Bible says: (Daniel 2:44).
"'And in the days of these kings shall the god of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.' That is a strong sentence. I put the emphasis on that word, never. 'A kingdom that shall never be destroyed,' nor will this kingdom be left to other people, 'but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever',"
Forasmuch as thou sawest (Daniel, 2:45) that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter; and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure,' said this splendid teacher, this farmer, this man of God, bearing and magnifying the holy Priesthood. "Let me read to you further," he would say: (Revelation 14:6, 7).
"' And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.' That is the prophecy."
Who in all the world should receive the angel? A philosopher, a statesman, a wise man, a scholar? No, a boy; place your trust in boys and they will not fail you. When the Father himself, the great Creator of the heavens and the earth, wanted to deliver an important message to the world, he called a boy. The angel flew through the midst of heaven; the angel delivered the message. Was it done by divine providence or by the wisdom of Joseph Smith, a boy--age fourteen?
Across the way, on this very block, stands that great temple granite, dedicated to the Lord. On the top of it is a statue of the Angel Moroni, placed there in commemoration of the fulfilment of this clear-cut prophetic scripture.
The country teacher said: "The angel is to fly through the midst of heaven; the kingdom is to be established over which Jesus, the Son of God, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, is to preside."
"Where is it to be established? We look to the Bible for that information."
These are the words the teacher read. They were quoted yesterday by President Penrose: (Micah 4:1, 2)
"But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from, Jerusalem;' and in these days, the last days, it continues: 'And he shall judge among many people, (Micah 4:3) and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more'."
This is the sort of lesson that one plain man (Samuel Orme), in a little "Mormon" village, (Tooele) long years ago, a farmer in ordinary farmer's clothing, taught to a group of bare-footed youngsters. God bless his memory. Let us remember that scripture that he emphasized so positively: (Matthew 24:12, 13) "'Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, but, he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved'."
Thus by the use of teacher-training methods this plain country gentleman with scripture quotations made clear to us, his students, the whole plan of the apostasy and the modern gospel restoration.
God bless our teachers. Bless the parents who by study and prayerful efforts prepare themselves to teach their children. Bless the class teachers, the visiting teachers, and those who teach from the pulpit, that all may by reasonable effort, and the inspiration to which they are entitled become effective teachers and leaders of men, I humbly pray, through Jesus Christ, Amen.
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