Hugh B. Brown - Continuing the Quest

1961 Deseret Book Company All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Deseret Book Company, P.O. Box 30178, Salt Lake City, Utah 84130. This work is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church or of Deseret Book Company. Deseret Book is a registered trademark of Deseret Book Company.

I

ServiceA Way of Life

Relief SocietyAn Extension of the Home

Who Is My Neighbor?

Service through the Priesthood

Loyal to the Royal in You

Sharing the Gospel

Service in Stake Missions

Temple Building

Missionary Work

Greatness Was Always There

Relief SocietyExtension of the Home

This is at once an inspiring and a frightening experience. I think any man would be frightened to stand before 8,000 women with only two men behind him. I feel very humble as I come to you, and I depend upon divine guidance for what I may say. First, may I commend you for the great work you are doing and, in addition to what Sister Spafford has said, bring to you from President McKay his love, his blessing, and his gratitude. He said, "God bless the Relief Society."

This has been a wonderful session of this great conference from the time we sang together "I Know That My Redeemer Lives," through the impressive prayer of Sister Petersen, and the wonderful singing of our mothers' chorus, and then the inspired and inspiring addresses of your general officers. Really, I think we could very well close the meeting now and all feel more than repaid for coming.

It seems to be somewhat of a custom to ask a man to say a word or two at a woman's meeting. I think, perhaps, the reason is you are so fond of contrast. Joseph Conrad said on one occasion, "Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men." I'm sure you would say amen to that. It is a privilege, an honor, and very inspiring to stand before you. As I think of Relief Society, I think of home, and I am glad Sister Spafford has spoken as she has on that subject, for I should like to pursue the analogy a little farther if I may without repetition.

The place of importance that was assigned to the women's Relief Society is really analogous to the place of mother in the home. The sacred and responsible status in each case was established by the Lord himself. In both callings women are to stand side by side with the men who hold the priesthood. Even as a wife is a helpmate in the home, so the Relief Society, being an extension of the home, is a helpmate to the priesthood.

Now, of course, I do not mean to imply in any sense that Relief Society work is just a honeymoon. Quite the contrary. When we speak of other organizations and auxiliaries, we often speak of their programs and their activities, but whenever we speak of Relief Society, the word work is mentioned. We say Relief Society work, or the work of Relief Society. I think that is most significant. The work in the home, as well as in the Church, requires that women, as stated, shall stand side by side with their husbands, not in front of them, not behind them. While by divine decree man is to be the head of the house and the bearer of the priesthood, women are to become joint inheritors, equal partners and custodians with men in all that God has promised to the faithful. As Adam was the first man, so Eve was the first woman. The Lord said in the book of Moses, "... Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living, for thus have I, the Lord God, called the first of all women...." (Moses 4:26.)

Through the divine institution of celestial marriage, with all its privileges, obligations, joys, trials, and sacrifices, men and women, joined together by the Holy Priesthood, may through their faithfulness attain immortality, eternal life, and eternal increase; that soul-satisfying state of eternally becoming, forever achieving. When we speak of eternal increase, we speak not only of increase of posterity, we speak of increase of knowledge and the power that comes with knowledge; increase of wisdom to use that knowledge and power wisely; increase of awareness and the joy that comes through understanding; increase of intelligence, which is the glory of God; increase of all that goes to make up Godhood.

In the 132nd section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord promised men and women that by obedience to the new and everlasting covenant, they may be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise and "come forth in the first resurrection," to "... inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths" that are promised them, and I ask you please to note that the pronoun in this section is plural all the way through, that "... they shall pass by the angels, and the gods... to their exaltation and glory... which glory shall be a fulness...." (D&C 132:19.) But, of course, he has said that "except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory." (Ibid., 132:21.)

Your role, my dear sisters, as leaders in the Church, requires patience, constancy, tolerance, love unfeigned, and complete dedication. Service, love-inspired service, is the symbol of womanhood. It is the emblem of Relief Society. But, and we tell our brethren this quite often, service does not and must not mean servitude. The role of women in the Church was recognized and defined by the Prophet Joseph Smith soon after the Church was organized, and the leaders ever since have recognized their important assignment. Your intuitive perception, your endowed creativeness, your innate love of beauty and of goodness are invaluable in the Church. The wholesome effect of your influence on your husbands and sons, and others everywhere, is manifest and is generally appreciated. The obligations, responsibilities, and the inspiration of motherhood in the home carry over into the Church, not only in Relief Society, but your influence is felt in other auxiliary organizations and in the priesthood quorums, where the refining feminine touchphysical, mental, moral, spiritual touchpurifies and blesses men and boys.

But we come to you sisters this afternoon not alone to extol or eulogize; we come to you to charge, to exhort, and to challenge you. We charge you, our fellow workers in the Church, to be vigilant in this the most ominous and portentous era of world history. We earnestly call for your continuing support and wise counsel. When we think of the respective roles of men and women, we remember the Lord said, "... neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man...." (1 Cor. 11:11.) "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

"And God blessed them,"not him alone, "and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion.... " (Genesis 1:27-28.)

The dominion, then, is to be a joint dominion, and the command to multiply and replenish the earth is necessarily a joint injunction. When the Lord made provision for men to have the priesthood and gave the sacred honor and glory of motherhood to women, he divided not only the responsibilities but the blessings of life equally between men and women. Both priesthood and motherhood, if they are to be honored and magnified, must bear the hallmark of serviceservice sanctified and glorified by love. Hence, neither the man nor the woman should envy the role of the other, but recognize it as a counterpart and complement of their own rule. We must go forward hand in hand and heart to heart as we face the challenging but glorious responsibilities of life.