Lost Causes – Sunday, November 10, 1940
With the passing of another year we come again to a time of Armistice observance. But its significance in some places is not what it was thought to be or hoped to be twenty-two years ago. Then it was the end of a war to end war.
It was heralded as the beginning of an era of peace. Unrestrained joy and profound thanksgiving were the order of the day. But one by one, during the intervening years, the participants in that former unspeakable struggle have reversed the Scriptural injunction and instead of beating their swords into plowshares, have beaten their plowshares into swords — some by choice, some by necessity. Hate has wiped out the gains of that former conflict — if, indeed, there were any gains.
In this favored land, however, the coming of another anniversary of Armistice still retains a goodly share of its original meaning, for which we thank God our Father in Heaven, who has always been mindful of us, far beyond that which we deserve, perhaps. That we have our troubles is not to be denied — but we use the ballot box instead of the firing squad and the convention hall rather than the concentration camp. And, while we speak our minds, as is our cherished right and duty, nevertheless, after the ballots have been counted, we go back to our factories and our farms, to our fields and our homes, not forsaking any principle or abandoning any just cause, but working meanwhile, side by side for the common good of a blessed land and a great people.
As to the future — well, it keeps its own confidence, but it has always worked itself out some way or other; and in the meantime we move on, as we always shall, certain that the hand of God overrules all things for good in its own time and in its own way. There is no such thing as a lost cause — if it is a right cause. For it is written: “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled.” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:38) Whatever lies ahead, we shall and must be equal to it; and for the troubled waters that churn about us, we have the safest ship that the world knows, and we would not trade it for another. The difficulties may be great, but our hearts are calm and our determination is not found wanting, nor our courage, nor our confidence in the triumph of all good and in the ultimate establishment of all truth. Such are our thoughts from Temple Square as the world observes another anniversary of a day of Armistice.
November 10, 1940
Broadcast Number 0,586