The Spoken Word – Sunday, March 10, 1940
Many exalted exhortations are spoken with the passing of each week from the world’s pulpits and platforms. Enough good advice is given In the run of an average day to make the world a veritable heaven – if that advice were accepted and acted upon; but that which is proclaimed from the pulpit and the public plat- form is not nearly so important as what goes on over the back fence and what transpires harbored behind the closed doors of those places wherein we dwell, and what is in the minds and hearts of men.
If you want to know the worst and the best that there is to know about a man, don’t form your impression of him when he is on dress parade. Furthermore, don’t ask him what he believes, but observe what he does with what he believes, and see if he can qualify under the terms of this solemn injunction: “Cease from all your pride and lightmindedness. See that ye love one another; cease to be covetous, cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another. And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bond of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace. Pray always, that ye may not faint until I come, and receive you unto myself-” (Adapted from Doctrine and Covenants, 88: 121-i26).
That which men plan to do, they should begin early and pursue diligently. Many who might have become great benefactors of humanity have delayed too long the pursuit of the thing for which they were beat fitted, and have passed into age and obscurity, never having risen above things mediocre. Many who have intended well have passed through their best years always intending but never doing. It is true that eternity lies ahead, but it is also true that today we must take at least one step in the desired direction if we are to move toward greater achievement and eternal progress.
March 10, 1940
Broadcast Number 0,551