Our Work

OUR WORK. THE SPIRIT GIVETH LIFE. This was the subject of remarks by Elder E. H. Anderson, before th« officers of the Y. M. M. I. A., at the Gen-^ral Conference of June 10, 1905: We are told that when God made man, he made him out of the dust of the earth. He then breathed into him the breath of life and he became a living soul. I want to suggest an analogy in our organizations. Oar organization, though conceded to be very good, is dust without the spirit, or breath of life. In the creation, God made all things, first spiritual, and then he made the material substances, combining the two in the trees and flowers, the living beings we see upon the earth, and all kinds of animals. Before the spiritual and material were united in the flesh, there was no expression; we could not see nor comprehend. So, it takes both spiritual and temporal to make the perfect being in this world, and it is exactly the same in our Church and Matual Improvement Associations; we have the machinery, wnich might be compared to the temporal, and then we ought to have the spirit injected into this machinery to make life and vigor. As man is a dual being, having both a spirit and a body, and as one without the other is not perfect, so also it is with our organizations. It is not well to make too much of one or the other, but if we should make too much of either, we could not miss it by making the spiritual the main point in oar work, because withoat it, we ac- complish very little good. Only a few days ago the Japanese Admiral, Togo, sank several of the Russian ships, practically demolishing the Russian Navy, and when he reported to the Mikado what he had done, he attributed his victory to the spirit of the Mikado. An American editor who thought to be fanny made sport of the fact that a spirit should win a victory, and declared it was dae to the man anl the cannon. "While that may be true, in part, yet it is not very strange that Admiral Togo should be- lieve that the spirit of the Mikado did the work, because behind the gans, and unijrlying the labors of Dhe man, there was indeed the spirit of the Mikalo, —tie patriotic spirit that the Japanese had felt aal displayed for their coautry. On the other hand, thare was the Riasian strength; there were the ships, there were the man, the arms, the amnadtioa and provisions, bat uuder all these material things, which were often superior to those of the Japanese, there was no spirit. The result was, there was no power and defeat resulted. The spirit giveth lifa^ and strength, and power.

OUR WORK. 318 We be lold some material things that we have accomplished as Latter-daj Saints, but it was the spirit enjoyed by those who toiled that made them possible. We look across the street, and we see the spires of the temple, its great walls, and unless we comprehend the inspiration underlying the building of that house, the feeling and the purpose that lies underneath it, we cannot understand to the fullest extent its meaning, and we see little use in it, but if we understand the spirit and power and force underlying the faith and actions of the Latter-day Saints, then we understand not only how they could have been accomplished but the object of their achievements is made plain. In our associations, we ought to have this patriotic spirit, this underlying spirit which causes success. We should not be altogether given to individualism, though I am convinced this is an individual work, but should be patriotic and feel for the association, the public, as well. We should seek to inspire patriotism for these associations, among teachers and members as well, and this will enable us to achieve success; without it, we cannot engender enthusiasm in the young peo- ple; they cannot be made to love the work; they cannot be made to feel the im- portance of it, unless underlying it there is this enthusiasm or spirit. This machinery that we have, must have with it, the spirit of the work, in order that the best good may be accomplished; and unless we have that spirit, and un- less we get men who have that feeling or patriotism, the work will not be done; if done at all, it is done in such a way that only few of the members work, and the good that is accomplished is not sufficient to pay for the effort that has been made. In our exercises, also, we should not pay too much attention to the mechani- cal work, but should seek to inspire every member of the association with the im- portance of the spiritual labor, both to himself and the society. In order to do this, we must necessarily have some freedom; we cannot follow rules too closely; we cannot make ourselves entirely subject to that which is given to us in the out- line. The outlines are a convenience and not an absolute necessity. Of course, we must pay attention to them, to a certain extent, but let us not make ourselves slaves, but rather let us seek to obtain the spirit of the work, so that we may have freedom to insure the best success possible. If we fail in obtaining the spirit of it, we may set it down that we will not accomplish our task. No matter how much is prepared for us to enable us to make this work easy, unless we get the spirit and the love of the work, we cannot successfully accomplish it. This is a point that I trust the officers will especially heed. How shall we get the boys to enjoy the spiri. of the gospel, the spirit of Mutual Improvement work? Saek to make them feel that it is an important part of their lives, that they are interested in it, and that there is nobody pushing them to d) it like so many machines, but that they themselves realize its importance, and are anxious to do the work. I hope the time will soon come when the pressure from the outside, from the leaders, from the presidents, from the general boards, will not need to be so great as it is at the present time, but that the pressure from the inside by the spirit of God operating in the hearts of the members will be so great that the work will push onward of itself from this cause. It has been suggested, that we have a

814 IMPROVEMEN1 ERA. great deal of pressure from the outside placed upon our associations; the import- ance of the Improvement Era, the Mutual Fund, the Manual; and all these various incidentals has been urged to insure the prosperity and success of the associations. We have urged them as a duty; but I hope the time will come when there will be a pressure of love for them from the members, so that the young people will at- tend to these duties of their own volition, because they see their value and love them. Let us see if we cannot awaken this spirit of love for this great work ; this spirit and feeling: What can I do? I want to do something; I want to be one with you in this work. This labor creating this enthusiasm in the hearts of the young people, devolves upon parents, teachers and officers, and in order to accomplish it, they must first themselves be imbued with this spirit; then they may make the members of the associations and their children feel it. Now, I do not wish to speak further, except to say that if we wish anything done, the spirit of the work must be in the heart of the man or boy who is to do it, and if we cannot get this spirit into his heart, and make him feel it, and understand it, it will be very diffi- cult to accomplish anything. I hope and trust that we will all feel the influence of the spirit of the Lord in our Church and improvement work, and become inter- ested in it because of the love we have for it. THE MONTHLY REPORTS. The monthly reports from the stake superintendents of the Y. M. M. L A., which have been received by the General Board, have been generally incom- plete. They show a serious lack of energy and regular attendance on the part of the membership of our associations. The average attendance in the associations is very low compared with the membership rolls, and there are large numbers re- ported who should be enrolled, but who are not members of our associations. It appears from the reports, therefore, that there is great room for missionary work : in the first place, to obtain a much larger membership roll than we now have; and in the second place, to induce those who are enrolled; to become active mem- bers of the associations, to attend meetings regularly, and to take part in the exercises. Another fact that has been demonstrated by the reports received, is that many of the secretaries of the various associations are derelict in their duties. The superintendents have complained that it is almost impossible to obtain a report from their ward associations each month. This is certainly very remark- able, when it must be conceded that if the secretary is attending properly to his duties the information required could be placed in the blanks in five or ten min- utes, at the most. We trust that the stake superintendents will insist strenu- ously upon having these reports sent into them, during the working season, so that they may be informed upon the needs of their workers in the various wards. It may be safely said that only about thii'ty-three per cent of the eligible popula-

OUR WORK. 316 tion, or of the people who should be menibera and workers in our associations, attend our meetings. More active missionary work is needed, and it is not yet too late to institute it this season. This is an important work that should be consid- ered in every officers meeting, from the present time on. REGULAR OFFICERS' MEETINGS. Alexander Buchannan, then superintendent of Pioneer Stake, spoke upon the indispensibility of regular ward and stake officers' meetings, at the general con- ference of the M. I. A., June 9, 1905. He said in part: To be a stake or ward officer in any organization carries with it great responsibilities. Stake and ward officers are looked to for counsel and advice from those under them. If problems arise, and they often do, they are the indi- viduals who are to furnish a key to their solution. When these conditions arise, the officers should be well primed for the task. They must obtain this prepara- tion by holding frequent meetings and studying the subjects and conditions that prevail. To be unprepared means to lose, to a certain extent at least, the con- fidence of those with whom you are associated. To be prepared means to add to that confidence and to gain thereby the respect of both officers and members. Officers should be minute men in every sense cf the term. They should be ready with a knowledge in detail of all statistics and conditions at a moment's notice. The cause of failure, I believe, in many departments of our work, is a lack of interest by the officers. If interest is kept up by means of regular stake and ward officers' meetings we will see an increase instead of a decrease in the attendance, and also a more earnest desire to study the Manual. Our officers should be thoroughly alive and active with the importance of the work; and they should leave no stone unturned in becoming tiioroughly acquainted with conditions as they exist in their respective stakes, and wherein these conditions tend to cut down the attendance or create indifference among the young men they should remedy them, and weed out any imperfections that may be found. This can be done most effectively by regular ward and stake meetings of the officers and the work con- nected with them. NOTICE TO ERA AGENTS AND SUBSCRIBERS. Where you have extra numbers of No. 1, Vol. 10, please return them to this office immediately. In case you have any numbers 1 to sell, this office will pay 20 eents for each copy, if you return the numbers without delay. CORRECTION IN LESSON 20. In lesson 20 of the Manual for this season, page 136, par. 12, beginning with the 3rd line we read: "The telestial glory, which is the lowest of all glories enumerated by God, for those who shall be subjected to the second death," etc.. should read: "for those who shall not be subjected to the second death," etc.