Loyalty

EDITOR'S TABLE. IO35 prayers should be short, simple and to the point. I remember on one occasion a number of the authorities visited Erastus Snow when he was very sick; one of them asked if he desired the breth- ren to administer to him, "Yes, indeed, I do; but I don't want them to smother me with long prayers," was his answer. But let us repeat again, that rather than having set forms, the elders should live so that they may have the inspiration of the Spirit of God, when called upon to officiate in the ordinances, then their prayers will be simple, direct, appropriate and effective in the sight of God. Joseph P. Smith. Loyalty. President George H. Brimhall's remarks at devotional exer- cises in the Brigham Young University, March 16, 1911, apply with equal force to other than recalcitrant students. We are all beneficiaries of the Lord our God, and the cause which he has founded is our cause: I compliment you, on your last week's work. One and three- tenths per cent failing, last week. That is reaching a high stand- ing— the best record since we have been keeping data along this line. I remind the students, this morning, that each one is a beneficiary of the Church. You have not paid during the past year one cent of tuition. Your entrance fees have not met the expenses of heating, lighting and taking care of the institution, to say nothing of interest on the capital invested. So you can readily see, from this point of view, that you are beneficiaries of the Church. You have been the guests of the Church, and you have also been the guests of the board, who have served without pay. I hope none of you will assume to be host or hostess. I hope you will have sufficient confidence in those who have been providing this pro- gressive educational feast; I hope you will have sufficient confi- dence in the institution known as the Church, and in those whom the Lord has called to direct in that Church, to feel that it is amply able to take care of its children. I did not create this university; you did not create it. I have not maintained it;

1036 IMPROVEMENT ERA. you have not maintained it. I am an employee. And shall the employees presume to instruct the employer and tell him how his business should be run? Is it good taste on the part of the guest to indicate how the banquet shall be served? I wish to declare to you that no one, either guest or outsider, shall stop the progress and growth of this school. The prophets (?) who are proclaiming that the school will go down if the present Church policy is pur- sued; the prophets (?) who are proclaiming that any organization or division of the Church will go down if Church policy is pursued, will be found among the prophets of Baal, if the voice of the prophet of God is adhered to, and if the policy that the Church has established is followed, because the Church will take care of its school, and will also see that all divisions of the Church prosper. Last night I read this statement: "And that night nine babes were born in that camp of sleet, snow, wind, frost; and across the river the fugitives could see flickering lights here and there in the homes from which they had been driven, now occu- pied by a mob" — palatial homes they were at that time, not hov- els, but homes of brick and wood. They have stood there for more than half a century, and are monuments of the faith and patriotism of this people. The fugitives sheltered by those four hundred wagons and tents, were the people of whom we are the children. There were slight murmurings in that camp, by those who felt that Brigham Young was leading them astray, but the great majority of that camp said, "The God of Israel is our guide." That was an hour to test their faith — faith in God and his living oracles. And so they marched forth with their faces, day after day, towards the setting sun. Where? There was no one to tell them. Some presumed California; others said, to the mountains. Around their camp-fires they sang the song of "Upper California." That is the class of people that this school has behind it — men and women who have passed through such sac- rifices. I ask you, my beloved students, not to give evidence to the world that you have lost faith in the leaders of Israel. I ask you not to borrow the trumpet of the disbeliever, and sound the bugle blast to the world that, at the banquet where you have been feed-