Charles H. Hart – Gospel Study

Charles H. Hart

First Council of the Seventy (April 9, 1906 – September 29, 1934)

General Conference Addresses

October 1931 General Conference
- Rules of Law
  - “There is much in reference to the rules of evidence that has been presented from time to time, and in fact at our Centennial Conference some of those rules to weigh and measure evidence were presented and it would be useless or unnecessary to repeat them further now. I appreciate the kindness of my brethren, President Grant and the brethren who surround him, and the kindness of my friends and my people, and I am glad that I am regaining my strength and that I am able to appear before you and talk to you on this occasion.”
April 1931 General Conference
- Respect for Law
  - “What we need most in this country is more respect for the Constitution of the United States and its laws and la deep conviction of the necessity of being law-abiding.”
October 1930 General Conference
- Shrines of the Church
  - “I know there are other shrines of other denominations within the limits of our territory, but I know of none of them that claims the distinction of having a place where a prophet of the living God was born or where an angel of God appeared or where God the Eternal Father and his Son Jesus Christ appeared.”
April 1930 General Conference
- Truth
  - “Strictly speaking, truth has no degrees. A thing is either true or not true.”
  - “It required more than worldly wisdom to produce such books as the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, and to formulate a system of Church government which has been praised by non-members as having no superior on earth.”
October 1929 General Conference
- The Restoration
  - “I have been very much impressed with the direct testimony in support of the restoration of this gospel, but I have been more impressed with the circumstantial evidence which supports the restoration and the coming forth of the gospel, the re-statement of the gospel and the restoration of the holy priesthood.”
April 1929 General Conference
- The Canadian Mission
  - “The work in the Canadian mission is going forward in a way that cultivates the faith of our missionaries. I thought of them as the combined choirs sang so beautifully this afternoon in reference to the messengers who bring the gospel of peace. When major operations were necessary our missionaries have gone to the operating table with calmness and with a faith that has been surprising to the attendants.”
October 1928 General Conference
- Influence of the Church
  - “The term “Mormon” first applied as an epithet in derision, is now accepted by the Latter-day Saints as a compliment. Those who best know what this Church stands for are not ashamed of this honored nickname. Mormonism stands for a sane and rational interpretation of the Bible, declining to discard the so-called miraculous and refusing to spiritualize away the literal. At the same time it makes due allowance for the figurative and symbolic.”
  - “Would it not have been un-Godlike to have created man, God’s masterpiece, lower in potentiality than the highest form of being known to the universe? The power of endless progress is a sufficient reason for endless life.”
  - “To believe there is no new revelation is to believe that God does not answer prayer, at least a prayer for information or instruction.”
April 1928 General Conference
- A Testimony
  - “I have had the feeling as I read that chapter time and time again, that no man without inspiration ever wrote that story. We have been studying the Book of Mormon in our mission home in Canada during the past year, and after nearly every lesson I could say, and I have said many times: Isn’t that beautiful! Isn’t that wonderful! No man without inspiration could produce those things.”
October 1927 General Conference
- The Canadian Mission
  - “We were thrilled. by holding the exercises in the Sacred Grove. I look forward to the time when that will be made a Mecca more than it is now. I anticipate that the desire to visit there will increase from year to year and that they will receive spiritual exhilaration, as they contemplate the glories and wonders of the great event that occurred there more than a hundred years ago.”
April 1927 General Conference
- The Canadian Mission
  - “I rejoice in this labor, my brethren and sisters. These young men and young women are going forward with zeal in this work of an “adventurous religion.” If time permitted we might tell of examples from the experiences formerly and today in this mission, matching those in the ministry in the days of Paul. The Canadian missionaries have all pledged their loyalty and support to this cause.”
October 1926 General Conference
- Misinformed Slander
  - “In the futtire there will be scarcely any excuse for people to be so uninformed as to slander this people, because they can go to such a book as that recently issued by Macmillan & Company, entitled, The Fruits of Mormonism, and can see from United States census figures how this people stand on all the vital questions—of the high birth-rate and the low death-rate, the high marriage-rate and the low divorcerate, the low insanity percentage, the high charitable-rate, the high educational standing, and from all those things that are known as vital statistics, determine from impartial government statistics the true standing of this people.”
April 1926 General Conference
- The Doctrine and Covenants
  - “My own testimony is that the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants are beyond the wisdom of man. That is true of the least revelation. Take, perhaps, the shortest, the second section, outlining all our great temple work in the turning of the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children.”
October 1925 General Conference
- Testimonies of Divinity
  - “It has been made clear by the remarks of the brethren during this conference that there are two classes of witnesses, the first, the Divine witness, as spoken of very clearly by Elder Whitney, and also by other speakers during this conference, and human witnesses, mentioned particularly by Elder David O. McKay.”
April 1925 General Conference
- Salvation
  - “I say you are well acquainted with the formula, if I may use that expression, for spiritual salvation; but may we not anxiously inquire day by day as we return to our homes and are confronted by the practical problems of every-day life, may we not also in anxiety exclaim and do it prayerfully, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Women and sisters, what shall we do? What shall we do to be saved—saved financially, preserved in health, and to correctly solve all the other problems that are so vital to us?”
  - “When we return to our homes, exalted, refreshed, rested, ready to take up the battle of life again,—we shall encounter practical problems. The duty upon the head of the household will be to safeguard the health of members of his family.”
  - “We are called an honest people, a great people, and each one, who shares in the glory which comes to the Church he belongs to, should be very careful to contribute his share and not to do anything to bring down that general average.”
October 1924 General Conference
- Education
  - “It takes our young people sometimes some months, or some years, to get their bearings again after they have gone through the education which is given to them by the current system of education that prevails in our land. If our educational system is what it should be, and our home training is what it should be, how comes it then that there is such lawlessness in the United States?”
April 1924 General Conference
- Testimonies
  - “The law as it prevails in the United States, notwithstanding the sixth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which secures to the accused “the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him,” attaches such powerful weight to a dying declaration that under certain circumstances hearsay testimony will be received of a dying declaration.”
  - “So we may gather from that, something of the force that we are justified in attaching to the testimony of these three witnesses, who never varied in their statements, notwithstanding this one, a part of whose interview I have read, did not live long enough to come back into the full fellowship of the Saints ; yet he was always impressed with the sacredness of this testimony. These men whom it was determined centuries in advance .should occupy the important position of special witnesses, should be indeed men of integrity and of fidelity, and of rare courage, so that they might ever stand for the truth of that which they gave. And Joseph, as I said, who would always be the principal human witness to the divinity of the restoration of the Gospel and the restoration of the Priesthood, went consciously to his martyrdom at Carthage, just as anciently the Master went voluntarily and consciously to the great sacrifice of his life at Golgotha.”
October 1923 General Conference
- Current Challenges
  - “In connection with what President Grant said, in reference to spiritual manifestations at certain European conferences, it is easy for me to understand how that could be. If I may have a moment more, I would like to give a personal testimony of coming into the presence of the late President Joseph F. Smith, on one occasion at a quarterly conference held at Logan. I had just returned from a long itinerary and was as weary as it has ever been my experience to be—both in body and in mind. As a result of the influence of the Holy Spirit which was enjoyed by President Smith and his audience, at the close of that meeting I was as free from all sense of weariness as I had ever been. In a studied effort I could not detect the slightest indication of fatigue either in body or mind.”
April 1923 General Conference
- Training Youth
  - “I think the underlying secret of effective education, will be found to be the wise commingling of theory and practice such as obtains in our missionary system. The young missionary is applying in his life and in his teachings the principles of truth as he learns them. I am not making a plea for less preparation at home, but am trying to show the advantage of learning and having the practice at the same time.”
October 1922 General Conference
- Building Foundations
  - “The document has been amended by us in recent years in just such way giving us recently the great principle of national prohibition in this country, which it is the duty of every good citizen, particularly every Latter-day Saint, to support—support by giving information to the officers of those engaged in illicitly distilling liquor, and as complaining witnesses against those who are engaged in any such illegal business.”
  - “The gospel is not only reasonable but it is practicable- You can test every question agitating the nations of the world by these saving principles of “Mormonism.””
April 1922 General Conference
- Religious Education
  - “Altruism for practical purposes he defines as being a good sport. We know altruism, however, in a higher form than that, as evidenced by our temple work, and also the vast amount of work being done for humanity, such as indicated by the reports of our mission presidents.”
October 1921 General Conference
- Obedience
  - “Many of the evils of the day result from the lack of obedience to the gospel and to the laws which govern us. Our modern, scriptures, the revelations unto the Prophet Joseph Smith, are particularly strong in expressions as tq the necessity of obedience, in order for us! to have the benefit of the great sacrifice made by our Lord and Redeemer.”
April 1921 General Conference
- Doing Well
  - “When in the tribulation, turmoil and temptations of life, there is danger of losing our bearings, if we can keep sight of these guiding principles, these foundation truths of our religion, we are more secure.”
  - “This is a time in the history of the world when a new resolve should be made in favor of obedience to law. The proclamation has been made throughout this conference of the reign of law in the universe.”
October 1920 General Conference
- Slander
  - “Slander and the receiving of slander are condemned not only by the Holy Scriptures as presented in this conference, but by other writings, and by the laws that have been formulated against wrongdoing.”
  - “The thought is that surely we can be as generous and as charitable to our brethren and to our sisters as the law is, and as the custodians of the law are, to those whom they may have in hand for correction.”
April 1920 General Conference
- Evidences
  - “I am persuaded that the Lord does not place a premium upon undue credulity. While he leaves a wise margin for faith, hope and confiding belief, he also provides proper evidence.”
October 1919 General Conference
- Citizen Soldiers
  - “I rejoice in the teachings of the Church that this land of ours is God-protected; that it has a special mission; that it is governed by a constitution formed by wise men, raised up for that purpose; and that the Doctrine and Covenants gives us the essentials of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, expressed in these instruments, to the effect or in substance that all men are free and equal, and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
June 1919 General Conference
- Tribute to Joseph F. Smith
  - “I pray the Lord to bless the memory of President Joseph F. Smith and his posterity. His works will live after him. He has left an impression upon the Church that will be enduring. I had the deepest love and the greatest admiration for him during his life, and I regret that I did not let him know at least a fractional part of the love and admiration I had for him and his ministry and the things he accomplished.”
October 1918 General Conference
- The War in Europe
  - “So the duty of citizenship, as I view it, is to be careful how we pass along anv of these falsehoods, either against the Church or against the state, and it is no excuse or justification to the person repeating a slander, that he has heard it from someone else; that is no justification, so we mav well stop and inquire when anv strange tale comes to us. whether it is true or not.”
April 1918 General Conference
- The Constitution
  - “Some think that the distinguishing characteristic of the Constitution of the United States was its bill of rights. That is not true. The essential rights set forth in our bill of rights were known to mankind from an early day, from the time when the barons at Runnymede forced old King John to give them Magna Charta; and it was known in those various charters of English liberty which we inherited as American citizens, and which we brought with us as a birthright and a heritage when we came to this country. But the distinguishing thing, the pioneer work that was done by these delegates, was in declaring the fact that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed; and that is a principle that I think the Lord has desired that his people should adopt in the various ages of the world.”
October 1917 General Conference
- The Gospel is Practical
  - “I rejoice in the teachings of this conference, in the practical advice ihat has been given, and in the ability of the gospel to help solve all of the practical problems of life, no matter how multitudinous they may be, nor how suddenly they may be thrown upon us, if we have but a knowledge of the word and the Spirit of the Lord.”
October 1916 General Conference
- Problems of Today
  - “We take no pleasure in knowing of the failure to any extent of Christianity, and yet we realize the necessity for the restoration of the gospel—the explanation we have for our existence as a Church.”
  - “At no time since my remembrance has there been such a wave of unrest and of evil as is sweeping over the country in this day. The citadels of modesty are being assaulted as never before in my remembrance. The forces of the nether world, to use the expression of Twain, are very active. It is necessary for the forces of good to be equally vigilant. We must be militant in this work. It will not do for us to sit supinely down and think that the ward teacher or bishop is going to look after our boy and girl. It will take the best ingenuity of the stake presidents and bishops to control wisely the dancing situation; and they will need the help of every father and of every mother in doing this work.”
  - “There must be a cooperation on the part of parents and of children, in order that they may be safeguarded.”
April 1915 General Conference
- Immortality of the Soul
  - “One of the syllogysms upon the subject of the immortality of the spirit has for its terms the assumption of a reasonable universe, of a perfect Deity, and of the high value of human life. And. assuming these premises, then the conclusion follows, with almost inevitable necessity, that man was not given life for a mere day.”
  - “And why should there not be a resurrection of the body? Why should we not believe that the spirit is immortal? One of the greatest philosophers that America has produced, John Fisk, in a work dedicated to his own children, makes the assertion that the assumption which some people indulge, that the spirit does not survive the death of the body is the most colossal instance of baseless assumption known to all the liistory of philosophy.”
  - “But I rejoice with you, my brethren and sisters, that it is not necessary for us to go to the reasoning of science, or the deductions of philosophy for assurance upon this subject. It may be of interest, particularly to the young who may not be as firmly founded in the truth as some of the older brethren and sisters are. But with the older portion they know that the Lord lives, that this is His Church, that we are His children, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He laid down His life in redemption of His children, and at the same time gave us the concrete assurance, that the body does not absolutely perish with its seeming death, that we can say of the apparently lifeless body, “not dead but sleeping,” and be assured that the spirit of man endures, and shall endure for all the ages to come.”
October 1914 General Conference
- War
  - “Of course there must be an adequate police force for each nation, but it is inexcusable to let the debt for armaments and standing armies run into what has been called the “endless procession of ciphers,” or for a nation to enter noon the “procession toward the abyss.” It is folly to have a peace that is a “peace of force” which may be transmuted at any time into a peace of bankruptcy of exhaustion. But a peace resting upon that foundation which has been explained by the brethren during this conference will be what has been called “the old peace with velvet-sandalled feet;” and may that time come, the time foreseen by. Isaiah and by Micah when the swords should be beaten into plow-shares and the spears into pruning hooks.”
April 1914 General Conference
- Blessings of the Gospel
  - “The truth is that in all ages of the world, the progress of mankind has been guided and led by revelation, revelation that came not prematurely nor tardily, but just at the right time to be in advance of and lead the progress of mankind.”
  - “Still you shall find there is a large net asset to you from the Gospel, if you are living up to your privileges, if you are incorporating into your lives all the good things that you are entitled to take from. “Mormonism,” making them a part of your lives. By the way, our missionary system would have to be listed as one of the best sustained efforts at altruism upon a large scale, considering the number of people, that the world in all its history has ever seen.”
- Sacrifice
  - “Some one has said that the kingdom of heaven is not for the most learned but for the best, and that the best is the most unselfish; that loving, constant, continuous and voluntary self-sacrifice for the good of others is the glory of man.”
  - “I am a great believer in the truth that none of these acts of loving service and sacrifice can be performed without there being a permanent reward, permanent results left.”
October 1913 General Conference
- The Great Church
  - “This condition could not have been brought about if our mothers had thought more of aping the fashions imported from decadent France than they thought of home-building and of child-bearing.”
  - “Men may expect, when they set their faces like flint against the evils of the world, to have some criticism directed towards them.”
  - “We are seeking to develop men and women who will be an honor, not only to the Church, but to the nation; strong men and women, strong in their integrity, strong in their love of truth and of righteousness and of virtue.”
April 1913 General Conference
- Teach the Gospel to Your Children
  - “Like others of the speakers, I am not afraid that the third, the fourth and subsequent generations in the Church will forsake the gospel, if they are only properly indoctrinated in the principles of the Church. The danger is when they do not know the truth.”
  - “If those beneath the same roof may not understand one another aright, is it to be expected that those living remote from us should not have a misconception of our ideals and doctrines?”
October 1912 General Conference
- The Worth of Souls
  - “We learn in modern revelation of the dignity of the human soul, of its immortality; also that intelligence, an attribute of spirit, “was not created, neither indeed can be,” to use the language as recorded in the ninety-third section of the Doctrine and Covenants. We learn that we are the spiritual children of God the Eternal Father.”
  - “There was no lack of appreciation in the value of human life or in the value of a human soul in that the Savior was permitted, as a part of the divine program, to lay down His life for the redemption of mankind.”
  - “May the Lord bless us, my brethren and sisters, and enable use to be zealous in this work of saving souls; may we realize the truth of the revelation to the Prophet that souls are of great worth in the sight of God. and that the thing which will be of most worth unto us will be to declare repentence unto this generation that we may bring souls unto Christ that we may have rest with them in the kingdom of our Father.”
October 1911 General Conference
- The Attributes of God Unknowable Without Revelation
  - “And yet, notwithstanding all the evidences that we have of the existence of Deity—and the strong and legitimate argument that we have from design to designer, yet that is not of itself sufficient to reveal unto us all the attributes of God.”
  - “The responsibility rests upon the jury of the world who have access to the truth, to place a proper estimate upon the sincere testimony of the three witnesses, and of the eight witnesses, and the testimony of Joseph, and the testimony of the complete and perfect organization of the Church, and of the wonderful history of “Mormonism,” and of all of its beautiful and divine doctrines.”
October 1910 General Conference
- The Impregnable Gospel
  - “The gospel is impregnable against scrutiny from a psychological standpoint, as well as from any other standpoint that we may view it from. I think there was a purpose in having those various senses appealed to, just as I think there was a purpose in the manifestation of our Lord and Savior to His disciples, after His resurrection. You will remember that He was not content to give them a mere view, a mere vision of His person, but that they might be assured, and that the children of men to the latest generations might be assured that it was no delusion of the sense of sight, that those disciples witnessed in the appearance of the Savior to them. He said. “Handle me, and see.” They were asked to thrust their hands in His side, and feel the prints of the nails in His hands and in His feet, to know that it was a bodily presence, and not a mere apparition, or a mere vision, as the atheist has tried to claim, and, perhaps, would have successfully maintained with a good many persons, had it not been for the additional evidence that was presented by the sense of touch.”
April 1910 General Conference
- Refuting False Theories of the Origin of the Church
  - “Mormonism has been investigated, not only by those who are its friends and adherents, but also by those who have sought to find some satisfactory explanation of its origin other than the true one that it is of divine founding.”
  - “A chance acquaintance of mine, in Idaho, had a theory with reference to our missionary system, and why thousands of our young men, at the call of the Church, would go upon missions. He thought they had been hypnotized. I soon convinced him of his error. You may examine so-called Mormonism in the light of mesmerism, hypnotism, or any other form of psychological phenomena, and still you will find no satisfactory explanation of Mormonism except that given by the Prophet Joseph Smith. In recent times Mormonism is being investigated from the point of view of the psychologist. We welcome such study as we have welcomed every other attempt to scrutinize and investigate to the fullest the claims of Mormonism.”
October 1909 General Conference
- Raising a Voice of Warning
  - “So that here is a duty, not only to warn those who are in sin, but also to warn the righteous who may wander into sin, for we know full well that though a man today may be justified through the grace of Jesus Christ, his salvation is not sure, and he may fall from grace. Although he may be classified as a righteous man, still he may fall. And there may be a responsibility upon someone within warning distance of him for not warning him of some false step that he has taken, some by and forbidden path that he has entered upon.”
- The Constitution
  - “It is pleasing, and I think, indeed, fitting that this house of worship should be decorated with the Stars and Stripes, the colors and emblem of our country; for I know of no religion, except ours, that has as one of its religious beliefs or doctrines, the fact that the Constitution of the United States was divinely inspired.”
April 1909 General Conference
- The Work of the Church
  - “In the work that these elders are performing, they labor not alone for the welfare of the people, but their services are high forces and works for the good of the whole human race.”
- Reports of the Church
  - “He concludes his words by saying that if the reader is unable to determine what to make of Joseph Smith, that he is unable to assist him, that he himself stands helpless before the puzzle or the phenomenon. But, give him credit for being the Prophet of God, which he was, and there is no phenomenon to explain. The whole question is clear and apparent at once, if you give him credit for being what hundreds of thousands of Latter-day Saints today testify that he was—a prophet of the living God.”
  - “I believe, with Elder McKay, that it is those who speak evil against us who either do not understand us, or have some sinister reason for the slanders they express regarding us; and I believe that the former class very greatly preponderates.”
October 1907 General Conference
- The Quality of the Saints
  - “The historian, Bancroft, in referring to the “Mormons,” says that the missionary adventurers of no sect are more devoted, more selfsacrificing, or more successful than were the missionary efforts of the “Mormon” people. He further says that “the Catholic friars, in their new world excursions, were not more indifferent to life, health, wealth, or comfort, not more indifferent to sarcasm and to slander, had no more high courage or lofty enthusiasm, than had the ‘Mormon’ Elders in their Old World enterprises.” That is the tribute an impartial historian gives, after the examination of hundreds of original sources of information, manuscripts, magazines, papers and books bearing upon that subject.”
  - “What a joyous thing it is to father and mother when they realize that their children have been properly trained, that they are virtuous, that they have been able to sufficiently educate them, and have started them out in life right.”
  - “The divine injunction is given to man to esteem his brother as himself, and practice virtue and holiness before the Lord ; man is not to speak evil of his neighbor, nor do him any harm; he is to visit the poor and the needy, and administer to their relief. A general compliance with these divine injunctions, for the betterment of mankind, would establish bonds of brotherhood and fraternity so strong that contention and strife would be done away with. If those simple requirements were practiced universally by the children of men, what a transformation it would make in the condition of the world!”
April 1907 General Conference
- The State of the Church
  - “How strange, after a man had been given such a glorious visitation and testimony as this, that he should afterwards grow lukewarm in his adherence to the principles of the Gospel. But at the same time these witnesses never faltered in their adherence to the first testimony that they gave. There may have been a design in this circumstance of their departing from the faith, all three of these great witnesses, in order to strengthen the testimonies that they gave; for do not their testimonies stand stronger and more convincing today, from the fact that they parted from the faith but never departed one iota from the testimony that they gave as to the divine restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this dispensation?”
October 1906 General Conference
- The Church Produces Good People
  - “How many young professional brethren are there who feel that their labors are such during the week that when the Sabbath day comes they want to rest? They reason that, being engaged in intellectual pursuits during the week, they need rest on the Sabbath day. I labored myself under a similar delusion for several years; but I discovered afterwards that a person can truly rest upon the Sabbath day and still participate in religious work; that it is a change and actual rest to be engaged in the service of our Master upon the Sabbath day.”
  - “The supreme test of any religion, or of any religious system, is its ability to produce good men and good women, and a wise and beneficent social order. Tersely expressed by our Savior, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” This is the test by which we as Latter-day Saints will be judged. This is the test by which we are willing to be judged.”

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