Educating Zion - Climbing the Hills Just Ahead

President Spencer W. Kimball at the BYU Centennial Convocation, October 10, 1975.
Courtesy Mark A. Philbrick/BYU.

Climbing the Hills Just Ahead:
Three Addresses

Spencer W. Kimball

I. Education for Eternity

I am constantly impressed with this beautiful campus. I am awed by the power of the administration and faculty, and as I see the thousands of students, I want to sing, "Behold! A Royal Army."

In all the world, the Brigham Young University is the greatest institution of learning. This statement I have made numerous times. I believe it sincerely. There are many criteria by which a university can be judged and appraised and evaluated. The special qualities of Brigham Young University lie not in its bigness; there are a number of much larger universities. It should not be judged by its affluence and the amount of money available for buildings, research, and other facilities. It should not be judged by prestige, for there are higher institutions as the world measures status.

The uniqueness of Brigham Young University lies in its special role--education for eternity--which it must carry in addition to the usual tasks of a university. This means concern--curricular and behavioral--not only for the "whole man," but also for the "eternal man." Where all universities seek to preserve the heritage of knowledge that history has washed to their feet, this faculty has a double heritage--the preserving of knowledge of men and the revealed truths sent from heaven.

While all universities seek to push back the frontiers of knowledge further and further, this faculty must do that and also keep new knowledge in perspective, so that the avalanche of facts does not carry away saving, exalting truths from the value systems of our youth.

In addition, this faculty must aid the youth of the kingdom in establishing yet another educational expectation--that there are yet "many great and important things" (A of F 1:9) to be revealed which require an intellectual and spiritual posture of readiness and openness. Where other institutions of higher education aim, in part, at educating and training students for various careers, this faculty must do that vital job and do it superbly well, but it must do far more. It must train a cadre of committed, educated youth who can serve effectively, not only in the world of work, but in the growing kingdom of God, in which skilled leadership is such a vital commodity.

This time of intellectual testing must also be a time of equivalent testing and flexing in things spiritual too. "The Spirit giveth light" (D&C 84:46). This revealed wisdom is so true in so many ways. When there is an inner emptiness in the life of man, his surroundings, however affluent, cannot compensate. When there is a crisis of purpose, nothing will really seem worthwhile or meaningful. When man's relationship with God has been breached, we will be, as Isaiah said, "like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest" (Isa. 57:20).

A university or an individual can have all the surface signs of security and yet still be empty inside. You must fill the classrooms and halls of this campus with facts, but fill them also with the Spirit of the Master Teacher, who said to the Nephites of the things he had done, "Even so shall ye do unto the world" (3 Ne. 18:25).

"Education for eternity" is not the kind of phrase one would expect to have carved in the stone of a new secular university; it is not the kind of commitment that would be widely shared in the retreat from real religion we see around us in the world. Yet it is a task for which we do not apologize. Those who do not share this purpose, however, will respect this faculty for its genuine achievements in the world of secular scholarship. The extra missions noted previously do not excuse you from reasonable achievement in your chosen field. You can, in fact, often be more effective in the service you render students if students see you as individuals who have blended successfully things secular and things spiritual in a way that has brought to you earned respect in both realms.

As I see you leaders here, knowing you personally and recognizing the depth of your knowledge, your outstanding accomplishments in your chosen fields, I honor you and appreciate you greatly. And then I realize also that in the breast of every one, there is a deep, spiritual feeling with the Master. We know there are good men and women elsewhere, but here, here we have a choice group.

When measured with the true measuring rod, the Brigham Young University stands preeminent. Certainly, the true measure of an institution of learning would be the impact it makes on the total lives of its students. On high levels in business, industry, professional and other fields, great men and women of prominence in many areas are BYU alumni. Orison S. Marden wrote:

It is a sad sight to see thousands of students graduated every year from our grand institutions whose object is to make stalwart, independent, self-supporting men turned out into the world saplings instead of stalwart oaks, "memory glands" instead of brainy men, helpless instead of self-supporting, sickly instead of robust, weak instead of strong, leaning instead of erect.

You tell me that these nearly seven thousand returned missionaries render a stabilizing influence with their deep religious convictions and their serious application. You tell me that a high percentage of the twenty thousand students actually hold positions of leadership in Church organizations and that nearly all of them attend sacrament meetings and that the large majority who have income pay their tithing. These students voluntarily assemble weekly to hear religious messages from the leaders of the Church. What a great institution, where professors, staff members, and students work together in glorious harmony in stake presidencies, bishoprics, and quorum and auxiliary leadership.

It is notable that numerous students change their lives on this campus. Many who had never seriously planned missions for themselves now eagerly look forward to that day. Many who had given little thought to a temple marriage are here inspired to chart their course in that direction.

How the world needs a light in the dark, even a refuge--a vault for keeping the jewels and treasures of life, a big wastebasket into which could be dumped the trash and filth and destructive ideologies and eccentric activities. While great universities and colleges seem to have abandoned all attempts to influence the moral lives of their students, this university must "hold the line." Apparently such an attitude seems to be growing on the campuses of our nation, and what can we expect of the graduates tomorrow?

There are holes in the fabric of our political system; our social world continues to show corruption. A climate is coming into being which seems not to only permit crimes against society, but to actually encourage them indirectly. "Do We Have a Sick Society?" the U.S. News and World Report asks in a recent issue.

In the current issue of the Instructor, President David O. McKay, after speaking of our carelessness in keeping our bodies fit and calling attention to the physical decay, reminds us that spiritual decay is more serious:

But great as is the peril of physical decay, greater is the peril of spiritual decay. The peril of this century is spiritual apathy. As the body requires sunlight, good food, proper exercise and rest, so the spirit of man requires the sunlight of the Holy Spirit, proper exercise of the spiritual functions, the avoiding of evils that affect spiritual health that are more ravaging in their effects than the dire diseases that attack the body. . . .

Never before have the forces of evil been arrayed in such deadly formation as they are now. . . . Satan and his forces are attacking the high ideals and sacred standards which protect our spirituality. One cannot help but be alarmed by the ever-increasing crime wave.¹

In our sick society, children are not required to work; time hangs heavily on their hands. Their crimes run into theft and beatings, and even murders fill more of their time. Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., East Village in New York City may be net results of some of the laxities and looseness in morals with increases in illegitimacy. And numerous evils of our times may look to the deteriorating ethical standards proposed often by professors in what are termed great universities. God's ways and eternal standards are laughed at; "situational ethics," making each person his or her own moral judge and authority, seem to be responsible for the sickness of our society. How can it survive?

When these numerous other things are weighed and considered, we come to realize that our responsibility at BYU becomes greater and greater. We must carry the torch and light the way, and this faculty and staff must stand like a concrete wall to prevent these strange, worldly ideologies and concepts from invading this, one of the last bastions of resisting strength.

We should be knowledgeable. When we talk of godhood and creatorship and eternal increase, we have already soared far out beyond the comprehension of most men. To attain those great accomplishments, one would need to know all about astronomy, biology, physiology, psychology, and all of the arts and sciences. The obtaining of all this knowledge will come largely after our earth life. The questions are often asked, "Why a doctrine-teaching, a character-building university? Why not let people do, think, and move as they please?"

Robert Millikan said, "Science has gone ahead so fast, man can spend fifty to a hundred years just learning how to use wisely what he already knows." It is stated further that the western world has, in the past hundred years, seen more changes in the external conditions under which the average man lives, and also in his fundamental conceptions, than occurred during all the preceding four thousand years.

Our Brigham Young insisted, "Learn everything that the children of men know, and be prepared for the most refined society upon the face of the earth, then improve on this until we are prepared and permitted to enter the society of the blessed--the holy angels that dwell in the presence of God."²

The Lord seems never to have placed a premium on ignorance, and yet he has, in many cases, found his better-trained people unresponsive to the spiritual and has had to use spiritual giants with less training to carry on his work. Peter was said to be ignorant and unlearned, while Nicodemus was, as the Savior said, a master, a trained one, an educated man. And while Nicodemus would in his aging process gradually lose his prestige, his strength, and go to the grave a man of letters without eternal knowledge, Peter would go to his reputed crucifixion the greatest man in all the world, perhaps still lacking considerably in secular knowledge (which he would later acquire) but being preeminent in the greater, more important knowledge of the eternities and God and his creations and their destinies. And Paul gives us the key: "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body" (1 Cor. 15:44). "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. 2:11).

It is interesting to note that most of us have a tendency to want to ape the ways of our neighbor, in styles or curricula or universities. If New York or Paris speaks, the dresses are lengthened or shortened; if San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury speaks, men's hair grows longer, beards appear, and baths are less frequent. If the Joneses have a Cadillac, all want Cadillacs. If a nation has a king, all want a king. We seem reluctant to establish our own standards, make our own styles, follow our own patterns, which are based on dignity, comfort, and propriety.

Israel did want a king. "Now make us a king," they cried to Samuel, "to judge us like all the nations." And when Samuel prayed, the Lord said, "They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them" (1 Sam. 8:57). And then with the inspiration of the Lord, Samuel pointed out to them the hazards of having a king. The king would recruit their sons in battle. Their daughters would serve in confectioneries and kitchens and bakeries. Their sons would have to work his ground and reap his harvests and make his spears and swords and rebuild his chariots and train his horses. He would appropriate their vineyards and olive yards to feed his servants, and he would tax them heavily.

In spite of all these dire predictions, the people still said, "Nay; but we will have a king over us . . . like all the nations" (1 Sam. 8:1920).

Though our world reels and trembles, we must stand firm and see that behavior troubles do not invade our campus like other campuses and that we are not like other universities.

We have been speaking of mind and spirit and body, of the immortal man and the mortal man. We have been speaking of earthly things and spiritual things, of time and eternity. Of the two, the spiritual development is the greater, for it is permanent, lasting, and it incorporates all other proper secular development.

The Lord inspired Nephi to correlate the secular and the spiritual, when he said, "To be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God" (2 Ne. 9:29).

Someone has said, "If the world needs a bomb to destroy the cities and its peoples and the world, the laboratory of the American university can supply it." And we say, "If the world needs messengers of peace and teachers of righteousness and builders of character and inspirers of faith in God, here is the university that can do all this--here at the Brigham Young University."

Even here we give to the first cause our lesser attention, and though we are far in front of other institutions, still we give less time, less thought, less effort to the actual teaching of the spiritual as contrasted with the secular. But perhaps this imbalance of time and energy and effort is considerably compensated for, if all of you instructors in all classes teach the gospel, especially by example. Most of you teach eloquently in this manner. Most of you will frequently attend the temple and will serve in the stakes and wards, priesthood and auxiliary organizations. Some of you will be leaders in general Church positions. All of you will be living all the commandments of the Lord--paying a full tithing, observing the Word of Wisdom, not because it is expected, but because it is right.

In your homes will be an absence of friction and conflict, not because forty thousand eyes are upon you, but because you love the Lord, your family, and the program. You will observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy as you live all other commandments--not because the multitudes might see you, but because of the Lord who gave them. Your home evenings will be regular and inspirational, and your family prayers, both morning and night, will be constant--not because you are under command, but because you love your family and our BYU family of twenty thousand who will feel the spirituality emanating from you. You will always keep solvent, be honest to the nth degree and always full of integrity, not because you are required to do so to keep your position, but because you believe fully that God gives no commandments which are not for our own good. Your example is better than even your precept, for to teach one thing and to do another is like sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.

This university is not the place for mercenaries. The Revolutionary War was lost by the British, partly because they employed mercenaries to fight for them. But the winning colonists had a real cause. If your salary, which we hope is adequate, should be incidental and your grand and magnificent obsession would be the youth and their growth, their vision, their development, I would hope that each of you in joy and peace and satisfaction would continue to lift the souls and carry forward the character-building program.

It would be my hope that twenty thousand students might feel the normalcy and beauty of your lives. I hope you will each qualify for the students' admiration and affection. It is my hope that these youth will have abundant lives, beautiful family patterns, after the ideal of an eternal family, with you for their example.

This would lead me to expect from you honor, integrity, cleanliness, and faith; I would expect you to appear before these young people well-dressed, well-groomed, and positive--happy people from homes where peace and love have left their warm, vibrant influence as your day begins. I would want them to have the feeling that you, their instructor, that very morning had come from a loving home where peace reigns and love is enthroned and to know instinctively by your spirit that you were that morning on your knees with your family and that there were soft words of pleading to your Heavenly Father for guidance, not only for your little family kneeling with you, but for your larger family also at that moment scurrying about their apartments to get ready for your class. Brigham Young said, "Let our teachers ask the Father, in the name of Jesus, to bestow upon them and upon their scholars the Spirit of wisdom and intelligence from heaven; ask for skill to control and ability to teach on the part of the teacher, and willingness to be controlled and adaptability to be taught on the part of the scholars."³

I would like these youth to see their instructors in community life as dignified, happy cooperators; in Church life as devout, dependable, efficient leaders; and in personal life honorable, full of integrity; and as President John Taylor said, "Let us live so . . . that angels can minister to us and the Holy Ghost dwell with us."

Here there should be loyalty at its ultimate best. Loyalty is the stuff of which great souls are made. I would expect that no member of faculty or staff would continue in the employ of this institution if he or she did not have deep assurance of the divinity of the gospel of Christ, the truth of the Church, the correctness of the doctrines, and the destiny of the school.

The BYU is dedicated to the building of character and faith, for character is higher than intellect, and its teachers must in all propriety so dedicate themselves. That goal is the same as that of our Eternal Father: "To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). Every instructor knows before coming to this campus what the aims are and is committed to the furthering of those objectives.

If one cannot conscientiously accept the policies and program of the institution, there is no wrong in his moving to an environment that is compatible and friendly to his concepts. But for a Ford employee to downgrade his company or its products, for a General Electric man to be unappreciative of his company, for an employee of a bank to discredit that institution would be hypocrisy and disloyalty. There are ways to right wrongs, to improve services, to bring about proper changes. To set about to counter the established policies or approved interpretations of the doctrines of the Church would be disloyal and unbecoming of anyone.

No one could justifiably accept salary or favors from an institution whose policies he or she could not in principle accept and defend.

This is an institution peculiar and different from all others. Other schools have been organized by states, countries, churches, groups, and individuals. This great university was organized by the Lord God.

President J. Reuben Clark Jr. expresses clearly our concepts:

Science and worldly knowledge must question every demonstration, every experiment, every conclusion, every phenomenon that seems a fact, for only by this method may the truths of the natural law become known to us, save by specific revelations.

But we shall also expect you to know that in matters pertaining to our spiritual lives, God's revealed Will, His laws, His commandments declared not only directly by Himself, but by and through His servants must be taken unquestioned, because they are ultimate truths that shape and control our destinies.

Now brethren and sisters, it is your privilege to teach the revealed word of God. You are not expected to advance new theories, give private interpretations nor to clarify the mysteries. You do not need to, nor can you nor anyone else answer all the questions that the youth can ask. You need not be embarrassed to tell them that you cannot fully answer certain questions, and that the Lord has not seen fit to reveal all His mysteries. Perhaps many would like to know the age of the earth, the exact method of its organization, the method of spirit procreation.⁴

The doctrines of the Church will be revealed through the prophet, and he will interpret them as is needed. To one such member who presumed to dictate to the prophet concerning a matter which has been settled long years, I wrote:

I cannot believe you would presume to command your God to make demand on the prophet of God! No situation or condition could possibly justify you in any such monumental presumption. To any such, I must quote the Lord: "And thou shalt not command him who is at thy head, and at the head of the church" (D&C 28:6).

When the Lord has set a policy and his leaders have established it, certainly it would be bad taste and improper for people to keep sniping at it.⁵

I knew a man who received his bank salary yet secretly robbed his bank of its money. I knew a woman who was supported by a business, but she constantly revealed its inner weaknesses to her associates. I knew a man who received the confidences of persons in trouble and revealed them to his associates. I knew a man who belonged to the Church and enjoyed its blessings but secretly was constantly downgrading it .

This institution and its leaders should be like the Twelve as they were left in a very difficult world by the Savior: "The world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world" (John 17:1416).

I liked President Ernest L. Wilkinson's statement in an address:

If most institutions of higher learning aspire to be only communities of scholars, we are privileged to be also a congregation of disciples. . . . Our roots spring from Palmyra rather than Cambridge.

We are men of God first and men of letters second, and men of science third and noted men fourth, men of rectitude rather than academic competence. . . . Our academic training must be as impeccable as our lives.

A defection that would pass unnoticed elsewhere is exploited relentlessly when it occurs at BYU.

There are relative truths, and there are absolute truths. The gospel is absolute--its basic functions and teachings do not change.

President J. Reuben Clark Jr. wrote:

The philosopher, in his worldly way, may speak of relative truth in the field of ethics and worldly knowledge, a concept that today and here may be truth, but that tomorrow and there may be error, a truth based upon man's development, his learnings, his ethics, his concepts, his hopes, his aspirations, his God. . . .

As our knowledge is widened, we to Job's incomprehensibles have added almost a universe of unknown physical phenomena. . . .

But we have at our hands unchanging, ultimate truths which God has vouchsafed to us for our guidance, salvation, and exaltation. They are shields against temptation, and are our redemption from sin. They give us the light for our feet; they guide us on our way.

They draw aside for us the curtains of heaven, so that, like Stephen of old, we may see "the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55). "They are the rocks upon which we build our house, that the winds and storms wash not away. They are the bridge connecting time with eternity, mortality with immortality; over it, we walk from worldliness into salvation."⁶

Whereas in other institutions there seem to be faculties and administration groups and students who are fighting for supremacy as to the policies and conduct of the university, BYU is entirely different. It is financed and operated and sustained by the tithes of the people--poor and rich. It is governed by the board of trustees, who are General Authorities of the Church. The Prophet, Seer, and Revelator is the interpreter of the doctrines. It must be ever thus.

And Paul warned us, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (Col. 2:8).

It would not be expected that all of the faculty should be categorically teaching religion constantly in their classes, but it is proper that every professor and teacher in this institution would keep his subject matter bathed in the light and color of the restored gospel and have all his subject matter perfumed lightly with the spirit of the gospel. Always there would be an essence, and the student would feel the presence.

Every instructor should grasp the opportunity occasionally to bear formal testimony of the truth. Every student is entitled to know the attitude and feeling and spirit of his or her every teacher. Certainly, a science instructor or a physical education teacher or a math or art teacher could find an opportunity sometimes to mention spiritual experiences or comment on the gospel truths. This would be in harmony with the spirit of Brigham Young's charge to Karl G. Maeser, so often quoted:

President [Young] looked steadily forward for a few minutes, as though in deep thought, then said: "Brother Maeser, I want you to remember that you ought not to teach even the alphabet or the multiplication tables without the Spirit of God. That is all. God bless you. Good-bye."⁷

That statement has been used over and over, but we must never forget it. If we begin to ape the world and forget this injunction, we are lost. We pay our taxes; we support state schools; therefore, there is no justification whatever for our spending these millions of dollars on this institution unless we mind the purposeful objective given by the prophet.

Many of us have had dreams and visions of the destiny of this great Church university. Joel said, "Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions" (Joel 2:28).

Now that we have reached maximum in enrollment, much of the energy formerly given to growth and expansion can now be concentrated on making our dreams come true. With this revolving twenty thousand choice, last-dispensation students from all over the world running into hundreds of thousands through the years, can we not build dream castles in the air and build foundations solidly under them to develop students, faculty, campus, and a university that would eclipse all others within the limitations of our courses?

In our world, there have risen brilliant stars in drama, music, literature, sculpture, painting, science, and all the graces. For long years, I have had a vision of the BYU greatly increasing its already strong position of excellence till the eyes of all the world will be upon us.

President John Taylor so prophesied, as he emphasized his words with this directive: "You will see the day that Zion will be far ahead of the outside world in everything pertaining to learning of every kind as we are today in regard to religious matters. You mark my words, and write them down, and see if they do not come to pass."⁸ He further declared: "God expects Zion to become the praise and glory of the whole earth, so that kings, hearing of her fame, will come and gaze upon her glory."⁹ With regard to masters, surely there must be many Wagners in the BYU, approaching him or yet to come in the tomorrows--young people with love of art, talent supreme, and eagerness to create. I hope we at BYU may produce men greater than this German composer, Wagner, but less eccentric, more spiritual.

Who of us has not sat spellbound with Aida, Il Trovatore, or other of the masterpieces of Verdi? Can there never be another Verdi or his superiors? Could we not find and develop a Bach, to whom some say music, especially organ and choral music, owes almost as much as a religion does to its founder.

Is there anyone here who has not been stirred by the rich, melodic voice of Enrico Caruso, the Italian-born operatic tenor? Surely there have been few voices which have inspired so many. Considered to be the greatest voice of his century by many, year after year, he was the chief attraction at the Metropolitan Opera.

Would someone say that they produce singers best in Italy, in Germany, in Poland, or in Sweden? Remember, we draw our students from all these places. BYU should attract many and stir their blood with the messages of the ages. And they will sing songs of accomplishment, eternal marriage, and exaltation, and we at BYU shall encourage and train them.

And then there was Patti--Adeline Maria Patti--who was scintillating in her accomplishments and her greatness. She is known as an Italian singer, though she was born in Madrid. Not only did Patti have a pure, clear-toned voice, but a wide range that was excelled only by her personal grace and charm, her pure style, her loveliness. Surely at this university we can produce many Pattis in the tomorrows.

Then we remember the celebrated Jenny Lind, the Swedish singer, with such tone faculty, such musical memory, such supremacy, and with such unprecedented triumphs. Do you think there are no more voices like Jenny Lind's? Our day, our time, our people, our generation, our BYU should produce such as we catch the total vision of our potential and dream dreams and see visions of the future.

Brigham Young said, "Every accomplishment, every polished grace, every useful attainment in mathematics, music, and in all sciences and art belong to the Saints."¹⁰

Many of us can still remember the enchanting Madame Schumann-Heink, the Bohemian-Austrian, later American, lady, who was by many regarded as the greatest contralto of her time and a noble character also. She had sons in World War I on both sides, losing one in the American army and one in the German army.

And here at BYU many times I have been entranced with sweet and lovely voices. I believe that deep in the throats of these BYU students of today and tomorrow are qualities superior, which, superbly trained, can equal or surpass those of these known great singers. There was also Nellie Melba, the great Australian prima donna, the Melba who captivated her audiences as she sang.

BYU certainly must continue to be the greatest university, unique and different. In these fields and in many others, there should be an ever-widening gap between this school and all other schools. The reason is obvious. Our professors and instructors should be peers or superiors to those at any other school in natural ability, extended training, plus the Holy Spirit, which should bring them light and truth. With hundreds of "men and women of God" and their associates so blessed and trained, we have the base for an increasingly efficient and worthy school.

What is the future for BYU? It has long had a strong music department, but we have hardly begun the great work that could be done here. I envision that day when the BYU symphony will surpass in popularity and performance the Philadelphia Orchestra or the New York Philharmonic or the Cleveland Symphony.

One great artist was asked which of all his productions was the greatest. His prompt answer was, "The next."

If we strive for perfection, the best and greatest, and are never satisfied with mediocrity, we can excel. In the field of both composition and performance, why cannot the students from here write a greater oratorio than Handel's Messiah? The best has not yet been composed or produced. They can use the coming of Christ to the Nephites as the material for a greater masterpiece. Our BYU artists tomorrow may write and sing of Christ's spectacular return to the American earth in power and great glory and of his establishment of the kingdom of God on the earth in our own dispensation. No Handel or other composer of the past or present or future could ever do justice to this great event. How could one ever portray in words and music the glories of the coming of the Father and the Son and the restoration of the doctrines and the priesthood and the keys unless he were an inspired Latter-day Saint, schooled in the history and doctrines and revelations and with rich musical ability and background and training? Why cannot the BYU bring forth this producer?

George Bernard Shaw, the Irish dramatist and critic, summed up an approach to life: "Other peoples," he said, "see things and say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were--and I say, 'Why not?'" We need people here who can dream of things that never were, and ask, "Why not?"

Dom Jae gave us this: "Blessed is the man with new worlds to conquer. For him the future beams with promise. He never attains ultimate success, is never satisfied, is ever on the way to better things. Ahead of him there is always another dream castle glittering in the sun--and what fun it is to build foundations under it!"

Freed largely from expansion and growing pains, we can now pour many firm foundations under our dreams for the future.

And Niccolo Paginini, the Italian violinist! Why cannot we discover, train, and present many Pagininis and other such great artists? And shall we not here at BYU present before the musical world a pianist to excel in astonishing power of execution, depth of expression, sublimity of noble feeling, the noted Hungarian pianist and composer Liszt? We have already produced some talented artists at the piano, but I have a secret hope to live long enough to come to the BYU auditorium and hear and see at the piano a greater performer than Paderewski, the Polish statesman, composer and pianist. Surely all Paderewskis were not born in Poland in the last century; all talented people with such outstanding recreative originality, with such nervous power and such romantic appearance were not concentrated in this one body and two hands! Certainly, this noted pianist with his arduous super-brilliant career was not the last of such to be born!

The Italian painter and sculptor Leonardo da Vinci, with his masterful and wonderful technique, made his portraits, figures, and designs true to life. His Mona Lisa is celebrated, and in it he was striving to catch the fleeting manifestations of the secret soul of his attractive and winsome subject. He seems to have given inspiration to Raphael and others of the great.

On our last visit to Copenhagen, we were excited and inspired as we drank in the beauty of Thorvaldsen's Christ and the Twelve Apostles. We wondered if any one, any time, could produce a greater masterpiece, and yet time and the BYU may surprise the world. Can you see statues on this campus of the Lord, his prophets and his disciples? There are many of the martyrs and prophets of the centuries who have never been so honored.

Michelangelo thought of himself only as a sculptor. He was called upon in 1505 by Pope Julius II to build a great monument which the Pope desired to have finished within his lifetime. This monument was never completed, and the controversies which arose embittered a large part of the great artist's life. His thirty-five hundred square foot painting in the Sistine Chapel is said to be the most important piece of mural painting of the modern world.

To be an artist means hard work and patience and long-suffering. This artist said, "I am a poor man and of little merit, who plods along in the art which God gave me. . . . I am more exhausted than ever man was." And when we see Michelangelo's masterpieces of art, we feel as did Habakkuk: "Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you" (Hab. 1:5).

But then we ask, Can there never be another Michelangelo? Ah! Yes! His David in Florence and his Moses in Rome inspire to adulation. Did all such talent run out in that early century? Could not we find an embodied talent like this, but with a soul that was free from immorality and sensuality and intolerance?

Could there be among us embryo poets and novelists like Goethe? Have we explored as much as we should? Of the creator of Faust, Emerson said, "The old eternal genius that built the world had confided itself more to this man than to any other." But Goethe was not the greatest nor the last. There may be many Goethes among us even today, waiting to be discovered. Inspired students will write great books and novels and biographies and plays.

Can we not find talent equal to those who gave us A Man for All Seasons, Doctor Zhivago, Ben Hur? This latter book I read when a small boy, and many times I have returned to it. Critics might not agree with me, but I feel that it is a great story. My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music and such have pleased their millions, but I believe we can improve on them.

We have the great Rembrandt, whose style is original, founded on the work of no other artist, whose coloring is somber and reaches its highest achievement in combinations of browns and grays. There are few paintings about which so much has been written as Rembrandt's Night Watch or his self-portraits. His morals also have been subject to criticism.

And we have the Italian painter Raphael, generally accepted in the European world as the greatest of religious painters.

It has been said that many of the great artists were moral degenerates. In spite of their immorality, they became great and celebrated artists. What could be the result if discovery were made of equal talent in men who were clean and free from the vices and thus entitled to revelations?

We have scientists who can help harness the limitless powers and turn them to good for all humanity. There have been Pasteur and Curie and Albert Einstein, and there are the Harvey Fletchers, the Henry Eyrings, and there will be greater yet.

Then there is Shakespeare. Everybody quotes Shakespeare. The English poet and dramatist was prodigious in his productions. His Hamlet and Othello and King Lear and Macbeth are only prelude to the great mass of his productions. Has anyone other ever been so versatile, so talented, so remarkable in his art? And yet, could the world produce only one Shakespeare?

The Lamanite-Nephite culture means much to the people of the Church, and properly so. Here at BYU, should we not have the greatest collection of artifacts, records, writings, concerning them in the world? Through revelation, we have received much knowledge concerning these peoples. Should not BYU then be preeminent in this field of culture?

Perhaps growing up in a backwoods forest in Indiana or Louisiana or Oregon or Illinois there may be some little deprived boy doing his elementary math on a wooden fire shovel and borrowing books from neighbors and splitting rails who will find his way tomorrow to the BYU and here in the proper departments, get the background, knowledge, and inspiration which will send him skyrocketing to fame and honors, perhaps even to the White House, and a man to be ever after heralded for his wisdom, bravery, conscience, humanity, leadership, and to be quoted till eternity. His name might be Abraham, his mother's name might be Nancy, and could this be written concerning him as was written of his nineteenth-century counterpart?

Oh, well, send the women,
Send them there to Nance;
Poor little young un'
Born without a chance.

The little Abes could have their chances and their greatest talents improved and perfected, and their notoriety spring from humble but influential BYU.

Oh, how our world needs statesmen! And we ask again with George Bernard Shaw, "Why not?" We have the raw material; we have the facilities; we can excel in training. We have the spiritual climate. We must train statesmen, not demagogues; men of integrity, not weaklings who for a mess of pottage will sell their birthright. We must develop these precious youth to know the art of statesmanship, to know people and conditions, to know situations and problems, but men who will be trained so thoroughly in the arts of their future work and in the basic honesties and integrities and spiritual concepts that there will be no compromise of principle.

For years I have been waiting for someone to do justice in recording in song and story and painting and sculpture the story of the Restoration, the reestablishment of the kingdom of God on earth; the struggles and frustrations; the apostasies and inner revolutions and counterrevolutions of those first decades; of the exodus; of the counterreactions; of the transitions; of the persecution days; of plural marriage and the underground; of the miracle man Joseph Smith, of whom we sing, "Oh, what rapture filled his bosom, for he saw the living God!" and of the giant colonizer and builder Brigham Young, by whom this university was organized and for whom it was named.

The story of Mormonism has never yet been written nor painted nor sculptured nor spoken. It remains for inspired hearts and talented fingers yet to reveal themselves. They must be faithful, inspired, active Church members to give life and feeling and true perspective to a subject so worthy. Such masterpieces should run for months in every movie theater, cover every part of the globe in the tongue of the people, written by great artists, purified by the best critics.

Our writers, our motion picture specialists, with the inspiration of heaven, should tomorrow be able to produce a masterpiece which would live forever. Our own talent, obsessed with dynamism from a cause, could put into such a story life, heartbeats, emotions, love, pathos, drama, suffering, fear, and courage. In such literature, the great leader--the mighty modern Moses who led a people farther than from Egypt to Jericho, who knew miracles as great as the stream from the rock at Horeb, manna in the desert, giant grapes, rain when needed, battles won against great odds--the great miracle prophet, the founder of this university, would never die.

Take a Nicodemus and put Joseph Smith's spirit in him, and what do you have? Take a da Vinci or a Michelangelo or a Shakespeare and give him a total knowledge of the plan of salvation of God and personal revelation and cleanse him, and then take a look at the statues he will carve and the murals he will paint and the masterpieces he will produce. Take a Handel with his purposeful effort, his superb talent, his earnest desire to properly depict the story, and give him inward vision of the whole true story and revelation, and what a master you have!

What a great university the BYU now is! A much greater one it can yet become! One of the rich rewards coming from doing great things is the capacity to do still greater things.

The architect Daniel H. Burnham said:

Make no little plans; they have no magic (there) to stir men's blood

And probably themselves will not be realized.

Make big plans; aim high and hope and work,

Remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die,

But long after we are gone,

Will be a living thing,

Asserting itself with ever-growing insistency.

Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things

That would stagger us.

Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty.

     The BYU must keep its vessel seaworthy. It must take out all old planks as they decay and put in new and stronger timber in their place. It must sail on and on and on.
     And now may we suggest to you as did the commanding officer on the sands of Dunkirk when three hundred thousand troops were hemmed in by enemy tanks and they had to be transported off the beach. Hundreds of men with motorboats and dinghies rushed to help. There were no charts--no time for pep talks or pampering. They were told, "Now off you go and good luck to you--steer for the sound of the guns. No time for loitering. We must be engaged with it."
      May God bless this great university and you and us and its impressive student body.

II. Second-Century Address

It was almost precisely eight years ago that I had the privilege of addressing an audience at the Brigham Young University about "Education for Eternity." Some things were said then which I believe, then and now, about the destiny of this unique university. I shall refer to several of those ideas again, combining them with some fresh thoughts and impressions I have concerning Brigham Young University as it enters its second century.

I am grateful to all who made possible the Centennial Celebration for the Brigham Young University, including those who have developed the history of this university in depth. A centennial observance is appropriate, not only to renew our ties with the past, but also to review and reaffirm our goals for the future. My task is to talk about BYU's second century. Though my comments will focus on the Brigham Young University, it is obvious to all of us here that the university is, in many ways, the center of the Church Educational System. President McKay described the University as "the hub of the Church educational wheel." Karl G. Maeser described the Brigham Young Academy as "the parent trunk of the great education banyan tree," and later it has been designated as "the flagship." However it is stated, the centrality of this university to the entire system is a very real fact of life. What I say to you, therefore, must take note of things beyond the borders of this campus but not beyond its influence. We must ever keep firmly in mind the needs of those ever-increasing numbers of LDS youth in other places in North America and in other lands who cannot attend this university, whose needs are real and who represent, in fact, the majority of LDS college and university students.

In a speech I gave to many of the devoted alumni of this university in the Arizona area, I employed a phrase to describe the Brigham Young University as becoming an "educational Everest." There are many ways in which BYU can tower above other universities--not simply because of the size of its student body or its beautiful campus, but because of the unique light BYU can send forth into the educational world. Your light must have a special glow, for while you will do many things in the programs of this university that are done elsewhere, these same things can and must be done better here than others do them. You will also do some special things here that are left undone by other institutions.

First among these unique features is the fact that education on this campus deliberately and persistently concerns itself with "education for eternity," not just for time. The faculty have a double heritage which they must pass along: the secular knowledge that history has washed to the feet of mankind with the new knowledge brought by scholarly research--but also the vital and revealed truths that have been sent to us from heaven.

This university shares with other universities the hope and the labor involved in rolling back the frontiers of knowledge even further, but we also know through the process of revelation that there are yet "many great and important things" (A of F 1:9) to be given to mankind which will have an intellectual and spiritual impact far beyond what mere men can imagine. Thus, at this university, among faculty, students, and administration, there is and must be an excitement and an expectation about the very nature and future of knowledge that underwrites the uniqueness of BYU.

Your double heritage and dual concerns with the secular and the spiritual require you to be "bilingual." As LDS scholars, you must speak with authority and excellence to your professional colleagues in the language of scholarship, and you must also be literate in the language of spiritual things. We must be more bilingual, in that sense, to fulfill our promise in the second century of BYU.

BYU is being made even more unique, not because what we are doing is changing, but because of the general abandonment by other universities of their efforts to lift the daily behavior and morality of their students.

From the administration of BYU in 1967 came this thought:

Brigham Young University has been established by the prophets of God and can be operated only on the highest standards of Christian morality. . . . Students who instigate or participate in riots or open rebellion against the policies of the university cannot expect to remain at the university.

The standards of the Church are understood by students who have been taught these standards in the home and at Church throughout their lives.

First and foremost, we expect BYU students to maintain a single standard of Christian morality. . . .

Attendance at BYU is a privilege and not a right, and . . . students who attend must expect to live its standards or forfeit the privilege.¹¹

     We have no choice at BYU except to "hold the line" regarding gospel standards and values and to draw men and women from other campuses also--all we can--into this same posture, for people entangled in sin are not free. In this university (that may to some of our critics seem unfree), there will be real individual freedom. Freedom from worldly ideologies and concepts unshackles man far more than he knows. It is the truth that sets men free. BYU in its second century must become the last remaining bastion of resistance to the invading ideologies that seek control of curriculum as well as classroom. We do not resist such ideas because we fear them, but because they are false. BYU in its second century must continue to resist false fashions in education, staying with those basic principles which have proved right and have guided good men and women and good universities over the centuries. This concept is not new, but in the second hundred years, we must do it even better.
      When the pressures mount for us to follow the false ways of the world, we hope in the years yet future that those who are part of this university and the Church Educational System will not attempt to counsel the board of trustees to follow false ways. We want, through your administration, to receive all your suggestions for making BYU even better. I hope none will presume on the prerogatives of the prophets of God to set the basic direction for this university. No man comes to the demanding position of the Presidency of the Church except his heart and mind are constantly open to the impressions, insights, and revelations of God. No one is more anxious than the brethren who stand at the head of this Church to receive such guidance as the Lord would give them for the benefit of mankind and for the people of the Church. Thus it is important to remember what we have in the revelation of the Lord: "And thou shalt not command him who is at thy head, and at the head of the church" (D&C 28:6).¹² If the governing board has as much loyalty from faculty and students, from administration and staff as we have had in the past, I do not fear for the future!
      The Church Board of Education and the Brigham Young University Board of Trustees involve individuals who are committed to truth as well as to the order of the kingdom. I observed while I was here in 1967 that this institution and its leaders should be like the Twelve as they were left in a very difficult world by the Savior: "The world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world" (John 17:1416). This university is not of the world any more than the Church is of the world, and it must not be made over in the image of the world.
      We hope that our friends, and even our critics, will understand why we must resist anything that would rob BYU of its basic uniqueness in its second century. As the Church's commissioner of education said on the occasion of the inaugural of President Dallin Oaks, "Brigham Young University seeks to improve and to 'sanctify' itself for the sake of others--not for the praise of the world, but to serve the world better."¹³
      That task will be persisted in. Members of the Church are willing to doubly tax themselves to support the Church Educational System, including this university, and we must not merely "ape the world." We must do special things that would justify the special financial outpouring that supports this university.

As the late President Stephen L. Richards once said, "Brigham Young University will never surrender its spiritual character to a sole concern for scholarship." BYU will be true to its charter and to such addenda to that charter as are made by living prophets.

I am both hopeful and expectant that out of this university and the Church Educational System there will rise brilliant stars in drama, literature, music, sculpture, painting, science, and in all the scholarly graces. This university can be the refining host for many such individuals who will touch men and women the world over long after they have left this campus.¹⁴

We must be patient, however, in this effort, because just as the city of Enoch took decades to reach its pinnacle of performance in what the Lord described as occurring "in process of time" (Moses 7:21), so the quest for excellence at BYU must also occur "in process of time." "Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man in the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny."¹⁵

I see even more than was the case nearly a decade ago a widening gap between this university and other universities both in terms of purposes and in terms of directions. Much has happened in the intervening eight years to make that statement justifiable. More and more is being done, as I hoped it would, to have here "the greatest collection of artifacts, records, writings . . . in the world."¹⁶ BYU is moving toward preeminence in many fields, thanks to the generous support of the tithe payers of the Church and the excellent efforts of its faculty and students under the direction of a wise administration.

These changes do not happen free of pain, challenge, and adjustment. Again, harking back, I expressed the hope that the BYU vessel would be kept seaworthy by taking "out all old planks as they decay and put in new and stronger timber in their place," because the Flagship BYU must sail on and on and on. The creative changes in your academic calendar, your willingness to manage your curriculum more wisely, your efforts to improve general education, your interaction of disciplines across traditional departmental lines, and the creation of new research institutes here on this campus--all are evidences that the captain and crew are doing much to keep the BYU vessel seaworthy and sailing. I refer to the centers of research that have been established on this campus, ranging from family and language research on through to research on food, agriculture, and ancient studies. Much more needs to be done, but you must "not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided" (D&C 10:4). While the discovery of new knowledge must increase, there must always be a heavy and primary emphasis on transmitting knowledge--on the quality of teaching at BYU. Quality teaching is a tradition never to be abandoned.
It includes a quality relationship between faculty and students. Carry these over into BYU's second century! Brigham Young undoubtedly meant both teaching and learning when he said, "Learn everything that the children of men know, and be prepared for the most refined society upon the face of the earth, then improve upon this until we are prepared and permitted to enter the society of the blessed--the holy angels that dwell in the presence of God."¹⁷

We must be certain that the lessons are not only taught, but are also absorbed and learned. We remember the directive that President John Taylor made to Karl G. Maeser "that no infidels will go forth from this school."

Whatever you do, be choice in your selection of teachers. We do not want infidels to mould the minds of our children. They are a precious charge bestowed upon us by the Lord, and we cannot be too careful in rearing and training them. I would rather have my children taught the simple rudiments of a common education by men of God, and have them under their influence, than have them taught in the most abstruse sciences by men who have not the fear of God in their hearts. . . . We need to pay more attention to educational matters, and do all that we can to procure the services of competent teachers. Some people say, we cannot afford to pay them. You cannot afford not to pay them; you cannot afford not to employ them.
We want our children to grow up intelligent, and to walk abreast with the peoples of any nation. God expects us to do it; and therefore I call attention to this matter. I have heard intelligent practical men say, it is quite as cheap to keep a good horse as a poor one, or to raise good stock as inferior animals. And is it not quite as cheap to raise good intelligent children as to rear children in ignorance?¹⁸

Thus we can continue to do as the Prophet Joseph Smith implied that we should when he said, "Man was created to dress the earth, to cultivate his mind, and to glorify God."¹⁹

We cannot do these things except we continue, in the second century, to be concerned about the spiritual qualities and abilities of those who teach here. In the book of Mosiah we read, "Trust no one to be your teacher nor your minister, except he be a man of God, walking in his ways and keeping his commandments" (Mosiah 23:14).

"I have no fear that the candle lighted in Palestine years ago will ever be put out."²⁰ We must be concerned with the spiritual worthiness, as well as the academic and professional competency, of all those who come here to teach. William Lyon Phelps said, "I thoroughly believe in a university education for both men and women; but I believe a knowledge of the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course without the Bible."²¹

Students in the second century must continue to come here to learn. We do not apologize for the importance of students' searching for eternal companions at the same time that they search the scriptures and search the shelves of libraries for knowledge. President David O. McKay observed on one occasion that "this university is not a dictionary, a dispensary, nor is it a department store. It is more than a storehouse of knowledge and more than a community of scholars. University life is essentially an exercise in thinking, preparing, and living."²² We do not want BYU ever to become an educational factory. It must concern itself not only with the dispensing of facts, but with the preparation of its students to take their place in society as thinking, thoughtful, and sensitive individuals who, in paraphrasing the motto of your centennial, come here dedicated to love of God, pursuit of truth, and service to mankind.

There are yet other reasons why we must not lose either our moorings or our sense of direction in the second century. We still have before us the remarkable prophecy of John Taylor when he observed, "You will see the day that Zion will be as far ahead of the outside world in everything pertaining to learning of every kind as we are today in regard to religious matters. You mark my words, and write them down, and see if they do not come to pass."²³ Surely we cannot refuse that rendezvous with history because so much of what is desperately needed by mankind is bound up in our being willing to contribute to the fulfillment of that prophecy. Others, at times, also seem to have a sensing of what might happen. Charles H. Malik, former president of the United Nations General Assembly, voiced a fervent hope when he said that

one day a great university will arise somewhere, . . . I hope in America, . . . to which Christ will return in His full glory and power, a university which will, in the promotion of scientific, intellectual, and artistic excellence, surpass by far even the best secular universities of the present, but which will at the same time enable Christ to bless it and act and feel perfectly at home in it.²⁴

Surely BYU can help respond to that call!

By dealing with basic issues and basic problems, we can be effective educationally. Otherwise, we will simply join the multitude who have so often lost their way in dark, sunless forests even while working hard. It was Thoreau who said, "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."²⁵ We should deal statistically and spiritually with root problems, root issues, and root causes in BYU's second century. We seek to do so, not in arrogance or pride, but in the spirit of service. We must do so with a sense of trembling and urgency, because what Edmund Burke said is true: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."²⁶

Learning that includes familiarization with facts must not occur in isolation from concern over our fellowmen. It must occur in the context of a commitment to serve them and to reach out to them.

In many ways, the dreams that were once generalized as American dreams have diminished and faded. Some of these dreams have now passed so far as institutional thrust is concerned to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its people for their fulfillment. It was Lord Acton who said on one occasion,

It was from America that the plain ideas that men ought to mind their own business, and that the nation is responsible to Heaven for the acts of the State--ideas long locked in the breast of solitary thinkers, and hidden among Latin folios--burst forth like a conqueror upon the world they were destined to transform, under the title of the Rights of Man. . . . The principle gained ground, that a nation can never abandon its fate to an authority it cannot control.²⁷

Too many universities have given themselves over to such massive federal funding that they should not wonder why they have submitted to an authority they can no longer control. Far too many no longer assume that nations are responsible to heaven for the acts of the state. Far too many now see the Rights of Man as merely access rights to the property and money of others, and not as the rights traditionally thought of as being crucial to our freedom.²⁸

It will take just as much sacrifice and dedication to preserve these principles in the second century of BYU and even more than were required to begin this institution in the first place--when it was once but a grade school and then an academy supported by a stake of the Church. If we were to abandon our ideals, would there be any left to take up the torch of some of the principles I have attempted to describe?

I am grateful, therefore, that, as President Oaks observed, "There is no anarchy of values at Brigham Young University." There never has been. There never will be. But we also know, as President Joseph Fielding Smith observed in speaking on this campus, that knowledge comes both by reason and by revelation. We expect the natural unfolding of knowledge to occur as a result of scholarship, but there will always be that added dimension which the Lord can provide when we are qualified to receive and he chooses to speak: "A time to come in the which nothing shall be withheld, whether there be one God or many gods, they shall be manifest." And further, "All thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, shall be revealed and set forth upon all who have endured valiantly for the gospel of Jesus Christ" (D&C 121:28, 29).

As the pursuit of excellence continues on this campus and elsewhere in the Church Educational System, we must remember the great lesson taught to Oliver Cowdery, who desired a special outcome--just as we desire a remarkable blessing and outcome for BYU in the second century. Oliver Cowdery wished to be able to translate with ease and without real effort. He was reminded that he erred, in that he "took no thought save it was to ask" (D&C 9:7). We must do more than ask the Lord for excellence. Perspiration must precede inspiration; there must be effort before there is excellence. We must do more than pray for these outcomes at BYU, though we must surely pray. We must take thought. We must make effort.
We must be patient. We must be professional. We must be spiritual. Then, in the process of time, this will become the fully anointed university of the Lord about which so much has been spoken in the past.

We can sometimes make concord with others, including scholars who have parallel purposes. By reaching out to the world of scholars, to thoughtful men and women everywhere who share our concerns and at least some of the items on our agendum of action, we can multiply our influence and give hope to others who may assume that they are alone.

In other instances, we must be willing to break with the educational establishment (not foolishly or cavalierly, but thoughtfully and for good reason) in order to find gospel ways to help mankind. Gospel methodology, concepts, and insights can help us to do what the world cannot do in its own frame of reference.

In some ways, the Church Educational System, in order to be unique in the years that lie ahead, may have to break with certain patterns of the educational establishment. When the world has lost its way on matters of principle, we have an obligation to point the way. We can, as Brigham Young hoped we would, "be a people of profound learning pertaining to the things of this world"²⁹ but without being tainted by what he regarded as the "pernicious, atheistic influences"³⁰ that flood in unless we are watchful. Our scholars, therefore, must be sentries as well as teachers!

We surely cannot give up our concerns with character and conduct without also giving up on mankind. Much misery results from flaws in character, not from failures in technology. We cannot give in to the ways of the world with regard to the realm of art. President Romney brought this to our attention not long ago in a quotation in which Brigham Young said there is "no music in hell."³¹ Our art must be the kind which edifies man, which takes into account his immortal nature, and which prepares us for heaven, not hell.

One peak of educational excellence that is highly relevant to the needs of the Church is the realm of language. BYU should become the acknowledged language capital of the world in terms of our academic competency and through the marvelous "laboratory" that sends young men and women forth to service in the mission field. I refer, of course, to the Missionary Training Center. There is no reason why this university could not become the place where, perhaps more than anywhere else, the concern for literacy and the teaching of English as a second language is firmly headquartered in terms of unarguable competency as well as deep concern.

I have mentioned only a few areas. There are many others of special concern, with special challenges and opportunities for accomplishment and service in the second century.

We can do much in excellence and, at the same time, emphasize the large-scale participation of our students, whether it be in athletics or in academic events. We can bless many and give many experience, while at the same time we are developing the few select souls who can take us to new heights of attainment.

It ought to be obvious to you, as it is to me, that some of the things the Lord would have occur in the second century of the BYU are hidden from our immediate view. Until we have climbed the hill just before us, we are not apt to be given a glimpse of what lies beyond. The hills ahead are higher than we think. This means that accomplishments and further direction must occur in proper order, after we have done our part. We will not be transported from point A to point Z without having to pass through the developmental and demanding experiences of all the points of achievement and all the milestone markers that lie between!

This university will go forward. Its students are idealists who have integrity, who love to work in good causes. These students will not only have a secular training, but will have come to understand what Jesus meant when he said that the key of knowledge, which had been lost by society centuries before, was "the fulness of the scriptures" (D&C 42:15). We understand, as few people do, that education is a part of being about our Father's business and that the scriptures contain the master concepts for mankind.

We know there are those of unrighteous purposes who boast that time is on their side. So it may seem to those of very limited vision. But of those engaged in the Lord's work, it can be truly said, "Eternity is on your side! Those who fight that bright future fight in vain!"

I hasten to add that as the Church grows global and becomes more and more multicultural a smaller and smaller percentage of all our LDS college-age students will attend BYU, or the Hawaii campus, or Ricks College, or the LDS Business College. It is a privileged group who are able to come here. We do not intend to neglect the needs of the other Church members wherever they are, but those who do come here have an even greater follow-through responsibility to make certain that the Church's investment in them provides dividends through service and dedication to others as they labor in the Church and in the world elsewhere.

To go to BYU is something special. There were Brethren who had dreams regarding the growth and maturity of Brigham Young University, even to the construction of a temple on the hill they had long called Temple Hill, yet "dreams and prophetic utterances are not self-executing. They are fulfilled usually by righteous and devoted people making the prophecies come true."³²

So much of our counsel given to you here today as you begin your second century is the same counsel we give to others in the Church concerning other vital programs--you need to lengthen your stride, quicken your step, and (to use President N. Eldon Tanner's phrase) continue your journey. You are headed in the right direction! Such academic adjustments as need to be made will be made out of the individual and collective wisdom we find when a dedicated faculty interacts with a wise administration, an inspired governing board, and an appreciative body of students.

I am grateful that the Church can draw upon the expertise that exists here. The pockets of competency that are here will be used by the Church increasingly and in various ways.

We want you to keep free as a university--free of government control, not only for the sake of this university and the Church, but also for the sake of our government. Our government, state and federal, and our people are best served by free colleges and universities, not by institutions that are compliant out of fears over funding.³³

We look forward to developments in your computer-assisted translation projects and from the Ezra Taft Benson Agriculture and Food Institute. We look forward to more being done in the field of education, in the fine arts, in the J. Reuben Clark Law School, in the Graduate School of Management, and in the realm of human behavior.

We appreciate the effectiveness of the programs here. But we must do better in order to be better, and we must be better for the sake of the world!

As previous First Presidencies have said, and we say again to you, we expect (we do not simply hope) that Brigham Young University will "become a leader among the great universities of the world." To that expectation I would add, "Become a unique university in all of the world!"³⁴

III. Installation of and Charge to the President

Members of the General Authorities and board of trustees, Elder Maxwell, President Holland and faculty, students, and friends of Brigham Young University, greetings. I extend a warm welcome to all of you on this historic and happy occasion--the inaugural of Dr. Jeffrey R. Holland as the ninth president of Brigham Young University.

First, I wish to congratulate and commend my dear friend Dr. Dallin Oaks and his predecessors, who have brought this great university from a small and humble beginning to the high point at which it now stands. Marvelous has been their labor and devoted has been their service. With all our hearts, we thank President Oaks and the great men who preceded him. We honor them and rejoice in their many accomplishments.

My beloved brothers and sisters, it is my responsibility and my privilege to give to President Holland his charge as he begins his presidency at this great university. I do so representing the First Presidency and the Board of Trustees.

May I say to you, President Holland, that we love you and sustain you and rejoice in your worthiness to hold such a responsible position in the Lord's kingdom. Your academic achievements are well known. They, together with your spiritual preparation and your great testimony and faith, will bless the lives of this splendid faculty and the students. We commend your lovely wife and children for their support. They are your greatest treasure and will be a shining example to the youth of this university.

In some remarks I made at this university in 1975, I employed a phrase to describe the Brigham Young University as becoming an "educational Mt. Everest." First, it seems to us, President Holland, that such a term was never more appropriate than it is now, on the occasion of your inauguration, for such is your challenge. There are many ways in which BYU can tower above other universities--not simply because of the size of its student body or its beautiful campus spread out below magnificent mountains--but by the unique light BYU can send forth into the educational world. That light must have a special glow. You will do many things in the programs of this university that are done elsewhere, but you must do them better. At the same time, we expect you to do some special things here at BYU that are left undone by other institutions.

Second, education on this campus deliberately and persistently must concern itself with "education for eternity," not just for mortal time. You and your faculty have a dual heritage which you must pass along: the secular knowledge that history has amassed over the centuries, along with new knowledge brought by scholarly research--but also the vital and revealed truths that have been given to us from heaven.

This university shares with other universities the hope and the labor involved in rolling back the frontiers of knowledge, but we also know that, through divine revelation, there are yet "many great and important things" (A of F 1:9) to be given to mankind which will have an intellectual and spiritual impact far beyond what mere men can imagine. Thus, at this university among faculty, students, and administration, there is, and there must be, an excitement and an expectation about the very nature and future of knowledge. That underlies the uniqueness of BYU.

Third, BYU must be a bastion against the invading ideologies that seek control of curriculum as well as classroom. We do not resist such ideas because we fear them, but because they are false. BYU must continue to resist false and capricious fashions in education, holding fast to those basic principles which have proved true and right and have guided good men and women and good universities over the centuries.

Fourth, I am both hopeful and expectant that from this university there will rise brilliant starts in drama, literature, music, art, science, and all the scholarly graces. This university can be the refining host for many such individuals who, in the future, long after they have left this campus, can lift and inspire others around the globe. We must be patient as well as persistent in this effort because, just as the city of Enoch took time to reach its pinnacle of performance in what the Lord described as occurring "in process of time" (Moses 7:21), so the quest for excellence at BYU must also occur "in process of time."

Fifth, quality teaching is a tradition never to be abandoned. It included a trusting relationship between faculty and students. Continue these in your new administration. We remember the directive that President John Taylor made to Karl G. Maeser: "Whatever you do, be choice in your selection of teachers.
We do not want infidels to mould the minds of our children."³⁵In the book of Mosiah, we read, "Trust no one to be your teacher nor your minister, except he be a man of God, walking in his ways and keeping his commandments" (Mosiah 23:14).

Sixth, remember that, as the Church grows globally and becomes more and more multicultural, a smaller and smaller percentage of our LDS college-age students will attend BYU or the other Church schools. More and more, it will be a privileged group who are able to come here. Those who are blessed to attend BYU have a great responsibility to make certain that the Church's investment in them provides dividends through service and dedication to others as they labor in the Church and in the world. Your challenge is to assure that this investment does bear fruit, "a consummation devoutly to be wished."³⁶

Lastly, it should be obvious to us all that the ultimate future of BYU is partially hidden from our immediate view. Until we have climbed the hills just ahead, we cannot glimpse what lies beyond. And the hills ahead are higher than we think. We cannot be transported over them without meeting demanding challenges. Such will be your challenge, President Holland. You must fortify yourself to guide this great university by wisdom and by inspiration. You will not always be able to see the future, but by drawing close to our Heavenly Father, you will be guided. This is his work. This is his university. You are his servant. You are on his errand.

As previous First Presidencies have said, we say again to you, "We expect--we do not merely hope--that Brigham Young University will become a leader among the great universities of the world." To that expectation, I would add, "Remain a unique university in all the world!"³⁷ Then, in the process of time, this truly will become the fully recognized university of the Lord about which so much has been spoken in the past.

Your feet are planted on the right path, and you are headed in the right direction! Such academic adjustments as need to be made will be made out of the individual and collective wisdom we find when a dedicated faculty works with a wise administration, an inspired governing board of trustees, and appreciative and responsive students.

Dr. Jeffrey R. Holland, representing the Church Board of Education and the Board of Trustees, I officially install you as the new president of Brigham Young University. I invoke the blessings of our Heavenly Father upon you and your family. May you go forward with enthusiasm and great courage, knowing you are loved by him and by us, your fellow servants.

Part I, "Education for Eternity," was given at the annual faculty workshop at Brigham Young University on September 12, 1967, when Spencer W. Kimball was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Part II, "Second-Century Address," was delivered on October 10, 1975, at the Founder's Day Convocation. Published in BYU Studies 16, no. 4 (1976): 44557. Minor deletions have been made where quotations used in this address were also used in the previous address, "Education for Eternity." Part III, "Installation of and Charge to the President," was given at the inauguration of Jeffrey R. Holland as president of Brigham Young University on November 14, 1980. President Kimball was President of the Church when he gave these last two speeches.

NOTES

¹David O. McKay, "The Spiritual Life, the True Life of Man," Instructor 102 (September 1967): 338.

²Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 185586), 16:77, May 25, 1873 (hereafter cited as JD). For more on this topic, see page 68.

³Young, in JD, 9:369, August 31, 1862.

⁴J. Reuben Clark Jr., source unknown. For a partial citation, see James R. Clark, Messages of the First Presidency (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1965), 6:238.

⁵This topic is discussed further on page 65.

⁶J. Reuben Clark Jr., source unknown.

⁷Reinhard Maeser, Karl G. Maeser (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1928), 79.

⁸John Taylor, in JD, 21:100, April 13, 1879. See also discussion on page 69.

⁹Taylor, in JD, 20:47, August 4, 1878.

¹⁰Young, in JD, 10:224, April and May 1863.

¹¹Ernest L. Wilkinson, address delivered at Brigham Young University, July 1967.

¹²See also page 52.

¹³Neal A. Maxwell, "Greetings to the President," address delivered at the inaugural of President Dallin H. Oaks, 1971.

¹⁴See also pages 5562.

¹⁵Carl Schurz, address delivered at Faneuil Hall, Boston, April 18, 1975.

¹⁶President Kimball quotes his earlier address, "Education for Eternity"; see page 60 above.

¹⁷Young, in JD, 16:77, May 25, 1873. See also page 47.

¹⁸Taylor, in JD, 24:16869, May 19, 1883. See also page 77.

¹⁹Joseph Smith Jr., quoted in Leonard J. Arrington, foreword to Brigham Young University: The First Hundred Years, ed. Ernest L. Wilkinson, vol. 1 (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1975), ix.

²⁰William R. Inge, source unknown.

²¹William Lyon Phelps, Human Nature in the Bible (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1923), ix.

²²David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals (Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953), 346.

²³Taylor, in JD, 21:100, April 13, 1887. See also page 55.

²⁴Charles H. Malik, "Education and Upheaval: The Christian's Responsibility," Creative Help for Daily Living, September 21, 1970.

²⁵Henry David Thoreau, Walden (New York: Norton, 1966), 51.

²⁶Edmund Burke to William Smith, January 9, 1975.

²⁷John Emerich Edward Dahlberg, Lord Acton, The History of Freedom and Other Essays (London: MacMillan, 1907), 5556.

²⁸See also page 74.

²⁹Young, in JD, 8:40, April 8, 1860.

³⁰Leonard J. Arrington, "Seven Steps to Greatness," BYU Studies 16, no. 4 (1976): 461.

³¹Young, in JD, 9:244, March 6, 1862.

³²Wilkinson, Brigham Young University.

³³See also page 71.

³⁴See also page 78.

³⁵Taylor, in JD, 24:16869, May 19, 1883. See page 68 above for full quotation.

³⁶William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 3, scene 1.

³⁷See also page 75.