'Defend the faith'
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Amid days of "great spiritual danger," President Boyd K. Packer charged Latter-day Saint lawyers and judges to be "exemplars above reproach."
"The Lord needs you who are trained in the law," said President Packer Feb. 28 to members of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society. "You can do for this people what others cannot do."
President Packer, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve, said the world is spiralling downward at an ever-quickening pace. "I am sorry to tell you that it will not get better."
He delivered the address — which originated in the Conference Center theater and was sent via the Church satellite system to more than 100 locations internationally — after receiving the organization's Distinguished Service Award. In a brief ceremony, H. Reese Hansen, dean of BYU's law school, lauded President Packer for his "lifelong contribution as an educator" and as a "watchman on the tower."
"As members of the Law Society, we honor you for your skill as an advocate in speaking for and defending the doctrine of the kingdom," stated a printed citation which was presented to President Packer.
President Packer told the group that they stand on the shoulders of a giant: President J. Reuben Clark. "The question is: What are you doing with the name of President J. Reuben Clark?" he said.
J. Reuben Clark's service, he said, was divided into two equal parts: 28 years in law and government and 28 years as a counselor in the First Presidency.
President Packer said President Clark grew up as a farm boy in tiny Grantsville, Utah. As part of a large family, he learned to work. With an elementary education, he moved to Salt Lake City to obtain a college education and then went east to school, being called by his mentor James E. Talmage as "the brightest mind ever to leave Utah."
After marriage and a five-year career as a teacher/administrator in Heber and Cedar City, Utah, J. Reuben Clark moved his family to New York City to attend Columbia University School of Law.
In the years that followed, he worked as Department of State assistant solicitor, an assistant professor of law at George Washington University, as a major on duty with the U.S. Attorney General's Office, as Under Secretary of State, as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, and became influential in both Utah and national politics.
"President Clark came to the First Presidency virtually unknown in the Church," said President Packer. "He had held no administrative positions, even on the local level. . . .
"I can imagine President Clark in his library with words scattered about on his desk. I see him discarding the longer ones and then picking up a word and fitting it into a sentence and then replacing it with one easier to understand. From words he made sentences, often very long ones, fastening them together into paragraphs and bundling them together into his inspired sermons."
President Packer said, in addition to President Clark, there are also other giants of law upon whose shoulders he has stood: Presidents Marion G. Romney, Henry D. Moyle, Howard W. Hunter, and James E. Faust.
President Packer said, like the audience, the giants he named have something he does not: a law degree.
"With this credential comes obligation," he said. "You who hold the priesthood must be exemplars above reproach.
"And I charge each of you lawyers and judges and put you on alert. These are days of great spiritual danger for this people."
President Packer said he knows of nothing in the history of the world to compare to present circumstances. "Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds the wickedness and depravity which surrounds us now.
"Satan uses every intrigue to disrupt the family. The sacred relationship between man and woman, husband and wife, through which mortal bodies are conceived and life is passed from one generation to the next generation, is being showered with filth.
"Profanity, vulgarity, blasphemy, and pornography are broadcast into the homes and minds of the innocent. Unspeakable wickedness, perversion, and abuse — not even exempting little children — once hidden in dark places, now seeks protection from courts and judges."
President Packer told the worldwide audience that others will look to them for legal counsel. "You have, or should have, the spirit of discernment. It was given you when you had conferred upon you the gift of the Holy Ghost. You must locate where the snares are hidden and help guide our footsteps around them."
Attorneys today face a much different world than did President Clark, he added. "The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were localized. They are now spread across the world, wherever the Church is. The first line of defense — the home — is crumbling. Surely you can see what the adversary is about."
President Packer said the world is now where ancient prophets warned it would be.
"Paul prophesied word by word and phrase by phrase, describing things exactly as they are now," he said. "I quote from Paul's prophecy and check the words that fit our society. . . .
"For men shall be lovers of their own selves — check!, covetous — check!, boasters — check!, proud — check!, blasphemers —check!, disobedient to parents — check! check!, unthankful— check!, unholy — check!, without natural affection — check! check!, trucebreakers — check!, false accusers — check!, incontinent — check!, fierce — check!, despisers of those that are good — check!, traitors — check!, heady — check!, highminded — check!, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" — check! check!
Quoting Brigham Young and Joseph Smith, President Packer said even in the worst times the United States Constitution will not be destroyed, but "this people will step forth and save it from the threatened destruction."
"I do not know when that day will come or how it will come to pass," said President Packer. "I feel sure that when it does come to pass, among those who will step forward from among this people will be men who hold the Holy Priesthood and who carry as credentials a bachelor or doctor of law degree. And women, also, of honor. And there will be judges, as well.
"Others from the world outside the Church will come, as Colonel Thomas Kane did, and bring with them their knowledge of the law to protect this people.
"We may one day stand alone, but we will not change or lower our standards or change our course."
Closing, President Packer again urged those members of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society to think about what they will do with President Clark's name.
"And it is equally certain that you members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be accountable for what you have done with the Lord's name," he said. "I wonder if you who are now lawyers, or you who are students of the law, know how much you are needed as defenders of the faith. Be willing to give of your time and of your means and your expertise to the building up of the Church and the kingdom of God and the establishment of Zion, which we are under covenant to do, not just to the Church as an institution, but to members and ordinary people who need your professional protection."
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