The life of outgoing BYU Pres. Rex E. Lee, who "walked the path of faith and prayer and obedience" was held up as an example to BYU students by President Gordon B. Hinckley.
Speaking Oct. 17 "on a beautiful autumn day" in the Marriott Center, President Hinckley gave his first address at the weekly BYU Devotional since becoming president of the Church last March. He used the occasion to pay tribute to Pres. Lee, who will be released at the end of this year. President Hinckley was accompanied by his wife, Marjorie.A total of 25,875 people attended the devotional, a record audience for the Marriott Center that surpassed the 1979 audience of 25,543 who attended a devotional by President Spencer W. Kimball. Every seat was filled and hundreds stood in the halls to listen.
"President Lee, I speak for a vast congregation of your friends," he said. "We love you for the great work you have done. We love you for the tremendous energy you have put into this service. We love you because you have loved this faculty and student body. . . . You have served as the 10th president of Brigham Young University with honor and distinction, and with compelling loyalty to the sacred trust imposed in you."
President Hinckley said Pres. Lee's accomplishments came only through hard work and dedicated service. Included among his many accomplishments are law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White, Assistant U.S. Attorney General from 1975-76, U.S. Solicitor General from 1981-85, where he represented the federal government before the Supreme Court. He holds the distinction of having argued the largest number of cases before the Supreme Court in a single term, six in 1986. He argued 59 cases before the high court.
He helped found the J. Reuben Clark Law School and became its first dean, and has served as president of BYU since 1989.
"During these six-plus years, he has served with fidelity, with great devotion, with rare ability and, may I add, humility."
President Hinckley described Pres. Lee's wife, Janet, as a "quiet pillar of strength who stands by his side, who is his counselor, his comforter, his cheerleader, and his dearest friend. What a wonderful, exemplary picture they present to the members of this faculty and student body."
During the tenure of Pres. Lee, BYU has grown stronger and is the largest university in America owned by a church, said President Hinckley. He drew laughter from the audience as he commented, "He has even brought a smile to the rock-jawed visage of (BYU football coach) LaVell Edwards, a great accomplishment in and of itself."
Pres. Lee, President Hinckley said, "has walked with faith in the Almighty, with faith in the risen Lord, with faith in the eternal verities which come as the word of God.
"I urge you to do the same," he said. "God is our Almighty Father. He is our anchor and strength. . . . Not even the most brilliant among us is smart enough to comprehend the majesty and wonder of His ways or to understand the depth of His love for us, His children. He gave His son, who gave His life for each of us and for all of us.
"The Lord Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world, He who wrought the Atonement in behalf of all, making it possible for us to cross the barrier of death and go forward with our eternal lives to heights undreamed of."
These basic truths must become foundation stones in life, said President Hinckley. "Recognition of God and a desire to walk in obedience to His words and ways are essential to every one of us assembled here today."
He said that the Church is a repository of "the keys and authority of the everlasting priesthood, which has come again under the hands of those who received it from the Lord Himself.
"The Church is the great teacher and builder of values. Its precepts are designed to lead men and women along the way of immortality and eternal life, to make their lives more complete, more rich and happy while moving through this vale of tears, and in preparing them for the beauties and wonders of that which lies ahead.
"Keep faith with the Church. It is true. It is divine. He who stands at its head is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world."
"What does the Church expect of each of us - you and me?" he asked. "It expects the kind of behavior which has been exemplified in the life of the man of whom I have spoken today. . . . We have a mandate to work at it, to keep trying constantly to improve." He cited part of the 13th Article of Faith, `We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous and in doing good to all men."
Touching upon each of these traits, he continued: "Simple honesty is so remarkable a quality. It is of the very essence of integrity. It demands that we be straightforward, unequivocal in walking the straight and narrow line of what is right and true. It is so easy to cheat. At times it is enticing to do so. Better a poor grade than a dishonest act."
President Hinckley then quoted the words of early BYU president Karl G. Maeser: "I have been asked what I mean by `word of honor.' I will tell you. Place me behind prison walls - walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into ground - there is a possibility that in some way or another I may be able to escape; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of that circle? No, never. I'd die first."
President Hinckley said the Church expects members "to be true to ourselves, true to our loved ones, true to the best that is within us, true to the faith, true to the name we carry."
He said the Church also expects its members to be chaste and virtuous. "You know what this means. I am satisfied I need not repeat it here. But I do urge you, with all the capacity of which I am capable, to avoid the corrosive, destructive forces of evil found in pornography.
"Pornography," he declared, "is the literature of the devil. Shun it. Stay away from it. Lift you sights and your minds to the higher and nobler things of life. . . . Sin never brought happiness. Transgression never brought happiness. Disobedience never brought happiness.
"Recognize pornography for what it is - a vicious brew of slime and sleaze, the partaking of which only leads to misery, degradation and regret. This Church expects you who have taken upon yourselves the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to walk in the sunlight of virtue and enjoy the strength, the freedom, the lift that comes from so doing."
President Hinckley also encouraged students to partake of the spirit as well as the knowledge of "faithful men and women who constitute the faculty of this school" and to reach out "with benevolence in doing good to all men."
"Take a little time, now and again, to reach out beyond yourselves to help others. There are those right around you, students in need of a little kindness, a little attention, a little appreciation. You who are extremely able, you who learn with comparative ease, reach down to those who have greater difficulty in mastering academic material . . . a little tutoring can do wonders for someone who does not quite comprehend."
He encouraged students to "give expression to the noble desires that lie within your hearts to reach out and comfort, sustain and build others. As you do so, the cankering poison of selfishness will leave you and it will be replaced by a sweet and wonderful feeling that seems to come in no other way."
And because the Church is "making a tremendous investment in you," President Hinckley said, it expects "you to work while you are here. Work is the miracle by which talent is brought to the surface and dreams become a reality."
President Hinckley expressed love for the students, each of whom "is so richly blessed with a great and precious opportunity. Do not waste it. Do not regard it lightly. It is sacred and of great consequence. . . . Pray for guidance. Pray for strength to resist that which is evil. Seek the enlightenment of the Spirit of Christ. Cultivate and invite the direction of the Holy Ghost."