Loyalty is extolled in BYU address

PROVO — Students at Brigham Young University should exhibit loyalty to Joseph Smith, the principles he taught and the church he established as they study at the sacrifice of others, university President Cecil Samuelson said Tuesday at a campus devotional.

"We are here not only to achieve academically, not only spiritually, but also to do our parts in establishing the church throughout the world and defending the kingdom," Samuelson said.

He shared comments made in a private meeting last spring with the late Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve. In his last visit to the university before his death, Maxwell told donors on the BYU President's Leadership Council, "In a way LDS scholars at BYU and elsewhere are a little bit like the builders of the temple in Nauvoo, who worked with a trowel in one hand and a musket in the other.

"Today, scholars building the temple of learning must also pause on occasion to defend the kingdom. I personally think this is one of the reasons the Lord established and maintains this university. The dual role of builder and defender is unique and ongoing."

Samuelson has regularly reminded students since taking over as president in May 2003 that thousands of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cannot come to BYU because of its enrollment cap and that millions more contribute tithing to the church that is used to subsidize every BYU student's education.

He said Tuesday that 2005, the bicentennial anniversary of Smith's birth, is a good time for students to consider this responsibility and whether they follow the admonition to "stand by my servant Joseph" found in section 6, verse 18 of the Doctrine & Covenants, considered a book of scripture by the church and direct revelation from Jesus Christ.

Samuelson said Smith "literally changed the history of the world" through the foundation of a church that now has an international membership of more than 12 million.

Millions more know Smith's name but understand his work on different levels, Samuelson added, and he outlined five of those levels — recognition, appreciation, admiration, testimony and true loyalty.

Church members should advance from testimony to loyalty, looking to the "complete fealty to Joseph" that Brigham Young himself demonstrated, Samuelson said.

Samuelson also said he found "striking insights" about BYU as he considered the instruction from the Doctrine & Covenants, "Therefore be diligent; stand by my servant Joseph, faithfully, in whatsoever difficult circumstances he may be for the word's sake."