Bishop H. David Burton: 'Let Virtue Garnish Your Thoughts'

Presiding Bishop H. David Burton recalled Sunday morning his struggle to memorize the 13th Article of Faith before graduating from Primary, his greatest task being remembering the order of the virtues. Eventually, he memorized it with the help of a patient Primary teacher, and the lesson of personal traits recognized as virtues stuck with him.

In his address during the Sunday morning session of conference, Bishop Burton said there are two things he finds interesting about virtues.

"First they are the foundational elements of a Christian life as well as the outward manifestation of the inner man. Second, the spelling in the English language of so many individual virtues concludes with the letters ITY: integrity, humility, charity, spirituality, accountability, civility, fidelity, etc. Relying on literary license I refer to virtues ending in ITY as the 'ity' virtues. 'Ity' is a suffix that means quality, state or degree of being."

However, he said, whatever the virtues are called or referred to as, they are quickly diminishing from mainstream culture.

"We need only look around us to see what is taking place in our communities to realize that personal traits of virtue are in a steep decline," Bishop Burton said. This decline is found in many facets of daily life, including encountering foul language in a high school or sporting event, road rage on a crowded highway or simply tolerating a loss of civility in political discourse. But Latter-day Saints need not join in on this loss of virtues.

"We need not be a part of the virtue malaise that is penetrating and infecting society. If we follow the world in abandoning Christian-centered virtues, the consequences will be disastrous," Bishop Burton said.

These consequences include a blow to individual faith and fidelity, family solidarity and spirituality, a loss on the religious influence in society. Bishop Burton called on members to perpetuate Christlike virtues. This begins in the home, he said. These traits must not be set aside or forgotten.

"Now is the time for us to join in rescuing and preserving that which is virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy," he said. "As we allow virtue to garnish our thoughts unceasingly … faith and integrity will bless individual lives."

Watch video of this talk and other conference talks at ksl.com