The Royal Law

K. Douglas Bassett

James 2:8; Matt. 23:11; 25:31-46; Gal. 5:14; refer in this text to Mosiah 2:16-17

“We must have this law in mind in all that we do in our welfare work. We must love our neighbor as ourselves. The Savior put this law second only to the love of God… .” (Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, Apr. 1978, p.142 )
“One cannot ask God to help a neighbor in distress without feeling motivated to do something oneself toward helping that neighbor.” (Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Feb. 1991, pp. 2-5)
“To worthy causes and needy people, we can give time if we don’t have money, and we can give love when our time runs out… . Sister Drusilla Hendricks and her invalid husband, James, who had been shot by enemies of the Church in the Battle of Crooked River, arrived with their children at a hastily shaped dugout in Quincy, Illinois, to live out the spring of that harrowing year. Within two weeks the Hendrickses were on the verge of starvation, having only one spoonful of sugar and a saucerful of cornmeal remaining in their possession. In the great tradition of LDS women, Drusilla made mush out of it for James and the children, thus stretching its contents as far as she could make it go. When that small offering was consumed by her famished family, she washed everything, cleaned their little dugout as thoroughly as she could, and quietly waited to die. Not long thereafter the sound of a wagon brought Drusilla to her feet. It was their neighbor Reuben Allred. He said he had a feeling they were out of food, so on his way into town he’d had a sack of grain ground into meal for them. Shortly thereafter Alexander Williams arrived with two bushels of meal on his shoulder. He told Drusilla that he’d been extremely busy but the Spirit had whispered to him that ‘Brother Hendricks’ family is suffering, so I dropped everything and came [running].’ … May [we] hear the whispering of the Holy Spirit when any neighbor anywhere ‘is suffering,’ and … ‘drop everything and come running.’” (Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign, May 1996, pp. 30-31)

Latter-Day Commentary on the Book of Mormon

References