Chapter XI: Part 11

Divine revelation of what is to come is proof of foreknowledge. God, therefore, knows, and has known from the beginning, what shall be, even to the end of the world. The transgression of Adam was foreknown, even before the man was embodied in flesh; and because of the results entailed upon humankind a Redeemer was chosen, even "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." The earthly life, ministry, and sacrificial death of the Savior were all foreseen, and their certainty was declared by the mouths of holy prophets.

The apostasy of the Primitive Church, the long centuries of spiritual darkness, the restoration of the Gospel in these latter days in a land specifically prepared as the abode of a liberty-loving nation--each of these epoch-marking events was known to God, and by Him was revealed through prophets empowered to speak in His name.

But who will venture to affirm that foreknowledge is a determining cause? God's omniscience concerning Adam cannot reasonably be considered the cause of the Fall. Adam was free to do as he chose to do. God did not force him to disobey the Divine command. Neither did God's knowledge compel false Judas to betray the Christ, nor the recreant Jews to crucify their Lord.

Surely the omniscience of God does not operate to make of men automations; nor does it warrant the superstition of fatalism. The chief purpose of earth life, as a stage in the course of the soul's progression, would be nullified if man's agency was after all but a pretense, and he a creature of circumstance compelled to do as he does.

A mortal father who knows the weaknesses and frailties of his son may by reason of that knowledge sorrowfully predict the calamities and suffering awaiting his wayward boy. He may foresee in that son's future a forfeiture of blessings that could be won, loss of position, self-respect, reputation, character, and honor. Even the dark shadows of a felon's cell and the night of a drunkard's grave may loom in the visions of that fond father's soul. Yet, convinced by experience of the son's determination to follow the path of sin, he foresees the dread developments to the future, and writhes in anguish because of his knowledge.

Can it be truthfully said that the father's foreknowledge is even a contributory cause of the evil life of his boy? To so hold is to say that a neglectful parent, who will not trouble himself to study the character of his son, who shuts his eyes to sinful ways, and rests in careless indifference as to the probable future, will by his very heartlessness benefit the boy, because the father's lack of forethought diminishes the son's tendency toward dereliction.

By way of further illustration, consider the man versed in meteorology, who by due consideration of temperature, air-pressure, humidity, and other essential data, is able to forecast weather conditions. He speaks with the assurance of long experience in foretelling a storm. The storm comes, bringing benefit or injury, contributing to the harvest perhaps or destroying the ripening grain; but, whether it be of good or ill effect, can he who prophesied of the approaching storm be held accountable for its coming?

It may be argued, however, that in these illustrative instances neither the mortal parent nor the human forecaster had power to alter the respective course of events, while God can direct and over-rule as He wills. But, be it remembered that God has granted agency unto His children, and does not control them in its exercise by arbitrary force. He impels no man toward sin; He compels none to righteousness.

The Father of our spirits has a full knowledge of the nature and disposition of each of His children, a knowledge gained by observation and experience in the long ages of our primeval childhood, when we existed as unembodied spirits, endowed with individuality and agency--a knowledge compared with which that gained by earthly parents through experience with their children in the flesh is infinitesimally small. In that surpassing knowledge God reads the future of child and children, of men individually and of men collectively. He knows what each will do under given conditions, and sees the end from the beginning. His foreknowledge is based on intelligence and reason. He foresees the future of men and nations as a state that naturally and surely will be; not as a state of things that must be because He has arbitrarily willed that it shall be.

"Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." (Acts 15:18.)

He willed and decreed the mortal state for His spirit offspring, and prepared the earth for their schooling. He provided all the facilities necessary to their training, and thus proclaimed His purpose:

"For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Pearl of Great Price, p. 7.)

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ARE MEN CREATED EQUAL?

Individualism is Eternal

DEMOCRACY holds as a distinguishing and fundamental principle the recognition of individual rights and privileges. The living units of a democratic system are citizens, not subjects. Before the law, so far as it be administered in justice, all citizens are on a plane of equality. In the exercise of the elective franchise, for example, the ballot of the poor man, the unscholarly, the weak, sick or maimed, counts just as much as that of the millionaire, the university graduate, or the athlete. All this is inherent in democracy as a political system. If through corrupt administration a citizen suffers deprivation of his rights, the fault, grievous though ti be, is not chargeable to the system but to the officials who have misused the authority delegated to them.

In this sense it is affirmed in the Declaration of Independence, as the first of the truths therein set forth as self-evident, and as assuring to all their inalienable rights "that all men are created equal;" and in this sense the affirmation is irrefutable. No other foundation could support a stable structure of government by the people.

But it is manifest folly to carry this conception of the legal equality of citizenship to the extreme of assuming that all men are alike in capacity, ability, or power. As long as mankind live in communities there will be leaders and followers, men of prominence, and of necessity others who are relatively obscure, men of energy and idlers, and consequently masters and servants.

Doubtless much of the existing disparity among men, such as the inequitable distribution of wealth, the unrighteous acquisition of power and its iniquitous exercise, is pernicious--evil in the sight of God and ominously wrong under the laws of man. Nevertheless, attempts to right such wrongs by illegal force, and to establish a false equality by promiscuously taking from one to give to another, tend toward disruption and anarchy.

We are confronted by this profound fact: Individualism is an attribute of the soul, and as truly eternal as the soul itself.

(1) In the unembodied, preexistent or antemortal state, we were decidedly unequal in capacity and power.

(2) We know we are not equal here in the world of mortals.

(3) Assuredly we shall not be equal after death, either in the intermediate state of disembodiment or beyond the resurrection.

We read that Jeremiah was chosen from among his fellows and ordained before he was born to be a prophet unto the nations (Jer. 1:5) ; and a similar fore-ordination is indicated by Isaiah (49:1, 5.) Abraham definitely avers that among the unembodied spirits there were differences, some were noble and great and others less adapted to the duties of rulership: "Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones. And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers." (Pearl of Great Price p. 65-66.)

The God of spirits recognized particular qualifications in some, and selected them to be leaders among men. Let us not assume that the "rulers" thus divinely chosen are necessarily those whom men would later elect to be their leaders. Many of God's great ones have been and are counted among the despised of earth. So it was with the Christ Himself, and so with many of His prophets, apostles and revelators unto mankind.

Born into the flesh with diverse capacities, subjected here to varied environment, which may be favorable or opposed to the development of inherent tendencies toward either good or evil, we as a race are creatures of disparity, inequality, and heterogeneous circumstance. But all color of injustice disappears in the light of assurance that, in the judgment of souls, every condition shall be weighed in the accurate balances of Justice and Mercy.

But what of the hereafter--shall we not be made equal there? Not in the sense that our individuality shall be subverted or radically changed. We shall find beyond more gradations in society than we have ever known on earth. But the basis of classification will be essentially different. Here we are rated according to what we have--of wealth, learning, political or other influence due to circumstance; there we shall find our place according to what we really are.

Ponder the significance of our Lord's assurance of the "many mansions" in the Father's kingdom (John 14:1-3) and consider Paul's summary of varied glories. (1 Cor. 15:40-41.)

Through later Scripture we are told of distinct kingdoms or worlds of graded order, comparable to the sun, moon, and stars respectively. There are the Celestial, the Terrestrial, and the Telestial kingdoms, in which the souls of men shall abide and serve as their attainments in righteousness or their disqualification through sin shall determine. Concerning the inhabitants of the Telestial world, the lowest of the specified kingdoms of glory, we read: "For they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared." (D&C 76:111.)

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ETHICS AND RELIGION

A Distinction With a Difference

UNDOUBTEDLY there are many people who, while of earnest intent and practise, of worthy, honorable, and moral life, neither profess religion nor confess belief in it. At least, so they would say if questioned. Closer analysis would probably show that by religion these good people had understood Church membership or actual affiliation with some religious organization. And their conception is not irrational nor fundamentally wrong; though such membership or affiliation is no assurance of personal religion.

The foundation of all religion is a real belief, or, more accurately, faith, in the existence of a Supreme Being upon whose beneficence man is dependent and to whom he is accountable for his conduct. With this belief, man cannot fail to recognize the superlative duty of learning God's will and of living according to His revealed word and law.

Mankind being by nature gregarious, and indeed unsuited to solitary existence, will congregate according to community interests, beliefs and aspirations. In the tribal organizations of peoples whom we call semi-civilized, there is generally a distinctive religion for each tribe; even though it be but a phase of paganism; and their unenlightened souls are held together by their generic conception of worship. Among larger and more advanced nations differences in religious conceptions are manifest, and people associate in rival sects and churches. Voluntary membership in any such body is at least a profession of belief in its distinguishing tenets.

But beside these there are many who aver that ethics is sufficient, and that a moral life will insure salvation in the world to come. Granted that religious profession without morality is but mockery and hypocrisy. Nevertheless, between the merely ethical and the really religious life, there is vital distinction.

To assume that an ethical or even a strictly moral course of conduct is all-sufficient for the soul's salvation would be to repudiate Scripture, deny the essential efficacy of the Atonement, dethrone the Christ, and eliminate God from earthly affairs. Such an assumption proclaims the stupendous error that mortal man is competent to save himself--on his terms, and according to a standard established by human agency.

Religion is more than a code of morals. Man can no more be saved by ethics than can he live by bread alone. The spiritual nutriment, without which no soul can develop to the exalted status of eternal life, consists of "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

The very purpose for which this earth was created as an abiding place for the spirit-children of God during their brief period of embodiment in flesh was to test and "prove them herewith to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them." (Pearl of Great Price p. 66.)

It is conceivable that ethics may measurably satisfy the conscience of one who really believes that mortal life is the sum total of existence; though I seriously doubt that such a being exists. If he lives, he is dangerously liable to stifle conscience, and to follow the easier though pernicious prompting to eat, drink and be merry whilst he may, taking no thought for the morrow of eternity.

But, it is fair to ask, shall not morality count in the judgment to come? Beyond question, Yes. God's word so declares. The clean minded who, however, fail to comply with the specified laws and ordinances of the Gospel of Christ, are not to be cast into the society of the spiritually filthy; neither are they to be exalted with the valiant who have righteously obeyed the requirements of the Gospel.

There is a hell to which shall go the "liars, and sorcerers, and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie." Furthermore, there is a kingdom prepared to receive the "honorable men of the earth who were blinded by the craftiness of men"--the unfortunate and deluded who have followed after human theories and precepts to the ignoring of God and His word, the misled devotees of "science falsely so called."

And above all else is the state of eternal life and exaltation provided for those who, while in the flesh, lived the religion of Christ, "who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial"; for "these are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood." (D&C 76.)

The Lord's affirmation is definite: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved"; for if his belief be vital he will make the morality that Christ taught the foundation of his religion. "But he that believeth not shall be damned," whatever his standard of ethics may be. (See Mark 16:16.)

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RELIGION ACTIVE AND PASSIVE

Effort Essential to Salvation

RELIGION to be worth while must be a vital element of life and work. It is of both temporal and spiritual significance, value and effect. It has to do with individual morality, with mutual dealings and associations of men even in ordinary, every-day affairs, with the great problems involved in family unity and efficiency and with the little things that make or mar the home, with work and play, with the duties of citizenship, statesmanship and public service generally.

All these relationships are human and earthly, and the honorable discharge of duties arising therefrom approaches ethical perfection. But man's standard of ethics is of necessity unstable, variable and, withal, unsatisfying to the soul having a healthful hunger for spiritual nourishment.

Who of us has not felt at times the spontaneous yearning and aspirations incident to our deep inborn conviction of life beyond death? We may weaken these emotions by persistently ignoring them; we may effectively stifle them by rude force; we may render them dormant by the poisonous anodyne of false philosophy and the boastful pride of man's mis-called wisdom; but kill them we can not, for they were divinely implanted and are deathless.

And as there is a hereafter, in which every soul of us shall live in continuation of the eternal existence of which earthlife is but a span, so surely shall our status there be determined by the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or evil.

Religion, then, has to do not only with this life but with that to come. We are but sojourners on earth; and, profoundly important as is this mortal experience, it is, after all, mainly a probation, and essentially a preparation for eternity.

It is temporarily easier to be passive than aggressive, whether we claim for our guiding code man's rules of ethics or the clear-cut requirements of the Gospel of Christ. There are more good men on earth than men who are good for much.

The Gospel demands something greater than avoidance of actual sins of commission. The culpability of neglect and omission may justly condemn the soul. Wilful spurning of Divine opportunity may work eternal loss. Though the Scriptures affirm the possibility of progression after death, nowhere do we find ground for assuming that failure to obey the Gospel on earth will be nullified by immediate remission beyond. We have no basis for computing the ages that shall be requisite to make amends there for wanton failure here.

There is a time in the eternal existence of souls which has been specifically made the time of repentance and test; and that is the period of mortality. Paul's forceful admonition is of universal application: "Lay hold on eternal life" while opportunity is found (1 Tim. 6:12, 19). For, be it remembered that the Lord has spoken concerning the wilfully unrepentant: "From him shall be taken even the light which he has received, for my Spirit shall not always strive with man, saith the Lord of Hosts." (D&C 1:33.)

Sin is conducive to lethargy in things spiritual; the Gospel inspires to life and activity. Contentment with the things of this world, so long as they go to suit us, with no thought of what shall follow, is the devil's lullaby. In the moment of supreme complacency when we are expressing by word, act, thought, or through sheer inaction, the stultifying soliloquy "Soul, take thine ease," may come the summoning decree: "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee." Read Luke 12:16-21.

When will men awaken to the imperative yet persuasive summons to repentance? Are not the awful vicissitudes of the days of war and death sufficient to arouse us to some realization of the solemnities of eternity? As a nation we have valiantly waged war for the vindication of the rights, privileges, and liberties of men. As individuals we are summoned by the call of God to resist iniquity, and to make peace and reconciliation with Him through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

Only through active, vital faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, effective repentance of wrong-doing, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the bestowal of the gift of the Holy Ghost or the higher baptism of the Spirit, can salvation be attained in the Kingdom of God, for so the Holy Scriptures aver.

The pleading call of the ancient prophet is yet in force. Hear ye, and heed: "Now I say unto you, that ye must repent, and be born again: for the Spirit saith, If ye are not born again, ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness." (Book of Mormon, Alma 7:14.)

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REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY

A Law unto Man from the Beginning

THE Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accepts Sunday as the Christian Sabbath and proclaims the sanctity of the day. We admit without argument that under the Mosaic Law the seventh day of the week, Saturday, was designated and observed as the Holy Day, and that the change from Saturday to Sunday was a feature of the apostolic administration following the personal ministry of Jesus Christ. Greater to us than the question of this day or that in the week, is the actuality of the weekly Sabbath, to be observed as a day of special and particular devotion to the service of the Lord.

The Sabbath was prefigured if not definitely specified in the record of the creation, wherein we read, following the account of the six days or periods of creative effort: "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." (Gen. 2:3.)

In the early stages of the Exodus the Israelites were commanded to lay in a double portion of manna on the sixth day, for the seventh was consecrated as a day of holy rest; and this was signalized by the Lord's withholding manna on the Sabbath day. See Exo. 16:23-30. There is no proof that Sabbath observance by Israel at this early date was an innovation; and it may be reasonably regarded as a recognition of an established order by reenactment in the new dispensation. Later, when the decalog was codified and promulgated on Sinai, the Sabbath law was made particularly explicit, and the Lord's rest was cited as its foundation:

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." (Exo. 20:8-11.)

The keeping of the Sabbath as a day of surcease from toil and of particular devotion came to be a national characteristic of the Israelites, whereby they were distinguished from pagan nations; and rightly so, for the observance of the Holy Day was specified as a distinctive sign of the covenant between Jehovah and His people. See Exo. 31:13.

In the course of Israelitish history successive prophets admonished and rebuked the people for neglect or profanation of the Sabbath. Nehemiah ascribed the affliction of the nation to the forfeiture of Divine protection through Sabbath violation (see Neh. 13:15-22); and by the mouth of Ezekiel the Lord reaffirmed the significance of the Sabbath as a mark of His covenant with Israel, and sternly upbraided those who observed not the day. (See Ezek. 20:12-24.) To the detached branch of Israel, which, as the Book of Mormon avers, was transplanted to American soil, Sabbath observance was no less an imperative requirement. See Jarom 1:5; Mosiah 13:16-19; 18:23.

Long before the birth of Christ the original purpose of the Sabbath and the spirit of its service had come to be largely lost sight of among the Jews; and rabbinical rules had introduced numerous technicalities, which made of the day one of discomfort and severity. This condition was strongly denounced by our Lord in reply to the many criticisms heaped upon Him because of the healings and other good works wrought by Him on the Sabbath. "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath," said He, and then continued with the profound affirmation: "The Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath." (Mark 2:27, 28.)

Christ came not to destroy the Law of Moses but to fulfil it; and through Him the law was superseded by the Gospel. The Savior rose from the tomb on the first day of the week; and that particular Sunday, as also the next, was rendered forever memorable by the bodily visitation of the resurrected Lord to the assembled Apostles and others. To the believers in the crucified and risen Savior Sunday became the Lord's Day (Rev. 1:10), and in time took the place of Saturday as the weekly Sabbath in the Christian churches.

The Church of Jesus Christ teaches that Sunday is the acceptable day for Sabbath observance, on the authority of direct revelation specifying the Lord's Day as such. In this, a new dispensation, and verily the last--the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times--the law of the Sabbath has been reaffirmed unto the Church. It is to be noted that the revelation, part of which follows, was given to the Church on a Sunday (August 7th, 1831.)

"And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day. For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High. Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days and at all times. But remember that on this the Lord's day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord. And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be full." (D&C 59:9-13.)

We believe that a weekly day of rest is no less truly a necessity for the physical well-being of man than for his spiritual growth; but, primarily and essentially, we regard the Sabbath as divinely established, and its observance a commandment of Him who was and is and ever shall be, Lord of the Sabbath.

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THE FOOLISHNESS OF GOD

And the Wisdom of Men

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. . . . Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." (Cor. 1:18, 25.)

So spake Paul in olden days, and he knew whereof he spake. Rich in the learning of Jews and Greeks, ripe in scholarship and experience, he possessed breadth of foresight and depth of insight far exceeding the average capacity of men; and to these superior qualifications of mind must be added the transcendent spiritual endowments of the apostle, the prophet, the seer, the revelator.

His abnegation and humility are no less striking than the incontestable sincerity and genuineness of his avowals. Inspired philosopher as he was, he discriminated with keen perception and clear vision between knowledge and wisdom, and with masterly skill contrasted the fallible teachings of men with the unshakable averments of prophecy.

The Greeks of Paul's time prided themselves on their learning, philosophy, and science, much of which last was "falsely so called." By such the preaching of the cross, the teachings of the Gospel, the precepts of eternal life were accounted but vain babblings. Those pagan Greeks were mindtrained but spirit-dwarfed. And that type of misshapen monstrosity is not yet extinct.

The brutal protagonists of autocratic tyranny, whose barbarous kultur impels to crimes innumerable and atrocities indescribable, profess to regard the might of righteousness as but maudlin sentiment and puerile weakness. Boastful of material achievements and the temporary success of their diabolical system of selfishness and arrogance, they blaspheme the name and power of the living God, whose will it is that every soul be free.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the embodiment of the Divine will and purpose. That Gospel enjoins obedience to righteous law as the guaranty of individual liberty. It endures as the unchanging expression of eternal wisdom, though by carnally-minded sinners ridiculed as foolishness.

As early as 1833, in a revelation through the prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord declared that both strong drinks and hot drinks were injurious to the body. In that period the use of alcoholic beverages was common, and the consumption of hot drinks, particularly as tea and coffee, was well nigh universal. Promulgation of the Divine warning against these harmful customs was treated as a fad born of fanaticism. Inexorable fact has compelled acknowledgment of the Word of Wisdom (see D&C, Sec. 89) as the pronouncement of Nature's God. Prohibition of the use of intoxicants has become a question of supreme international importance. The efficiency of armies and navies is seen to be gravely conditioned thereby. Some of the world's most eminent surgeons aver that the habitual use of hot drinks is one of the most effective causes of gastric ulcer and cancer, which are classed among the deadliest of maladies.

The same revelation voices a direct inhibition against the use of tobacco by man, and this avowal, now branded as extreme and uncalled for, is destined yet to become the basis of secular enactment.

The immoderate use of flesh foods was specified by Divine utterance as harmful. The exigencies of war enforced restriction of meat eating, and the nation was bettered thereby.

Unchastity, the dominant vice of the ages, has been tolerated as an irrepressible feature of the social system, and this notwithstanding the warning fiat of Jehovah against marital infidelity and sexual sin in all its hideous phases. The imperative demand for efficiency in this crucial age of stress and struggle has literally forced a measured though lamentably inadequate acceptance of the Divine requirement, for the statistical data of incapacity due to so-called social diseases are so astounding and show a condition so frightful as to make plain that the very foundations of civilization are jeopardized.

Men have been prone to turn deaf ears to the voice of God, delivered through the prophets always in season to avert threatening calamities; and have rested in the lethal contentment of self-confident ability to deal in their own way with the problems of life. How surpassingly wiser would it be, as shown in the light of our dearly-bought experience, to acknowledge the wisdom of God's beneficence, and profit thereby. Prophecy is direct and sure, science laggard and tentative. One is the advance message from God, the other man's belated and ofttimes distorted version of the truth.

Mormonism proclaims the Gospel of Christ as the panacea for the ills of men and nations. Its proclamation to the world is the assurance of peace on earth and good will among men, through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. The veriest moiety of the wisdom of God transcends the accumulated knowledge of men in its entirety.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is calling aloud to every nation, kindred, tongue and people: Have faith in God. Deal justly with one another. Make amends for past wrongs before opportunity is forfeited. Strive to enter in at the gate to the Kingdom of God while yet you may, for verily the time is short, and the coming of the Lord is near. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, by which ye shall be guided in the paths of truth and inherit salvation at the great and terrible day of the Lord which is nigh, even at your doors.

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FREEDOM THROUGH OBEDIENCE

Release from Autocracy of Sin

"COME unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matt. 11:28-30.)

A blessed invitation indeed!

Seemingly faint at heart over the unbelief of the people, our Lord had sought strength in prayer. With the soulful eloquence characteristic of the anguish-laden communion which at recurrent periods He had with the Father, the Savior voiced His reverent gratitude that God had imparted a testimony of the truth to the humble and lowly whom He likened unto trusting babes, rather than unto men proud in their learning and arrogant in self-assumption.

Then turning to the common people, the multitude who had just witnessed His miracles and listened to His lofty yet simple precepts, He urged anew their acceptance of Him and His Gospel in one of the grandest outpourings of spiritual emotion recorded for man to read.

His summoning yet pleading call was addressed to priestridden and Rome-governed Jews. Many of them yearned for release from thraldom, but the national spirit had been so broken that most of them had become inured to vassalage and tolerant of bondage.

The priestly hierarchy was boastful of its status, and strove effectively to deceive the people into the belief that they were free while sweating under the burdens of unrighteous exaction.

What had Christ to offer in mitigation of their grievous state? Certainly not the emancipation for which false rabbinical precept had led them to look--the reestablishment of the throne of David as an earthly kingdom, destined to subjugate all other nations by force of arms and make supreme the scepter of rehabilitated Israel.

Christ's kingdom was not, is not, nor ever shall be a merely secular or political dominion. His throne and crown are not of earthly make.

The people of Israel had brought themselves into bondage. Their vanished glory and fallen status had been foretold as an alternative fate, which would fall upon them if they departed from the covenant and proved recreant to the God of their fathers. But more burdensome than Roman mastership was the literal serfdom of priestly misrule. Rome was tolerant and conciliatory, while those who for the time sat in Moses' seat gloried in the shackles they had riveted upon the people through a blasphemous misapplication of the Law.

To the overladen and weary Jews came the offer of rest and peace. The Lord pleadingly invited them from drudgery to pleasant service, from the well-nigh unbearable burdens of ecclesiastical exaction and traditional formalism to the liberty of true worship, from slavery to freedom.

But they would not.

The Gospel He offered was and is the embodiment of liberty, untainted by selfish license. True, it entailed obedience and submission; but even if such could be likened unto a yoke, what was its burden in comparison with the incubus under which they groaned?

The offer, the call, the invitation is in full force and effect today. Transgression of the law is primarily or indirectly the cause of all suffering. Obedience to righteous law is the price of liberty. In such obedience lies happiness.

By a government of the people, administered in equity, every man is under wholesome restriction in compliance with which he finds privilege and protection.

Irresponsibility is directly opposed to enduring freedom. But what are the restraints of democracy in contrast with enslavement under autocratic rule? How easy the yoke, how light the burden, and how glorious the blessings of righteous government!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the expression of the eternal truth that shall make men free. It prescribes obedience, compliance, voluntary submission as the conditions of enfranchisement in the kingdom of God. In its conflict with sin the Gospel neither slays nor makes men prisoners. Its weapons are persuasion, invitation, and awakening summons. Its antagonists suffer self-inflicted punishment, bring upon themselves imprisonment within the bars of lost opportunity, and formulate their own sentence of eventual banishment as alien enemies of the truth.

Liberty through obedience was the theme of Benjamin, the ancient prophet and king who thus addressed his penitent people, respecting their acknowledgment of Christ as the Author of salvation:

"And under this head, ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God, that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives." (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 5:8.)

And unto the repentant and obedient of the present day the Lord has spoken through the prophet Joseph Smith:

"Abide ye in the liberty wherewith ye are made free; entangle not yourselves in sin, but let your hands be clean, until the Lord come." (D&C 88:86.)

The Lord has spoken, saying to all men and nations: Come unto me in faith, doubting not; repent of your sins; be baptized for the remission thereof; and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost and He shall guide you in the truth that shall make you free.

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HE WENT AND WASHED

And Came Seeing

THE ninth chapter of John contains an absorbingly graphic account of a man who had been born blind, yet who was made to see through the ministrations of the Lord Jesus Christ. As in every other miracle wrought by the Savior, the outward or visible procedure in this case was strikingly simple.

Jesus anointed the sightless eyes with clay, and said unto the man: "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam." The sequel is thus tersely recorded: "He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing."

The man had been a mendicant, a blind beggar, and as such was a familiar character in his neighborhood. Word of the miracle spread and a great stir arose among both the common folk and the learned Pharisees. The day of the healing was the Sabbath, and the hypercritical Pharisees laid stress on this point as proof that He who had given sight to the blind man was obviously a sinner, for He had healed on the Holy Day, whereon all manner of work was forbidden.

With the assurance characteristic of a sincere mind that knows whereof it speaks, and with incisive directness, the happy recipient of our Lord's bounty replied: "Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see."

Then the inquisitors questioned the man anew as to the precise means by which his eyes had been opened; but he refused to repeat what they had already treated with derision, and ironically inquired if they were about to join the disciples of the Healer. This served but to increase their anger. They boasted of being disciples of Moses, but as for Christ, whom they referred to as "this fellow," they furiously declared that they knew not whence He came.

They were enraged that an illiterate beggar should answer so boldly in their scholarly presence; but the man was more than a match for them all. His rejoinder was maddening because it flouted their vaunted wisdom, and, withal, was unanswerable.

"Why, herein is a marvellous thing," said he, "that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing."

Unable to cope in argument or demonstration with the erstwhile sightless beggar, those blinded Pharisees could at least exercise their official authority, however unjustly, by excommunicating him from the congregation of the synagog, and this they promptly and wickedly did.

The case in all its bearings is typical of current conditions, as indeed it has been of men in all ages. Physical blindness is a grievous affliction, and relief therefrom correspondingly gladsome. But it is of the body only, and though permitted to endure till death, it shall end.

For that deeper darkness--blindness of mind and heart--the grave is no curative. As between the sightless beggar and the sin-proud Pharisees, the latter were by far the blinder. He reverently rejoiced in the gift of sight, for he knew that he had been blind and that afterward he saw; they boasted of their vision, though living in darkness, and refused enlightement.

"Wo unto the blind that will not see; for they shall perish." (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 9:32.)

The requirements of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are the same today as in "the meridian of time" when the Master taught among men in Person. Likewise are there now many blind eyes, some of which are opened through the enlightenment of obedience, while others grow more and more darkened by the spreading cataract of false teaching, skepticism, and wilful sin.

Away with the benighting Pharisaism that sets the precepts of men above the revealed word of God! For spiritual blindness so induced, the Divine Healer offers sure relief. Oh, sightless man, anoint thine eyes with the balm of compliance with the laws and ordinances of the Gospel as enunciated by the Redeemer of men. Do but desire the light with repentant heart and with the deep full earnestness of a living faith, and then, in the waters of baptism be washed, and ye shall come, seeing.

Of deep import are these words of the Lord given unto an ancient Hebrew seer:

"And the mists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish, and are lost." (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 12:17.)

Man is not the author of the plan of salvation; and blind indeed are they who suppose that precepts, theories or systems originated or contrived by man can substitute or supersede the means divinely appointed for the redemption of mankind.

To the groping, sightless soul is offered the unction of faith and the ability to repent; and in the Siloam of baptism shall be received the enlightenment that guides the soul, once blind, now seeing, along the path leading to eternal life.

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THE ROD OF IRON

A Dependable Support

UNTO Lehi, a prophet of Jerusalem, who by Divine command had gone with his family from the city into the wilderness, came the word of the Lord in vision.

The man stood by a tree, the fruit of which he found to be sweet, and "desirable to make one happy"; for, as he ate of it his soul was filled with peace and joy unspeakable. Near the tree, separating it from a spacious plain wherein great concourses of people had gathered, flowed a turbulent river of muddy, filthy water. The head of the stream was visible in the distance, and from this to the tree, alongside the river's treacherous bank, ran a narrow path, paralleling which was a rod of iron, firmly secured, and so placed that one could hold to it while treading the pathway.

Numerous people were observed moving toward the head of the stream, striving to lay hold on the iron rod, but dense mists of darkness arose, and enshrouded them, so that many became bewildered, and, abandoning their purpose of reaching the tree, were lost in the murky depths of the river. Of the more faithful and determined, he saw and testified:

"And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree." (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 8:24; read chaps. 8 and 15).

An explication of the vision was given through inspiration. The tree shown to the prophet was the tree of life, and its fruit the salvation of the soul. Of the rod of iron it is written: "That it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction." (1 Nephi 15:24).

The river of foul waters typified the great gulf separating "the wicked from the tree of life, and also from the saints of God", and the state of loss and condemnation, which shall be the inevitable fate of the wilfully and unregenerate wicked.

The present is an age of whirl and swirl, in which many reach out confusedly and despairingly for support, buffeted by the waves of theologic dogma, swept hither and thither by the creeds and precepts of men, blown about by the winds of conflicting doctrines, bewildered by the mists of darkness, which are "the temptations of the devil, which blindeth the eyes and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men." (12:17).

The rod of iron is the Word of God unto man, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Faith in God, and in His Son Jesus Christ as the Redeemer and Savior of men, and contrite repentance of sin mark the beginning of the narrow path. We must hold fast to the rod, for the mists of darkness are dense and confusing; and it is easy to let go, to slip and slide and fall.

But with firm hand on the rod, stedfast feet on the path, we are led into the clear and purifying waters of baptism, without whose invigorating ablution we are unable to progress. Cleansed and strengthened we press on, even though the mists thicken; and by the enlightening baptism of the Spirit, which is administered by the authorized laying on of hands, we reach the tree, entitled to live thereafter gladdened and made strong by its sweet and nourishing bounty.

The rod of iron is still in place, fast, secure, a dependable support for every soul who strives with full purpose of heart to reach the tree of life. Clinging thereto we make sure progress, though the filthy waters beat hard by the narrow path. Let go, and we slip, then slide, and if we fail through strenuous effort and the aid of an outstretched helping hand to regain our grasp, we are swept away, carried by the torrent of confusion and uncertainty, perhaps into the engulfing Charybdis of fatalism or the dread Scylla of atheistical despair.

Mark you, that rod is unbendable, unbreakable, immovable. The pathway endures, is never in need of repairs by addition, new construction, or reinforcement. These are no product of man's skill. It is sadly true, however, that men have essayed to make roads, the while proclaiming that their broad highways lead to the tree of life. But never has one such thoroughfare been constructed to the promised destination; nor can it be. For a time these manmade roads are alluring in their macadamized smoothness, but they crumble and are worn into pitfalls, unsightly and dangerous.

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matt. 7:13, 14).

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LIAR AND MURDERER

From the Beginning

THE Scriptures are equally definite in affirming the existence of both individual Gods and devils.

Of the former we recognize three, the Holy Trinity, comprising God the Eternal Father, God the Son who is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Ghost, these three individual Personages constituting the presiding council having supreme power and authority throughout the universe, and collectively known as the Godhead.

The devils are many, and their chieftain is Satan, who though unembodied is as truly an individual being as is any one of us. He is the personage who in the primeval world bore the exalted title of Lucifer, a son of the morning, and who with his rebellious horde was cast out, prior to the peopling of the earth. (See Rev. 12:7-9; also D&C 29:36-38, and 76:25-27; and Isa. 14:12-15).

On the best authority, that of the Lord Jesus Christ, we learn something of the character of this fallen son of the morning, the antagonist of righteousness, and the enemy of God and man. In denouncing the false beliefs and evil practises of certain unregenerate Jews, Christ spoke in these definite and forceful terms:

"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not." (John 8:44-45).

A liar and a murderer from the beginning! He it was who beguiled the mother of the race, and that by the most dangerous of all falsehoods, the half-truth, in the use of which he is a past master.

He it was who taught the awful secret of murder to the fratricide, Cain, baiting the hook of infamous temptation with the lie, that, by slaying his brother, Cain would come into possession of Abel's flocks, and have much gain beside. (See Pearl of Great Price, pp. 22 and 23).

He it was who deceived Israel, by inducing them to revolt against the theo-democracy under which they had prospered, and to clamor for a king. Under kingly rule the nation was brought into vassalage and obscurity.

Primordially he and his angels were "cast out into the earth", and here they have since been, going up and down in the world, seeking whom they may deceive.

He is the author of sophistry and degrading skepticism, and of the whole foul mass of the philosophy and science "falsely so called", by which mankind are led to doubt the word of God, to becloud the Scriptures with vain imaginings and private interpretations, and to narcotize the mind with the poison of human invention as a substitute for revealed truth.

He is an adept at compounding mixtures of truth and falsehood, with just enough of the one to inspire a dangerous confidence, and of the other a toxic portion.

Beware of his prescriptions, his tonics and medicaments. Remember that water may be crystal clear, and yet hold in solution the deadliest of poisons.

He it is who has deceived peoples, tribes, and races, into servile submission to self-constituted rulers, and made of the masses slaves of autocrats, rather than to assert and maintain their rights as free men, whatever the effort and sacrifice be.

He it is who seeks to lead men captive at his will, to destroy their power of agency and choice, to dupe them into bartering their birthright of freedom for the nauseating pottage of present expediency.

He it is who has cajoled men into the unscriptural conception that there are ways, many and variable, by which salvation is attainable, other than the one and only way provided by the Savior of souls.

He is the arch-deceiver, the master sophist, the prime dissembler, the prince of hypocrites.

Concerning the devil's plan of subverting the rights of man, and of those who support it, Moroni, the last of the Nephite prophets, wrote:

"Whoso buildeth it up, seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguiled our first parents; yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men, that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning." (Book of Mormon, Ether 8:25).

Though great be Satan's power, deliverance therefrom is provided through compliance with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, at whose advent, now near at hand, the promised millennium of peace shall be inaugurated, a blessed feature of which is that the devil shall be rendered impotent to further subjugate the souls of men, and "that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled." (Rev. 20:3).

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ON THE DEVIL'S GROUND

Prisoners to Satan

IN the decisive issues of war there are victors and vanquished; the casualties comprise killed, wounded, and prisoners. Generally, capture by the enemy is the form of individual calamity most dreaded by the gallant soldier who knows he is fighting for the right, and particularly so if the foe be ruthless or treacherous.

In the battle of life as a whole, analogous conditions and categories obtain. The slain may have fallen in honor; for the disabled there is hope of recovery; but the fate of the captured is one of apprehension or dread certainty, ofttimes of horror.

When one is taken prisoner as the result of venturesome curiosity, reckless exposure, or disobedience to orders, he must bear the blame as well as the suffering consequent on capture. Many are prisoners because thoughtlessly, wilfully, or defiantly, they have trespassed upon the devil's ground, without warrant of duty or justifiable excuse. The soldier's part is to keep within the lines until ordered forward in attack to dislodge the foe.