"To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of
rams." (I. Samuel xv:22.) In an age of the world when independence is
the proud boast of the nations, obedience is, by mistaken ideas of
freedom, considered a mark of humiliation. To the reader I will say,
in reality, true obedience to the Lord's commands is an indication
of moral courage, union and power. It is not blind obedience that is
referred to and maintained, but that type which characterized the
ancient seers and saints, who, like the Messiah, were ready to say by
word and deed, "I came not to do mine own will, but the will of my
Father who sent me."
The Latter-day Saints are credited with being obedient and submissive
to authority, this fact being often used by their opponents as the
occasion of reproach. Those who so use it surely must forget that God
requires obedience; that the best embodiment of this principle, the
most humble and yielding to the divine will, was the best and purest
Being who ever dwelt in mortality, viz., the Lord Jesus Christ; He
in whose mouth there was found no guile; who was perfect and without
blemish in all the walks of life. While He was obedient to His Father's
will and humble to the extreme, He was independent of the influence and
persuasions of wicked men.
The status of Latter-day Saints is conformable to this example.
They are obedient to conscience, to convictions of right, to divine
authority and to God, in whom they trust. While thus submissive, their
persecutors have found them equally oblivious to the behests of wicked
men, whether high or low. Men in the factories of the old world,
working side by side at the weaver's loom, in the coal pit or elsewhere
in following the various vocations of life-in this condition the Gospel
preached by the elders of Israel has reached them. Alike, many of them
have received convictions of the truth. They have said: "This is the
truth; I must obey it or stand condemned." Other people have said: "It
is true, but if I obey I will be ostracized, perhaps lose my employment
and be an outcast from my father's house. Better that I reject the
truth and live in peace, than take upon me this cross of obedience to
unpopular truth."
The courageous obey the Gospel, suffer persecution, prove themselves
men, and will attain to eternal life. The other people referred to are
slaves to their own fear of popular clamor and to the unseen powers of
darkness which lead men to reject the plan of salvation. Of the first
named class are the Latter-day Saints, a host of men and women who have
left home, kindred and country for the Gospel's sake. They have endured
persecution even unto death, privation and suffering in every form;
have redeemed a desert and built up a commonwealth so fruitful with
education, thrift and enterprise that any nation beneath the sun might
well be proud of them. Their obedience and moral courage they bequeath
to their posterity is a legacy better than diamonds or the honors and
praise of a fallen world. They look back to their associates in early
manhood who, for fear, rejected the truth, and find these, whether
living or dead, in most cases unhonored and unknown.
The obedience rendered by Latter-day Saints to the authority of the
priesthood is not secured by virtue of any solemn obligation entered
into by the adherent to obey the dictum of his superiors in office;
but upon the nature of the Gospel, which guarantees to every adherent
the companionship of the Holy Spirit, and this Spirit secures to every
faithful individual a living testimony concerning the truth or falsity
of every proposition presented for his consideration.
"By one spirit have we access unto the Father." (Eph ii.) So that as
all men and women who embrace the Gospel are entitled to an individual
testimony of the truth, the same spirit guides into all truth reveals
the things of the Father and imparts the inspiration essential to
preserve mankind from a blind obedience to erroneous principles and
false guides.
The statement of the Savior, recorded in St. John vii:17, covers
the ground in the broadest light: "If any man will do His will, he
shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak
of myself." This secures to every true Saint, if he is faithful,
protection against imposture, the abuse of power and the false
decisions of man-made councils. In this particular the Church of
Christ is distinguished from all other system and institutions. He
has promised to guide and direct, and that He "doeth nothing, but He
revealeth His secrets unto His servants, the prophets." (Amos iii:7.)
This does not imply the infallibility of man, but it does imply the
promise that no man or council of men who stand at the head of the
church shall have power to lead the Saints astray. With this assurance,
then, the people of God in every dispensation have been justified in
rendering absolute yet intelligent obedience in the direction of the
holy prophets. It is an undeniable fact in the history of the Saints
that obedience to whatever has come, either by written document or
verbally, from the presidency of the church, has been attended with
good results; on the other hand, whosoever has opposed such council,
without repentance, has been followed with evidence of condemnation.
Applying this principle of obedience to organizations of a civil and
business character, confusion and weakness result from men refusing
their support to the decision of the presiding authority or of the
majority, where the action is left to popular vote. Carlyle, the great
English writer, said: "All great minds are respectfully obedient to all
that is over them; only small souls are otherwise."
The obedience rendered to God is based upon a conviction that He is
perfect in all His ways possessing the attributes of justice, judgment,
knowledge, power, mercy and truth in all their fullness. Obedience to
His appointed authority upon the earth is obedience to Him, and is
so taught by the Savior. "He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he
that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me." (Matthew x:40.) He that
heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he
that despiseth me, despiseth Him that sent me. (Luke x:16.) "Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth
me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth Him that sent me." (St. John
xiii:20.)
It is not the attractive qualities of the individual, however great,
that renders submission to his administration valid, but the authority
of God which he fears. The acts of Philip, Stephen, Paul or James
were just as valid and binding as those of the Messiah Himself, when
performed by His authority and in His name. To reject the personal
teachings and offices of the Savior could bring no greater condemnation
than to reject the teachings of any man sent of God bearing authority
and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to speak and act in the name
of the Lord. This great truth was taught by the Savior on more than
one occasion, but perhaps no more forcibly or in more beautiful terms
than in the following: "When the Son of Man shall come in His glory,
and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of
His glory; and before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from
the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats
on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come,
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world. For I was an hungered and ye gave me meat;
I was thirsty and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger and ye took me
in; naked and ye clothed me: I was sick and ye visited me; I was in
prison and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer Him saying:
Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered and fed Thee? or thirsty and gave
Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger and took Thee in? or naked
and clothed Thee? or when saw we Thee sick or in prison and came unto
Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto
you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my
brethren, ye have done it unto me." When He told the wicked that they
had failed to thus administer unto Him, they began to plead that they
had not seen Him sick, in prison, hungry, naked or athirst. He answered
them, "Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye did
it not unto me." (Matt. xxvi:31-46.)
It is not the individuality of the person which calls for respect
and consideration, it is the principle involved. God had placed His
authority upon humble men. Through their administrations can be secured
the benefits and blessings which follow obedience to the ordinances
of the Gospel. Implicit obedience must be rendered. The mandates
of Jehovah are imperative. No substitute will do. The condition is
complete to the plan of salvation as established by Almighty God.
Saul was commanded to destroy Agag and all his hosts, man and beast.
He kept the best of the flock for, he said, a sacrifice, but God had
ordered otherwise, and Saul's disobedience caused him to lose the
kingdom, shut him out from the revelations which came by dream, vision
and the Urim and Thummim. "Thou shalt not steady the ark"; and they who
disobeyed were smitten of the Lord. Israel by disobedience lost the
guidance of the Almighty, went into spiritual darkness, and have been
scattered to the four quarters of the earth, "a hiss and a by-word in
the mouths of all nations."
Obedience is essential to salvation, essential to success in every
avenue of human enterprise. Whether rendered to the laws of God direct,
in their moral and spiritual phases, or to His authority vested in man,
obedience must be implicit. The haughty man boasts of independence.
He scorns the humble followers of the Lord, but while he prates of
freedom, he is himself slavishly obedient to his own whims and mistaken
ideas or to the spirit of evil, to popular sentiment or to some other
influence always dangerous to the welfare of mankind.
The Saints have been accused of being priest-ridden and fearful to
use their own judgment. What do the facts show? They are only asked
to do right, live pure lives, do good to all men, evil to none, and
to respect the order of God's kingdom that salvation may come to them
and be extended to all the world. Their obedience has made them the
best and purest body of people on the earth. What of the character of
those who have derided them? They are slaves to a shallow and excited
sentiment or to wickedness and vice, obedient to their own lusts and
wicked ways. Compared with those they misrepresent they are below them
in almost every trait which characterizes noble manhood. By obedience
to God and His priesthood the Saints in this age have come off
triumphant over obstacles within and foes without. By obedience to God
and His commands they will continue the blessed and favored of the Lord
forever. They have proved the words of Samuel to Saul, verily true: "To
obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."