FAITH.--COURSE OF LIFE.
I have now considered two elements which enter into the principle of
faith, and which are essential to its existence; _viz_., a belief in the
being of God; and, secondly, the nature of his character. There is
still one more thing that must be considered, one more element that
must enter into this principle of faith, before it can become a living,
active power in the life of man--and that is, herein the worth of
faith exists. I may say of faith as Guizot does of science, that it
may be a beautiful thing of itself, but it becomes a thousand times
grander and more beautiful when it becomes a power; when it becomes
the parent of virtue. Indeed if it does not become a power in the life
of man, an incentive to noble deeds, it is a dead faith, and is as the
body without the spirit, or as salt without its savor--it is good for
nothing.
The third element which is essential to faith as a power in the life
of man, centers in and depends upon man rather than God. A belief
in the fact that God exists, with a correct idea of his character
is sufficient for man to exercise faith in him, but man must know
something about himself also; that is, he must know that the course
of life he is pursuing is in accordance with the will of heaven--is
approved of God, before faith can become perfect, or have any marked
influence with the heavens. This truth is self-evident. For what
confidence can one have that his petition will be heard and answered
by the Lord, if all the time he is conscious that he habitually,
perhaps wantonly, violates the law of God--if he blasphemes the name
of Deity, or speaks lightly, and may be slightingly, of sacred things,
or walks contrary to the expressed will of the Lord in the matter of
truthfulness, sobriety, chastity, honesty and brotherly kindness? What
confidence, I ask, can such a person have that his petitions will be
sufficiently respected either to be heard or granted? The understanding
answers, none. It stands to reason that such persons must repent, and
that earnestly, with real intent, with a fixed determination to respect
God and his laws, before they can hope for the powers of heaven to be
influenced by them. It is the prayer of the righteous man that availeth
much.
On the other hand, if one walk in all honesty of heart before God; if
to the best of his ability and knowledge, making due allowance for
human frailty--and I do not under-estimate its influence in hindering
that perfect walk with God, that is desirable--he keeps the laws of his
God, sacrificing his good name among men, if need be, or leaving father
or mother, houses or lands, wives and children, counting all things but
dross, when compared with the excellence of the knowledge of God--being
faithful through good and through evil report--resulting, as it must
do, in a consciousness of the approval of heaven--how strong will his
confidence become in the presence of the Lord, and what blessings can
the heavens withhold from him?
It was this consciousness of having walked truly before his God,
which, when the word of the Lord came to him, that he should surely
die, enabled king Hezekiah to turn to the Lord, in confidence, and
say: "Remember, now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before
thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done good in thy
sight."[A] And before Isaiah had left the house of the king, the word
of the Lord came again to him, bidding him to return to the king with
the glad message that his prayer had been heard, and fifteen years had
been added to his life.
[Footnote A: Isaiah xxxviii.]
It was this consciousness, coupled with a belief in God's existence
and a knowledge of his character, that enabled the ancient saints to
endure their sore afflictions, taking joyfully the spoiling of their
goods. By combining these elements of faith they produced a power by
which they "subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises,
stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the
edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in
fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their
dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting
deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others
had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and
imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted,
were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and
goatskins; being, destitute, afflicted, tormented. Of whom the world
was not worthy, they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens
and caves of the earth."[B]
[Footnote B: Heb. xi: 33-38.]
Such is Paul's testimony respecting the faith and the power thereof
among the saints on the Eastern hemisphere; and if we turn to the
sacred pages of the Book of Mormon, a like record of sacrifice and
heroism could be drawn up to the credit of the saints living on the
Western hemisphere.
And so also with the Saints in this present dispensation. It was
through faith that the Prophet Joseph Smith had the heavens opened
to him and received a glorious vision of God the Father and his Son
Jesus Christ; it was through faith that he received the gold plates on
which were engraven the history and scriptures of the Nephites, and
translated them into the English language; it was by the power of faith
that he organized the church and the quorums of the priesthood. It was
by the power of faith, too, that the Saints endured the persecutions
heaped upon them in Missouri, the land of Zion, taking joyfully the
spoiling of their goods, being whipped, imprisoned and murdered. It
was by faith they gathered at Nauvoo and converted its swamps into a
beautiful city, its wilderness into fruitful fields and erected the
beautiful temple in the days of their poverty. By faith they restrained
their anger when their prophet and patriarch were murdered while
under the plighted faith of the State of Illinois, and committed no
depredations on the ungodly within their power in retaliation for the
cowardly assassination of their leaders.
By faith they followed the prophet Brigham into the desert, going a
thousand miles beyond the borders of civilization among savage Indian
tribes, their only hope of protection being in the God of Israel.
By faith they subdued the sterile soil and made it yield them the
bounties of life, and filled the once barren wastes of the Rocky
Mountain valleys with towns and villages; farms, gardens, orchards
and happy homes for an extent of more than five hundred miles; and
by faith they have calmly endured fines, confiscations, exile and
imprisonment--persecution under the forms of law--at the hands of the
United States government, rather than be untrue to their God.
Such experiences as these I have referred to in the history of the
Saints, both of ancient and modern times, demonstrates to the heavens
the strength or quality of faith possessed by the Saints, and also
exhibits faith as a principle of power, for such it is; who can doubt
it when we are told that through faith the worlds were framed by the
Word of God;[C] and through faith the saints in all ages of the world
have been able to perform the works already set down to their credit.
[Footnote C: Heb. xi: 3.]
Another result flows from these experiences--these sufferings, trials
and sacrifices of the saints. They bring to the faithful who endure
them the assurance--nay, the knowledge of their acceptance with God.
This knowledge occupies an important place in religion, for it is
through that knowledge and through that alone, that men will be able
to endure the trials that ever have and ever will, in a state of
probation, beset the pathway of candidates for the celestial kingdom
of God. "Such was and ever will be the situation of the saints of
God, that unless they have an actual knowledge that the course they
are pursuing is according to the will of God, they will grow weary
in their minds, and faint; for such has been, and always will be the
opposition in the hearts of unbelievers and those that know not God,
against the pure and unadulterated religion of heaven (the only thing
which insures eternal life), that they will persecute to the uttermost
all that worship God according to his revelations, receive the truth
in the love of it, and submit themselves to be guided and directed by
his will; and drive them to such extremities, that nothing short of an
actual knowledge of their being the favorites of heaven, and of their
having embraced that order of things which God has established for the
redemption of man, will enable them to exercise that confidence in him,
necessary for them to overcome the world, and obtain that crown of
glory which is laid up for them that fear God. . ."
"For unless a person does know that he is walking according to the
will of God, it would be offering an insult to the dignity of the
Creator, were he to say, that he would be a partaker of his glory when
he should be done with the things of this life. But when he has this
knowledge, and most assuredly knows that he is doing the will of God,
his confidence can be equally strong that he will be a partaker of the
glory of God."
"Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the
sacrifice of all things, never has power sufficient to produce the
faith necessary unto life and salvation; for, from the first existence
of man, the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation
never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things.
It was through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained
that men should enjoy eternal life; and it is through the medium of the
sacrifice of all earthly things, that men do actually know that they
are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God. When a
man has offered in sacrifice all that he has for the truth's sake, not
even withholding his life, and believing before God that he has been
called to make this sacrifice because he seeks to do his will, he does
know, most assuredly, that God does and will accept his sacrifice and
offering, and that he has not, nor will not, seek his face in vain.
Under these circumstances, then, he can obtain the faith necessary for
him to lay hold on eternal life."
"It is in vain for persons to fancy to themselves that they are heirs
with those, or can be heirs with them, who have offered their all in
sacrifice, and by this means obtained faith in God and favor with him,
so as to obtain eternal life, unless they, in like manner, offer unto
him the same sacrifice, and through that offering, obtain the knowledge
that they are accepted of him. * * * From the days of righteous Abel to
the present time, the knowledge that men have that they are accepted in
the sight of God, is obtained by offering sacrifice. And in the last
days, before the Lord comes, he is to gather together his saints who
have made a covenant with him, by sacrifice: 'Our God shall come, and
shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall
be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens
from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my
saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by
sacrifice.'"[D]
[Footnote D: Psalms i: 3-5.]
"Those, then, who make the sacrifice, will have the testimony that
their course is pleasing in the sight of God; and those who have this
testimony will have faith to lay hold on eternal life, and will be
enabled, through faith, to endure unto the end, and receive the crown
that is laid up for them that love the appearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ. But those who do not make the sacrifice cannot enjoy this
faith, because men are dependent upon this sacrifice in order to obtain
this faith; therefore they cannot lay hold upon eternal life, because
the revelations of God do not guarantee unto them the authority so to
do, and without this guarantee faith could not exist."
"All the saints of whom we have any account, in all the revelations
of God which are extant, obtained the knowledge which they had of
their acceptance in his sight through the sacrifice which they offered
unto him; and through the knowledge thus obtained their faith became
sufficiently strong to lay hold upon the promise of eternal life, and
to endure as seeing him who is invisible; and were enabled, through
faith, to combat the powers of darkness, contend against the wiles of
the adversary, overcome the world, and obtain the end of their faith,
even the salvation of their souls."[E]
[Footnote E: Doc. and Cov., Lecture on Faith, No. VI.]
This, then, is my exposition of the grand principle of faith: It is an
assurance of the mind of the existence or reality of things not seen,
or that have not been demonstrated to any other of the senses. It takes
root in evidence, more or less convincing to the understanding; and the
strength of the faith depends largely upon the quality and quantity
of the evidence. The more unquestionable, the more overwhelming the
evidence, the more strong and immovable will be the faith.
As a principle of religion, faith centers in God, and bids man hope for
salvation and eternal life. I have endeavored to show in the foregoing
pages that in order that faith may be intelligently exercised in God,
it is essential that there should be a belief in his existence, and
correct ideas as to his character. I trust that the evidences pointed
out as to the fact that he exists have been sufficient to produce that
belief; and that the testimonies adduced have been of a character to
fix in the mind of the reader a just estimate of his character. If
that has been accomplished, then I feel assured that a faith has been
established in the mind that will lead to repentance, to an effort
to yield obedience to the laws of heaven. That effort persevered in
will, in time, bring the consciousness that the course of life being
pursued is in accordance with the will of heaven, and by a union of
these three elements, that is, a belief in the existence of God, a
correct conception of his character, and a knowledge that the course
of life pursued is approved of him--will render faith perfect, will
constitute it a principle of power, the incentive to all action--as
really it is, whether in temporal or spiritual things--leading from one
degree of knowledge or excellence to another, from righteousness to
righteousness, until the heavens will be opened to them and they will
hold communion with the Church of the First Born, with Jesus Christ,
and with God the Father, and thus will they make their calling and
election sure--through faith ripening into knowledge.