LAWS OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT.
If a man accepts the principles and obeys the ordinances I have now
treated upon, and I hope with sufficient clearness, and they are
administered by men having authority from God to act in his name, then
he is born again, born of the water and of the Spirit--born into the
kingdom of God, and hence is a child of God, a citizen of his kingdom.
And since by submitting to these ordinances a man is born into the
kingdom, I would remind the reader that his position in that kingdom is
closely analogous to the child just born naturally into this world. It
possesses all the faculties, all the organs, all the limbs of a man,
but they are in embryo, undeveloped. The new born infant has eyes, but
it will be some time before it will be able to distinguish objects, or
recognize even the kind face of its mother. It has ears, but it cannot
distinguish sounds; a tongue but it cannot speak; limbs but it cannot
stand or walk or run; nor has it control of the muscles of the hands or
arms--it will have to wait for growth and strength before these organs
of sense and motion are developed.
Its first attempts at the use of any of these organs will necessarily
be imperfect as to the results. The tongue will speak the first words
but brokenly; the first step will be uneven and staggering; the
movements of the hands will be erratic and awkward. But by persistent
effort the tongue that could only pronounce words brokenly, becomes,
at last, eloquent, and crowds listen spellbound by the charm of its
music. The uneven, staggering step is changed finally for the elastic
step and noble carriage of graceful manhood. The hands so awkward
become by practice the hands of the skilled artisan, competent to
execute whatever his mind may conceive. So it is with those just born
in the church of Christ. They, at their birth, are not fully developed
men and women in the things of God. It is expected that they will
have to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of God." Peter exhorted
the saints of his day to give all diligence, and add to their faith
virtue; "and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and
to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness
brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these
things be in you and abound," said he, "they make you that ye shall
neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ."[A] Such instructions are applicable to the Saints of this or
any other dispensation. The new born saints will find themselves in a
new atmosphere, sensitive to new forces operating upon them, new powers
developing within them: and as the young child staggers in its first
attempts to walk, and has many a fall before it will obtain complete
control over its muscles--so the new born member of Christ's church
will make many mistakes and perhaps blunders in the days of his infancy.
[Footnote A: II Peter i: 5-8.]
For this reason, that the child of the kingdom might not grow weary in
his efforts at moral and spiritual development, the Lord has revealed
his long-suffering and merciful kindness to those who strive to keep
his commandments. And such is the weakness of mankind and their
frequent violations of the laws of God that had they not the repeated
assurances in the revelations respecting God's character that he is
slow to anger, abundant in mercy and long-suffering, the heart of
man would grow faint, and his effort at spiritual development would
be palsied. But with these facts firmly impressed on their minds men
struggle on--they pray and faint not[B].
[Footnote B: Luke xviii: 1.]
If there is one struggle more than another in which the race is not to
the swift nor the battle to the strong, but to those who endure to the
end, it is in this struggle for eternal life. "He that shall endure
to the end the same shall be saved," were the words of Jesus, and I
know of no other condition of salvation contemplated in the Gospel of
Christ, than this. "Be thou faithful unto death," wrote John to the
saints at Smyrna, "and I will give thee a crown of life."[C] "Blessed
are they _who do his commandment_, that they may have right to the tree
of life;"[D] and with such passages the scriptures are replete.
[Footnote C: Rev. ii: 10.]
[Footnote D: Rev. ii: 14.]
There is no one great thing that man can do and then do no more and
obtain salvation. After entering into the kingdom of God, in the
manner already pointed out in these pages, it is by learning "precept
upon precept; line upon line; here a little and there a little," that
salvation will be made secure. It is by resisting a temptation today,
overcoming a weakness tomorrow, forsaking evil associations the next
day, and thus day by day, month after month, year after year, pruning,
restraining and weeding out that which is evil in the disposition, that
the character is purged of its imperfections.
Nor is it enough that one gets rid of evil. He must do good. He
must surround himself with circumstances congenial to the sensitive
nature of the Holy Ghost, that it may not be offended, and withdraw
itself from him; for if it does so, amen to his spiritual or moral
development. He must cultivate noble sentiments by performing noble
deeds--not great ones, necessarily, for opportunity to perform what
the world esteem great things, comes but seldom to men in the ordinary
walks of life; but noble deeds may be done every day; and every such
deed performed with an eye single to the glory of God, draws one that
much nearer into harmony with the Deity. And "if you wish to go where
God is," said the Prophet Joseph, "you must be like God, or possess the
principles which God possesses, for if we are not drawing towards God
in principle, we are going from him and drawing towards the devil."[E]
[Footnote E: Hist. of Joseph Smith, Apr. 10, 1842.]
Thus by eschewing the evil inclinations of the disposition on the one
hand, and cultivating noble sentiments on the other, a character may
be formed that shall be godlike in its attributes and consequently its
possessor will be fitted to dwell with God, and if so prepared, there
is no question but his calling and election are sure.