God ordained to be the common lot of all man--kind, is the truest
greatness. To be a successful father or a successful mother is greater
than to be a successful general or a successful statesman. One is
universal and eternal greatness, the other is ephemeral. It is true
that such secondary greatness may be added to that which we style
commonplace; but when such secondary greatness is not added to that
which is fundamental, it is merely an empty honor, and fades away from
the common and universal good in life, even though it may find a place
in the desultory pages of history. Our first care, after all, brings
us back to that beautiful admonition of our Savior: "Seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be
added unto you." (Matt. 6:33.)
We should never be discouraged in those daily tasks which God has
ordained to the common lot of man. Each day's labor should be
undertaken in a joyous spirit and with the thought and conviction
that our happiness and eternal welfare depend upon doing well that
which we ought to do, that which God has made it our duty to do. Many
are unhappy because they imagine that they should be doing something
unusual or something phenomenal. Some people would rather be the
blossom of a tree and be admiringly seen than be an enduring part of
the tree and live the commonplace life of the tree's existence.
Let us not be trying to substitute an artificial life for the true
one. He is truly happy who can see and appreciate {359} the beauty
with which God has adorned the commonplace things of life.--_Juvenile
Instructor,_ Vol. 40, pp. 752-3, Dec. 15, 1905.
PARENTS RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR CHILDREN. The parents in Zion will be
held responsible for the acts of their children, not only until they
become eight years old, but, perhaps, throughout all the lives of their
children, provided they have neglected their duty to their children
while they were under their care and guidance and the parents were
responsible for them.--_Apr. C. R.,_ 1910, p. 6.
THE FATHER THE PRESIDING AUTHORITY OF THE FAMILY. There is no higher
authority in matters relating to the family organization, and
especially when that organization is presided over by one holding the
higher priesthood, than that of the father. The authority is time
honored, and among the people of God in all dispensations it has been
highly respected and often emphasized by the teachings of the prophets
who were inspired of God. The patriarchal order is of divine origin
and will continue throughout time and eternity. There is, then, a
particular reason why men, women and children should understand this
order and this authority in the households of the people of God,
and seek to make it what God intended it to be, a qualification and
preparation for the highest exaltation of his children. In the home
the presiding authority is always vested in the father, and in all
home affairs and family matters there is no other authority paramount.
To illustrate this principle, a single incident will perhaps suffice.
It sometimes happens that the elders are called in to administer to
the members of a family. Among these elders there may be presidents
of stakes, apostles, or even members of the first presidency of the
Church. It is not proper under these circumstances for the father
to stand back and expect the elders to direct the administration of
this important ordinance. The father is there. It is his right and
it is his duty {360} to preside. He should select the one who is to
administer the oil, and the one who is to be mouth in prayer, and he
should not feel that because there are present presiding authorities
in the Church that he is therefore divested of his rights to direct
the administration of that blessing of the gospel in his home. (If the
father be absent, the mother should request the presiding authority
present to take charge.) The father presides at the table, at prayer,
and gives general directions relating to his family life whoever may
be present. Wives and children should be taught to feel that the
patriarchal order in the kingdom of God has been established for a wise
and beneficent purpose, and should sustain the head of the household
and encourage him in the discharge of his duties, and do all in their
power to aid him in the exercise of the rights and privileges which God
has bestowed upon the head of the home. This patriarchal order has its
divine spirit and purpose, and those who disregard it under one pretext
or another are out of harmony with the spirit of God's laws as they
are ordained for recognition in the home. It is not merely a question
of who is perhaps the best qualified. Neither is it wholly a question
of who is living the most worthy life. It is a question largely of law
and order, and its importance is seen often from the fact that the
authority remains and is respected long after a man is really unworthy
to exercise it.
This authority carries with it a responsibility and a grave one, as
well as its rights and privileges, and men can not be too exemplary
in their lives, nor fit themselves too carefully to live in harmony
with this important and God-ordained rule of conduct in the family
organization. Upon this authority certain promises and blessings
are predicated, and those who observe and respect this authority
have certain claims on divine favor which they cannot have except
they respect and observe the laws that God has established for the
regulation and authority of the home. "Honor thy {361} father and thy
mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee," was a fundamental law to ancient Israel, and is binding
upon every member of the Church today, for the law is eternal.
The necessity, then, of organizing the patriarchal order and authority
of the home rests upon principle as well as upon the person who holds
that authority, and among the Latter-day Saints family discipline,
founded upon the law of the patriarchs, should be carefully cultivated,
and fathers will then be able to remove many of the difficulties that
now weaken their position in the home, through unworthy children.
The principles here set forth are of more importance than many parents
have heretofore attached to them, and the unfortunate position today
in the homes of many of the elders of Israel is directly traceable to
a want of appreciation of their truthfulness.--_Juvenile Instructor,_
Vol. 37, p. 148, March 1, 1902.
DUTIES OF FATHERS. May the fathers in Israel live as they should
live; treat their wives as they should treat them; make their homes
as comfortable as they possibly can; lighten the burden upon their
companions as much as possible; set a proper example before their
children; teach them to meet with them in prayer, morning and night,
and whenever they sit down to partake of food, to acknowledge the mercy
of God in giving them the food that they eat and the raiment that
they wear, and acknowledge the band of God in all things. This is our
duty, and if we do not do it the Lord will be displeased, for he has
said so. He is only pleased with those who acknowledge his hand in all
things._--Oct. C. R.,_ 1909, p. 9; Doc. and Cov. 59: 7, 21.
MOTHERHOOD THE FOUNDATION OF HOME AND NATION. Motherhood lies at the
foundation of happiness in the home, and of prosperity in the nation.
God has laid upon men and women very sacred obligations with respect to
motherhood, {362} and they are obligations that cannot be disregarded
without invoking divine displeasure. In I Timothy 2:13-15, we are told
that "Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but
the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she
shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity
and holiness with sobriety." Can she be saved without child-bearing?
She indeed takes an awful risk if she wilfully disregards what is a
pronounced requirement of God. How shall she plead her innocence when
she is not innocent? How shall she excuse her guilt when it is fastened
upon her?
The question of parental obligation in the matter of children is not
generally denied. A failure to fulfill the obligation, however, is too
frequently excused.
"Children," we are told, "are a heritage of the Lord;" they are also,
the Psalmist tells us, "his reward." If children are cut off from their
birthright, how shall the Lord be rewarded? They are not a source of
weakness and poverty to family life, for they bring with them certain
divine blessings that make for the prosperity of the home and the
nation. "As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of
the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they
shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the
gate." (Psalm 127:4, 5)
What answer shall men and women make in excuse of conduct which
contravenes the commandments of God? Those whose hearts are in touch
with God's most sacred laws will make great sacrifices honestly to
fulfil them.
There has, however, of late arisen a condition in our social life
that is working against the divine requirements of motherhood. Men
and women plead the enormous increase in the cost of child-bearing.
The requirements for motherhood in matters of doctor's fees, nurses'
bills and hospital charges, are so great as to discourage men and
women of {363} slender means. The burden of such expenses is certainly
becoming great, and if they are likely to stand directly in the way
of God's requirement, something should be done either to remove them
or mitigate them, and some means should be provided that will protect
the family and the nation against destruction. It is a problem well
worthy the attention of our law-makers, who appropriate generously in
matters that are insignificant when compared with the health, wealth
and physical prosperity of the nation that encourages the birth of
children.--_Juvenile Instructor,_ Vol. 50, pp. 290, 291, May, 1915.
HUSBAND'S SUCCESS DEPENDENT UPON WIFE'S FITNESS. There is no
organization or government in the world so perfectly planned for the
education of men and women to executive responsibilities as is the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Government in the home
and in the Church constitutes an important part in the lives of the
people, and the government in the home is the basis of all successful
government in church or state. In the home the mother is the principal
disciplinarian in early child life, and her influence and discipline
determine in a great measure the ability of her children to assume in
manhood and womanhood the larger governments in church and state.
In addition, however, to home government, women often stand with their
husbands in responsible places and share in some measure the success or
failure which characterizes their husbands' administration of affairs.
In selecting men to occupy responsible positions in the Church, it not
infrequently happens that a useful and competent man is barred from
consideration because of the deplorable want of fitness in the wife,
and though a wife may not always bar a husband's opportunities, she
may, nevertheless, prove a great hindrance to him in the discharge of
the duties that belong to his office. If our sisters could only realize
how helpful they might be to their husbands who hold responsible {364}
positions in the Church, and if they would only take pride and pleasure
in their husbands' administration of affairs, the conduct of men in
public office would in many instances be very greatly improved.
The word and the law of God are as important for women who would reach
wise conclusions as they are for men; and women should study and
consider the problems of this great latter-day work from the standpoint
of God's revelations, and as they may be actuated by his Spirit,
which it is their right to receive through the medium of sincere and
heartfelt prayer. A woman without heartfelt devotion for the things
of God is not prepared to stand at her husband's side and enjoy his
confidence in the graver responsibilities that devolve upon him in
the government of the Church. Husbands are justified in withholding
their confidence from and in refusing to be influenced by wives whose
worldly ambitions and want of appreciation of divine things lead them
to contend for personal advantages and selfish gains. Wives of leaders
should have a generous feeling for all that relates to the affairs
over which their husbands preside. Such women should not be exclusive
in their social relations, and should avoid the evils that frequently
come from yielding to the influence and views of a small coterie that
may have selfish aims and personal advantages to serve.--_Juvenile
Instructor,_ _Vol._ 38, pp. 371, 372, 1903.
DUTY OF PARENTS. It is the duty of Latter-day Saints to teach their
children the truth, to bring them up in the way they should go, to
teach them the first principles of the gospel, the necessity of baptism
for the remission of sins, and for membership in the Church of Christ;
teaching them the necessity of receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost by
the laying on of hands, which will lead them into all truth, and which
will reveal to them things that have passed and things which are to
come, and show to them more clearly those things which are present with
them, that they may comprehend {365} the truth, and that they may walk
in the light as Christ is in the light; that they may have fellowship
with him and that his blood may cleanse them from all sin.--_Apr. C.
R.,_ 1912, p. 135.
WATCH YOUR CHILDREN. Some people have grown to possess such unlimited
confidence in their children that they do not believe it possible for
them to be led astray or to do wrong. They do not believe they could
do wrong, because they have such confidence in them. The result is
they turn them loose, morning, noon and night, to attend all kinds of
entertainments and amusement, often in company with those whom they
know not and do not understand. Some of our children are so innocent
that they do not suspect evil, and, therefore, they are off their guard
and are trapped into evil.--_Oct. C. R.,_ 1909, p. 4.
DUTY TO TEACH CHILDREN. Another great and important duty devolving upon
this people is to teach their children, from their cradle until they
become men and women, every principle of the gospel, and endeavor,
as far as it lies in the power of the parents, to instil into their
hearts a love for God, the truth, virtue, honesty, honor and integrity
to everything that is good. That is important for all men and women
who stand at the head of a family in the household of faith. Teach
your children the love of God, teach them to love the principles of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Teach them to love their fellowmen, and
especially to love their fellow members in the Church that they may be
true to their fellowship with the people of God. Teach them to honor
the priesthood, to honor the authority that God has bestowed upon his
Church for the proper government of his Church.--_Apr. C. R.,_ 1915,
pp. 4, 5.
WHAT TO TEACH YOUR CHILDREN. We are a Christian people, we believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and we feel that it is our duty to acknowledge
him as our Savior and Redeemer. Teach it to your children. Teach them
that the {366} Prophet Joseph Smith had restored to him the priesthood
that was held by Peter and James and John, who were ordained under the
hands of the Savior himself. Teach them that Joseph Smith, the prophet,
when only a boy, was chosen and called of God to lay the foundations
of the Church of Christ in the world, to restore the holy priesthood,
and the ordinances of the gospel, which are necessary to qualify men
to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Teach your children to respect
their neighbors. Teach your children to respect their bishops and the
teachers that come to their homes to teach them. Teach your children
to respect old age, gray hairs, and feeble frames. Teach them to
venerate and to hold in honorable remembrance their parents, and to
help all those who are helpless and needy. Teach your children, as you
have been taught yourselves, to honor the priesthood which you hold,
the priesthood which we hold as elders in Israel. Teach your children
to honor themselves, teach your children to honor the principle of
presidency by which organizations are held intact and by which strength
and power for the well-being and happiness and upbuilding of the people
are preserved. Teach your children that when they go to school they
should honor their teachers in that which is true and honest, in that
which is manly and womanly, and worth while; and also teach them to
avoid the bad examples of their teachers out of school, and the bad
principles of men and women who are sometimes teachers in schools.
Teach your children to honor the law of God and the law of the state
and the law of our country. Teach them to respect and hold in honor
those who are chosen by the people to stand at their head and execute
justice and administer the law. Teach them to be loyal to their
country, loyal to righteousness and uprightness and honor, and thereby
they will grow up to be men and women choice above all the men and
women of the world.--_Apr C. R.,_ 1917, pp. 5, 6.
WHAT CHILDREN SHOULD BE TAUGHT. I pray you, my {367} brethren and
sisters, who have children in Zion, and upon whom rests the greater
responsibility, teach them the principles of the gospel, teach them to
have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in baptism for the remission
of sins when they shall reach the age of eight years. They must be
taught in the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ by their
parents, or the blood of the children will be upon the skirts of those
parents. It seems to me so plain a duty and so necessary for them to
see to it that their children avail themselves of the opportunities
that are afforded them in having them taught and instructed in these
principles in the Sunday schools that are established in the Church
and conducted Sunday after Sunday for the benefit of their children.
I should feel contemptible, I was going to say, in my own mind, in my
own feelings, if I had children who were neglected by their parents in
regard to these matters. Our little ones are only too anxious to go to
Sunday school, no matter what may occur, whether it rains or is cold or
pleasant, or what not; whether they are sick or well, they cannot be
kept from the Sunday school unless there is great cause for it.--_Apr.
C. R.,_ 1903, p. 81.
TRAINING OF CHILDREN AT HOME AND IN SUNDAY SCHOOL. It does not
need argument to convince our minds that our children will be
just about what we make them. They are born without knowledge or
understanding--the most helpless creatures of the animal creation born
into the world. The little one begins to learn after it is born, and
all that it knows greatly depends upon its environment, the influences
under which it is brought up, the kindness with which it is treated,
the noble examples shown it, the hallowed influences of father and
mother, or otherwise, over its infant mind. And it will be largely what
its environment and its parents and teachers make it.
The child of the lowest of our native tribes born in a wigwam and
the child born in luxury start out almost equal, {368} so far as the
possibilities of learning are concerned. A great deal depends upon the
influence under which it is brought up. You will observe that the most
potent influence over the mind of a child to persuade it to learn, to
progress, or to accomplish anything, is the influence of love. More can
be accomplished for good by unfeigned love, in bringing up a child,
than by any other influence that can be brought to bear upon it. A
child that cannot be conquered by the lash, or subdued by violence, may
be controlled in an instant by unfeigned affection and sympathy. I know
that is true; and this principle obtains in every condition of life.
The Sunday school teacher should govern the children, not by passion,
by bitter words or scolding, but by affection and by winning their
confidence. If a teacher gets the confidence of a child it is not
impossible to accomplish every desired good with that child.
I would have it understood that I believe that the greatest law and
commandment of God is to love the Lord our God with all our mind, might
and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves, and if this principle is
observed at home the brothers and sisters will love one another; they
will be kind and helpful to one another, showing forth the principle
of kindness and being solicitous for one another's good. Under these
circumstances the home comes nearer being a heaven on earth, and
children brought up under these influences will never forget them, and
though they may be in trying places, their memories will revert to the
homes where they enjoyed such hallowed influences, and their better
natures will assert themselves no matter what the trials or temptations
may be.
Brethren and sisters of the Sunday school, I implore you to teach and
control by the spirit of love and forbearance until you can conquer.
If children are defiant and difficult to control, be patient with them
until you can conquer {369} by love, and you will have gained their
souls, and you can then mould their characters as you please.
Sometimes children do not like their teachers, and the teachers are
impatient with the children, and complain of them as being very
uncouth, uncontrollable and bad. The children in their turn tell their
parents how they despise their teachers, and say they don't want to go
to school any more because the teacher is so cross. I have heard of
these things and know them to be true. On the other hand, if children
say to father and mother, "We think we have the best teacher in the
world, in our Sunday school," or, "We have the best teacher in our
district school that ever lived," it proves that those teachers have
won the affections of the children, and the little ones are as clay in
the hands of the potter to be moulded in any shape desired. This is the
position you teachers should occupy, and if you get their affections
this will be the report the children will make regarding you.--_Oct. C.
R.,_ 1902, pp. 92, 93.
TEACH CHILDREN THE GOSPEL. It is the duty of parents to teach their
children the principles of the gospel and to be sober-minded and
industrious in their youth. They should be impressed from the cradle
to the time they leave the parental roof to make homes and assume the
duties of life for themselves, that there is a seed time and harvest,
and as man sows, so shall he reap. The sowing of bad habits in youth
will bring forth nothing better than vice, and the sowing of the seeds
of indolence will result invariably in poverty and lack of stability in
old age. Evil begets evil, and good will bring forth good.
I have heard people say, "We pass this way but once, and we might as
well have a good time and make the most of it while life lasts." This
is in keeping with the prediction in the Book of Mormon: "And there
shall be many which shall say, Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow
we die; and it shall be well with us. * * * Yea, and {370} there shall
be many which shall teach after this manner, false, and vain, and
foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall
seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall
be in the dark." (II Nephi 28:7-9)
Let the parents in Zion give their children something to do that
they may be taught the arts of industry, and equipped to carry
responsibility when it is thrust upon them. Train them in some useful
vocation that their living may be assured when they commence in life
for themselves. Remember, the Lord has said that "the idler shall not
eat the bread of the laborer," but all in Zion should be industrious.
Neither should they be given to loud laughter, light and foolish
speeches, worldly pride and lustful desires, for these are not only
unbecoming, but grievous sins in the sight of the Lord. And, we read
that the wages of sin is death, and death is banishment from the Spirit
and presence of the Lord.
And above all else, let us train our children in the principles of the
gospel of our Savior, that they may become familiar with the truth and
walk in the light which it sheds forth to all those who will receive
it. "He that seeketh me early," the Lord has said, "shall find me, and
shall not be forsaken." It behooves us, therefore, to commence in early
life to travel in the straight and narrow path which leads to eternal
salvation.--_Juvenile Instructor,_ Vol. 52, pp. 19, 20, January, 1917;
Rom. 6:23; Prov. 8:17.
TEACH CHILDREN THE STORY OF JESUS' DEATH. Should the little children
of the kindergarten be taught the events leading up to and culminating
in the death of our Savior? It is a principle widely accepted that
it is not desirable to teach these little ones those things that are
horrifying to childish natures. And what may be said of children
is equally true in all stages of student life. But death is not an
unmixed horror. With it are associated some of the profoundest and most
important truths of human life. Although {371} painful in the extreme
to those who must suffer the departure of dear ones, death is one of
the grandest blessings in divine economy; and we think children should
be taught something of its true meaning as early in life as possible.
We are born that we may put on mortality, that is, that we may clothe
our spirits with a body. Such a blessing is the first step toward an
immortal body, and the second step is death. Death lies along the road
of eternal progress; and though hard to bear, no one who believes
in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and especially in the resurrection,
would have it otherwise. Children should be taught early in life that
death is really a necessity as well as a blessing, and that we would
not and could not be satisfied and supremely happy without it. Upon
the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus, one of the grandest
principles of the gospel depends. If children were taught this early in
life, death would not have the horrifying influence that it does have
over many childish minds.
Children are sure to be brought into some acquaintanceship with the
incident of death, even during the kindergarten period; and it would
be a great relief to the puzzled and perplexed conditions of their
minds if some intelligent statements of the reason for death were
made to them. No explanation of death to a child's mind can anywhere
be found that is more simple and convincing than is the death of
our Master, connected as it is and ever must be with the glorious
resurrection.--_Juvenile Instructor,_ Vol. 40, p. 336, June 1, 1905.
WISE GIVING TO CHILDREN. It is very gratifying to parents to be able
to respond to the desires of their children, but it is undoubtedly a
cruelty to a child to give it everything it asks for. Children may
wisely be denied things which even in themselves are harmless. Our
pleasures depend often more upon the qualities of our desires than
{372} upon the gratification. A child may be ladened with gifts which
afford him little or no pleasure, simply because he has no desire
for them. The education then of our desires is one of far-reaching
importance to our happiness in life; and when we learn that there is
an education of our intellects and we are set about that education
with prudence and wisdom, we shall do much to increase not only our
happiness but also our usefulness in the world.
God's ways of educating our desires are, of course, always the most
perfect, and if those who have it in their power to educate and direct
the desires of children would imitate his prudence, the children
would be much more fortunate in combating the difficulties that beset
men everywhere in the struggle for existence. And what is God's way?
Everywhere in nature we are taught the lessons of patience and waiting.
We want things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we
wanted them a long time makes them all the more precious when they
come. In nature we have our seed-time and harvest; and if children
were taught that the desires that they sow may be reaped by and by
through patience and labor, they will learn to appreciate whenever a
long-looked-for goal has been reached. Nature resists us and keeps
admonishing us to wait; indeed, we are compelled to wait.
A man has a much greater capacity to enjoy that for which he has
labored for a number of years than one who has a similar object given
to him. It is, therefore, most unfortunate for children when their
parents greatly weaken or almost wholly destroy the children's capacity
for the enjoyment of some of the most wholesome pleasures of life. The
child who has everything he wants and when he wants it is really to be
pitied, for he has no ability to enjoy it. There may be a hundred times
more pleasure in a dollar piece for one child than for another.
Our desires are the strongest motives which incite us {373} to energy
and which make us productive and creative in life. If they are weak,
our creations are likely to be puny and worthless. Money that a boy
works for has a value upon his life and an actual purchasing power
greatly in excess of the money that has been given to him. And what is
true of boys is in a large measure true of girls. The girl who earns
something, who works persistently and patiently that she may have
money she can call her own has a capacity for enjoying the objects of
her desires greatly in excess of the girl who never learned to earn a
dollar. She also knows and appreciates the value of a dollar more than
the girl who never had to wait until she earned it. It is a mistake for
parents to suppose that a daughter ought never to be required to earn
anything. Every effort by which we seek the fulfilment of our desires
gives strength and character to manhood and womanhood. The man who
builds a house has vastly more enjoyment in its occupation than the man
who has had a house given to him.
It is just as wrong systematically to give a child everything he
desires as to deny the child everything. When indulgent parents fancy
that they are adding to the pleasure of their children's lives by
giving to them whatever they wish, such parents are in fact destroying
the capacity of their children to enjoy the gratification of desires
weakened and perverted by over-indulgence. The ability to give to
children wisely is indeed a rare attainment, and is acquired only by
a thoughtful and prudent exercise of the highest sense of duty which
parents can feel for their children. Duty is always preferable to
indulgence.--_Juvenile Instructor,_ p. 400, July 1, 1903.
DO NOT PLACE CHILDREN UNDER PLEDGES. We believe it is questionable
wisdom to put children under a pledge of any kind. We ourselves do not
put our children under pledges, and we see no reason why we should
permit others to do it. Instructions can be given to children warning
them {374} against the use of strong drinks and tobacco just as well
without their being pledged as by placing that responsibility upon
them. No man or set of people should be permitted to call our children
together for the purpose of joining a temperance society, without they
first obtain the consent of the parents or guardians of those children;
and we take it for granted that no such consent would be given. We also
take it for granted that boards of education could not consistently,
without such permission, allow such a thing to be done in the public
schools.
It should be understood that we, the Latter-day Saints, teach
temperance and morality as part of our religion, and that we ourselves
are competent to do this kind of work among our own children without
the aid of outside temperance societies.--_Juvenile Instructor,_ Vol.
37, p. 720, Dec. 1, 1902.
CHILDREN HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS WITH ELDERS IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD. Our
children should be taught also that they have rights in the house of
the Lord equal to their parents and equal to their neighbors or anybody
else.--_Oct. C. R.,_ 1904, p. 88.
DON'T MORTGAGE YOUR HOUSES. My brethren, see to it that you do not put
a mortgage upon the roof that covers the heads of your wives and your
children. Don't do it. Don't plaster your farms with mortgages, because
it is from your farms that you reap your food, and the means to provide
your raiment and your other necessaries of life. Keep your possessions
free from debt. Get out of debt as fast as you can, and keep out of
debt, for that is the way in which the promise of God will be fulfilled
to the people of his Church, that they will become the richest of all
people in the world. But this will not happen while you mortgage your
homes and your farms, or run into debt beyond your ability to meet your
obligations; and thus, perhaps, your name and credit be dishonored
because you over-reached {375} yourselves. "Never reach further than
you can gather," is a good motto.--_Apr. C. R.,_ 1915, p. 11.
NO SUBSTITUTE FOR THE HOME. The growing tendency throughout the country
to abandon the home for the hotel and for the nomadic life with its
ever-shifting and restless spirit, manifests itself here and there
among the Latter-day Saints. A word of warning at this time may not be
inappropriate to those who imagine that there is some charm as well as
benefit in moving about the world in quest of pleasure and novelties
that come from changing frequently one's habitation.
There is no substitute for the home. Its foundation is as ancient as
the world, and its mission has been ordained of God from the earliest
times. From Abraham sprang two ancient races represented in Isaac and
Ishmael. The one built stable homes, and prized its land as a divine
inheritance. The other became children of the desert, and as restless
as its ever-shifting sands upon which their tents were pitched. From
that day to the present, the home has been the chief characteristic
of superior over inferior nations. The home then is more than a
habitation, it is an institution which stands for stability and love in
individuals as well as in nations.
There can be no genuine happiness separate and apart from the home, and
every effort made to sanctify and preserve its influence is uplifting
to those who toil and sacrifice for its establishment. Men and women
often seek to substitute some other life for that of the home; they
would make themselves believe that the home means restraint; that the
highest liberty is the fullest opportunity to move about at will.
There is no happiness without service, and there is no service greater
than that which converts the home into a divine institution, and which
promotes and preserves family life.
Those who shirk home responsibilities are wanting in an {376}
important element of social well-being. They may indulge themselves in
social pleasures, but their pleasures are superficial and result in
disappointment later in life. The occupations of men sometimes call
them from their homes; but the thought of home-coming is always an
inspiration to well doing and devotion. When women abandon the home
and its duties, the case is a more deplorable one. The evil effects
are not confined to the mother alone. The children are robbed of a
sacred right, and their love is bereft of its rallying place around
the hearthstone. The strongest attachments of childhood are those that
cluster about the home, and the dearest memories of old age are those
that call up the associations of youth and its happy surroundings.
The disposition among the Saints to be moving about ought to be
discouraged. If communities must swarm, let the young go, and let the
old homes be transmitted from generation to generation, and let the
home be erected with the thought that it is to be a family abiding
place from one generation to another, that it is to be a monument to
its founder and an inheritance of all that is sacred and dear in home
life. Let it be the Mecca to which an ever-increasing posterity may
make its pilgrimage. The home, a stable and pure home, is the highest
guaranty of social stability and permanence in government.
A Latter-day Saint who has no ambition to establish a home and give
it permanency has not a full conception of a sacred duty the gospel
imposes upon him. It may be necessary at times to change our abode;
but a change should never be made for light or trivial reasons, nor
to satisfy a restless spirit. Whenever homes are built the thought
of permanency should always be present. Many of the Saints live in
parts of the country that are less productive than others, that
possess few natural attractions, yet they cherish their homes and
their surroundings, and the more substantial men and women of such
communities are the last {377} to abandon them. There is no substitute
in wealth or in ambition for the home. Its influence is a prime
necessity for man's happiness and well-being.--_Juvenile Instructor,_
Vol. 38, pp. 145, 146, March 1, 1903.
WORSHIP IN THE HOME. We have in the gospel the truth. If that is the
case, and I bear my testimony that so it is, then it is worth our every
effort to understand the truth, each for himself, and to impart it in
spirit and practice to our children. Far too many risk their children's
spiritual guidance to chance, or to others rather than to themselves,
and think that organizations suffice for religious training. Our
temporal bodies would soon become emaciated, if we fed them only once a
week, or twice, as some of us are in the habit of feeding our spiritual
and religious bodies. Our material concerns would be less thriving, if
we looked after them only two hours a week, as some people seem to do
with their spiritual affairs, especially if we in addition contented
ourselves, as some do in religious matters, to let others look after
them.
No; on the other hand, this should be done every day, and in the
home, by precept, teaching and example. Brethren, there is too little
religious devotion, love and fear of God, in the home; too much
worldliness, selfishness, indifference and lack of reverence in the
family, or these never would exist so abundantly on the outside. Then,
the home is what needs reforming. Try today, and tomorrow, to make
a change in your home by praying twice a day with your family; call
on your children and your wife to pray with you. Ask a blessing upon
every meal you eat. Spend ten minutes in reading a chapter from the
words of the Lord in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and
Covenants, before you retire, or before you go to your daily toil. Feed
your spiritual selves at home, as well as in public places. Let love,
and peace, and the Spirit of the Lord, kindness, charity, sacrifice for
others, abound in your families. {378} Banish harsh words, envyings,
hatreds, evil speaking, obscene language and innuendo, blasphemy, and
let the Spirit of God take possession of your hearts. Teach to your
children these things, in spirit and power, sustained and strengthened
by personal practice. Let them see that you are earnest, and practice
what you preach. Do not let your children out to specialists in these
things, but teach them by your own precept and example, by your own
fireside. Be a specialist yourself in the truth. Let our meetings,
schools and organizations, instead of being our only or leading
teachers, be supplements to our teachings and training in the home.
Not one child in a hundred would go astray, if the home environment,
example and training, were in harmony with the truth in the gospel of
Christ, as revealed and taught to the Latter-day Saints. Fathers and
mothers, you are largely to blame for the infidelity and indifference
of your children. You can remedy the evil by earnest worship, example,
training and discipline, in the home.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 7, Dec.,
1904, p. 135.
THE BASIS OF A TRUE HOME. A home is not a home in the eye of the
gospel, unless there dwell perfect confidence and love between the
husband and the wife. Home is a place of order, love, union, rest,
confidence, and absolute trust; where the breath of suspicion of
infidelity can not enter; where the woman an the man each have implicit
confidence in each other's honor and virtue.--_Second Sunday School
Convention_.
THE IDEAL HOME. What then is an ideal home--model home, such as it
should be the ambition of the Latter-day Saints to build; such as a
young man starting out in life should wish to erect for himself? And
the answer came to me: It is one in which all worldly considerations
are secondary. One in which the father is devoted to the family with
which God has blessed him, counting them of first importance, {379}
and in which they in turn permit him to live in their hearts. One
in which there is confidence, union, love, sacred devotion between
father and mother and children and parents. One in which the mother
takes every pleasure in her children, supported by the father--all
being moral, pure, God-fearing. As the tree is judged by its fruit,
so also do we judge the home by the children. In the ideal home true
parents rear loving, thoughtful children, loyal to the death, to father
and mother and home! In it there is the religious spirit, for both
parents and children have faith in God, and their practices are in
conformity with that faith; the members are free from the vices and
contaminations of the world, are pure in morals, having upright hearts
beyond bribes and temptations, ranging high in the exalted standards
of manhood and womanhood. Peace, order, and contentment reign in the
hearts of the inmates--let them be rich or poor, in things material.
There are no vain regrets; no expressions of discontent against father,
from the boys and girls, in which they complain: "If we only had this
or that, or were like this family or that, or could do like so and
so!"--complaints that have caused fathers many uncertain steps, dim
eyes, restless nights, and untold anxiety. In their place is the loving
thoughtfulness to mother and father by which the boys and girls work
with a will and a determination to carry some of the burden that the
parents have staggered under these many years. There is the kiss for
mother, the caress for father, the thought that they have sacrificed
their own hopes and ambitions, their strength, even life itself to
their children--there is gratitude in payment for all that has been
given them!
In the ideal home the soul is not starved, neither are the growth
and expansion of the finer sentiments paralyzed for the coarse and
sensual pleasures. The main aim is not to heap up material wealth,
which generally draws further and further from the true, the ideal,
the spiritual life; but it is {380} rather to create soul--wealth,
consciousness of noble achievement, an outflow of love and helpfulness.
It is not costly paintings, tapestries, priceless bric-a-brac,
various ornaments, costly furniture, fields, herds, houses and lands
which constitute the ideal home, nor yet the social enjoyments and
ease so tenaciously sought by many; but it is rather beauty of soul,
cultivated, loving, faithful, true spirits; hands that help and hearts
that sympathize; love that seeks not its own, thoughts and acts that
touch our lives to finer issues--these lie at the foundation of the
ideal home.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 8, 1904-05, pp. 385-388.
FOUNDATION OF ALL GOOD IN HOME. The very foundation of the kingdom of
God, of righteousness, of progress, of development, of eternal life
and eternal increase in the kingdom of God, is laid in the divinely
ordained home; and there should be no difficulty in holding in the
highest reverence and exalted thought, the home, if it can be built
upon the principles of purity, of true affection, of righteousness
and justice. The man and his wife who have perfect confidence in each
other, and who determine to follow the laws of God in their lives
and fulfil the measure of their mission in the earth, would not be,
and could never be, contented without the home. Their hearts, their
feelings, their minds, their desires would naturally trend toward
the building of a home and family and of a kingdom of their own; to
the laying of the foundation of eternal increase and power, glory,
exaltation and dominion, worlds without end.--_Juvenile Instructor,_
Vol. 51, p. 739.
SECURE HOMES. In my judgment it would be prudence and wisdom for the
young people to secure lands near the homes of their parents and near
the body of the Church, where they can have the advantage of Sunday
schools and the gatherings of the Saints, and in so doing they will be
building for themselves, instead of permitting the stranger to come
in and take the lands--strangers with whom in many instances {381} we
could not affiliate. We all know there are classes who come in here
who up to date have not proved desirable neighbors to affiliate with,
and it is just as well for our own young people to stay in the land of
their birth and build them homes. I will say that we do not approve
of the disposition of some to go afar off where life, property and
liberty are not safe. We wish them to remain together, so that if it is
necessary or desirable that the Saints should colonize, they might do
it in order.
I do not want to be understood as saying or thinking that one little
state is big enough to contain all the young people, and I think it is
wisdom and necessary for the Latter-day Saints to take every advantage
in this respect that is possible. I think our young people should get
homes in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado--in our own state and in
adjoining states--in blessed America, under this grand and glorious
government where life and property, and the liberties of men are safe
and protected, where mob violence and revolutionary spirit do not stalk
forth as in some countries of the world.
Another thing. In the old times an effort was made to co-operate and
combine together and establish home industries for the production of
the things that were needful for consumption of the people and to
produce a revenue as well. Today we have allowed the home industry
spirit to perish almost from amongst us, and we do not witness the
same loyalty among the people to those things which are produced at
home that there should be. There are too many people who would rather
patronize some "cheap John" and buy shoddy goods, just because they can
get them a few pence cheaper, than to sustain home industry, and get
all wool and a yard wide. We should not encourage foreign capital to
the exclusion of our own, and patronize foreign labor against our own,
but we should build up our home institutions.--_From a Sermon,_ given
in Logan, April 7, 1910.
{382} OWN YOUR HOMES. It was early the rule among the Latter-day Saints
to have the lands so divided that every family could have a spot of
ground which could be called theirs; and it has been the proud boast
of this people that among them were more home owners than among any
other people of like numbers. This condition had a good tendency,
and whatever men said of us, the home among this people was a first
consideration. It is this love of home that has made the Saints famous
as colonizers, builders of settlements, and redeemers of the deserts.
But in the cities there appears now to be coming into vogue the
idea that renting is the thing. Of course, it may be necessary as a
temporary makeshift, but no young couple should ever settle down with
the idea that such a condition, as far as they are concerned, shall be
permanent. Every young man should have an ambition to possess his own
home. It is better for him, for his family, for society, for the state,
and for the Church. Nothing so engenders stability, strength, power,
patriotism, fidelity to country and to God as the owning of a home--a
spot of earth that you and your children can call yours. And besides,
there are so many tender virtues that grow with such ownership that the
government of a family is made doubly easy thereby.
Let us continue, as a people, to be unlike the world in this regard.
I hope the Saints will ever be a home owning people, and never become
roamers, roomers and renters. We should no more follow the prevailing
notions in this than in some other things. The people of Zion have
a higher destiny than being led by the nose, as it were, by the
prevailing whims. We do not purpose being led by evil tendencies, but
rather glory in being leaders ourselves in all that makes for the
welfare and happiness of the home, the advancement of the Church, the
prosperity of the state.--_Improvement Era,_ Aug., 1904, Vol. 7, p. 796.
DO NOT MORTGAGE YOUR HOMES. Whenever a panic {383} comes, or there is
severe financial depression because of monetary conditions, the people
have before them a painful object lesson on the evils of mortgaging,
especially of their homes and places of business.
Men owe it to their wives and children to be prudent and conservative
when business considerations touch the home, and it is doubtful whether
they really have a moral right to expose helpless wives and children to
the mercies of the money lender. The evils are too abundantly manifest
to permit of mortgaging homes that should be sacred to the needs of
those who are dependent upon them.
The Latter-day Saints have often been warned and are now earnestly
admonished not to hazard their homes, and with them their wives and
children, upon the altar of financial speculations.
What was taught in the early days of our history in this intermountain
region is equally true today, and it is the duty of every Latter-day
Saint, so far as it is possible, to own his home, to possess an earthly
inheritance. It has been our pride that among the people of all the
world nowhere can a greater percentage be found of those who have title
to the homes in which they live. Instead of declining year by year in
the total number of homes owned by the Latter-day Saints of Salt Lake
City, and other large cities, there should be an increase. The matter
of the Saints possessing title to their homes is something more than a
question of whether it pays best to rent or to own. It is a question
of vital importance to our future position, and relative strength in
a land to which by every rule of equity and prudence we are entitled.
There is a virtue and an assurance and a certainty in the ownership of
one's home that are never felt by those who are shifting from place
to place without any landed possession. The influence upon child life
that comes from the possession and ownership of the family home is of
itself a sufficient reason to guard it against the repeated evils {384}
of mortgaging. The Latter-day Saints owe it to themselves and they
owe it to their God to be steadfast in the possession of the lands to
which they hold titles, either by purchase or settlement. The evil of
mortgaging homes to eastern firms, to men and companies who have no
other motive than to secure their pound of flesh, is growing among the
people, and especially among those in the larger cities. Against such
evils the people have in the past been abundantly warned. If necessity
compels the husband to place a mortgage upon the home, let it come,
if possible, through a friend and not through those who may be the
enemies of the people. If the Latter-day Saints will give heed to the
prudent admonitions and lessons of the past, they will hesitate in the
presence of the alluring temptations which are now everywhere held out,
to mortgage their homes, their places of business, the canals, and the
farms, for the means with which to speculate and grow rich. It is to be
hoped, therefore, that where the Saints have mortgages upon their homes
they will be persistent in their endeavors to remove them, and they are
advised to keep intact and beyond menace the titles to their lands.
The admonitions here given are directed especially to those disposed to
mortgage for the purpose of speculation, and not to those who may find
it necessary through building societies or otherwise to secure homes by
monthly or other periodical payments. The latter practice may lead to
economic habits, while speculations too frequently create a spirit of
extravagance.--_Juvenile Instructor,_ Vol. 36, pp. 722-723.
EVILS OF MORTGAGING. What a blessed condition would result in Zion if
the evil of going into debt, of mortgaging the home, could be made very
clear to every Latter-day Saint, young and old! Well, indeed, would it
be if some of the burdens of the mortgage and its accompanying sorrows,
could be felt and understood by every man who has in contemplation the
pawning of his home and land for money--that {385} he might comprehend
its slavery and terror--as thoroughly prior to the deed as he is sure
to feel it after. In that event, he might be warned in time to avoid
the fatal step, and awake as from a horrid dream to rejoice in his
deliverance. With few exceptions mortgages on private property end in
disaster to the giver. * * * What should we think of men who would
jeopardize the position and place of the people of Zion! The land of
Zion is an inheritance, and every man who mortgages his part of that
inheritance places in jeopardy the land, thus not only disinheriting
himself, but committing a crime against the whole community and the
intelligence and wisdom that should characterize every true Latter-day
Saint. The result of such action is appalling, and its contemplation
something fearful to every lover of the people of God, the more so when
one possesses a knowledge of how widespread is the evil.
Mortgaging, then, looked upon in its true light, is not only a private
burden and detriment, in which a man's family is thrown out of house
and home, and his own abilities, happiness and talents are destroyed or
sadly diminished, but it is positively a public crime in a community
like ours. Disposing of inheritances in Zion partakes of the nature of
such action as individuals pulling up and selling for money the gold
bricks from the streets of the Celestial City. It is intolerable, when
looked upon in the right light! The old proverb: "Who goes a borrowing
goes a sorrowing," and "Lying rides on debt's back," should appeal
directly to every man who contemplates mortgaging. But if personal
appeal is not strong enough, let him remember that his home or farm
is likely to go for half of its value to satisfy his debt, and that
his family who depend upon him will be left without adequate shelter
and support. But if neither reason is strong enough to hold him back,
let him remember Zion and his inheritance therein, and let her cause
cry aloud to him to bring him to a realizing sense of the triple crime
that he is {386} about to commit, in order that his hand may be stayed,
and he saved the humiliation, worry, anxiety and sorrow that must
inevitably overtake him, unless he repent.--_Improvement Era,_ Dec.,
1901, Vol. 5, p. 147.
OUR FIRST DUTY TO OUR HOUSEHOLD. I want to tell you that we will be
honest with you; we feel that it is the first duty of Latter-day Saints
to take care of themselves and of their poor; and then, if we can
extend it to others, and as wide and as far as we can extend charity
and assistance to others that are not members of the Church, we feel
that it is our duty to do it. But first look after the members of our
own household. The man who will not provide for his own house, as one
of old has said, is worse than an infidel._--Apr. C. R.,_ 1915, p. 10.
UNCHASTITY, A DOMINANT EVIL. The character of a community or a nation
is the sum of the individual qualities of its component members. To
say so is to voice at once an ordinary platitude and an axiom of
profound import. The stability of a material structure depends upon
the integrity of its several parts and the maintenance of a proper
correlation of the units in harmony with the laws of forces. The same
may be said of institutions, systems, and organizations in general.
Not alone is it fundamentally proper and in strict accord with both the
spirit and the letter of the Divine Word, but absolutely essential to
the stability of the social order that the marriage relation shall be
defined and regulated by secular law. Parties to the marriage contract
must be definitely invested with the responsibilities of the status
they assume; and for fidelity to their obligations they are answerable
to each other, to society, and to their God.
Sexual union is lawful in wedlock, and if participated in with right
intent is honorable and sanctifying. But without the bonds of marriage,
sexual indulgence is a debasing sin, abominable in the sight of Deity.
{387} Infidelity to marriage vows is a fruitful source of divorce,
with its long train of attendant evils, not the least of which are the
shame and dishonor inflicted on unfortunate though innocent children.
The dreadful effects of adultery cannot be confined to the erring
participants. Whether openly known or partly concealed under the cloak
of guilty secrecy, the results are potent in evil influence. The
immortal spirits that come to earth to tabernacle in bodies of flesh
have the right to be well born, through parents who are free from the
contamination of sexual vice.
It is a deplorable fact that society persists in holding women to
stricter account than men in the matter of sexual offense. What shadow
of excuse, not to speak of justification, can be found for this
outrageous and cowardly discrimination? Can moral defilement be any the
less filthy and pestilential in man than in woman? Is a male leper less
to be shunned for fear of contagion than a woman similarly stricken?
So far as woman sins it is inevitable that she shall suffer, for
retribution is sure, whether it be immediate or deferred. But in so far
as man's injustice inflicts upon her the consequence of his offenses,
he stands convicted of multiple guilt. And man is largely responsible
for the sins against decency and virtue, the burden of which is too
often fastened upon the weaker participant in the crime. The frightful
prevalence of prostitution, and the tolerance and even condonation with
which the foul traffic is treated by so-called civilized society, are
black blots on the pages of current history. * * *
Like many bodily diseases, sexual crime drags with itself a train
of other ills. As the physical effects of drunkenness entail the
deterioration of tissue, and disturbance of vital functions, and
so render the body receptive to any distemper to which it may be
exposed, and at the same time lower the powers of resistance even to
fatal deficiency, so {388} does unchastity expose the soul to divers
spiritual maladies, and rob it of both resistance and recuperative
ability. The adulterous generation of Christ's day were deaf to the
voice of truth, and through their diseased state of mind and heart,
sought after signs and preferred empty fable to the message of
salvation.
We accept without reservation or qualification the affirmation of
Deity, through an ancient Nephite prophet: "For I, the Lord God,
delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination
before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts." (Jacob 2:28.)
We hold that sexual sin is second only to the shedding of innocent
blood in the category of personal crimes; and that the adulterer shall
have no part in the exaltation of the blessed.
We proclaim as the word of the Lord: "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
"He that looketh on a woman to lust after her, or if any shall commit
adultery in their hearts, they shall not have the Spirit, but shall
deny the faith."--_Improvement Era,_ June, 1918, Vol. 20, p. 738; Doc.
and Cov. 63:16.
DEGREES OF SEXUAL SIN. There are said to be more shades of green than
of any other color, so also we are of the opinion there are more grades
or degrees of sin associated with the improper relationship of the
sexes than of any other wrongdoing of which we have knowledge. They
all involve a grave offense--the sin against chastity, but in numerous
instances this sin is intensified by the breaking of sacred covenants,
to which is sometimes added deceit, intimidation or actual violence.
Much as all these sins are to be denounced and deplored, we can
ourselves see a difference both in intent and consequence between the
offense of a young couple who, being betrothed, in an unguarded moment,
without premeditation {389} fall into sin, and that of the man, who
having entered into holy places and made sacred covenants, plots to rob
the wife of his neighbor of her virtue either by cunning or force, and
accomplishes his vile intent.
Not only is there a difference in these wrongs, judging from the
standpoint of intent, but also from that of the consequences. In the
first instance the young couple who have transgressed can make partial
amends by sincere repentance and by marrying. One reparation, however,
they cannot make. They cannot restore the respect that they previously
held for each other; and too often as a consequence of this loss of
confidence their married life is clouded or embittered by the fear that
each has for the other, having once sinned, may do so again. In the
other case, others are most disastrously involved, families are broken
up, misery is forced upon innocent parties, society is affected, doubt
is thrown upon the paternity of children, and from the standpoint of
gospel ordinances, the question of descent is clouded and pedigrees
become worthless; altogether, wrongs are committed both to the living
and the dead, as well as to the yet unborn, which it is out of the
power of the offenders to repair or make right.
Sometimes an argument is advanced to limit the provisions of the law
of God, as given in the book of Doctrine and Covenants, both with
regard to punishment and to forgiveness to those who have entered the
House of the Lord and received their endowments. This is not possible,
as so many of these provisions were given in revelations published
several years before the Saints were permitted to receive these holy
ordinances, indeed, before any temple was built. The law as given, we
believe to be general, applying to all the Saints. But undoubtedly
when, in addition to the actual offense against the laws of chastity,
covenants are broken, then the punishment for the double offense will,
either in this life or that which is to come, be correspondingly
greater {390} and more severe.--_Juvenile Instructor,_ Nov. 15, 1902,
Vol. 37, p. 688.
PURITY. There is something in man, an essential part of his mind, which
recalls the events of the past, and the words that we have spoken on
various occasions. Words which we spoke in our childhood we can readily
bring to mind. Words that we heard others speak in our infancy, we can
recall, though we may be advanced in years. We recall words that were
spoken in our youth and in our early manhood, as well as words that
were spoken yesterday. May I say to you that in reality a man cannot
forget anything? He may have a lapse of memory; he may not be able
to recall at the moment a thing that he knows, or words that he, has
spoken; he may not have the power at his will to call up these events
and words; but let God Almighty touch the mainspring of the memory,
and awaken recollection, and you will find then that you have not even
forgotten a single idle word that you have spoken. I believe the word
of God to be true, and therefore, I warn the youth of Zion, as well as
those who are advanced in years, to beware of saying wicked things, of
speaking evil, and taking in vain the name of sacred things and sacred
beings. Guard your words, that you may not offend even man, much less
offend God.
We believe that God lives, and that he is a judge of the quick and the
dead. We believe that his eye is upon the world, and that he beholds
his groveling, erring and weak children upon this earth. We believe
that we are here by his design, and not by choice; that we are here to
fulfil a destiny, and not to fulfil a whim, or for the gratification of
mortal lusts. We believe that we are immortal beings. We believe in the
resurrection of the dead, and that as Jesus came forth from the grave
to everlasting life, his Spirit and body uniting again never more to be
separated, so has he opened the way for every son and daughter of Adam,
{391} whether living or dead, to come forth from the grave to a newness
of life, to become immortal souls, body and spirit, united, never to be
severed any more. We raise our voices against prostitution, and against
all forms of immorality. We are not here to practice immorality of any
kind. Above all things, sexual immorality is most heinous in the sight
of God. It is on a par with murder itself, and God Almighty fixed the
penalty of the murderer at death: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man
shall his blood be shed." Furthermore, he said that whosoever committed
adultery should be put to death. Therefore, we raise our voices against
sexual immorality, and against all manner of obscenity.
Then, we say to you who have repented of your sins, who have been
buried with Christ in baptism, who have been raised from the liquid
grave to newness of life, born of the water and of the Spirit, and
who have been made the children of the Father, heirs of God and joint
heirs with Jesus Christ--we say to you, if you will observe the laws of
God, and cease to do evil, cease to be obscene, cease to be immoral,
sexually or otherwise, cease to be profane, cease to be infidel, and
have faith in God, believe in the truth and receive it, and be honest
before God and man, that you will be set up on high, and God will
put you at the head, just as sure as you observe these commandments.
Whoso will keep the commandments of God, no matter whether it be you
or any other people, they will rise and not fall, they will lead and
not follow, they will go upward and not downward. God will exalt them
and magnify them before the nations of the earth, and he will set the
seal of his approval upon them, will name them as his own. This is my
testimony to you.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 6, p. 501, May, 1903.
THREE THREATENING DANGERS. There are at least three dangers that
threaten the Church within, and the authorities need to awaken to the
fact that the people should be {392} warned unceasingly against them.
As I see these, they are flattery of prominent men in the world, false
educational ideas, and sexual impurity.
But the third subject mentioned--personal purity, is perhaps of greater
importance than either of the other two. We believe in one standard of
morality for men and women. If purity of life is neglected, all other
dangers set in upon us like the rivers of waters when the flood gates
are opened.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 17, No. 5, p. 476. March, 1914.
THE GOSPEL THE GREATEST THING. One of the most important duties
devolving upon the Latter-day Saints is the proper training and rearing
of their children in the faith of the gospel. The gospel is the
greatest thing in all the world. There is nothing to compare with it.
The possessions of this earth are of no consequence when compared with
the blessings of the gospel. Naked we came into the world, and naked we
will go out of the world, so far as earthly things are concerned; for
we must leave them behind; but the eternal possessions which are ours
through obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ do not perish--the ties
that God has created between me and those whom he has given to me, and
the divine authority which I enjoy through the holy priesthood, these
are mine throughout all eternity. No power but sin, the transgression
of the laws of God, can take them from me. All these things are mine,
even after I leave this probation.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 21, pp.
102, 103, December, 1917.
DUTY OF HUSBAND TO WIFE. If there is any man who ought to merit the
curse of Almighty God it is the man who neglects the mother of his
child, the wife of his bosom, the one who has made sacrifice of her
very life, over and over again for him and his children. That is,
of course, assuming that the wife is a pure and faithful mother and
wife.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 21, p. 105, December, 1917.
WIVES AND HUSBANDS IN ETERNITY. We expect to {393} have our wives
and husbands in eternity. We expect our children will acknowledge
us as their fathers and mothers in eternity. I expect this: I look
for nothing else. Without it I could not be happy. The thought or
belief that I should be denied this privilege hereafter would make
me miserable from this moment. I never could be happy again without
the hope that I shall enjoy the society of my wives and children in
eternity. If I had not this hope, I should be of all men most unhappy;
"for if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men
most miserable." All who have tasted of the influence of the Spirit of
God, and have had awakened within them a hope of eternal life, cannot
be happy unless they continue to drink of that fountain until they are
satisfied, and it is the only fountain at which they can drink and be
satisfied.--_Deseret Weekly News,_ Vol. 33, p. 131, 1884.
IMPORTANCE OF FILIAL AFFECTION. Do not add to their burdens by neglect,
by extravagance or by misconduct. Rather suffer that your right hand be
cut off, or your eye plucked out than that you would bring sorrow or
anguish to your parents because of your neglect of filial affection to
them. So children, remember your parents. After they have nurtured you
through the tender years of your infancy and childhood, after they have
fed and clothed and educated you, after having given you a bed to rest
upon and done all in their power for your good, don't you neglect them
when they become feeble and are bowed down with the weight of their
years. Don't you leave them, but settle down near them, and do all in
your power to minister to their comfort and well-being.--_Improvement
Era,_ Vol. 21, p. 105, December, 1917.
FAMILY GOVERNMENT BY LOVE. I learned in my childhood, as most children,
probably, have learned, more or less at least, that no love in all the
world can equal the love of a true mother.
{394} I did not think in those days, and still I am at a loss to know,
how it would be possible for anyone to love her children more truly
than did my mother. I have felt sometimes, how could even the Father
love his children more than my mother loved her children? It was life
to me; it was strength; it was encouragement; it was love that begat
love or liking in myself. I knew she loved me with all her heart.
She loved her children with all her soul. She would toil and labor
and sacrifice herself day and night, for the temporal comforts and
blessings that she could meagerly give, through the results of her own
labors, to her children. There was no sacrifice of self--of her own
time, of her leisure or pleasure, or opportunities for rest--that was
considered for a moment, when it was compared with her duty and her
love to her children.
When I was fifteen years of age, and called to go to a foreign country
to preach the gospel--or to learn how, and to learn it for myself--the
strongest anchor that was fixed in my life, and that helped to hold my
ambition and my desire steady, to bring me upon a level and keep me
straight, was that love which I knew she had for me who bore me into
the world.
Only a little boy, not matured at all in judgment, without the
advantage of education, thrown in the midst of the greatest allurements
and temptations that it was possible for any boy or any man to be
subjected to--and yet, whenever these temptations became most alluring
and most tempting to me, the first thought that arose in my soul was
this: Remember the love of your mother. Remember how she strove for
your welfare. Remember how willing she was to sacrifice her life for
your good. Remember what she taught you in your childhood and how she
insisted upon your reading the New Testament--the only book, except a
few little school books, that we had in the family, or that was within
reach of us at that time. This feeling toward my mother became {395}
a defense, a barrier between me and temptation, so that I could turn
aside from temptation and sin by the help of the Lord and the love
begotten in my soul, toward her whom I knew loved me more than anybody
else in all the world, and more than any other living being could love
me.
A wife may love her husband, but it is different to that of the love
of mother to her child. The true mother, the mother who has the fear
of God and the love of truth in her soul, would never hide from danger
or evil and leave her child exposed to it. But as natural as it is for
the sparks to fly upward, as natural as it is to breathe the breath of
life, if there were danger coming to her child, she would step between
the child and that danger; she would defend her child to the uttermost.
Her life would be nothing in the balance, in comparison with the life
of her child. That is the love of true motherhood for children.
Her love for her husband would be different, for if danger should
come to him, as natural as it would be for her to step between her
child and danger, instead, her disposition would be to step behind her
husband for protection, and that is the difference between the love of
mother for children and the love of wife for husband--there is a great
difference between the two.
I have learned to place a high estimate upon the love of mother. I have
often said, and will repeat it, that the love of a true mother comes
nearer being like the love of God than any other kind of love. The
father may love his children, too; and next to the love that the mother
feels for her child, unquestionably and rightfully, too, comes the love
that the father feels for his child. But, as it has been illustrated
here by Brother Edward H. Anderson, the love of the father is of a
different character, or degree, to the love of the mother for her
child; illustrated by the fact he related here of having the privilege
of working with his boy, having him in his presence, becoming more
intimate with him, learning {396} his characteristics more clearly;
becoming more familiar and more closely related to him; the result of
which was that his love for his boy increased, and the love of the boy
increased for his father, for the same reason, merely because of that
closer association. So the child learns to love his mother best, as a
rule, when the mother is good, wise, prudent, and intelligent, because
the child is with her more, they are more familiar with each other and
understand each other better.
Now, this is the thought that I desire to express: Fathers, if you wish
your children to be taught in the principles of the gospel, if you
wish them to love the truth and understand it, if you wish them to be
obedient to and united with you, love them! and prove to them that you
do love them by your every word or act to them. For your own sake, for
the love that should exist between you and--your boys however wayward
they might be, or one or the other might be, when you speak or talk to
them, do it not in anger, do it not harshly, in a condemning spirit.
Speak to them kindly; get them down and weep with them if necessary
and get them to shed tears with you if possible. Soften their hearts;
get them to feel tenderly toward you. Use no lash and no violence, but
argue, or rather reason--approach them with reason, with persuasion
and love unfeigned. With these means, if you cannot gain your boys and
your girls, they will prove to be reprobate to you; and there will be
no means left in the world by which you can win them to yourselves.
But, get them to feel as you feel, have interest in the things in which
you take interest, to love the gospel as you love it, to love one
another as you love them; to love their parents as the parents love the
children. You can't do it any other way. You can't do it by unkindness;
you cannot do it by driving; our children are like we are; we couldn't
be driven; we can't be driven now. We are like some other animals that
we know of in {397} the world. You can coax them; you can lead them, by
holding out inducements to them, and by speaking kindly to them, but
you can't drive them; they won't be driven. We won't be driven. Men are
not in the habit of being driven; they are not made that way.
This is not the way that God intended, in the beginning, to deal with
his children--by force. It is all free love, free grace. The poet
expressed it in these words:
"Know this, that every soul is free,
To choose his life and what he'll be;
For this eternal truth is given,
That God will force no man to heaven."
You can't force your boys, nor your girls into heaven. You may force
them to hell, by using harsh means in the efforts to make them good,
when you yourselves are not as good as you should be. The man that will
be angry at his boy, and try to correct him while he is in anger, is in
the greatest fault; he is more to be pitied and more to be condemned
than the child who has done wrong. You can only correct your children
by love, in kindness, by love unfeigned, by persuasion, and reason.
When I was a child, somewhat a wayward, disobedient little boy--not
that I was wilfully disobedient, but I would forget what I ought to
do; I would go off with playful boys and be absent when I should have
been at home, and I would forget to do things I was asked to do. Then
I would go home, feel guilty, know that I was guilty, that I had
neglected my duty and that I deserved punishment.
On one occasion I had done something that was not just right, and my
mother said to me: "Now, Joseph, if you do that again I shall have to
whip you." Well, time went on, and by and by, I forgot it, and I did
something similar again; and this is the one thing that I admired more,
perhaps, than any secondary thing in her; it was that when she {398}
made a promise she kept it. She never made a promise, that I know of,
that she did not keep.
Well, I was called to account. She said: "Now, I told you. You knew
that if you did this I would have to whip you, for I said I would. I
must do it. I do not want to do it. It hurts me worse than it does you,
but I must whip you."
Well, she had a little rawhide, already there, and while she was
talking or reasoning with me, showing me how much I deserved it and how
painful it was to her, to inflict the punishment I deserved, I had only
one thought and that was: "For goodness' sake whip me; do not reason
with me," for I felt the lash of her just criticism and admonition a
thousand fold worse than I did the switch. I felt as if, when she laid
the lash on me, I had at least partly paid my debt and had answered for
my wrong doing. Her reasoning cut me down into the quick; it made me
feel sorry to the very core!
I could have endured a hundred lashes with the rawhide better than
I could endure a ten-minutes' talk in which I felt and was made to
feel that the punishment inflicted upon me was painful to her that I
loved--punishment upon my own mother!--Extracts from an address given
at a "Home Evening" meeting in Granite Stake, 1909. _Improvement Era,_
Vol. 13, pp. 276-280.
THE HOME AND THE CHILD. But what are we doing in our homes to train
our children; what to enlighten them? What to encourage them to make
home their place of amusement, and a place where they may invite their
friends for study or entertainment? Have we good books, games, music,
and well-lighted, well-ventilated, warm rooms for their convenience and
pleasure? Do we take personal interest in them and in their affairs?
Are we providing them with the physical knowledge, the mental food, the
healthful exercise, and the spiritual purification, that will enable
{399} them to become pure and robust in body, intelligent and honorable
citizens, faithful and loyal Latter-day Saints?
We frequently neglect giving them any information concerning their
bodily well-being. In our cities we appear to be providing our young
people too much mental exercise, and no physical diversion and work,
while in our country settlements, we seem to be overburdening them
with bodily labor, and in many cases doing little or nothing for their
mental development and recreation. Hence, in the one case they seek
forbidden places and pleasure, on account of too much mental exercise;
and in another, because of too little.
Now then, are we studying their wants as we do our business, and our
farms and our animals? Are we looking after them, and if necessary
bringing them in from the street when absent, and providing them in our
homes with what they lack? Or are we to a great extent neglecting these
things in the home and home training, and considering our children of
secondary value to horses and cattle and lands?
These are important points for consideration, and fathers and mothers
should honestly study them, and as honestly answer them to their own
satisfaction. We may well invest means in the home for the comfort,
convenience, entertainment and training of our children. We may well
give our sons and daughters some time for recreation and diversion, and
some provision in the home for satisfying their longing for legitimate
physical and mental recreation, to which every child is entitled, and
which he will seek in the street or in objectionable places, if it is
not provided in the home. In addition to this, and supplementary to the
training in the home, it is to be hoped that our organizations will as
soon as possible provide every arrangement for legitimate entertainment
and recreation, physical and intellectual, that will tend to attract
our young people, and hold them interested, loyal and contented within
the pale of our own influence and organizations.--_Imp. Era,_ Vol. 11,
pp. 302-3, 1907-8.
{400}
CHAPTER XVII
AMUSEMENTS AND FASHIONS
YOUTH SHOULD LOOK FORWARD. Our youth should not be left to spend their
time almost entirely in the mad whirl of pleasure and amusement,
without a thought of advancing years with the attendant bodily ailments
and physical infirmities which are bound to come. They should be given
to understand that what are generally considered as the pleasures of
youth are on the wing, and will soon pass, leaving in their rear only
sad remembrances of wasted opportunities that cannot be recalled.
They should not be permitted to waste their time and their parents'
substance in frivolous pastime and riotous living, which can only
result in vicious or evil habits being formed.--_Juvenile Instructor,_
Vol. 52, January, 1917, p. 19.
PROPER AMUSEMENTS. Our amusements should be characterized by their
wholesome social environments. We should have proper regard to the
character of those with whom we associate in places of amusement; and
we should be governed by a high sense of responsibility to our parents,
to our friends and to the Church. We should know that the pleasures
which we enjoy are such as have upon them the stamp of divine approval.
They should be endorsed by our parents and by our religious associates,
and by those true principles which should always regulate our
intercourse with one another in Church membership. Amusements which, in
themselves, and in commendable social surroundings, may be proper and
wholesome, should be avoided unless associates are unquestionable and
the places are reputable and are conducted under proper restraints.
There are limits in our recreations beyond which we {401} cannot safely
go. They should be guarded in character and curtailed in frequency to
avoid excess. They should not occupy all, nor even the greater part
of our time; indeed, they should be made incidental to the duties and
obligations of life, and never be made a controlling motive or factor
in our hopes and ambitions. There are so many dangers lurking in those
amusements, and the fascination for them which take hold upon the lives
of our young people, sometimes to the very possession of them, that
they should be carefully guarded and warned against the temptations and
evils that are likely to ensnare them, to their destruction.--_Juvenile
Instructor,_ Vol. 49, June, 1914, pp. 380, 381.
PROPER CHARACTER OF AMUSEMENTS. The character and variety of our
amusements have so much to do with the welfare and character of our
young people that they should be guarded with the utmost jealousy for
the preservation of the morals and stamina of the youth of Zion.
In the first place they should not be excessive; and young people
should be discouraged from giving themselves up to the spirit and
frivolity of excessive mirth. No Latter-day Saint needs to be told
that two or three dances a week for his children are out of all sense
or reason. Too frequent dances are not only injurious to stability of
character, but they are highly detrimental to good health; and wherever
possible other amusements than the ball room should be introduced into
the lives of our young people. They should be trained to appreciate
more and more amusements of a social and intellectual character.
Home parties, concerts that develop the talents of youth, and public
amusements that bring together both young and old, are preferable to
the excessive practice of dancing.
In the second place, our amusements should be consistent with our
religious spirit of fraternity and religious devotion. In too many
instances the ball room is devoid of our supplication for Divine
protection. Our dancing should be, {402} as far as possible, under the
supervision of some Church organization, and we should be scrupulously
careful to open the dance by prayer. * * * The question of amusements
is one of such far-reaching importance to the welfare of the Saints
that the presiding authorities of every ward should give it their most
careful attention and consideration.
In the third place, our amusements should interfere as little as
possible with the work of the school-room. It is very desirable that
the early education of our young people should be carried on with as
little interruption as possible, and frequent dances during the school
season are detrimental both to the body and to the mind.
Lastly, it is to be feared that in many homes, parents abandon all
regulation respecting the amusement of their children, and set them
adrift to find their fun wherever and whenever they can. Parents
should never lose control of the amusements of their children during
their tender years, and should be scrupulously careful about the
companionship of their young people in places of amusements.--_Juvenile
Instructor,_ Vol. 39, March 1, 1904, pp. 144, 145.
SOCIAL DUTIES. The city people have become accustomed to living near
neighbors for years without associating together. There are instances
where good people, well acquainted in business and upon the street,
have lived neighbors for twenty-five or more years, and yet not invited
each other to their homes, to take dinner together, nor to have a
social hour or evening. They live so near each other that they can
almost shake hands, from door to door, yet never call, nor associate
together; they are perfectly exclusive. That is not a wise nor a good
way, especially when, as Latter-day Saints, we should be looking
after the welfare of mankind, by preaching the gospel in word and in
deed. Would it not be much better if we arranged a little dinner, or
invited our neighbor to come and join us in a little social, to become
acquainted and make him feel we are not strangers {403} to him, nor he
to us? And let us remember the definition which Christ sanctioned of
neighbor, as well as the requirement: He that showeth mercy unto me is
my neighbor, and the commandment is: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself.
I hope we shall do better. But there is really little sociability
among us, and there is an exclusiveness that is not in keeping with
the warmth of the gospel. We do not think enough of each other; we
do not care for each other; we take little or no notice of each
other; and, finally, we pass each other on the street without the
slightest recognition. We scarcely bow to a brother, unless we are
really intimate with him. That is not the spirit that belongs to
"Mormonism." It is contrary to that friendship and sociability that
ought to characterize Latter-day Saints. I believe in the broadest,
most charitable, the kindest and most loving spirit that it is possible
for broadminded and big-souled men to exercise or to possess; and that
this spirit ought to be the spirit possessed and diffused by the Saints
everywhere.
Let us, then, gather in the honest in heart, and treat them and one
another with the spirit of warmth and love characteristic of the
gospel. Then talk about the unfortunate, the drunken, the weak, the
erring! Do not shun them, either. They ought to be saved as well as
everybody else; and, if it is possible, let us save them, too, as well
as the worthy, the good and the pure. Let us save the sinner, and bring
him to a knowledge of the truth, if possible.
Our Mutual Improvement Associations are invited to make a specialty of
this social work; the bishops should lend their aid to the officers
in selecting and setting apart capable and experienced missionaries,
as well as ward teachers, who should devote their energies, among
the people. The indifferent youth, as well as the stranger and
the friendless in our midst, should be made welcome at our {404}
gatherings, and be induced to feel at home among the people of God.
And then, let it be remembered, every family, every person, has a
duty in this line. Because men or women are not ward or association
officers is no good reason why they should be exempt from the common
social amenities of life, nor why they should not be subject to doing
good temporally, spiritually and socially.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 7,
October, 1904, p. 957.
THE DANGER OF PLEASURE HUNTING. In order that a young man may make up
his mind what course in life to take he must pay some thought on where
he is going in the long run; what shall be the condition he would like
to enjoy through life, and particularly the end towards which he would
like to work. Otherwise it will be hard for him to steer his actions
from day to day towards the goal of his ambition.
Calmly viewing the hundreds of sayings to be found in good books, and
hearing also the experiences and warnings of many more wise men who
live in our time and settlements, who are exemplary shepherds of the
people in our many Church organizations, and who are constantly giving
warning against excessive pleasure-seeking, the thoughtful young man
must confess that pleasure is not the goal that he would seek--that the
man would seek who desires to make the best out of life.
The wise man is, therefore, going to steer his course away from the
living death of pleasure-seeking. He is not going into bondage or debt
to buy automobiles and other costly equipages to keep pace with the
rush of fashionable pleasure-seeking, in this respect. He is not going
to borrow money to satisfy the popular craze for traveling in Europe
or in our own country, with no purpose in view but pleasure. He is
not going to grow nervous and gray in a struggle for means that his
wife and daughter, for mere pleasure, may spend the summer at costly,
fashionable resorts, or in distant {405} lands. It is true that there
are many in our community who do not appear to be wise, and who are
doing just these and other foolish acts for so-called pleasure.
The result of this hunt for pleasure and excitement and for keeping
pace with what only the very wealthy can but ought not to do, is that
many are forced to undertake all kinds of illegitimate schemes to
obtain money to gratify the tendency. Hence the growth of financial
immorality. Many underhanded methods are adopted to obtain means,
and even cheating and lying and deceiving friends and neighbors are
frequently resorted to in order that money may be obtained to gratify
the inordinate desire for pleasure. The story is told of one good
lady who got flour at her grocer's on credit, and sold it for cash at
a bargain to get money to go pleasure-seeking. Thus the morals are
corrupted. This applies to rich and poor alike.
You men who are sensible fathers, is this course worth while?
Young men who have a goal in sight, is this the course to take to fit
your purpose and to get the best results out of life?
Without discussing wealth and fame, shall we not call a halt in this
pleasure craze, and go about the legitimate business of true Latter-day
Saints, which is to desire and strive to be of some use in the world?
Shall we not instead do something to increase the genuine joy and
welfare and virtue of mankind as well as our own by helping to bear
the burdens under which the toilers are groaning, by rendering loving,
devoted and unselfish service to our fellow men?--_Improvement Era,_
Vol. 12, July, 1909, p. 744.
HARMFUL EFFECTS OF BAD BOOKS. It would be difficult to estimate the
harmful influences upon the thoughts, feelings, and actions of the
young, brought about by the practice of reading dime novels. Books
constitute a sort of companionship to everyone who reads, and they
create within {406} the heart feelings either for good or for bad. It
sometimes happens that parents are very careful about the company which
their children keep and are very indifferent about the books they read.
In the end the reading of a bad book will bring about evil associates.
It is not only the boy who reads this strange, weird and unnatural
exciting literature who is affected by its influence, but in time he
influences others. This literature becomes the mother of all sorts of
evil suggestions that ripen into evil practices and bring about an
unnatural and debased feeling which is ever crowding out the good in
the human heart and giving place to the bad. It was Shelley who said
that "strange thoughts beget strange deeds," and when our children are
reading books that are creating strange and unusual and undesirable
thoughts in their minds we need not be surprised to learn that they
have committed some unusual, some strange, or unnatural act. It is
in the thoughts and feelings that we have to combat the evils and
temptations of the world, and the purification of our thoughts and
feelings should be made the special effort of every father and mother.
Fuller once wrote, "It seems my soul is like a filthy pond where fish
die soon and frogs live long." It is remarkable how easy it is to learn
sin and how hard it is to forget it.
A story is told of an English officer in India, who one day went to
the book shelf to take down a book. As he reached his hand up over the
volume his finger was bitten by an adder. After a few hours the finger
began to swell. Later on the swelling went into his arm, and finally
the whole body was affected, and in a few days the officer was dead.
There are adders concealed in many a cheap and trashy book, and they
are always common in dime novels. Their effects upon our souls are
poisonous, and in time they are sure to produce a moral and spiritual
death. * * * The influence of these novels is all the more dangerous
{407} because the feelings and thoughts which they engender in the
heart and mind are more or less hidden, and the evil consequences of
such reading frequently does not manifest itself until some overt and
horrible act is the result of months and sometimes years of imagination
and wonderment. Let the Saints beware of the books that enter their
homes, for their influences may be as poisonous and deadly as the
adder which brought death to the English officer in India.--_Juvenile
Instructor,_ May 1, 1902, Vol. 37, p. 275.
PROPER READING. There is altogether too much novel reading of that
class of novels which teaches nothing useful, and only tends to the
excitement of the emotions. Excessive novel reading we all know is
detrimental to the intellectual development of those who engage in it,
and the wise and those who seek advancement might well give more time
to useful, educational works--books that would enlighten the reader on
history, biography, religion, and other important subjects which all
well-informed people are expected to understand.
Many of our young people, and some older ones, too, are not familiar
with their own religion nor with the beautiful and striking doctrines
of the gospel with which it is so laden. This class devote more
time to reading useless or sensational books than they do to the
study and contemplation of works that would familiarize them with
the principles of the gospel. If they were better informed in this
line, and understood the saving doctrines and every-day questions of
their religion, more than they do, they would not be trapped by false
teachings, false leaders, and advocates of cults that are false. They
would not be misled as some of them are.--_Improvement Era,_ May, 1909,
Vol. 12, p. 561.
RAFFLING AND GAMBLING. Is it proper to raffle property for the benefit
of missionaries? No; raffling is a game {408} of chance, and hence
leads to gambling; for that reason, if for no other, it should not be
encouraged among the young men of the Church. President Young declared
raffling to be a modified name of gambling; said that "as Latter-day
Saints we cannot afford to sacrifice moral principles to financial
gain," and advised the sisters through the _Woman's Exponent_ not
to raffle. President Lorenzo Snow endorsed and approved of these
sentiments; and I have often expressed my unqualified disapproval of
raffling; the General Sunday School Board have declared against it; and
finally the state law makes it unlawful to raffle with dice; and if it
is unlawful with dice, in principle, is it not just as injurious with
any other device? With all these objections, should it not be clear
to anyone that raffling horses, quilts, bicycles and other property
is not sanctioned by the moral law nor approved by the general Church
authorities? But it continues just the same, and if you do not believe
in it, you should refuse to patronize it, so helping the cause. Now,
how shall we aid the missionary who wishes to sell a horse, or what
not? Let everybody give a dollar, and let the donors decide by vote
to what worthy man, not of their number, the horse shall be given.
No chance about that--it is pure decision, and it helps the people
who wish to buy chances solely for the benefit of the missionary to
discourage the gambling propensities of their natures. However, here is
an additional thought: The element of chance enters very largely into
everything we undertake, and it should be remembered that the spirit in
which we do things decides very largely whether we are gambling or are
entering into legitimate business enterprises.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol.
6, February, 1903, p. 308.
GAMES OF CHANCE. _To Whom It May Concern:_ Among the vices of the
present age gambling is very generally condemned. Gambling under
its true name is forbidden by law, and is discountenanced by the
self-respecting {409} elements of society. Nevertheless, in numerous
guises the demon of chance is welcomed in the home, in fashionable
clubs, and at entertainments for worthy charities, even within the
precincts of sacred edifices. Devises for raising money by appealing to
the gambling instinct are common accessories at church socials, ward
fairs, and the like.
Whatever may be the condition elsewhere, this custom is not to be
sanctioned within this Church; and any organization allowing such is in
opposition to the counsel and instruction of the general authorities of
the Church.
Without attempting to specify or particularize the many objectionable
forms given to this evil practice amongst us, we say again to the
people that no kind of chance game, guessing contest, or raffling
device can be approved in any entertainment under the auspices of our
Church organizations.
The desire to get something of value for little or nothing is
pernicious; and any proceeding that strengthens that desire is an
effective aid to the gambling spirit, which has proved a veritable
demon of destruction to thousands. Risking a dime in the hope of
winning a dollar in any game of chance is a species of gambling.
Let it not be thought that raffling articles of value, offering prizes
to the winners in guessing-contests, the use of machines of chance, or
any other device of the kind is to be allowed or excused because the
money so obtained is to be used for a good purpose. The Church is not
to be supported in any degree by means obtained through gambling.
Let the attention of stake and ward officers, and those in charge of
auxiliary organizations of the Church be directed to what has been
written on this subject and to this present reminder. An article
over the signature of the President of the Church was published in
the _Juvenile Instructor,_ October 1, 1902 (Volume 37, p. 592), in
which {410} were given citations from earlier instruction and advice
to the people on this subject. For convenience, part of that article
is repeated here. In reply to a question as to whether raffling and
games of chance are justifiable when the purposes to be accomplished
are good, this was said: "We say emphatically, No. Raffle is only a
modified name of gamble."
President Young once said to Sister Eliza R. Snow: "Tell the sisters
not to raffle. If the mothers raffle, the children will gamble.
Raffling is gambling." Then it is added: "Some say, What shall we
do? We have quilts on band--we cannot sell them, and we need means
to supply our treasury, which we can obtain by raffling for the
benefit of the poor. Rather let the quilts rot on the shelves than
adopt the old adage, 'The end will sanctify the means.' As Latter-day
Saints, we cannot afford to sacrifice moral principle to financial
gain."--_Improvement Era,_ December, 1908, Vol. 12, p. 143.
THE EVIL OF CARDS. But, you say, we must have recreation; what shall
we do? Turn to domestic enterprises, and to the gaining of useful
knowledge of the gospel. Let the love of reading good and useful books
be implanted in the hearts of the young, let them be trained to take
pleasure and recreation in history, travel, biography, conversation
and classic story. Then there are innocent games, music, songs, and
literary recreation. What would you think of the man who would argue
for whisky and beer as a common beverage because it is necessary for
people to drink? He is perhaps little worse than the man who would
place cards in the hands of my children--whereby they would foster the
spirit of chance and gambling leading down to destruction--because they
must have recreation. I would call the first a vicious enemy, and refer
him to water to drink; and the latter an evil spirit in the guise of
innocence, and refer him {411} to recreation containing no germs of
spiritual disease leading to the devil!
Let our evenings be devoted to innocent amusements in the home, and let
all chance games be banished from our families, and only recreation
indulged in that is free from gambling and the gambling spirit. And
let excessive card-playing, and the person who strolls about among
neighbors at all hours of the night and day encouraging this evil, be
put far from us. Just as sure as we encourage this evil it will bring
other grievous troubles in its wake, and those who indulge excessively
will lose the spirit of the gospel, and go to temporal and spiritual
ruin.
Young people in their recreations should strive to form a love for that
which will not be injurious. It is not true that only that recreation
can be enjoyed that is detrimental to the body and spirit. We should
train ourselves to find pleasure in that which invigorates, not
stupefies and destroys the body; that which leads upward and not down;
that which brightens, not dulls and stunts the intellect; that which
elevates and exalts the spirit, not that clogs and depresses it. So
shall we please the Lord, enhance our own enjoyment, and save ourselves
and our children from impending sins, at the root of which, like the
evil genius, lurks the spirit of cards and gaming.--_Improvement Era,_
Vol. 14, June, 1911, pp. 735-8.
WASTING TIME WITH CARDS. It is no uncommon thing for women, young and
middle-aged, to spend whole afternoons, and many of them, evenings
as well, in playing cards, thus wasting hours and days of precious
time in this useless and unprofitable way. Yet those same people,
when approached, declare they have no time to spend as teachers in
the Sabbath schools, and no time to attend either Sunday schools or
meetings. Their church duties are neglected for lack of time, yet they
spend hours, day after day, at cards. They have thereby encouraged and
become possessed of a {412} spirit of indolence, and their minds are
filled with the vile drunkenness, hallucination, charm and fascination,
that take possession of the habitual card-player to the exclusion of
all spiritual and religious feeling. Such a spirit detracts from all
sacred thought and sentiment. These players at length do not quite know
whether they are Jews, Gentiles, or Saints, and they do not care a fig.
While a simple game of cards in itself may be harmless, it is a fact
that by immoderate repetition it ends in an infatuation for chance
schemes, in habits of excess, in waste of precious time, in dulling
and stupor of the mind, and in the complete destruction of religious
feeling. These are serious results, evils that should and must be
avoided by the Latter-day Saints. Then again, there is the grave danger
that lurks in persistent card playing, which begets the spirit of
gambling, of speculation and that awakens the dangerous desire to get
something for nothing.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 6, August, 1903, p. 779.
CARD PLAYING. One's character may be determined in some measure
by the quality of one's amusements. Men and women of industrious,
business-like, and thoughtful habits care little for frivolous
pastimes, for pleasures that are sought for their own sake. It is not
easy to imagine that leading men in the Church would find any pleasure
that was either inspiring or helpful at the card table; indeed the
announcement that a president of a stake, bishop of a ward, or other
leading official of the Church was fond of card playing would be a
shock to every sense of propriety even among young people who are not
seriously inclined to the duties and responsibilities of life. Such
a practice would be looked upon as incompatible with the duties and
responsibilities of a religious life. Even business men, as a rule, are
distrustful of business associates whose inclinations engage them in
frequent card playing.
{413} But it may be said that the same objections do not hold good in
respect to young people who do not take life so seriously; but the evil
is that young people who indulge in the frivolous and vicious pastime
of card playing are never likely to take life seriously unless they
forsake such questionable pleasures early in life. It is the serious
and thoughtful man and woman who are most likely to assume the higher
and nobler responsibilities of life, and their tastes and pleasures are
never satisfied by means of a deck of cards.
Card playing is an excessive pleasure; it is intoxicating and, there,
fore, in the nature of a vice. It is generally the companion of the
cigarette and the wine glass, and the latter lead to the poolroom and
gambling hall. Few men and women indulge in the dangerous pastime of
the card table without compromising their business affairs and the
higher responsibilities of life. Tell me what amusements you like
best and whether your amusements have become a ruling passion in your
life, and I will tell you what you are. Few indulge frequently in card
playing in whose lives it does not become a ruling passion.
Cards are the most perfect and common instrumentalities of the gambler
that have been devised, and the companionship of cards, unlike the
companionship of most other games, is that of the gambling den and the
saloon. But cards do not stand alone in their enticement to evil. Any
game that ultimately leads to questionable society, because it is the
chief pleasure of such society, should be excluded from the home. There
are innocent games enough to satisfy the required pleasures of the home
without encouraging card playing.--_Juvenile Instructor,_ Vol. 38,
September 1, 1903, p. 529.
STOP CARD PLAYING. I am told that the prevalence of card parties in
the homes of the Latter-day Saints is much greater than is supposed
by those whom society people never think of inviting to make the
card table the source of an {414} evening's pastime. The presiding
authorities are not invited to the card parties, and, as a rule, are
not permitted to witness them, simply because those who give such
parties feel that a deck of cards in the hands of a faithful servant of
God is a satire upon religion.
I have heard that some who are called to officiate in holy ordinances
have, when absent from the House of the Lord, or when tardy in
arriving, excused themselves because of the time occupied in giving
or attending a card party. Those who thus indulge are not fit to
administer in sacred ordinances. They are no more worthy than others
who violate good morals in any respect. They should be excused.
I am told that young people offer as an excuse for such questionable
pastime the accusation that cards are played in the homes of certain
leading men in the Church. Bishops, however, ought never to be
deterred in their efforts to suppress the evil by counter complaints
of this kind. The bishop has the same right to inquire, through the
means of his teachers, into the pleasures of the homes of the highest
authorities of the Church as he has into those of its most humble
members. If it be true that card playing is prevalent in the Church,
the bishops are charged with the responsibility for the evil and it
is their duty to see that it is abolished, or that men and women who
encourage it be brought to account before their brethren and sisters
for the pernicious example they are setting before the youth of Zion.
Certainly no bishop can report his ward in good condition where such a
practice prevails.
Presidents of stakes are not without their responsibility in this
matter, and at the general priesthood meetings of the stakes they
should make searching inquiry of the bishops concerning card parties
in the homes of the Saints. It is an easy matter for every bishop to
know through the medium of the ward teachers, whether there are any
practices in the homes of the people inconsistent with the mission of
"Mormonism," {415} and card playing is certainly inconsistent with that
mission. No man who is addicted to card playing should be called to
act as a ward teacher, such men cannot be consistent advocates of that
which they do not themselves practice.
The card table has been the scene of too many quarrels, the birthplace
of too many hatreds, the occasion of too many murders to admit one word
of justification for the lying, cheating spirit which it too often
engenders in the hearts of its devotees.
My frequent and emphatic expressions on this subject are the result
of the alarm I have felt over the well founded reports that have come
to me concerning the prevalence of card playing in the homes of some
who profess to be Latter-day Saints. Upon every officer in the Church
responsible in any way for the dangers of the card table is placed,
and placed heavily, the duty of doing all that he or she possibly can
in prayerful and earnest manner to eradicate the evil. Let us be fully
conscious of the old adage which says that "The devil likes to souse
whatever is wet," and stop card playing in the home before it reaches
the gambler's table.--_Juvenile Instructor,_ Vol. 38, Sept. 15, 1903,
p. 561.
PERNICIOUS NATURE OF CARD PLAYING. Card playing is a game of chance,
and because it is a game of chance it has its tricks. It encourages
tricks; its devotees measure their success at the table by their
ability through devious and dark ways to win. It creates a spirit of
cunning and devises hidden and secret means, and cheating at cards is
almost synonymous with playing at cards.
Again, cards have a bad reputation and they are the known companions of
bad men. If no other reason existed for shunning the card table, its
reputation alone should serve as a warning. It may be conceded that
superb skill is often acquired in this game of chance, but this skill
itself endangers {416} the moral qualities of the possessor and leads
him on to questionable practices.
Such games as checkers and chess are games more of fixed rules, whose
application are open and freer from cunning devices. Such games do
not intoxicate like cards and other games of chance.--_Juvenile
Instructor,_ Vol. 38, October 1, 1903, p. 591.
CARDS IN THE HOME. But if cards are played in the home and under the
eye of an anxious and loving parent, what harm can come from it all?
is asked. Most vices in the beginning take on attractive and innocent
appearing garbs, and a careful examination of the career of many an
unfortunate man will reveal the first step of his misfortune in some
"innocent pastime" whose vice rarely manifests itself in its infancy.
There are different spirits in the world and the gambling spirit is one
of them, and cards have been from time immemorial the most common and
universal means of gratifying that spirit. An "innocent game of cards"
is the innocent companion of an innocent glass of wine and the playmate
of tricksters.