against existing systems whereby the distribution of wealth is becoming
more and more disproportionate, the consequent dissatisfaction with
governments, and the half-smothered fires of anarchy discernible in
almost every nation, we find comfort in the God-given promise of
a better plan--a plan that provides without force or violence to
establish a rational equality, to take the weapons of despotism
from the oppressor, to banish poverty, and to give to every man the
opportunity to live, labor, and rejoice in the field or sphere to which
he is adapted. From the tyranny of misused wealth, as from every other
form of oppression, the truth will make men free. To deserve real
freedom, and to enjoy the blessings thereof to the full, mankind must
subdue selfishness, which is the potent enemy of godliness.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been put under
training in the practise of altruistic living, in liberality, and
in the overcoming of selfishness, by the Lord's requirement of the
tithe and other free-will offerings and efforts. We regard the tithe
system, however, as but a step in the course of advancement toward the
consecration of all our possessions, time, talents and ability, to the
service of God.
Within a few months after the organization of the Church the voice
of the Lord was heard in the matter, foreshadowing a development yet
future, in preparation for which the tithing system was established.
The day is coming when none amongst us shall speak of mine and thine,
but all we have shall be accounted ours and the Lord's.
In this confident expectation we indulge no vague dreams of communism,
fostering individual irresponsibility, and giving the idler an excuse
for hoping to live at the expense of the thrifty; but in the assurance
that every man shall be a steward of the property entrusted to his
care, with the certainty of being required to give a full account of
his stewardship. The varied and graded vocations will still exist;
there will be laborers whose qualifications are for physical toil,
managers who have proved their ability to lead and direct, some who can
best serve with the pen, others with the plow; there will be engineers
and mechanics, artizans and artists, farmers and scholars, teachers
and authors--each laboring so far as practicable in the sphere of his
choice but each required to work, and to work where and how he can be
of the greatest service. Equal rights are to be insured, for thus the
Lord hath spoken:
"And you are to be equal, or in other words, you are to have equal
claims on the properties, for the benefit of managing the concerns of
your stewardships, every man according to his wants and his needs,
inasmuch as his wants are just." (D&C 82:17.)
Only the idler would suffer under such an order of things as is here
outlined, and against him the edict of the Almighty has gone forth. We
read in the revelations of the Church: "Thou shalt not be idle; for
he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the
laborer." (42:42.)
In the early part of the apostolic ministry, the unity and devotion of
the Church was such that the members established a system of community
ownership; (Acts 2:44-46; 4:32-37; 6:1-4) and during the brief period
of its operation the people prospered temporally and spiritually. More
than thirty centuries earlier the people of Enoch had rejoiced in a
similar condition of oneness, and their righteousness was such that
"The Lord came and dwelt with His people. . . . And the Lord called His
people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt
in righteousness; and there was no poor among them." (Pearl of Great
Price, p. 38.)
The people of whom the Book of Mormon bears record also attained a
blessed state of equality and with corresponding results. The Twelve
Disciples, whom Christ had specially commissioned, ministered with
such effectiveness that the people "had all things common among them,
every man dealing justly one with another." (3 Nephi 26:19.) Further,
"Therefore they were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were
all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift." (4 Nephi 1:3.) Of
them the prophet wrote: "Surely there could not be a happier people
among all the people who had been created by the hand of God." (Verse
16.)
The United Order will be a success when it is established by Divine
direction. The tithing system has failed whenever meddled with by the
secular power. Common ownership can never be enforced by the law of the
land. It must be a religious observance, of voluntary acceptance devoid
of compulsion or restraint; and as such, the world shall yet see this,
the Lord's plan, in successful operation.
-- 58 --
THE WORD OF WISDOM
Sanctity of the Body
"KNOW ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God
destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." (1 Cor.
3:16; see also 6:19; and D&C 93:35.)
In these and kindred Scriptures the sanctity of the human body is
affirmed with impressive simplicity. The word of God stands in strong
contrast with the erroneous assumption that the body is a hindrance and
burden to the spirit and ought to be contemned and kept in subjection
by self-imposed afflictions. The lust of the flesh as manifested
in perverted appetites and passions is a very real temptation, and
servitude thereto is among the commonest of sins; but this is the
evil against which the saints of old were so solemnly warned in the
foregoing citation.
If the mortal state be an advancement beyond the pre-existent or
unembodied condition, and a preparation for a yet more exalted
existence, and so the Scriptures attest, then the body of flesh and
bones is an endowment of supreme worth.
The genius of the current age recognizes the nobility of the mortal
tabernacle in fact if not in theory; and as a result of this advanced
conception, means for the maintenance of health and preservation of
the body and the conservation of its divinely implanted functions are
taught in school and college and are enforced by statute for community
observance.
After long centuries of painful experience the race is coming to
understand that the human body is essentially good; and the word of God
so proclaimed even in the beginning. I venture to affirm that every
natural appetite, yearning, passion of the human organism is inherently
good; and that evil comes not from the normal satisfying of these
cravings but from the perversion thereof.
As early as 1833 the Lord spake to the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints in warning against the use of stimulants and
narcotics, and in counsel as to matters of food and drink. This
revelation is currently known as
The Word of Wisdom
"That inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you,
behold it is not good, neither meet in the sight of your Father, only
in assembling yourselves together to offer up your sacraments before
him.
"And, behold, this should be wine, yea, pure wine of the grape of the
vine, of your own make.
"And, again, strong drinks are not for the belly; but for the washing
of your bodies.
"And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and is
not good for man, but is an herb for bruises and all sick cattle, to be
used with judgment and skill.
"And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly.
"And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath
ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man.
"Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season
thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving.
"Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord,
have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they
are to be used sparingly;
"And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used only in times
of winter, or of cold, or famine.
"All grain is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the
staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and
the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the
earth;
"And these hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and
excess of hunger.
"All grain is good for the food of man, as also the fruit of the vine,
that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground.
"Nevertheless, wheat for man, and corn for the ox, and oats for the
horse, and rye for the fowls and for swine, and for all beasts of the
field, and barley for all useful animals, and for mild drinks, as also
other grain.
"And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in
obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel, and
marrow to their bones;
"And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden
treasures;
"And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.
"And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel
shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them.
Amen." (D&C 89.)
Hot drinks, against which the people are specifically warned, are
understood to include tea and coffee, and the counsel against their
use was preached and published long before chemists and physiologists
had recognized the deleterious effect of thein and caffein, which
are poisonous alkaloids contained in the beverages named. The
inhibition, however, applies in another sense to all liquids at high
temperatures. To this point special interest attaches in view of recent
demonstrations in science. Dr. Wm. J. Mayo, a surgeon of prominence,
declared in an address delivered in San Francisco, June, 1915, that hot
drinks are among the dominant causes of gastric ulcers and cancer.
The Word of Wisdom is generally but not universally observed in its
entirety by the Latter-day Saints; and it is pertinent to inquire as
to the results revealed by the vital statistics of the people. The
Presiding Bishopric of the Church report that, for the six year period
ending with 1916, deaths among Latter-day Saints in the organized
Stakes, due to cancers and malignant ulcers of the stomach, averaged
15.83 per 100,000 of population. For the United States registration
area as a whole, during the six year period covered by the latest
available report, which, however, is earlier than the sexennium of the
latest Church statistics, the average mortality from stomach cancer is
28.3 per 100,000. Deaths from all cancerous afflictions among members
of the Church during the last six years averaged 31.15 per 100,000, or
only 2.85 more per 100,000 than the national rate of mortality from
stomach cancer alone for the six years last reported.
The statistics of the Church show for its members resident in organized
communities exceptionally low death-rate, high birth-rate, and high
average age at death, as compared with the official reports of
corresponding data for the registration area of the country at large.
Of the certified causes of death "Mormons" lead the country in one, and
that one is old age.
The Divine promise of health, prosperity, and prolonged life are in
course of rich fulfilment among the Latter-day Saints, as in part the
natural effect of obedience to the word of the Lord embodied in the
Word of Wisdom.
-- 59 --
UNCHASTITY THE DOMINANT EVIL
Infamy of a Double Standard of Virtue
THE Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims the law
of personal purity as a Divine commandment, the violation of which
constitutes one of the most grievous of sins. We hold that the
requirement is equally binding upon both man and woman, and that
a standard by which he is excused and she condemned is infamously
unjust. Expressive of the attitude of the Church upon this subject,
the following excerpts are taken from a pamphlet issued by the late
President Joseph F. Smith, who at the time of writing was the presiding
official in the Church.
"What has come to be known in present day literature as the social
evil is a subject of perennial discussion, and the means proposed for
dealing with it are topics of contention and debate. That the public
conscience is aroused to the seriousness of the dire condition due to
sexual immorality is a promising indication of prospective betterment.
No more loathsome cancer disfigures the body and soul of society today
than the frightful affliction of sexual sin. It vitiates the very
fountains of life and bequeaths its foul effects to the yet unborn as a
legacy of death.
"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 woman to
stricter account than man 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 that a woman similarly stricken?
"Oh the baseness, the injustice, the dishonor of it all! Happily the
early promulgators of this shameful conception of a double standard
of morals for the sexes are hidden in the oblivion of the past. Let
the infamy in which they should rightly share be borne by those who
countenance the current acceptance of so vicious a distinction!
Visualize the spectacle. Man, who is by nature the protector and
defender of woman, ready to stone to social death the adulteress, in
whose sin he was partner!
"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.
"Horrifying as the condition is, it is nevertheless a black reality,
that hordes of women prostitute their bodies and souls for money and
find no lack of eager buyers. Who is the more depraved--the vendor or
the purchaser of woman's honor? In many cases a power of discernment
and analysis superior to human attainment is essential to a just
verdict, but it appears certain that whatever of palliation through
stress of circumstance may be found for the woman, guilty lust is too
generally the primal motive of the man.
"The low esteem in which strict sexual morality is currently held is
an element of positive danger to the nation as a human institution, to
say nothing of the wholesale debauching of souls as an offense against
Divine decree. With such awful examples as history furnishes, it is a
matter of astonishment that governments should be so nearly oblivious
to the disintegrating forces springing from violations of the moral law
amongst their citizenry.
"The grandeur of ancient Greece, the majesty of Rome, once the proud
rulers of the world, have disappeared; and the verdict of history
specifies the prevalence of sexual immorality as among the chief of
the destructive agencies by which the fall of those mighty peoples was
effected.
"Is our modern nation to bring upon itself the doom of destructive
depravity? The forces of disintegration are at work throughout the
land, and they operate as insidiously as does the virus of deadly
contagion. A nation-wide awakening to the need of personal sanitation
and of rigorous reform in the matter of sexual morality is demanded by
the exigencies of the times.
"The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the divinely ordained panacea for
the ills that afflict humanity, and pre-eminently so for the dread
affliction of sexual sin. Note the teachings of the Master while He
ministered among men in the flesh--they were primarily directed to
individual probity and rectitude of life. The letter of the Mosaic Law
was superseded by the spirit of personal devotion to the right. 'Ye
have heard,' said He, 'that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt
not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a
woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his
heart.' (Matt. 5: 27, 28.) The sin itself may spring from the sensual
thought, the lustful glance; just as murder is often the fruitage of
hatred or covetousness.
"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.'"
-- 60 --
NOT GOOD FOR MAN TO BE ALONE
Companionship of the Sexes
WHEN this earth, a new unit amongst uncounted worlds, had developed
to a condition suited to human habitation, God created man in His own
personal, physical image, and gave him dominion over the earth and its
manifold belongings. Beside the man stood the woman, sharing with him
the divinely bestowed honor and dignity of supremacy over all lesser
creations; for the Lord God had said: "It is not good that the man
should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." (Gen. 2:18.)
So begins the first page of human history relating to this planet: "In
the image of God created He him; male and female created He them."
The earliest recorded commandment to the newly embodied pair provided
for the procreation of their kind; for unto them the Lord said: "Be
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." That the wedded state
thus inaugurated was to be the permanent order of life amongst Adam's
posterity is attested by the further Scripture: "Therefore shall a man
leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and
they shall be one flesh." (Gen. 2:24.)
Inasmuch as the union of the sexes is the only way by which the
perpetuity of the race is possible, such union is essentially as
beneficent as it is necessary. Lawful, that is to say righteous,
association of the sexes, is an uplifting and ennobling function to the
participants, and the heritage of earth-life to preexistent spirits who
are thereby advanced to the mortal state. Conversely, all sexual union
outside the bonds of legitimacy is debasing and pernicious, not only to
the guilty parties themselves, but to children who are thus ill-born,
and to organized society in general.
The stability of society demands that the divinely established
institution of marriage shall be administered under secular
law, whereby the family unit shall be a legalized entity, with
responsibilities and obligations clearly defined, the rights of
husband, wife and children protected, property interests safeguarded,
and inheritance regulated.
But the marriage covenant is more than a legalized contract. It is a
solemn sacrament, under which the parties are made eligible to the
blessing of Divine approval, and by which they are answerable both to
the law of man and to the Power that transcends all human institutions.
That marriage is honorable is as true today as when the precept was
written in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
The Latter-day Saints accept the doctrine of the imperative necessity
of wedlock and the sanctity thereof; and they apply it as a requirement
to all who are not prohibited by physical or other disability from
assuming the sacred responsibilities of the married state. They hold as
part of the birthright of every worthy man the privilege and duty of
standing at the head of a household, the companion of a virtuous wife,
both imbued with the hope of posterity, which by the blessing of God
may never become extinct; and equally ennobling is the desire of every
worthy woman to be a wife and mother in the family of mankind.
We repudiate and abhor the pernicious doctrine that the sexual relation
is but a carnal necessity, inherent in human kind because of fleshly
desire, or that celibacy is a feature of exalted status more acceptable
than marriage in the sight and judgment of God. Touching this matter
the Lord hath spoken through direct revelation in the current age,
saying:
"And again, I say unto you, that whoso forbiddeth to marry is not
ordained of God, for marriage is ordained of God unto man. Wherefore
it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall
be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of
its creation, and that it might be filled with the measure of man,
according to his creation before the world was made." (D&C 49: 15-17.)
Without the power of perpetuating his kind man is in part bereft of his
glory; for small is the possibility of achievement within the limited
range of an individual life. Grand as may seem to be the attainments
of a man who is really great as gaged by the best standards of human
estimation, the culmination of his glorious heritage lies in his
leaving offspring from his own body to carry forward the worthy efforts
of their sire. And as with the man, so with the woman.
We regard children literally as gifts from God, committed to our
parental care, for whose support, protection, and training in
righteousness we shall be held to a strict accounting, remembering the
solemn admonition and profound affirmation of the Christ: "Take heed
that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That
in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is
in heaven." (Matt. 18:10.)
But the bringing of children into the world is but part of God's
beneficent plan of uplift and development through honorable marriage.
Companionship of husband and wife is a divinely appointed means
of mutual betterment; and according to the measure of holy love,
mutual respect and honor with which that companionship is graced and
sanctified, do man and woman develop toward the spiritual stature of
God. It is plainly the Divine intent that husband and wife should be
each the other's great incentive to effort and achievement in good
works.
Blessed indeed are the wedded pair who severally find in each a help
meet for the other.
-- 61 --
TILL DEATH DOES YOU PART
Is There No Hope Beyond?
IT is not good that man should be alone.
This is the word of God. It is inscribed on the first page of human
history. The affirmation was given special application to the marital
state, whereby the perpetuity of the race would be insured in the
distinctive family order. To this end "Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall
be one flesh." (Gen. 2:24.)
At the very beginning of man's existence as an embodied spirit, the
Divine fiat against promiscuity in the association of the sexes was
promulgated. Anthropologists aver that even in the most primitive
communities kinship was recognized as an established feature, and laws
relating to the sexual relationship obtained.
The family unit is therefore the universal order amongst mankind,
and is of Divine establishment. Both the Mosaic code and the law of
the Gospel, in which it was fulfilled and superseded, recognized the
sanctity of family ties and prescribed regulations for the maintenance
thereof.
The family institution comprises more than the wedded union of husband
and wife with its mutual obligations and responsibilities. The status
of parenthood is the flower of family existence, while marriage was
but the bud. Under the revealed law parents are as truly answerable to
God for the adequate discharge of duty to their children as for the
faithful observance of the marriage covenant respecting themselves.
Within the family established and maintained according to the Divine
word, man and woman find their holiest and most ennobling happiness.
Individual development--the education of the soul for which earth-life
has been provided--is incomplete without the impelling and restraining
experiences incident to the responsibilities of the wedded and parental
state.
Is the family relationship to end with death?
Are husbands and wives to be separated, and the mutual claims of
parents and children to be nullified by the grave?
If so, then surely the sting of death and the victory of the grave are
enduring verities; for the dead would be lost to us and we to them.
Such a conception affords ample explanation of the prevalence of black
at funerals. The sombre pall and sable trappings are all in place if
bereavement on earth means everlasting separation.