excitement and controversy in Judea and neighboring provinces over the
activities of John the Baptist, who was boldly preaching the necessity
of baptism at his own hands as of one having particular authority, and
who was administering baptism by immersion to all repentant applicants.
John further declared that the watery baptism in which he officiated
would be followed by a higher endowment to be administered by a
Mightier One than himself, and this he designated the baptism of fire
and the Holy Ghost. Our Lord's declaration to the uninformed "master of
Israel" set the seal of an authority higher than John's on the absolute
necessity of baptism as conditioning man's attainment of salvation.
The crucified and resurrected Christ left this parting command and
commission with the Apostles: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost" (Matt. 28:19); and further declared: "He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
(Mark 16:16.)
To the Nephite branch of the Israelitish stock on the American
continent the Lord taught the same doctrine in language and style as
simple as before: "And again I say unto you, Ye must repent, and be
baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in no wise
inherit the kingdom of God." (Book of Mormon,3 Nephi 11:38.) In full
harmony with these ancient injunctions, the Lord has said to the Church
in the present dispensation: "Go ye into all the world, preach the
gospel to every creature, acting in the authority which I have given
you, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost. And he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and
he that believeth not shall be damned." (D&C 68:8, 9.)
Could Scripture be simpler or plainer? Without baptism administered by
the requisite authority, salvation in the kingdom of God is impossible,
else the Word of God is void. But baptism to be effective must be
preceded by repentance of sin. When unrepentant sinners came to John
the zealous Baptist denounced them in stinging epithet as a "generation
of vipers" and laid upon them the condition to make themselves
acceptable by bringing forth fruits meet for repentance.
But to repent of sin in humility and contrition, with the earnest
purpose and soulful desire of making amends for offenses done and
thereby to become reconciled with and acceptable to God, one must
have unqualified trust and faith in Him. The basal principles and
fundamental ordinances of the Gospel, through which alone the saving
efficacy of the Atonement wrought by Jesus Christ is made certain in
assuring individual salvation, are ranged in the following order, as
the Scriptures prove: (1) Faith in God the Eternal Father, and in His
Son Jesus Christ as the Redeemer and Savior of humankind, and in the
Holy Ghost; (2) repentance in full purpose of heart--active, vital
repentance that shall lead and impel to good works and renunciation
of sin; (3) baptism by immersion in water; and (4) bestowal of the
Holy Ghost through the laying on of hands--both ordinances being
administered by men duly authorized to officiate by ordination to the
Holy Priesthood.
The man of thoughtful mind and contrite heart cannot fail to find
inexpressible comfort and profound cause for devout thanksgiving and
praise through contemplating God's infinite mercy in having made
so simple and easy these indispensable conditions of salvation.
Had the terms been such as only vast wealth could meet, or the
requirements so intricate or strenuous that great physical strength
or high intellectual ability were necessary to accomplish the feat of
compliance, then indeed the mortal or fallen state of the race would be
deplorable beyond conception; and, withal, justice would be eliminated
from the category of Deity's attributes. But lo! The Gospel plan is so
simple that the child may comprehend, and he that runs may read.
-- 90 --
THE WILL OF GOD
Though Opposed, Yet Eventually Supreme
DO you believe that "whatever is is right"? I do not; I cannot believe
it. If right means accordance with the will of God surely there is much
wrong in the world.
But, it is argued, God is omnipotent, and therefore has power to direct
all things as He wills. Granted. Nevertheless both scriptural and
secular history, as also the turbulent course of current events combine
to show that transgression of Divine law is as old as the race, and as
persistent.
God has given to man agency and liberty of action. It is the will of
God that this birthright of human freedom shall be inviolate; but it
is contrary to the Divine intent that man shall abuse his agency, and
misconstrue his liberty as license for wrong-doing. And as with the
individual, so with communities and nations.
In the course of Israel's troubled journey from Egypt, where they had
dwelt as in a "hours of bondage," to Canaan the land of their promised
inheritance, the Lord gave them many laws and established ordinances,
with promise of blessing for compliance, and warning of calamity if
they proved disobedient. As the sacred record progresses, the fact is
made plain that Israel had chosen the evil alternative, forfeiting the
blessings and reaping the curses.
In the days of Samuel the Israelites clamored for a king. They were
tired of the theo-democracy under which they had prospered, and wanted
to be "like all nations," a monarchy, with a king wearing a crown,
swaying a scepter, and sitting enthroned in state. Read 1 Samuel,
chapter 8. This condition had been foreseen and foretold: nevertheless
the people erred in their demand, and the Lord yielded under protest.
There is real pathos in His words to the prophet: "They have not
rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over
them." They had their king, and a long succession of monarchs, some of
whom proved to be veritable tyrants, and the people groaned under the
oppression against which they had been forewarned.
Was it the will of God, think you, that Israel should sin? Can it be
the Divine will that any man or nation shall come under the thrall
of iniquity? Is it the will of God that man shall make of himself a
drunken sot, with reason dethroned, and naught but his brutish passions
alert? Or that man shall oppress his fellows by unrighteous dominion,
robbing them of the rights upon which God Himself refuses to infringe
even though those rights be grossly misused? Is it the will of God that
woman's virtue shall be bartered for gold, and that vice shall stalk
unchallenged through the world?
To hold that these abominations accord with the Divine will is to make
God responsible for them, and therefore the author of sin. The very
thought is blasphemous.
God's omnipotence is manifest in the over-ruling by which eventual good
results from immediate evil. The crime of the ages, consummated on
the slopes of Calvary, has proved to be the means of salvation to the
world; but the awful guilt of the betrayal, of the false testimony and
the crucifixion is no whit diminished by the glorious outcome.
Through the successive captivities and the general dispersion of
Israel, which came as the consequence of infidelity to Jehovah, a
knowledge of the true and living God has been diffused among even
benighted and idolatrous peoples. And thus the nation's calamity has
been made to serve Divine purposes.
I cannot look upon the frightful carnage and inhuman atrocities of the
world war as a manifestation of the direct will of God. This dreadful
conflict was brought on through lust of power and greed of gain. It
sprang from an unholy determination to rob mankind of God-given rights,
and to subject the race to autocratic domination. It is a repetition of
the issue at stake in the primeval struggle, when Michael, the champion
of free agency, led his hosts against Lucifer's myrmidons, who sought
to rule by might. (See Rev. 12:7-9.)
In the free exercise of agency and the right of decision our nation
deliberately and solemnly entered the great conflict in the interests
of righteousness. Out of the seething carnage shall crystallize the
lustrous gems of peace and the liberties of men; and thus enriched the
world shall be the more prepared to receive the Christ, whose coming is
near, and whose dominion shall be holy, whereby the rights of all men
shall be respected and assured.
God's power and glory shall be manifest in eventual victory for the
right, and in the good that shall spring from present evil. But in
the eternal accounting, responsibility for the crime whereby war was
precipitated shall weigh upon the man, men, nation or nations who did
the devil's bidding in the attempt to enthrall mankind.
Thus the hand of God is potent in the furtherance of right; and though
His will be violated and His commandments transgressed, evil shall
be followed by good. Divine displeasure is directed against all "who
confess not His hand in all things, and obey not His commandments."
(D&C 59:21.)
-- 91 --
GOD'S FOREKNOWLEDGE
Not a Determining Cause
PROPHECY is one of the specified gifts of the Spirit, and one of the
distinguishing graces of the Church of Christ. If there be prophecy
there must be prophets, men through whom the purposes of God are
made known to the people at large. Prediction of events more or less
remotely future is a prophetic function, though constituting but part
of the gift of prophecy.
Divine revelation of what is to come is proof of foreknowledge. God,
therefore, knows, and has known from the beginning, what shall be,
even to the end of the world. The transgression of Adam was foreknown,
even before the man was embodied in flesh; and because of the results
entailed upon humankind a Redeemer was chosen, even "the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world." The earthly life, ministry, and
sacrificial death of the Savior were all foreseen, and their certainty
was declared by the mouths of holy prophets.
The apostasy of the Primitive Church, the long centuries of spiritual
darkness, the restoration of the Gospel in these latter days in a land
specifically prepared as the abode of a liberty-loving nation--each of
these epoch-marking events was known to God, and by Him was revealed
through prophets empowered to speak in His name.
But who will venture to affirm that foreknowledge is a determining
cause? God's omniscience concerning Adam cannot reasonably be
considered the cause of the Fall. Adam was free to do as he chose
to do. God did not force him to disobey the Divine command. Neither
did God's knowledge compel false Judas to betray the Christ, nor the
recreant Jews to crucify their Lord.
Surely the omniscience of God does not operate to make of men
automations; nor does it warrant the superstition of fatalism. The
chief purpose of earth life, as a stage in the course of the soul's
progression, would be nullified if man's agency was after all but a
pretense, and he a creature of circumstance compelled to do as he does.
A mortal father who knows the weaknesses and frailties of his son
may by reason of that knowledge sorrowfully predict the calamities
and suffering awaiting his wayward boy. He may foresee in that son's
future a forfeiture of blessings that could be won, loss of position,
self-respect, reputation, character, and honor. Even the dark shadows
of a felon's cell and the night of a drunkard's grave may loom in the
visions of that fond father's soul. Yet, convinced by experience of
the son's determination to follow the path of sin, he foresees the
dread developments to the future, and writhes in anguish because of his
knowledge.
Can it be truthfully said that the father's foreknowledge is even a
contributory cause of the evil life of his boy? To so hold is to say
that a neglectful parent, who will not trouble himself to study the
character of his son, who shuts his eyes to sinful ways, and rests
in careless indifference as to the probable future, will by his very
heartlessness benefit the boy, because the father's lack of forethought
diminishes the son's tendency toward dereliction.
By way of further illustration, consider the man versed in meteorology,
who by due consideration of temperature, air-pressure, humidity, and
other essential data, is able to forecast weather conditions. He speaks
with the assurance of long experience in foretelling a storm. The
storm comes, bringing benefit or injury, contributing to the harvest
perhaps or destroying the ripening grain; but, whether it be of good
or ill effect, can he who prophesied of the approaching storm be held
accountable for its coming?
It may be argued, however, that in these illustrative instances neither
the mortal parent nor the human forecaster had power to alter the
respective course of events, while God can direct and over-rule as
He wills. But, be it remembered that God has granted agency unto His
children, and does not control them in its exercise by arbitrary force.
He impels no man toward sin; He compels none to righteousness.
The Father of our spirits has a full knowledge of the nature and
disposition of each of His children, a knowledge gained by observation
and experience in the long ages of our primeval childhood, when we
existed as unembodied spirits, endowed with individuality and agency--a
knowledge compared with which that gained by earthly parents through
experience with their children in the flesh is infinitesimally
small. In that surpassing knowledge God reads the future of child
and children, of men individually and of men collectively. He knows
what each will do under given conditions, and sees the end from the
beginning. His foreknowledge is based on intelligence and reason. He
foresees the future of men and nations as a state that naturally and
surely will be; not as a state of things that must be because He has
arbitrarily willed that it shall be.
"Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world."
(Acts 15:18.)
He willed and decreed the mortal state for His spirit offspring, and
prepared the earth for their schooling. He provided all the facilities
necessary to their training, and thus proclaimed His purpose:
"For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the
immortality and eternal life of man." (Pearl of Great Price, p. 7.)
-- 92 --
ARE MEN CREATED EQUAL?
Individualism is Eternal
DEMOCRACY holds as a distinguishing and fundamental principle the
recognition of individual rights and privileges. The living units of a
democratic system are citizens, not subjects. Before the law, so far as
it be administered in justice, all citizens are on a plane of equality.
In the exercise of the elective franchise, for example, the ballot of
the poor man, the unscholarly, the weak, sick or maimed, counts just
as much as that of the millionaire, the university graduate, or the
athlete. All this is inherent in democracy as a political system. If
through corrupt administration a citizen suffers deprivation of his
rights, the fault, grievous though ti be, is not chargeable to the
system but to the officials who have misused the authority delegated to
them.
In this sense it is affirmed in the Declaration of Independence, as the
first of the truths therein set forth as self-evident, and as assuring
to all their inalienable rights "that all men are created equal;" and
in this sense the affirmation is irrefutable. No other foundation could
support a stable structure of government by the people.
But it is manifest folly to carry this conception of the legal equality
of citizenship to the extreme of assuming that all men are alike in
capacity, ability, or power. As long as mankind live in communities
there will be leaders and followers, men of prominence, and of
necessity others who are relatively obscure, men of energy and idlers,
and consequently masters and servants.
Doubtless much of the existing disparity among men, such as the
inequitable distribution of wealth, the unrighteous acquisition of
power and its iniquitous exercise, is pernicious--evil in the sight of
God and ominously wrong under the laws of man. Nevertheless, attempts
to right such wrongs by illegal force, and to establish a false
equality by promiscuously taking from one to give to another, tend
toward disruption and anarchy.
We are confronted by this profound fact: Individualism is an attribute
of the soul, and as truly eternal as the soul itself.
(1) In the unembodied, preexistent or antemortal state, we were
decidedly unequal in capacity and power.
(2) We know we are not equal here in the world of mortals.
(3) Assuredly we shall not be equal after death, either in the
intermediate state of disembodiment or beyond the resurrection.
We read that Jeremiah was chosen from among his fellows and ordained
before he was born to be a prophet unto the nations (Jer. 1:5) ;
and a similar fore-ordination is indicated by Isaiah (49:1, 5.)
Abraham definitely avers that among the unembodied spirits there were
differences, some were noble and great and others less adapted to the
duties of rulership: "Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the
intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all
these there were many of the noble and great ones. And God saw these
souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he
said: These I will make my rulers." (Pearl of Great Price p. 65-66.)
The God of spirits recognized particular qualifications in some, and
selected them to be leaders among men. Let us not assume that the
"rulers" thus divinely chosen are necessarily those whom men would
later elect to be their leaders. Many of God's great ones have been
and are counted among the despised of earth. So it was with the Christ
Himself, and so with many of His prophets, apostles and revelators unto
mankind.
Born into the flesh with diverse capacities, subjected here to varied
environment, which may be favorable or opposed to the development
of inherent tendencies toward either good or evil, we as a race are
creatures of disparity, inequality, and heterogeneous circumstance. But
all color of injustice disappears in the light of assurance that, in
the judgment of souls, every condition shall be weighed in the accurate
balances of Justice and Mercy.
But what of the hereafter--shall we not be made equal there? Not in the
sense that our individuality shall be subverted or radically changed.
We shall find beyond more gradations in society than we have ever
known on earth. But the basis of classification will be essentially
different. Here we are rated according to what we have--of wealth,
learning, political or other influence due to circumstance; there we
shall find our place according to what we really are.
Ponder the significance of our Lord's assurance of the "many mansions"
in the Father's kingdom (John 14:1-3) and consider Paul's summary of
varied glories. (1 Cor. 15:40-41.)
Through later Scripture we are told of distinct kingdoms or worlds of
graded order, comparable to the sun, moon, and stars respectively.
There are the Celestial, the Terrestrial, and the Telestial kingdoms,
in which the souls of men shall abide and serve as their attainments in
righteousness or their disqualification through sin shall determine.
Concerning the inhabitants of the Telestial world, the lowest of
the specified kingdoms of glory, we read: "For they shall be judged
according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his
own works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his
own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared." (D&C 76:111.)
-- 93 --
ETHICS AND RELIGION
A Distinction With a Difference
UNDOUBTEDLY there are many people who, while of earnest intent and
practise, of worthy, honorable, and moral life, neither profess
religion nor confess belief in it. At least, so they would say if
questioned. Closer analysis would probably show that by religion these
good people had understood Church membership or actual affiliation with
some religious organization. And their conception is not irrational
nor fundamentally wrong; though such membership or affiliation is no
assurance of personal religion.
The foundation of all religion is a real belief, or, more accurately,
faith, in the existence of a Supreme Being upon whose beneficence man
is dependent and to whom he is accountable for his conduct. With this
belief, man cannot fail to recognize the superlative duty of learning
God's will and of living according to His revealed word and law.
Mankind being by nature gregarious, and indeed unsuited to solitary
existence, will congregate according to community interests, beliefs
and aspirations. In the tribal organizations of peoples whom we
call semi-civilized, there is generally a distinctive religion for
each tribe; even though it be but a phase of paganism; and their
unenlightened souls are held together by their generic conception
of worship. Among larger and more advanced nations differences in
religious conceptions are manifest, and people associate in rival sects
and churches. Voluntary membership in any such body is at least a
profession of belief in its distinguishing tenets.
But beside these there are many who aver that ethics is sufficient,
and that a moral life will insure salvation in the world to come.
Granted that religious profession without morality is but mockery and
hypocrisy. Nevertheless, between the merely ethical and the really
religious life, there is vital distinction.
To assume that an ethical or even a strictly moral course of conduct
is all-sufficient for the soul's salvation would be to repudiate
Scripture, deny the essential efficacy of the Atonement, dethrone the
Christ, and eliminate God from earthly affairs. Such an assumption
proclaims the stupendous error that mortal man is competent to save
himself--on his terms, and according to a standard established by human
agency.
Religion is more than a code of morals. Man can no more be saved by
ethics than can he live by bread alone. The spiritual nutriment,
without which no soul can develop to the exalted status of eternal
life, consists of "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
The very purpose for which this earth was created as an abiding place
for the spirit-children of God during their brief period of embodiment
in flesh was to test and "prove them herewith to see if they will do
all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them." (Pearl of
Great Price p. 66.)
It is conceivable that ethics may measurably satisfy the conscience of
one who really believes that mortal life is the sum total of existence;
though I seriously doubt that such a being exists. If he lives, he
is dangerously liable to stifle conscience, and to follow the easier
though pernicious prompting to eat, drink and be merry whilst he may,
taking no thought for the morrow of eternity.
But, it is fair to ask, shall not morality count in the judgment to
come? Beyond question, Yes. God's word so declares. The clean minded
who, however, fail to comply with the specified laws and ordinances
of the Gospel of Christ, are not to be cast into the society of the
spiritually filthy; neither are they to be exalted with the valiant who
have righteously obeyed the requirements of the Gospel.
There is a hell to which shall go the "liars, and sorcerers, and
adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie."
Furthermore, there is a kingdom prepared to receive the "honorable
men of the earth who were blinded by the craftiness of men"--the
unfortunate and deluded who have followed after human theories and
precepts to the ignoring of God and His word, the misled devotees of
"science falsely so called."
And above all else is the state of eternal life and exaltation provided
for those who, while in the flesh, lived the religion of Christ, "who
received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were
baptized after the manner of his burial"; for "these are they who are
just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant,
who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own
blood." (D&C 76.)
The Lord's affirmation is definite: "He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved"; for if his belief be vital he will make the morality
that Christ taught the foundation of his religion. "But he that
believeth not shall be damned," whatever his standard of ethics may be.
(See Mark 16:16.)
-- 94 --
RELIGION ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
Effort Essential to Salvation