indeed it has been of men in all ages. Physical blindness is a grievous
affliction, and relief therefrom correspondingly gladsome. But it is of
the body only, and though permitted to endure till death, it shall end.
For that deeper darkness--blindness of mind and heart--the grave is no
curative. As between the sightless beggar and the sin-proud Pharisees,
the latter were by far the blinder. He reverently rejoiced in the gift
of sight, for he knew that he had been blind and that afterward he saw;
they boasted of their vision, though living in darkness, and refused
enlightement.
"Wo unto the blind that will not see; for they shall perish." (Book of
Mormon, 2 Nephi 9:32.)
The requirements of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are the same today as
in "the meridian of time" when the Master taught among men in Person.
Likewise are there now many blind eyes, some of which are opened
through the enlightenment of obedience, while others grow more and more
darkened by the spreading cataract of false teaching, skepticism, and
wilful sin.
Away with the benighting Pharisaism that sets the precepts of men above
the revealed word of God! For spiritual blindness so induced, the
Divine Healer offers sure relief. Oh, sightless man, anoint thine eyes
with the balm of compliance with the laws and ordinances of the Gospel
as enunciated by the Redeemer of men. Do but desire the light with
repentant heart and with the deep full earnestness of a living faith,
and then, in the waters of baptism be washed, and ye shall come, seeing.
Of deep import are these words of the Lord given unto an ancient Hebrew
seer:
"And the mists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which
blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and
leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish, and are lost."
(Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 12:17.)
Man is not the author of the plan of salvation; and blind indeed
are they who suppose that precepts, theories or systems originated
or contrived by man can substitute or supersede the means divinely
appointed for the redemption of mankind.
To the groping, sightless soul is offered the unction of faith and the
ability to repent; and in the Siloam of baptism shall be received the
enlightenment that guides the soul, once blind, now seeing, along the
path leading to eternal life.
-- 99 --
THE ROD OF IRON
A Dependable Support
UNTO Lehi, a prophet of Jerusalem, who by Divine command had gone with
his family from the city into the wilderness, came the word of the Lord
in vision.
The man stood by a tree, the fruit of which he found to be sweet, and
"desirable to make one happy"; for, as he ate of it his soul was filled
with peace and joy unspeakable. Near the tree, separating it from a
spacious plain wherein great concourses of people had gathered, flowed
a turbulent river of muddy, filthy water. The head of the stream was
visible in the distance, and from this to the tree, alongside the
river's treacherous bank, ran a narrow path, paralleling which was a
rod of iron, firmly secured, and so placed that one could hold to it
while treading the pathway.
Numerous people were observed moving toward the head of the stream,
striving to lay hold on the iron rod, but dense mists of darkness
arose, and enshrouded them, so that many became bewildered, and,
abandoning their purpose of reaching the tree, were lost in the murky
depths of the river. Of the more faithful and determined, he saw and
testified:
"And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they
came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did
press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of
iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the
tree." (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 8:24; read chaps. 8 and 15).
An explication of the vision was given through inspiration. The tree
shown to the prophet was the tree of life, and its fruit the salvation
of the soul. Of the rod of iron it is written: "That it was the word of
God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast
unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the
fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead
them away to destruction." (1 Nephi 15:24).
The river of foul waters typified the great gulf separating "the wicked
from the tree of life, and also from the saints of God", and the state
of loss and condemnation, which shall be the inevitable fate of the
wilfully and unregenerate wicked.
The present is an age of whirl and swirl, in which many reach out
confusedly and despairingly for support, buffeted by the waves of
theologic dogma, swept hither and thither by the creeds and precepts of
men, blown about by the winds of conflicting doctrines, bewildered by
the mists of darkness, which are "the temptations of the devil, which
blindeth the eyes and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men."
(12:17).
The rod of iron is the Word of God unto man, the same yesterday, today,
and forever. Faith in God, and in His Son Jesus Christ as the Redeemer
and Savior of men, and contrite repentance of sin mark the beginning
of the narrow path. We must hold fast to the rod, for the mists of
darkness are dense and confusing; and it is easy to let go, to slip and
slide and fall.
But with firm hand on the rod, stedfast feet on the path, we are
led into the clear and purifying waters of baptism, without whose
invigorating ablution we are unable to progress. Cleansed and
strengthened we press on, even though the mists thicken; and by the
enlightening baptism of the Spirit, which is administered by the
authorized laying on of hands, we reach the tree, entitled to live
thereafter gladdened and made strong by its sweet and nourishing bounty.
The rod of iron is still in place, fast, secure, a dependable support
for every soul who strives with full purpose of heart to reach the tree
of life. Clinging thereto we make sure progress, though the filthy
waters beat hard by the narrow path. Let go, and we slip, then slide,
and if we fail through strenuous effort and the aid of an outstretched
helping hand to regain our grasp, we are swept away, carried by the
torrent of confusion and uncertainty, perhaps into the engulfing
Charybdis of fatalism or the dread Scylla of atheistical despair.
Mark you, that rod is unbendable, unbreakable, immovable. The pathway
endures, is never in need of repairs by addition, new construction, or
reinforcement. These are no product of man's skill. It is sadly true,
however, that men have essayed to make roads, the while proclaiming
that their broad highways lead to the tree of life. But never has one
such thoroughfare been constructed to the promised destination; nor can
it be. For a time these manmade roads are alluring in their macadamized
smoothness, but they crumble and are worn into pitfalls, unsightly and
dangerous.
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matt. 7:13, 14).
-- 100 --
LIAR AND MURDERER
From the Beginning
THE Scriptures are equally definite in affirming the existence of both
individual Gods and devils.
Of the former we recognize three, the Holy Trinity, comprising God the
Eternal Father, God the Son who is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
and God the Holy Ghost, these three individual Personages constituting
the presiding council having supreme power and authority throughout the
universe, and collectively known as the Godhead.
The devils are many, and their chieftain is Satan, who though
unembodied is as truly an individual being as is any one of us. He
is the personage who in the primeval world bore the exalted title of
Lucifer, a son of the morning, and who with his rebellious horde was
cast out, prior to the peopling of the earth. (See Rev. 12:7-9; also
D&C 29:36-38, and 76:25-27; and Isa. 14:12-15).
On the best authority, that of the Lord Jesus Christ, we learn
something of the character of this fallen son of the morning, the
antagonist of righteousness, and the enemy of God and man. In
denouncing the false beliefs and evil practises of certain unregenerate
Jews, Christ spoke in these definite and forceful terms:
"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will
do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell
you the truth, ye believe me not." (John 8:44-45).
A liar and a murderer from the beginning! He it was who beguiled the
mother of the race, and that by the most dangerous of all falsehoods,
the half-truth, in the use of which he is a past master.
He it was who taught the awful secret of murder to the fratricide,
Cain, baiting the hook of infamous temptation with the lie, that, by
slaying his brother, Cain would come into possession of Abel's flocks,
and have much gain beside. (See Pearl of Great Price, pp. 22 and 23).
He it was who deceived Israel, by inducing them to revolt against
the theo-democracy under which they had prospered, and to clamor for
a king. Under kingly rule the nation was brought into vassalage and
obscurity.
Primordially he and his angels were "cast out into the earth", and here
they have since been, going up and down in the world, seeking whom they
may deceive.
He is the author of sophistry and degrading skepticism, and of the
whole foul mass of the philosophy and science "falsely so called",
by which mankind are led to doubt the word of God, to becloud the
Scriptures with vain imaginings and private interpretations, and to
narcotize the mind with the poison of human invention as a substitute
for revealed truth.
He is an adept at compounding mixtures of truth and falsehood, with
just enough of the one to inspire a dangerous confidence, and of the
other a toxic portion.
Beware of his prescriptions, his tonics and medicaments. Remember that
water may be crystal clear, and yet hold in solution the deadliest of
poisons.
He it is who has deceived peoples, tribes, and races, into servile
submission to self-constituted rulers, and made of the masses slaves of
autocrats, rather than to assert and maintain their rights as free men,
whatever the effort and sacrifice be.
He it is who seeks to lead men captive at his will, to destroy
their power of agency and choice, to dupe them into bartering their
birthright of freedom for the nauseating pottage of present expediency.
He it is who has cajoled men into the unscriptural conception that
there are ways, many and variable, by which salvation is attainable,
other than the one and only way provided by the Savior of souls.
He is the arch-deceiver, the master sophist, the prime dissembler, the
prince of hypocrites.
Concerning the devil's plan of subverting the rights of man, and of
those who support it, Moroni, the last of the Nephite prophets, wrote:
"Whoso buildeth it up, seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands,
nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all
people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies;
even that same liar who beguiled our first parents; yea, even that same
liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath
hardened the hearts of men, that they have murdered the prophets, and
stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning." (Book of Mormon,
Ether 8:25).
Though great be Satan's power, deliverance therefrom is provided
through compliance with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, at whose
advent, now near at hand, the promised millennium of peace shall be
inaugurated, a blessed feature of which is that the devil shall be
rendered impotent to further subjugate the souls of men, and "that he
should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be
fulfilled." (Rev. 20:3).
-- 101 --
ON THE DEVIL'S GROUND
Prisoners to Satan
IN the decisive issues of war there are victors and vanquished;
the casualties comprise killed, wounded, and prisoners. Generally,
capture by the enemy is the form of individual calamity most dreaded
by the gallant soldier who knows he is fighting for the right, and
particularly so if the foe be ruthless or treacherous.
In the battle of life as a whole, analogous conditions and categories
obtain. The slain may have fallen in honor; for the disabled there is
hope of recovery; but the fate of the captured is one of apprehension
or dread certainty, ofttimes of horror.
When one is taken prisoner as the result of venturesome curiosity,
reckless exposure, or disobedience to orders, he must bear the blame as
well as the suffering consequent on capture. Many are prisoners because
thoughtlessly, wilfully, or defiantly, they have trespassed upon the
devil's ground, without warrant of duty or justifiable excuse. The
soldier's part is to keep within the lines until ordered forward in
attack to dislodge the foe.
Hosts of capable souls have heedlessly put themselves into the enemy's
power by yielding to the treacherous invitation to fraternize with sin.
Such a one is made welcome in the camp of the foe, and, at first a
visitor, he sooner or later awakens to the fact that he is a prisoner,
and withal a deserter from the ranks of patriotism and honor.
The young man, rich in hope and promise, sets out to see the world for
himself--just to see, that's all, he says--and is overpowered in the
grog-shop trench or the wanton's den--a prisoner in the power of a
merciless and exulting foe.
Solemn as the sound of doom, piercing as the blast of angel's trump,
is the Lord's affirmation: "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of
sin." (John 8:34.)
Who can find so much as excuse to think of himself as a freeman when
he knows he is a slave--to base passion, to dishonorable desire, to
hypocrisy and crime?
The prisoner's fate is as commonly the result of negative sin--of
neglect, indolence, failure to do--as it is the consequence of
ill-directed activity and positive transgression. Refusal to comply
with the prescribed laws and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
is to permit or invite capture by the arch-enemy of souls.
Obedience is the test of allegiance, and he whom we obey, the leader we
elect to follow, is the master who directs our destiny, whether in the
liberty of righteousness or the serfdom of sin.
"Know ye not," wrote Paul of old to the proud Romans, "that to whom ye
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey;
whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Rom
6:16.)
The certainty of capture by the enemy through passive irresolution or
aggressive violation of Divine law, together with the actuality of
the captive state was set forth by a Hebrew prophet on the Western
Hemisphere centuries before the birth of Christ, as follows:
"For the kingdom of the devil must shake, and they which belong to it
must needs be stirred up unto repentance, or the devil will grasp them
with his everlasting chains, and they be stirred up to anger and perish.
"For behold, at that day [this latter, modern, present day] shall he
rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger
against that which is good.
"And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security,
that they will say, All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is
well; and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away
carefully down to hell.
"And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no
hell; and he saith unto them, I am no devil, for there is none; and
thus he whispereth in their ears until he grasps them with his awful
chains, from whence there is no deliverance.
"Yea, they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell, and
the devil, and all that have been seized therewith, must stand before
the throne of God, and be judged according to their works, from whence
they must go into the place prepared for them, even a lake of fire
and brimstone, which is endless torment." (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi
28:19-23.)
It is evident from the foregoing and from the following, that captivity
to the devil shall extend into the eternities as the state of those who
have failed to establish their status as citizens in the Kingdom of
freedom:
"For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance,
even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of
the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord
hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath
all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked." (Alma
34:35.)
-- 102 --
WHAT DOTH IT PROFIT A MAN?
Worldly Gain--Eternal Loss
"FOR what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"
(Mark 8:36-37).
These are questions put by the Teacher of teachers. They are related;
we may consider them as one. Simple, like unto all the Master's
teachings--for high precept and profound philosophy are embodied in
the interrogatory--the question is searching, peremptory, challenging.
Who that hears or reads can brush it aside? Compelling in its incisive
brevity, it is of haunting directness. Once considered, even cursorily,
it will not down; once admitted to the inner consciousness, it will not
out. The baubles of earth are set over against the priceless jewels of
heaven; the fleeting things of mortality are put in contrast with the
enduring verities of eternity.
Granted that this is a material world, and that experience in material
affairs is a pervading and indispensable element in the curriculum of
life's school, it is no less truly a fact that earth-life is neither
the beginning nor the end of individual existence and progression.
Material belongings, relative wealth or poverty, physical
environment--the things on which we are prone to set our hearts and
anchor our aspirations, the things for which we sweat and strive,
ofttimes at the sacrifice of happiness and to the forfeiture of real
success--these after all are but externals, the worth of which in the
reckoning to come shall be counted in terms of the use we have made of
them.
Is the plow more than the field to be furrowed, or the sickle than
the ripened grain? Can gold stay the hunger pangs better than the
nourishing food that the money may buy?
The context with which occurs the crucial interrogation quoted above
points the question sharply: "Whosoever will come after me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will
save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my
sake and the gospel's; the same shall save it."
The cross to be taken up may be heavy, perhaps to be dragged because
too burdensome to be borne. We are apt to assume that self-denial is
the sole material of our cross; but this is true only as we regard
self-denial in its broadest sense, comprising both positive and
negative aspects. One man's cross may consist mostly in refraining from
doings to which he is inclined, another's in doing what he would fain
escape. One's besetting sin is evil indulgence; his neighbor's a lazy
inattention to the activities required by the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
coupled perchance with puritanical rigor in other observances.
But the great question, striking home to every thoughtful soul, is that
of the Master--"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole
world and lose his own soul?" (Matt. 16:26).
It is possible then for a man to lose his own soul. To deny is to
reject the Lord's own doctrine. The safeguard against such incalculable
loss is specifically indicated--to follow the Savior; and this can mean
only keeping His commandments, whatever the temporary suffering or
worldly sacrifice may be.
The occasion of Christ's question with its accompanying brief but
forceful discourse was this: He had reiterated to the disciples, with
greater directness than ever before, the facts of His approaching death
and the ignominy that would be forced upon Him. Peter, impetuous and
impulsive as ever, exclaimed "Be it far from thee Lord: this shall not
be unto thee." In that remark, though well-intended and bold, lay the
suggestion that Jesus should avert the impending tragedy to Himself,
and save His own life. The Lord's reply to Peter was a rebuke of the
severest kind.
Then followed the avowal that one who saves his life at the cost of
righteous duty shall lose it, and the comforting assurance that he who
is ready to sacrifice his life in the Master's service shall find it.
If this be true with life as the stake, how more so shall it be with
wealth, station, worldly power, or pet but false theory and doctrine,
as the thing to be gained or lost?
Consider the words of Jacob the Nephite:
"O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When
they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto
the counsel of God for they set it aside, supposing they know of
themselves--wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth
them not. . .. Behold, the way for man is narrow but it lieth in a
straight course before him; and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One
of Israel; and He employeth no servant there; and there is none other
way, save it be by the gate, for He cannot be deceived; for the Lord
God is His name. And whoso knocketh, to him will He open; and the wise,
and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of
their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches; yea, they are they,
whom He despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and
consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of
humility, he will not open unto them." (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 9).
-- 103 --
THE GARDEN OF GOD
And the Weeds of Human Culture
"BUT He answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath
not planted, shall be rooted up." (Matt. 15:13.)
This significant and comprehensive avowal by the Lord Jesus Christ
while in the flesh was spoken by way of rejoinder to a report from
certain disciples that the Pharisees were offended at His doctrine.
Some of the learned scribes and punctilious Pharisees had voiced the
criticism that our Lord's disciples were in transgression because they
ignored the tradition respecting the ceremonial washing of hands. The
Master's rebuke was incisive and severe. He demanded of the casuistical
complainers: "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your
tradition?" And He cited the glaring instance of the then current
violation of the Divine command respecting the honor due to parents
from their children, as occasioned by the hierarchic vagary of the
Corban practise, by which undutiful children were enabled to escape
their filial obligations. Then, calling to the multitude He loudly
proclaimed, in denunciation of the unlawful exaction of arbitrary rule:
"Hear and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a
man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man."
Who that heard could fail to note the clear differentiation between
man-made rules and Divine law, between human tradition and the
commandments of God?
Then followed the sweeping declaration cited above. What were the
plants of Pharisaical tradition but noxious tares, doomed to be rooted
up and burned?
Only the wheat of Divine planting shall be gathered into the garner
of the Lord. But, as so impressively taught in parable, the wholesome
grain and the poisonous tares are allowed to grow together for a
season, lest perchance the premature extirpation of the weeds imperil
the wheat.
Nations and kingdoms rise and fall, sometimes by God's immediate
direction and through the instrumentality of men foreordained to the
occasion, sometimes by Divine permission or allowance incident to the
exercise of individual or national agency.
I cannot believe that God ever planted the noisome fungus of tyranny or
kingly despotism. Nevertheless it has been permitted to flourish rankly
in the soil of ignorance and false tradition; and its spores have been
surreptitiously scattered even in the fields of fair freedom's flowers.