ntnut* 
 
 Mitt 
 
s 
 
 University of California Berkeley 
 
SQUARE BLOCKS 
 
 And Other Sermons and Articles 
 
 BY 
 ELBERT A. ( SMITH 
 
 Cover by Ruby Short McKim 
 
 HERALD PUBLISHING HOUSE 
 
 Independence, Missouri 
 
 1921 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 BOOK I HALF HOURS WITH CELEBRITIES 
 
 Dominie Tradition - 11 
 
 Father Time 17 
 
 Sir Procrastination 20 
 
 Madam Rumor 25 
 
 The Eternal Jew 33 
 
 Blue Pencil Notes .. . 41 
 
 BOOK II SQUARE BLOCKS 
 
 The Valley de Grouch 46 
 
 Square Blocks 47 
 
 Advance the Ball 52 
 
 Wanted: Big Men 57 
 
 Elbow Room 66 
 
 The Coast Patrol 72 
 
 The Desire for Twelve O'Clock at Eleven 74 
 
 The Flight of the Aeroplanes 77 
 
 The Dawn at Midnight 80 
 
 Two Remarkable Wishes Granted 84 
 
 Good Counsel 88 
 
 The Sin of Jealousy 93 
 
 The Deification of Humanity 96 
 
 Marriage and the Home 104 
 
 Creation in Travail 113 
 
 Blue Pencil Notes .. ...123 
 
BOOK III TO THE AVERAGE YOUNG MAN 
 
 Zion Builders 128 
 
 The Greatest Battle Ground 129 
 
 Moral Suicide ....131 
 
 Vibrating Heart Strings ..133 
 
 Don't Be Pig Headed 135 
 
 A Picture of the World's Work../. 137 
 
 The Man Who Never Stops and Never Turns 
 
 Back.. 141 
 
 A Testimony of the Clock 143 
 
 Brain Paths 145 
 
 In Line of Duty .148 
 
 The Tiger and the Derelict .150 
 
 The Collector of Virtues .153 
 
 The Drifting Boat 155 
 
 A Lesson from the Shop of the Old Violin Maker 157 
 
 Have You Kept Your Head ...160 
 
 Preserved or Pickled 162 
 
 Putting the Halter on the Camel 164 
 
 Cocklebur Farming 166 
 
 The Eternal Triangle 168 
 
 The Finished Product : 170 
 
 Blue Pencil Notes .. ...181 
 
 BOOK IV A CUP OF COLD WATER 
 
 The Dead Nurse ...186 
 
 A Cup of Water from Flood Tide 187 
 
 A Cup and a Loaf for the Master 190 
 
 What Is a Man Worth... ...196 
 
The Lesson of the Round Table 201 
 
 At. the Plow 205 
 
 Fellowship ..211 
 
 Mother's Place in Our Lives 224 
 
 Fathers' Day 237 
 
 Blue Pencil Notes .. -245 
 
 BOOK V THE WORD THAT BECAME FLESH 
 
 The Transient Guest 248 
 
 The Word That Became Flesh ..249 
 
 Not by Bread Alone 262 
 
 I Have Meat That Ye Know Not Of 275 
 
 Preaching Jesus ....289 
 
 Love 293 
 
 The Twenty-third Psalm 302 
 
 Music the Handmaiden of Religion . 311 
 
 Blue Pencil Notes .. ...324 
 
 BOOK VI THE INSIDE OF THE CUP 
 
 Ocean Evening Hymn 330 
 
 The Inside of the Cup 331 
 
 The Bargain Counter of Life 354 
 
 Two Philosophies of Life 361 
 
 Blue Pencil Notes 376 
 
 Spirituality and Education 380 
 
 Prejudice 384 
 
 The Trumpet and the Pitcher... ...387 
 
Who Was Right About Polygamy. 401 
 
 Don't Forget the Main Issue 405 
 
 Blue Pencil Notes 410 
 
 Our Influence on Doctrine 414 
 
 Present Tense Religion . 421 
 
 The Restoration 428 
 
 The Central Figure of Christianity .....451 
 
 Back to Jesus and His Plans .453 
 
 Our Standard of Excellence 456 
 
 Man's Free Agency 463 
 
BOOK ONE 
 
 Half Hours with Celebrities 
 
HALF HOURS WITH CELEBRITIES 
 
 I. DOMINIE TRADITION 
 
 r I ^HERE had been an evening lecture in the high 
 
 school building. I loitered in my seat, watching 
 
 the audience disperse. They went out chatting 
 
 gayly all the students, followed by the pedagogues, 
 
 until only the janitor was left. 
 
 I yawned and prepared to go, but just then my 
 attention was attracted to an old gentleman who 
 seemed to materialize from the shadowy corners of 
 the room and came down the aisle, evidently with 
 the intent to address me. 
 
 He was old and gray, with stooped figure, yet with 
 a venerable dignity that seemed to indicate that 
 for many, many years he had commanded the ut- 
 most respect. 
 
 He chuckled to himself as he approached, and 
 said, "Did you hear the young professor run on to- 
 night? These young pedagogues amuse me. But I 
 should not laugh, for I taught them all, and their 
 fathers before them." 
 
 Seeing my look of surprise, he went on, "I am one 
 of the oldest teachers on earth. Just as soon as the 
 sons of Adam got a little way from God, I established 
 a school, and every man from that day to this has 
 been under my tutelage. All of them have stood at 
 
 11 
 
12 Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 my desk, though, bless you, they may not have 
 known it." 
 
 "You must have had many strange experiences," 
 I ventured, as my visitor seemed to lapse into an 
 abstracted, reminiscent mood. 
 
 "Yes," he answered. "I have taught many strange 
 people dusky Egyptians, stern Romans, poetic 
 Greeks, visionary Jews, aspiring Japanese, obstinate 
 Englishmen, inquisitive Yankees. All of them come 
 under the rod of Dominie Tradition." 
 
 "I suppose you have had some trouble in matters 
 of discipline ?" I inquired. 
 
 "A great deal," he answered, carelessly. "But I 
 have many methods of dealing with the refractory. 
 Many a great man have I ferruled soundly. I made 
 Galileo get down on his knees and admit that the 
 earth was flat and stationary." 
 
 He paused to frown darkly, and added, "But the 
 rascal got up and slipped to his seat, whispering, 
 'And yet it moves/ ' His smile returned, however, 
 and he went on, "But that is all right now, for it 
 has become traditional that the earth revolves, and 
 I teach it myself now. 
 
 "I have had trouble with religious students also. 
 Most of the reformers in religion, as in politics and 
 science, were quite unruly. But I trounced them all 
 severely in their turn. And now that their heresies 
 are become orthodox I trounce those who differ from 
 them. Each new age has its rebels for me to dis- 
 
Dominie Tradition 13 
 
 cipline. They eternally ask, Why? No wonder I look 
 so old. Young people make Tradition look old." 
 
 This frank confession irritated me, and I cried: 
 "You but confirm my previous opinion of you. You 
 are the enemy of progress in every age. It was you 
 who caused the Jewish slaves to turn against Moses, 
 their deliverer." 
 
 "Possibly so," the reverend Dominie admitted. 
 
 "And it was you who centuries later caused the 
 Jews to revere Moses and reject Jesus." 
 
 "Very likely," replied my new friend, swelling 
 with pride. 
 
 "It is you," I went on, heatedly, "who perpetuate 
 every falsehood. It is you who maintain the tyranny 
 of the dead over the living. It is you who slay the 
 prophets in every generation and later build their 
 tombs." 
 
 "Not so fast, my son," interposed the Dominie, 
 coolly. "You must remember also that I carry down 
 from father to son every truth that persists. 
 Granted, I hate new things and love old things. But 
 still credit me with teaching truth as impartially as 
 I teach error if it is only old enough to be respect- 
 able. It was I who preserved the Christian doctrines 
 before Bibles were printed. And in every home 
 where ideals of honesty and temperance and industry 
 are upheld I make them traditional and carry them 
 down from generation to generation. I teach what 
 the fathers want me to teach. Don't blame me for 
 their sins. Blame the fathers." 
 
14 Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 Somewhat mollified, I quieted down, but made 
 bold to ask, "But why do you not teach all truth? 
 Then might you become a great blessing to man, 
 and your school be the greatest as well as the larg- 
 est school in the world." 
 
 The old man shrugged his shoulders and replied, 
 "That is because I have no conscience and no judg- 
 ment. I am memory. I am Tradition only. I am 
 a teacher. That which I receive from the fathers 
 I teach, whether of good or of bad. If you are 
 finnicky about ethics, see that you give me only 
 truth and morality for your children; for I will 
 teach your children's children after you, just as I 
 taught your great-grandsires before you, back to 
 Adam." 
 
 "You are of the past," I asserted. "Paul declared 
 that he would forget things past and press forward 
 towards the mark of the prize of his high calling." 
 
 "Paul!" cried the old gentleman. "Yes; Paul was 
 the great breaker of traditions. He turned from 
 circumcision to Christian baptism; from the school 
 of Gamaliel to the feet of Jesus. Don't quote Paul 
 to me." 
 
 "But Paul was a dominant man in his age," I per- 
 sisted. "Nicodemus is all but forgotten. But Paul 
 lives forever. I will follow Paul's advice." 
 
 But my friend laughed. "Paul's advice is tradi- 
 tionyou are learning," and as I arose to go, he 
 caught me by the sleeve: "Come with m;e!" he said. 
 
 The walls of the school building seemed to fade 
 
Dominie Tradition 15 
 
 away and I looked with surprise into a dim country 
 towards which my preceptor was attempting to drag 
 me. I saw dim candlelights, and many old men, 
 and great stacks of musty volumes, and dusty 
 shrines and idols where the ancients worshiped, and 
 old cathedrals, and tombs, and priests and kings in 
 robes; and I heard incantations and mummery of 
 prayers, and many voices repeating by rote the 
 words of the long-ago dead. 
 
 "It is the past," I murmured; "the land of 
 yesterday." 
 
 "Yes," my guide answered, "and I lead you to it. 
 Come with me. Here is buried the wisdom and the 
 folly of all past ages." 
 
 But I resisted the inner promptings that urged 
 me to obey my ancient monitor. Turning squarely 
 from him I looked in the opposite direction. There 
 I saw another dim country. But it had the twi- 
 light of sunrise rather than that of the sunset. 
 
 And I saw many lights, like morning stars. And 
 there were domes of temples yet to be erected. And 
 I heard voices singing hymns, and saw many 
 preachers of righteousness and truth; and a figure 
 that typified my ideal of faith. And there were 
 books here, too, and schools, and builders, and many 
 young men and women marching'. And all pressed 
 forward. For this was the land of the future." 
 
 I wrenched myself from the grasp of my ancient 
 companion and said, "I will not go with you. Nor 
 will I accept you as a teacher. I will consider you 
 
16 Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 only as a servant. Bring me what truth you have 
 from the past, that I may carry it with me into the 
 future. But bring me none of its errors and follies. 
 A Christian must have brain and conscience and 
 heart as well as memory. And he must walk with 
 Jesus, who ever presses forward and carries with 
 him all truth." 
 
 Then dimly I heard the sound of footsteps. And 
 I awakened to find the janitor of the school building 
 laughing at me. "You have been asleep, sir," he 
 said. "All the others have gone and left you, and 
 it is time to lock the building." 
 
 I arose to go, feeling rather foolish; but even so 
 I could not refrain from looking about to see if I 
 could discover anywhere in the school building the 
 reverend form of Dominie Tradition. 
 
 I am sure if you look about you, in time you will 
 detect this venerable preceptor conducting his 
 classes, in the church, as well as in the school, 
 among the elders, in society, everywhere. If you 
 come under his tutelage, learn to discriminate, for 
 he does not; and invoke the guidance of a higher 
 instructor who is pledged to guide you into all truth. 
 
HALF HOURS WITH CELEBRITIES 
 
 II. FATHER TIME 
 
 As I SAT in my study one winter evening I fancied 
 that I heard a knocking at the door. I opened the 
 door, but saw no one. A fine, sharp sleet drove 
 against my face, almost cutting the skin, and a 
 whirl of dead leaves crossed the porch, borne on the 
 wind. 
 
 I resumed my work, only to be called to the door 
 again by another knock. The results were the same 
 as before. As I stood in the doorway, wondering 
 what it was that had deceived me into supposing 
 that some one had knocked, I noticed the dark clouds 
 scudding across the face of the Moon. The town 
 bell rang the curfew, attracting my attention to the 
 passing of Time. Then it was that I imagined I 
 perceived some one standing in the shadows, close 
 to my very hand. 
 
 He was old and bent, and the wind tossed his long 
 gray beard and snow-white locks to and fro, and 
 tugged at his loose, flowing robe. He seemed so 
 much a part of the elements that at first I could 
 with difficulty discern him, even after my attention 
 had been attracted directly to him. I could readily 
 understand how he might pass and repass and knock 
 at many doors and yet remain unnoticed. 
 
 17 
 
18 Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 In answer to my invitation, he entered, leaning 
 his staff against my desk. In one hand he carried 
 an hourglass, which he reversed to mark the passage 
 of time. I noticed with fascinated awe that while 
 the flow of the sand grains was continuous and inex- 
 orable, they pulsated constantly, as though driven by 
 a beating heart. I thought, Perhaps the saying is 
 true that Time is measured by human heart throbs, 
 and not by the passage of suns and moons. 
 
 The old gentleman carried with him a long, keen 
 scythe, the snath of which rested across his arm as 
 he stood and talked to me. Noticing my close and 
 troubled scrutiny, he said, "You have heard of Old 
 Father Time and the scythe with which he reaps 
 the ripened grain and the bending flowers. Well, 
 this is the famous instrument. My harvest field is 
 the world. I reap the lives of men and women, the 
 young and the old, as the Lord of the harvest may 
 direct." 
 
 He ran his hand along the edge of his blade, as 
 though to test its keenness, but when I essayed to 
 do the same he stayed my hand. "Not so fast, my 
 son," he cautioned; "you will feel its edge soon 
 enough." Then he continued, "It is an all-compelling 
 instrument, and is still sharp and true, though there 
 are some nicks in it. I have had to use it on some 
 hard old customers; yet it has always prevailed, 
 soon or late. 
 
 "Methuselah evaded me a long time, and in those 
 days I delighted to spare men, because they walked 
 
Father Time 19 
 
 with God and used well the years that were loaned 
 them ; yet even a Methuselah finally reached the sun- 
 set of life. Old Ponce de Leon tramped through the 
 forests of the New World in search of the fabled 
 Fountain of Youth, that would enable him to defy 
 my behests; but all the time, unseen, I followed in 
 his footsteps, and cut him down earlier because of 
 his folly in not using his days in good works, instead 
 of vainly trying to insure himself of days yet un- 
 sunned." 
 
 As the old man prepared to leave, filled with a 
 reverence for the priceless value of Time, I seized 
 him by the robe and implored him to wait. 
 
 "I cannot/' he replied. "Time and tide wait for 
 no man. The tide follows the moon, and I follow the 
 behests of God, and must go on and on, working my 
 changes in the world until eternity shall dawn." 
 
 "But at least give me your blessing," I implored. 
 
 "You shall have my blessing," he answered, "on 
 the one condition that you live for it, and it will 
 come to you day by day as you are worthy of it; 
 and even when I shall have an end, it shall continue 
 with you throughout eternity." 
 
 So my guest departed, as he had come, merging 
 into the storm and the elements. And presently 
 I heard the bells ringing in the New Year. A new 
 year for you and me! A new year for the world! 
 What awful work of death and destruction may it 
 not see? A new year for the church! Will it be a 
 year of construction and salvation? 
 
HALF HOURS WITH CELEBRITIES 
 
 III. SIR PROCRASTINATION 
 
 IT WAS afternoon. I had just seated myself at the 
 desk to prepare an editorial. I was fingering the 
 keys of the typewriter tentatively when some one 
 touched me on the shoulder and a voice said, "Do 
 not be in a hurry. Wait a little while, until you feel 
 more in the mood for work." 
 
 Glancing up I discovered a very presentable old 
 gentleman standing at my elbow. 
 
 "Whom have I the honor to address?" I asked. 
 
 "I am Sir Procrastination," he replied. 
 
 "And your business with me?" 
 
 "Oh, I just dropped in, as usual, to have a little 
 chat and pass the time away. But in this strenuous 
 age I find that I must be brief. People used to give 
 me weeks of time still I have no reason to complain, 
 I make Duty cool his heels in the waiting room a 
 good many hours yet." 
 
 "You dropped in as usual?" I queried. "I do not 
 recall your face." 
 
 "Oh, yes," he replied, "I have been here before, at 
 times when I thought that you were not too busy to 
 listen to a harmless old man. You simply did not 
 recognize me; that is all. Many people do not. My 
 voice is much like that of Reason, and people often 
 
 20 
 
Sir Procrastination 21 
 
 mistake one for the other, a mistake that is some- 
 what to my advantage at times." 
 
 "Pray be seated," I urged, somewhat tardily. 
 
 'Thanks; in just a moment," he replied. 
 
 There seemed no occasion for him to say "in just 
 a moment," but I discovered that it was one of his 
 peculiarities to meet every proposal with the remark, 
 "Wait a moment," or "Presently," or "To-morrow," 
 with the exception of any motion to defer action, 
 which always elicited a ready second. 
 
 After my visitor had seated himself, I inquired 
 further of him concerning his business with me, and 
 obtained this reply: 
 
 "I merely dropped in to advise you to defer this 
 task until a more opportune time. Never do to-day 
 that which you can put off until to-morrow. We 
 have but one life to live. Why not have a good time 
 while we are at it? Throw books and study and 
 work and worry to the dogs! Go out and chase a 
 rainbow ; or if it suits you better, sit here and dream. 
 I can tell you some wonderful things that you will 
 do by and by." 
 
 True to his promise, my friend, for I then sup- 
 posed him to be such, launched out in a glowing 
 description of the future. He painted gorgeous word 
 pictures of the wonderful deeds that I might do some 
 day. Under the hypnotic spell of his oratory the 
 present was forgotten; it seemed of no value the 
 drudgery. Ah, the beautiful, shining land of To- 
 morrow ! 
 
22 Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 Once I stirred from my dream to ask him the 
 time ; but he only frowned angrily and declared that 
 he never carried a timepiece and abhorred calendars. 
 He averred that we had talked only a minute and that 
 he would go presently. 
 
 In answer to certain inquiries I learned that my 
 visitor had played a very important part in the his- 
 tory of the world. I then discovered that he had jour- 
 neyed with the Israelites in the wilderness, and it 
 was largely through his influence that they were kept 
 out of the Promised Land so long. He had watched 
 them later as they labored on their temple; and 
 standing at their elbows, he had advised them to 
 defer their labors until their homes were fully 
 builded and furnished. 
 
 He boasted with considerable pride that he had 
 been closeted in his day with such rulers as Louis 
 XVI, Czar Nicholas, and others of like station, and 
 on his advice they had deferred granting liberty to 
 the people until that ever-receding, magical by and 
 by. 
 
 He it is who has counseled every sinner since the 
 world began to postpone repentance one more day. 
 He stood by Felix while great Paul reasoned of 
 righteousness, temperance, and judgment. And 
 when Felix trembled under his kingly vestments and 
 was about to yield, he it was who suggested the 
 avenue of escape : "Go thy way for this time ; when 
 I have a more convenient season, I will call for thee." 
 
 I asked my guest if he did not feel some regrets 
 
Sir Procrastination 23 
 
 concerning the results of such advice. He only re- 
 plied, "Oh, I don't know. I have never given it a 
 thought. I will think it over by and by. 
 
 "Do you know," he went on, "that at one time your 
 God said, There is even now already in store a suf- 
 ficiency, yea, even an abundance to redeem Zion, 
 were the churches, who call themselves after my 
 name, willing to hearken to my voice' ? 
 
 "That was a great day for me. Whose voice do 
 you suppose they ivere hearkening to?" 
 
 "I am sure I do not know," I replied. 
 
 "To mine," he answered. "People who listen to 
 me are deaf to God." 
 
 "Then," I answered, "I will not listen to you any 
 more. And anyway, I must get at my work right 
 noiv." 
 
 My visitor sprang to his feet angrily. "Do not 
 use that word in my presence," he commanded. "If 
 you do I shall depart instantly." 
 
 "What word?" 
 
 "That insulting word noiv!" 
 
 "Then I shall repeat it; I must go to work now!" 
 
 At that my uninvited visitor stumped vehemently 
 from the room. 
 
 After he had made his exit I was about to take 
 up the task that had been deferred, but just then I 
 was astonished to hear the clock strike the hour of 
 seven, and immediately my wife appeared to an- 
 nounce the evening meal. My half hour with this 
 particular visitor had consumed the entire afternoon. 
 
24 Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 "What!" I cried. "I have lost six valuable hours! 
 Where can the time have gone?" 
 
 "Why, didn't you know," she said sweetly, "that 
 Procrastination is the thief of time ?" 
 
 I am compelled to believe that the charge is true. 
 I had harbored the greatest thief in the world. I 
 have never recovered the six valuable hours that the 
 old rascal stole from me. The Saints everywhere 
 should take notice, and not admit him to their homes 
 or listen to his blandishments. 
 
HALF HOURS WITH CELEBRITIES 
 
 IV. MADAM RUMOR 
 
 AT A certain informal social affair, the precise 
 nature of which I have forgotten, I found myself 
 seated by the side of a lady of very charming per- 
 sonality. Without waiting for an introduction, we 
 entered into conversation, as she seemed quite eager 
 to talk. 
 
 "You do not recognize me," she said, smilingly, 
 "though you must have heard a great deal about me 
 in the past." 
 
 "No," I confessed, "I do not, although your voice 
 has a familiar sound, and I have the impression that 
 I have seen your face before. But, then, I never can 
 remember names and faces." 
 
 "You need not apologize. I dress very differently 
 at different times and get myself up in so many 
 guises that you may be pardoned for not recognizing 
 me. But I will tell you who I am; I am Madam 
 Rumor." 
 
 "What !" I cried. "Not the Madam Rumor of whom 
 we hear so much?" 
 
 "The very same. And now I am going to be very 
 confidential with you, because you are an editor, and 
 they are among my best friends. I help them get 
 news; thus they help me to scatter my stories far- 
 ther than I otherwise could." 
 
 25 
 
26 Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 "But," I interposed, weakly, "I edit religious peri- 
 odicals." 
 
 "That need not worry you," and she smiled 
 sweetly; "religious people are among my very best 
 friends. They furnish me no end of material. And 
 I have access to many of their homes." 
 
 "Yes," she went on, "the editors are a great help 
 to me. Though I used to get on very well even before 
 the press was invented." 
 
 "Before the press was invented! For pity's sake, 
 how old are you?" 
 
 "That," she answered, "is a very impertinent ques- 
 tion to ask a lady. Like all single ladies, I am not old 
 at all. I am always young. I have the secret of per- 
 petual charm. Old Mark Antony was much infatu- 
 ated with me in his day ; and so was Belshazzar, and 
 Pontius Pilate, and Cassar, and all the other great 
 ones, from A to Z. And the humblest scullion for 
 these great men was no less interested in me. 
 
 "And it is just the same to-day," she added with 
 delightful candor; "kings and presidents listen for 
 my latest word. Politicians and reporters without 
 number watch my lips and faithfully flash my words 
 over the wires and speed them on the printed page." 
 
 "Indeed," I gasped. 
 
 "Yes, and to-morrow I contradict that which I said 
 to-day, and then they flash that over the wires and 
 speed it on the printed page." 
 
 "But," I inquired, "if you are of such importance, 
 why have you time to sit and talk with me? Pres- 
 
Madam Rumor 27 
 
 ident Wilson or the Kaiser Wilhelm may be waiting 
 for you right now. The Associated Press may be 
 holding the wires for news from you." 
 
 "Tut, tut," she rebuked; "you are very ignorant. 
 Have you never heard that 'Rumor has a thousand 
 tongues' ? Well, it is true ; and I have the feminine 
 ability to use every one of them to advantage. I 
 can talk to you and to King George and to the 
 Associated Press and to the servant girl next door 
 and to John D. Rockefeller all at the same time." 
 
 "My," she went on, maliciously, "I know a lot of 
 women who would like to be able to talk as much 
 as I can! 
 
 "But they do the best they can with one tongue," 
 she added, charitably. 
 
 "And," she continued, "I can be in a thousand 
 places at once. I beat Peary and Cook back from 
 the Pole, and I followed Roosevelt into Africa. I can 
 be busy right here in Lamoni between prayer serv- 
 ices and at the same time be scaring ungodly Gen- 
 tiles on the board of trade. My, you men are fools. 
 You laugh when I talk about the women. But I have 
 made life one long nightmare for man ever since the 
 world began. I have started more business panics 
 and wars on a thin air basis than you could count 
 in a week. Shakespeare recognized my power to 
 foment war and muster armies, when he said in 
 King Henry the Fourth: 
 
 " 'And who but Rumor, who but only I, 
 Make fearful musters and prepared defense?' 
 
28 Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 "And I keep civil and church courts busy with 
 litigation started on the same basis. I have made 
 a million murders; and regiments of suicides have 
 accepted my stories too literally and acted on them 
 too hastily, and now kick themselves through To- 
 phet." 
 
 My companion seemed lost in pleasant retrospec- 
 tion for a time. But presently she roused herself 
 again and continued: 
 
 "But while it is very entertaining to mingle in 
 large affairs, to keep statesmen agog and set king- 
 doms by the ears with intrigues and rumors of wars, 
 I find it even more to my taste to mingle with people 
 in a social way, to make free with neighbors and 
 help to spread the 'small' gossip of the town. 
 
 "You know, it is so interesting to tell everybody 
 about everybody all about the things that they have 
 done and the things that they ivould do if they 
 dared, and the things that they are suspected of 
 doing." 
 
 She leaned toward me confidentially, and contin- 
 ued in an undertone, "For instance, there is Mrs. 
 Blank, just across the room from you. She is a 
 very unhappy woman. You didn't know it! Why 
 everybody is talking about it. And just think, she 
 has been married only a year! And her husband 
 was so attentive. He is attentive now, but not to 
 her. You are the twentieth person that I have told 
 about it to-night." 
 
 As Madam Rumor talked on and on, going from 
 one name to another, her eyes sparkled with en- 
 
Madam Rumor 29 
 
 thusiasm. Her voice was thrilling. Her whole per- 
 sonality was magnetic. The little stories about the 
 foibles and sins of my neighbors became entranc- 
 ingly interesting. I felt impelled to hasten away 
 and tell them to others. They seemed too good to 
 be kept to myself. I burned to confide them to some 
 one else. This desire seemed to increase rather 
 than diminish when my companion charged me that 
 I positively must tell them to no one. 
 
 But I bethought me of consequences, and so said 
 to her, "I should think that you would make no end 
 of trouble telling these things everywhere you go." 
 
 "Trouble," she laughed, heartily. "Why, don't you 
 see? I grow fat on trouble literally the more 
 trouble there is in a community the more Rumor 
 there is. When trouble ends in this old world 
 Madam Rumor will die. But I am sure that, as the 
 insurance companies would say, I am a pretty 'good 
 risk' yet. No, young man, you will not live to pub- 
 lish my obituary." 
 
 I hastened to assure her that we were not reserv- 
 ing space in the Saints' Herald or Autumn Leaves 
 on any such remote contingency, though I have since 
 concluded that the church could well afford to pub- 
 lish an extended "died notice" free of charge, and 
 erect a handsome monument over the grave of this 
 lady, if we could have assurance that she were indeed 
 dead. 
 
 From this rather personal topic, our talk drifted 
 by degrees to the church. I soon discovered that 
 
30 Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 Madam Rumor knew a few things about the history 
 of the church and fancied that she knew a great 
 many more. She recounted the old Solomon Spal- 
 ding Romance story ; told me that Joseph iSmith had 
 thirty wives; and that the Saints in Missouri used 
 to steal watermelons. 
 
 "You seem to have these stories by heart," I ven- 
 tured to remark. 
 
 "Oh, yes," she replied, indifferently ; "I have been 
 telling them for many years. I used to keep the 
 Gentiles in Missouri and Illinois all stirred up. I 
 suppose that I had as much to do as anyone in bring- 
 ing Joseph Smith to his death. And I still find a 
 great many preachers and others who like to listen 
 to these old stories. But I prefer something newer, 
 something fresh, that I can get even the church peo- 
 ple to listen to. 
 
 "Now do you know" here followed a marvelous 
 tale about the Presiding Bishopric. It was followed 
 by one about the First Presidency, and another about 
 the Quorum of Twelve. This was followed by others 
 in rapid succession, until it seemed that no officer 
 or member all the way down to the assistant deacon 
 of Obscurity Branch, had been forgotten. 
 
 A wonderful thing about these stories was that 
 certain details that I had reason to suppose were 
 true were connected with others of a very damaging 
 nature in such a way as to leave a sickening suspicion 
 that perhaps something was wrong after all. 
 
 But right here I made bold to inquire, "Are the 
 
Madam Rumor 31 
 
 things that you are telling me true? Are they 
 facts?" 
 
 At the sound of the words truth and facts, a 
 startled and horrified expression came over the face 
 of my visitor. 
 
 But I persisted in my inquiry: "Can you furnish 
 any proof of the things that you have told in my 
 presence?" 
 
 And now occurred the most singular feature of 
 this strange interview. At the word proof, the 
 hitherto apparently solid and substantial form of 
 my visitor began to grow dim and misty, and ere 
 the sentence was finished it had faded entirely away. 
 
 Without suspecting it at the time, I had violated 
 her one rule of intimacy. Madam Rumor will not 
 remain with those who desire only facts. To demand 
 proof is to forfeit her society. 
 
 A peculiar after-effect followed this brief half 
 hour with the great personage who has kept the 
 world agog for six thousand years. For some time 
 afterward, whenever I would meet any of those 
 friends, and especially those church members of 
 whom she had spoken, her stories about them would 
 instantly flash across my memory. It was impossible 
 to banish them entirely from my mind. They created 
 a feeling of suspicion and destroyed cordiality, even 
 though I had learned that they were without founda- 
 tion. 
 
 So I determined that the price was too great to pay 
 for the privilege of associating with an individual 
 who entertains such a peculiar aversion to the words 
 
32 Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 truth and proof. It seems that my error consisted 
 in not using those words at the very beginning of 
 our interview, as I am creditably informed that in 
 such an event she immediately withdraws, or if she 
 remains she becomes very reserved and conservative 
 in her statements. 
 
HALF HOURS WITH CELEBRITIES 
 
 V. THE ETERNAL JEW 
 
 I HAD been reading the Old Testament Scriptures, 
 and had at last wandered into the New Testament. 
 The light burned low. I ceased to read and lapsed 
 into reverie. Many mental pictures passed before 
 my mind's eye. I saw a tall, gaunt man, with gray 
 beard and rugged form, standing on a mount, watch- 
 ing a bush burn. Strangely enough, the bush was 
 not consumed. In fire, a new great religion was be- 
 ing born. 
 
 But the scene changed. In the dusk of night, by 
 a sleeping camp I heard pitchers breaking, and trum- 
 pets blowing, while the lights of many candles blazed 
 up. There was a rush of fighting men led by one 
 tall youth with clean, strong face, who swung a flash- 
 ing sword, and I heard the cry, 'The sword of the 
 Lord and of Gideon!" 
 
 Quickly there was another change, and I saw 
 sheep feeding by quiet waters in a green valley, sur- 
 rounded by brown hills. A shepherd boy sitting 
 upon a rock was singing a song which began : 'The 
 Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." 
 
 Again, without account of time or distance, I saw 
 a terrible struggling mob about a low hill. There 
 were brutal faces and brutal outcries, and fighting 
 for vantage points. And presently on the hilltop, 
 darkly silhouetted against the sky, stood three 
 crosses. 
 
 2 33 
 
34 -Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 Once more the scene changed and I saw a be- 
 leagured city. I saw starving Jewish women eating 
 their own babies. Desperate Jewish soldiery fought 
 in the breaches of broken walls. I heard the earth 
 shake with the tread of Roman soldiers. Battering 
 rams thundered at the gates. There were dust and 
 blood and groans and a falling temple. Then I saw 
 the hand of God shaking a great sieve and sifting 
 corn over all the nations of the earth. And each 
 kernel that fell sprang up a Jew. 
 
 Then all these confused pictures passed from my 
 mind and gradually one figure took definite form be- 
 fore me. He was a tall man, with thin, dark, keen 
 face. His hair was reddish brown. His nose was 
 typically Jewish the very nose that Judah wore. 
 He was closely wrapped in a cloak that gave him an 
 air of mystery. From his somber eyes looked some- 
 thing of Russia, something of America, something 
 of the Orient, something Western and yet it was 
 altogether Jewish, the Eternal Jew, without home, 
 without nation, ground and beaten, hated and hunted 
 and feared, sifted among the nations, yet never lost. 
 
 When this mental picture, like the others, had 
 faded, and my reverie was ended, I found myself 
 still holding the old Bible, across whose printed 
 pages the pageantry of the past had marched. Still 
 under the spell of my reverie, I wrote the following, 
 heading it with four rather splendid verses that I 
 have read somewhere, but whose authorship I have 
 forgotten. 
 
The Eternal Jew 35 
 
 THE JEW YESTERDAY, TO-DAY, AND TO-MORROW 
 
 "Have they not kingly lineage, have they not pedigree? 
 Are they not wrapped with wonder, like the darkness of 
 
 the sea? 
 They come out of the night of years with Asia in their 
 
 blood, 
 Out of the mystery of time that was before the Flood. 
 
 "They saw imperial Egypt shrink and join the ruined lands; 
 They saw the sculptured, scarlet East sink under the gray 
 
 sands ; 
 
 They saw the star of Hellas rise and glimmer into dream; 
 They saw the wolf of Rome draw suck beside the yellow 
 
 stream, 
 And go with ravenous eyes ablaze and jaws that would not 
 
 spare, 
 Snarling across the Earth, then, toothless, die upon his 
 
 lair. 
 
 "And have they not grief enough, this people shrunk with 
 
 chains? 
 
 Must there be more Assyrias, must there be other Spains? 
 They are the tribes of sorrow, and for ages have been fed 
 On brackish desert-wells of hate and exile's bitter bre&d. 
 They sang the elegies that tell the grief of mortal years; 
 They built the tombs of Pharaohs, mixing the bricks with 
 
 tears; 
 
 They builded up fair cities with no threshold of their own; 
 They gave their dust to Nineveh, to Babylon their moan. 
 
 "After tears by ruined altars, after foils in alien lands, 
 After wailings by strange waters, after lifting of vain 
 
 hands, 
 
 After cords and stripes and burdens, after ages scorched 
 with fire, 
 
36 Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 Shall they not find the way to peace, a land of heart's 
 
 desire? 
 Shall they not have a place to pray, a land to lay the 
 
 head? 
 Shall they not have the wild bird's nest, the fox's frugal 
 
 bed?" 
 
 The Jew of yesterday is a noble figure in the world's 
 history. He gives us the basis of our civil law. By 
 him our religion is shaped. From his writings we 
 glean the texts upon which our most spiritual ser- 
 mons are built ; they point our morals and adorn our 
 orations. 
 
 There is no land to which a Hebrew wanderer 
 has not penetrated. There is no law that a Hebrew 
 lawyer has not helped to frame. There is no bright 
 dream that a Hebrew poet has not dreamed. There 
 is no vista of the dim future which has not opened 
 to the eyes of a Hebrew prophet ; to his quickened 
 ear came the greatest revelation of Deity, and his 
 hand wrote the greatest books of all time. 
 
 We begin- to trace their history as it takes its rise 
 in the great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
 who, strong in body, mind, and spirit, became the 
 fathers and founders of a wonderful people. De- 
 fective though their lives were in some respects, still 
 they cherished the basic principles and the simple 
 virtues which insure existence and are the salt of 
 religion and politics. 
 
 Next appears Moses, the great emancipator and 
 lawgiver. After him was Joshua, the warrior. The 
 
The Eternal Jew 37 
 
 one gave freedom to an oppressed people, and in- 
 spired, educated, and organized them; the other 
 drilled them and infused into them the militant 
 spirit, so that they went as conquerors into the 
 promised land. There, by virtue of their native 
 qualities and the divine inspiration received from on 
 high, they became, in most that is good, the teachers 
 and leaders of the whole world. 
 
 Reflect for a moment upon their illustrious names. 
 Would you find a typical pioneer? He is found in 
 Abraham, who heard the voice say, "Get thee out of 
 thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy 
 father's house, unto a land that I will show thee." 
 So he went and staked his claim in Canaan and 
 founded a family that was to become a nation. Do 
 you ask for a typical lawgiver? Moses is his name. 
 Joshua is the valiant warrior ; Daniel the inspired re- 
 former. David is still the preeminent poet. Solomon 
 is the type of kingly splendor and wisdom. Jeremiah, 
 Isaiah, Ezekiel, John no greater prophets have been 
 born of women. 
 
 
 
 But what a change since the day when the King 
 of the Jews said, "Behold, your house is left unto 
 you desolate!" What a change since Paul wrote, 
 "Seeing ye judge yourselves unworthy of everlast- 
 ing life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles" ! 
 
 The picture of the eternal Jew is drawn in black 
 and white, and the contrast is harsh to the point of 
 offense. Yesterday, the throne, the scepter, the altar, 
 
38 ' Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 the psaltery; to-day, the sign of the three gilded 
 balls. Since the day when he delivered the most 
 distinguished Jew of all time to the scourge, the 
 Jew has been scourged by all nations, and every land 
 has pressed upon him a crown of thorns. He has 
 been crucified outside the gates of many cities, and 
 every place has been for him the place of a skull. 
 
 Forbidden to hold lands in most countries, he has 
 been forced into commerce. Hedged about with re- 
 strictions he has been obliged to resort to mean and 
 petty practices. Overlooking the many noble and 
 able modern Jews, the world chooses, when it looks 
 for a typical Jew, to observe only an ignorant Rus- 
 sian exile, a crafty dealer in secondhand clothing, a 
 money lender; and when any man of any race de- 
 scends to unspeakable meanness in a bargain he is 
 simply said to be " jewing his neighbor down/' 
 Shakespeare must needs choose a Jew for his Shy- 
 lock, to immortalize the stigma. 
 
 The race that once caught the gleam of fire in 
 the burning bush is now supposed to see but the 
 glint of gold. The race that once heard the voice of 
 God at Sinai is supposed to hear but the clink of 
 silver. The race that once thrilled in the contempla- 
 tion of problems of eternity is now supposed to think 
 only of problems of gain. But this is an injustice. 
 Idealism is not dead in the heart of the eternal Jew 
 the "Zionist" movement proves that. The pas- 
 sionate longing to return to Jerusalem, the hope of a 
 
The Eternal Jew 39 
 
 restored nation, these show that the old vision is 
 not dead. 
 
 Fortunately there is a brighter side to the picture, 
 which is seen as we look at the future. The Jew of 
 to-morrow will be as the Jew of yesterday. God 
 plainly says that he will "set his hand again the 
 second time to gather the remnant of his people." 
 
 This will not mean simply a return to the prom- 
 ised land, but a complete recovery of their former 
 state of spiritual and temporal greatness. The re- 
 proach will be removed, so that kings will be proud 
 to be their "nursing fathers," and queens be honored 
 to be called their "nursing mothers." 
 
 The promises of God concerning them have always 
 been fulfilled. He declared that he would sift them 
 among all nations "as corn is sifted in a sieve." It 
 was done. Yet he declared that "not one grain" 
 should be lost. It is true. They are scattered but 
 not lost. So far as the Jew proper is concerned, he 
 is a Jew anywhere. Bleached by the Arctic winds 
 or tanned by the African sun, he is still a Jew. He 
 may rise to the highest heights of education and 
 wealth, or sink to the lowest depths of ignorance 
 and poverty, he is still a Jew. Rothschild or 
 "sheeney," he is a Jew. 
 
 When the gospel again comes to them, as it surely 
 will when the "times of the Gentiles are fulfilled," 
 the same Spirit will go with it that has quickened the 
 
40 Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 intellect of every people to whom God ever sent the 
 gospel. 
 
 If the Gentile nations, among whom the gospel 
 has been preached so long and whose intelligences 
 have been enlivened by inspiration, shall fail to 
 acknowledge the source of their greatness, the sun 
 will set upon their glory, and they will cease to lead 
 as inventors and rulers, as artists and writers, and 
 the Jew will again lead and teach. 
 
 The subject is of vast importance, because the wel- 
 fare of the whole world is more or less affected by 
 the welfare of the Jew. Abraham was not chosen 
 for his own benefit alone, but that "in thee and in 
 thy seed" all the nations of the earth might be 
 blessed. 
 
 Looking into the future we see the time when the 
 Jew shall attain to his supreme greatness, perhaps 
 not as a Jew, but rather as a citizen of that great 
 nation that shall be made up of men from every race 
 and every clime the great general assembly of the 
 First-born. 
 
BLUE PENCIL NOTES 
 
 WE make many a bitter pill worse by Fletcherizing 
 it before we swallow it. 
 
 About the deadest thing in the world is a hobby 
 that has been ridden to death. 
 
 The gospel grasps the humble man by the hand 
 and helps him up; but it takes the haughty man by 
 the heel and pulls him down. 
 
 They do say that Adam's failure was largely on 
 account of Eve's extravagance. He started out with 
 a fine estate and a good position, but she squandered 
 it all on apples and aprons. But there were no neigh- 
 bors to worry about it ; which makes it quite different 
 from any similar case from then until now. 
 
 John Smith, finding himself in debt to Pocahontas 
 for his life, paid the debt with his heart. Which 
 was quite like a man. Thereupon she left all else 
 that she loved and followed him to England, where 
 she quickly died in a strange climate among strange 
 people. Finding herself in debt to John Smith for 
 his heart, she paid the debt with her life. Which 
 was quite like a woman. 
 
 Mrs. Eddy, mother of Christian Science, argues 
 that poisons kill only because everybody thinks that 
 
 41 
 
42 Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 poison kills. The individual is the victim of uni- 
 versal mental suggestion. This is "demonstrated," 
 no doubt, by potato bugs, which are very susceptible 
 to mental suggestion and die quickly after eating 
 Paris green. 
 
 In the foregoing paragraph we say that potato 
 bugs die, which of course is merely a "term of con- 
 venience" to cover their "mortal error." The farmer 
 thinks that they are dead, and the bugs think that 
 they are dead which is another convenience. 
 
 Joseph Luff used to say that there are many will- 
 ing to be the anvil and more who are willing to be 
 the hammer, but oh, how few there are who are 
 willing to be the iron between the hammer and the 
 anvil ! 
 
 We may boast that we never make the same mis- 
 take twice. If so, we have an astonishing variety of 
 new ones. We are versatile. Our own experiences 
 in this line should make us more charitable towards 
 others. Let us remember that Jesus left the courts 
 of glory, where no mistakes ever occur, and came 
 down to consort with men who are like us. He loved 
 them in spite of their mistakes. Can we do less? 
 If we wait to love until we find men who never make 
 mistakes we will go to our tombs unloving and un- 
 loved and the sooner the better. But after all is 
 said on the subject of mistakes, it remains to add, 
 that the most fatal and fatuous mistake of all is 
 
Blue Pencil Notes 
 
 made by the man who refuses to recognize and ad- 
 mit that he makes mistakes. 
 
 A wise old owl, upon being told that he was big- 
 ger than the eagle, merely blinked his eyes. In -his 
 mind he hooted at the idea. But he was too polite 
 to say anything aloud, so he kept on catching mice 
 and thinking his own thoughts. But a foolish sap- 
 sucker, receiving the same flattery, immediately flew 
 up in the air and imagined that he filled the whole 
 heavens with the spread of his wings. 
 
 A modest man receiving great praise retains his 
 own opinion of himself. But a vain man immediately 
 swells up to fill the new specifications. 
 
 When an otherwise excellent brother becomes in- 
 flated and imagines that he is the very last word in 
 the vocabulary, ordinary men are greatly tempted 
 to puncture him. But what is our duty in the case? 
 It is a problem. Does it call for Christian forbear- 
 ance or "direct action"? What did Jesus do when 
 the brethren got the bighead? Strangely enough, 
 he began at the other extremity. He got down on 
 his knees and washed their feet. And while he did 
 it the men got smaller and smaller and smaller, until 
 they were quite normal again. But Jesus was really 
 a big man. If we should try that we might become 
 very proud of our humility. 
 
 beautiful star, that guided afar over valley and 
 
44 Half Hours With Celebrities 
 
 height, where are your rays to-night? They are 
 blotted out in the dust and rout and smoke of the 
 fight. They shine not to-night. beautiful song, 
 full-toned and strong with angels' delight, where 
 are your strains to-night? They are drowned by the 
 crash of guns and the flash of shells as they break. 
 The sad hearts that ache in this dark night of pain 
 forbid that glad strain. The angels sit dumb in their 
 heavenly home. (December, 1917.) 
 
 Paul, possibly the greatest missionary that ever 
 lived, was a great student as well as dreamer. He 
 could quote the Greek poets or mend a tent. He 
 walked with composure and dignity up the slopes of 
 Mars Hill and with equal ease took charge of a ship 
 at sea in a storm when the crew was in a blue funk. 
 Joseph's brethren said, "Behold this dreamer com- 
 eth." Later he administered the affairs of Egypt. 
 The truth of course is that these men were prac- 
 tical men plus the dream, the study, and the vi- 
 sion. And that is the kind of men we need in re- 
 deeming Zion. 
 
 The man who does a bit of constructive work will 
 soon be told four things: First, it should not have 
 been done at all. Second, it should not have been 
 done in that way. Third, it should not have been 
 done at that time. Fourth, some one else should 
 have done it. 
 
BOOK TWO 
 
 Square Blocks 
 
THE VALLEY DE GROUCH 
 
 Spend not all your time in the Valley de Grouch 
 Come stand on the hill where there's plenty of room. 
 
 Come out of the jungle and sit in the sun, 
 And watch the sweet roses of charity bloom. 
 
 Spend not your time in the culture of lemons, 
 But see that your olive trees bear their increase; 
 
 And carry their branches along on the road 
 
 That was traveled one time by the Prince of Peace. 
 
 And soak not the sponge in wormwood and gall 
 That you hold to the lips of your fellow man; 
 
 But give him instead a cup of cold water, 
 
 Thus squaring your life with the Nazarene"s plan. 
 
 Spend not all your days in the Valley de Grouch; 
 
 And arm not your soul with the brier and thorn. 
 Come stand on the mount with the Great Friend of Man 
 
 Whose life was all sweet like the breath of the morn. 
 
 E. A. S. 
 
SQUARE BLOCKS 
 
 I MAY have in my mind a very splendid picture 
 of a rose. But if I am obliged to attempt to 
 outline and portray that rose with the aid only 
 of square wooden blocks, I convey to your mind a 
 very inadequate idea of that which is in my mind. 
 
 That is the trouble with words. They are square 
 blocks that we have invented to express our 
 thoughts. They are very imperfect and we use them 
 very imperfectly all of which accounts for a great 
 deal of the misunderstanding in the church as well 
 as in the world. 
 
 It is true that some men are more gifted than 
 others. With them language is both vivid and plas- 
 tic, taking always the form of their thought but 
 most of us work with square blocks. 
 
 Fortunately, however, words are more important 
 in logic than in life if you can get what is meant 
 by that. Men of scholastic mind are always very 
 much interested in formulating exact definitions 
 for every proposition or rather in attempting to 
 formulate exact definitions. That is proper, too, for 
 definitions must accompany every attempt to ana- 
 lyze. But we repeat, words are more important to 
 logic than to life. 
 
 The spirit of man, as well as the Spirit of God, 
 has a way of speaking over, under, between words 
 
 47 
 
48 Square Blocks 
 
 however you wish to express the thought. We are 
 not altogether limited to square blocks. 
 
 My friend stands at the grave side of his little 
 child. I come to him, filled with sympathy, but quite 
 unable to clothe my feelings in words. All the fine 
 big words have vanished away. Only a few common 
 ones are at hand and they do not seem to mean 
 much, under the circumstances. But something does 
 speak through my halting phrases and reach his 
 heart, so that he is comforted and understands. Lips 
 say little to ear; but heart speaks to heart so that 
 the idea clumsily portrayed by my square blocks is 
 expressed and comprehended. 
 
 There is something after all to the almost inar- 
 ticulate appeal with which we often end an effort 
 to explain, "Well, you know what I mean, anyway." 
 
 History is full of instances where speech has pro- 
 duced astounding results quite out of proportion to 
 anything that was put into words. Back of every 
 impassioned* utterance is a great reservoir of human 
 emotion that bursts over the dam and gets away 
 without being recorded. "Liberty, equality, fra- 
 ternity," that was all the French Revolution put into 
 words. But those three square blocks of speech 
 were accompanied by torrents of emotion and cata- 
 clysmic action. 
 
 Analyze Peter's speech at Pentecost. Is there any- 
 thing in it, so far as we have it in words, to account 
 for the astonishing effect produced at the time? 
 But Peter was endowed with power from on high, 
 
Square Blocks 49 
 
 as was promised. The spirit of Peter spoke much 
 more than the lips of Peter could utter. The Spirit 
 of God rode through and over and under his speech. 
 It is well said that his hearers were "pricked in their 
 hearts/' There may have been logic there but it 
 was logic plus. There was something besides Peter's 
 very hard and very square utterances. 
 
 So, after all, there must be a profound philosophy 
 in the injunction that we shall not attempt to preach 
 without the Spirit. Otherwise we may merely at- 
 tempt to portray a splendid picture with the aid 
 only of a few square blocks (some speakers have 
 a bigger collection than others) and the result will 
 be pitiful when it is not ridiculous, and so terribly, 
 terribly monotonous. Without that 'peculiar unction 
 from on high that gave wings to his thoughts, 
 Peter's Pentecostal sermon might have put the whole 
 audience to sleep. We suspect that people did go to 
 sleep sometimes when Peter preached, but not at 
 Pentecost. 
 
 A study of homiletics, rhetoric, logic, public speak- 
 ing, may help one a great deal in the arrangement 
 of his ideas in an orderly and logical manner, and 
 in the selection and delivery of his sentences. But 
 if that is all he has, men very quickly discover that 
 he is merely playing in the pulpit with building 
 blocks. They prefer to play with their own blocks on 
 the street corner or in the club. After Jesus had 
 taught the apostles for years, and when the mission 
 field lay before them white for the harvest, as he 
 
50 Square Blocks 
 
 himself had declared, he yet said to them, "Wait, 
 wait, wait." 
 
 Wait for what? Did they not understand the gos- 
 pel message? Did they not have words words- 
 plenty of words, good words? Peter never lacked 
 for words. The harvest was white. The laborers 
 were few. Yet Jesus said, "Wait." Wait for what ? 
 "Wait till you are endowed with power from on 
 high." 
 
 A certain well-known elder who left the church 
 years ago felt that he could go on preaching with- 
 out any trouble. He had been very popular as a 
 preacher. He said, "Why, of course I can go on 
 preaching. All there is to preaching is to make up 
 one's mind what to say and then get up in the pulpit 
 and say it." Very simple. Yet as a matter of fact 
 he had lost his power to preach and never regained 
 it. The change was patent even to nonmembers. 
 
 Mark Twain once made a minister very angry of 
 a Sunday when he said, "I have a book at home in 
 my library which contains every word of your ser- 
 mon." Mark referred to the dictionary. A pocket 
 dictionary contains all the words that a man will 
 need for a very good sermon at least it has all that 
 there are in the Sermon on the Mount. The In- 
 structor has in small compass classified texts enough 
 to supply scripture for a great many sermons on a 
 great many subjects. Pattison tells all about "The 
 making of the sermon." Well, what more does a 
 man need ? There are the words, there are the texts, 
 there are the rules. 
 
Square Blocks 51 
 
 But every time a man goes into the pulpit, if he 
 is a man of sense and modesty, he is likely to be 
 appalled by the thought, How am I to portray 
 Christ with the square blocks at my disposal ? The 
 words come to him also, "Wait wait until you are 
 endowed with power from on high." Jesus said, 
 "My words they are spirit and they are life." And 
 the promise was given of old, "I will make my words 
 in thy mouth fire." 
 
ADVANCE THE BALL 
 
 IN A well-organized football eleven every move of 
 every player is designed to advance the ball. 
 Every player supports the team. Every player 
 supports every other player. All try to make the 
 goal. One man may have the honor to carry the 
 ball forward for a gain but all others help him to 
 make the play. Some may run before or beside him 
 for "interference"; but they do not interfere with 
 him; they protect him and interfere with his assail- 
 ants. All obey the signals. There is discipline and 
 order. 
 
 Suppose that in a certain team, after the line-up 
 has been determined for the game, after the whistle 
 has blown and action is on, two or more players de- 
 cide to oppose each other. Or suppose they decide 
 to oppose the captain or quarter back, to "rough" 
 and "foul" their own fellows in the scrimmage to 
 defy the orders, and ball up the signals. What will 
 happen ? The opposition will go right through them 
 and around them and over them. 
 
 What would you think of such a team? Reverse 
 the question. What do you suppose a good football 
 team would think of some of the things we do? If 
 two players on an eleven should decide to fight each 
 other, that would leave nine to meet the enemy. If 
 four should become thus involved, seven would be 
 left. If five should decide to oppose the remaining 
 
 52 
 
Advance the Ball 53 
 
 six, one would be left to oppose the enemy. The 
 same principle holds good in a branch, in a stake, or 
 in the general church. 
 
 Here is an incident not so unusual that one may 
 say it never happened: a certain branch, or district, 
 or stake, has its regular business meeting or con- 
 ference. Policies are discussed. Officers are elected, 
 or sustained, as the case may be. The line-up for 
 the team is decided upon. But almost immediately 
 when the work is begun, some of the officers get at 
 outs and spend the rest of the time trying to de- 
 feat one another. Or perhaps they get at outs with 
 the branch president, or the district or stake presi- 
 dent, as the case may be, and spend the rest of the 
 year trying to make him unhappy and to balk his 
 plans. Or possibly those on the side lines get upon 
 the field and endeavor to kick the ball about. What 
 would you think of such a branch? Obviously, 
 Methuselah would not live long enough to see it make 
 even a ten yard gain. It is impossible to advance 
 the ball. While the struggle goes on, few are left to 
 meet the enemy and he goes right through our line. 
 
 Is the picture overdrawn? Since this editorial 
 was begun a letter came to the desk of the Presi- 
 dency from a brother in a rather large and im- 
 portant branch. He says: 
 
 "We have a wonderful opportunity here to build 
 up an organization that will be a power for good in 
 the church, but every effort is being made to frus- 
 trate all progressive movements; in fact, the past 
 
54 Square Blocks 
 
 year as I view it has been devoted to defending the 
 policies of the church against those who insist that 
 it is being led to destruction." 
 
 Why not line up and play the game? Let our ob- 
 jections be registered at the proper time by voice 
 and vote in conference and business meeting, and at 
 elections. But when the majority has decided the 
 line-up for a season, let us get busy and advance the 
 ball. Let us heed legitimate leadership and disci- 
 pline and direction. Otherwise we can never, never 
 win out at the goal. 
 
 Some one may say: "Oh, that is Brighamism! 
 You want us to obey counsel, to follow the file leader. 
 That is Brighamism !" It is not. The charge has so 
 little foundation that it is not even worth while to 
 get angry about it. Here is one vital difference be- 
 tween "Brighamism" and our philosophy and pro- 
 cedure. Brighamism gives no opportunity for free 
 speech at the business sessions and conferences, the 
 very place where the people are to discuss matters 
 and determine common consent by the ballot. 
 
 The man who started any sort of opposition in 
 Brigham's day, and for a long time after, was speed- 
 ily shown to the door by an escort of very efficient 
 ushers. He found himself immediately in the great 
 and glorious out-of-doors. The conference went on 
 without him and a negative vote was not taken. 
 Often the recalcitrant member found himself dis- 
 fellowshiped speedily, if indeed he escaped an ex- 
 position of the principle of "blood atonement." 
 
Advance the Ball 55 
 
 Have we anything like that? You know we have 
 not. Free speech has been the rule in our conferences 
 very free indeed. And very often those who have 
 stood in opposition to the administration have been 
 given positions of great trust and responsibility as 
 well as honor. That has been done to this very day. 
 
 The late General Conference [1919] was monu- 
 mental evidence that the right of free speech remains 
 unabridged. Everyone said about what he pleased. 
 Debate continued until the people closed it them- 
 selves. In every decision made by the chairman on a 
 question wherein there was even a shadow of doubt, 
 free speech was given the benefit of the doubt. You 
 know that to be a fact. 
 
 If this church errs in anything it errs in too great 
 leniency, and men are allowed to go on and on until 
 they ruin themselves and others. If you do not be- 
 lieve that, get the proper longitude and latitude and 
 draw a straight line across the map toward Toronto. 
 Where an attempt has been made to curb one man 
 who will not play the game according to the divine 
 rules, a dozen have been permitted to go scot free, 
 because to thejast extremity we have thought to 
 save them. 
 
 But returning to our theme: free speech has its 
 time and place. And there is a time for work 
 orderly, concentrated, disciplined work. When the 
 debate is over, in branch, district, or stake, or gen- 
 eral church, the votes cast and counted, the line-up 
 for the period determined, we ought to get busy and 
 
56 Square Blocks 
 
 play the game, giving mutual support. Let us ad- 
 vance the ball. 
 
 Let us not deceive ourselves. We are not out for 
 a summer picnic or a little joint debate among our- 
 selves. The opposition is lined up. And the oppo- 
 sition is bent upon only one thing: the entire de- 
 struction of the church, root and branch. 
 
 Have you noted the character of the books ap- 
 pearing against us ? Have you observed the work of 
 the lecturers who are covering various parts of the 
 country? It is reported that two hundred and 
 eighty-eight thousand congregations of various de- 
 nominations have banded themselves in an alliance 
 to destroy "Mormonism," as they term it. And their 
 hardest attack many times is upon the Reorganized 
 Church not upon the Utah Mormons. Some of 
 them, at least, do not hate polygamy as bad as they 
 have claimed to do, or they would not pass by Utah 
 Mormonism to attack a moral and religious people 
 whose record is clean and honorable. But so it is. 
 The issue is drawn. The battle is on. 
 
 Have we time for bickerings? The opposition 
 does not wait for us to adjust our little differences. 
 Our opponents have no excessive!?" reverential re- 
 gard for fair play. They are not lopsided with over- 
 developed consciences. They mean business. They 
 are smashing at our center and driving at the ends 
 of our line. Perhaps we had better get together and 
 advance the ball. 
 
WANTED: BIG MEN 
 
 Sermon at Lament, Iowa, January 27, 1916. 
 
 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowl- 
 edge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure 
 of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4-' 15. 
 
 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in 
 all things, which is the head, even Christ. Ephesians 4:15. 
 
 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and 
 Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. 
 Amen. 2 Peter 3:18. 
 
 "^ TOU will notice that in the texts I have selected, 
 
 | the subject of growth is mentioned, and the 
 
 idea is held forth that we are to grow until 
 
 we become like Christ; that we are to be measured 
 
 by him. 
 
 FEEDING A GRUDGE HEART TISSUE 
 
 We want men and women who are too big to hold 
 a grudge against one another. A big spirit never 
 holds a grudge, and the spirit that holds a grudge 
 can never become large. It takes too much spiritual 
 sustenance to keep a grudge alive the man is 
 starved to death. 
 
 It costs more to keep a grudge than it does to keep 
 a horse or an automobile. A horse eats hay, and an 
 automobile burns up gasoline ; but a grudge eats the 
 heart of the man himself, and he will burn in hell 
 eventually if he does not cast it out; because Jesus 
 said definitely, "If ye forgive not men their tres- 
 
 57 
 
58 Square Blocks 
 
 passes, neither will your Father forgive your tres- 
 passes." 
 
 You perhaps have seen men who have nursed a 
 grudge for long, long years. It made them suffer, 
 and it has made others suffer. They are never satis- 
 fied until they "get even" with some one; and after 
 they have gotten even they feel meaner than they 
 did before. A grudge makes you feel bad all the 
 time until you gratify it, and then you feel worse 
 than you did before. 
 
 ASSETS AND LIABILITIES 
 
 We want men and women who are so big that they 
 will not do a mean or contemptible trick. We want 
 men and women who are so big that they will not 
 betray a friend. It is a mark of nobility and great- 
 ness of character to be true to a friend, true to the 
 cause, true to the church, true to our convictions, no 
 matter under what conditions we may find ourselves. 
 If we have that kind of men and women in the 
 church they are the most valuable asset we have. 
 
 The bishop may make his report annually to the 
 conference. He may have a list of figures headed 
 "Assets of the church," showing money in hand, and 
 notes, church buildings, etc.; but I want to tell you 
 that the greatest asset that this church has, consists 
 of the men and women who are big in character ; the 
 living assets of the church. But when we have men 
 and women who are small, they are liabilities. 
 
Wanted: Big Men 59 
 
 FOURTEEN MEN FOURTEEN DAYS 
 
 The High Council has just recently finished sitting 
 in Independence. We were held there for fourteen 
 days, possibly a little longer. Fourteen men on the 
 supreme court of the church, sitting for at least four- 
 teen days, to hear various cases of difficulty that had 
 come up on appeal. Some of these cases, if not all of 
 them, (certainly the majority of them,) grew out of 
 trivial matters. They grew out of the little things 
 that could have been avoided had the participants, 
 one or both of them, been big enough to avoid the 
 follies and offenses that brought them finally into 
 that court. Of course by the time the cases reached 
 us they had grown to great proportions. 
 
 Fourteen men for fourteen days that means the 
 time of one man for six months and a half to hear 
 those cases of difficulty that had come up to the High 
 Council in one season. This was an extraordinary 
 session, I know; the longest session we have had in 
 the history of the church; but just think of it! The 
 idea of taking out of the field a man, a high priest, 
 efficient enough to sit on the High Council, able to 
 preside over large pastorates like Kansas City, or 
 Des Moines, taking such a man as that out of his 
 field at church expense for six and one half months 
 to listen to cases of difficulty that ought never to 
 have come up at all ! 
 
 No case ever ought to reach the church courts. 
 Always there is one side or the other, and frequently 
 both sides, more or less at fault. 
 
60 Square Blocks 
 
 It would be interesting to ascertain the time taken 
 up by elders' courts all over the country; by min- 
 isters in charge called out of their fields to settle 
 cases of difficulty in different branches ; and the time 
 taken up by teachers in settling difficulties, and by 
 pastors; and find out just how much time it takes 
 year by year to adjust and adjudicate these diffi- 
 culties that ought not to come up at all. And when 
 you have finally done that and have some idea of the 
 loss that occurs to the church, not only in point of 
 time, but also in efficiency, you will agree that we 
 want big men and big women. 
 
 We may become great by being humble. When- 
 ever you find an individual who is trying to exalt 
 himself, and thinking all the time how big he is, 
 you will find an individual who is not growing. It 
 is said that a watched kettle never boils; and the 
 individual who watches his soul, and congratulates 
 himself that he is getting a little bigger than some- 
 body else, is not growing at all. 
 
 What is it to become great? Probably everybody 
 has a desire to be great. Most of us start out in 
 life with very high ambitions. We think that we 
 want to do something extraordinary. We want to 
 achieve some high position. We feel that we can 
 make a success in some field. Every healthy boy 
 and girl has that ambition. 
 
 WHAT HAPPENS TO MOST OF US? 
 
 Well, now, what happens to most of us ? A certain 
 number of men start out. When one of these men 
 
Wanted: Big Men 61 
 
 is forty years old, perhaps, he finds himself on a 
 farm. He started out with those high ambitions; 
 but he finds himself at forty years of age on the 
 farm, plowing the same old fields that he has plowed 
 every year in the spring, reaping the same fields in 
 the fall, milking the same old cows at night, doing 
 day by day and year by year the same old round of 
 drudgery. 
 
 The second man finds himself in a store behind the 
 counter at forty years of age. He goes down to the 
 store every morning, sells buttons, tape, shoes, etc., 
 and goes home at night. The next morning he gets 
 up and repeats the process. 
 
 The third man finds himself in a factory at forty 
 years of age. He leaves home in the morning before 
 his children are up. He sits or stands at a machine 
 all day long, and goes home after dark after his 
 children are asleep perhaps doesn't see them awake 
 for months at a time. 
 
 This is the common lot of the majority of people, 
 and fairly portrays it. But in the course of time, 
 having failed to achieve what they considered true 
 greatness, these men (and the same is typical of 
 women also) begin to transfer their ambitions to 
 their children, if they have children, and think what 
 wonderful things they will accomplish. They take 
 great delight and pleasure in seeing their children 
 develop. They pass the torch along to the next run- 
 ner in life's "relay race." 
 
62 Square Blocks 
 
 OUR CHILDREN TOO 
 
 Time goes on as we watch the children grow, and 
 if we live long enough, when they are forty years 
 of age, we see the one boy on the farm, plowing the 
 same old field in the spring, reaping the same old 
 field in the fall, milking the same old cows at night. 
 
 In the second case we see the boy, now a man, 
 forty years old, behind the counter, selling buttons, 
 tape, shoes, etc. ; and in the third case the boy goes 
 to the factory in the morning, stands or sits at the 
 machine all day, coming home after night. The 
 same thing that has happened to us has happened 
 to them,, and this is the common experience of man. 
 
 It is only an exceptional individual who climbs up 
 to some position that we commonly credit with being 
 great. It is a fact that the majority of humanity 
 finds itself condemned to walk in the common 
 walks of life; and defeated in their ambition to be 
 great, as they esteem greatness, weary of endless 
 drudgery, hundreds become discouraged and commit 
 suicide. 
 
 A TRUE CONCEPTION OF GREATNESS 
 
 There is a wrong idea of greatness. We do not 
 have to climb up into some high position to be great. 
 We do not have to accumulate a lot of money to be 
 great men and women. Greatness doesn't consist 
 in what we have, nor in where we are, or in what we 
 have done. It consists in what we are. 
 
Wanted: Big Men 63 
 
 Socrates was a great man. He was born of common 
 parentage. He never accumulated much money or 
 land. He was poor all his life. He went around bare- 
 footed, wearing an old robe. He never accepted an 
 office, politically, excepting one almost forgotten 
 term in the senate. 
 
 THE LIE TO AN OLD THEORY 
 
 Socrates was great in spirit. By his unflinching 
 integrity, by his absolute fearlessness of everything 
 on earth excepting to do wrong, by his virtue, and his 
 honesty, he was so great that his name became pro- 
 verbial. It seems as though nature designed him in 
 order to give the lie to the pagan world theory that 
 greatness consists in money, or appearance, or po- 
 sition. Socrates had none of these; neither money, 
 position, nor dignified appearance. 
 
 Jesus Christ himself, the greatest spirit that ever 
 walked in human flesh, was the son of a common 
 carpenter, and is said to have been a carpenter in his 
 younger days. Jesus himself was not great because 
 of what he did. It is true that he suffered martyr- 
 dom, but so did others so did Socrates. It is true 
 that he performed great miracles, but so did Elijah. 
 It is true that he wrought marvelous works, but he 
 said to his disciples, "The things that I do ye shall 
 do, and greater things than these." 
 
 Jesus Christ was great because of what he was 
 not because of what he did, but because of what he 
 was. He was the supreme representation of the God- 
 
64 Square Blocks 
 
 like spirit. He said, "He that hath seen me hath 
 seen God." He was great all the time, whether in 
 action or in repose. If you or I ever are to be- 
 come great, it will be because we have become like 
 him, and partaken of his Spirit. 
 
 Then the great majority of men, finding them- 
 selves defeated in their ambition to become great ac- 
 cording to the worldly idea, unable to accumulate a 
 great amount of wealth, unable to climb up to the 
 high position they covet, may satisfy themselves 
 with this thought, that greatness is not constituted 
 of these things at all. Greatness is of the spirit. 
 Greatness is manifested in integrity, honesty, and 
 virtue ; and the man who tills his farm, cultivates his 
 field, plowing in the spring, reaping in the fall, milk- 
 ing his cows at night, may be a greater man than 
 the individual who has climbed up to the senate, or 
 even to some higher place, and has not cultivated 
 honesty, integrity, and virtue. 
 
 The man behind the counter, or the man in the 
 factory, the wife at home, all of these may become 
 truly great. They do not need to become discouraged 
 or dissatisfied with the toil of the endless round of 
 life. They may achieve greatness, and their chil- 
 dren after them ; they may become great in spirit. 
 
 Jesus tells us that he that is faithful in the things 
 that are least, shall be made ruler over things that 
 are great. Thus we prepare ourselves by being faith- 
 ful in these smaller things, for greater positions of 
 trust, here or hereafter; and finally, if God or the 
 
Wanted: Big Men 65 
 
 people shall call us up to some higher position, 
 ecclesiastical or political, or in the civic affairs of 
 the community, we will be prepared to occupy. 
 
ELBOW ROOM 
 
 A man's gift maketh room for him. Proverbs 18:16. 
 
 THE church truly gathers into her domain of 
 every kind, as the Master predicted. Even 
 among those who are good and worthy, (the 
 only kind we wish to consider at this time,) there' 
 exists the utmost diversity of characteristics, in- 
 terests, and abilities. This in itself is immensely to 
 the advantage of the church, and adds greatly to her 
 strength and efficiency, if only we look at the mat- 
 ter in the right way. 
 
 But if we do not look at it in the right way there 
 is trouble. Whenever one man, or a group of men of 
 similar individuality, conceives the notion that all 
 men should be recast in one mold, in an exact replica 
 of themselves, there is trouble. If they are at all 
 successful in their efforts the church is impoverished. 
 
 Here is one man, perhaps typical of a class, a mis- 
 sionary in a leading quorum, who has acquired con- 
 siderable culture. He has read quite extensively and 
 intelligently, and thus has enriched his mind on many 
 subjects. He is interested in history, science, art, 
 music, the languages, ethics. True, he does not often 
 preach "an old-fashioned doctrinal sermon"; prob- 
 ably he would not be much good to meet an Ad- 
 ventist on the Sabbath question or on the question 
 of "soul sleeping." 
 
 66 
 
Elbow Room 67 
 
 Some may be very suspicious of this man's in- 
 fluence. Concerning a man of that type, a certain 
 brother remarked: "I have heard him preach a whole 
 series of sermons and one could not have told from 
 any of them that he was a Latter Day Saint." 
 
 But another brother said of the same man: "I 
 never heard him preach a sermon that I did not con- 
 sider a Latter Day Saint sermon. He always fills me 
 full of religious enthusiasm." 
 
 Surely this man has his field of usefulness. By 
 him the church is enriched. It is enabled to compass 
 a broader field. Because we are inclined to stick 
 pretty close to the first principles most of the time, 
 we ought not deny this man elbow room to do his 
 work. 
 
 Here is another man of a different type, a "chap- 
 ter and verse man/' a "first principle man," who 
 sticks to doctrinal themes and always has his scrip- 
 tural quotations at hand. He is a four-square man, 
 armed at every angle against theological aggression 
 prepared for Adventists, "Campbellites," Catho- 
 lics, Spiritualists, Dunkards, Methodists, Christian 
 Scientists, what not. 
 
 While admired by many, this man has his critics; 
 those who allege that he is too dogmatic, too narrow, 
 too old-fashioned. But he is just the man to use in 
 many places along the thousands of miles of frontier 
 that the church must defend. He is a splendid prose- 
 lyter. He is rugged and fearless. He does not 
 shrink from the trenches. 
 
 He is equipped to instruct and reach many in- 
 
68 Square Blocks 
 
 quirers who, like the vast majority of worldly peo- 
 ple, are hardly yet in the primary class in theology. 
 He is preeminently successful in those fields that de- 
 mand and must have "first principle preaching," 
 where all the cry must be repentance. 
 
 The church is really fortunate to have these two 
 men, widely as they differ. Why should either crowd 
 the other or seek to depreciate his usefulness ? Sup- 
 pose all our members were just like one or the other 
 of these two? Let each man ask himself: 
 
 What kind of church would our church be, 
 If every member were just like me? 
 
 Most of us will admit that it would be a very lop- 
 sided affair exceedingly strong at some points, but 
 terribly weak at other points. No one man com- 
 pletes the circle of perfection. Most men are made 
 up of a mixture of strength and weakness "iron 
 mixed with miry clay." Let every man throw his 
 strength into the work in his own way, if it is not 
 an unlawful way. We are enriched and strength- 
 ened by this great variety. 
 
 How broad is our commission. No one man can 
 cover the entire field. Why should one complain be- 
 cause all do not specialize on the theme that he has 
 selected for himself? 
 
 One man is a great student of books. He keeps 
 abreast with contemporaneous thought in the univer- 
 sities, and reads all the new books as well as the old. 
 Shall ^ve crowd him out because he has "book learn- 
 
Elbow Room 69 
 
 ing"? or discount him because his sentences are 
 grammatical? Shall we allow the "contempt of the 
 unlearned" to fall upon him and hinder his work? 
 Shall we dismiss him with the epithet, "High brow" ? 
 
 Most certainly not. Use him. Give the man el- 
 bow room room according to his strength. 
 
 But here is another man who does not care for 
 books. He may even feel a degree of misplaced pride 
 in the mistaken idea that he is not educated. He fails 
 to realize that he gets his education from men. He 
 is a student of man. He talks and questions and 
 observes. Socrates got his education in that way. 
 He was not much seen bothering his head over books. 
 He was in the market place, at the banquet, on the 
 street, wherever men were, asking questions, "cross- 
 questioning humanity," as one writer expressed it. 
 
 How about this man? He has no university de- 
 gree ; sometimes he gets badly mixed up in the mazes 
 of the king's English. But he may have most ex- 
 cellent judgment in homely, practical matters. God 
 can use him, too. And there is not the slightest 
 reason why these two men should run afoul of each 
 other; or that either should affirm, "The church has 
 no need of you." 
 
 The church needs real men. If they are not all 
 alike, so much the better. Are they upstanding men ? 
 That is the question. Can we trust them? Are 
 they loyal men? 
 
 There may even be among us here and there a 
 man of the iconoclast type, who may challenge an- 
 
70 Square Blocks 
 
 cient truth at some points. Or rather he may chal- 
 lenge our interpretation, or perception, of truth. 
 What shall we do with him? Shall we come down on 
 him quick and hard and crowd him out of the 
 ch urch ? Is there or is there not elbow room for such 
 a man? 
 
 Must we join the hue and cry that has pursued 
 the heretic in all ages? The "heresy hunt/' as Pres- 
 ident Joseph Smith called it, formerly ended at the 
 stake. The methods are different now. How about 
 the spirit? We will not answer these questions, 
 but leave them for our readers to ponder, merely 
 suggesting this true principle : whatever steps may 
 be necessary in order to curtail or prevent the 
 preaching of error should be taken with kindly care, 
 with a broad and enlightened comprehension of hu- 
 man characteristics and divine truth and compas- 
 sion, and not in the hard, bitter, dogmatic spirit 
 of the ancient heretic baiter. 
 
 We plead for a broad and liberal attitude ; one that 
 will recognize the varied richness of our church en- 
 terprises, and the strength and beauty in the aggre- 
 gation of the wonderfully diverse characteristics of 
 those whom God calls according to the gifts of God 
 unto them" 
 
 Let every man have elbow room to stand up and 
 work, providing, of course, his work is in any sense 
 productive of good and destructive of evil. Let all 
 the members work together without interference 
 and with mutual confidence and honor. 
 
Elbow Room 71 
 
 Paul must have had some such thought in mind 
 when he wrote his famous analogy of the church and 
 the body (1 Corinthians 12). He says: "If they were 
 all one member, where were the body?" He goes on 
 to rejoice, "But now are they many members, yet one 
 body." He affirms that "God set the members every 
 one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him." 
 And he concludes that the eye cannot say unto the 
 handy "I have no need of thee," and so on. 
 
 Yes, it is said in modern revelation, "All are called 
 according to the gifts of God unto them." I can- 
 not labor with your gifts; nor you with mine. I 
 should not seek to force you to conform to my type ; 
 but all should seek to approach, each in his sphere, 
 the Christ type. In that way all, by unity in di- 
 versity, may make up the perfect church, the efficient 
 body of Christ, "that there should be no schism in 
 the body." 
 
THE COAST PATROL 
 
 A^ A TIME when I was quite ill in Southern 
 California, and confined to my wheel chair, I 
 used often to sit and watch the deep blue sea 
 and listen to the mournful murmur of the waves. The 
 waves were not half so mournful as (I, nor the sea 
 nearly so blue. Yet the experience had its compen- 
 sations. For there I made the acquaintance of a 
 notable band of aviators. Many of them I came to 
 know by sight, and some of them personally, as for 
 instance Captain Golightly and Lieutenant Flapper. 
 These aviators of Hermosa Beach are among the 
 very best in the world and take the air quite regard- 
 less of weather conditions. Well may it be so, for 
 their fathers were versed in aeronautics at a time 
 when, according to Darwin, the great-grandfather of 
 the Wright brothers lived in a tree. They looked 
 down serenely on Kittyhawk and watched man's 
 first erratic attempts to fly. It is even possible that 
 they smiled at Darius Green, though I never did see 
 one of them smile at anything. Probably their chil- 
 dren will fly after the last great aeroplane has 
 plunged into the sea. I dubbed these fellows the 
 Coast Patrol, and the following lines were written 
 in memory of their courage and prowess : 
 
 72 
 
The Coast Patrol 73 
 
 THE SONG OF THE SEA GULLS 
 
 Since wave first broke or fog blew in, 
 Since sailor tanked his hold with gin, 
 Since ship had sail or fish had fin, 
 We've kept the beach from shoal to shoal 
 We are the flying Coast Patrol. 
 
 Since Adam ate his apple down, 
 And Eve put on her wedding gown, 
 And both raised Cain in Eden town, 
 We've kept the sea from deep to shoal 
 We are the flying Coast Patrol. 
 
 Till waves shall rest their foamy crest, 
 And Sea no longer heave her breast, 
 Our wings shall to the gale be pressed. 
 Man claims that he alone has soul 
 But we have wings the Coast Patrol. 
 
 Till stars no more their vigils keep, 
 
 Or moon draw tides from deep to deep. 
 
 Or women for their sailors weep, 
 
 We'll keep the beach from shoal to shoal 
 
 We are the flying Coast Patrol. 
 
DESIRE FOR TWELVE O'CLOCK 
 AT. ELEVEN 
 
 JOHN SPARGO comments oh what he terms the 
 desire of humanity for twelve o'clock when it is 
 only eleven. 
 
 An impassioned speaker may implant in some 
 heart a noble ideal. To accept and properly appraise 
 the ideal is a matter of moment. To live up to it and 
 bring it to fruition may be a work of years. There 
 comes the test of character. Will the man weakly 
 indulge in the wish that the time of fruition had 
 come? Or will he wisely use the time in ways cal- 
 culated to make his dream real. 
 
 The boy or girl in high school or college looks 
 longingly towards commencement day. How splendid 
 will be the hour of graduation. The desire for twelve 
 o'clock when it is only eleven becomes very keen. 
 But there are those two, three, or four years yet re- 
 maining before graduation. There are geometry, 
 Latin, physics, and many other giants to be over- 
 come. Will he (or she) use every minute of the 
 time to advance and win out to graduation with 
 honors? Or will the desire for twelve o'clock when 
 it is only eleven consume all the energy that is ex- 
 pended ? 
 
 The young nurse in the sanitarium looks longingly 
 towards the day when the course of training will be 
 ended. How fine it will be to don the uniform of a 
 
 74 
 
The Desire for Twelve O'clock at tileven 75 
 
 graduate trained nurse! But there are those long 
 months of toil. There are those disagreeable, revolt- 
 ing, menial tasks to be performed, those long vigils 
 to be kept, those problems to master, that discipline 
 to acquire. There is not a moment to waste wishing 
 it were twelve at eleven. If time is wasted, the 
 twelve o'clock of the girl's ambition will never strike. 
 
 There is the young elder just beginning his min- 
 istry, or perhaps just preparing for it. How he looks 
 forward to the day when he shall prosecute a suc- 
 cessful foreign mission, or preside over an active 
 branch, or as an evangelist move throngs to repent- 
 ance by his eloquence. 
 
 But wishing will not make it twelve o'clock for him 
 when it is only eleven. He must use that hour in 
 preparation study, prayer, experience these will 
 equip him for twelve o'clock when it really comes. 
 
 A member of the class in religious education in 
 Graceland College said : "We don't seem to be getting 
 anywhere !" Another added : "They expect too much 
 of us. When we get up to speak they expect a won- 
 derful sermon; better than an old, experienced min- 
 ister could preach." 
 
 True, perhaps possibly the boys have been wish- 
 ing for twelve o'clock at eleven. Perhaps the church 
 has expected them to bring forth noonday fruits at 
 eleven. It would not be fair to expect that, at gradua- 
 tion, after only one year of preparation, each man 
 should come out a Heman C. Smith in logic, a Joseph 
 Luff in eloquence, a Charles Derry in piety, and an 
 
76 Square Blocks 
 
 E. E. Long in polemics. Don't expect twelve o'clock 
 at eleven. 
 
 The whole church has caught a vision of Zion 
 redeemed. We get it from the revelations and from 
 the impassioned appeals of our orators. It takes only 
 a short time for the desire to grow in our hearts. It 
 takes a long time to work out its fulfillment. So 
 little has been done! Shall we sit down and lament, 
 or scold, as our temperament may be, because Zion is 
 not yet realized idly repine because it is not twelve 
 o'clock at eleven? Or shall we set ourselves to use 
 those sixty minutes that remain? 
 
 We cannot find a short cut past the rigid discipline, 
 the renunciation, the sacrifice, the remodeling of 
 thought, habit, character, the consolidation, the so- 
 cialization that must come before it is twelve o'clock 
 in Zion. Let us use the hour. 
 
THE FLIGHT OF THE AEROPLANES 
 
 JERUSALEM, September 12. Armed airships 
 and aeroplanes are continually flying over the 
 birthplace of the Prince of Peace at Bethlehem. 
 Nearly the entire Holy Land has been transformed 
 into a military camp. Soldiers are maneuvering ev- 
 ery day on the Mount of Olives, at Golgotha and Je- 
 rusalem. The English, French, and Russian convents 
 have been turned into barracks, and between Judea 
 and Jericho, where transportation was by mule pack 
 in the days when Christ came to bring 'Peace on 
 earth,' a road is being constructed for armored mo- 
 tor cars. 
 
 "Long columns of buffaloes, driven by Arab 
 peasants, are hauling carts loaded with powder, 
 projectiles, and other supplies for the Turkish 
 army, the favorite routes of pilgrims in Palestine. 
 Fast dromedaries of the camel corps maintain com- 
 munciation between the camps in Palestine and the 
 Turkish headquarters. It is supposed that the con- 
 centration of the young recruits in the Holy Land is 
 with a view to another attack upon Egypt." The 
 Des Moines (Iowa) Register, September 13, 1915. 
 
 Not the least dramatic of the incidents of the 
 World War is that recorded in the foregoing news 
 item. Armored aeroplanes, like birds of prey, now 
 cast their black shadows on Bethlehem. Soldiers 
 are drilling at the Mount of Olives. 
 
 We heard a girl say, "I love to climb to the top of 
 
 77 
 
78 Square Blocks 
 
 a mountain, where I can look up and up, almost, it 
 seems, clear into heaven/' Jesus also loved to stand 
 upon an eminence. 
 
 At the very time when he was delivering his dis- 
 courses regarding the signs of his second coming and 
 the end of the world, he spent his nights on the 
 Mount of Olives. 
 
 "And in the daytime he was teaching in the tem- 
 ple; and at night he went out, and abode in the 
 mount that is called the Mount of Olives." Luke 
 21:37. 
 
 If he were there to-day, what a change he would 
 witness. If that girl were to climb the Mount of 
 Olives now and look up into the sky she would not see 
 far into heaven. Armored aeroplanes would arrest 
 her vision. They have taken the place of the angelic 
 hosts that sang, "Peace on earth, good will toward 
 men." Her reveries would be disturbed by the tramp 
 of soldiers. They march now where the twelve apos- 
 tles of the Lamb formerly abode with their Master. 
 
 What does it mean? These are but signs of the 
 times mentioned by Jesus, when wars and rumors of 
 wars should engage the attention of men. Even the 
 sacred stillness of the upper air in the Holy Land is 
 disturbed and affrighted by the whirling propellers 
 of airships. 
 
 In his wonderful poem, Locksley Hall, Tennyson 
 says : "For. I dipped into the future, far as human eye 
 could see." 
 
 Evidently he dipped into the future farther than 
 human eye unaided could penetrate. Without doubt 
 
The Flight of the Aeroplanes 79 
 
 the major poets have at times been inspired with the 
 prophetic spirit; they are spiritually kin to the 
 prophets. He continued: 
 
 "For I dipped into the future, far as human eye could see, 
 Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder yet to be; 
 Saw the heavens filled with commerce, argosies of magic 
 
 sails, 
 Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly 
 
 bales ; 
 Heard the heavens filled with shouting, and there rained a 
 
 ghastly dew 
 From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central 
 
 blue." 
 
 Daily the air men of the nations fight among the 
 clouds. A war plane drops down above a great 
 Zeppelin and fires into her. There is an explosion, 
 the members of the crew are blown to bits as when 
 Tennyson in his vision heard the heavens filled with 
 shouting, and beheld a ghastly dew raining from the 
 nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue. 
 A great Zeppelin hangs suspended in midheaven at 
 midnight and rains fire and earthquake on populous 
 London. 
 
 What more spectacular sign could be set in the 
 heavens than this flight of the armored airships, now 
 taking place over Europe, and especially over the 
 Holy Land, where Jesus was born, and where he 
 dwelt when he said: "Ye shall hear of wars and 
 rumors of wars . . . for nation shall rise against 
 nation, and kingdom against kingdom." 
 October 6, 1915. 
 
THE DAWN AT MIDNIGHT 
 
 IN THE small hours of Monday morning, Novem- 
 ber 11 [1918], we were awakened by the roaring 
 whistles of Kansas City. There was a sound in 
 the air that no one had ever heard before. Those 
 whistles conveyed upon the startled air a message. 
 The world war was over. Peace had come. 
 
 We wished for the genius of Poe, who interpreted 
 the bells, that we might interpret this message of the 
 whistles. But the whistles were not like Poe's 
 "wild alarum bells" with their "tale of terror" in 
 the "startled ear of night" the bells that "feel a 
 glory in so rolling on the human heart a stone." 
 This was a message of joy, literally heard the world 
 around. For the whistles were but the prelude to a 
 bedlam of noise and a welter of emotions that cir- 
 cled the globe. 
 
 The expression that was denied us came to Sister 
 Viola Short, who wrote a splendid poem, beginning: 
 
 "Was ever the dawn at midnight? 
 
 Aye, once in the long ago, 
 When angels sang o'er Bethlehem's plain 
 To a sleeping world below. 
 
 "Has the miracle been repeated? 
 
 Last night when darkness was deep, 
 Glad sounds the dawning of peace on earth 
 Rang out on a world in sleep. 
 80 
 
The Dawn at Midnight 81 
 
 "They spoke of millions unshackled, 
 
 Henceforth, like us, they were freed; 
 Of the passing of thrones and dominions 
 As the Lord hims^f has decreed." 
 
 The world may have indulged in fantastic, irra- 
 tional, even profane forms of celebration. But with- 
 out doubt when the whistles began to blow in the 
 night many a deeply reverent prayer of thanksgiv- 
 ing was offered up. Mothers whose sons were in 
 France, or in the cantonments, knew how to bring 
 an acceptable offering of prayer. 
 
 For those whistles said to us : "Now the boys may 
 get up out of the trenches. No more will they be 
 deluged with liquid flames and suffocated with poison 
 gases. No more will the murderous lunge of the 
 bayonet rend the God-ordained unity of spirit and 
 body. No more will crashing shells in an instant 
 transform strong men into lifelong mental wrecks 
 and physical caricatures of humanity. The hungry 
 throat of the sea is closed. The avenues of heaven 
 are no longer open to the assassin. The children of 
 London and Paris may sleep at night. Belgium is 
 free. France is free." , 
 
 And so the song went on. Promising, ' or seeming 
 to promise us all of these things. For all human 
 promises are uncertain. In the very dawn of peace, 
 threats were and are still visible. But in any event 
 one supreme effort of the adversary of men's souls 
 has been defeated and crushed. Democracy has won 
 a signal victory over autocracy. 
 
82 Square Blocks 
 
 We believe that this victory was not won without 
 divine aid. Not by accident did the Kaiser stand at 
 the head of a coalition that was dedicated to the 
 autocratic domination of the Hwld. Autocracy was 
 envisaged in his person. He was the chief exponent 
 of its doctrines. 
 
 If Satan searched the halls of time to find a fit 
 spirit to head his assault upon humanity in the clos- 
 ing scenes of time, it would be fatuous to suppose 
 that God left the leadership of free peoples to hazard 
 and chance in that supreme crisis, when the Kaiser's 
 gamble with the "iron dice of fate" drew to its close. 
 
 What a wonderful period has been compassed in 
 the past few weeks ! It has been the time of falling 
 crowns. While the plague of influenza has swept 
 the land, closing our churches, and making us all 
 "isolated Saints/' that in our seclusion we might re- 
 flect upon the judgments of God and the verification 
 of his promises, world events have crowded the pages 
 of our newspapers until nothing remained that could 
 astound. 
 
 The Holy Land was fully wrested from the Turk. 
 Turkey, Bulgaria, and Austria fell. And finally, 
 German might melted away in a night. The Kaiser 
 abdicated. Little kings without number were shaken 
 from their thrones. In the last stronghold of au- 
 tocracy men began to talk of a republic. What the 
 future holds we can only surmise. All Europe is 
 now a fertile field for the sowing of the seed of 
 anarchy. Yet events may turn the other way to- 
 wards a period of ordered government. 
 
The Dawn at Midnight 83 
 
 One form of evil is crushed, but we must not sup- 
 pose that another will not arise. One walking the 
 streets of Kansas City when the peace celebration 
 was at its highest, passed the open door of a saloon. 
 He heard the men within, standing at the sloppy 
 bar, singing, "Glory, glory, hallelujah. Our God goes 
 marching on!" They were too drunk to march any 
 longer. But their god was marching on. The mil- 
 lennium has not yet come, even if Hindenburg is 
 eating straw, and the Kaiser gone to lie down with 
 the lambs of Holland. 
 
 Whatever may occur, the Saints may rest as- 
 sured in the triumph of the Lord's work. We must 
 hate iniquity, no matter in what form it may reveal 
 itself in days to come; and we must love righteous- 
 ness. The prophecies are being fulfilled wonder- 
 fully. Events like a mighty scroll unroll with be- 
 wildering rapidity. All, all are in harmony with the 
 "more sure word of prophecy" recorded for our ed- 
 ification. Let us remain faithful until the Day Star 
 of our hope arises. 
 
TWO REMARKABLE WISHES 
 GRANTED 
 
 A^ ONE time Job expressed a remarkable wish: 
 "Oh that my words were now written ; oh 
 that they were printed in a book! that they 
 were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock 
 for ever!" 
 
 In the natural course of events, as things move in 
 this age, that which is written to-day is forgotten to- 
 morrow. The world is flooded with books, magazines, 
 newspapers, and periodicals of every imaginable de- 
 scription. One entering a modern library with the 
 purpose to improve his mind, and get in touch with 
 modern ideas, is confronted by a mass of literature 
 of such formidable bulk as to weary and almost dis- 
 courage a busy man, at the very beginning of his 
 research. However, he is consoled by the thought 
 that much of it is ephemeral in nature, and even if 
 he can never read it he will not miss much. 
 
 The word ephemeral comes from ephemera, mean- 
 ing "lasting but a day," and is a medical term mean- 
 ing, "a fever of one day's duration." Not a bad term 
 to apply to the furore attending many much heralded 
 but short-lived "best sellers." There is danger that 
 among this mass of literature, the unsophisticated 
 student will miss the particular good things that he 
 should read. We need literary pilots to-day. 
 
 84 
 
Two Remarkable Wishes Granted 85 
 
 The ideas of fifty years ago are discarded. Books 
 that were considered revolutionary ten years ago 
 are forgotten. Who can speak loud enough to be 
 heard above the babel, or write fast enough to keep 
 ahead of oblivion? 
 
 ' Yet there was Job, over three thousand years ago, 
 aspiring to perpetual audience. He wished that his 
 words might be printed in a book for all generations 
 to read ; he longed to seize the mallet and chisel and 
 engrave them upon the solid rock, and fill the chis- 
 eled letters with lead, so that they might become an 
 enduring memorial. 
 
 There must have seemed little prospect that Job's 
 ardent desire for publicity would ever be gratified. 
 Yet, strange as it may seem, his wish was granted 
 beyond his most extravagant dream. Through many 
 perils and strange vicissitudes his words were pre- 
 served, and have come down to us, as one says, 
 ' 'Borne on the wings of a hundred translations." 
 They are indeed printed in a book, and have a place 
 in every library, and in multitudes of homes of high 
 and low degree the world over. 
 
 Here is the burden of the message that he wished 
 to publish to all ages : 
 
 "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he 
 shall stand at the latter day upon the earth : and 
 though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet 
 in my flesh shall I see God : whom I shall see for my- 
 self, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; 
 though my reins be consumed within me." 
 
 You see, unlike most literature, Job's message 
 
86 Square Blocks 
 
 dealt with things eternal. That was the reason he 
 was consumed with such an ardent desire to have it 
 preserved and given the greatest publicity. The- 
 ories, philosophies, speculations, gossip may be pub- 
 lished and forgotten; but here is a statement of an 
 eternal and important truth that has never been 
 forgotten and never will be forgotten. 
 
 In his second epistle the Apostle Peter expressed 
 a wish similar to the one voiced by Job. Being a 
 positive man, Peter declared a determination to take 
 steps calculated to accomplish his desire. He said: 
 "Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after 
 my decease to have these things always in remem- 
 brance." 
 
 These are the things that he desired that the 
 people should always have in remembrance: 
 
 "And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your 
 faith virtue ; and to virtue knowledge ; and to knowl- 
 edge temperance; and to temperance patience; and 
 to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly 
 kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For 
 if these things be in you, and abound, they make you 
 that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the 
 knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that 
 lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar 
 off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his 
 old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give dili- 
 gence to make your calling and election sure: for 
 if ye do these things, ye shall never fall : for so an 
 
Two Remarkable Wishes Granted 87 
 
 entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly 
 into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior 
 Jesus Christ. Wherefore I will not be negligent to 
 put you always in remembrance of these things, 
 though ye know them, and be established in the pres- 
 ent truth." 
 
 Very learned epistles, written by very able and 
 distinguished men, and published twelve months ago, 
 are forgotten; but the wish expressed by Peter was 
 granted, and the epistle of the humble fisherman is 
 still preserved and given the widest publicity that 
 the printed page ever gave to any message. 
 
 He, too, propounded things permanent and above 
 valuation. Job wrote of the immortality of the soul, 
 and of the great work of the Redeemer, who has 
 made it possible for us to meet him in the flesh on 
 this earth, even after death and decay have had their 
 brief reign of terror. Peter wrote of virtue, knowl- 
 edge, temperance, brotherly kindness, charity, and 
 godliness; those wonderful virtues that will trans- 
 form human nature and make one worthy of the 
 resurrection of which Job so confidently wrote. 
 
 The messages are correlated and the one completes 
 the other. We can afford to forget a whole library 
 of worldy knowledge, if we can but remember these 
 things of heavenly and eternal worth. 
 
GOOD COUNSEL 
 
 [ERE is no mistake that the church has made, 
 or that individuals have made, that might not 
 have been avoided had men and women heeded 
 the words of good counsel previously given through 
 the prophets for their advice and protection. 
 
 In an address to the General Conference in 1900 
 President Joseph Smith said: 
 
 "I warn the brethren, as I have in the past, against 
 the machinations of the Adversary sowing dissension 
 between brethren. The Adversary has tried, in the 
 past, to lead us astray by a popular sin. I do not be- 
 lieve he will be able to do that again ; our faces are 
 set like flints in that direction. But he can and will 
 endeavor to sow dissension between the brethren; 
 and those who are sufficiently sensitive to his at- 
 tacks, his approaches, will be moved upon by him, 
 and there will be trouble between them." 
 
 Some of those who said amen at the time may have 
 forgotten the admonition. On more than the one 
 occasion he warned us that we need not again fear 
 that the church would fall into apostasy such as 
 came with Brigham Young's regime ; that the danger 
 of the future would lie in suspicion, disunion, jeal- 
 ousy, and dissension. 
 
 WHO IS YOUR GENERAL? 
 
 On the eve of a great battle Napoleon was asked, 
 "What generals among your opponents do you most 
 
 88 
 
Good Counsel 89 
 
 fear?" He replied, without hesitation: "General 
 Distrust and General Disunion." Is there a lesson 
 there for Latter Day Saints? 
 
 Distrust and disunion tend to defeat our work. 
 Even when they are not general, but only sporadic, 
 they do harm, and may always spread and do more 
 harm. Under what general do we fight? God does 
 not promote distrust and disunion among his people. 
 The Devil is only too eager to spread distrust and 
 disunion among God's followers. If we from pulpit 
 or in private promote these things, whom are we 
 serving? 
 
 It is possible for a very good man with the best 
 of intentions to conduct himself very unwisely. For 
 that reason God gave us some excellent counsel in 
 the revelation of 1914: 
 
 "The Spirit saith further, that the spirit of dis- 
 trust and want of confidence in those who are called 
 and ordained to act in the various responsible posi- 
 tions in the priesthood and in authority in the church 
 is unbecoming those professing faith in God, Jesus 
 Christ his Son, and the Holy Spirit of truth, and 
 evinces a serious lack of that charity which Paul, an 
 apostle of Christ, declared to be the quality of Chris- 
 tian virtue which thinketh no evil. Those who go out 
 from the assemblies and solemn conclaves of the 
 church should exercise great care in their ministra- 
 tion abroad, both to the branches where they may 
 officiate and in their preaching the gospel to those 
 outside, to avoid solving seeds of distrust and sus- 
 picion either in public ministration or in private con- 
 
90 Square Blocks 
 
 versation. The church has been admonished here- 
 tofore in this respect and the Spirit saith again, it is 
 unbecoming to the character and calling of those who 
 administer in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord." 
 
 It is quite possible by throwing out dark hints 
 from the pulpit to create the impression that some- 
 thing t is very wrong, when in fact there is not much 
 foundation for the pessimism of the preacher. 
 Again, it is possible in private conversation in homes 
 and in the market place to produce exactly the same 
 result on a smaller scale. Great harm may be done 
 in this way. And God has told us expressly that it 
 is unbecoming the character of a minister to do such 
 a thing. 
 
 "SEND NOT IN VAIN" 
 
 We often sing, "Send forth the sowers but send 
 not in vain." How is it when the sowers are sent 
 forth to sow the gospel seed, and instead, in the 
 language of the revelation, "sow seeds of distrust 
 and suspicion"? Are they not sent in vain? They 
 bring another gospel than that with which they were 
 intrusted, and we are not obliged to receive them 
 into our homes, neither can we bid them Godspeed 
 in their sowing. 
 
 This revelation was not given idly. It was given 
 because it was needed. It is needed yet. The man 
 who pursues the policy outlined in the revelation, 
 and condemned, must know that if he is aware of 
 any real transgression anywhere there is a lawful 
 way and an unlawful way to go about the work of 
 
Good Counsel 91 
 
 bringing the transgressors to book. To merely sow 
 seeds of distrust and discord and leave the hearers 
 to guess at the trouble hinted at is condemned by the 
 Lord as unbecoming to a minister. He says we 
 should avoid it. It is unlawful. Brethren, is that 
 good counsel? Let us heed it. 
 
 TAKE HEED LEST YE BE CONSUMED 
 
 Many centuries ago Paul gave some words of coun- 
 sel that are still vital. He said : 
 
 "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in 
 this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But 
 if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye 
 be not consumed one of another." 
 
 Brother A , as we will call him, went into a 
 
 certain district to labor. While there he visited in 
 a certain home, and in the presence of the family, 
 both young and old, indulged in very harsh and un- 
 just criticisms of certain of his associates among 
 the church "authorities," as they are sometimes 
 called. The members of the family were very much 
 disturbed and perplexed. 
 
 At the very same time in the very same district 
 Brother B - was making equally unjust and un- 
 warranted assertions against Brother A . The 
 
 irony of fate brought us report of both incidents on 
 
 the same day. Brother A could not complain, 
 
 for he had himself played the game. He had done 
 unto others as he would not that they should do unto 
 him. As he measured to others it came back to him. 
 
 But to our minds came the words of Paul, "Take 
 
92 Square Blocks 
 
 heed that ye be not consumed one of another." The 
 above incident by no means represents the work of 
 the ministry in general. God forbid that it should 
 ever come to that stage. It is an extreme case. But, 
 brethren, there is too much of that work. It is 
 spiritual anarchy. 
 
 Those who attack us from without with falsehood 
 and calumny are not so much to be feared. But if 
 those who feed the sheep give them poison the dan- 
 ger is very great. 
 
THE SIN OF JEALOUSY 
 
 Whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divi- 
 sions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 1 Corinthians 
 
 . 9 
 
 . O. 
 
 "The jealous man poisons his own banquet, and then eats 
 it." 
 
 SOME men are so unfortunately constituted that 
 every success of another seems to them to de- 
 tract from their own success. They fear every 
 man who shows some talent, lest he take their place. 
 If in power, they are disposed to beat down every 
 head that shows itself above the multitude, lest it be 
 the head of a successor. 
 
 Such an attitude of mind is to be deplored. It 
 works injury to the cause of God wherever it is 
 manifested by one of his servants. It indicates that 
 the gospel has not been permitted to do its full work 
 with the individual. Away down in the human heart 
 there burns a little mean fire of envy and hatred to- 
 wards the successful brother. It is the work of the 
 Devil to fan this fire ; it is the work of the gospel to 
 extinguish it. The gospel will do this work if we per- 
 mit it to, but not if we guard and cherish the smol- 
 dering embers. 
 
 That branch, district, stake, Sunday school, or Re- 
 ligio is unfortunate that has in it a man or woman 
 who is afraid to assist others, or to give them a 
 
 93 
 
94 Square Blocks 
 
 chance to work and develop, lest they outstrip him or 
 her. The true policy was expressed by the aged elder 
 who during a certain district reunion some years ago 
 was admonished thus : "You will have to look out or 
 some of these young preachers will cast you older 
 ones in the shade." He replied, "I do not care how 
 many of them get ahead of me, so long as I am doing 
 the best I can. I will get behind them and help push 
 them along, and thank God that the church has such 
 able men to defend her cause." 
 
 This aged man will live and die unvexed in spirit 
 if he continues to maintain that attitude. But the 
 man who is jealous of his brethren can never be 
 happy. He cannot enjoy his own blessings and op- 
 portunities and successes, because he is bitterly 
 watching another. He cannot rejoice in the success 
 of others, because his soul has not yet climbed to that 
 pure height of unselfishness. As the proverb says: 
 "He poisons his own banquet and then eats it." 
 
 To be able to rejoice fully and without reserva- 
 tion in the success of others is a happy achievement, 
 within the reach of all. To envy the ability or suc- 
 cess of another is a very stupid and serious blunder. 
 Are we not all in this church work together ? When 
 one is honored, all are honored. When one succeeds, 
 all succeed. Every strong and true man or woman 
 that the church develops is so much gain to all of us. 
 Instead of envying such a man his prowess, we 
 should hail him as a fighting comrade. He will help 
 us to solve the problems that confront us. He helps 
 
The Sin of Jealousy 95 
 
 us to hold our own defense against a hostile world. 
 By him we are all made secure. His strength adds so 
 much to the sum total of the strength of the church. 
 We all fight forward a little to the spot where he has 
 planted the colors. We gain a little ground. Thank 
 God. Send us more such men. Cursed be the hand 
 that would pull the colors down because the color 
 bearer is disliked. 
 
 In every branch, district, stake, Sunday school, Re- 
 ligio, or any department of church work whatsoever, 
 the effort should be made unreservedly to help one 
 another, to develop and foster talent, and to give to 
 each the best possible opportunity to work. The 
 field is broad and there is room for all. 
 
THE DEIFICATION OF HUMANITY 
 
 (Sermon at Lamoni, Iowa.) 
 
 "Glory to Man in the highest, 
 
 For Man is the Master of Things." 
 
 rT^HE sentiment of the two lines quoted strikes 
 hard upon the sensibilities of the reverent. 
 But this is not a reverent age. 
 
 They serve to close a little pamphlet on Direct 
 Action, published by the anarchist press (The Mother 
 Earth Publishing Association, New York City.) You 
 know what "direct action" is. The McNamaras prac- 
 ticed "direct action" on the Times Building. 
 
 The words are ascribed to Swinburne, and no 
 doubt embody the thought of men who are supposed 
 to be much more respectable than anarchists. 
 
 Brigham Young tried to put Adam in the place of 
 God, saying that he is our God and the only God 
 with whom we have to do. He also announced the 
 idea that men may become gods by progression and 
 exaltation; that as God is now we shall be, at some 
 distant time in the future. 
 
 But this goes a step beyond Brigham Young, and 
 says that man, with all his weaknesses and sins, is 
 god right now, and the only deity, and highest in- 
 telligence in the universe : 
 
 96 
 
The Deification of Humanity 97 
 
 "Glory to Man in the Highest, 
 For he is Master of Things." 
 
 THE OLD POET AND THE MODERN POET 
 
 Now of course it goes without saying that this 
 kind of teaching is squarely in conflict with the old 
 divine edict. Opposed to the notion of the modern 
 poet, carried away by a little transient human glory, 
 is the sentiment of the inspired ancient poet: 
 
 "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, 
 And maketh flesh his arm, 
 Whose heart departeth from the Lord. 
 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, 
 And whose hope the Lord is." 
 
 One speaks forth the spirit of the old religious 
 age. The other embodies the blatant spirit of this 
 age of materialism. The old way is the best way. 
 
 "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and 
 see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good 
 way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your 
 souls. But they said, We will not walk therein."- 
 Jeremiah. 
 
 In the days of Grecian mythology, when there 
 were almost as many gods as a man could count in 
 a day, one of the old cynics of those times said : "It 
 is easier to find a god in Athens than it is to find a 
 man." Of course .he meant real man, and perhaps 
 his statement was true. 
 
 A modern cynic, speaking of our modern man, 
 4 
 
98 Square Blocks 
 
 says that he is "self -made, and worships his creator." 
 Perhaps that statement also is true. 
 
 Many business men, and others, solely interested 
 in the development of material things by human 
 effort, under human administration, give no thought 
 at all to God. He does not enter into their considera- 
 tion. They recognize no law-giving power higher 
 than organized society. They obey no law other than 
 man-made law, and too often do not fully obey that. 
 
 Added to these are all classes of infidels and free 
 thinkers who have frankly ruled God out of existence 
 (in their own minds), and recognize no intelligence 
 higher than human intelligence. 
 
 MASKED ATHEISM 
 
 Then there are those whose teachings are more 
 masked. Their reasonings are more obscure and 
 devious, but they arrive at the same ultimate con- 
 clusion. We refer to men of that growing school of 
 thought who affirm that there are no fixed standards 
 of right and wrong; that the consensus of human 
 opinion makes a thing right or wrong; that there is 
 no higher power that has authority to say that a 
 thing is right or wrong. In line with this thought 
 came Professor Eliot's announcement some years 
 ago that the religion of the future will not be a re- 
 ligion of authority ; that it will be such a religion as 
 may meet the general approval of men, not resting 
 on revelation or divine commandment. 
 
 Under such a "religious democracy" man might 
 add to, take from, remodel, or make his religion over 
 
The Deification of Humanity 99 
 
 entirely new. He would be in fact his own lawgiver, 
 revelator, and God "Glory to Man in the highest." 
 
 GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST 
 
 We as a people fully realize the futility of such a 
 boast. Human wisdom at this very hour is face to 
 face with problems that confuse the nations and 
 cause consternation in the hearts of thoughtful 
 men. Whether the way out leads through reforma- 
 tion or revolution no one knows. Whether it leads 
 to higher achievement or to racial chaos is a debated 
 question. 
 
 There never was a time in all history when there 
 was greater need for men to confess the supremacy 
 of God and obey all his laws; yet this age says: 
 "Away with God. We will solve our own problems 
 and make our own laws." 
 
 God alone has the solution to our world problems 
 of to-day. Man is not the master of things. He has 
 never learned to rule himself and shape his own 
 destiny. 
 
 God has said that as the heavens are higher than 
 the earth, so are his ways higher than man's ways. 
 With all due respect to the notable achievements of 
 man in material things, we still indorse that senti- 
 ment, and with the angels sing: "Glory to God in 
 the highest." 
 
 MAN'S WEAKNESS ; GOD'S INFINITUDE 
 
 Man boasts, in the language of Tennyson, that he 
 is the heir of all ages. And so he is. But we inherit 
 things evil as well as things good. From the days 
 
100 Square Blocks 
 
 of Adam until to-day each individual has dropped his 
 little pebble of sin into the waters, and to-day society 
 feels the accumulated shock. 
 
 But God's heritage is all good. He is light and in 
 him there is no darkness at all. He is love and in 
 him there is no bitterness and malice. 
 
 IN THE REALM OF ART 
 
 When we enter the field of man's proudest en- 
 deavor and contrast his achievements with the works 
 of God, we learn a salutary lesson concerning man's 
 weakness and limitations and God's infinitude and 
 power. 
 
 In the realm of art we admire the achievements 
 of the great masters. But after all, when man has 
 spread his pigments upon canvas, the picture, though 
 glowing with the semblance of life, is frozen and 
 dead. The grasses do not ripple in the breeze; the 
 waves do not break upon the beach. But God's great 
 landscapes are full of life, motion, and change. From 
 morning until night and from season to season their 
 wonderful transformations are a perpetual delight. 
 
 When the human artist has finished his canvas, 
 decay immediately sets in. Though it may not be 
 observed at once, the colors begin to fade, the canvas 
 begins to rot. But God's great landscapes renew 
 themselves from generation to generation, forever 
 and forever. 
 
 Man may work for years upon a block of marble, 
 fashioning it with wonderful skill, until when com- 
 pleted it is absolutely perfect in line and proportion ; 
 
The Deification of Humanity 101 
 
 more perfect perhaps than the average human form 
 of this age ; but there his work ends. And where his 
 work ends God's greatest work began. For, having 
 completed the perfect form of man, he "breathed into 
 his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a liv- 
 ing soul." 
 
 WONDERFUL INVENTIONS 
 
 We talk about wonderful inventions. They are 
 wonderful, too. But it is said that nearly every me- 
 chanical principle that we use is borrowed from 
 nature. For instance, the ball and socket joint is 
 found in the human shoulder; the lens of the tele- 
 scope exists in the human eye. The despised mosquito 
 has a set of drills and pumps. On my desk there 
 lies a stone picked up on the seashore. It is drilled 
 straight through with a perfectly round hole a 
 quarter of an inch across. Some insignificant worm 
 drilled that hole. And worms drilled holes through 
 solid rocks before man began to drill tunnels. The 
 bee made his perfect cell before man studied geome- 
 try. God was the first inventor. 
 
 We have great machines that "almost seem to 
 think." But they do not think, and each of them 
 must be presided over by human intelligence. If the 
 man who made the machine is great, how much 
 greater the God who made the man who made the 
 machine. No machine, however complex and wonder- 
 ful, can for a moment compare as an invention with 
 the human body, with its great citadel of thought 
 and reason in the brain. 
 
102 Square Blocks 
 
 SCIENCE 
 
 We have achieved some remarkable victories of 
 science over superstition. The study of science is a 
 search for truth, and as such is a noble calling, and 
 should be a consecrated calling, combining faith and 
 study. But it has not been consecrated. And many 
 great demonstrated truths are mingled with masses 
 of theory. The history of the past leads us to 
 suspect that another generation may witness the ex- 
 posure of the fallacy of some things that we hold to 
 be absolute scientific truths. 
 
 Then there is so much that cannot be fathomed! 
 What gave the planets their initial impulse? What 
 force first started their great bulk in motion with 
 such a mighty thrust that they still fly on with un- 
 diminished speed? We do not know. To express it 
 crudely, we cannot tell whether it was a push or a 
 pull. Science may theorize on this, as on the origin 
 of life itself, but the innermost secrets of these great 
 acts in the opening drama of existence are known to 
 God, and man can never learn them, excepting as 
 God reveals them to him. 
 
 THE LESSON 
 
 In the wasted and perverted degenerate, we see 
 man at his lowest. In those great men, such as 
 Lincoln and Gladstone, we see man at his highest (so 
 far as the world is concerned) . The lowest are just 
 a little higher than the Devil himself ; the highest are 
 a little lower than the angels. But when we run the 
 scale of humanity, from the lowest to the highest, 
 
The Deification of Humanity 103 
 
 we do not find anywhere a man who is more than a 
 very imperfect and partial representation of Deity. 
 Lincoln, though filled with power and integrity, as we 
 see him caught in that mighty struggle of which he 
 was the storm center, and all but overthrown, is 
 somewhat pathetic. At best he was not a god, but 
 only an instrument in the hands of God, or one who 
 cooperated with God. And the same is true of the 
 best men of all ages and nations. 
 
 And that is man's province to cooperate with 
 God. He cannot be a god ; but he can be a friend of 
 God. We hold that the highest development of 
 man will be found in recognition of and obedience to 
 God. 
 
 That is the lesson. We can still afford to trust 
 God to administer the affairs of man. We can still 
 be thankful that there is a great God to rule the uni- 
 verse, and that it is our privilege to learn of him and 
 keep his commandments. As the wise man said: 
 
 "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: 
 Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is 
 the whole duty of man." 
 
 "Glory to GOD in the highest." 
 
MARRIAGE AXD THE HOME 
 
 "Marriage has in it less of beauty, but more of safety, 
 than the single life; it hath not more ease, but less danger; 
 it is more merry and more sad; it is fuller of sorrows and 
 fuller of joys; it lies under more burdens, but it is supported 
 by all the strength of love and charity; and these burdens 
 are delightful. Marriage is the mother of the world, and 
 preserves kingdoms, and fills cities and churches, and heaven 
 itself."' Jeremy Taylor. 
 
 NEST BUILDING 
 
 WHEN two birds mate in the springtime it 
 might be supposed that they would be con- 
 tent to float away on rainbow tinted clouds 
 of connubial bliss. Not so. They get right down to 
 the business of nest building. They work and sing 
 and are busy and happy because nest building is the 
 happiest and most important thing in the world. 
 Everything is subordinated to the work at hand. If 
 necessary, the mother bird plucks the down from her 
 own breast to line the new home. Women who put 
 dress first and home second are not so wise as the 
 jenny wren. 
 
 Naturally there comes a time in the life of every 
 man when he falls in love with some woman. The 
 world laughs at him then. But if all goes well he 
 can afford to laugh at the world. Presently orange 
 blossoms open. Wedding bells ring. The blushing 
 
 104 
 
Marriage and the Home 105 
 
 bride occupies the center of the stage, clad in raiment 
 that no mere man can describe. The groom, in "con- 
 ventional black," occupies a subordinate position a 
 little at one side, and often wishes that it were even 
 less conspicuous. The minister says the magic, 
 some would say the fatal words, that make the two 
 one and collects his fee. The wedding feast is eaten. 
 The guests depart. The music dies away. The two are 
 left face to face with the serious problems of life. 
 
 If this union is to be permanent and happy, there 
 is nothing more important at this juncture than 
 homemaking. This is an age in which the majority of 
 the people do not own their homes. Such a condition 
 is unfortunate. In the ideal society every man will 
 own his home every man, that is, who cares enough 
 for a home to work for it and save for it; and it 
 goes without saying that in the ideal society all will 
 be of that class. The fact that the majority of the 
 people do not own their homes is of sinister import. 
 It may be due in part to economic conditions, and in 
 part to extravagance and intemperance. The latter 
 causes should be eliminated from the lives of Latter 
 Day Saints. It should be their ambition to own their 
 homes where conditions are such that it is at all pos- 
 sible for them to do so. 
 
 SUITABLE HOMES 
 
 Homes should be adequate and comfortable. In 
 1908 President Roosevelt appointed a commission to 
 investigate conditions in penal and charitable insti- 
 
106 Square Blocks 
 
 tutions in the city of Washington and the District 
 of Columbia. This commission reported : 
 
 "The problem of crime among the people cannot 
 be considered apart from the general problem of 
 their housing and their surroundings. It is impos- 
 sible to understand any man apart from his sur- 
 roundings and especially apart from what he calls 
 his home. Most of these people who find their way 
 into the criminal court and eventually into prison, 
 may be traced back to the miserable alleys and hovels 
 which exist in such large numbers in our city and 
 which are a reproach to our civilization. No one who 
 knows how these people live wonders at their habits 
 or their crimes. While we are striving for penal and 
 reformatory institutions worthy of our people and 
 our time, let us not neglect to remove these breed- 
 ing places of vice and schools of crime, and put in 
 their place clean and wholesome dwellings." 
 
 Society can undertake no work more important 
 than to aid in every legitimate way the worthy and 
 industrious to secure suitable homes. Extreme pov- 
 erty and extreme wealth are both alike a menace to 
 good citizenship. We do not grow the great staple 
 crops that feed humanity in barren and sandy 
 wastes, nor yet in excessively fertilized hotbeds. We 
 grow them in moderately fertile open fields. The 
 best citizens are not grown in the barren wastes of 
 poverty, nor in the luxurious hotbeds of wealth, but 
 in homes where the necessities of life are adequately 
 supplied and luxury unknown. 
 
 Not idly did Agur pray : "Give me neither poverty 
 
Marriage and the Home 107 
 
 nor riches ; feed me with food convenient for me : lest 
 I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? 
 or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my 
 God in vain/' Proverbs 3 : 8, 9. 
 
 "TAKE NOT SO SHORT A TIME 
 
 Now for the two chief characters who are to 
 occupy in this home of which we speak. Their alli- 
 ance should not be formed with too great haste. 
 Back of the divorce court at which so many rail is 
 the hasty marriage which so many overlook entirely. 
 One lecturer pictures certain modern mating thus: 
 The phone rings. The young lady answers. A voice 
 says, "Will you marry me?" She answers, "Yes! 
 Who is it?" 
 
 This is a reversal of the logical sequence of the 
 question and the answer. The question, Who is it? 
 should have some months the start of the answer, 
 Yes. 
 
 In these days, when a young man just out of col- 
 lege enters a bank with head up and chest inflated 
 and informs the bank president that he has decided 
 to accept the position of head cashier, the banker 
 whirls on him and asks a few pointed questions : "Do 
 you gamble? Do you smoke? Do you drink? Are 
 you afraid to work?" 
 
 If the young man cannot answer no to these in- 
 terrogations, presently he goes out with head down 
 and chest deflated. 
 
 Surely a woman should be as exacting as a bank 
 president. She has so much more at stake ! Shake- 
 
108 Square Blocks 
 
 speare says: "Take not so short a time to make a 
 world-wide bargain in." 
 
 On the other hand, the young man should be 
 reasonably sure that he is getting a woman who will 
 do her share in helping to make a home one who is 
 not afraid to work when necessary and has the sav- 
 ing grace of common sense. In these days of strenu- 
 ous high school and college courses little time is left 
 for girls to acquire the arts that made their grand- 
 mothers famous as housekeepers. It is perhaps too 
 much to ask that they enter upon married life fully 
 equipped with a working knowledge of housekeeping. 
 But a man need not worry if he is sure that his 
 chosen companion has the home-making tempera- 
 ment ; if she is a potential home maker she will soon 
 solve the problems that confront her, just as he 
 from year to year must work out problems of bread 
 winning that he knew little about when he made his 
 start in life. 
 
 THE FLEDGLINGS 
 
 Naturally in time other actors appear upon the 
 scene. Longfellow pictures the wedding festivities 
 in his poem, "Hanging of the crane." (In the good 
 old days they used to hang the crane in the new 
 home. To-day in some homes they hang the stork.) 
 Looking ahead a few years from the wedding day he 
 says: 
 
 "Seated, I see the two again 
 But not alone; they entertain 
 A little angel unaware, 
 
Marriage and the Home 109 
 
 With face as round as is the moon, 
 A royal guest with flaxen hair, 
 Who, throned upon his lofty chair, 
 I)rums on the table with his spoon, 
 *^hen drops it careless on the floor, 
 To grasp at things unseen before. 
 Are these celestial manners? these 
 The ways that win, the arts that please? 
 Ah yes; consider well the guest, 
 And whatso'er he does seems best." 
 
 The young of the human race are born more help- 
 less than the young of any of the animals. The little 
 babe is absolutely powerless. He comes into the 
 world without even a change of clothing and without 
 money enough to pay for a night's lodging. But 
 fortunately he brings with him something that 
 makes up for every other deficiency the power to 
 reach out and take hold of human hearts as nothing 
 else in the world does. When those little fingers 
 close over the parent hand, nature attends to the rest 
 and the little mendicant becomes a king. 
 
 Then the home begins to perform more fully its 
 functions. It becomes the nesting place of the fledg- 
 lings. 
 
 CELIBACY ; GOD VERSUS PAUL 
 
 In the past, two erroneous ideas have been enter- 
 tained regarding marriage. A great many people, 
 particularly members of certain religious sects, have 
 advocated and practiced celibacy. Their teachings 
 have taken the color of authority from the writings 
 of Paul, particularly the seventh chapter of 1 Co- 
 
110 Square Blocks 
 
 rinthians. Paul makes but one concession to mar- 
 riage. He says : "It is better to marry than to burn." 
 Of two dreadful alternatives he would prefer mar- 
 riage to burning. 
 
 But we should notice particularly that Paul is at 
 pains to state at four different times in this chapter 
 that he is giving his own opinion and not the opinion 
 of God. Paul was a man who said that he had 
 learned to be content in whatsoever condition he 
 found himself. He found himself single and was 
 satisfied to remain single. Had he married he might 
 have written a chapter different from the one that 
 we are considering. 
 
 There is no warrant in the Word of God for the 
 thought that marriage is an unholy state ; or for the 
 more common thought that though not unholy it is 
 a lower state than celibacy and that God especially 
 rewards those who do not marry. God said in the 
 beginning that it was not good for man to be alone. 
 
 POLYGAMY ; DAVID AND SOLOMON VERSUS GOD 
 
 Others have gone to the opposite extreme and have 
 taught and practiced polygamy. David and Solomon 
 practiced it, and some have thought that because of 
 that God approved of it. But these kings of Israel 
 practiced it, not in obedience to the law of God, but 
 contrary to the law. The law said : "Neither shall he 
 multiply wives to himself." 
 
 God was in no way responsible for acts committed 
 in direct violation of his law. In the light of this the 
 Book of Mormon is correct when it says that the con- 
 
Marriage and the Home 111 
 
 duct of David and Solomon in this particular was 
 abominable in the sight of God. 
 
 THE TRUE LAW 
 
 Probably the most explicit commandments regard- 
 ing marriage are found in latter-day revelation. 
 Celibacy and polygamy are both mentioned in the 
 Book of Doctrine and Covenants : "Whoso forbiddeth 
 to marry, is not ordained of God, for marriage is or- 
 dained of God unto man; wherefore it is lawful that 
 he should have one wife and they tivain shall be one 
 flesh." Doctrine and Covenants 49 : 3. 
 
 It appears from this that marriage is natural and 
 ordained of God, and that those who teach to the 
 contrary are not ordained of him. Marriage must, 
 then, be something more than a civil contract, to be 
 annulled at the will of the contracting parties. And 
 it is limited to "they twain." A man may have one 
 wife. They two shall be one flesh. 
 
 Beautiful instruction is found in the following: 
 "Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and 
 shall cleave unto her and none else." Doctrine and 
 Covenants 42 : 7. 
 
 We may conclude that marriage is the highest and 
 best estate of man in this world, being approved of 
 God, he having presided at the first marriage of man 
 and woman and having laid down the law to govern 
 marriage. Any departure from that law is fraught 
 with grave danger to the individual and society. 
 Home is the place where married life finds its best 
 
112 Square Blocks 
 
 expression. Any institution or tendency that 
 threatens the integrity of the home is a menace to 
 the individual, to the church, and to society. 
 
CREATION IN TRAVAIL 
 
 (Extract from an address delivered at the Stone Church, 
 Independence, Missouri, November 17, 1918.) 
 
 WAITING THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SONS OF GOD 
 
 I WISH to transpose two passages that appear in 
 the 8th chapter of Romans. "For we know that 
 the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in 
 pain together until now. . . . For the earnest ex- 
 pectation of the creature waiteth for the manifesta- 
 tions of the sons of God." 
 
 It is a serious matter to stand before you as the 
 spokesman of the church at a time like this. The 
 subject that I had previously selected was taken 
 from my mind and another subject that seemed to 
 me to come like a ray of light from above was given 
 to me. I crave the help of God that I may unfold 
 it for your consideration. It is compassed in this 
 text. I will restate it in my own words. The whole 
 creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain 
 until now, waiting for the manifestation of the sons 
 of God. 
 
 IS THE TEXT DOLOROUS? 
 
 You may wonder why I should come before you 
 with a text, the first part of which, at least, is dolor- 
 ous in its language; though the last part of it is 
 most glorious in its promise. It is because, as I view 
 
 113 
 
114 Square Blocks 
 
 it, the sound of those whistles recently announcing 
 peace marked only the close of one chapter in the 
 great struggle of creation in the closing scenes of 
 time. It is but the end of an episode, and by no 
 means the end of the story of travail and pain that 
 precedes the manifestation of the sons of God. 
 
 Now, let us analyze the text. The whole creation 
 groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 
 I do not know how inclusive this statement may be 
 concerning the whole creation. It is intimated in 
 the Book of Covenants that there are innumerable 
 worlds, and we do not know how many of them are 
 caught in the travail that is destined finally to re- 
 veal the sons of God. It is told us in the 36th section 
 of the Doctrine and Covenants that when Enoch had 
 his wonderful vision and saw the condition of men 
 through all the ages he saw that God wept, and the 
 bosom of eternity was pained ; and he wondered how 
 it was that God could weep. We are told also that 
 the angels rejoice when sinners repent; and doubt- 
 less they mourn when men fail. 
 
 We do not know how universal this travail may 
 be, but at least we are sure that for years past it 
 has included all of this world. 
 
 EARTH HOLLOW WITH GRAVES 
 
 Peace has come, but at what a struggle has it been 
 achieved; and what a price has been paid! It is 
 estimated that there are twenty million dead as a 
 result of this war. It is true, as never before, in the 
 language of Tennyson, that "Earth is crimson with 
 
Creation in Travail 115 
 
 battles and hollow with graves." The jubilee that 
 we had last Monday has not restored the broken 
 homes that this war is responsible for. There is 
 mourning and pain and travail the world over. 
 
 I used to have a sermon on the signs of the times, 
 and I had a great many statistics; but I haven't 
 preached that sermon for three or four years now. 
 What is the use? My statistics are colorless in the 
 light of the struggle just closed. The signs of the 
 times preach for themselves. But this point I wish 
 to reiterate that this is but the closing of one chap- 
 ter in the story. 
 
 The menace of autocracy has been removed. In 
 Europe the place of it is taken by the red flag of 
 anarchy, which is just as dangerous as the black 
 eagle of the Prussians ever was. Russia is in chaos. 
 So is Austria and Turkey, and Germany, to a lesser 
 degree. The red flag of anarchy has shown itself in 
 Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, France, and the 
 United States, and showed itself in this land at the 
 beginning of this war, so that we know what may 
 occur if the opportunity ever presents itself. And 
 that prophecy that I referred to some time ago (sec- 
 tion 45 of the Book of Covenants) yet remains to be 
 fulfilled. I refer to the statement that the time will 
 come when those who will not take up their swords 
 against their neighbors must flee to Zion, and that 
 they shall be the only people under heaven that shall 
 not be at war, one with another. 
 
 I do not believe that refers to any war that has 
 
116 Square Blocks 
 
 occurred, or to any international war that will oc- 
 cur. To my mind, it refers to a condition of an- 
 archy, when order and government will break down 
 in our own country, and neighbors be arrayed 
 against neighbors, and we must flee to Zion if we 
 wish to have safety. A good old brother told me just 
 a few days ago that he saw that condition in vision, 
 and he said that when it came the Saints had no need 
 to mix in the conflict unless they wished to do so. 
 This time we couldn't avoid it. We must not conclude 
 that the millennium has dawned simply because 
 Hindenburg may be eating straw just at present, and 
 the Kaiser has gone to lie down with the lambs of 
 Holland. 
 
 THE WORLD IS WAITING 
 
 In this text the statement is made that the whole 
 creation groaneth together in travail, and pain, 
 waiting waiting for something. There is a feeling 
 of expectancy in the world. For years past, even be- 
 fore the war began, there was a feeling of waiting 
 for something. There are a great many people who 
 are waiting, as the Master said, in fear, their hearts 
 failing them for fear, for looking upon the things 
 coming upon the earth. 
 
 There is a significant statement in the Doctrine 
 and Covenants, right along that line, section 45 : 4 : 
 "And in that day shall be heard of wars and rumors 
 of wars, and the ivhole earth shall be in commotion, 
 and men's hearts shall fail them, and they shall say 
 
Creation in Travail 117 
 
 that Christ delayeth his coming until the end of the 
 earth." 
 
 On the other hand, there are a great many who 
 are looking and waiting in faith and expectation. 
 As the Master said, "When ye see these things begin 
 to come to pass, lift up your hearts and rejoice, for 
 ye know that the day of your redemption draweth 
 nigh." In the light of the text, what is it that we 
 have been waiting for? The whole creation groan- 
 eth and travaileth together in pain, waiting for 
 what for. the manifestation of the sons of God. 
 That question is answered; another immediately 
 arises who are the sons of God? 
 
 WHO ARE THE SONS OF GOD? 
 
 I have heard the doctrine propounded by liberal 
 people that all men are the sons of God, and that 
 all men are brothers. That doctrine may seem very 
 liberal, but it is not true except in a very limited 
 sense. All men are sons of God and all men are 
 brothers by creation, but creation is a long time past. 
 Humanity has traded its birthright for one kind or 
 another of pottage on many an occasion, until the 
 statement is made that all have gone out of the way. 
 
 Who are the sons of God ? We are told in Romans 
 8: 14, "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they 
 are the sons of God." And in John 1 : 12 the state- 
 ment is made, "As many as received him, to them 
 gave he power to become the sons of God." Those, 
 then, who do the will of God receive power to be- 
 come the sons of God. We must come back to him 
 
118 Square Blocks 
 
 again, before we can be called his sons, and be re- 
 ceived by adoption. 
 
 The manifestation of the sons of God was fore- 
 shadowed in the prayer of the Master, "Thy king- 
 dom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is done 
 in heaven." Those are the sons of God, then, who 
 are willing to do the will of God on earth, just the 
 same as their brethren in the spirit are doing it in 
 heaven. There are a great many people apparently 
 anxious to enter into the millennium who are not 
 sons of God. They trace their genealogy along an- 
 other line. 
 
 I do not presume, however, for a moment that this 
 little body of people called the Latter Day Saints, as 
 at present constituted, is all that will be revealed 
 when the sons of God stand forth. That would be 
 too narrow a conception. I believe that God has many 
 righteous men in the earth, and many forces at work, 
 and many institutions that are working for right- 
 eousness that perhaps we do not recognize, and cer- 
 tainly many individuals who are unknown to us. 
 
 The statement is made, that he will send his an- 
 gels to gather the elect from the four corners of 
 the earth. There is something more in the Book of 
 Covenants along that line, too. Let me read it 
 section 36. I will just read briefly certain sentences, 
 and not take the time to read all that bears on this 
 subject. "And again, Enoch wept and cried unto the 
 Lord, saying, When shall the earth rest?" That is 
 a very significant question. "And the Lord said 
 
Creation in Travail 119 
 
 . . . The day shall come that the earth shall rest, but 
 before that day, . . . great tribulations shall be among 
 the children of men, but my people will I preserve; 
 and righteousness will I send down out of heaven, 
 and truth will I send forth out of the earth, . . . and 
 righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the 
 earth as with a flood, to gather out my own elect 
 from the four quarters of the earth unto a place 
 which I shall prepare." 
 
 HOW ARE SONS OF GOD MANIFESTED? 
 
 Righteousness and truth will sweep the earth and 
 gather out the elect, the sons of God. That is my 
 conception of the gathering. I do not think of the 
 gathering as a group of people driven together by 
 fear of the calamities coming upon the earth. I 
 think of it as an aggregation of men and women 
 drawn together by the love of righteousness and 
 truth. These great principles shining forth in the 
 church, drawing them from the four quarters of the 
 earth; and I am glad that such a conception is re- 
 vealed in the word of God. 
 
 Who, then, are the elect? Henry Ward Beecher 
 very bluntly said, "The elect are those who will, and 
 the nonelect are those who won't." That is about all 
 there is to the doctrine of election and predestina- 
 tion. One shall be taken and another left. One will 
 obey. Another won't obey. One has in his heart 
 the love of this righteousness and truth that shall 
 sweep the earth. He is ready to go with it. The 
 other sticks to the old order and he will be left. 
 
120 Square Blocks 
 
 I may, then, ask a fair question, How are the sons 
 of God to be manifested ? I think they will be mani- 
 fested by the kind of lives they are willing to live, 
 and by their allegiance. John tells us that by this 
 are the children of God manifested, and the chil- 
 dren of the Devil that the children of God work 
 righteousness, and the children of the Devil work 
 unrighteousness. And we are told concerning Jesus, 
 that he was exalted above his fellows because he 
 loved righteousness and hated iniquity. 
 
 The sons of God may be manifested by the power 
 and the intervention of God, but I think that they 
 will be manifested also in the kind of lives they live, 
 perhaps more than by any halo of light that will 
 shine around their heads. And no individual who 
 has a lukewarm attachment for righteousness, and 
 a sneaking admiration for iniquity will presently be 
 miraculously manifested as a son of God simply 
 because he has his name inscribed on the church 
 record. 
 
 A WORLD GETHSEMANE 
 
 It seems that there must be an individual Geth- 
 semane, as that which occurred in the life of Christ. 
 In sorrow and pain and travail, in the Garden of 
 Gethsemane, Jesus learned to say, Not my will, but 
 thine be done. His sonship was confirmed in that 
 last lesson in which he learned to yield himself en- 
 tirely to the will of God. There apparently must 
 also be a world Gethsemane; the whole creation 
 groaneth, travailing in pain until now, in order that 
 
Creation in Travail 121 
 
 the sons of God may be revealed. That is the fru- 
 ition. That is the revelation, the culmination of all 
 this trouble, sorrow, anguish, turmoil. 
 
 That is what it is all leading up to the revela- 
 tion of the sons of God, when Jesus shall come and 
 set up his kingdom with all those who are willing 
 to do his will on earth as it is done in heaven. In 
 that day he will reign. Peace and justice will pre- 
 vail on the earth. All those who are ready to re- 
 ceive him will be partakers with him. 
 
BLUE PENCIL NOTES 
 
 GOD wants consecrated men, not hired men. 
 
 With an artist, an eraser is quite as necessary as 
 a pencil. There are few men who do not often feel 
 the need of repentance. 
 
 Very long sermons require plenty of "wind and 
 endurance." The preacher needs the former and the 
 audience the latter. 
 
 A good sermon is a balm to the bruised and a blis- 
 ter to the calloused ; it has a message of rest for the 
 weary and a jab in the ribs for the lazy. 
 
 Many ponderous tomes eulogize the war-makers; 
 but Jesus Christ chose to apotheosize the peace- 
 makers in a single luminous sentence that will live 
 forever. 
 i 
 
 Brother X has done all he could to discourage 
 
 the elders from running about needlessly. He never 
 gave one of them a penny. 
 
 Some people take the elder's ministration as a 
 matter of course, not worthy even of thanks, as in 
 the case of the invalid to whom a sister said, "Wasn't 
 
 122 
 
Blue Pencil Notes 123 
 
 it kind of Elder Fifthly to walk six miles in the heat 
 and bring you that big basket of fruit and chicken 
 and groceries?" The lady frowned and said, "Kind? 
 Why, what is he for?" 
 
 No brain can long dictate a course in which the 
 heart is not enlisted. 
 
 The law of the land may stay the hand in mid-air 
 and say that you must not steal your neighbor's 
 money or his wife or his life. The law of God checks 
 the heart in mid-bound and says that you must not 
 covet your neighbor's money or his wife or his life. 
 
 A Christian Scientist is the only man who will 
 deny the existence of matter and work hard to earn 
 coal, ice, and flour; who will act as pallbearer for a 
 friend and on the way home deny the existence of 
 death. 
 
 In "Eve's Diary" Mark Twain makes Eve say of 
 Adam: "He is self-educated, and does really know a 
 multitude of things, but they are not so." Adam, 
 it will be remembered, is the father of all men. 
 
 An expeditious way to kill a young people's 
 prayer meeting is to let the old people move in and 
 "improve the time." 
 
 Look out for the economist who uses thirty min- 
 utes of the prayer meeting because he "hates to see 
 
124 Square Blocks 
 
 the time go to waste." It is wasted but he doesn't 
 see it. 
 
 A Christian Scientist is the only man who will 
 affirm that he is perfectly comfortable when he has 
 the stomach ache. 
 
 You cannot judge of the meat of a sermon by its 
 volume of noise. Auctioneers cry loudest to sell 
 small wares. 
 
 A sermon may well give its hearers a heartache, 
 as on Pentecost. Beware that it does not give them 
 a headache instead. 
 
 You cannot judge of the meat of a sermon by its 
 length. Some cooks boil a very small egg in a great 
 quantity of water. 
 
 It is humiliating to egotism but comforting to hope 
 to observe that when one man drops out temporarily 
 or permanently "the work" goes right on. One ant 
 is scarcely missed from an ant hill. 
 
 A little boy was singing at his play : "I love daddy 
 and daddy loves me, and that's the reason we al- 
 ways agree." Come to think about it, that is the 
 only sure basis for permanent agreement. 
 
 But this might do for a dirge to sing over the 
 average dead and disrupted branch: "I didn't like 
 
Blue Pencil Notes 125 
 
 Jones and Jones didn't like me, and that was the 
 reason we never could agree/' 
 
 It is terrible to work a long time for a certain 
 thing and then find that you cannot enjoy it. Our 
 attention has been called to the case of Mr. Fiddle. 
 He took a course in theology and finally graduated 
 as doctor of divinity. And then, alas, he found that 
 he took no pleasure at all in signing his name, 
 Reverend Fiddle, D. D. 
 
BOOK THREE 
 
 To the Average Young Man 
 
ZION BUILDERS 
 
 (Tune: "Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled.") 
 
 Far as human greetings go 
 Let all Zion Builders know 
 One great tide begins to flow 
 Tis the tide of Youth! 
 
 Let each man his weapon scour; 
 This the people, this the hour; 
 Jesus leads to grace and pow"r, 
 Victory and truth! 
 
 You who read of Enoch's band; 
 You who dream of Zion's land; 
 Gather at the Lord's command, 
 Strong of heart and thews! 
 
 You whose fathers loved and bled, 
 Stained her soil with living red, 
 See fair Zion's drooping head, 
 Send her joyous news! 
 
 Tell her you have heard her plea; 
 Pledge yourselves on bended knee; 
 Zion, Zion shall be free, 
 Zion shall be great! 
 
 Let one object be your goal; 
 Let one purpose stir your soul; 
 Jesus stands to call his roll, 
 
 Zion must not wait! E. A. S. 
 
THE GREATEST BATTLE GROUND 
 
 EVERY young man who tries to be a man in the 
 best sense of the term is conscious of warring 
 forces within him. 
 
 God and the Devil both want that kind of a man. 
 So do not be discouraged if generous, full-hearted 
 desires to live right and do good give way at times 
 to black moods when the impulse is to do evil and go 
 wrong. You are the prize for which powers contend. 
 Your heart is the battle field of spiritual forces. 
 There Apollyon meets Jesus Christ. With whom will 
 you side in this great conflict? 
 
 Whittier felt this struggle within himself and em- 
 bodied it in his poem about the "two voices." 
 Tennyson experienced it and wrote: 
 
 "Where is one that, born of woman, altogether can escape 
 From the lower world within him, moods of tiger, or of 
 ape?" 
 
 The great Apostle Paul felt it and said: "1 find 
 then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is pres- 
 ent with me. ... I see another law in my members 
 warring against the law of my mind." 
 
 What a fine thing it would seem to be if we could 
 
 settle all moral questions once for all, in one brief 
 
 struggle, determine to do right, and there have the 
 
 matter ended. Feeling after such a Utopia, some have 
 
 5 129 
 
130 To the Average Young Man 
 
 evolved the theology of sanctification and complete 
 inability to sin. 
 
 But that is not the way men grow strong. Human 
 agency continues with us every day. So long as it 
 continues, both forces will appeal to us for support 
 and allegiance. 
 
 We cannot will away to-day our agency of to-mor- 
 row. Nor can anyone do it for us. 
 
 We cannot decide questions of moral conduct to- 
 day so that they may not be reopened to-morrow by 
 the Apollyon and the Jesus who are contending for 
 men's souls. 
 
 But we can fortify ourselves to-day so that it will 
 be easier for us to answer right to-morrow and in- 
 creasingly easy as the days go by. 
 
 The same old struggle is set forth in the Book of 
 Mormon, where it is said that one force invites and 
 entices to do good while the other force invites and 
 entices to do evil. 
 
 If we side with the good to-day it will be easier to 
 side with the good to-morrow. Light cleaves to 
 light. Our characters grow stronger. With God on 
 our side we must prevail. 
 
 You cannot afford to heed the voice that tempts 
 you to do wrong. You cannot afford to prostitute 
 and degrade your manhood. 
 
 Choose, then, ever to answer the appeal welling up 
 in your nature to love and cherish purity, honesty, 
 and virtue; resist always that low, debasing cry of 
 the tiger or the ape in your nature that would render 
 you sensual, carnal, and devilish. 
 
MORAL SUICIDE 
 
 EVERY normal young man has hidden within 
 him a finer nature and tender sensibilities. If 
 it were not so, the appeal of good to humanity 
 would be hopeless. 
 
 You may conceal this better nature, and even deny 
 it to your own self, but it is there. 
 
 It asserts itself when you feel tender affection for 
 your mother. And when you feel reverence and 
 honor for your father. And when you feel that you 
 will be loyal and true to a friend. And when you 
 think of some particular young woman as being all 
 that is pure, lovely, and desirable. 
 
 It asserts itself when you flinch a little at the 
 sound of profanity, and when you must harden your 
 will a little before you can bring yourself to repeat a 
 vulgar story. And when you shrink from physical 
 contact with sin and corruption. 
 
 It asserts itself when you respond to a noble ap- 
 peal. And when you help the weak and poor. And 
 when you thrill to the sound of music or a great 
 poem. And when you burn with patriotism. And 
 when you think with awe of God and the universe. 
 
 You cannot stifle these impulses without suffering. 
 When you cut an artery or swallow carbolic acid 
 you kill the body. But when you debauch and crucify 
 the better nature within you, you kill the soul. There 
 are no spiritual anaesthetics. The body can scarcely 
 
 131 
 
132 To the Average Young Man 
 
 die without pain. The soul cannot die without an 
 eternity of agony. No fleeting counterfeit pleasure 
 can recompense you. The price is too big. 
 
 These finer emotions are not something to be 
 ashamed of. They are not an evidence of weakness. 
 You should not attempt to crush them. 
 
 They have been most dominant in those men who 
 have been biggest and best. They ally you with a 
 notable company. They set you apart from the vile 
 and the vulgar. They are the leaven of true man- 
 hood within you. 
 
 Never let them die. When they die, you are dead. 
 When they live, you live. 
 
VIBRATING HEARTSTRINGS 
 
 SOMETIMES when we abrade our cuticle we won- 
 der why men have nerves and blood vessels 
 so much pain and offensive gore over such a 
 trifling matter. But that is one difference between 
 men and vegetables. 
 
 Sometimes when we suffer and mourn we wonder 
 why we are made so sensitive to sorrow. But that is 
 one difference between men and brutes. 
 
 Have you a heart that chills at an affront, that 
 faints with homesickness, that agonizes over the 
 death or departure of loved ones ? 
 
 Then you are the more a man or woman. 
 
 Cabbages do not miss their friends. Hogs are 
 never homesick. Pumpkins are never melancholy. 
 
 The capacity to feel increases among the higher 
 organisms. Some of the higher and nobler animals 
 evince emotions that are truly worthy of respect. 
 Man, highest and noblest of all, created just a little 
 lower than the angels, has a divine range of emotions 
 coupled with a human capacity to err and suffer. 
 
 These things mark the ability to rise. Vegetables 
 and animals cannot rise above their own kingdoms; 
 but man can rise from his present lowly state into 
 the kingdom of heaven, for he has life, intelligence, 
 volition, nerves, a heart, a soul. All these things 
 that fit him to realize and feel and appreciate a full- 
 ness of joy, also, by unavoidable association make it 
 
 133 
 
134 To the Average Young Man 
 
 possible for him to suffer a fullness of woe and 
 misery. 
 
 But to a man also is given an intellect, to preside 
 over his emotions and control them, so they may not 
 destroy him or injure others. Never forget that. 
 
 This is a part of manhood's estate. Out of it have 
 come most priceless gains for humanity. Out of 
 wisely endured suffering in all ages have come the 
 greatest deeds of heroism, the most sublime poems, 
 the most consecrated lives. 
 
 Jesus himself was a man of sorrows and ac- 
 quainted with grief. Without the ability to suffer 
 and sympathize he could never have been a Savior. 
 He might otherwise have been a cold, austere, im- 
 maculate, unapproachable God never a loving Re- 
 deemer. 
 
 Without the same wide and deep range of feeling 
 and sympathy, and with it that associated power to 
 suffer, we can never be fit to become his friends and 
 companions, to share with him his sweet, serene 
 charity, and go out with him to seek and save the 
 lost and suffering. 
 
DON'T BE PIG-HEADED 
 
 r I ^HE projecting under jaw of the bulldog enables 
 
 him to take a good, firm hold ; but his shallow 
 
 brain pan does not hold enough coordinate 
 
 common sense and logic to enable him to know when 
 
 to let go. 
 
 He is strong on tenacity, but weak on "dog sense." 
 He is impervious to mercy, compunction, logic, and 
 brickbats. 
 
 He may win his fight, just on that one trait of 
 dogged tenacity. But after it is won, it may de- 
 velop that he was wrong all the way through, and 
 ought to be ashamed of himself only he has not 
 brains enough to be ashamed. All that he has is 
 that projecting under jaw. 
 
 A man, a real man, should be built along different 
 lines. A good, square jaw will help him through the 
 fight, and is a fine thing to have. But he needs also 
 a well-filled brain pan, and a conscience, and a well- 
 developed sense of decency and right. 
 
 A man ought to be man enough to get out of a 
 thing when he finds that it is not worth pushing to 
 the end. He ought to be man enough to abandon 
 a fight when he finds that he is wrong and then 
 get in on the right side. 
 
 A man ought to have consideration for the feel- 
 ings of others and for the weak and defenseless, and 
 not push his enterprise to success across the broken 
 
 135 
 
136 To the Average Young Man 
 
 hearts and hopes of others. It is splendid to have the 
 tenacity of a bulldog ; but contemptible to use it like 
 a bulldog. 
 
 Some people pride themselves on the fact that they 
 never give up; that they win out, right or wrong; 
 that no one can silence them, or convince them, or 
 down them. They do not know when they are 
 beaten. Half the time they are worsted, and every- 
 one knows it, only they will not admit it. 
 
 They would feel ashamed to make an apology, even 
 when wrong. Once started they must mangle their 
 way through things in some fashion, even after they 
 have discovered that they "are in wrong." 
 
 To such this may seem a singular thing, but it is 
 a fact, that among all the beatitudes, they will never 
 find where Jesus said: "Blessed are the pig-headed." 
 
 Moral : Be men, not bulldogs. 
 
A PICTURE OF THE WORLD'S 
 WORK 
 
 DID you ever stop to picture the work that is 
 done in the world in a single day? the im- 
 mense exertion of humanity in a single day? 
 All over the world they are laboring. Yonder to the 
 east, in greater New York City, they are erecting 
 their skyscrapers, shouldering the clouds aside, or 
 digging their subways, until it looks as though a race 
 greater than man had been at work; still further, 
 across the waters, populous London, roaring with 
 commerce, also Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham 
 and the cities of Europe; to the west are busy San 
 Francisco, Spokane, Seattle, and overseas the toiling 
 little brown people of the nation of the cherry blos- 
 som, and the toiling millions of China; south of us 
 the black man sweats and sings in the cotton fields ; 
 while to the north white men toil in the great wheat 
 fields of western Canada; and all around us is the 
 great valley of the Mississippi, a generation ago a 
 wilderness, where now the armies of industry culti- 
 vate a lovely garden plot bigger and richer than 
 many a populous and wealthy empire of old. All over 
 the world with the rising of the morning sun the 
 song of industry begins the sound of trowel on 
 brick, of wheel on rail, of saw through wood, of 
 hammer on anvil, of escaping steam, whirling belts, 
 
 137 
 
138 To the Average Young Man 
 
 sounding whistles the world's anthem of industry 
 that goes on till the stars come out at night. 
 
 Think of the tremendous expenditure of human 
 will power that drives this wonderful industry for- 
 ward day by day, year by year, century by century. 
 What is it for? Is it simply that we may live ? Pri- 
 marily, yes. But above and beyond that, that we may 
 work out our destiny, which was meant to be one not 
 only of dominion but also of honor and it should be 
 that we may do the will of God. Not until this tre- 
 mendous expenditure of will and muscle and brain is 
 consecrated to the service of God can humanity go 
 forward towards its redemption. A single individual 
 who goes out with that ideal is helping towards that 
 state as can no other individual. 
 
 Do you think that all this goes forward without 
 divine direction? Shall we accept the philosophy 
 that is stated in the poem by William Watson, where 
 he says : 
 
 In cave and bosky dene 
 
 Of old there crept and ran 
 The gibbering form obscene 
 
 That was and was not man. 
 The desert beasts went by 
 
 In fairer covering clad: 
 More speculative eye 
 
 The couchant lion had, 
 And goodlier speech the birds, than we when we began. 
 
 A soul so long deferred 
 
 In his blind brain he bore, 
 It might have slept unstirred . 
 
 Ten million noontides more. 
 
A Picture of the World's Work 139 
 
 Yea, round him darkness might 
 
 Till now her folds have drawn. 
 O'er that enormous night 
 
 So casual came the dawn, 
 Such hues of hap and hazard Man's Emergence wore! 
 
 Can we think that back of all this was only the 
 stirring of discontent in the brain of an ape, and that 
 it has all come down through hap and hazard, casual 
 and uncertain, until we have reached our present 
 state? These poets may speak for themselves re- 
 garding their genealogy ; we believe that God created 
 man just a little lower than the angels, and crowned 
 him with glory, and that his guiding and directing 
 hand has been over all nations. In the language of 
 Tennyson, "We doubt not through the ages one in- 
 creasing purpose runs." That purpose will never be 
 fulfilled until intelligently man moves forward into 
 that higher stage, that state that some look forward 
 to, which we term Zion, and which can only come 
 when we realize that God indeed is with us. 
 
 Over and against this hap and hazard poem that 
 brings man up from the ape, and that holds out no 
 promise of the future, we will place one verse from 
 a poem by Hermann Hagedorn: 
 
 Kinsman, 
 
 Our release is not yet. 
 
 Nor shall it come amid shouts, 
 
 The exhortations of loud tongues, 
 
 Or the uprising of multitudes. 
 
140 To the Average Young Man 
 
 Our release cometh 
 When the heart of man 
 Shall be as a plowed field, 
 Awaiting in the cool dawn 
 The footsteps of the Sower. 
 
THE MAN WHO NEVER STOPS AND 
 NEVER TURNS BACK 
 
 GOLIATH was a big man no, he was not he 
 was a little bit of a man in a big hulk of a 
 body. He was six cubits and a span high, and 
 his spear's shaft was like a weaver's beam. But 
 about all that we know concerning him is that he 
 made a big noise and a lot of bluster and was killed 
 with a pebble by a shepherd lad. 
 
 General Grant, by way of contrast, was a big man 
 in a little body. He went around with his hat pulled 
 down over his eyes and made one word do the work 
 that two had always done before. But in the hour 
 of his country's need he swung two great armies 
 into battle and forced his terrible antagonist south- 
 ward, inch by inch, and pounded him to pieces. He 
 was as great in victory as he had been relentless in 
 attack, for he refused to take from his brave adver- 
 sary the sword that he was about to surrender. 
 
 It is said by one of Grant's historians that he was 
 of Scotch descent, and that the motto of his clan in 
 Aberdeenshire was, "Stand fast, stand firm, stand 
 sure." I do not know whether that statement is true 
 or not, but I do find significant words in one of the 
 first chapters of his Memoirs. He is recounting an 
 incident that occurred in his boyhood days, and 
 says, "One of my superstitions had always been, 
 
 141 
 
142 To the Average Young Man 
 
 when I started to go anywhere or do anything, not 
 to turn back or stop until the thing intended was ac- 
 complished." A fine motto when one is sure he is 
 right. 
 
 Not to turn back or stop until the thing intended 
 was accomplished! When he graduated from West 
 Point there were twenty-nine members in his class. 
 He occupied twenty-first place. There were twenty 
 young men above him who had abilities in one way 
 or another superior to his, and who gave greater 
 promise than he of being of service to their country. 
 But he was the one who never stopped and never 
 turned back. 
 
 There were many generals in the Civil War, and 
 you may hear people arguing yet to-day that Sher- 
 man was a greater general, or McClellan was a 
 greater general; but while they may have been 
 greater in some respects, Grant was the one who 
 never stopped and never turned back. 
 
 We who are engaged in the greatest warfare of all 
 time may well take a lesson from the life of this man. 
 How many of our young men and women will pledge 
 themselves to go forward in that work, and never 
 stop and never turn back until it is accomplished? 
 Such an army of young people will be invincible. In 
 that day the army of the Lord will become "very 
 great and very terrible." 
 
THE TESTIMONY OF THE CLOCK 
 
 r I ^HE midweek prayer meeting was in progress 
 
 if a long pause with nothing being said can be 
 
 called progress. No one seemed willing to 
 
 "improve the time." An intense stillness prevailed, 
 
 broken only by the loud "tick tock tick tock" of 
 
 the old church clock, which seemed to sound louder 
 
 and louder every time the pendulum swung to and 
 
 fro. 
 
 Finally a young man arose and said, "That clock is 
 getting on my nerves. I can't stand it any longer. 
 That old clock seems to bear its testimony most 
 loudly when we keep silent." 
 
 Truly the clock does bear its testimony, and that 
 most loudly when the Saints are inactive and inat- 
 tentive to duty. 
 
 It testifies that time is flying. Now is the time to 
 act. The golden present is the hour of opportunity. 
 Insistently it calls our attention to our. duty and 
 bears witness between us and God that we are hav- 
 ing our chance NOW. 
 
 Some of us are young, some are mid-aged, some 
 are already old. It is only a question of time, and 
 that too of time that passes like a 'dream, like a 
 shadow over still water, like a breath of summer air, 
 like an iridescent, sun-kissed dewdrop, until we 
 shall all be old. Youth and manhood, girlhood and 
 womanhood pass quickly away, and men and women 
 
 143 
 
144 To the Average Young Man 
 
 find themselves old, with opportunity largely behind 
 them, so far as this life is concerned. The splendid 
 assets of youth are quickly exchanged for the griev- 
 ous liabilities of old age. 
 
 Youth is the time for action. Let those who are 
 still young and strong, vigorous and enthusiastic, 
 enter upon this gospel warfare and throw into it 
 their abundant energy. Youth is the time to enter 
 fully upon service. Let us heed the testimony of the 
 clock, and in harmony with the admonition of the 
 Master, "Work while the day lasts/' 
 
BRAIN PATHS 
 
 A SINGLE step on the springing sod leaves little 
 impression. A single pair of feet passing once 
 over the greensward scarcely leaves a trail. 
 
 But when the feet pass often over the same 
 ground, even if it be only at intervals, there appears 
 in time a well-defined path. As the years go by, deep 
 grooves are worn and the ground is beaten down un- 
 til it becomes almost as hard as flint. 
 
 A single thought passing through the brain leaves 
 scarcely a trace. But if the feet of the soul pass that 
 way again and again, deep ruts of habit are formed 
 that are as difficult to eradicate as the hard-beaten 
 course of the ancient path across the meadow. 
 
 If the path be a forbidden one of thought about 
 vile and sinful matters, along which the soul slinks 
 ashamed and almost afraid lest some one by chance 
 look in through the open windows of the eyes and 
 see what is going on, the effect upon character is 
 most disastrous. 
 
 Ever and ever it is easier for thought to take 
 the old path through the brain. The habit becomes 
 constantly stronger. The ruts are worn deeper. 
 
 Safety lies in thinking about legitimate and wor- 
 thy things. Then habit becomes a friend. 
 
 Here we find a broad field for exploration. There 
 
 145 
 
146 To the Average Young Man 
 
 is no need to take the same old path every day, like 
 the man who walks only to and from shop to dwell- 
 ing, or from dwelling to store. 
 
 There are small souls who walk only one path, 
 leaving all the broad fields of thought unexplored. 
 These are men of few ideas; they approach mono- 
 mania. 
 
 Prejudice is only another name for the hardened 
 and narrow brain path to which they cling and from 
 which they refuse to be diverted. They dare not turn 
 aside a moment lest they lose the old familiar trail 
 in which they have walked and in which their fathers 
 have walked. 
 
 The old religion, the old philosophy, the old politi- 
 cal allegiance, must not be disturbed. They specu- 
 lated to a limited degree on these things years ago 
 and blazed a little trail that ended too soon. They 
 will walk back and forth over this path that leads 
 nowhere, but new fields they will not explore. 
 
 That is why some men have but one sermon. That 
 is why some men always vote the same ticket. That 
 is why some men have a little light, but refuse the 
 fullness of the gospel. 
 
 Dare to be progressive in thought. Dare to think 
 clean thoughts and free thoughts. 
 
 There is a world of true philosophy in the in- 
 junction of Paul, indicating as it does pure thought 
 and diversified thought : 
 
 "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, 
 whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are 
 
Brain Paths 147 
 
 just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 
 are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if 
 there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on 
 these things." 
 
IN LINE OF DUTY THE STORY OF 
 THE EVANELIA 
 
 r I ^HERE was a time when the Evanelia rode over 
 high and dangerous waves. There came a 
 "^ time later when she sank like a log in quiet 
 waters. What made the difference? 
 
 We were profoundly impressed some years ago 
 while hearing Captain (Elder) Joseph Burton tell 
 how he took the Evanelia over the bar at San Fran- 
 cisco at the beginning of her long and perilous jour- 
 ney to carry the gospel to the islands of the southern 
 seas. 
 
 When he put out to sea he discovered that an un- 
 expectedly heavy swell was running in at the bar, 
 due to a terrific storm that had been raging along 
 the coast for one week while the Evanelia lay in the 
 bay. 
 
 Another vessel that attempted to make the pas- 
 sage under similar conditions was literally turned 
 bottom upward by the waves, so that her masts were 
 thrust up through the bottom, and she sank. 
 
 But the Evanelia was preserved in safety. It had 
 been predicted that she should ride the highest 
 waves. She did so. She was in the line of her duty 
 and God protected her. 
 
 Later certain persons, contrary to the advice of 
 the Bishop, converted her into a trading vessel and 
 
 148 
 
In Line of Duty 149 
 
 loaded her with "bufa," shells, and iron. While on 
 such a trip she sank in quiet waters and without 
 warning. She was out of the line of duty, and God 
 did not protect her. She had been diverted from her 
 mission and so perished. 
 
 There is a lesson here for all Latter Day Saints. 
 
 While we are in the line of duty God can and will 
 take care of us in the midst of the gravest dangers 
 and perplexities. If God is for us, who can be against 
 us? 
 
 But if we permit ourselves to be diverted from the 
 line of duty into something that God has not ap- 
 pointed for us, we have no assurance of divine pro- 
 tection and will most surely fail and may possibly 
 perish most miserably. 
 
 Who, then, should hesitate long to make the choice^ 
 made by Joshua, "As for me and my house, we will 
 serve the Lord"? 
 
 Remember the story of the Evanelia. 
 
THE TIGER AND THE DERELICT 
 
 I REMEMBER a story read in early boyhood days. 
 It was a story of such blood-congealing powers 
 that it will never be forgotten. 
 
 A company of men at sea for a long time heard the 
 slow regular tolling of a bell. I can still hear that 
 funereal bell over the waters, presaging the worthy 
 mysteries that followed. 
 
 Presently they sighted a battered derelict rolling 
 in the trough of the sea. A bell rigged to the stump 
 of a mast tolled slowly with the pitching of the an- 
 cient craft of mystery in the wash of the waves. I 
 can still see that battered wreck which so piqued my 
 ^alert imagination. 
 
 No living thing was in sight on this derelict; but 
 at intervals came drifting over the waters a deep, 
 mournful roar as of some wild beast. I can still hear 
 that roar. 
 
 Putting off in a rowboat, these men drew near this 
 ancient wreck of some unknown ship. They came 
 alongside with tingling nerves, the tolling of the bell 
 and the roaring of the beast in their ears. 
 
 Boarding the wreck they found the hatches bat- 
 tered down. Frightened by the awful sounds from be- 
 neath, some were for returning ; but the captain in- 
 sisted upon breaking open the hatches. While they 
 were being battered down he stood with rifle ready 
 for the unknown. 
 
 150 
 
The Tiger and the Derelict 151 
 
 An opening effected, they descended into the evil- 
 smelling gloom below, lighted only by the blaze of 
 a torch. An awful roar greeted them (I can dis- 
 tinctly hear it), and in a far corner crouched an 
 enormous, half-starved Bengal tiger, with blazing 
 eyes, and red, wide-open jaws. Of course a lucky 
 shot dispatched him. 
 
 By the side of the dead tiger was found the skel- 
 eton of a man. A broken chain and a staple in the 
 wall showed where the tiger had been fastened. 
 
 A fragment of diary told the story of the skeleton 
 that had been a man. He had been imprisoned and 
 cast adrift in this old vessel by pirate chiefs off the 
 coast of India. 
 
 The tiger had been fastened by a chain intended 
 to hold him only until he became frantic with hunger. 
 Crouched in a corner of the cabin the poor prisoner 
 had written his diary, each day noting the increasing 
 restlessness of the wild beast chained only a few feet 
 from him. A break in the diary followed the break 
 in the chain. I lived over those days in that vile 
 cabin with that imprisoned wretch. 
 
 A strange, ghastly, and improbable story you say. 
 Yes; but I have since many times seen it reenacted 
 with more or less faithfulness to detail. 
 
 Keep your eyes open. There are numberless dere- 
 licts drifting on the sea of life. The man in each one 
 has been killed by the tiger of lust, passion, appetite, 
 greed, or thirst, with which he was imprisoned. 
 
 There is the situation: The derelict; the tiger, the 
 
152 To the Average Young Man 
 
 man or that which was a man at one time. All that 
 is lacking is the tolling bell. It will not toll until 
 the funeral takes place. It should toll now for dead 
 men that yet walk. 
 
 The man in the derelict could not kill the tiger and 
 he had no deliverer. But men imprisoned in flesh 
 with the wild beast of appetite or passion may have 
 deliverance if they will. For one has come to set the 
 captives free and to destroy all forms of evil. 
 
 The old story was not a fit one for a boy to read. 
 But now perhaps it has served its purpose and 
 pointed a moral. 
 
 We were reminded of this old story when we noted 
 a statement made by a distinguished clergyman who 
 was traveling in Europe at the outbreak of the World 
 War. He said (as quoted in the Literary Digest) : 
 
 "Thousands of men that we saw howling in all the 
 streets of Europe were not men any more. They had 
 become beasts. The beast could be seen in their eyes. 
 They howled for only three things: drink, women, 
 and the blood of their brothers." 
 
THE COLLECTOR OF VIRTUES 
 
 ONCE upon a time there lived a certain man 
 who was a great collector of old paintings. 
 His taste was good and his purse was long, 
 consequently he acquired a notable collection. But 
 he was of spare habit, and one foggy day the cold 
 air got unusually close to his thinly-covered ribs and 
 he died of pneumonia. His paintings were sold at 
 auction and the collection was broken up. He could 
 not take his treasures with him. 
 
 At the same time there lived another man who was 
 a connoisseur of wines. Having a deep cellar and 
 wide resources, he soon had a great stock of wines of 
 the rarest and most ancient vintage. But he was a 
 big, fat man, with a red face, and one day, after an 
 unusually heavy dinner, his too abundant blood broke 
 through upon the too small area reserved for brains, 
 and he died of apoplexy. He could not take his wines 
 with him and his heirs soon drank them up, cursed 
 him, and went out to look for work. 
 
 Contemporaneously there lived a woman with a 
 passion for jewels and precious stones. Having great 
 revenue from tenements occupied by workingmen and 
 widows, and from buildings rented for immoral pur- 
 poses, she was able to acquire many valuable dia- 
 monds, pearls, sapphires, rubies, moonstones, and 
 other gems of every hue. But as the jewels came the 
 years went. Her husband deserted her. There were 
 no children. The poodle dog died. And after some 
 
 153 
 
154 To the Average Young Man 
 
 years of senile decay, the poor rich woman doddered 
 off into eternity. She could not take her collection 
 with her, and to-day her gems are scattered in ten 
 kingdoms; but none of them in the kingdom of 
 heaven. 
 
 There were others who collected postage stamps, 
 bonds, deeds, horses, automobiles; what not? In 
 time something unexpected and very unpleasant 
 happened to each of them, and they left their collec- 
 tions and went out into the night. 
 
 There lived among all these collectors, almost un- 
 noticed, a man of very moderate means. One day, 
 chancing to look into the mirror while exceedingly 
 angry, he beheld a vision that disturbed him greatly, 
 and he set himself to the task of acquiring patience 
 and an even temper. Once in his possession this 
 great virtue bred a desire for others. And so he 
 went on all his life long, collecting virtues : patience, 
 temperance, humility, honesty, virtue, charity. 
 
 In due time he, too, died. And then it dawned upon 
 the community that a truly great collector of the 
 most priceless rarities had dwelt among them. But 
 there was no quarrel over the division of the collec- 
 tion, for the collector took it with him. Only the 
 benefits conferred upon others remained upon earth, 
 and these, though truly considerable, as time alone 
 will reveal, were subject to no legal attachments, and 
 having been freely given were freely held by the re- 
 cipients. 
 
 Truly wise Collector of Virtues ! May many others 
 follow your illustrious example. 
 
THE DRIFTING BOAT 
 
 THE last slanting rays of the sun reflected back 
 from the river glinted across the prow of an 
 outward bound boat. 
 
 This boat was adventuring the coming night, the 
 forces of the river, the menace of the rapids just a 
 little further down the stream. 
 
 But her challenge was determined and intelligent. 
 Her oars beat the water steadily. Her rudder held 
 her to a certain, definite course. Her prow thrust 
 the waves resolutely aside. Some certain fixed port 
 awaited her at the end of the journey. Her oars 
 typified industry; her rudder, determination. 
 
 As the sun disappeared and the evening mists came 
 up from the river, another boat passed. This boat 
 was drifting with the current. 
 
 There were no oars to propel her. There was no 
 rudder to guide. She, too, adventured the night and 
 the river and the rapids; but with no fixed course 
 towards safety. 
 
 Her course was determined by the current and the 
 winds, by outward circumstances and it led ever 
 downward. 
 
 Later we observed two young lives voyaging on 
 the river of time. 
 
 One was striking boldly out defying disaster, it 
 is true, but doing so intelligently. Steady, hard work 
 gave sure and uninterrupted progress forward. In- 
 
 155 
 
156 To the Average Young Man 
 
 telligent determination held to a fixed course to- 
 wards an understood and definite aim. 
 
 The other life was just drifting. There was no sus- 
 tained effort. There was no purpose or direction. 
 Trivial circumstances directed the vascillating course. 
 But the general and inevitable trend was ever down- 
 ward, towards the menacing rapids. 
 
 Are you drifting with the current? Or have you 
 set your own course, under the direction of God, to- 
 wards some definite and worthy end for which you 
 are willing to toil until the journey terminates suc- 
 cessfully? 
 
A LESSON FROM THE SHOP OF 
 THE OLD VIOLIN MAKER 
 
 ONE day a certain Great Master of the violin 
 wandered into the shop of an old violin 
 maker. Upon the shelves there were violins 
 in all stages of repair some cheap and poor and di- 
 lapitated, others of great beauty of design and finish 
 and almost fabulous value. 
 
 Selecting a carefully-cherished and ancient Stradi- 
 varius, of soft and mellow tone, he drew the bow 
 across the strings and began to play as he alone 
 could play. Passers-by who knew the Great Master, 
 and others who fancied that they knew him, paused 
 to listen, enraptured with the music that issued from 
 the shop of the old violin maker. 
 
 But presently the Great Master put the priceless 
 Stradivarius away in its case and turned to an in- 
 strument of more humble origin. As he drew the 
 bow across the strings of this instrument doubt be- 
 gan to appear upon the faces of some. And a little 
 later, when he chose to play upon a warped and bat- 
 tered violin whose notes were sometimes harsh and 
 discordant, one declared, "That is not the Great 
 Master playing. That is some novice or impostor 
 who has taken his place." 
 
 But another replied, "That is the Great Master; 
 I know his touch on any instrument. The harsh and 
 discordant notes are due to the imperfect instrument 
 
 157 
 
158 To the Average Young Man 
 
 on which he plays, for even the Great Master ex- 
 presses himself through his instruments, and if they 
 are not perfect they mar his expression. Still it is 
 the Great Master, and none other could do so well 
 with a broken instrument ; though, to be frank, I pre- 
 fer to hear him play upon the Stradivarius." 
 
 Thus it is with the Great Master of men, who plays 
 upon the heartstrings of humanity, and expresses 
 himself through men only in this instance volition 
 belongs to the instrument of expression, and He will 
 not speak through an instrument that refuses to sub- 
 mit to his touch. 
 
 When he speaks through a mind that is refined, 
 talented, educated, and obedient, there is marvelous 
 beauty of delivery and expression. But such an in- 
 strument is not always at his hand, and obedient to 
 his will; and he may sing the same strain through 
 the heartstrings and brain cells of another, who is 
 willing to obey but is not capable of such refined 
 beauty of expression. When this latter occurs, men 
 should have enough of the spirit of discernment to be 
 able to detect the touch of the Master even when it 
 falls upon a broken instrument; and the message 
 that comes to them, if understood and comprehended, 
 may be as valuable as though it saluted their ears 
 clothed with the greatest beauty of expression and 
 emanating from a polished instrument of world re- 
 nown. 
 
 The Saints of God are to be the light of the world, 
 the Master says, and our light shoud never burn so 
 
A Lesson From the Shop of the Old Violin 159 
 
 low that we ourselves will be left in doubt, unen- 
 lightened, and undecided when God speaks to us. 
 
 The abrupt and unpolished Peter and the educated 
 and refined Paul do not speak after the same manner, 
 yet the Holy Spirit inspired the minds and hearts of 
 both and both gave a message to the souls of men. 
 
 Many of the writers of the Book of Mormon were 
 unpolished men, pioneers, active men of affairs and 
 adventure, not of the literati, and they apologize for 
 the defects contained in their record, saying that 
 they are the faults of men, and not the faults of God. 
 The Great Master did not always play upon the Strad- 
 ivarius. 
 
 The Master of Men does not always speak through 
 a silver-tongued Isaiah. At times he uses a Lehi or a 
 Moroni, or even an unlettered prophet and seer of 
 Palmyra. Nevertheless, it is the Spirit of the same 
 Master working in all, for the salvation of men ; and 
 those who know him best, recognize his touch on any 
 instrument that he may choose to use and finds obedi- 
 ent to his touch to the extent of its limitations. 
 
HAVE YOU KEPT YOUR HEAD? 
 
 ON THE morning of the day when President 
 Joseph Smith passed to his rest, he was told 
 of the burning of Edison's great plant, sup- 
 posed to have been fireproof, and into which Edison 
 had put the ambitions of a lifetime. 
 
 The aged President closed his eyes for a moment; 
 then he opened them with a quizzical expression, and 
 inquired, "Did his head burn?" 
 
 When answered in the negative, he added, "Well, 
 he is all right then, if he has that wonderful head 
 left." 
 
 There is a lesson in 'that little incident that is 
 worth learning and remembering. Edison may lose 
 the material accumulations that are but the external 
 expression of his mental processes. But so long as 
 his personality remains, so long as he retains his 
 remarkable mental equipment, his work will go on. 
 
 The Edison plant can be rebuilded. It is largely a 
 matter of dollars to duplicate the buildings and equip- 
 ment. 
 
 There is not enough money in the world to dupli- 
 cate the Edison head. 
 
 There was more than a jest in Sam Jones's chal- 
 lenge: "They say the newspapers made me! Well, 
 all I have to say is, let them make another Sam 
 Jones!" 
 
 160 
 
Have You Kept Your Head? 161 
 
 Personality is the most remarkable thing in the 
 world. So long as a man retains his personality and 
 has the opportunity to go on developing his powers 
 and expressing himself, he need not feel that all is 
 lost. 
 
 Misfortune may overtake him. He may lose the 
 cherished material things for which he has labored. 
 But if he has his head left he can go on and retrieve 
 his fortunes. 
 
 Perhaps you have had trouble. You have met with 
 reverses. Misfortune cast you down. 
 
 Lips now turning to dust suggest the pertinent 
 query, "Did you keep your head?" 
 
PRESERVED OR PICKLED 
 
 THE Reverend Sam Jones used to say that some 
 very religious people imagine they are pre- 
 served when in fact they are only pickled. 
 He declared that he watched his good old mother 
 preserve peaches and she always sweetened them lib- 
 erally. He presumed that when God preserves his 
 saints he does likewise. 
 
 There is more than a grain of common sense in the 
 homely illustration; 
 
 Harsh, sour, critical cynicism has no place what- 
 ever in a truly religious disposition. Gentleness, pa- 
 tience, long-suffering, charity, these are the attri- 
 butes of the Spirit. 
 
 Strenuous conflict with forces of evil in various 
 forms sometimes tends to make one sarcastic, acri- 
 monious, and harsh in his methods of attack and re- 
 pulsion. Our people, particularly the ministry, 
 should be on their guard lest this become a matter 
 of habit, first reflected in speech, next in habitual 
 thought, and finally in the sour and misanthropic 
 character of the confirmed pessimist pickled in his 
 own vinegar. And the finest honey, gone wrong, 
 makes the sourest vinegar. 
 
 No matter whether the evil that we combat be out- 
 side the church or in it, we must remain open, frank, 
 manly, and even-tempered in our warfare. Much 
 that we see in our opponents that seems so despic- 
 
 162 
 
Preserved or Pickled 163 
 
 able is due to human weakness and imperfection. To 
 permit it to react upon us and spoil our characters by 
 robbing us of our charity for and love of humanity 
 would be sad indeed. Thus we would defeat our- 
 selves. 
 
 We must maintain the broad, deep sympathy that 
 characterized the Master in his work of redemption. 
 Often repulsed, we should never become discouraged. 
 Often betrayed or defeated, we must work on. 
 
 Youth naturally is buoyant and hopeful ; age tends 
 to become more crabbed and austere. The disap- 
 pointments, vexations, and cares of life account for 
 the change so often witnessed as time goes by. 
 
 Happy the man or woman who remains optimistic, 
 broad-minded, liberal, enthusiastic, kindly, in spite of 
 disappointments and unrealized hopes and ambitions. 
 
 This achievement should be within the reach of 
 the average Latter Day Saint, through the grace of 
 God who has preserved them, i. e., liberally sweetened 
 them with his divine love and compassion through 
 the indwelling of his Spirit. 
 
 There is nothing more corroding than the acidity 
 'of a thoroughly soured "Christian" so-called. As 
 mother-of-vinegar tends to breed more acidity, so do 
 such tend to discourage and sour those around them. 
 
 On the other hand, a life of sunny good will is like 
 a flood of sunshine and a breath of fresh air com- 
 bined, cleansing the spiritual atmosphere, killing ma- 
 lignant germs, and reviving and refreshing all who 
 come under its benign influences. 
 
PUTTING THE HALTER ON 
 THE CAMEL 
 
 EVERY man needs self-confidence. No; we did 
 not say self-conceit. We said self-confidence. 
 True self-confidence is based (1) on confi- 
 dence in God, and (2) on personal efficiency. 
 
 Confidence in God made the apostles of old invin- 
 cible. They said, and felt: "If God be for us, who 
 can prevail against us ?" This deep-burning thought 
 has nerved men and women for heroic tasks. 
 
 No one can feel that God is with him unless he is 
 confident that his cause is just. He whose cause is 
 just is "thrice armed." Supremely confident that 
 God is with us, let us go forward along right lines 
 with courage and hope. 
 
 Efficiency, the second prerequisite to confidence, 
 comes from preparation. With assurance we ap- 
 proach a task for which we are prepared. We can- 
 not have any confidence in ourselves if, for instance, 
 we attempt to make a speech upon a subject concern- 
 ing which we are ignorant. But if we have studied 
 it and thoroughly understand some leading facts con- 
 cerning it, we have good grounds for assurance in 
 attempting to treat upon it. 
 
 Preparation and experience give efficiency, and 
 efficiency will surely give a sense of ability to succeed 
 that is invaluable. 
 
 164 
 
Putting the Halter on the Camel 165 
 
 Do not dwell too much upon your weaknesses and 
 shortcomings. Think of them just enough to take 
 the necessary steps to overcome them. Do not brood 
 over them and become discouraged. The discouraged 
 man is defeated before he begins the fight. Think of 
 yourself in respectable terms, as one who can and will 
 succeed. 
 
 Fear unnerves us. Resolution and determination 
 carry us forward. Men fear a great many things, 
 many of which are imaginary. As one said, "I am an 
 old man, and have seen many troubles most of 
 which never happened." 
 
 Kleiser refers to the old fable of the camel. When 
 man first saw a camel he fled in terror before the 
 huge and ugly bulk of the creature. Later, taking 
 courage, he marched up to the animal and put a 
 halter on him and set a child to lead him. 
 
 Thus it is in many instances with the things that 
 we fear. If we march directly up to them, we over- 
 come and bind them. 
 
 Is it an evil habit ? Is it a fear to speak in public ? 
 Is it a difficult problem ? Is it a hard task ? Is it a 
 disagreeable duty? Is it your life's work? Prepare 
 yourself to overcome: Have confidence in yourself 
 and in God. Go straight at the thing, whatever it is, 
 and win out. Put the halter on the camel. 
 
COCKLEBUR FARMING 
 
 YEARS ago an old Iowa farmer was plowing his 
 corn when he discovered a strange new plant. 
 At least it was strange to him in that new 
 prairie land. 
 
 So he plowed around it very carefully and left it 
 standing, curious to learn what it might be and think- 
 ing perhaps he had made a valuable discovery. He 
 cultivated it all that season. 
 
 The plant proved to be a cocklebur, genus Xan- 
 thium. In a few years his farm was headquarters for 
 cockleburs and helped to seed the whole surrounding 
 country with the noxious pests. He had missed a 
 splendid opportunity to destroy a nuisance at its 
 source. The best time to rid a farm of cockleburs is 
 when there is only one cocklebur on the place. 
 
 Many a young man with his first taste of drink or 
 tobacco or profanity or gambling experiences an en- 
 tirely new sensation. He is uncertain regarding its 
 exact nature, but decides to let the thing grow and 
 see what may come of it. Somewhat against his 
 higher instincts and with many qualms of stomach 
 and conscience, he cultivates 'the new sensation. 
 
 By and by he discovers that he has merely grown 
 a rank and evil habit. His entire system is filled with 
 it. He is now headquarters for one or more forms of 
 
 166 
 
Cocklebur Farming 167 
 
 vice and helps to contaminate younger members of 
 the entire community. 
 
 Like the manager of Cocklebur Farm, he has 
 made a sad mistake. The time to overcome evil hab- 
 its is at the beginning when they are few in number 
 and before their roots have struck into the soil and 
 before the seeds are scattered far and wide. 
 
 It is a good five-year job to eradicate cockleburs 
 from a farm, when they have become well established. 
 It is the task of a lifetime to root out evil habits that 
 have been cultivated and encouraged for years. 
 
 Every young man who reads these lines will say, 
 What a fool that old farmer was! No need to say 
 more. 
 
THE ETERNAL TRIANGLE 
 
 SOME one has said that it takes two to live the 
 Christian religion. Every effort to retire to the 
 desert or bury oneself in a monastery in order 
 to be truly religious must fail. There is no oppor- 
 tunity for full fruition. 
 
 True religion involves at least three individuals, 
 a man, his God, and his brother. Yonder is God. 
 Here am I. There is my brother. It is the eternal 
 triangle. 
 
 I have established relations with God. My brother 
 has established relations with God. But Christ is 
 not satisfied until my brother and I have established 
 proper relations with each other. And we must 
 maintain those relations. 
 
 For that reason Jesus has commanded that if one 
 bring a gift to his altar and there remember that 
 his brother has aught against him, he shall leave the 
 gift and go and make peace with his brother. 
 
 When the line of communication is interrupted 
 between a man and his brother it is interrupted be- 
 tween that man and his God. No man can perpet- 
 uate a quarrel, or refuse to do his utmost to settle a 
 quarrel, without forefeiting his right to approach 
 God. Others, too, may be affected. While it is said 
 that it takes two to make a quarrel, a quarrel is 
 seldom confined to two. 
 
 168 
 
The Eternal Triangle 169 
 
 The shortest way to God may be the longest way 
 around via the third person. Inasmuch as you 
 have done it unto him you have done it unto Jesus. 
 We cannot pass a cup of cold water to Jesus ex- 
 cepting as we press it to the lips of a brother. In 
 all temporal matters that is our approach. 
 
 So we are told: "If thou lovest me, thou shalt 
 serve me and keep all my commandments. And, 
 behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate 
 of thy properties for their support. . . . And inas- 
 much as ye impart of your substance unto the poor, 
 ye will do it unto me." 
 
 The time has come when the Saints must get closer 
 together in love and sympathy. The triangle must 
 be made strong and sure. The point of danger 
 the point where the break almost always occurs, is 
 between brethren. 
 
THE FINISHED PRODUCT 
 
 (Sermon at Lamoni, Iowa.) 
 
 HERE are two texts that appear in striking 
 contrast : 
 "Unto a perfect man, unto the measure of 
 the stature of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 
 4: 13. 
 
 "And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth 
 death." James 1 : 15. 
 
 Every factory is judged by its finished product. 
 Every tree is known by its ripened fruit. The test 
 is both scriptural and scientific. Men and institutions 
 and powers, natural and supernatural, must abide the 
 same test. 
 
 There are two great powers at work in the world, 
 shaping the characters of men. One is evil; the 
 other is good. One is of God ; the other of the Devil. 
 One works to make men ; the other to destroy them. 
 One works through the church, and many institu- 
 tions and individuals not directly connected with the 
 church ; and everywhere, in the language of the Book 
 of Mormon, "inviteth and enticeth to do good." The 
 other works everywhere, as opportunity offers, 
 through individuals and institutions, and everywhere 
 "inviteth and enticeth to do evil." Both must be 
 judged by the fully developed human characters that 
 result from their influence and dominion. 
 
 170 
 
The Finished Product 171 
 
 Some people, it is true, seem to think that the Devil 
 has gone out of business. He does not hold the prom- 
 inent place in creeds that he used to occupy; but 
 there is something to the poem which says : 
 
 Men don't believe in the Devil now as their fathers used to do. 
 They have forced the doors of the broadest creeds to let 
 
 his majesty through; 
 There's not a print of his cloven hoof, or dart from his 
 
 fiery bow, 
 
 On earth, in air, or anywhere; for the world has voted it so! 
 But who is binding the souls of men, and making them 
 
 willing slaves, 
 To wreck their lives on the rocks of sin and fill up bloody 
 
 graves? 
 Who dogs the steps of the toiling Saint? Who digs the pit 
 
 for his feet? 
 Who sows the tares in the field of time wherever God sows 
 
 the wheat? 
 The Devil was safely voted out, and, of course, the Devil is 
 
 gone, 
 
 But honest men would like to know, Who carries his busi- 
 ness on? 
 
 THE DEVIL IS A GOOD ADVERTISER 
 
 If men think that Satan is not doing business at 
 the same old stand and in the same old way they de- 
 ceive themselves. They do not read the advertising 
 section of the world. The Devil is a good advertiser. 
 He advertises all the time, in city and village and 
 country. He uses the most alluring and seductive 
 devices, the saloon, the theater, the dance hall, the 
 
172 To the Average Young Man 
 
 board of trade, music, song, color, art, motion and 
 emotion, everything that will appeal to the senses of 
 men, and women, and children. 
 
 He is a good promiser. He makes wonderful prom- 
 ises of joy and satisfaction, and always stipulates 
 that no one will ever find out, and no harm will result. 
 But promises must be judged by the way in which 
 they are kept. The advertisement must be compared 
 with the finished product. 
 
 We will use three illustrations from their allied 
 forces through which evil works to-day and has 
 worked for many centuries. 
 
 THE DRINK HABIT 
 
 The Chicago Home Herald tells about a man who 
 was riding on a street car. He chanced to notice an 
 advertisement in one of the advertising spaces over- 
 head, printed in bold, clear letters : "Pure rye whisky 
 Tones up the body; brightens the intellect; invig- 
 orates the soul." 
 
 There was the advertisement and the promise. But 
 dropping his eyes involuntarily, he saw on the seat 
 directly under the advertisement the finished prod- 
 uct : a drunken man, slouched down in the drunk- 
 ard's habitual attitude; eyes bleared, face bloated, 
 intellect befuddled, body weakened, soul destroyed. 
 The finished product gave the lie to the advertise- 
 ment. The two are not always brought together so 
 closely that we can see and judge as readily as in this 
 case; but if we keep our eyes open and look far 
 enough we can always see the results of sin in what- 
 
The Finished Product 173 
 
 ever form it may present itself to solicit our patron- 
 age. 
 
 While on the streets of San Bernardino, California, 
 not long ago, we chanced to notice a saloon that bore 
 the proud title : "The Senate." We asked the question 
 of our companion: "Where is the House of Repre- 
 sentatives?" I will tell you. You will find the repre- 
 sentatives of the saloon in the gutters and jails and 
 poorhouses, and in the 'potter's field. It is so every- 
 where. 
 
 Not long ago while riding through town we noticed 
 on a certain front porch a great, bloated, purple-faced 
 wreck of humanity. Some days later a companion 
 pointed to the same house and said: "That is the 
 home of an old saloon keeper." We replied, "No need 
 to tell us that. We have seen the man." There he 
 was, the finished product of his own business. The 
 only difference between him and his former custom- 
 ers was that while he drank he sold, so that now he 
 sits upon his own front porch, a mass of misery, 
 while they stand at other men's back doors begging 
 for a "hand-out." 
 
 The dram shop is one factory that is ashamed of 
 its own output. Habitual drunkards are not wel- 
 comed at the saloon. They are driven away or are 
 secluded in back yards behind high board fences, lest 
 the public see the finished product and judge thereby. 
 The raw material goes in, a boy or a man, bright, 
 active, strong, beloved by his family. After years 
 or months the finished product comes out, a besotted, 
 
174 To the Average Young Man 
 
 bestial drunkard, a disgrace to his family, a menace 
 to society, spurned even by the thing that has made 
 him what he is. 
 
 THE "SOCIAL EVIL" 
 
 Our next illustration is borrowed from a very an- 
 cient "sociologist" named Solomon, and refers to 
 forms of vice through which the forces of evil have 
 worked for centuries past. 
 
 "For at the window of my house I looked through 
 my casement, and beheld among the simple ones, I 
 discerned among the youths, a young man void of 
 understanding, passing through the street near her 
 corner; and he went the way to her house, in the 
 twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night ; 
 and, behold, there met him a woman with the attire 
 of an harlot, and subtile of heart. (She is loud and 
 stubborn ; her feet abide not in her house ; now is she 
 without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every 
 corner.) So she caught him, and kissed him, and 
 with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace 
 offerings with me; this day have I paid my vows. 
 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to 
 seek thy face, and I have found thee. I have decked 
 my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved 
 works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my 
 bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come ; let us 
 take our fill of love until the morning; let us solace 
 ourselves with loves. For the goodman is not at home, 
 he is gone a long journey; he hath taken a bag of 
 
The Finished Product 175 
 
 money with him, and will come home at the day ap- 
 pointed." Proverbs 7 : 6-20. 
 
 There was the lure and the promise; music and 
 light and beauty and laughter. There was to be 
 great pleasure in sin. No one would ever know the 
 good man of the house was gone away, etc. It is the 
 old story: splendid advertising, fine promises, the 
 bringing to bear on man of the most subtle, powerful, 
 and dangerous appeal the appeal of sex to sensu- 
 ality. But now note the result : 
 
 "With her much fair speech she caused him to 
 yield, with the flattery of her lips she forced him. 
 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to 
 the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the 
 stocks ; till a dart strike through his liver ; as a bird 
 hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for 
 his life. Hearken unto me now therefore, ye chil- 
 dren, and attend to the words of my mouth. Let not 
 thy heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her 
 paths. For she hath cast down many wounded, yea, 
 many strong men have been slain by her. Her house 
 is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of 
 death." Proverbs 7: 21-27. 
 
 The natural result of the social evil in all its forms 
 is disease and death death both natural and spirit- 
 ual. Many strong men and many beautiful women 
 have been wounded or slain by it. The finished 
 product as it finds spiritual expression in blasted 
 and lecherous souls, physical expression in hospital 
 wards and on operating tables, and social expression 
 
176 To the Average Young Man 
 
 in ruined homes and degenerate posterity, is too 
 awful to look upon with equanimity; yet he wno 
 reads the advertisement should look beneath it for 
 the finished product. 
 
 MONEY MADNESS GREED FOR GAIN 
 
 Our next illustration is taken from the teachings 
 of the incomparable Master Teacher. It deals with 
 the lure of wealth through which evil has long 
 worked : 
 
 "And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of 
 covetousness ; for a man's life consisteth not in the 
 abundance of the things which he possesseth. And 
 he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of 
 a certain rich man brought forth plentifully ; and he 
 thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, be- 
 cause I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 
 And he said, This will I do ; I will pull down my barns 
 and build greater; and there will I bestow all my 
 fruits, and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 
 Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; 
 take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry/' Luke 
 12 : 17-21, Inspired Translation. 
 
 There is the advertisement and the promise : long 
 life, plenty, bigger barns, finer houses, better clothes, 
 opportunity to eat and drink and be merry, ease, 
 luxury, power. But let us hear the conclusion of such 
 a life : 
 
 "But God said unto him, Thou fool! This night 
 thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall 
 those things be which thou hast provided? So shall 
 
The Finished Product 177 
 
 it be with him who layeth up treasure for himself, 
 and is not rich toward God." Luke 12: 22, 23. 
 
 Everywhere evil appeals to men and women ; offer- 
 ing money as the one supreme consideration, the uni- 
 versal solvent, the thing to be obtained at any sacri- 
 fice. In the service of Mammon men lie, and cheat, 
 and steal, and murder. And what is the result ? They 
 do not get the pleasure that was promised them. 
 Only misery and remorse remain. And at the end 
 comes the summons: 'Thou fool! This night thy 
 soul shall be required of thee ; then whose shall those 
 things be which thou hast provided?" They come 
 face to face with the proposition: "What shall it 
 profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his 
 own soul ?" 
 
 WHEN IT IS FINISHED 
 
 Degradation of character is not instantaneous. The 
 power of evil does not turn out a finished product in 
 a day. It warps, twists, and hammers, and bends a 
 man into shape so gradually that perhaps he does 
 not know the process through which he is passing. 
 The little changes may not appear so bad, each 
 viewed by itself. But the finished product ! That is 
 the thing by which we must judge corrupt influence. 
 The finished product is a ruined and debauched man, 
 selfish, sensual, wicked, desperate. 
 
 "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which 
 are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, las- 
 civiousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, 
 emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envy- 
 
178 To the Average Young Man 
 
 ings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such 
 like." Galatians 5: 19-21. 
 
 "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth 
 sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth 
 death." James 1 : 15. 
 
 "Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, 
 and you reap a character; sow a character, and you 
 reap a destiny." Broadman. 
 
 When finally such a soul stands before God it will 
 be judged by its deeds, that is true; but the thing 
 that the man is, himself, will be sufficient to con- 
 demn him. What we are, that is what counts. What 
 we are, no one can get away from that ! The finished 
 product before the judgment bar of reason condemns 
 or justifies itself! 
 
 GOD ADVERTISES TOO 
 
 The Devil is a good advertiser; but God is also a 
 good advertiser, and he makes many promises, all of 
 which are unchangeable and true. He is working 
 everywhere, primarily through his church, second- 
 arily through many other agencies, to reach men and 
 lead them to obey him. There are a few little elec- 
 trical signs along Broadway in New York City, but 
 God is still the great advertiser. Go out into the 
 open any clear night and you may see thousands of 
 miles of brilliantly blazing display advertisements," 
 blue background of eternal, infinite space, studded 
 with suns and planets and stars unnumbered, and all 
 declaring the glory of God. 
 
The Finished Product 179 
 
 "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the 
 firmament showeth his handiwork." Psalms 19 : 1. 
 
 One cannot look at the stars without feeling an 
 impulse to do better. We cannot see or read of a 
 brave or noble deed without feeling a desire to be 
 brave and noble. We cannot come in contact with a 
 good man or woman without feeling an uplift of 
 spirit. In all things and through all things good and 
 true God announces himself to us at every turn. 
 Last, but not least, his word is to be found to-day in 
 almost every home in every civilized land, to be read 
 freely by those who care to even feel after that 
 which is higher ; and from cover to cover the Bible is 
 an invitation and a promise. 
 
 "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 
 laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon 
 you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in 
 heart : and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my 
 yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 
 11:28-30. 
 
 "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let 
 him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is 
 athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the 
 water of. life freely." Revelation 22 : 17. 
 
 GOD'S WORKSHOP THE WORLD; HIS FINISHING 
 ROOM THE CHURCH 
 
 We sometimes feel that God is confining his opera- 
 tions to the church ; but it is said of Jesus that he is 
 "the true light, which lighteneth every man that 
 cometh into the world" (John 1:9). God's workshop 
 
180 To the Average Young Man 
 
 is the world; his working day lasts for all time. Call 
 the roll of great and good men of all ages. Every 
 one of them was great and good because he lived in 
 harmony with some part of the teachings of Jesus. 
 He may not have known the gospel in its fullness; 
 but he lived by that which he knew. Some time these 
 men will know the law in its fullness. 
 
 But if the world is God's workshop, the church is 
 his finishing room : "The Lord added to the church 
 daily such as should be saved." Perfection must 
 ultimately be found under gospel administration and 
 in the church of Jesus Christ. 
 
 And so all through the work of God, as applied to 
 men of varied abilities and characteristics, if we will 
 we can see the glory of his work. The finished 
 product speaks for itself. It is the strongest argu- 
 ment that can be put forward in defense of the forces 
 that work for good. It accords with the advertise- 
 ment; it fulfills the promise. Yet to us is not fully 
 revealed all that may be included in the term, "the 
 finished product." We must use the words in a 
 qualified sense, for it is written: "It doth not yet 
 appear what we shall be : but we know that, when he 
 shall appear, we shall be like him." 
 
M 
 
 BLUE PENCIL NOTES 
 
 ARK TWAIN pictures Adam as brooding 
 over Eve's grave and saying: "Whereso- 
 ever she was, there was Eden!" 
 
 Don't change your spiritual gear to catch up with 
 every fad that passes you. Some of them run "on 
 high" for a little while and then lie in the ditch a 
 long time. The only true peacemaker is the old gos- 
 pel car. 
 
 Trouble is said to be a very efficient teacher. But 
 most of us are such dull pupils that we must remain 
 a long time under tutelage. 
 
 The church is a bank. We take out of it what we 
 put into it with interest. But if we do not make a 
 deposit we cannot take anything out. 
 
 The trouble with the indirect sermon is that it 
 does not start from any particular point it does not 
 lead up to any special place and it does not pass 
 anything of interest on the way. 
 
 Avoid the sermon that, like the sectarian God, is 
 without body, parts, or passions "whose center is 
 everywhere and its circumference nowhere." 
 
 The emblems of the Lord's Supper seem even to 
 cast a certain sanctity about those who serve them. 
 
 181 
 
182 To the Average Young Man 
 
 But they cannot make that clean which is unclean or 
 holy which is unholy. So the Lord has commanded 
 that those who bear the vessels of the Lord shall be 
 clean. That means plenty of soap and water on the 
 outside and good clean living on the inside. 
 
 If you are an elder, heed a word of counsel. Do not 
 often indulge yourself to tell others of flattering 
 financial offers that the world has made for your 
 services, or the success that you might have made 
 in secular matters. This for four reasons. 1st. You 
 do not intend to boast, but you may be understood as 
 boasting. The world has nothing to offer worth con- 
 sideration as compared with that which the church 
 gives. Paul boasted only in the work of Jesus. 
 Rome offered him nothing worthy of a second 
 thought. 2d. It may have the appearance of giving 
 thoughtful consideration to a bribe. 3d. Most of us 
 owe all that we are to the church. It educated us, 
 gave us our ideals, and developed our abilities. They 
 belong to the church. We hold them in trust. They 
 are not at auction. 4th. In some cases these dreams 
 are all moonshine. Perhaps they are in your case. 
 Many who have left the church with the ambition to 
 make a name in the world have made a flat and dis- 
 mal failure. With God you may be making a success. 
 Without him you might be just "another failure." 
 
 A mother complained because her hungry baby 
 cried. We suggested that she reason with it. No 
 results. Then we suggested that she try Christian 
 
Blue Pencil Notes 183 
 
 Science on the little thing. Again, no results. But a 
 bottle of good warm milk soon brought peace. 
 Strange that children prefer milk to the windy as- 
 sertions of Christian Science but of such is the 
 kingdom of heaven. 
 
 If I were to paint a picture of the three graces, I 
 would not picture Faith looking with longing eyes 
 into the dim future. I would picture Faith at work. 
 Let Hope scan the future. And I would not depict 
 Charity, the greatest of the three, in the act of giv- 
 ing alms, but rather in the act of giving herself. 
 
 Kipling relates a legend about the great King Solo- 
 mon. It seems that Solomon made a grand feast and 
 with much pomp and flourish invited all the animals 
 in all the world to come and eat. But lo, when the 
 dinner was ready, an animal came up out of the sea 
 and ate it all at one bite. When Solomon asked him 
 who he was, he said, "0 king, live forever. I am the 
 smallest of thirty thousand brothers who live at the 
 bottom of the sea. My brothers sent me to inquire 
 when dinner will be ready. They will be along pres- 
 ently." The king said it was a lesson to him not to 
 attempt to "show off." If we are inclined to "show 
 off," let us remember the thirty thousand brothers. 
 
 When Jesus was here he beheld the multitude and 
 had compassion on them. He wept over them. Not 
 a heart in all the assembly that thronged him but 
 had its own cares and sorrows. And he saw into 
 
184 To the Average Young Man 
 
 every heart and sympathized with every sorrow. He 
 was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 
 
 I do not think that Jesus, being a part of the God- 
 head, and filled with infinite wisdom, sympathy, and 
 love, needed to come down to earth and suffer with us 
 in order to understand our griefs. But it was neces- 
 sary for him to come in order that we might under- 
 stand that he understands. Otherwise we would not 
 believe that even God himself could understand our 
 sorrows and temptations. But his life, from his birth 
 in the stable to his death on the cross, is a compelling 
 testimony that he understands. 
 
BOOK FOUR 
 
 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
THE DEAD NURSE 
 
 The sick, the broken, the distressed, 
 Whose brows her gentle hands have pressed, 
 Whose wounds her skillful fingers dressed, 
 These rise to-day to call her blest. 
 
 When God commanded us to build 
 A house of healing, unfulfilled 
 Had been the task, but for the guild 
 Of women nurses, kind and skilled. 
 
 The nurse's cap, the nurse's gown, 
 The uniform that she lays down, 
 Are like that robe of world renown 
 Christ's seamless robe with glory crowned. 
 
 No more she hastes through the long hall, 
 
 To ward, or sick room, serving all; 
 
 But heeding her Physician's call, 
 
 Her "special" takes where shadows fall. 
 
 She challenged Death, his presence near, 
 In many vigils, long and drear; 
 So knew his face, but had no fear 
 When her last summons sounded clear. 
 
 And entering the low, green door, 
 That all men enter, evermore 
 She consecrates the name she bore 
 And the white uniform she wore. 
 
 And if her ministry to pain 
 Shall light in other souls again, 
 The lamp of service, it is plain 
 She neither lived nor died in vain. 
 
A CUP OF WATER FROM FLOOD 
 TIDE 
 
 A CERTAIN celebrated actor was entertaining a 
 friend at Santa Monica. The friend was a 
 faddist and his latest fad was to drink a glass 
 of sea water from the incoming tide once each day. 
 This was supposed to cure his indigestion. 
 
 The two were walking along the beach one morn- 
 ing, and the friend had just finished his glass of 
 water. With the predisposition of faddists to go to 
 the extreme, he looked longingly at the empty glass 
 and said, "I wonder if I might take another." 
 
 The actor looked at the inrolling waste of waters 
 and replied: "Well, I don't think that it would be 
 missed." 
 
 There was no questioning the all-sufficiency of the 
 inrushing tide. It had all old ocean's bulk and power 
 behind it. The only question was as to the capacity 
 and needs of the man. 
 
 There is never any question as to the power and 
 sufficiency of God's blessing in every realm. In all 
 things it is adequate to the willingness of the indi- 
 vidual to receive and his capacity to take and use. 
 
 The law in spiritual things as well as in temporal 
 is that every man shall receive according to his 
 needs and wants, inasmuch as his wants are just. 
 
 That must be what Paul had in mind when he said 
 187 
 
188 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 that every man should receive the manifestation of 
 the Spirit, but each in his own way and measure : 
 
 "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same 
 spirit. And there are differences of administrations, 
 but the same Lord. And there are diversities of 
 operations, but it is the same God which worketh all 
 in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to 
 every man to profit withal. For to one is given by 
 the Spirit the word of wisdom ; to another the word 
 of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith 
 by the same Spirit ; to another the gifts of healing by 
 the same Spirit ; to another the working of miracles ; 
 to another prophecy; to another discerning of spir- 
 its; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another 
 the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh 
 that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every 
 man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and 
 hath many members, and all the members of that 
 one body, being many, are one body: so also is 
 Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into 
 one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether 
 we be bond or free ; and have been all made to drink 
 into one Spirit." 1 Corinthians 12 : 4-13. 
 
 God had this in mind when he said : "All are called 
 according to the gifts of God unto them." The gifts 
 of God are adequate to the needs of every man, yes, 
 even to his wants, when they are not unjust. . Each 
 man may receive in abundance, nor does he thereby 
 perceptibly diminish the flood tide or impoverish any 
 other human being. There is no room for jealousy 
 
A Cup of Water from Flood Tide 189 
 
 among those who walk by the side of the incoming 
 tide. 
 
 And there is a beauty and glory in the typically 
 Latter Day Saint thought that the tide is still set- 
 ting in every day. Just as it did in the days of Paul, 
 or in the days of which it is written : 
 
 "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should 
 be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the 
 cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all 
 baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea ; and 
 did all eat the same spiritual meat ; and did all drink 
 the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that 
 spiritual rock that followed them : and that rock was 
 Christ." 1 Corinthians 10: 1-4. 
 
A CUP AND A LOAF FOR THE 
 MASTER 
 
 JESUS is not with us to-day, hungry, thirsty, 
 weary, homeless, that we may administer to his 
 needs. But through service to others he opens 
 up to us an avenue by which we may hand to him 
 the cup and the loaf. He has said: 
 
 "For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat ; I 
 was thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; I was a stranger, 
 and ye took me in ; naked, and ye clothed me ; I was 
 sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison, and ye came 
 unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, say- 
 ing, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed 
 thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw 
 we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and 
 clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in 
 prison, and came unto thee ? And the King shall an- 
 swer and say unto them, -Verily I say unto you, In- 
 asmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
 these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." 
 Matthew 25 : 35-40. 
 
 The Salvation Army, once despised and ridiculed, 
 has won the respect of the religious world by deeds 
 of mercy quite similar to those mentioned here. 
 
 A BOX OF ORANGES 
 
 As I have said, Jesus is not sick to-day that we 
 may visit him. But thousands of poor human be- 
 
 190 
 
A Cup and a Loaf for the Master 191 
 
 ings are sick. Were you ever visited when you were 
 sick? With the right kind of a visit? A little over 
 a year ago I was sick on a lonely beach in California. 
 And a good brother by the name of Will Mills used 
 to drive down often and bring some of the brethren 
 to see me. He would make a round trip of perhaps 
 sixty or more miles just to take me out riding four 
 or five blocks, for that was all I could stand. And 
 usually when he was about to leave for home he 
 would happen to think of a box of oranges for which 
 he seemed to have no other use, so he would leave 
 them with me. 
 
 WILL MILLS'S SERMON 
 
 That man was an ordained man. But I doubt if 
 he could preach a sermon to save his life. That was 
 his sermon. Some time I imagine he will stand be- 
 fore the throne of God and Jesus will say, "Brother 
 Mills, I was sick and you visited me." And I can 
 imagine his look of surprise as he asks, "When saw 
 I you sick and visited you." 
 
 And the answer will come back, "You remember 
 when Brother Elbert was sick at Hermosa Beach. In- 
 asmuch as you have done it unto one of the very least 
 of these my brethren you have done it unto me. I 
 tasted your oranges; they were sweet. I rode with 
 you in your automobile." 
 
 I have watched the nurses at their work in the 
 Sanitarium at Independence. And instead of the 
 emaciated form upon the bed, to which they admin- 
 istered, I have seen the form of Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
192 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 Yes, and I, too, have received their ministrations, 
 and know that if I was worthy to be called one of 
 the least of the brethren I was in Jesus' stead and 
 their reward is sure. 
 
 PRAYERS FOR HUNGRY MEN 
 
 Jesus is not hungry now, that we may feed him. 
 But others are hungry. I read not long ago a little 
 account of how the Salvation Army lassies work in 
 their dugouts, among the bursting shells, just back 
 of the firing line, baking pies and krullers. And in 
 the morning as the soldiers come from the trenches, 
 each boy as he marches by receives from the kindly 
 hands of a Salvation Army lassie, three hot krullers 
 and a half of an apple pie. I like apple pie, but I 
 presume that under those conditions apple pie tastes 
 better to the soldier boys than it ever did to you or 
 to me. There was a poem with the story. One verse 
 runs like this : 
 
 'Prayers are good, at proper times, 
 
 As every soldier knows, 
 But coming from the trenches, 
 It's pie, not prayer, that goes/ 
 
 I do not think that sentiment irreverent. I think 
 that there are times when it is better to feed a man 
 than to pray for him. James didn't like the idea of 
 turning a man away with a prayer and an empty 
 stomach. Then, if we can put the man in the way 
 of earning his next meal, if he is destitute, we have 
 done real constructive work. 
 
A Cup and a Loaf for the Master 193 
 
 A VISIT TO THE PRISON HOUSE 
 
 Jesus is not in prison now that we may visit him,. 
 But once in a while some poor mortal falls into 
 trouble. Not long ago a brother in one of our larger 
 cities in a time of temptation diverted the funds of 
 an institution to his own pockets. He was put into 
 jail and was about to be sentenced to the peniten- 
 tiary. Brother called upon him, and later upon 
 
 the bankers whose institution he had defrauded. He 
 said to the bankers, "Come, let us go and see this 
 man." They were astonished. Why should they go 
 to jail to see the man? He had taken their money. 
 They had put him in jail. The matter was ended. 
 
 But they were persuaded to go. They talked with 
 the man. They heard about his family. The case 
 was no longer abstract. It became concrete. The in- 
 cident was humanized. In the end they consented, 
 upon having their interests guaranteed, that the 
 judge should parole this man to Brother - - and 
 permit him to have another chance to make good 
 and care for his family. The interests of society are 
 best safeguarded by the reformation of the offender. 
 Jails are the poorest guarantee. 
 
 Here was a case where one in prison was visited 
 to some purpose. There is a story to the effect that 
 the prisoners at Fort Madison were visited so often 
 by ministers who so invariably preached from the 
 text of the prodigal son that when the prisoners 
 saw a preacher appear upon a Sunday morning they 
 would say, "Here comes another prodigal son." But 
 7 
 
194 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 in this instance something better than a homily was 
 delivered. Is it too much to say that Jesus himself 
 was visited in that prison ? 
 
 THE HOMELESS SAVIOR 
 
 Jesus is not naked and hungry now. The seam- 
 less garment has given place to robes of glory. He 
 is not homeless. He dwells on high. Yet he says, 
 "I was a stranger [homeless], and ye took me in." 
 One of the saddest plaints that ever ascended from 
 human lips sprang from the homesick and lonely 
 heart of Jesus Christ when he said, "The foxes have 
 holes and the birds of the air have nests; but the 
 Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." These 
 missionaries, some of them, have tasted of that ex- 
 perience, perhaps. 
 
 We cannot open our door to Jesus now and say to 
 him, "Come in and lie in my bed." But we can 
 sustain the Children's Home there on the hill, and 
 homeless little children can go there and find shelter. 
 And those who have no children of their own can 
 open their homes to children, and as one has said, 
 "love into maturity those whom others have loved 
 into life." And in that way Jesus will come in at our 
 door and sleep in our bed. 
 
 (Note: In the foregoing an effort was made to 
 emphasize the principle of service, perhaps some- 
 what to the neglect of theological niceties of inter- 
 pretation. The line between the "brethren" and the 
 "righteous" may have been obscured at times. But 
 I hold that if God will reward such works so glori- 
 
A Cup and a Loaf for the Master 195 
 
 ously when done by "righteous" men of the world, 
 he will also reward them when done by the "breth- 
 ren." Again, it may be urged that in the illustration 
 of feeding the soldiers, many of those served were 
 not among Christ's brethren. But I hold again that 
 it would be a mistake to always demand a man's bap- 
 tismal certificate before rendering an act of service. 
 Paul said to do good to all men, but especially to the 
 household of faith. The work of the Salvation Army 
 and the Red Cross is essentially Christlike, no mat- 
 ter who may be the recipient. Again, it may be 
 urged that the man in prison was guilty of sin and 
 so could not be held to represent Jesus in any way. 
 Would Jesus visit only those who are stainless? I 
 read that he visited the spirits in prison who were 
 disobedient under the preaching of Noah. He set 
 up God's mercy seat in hell. So perhaps he would 
 not refuse to visit a defaulter or decline to recognize 
 a visit made under such circumstances.) 
 
WHAT IS A MAN WORTH? 
 
 A man went down to Panama, 
 
 Where many a man had died, 
 To ^slit the sliding mountains, 
 
 And lift the eternal tide: 
 A man stood up in Panama, 
 
 And the mountains stood aside. 
 
 The Power that wrought the tide and peak 
 
 Wrought mightier the seer; 
 And the One who made the Isthmus 
 
 He made the engineer. . . . 
 
 Percy Mackaye. 
 
 JUDGING from the acts of a great many men, 
 they do not think themselves worth much to 
 God, to themselves, or to the community. They 
 are willing to sell themselves for a barrel, more or 
 less, of alcohol. We do not know how much alcohol 
 one can get away with before it gets away with him, 
 but at best it is a bad bargain. The man who is 
 trying so hard to break into a drunkard's grave 
 should ask himself, Am I not getting the worst of 
 this deal? I am bartering away body and soul, the 
 respect of my friends and the peace of my family; 
 and I get in return rags, hunger, filth, bruises, in- 
 sults, and an amount of drink proportionate to my 
 swinishness. 
 
 Others, both men and women, put themselves and 
 their home life in the pawnshop for the privilege of 
 
 196 
 
What Is a Man Worth? 197 
 
 being fashionable and drinking from the cup of 
 pleasure. Some go for a cash consideration, as in the 
 case of some of our senators, and post office officials, 
 and judges, and mayors. Probably the proportion of 
 guilty ones who have been exposed is small. 
 
 Then there are many in business who are dealing 
 in short weights. The fourteen ounces of meat that 
 they sell for a pound is not all they have sold. They 
 have sold themselves and have gone for the price of 
 two ounces of meat. 
 
 Man prizes himself and his honor too lightly ; and 
 if himself, certainly others. So long as men will sell 
 themselves for drink, or drugs, or money, or favors, 
 men will be found to profit by their foolishness. 
 
 Sixty thousand men was the price of Port Arthur. 
 These men were the pick of the two nations who 
 fought over the walls of that doomed city. They 
 were the pick physically, and in many cases men- 
 tally. And what were they given for? That Rus- 
 sia might seek to add somewhat to her domain at a 
 time when she still had undeveloped territory that 
 makes the United States look small. 
 
 So long as dirt means more than flesh and blood, 
 there will be war national, civil, and individual. 
 
 The doctrine of total depravity used to be a favor- 
 ite one with the churches, and it must have been 
 eminently pleasing to Satan. We read that man was 
 made in the image of God. In what sense? In a 
 physical sense ? Well, no ; because we have been told 
 that God is a being without a body, or parts, or pas- 
 
198 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 sions. Man has these. Then it must be according 
 to that dogma that man is in the image of God spirit- 
 ually and mentally; and at the same time he is by 
 nature and inclination totally depraved ? No wonder 
 that God said those creeds were abominable ! 
 
 That very act of creation shows the price God sets 
 on men. He placed upon men the stamp and image 
 of the divine form; and certainly he did not do that 
 to worthless metal. Man was the crowning act of 
 his creation, the culminating revelation of God's 
 power and majesty; and we are told in the eighth 
 Psalm that he was created only a little lower than 
 the angels and crowned with glory and honor. 
 
 He was in the image of God but on a lower plane ; 
 just as a child may resemble his father in form and 
 disposition, yet be but a child. Man's growth has 
 been perverted, and perhaps some few may become 
 totally depraved ; but did you ever see one who you 
 dared to say was that ? 
 
 Let us rather preach the dignity and worth of man 
 as something too valuable to be used for a base end. 
 Jesus said, "Are not five sparrows sold for two far- 
 things, and not one of them is forgotten before God." 
 Even the sparrow is God's handiwork, and when it 
 falls to the ground, wounded, the same natural law 
 begins to heal it that heals you of your bruises. It 
 is not forgotten. Then the point of the lesson is 
 driven home, "Ye are of more value than many spar- 
 rows." If it be a tragedy when the sparrow falls, 
 how much more a tragedy when man falls ! 
 
What Is a Man Worth? 199 
 
 The parables of the lost sheep, the lost piece of 
 money, and the prodigal son, were all designed to 
 teach the worth of the individual and the pains God 
 takes to save him, and the joy there is in heaven 
 when he is saved. 
 
 The parable of the prodigal son teaches that it is 
 seldom too late to break a bad bargain; make the 
 best terms we can; get back home; make the very 
 most we can of ourselves. When the prodigal got 
 into serious trouble "he came to himself"; he had 
 been a little bit deranged before. He saw that he 
 could do better than herd swine and eat husks. 
 
 In Luke we read of a rich man who said to his soul, 
 "Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." All that 
 he thought he was good for was to eat and drink and 
 have a good time. God said that man was a fool. The 
 beasts are satisfied to eat and drink and take their 
 ease ; but a wise man should have a higher ideal. 
 
 The sacrifice that Christ* made, the suffering he 
 bore, prove the value he set upon men. Yes, even 
 upon sinners. How much then must a good man be 
 worth to God ? See what God did for you. What are 
 you doing for yourself? 
 
 Paul says, "Know ye not that your body is the 
 temple of the Holy Ghost . . . and ye are not 
 your own ? for ye are bought with a price : therefore 
 glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which 
 are God's." 
 
 God made man of the dust, but that is no reason 
 for him to trail himself in the dust. 
 
200 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 Diamonds are carbon, and so is coal ; but we do not 
 burn diamonds. The gross material has been glori- 
 fied. 
 
 An ounce of paint serves a savage to disfigure his 
 face; an artist will paint a splendid picture with it. 
 He glorifies the pigment into a thing of art. 
 
 And herein is revealed the genius of God that he 
 makes a sentient and lovely creation from the dust. 
 
 We have disfigured that work, and it is our busi- 
 ness to gain once more our lost estate, and this we 
 will do with the aid of Christ, "Who shall change 
 our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his 
 glorious body." 
 
 Man is priceless in God's sight ; apparently worth- 
 less in his own sight. How much work do we put 
 on our houses and gardens, on our dresses and hats, 
 on our farms and stores: yet these all shall perish. 
 The one eternal thing within our reach to bestow 
 untiring labor upon is the human character. No 
 labor too long, no study too arduous, no sacrifice 
 too great that makes it greater or better. 
 
 What are you worth to God ? 
 
 You are worth something at the worst; but prize 
 yourself at the best. 
 
THE LESSON OF THE ROUND 
 TABLE 
 
 KING ARTHUR was a great and good king who 
 tried to teach the knights of his court 
 chastity, charity, humility, and all true Chris- 
 tian virtues. 
 
 Like all such men, he met with disappointments in 
 his efforts to adjust perverse human nature to his 
 idealism. 
 
 The story goes that on a certain time he made a 
 feast for his knights. He was the last to arrive, and 
 while they waited for him to come they fell into a 
 dispute as to who should have preeminence and sit 
 near the head of the table, and who should be humble 
 and sit at the foot. 
 
 The dispute grew into a tumult and a struggle, 
 noisy and brutal. They fought for place like hogs at 
 a trough. 
 
 So keen was the interest in the struggle that the 
 king entered unobserved and stood in shocked silence, 
 contemplating the shameful scene, a scene which in 
 its very nature repudiated his every past teaching. 
 When at last his presence was noticed, awed silence 
 fell upon the group. 
 
 King Arthur then and there resolved that the 
 scene should never be repeated. So he caused a great 
 
 201 
 
202 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 round table to be constructed no head, no foot at 
 which his knights might sit in absolute equality. 
 
 This was a mechanical contrivance intended to se- 
 cure equality. Like all such mechanical contrivances, 
 and later legislative devises, though splendid in pur- 
 pose and original in conception, it was doomed to 
 fail when put to the rigid test. 
 
 In a group of men whose hearts do not desire 
 equality, equality can never be forced not if any 
 material or mental development at all is permitted. 
 The love of preeminence will find some way of ex- 
 pression. 
 
 Long before the days of King Arthur, Jesus him- 
 self had an experience not unlike that which led to 
 the founding of the celebrated round table. His 
 "knights" of the gospel, the twelve apostles, fell into 
 a quarrel as to who was greatest in the kingdom. 
 Jesus asked them what they had talked about by the 
 way, and they fell silent, for they well knew that 
 their struggle for supremacy was foreign to his 
 spirit and teachings. 
 
 He then proceeded to instruct them, sweeping 
 away all material, worldly, commonly accepted 
 standards of rank and position, and making service 
 the standard of merit. His servants (or rather 
 friends) must be equal, and content with equality. 
 Any preferment must come from God and be received 
 as the result of service the one who is servant of 
 all being considered greatest of all. Such preferment 
 does not carry with it luxury and ease, as in the 
 
The Lesson of the Round Table 203 
 
 world, but in most cases only greater responsibility 
 and opportunity to work, so that they remain in the 
 last analysis equal so far as position is concerned, 
 each receiving all that he is fitted and willing to use 
 and enjoy in the way of opportunity. 
 
 Jesus did not attempt to produce some mechanical 
 device, nor yet any theoretical scheme that would 
 bring equality, fraternity, and justice automatically, 
 with or without the free consent of the brains and 
 hearts of his subjects. 
 
 He chose a less alluring, a long and tedious, but the 
 .only practical, method that of individual education 
 and regeneration. 
 
 God is no respecter of persons. He has no regard 
 for the artificial distinctions of wealth and birth 
 that seem so important to men, and so often make 
 base men and women seem honorable. Of him 
 Peter says: 'The Father, who without respect of 
 persons judgeth according to every man's work." 
 
 God does not recognize these distinctions, and he 
 demands that his Saints shall disregard them, so far 
 as is possible; by and by they will cease, though 
 now they seem so important. 
 
 We are not to seek the best seat at the table, or 
 the position of honor in the synagogue. If these 
 places come to us, let them come at God's direction. 
 It is better to take a lowly seat and be called to a 
 higher, than to establish ourselves in an exalted 
 position and be called down. 
 
 We should not glory in titles, or in dress, or in 
 
204 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 wealth. We are to treat all with true Christian 
 courtesy and not pander to those who are wealthy 
 or well dressed. James says: "If there come into 
 your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly ap- 
 parel, and there come in also a poor man in vile rai- 
 ment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the 
 gay clothing/ and say unto him, Sit thou here in a 
 good place ; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or 
 sit here under my footstool : are ye not then partial 
 in yourselves, and are become judges of evil 
 thoughts?" 
 
 James was your true church democrat, and it 
 irked him to see worldly class distinctions creeping 
 into the church. He knew that when such a spirit 
 entered in, religion would depart and church politics 
 take its place, with all the shameful wire pulling anci 
 scheming that disgrace certain church circles where 
 clique vies with clique in the struggle to outshine and 
 outdress all others, church machinery being manipu- 
 lated by the men with the longest purses, pew and 
 pulpit alike controlled by money and not by brains 
 and piety. 
 
 There is a lesson for us in the incident of the round 
 table. The whole church should be and will be in one 
 sense a great round table at which men may sit as 
 brothers banished every false and artificial class 
 division. 
 
AT THE PLOW 
 
 'Wo man having put his hand to the plow, and looking 
 backward, is fit for the kingdom of God." Jesus. 
 
 THE Master, desiring to admonish quitters, 
 made use of a very striking illustration. Al- 
 most anyone who has followed a plow, or 
 watched others plow, can understand its significance. 
 The farmer, as he prepares to strike his initial 
 furrow, erects or selects some landmark at the 
 further side of the field, usually a pole or staff bear- 
 ing some sort of a flag or ensign. He keeps his eyes 
 steadily upon this landmark and drives directly to- 
 ward it, and thus he secures a straight furrow. 
 
 CROOKED FURROWS 
 
 But if he begins to look back over his shoulder 
 every few seconds, and perhaps repent that he ever 
 started, his furrow will be crooked. And if the first 
 furrow is crooked, all succeeding ones will be 
 crooked. These crooked furrows sometimes may be 
 seen after the grain is sown and has grown up. 
 Sometimes they can be discerned even after the har- 
 vest. The only way to obliterate them is to do the 
 work all over and do it right. 
 
 Thus with the crooked furrows that we make in 
 life. Unless they are corrected, and our "first works" 
 are done over again, they will be seen all our lives 
 and may even appear after the harvest, on the other 
 
 205 
 
206 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 side of the resurrection, as a monument to the folly 
 of those who have attempted to follow Jesus while 
 looking back at the world. 
 
 In passing, we might note that in order to strike 
 a true furrow the farmer must select a stable and 
 reliable landmark. We have heard of one who tried 
 to strike his furrow by an old white horse that was 
 feeding on the further side of the field. But the 
 horse did not stand still. He kept moving, and the 
 result may be imagined. The world is full of crooked 
 furrows made by those who are following changeable 
 and uncertain guides following the world with its 
 fickle and passing fashions that change with every 
 changing moon, or following human guides with 
 their whims and notions. We have but to scan the 
 history of the church during the "dark and cloudy 
 day" to see the results of following the erratic 
 wanderings of irresponsible or corrupt leaders. But 
 our God has set up an ensign, fixed, and unchange- 
 able, by which we can shape our course. 
 
 KEEP OUT! DO NOT TRESPASS! 
 
 What did Jesus mean by the term "looking back"! 
 Evidently we are not forbidden to look back over our 
 past experiences, for sometimes that can be done 
 with profit. The poet has said : 
 
 ''The joys we share to-day, when they have flown 
 
 Into the past upon their shining wings, 
 Are not from out our power wholly gone, 
 
 But shall refresh us like deep hidden springs." 
 
 D. H. Smith. 
 
At the Plow 207 
 
 But there are those who make the mistake of try- 
 ing to live in the past to the exclusion of activity 
 and blessing in the present. It is impossible for us 
 to reconstruct the past. The writer looks back to his 
 boyhood days and sometimes wishes that he might 
 live one of them over again. But it cannot be. We 
 may sing, 
 
 "Backward, turn backward, O Time, in thy flight, 
 Make me a boy again, just for to-night," 
 
 until we are gray-haired, but time will not turn back- 
 ward a single moment. Even if we could become 
 young again, past scenes are forever closed. The 
 writer lived as a boy out on the free prairies. He 
 could take his pony and ride all day over the virgin 
 sod, out of sight of human habitation. But now the 
 prairies are all broken up. Men have fenced them 
 off into fields, and if he goes back to those old haunts 
 he sees everywhere signs, "Keep out! No trespas- 
 sing allowed." 
 
 As a boy, the good Lord unrolled before him the 
 beautiful, flower-bedecked plains, and said, "Come 
 in!" But now men have partitioned that fair do- 
 main, and fenced it, and put up their notices, "Keep 
 out!" 
 
 Before everyone born into the world God opens the 
 bright avenues of youth, and says, "Come in!" But 
 when we reach manhood's estate and try to wander 
 back again, we come to an impassable barrier, where 
 it is written, "Keep out." 
 
208 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 It is an impressive thought that we cannot actually 
 reconstruct and live over a single day of the past. 
 We cannot reenact a single event, just as it occurred. 
 The past is forever closed, except to the spiritlike 
 excursions of memory. We must live to-day, and use 
 to-day. We are journeying towards the future, not 
 towards the past. 
 
 THE HAPPY SAINTS ARE 1*HE BUSY SAINTS 
 
 So we feel that those Saints are in error who la- 
 ment the present and talk all the time about the 
 good times they used to have fifty years ago, or 
 twenty years ago, or perhaps only five years ago. 
 They say they do not have as good times as they used 
 to have. They do not have such spiritual prayer 
 meetings. They do not have such good sermons, nor 
 such wonderful blessings. What is the trouble? 
 Others are having a good time now! Others are 
 having spiritual meetings! Others are enjoying the 
 preaching services! God is blessing others with 
 healing and many marvelous manifestations ! What 
 is the trouble? 
 
 Those people who are having a good time in the 
 church now are the ones who are busy now. Those 
 people who are not having a good time are, as a rule, 
 not at work. They used to be active. And in those 
 days they had their good times. What is the moral ? 
 Get busy ! If we would be happy we must be active. 
 If we will not be active we must pay the penalty and 
 be miserable. It is a clear proposition. Why hesi- 
 tate about the choice? Get to work and press for- 
 
At the Plow 209 
 
 ward. Live now. Do not live in the past. God is 
 willing to bless 'now. Meet him half way. 
 
 PAUL'S POLICY 
 
 So Paul resolved that he would not sigh and la- 
 ment. He would not try to live in the past. He 
 would not look back. He tells us: "This one thing 
 I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and 
 reaching forth unto those things which are before, 
 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high 
 calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4 : 13, 
 14. 
 
 How much better this is than the policy that is 
 sometimes pursued. When Moses came down out of 
 Midian, he found the Israelites slaves. They were 
 scourged to their heavy toil all day long, and so 
 poorly fed that they had not vitality enough to re- 
 sist. He led them out of bondage and struck a 
 course towards the promised land. But they were 
 scarcely out of sight of Egypt before they began to 
 lament and look back. They reproached Moses for 
 having brought them out into the desert to die, and 
 said: "We remember the fish, which we did eat in 
 Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and melons, and the 
 leeks, and the onions, and the garlic." 
 
 At the very time when they should have looked 
 forward, they were looking backward. Do we as Lat- 
 ter Day Saints ever make that mistake? God has 
 set us free under the gospel law, under the rule, "Ye 
 shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you 
 
210 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 free." Do we press forward in the redemption of 
 Zion? or do we pause and lament? 
 
 This was what Jesus had in mind. He was speak- 
 ing* about those who start out to serve him, put their 
 hand to the plow, as he expressed it, and soon repent 
 of their choice, or become discouraged, and begin to 
 look back. Such, he says, are not worthy of the king- 
 dom of God. Let us not make this mistake. Let us 
 take fresh courage and press on, our eyes upon the 
 standard, and then our furrows will be straight and 
 our work acceptable. 
 
FELLOWSHIP 
 
 (A sermon delivered at the Stone Church, Independence, 
 Missouri, March 9, 1919.) 
 
 THE TWO SPARROWS 
 
 rT^HE subject I wish to talk about this morning 
 is that of fellowship. It was brought to my 
 attention casually some Sundays ago. One 
 Sunday morning when I was sitting under some trees 
 by a fountain in a little public park, I noticed two 
 sparrows on the ground, and the words of the Master 
 came to my mind, "Are not two sparrows sold for a 
 farthing, and yet not one of them shall fall to the 
 ground without your heavenly Father's notice." Im- 
 mediately the thought came to me that these little 
 creatures that I have noticed so casually were recip- 
 ients of the notice and care of the great God on 
 high. If one of them falls to the ground injured or 
 ill, the same God-given forces of nature are set at 
 work to heal it that are set at work for you or me, if 
 we fall to the ground injured or ill. 
 
 I noticed that these little sparrows, when they 
 drank at the fountain, lifted their heads as though 
 they might be giving thanks to the same God to 
 whom I look for his bounteous care and blessings. I 
 realized then that there was between us a bond of 
 fellowship. We had the same Creator; we shared 
 the fellowship of joy and of sorrow, the fellowship 
 of peace or of pain. 
 
 211 
 
212 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 THE HUMBLER FELLOWSHIP 
 
 There is, in fact, a degree of fellowship between 
 man and the lower animals. In one of his stories 
 Kipling tells how the animals first came and attached 
 themselves to man. The dog came first that he might 
 warm himself at the fire, and so became "the first 
 friend." The horse came next, bowed his head to 
 the halter, and became "the first servant." I think 
 that the reason the Uncle Remus stories and the 
 bedtime stories by Thornton Burgess appeal to the 
 children, and grown-ups as well, is because they 
 touch something that is fundamental, the hereditary 
 racial tie that has bound humanity to the lower ani- 
 mals through ages of mutual experiences. 
 
 The animals and birds share with us practically 
 all fundamental physical problems, which reduced to 
 the simplest are to secure shelter, food, and to per- 
 petuate the species. They must have food; so must 
 we, though by multiplying wants we complicate our 
 problem. They must have shelter ; so must we, only 
 we are more fastidious. They love and mate with- 
 out ceremony or benefit of clergy ; we make marriage 
 a sacrament (some do), but the end with both is to 
 perpetuate the species. We have an added problem, 
 that of dress but many are reducing that problem 
 to a minimum. Recently I read an anecdote: At a 
 fashionable dinner party a certain man looked across 
 the array of bare backs and bosoms and remarked to 
 a friend, "Does not the Bible say something to the 
 effect that when Adam and Eve had eaten the apple 
 
Fellowship 213 
 
 they became aware that they were naked?" The 
 friend replied, "I believe it does." "Well, then, isn't 
 it about time to pass the apples again ?" 
 
 The animals even share our mental problems. To 
 be sure, we flatter ourselves that only man thinks. 
 But sometimes I think that we think we are thinking 
 when we only think we are thinking and that the 
 animals think when we don't think they think. 
 
 But in this fellowship the animals can go only so 
 far. They may share with us our physical struggles ; 
 they may even share our mental struggles, to an 
 extent, but they cannot share with us our moral 
 struggles. They do not realize any difference be- 
 tween right and wrong. They are neither moral nor 
 immoral, but unmoral. But we are, as Satan said 
 we should be, to a certain extent, at least, become as 
 gods, knowing good and evil. Yet we remain lament- 
 ably human, in that we must every day make the 
 struggle of choice between the two. 
 
 THE UPWARD STRUGGLE 
 
 Then if we would find fellowship in our moral 
 struggles, we must ascend to a higher plane and find 
 it in the fellowship of man and in the fellowship of 
 God. It seems to me that just as my reflections ap- 
 peared to be led casually from the observation of 
 those two sparrows that Jesus said received the no- 
 tice and recognition of God, up to the fellowship of 
 man, so likewise the human race, in its experiences, 
 has pursued a course that superficially might seem 
 casual, from the brutal plane, where the physical was 
 
214 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 nearly all that was recognized, up to a plane where 
 there was some sort of social unity and intercourse 
 of a spiritual nature. 
 
 But that struggle, though it seems casual, has been 
 one of tremendous sacrifice ; and then the course up- 
 ward from our social intercourse, to the point where 
 we can fellowship with God, involves a struggle 
 equally great, including the death and suffering of 
 our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for we obtain 
 fellowship with God by way of Jesus Christ, his Son. 
 
 The fellowship of man is a subject of vital impor- 
 tance, and has more, perhaps, than a religious basis, 
 or a theoretical or theological foundation. Doctor 
 Richard Cabot published a book several years ago 
 called, What Men Live By, and in successive chapters 
 in that book he deals with work, and play, and love, 
 and worship. These four are fundamental, and we 
 cannot take away any one of them and have a well- 
 rounded life; but of course the last two mentioned, 
 love and worship, come more directly under the sub- 
 ject that I have selected. 
 
 John is in harmony with Cabot where he says, 
 "We know that we have passed from death unto life 
 because we love the brethren." 
 
 In one of his poems, Markham says : 
 
 "The crest and crowning of all good, 
 Life's final star is brotherhood." 
 
 And so this struggle, this upward leading, has its 
 final culmination in brotherhood; brotherhood with 
 man ; fellowship with Christ. 
 
Fellowship 215 
 
 LIFE MADE TOLERABLE 
 
 Just our common friendship is about all that 
 makes life tolerable the life and fellowship that ex- 
 ists between brothers, father and son, husband and 
 wife. The household in which this fellowship has 
 developed between husband and wife and among 
 children and parents certainly is fortunate. In the 
 church, however, this fellowship is sanctified and 
 brought to a higher and holier plane ; so we can truly 
 sing, with the Spirit, 
 
 "Blest be the tie that binds 
 
 Our hearts in Christian love. 
 The fellowship of kindred minds 
 Is like to that above." 
 
 Fellowship is all that makes life worth while. I 
 remember one of the stories I read years ago in 
 Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift, about the 
 "Strulbrugs." I don't know whether you recall it, 
 but this traveler in the realm of imagination visited 
 a strange nation, and while there he was told that 
 occasionally there was an individual born who was 
 immortal he never would die. Perhaps one or two 
 or three such individuals were bom in the course 
 of a generation, possessed of eternal life, called 
 Strulbrugs. 
 
 He thought to himself, how exceedingly fortunate 
 these individuals must be, to live forever in this 
 beautiful world with all its attractions and its joys; 
 but when he came in contact with them his ideal 
 
216 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 was speedily shattered. He found that these men 
 passed through the various changes and periods of 
 life incident to man until they became aged, perhaps 
 ninety years old, with all the infirmities of age 
 fastened upon them, and then they came to a station- 
 ary period and forever remained in that condition, 
 their diseases neither increasing nor diminishing. 
 But the thing that made their condition most in- 
 tolerable was that with the passing of the years their 
 parents died, their children passed away, all their 
 friends whose friendship they had cultivated in their 
 younger years, one by one passed from the scene of 
 action. Being in this state they were incapable of 
 forming other friendships, so at last they were left 
 entirely alone, loving no one, loved by no one. This 
 made their condition so almost intolerable that they 
 fain would have died but they were immortal. 
 
 A man who loves no one and is loved by no one 
 does not need to die to go to hell. He is there now. 
 Immortality would be the worst possible punishment 
 that could be inflicted upon such a man. 
 
 UNRAVEL YOUR OWN HEART 
 
 I remember talking with a man some, years ago 
 who had a very wide circle of acquaintances, and I 
 noticed that almost every man that was mentioned 
 in the course of conversation caused this brother to 
 say, * There's another man that thinks a lot of me." 
 I didn't hear him say at any time, There's a man I 
 think a lot of. It seemed to me he had hold of the 
 wrong string. Sometimes we make a mistake in that 
 
Fellowship 217 
 
 way. We cannot all the time pull love towards us as 
 though we were trying to unravel the hearts of the 
 people for our benefit. We must unravel our own 
 hearts. Give our own friendship, and it comes back 
 again a hundredfold, as the Master said. 
 
 We do not need to limit our friendship and fellow- 
 ship, either, to those who are effusive in their demon- 
 strations toward us. Markham has another verse: 
 
 "He drew a circle that shut me out 
 But love and I had the wit to win, 
 We drew a circle that took him in." 
 
 The greatest fellowship is found in our fellowship 
 with Jesus. The sweetest words in the New Testa- 
 ment at least I think they are the sweetest when 
 I read them are those that he uttered when he said, 
 "Henceforth I will call you no more servants; I will 
 call you friends." There was to be no longer Master 
 and servant, but Jesus and his followers were to be 
 friends. 
 
 EXCEPT YE ARE ONE 
 
 Just as he had been united with God and was will- 
 ing to become one with us, so he said to us, "Except 
 ye are one ye are not mine." These are significant 
 words, and they might be discouraging words to me 
 if it were not for the philosophy that I have pro- 
 pounded in my own mind, that though we may not be 
 one in opinion which seems almost hopeless under 
 existing circumstances, with our various past ex- 
 periences and differences of training though we 
 
218 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 may not be one in opinion, it is yet possible for us 
 to be one in spirit, one in heart, one in consecrated 
 desire to know the will of God, and knowing it, to 
 do it. If we can only attain to that position, the 
 time eventually will come when we will be one in 
 understanding. The divine condition cannot be ob- 
 tained instantaneously, but by a process of growth. 
 
 In three of his miracles Jesus compares the king- 
 dom of heaven to things that live and grow: The 
 parable of the corn, first the blade and then the ear, 
 then the full corn in the ear. The parable of the 
 mustard seed that grows up and becomes a great 
 plant. The parable of the yeast, that grows and 
 multiplies until it leavens the whole lump. 
 
 THE KINGDOM NOT MANUFACTURED 
 
 The kingdom of heaven cannot be manufactured. 
 It is a process of growth, and it involves the growth 
 and the action and interaction and reaction upon 
 each other of a multitude of souls. It would seem to 
 be a fine thing if we could take pencil and paper and 
 sit down and draw the plot of Zion and set the 
 masons at work building the houses ; and then draft 
 rigid rules of conduct and life, and compel the peo- 
 ple to conform to them. In a week's time, or a 
 month, or possibly a year, we could have Zion; but 
 we cannot do that. We have to wait for the growth 
 of ourselves and the people. It is incumbent upon 
 us to bear with the people, with each other, as God 
 bears with us, until finally the kingdom of heaven 
 
Fellowship 219 
 
 has time to grow and the Master says it comes not 
 by "observation," either. 
 
 THE INCOMING TIDE 
 
 I have sometimes tried to illustrate the love of 
 God and its influence upon the heart of man by the 
 incoming of the tide. Two or three years ago my 
 companion and I were living upon the beach in 
 California where the tide came up at night and al- 
 most touched our doorstep. I noticed there would 
 be a great many days in succession, perhaps for a 
 week, when the waves coming in would deposit along 
 the beach all sorts of rubbish and refuse from the 
 ocean: seaweed, barnacles, kelp, and mussel shells 
 all sorts of stuff would be piled up along the beach. 
 
 Then there would come a night when a tremen- 
 dous tide would come in from the ocean and sweep 
 that beach from end to end, and in the morning when 
 we looked out the sand would be as clean and fresh 
 as on the morning of creation. So, when the pure 
 love of God, in those "times of refreshing" that the 
 apostle speaks of, comes to our hearts, as in our 
 communion services, we will say, it sweeps away all 
 evil passions, the envy and hatred and malice and 
 temptations that have accumulated, and leaves us 
 pure and clean in spirit and in soul. Then we can 
 realize what the Master meant when he said, "The 
 pure in heart shall see God." 
 
 LEARNING ZION'S ALPHABET 
 
 Sometimes we are discouraged, we feel so insig- 
 nificant I presume you have shared with me in this 
 
220 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 feeling, all of you when you realize the tremen- 
 dous difficulties, that stand in our pathway in our 
 effort to redeem Zion the problems that seem be- 
 yond human power to solve. I think many of them 
 will be solved in a simpler way than we imagine. 
 
 I may perhaps illustrate it in this way: Two or 
 three Sundays ago when I visited Des Moines I had 
 a little conversation with my first teacher, the one 
 who taught me to read, taught me my letters. I felt 
 then and feel now that I am greatly in her debt, 
 and you are, too, to the extent that I may be able to 
 administer to any of your spiritual needs this morn- 
 ing, for the fact that she placed in my hands the key 
 to all English literature in those first few simple yet 
 tedious lessons. Yes, and the key to other literature, 
 if I should care to use it. 
 
 The same fundamental principles that she taught 
 me in those early lessons I use every day. By their 
 aid, while then I could read those simple lessons in 
 the primer, I can now read the Sermon on the Mount, 
 the Twenty-third Psalm, the Gettysburg Speech, a 
 treatise on science, or the constitution of the new 
 League of Nations. There is nothing so profound 
 or so exalted that it does not yield its treasure to me 
 when I remember and use those first few funda- 
 mental lessons in reading and use the simple letters 
 in the alphabet to spell out the words. 
 
 In a like manner I believe that Jesus Christ in 
 the very kindergarten of our religious experience, 
 has taught us many things, that if we will but re- 
 
Fellowship 221 
 
 member and use will help us solve these problems 
 and we may not need so many wonderful further 
 revelations as we sometimes feel that we do. 
 
 Jesus said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy 
 mind." This is the first great commandment. And the 
 second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
 as thyself. On these two great commandments hang 
 all the law and the prophets. 
 
 These are primary lessons that we have been 
 taught for years, but I believe that they will be just 
 as vital and effectual in the school of the prophets 
 as they are to-day in a quorum of deacons just as 
 effective in Zion as in the most obscure branch. So 
 I take heart of hope, realizing that perhaps if we will 
 but apply the lessons that God has already taught us, 
 all the treasures of Zion and of heaven may yet be 
 within our reach. 
 
 AN IMPORTANT ADMONITION 
 
 Before I close I would like to leave with you a little 
 parting exhortation or admonition. I do not know 
 what point of merit the sermon may have carried to 
 you, but I do feel that the admonition and exhorta- 
 tion are applicable to the present situation, and ought 
 to be of some force and benefit to the people. 
 
 It is reasonable to suppose that in the hastening 
 time, which apparently has come upon the world, as 
 well as upon the church, (when everything that can 
 be shaken will be shaken, and is' being shaken, and 
 nations are being destroyed or built in a day) that 
 
222 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 the church also will have its turmoils, and that Satan 
 more strongly will endeavor to frustrate our work 
 as it draws to its culmination. 
 
 President Joseph Smith told us years ago that we 
 would never be led into immoral teaching, as some 
 were in the past. That Satan would make his attack 
 within the church and attempt to disrupt that bond 
 of fellowship that I have been talking about, by the 
 use of suspicion and slander, and all that tends to 
 divide brother from brother. 
 
 Now, to the admonition. In the closing verse of 
 section 122, the Lord says: "Let nothing separate 
 you from each other and the work whereunto you 
 have been called." Let nothing destroy this holy 
 bond of fellowship. 'The work whereunto you have 
 been called." Every man is called. The Book of 
 Doctrine and Covenants tells that all are called ac- 
 cording to the gifts of God unto them, and the work 
 is intrusted to all. 
 
 "THESE ARE MY PEOPLE" 
 
 In the communion service last Sunday in the lower 
 auditorium there was a testimony borne that I wish 
 all might have heard. It was borne by a sister, well 
 known to you, a daughter of the late President Jos- 
 eph Smith. It seems that some weeks ago, while in 
 a period of mental distress, because of burdens known 
 to herself better than to us, feeling that perhaps she 
 too might fall, in some way, on account of that which 
 she was called upon to bear, she passed a sleepless 
 
Fellowship 223 
 
 night of prayer until nearly morning, at which time 
 she fell asleep and experienced this dream : 
 
 She thought she was here in the vicinity of the 
 Stone Church. There were many people around the 
 church, some going in and some going away. And 
 a great many were simply wandering around in an 
 undecided way. On many countenances there was a 
 look of doubt and distress. She then saw she had in 
 her hand a little traveling bag, indicating, perhaps, 
 that she, too, was going away. But she looked to- 
 wards the church and saw those who were going up 
 the steps into the church, and she handed the travel- 
 ing bag to some one else, saying, "Here, take this! 
 These are my people ! My place is with them !" And 
 when she started towards the church the heavens 
 opened and there was a flood of light and glory, and 
 she saw the Father and Son. 
 
 This is the thought: We do not know what may 
 be before the church. We do not know ! You do not 
 know ! As you sit here under the sound of my voice, 
 perhaps feeling secure, firmly grounded in your faith 
 and convictions, you little realize what trials, what 
 false philosophy, what doubts and strife may be 
 brought to overthrow you. We ought to remember 
 the admonition, "Let nothing separate you from each 
 other and the work whereunto you are called," and 
 with this good sister say, "These are my people ! My 
 place is with them." 
 
MOTHER'S PLACE IN OUR LIVES 
 
 (A sermon on Mother's Day, at Central Church, Kansas City, 
 
 1921.) 
 
 "Charity suffer eth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; 
 charity vaunteth not itself ; is not puffed up, doth not behave 
 itself unseemly, seeketh not her oum, is not easily provoked, 
 thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in 
 the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all 
 things, endureth all things." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. 
 
 YOU may wonder why I have selected this scrip- 
 ture reading for this day. The reason is, I be- 
 lieve that we could substitute the words moth- 
 er's love for the word charity, because it is a fact 
 that mother's love is kind, is not easily provoked, 
 thinketh no evil, but beareth all things, believeth all 
 things, endureth all things, hopeth all things, and 
 never fails. 
 
 There is a French poem which recites the deeds of 
 a Paris "Apache," the lowest type of Parisian crim- 
 inal. This young man loved a girl of his own class. 
 In his infatuation he told her that she might ask him 
 to do anything to prove his love and he would do it. 
 And she in the wanton cruelty of her nature told him 
 to bring her his mother's heart. So he tore the beat- 
 ing heart from his mother's breast and started with 
 it to his inamorata. But on the way he stumbled 
 and fell heavily. Then the bleeding heart of his 
 mother found voice and cried from the rough cobble 
 
 224 
 
Mother's Place in Our Lives 225 
 
 stones where it lay, "Son, did you hurt yourself 
 badly?" 
 
 That may seem to be an overdrawn picture, yet 
 thousands of broken-hearted mothers have continued 
 to love and pray for the sons who have brought them 
 to disgrace and death. 
 
 MOST NEARLY LIKE THE LOVE OF GOD 
 
 True mother's love is perhaps most nearly like the 
 love of God of anything we can comprehend : it is so 
 full of charity, it demands so little, and gives itself 
 so freely, especially when most needed. You have 
 all seen the popular cartoons, "When a feller needs a 
 friend." Certainly when man is born into the world 
 he needs a friend. We come here quite helpless and 
 without a rag to our backs (we may have plenty of 
 them later) . We come without money enough to pay 
 for one square meal, and could not eat a square meal 
 if we had it. But mother's arms are open. She says, 
 "Come and warm yourself in my bosom, eat of my 
 flesh, I will warm you and feed you and clothe you." 
 Mother's love is the coin that pays our way. 
 
 Every boy, and every girl, who has a mother, has 
 a friend whose friendship is not based on beauty or 
 merit. Here, for instance, is a little tow-headed 
 urchin with a pug nose, and freckles so thick that 
 some of them stand on edge ; perhaps dirty, and cer- 
 tainly boisterous; one who would stand no show 
 whatever in a beauty contest. He doesn't appeal to 
 you or to me, but if he were a beautiful, golden- 
 haired cherub from the gates of glory his mother 
 8 
 
226 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 could not love him any more than she does ; she would 
 not love him any more, because she could not. A 
 mother gives all that she has and she could not give 
 any more. 
 
 She asks no questions, but opens her arms and 
 takes that which God gives her in the hour of trav- 
 ail, ilf the little one is beautiful, so much the better. 
 If he is homely no difference, she does not know it. 
 If he is crippled, she lavishes the more love upon 
 him, to atone for the misfortune. The mother may 
 live under the cherry blossoms of Japan and welcome 
 a little slant-eyed youngster ; she may be the grand- 
 daughter of slaves and receive a little black picka- 
 ninny ; she may be a Sioux woman with a son of La- 
 man in her arms; she may be an Anglo-Saxon with 
 a baby as lovely as Greek statuary ; there is no differ- 
 ence in the welcome mother's love is universal. 
 
 True, the father may have his own private 
 thoughts about the appearance of the newcomer- 
 he will do well to keep them to himself. The little 
 brother makes no secret of the fact that in his opin- 
 ion the baby is quite unfinished. But the mother has 
 no misgivings. She has made an investment. She has 
 risked her life in the venture. We are not too criti- 
 cal of that for which we have risked all. 
 
 A certain reticent Scotchman is said to have taken 
 a bride, a girl not noted for her beauty. His mistress 
 hearing about it said to him, "I suppose, Sandy, your 
 new wife is very lovely." The cautious Scot replied, 
 "Weel, she's the Lord's handiwork; but I'll na' say 
 She's his masterpiece !" 
 
Mother's Place in Our Lives 227 
 
 Every mother is sure that her baby is not only the 
 Lord's handiwork, but also his masterpiece. 
 
 Mother's love is a noble thing, even when it is man- 
 ifested among animals. I remember one occasion 
 when as a boy I was crossing the prairie with my 
 dog. (No real boy ever got anywhere satisfactorily 
 without a dog. I suppose that the friendship that 
 exists between boys and dogs is because boys to-day 
 are just about where men were when they first 
 formed the friendship of dogs the boy is just about 
 where man was when the dog first came in out of the 
 forests and attached himself to society.) I was cross- 
 ing the field with my friend when from under my feet 
 there sprang up a prairie chicken apparently with a 
 broken wing. She flopped through the air and fell to 
 the ground about ten feet away from me. The dog 
 went after the bird, but he got only a few feathers, 
 and the poor wounded mother struggled on a little 
 farther. The process was repeated until we had gone 
 two or three hundred feet. Then, suddenly, this 
 "wounded" bird sprang into the air and flew away 
 absolutely unhurt, and we realized, of course, that we 
 had been fooled. This mother, twenty times in as 
 many minutes risked her life to save her brood. I 
 have seen this done many times since that time, by 
 plovers and other wild fowl. It is an old trick of the 
 mother prairie chicken, to lead an enemy away from 
 her nest. 
 
 On another occasion I was crossing the prairie in 
 the wake of a fire. It was always a great experience 
 
228 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 to follow after a prairie fire and see what had been 
 uncovered and this time I happened to come upon a 
 little brown prairie bird that had remained on her 
 nest and perished in the flames rather than leave the 
 two little fledglings that were under her. She had 
 two strong wings and she could have flown away at 
 any time into the open sky far beyond the smoke and 
 heat, but she chose to stay, and perished with her 
 children. They say that self-preservation is the first 
 law of nature, but there was a stronger law, a pri- 
 mary law, the law of love, and she perished in an ef- 
 fort to save her young. She was just one of the 
 humblest of the animal creation, but Jesus said, 
 "Greater love hath no man than this : that he should 
 give his life for another." 
 
 HUMAN MOTHER'S LOVE 
 
 Of course, when we come to consider the love of 
 the human mother, it is much more Godlike because 
 it is so much more intelligent and associated with so 
 much more imagination and feeling. In the animal 
 kingdom even the greatest mother love seems to end 
 with the period of dependency. The little wren that 
 cherishes her young so carefully now, in two or 
 three months will cast them off and will not know 
 them from other wrens. That is true to a greater or 
 less extent of all animals, but it certainly is not so 
 with the human mother. Neither time nor distance 
 lessens her affection. I knew an old man, perhaps 
 seventy years old, whose mother, ninety years of 
 age, watched over him just as jealously as she did 
 
Mother's Place in Our Lives 229 
 
 when he was a little boy. If he were gone from her 
 sight on some errand an undue length of time she 
 worried about him and chided him on his return. 
 
 The passage of time had made no difference. The 
 mother whose baby died five, ten, twenty, or fifty 
 years ago still cherishes the little lock of hair and the 
 little blue shoes that are silent helps to a memory 
 that needs no help. 
 
 Neither does distance seem to make any change, 
 for the mothers whose boys not long ago were in far- 
 off France loved them just as dearly as when they 
 were at home. To that extent, love becomes Godlike, 
 because it does not recognize change, or time, or 
 space. 
 
 THE MOST INTERESTING EXPERIMENT 
 
 I believe that to a mother is intrusted the most in- 
 teresting experiment a human being can engage in. 
 Some people are deeply interested in the culture of 
 flowers; some are interested in the culture of fruit; 
 and still others in the culture of animals; but the 
 mother is engaged in the culture of a human being, 
 and to her is intrusted the welfare of a human soul. 
 Certainly no one can say to her that she can dream 
 this dream and may not dream that one ; and no one 
 can put a barrier around her dreams, because no one 
 can say what will come from the experiment she is 
 carrying on. She may be cradling a Moses, or a Solo- 
 mon, or a David, or a Saint Paul, or a Gladstone, or 
 an Abraham Lincoln. No one knows. There is no 
 
230 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 limit to the dreams she can dream or the ambitions 
 she may entertain. 
 
 But on the other hand, there is no limit to the 
 fears that may come into her soul, because it is true 
 that while she may be nursing a Saint Paul, she may 
 be nursing a Judas Iscariot! Some mother did! 
 While she may be rearing a Mary or Martha, she may 
 be rearing a Jezebel ! Some mother did ! And even 
 if moral catastrophe is avoided, there is always the 
 danger of other catastrophes that bring anxiety to 
 the mother's heart. 
 
 One of the most remarkable pictures of Jesus as a 
 boy represents him, standing facing the morning sun, 
 his arm,s outstretched on either side. His mother is 
 shocked to see his shadow fall in a perfect cross at 
 her feet. 
 
 Do you remember the statement that was made to 
 Mary, the mother of Jesus, "And because of him a 
 sword also shall pierce through thine own soul." 
 And there is a second statement found in the nine- 
 teenth chapter of John and the twenty-fifth verse. 
 Just a few words : "There stood by the cross of Jesus, 
 his mother." Yes, you may be assured his mother 
 followed him to the cross. 
 
 THE MOTHER OF MOSES 
 
 I want to tell you this morning the story of three 
 mothers. The first of these was that Hebrew girl, a 
 daughter of Levi, who married and lived on the banks 
 of the Nile. In due time she gave birth to a boy, and 
 nursed and cared for him as long as she dared, being 
 
Mother's Place in Our Lives 231 
 
 afraid of the edict that had gone forth that all male 
 children of the Hebrews should die. Then she formed 
 an ark of bulrushes, coated it over with slime, put the 
 baby in the ark, and set the ark afloat on the river. 
 Presently the daughter of Pharaoh came to the river 
 to bathe and found the little boy and, loving him im- 
 mediately, she adopted him and wanted a nurse to 
 take care of him. Miraculously the mother was just 
 at hand and consented to take the little one and nurse 
 him. So this mother took her boy and nursed him 
 and cared for him for wages no, not for wages, but 
 for love. 
 
 The significant thing is that when she cradled that 
 boy in her arms, she cradled in her arms the destiny 
 of a nation, and more than one nation, because it was 
 said to Abraham that his wife should be the mother 
 of nations; she held the Hebrew race, she held He- 
 brew literature, Hebrew theology, Jerusalem and the 
 Holy Land, Gethsemane, and Calvary in her arms 
 because this was Moses who was destined to lead 
 slaves out of Egypt and make of them a nation and 
 give them a law, and organize them, and lead them to 
 the very edge of the promised land into which they 
 would move and occupy; and it was destined that 
 under their administrations all the children of the 
 earth should be blessed. 
 
 In other words, here was a woman to whom was 
 intrusted the safety of a state, the destiny of a na- 
 tion ; and it is also true that every nation must to an 
 extent intrust its destiny to its mothers. 
 
232 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 THE MOTHER OP JOSEPH SMITH 
 
 The next story is that about the widow who was 
 left living upon the banks of the Mississippi River 
 following the tragedy at Carthage that robbed the 
 church of its prophet and president, and its patri- 
 arch. 
 
 You remember how she was left alone in that day 
 when the church was breaking up, when ambitious 
 men and false doctrines were wrecking and ruining 
 that which God had sought to build up. From the 
 East, where her father lived, there came a plea that 
 she should go and live with him. There was the 
 promise of ease and plenty and respectability (she 
 had not been considered by the world respectable 
 from the day when she united her fortunes with the 
 "Mormon prophet"). She could renounce her reli- 
 gion and go back to her father's fold and live in com- 
 fort, but instead she chose to live in Nauvoo in pov- 
 erty and drudgery all the days of her life. The East 
 called and so did the West, for there came also the 
 appeals from the dominant church in the West to 
 come to them with her children and they would take 
 care of her ; but these, too, she rejected, and chose to 
 stay at home in Nauvoo in the midst of strangers, 
 teaching her boys the pure principles of the gospel of 
 Jesus Christ as they had been intrusted to her hus- 
 band, and teaching them reverence and honor of the 
 law. 
 
 And so, in 1860, she delivered to the church her 
 
Mother's Place in Our Lives 233 
 
 son, and the church received him on the 6th day of 
 April. She had kept her charge. A little later, for 
 good measure she gave Alexander, who was to be the 
 presiding patriarch of the church, and David, who 
 was destined to write some of the songs that we yet 
 sing. 
 
 We may say that at that critical time when she 
 gathered her children about her in the old Mansion 
 House of Nauvoo, and made her decision, she held in 
 her hands the destiny of the church; in her hands 
 was the reorganization of the church, and the return 
 to Zion. If she had not proved true I might not 
 be here preaching to-day, and what is worse, you 
 might not be here as a congregation. What would 
 have happened if she had proved unstable or untrue ? 
 Of course, the Lord would have found some other 
 way, but from a human standpoint the destiny of the 
 church was intrusted to this mother, as it often is to 
 mothers. 
 
 Women have no priesthood, it is true, but in some 
 regards they are the greatest religious teachers, and 
 always have been. They seem to have a simple faith 
 that is not vexed by some of the things that come 
 into the minds of men. When the disciples doubted 
 and slept, the women were faithful; when the dis- 
 ciples said, "It is all over; let's go fishing," the 
 women went to the tomb faithful even to the death. 
 It has been said that women were the last at the cross 
 and the first at the resurrection. 
 
234 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 THE MOTHER OF JESUS 
 
 The third story is that about Mary, the mother of 
 Jesus. When we stop to think that a woman moth- 
 ered the Son of God when he was a little boy, that she 
 washed his face and mended his clothes, that she 
 corrected him, bound up his finger when it was cut, 
 and that she rocked him to sleep in her arms we 
 may say that when she did that she was cradling in 
 her arms the hope of humanity. 
 
 So, then, we see back of Moses, the Hebrew girl to 
 whom was intrusted the destiny of a nation ; and we 
 see back of Joseph, his mother Emma, to whom was 
 intrusted the destiny of the church ; and we see back 
 of the figure of Jesus Christ, his mother, Mary, to 
 whom was intrusted the destiny of humanity. And 
 the experiences of these three women come home to 
 the heart of every mother, because no mother can 
 tell all that is intrusted to her care. Certainly, .we 
 know one soul is intrusted to her care, and perhaps 
 many. No one knows church, state, humanity look 
 to her. 
 
 MOTHERHOOD SHOULD BE GENERAL 
 
 Every married woman at some time in her life 
 ought to have the experience of motherhood or she 
 will miss one of the finest things in life. I want to 
 approach this thought with a good deal of caution, 
 because it is a delicate one. I remember how, after 
 my wife and I had been married for a number of 
 years, we were made to suffer because of a thought- 
 
Mother's Place in Our Lives 235 
 
 less, ill-considered, hard sermon that was lambasting 
 the childless home. Death had robbed our cradle of 
 the first born and our home was at that time child- 
 less. But where children are denied the home, there 
 is still recourse the childless home may make a 
 place for the homeless child. And certainly the woman 
 who does this, to my mind, has right to the title of 
 mother and to recognition on a day like this. The 
 woman who is willing to "love into maturity the child 
 that some other woman has loved into being" is en- 
 titled to the name of mother, and has taken a mort- 
 gage on .humanity that certainly is not a second 
 mortgage. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln was reared to maturity by a 
 woman who was not his mother. Can you realize the 
 indebtedness that the world is under to that woman ? 
 All people in America to-day love Abraham Lincoln, 
 and so do many in foreign lands; but there was a 
 time when no one cared for him, excepting one 
 woman, who was willing to go into a poor, old log 
 house and take the homely and unpromising and un- 
 gainly boy, Abe Lincoln, and be a mother to him. 
 
 So, to-day, we meet here to honor the name of 
 mother those mothers who have taken into their 
 hearts and into their homes by birth or by adoption 
 the helpless of humanity and cared for them. 
 
 In conclusion, perhaps the status of a mother in 
 the home is best set forth by a selected poem that I 
 will read to you, entitled, "Mother" : 
 
236 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 "I am the pillars of the house; 
 
 The keystone of the arch am I. 
 Take me away, and roof and wall 
 Would fall to ruin utterly. 
 
 "I am the fire upon the hearth, 
 
 I am the light of the good sun. 
 I am the heat that warms the earth, 
 Which else were colder than a stone. 
 
 "At me the children warm their hands; 
 
 I am their light of love alive. 
 Without me cold the hearthstone stands, 
 Nor could the precious children thrive. 
 
 "I am the twist that holds together, 
 The children in the sacred ring, 
 Their knot of love, from whose close tether 
 No lost child goes a-wandering. 
 
 "I am the house from floor to floor, 
 
 I deck the walls, the board I spread; 
 I spin the curtains, warp and woof, 
 And shake the down to be their bed. 
 
 "I am their wall against all danger, 
 
 Their door against the wind and snow, 
 Thou whom a woman laid in manger, 
 Take me not till the children grow!" 
 
FATHERS' DAY 
 
 (An address at Lamoni, Iowa, October 31, 1915.) 
 
 FATHERS, this is our day. Mother has bou- 
 quets thrown at her for three hundred and 
 sixty-four days in the year; but this is the 
 day when we get what is coming to us. 
 
 The libraries are full of tributes that have been 
 paid to mother. These tributes are deserved; and 
 yet I am remanded that it takes just as many letters 
 to spell the word father as it does to spell the word 
 mother. It takes just as many letters to spell papa 
 as it does mama; that is, the way we spell mama 
 to-day. It even takes just as many letters to spell 
 paw as it does to spell maw. 
 
 This may be simply a fancy, but it suggests to me 
 the thought that a certain equality should exist be- 
 tween father and mother. I am reminded also, that 
 while it takes just as many letters of the alphabet 
 to spell the word father as it does mother, after the 
 first two letters the words are identical. 
 
 And this perhaps is typical of the life of the two 
 individuals who preside over the home the father 
 and the mother. The first years of their lives have 
 been spent individually and separately, but there 
 comes a time when they are united in the holy bonds 
 of wedlock and of parenthood, and after they are as 
 one, in harmony with the divine edict that was issued 
 
 237 
 
238 A Cup of Gold Water 
 
 in the beginning, ' 'Therefore, shall a man leave his 
 father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife ; 
 and they shall be one flesh." 
 
 And so while mother is the sweetest, the most 
 tender word in the English language, father shares 
 it in common with mother after the first two letters. 
 Two thirds of the name is held in common. 
 
 This suggests to my mind the idea that there is 
 a divinely appointed copartnership between father 
 and mother. According to the old tradition, and in 
 harmony with the word of God, the father is con- 
 sidered the head of the family. The way in which 
 it is stated is not obnoxious if we take the definition 
 the Apostle Paul gives us. He says, "The husband 
 is the head of the wife [or of the family] even as 
 Christ is the head of the church/' It is the mission 
 of Christ to be the protector, the companion, the 
 lover, the partner of the church, and in that sense 
 the father is the head of the family not the "boss." 
 
 Whenever you find a home where the father has 
 abdicated his lawful place, and has compelled or per- 
 mitted the wife to become the head of affairs, and 
 perform not only her own proper functions, but his 
 also you will find that home in nearly every in- 
 stance a failure, and in some instances it is absolutely 
 ruined. 
 
 WOULD YOU SELL OUT TO ROCKEFELLER? 
 
 I want to talk to you a few minutes this morning, 
 first about the joys of fatherhood; and second, about 
 the responsibilities of fatherhood. 
 
Fathers' Day 239 
 
 A real father is worth a great deal, and it is worth 
 a great deal to be a father. I leave that to the vote 
 of any father in the assembly. You know very well 
 that though you may count yourself poor, John* D. 
 Rockefeller has not enough to buy the little hand 
 that nestles so confidently in your own; or if your 
 children have grown to manhood and womanhood, 
 you know that J. P. Morgan has not resources enough 
 to buy that thrill of pride and joy that you feel in 
 your grown sons and daughters, and in the pleasure 
 that you have in planning the great things that they 
 are to accomplish. 
 
 It is worth a great deal to be a father. But Paul 
 tells us that in the last days some people will be 
 without "natural affection." I was in Kansas City 
 last week in one of the largest and most aristocratic 
 of the department stores; and I noticed a young 
 couple who came in to do some shopping. They had 
 the cutest little poodle dog you ever saw. While the 
 woman did the shopping the man held the little dog 
 in his arms like a baby. , The more I looked at the 
 man the more sorry I felt for the dog. 
 
 Now, let me tell you, right around the corner and 
 down the street from that store is a divorce court, 
 and that couple were going in that direction when I 
 saw them last. It was never written, "A little dog 
 shall lead them." 
 
 MURDERED UNDER WINGS OF STORK 
 
 There are some homes, it is true, that are denied 
 children, where children would be very welcome. We 
 
240 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 ought not to add to the sorrow of any such home by 
 any thoughtless jibe or remark of any kind. There 
 are homes, on the other hand, where children are 
 nofrwanted where they are murdered while yet they 
 hide under the wings of the stork. 
 
 Do you know where I think such people ought to 
 go? I will just give you a hint and you may draw 
 your own conclusions. They ought to go where they 
 won't have what they don't like. They do not like 
 children. There are no children in hell. "Of such 
 is the kingdom of heaven/' Jesus said. 
 
 IF LOVE HAD FAILED 
 
 The responsibility of fatherhood includes that of 
 love. Love is the great factor that is responsible for 
 the very existence of the human race. The human 
 creature comes into this world absolutely helpless. 
 Unless he receives attention he will die within two 
 or three hours. He has nothing at all with which to 
 buy his own way only the coin of love that he 
 brings with him. But as Jesus Christ said in speak- 
 ing to those who were presently to go over on the 
 other side, "In my Father's house are many man- 
 sions. ... I go to prepare a place for you," so 
 when these little child spirits come here to this 
 world, he sends the spirit of love before them to pre- 
 pare a place for them. 
 
 Think back over the line of your ancestors, father, 
 grandfather, great-grandfather, away back yonder; 
 mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, back to 
 the very beginning of time. If at a single link in 
 
Fathers' Day 241 
 
 that great chain, love had failed, you would not be 
 here to-day. This is an impressive thought. The 
 first duty of fathers to their children is that they 
 shall give them the love on which the existence of 
 the race depends. 
 
 FIGHTING THE CHILDREN'S ENEMIES 
 
 This means that they will provide for them. The 
 father is the breadwinner; the mother is the bread- 
 maker. It means that the father shall provide the 
 things that they need to eat and to wear, a home to 
 shelter them, and an education; and that he shall 
 protect them against their enemies. In the past the 
 father was expected to go out and fight all enemies, 
 to protect the children against lions, and tigers, and 
 savages. Generally we do not have those things 
 nowadays to contend against. 
 
 But still there are enemies that threaten their wel- 
 fare, and it is the duty of the father to go out and 
 contend against them by his franchise, and by his 
 personal influence; that the saloon, the brothel, and 
 the gambling den, and all the lesser evils that would 
 destroy your children and mine may be cast out of 
 the community. 
 
 It is the duty and the responsibility of a father 
 that he do all these things in defense of his children 
 and his neighbor's children. But his duty and re- 
 sponsibility do not end there. 
 
 A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK 
 
 It devolves on the father, then, equally with the 
 mother, to teach the children morals, as well as re- 
 
242 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 ligion that they shall "Walk uprightly." And I 
 know of no way in which he can teach this so force- 
 fully as by his example. 
 
 You will probably remember a story that one of 
 our fathers told, I think he is in the audience to- 
 day, at one of our preaching meetings. He went 
 down to the Supply Store one evening, and while 
 talking to the storekeeper he absent-mindedly helped 
 himself to some raisins from a box. On the way 
 home he became conscious that his little boy was 
 tugging at his sleeve, and on being asked what he 
 wanted, the little fellow said, "Father, how many did 
 you get? I got this many." He had a lot of them. 
 
 You may have heard about the father who was 
 walking across a field, and he happened to look 
 around and saw his little boy stepping as far as his 
 little legs would reach. He said, "What are you do- 
 ing?" And the little boy answered, "Papa, I am 
 stepping in your tracks." They are bound to step 
 in our tracks. 
 
 Nine times out of ten the boy is a chip off the old 
 block; or, perhaps, -sometimes, as the Frenchman 
 said, "A chip off ze old blockhead." 
 
 TEACHINGS THAT STICK LIKE A BUR 
 
 It devolves on us to teach our children not only by 
 precept, but by example, and we will find that the 
 work of the church, of the Sunday school, and the 
 Religio are valuable helps along this line; but we 
 should never forget that, after all, the home is the 
 place where we have the greatest influence. 
 
Fathers' Day _^ 243 
 
 I have heard some people reason along this line: 
 They say, "My boys are bound to do so-and-so away 
 from home, so I let them do it at home. I would 
 rather they would do it at home than to go away 
 from home to do it." 
 
 That always seemed to me to be a false line of 
 reasoning. Sometime my boy may go away from 
 home to smoke cigarets; but he will never smoke 
 them at home with my consent, or if I can prevent it. 
 Sometime my boy may go away from home to 
 gamble, but he will never gamble at home with my 
 consent; if he does it at all it will be over my pro- 
 test. Sometime my boy may go away from home to 
 drink, but he will never drink at home with my per- 
 mission. 
 
 He will never be allowed to feel that the roof that 
 shelters and sanctifies my family altar will also 
 sanctify the cigaret, the poker deck, and the beer 
 bottle. 
 
 And if he goes away and does these things I hope 
 that my teachings may have so impressed his mind 
 that he will be uneasy and unhappy all the time, and 
 that his conscience will gnaw at him when he does 
 that thing until finally he will turn away from it 
 and come back to the home and say, "Father, your 
 teaching stuck in my mind like a bur under a pack 
 saddle, and I could not get rid of it." 
 
 That is the sentiment of the second verse of the 
 song we sang at opening: 
 
244 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 "And when my wayward feet 
 Seek worldly pleasures fleet, 
 His counsel grave I meet, 
 Afar or near." 
 
 A JOLLY GOOD TIME 
 
 I do not mean by this that we should rob life of all 
 joy and pleasure. One good father said to me, "If 
 boys need recreation, let them saw wood." You need 
 not tell me that sawing wood is recreation. I have 
 tried it. The wood should be sawed, it is true, but 
 after the wood is all sawed, what are we going to 
 do? We should oppose evil practices and pleasures, 
 but recognize legitimate and proper recreation. 
 
 There is no earthly reason why a Christian father 
 and a Christian mother, together with their Chris- 
 tian sons and daughters, in a Christian home, should 
 not have a jolly good time; so that all the days of 
 their lives the children will look back to that home, 
 not looking back to the card table, the theater, the 
 dance hall, the beer bottle, but back to the happy 
 home of godly parents who were their chums and 
 where they freely enjoyed life. 
 
 Now, fathers, this is our day, and in conclusion I 
 want to impress on your minds the thought that 
 parenthood is partnership with God; "Our Father 
 which art in heaven," our father which is on earth. 
 The two are in partnership, working for the salva- 
 tion of the souls that are developing here below. 
 
I 
 
 BLUE PENCIL NOTES 
 
 HAVE a theory that the rattlesnake developed 
 his terrible poison while brooding over personal 
 grievances. 
 
 The soft answer may have a double meaning. A 
 Catholic priest fresh from his glass and game of 
 cards met a worldly young woman clad in ball dress 
 and dancing slippers. The priest frowned and said: 
 "How are you, daughter of Satan?" With demure 
 courtesy and quick wit, the girl replied: "How do 
 you do, Father?" 
 
 Some sermons, like the dictionary, are full of 
 words, but are too disconnected to be interesting. 
 
 The Gettysburg Speech, the Lord's Prayer, and the 
 Sermon on the Mount are very brief, yet they endure 
 forever. But when Paul preached till midnight all 
 we know of the sermon is that one man went to sleep 
 and fell out of the window. 
 
 Some men would hesitate to give a disciple a cup 
 of cold water. But they would willingly keep him 
 in hot water all his life. 
 
 Edison says that the horse is the most expensive 
 motor ever invented, and intimates that if the "first 
 
 245 
 
246 A Cup of Cold Water 
 
 servant" had been made properly he need not have 
 been bigger than a soap box to develop one-horse 
 power. This would indicate that things were done 
 in too much of a hurry at the Creation. It has taken 
 a long time to remedy matters and get what we 
 need. But fortunately Adam was old-fashioned, (the 
 most old-fashioned man that ever lived,) and no 
 doubt he preferred his horse to a Ford, and Eve to a 
 phonograph. 
 
 A startling figure stood in the gateway of hell. His 
 clothing was torn and bloody and muddy such por- 
 tions of it as were not burned away. His flesh was 
 charred with liquid fire and pierced with bayonets. 
 His face was covered with a grotesque gas mask. But 
 suddenly, to the surprise of all spectators, he threw 
 his mask in the air and shouted, "Hosanna !" "Who 
 is it?" asked His Majesty. And the Private Secre- 
 tary replied, "It is a common soldier from the 
 trenches of Europe. He thinks this is heaven." 
 
 Everything indicates that the forces of evil are 
 preparing for the final "grand drive." Truth every- 
 where in all forms and persons must become militant 
 or be overwhelmed. But we have the assurance that 
 eventually Jesus Christ will destroy all the works of 
 the Devil. 
 
BOOK FIVE 
 
 The \Vord That Became 
 Flesh 
 
THE TRANSIENT GUEST 
 
 Now to and fro the night winds go, 
 
 And seek and are not satisfied; 
 They seek for him who on the dim, 
 
 Far eastern hill was crucified. 
 
 He held them still beneath his will 
 
 Upon the troubled Galilee, 
 They wander now on Olive's brow, 
 
 And unrebuked they vex the sea. 
 
 The night dew weeps where Jordan sleeps; 
 
 And in Gethsemane again 
 The moonbeams seek the lowly, meek, 
 
 Great Leader of the race of men. 
 
 They cannot come to his dark room; 
 
 But when at last the night is o'er, 
 The morning sun gives light to one 
 
 Who seeks her Savior's lowly door. 
 
 'Tis open quite, and filled with light, 
 
 For he has risen up newborn, 
 A transient guest, the first and best 
 
 To meet and greet the Easter morn. 
 
 And now we know the green and low, 
 
 Last inn to give poor mortals rest 
 Is brief, at most, with God as host, 
 
 And every man a transient guest. 
 
 E. A. S. 
 
THE WORD THAT BECAME FLESH 
 
 (Sermon at Independence, Missouri, December 21, 1919.) 
 
 "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full 
 of grace and truth." 
 
 YOU may sometimes have noticed in a crowded, 
 busy city street some person of such striking 
 appearance or character that as he passed by 
 every eye was turned to observe him. Jesus Christ 
 crossed the stage of human action once, he passed 
 through this old world once and every eye has been 
 turned to observe his passing. John looked up from 
 his baptizing in the Jordan and said, ' 'Behold the 
 Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the 
 world !" Pilate looked up from his political intrigues 
 and said, "Behold the man !" And he added, appar- 
 ently in some perplexity, What shall I do with this 
 man that is called Jesus ? 
 
 That question must be answered by every person 
 some time. If he doesn't confront it in this life he 
 will certainly meet it in some other world. And so 
 to-day all civilized nations are agreed in celebrating 
 the birth of our Lord and Master, the only indi- 
 vidual who seems to have so attracted the attention 
 of all men. 
 
 Every newspaper that comes to us, every letter 
 that we read, every document by its date line says 
 that so many centuries, so many years, so many 
 
 249 
 
250 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 months, so many days ago Jesus was born into 'the 
 world. All men seem more or less anxious to at least 
 claim his authority for their undertakings in the 
 world. All kinds of fads and reforms and fashions 
 appeal to him and lay claim to his authority. The 
 Socialists tell us that he was a great socialist ; Spirit- 
 ualists tell us that he was a great medium; Mrs. 
 Eddy says he was a Christian Scientist, and of course 
 all denominations, Catholic and Protestant, claim to 
 march under his banner. It would seem that all men 
 feel that the name of Jesus Christ is a mantle so 
 broad they may hide under it with any folly or fancy 
 that may claim their allegiance ; but we ought to re- 
 member that we can bear the name of Christ only 
 when we have the Spirit of Christ. 
 
 WHY DID JESUS COME TO EARTH? 
 
 We as a church believe that we have found Jesus, 
 that we have found the law of life and salvation. If 
 so, it will behoove us to study it carefully; and cer- 
 tainly I do not know where we will find any more 
 powerful exposition of that law than in the life and 
 character of Jesus, the Master. The text that I have 
 read says that the "Word was made flesh and dwelt 
 among us, full of grace and truth," and in the In- 
 spired Version in the same chapter the statement is 
 made explicitly that the Word of God is the gospel. 
 The gospel, then, became flesh and dwelt among us. 
 
 I wonder why God determined that the law of 
 life and salvation should become flesh and dwell 
 among men. I wonder why Jesus chose to take upon 
 
The Word that Became Flesh 251 
 
 himself flesh and blood. I think it was because he 
 wanted to appeal to the hearts of men and he wanted 
 to appeal to the intelligence of men. The thing that 
 appeals to one will not always appeal to the other. I 
 suppose that not every young man who falls in love 
 pauses to analyze the thing that has happened to 
 him. It does not interest his intelligence, particu- 
 larly; he does not care. But certainly it has had a 
 profound influence on his heart. On the other hand, 
 there are many things that we understand clearly 
 that have no appeal to our hearts. We can work up 
 a perfectly intelligent defense of taxation, for in- 
 stance ; but the man who goes to purchase a marriage 
 license feels quite different to the man who merely 
 gets a tax receipt. 
 
 I have pictured to myself Jesus in meditation. I 
 have imagined him following that occasion when in 
 the councils of heaven he volunteered to come to 
 earth and undertake the salvation of man, and I have 
 fancied him thinking to himself : "Now I have under- 
 taken this mission, how shall I go about the task of 
 reaching men? Shall I call angels and send them 
 forth with trumpets to sound the message through 
 the heavens so that every living creature shall hear 
 the law of life and salvation ? If I do that, some man 
 will look up and say, 'Your law is all right for the 
 angels, but I am no angel ; I am dragged in the mire ; 
 I may be part angel, but I am part beast and cannot 
 even attempt to live by your law/ Shall I summon 
 ten legions of angels and send them forth to write 
 
252 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 billions of tracts and scatter them broadcast over the 
 land, like snowflakes in January? If I do, some man 
 may look up and say, What is a printed page to me 
 when God remains in heaven and I am chained to the 
 earth?' Shall I summon the archangels and gather 
 together the lightnings of heaven and blaze the gos- 
 pel upon the sky in letters of fire so that all men 
 may see? Men are children, and if I do that they 
 will be afraid. I do not want their fear; I want their 
 love." 
 
 Then I imagine that the corrugated brow is 
 smoothed and Jesus says, "Father, I know how to 
 reach men ; I will go to them myself and I will live the 
 law of life and salvation." So it came about that the 
 Word became flesh and dwelt among men. That was 
 the only way to reach men. That is the secret of the 
 success of some of the men who have represented 
 this church in the past who have not been men ex- 
 ceedingly brilliant, but they have gone out among the 
 people and have shared with them their privations. 
 You would be surprised sometimes to follow the trail 
 of some man, who in Independence is not considered 
 so very forceful; but go out in the rural districts 
 where he has ministered to the needs of the people 
 and you will find that they consider him a wonderful 
 man, and the secret is, that in- that field in the person 
 of that minister "the Word was made flesh and dwelt 
 among men." 
 
 HIS APPEAL TO THE HEART 
 
 The appeal of Jesus was to the heart. A cold, ab- 
 stract statement of law does not appeal to the human 
 
The Word that Became Flesh 253 
 
 heart. You cannot reach your child by handing to 
 him a written list of things he may do and things 
 he must not do. He will obey his father either be- 
 cause he loves him or because he fears him. Jesus 
 chose to appeal to us through the avenue of love, and 
 so he attempted to identify himself with us in all the 
 phases of our lives. 
 
 I think that I remarked from this stand when 
 preaching about the character of Jesus at one time 
 in the past that by becoming a little child Jesus 
 consecrated all childhood and took all children into 
 his fellowship ; by receiving birth from a woman and 
 resting upon her bosom he consecrated all woman- 
 hood; and when he became a man of Galilee and 
 mingled with men he consecrated all manhood, and 
 so he has put every man and every woman and every 
 child under obligations to him, and his message is to 
 every man, and woman, and child. 
 
 I do not see any reason why Jesus Christ should 
 not haVe come into the world as a babe. It was the 
 most natural way for him to come. All of us came 
 into the world in that way, and Jesus wanted to 
 identify himself with us in all things. And I sup- 
 pose that it was perfectly natural that he should be 
 born of humble parentage. It is conceivable that he 
 could, if he so desired, have been born in some rich 
 Jewish home or in some aristocratic Roman house- 
 hold,, but not very many men are born of rich or 
 aristocratic parents ; the great men of the world have 
 come from humble surroundings. So Jesus chose to 
 
254 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 come as he did and identify himself with us. As he 
 grew to manhood he had his temptations and trials 
 the same as we do. 
 
 Jesus was a man of sorrow and acquainted with 
 grief. He knew what it was to lose his friends by 
 death: he loved Lazarus, and Lazarus died. He 
 knew that which is infinitely harder to bear, the 
 treachery of his friends: Judas sold him for thirty 
 pieces of silver, and Peter denied him. If we are to 
 trust the Apostle Paul, Jesus was subject to the very 
 temptations that appeal to you and me. All of the 
 temptations that come to the normal man Jesus met 
 and overcame, and he endured privations as he went 
 out in his missionary work homeless and practically 
 penniless. On a certain occasion he voiced the sad 
 lamentation, "The birds of the air have their nests, 
 and the foxes have holes, but the Son of Man hath 
 not where to lay his head." Some of our missionaries, 
 perhaps, who have gone into some city or village at 
 night with no place to go and not a single friend, 
 have walked the streets and seen the windows of 
 many homes lighted up, but no place for them, have 
 perhaps realized how Jesus felt when he walked 
 through Galilee and saw those little villages among 
 the hills with their windows lighted up, but no place 
 for him to lay his head. He encountered all these 
 things, including death on the cross, because he 
 wanted to come here and identify himself with man. 
 And I believe in that you will find the secret of the 
 
The Word that Became Flesh 255 
 
 atonement- in his desire to identify himself with 
 man. 
 
 Out of all that experience came the great invita- 
 tion that he voices, found in Matthew 11: "Come 
 unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I 
 will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and 
 learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart : and 
 ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is 
 easy, and my burden is light." 
 
 Most of us know what it is to bear burdens. There 
 may be a few very young people who go singing 
 through life, thus far at least, with their shoulders 
 straight and not bearing any burdens ; but man does 
 not need to live very long until he finds his shoulders 
 borne down with burdens of sorrow and perplexity 
 and toil and adversity and possibly temptation and 
 sin. Jesus says : "Come unto me all ye that labor and 
 are heavy laden and I will give you rest." Lay aside 
 those burdens of unnecessary anxiety and worry ; lay 
 off those evil habits, temptations, and worldly cares ; 
 cast them all aside and take upon your shoulders the 
 legitimate burden of responsibility and service; but 
 his yoke goes with it and his yoke is easy and his 
 burden is light and ye shall find rest to your souls. 
 That is the wonderful message that comes to us when 
 we think about the Master. I wish that we could all 
 drink it in and realize what it means. 
 
 HIS APPEAL TO THE BRAIN 
 
 Jesus desired, also, as I have said, to appeal to the 
 intelligence of man. It is difficult for man to under- 
 
256 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 stand the idea of God in the abstract. To think 
 about God just as an abstract idea is very difficult 
 and men for ages past have been endeavoring- to 
 understand that idea. Every idol that man ever 
 carved out of wood or stone represented an effort to 
 understand God. It was his attempt to visualize 
 something that would aid his imagination in an effort 
 to comprehend God. Of course, now it seems 
 ridiculous and absurd. Little better, perhaps, were 
 the creeds, along the same line. They represented 
 man's effort to understand the abstract idea of God ; 
 and it has been a task almost insurmountable. 
 
 It seems almost that God himself in attempting to 
 reveal his character to man comes against a difficulty 
 that perplexes even him. It is not that he is not 
 willing to reveal himself, but it is so difficult for 
 man to comprehend. How can a man whose abilities 
 are taxed to administer the affairs of a nation or a 
 state or a village, or even his own home how can 
 he understand the great Being who builded the earth 
 and administers the affairs of the universe ? In what 
 terms can God speak that we will understand, that 
 we will not misunderstand and misconstrue? In 
 section 85, God says, "Unto what shall I liken these 
 things that ye may understand." He seems face to 
 face with that problem that I have mentioned: I 
 understand these things, but to what shall I liken 
 them that men can understand ? 
 
 But we can understand Jesus ; and as a last resort 
 perhaps not the last resort of divinity, but the best 
 
The Word that Became Flesh 257 
 
 recourse Jesus came into the world and the "word 
 became flesh" so that we could understand it. There 
 cannot be propounded any printed or spoken state- 
 ment of the law of life and salvation that will apply 
 to man that will be understood by him if it is di- 
 vested of the personality and the life of Jesus Christ. 
 It would not appeal to him, would not be understood. 
 But he came to interpret God in terms that would 
 appeal to man and that might be understood by man ; 
 in other words, he came to live the law of God. 
 
 Does God in the Bible command obedience ? Jesus 
 Christ was obedience! Does God command love? 
 Jesus Christ was love! Does God require sacrifice? 
 The whole life of Jesus Christ was sacrifice. Every 
 chapter, every line, every word in the law of God as 
 we have it in the printed page, Jesus Christ came 
 here to live, and certainly in our status as members 
 and as a ministry we ought to carry with us his ex- 
 ample, his precepts, and his personal touch, because 
 we can hardly find ourselves in a situation where we 
 will not find some example that Jesus Christ set that 
 will help us to solve that particular perplexity. His 
 every human deed was beneficence and his every di- 
 vine deed was full of blessing. I mean that in his 
 human deeds, such as you and I can perform, all that 
 he did was for the good of humanity. And in his di- 
 vine deeds, his miracles, he also was beneficent. I 
 cannot recall that he ever exercised his supernatural 
 powers to bring harm to a single individual. 
 
 You remember the occasion when he and his dis- 
 ciples were passing through Samaria and he wanted 
 9 
 
258 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 to spend the night in a certain village, and the 
 Samaritans would not permit them to remain in the 
 city over night, the disciples spoke up and said to 
 Jesus, "What shall we do? Shall we pray the 
 Father to send down fire and destroy them?" That 
 was man speaking then. Jesus answered them and 
 said, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of ; 
 for the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives 
 but to save them. I think sometimes we might well 
 ask ourselves the question, What spirit am I of? 
 We should be sure that we are of the spirit of 
 Jesus Christ, who came not to destroy but to save. 
 He came to transform human lives, and he trans- 
 formed them by his personal contact. He came 
 not only to teach, but to exemplify in his life. 
 In that particular, he was a supreme teacher. There 
 is not a thing that he teaches us that he did not first 
 live. His gospel is the power of God unto salvation, 
 and the greatest miracle that Jesus ever wrought 
 was in the transformation of human lives as he came 
 into contact with them. That was the greatest dem- 
 onstration of his power when he was here and it is 
 the greatest demonstration of his power to-day; 
 greater than the healing of the blind, the cleansing 
 of lepers, the raising from the dead, is the trans- 
 formation that is wrought in human lives, and you 
 and I can remember miracles of that kind to-day. 
 
 OUR GREATEST NEED TO-DAY 
 
 If I were asked the question, What is the greatest 
 need of the church to-day, what do you suppose I 
 
The Word that Became Flesh 259 
 
 would answer? What do you think is the greatest 
 need of the church to-day? Is the greatest need of 
 the church that God should hand us five millions of 
 dollars and say to us, "Use it in buying land in Zion 
 and in sending a great force of missionaries into all 
 the world" ? I think if that were our greatest need, 
 God could very easily supply it. This summer I 
 tramped through the gold fields of Colorado, and I 
 thought when there: "If our greatest need were 
 money, God could tell me where we could find untold 
 wealth for the church in a very short time." But 
 evidently our needs along that line must be sup- 
 plied by the legitimate and usual avenues of tithes 
 and offerings through sacrifice. 
 
 To my mind, the greatest need of the church to- 
 day is a thorough baptism in the Spirit of Jesus 
 Christ. Paul tells us that, "As many of you as have 
 been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." If we 
 have put on Christ we have conformed ourselves to 
 the nature of Christ, we have taken on ourselves his 
 nature. 
 
 I notice that in this old world everything clearly 
 acts in harmony with its own nature. Syrup never 
 forgets to be sticky, vinegar never forgets to be sour, 
 and iron never forgets to be heavy. But sometimes 
 we forget to be Christlike. Jesus Christ never for- 
 got to be Christlike, because he was Christ; and if 
 we fully put on the nature of Christ we will never 
 forget to be Christlike, because we will always act 
 in harmony with our inner natures. 
 
260 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 I think there is a great need that we should be 
 baptized more thoroughly with the Spirit of Jesus 
 Christ. I will say frankly that I sometimes have 
 seen among our church members quarreling and con- 
 tention and bickering and fault-finding and division, 
 and have found myself that it is so difficult to avoid 
 this thing, that in hours of despondency I have said, 
 "Is there on earth a single Christian, one man who 
 is thoroughly Christian all the way through?" But 
 then has come to me this cheering thought, ' 'Though 
 all men fail, Jesus is the same to-day as he was 
 yesterday," and he has blazed the trail. Though I 
 might fall often, he will assist me to rise again and 
 follow in his footsteps; and what he will do for me, 
 certainly he will do for others. Then, as I look 
 around me and see some noble character among the 
 Saints who is conforming to the law of life and sal- 
 vation, my heart is encouraged, and I look around 
 and see others I believe there are many of them, 
 though, like myself, they may make their mistakes 
 and in hours of weakness may for a while cease to be 
 Christlike, yet they are endeavoring to endure : they 
 have within themselves that spirit that eventually 
 will transform their lives. 
 
 I believe that is the hope of the church. I believe 
 our hope is in those who are trying to carry on the 
 work of Christ, who have, like the Master, trans- 
 formed the word of God into a living being, who have 
 made it, as the Apostle Paul said, a living epistle 
 known and read of all men. 
 
The Word that Became Flesh 261 
 
 I hope and pray that our hearts may be touched 
 by His Spirit, that our lives may be like his life, that 
 it may be said of us that in our lives the "Word be- 
 came flesh and dwelt among men, full of grace and 
 truth." 
 
NOT BY BREAD ALONE 
 
 (A Thanksgiving Day sermon, Independence, Missouri, 1919.) 
 
 "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the 
 Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 
 5 : 20. 
 
 "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure 
 and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail; 
 whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made 
 an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."- 
 Hebrews 6:19, 20. 
 
 WHAT HAVE WE TO BE THANKFUL FOR? 
 
 WE MIGHT ask ourselves this morning what 
 there is that we have to be thankful for. 
 And I presume that a man who has been 
 accustomed to think mostly about material things 
 and the gratification of the physical desires would 
 immediately answer that we ought to be thankful for 
 food and clothing and shelter, and for coal in the bin, 
 while the individual who is of a very religious 
 temperament and inclined to think about spiritual 
 things would say, "Let us be thankful for intelli- 
 gence, for liberty, and for religion." But the Apostle 
 Paul, who seems to have plumbed the depths of 
 human need and scaled the heights of divine mercy, 
 said we ought to be thankful in all things. 
 
 Man is of a dual nature and therefore has a two- 
 fold cause for thanksgiving. We are dependent upon 
 
 262 
 
Not by Bread Alone 263 
 
 the physical for many things, and certainly it is not 
 without its importance. The spirit depends upon 
 physical contrivances almost altogether for its power 
 to perceive. It is true that we believe that some 
 things are perceived spiritually, though scientists 
 would not admit that, probably ; but as a rule almost 
 everything is perceived through physical apparatus. 
 And perhaps to a greater extent, we are dependent 
 upon physical things for our power of expression and 
 our ability to execute our desires. 
 
 It is true that once in a while a spiritualist claims 
 to tip the table or perform some act of levitation 
 without the intervention of mechanical contrivances ; 
 but almost exclusively the spirit depends upon some 
 mechanical contrivance for its power of execution. 
 In other words, the spirit sees through material 
 eyes; it must have ears with which to hear; it de- 
 pends upon hands with which to work out its desires ; 
 and it depends upon legs for locomotion. Of course, 
 in this age of the automobile, people have almost dis- 
 pensed with the use of legs, except perhaps upon 
 the stage. 
 
 With all due regard for Christian Science, I cannot 
 sit at the bottom of the hill and by thinking place 
 myself at the top of the hill. I must have recourse 
 to some sort of mechanical contrivance or physical 
 exertion to change my location. I cannot sit in my 
 library and spade my garden by mental suggestion. 
 I wish I could. 
 
264 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 DINING WITH THE ANIMALS 
 
 In order to support these mechanical and physical 
 contrivances upon which the spirit depends, there 
 has been built up in man that com plicated alimentary 
 system by which his food is ground, digested, and 
 assimilated, and perhaps that, more than anything 
 else, emphasizes his kinship with the animals. 
 
 We dine every day with the animals. We eat with 
 lions and tigers, with wolves and coyotes. I do not 
 presume that it is an especially delectable spectacle 
 to watch a bird or beast of prey picking at a carcass, 
 but what essential difference is there between that 
 and you and I eating the Thanksgiving turkey, pro- 
 viding we had the turkey? Of course, we wear 
 clothing instead of feathers, excepting perhaps in 
 some of the evening restaurants where more feathers 
 are worn than clothes. We have napkins and silver- 
 ware and sometimes finger bowls. But what essen- 
 tial difference is there ? We still are eating with the 
 beasts. 
 
 We cannot change the principle if we dispense en- 
 tirely with animal food and become vegetarians. We 
 still eat oats with the horse, wheat with the birds, 
 and corn with the hog; and even if we indulge in 
 "angel's food" (and perhaps some of us will get more 
 of that food in this world than in the next), the 
 principle remains the same. We cannot live on high 
 ideals. The old receipt of faith and apple dump- 
 lings goes further. 
 
 Still this thought need not be repulsive, though I 
 
Not by Bread Alone 265 
 
 believe there are some Oriental races who regard 
 the act of eating as being shameful and hide them- 
 selves when they eat. Jesus sanctified the social 
 board when he ate the honey comb and broiled fish 
 after his resurrection; and Jesus it was who taught 
 us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." Al- 
 most in the same breath with which he mentioned 
 the great spiritual conception of the kingdom of 
 heaven, he mentioned and pleaded for the material 
 loaf made of the grains that are eaten by the birds 
 and beasts. 
 
 DINING WITH GOD 
 
 But Jesus also voiced another thought. He said 
 that man shall not live by bread alone. In that we 
 are distinguished from the animals. While man may 
 dine with the animals in a physical sense, in a spirit- 
 ual sense he dines with God. Man has his feet in the 
 mire, but his head in the clouds ; bound to earth by 
 his physical organism, he is wedded to heaven by his 
 spiritual life. 
 
 So to-day when we meet to give thanks to God, we 
 may thank him not only for the physical things, but 
 also for the spiritual things, namely; intelligence, 
 truth, light, liberty, religion, and brotherhood. As 
 we have said, we have a two-fold cause for thank- 
 fulness, the material and the spiritual. 
 
 I believe it was a fact that the pre-war sermons on 
 Thanksgiving Day and the prayers that were offered 
 on those days dwelt very largely upon material bless- 
 ings. At any rate, that is my impression as I look 
 
266 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 back. We emphasized generally the abundant harvest 
 that had been gathered in, the wonderful prosperity 
 that had blessed us here in America. The reason for 
 that was that before the war America was a land of 
 repletion, gorged with all kinds of material blessings. 
 
 A STRANGER IN THE LAND 
 
 I remember going on a steamboat excursion down 
 the Mississippi River. There were many children on 
 board and they were served with sandwiches. I pre- 
 sume I saw fifty children eat the meat and throw the 
 bread into the river. A thing like that would not 
 have happened in any other land on earth. No wolf 
 came snarling at the American door. The specter of 
 hunger never stalked through the land. 
 
 But during the past few years we have had a 
 stranger in our midst, and that stranger is the fear 
 of possible famine that has peered in at many a win- 
 dow. We have been more or less circumscribed in 
 our living. We have been told what to eat and how 
 much we should eat. To-day in the midst of the coal 
 strike and facing a possible railroad strike, we begin 
 to realize what it would mean to have a general strike 
 throughout the land. It would mean in many com- 
 munities, at least, famine, actual starvation. We 
 may fare better here where we have access to the 
 corn bins of Missouri and the wheat bins of Kansas ; 
 but it goes without question, it needs no prophet to 
 predict that when that day comes, as evidently it 
 may come, there will be widespread suffering 
 
Not by Bread Alone 267 
 
 throughout the United States. Even as it is, we 
 have felt to a certain extent the danger and have 
 sensed the menace. 
 
 OUR NEEDS SUPPLIED 
 
 And yet most of us have received during the 
 year, if not an abundance, at least sufficient to sup- 
 ply our needs, if not our wants. You know there is a 
 difference between one's needs and his wants. The 
 Lord says that a man shall receive according to his 
 needs and just wants. To illustrate this : I overheard 
 two boys at the breakfast table one morning indulge 
 in a colloquy. The older boy told his brother not to 
 drink so much milk, but the younger brother said, 
 "The doctor said I might drink all I want." "No," 
 said the elder boy, "the doctor did not say you should 
 have all the milk you want: he said you should have 
 all you need, and in your case there is a vast differ- 
 ence there is about five gallons difference." Of 
 course he took the liberty of an elder brother, and 
 exaggerated. 
 
 But often there is a vast difference between our 
 needs and our wants; however, the Lord has be- 
 stowed upon us at this time sufficient to meet our 
 needs; and so to-day we are justified in humbly re- 
 turning thanks to him that he has watched over this 
 Nation, and especially this community, and granted 
 the necessities of life. 
 
 THE LANTERN TO OUR FEET 
 
 Going back to the question of our spiritual bless- 
 ings. These are dark and dangerous days. You do 
 
268 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 not need to be told that you simply have to read 
 the daily papers to get that impression first hand. 
 But you know that the darker and the more danger- 
 ous and tempestuous the night, the more we appreci- 
 ate the lantern that we carry in our hands to guide 
 our footsteps; and so the more perilous and chaotic 
 the times become, the more, as a people, we appreci- 
 ate the divine light of the gospel of Jesus Christ 
 that God has given us to guide our footsteps in these 
 last days. 
 
 Not for nothing did those Saints back yonder name 
 this the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 
 You and I who have lived some years in the world 
 have only to look back and remember the early ser- 
 mons that we heard some years ago. You will re- 
 member that almost every series of sermons had one 
 in it devoted to the signs of the times. We have not 
 been taken unawares; we have looked for these 
 things, and in that perhaps we have been distin- 
 guished above other people. 
 
 PAUL, YOU WERE RIGHT! 
 
 All these things we say we have expected. We 
 have heard so often an exegesis of that remarkable 
 saying of the Apostle Paul, "This know, that in the 
 last days perilous times shall come." Some months 
 ago I happened to be in Omaha on that Sunday night 
 when the mob destroyed the courthouse and hanged 
 the mayor till he was nearly dead, and finally killed 
 and burned the negro they were searching for, and 
 with a rope around the charred remains dragged 
 
Not by Bread Alone 269 
 
 them about the streets until morning 1 . I thought 
 then, "Paul, you were right ; we have been told for a 
 quarter of a century that man was becoming more 
 civilized, more gentle, more Godlike; but, Paul, you 
 were right, for you said that in the last days perilous 
 times should come and that men should be fierce, and 
 treacherous, and lawless." 
 
 And we have seen an exhibition of that not only in 
 foreign countries, but in Boston, in Chicago, in 
 Washington, in Omaha, and Centralia, and many 
 other cities within the past year. But in the midst of 
 all this tumult and confusion and chaos in the world, 
 we have, with the Apostle Paul, an anchor that 
 reaches within the veil, sure and steadfast, and we 
 believe that we do not need to fear greatly, for it 
 will keep the soul. 
 
 We have seen how the predictions concerning 
 these things are coming to pass! but the same 
 prophets tell us about the building up of Zion and the 
 coming of Christ and the final dawn of peace and 
 justice on this earth. And we can look beyond the 
 storm to something that others may not see or 
 understand. 
 
 WARS TO COME 
 
 Let us consider for a few moments some of the 
 things that engage our attention in the world, the 
 first of these being, perhaps, the question of war. A 
 little over a year ago we were at war; now we are 
 said to be at peace but there is no peace. We are 
 talking about peace, but it is something that seems 
 
270 The Ward that Became Flesh 
 
 to be taken from the earth, in harmony with the 
 prediction contained in the Doctrine and Covenants. 
 Following the close of the World War, when the na- 
 tions came together they had such an opportunity as 
 never was given to the nations of men since Christ 
 came. 
 
 All humanity was sick and tired of war; their 
 souls revolted against the thought of more battle- 
 fields ; the slogan on the lips of every soldier of every 
 land was, "Never again !" And so, I say, when the na- 
 tions came together around the peace table they had 
 such an opportunity as they never had before to form 
 some sort of a confederation of nations, a brother- 
 hood of men which, though it might not prevent all 
 wars, at least would reduce the danger. 
 
 But it is said that Opportunity knocks but once at 
 the door, and evidently it does not linger long; and, 
 having departed, it cannot be seized, for it must be 
 seized from before. So, if I understand the situation, 
 the opportunity perhaps has already passed. 
 
 There has come a revulsion of feeling. Already 
 we forget the horror. The nations, almost all of 
 them, now are giving their attention again to their 
 own national aspirations; they are beginning again 
 to depend upon the force of their own arms, and we 
 may have a return to the old secret treaties and 
 intrigue that without doubt will result in further and 
 worse wars. So the prediction of the Master that we 
 should hear of wars and rumors of wars, without 
 doubt will continue to the end. 
 
Not by Bread Alone 271 
 
 Then there is the one struggle that is going on be- 
 tween capital and labor, and there is also within labor 
 itself a war going on between the radical and the con- 
 servative. The plan and the aim and the desire of 
 the radical is revolution. He does not promote strikes 
 to get better wages or more favorable hours or bet- 
 ter working conditions. He regards every strike, 
 no matter how small, as an incipient revolution, and 
 a final general strike he contemplates as a general 
 revolution that will overthrow this Government, and 
 all other governments. We watch with some con- 
 cern the struggle that is going on. 
 
 THE DECAY OF MORALS 
 
 Together with these things that we have noted, 
 there is another which fills us with some concern, 
 and that is the evident decay of morals. A corre- 
 spondent writing from London to the Associated 
 Press just a few days ago said that Scotland Yard 
 had unearthed vice conditions in London that make 
 the pre-war vice conditions seem puritanical. The 
 same thing might be said of America. The vice com- 
 missions and authorities in nearly all the large 
 cities are commenting on delinquency, particularly 
 among young girls. The motherhood of the race is 
 being poisoned at its source. 
 
 These things have interest to us because the Book 
 of Mormon tells us that If this country is overthrown 
 and comes into bondage it will not be because of any 
 foreign enemy, but it will be because the nation has 
 lapsed into wickedness. And that is exactly in har- 
 
272 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 mony with the prediction of Abraham Lincoln when 
 he said that we did not need to fear foreign aggres- 
 sion, that there are not armies enough in Europe in 
 a thousand years to make one footprint on the Ap- 
 palachian Mountains or dip one cup of water from 
 the Ohio River that our destructor would spring up 
 among us, if it came at all, and not from abroad. 
 
 This Nation was founded by men who feared God. 
 They may have been extremists, but they were sound 
 and clean and dependable, and the work they began 
 cannot possibly be carried on by a godless posterity. 
 
 A DECAY OF RELIGION 
 
 Accompanied by this decay of morals, there seems 
 to have been an even further decay of religious 
 sentiment in the land. Here is a little clipping from 
 the Literary Digest for November 1, 1919 : 
 
 "Missionary societies especially and church people 
 of all creeds and denominations in America 'can find 
 material for thought/ says the Detroit Free Press, 
 in the statement by Bishop Tucker, of Kiota, that 
 Japan sent a special commission to the United States 
 to study the influence of Christianity on the lives of 
 the American people. Their report on their return 
 was that 'while education, commerce, and industry 
 have been developed to a wonderful degree, there is 
 little evidence that the Christian religion is regarded 
 as important by most of the people.' The Free Press 
 giving the layman's view of the matter, adds some 
 reflections of its own: 
 
 " 'This is a judgment by a presumably honest and 
 
Not by Bread Alone 273 
 
 thoughtful body of outside observers. And it would 
 be a courageous man who would undertake to prove 
 that the Japanese investigators were profoundly in 
 error in their conclusions/ ' 
 
 But in the midst of these things that seem so 
 menacing war, the prospect of civil war, the ap- 
 parent decay of morals, and the loss of religious 
 sentiment we as a people have every reason to give 
 thanks to God for the gospel that has been com- 
 mitted to our care. We have reason to give thanks 
 to Him for the hope of the future, that beyond all 
 this chaos we see a condition of order; that beyond 
 the reign of injustice and criminality and lawless- 
 ness we see the dawn of peace under the dominion 
 of Jesus Christ, not away off beyond the bounds of 
 time and space, but here on this old earth. 
 
 FELLOWSHIP 
 
 We ought to be thankful that we are permitted to 
 be partners with God in this work; and I think we 
 ought to be especially thankful, and my heart is 
 filled with gratitude because of the privilege to en- 
 joy fellowship and brotherhood with men and women 
 of this church. I regard that as the greatest thing 
 that ever came into my life. Of course, in harmony 
 with many men, I am devoutly thankful to God for 
 the love of father and mother, of wife and children. 
 I feel that no life is complete that has missed the ex- 
 perience of filial and marital and parental love but 
 that is not all. 
 
274 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 God never gave me brothers and sisters, but 
 through the gospel he opened up means by which I 
 can go out and find brothers and sisters wherever the 
 gospel message has found its place in human hearts. 
 I believe we ought to cultivate this spirit of fraternal 
 brotherhood ; I believe that it ought to be the band 
 to hold us together and finally bring victory. 
 
"I HAVE MEAT THAT YE KNOW 
 NOT OF." 
 
 (Sermon delivered at the Stone Church, Independence, Mis- 
 souri, January 19, 1919.) 
 
 I HAVE read some verses from the fourth chapter 
 of John. I call your attention more especially to 
 the statement just read, "I have meat to eat that 
 ye know not of." This saying of the Master is one 
 that might be termed cryptic. It has a meaning that 
 is hidden. It does not appear on the surface. The 
 surface meaning is not the one that Jesus had in 
 mind. We cannot imagine for a moment that Jesus 
 meant, as the disciples thought at first, that some 
 one had secretly brought him meat, which he had 
 to regale himself upon without their knowledge. 
 
 His words have a spiritual meaning, which he ex- 
 plains a little further where he says, "My meat is 
 to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his 
 work." This was right in line with the statement 
 that he made early in his ministry, that man should 
 not live by bread alone, but by every word that pro- 
 ceedeth out of the mouth of God. The bread arid 
 meat of Jesus was the Word of God, and to do the 
 will of God. 
 
 On another occasion he says, "I do always the 
 things that please the Father." This would argue a 
 constant communication with God, a never broken 
 
 275 
 
276 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 touch with the Father. He lived by every word that 
 proceeded from the mouth of God. He did always the 
 will of the Father; always the things that pleased 
 the Father. He was in communication with God 
 and sought to know every day what God wanted 
 him to do. 
 
 REVELATION AND DUTY 
 
 When we analyze these texts in this way they 
 suggest two ideas : The first, that of Revelation ; and 
 the second, that of Duty. In regard to the idea of 
 revelation : here was an individual who claimed to be 
 in touch with God. He was receiving spiritual com- 
 munications and divine revelation absolutely un- 
 known to those who stood at his very elbow, sur- 
 rounded him, and talked with him frequently. 
 
 This would perhaps be regarded with a great deal 
 of skepticism by scientists, and certainly it would be 
 rejected entirely by agnostics, who, not knowing 
 anything themselves about such matters, do not be- 
 lieve that it is possible for anyone else to know I 
 mean nothing regarding things divine, things not 
 perceived by the ordinary human senses. You will 
 notice that in this group of individuals, the one who 
 counted in the history of the world was the man 
 who knew. And so to-day, the individual who says 
 he does not know may be dismissed without further 
 interrogation. 
 
 There are some things that have come to light 
 in the course of history, both sacred and profane. 
 Some things that are a common matter of observa- 
 
I Have Meat that Ye Know Not of 277 
 
 tion and modern experimentation, that should cause 
 us to be veiy slow to say that a thing is not because 
 we have not observed it and verified it. I might use 
 a very modern illustration. Back of this church 
 there stands the tower of a wireless station. Its 
 mate is at Graceland College, in Lamoni, Iowa. 
 
 THE WIRELESS MESSAGE 
 
 Early in the war I was somewhat interested in the 
 work of the wireless students at Graceland College. 
 They would receive messages from the air mes- 
 sages from San Francisco, New York City, the 
 American Squadron in the Atlantic. They even 
 picked up messages from Germany. Now the thing 
 that seemed so singular, so dramatic to me, was 
 that these messages were passing constantly through 
 the air about my ears, but I could not hear them. I 
 could not detect them. I could not perceive them. I 
 could not apprehend them. I knew nothing of them 
 excepting as I believed the testimony of others, and 
 sometimes, putting the matter to the test, sent mes- 
 sages and received an intelligent answer. But these 
 men were almost like the gods, and listened to the 
 chatter of the universe that was unknown to me. 
 
 It is quite possible that at this very moment the 
 air of this place is thrilling with messages from the 
 Peace Conference. We do not know, but it is at 
 least within the range of possibility. It seems to me 
 that ought to make us a little cautious how we say 
 that a thing cannot be, simply because it does not 
 appeal to our senses. 
 
278 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 I believe that the otherwise stagnant atmosphere 
 of this old world is constantly thrilling with divine 
 messages from on high, that give intelligence. Once 
 in a while a great prophet, who is in touch, in com- 
 munication with God, receives a great message for 
 the world that others know not of; and constantly, 
 if we will, you and I, who do not profess to be major 
 prophets, may receive spiritual communications, and 
 do, in our prayer services and in our secret prayers, 
 when we come in touch with the Spirit of God. So 
 that we may say we have meat that others know 
 not of. 
 
 SIX HUNDRED FOOLS 
 
 This, of course, seems utterly foolish to the world. 
 Shortly after the General Conference at this place 
 when President Frederick M. Smith presented the 
 communication naming Brother McGuire to be the 
 presiding bishop, a Canadian paper appeared with an 
 article which was headed, "Six hundred fools," and 
 went on to say that six hundred delegates of this 
 organization met in Independence and President 
 Smith presented to them something claiming to be a 
 revelation from God, and they accepted it as the 
 word of God; which was sufficient to give them the 
 title of six hundred fools. It seems to me, however, 
 that the fool is the one who refuses to recognize 
 truth simply because it does not appeal to him, or 
 come to him along the lines he has marked down, and 
 he will not receive it along other lines. 
 
 Jesus said to the Pharisees when he was here, "Ye 
 
/ Have Meat that Ye Know Not of 279 
 
 blind and deaf/' Now the Pharisees, each one of 
 them, probably had two pretty good eyes. Each of 
 them doubtless had two good ears. They could see 
 what they wanted to see and hear what they wanted 
 to hear; but so far as Christ's message was con- 
 cerned, they were blind and deaf. 
 
 Right along this line there is a little poem I have 
 clipped, entitled: 
 
 BLIND 
 
 "The spring blew trumpets of color, 
 
 Her green sang in my brain, 
 But I heard a blind man groping, 
 Tap, tap, with hi:j cane. 
 
 "I pitied him in his blindness, 
 
 But can I boast I see? 
 Perhaps there walks a spirit 
 Close by who pities me. 
 
 "A spirit that sees me tapping 
 
 The five-sensed cane of mind; 
 Amid such unguessed glories, 
 That I am worse than blind." 
 
 It was Sir Oliver Lodge who said that "the ways 
 of science are not the only ways to discover truth." 
 The ways of science of course are investigation, dis- 
 covery, and verification. Very properly so, too. It 
 it very proper that science should confine herself to 
 those methods. But I am glad that there is one 
 great scientist who is willing to admit, and does 
 freely admit, that these are not the only ways to dis- 
 
280 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 cover truth. He leaves to religion the possible dis- 
 covery of truth by revelation. So that Jesus was not 
 necessarily in conflict with science when he said that 
 he was enjoying things that those who stood by, ob- 
 servant with their eyes, and listening with their ears, 
 could not perceive. 
 
 VOICES OF SOCRATES 
 
 Profane history, I believe, presents some illustra- 
 tions along that line. Take the case of Socrates. 
 Socrates was born of very humble parentage. He 
 was exceedingly poor and so grotesque in appearance 
 that he was a laughing stock in the community, at 
 times, and yet he achieved such distinction as a 
 philosopher that it is said now that Greek history is 
 divided into two periods the period before Socrates 
 and the period after Socrates. In fact, he was greater 
 than Greek history and rises up like a mountain peak, 
 and belongs to the world. Socrates claimed, all his 
 life long to be guided by inner voices, audible to him- 
 self, but not audible to anyone else. He yielded 
 obedience to those voices, even to the giving up of his 
 life when he was sentenced to death and the privilege 
 of escape was offered to him. 
 
 Modern writers have tried to explain the voices of 
 Socrates on the ground that he was an epileptic. 
 Anything that cannot be explained, that comes from 
 God, some people try to push aside on the charge of 
 epilepsy. Saint Paul was supposed to be an epileptic. 
 Joseph Smith had been declared to be an epileptic. 
 
/ Have Meat that Ye Know Not of 281 
 
 What a pity that epilepsy is not contagious! We 
 need a little more divine or sublime insanity along 
 that line. 
 
 JOAN OF ARC 
 
 There was the famous case of Joan of Arc, a girl 
 born of a peasant family; uneducated; unable even 
 to read or write, who received, as she claimed, com- 
 munication from the angels. At the time France had 
 been suffering from a terrible war for nearly a hun- 
 dred years, and her land was overrun with the enemy, 
 England, now her friend. This girl professed to be 
 told by the angels to present herself at the court, 
 and she would be given supreme command of the 
 armies of France, and the Lord would lead her to 
 victory. 
 
 She possessed some power over the king, then un- 
 crowned, so that she was actually placed in supreme 
 command over the armies of France. Mounted on 
 her horse, she led her troops from one victory to an- 
 other until in a few short weeks she was able to 
 assist in the crowning of her king. It is remarkable 
 the military strategy she displayed without previous 
 training. We do not need to say from what source 
 her inspiration came. The French said it was from 
 God, and the English said it was from the Devil, and 
 they burned her at the stake ; but it was quite evident 
 that she did receive something from some source that 
 others knew not of. Mark Twain truly says that the 
 world has never explained Joan of Arc. 
 
 When we take up sacred history we have many 
 
282 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 instances : Moses watching the burning bush ; David 
 singing the Twenty-third Psalm; Paul on the road to 
 Damascus perceiving Christ, and finally Jesus, him- 
 self, who declared that he was receiving, at that 
 time, meat that others knew not of. 
 
 HIDDEN MANNA 
 
 There is a statement in the book of Revelation to 
 this effect: "To him that overcometh it shall be 
 given to eat of the hidden manna." We may think 
 of that as something that will occur in the far- 
 distant future, when those who have overcome all 
 tribulations, resisted all temptations, shall enter into 
 a glorified condition and be given to eat of the hidden 
 manna. That may be true, but I believe that the 
 individual who is not overcoming now, probably 
 never will overcome; and that the individual who is 
 overcoming now is receiving his portion of the hid- 
 den manna every day, quite in harmony with the 
 prayer that Jesus offered, "Give us this day our 
 daily bread." I do not think he had in mind entirely 
 the loaf of barley or of wheat, though he may have 
 had that in mind also. The individual who is over- 
 coming now, is entitled to receive the hidden manna 
 that will sustain him. 
 
 Look around you and note the men and women of 
 the church who are good men and women; who are 
 living their religion ; who are Godlike to this extent 
 that they are the same yesterday, and to-day, and 
 to-morrow. I mean by that, that they are not here 
 to-day and gone to-morrow ; in the straight and nar- 
 
I Have Meat that Ye Know Not of 283 
 
 row path one day, and wandering in by and forbidden 
 paths the next ; but rather pursue a straight course, 
 without deviation to the right or to the left. Men 
 whom you can depend on and you know where they 
 are and these are the men and women who are 
 overcoming and are sustained by the hidden manna. 
 They have meat that others know not of, in common 
 with their Lord and Master. 
 
 I mention these things because I believe the Saints 
 ought to enlarge their horizon, and not give their at- 
 tention exclusively to material things, but let their 
 horizon include spiritual things. I know there is 
 danger that we will be accused of being idealists and 
 dreamers, but the idealists of the world have been 
 the ones who really have been pioneers in advance- 
 ment. 
 
 You know that the king told Paul that he was mad. 
 Paul said, Agrippa, I would that thou wert altogether 
 like me, excepting for these bonds. If there had 
 been several hundred thousand madmen like Paul, 
 the history of Christianity would have been different. 
 Columbus was an idealist. He dreamed of another 
 world, and persisted in his dreaming in spite of all 
 obstacles and he discovered a new world. Galileo, 
 watching the chandelier swinging to and fro in the 
 cathedral, had a vision of worlds revolving on their 
 axis. The hard-hearted churchmen of the age made 
 him get down on his knees and recant, but as he 
 arose he whispered Jo himself, "It does move." 
 
 John Brown was an idealist who dreamed of the 
 
284 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 overthrow of slavery and went upon what seemed to 
 be a hair-brained expedition. He gave up his life, 
 apparently without reason ; but in a very short time 
 there were thousands of men marching and singing, 
 "John Brown's body lies moldering in the grave, but 
 his soul goes marching on." 
 
 We have an ideal also, that the world says is not 
 practical, and that is the ideal of Zion something 
 the world says cannot be realized. If it is realized 
 it will be because we are partaking of meat that the 
 world does not know of. It is true that Zion does 
 have a material basis; must have a common sense 
 basis, plenty of good, hard, common sense. But we 
 want, also, divine direction, divine inspiration, for 
 otherwise we certainly shall be overwhelmed by the 
 problems that confront us. 
 
 PLEASING GOD 
 
 The second divison of the subject is certainly not 
 less important, though I may give it less time. Jesus 
 said, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me." 
 From this I draw the conclusion that it is not our 
 business to do what we want to do. It is our business 
 to do what we ought to do. Jesus inquired the mind 
 of God. Then he said, My meat is to do the will of 
 God. Too often we inquire the will of God. We say, 
 Send us a revelation ; but there is the end of the mat- 
 ter. We are not so keen to do the will of God, as we 
 were to learn the will of God. So, on a certain oc- 
 casion, in speaking to a certain class of people, Jesus 
 will say, "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the 
 
I Have Meat that Ye Know Not of 285 
 
 things that I command you ?" You see these two are 
 intimately associated : First to learn the will of God 
 by revelation or otherwise ; and second, to do the will 
 of God. 
 
 It is not necessarily our province to do what others 
 want us to do, or what their will is. It is our busi- 
 ness to do that which pleases God. When we start 
 out with the idea of pleasing others, we are bound, 
 sooner or later, to find out that we absolutely can- 
 not escape the condemnation of some people. The 
 most carefully considered action, the most sincere 
 step that we may take, as I have discovered per- 
 sonally, may immediately be talked about by some 
 one who will regard it as absolutely wrong. So, 
 whatever course we take we are liable to come in 
 for condemnation. It reminds me of a little verse, 
 which says, 
 
 "Weep and you're called a baby; 
 
 Laugh and you're called a fool; 
 Yield, and you're called a coward; 
 Stand fast and you're called a mule." 
 
 So we may despair of pleasing others; at least, 
 of pleasing everybody else. Our aim should be to 
 please God, and then we can leave the outcome in 
 his hands. "I do always the will of the Father," 
 Jesus said. "My meat is to do the will of him that 
 sent me." 
 
 THE STORY OF A MIRROR 
 
 Jesus, perhaps, had the advantage of knowing all 
 the time what the will of the Father was. We are 
 
286 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 limited, no doubt, but you know Jesus gave the 
 promise that his Spirit should guide us into all truth. 
 We must know the truth first, and perceive our duty 
 clearly before we can understand it, and consequently 
 before we can do it properly. I assume that we are 
 altogether in a great study class in the church trying 
 to find out the truth. But there is one thing that 
 grieves me sometimes, and that is that when one 
 perceives a portion of the truth, from his standpoint, 
 he concludes it is all truth, and he has no patience 
 with his brother who perceives it from a different 
 angle. 
 
 That reminds me of the old story of the Japanese 
 mirror that you may have heard me tell. A Japanese 
 peasant went to town on a certain occasion, and look- 
 ing into a shop window saw a mirror. It was the 
 first mirror he had ever seen, and when he looked 
 into that mirror, what do you suppose he saw ? Why, 
 the very picture of his father, as he remembered him 
 as a young man. He thought it was the spirit of his 
 father, and so he got together all the money he had 
 and bought that mirror and took it home. He car- 
 ried it into the attic and built a little altar to put the 
 mirror on. Every day he would make offerings and 
 pray before that altar, look into the mirror, and the 
 spirit of his father would look out at him. 
 
 All would have gone well excepting that this man 
 had a wife who was curious, as women sometimes 
 are (and men as well) , and she began to wonder why 
 every day her husband went up into the attic, and 
 
/ Have Meat that Ye Know Not of 287 
 
 why he locked the door when he came down. So one 
 day when her husband was gone, she climbed up into 
 the attic, found the mirror, and looked into it, and 
 what do you suppose she saw? A young woman, and 
 rather a good looking woman, too, she thought. 
 
 Ah, she knew why her husband went into the 
 attic every day. The perfidious wretch went up there 
 to see that woman. So she went down the ladder, 
 and when her husband came home there was trouble. 
 He insisted he saw a man in the mirror, and he told 
 the truth ; but she said the thing that looked out at 
 her was a woman, a young woman, and she told the 
 truth. Finally, to settle the controversy, they con- 
 cluded to send for an old woman who was something 
 of a sorceress, and so they brought her in. She was 
 bent and crippled with age, but she climbed labo- 
 riously up the ladder and was gone a long time. When 
 she came down again she said, "You are both fools. 
 It is an old woman that is in the mirror." Then they 
 had a worse quarrel than before all three of them. 
 The remarkable part of it is, she also told the truth. 
 Each one told the truth from his or her angle, as 
 they saw it, and from their viewpoint. 
 
 Had there been some one there to explain, and 
 had they exercised a little patience to compare their 
 views they might all have arrived at the absolute 
 truth, whereas each one had but relative truth. And 
 so sometimes I look at truth from my standpoint, and 
 it is colored by my personality, by my prejudices. I 
 see the truth, part of it ; but you look at it from your 
 
288 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 standpoint and you get an entirely different vision. 
 The only trouble is, we have not any patience with 
 each other. We begin to quarrel and contend, but 
 Jesus said, "For this cause came I into the world, to 
 bear witness unto the truth." His Spirit will guide 
 us into all truth ; but in the midst of this process, as a 
 class of students who are learning at the divine knee, 
 under the direction of the Spirit, we must learn in 
 the Spirit of the Master or we never will arrive at 
 the truth. We must have charity. We must have 
 the spirit of forbearance as well as that of investiga- 
 tion. 
 
 Then the burden of my thought this morning is, 
 that we must get in touch with God. Be in com- 
 munication with him as Christ was. We may learn 
 the truth our duty and then if it becomes our 
 will to do the will of God and finish his work, we may 
 say to the world that we have meat that others know 
 not of. 
 
PREACHING JESUS 
 
 THE great lesson of the Christmastide is the 
 fact that Jesus was the Son of God. That is 
 the underlying fact of Christianity. It is the 
 very rock upon which our faith is predicated and 
 upon which our church is builded. 
 
 It is the mission of the gospel to teach men this 
 fact. It is our work as his followers to help men to 
 see that he is indeed the Christ. But how shall this 
 be done ? How shall we preach Christ ? 
 
 We may place the Bible in their hands and they 
 may read all the record of his matchless life ; but the 
 infidel does that and so does the Unitarian, and 
 neither discerns anything but the record of a good 
 and great man. 
 
 We may travel to the Holy Land and retrace every 
 step that our Master took, thus imbuing our minds 
 with the spirit of the past; we may study well the 
 history of our Lord, and then from the pulpit, with 
 all the eloquence of Savonarola or Paul, preach to 
 the world the fact that he was the Son of God. The 
 crowds may listen spellbound; but what do they 
 hear ? The history of a man nothing more. 
 
 How shall I preach Christ? 
 
 In desperation I may invoke the aid of art. I pre- 
 pare my canvas and my paints and bestow upon my 
 work the best labor of a lifetime. I think about my 
 Lord by day, and I dream of him by night, until my 
 10 289 
 
290 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 eyes pierce the obscurity and I see the lineaments of 
 his face, and with all the skill of Raphael or Hofmann 
 I faithfully outline my ideal upon the retentive can- 
 vas. 
 
 Then I turn to the world and say, "Come and see 
 the picture of the Son of God." They look, and what 
 do they see? The picture of a man! It is useless! 
 
 Let us go back, if we may, to the days of Christ 
 himself. For us let time be reversed. Back to the 
 days when America was born! Back to the days 
 when Britain was born! Back to the days when 
 Rome fell ! Back to the time when Christ called his 
 twelve apostles! Let us seek Jesus! And as we 
 enter the narrow streets of Jerusalem, and thrill 
 with the life of the Holy Land, we come upon the 
 object of our search. It is ours to touch his hand, to 
 listen to his voice. Eagerly we turn to the throngs 
 of bystanders, and in the language of John cry, "Be- 
 hold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the 
 world." 
 
 They look and what do they see? They listen, 
 and what do they hear? Having eyes they see not; 
 having ears they hear not. "Is not this Jesus, the 
 son of Joseph? His father and mother are well 
 known to us. Why, then, say that he is the Son of 
 God?" 
 
 In despair we cry out, "Lord, if they are to see 
 this great fact you must reveal it to them ! We can- 
 not." 
 
 Ah! there is the secret of it all. For the Master 
 
Preaching Jesus 
 
 himself said that flesh and blood had not revealed 
 that fact to Peter nor indeed could it do so. 
 
 Therein is shown the need of present revelation. 
 Without a constant revelation to each generation new 
 born into the kingdom, there would soon be a church 
 composed of members who would be ignorant of the 
 great fact on which the church rests. For it is not 
 a fact that can be made known by word of mouth 
 alone, or by written word, or by art or science. "No 
 man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the 
 Holy Ghost." 
 
 Therein is revealed the cooperation between man 
 and God. It has pleased God to save the world by the 
 foolishness of preaching, and to that end preachers 
 are sent; yet it is equally true that no man can dis- 
 cern the Son of God excepting as divine influences 
 make him known. 
 
 The apostles had been with Christ. They could 
 tell of his life and teachings down to the minutest 
 detail. They were those "who from the beginning 
 were eye-witnesses" ; they told what their "eyes had 
 seen and what their hands had handled" of the word 
 of life. Yet these facts did not qualify them to 
 preach Christ to men. They had to tarry at Jeru- 
 salem until they were endowed with power from on 
 high, so that when they preached Christ that Spirit 
 would whisper to the hearer, "It is true," and being 
 powerfully drawn he might obey and be born again 
 by that same power from on high. 
 
 Let those who preach Christ ever bear this in 
 
292 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 mind. The Comforter is sent to testify of him, and 
 without its cooperation we are commanded that we 
 shall not teach it is useless and even dangerous to 
 attempt to portray divinity to humanity unless 
 divinity shall aid us. 
 
LOVE 
 
 (Sermon at Lamoni, Iowa, 1915.) 
 
 M THEME is compassed in a single word, 
 i word of only four letters. This word, or 
 its equivalent, is as old as creation. Adam 
 whispered it in the ears of Eve as they walked in the 
 lovely lanes of Eden. With it they solaced each other 
 when they were driven out into a harsh and bitter 
 world. The sons of Adam still delight to whisper 
 this word into the ears of the blushing daughters of 
 Eve ; and speaking it and hearing it, they turn their 
 footsteps back towards the paradise that was lost. 
 If we ever regain that paradise it will be because we 
 have learned the full import of that word. 
 
 This word, we may presume, is the watchword of 
 the angels of heaven when they leave the courts of 
 glory and come down to earth to minister to the heirs 
 of salvation; and having finished their work of 
 watching over the cradles of little babes, guiding the 
 wandering feet of children, ministering to strong 
 men and women who are heartsick, and smoothing 
 the pillow of troubled age, when they return again, 
 I imagine that the austere angel who stands at the 
 pearly gates, halts them until they repeat this watch- 
 word. 
 
 They do not forget it. If they were to forget it, 
 they would not be worthy to remain in heaven as the 
 
 293 
 
294 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 angels of God. They could not minister on earth to 
 the heirs of salvation. 
 
 CHRIST IS GOD'S DECLARATION OF LOVE 
 
 This is the word that God himself, stooping down 
 from on high, spoke to a dying world, in the person of 
 Jesus Christ; for Jesus Christ is God's declaration 
 of love to the world. "God so loved the world," we 
 are told in John 3 : 16, "that he gave his only be- 
 gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life." 
 
 The theme, then, that we wish to consider is that 
 of "Love." 
 
 I call your attention to three texts. The first one 
 is: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath 
 bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons 
 of God" (1 John 3:1). 
 
 The second is: "We love him, because he first 
 loved us (1 John 4: 19). 
 
 And the third is : "For this is the message that ye 
 heard from the beginning, that we should love one 
 another" <1 John 3: 11). 
 
 GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD 
 
 Taking up, then, the first division of the theme, the 
 love of God for man: Why was it that God sent his 
 Son into the world? 
 
 He was not moved by any of the considerations 
 that commonly sway humanity. He did not have 
 anything to gain. His glory could not possibly be in- 
 creased. It was already infinite and ineffable. 
 
Love 295 
 
 But we are told that he sent his Son into the world 
 because he so loved the world. Yes, he loved us be- 
 fore we loved him. We are told that "We love him, 
 because he first loved us." 
 
 We have had some discussion about the atonement 
 of Jesus Christ and the place of his death in that 
 atonement. I do not intend to enter upon any dis- 
 cussion of that at this time, but we will all agree in 
 this thought, that the death and sufferings of Jesus 
 Christ were not designed to bribe or to propitiate an 
 angry or an indifferent God and win his favor and 
 approbation for man. 
 
 Before there was the first dimmest stirring of an 
 impulse of love in our hearts for God, God loved us. 
 He loved the world before his Son came into the 
 world. 
 
 BRIDGING HELL GATE 
 
 What place does this have in the economy of God ? 
 They are building now in New York City at a place 
 called Hell Gate (an appropriate name for our illus- 
 tration), a great steel bridge, and they are building 
 simultaneously from the two banks of the stream. 
 It is to be a single great arch, or span. By and by 
 this arch will meet in the middle of the span, and the 
 bridge will be complete. 
 
 And so, when the love of man for God, and the 
 love of God for man, springing from earth towards 
 heaven, and from heaven towards earth, finally meet, 
 then the gap is bridged, and there is a highway 
 
296 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 formed by which we can approach God. That is the 
 place that love has in the economy of God. 
 
 IN LIFE OR IN DEATH 
 
 What evidence have we of God's love? We have 
 the evidence of his sacrifice and his service. 
 
 What is the extent of this love ? We read : 
 
 "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, 
 nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
 present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, 
 nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us 
 from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
 Lord." Romans 8 : 38, 39. 
 
 That means, if it means anything, that the love 
 of God is going to seek after every individual born 
 into the world, and there is no power on earth, or 
 under the earth, there is no other creature that can 
 overthrow the designs of God. His love will reach 
 every man somewhere, sometime. 
 
 WHO NEITHER LOVE NOR ARE LOVED 
 
 I heard Billy Sunday say, about two weeks ago, 
 that those people who say there is probation after 
 death are all liars. But a greater than Billy Sunday 
 has said that death cannot separate us from the love 
 of God. The gospel is to every creature. 
 
 If there is any benighted creature in any dark 
 corner of the universe whom this message of love has 
 failed to reach in 'this life, it will reach after him 
 until it finds him, somewhere, sometime. He will not 
 be given up until he rejects that message. There is 
 
Love 297 
 
 only one thing that can separate us from the love of 
 God our own personal will. 
 
 And finally when that love reaches that individual, 
 if he shall then fling it away willfully, after tasting 
 it, then, and only then will he be sent down to dwell 
 with the "sons of perdition," who neither love nor 
 are loved and that is hell. 
 
 LOVE IN THE PRESENT TENSE 
 
 As Latter Day Saints, we prefer to think of God's 
 love in the present tense. 
 
 We read that God used to give the people certain 
 blessings, and we are told that certain signs shall 
 follow, and that the manifestations of the Spirit 
 are given to every man; but the world tells us that 
 these things are not for us. What is the matter? 
 Is God a respecter of persons? 
 
 He always connected his commandments to serve 
 him with his promises of blessing. If the promises 
 of blessing are not good any longer, then the com- 
 mandments to serve him are no longer binding. 
 
 THE SHADOW OF A LOAF 
 
 Two travelers came to an inn and put up for the 
 night. One of them became very sick and could eat 
 neither supper nor breakfast ; but in the morning the 
 inkeeper insisted that he should pay for both of the 
 meals. Finally a third man appeared, and all agreed 
 to leave the dispute to his judgment to decide. 
 
 He said to the man who was sick, "Give me two 
 pieces of silver." He was given the pieces of silver, 
 
298 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 and then he rattled them by the ear of the inkeeper 
 and said : "This man got only the smell of your meat ; 
 you get only the jingle of his money." 
 
 If we get only the smell of the meat that our older 
 brothers ate, then God can justly claim only the 
 jingle of our money in the way of service and that, 
 by the way, is about all the world is giving him. 
 
 But the matter is reversed. The world is only will- 
 ing to give God the jingle of its money, and hence the 
 world gets only the smell of the meat that Peter ate, 
 the shadow of the bread of life on which Paul feasted. 
 
 God is willing to bless now as much as in the past. 
 
 HARD-HEADED AND SOFT-HEARTED SERVICE 
 
 Taking up the second division of the text, our love 
 for God : We are commanded in Mark 12 : 30, that we 
 shall love God with all our heart, and with all our 
 mind, with all our soul, and with all our strength. 
 
 The heart is the seat of the emotions, so our re- 
 ligion ought to be emotional. The brain is the seat 
 of intelligence, so our service should be intelligent, 
 rational. We are to love him with our heart, and 
 with our mind ; so our religion and our service ought 
 to be intelligent as well as emotional. 
 
 And finally, we are told that we should love him 
 with all our soul. The soul, we are told in the Book 
 of Covenants, is the body and 'the spirit, the whole 
 man. There is no power or quality, no part of us 
 that should not be enlisted in God's service, domi- 
 nated by love. 
 
 Who is it that loves God ? In John 14 : 21 we are 
 
Love 299 
 
 told, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth 
 them, he it is that loveth me/' 
 
 We have here the test of our love for God; that 
 is, that we shall have his commandments, and that 
 we shall keep them. We should manifest our love 
 by service and by obedience. 
 
 LOVE TRANSLATED INTO TERMS OF SERVICE 
 
 I will not, however, dwell long upon that part, but 
 pass to the third division: The love of man for his 
 fellow men. 
 
 John says, in substance, How can a man love God 
 whom he hath not seen, if he does not love his 
 brother, whom he hath seen. In other words, if we 
 love God we will manifest that love in service for our 
 fellow men. 
 
 We are told in Doctrine and Covenants 42 : 8 : 
 
 "If thou lovest me, thou shalt serve me and keep all 
 my commandments. And, behold, thou wilt remem- 
 ber the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for 
 their support, that which thou hast to impart unto 
 them, with a covenant and a deed which cannot be 
 broken; and inasmuch as ye impart of your sub- 
 stance unto the poor, ye will do it unto me." 
 
 The thought is that if we love God we will love our 
 fellow men. And if we love our fellow men we will 
 give of our surplus properties for their support when 
 they are poor and in need. 
 
 The same idea is presented in James the second 
 chapter : 
 
 "If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute 01 
 
300 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in 
 peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye 
 give them not those things which are needful to the 
 body; what doth it profit?" 
 
 And he goes on to tell us that kind of religion, like 
 faith without works, is dead. 
 
 And in 1 John 3 : 17 : "But whoso hath this world's 
 goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth 
 up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth 
 the love of God in him?" 
 
 The answer is, It does not dwell there at all. 
 
 Our love of our fellow man will be manifested in 
 our service to him, and it will take not only a 
 spiritual, but a material or temporal turn. Without 
 this evidence we cannot demonstrate that we do 
 really and truly love God. 
 
 One thing that we as a people must cast out of our 
 lives is selfishness, the very reverse of this love of 
 God. Selfishness is the thing that hinders our 
 progress. He who labors in Zion for money, accord- 
 ing to the divine statement, shall perish. But it 
 seems that on every turn we are hindered by this 
 selfishness that occupies our hearts. How shall we 
 get rid of it? 
 
 I think Tennyson perceived the truth when he 
 said: 
 
 "Love took up the harp of life, and smote on all the chords 
 
 with might; 
 
 Smote the chord of self, that, trembling, passed in music 
 out of sight." 
 
Love 301 
 
 This hateful love of self, when it is touched by the 
 divine love of God, passes in music out of sight. 
 
 TWO JUDEAN BROTHERS 
 
 According to an old tradition, two brothers lived 
 in Judea on adjoining farms. One of them was 
 single, and lived alone; the other had a wife and 
 many children. One night during the harvest season 
 the man who was single said, "My brother has many 
 mouths to feed. To-night, while it is dark, I will 
 carry some of my sheaves over and set them in his 
 field, and in the morning he will rejoice to see his 
 plentiful harvest." 
 
 And the same night the other brother said, "My 
 brother is sad and lonely, while I have many to cheer 
 me. To-night I will carry some of my sheaves over 
 the line and set them in his field, and in the morning 
 his heart will be made glad to see his bountiful 
 harvest." 
 
 So each carried out his plan for two nights in suc- 
 cession. But on the third night the moon came out 
 and they came face to face. Tradition says that on 
 that spot the temple at Jerusalem was built, because 
 there earth came nearest heaven. 
 
 When we get the fullness of that spirit, and each 
 seeks his brother's good, then we can build the 
 temple of God, for then earth will come near to 
 heaven and heaven near to earth, and Jesus will be 
 ready to come and take up his abode among men. 
 
THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM- 
 THE SHEPHERD'S SONG 
 
 r I "lHE twenty-third psalm is recognized as one of 
 the masterpieces of literature. Its beauty has 
 won the admiration of the irreligious. Those 
 of a religious inclination have loved it because it ex- 
 pressed in the finest possible manner sentiments that 
 they have felt but could not express. 
 
 The twenty-third psalm is a triumph. For three 
 thousand years' it has stood as a witness that sim- 
 plicity is the best expression of greatness. How 
 simple its imagery a stream of water, green fields, 
 a shepherd, a flock of sheep. How simple the words, 
 as translated, mostly one and two syllable words. 
 Common words. Yes, common words. Who can dis- 
 pense with the common things ? As one old violinist 
 expressed it in his homely way, "You may buy a 
 fifty-dollar violin ; but you can't make music without 
 the aid of a five-cent lump of rosin." 
 
 The twenty-third psalm is a triumph. Almost any- 
 one can take an unimportant thought and clothe it 
 in big words so that no one can understand it. That 
 is easy. To take a thought that is profound, funda- 
 mental, and explain it so simply that all may under- 
 stand, is a triumph. The twenty-third psalm con- 
 tains elemental thoughts. It deals with life, death, 
 love, enmity, and above all with faith, in an arrange- 
 
 302 
 
The Twenty-third Psalm 303 
 
 ment of something like one hundred and seventeen 
 words that anyone can understand and no one can 
 excel. 
 
 The man or woman who imitates this psalm in 
 his life and makes that life a simple and humble in- 
 terpretation of great truths will be the true and suc- 
 cessful messenger of the covenant. Simplicity of 
 dress, simplicity of conversation and deportment, 
 are all consistent with true greatness; in fact, are 
 inseparable from true greatness. 
 
 The twenty-third psalm breathes sincerity. David 
 meant what he wrote. Otherwise he could not have 
 written the twenty-third psalm. He might have 
 written a pretentious poem, ornate with sounding 
 phrases, but a minor poem. To be sincere and simple 
 is to be Godlike. David felt what he wrote as plainly 
 as one feels hunger, cold, love, repose; and so his 
 psalm goes home to the hearts of men and women. 
 
 "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." The 
 man who can say that and say it truthfully is in- 
 deed fortunate. In this age of uncertainty and doubt, 
 when many conflicting claims are urged in the name 
 of religion, and when thousands have abandoned re- 
 ligion and have written as the chief articles in their 
 confession the negative proposition, "I do not know," 
 it is a wonderful thing to be able to say, "The Lord is 
 my shepherd." It may be easy to say, as a mere 
 matter of articulation, but let us not deceive our- 
 selves ; to say it truly one must not only acknowledge 
 
304 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 the leadership of Christ, but indeed be really follow- 
 ing him. 
 
 A great many people acknowledge Christ, in a way. 
 Spiritualism and every other ism tries to hide be- 
 hind him. . "Yes," they say, "Christ was a spiritual- 
 ist. Christ was the greatest medium that ever 
 lived." And so the argument is, "Christ was like 
 me," which is vastly different from saying, "I am 
 trying to be like Christ." 
 
 To be able to say, "The Lord is my shepherd," 
 argues not only a certain amount of obedient 
 righteousness, but also a certain communication 
 with God. Yes, we can base our argument for con- 
 tinued revelation even on the opening line of the 
 twenty-third psalm, the classic that has cheered 
 multitudes of orthodox Christians. There is only 
 one way for any man to know that Christ is his 
 personal shepherd. He cannot know that fact by 
 reading it in the Bible, because it is not stated any- 
 where in the Bible. He cannot know it by reading 
 that Christ was the shepherd of David or of Paul. 
 He can only know it when, like David and Paul,, .he 
 establishes personal communication with the great 
 Shepherd. 
 
 "He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth 
 them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, 
 he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him : for 
 they know his voice. And a stranger they will not 
 follow." John 10:3, 5. 
 
 To argue that this is not an age of revelation and 
 
The Twenty-third Psalm 305 
 
 that communication between God and man has 
 ceased, is folly. If we have no communication with 
 our heavenly Leader, then we are indeed left with 
 earthly leaders who are no better than we blind 
 leaders of a blind people. Yet, strangely enough, 
 such a proposition has been urged ever since the day 
 when Joseph Smith first announced that he had seen 
 a vision. It is merely an argument of convenience, 
 urged because no other comes to hand; and we can 
 afford to ignore it because the men who urge it most 
 strenuously themselves deny it at every popular re- 
 vival. 
 
 "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he 
 leadeth me beside the still ivaters." This might not 
 mean so much in a land where all fields are green and 
 where water is so common that though indispensable 
 to human life it is described as "having no economic 
 value." But in the land where David dwelt were 
 many sandy wastes, streams were infrequent, and 
 the words water and green fields conveyed more than 
 mere poetic pleasure. 
 
 As a shepherd lad, David had often led his sheep 
 along the dusty highway and over barren plains, hot 
 sand under foot, hot sun overhead, hot wind on the 
 cheek, until at last they came down into the feeding 
 places, cool green fields beside the still waters. 
 
 When he became the sweet singer of Israel, he re- 
 membered that scene. He made it a part of his great 
 psalm. He recognized that even as he had been a 
 
306 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 shepherd and had led his sheep, so Christ was a 
 shepherd and was leading him. 
 
 The individual who has journeyed even a short 
 distance in this old world begins to appreciate what 
 it means to bear the "heat and burden of the day." 
 Sorrow, sickness, poverty, loss of loved ones, the un- 
 faithfulness of friends, one or all of these will find 
 him out, whatever his station, and will compel him to 
 seek consolation somewhere. Happy is the man who 
 finds his way to the green pastures and the still 
 waters of God's love. 
 
 "He restoreth my soul." The Book of Doctrine and 
 Covenants tells us, "The spirit and the body is the 
 soul of man. And the resurrection from the dead 
 is the redemption of the soul ; and the redemption of 
 the soul is through him who quickeneth all things." 
 In the light of this definition of the human soul, a 
 true one, we believe, we see that the restoration of 
 the soul means the conquering of death and sin and 
 the reuniting of body and spirit in a condition of 
 purity and perfection. 
 
 "He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his 
 name's sake." The Saints of God are bought with a 
 price. They are no longer free to do whatever ex- 
 travagant fancy may urge. Their actions reflect 
 credit or discredit upon their Master and upon the 
 cause for which he died. It is their duty to walk in 
 paths of righteousness "for his name's sake." They 
 cannot go with the world and do as the world does. 
 To be correct in doctrine and dogmas is not enough. 
 
The Twenty-third Psalm 307 
 
 They must cleave to that which is good and eschew 
 that which is evil, "for his name's sake," if for no 
 other reason. 
 
 When we reach the point where we will stop to 
 consider the inevitable results of certain lines of con- 
 duct as affecting the work in general, the church will 
 begin to arise and shine. When the world sends us 
 a gilded invitation to attend its continuous vaude- 
 ville, let us write across the face of that invitation 
 the third verse of the twenty-third psalm, and say 
 no, "for his name's sake." 
 
 11 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the 
 shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art 
 with me ; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." It 
 is easy to se.e where David got that figure of speech 
 "The valley of the shadow of death." As one ap- 
 proaches the mountains he crosses sun-kissed plains, 
 but when he enters the canyon, where granite walls 
 loom up on either side, he enters the chill and shadow 
 of another world. Yet, if he persists on up the val- 
 ley, he at last comes out upon the heights where the 
 sun is still shining, shining with a beauty not before 
 realized. Wonderful the panorama that is then un- 
 folded to his vision ! 
 
 The valley of the shadow of death lies before us 
 all. The chill and gloom that is there felt by the 
 bravest explorer has given death his title, "The king 
 of terrors." Yet David said that he would fear no 
 evil. Why? Because the Lord would be with him; 
 
308 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 and because he knew that beyond that valley of the 
 shadow the sun was still shining. 
 
 "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Some- 
 times an obscure expression is understood when we 
 know the customs surrounding the author during his 
 youth. Apostle Paul M. Hanson gave an explanation 
 of this phrase gleaned from his travels in the Holy 
 Land. He was told that it is the custom of the 
 shepherds on dark and stormy nights to precede 
 their flocks, and as they go to rap with their staffs 
 upon the rocks and bowlders; the sheep hear and 
 are comforted as they follow the unseen shepherd 
 home to the fold. 
 
 "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence 
 of mine enemies : Thou anointest my head with oil ; 
 my cup runneth over." It seems strange that a fol- 
 lower of Christ should have enemies. Yet such is 
 frequently the case. The lion's den, the fiery furnace, 
 dungeons, the scourge, the cross with these argu- 
 ments an offended world has reasoned with men 
 whose pious lives have been a rebuke more scathing 
 than any denunciation. The day of such persecution 
 is not past. Husbands who are otherwise kind still 
 make life a burden for wives whose only offense is 
 that they wish to live the life of a consistent church 
 member. Young men and women are still disin- 
 herited by parents and disowned by associates be- 
 cause in the day of choosing they have chosen the 
 right and because that right came under the banner 
 of the restored gospel. 
 
The Twenty-third Psalm 309 
 
 When the young man through whom that gospel 
 was restored went out in the woods to pray on that 
 spring morning, the only thing in the world that he 
 wanted to know was what he ought to do. God told 
 him what to do and he did it. For that he was hated. 
 The thread of hatred that runs through the history 
 shows red at Carthage, Illinois, as plainly as it did in 
 Jerusalem or in Ephesus. Yet, paralleling it, runs 
 the white thread of God's love. "Thou preparest a 
 table before me in the presence of mine enemies." 
 Have not the individual Saints tested that promise, 
 at Kirtland, in Missouri, at Nauvoo, and found it 
 true ? Immortal psalm ! Unfailing promises ! 
 
 "Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth 
 over." This is an expression of the unstinted beauty 
 of God. We serve a generous God. Christ, our elder 
 brother, is an advocate of the idea of giving good 
 measure, pressed down and running over. 
 
 "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the 
 days of my life : and I will dwell in the house of the 
 Lord forever." How proud men are to build and 
 beautify a house here on earth ! The poor man saves 
 and economizes and never quite gives up the idea of 
 owning a little home of his own. He dies in a rented 
 house, and some one has cheated him out of his birth- 
 right. The rich man schemes and speculates, beats 
 close to the lee shore of the law, that he may build 
 a mansion. All that money and power can com- 
 mand and art and skill supply goes into a marble 
 pile of faultless design and appointment. 
 
310 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 But while the mills of finance are grinding out 
 the dollars and the masons are building them into 
 walls and the sculptors chiseling them into statuary 
 and the landscape gardener transmuting them into 
 lawns and parks, the sun rises and sets, time moves 
 regularly on, and about the time the grand ensemble 
 is nicely arranged, the proud owner is filed away in 
 the family vault, where the .quarters are close and 
 the atmosphere depressing, yet where none complain. 
 
 Why give so much attention to our temporary 
 home? Why give so little attention to our eternal 
 home ? If all would plan to be associates in the house 
 of the Lord in the life to come, we might be able to 
 strike a balance between the palace and the tenement 
 here in this life. So far as the future is concerned, 
 we are assured that in our Father's house there are 
 many mansions. 
 
 The twenty-third psalm deals with affairs in this 
 life, with affairs in the world to come ; and with the 
 much dreaded passage from the one to the other. It 
 is essentially a message of comfort, and its keynote 
 is trust. It defends its own claim to immortality. 
 The Jews carried it with them into Babylon. The 
 ten tribes took it with them into their captivity. 
 Probably Lehi brought it with him to the promised 
 land. Our Lord heard it repeated when he was a lad. 
 Now it comes to us, after long centuries, "borne on 
 the wings of a hundred translations," venerable with 
 age, yet clothed in immortal youth. 
 
MUSIC AS THE HANDMAIDEN OF 
 RELIGION 
 
 (Address delivered at the Stone Church, Independence, Mis- 
 souri, June 27, 1920, during the Musical Festival, held under 
 the auspices of the Department of Music.) 
 
 THE theme that I have selected for the morn- 
 ing's address is, "Music the handmaiden of re- 
 ligion." It might be well for us briefly to re- 
 view the historic connection of music with religion. 
 
 One writer on the subject, that I have read after, 
 says that "among all people music first originated 
 in religious service." If that be true, it means, in 
 other words, that among all people music first 
 originated in man's effort to express his religious 
 emotions and convictions, and would justify the 
 theme I have selected, music as the handmaiden of 
 religion. 
 
 Filmore, in his Lessons on Musical History says, 
 "In all ancient nations music was believed to be of 
 divine origin," and Tapper, in his Essentials of 
 Musical History says, concerning the Hebrews, "Both 
 Hebrew poetry and music seem to have served from 
 the beginning no other purpose whatever than to 
 extol Jehovah and proclaim and emphasize divine 
 ideals and ideas." 
 
 We are particularly interested in Hebrew history 
 because, as Christians, we inherit from Judah; and 
 
 311 
 
312 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 it is equally true, probably, that in the early Chris- 
 tian church music served no other purpose whatever 
 than to extol the name of Jehovah, and to proclaim 
 divine ideals and ideas. 
 
 Of course in modern Christianity music has come 
 to serve many social functions; also military func- 
 tions, and it is probably true that a great many 
 modern Christians are more familiar with the music 
 of the dance hall and theater than the music of the 
 church. 
 
 ORIGIN OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 
 
 The origin of musical instruments was prior to 
 authentic history. We do not know whether Adam 
 and Eve had any music in the home. If not, that may 
 account for the trouble they had with Cain. It is 
 hard to think of them raising their children without 
 at least a jew's-harp, or its equivalent. But it is a 
 fact that as far back as the fourth chapter of Genesis 
 the statement is made of Tubal-cain that he was the 
 "father" or teacher of all those who played upon the 
 harp and organ. He was about the seventh or eighth 
 from Adam, so thus early in their history they had 
 developed two very distinct types of musical instru- 
 ments. 
 
 It is thought that instruments of percussion were 
 first invented, beginning, perhaps, with the effort of 
 some ambitious drum major, who pounded on a hol- 
 low log with a club. From this evolved the great 
 family of drums, bells, cymbals, and other instru- 
 ments of percussion. 
 
Music the Handmaiden of Religion 313 
 
 The wind instruments were next invented, be- 
 ginning with very simple forms, a flute with a single 
 note, or a whistle, or something of that kind, and 
 from that humble beginning was evolved the many 
 wind instruments that we have, up to the great pipe 
 organ, king of them all. So that the shepherd lad 
 who played upon a pipe of oat straw, or the pandean 
 pipes, had a potential cathedral pipe organ in his 
 hand. Of course, he didn't know it. He was a 
 pioneer experimenter, and many had to follow after 
 him. 
 
 Then came the stringed instruments, beginning, 
 perhaps, with an instrument of a single string, and 
 suggested by the twanging of a bowstring. That 
 would be my guess, and the theory of evolution being 
 a series of guesses, I guess that my guess is as good 
 as anybody's guess. From that beginning was evolved 
 all the various stringed instruments, including that 
 prince of them all, the violin, whose beautiful music 
 we have just listened to. Finally, in our day we have 
 invented the most singular instrument of all, the 
 mechanical mocking bird of the musical world the 
 phonograph. I sometimes think it must have been a 
 severe jolt to Father Time when the phonograph 
 was invented. Singers sometimes sing to kill time, 
 and time then kills the singer, and that used to end 
 it. When Father Time got tired of the croaking of 
 any particular musician, he could finish him off and 
 that was the end of the story ; but now we can wind 
 up a man's voice on a spool and unwind it long after 
 he is dead. 
 
314 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 Caruso, I suppose, will sing just as sweetly twenty 
 years after he is dead. Harry Lauder will laugh just 
 as infectiously the day after his funeral as he does 
 to-day. But, of course, if that were the only kind of 
 immortality, consisting of a series of indentations in 
 wax, it would be a poor kind of immortality. 
 
 The point I am working up to is this, that all these 
 instruments have been used in religious services : and 
 all of them, moreover, have been used in conjunction 
 with the human voice, which is the first great 
 musical instrument, in the service of God. So we 
 are justified in concluding that music is indeed the 
 handmaiden of religion. 
 
 THE DEVIL STOLE MUSIC 
 
 It is true that the Devil took over to his own use 
 musical service, to a large extent. We ought not to 
 hold that against music, however, because we must 
 remember that he took over the whole thing, 
 monasteries, churches, ministers, ritual the whole 
 business not simply music. Yet there was in 
 Christendom a rather natural reaction on that ac- 
 count, and the early Christians would not tolerate 
 any kind of musical instrument, because they had 
 seen how in Greece, where they had a large follow- 
 ing, all these instruments were prostituted to the 
 service of Bacchus and Venus in all kinds of immoral 
 rites. They went to the extreme of rebellion against 
 that prostitution, and it was a long time before they 
 would tolerate any kind of musical instrument. 
 
 We have seen the same reaction in our own day. 
 
Music the Handmaiden of Religion 315 
 
 The organ had a hard struggle to get into the church. 
 There is one denomination to-day that will not have 
 the organ in its service. The violin was long con- 
 sidered to be of the Devil, and would not be tolerated 
 in the musical service. And it is said of one of the 
 early pioneers in our church, Lyman Wight, that he 
 would not allow the congregation in his charge to 
 sing the different parts. They could sing soprano, 
 but they must not sing anything else lest they 
 pander to the world. So the young people congre- 
 gated out in the woods, of moonlight nights, while 
 Lyman was asleep, and sang the different parts. 
 
 SPHERE MUSIC 
 
 There have been in the past a number of great 
 musical festivals. Job tells us that when the founda- 
 tions of the earth were laid, "The morning stars 
 sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for 
 joy." That may be the origin of the idea that we so 
 frequently note in literature. I refer to the idea of 
 sphere music. The idea that the stars, as they roll 
 upon their wings, "in the midst of the glory of God," 
 as the Book of Covenants says, give forth a melody 
 too deep and grand for mortal ears to hear, but al- 
 ways ascending to God on high in praise and adora- 
 tion. 
 
 Be that as it may, if Job was right, when the 
 corner stone of the earth was laid they had a musical 
 festival. 
 
 On the occasion when the Israelites had crossed 
 the Red Sea, and while they were yet looking upon 
 
316 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 the dead bodies of the Egyptians cast upon the 
 shore, and while their hearts were filled with the 
 terror and the wonder of the miracle that they had 
 witnessed, they got together and held a musical 
 festival, and the record says, "Then sang Moses and 
 the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and 
 spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath 
 triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath 
 he thrown into the sea." The song continues through 
 the greater part of the fifteenth chapter of Exodus ; 
 and at its close all of the women, led by Miriam, 
 came forth with their timbrels or tambourines, and 
 danced and repeated the song that the men had just 
 finished. 
 
 IN THE SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS 
 
 The Israelites are said to have carried with them 
 the musical culture of Egypt, which was more or 
 less well developed and then they proceeded to de- 
 velop a musical program of their own, particularly 
 in the temple service. The leaders in this move- 
 ment were the prophets, and especially David. Luther 
 said, "Music is the art of the prophets." And Smith's 
 Bible Dictionary is authority for the statement that 
 music was one of the chief things taught in the 
 school of the prophets. Speaking of David, you will 
 remember the occasion when he went into the tent 
 of Saul, who was possessed of a devil, and with the 
 aid of his harp, cast out the evil spirit. Rather a 
 significant incident. David seemed to have been 
 efficient in casting out devils; he cast one out of 
 
Music the Handmaiden of Religion 317 
 
 Goliath and one out of Saul, using two different in- 
 struments, but both of them very effectively. 
 
 I might digress here to say that I have heard dif- 
 ferent men on different occasions argue that the ex- 
 perience of David was an evidence that we ought not 
 to make preparation. We ought simply to trust God. 
 Now that's a good argument if it is properly applied, 
 but it may be carried too far. We may have a mental 
 picture of David waving aside the armor and sword 
 offered to him and going out with his sling, firing at 
 random, God taking charge of the missile and plant- 
 ing it, ping! right in the center of the giant's fore- 
 head, thus ending the story; but probably the facts 
 are that David had passed many years practicing 
 with the instrument used against the giant. He had 
 been a shepherd boy, and I presume he had practiced 
 on animate and inanimate targets until nine times 
 out of ten he could put a pebble just where he wanted 
 to; so, while he went out with faith, trusting God 
 and giving him glory, he was ready. If there is any- 
 thing in his experience, it is an argument in favor of 
 practice and preparation. 
 
 So, when he went into the tent of Saul, I do not 
 think he went unprepared. Sanil was a fearsome man 
 to face, at best, and when he was possessed of a devil 
 it must have been a trying experience to go into his 
 tent and confront him. I do not think that David 
 went in and practiced some wild incantation like an 
 Indian medicine man that exorcised the evil spirit 
 through some magic rite. David was a master of the 
 
318 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 harp, and I imagine that he played melodies, and 
 sang songs redolent with sacred memories that ap- 
 pealed to Saul, and created a religious, harmonious 
 atmosphere in which the Devil did not feel at home, 
 so he got up and left. That was all. The Devil 
 doesn't like harmony. He likes discord. David 
 brought in a quieting, soothing, religious atmosphere 
 of music, and the result was that the evil spirit left 
 Saul. But it takes practice to do that. I wouldn't 
 try to play on the harp. I am afraid it would have 
 exactly the opposite effect and the Devil enter into 
 my hearers. 
 
 AFTER THEY HAD SUNG A HYMN 
 
 When Jesus came into the world it is recorded that 
 the heavenly host appeared over Judea singing and 
 praising God, and wishing humanity well. When 
 Jesus was about to leave this old earth he called his 
 disciples into an upper room where they observed the 
 Passover. He served them the sacrament, and finally 
 when they were about to disband, never to meet 
 again in the flesh, this very brief but very significant 
 statement is made, "And after they had sung a 
 hymn they went out unto the Mount of Olives." 
 
 Who do you think suggested singing that hymn? 
 Who do you suppose selected that hymn? Jesus 
 Christ had been Master of ceremonies all during the 
 evening." He was president of the meeting, and with- 
 out doubt he chose, at the last moment of his last 
 meeting with his disciples, to engage in song service 
 with them. 
 
Music the Handmaiden of Religion 319 
 
 THE OBJECTIVE OF MUSICAL CULTURE 
 
 But perhaps we had better pass on to another 
 phase of the subject that I am to consider, and that 
 is, Music as a means and not an end, in itself. A 
 critic I have recently read after, said that too often 
 church music is regarded as an end in itself, when it 
 always should be a means to an end. In other words, 
 our musicians should not be satisfied with obtaining 
 perfection of expression. 
 
 They ought not to think of it as being their func- 
 tion to entertain or to show off, but it is theirs to 
 engage in religious service, and their profession is 
 not an end in itself, but a means to an end. We may 
 discover what that end is when we ask ourselves, 
 What is the end of all religion? The answer comes 
 back immediately, It is the development and salva- 
 tion of man: First to win sinners to Christ, and 
 second to help Christians live the Christian religion. 
 
 The gospel of Jesus Christ has a twofold task. The 
 first is by argumentation and logic to convince the 
 mind of man; and the second is to break the stub- 
 born and wicked heart of man; and I conclude that 
 you cannot get very far convincing the brain of man 
 until you break the heart of man, and make him truly 
 repentant. Here is where music enters in, because 
 it appeals, not logically but directly, through emo- 
 tion. It is the language that speaks to the heart. 
 After the preacher has reasoned and the sinner sits 
 unconvinced, the people sing "Nearer, my God, to 
 
320 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 thee," and something comes into his heart that com- 
 pletes the work. 
 
 If this, then, is the objective of music, there ought 
 to be in the church the closest cooperation between 
 the music department and the department of preach- 
 ing the work of the preacher being primarily the 
 mission of preaching to save the world. 
 
 IS MUSIC PERFORMING ITS MISSION? 
 
 We may ask ourselves two questions, and the first 
 of these is this : Is music performing its full mission 
 in the work of developing and saving man in con- 
 nection with the work of preaching the word? I 
 mean throughout the church, in all the branches and 
 districts. Not so many years ago I attended a re- 
 union. The prayer services were splendid; preach- 
 ing was fine I thought so ; I did part of it myself 
 but the music was simply atrocious. It was a 
 tragedy. There was one time when the music de- 
 partment was not performing its full function in the 
 work of reaching sinners and comforting Saints. 
 
 Music has its work among Saints in the preaching 
 meeting, in the prayer meeting, and in revival 
 services, to create an atmosphere religious in char- 
 acter, so that the hearts of the people will be ready 
 for the word of instruction or admonition, as the case 
 may be, and in missionary work in tent meetings and 
 street meetings, and missionary meetings of all 
 kinds, the music department must rally to the sup- 
 port of the preachers. 
 
 The chorister comes into close connection in his 
 
Music the Handmaiden of Religion 321 
 
 work with the preacher, and has it within his power 
 in his selection of hymns either to make or mar the 
 service, to a very great extent. 
 
 You have all heard many anecdotes about hymns 
 that have been unwisely selected. Brother Greene 
 likes to tell about one time when he and Brother 
 Phillips were holding meetings in a city in the East. 
 Brother Phillips preached on the subject "Hell" and 
 his sermon was immediately preceded by a solo, "Tell 
 mother I'll be there." 
 
 Strickland W. Gillilan said when he finished his 
 first sermon the choir sang "Hallelujah, 'tis done." 
 
 I remember perhaps I ought not to tell this, but 
 when Brother Richard Lambert, Brother Carpenter, 
 and myself were leaving Lamoni with our families 
 they gave us a little farewell meeting and sang, 
 "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." One 
 might have thought them glad to get rid of Brethren 
 Lambert and Carpenter. 
 
 In contradistinction to these experiences, I recall 
 many times when the opening hymn, without any 
 previous arrangement or understanding, has fitted in 
 with the theme so completely that it was perfectly 
 evident that there had been a spiritual cooperation 
 between the preacher and the chorister, or whoever 
 selected the hymn. 
 
 I recall one time going into the pulpit in Lamoni 
 
 to preach on the mission of Jesus Christ. No one 
 
 knew what I was going to preach about, but Brother 
 
 Burgess announced the anthem, "From glory down 
 
 11 
 
322 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 to Calvary," which fitted in with my theme so per- 
 fectly that I felt that the Spirit of God which had 
 directed me in my subject had directed him in his 
 selection of the anthem. 
 
 I may as well confess that, as a rule, I do not feel 
 very much interested in many modern anthems. It 
 is probably a lack of education on my part, but I 
 have heard a great many of which I have sometimes 
 said, if they were selling for ten cents a dozen I 
 wouldn't take home more than six of them. But 
 sometimes I hear one that is so perfect in its text, 
 music, and rendition that I feel well repaid for listen- 
 ing to those I did not enjoy. Probably, as Mark 
 Twain said, the others were better than they 
 sounded. I am more interested in congregational 
 singing. 
 
 DOES MUSIC EVER EXCEED ITS FUNCTION? 
 
 Now we must ask the question, Does music at any 
 time exceed its proper function? In the sectarian 
 churches, as we sometimes call them, the sermon 
 has been gradually crowded into a very secondary 
 place. The average sermon is not only short but 
 thin. The modern sermon is a sermonet from a 
 preacheret. A little sugar-coated pellet in a teaspoon- 
 ful of musical jelly and the preacher devoutly hopes 
 the audience will swallow the jelly without discover- 
 ing the presence of the pill. 
 
 I hope our church will always have upstanding 
 preachers who give a man's dose of gospel truth ; and 
 that their efforts will always be accompanied by a 
 
Music the Handmaiden of Religion ' 323 
 
 beautiful and powerful musical program, of proper 
 length, that will prepare the hearts of the people 
 and carry home to their emotions the gospel of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 Therefore I say, God speed the musical work, and 
 especially congregational singing. We want to re- 
 vive the spirit of song service among people, so that 
 they may sing with the choir. We will need trained 
 singers to lead us, but we must be a singing people 
 to sound forth our songs of everlasting joy in Zion. 
 
BLUE PENCIL NOTES 
 
 NOT long ago I stood on the summit of Mount 
 Manitou. About me were giant granite 
 bowlders and great pine trees; before me 
 were the eastern plains, out over which I could look 
 for more than a hundred miles and watch the play 
 of sunlight and Titanic shadows ; about me were the 
 rush and roar of the elements, for it was storming 
 where I stood. 
 
 And there I had a new vision of the awful majesty 
 and power of God. But the bigger he seemed to 
 grow to my vision the smaller I became. There was 
 nothing there in all that I saw to indicate to me that 
 the God who made Manitou had the slightest interest 
 in an insignificant creature like me. 
 
 But then there came to me something else, a 
 clearer perception than I had ever before enjoyed of 
 the great necessity that Jesus Christ should come in 
 the flesh teaching men that God does care. The 
 mountains declare a God of majesty and power; but 
 Jesus came to reveal a personal God of sympathy and 
 understanding. 
 
 The law of Moses came down from Sinai with thun- 
 der and terror, so that the people trembled in their 
 shoes and hid their eyes and said, Surely our God is 
 
 324 
 
Blue Pencil Notes 325 
 
 a terrible God of power and dominion. But Jesus 
 Christ came walking along the shores of Galilee, 
 saying, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 
 
 Through him we may dare to presume to make 
 friends with God, for he said to his followers, 
 "Henceforth I call you not servants; but I have 
 called you friends." We don't get that idea from ele- 
 mental evidences. We must have a spiritual reve- 
 lation, a revelation of God's personality. That 
 thought is tremendously important. 
 
 In all the infinitely varied, multiform manifesta- 
 tions of intelligent life in the animal world, there is 
 ever a struggle upward towards a more well-marked, 
 clearly defined, positive, and enduring personality, 
 reaching its climax in this world in man. Passing 
 from man to God is there any reason to presume 
 that the process will be reversed? Rather may we 
 assume that in him is ever resident the most com- 
 plex, yet clearly defined personality, eternal, om- 
 nipotent, omniscient, beyond our power in and of our- 
 selves ever to understand or find out. What is that 
 personality ? What are its moral attributes ? 
 
 Thomas Carlyle declared that light was ahead for 
 him and his feet had found firm standing only when 
 finally he was able to believe that God and not a 
 fiend had made the universe. Browning rejoiced 
 
326 The Word that Became Flesh 
 
 when he could write: "So, the All-Great were the 
 All-Loving too." 
 
 Very many scientists admit the existence of God 
 a God something unaccountable, unapproachable. 
 But what sort of God is it? Exactly the God that is- 
 revealed by the heart of a granite bowlder, the roar 
 of the mountain winds, the sweep of the far-flung 
 plain, the arch of the skies an elemental force, 
 awful, magnificent that may care or may not care, 
 that may feel or may not feel who knows? Man 
 cannot commune with Saturn, or have fellowship 
 with the tides, or be friends with gravitation. 
 
 Yet the idea of the personality of God is infinitely 
 important to us. On that idea hinges our destiny, 
 our very conception of our own personality. As 
 Snowden says: 
 
 "The question of the personality of God is one of 
 fundamental importance. Our answer to it will 
 frame our conception of God, of his character arid 
 worth and relation to the world; shape our view of 
 the universe; determine the reality and worth of 
 our own personality; measure all our values; decide 
 character and destiny; and underlie all our psychol- 
 ogy, ethics, economics, sociology, politics, science, 
 philosophy, and religion. As this central, sovereign 
 Personality of the universe stands or falls will all 
 finite personalities and worth abide or wither." 
 
Blue Pencil Notes 327 
 
 We are dependent upon revelation through faith 
 to bring us any true concept whatever of the charac- 
 ter and personality of God. And the most vital and 
 all important revelation of all time was in the person 
 of Jesus Christ. In him "the Word was made flesh 
 and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth." For 
 that revelation I was most profoundly thankful as I 
 listened to the roar of the elements upon Manitou. 
 It lightened the whole vast universe like a candle in 
 the window at home at night. It put a life and a soul 
 and a purpose into all things that I saw and heard 
 and felt. 
 
BOOK SIX 
 
 The Inside of the Cup 
 
OCEAN EVENING HYMN 
 
 The wind-tossed pines are still at last and rest them from 
 
 their strife. 
 A single star in all the vast blue sky leaps into life. 
 
 The waters sing their evening hymn along the sloping shore. 
 Now falls the purple twilight dim and night draws near 
 
 once more. 
 
 The day is dying on the sea and in the forest aisles; 
 And yet serene as one might be who falls asleep and smiles. 
 
 How ends the day for you and me, when, all life's tumult o'er, 
 The sun goes down into the sea and darkness hides the shore? 
 
 Shall we be steadfast as the pines? obedient as the tides 
 That follow where the hand divine with mighty power 
 
 guides? 
 
 Will our good vessel reef her sail by quiet, friendly shores? 
 Or rush where storm and wind prevail and angry breaker 
 
 roars? 
 
 God grant us that the twilight dim may shroud some peace- 
 ful bay 
 
 Whose ebbing tides shall sing of Him our refuge night and 
 day. 
 
 E. A. S. 
 
THE INSIDE OF THE CUP 
 
 Sermon Sunday evening, October 2, 1921, at the Stone 
 Church, Independence, Missouri. 
 
 MY TEXT to-night is found in Matthew, the 
 23d chapter, the 26th verse, "Cleanse first 
 that which is within the cup and the platter, 
 that the outside of them may be clean also." 
 
 I presume that you are all quite familiar with the 
 setting of this text, which might give us the theme, 
 "The inside of the cup." Jesus had been invited to 
 dine with the Pharisees. I am sure I do not know 
 why they invited him to dine with them, as they 
 had little in common, unless it might be that they 
 wished an opportunity to watch him and criticize 
 him and find fault. At least that was what they did. 
 They began immediately to complain that he had 
 not washed his hands before he ate. 
 
 Jesus Christ was prepared to pour out all his splen- 
 did powers in the great work of the salvation of men, 
 but he was constantly confronted by small-spirited 
 and mean-spirited men, who p'icked up these trivial 
 things that they might use them to defeat his work. 
 They watched their opportunity to complain that he 
 had not washed his hands before he ate. They com- 
 plained that he came eating and drinking and not 
 fasting as John had done. He healed the sick on the 
 Sabbath Day dreadful desecration. He even had 
 
 331 
 
332 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 the bad judgment to hail from Nazareth "Can any 
 good come out of Nazareth?" We can only guess at 
 the amount of heckling that he was compelled to en- 
 dure and the volume and kind of rumors concerning 
 him, current in Jerusalem. They began to drive the 
 nails in his hands long before the cross was put to- 
 gether. 
 
 To-day any man in any department of church work 
 who is prepared to give all his service and strength 
 and power to the upbuilding of Zion, who finds him- 
 self confronted by obstacles thrown in his path, may 
 comfort himself with the thought that the servant 
 is not greater than the master. 
 
 I do not think these Pharisees had any real cause 
 to find fault with Christ. I imagine that the reason 
 he did not wash his hands was because they were 
 clean. The difference between Jesus and the Phar- 
 isees was that they were clean on the outside only 
 while he was clean inside and outside. They were 
 thinking about ceremonial cleanliness, not sanitation. 
 From their standpoint, a vessel might be spotlessly 
 clean and sanitary and yet be ceremonially unclean. 
 
 FROM VESSELS TO MEN 
 
 Jesus usually selected his illustrations from things 
 familiar to his hearers. The country people could 
 understand the picture of the sower that went forth 
 to sow. The fisher folks could understand the illus- 
 tration of the net cast into the sea that gathered of 
 all kinds. The people from the market knew what 
 he was talking about when he said, "Are not two 
 
The Inside of the Cup 333 
 
 sparrows sold for a farthing?" And so in this in- 
 stance he used an illustration from the very table 
 before him; in Yankee parlance, from under their 
 very noses, and said, "You ought to cleanse first the 
 inside of the cup and platter." 
 
 We understand, of course, that he was not giving 
 them a lesson in dishwashing; he was talking about 
 vessels and thinking about men. And he led their 
 attention instantly from the cleansing of vessels to 
 the cleansing of men and so came immediately to the 
 very root of his philosophy; you ought to cleanse 
 first the inner man and not give all your attention to 
 externals. 
 
 That is strictly in harmony with the lesson I have 
 already read (John 3 : 1-7) where he was speaking to 
 Nicodemus, and said, "Except a man be born of 
 water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the 
 kingdom of God." I do not intend to preach a ser- 
 mon on baptism, but the thing that baptism stands 
 for is of supreme importance, and that is the thing 
 I am talking about. 
 
 A brother who had become skeptical said to me at 
 one time that he could no longer see any significance 
 in water baptism. It seems to me to have a very 
 splendid significance. From the very beginning man 
 has been accustomed to cleanse his body with water, 
 and when God selected a symbol that would stand, 
 not only to the individual but to all who had become 
 conscious of his conversion, as a symbol that would 
 typify the cleansing of his spirit from the stains of 
 
334 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 sin and evil, he instituted the ordinance of baptism 
 by immersion in water. 
 
 Of course, we understand that water cannot ac- 
 tually cleanse the spirit, because the spirit is im- 
 material and sin is immaterial and cannot be washed 
 away with water, actually. But the outward cleans- 
 ing in water is a symbol of the inner cleansing of the 
 spirit that must accompany baptism if baptism is to 
 have any force or any significance whatever. 
 
 DE FACTO CLEANLINESS 
 
 But of the two, while God teaches the great im- 
 portance of ceremonial cleanliness, cleanliness in fact 
 is of much more importance. The ceremonial symbol 
 means nothing unless it is accompanied by a corre- 
 sponding cleaning of the life of the individual who 
 submits himself to the ordinance of baptism,. God 
 wants de facto cleanliness. We may have in the 
 church men who are entirely clean ceremonially, 
 whose lives are absolutely unclean in the sight of 
 God. 
 
 Jesus Christ believed in individual regeneration. 
 That was the keynote of all his preaching. It is true 
 that he believed in social regeneration, but he pro- 
 posed to build a regenerated society out of regener- 
 ated individuals. He did not make the mistake of 
 some philosophies and societies of to-day who are 
 trying to build a regenerated society out of unregen- 
 erated individuals. The mode by which regeneration 
 is to be wrought out is revealed in his gospel. It 
 strikes at the very root of human need and begins 
 
The Inside of the Cup 335 
 
 with the transformation of the character of the in- 
 dividual. 
 
 People tell us that Jesus Christ lived a long time 
 ago, that times have changed, that this is the stren- 
 uous age, that his philosophy is not adapted to our 
 age, and that man cannot live by it now. I believe 
 that if Jesus Christ were here to-day he would not 
 change his philosophy in any particular- I think if 
 he should come to Kansas City or New York or Lon- 
 don to-day he would preach absolutely the same 
 doctrine and the same plan that he preached when 
 he was here before. I do not think that anything 
 we have to offer in this wonderful age of ours would 
 impress Jesus Christ in the least or disturb his se- 
 renity at all. 
 
 They say that a real typical Indian never allows 
 himself to reveal a trace of surprise at anything the 
 white man has done. He may be taken from his 
 tepee, his pony herds, his reservation, to New York 
 among the skyscrapers, and look out upon the battle- 
 ship and aeroplanes. He does not allow a muscle 
 of his face to show one particle of surprise. There 
 is a racial idiosyncrasy and a racial pride which for- 
 bids him to betray surprise at anything the white 
 man has done. 
 
 THE SON OF MAN 
 
 For quite different reasons, if Jesus Christ were 
 here to-day he would not be in the least disturbed or 
 surprised or disconcerted by anything that this world 
 could present for his consideration. The reason is 
 
336 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 that while we look at externals and are wonderfully 
 impressed, they do not impress him at all. He looks 
 beyond them. 
 
 We look at a grand modern skyscraper or one of 
 our palatial hotels and we are filled with wonder and 
 admiration. The building may swarm with thieves 
 and harlots, but we do not stop to think about that. 
 We are thinking about the building. When I say 
 thieves I do not mean pickpockets; I mean thieves 
 who steal on such a gigantic scale that their opera- 
 tions are entirely legal. And when I say harlots I 
 do not mean street walkers, but women who are so 
 wealthy and so well-placed socially that they may 
 indulge in philanderings all their lives and pass 
 through the embraces of a series of men, and yet 
 are respectable. Now, if Jesus Christ were here he 
 would not look at the building, but at the men and 
 women in the building. He would ponder the eternal 
 problem, how to reach and save them. 
 
 I do not know why Christ should be impressed by 
 anything we have to offer. We are told that he was 
 with God in the morning of creation and that nothing 
 was made without him. Why should the great being 
 who saw the stars and planets come out of the great 
 garage and go down the heavenly speedway, be' im- 
 pressed when he sees a millionaire ride by* in his 
 limousine? We speculate about the automobile, but 
 he speculates about the man in the automobile. 
 
The Inside of the Cup 337 
 
 "I AM A MAN ; I CHANGE NOT" 
 
 Jesus Christ would not need to change his phi- 
 losophy, because he is the man of the age. The title 
 that he took to himself, "The Son of Man," to my 
 mind is full of significance. Not the son of one race 
 or one age, but the Son of Man, the representative 
 of man in a racial sense. And we are told in the Bible 
 that he is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. 
 He changes not; neither does his plan change. And 
 if God in heaven with divine confidence can say, "I 
 am God, I change not," it is true that man with hu- 
 mility but with equal truth can say, "And I am man, 
 and I change not." 
 
 The primal passions and needs of man are the 
 same in all ages ; they never change. It is true that 
 men may change in the sense that they are better or 
 worse in one age or in another, but that is because 
 man has either taken these passions and caused 
 them to serve noble purposes or else has permitted 
 them to drag him down. Man is the same yesterday, 
 to-day, and forever so far as his needs, his tempta- 
 tions, his appetites, and his passions are concerned. 
 I presume there is not a type of man that ever lived 
 in the history of the world but what is on the earth 
 to-day. If Jesus were to walk the streets of Kansas 
 City to-day he would meet Pilate, Herod, blind Bar- 
 timeus, Mary Magdalene, and the very twin brothers 
 of the Pharisees with whom he dined. 
 
 We may for a time consider the application of our 
 text, "You ought to cleanse first that which is with- 
 
338 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 in the cup." I believe that it has an application to 
 communities, to the nation, to society as a whole, 
 and especially to individuals. We will make the ap- 
 plication first of all to our city life our community 
 life. 
 
 THE INSIDE OF THE MUNICIPAL CUP 
 
 We have in this country one city that is bigger 
 than any other and one that has a more profound 
 influence on the national life than any other. The 
 foreigner who comes to this country, landing at New 
 York City, views first of all the Statue of Liberty 
 holding aloft the torch which is supposed to en- 
 lighten the world and which gives promise that he is 
 coming into a community where he will find freedom 
 and virtue. Next he sees the wonderful skyline of 
 New York City. He becomes gradually cognizant 
 of its fabulous wealth and power. But later he finds 
 that it is very largely promise. He learns almost as 
 soon as he is naturalized that he can sell his vote 
 just as easily as he sells his labor. He finds that he 
 can buy the police just as easily as he buys his ba- 
 nanas. The chief of police in Chicago reported only 
 a few days ago that one half of his entire police force 
 is engaged in the illicit sale of liquor. 
 
 We may come a little nearer home, because every 
 large city is a small town grown up, and every small 
 city and every small community has* its gamblers, 
 its bootleggers, its cigaret fiends, its crooked politics, 
 and its fallen women; and every large city depends 
 upon the patronage of the smaller cities to keep up 
 
The Inside of the Cup 339 
 
 its vice districts. The vice district of Chicago lives 
 upon income derived from visitors from small towns 
 and country districts. A certain number of our boys 
 and girls each year traverse Fifteenth Street from 
 Independence to Kansas City that they may help to 
 maintain the vice dens in that city. 
 
 It is a good thing for us to have fine lawns and 
 parks and public buildings and paved streets, but 
 the thing that is of primary importance is the men 
 and the women and the children that live in the city. 
 So the voice of Jesus Christ comes home to every 
 community, whether it be great or small, with this 
 statement, "You ought to cleanse first the inside of 
 the municipal cup." 
 
 I believe that wherever members of this church 
 live in any community their interest ought to be cast 
 towards making it a better city or village, a better 
 community in which to live. And I am glad that we, 
 here in Independence, though we have fallen short 
 in some things, at least have made good in some 
 others. Long before the Nation went dry, the 
 saloons were compelled to move out of Independence, 
 and it was largely the vote of Latter Day Saints that 
 caused them to move, and was so stated by the Kan- 
 sas City papers at the time. 
 
 THE INSIDE OF THE NATIONAL CUP 
 
 Next our text may be applied to our national life. 
 The Book of Mormon tells us that America was des- 
 tined to be a land of liberty and a land of light and 
 freedom. When I speak of America in this sense I 
 
340 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 always think of our Canadian brethren on the north, 
 because they have as much actual freedom as we 
 have. But I am now speaking in the United States, 
 and the message comes to us and applies particularly 
 to our own Nation. I want to read to you the promise 
 made in the Book of Mormon. This is only one of 
 many promises. 
 
 "And now we can behold the decrees 'of God con- 
 cerning this land, that it is a land of promise, that 
 whatsoever nation shall possess it, shall serve God, 
 or they shall be swept off when the fullness of his 
 wrath shall come upon them. And the fullness of 
 his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened 
 in iniquity ; for behold, this is a land which is choice 
 above all other lands ; wherefore he that doth possess 
 it shall serve God, or shall be swept off; for it is the 
 everlasting decree of God. And it is not until the 
 fullness of iniquity among the children of the land, 
 that they are swept off. And this cometh unto you, 
 ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God, 
 that ye may not bring down the fullness of the wrath 
 of God upon you, as the inhabitants of the land have 
 hitherto done. Behold, this is a choice land, and what- 
 soever nation shall possess it, shall be free from 
 bondage, and from captivity, and from all other na- 
 tions under heaven, if they will but serve the God of 
 the land, who is Jesus Christ who hath been mani- 
 fested by the things which we have written/' Book 
 of Ether 1 : 31-35. 
 
 We learn from this statement that the people on 
 
The Inside of the Cup 341 
 
 this land are to be a free people, that God will protect 
 them against all nations, only on condition that they 
 are a righteous people, and if they are ever over- 
 come and destroyed it will be because iniquity has 
 grown up among them. 
 
 That is exactly in accord with one of the state- 
 ments Abraham Lincoln made in one of his speeches 
 at Springfield: "At what point shall we expect the 
 approach of danger? By what means shall we for- 
 tify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic 
 military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a 
 blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and 
 Africa combined . . . could not by force take a 
 drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue 
 Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point 
 then is the approach of danger to be expected? I 
 answer, if it ever reaches us it must spring up 
 amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If de- 
 struction is our lot we must ourselves be its author 
 and finisher. As a nation of freed men we must 
 live through all time, or die by suicide." The writ- 
 ings of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 1, p. 149. 
 
 Edwin Markham once wrote a poem : 
 
 "So, I fear, my country, not the hand 
 That shall hurl night and whirlwind on the land. 
 I fear not the Titan traitors who shall rise, 
 To stride like brocken shadows on our skies; 
 Not giants who shall come to overthrow, 
 And send on earth an Illiad of woe. 
 
342 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 "I fear the vermin that shall undermine 
 Senate and citadel, school and shrine 
 The worm of greed, the fatted form of ease, 
 And all the crawling progeny of these 
 The vermin that shall honeycomb the towers 
 And walls of state in unsuspecting hours." 
 
 It may be necessary for a nation to have its army 
 and its navy, but the real defense of the nation is its 
 men, its women, and its children. This country of 
 ours was founded by God-fearing people. We call 
 them Puritans. It is true that they may have been 
 too rigid. They may have been very austere. But 
 they were honorable, upstanding, clean, honest, and 
 God-fearing men and women. And if we think for 
 a moment that the work they began can be carried 
 on by a drunken, a dissolute, an irreligious and God- 
 less posterity, we are making a terrible mistake con- 
 cerning the designs of God regarding this Nation. 
 
 The greatest menace to our national life is not 
 Japan. It is the decline of religion and of morality 
 that is undermining the very foundation of the char- 
 acter of our citizens. And certainly the statement of 
 Christ comes to us, You ought to cleanse the inside 
 of the national cup, and not give all your attention 
 to external power and riches. 
 
 THE INSIDE OP THE SOCIAL CUP 
 Let us consider now the application of our text 
 to society any group of society or society as a 
 whole. A long time ago a man by the name of Paul 
 
The Inside of the Cup 343 
 
 was permitted to look down the vistas of time and 
 to give a diagnosis of the spiritual diseases of the 
 latter days. Or perhaps I should say it was a prog- 
 nosis. Possibly by diagnosing the diseases socially 
 of his time with the added inspiration of God he 
 was able to make this prognosis : "This know also, 
 that in the last days perilous times shall come. For 
 men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, 
 boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, 
 unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce- 
 breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers 
 of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, 
 lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having 
 a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof : 
 from such turn away. For of this sort are they 
 which creep into houses and lead captive silly women 
 laden with sins, led away with divers lusts." 2 
 Timothy 3 : 1-6. 
 
 I do not know which is the worse, the obscene 
 man, or the silly woman laden with sins and lusts ; 
 but the two of them are beginning to loom up in 
 our social life. The attention of the whole world 
 has recently been attracted to the scandal involved 
 in the decline and fall of Roscoe Arbuckle. Yet it 
 has been wisely said that this is an incident and it 
 will be forgotten in a few weeks. It is but a symptom 
 that reveals a systematic condition of our social life. 
 Some one else has said that it is but a surface in- 
 dication of the great undercurrent. Paul said that 
 in the last day people should be "without natural 
 
344 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 affection." The old strong love of wife and children 
 and home that safeguarded the very issues of life 
 is giving place to the play of unnatural passions and 
 affections, unrestrained by law or conscience. 
 
 Latter Day Saints used to preach very often on 
 the signs of the times. We don't need to any more. 
 The times preach for themselves, and they have 
 hundreds of interpreters who are not tinctured with 
 the prejudice that might be laid to the account of 
 Latter Day Saints, who have insisted for years that 
 these were the latter days and that the predictions 
 in the Bible were destined to be fulfilled. We were 
 met with an almost universal cry of denial and were 
 told that the world was growing better and rising 
 constantly to higher planes; that men were becom- 
 ing more religious, more enlightened, and more hu- 
 mane. We do not now have to interpret the times. 
 Others do it for us. 
 
 WHAT A JUDGE SAID 
 
 I want now to read what a judge says. Judge 
 Lazarus in finding on the Arbuckle case said, "In 
 my opinion, we are not trying Roscoe Arbuckle alone, 
 the screen celebrity who has given mirth to the whole 
 world. We are, in a sense, trying ourselves, our 
 morals, our present-day social standards. The ques- 
 tion is larger than the guilt of this unfortunate, it 
 is a universal issue." 
 
 Now, what is the trouble? We cannot conclude 
 that the people of society, the men and women of 
 society, are not outwardly clean. They are not 
 
The Inside of the Cup 345 
 
 strangers to the bathtub. A San Francisco phy- 
 sician says that people bathe too much to-day for 
 their own health. It is not that they do not put 
 on enough powder and perfume. It is not that they 
 are sparing in clothes. I refer to quality now, and 
 not to quantity. I read a little story the other day 
 about a man who went to one of these fashionable 
 balls and when he looked about at the expanse of 
 bare backs, shoulders, bosoms, and arms, he turned 
 to his friend and said, "Doesn't it say somewhere 
 in the Bible that when Adam and Eve ate the apple 
 they became aware that they were naked?" "I be- 
 lieve so," the friend replied. "Well, isn't it about 
 time to pass the apples again?" 
 
 No, it is not that we do not give attention to ex- 
 ternals ; but Jesus Christ says, "You ought to cleanse 
 the inside of the cup." Of what good to society are 
 silk dresses and furs and powder and perfume and 
 baths if there is that corrpution within the character 
 that sooner or later find expression in action? 
 
 Paul, you were right. Jesus, you were right. We 
 ought to give attention to the inside of the cup. 
 
 WHAT A LAWYER SAID 
 
 Let us hear also from a lawyer. An account of a 
 speech by James M. Beck, solicitor general of the 
 United States, before the American Bar Association, 
 August 31 of this year, is as follows: "A spirit of 
 lawlessness always has existed, Mr. Beck said, but 
 cited the prevalence of burglaries, holdups, theft, 
 murder, and graft, to show recent growth of lawless- 
 
346 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 ness." Then he is quoted directly as follows: "Ac- 
 companying the indisposition to work has been a mad 
 desire for pleasure, such as has not been within the 
 memory of living man. Man has danced upon the 
 verge of an abyss. . . ." Kansas City Star, August 
 31, 1921. 
 
 WHAT AN EDUCATOR SAID 
 
 Let us now hear from an educator. Dean Fred- 
 erick S. Jones, of Yale University, in his commence- 
 ment address last year, as reported in the New York 
 World, and in the Literary Digest for July 20, 1920, 
 said, "It is a more subtle influence, I believe, that is 
 bringing about the decay of the national conscience. 
 It is the acquiescence of parents to the loosening 
 standards of morality. In that fact we face a dan- 
 gerous and terrifying progression. The children of 
 to-day are the parents of to-morrow. Will they in 
 turn acquiesce to continually lowering standards? 
 What will then be the result? So-called modern 
 'liberty' is fast approaching license. It seems to me 
 at times that the very core of our civilization is at 
 stake. The crazy seeking after gayety, the rush of 
 social activity, the liberty between man and woman, 
 increase in dishonesty, and in all forms of crime and 
 nervous disease these are not confined to our youth 
 or our college towns, to our cities, or to any one class 
 
 of society. They are nation-wide and world-wide 
 
 The morals of the college man have, I think, been 
 in the past well above the average. I believe this 
 still to be true. That does not argue well for the 
 
The Inside of the Cup 347 
 
 morals of the rest of the country. We are approach- 
 ing a moral crisis, nor do I think we can avoid it by 
 education." 
 
 WHAT A CHURCH MAN SAID 
 
 A prominent church man of world repute, Bishop 
 Nicholai of Serbia, is reported by the Des Moines 
 Evening Tribune, March 14, 1921, as having said in 
 that city, "Of course, it was expected that after the 
 war would come reaction from the years of glory 
 and self-sacrifice, but none expected such corruption 
 as obtrudes its loathsome head. The moral weakness 
 of Europe to-day is far more definite than her ma- 
 terial weakness. Destruction may have stopped, but 
 construction has not yet begun. You have heard the 
 history of the end of Babylon, of the old Greece, of 
 Pompeii and ancient Rome? Well, you can read the 
 signs of a dying empire on the bodies of the Euro- 
 pean state to-day." 
 
 WHAT A HISTORIAN SAID 
 
 H. G. Wells, who is known all over the world as a 
 novelist, and of late years as a historian, says, "This 
 world of mankind to-day seems to me to be a very 
 sinister and dreadful world. It has come to this 
 that I open my newspaper every morning with a 
 sinking heart, and usually I find little to console me. 
 Every day there is a new tale of chilly bloodshed. 
 Every day I read of anger and hate and oppression 
 and misery and want stupid anger and oppression, 
 needless misery and want the insult and suspicions 
 of ignorant men and the insane and horrible self- 
 
348 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 satisfaction of the well-to-do. It is a vile world, be- 
 cause it is an undereducated world, unreasonable, 
 suspicious, base, and ferocious/' Kansas City Star, 
 July 10, 1921. 
 
 What an awful arraignment, equaled only by Paul 
 of old! 
 
 We might go on multiplying these statements from 
 men of experience and of observation, but surely 
 the more casual observer has formed some opinion 
 of the state of society. And without doubt there 
 is a decline in morals, which comes as an inevitable 
 result of a decline in religion. 
 
 How many of the young people of the coming gen- 
 eration are receiving any sort of religious education ? 
 The percentage must be very small. Where do they 
 spend their Sundays? At the ball park, the dance 
 hall, the beach, the movies. Religion is at the very 
 basis of morality and is a safeguard of the human 
 race, yet it is practically neglected. No wonder there 
 follows a corresponding decline in morals. 
 
 THE INDIVIDUAL 
 
 Let us now consider the application of our text 
 to the individual. This is the most important, and 
 is reserved to the last because the individual is the 
 unit of which the community and the nation at large 
 is composed, and is most vital to us because the in- 
 dividual is the unit that goes to make up the church. 
 Individuals are the atoms of which the church is 
 made. You cannot make a gold piece out of brass 
 atoms. We are told that Zion is the pure in heart. 
 
The Inside of the Cup 349 
 
 You cannot make Zion out of people who are not 
 pure in heart. Zion exists for the people, not the 
 people for Zion ; and Zion will never exist unless there 
 is a people worthy of Zion. 
 
 Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for 
 they shall see God." I do not blame our young peo- 
 ple for seeking pleasure if they will go where plea- 
 sure is found. I will tell you the greatest pleasure 
 a man can have, and that is to be able to look into 
 the faces of all men and women, conscious that there 
 is nothing back here behind the windows of the soul 
 that needs covering up. If there is any greater 
 happiness than that, it is to be able to kneel down 
 at your bed at night conscious that there is nothing 
 in your life that God will look upon with disfavor. 
 
 You father and mother who have a boy, you 
 want that boy to grow up to be a good and noble man, 
 don't you? Why, of course you do. That is the 
 thing that you pray for. Let me ask you, Why don't 
 you put that boy in a brick house with iron bars 
 over the windows and doors, and shut him in so 
 that he cannot get out? You could keep him away 
 from all temptations and he would have to grow 
 up a good man. But you say, "I don't want a pris- 
 oner; I want a man to grow up to bear my name." 
 
 God is just like you. That is why he gives us our 
 free moral agency. He does not want slaves or 
 prisoners. He wants men and women who do not 
 sin, not because they cannot sin, but because they 
 love righteousness and. hate iniquity. And your 
 
350 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 boy will get through life honorably if he has a clean 
 heart. That is more efficacious than brick walls in 
 protecting him against temptations and the devices 
 of the Devil. "Blessed are the pure in heart; for 
 they shall see God." 
 
 I believe that man ought to be the greatest reve- 
 lation of God's goodness. Elder T. W. Williams once 
 said that four times he had seen God. He had seen 
 him on the seashore ; he had seen him in the moun- 
 tains ; he had seen him in the desert ; and, last of all, 
 he had seen him at Niagara Falls. I can say that 
 four times I have perceived God ; at the seaside ; and 
 in the mountains ; in the solitude of the desert ; and 
 at Niagara Falls. But five times I have seen him, be- 
 cause I have seen him again in the transformation of 
 the lives and characters of men and women under 
 the operation of his gospel. That to me is the great- 
 est revelation of the power of God. The greatest 
 miracle that Jesus Christ wrought was not giving 
 sight to the blind, or even causing the very dead to 
 rise up and walk. It was transforming the character 
 of Peter and Mary Magdalene and other profane and 
 vile men and women who came under the influence 
 of his gospel. I thank God that miracle is being 
 wrought to-day, because it is the province of the gos- 
 pel of Jesus Christ to transform the lives of men and 
 women and to help them to cleanse the inside of 
 the cup. 
 
The Inside of the Cup 351 
 
 A CHANGE FROM THE INSIDE OUT 
 
 I believe that religion should make a most radical 
 change in the lives of men. I think it ought to be a 
 practical change. It ought to be manifested first 
 of all in their homes. If a man does not live his 
 religion in his home I do not want him to talk about 
 it outside of his home. One time an old sister in 
 Lamoni said she wished her husband would obey the 
 gospel. The old man said, "I do not see why she 
 said that. I have been baptized four times already." 
 True, he had been baptized four times, but had never 
 obeyed the gospel. She knew, for she lived with him. 
 
 I think our religion ought to make a difference in 
 our work in the shop, in the mine, or on the f arm. A 
 Latter Day Saint's word ought to be just as good as 
 his bond. 
 
 Religion ought to make a most radical change in 
 the life of the man. And it begins on the inside and 
 works out. The inner man is the important thing; 
 and when he is transformed, sooner or later the 
 transformation will shine through the outer man. 
 
 I do not blame young men for wanting to look well. 
 I do not blame our women for wishing to beautify 
 themselves. God loves beautiful things. Look at the 
 pains he takes to beautify a violet in the woods where 
 no one may see it, or the inside of a shell far under 
 the sea. But the way to achieve beauty is through 
 character. You cannot buy beauty in the drug store, 
 
352 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 and put it on with a powder puff. You have to de- 
 velop it within yourself. The beauty of the violet 
 comes from within. 
 
 TWO LINCOLN STORIES 
 
 I wish now to tell two stories about Abraham 
 Lincoln. They say that when he was first elected 
 and went to the White House at Washington, he was 
 the laughing stock of polite society at the Capital, he 
 'was so homely, so awkward, and so poorly dressed. 
 But four years of the storm and earthquake of civil 
 war had not passed away before people ceased to 
 laugh behind his back. They began to see the inner 
 Lincoln. These are the two stories : 
 
 It is said that upon one occasion Lincoln was rid- 
 ing in the forest when he came upon an eccentric 
 man who, pointing a pistol at him, said, "Halt! Pre- 
 pare to die. I made a vow one time that if ever I met 
 a homelier man than myself I would shoot him." 
 Lincoln sat his horse a moment and looked the fellow 
 over from top to toe; then in his slow way, said, 
 "Well, fire away. If I am homelier than you are I 
 don't care to live." 
 
 That man saw the outer Lincoln. But there came 
 to the White House one day an old mother whose son 
 had been sentenced to die. She came pleading with 
 the secretaries, who would not let her in to see the 
 President. But finally she forced her way in' and 
 found Lincoln at his desk. She told the President 
 how her boy was only eighteen years of age. He had 
 taken the place of a sick comrade one night and the 
 
The Inside of the Cup 353 
 
 next night he had to go on duty as a picket, and so 
 went to sleep. And now he was to die. When Lin- 
 coln heard the story he seized a pen and wrote one 
 more of those pardons which his secretaries hated so 
 much. And the mother receiving the pardon fell at 
 his feet and bathed the ungainly hands of Father 
 Abraham with her tears, and said, "Mr. President, 
 they told me you were a homely man, but yours is 
 the most beautiful face I ever looked upon." She 
 saw the inner Lincoln that sanctified the outer Lin- 
 coln. To-day his likeness is reproduced in bronze 
 and set up in Paris, Washington, London, and in 
 many of the capitals of the world, for men to look 
 upon ; and we would not change one line of that rug- 
 ged countenance. 
 
 Isaiah tells us concerning Jesus that "When we 
 shall see him there is no beauty in him that we 
 should desire him." When the Jews saw him hang- 
 ing on the cross, weary, sweaty, dusty, bloody, 
 agonized, to them there was nothing beautiful about 
 him. They saw only the outer Christ; but his dis- 
 ciples and all who have seen the inner Christ are 
 able to sing, "He's the lily of the valley, the bright 
 and morning star; he's the fairest of ten thousand 
 to my soul." 
 
 I pray that God may help us to cleanse the inside 
 of the cup, that the beauty of our lives may shine 
 forth as did the life of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. 
 
 12 
 
THE BARGAIN COUNTER OF LIFE 
 
 (An address to the young people at the Stone Church at 
 Independence, Tuesday evening, August 6, 1921.) 
 
 YOU young people stand at the bargain counter 
 of life. Who are you going to do business 
 with? What will you get in exchange for 
 that which you have to offer? Do you hold your- 
 selves high as men and women should, or are you pre- 
 pared to barter yourselves for a mess of pottage, and 
 very bitter pottage, too, as some are doing to-day? 
 There is a poem which says : 
 
 "I bargained with life for a penny, 
 
 And life would pay no more, 
 However I begged at evening 
 When I counted my scanty store. 
 
 "For Life is just an employer. 
 He gives you what you ask. 
 But once you have set the wages, 
 Why, you must bear the task. 
 
 "I worked for a menial hire, 
 Only to learn, dismayed, 
 That any wage I had asked of Life, 
 Life would have paid." 
 
 It seems to me that many people are holding them- 
 selves too cheaply. They remind me of the story you 
 may have heard about the woman who awoke in the 
 night, weeping bitterly. Her husband inquired why 
 
 354 
 
The Bargain Counter of Life 355 
 
 she was weeping and she replied, "I dreamed that I 
 was in a market where husbands were for sale. 
 There were some very fine ones for five thousand dol- 
 lars each, and some very good looking ones as low 
 as five hundred dollars each." The husband then 
 said, "I don't see anything in that to weep about. Did 
 you see any there who looked like me ?" The woman 
 then again began to weep and replied, "That is just 
 the trouble. There were hundreds and hundreds of 
 them just like you. They were done up in bunches 
 like asparagus and sold for fifteen cents a dozen." I 
 think some woman must have made up that dream 
 to make us men feel cheap. Yet it is a fact that some 
 men are going for about that price, and if that is all 
 they ask for themselves, perhaps that is all they are 
 worth. 
 
 You have a splendid inheritance. It is beyond 
 value. No monetary valuation could be placed upon 
 it. You have the inheritance of youth. You do not 
 perhaps realize now all its value. I recall a certain 
 cartoon. The first picture represented a youth 
 sitting with his chin in his hand, looking into the 
 future. He said, "I will be happy then." The second 
 represented an old man, with his chin upon his staff, 
 looking into the past, saying, "I was happy then." 
 With your youth you have the natural accompani- 
 ment of energy, ambition, and enthusiasm. 
 
 Many solicitors stand at the bargain counter of 
 life, eager to do business with you and take from you 
 that which you have to offer. There are, for instance, 
 
356 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 many secret orders and societies; there also is the 
 dance hall, the card table, and low dives and high 
 dives of all kinds. Every kind of entertainment and 
 dissipation, from the highest to the very lowest and 
 most debased that debauched human minds can con- 
 ceive of, is eager and anxious to take all of your sur- 
 plus time and all of your surplus energy, all of the 
 splendid abilities of your youth, and in the end give 
 you nothing in exchange but vain regret. What sort 
 of a bargain do you propose to drive at the bargain 
 counter of life ? Time, the inveterate thief, will take 
 away these things that you have, of such inestimable 
 worth. You cannot eat your cake and keep it. You 
 may as well make your bargain now, while you may. 
 If you do not get out of these things what they are 
 worth, eventually time will take them away from you 
 as the one talent was taken away from the man who 
 hid it in a napkin and refused to put it to service. 
 
 Among other institutions, the church comes to the 
 bargain counter of life desirous to do business with 
 you. What has the church for you ? What have you 
 for the church? First of all, the church has salva- 
 tion for you through the atonement of Christ and the 
 plan of life and salvation laid down by him. I do 
 not refer alone to some theoretical salvation from a 
 theological hell of fire and brimstone and in a theo- 
 logical heaven where we will forever play upon harps. 
 I pity the neighbors when I begin to play upon my 
 harp. I refer also to salvation here and now. If you 
 do not know what that means, look around you and 
 
The Bargain Counter of Life 357 
 
 see the wreck and ruin that men and women and boys 
 and girls are making of their lives. Men do not need 
 to die to go to hell. There are many living men to- 
 day who carry their hell around with them. They 
 have an individual hell. The church by its ideals, 
 philosophy of life, and spiritual influence will save 
 you from these things, and save you to all that is 
 good and noble. 
 
 In the second place, the church has communion to 
 offer you, that communion and fellowship that we 
 enjoyed Sunday morning at the sacramental service 
 that fellowship with God on the one hand and man 
 on the other so beautifully set forth in the hymn 
 that we sing, "Blest be the tie that binds." You 
 will appreciate this fellowship more and more as time 
 goes by- That is the beauty of the things that the 
 church has to offer you; time does not mar or di- 
 minish, but rather makes them better. 
 
 The church has, also, to offer you service. First, 
 its interpretation of service and ideal of service 
 which cannot be found elsewhere; and then, the 
 many fields of service, increasing in number, that are 
 opening up before you. These may include some very, 
 very important missions, or some apparently unim- 
 portant tasks in obscure branches or Sunday school 
 or Religio meetings. A man need not necessarily be 
 proud of ihe elevation of the office that he occupies. 
 He should be proud of the way in which he is doing 
 his work, whether it be great or small. 
 
 In the end, of course, your abilities, your devotion, 
 
358 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 and your preparation will determine the importance 
 and extent of the field that you will occupy. 
 
 What have you to give the church? You have your- 
 selves, and the church asks nothing less. We are 
 commanded to love God with all our heart, mind, 
 strength, and soul. The heart is the seat of the 
 emotions, supposedly; the mind is the seat of in- 
 telligence; the soul is the whole man. So all that 
 you have to offer of service of body or mind or heart 
 should be at the disposal of God in the interests of 
 his church. And you need not fear that you will not 
 find work to do if you make yourself ready in this 
 spirit. I was a member of the old Students' Society 
 in Lamoni which was the pioneer of all young peo< 
 pie's organizations in this church. Out of it grew 
 Zion's Religio-Literary Society. The motto of that 
 society was, "Get thy spindle and thy distaff ready, 
 and God will send thee flax." I can testify that 
 every member of that society who got his distaff and 
 his spindle ready found all the flax coming to his 
 hand that he was able to spin. I am glad to note the 
 way in which the young people are coming forward 
 all over the church to line themselves up with the 
 church and take their place and do their part. This 
 has been particularly noticeable at the various re- 
 unions that I have attended of late years, also in 
 the revival services of the young people during the 
 past winter. 
 
 I wish to read a part of a letter that came to the 
 desk of the Presidency this very day, as it is typical 
 
The Bargain Counter of Life 359 
 
 of the spirit that is moving upon our young people. 
 This letter is from a young man who has spent two 
 years in Graceland College, one of them in the class 
 of religious education. He is a young man, probably 
 more than six feet tall, and big and strong in pro- 
 portion. He was a star football player and the best 
 baseball pitcher in our college athletics. He is a man 
 all over and his reaction to this question of what the 
 church has to give and that which he has to give to 
 the church at the bargain counter of life is typical 
 of the best young manhood of the church. He is now 
 in the mission field and writes as follows : 
 
 "I wish briefly to express my appreciation of what 
 the church has done for me. I was permitted to at- 
 tend Graceland for two years, which privilege I es- 
 teem as one of the most valuable in my life. First, 
 I went as a member of the religious education class 
 and after that as a college student. I hold that the 
 good I received while there is far beyond my power 
 to repay. The reason I write now is that I wish to 
 explain the course I decided to take last spring. If I 
 understand correctly I had the chance to attend col- 
 lege again this fall. This I refused to do, not that I 
 do not love Graceland and her work, but because I 
 felt that it was time for me to get into the harness 
 and to develop along missionary experience lines 
 along with the others. 
 
 "My experiences at Graceland cause me to love the 
 church and its work more than I could have other- 
 wise. I gained a newer, a broader, and a grander 
 
360 . The Inside of the Cup 
 
 outlook on the work of Zion. My ideas of consecra- 
 tion and devotion to the teachings of the church 
 were made deeper and more lasting. For this reason 
 I have determined to labor in the missionary work 
 without reservation. I have enjoyed the work this 
 summer and I hope to continue faithful to my duty 
 until I am done-" 
 
 My sympathy is with you young people in all of 
 your legitimate activities; even in your recreation 
 and play. By learning to play together now you will 
 learn to work together, and the experiences of fellow- 
 ship therein will be very valuable to you. But I must 
 again impress upon your minds that you have come 
 to a critical time in life and you have reached that 
 period at a critical time in the world's history. Never 
 before were there so many mean and vicious forces to 
 appeal to you for your patronage; but it is equally 
 true that never before was God's appeal stronger, 
 clearer, or more powerful. I hope that divine wis- 
 dom will aid you to make a good, wise, and profitable 
 bargain at the bargain counter of life. 
 
TWO PHILOSOPHIES OF LIFE 
 
 (Sermon at the Stone Church, Independence, Missouri, 
 Sunday evening, October 30, 1921.) 
 
 MY THEME to-night is, "Two philosophies of 
 life in contrast." The worldly philosophy is 
 stated in Luke 12: 19: 'Take thine ease, eat, 
 drink, and be merry/' and the context adds, "for to- 
 morrow we die." The philosophy of Christ is stated 
 in the combination of two texts, "Quit yourselves like 
 men, be strong" ; and, "Seek ye first to build up the 
 kingdom of God and to establish his righteousness." 
 These texts are found in 1 Corinthians 16: 13, and 
 in Matthew 6 : 33. 
 
 These statements are in striking contrast, even be- 
 fore they are analyzed ; and you will notice that they 
 are philosophies in essence, either of them powerful 
 enough to transform the lives- of individuals, of na- 
 tions, or of the entire race. 
 
 I need but to mention the very familiar illustration 
 of the fall of Rome. There was a time when Rome 
 ruled the world. Roman citizens were great soldiers, 
 great senators, and great lawyers. Our English com- 
 mon law is inherited from Rome, and most of their 
 principles were very well thought out. But there 
 came a day when Roman men and women began to 
 say to themselves, "What is the use of this unending 
 toil, this stern self-denial and discipline? Come, let 
 
 361 
 
362 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 us take our ease, eat, drink, and be merry." And no 
 one dare deny that they "worked at their philoso- 
 phy." The decline and fall of Rome was so swift and 
 terrible that it is yet a marvel of history. 
 
 THE TREND OF THE RACE 
 
 That which happened to a nation may happen to 
 an individual. It may even happen to the race as a 
 whole. I have been reading a book called, The Trend 
 of the Race, by Doctor Samuel J. Holmes, of Berke- 
 ley. He is a believer in evolution, and while he be- 
 lieves that man has worked his way up through very 
 long periods of hard toil, he says that man may de- 
 generate and go down in a very short time; and he 
 raises the question, Has that decline already begun ? 
 He suggests that in the past when one civilization 
 fell because of its inherent vices, there was always a 
 great reserve of unspoiled barbarians from which to 
 build up another civilization. But now civilization 
 has spread practically over the entire world, all na- 
 tions being bound together in one common destiny; 
 so, if this civilization fails and goes down, it will be, 
 not a national, but a racial calamity. If so, it will 
 be because men accept the philosophy of self-indulg- 
 ence rather than the philosophy of self -development. 
 
 THE WORLDLY PHILOSOPHY 
 
 Let us consider first of all this worldly philosophy. 
 The modern rendition is something like this, "Come 
 on, you only live once and you will be dead a long 
 time; you may as well have a good time while you 
 
Two Philosophies of Life 363 
 
 are at it" which philosophy has more apostles than 
 Christ ever ordained and sent out to preach his 
 gospel. 
 
 We might inquire to-night, What institutions are 
 the chief proponents of this worldly philosophy? 
 Undoubtedly you will admit that one of them is the 
 saloon, notorious for its appeal to gluttoning and 
 drunkenness. 
 
 With the saloon is associated its sister evils: the 
 social evil, or commercialized immorality, and the 
 very ancient institution of gambling in all its forms. 
 
 THE DANCE HALL 
 
 I come next to institutions concerning which there 
 may be some argument and some room for differ- 
 ences of opinion honestly held the dance hall and 
 the theater. I believe that the modern dance, par- 
 ticularly the public dance, is thoroughly imbued with 
 this spirit of worldly philosophy. In speaking along 
 this line I do not believe that we should upbraid, or 
 that we should denounce, or that we should be too 
 rigorous in our attitude towards the young people; 
 but I must say to-night the things that seem .to me 
 to be true, and you are here to weigh them and think 
 them over and if they appear to your intelligence as 
 true to accept them, but if they do not appeal to your 
 intelligence as being logical, you are perfectly free 
 to reject them. Every man is master of his own 
 destiny. 
 
 I know that some people will argue that the dance 
 may be taken into a proper environment and under 
 
364 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 proper supervision, and it will be all right. The 
 trouble with that argument is that the modern dance 
 is inherently wrong and so cannot be made right by a 
 change of environment or supervision. It is wrong 
 first, because of its deadly waste of time and energy 
 and health which are so valuable to you young people 
 in your years of preparation ; but more seriously, it 
 is fundamentally wrong because it brings men and 
 women together in spiritual and physical contacts 
 which are wrong and cannot be anything but harm- 
 ful. 
 
 Now, it is conceivable that you might go into the 
 forest around Independence and catch the escaped 
 black leopard which has terrorized the country for 
 some weeks past. You might take it into your home, 
 put a pink ribbon around its neck, and call it a pussy 
 cat, and you might "get by with it"; but I do not 
 think you would, because there is something funda- 
 mentally wrong. The temper and temperament of 
 the leopard would not fit into your home. And it 
 does not seem to me that the modern dance can be 
 taken into the Latter Day Saint home without being 
 considered as a doubtful experiment, to say the least. 
 
 I know that ministers are considered to be preju- 
 diced along this line, and perhaps conscience-bound 
 if not hide-bound, so I will read from the pen of a 
 physician, Doctor James Foster Scott, graduate of 
 Oxford and Edinburgh and one time vice president 
 of the Medical Association of the District of Colum- 
 bia, whose book I have in my library. He says : 
 
Two Philosophies of Life 365 
 
 "There is a habit of laughing at ministers of the 
 gospel who thunder out denunciations against danc- 
 ing, but from a purely medical standpoint the cus- 
 toms of the ballroom are perfectly indefensible. . . . 
 In opposing such a popular institution we tread on 
 delicate ground indeed, so that we may anticipate the 
 strongest disapproval from many quarters unless the 
 subject is attentively analyzed. But from the well- 
 informed physician, the humanitarian, the student of 
 the times, and from the experienced man of the 
 world, we confidently expect a unanimous verdict of 
 approval. . . . This is no mere matter of opinion, 
 but an incontrovertible fact; and those are blind in- 
 deed who cannot see that the modern ball, with every 
 feature in it sensuous and seductive, is what we call 
 a secondary sexual love feast, and that its present 
 tendency is not in the direction of purity or a high 
 civilization." The Sexual Instinct, pp. 148, 156. 
 
 It is possible that the church was not so far wrong 
 when it adopted General Conference Resolution 
 Number 377, "Resolved, That we consider the prac- 
 tice of dancing and card playing as unbecoming true 
 Christians, and should be avoided by all Saints." 
 
 THE QUESTION OF THE THEATER 
 
 When we come to the question of the theater we 
 approach a subject where it seems to me the argu- 
 ment is a little different. The drama is not inher- 
 ently bad; neither the motion picture show. They 
 are neither moral nor immoral; they are unmoral. 
 Their effect upon the community depends upon the 
 
366 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 message which they are made to carry. Appealing 
 as the drama does to profound emotions through 
 tragedy, romance, and comedy, it is quite capable of 
 carrying a great message. But producers to-day as 
 a rule are not at all interested in the message con- 
 veyed. They are solely concerned with the financial 
 returns. The stage and the motion picture have been 
 commercialized, and in order to get the most money 
 from the exhibition, they appeal to baser passions 
 that will bring men and women to them as patrons. 
 A clean show in a proper place may be all right, but 
 the fact remains that possibly ninety per cent of the 
 exhibitions are an entire and perhaps a dreary waste 
 of the time, money, and energy of their patrons. 
 Possibly seventy-five per cent of them are bad, in 
 that somewhere they appeal to that which is bad in 
 human nature. I noticed an Associated Press dis- 
 patch which said that in the Parisian theaters ac- 
 tresses are leaving off their already too filmy 
 draperies, and appearing clothed only in their person- 
 alities. The stage all the time crowds the limits of 
 decency so far as public opinion will permit it to do 
 so. I might again quote from Doctor James Foster 
 Scott on this subject: 
 
 "The modern stage is an important factor in de- 
 basing public opinion and sexually overstimulating 
 the passions of a large number of individuals. . . . 
 But we cannot fail to notice that a large majority of 
 the modern plays and operas have as essential ele- 
 ments of the plot, or of the costuming, something 
 
Two Philosophies of Life 367 
 
 which is unmistakably immoral, salacious and erotic. 
 In fact, there is a glorification of vice, and modesty 
 and morality are put to shame. Lasciviousness and 
 the waving of enchanting petticoats have largely re- 
 placed oratory and fine acting. . . . The modern 
 stage is known to be the hotbed of impurity and 
 divorce, and the actress who is not a divorcee or 
 who has a clean reputation is the exception." Ibid., 
 pp. 156, 157, 160. 
 
 I think that the very most conservative statement 
 we can make on this ground is that we ought to be 
 careful, and that indiscriminating theater-going, to 
 "any old show," and excessive theater-going, night 
 after night, is bad. If you are to attend a show, by 
 all means select a clean play in a respectable place. 
 
 CHRIST'S PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 
 
 The worldly philosophy is the lazy man's philoso- 
 phy, "Come, let us take our ease." It is the glutton's 
 philosophy, "Let us eat." It is the inebriate's 
 philosophy, "Let us drink." It is the fool's philos- 
 ophy, "Let us be merry, for to-morrow we die." 
 
 In contrast to that philosophy comes the philos- 
 ophy of Jesus Christ, which is a philosophy of man- 
 hood : "Quit yourselves like men, be strong." If the 
 Star-spangled Banner when it passes by commands 
 every American citizen to stand up and uncover his 
 head, the Flag of Jesus Christ when it goes by says 
 to all people, "Stand up and be men." 
 
 I once heard a story of a boy who had reached his 
 
368 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 twenty-first birthday and at midnight he aroused the 
 people of the house by shouting, ' There's a man in 
 the house! There's a man in the house!" When 
 father and mother, brothers and sisters appeared 
 with pistols and pokers, they discovered that he was 
 announcing his own manhood. My young brother, 
 can you stand up and say to the world, 'There's a 
 man in this house"? Not merely a male creature 
 twenty-one years old, but a real man, ready for a 
 man's work in the world. Sister, can you say to all 
 the world, "There's a woman in this house" ? Not a 
 fashion plate with the franchise, but a real woman, 
 ready and willing to do a woman's work in the world. 
 
 What is a man's work and what is a woman's 
 work? I think some of the fundamental duties of 
 a man are these: to prepare himself for a useful 
 place in life ; to build, maintain, and protect a home ; 
 to win the love of some good woman to whom he will 
 be as true as the needle is to the pole; and under 
 normal conditions, with God's blessing, to rear chil- 
 dren to succeed him ; to be an honorable, industrious, 
 and intelligent citizen of the church and state. And 
 woman's duty in all things parallels man's. Each 
 complements the other. If he is to provide the home, 
 she is to keep the home. If he is to be the bread 
 earner, she is to be the bread maker. These duties 
 are not something that theologians have thought out 
 and propounded. They are biological and in the very 
 nature of men and women have been placed on them. 
 
Two Philosophies of Life 369 
 
 HOME BUILDERS 
 
 You young people are the future home builders. 
 There is no question that the world faces a crisis. 
 There has been a breaking down of religion and 
 morals. Statesmen, as well as religious people, 
 scientists, and educators recognize that some sort of 
 a crisis confronts them so stupendous and confusing 
 that it cannot yet be analyzed. But it is here. You 
 are to be the future home builders. The home safe- 
 guards civilization. You are to lay the hearthstones 
 and rear the roof trees of the future. You cannot 
 build a home, you cannot build a family, you cannot 
 build a life on the worldly philosophy of ease, self- 
 indulgence, and seeking the easiest and pleasantest 
 way. There is only one way in which it can be 
 done, and that is under the philosophy of Jesus 
 Christ. Quit yourselves like men and women. Be 
 strong. 
 
 If this is the philosophy of manhood and woman- 
 hood, it is also the philosophy of construction. "Seek 
 ye first to build up the kingdom of God and to estab- 
 lish his righteousness." There are many destructive 
 elements in the world to-day, but the philosophy of 
 Jesus Christ is constructive, "Seek ye first to build 
 up and to establish." 
 
 A PHILOSOPHY OF WORK 
 
 It is the philosophy of work. Is work a curse? 
 There has been a mistaken idea in the world that 
 work is a curse that God pronounced on man in the 
 garden of Eden. Work wasn't the curse, excessive 
 
370 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 toil was the curse. It was intended from the very 
 beginning that man should work. We are told in the 
 opening chapters of Genesis that God set man in the 
 garden to dress it and tend it. It seems to be the will 
 of God that men in cooperation with hint should de- 
 velop all of the fruits of the earth as well as the 
 treasures of the earth. Go into the forest and pick 
 a little, hard, bitter, wild crab apple, and compare it 
 with a beautiful Jonathan apple from Oregon and 
 you will see what man has accomplished working 
 with God. Burbank took a little wild daisy and with 
 God as a partner he worked for twenty-five years to 
 produce the beautiful Shasta Daisy. God put the 
 potentialities into the flower, but left man the task 
 to develop them. 
 
 GATHERING A POUND OF HONEY 
 
 Practically all living creatures work, with the ex- 
 ception of one class that I will mention later. Even 
 the beasts of prey work. If you were compelled to 
 run with the wolves, from five to fifty miles at top 
 speed to capture your supper, you would think you 
 had worked for it. Even the insects are workers. 
 The ants are mining engineers and were before Solo- 
 mon, who took them for a text : "Go to the ant, thou 
 sluggard." Hornets and wasps are masons and paper- 
 makers. The honey bees have a monopoly on a very 
 great industry. There are no union hours in a bee- 
 hive. Bees never ponder Hamlet's famous question, 
 "To be, or not to be." They bee all the time. In mak- 
 ing a single pound of honey the bees in a given hive 
 
Two Philosophies of Life 371 
 
 are said to visit sixty thousand flowers. This is not 
 improbable, as a minute quantity of very thin nectar 
 comes from each flower. They gather the honey and 
 freight it by airplane, traveling a total distance of 
 five million miles. Sister, the next time you feel 
 weary and discouraged with your housework, and see 
 a honey bee "idling in the clover," greet her as a 
 member of the guild of women workers. All honey 
 bees are women workers the men bees do not work, 
 so when winter comes they don't eat, which is Zionic : 
 "The idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer." 
 The bees worked out some of the principles of Zion 
 long before Enoch built his city. 
 
 A BLUEBIRD'S WORK 
 
 Sometimes we hear people say, "How free the birds 
 are." But the birds work. Ornithologists tell us that 
 in the single State of Massachusetts, which is not a 
 very large State, every day in the summer twenty- 
 one thousand bushels of noxious bugs and worms are 
 gathered and destroyed by song birds. If you think 
 that is not work, go out some day and pick a pint of 
 bugs. 
 
 I am told that bluebirds rear three families each 
 summer; which means that they build three homes. 
 Again, ornithologists say that not unusually a pair of 
 song birds will make two hundred trips a day gather- 
 ing food for their fledglings. If you were to go to 
 the uptown market two hundred times daily for pro- 
 visions, you would think you were working. So the 
 next time you see a bluebird flitting among the trees, 
 
372 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 like a bit of blue sky fallen from heaven, greet him 
 as "camerade." He has his blue overalls on and is 
 doing a bluebird's work. 
 
 IGNOBLE PARASITES 
 
 Practically all living creatures work, with the ex- 
 ception of one class parasites. The man who is able 
 to work and will not work puts himself in the ignoble 
 fraternity of tapeworms, cooties, and other such 
 creatures. No matter how much money a man has 
 in Zion, if he is physically and mentally able to work 
 and won't work he has no right to eat in Zion. 
 
 Some one might ask, "Is it to.be all work and no 
 play? or, Is it to be all work and no recreation?" I 
 think that of late years the church has made her- 
 self clear along that line. We are in favor of legiti- 
 mate recreation. At our reunions we have had 
 various kinds of recreation, baseball, basket ball, 
 volley ball, quoits, tennis, swimming, etc. All whole- 
 some recreations are good, but you must bear in mind 
 the place recreation has in life. It is a diversion from 
 the strain of a man's legitimate work. His work is 
 the big thing in life. When man makes pleasure and 
 recreation the objective in life it does not re-create ; 
 it becomes not constructive, but rather destructive. 
 
 The philosophy of Jesus Christ is the philosophy 
 of righteousness, "Seek ye first to build up the king- 
 dom of God and to establish his righteousness." You 
 may wonder how you can build up the kingdom of 
 God. Jesus said, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be 
 
Two Philosophies of Life 373 
 
 done on earth as it is done in heaven." When you 
 in your own person reach a point where you are will- 
 ing to do the will of God on earth as it is done in 
 heaven, you have added one person to the kingdom of 
 God on earth. A man who does that is pretty sure 
 to have an interest and an influence that will enable 
 him to help others, and in that way also he will build 
 up the kingdom of God. 
 
 YOUR CHOICE 
 
 I have briefly presented in contrast these two 
 philosophies philosophies in essence, as I have 
 said, and capable of expansion. It remains for you 
 to make your choice, and particularly the young peo- 
 ple who may be standing to-day in the "valley of 
 decision." And in making your choice I want to ad- 
 , monish you to make it not only wisely, but to make it 
 permanently. This church has had altogether too 
 many quitters. When you make your choice, do so 
 with the idea that so long as life lasts you will abide 
 by your decision. 
 
 I beg of you young people to look around you and 
 see the folly and the fears and misery of those who 
 "ran well for a season" and then fell away, and make 
 up your mind like adamant, to serve God all the days 
 of your life, and not let some temptation, idle rumor, 
 or disaffection turn you aside from the work you be- 
 gan so hopefully. 
 
 It seems to me that the contrast of these two phi- 
 losophies does not leave very much doubt in your 
 minds concerning what the choice ought to be. If the 
 
374 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 worldly philosophy is that of the lazy man, the glut- 
 ton, the inebriate, and the fool, the philosophy that 
 has always been the philosophy of wasters and spend- 
 ers and spoilers, in contrast the philosophy of Jesus 
 Christ is the philosophy of manhood and womanhood 
 and of Godliness. 
 
 As I have presented the matter there may appear 
 to be no question and it might seem a reflection upon 
 your intelligence to ask you to choose. But I have 
 not presented the philosophy of the world in an at- 
 tractive light, but rather in its true light. You will 
 meet many exponents who will present it in an at- 
 tractive light sophists who can make black appear 
 white, vice seem virtue, dishonor seem honorable, 
 and shame a thing to boast about. Some men are 
 proud of the things they should be ashamed of. 
 When you hear such pleadings you will need intelli-' 
 gence and backbone to make a wise decision and 
 stand by it. 
 
 BE TRUE TO YOUR OWN SOUL 
 I make this plea to you to-night I do not ask you 
 to be true to the church. I do not ask you to be true 
 to your father or mother, your brother or sister, 
 your wife or sweetheart, or even God. I just ask 
 you to be true to yourself, because this philosophy 
 appeals to all that is good and wholesome and ad- 
 mirable and enduring and noble in your own souls, 
 and you know it. There is a good deal of truth in 
 a statement that you will find in Hamlet, the advice 
 of old Polonious to his son, "To thine own self be 
 
Two Philosophies of Life 375 
 
 true; and it must follow as the night the day, thou 
 canst not then be false to any man." If you will 
 be true to all that is good in you, I am sure that you 
 will be true to the church, true to your father and 
 mother, true to sister and brother, and wife and 
 sweetheart, and true to God. 
 
A 
 
 BLUE PENCIL NOTES 
 
 BAD egg may get by in an omelet, never as 
 an individual. 
 
 If "brevity is the soul of wit," the modern 
 bathing suit is the funniest thing I have seen. 
 
 The gospel has a cure for sore hearts, but it seems 
 almost powerless in the case of soreheads. 
 
 Sam Jones used to say that some people think that 
 they are "preserved" when in fact they are only 
 "pickled." And he added that when his old mother 
 made preserves she sweetened them. 
 
 If one habitually tries to be kind and forbearing, 
 as the gospel requires, some people conclude that he 
 was just naturally "born that way" and can't help it. 
 But the chances are he could develop as much vinegar 
 and vitriol as anyone, if he chose to do so. 
 
 Of a Sunday Brother A remarked, "I don't 
 
 know whether to go to church or take a nap." And 
 Sister A- - replied: "Why not do both?" And 
 she was by no means the first person to study out 
 that combination. 
 
 Sometimes the preacher is invited out to dinner 
 and sits down to an overloaded table. His host in- 
 
 376 
 
Blue Pencil Notes 377 
 
 sists that he shall eat long after his appetite is satis- 
 fied. This should be a warning to him not to attempt 
 to force a long, six-course sermon upon an audience 
 that at best is not very hungry. 
 
 When you preach it is permissible to give your 
 hearers palpitation of the heart; but do not, oh, do 
 not give them concussion of the brain. 
 
 Very long sermons are very likely to be very thin. 
 They are like Farmer Saveall's cider. Farmer 
 Saveall boasted one season that he had made fifteen 
 barrels of cider. A candid neighbor took a sip of 
 the liquid and remarked, "It's a pity that you hadn't 
 another apple ; you might V made another bar'l." 
 
 The habit of using slang in the pulpit often comes 
 from reading after or listening to men of the Billy 
 Sunday type. And it is a habit, and one that needs 
 to be held rather well in hand. 
 
 An occasional slang phrase, if not too "racy," may 
 add a certain piquancy to a sermon. But the man 
 whose every sentence is loaded with it ruins his 
 effort. A dash of pepper may be tolerated, but no 
 one who is not abnormal wishes to dine on pepper. 
 
 When we get angry and "say just what we think" 
 we usually take a long time afterward thinking about 
 what we have said. 
 
378 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 An old Chinese proverb says : "A thousand men 
 can make a camp, but it takes a woman to make a 
 home." To which a great many American soldier 
 boys are saying, Amen. 
 
 The leading question that I ask about a man is 
 this, Is he sincere? If he rings true I can overlook 
 many mistakes and peculiarities and forgive many 
 personal affronts. But if he sounds hollow, if I 
 detect a note of pretense and disloyalty, I feel that 
 it would be a betrayal of common sense and a per- 
 version of charity to trust him very far. 
 
 There is a story about two men who were turned 
 back at the pearly gates. Sorrowing, they went 
 away. But as they did so they met a cripple. Each 
 man got under the cripple's arm, one on either side, 
 and agreed to help him as far as the gate. When 
 they got there Peter threw the gates wide open and 
 said to the cripple, "Come in and bring your crutches 
 with you." 
 
 Calif ornians cull their oranges. The best oranges 
 are sent out of the State to Eastern markets. The 
 culls are sold for the home consumption. A great 
 many people act on the same principle. The best 
 manners and kindest words are saved for strangers, 
 and odds and ends of bad temper and ill manners 
 reserved for the home circle. In the sense that 
 charity is love, the old saying holds true, that 
 charity should begin at home. 
 
Blue Pencil Notes 379 
 
 If the house of God is a house of order, then a 
 sermon delivered in the house of God, to be a godly 
 sermon, should be an orderly sermon. It should have 
 a proper and dignified beginning. It should have an 
 orderly and coherent line of thought all the way 
 through, each idea being in some way related to the 
 central theme. And it should have a fitting ending, 
 and not merely "run out." 
 
SPIRITUALITY AND EDUCATION 
 
 NOTE the subject carefully: "Spirituality and 
 education." I say that because so many es- 
 say to pervert it to read, "Spirituality or edu- 
 cation/* They would force a choice between the two. 
 We do not have to choose. Or they would assume that 
 some one would persuade the church to choose edu- 
 cation definitely and reject spirituality. 
 
 Nor would it be profitable to discuss the subject, 
 "Spirituality versus education." A man who has 
 two sons does not waste time deciding which he loves 
 most when he loves both. The Lord says, "Seek 
 learning even by study, and also by faith." If that 
 means anything it means that both the intellectual 
 and the spiritual side of man should be enlisted in 
 the great pursuit of truth. 
 
 SCIENCE AND RELIGION 
 
 One whole generation of scientists attempted to 
 knock the props from under religion. They made 
 intellect all. They denied revelation and inspiration. 
 Faith to them meant superstition. But now a whole 
 school, led by Lodge, says: "The pre-scientific in- 
 sight of genius of poets and prophets and saints 
 was of supreme value" ; and adds, "Genuine religion 
 has its roots deep down in the heart of humanity 
 and in the reality of things." 
 
 One whole generation of religious, people feared 
 380 
 
Spirituality and Education 381 
 
 and hated scientific investigation. But now men are 
 beginning- to feel that no single fact will ever be 
 found in earth or star to disprove the "eternal veri- 
 ties." Latter Day Saints, least of all, have cause to 
 fear. This revelation is recent and vital, confirming 
 the ancient testimonies. 
 
 HEART AND MIND 
 
 Jesus said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
 all thy mind, and with all thy strength." 
 
 The heart is supposed to be the seat of emotions. 
 Formerly it was supposed to be literally the seat of 
 the emotions; now it is always referred to in a 
 figurative sense in that way. So we are to love God 
 with our emotional nature. Our religion must be 
 emotional. 
 
 The mind is the seat of the intellect. Our religion 
 is to be intellectual. Once in a while an elder says 
 that he is trying to educate the Saints to make their 
 religion more intellectual and less emotional. I am 
 not ; I want it to be both emotional and intellectual. 
 
 I'LL TAKE BOTH 
 
 Once in a while one says that we need more spirit- 
 uality and less education. I don't think so. We need 
 more of both. A certain noted character in news- 
 paper comics was asked which he would take, the 
 light meat or the dark. He replied that he would 
 take both. 
 
 Why wrangle about the relative merits of light 
 
382 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 meat and dark when we can have both? Why quar- 
 rel about the relative importance of spirituality and 
 education when we should have both and God wants 
 us to have both ? 
 
 The man who stresses one and neglects the other 
 makes a mistake. His mistake may be merely tech- 
 nical, because he may take the other quite for 
 granted. But the argument which results is more 
 often than not due to a failure to understand po- 
 sitions. One argues for education and one for spirit- 
 uality, when in fact they could as well as not agree 
 in arguing for both. 
 
 HARD-HEADED AND SOFT-HEARTED SAINTS 
 
 The great preachers of all ages have been intensely 
 emotional. There is no occasion to slur emotional- 
 ism, providing it is balanced by sanity. No man 
 ever greatly declared a great message until his own 
 soul was on fire with it. Cold logic alone in the pul- 
 pit will never convert men. There are too many cold 
 altars already. The lips of the preacher must be 
 touched by burning coals from the altar of heaven. 
 
 But it is equally true that "the glory of God is 
 intelligence." The greater the education and the 
 better the training of the preacher the more effectu- 
 ally he can show forth the glory of God for it will 
 be in his own person. And this applies to the pri- 
 vate life of the individual quite as much as to the 
 public ministrations of the preacher. 
 
 Our religion should involve both heart and head. 
 A Latter Day Saint should be a hard-headed and 
 
Spirituality and Education 383 
 
 soft-hearted Christian gentleman. If he gets re- 
 versed on either point or on both he is in a bad way. 
 
 TO FAITH VIRTUE, TO VIRTUE KNOWLEDGE 
 
 The writer pleads for education always with the 
 understanding that it is to be used to assist in pro- 
 mulgating to the world in both word and deed the 
 gospel message. If that objective were lost sight of 
 our building of colleges and drafting of curriculums 
 would all be in vain. 
 
 If this church should ever come to reject inspi- 
 ration and discard revelation and spiritual guidance 
 its decline and fall would be sure and speedy. God 
 would then again call from some carpenter shop 
 or mine some unlettered but faithful man to pro- 
 claim our folly. But so far as we know, no one 
 contemplates such a program. 
 
 The plea for higher learning and pure spirituality 
 is strictly in harmony with Saint Peter's exhortation, 
 "Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge." 
 May our faith reach out and lay hold upon all things 
 worthy of belief, and our storehouse of knowledge 
 expand continuously until it shall embrace all truth. 
 
PREJUDICE 
 
 The first antagonist of the Christian faith was prejudice. 
 Dean George Hodges, in The Early Church, page 63. 
 
 Prejudice squints when it looks, and lies when it talks. 
 Duchess de Arbantes. 
 
 DEAN HOGDES very truly states that the first 
 antagonist of the Christian faith was preju- 
 dice. Jesus himself encountered it and said 
 to his disciples : "They hated me without a cause." 
 He had been prejudged and his message rejected on 
 this ground : "Can there any good thing come out of 
 Nazareth?" 
 
 His disciples later found that state of mind every- 
 where. The Jews at Rome declared to Paul: "As 
 concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is 
 spoken against." The church inherited the malice 
 that had been directed towards the Master. 
 
 This was as Jesus had predicted, for he said : "The 
 servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have 
 persecuted me, they will also persecute you." 
 
 History repeats itself. Wherever the gospel is 
 presented it encounters prejudice. In the last days 
 "the way of truth is evilly spoken of," as Peter said 
 that it should be. 
 
 Scarcely had the "latter-day glory" shone forth be- 
 fore the messengers of the covenant encountered as 
 their first and most potent adversary the old-time 
 spirit of prejudice. The old cry, "Can there any 
 ' 384 
 
Prejudice 385 
 
 good thing come out of Nazareth?" was repeated in 
 a different form. Persecution followed quickly and 
 naturally. 
 
 The Duchess de Arbantes is credited with saying : 
 ' 'Prejudice squints when it looks, and lies when it 
 talks." 
 
 Prejudice is unable to see correctly the message 
 that we have to present. Its vision is distorted and 
 perverted. And to the error and wrong of false per- 
 ception is added the mendacity of willful misrepre- 
 sentation. So that it is pretty nearly correct to say 
 that prejudice squints when it looks and lies when it 
 talks. 
 
 Such misconception and misrepresentation have 
 made martyrs in this age no less than in past ages. 
 Blinded by prejudice, people see monstrous things 
 that have no existence ; maddened by absurd and ma- 
 licious stories having their origin in prejudice, they 
 resort to deeds of violence perhaps like Saul of Tar- 
 sus verily thinking that they are doing God's pleas- 
 ure. 
 
 Thus the Jews of old persecuted Christians, cru- 
 cifying Jesus and driving his disciples from city to 
 city. Christians in turn have persecuted Jews for 
 centuries past. 
 
 In the name of God, Catholics have burned Prot- 
 estants at the stake ; and Protestants, by way of re- 
 turning evil for evil, in direct disobedience to their 
 great Exemplar, have burned Catholics at the stake. 
 (And by the way, even to-day no story about Catho- 
 lics is too absurd to find instant credence among 
 13 
 
386 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 Protestants in some quarters ; while many Catholics 
 will neither read nor listen to any appeal from non- 
 Catholic sources.) 
 
 It is an evidence of the power of prejudice that it 
 held so clear-sighted a man as Paul so long a captive. 
 He consented to the foul murder of Stephen. His 
 arguments were bonds, scourges, and prisons. It 
 took a miracle of grace to tear the scales from his 
 eyes. He spent the rest of his life in repentance. 
 But scarcely was he free from the personal dominion 
 of prejudice until he became its victim in another 
 way. He who had cast others into prison was him- 
 self cast into prison. He who had been deaf and 
 blind to reason found others blind and deaf. 
 
 How much better to be the victim of prejudice in 
 that way than to be its slave, bringing suffering un- 
 justly upon others. The Master has told us that we 
 shall be blessed when men say all manner of things 
 against us falsely for his name's sake. 
 
 The spirit of prejudice is not dead; neither is it 
 asleep. That fact is forced upon our attention in 
 various disagreeable ways from time to time "lest 
 we forget." Were it not so we might feel greater 
 concern. 
 
 Had the first great antagonist of the Christian 
 propaganda ceased his efforts against us we might 
 well pause to inquire whether or not we were still 
 active in the true Christian propaganda. So in one 
 way we may take comfort when we encounter blind 
 and bitter prejudice, as we do frequently enough to 
 keep us sober and alert. 
 
THE TRUMPET AND PITCHER 
 
 Contradictions found in "Anti-Mormon" Works 
 "And the Lord set every man's sword against his fellows." 
 
 GIDEON came against the hosts of Midian at 
 night with his three hundred men. At the 
 prearranged signal each man broke his 
 pitcher, held his light aloft, and blew his trumpet. 
 Confusion ensued in the camp of Midian. The sol- 
 diers fell to killing each other. The record says: 
 "And the Lord set every man's sword against his 
 fellows." 
 
 At the sounding of the trump of the restored gos- 
 pel a somewhat similar condition has obtained among 
 our opponents. They are very much in the dark, 
 very much confused, and in his blind zeal each man 
 stabs his fellow. 
 
 To prove this we propose to quote from a num- 
 ber of leading books, all written by the opposition, 
 all put forth as reliable, showing only a few of hun- 
 dreds of contradictions. 
 
 JOSEPH'S MOTHER EXPECTED HIM TO BE A PROPHET 
 
 Clark Braden, in the Braden and Kelley Debate, 
 published by the Christian Publishing Company, 
 Saint Louis, and put forth by them as a thoroughly 
 reliable work, says: 
 
 "She prophesied, at the time, that Joe, then seven 
 years old, WOULD BE A PROPHET, and give to the world 
 
 387 
 
388 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 a new religion. JOE WAS RAISED WITH THIS 
 IDEA BEFORE HIM. All the family were taught 
 and believed it. ... This accounts for Joe's peculiar 
 gravity when but a child, and as a youth. He was 
 to be a prophet, and he must not act as other children 
 and boys did." Braden and Kelley Debate, p. 46. 
 
 JOSEPH'S MOTHER DID NOT EXPECT HIM TO BE A 
 PROPHET 
 
 That looks bad, for it might argue that the whole 
 career of the modern prophet was the result of ma- 
 ternal suggestion. But at the sounding of the 
 trumpet Braden is slain by his own colleagues. In 
 a large and pretentious work written by Reginald 
 and Ruth Kauffman, published in London, we read: 
 
 "His appearance was NOT, as one might have ex- 
 pected, heralded by any mystic portents, and his ear- 
 lier childhood was, EVEN IN HIS MOTHER'S EYES, in no 
 wise remarkable. Indeed, Mrs. Smith had never ex- 
 pressed the opinion that her son 'Joe/ as he was 
 called, would be the founder of the faith of which 
 she dreamed. Her visions had brought her to NO 
 SUCH CONCLUSION. They had, nevertheless, impelled 
 her to the belief that a new prophet should appear, 
 and, assuming a more or less personal application 
 for her revelations, after the manner of seers, she 
 gave out hints that ALVAH, HER ELDEST SON, WAS 
 THE DIVINELY APPOINTED. But Alvah, according to 
 unkind gossip, was a greedy boy, and, one day, eating 
 too many green turnips, died. Thus did the mantle 
 
The Trumpet and the Pitcher 389 
 
 descend upon Joseph." The Latter Day Saints, by 
 Reginald and Ruth Kauffman, pp. 21, 22. 
 
 These wild imaginings are amusing, but are easily 
 understood. Braden wished to argue that Joseph 
 Smith was the result of maternal suggestion. So he 
 manufactured history to suit his theory. The Kauff- 
 mans, on the other hand, were desirous of proving 
 Lucy Smith a false prophet. So they manufactured 
 history to suit their taste. Neither cared for exact 
 facts in the case. Others have pursued a similar 
 course. The insignificant fact that Lucy Smith never 
 had a son named Alvah was not to stand in the way 
 of the theory. One must be created and later killed 
 with green turnips. 
 
 JOSEPH HAD NO ENERGY OR PERSISTENCY 
 
 Frank J. Cannon assures us : 
 
 "Joseph Smith was not the man to surmount great 
 obstacles and compel great and lasting changes by 
 his own unaided force. He lacked ENERGY, di- 
 plomacy, and STEADFASTNESS for such a task."- 
 Brigham Young and His Mormon Empire, by Ex- 
 Senator Frank J. Cannon and George L. Knapp, 
 chap. 2, p. 20. 
 
 HE WAS VERY ENERGETIC, PERSISTENT, ABLE 
 
 Others tell a very different story: 
 "But, with all these drawbacks, he was much 
 more than an ordinary man. He possessed the most 
 
 INDOMITABLE PERSEVERANCE, was a good judge of 
 
 men, and deemed himself born to command and he 
 
390 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 did command." Recollections of an Old Pioneer, 
 P. H. Burnett, p. 66; as quoted in Founder of Mor- 
 monism, p. 6. 
 
 "His eloquence, rude but powerful his letters, 
 clever and sarcastic the manifold character and 
 boldness of his designs his courage in enterprise 
 HIS PERSEVERANCE DESPITE GREAT OB- 
 STACLES his conception and partial execution of 
 the temple of Nauvoo these and other things mark 
 him as a man of more than ordinary caliber." The 
 Mormons' Own Book, and Life of Joseph Smith, by 
 T. W. P. Taylor, p. LI. 
 
 "The REMARKABLE TENACITY OF PURPOSE which he 
 
 exhibited under discouraging circumstances, and the 
 apparent sincerity of his professions, have been sug- 
 gested as evidence that he was really a religious en- 
 thusiast, who became the victim of his own de- 
 lusions." Utah and the Mormons, by Benjamin G. 
 Ferris, at one time Secretary of Utah Territory, pp. 
 130, 131. 
 
 BOOK OF MORMON TAKEN FROM SPALDING ROMANCE 
 
 Mr. Charles Shook, whose work R. B. Neal says 
 will "shake the foundation" of Latter Day Saintism, 
 has this to say about the Spalding Romance theory : 
 
 "Gentiles, with few exceptions, believe that the 
 BOOK OF MORMON is ONE OF SOLOMON SPALDING'S 
 ROMANCES, which somehow fell into Smith's hands 
 and was altered to suit his purpose. No matter what 
 others may think, I AGREE WITH THOSE WHO ARE OF 
 
The Trumpet and the Pitcher 391 
 
 THIS OPINION, although I have not always done so." 
 Cumorah Revisited, by Shook, p. 25. 
 
 BOOK OF MORMON NOT TAKEN FROM SPALDING RO- 
 MANCE 
 
 Mr. Shook, who was thus to shake, does not get 
 far with his opinion, for at the breaking of the 
 pitcher, Reverend D. H. Bays, the man who studied 
 "Mormonism" for forty years, and was hailed by 
 Mr. Neal's associates as a ' 'child of Providence," im- 
 mediately downs him with this: 
 
 "The long-lost Spalding story has at last been un- 
 earthed, and is now on deposit in the library of 
 Oberlin College at Oberlin, Ohio, and may be ex- 
 amined by anyone who may take the pains to call 
 on President Fairchild, of that institution. . . . THE 
 SPALDING STORY is A FAILURE. Do not attempt to 
 rely upon it IT WILL LET YOU DOWN. 
 
 "The entire theory connecting Sidney Rigdon and 
 the Spalding romance with Joseph Smith in originat- 
 ing the Book of Mormon MUST BE ABANDONED." 
 Doctrines and Dogmas of Mormonism, D. H. Bays, 
 pp. 24, 25. 
 
 Professor L. Woodbridge Riley comes to the sup- 
 port of Bays in the following : 
 
 "In spite of a continuous stream of conjectural 
 literature, it is as yet IMPOSSIBLE to pick out any spe- 
 cial document as an original source of the Book of 
 Mormon. In particular the commonly accepted 
 Spalding theory is INSOLUBLE from EXTERNAL evi- 
 
392 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 dence and DISPROVED BY INTERNAL^EVI- 
 DENCE." The Founder of Mormonism, p. 172. 
 
 JOSEPH SMITH IGNORANT AND FEEBLE-MINDED 
 
 We are assured by various writers that the 
 founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day 
 Saints was ignorant and dull-witted : 
 
 "His UNTUTORED and FEEBLE INTELLECT had 
 not yet grasped at anything beyond mere toying with 
 mysterious things/' The Prophet of Palmyra, 
 Thomas Gregg, p. 4. 
 
 "The young people of the town considered him NOT 
 QUITE FULL-WITTED and, with the cruelty of youth, 
 made him the butt for their practical jokes." The 
 Latter Day Saints, Kauffman, p. 23. 
 
 "The extreme IGNORANCE and apparent STUPIDITY 
 of this modern prophet." Mormonism Unveiled, by 
 E. D. Howe, p. 12. 
 
 JOSEPH SMITH BRAINY AND INTELLIGENT 
 
 Again the "child of Providence," charges through 
 the camp of Midian and attacks Messrs. Gregg, 
 Howe, and Kauffman : 
 
 "He was confessedly illiterate, but nature had en- 
 dowed him with a CLEAR, STRONG BRAIN, and 
 by sheer force of his INTELLECTUALITY he was 
 from the very beginning of his career a leader." 
 The Doctrines and Dogmas of Mormonism, by D. H. 
 Bays, p. 19. 
 
The Trumpet and the Pitcher 393 
 
 JOSEPH SMITH A COWARD 
 
 Mr. Shook again arises to shake, and declares : 
 "Time made some changes and the tow-head be- 
 came a light auburn, but the moral traits continued 
 the same and secretiveness, untruthfulness, dis- 
 honesty and COWARDICE followed him to his assas- 
 sination/' The True Origin of Mormon Polygamy, 
 by Shook, p. 21. (Old edition.) 
 
 JOSEPH SMITH VERY BRAVE 
 
 We have no time to resent the charge of cowardice, 
 for Mr. Smucker and Doctor Wyl, other "well-posted 
 students" leap forward when the lights blaze up and 
 overthrow the "shaking Shook." 
 
 "The Smiths are not without talent, and are said 
 to be as BRAVE -AS LIONS. Joseph, the chief, is a 
 noble-looking fellow, a Mahomet every inch of him." 
 History of the Mormons, by Smucker, p. 147. 
 
 "It must be admitted that he displayed no little 
 zeal and COURAGE; that his tact was great, that his 
 talents for governing men were of no mean order." 
 -Ibid., p. 182. 
 
 "He had physical COURAGE, FOR HE DIED GAME."- 
 Doctor Wyl, quoted in Word of Truth, June 4, 1913. 
 
 HE SHOOTS FOUR MEN 
 
 The Kauffmans, Ruth and Reginald, now regale us 
 with a wonderful story, as follows : 
 
 "It appears that Joseph Smith DIED BRAVELY : 'he 
 stood by the jamb of the door and fired four shots, 
 
394 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 BRINGING HIS MAN DOWN EVERY TIME/ " The Lat- 
 ter Day Saints, by Kauffman, p. 47. 
 
 HE KILLS NO ONE 
 
 We are disturbed by this gory tale about four dead 
 men, until another author of equal rank and vast re- 
 search assures us that no such thing occurred ; it was 
 merely a matter of wounding one man slightly in 
 the elbow, in the region of the "crazy bone," where 
 we imagine numbers of these writers have been in- 
 jured: 
 
 "Guns were thrust in and discharged, and Joseph, 
 with a revolver, returned two shots, HITTING ONE 
 MAN IN THE ELBOW." The History of the Mor- 
 mons, by Lieutenant Gunnison, pp. 123, 124. 
 
 HIS ANCESTORS VERY BAD PEOPLE 
 
 Mr. L. B. Cake affirms : 
 
 "Seventy reputable men who knew, stated under 
 oath that this ;Smith family was ignorant; that the 
 males were drunkards, blasphemers, liars, thieves; 
 who put in their time digging for hidden treasures 
 of the Captain Kidd kind, and defrauding their 
 neighbors. Reputable citizens aver under oath that 
 these Smiths were a low, wicked household and Joe 
 the worst of the lot." Peepstone Joe and the Peck 
 Manuscript, by Lu B. Cake, chap. 2, p. 9. 
 
 ANCESTORS GOOD, RELIGIOUS, AMERICAN PATRIOTS 
 
 Mr. Cake is upheld in this charge by other writers, 
 but when the trumpet sounds one Josiah F. Gibbs, 
 
The Trumpet and the Pitcher 395 
 
 another Midianite, who assures us that he has spent 
 the best part of his life investigating this question, 
 and is an ardent opponent of "Mormonism," turns 
 upon Mr. Cake quite unexpectedly and runs him 
 through verbally: 
 
 "Lucy Mack Smith, the mother of Joseph Smith, 
 was a woman of UNUSUAL STRENGTH OF 
 CHARACTER, UNQUESTIONED PIETY, and of 
 an intensely visionary mental organization." 
 Lights and Shadows of Mormonism, by Josiah F. 
 Gibbs, p. 23. 
 
 "Solomon Mack, the father of Lucy, was very 
 likely of English extraction. He participated in the 
 War of the Revolution and was in every sense a 
 TYPICAL AND PATRIOTIC AMERICAN. He was 
 deeply RELIGIOUS." Ibid., p. 23. 
 
 "From his mother's side of the family he [Joseph 
 Smith] inherited a strong DEVOTIONAL TEMPERA- 
 MENT, supplemented by admirable persistence of 
 purpose and MAGNIFICENT COURAGE." Ibid., p. 38. 
 
 "Joseph Smith, sr., who was of a modest, unpre- 
 tentious and easy-going, yet withal HONEST and 
 EARNEST nature." Ibid., p. 49. 
 
 JOSEPH SMITH NEVER READ ANYTHING 
 
 With the greatest assurance, John Hay tells us: 
 Joseph never read Moliere, NOR ANYBODY ELSE." 
 Secretary of State John Hay, in The Mormon 
 Prophet's Tragedy. 
 
 Such a picture of profound ignorance and illit- 
 eracy is very painful to contemplate. But wait ! 
 
396 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 HE READ VERY COMPREHENSIVELY 
 
 There is another authority who knows all about 
 the matter, the Reverend W. L. Crowe. 
 
 "And this ebony bird beguiling 
 My sad fancy into smiling," says: 
 
 "He read COMPREHENSIVELY, and as he ad- 
 vanced in reading and knowledge he assumed a 
 spiritual aspect. He FREQUENTLY PERUSED THE 
 BIBLE, AND BECAME QUITE FAMILIAR WITH ITS CON- 
 TENTS." The Mormon Waterloo, by W. L. Crowe, 
 p. 9. 
 
 There you are, Hay-Crowe, Crowe-Hay take 
 your choice. 
 
 VERY DAMAGING AFFIDAVITS 
 
 Thomas Gregg has the following, in The Prophet 
 of Palmyra : 
 
 "'Mr. E. D. Howe, in his valuable work, Mormon- 
 ism Unveiled (Painesville, Ohio, 1834), presents the 
 testimonials of eighty-one persons, neighbors and 
 acquaintances of the Smith family, all attesting to 
 their illiteracy and generally worthless and dis- 
 reputable character, especially that of the son 'Joe/ 
 as he was called." The Prophet of Palmyra, p. 11. 
 
 AFFIDAVITS OF JEALOUS NEIGHBORS NO GOOD 
 
 These eighty-one affidavits are very disturbing to 
 some minds, but now comes Professor I. Woodbridge 
 Riley, at one time of the University of New York, 
 and assures Messrs. Gregg and Howe (as we have 
 
The Trumpet and the Pitcher 397 
 
 often done) that they are of no value as evidence. 
 Hear him : 
 
 "Concerning this unpleasant fact NO RELIANCE is 
 to be placed in the MULTIPLIED AFFIDAVITS OF JEAL- 
 OUS NEIGHBORS who swore on oath that there was 
 much intoxication among the Smiths; PEOPLE IN 
 THOSE DAYS HAD THE AFFIDAVIT HABIT." 
 The Founder of Mormonism, p. 66. 
 
 THREE WITNESSES RENOUNCE TESTIMONY 
 
 The Reverend W. A. Stanton in a booklet pub- 
 lished by the American Baptist Publication Society, 
 entitled, Three Important Movements, Campbellism, 
 Mormonism, Spiritualism, declares that the three 
 witnesses to the Book of Mormon repudiated their 
 testimony : 
 
 "In 1830 the book was printed, and with it a sworn 
 statement by Cowdery, Harris, and David Whitmer, 
 that an angel of God had shown them the plates of 
 which the book purported to be a translation. Some 
 years later these three men renounced Mormonism, 
 
 AND DECLARED SAID STATEMENT FALSE." Three Im- 
 portant Movements, p. 35. 
 
 WITNESSES DID NOT RENOUNCE TESTIMONY 
 
 It is not necessary for us to expose the fact that 
 the Reverend Stanton is in error ; Professor I. Wood- 
 bridge Riley saves us that trouble: 
 
 "Up to his DYING DAY, Cowdery believed there was 
 NO 'FICTION AND DECEPTION' either in this manifes- 
 
398 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 tatirn, or in the plate vision." The Founder of 
 Mor, misrn, p. 218. 
 
 "Whitmer's ENTIRE FAITH in the reality of the 
 vision of the plates is PERPETUATED BY THE INSCRIP- 
 TION ON HIS TOMB. . . /The record of the Jews and 
 the record of the Nephites are one. Truth is eter- 
 nal/ " The Founder of Mormonism, p. 219. 
 
 "In a letter written by him in 1870, he [Harris] 
 said : 'No man ever heard me IN ANY WAY deny either 
 the Book of Mormon, or the administration of the 
 angel that showed me the plates, or the organization 
 of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 
 under the administration of Joseph Smith, jr., the 
 prophet, whom the Lord raised up for that purpose 
 in these latter days, that he might show forth his 
 power and glory. The Lord has shown me these 
 things by his Spirit, and by the administration of 
 angels, and confirmed the same with signs following 
 FOR THE SPACE OF FORTY YEARS." The Founder of 
 Mormonism, p. 220. 
 
 SIDNEY RIGDON FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 
 
 Three gentlemen who are put forward as reliable 
 authorities tell us that Sidney Rigdon was the real 
 author of the Book of Mormon and founder of "Mor- 
 monism" : 
 
 "We therefore must hold out Sidney Rigdon to the 
 world as being the ORIGINAL 'AUTHOR AND PROPRI- 
 ETOR' of the whole Mormon conspiracy, until further 
 light is elicited upon the lost writings of Solomon 
 Spalding." Mormonism, by E. D. Howe, p. 290. 
 
The Trumpet and the Pitcher 399 
 
 "A religious man, however erratic he might be, 
 who had been trained in the Bible and in theology, 
 was needed to give the bogus system some kind of re- 
 ligious setting. The only man connected with the 
 scheme FROM ITS VERY BEGINNING, long before 
 the public organization, who had any such qualifica- 
 tions, was the Reverend Sidney Rigdon." Reverend 
 R. G. McNiece, for twenty years pastor of the First 
 Presbyterian Church, Salt Lake City, in The Funda- 
 mentals, vol. 8, pp. Ill, 112. 
 
 "For months the translation languished and then 
 a 'mysterious stranger* appeared at the Smith home 
 on various occasions. This was Sidney Rigdon." 
 Mormonism, the Islam of America, by Reverend 
 Bruce Kinney, p. 51. 
 
 SIDNEY RIGDON NOT CONNECTED WITH BEGINNING 
 This is a pretty theory, but it is spoiled by the 
 Reverend Davis H. Bays, who assures us the Book of 
 Mormon was in print and the church organized be- 
 fore Rigdon ever heard of "Mormonism": 
 
 "In order to the successful refutation of the Mor- 
 mon dogma it is not at all necessary to connect Sid- 
 ney Rigdon with Joseph Smith in its inception. In 
 fact, such a course will almost certainly RESULT IN 
 FAILURE ; and the principal reason why it will fail IS 
 BECAUSE IT IS NOT TRUE. ... As a matter of 
 fact, Sidney Rigdon was an EARNEST AND ABLE AD- 
 VOCATE OF THE REFORMATION CONTEMPORANEOUSLY 
 WITH ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, the pastor of a church 
 at Mentor, Ohio, at the very time Joseph Smith and 
 
400 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 Oliver Cowdery were propagating Mormonism in 
 New York and Pennsylvania. Sidney Rigdon had 
 never heard a Mormon sermon, nor had he ever seen 
 a copy of the Book of Mormon till he was presented 
 with one by Oliver Cowdery and Parley P. Pratt IN 
 THE FALL OF 1830. It is an historical fact that Mr. 
 Rigdon became a convert to the new religion through 
 the preaching of these gentlemen during the visit re- 
 ferred to above."- The Doctrines and Dogmas of 
 Mormonism, pp. 22, 23. 
 
 DISAGREEMENT EVEN ON DATE OF BIRTH 
 
 "Joseph Smith was born at Sharon, Windsor 
 County, Vermont, December 23, 1805." Origin of 
 Book of Mormon and Rise and Progress of Mormon 
 Church, by S. J. S. Davis, p. 23. 
 
 "Just here a little sketch of the history and char- 
 acter of Joseph Smith may be in order. He was born 
 at Sharon, Vermont. The date of his birth is not ex- 
 actly known, but it is supposed to be about the year 
 1798." Positive Proof that Mormonism is a Fraud 
 and the Book of Mormon a Fable, by Reverend J. E. 
 Mahaffey, p. 5. 
 
 Hundreds of contradictions similar to the ones 
 here produced might be collected with a little re- 
 search from the mass of confusion, error, and false- 
 hood put forth in the sacred name of truth in oppo- 
 sition to the latter-day work. You will not gather 
 grapes and figs of truth and fact from the brambles 
 of error and deception. 
 
WHO WAS RIGHT ABOUT 
 POLYGAMY? 
 
 TWO PROPHECIES AND THE SEQUEL 
 
 BRIGHAM YOUNG sometimes indulged in 
 prophecy. At the time when he first promul- 
 gated polygamy, August 29, 1852, he said: 
 "You heard Brother Pratt state, this morning, 
 that a revelation would be read this afternoon, which 
 was given previous to Joseph's death. It con- 
 tains a doctrine a small portion of the world is 
 opposed to; but I can deliver a prophecy upon it. 
 Though that doctrine has not been practiced by the 
 elders, this people have believed in it for years. . . . 
 The revelation will be read to you. The principle 
 spoken upon by Brother Pratt, this morning, we be- 
 lieve in. And I tell you for I know it it will sail 
 over and ride triumphantly above all the prejudice 
 and priestcraft of the day; it will be fostered and 
 believed in by the more intelligent portions of the 
 world, as one of the best doctrines ever proclaimed 
 to any people." Supplement to Millennial Star, vol. 
 15, p. 31. 
 
 Less than five months later at a special meeting 
 the people of the Reorganization received the word 
 of the Lord on the question of polygamy. Elder 
 Zenos H. Gurley, sr., wrote : 
 
 401 
 
402 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 "God was truly with us, and many felt to say with 
 the poet, 'Angels are now hovering o'er us/ This 
 was on the eve of the 9th of January, 1853, ever 
 memorable with the Saints of God. About half an 
 hour afterwards we received through the Spirit the 
 following, as nearly as we could write it : 
 
 " 'Polygamy is an abomination in the sight of the 
 Lord God : it is not of me ; I abhor it. I abhor it, as 
 also the doctrines of the Nicolaitans, and the men or 
 set of men who practice it. I judge them not, I judge 
 not those who practice it. Their works shall judge 
 them at the last day. Be ye strong ; ye shall contend 
 against this doctrine. . . ." Church History, vol. 3, 
 pp. 214, 215. 
 
 The issue was fairly drawn. Who was right? 
 The Reorganization has never changed in its po- 
 sition. In that regard it is Godlike. God changes 
 not. But what a change in Utah! Place Brigham 
 Young's proud prediction in immediate contrast with 
 the statement made by Joseph F. Smith and his as- 
 sociates at their conference of 1918. Of President 
 Penrose's speech the Deseret News says : 
 
 "Plural marriage is no longer countenanced, no 
 longer allowed in the church and transgressors, if 
 they can be apprehended, will be disciplined by the 
 church and turned over to be disciplined under the 
 law of the land. He said to let the people not be- 
 lieve these men who go about to satisfy their own 
 lusts and lead innocent followers and pure young 
 women astray. They are rebels, said President Pen- 
 
Who Was Right About Polygamy? 403 
 
 rose, rebels against church and rebels against the 
 law of the land/' Deseret News, October 4, 1918. 
 
 President Joseph F. Smith said : 
 
 "I feel it imperative upon myself to indorse and 
 affirm without recourse, the statements that have 
 been made by President Penrose in relation to the 
 subject upon which he last treated. I want to say to 
 this congregation and to the world that never, at any 
 time, since my presidency in the Church of Jesus 
 Christ of Latter Day Saints have I authorized any 
 man to perform a plural marriage, and never, since 
 my presidency of the church has any plural marriage 
 been performed with my sanction, or knowledge, or 
 with the consent of the Church of Jesus Christ of 
 Latter Day Saints, and therefore such unions as have 
 been formed unlawfully and contrary to the order 
 of the church are null and void in the sight of God 
 and are not marriages." Deseret News, October 4, 
 1918. 
 
 Heber J. Grant, President of the Twelve, is thus 
 reported : 
 
 "People who now advocate plural marriage, said 
 President Grant, are in very deed rebels and 
 traitors. And, he said, it is the duty of those who 
 may be approached on the matter of plural mar- 
 riage, to expose those who approach them." Des- 
 eret News, October 5, 1918. 
 
 [Note : Mr. Grant was elevated to the presidency 
 at a later date.] 
 
404 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 Who was right in 1852 and 1853 ? By confession 
 of the Utah dignitaries, the Reorganization was 
 right. Brigham's prophecy fails even in his own 
 capital city. Those "intelligent portions" who obey 
 his doctrine are now branded as rebels and from 
 his pulpit. Brigham prophesied but Joseph F. 
 confesses. 
 
 We knew all the time that polygamists were 
 wrong, and now to our gratification arise two mem- 
 bers of the presidency of the dominant church of 
 Utah, and the president of the twelve, and publicly 
 obey the injunction given to the Reorganization con- 
 cerning polygamy, "Ye shall contend against this 
 doctrine." 
 
DON'T FORGET THE MAIN ISSUE 
 
 WHILE DISCUSSING THE QUESTION, "WAS JOSEPH 
 SMITH A POLYGAMIST?" 
 
 TWO men, Jones and Smith, were having a very 
 heated argument on politics. Finally Jones, 
 being a Democrat (or was he a Republican) , 
 was driven into a corner. He got the worst of the 
 argument. Then, as a happy way out of his trouble, 
 he turned upon Smith and said, "Your great-great- 
 grandfather, who assisted in founding the party, was 
 a notorious rascal." From that point on he refused 
 to discuss principles and insisted that the argument 
 should have to do exclusively with the character of 
 Smith's ancestors. The maneuver was not logical, 
 but it was expedient from his viewpoint. 
 
 For many years the Reorganized Church of Jesus 
 Christ has had a controversy with the world. Gener- 
 ally when we get our opponents in a corner they 
 immediately attempt to shift the argument to the 
 character of Joseph Smith, alleging that he was a 
 polygamist, and what not, that is bad. Sometimes, 
 recognizing the value of preventives, they do not 
 wait until they get in a corner. The logic is bad, 
 but no doubt the procedure is expedient from their 
 standpoint. 
 
 A Christian and an infidel were discussing matters 
 of difference in belief. The infidel, being hard put to 
 
 405 
 
406 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 it on principle and doctrine, fell back upon the "mis- 
 takes of Moses," and finally landed hard on Abra- 
 ham, calling him a polygamist, and yet one recog- 
 nized by Christians as the "Father of the Faithful." 
 After that the infidel always kept as far as possible 
 from the New Testament and as near as possible 
 to Moses and Abraham. Our opponents use typical 
 infidel tactics. 
 
 Ingersoll ignored the teaching of Jesus Christ and 
 tried to confine the argument to "the mistakes of 
 Moses." Ingersoll is dead. Christianity still lives. 
 Ingersoll is now mourning "the mistakes of Inger- 
 soll." Our doughty opponents may choose to ignore 
 our position and insist on debating the "mistakes 
 of Joseph Smith," or his alleged mistakes. After they 
 are dead and gone to judgment the church will stand. 
 
 Just as an example, we note a tract entitled, "Mor- 
 monism polygamous," issued by the National Reform 
 Association, and written by the Reverend William 
 E. LaRue, B. D f The Reverend LaRue, B. D., is 
 rather impartial, devoting very nearly one half of 
 his article to the Utah Church, the balance to the 
 Reorganization. However, he does give us a little 
 more than half of his attention. He advertises us as 
 being "anti-polygamous" in belief. For that much 
 credit we thank him. But why one who is out to 
 fight polygamy should devote more than half of his 
 attention to an "anti-polygamous" organization re- 
 mains to be explained. Sometimes we suspect that 
 
Don't Forget the Main Issue 407 
 
 all this to-do about polygamy is really a smoke screen 
 a little ecclesiastical camouflage. 
 
 The burden of the LaRue article is an effort to 
 prove that Joseph Smith taught and practiced polyg- 
 amy. Because we do not agree with him on that 
 point he concludes that we are dishonest. It is not 
 our purpose in this article to review the old charges ; 
 but merely to point out that they do not touch the 
 vital question at issue. That man Jones, mentioned 
 in the first paragraph, could never have won his 
 argument by diverting the discussion to a consider- 
 ation of the character of Smith's ancestors. Nor 
 could Ingersoll win out on the "mistakes of Moses." 
 
 Our people were not converted to Joseph Smith. 
 They were converted to Jesus Christ, and to certain 
 very positive doctrines. These doctrines are true or 
 false, and always have been true or false. Nothing 
 in the life of Joseph Smith can in any way affect 
 them. The statement that Joseph Smith was not a 
 polygamist is not found anywhere in our creed. Even 
 if some one should prove that he was a polygamist 
 at one time in his career (which has not been done) , 
 that would not affect our religious conceptions in the 
 slightest. 
 
 If our opponents cannot see that, it may be their 
 fault or it may merely be their misfortune. The 
 old Scotchman sold a blind horse under the guaran- 
 tee that it was entirely without fault. Presently the 
 buyer was back with the horse and with the com- 
 plaint, "He's blind, and you said he didn't have a 
 
408 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 fault." The canny Scot replied, "Mon, that's no' 
 his fault. That's his misfortune/' 
 
 It is true that once in a great while an elder who 
 has one eye on popularity and the other on position 
 may discover suddenly that Joseph Smith was a 
 polygamist. Even a bishop, whose official actions 
 were about to be called into question, suddenly dis- 
 covered, almost over night, as it were, that Joseph 
 Smith had taught polygamy. Exit bishop to the 
 rustle of angel's wings. And immediately he founded 
 a new church. It is as though he said, "Joseph Smith 
 was a polygamist, and upon this rock I will build 
 my church." And the gates of hell are greatly 
 amused if gates can be said to have any sense of 
 humor. 
 
 Most of our men are not blind, either by fault or 
 misfortune. They know that our position regarding 
 church organization, revelations, spiritual gifts, and 
 doctrinal principles, as well as on those important 
 economic principles now coming so much to the fore, 
 equality, consecration, and stewardships, is true. 
 Nothing that Joseph Smith did or did not do seventy- 
 five years ago can affect the matter one way or the 
 other. 
 
 For that reason, in discussion they generally in- 
 sist upon what are termed "church propositions." 
 They do not bite on every pin hook to which some 
 preacher may attach a bait. They demand that the 
 other man shall give half time and set up his own 
 church and doctrine for scrutiny, and for attack 
 
Don't Forget the Main Issue 409 
 
 if found at fault. Some of our opponents refuse to 
 sign such propositions, preferring a one-sided debate 
 and obviously wishing to keep as far as possible 
 from principles and as much as possible on the 
 question of the other man's character. They may 
 not be logical, or sportsmanlike, or Christian, but it 
 is exceedingly expedient from their standpoint. 
 
 Many will join the writer in the following senti- 
 ment : I do not believe that Joseph Smith ever prac- 
 ticed or taught polygamy. But if I should become 
 convinced that he did, while I would feel exceedingly 
 sorry that a family name should suffer shame, I 
 would say, Let him meet the issue at the bar of God 
 I am a minister for Jesus Christ and a preacher 
 of his gospel ; my ministry will go on absolutely un- 
 changed. 
 
C 
 
 BLUE PENCIL NOTES 
 
 OLD cream will not cure a cancer. Talcum 
 powder is no good for leprosy. 
 
 Systems of ethics, philosophies, "new 
 thought/' and other superficial remedies will not 
 cure the thing that ails humanity. 
 
 It is a very splendid thing for our men to study 
 philosophy, science, art, literature, all of those 
 things, that their range of knowledge may be in- 
 creased. But those things are to help them in the 
 declaration of their message; they do not consti- 
 tute the message. 
 
 Some men make a mistake right there. The thing 
 that they are studying is the thing that they preach. 
 If they happen to be studying sociology that be- 
 comes their message. They may not know it, per- 
 haps, but it is so, for the time being at least. Or if 
 they study economics, or psychology, it is the same. 
 
 Working that way, a man may preach a sermon 
 as long as Mayor MacSwiney's fast and feed no one. 
 The lecture room is the place for such dissertations. 
 They are very profitable in their place. The pulpit 
 is for the declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 410 
 
Don't Forget the Main Issue 411 
 
 These studies may furnish the preacher arguments, 
 illustrations, helps, collateral evidences, but they do 
 not furnish him his message. If they did there had 
 been no need for an ordained ministry or for a res- 
 toration; because there are thousands of lecturers, 
 unordained, who can do better work in their special 
 lines before the people than the average elder can 
 hope to do. 
 
 We were sent to preach a rather definite message 
 to the world. It is simple, yet by no means narrow. 
 And it is the very thing that the world needs to-day. 
 The essence of it is faith in God, and repentance 
 from dead works, and personal regeneration, or re- 
 birth, or spiritual cleansing, of which baptism in 
 water is a very splendid symbol that signifies every- 
 thing when the man is truly repentant and desirous 
 to be clean, and signifies nothing when he is not. 
 Community regeneration follows individual regen- 
 eration. 
 
 The more we study the principles of the gospel 
 the more beautiful and sufficient they seem. Faith 
 in God that is fundamental in all our preaching, 
 and is needed to be taught more than ever before. 
 The man whose ministry does not increase faith 
 among his hearers stands in jeopardy. Repentance 
 with men and women becoming ever more reck- 
 less, lawless, and Godless, the world over, every 
 minister needs as never before to cry repentance, 
 
412 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 that he may move sinners toward God. Regenera- 
 tion, cleansing, personal rebirth that is getting 
 down to the very base of every Christian experience 
 and of social regeneration as well. 
 
 The early elders were told that they were sent out 
 to teach and not to be taught. That was very true 
 concerning the principles of truth that go to make 
 up the gospel of Jesus Christ. No one has ever 
 taught us a new, essential principle ; to the contrary, 
 many truths that we first taught have been taken up 
 by the world. In other realms there is much for us 
 to learn. But the man who goes to other realms for 
 his message, surrenders at the point where we are 
 strong and impregnable, and makes his stand on the 
 ground where he may be very weak. 
 
 Do not be narrow, or churlish, or ignorant; but in 
 preaching let us stay rather close to our message. 
 Under the simple statement of the terms of the gos- 
 pel is a rich and profitable field for instruction to 
 saint or sinner, beginning with the first lessons of 
 faith and running on to the most profound consid- 
 eration of Zionic problems. 
 
 Our strength and our safety, our originality and 
 our glory, lie in the message committed to us in the 
 revelations contained in the three books: "The el- 
 ders, priests, and teachers of this church shall teach 
 the principles of my gospel which are in the Bible 
 
Blue Pencil Notes 413 
 
 and the Book of Mormon, in the which is the full- 
 ness of the gospel; and they shall observe the 
 covenants and church articles to do them, and these 
 shall be their teachings, as they shall be directed by 
 the Spirit." Doctrine and Covenants 42 : 5. 
 
 This is not an argument against education. It is 
 an argument in favor of a proper use of things edu- 
 cation gives us, namely helps in the presentation of 
 our message, but no substitute for it. A man well 
 learned in all philosophies but ignorant of the con- 
 tents of the three books is ignorant indeed. We be- 
 lieve most profoundly in the Book of Mormon 
 statement: "To be learned is good, if they hearken 
 unto the counsels of God." 
 
OUR INFLUENCE ON DOCTRINE 
 
 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as a fac- 
 tor in shaping the world's religious opinions. 
 
 THE Latter Day Saint is frequently asked, 
 "What is the principal difference between 
 your church and others in matters of belief?" 
 
 While attempting to reply with a concrete state- 
 ment of differences, many will occur to him ; for in- 
 stance the question of authority a vital question on 
 which we differ from nearly all others, whether Cath- 
 olic or Protestant. 
 
 Yet he will be struck with the fact that many 
 differences which might have been named in years 
 gone by apparently do not now exist. 
 
 Many items of doctrine preached by few, if any, 
 and opposed by most when we began their exposi- 
 tion, are now either quite generally taught by many 
 orthodox believers, or are looked upon with much 
 more favor, and every decade they receive a wider 
 acceptance. 
 
 You may run over the list: The gathering of the 
 Jews, the second personal appearing of Christ, divine 
 healing, probation after death, yes, even continued 
 revelation, gathering, tithing, stewardships, and con- 
 secration of properties. Others will occur to you, 
 perhaps. At the same time many obnoxious tenets 
 opposed by us have been dropped from the creeds, or, 
 
 414 
 
Our Influence on Doctrine 415 
 
 if retained, the public promulgation of them has 
 ceased. 
 
 Why this change? Many who have opposed us, 
 and who yet oppose us, are much more nearly on 
 common doctrinal ground with us than in years gone 
 by. Yet we have never abandoned a single position 
 taken by us in the beginning. 
 
 The statement that Latter Day Saints have been 
 one of the great factors in forcing a revision of 
 the world's religious opinions would probably be 
 hooted by many prominent divines. Yet it is no 
 less or more than the truth. 
 
 Our missionaries have for many years carried on 
 an aggressive campaign, reaching most parts of the 
 United States, Canada, England, Scotland, and 
 Wales, as well as parts of Germany, France, Aus- 
 tralia, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Palestine, and the 
 islands of the sea. Multitudes have listened to their 
 convincing presentation of doctrines, who have been 
 loath to unite with us but not slow to borrow those 
 doctrines. 
 
 Thousands of influential clergymen have attended 
 these meetings or otherwise investigated the mes- 
 sage, mostly with a view to debate or combat. Very 
 many have actually engaged in public debate. They 
 have found our position on doctrinal points in- 
 vincible, and as a sheer matter of self-protection, 
 have themselves aided in the work of creed revision. 
 In addition to this, most of our adherents, the world 
 
416 ' The Inside of the Cup 
 
 over, have been actively engaged in teaching their 
 neighbors. 
 
 Probably no other religious movement ever re- 
 ceived greater publicity, and it has had its effect. 
 Furious and constant attack has been made upon us 
 and we have met it with strenuous and unexpected 
 resistance. 
 
 Many a lance has been broken on the helmet of 
 truth, and the aggressor has retired with battered 
 theological mail, only to reappear as a reformer on 
 his own account. It is easier to imitate than to sur- 
 render. John Alexander Dowie, for instance, bor- 
 rowed most of his ideas on doctrine and organization 
 from Latter Day Saints. 
 
 So to-day other voices than ours are preaching our 
 doctrine; voices of ministers whose particular de- 
 nominations bitterly opposed that doctrine fifty 
 years ago. 
 
 In the one item of the doctrine of the second com- 
 ing of Christ, and its imminence, what a change in 
 a few years ! The voice of God to us, in October, 
 1831, was, " Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make 
 his paths straight." It was much like the com- 
 mission to John the Baptist, and conditions were 
 somewhat similar. 
 
 Christ was coming in the first instance with bless- 
 ing. It was but just that the people be told, other- 
 wise his paths would not have been straight, or 
 strictly in harmony with justice. John was sent as 
 an authoritative messenger to warn ; yet his was not 
 
Our Influence on Doctrine 417 
 
 the only work. The Jews themselves preached 
 Christ's coming and daily looked for it. The Mes- 
 sianic idea was at its height among them when he 
 came ; it afterward declined. John warned them and 
 they warned each other. 
 
 Christ is coming again, this time to judge as well 
 as bless. It is but just that the people should be 
 warned with authority, as they have been ; and now 
 they themselves have taken up the work. 
 
 At a so-called "prophetic conference," held in the 
 Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, in 1914, a new 
 creed or statement of faith was adopted by the seven- 
 teen hundred or more delegates present, representing 
 churches all over the United States and Canada. As 
 reported in the Sunday School Times for March 21, 
 1914, the ninth article of that creed reads : 
 
 "We believe in the second, visible and imminent 
 coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to 
 establish his world-wide kingdom on earth." 
 
 Even more emphatic was the statement issued in 
 1917 by a group of British divines, representing 
 Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Congregationalist, 
 and Episcopalian denominations. Their "mani- 
 festo," called "The significance of the hour," pub- 
 lished in the London Christian World, and later in 
 the Chicago Herald for December 6, 1917, was 
 signed by clergymen of world renown. The first 
 two declarations were as follows: 
 
 "First that the present crisis points toward the 
 close of the times of the Gentiles. 
 14 
 
418 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 "Second that the revelation of our Lord may be 
 expected at any moment, when he will be manifested 
 as evidently as to his disciples on the eve of his 
 resurrection." 
 
 The doctrine of the literal, personal, second ad- 
 vent of our Lord, so little considered a generation 
 ago, when our elders set about the task of making 
 his paths straight, is thus, now, in most spectacular 
 manner espoused and announced. 
 
 If there shall not be a work of getting ready as 
 well as preaching, when Christ comes he may justly 
 say, "Why are you not ready? My paths were 
 straight. You were warned, and you yourselves 
 taught my coming." 
 
 Zionic principles, too, are winning their way. As 
 I write I have before me a book entitled, Steward- 
 ship Starting Points, by Harvey Reeves Calkins, pub- 
 lished by the Methodist Book Concern. The author 
 says: 
 
 "Moreover, the great free churches, the Methodist, 
 the Presbyterian, and the rest, have now discovered 
 in the tithe an unworked gold mine. As expert money 
 raisers who have need of vast resources, many of the 
 evangelical churches are beginning to exploit the 
 tithe. . . ." 
 
 But he regards this only as the apex of the pyra- 
 mid. Stewardship is the base the conception that 
 God, not man, is owner of property, man being but 
 a steward. Of this doctrine he says : 
 
 "Stewardship is the broad and sufficient founda- 
 
Our Influence on Doctrine 419 
 
 tion, ordained of God, for the material maintenance 
 of his kingdom. ... It is the message of Christian 
 inspiration. It is the commanding note of virile 
 evangelism. It will be the saving word for our gen- 
 eration." 
 
 At times it would seem that this borrowing of our 
 doctrine has robbed our message of its force. Yet 
 when we take a comprehensive view of God's work 
 we are satisfied. Our work in part is to warn and 
 teach. People will be judged not alone by what we 
 have preached to them, but also by what they them- 
 selves have preached to one another. 
 
 The work of warning has been more thorough and 
 comprehensive than we had thought; and we need 
 not feel badly that others have relieved us of a part 
 of the responsibility. 
 
 Probably it would be impossible to determine just 
 how much Latter Day Saint preaching has had to do 
 with the wonderful changes in theology that we have 
 noted but without doubt our influence has been con- 
 siderable. 
 
 It will be noted, briefly to recapitulate, that the 
 major voices among the so-called "sectarian" de- 
 nominations, proclaiming the personal, second ad- 
 vent of the Lord have risen after we had preached 
 that doctrine for many years. The healing cults, 
 Christian Science, the Emmanuel Movement, etc., in 
 like manner arose long after we had proclaimed the 
 doctrine of divine healing. The same general re- 
 
420 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 marks apply to ecclesiastical teaching on the finan- 
 cial law, the return of the Jews the latter now not 
 only proclaimed by leading divines, but also by 
 prominent rulers in the political realm. 
 
PRESENT TENSE RELIGION 
 
 JOSEPH SMITH restored the present tense to 
 religious terminology. He announced, "God 
 speaks!" He was met with emphatic denial. 
 All Christendom preferred the old form: "God 
 spoke !" Nearly a hundred years have passed away 
 and some unexpected voices have been lifted in sup- 
 port of the logic involved in Joseph's declaration. 
 
 Principal Fairbain, of Oxford, is at pains to say 
 to the religious world, most bluntly: "Agnosticism 
 assumed a double incompetency the incompetence 
 not only of man to know God, but of God to make 
 himself known. But the denial of competence is the 
 negation of Deity. For the God who could not speak 
 would not be rational, and the God who would not 
 speak would not be moral." (Quoted from The Bible 
 and Modern Criticism, by Sir Robert Anderson.) 
 
 Sir Oliver Lodge, in the name of Science, has an 
 equally pointed message : "This is the lesson science 
 has to teach theology to look for the action of the 
 deity, if at all, then always: not in the past alone, 
 nor only in the future, but equally in the present; 
 if its action is not visible now it never will be and 
 never has been visible." Science and Immortality. 
 
 I venture the assertion that when Joseph Smith 
 went into the woods to pray on that spring day one 
 hundred years ago, he went not merely as an indi- 
 
 421 
 
422 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 vidual. Though perhaps without written credentials, 
 he went as the representative of hundreds and 
 thousands of men and women who were unable from 
 the crazy patchwork of denominationalism to piece 
 an orderly system that would satisfy the desire of 
 their souls. Confused by conflicting and contra- 
 dictory claims, by the affirmation of half truths and 
 the negation of vital principles, he personally, as 
 their representative, sought God. He reasoned with 
 Lodge, "Why look for the manifestation of Deity in 
 the past alone or only in the future? Why not seek 
 him now?" And may I make so bold as to affirm, 
 with Fairbain, that under those circumstances, 
 "The God who could not speak would not be rational, 
 and the God who would not speak would not be 
 moral." 
 
 Lyman Abbott has a message, also : "The prophets, 
 we are told, spoke as they were moved, inspired, or 
 guided by the Spirit of God. There is no reason to 
 suppose that God has ceased to move upon the spirits 
 of men and to inspire and guide them. Certainly 
 there is nothing in the New Testament to warrant 
 any such opinion." The Outlook, September 8, 1915. 
 
 Walter Rauschenbusch is clear-cut in his descrip- 
 tion of the ancient prophets: "They went to school 
 with a living God that was then at work in his world, 
 and not with a God who had acted long ago and put 
 it down in a book." Christianity and The Social 
 Crisis. 
 
 Well, why not now go to school with a living God 
 
Present Tense Religion 423 
 
 at work in the world, and not to one who acted long 
 ago and wrote it all down in a book and retired far 
 away behind the clouds ? Why not, with Lodge, look 
 for the revelations of God, if at all, then always, 
 and not in the past alone or only in the future? 
 Why not conclude with Fairbain that the God who 
 cannot speak is not rational, and the God who will 
 not speak is not moral? 
 
 Sometime ago we were talking with a certain 
 minister. He questioned us about our belief in the 
 Bible. We answered: "Yes, we believe the Bible. 
 Possibly we believe some parts of it that you do not 
 believe." 
 
 He did not think that possible, so we referred him 
 to the closing verses of the sixteenth chapter of 
 Mark, where certain signs are enumerated, and it is 
 said that they shall follow the believer. We asked 
 him if he believed that. 
 
 "Yes," he answered, "I believe that they did fol- 
 low." 
 
 "That," we replied, "is one difference between you 
 and us. You say they did follow. We say they do 
 follow. One is religion in the past tense; the other 
 is religion in the present tense." 
 
 That line was drawn many years ago. Joseph 
 Smith says that shortly after he had received his 
 first vision, he innocently told a Methodist minister 
 about it, and to his surprise it was treated with con- 
 tempt, the minister "saying it was all of the Devil ; 
 that there was no such thing as visions or revelations 
 
424 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 in these days; that all such things had ceased with 
 the apostles, and that there never would be any more 
 of them." 
 
 So we see that in the very beginning of his min- 
 istry, when he came to the world with the message, 
 "God is at work in the world," he was met by the 
 clergy of the day with the reply, "God used to be at 
 work in the world." 
 
 His was a religion in the present tense; theirs a 
 religion in the past tense. 
 
 People of every age recount the wonderful things 
 that God did in a preceding age ; they are very angry 
 when a prophet comes telling them that God is doing 
 something now. 
 
 Jeremiah told the children of Israel : "Behold the 
 days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be 
 said, The Lord liveth, that brought the children of 
 Israel out of the land of Egypt ; but, the Lord liveth, 
 that brought the children of Israel from the land of 
 the north, and from all lands whither he hath driven 
 them: and I will bring them again into their land 
 that I gave unto their fathers." Jeremiah 16 : 14, 
 15. 
 
 The Jews lived in the past; they still live in the 
 past ; but the Lord says that the time will come when 
 they will no longer talk about the wonderful things 
 that God did when he led them out of Egypt, but will 
 begin to perceive the wonderful things of their own 
 time. 
 
 When Jesus came he found the Jews living in the 
 
Present Tense Religion 425 
 
 past. They were always talking about the time when 
 God led them out of Egypt; but they were blind to 
 the things that he was doing for them then. Paul 
 truly said: "Blindness hath happened in part unto 
 Israel." They could see the things that God had 
 done ages before ; but they were blind to the things 
 that he was doing in their midst at that time. 
 
 They held their Passover Feast regularly and re- 
 ligiously to commemorate the time when God caused 
 the angel of death to pass them by, and helped them 
 to escape from Egypt; but when the Son of God 
 came to observe the Passover with them they were 
 unable to perceive that fact. The most wonderful 
 event of all history occurred in their midst unnoticed. 
 Having ears they heard not, having eyes they saw 
 not. 
 
 Their religion was distinctly of the past. When 
 Stephen preached his great sermon to them (Acts 
 7) he diplomatically began with the past. As long 
 as he confined himself to the things that God had 
 done in the days of Abraham, Moses, and Solomon, 
 they listened patiently; but as soon as he began to 
 tell them what God was doing then, and what they 
 were doing, they "gnashed on him with their teeth," 
 and "cast him out of the city and stoned him." 
 
 Opposed to this past-tense religion is the very 
 name of Jesus : "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, 
 and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his 
 name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God 
 with us." Matthew 1 : 23. 
 
426 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 That is the idea, "God with us' 1 not the God who 
 used to be with some one else long ages ago, but "God 
 with us." 
 
 The name of God, as given to Moses, as rendered 
 in the English version, conveys a similar idea : "Thus 
 shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath 
 sent me unto you." (Exodus 3 : 14.) 
 
 Scholars are divided as to the origin and original 
 meaning of the word from which this is derived. The 
 Jews regarded it with awe, and in reading the Old 
 Testament never pronounced that word. Josephus 
 said that it was not lawful for him to write it, so it 
 does not appear in his work. It was the "Ineffable 
 Name." But as it stands in our modern rendition, 
 it conveys a vital thought not the God who lived in 
 the days of Abraham, alone, not the God of Solomon, 
 not the God who was, but the great "I AM." .The 
 doctrine of continued revelation is based on the very 
 nature of God as an unchangeable being, as well as 
 in the continuity of human needs. 
 
 Paul's religion was eminently present-tense re- 
 ligion. He wrote : "The manifestation of the Spirit 
 is given to every man." The Jews, like our good 
 ministerial friend, rendered it, "The manifestations 
 of the Spirit were given." 
 
 But while the Jews affirmed that these things used 
 to be, Paul declared, "They are" 
 
 History repeats itself. Where Paul stood in 59 
 A. D., Joseph Smith stood in 1830 A. D. 
 
 Why all this talk about that which used to be? Is 
 
Present Tense Religion 427 
 
 God dead? No; for he is "from everlasting to ever- 
 lasting." Has God changed? No; for he says, "I 
 am God; I change not/' That is a fundamental 
 principle of his Godhood. Our hope rests on that 
 thought. If he changes from day to day, we know 
 not where nor how to find him, and our case is hope- 
 less. But he is God, and he changes not. 
 
 Have the people changed? John Wesley said that 
 the reason the gifts had ceased, was not, as some sup- 
 posed, because they were no longer needed, but be- 
 cause the Christians had "turned heathen/' As to 
 the truth of his statement the reader may judge. It 
 is quite evident, however, that man, not God, has 
 changed. Christians of this age, like the Jews in 
 the days of Jesus, are looking at the past. Blindness 
 "in part" has happened unto them. They can see the 
 wonderful things that the apostles did, but they 
 cannot perceive the wonderful things that God is 
 doing now. 
 
 We can see how necessary it was for prophets to 
 come to this age with the message that Joseph Smith 
 and Sidney Rigdon bore : "And, now, after the many 
 testimonies which have been given of him, this is the 
 testimony, last of all, which we give of him, that he 
 lives; for we saw him, even on the right hand of 
 God/' Doctrine and Covenants 76 : 3. 
 
THE RESTORATION 
 
 (Sermon in Zion Builder Series for Young People, at Lamoni, 
 
 Iowa.) 
 
 I HAVE two texts, the first being found in Isaiah 
 29:14: 
 
 "Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a 
 marvelous work among this people, even a marvel- 
 ous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their 
 wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their 
 prudent men shall be hid." 
 
 The other text is taken from rather an unusual 
 source. It is from the writings of Sir Oliver Lodge 
 in his book called Science and Immortality: 
 
 "This is the lesson science has to teach theology 
 to look for the action of the deity, if at all, then al- 
 ways; not in the past alone, nor only in the future, 
 but equally in the present ; if its action is not visible 
 now it never will be and never has been visible." 
 
 That is strikingly in harmony with the theory we 
 have been preaching for nearly one hundred years: 
 that we should not look back alone to the Isle of 
 Patmos for revelation, or forward to the pearly 
 gates, but should look for the revelation and mani- 
 festation of God now as much as at any time in the 
 history of the world. 
 
 THE APOSTASY 
 
 There is no question that Jesus Christ came and 
 organized a church. Well, some people question it, 
 but Christ himself said, "I will build my church" 
 
 428 
 
The Restoration 429 
 
 (Matthew 16: 18), and it is very clear that he did 
 organize a church. It is equally clear that following 
 the death of the Master and his apostles there pres- 
 ently ensued a great and complete apostasy. It had 
 begun in the days of the apostles. It progressed 
 until there was scarcely a vestige left of the gospel, 
 and the church of Christ had been replaced by an- 
 other. There is scriptural warrant for this state- 
 ment. The prophets predicted it. I have not time 
 to-night to read the predictions, but if anyone here 
 should be taking notes he may refer to Isaiah 24: 
 1-6; Amos 8: 11, 12; Acts 20: 28-31; Timothy 4:3, 
 4 ; Revelation 12 : 1-6, and many others might be re- 
 ferred to. The Apostle Paul says that for three 
 years he ceased not day or night to warn the people 
 of the great apostasy that was coming. 
 
 The fact that it did actually occur is attested by 
 history, both ecclesiastical and secular. We have but 
 to read the record of the Dark Ages to recognize that 
 the light of literature and art went out and the world 
 became unspeakably corrupt; and if such a thing 
 were possible, the church was worse than the world. 
 The church stooped to sell license to commit sin in 
 the name of God, and the price was fixed according 
 to the degree of depravity and turpitude of the 
 crime. This sale of "indulgences" was what aroused 
 the righteous indignation of Martin Luther. 
 
 That there was a great apostasy is admitted by all 
 Protestant churches otherwise there would be no 
 need for Protestant churches. If there were no great 
 
430 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 \ 
 
 and complete apostasy, so that authority to repre- 
 sent God was lost, we ought all of us to be Catholics. 
 Every Protestant spire that points towards heaven 
 is a testimony that there was an apostasy otherwise 
 on top of that spire there would be a cross of gold. 
 All Protestants, then, are agreed that there was an 
 apostasy. It was so complete that the church that 
 started out as representing Christ was not to be 
 found on earth. 
 
 REFORMATION OR RESTORATION 
 
 We might then ask ourselves : What was the way 
 of recovery out of that condition? We have our 
 choice between two propositions; that is, we may 
 decide which one appears the more logical to us, ref- 
 ormation or restoration. 
 
 I think that I can put this up to you young people 
 so you can see about how the choice lies; and I be- 
 lieve that the illustration I use will find warrant in 
 scripture, as I will show you a moment later. Sup- 
 pose that one of you young men prior to the late war 
 had espoused a beautiful girl and had taken her to 
 be your companion. You were then away overseas 
 for a term of years. While you were gone, for some 
 reason or other, conditions became so unendurable 
 in the community that your bride removed herself 
 to a distant place of hiding, and in her absence a 
 wanton, degraded creature came in and occupied 
 your home. 
 
 When the time for your return drew near, which 
 would you be for, reformation or restoration? You 
 
The Restoration 431 
 
 would be all for restoration. It would not satisfy 
 you to have some clergyman go in and attempt to 
 induce that creature to leave off the worst of her 
 ways and then you come back and recognize her as 
 your wife. You would say, "Give me back my beauti- 
 ful bride that I have espoused." 
 
 John tells us in the 12th chapter of Revelation that 
 he saw a beautiful woman, which all agree repre- 
 sented the church, clothed in the glory of the sun, 
 representing the authority and power of God, having 
 the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 
 twelve stars; but he saw there was a monster that 
 made war against the woman, and she fled away into 
 the wilderness and was gone. 
 
 In the 17th chapter of Revelation he says that in 
 her place he saw a degraded woman, clothed in 
 scarlet and purple, with a cup in her hand, filled 
 with iniquities, seated on a beast, and written on her 
 forehead was "Mystery, Babylon the Great, The 
 mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." 
 This thing had come in and taken the place of the 
 pure church that Jesus Christ had left on earth as 
 his bride. Now, when the time approaches for him 
 to come again, which will appeal to him, reformation 
 or restoration? 
 
 THE REFORMATION 
 
 Let us for a brief moment take up a consideration 
 "of the Reformation. There is no question that the 
 reformers were very brave and some of them very 
 noble men. They did a splendid work of prepara- 
 
432 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 tion ; still it is true that there ensued and there still 
 remains endless division and confusion upon that 
 question, and Protestantism to-day seems to be 
 doomed to failure. Every effort to consolidate and 
 unite ends in failure. 
 
 It is true, too, that the reformers themselves 
 seemed, many of them, to look forward to some- 
 thing infinitely greater than they had been able to 
 accomplish ; and they did not claim to have revelation 
 or to be sent of God to restore the ancient order. 
 
 We might briefly note some statements made by 
 some of them. For instance, in a sermon that John 
 Wesley preached on "The signs of the times," he 
 says : 
 
 "The signs of the times we have reason to believe 
 are at hand, if they are not already begun, are what 
 
 many pious men have termed the latter-day glory 
 
 And yet the wise men of the world, men of learning 
 and renown, cannot understand what we mean by 
 talking of an extraordinary work of God. They can- 
 not discern the signs of these times. They see no 
 signs at all of God arising to maintain his own cause, 
 and set up his kingdom over all the earth." 
 
 Roger Williams, identified with the pioneers of the 
 Baptist Church, said : 
 
 "I conceive that the apostasy of anti-Christ has so 
 far corrupted all that there can be no recovery out 
 of that apostasy till Christ shall send forth new 
 apostles to plant churches anew." 
 
 Alexander Campbell says: 
 
The Restoration 433 
 
 "Since the full development of the great apostasy 
 foretold by the prophets and apostles, numerous at- 
 tempts at reformation have been made. . . . 
 
 "Society, indeed, may be found among us far in 
 advance of others in their progress toward the an- 
 cient order of things, but we know of none that have 
 fully attained to that model. . . . 
 
 "The practical result of all creeds, reformations, 
 and improvements and the expectations and longings 
 of society warrant the conclusion that some new 
 revelation or some new development of the revelation 
 of God must be made before the hopes and expec- 
 tations of all true Christians can be realized or 
 Christianity can save and reform the nations of this 
 world. We want the old gospel back, and sustained 
 by the ancient order of things." Christian System. 
 
 We say amen to these statements. We have the 
 old gospel back, sustained by the ancient order. God 
 has arisen to maintain his cause, and has sent 
 apostles anew. 
 
 THE RESTORATION 
 
 Next let us consider the Restoration. It too was 
 foretold in prophecy. Many scriptural references 
 might be given, but time will not permit us to read 
 at length to-night. We may cite you to the one al- 
 ready quoted from Isaiah 29, (and you will do well 
 to read it all,) where the Lord says: 
 
 "Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvel- 
 ous work among this people, even a marvelous work 
 and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men 
 
434 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent 
 men shall be hid." 
 
 The context shows that this was to be done at 
 about the time when the Holy Land was restored to 
 its fertility, and about the time when a sealed book 
 (the Book of Mormon) should come forth and be 
 given to the world by an unlearned man (Joseph 
 Smith) . While in Revelation, John says : 
 
 "I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, 
 having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them 
 that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and 
 kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud 
 voice, Fear God, and give glory to him ; for the hour 
 of his judgment is come." Revelation 14 : 6, 7. 
 
 Why should it be necessary for any angel to bring 
 the gospel back again to earth in the hour of God's 
 judgments if it had always been here, and why did 
 the Master say that this gospel should be preached 
 in all the world "for a witness to all people," and 
 then should "the end come," if it had always been 
 preached? Would it be any sign of the end when it 
 went abroad in the last days if it had been preached 
 for centuries? 
 
 Let us tell you the story of the Restoration : First 
 we will have to understand to a degree the condition 
 of confusion and disagreement that existed in the 
 religious world in the beginning of the nineteenth 
 century. When I think about it I am reminded of 
 the old story of the Japanese mirror. 
 
 According to the story there was a young Japanese 
 
The Restoratoin 435 
 
 peasant who went to the city for the first time in his 
 life, and passing a shop he looked in the window and 
 there he saw a mirror, the first one he had ever 
 looked into. Looking into it, what do you think he 
 saw? He saw, or at least he thought he saw, the 
 spirit of his father. He saw a man there looking 
 exactly as his father looked as he remembered him. 
 
 Being very reverent toward his ancestors, he took 
 all the money he had and purchased this mirror. 
 Taking it home he climbed up into the attic and built 
 a little altar and put the mirror on the altar. Every 
 day he went up arid made an offering and worshiped 
 and communed with the spirit of his father. Every- 
 thing would have gone very well, only he was a mar- 
 ried man, and his wife, like a few women, was 
 curious. She wondered why her husband went into 
 the attic every day. 
 
 So one day when he was out in the field she la- 
 boriously climbed the ladder and went into the attic 
 and looked into the mirror. What did she see ? Why, 
 she saw a young, and as she thought, a very hand- 
 some woman, and immediately she said, "The per- 
 fidious wretch ! I know now why he comes up here 
 each day ! He comes to meet with that woman !" 
 
 So down the ladder she went, and when the hus- 
 band came home there was trouble. He swore he 
 saw a man and she swore she saw a woman. So to 
 settle the matter they sent for a very old witch who 
 lived in the neighborhood, who climbed the ladder 
 with many groans, looked into the mirror, and came 
 
436 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 down and said, "You are both fools. It is an old, 
 old woman in the mirror, and there is no cause to be 
 jealous." And then all three had a quarrel. 
 
 Each one saw something; but no one of them had 
 any toleration for what the others saw. If there had 
 been some one there who understood the situation, 
 the man who made the mirror, for instance, he 
 could have put them in possession of the absolute 
 truth ; but, as it was, they went on with their quarrel. 
 
 So in these latter days men looked into the mirror 
 of truth, and one man looking into it said: "I see 
 absolutely nothing but predestination. A man is 
 born to go to heaven or to hell and that is all there 
 is to it. He can do nothing about it. I am a Cal- 
 vinist." 
 
 And another man looked into it and he said, "I 
 see absolutely nothing but free grace. All any man 
 has to do is to believe in Jesus Christ and he will be 
 saved." 
 
 And another man looked into it and he said, "I 
 see cathedrals and monasteries and altars and 
 candles and beads and monks and robes and incense 
 and rites and pomp and ceremony. I am a high 
 church man." 
 
 And another man looked into it and said, "Thou 
 art mistaken. I see no cathedrals, no monks, no 
 ceremonies, no rites. I see nothing but a patient 
 awaiting for the Spirit. I am a Quaker." 
 
 And so they quarreled. So it was at the beginning 
 of the nineteenth century, in the year 1820, when a 
 
The Restoration 437 
 
 great revival fostered by leading denominations was 
 held in the State of New York in the vicinity of 
 Palmyra. For a while all went lovely and many were 
 interested, and among them was a young man, or a 
 boy, fifteen years old, named Joseph Smith. (I sup- 
 pose that many of the churches wish to God that 
 they had never held that revival.) 
 
 Joseph Smith became most profoundly interested 
 in religion and desired the salvation of his soul. 
 But unfortunately, when the revival ended it broke 
 up in confusion and strife, with a quarrel over the 
 converts, and he was pulled here and pulled there, 
 and told, "Here is the truth," or "There is the truth," 
 until he was at his wit's end. But he happened to 
 read in James, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him 
 ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and up- 
 braideth not; and it shall be given him." James 
 1:5. 
 
 Not finding any time limit on that promise, he 
 said, "I will go to the One who made the mirror and 
 he will tell me the absolute truth." So he went out 
 into the woods and kneeled down and prayed. It 
 was a beautiful day early in the spring, and he tells 
 us that scarcely had he begun to pray when he was 
 seized upon by the power of darkness ; t but he re- 
 membered the reason for his prayer and called upon 
 God to help him. Immediately the darkness was re- 
 buked and removed and a great light shone down 
 from heaven and he saw two personages, and one of 
 
438 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 them said, pointing to the other, "This is my beloved 
 Son ; hear ye him." 
 
 That is the keynote of all our message. What does 
 Jesus say on any given subject? "Hear ye him." 
 And so in our "epitome of faith" we say that in all 
 matter of controversy the word of God should be the 
 end of dispute. If Jesus says, "Why tarriest thou, 
 arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins," that 
 settles the matter. If he says that he set in his 
 church apostles, prophets, evangelists, and teachers, 
 etc., for us that is the end of the controversy. 
 
 Three years later this young man received a visit 
 from an angel who told him many things; among 
 others that his name should be had for good and evil 
 among all the nations of the earth ; that the time was 
 coming for the Jews to gather back to Jerusalem; 
 about the coming forth of a sealed book; the estab- 
 lishment of the church, and many other things. In 
 1829 the priesthood was restored. April 6, 1830, by 
 divine commandment the church was organized and 
 began its work of preaching the gospel of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 RELIGIOUS CONCEPTS OF THE RESTORATION 
 
 Before my time is gone, I wish to enter upon a 
 consideration of some of the great religious con*- 
 cepts of this movement that we call the Restoration. 
 I want to examine eight of the great religious con- 
 cepts that Joseph Smith and his associates preached 
 to the world. Every religious institution is judged 
 by its religious ideals and concepts, and every re- 
 
The Restoration 439 
 
 ligious leader must be judged by the religious con- 
 cepts he preaches to the world. 
 
 CONTINUED REVELATION 
 
 The first of these I wish to notice is the idea of 
 restored revelation. You can hardly imagine what 
 a strange thought that was, because the religious 
 world was absolutely a unit on one thing if they 
 did not agree on anything else, they agreed on this 
 one thing, that revelation had ceased. They were 
 still pointing to the closing chapters of Revelation, 
 where it says no man shall add to the words of this 
 book, when John, of course, had only the book of 
 Revelation in mind, the Bible not being in existence 
 when he said no man shall add to this book; also no 
 man may add to the revelations of God, but God 
 himself may add at any time if he sees fit. 
 
 So it was a strange thing when a boy came out of 
 the woods where he had gone to take God at his 
 word, and said, "I have had a revelation." The very 
 first man (a minister) he told it to said, "It is of the 
 Devil. God doesn't speak any more!" If the re- 
 ligious world had said, We will judge that revelation 
 and see whether it is from God or the Devil, that 
 would have been a logical position; but when they 
 said, "God speaks no more at all," it was an illogical 
 and unscriptural position to take. It seems strange 
 that one hundred years later Sir Oliver Lodge, presi- 
 dent of the British Association for the Advancement 
 of Science, should have to stand up and say to these 
 gentlemen : 
 
440 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 "Gentlemen, this is the lesson that science has to 
 teach to theology to look for the action of the deity; 
 if at all, then always ; not in the past alone, nor only 
 in the future, but equally in the present ; if its action 
 is not visible now it never will be and never has been 
 visible/' 
 
 The message of this young man was out of har- 
 mony neither with science nor religion. God says, 
 "I am the Lord, I change not." Malachi 3:6. He 
 is in harmony with the great laws of nature that 
 go on forever without deviation. This, then, was one 
 of the first concepts presented to the world by this 
 people an unchangeable God speaking to his people 
 and blessing them as of old. 
 
 THE SECOND ADVENT OF JESUS 
 
 The next concept that I wish to notice is the idea 
 of the second coming of Jesus Christ. Latter Day 
 Saints were told early, even before the organization 
 of the church, that there must be a work of prepara- 
 tion for the coming of Christ. That is why they some- 
 times called themselves Latter Day Saints, and the 
 church the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day 
 Saints, because they believe that these are the latter 
 days, immediately preceding the return of our Lord 
 and Master. There were few, if any, then who be- 
 lieved that Christ would come again in person. It 
 was all to be spiritual, and the only coming of Christ 
 that ever would occur would be when he came in 
 spirit to any individual who wished to receive him. 
 
 But I want to read to you some things that show a 
 
The Restoration 441 
 
 most striking change that has occurred in senti- 
 ment since that great concept was presented to the 
 world by Joseph Smith. During the late war there 
 was published what was called a manifesto, appear- 
 ing in the London Christian World and quoted in the 
 Chicago Herald for December 6, 1917. It was put 
 forth by some of the greatest of the British min- 
 isters, representing Baptists, Methodists, Congre- 
 gationalists, and Presbyterians, such men as G. 
 Campbell Morgan, A. C. Dixon, and others. I have 
 not time to read all of it, but this manifesto, which 
 attracted world- wide attention at the time, says : 
 
 "First That the present crisis points toward the 
 close of the times of the Gentiles. 
 
 "Second That the revelation of our Lord may be 
 expected at any moment, when he will be manifested 
 as evidently as to his disciples on the evening of his 
 resurrection. 
 
 "Third That the completed church will be trans- 
 lated, to be 'forever with the Lord/ 
 
 "Fourth That Israel will be restored to its own 
 land in unbelief, and be afterward converted by the 
 appearance of Christ on its behalf. 
 
 "Fifth That all human schemes of reconstruction 
 must be subsidiary to the second coming of our Lord, 
 because all nations will be subject to his rule. 
 
 "Sixth That under the reign of Christ there will 
 be a further great effusion of the Holy Spirit on all 
 flesh. 
 
 "Seventh That the truths embodied in this state- 
 
442 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 merit are of the utmost practical value in determin- 
 ing Christian character and action with reference 
 to the pressing problems of the hour." 
 
 Here are three important events that they predict : 
 The return of the Jews; the soon coming of Christ 
 in person ; and the millennial reign. But what seems 
 strange to me is that an obscure and unlettered boy 
 should have anticipated them by a generation. Well 
 did Isaiah say that "the wisdom of their wise men 
 shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent 
 men shall be hid." 
 
 When the cataclysm came and war was poured 
 out upon all the earth, when the Jews began to knock 
 at the gates of Jerusalem and the proclamation was 
 about to go forth from Great Britain, and America, 
 and France, that Palestine should be reserved for a 
 national home of the Jews, their seers began to see. 
 How about the boy who saw it in futurity? 
 
 The mail to-day brought me a most remarkable 
 clipping from a Des Moines newspaper. There has 
 been visiting in the United States, Bishop Nicholai, 
 of Serbia, who is said to be described by the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury as the greatest living church 
 man in the world. Last Monday he lectured in Des 
 Moines. Here is the report of his lecture taken from 
 the Des Moines Evening Tribune for March 14, 
 1921: 
 
 "You have heard the history of the end of Baby- 
 lon? of the old Greece? of Pompeii and ancient 
 Rome? Well, you can read the signs of a dying 
 
The Restoration 443 
 
 empire on the bodies of the European state to-day. 
 ... It is curious, to-day, to note how much talk 
 there is of the world's end in every European 
 country. The press is full of it (shamefacedly, but 
 irresistibly) , as are the mouths of men. Religionists 
 pray for Christ to come again. From the common 
 people you will receive the direct, open assurance 
 that Christ will come again, ere long. It is most 
 curious. In one section, an interesting state of mind 
 exists. Conviction that the Son of Man will soon 
 reappear on earth is absolute. They say he is now 
 'in the clouds/ and speak of him as the 'aerial 
 Christ.' " 
 
 A SCRIPTURAL FORM OF DOCTRINE 
 
 The late Doctor Talmage said, "I wish we could 
 have a creed made up solely of scriptural texts." 
 When Joseph Smith wanted to present his theology 
 to the world, he went directly to the 6th chapter of 
 Hebrews where Paul names the six fundamental 
 principles of the gospel. Jesus Christ said that he 
 sent Paul to be an especial vessel to bear his name 
 to the Gentiles. So you will find in our epitome of 
 faith, this statement: "All men may be saved by 
 obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. 
 We believe that these laws and ordinances are : faith 
 in God and in the Lord Jesus Christ; repentance; 
 baptism by immersion for the remission of sins ; lay- 
 ing on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost . . . 
 resurrection of the body . . . eternal judgment." 
 The six principles named by Paul. 
 
444 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 It seems a little strange to me that among all the 
 church builders no one thought to adopt this partic- 
 ular statement of faith which is easily defensible by 
 the Scriptures and so absolutely adequate to all hu- 
 man needs, because it takes a man at the very mo- 
 ment when faith comes into the heart at his mother's 
 knee or under the sound of the preacher's voice, on 
 through the ashes of repentance and the waters of 
 baptism and regeneration and the spiritual birth, to 
 the resurrection and eternal judgment, and so into 
 the presence of God himself. 
 
 THE SCRIPTURAL ORGANIZATION 
 
 The next great concept was that of a scriptural 
 form of organization. We are told in 1 Corinthians 
 12 : 28 that "God hath set some in the church, first 
 apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers." 
 
 If God set apostles and prophets in the church, who 
 had the right to take them out? And we are told in 
 Ephesians 4 : 11-13, that Christ "gave some, apostles ; 
 and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and 
 some, pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting of the 
 saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying 
 of the body of Christ ; till we all come in the unity of 
 the faith." 
 
 We haven't yet become perfect or reached unity, 
 and the work of the ministry is not done. 
 
 Well, some one may say, "Why, sure, we have 
 apostles and prophets in our church." 
 
 "Where are they?" 
 
 "Why, Paul and John and Isaiah and Jeremiah. 
 
The Restoration 445 
 
 We have them; they are right here in the Bible." 
 'But as Danny Williams says, "They are dead." 
 Why do you draw a line between apostles and pas- 
 tors? God set both in the church. You are satisfied 
 with dead apostles, but you want live pastors. You 
 are not satisfied with a dead pastor. You don't have 
 to take up a collection for Peter and John; yet you 
 say that you want a live pastor." Well, we are just 
 like you, only more so. We want live apostles. Some- 
 where this young man got the great religious concept 
 of a church organized on the divine pattern, with all 
 the officers of the New Testament church and be- 
 hold, it was accomplished. 
 
 A RETURN OF THE GIFTS AND BLESSINGS 
 
 The next great concept was that of the return of 
 the gospel gifts and blessings such as you will find 
 in Mark 16: 16-18 and 1 Corinthians 12: 7-11; the 
 gift of wisdom, of faith, of prophecy, of speaking in 
 tongues, of miracles, of healing of the sick, and so on. 
 I suppose that if I were to call upon witnesses here 
 in this audience, seventy-five per cent of the audience 
 would testify that they had either seen or experi- 
 enced personally to their satisfaction and conviction 
 some of these great spiritual blessings that the apos- 
 tles enjoyed of old. 
 
 A RESTORED PRIESTHOOD 
 
 The next concept we notice was that of a re- 
 stored priesthood. Absolutely without doubt Jesus 
 had an ordained priesthood, and a man not ordained 
 
446 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 had no right to go out and represent him. This went 
 on until the apostasy set in. But if I try to trace my 
 priesthood back to-day and say that I was ordained 
 by so-and-so and trace it back and back and back, 
 shall I be satisfied if it ends with the Church of Rome 
 and the Vatican? Certainly not. Others may if 
 they wish. 
 
 Jesus says, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have 
 chosen you and ordained you." John 15 : 16. We 
 stand for a restored priesthood. A man cannot get 
 a seat in the Senate by reading the Constitution of 
 the United States, and he cannot get the right to ad- 
 minister in gospel ordinances by reading the Bible. 
 He must be called and must be ordained. Priest- 
 hood was restored. We do not trace our authority 
 back to Rome. 
 
 THE BOOK OF MORMON 
 
 Another religious concept was that of the Book of 
 Mormon, strangely misunderstood. Ingersoll said 
 on one occasion that the Christian God was ignorant 
 of the existence of America until Columbus told him 
 of it. I wonder if that was true. One half of the 
 world he blessed, centuries on end, with revelations 
 and with blessings and with his Bible and with his 
 law. What was he doing for the other half? 
 
 Archaeology shows us that civilization was ex- 
 tremely ancient in both North and South America. 
 Was God one sided? Could he see only half the 
 earth? Or was he partial? Did Ingersoll tell the 
 truth? The Book of Mormon comes and gives us the 
 
The Restoration 447 
 
 history of the people who lived on the American Con- 
 tinent. It makes another witness, and it shows that 
 God was not partial, but that he was blessing the 
 people here even as he did in the Old World. 
 
 ZIONIC IDEALS 
 
 Last of all we come to what we might term, Our 
 Zionic Ideals the eighth and last of the ideals or re- 
 ligious concepts we have noted the idea of a Zion. 
 Jesus Christ said that prior to his coming there 
 should be war and pestilence and famines poured out 
 on all the earth ; and he told his disciples, as you will 
 find in Luke 21 : 36, that they should pray that when 
 that time came, they might "escape" from those 
 things. Escape where? The answer is, In Zion, the 
 city of refuge. 
 
 But there is something that is infinitely more in- 
 teresting than the mere idea of safety. The social 
 theories of Jesus Christ have never been worked out 
 in any community. I mean any modern community. 
 Individuals have shaped their lives after the divine 
 pattern to a certain extent; but there is not a com- 
 munity anywhere under the shining sun, and has not 
 been in modern history, where the social ideas of 
 Jesus Christ have been fully worked out. Men have 
 emphasized the fatherhood of God, but they cer- 
 tainly have not emphasized in practice the brother- 
 hood of man. 
 
 Jesus Christ calls for brotherhood ; and one of the 
 ideals that this church had from the very beginning 
 was to build a community where the brotherhood of 
 
448 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 man would prevail. I don't suppose the world would 
 believe it ; but that was the secret of all their efforts 
 in gathering at Nauvoo, and Independence, and in 
 Kirtland. The church was not a year old until the 
 Lord told them to begin to gather and to try to work 
 out a community in which there would be neither 
 rich nor poor, but where all would be equal and all 
 be true servants of God. 
 
 The aim of that gathering is brotherhood. The 
 principles involved are love and consecration and 
 stewardship and justice and equality in temporal 
 things as well as in spiritual things. The results 
 will be blessing and joy and power. 
 
 I am glad that we had this very high ideal. Some 
 people think that idealists are crazy ; that they can- 
 not be trusted. When you find a sane idealist, you 
 have the sanest man on earth, because he does not 
 stake his destiny on a passing moment, but he looks 
 to the eternal future. Jesus Christ was an idealist. 
 For his ideals he went without a home. He wore one 
 single garment. He ate the wheat out of the field. 
 For his ideals he suffered stripes. He let men spit 
 upon him. He wore the thorny crown. He hung 
 upon the cross. I am glad that we have an ideal. If 
 the world tells us that it cannot be worked out, Jesus 
 Christ says it can. He died for it. 
 
 Galileo was an idealist who saw the lamp in the 
 cathedral swinging to and fro, as you see yonder 
 lamp swinging, and he had a picture of the earth re- 
 volving on its axis. He stood up and said, "The earth 
 
The Restoration 449 
 
 moves." The ecclesiastics said, "You are mistaken." 
 And they made him recant, but when he got up from 
 his knees, he said under his breath, "It does move," 
 and to-day everyone knows that he was right. 
 
 Columbus was an idealist who dreamed of a new 
 earth and struck out over uncharted waters to dis- 
 cover America. 
 
 John Brown was an idealist, a hair-brained idealist 
 who dreamed of a free negro. He went to Harper's 
 Ferry and died. All men said, What folly ! But in 
 a few years there were thousands and hundreds of 
 thousands of men marching and they were singing, 
 "John Brown's body lies a-moldering in the grave, 
 but his soul goes marching on." 
 
 'The fathers of this country were idealists who 
 founded a republic on the principles of democracy 
 that had never been tried out, and staked their all on 
 the ideal of political, religious, and intellectual lib- 
 erty. 
 
 We are idealists who have a vision of Zion. Young 
 people, you have something to live for. You have 
 something to work for. You have termed yourselves 
 Zion Builders. You have an ideal that is worthy of 
 the ambition of any true man or woman. It calls 
 first for personal, individual regeneration and for 
 individual preparation; and in the last analysis it 
 calls for group cooperation and righteousness and the 
 building up a society that need not be ashamed when 
 Jesus Christ comes. 
 15 
 
450 , The Inside of the Cup 
 
 WHENCE GAME THESE CONCEPTS 
 
 I wonder where an ignorant boy like Joseph Smith 
 got these great religious concepts. How do you an- 
 swer that question? The world tries to answer by 
 burying him under slander so deep that they hope he 
 can never emerge. They may bury him ; but the great 
 religious concepts that he taught rise up like giants 
 amid the ruins of old creeds and outgrown theologies 
 that have fallen by the way. 
 
 We answer that question by saying that he did not 
 get these concepts from his own wisdom, but that 
 God gave them to him, as he said, "Behold I will pro- 
 ceed to do a marvelous work among this people, 
 even a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wis- 
 dom of their wise men shall perish, and the under- 
 standing of their prudent men shall be hid." 
 
THE CENTRAL FIGURE OF 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 (A Christmas Day Editorial.) 
 
 THERE is one figure in the history of Christian- 
 ity that overshadows all others the founder 
 and central figure, Christ. The tongues that 
 traduced him have long been dust. Their slanders 
 fell away from him and left no scar, as must sooner 
 or later be the case with every good man. The luster 
 of his life is undimmed by time; the purity of his 
 teachings unrivaled by man. There is not found now 
 anywhere, among Jews or Gentiles, among infidels or 
 believers, one who will say aught against his personal 
 character, and few who care to attack his teachings, 
 when they are stripped of the traditions of men. Of 
 him Ingersoll said: 
 
 "Let me say here, once for all, that for the man 
 Christ I have infinite respect. Let me say, once for 
 all, that the place where man has died for man is 
 holy ground; and let me say, once for all, to that 
 great and serene man I gladly pay the homage of my 
 admiration and my tears." 
 
 It is a significant fact that when the great agnos- 
 tic looked over the ages to find a man preeminently 
 worthy of the "homage of his admiration and his 
 tears," he selected Christ, the founder of Christian- 
 ity, a teacher of and believer in the Bible that Inger- 
 
 451 
 
452 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 soil made it his work to fight, though perhaps it is 
 true that his bitterest attacks were against false in- 
 terpretations of the Bible. 
 
 All Ingersoll knew of the life and teaching of 
 Christ, he learned from the New Testament. It con- 
 tained a picture of one man sufficiently reliable and 
 forceful to compel his homage, his admiration, and 
 his tears. 
 
 Is it not a sublime thought that man may so live 
 that the enemy will be silenced and the skeptic forced 
 to admire? Christ did that and that we must do, 
 because we are his followers. 
 
 To enlist in such an undertaking is the best honor 
 we may render to his name at this Christmas time. 
 
 The life of Christ was a distinct victory for all 
 that is good, in that while he stood for peace and for 
 equality he impressed the world more than any or 
 all of the men who have exalted themselves by war 
 and carnage. Alexander, Bonaparte, Grant, Wilhelm 
 none of these changed the course of world events 
 or controlled the lives of individuals as did this man 
 of peace. Moreover, their active influence, limited as 
 it was, is now largely ended, while his widens and is 
 destined to widen until all kingdoms become his king- 
 dom, and all men render him the "homage of their 
 admiration and their tears." 
 
BACK TO JESUS AND HIS PLANS 
 
 SADLY at times we sing, "Change and decay 
 in all around I see/' All things human con- 
 stantly change. We may be situated ever so 
 happily, yet we are always conscious in the back of 
 our minds somewhere that presently the "evil days" 
 spoken of by "the preacher" will come, and old age, 
 disease, or death change our estate. Vainly we look 
 back to the happy days and pleasant scenes of the 
 past. Not one of them can we live over or recon- 
 struct; possibly we would not enjoy the experience 
 if we could, for we, too, have changed. 
 
 We have said that all things human change, but 
 this must be modified. Human passions, appetites, 
 longings, and needs never change. They are the 
 same to-day that they were when Jesus was here. 
 And Jesus himself never changes. He is the Lamb 
 slain from before the foundation of the world. He is 
 the "same yesterday, to-day, and forever." 
 
 But humanity says, "He lived so long ago. Times 
 have changed. His teachings do not meet the needs 
 of our day." 
 
 What a terrible mistake ! His gospel is the "ever- 
 lasting gospel," adapted to all ages. Men cry, Lo 
 here! and, Lo there! And advocate this philosophy, 
 or that system, or the other party or association, as 
 the solution of all our problems, when in fact the 
 
 453 
 
454 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 name of Jesus is still the only name under heaven 
 given among men by which we must be saved. His 
 gospel is predicated on the fact that "Ye must be 
 born again." A regenerated society can only be com- 
 posed of regenerated individuals. That gospel offers 
 the only means of regeneration and thus meets at 
 once the supreme need of the individual and society 
 the ever present and age-old need. 
 
 Try as we will to suppress vice, crime, graft, and 
 immorality, under the guise of this or that commend- 
 able "reform," we discover that when suppressed in 
 one quarter these evils appear in another quarter, or 
 in a new form. It would seem that mere ethical 
 teaching has gone about as far as it can go in reform- 
 ing society. "Back to Jesus and his plan" should be 
 the slogan of all who really have the good of human- 
 ity at heart. 
 
 We are familiar with the fact that communities 
 and nations are born, grow, mature, decay, and die. 
 Thus went Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome, and all the 
 ancient nations. Their fate presages the fate of all 
 our dominant modern nations. . 
 
 We say that this is a part of human mutation 
 that nations and communities must live and die like 
 individuals ; that it is natural for them to do so. We 
 forget that death is not "natural." It is the result 
 of disobedience. That nation or community that 
 finally adjusts itself to the perfect, divine plan will 
 live forever. That is why Christ's dominion will be 
 from "everlasting to everlasting." 
 
Back to Je&us and His Plans 455 
 
 Of him it is written : "Of the increase of his gov- 
 ernment and peace there shall be no end, upon the 
 throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, 
 and to establish it with judgment and with justice 
 from henceforth even for ever." 
 
OUR STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE 
 
 "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the 
 knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the 
 measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Ephe- 
 sians 4: 13. 
 
 IT IS necessary to have standards by which to 
 measure progress, as well as quantities and val- 
 ues, in the spiritual as well as in the material 
 world. In the material world we have adopted such 
 standards of measurement as the pound, the foot, 
 and the dollar. 
 
 Men readily admit the importance of these stand- 
 ards especially of the latter. By it they not only 
 measure their calico and silk, their coal and dia- 
 monds, their firewood and mahogany furniture ; but, 
 too often themselves as well. They sell themselves 
 or their influence or their vote for a dollar, or for 
 fifty thousand dollars, according to their position, 
 and consider that a good bargain has been made. 
 
 But while a man may properly use the dollar with 
 which to measure his hogs or his hay, he makes a 
 terrible mistake when he uses it to measure himself. 
 He is using a material standard by which to measure 
 things of the soul. No man should set a monetary 
 value upon his honor. 
 
 A DOUBLE STANDARD IN SPIRITUAL THINGS WRONG 
 
 In all things it is important to have a true and un- 
 changing standard. 
 
 456 
 
Our Standard of Excellence 457 
 
 The law of Moses said : 
 
 "Thou shalt not have in thine house divers meas- 
 ures, a great and a small. But thou shalt have a per- 
 fect and just weight, a perfect and just measure 
 shalt thou have." Deuteronomy 25 : 14, 15. 
 
 This language referred to material weights and 
 measures, but will also apply to spiritual standards. 
 There are many homes, professedly Christian, where 
 there are two standards one derived from Christ, 
 which governs profession, and another acquired 
 from the world, which governs practice. "Thou 
 shalt not have in thine house divers measures." 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF THE MEASURE INCREASES WITH 
 IMPORTANCE OF THINGS MEASURED 
 
 The importance of the standard of measurement 
 increases with the value of the thing measured. 
 When potatoes sold for fifteen cents per bushel the 
 farmers did not give particular attention to the 
 measure; but now when we give ten or twelve times 
 as much for potatoes the grocer weighs them very 
 carefully. If there are one or two medium sized po- 
 tatoes in the measure more than he thinks we should 
 have, he removes them and sells them to some other 
 poor fellow who is trying to meet Twentieth Century 
 prices with a Nineteenth Century income. 
 
 When land sold for five dollars an acre, or could be 
 homesteaded, or a rifle might be traded to the Indians 
 for as much territory as one could ride around in a 
 day, men were not very careful to measure land ex- 
 actly. But now, when land sells in Los Angeles or in 
 
458 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 New York City for $865.55 per square foot, as it did 
 recently at Thirty-fourth Street and Broadway, New 
 York City, it must be measured with a rule that is 
 scientifically exact. The seller would not accept a 
 standard that has thirteen inches to the foot. The 
 buyer will not tolerate a measure that is even a 
 quarter of an inch short. The importance of the 
 standard increases with the importance of the thing 
 measured. 
 
 When, therefore, we consider things of eternal im- 
 port, the growth and development of the human soul, 
 questions of doctrine and morals, right and wrong, 
 the relationship of man to God and to his fellow man, 
 we must concede that it is of the greatest importance 
 to have standards that are exactly correct. We must 
 not have a double standard. But a just and a true 
 standard we must have. 
 
 FALSE STANDARDS KILL THE POOR 
 
 It is said that some months ago United States 
 Government inspectors threw into the harbor at New 
 York in a single day twenty tons of false weights 
 and measures that had been taken from the shop- 
 keepers of New York City. Some time ago Pro- 
 fessor G. W. Stewart, who was state superintendent 
 of weights and measures in Iowa, read a paper be- 
 fore the Baconian Club of Iowa City, in which he 
 set forth conditions in five leading Iowa cities, as re- 
 vealed by Government inspection. In one of these 
 cities 33 per cent of the scales tested were incorrect, 
 and the weights false. In another 64 per cent were 
 
Our Standard of Excellence 459 
 
 wrong. The other cities ranged between these two. 
 The amounts that customers were cheated varied 
 from six to twenty-eight cents on the dollar. These 
 findings are perhaps typical of the country at large 
 and the world over, excepting that conditions are 
 worse in larger cities ; and the very poor who buy 
 in minute quantities suffer most from this kind of 
 fraud. 
 
 There is more than dishonesty in this, in its effect 
 upon the poor. Prices are so extremely high and 
 their income so very low that they are already below 
 the standard of comfortable living, even when they 
 get all that they pay for. And when they are cheated 
 a little on every pound of meat, on every loaf of 
 bread, on every sack of coal, on every pint of milk, it 
 is not their money alone, but their life that is taken. 
 Cruelty and murder are added to dishonesty. False 
 standards kill the poor. 
 
 It is equally true that the world is full of false 
 standards in spiritual things. The law of God says 
 that as a man sows so also shall he reap. But the 
 world has its own false standard, widely accepted, 
 which says that young men, and old ones, too, if we 
 must admit it, must sow their wild oats, and that 
 medical science will find a way to cheat God so that 
 they will not need to reap the harvest. 
 
 This is only one among many false standards. It 
 has ruined thousands of young men and women, 
 blighted thousands of homes, and brought needless 
 suffering on many innocent people. False spiritual 
 
460 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 standards kill the people. They destroy men physi- 
 cally and take from them eternal life. 
 
 Jesus was given as the perfect standard by which 
 a man should measure himself and his progress to- 
 wards perfection; by which he should govern his 
 beliefs and his morals. 
 
 This is a wonderful age the age of the automobile, 
 the flying machine, and wireless telegraphy. Our 
 fathers were content with the ox cart. We put the 
 value and speed and power of a hundred ox carts into 
 one automobile. 
 
 This is a wonderful age, but with all its tumul- 
 tuous striving, with all its mentality, and invention, 
 and achievement, and study, and philosophy, it has 
 not produced and cannot produce a character that 
 will take the place of Jesus as the standard of human 
 excellence, or a system that will take the place of 
 his gospel as the gauge of human belief and morals. 
 
 This age is great in material things. It is not 
 great in spiritual things. It ignores the source of its 
 own greatness, the inspiration of God that always 
 quickens every generation to which is given the op- 
 portunity to hear the gospel message. A persistent 
 refusal to accept God will be followed by a with- 
 drawal of light and a lapse into darkness and decay. 
 
 "HEAR YE HIM" 
 
 It is our highest duty to recognize Jesus as our 
 standard and to preach him to the world. We need 
 no false worldly standards by which to measure our 
 doctrines or ourselves. No greater message can be 
 
Our Standard of Excellence 461 
 
 sounded than the message that was given to Joseph 
 Smith during his first vision that April morning over 
 ninety years ago : "This is my beloved Son. Hear ye 
 
 The religious world had been saying: "This is 
 Pastor Brown, learned in many languages; hear ye 
 him," Or, "This is Parson Jones, D. D.; hear ye 
 him." Or, "This is Reverend Johnson ; hear ye him." 
 But here comes a man who sounded the message: 
 "This is Jesus Christ, the Son of God ; hear ye him." 
 That was our message, is our message, and should 
 ever continue to be our message. Our doctrines 
 should accord with his doctrines as set forth in his 
 word. Our lives should conform to his life as it was 
 lived among men. In all things we should measure 
 ourselves by him, growing up into his likeness, until 
 we reach the perfect stature of manhood in Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 In too many churches one standard, in the form of 
 the Bible, rests upon the pulpit desk, and behind the 
 desk quite another is announced by the preacher. 
 "Thou shalt not have in thine house diverse meas- 
 ures." 
 
 PUTTING OTHERS IN THE PLACE OF JESUS 
 
 It is a mistake for us to put anyone else in the place 
 of Jesus. We do this sometimes when we wish to do 
 right. We select some good man in whom we have 
 confidence, and think that if we could only be like 
 him we would be satisfied. We make him our model 
 in all things. We do as he does, vote as he votes, and 
 
462 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 think as he thinks. But there comes a time when 
 the judgment of our hero leads him into error and 
 we follow him. Or, being human, he is tempted and 
 falls. Then our faith in God and in humanity and in 
 the church is shaken. Our standard is gone. This 
 could not have happened had we made Jesus our 
 standard. He never changes and never errs. Our 
 faith can abide in him, no matter how many men go 
 astray. 
 
 Again, we make a similar mistake when we wish 
 to do wrong. In this case we select some bad man, 
 and think if we are no worse than he we will be all 
 right. We argue, perhaps, that he is a member of 
 the church, and if he does certain things that are 
 wrong we can do likewise. , But God has never said 
 that we shall be rewarded because we are no worse 
 than some one else who is bad. We should resolve to 
 do our duty whether others do theirs or not. Jesus 
 did his duty, that is enough. Like him, we must do 
 ours, if we are to follow him. 
 
 In short, we should heed the admonition to grow 
 towards perfection in him, becoming like him in all 
 things, until we acquire the perfect stature of man- 
 hood in Christ Jesus, the highest manhood the ages 
 can produce. He is the standard by which we should 
 measure those most important things, belief, conduct, 
 character. In him we have a standard of measure- 
 ment that is scientifically and scripturally exact. 
 
MAN'S FREE AGENCY 
 
 THE RIGHT OF SELF-DETERMINATION 
 
 (Sermon in the series for young people at the Stone 
 Church, Independence, Missouri, Sunday, evening, December 
 11, 1921.) 
 
 I WISH to speak to-night on self-determination. 
 Not the self-determination of nations pro- 
 pounded by Woodrow Wilson at Versailles; but 
 the self-determination of individual men propounded 
 by Nephi : 
 
 "Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man, that he 
 should act for himself." 2 Nephi 1 : 99. 
 
 This Book of Mormon text contains a very explicit 
 and concise statement of the doctrine of free 
 agency. The right of self-determination is the thing 
 that characterizes you as men and women. Inani- 
 mate objects move as they are compelled to move 
 by external forces. The animals have no knowledge 
 of good or evil, so are not called upon to choose and 
 cannot exercise free agency in a moral sense. But 
 to you alone of all creatures on earth God says, 
 "Choose ye." 
 
 GOOD AND EVIL; THE LAW OF OPPOSITES 
 
 Good and evil as opposites are recognized by most 
 human philosophies and by most religions. They 
 have been made the subject of endless speculation. 
 Man's curiosity concerning them responded to the 
 
 463 
 
464 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 Devil's bait in Eden, when he said : "Ye shall be as 
 gods, knowing good and evil." 
 
 I have said that most religions recognize good 
 and evil; however, Christian Science denies the 
 reality and existence of evil. I will read: 
 
 "There in reality is no evil." Retrospection and 
 Introspection. 
 
 "Evil is unreal because it is a lie." Science and 
 Health, p. 527, edition of 1907. 
 
 Evil, then, is represented as unreal, a monstrous 
 lie that has been all but universal. But, let me ask, 
 What is a monstrous lie if not evil ? So, in the same 
 breath in which evil is denied, it is affirmed. Per- 
 haps that is comprehensible to the incomprehensible 
 logic of Christian Science, which constantly affirms 
 all that reason denies and denies all that reason af- 
 firms. 
 
 It is worth while to remember that the Lord is 
 reported to have said : "The man has become as one 
 of us, to know good and evil." Genesis 3 : 22. Why 
 deny that which God recognizes? 
 
 Evil is self-evident. To illustrate: What man 
 could look upon the dead body of a girl murdered 
 and ravished by some inhuman brute, and then go 
 his way denying the reality and existence of evil? 
 
 It occurs to me that primitive peoples quite with- 
 out revelation would come to perceive good and evil. 
 Pain would be evil; comfort good. Famine would 
 be evil; plenty would be good. So they might feel 
 their way to moral issues and conclude finally that 
 it is bad to kill, to steal, to lie. 
 
Man's Free Agency 465 
 
 The lines of reason might be crude at first, but 
 would lead up to Socrates, who conceded with the 
 Sophists that pleasure is the chief end and aim of 
 life, but went far beyond them to affirm that true 
 pleasure is found only in rectitude, virtue, and serv- 
 ice; or to Roosevelt, who talked about the twilight 
 zone of morals, affirming that it is easy to dis- 
 tinguish black on the one hand or white on the other, 
 but hard to determine whether some shades of gray 
 have in them more of black or of white. 
 
 The idea of good and evil runs all through the 
 Scriptures. The Book of Mormon has one very in- 
 teresting chapter on the law of opposites. I will 
 quote some very brief extracts : 
 
 "For it must needs be, that there is opposition in 
 all things. If not so ... righteousness could not be 
 brought to pass; neither wickedness; neither holi- 
 ness nor misery ; neither good nor bad. . . . And if ye 
 shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no 
 righteousness. . . . Even the forbidden fruit is oppo- 
 site to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the 
 other bitter." 2 Nephi 1. 
 
 Thus the idea runs through the philosophy of the 
 chapter. Bitter is opposed to sweet; death to life; 
 evil to good ; sin to righteousness. 
 
 Sir Oliver Lodge, the British scientist, has a 
 chapter in his book, The Substance of Faith, many 
 portions of which might have been taken bodily from 
 the Book of Mormon, so far as sentiment is con- 
 cerned. Is it not strange that an unlettered boy 
 like Joseph Smith, who is supposed by some to have 
 
466 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 concocted the Book of Mormon, should have pre- 
 sented scientific and philosophic ideas that nearly 
 one hundred years later should be affirmed by one 
 of the greatest of modern scientists? On the law 
 of opposites or contrasts, Lodge writes : 
 
 "Some idea of the necessity for evil can be con- 
 veyed as follows : Contrast is an inevitable attribute 
 of reality. Sickness is the negative and opposite of 
 health. . . . There is no sickness in inorganic nature ; 
 yet, even there, contrast is the essence of existence, 
 Everything that is must be surrounded by regions 
 where it is not. . . . Goodness would have no mean- 
 ing if badness were impossible or nonexistent." 
 The Substance of Faith, p. 53. 
 
 "The still higher attribute of conscious striving 
 after holiness, which must be the prerogative of 
 free agents capable of virtue or purposed good, . . . 
 involves the possibility that beings so endowed may 
 fall from their high level . . . and suffer the penalty 
 called sin." Ibid., p. 52. 
 
 "Every rise involves the possibility of fall." 
 Ibid., p. 51. 
 
 Here we have the definite recognition of the law 
 of opposites, including good and evil; the power to 
 choose as free agents ; and the accompanying possi- 
 bility of making a wrong choice with the resultant 
 consequences. 
 
 Every uphill road is of necessity a downhill road 
 to those who wish to go that way. Elder M. T. 
 Short, in one of his old-time sermons, declared that 
 there are three things God cannot do: He cannot 
 
Man's Free Agency 467 
 
 make a three-year-old colt in a minute; he cannot 
 make a sheet of paper so thin that it will not have 
 two sides ; and he cannot cut a stick of wood so short 
 that it will not have two ends. 
 
 Without blasphemy we may say that in the very 
 nature of things the Lord could not cause man to 
 stand erect without there being the possibility that 
 he might fall. He could not create an uphill road 
 that would not be a downhill road to those who 
 chose to take it allowing always free agency. That 
 thought may clear away some perplexity concerning 
 divine responsibility for evil. 
 
 We recognize then the existence of good and evil. 
 God is the head and front of all good forces and 
 agencies. All that invites and entices to do good is 
 of him, the Book of Mormon affirms. On the other 
 hand, the Devil is the head and front of all evil 
 forces and agencies. One works to save man, the 
 other to destroy him. We are left free to make our 
 choice as to which shall finally predominate in our 
 lives. 
 
 We sometimes wonder why God does not exercise 
 his power to destroy evil and arbitrarily compel 
 men to do good and be saved. As some crudely say, 
 Why doesn't God kill the Devil? Suppose he should 
 go about it in that way and finally compel all men to 
 come in, what would he have? A lot of mechanical 
 toys. Mechanical toys may be interesting to chil- 
 dren; but the Creator started out to develop men. 
 To do that it was necessary to respect their free 
 agency. That is what makes the process of redemp- 
 
468 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 tion so long and distressing. But it is the only way. 
 The Lord chose that w,ay deliberately, knowing the 
 delay and the danger of failure in individual cases. 
 And finally at the end when it is said, "He that is 
 filthy, let him be filthy still," it will be because that 
 man, after good and evil have been fully explained 
 to his comprehension, wills to be filthy still. 
 
 THE FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE IN THE APPROACH 
 OF GOD AND THE DEVIL 
 
 What is the fundamental difference between the 
 approach of God and the Devil. I believe that it is 
 in their attitude towards the human will. The Devil 
 tries to subvert, weaken, and finally destroy man's 
 will power. The Lord recognizes the sanctity of 
 human will, and seeks to strengthen and develop it 
 in all good ways. 
 
 In his book, the Personality of God, Snowden has 
 a very interesting chapter on the "Personality of 
 man." I will read a short extract : 
 
 "Personality is the distinctive state of a person; 
 and a person is an individual being endowed with 
 consciousness consisting of perceptive and reflective 
 thought, sensibility, and responsible will. . . . We 
 think, we feel, we will; we do these three things, and 
 we never can do more or less." Page 9. 
 
 With thought we perceive and reflect upon things. 
 Feelings of one sort or another are aroused and 
 prompt to action we are told that feeling is always 
 the dynamic of action. But then enters the third 
 
Man's Free Agency 469 
 
 one of the trinity, will, and determines what the act 
 shall be. 
 
 So Snowden adds : "The will is thus the spinal 
 column and unifying power of personality, the 
 throne of this kingdom, the crown and captain of 
 self." Ibid., p. 11. 
 
 The will, then, is the pivot of free agency. It is 
 the backbone of human personality and that is the 
 thing that evil in all forms seeks to destroy. 
 
 The Devil puts a cord around a man's neck to 
 lead him about: "Yea, and he leadeth them by the 
 neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with 
 strong cords forever." 2 Nephi 11: 94. 
 
 That is a concise picture of the culmination 
 and climax of a life of sin, beginning pleasantly with 
 a flaxen cord about the neck, the Devil's leading 
 string, and ending in moral slavery. 
 
 But God proceeds differently: He puts truth into 
 the heart : "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth 
 shall make you free. ... If the Son therefore shall 
 make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 
 8:32, 36. 
 
 That is a very concise picture of the culmination 
 and climax of a life of righteousness, beginning with 
 the perception of truth, and leading up to perfect 
 freedom. 
 
 THE CORD ABOUT THE NECK 
 
 To make my points clear I may use some illustra- 
 tions that you have heard me use in other sermons. 
 The first is this : A man riding on a street car in the 
 days before prohibition chanced to notice an adver- 
 
470 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 tisement in the roof of the car : "Pure rye whisky 
 strengthens the body, brightens the intellect, and 
 invigorates the soul of man." 
 
 Next his eye beheld, seated directly under the ad- 
 vertisement, a red-nosed, blear-eyed, slobbering 
 drunkard, giving the lie in every particular to the 
 advertisement. There is an old proverb which says, 
 "Truth is at the bottom of the well." This inebriate 
 had been to the bottom of the well. He knew. For 
 years, no doubt, the Devil led him around with a 
 flaxen cord. He boasted, "I can drink or I can let it 
 alone." The man who says that never lets it alone. 
 Too late he awoke to find himself bound with strong 
 cords. His will was gone. The backbone of his 
 personality was broken. 
 
 A young man entered the University of Iowa. He 
 seemed to desire to succeed, but almost from the 
 first he failed in his studies. He could not concen- 
 trate. Finally the dean called the lad into the study 
 and quizzed him. The young man broke down and 
 sobbed, "I can't quit it. I can't quit it. I haven't 
 the will power to quit." 
 
 The dean inquired, "What is it you cannot quit?" 
 And the boy held out his hands to show the cigaret- 
 stained fingers. "I learned it when a boy," he went 
 on. "I learned it at the livery stables and about 
 town. I thought I would never be a man if I could 
 not smoke." 
 
 That was the flaxen cord around his neck. But 
 alas, he found that the thing he thought would make 
 him a man, kept him from being a man. The back- 
 
Man's Free Agency 471 
 
 bone of his personality was broken. The upshot of 
 the matter was that he had to quit college and re- 
 turn home. 
 
 At one time I was called to visit an insane hospi- 
 tal in California. I did not find the young man that 
 I sought upon the lawn with other unfortunates who 
 were given some freedom. I found him in the 
 criminally insane ward, where the windows were 
 barred and the doors locked. I was admitted to his 
 cell. I found that at times he was lucid, though of- 
 ten he wept and cursed by turns. In one of his lucid 
 moments he told me his story. 
 
 He had been a good, industrious young man, a 
 member of the church ; but in an evil day, or rather 
 night, he was induced to visit the vice district of a 
 certain community. Friends told him, "Come on. 
 Have a good time. No one need know." That was 
 the flaxen cord that he permitted about his neck. 
 He contracted a foul disease. The physician con- 
 firmed his story. The man was suffering from 
 paresis as a result of that disease and could not pos- 
 sibly live very many months. 
 
 As I drove away through the sunny fields and 
 orange orchards of California, the sunlight was 
 blotted out by the shadow of that house of detention 
 and by the thought of that poor unfortunate, a wit- 
 ness to the truth of the declaration: "When lust 
 hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin : and sin, when 
 it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1 : 15. 
 
 But if I got nothing else from that sad interview 
 I did get a new exegesis of the texts which say the 
 
472 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 wicked shall be turned into the prison house. What 
 is hell if it is not an asylum for the criminally in- 
 sane of all times where they may be confined until 
 they are recovered. It is necessary for them and for 
 the general good of humanity. All wicked men are 
 more or less criminally insane; they are befuddled 
 in thought, debased in feeling, broken in will; and 
 these three constituting personality, they are not 
 normal at any point. 
 
 TRUTH IN THE HEART 
 
 Jesus said to the Jews, "Ye shall know the truth, 
 and the truth shall make you free." He works to- 
 wards freedom by the way of truth by the way of 
 truth voluntarily accepted by the human will. 
 
 But the Jews declared, " We were never in bond- 
 age to any man." At that very time they were in 
 intellectual bondage to their rabbis and traditions, 
 in political bondage to Rome, and in moral bondage 
 to their bad habits. 
 
 Many who now boast of freedom are not free. I 
 had an interview at one time with a young man who 
 had traveled extensively. Our conversation turned 
 to religious topics. Finally, with much feeling, he 
 confessed : "Mr. Smith, the trouble with me is that 
 I know the things that I should do, but I cannot do 
 them; and I know the things that I should not do, 
 but I cannot refrain from doing them." 
 
 I looked at him in surprise and said: "What is 
 the matter with you, a perfect athlete, six feet tall, 
 apparently in possession of all your, faculties, in the 
 
Man's Free Agency 473 
 
 prime of young manhood, without a visible shackle 
 on your limbs, yet you must do the thing that you 
 do not wish to do and cannot do that which you 
 know you should do ? You are a slave. You are not 
 free." 
 
 It was his turn to look at me in surprise. Yet it 
 was the truth. He dwelt in "the land of the free" 
 under the shadow of the starry banner, protected by 
 the Constitution for which thousands died yet he 
 was not free. No man is free until Jesus sets him 
 free. That man is free who can say, There is no 
 power on earth or within me that can prevent me 
 from doing that which my conscience approves, or 
 compel me to do that against which my better nature 
 revolts. 
 
 Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, 
 and that they might have it more abundantly." 
 John 10: 10. What did he mean by that? Did he 
 mean that we should be taller, broader, more full- 
 blooded; that alone? If thought, feeling, and will 
 constitute personality, there must be degrees of per- 
 sonality. And that man whose thought covers the 
 widest range most correctly, whose feeling is deep- 
 est and best, whose will is ever strong to determine 
 a course consistent with truth and light, has most 
 personality he lives most he has "life more abun- 
 dantly." 
 
 That is the work of Jesus, to enlighten the intel- 
 lect, to purify the emotions, to redeem the will. He 
 respects our wills and appeals to them. But by way 
 of contrast it is said that in that wonderful council 
 
474 The Inside of the Cup 
 
 in heaven concerning the salvation of Man, the Devil 
 volunteered to go, providing he could have all the 
 glory. He promised to save all men. Yes, he would 
 march them into heaven, every one, whether they 
 wished to come or not. He is the Kaiser Wilhelm of 
 the Universe, and would teach all men to "goose- 
 step." And what is a man doing, who says, "I 
 would like to stop swearing but I cannot ; or, I would 
 like to stop drink, or drugs, or tobacco, but cannot 
 what is he doing if not "goose-stepping" at the com- 
 mand of Lucifer. 
 
 Jesus, to the contrary, presents his message and 
 then waits waits. "Behold, I stand at the door, 
 and knock : if any man hear my voice, and open the 
 door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, 
 and he with me." Revelation 3 : 20. 
 
 Christian Science repudiates the human will, and 
 says : "Will power is not science. It belongs to the 
 senses and its use is to be condemned." Science and 
 Health, p. 144, edition of 1907. 
 
 But Jesus knocks at man's door and waits for the 
 will to open the door. I am suspicious of Spiritism, 
 Mesmerism, Christian Science, or any other thing 
 that asks me to be passive and receptive and surren- 
 der my will at the beginning of the investigation. 
 God does not ask that. After the investigation is 
 ended and truth perceived, then the surrender. 
 Even then, though we pray "Thy will be done," it is 
 in the sense that our wills, having perceived truth. 
 
Man's Free Agency 475 
 
 may be thereby intelligently in exact accord with his 
 will. Tennyson has the idea in Memoriam: 
 
 "Our wills are ours, we know not how, 
 Our wills are ours, to make them Thine." 
 
 "Behold I stand at the door and knock" Lord 
 Jesus, you declared that all power was given into 
 your hands, both in heaven and on earth, yet you 
 wait at my frail door and respect the sanctity of 
 my personality! Why do you not force my door 
 and enter to take possession? Because "The Lord 
 God gave unto man, that he should act for himself." 
 
 Young people, to-night, and each Sunday night 
 during these meetings, Jesus knocks at your door. 
 If you have not already opened to him, why not open 
 your door and grasp his hand? It is the truest, 
 strongest hand ever offered you in friendship.