Show truth gives freedom fro from the weeley wee iky enquirer I 1 take for the subject of my talethe talk the preposition that truth gives spiritual freedom Oi of course if one phase of freedom is the result of truth then all phases phase of freedom are the result of it and would necessarily include physical intellectual and social as well as spiritual freedom before proceeding to the justification of the proposition assumed it will be well to restrict the terms truth and freedom by specific definitions according to psychology truth is the correspondence correspond ense enze between phenomena and loumena nou mena or in other words between the idea and the reality that is to say bay that if our idea of a thing subjective isas is as the thing actually exists objective we are in possession of a truth concerning that thing to illustrate newton saw the apple fall and a definite bite idea an idea of a general law was formulated in his mind this general law was afterward proven by demonstration to exist to be an actuality the phenomena and the loumena agreed he had discovered a truth the scriptural definition of i truth is the knowledge of things thing sas as they are as they were find and as they i will be hence hance among the Israelit ih deop people le the prophet who thoroughly s sensed 0 ased the present who know the past and who wha could fortell the future fatur was considered to be in possession of the most moat truth the rhetorical definition of truth is that is the tree from which freedom is plucked this us as may be perceived is but the statement in a more pleasing way of our proposition that truth gives freedom 5 let us now turn our attention to the term freedom there are many conflicting ideas in respect to this boon according to instructions that we have received in this class the philosophy of the gospel I 1 think I 1 am safe in defining freedom thus it is the opportunity and ability to conform to law the majority of cf mankind confound freedom with license they think that if anyone be permitted to follow his impulses in every respect 2 that he would be absolutely free no doubt they would think that there is is more fre freedom in a mob than in an array army they forget that where everyone follows their impulses each mans inclinations are likely to be different from every other mans inclinations or impulses except possibly in one or two cases and that instead of being free he is hampered on every side see an army on the other hand band each man has certain acknowledged expressed pressed es and protected privileges wherein he is perfectly freehand free and knows that as long as he conforms to td regulations lawthan that freedom will remain constant he is not subject to the caprice of a mob having given specific defini definitions tiona to our terms let us go to the scriptures our most authoritative source of proof for enlightenment on our proposition see sec doc and verse reads ibus th band usAnd if a man gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another he will have so much the advantage in the world to come this was given not particularly as revelation but as instruction to the people but if joseph were a prophet as claimed his instructions would necessarily be in harmony with revelation and would consequently have equal claims to veracity he plainly says the more knowledge and intelligence in this life the greater the advantage in the world to acme 11 advantage what is advantage Is serfdom advantage no Is freedom advantage yes I 1 think it is justifiable to make the statement the greater the advantage the greater the freedom then taking joseph smiths smith Is statement the more intelligence truth the more advantage freedom joseph smith also makes the assertion that man is saved gaved no faster than he gets knowledge subjecting this statement to the same analytic test we find that is virtually the same truth as our oar proposition no man can be saved without obedience to law for that is what saved means knowledge in this truth of josephi joseph i smiths undoubtedly on means the recognition of things as they are recognition of law truth according to our definition man is saved conforms to law is free no faster than he gains knowledge ideas of things as they are truth in other words man is freed no faster than he gains truth evidence of oar proposition can be obtained from the bible as well as from joseph smiths teachings I 1 will draw attention to a few of these passages isaiah makes this statement in the fourteenth verse of the fifty ninth chapter and judgment is turned away backward and justice afar off for truth is fallen in the tb street estreet and equity cannot enter according to this where there is no truth there is no justice if there is no DO justice can there be any freedom can freedom exist without any justice lan can justice exist without any freedom I 1 think we can safely answer both these queries in the negative and say where there is freedom there is justice and where there is j justice us there is freedom isaiah then makes the statement that where truth ia is absent justice opportunity and ability to conform to law freedom is abs absent sent specifically he says where there is ia no truth there is ia no freedom 11 II tim from frem the first to the eighth i verse reads reada thus this thia know also that in the last laet days perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters pro proud ud blasphemers blaspheme rs disobedient to pa parents rents unthankful unholy without natural affection truce trace breakers false adcur accusers sera incontinent fierce despisers despi sers of those that are good traitors heady high minded lovers of ale pleasures m ures more than lovers of god haying 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 lasts ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth what a picture is herein presented 1 A picture of men who are dominated by their impulses the picture of an uncontrolled mob where there is no freedom why all this confusion simply simple because they i had not come to the knowledge of the th truth knew not law lut hat the tha imm sum mum genus of all scriptural proofs proa bearing upon this subject is contained in the verse of the VIII chapter of st john it reads and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free these are the words of christ himself can there be any greater proof of this principle in ancient times and even in some countries up to the present day nations rose and fell under the rule of tyrants monarchs mon archa and oligarchs oligarchy freedom existed only with the higher classes whence this serfdom was it because they were in poss possession of the truth no it will be found that grievous errors were at the bottom of this deplorable condition of society this lack of freedom this serf serfdom dont there was one error alone that was very tery inimical to the liberties of men and that was the prevalent ider idea that the ruling classes wre were made OL of different material from their more humble brethren they thought that the material of their bodies was of a finer fine more subtle quality than that of the common people the mythology of the ITin doos and egyptians illustrates lu hi this belief they thought that a certain class sprung from dei tys broin brain another from his breast another from his feet etc it is self evident that just so long as such buch notions as these existed freedom could not live such erroneous ideas existed more or less till christ chriss came upon the earth in fact they are not totally 6 obsolete 1 now the first great truth in contradiction to their falsities falsifies was set act forth by christ in the principle of universal fatherhood he taught plainly that he was no respecter of persons but that every nation that feared him and worked righteousness would be accepted with him he taught that he is the father of all that all are his children the declaration cl that all are his children is the declaration of ef another truth that tends to freedom the truth of sal brotherhood what grand truths they are the fatherhood of god and the brotherhood of man A truth that draws the lines still closer that points with an index finger as it were to spiritual freedom is the principle of individual salvation taught by our savior the principle that every man must work out his own salvation with fear and trembling this means that he is not to be restricted in any particular spiritually that his salvation must come through a free unhampered spiritual choice that if his choice is is ca conditioned it is not individual if it is not individual it cannot lead to salvation this truth of individual salvation then says plainly spiritual freedom must be had what freedom of religious choice that exists today I 1 think I 1 am safe in asserting is the result of the truths mentioned 1 I lime ime will not permit tracing out in detail the sti struggles and reiterations of this truth of individual salvation it has in many respects anci ana I 1 believe will entirely lead to pir igual freedom the lis labors bors the hardships the contin mely of such menas men aa wycliffe Wyc lifie john huss wessel weasel jerome of pragna was its struggle for be BB tendency cen dency the reformation was its restatement its restatement in erms more forcible and enduring than they had ever been before still notwithstanding its equitable reiteration era tion it was not long after tho the reformation until it was strangled and trodden under ane oppressive heel oi of berrr at least to a very great extent the fact that upon the discovery ot of america the the puritans and others fled to this laud land of promise to worship god as they averred according to the dictates of their consciences attests that it was wag not reco recognized sized in full the greatest triumph of this brath yet I 1 t take a ke it was set forth in the de declaration lara of independence in this passage we hold these truths to be self evi dent that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are life libert yand the pursuit of happiness the statement th atall men are created equal is a restatement of the principle of universal Brother brotherhood bood the 0 statement n ent that liberty is an inalienable right endowed by a creator is a restatement ot of all phases of freedom intellectual social physic physician ial and spiritual it is plainly implied then in the declaration of independence that with the grand truth of universal brotherhood as a basis there should be spiritual freedom taking the s proposition with its terms properly restricted passages from joseph smiths writings and from the scriptures were cited that substantiate it special emphasis being placed upon the saviors words john VIII 32 and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free it was pointed out that in many coan countries tries of ancient times and even of the present day freedom exists only among the higher cla classes ases and that the cause of this condition of society was andis and is not the result of truth but of error the and egyptians were cited as examples of people perpetuating in their mythol ogy agy such erroneous notions it was shown that christ cordoba cor roba ted these errors when be came upon theearta the earth with the principle of universal Fatherhood Universal brotherhood and individual salvation the last principle was waa shown to point to spiritual freedom in fact to be synonymous with the expression dispir spiritual freedom must be maintained the struggles of the principle of individual salvation were briefly traced trac edthe tha reiteration of reforma the tion its partial eclipse afterward as shown by the immigration of the tb e puritans Hugue huguenots Huguen nota and quakers to the iha new world and finally its greatest triumph among the american people as embodied in the Deel declaration of independence F JB B |