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Show NATIONALITY. The community of the Latter-day Saints within the confines of the Rocky Mountains is made up of representatives from nearly every nation under the sun; the gospel of Jesus Christ has infused into its votaries, an affiliation which, despite the love of country, home, parents and friends has impelled them to gather together. The love of home and fatherland, so generally found among mankind, was absorbed and circumscribed by the greater love for each other, received through the Holy Ghost; and a commonwealth of Saints, where each may be governed and instructed by men who hold the authority of heaven, and are guided by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has been formed. What a marvelous work and a wonder is the latter-day work! Wherever the gospel of Christ has been received among the nations, the results arising therefrom are invariably the same, the gifts of the gospel being distributed and bestowed upon the humble and contrite believer with as much profusion in one nation and people as another. The testimony of Jesus and the truth of the divine mission of Joseph Smith are as like received and enjoyed as soon as the people receive the gospel. Though it might have been in a far distant land, where the language, manners and customs of the people are very different from ours; though mighty oceans intervened, and there were expostulations of relatives and friends, and the contumely of a cold and wicked world to be endured, they were nevertheless actuated by a restless spirit and influence which in its nature and operations buoyed them up under every trial. When former friends turned their backs and sympathies against them for simply believing that God had once more spoken from the heavens, the Comforter whispered words of peace and consolation to them, thus proving the scripture recorded in the Acts of the Apostles chapter 13, 34, and 35 verses, "That God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation, he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him." The great Creator hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation and He bestows His blessings without partiality upon those who are alike meritorious, irrespective of family prestige, or the nation in which they were born. In looking over the map of the world, we find that the Creator hath distributed largely over the face of the globe, His creatures, and many peoples and nations are found to exist therein, and in examining the circumstances and surroundings of each, we notice in many instances, a striking difference in regard to the bounties and necessaries of life. Beginning with the Esquinaux, who inhabits the Northern regions, how repulsive to us who live in a more desirable latitude, to contemplate the severity and forbidding aspect of those cold regions. Yet doubtless there are many to be found there who would not exchange their ice-bound home for the sunny, balmy lands of other zones, and likely many are patriotic in their feelings and oftentimes give vent to them and exclaim, "This is my own, my native land." And the mere mention of migration to other countries, would excite an increase of love towards their snow-clad fields, and give rise to manifestations of disgust at other countries. The same may be said respecting other people inhabiting other portions of the earth. An innate love of home and country being inborn in all mankind more or less, the inhabitants of the world feel measurably at home in the lands that gave them birth, more especially so when placed in favorable conditions. In consequence of the many wars and invasions that have taken place among the nations during the past few centuries, bitter animosities have naturally grown up among the people of these nations, and referring to such instances as have occurred within the last hundred years, we find many of the people of Europe, Asia, Africa and America much estranged from each other, and deep rooted prejudice exists in their hearts towards men and man. Wherever the gospel of Christ has been received among the nations, that prejudice has given away, the spirit of God has whispered, "Peace on earth and good will to man;" party lines and sectional feeling have vanished, and national asperities have become obliterated, and scandal and political strife has melted away before the mellow and enlightening rays of the Spirit of Truth. The various peoples that have come up to Zion from time to time, when actuated with a proper spirit have recognized in each other a brother and a friend, no matter from what quarter of the world they may have come, and as long as they retain a proper frame of mind this hallowed feeling continues to exist, but alas for the perversity of the human heart and a lack of a proper regard for the feelings and social welfare of the community, we find some who profess to be Latter-day Saints, giving utterances to expressions disparaging a brother or sister in consequence of their nationality. The Almighty having determined the times before appointed and the bounds of the habitation of all men, no person can be responsible nor answerable on account of the land that gave him birth. No degree of quality can possibly attach to a person on account of the particular country in which he was born, as we find nature's noblemen in every nation under the sun, whereon the elevating influences of civilization have obtained. Yet we hear some athematizing others in regard to their nationality. What folly! A person who becomes so far lost to decency and self-respect as to under estimate his brother and neighbor on this account is an enemy to the commonwealth of Israel and a barrier to the social progress of our community. The person born on American soil may well be proud of this great and glorious land because it is all that has been said and sung in its praises; but one thing should be remembered by him; this country was in existence long before he was born; he did not create one particle of it; its mighty rivers flowed east and west to the oceans ages before he existed; the waters of the oceans laved its shores and its forests and plains, its mountains and valleys, teemed with life and vegetation since the days of the flood, and had it not been for the illustrious Christopher Columbus who was inspired by the Almighty God, this continent might have remained unknown and unexplored for ages, perhaps forever. The country was made for him, and not he for the country, for it existed and continued to exist before his eyes feasted upon its multitudinous beauties and resources, proving the fact that a person is not a necessary adjunct to the country in which he was born, but merely a sojourner upon it for a few brief years, and when he ceases to tread upon its surface it remains in status quo for other to enjoy. The Latter-day Saints should never indulge in asperities reflecting upon anyone's nationality. The native born should withhold his arrogations over those of foreign birth, not chiding other nationalities in our midst, in consequence of some feigned or imagined superiority he may allege to have derived from his debut into this his native country. Perhaps, were he to trace his genealogy back a few hundred years, he might find his great progenitor was some illustrious Dane who held rule and authority in old England for it must be remembered that the Danes were once the masters of Great Britain and portions of Europe, and that they were mixed up largely with these nations, particularly with the English. Persons of all other nationalities that have gathered up here should not ???unknown??? distinctions in our communities, for upon examination they would find that none of them have anything to boast of. Few of them ever had any country. The history of these nations from which they have come is very similar in many respects, varying only as the different characteristics of the country vary, the degree of civilization attained by them being nearly equal. The Lord in our age designs to raise up a people peculiar to Himself, whose qualifications will not depend upon the country that gave them birth, but upon the condition of obedience to His laws and commandments, and the person who walks in the ways of the Lord blameless will be exalted on high and crowned in the eternal worlds, no matter whether he was born amid the Polar seas, the Temperate or Torrid zones of this mundane planet, because in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteously shall be accepted of Him. James A. Leishman. |