OCR Text |
Show - 4 "I- V! ini '1 MARCH THE DESERET NEWS, SATURDAY, A mu Church Deportment 9, 1940. 'The, Truth Shall Make You Free (Continued from Page One.) lose the good we oft might win, by fearing "to attempt Dr. Elliott, you whose words were always fit exponents for thought! Did you Anticipate the Inauguration of this -- great Church Welfare Plan which moves the people to forget themselves and provide for those who are less fortunate? He who forgets himself and works for others, rests his hope in heaven. Let us continue to follow these two seen great bodies of people. 'We have how the people on the plain are dowilling. Poor, irresolute; timid souls, of afraid but into glory, tolmter ing the walk and the work. They are soon forgotten. Jieir lifes chapter is Closed by the fingers of obscurity. These are the men who could Lave accomplished much, but instead they chose rather to write in quicksand than to write in marble. In, the glorious company that reached the heights let us consider a few to whom our minds turn this afternoon. First,1 Joseph, who was sold into Egypt,' now living in the kings palace. The pleasures and the sensuality of the world were offered him, and refused. I tell you, my friends, there is no peace, there is no real happiness, no matter how high your station is, if your conduct is pot backThe ed up ' SLith proper manhood. witnesses are ears the and poor eyes when the heart Is corrupt or barbarous.' It takes the .seeing eye to discern the truths of God, the value of character and achievement But Joseph thrust temptation aside and voluntarily went into a temporary exile. He did that rather than sell his integrity. Before he would worship at the shrine of immorality; he preferred to go t5 a dungeon where at least he would be good company for himself. It isnt what you do that counts altogether; it is the spirit in which you work that has lasting joy and power. It isnt where you are, It is what you are that matters. Josephs name is shining with a glory of devotion to the work of God. He is one of those men who didnt pause on the plains of sensuality and dissipation, but the voice of the trumpet rang in his earr and in his heart, and he pressed forward to that glorious achievement which brings eternal joy. Then we come to another charac- world. For suffering sanctifies; the In conclusion may I venture this power to love is measured by the pow- - thought. In the hearts of these noble er to suffer Paul never complaifled. educators that hear me, in the hearts 0, Paul, what was that infirmity? Poor of all here there Is the sweet,' solemn eyesight? Paul, what kept up that recollection 'that you have taught radiant spirit of yours, that you went truth to boys and girls, some of whom about preaching the gospel, suffering may have been pulling hard against for the Lord Jesus Christ? Paul, the lifes stream, tempted and almost in eminence you won! If your Epistles despair. In the hearts of you splen-"di- d men and women in this great uniwere taken out of our literature, what a void there would be! versity there abides the comforting But there comes another before knowledge that you have spoken the to. these fine young men and me. He came by the power o God out of the dim pastf from an obscure young women whom we love. I beg of you, brethren find sisters, family, but God made him a remarkable person. He stood out clearly in that you look for the good in people sharp, yet 'sunny, outline against the and love them for the good that is in world. That man was the Prophet them, as the Lord Jesus did in the Joseph Smith. He taught the truth life of the rich young ruler. All of that makes men free. Like Paul, he you people bear solemn witness this went about serving his Master, never day that the future holds opportunicaring for his bodily comfort, I think ties for you of making young men that the acme of his grandeur, his and young women free, through the greatest eminence was reached when jower of truth. he said, while going to his martyrdom, God help this great university to If my life is of no value to my fill its mission which friends, it is of no value to myself." it is accomplishing so grandly before It Is the life that is without sin, the world and in the lives of the stuwithout corruption, that enjoys true dents. The sweetest and most comliberty. The liberty of the Gospel, the forting thought that can come to you perfect law of liberty all may enjoy when you are in the silence and alone by following the commandments of with your conscience, ready to meet that greatest patriot, the greatest your God, is that, you have preached being that ever trod this the truth that has made men free. Amen. earth, the Lord Jesus Christ. A banner with a strange device, . Excelsior! - -- Try not the Pass! the old man. said; Dark lowers the tempest overhead. The roaring'ltorrent is deep and wide! And loud that clarion .voice replied, . Beware the branch! Excelsior! ! " pine frees withered Beware the awful avalanche! This wag the peasants last goodnight, A voice replied, far up the height, Excelsior. h I come now to the Apostle Paul. Time will not permit me to mention many of these worthies. - He had tasted sin. Acknowledging himself a sinner he appealed to God for forgiveness. When he came off the plain where he had been seeking for worldly favors and popularity, behold the change in the man! Physical infirmities mattered not to him. He said he had a thorn in his flesh, and he besought God to take it away. But for a wise purpose God did not do it. The day is coming when we are going to stand before God and we will thank Him more for our infirmities and - - i ' heaven-inspire- hardships, our toils and our privations than we will for the blessings which made us happy in the sight of the - libert- y-loving Bdptism By Immersion Practiced By Christians In Second Century ANOTHER substantial proofs that .. baptism by immersion was practiced by Christians in the second century is apparent in an article appearing in the Newsweek magazine of Jan. 22, 1940, under the heading, Romes First Church. Brought to the attention of the Church Section by Elder Nephi L. Morris, the article reads: In 1942, to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Italian Fascisms coming to power. Premier Mussolini plans to stage a great worlds fair in Rome. And for two year archeologists at the mouth of the River Tiber have been sprucing up' its prize ex-hibit, exhuming the extinct' harbor town of OStia from the silt that has covered it for fifteen centuries. Last week the head digger disclosed that . the Ostia display would not be all pagan, for one 6f the buildings uncovered is believed to be the first known noble soul. Daniel! ter; Daniel,-th- at Heres liquor, heres sensuality, heres Christian church. The archeologist was Prof. Guido everything to minister to your bodily the carnal to Calza, appelecturing before Romes Amersatisfy craving, tite. Eat this, drink this, Daniel, and ican Academy. He said he had found you will be fair to appear in the court a small basilica, built sometime in the of the mighty Nebuchadnezzar. What second century. Its columns were What is a man without (apparently salvaged from is the. greatest .dominion in which ruined pagan temples.) What stampmen may rule? Not in an empire, nati- ed it as Christian, the professor reon-state dr town. It Is the domin-- ' ported, were two inscriptions on the Jon of self. He who has conquered architrave: one naming the four riv'himself rules in a dominion- many ' ers in the Garden of Eden (Euphrates, .monarchs will never see or experi- Pison, Gihon and Hiddekel); the other the early Christians sacred monoence, the dominion of overcoming, of real freedom that Joseph gram of the Greek letters Chi and . Rho, first two letters in the word enjoyed. Daniel remembered the words of Christos. , Inside the basilica was a wall behis God. He longed for the freedom and the liberty that comes from the tween, the church proper and the bapobedience that makes men free. He tistery. And it was in the baptistery partook of his humble fare. The king that Calza made his' most interesting didnt sit at his table; the Babylonian find a marble tank with the water monarch wasnt there, but the royal pipes sill intact. Evidently the Ostia were immersionists. host, the God of Heaven sat with Dan- parishioners iel while His prophet partook of that (Most modern sects permit immerfood which didnt excite the carnal ap- sion, but among large churches only petites of the body, but rather revived Baptists, Christians and Disciples re, and rpade mighty those great spiritual quire it. Others thinly is sufficient to forces in him, without which tnan may pour or sprinkle a few drops on the never attain excellence. ' neophytes head.) I learned 'a poem when I was a Here we have strong evidences of . boy. - May I recite it to you? direct followers of Christ a hundred years or more following the Crucifix- EXCELSIOR ion administering baptism in the manThe shades of night were falling fast. ner revealed to Joseph Smith and OliAs through an Alpine village passed ver Cowdery by John the Baptist at A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice. Harmony, Pa., May 15,' 1829. -- ' self-denial- ? - -- - . - .... -- -- . -- A d Under. the hands of the Angel, the Doctrine and Covenants as follows: " Prophet Joseph and Oliver received Baptism Is" to be administered in the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood .the following manner unto all those and were then baptized. As recorded who repent: in Section 13 of the Doctrine and The person who is called of God and has authority from Jesus Christ Covenants, John the Baptist said: Upon you my fellow servants, in to baptize, shall go down into the watthe name of Messiah I confer the er with the person who has presented Priesthood of Aaron, which holds tje himself or herself for baptism, and keys of the ministering of anegls, and shall say calling him or her by name: of the gospel 'of repentance, and of Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be the Father, and of the Son, and of taken again from the earth, until the the Holy Ghost. Amen. Then shall he immerse him or sons of Levi do offer again an offerin her the water, and come forth again unto the Lord in ing righteousness. In speaking of the occasion in the out of the' water. Baptism in this manner serves as History of the Church, Chapter V, a symbol of the burial and resurrecthe Prophet Joseph Smith writes: He (John the Baptist) said this tion of Jesus Christ as is pointed out Aaronic Priesthood had not the power in Section 76 of the Doctrine and of laying on hands for the gift of the Covenants: And again we bear record for we Holy Ghost, but that this should be saw and heard, and this is the testiconferred on us hereafter; and he commanded us to go and be baptized, and mony of the .gospel of .Christ concerngave us directions that I should bap- ing them who shall come forth in the tize Oliver Cowdery, and afterward resurrection of ,the just They are they who received the that he should baptize me. Accordof Jesus, and believed on testimony I ingly we went and were baptized. His name and were baptized after the and him he afterwards baptized first, baptized me, after which I laid my manner of His burial, being buried hands upon his head and ordained in the water in His name, and this him to the Aaronic Priesthood, and according to the commandment which afterwards he laid his hands on me He has given That by keeping the commandand ordained me to the same Priestments they might be washed and were commanded. hood for re-- The messenger who visited us on cleansed from all their sins, and ceive .the the Holy. by Spirit laying this occasion, and conferred this Priesthood upon us, said that his . on of the hands of him who is ordainname was John, the same that is ed and sealed unto this power; .And who overcome by faith, and called John the Baptist in the New are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promTestament,' and that he acted under the direction of Peter, James and ise, which the Father sheds forth upon John, who held the keys of the Priest- all those who are just and true. hood of Melchizedek, which Priesthood he said would in due time be OBEDIENCE A JOY conferred on us, and that I should be Obedience to eternal law should be called the first Elder of the Church, a joy, not a burden, for life is Joy, life and he (Oliver Cowdery) the second. Is love. It Is disobedience that brings It was on the 15th day of May, 1829, death. Obedience to Christ and His that we were ordained under the laws brings life. May each recurring hand of this messenger and baptized. Easter emphasize this truth;' and fill Immediately on our coming up out our souls with the divine- assurance of the water after we had been bapthat Christ is truly risen, and through tized, we experienced great and gloriHim mans immortality secured, and ous blessings from our Heavenly Fathmay the day soon dawn upon the er. world when' the manifestations of In April, 1830, Joseph Smith re- brute force, and false ideals that might ceived revelation as to the fnanner In makes right be supplanted by the charwhich baptism should be administeritable, spirit of the Risen ed. This appears in Section 20 of the Lord! Pres. David O. McKay. -- so-w- -- - . peace-lovin- g |