| Show THE LATTER DAY SAINTS their W or k BY J M S the latter day saints have bees been called upon to accomplish a work the magnitude of winch which is i net nat easily comprehended ended but which we ought to always keep before our minds this work is nothing less than the regeneration of the human race the palage valin nesia spoken of by oar lord ma maehew ge 10 19 28 4 the work is somewhat simi larto that of noah and his bis family for they too were called out from a wicked and corrupted world in order to form a nucleus or a new and righteous generation but bat our work is even greater than that of noah since it has been commenced never to be overthrown until toe the purposes of god with the human race nave have been all accomplished and nd the lord reigns supreme upon the earth 0 oura ars is a work in which are employed the same divine agencies that once were working to bring chaos to order in the morning of creation anyone who reviews the world as it is today mist it his mind is open to truth admit that a regeneration a total renewal is what is needed partial reforms are insufficient they have been attempted repeatedly without success the defor reformers mers have frequently found the themselves m selves jin the same predicament as certain aerts D engineers 11 who were constructing a vault thy they made their calculations with the greatest precision and with the arches according to established rules bat butto to no purpose As soon as the support was pulled palled down down came the whole building with a crash the builders tried again and curved the arches still more but the result was waa the same none of those engi n e era was able to find out where th the e fault was finally a practical mason came along and told them that the fault was not in their calculations but in the material picking up a brick he be crushed it between his fingers remarking it is new material you want and this is exactly the case with the world at the present time you want new material we have had reforms enough let us t for or instance look at the sciences a moment we are told that the progress made in every direction is wonderful but Is it not humiliating to find that all this boasted progress seems to have a tendency end eucy to lead mankind not towards light but towards spiritual darkness Sceptic scepticism laza and infidelity in its various forms to be the unavoidable results of scientific researches it will soon be a curiosity to find and an astronomer a geologist a physician a 4 philosopher that is not a more or less openly pro fessel atheist the time is past when you flad find a pascol pascal a sir isaac esaac newton ajohn john locke humbly worshiping P log at the altar of god how is this what is the matter with modern science and scientists only one answer is possible paul it romaus romans i 1 21 2122 22 I 1 because when they knew gnew god they glor glorified led sim gim not as god neither were thankful but because vain in their inclinations and their foolish hearts were darkened professing themselves to be wise they became tools next think of the social difficulties that disturb every civilized nation more or less capital and labor stand against each other in deadly combat some individuals accumulate wealth at an incredulous rate adding millions to millions while others grow poorer every day the result is violent outbreaks in the lorm form of many horrible crimes nihilism socialism snatch anarchism and aad kindred isms iams brow out of the soil of corrupted society like mushrooms ons out of damp ground and their growth appears to ne he as natural as was the french revolution after centuries of corruption and tyranny toe the very many of tile the combinations bi before which the wealthier classes tremble is a clear proof that sol Is landa mentally wrong in modern society when no man can lawfully rob nis fellow man of the necessaries of life the working classes have no longer any cause for complaint and unscrupulous demagogues will have no material to work with but as long as any society tolerates corruption in any form it bears in its ita own bosom the germ of death and dissolution andthil and this is the case with modern society to a very alarming extent again the political status of the the world is no better than its social condition the leading powers seem to thirst for spoil and stand ready to td throw themselves over their weaker neighbors checked only by the tear fear of being in their turn tarn devoured by stronger nations the policy of many powers is the policy of wild beasts resting on the maxim might sis is right acht 11 and there is not a crime in the whole catalogue of sin that has not been defended by politicians wholesale murder wholesale robbery with all accompanying evils have been advocated as meritorious merito rions works under the name of war hence the nations have been and are still compelled to spend millions of dollars and a vast amount of energy and precious lime in learning how bow to destroy lives and property on scientific principles Is it not heart sickening to iee see abis his condition of affairs in a world which professes to believe in ia him who was love personified and whose whole life was devoted to save not to destroy the lost human race but the true cause canse of all this is to be found in the fact that man has voluntarily deviated from the truth without correct knowledg knowledge e of a creator a redeemer and a Ilie warder of these those that seek him everything conn connected acted with human life must be wrong man without this knowledge is on 6 the ocean of time as badly off as a ship without a compass he will lose his hi s way the currents will carry him off and ke he will finally be crushed upon the rocks this lithe ft the lamentable condition of the present generation religiously it is 11 drifting on ea the tides of error politically liti cally it is broken up into factions breathing enmity against each other socially it is at the point of destruction by lawlessness scientifically it is groping in darkness morally it mily may be added it is corrupt the work that lies before the latter day saints is to renew the world in every respect we do not propose to do this by putting a patch here and there on the old cloth nor to pour the new wine into the old bottles bittles we are not allowed to attempt this old experiment peri ment the reformers have tried it and failed the hole became greater the bottles we have been commanded to effect a total removal first of all 0 our ur mission is to proclaim the truth to the world concerning god and the way of salvation salvat ioa thereby laying a firm and solid basis for all knowledge As parley P pratt puts it theolo theology ay is the science of all other ances en ces and useful arts being in fact the very foundation from whence they emanate it includes philosophy astronomy history mathematics geography languages gua es the science of letters I 1 and blends the knowledge of all matters of fact in every branch of art or of research it includes also all the scientific dis discoveries discovers coveri asand and inventions agriculture the mechanical arts ts shipbuilding the properties aud and application of the marivers mariners ma wa compass navigation and music all that is compass use useful u great and aid good all that is calculated to sustain I 1 comfort instruct edify purify refine or exalt originated dy by this science and this science alone all other sciences being but branches growing out of this the root without this science the root of all sciences our work would clearly be I 1 in n vain we have a theology the doctrines of which are in many respects as different from those of the world as light is from darkness truth from error or heaven from bell but this theology IL a necessary factor in the of the world and can neither be dispensed with nor modified it must be given as it has been received secondly we have been called upon to introduce another social condition than that which exists lathe la the world we are taught that all men are breeb more than a figurative sense of that word when this fact shall be realized reali sed aleong men then the richman ric rich hcan can no longer oppress the poor women will no lenger be be regarded as interior inferior beings the tools of brutes one man will no longer inflict sufferings or injuries of any kind upon another all will I 1 love lore each other as they are all loved by our common father and when this is no longer merely a happy dream but an accomplished fact our mission to is ended for no social question will then ever arise but can be solved in perfect unity and peace thirdly we must teach the nations of the earth that there is a better way a policy of peace and happiness to be foll all men that wars and the inventions of the devil dud and must he ing the reign ot of the son of god finally we are called upon to lead every science into purer channels than those in which they at present flow we must see them cleansed from al all I 1 the filth of infidelity and purity purify them until the power and wisdom and love of god are clearly seen reflected on all the works of his hands this then is the great work of the latter day saints a in which every individual should be concerned the nature of this great work here very feebly outlined suggests what we as a people need and what god will give asif we keep keel his commandments we need theologians who like paul ol of old eld arefa are familiar millar with gods dealings with with man and are filled with the holy spirit and faith we need statesmen dimse superiority must be recognized by the most prominent men of our globe we need scientists to whom all the mysteries of nature are clear as if recorded in an open book boek it may be asked is not this after all imagination Is it probable or even possible that a people so small so despised as the latter day saints can have a work to perform the magnitude of which it ft nere suggested it is contended that tile the majority of the mormons cormons Mor mons consist of the lopesi classes ed men gathered from all quarters t er s of the earth they were found d i in n poverty without learning what wild lancy fancy can expect these nobodies to be the of the world it would be a sufficient to all these questions to ro say that such have always been the workings of providence joseph was a prisoner in egypt but god made him the savior of that country daniel was a captive in babylonia babelonia Baby lonia but through his bis instrumentality the affairs of the empire were totally changed jesus ot of nazareth died as a traitor but his hi death c hanged changed the whole world there is superhuman wisdom displayed in the choosing of the foolish the weak and the base things of the world as instrumentalities of the divine purposes were the mormons cormons Mor mons ignorant ig when they embraced the gospel if so the less errors had they imbibed from the schools of the world the more lit fit they would be to learn from god were they taken out of the lower classes if so the less lees immorality were they corrupted by for it is a notorious fact that the vilest corruption is more abundant among boat anat are termed the upper classes than lower down were they poor it if so their consciences were tree f from rom the marks of oppression and tyranny which brand most of the wealthier classes so that in choosing the weak and low things of the world god has really those whom jae ae could best use for this great work god has not chosen this people as his instruments with a view of keeping them in the same condition as ile he found them by no means we have been gath gathered eted together that we under the guidance of gods holy spirit should progress in everything that thai is good ana as years i roll oil on it will finally be apparent that from this once disposed dispi sed people a power has sprung mighty in the hands of bf god to renew the world star upon star will rise until the ahe millennial day in all its splendor has come when our mission will wall be f fulfilled ul filled our work completed |
