Show I 1 COUNSEL AND COERCION THE right to counsel is not the right eight to coerce the two terms have different meanings one does not imply the other counsel means advice coercion signifies compulsion the authority of the holy priesthood in the church of jesus christ of latter day saints carries with it no element of arbitrary force no power to compel men and women to accept any doctrine or policy or to do or refrain from doing any particular act the functions of that priesthood are ministerial and advisory and when exercised in presidency are governmental only by the consent of the gov governed ernect though god may endow a man with the keys of the priesthood and the gifts of a prophet a seer and a revelator yet if the people to whom he is sent do not choose to receive him ip that capacity or while acknowledging his divine calling decline or neglect to follow his teachings and carry out his counsels he is not authorized to inflict upon them any pun Ish lehment merit involving life liberty or property or to use any coercive In measures eUres to bring them to compliance he can declare a message proclaim the divine will explain the benefits to be derived from obedience and aard the consequences of rejection but he must not force submission or exercise personal dominion bychich by which the free fhe agency of any person is infringed god himself the highest of all from whom sacerdotal authority emanates does not foree force the human mind or compel obedience to his commands As in natural laws so in spiritual laws the will of the creature to is as free as the will of the creator men violate what they know to be the laws of nature in the same way they may disregard what they believe or know to be the commandments commandment 3 of god the consequences in either case are inevitable but the volition of man is undisturbed deity never compels the choice of the right nor prevents the choice of the wrong herein is the sphere where justice claims its own if mankind were not free mankind could not be judged as accountable beings there could be no just punishment or reward if the liberty of the individual was not preserved the final judgment is predicated on mans free agency good and evil are ever present in this mortal life and as with the life tree and the death tree in the primeval paradise both are within the reach of mans free will until the choice is made and its consequences ensue then if the almighty who has the right to command abstains from coercion his servants who have no such right in and of theme them selve their fellows would be outside of their prerogatives if they attempted to compel compliance with their counsel there is a wide difference between counsel and commandment one may come legitimately from a man holding authority in the priesthood the other can only come properly from god when men assume the powers reserved to deity deify they may terrorize toe the week weak for a time but this abuse of authority is sure to injure the person who thus seeks to grasp dominion over the souls of men more than those who may temporarily 8 suffer er from the wrong the counsels of the priesthood must be given in all righteousness meekness brotherly kindness and charity or they will not be accompanied by that living spiritual power which alone can vitalize them and endow them with power from on high for it is only as the ministers of the lord that the authority even to give counsel to others may be exercised in the church revelation declares that one man to is not to be in bondage unto another there is no man worship or human distinction in the church of christ the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven and these withdraw themselves when those who hold the priesthood here undertake to exercise control or dominion or compulsion in any degree of unrighteousness reproof may be administered with sharpness when necessary but only as inspired by the holy ghost and to be followed by an increase of love to those who are reproved doctrine and covenants p that is the doctrine of heaven and is the essence of priestly power in mormonism the gospel is Is a perfect law of liberty but even under the mosaic code the rights of the people were recognized and protected the almighty said israel should not have a king but when they determined to have one and risk the evils ho S portended as the result god did not interfere israel chose kings and were not hindered in establishing monarchial government because it was their choice and they had the tn right of choice under the law of free agency in the church of christ the rights of the people as to church government are declared by revelation the presidency consists of three presiding high priests chown by tm body appointed and ordained to that office and upheld by the confidence fi faith and prayer of the tb church 1 P this presiding quorum or council is balanced by the chuu counell council of the twelve apostles which form a quorum equal in authority and power to the first president this precludes the idea of a one man power such as is represented by opponents of the church to be its form of government it is further ordained that every deci decision siOu made by these quorums qu or either of them must be by the unanimous voice of the same tw that is every member in each quorum be agreed to its decisions in order to ma make ke t their he ir decisions of the same sam power or validity one with the other doc cov p every officer in the church is such by the sanction and consent of the people to whom he is to minister S cannot be forced upon them the powers of state are separate and distinct from those of the church they spring from the be people under the laws and gen genius of the republic the government revealed to the latter day bainte democratic as it is in its feature of common consent is distinctly doe d dared by the divine vote voice to be A fly church government behold the laws which ye have re calved from my hand are the laws af kf the church and in this light ahall ye hold bold them forth doca doc cv 1 p no man in utah balds ids a civil office by virtue ol of his ecclesiastical office every of alce holder must mu be elected by the people except to such offices as are filled by civil appointment Inn in neither elther case does ake office come from the church 0 0 matter how many of the voters lay belong to the same church it is not in the capi capacity wity of church timbers but of citizens that they catt t their ballots and that is done under mader the civil law they may et one of their own faith or not filbey aey determine and they may ek advice from whom they choose tu ta the best men for office there is nothing in the conati alen or laws or institutions of our cotry which forbids a man who holds an ato ecclesiastical calling to counts another nother as to political affairs wt At that counsel must not be accod wed ed or followed by coercion in such matters would aft 44 only be repugnant to republican but contrary to the spirit andr letter of the creed of the mormon church if any man that by virtue of some he holds in the priesthood he bas se tile the right to compel others to vote teat at his dictation he mistakes the ture and scope of bis authority and d this the spirit of the religion of bieh ich he is the minister is IR also wrong to give way to gar when counsel is not accept a jf if AW ahat counsel is wise prompt w by the divine spirit and for w benefit of the person to whom tg iven pity not wrath should in the breast of the thead ad yaser teer the ithe consequences of reject good counsel will fall on the dwter nep not tile the and it ta 4 sign of personal motive in div sythe monition when neglect or joeal to fonow it arouses rage on ww of the counse counselor Jor t dictation is a word that grates n he par of a freeman fa eeman in its S adeuse lt it has no place in wrabon aon lexicography that a yng officer should lead direct do albil coulD counsel sel those who have y Wd him hi in that capa efty no ona fole person iderson will deny but w imply autocracy int sy or dogmatic egotism kha fafty and uta little you is ib foreign ne bius of our church and to its its fundamentals it aw purpose there is no more effectual way of lessening ones own dignity and influence than to assume unwarranted powers and attempt to exercise undue authority tho rity let him that would be greatest among you become the servant of all is among the golden sayings of him who as never man 11 on the other hand band consistency would say that the people who sustain 1 by their votes in church meetings men in the priesthood to be their presidents and leaders leaden should be willing to hearken to counsel and prompt to follow in a selected path providing it is all in righteousness 11 1 1 in this they need not forfeit or suspend their own agency voluntary acquiescence in or submission to any plan or advice implies no servility in all a forms forma of government civil or ecclesiastical there here must be some yielding of individuality divi duality for the common welfare and this need not and should not establish any form of despotism nor render any man a serf the liberty of the creature is part of the economy of the creator and none less than he has hag the to deny or abridge it ft counselors are chosen in the various orders of presidency in the church so that imperialism may not be established even in form and that the presiding officer may have the benefit of competent assistance and advice it is the duty of counselors to counsel as the name of their office denotes but this does not mean we an obstruction or direction of the head bead the deciding power tain lain the presiding power three minds are am more likely to see seea a matter on all sides than one mind and when the three are agreed the conclusion is more likely to be right it jig is always unsafe to base judgment on SL a one sided view of a ewe case and different minds perceive the same thing from different standpoints hence the wisdom of a presidency of three instead of one and of a council of twelve to sit in judgment in the ahe most important cases M coercion really finds no vantage ground within the so called mormon system the utmost extent of paver power to punish its members for any cause is excommunication that is pensions who have voluntarily accepted certain rules and regulations may be excluded from membership for refusing to comply therewith this power is claimed and exercised by all religious bodies and is essential to their identity civil and religious liberty are in grained in the system known an mormonism monno bison and its aim is 19 isto to ao make man truly free lit lk inculcates the liberty of law but does not favor license it establishes the true relations of government and the governed and when fully developed operand and established establish edit it will bring the creature into the most lati intimate mate reUt relations ions with the tee creator and make all redeemed i unfettered iR independent dependent members of the universal brotherhood of the who are the emancipated and glorified sons of the eternal ruler of tee universe |