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Show Gospel Doctrine . . . THOUGHTS ON RELIGION Following Is one of a series of articles on religious subjects, written for the Review by Harold Jacklin. former LDS Church missionary, hv Harold Jaoklin "Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up; some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up,, because be-cause they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the -thorns sprung up, and choked them; but others fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold." (Matt. 13:3-8). Well do sowers of the gospel seed realize that much of the seed they sow falls by the wayside and is given no opportunity to germinate. ger-minate. They know too that much of it falls on stony ground and wills uccunib to the scorching rays of tribulations sun; and that a regrettable re-grettable pcrtion of it falls among the thorns and will be strangled and starved by the obtruding and persistent tares of worldly, temporal tem-poral life. What portion of the seeds that fall in good heart-soil will produce and hundiiedfold, what portion sixtyfold and what portion only thirty-fold they cannot can-not tell. Those who are zealous in cultivating cul-tivating the seed within them and fighting with valor the opposing tares will be rewarded with greater great-er strength and power and loveliness loveli-ness of life than could have been achieved under more protected conditions. con-ditions. The sturdy oak braves the winds that repeatedly challenge Its right to stand alone. Relying on itself and the innate powers provided by desiging Providence, it sinks its roots deep into the soils and stands erect despite the f ury of the storm ; while the grassroot saplings about it, grown rank under protective covering, lose their grip and are blown away. The ' great, determining test of cur faith Is in the keeping of the commandments of the Lord. Shall we count this a large price to pay for eternal life in the Kingdom of God? Our Savior, when He was here, likened the kingdom of heaven heav-en to a pearl of great price for which a man sold oil that he had that he might possess it. If we could but know the untold value that attaches to this pearl, none of us would hesitate to give his all for its possession. The Evil One will try constantly with all his might to break down the spiritual strength of the Church members. He will urge that there are but few to attend meetings meet-ings and no fluent speakers, so there Is no need to go. He will never teil us that in going we will lend moral support and encouragement encour-agement to others; that we will gather spiritual strength by obeying obey-ing the direct command of the Lord to keep holy the Sabbath and partake of the Sacrament of the Lord's supper, that we might always al-ways have His spirit to be with us. May good citizenship, strength of character and religious zeal characterize our lives, being mindful mind-ful of the immortal words of the Master spoken on the Mount: "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and It fell not : for it was founded upon a rock." |