--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Naisbitt, Henry W. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 3 number: 6 published: 1900-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Henry W. Naisbitt, "Silent Forces," *Improvement Era* 3, no. 6 (April 1900): 437–442.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera36unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera36unse start_page: 437 end_page: 442 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1900-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera36unse publication_year: 1900 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1900, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Silent Forces SILENT FORCES. BY HENRY W. NAISBITT. Many of the most important material forces of nature are strangely silent in their action; so far as human ears or observation goes, all the planetary universe moves in utter silence. There is no echo in the fathomless fields of space; and while poetry dilates and raphsodizes over "the music of the spheres," only the fervor of imagination hears that tone. To the ordinary soul, it is the music of silence or "music asleep." There was one who claimed that the grand orbs around us are "ever singing as they shine, the hand that made us is divine," and the Psalmist, similarly gifted, held a sentiment as beautiful and suggestive when he exclaimed, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth forth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard." But that speech is not vocal, that language is not of earth, that voice is only to the soul; spirit ears may be attuned to such music, may understand such voices, may comprehend such speech, but to most of men, worlds move upon their orbits almost without observation and certainly without audible rhythm; they all move in harmony, but their gamut of tone and sound is silence, "not loud, but deep!" The great glacier fields of earth are silent in their irresistible movements; it is only as they break above the abysmal ocean, or, drifting, dissolve in warmer waters, that they groan and crash to their ultimate destruction. Yet in all past ages their action has changed continents, aided in forming islands, and in grooving into mighty furrows the now sadly scarred face of mother earth! ! 438 IMPROVEMENT ERA. We have heard of the roar of the ocean, we have heard also of its peaceful murmuring, "as it breaks upon the shore," but in mid-ocean, while it plays as with a toy on the proudest mechanism created of man, its waves roll mountain high in comparative silence; obstruction alone demonstrates the impetuous force as it is generated, and then as gradually lapses into silence that might not disturb a babe All have noted the soft, silent action of light as it streams from the far distant sun; men have assumed to measure its velocity, to determine its caloric, and to gauge its change from summer to winter, but few have recognized its sublime silence, its stealthy approach, its peaceful departure, its wonderful noiseless silence in every phase or mood! In all those strange changes of plant growth which are so common as to excite hardly observation, there is the same eternal phenomenon of silence; growth is one of the manifestations and miracles of life, — "first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear," every process of flower, of shrub, of tree, of the vegetable kingdom, serene, certain, positive, each working its individual law of life without ostentation, courting no smile, fearing no frown, yet in its native habitat working out its individual problem, its given mission, its glorious, perfect life! How unlike the operations of humanity, with its bustle, its self -inflation, its love of approbation, its desire for renown! We have not read of any achievement, save one, which indicated in its accomplishment, this attractive silence so grandly vindicated in the wonderful works of God. The unique illustration referred to is in the case of the building of Solomon's temple which "came together without the sound of ax or hammer, or any tool of iron being heard thereon." Even the peace of mankind in general, about which so much is boastingly said, is far below that tangible yet silent "peace of God, which passeth all understanding!" The action of mentality, the power of thought to penetrate, to make or win its widening way, is similar to the power of light, to the miracle of growth, to the erosive friction of a glacier, to the majestic, stately silence of the stellar world; a great thought is never lost; receptive element, nourishment, life comes when congenial conditions assert themselves. It is like the seed which. ! SILENT FORCES. 439 stored along with mummies in the ages past, when brought from darkness to light, from arid depth, to humid limits, breaks forth in growing verdure to tell the story of a glorious resurrection. So these old truths, conceived in silence, buried in obscurity, waiting only "the hour and the man" to break forth into unlimited verdure, as luxuriant as the tropics, as beautiful as any devotee's anticipation oniheaven, and withal so silently powerful, that the little mustard seed becomes a great tree, or as the little leaven in three measures of meal which by and by "leavens the whole lump." Nowhere is this startling fact of the silent fecundity of thought more strangely manifest than in the eternal truths of the Gospel as restored to the earth in this our dispensation. Christianity had become effete in many respects; it had a galvanic life, it had a measure of truth, but it had become stereotyped, it had lost its savor, its creeds were speculation, its Bible was a fetish, its representatives made merchandise of the souls of men, and its divinity or theology, made up of abstruse fictions, created wars, physical and mental, which testified to the acerbity of professors, and truly said that figments of the brain had overthrown the philosophy of the Gospel, and that superstition had exalted itself above the oracles of God! With the dawn of a new era —an era not only of revealing but of receptivity, — old theories, dogmas, doctrines, began to unbar their doors. With the introduction of the Gospel came a time of daring controversy, every elder of The Church had an opponent, every teacher had a hearer, the stagnant waters of antiquated orthodoxy became troubled, but the "little Davids" left many a proud Goliath on the polemical battle-field. Since that, "discretion has become the better part of valor," and now contemptuous silence is the answer to all interrogatories, whether from friend or foe; it has become, as a ready opponent said the other day, "I will not discuss with you on doctrine, but on side issues I may meet you." He failed to see that all side issues were the legitimate product of the tree of Knowledge, and like the whole, in that he confessed himself an already vanquished man But these facts in no way forestall the argument, that "Mormon" theory and "Mormon" thought have radically changed the teachings of modern Christendom. Ministers no longer preach 440 IMPROVEMENT ERA. a literal hell fire, they no longer consign to torment "children a span long;" they are absorbing greedily the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God, and as to baptism, it is asserted that many ministers are prepared to placate a convert by "immersing" him in water, if he believes in its rightfulness or necessity. It is also beginning to be realized that authority in ordinance is a factor in salvation, and all the Ritualistic strife is not of Catholic origin but comes from a less reputable source (?) than the antiquated theories of the mother church. Many also begin to teach the beautiful truth of divine motherhood, and hosts are converts to the idea that family relationship is among the delightful probabilities of the other side. Then the general hope that an erring soul may yet find opportunities for the mercy and salvation of God, is slowly percolating through clerical and other channels, as not either unbiblical or unlikely in the great hereafter. True philosophy is making inroads into superstition and orthodoxy; but few give credit to Joseph Smith, the great latter-day Prophet, and fewer still would willingly acknowledge indebtedness to the Journal of Discourses, the writings "of leading men, or the battering rams of the priesthood in general, which have silenced so many guns, stormed so many fortresses, and captured so many prisoners in the name of the God of battles and of his Son Jesus Christ! There is more "Mormonism" preached today in every little conventicle, than there was in all the Christian world in the year 1830, when this aggressive Church, this potent power in theology, first went out. "The men that have turned the world upside down have come hither also," was the cry in the apostolic age, but it is as true today, though no man may be willing to acknowledge the fountain of his inspiration, and few may know how, when or where their blinded eyes "saw men as trees walking," and not calling for any additional sight! Many years ago, socialists admitted that "while they had been dreaming the 'Mormons' had been working," They had solved the problem of united colonization, and manifested that industrial combination could redeem the desert and create a state; envy and chagrin led to experiment after experiment. It was thought that Brigham Young and his compeers could be system- , SILENT FORCES. 441 atically outranked, but utter failure demonstrated the necessity of a more subtle force than "simon-pure" social equality, and that was seen to be the religious element. Then religionists essayed to enter the lists and secure the triumph, but from the Shakers to General Booth, even so-called religious sentiment has failed to give cohesion to an assumed individualism which was deemed essential to success. Most of these have taken their cue, and based their hopes and felt sure of success because a really united people had built "an empire in the desert," and compelled (as was thought) success from the very jaws of death. Copyists and imitators had not divined the secret into the arcana of action; they had failed to find the proper entrance; every excuse was used to explain defeat, every possible idea was urged as the sure basis of success. Some said it was Brigham Young, some said it was the ignorance or subservience of the people, some claimed that isolation made unity possible, but the great, the giant leader said that "God was in it,'* while everything demonstrated that as to the imitators, "God was not in all their thoughts." Dealing with and utilizing barbarous and semi-civilized tribes of men attests the genius and spirit of the "Mormon" people. When Brigham said that "it was cheaper to feed Indians than to fight them," he uttered a pregnant truth, one which is today the basis of all Indian reservation projects however corruptly the idea may have been carried out. Utah, for lo these many years, has seen its devoted missionaries laboring among that class, teaching them the arts of peace, training them to independence through industrial activity, opening farms, planting orchards, establishing schools, and introducing the primary elements of an expanding civilization "without fee or hope of reward;" and to see the red man drive his own team, guide his own plough, build his own rude home, and meet in school or church, is testimony to the genius of the Gospel, which counts a fading race as of Israel and included in the promises. Ministers of many churches, after spending years of time and uncounted treasure, have in late years awakened to the "Mormon' idea that industrial training is better than dogmas, and that temporal salvation must run parallel with all salvation which had its ! 442 . IMPROVEMENT ERA. origin in the Divine mind! Africa, India, and other prominent sectarian mission have followed the lead of the "Mormon" fields, Church, and modern effort is now being developed on that grand scale which wealth implies, but which their predecessors walked in in poverty, and for many and many a year alone! Hawaii and other of the Pacific Islands testify to the industrial, moral and religious training of the unselfish and unsalaried "Mormon" Elders. They were not college men, not theorists, not dealers in abstract or contradictory doctrines; they were sternly educated, practical men, they had stormed and conquered the sterilities of nature; they had learned the value of unremitting toil, and in the simplicity but earnestness of their faith, they saw the otherwise invisible hand of God, and this spirit they sought to impress, in association with the Gospel, into the hearts of all believers! This is getting to be understood by some minds who control the press. An editorial in the Liverpool Post said lately: Far be it from any thinking man to underrate the value of religious teaching pure and simple; but if that teaching is to be really effectual, it must be followed by such lessons and examples as will lead to the transformation of the converted heathen into a good citizen; the attributes of civilization must take the place of savagery; the convert must be taught that daily labor is not degrading, but elevating; he must be shown how to work, and he must be allowed to reap the fruits of his labors Ah me! surely the leaven of example, the silent force of truth, is at work in unexpected places. If seventy years of unostentatious advocacy of the Gospel as restored and revealed through the Prophet Joseph, and practically applied by his successors under God, hath done this, what may we not anticipate in change and silent revolution ere fifty more shall astound the nations by its development of "Mormon" influence, "Mormon," example, and progressive "Mormon" thought? In other departments of human action, changes and tests have been made from time to time, all clearly traceable to "the new dispensation." But this article is already too much drawn out for the limited pages of the Era; nevertheless, in conclusion it may be said that politics, family life, social life, industrial methods,