Salvation Diversified

SALVATION DIVERSIFIED. BY ELDER HENRY W. NAISBITT. Salvation is a broad word, it covers a great deal of ground; it may mean one thing to-day and another to-morrow; it changes according to conditions, and varies often in the experience of one individual. It means one thing to the babe, and another to the young man; and to the man in years, it enshrines more than in his giddy days of inexperience. Attention is salvation to the child; bread is salvation to the hungry; shelter, to the perishing; work, to the unemployed; knowledge, to the ignorant; relief, to the poor; and clothing, to the naked. Some men need to be saved from themselves, some from associations, others from special temptation, and a few from their so-called friends. Philanthropic effort seeks to save, temperance organizations wish to save, men found libraries, build model lodging houses, establish infirmaries, erect asylums, found alms-houses and poor houses, all for salvatory purposes. Others erect schools, endow colleges, project universities, and all educational appliances; when "the schoolmaster is abroad," it is to save men through the intellect, and redeem men through the brain. Some found reformatories, the law builds prisons, temperance men decry public houses, and the teetotalers would deliver men from temptation and themselves, by abolishing the liquor traffic.

SALVATION DIVERSIFIED. 663 Every looker-on has his hobby, every worker his policy, every dreamer his panacea for "all the ills that flesh is heir to." Some are frantic for salvation by legislation; others think cooperation is "the thing;" a few believe that unrestrained liberty would work redemption; the politician has his scheme, the socialist his, the philosopher his, reformers of every grade have theirs, and some, like Satan, would insist on giving salvation whether a man thought he needed it or not. The infidel, the agnostic, as well as the moralist and religionist think something is wroiig, that "the times are out of joint," that everything is and will be a failure except their own special and peculiar prescription; £Aa£, however, is healing to the body and politic as to the individual, if only experiment were allowed. That all these things have some potency, there can be no doubt; but if there is one certain, reliable, universal panacea, it is either undiscovered of men or unaccepted, so a recipe is as valueless to a sick man, as is theory to a race in death; and strangely enough, few of these self-appointed physicians trust their own remedies in individual sickness, which only proves that the mass of pretenders are either charlatans or quacks. The salvation of the Bible, of true religion, is broader than this, yet it has its method of development and its variety of expression. The Old Testament made obedience to commandment the key to salvation as that was then understood; later, it consisted in keeping the law, but the doctors and rabbis so burdened the law with comment and restraint that it became a burden and a failure. The prophets in denunciatory language aimed at sin, and the query was presented by Micah, "What is required of thee, oh man, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Jeremiah said to Jerusalem, "Wash thy heart that thou mayest be saved." In the latter dispensation it was said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Still later, it was, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Then, "This is life eternal to know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent," and finally, "He that endureth to the end shall be saved." Paul said, "By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God."

664 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Some taught that "except a man was circumcised he could not be saved." Paul told the Romans that they were "saved by hope," and Peter said "as the ark saved Noah, so also doth baptism now save us," and good authority said, "except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish," and again Paul, writing to Timothy, said, the Scriptures were able to make him wise unto salvation through faith in Christ. God, in numberless places in the Old Testament, is called "the Savior." In the New it is said, "There is none other name given under heaven or among men whereby they can be saved, except that of Jesus Christ," and Peter urged the repentant sinners on the day of Pentecost that they should save themselves from that untoward generation. Men have often been saviors to others, as was Othniel when against the king of Mesopotamia; and Elud against Egdon, king of the Moabites; and such men as Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Josiah, now and then some of the Judges and Kings; and the Prophet Obediah said that the Lord should raise up "saviors upon Mount Zion" in the latter days. So there are varied saviors, and varied forms of salvation, such as special condition may require, and yet there is a salvation in which all the necessities of man "find ample room and verge enough," and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is declared to be "the power of God unto salvation." In this sense the apostle asked, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" Jude called it from a different standpoint the "common salvation," which it assuredly is and was, because it can be universally applied or received. Faith in God and Christ, the Father and the Son, finds its true relative position; repentance becomes a necessity and an enjoyment; baptism is accepted as an ordinance of God; the laying on of hands is beyond exclusion; and association with the Church becomes a duty and a privilege. "Hope maketh not ashamed," privilege brings blessing; blessing, enlargement; and progress, peace. This, therefore, circumscribes, absorbs, unites, all these diversified features and phases of intelligent, righteous faith and true religion. Love to God and man kindles in the heart renewed trust, and so men know that they have passed from death to life. In this great Gospel, all things meet; from it, all things

SALVATION DIVERSIFIED. 665 diverge. It is the Gospel of God and Christ; the latter by virtue of his calling is said to be the "author" thereof, as he is the "captain of our salvation," "of which salvation the prophets have enquired." It is systematized truth, established ordinance, efficient organization, authoritative priesthood — the divine science of eternal life: all other salvations "pale their ineffectual fires" in the light of this. All other saviors are but auxiliaries and co-workers with this great High Priest of our profession; all other authority is subordinate, and it alone will accomplish the end whereunto it was sent. This has come to earth in our day by the power and the will of God, through his anointed servant and prophet, Joseph Smith, an insignificant plough-boy — not a scholar as the world hath it, but of appointment in the heavens. He opened "the dispensation of the fullness of times." He held the authority of God to organize and establish the Church of Jesus Christ in its fullness and plenitude of power. His life's work is the miracle of our age; its success baffles every opponent; its methods surprise a sleepy world ; it is going forth conquering and to conquer, and all the powers of heaven are pledged to its ultimate triumph and success. "And I," said Jesus the Christ, "If I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." Eternity may be required to do this, but "the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof is sure."

THE SPEAKERS' CONTEST, THE ADDRESSES WHICH WON THE FIRST AND THE SECOND PLACE. [One of the features of the June, 1900, conference of the Mutual Improvement Associations was the closing meeting, in the Assembly Hall, of the Speakers' Contest of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, as described by Superintendent Richard R, Lyman, in the Era for May. There were five speakers and subjects: Walter J. Sloan, "Thou Shalt Not;" Mark C. Brown, "Joseph Smith, His Mission and Persecution;" Alma 0. Taylor, "The First Vision;" Thomas J. Howells, "The Expulsion From Missouri;" Carl Hjalmar Carlquist, "The Philosophy of Trial." The judges on thought and composition were Dr. James E. Talmage, Professor N. L. Nelson, and Elder Edward H. Anderson. As judges on delivery were Bishop Orson F. Whitney, Dr. George H. Brimhall and Elder B. H. Roberts. The following efforts were awarded the first and second prizes respectively; the first being a gold medal presented by the Deseret News, and the second, three beautifully bound volumes of the Era, given by the General Board, Y. M. M. I. A. President Joseph F. Smith presided, and in a well chosen speech presented the medal, which was won by Walter J. Sloan as per combined decision of the judges; while the presentation of the second prize, won by Mark C. Brown, was happily made by Apostle Heber J. Grant. We take pleasure in presenting the winning orations to our readers. — Editors.] "THOU SHALT NOT." BY WALTER J. SLOAN. The thoughts which T shall utter are the result of some study as to the causes which have led to most, if not all, the persecutions