Sowing Wild Oats

SOWING WILD OATS. BY JOSEPH E. TAYLOR, OF THE PRESIDENCY OF THE SALT LAKE STAKE OF ZION.

He is only sowing his wild oats; he will tame down by and by, and become sober and discreet. You cannot put old heads on young shoulders; let them alone, they will come out all right later on.

These and similar excuses are often made, not simply for youthful follies and indiscretions, but for sinful indulgences and actual wrong doing. Thus giving a sort of passive license to the young, who frequently take advantage of this seeming indifference to gratify appetite and passion without restraint. Every husbandman will readily acknowledge that wild oats belong to that class of vegetation which is considered to be more of a curse than otherwise: and against which, every available means is used, and much valuable time spent to rid the land of such truly harmful and worthless plants. Prudent and wise parents look carefully after the interests of their children, and by caution, warning, and just restraint seek to safeguard them against false allurements and unwarranted indulgences, realizing full well the sorrowful consequences which are sure to follow. If wild oats are sown, no matter at what period of our lives, wild oats will be the result: for it is an eternal principle: we shall reap that, and that only, which we sow. The wise man, speaking to the youth of the result of wrongdoing, said: "Rejoice, young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth: and walk in the ways

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of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." In other words, let him place no reatraint upon appetite or passion, and he will be made to feel the result of such unwarranted yielding to personal gratification. Moses, in delivering the word of the Lord to ancient Israel, said: "Remember all the commandments of the Lord to do them. Seek not after your own heart, and your own eyes. But be holy unto your God." Again, in speaking of an incorrigible, he was designated as "a root, bearing gall and wormwood." Who will treat lightly the word of the Lord, and will say in mockery, "I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst," etc. The Lord says, "1 will not spare him, but my anger shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him,, and the Lord shall blot his name out from under heaven." Surely such retribution should act as a deterrent to those who are in any way whatever inclined to yield to unholy desires. Instead of sowing wild oats in youth, this is the very time to enter upon the service of the Lord. King Solomon, after summing up the terrible results of youthful wrong doing, gives the following wise counsel, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not," etc. Again, in speaking to the young in regard to the many pitfalls and snares that are laid to entrap them, he points out a sure way of escape. It is by giving their hearts to the Lord. The passage reads: "My son; give me thine heart," which means a complete surrender without any reserve whatever. In fact, anything short of this is not acceptable to our Father. While the Lord, in his kindness and mercy, will accept a turning to him in old age. even when mental and physical weakness is apparent, yet none will deny that he prefers the unimpaired strength and vitality of youth. The history of the past furnishes ample evidences of the correctness of our position. Abraham, the choice of heaven, who became the father of all the faithful, devoted himself to God in his early life. Isaac, the child of promise, followed in the footsteps of his father. Jacob, when only a lad, was counted worthy to have the

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heavens opened to him: there was given to him great promises and blessings, which in the language of holy writ exceeded those of his progenitors, "Unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills," — North and South America. His son, Joseph, who came into possession of the fullness of the holy priesthood, and who inherited the greater blessings of his father Jacob, was God-fearing from his early youth. Moses, although a meek man, was valiant in the defense of right, and when only a young man was chosen, first, as the deliverer, and afterwards, the law-giver of Israel. Joshua, a young man, was named as the choice of heaven to succeed Moses in leading Israel to victory over their enemies and in bringing them to the promised land. Samuel, when a mere boy, was honored to hear the voice of God delegating him with authority to convey heaven's terrible rebuke to the High Priest, Eli, who had winked at the wickedness of his sons, who were youthful priests under him. This same Samuel became a mighty prophet and anointed Saul the first, and afterwards, David the second, king of Israel. We might quote in this connection from the Book of Mormon, and name Nephi, the younger son of Lehi, who attained to such power as to have the heavens opened to him, and many other marvelous manifestations. He was thus favored because of youthful devotion. Not Nephi only, but many others, whose history is given in this book, having consecrated their lives to God in their youth, became the honored instruments in his hands in accomplishing mighty things in behalf of God's people. Last, but not least, the favored Moroni, who had yielded a ready response to his father's counsels from his youth up, had given into his charge to complete the sacred record containing the wonderful history of the hand dealings of God with the peoples who dwelt upon this land from shortly after the time of the confusion of languages down to the four hundred and twenty-first year of the Christian era. John, the son of Zacharias, while a mere youth, was proclaiming the gospel of repentance to the people, and was God's chosen instrument to baptize the Savior of the world, who, like himself, was a young man and in his youth not only pointed out the way to

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eternal life, but organized the church, restored the fullness of the holy priesthood, healed the sick, raised the dead; and in his earlymartyrdom and resurrection, triumphed over death, hell and the grave, and thus paved the way to eternal life. Coming down to our own time, we find Joseph Smith, a lad of fourteen years, conversing with Deity and receiving afterwards other visitations from heavenly messengers; culminating in his being chosen to stand at the head of this last dispensation; and during a very brief period, while yet a youth, receiving, revealing and bestowing every key of authority and power necessary to lead us back into the presence of our Father. In the solemn charge that was given to the first Twelve,chosen in this dispensation and ordained apostles in the year 1835, they were reminded that they were "young men." (Their ages ranged from twenty-three to thirty-five years.) It was said to them because of their youth, they were capable of enduring and passing through the trying ordeals which was then predicted they would have to meet, but that they would be spared upon condition of their faithfulness. The men who have occupied in the past, and do today occupy, positions of prominence and the greatest responsibility in this Church, are those who, in the main, gave unreservedly the strength of their early life to the cause of God. We conclude: that receiving such recognition and honor is in part, at least, the reward for youthful devotion and youthful integrity. On the other hand, those who in their early 4ife have spent their time in sowing wild oats, have little, and perchance nothing else, left but regret and dishonor. Therefore, we repeat: "Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth."