Was It Predisposition or Acquirement?

WAS IT PREDISPOSITION OR ACQUIRE- MENT? TWO VIEWS OF LIFE— LETTER TO A FRIEND. [Two young men, who were companions in youth, have taken op- posite paths in matters of religion: one is a successful business man and atheist; the other, the writer, a respected president of one of the stakes of Zion, who finds his joy in his family and faith. They correspond, and the Era has come into possession of the following sensible remarks by the latter, in a letter to his friend. We could wish that ev.ery young man, in the Church and out, would read it,and learn wisdom from its counsels. — Editors.] Dear Friend : — Your letter of was received in due course of mail. Since then, I have been very busily occupied, and tonight is my first chance to consider it. I am pleased to see the apparent frankness with which you meet the questions that have arisen in your mind, and I cannot help thinking that, after all, at one time there may not have been a very great difference in our positions. I think that our early training and habits had a great deal to do with our characters. In our parental training, we were equal, both having moral, upright parents whose great hopes were to see us worthy sons and honorable men. Our boyish weaknesses were the same, as we were in very intimate companionship. The only difference I know of, outside of our fibre and the make up of our dispositions, was that you read Ingersoll with the spirit of Ingersoll, and I read the Scriptures with the spirit of the Scriptures.

442 IMPROVEMENT ERA. The point of a frog in a switch is very fine and thin, but it serves to turn the heavy train on one track or the other, and whether this point was in your predestination or predisposition, whichever you may term it, or an acquirement of your own, is an open question, and I think a serious one to you. Now, friend do not do me the injustice to think that I swallowed without thought, and digested without consideration, the opinions of others until they made me. Perhaps there were moments of doubt in my mind, also, when I stood face to face with some mystery unexplainable to immature minds; but, at this point, I think I again see the difference between us. Unable to grasp some proposition of theology only partially explained, I chose to lean on the judgment and testimony of men and women to whose word you or any 'serious man would give weight on a practical proposition, while you chose to follow the doubter, and, in your independence of thought, demanded absolute demonstration. There could be- but one result, provided we were both persistent. On perplexing questions, the borrowed light soon gave way to knowledge of my own, and I demonstrated the truth of the prom- ises and statements of my honored advisers. The mysteries are not all fully explained yet, but trusting and sure, as one who has often sought and always found, I await their illumination when I am prepared to receive it. Have you received more than this? Has the doubter ever taught you anything but to disbelieve? I may be wrong in believing that he who has been schooled by skeptics is disqualified for passing on spiritual matters. He would be barred as the juror who has given an opinion, and only in the case of a spiritual awakening could he appreciate the beau- ties of religion. It is one of the conditions of religion plainly laid down that God's secrets are not to be understood by the wis- dom of men; they are made known by the Spirit of the Originator, to the mind that is prepared for them. This appears as reason- able to me as that one cannot understand botany by the rules of algebra. You may say that that system to which the rules of reason do not apply, and which will not bear intelligent scrutiny, is not worthy of consideration, and I grant you that, providing we may

WAS IT PREDISPOSITION OR ACQUIREMENT? 443 agree as to what is true reason and right intelligence, if I may use such terms. These faculties in man are as varied as are their minds, and who shall set the standard? Shall science set it up, when boasted science itself is changing its dogmas and principles almost hourly. For a correct solution, I would not follow such uncertain guides, clashing and conflicting; and, until scientists can agree and wise men see eye to eye, I would prefer the simple unembellished direction of one wiser than all: "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God." You do an injustice to my 'sense when you say that, had I been born under any other system, I would have been just as de- voted and true to that belief. You are supposed to be an impartial judge as between relig- ious systems; say now, if you were called to choose today a belief from among them all. if you would not choose the plan of salva- tion as again revealed to Joseph Smith, in preference to any other? It may be insufficient in your mind, but in comparison, is it not immeasureably in advance? Would you exchange the doctrine of merit for that injustice that would consign your child to hell and the murderer to heaven? Would you exchange the conception of a Deity of perfected human attributes, with powers, passions and sympathies, for the nonentity of the world? Is there not in your soul an ambition that says, I may continue to grow in intelligence, and, conditions being equal, no man shall rise above me? Would you exchange the doctrine of eternal progress, based on eternal justice and ef- fort, for the creed that would sweep you at once into an indolent bliss with others more or less deserving than youself ? Would you exchange a system that grasps the possibilities of the future with power, and provides for them here with certainty, to those beliefs which stand hesitating in the face of the most momentous questions of our lives? Would you, whose practical make-up must accept authority as necessary, exchange a system which, if anything at all, is first authoritative for those which have attached themselves to ancient promises merely, not claiming direct guidance? And last, would you accept the dead forms of the world, which have been the breed-

444 IMPROVEMENT ERA. ing grounds of unbelief, for the live, forceful, comprehensive sys- tem that provides for the growth and changes of men and nations? I would rather have the seventy-sixth section of the Doctrine and Covenants than all the amplified creeds of the world, for in it God provides for us all with a justice, beside which human judg- ment is insignificant— with a love, beside which our love is puer- ile—with mercy as deep as the foundations of that divine attri- bute! So, I thank God that I was born a Latter-day Saint, but had I not been, and made as I am, I should have wandered amid the creeds as did your father and mine, until the light had come to me. You doubt the resurrection, saying that it is unnecessary, and therefore unreasonable; and, to strengthen your position, would question the veracity of the account of the rising of the Savior to life. In the absence of disinterested witnesses to the event,you have a technical plea, but it loses its force when we stop to consider the characters of the main witnesses, the persistence of their testi- monies, and their final yielding to death in defense of their word. The doctrine, far from being fanciful, I consider consistent and reasonable. The limitation of our present happiness is not merely due to the fact that we have bodies, but that those bodies are sub- ject to disease and death. I can conceive of no organization or arrangement of functions that would be more admirably adapted for our comfort and im- provement than these same bodies relieved of their grossness. This the resurrection accomplishes, and the spirit, for a time un- housed, and powerless in certain directions, unites with the organs of its mortal experiences to a renewal of effort, and the accom- plishment of complete happiness. In this is the secret of increase and progression. Do not ask me here how the resurrection is accomplished, or you will have me venture on the unrevealed. At this point, we must of necessity rely upon the word, as you relied upon your teacher in some undemonstrated proposition of algebra. But dare we disbelieve its posibility? A few years back in the world's history, we might have been pardoned for doubting the miraculous, but some future edition of our books must class this word among the obsolete. When the impossible has been and is

WAS IT PREDISPOSITION OB ACQUIREMENT? 445 being accomplished before our eyes with dazzling frequency, we must withold our limitation on the future. With the lightning trained and harnessed, the voice transmitted, and its utterances preserved — with the very air to be our messenger, carrying one's thoughts — with substances heretofore opaque, now pierced by mortal eye — with great intellects daring the problems of planetary communication — he is bold, indeed, who shall set his seal on man's accomplishment. What, then, of the great intelligence from which all these minor ones have drawn their light ! May it not be by a law as yet unrevealed, whose introductory elements some daring genius is even now in- vestigating, that the grave and the sea shall deliver up the dead that are in them? Man may not discover it before God wills, but it is a hidden truth, as were the glories of electricity, for centuries unknown. Before these questions, we must stand respectful if not believing, for the wonders of the revealed must make us fear they may be true, even if we would prefer to doubt. You say you do not know whether the Book of Mormon is true or not, but you cannot class it as a novel. This admission has hope in it, and it speaks well for your honesty. Measured by our standards of literature, it may be crude in composition and faulty in style, and these barriers, in the way of a critical reader, must be overcome by a strong desire, or else its perusal will not be unbiased. For that reason, among others, it must be studied gravely and humbly. The promise is given that he who reads it with a prayerful heart shall have a testimony of its truth. I am convinced that a few more years will see its vindication by the dis- coveries of men; till then, I will wait patiently. Then those men who in soberness before God, testified of its divine origin, main- taining that testimony through all the changes of their lives, will be acquitted of fraud, and we will give them the right which the courts of the land would now give in any other case — that of being believed in honest, straight, corroborative testimony. The evidence of these men must be the opening consideration in dealing with this book. That a man should maintain, during apostasy, his testimony of its truth, is remarkable; for to the man intent on an excuse, there could be many in this case: — deceit, hallucination, intimida- tion— any one of these would have served, and the man would have

446 IMPROVEMENT ERA. been hailed by an anxious world as a spiritual or moral martyr. But no, though Joseph to him were fallen, and the church estray; though he stood aloof in bitterness, the manhood within him was true, and he endured, the unperjured witness of a great truth. If this man, lacking the deeper qualities of faithfulness to his brethren, is a valuable witness, are not those also who were true, not only to their word, but to the faith which that word had inspired, are they not also valuable? In this matter, God has left the world without excuse, and reasonable men must enter upon this question with a deeper responsibility than has ever accom- panied any other great question in the world's history, except the mission of the Savior. And now, this other matter * * * of the actions of men and their effect on you. I wish this had never been mentioned by you, as I have seen so many weak minds troubled over this that I did not think it worthy of your stronger sense. I have come to think that this objection is wholly illegitimate, in a discussion of the principles of the gospel. If we were presenting men for in- spection, who as a product of the gospel were supposed to be per- fect, and in their lives the flaws you mention appeared, then might you doubt the efficacy of its principles. In the Church are many classes of men; — and these include the one who is attached to it for family and financial reasons, the one whose small attempts at church work are merely the short intervals in his life; the one who professes and preaches and exercises the functions of the priest- hood, while many of his daily actions are a standing contradiction to his word, — and of such as these are the men you mention. Thev are a reproach to the Church against whose principles they stand in opposition. Now here are these characters, who, if we have the prerogative to judge, stand in need of vari- ous degrees of punishment. Will you suggest what shall be done with them? Shall we cast them out unconvicted of overt act against the law? If their lives are open and notorious violations of right, we should not hesitate to apply the ax, but for minor offenses against individuals, who shall say where the judgment would come, and whose door would not be visited? The system of the church government provides for an adjustment of all these wrongs, great and small, and this recourse is at the call of the

WAS IT PREDISPOSITION OR ACQUIREMENT? 447 offended one; but, rather than hew to the line always, ought we not to endure, hoping that time and the precepts and examples of bet- ter men shall work a change? The hypocritical preacher is con- demned by his own words, and that will be the worst condemna- tion of all, for he sins against a better knowledge. Let us turn to those in whom the gospel has wrought its perfect work, and find men who, though having weaknesses, are fighting the battles of brave, honest lives — men whose words are emphasized by their acts. The exemplars of their own words, they reflect the light of the truths that made them. Have you not seen them? Do you not know them? These, then, should be your reference, when judging the fruits of the gospel, instead of those whose standing is by the mercy and forbearance of others, and not through their own merits. My character, so laboriously built in the light of truth, I may destroy in a moment of weakness, but let no man turn to my religion with an accusation; for, in shame, will I con- fess that not my faith but my folly has unmade me. Correct principles stand independent of men: they are eternal as truth is eternal. As men approach them more nearly in their lives, they are better men, no matter under what name they labor. Honorable men of the earth, in their good deeds, practice so much of the teachings of Christ. Though they may deny allegi- ance, yet do they aid in the general cause against evil. They battle under no flag, nor captain, perhaps, but their blows are blows for God and the right. There is a place and reward for them, commensurate with their works, in which is not included the recompense for faith in, and obedience to, divine authority, but which shall yet be beyond the greatest expectations. I see, Friend , that we have a different philosophy of life, if our immature thoughts may be called philosophy. You have pride in your success, and are getting the good out of life as you understand it, and you ascribe all this to your wise foresight and ability. I am glad that you are successful, and trust that you are happy, and that your prosperity may continue unfailing and un- diminished; but I do earnestly ask you, not to think too seriously that in unbelief you are filling the measure of your creation, or that you are tied to conditions imposed upon you by a higher

448 IMPROVEMENT ERA. power. I believe you capable of much good, and that, if to your practical knowledge and generous inclinations were added a deeper sense of your responsibility to God, you would do more, and be happier than you are at present. Our Father limits no man. He does not bind nor hold you. He is ready and willing to enlighten you with the light of faith, if you are truly anxious and willing. We work along in our weak way — you know I never had much ability at financiering — but we are nearly out of debt. Good men honor me by their confidence and trust, and I am trying to vindicate their opinion of me. I have some little influence which I hope always to use for the good of the cause which is dear to me. My children are good and well inclined; each financial sacrifice has brought more than its recom- pense; and, altogether, there is a balance due the Lord on my books. I am glad you wrote me such a long letter, and hope this has not been tiresome to you. I shall not impose my further testimony on you now, but I hope I have been sufficiently earnest to show my sincerity, and sufficiently kind to keep your regard, which I value highly. With this interchange of thought, may we both be bene- fitted. With kindest regards, Your friend,