--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Langston, George A. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 6 number: 3 published: 1903-01 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'George A. Langston, "Two Governing Forces," *Improvement Era* 6, no. 3 (January 1903): 210–215.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0603unse 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: improvementera0603unse start_page: 210 end_page: 215 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1903-01) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0603unse publication_year: 1903 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 1903, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Two Governing Forces TWO GOVERNING FORCES. BY GEORGE A. LANGSTON, OF SALT LAKE CITY. When man came on this earth, he began to be affected by two great powers. Since then, all mankind have been influenced by the operation of the same forces, Love and Hate. These two influences did not begin their existence simultaneously with the advent of man upon the earth ; they have always existed. Their beginning is as remote as eternity itself. The history of the world has been determined by the varying degrees of influence exerted by these two forces. The lives of individuals have been controlled according to which of these quali- ties predominated with them. All the truly great and good men and women have been prompted, in the general course of their lives, by the potent influence of Love—love of right, love of humanity, and, above all else, love of God and his works. The demon Hate, was disclosed in the dread deed of the fra- tricide, Cain; and again, in the bloody work of a Herod in the wholesale slaughter of infants, the brutal butchery of the babes of Bethlehem, when Herod sought the life of him who was the very embodiment of Love. The cruel tyrant Nero was a legitimate product of Hate, inflicting savage torture and death for the sheer pleasure of watching the agony and suffering of his victims. These two principles, Love and Hate, stand in exact contra- distinction to each other. Together they embody the law of opposites. They represent good and evil. The friction produced by the contact of the two in operation, displays the ceaseless struggle between right and wrong. They are the most powerful of all influences affecting mankind. Every emotion, desire or con- ception of the human heart is but a degree of one or the other of TWO GOVERNING FORCES. 211 these two qualities. In view of the immense possibilities of'their application, it is not an exaggeration to say, that the terms Love and Hate are by far the most important words in the languages of humankind. Operating upon the mind of man and of beast, the scope of their influence is as boundless as God's universe. Matter obeyed the quickening touch of Love, when Jehovah spake life to the dust of the earth. He breathed the breath of Love upon the modelled clay, and man was created, and became a living soul. Matter, thus illumined and radiant, bounded up, clothed upon with the principles of eternity. Man, in his fallen condition, is probably more susceptible to the influence of Hate than of Love ; and a casual acquaintance with the events of history, especially when considered as mere occurrences, perhaps might justify the conclusion that Hate has been a more potent factor than Love in the affairs of mankind. This is because historians have given greater space in the records to those events wherein Hate obtained to a conclusion. The student of events is confronted with mountainous volumes record- ing violence and war, and celebrating the deeds of the conquerors in history ; while the peacemaker, with praises feebly sung, is dis- missed with a sentence. An example of this is furnished by the historian Josephus, who devotes an entire book to the terrible scenes attending the siege of Jerusalem. He describes faithfully, and with awful precision, the horrors of human strife, when the "Holy City" was encompassed by the mighty armies of' Rome, and red war hovered around all her walls, with civil strife raging within. The blushing heavens reflected the red glare, and the blood of dying thousands flowed like water in her streets. Pesti- lence and famine claimed their full share, and tender mothers ate their babes for hunger. This was the hour of Hate! Hideous and bold, sullen and supreme, his sway. With grinning visage, he stalked into the very temple of God, cloven-footed; he desecrated the sacred sanctuary of Love. Thus the historian records the triumph of Hate; while of Love's greater conquest—a contemporaneous event—the greatest victory ever won, the triumph on the Cross, we have not a word. But time has revealed the greater victory of Love, vindicated the sacrifice on the Cross, and demonstrated the futility of Hate. 212 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Titus, the Roman general, subjected the Jews, and reduced Palestine to a dependency. The "promised land" was devastated and the "chosen people" ground under the heel of a foreign foe. The Lord's anointed were despised by the Pagan, and Hate was enthroned and reigned supreme. Yet Home, with all her magnifi- cence at home, and splendor abroad, with all her boundless em- pire, with her conquest and extortion, has faded and passed. Her glories are now but memories, her struggles and hates but hoary tradition. The structure of Hate has crumbled and fallen. How different with the victory of Love, as wrought out on Calvary! How enduring the fruits of her conquest! Each suc- ceeding generation has celebrated the triumph. Jesus brought the message of Love into the world. He taught it as the basic prin- ciple of salvation, its effects as eternal. He proclaimed Love as the foundation principle on which rested the government of God, the very philosophy of eternal life. The influence of these teachings has widened with each suc- ceeding generation, until now the whole civilized world is called Christian. Passing millions reverence the. name of Jesus of Naza- reth, and ten thousand temples bear his name in vindication of the sacrifice he made, in vindication of a victory, every detail of which demonstrates the folly and emptiness of Hate. The crucifixion of Christ, the ignominious death on the Cross, has been urged by objectors as an argument against the divinity of his mission in the world. Unable to conceive of divine truth and commandment being reflected through the life of one who was the humblest of all beings, they reject the message which he bore. Jesus, they argue, in becoming a victim to popular prejudice and human Hate, even to death, merely went the road of all things human, and could not within himself have been a revelation of God. For God, say they, if there is such a being, must be all powerful to the human conception, else he were not God ; and anv revelation of his word or will to mankind must be accompanied with infinite power and force, irresistible to all human agency; hence, the tragedy of the Cross could never have been enacted. They further argue that to make Jesus a divinely sent Savior, is also to make his agonizing death at the hands of an infuriated TWO GOVERNING FORCES. 213 populace, a triumph of the finite over the infinite, a triumph of man over God, which thing is impossible. This process of reasoning is erroneous, and comes from a wrong conception of Deity. It assigns to him the same disposition in the premises as might be expected from man. The argument, intending as it does to be an exposition of the divine nature, is in fact an exact reflection of human nature ; for this is entirely human, this is a truth as old as the world, power in possession of mankind is invariably accompanied by its abuse, by compulsion. It does not follow that because God is all powerful, he cannot be patient and gentle ; because he has all knowledge, he must force it unappreciated upon the human mind. This abhorrent idea leaves man a being entirely without agency, rushing forward in a set groove towards a condition in eternity which no act of his own can influence or change. Far more reasonable than this is it to believe that there is a great Author of our being who designs to bring us up as his offspring, through a school of experience which prepares us for a rightful and lawful inheritance in his kingdom, and will make us proud of our immortal lineage as children of an Eternal Father. The plainest and grandest truth yet revealed to man is that God is Love. It permeates all nature. Man sees it in the great creation. It stands out as the most prominent fact of all the universe. Man cannot avoid this truth. It is spoken in the warmth of the sun, instilling all nature with life ; and in the stars of night, twinkling light to the feet of man, while the earth rolls forward enveloped in darkness. The flowers and trees, the fields and har- vests, soft breezes and gentle rains, tell man that God is Love- Everything in all nature that contributes to the blessing and makes glad the heart of man, declares the Love of the Father for his children. When we follow this conception of the Almighty, a flood of light breaks in on the mission of Jesus. He came in the character of Love, declaring the message of peace. He did not force men into heaven, nor yet thunder forth commandments which man would be powerless to break. He came submitting himself a voluntary sacrifice for the sins of all the world, in answer to the demands of eternal justice. When his own people rejected him, and put him 214 IMPROVEMENT ERA. to death, they demonstrated, at most, that the world was unworthy of him, that men had not yet learned the mockery of Hate. He set the example of Love, boundless and unrestricted, as the only way of combatting Hate ; and the ethics of Christendom, as based on the moral teachings of the meek and lowly Nazarene, stand as a mighty testimony that his sacrifice was not in vain. The mission of Christ was to introduce to the human family a plan which would bring them a real, tangible, spiritual and physical salvation. A plan which promises physical salvation, must admit of a physical application. The principles of such a scheme must become part of the everyday life of those they are to affect. A religion for that must be one that can be lived every day. Such a religion is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It comprehends everything necessary to a full and complete salvation in all that the word implies. It is a plan of action and of ceremony combining both theory and practice, both principle and ordinance. Yet the entire plan, with precept and practice, principle and application, doctrine and organization, when simmered down, means simply Love. This is the basic principle of the entire structure ; the practice of Love as the means of driving Hate from the earth. If you would know the importance of the element of Love in this grand scheme of salvation, consider the reply of the Savior to the lawyer, as recorded in the 22nd chapter of Matthew : "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great command- ment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." These are the words of the Savior. Think of it. Every law yet revealed to guide man into the port of salvation, every prediction ever uttered by inspired prophet pertaining to the present or future destiny of man, hangs on this supreme law, this grandest privilege—"thou shalt love." How can men, who profess to believe the gospel, cherish hatred for their fellowmen? The mission of Hate is to obstruct and op- pose all righteousness. It is destructive and damning in its effects. Cast your eyes around and see who are its victims. Look in your soaial circle, among your acquaintances. Are its victims those that inspire you with confidence? Are they successful men and TWO GOVERNING FORCES. 215 women, who hate their fellows? Do you respect and support the man whom you know to be a character assassin; a backbiter and slanderer? No; it is the man who is beaming with Love and good fellowship whom you delight to sustain and honor. Even if the hater does achieve a temporary eminence, it does not bring con- tentment or happiness, because the methods leading up to his position are an insecure foundation, and a constant reminder to him of the emptiness of Hate. He would be accounted a fool, or suicide, who deliberately took into his system a poisonous, eating acid, which would surely gnaw away his vitals. Then is he not thrice a fool who poisDns his soul with the acid of Hate, and destroys the better part of man? The inspired prophet of old, looking with prophetic vision down into the future, saw a period in the history of the world when Hate would be entirely banished from the earth; when the wolf s'lould lie down with the lamb, and the calf should dwell at peace with the lion; looking through the light of inspiiation, he saw the glorious millennium of the earth, when the influence of Love would be so complete that the natural enmity even of wild beasts, could not prevail. This happy state can be brought about only by the prac- tice of the gospel of Christ; for this gospel is the message of Love, designed to gain the blessed result. This message has been re- newed to the human family. It came direct from the throne of Grace. The angel whom John saw flying through the midst of heaven with the everlasting gospel to be restored to earth, has made his flight. He delivered the glad message to the Prophet whom God raised up to receive it. This Prophet in promulgating the message, met the concentrated hatred of the world. The mes- sage was opposed by every artifice of Hate, prejudice and slander, and the mighty Prophet finally sealed his testimony with his blood. But this seeming triumph of Hate failed of its object. It did not stop the progress of God's purpose. The martyr Joseph, in fulfil- ment of the promise of Jesus, lost his life only to find it again, forever renewed in the eternal worlds. The message he received, the gospel of Christ, of Love, will go on with its work of redemp- tion, until Hate shall be bound in everlasting chains. Out of the darkness, Zion soon shall rise in her might, and stand forth in her