A “Mormon’s” Creed

A "MORMON'S" CREED. BY A. B. CHRISTENSEN, ST. GEORGE, UTAH. I live to learn, and love the good: To speak the truth in every mood, To see and know and understand The plan of God, however grand. To do his will, to sense his power, To feel his presence every hour. To seek for virtue, grace and light. To walk in paths that seeraeth right. To bless and comfort those who weep. And all my days in honor keep. To seek to be and know I am A brother of the lowly Lamb. To look upon this fretful life, This "vale of tears," this "spell of strife," As in the "great eternal plan," The gift of God, the boon of man. To believe the truth that all are free To choose their life and what they'll be; To trust and work from day to day. And see through faith the better way; To walk therein, to be a guide That others may not go aside. To iind in every one a grace. And see within each care-worn face A gem of truth, a ray of light, A soul contending for the right, A child of God, where'er he be. Who some day shall be blithe and free;

438 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Who in the realms of yonder sky, Amidst eternal worlds shall hie, And there in joy and bliss endure Throughout all ages hale and pure; And step by step his conquests ply, A pupil of the Gods on high. And when the schools of heaven are past, Become a God and peer at last. Enthroned and glorified with Him Who came to earth to conquer sin, And rose through sorrow, pain and woe, A life unstained the world to show. To feel that life, where'er I scan, In all its range from mote to man, Is nature's child, and e'er will be The companion of her destiny; That, though the sun may cease to glow. As times immortal ebb and flow, Record on God's celestial spheres Her millions of eternal years. Yet, that the life I here behold Will still live on and e'er unfold, Develop as the ages go. And its Creator's wisdom show; Reveal the One whose thought divine Hath called it forth to ever shine In pristine splendor, love and glee. In universal symphony. To feel that aught is ne'er in vain, That disappointment, death and pain, That all the ills I ever know, Are given me, not as a foe, But as a blessing in disguise. To train my soul to strive and rise. To give me pleasure (though it may seem This thought is but an idle dream), To show me what no other could— That man and God and life are good.

A MORMON'S GREED. 439 To toil along in virtue's way, And learn the lessons of each day. To live a humble life, and true. And envy none who nobler do. To seek all truth in human life. And shun its dross, reproach and strife; To study history's varied page. And find the good in saint and sage; To censure not, in friend or foe. The wrongs for which I cannot know The motives that impelled the deed. The soil in which was sown the seed. To find the best that man has thought, In every age, or writ, or wrought, Comes down a heritage to me. To give me power and light to see; To teach me that in every art. In every soul or human heart, Are sown the seeds of purity; Are lessons that will make me free To feel that all the world is one, That God is Father, I am son; That man is brother, sister dear. Regardless of their time or sphere. That all the beauty I behold In man and nature, quick or cold, In child or plant or clod or stone, Refiects a light that is my own; A light that in my soul will live, And warmth and peace and blessing give, If I continue e'er to do The best I know, and better too. Through faith and love and charity To make my brother also free. To live 'mid scenes that God has blessed, To seek their truth, their charm, their rest. To let the light of heaven shine Upon my soul in rays divine. To find within each blade and flower,— Each tree and shrub and thankful shower,

440 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Each breeze that blows, each bird that sings, Each sound that through the forest rings, Each^beam of light that cheers the eye, Each brook that babbles calmly by, Each sparkling rill or ocean tide. The clouds that through the heavens ride. Each little nook, secluded spot, Where Nature's charms, in beauty wrought, Send.forth in clearest accents free,— A joyous thought that comforts me. To know that all I see or hear. In every round of month and year,— In spring, or fall, or summer grand. In winter cold, on sea or land,— Is full of sacred, happy lays That ever whisper love and praise. For, all the earth, in every trend, Where seas and vales and hills extend. Reveals a glory far and nigh That bids me pause and look on high; And feel that all the heavens above Bear tokens of my Father's love; That space and time, and systems bold. That stars and suns and worlds untold, Where streams of light and heat disperse. Throughout the glorious universe. Are all his thought, his work, his plan. The destined home of Gods and man;— And I, today a humble child. If faithful, though on earth reviled, Shall leave the wreck of mortal years. Of sorrow, sin and earthly fears. And rise triumphantly to be His son, through all eternity.