--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Halls, William collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 9 number: 1 published: 1905-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'William Halls, "The Truth Shall Make You Free," *Improvement Era* 9, no. 1 (November 1905): 39–46.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0901unse 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: improvementera0901unse start_page: 39 end_page: 46 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1905-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0901unse publication_year: 1905 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 1905, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Truth Shall Make You Free THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE. BY ELDER WILLIAM HALLS. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." —John 8: 32. It is the will of the Lord that his children be free; he has given them their agency, the power to choose good or evil, with- out constraint; and made them accountable beings, that they may be justly rewarded for doing good, or punished for doing evil; but in order to be fully responsible for their acts, they must know how to act intelligently; the insane mother may kill her child; power without knowledge is dangerous. The Lord is often called Almighty, meaning he has all power. If he had all power without intelligence to use it, he might destroy his children, instead of saving them. Men must be made acquaint- ed with the law which they are required to obey; and be able to forecast, in a degree, the consequences of obeying or disobeying the law; hence, the force of the sayings of Joseph Smith, "A man ' cannot be saved in ignorance, ' ' 'The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth." Doctrine and Covenants 93: 36. It is unreasonable that the Lord would create a beautiful earth, and place his children upon it, and leave them in ignorance; we may consider the relationship children sustain to their parents as similar to our relationship to our Father in heaven. Children are continually asking questions, seeking truth from their parents; so, we sTiould ask our Father in heaven for truth. Our children are not easily put off, they are persistent; somen ought always to pray and not faint. A child that does not ask questions is considered unnatural, something is the matter with it; so, there is something wrong with men who do not pray, they are without natural affec- 40 IMPROVEMENT ERA. tion. It is as natural for men to pray as it is for children to ask questions. Jesus said: 'If ye, being evil, give good gifts to your children, how much more so will your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God." We should be like children in very deed, and feeland act toward our Father in heaven as children feel and act towards their parents; it matters little if the mother smile or frown, the child clings to her, he has no other dependence, he knows no other way, he has no idols. We should feel with Job: "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. We have abundant evidence in ' ' the sacred scriptures, which, through the grace of God, have come to us for our encouragement, profit and learning, that those who sought the Lord and were guided by the truth from heaven were free, while those who rejected the truth were brought into bondage and suffered for their disobedience. After Adam was driven from Eden, the Lord did not forsake him and leave him in ignorance; he taught him by his own voice, by the ministry of angels and by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit. He revealed to him a knowledge of the coming of Christ to make an atonement for sin, and to redeem men from death, and of the principles of faith, repentance, baptism by water and the spirit, and the principle of sacrifice; and that he should do all things in the name of Jesus Christ, "the only begotten of the Father which is full of grace and truth." Adam taught all these things to his children; many believed, and many believed not, and the people be- came divided. Those who believed, called upon God, and received a knowledge of the truth, were one people united, and enjoyed -continual free- dom and peace, until, on account of the wickedness of the unbe- lievers, the Lord took them away without tasting death; those who disbelieved and would not call upon God and receive a knowledge of the truth, scattered abroad and became divided into hostile peoples. woe and bloodshed followed, until, in the days of Strife, Noah, they had become so wicked that the Lord destroyed them all by the flood. Noah, through knowing the truth, and through obedience to it, was made free from destruction. The Lord, speaking to Enoch about those who should be cut off by the flood, said: "A prison have I prepared for them," where they should be in bondage ' ' THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE. 41 and torment until after the coming of Christ, when they should be visited. We read that Christ, ' 'being put to death in the flesh, ' went in the spirit and preached to those who were ' 'disobedient in ' the days of Noah. One might suppose that, having suflfered for their disobedi- ence, they might receive the Gospel, and, through the atonement of Christ, come forth in the resurrection and receive the same glory as Noah; but this is a mistake. Noah, having received the priest- hood and the fulness of the Gospel in the flesh, is entitled to the celestial glory, while those who rejected the Gospel in the flesh, forfeited their birthright, and will come up in the terrestrial glory where bounds are set, and certain limitations, by which they can- not pass. If by suffering a few thousand years, men might over- come the effects of rejecting the truth in the flesh, considered in the light of eternity, it would be a light matter, but it is a fearful thing -to reject a prophet with a message from heaven, and the effects are eternal. A remarkable instance of the power of truth to save is given in the case of the Israelites in Egypt, when, by accepting the truth as revealed by the Lord through Moses, concerning the destruction of the firstborn, and sprinkling their doorposts with the blood of a lamb, as they were commanded, all their firstborn were saved, while the firstborn of all the Egyptians, who were ignorant of this truth, were slain. At the time of the coming of Christ, the Jews had been destitute of revelation from God for about four hundred years, the prophets and seers were covered, and, though they had the scriptures that told of the coming of Christ, and they were looking for a Messiah to come, when he came they knew him not, rejected him, crucified him, saying, ' 'Let his blood be on us and on our children. ' ' How terribly that prayer has been answered the past history and the present condition of the Jews may tell. John the Baptist knew the Messiah by a sign from heaven, and when he saw the spirit descending upon him, cried: "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. ' ' When Peter, an- swering the Lord's question, said: "thou art the Christ, the son ' of the living God, ' Jesus answered, ' 'flesh and blood hath not re- vealed this unto thee, but my Father which art in heaven; upon this rock [this principle of revelation] I will build my church. ' ' Very 42 IMPROVEMENT ERA. few received the testimony of Jesus in that generation, and after the [apostles and prophets were martyred, being without inspired leaders, the Church soon dwindled in darkness and apostasy. Pass- ing down through the centuries of spiritual darkness to the begin- ning of the nineteenth century, when Joseph Smith was called of God to open a new dispensation, we find Christianity in a most de- plorable condition. Instead of one church, united in faith and worship, receiving light and truth by continuous revelation from heaven, enjoying the gifts of prophecy and other spiritual mani- festations of God's approval, we find many sects more or less an- tagonistic, having received no additional light and truth from heaven since that given in the first century. Instead of having made advancement, compared with the condition of the church in the first century, they had actually lost all the spiritual gifts which the primitive Saints enjoyed. In the scientific world, we find the scientist willing and eager to receive all truth that could be deduced from nature, but had no faith that any truth might be received by revelation from heaven. The grim spectre of skepticism stood sentinel at the portal, and was the presiding genius in the council of science, and everything suspected of a taint of inspiration was rejected. In the domain of philosophy, we find the whole system im- pregnated by a vascillating agnosticism. What is received as truth today, may be rejected tomorrow as doubtful. But however much they diifer in their interpretation of natural phenomena, the mani- fest forces of the physical universe, they agree that nothing can be received by mortal man by revelation from heaven. Thus, all men, religious, scientific, and philosophic, have cut themselves off from communication with God. We find many prophecies in the scriptures concerning the sec- ond coming of Christ; as he sent his messenger to prepare his way before his first coming, so we are led to believe he will do before his second coming. In the third chapter of Malachi we read ' 'Be- hold, • I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way be- fore me;" the context of this passage shows that this means his second coming. In the fourth chapter, we read of the day coming when the proud and those who do wickedly shall be burned; and in the last two verses we read: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the ' ' THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE. 45 prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite ' the earth with a curse. The question is, to whom shall Elijah come; to which of the churches? He can not come to them all; if he should come to the Catholic church, all the others would reject the message; if he should come to the Methodist church, and they should announce to the world that they had received a mission from heaven, the Presbyter- ians, Baptists, and all ether churches, would denounce the Methodist church. Every person in the land would be keyed up to a fighting pitch; the nation would be aroused; every senator and member of the house of Congress, who belonged to the Methodist church would have to renounce the Elijah heresy, or be unseated; Meth- odist meetings would be disturbed; their ministers mobbed, and in- stead of the "Menace of 'Mormonism', " it would be the "Menace of ' Methodism. But there is no danger of such a thing happening to the Methodist, or any other church, since all would reject a prophet with a message from heaven. There is just one exception, namely, the "Mormon" Church, whose members "Believe all that God has re- vealed, all that he does now reveal, and we believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God." — 9th Article of faith. Here seems to be an opening for him. Accordingly, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery solemnly de- clare that on the third of April, 1836, the prophet Elijah appeared to them, in the Temple at Kirtland, in fulfilment of the prophecy of Malachi, and committed to them the keys of Priesthood, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, including the work of redemption for the dead. That the Saints believe this is true, is proved by the mil- lions of dollars spent in building temples, and in work being done in these temples, in behalf of the dead, and the living. Other prophecies are to be fulfilled before his coming. The Lord said, through the prophet Joel, "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men and your young men see visions. ' shall dream dreams, ' Isaiah says,. 44 IMPROVEMENT ERA. "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea." To fulfill these prophecies, it is evident the Lord must employ- some other agencies than the so-called Christian churches. He must have a Church that believes in visions and prophecy, on whom he can pour out his Spirit. Jesus promised the members of his Church the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, he said to them, "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth;" "he will take of the things of the Father and reveal them unto you." If the members of the Church of Christ are to have the Spirit that guides them into all truth, it will not be necessary for them to go outside the Church for any truth. A religion that comes from heaven is a perfect system, and contains all truth. The terms religious truth, scientific truth, etc., are erroneous and mislead- ing. Truth can not be segregated; it is all related, and agrees with itself. Light cleaveth to light, truth receiveth truth. The talk of a conflict between religious truth and scientific truth is nonsense. Though the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the religion revealed from heaven, is a perfect system, and contains all gospel truth, the members of the Church cannot receive all truth in a few years, any more than a child can receive enough knowledge to last him through youth and manhood to old age. But the Lord has promised to give his children "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little." As the members multiply, and the Church grows, and conditions change, the Lord will provide means to meet the needs of these conditions; and the member will not have to go outside of the Church for anything, spiritual or temporal. All the lay members being in possession of the Spirit of truth, as well as the ofiicers and leaders, a^ the Church spreads, so will light and truth spread, till the earth is full of the knowledge of God. A man of affairs, in the business world today, who is a mem- ber of an orthodox church, feels the lack of his religion to meet his wants in full; the positive concerns of the real present press on him much harder than the negative concerns of a possible future. To meet these wants, he joins a social club, a secret or fraternal order, or a union of some kind, to eke out his religion. Frequent- ly he finds his attention so absorbed, his time and means so occu- ' THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE. 45 pied, in these orders, that he neglects his duties in the church, and, finally, drifts away entirely. You visit the rooms and lodges of these orders, and you find them crowded with live, active men, earnestly striving to promote their material interests, which these churches do not recognize. Visit the churches, and, in too many cases, you find in attendance a few ladies, with, perchance, a very few superanuated old gentle- men, bowing their heads in listless reverence, while the good pastor drawls out a moral homily based on some Bible story, and containing no more inspiration than a recital from "Gulliver's Travels. " It is significant that a few of the ministers are waking up, and becoming conscious that the churches are losing ground, that they are inadequate to the needs of a growing age, and are casting about for a little new wine to put into the old bottles, or a strip of new cloth to splice out the old garment, even if they have to filch a little from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, being willing to pluck the fruit while they curse the tree. We testify in all soberness that Joseph Smith was called of God, a prophet, seer and revelator, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is of God, organized to fulfill the pre- dictions of the prophets, to prepare a people to meet the Bride- groom whose coming is drawing near, and we exhort all men to repent, call upon God, in humble prayer, and ask him in the name of Jesus Christ if these things are true. The promise of Jesus shall be verified in your behalf, ' 'Ye shall know the truth, and the ' truth shall make you free. Mancos. Colo. — A TRIP TO NAUVOO. BY ELDER G. A. GAMBLE. [At the general conference, President German E. Ellsworth, of the Northern States Mission, in giving his report of the condition of his mission, referred to a recent meeting held in Nauvoo, at the invitation of friends of the Latter-day Saints residing there. He gave a remarkable testimony of the manifestation of the spirit of God among the people in that district, who, he said, treated the elders very kindly. Elder Thomas Hull is in receipt of a letter, which he has handed to the editors of the Era, from Sister Mary E. Gamble, of Eirksville, Missouri, who was present at the stated meeting. She says, under date of October 8: "We had the great- est pleasure of our lives when we were privileged last week to attend the Hlinois conference which convened at Nauvoo, September 30. It was an inspiring occa- sion. We viewed many of the houses that were once occupied by the Saints, and held a fast meeting in the Riverside Mansion, the old Nauvoo House spoken of in the Doctrine and Covenants, in which to entertain strangers, etc. The spirit of the Lord was felt by everyone present, and many were moved to tears. The place seemed almost holy to me. On the wall was a picture of the prophet, and one of his mother. The people of Nauvoo were very kind to us, and said they would like the Saints to come back and live there. One man offered to deed them a pretty piece of ground if they would build a meetinghouse on it. We stood in front of the Prophet Joseph's old residence and had a picture taken, and then sang, 'Praise to the Man Who Communed With Jehovah.' I tell you we made it ring ! There were about sixty elders present at the conference, and several Saints from other places." We take pleasure in presenting to the readers of the Era a description of the