Obey Counsel

"OBEY COUNSEL." A REPLY TO FREDERICK M. SMITH, OF THE "REORGANIZED" CHURCH. BY JOSEPH F. SMITH, JR. In the Saints' Herald of January 3, 1906, there appears, on pages four to seven, an article entitled, ' 'Obey Counsel, ' ' over the signature of Frederick M. Smith, first counselor in the presidency of the "Reorganized" church. This article, which is copied from a sheet notorious for its unwarranted opposition and abuse of the "Mormon" people and their faith, contains a number of extracts from sermons delivered by prominent elders of the Church, in which strong expressions, in regard to obedience to divine authority, occur. The signer of the article manifests considerable bitterness and ill-will towards the Church, and especially its leaders, in his futile effort to condemn them for their belief in . "living oracles, ' ' or, as he contemptuously expresses it ' 'shining lights in its priesthood," The signer of the above mentioned article came to Utah several months ago, it is said, on invitation from the enemies of the Church, with the understanding that the Church was in the throes of an internal struggle, and was about to break asunder. Like the vulture impatiently watching for its prey, he waited and hoped for the division he had been led to expect was soon to come; but to his chagrin the stern reality dawned upon his mind that the "Mormon" people never had been more united, nor firmer in their faith, and never had manifested more confidence in their leaders than he found at this time. Having learned this lesson, he began to wail and gnash his teeth in frantic disappoint-

"OBEY COUNSEL." 329 ment. Filled with jealousy and rage, he must have revenge, and in the bitterness of his soul, he sought the association of the meanest enemies of the Church. In their hands he became a pliable tool, and has since devoted his time to the abuse of the Church, which course has led him into difficulties which will eventually provo to his own hurt and shame. In this frame of mind, the extracts from the sermons of the elders of the Church have been given to the world in the hope of prejudicing the people of the United States against the Latterday Saints, in general, and Senator Reed Smoot in particular. The strongest, most positive utterances of the authorities of the Church regarding the obedience to counsel, have been culled by him, and in the strongest language he could employ, and in the most positive manner, they have been condemned. Yet, I maintain that nothing quoted by this disgruntled, disappointed person, is more horrible, "absolute," "shocking, ' ' or teaches the ' 'submergence of individuality and intelligence in an abject obedience to those holding the priesthood who may occupy positions which are considered as high ones, "than can be found in the utterances of this self-righteous reformer and selfappointed critic. In proof of my position, and to show that the positive stand taken by him in relation' to the belief of the Latter-day Saints is insincere, I will here submit some of the extracts from the remarks of the authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which are quoted by Mr. Smith, and compare them with cullings from the "official" expressions of that same gentleman, in relation to "blind obedience," or "unquestioning obedience to the priesthood," as he taught that doctrine to his people. Let the reader judge whether Mr. Frederick M. Smith has not been insincere in his bitter arraignment of the "Mormon" people, and has unmercifully condemned them for that which he himself has taught. From a sermon by President Heber C. Kimball, which is one of the strongest, he quotes: In regard to our situation and circumstances in these valleys, brethren, WAKE UP! WAKE UP, YE ELDERS OF ISRAEL, AND LIVE TO GOD and none else; and learn to do as you are told, both old and young; learn to do aa you are told for the future. And when you are taking a position, if you do not

330 IMPROVEMENT ERA. know that you are right, do not take it — I mean independently. But if you are told by your leaders to do a thing, do it. None of your business whether it is right or wrong. * * * Brother Brigham is my leader; he is my prophet, my seer, and my revelator, and whatever he says, that is for me to do; and it is not for me to question him one word, nor to question God a minute. Do you not see? * * * You and I want to live our religion and do as we are told, not questioning a word for a moment. You have got to stop that. It is enough for others to do that, without our meddling with those things. — J. of D., vol. 6 : 32, 33. Again from the same speaker: I will ask you the question, gentlemen and ladies : Can you live your religion except you do as you are told? I have said, again and again, that if we live our religion, and do as we are told, these men [Johnston's army] will never come over those mountains, for we shall slay the poor devils before they get there. I do not know of any religion except doing as I am told ; and if you do, you ' have learned something that I have never learned. You have a Governor here to dictate you and to tell you what to do ; and if we will live our religion we are always safe, are we not? — J. of D., vol. 5: 162-163. This from President Young, although I take the liberty to quote a little more than is given by our friend: While I am here, I am in the midst of the priesthood of heaven, and in the center of the kingdom of God. We are before the Lord, where every hand I shake is the hand of a saint, and every face I see, when I look upon the assembled thousands is the countenance of a saint. I am the controller and master of affairs here, under heaven's direction; though there are those who do not believe this.— J. of D., vol. 1:48. This from Elder C. W. Penrose: In a nutshell, the philosophy of the ' 'Mormon' ' religion consists in obeying the commandments and living up to the revelations of God as revealed to his chosen servants on earth in this last dispensation of the fulness of times. I have chosen these extracts because they appear to me to be the strongest quoted by the authors of the article in the Saints^ Herald on the subject mentioned. I shall not stop now to enter into the reason for such remarks, the condition prevailing that called them forth; but shall proceed to give a number of extracts from a sermon delivered by Frederick M. Smith, January 25, 1903, in Lamoni, Iowa, and published in the Saints' Herald, the official organ of his church, as they were reported by Mr. Leon Gould, now the assistant editor of that sheet: There is one thought that I wish to draw from the three stories [Abraham's

"OBEY COUNSEL." 331 sacrifice and Naaman' 3 leprosy], and if I can get that one thing, or one' lesson, before you, I shall be satisfied ; and that is the lesson of obedience, obedience, which is the result of absolute faith or confidence in God. * * « Qod places a high estimate on obedience, that is, faithful obedience, obedience that comes from the heart, or that is impelled , by faith, and not simply by this intelligent compliance that we have sometimes heard of. — Saints' Herald, vol. 50, page 127. Now the point I wish to call attention to is that when the Lord has commissioned a certain person to do a certain work, so long as that person is in discharge of that work, his voice should be obeyed, when it is given in his name, as though it was from the Deity himself. Mind you, I say that so long as he is in the office of his calling, that person in discharge of that work should receive the same implicit obedience, by those who are presumed to obey, as though the Deity himself were speaking. — Saints' Herald, vol. 50, page 128. Talk about obeying 'living oracles:" No, he [Abraham] went with blind faith and blind obedience, and fulfilled that command to the very letter, so far as all practical purposes are concerned. And that is why, to pie, it seems that this is one of the most striking examples of obedience. * * * And I am of the opinion that only in so far as we manifest obedience similar to this, will we be profited or benefited in our religious life. It seems to me that this faith that shall impel always to obedience is the one chief principle that shall finally win for us eternal glory and bliss. —^ain^/ /ferald, vol. 50, page 128. Did you ever sing the song ; Am I a soldier of the cross, A follower of the Lamb? And then did you ever sing : Let us then be valiant soldiers In the army of the Lord? Did you ever think what that meant when you were singing it? What does it mean to be a soldier? Let us look at the army for one brief moment. We see an army commanded by one man who 'represents a countrv, a principle, a power. Under him we have other men, such as generals, major-generals, colonels and a number of ofiScers that I could not now enumerate. * * The main body of the army are the privates, of course. "Let us then be valiant soldiers in the army of the Lord-" What does it mean? Does it mean that when we receive a command we should say: "I do not know whether or not to obey that command. ^ It does not appeal to my intelligence; that man did not know what he was talking about." Is it the right of the soldier to rebel and say: "I will not do that, because I know that the consequence will be bad?" No; he simply goes ahead and does it; and in doing what is the mistake of another man he wins glory. But if he rebelled it would cost him his life- that is if he persists in that rebellion. He

332 IMPROVEMENT ERA. has no right to say: "I do not feel that I can comply with that command, because it does not appeal to me." — Saints' Herald, vol. 50, page 129. I believe the Lord knew what he was talking about when in the Doctrine and Covenants he made this statement in what is called the "Fishing River Revelation, ' ' given in 1834. Here follows a quotation from section 105, verses 2 to 6, and then the following comment: There we are told directly, and most explicitly, that we must learn obedience, even if by suffering. And now why not prepare to place ourselves in the line of obedience strictly, or must the Lord again chasten us until we shall be forced into line of obdience. — Saints' Herald, vol. 50, page 129. You have been called upon within the past few months to do a little more in a financial way than possibly you ever were before. And this idea of consecration has staggered some people; it has staggered them earnestly, because they were in earnest all the way through, and they have staggered when they have received the very command for which they have been looking for years. Now why? Abraham, when he was called to sacrifice his everything — that one thing, it seems to me, in which his whole being might be centered, he hesitated not a moment. And yet there are some of you who will hesitate because you are asked to go into your pockets to sustain the work now. And you hesitate on the ground : ' 'Well, I do not believe that those men that are placed in charge are doing just exactly right ; .those men do not know any more than I do about those things, and I do not believe I am compelled to render obedience to them until I see it just exactly my way." Did Abraham talk like that? Is it well for you to talk like that? — Saints' Herald, vol. 50, page 129. You can talk of intelligent compliance all you please; you can talk of intelligent obedience all you please ; but there comes a time in the life of every man ; there come times in the life of everj' man when, he cannot rely one moment on his intelligence, nor on his mental force, nor on his reason. There are times in the life of every man when he must be lead absolutely by faith, blind faith; and, it is then that he renders obedience that makes him truly great in the eyes of the Redeemer.— Saints' Herald, vol. 50, page 129. "There is absolutism for you:" Now it seems to me that if Abraham could sacrifice his all, could sacrifice his son, the one that had been promised unto him, and step strictly into line of duty, though he saw no reason why that would not destroy all the promises that were made unto him. I see no reason why, by patterning after this, we cannot step quickly and positively into line of duty under present calls, and say we will trust him still, trust him as a child trusts a father. — Saints' Herald, vol. 50, page 130. 0 consistency! What a change! I fear this high altitude has sorelyaffected your head, my dear Frederick. Now let me ask you,

^ "OBEY COUNSEL." 333 which time did you speak the truth, in 1903, when you faithfully taught your people the good effects of "blind obedience, " or in 1905, when you condemn the leaders of the Church because they have done the same? Did you feel that you alone were entitled to that doctriTie, and therefore abandoned it out of jealousy, when you learned that some of the "leading lights" of the "Mormon" Church, or "living oracles, "as you term them, had also taught obedience? For a "Mormon" in Utah to obey "the commandments, and live up to the revelations of God, as revealed to his chosen servants on earth, in this the last dispensation :>f the fulness of times," is a crime unpardonable; destructive of good citizenship; treasonable; "religious fanaticism most difficult to understand;" a most "shocking" "submergence of individuality and intelligence in the abject obedience to those holding the priesthood." But the same thing taught and enjoined, in the most arbitrary manner, by the leaders of the "Reorganized" church in Iowa, is a most commendable thing; a virtue heaven-born; "the chief principle that shall finally win for us eternal glory and bliss," in the kingdom of our God. 0 Consistency! It may be difficult, for you, my friend, to understand now ' 'how men and women can be brought to such a state of religious fanaticism, that they will bow to such domination as is taught in the extracts" you have given; but it was not so difficult in January, 1903; nor would it be now, I venture to say, if you would do your own thinking and "understanding," instead of depending on an unscrupulous substitute for your thought. If it is a sin for a ' 'Mormon' ' to teach ' 'implicit obedience" in the ' 'oracles of God, ' ' why is it not a sin for Frederick M. Smith to teach his people the virtue of "blind obedience?" Have you received a special dispensation? Does the locality make the difference,— a crime in Utah, a virtue in Iowa? Or is it the association that condemns the one and condones the other? What is there more ' 'shocking' ' in the quoted remarks of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow and Joseph F. Smith, in regard to heeding -the counsel of God, as given through his servants, than can be found in the foregoing remarks from your mouth, Frederick M. Smith?

334 IMPROVEMENT ERA. The hatred of the vindictive, treacherous foes of the ' 'Mormon' ' Church, uttered through you, has led you unawares to sit in judgment on yourself. And truly, it may be said that the judgment ye meted to the authorities has been measured unto you again. Through the blinding beam in your own eye, you thought you beheld the mote in the eyes of others. If it be true that ' 'Reed Smoot, the apostle, or Reed Smoot, the senator, must be supine as a dead body, to be moved at the will of his ecclesiastical superiors, " is he not even then, equal with you and your followers as a worthy citizen? It cannot be worse for him to be under "absolute control" than it is for you. And by your faulty standard of reasoning, you and your fellows are equally unfit to hold office, or exercise the franchise of free men. In speaking of President Joseph F. Smith, you make one remark that I shall not let go unnoticed : "In a more forceful way, perhaps, ' ' you say of him, ' 'has he been teaching the doctrine of 'unquestioning obedience to the priesthood' by promptly having any man cut off from the Church who dares to call in question the words of the men who hold the priesthood, and especially when the man called in question is himself. ' ' I declare from personal knowledge of the facts that this abusive attack is a malicious falsehood uttered without reason, or possibility of proof. None but the depraved, or the reckless and malicious enemies of the Church, with sinister motives and ambitions, would entertain such thoughts. The excommunications that you and your coadjutors here refer to, were for sufficient cause, and were the acts of the legally constituted tribunals of the Church, with which Joseph F. Smith had no more to do, than the humblest member of the Church. That the members of the Church are taught "unquestioning obedience; or the submergence of individuality and intelligence to those holding the priesthood, ' ' is not true. If you know anything at all about the "Mormon" faith, Frederick M. Smith, you know that one of the cardinal doctrines of the Church is individual knowledge that would lead to perfect light and understanding, and a unity of the faith. That we should ' 'obey counsel" as members of the Church, is true; that we should heed the instructions of the authorities of the Church, whom God has placed to guide us until we all come to a unity of the faith, is true. This doctrine did

"OBEY COUNSEL." • 335 not originate with Brigham Young, or any succeeding authority of the Church, nor with the Prophet Joseph Smith, although firmly and faithfully taught by him. For proof witness your own remarks in Saints' Herald, volume 50, page 129. But this does not prove your contention true, that the individuality and intelligence of the members of the Church is "submerged" in the authorities of the Chuuch. It is absolutely true that the members of the ''Mormon" Church today are, and in the past have been, taught as strongly in the individual search for knowledge, truth and wisdom, as any other people on the face of the whole earth. It has been most strenuously taught; in fact, has been obligatory upon them as a means of their eternal salvation and exaltation in the kingdom of God. A Sunday could hardly pass when the doctrine of individual effort and research for knowledge and advancement in the arts and sciences, as well as in the doctrines of the Church, is not taught from the pulpits of the C>iurch. There is not a faithful Latter-day Saint living but knows that his own salvation and exaltation in the kingdom of God depends on his own intelligence. The smallest child in the Sunday School is taught that "individual" knowledge is power; that "it is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance;" that "the glory of God is intelligence." So thoroughly are the "Mormon" people taught this doctrine that their whole beings are imbued with it, it is a part of their very existence. These mottoes hang on their walls in their homes, and their places of worship, and are constantly stamped on their hearts and lives. It is through this great and glorious truth that they have been granted, by divine favor, that implicit faith and confidence in their leaders, such as was manifested by Abraham and the ancient Saints, a thing which you once could see and recommend. In conclusion, I shall quote from a discourse delivered by President Joseph F. Smith, Sunday, April 2, 1877. He said: We should not be satisfied with the testimony alone of our brethren. * * Is it not necessary for all to be capable of judging as to whether the testimonies of these men are of God or man? How can we know that what they testify of is true? How can we know that they bear witness of the Almighty, or that they •possess the holy priesthood authorizing them to minister in the ordinances of the Gospel? I answer, only by and through the inspiration of that Holy Spirit which is given to all who diligently seek and obtain it according to the promise.