--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Smith, Joseph F. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 13 number: 1 published: 1909-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Joseph F. Smith, "The Time Has Come for the Latter-day Saints to Look After Their Children," *Improvement Era* 13, no. 1 (November 1909): 81–86.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1301unse 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: improvementera1301unse start_page: 81 end_page: 86 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1909-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1301unse publication_year: 1909 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 1909, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Time Has Come for the Latter-day Saints to Look After Their Children TOR'S TABLE. 81 of the facts relating to the origin of Adam's race— God alone can reveal them. Some of these facts, however, are already known, and what has been made known it is our duty to receive and re- tain. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, basing its belief on divine revelation, ancient and modem, proclaims man to be the direct and lineal offspring of Deity. God Himself is an ex- alted man, perfected, enthroned, and supreme. By His almighty power He organized the earth, and all that it contains, from spirit and element, which exist co-eternally with Himself. He formed every plant that grows, and every animal that breathes, each after its own kind, spiritually and temporally — "that which is spiritual being in the likeness of that which is temporal, and that which is temporal in the likeness of that which is spiritual." He made the tadpole and the ape, the lion and the elephant; but He did not make them in His own image, nor endow them with Godlike reason and intelligence. Nevertheless, the whole animal creation will be perfected and perpetuated in the Hereafter, each class in its "dis- tinct order or sphere," and will enjoy "eternal felicity." That fact has been made plain in this dispensation (Doctrine and Covenants, 77: 3). Man is the child of God, formed in the divine image and en- dowed with divine attributes, and even as the infant son of an earthly father and mother is capable in due time of becoming a man, so the undeveloped offspring of celestial parentage is capable, by experience through ages and asons, of evolving into a God. . Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund, First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "The Time Has Come for the Latter-day Saints to Look After Their Children." One of the leading topics discussed in the 80th semi-annual conference was the duty of parents, '[in the control, training and 82 IMPROVEMENT ERA. education of their children. President Joseph F. Smith in his opening address on Sunday morning (Oct. 3) devoted most of his time to this important and timely topic; first bearing an earn- est testimony to the fact God has spoken from the heavens, in our day, and has revealed to man the true way to life everlasting. "This is a truth that cannot be denied intelligently," he said. Men may doubt, reject, deny, disbelieve, fight and array them- selves against the truth that God and his Son revealed themselves to the Prophet Joseph Smith, and gave him commandments and their law, their gospel, and their plan of temporal and spiritual salvation, and their plan of life eternal; but still the truth that God and his son did so reveal themselves remains unshaken and undisputed. He testified that he accepted the truth that God and his Son Jesus Christ live, and that Joseph Smith was raised up by them to lay the foundations of this work; and declared that his all, his whole hope of life is staked upon these truths. He believed them and accepted them with all his soul. As fathers and mothers in Israel, the overpowering desire should prevail in every heart over all other desires, to serve God and keep his commandments, so that we may bring up our children in the way they should go— that they may not only believe, but know, through obedience to the truth, that God has spoken from the heavens, and so learn to love the truth and walk in the way of righteousness. Having accepted the truth, he rightly considered it natural that we should very earnestly de- sire that our associates, kindred and children should learn to know the truth as we know it. Then he continued: "I want to take that course in my life that at least I can be counted free from the responsibility of any of those associated with me in life going astray, falling by the way, turning from the light into the darkness, denying the truth or falling into trans- gression, or wandering from the right path. I have a fervent prayer in my soul, an earnest desire, that when I shall be called to give my last account to the Judge of the quick and the dead, I may not be chargeable for the misdeeds of my children, for the wandering away from the truth, or falling into transgression, if they should do so, of any of my family. I do not want to be charged with it: I want to be free from this possibility. Next to EDITOR'S TABLE. 88 them, I want my associates in life, my friends, my fellow members in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to so live that they may love God with all their hearts — for that is the greatest of all the commandments— and that they shall love their neighbor as they love themselves, as far as it is possible for men, with the help of God, to overcome their selfishness and extend their love, forgiveners, interest and charity to their fellowmen. I want to see the people of God obedient to the Lord and to the gospel, true to the faith, to their covenants, to mankind, true to one another and to the gospel of life and salvation; and in order that they may be true to these things, that they will prove it, and show forth their faith, devotion and love for the principles of the gospel by the manner in which they will rear their children and bring them up in the faith. "The Lord has blest me wonderfully. Sometimes, indeed al- most always, I feel that no man in all the world has been more blest than I have been. I cannot express the gratitude I feel to God my Father, the giver of every good and perfect gift, for the inestimable and boundless mercies and blessings he has vouch- safed to me, his humble servant. So far, through my journey of life, I have had the joy and satisfaction of knowing, as far as it is possible for me to know, that the Lord has put into the hearts of my children the love of God and the love of truth, as he has put it into my heart, and I thank the Lord for it with all my soul. "I would to the Lord that men who are fathers in Israel, all could say as much for their children; and why can't they say so much? I want to tell you one reason why a few of them, at least, cannot do it, and tell the truth. It is because they love their chil- dren with a shallow and unreasonable love. They indulge them to the utmost limit, and they carry it to such an extent that, if a child of theirs should ask them, while it was incapable of protect- ing itself, for a razor or a deadly instrument, figuratively speaking, rather than disappoint the child or deny its request, they would put into an instrument of destruction. That is what they its hand is what they are doing when they weakly and yield would do, that to their foolish whims, and you mark my words, my brethren and sisters. There may not be many, God forbid that there should be many of us, so unwisely indulgent, so thoughtless and so shallow in 84 IMPROVEMENT ERA. our affection for our children, that we dare not check them in a wayward course, in wrong-doing and in their foolish love for the things of the world, more than for the things of righteousness, for fear of offending them. "I want to say this: Some people have grown to possess such unlimited confidence in their children that they do not believe it possible for them to be led astray or to do wrong. They do not believe they could do wrong, because they have such confidence in them. The truth is, they turn them loose, morning, noon and night, to attend all kinds of entertainments and amusements, often in company with those whom they know not, and do not under- stand. Some of our children are so innocent that they do not sus- pect evil, and therefore they are off their guard and are trapped into evil. I do not like, and it isn't pleasant for me, to throw chips, so to speak, for I do not know what may come to me in the future. I do not know what sorrows may await me in my chil- dren, or in their children, I cannot tell what the future may bring forth; but I would feel today as if my life had been, in part, a failure, if at this moment, any of my children had thrown off their allegiance to their father or to their mother, and taken the bits into their own teeth, so to speak, to do as they pleased in the world, without regard to their parents. "There are things, in connection with this subject, that would not, perhaps, be proper to speak of here, before a large and mixed congregation; but I want to sound a note of warning to the Latter- day Saints. The time has come for them to look after their chil- dren. Every device possible to the understanding and ingenuity of cunning men, is being used for the purpose of diverting our children from the faith of the gospel and from the love of the truth. Every species of organization is being formed, both in our midst and abroad, having for its object the express purpose of leading astray the children of the Latter-day Saints, because the parents can not be reached. "This is their argument: 'We cannot convert the adult 'Mormon' people, but we may perhaps convert their children; we may lead away their children, we do not hope to lead away the old people.'They can't do it, except it be, now and then, a man or woman who never did know anything particularly about the gospel. EDITOR'S TABLE. sr, These, only, are they who can be led away from the truth; and our children can be led away from their parents, and from the faith of the gospel, only when they are in a condition that they know not the truth for themselves, not having been taught it, not having had a proper example before them to impress it upon their minds. "Sometimes good-hearted people are in the habit of joking a good deal about sacred things, and there is scarcely anything held by them too sacred to speak lightly of, in some form. They do this in the presence of their children, and their children take ad- vantage of it; and while they go but an inch, so to speak, their children go the full length. They see that their parents do not hold sacred the things which are sacred; they joke about them and speak lightly of them in the presence of their children at the very fireside of theirown homes. The children grow up to feel that even their parents, when under the influence of a jocular spirit, do not hold sacred those things that they call sacred. The parents joke about these things and speak lightly of them, and the chil- dren take advantage of it. "I may be pardoned, since it is pretty well known everywhere, I believe, that I speak my mind, if I speak at all, if I say to you, 'Mormon,' Jew and Gentile, believer and unbeliever, present in this congregation, I would rather take one of my children to the grave than I would see him turn away from this gospel. I would rather fol- low my children's bodies to the cemetery, and see them buried in innocence, than I would see them corrupted by the ways of the world. I would rather go myself to the grave than to be associ- ; ated with a wife outside of the bonds of the new and everlasting covenant. Now, I hold it just that sacred; but some members of the Church do not so regard the matter. Some people feel that it does not make very much difference whether a girl marries a man in the Church, full of faith in the gospel, or an unbeliever. Some of our young people have married outside the Church, but very few of those who have done so have failed to come to grief. I would like to see Latter-day Saint women marry Latter-day Saint men, and Latter-day Saint men marry Latter-day Saint women; and let Methodists marry Methodists, Catholics marry Catholics, and Pres- byterians marry Presbyterians, and so on to the limit. Let them ': keep within the pale of their own faith and church, and marry 86 IMPROVEMENT ERA. and intermarry there, and let the Latter-day Saints do the same in\ their Church, then we will see who comes out best in the end. j This is the way I feel about it. There is nothing I can think of, in a religious way, that would grieve me more intensely than to see one of my boys marry an unbelieving girl, or one of my girls mar- ry an unbelieving man. While I live, and they will listen to my voice, you can depend upon it none of them will do it, and I would to God that every father in Israel saw it as I do, and would carry it out just as I intend to do. "Yet we do not know what the future may bring forth. We know the past, and the Spirit of the Lord may manifest to men, and does manifest to us, to some extent, what the future will be. We can, in part, judge of things that will come to pass by the things we see and understand, for we can trace the effect or result from the cause. When we see that laxity prevails in the family circle, when men do not pray at home, when they do not ask their wives nor their children to pray with them, when they treat lightly sacred things, when they joke and laugh about that which is most sacred, holy, and most important to the welfare and happiness of men; when they do this before their children, we may foretell what will be the result of it eventually, with those children. You can foretell it almost as surely as you can tell that which has passed. The same causes, if pursued on the same lines, will pro- duce the same effects, in the future as in the past. We know what the past has done, and we may judge from the past what the fu- ture will bring forth. "Some of our people, living elsewhere, are in the habit of letting their daughters come to this city unprotected, to get employment, and it ***** would be pitiable indeed, to relate the consequences which sometimes result from that practice. "The Lord bless you. Peace abide with you; and, oh, may the fathers in Israel live as they should live, treat their wives as they should treat them; make their homes as comfortable as they possibly can; lighten the burdens upon their companions as much as possible; set a proper example before their children; teach them to meet with them in their prayer, morning and night; and whenever they sit down to partake of food, to acknowledge the mercy of God in giving to them the very food that they eat and the raiment