Editors’ Table: Order of Government in the Church

Editors' Table Order of Government in the Church* The strength of Israel I apprehend is here today, representing the whole Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not only in the organized stakes of Zion, but in many of the missions in the world. I need not say to my brethren engaged in the ministry that it is expected of them that one and all will attend to the labors, and be true to the responsibilities, that rest upon them in the discharge of their duties as officers in the Church. We expect that the presidencies of the stakes of Zion will be exemplars to the people. We expect them of a truth to be fathers unto those over whom they preside, men of wisdom, of sound judgment, impartial and just, men who will indeed qualify themselves, or who are indeed qualified by their natural endowments and by the inspiration from God which it is their privilege to enjoy, to preside in righteousness and to sit in righteous judgment over all matters brought to their attention, or that may legitimately belong to their office and calling. We anticipate the same fidelity, the same faithfulness, the same intelligent administration of their duties, from the bishops and their counselors, and indeed upon these rests perhaps the greatest responsibility, for the reason that they are expected by their presidencies to attend to the various interests and needs of their people. It is expected of a bishop to know all the people that reside in his ward, not only those who are faithful members of the Church, diligent in the performance of their duties, and prominent by their good acts, but to know those who are cold and indifferent, lukewarm, and inclined to err and to make mistakes; and not only these, but it is expected that the bishops, through their aids in their wards, will become acquainted, not only with their members, male and female, but that they will know also the stranger that is within their gates, and be prepared to minister solace, comfort, good counsel, wisdom, and every other aid possible to be rendered, to those who are in need, whether they are of the household of faith or are strangers to the truth. So that there is a great deal expected of the bishops *From President Joseph F. Smith's opening address at the General Conference, April, 1913.

726 IMPROVEMENT ERA and their counselors, and the elders and lesser priesthood in their wards, whom they call to their aid in administering to the people, both spiritually and temporally ; and I want to remark in this connection, that it is the duty of these bishops and of the presidencies of the stakes of Zion, together with their high councils, to administer justice and right judgment to every member of their wards and of their stakes. Included in this are the high priests and the seventies and the elders and the apostles and patriarchs and the presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. No man who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or who has a standing in the Church as a member, is exempt from his responsibilities as a member and his allegiance to the bishop of the ward in which he dwells. I am as much bound to acknowledge my bishop, as a member of the ward in which I dwell, as the humblest and latest member of the Church. No man who claims to be a member of the Church in good standing can ride above or become independent of the authority that the Lord Almighty has established in his Church. This watchcare of the people, of their right living, of their fidelity to their covenants and to the gospel of Jesus Christ, belongs to the presidents of stakes and their counselors and the high councils, or members of the high council, to the bishop and his counselors and the teachers of his ward. Then we have the organizations of the holy Priesthood. We have the council of the First Presidency, consisting of three presiding High Priests, who are called of God and appointed to preside over the Church, and over the priesthood of God, and I want to say here that it does not follow, and never has followed, that the members of the First Presidency of the Church are necessarily to be ordained apostles. They hold by virtue of their rights as presidents of the Church all the keys and all the authority that pertains to the Melchizedek Priesthood, which comprehends and comprises all of the appendages to that priesthood, the lesser priesthood, and all the offices in the priesthood, from first to last, and from least to greatest ; and I would to the Lord that some of our would-be wise men would learn this truth and establish the same in their minds that they might not everlastingly be at sea in regard to it, and be always asking questions of the most nonsensical kind with reference to the rights of the priesthood. All you have to do is to read the revelations through the Prophet Joseph Smith, giving to the Church the authorities of the priesthood that God has restored in the latter day. It is as perfect, as plain as the A B C's of our language, and only needs to be read with the spirit of understanding to be perfectly comprehended. The duty of the Twelve Apostles of the Church is to preach the gospel to the world, to send it to the inhabitants of the earth,

EDITORS' TABLE 727 and to bear testimony of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as living witnesses of his divine mission. That is their special calling, and they are always under the direction of the presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when that presidency is intact, and there is never at the same time two equal heads in the Church— never. The Lord never ordained any such thing, nor designed it. There is always a head in the Church, and if the presidency of the Church are removed by death or other cause, then the next head of the Church is the Twelve Apostles until a presidency is again organized of three presiding High Priests who have the right to hold the office of First Presidency over the Church; and, according to the doctrine laid down by President Wilford Woodruff, who saw the necessity for it, and that of President Lorenzo Snow, if the president should die, his counselors are then released from that presidency, and it is the duty of the Twelve Apostles to proceed at once, in the manner that has been pointed out, to see that the First Presidency is reorganized so that there may be no deficiency in the working and order of the priesthood in the Church. Now again, the bishoprics and the presidents of stakes have exclusive jurisdiction over the membership or the standing of men and women in their wards and in their stakes. I want to state that pretty plain — that is to say, it is not my duty, it is not the duty of the seven presidents of seventies, nor of the council of the twelve apostles, to go into a stake of Zion and try for membership or for standing in the Church, ar.y member of a stake or ward. We have no business to do it ; it belongs to the local authorities, and they have ample authority to deal with the membership in their wards and in their stakes. The bishops may try an elder for misconduct, for unchristianlike conduct, for apostasy, or for wickedness of any kind that would disqualify him fo^ membership in the Church, and they may pass upon him their judgment that he is unworthy of fellowship in the Church, and they may withdraw from him their fellowship. Then they may refer his case to the presidency and high council of the stake to deal with him, even to the extent of excommunication from the Church, and there is no remedy for this, only the right of appeal to the Presidency of the Church. If there may be, perchance, anv injustice, any partiality, lack of information or understanding on the part of the bishopric, which may not be corrected and therefore might be perpetuated by the decision of the high council, and the party aggrieved does not feel that he has had justice dealt out to him, he then has a right, under the laws of the Church, to appeal to the Presidency of the Church, but not otherwise. We want it distinctly understood that we cannot hear the complaints of members of the Church against their bishops, nor against their presidents, nor against their fellow members in the Church. If

728 FMPROVEMENT ERA we were to yield to a thing of this kind, we could usurp and do away with the authority of the bishops, and with the presidencies of the stakes, and we would have the responsibility of trying any or all the members of the Church who might have troubles to adjust, and that would be a practical impossibility. We could not do it ; and then, it would not be right to do it, because God has designed it the other way. The Lord has given us a more perfect organization than that. Therefore, we want the cranks and the crazy folks, the insane, if there are any, who wish to step over their bishops and their presidents to the Presidency of the Church or to the Twelve, to distinctly understand that if they do so, we will refer their case to their local authorities to be dealt with on the ground, where the evidence can be had pro and con and where justice can be meted out to them. We have enough to do, goodness. knows, without listening to the complaints and cries, mournings and bickerings of individuals, everywhere, however few, comparatively, for the limits of the Church are now spread out and extended to the islands of the sea and to distant continents and countries, for the gospel is being preached to the nations of the world. And we cannot hear all the complaints of individuals. The Lord has organized these councils in the Church, such as the bishop's councils, and the high councils, with the presidencies in the Church, to take care of the people, to see that no injustice is done by one to another in the Church, to see that no unrighteousness exists that can be averted or that can be corrected, and to see that justice and judgment and righteousness shall reign in the organizations of the Church, and no wickedness or vileness be permitted to linger and corrode the body of the Church by neglect of being dealt with in the proper way. Not that we should injure, or hurt, or oppress — the furthest thought in the world from my heart is oppression. No man should be oppressed. No authority of the priesthood can be administered or exerted in any degree of unrighteousness, without offending God. Therefore, when we deal with men we should not deal with them in anger. We should not deal with them with prejudice in our minds against them. We should dismiss prejudice, dispel anger from our hearts, and when we try our brethren for membership or fellowship in the Church we should do it dispassionately, charitably, lovingly, kindly, with a view to save and not to destroyThat is our business ; our business is to save the world, to save mankind, to bring them in harmony with the laws of God and with principles of righteousness, justice and truth, that they may be saved in the kingdom of our God and become, eventually, through obedience to the ordinances of the gospel, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. That is our mission. Now, then, we have our high priests' quorums or councils,

EDITORS' TABLE 729 and we have our seventies' councils, and our elders, and then we have the councils of the priests, teachers and deacons in the lesser priesthood. These councils each and all in their organized capacity have jurisdiction over the fellowship of the members of these councils — that is, if a man is an elder, or if a man has a standing in the seventies' quorum, or is a member of the high council, or the high priests' quorum, and he is misbehaving himself, shows a lack of diligence, a lack of faith, a lack of reverence for the position he holds in his council, or quorum, his fellowship in that quorum to which he belongs, or his standing should be looked after or enquired into, for he is amenable to his quorum for his good standing and fellowship in it. So that we have the check that the Lord has placed upon members of the Church, and when I say members of the Church, I mean me, I mean the apostles, I mean the high priests, and the seventies, and elders. I mean everybody that is a member of the Church ; and I say that when these members of the Church are in error or doing wrong, we have the check on them; in the first place, in the wards, bishops look after them ; then their quorums to which they belong have jurisdiction and they are required to look after them, too ; and then after their quorums look after them, the presidencies of the stakes look after them, and see that they are applauded when they do their duties and keep the commandments of the Lord. So the Lord has placed a great many checks upon the members of the Church, with a view to teaching them right principles, to help them to do right, to live right and to be pure and clean from the sins of the world, that the body of the Church may be perfected, that it may be free from disease, from all contagious evils, just as the body of the man Christ Jesus is free from all taint, evil, and sin. So God has placed these safeguards in the Church from the deacons to the apostles, and to the presidency of the Church, with a view of persuading men and women to keep themselves pure and unspotted from the world, and to help them to be faithful to their covenants entered intc with one another and with their God ! Joseph F. Smith. Mother I learned in my childhood that no love in all the world car equal the love of a true mother. I am at a loss to know how it would be posisble for any one to love children more truly than did my mother I have felt, sometimes, How could even the father

730 IMPROVEMENT ERA love his children more than my mother loved hers ? Her love was life to me, it was strength, encouragement ; it was a love that begot love or likeness in myself. I knew she loved me with all her heart and soul. She would toil and sacrifice herself day and night for temporal comforts and blessings to provide for and give to her children. No sacrifice of self — of her time, leisure, pleasure, or opportunities for rest — was considered for a moment, when compared with her duty and love to her children. When fifteen years of age, I was called to a foreign country to preach the gospel — or to learn how, and to learn it for myself. The strongest anchor of my life, which helped to hold my ambitions and desires steady, to bring me upon a level and keep me straight, was the love of my mother. Only a young boy, with immature judgment, without the advantages of an education, I was thrown into the midst of the greatest temptations possible for any boy or man to be subjected to. Yet, whenever those allurements became most enticing to me, the first thought that arose in my soul was this : "Remember the love of your mother. Remember how she strove for your welfare. Remember how willing she was to sacrifice her life for your good. Remember what she taught you in your childhood." Mother always insisted upon my reading the New Testament — the only book, except a few school books, that we had in the family, or that was within the reach of us at that time. My love for my mother and the recollection of her teachings became a strong defense, a protecting barrier between sin, temptation and me. I became able to turn aside from evil by the help of the Lord, and because of the love begotten in my soul toward her whom I knew loved me more than any other living being could love me. A wife may love her husband, but this love is different from the love of mother for her child. The true mother, the mother who has the fear of God and the love of truth in her soul, will never hide from danger and harm, nor leave her child exposed to them. But, as naturally as sparks fly upward, and as it is to breathe the breath of life, mother steps between her child and danger. She will defend her child to the uttermost. Her life is as nothing in the balance, in comparison with the life of her child. That is the love of true motherhood — for children. I place a high estimate upon the love of mother. I have often said, and will repeat it, that the love of a true mother comes nearer to being like the love of God than any other kind of love. There are two divine personages that I can scarcely think or talk about without it softens my spirit, and brings me down to the similitude of a little child ; and those two beings are my mother and my Lord Jesus, my Redeemer ! You boys who are absent to day, remember mother with a letter. She deserves it as regularly as the weeks come and go. In the pursuit of your duties, your

EDITORS' TABLE 731 vocations, as well as in all the vicissitudes and actions of your lives, remember her counsels, admonitions, and prayers. Honor and respect her as she deserves, and you shall be honored by the Prince of Life. Joseph F. Smith. Peace The month of May is eminently the "peace month" of the year. The fourth American peace congress will be held at St. Louis during the first week of the month. The Lake Mohonk congress will also be held this month, and the Utah State Peace society will hold its annual meeting on the 18th of May, in this city, in the Tabernacle, if the use of that building can be obtained for the purpose, through the courtesy of the First Presidency, as on one or two former occasions. Peace day will be observed in memory of the first Hague congress, all over the world. The question might be asked, What is the use of all peace congresses and all the agitation for universal arbitration? War and war preparations go on just the same. Do not the prophets of our Lord, both ancient and modern, depict a time yet to come when wars will devastate the world ; when there shall be trouble, such as never was from the beginning of the world ; when, in fact, all who will not take up sword against his brother must go to Zion for peace and tranquility? This is true. Everyone familiar with the word of God knows that wars and strife, not only between nations but between different classes of society, are yet to form page upon page of the history of the world. But they know also that the same prophets speak of the time when there shall be universal peace ; when "nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more, but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid" (Micah 4:1-7). The fact that a time of universal peace and prosperity is coming is just as clear in the prophetic word as the other fact that there is a time of trouble yet in the future. Nor is there any contradiction in these two sets of prophetic utterances. The nations of the world are facing certain problems that can be solved only by the aid of the sword, as, for instance, the Balkan problem about which one of the most sanguinary wars of history has just been waged. But such wars only hasten the day of universal peace. They are the necessary preliminary to the Millennium. Let us consider the facts. According to the Divine Word, "God made of one blood all nations of men" to dwell on all the face of the earth, and he "determined the times before appointed"

732 IMPROVEMENT ERA for their existence, as well as the boundaries of their habitation, and all for the purpose that they might seek the Lord and find him (Acts 17:26, 27). From which it is clear that the division of the human family into nations, kindreds, tongues, etc., as originally made, is of divine origin, and necessary for the divine plan of redemption. It is not accidental ; nor without its religious meaning. But during the long, dark ages "of the rebellion of man against God, the divine plan has been set aside. The boundaries appointed have been obliterated in many instances, by wars of conquest and robbery. Nation has enslaved nation. By unrighteous wars nations that were never destined to mix have been forced together under one crown, or scepter. Languages have been brutally suppressed and buried in the tomb of oblivion. In the Balkan peninsula we see this mixture perhaps more than anywhere else on the face of the earth. There the Turks from Asia came like a whirlwind and upset everything. They subdued Greeks, Bulgarians, Slavs, and every other nationality, and forced them into their "melting pot." Similar conditions obtain elsewhere. In Austria-Hungary the experiment is being made of making one nation out of Slavs, Germans, Magyars, Wallachs, Czechs, Poles, Croats, Serbs, and others. Russia holds a conglomeration of nationalities, most of which have been forced to come together at the point of the sword. The nations of the world as a rule are founded on injustice to other nations. They occupy territory stolen from others. They rule over weaker nations by force and not by mutual agreement. All this injustice must be atoned for. Nationalities must be separated and rehabilitated. National boundaries must be restored. The wrongs perpetrated by wars must be righted. In some instances this can be done only by means of war. And therefore we look forward to many a sanguinary conflict, of the same nature as the Balkan war. But when every wrong between nations is righted and perfect justice restored, there will be nothing to cause war. There will be no need of armies and navies. Most of the great nations need their military forces to keep the incongruous elements together. Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, would not exist long without their armies, for Slavs, Teutons, Poles, Finns, Magyars, etc., would set up governments of their own the moment they should dare to do so. Hence, armies would be superfluous if governments would give each conquered race full justice. To this we look forward with confidence. We believe every crushed nation which still retains national life will be restored. We look forward to a sifting and purification of the nations, through many tribulations. We look forward, not only to the restoration of Palestine to the Jews, but of the Grecian states to the Greeks, and the lands belonging to the Slavs to that race. We look forward to the restoration of Poland, and Finland ; to the consolidation of

EDITORS' TABLE 733 some races that are now unjustly divided, and to the division of empires which are held together only by brute force. And all this as a preliminary to the establishment of the universal brotherhood of man — a world republic under the presidency of the Son of God. In the meantime, it is our solemn duty to prepare the sentiment of the world for universal peace, which is the great principle upon which the government of man during the Millennium will be founded. It is the next step in advance. Man has had several forms of government. The first was the Patriarchal. Under this the family was the unit. The head of the family was the representative of God. He was law-giver, judge, and executive, as the visible representative of the Almighty. Then came the Mosaic dispensation, in which the families were gathered into a nation, the nation being the unit. The head of the nation was, to the nation, what the head of the family was to the family during the previous dispensation. During the Christian dispensation the chosen nation was scattered, and the standard bearers of truth were commanded to go to every part of the world. It was a scattering dispensation for the purpose of preparing all the world for the last and highest civilization. The next dispensation will be one of gathering. In it the human family will be united in one great federation, under the divine head, with all the gifts and graces of every previous dispensation restored. The friends of peace have no other object than to prepare the world for this consummation of all things. They hope to prepare the sentiment for the Millennium. It can never come until the world is prepared for it. The peace advocates are laboring in many instances in the dark, not knowing just exactly what step to take from time to time. But the Latter-day Saints need not be in the dark on this question. They can proceed in the light of the prophetic word. And they, more than all others, should be the advocates of peace, and the supporters of the peace movement. For they believe that the world belongs to the Prince of Peace. J. M. SjODAHL. Deacons and Outlines for Study.— There are some 20,000 Deacons in the Church. Out of this number more than fifty per cent are enrolled in the classes of the various wards of Zion. The course of study for 1913 is upon the subject, "Some of the Experiences in the Lives of Early Church Leaders and Members," a book of some 130 pages. Comparatively few of these have been sold, and the bishops are urged to look into this matter, and see that more copies of the text books are placed in the hands of the Deacon? so that they may enter with greater spirit into their work.