Faith and Works

Faith and Works BY J. C. HOGENSON, OF THE STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE Mr. Neal Dow, one of the great temperance workers of the United States, has this to say on success in life : "The key to success in any department of life is self-denial. This means living with reference to the future and not for the pleasure of the moment. Idleness, laziness, sensual indulgence, involving wasteful expenditures, come from lack of self-denial. Industry, promptitude, economy, followed by thrift, stick-to-it-iveness, and a successful career, come from self-denial. Those fail in life and must ever fail, who lack self-denial. Drinking, smoking and other bad habits all come from lack of self-denial. If a man, young or old, lives for present gratification, he cannot have a successful future. If one desires that, he must aim for it, keep his eye fixed upon it, work for it, and avoid everything that will hinder him in the pursuit of it." As faith without works is dead, so success without works cannot be attained. Success will come to you if you are willing, as the song says, to : "Put your shoulder to the wheel, push along; Do your duty with a heart full of song, We all have work, let no one shirk, Put your shoulder to the wheel." There is an old saying that "God helps those who help themselves." I believe that this is true, and that God expects us to do all that we can for ourselves, and when that has been done, he will help us along still farther. God has planted in the heart of every one a liking for certain knowledge or for a certain vocation, and if that knowledge is attained or that vocation followed, that person can become more apt than can a person who has no such liking for that work. Some men become good lawyers because they like the work, and with that liking they have combined faith and work. The same is true of every other profession and vocation in life. A successful physician must know the anatomy of the human body. He must know the intricate workings of every organ and part of the body. He must know the herbs and medicines that will act either favorably or unfavorably upon every organ and part of the body. He must know the various diseases and how they affect the different parts of the body, and how to treat them. When he

682 IMPROVEMENT ERA has acquired that knowledge, God expects him to use it, and he can do so thousands of times more successfully than can a person without such knowledge. When a person is sick, and it is doubtful what is the matter, or what to do, I believe the Lord expects us to show our faith by our works, and call in one who has especially prepared himself for such work. The good book says : "Is any sick among you ? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him." This should always be clone, as it shows our faith in the Gospel of Christ, and I am of the opinion, too, that with that faith we should in many cases also show our works by calling in a competent physician. - You would not think much of a man who, when he was out of work, sat at home and prayed for work, yet never went out to hunt for it. He would probably sit there a long time before work would come to him, when if he had shown his faith by his works, and had gone out to look for work he could soon have found it. So I believe that God expects us to help ourselves as much as lies in our power, and then, when we have done that, he will be much more willing to help us. Let me close with a quotation from one of our Sunday School hymns, "True to the Faith :" "Shall the youth of Zion falter In defending truth and right? While the enemy assaileth, Shall we shrink, or shun the fight? No! "True to the faith that our parents have cherished, True to the faith for which martyrs have perished, To God's command, soul, heart and hand, Faithful and true we will ever stand." So let us always stand faithful and true, helping ourselves to the good things God has given us, keeping our shoulder ever to the wheel of progress, in the advancement of God's work, and thus show to our Father in Heaven and to our fellow men our faith by our works. LOGAN, UTAH He was out with his best girl, and as they strolled into the WestEnd restaurant he tried to put on an I-do-this-every-evening kind of look. When they were seated at a table a waiter approached them. "Will monsieur have a la carte or table d'hote?" he asked. ' "Both," said the young man, "and put plenty of gravy on 'em." — Tit-Bits.