Editors’ Table: The Worship of the Saints

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Editors' Table

The Worship of the Saints

The EKy\ this month is devoted entirely to one related topic.

the worship of the Latter-day Saints. The object of so using the

space is to answer questions that frequently come to hand regard-

ing the subject under consideration. Questions as to whom, how,

when and where the Latter-day Saints worship, as well as the

nature and method of their worship, and the reasons for their

temple building, are here sought to be answered. We think every

reader, whether a member of the Church or a non-member, will

find inspiration in these pages and will be benefited by a careful

reading of them.

The reader may also obtain a fair idea of the style and archi-

tecture of stake tabernacles and ward houses of worship, built by

the Latter-day Saints, from the cuts presented in this number and

for which and their descriptions we are indebted to the presidents

of stakes. Most of the buildings are stake houses. When it is

remembered that there are sixty-five stakes of Zion, a stake being

a division of the Church containing several wards, and that there

are seven hundred and twenty-four wards in the Church, the

magnitude of the work may be in a measure surmised. As stated

in our May number six hundred and seven wards own meeting

houses most of which are of modern construction whose cost

ranges from five to thirty-five thousand dollars and more, each.

Some of the stakes, also, have not yet built tabernacles ; in these

a ward house is generally selected, or a number of ward houses

are chosen alternately, for holding stake quarterly conferences

of the Church, and the annual conventions of the auxiliary or-

ganizations.

The articles of our faith are given on the first page al- ;

though these are generally known they will bear study and con-

sideration for, like the worship and the religion of the Latter-day

Saints, they are vital in the daily lives of the people.

The nature of the services in the various wards of the Church

is set forth. The worship of the Saints paratakes of the spiritual,

practical and social. Many people are set to doing something and

so become vitally interested. No one class of people are preferred

aliove another. All take some part in some way in the services.

Considerable attention has been paid to the art of music

among the people, as well as to some extent their poetic liter-

ature, — hymns that have impressed themselves upon the lives of

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EDITORS' TABLE 803

the people. One of the remarkable things pointed to is the or-

ganization and maintenance of choirs. Many thousands of young

people throughout the Church are engaged in singing in the

churches, — a delightful way of worshiping the Lord. They do

it without pay, even as the teacher who occupies the pulpit does

his part of the work free.

It is clearly manifest that the social as well as the religious idea

enters into our services, and particularly in the use of our church

buildings. They are open all the week, — every night of the week

practically, — for one noble purpose or another which meets the

spiritual, religious and social demands of the people. They are

built and maintained for use. Much is printed in the press of

our country on the uselessness and inactivity of the churches

how they are closed except only one or two hours a week, and how

they do not meet the practical, social and religious necessities of

the people, particularly the ordinary people, but are built and

ecjuipped for the formal, spiritless worship of the wealthy. Ordi-

nary persons are not welcomed nor do they find an answer to their

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desires, nor comfort to their feelings, nor a response to the prac-

tical, social and worship-wants of their lives. There is a stiffness

and impracticability about them that do not appeal to the masses.

In all these things, as well as in the appeahng spiritual doctrines

taught, and the testimonies offered, the churches of the Latter-

day Saints are entirely different. They are thrown open every

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day in the week to the ordinary people, young and old, rich and

poor, learned and unlearned. Our churches are the social as ^e\

as the spiritual centers of the communities. Their democracy and

their ability to meet the wants of every-day life, and the spiritual

longings of the soul, have a tendency to bind the people together.

Everybody contributes towards the maintenance and erection of

the buildings, and everybody receives and rejoices in the religious

and social benefits that accrue in these centers of community life.

The typical ward service among the Latter-day Saints is set

forth in plainness and simplicity, and attention is also called to

some of the work of the auxiliary organizations and the part

they take in the worship and activities of the Saints about the

house of worship. The architecture of church buildings has re-

ceived attention also.

As well as informing the world of our methods and houses of

worship, it is to be hoped that this number of the Era will awaken

a new interest among the Latter-day Saints themselves, in social

activity and religious worship, that we may make improvements

wherever these should be made, create new interest among the

youth of Zion in the saving worship of their fathers, making them

cleaner, purer and indeed followers in the footsteps of the right-

eous, and believers in and worshipers of the God of our fathers.

The Latter-day Saints should bear in mind that it is the Lord