--- 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: 17 number: 8 published: 1914-06 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Joseph F. Smith, "Editors’ Table—The Worship of the Saints," *Improvement Era* 17, no. 8 (June 1914): 802–803.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1708unse 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: improvementera1708unse start_page: 802 end_page: 803 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1914-06) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1708unse publication_year: 1914 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 1914, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Editors’ Table—The Worship of the Saints — 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 ; 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 ; 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 — 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