The Church Stands for Prohibition

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The Church Stands for Prohibition

BY ELDER ANTHONY W. IVINS

[The sermon of Elder Anthony W. Ivins, at the April conference, is a combination of truth and wisdom that should be very carefully studied. It indicates how the citizens of the state may have what they earnestly desire from their government, or from men who are designed to become temporarily their political rulers. Even some moral ques- tions, such as the question of prohibition is, can only be solved by the state which is the actual controlling power of all other organizations. Moral questions that must be sustained by law must be solved by the political power. The Church cannot say thus and so it must be it ;

can only express its wants. The power lies with the individual man and woman who must work to the end desired through the machinery of the state. Do the people of Utah want Prohibition? It will not come di- rectly through the dictum of any one leader, and particularly a re- ligious or moral leader, but it must and can come through the direct personal activity of the citizenship of the state, through the regularly provided political machinery of the state. As voters of the state, therefore, we should see to it that the nominees of all politi- cal parties for all political offices are instructed in the primaries. All should be pledged so that none shall escape responsibility. If they will not be so pledged to prohibition, then is the time and opportunity to fight. There is where the responsibility rests. Not one nominee for any office should escape pledging himself to the specific will of the people on this subject. What then is the duty of the members of the Church, citizens of the state? Wethink the question is fully answered by Elder Ivins in the closing paragraphs of his sermon, quoted below. Editors.]

THE RIGHT KIND OF MEN WANTED

I am going to assume to say that the one thing in the world that needed today, the one great preparedness that the world is

needs is the men — men of integrity, men of faith, men of economy, men of industry, men who will control and manage your public affairs as you manage and control your private affairs, men se- lected by the voice of the people. If conditions of confusion exist in the world, I always look to the word of the Lord for a remedy, because I believe in it, I believe in it as he gave it to his people anciently, I believe in it as he revealed it to us through his prophet in this dispensation. I believe in it as it comes to us in the day in which we live. If the word of the Lord is to be depended upon, the safety and devel- opment and welfare of the people of all nations depend upon the

THE CHURCH STANDS FOR PROHIBITION 739

selection of good men, and honest men, and righteous men to rep- resent them in public affairs.

THE STATE CONTROLS, HENCE SHOULD HAVE GOOD MEN AS LEADERS

How are you going to separate the church from the state? The state controls the church absolutely, controls your property, controls your lives. It takes your property from you if it wishes, it presses you into service, it declares war or makes peace and you

cannot avoid it, however much you may desire, and however much we may claim that we are independent, that what we have belongs to us. After all, the finality is that the state controls us. Is it necessary or important, then, that good men administer public affairs, trustworthy men ? It seems to me that it is ; not only necessary, but absolutely indispensable, and that is the reason I am calling your attention to it. There can je no peace, there can be no perpetuity of the institutions of this country without it, there can be no proper development in this state of ours without it.

THE DUTY OF CHURCH MEMBERS

I don't know that I need take time to read it to you, but here, in the Doctrine and Covenants (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 98:4-10) the Lord tells us that in order that th«„se conditions may be main- tained it is our duty to seek out good men, and wise men and just men to control our civil affairs. I want to put emphasis on these words, "Seek out." It seems to me that it has almost come to a point when, instead of seeking out men to serve us, we sit su- pinely down and let the men seek the office, and hunt their way in. A man said to me the other day, "I have been approached and asked to run for governor. I have been told that if I can put up ten thousand dollars I will have a good chance to be elected." That kind of politics is dangerous. Men ought to be sought out by the people. Do you know what the Lord said to the Nephites who lived upon this continent of ours, and who were destroyed because of the very forces to which I am referring? Mosiah said, when they would have elected him king, that it was not wise, nor proper that a king should be elected among them, but rather, he said, let men be chosen by the voice of the people to frame laws, and administer them. It was done, and they administered

the law in righteousness. For sixty years there was peace, but at the end of that time there came elements into the politics of the nation which, under the very same laws, the very same con- stitution, so ingratiated themselves into the hearts of the people that the majority voted for wicked men instead of good ones, and the historian bears record that in the beginning of that sixtieth year, when the majority of the people accepted wicked men as

740 IMPROVEMENT ERA their chief judges and rulers, their dissolution and destruction commenced.

A NOTE OF WARNING

So it is going to continue to be in all nations, and I wanted to sound this note of warning. Men who do the will of the peo- ple should be sought for office. Have I had any reason to doubt that the will of the people will be done, or has been done by men that you have elected to office? I think you only need to review the history of the last six years for an answer to this question. In a congregation similar to this, the Presidency of the Church, the presiding authorities of the Church, expressed themselves clearly and unmistakably upon a great issue which was before the people, and we voted here to sustain that issue. The words were pub- lished, and have gone out to the world, and repeatedly you have sent men up here who absolutely ignored it, ignored your will, for I believe it was the will of the majority.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE NEGLECT? Who was responsible for it? We don't want you to hold us responsible. We do not elect legislators. You who hold the fran- chise in this state, are responsible, and if you don't want good laws, if you want this state to continue to stand abashed and hu- miliated among its neighbors, if you want it to continue to sustain the two most pernicious influences that are at work today in the world for the destruction of your sons and daughters, go on send- ing up men that will vote for liquor, for open saloons, and with them for houses of prostitution, and it won't be very long till you will get it. I tell you that you must control it, you must subject it to your will, or it will subject you to its will.

THE CHURCH WANTS PROHIBITION

I do not want to be misunderstood on this question. If you are like those people to whom I have referred, if the majority want a wicked man, a man who will disregard your will, send him up but do not be deceived in the words of Rudyard Kipling, ; ;

"Do no allow knaves to twist the truth men utter to make traps for foolish men and women," and lead them to believe that truth is error, and error truth; but exercise your judgment, with the Spirit of the Lord to direct you, and take this matter in hand and control it. There has been no change of policy so far as the Church is concerned, upon that great question of prohibition. It stands right where it did in the beginning. We are for it and want it.