--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 20 number: 12 published: 1917-10 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations, \"Mutual Work,\" *Improvement Era* 20, no. 12 (October 1917): 1110–1114." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera20012unse 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: improvementera20012unse start_page: 1110 end_page: 1114 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1917-10) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera20012unse publication_year: 1917 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 1917, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Mutual Work MUTUAL, WORK New Volume of the "Era This number closes the present volume of the Era, the new volume (21) beginning in November. We ask our readers to use the blank order form in the announcement in this issue when renewing their subscriptions. Your promptness will insure your receiving the magazine without missing uny number. All personal subscriptions sent in will be credited to your ward. Do not wait to be asked; send in your own renewal now. Ruling as to Scoring for Punctual Attendance Each member of the M. I. A. present at the appointed time for the op- ening of the meeting, and who remains during the entire season, scores 1 point. It is expected that M. I. A. meetings will commence at the ap- pointed time. Should there, for some unavoidable reason, be a delay in commencing the meeting, members who are present at the appointed time will score, those who come after the appointed time will not score. Era Subscription Lists Subscription blanks for the Era lists have been sent out to stake super- intendents for distribution to the ward officers. Canvass for the Era should begin immediately, and every family should be visited and asked to sub- scribe so that the efficiency credit for the ward may be earned. Many of the stakes have already finished their lists, having taken the matter up in the first week of September. Others have arranged to complete the work with the week ending October 15; still others are following the instructions of the Hand Book and will complete the canvass during the two weeks ending October 30. The main point is to get at the work, set a definite time to do it, and complete it in the time set, letting it not drag on during the season. It is becoming clearer every day that the ward officers who finish the collection for their fund and the canvass for the Era before the opening of the regular meetings in October, are best prepared to go on with their work. The entertainment evening for raising the fund this year is Friday, October 12, following the opening on Tuesday evening, Oc- tober 9. The Ethics of the Doctrine and Covenants. For Advanced Senior Class, Joint Y. M. and Y. L. M. I. A. ETHICS AND RELIGION (Continued) Lesson Three — The Inadequacy of Ethics— Continued At the World's Congress of Religions, President Scovell, of Worcester College, in a paper entitled, "What Constitutes a Religious a Distinguished ; from a Moral Life?" said: "There is a certain loftiness in the port and MUTUAL WORK 1111 mein of religion. It is conscious of power. If some moral life asserts its own sufficiency, religion said, 'well, look some more,' (as Agassiz said to his half open-eyed student) 'look some more into the self for which you seem sufficient, and you will see rifts and chasms and disharmonies and impossi- bilities which reduced far older thinkers to the ethics of despair.' If still other morals assail the divine power of sudden reconstruction and peace, of forgiveness and the justice of atonement, religion says, 'wait and see, whence is this righteousness coming into the world, by the law, or by faith?' I say there is something sublime in this regal confidence which jhe religious life breathes amid all contradictions. All religions (in proportion as they are religions and not mere systems of ethics) share in this confidence in proportion to the truth they contain. ***** «* * * * What the world wants is the best religion. It wants it with a deeper thirst than it wants silver or gold, or knowledge or sci- ence. ***** "The world tries ethics every once in a while. Cain tried it and mur- dered Abel. The Pharisees tried it and crucified Christ. The Jesuits tried it and met Pascal. Extreme Unitarianism tried it and withered. The French revolution tried it in the theo-philanthropists, and Robespierre re- stored God. The French people, since 1870, tried it in excluding religion from education, and yielded to Jules Simon, who said ,the children must be taught God as well as love of country. English Deism tried it and gave birth, through Voltaire and others, to French infidelity and German skep- ticism; Scotch Presbyterian moderatism tried it, and was roused from fatal coma by Cook's eloquence and modern missions. Wherever the two have come into comparison, it has been found that the force and vitality of the peoples and the churches declined as ethics supplanted religion, and the moral life was substituted for the religious. "The religious life alone has creative power. The moral can never the moral. create the religious, while. the religious will always create «* * * * jf mora li sm be destitute of fanaticism, it is also destitute of enthusiasm; and the reasons are obvious. * * * * What so narrow as mere ethics set against religion? What so liberal as that which admits the glory of the unseen. the supernatural? In the religious life there is the future, its "But contrast the merely moral life— all that concerns glories and gleams, has no power for him who openings and attractions, its duty his fellowmen. How much the man must miss; aims only to do his to uppermost realm of being. what a calamity if all men would thus deny the The candle cannot be understood until it burns, nor can man until his being U tipped with the deathless flame. * * * The whole world is one thing if men are immortal, and another if they are not. do "* * * Without the religious life as allied to the supernatural, 1 not believe any severe morality can be maintained among men. strongest force for the "The religious life therefore stands out as the when man's whole nature is considered it is found that duties of life, and intellectual and volitional activ- ?he moral is most distinctly related to the ides and is deficient on the emotional side. But just here the religious life is full and powerful. * * * * m «* * * * i n the emotions and affections are the springs of action. that men want something more * * * We are glad that it is confessed interesting than evolutional ethics." President Scovell uttered the foregoing more than tw o We - has tried ethics and finds were he to speak today he could say that the world The nations of the earth SS Plunged into a stream of human blood. an ethical basis, each one today justifying i self on ethical are at war on the finger of time writing on grounds. Of ethics, without religion, is not merely his- fhewal , "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin"? Turning from the philosophical sources orical and theological to the chiefly scientific a «d Tolstoi, ethics, we have the testimony of of he evidence of the inadequacy of 1112 IMPROVEMENT ERA the great Russian reformer and philosopher, saying, "I began to understand that in the answers given by faith were to be found the deepest sources of human wisdom, that I have no reasonable right to reject them, and that they alone solved the problem of life." The great English scientist, Sir Oliver Lodge, said in an address on "Continuity": "The methods of science are not the only way, though they are our way, of being piloted to truth. "Many scientific men still feel in pugnacious mood towards Theology, because of the exaggerated dogmatism which our predecessors encountered und overcame in the past. They had to struggle for freedom to find truth in their own way; but the struggle was a deplorable necessity, and has left some evil effects. And one of them is this lack of sympathy, this occa- sional hostility, to other more spiritual forms of truth. We cannot really and seriously suppose that truth began to arrive on this planet a few cen- turies ago. The pre-scientific insight of genius —of poets and prophets and — saints was of supreme value, and the access of those inspired seers to the heart of the universe was often profound. "Through the best part of two centuries there has been a revolt from religion led by Voltaire and other great writers of that age; but let us see to it that the revolt ceases when it has gone far enough. Let us not fall into the mistake of thinking that ours is the only way of exploring the multi- farious depths of the universe, and that all others are worthless and mis- taken. The universe is a larger thing than we have any conception of, and no one method of search will exhaust its treasures. "Genuine religion has its roots deep down in the heart of humanity and in the reality of things. It is not surprising that by our methods we fail to grasp it; the actions of the Deity make no appeal to any special sense, only a universal appeal; and our methods are, as we know, incompetent to detect complete uniformity." Then we have -the testimony of the late William James, of Harvard University, of whom it has been said, "He is America's greatest philosopher": "For when all is said and done, we are in the end absolutely dependent on the universe; and into sacrifices and surrenders of some sort, deliberately looked at and accepted, we are drawn and pressed as into our only perma- nent positions of repose. Now in those states of mind which fall short of religion, the surrender is submitted to as an imposition of necessity, and the sacrifice is undergone at the very best without complaint. In the religious life, on the contrary, surrender and sacrifice are positively espoused; even unnecessary givings-up are added in order that the happiness may increase. Religion thus makes easy and felicitous what in any case is necessary; and if it be the only agency that can accomplish this result, its vital importance as a human faculty stands vindicated beyond dispute. It becomes an essen- tial organ of our life, performing a function which no other portion of our nature can so successfully fulfil." Ethics, evolved ethics, human ethics, are inadequate. Problems 1. According to President Scovell, what has been the universal result of ethics supplanting religion? 2. Why is it impossible for the moral to create the religious thought it may prepare for it? 3. Wherein does faith in the supernatural broaden the mental view, and wherein does a disbelief in religion narrow it? 4. Show how the world is one thing if men are immortal, and another if they are merely mortal. 5'. What are the chief arguments for and against maintaining severe morality without religion? 6. Discuss this statement: The emotions and affections are the springs of action. MUTUAL WORK 1113 7. Wherein is socially evolved ethics comparable to the character of Belshazzar? 8. Quote Tolstoi on the inadequacy of anything else than religion for the solving of the problem of life. 9. What does Sir Oliver Lodge mean by the pre-scientific insight of the genius of poets, prophets and saints? 10. What sort of narrow-mindedness does he warn his fellow scientists against? 11. What does he mean by saying, "Genuine religion has its roots deep down in the hearts of humanity and the reality of things"? 12. Correlate problem eleven, lesson 3, with problem one, lesson 2. 13. What does Dr. James mean by those states of mind which fall short of religion? 14. Explain and illustrate the meaning of the first and second sentences of Dr. James' testimony concerning religion. 15. How are necessary sacrifices and surrenders made easy and felicitous through religion? Give example. 16. If Dr. James' conclusion concerning religion being an essential of our life, performing a function of our nature, which no other portion of our nature can so successfully fulfil, is correct, then what would you say of the inadequacy of ethics? 17. What is the meaning of the last part of the first paragraph of Presi- dent Scovell's paper? m 18. What is meant by "The regal confidence of religion .' 19. What reasons are there ofr believing that the human family longs for religion more than it longs for silver and gold. 20.Had Cain depended upon the word of God, rather than his own ethics, his own ideas of right and wrong, what then? 21. What is a conscience of convenience? 22. What was the "rule of reason" in the French revolution and why did it utterly fail? 23. What is Deism? 24. Who was Voltaire? Outlines for the Sub-Junior Class Y. M. M. I. A. Designed for Teachers Lesson Nine Text: Chapter XIV, in Men Who Made Good. Subject: "The Emancipator of the Farmer"— Cyrus W. McCormick. Notes, Suggestions and Problems: What is an emancipator? . In what sense did the primitive farmer need emancipation. the harvester. Tell the story of McCormick's work on Describe the workings of a harvesting machine. a farm of a hundred years ago with a modern up-to-date one. Compare Problem for discussion: Are labor-saving machines a blessing. Lesson Ten Text: Chapter XXI, in Men Who Made Good. ^ Subiect: "The Achievements of Ehsha Kent Kane. the most important lessons Notes Comments and Problems: Among be,ngaj.n- of Elisha Kent Kane is that to be tarned from the life story one for an active, useful hf<. He esolved valid does not necessarily unfit 1 a sick man. How did he do it. to make the world forget that he was What is meant by "dying in the harness. Discuss. Is it a good thing "to die in the harness ? 1114 IMPROVEMENT ERA 1, Call attention to the three rules laid down by Dr. Kane which his men should observe on his Arctic expedition. Lesson Eleven •id? Text: Chapter XVII, in Men Who Made Good. Subject: "The Story of a Galley-slave"— Antonio Arrighi. Notes, Suggestions and Problems: Prepare for the story by explaining who Garibaldi was and what he did for Italy. Then the story may be told along the following lines: The galley-slave, define; the treadmill, describe; the night of hell; the escape and the rescue by the dog; his landing in New York; his work; his conversion; his schooling; his becoming a preacher. "As he preaches, he sometimes tells the story of the wonderful way in which God has led him, and he declares that it is well worth while to have suffered these things, for they opened the way to his becoming a Christian and' entering' on his life-work" (page 204). Encourage the boys to tell of some experiences in the lives of men \Vhorn' they know, which point to the Lord's watchcare over them. iiro lo noittoq Church Merit Certificates ' Tnthe fall of 1916, there were 756 young men between 12 and 20 years of age who made application for the Church merit certificate. The fol- lQwbag letter has been sent recently to each of them: Dear Brother: . " 'We received from you an application for the Church Merit Certificate ale(l in which you promised to fulfil the following (l requirements: 1. Make a complete reading of the Book of Mormon. 3. Attendance at 75% or more of the regular Y. M. M. I. A. meetings. 4. Attendance at 75% or more of the regular Priesthood Quorum meet mgs. Abstinence from the use of tobacco in any form. 5. 6. Abstinence from the use of liquor in any form. 2. A complete reading of the New Testament. I promise to comply with these requirements for a period of at least one year from the date of this application. "We trust that you have adhered to and will continue to adhere to your promise until you have fully accomplished the requirements at the expira- tion of one year from date of your application. You will then please fill out the blank below and return this letter and blank to Moroni Snow, Gen- eral Secreary, 21 Bishops Building.' Salt Lake City, Utah, and the certificate will be forwarded in due time: Statement To the General Board Y. M. M. LA.: According to my promise as above specified. I have adherer to and accomplished all the requirements for the Church Merit Certificate and am now entitled to the same. Approved. Approved. Father Applicant Pres. Y. M. M. I. A Ward Stake Bishop Postoffice On receipt of the replies certificates will be sent. We trust many young men will enter for this honor, this season. Application blanks are free upon request. (See Hand-Book, p. 19.)