--- 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: 21 number: 1 published: 1917-11 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* 21, no. 1 (November 1917): 84–90." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2101unse 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: improvementera2101unse start_page: 84 end_page: 90 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1917-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2101unse 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 M. I. A. Activities Associations meeting on Tuesday evenings may score points also for attendance at the Sunday evening joint meetings if they so desire; those meeting on Sunday evenings regularly may score points for attendance on the Special Activity evenings held on Tuesday evenings, once each month. (See M. I. A. Calendar, August Era, page 933.) Rules governing punctual attendance on these evenings must be observed. The Value of Religion It has been wisely and truthfully said that: "By living according to the rules of religion a man becomes the wisest, the best, and the happiest creature that he is capable of being. Honesty, industry, the employing of time well, a constant sobriety, and undefiled purity, are the best pre- servatives, too, of life and health; so that, take man as an individual, religion is his guard, his perfection, his beauty and his glory." "The Man of Tomorrow" A new book entitled, The Man of Tomorrow, by Claude Richards, a member of the General Board Y. M. M. I. A., and also of the vocation committee of the General Board, will be issued from the presses early in November. Upon this book, The Man of Tomorrow, is based the text of the twenty-one lessons of the new senior manual, entitled, "Life and Work Under Spiritual Guidance." In the preface of the manual, associ- ations are requested to furnish copies of Life and Work Under Spiritual Guidance to the class teachers. This is an error, it should read The Man of Tomorrow. Class teachers should be provided with the latter because that contains an extended form of the matter of which the manual in the main is an abridgement. The titles were mixed, and some are sending orders for the manual instead of the book, The Man of Tomorrow. Please read the first sentence in lesson 2, on page 8 of the manual. Items on Scoring In relation to questions that have arisen in recent conventions, the com- mittee on special activities of the General Board have decided: First. Associations may postpone to another month reports on M. I. A. Fund and reading course, but all other activities must be reported on the report blanks of the month in which they were scored. Second. In relation to officers of the M. I. A. who hold other Church positions and are required to attend other auxiliary work at the time quoted for M. I. A. stake officers' meetings, we can offer no solution other than that they must be present at M. I. A. stake officers' meetings in order to score. Third. Associations may score on special activity evenings with other activities than the drama. This applies to the regular monthly special activity evening. If special gatherings are held for drama, debates, or read- MUTUAL WORK 8S ing of books, no other activities can score. These activities may be given prior to or between the acts of the play. Fourth. Where meetings were missed because of M. I. A. convention or stake conference, these may be made up on other nights arranged for and in accordance with the wishes of the local priesthood authorities. Y. M. M. I. A. Work The canvass for the Era was completed in the Saint Joseph stake, Ari- zona, in September. Final reports have not arrived but it was believed that they will show more than five percent of the Church population of the stake as subscribers for the Era. One ward reports twenty percent, and also the full amount of the fund already collected in the Thatcher ward. This information is given by LeRoy C. Snow, a resident member of the General Board. A letter from John Cummard, superintendent of the Maricopa stake of the Mutual Improvement Association informs us that they have had the most successful M. L A. year so far that they have ever had before in that stake. The attendance at the October officers' meeting of the stake and ward was 100 percent. About 60 percent of the fund had been collected on the date of writing. With the over subscriptions in one or two wards, they have already the full number of Eras required in the whole stake to make five per cent of the population. A little ward in the mountains, culled Pine, had not reported because of the difficulty of getting mail there. But the officers expected to hear from that ward in the same satisfactory manner. Several wards in various stakes sent in their quota of subscriptions, paid in advance. The work of these wards in clearing off their financial affairs before beginning their regular class exercises and activities is very commendable and fully appreciated by the General Board. "A Liberty Bond in Every Home" At a meeting of the Y. M. M. I. A. officers on the morning of Sunday, October 7, in the Bishop's Building, President Heber J. Grant made a strong appeal to the officers to help obtain subscriptions to the Liberty Bond, especially encouraging them to direct their efforts to get heavy sub- scriptions from successful farmers and cattle men of large means. It was advocated that our slogan should be, "A Liberty Bond in Every Home." President Grant also appealed to the presidents of stakes, high councilors, bishops, patriarchs, and others who were in attendance to do their best to obtain subscriptions for Liberty Bonds. Letters have been sent by him to every bishop in the Church, who has been asked to call on the presi- dent of the Y. M. M. I. A. in every ward and read an enclosed letter to him, appealing to the active workers in Mutual Improvement Associations to secure subscriptions for Liberty Bonds. In a letter to the ward presi- dents, Brother Grant says: "These bonds are the best investment in the world. As a business proposition, four per cent interest on something absolutely solid is better than to purchase speculative stock. Every person who buys a Liberty Bond will be cultivating the habit of saving, as well as showing patriotism. The great railroad and steamship builder, the late James. J. Hill said: 'No man ever succeeds in the battle of life, financially, who does not learn to save.' " President Grant then appeals to our boys to save, and to be patriotic, at one and the same time, by getting "A Liberty Bond in Every Home," and assures them that he believes his appeal will not be made in vain. 86 IMPROVEMENT ERA Ethics of the Doctrine and Covenants For Advanced Senior Class, Joint Y. M. and Y. L. M. I. A. Lesson Four — The Articles of Faith The first ten articles of faith deal with man's duty to God. The last three articles deal with man's relation to his fellow man. The eleventh reads: "We claim the privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may" (Doc. and Cov. 134:2, 4; 98:5, 8; 38:22). Dr. James E. Talmage, in his commentary on the Articles of Faith, makes use of the following language relative to the eleventh article: "The Latter-day Saints proclaim their unqualified allegiance to the prin- ciples of religious liberty and religious toleration. Freedom to worship Almighty God as the conscience may dictate, they claim as one of the inalienbale rights of humanity. The inspired framers of our charter of national independence proclaim to the world, as a self-evident truth, that the common birthright of humanity gives to every man a claim to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Happiness is foreign, liberty but a name, and life a disappointment to him who is denied the freedom to worship as he may desire." If ingratitude may be called the cardinal sin then we may call intoler- ance the cardinal vice. In this particular, so called religion has gone wider of ethics than in any other particular. In the history of the race, fanaticism and intolerance have been com- plements of each other. Even the Puritan fathers, who fled Europe and sought religious freedom in the wilds of America, gave the newcomer the choice of accepting his worship or of "moving on." But in view of the fact that intolerance is frequently the accompaniment of youth, it is easy to strike an attitude of tolerance toward the intolerance of the constituency of an infant nation. The eleventh article is not only specifically ethical but strikingly com- prehensive, providing for the "how" the "where" and the "what." "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magis- trates in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law" (Doc. and Cov. 134). While the eleventh article safeguards the conscience against the invasion of the state, the twelfth provides against the possibility of the domination of the state by religion. The two articles taken together are an amplification of the words of the greatest of all ethical Teachers when he said: "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." To quote from the Articles of Faith, by Dr. Talmage, again: "It is but reasonable to expect of a people professing the gospel of Christ, and claiming membership in the one accepted and divinely author- ized Church, that they manifest in practice the virtues which their precepts inculcate. True, we may look in vain for perfection among those even who made the fullest and most justifiable claims to orthodoxy; but we have a right to expect in their creed, ample requirements concerning the most approved course of action; and in their lives, sincere and earnest effort toward the practical realization of their professions. Religion, to be of service and at all worthy of acceptance, must be of wholesome influence in the individual lives and the temporal affairs of its adherents. Among other virtues, the Church in its teachings should impress the duty of a law-abiding cnurse; and the people should show forth the effect of such precepts in their excellence as citizens of the nation, and as individuals in the com- munity of which they are part." : MUTUAL WORK 87 "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes emphatic declar- ation of its belief and precepts regarding the duty of its members toward the laws of the land; and sustains its position by the authority of specific revelation in ancient as in present times. Moreover, the people are confi- dent, that when the true story of their rise and progress, as an established body of religious worshipers, is written, the loyalty of the Church and the patriotic devotion of its members will be vindicated and extolled by the world in general, as now are these virtues recognized by the few unpreju- diced investigators who have studied with honest purpose the history of this remarkable organization." "We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in going good to all men; indeed we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul, we believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." Honesty is sincerity in action. As truth is more than sincerity, to be true is more than to be honest, because one may be sincere in error. Chastity is personal purity; benevolence is good will in action. It is the fruitful expression of one's love for his fellow man. To be virtuous means more than to be clean and pure, it means to be strong and dauntless. "Virtue," said Dr. Milton H. Hardy, "is innocence tested and found to be true." Dr. Maeser styled virtue the capacity to triumph over vice. "Doing good to all men" includes the doing good to our enemies. Hoping to endure all things is a most comprehensive provision for fortitude, a characteristic which, on good authority, has been spoken of as the culmin- ating one of the five cardinal ethical virtues. The seeking after the praiseworthy or of good report excludes the search for any and all forms of evil. Problems 1. Wherein are the last three articles of faith ethical as well as spir- itual? 2. Show the viciousness of intolerance. 3. Give historical illustrations of the fact that intolerance and fanati- cism are found together. 4. Wherein would it be unethical or wrong for the state to invade the conscience of man, or religion to dominate the state? 5. Quote the constitution of the United States relative to religious freedom. 6. Correlate the 80th verse, in section 101, of the Doctrine and Cove- nants, with the eleventh Article of Faith. 7. Discuss this proposition: Intolerance is more frequently the accom- paniment of youth than it is of maturer years. If so, why? 8. We know that fanaticism and intolerance are complements of each other. Why is this so? 9. Illustrate this idea: Honesty is sincerity in action. 10. Give a concrete example of benevolence being good will in action. 11. Distinguish between chastity, innocence, and virtue. 12. Wherein does the thirteenth article include the injunction of the Savior: "Do good to those who despitefully use you"? 13. Fortitude is called the fifth cardinal virtue. How does the thir- teenth article provide for its cultivation? 14. Wherein does this article declare against seeking to experiment with evil? Lesson Five —Rewards and Punishments In his code of ethics, Confucius said: "Do not unto others that which you would not have others do unto you." During Christ's mortal career 88 IMPROVEMENT ERA among men, he taught them in this wise: "Therefore all things whatsoever yc would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them" (Matt. 7:12). In the revealed preface of the book of Doctrine and Covenants, Jesus speaks of his servants going forth to seal the unbelieving and rebellious up "unto the day when the Lord shall come to recompense unto every man according to the measure which he has measured to his fellow man." In the first instance we have a negative rule of conduct, do not; in the second a positive rule of conduct, do; in the third we have a proclamation of results arising out of both the negative and the positive rules. In the moral world there is no escape from the irrevocable law which provides for man's getting out of life what he puts into it. One can not be generous without gaining in generosity, nor can he be valiant without gaining in courage. Nature never fails to compensate in kind. It is evident that the here and now value of this principle of equity is enhanced, and its ethical force intensified, to a state of conscious certitude that it reaches over into the hereafter. It is a case of the highest form of ethics when an all-round righteous treatment of one's fellow man, reinforced by the highest form of religious expectancy concerning rewards and punishments, is meted out in kind of one's own production. Summed up, it means our mansions will be made of the materials we furnish. There is no chance for evasion, no opportunity for complaint. It is safe to challenge the world for an expression of more perfect equity, containing a more intensive grasp upon human conduct, or a more intensive reach for its application; it absorbs each and covers all. Gradation of Rewards. This principle of conduct-compensation is carried into the field of gradation in salvation. It is little wonder that there should be a woeful clash between ethics and a theology that provided for one hard and fast line between the saved and the damned. The revelation contained in section 76 of Doc. and Cov., under title of the Vision of the Three Glories, q. v., opened a field of thought entirely new to the mass mind. It provides for virtue being its own reward everlastingly. An inch gained can never be lost through inability to attain the highest. This is a marvelous exposition of the Savior's utterance, in my Father's house are many mansions. It is illustrative of the ethical principle, that one is entitled to the place to which he honestly climbs. It covers the law of merit which provides that the recognition of effort is a part of eternal justice. None so weak that they need despair, none so strong that they may hope to attain without effort. The conviction that a single day of valiant life is that much of eternity well lived, that a single word or act of nobility has its compensation here and now, and a recognition of value for the future, makes that valiancy and nobility more certain, in th"ir recurrence in the formation of habits that make for ethical virtues. Faith in the final triumph of the right is the greatest of all stimuli for the maintenance of the right. It puts us in a class with the great poet Robert Browning who wrote: "One who never turned his back but marched breast forward, Never doubted clouds would break, Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph. Held, we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, Sleep to wake." Whit c?n be more eauitaMe than the doctrine that as long as there nre differences in the candidates for salvation there must be differences in the salvation. Ethics of Punishment. If no other message had come to the Prophet Joseph Smith, than that MUTUAL WORK 89 contained in the Doc. and Cov. Sec. 19:4-12, it were enough to immortalize him. One can readily understand the difficulty of harmonizing religion and ethics when the doctrine of once in hell always in hell was accepted by religionists. To keep one in prison a single moment past the point of necessity is unethical, to make it impossible for one to pay an obliga- tion is likewise unethical. When the Psalmist exclaimed, "Thou will not always leave my soul in hell," he foreshadowed what Christ taught when he warned against delinquency by saying, "Thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." The Lord in a revelation to Joseph Smith sweeps aside a pall of terror by the declaration that in the jurisprudence of heaven there is no criminal code that requires the application of a punishment beyond the payment of the penalty. Problems: 1. Wherein are the Savior's words in the preface of the Doctrine and Covenants more comprehensive in the subject of rewards than the ethical will of Confucius and the earlier teachings of Christ? 2. When is conduct the expression of character already formed, and when is it a former of character? 3. Show how conduct itself is affected by the expectancy to meet the consequences? 4. Wherein is the doctrine of gradation more explicit and compre- hensive than the idea of many mansions? 5. Wherein is the doctrine of one heaven and one hell unethical? 6. Show the equity of basing rewards on accomplishment as well as on effort? 7. Why would this be impossible without gradation in salvation? 8. Compare the effects of over rewarding with that of under reward- 9. Show that inflicting punishment beyond the point of necessity is unethical. 10. What are the conditions where tbe point of necessity is passed for inflicting punishments? 11. What effect will the doctrine of ending punishment have upon the vice of grudge holding? 12. Wherein is despair one of the most blighting conditions in the field of conduct? 13. Discuss the difference between the effect of the hope to escape a pen- alty, and the hope to be able to pay the penalty? Lesson Six —The Right to Live Among the inalienable rights of mankind, that of life stands as the basic one. The first gift to man was individual life, and the first command to him was to perpetuate race life. "I would not enter on my list of friends he who would unnecessarily set foot upon a worm." Here we have a poetic declaration concerning the universal right of all creatures to live until their death is sanctioned by the decree of necessity; but Jesus gives the law in a form resounding with authority and blazing with penalty. (See Doc. and Cov. 49:21.) The com- mand to "multiply" should be sufficient to protect the unborn from vio- lence, but the statement, "Thou shalt not kill nor do anything like unto it" brings out in bold relief God's view of race suicide practices. (See Doc. and Cov. 59:6, also 42:19.) The rights of life against intention or desire to kill are set forth in Doc. and Cov. 19:25. Reasoning by analogy we have claim to the perpetuity of individual existence. If the yearning for food bespeaks the duty of nature to provide : 90 IMPROVEMENT ERA for the gratifying of the yearning, the same may be said of all our natural appetites. If our yearnings for knowledge establishes our right to learn, then a yearning for perpetuity of individual existence would be evidence of our right to some provision for our eternal individual existence. If the power to contemplate good is evidence of the right to be good; if our ability to think of greatness be proof of the existence of greatness, then the ability to contemplate eternal life is evidence of the possibility of life eternal and of our right to an opportunity to reach it. Psychic eternal life begins with the contemplation of, and yearnings for and a belief in, a perpetuity of individual existence, and thus becomes a strung ethical force in human offairs. One who yearns for and contemplates immortality as did the Philosopher Plato must be more inclined to good than he who would be without such contemplations, for he could not con- sistently contemplate his own eternal existence alone. When, however, this contemplation of existence is reinforced by an accepted revelation from God, its force is incalculably increased, and the person is correspondingly "added to" in his ethical value as a member of society. He is not only re- sponsible to his fellows for his conduct toward them, but responsible to God for his conduct towards society and towards him. As a general proposition it is safe to say that we grow through our ideals to our realities; the reality of eternal life is the most desirable of all things. This being so, what shall be said of the value of the idea of eternal life, and then of the assurance of it in the form of faith? What manner of man will one be ethically in an attitude of faith in eternal life compared with one of an attitude of disbelief in eternal life? And finally, what shall we say of the ethical value of a book containing the words of the Master concerning life eternal which is more than eternal existence? It is eternal life, plus eternal liberty, plus eternal pursuit of happiness. (See Doc. and Gov. 5:22; 6:7; 20:14; 133:62; 42:61; 45:8; 51:19; 59:23; 66:12; 88:4; 128:12; 133:62. Problems 1. Discuss this statement: Every creature has a right to live so long as its life does not interfere with some more important life. 2. Compare the decalogue commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," with Doc. and Cov. 49:21 as to explicitness and comprehensiveness. 3. Show the far-reachingness of the command given in Doc. and Cov. 59:6 in preserving the right of life for the individual and the race. 4. What provision is made in the Doctrine and Covenants for the right of life against even a desire to destroy it? Discuss the following: Our natural yearnings are evidences of our 5. some means for the righteous gratification of those yearnings. right to 6. Which side of the following debatable proposition would you take: The power to contemplate a condition is proof of the possibility of the condition. 7. On what rational grounds is a perpetuity of existence of life made an inalienable right? 8. If the possibility of contemplating a condition or thing is evidence of the possibility of the existence of the condition or thing, what becomes of the denial of our premortal existence? 9. Describe a state of mind that may be called psychic eternal life. 10. Discuss the statement: To destroy a belief in a hereafter is to dry up the fountain of mental eternal life. 11. Discuss the difference between eternal existence and eternal life. 12. Howis the here and now ethical life affected by the doctrine of eternal life?