Religion, Active and Passive

Religion, Active and Passive Effort Essential to Salvation

By Elder James E. Talmage, of the Council of the Twelve

Religion to be worth while must be a vital element of life and work. It is of both temporal and spiritual significance, value and effect. It has to do with individual morality, with mutual dealings and associations of men even in ordinary, every- day affairs, with the great problems involved in family unity and efficiency and with the little things that make or mar the home, with work and play, with the duties of citizenship, states- manship and public service generally. All these relationships are human and earthly, and the honorable discharge of duties arising therefrom approaches ethical perfection. But man's standard of ethics is of necessity unstable, variable and, withal, unsatisfying to the soul having a healthful hunger for spiritual nourishment. Who of all has not felt at times the spontaneous yearnings and aspirations incident to our deep inborn conviction of life beyond death? We may weaken these emotions by persistently ignoring them; we may effectually stifle them by rude force; we may render them dormant by the poisonous anodyne of false philosophy and the boastful pride of man's mis-called wisdom; but kill them we can not, for they were divinely implanted and are deathless. And as there is a hereafter, in which every soul of us shall live in continuation of the eternal existence of which earth-life is but a span, so surely shall our status there be determined by the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or evil. Religion, then, has to do not only with this life but with that to come. We are but sojourners on earth; and, profoundly im- portant as is this mortal experience, it is, after all, mainly a pro- bation, and essentially a preparation for eternity. It is tempor- arily easier to be passive than aggressive, whether we claim for our guiding code man's rules of ethics, or the clear-cut require- ments of the Gospel of Christ. There are far more good men on earth than men who are good for much. The Gospel demands something greater than avoidance of actual sins of commission. The culpability of neglect and omis- sion may justly condemn the soul. Wilful spurning of Divine

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opportunity may work eternal loss. Though the Scriptures af- firm the possibility of progression after death, nowhere do we find ground for assuming that failure to obey the Gospel on earth will be nullified by immediate remission beyond. We have no basis for computing the ages that shall be requisite to make amends there for wanton failure here. There is a time in the eternal existence of souls which has been specifically made the time of repentance and test; and that is the period of mortality. Paul's forceful admonition is of universal application: "Lay hold on eternal life" while oppor- tunity is found (I Tim. 6:12, 19). For, be it remembered that the Lord has spoken concerning the wilfully unrepentant: "From him shall be taken even the light which he has received, for my Spirit shall not always strive with man, saith the Lord of Hosts" (Doctrine and Covenants 1:33). Sin is conducive to lethargy in things spiritual; the Gospel inspires to life and activity. Contentment with the things of this world, so long as they go to suit us, with no thought of what shall follow, is the devil's lullaby. In the moment of su- preme complacency when we are expressing by word, act, thought, or through sheer inaction, the stultifying soliloquy Soul, take thine ease, may come the summoning decree : "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee" (Read Luke 12:16-21). When will men awaken to the imperative yet persuasive summons to repentance? Are not the awful vicissitudes of these days of war and death sufficient to arouse us to some realiza- tion of the solemnities of eternity? As a nation we are valiantly waging war for the vindication of the rights, privileges, and lib- erties of men. As individuals we are summoned by the call of God to resist iniquity, and to make peace and reconciliation with Him through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gos- pel. Only through active, vital faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, effective repentance of wrong-doing, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the bestowal of the gift of the Holy Ghost or the higher baptism of the Spirit, can salvation be at- tained in the Kingdom of God, for so the Holy Scriptures aver. The pleading call of the ancient prophet is yet in force. Hear ye, and heed: "Now I say unto you, that ye must repent, and be born again: for the Spirit saith, If ye are not born again, ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness" (Book of Mormon, Alma 7:14).