The Contact

A Church^ Up-to-Date By Elder James E. Talmage, of the Council of the Twelve

"We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God?' (Articles of Faith.) We live in an epoch of unusual activity, both of thought and deed, an age of unprecedented achievement in material things, an era of unbounded promise. The fever of effort burns in the blood and brain of man. The discoveries and inventions of a year surpass the record of centuries bygone. So many, so momentous are the new developments of this day that we live in constant expectation of other and greater things. Incredulity as to the possible is out of fashion. Every fresh discovery or application to service is another find in the rich mines of truth, and continuous revelation is a feature of the age. What would be thought of the astronomer who would dare affirm that man already knows all that may be learned of the — heights and depths of space that we may not, must not, expect or hope to learn of satellites, planets or suns heretofore unknown? What of the geologist who would say that the stony pages of the earth's crust have been fully read, and that no new record is to be found, no further truths to be made plain? What of the chemist who shuns the laboratory because, forsooth, he thinks that new discoveries are impossible, and the best he can do is to follow the lore of ancient books? Such men, for such declarations, would be deservedly scorned. But note this terrifying exception, and the awful inconsistency of it all. It has been long taught that nothing new can come direct from the heavens to mankind, that Divine revelation belongs to the past! Dare we thus teach? In so doing are we not blasphemously assuming to seal the lips of the Eternal One, to ignore the hand of God as a factor in current events, and in our hearts dethrone the Supreme Ruler? Is the civilized world rejecting real theism, which embraces faith in a living, loving, intelligent and omnipotent God, and re- — verting to pagan deism that misty, malformed conception of a deity bound and trammeled by man-prescribed limitations? A church that lives not, grows not, develops not, in short

—

A CHURCH UP-TO-DATE 633

a church that is dead, has no attractions for me. I profess no allegiance to a creed that is always behind the times, now and forever finished and fossilized in its unalterable incompleteness. While I tolerate, I cannot accept the doctrine that offers no living water for the spirit athirst, that has no bread of life for the hungering soul. My Church must be up-to-date, its religion vital and progressive. That Church must be in direct communication with — headquarters the source of unfailing wisdom. It must give me the latest news from day to day, word of the ever-unfolding purposes of God, information as to the events of time, assurances as to the possibilities and certainties of eternity. I accept the Holy Writ of ancient days for just what it purports to be. It is indispensable to the world's advancement. Without the Holy Bible and other Sacred Scriptures the human race would be in a deplorable state. But living prophecy, current-day revelation, are likewise essential. One. is the letter, the other the spirit that giveth life. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints alone do I find the satisfaction I have sought. Its professions and claims would be bold to the verge of blasphemy were they false; but I bear record unto all who read that they are true. In this, the Church of my choice, I witness a vigor and vitality that speak of eternal duration; herein I find an ever-growing record of — revealed truth new Scriptures that are their own justification, and which, while primarily of present application, serve to explain and glorify the Sacred Writ of other days. I discover no inconsistency, far less contradiction, between latter-day Scriptures and the inspired records of olden times. Their agreement is such as to declare a common authorship.

Is this up-to-date religion really new? Only in the sense of having been reestablished among men, with authority and power restored; new only as each recurring dawn is the birth of a new day, though the light of that day is the light of the same sun that shone before. Every day is both old and new, each the sum of the yesterdays that have gone, and the assuring promise of all the tomorrows yet unborn. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will ever be up-to-date; its activities will endure even when time shall be no more. It possesses this essential feature of perfection the life principle that insures advancement. It lives and operates under the direction of The Christ, whose name it bears.