Editors’ Table

1OT6 TABLE il.il mil-S ^*&;^=^^:'_i'5r-\

Close of Volume XXIII

This number closes Volume 23 of the Era, with the largest circulation in the history of the magazine. We look for a renewal from all our subscribers, and the addition of many new ones. This can easily be obtained with the help of the faithful officers of the Y. M. M. I. A., without which it Would not be possible to print a magazine as large as the Era for $2, under prevailing costs. Weoffer our thanks to the officers for past services, and solicit their aid in obtaining an increased circulation for Vol. 24, beginning with November. We invite the reader to send in his subscription on the blank provided in the prospectus. Do not wait to be further solicited. We can promise excellent subject matter — interesting, timely, faith-promot- — ing and prompt monthly delivery. With thanks to both our readers and writers, we enter upon a new volume confident of success, and with promise to do our best to repay you in full for — your investment in the Improvement Era. The Editors.

Cleaning up the Tobacco Evil

President Soren Rasmussen, of the Jordan stake of Zion, after returning home from the late Y. M. M. I. A. convention in June, decided at once to carry out the instructions which were adopted as the slogan of the organization: "We stand for the non-use and non-sale of tobacco." Having cleaned out his own place of business, so to speak, in the tobacco line, he went to his counselors and told them what he had done, and they willingly and at once fell into line. The result was that in less than a week no tobacco could be found in any one of the establishments conducted by the presidency, all three of whom are merchants. The next step was to go to the high council and bishoprics of the wards. Committees were appointed for each ward, and instructed to call upon all places of business and induce the proprietors to discontinue the sale of tobacco. A union meeting was held in July, where between four and

EDITORS' TABLE 1111

five hundred stake and ward officers were present. A vote was unanimously taken by that assembled body to do all in their power legitimately to stamp out the tobacco evil. The result is, as we learn from several sources, that the Latter-day Saints in that stake are cleaning out their places of business as far as tobacco is concerned. President Rasmussen, in closing his communication to the editors of the Era, says, "We feel that the move is a proper one, and hope to continue the battle until the tobacco evil is stamped out from our midst." The Era congratulates President Soren Rasmussen and his friends and associates of the Jordan stake upon the action which they have taken and we trust that the people will stand behind them with their patronage, faith and works, in the worthy example which they have set. There is no reason why the people should not see to it that their business enterprises shall in no wise suffer, but rather increase. We are quite certain that this will be the case, because the presidency have done a good act, and can now stand clearly before the people as exemplars in righteousness. We hope to hear from others, in other parts of the Church, who have taken like action, and there are many who are doing so. The Lord has said, "Tobacco is not good for man." Let every man resolve to abstain from tobacco, in order that he may have a strong body, a clear mind, and an enduring heart. A.

Concerning the Millennium

The Improvement Era is favored with answers from Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, of the Council of the Twelve, to the following questions, that have been propounded by elders in the mission field: "Will there be any wickedness upon the earth during the Millennium?" I have this to say in answer: The Lord has promised that at his coming he will take vengeance on the wicked, he is coming in his anger and it will be a day of vengeance (Doc. and Cov. 133:51) against all the ungodly who shall be as stubble (Mai. 4:1) and they shall be consumed and left without root or branch. All such references to the destruction, as these to which I here refer, have bearing only upon those who have had the privilege of receiving the gospel, or who have known the will of the Lord concerning themselves and have rejected the light and have delighted to do evil, loving darkness rather than light. The honest and honorable, I take it, who have not received the gospel and who live among the nations

1112 IMPROVEMENT ERA shall not be included in this class. Surely the heathen are not included, for the Lord in many references makes special provision for their conversion and redemption. Now in our narrow vision we expect these great changes to come suddenly. It is true that the Lord will come suddenly, for such a coming he has promised, but that all the conditions and vicissitudes connected with the reign of peace will be ushered in suddenly at the time of his coming would hardly be a reasonable conclusion. The Lord works on natural principles. The preparatory work for the millennial reign is now under way and must continue for some time, I take it, even after he comes. People will have to be taught, the proper instruction will of necessity have to be given, the gospel will have to be declared and this will take time. Satan is to be bound, as the scriptures say, that he shall have no power to tempt any man, but the traditions of the centuries will still exist and the influence they have on the minds of the children of men will not be removed in a moment. Men have their agency and will be able to act for themselves even after Satan is bound, and the effects of teachings and traditions will remain with them even to the extent that perhaps some will fail to understand the gospel and receive it. However, I take it, these will be very few. When the time comes that death is removed and man lives the "age of a tree," if he has not received the gospel, he is a sinner and under condemnation and therefore worthy of being cursed. Wickedness and sin as we comprehend the meaning of these expressions now, will not prevail during the millennium. The Lord, however, calls all men wicked who do not receive the fulness of his gospel (Doc. and Cov., 35:12; 84:49-53). — King Benjamin said and he was instructed by an angel "that — the blood of Christ atoned for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died, not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned" — (Mosiah 3:11), but that the time would come and that time — must be during the millennium "when the knowledge of a Savior shall spread throughout every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. And behold, when that time cometh, none shall be found blameless before God, except it be little children, only through repentance and faith on the name of the Lord God Omnipotent." (Verses 20-21.) I take it that this expression from the discourse of King Benjamin is in full harmony with the expression of Isaiah in the 65th chapter. Again, Zechariah declares that after the destruction of the wicked and the restoration of Jerusalem, "every one that is left of the nations which came up against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the

EDITORS' TABLE 1113

feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain, there shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles." (Zech. 14:16-19.) All of these references show that man will still have his agency even after Satan is bound, and will follow his traditions and inclinations to some extent at least, if he shall so choose. But the nations will be forced to acknowledge the reign of the Great King or punishment shall be meted out to them. Corruption and vice shall be done away, those who indulge in such practices shall be swept off from the face of the earth and it shall be as it was in the days of the great Nephite destruction at the time of the crucifixion that only the more righteous or the better class of mankind, including the heathen, shall be left (Doc. and Cov., 45:54). In answer to the second question: "Are we living in the Millennium, and is one hundred years of the Millennium already past," I answer, no, to both questions. Following his own resurrection the Lord has the power to call forth any from the dead whom he may choose. The scriptures are clear, however, that there shall be a time for the first resurrection and that time shall be at the coming of the Son of God (See Doc. and Cov., 88: 96-99), or immediately preceding that event. President Young is on record as having said in a discourse that these things shall commence among the Saints before the world shall know anything of them. It is not the doctrine of the authorities of the Church, however, that we are now in the millennium. Neither was the coming of the Lord to Joseph Smith the fulfiling of his prediction regarding his second coming. You will understand from the reading of the scriptures that the Lord was to come suddenly to his temple, he was to make himself known to his covenant people; this is separate and distinct from the great coming when he is to descend in the clouds in glory as the avenger, for he has said concerning that coming that when the sign of the Son of Man is seen it shall be like the lightning in the east that shines even to the west and all the nations of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. The Prophet Joseph Smith has said that the sign of the coming of the Son of God will not be given until after the sun shall have been darkened and the moon bathed in blood. Read section 133 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

1114 IMPROVEMENT ERA

Books

\ Pageantry The Era has received from Prof. B. Roland Lewis, Department of English, University of Utah, also chairman of the State Committee for the Utah Pilgrim Tercentenary Celebration to he held December 21, 1920, and through the spring of 1921, a bulletin entitled Pageantry and the Pilgrim Tercentenary Celebration, 1620-1920. It contains suggestions on the celebration of the occasion for the Utah schools; how it should be celebrated; the pilgrim pageant in Utah; staging a pageant, including the organization indoors and outdoors; special suggestions for grouping, and four sample pageants: Pilgrim Pageants for the Grades, a Pilgrim Utah Pageant, a Pilgrim Pageant by Victor E. Williams, and a Pilgrim Pageant, by Ethel M. Connelly. It has also a bibliography on writing and staging a pageant, historic development of the pageant, community drama, materials for con> munity pageants, dancing, outdoor pageants, etc., and the current volumes on Plymouth and the Pilgrims. The publication, No. 4, Vol. 10, Bulletin University of Utah, is very valuable for schools, for which it is especially written and adapted, and should be of great service to the Young Men's and Young Ladies' Associations who contemplate staging pageants during this season.

Guide for Stake Institutes The Social Advisory Committee, representing all the auxiliary organizations of the Church, have issued a Syllabus for stake institutes in teachertraining, social and recreational leadership, and charities and relief work. It is a volume of nearly one hundred pages designed for the use of stake and ward social committees and particularly for the stake institutes to be held during the opening of this season. The manual is divided into three parts, treating, first, social and recreational leadership; second, charities and relief work, and third, teacher-training. Each of these divisions is given a comprehensive outline of the program to be carried out in the institute. The book will be of immense value and help to recreational leadership, charities and relief work, and teacher-training leaders, as well as those who desire to make a study of this very important activity now taken up in the various auxiliaries of the Church. The M. I. A. officers are especially interested in social and recreational leadership, and teacher-training, and should be in full attendance at the institutes. The price of the Syllabus is 25c postpaid, and may be obtained by addressing the Executive Secretary of the Social Advisory Committee, Church Office Bldg., Salt Lake City, Utah.

"Bulletin" of Church Statistics Bulletin 142, issued by the Department of Commerce Bureau of the Census, Sam. L. Rogers, director, deals with Church statistics as obtained for the year, 1916. At that time there were in the United States, as shown by the reports, a total of 202 denominations, of which 158 are grouped together in 24 "families" and the rest, 44, are listed separately. According to the Bulletin, no less than 31 denominations were listed for the first time in 1916, owing to division in the existing bodies, or to immigration, or to the appearance of new organizations. There are 15 of this class. The Church of Christ (Scientist) is omitted from the body of the listof denominations, because reliable statistics were not obtainable, and a number of other cults, such as New Thought, Millennial Dawn, Russelites, Holy Rollers, are not counted because of lack of definite organization.

EDITORS' TABLE 1115

In the list as published, there are five classes of Adventists, seventeen different organizations of Baptists, exclusive of the six kinds of Dunkers who are also Baptists. There are nine kinds of "Brethren," seventeen kinds of Methodists, fifteen kinds of Mennonites, twenty-one organizations of Lutherans, ten kinds of Presbyterians, two kinds of Spiritualists, and several so-called Catholic churches. The total number of members reported for all denominations is 41,- 926,854.Of this number the Roman Catholics claim 15,721,815. Next in membership comes the Methodist Episcopal church with 3,717,785. The Methodist Episcopal church, South, reports 2,114,4791 Other denomina- tions stand, as tomembership, as follows: National Baptist Convention, 2,938,579; Southern Baptist Convention, 2,708,870; Presbyterian Church in the United States, 1,611,251; Northern Baptist Convention, 1,232,135; Disciples of Christ, 1,226,028; and Protestant Episcopal church, 1,092,821. The membership of Jewish congregations is given as 351,135. The smallest denomination reported is The Friends (Primitive), with 60 members. Of special interest to the Era are the statistics concerning the Latterday Saints. The total membership in the United States is given as 403,388. They are distributed in the Western states as follows: 1890 1906 1916 Utah 117,640 151,032 257,719 Idaho 14,816 32,159 72,439 Arizona 6,500 6,175 12,496 Wyoming 1,322 5,203 9,447 Nevada 417 1,105 3,429 Colorado 1,640 2,194 3,358 Montana 242 1,460

In other states in the Union the membership is not given in detail. The comparative statistics show that the Roman Catholic church, in 1916, was first in number of members in 33 states and in the District of Columbia, and that in 15 of these states that church represented over 50 per cent of the entire church membership, as against seventeen states in 1906. In the thirty-three states, however, in which the Catholic church led in 1916, it was with a decreasing proportion in twenty-seven, as compared with the figures for 1906, and the most notable reductions were in the states of the Mountain division— Montana, from 76.2 to 56.8; Wyoming, from 46.9 to 32.4; Colorado, from 52.6 to 40.7; and Nevada, from 70.2 to 54.1 per cent. The Latter-day Saints showed an increased proportion in Idaho of from 41.4 to 53.5; and in Nevada, from 6.6 to 21.2 per cent.

Catalog of the Latter-day Saints' School of Music Increased facilities are offered in the Latter-day Saints' school of music beginning the season of 1920 in the historic Gardo House, one of the most ideal situations for such an institution to be found anywhere in the west. This school is in touch with every music activity in the community; and Salt Lake City, where it is located, is the natural music center of the intermountain region. Some of the most experienced and prominent teachers and musicians of the west are members of the faculty, products of the best teachers in this country and Europe. The piano department, voice department, instrument department, the wood-wind and brass instruments department, and the department of theory and lectures, and oral expression and diction, are presided over by competent and well-trained teachers. The L. D. S. school of music has a great advantage; clean, healthy, moral environment surrounding the students in every department. A complete catalog is published, containing detailed information of courses, which will be sent on application to the school, 70 East South Temple Street.