--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Brimhall, George H. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 25 number: 4 published: 1922-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'George H. Brimhall, "Sources of Joy and Factors of Happiness: Lessons XVI–XVIII," *Improvement Era* 25, no. 4 (February 1922): 339–347.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2504unse 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: improvementera2504unse start_page: 339 end_page: 347 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1922-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2504unse publication_year: 1922 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 1922, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Sources of Joy and Factors of Happiness: Lessons XVI–XVIII Sources of Joy and Factors of Happiness A Study for the Advanced Senior Class, M. I. A., 1921-22 By Dr. George H. Brimhall Lesson XVI. — Large Families (Part I){ Preliminary Statement. — Next thing to existence is increase on this earth. All nature proclaims this fact, and God gave the first commandment in keeping with the laws of nature. Science and relig- ion started out hand in hand. The story of the one and the commands of the other make parallel columns of the history of the world; each is the other in a different language; there is no difference except in in- terpretation. Next to increase is improvement, and improvement means advance- ment in the direction of life, in the direction of liberty, in the direc- tion of the pursuit of happiness. If, in our pursuit of happiness, we diverge from either the line of life or of liberty the divergence makes impossible the reaching of the object of our pursuit. Any en- joyment purchased at the price of life's perpetuity, or liberty's gift, which is the privilege of obeying law, is paid for at the price of in- dividual imbecility and race ruin. The call of science, as a rule, is in the direction of revelation, but there is often a tendency to so over-emphasize minor considera- tions and non-essentials that the *Note: This lesson has been ad- vanced on the schedule on account of the social pressure of the problem of eu- genics as affecting birth control. chief objects are thrown into ob- scurity. Eugenics is feeling its way; it is seeking for truth, and its appli- cation for the betterment of the race. Eugenics, the science of hu- man husbandry, or the improve- ment of the human race through breeding, is not calling for smaller families among the inferior in any such high tones as it is calling for larger families among the superior. The Latter-day Saints, socially se- lect as they are, and theologically elect as they are, have no occa- sion to be concerned with the fash- ionable hue and cry about birth control; they can well afford in this matter to "stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." /. The Contribution of Large Families to the Happiness of the Individual. 1. With capacity to carry it, the greater the responsibility the greater the happi- ness, else why seek leadership? The larger the family the greater the respon- sibility. 2. Large families develop courage in the parent, and the consciousness of cour- age is a form of joy. 3. Families inspire hope, in proportion to their size, and hope is happiness. If one child brings more hope than fear, ten children would bring relatively ten times more hope than fear. l7As a rule, large families make it possible for each child to know what is meant by a brother's love and compan- ionship, and a sister's love and compan- ionship, and this requires a family group 340 IMPROVEMENT ERA containing at least two boys and two girls. 5. Large families furnish greater op- portunity for training in the art of "liv- ing and let live," tolerating and forgiv- ing. Child tyranny is quite impossible in a large family. 6. The large domestic group requires industry, which is the source of half our joys. The happiness of idleness is a delusion, to > often found in small fam- ilies. //. The Large Family Contributes to Community Welfare and Happiness. 1. The family is the fundamental so- cial unit. The community is a unity composed of social units. The stronger the units the stronger the community, and strength, as we have said in other lessons, is a source of safety, and safety is a condition of happiness. 2. Large families are centers of kin- ship and sympathy, which lessens the possibility of individuals becoming pub- lic charges. The family group is loath to let one of its number be put in the community charity line. 3. Family pride is apt to increase in proportion to the size of the group. Qual- ity being equal, the larger the family the greater the pride. Family pride op- erates strongly against tendencies towards criminality. Many a person resists temp- tation through family loyalty, when his self-respect would not be sufficient to keep him straight. The criminal even changes his name to shield his relatives quite as often as to shield himself. ///. Large Families and Educa- tion.— It needs no argument to prove that the production of chil- dren capable of being educated is of more importance than educating them. First the child and then the education. The emphasis of the paramount importance of the former does not detract from the intrinsic value of the latter. Education is a process of acqui- sition, and it should be made a stimulus towards increase. It seems strange indeed that a class of per- sons who are supposed to be the most highly trained in the selec- tion of values should so invest their time, attention, and energy in mak- ing acquisitions for man that they neglect the perpetuity of man. The search now is for the cause of this dangerous discrepancy; is it in the individual or in the system? How far has the current cry of over- population been due to college sophistry? The college graduate has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Judged by what thjey have done they would wilfully let the race waste away. Statistics show that graduates from women's colleges produce and rear fewer than one child each. For this de- ficiency the women are not to be held chiefly responsible. "Dr. CattelFs investigation of one thousand contemporary American men of science, all of which were probably not complete, however, shows that they have on the average less than two surviv- ing children." — Applied Eugenics, Pop- enoe and Johnson. If the world be safe left to science, it is evidently not safe, left to scientists. "The spirit of the world is contagious. We cannot live in the midst of such so- cial conditions without suffering from the effects of their allurements. Our young people will be tempted to follow the example of the world ahoul them. There is already a strong tendency to make sport of the obligations to marry. Pre- texts of ambition are set up as an excuse to postpone marriage till some special object is attained. Some of our leading young men desire to complete first a course of study\ at home or abroad. Being natural leaders in society, their example is dangerous, and the excuse is one of questionable propriety." It were better far that many such young men never went to college than that the ex- cuse of college life be made the reason for postponing marriage beyond the SOURCES OF JOY AND FACTORS OF HAPPINESS 341 proper age. Gospel Docrine, Pres. Joseph F. Smith, page 353. Social Aspect. — The very thought of curtailment of increase from selfish motives is degenerative. We may seek excuses behind the influ- ences of economic factors, such as are set forth by Poponoe and Johnson, in Applied Eugenics, pages 274-275: First, it costs more to clothe children than it used to; second, it costs more to feed them than it used to; third, the cost of medical attention has increased; fourth, the cost of domestic labor is greater; fifth, the standards of education have risen steadily. Nevertheless, our increased facil- ities of production should more than offset our needs. Consider the courage of that peerless patri- arch of modern Israel, President Joseph F. Smith, whose judgment, as to values, is worthy the atten- tion of the lawmakers of nations. "There has, however, of late arisen a condition in our social life that is work- ing against the divine requirements of motherhood. Men and women plead the enormous increase in the cost of child bearing. The requirements for mother- hood, in matters of doctors' fees, nurses' bills, and hospital charges, are so great as to discourage men and women of slender means. The burden of such expenses are certainly becoming great, and if they are likely to stand directly in the way of God's requirements, some- thing should be done either to remove them or mitigate them, and some means should be provided that will protect the family and the nation against de- struction. It is a problem well worthy the attention of our law-makers, who ap- propriate generously in matters that are insignificant when compared wi:h the health, wealth, and physical prosperity of the nation that encourages the birth of children." — Gospel Doctrine, pages 362-3. While much good may be ex* traded from the findings of eugen- ics, the Latter-day Saints have too much light to accept as truth the unapproved and popular theory "that man has risen from the ape, chiefly through the action of nat- ural selection." Applied Eugen- ics, Popenoe and Johnson, page 117. Neither will the Latter-day Saints accept without reserve the idea that there is any danger of the earth becoming populated with beings of whom it were better had they never been born. Their op- timism concerning the progressive conquest of the best, and our faith in a divinity that shapes our ends, protect us from the fear of de- generacy or racial extinction. Story. — There came to Provo an advocate of child-birth curtail- ment. Wherever she found what to her was an overgrowing family, she proceeded to turn on her X- rays of information for the sus- pension of increase. One promis- ing young mother sent the officious reformer to the father of the grow- ing group with the remark, "See him, I am happy with things as they are going." The birth-control advocate next called upon a lady of wealth who had five husky youngsters and ex- plained to her the danger of de- teriorating family blood through having too many children, but she found herself face to face with a duplicate of the mother of the Gracchi, who informed the reform- er (?) that children are jewels, and that women are fond of jewels. The birth-control advocate next placed her case before a daughter- in-law of the late Mariner W. Mer- 342 vlPROVEMENT ERA rill, and warned the lady of the growing group against the danger of incapacitating children by over child-bearing,and of the unwisdom of placing economic obstacles in the way of their getting an educa- tion. And when the young mother informed her of the fact that the husband of the household was one of the twelve children of his moth- er and told her of the number of college graduates in the family of which he was a part, the psuedo scientist immediately listed the Merrill family as an exception to the rule. And had she been told of the high college rate standing of the state of Utah she would have listed uncivilized Utah as an edu- cational exception. And had the forerunner of folly become up-to- date in her information before starting on her mission, she would have advocated capacity increase among the class of people who gave her such an unwelcome reception, and she would have known that with rare exceptions every child born of goodly parents is an asset to society, regardless of the num- ber of elder brothers and sisters it may have. The real assets of in- dividuals or institutions are sour- ces of joy and factors of happiness. Conclusion. — Gathered from the four corners of the earth, the chosen of the Lord cannot be stampeded on to the highway of race ruin, from large families to small families, and from small fam- ilies to no families. Questions and Problems 1. What are the parental advantages of having a large family? 2. What individual chances for devel- opment has the child of a large family? 3. Show the stabilizing social influences of large families. 4. Give instances to show that the Lat- ter-day Saints' educational ideal does not require a choice between college train- ing and a family, but provides for a col- lege education with a family. 5. What is the minimum size of an ideal family? 6. How does the college graduate en- danger education by failing to produce and rear a family. 7. Why should it be the ambiiion of college graduates to produce larger fam- ilies than any other class of people? 8. Discuss the proposition: As an as- set to the race the person who transmits the capacity to get an education is greater than the one who gets the education and fails to transmit that capacity. 9. Which are we most in need of, laws premiumizing large families among the fit, or laws preventing the reproduction of the inferior human species? Refer- ences: Special valuable reference on eu- genics: First two articles in the Scien- tific Monthly, November 1921. 10. Show that in the rearing of large families, we keep the commandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother." Lesson XVII. — Large Families (Concluded) Theological Aspect. — First of all which could not be obtained with there are spirits in the spirit world who are entitled to earth life. They were sufficiently faithful and loyal in their premortal state to merit being "added upon" by having a body, a mortal body, as an instru- ment of progressive enjoyment, out that body. The first command, to the first couple, had behind it the keeping of this promise made to the spirits in the premortal state. This first mission given to man made him the caretaker of the tree of eternal SOURCES OF JOY AND FACTORS OF HAPPINESS 343 race life, and for him to let it perish through neglect would be to nullify the solemn pledge of di- vinity to multitudes yet unborn. As to whether the quality of per- fection of the body is in any way conditioned by the conduct of the spirit in its ante-mortal estate, we may consider the man blind from birth whose case was presented to the Savior with the question, "Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born doctrine of a free agency in the question could not have been one committed in the flesh, and the Master seems to have accepted the question as consistent, for in his answer he said, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." John 9:2- 3. Christ not only answered their question in full, but he taught the doctrine of a free agency in the spirit world later declared to the Prophet Joseph, (Doctrine and Covenants 29:36) through which spirits could accept a mission of carrying a physical handicap to further the purposes of the Lord. In this one particular, the privil- ege of being born on earth, the spirits were all made equal, not- withstanding the fact that they varied in their intelligence and perhaps in merit, each received a fulness of reward. Pearl of Great Price, Book of Abraham 3:18, 19. When man went forth from the Garden of Eden, he took with him the fire of conscience, and the torch of race life. The first he was heroically to pass on with no di- minishing flame, the second he was to rekindle in posterity with no lessening glow. In becoming the progenitor of a being in the likeness and image of God, man approaches nearest to creatorship, and in fathering and mothering the divinely fashioned offspring, the man and woman re- ceive training fitting them for di- vine comradship in joyful expand- ing service. Neither quantity nor quality alone, but both are con- siderations in posterity. The promise to Abraham was not lim- ited to leadership, it included the posterity of counttess legions. His blood was to be widely sprinkled, his intelligence was to rule, and an affinity between his blood, or physical progenitorship, and the Holy Ghost should persist. Regeneration is provided for in three ways; first, through the ju- dicious mating of the best with the best, the good with the good; second, by consistent capacity in- crease; third, by companionship with the Holy Ghost, which gives gifts unto men, even the gift of physical regeneration through stimulating the noble blood strains in the individual and throwing in- to the background and ultimately eliminating the low blood strains in the individual, and placing him on a higher level of progenitorship, through which posterity may in- herit the transmissible qualities of the nobler ancestry. See Joseph Smith, Compendium, page 268- 269. Baptism by the Holy Ghost is re- birth spiritually and works a physical remaking. Every expe- rience had under the inspiration of 344 IMPROVEMENT ERA the Holy Ghost, whether it be in secret prayer, Sunday school les- sons, or temple ordinances, is a process of eugenic improvement, as well as one of spiritual growth. To have a desire for and to put forth effort in rearing large fam- ilies is to be in harmony with God in one of the great fundamentals of life, and harmony with God is one of the three great conditions of happiness, the other two being in harmony with self, and in har- mony with society. Every marriage performed in the temple of the Lord with right- eous intent and proper authority is the foundation of an eternal fam- ily government, and, other things being equal, the greater the citi- zenry of that government the great- er that government here and here- after. Children inherit from their parents, and parents who are eternally wedded inherit their children in the world to come, and the size of the family circle in the hereafter will have a bearing up- on the joy and happiness of those to whom that family belongs. In- telligence and offspring carry over as eternal riches, and the glory of God is not only intelligence but intelligences. The idea that large families de- teriorate the stock is scientifically untrue, and theologically falacious, as is also the theory that children born of parents late in life are in- ferior. Neither Jacob, Joseph, nor Benjamin were inferior. It is not improbable that many of the most far-seeing and highest grade spirits are yet unborn, held back, perchance, from choice or some special divine purpose. It is beyond question that we are engaged in a "great and mar- velous work" and its greatness is increasing every day. The intelli- gences of which we would be par- ents are entitled to bodies through which they can most efficiently fill their mission, and while the best of us may expect to have our share of responsibility in provid- ing for the mediocre and even the inferior, taken all in all, the better the preparation through sex selec- tion, right living, and spiritual stimulation, the greater the prepa- ration for the high grade spirits, and possibly the greater the cer- tainty of having them come through our lineage. It would seem that a people whose destiny is to lead the world should draw from the ranks of leaders in the spirit world. As to the spiritual danger of in- terfering with the migration from the spirit world to earth, the fol- lowing is a patriarchal warning: "Young men want to get homes that are palatial, that are fine in all their ap- poinments, and as modern as anybody else's before they will get married. I think it is a mistake. I think that young men and young women, too, should be willing, even at this day and in the present condition of things, to enter the sacred bonds of marriage together and fight their way together to success, meet their obstacles and their difficulties, and cleave together to success, and to co- operate in their temporal affairs, so that they shall succeed; then they will learn to love one another better and will be more united throughout their lives, and the Lord will bless them more abund- antly. I regret, I think it is a crying evil, that there should exist a sentiment or a feeling among any members of the Church to curtail the birth of their chil- dren. I think that is a crime wherever it occurs where husband and wife are in SOURCES OF JOY AND FACTORS OF HAPPINESS 345 possession of health and vigor and are free from impurities that would be en- tailed upon their posterity. I believe that where people undertake to curtail or prevent the birth of their children that they are going to reap disappoint- ment by and by. I have no hesitancy in saying that, I believe this is one of the greatest crimes of the woild today, this evil practice. Gospel Doctrine, Joseph F. Smith, page 349. Questions and Problems 1. Show that having a large family was one of the great desires of Abraham. Pearl of Great Price, Book of Abraham 1:2. 2. Wherein do our Church educational institutions offer the best opportunities for high grade mating? 3. What are the conditions that make the rearing of children theologically ob- ligatory? Gospel Doctrine, page 349. 4. Discuss the statement: The desire for, and willingness to produce and rear, large families bears psychic fruit that is acceptable to the Lord. 5. How many people who have no chil- dren prove the genuineness of their de- sire for a large family. 6. Discuss the statement: The glory of Godhood is not only intelligence, but in- telligences. Lesson XVIII. — Agency Preliminary. — In this lesson agency shall mean the privilege of acting for or in behalf of another. It shall mean deputized authority. In an act of agency the actor is more than himself; he is himself olus the authority conferred; 1m has a responsibility greater than that of his own; it is a cooperative responsibility. All of his individual responsibil- ity is added to by the responsibil- ity of the source of his authority. However small or brief this authority may be, the exercise of it in righteousness is a source of joy; it carries with it the con- sciousness of being trusted as well as the feeling of elevation in power. The child sent on a mes- sage to speak for an older mem- ber of the family, or for the par- ent, has a sense of exaltation and a consciousness of importance above what he would experience in performing the same act without the family authority behind it. This condition was evidently be- hind the remark of the Savior when he said to his mother, "Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business?" Happiness flows through the delegation of authority with as much naturalness as the blood courses through the veins. /. Agency as a Source of Social Joy. A. In Government. — In absolute monarchies, where the throne is a family inheritance, the delegation of authority follows a line of de- scent from the monarch to the peo- ple, and if the imperial head is the embodiment of wisdom, courage, and kindness, the commonwealth will have happiness. In democra- cies the source of authority is in the people, who concentrate that authority and confer it on their elect, who become the state or the government, vested with power from the people to delegate author- ity for the protection and control of the individual, or of the citi- zen, and thus we have a govern- ment of the people by the people, a sort of group self control. The 346 IMPROVEMENT ERA great objective of it all is union and liberty, the first a condition of strength, the second a condition of freedom, both of which are high states of joy. To eliminate the idea of the delegation of authority in govern- ment would relegate humanity to the realm of animal instinct, where impulse reigns and thinking has no place. B. In Business. — In business the delegation of authority is the ex- pression of financial faith. As in the family the man is made happy by having a child to trust, and the child is made happy by being trusted with agency; and as in gov- ernment the people joyously elect leaders, and leaders enjoy the leadership, so in business does the principal enjoy having a trusted agent, and the agent enjoys having a trusting principal. Business contributions to happi- ness is in proportion to its pro- ductive and distributive power, and it needs no argument to show that without the delegation of au- thority the business of the world in all its branches would lose most of its power to produce and dis- tribute. Without gome form of business agency the wheels of com- merce would clog instantly and our industries would stand paralyzed. Spiritual Agency. — S p i r i t u a 1 agency is authority to act in the name of Divinity, or the delegation of supermortal agency to mortals. In all cases of the delegation of authority the principal had two aims: first, the accomplishing of the work; second, the training of the agent. The apex of anxiety of these two considerations is that the agent may become as the prin- cipal is, in strength and trust- worthiness. The command, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect" could not be obeyed without opportunity to act for Divinity and with Divinity, and finally as a Divinity. Spiritual agency therefore is an indispens- able factor in the growth of man- hood towards Godhood, and the exercise of this agency is a process of character forging in which every hammer stroke is a part of the soul song, "Nearer, my God, to Thee." Little wonder that Abraham, a born heir, sought the appointment of agency to act officially for the Lord. See Pearl of Great Price, Book of Abraham, 1:2-4. Christ recognized the principle that power accompanies the delegation of authority, when he ordained his chosen twelve before sending them forth. Matt. 10:1-20; Luke 9:1-9. Divine agency is the link which officially connects the now with the hereafter, and the earth with the heavens; and mortality with immortality. Without it the per- forming of ordinance is a spiritual assumption and without ordinance religion becomes a mere theory of salvation. Satan lost his standing in heaven by demanding God's authority. Man climbs back to God through the exercise of God's graciously delegated authority, and the climb is not alone with man for "the man is not without the wom- an in the Lord," i. e., not as God. They, man and his complement, woman, not supplement, in a state SOURCES OF JOY AND FACTORS OF HAPPINESS 347 of oneness receive of a fulness of 2. Show how delegated authority helps glory, perfect joy and complete the P™ncipal and adds to the agent. v. j«.. j . 3. What are the advantages of a wide happiness; a condition and posi- distribution of responsibility? tion unreachable save through a 4. Illustrate the indispensability of del- successful experience with divine egated authority in business. agency. "If you wish to go were 5- ,How doe8 the Lord Prove his de8|re r> j • » 1, 1*1 r iM ai to share his power and authority with God is you must be like God. Al hig chiidren? other roads of righteousness end 6. What educational object has the outside the realm of Godhood, the Lord in delegating authority? priesthood path alone continues on . 7- Prove theologically that a man must W' - __ 1 . 1 . M n v 4. have a woman to share the blessing of to that high point of exaltation. the Priesthood with him, in order l0 get the highest benefits of that Priest- Questions and Problems hood. ; 8. Discuss the saying of Elder Melvin ,mi .j»- ri_»r J- Ballard, "The priesthood is not given 1. To the consideration of what form ta „ -' „* #„i of agency is this lesson limited? to man for ornamental purposes.' The Snowstorm The night has come, and all the chores are done, And now we circle 'round the open hearth — While out-of-doors the flakes fall one by one, They fall as silent feathers to the earth. They dance along the shaft of window light Which slants across the garden and the lane; And we delight to watch that streak of white Till our warm breaths have dimmed the cold, dark pane. All night the snow clouds shake their fluffy wings; And crystals flutter in their light descent To shape blanched structures 'mid hushed whisperings, Till all the whiteness of the sky is spent. How clean and fresh the mantle o'er the ground, Each marbled roof, each smooth, enameled way; Then comes the echo of each morning sound, The chanticleer announcing light of day, The muffled shovling of the trencher's spade, The tinkling of some sleigh-bells far away, And children's laughter as they romp and wade; Thus swells the village murmur, glad and gay. On woodland slope, on town, on mead and fallow The clouds have shaken water, light and heat; And here, knee-deep, we villagers now wallow In Heaven's blessing spread beneath our feet. Lcnurence J. Sorenson Logan, Utah