Our Liberties in Danger

Our Liberties in Danger By Prof. N. L. Nelson IT is natural and inevitable that Latter-day Saints should have a deep reverence for law; for only as law became supreme over the passions and caprices of men, could the Church of Jesus Christ be re-established on the earth. That it did not remain among men, as set up in the days of the Savior, was owing to the absence of»law, and reverence for it, in the medieval world. Law in our own age found its noblest expression in the Con- stitution of the United States. This instrument for the protection of the rights of man was no hastily achieved victory in the cause of truth and righteouness. God had been preparing for it for thou- sands of years. Some of the steps in achieving this victory can easily be traced in history. One of the notable events was the revolution of the Ten Tribes against the tyranny of King Solomon's successor. What these Tribes demanded was the guarantee of their personal rights and liberties. But Rehoboam, intoxicated with his own power, replied: "My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins; for whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father hath chastized you with whips, but I will chastize you with scorpions." Could tyranny find words more scornful and over-bearing than these in which to challenge liberty or law as something above and beyond the whims of the king? To this churlish reply the Ten Tribes sent forth defiance. "To your tents, O Israel!" In other words, "Prepare for war! We will no longer be subject to the tyranny of any king." For two-hundred and fifty years thereafter under their own rulers, the Lord further developed the sense of law and individual liberty, until the time came when they were to be scattered through the northern countries. Who can doubt that this intermingling of the blood of Israel with the primitive peoples of Europe, carrying with it the love of liberty so long inbred among the chosen people, led in due time to the spirit of independence and reverence for con- stitutional law now so widespread throughout the world? Its first notable expression was in the winning of Magna Charta from the tyrant, King John of England- But a clearer statement of the rights of man was found in the Declaration of Independence; and when these same principles of human right and liberty were embodied in the Constitution, we have the highest expression yet formed of the meaning of law and order among men; and of all

744 IMPROVEMENT ERA My. 1929 these rights perhaps the greatest safeguard was that which guarantees religious liberty. The time was now ripe for the bringing in of a new dispensa- tion of the Gospel. Theoretically there should have been perfect protection for the true religion of God as revealed to the prophet Joseph Smith. Practically, however, men had not learned to respect the law and order so achieved by our Father through the long reaches of history. The mobocratic spirit, which in effect is the absence and defiance of law, was still alive in the hearts of men; and so we had the early persecutions of the Church that finally led to the martyrdom of the Prophet and the driving of the Saints into the Rocky Mountains. But after all, the principles of freedom and justice, as set forth in the Constitution, remain constant and effective after the fury of the mob spirit has spent itself. And gradually that influence is having its way more and more throughout America. There are still risings of mob violence here and there, culminating in lynchings and the destruction of property; but these exhibitions of human want of control are no longer defended, even by the actors them- selves. Indeed, a sense of shame and humiliation is often felt throughout a community, where formerly there was exultation, cruel and openly expressed. And so the sense of law and order is gradually leaving its impression on the national character. And from America, where God has made such signal progress in respect for law, the principles of the Constitution have been carried to all parts of the world, especially since the World War. Where now can be found the tyrannical power of Kings? Crowns and coronets no longer stand for special privilege. If they still exist in name they are fast coming to be merely ornaments of the social circle. The meanest beggar in the street may now defy the most formidable tyrant (of recent puissance) so far as any power is left in him to hurt or make afraid. What does all this mean? Simply that God is developing among human beings a higher sense of loyalty than that hitherto given persons. In other words, the harmony of the universe is being put into the constitutions of human commonwealth; and when this movement shall have been completed then will the Millennium have been established on the earth. But now, right in the midst of this fine progress, comes a halt in our hopes and aspirations. In America — America, where personal liberty and law had their birth — there is manifest a dangerous coun- ter-movement— a movement for the disregard of law — known as anti-prohibition. It was to be expected that Satan, who from its earliest inception in pre-existence has opposed the widening of hu-

July, 1929 OUR LIBERTIES IN DANGER 745 man liberty, should find his last stronghold in whisky and the men whose moral sense is submerged and destroyed by habitual intoxi- cation. When you add to the breach of law represented by the gratifi- cation of low appetites, the further evil of illicit money-making at the expense of moral law, we have negative forces that must not be pooh-poohed or despised. Indeed, in this breaking of law, which ought to hide its head in shame, there have been enlisted courage, shrewdness, and danger up to the hazard of life itself, to help lift the devilish business into respectability; and so it happens that many a man and woman, who would scorn to be called law-breakers, are secret aiders in bootlegging and the evils, widespread such as racketeering, gangster war, and sex immorality, that follow in its wake. Good men among all social and religious organizations do not fail to see this hidden evil of anarchy, in spite of the false colors under which it is masquerading; and they are not slow to raise their voices against it. Unfortunately the age is one in which little heed is paid to men of wisdom and staid judgment. The younger genera- tion has assumed for itself the interpretation pf what life should mean; and these fine spirits, who may be relied upon to find them- selves ultimately, are just now uncertain as to whether prohibition should be supported or disregarded. In this state of hesitancy, they fail to sense clearly the deeper evil below it all — the nullification of the fundamental law of the nation. If this disregard for law were confined merely to bootlegging, then the violence to human liberty would not be so serious; for we are all coming to see that the curbing of human appetites can be accomplished, not by legal means, but only by individual force of character — character made strong by moral training. But the evil soon spreads to other aspects of law and order, just as when a disease makes its inroad upon the human system, breaking down first this organ and then that, until death is the result. The nullification of law in one direction soon weakens the respect for law in all direc- tions; and presently what humanity gained in the Declaration of Independence will be lost again in the widespread deterioration of moral fibre in the national character. Now just as it is a belief among Latter-day Saints that the Constitution was inspired of God, so it follows that this conserva- tion of law and liberty must be upheld among us as the voice of God himself. And prophecies have not been wanting that whenever its sacred principles are being violated, the Latter-day Saints will come to the rescue, so now the time is plainly at hand; and the combined voices of Zion find expression in last year's slogan of the

746 IMPROVEMENT ERA My. 19Z9 Mutual Improvement Association: "We stand for Law, for the people who live it, and the officers who enforce it," as also in the new slogan for this year, "We stand for the Preservation of Our Heritage through Obedience to Law." In the former slogan there are three distinct propositions; first, we stand for law, whether revealed in scripture, or expressed in na- ture, or recorded in the highest wisdom of human enactment; for in law only is there uniformity, and therefore justice and liberty. Sec- ond, we stand shoulder to shoulder with all men and women throughout the nation who are restraining natural individual tenden- cies so as to achieve respect for law; finally — and here comes our real chance to help — we stand for the officers who enforce the law. With- out us they are powerless, and soon give up all active efFort to put down evil. They need our eyes to help see the evil, our moral support to make the evil hideous, and our active cooperation in bringing law- breakers before the courts of justice. If we subscribe to this slogan, a sense of decency and honesty should make it supreme in our personal conduct, and also in the help we are willing to give in the suppression of the dastardly nullification of our greatest safe-guard of life and liberty. In conclusion let me ask, in the language of the hymn: Who's on the Lord's side — who? Now is the time to show; We ask it fear- lessly, Who's on the Lord's side — Who? Lowland forest arches overhead, and checkers the ground with darkness; but the pine, growing in scattered groups, leaves the glades between emerald- bright. Its gloom is all its own; narrowing into the sky, it lets the sunshine strike down to the dew. * * * The third character which I want you to notice in the pine is its exquisite fineness. Other trees rise against the sky in dots and knots, but this in fringes. You never see the edges of it, so subtle ore they; and for this reason — it alone of trees, so far as I know, is capable of the fiery change which we saw before had been noticed by Shakespeare. When the sun rises behind a ridge crested with pine, provided the ridge be at a distance of about two miles, and seen clear, all the trees, for about three or four degrees on each side of the sun, become trees of light, seen in clear flame against the darker sky, and dazzling as the sun itself. I thought at first this was owing to the actual lustre of the leaves; but I believe now it is caused by the cloud- dew upon them, — every minutest leaf carrying its diamond. It seems as if these trees, living always among the clouds, had caught part of their glory from them; and, themselves the darkest of vegetation, could yet add splendor to the sun itself. — Ruskin: Modern Painters.