Joseph The Prophet

Joseph The Prophet Remarks by Orson F. Whitney, of the Council of the Twelve, Delivered Before the M. I. A. Conference, Sunday Evening, June 9, 1929 "Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah! Jesus anointed that prophet and seer; Blessed to open the last dispensation; Kings shall extol him and nations revere." MY theme is Joseph the Prophet, founder and first President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A great man — yes, but that is mere platitude, spoken of many men. This man was the most wonderful human being that has walked the earth in two thousand years. He was a light shining in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended him not. Great as Seer, Revelator and Prophet, he was also great as a far-seeing and philanthropic statesman, a patriot par excellence, a thinker without peer. Joseph Smith was known for his respect for law, his reverence for authority. The principles of the Gospel, restored through him to the world, were laws instituted by the eternal Father of All for the uplift of his children — the whole human race; and to him the fundamental law of all laws was obedience to the divine Law-giver. Says this inspired oracle: "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundation of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated; and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." According to his teachings, the glorified planets are God's king- doms; to every kingdom a law has been given; and men and women, to inherit any one of those kingdoms, must abide the law pertaining thereto, whether it be celestial, terrestrial, or telestial. All will be judged according to their works, according to the desires of their hearts, and each will receive a just and fitting recompense in one or another of the "many mansions" of the Father. Joseph Smith was a real and true American, upholding "gov- ernment of the people, by the people, for the people." When asked how he managed to govern a community made up of so many differ- ent nationalities, with all their varying languages, customs, and traditions, he answered; "I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves." He revered the Constitution and the laws enacted in conformity therewith. The only fault he found with the Government — and it was persons, not principles, that he censured — was when the sworn

820 IMPROVEMENT ERA Aug.. 1929 officers of the Government failed to enforce the laws against those who violated them, who trampled upon the rights of law-abiding citizens, persecuted the innocent, robbed them, drove them from their homes, and went unwhipped of justice. He favored freedom for the slaves of the South, not by a costly and ruinous war and the confiscation or devastation of property, but by the fair and honorable purchase of the slaves from their masters, with funds realized from the sale of public lands; thus making their freedom a gift from the Government, the greatest and most generous on earth. "A Utopian dream, impracticable," men said. But the phil- osopher Emerson did not think so; for he advocated, eleven years later, the identical, self-same proposition. Lincoln himself proposed it, even while the war was raging; but his views were frowned upon by the shallow minds surrounding him — pin-head politicians who could not rise to his magnanimous level, but with malice in their hearts, where he had only charity and forgiveness, could think of nothing but revenge and the humiliation of a valiant and vanquished foe. Emerson and Lincoln were men of another stamp; and so was Joseph Smith, the peer of sages and of statesmen, the wonder-man of all the centuries succeeding the age in which One greater still, One who spake as never man spake, proclaimed the love of God and of fellow-men the supreme, over-flowing principle upon which hang all the laws and the prophets. Many great men there have been, but only one Joseph Smith. Were he alive and on earth today, who can doubt what his attitude would be upon the grave questions now agitating his and our be- loved country? Who can doubt that he would be a staunch sup- porter— nay, the very author of the slogan; "We Stand for the Preservation of our Heritage through Obedience to Law." The Night I love the night, the sweeping wings of dark That fold away the weary scenes of day, When restless things take breath and seem to hark For pulse of life and loving worlds away. I love the quiet crooning of the dusk, When twilight drains the ruby from the rose. And every dusty leaf and stalk and husk Is sprayed with dewy incense and repose. I love the swinging stars, where — not so far — My Maker bides beyond the spangled rim. 'Tis in the night I ponder what you are — O soul of mine that reaches up to Him! Mesa, Arizona BERTHA A. KLEINMAN