A Greeting and a Testimony

A Greeting and a Testimony By DR. JOHN A. WIDTSOE - Of the Council of the Twelve and President of the L. D. S. European Missions OTHER duties prevent me from complying with the Editors' request that I write an article for this outstanding issue of the Era. Therefore, a few words of acknowledgment must suffice. Ever since the Gospel found me in my early boyhood, I have been concerned, steadily, with the prin- ciples of truth set forth by Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and their use in daily life. Activity in the re- stored Church of Jesus Christ has yielded full satisfaction. The Church has given me more, in joy and happiness, than I have given in time and energy. But it has been evident that the law of cause and effect has been in full opera- tion in spiritual as in temporal fields. It has been necessary to give of myself in the cause of the Lord, if I were to receive any de- sired reward. As I look back over a lifetime of activity in the Church, it is plain to see that every effort or sacrifice has been as a profitable exchange. HTHE principles of the Gospel, built into a marvelously com- plete and coherent structure of thought, has always been my fa- vorite study. Particularly, have I been interested in the possibility of applying Gospel principles, of conceded spiritual origin, to daily practical life. "Verily, I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal." That is, there is a spiritual value of all temporal things. Life on earth is but a phase, a portion, a period, of an everlasting, infinite purposeful plan. Necessarily, therefore, there must be an interpenetration of the temporal and spiritual worlds. We are not far away from eternal reali- ties; we are part of them. We live in time, earthly time, but the days of earth are but parts of eternity. T)Y the token of the law of ~ equivalence between the spirit- ual and the temporal, the meaning of life is enhanced. Our toil for a livelihood, or for a healthy body by obedience to the Word of Wis- dom, or for education, or for es- thetic development, or for any other worthy purpose, becomes transmuted into a contribution to the spiritual purpose of earth life. Our every act must be so ordered as to fit into the increasing purpose, which should be life's governing law. It must be stamped with spiritual approval. Thus, we help advance, by our every effort, the Kingdom of God on earth as in heaven. We shall win the deep contentment that comes from har- mony with the greatest universal laws. Then life, here and here- after, will be glorified. '"THE marvelous fruits of this doc- trine, and a host of others like unto it, are set forth, I am sure, elsewhere in this issue of the Eta. It must be enough for me to bear grateful witness to the truth and value of the principles of the Gos- pel as accepted and used in my own and other lives. We may well ponder, with willing hearts, upon The author the enlightening effect and the power of the truths delivered by the latter-day Prophet. As I have written elsewhere; "Joseph Smith, viewed at any point, from every angle, in any position, always measures up to the demands of truth, as revealed in human experience. For example, his personal life was that of a prophet. He lived just as prophets of old have lived, misun- derstood, hounded, persecuted, and at last his life was taken. His life reads as do the lives of some of the prophets told in holy writ or else- where. His experience was that of every teacher who attempts to turn men and women from their easy paths of near truth into the walks of full truth. Physically, he was a magnificent man; in spirit, in spite of persecution, disaster and poverty, he was kindly and gentle- manly. He was courageous, and he dared to battle for the right. All who knew him have testified to kindly strength, mingled with undaunted courage, that made him a great soul. He tells how he lived : Sectarian priests cry out concerning me and ask, 'Why is it that this babbler gets so many followers and retains them?' I answer: 'It is because I possess the prin- ciple of love. All that I offer the world is a good heart and a good hand.* "No personal reward such as men usually seek was in his work. The fact that he went through life gladly, meeting difficulties with- out hesitation, and asking for no personal consideration, is another evidence of his sincerity and his unselfish devotion to that which he held to be the eternal truth. To possess truth was his reward." May we enter the coming Gos- pel century with new resolutions to make our lives spiritually worthy, by obedience to the tem- poral laws designed to aid in man's unending salvation!