Among the loftiest conceptions of the world of mind, relative to the
purposes and being of man, has, in human wisdom, been formulated to be
the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This
sentiment has found an echo in every age, when the intelligence with
which man is inherently endowed has been favored with a development to
a degree adequate to this conception. And although this principle in
the general bearing upon human interests is accepted by the
intelligence of all countries and all peoples, we discover that our
principles and sentiments are in advance of the moral and intellectual
culture requisite to their full and complete development. But wherever
and whenever the best cultivated minds have been moved to pronounce
their conceptions upon the destiny of man, they have ever incorporated
those principles and those rights in their constitutional manifestoes.
And amid the multitudinous concerns and divine interests, in which the
human mind is engrossed, there is always a sacred spot reserved for
the welcoming and christening of those principles in the human heart.
Moreover, whenever these principles have been invaded and the sanctity
of the conditions involved in them has been imposed upon by ignorance
and superstition or unbridled and uncultivated passions, they have
ever resulted in sorrow, distress and anguish to the family of man.
In speaking a few Sabbaths ago I made reference to the genesis or
origin of things, and quoted an inquiry which was very beautifully put
by the intelligent individual who made the inquiry, namely, "Whence
are all things, and whither do all things tend?" and then remarked
that the highest and loftiest aim of man must necessarily be to obtain
the conception of his origin and his final destiny. Short of this, his
life would be an aimless life, and his acts would be acts without
intelligent motives; they would be disconnected: they would bear no
reference to the past, no reference to the future, but would be acts
produced as the result of the force of circumstances, urging an
acquiescence and recognition of the pressure by which he was
surrounded, and yielding to the authority of that force.
But to the free and intelligent man and woman who ascend above the narrow zones and stratas of human life, who rise to a higher plain
of intellectuality and who begin to perceive the vast extent over
which human interests are spread and the undoubted right of
association of those interests to go in one grand fraternal whole, in
one bond of human unity, they must be led to inquire into those
matters, and in doing so to satisfy themselves, at least, according to
their highest standard of knowledge, and their widest scope of
experience and observation, so that they might have in view an object,
a mark, a prize towards which they should aim, a prize for which they
should run a race, a work to be performed for which they should
receive a reward; impelled by the eternal, heaven-born endowments
which, under favorable influences and proper circumstances, they would
feel awakened within them, impelling them, urging them to advance to a
higher standard of moral and intellectual excellence, and be able to
perform a work for the advancement of their race, for the amelioration
of the condition of human society, that they might leave the world, in
some small degree though it may be, the better for their living in it.
We conceive, my brethren and sisters, that these are motives that no
well-directed line of thought can escape, that these are feelings that
no heart imbued with the genuineness of its nature, which we inherit
as the patrimony of our Father and God can entertain, without being
moved thereby; and we certainly could not become oblivious to these
considerations whatever may be the conditions or conceptions in which
we find ourselves and those with whom we are more immediately
associated in the fabric of human society—we must feel that this
great, grand, dominating principle is ever presenting its modest claim
upon our allegiance, that we should not only desire to enjoy the right
to life but the right to liberty, and the right to pursue happiness
according to our highest conceptions of that happiness and that
liberty.
As Latter-day Saints we feel that this is our prerogative; we feel
that the words which I have quoted, although I stated that they were
formulated by human wisdom, but I beg to qualify that statement by a
word or two to convey my meaning more clearly to you upon this
subject. It is true that we draw a line of demarcation between human
wisdom and wisdom from above—between the human and divine; that we
draw a broad line by which we distinguish the one from the other; but
when we express ourselves in harmony with the common principle which
enters into the structure of our faith, as Latter-day Saints, we find
that this line becomes more and more attenuated; we find that it loses
that distinctness which we once thought should ever exist between what
we call temporal and spiritual, and we find ourselves, being guided by
the inspirations of our faith and the principles which we have
espoused, coming nearer and nearer into a union, and more closely in
harmony with that sentiment expressed by one of the ancient prophets:
"Fear God and keep his commandments: this is the whole duty of man."
This sentiment was uttered long centuries ago, when men, according to
modern writers and speakers, were supposed to enjoy only the light of
Paganism, guided by the government of barbarism in the lower stages of
the scale of human elevation—in the dark ages. But, my friends, if
there is a sage or philosopher that has ever uttered a
sentiment or declared a principle or enunciated a law by which he
would give birth to his conception of the philosophy of life, of the
purpose of human existence, that could express it more forcibly, more
philosophically or in stricter harmony with the principles of exact
science than this ancient Prophet, then I know not his name nor am I
acquainted with him as an author.
Permit me, in a few words, to illustrate my meaning upon this
principle. We will suppose that a master builder has conceived a plan
for a magnificent structure, for a beautiful residence, for a temple
of worship, for a temple of science, for a temple of freedom, a temple
of truth; and he would embody, as the result of his deep and practical
investigation into the wants and necessities embodied in his
conception, a necessary provision to meet those wants, to supply those
necessities, and to accord with the character of the work, or the
results to be produced after the work should be completed, that there
was no part of the plan conceived as being unnecessary or beyond what
was called for, or any part of the structure that was built for
nought, and that might as well be disposed of as to have it; but he
would feel that he had completed his ground plan, the several floor
plans, even to the topmost stone or the last elaborate and artistic
touch of the painter's brush or mechanic's chisel, according to the
genius of decorative art, that it was all necessary to carrying out
the external principles and character and importance of the work to be
performed and of the results to follow the completion of this labor.
If this be true in works of art, if this be true also in the various
labors of life, in the domain of agriculture as well as the domain of
art, in every department of nature as well as in every department of
art, we see design and purpose, we see invention and system, we see
the indelible mark of intent upon every part designed to constitute
the entire and perfect whole; and we would say that the man who would
conclude that the work of such an architect, of such a master builder,
was unnecessary, was simply an utterance of mind that was unfavorable
to more mature investigation of such matters, and consequently could
not be considered a competent judge upon such a subject.
We regard man as the highest form of intellectual and moral existence
with which we are acquainted. We regard man as the most perfect
embodiment of all the creations of nature with which we are
acquainted. He possesses the highest development of a nervous system,
the most complex organization in all its parts, the most fruitful
brain, producing the grandest results witnessed in every form of
animated existence; and if this be true—and I have never yet seen a
man who could be considered by his best friends to be sane who doubted
it—then we must admit that if man who is created with a complement of
capabilities, with a capacity for advancement in knowledge of a
variety of degrees and kinds, and that he is adapted in his mental and
moral nature to perform works that are productive of the highest
possible good, not only to himself as an intelligent being, but to
all subordinate or inferior forms of life with which he is surrounded,
we certainly cannot fail to come right into the presence of this
inquiry: "Whence are all things, and whither do all things tend?"
Many and wide are the specula tions indulged in by men who feel
free to give themselves the most unbounded latitude in their
speculations, forming theories not only devoid of ingeniousness, not
only devoid of truth and symmetry, but possessing some features of
fascination for the intellectual and good among mankind; yet, where do
we find in the whole realm of mind, where through all the ages that
have gone by, men that have wandered and gleaned information from
every open avenue among the various civilizations which the words of
history give unto us a knowledge of, is there a more rational and
consistent solution of this question than is found in the writings of
the most ancient historian and primitive lawgiver, Moses: "God made
man in his own image; in the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them."
If then, my friends, we have an origin—and there is no doubt but that
we have; and there are very few men with whom I have come in contact
that have ever hesitated to admit man's origin. It will therefore be
rational to enquire whence are we. But to trace back through the ages
that have elapsed and take a retrospective gaze into the past and
endeavor to unearth the history of lost civilization; to exhume from
the buried ruins the intelligence that existed upon the surface of
this globe during the long, long centuries that have gone by, and
there glean the very cream and gather together the most precious
sentiments ever enunciated by sage or philosopher, can we find
anything superior to this? No, we cannot, my friends; there is none on
record. Pardon my freedom in making so broad and conclusive a
statement; but I speak after many years' reflections, and after
considerable research.
And although, my beloved brethren and sisters, many grand and
cherished principles have been brought to light by man's will and
power of investigation, by seeking to open nature's temples and
explore her departments and endeavor to comprehend law through
phenomena, and formulate the laws of nature in harmony with the
connected and continuous occurrences of events, with the uniform
appearance and reappearance of her operations, and they have been
gratified with the glorious results which have followed the earnest,
the honest and indefatigable labors of good men, men who have
sacrificed friends and homes and associations, who have bid adieu to
their dearest friends on earth, sacrificing all the comforts and
luxuries with which they were surrounded to embark on the ocean of
peril and uncertainty in pursuit of principles which they felt were to
be discovered, and results to be attained by persistent and
indefatigable labor. They have traveled to earth's utmost bounds; they
have endured hardships, and many of them have sacrificed their lives
in order to accumulate a fund of human knowledge to add to those
experiences which seem indisputably necessary to build up society upon
its more enduring basis. Yet, my friends, have they ever brought to
light by their researches, without naming those worthies for whom I
entertain profound respect, a great many of them, have they ever
introduced to the human family such a plain, such a clear, lucid and
satisfactory explanation of the principles of which I have spoken, and
to which I am now alluding—the design of man and his final destiny
upon the earth—as is given in the records of revelation. It is true
that the scientific man is satisfied that there is a high
destiny awaiting man; that there is an ultimatum pertaining to his
being that science cannot unfold, that philosophy cannot teach, that
man's experience and observation cannot gather the materials for the
solution of; but they see a grandness in the structure of the human
frame, they see a profoundness in the constitution of his mind; they
see such a variety of adaptations and combinations in his person that
augurs for him a higher life and nobler results and grander purposes,
than are presented within the narrow realm of his mortal sphere, in
which he now sojourns. But to say what that life is, to explain what
will be his future destiny and the future destiny of the human family
at large, the earth and the universe, who can tell? The wisest of men
here bow their heads in humility, their countenances become more or
less suffused with expressions of humiliation. They stand in the
presence of the future, the effect of which they feel, but the
character of which they do not comprehend; and they will say with
Professor Proctor and others, that whatever may be the laws that will
bring to pass the resurrection of the world, as the prophets have
said, it will die and pass away; what will be the laws and powers and
forces that will make themselves manifest in the resurrection or
regeneration of matter, they do not know, but they believe that there
exists in nature an intelligent power which will conduct her
operations to eternal perpetuity.
My friends, we are indebted to revelation as the source of knowledge;
we are indebted to God and angels, and the spirit of revelation, for
our understanding of those divine principles which afford a clear and
final solution to these important and vital inquiries. As Latter-day
Saints we appeal to this source; and while we do not ignore any truth,
come from where it may, or wherever found, whether upon Christian or
heathen ground, we hail the light of the everlasting Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ which has been revealed in our day and dispensation
as the only unerring, as the only truthful and unqualifiedly certain
mode of interpretation by which we can attain to a knowledge of these
things. We may say, the works of God and the word of God both
constitute the avenues of human information, and that whoever ignores
the one deprives himself of much of the benefits which flow from
accepting the other; that there are two doors which open to the temple
of truth, and they are both indispensably necessary to engage man's
full capacity and to endow him with the principles of knowledge, and
with the purposes of his being here upon the earth, together with his
origin and final destiny.
My beloved friends, I feel grateful for a knowledge of these things; I
feel thankful that God has restored again the fulness of the Gospel of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and that we are living in the
dispensation in which God has foretold through his ancient servants
the prophets that he would make known his mind and will concerning the
earth and its inhabitants, and his purposes in relation to them; and
that he will bring to pass all of his great and grand designs as they
have been foreshadowed in the volumes of revelation from the earliest
period of his speaking to the children of men to the present hour. And
as Latter-day Saints we rely especially and entirely upon him for
absolute truth. Although men deny this, they say there is no such
thing as absolute truth, that all truth is relative. But we
have learned, through the revelations of God, and taking them as a
standard, that there is a great deal of false reasoning here. Truth is
absolute in its nature. Man's apprehension of it may be only partial
and imperfect; he may know too few of its sides, comprehending it not
in its entirety; and, therefore, to form a perfect and unerring
judgment as regards its force and power and character requires a
thorough application of its elements. I aver that truth is absolute.
It is admitted by our wisest men that the existence of God is an
absolute existence; we accept this admission, and say that whatever
truth emanates from him, is an absolute truth. It may be beyond our
comprehension. Truth may come unto man in relative quantities. It may
be revealed in the form of line upon line, precept upon precept, here
a little and there a little. It nevertheless comes to us in the
character and absoluteness of his character, and this, we say, is
stamped upon every principle that emanates from his divine presence.
As a community of people we have received this Gospel; we have
embraced its first principles. We have gathered ourselves together to
these mountain valleys in fulfillment of prophecy to be further taught
of him. We are entering into the development of that work which has
been the theme and burden of the prophetic song of men who lived long
ages ago. We live in an age of revelation. We live in an age of
Prophets and Apostles and inspired men. But who believes this? Here is
a question, who believes it? It was asked in the day of the Savior,
When the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith on the earth? When and
where, I ask, has a dispensation of God to the children of men found a
universal acceptance? We know of no time in the world's history when
the intelligence of the masses of mankind has been of that advanced
and refined culture as to accord the right to the Creator of the
universe to dictate a government for the children of men. They have
ever assumed the role en masse or in the great majority, that they had
the right to dictate to themselves. This is strikingly illustrated in
the parable of the Savior, in which is represented a vineyard and the
giving charge of it to stewards to cultivate it and take care of its
fruit. This having been done, the Lord of the vineyard sends his
servants or messengers to investigate as to the management and working
of their stewardship. But when they came, making known their business
to those in charge, were they received as they should have been? No,
but on the contrary, they agreed among themselves that it was their
right to manage their own affairs according to their own will and in
their own way, and that it was their right to dictate to themselves.
Vox populi, vox dei. We are the voice of God; we know what is best for
ourselves, etc. And they took the messengers that were sent unto them
by the master and owner of the vineyard, and beat one and stoned
another, etc.; and they returned and reported the cruelties that had
been inflicted upon them. By this act they ignored the right and
authority of the Master to make any inquiries as to the management of
affairs. Finally the Lord of the vineyard said: "I will send my Son,
surely they will reverence my Son." He came, and they recognized him;
said they, "He is the heir, let us kill him."
My beloved brethren and sisters, and friends, this is a very truthful, a very forcible illustration of the spirit that has been
manifested by the generation of the children of men in our own age,
when God has again sent a divine messenger, crying repentance to the
people and inviting them to forsake their sins and return to the Lord
their God, and recognize his right to dictate to them the form of
government they should live by.
How is it today in this nation, that boastingly iterates and
reiterates from one part of our common country to the other the rights
of men which are embodied in the noble Constitution of the country,
and expressed in the words I quoted, "Life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness." Do they recognize God's right to rule? No, my friends,
and I must say, pardon the allusion, in the sarcastic though too
truthful article of Mrs. Gail Hamilton, with regard to the power and
effects of science and the power and effect of the Christian world in
their prayers for our late lamented President Garfield, when she
tauntingly throws up to them that they have no faith; that the prayers
of the whole world were turned, that the whole Christian world bowed
itself, asking and pleading with heaven to save unto us our President;
but the only prayer answered was that of the wretched and despised
Guiteau, the assassin. There is too much truth in this sarcasm. Would
we rule God out of the government; would we rule Him out of the
Constitution, claiming the right to rule ourselves and dictate the
conditions upon which we would live, or would we say with one of old,
that "to fear God and keep his commandments is the whole duty of man."
It is with regret that we have to record the admission, that the
general sentiment of today, is, that God has nothing to do with human
affairs, which only expresses the real state of things as they now
exist. But then this is merely a fulfillment of a prophetic utterance.
In the latter days, said Timothy, many false prophets should arise and
also false teachers, who would teach the doctrine of devils.
Forbidding to marry (but tolerating prostitution); that men would
become "covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers," that they would be
"without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of them that are good." That they would
also be traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God. "Having a form of godliness but denying the power
thereof."
What is the state, not only of our own glorious Republic, but of the
governments of the world—whither are we drifting? We have eyes, but
whether we can see enough of the circumstances that are to constitute
the grand panorama spoken of in Holy Writ, is another question. It may
be that they are too close to our doors to be seen distinctly, and
that we are unable in consequence to comprehend their magnitude and
foretell their results. Be that as it may, we nevertheless are right
in the presence of these sorrowful facts of human history.
May we, as Latter-day Saints, be faithful, trusting in God. May we be
like Daniel of old, though the king should forbid we should pray;
though princes and rulers should tell us we shall not worship God only
as we are permitted to, that we must accept and abide by popular
opinion and bow in deference to popular prejudices, shaping our
convictions after the ethics and theories of men, may we still trust
in Him, and still be found at the post of duty and devotion.
Is this the age of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Is this
the age when we are to enjoy those immunities and guarantees which the
highest conservators of human wisdom, the founders of our great
Constitution were enabled to give unto us, to bequeath unto us as
their patrimony? Alas! alas! It is in this instance as in that
expressed by Oliver Goldsmith:
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay.
When men will tell you that the constitution is not sufficient; that
we have grown beyond it—that there is no sacredness to be attached to
any institution that comes short in its provisions to supply means by
which party purposes and popular prejudices can be fostered and
carried into execution, that all these things must go by the way—I
fear for my country; I fear for any nation and any people so situated.
For remember, this is not the only age that mankind has lived. We go
to Egypt, we go to Chaldee and to Central Arabia, and we find these
relics of an ancient civilization, many phases of which would put to
the blush the vanity and pride of the intelligence of the age in which
we live. They have gone; the genera tions then living have melted away.
And the generations that now live will pass away; but God lives and
rules, and his purposes will roll on. And, pardon me, I will close my
remarks with another couplet:
"Yet I doubt not through the ages
One eternal purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widened
By the process of the suns."
And by the development and the upholding of the principles of nature
God is consummating his designs, which will terminate in the salvation
of man and the perfection of the earth as a residence for the redeemed
of all past ages, when the light of the sun will not be needed, for
the glory of God will be the light, and intelligence and truth shall
flow as the mighty ocean, and knowledge shall cover the great deep,
and no man then need say, Know ye the Lord, for all shall know him
from the least to the greatest; and every man in every place will meet
a brother and a friend.
May God in His own due time hasten these things, and we, His children,
be prepared for every dispensation of His providence, is my prayer, in
the name of Jesus, Amen.
- George G. Bywater