Gospel Doctrine: Selections from the Sermons and Writings of Joseph F. Smith

by Joseph F. Smith

It is with harmony as it is with all the ideals of the gospel. The Saints and elders of the Church may fail in perfect attainment of them, in this life, but they may approximate them. While that is true respecting all the details of the gospel, and as true of the perfect harmony we seek to attain as of other ideal conditions, yet we recognize the fact that a certain degree of harmony is essential in the Church as a working principle. This degree of harmony, essential in the Church, among the members and in the quorums of the priesthood, is neither hard to understand nor difficult of attainment. Neither is it a new principle, nor peculiar to the Church of the Latter-day Saints. It is as old as the society of men. It is common to all men working in community—to parliaments, congresses, conventions, boards, bureaucracies, and conferences of all descriptions. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this essential harmony consists of such union or agreement as is necessary to the accomplishment of the purposes of the organization. These purposes, in the main, are accomplished through the several councils of the priesthood, and through the conferences of the Church; hence, the work is done by the combined actions of groups of individuals, and of necessity must be by their agreement or consent. With men of varying intelligence, judgment, and temperament, of course it follows that in the consideration of a given matter there will be a variety of views entertained, and discussion of the subject will nearly always develop a variety of opinions. All this, by the way, is not detrimental to the quality of any purposed action, since the greater the variety in temperament and training, of those in conference, the more varied will be the viewpoints from which the subject in question is considered, until it is likely to be presented in almost every conceivable light, and its strength as well as its weakness developed, resulting in the best possible judgment being formed of it. It is these considerations which doubtless led to the aphorism, "In the midst of counsel there is wisdom." It will sometimes happen, of course, in the experiences of councils or conferences, that all present may not be brought to perfect agreement, with reference to the proposed action; but upon submission of the question to an expression of judgment, it is found that a majority of those having the right to decide a given matter determine it in a certain way. And now the question arises, what shall be the course of those who are in the minority, those not in the agreement perfectly with the decision? Shall they go from the council or conference and contend for their views against the decision rendered and be rebellious and stubborn in adhering to their own judgment, as against the judgment of the majority of the council or conference who had the right to determine what the action should be? The right answer, I think, is obvious. The judgment of the majority must stand. If it is the action of the council or conference having the final word upon the subject, it becomes the decreed action, the rule or law, and must be maintained as such until greater knowledge or changed circumstances shall cause those who rightfully established such decision to modify or abolish it.

Of course, if a member or members of the minority regard the action of the majority as a violation of some fundamental principle, or subversive of the inherent rights of men, against which they conceive it to be a matter of conscience to enter protest or absolute repudiation, I understand it is their right to so proceed; but this, let it be understood, would be revolutionary, it would be rebellion, and if persisted in, could only end in such persons voluntarily withdrawing, or being severed from the organization. They cannot hope to be retained in a fellowship and enjoy the rights and privileges of the Church, and at the same time be making war upon its decisions or its rules and policy. But no power on earth, certainly no power in the Church, can prevent men dissatisfied with the Church, from absolutely withdrawing from it; and such is the disfavor with which the Church is regarded by the world that such withdrawals would in most cases be rewarded by the applause of the world. Or, if the dissatisfaction of the member be only with the quorum or council of the priesthood with which he is connected, he would be at liberty to withdraw from that quorum or council, and still retain his membership in the Church. On the other hand, the harmony which I spoke of as being essential to the Church certainly demands that' the Church shall not tolerate, and indeed, if the life of the organization persists, it cannot tolerate such internal conflicts as those just alluded to, as they would lead to confusion, anarchy, disruption, and final abolishment of the organization.

There is one other element to be considered in this matter of harmony, as a doctrine of the Church, which may not operate in other community efforts of men; and that is, the living presence and effective force of the Holy Spirit. That Spirit, it must be remembered, is, by way of preeminence, called "The Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father." He teaches all things; and brings to the remembrance of the Saints all the instructions of the Master. He guides into all truth, and as in all truth there is unity or harmony, so, it is believed that if the Saints are in possession of this Spirit, the harmony in the Church of Christ will be superior to the harmony that can be looked for or hoped for, in any other organization whatsoever. And because the Saints have free access to the Holy Spirit, and may walk within his light and fellowship and possess the intelligence which he is able to impart, a stricter harmony among the Saints may be insisted upon than in any other organization of men whatsoever. For the same reason, lack of harmony may be more severely censured and persistent opposition and rebellion more justly denounced and swiftly punished.

In all things, however, patience and charity must be exercised—and no less in seeking the perfect harmony we hope for, than in other things. The present state of imperfect knowledge, the struggle it is for all men to live on those spiritual heights where they may be in communion with God, must be taken into account and due allowance made for human weakness and imperfection. So that, while the existence of that degree of harmony essential as a working principle in the Church must always be imperatively demanded, beyond that, the Church, in the manner of harmony, may well afford to exercise forbearance and charity towards all its members until the day of more perfect knowledge shall arise upon the Saints; a day when, through a wider effusion and a deeper penetration of the Holy Spirit they may be brought to stand in perfect harmony with each other and with God.—Improvement Era, 1904-5, Vol. 8, pp. 209-215.

CHARACTER, METTLE, AND MISSION OF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS. We do not look for absolute perfection in man. Mortal man is not capable of being absolutely perfect. Nevertheless, it is given to us to be as perfect in the sphere in which we are called to be and to act, as it is for the Father in heaven to be pure and righteous in the more exalted sphere in which he acts. We will find in the scriptures the words of the Savior himself to his disciples, in which he required that they should be perfect, even as their Father in heaven is perfect; that they should be righteous, even as he is righteous. I do not expect that we can be as perfect as Christ, that we can be as righteous as God. But I believe that we can strive for that perfection with the intelligence that we possess, and the knowledge that we have of the principles of life and salvation. The duty of the Latter-day Saints, and the paramount duty of those who are leaders in this work of mutual improvement in the Church, is to inculcate in the hearts of the young people these principles of righteousness, of purity of life, of honor, of uprightness and of humility withal, that we may be humble before God and acknowledge his hand in all things. According to his revelations, he is displeased with those who will not acknowledge his hand in all things. When we look at the imperfections of our fellow beings, some of the inclinations of those with whom we are intimately associated in the various organizations of the Church, and discern in them their natural proneness to evil, to sinfulness, to a disregard of sacred things, and sometimes their inclination to disregard and treat lightly, if not with contempt, those things which should be more sacred than life itself, it makes the task seem almost discouraging, and it seems impossible for us to accomplish that which we have in view, and to perform the mission that we have undertaken to our own satisfaction and the acceptance of the Lord.

But what shall we do? Shall we quit because there are those with whom we come in contact who are not willing to rise to the standard to which we seek to exalt them? No! Someone has said that the Lord hates a quitter, and there should be no such thing as quitting when we put our hands to the plow to save men, to save souls, to exalt mankind, to inculcate principles of righteousness and establish them in the hearts of those with whom we are associated, both by precept and by example. There must be no such thing as being discouraged. We may fail over and over again, but if we do, it is in individual cases. Under certain conditions and circumstances, we may fail to accomplish the object we have in view with reference to this individual or the other individual, or a number of individuals that we are seeking to benefit, to uplift, to purify, to get into their hearts the principles of justice, of righteousness, of virtue and of honor, that would fit them to inherit the kingdom of God; to associate with angels, should they come to visit the earth. If you fail, never mind. Go right on; try it again; try it somewhere else. Never say quit. Do not say it cannot be done. Failure is a word that should be unknown to all the workers in the Sunday Schools, in the Mutual Improvement Associations, in our Primary Associations, in the quorums of Priesthood, as well as in all the organizations of the Church everywhere. The word "fail" ought to be expunged from our language and our thoughts. We do not fail when we seek to benefit the erring, and they will not listen to us. We will get the reward for all the good we do. We will get the reward for all the good we desire to do, and labor to do, though we fail to accomplish it, for we will be judged according to our works and our intent and purposes. The victim of evil, or sin, the one whom we seek to benefit, but who will not yield to our endeavors to benefit him, may fail, but we who try to uplift him will not fail, if we do not quit.

If we continue to try, failing, as it were, or missing one mark, should not discourage us; but we should fly to another, keep on in the work, keep on doing, patiently, determinedly doing our duty, seeking to accomplish the purpose we have in view.

It is the duty of the Latter-day Saints, the duty of those auxiliary organizations of the Church, all and each of them, to teach to the children that are brought within our influence and care the divinity of the mission of Joseph Smith, the prophet. Do not forget it. Do not let him perish out of your thoughts and minds. Remember that the Lord God raised him to lay the foundations of this work, and the Lord did what has been done through him, and we see the results of it. Men may scoff at Joseph Smith and at his mission, just as they scoffed at the Savior and his mission. They may ridicule and make light of and condemn the mission of the Christ, and yet with all their condemnation, their scoffing, their ridicule, their contempt and murderous persecution of the Saints of former days, God's name, the name of the lowly Nazarene—he that had not where to lay his head, he that was scoffed at, abused, insulted, persecuted and driven into concealment and into exile, time and again, because they sought his life; he that was charged with doing good, by the power of Satan; he that was charged with violating the Sabbath day, because he permitted his disciples to gather ears of corn and eat them on the Sabbath; he that was called a friend of publicans and sinners, he that was called a friend of winebibbers, and all this sort of thing; and at last was crucified, mocked, crowned with thorns, spat upon, smitten and abused until he was lifted upon the cross, as they shouted: "Now, if thou be the Son of God, come down!"—even the thieves crucified with him mocked and ridiculed him, and asked him, if he were Christ to come down and also deliver them—all this happened to Jesus, the Son of God; but what is the result? Look at the so-called Christian world today. Never has there been a name brought to the intelligence of the human race since the foundations of the world that has accomplished so much, that has been revered and honored so much as the name of Jesus Christ—once so hated and persecuted and crucified. The day will come—and it is not far distant, either—when the name of the Prophet Joseph Smith will be coupled with the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of God, as his representative, as his agent whom he chose, ordained and set apart to lay anew the foundations of the Church of God in the world, which is indeed the Church of Jesus Christ, possessing all the powers of the gospel, all the rites and privileges, the authority of the Holy Priesthood, and every principle necessary to fit and qualify both the living and the dead to inherit eternal life, and to attain to exaltation in the kingdom of God. The day will come when you and I will not be the only ones who will believe this, by a great deal; but there will be millions of people, living and dead, who will proclaim this truth. This gospel revealed by the Prophet Joseph is already being preached to the spirits in prison, to those who have passed away from this stage of action into the spirit world without the knowledge of the gospel. Joseph Smith is preaching the gospel to them, so is Hyrum Smith, so is Brigham Young, and so are all the faithful apostles who lived in this dispensation, under the administration of the Prophet Joseph. They are there, having carried with them from here the holy Priesthood which they received under the hands and by the authority of the Prophet Joseph Smith. With that authority, conferred upon them in the flesh, they are preaching the gospel to the spirits in prison, as Christ directed when his body lay in the tomb, and he went to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to open the prison doors to them that were bound. Not only are these engaged in that work, but hundreds and thousands of others. The elders who have died in the mission field have not finished their missions, but they are continuing them in the spirit world. Possibly the Lord saw it necessary or proper to call them hence, as he did. I am not going to question that thought, at least, not dispute it. I leave it in the hands of God, for I believe that all these things will be overruled for good, for the Lord will suffer nothing to go to his people in the world that he will not overrule eventually for their greater good.—Improvement Era, October, 1910, Vol. 13, pp. 1053-1061.