Applying this principle of obedience to organizations of a civil and business character, confusion and weakness result from men refusing their support to the decision of the presiding authority or of the majority, where the action is left to popular vote. Carlyle, the great English writer, said: "All great minds are respectfully obedient to all that is over them; only small souls are otherwise."
The obedience rendered to God is based upon a conviction that He is perfect in all His ways possessing the attributes of justice, judgment, knowledge, power, mercy and truth in all their fullness. Obedience to His appointed authority upon the earth is obedience to Him, and is so taught by the Savior. "He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me." (Matthew x:40.) He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth Him that sent me. (Luke x:16.) "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth Him that sent me." (St. John xiii:20.)
It is not the attractive qualities of the individual, however great, that renders submission to his administration valid, but the authority of God which he fears. The acts of Philip, Stephen, Paul or James were just as valid and binding as those of the Messiah Himself, when performed by His authority and in His name. To reject the personal teachings and offices of the Savior could bring no greater condemnation than to reject the teachings of any man sent of God bearing authority and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to speak and act in the name of the Lord. This great truth was taught by the Savior on more than one occasion, but perhaps no more forcibly or in more beautiful terms than in the following: "When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory; and before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungered and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger and ye took me in; naked and ye clothed me: I was sick and ye visited me; I was in prison and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer Him saying: Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered and fed Thee? or thirsty and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger and took Thee in? or naked and clothed Thee? or when saw we Thee sick or in prison and came unto Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." When He told the wicked that they had failed to thus administer unto Him, they began to plead that they had not seen Him sick, in prison, hungry, naked or athirst. He answered them, "Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me." (Matt. xxvi:31-46.)
It is not the individuality of the person which calls for respect and consideration, it is the principle involved. God had placed His authority upon humble men. Through their administrations can be secured the benefits and blessings which follow obedience to the ordinances of the Gospel. Implicit obedience must be rendered. The mandates of Jehovah are imperative. No substitute will do. The condition is complete to the plan of salvation as established by Almighty God.
Saul was commanded to destroy Agag and all his hosts, man and beast. He kept the best of the flock for, he said, a sacrifice, but God had ordered otherwise, and Saul's disobedience caused him to lose the kingdom, shut him out from the revelations which came by dream, vision and the Urim and Thummim. "Thou shalt not steady the ark"; and they who disobeyed were smitten of the Lord. Israel by disobedience lost the guidance of the Almighty, went into spiritual darkness, and have been scattered to the four quarters of the earth, "a hiss and a by-word in the mouths of all nations."
Obedience is essential to salvation, essential to success in every avenue of human enterprise. Whether rendered to the laws of God direct, in their moral and spiritual phases, or to His authority vested in man, obedience must be implicit. The haughty man boasts of independence. He scorns the humble followers of the Lord, but while he prates of freedom, he is himself slavishly obedient to his own whims and mistaken ideas or to the spirit of evil, to popular sentiment or to some other influence always dangerous to the welfare of mankind.
The Saints have been accused of being priest-ridden and fearful to use their own judgment. What do the facts show? They are only asked to do right, live pure lives, do good to all men, evil to none, and to respect the order of God's kingdom that salvation may come to them and be extended to all the world. Their obedience has made them the best and purest body of people on the earth. What of the character of those who have derided them? They are slaves to a shallow and excited sentiment or to wickedness and vice, obedient to their own lusts and wicked ways. Compared with those they misrepresent they are below them in almost every trait which characterizes noble manhood. By obedience to God and His priesthood the Saints in this age have come off triumphant over obstacles within and foes without. By obedience to God and His commands they will continue the blessed and favored of the Lord forever. They have proved the words of Samuel to Saul, verily true: "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."
CHARITY.
What is charity? Does it consist solely in the giving of bread to the hungry, clothes to the naked or succor to the distressed? "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth." (I. Cor. xiii:3-8.) If to say that one has charity to any considerable extent requires the possession of all the foregoing characteristics, then we may truthfully admit that there is a great charity famine now prevailing throughout the world.