Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-06-04

and tooth Tor u tootN, This was rs
high n principle perhaps as they could
comprehend, and was good as far as It
went: for justice cannot be abolished.
Men will receive the measure that they
mete unto others. Christ taught this
principle along with the principle OF
rnerrv nrd forgiveness and the return
of good for evil Judge not" says He,
that ye be not Judged. For with wha,
ju4. Inuut We judge. We shall be Judged;
and with what measure We mete, It
shall be measured to you again" He
did not do away with the principle OF
justice, but accommodated It. But He
did seek to take out OF the hands Of in
dividuals, the lnfiictlon of vengeance
upon those who had wronged them.
Leave these things to God, was what
He meant. Vengeance is mine; l
will repay, saith the Lord" DO good
to each other. forgive all men, serve
God, and He VIII avenge your Injuries.
Perhaps no other principle Is so closely
associated with the nam. Of Jesus
Christ, except It be the atonement and
the resurrection, which he came to
teach and exempllfy, as the principle
OF the Golden Rule, the return Of good
for evil.
Now, II seems a hard thing to do;
but there Is always some hiffculty in
obeyinR God. Their. is always something
to be conquered IN ourselves when W.
make mp our minds TO live near to the
Lord. But that is what we are here for.
self-eonquest is the object Of this rsve-
lation Of Gods will to man. II is TO
make man Godllk.; to lit him up. to
make him more like His Father in
heaven for he is destined to be like
Him. but how long would we have to
walt, II men continued to hate each
other TO evengs their wrongs and in
hict injury in return for injury-how
Ia
mankind would be Godlikc and thu
world worthy to be rolled back into
tn. presence Of its Crentor7
The Prophet Joseph Smith-that
much misunderstood man-Esvt at one
time Il striking Illustration Of this prin-
ciple. 1t WAS when lions camp WA.
Eoing down to Missouri, In the year
1884. A member OF the camp awoke one
morning and found rattlesnske in
bed with him, ooiled and asleep near his
pillow. Horrorstricken he arose, and
HIS nrst thought was to get stick OF
stone and kill the snake. The Prophet
told him not to do 1t, Said he: The
snake has not harmed you; II hss
trusted In you; do not kill IT, for how
is that great sra Of peace and goodwill
to be uEhsred In, which the prophets
have predicted, when the lion shall eat
straw like the OK, when the sucking
child shall play with the serpent, and
they shall not hurt nor destroy in alt
the holy mountain Of the Lord - how
long must we wait for that great eEa,
the Millennium. II men continue to
treat cruelty the animals and crush
their lives out of them without any
provocation?" Joseph Smith taught
men to be kind. to be merciful. ~ be
forgiving, and to return good for
evil
bear in mind another incident in
la Il lat la Il g..
brethren We're lying in u dungeon, Lib
erty jail, Missouri, during the winter
OF 1889, after the Saints, fifteen thou
sand men, women and childrcn had
been driven from the state of Missouri.
These brethren were treated with great
cruelty in prison. 1t Is said that the
depravity OF their jailors descended SO
low that they even cooked human flesh,
taken from the body of negro who
had been killed, and offered 1t to these
prisoners to eat; and the Prophet,
warned By the Lord, told his
brethren NOT 10 partake Of 1t. 1t
was in the midst of these cir
sumstanoes that one of the breth-
rem was asked to pray; and he
who were treating them thus cruelty.
Whom he got through, the others were
laughing at him. He asked. What Is
the mattsr?" They said, ave ara
laughing at your prayer" we'll" he
replied, "lf you want any better pray
iak than IT, that; y you can an do i your
"You yourself win yet see the day
when you VIII pity these very men who
are in1ictiRg these injuries upon you.
God has shown TO me In vision the suf-
ferines Of the unsodly. and / had to
pray to Him to Close the vision when
saw the terrible Judgments that would
If. -.
taught the principle Of patient sub
mission to wrong. And 1t is this that
lifts men up above other men. When
men injure us they put themselves In
our debt. and that debt remains until
we cancel II by an act Of retaliation.
But men will say, as I have heard
them say, why, II 1 should return
good for evil to this or that person.
he would not appreciate my motive:
he would think I was soft, foolish. that
/ was trucking. and that l meant II
as an Acknowledgement that he was
right and l was wrong and had de-
served all that he had done" What IL
he should think so? What 4 some mems
souls are 50 limited that they cannot
appreciate a magnanlmous act7 It Is
not for the effect upon them
alone that you are taught to
practice the golden rule; It is for
the effect upon yourself. You can
not grow II you hate mankind. You
cannot increase and expand, at least az
rapidly as you might. II you cherish
feelings OF anger jealousy and strife. II
is because God wants you TO grow. to
become like Him. that He asks you to
keep your hearts free from these
things. Therefore what matters II
whether your motives are understood
or not2 You are not the first
to have your motives misunder-
stood. The effect upon yeu and upon
me cannot be otherwise than good,
II We forgive those who have injured
us, and strive to love our enemies. for
I believe that even this Is possible, IL
we stand upon plane high enough. IL
we remember who and what we are;
that we were sent into this world to
teach and exemplify the truth; that We
came to be saviors OF men, bearing the
Holy Priesthood having the Gospel OF
pence and goodwill to administer; II we
that we have been chosen TO
follow the Lamb Of God whlthersoevef
He Foeth, can we not advocate and
the principles that He
preached and that He died for? II We
cannot, what right have we to call our
selves His dlsciples7 Follow me. he
said He that would be my disciple. lot
him take up his cross and follow me;
Father forgive them for they
know not what they do" This
was one reason why He could practice
tho principle (; He recognized that 1t
was ignorance, to a great extent. that
prevented men from doing right, They
sid not know fully the results of
wicked course. Even the men who
murdered him did not know 10 the