Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-02-12
written therein In jeweled and golden

letters:
These are the inheritors of eternal
life. kings and queens, priests and
prlncesSes unto me their God and their
Father. To their increase. dominion
and power there shall be no end
And at that time shall the essence
of the wisdom OF the kind counsel be
appreciated which says: Judge not,
that ye be not judged
A NOBLE BEQUEST.
Claudius V. Spencer has drawn his
own portrait. and particularly In the
words-"independen to the last" If
there ever was a man who sought to
be Independent, who dared to be in
dependent, 1t was Claudius V. Spencer
He was not a perfect man: he did not
claim to be, but he loved freedom. He
never did or said a thing because some
one else had said or done 1t. He had
that quality of greatness euloglzed by
Emerson: 1T is easy. in the world. to
live after the worlds opinion; 1t Is easy
in solitude to live after our own; but
the great man is he who In the midst
of the crowd keeps with perfect sweet
ness the independence of his char
acter''
Brother Spencer was conscious of the
fact that some of his brethren and sis
ters did not admire him altogether. Ex-
ceed,ngly sensitive and high spirited,
he was easily wounded, and at times
believed himself to have been unjust
ly dealt with He felt that members OF
his family were of the same opinion,
and lest they should carry this griev-
ance in their hearts beyond the hour
of his burial he took pains to incor-
Porate In his last instructions to them,
that they were to bury all animositIes
In his grave. This noble behest-a man
could scarcely leave q nobler one-is
embodied, l may say, In his last Will
and testament. "If any of my family
feel that have been in any manner in
jured, and feel hard towards some who
might have treated me differently. bury
all animosit.es when you bury my
body"
God bless him for those words. There
is nothing noble in hatred and revenge.
We seldom do or say anything In anger
that we do not repent of afterwards.
Anger Is sort of insanity. and is ever
an unsafe guide. We always say more
than We mean at such times; always
so farther than we ought to go when
we lose control of ourselves. 1t gives a
momentary satisfaction TO wreak re-
Venge-and some are more prone to it
than others; they love to retaliate. de-
manding IAN eye for an eye, and a
1t all to the bottom, what does il
amount to? Who Is benefited. after
spite has done its work, after the re-
Vengeful feeling has been gratlned?
never could find any comfort In treat
ing another person as he had treated
me, II the treatment was unjust but
I have found comfort doing good to
those who had done evil to me l am
just as weak and frail as anyone. but
/ have enjoyed returning good for evil
on more than one occasion. l have not
always done 1t: 1 have lost many a
glorious opportunity; but L admire 1t
and 1 admire these words: Bury all
anlmosittes when you bury my body"
The Lord says, II VIII forgive whom
soever l VIII. but of you 1t is required
that you forgive all men" Does this
mean that God the Just God. Is indif-
ferent to wrong doing. and stands upon
tho side OF the oppressor. against the
oppressed? No; our merciful. kind
heavenly Father. who forgives us-and
II He did not, where would the best of
men be?-desircs us to forgive others,
not 80 much for their sake as for our
own. The man who cherishes hatred
and malice Injuries himself; and that
Is what the Lord desires to prevent. II
Is because he loves us that he wants
US to keep our hearts free from such
things Claudius V. Spencer knew this,
and 1t Is his advice to his children. TO
his kindred. For your own sakes. keep
your hearts free from anlmosity. No
soul can grow In the good things OF
God, that is choked with spite and mall
Ice But by kindness and love. for
giveness and charity. the soul expands
like a flower under the sunlight, 1t can
grow in no other way: and that is why
the Lord tells US to forgive our enc
miles, Justice Is admirable. but what a
cold thing Il Is when not associated
with mercy. Shakespeare never said
truer thing than when he declared;
Earthly power doth then show llkest
Gods, when mercy seasons Justice
1t Is the higher law. You have
heard II said nforetime. Love your
neighbor and hate your enemy: but I
say unto YOU Love your enemies.
Do good to them that des-
Pltefully use you and persecute you.
and be We perfect. even as your
Father In heaven Is perfect; for he
makes his sun to rise on the evil and
on the good. and sends his rain upon
the Just and upon the unjust" When
Jesus said that TO the Jews he was
simply inviting them to step up
higher. to walk upon a loftier plane.
| just as we are required to do when we
| come forth from the waters of baptism
| that like as Christ was raised from
| tho dead by the glory OF the Father.
| oven so we also should walk In new
| ness of life" AS we leave our sins In
! the waters OF baptism. and they are
| buried. never TO be remembered or
| mentioned against us, so when wd
rise from the grave in the resurrec-
| tion-of which baptism is typical-we
| walk In newness OF life, our mortality.
/ our paIns. our sorrows In the grave; we
leave behind all that Is weak and
frail; we bury II when We bury our
| bodies and we must bury our animosi-
| ties in like manner. We must not take
tho lesser law Of Moses for our guide.
but the higher law of Christ. which
was designed to make men perfect.
like that Being who said: My Father
and I ara one" and Except We arc