EDITOR'S TABLE.

ONLY ONE WAY.

There is an inclination with some of the young men of Zion to count of little importance the value of the most precious boon that has been given to the Latter-day Saints as a people; viz., the authority from God to act in his name, and to be the Church of Christ.

The Lord called upon Joseph Smith the Prophet, and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments, and also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim them unto the world, that faith might increase, and that the everlasting covenant might be established, and the fullness of the gospel proclaimed to the ends of the earth. The Lord then declared:

"And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this Church, and to bring forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living Church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the Church collectively and not individually." (Doctrine and Covenants, section 1: 30).

Thus we see how this people were separated from the world, and made peculiar. The Prophet Joseph was appointed to receive commandments and revelations in the Church (sec. 28: 2), and none other was to hold this position until he should be taken; (43: 2), and none other was to be appointed unto this gift except through him; that is, through the power and authority of the Priesthood which he possessed.

It is well known that, prior to his death, he called the Twelve, upon whom as a body were bestowed the full powers of the Priesthood, who in turn bestowed it upon President Brigham Young ac

cording to the spirit of inspiration, and the Church covenants, which provide that "all things must be done in order, and by common consent in the Church, by the prayer of faith." (Section 28: 13). From him it was bestowed in turn upon President John Taylor, and then upon those who have succeeded him as presiding High Priests of the Church unto and including the present day. So that this is the Church of Jesus Christ, "the only true and living Church upon the face of the whole earth."

The point is, therefore, that every person who wishes to belong to the Church of Christ must submit himself to its constituted authority, and must bow to its ordinances and obey the commandments. In the words of the Lord: "He that is ordained of me shall come in at the gate." There can be no compromise. Every man must enter in at the gate of baptism who desires to become a member of the Church of Christ, and in entering therein, he covenants to keep the commandments, and accepts the authority of the Priesthood.

No organization of people calling themselves a church, however they might believe in the doctrines of the Church of Christ, could be united as a body thereto, except in the appointed way. The members of such organization individually would have to submit to the ordinance of baptism, which is the gateway of entrance into the Church. And that ordinance would have to be performed by persons holding authority. It would not suffice that such persons had once been baptized into some other church, for baptism to be effective must be performed by a person holding authority. The same doctrine applies to individuals.

Now when any person affects to believe that such baptism is not necessary, or makes light of the authority by which such baptism is performed, that person is in danger of condemning himself, or in other words, excluding himself from the blessings, by thus darkening his mind by vanity and unbelief.

The Lord has commanded his servants to go out to reprove the world of all their unrighteous deeds, to teach them of the judgments to come, and to send into all the world the message of the gospel, which is unto all who have not received it, that the testimony may be proclaimed unto every creature; and he has further declared that whosoever believeth on their words, and is

baptized for the remission of his sins, shall receive the Holy Ghost, shall do many wonderful works, and the gospel signs shall follow him for his profit and salvation. On the other hand, we have it declared in the word of the Lord concerning his Church established in the last days for the restoration of his people:

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, they who believe not on your words, and are not baptized in water, in my name, for the remission of their sins, that they may receive the Holy Ghost, shall be damned, and shall not come into my Father's kingdom, where my Father and I am. And this revelation unto you, and commandment, is in force from this very hour upon all the world." trine and Covenants, sec. 84: 74, 75).

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Jesus saith: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6.) "He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." (John 10: 1).

Hence, we see the importance of recognizing the authority of his Priesthood, and of submitting ourselves to the ordinances of the gospel, which course alone insures the blessings.

No person is exempt, and there is no exception made concerning the way of entrance. There can be no compromise with any organization, or any person, all must be treated alike, and must enter in at the door, or suffer the consequences of unbelief. Knowing this, how vastly important the precious authority which is conferred upon the Saints, should be held by young and old alike, who are members of the Church, and by all who stand on the outside seeking salvation in the Church of Christ.

Joseph F. Smith.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

Relation of Hope and Faith.

From Lesson XII, Manual 1902, arises this: Is hope a root of faith, or is faith first?

Hope and faith are closely related feelings. As feelings, but not considered in a broader sense, it is difficult to determine which of the two is first developed in the human mind. It seems, how

ever, that even in this view, hope may be regarded as of first development, for the reason that hope is a general feeling, while faith is more specific, and depends more for its development upon experience, observation and reason. In other words, it would seem that, in the first place, a greater development of the mind is necessary to the production of a specific faith, than of hope. Hope, therefore, may be regarded as one of the roots of faith.

But the faith treated in the Manual (see Lesson XII) is not merely general feeling experienced by the human mind. It is a specific faith in God and in the laws he has revealed. Surely the development of this faith must follow the rise of a general feeling of hope. Again, this faith is not merely a feeling,it is also a principle of power, and a spring of action.

As such,

it is doubtless developed in the mind after faith, as a general feeling, has been established there; and, hence, a still longer time after the development of hope, Paul speaks of this faith as the substance (or assurance) of things hoped for. That is, after one has hoped for certain things, he receives an assurance of them, and this assurance follows hope, and results from it, at least in part. Necessarily, this assurance depends as well upon evidence and experience. This is true not only of a well-developed faith in Deity and in his laws, but of faith in the ordinary affairs of life. This definite faith is not developed until, through evidence or experience, or both, the mind is brought to firm confidence that God lives, that his laws are operative, and that man's efforts in spiritual and temporal directions will not go unrewarded. Hope is established in the human mind long before it can weigh such evidences, and pass through such experiences, as are required for a full development of faith.

For these reasons, and others which are subsidiary to them, the conclusion seems justifiable that hope is developed in the mind sooner than faith, and is one of the roots from which faith springs.

The above, written by Elder Willard Done, is the position. taken by the Manual committee on the subject. Several correspondents have written to the ERA taking the opposite view. We hink faith and hope are interchangeable, sometimes faith in

creases and strengthens hope; and again hope becomes a strong pillar of faith. While it is a matter of little real importance, whether faith leads to hope, or hope is an element of faith, the following article, containing as it does many good thoughts on the need of a living faith, is deemed worthy of space. It was written by J. M. Thompson, Basalt, Idaho:

A few weeks since, in the Mutual, at Basalt, Idaho, I was assigned a part in lesson 12. The lesson makes faith to grow out of hope. The reverse seems to me to be true-hope grows out of faith. If I have no faith in God, I cannot hope for or expect his blessing.

To my mind, the order of manifestation of mental powers, associated with the development of faith are: 1st-Passive Faith:-(a) Intuitive belief in the existence of God-the God idea; (b) in immortality-everlasting life; (c) in spiritual existence-life independent of the body; (d) in rewards and punishments-eternal justice.

These intuitions each grow out of a separate mental faculty, which is inborn, just as is reason, sight, hearing, etc. It is only by the spiritual faculties and intuitions that man comes into touch with Deity. In their first analysis, the religious intuitions are not forceful, positive factors in human action, but are passive, inert beliefs, and in many minds are but dim, vague sensibilities of the existence of which they are only semi-conscious.

Positive, or Active Faith.--In order that the mind may have an active, positive, saving faith, there must be: First, conviction of sin; second, desire to escape the consequences of sin.

Two plans of escape may present themselves to the sinner. One is, conformation through moral law; the other is, redemption through Christ. The whole history of man has shown the inadequacy of the former plan, while many have demonstrated the sufficiency of the latter method.

Essaying reformation through the moral law with intellect to guide and will power for strength, repeated effort and failure teaches man that, as a restraining power, his will is quite insufficient to subject his selfish and animal nature to the requirements of reason and morality Thus he learns to distrust himself, loses confidence, and hope dies out.

Passive faith, when somewhat abundant, may impel the intellect to adopt some form of religious philosophy, the formula growing out of which promises salvation to the individual. The mind is thus selfdeceived, for this intellectual creation is only another attempt at salva