the earth, so that sun and moon would seem to be stayed -and at the same time uphold the universe, while this part of it remained stationary. Of course, man could not do it; but human power is not the measure of Omnipotence.

What Our Century Needs.-What the Twentieth Century needs, more than anything else, is an honest belief that there is actually a God in heaven, and that his power is superior to man's. The Great Creator has not let out his universe, to be governed by law independently of the Law-giver. The God of Israel is a God who answers prayer, and who works miracles whenever the need arises and conditions warrant-works them according to law. But He administers that law-it does not administer him.

Greater and Lesser Laws. Some laws are fundamental. The Almighty did not create them; but he controls them and overrules their workings for the welfare of his creatures. According to Joseph Smith, certain laws were "instituted" at the beginning, as a means for human progression. These are eternal principles whereby our great and benevolent Father proposes to save and exalt his children, and give perpetuity to all things neces sary for their happiness and glory.

Who, having faith in a Maker of the universe, can question his power to govern that universe, the workmanship of his hands? And if he controls the fundamental laws those uncreateble, self-existent principles which are as the Constitution of Eternity, surely he can suspend the operation of lesser laws based thereon, setting aside at will his own enactments.

An Illustration.-Suppose a child to be lying at the point of death. The family physician, having done his best and failed, informs the sad-hearted parents that their

little one cannot live till morning. Medical science so decrees, in accordance with the law under which the physician has been operating. But, bearing in mind the apostolic injunction, "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the Elders of the Church," the parents send for the Elders. They come and pray over the child, and the prayer of faith "saves the sick," notwithstanding the good doctor's prognostication. A miracle? Yes, if one chooses to call it so. In other words, the suspension of a lesser law by a greater, the former requiring the death of the child, the latter permitting it to live; the lower inoperative in the presence of the higher.

Biggest Things Yet to Be.-Miracles belong to no particular time or place. Whenever and wherever there is sufficient faith and a reasonable demand for its exercise, Divine Power will act, and marvels will result. "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of” in human "philosophy," and the biggest things are yet to be. God's work is progressive, and the miracles of the future will cause the miracles of the past to pale.

Divine Adaptation.-Progression's highest methods cannot be employed in dealing with undeveloped man. The All-wise adapts himself to the conditions environing those whom he aims to uplift and glorify. "All things are in a scale," rendering necessary a diversity of laws and operations. Even the divine dictum, "Let there be light!" does not represent the last word in light production. God is Light, and has only to appear, and all darkness will flee away. When the sun rises, the moon and stars must “hide their diminished heads." When God dawns upon the world, not even the sun will shine.

h, James 5:14.

ARTICLE THIRTY-SIX.

The Mainspring of Power.

The Moving Cause.-All power springs from faith. It is "the moving cause of all action" and "the foundation of all righteousness."a God did not create the principle of faith, but by means of it he created the worlds, and by means of it he continues to exercise control and dominion over them. It is the faith of Omnipotence that upholds the universe.

A Negative Opinion.—A Christian minister, not of the orthodox school, with whom I was conversing on the subject of faith, tried to convince me that it was anything but an admirable quality. He even called it contemptible, declaring that it consisted of a weak willingness to believe to believe anything, however improbable or absurd. In short, it was mere credulity, nothing

more.

A Spiritual Force-When I referred to faith as a spiritual force, a principle of power, he said I was attaching to the term a significance that it had never borne, and for which there was no warrant. I then reminded him of the Savior's words: "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, 'Remove hence to yonder place,' and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you." Whereupon he flippantly remarked: "Oh, it takes picks and shovels to move mountains."

Picks and Shovels.-And so it does-if one has no better way of moving them. But what about the faith

a, D. & C. Lectures on Faith, Lec. 1, pp. 1, 2; See also Heb. 11. b, Matt. 17:20.

necessary to handle pick and shovel? All energy springs from faith, and whether mountains are moved by man or by his Maker, it is faith that precedes the action and renders it possible. Yet here was a professed minister of Christ, ignoring the teachings of Christ, and denying what all true Christians believe that the smallest as well as the greatest acts of our lives spring from the exercise of faith.

Misplaced Confidence.-In its incipient stages, faith may at times resemble mere credulity. The untutored. savage who was told by one of the early settlers of New England, that if he planted gunpowder it would "grow” gunpowder, believed it, not yet having learned that the white man could lie. He therefore parted with his valuable furs, in exchange for a small quantity of powder, and planted it, showing his confidence in the settler's word. But of course the desired result did not follow; for faith, to be effectual, must be rightly based, must have a reasonable foundation. The Spirit of Truth must inspire it. This was not the case with the poor misguided Indian. He trusted in a falsehood, and was deceived. Still, some good came of it-he ascertained the falsity of the settler's statement. If the planting did not produce powder, it produced a wiser Indian.

Faith's Possibilities. Had the red man's faith been perfect an intelligent, rational, heaven-inspired faith -he could have produced gunpowder or any other commodity from the all-containing elements around him. And that, too, without planting a seed or employing any ordinary process of manufacture. The miracles wrought by the Savior his turning of water into wine, his miraculous feeding of the multitude, his walking on the waves, healing of the sick, raising of the dead, and other wonderful works-what were they but manifestations of an

all-powerful faith, to possess which is to have the power to move mountains, without picks and shovels, my skeptical friend to the contrary notwithstanding? Faith is not to confounded with blind ignorant credulity. It is a divine energy, operating upon natural principles and by natural processes-natural, though unknown to "the natural man," and termed by him "supernatural."

"As a Grain of Mustard Seed."-When the Savior spoke of the faith that moves mountains, he was not measuring the quantity of the faith by the size of the mustard seed. Neither was it an Oriental hyperbole. Jesus was speaking literally. Mountains had been moved before by the power of faith; then why not now?d

An Impelling Force.-Faith is the beating heart of the universe. Without it nothing was ever accomplished, small or great, commonplace or miraculous. No work ever succeeded that was not backed by confidence in some power, human or superhuman, that impelled and pushed forward the enterprise.

Those Who Believe.-It was not doubt that drove

Columbus across the sea; it was faith-the impelling force of the Spirit of the Lord. It was not doubt that inspired Jefferson, Franklin, and the other patriot fathers to lay broad and deep the foundations of this mighty

c, Ether 12:30.

d, It is my belief that the Savior, in his reference to the mustard seed, meant that if man would obey the divine law given for his government as faithfully as that tiny germ obeys the law given for its government, he could wield infinitely more power than he now possesses. Solid stone pavements are upheaved and cracked asunder by the gradual growth or expansion of a seed or root buried underneath. Such things indicate a hidden force even in the lowliest creations. It is written that the earth "filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law." (D. & C. 88:25). If man were that obedient, he would have the power "move mountains."

e, 1 Nephi, 13:12.

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