“THE CURSE, CAUSELESS, SHALL NOT COME.”
By David Paulson
There is always a cause for everything, whether it is a quarrel in the Church, a quarrel in the community, or a quarrel in the stomach; and we shall not be eminently successful in correcting these disturbances until we deal with their causes. Let a plant, faded and wilted, represent the miserable condition of a large share of society to-day, and then conceive of various organizations all picking off its leaves. Even this is commendable. It is better to be sufficiently interested in the removal of an obnoxious plant to pick a few leaves than not to have sufficient interest to do anything. But how much more can be accomplished by heeding John the Baptist’s advice to lay the ax at the root of the tree! It is indeed a discouraging and disheartening task to pull up weeds with one hand while sowing for them with the other hand. The labors of a man who devotes his life to removing causes are less appreciated, but nevertheless more valuable, than the labors of one who is dealing simply with effects. People applaud a careful surgeon who possesses a trained eye and a sufficiently skilled hand successfully to remove a distressing tumor. At the same time they perhaps label as “cranks” or “overzealous reformers” the faithful men who are earnestly teaching truths, which, if accepted and carried out, would save multitudes from having tumors. If an individual should appear upon this earth who possessed power to raise a few from the dead, his name would soon be known in two continents. But if, instead, he should teach a whole community how to avoid premature funerals, he would be unheard of and unappreciated; yet he would be conferring a greater benefit upon humanity in the latter than in the former case. Society is drooping its head. There are tears and sadness, when there should be joy. Everywhere are faded cheeks, marked for the tomb, upon which, instead, ought to be seen the freshness of youth and the glow of health. Men who should be in the years of youthful activity have grown prematurely old. Providence never intended such a condition; for the Word plainly declares, “I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” Inspiration specifies the causes which produced the ruin of ancient Sodom. Like causes always produce like effects. If the same causes are now in operation which produced ancient Sodom, we may be reasonably sure that they are producing a modern Sodom; and what more appropriate term could be applied to many of our large cities? The violation of only four fundamental principles produced Sodom; and in modern times the violation of any one of those principles would not be regarded as a sufficient cause for excluding the offender from the best society, and there is even a reasonable possibility of such a one being a member of the Church, in “good and regular standing.” “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness, . . . neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.” Eze. 16:49. In other words, the chair upon which Sodom rode to her destruction had just four legs: first, pride; second, unbridled appetite; third, contempt for useful labor; and, fourth, no pitying hand to extend to the unfortunate. Such a combination of causes is all that is necessary to reproduce such a condition as ruined Sodom. The law of sowing and reaping is as unerring in its operations as is the law of gravitation. There is no more emphatic declaration in all the Bible than the one which declares, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” It is very fascinating to spend our energies trimming off the leaves that are easily seen, while little or no attention is given to the deep roots which nourish the abnormal growth. It is easier to stir up enthusiasm to deal directly with a drunkard than it is to suppress the causes, which, if allowed to continue, will produce a luxuriant growth of drunkards for the next generation. If we should suddenly find ourselves in the city of Sodom, the four things which Divine Wisdom recognized as its fundamental sins would probably be the last ones we should select for our chief points of attack, and just to that extent we should fail to reform Sodom. The first of these underlying causes was pride. The same principles are as true to-day. A few months ago I saw a handsome child, whose head was adorned with the most beautiful curls it has ever been my fortune to see. Its mother said to me, “Doctor, I wish you would give me a little advice. My child has become so proud of her curls that I think I shall be compelled to cut them off.” I asked the mother if she did not feel similarly impressed that it was her duty to cut and slash its beautiful face so as to spoil its beauty. I then suggested that she teach the child that God dwells within it, and that every particle of physical beauty is simply an outward revelation to others of that divine beauty which dwells within, and the one who possesses physical beauty to the largest degree should be the most grateful to God that he has been thus favored in having an opportunity to reveal a little more of the divine creation. I told her that when her child became imbued with that thought, it would become the crowning ambition of her life to cultivate natural beauty for the sacred purpose of revealing a little more fully to the world the divine life which dwells within her. Tears came to the mother’s eyes, and she said, “I wish I had grasped that truth long ago.” I assured her that it was not too late for her child to do so. Pride is stimulated at almost every point of our growth. When we came home from school and told our parents that we had reached the head of our class, and at the same time really despised those we had superseded, we were met with a smile of approval and words of flattery, and were given to understand how proud our parents were of us; when, instead, they should have impressed upon us the fact that we were only developing that divine gift of wisdom which had been imparted to us, and we would have grown humble as we began to appreciate the great possibilities in store for us if we became sufficiently inspired to stir up that gift which was within us. Some are actually proud of the fact that they are humble, which is the most incurable form of all varieties of pride. We must grasp the principle that if we have learned something that others do not know, we are just to that extent in debt to the more unfortunate, and by teaching them, we pay up our debts, and are deserving of no special credit. Just to the extent that society in a practical manner grasps the truth that all that is good in us comes from God, just to that degree the first cause of Sodom’s troubles will be avoided. The terrible curse of pride is well illustrated by the girl who is so proud that she would rather barter her womanhood for bread than earn it at the washtub; and by the boy who is too proud to have his hands calloused by honest labor, and therefore prefers to obtain his living in the gambling den. The second root of Sodom’s trouble was “fullness of bread,” at any rate too much of the wrong kind. It takes time to produce the characteristic chronic dyspeptic, but it can be accomplished by faithful and persevering sowing. There are sincere reformers and noble and enthusiastic temperance workers who fail to trace any relationship between an improper and unsuitable dietary and the saloon traffic; but the fact remains that if they could recognize this, the results from the efforts they put forth for the betterment of society would be multiplied many fold.