"To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." (I. Samuel xv:22.) In an age of the world when independence is the proud boast of the nations, obedience is, by mistaken ideas of freedom, considered a mark of humiliation. To the reader I will say, in reality, true obedience to the Lord's commands is an indication of moral courage, union and power. It is not blind obedience that is referred to and maintained, but that type which characterized the ancient seers and saints, who, like the Messiah, were ready to say by word and deed, "I came not to do mine own will, but the will of my Father who sent me."

The Latter-day Saints are credited with being obedient and submissive to authority, this fact being often used by their opponents as the occasion of reproach. Those who so use it surely must forget that God requires obedience; that the best embodiment of this principle, the most humble and yielding to the divine will, was the best and purest Being who ever dwelt in mortality, viz., the Lord Jesus Christ; He in whose mouth there was found no guile; who was perfect and without blemish in all the walks of life. While He was obedient to His Father's will and humble to the extreme, He was independent of the influence and persuasions of wicked men.

The status of Latter-day Saints is conformable to this example. They are obedient to conscience, to convictions of right, to divine authority and to God, in whom they trust. While thus submissive, their persecutors have found them equally oblivious to the behests of wicked men, whether high or low. Men in the factories of the old world, working side by side at the weaver's loom, in the coal pit or elsewhere in following the various vocations of life-in this condition the Gospel preached by the elders of Israel has reached them. Alike, many of them have received convictions of the truth. They have said: "This is the truth; I must obey it or stand condemned." Other people have said: "It is true, but if I obey I will be ostracized, perhaps lose my employment and be an outcast from my father's house. Better that I reject the truth and live in peace, than take upon me this cross of obedience to unpopular truth."

The courageous obey the Gospel, suffer persecution, prove themselves men, and will attain to eternal life. The other people referred to are slaves to their own fear of popular clamor and to the unseen powers of darkness which lead men to reject the plan of salvation. Of the first named class are the Latter-day Saints, a host of men and women who have left home, kindred and country for the Gospel's sake. They have endured persecution even unto death, privation and suffering in every form; have redeemed a desert and built up a commonwealth so fruitful with education, thrift and enterprise that any nation beneath the sun might well be proud of them. Their obedience and moral courage they bequeath to their posterity is a legacy better than diamonds or the honors and praise of a fallen world. They look back to their associates in early manhood who, for fear, rejected the truth, and find these, whether living or dead, in most cases unhonored and unknown.

The obedience rendered by Latter-day Saints to the authority of the priesthood is not secured by virtue of any solemn obligation entered into by the adherent to obey the dictum of his superiors in office; but upon the nature of the Gospel, which guarantees to every adherent the companionship of the Holy Spirit, and this Spirit secures to every faithful individual a living testimony concerning the truth or falsity of every proposition presented for his consideration.

"By one spirit have we access unto the Father." (Eph ii.) So that as all men and women who embrace the Gospel are entitled to an individual testimony of the truth, the same spirit guides into all truth reveals the things of the Father and imparts the inspiration essential to preserve mankind from a blind obedience to erroneous principles and false guides.

The statement of the Savior, recorded in St. John vii:17, covers the ground in the broadest light: "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself." This secures to every true Saint, if he is faithful, protection against imposture, the abuse of power and the false decisions of man-made councils. In this particular the Church of Christ is distinguished from all other system and institutions. He has promised to guide and direct, and that He "doeth nothing, but He revealeth His secrets unto His servants, the prophets." (Amos iii:7.) This does not imply the infallibility of man, but it does imply the promise that no man or council of men who stand at the head of the church shall have power to lead the Saints astray. With this assurance, then, the people of God in every dispensation have been justified in rendering absolute yet intelligent obedience in the direction of the holy prophets. It is an undeniable fact in the history of the Saints that obedience to whatever has come, either by written document or verbally, from the presidency of the church, has been attended with good results; on the other hand, whosoever has opposed such council, without repentance, has been followed with evidence of condemnation.

Applying this principle of obedience to organizations of a civil and business character, confusion and weakness result from men refusing their support to the decision of the presiding authority or of the majority, where the action is left to popular vote. Carlyle, the great English writer, said: "All great minds are respectfully obedient to all that is over them; only small souls are otherwise."

The obedience rendered to God is based upon a conviction that He is perfect in all His ways possessing the attributes of justice, judgment, knowledge, power, mercy and truth in all their fullness. Obedience to His appointed authority upon the earth is obedience to Him, and is so taught by the Savior. "He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me." (Matthew x:40.) He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth Him that sent me. (Luke x:16.) "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth Him that sent me." (St. John xiii:20.)

It is not the attractive qualities of the individual, however great, that renders submission to his administration valid, but the authority of God which he fears. The acts of Philip, Stephen, Paul or James were just as valid and binding as those of the Messiah Himself, when performed by His authority and in His name. To reject the personal teachings and offices of the Savior could bring no greater condemnation than to reject the teachings of any man sent of God bearing authority and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to speak and act in the name of the Lord. This great truth was taught by the Savior on more than one occasion, but perhaps no more forcibly or in more beautiful terms than in the following: "When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory; and before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungered and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger and ye took me in; naked and ye clothed me: I was sick and ye visited me; I was in prison and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer Him saying: Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered and fed Thee? or thirsty and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger and took Thee in? or naked and clothed Thee? or when saw we Thee sick or in prison and came unto Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." When He told the wicked that they had failed to thus administer unto Him, they began to plead that they had not seen Him sick, in prison, hungry, naked or athirst. He answered them, "Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me." (Matt. xxvi:31-46.)

It is not the individuality of the person which calls for respect and consideration, it is the principle involved. God had placed His authority upon humble men. Through their administrations can be secured the benefits and blessings which follow obedience to the ordinances of the Gospel. Implicit obedience must be rendered. The mandates of Jehovah are imperative. No substitute will do. The condition is complete to the plan of salvation as established by Almighty God.

Saul was commanded to destroy Agag and all his hosts, man and beast. He kept the best of the flock for, he said, a sacrifice, but God had ordered otherwise, and Saul's disobedience caused him to lose the kingdom, shut him out from the revelations which came by dream, vision and the Urim and Thummim. "Thou shalt not steady the ark"; and they who disobeyed were smitten of the Lord. Israel by disobedience lost the guidance of the Almighty, went into spiritual darkness, and have been scattered to the four quarters of the earth, "a hiss and a by-word in the mouths of all nations."

Obedience is essential to salvation, essential to success in every avenue of human enterprise. Whether rendered to the laws of God direct, in their moral and spiritual phases, or to His authority vested in man, obedience must be implicit. The haughty man boasts of independence. He scorns the humble followers of the Lord, but while he prates of freedom, he is himself slavishly obedient to his own whims and mistaken ideas or to the spirit of evil, to popular sentiment or to some other influence always dangerous to the welfare of mankind.

The Saints have been accused of being priest-ridden and fearful to use their own judgment. What do the facts show? They are only asked to do right, live pure lives, do good to all men, evil to none, and to respect the order of God's kingdom that salvation may come to them and be extended to all the world. Their obedience has made them the best and purest body of people on the earth. What of the character of those who have derided them? They are slaves to a shallow and excited sentiment or to wickedness and vice, obedient to their own lusts and wicked ways. Compared with those they misrepresent they are below them in almost every trait which characterizes noble manhood. By obedience to God and His priesthood the Saints in this age have come off triumphant over obstacles within and foes without. By obedience to God and His commands they will continue the blessed and favored of the Lord forever. They have proved the words of Samuel to Saul, verily true: "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."