New Witnesses for God (Volume 3 of 3)Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
New Witnesses for God (Volume 3 of 3)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Book of Mormon; Smith, Joseph, Jr., 1805-1844
3. _Free Will, or Agency Modified_--At the same time that man
feels himself free, he recognizes the fact that his freedom is not
arbitrary, that it is placed under the dominion of a law which will
preside over it and influence it. What that law is will depend upon
the education of each individual, upon his surroundings, etc. To
act in harmony with that law is what man recognizes as his duty; it
will be the task of his liberty. He will soon see, however, that he
never fully acquits himself of his task, never acts in full harmony
with his moral law. Morally capable of conforming himself to his
law, he falls short of doing it. He does not accomplish all that he
ought, nor all that he can. This fact is evident, one of which all
may give witness; and it often happens that the best men, that is,
those who have best conformed their will to reason, have often been
the most struck with their insufficience.
4. _Necessity of External Assistance_--This weakness in man leads
him to feel the necessity of an external support to operate as
a fulcrum for the human will, a power that may be added to its
present power and sustain it at need. Man seeks this fulcrum on
all sides; he demands it in the encouragement of friends, in the
councils of the wise; but as the visible world, the human society,
do not always answer to his desires, the soul goes beyond the
visible world, above human relations, to seek this fulcrum of which
it has need. Hence the religious sentiment develops itself; man
addresses himself to God, and invokes his aid through prayer.
5. _Man Finds the Help He Seeks_--Such is the nature of man that
when he sincerely asks this support he obtains it; that is, seeking
it is almost sufficient to secure it. Whosoever, feeling his will
weak, invokes the encouragement of a friend, the influence of wise
councils, the support of public opinion, or who addresses himself
to God by prayer, soon feels his will fortified in a certain
measure and for a certain time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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