The Vitality of Mormonism: Brief Essays on Distinctive Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsTalmage, James E. (James Edward)
Religion
The Vitality of Mormonism: Brief Essays on Distinctive Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Talmage, James E. (James Edward)
Latter Day Saint churches; Latter Day Saints
"The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the divinely ordained panacea for
the ills that afflict humanity, and pre-eminently so for the dread
affliction of sexual sin. Note the teachings of the Master while He
ministered among men in the flesh--they were primarily directed to
individual probity and rectitude of life. The letter of the Mosaic Law
was superseded by the spirit of personal devotion to the right. 'Ye
have heard,' said He, 'that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt
not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a
woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his
heart.' (Matt. 5: 27, 28.) The sin itself may spring from the sensual
thought, the lustful glance; just as murder is often the fruitage of
hatred or covetousness.
"We accept without reservation or qualification the affirmation of
Deity through an ancient Nephite prophet: 'For I, the Lord God, delight
in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me.
Thus saith the Lord of Hosts.'"
-- 60 --
NOT GOOD FOR MAN TO BE ALONE
Companionship of the Sexes
WHEN this earth, a new unit amongst uncounted worlds, had developed
to a condition suited to human habitation, God created man in His own
personal, physical image, and gave him dominion over the earth and its
manifold belongings. Beside the man stood the woman, sharing with him
the divinely bestowed honor and dignity of supremacy over all lesser
creations; for the Lord God had said: "It is not good that the man
should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." (Gen. 2:18.)
So begins the first page of human history relating to this planet: "In
the image of God created He him; male and female created He them."
The earliest recorded commandment to the newly embodied pair provided
for the procreation of their kind; for unto them the Lord said: "Be
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." That the wedded state
thus inaugurated was to be the permanent order of life amongst Adam's
posterity is attested by the further Scripture: "Therefore shall a man
leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and
they shall be one flesh." (Gen. 2:24.)
Inasmuch as the union of the sexes is the only way by which the
perpetuity of the race is possible, such union is essentially as
beneficent as it is necessary. Lawful, that is to say righteous,
association of the sexes, is an uplifting and ennobling function to the
participants, and the heritage of earth-life to preexistent spirits who
are thereby advanced to the mortal state. Conversely, all sexual union
outside the bonds of legitimacy is debasing and pernicious, not only to
the guilty parties themselves, but to children who are thus ill-born,
and to organized society in general.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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