"O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves--wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. . .. Behold, the way for man is narrow but it lieth in a straight course before him; and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and He employeth no servant there; and there is none other way, save it be by the gate, for He cannot be deceived; for the Lord God is His name. And whoso knocketh, to him will He open; and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches; yea, they are they, whom He despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them." (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 9). -- 103 -- THE GARDEN OF GOD And the Weeds of Human Culture "BUT He answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." (Matt. 15:13.) This significant and comprehensive avowal by the Lord Jesus Christ while in the flesh was spoken by way of rejoinder to a report from certain disciples that the Pharisees were offended at His doctrine. Some of the learned scribes and punctilious Pharisees had voiced the criticism that our Lord's disciples were in transgression because they ignored the tradition respecting the ceremonial washing of hands. The Master's rebuke was incisive and severe. He demanded of the casuistical complainers: "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?" And He cited the glaring instance of the then current violation of the Divine command respecting the honor due to parents from their children, as occasioned by the hierarchic vagary of the Corban practise, by which undutiful children were enabled to escape their filial obligations. Then, calling to the multitude He loudly proclaimed, in denunciation of the unlawful exaction of arbitrary rule: "Hear and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." Who that heard could fail to note the clear differentiation between man-made rules and Divine law, between human tradition and the commandments of God? Then followed the sweeping declaration cited above. What were the plants of Pharisaical tradition but noxious tares, doomed to be rooted up and burned? Only the wheat of Divine planting shall be gathered into the garner of the Lord. But, as so impressively taught in parable, the wholesome grain and the poisonous tares are allowed to grow together for a season, lest perchance the premature extirpation of the weeds imperil the wheat.