Page:The House of the Lord.djvu/172

156 now that the great building is at last finished and ready to be used for divine purposes, need we say that we draw near an event whose consummation is to us as a people momentous in the highest degree? Far-reaching in its consequences, as that occasion is certain to be, what remains for us to say in order to impress the entire Church with a sense of its tremendous importance?

"On this point, surely nothing; yet may we offer a few words upon a phase that directly touches it. No member of the Church who would be deemed worthy to enter that sacred house can be considered ignorant of the principles of the Gospel.  It is not too much to presume that every one knows what his duty is to God and to his fellowman.  None is so forgetful as to have lost sight of the admonition that we must be filled with love for and charity toward our brethren.  And hence none can for a moment doubt the supreme importance of every member of the congregation being at peace with all his or her brethren and sisters, and at peace with God.  How else can we hope to gain the blessings He has promised save by complying with the requirements for which those blessings are the reward?

"Can men and women who are violating a law of God, or those who are derelict in yielding obedience to His commands, expect that the mere going into His holy house and taking part in its dedication will render them worthy to receive, and cause them to receive His blessing?

"Do they think that repentance and turning away from sin may be so lightly dispensed with?

"Do they dare, even in thought, thus to accuse our Father of injustice and partiality, and attribute to Him carelessness in the fulfilment of His own words?

"Assuredly no one claiming to belong to His people would be guilty of such a thing.

"Then must those who are unworthy cease to expect a blessing from their attendance at the Temple while sin unrepented of still casts its odor about them, and while bitterness or even an unforgiving coolness exists in their hearts against their brethren and sisters.

"On this latter subject we feel that much might be said. In the striving after compliance with the apparently weightier matters of the law, there is a possibility that the importance of this spirit of love and kindness and charity may be underestimated.  For ourselves, we cannot think of any precept that at present requires more earnest inculcation.

"During the past eighteen months there has been a division of the Latter-day Saints upon national party lines. Political campaigns have been conducted, elections have been held, and feelings, more or less intense, have been engendered in the minds of brethren and sisters upon one side and the other.