Profoundly important to the Church and to the world are the two messages recently issued by the First Presidency of the Church: the one designed to take Church members off public relief rolls; the other ( above printed ) a warning against insidious propaganda for lawless government. By these documents the Church is again making history; is again giving evidence of the presence and power of divine inspiration.

Overwhelmed and bewildered by the material gifts of the age, men question the sufficiency of the ancient moral code. In their confusion, clear thinking is vanishing, though some things should be evident enough: the automobile cannot abrogate the command "Thou shalt not steal," nor can the radio still the voice of conscience.

Latter-day Saints should find no difficulty in distinguishing between truth and error, right and wrong, even under our changing physical life, in the midst of the flood of new knowledge and invention. The Gospel is a guide to conduct, a chart for life's voyage, a set of ideals by which every proposition may be measured. Latter-day Saints should test every new offering by Gospel standards. That is one of the high opportunities within the Church of Jesus Christ.

For example, the right of free agency is fundamental in the Gospel structure. Man should always be left free to accept or to reject. There should be no interference with the human will. If, under the eternal law, man chooses right, he is rewarded; if he chooses unwisely, he brings punishment upon himself. This doctrine was fought for and established in the Great Council held in the heavens before the earth was made.

This principle may be used in evaluating the merit of many social, economic, and political offerings of the day. Communism, Fascism, and Naziism may be judged by this principle — whatever endangers to the least degree man's right to act for himself is not of God and must be resisted by Latter-day Saints. The deep meaning of a constitutional form of government is that those who live under it shall determine its laws and policies, and, then, knowing the consequences, be left free to obey or disobey the law. It is this doctrine of man's right to freedom that runs through the message above published.

The principle of free agency leads directly to an equally useful, derivative principle. The Lord, who conceived the plan of salvation for man's good, does not compel men to accept it. It is taught to mankind here and will be taught to them hereafter; it may be accepted or rejected. Thus, man climbs, with God's help, but by his own effort, up the road to eternal joy. This firm expression of self-help should be the warp to the woof of man's every act.

When economic distress comes, the ways and means of self-help should be given first consideration. Each man must do all he can to help himself out of the difficult situation in which he finds himself. When this is done, the group to which he belongs may ask itself if further opportunity for the man's self-help should be provided. Such selfhelp, first by the individual, then by the immediate group, moving hesitantly beyond the individual and his circle for further help, is the opposite, the negative, of charity. According to the Gospel standard, it is by self-help, material and spiritual, that man rises toward his divine majesty. To this ideal, the Church is rallying its members in its social security program.

Every present-day offering and our every decision, must be tested by Gospel standards. That is the urgent need of the day. — J. A. W.