The Price of Peace

The storm has passed, the clouds are lifting, the sun will shine again. Hope is reborn and a vision of a new world is in the making. For the most destructive war of history is ended. Countless millions dream and hope again. ¶

The Price of Peace ¶

What is this for which they pray? The hope of humanity, peace. Peace is obtainable, but what is the price of peace? Let the Lord himself answer: ¶

If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;... I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid.... And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. (Lev. 26:3-12.) ¶

In a word, then, the foundation for peace is righteousness. ¶

The efforts of peace conferences, and the prayers of suffering humanity, may bring an armistice of uncertain length, but peace with totality and permanence can come only when men repent and turn to the Lord. ¶

What have we learned by this war? We have learned nothing if hatred, bigotry, and intolerance have not diminished; if covetousness, selfishness, and adultery are unabated; if parents are less dear and the Sabbath of the Lord less holy. In short, if righteousness has not increased, then is our fighting vain, the sacrifices of our sons to no avail, and our tears wasted. ¶

The History of the Rise and Fall of Nations ¶

We have come far in material progress in these centuries. But the sins of the ancients still afflict the hearts of men. ¶

Can we not learn by the experiences of others? Must we also defile our bodies, corrupt our souls, and reap destruction as have peoples and nations before us? ¶

Both sacred scripture and profane history give us the tragic stories of young nations rising in power, then in the luxurious and degenerate years of their glory being replaced by vigorous peoples yet unspoiled by the decay of self-indulgence, political intrigue, and immoral shamelessness. ¶

Long centuries ago the Lord commanded the Prophet Jonah: ¶

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. (Jonah 1:2.) ¶

That "great city" was the envy of the ancient world in its magnificence and power. Historians describe it as surrounded by walls one hundred feet high and broad enough that three chariots could drive abreast. Fifteen hundred towers held watchmen to note the approach of enemies. ¶

Jonah arrived, and so powerfully preached repentance that the people reformed their lives, and the promised destruction was averted. But Nineveh turned again to sin. ¶

Through the Prophet Nahum, the Lord calls them again to repentance. He indicts them for their debauchery and gives them an ultimatum: repentance or destruction, saying: ¶

... while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. (Nahum 1:10.) ¶

The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved. (Nahum 2:6.) ¶

In fulfilment, the river overflowed, inundated the walls for miles, the gates were burned, the king and his concubines and his wealth were consumed with the palaces, and the unconquerable city, now made vulnerable by flood and fire, was taken by the invaders while its boasted defenders lay in drunken stupor and lolled in licentiousness. Today the canals of Nineveh are gone, leaving the country a desolate waste. Sheep and cattle seek scanty pasture among the mounds of the once greatest city. ¶

God cannot be mocked! His laws are immutable. True repentance is rewarded by forgiveness but sin brings the sting of death. ¶

Nineveh is not the only instance. Historians are still puzzled regarding the annihilation of the infamous cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Whatever happened to these peoples, this we know, that swift destruction came to them. Perhaps the Japanese of Hiroshima were no more completely nor quickly destroyed. At least students agree that there was a devastating holocaust which enveloped the cities, leaving the monuments and the people in utter desolation, never to be rediscovered nor rebuilt. ¶

Why were these ancient cities destroyed? The scriptures make it clear: ¶

And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now.... And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city.... And the Lord said, if I find in Sodom fifty righteous,... then I will spare all the place for their sakes. (Gen. 18:20-26.) ¶

And Abraham continued to plead with the Lord for a few faithful whom he hoped to find in the city. He asked if it could be spared for forty, then thirty, and twenty, and finally ten. But when ten righteous were not found, Lot and his daughters alone escaped. ¶

Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire.... And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.... And Abraham gat up early in the morning... and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah,... and, beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. (Gen. 19:24-28.) ¶

Historians say the area has remained in "deathlike solitude and unmitigated and supreme desolation." ¶

In the famed city of Babylon we find again unrestrained wickedness of a dissolute people. We hear the prophets calling to repentance, and in the end, dire threats. Again we see a people disappear into oblivion as they fail to follow the commands of God. ¶

Babylon the Great is fallen! Its temple of Bel and the royal palace were magnificent structures, sumptuously adorned. Its hanging gardens were regarded anciently as one of the seven wonders of the world. The river Euphrates ran through the center of the city. The defense walls rose to three hundred feet in height. The gates, a hundred in number, were of brass. ¶

But King Nebuchadnezzar forgot the foundations for peace. His people sank in sensuous indulgence. ¶

The prophets pleaded for repentance. But why should Babylon worry? Was not Babylon the ruler of nations? Was not Nebuchadnezzar king of kings? ¶

... all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. (Dan. 5:19.) ¶

Was not this city impregnable? Who could scale its walls? Who could crash its gates? But the monster of sin came. Though impenetrable the walls, and numerous the armed defenders, yet all must fall and crumble as sin makes impotent, weak, and fat the people who become slaves to it. ¶

Some years ago we visited Rome, the Eternal City, but what we saw was not the Rome which ruled the world, but a nation long since relegated to an inferior place. We found its imposing monuments in ruins, its extravagant arches obelisks, and gateways grim reminders of glorious days. The Colosseum skeleton bore witness of beasts torn, human blood spilt, Christians martyred in the arenas, while lecherous humans betrayed their sadistic depravity. Imperial Rome adorned with masterpieces of art, and priceless treasures stolen from the courts of the conquered was now in ruins. The fountains of Rome, its theaters and sumptuous villas all brought to our minds the magnificence of that Rome of world supremacy. ¶

We saw the picture of Roman profligacy in excavated Pompeii, the Mediterranean resort, where the idle rich of Rome reveled in riotous living. The eruption of Vesuvius buried the city with its vomit of dust and stones and ashes. ¶

We walked the streets of Pompeii where chariots had worn tracks in the stone. We saw the homes of the people, their bakeries, hospitals, and circuses. We saw their laundries, drugstores, and baths; their liquor houses and brothels. The latter were padlocked, too revolting to open to general public gaze, as the walls carried pictures in colors, still preserved, depicting the depth of their degradation. ¶

Will history repeat itself again? What of our world of today? Are we not forgetting in our own great America the high and lofty principles which can preserve the nation? It is refreshing to note that our military men too sense the spiritual needs of the hour. The following are the words of General Douglas MacArthur on the occasion of the Japanese surrender: ¶

Military alliance, balances of power, League of Nations all in turn failed,... we have had our last chance. If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves... improvement of human character. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh. (Gen. Douglas MacArthur, "Last Chance," under "Religion," Sept 10, 1945, Time.) ¶

Conditions in Our Own Nation ¶

How can we save the flesh when our nation is drinking one hundred sixty-five million gallons of liquor a year; when we spend seven billion dollars in a year for intoxicants, or more than twice our education budget ( World Almanac, New York World Telegram; ThzFoundation Says, Dec. 1944, Jan. 1945 ); and when our films present drinking as the smart and proper thing for youth and adults? Are we not aping the fallen empires with the disintegration of homes, desecration of marriage, making divorce too common. The unbelievable increase in divorces of five hundred percent since the Civil War and the prediction that in twenty years, half of all marriages will be legally dissolved, certainly should arrest our attention. {Life Magazine, Sept. 3, 1945. ) God will not tolerate an unvirtuous people. A current magazine indicates that ninety percent of all the mounting divorces are caused by the sin of adultery. ¶

Are we not inviting eventual destruction as we desecrate all things holy and sacred, even to the common and irreverent use in our daily talk of the names of Deity and making his holy day, the Sabbath, a day of work and of pleasure? ¶

How then can we hope for peace? The answer came thundering down from Mt. Sinai and remains the answer today: ¶

Thou shall have no other gods before me. ¶

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.... ¶

Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.... ¶

Honour thy father and thy mother.... ¶

Thou shalt not kill. ¶

Thou shalt not commit adultery. ¶

Thou shalt not steal. ¶

Thou shalt not bear false witness.... ¶

Thou shalt not covet.... (Ex. 20.) ¶

The impregnable wall of wicked Nineveh was unconquerable till God reached the limit of his endurance and permitted the elements to undermine the wall and fire to consume the gates so that swift destruction followed. ¶

The three-hundred-foot wall of drunken Babylon, impenetrable as it was by ladder or battering ram, was violated when the dissolute inhabitants stupefied in sin, permitted the river to be diverted and the nation perished. ¶

Israel suffered captivity for its adultery, the loss of its treasures for its idolatry, and was scattered to the four winds for its corruption. God's laws cannot be broken with impunity! ¶

Profligate and sensual Rome decayed and died as it ignored the foundations of peace and set at naught the principles of righteousness. ¶

And now in the year of our Lord 1945, there are among us those same vices which we have seen wreck empires, and we see them becoming flagrant in our own beloved nation. Shall we, like Belshazzar, sow the wind and reap the whirlwind? Shall we permit the home to deteriorate, and marriage to become a mockery? Shall we continue to curse God, hate our enemies and defile our bodies in adulterous practices? And when the patience of the Lord with us is exhausted shall we stand trembling while destruction comes upon us? Or shall we wisely see the handwriting on the wall and profit by the sad experience of the past and return unto the Lord and serve him? ¶

The Word of the Lord ¶

Third Dag ¶

To our own land, the Americas, the land of Zion, the burial ground of decadent empires, there is a divine promise. Would that all Americans knew of it! It was spoken by the Lord to the ancient inhabitants of this country and brought forth by Joseph Smith, the prophet of the latter days. This is the promise: ¶

Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ.... (Book of Mormon, Ether 2:12.) ¶

I testify that he is the God of this land and I know that we can achieve our destiny and build enduring peace only upon the foundation of his righteousness. ¶

We call upon the nations and our fellow men everywhere to repent, to cleanse their lives, and to place themselves in harmony with the Lord our God. ¶

May our hearts go out in praise and thanksgiving that the earth which did tremble is now still. May the precious blood of our young sons, their agonies and sacrifices and the deep sorrow of all of us commend us to the Father and may he help us as we strive to live his laws and to achieve a permanent peace on earth, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶