No. 32. Vol. XXIX.

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The subjects of Spiritual Regenera- | tion, Baptismal Regeneration, and regenerations of a similar character, have caused a great deal of controversy in the world. The most learned divines of the age have put on the armor of discussion, and have brought their brightest rhetorical weapons into the warfare of opinions upon these doctrines, and much time, paper, and passion have been wasted in efforts to establish each party's peculiar views. But the subject of Physical Regeneration, though one of incalculable importance to mankind, does not seem in any great degree to engage the attention of our philosophers and divines.

It is a fact which must be patent to all, that the present generation of men are much more feeble, undersized, and shorter lived, than their ancestors of a few generations ago. Armor preserved in old castles and museums, worn by the men-at-arms of former times, would weigh down our common soldiers and gay volunteers to the ground, and would fit the majority of them about as well as a sentry-box. The army recruiting standard reduced

now to 5 ft. 5 in., will show the difficulty of obtaining men of stature sufficient to come up to the former idea of a soldier. Stand for a few minutes in a position to overlook either of the public thoroughfares of our large towns, and see how few of the genus homo you can discover who are blest with a full-developed physical organization. The great majority are small of stature, slight of limb, and look like boys turned old suddenly.

The age promised to man by his Maker after the flood, was a hundred and twenty years. The general term of his life in the days of King David, was three-score years and ten; but it is now reduced to an average of less than half the period stated by the Psalmist, and continues to grow smaller by degrees and alarmingly less as each generation passes from this brief existence.

Constitutional debility is now so common as to excite no surprise whatever; indeed, it has become the rule instead of the exception, and effeminacy, an expression of languor, and an absence of manly vigor, is considered

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quite the thing." The children now

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growing up to receive the cares and responsibilities of life, are generally speaking puny, spindly, and easily prostrated, their constitutions being so feeble that they become an easy prey to the many new diseases which are evolved in the gradual process of the general physical decay. Exceptional cases may be cited of persons exhibiting great bodily strength and power of endurance, and of individuals who are endowed with admirable physical development, but the very fact of the surprise they create and the attention they attract, is a proof of their singularity and rarity.

But the worst feature in the case is, that no proper efforts are being made to remedy this great evil of physical degeneracy. The establishment of gymnasiums, and the call for physical exercise in connection with education, are moves in the right direction; but they do not touch the root of the matter-they do not even aim at the cause of this evil, but only attempt to remove its effects. The cause of this physical degeneracy lies in the spirit of lasciviousness which increases in power with each successive generation, and in the absence of proper regulations for the marital relations of the sexes, and for the procreation of healthy and vigorous offspring. What nation, community, or society are taking this important subject into consideration, and giving it that attention which it deserves ? We answer, the people who are called Mormons" are the only people on the earth who are truly alive to the tremendous consequences involved in this question. While all the world is going down gradually to decay and death, this despised people, ridiculed and slandered, and considered to be outside of the pale of civilization, are engaged, in their lofty mountain retreat, in commencing the great work of physical regeneration. Having forsaken the world's path, they have begun to travel on the road that leads to the increase of life and the attainment of true happiness. To this mission they have been called by that Almighty God who is the Father of our spirits, the former of our bodies, and the Creator of the universe.

In the distant ages when there were

Prophets in Israel, when the voice of inspiration sounded through the land, God melted the mists of the future from before the eyes of his servants, and they saw what he would bring to pass in the latter days. They saw the "times of restitution," when the long life and glorious vigor of the early Patriarchs should be restored, when the age of a man should be as "the days of a tree," when there should be no longer "an old man that had not filled his days," but "a child should die an hundred years old," and His people should long enjoy the works of their hands. God has commenced that work which the Prophets rejoiced to see in vision, and the people called "Mormons" are his chosen instruments for its accomplishment.

His

In building up a new and a holy nation, that shall serve the Lord and govern the world by his power, the Lord has commenced at the foundation of all kingdoms, that is, family organization. The instruments he has chosen, imperfect as they may be, are the best he could find for his purpose, for they will hearken to his word and obey his counsel. He is gathering them together, and teaching them the principles of personal and family government, eminently prominent among which is the law of chastity. people are learning how to purge themselves from the old leaven of lasciviousness, which has wrought so much destruction in the world, and to govern themselves by principles of selfcontrol and purity, that they may not bequeath to their posterity the same impulses towards unrestrained indulgence which mankind have inherited from their forefathers, and which has come down to them like an ever-swelling stream, increasing with every succeeding generation.

By the laws which pertain to the order of celestial marriage called by the world polygamy-while provision is made for every virtuous woman to become an honored wife and happy mother, the relations of the sexes are hedged about with such natural and wholesome restrictions, that self-control becomes a duty and a joy, and the effects thereof are plainly manifest in a more vigorous, healthy, and well developed offspring. This is not mere

theory made to put on paper, like many of the schemes and vagaries of the would-be sages of modern times, but these principles are being worked out practically in the Vales of Utah, under the direction of the Almighty, by the Latter-day Saints. And as results are the best proofs of the efficacy of principles, we point with joy and pride to the stalwart sons and fair and robust daughters of Zion. The mountain boys of Utah, powerful and well developed, able to wield the axe or hold the plough, to build up cities, bear weapons of defence, or preach the Gospel to the world, are the first fruits of the Lord's great work of physical regeneration.

And if the results are so excellent in the commencement of our work, what will the generations to come bring forth? What mortal pen can write the glorious results of continued progress in the regenerative path? Zion shall grow up in her strength and flourish upon the mountains; her people shall increase and spread forth upon the land, till the place of her habitation shall be too small, and they shall return in power and build up the waste places of her former days. The strength and stature of her sons shall strike terror to the hearts of them that hate her. The currents of life shall increase within them, till the vigor of their sturdy manhood shall defy the grasp of disease, while the nations who fight against them shall wither away before its touch, and become an easy prey to the last grim enemy-death. They shall increase in length of days, until their hale and hearty Patriarchs shall see their posterity prospering on the earth in their might until the fourth and fifth generations, and their glory and their strength, their might and their dominion, shall spread forth before the Lord, till all nations shall bow before them and acknowledge that God is with them.

The most deplorable ignorance prevails among mankind in relation to the laws of life and increase, and in regard to the regulations which should govern the relations of the sexes. Boys and girls grow up to maturity without any guide or counsel pertaining to these all-important matters; the conse

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quence is, that passion and not principle controls them both in courtship and in marriage, and the results are to be seen in the wide-spread and increasing physical degeneracy of modern times.

Although mankind are, generally speaking, giving themselves up to the direful power of uncontrolled passions, and this has become indeed a "wicked and adulterous generation," false modesty forbids the mention of things which they are not ashamed to practice, and it is considered quite indelicate to speak with any degree of plainness upon those matters that pertain to the very springs of life and the fountains of happiness. Those who have made these thing their study, in most instances refuse to be guided by the whisperings of reason within them, and are hurried along by the spirit of the times, and involved in the whirlpool of their own lusts.

In consequence of this almost universal depravity and degeneracy, a thorough regeneration among the nations of the world has become impossible; therefore the Lord is gathering together the few who will hearken to his voice, and who are willing to control themselves by the laws of life, and has commenced to raise up a new generation of the human race. And this people, the Latter-day Saints, are striving with all their might to accomplish the work assigned to them by the Eternal Father-that is, to control and properly direct all the powers of their being to their legitimate use and object, and to raise up unto him a godly seed, and train them in the path that leads to life, increase, joy, and exaltation in this world and in that which is to come.

Man, the offspring of God, is fast losing the strength of those glorious attributes that indicate the divinity of his origin; but the work of regeneration has commenced, and in spite of all opposition, human and diabolical, it will be continued by the Saints of God until the ancient strength and longevity of man shall return as at the first, and their posterity shall stand erect upon their everlasting inheritances in all the vigor, beauty, and royal dignity of the sons of God.

CHARLES W. PENROSE.