Most of this lesson comes from D&C 25, the revelation in which Emma Smith is called to select the hymns for the Church’s first hymnal.  But that calling is a small part of a revelation meant to provide Emma with help and support, as well as guidance in where she should devote her efforts—in “the Things of a Better World.”

The lesson mostly leaves it up to us to determine what constitutes a ‘better world’—and it’s probably better that way. These selections are often involve complex ethical and moral judgments, so the lesson teaches the principles we should use to choose the better things.

What is troubling is that we, humans, have a rather poor track record in making these selections, both because of our individual weakness and because the very structure of society around us forces us to make poor choices. Nevertheless, I don’t see any alternative but to continue to teach how to choose the better things. I hope people will begin to listen and employ those principles.

 

The Savior can lift me “up out of [my] afflictions.”

Perhaps one of the principles we can learn is how to help others (and ourselves as well) when down because of the vagaries of life. Our cultural understanding of how to react to grief and support those who are suffering has changed radically in recent decades—the once universal idea of urging people to lay aside their grief (“they’re in a better place”) is no longer considered best.

Perhaps we can excuse Eliza R. Snow for suggesting as much in this poem. Written for ‘Father Tyson,’ whose son was killed in an accidental rifle discharge, the poem does express the near impossibility of mere words giving solace, while pointing to heaven for a final recovery.

 

Lines

by Eliza R. Snow

Thou aged saint, can words avail—

Can tears afford relief?

Can human sympathies prevail,

To soothe thy bosom’s grief?

 

In life how suddenly betide

Those evils that destroy!

‘Twas but a moment to divide

Thy hopes, and blasts thy joy!

 

Deep is the wound and keen the dart—

It stings thy inmost soul—

And through the fibers of thy heart

Affliction’s waters roll!

 

But cease thy sorrow—peace—be calm

And let thy tears be dry—

Sweet consolation’s softest balm

Is flowing from the high.

 

It is the Lord—his ways are just—

There’s mercy in his rod;

Thou know’st his goodness and can trust

The true and living God.

 

Great are the blessings now in store

For thee, in faithfulness:

Look thro’ thy sorrows and adore

The hand that smites to bless,

 

This sudden stroke has rent a chord

In twain that bound you here;

But glorious will be your reward

When in that blessed sphere.

 

When all is joy, you will rejoin

Your dear and fav’rite son;

And glory in this deep design

Of the Eternal One.

1842

 

I have an important role to play in God’s kingdom.

The difficulty of choosing ‘the things of a better world’ can sometimes leave us feeling inadequate, or without ability to make a difference. But the Lord’s advice to Emma suggests otherwise, that each person has a role to play in making the world better.

The following poem, from the Improvement Era in 1901, tries to show the need for everyone to participate. I think it pushes back against the wrong-headed hero-oriented narratives so common in our culture. We don’t need a hero or a few heroes to save us. We need everyone together saving us.

 

What Part is Thine?

by Malta

My friend, what part is thine in life’s great choir,—

Alto or base, tenor or treble sweet?

Whate’er thy part, watch well the score, and see

No chord be missed, no note unfit be sung.

Ofttimes thy duty is to watch and wait;

Then, at appointed time, to raise thy voice

And swell the growing anthem of God’s praise,

In melody and harmony divine.

Solos there are, duets and trios too;

And sometimes every voice and piece is heard

In volume that shall drown all meaner sounds,

And rise to Heaven as one great wave of praise.

Sing well thy part, in time and tune exact;

And trouble not that others fail in theirs;

Soon they shall join with thee, or silent be,

For harmony doth conquer discord’s din.

1901

 

“Continue in the spirit of meekness.”

Given the idea that we all have a role to play, the call for meekness might seem strange — or very wise. It’s certainly in conflict with the idea of heroes—I can think of very few that actually manage to remain meek while being a hero, and certainly not in the narratives we are given by our culture. The value of meekness has largely disappeared.

Our Mormon Scottish Bard, John Lyon, promotes meekness in the following poem, addressed to a couple of women in the Church (not Sister Missionaries — they weren’t called until 50 years after this poem was written.

 

Lines inscribed to Sisters Montgomery and McLean, in answer to their Lamentation in Babylon

by John Lyon

Dear sisters, though your dreary lot,

A wilderness may seem;

Still, life has hope, and sunny hours;

May gladness on you beam

 

Where’er I cast my wistful eyes,

O’er earth’s remotest wild,

Look where I may, still whisperings say,

God loves the lonely child.

 

The flow’r rear’d in the desert waste,

Is strengthened to endure;

It bows and blossoms ‘neath the storm,

In virgin meekness pure.

 

And though no balmy show’rs impart.

Nor dews refreshing bring.

Still, sweet the solitary rlow’r

Blooms, like the vernal spring!

 

It cheers the pilgrim’s care-worn mind,

With hope’s reviving ray,

And points him to the better land,

The valley far away!

 

So, sisters, like this desert flow’r,

May such sweet charms be giv’n,

That you may throw a savour o’er,

The messengers of heav’n.

1847

 

“Lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better.”

Here we get to a crucial issue in the search for a better world: we are all caught up in the values inherent in our culture, and forced to act the way the culture sees as normal. It’s not that we don’t want to work for a better world, it’s that the culture blinds us to what can be done. The possible answers don’t even occur to us.

In the following poem, Richard Alldridge puts the idea that we need to set aside society’s expectations and values in the context of our lives, asking us to think about what really matters when we leave this life. Alldridge was an English church member who emigrated to Utah in 1861. He is most remembered for his hymn “We’ll Sing All Hail to Jesus’ Name.”

 

The Epitaph

by Richard Alldridge

This world has gold and influence,

With votaries at her shrine,

Who bow down at the throne of might,

However stained with crime.

They’ll grasp the blood-stained hand, if rich,

As of a friend and brother,

And spurn the man whom truth receives,

Whose noble heart and bosom heaves

In friendship for another.

It is not gold nor influence

Reveal man’s native worth,

Nor high-flown claims of pedigree

To royal rank or birth;

But chastity, adorned with love,

Faith, hope and charity,

Will give to him a nobler name,

And wreathe his brow with brighter fame.

Through all eternity.

All monuments and tabulars

Are things of minor worth;

All glittering ores and sparkling gems

Arc fragments of the earth;

And like all things of earthly note,

Will pass into decay;

But virtue, truth and honesty

Are attributes that never die,

Or ever fade away.

So with the noble hearted soul,

Who feels too proud to live

On others’ toil, or ask a boon

He would not freely give.

However lowly his estate,

A helping hand I’d lend,

And ask no pomp or pageant might;

If he’d but battle for the right,

I’d hail him as a friend.

Give me a body hale and strong,

A spirit meek in pride;

A bosom friend to share my lot,

In whom I can confide.

I’d ask no lordling for his gold,

Or wealth to render aid;

But Heaven to bless me as I try

To toil through life, and so enjoy

The wealth these hands have made.

The only monument I wish

To Crown this life’s retreat,

Is a plain inscription of my name,

Placed at my head or feet.

This Epitaph I fain would have

When life hath closed her span;

That those who view me as I lay,

In truth may be constrained to say;

“There lies an honest man.”

1881

 

The Lord delights in my “song of the heart.”

At this point in the Come Follow Me lesson we finally get to the Lord’s message to Emma about the hymns. Surely we can agree that hymns–and poetry, of course—are some of ‘the things of a better world.’

Hymns and poems fill many roles in our lives, and J. L. Townsend here focuses on one—the nostalgic feelings they provide for things like home and family, the core elements of life that are, for many of us, idealized and most dear. Townsend is the author of 10 hymns in our current hymnal, including popular hymns like “Hope of Israel” and “Choose the Right.”

 

Spirit Memories

by J. L. Townsend

There’s a song of songs in my heart to-day,

A song the angels are singing;

While my thoughts in holiest faith essay

To gather the music ringing.

 

‘Tis a song whose words in a sweet refrain,

And melody sweetly falling,

Are like dreams, that, vanishing, yet remain

In memories faint recalling.

 

And the song that lingers in memory,

Recalls a heavenly glory;

In the scenes of elysian homes I see

That faintly are shown before me.

 

There’s a home where brothers and sisters dear,

And mother, a queen of heaven,

As a childhood’s dream of another sphere,

Appears through a vail light riven;

 

And the glimpse I see of this home of love,

My heart oft thrills with the longing

To regain this beautiful home above,

With spiritual kindred thronging;

 

And the song of songs in my heart must be

A song I have joined in singing

With my kindred there, ere eternity

Rolled on, my probation bringing.

 

And this song of songs I may hope to hear,

The vail be completely riven,

When my spirit meets with the angels near,

Returning in joy to heaven.

1882

 

“All things shall be done by common consent in the church.”

While this might seem like an outlier for this lesson, I don’t think it is, especially if we remember the social elements of our lives. Above I’ve mentioned that the culture and society around us can influence us, and even force us, from choosing what leads to a better world. As individuals, again as observed above, we can feel unable to influence the changes that are needed. The answer is then acting as groups, choosing together ‘the things of a better world.’ And, as the poet below suggests, doing it in union, bringing everyone along with us.

The poet bemoans the elections he sees outside of the church, while suggesting that the choices made inside the church don’t involve su much strife. Even if he isn’t correct (and today’s politics suggest that the strife inside the church is rising towards that outside of the church), the idea of finding a way to get most everyone to agree is valuable. Unfortunately, the standard in the US today seems to be that you always oppose the other side, no matter what.

 

The United Uplift of the Hand

by S. S. J.

A Gentile election! What strife marks the scene!

What turbulent questions abound!

Hate, envy and malice are palpably seen;

How harsh and discordant the sound!

Power-loving aspirants here seek to outvie

In their quota of votes at the pool,

To succeed they will slander, coerce, yea, will lie,

Regardless of honor or soul.

Debased, God forsaken, corrupt is the plan

By which men their candidates find;’

If eloquent, wealthy, why, straight is the man,

No matter how narrow the mind.

But in Utah’s fair vales we’ve a mode of franchise

Which is primitive, simple, yet grand.

Its adoption has oft fill’d the world with surprise,

The United Uplift of the Hand.

When the servants of God to our judgments appeal,

We hail the glad truths with delight;

Each true hearted Saint the pure influence feels

That bears its assurance of right.

With what pure emotion our spirits are fired,

As they call for our votes from the Stand;

With a flood of good feeling our hearts are inspired

As we raise to High Heaven our hand.

Whom the people of God undertake to sustain,

‘Tis an evident sign of success;

Religious, political, whate’er the aim,

If but right, their Great Leader will bless.

Let proud hearted despots in riches presume,

And tyrants by force hold command.

This simple maneuver foreshadows their doom,

The United Uplift of the Hand.

1867