If “that which is of God is light,” then we all want to be enlightened; that is, brought into God’s presence and to His understanding. While sections 49 and 50 of the Doctrine and Covenants were written to ‘enlighten’ Leman Copley and others, we might also find in them other light, addressing issues for us today in addition to the unenlightened ideas that they held onto. What other enlightenment can we find in these sections?

 

Jesus Christ wants me to embrace the truths of His gospel.

Our enlightenment starts with understanding the gospel, especially the truths of the ongoing restoration of the gospel. In the following poem, convert Mary Ann Morton Durham explores how learning the gospel enlightened her, changing her perceptions from previous “creeds and the systems” which seemed powerless.

Mary Ann and her sister Eliza joined the church in 1845, and Mary Ann married Thomas Durham in 1849. Unusually, for her poetry she seems to have kept using her maiden name, since her poems of the early 1850s, including “The Gospel” (a.k.a. “Sweet is the Peace the Gospel Brings”, Hymns #14) bear the name M. A. Morton. Mary Ann, Thomas and Eliza all immigrated in 1856, and managed to survive crossing the plains as part of the Martin handcart company.

 

The Gospel Restored

by M. Morton

How lost were our days till we met with the Gospel,

The creeds and the systems seemed powerless and rain;

We ne’er received precepts so suited to save us,

As taught by the Priesthood restored again.

In the wisdom of men we had long been entangled.

And forms, without power, encircled us round;

But now we rejoice in the hope of redemption,

And peace, to the faithful, doth ever abound.

Repentance, most needful, of faith the production,

Prepares for the laver our sins to remit,

And the Spirit that’s given for future instruction,

Is received in the manner Jehovah saw fit—

By the Laying on hands of Apostles and Prophets,

Who, from Him have received of its influence pure;

While the gifts of the Spirit by many are witnessed,

Displaying the Gospel in fulness and power.

May the blessings now sent ever keep us from tossings

Of Anti-Christ winds, even doctrines of men;

And aid our perceptions to see the vain glossings

That gild error’s systems. Amen, and Amen.

1853

 

Marriage between man and woman is essential to God’s plan.

The constant, daily, present impact of marriage on individuals makes it among the most significant tests for the human character. Few relationships are as intimate and therefore have as much potential for both pain and for growth.

While D&C 49 addresses this because of the ideas about a lack of marriage that Leman Copley brought with him from the Shakers, Mary Ann Morton’s life might be a more significant example of the challenges in marriage. The following poem was written in 1851, two years after her marriage to Thomas Durham. But after the couple settled in Parowan in 1857, Thomas took a second wife in 1860, and then a third wife in 1867. While he had a daughter with his second wife, and ten children with his third wife, Mary Ann remained childless. Was she spurned? Maybe not, because when Thomas went underground to escape prosecution for polygamy in the late 1880s, he took Mary Ann with him — and she passed away while they were in hiding in 1889. I wish I knew if she had written poetry or anything about marriage after all these experiences.

 

Marriage

by M. Morton

Most sacred bond, celestial tie, cement of kindred minds!

Sweet union, patronized on high, where no harsh bondage binds!

Blest intercourse to heaven-born souls! ’tis their’s alone to prove:

Their names, by heaven’s high lows enrolled, are register’d above.

Sent here to meet by heaven’s blest will, their spirits sweetly blend;

Confiding truth their bosoms fill; their deeds to glory tend.

Thought meeting thought, no jars ensue : each will prevents the sane;

Each motive pure—affection true—no longer arc they twain:

“While He, who rules by heaven’s design, the sceptre mildly sways,

She loves, reveres, with thought sublime, and cheerfully obeys.

Each other’s weal or woe they shore, nor know a selfish aim;

They learn to bear, and to forbear, nor e’er unkindly blame.

‘Tis true, a union so divine transcends a mortal’s ken,

Till the pure gospel light refine: faith can discern it then.

This is the power alone can bind on earth, that binds above;

Its precepts pure; its laws refined; its ultimatum, Love!

1851

 

The Lord’s teachings can protect me from Satan’s deceptions.

Seeking enlightenment often involves distinguishing between correct ideas and error, and since the ideas are often connected to our social relationships and the social structures of our environment, making distinctions is far from easy. We have no choice but to rely on the Lord to help us in making these choices, as the author of this poem, J.C. makes plain.

 

Hymn of Praise

by J. C.

Wide is the gate and broad the way

That leadeth unto death and sin;

Protect us, Father, night and day

Lest, thither lured, we venture in.

 

Oh, may we make the Lord our friend.

And choose the narrow path made plain.

And live for light to comprehend

How we may life eternal gain.

 

Lord, grant us grace that we may cling

With ardor to the Iron Rod;

And should the effort suffering bring.

Still give us strength to honor God.

 

Rock of our refuge, hallowed be

Thy holy name. Thine arm is sure;

From time to all eternity

Who trust in Thee may rest secure.

 

Our bosom friends may turn aside

And scorn the paths of truth and right;

The wicked virtue may deride

And blackness lend to error’s night.

 

But Thou, O God, art still the same;

Changeless Thy laws, boundless Thy love;

All truth is written on Thy name,

All power in earth or heaven above.

1889

 

Teachers and learners are edified together by the Spirit.

As I suggested above, enlightenment involves getting a hand up by other, our teachers. However, we often see teacher (or preacher) and student as a kind of hierarchical relationship, with knowledge going from teacher to student. But D&C 50 makes clear that the relationship is more complicated than that, and every real teacher/preacher admits that they learn a lot from their students or those that hear them. The following short poem suggests an even broader relationship — that each one of us is a teacher, regardless of our intentions. How we act and the impact we have on those around us, does much to set the tone for our society and whether the social environment is righteous or evil.

 

Every Man Should Be a Teacher

by C. Watson

Every man should be a teacher,

Not by words alone, but deeds.

Every man should be a preacher

By example; for it leads

Erring feet, that go astray,

Back into the safest way.

1880

 

“That which is of God is light.”

Enlightenment cannot be understood without examining the metaphor of ‘light’. We use the idea of light to express the wide influence of good, including good ways of thinking and of acting—enlightenment. Indeed this metaphor is one of the most persistent in the history of all human thought.

The irreplaceable W. W. Phelps explores this metaphor in the following theme, providing a nice turn in the 3rd stanza, just like most sonnets. Indeed, the Enlightenment of God is brighter than any other source, and while others argue about whether or not this is actually a sonnet (its 2 lines short and doesn’t use a common rhyme scheme or meter), I will ponder what kind of light Phelps says is “shining / On earth—without a sun or moon.”

 

A Sonnet on Light

by William W. Phelps

I saw the moon-light on the water,

Like diamond gems, or burnished gold;

I saw the brilliants on a woman,

All queenly tipt in sparkling pride;—

I saw the shining orbs of heaven,

As aided by a telescope,

With light o’er light, AD INFINITUM,

All glittering on each other’s spheres;—

But not a ray was half so brilliant

As when, o’er choas, God exclaim’d;

BE LIGHT! and light, pure light, came shining

On earth—without a sun or moon.

1844