Perhaps the most memorable verse in D&C 88 is 119, which establishes the ‘School of the Prophets’ and encourages our cultural orientation towards education: “Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.” Kirtland’s ‘School of the Prophets’ was just the first of many efforts by the Church and by church members toward faithful education and education for faith.[1]

While education is certainly central here, the point of the verse is not just education, but instead establishing a ‘house of God’—a place where we find peace and learn how to become like our Heavenly Parents. D&C 88 includes many teachings that lead to our learning and faith.

 

Jesus Christ offers me peace.

Learning is simply easier when we have peace. While that might mean quiet for most people, peace is more often simply a lack of worry and distraction. For our education it is the feeling that all is well, so that we don’t need to focus on feeding and housing ourselves and our families and we can instead focus on learning. In a real sense it comes from faith; i.e, trust that we don’t face a raging tempest; trust that everything is ok.

I haven’t been able to identify the author of this poem—no one quite fits. But the peace the poet, Mat. Thomas, describes is what we need—peace while Jesus speaks to us, teaching us “right from wrong”. And Thomas is certainly right that we often ‘borrow trouble’, we sometimes “repine / In [our] trials.” But sometimes the difficulty is determining when we are repining in our trials, and when our trials come from outside and need relief.

 

Peace, Be Still

by Mat. Thomas

Jesus spake unto the throng—

Teaching them the right from wrong,

Of the duties that belong

To mankind.

He the words of life did tell,

As the shades of evening fell

O’er that land where Jewry dwell

By the sea.

“Let us to the other side,

There awhile we will abide,”—

Said the Lord. Then o’er the tide

The Chosen sailed.

Christ awearied, fell asleep,

In the boat upon the deep;

He was in his Father’s keep-

Naught he feared.

Soon the waves were lashed to spray,

Like the clouds ere break of day,

Driven on in fiercest play

By the wind.

Then the Twelve with fear awake;

In their trembling tones they spake

To the Lord, as o’er him break

Angry seas:—

“Master, wake or we shall die

Whilst thy soul in sleep doth lie;

Tempest-tossed, the boat runs high—

Save us, Lord.”

Jesus raised his Godlike hand,

As it were a magic wand,

Spake the words—divine command—

“PEACE, BE STILL!”

Quiet reigned, in might supreme,

Christ indeed a king did seem,

From his face shone love’s bright beam

On the Twelve.

“Exercise a living faith.

God ye worship, not a wraith.”

“He will answer,”—yet he saith—

“Yield belief.”

                     * * *

Troubled soul, do not repine,

In thy trials, light shall shine;

Christ’s command is ever thine,

Meant for thee.

When the tempest of thy woes,

And the agonizing throes

Of thy ills around thee close,

Nigh to death,—

Leave all thoughts of earth behind:

Look unto the Lord, so kind,

And his words bear oft in mind:

“PEACE, BE STILL!”

Think how calm was Christ that night.

How he changed the dark to light;

Now as then faith wins the fight:—

PEACE, BE STILL!

1898

 

Light and law come from Jesus Christ.

The ultimate source of the ‘light and law’ we need to become like God is Jesus Christ. While we do learn a lot from the examples and teachings of others, the environment of light and the laws we should follow for learning come from Him. As with the idea of peace in the previous poem, this environment is important for helping us to learn. The following poem explores the environment we should seek.

 

There is a light requires the mind

by ??

There is a light requires the mind,

To God’s dear children given;

And those who walk therein may find

It points the way to heaven.

 

All those who walk within this light,

They are from darkness driven.

It breaks the shades of deepest night,

And leads the soul to heaven.

 

Come all who now the light behold,

Seek grace, your souls to enliven;

Depend, the spirit will unfold,

The blessed way to heaven.

 

Poor stubborn sinners never quite,

Behold the way so even,

Who disregard the joyful light,

That points the way to heaven.

 

It is because they darkness choose,

And still persist in evil,

The Gospel light they still refuse,

That points the way to heaven.

 

Sinner obey, receive within,

Free grace, compared to leaven;

Extenuating every sin,

Prepares the soul for heaven.

1845

 

“Draw near unto me.”

I guess both of the previous sections about the environment come down to the idea of “drawing near unto me.” Finding how to get close to the Savior allows us to be in an environment that helps us learn. In the following poem, English immigrant Hannah Tapfield King (who wrote the first complete LDS epic poem), describes how drawing close to the Savior shows the ‘counterfeit’ of this world and how becoming close to the Savior “draws us up to crowns on high.”

 

Yes, my Savior, I am thine

by Hannah Tapfield King

Yes, my Savior, I am Thine!

To follow Thee, I left my home,

To fill this yearning soul of mine,

Whose spirit voice says; “come, Lord, come.”

Yet hush my soul that secret voice,

Wait passive thy Redeemer’s time,

Then shall His Saints indeed rejoice,

And through eternal ages shine.

The grandeur of this mundane sphere,

Though dazzling to the mortal eye,

But shows the counterfeit is here,

To draw us up to crowns on high.

1883

 

I can become clean through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

An important element of learning is being willing to admit when you are wrong and change your way of thinking. While some think of the atonement as involved with punishment for sin, a vital part of the atonement is this change of mind and spirit, to no longer want to think or do what doesn’t fit the truth. In this sense, the Atonement is a vital part of our education here on earth.

Susa Young Gates, daughter of Brigham Young and the editor of the Relief Society Magazine penned the following hymn for the sacrament, showing a kind of humility about how much we have managed to change: “O, who can tell? / Only the angels know that well.” I suspect that this kind of humility about how well we’re able to change is an important part of learning. Perhaps you are different, but I think my own progress comes in fits and starts, learning a little at first, and then after struggling more, learning better in the same subject. How well am I doing? “Only the angels know that well.”

 

Sacramental Hymn

by Susa Young Gates

Clean are the hands with which I take

This broken bread and wine.

No stain of earth’s unceasing toil

Pollute these hands of mine.

Yet, are they clean? O, who can tell?

Only the angels know that well.

Pure is the heart with which I plead,

As I these emblems share,

That Jesus will my sins remit

And hear my fervent prayer.

Yet, am I pure? Ah, who can tell?

Only the angels know that well.

1919

 

“Seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”

The LDS culture emphasizes education, in part because of scriptures like this. The School of the Prophets that began with D&C 88 was followed by schools everywhere the LDS people went—a University in Nauvoo, the University of Deseret, BYU, a network of colleges in many of the places settled in Utah and the intermountain west, and a long string of less formal educational organizations, such as the 1855 Polysophical Society started by Lorenzo Snow.

At the core of all of these organizations are the teachers who have sought learning, by study and by faith, to help educate others. The following poem praises these teachers who “place high value on the human soul” and use their efforts to raise others to a “higher plane.”

 

To a Teacher

by Alta J. Vance

She lived above the world

And caught up many to her higher plane.

Between her and those who walk in clay

There was a bond

If they but wished to grow.

She placed high value on the human soul

And recognized its limitless possibilities.

For a dozen years she taught me;

For a life time I shall recall her teachings;

And I shall hope my heaven

Will give me further learning

At her feet –

To hear her voice and know again

Her majesty of soul.

1952

 

[1] I feel like I should point out that this is one of the places where the current U.S. administration is so against the gospel. The administration’s attack on education is evil.