When I think about the phrase “We Believe”, I lean to thinking that the more important word is “We” instead of the traditional focus on “Believe”. And I think the history of the early Church in the 1830s supports this focus. Many members of the Church were decidedly anti-creedal; i.e., they were against having a creed or mandatory statement of  belief like most other Churches had. So it seems to me that Joseph Smith, when he composed the Wentworth Letter that contained what became the Articles of Faith, was providing a description of our beliefs, not a list meant to proscribe what we must believe. Indeed, someone has observed that Mormonism is more oriented to orthopraxis (correct practices) than orthodoxy (correct belief).

In contrast to this, the two Official Declarations are clearly about changing the Church. The first declaration is more a change of praxis (or at least initially it was) than it was a change in beliefs, since our doctrine still allows for polygamy in the next life. The second declaration is more a change in doctrine, although those doctrines also led to significant changes in our practices. Regardless, both declarations were wrenching cultural changes for members of the Church and many members either left the church or refused to change their beliefs and practices, and at least in the case of the first declaration, formed their own churches. In many ways we are still working out the results of both of these changes.

This leads me to wonder, if we believe in revelation (see esp. Article of Faith 9), if we should not be learning how to accommodate new revelation. If we can’t handle changes, then what does revelation mean exactly?

 

The Articles of Faith contain foundational truths of the restored gospel.

In this sentence, we should probably connect the ideas of “foundational” and “restored”, since they are connected in the beginning of the Church, and especially in the Articles of Faith. Our religion is founded on the idea of restoration, and the articles of faith say as much (article 6). And insofar as the articles are a statement of “foundational” beliefs, their statement is a kind of restoration as well.

So, it is not a surprise that many of the ideas found in the articles of faith appear in LDS poetry, such as the following work, first published in the Millennial Star a decade after the Wentworth letter was composed and published, but nearly 30 years before they were canonized. This poem is one of many that try to enumerate the basic beliefs of the restored gospel—enough that they are themselves an LDS poetic genre.

 

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.

1852

 

 

The Church of Jesus Christ is guided by revelation.

As I mentioned above, the principle of revelation is an element of all of the scriptures in this lesson. As a gospel principle it is foundational to our belief, and something that Mormonism has trumpeted from the beginning. The restoration literally begins with revelation. And a large part of our hymns and poetry are elegies to the restoration and the revelation that began it all.

In this poem, Eliza R. Snow see revelation proclaiming a people in the mountains, establishing there a government free from the control of others. When she titles the poem “National Anthem”, she does not mean the United States, but rather the nascent “Deseret”, the area initially seen as an independent country—so this was a candidate to be that country’s national anthem. Of course, the same year this was written, the U.S. Congress passed a law establishing the territory of Utah, and the idea faded away—rising again briefly in 1857, when the Utah expedition of U.S. troops led Apostle John Taylor to publish this again in the New York City-based newspaper he edited, The Mormon. Still, the poem suggests a lot about the scope we see for the idea of revelation.

 

National Anthem

by Eliza R. Snow

Lo! An Ensign of Peace on the tops of the mountains—

A Banner! a Banner is wide unfurl’d;

Hark! the heralds are sounding a loud proclamation—

Hear, hear the glad message go forth to the world;

Ho! ho to the States, to the Kingdoms and Empires,

Whose fabrics are tott’ring and ready to fall!

 

Ho! ho to all people of every religion,

Art, trade, or profession—the great and the small.

Here is freedom, glorious freedom—

Freedom, Gods and men hold dear,

The white crested Eagle has fled to the mountains;

The Genius of Liberty followed us here.

 

The people of Joseph, the Prophet of God,

Are here—we are free from oppression’s rod:

Hosanna! hosanna to God! he has broke

From off our necks the Gentile yoke,

And has given us a Government pure and free,

And we breathe the sweet air of Liberty,

And rejoice in the blessings our forefathers won,

When they fought the hard battles with Washington.

 

Here intelligence’s richest fountains

Flow, but not from the snow-topt mountains,

They flow from heaven;

Men of God by revelation

Teach the precepts of salvation

Freely given,

Eternal principles now unfold,

Jehovah speaks as in days of old;

And we’ll shout hosanna! till nations afar

Shall awake to the sound and follow the star,

The star of Peace, which o’er Deseret

Arose in full splendor, & NEVER WILL SET.

1850

 

The work of God must move forward.

In recent years the idea that the restoration is continuing has been renewed and restated. We seem to be recalling more frequently the second portion of the 9th article of faith, that “He will yet reveal many great and important things…” This movement forward comes despite the opposition of those who like the status quo.

The following poem is addressed to people who like things the way they are, who are opposed to the work of God changing things, since often we oppose change not because it isn’t better for everyone, but because we personally benefit from the current situation. I wonder if, as we read poems like this, we shouldn’t put ourselves in the place of the opponents, to see where we are opposing God’s work, even if unconciously.

 

Vanity of Human Opposition to God’s Work

by W. Burton

Say, can ye stay the work that God’s begun?

Say, can ye stay the course of yonder sun?

Say, can ye stay the hosts of heaven above?

Or cause the foaming waves to cease to move?

Frail man may lift his puny arm, and try;

But all is vain while Israel’s God is nigh!

Brave champions, on! Let faith your souls inspire,

Though bigots rage and fan the martyr’s fire,

And blood-stain’d stakes appear within our view.

Press on press on! the enemy subdue!

Go, tell the nations Zion’s standard’s reared,

Where heaven’s King shall ever be revered-

Where truth and justice ever may be found-

Where men with slavish fetters are not bound.

Fear not, but on! take courage, and be bold:

Go, gather home the sheep of Israel’s foid;

Go, search the rocks, the dens, and caves of earth;

Go, till ye’ve found the sheaves of endless worth.

Heed not the howling cries of learned men,

The sland’rous epithets and proud disdain

Of hireling priests, craftsmen of Babel’s shore;

For soon their craft will fall, and rise no more.

Go, speak the truth, though you the world despise,

And men with Reverend names indignant rise:

The press, the pulpit, and the fiends of hell

Have vainly strove the work of God to quell.

We’ll win the day, nor will we quit the held

Till truth shall triumph, and foul error yield!

1859

 

I can trust in the Lord, even when I do not have a perfect understanding.

A major resource for dealing with uncomfortable change is the idea of faith. Often changes like those that gave rise to the Official Declarations in the D&C are things that we don’t understand, or we think could be done better or differently. Faith that God knows what He is doing, or, more difficultly, that our leaders are doing their best to follow revelation from God, is not always easy. Often we or people we know are caught unawares by changes or are suffering because of the transition. Can we still trust in the Lord when we don’t see the whole picture?

Hannah Tomsik explores these feelings in the following poem, in which the grief and pain are answered by the revelation of God’s love. Given the poem’s 1921 publication date, it may be a reaction to the then recent Spanish Flu, and the grief surrounding the loss of friends and family. Indeed, Hannah had lost her third child, 7-year-old Wayne, the previous year. However, the revelation she describes is still possible for other kinds of changes, including grief over our (likely incorrect) expectations made before societal and belief changes like those in the official declarations.

 

The Revelation

by Hannah Deady Tomsik

We look upon our neighbor in his grief,

And wonder how he bears the bitter pain.

In our weak way, we try to give relief;

We try to help and comfort, but in vain.

We see him lay the dear ones in the dust,

And bravely struggle on along life’s way;

We marvel at his loyalty and trust,

And that he still can toil and pray.

We pray with throbbing hearts and bated breath: –

“Oh! spare me Lord such sacrifice, such pain!

To see my loved ones lying cold in death,

I could not bear — though they shall live again!”

Yet, bowed beneath the Cross and left alone —

When death takes all that makes life’s living sweet,

We feel God’s hand clasped close within our own,

And love and understanding is complete.

1921