Thoughts on Father

Helen and Brent Goates

There is nothing to compare with being the father of a righteous posterity. I said "righteous," not perfect. For me the definition might be a little different than what you may have heard. "Righteous" equates to "repenting" with me.

The record of  people contained in The Book of Mormon is where I take my cue - sometimes the Lamanites were righteous because they were repenting. The Nephites were righteous too, but only when they were repenting.

This business of repenting and forgiving must be the reason we were organized into families. We get to use all that fertile lab material readily available to us in the most intense personal relationships we can imagine. We have family members. Sometimes we love each other. As we grow older we learn to loathe them, anger arises and gives vent in our hearts, and sometimes we actually have to relearn love in our old age. Whatever the case may be, we will all admit learning to love one another is often a lifetime endeavor not easily mastered, yet we long to be more like Heavenly Father and sooner or later we must learn to love just like He does.

Bishop Goates, 1954

We can learn much from the lessons of the scriptures about our own lives. In recent weeks I have been reflecting about the life of my own father, Lesley Brent Goates, who celebrated his 90th birthday. He was born on a memorable day - 2-2-22 - Groundhog Day. In their later years it was the practice of my parents to annually rent the Bill Murray movie on his birthday and watch together. Mom passed away on Easter weekend, 2000. He still misses her intensely. Life without her has not been easy, but bearable in the knowledge he will once again be with her. Theirs is a marriage that was "sealed" in the temple for time and for all eternity.

The fanciful ideal of true love is commonplace among mankind, whether they have a knowledge of the restoration of priesthood keys or not. Every so often a movie comes out to remind everyone of how eternal our spirits are by nature. "Ghost" is an example. "Sixth Sense" is another. Our spirits live on beyond the grave, awaiting the day of resurrection where they will be reunited with the bodies now entombed in the grave.

Helen Lee Goates

There is little doubt in Dad's mind that he will see Mom again, not only to be reunited in the spirit world when he dies, but also in the resurrection of the dead on the morning of the first resurrection when it comes. That is why Mormon funerals are always so full of hope. Death is never the end. In death one merely walks through a door into a different room, but there is nothing permanent about death. It is a temporary stage of progression.

As I reviewed Dad's life and put together a slideshow for the occasion, I was reminded of all his good qualities. I surveyed a life well-lived. From the moment he put his feet on the straight and narrow path leading toward eternal life, his footsteps never faltered, he never deviated, nor did his devotion to the truth and building the kingdom of God on earth ever slacken. His is a remarkable record of achievement, perseverance, hard word and unstinting discipleship. It is a life worthy of emulation, to be sure.

Helen and Brent, 1975

The thing that was impressed upon me again and again was his perpetual smile. The goodness of his soul, the strength of his eternal spirit, radiated out to me in picture after picture. It didn't matter whether he was in high school, serving as a missionary in the last group of missionaries who went to Texas during World War II, or all the years of his working life. In it all there was his radiant smile, constantly glowing and ever-present.

His was an extraordinary life of discipleship. At an early age his desire to obey God was stamped into his DNA. He had faults - he was full of them - and as his oldest son I could easily document them. I saw the best and the worst of him. It's strange, somehow, isn't it that when we grow older the faults of others seem to dim in our memories, permitting us to focus almost exclusively on their goodness. Thank the Lord for a faltering memory as you grow older, allowing us to remember the best of times and deselect the worst.

Huntsman Games Hall of Famer

So it is with Dad. He has managed to live long enough for this son to see only into his heart, the purest essence of his eternal spirit now occupying an increasing feeble physical frame. In recent years he became an inductee into the Huntsman Senior Games Tennis Hall of Fame. He hit a lot of tennis balls in his life, and now his exploits on the court are forever enshrined.

He hit a lot of those balls with me. I finally beat him when he was a mission president, and if you press me to the wall I'll tell you I "let" him beat me up until then just so I wouldn't shatter his brittle ego. He was a phenom on the courts, and from his earliest days until he just couldn't physically pick up the racket any more his twisting second serve took a wicked "up and away" hop off the court that was nearly impossible to return even at a slow pace.

State Doubles Champs (l to r),
Brent Goates and Chauncy Peterson
vs. Rick Warner and Billy Koch

When he was once a striking 6'1" (with all that youthful hair he would have looked about 6'4"), he now barely clocks in at about 5'3". In recent years he has become the amazing shrinking man due to chronic and painful arthritis and scoliosis and osteoporosis of the spine. His spine and aorta on an x-ray look more like the winding Mississippi, where once in his youth he stood ramrod straight as an arrow and excelled at basketball and tennis.

My love for Dad has grown intensely in this past month as I put together the slideshow of his life. I suppose there are few sons who really arrive at "getting" their Dad. Father and son relationships are somewhat like Mother and daughter relationships. It's complicated. On the one hand you love them for all they have done for you, on the other hand you wish they'd just butt out and let you do it yourself. When they offer a helping hand, often even money on the barrel head without a moment's hesitation when you need it most, you return thanks by your ingratitude and indifference until you need their resources again. And even then you sometimes hate them for their willingness and eagerness to rush to your help. Like I said, it's complicated.

I mentioned we could learn a lot from studying the lives of our scripture heroes. Father Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel, was such a patriarch. The very name "Israel" suggests so much, a chosen people down through all the ages of the earth's existence. It was of Israel, as a people, to whom the Lord referred when He said, "Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. . . he kept him as the apple of his eye." (Deuteronomy 32:9-10). "And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh," Moses was instructed, "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn." (Exodus 4:22). Elsewhere we learn more about Israel as the Lord's people, "But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend." (Isaiah 41:8).

Despite her routine backward slides as a people, the record all through Isaiah reflects, "Yet my hand is stretched out still," reminding us all that a necessary mid-course correction in our own lives is always in order and desirable because whenever and wherever it occurs, we are immediately welcomed back into the bosom of the Father and the Son as though we had never deviated.

The innocence of Christmas Eve

Any father in mortality who is making every effort to honor his covenants with God will find his burden immediately increased when a son transgresses for a season. The innocence of youth is too frequently replaced with sin and transgression. Sometimes the path back is torturous, long and winding. When a son rebels and turns his back on the very One with whom the father has made the covenant to obey, honor, sacrifice and serve at all costs, it is painful.

There are numerous examples in the scriptures of these fathers, almost without exception most are the revered patriarchal fathers with whom we are so familiar. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and before them Noah and Adam immediately spring to mind. We learn much about parenting rebellious sons from Lehi's and Sariah's family in the early chapters of The Book of Mormon. Each has one or more sons and daughters who rebelled against God and turned away from their covenant blessings. Most blamed their parents on the way out the door. The trend continues to this very hour. Blaming others, particularly your father or mother, for every ill that besets you has never been more fashionable, and it has never been more in error than today. No matter how badly you were treated as a child, it is possible to reclaim the ground you think they stole from you. It is forever possible to forgive them, forgive yourself and get back on the path, cherishing the best your parents offered, and rejecting their worst traits while still loving them.

June 24, 1946, a new Goates/Lee generation begins

Consider Jacob's agony with his posterity. Reuben, the birthright son, his firstborn, committed adultery with one of Jacob's wives. He had received a stunning pronouncement in a blessing from his father: "My firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength. . ." (Genesis 49:3). Imagine the blow to Jacob upon learning of his son's adulterous behavior. The burdens a man must carry in life as he moves forward with his posterity in the deep roiling oceans of life are magnified considerably by the disobedience and rebelliousness of any members of his family. Often, children are burdened by the same disobedience and willful rebellion of their parents, so let's not imagine the burdens only operate in one dimension.

At various times in his life we have record that at least four of Israel's sons were deviant in their discipleship, adding sorrow to their father. All of his sons except little Benjamin were culpable in the plot to kill Joseph at one time. Reuben saved him from certain death at the hands of his brothers by suggesting they should just throw him into the pit instead, and later it was Reuben who attempted to retrieve Joseph from the pit to deliver him back to his father. (Genesis 37:21-22, 29). Even Judah had no appetite for Joseph's blood. (Genesis 37:26-27). But the nefarious plot to destroy the birthright son was hatched up in "group think" among all the brothers because like so many families today, one righteous member of the family became the scapegoat for the sins of all the rest. Jealousy, envy, pride, desire to cover one's own sin -- all qualify as motivations.

Sometimes Satan is enabled by our self-deception to the point the truth becomes convoluted and twisted beyond recognition and a fantasy world ensues where distinguishing between truth and error becomes nearly impossible. We come to believe and defend a lie. The whole history of the Nephite and Lamanite civilization is ample evidence of what can happen.

Ute hoopster, 1942

The story of Israel's sons and their devious plot, while not completely known to him at the time, would have been enough to break the spirit of the average man and possibly even cause him to reject his family. But Israel was no ordinary man. Neither is Brent Goates. He never abandoned them, even the worst of them. Israel knew his eternal possibilities with his numerous posterity. He trusted in the promises. He also knew those promises were only going to come to pass through his posterity, so he never gave up reaching out to them, succoring them, feeling after them. In short, he was trying to become like God himself. He knew and believed in the infinite love and mercy embodied in the atonement of Christ. He knew and trusted in the limitless availability of repentance and forgiveness, and their ultimate redemption.

So he sailed on through the troubled waters of his tortured familial relationships, never wavering, never doubting and offering an example of constancy in faith. He turned neither to the right nor the left -- he charted and kept an undeviating course in righteousness, because he must certainly have known in time his sons would one day be gathered back into the family fold and they could repair together the harm that had come to them if they could find the path again he had forged for them through the "great deep." He had a clear vision of his divine destiny. Generations came through his faithfulness. We are the blessed recipients of his goodness today. He chose to endure with faith and hope, even when his father's heart was broken.

Certainly Israel would accept some blame for his children's wayward natures. After all, like all mortal men, every father passes along undesirable traits of personality. Perhaps a quick temper, an angry temperament that flashes judgmental decrees, or a tendency to meet out swift and seemingly harsh discipline without empathetic listening skills. Some intense fathers (not singling anybody out here) have even been known to lecture their children well into their adult years, so earnest and eager is their desire to correct their obvious faults. All this causes friction and tension in families.

But rest assured. God does not wander around heaven wringing His hands daily over the obvious deviations of his sons and daughters living here on earth in mortality. Instead, even He bows beneath the rod of moral agency, and gives each the maximum latitude to make choices, reminding them they alone are accountable for those choices. Blame your fathers and mothers if you like for all your sins, He would say if He were here, but realize that only when you one day come to your senses and look yourselves in the mirror can you begin to see more clearly what you need to do. That usually involves repenting, and only you can do it if you will. God leaves the decisions all up to us, and in family life we all get ample opportunities to learn how to repent and forgive. We're all family lab rats, and we all get to experiment on each other.

Bruce, Brent, Helen
Audrey, Leda, Les Goates

We all came from somewhere (someone) and we're all headed somewhere (with lots of someones). There's a reason the bridal sealing rooms are flanked on each side with mirrors on the walls to remind us life is eternal in both directions.

One can imagine a father like Israel forgiving nearly everything except something that disastrous like your firstborn birthright son having sex with your own wife, and yet even that, we learn, was forgiven. It cost Reuben losing his birthright to younger brother Joseph, but the record shows even the tribe of Reuben will one day be gathered back in with all the others to receive in time ALL the birthright blessings in full. Sometimes change takes time, and sometimes only the passage of time and the rounding out of all the sharp edges can make of each of us a polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty, like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the righteous patriarchs who followed in their wake.

Men like Lesley Brent Goates. Happy 90th Birthday to you!

Dad's fond of saying these days, "I'm the last leaf on the tree, and the wind's blowing harder." He's at the end of the path leading to the tree of life, and in not too many days hence he will partake of its fruit. At his funeral there will be no sorrow in his passing. He knows, and we all know, what will happen next when he passes through that door up ahead.

In death, for him, there is nothing but deferred rejoicing awaiting him.

Lewis H. DeYoung Obtained Priesthood Keys of Power

Many years ago, a missionary son asked, “How is it that women can officiate in temple ordinances, inasmuch as they do not have the priesthood? By what authority do they do those things?”

That’s an excellent question, and this one does have an answer! The handout (see attached - click to enlarge, download it or print it to read the small print, or ask me for a pdf version) from today’s lesson outlines the priesthood holders (men only) who hold priesthood keys in the hierarchical structure of the organization (those on the right side of the handout).  I have written for years about this topic.

The presiding keys of authority within the Church are very specific, and are held only by those who preside at the various levels of the Church. The President of the High Priesthood, the President of the Church, holds all the priesthood keys (see D&C 132:7). There is only one man on the earth at a time who holds all the keys of the priesthood. In actuality, however, he receives those keys through ordination by all the Apostles, since the keys reside in The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Until an Apostle rises to the first position in seniority (based on his ordination date), those keys remain dormant with each individual Apostle.  If two Apostles are ordained on the same day, the one who is older by age is senior in the Quorum.

The authority dimension of the presiding keys is referred to as “the right of presidency.” (See D&C 107:8). According to their positions in the Church, God gives his servants authority to act within certain bounds. Only the authorized ministrations by priesthood holders operating in proper channels are legally binding and acceptable before him. (D&C 132:8-10). These keys are variously referred to in the scriptures as “the keys of the priesthood,” (see D&C 132:7; 124:34, 123), “the keys of the kingdom,” (see D&C 81:2; 128:14), and “the keys of the oracles of God,” (see D&C 90: 4-5; 124:39, 124).

The Keys of the Priesthood

These presiding keys are often called “the keys of the priesthood” for at least two reasons: First, these presiding keys of authority are exclusive to the priesthood, and are handled and controlled only by those ordained to the priesthood; secondly, the keys pertain to offices or positions in the priesthood. (D&C 107:9).

The Keys of the Kingdom

The presiding keys are also called “the keys of the kingdom.” (D&C 81:2). By virtue of these keys God’s servants preside in his kingdom on earth, have authority to officiate in all the offices or positions and perform or administer all the ordinances thereof. Because of these rights, his servants may also enjoy the wherewithal to discern all the spiritual gifts or powers operative in the lives of the members of the kingdom to ensure they are of God. (See D&C 46:27).

The Keys of the Oracles of God

Sometimes these keys of presidency are called “the keys of the oracles of God,” because they give God’s servants the right to ask and receive revelation pertaining to the direction of his Church upon the earth. (D&C 90:1-6). They also give his servants the authority to speak for God. Anciently, the holy of holies in Solomon’s Temple was called “the oracle,” or the place where conversations with God took place. (See 1 Kings 6:16, 10-23).

The full and proper name of the priesthood is “the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God.” (See D&C 107:1-4). We learn by revelation that the name of the priesthood was changed to avoid the too frequent reference to the name of the Supreme Being. The priesthood became known as the Melchizedek Priesthood, named after the great high priest Melchizedek. Two “divisions or grand heads,” consisting of the Melchizedek and the Aaronic or Levitical Priesthood operate within the Church.

These priesthood keys are the exclusive domain of men only in the Church. These are the keys that some aspiring women in the Church who do not understand the doctrine are seeking to acquire – they want to be on an equal footing with men, and they want the priesthood. However, only men preside in this Church with priesthood keys of authority. Women who preside in the auxiliary organizations (the Young Women, Primary, Relief Society) do so at the invitation of priesthood leaders who hold the keys of authority, so that there may be order in the Church.

All that said, now to your question, Joe: “Do women who preside over the women’s organizations in the Church or work in the temple performing ordinances also hold presiding keys of the priesthood?” The answer is that women, like their male counterparts in the priesthood, are “set apart” to preside or officiate when called by their leaders who hold the priesthood keys to preside. Presiding keys of the priesthood are conferred upon men who are called to preside, but women do not receive the keys of the priesthood to preside.

Do not misunderstand, however, there are priesthood keys of power held by men and women, but within the organization of the Church presiding keys of priesthood authority is a male-only domain. One can hold the priesthood, yet not have the authority to do particular things.

Conversely, one can have authority to do particular things and not hold the priesthood. For instance, to preside in one of the Church's auxiliary programs, a person must be properly called, receive the sustaining vote of those over whom he or she presides, and be set apart by the same authority by which he or she was called. In this manner, the men who hold the priesthood keys give authority (but not keys) to women to preside over auxiliary organizations and to officiate in the temples.

Specifically, the priesthood’s presiding keys are held by stake presidents, mission presidents, bishops, elders’ quorum presidents, but not by presidents of the Young Men’s organization, the Young Women, the Primary, or the Relief Society. Those without keys, including counselors and secretaries in the various organizations when they are set apart, are entitled to “blessings, privileges, authority to act,” etc., but there are no keys of the priesthood conveyed. Nevertheless, in each of the Church’s organizations that touch our lives through their ministrations, we may be blessed by the service of others if we will sustain them and pray for their inspiration on our behalf.

The Priesthood Keys of Personal Revelation

Now, on the left-hand side of the handout you will see something called “Priesthood Keys of Personal Revelation” – a complete contrivance on my part to illustrate the most important dimension of priesthood power. These keys are given without the necessity of priesthood ordination, since women and men can access their use to unlock the heavens, either in their Church calling or in their personal lives.

This is probably the best-kept "secret" in the Church.  Harold B. Lee once defined the word secret or mystery as a truth that cannot be known except by revelation.  Often those God-given truths are simply waiting for individual discovery, not because God has not yet revealed them.  Such is this "secret."  A little study and pondering will reveal it to anyone who seeks to have it revealed.

The presiding keys of authority are what everyone – men and women – seem to be most interested in obtaining for some reason. You witness it first in the mission field – everyone clamoring for positions of authority – district leaders, zone leaders, APs – you know the drill. It most often goes under the heading of “mission politics.” Rich just mentioned it last week in his journal pages. What missionaries don’t realize (and they are in good company along with about 99% of the whole Church) is that these presiding keys are highly over-rated.

They are the most visible positions in the mission field and in the Church, true enough, but the keys of personal righteousness are the where the power in the priesthood resides.

Think about this for a moment. In the next life, how will we be organized? Two choices: A) as a church; B) as a family.

In this life, we are routinely deceived. We value what we can discern through our physical senses, and visible priesthood positions seem most desirable, so we aspire (naturally – since we are dealing with the “natural man” here) to obtain that which is highly visible. Our peers in the Church generally honor people who hold prominent Church positions.

We even go so far in our thinking to assume that because God has bestowed this position upon us that we are somehow better than, or more blessed than, or more acceptable before God. We equate position with God’s approval. We think this is God’s way of patting us on the back by rewarding our good efforts by bestowing upon us a visible and prominent position. Members of some families agonize for years sometimes because they haven't obtained some desirable office in the Church when other siblings have.

Lewis H. DeYoung Obtained Priesthood Keys of Power

I attended the funeral yesterday of an obscure uncle who never held a prominent position in the Church.  He was lauded for all the things that mattered most to his posterity -- he was hailed as "perfect" -- a perfect husband, brother, father, grandfather, mentor, guide, example and confidant.  In the end, this was a faithful servant to all, beloved and cherished because he was the embodiment of one who had kept and magnified his temple covenants and has now passed through the veil to a reunion with his beloved Audrey and his eternal reward.  Together they triumphed over mortality -- not that it was easily conquered.  In their case it involved a long-suffering journey into humility through consecrated service.  And it had nothing to do with his positions as a presiding authority in the Church. 

It's sad to observe this wrong-headed fixation with postions in the Church, because the real truth is these things are comparatively trivial in God's eyes. 

Like the workings of the Spirit in our lives, the real treasures lie hidden beneath the trappings of outward appearances. It is in the domain of the personal revelations of the Holy Ghost that God whispers his approval of our lives day by day, until that crowning day when we part the veil, and “the Father teacheth [us] of the covenant which he has renewed and confirmed upon you, which is confirmed upon you for your sakes, and not for your sakes only, but for the sake of the whole world.” (D&C 84:48).

Real power in the priesthood lies in personal righteousness (the byproduct of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and true repentance). One can have authority to act in a position in the Church, but ordination or setting apart to a position in the Church never guarantees God’s acceptance of our lives, personal purity or power in the priesthood.

Remember, "power in the priesthood" is what we desire most for ourselves and our posterity throughout all eternity!  Everything else pales into a trivial pursuit.

*  *  *

I have always appreciated these inspired insights from Elder Bruce R. McConkie, as reported by his son in The Bruce R. McConkie Story, 330-31:

There is an inherent danger in centering undue attention on the importance of offices and callings. Salvation is not found in offices, and a preoccupation with them can be self-destructive. Dad was very sensitive to this danger and took great pains to warn his family against such a danger. He recalled that when President J. Reuben Clark was changed from first counselor in the First Presidency to second counselor, President Clark reminded the Church as a whole that what matters is not "where one serves, but how." (J. Reuben Clark Jr., Improvement Era, June 1951, 412). 

Dad explained that when there is a vacancy in a bishopric, a stake presidency, or among the general authorities, there are those in the ward, stake, or Church generally who begin to speculate and wonder whether they ought to be called. Some of them obviously pray to the Lord and ask to be called and then think that when someone else is called, the best man has not been chosen. He pointed out that "there are usually many men who could fill any position, who could take any vacancy that arises and do it honorably and well, building up the kingdom and furthering the work. But some individual has to be called to do it. It is certain that whoever is called thereby becomes the Lord's anointed, and even if the Lord would have preferred someone else, yet the one called is entitled to inspiration, and if he seeks to magnify his calling to the full, he will come off triumphant in the work assigned."

The great lesson is that it does not matter what position we have in life. What does matter is how we keep the commandments. "The family unit and working in the cause of righteousness are more important than any position. Service is essential to salvation, but the place where we serve is not."

Years before, Dad was assigned to attend a quarterly conference in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square. In one of the meetings, Dad spoke about magnifying one's calling in the priesthood and thereby working out an inheritance of exaltation and receiving all that the Father hath — this in accordance with the statements in Doctrine and Covenants 84 on the oath and covenant of the priesthood. George F. Richards, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, followed Dad and spoke on the same general theme. One of the things that President Richards said was, in substance, there are many in the Church who hold no position at all who in eternity will have higher positions than many of the Council of the Twelve. Furthermore, he said that he did not have the slightest doubt that there would be a realignment of Church positions and responsibilities in the life to come. People who were not called to leadership positions in this life could well be called to such positions in the spirit world. He also foresaw a future day when the organization we now have will no longer exist. The only promise that we have about apostles and prophets in the scriptures, for instance, is that they are going to continue until there is a unity of the faith, meaning that some time during the millennial era, apostles and prophets will no longer be needed. That is because every man will be converted, and there will no longer be a need for special witnesses to bring them to the truth. This will also be because everyone will know all of the doctrines, including all of the future, and there will be no occasion for prophets to foretell it.

Elder McConkie held that what was of eternal moment was the family organization, the patriarchal system, which goes from father to son. The thing that counts will not be what position someone held in the Church in any dispensation but, rather, how he lived and whether he is entitled to exaltation and his place in the patriarchal order.

*  *  *

This past week, I was eyewitness to just such a man, Lewis H. DeYoung.  I am grateful to Uncle Lewis for the reminder of the things that routinely matter most.  The world took little notice of his passing, but among his family, those who knew him best, we have the assurance he is not only entitled to exaltation, but he has now taken his de facto place in the patriarchal order of the priesthood beyond our sight and charted the course for all the rest of us.

And it had nothing to do with the positions he held in the Church. 

It had everything to do with his obtaining the priesthood keys of power through his faithfulness.

Personal Righteousness, Key to Governing America

This summer, I've been re-reading John Adams, the brilliant biography by Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough.  This time, I've found refuge and relief from the current idiocy coming out of Washington.  I commend the book to all of you who may be having similar thoughts about current events.  It will do wonders to calm your troubled hearts in the tumult of opinions and the war of words.

If it weren't so true, the attached cartoon would be funnier.  There was no attempt to spell out every contingency that would arise in America when the writers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States laid it all out in writing.  Such was never their intent.  Instead, they relied upon the moral purity of the people who would come after them.  Yes, moral purity.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson, holding the pen that wrote the Declaration of Independence, later wrote:  "Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."  Despite that awareness, Jefferson also said, "I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master."  He also affirmed:  "I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion."

The founders, while they attempted to set up a government intentionally designed to separate and divide power into three branches and were wary of the Constitution's broad definitions, nevertheless trusted in the moral compass of the people to guide themselves.  They believed the majority would ultimately get it right, and made it possible to self-correct errors in judgment.  The representative republic was to be "renewable" every two years in electing every single member of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate to make it unalterably responsive to the will of the people. 

It was the people, the majority of Americans, in whom the founders believed and in whom they reposed all the power of the government.  If the people abdicated that power through indifference or wickedness, then even the founders could not help them.

The first inhabitants of this continent, the Jaredites, were warned

And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto the land of promise, which was choice above all other lands, which the Lord God had preserved for a righteous people.

And he had sworn in his wrath unto the brother of Jared, that whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, should serve him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off when the fulness of his wrath should come upon them.
And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.
For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God. And it is not until the fulness of iniquity among the children of the land, that they are swept off.
And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God — that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities until the fulness come, that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done.
Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written.  (Ether 2:8-12).

Personal Righteousness of Founders

John Adams

Adams was a paragon of virtue.  Never was there a moment in his life where integrity, honesty and virtue took a holiday.  He and Abigail were separated by the devotion of Adams to the cause of freedom.  He spent ten years in Europe as ambassador in Paris, the Netherlands, then eventually England when the Revolutionary War ended.  Abigail, except for a brief respite years later, stayed home and managed their farm property.  Imagine being the first diplomat representing America in the court of King George III, the object of the very tyranny villified in the Declaration.  But undaunted by the task, John Adams presented himself before the King and the "special relationship" between our two nations commenced thereafter because of the foundation laid by John Adams.

Allow me this one snippet from David McCullough, recalling the righteous influence of one man, John Adams, on the Continental Congress debate advocating independence:

To Jefferson, Adams was "not graceful nor elegant, nor remarkably fluent," but spoke "with a power of thought and expression that moved us from our seats." Recalling the moment long afterward, Adams would say he had been carried out of himself, " 'carried out in spirit,' as enthusiastic preachers sometimes express themselves." To Richard Stockton, one of the delegates from New Jersey, Adams was "the Atlas" of the hour, "the man to whom the country is most indebted for the great measure of independency. . . He it was who sustained the debate, and by the force of his reasoning demonstrated not only the justice, but the expediency of the measure."

George Washington

The letters between Abigail and John are a priceless written history of the personal sacrifice they and others like them made for our freedom.  Often three months at sea, often lost at sea or dumped overboard to avoid spies and traitors, those letters that remain are a treasure trove of the historical record tracing our struggle as a nation to be free from the oppression of the monarchy.  And it was Abigail who lamented that succeeding generations would never be able to calculate the price they paid in sacrifice.  We owe everything we enjoy today to them.

George Washington was not a great military leader by all accounts.  In fact, he was a poor soldier.  Like Adams and Jefferson he thought of himself first and foremost as a farmer.  To a man they all longed to be free of the burden of governance and to return to the farm.  But he was a leader with rare skills and talents who inspired others to greater heights in the depths of their despair.  His gifts, like those of Adams, relied upon his personal righteousness.

Civil War

Yes, Jefferson owned slaves, and so did Washington, a common practice among Virginians who harvested many hundreds of acres. Adams abhorred the practice as a "northerner" from Massachusetts, and it was a topic both men avoided in their extensive correspondence. The founders purposefully left untouched and unaddressed the issue of slavery. It festered and cankered from within America for almost a hundred years thereafter.

Later there was a long lapse of communication between Adams and Jefferson. While he served as Vice-President under Adams, Jefferson avoided him altogether because of political differences. Jefferson eventually prevailed in the next election and succeeded Adams in the presidency.

It would take a Civil War to work out the differences between slaves and their masters, and it is impossible now to impose our twenty-first century judgments on those conditions.  Even later, before the Civil War began, the slavery issue was front burner hot in Missouri when the Mormons who favored abolition moved in with majority-threatening numbers.  We all know how that chapter in Mormon history ended.

"They govern themselves"

The fundamental premise of the founders seems to be the same as Joseph Smith, when he famously said, "I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves."  (John Taylor first told the story in November 1851, in the Millennial Star 13:22, 339, then later in JD 10:49). 

Concerning government: Some years ago, in Nauvoo, a gentleman in my hearing, a member of the Legislature, asked Joseph Smith how it was that he was enabled to govern so many people, and to preserve such perfect order; remarking at the same time that it was impossible for them to do it anywhere else. Mr. Smith remarked that it was very easy to do that. "How?" responded the gentleman; "to us it is very difficult." Mr. Smith replied, "I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves."

The American "experiment" in self-government has always been a rollicking rough ride since its inception.  It has never been easy, nor has it ever been free of controversy and strife.  In fact, one of the most interesting parts of McCullough's book documents the scathing attacks against both Adams and Jefferson, when they opposed one another in the nomination for the presidency when Washington retired in 1800.  I'll save that piece for a later post.

Joseph Smith, candidate for U.S. President

Joseph Smith, himself, would put forward his declared candidacy for the presidency of the United States in 1844.  At the time of his assassination in Carthage Jail he was sending missionaries out not only to declare the gospel, but also to advance his name and the cause of the saints in the upcoming election.  He was seeking redress from an indifferent federal government to the plight of the saints who had been exterminated or expelled from Missouri.

From his "temple prison" while incarcerated in Liberty Jail, Joseph Smith wrote a long epistle to the Church members who themselves were suffering.  Parts of the letter are canonized as Sections 121, 122, and 123 of the Doctrine and Covenants.  But even before that epistle, here is what Joseph Smith believed about the Constitution and man's futile attempts to rise to the standards of righteousness it imposed:

The Constitution of our country formed by the Fathers of liberty. Peace and good order in society. Love to God, and good will to man. All good and wholesome laws, virtue and truth above all things, and aristarchy, live forever! But woe to tyrants, mobs, aristocracy, anarchy, and toryism, and all those who invent or seek our unrighteous and vexatious law suits, under the pretext and color of law, or office, either religious or political. Exalt the standard of Democracy! Down with that of priestcraft, and let all the people say Amen! that the blood of our fathers may not cry from the ground against us. Sacred is the memory of that blood which bought for us our liberty.  (TPJS, 117).

Here is a principle also, which we are bound to be exercised with, that is, in common with all men, such as governments, and laws, and regulations in the civil concerns of life. This principle guarantees to all parties, sects, and denominations, and classes of religion, equal, coherent, and indefeasible rights; they are things that pertain to this life; therefore all are alike interested; they make our responsibilities one towards another in matters of corruptible things, while the former principles do not destroy the latter, but bind us stronger, and make our responsibilities not only one to another, but unto God also. Hence we say, that the Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it is founded in the wisdom of God. It is a heavenly banner; it is to all those who are privileged with the sweets of liberty, like the cooling shades and refreshing waters of a great rock in a thirsty and weary land. It is like a great tree under whose branches men from every clime can be shielded from the burning rays of the sun.
We, brethren, are deprived of the protection of its glorious principles, by the cruelty of the cruel, by those who only look for the time being, for pasturage like the beasts of the field, only to fill themselves; and forget that the "Mormons," as well as the Presbyterians, and those of every other class and description, have equal rights to partake of the fruits of the great tree of our national liberty. But notwithstanding we see what we see, and feel what we feel, and know what we know, yet that fruit is no less precious and delicious to our taste; we cannot be weaned from the milk, neither can we be driven from the breast; neither will we deny our religion because of the hand of oppression; but we will hold on until death.
We say that God is true; that the Constitution of the United States is true; that the Bible is true; that the Book of Mormon is true; that the Book of Covenants is true; that Christ is true; that the ministering angels sent forth from God are true, and that we know that we have an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens, whose builder and maker is God; a consolation which our oppressors cannot feel, when fortune, or fate, shall lay its iron hand on them as it has on us. Now, we ask, what is man? Remember, brethren, that time and chance happen to all men.  (TPJS, 147-8).

It is one of the first principles of my life, and one that I have cultivated from my childhood, having been taught it by my father, to allow every one the liberty of conscience. I am the greatest advocate of the Constitution of the United States there is on the earth. In my feelings I am always ready to die for the protection of the weak and oppressed in their just rights. The only fault I find with the Constitution is, it is not broad enough to cover the whole ground.
Although it provides that all men shall enjoy religious freedom, yet it does not provide the manner by which that freedom can be preserved, nor for the punishment of Government officers who refuse to protect the people in their religious rights, or punish those mobs, states, or communities who interfere with the rights of the people on account of their religion. Its sentiments are good, but it provides no means of enforcing them. It has but this one fault. Under its provision, a man or a people who are able to protect themselves can get along well enough; but those who have the misfortune to be weak or unpopular are left to the merciless rage of popular fury.
The Constitution should contain a provision that every officer of the Government who should neglect or refuse to extend the protection guaranteed in the Constitution should be subject to capital punishment; and then the president of the United States would not say, "Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you," a governor issue exterminating orders, or judges say, "The men ought to have the protection of law, but it won't please the mob; the men must die, anyhow, to satisfy the clamor of the rabble; they must be hung, or Missouri be damned to all eternity." Executive writs could be issued when they ought to be, and not be made instruments of cruelty to oppress the innocent, and persecute men whose religion is unpopular.  (TPJS, 326-7).

Powers not delegated to the states or reserved from the states are constitutional. The Constitution acknowledges that the people have all power not reserved to itself. I. . . comprehend heaven, earth and hell, to bring forth knowledge that shall cover up all lawyers, doctors and other big bodies. This is the doctrine of the Constitution, so help me God. The Constitution is not law to us, but it makes provision for us whereby we can make laws. Where it provides that no one shall be hindered from worshiping God according to his own conscience, is a law. No legislature can enact a law to prohibit it. The Constitution provides to regulate bodies of men and not individuals.  (TPJS, 279).

As a Church and a people it behooves us to be wise, and to seek to know the will of God, and then be willing to do it; for "blessed is he that heareth the word of the Lord, and keepeth it," say the Scriptures. "Watch and pray always," says our Savior, "that ye may be accounted worthy to escape the things that are to come on the earth, and to stand before the Son of Man." If Enoch, Abraham, Moses, and the children of Israel, and all God's people were saved by keeping the commandments of God, we, if saved at all, shall be saved upon the same principle. As God governed Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as families, and the children of Israel as a nation; so we, as a Church, must be under His guidance if we are prospered, preserved and sustained. Our only confidence can be in God; our only wisdom obtained from Him; and He alone must be our protector and safeguard, spiritually and temporally, or we fall.
We have been chastened by the hand of God heretofore for not obeying His commands, although we never violated any human law, or transgressed any human precept; yet we have treated lightly His commands, and departed from His ordinances, and the Lord has chastened us sore, and we have felt His arm and kissed the rod; let us be wise in time to come and ever remember that "to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."  (TPJS, 253).

On the day he died in Carthage Jail, Joseph Smith said:

Thursday, A.M. — June 27, 1844. —

Said Joseph, "Our lives have already become jeopardized by revealing the wicked and bloodthirsty purposes of our enemies; and for the future we must cease to do so. All we have said about them is truth, but it is not always wise to relate all the truth. Even Jesus, the Son of God, had to refrain from doing so, and had to restrain His feelings many times for the safety of Himself and His followers, and had to conceal the righteous purposes of His heart in relation to many things pertaining to His Father's kingdom. When still a boy He had all the intelligence necessary to enable Him to rule and govern the kingdom of the Jews, and could reason with the wisest and most profound doctors of law and divinity, and make their theories and practice to appear like folly compared with the wisdom He possessed; but He was a boy only, and lacked physical strength even to defend His own person; and was subject to cold, to hunger and to death. So it is with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; we have the revelation of Jesus, and the knowledge within us is sufficient to organize a righteous government upon the earth, and to give universal peace to all mankind, if they would receive it, but we lack the physical strength, as did our Savior when a child, to defend our principles, and we have of necessity to be afflicted, persecuted and smitten, and to bear it patiently until Jacob is of age, then he will take care of himself."  (TPJS, 392).

And so we return to the original premise -- can we govern ourselves a little longer based upon the principles of personal righteousness and reliance upon God?  Time will tell. . .

When Egypt was under the superintendence of Joseph it prospered, because he was taught of God; when they oppressed the Israelites, destruction came upon them. When the children of Israel were chosen with Moses at their head, they were to be a peculiar people, among whom God should place His name; their motto was: "The Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our Judge; the Lord is our King; and He shall reign over us." While in this state they might truly say, "Happy is that people, whose God is the Lord." Their government was a theocracy; they had God to make their laws, and men chosen by Him to administer them; He was their God, and they were His people. Moses received the word of the Lord from God Himself; he was the mouth of God to Aaron, and Aaron taught the people, in both civil and ecclesiastical affairs; they were both one, there was no distinction; so will it be when the purposes of God shall be accomplished: when "the Lord shall be King over the whole earth" and "Jerusalem His throne." "The law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."

Universal Peace to Come from God

This is the only thing that can bring about the "restitution of all things spoken of by all the holy Prophets since the world was" — "the dispensation of the fullness of times, when God shall gather together all things in one." Other attempts to promote universal peace and happiness in the human family have proved abortive; every effort has failed; every plan and design has fallen to the ground; it needs the wisdom of God, the intelligence of God, and the power of God to accomplish this. The world has had a fair trial for six thousand years; the Lord will try the seventh thousand Himself; "He whose right it is, will possess the kingdom, and reign until He has put all things under His feet;" iniquity will hide its hoary head, Satan will be bound, and the works of darkness destroyed; righteousness will be put to the line, and judgment to the plummet, and "he that fears the Lord will alone be exalted in that day." To bring about this state of things, there must of necessity be great confusion among the nations of the earth; "distress of nations with perplexity." Am I asked what is the cause of the present distress? I would answer, "Shall there be evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it?"

Earth Now Groaning Under Corruption

The earth is groaning under corruption, oppression, tyranny and bloodshed; and God is coming out of His hiding place, as He said He would do, to vex the nations of the earth. Daniel, in his vision, saw convulsion upon convulsion; he "beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit;" and one was brought before him like unto the Son of Man; and all nations, kindred, tongues, and peoples, did serve and obey Him. It is for us to be righteous, that we may be wise and understand; for none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand, and they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever.  (TPJS, 252-3).