"Saints and crockery ware": The Temporal and Spiritual

On the use of historical and temporal examples in the LDS worldview and sermonizing

George A. Smith
April 6, 1856

Mormons are likely to hear about car sales, mountain hikes, or dirty windshields in any given sacrament meeting talk; a temporal instance becomes a spiritual lesson. Terryl Givens' People of Paradox examines LDS culture in terms of the seeming incongruities inherent in the gospel as restored through Joseph Smith. One particular paradox involves Joseph's collapsing together of the temporal and spiritual; what Givens calls the "blending and blurring of sacred and secular categories." Brigham Young as explained the paradox in these words:

When I saw Joseph Smith, he took heaven, figuratively speaking, and brought it down to earth; and he took the earth and brought it up, and opened up, in plainness and simplicity, the things of God; and that is the beauty of his mission.¹

Givens concludes Americans were "not ready to disregard the boundaries that kept heaven and earth apart."² Combining the heavens and earth flew in the face of the conventional dualism of Joseph's day; that heaven and God are "wholly other," the earth and mankind eternally different in fundamental ways.

"Utilitarian"-based talks may focus on how temporal matters can affect souls; practical matters take on eternal significance. George A. Smith's 1856 sermon on fence mending resulted from Heber C. Kimball's request that Smith "preach on matters of policy." Smith discussed avoiding distractions and quarrels by efficiently completing one's work. By keeping our house in order we allow for more reflective time and we are less apt to be drawn from thoughts of higher things by knowing the dishes haven't been cleaned yet or the cows are out causing havoc, etc. This introduces another LDS paradox: Church authority versus individual agency. This occurred even more so when the Church was largely focused in the Great Basin where leaders were often apt to offer temporal counsel in a religious setting. These paradoxes contributed to the tensions felt by early Saints, such as when the temporal matter of the Kirtland Anti-Banking failure combined with the religious leaders involved therewith, or when "gentile" merchants blamed the tyranny of Brigham Young's policies for sagging sales.

In short: part of the Mormon preaching tradition blends the sacred and profane through temporal examples and stories (either hypothetical or based on real experiences), and at times includes counsel over practical matters (in this sermon, fence-mending).

First, George A. believed the difficult tasks plaguing life of early Utah settlers served as a sort of filter; a mechanism to separate the wheat from the chaff. Their very temporal location in the territory of Utah became a part of God's gospel plan:

The condition of our Territory, the nature of our soil [and] climate, appear as if designed expressly by the Almighty for the...upbuilding of the kingdom of heaven in the last days. It matters not what corner of the earth men come from, unless they possess the spirit of the leaven of truth, they will remain but a short time in these mountains before they begin to consider it the wrong place, for the leaven is working. They cannot quite endure the climate and the peculiarities of the country or something of the kind and off they go. On account of our altitude we are most advantageously situated for the drainage of the filth, scum, and corruption, when it accumulates to a certain extent, for it flows off in different directions, thus leaving the people of the kingdom remaining as it were alone.

As time passed, Utah became less exclusionary as industry, railroads, and settlement expansion changed the face of the West. Even then, however, everyday tasks formed a part of the gospel plan to Latter-day Saints. Temporal arrangements are necessary; the gospel is not an all-encompassing transcendent event that leaves the reality of life behind. In certain ways it works to combine the two. This worldview was interestingly described by editor James Gordon Bennett of the New York Herald in 1842, who said the Mormons

...are busy all the time establishing factories to make saints and crockery ware, also prophets and white paint.³

Again, one reason G.A. Smith mentioned temporal matters in his religious sermon was for the practicality of "avoiding annoyance." He likely remembered some of the the annoyance caused to neighbors of the Mormons back East where they were literally driven from their homes and property. He didn't wish to see division among the Saints resulting from annoyances:

There are many here, as religious as this congregation looks, who have not got a good fence around their farms, yet they will kneel down in the mornings perhaps, to offer a prayer. By the time they have got one knee fairly to the floor, peradventure somebody thunders away at the door and cries out, "Neighbor, there are twenty head of cattle in your wheat; they have been there all night, and are there now."

The man of no fence is roused up, and instead of praying he is apt to think, "Damn it," and to start off get the cattle out and put them into the stray pen...

Thus you must see that some temporal arrangements are necessary, to enable men to enjoy that quiet which would be desirable in attempting to worship our Heavenly Father.

It was quite practical to keep the cows in so one could attend to religious matters. George A.'s sermon gives interesting insight into the use of temporal stories and history being cast into the LDS worldview of life being a probation. He related the elusive story of Thomas B. Marsh and the "milk strippings" which were said to have ultimately caused Marsh's apostasy. Using a simplistic explanation, Smith admonished the Saints to avoid annoyances in temporal matters for spiritual reasons:

You may think that these small matters amount to but little, but sometimes it happens that out of a small matter grows something exceedingly great. For instance, while the Saints were living in Far West, there were two sisters wishing to make cheese, and, neither of them possessing the requisite number of cows, they agreed to exchange milk. The wife of Thomas B. Marsh...and sister Harris concluded they would exchange milk, in order to make a little larger cheese then they otherwise could. To be sure to have justice done, it was agreed that they should not save the strippings, but that the milk and strippings should all go together. Small matters to talk about here, to be sure, two women's exchanging milk to make cheese.

Mrs. Harris, it appeared, was faithful to the agreement and carried to Mrs. Marsh the milk and strippings, but Mrs. Marsh, wishing to make some extra good cheese, saved a pint of strippings from each cow and sent Mrs. Harris the milk without the strippings. Finally it leaked out that Mrs. Marsh had saved strippings, and it became a matter to be settled by the Teachers. They began to examine the matter, and it was proved that Mrs. Marsh had saved the strippings, and consequently had wronged Mrs. Harris out of that amount.[Two appeals were made, the last to the High Council.]

Marsh being extremely anxious to maintain the character of his wife, as he was the President of the Twelve Apostles, and a great man in Israel, made a desperate defense, but the High Council finally confirmed the Bishop's decision. Marsh, not being satisfied, took an appeal to the First Presidency of the Church, and Joseph and his Counselors had to sit upon the case, and they approved the decision of the High Council.

This little affair, you will observe, kicked up a considerable breeze, and Thomas B. Marsh then declared that he would sustain the character of his wife even if he had to go to hell for it. Then the President of the Twelve Apostles, the man who should have been the first to do justice and cause reparation to be made for wrong, committed by any member of his family, took that position, and what next? He went before a magistrate and swore that the "Mormons" were hostile towards the State of Missouri. That affidavit brought from the government of Missouri an exterminating order, which drove some 15,000 Saints from their homes and habitations, and some thousands perished through suffering the exposure consequent on this state of affairs.

Do you understand what trouble was consequent to the dispute about a pint of strippings? Do you understand that the want of fences around gardens, fields, and yards, in town and country, allowing cattle to get into mischief and into the stray pen, may end in some serious result? That the corroding influence of such circumstances may be brought to bear upon us, in such a way that we may lose the Spirit of the Almighty and become hostile to the people?

And if we should not bring about as mighty results as the pint of strippings, yet we might bring entire destruction to ourselves. If you wish to enjoy your religion and the Spirit of the Almighty, you must make your calculations to avoid annoyances, as much as possible.

History became the basis for exemplifying and teaching a moral principle.⁴

...I have come to the conclusion that the best policy is to undertake to cultivate a little land, and to fence and cultivate it as it should be, and to only keep as many cattle as we can take care of, and keep from destroying our neighbors crops. In that way I believe we will be able to avoid a good many annoyances, and to adopt a great deal better policy than we now have in those respects.

If anything, George A. quipped, you ought to have a good fence so as not to insult the cows who might be offended enough to challenge you to a duel after seeing your feeble fence.⁵ By being frugal and industrious one could avoid annoyances and help the community become Zion:

In this way Zion can be made to blossom as a rose, and the beauty of Zion will begin to shine forth like the morning, and if the brethren have not learned by experience that this is the course to pursue, by that time they will learn it. I presume a great many have become satisfied that it would be better to avoid many of these annoyances.

George A. believed many problems in the Church might be avoided by following his practical advice, and he thus combined the religious principle of love for God and fellow man with practical work in  home-spun temporal sermon. In other words, he tied a historical example (the milk strippings) to a contemporary issue (contention over cattle, land and fences), and both instances served to teach eternal principles of love, awareness, work, and the general building up of Zion.

Especially given the circumstances of the late 1850s, LDS leaders in the Great Basin preached on being self-sustaining. They would rely on no one but themselves and the mercy of God:

Good domestic policy requires us to be careful in providing such comforts and necessaries as we can produce within ourselves. If we let our sheep perish our clothing will be scanty, or we shall be forced into the stores to support distant producers. If we let our cattle die we shall not only lack beef, but our home made leather will be missing.

In short, the difficulties and wrongs which may grow out of such carelessness are numerous. It should by all means be our policy to produce every article, which we can, within ourselves.

George A. asserted these principles were a part of his faith and would lead to temporal and spiritual prosperity:

These sentiments are strictly within the scope of my religion, and those comforts and conveniences, which we are constantly in need from day to day, are necessary to enable us to perform the duties God requires at our hands. One of those duties is to take a course that will enable us to enjoy the blessings and comforts of life, [to] preserve our health and strength to labor for the upbuilding and spread of the kingdom of God.

This blending resonates in Mormon culture today with emphasis on personal responsibility, work ethic, and the saying that "cleanliness is next to Godliness" referrs to physical as well as spiritual hygiene, all in addition to salvation and the grace of Jesus Christ. While at times it is a matter of practicality, Saints continue to find the gospel in everyday living and easily combine the two in Church sermons, lessons, and comments without a second thought, as Givens noted:

Those inhabiting the theological universe [Joseph Smith] created find themselves in a place where the sacred, the human, and the divine find new meanings and require new orientations.⁶

George A. concluded:

I have offered these remarks, on the subject of policy, in rather a rambling manner, something like the parson, who was told that he did not speak to his text, "Very well," says he, "scattering shots hit the most birds." May the Lord bless us all, and prepare us to enter His kingdom. Amen (JD 3:280-291).

FOOTNOTES

[1]
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 5:332.

[2]
Terryl Givens, "The Paradoxes of Mormon Culture," BYU Studies 46, no. 2 (2007): 191-192. In his interview on Helen Whitney's documentary The Mormons, Givens explained:

One finds in the revelations of Joseph Smith an immense range of subject matter. One can go to the Book of Abraham, where he describes in vision pre-mortal councils where God himself participated, and we were present as unembodied spirits. One can go to section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants, which was called just The Vision, in which he describes the glories of the celestial world and the inheritance of those who go to the celestial or the terrestrial kingdoms. Those are examples of revelations that are about as exalted and transcendent as one could ask for. Then one can also find a number of revelations in which he tells people that they should open a print shop on this property, or they should sell this property here, or that they are called to New York to do this. His revelations range from the sublime to the mundane. And yet I think that there's no contradiction there.

Interview located at http://www.pbs.org/mormons/interviews/givens.html (last accessed 12-14-2007).

[3]
James Gordon Bennett, New York Herald, August 4, 1842 (as cited in Givens, ibid).

[4]
See Daniel C. Peterson and David B. Honey, "Advocacy and Inquiry in the Writing of Latter-day Saint History," BYU Studies 31:2 (1991) 1-41 [.pdf] Smith's account here seems too simplistic but has still been used recently by various General Authorities and in Church manuals. Other unofficial LDS publications and members have examined the story and published explanations. Later this week I'll look into how the story has been used and what the historical record tells us about Marsh's apostasy.

[5]
George A. jested:

There has been a constant complaint about selling the land for fencing, quarreling here and there about cattle doing mischief, and they have become thoroughly converted to the doctrine I recommended. Experience had to teach them the lesson, though it was not so much experience with me, for my father taught me that a man could not raise a crop with any certainty unless he first fenced his land, and it was considered one of the most ridiculous things a man could be guilty of, in a new country, to plant a crop and let the cattle destroy it for want of a fence. Some settlements have made tolerably good fences, but as a general thing the poles are stretched too long for their size, the points sag down, and should a cow or an ox happen to pass by such an apology for a fence, and understand that it was designed to keep out animals, they would be insulted, and, were it not against the law to fight a duel, you might expect such a cow or ox to give you a challenge for such gross insult (JD 3:285).

[6]
Terryl Givens, "The Paradoxes of Mormon Culture," BYU Studies 46:2 (2007): 192. A subsequent sermon by Brigham Young demonstrates the blending, especially in the early territorial Church when a Zion society was an immediate goal:

Our preaching to you from Sabbath to Sabbath, sending the Gospel to the nations, gathering the people, opening farms, making needed improvements, and building cities, all pertain to salvation.

The Gospel is designed to gather a people that will be of one heart and of one mind. Let every individual in this city feel the same interest for the public good as he does for his own, and you will at once see this community still more prosperous, and still more rapidly increasing in wealth, influence, and power. But where each one seeks to benefit himself or herself alone, and does not cherish a feeling for the prosperity and benefit of the whole, that people will be disorderly, unhappy, and poverty-stricken, and distress, animosity, and strife will reign (JD 3:228).

Orig. posted 12/10/2007. Revised and reposted 8/18/2008