The Undiscovered Country

The Undiscovered Country A Dissertation on Spiritual Themes By Elder Orson F. Whitney, of the Council of the Twelve

I. —Spirit Promptings We see but half the causes of our deeds, Seeking them wholly in the outer life, And heedless of the encircling spirit world, Which, though unseen, is felt, and sows in us All germs ^f pure and world-wide purposes. * * * The fate of England and of freedom once Seemed wavering in the heart of one plain man. One step of his, and the great dial-hand That marks the destined progress of the world In the eternal round from wisdom on To higher wisdom, had been made to pause A hundred years. That step he did not take He knew not why, nor we, but only God, And lived to make his simple oaken chair More terrible and grandly beautiful, More full of majesty than any throne, Before or after, of a British king.

Behind the Curtain The poem from which these lines are taken is entitled "A Glance Behind the Curtain," and the author is James Russell Lowell. The action deals with Oliver Cromwell and John Hampden, English patriots, who are represented as about to flee from the tyranny of King Charles the First, and seek a new home overseas, joining the little band of Puritans who have already found a haven on western Atlantic shores. Hamp- den urges flight, but Cromwell hesitates. Something within tells him not to go — tells him that Freedom has a work for

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him to do, not in America, but in his own land, where he after- wards overthrew the royal tyrant, became Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, and broadened and deepened, as never before, the foundations of English liberty.

A Well Warranted Conviction How much of fact and how much of fiction are here inter- woven, matters not for the purpose of this argument. It was the poet's conviction that such things could be; a conviction warranted both by Scripture and by numerous facts of human experience. A belief in spirit promptings, in the action and in- fluence of the Unseen World upon the World Visible, has been a tenet in the religious philosophy of wise and good men all down the ages. Multiplied instances might be given. The ex- periences of the Latter-day Saints alone would fill volumes.

Columbus and "The Voice" — In another poem "Columbus" —Lowell sets forth the same idea, that of whisperings or suggestions from beyond the "Veil" hiding the Spirit World from this world of flesh and blood. The great mariner is supposed to be standing on the deck of his ocean-tossed vessel, soliloquizing over the situation sur- rounding him: A yet undiscovered country ahead, a mutinous and grumbling crew behind, threatening to put him in irons and turn the ship's prow toward Spain, if sight of the prom- ised shore of India — for which Columbus had set sail came— not with the break of dawn. A world of care weighs him down, a sense of solitude and utter loneliness, but his soul hears ."the Voice that errs not," and is patient and trustful to the hour of complete triumph.

Nephi and the Spirit That it was indeed "the Voice that errs not" which in- spired Columbus, upholding and urging him on to the con- summation of the great enterprise that he had undertaken, we have sacred and indisputable evidence. Long before Colum- bus crossed the ocean, an American prophet and seer Nephi — — by name looking down the vista of twenty centuries, fore- cast the career of that man of destiny, telling how "the Spirit of God" would impel him to cross "the many waters" to this "promised land;" and how the same Spirit, moving upon others, would induce them to follow in the wake of the mighty explorer. That prophet beheld in vision the war for Ameri- can Independence, the successful struggle of the oppressed col- onies against the mother country, and the founding here of a free Government, a heaven-favored Nation, destined from the hour of its birth to foster and give protection to the grow-

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ing Work of God in future days. And this revealing Spirit so —was more than an inward monitor: "I spake Nephi affirms unto him as a man speaketh, for I beheld that he was in the form of man; yet, nevertheless, I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another" (I Nephi 11:11; 13:10-19).

The Godhead Evidently it was the Holy Ghost who communed with Nephi, though he is here spoken of as "the Spirit of God" and "the Spirit of the Lord." Concerning him and the other mem- bers of the Godhead, Joseph Smith says: "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also: but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of spirit." (Doctrine and Covenants, 130:22). Even as Nephi beheld the Holy Ghost, so Joseph looked upon the Father and the Son (Ch. Hist. I, p. 5) all three being in human ;

form. It was of the Holy Ghost that the Savior was speaking, when he said to his disciples: "He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13).

The Unerring Guide The experience of Columbus differed from that of Nephi, notably in this particular: Nephi "beheld," while Columbus was only moved upon by that Spirit. From the Godhead three — divine personalities— proceeds an essence or influence that per- meates the entire universe. Immanent in all things, it is the — principle of life and light throughout creation the light of the sun, moon and stars, the light also of the human under- standing, illumining in greater or less degree every soul that comes into the world. It is not the Gift of the Holy Ghost, that being a special endowment reserved for members of the Church of Christ; but it springs from the same Source, and is possessed by men and women the world over, in measure large or small, according to their varied degrees of worthiness. It is an emanation from the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost who is known also as the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, or the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit that brings things past to remembrance, and shows things to come, making plain the purpose of the present life, revealing to man his eternal origin and destiny, and answer- — ing the otherwise unanswerable questions Whence? Whither? and Why? Wordsworth's "Intimation" It was this Spirit that inspired the poet Wordsworth, bring- ing the forgotten past to his remembrance, and prompting the utterance of the noble thoughts embodied in those sublime

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verses^ "Intimations of Immortality." What reader of the poem has not been thrilled by these lofty lines: Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; The soul that rises with us, our life's star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God who is our home.

Truth and Bigotry Strong doctrine, it proved, for the rigid orthodoxy of Wordsworth's time, which allowed for the pre-existence of the Son of God, but not for that of man in general. Wordsworth had to recant, or at least was constrained to deny in part that the heaven-inspired "intimation" meant as much as his bigoted censors seemed to fear. Nevertheless,

"Got but the truth once uttered, and 'tis bike A star new-born, that drops into its place, And which, once circling in its placid round, Not all the tumult of the earth can shake."

The truth uttered by the "Poet of Nature" touching the previous life, was probably accepted by thousands of advanced thinkers; and their acceptance would help to prepare the way for a more positive and more complete presentation of the great doctrine of The Pre-existence. In this connection, the subjoined verses from the pen of a "Mormon" poet, tell their own eloquent story:

Eliza R. Snow's Invocation

my Father, thou that dwellest In the high and glorious place! When shall I regain thy presence, And again behold thy face? In thy holy habitation Did my spirit once reside; In my first primeval childhood "Was I nurtured near thy side.

For a wise and glorious purpose Thou hast placed me here on earth, And withheld the recollection Of my former friends and birth. Yet, ofttimes a secret something Whispered, "You're a stranger here," And I felt that I had wandered From a more exalted sphere.

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I had learned to call thee Father, Through thy Spirit from on high; But until the Key of Knowledge Was restored, I knew not why. In the heavens are parents single? No, the thought makes reason stare! — Truth is reason truth eternal Tells me I've a Mother there.

When I leave this frail existence, When I lay this mortal by, Father, Mother, may I meet you In your royal courts on high? Then, at lengtth, when I've completed All you sent me forth to do, With your mutual approbation Let me come and dwell with you.

How wonderfully clear and comprehensive! — past, pres- ent and future circumscribed in brief compass; the mystery of the former life unfolded and the meaning of all existence made plain.

Maeterlinck and "The Bluebird?' When Maeterlinck wrote "The Bluebird," had he formed acquaintance with those simple, sublime stanzas? One sec- tion of the Belgian poet's masterpiece is entitled "The King- dom of the Future," dealing with the pre-mortal life, and with the spirits of little children waiting to be brought down to earth to be born here. Old Father Time is there with his barge, gathering in the tiny passengers, holding back some whose turn is not yet, and permitting others whose birth-hour is about

to strike. The barge being filled, he sails away, and mingling with the sweet strains of children's voices, hailing the distant planet that is to be their new abode, rises from below the song of the mothers coming out to meet them. When the poet's inspired mind conceived this beautiful creation, had he heard of Eliza R. Snow and her invocation to the Eternal Father and Mother?

The Same Note I do not impute plagiarism in such cases. There is no monopoly of Truth. It reveals whomsoever it will, itself to and sometimes it tells to several persons, at different times and places, the same thing. Suffice it, that Eliza R. Snow, when she sang of the "first primeval childhood," was sounding the identi- cal note subsequently struck bv Maurice Maeterlinck, when portraying so tenderly and so tellingly the heavenly origin and earthly advent of the spirits that tabernacle in mortality.

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i'amr's Purtiality Inspiration was kind to both poets, but fame has been Bomewhal partial. Some day, when bigotry is dead, and preju- dice DO longer has power to blind men's eyes to the truth and pervert their judgment, the just claims of all inspired teachers will be recognized and, so far as possible, recompensed. Mean- while the world will go on glorifying one and crying down an- other, as it always has done. It will continue "tossing high its ready cap in air" in honor of Maeterlinck, the Belgian poet, for the beautiful truths set forth in his sublime symbolic drama little realizing that the American prophet, Joseph Smith, and seme who sat at his feet learning wisdom from his lips, taught the same and greater truths long before Maeterlinck *va« born.

Spirit Memories Writing one day upon the subject of spirit memories, I was led to indulge in these reflections: Why are we drawn toward certain persons, and they to us, as if we had always known each other? Is it a fact that we always have? Is there something, after all, in that much abused term "affinity," and is this the basis of its claim? At all events, it is just as logical to look back upon fond associations, as it is to look forward to them. We believe that ties formed in this life will be continued in the life to come; then why not believe that we had similar ties before we came into this world, and that some of them, at least, have been resumed in this state of existence? After meeting someone whom I had never met before on earth, I have wondered why that person's face seemed so familiar. More than once, upon hearing a noble sentiment ex- pressed, though unable to recall that I had ever heard it until then, I have found myself in sympathy with it, was thrilled by it, and felt as if I had always known it. The same is true of some strains of music; they are like echoes of eternity. I do not assert pre-acquaintance in all such cases, but as one thought sug- gests another these queries arise in the mind. When it comes to the Gospel, I feel more positive. Why did the Savior say: "My sheep know my voice?" Did a sheep ever know the voice of its shepherd if it had never heard that voice before? They who love the Truth, and to whom it most — strongly appeals were they not acquainted with it in a prev- ious life? I think so. I believe we knew the Gospel before we came here, and that is what gives to it a familiar sound. President Smith's View Very much in the same vein, I once wrote to President Joseph F. Smith; he being at the time in Utah, and I on a mission in Europe. His reply is here presented;

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I heartily endorse your sentiments respecting congeniality of spirits. Our knowledge of persons and things before we came here, combined with the divinity awakened within our souls through obedience to the Gospel powerfully affects, in my opinion, all our likes and dislikes, and guides our preferences in the course of this life, provided we give careful heed io the admonitions of the Spirit. All those salient truths which come so forcibly to the head and heart seem but the awakeLing of the memories of the spirit. Can we know anything here that we did not know before we came? Are not the means of knowledge in the first estate equal to those of this? I think that the spirit, before and after this probation, possesses greater facilities, aye, manifold greater, for the acquisition of knowledge, than while manacled and shut up in the prison-house of mortality. I believe that our Savior possessed a foreknowledge of all the vicissitudes through which He would have to pass in the mortal tabernacle. * * * If Christ knew beforehand, so did we. But in coming here, we for- got all, that our agency might be free indeed, to choose good or evil, that we might merit the reward of our own choice and conduct. But by the power of the Spirit, in the redemption of Christ, through obedience, we often catch a spark from the awakened memories of the immortal soul, which lights up our whole being as with the glory of our former home. (Gospel Doctrine, pp. 15, 16).

Communications From the Departed I have said that many instances might be given of the ac- tion and influence of the Unseen World upon the World Visible; and that the experiences of the Latter-day Saints alone would fill volumes. I need only mention two items connected with experiences of this kind: First, the gathering up of genealogies for use in Temple work; and, secondly, the work itself, done vicariously for the benefit of the departed. By dreams, visions, voices, and other manifestations, spirits behind the "Veil" have been able to make known their wishes to surviving relatives in the flesh, so that their left-over work might be done for them, the records of their ancestors secured, and they in like manner redeemed through sacred ordinances performed in their behalf and necessary to their progress and happiness in the Spirit World and in spheres beyond.