Seen by the Eye of Faith

SEEN BY THE EYE OF FAITH By Albert E. Bowen [The alumni of the Brigham Young College, Logan, gathered at a banquet there on May 31, 1924, to cherish and foster the memories of their school days and to recall the beginnings of that leading Utah educational institution; and also to revive the fundamental thoughts underlying its establishment by the great founder of Utah. The author responded to the toast: "Our Founder" in the words of this eloquent, historical address. — Editors. ] On Wednesday, December 31, 1884, there appeared in the Deseret News the following announcement: The News acknowledges with thanks the following invitation from Logan : The dedication of the Brigham Young College will take place at 12 o'clock (noon) on New Year's Day, January 1, 1885, and the presence of yourself and ladies is desired. There will also be a complimentary ball given in the evening at Reese Opera House, to which you are cordially invited. We congratulate this institution on the completion of so fine a structure, and are gratified to see the advancement made toward putting the college on the high plane which its founder intended it should eventually occupy. That date marks the completion of the first building owned by the College — the brick building on the east — but it does not mark the beginnings of the College. On the 24th day of July, 1877, President Brigham Young conveyed to Brigham Young, Jr., Wm. B. Preston, Milton D. Ham- mond, Moses Thatcher, C. O. Card, Geo. W. Thatcher and Ida lone Cook, 9,642.07 acres of land, to be by them held in trust for the use and benefit of the Brigham Young College in Logan City, the rents, issues and profits thereof to be used for the benefit of the College. The conception of the founder concerning the scope and pur- pose of education is reflected by the following language used by him in the deed of trust: The beneficiaries of this College shall be members in good standing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or shall be the children of such members and the students who shall take a full course shall be taught, if their physical ability will permit, some branch of mechanism that shall be suited to their taste and capacity, and all pupils shall be instructed in reading, penmanship, orthography, grammar, geography and mathematics, together with such other branches as are usually taught in a college of learning, and the Old and New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, shall be the standard text books, and shall be read and their doctrines inculcated in the College, and, further, no book shall be used that misrepresents or speaks lightly of the Divine Mission of our Savior, or of the. Prophet Joseph Smith, or in any manner advances ideas antagonistic to the Principles of the Gospel as it is written in the Bible, Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants.

SEEN BY THE EYE OF FAITH 913 From this it will be noted that all were to be trained in reading, orthography, grammar, geography, mathematics and such other branches as are usually taught in a college of learning; all were to be trained in reverence for the Redeemer of the world and God's word was to be heard. In addition to all that, such as were physically fit were to be taught in some branch of mechanism suited to the taste and capacity of the individual. This latter provision marks more of a departure from the usually conceived function of the school than the provisions which hand gone before. It was nothing new that the perpetuation of re- ligion should be one of the moving reasons for the founding of a school. It had been common enough that schools should be founded primarily upon the religious motive. Harvard was founded in 1636 "that the light of learning might not go out, nor the study of God's word perish." But perhaps even the religious motive had been rather the providing of a place where those designed for the ministry might acquire the learning that would enable them to read the Scriptures, than the providing of an opportunity for the laity as well to acquire that independent power. The provision for teaching pupils in some branch of mechanism — merely his way of voicing the necessity as he felt it for industrial education — shows at once that Brigham Young conceived the true purpose of education to be a preparation to meet and live life in all its phases. School was not to be a place where boys and girls were divorced from life, but a place where they met life and prepared for all of its tasks; the school was to be a place leading directly to the door of the shop, or the home, or to the gate of the farm. But that is not all. In his anxiety for this practical preparation for the every day business of life the founder of the school did not lose his sense of proportion nor the measure of relative values. Certain basic, mental and spiritual training was to be given to all, but mechanism was to be taught according to taste and ca- pacity and physical fitness. It is not necessary to a fulness of life that all should be artisans, mechanics, or specialists in the professions; these all are necessary to the comfort, convenience and enjoyment of man and can be ministered by one to the other. But it is indis- pensably necessary to every individual that he have the mental awaken- ing, the spiritual quickening which make him responsive to the needs of the human race and the ultimate purpose in man's being. These no one may depend upon another for; they are primary, individual necessities, and Brigham Young recognized that a school must pro- vide for them. He has given us a most sound and comprehensive definition of education. "Education," said he, "is the power to think clearly, the power to-act well in the world's work, and the power to appreciate life." It was his purpose therefore to provide a system of education which should put men into possession of all these powers.

914 IMPROVEMENT ERA Brigham Young was a lover of learning and of culture in all their manifestations. He was himself of too heroic a mold ever to be a hero-worshiper, but in-so-far as he may be said to have had reverance for any earthly achievement, he probably venerated above all else in men the superior power and grace which came to them by reason of superior scholastic attainment. It is common to humanity that onj looks with something akin to reverence upon those of his fellows who have been given the fruits of life for which his own soul has hungered, but which life has in a measure withheld from him. Brigham Young was born and reared in pioneer conditions, he knew privation and hardship. He is said to have had but 1 1 days of school- ing in his life. He had, morever an aquisitive mind. He loved truth and was ever in search of it. It is but natural, then, that he should have found comfort and satisfaction in the conversation and society of men of culture and learning. It is but natural, too, that he should have been anxious to put opportunities for learning and culture in the way of the people whom he led. Brigham Young was the kind of a man who would be educated if there were no schools and no books, but he was far too wise to argue from this, as a lesser man might have done, that schools are not necessary. In nothing did Brigham Young demonstrate his claim to leader- ship and greatness more completely than in his anxiety and solicitude for putting the means of learning in the way of his people. This matter seems to have weighed heavily upon his mind. From a volume of the Contributor we read, "President Young being very desirous to have the school (The Brigham Young College) organized at once, had made arrangements for the purchase of the Logan Branch of Zion's Mercantile Institution, which was to be fitted up for a college, but not living to consummate this plan, no further attempts were made to organize the college until September, 1878, when rooms were rented in the City Hall." He had fitted up and conducted a private school for his own family to which many of the neighbor's children were admitted. He had fostered the establishment of other schools including the State University, but it was impracticable, and probably impossible for the people in remote parts of the territory to come to these schools, hence he determined to take the schools to the people, thus evidencing his solicitude for the welfare of all. During the journeyings of his people to the West schools were kept up at their temporary resting places. Arrived here, his advice was to build schools before churches where circumstances would not permit of both. He seems to have had a plan for three schools to be main- tained for the Church — one at Salt Lake City, for the endowing of which he made provision in his will, one for the South at Provo, and one for the North at Logan. A Republic must depend for its success and perpetuity upon

SEEN BY THE EYE OF FAITH 915 the intelligence of its citizenship. Only an enlightened people can be a free or self-governing people. He desired his people to become a truth-loving, intelligent, self-governing people, inspired to right living by an understanding of and a veneration for principles of eternal truth. The value of the work done in this respect by Brigham Young can- not, perhaps, be fully appraised. We do know that these schools have exerted a profound influence upon the communities where their in- fluence has been wielded and upon the lives of numberless individuals. We who are gathered here tonight, who have studied here, believe that this institution has performed worthily and well the mission it was intended by its founder to fill; we believe the good it has done has justified all that it cost and that this school has fulfilled the hopes and expectations of its great founder. There are those here tonight whose memories carry them back to the day, 46 years ago, when the Brigham Young College rented rooms in the City Hall and offered one year of instruction. These have watched the institution change from being a homeless tenant to being the owner of this superb site and these splendid buildings. They remember that, however elementary we may think its work then was, the Brigham Young College represented the highest educa- tional ideal that the community knew. It invited young people to a training a little better than was elsewhere available. It inspired them to further achievement. What was true in the beginning continued to be true as time advanced. Year by year, as conditions generally improved, and our elementary schools improved so that they could do much of the work at first done by the college, the college in its turn grew, eliminating what the grades could do, keeping ever a little ahead, inviting always a little further. Thus the Church, including its school system, has been in the state a forerunner; it has been as the voice of one crying in the wilderness. The happy part about it all is that the people have responded to the invitation issued to take part in the increased advantages offered. As the College raised its standard both as to entrance and graduation requirements, the demands for its increased work increased. When the high school was put upon a four-year basis the number seeking that much training was greater in the ratio of eight to one than the number originally demanding one year of more elementary training. Now suppose there had been no Brigham Young College. Would there have been that same advance in desire for improvement? Clearly not. Improvement is like everything else; the desire for it has to be inspired before it can take place, and it takes opportunity to suggest possibility and to beget desire. Therein lies the great difference between great leaders, such as Brigham Young, and the ordinary rank and file of humanity. No one can have a desire for that which his mind has not conceived. To the great leader is vouchsafed the

916 IMPROVEMENT ERA power of apparently original conception, whereas to the ordinary in- dividual conception comes from some tangible presence offering sug- gestion. Thus it is that the presence of that which leads to and suggests worthy conceptions, begets noble desires and these in turn find expression in exalted achievement. Take away the elevating and inspiring influences from a community and that community de- generates. Bring back the inspiration, let it be represented by a tangible, concrete opportunity, and you will surely find people struggling to attain. Blessed is that community which has in its midst influences which impregnate its atmosphere with the germs of noble impulse, which its youth must breathe. The Brigham Young College has radiated such influence; it has surcharged the atmosphere with in- centive to better living and more worthy achievement. Young men fifty and a hundred miles away felt its inspiration and have been drawn to it, and they in turn have blessed others. The sphere of its influence is as extensive as the wanderings of those who have attended it. Every man who has established his home and lived here has been blessed by it, whether he has ever crossed its threshold or not, ' be- cause it has raised the tone of the communal life about, and has made his home a better place to dwell. The whole business of a school is to make man, and man make communities and states and nations. Perhaps the most important thing a school does for the individual is to put him into possession of his own powers, to introduce him to himself. God gives us our talents, but it is left to us to put them out to usury and increase them. Young people are usually not conscious of their own powers. They do not know their own possibilities. The school which does its duty by its attendants discovers to them the dignity of their own being and day by day puts them into consciousness of their own strength. It extends their horizon, gives them a bigger vision, and teaches them to see the real work of the world, and their relationship to that work. In the language of Brigham Young, it imparts to them "the power to think clearly, the power to act well in the world's work, and the power to appreciate life." If this school has been the means of developing one great man, of giving the awakening impulse to one great life, it has justified its existence and has rewarded its founder, for the life of one great man is worth more in the world than the cattle on the thousand hills. The history of the epoch-making periods of the world's advancement is the story of the lives of the men who have dominated those epochs. In Cromwell's time the King of France said to his great min- ister, "Shall we interefere in the troubled affairs of England?" "No, Sire" was the reply, "we will not interfere in England for a great man is there arisen." So, too, it might be said that the periods in the lives of nations that have been shameful and disastrous, have been

SEEN BY THE EYE OF FAITH 9 1 7 those periods characterized by a poverty of strong men. During the middle years of the 18 th century, England suffered humiliation and disaster at home and abroad. Then arose William Pitt, the great commoner, and led his nation to victory. His name became a name to conjure with. Its very mention struck dismay into the hearts of England's enemies. During the progress of his triumphs a continental contemporary exclaimed, "England has at length brought forth a man." What would be the history of Europe during the early years of the 19th century if you were to blot out the life of Napoleon? How could there have been a reformation without a Luther? What would have become of the Revolution without our own Washington? What would be the history of Utah if you were to take from it the life- work of Brigham Young? In the dark hours of suffering and distress, of poverty and want, he stood a tower of strength to his people. With that splendid poise of character which is the "last lesson of culture," he stood serene and calm, unmoved by the vicissitudes of time or the exigencies of occasion. Sustained by a faith at once simple and awful in its sub- limity, he inspired courage, fortitude, and determination in the hearts and souls of his distressed and suffering people. Let me give you one single instance of the simplicity and the grandeur of that faith, of that splendid poise of character, which inspired his followers with con- fidence and fired them with zeal for the cause in which they believed. The Armies of the United States were approaching the City, being sent here to harrass the people. With the memory of their previous drivings still fresh within them, with the burden of their past sufferings and distress still heavy upon them, one may well imagine the solicitude with which they viewed this new peril. They looked for guidance to Brigh*am Young. On Sunday, October 4, 1857, he walked into the meeting in the bowery and addressed the people in this language: As but few can be in our offices to learn the news that is brought in, 1 will say that on the 2nd, Friday last, a messenger arrived with intelli- gence that the soldiers were going up Ham's Fork, — previous to that I had sent by Lt. Gen'l Wells a copy of the proclamation proclaiming martial law and ordering the troops not to come here. They treated it as I presumed they would. They say that they are sent by the President, are subject to superior officers, and intend to abide their instructions, and I expect that they will, until some other power checks their progress. The brethren are well and the Spirit of peace and contentment rests upon them. They are doing their duties, living to and serving their God, * * * I do not know that anybody's heart burns, except it is to get a little nearer to our enemies; and for the troops to undertake to come in here, well, we are in the hands of the Lord our God, and he will overrule things just as he pleases. Many want to know what the result will be, and they want the Lord to give them revelation. Get revelation if you can. I have told you before, and I can tell you now, that the result will be that "Mormon- ism" will be higher and greater in power and influence than ever it was before. Our enemies will sink while we will increase in power and strength

918 IMPROVEMENT ERA and enjoy an influence that we never enjoyed before, and the Lord will have his own way in bringing about these things. I know that all will be made right, and an allwise, overruling Providence will bring us off victorious. He has led us to victory and peace and has given us power and influence that we can sustain ourselves, and I believe that it is the calculation of all to sustain themselves against all that can come to annoy, destroy, desolate and drive the Saints of God. God will fight our battles, and he will do it just as he pleases. You know that it is one peculiarity of our faith and religion never to ask the Lord to do a thing without being willing to help him all that we are able, and then the Lord will do the rest. Such a leader was Brigham Young. Can any wonder at the devotion of his followers? How could a people so led do other than succeed? Bancroft, deducing some lessons taught by history, said: That God rules in the affairs of men is as certain as any truth of physical science. On the great moving Power which is from the beginning hangs the world of the senses and the world of thought and action. Eternal wisdom marshals the great procession of the nations, working in patient continuity through the ages, never halting and never abrupt, encompassing all events in its oversight, and ever affecting its will, though mortals may slumber in apathy or oppose with madness. Kings are lifted up or thrown down, nations come and go, republics flourish and wither, dynasties pass away like a tale that is told; but nothing is by chance, though men, in their ignorance of causes, may think so. The deeds of time are governed, as well as judged, by the decrees of eternity. The caprice of fleeting exist- ences bends to the immovable Omnipotence, which plants its foot on all the centuries and has neither change of purpose nor repose. Sometimes, like a messenger, through the thick darkness of night, it steps along mysterious ways; but when the hour strikes for a people, or for mankind, to pass into a new form of being, unseen hands draw the bolts from the gates of futurity; an all-subduing influence prepares the minds of men for the coming revolution ; those who plan resistance find themselves in conflict with the will of Providence rather than with human devices; and all hearts and all understandings, most of all the opinions and influences of the unwilling are wonderfully attracted and compelled to bear forward the change, which becomes more an obedience to the law of universal nature than submission to the arbitrament of man. What Bancroft deduced as a lesson of history Brigham Young saw by the eye of faith. But he did more. Bancroft had learned that when the hour strikes for a people, or for mankind, to pass into a new form of being, unseen hands draw the bolts from the gates of futurity * * * *; those who plan resistance find them- selves in conflict with the will of Providence rather than with human devices and all hearts and all understandings, most of all the opinions and influences of the unwilling, are wonderfully attracted and com- pelled to bear forward the change, which becomes more an obedience to the law of universal nature than submission to the arbitrament of man. Brigham Young with a composure and serenity born of faith grown perfect, knew that all this was true with concrete reference to his own people and their cause. He knew that a fateful hour in the march of time had struck, and that it was in the Divine pur-

SEEN BY THE EYE OF FAITH 919 pose that his people should be preserved and their cause made trium- phant. His very assurance and daring command our admiration. Not only did he meet and overcome the troubles of the hour, but with the eye of a seer he looked far into the future, and laid the foundations for the development and perpetuation here of a liberty-loving, free and enlightened people. We, gathered here tonight, are the beneficiaries of his wisdom and his vision. Here memories are wakened of the days when, conscious of our growing powers, and filled with the daring courage and hopefulness of youth, we dreamed dreams of worthy achievement and vowed vows of noble endeavor. Here we received our inspiration; here we builded our castles. It is fitting that now, on the eve of the anniversary of his birth, we pay tribute to our illustrious founder. We like the man who faces what he must, With a step triumphant, and a heart of cheer, Who fights the daily battle without fear; Sees his hopes fail, yet keeps the unfaltering trust That God is God, — that somehow, true and just His plans work out for mortals. Not a tear Is shed when fortune, which the world holds dear, Falls from his grasp. Better with love, a crust Than living in dishonor. Envies not Nor loses faith in man, but does his best. Nor even murmurs at his humble lot, But with a smile and words of hope, gives zest To every toiler, he alone is great. Who by a life heroic conquers fate. — Selected. A Sabbath Reading Soothingly, in the spirit of the day, In peace, in joy, control thyself. The hours are thine: their culture thine. It is a day divinely blest, While from mankind a universal prayer Wells up o'er all the earth; When hymns, in all the praise of love That voice and music both together give, Rise like a pleasant incense, and declare To God and angels man's fidelity. Yet give thy heart to prayer! Yet sing thy psalm of praise! Yet help the weak and timid in their faith! For we must bear each other's burdens Loving Christ, our Lord! And when the quiet moments, fading down Within the gloaming, merge into the night, Know thou, thyself, one day nearer heaven! Joseph Longking Townsend.