About

Of late I have been considering some of these things:

Joseph Smith Jr. was not far away in generations from the men who fought during the Revolutionary War, and from the men and women who lived during the adoption of the Constitution of the united states of America. Indeed thirty-four out of fiftty-five original Framers of the Constitution were still living at the time of his birth, George Washington having passed away only six years prior in December of 1799.

Joseph’s family had grandfathers and great-grandfathers who fought in the Revolutionary War as well as daughters of that revolution who had survived the deprevation and abuses that accompanied that monumental war.

The collective memories of family, friends, and neighbors of those days of tyranny, destruction, confusion, and caous that later gave way to peace, order, and industry were perhaps not as clouded by time as is the “objectivity” of historians of our day.

The natures of men, both good and evil, had fully and plainly been made manifest upon the lives of those who were yet living, something that seems to accompany every war. The great historical records of that day were not entirely written upon parchment, but engraven upon the skins of flesh and the minds of the living and resposited in the eyes, ears, and minds of their posterity.

It was a time when the name of Benedict Arnold epitomized the word traitor; and George Washington, the iconic counterpart, as that great Patriot who brought this fledgling nation together in concession when it appeared that the Revolutionary War had brought only confusion.

I don’t doubt that there were still many who could pass through a village and identify if once a Torrie family occupied the land there, former residents having long since fled for refuge in Canada.

The hand of Providence was commonly recognized, not because of the artistic renderings adorning the chapels or public venues of this new nation; but because of the familiar daily divine touch upon those whose struggles brought that clear acknowledement that they were wholly mity dependent upon God for their very sustinance, protection, and constant support. While unanimity in that declaration may not have been universal, it certainly was not the unfamiliar stranger that it has become in so many homes today.

Is it any great wonder that the Lord would declare His part in establishing the Constitution with the instruction that it “…should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles…“ or admonish us with these words, “…I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free. Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn. Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil…”

We live in a day when we call evil good and good evil, confusion reigns, but not because the Lord would have it so; but because of the hardness of our own hearts and of conspiring men who seek after that which is corruptible, and they themselves have become corrupted. Perhaps we can begin to remember the true history of this nation and of this people. In doing so, our vision will clear and the hard choices to be made may become easier to make. Like the man with that shattered leg whose constant pain racks his mind, we may yet have to remove the offending appendages.