Crandall Printing Museum

This past week I visited the Crandall Printing Museum on Center Street in Provo, Utah as part of my Honors Doctrine and Covenants class.  I visited the museum once about four years ago (my freshman year in my Honors Book of Mormon class).  It hasn’t changed a whole lot since then, but it was definitely a worthwhile experience.  Once again, the type-writing letter-casting machine thing was broken.  What are the chances of that happening both times I go?  He made a reference to his favorite show, The Three Amigos again, but this time he didn’t have the Chinese wooden block prints of the character 林 which he was holding upside down…

This time visiting, I have a much deeper impression about how amazing Gutenberg was, and how many things he had to do to create the printing press.  It also amazes me that they were using almost the exact same technology in Joseph Smith’s day for printing as Gutenberg used several hundred years before.  That truly amazes me.  Gutenberg was a true renaissance man.  It was an interesting point that the first printed Bible and the first Book of Mormon were printed in almost an identical manner.

We spent a lot of time talking about Benjamin Franklin this time.  I definitely learned some interesting facts about the history of printing in America.  I really enjoyed Benjamin Franklin’s epitaph: “The body of Benjamin Franklin, Printer (like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and gilding), lies here, food for worms; but the work shall not be lost, for it will (as he believed) appear once more in a new and more elegant edition, revised and corrected by the Author.”

One thing that was definitely not there last time I visited (but that we curiously didn’t even talk about) was the replica Gold Plates.  They are made of a gold-silver alloy called electrum, and it was created based off Joseph Smiths and Oliver Cowdery’s accounts of the plates.  The top plate even had etching of the Reformed Egyptian characters based off the rubbing that Joseph made of the plates.  In most artists renditions of the plates, the sealed portion has a metal band of some sort around it.  Oliver Cowdery described it as looking like wood or something, so the replica plates actually use tree sap and beeswax as the seal, if I remember correctly.  That was pretty neat!

One thing that was really neat, and pertinent to our class, was when he talked about the printing of the Book of Mormon.  He had a famous binder come through several years back, and he asked him about how long it would take to bind 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon.  The man said, “You mean 500, right?”  He said no one printed 5000 of anything back in those days.  But, that’s why Martin Harris had to mortgage his farm to have them printed!  It’s also a miracle that the Smith family had moved right up to New York near the Eerie Canal, and that a printer had come right to their small township allowing the Book of Mormon to be printed there.

Overall, it was a very worthwhile experience.  They are trying to raise funds to expand their museum right now, so if you have lots of money, you should donate some to them!

The Gathering

How has the gathering of the Saints affected me in my life? I have ancestors on my mother's side of the family that were Mormon pioneers. Obviously, without their sacrifice I wouldn't necessarily be a member of the church today. It is also because of the gathering that we have the church. If the saints had not gathered, they would probably have suffered the same fate as the early church. The Apostles were unable to keep tabs on a church membership spread all over Europe and Asia, and eventually the branches all fell into apostasy. If we hadn't gathered in our day, I'm sure we would have suffered that same fate. Today, of course, we no longer gather to the Great Basin, but we are still gathered into Stakes of Zion wherever we may be to lift and strengthen one another.

Women, Hymns, and D&C 25

Doctrine and Covenants Section 25 is one of the first insights into the role of woman in the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In order to appreciate this fully, though, we have to understand a bit of background.  But, before that, I want to share a quotation that we read in Priesthood Quorum today.  This is from The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith manual:

It is the duty of a husband to love, cherish, and nourish his wife, and cleave unto her and none else; he ought to regard her feelings with tenderness, for she is his flesh…  It is the place of the and, to stand at the head of his family, … not to rule over his wife as a tyrant, neither as one who is fearful or jealous that his wife will get out of her place, and prevent him from exercising his authority.  (Page 482)

To us today, this doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.  Of course a husband should treat his wife with respect, and he shouldn’t rule over his house as a tyrant.  However, if we understand the historical context of this revelation we see just how important it is.  In 1800’s America, the woman was to be subject to her husband in everything.  She was not to get out of her place, or prevent her husband from exercising authority over her and her house.  He did not need to treat her has his own flesh, but as something less.  Women would live in subjection their entire lives, first to their father, and then after they were married, to their husbands.  So, we see that this revelation was a radical teaching.   And this teaching first is alluded to in Section 25.

First, the Lord addresses Emma directly in the revelation as my daughter.  This puts her on equal ground with her husband Joseph, whom the Lord addresses as my son in many revelations and visions.  The Lord calls her an elect lady, and tells her that there is a work for her to do.  She is also told that she is appointed to expound scripture to the church. This was unheard of in that time.  There was no such thing as a lady pastor in Emma’s time.  Women only taught other women and children, never men.  Women were also never called upon to do anything of importance.  However, Emma was called upon to organize a hymnal for the church.

Again, today we might think “oh, a songbook, that’s a woman’s thing.”  However, in Emma’s day it was not.  The men were the ones writing all the hymns, like W. W. Phelps, so why wasn’t Brother Phelps called to organize the hymnal?  Also, we might look lightly upon Emma’s work, because it was “just the hymnal” instead of the Book of Mormon or some other scripture.  But isn’t the hymnal scripture?  Isn’t everything therein the official doctrine of the church?  Also, another interesting point that was brought up in our class…  There may be a week that we don’t read a single verse from the old testament in church.  We might not read a single verse from the new testament.  Or maybe it’s the Book of Mormon, or Doctrine and Covenants…  But do we ever have a single week go by that we don’t sing a hymn?  Never!  Every week we sing at least 3 hymns from the hymnal during sacrament meeting, and maybe more than that in other classes.  So can we really look so lightly upon this work?

Another interesting point on the subject of Hymns:  Today in sacrament meeting, one of the counselors in our bishopric, Brother Haglund, made a really interesting observation.  In sacrament meeting, we sing a hymn before each prayer.  He suggested that this might be to bring our hearts in unison before we pray unto the Lord.  I think that’s very true.  As taught in D&C 25:12, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto the Lord.

I know that was kind of all over the place, but here’s the point: women are elevated to the level of actors in the restoration, not just people to be acted upon.  Women have played an important role in the restored church since the early days in Nauvoo, and continue to do so today.

The Articles and Covenants

Section 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants is also known as "The Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ."  This is the most often references section in the Doctrine and Covenants by the Lord, as well as by the brethren at General Conference.  It was read in full at every General Conference of the church until the year 1835, which is when it was published, thus allowing the Saints to read it on their own on a regular basis.  Why was it so important that they would read the entire section—and it's not a short section either—at every General Conference?  And why is it referenced so often?  The answer is, of course, in what it contains.

On page 433 of the Joseph Smith Papers book (Volume 2: Revelations and Translations), there is a previously unpublished revelation given to a man named Lincoln who has been called on a mission.  He is commanded to bring the "Articles and Covenants" and "some of the commandments."  Interestingly, aside from the Book of Mormon and the Bible, this is really all he would need.  The Articles and Covenants as contained in Section 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants had all of the information that a missionary would need.

The first twelve verses of the section cover a brief history of the Restoration up through 1830, which is when the revelation was received.  This tells of Joseph Smith's call as a Prophet and a Seer, and as a Translator.  It also tells of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.  This would be akin to our first lesson on the Restoration in Preach My Gospel, which is what the missionaries worldwide use today!

Verses 17 through 37 talk about the restored doctrines of the creation, fall, atonement, repentance and baptism.  These basic truths are necessary for any convert to understand, and can be found in the second and third lessons of Preach my Gospel.

The remainder of the chapter talks about the organization and regulation of the church.  These early missionaries, unlike most missionaries today, not only proselyted, but actually established wards of Zion in the places they went.  These verses are much like a Priesthood Handbook of Instruction, explaining how all of the basic ordinances of the restoration are performed, the duties and organization of the several priesthood offices, and other details of the restored church.

The Articles and Covenants were all the information necessary to learn of the restoration, receive the saving ordinances of baptism and the sacrament through proper priesthood authority, and organize Zion.  No wonder the Lord commanded Lincoln to bring a copy on his mission!  It was obviously one of the most important revelations to the early Saints, and still of great benefit to us today.