Musing Trail

On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave one of the most famous speeches in American history following the Battle of Gettysburg during the War Between the States. Whether you are fan of Abraham Lincoln’s political decisions or not, in that moment in time and in that place, he spoke words which are timeless in their sentiments. As I was recently re-reading these great words, the following thoughts came to me regarding the state of America in our day.

237 years ago, the Founding Fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the Proposition that All Mankind are created Equal. They understood that there are certain un-alienable rights which belong to every human being from conception until natural death. Such un-alienable rights may not be transferred from person to another person or entity, without the express permission of those to whom the rights belong, that is We, the People. Among these rights are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The government they created is not intended to either usurp rights or bestow rights. It can only have jurisdiction over that portion of those pre-existing rights which We, the People, allow them to temporarily control. We can take the power of government back at any time, and we can give them other powers at any time, through the process provided for in Article V of the U.S. Constitution, and through the principle of Civil Disobedience. Government, however, cannot lawfully dictate the Rights of the People by its own power—not by unconstitutional legislation, or by executive action, or through regulation and policy, or by judicial opinions. It can neither create rights nor destroy rights. Its one and only job is to protect pre-existing rights.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” (Preamble to the United States Constitution)

Now we are engaged in a great political war, “testing whether this nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure”.

In the past 237 years, we have met our fellow Americans, as well as the soldiers of many nations, on many battlefields, both domestic and abroad. Today we are meeting those who are opposed to Liberty on the new battlefields of social media, controlled mainstream media, in the courts and on the very streets of America. We have strayed from our principles; indeed, we have been sidetracked by the very prosperity created by those principles. We have so much “free time and abundance” because of that prosperity, we waste ourselves and our resources by focusing on self-gratification and material things more than we value things of the mind and heart. When someone does stand up against the tyranny, we berate and belittle these new liberty warriors, those who take off their masks and refuse to obey unlawful and unconstitutional orders from bureaucratic servants. Yet, the very air of liberty we breath was bought and paid for, and is still being bought and paid for by those sacrifices made on not only the traditional battlefields but the modern social battlefields as well.

President Lincoln was speaking only of Gettysburg when he said, “we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.” But I say, we cannot dedicate nor consecrate, nor hallow this land of Liberty, our beautiful America, unless we pay the price the men at Gettysburg paid on both sides of that conflict.

Lincoln went on to say, “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Another President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, from political party other than that of President Lincoln had some words of wisdom for us as well. He said, “There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.” Whether you agree with his political decisions or not, there is truth to be found here.

The cycle of American Liberty has turned again. We are the inheritors of the blessings of Liberty, but we are also the destroyers unless we can stop the insanity. It is for us and no one else, “The buck stops here” as President Harry S. Truman said. It is our generational duty to those who come after. We must be “dedicated to the great task remaining before us, we must resolve that this Republic and those who built it, sustained it, bled for it, will “not have done so in vain”.

Let us all humble ourselves in prayer, then put our shoulders to the wheel. Let us work however, and wherever we may best serve with the God-given talents with which we have each been blessed, in our homes and our communities. Only then will we experience “a new birth of freedom” and that this “government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” So help us, God.

The Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

—Abraham Lincoln

Painting Note: Lincoln at Gettysburg, by Albion Harris Bickwell, 1837-1916. Lafayette College. David W. Coulter, Photography.

I often go down the Musing Trail, starting one place and ending up somewhere unexpected. This trail began with some family history research, passed through a Watch Party, and ended up with thoughts on Covenants. Hope you enjoy today’s meander!

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we talk a lot about covenants: the covenant of baptism and the covenant of eternal marriage, in particular. In the temple we covenant to keep the law of obedience, the law of chastity, the law of sacrifice, and the law of consecration. In our personal lives, we can make and keep our own covenants with our Heavenly Father.

I recently became intrigued with the historical idea of covenants when researching ancestors in Arizona. I came across some newspaper articles about local high society residents hosting “Watch Parties” on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day during the 1920’s in Tucson, Arizona. I had never heard of a Watch Party. After a bit of research, I discovered that they began in the late 1700’s as a religious ceremony still held in some churches, and though motivations appear to have changed, they were basically the New Year’s Eve church services I attended as a young child. For the Tucson folk, their Watch Parties seem to have had more to do with socializing on New Year’s and making fun resolutions for upcoming year than any particular religious celebration.

The history of these events is long and varied. I prefer John Wesley’s Covenant Renewal Service, a time dedicated to fasting, prayer, singing, recitations of scriptures, and ponderings upon the making and keeping of covenant with God, not only on New Year’s Eve or Day, but also on each full moon. Both John, and his brother Charles, founded Methodism, and both were hymn writers. Here is a list of those found in the current hymnal for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” (#200); “Come, Let Us Anew” (#217); “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” (#209), “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” (#102); “Rejoice, the Lord Is King!” (#66); “Ye Simple Souls Who Stray” (#118). Some of my other childhood favorites are found in a couple of old red hymnals I rescued being thrown out over the years. My first piano lessons were learning to play some of the hymns found in those old books, and they still move my soul from time to time. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we have the opportunity to participate in our own Covenant Renewal Service each Sabbath when we partake of the Sacrament.

I am always intrigued by the religious thoughts and struggles of the people who lived through the Reformation and Protestant Eras, how they reached for the truth, trying to repair the losses of the Great Apostasy, and could not quite grasp the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ until the Restoration began in the early 1800’s, when Joseph Smith was called to do this work by the Savior. I would have loved to sit beside the hearths in their homes or in the pews in the churches listening to their discussions and pondering the doctrines they pondered. I am descended from such thinkers and my ancestors lived in times and places which required them to make life-changing decisions regarding those doctrines. Since that time, the original covenants of Christianity and their deeper meanings, have been restored and we are blessed to have them in their fulness in our day. But just knowing them is not enough. We must make sure we fully understand their meaning and incorporate the concept of Covenant Living into our daily lives.

This year (2022) we, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have been counselled to be more diligent covenant-keepers by both stake and ward leaders. This caught my attention as I have always been fascinated by the idea of temples and covenants. As a child, raised mostly in the Free Methodist Church, with a smattering of Catholicism, Judaism, and other protestant sects thrown in, and heavily schooled in the Bible, I was taught the covenants entered into by biblical personalities, but I often felt like I was missing a piece of the puzzle.

I love the story of Hannah in the Old Testament. She, her husband, and his first wife, were a covenant-keeping, temple-attending polygamist family, something you certainly not sanctioned today. Hannah had no children and the first wife liked to remind her of that rather often and rather mockingly. Hannah would pray for a child with such fervor during these visits that Eli, the High Priest of the temple in Jerusalem at that time, once accused her of being drunk. Eli’s calling would be similar to that of a Temple President in our day, but he would have been a High Priest of the Aaronic Priesthood, unlike today’s temple presidents, who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood. Nevertheless, Eli, Hannah, and today’s temple attendees around the world are all covenant-makers and covenant-keepers.

Hannah’s persistence resulted in the birth of her son, Samuel, whom she dedicated to the Lord at a young age, raising him in light and truth before giving him to Eli, where he was further taught in the ways of the Lord in the temple, becoming one of the most valiant prophets in the history of ancient Israel. She is a great example to all covenant women today. Her example teaches us to exercise faith in Heavenly Father, to act upon that faith, to keep our covenants, to allow ourselves to be guided by the still, small voice, and to take the deeper spiritual leap from obedience to consecration, even when it’s hard. A good lesson, which I personally need to continually ponder and enact in my own life.

Commitment to Covenant Living and making changes can be scary and difficult, but it is part of becoming a “peculiar people”, as Peter said in I Peter 2: 9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Truly we are becoming peculiar in the eyes of the world as we keep sacred covenants. These covenants give us a firm foundation for a spirit-filled life in spite of the chaos around us.

Remember these words,

“When you come to the edge of all of the light you’ve known and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown; faith is knowing one of two things will happen. You’ll have something solid to stand on, or you’ll be taught how to fly.” Poet Patrick Overton in his work, *The Learning Tree*.

Artwork Attributions:

“John Wesley,” by the English artist George Romney, oil on canvas. 29 1/2 in. x 24 3/4 in. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
“Hannah Presents Samuel to Eli” by Robert T. Barrett, cornerstoneart.com
“Draper Temple” by Mandy Jane Williams, mandyjanewilliamsart.com

Liberty Principia

A road less traveled through the forest of random thoughts about life and the world we inhabit.

Independence Day 2024: What Legacy are We leaving for our Ourselves and Our Posterity?

ALONG THE MUSING TRAIL: Family History, Watch Party, and Covenants.