Why is this my favorite revelation? Well, partly because Joseph "Sang [it] by the gift of Tongues & Translated". This brings back warm memories of my experiences as a Pentecostal. Singing in tongues can be a pretty powerful experience, especially if you're improvising harmony with a dozen or so other people. It's controlled chaos-- which, I think, is why it feels like such a spiritual and miraculous event. In order to harmonize with those around you, you have to listen to them carefully and synchronize yourself with their voices and rhythms. And yet at the same time, you're letting your conscious awareness of your surroundings fade into the background. This semi-conscious harmonizing feels like a channeling of divine energy and a spiritual, mystical union with your fellow singers. And you're making beautiful music at the same time. In the Joseph Smith revelation below, by the way, there is a lovely lyrical quality even to the English interpretation.
Another reason I get excited about this revelation is its statement that Adam "emenated [sic] and came down from God." I've always been a sympathizer with Neoplatonism, mostly because I find the arguments for monism compelling, and Neoplatonism is one of the most ancient and best-developed monistic systems. So to find Joseph Smith using the distinctively Neoplatonic language of emanation is highly interesting to me.
In any case, here's the text:
Sang by the gift of Tongues & TranslatedHow the heck did this not make it into the Doctrine and Covenants?
age after age has rolled away, according to the sad fate of man, countless millions for ever gone at length the period of time has come that oft was seen by a prophetic eye and writ[t]en too by all holy men Inspired of the Lord
a time which was seen by Enoch of Old at a time when he stood upon the mount which was called the Mountain of God as he gazed upon nature and the corruption of man and mourned their sad fate and wept and cried with a loud voice and heaved forth his sighs Omnipotence Omnipotence O may I see thee - and with his finger he touched his eyes and he saw heaven he gazed on eternity and sang an Angelic song and mingled his voice with the heavenly throng Hosan[n]a Hosan[n]a the sound of the trump around the throne of God echoed and echoed again and rang and reechoed until eternity was filled with hi[s] voice
he saw yea he saw and he glorified God the salvation of his people his City caught up through the gospel of Christ
he saw the beginning the ending of man he saw the time when Adam his fath[er] was made and he saw that he was in eternity before a grain of dust in the ballance was weighed
he saw that he emenated and came down from God he saw what had passed and then was and is present and to come
therefore he saw the Last days the Ang[e]l that came down to John and the Angel that is now flying having the everlasting gospel to commit unto men - which in my soul I have received and from death and bondage from the Devil I[']m freed and am free in the gospel of Christ and I[']m waiting and with patience I[']ll wait on the Lord Hosan[n]a loud sound the trump come eternity to ring hosan[n]a forever I[']m waiting the coming of Christ a mansion on high a celestial abode a seat on the right hand of God
Angels are coming the Holy Ghost is falling upon the saints and will continue to fall the saviour is coming yea the Bridegroom prepar[e] ye prepare yea the cry has gone forth go wait on the Lord the Angels in glory will soon be descending to join you in singing the praises of God the trump Loud shall sound the dark vail soon shall rend heaven shall shake the earth shall tremble and all nature shall feel the power of God, gase ye saints gase ye upon him, gase upon Jesus hosan[n]a loud sound the trump his church is caught up
hosan[n]a praise him ye saints they stand at his feet behold they are weeping they strike hands with Enoch of Old they inherit a city as it is writ[t]en the City of God. Loud sound the trump, they receive a celestial crown hozan[n]a the heaven of heavens, and the heavens are filled with the praises of God Amen
Given Frebruary 27 - 1833
9 comments:
We actually have a lot of doctrine in common with Pentecostals and Evangelicals, which sets them and us apart from mainstream vanilla Christianity. But not many people realize that.
Hey Bookslinger, I think that's definitely true of the early LDS Church, which was highly charismatic and millennarian. These days an LDS service feels more like an old school Baptist one than a Pentecostal one. The millennarian aspect is still there but not talked about much. The charismatic element has dropped out almost entirely.
I believe the charismastic elements are still in the church, but they (generally) only happen in small groups, and are kept private by those involved.
The thing is that many pentecostals and evangelicals get hung up on the gift of tongues. But according to Paul, the greater spiritual gift is actually prophecy.
Now prophecy doesn't often happen in a group setting, and prophecy is not always about predicting the future. A person, or persons, can have the gift of prophecy, or an outpouring of revelation, and a bystander (member or not) would be none the wiser.
As JS said, most spiritual gifts are internal without any outward manifestation.
The gift of prophecy is referred to most often in the Book of Mormon as "the spirit of prophecy and revelation". It is my understanding that what we call "spiritual promptings" fall under that heading, and they are actually quite common. President Monson tells such stories, and the Ensign usually has either an article, or a reader-submitted vignette in the back about an experience involving a spiritual prompting. Those things are indeed the gift of prophecy.
I'm not sure why speaking in tongues qualifies as "getting hung up on" them. The early Mormons spoke in tongues all the time, and in much the same manner as Pentecostals.
Chris, I just found your blog and enjoy your entries. I do not think that most LDS members today would recognize early LDS worship. I've sometimes wondered what would happen if a modern active Mormon went back to the early meetings in New York, Kirkland or even Nauvoo.
I bet the modern Mormon wouldn't recognize the service as Mormon.
What do you think?
Hi Odell, for the most part, I think you're right. JS did put the brakes on some of this stuff, like tongues-speaking, late in life though. And a lot of the more charismatic activities became relegated to private priesthood quorum meetings, where they would shout Hosannas, see all kinds of visions, speak in tongues, and prophesy. This stuff didn't happen as much in the big ten-hour Sunday meetings.
What I think would really freak out modern members is when they started in with the animal sacrifices...
Chris, animal sacrifices? Pray tell! You got me on that one.
Ha! I though that might pique your interest. Click here for more on that.
Chris, thanks for the information. I was familiar with Section 13 and the looking forward to a sacrifice by the Sons of Levi, but I never knew that actual animal sacrifices had been performed.
I have to agree with Quinn, in part, that Smith's fascination with animal sacrifice was largely a result of his rural involvement with the occult and magic, rather than being driven by pre-Mosaic law. Also, for Smith, in my non-scholarly opinion, he probably didn't see much difference between folk magic and biblical animal sacrifice - he probably saw both as divine and both as mystically empowering.
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