"This is My Work and My Glory"

“For behold, this is my work and my glory – to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”  This scripture is found in the book of Moses where God reveals his grand purpose for His children.  While studying the Renaissance and Reformation, I have noticed in particular how God’s hand played a role in the very details of events transpiring in this time span. Throughout the 14^th – 17^th century and then later in the 19^th century when the gospel of Jesus Christ was brought back to the earth in what we know as the restoration.  

The restoration of the gospel was happening long before the spring of 1820.  Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught, “Beginning in the 14th century, the Lord began to prepare those social, educational, religious, economic, and governmental conditions under which he could more easily restore the gospel for the last time among men.” 

“Beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3

There is something about studying the past that gives us the false notion that we are now better off than “they” were. We need to be humble enough to recognize, through literature from the past, that what was taught then could apply to us now.

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Our Mormon roots mirror those of the Reformation. Martin Luther found himself sincerely questioning the practices of the Catholic Church. His intentions did not come from a place of wanting to destroy the church, rather from a desire to free the people from the chains the priests had around them. Luther argued that because the Bible was the only source of religious truth, the people had a right to read and interpret it however they saw fit. It was, of course, with the help of the printing press that Luther managed to accrue followers.

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Martin Luther no doubt paved the way for Joseph Smith to do, in his way, the same thing that Luther did: dare to question the churches around him. Just like Martin Luther, Joseph Smith was sincere when he went to the Lord in prayer, asking which of the churches he should join. 

Both of these men had the simplicity of the gospel as a goal. Martin Luther took a stance against all the pageantry of the Catholic Church, and Joseph Smith restored a church that began in simplicity. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is set apart from most other churches because both the outward appearance of the church buildings and the outward appearance of our chapels are almost too simple. Many investigators of our church find this disturbing. 

 Hugh Latimer’s “Sermon on the Plowers” reminded me that although the Mormon Church is more outwardly simple than most, I believe we, who are members of it, are guilty of straying from the simplicity of the gospel in much the same way those believers in the past were. Are we, as Latter-day Saints, seeing the mote in our brother’s eye, all the while ignoring the beam that is in our eye? I’m sorry to say that I believe we are.

Could Latimer, if he were here today, write this about us:

            Down with crosses, up with expensive paintings of Christ;

            Down with the outward addictions of others, up with the inward judgments we
            possess;

            Down with the behaviors of the unbelievers, up with the actions of a Pharisee;

            Down with seeking worldly riches, up with accumulating pride in the name of
            success;

            Down with the pageantry of churches, up with the opulence of our homes;

            Down with lying, cheating, and sinning, up with saying we are honest in our
            dealings with our fellow man.

In Peter’s post on “Be Thou an example of the Believers,” he quotes the scripture by Paul that says, “Be ye not conformed to the world.” My observation and fear is that we, as Latter-day Saints, are indeed conforming to the world and sadly, we don’t seem to notice.

In his post on “The Plowman,” Carson asks, “Are we turning away from the plow?” Let us be very careful in assuming that we are not, and that Christ sees us as one of his plowmen. We may be wrong. 

Erasmus and the Restoration

Desiderius Erasmus. Who was he and what was his contribution during the Renaissance?  He was a Dutch humanist who is known to be one of the greatest scholars of the northern Renaissance.  He is most widely known to have laid the foundation for the common man to be able to access the Bible.  At this time, the Bible was only made available to those who could read Latin which was mainly the wealthy and learned.  However, Erasmus changed the course of history when he published the first New Testament in Greek called Novum Instrumentum omne. This was a critical moment, because it allowed both old and young, rich and poor, learned and unlearned to be able to access the teachings found inside of it. 

This was a step that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints understand was crucial in the restoration of the gospel.  After the death of Christ, many doctrines and teachings were lost, and they became inaccessible to much of the world.  In order for God’s children to be saved, they would need to understand His teachings, found in the Holy Bible.  

Joseph Smith, the prophet of the Restoration of the gospel, was a young farm boy who lived in the early 1800s.  Many believe that he is the answer to a prophecy of William Tyndale who said “I will cause a boy that driveth the plow, shall know more of the Scripture than thou dost,” referring to the pope.  Joseph Smith did have full and complete access to the Bible, and was able to call upon heaven to fully disseminate its teachings. So, some may argue, Tyndale was correct in his prophecy.  

Without the contributions of Erasmus hundreds of years previously, Joseph would not have been able to seek inspiration in the bible.  After all, he was just a young farm boy.  Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owe much to the early pioneers, like Erasmus, who paved the way for a more accessible bible.