The Constitution Shall Hang by a Thread: Part 1

Entwined Destinies

The destinies of Zion and America are related.

We always hear how the Constitution played a key role in preparing the earth for the Restoration of the Church by ensuring religious freedom.

Less noted, but equally important, is the Constitution’s role in preparing the earth for the Second Coming.

Joseph Smith prized his patriotic heritage.  His grandfather, Solomon Mack, fought in the American Revolutionary War. 

Joseph saw himself (and the saints) as champions of Constitutional liberty; as defenders of the principles of freedom as old as the world itself.

He framed a soteriology around the principles of agency and accountability.  He developed a theology in which the war in heaven continued on earth.

   Which side do we fight for?

The Stakes  

​On July 19, 1840, Joseph Smith gave a speech in which he said:

   Even this Nation
   will be on the very verge
   of crumbling to pieces
   and tumbling to the ground
   and when the Constitution
   is upon the brink of ruin
   this people will be the Staff
   up[on] which the Nation
   shall lean and they shall bear
   the Constitution away
   from the verge of destruction.

(Joseph Smith, "Discourse, 19 July 1840, as Reported by Martha Jane Knowlton Coray–B," The Joseph Smith Papers)

You see, for Joseph Smith the Constitution embodied the principles of righteous government.  America was to be a prototype of Zion, where people would learn to govern themselves. 

The "destruction" of the Constitution, therefore, would threaten the whole Zion enterprise. 

So this was never about politics: it was about preparing the soil in which Zion could blossom as a rose.

So let's see:  have we established Zion?  

​   No.  Why not?

Is it because we have not followed the "just and holy principles" of the Constitution in our Church councils and government?

The Prayer for America

The prayer at Valley Forge was pretty great.  But another impressive prayer for America was given by Joseph Smith at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple:

   O Lord, may those principles
   which were so honorably
   and nobly defended, 
   namely, the Constitution
   of our land, by our fathers,
   be established forever.

(D&C 109:54)

How long is forever?  Are these "principles" eternal?  Are they principles belonging to the Kingdom of God?

Well, who gave us these "principles?"

​   I [have] established
   the Constitution
   of this land,
   by the hands of wise men
   whom I raised up
   unto this very purpose.

(D&C 101:80)​

   1.  How well are we defending the "just and holy principles" (D&C 101:77) of the Constitution?

   2.  Is the Church obeying the "just and holy principles" which protect our "moral agency" (D&C 101:78) itself?

   3.  ​If the Constitution were a living thing, how would we measure its health or take its pulse?  How healthy is it?

Walk the Walk

Recently I was having lunch with friends and we were talking about the response of the government to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The conversation transitioned to the way the First Presidency has dealt with the crisis, most recently with their statement on August 12, 2021:

   We find ourselves fighting a war against the ravages of COVID-19 and its variants, an unrelenting pandemic. . . 

   We know that protection from the diseases they cause can only be achieved by immunizing a very high percentage of the population. . .

   We can win this war if everyone will follow the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders. 

   Huh.

Well, we are fighting a "war" ― but not against a virus.  The war has always been about agency.  

I mentioned in Part 3 of the Series "The Church Began to be Broken Up" that we don't need Nero and hungry lions and tar and feathers and extermination orders and Edmunds-Tucker Acts . . . when all it takes is a virus to bring the Church to its knees.

Is it too Late to Save the Constitution?

​In the Spring of 1966 Clarence Manion, Dean of Notre Dame Law School and a constitutional law professor for many years, spoke in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. It was interesting to hear him begin his talk by saying that he had heard that the Mormons had a prophesy that the Constitution would one day hang by a thread, and they would be the means of saving it. Then he very earnestly said that if the Mormons are going to save the Constitution, they had better wake up and get going, because it seemed to him that it was already almost too far gone to save.

(The Elders of Israel and the Constitution, p. 198).

Captain Moroni?

Sometimes I wonder if a modern-day Captain Moroni will burst onto the scene. 

I keep waiting.

   Do ye suppose that God
   will look upon you
   as guiltless while ye sit still
   and behold these things?
   Behold I say unto you, Nay.

   I do not fear your power
   nor your authority,
   but it is my God whom I fear.

   I seek not for power,
   but to pull it down.
   I seek not for honor
   of the world,
   but for the glory of my God,
   and the freedom and welfare
   of my country.

(Alma 60:23, 28, 36)

Now that is the spirit of Zion.

   It is also the Spirit of Christ.

   The Spirit of God,
   which is also
   the spirit of freedom.

(Alma 61:15)

Sometimes as I sit in Church, or as I read press releases from the Church Newsroom, seeing all of the attention given to authority and to power and money and to the praise of men, I wonder:

   When did we stop being freemen and become king-men?