DOCTRINE & COVENANTS 25-26

Doctrine & Covenants 25 “An Elect Lady”

Doctrine & Covenants 25:16

The Lord’s voice to all women!

Emma Smith:

•Older than Joseph Smith (about a year and a half)• Strong Methodist background•Did not see the plates! • Eight months into their marriage Joseph received

the plates.• President of the Relief Society in 1842, fulfilling

Doctrine & Covenants 25:3.

•Died at 75 in Nauvoo.•Married Major Lewis C. Bidamen in December of 1847 (December 23rd).•Lost 6 of 11 children.Lucy Mack Smith wrote: “I have never seen a woman in my life, who would endure every species of fatigue and hardship, from month to month, and from year to year, with that unflinching courage, zeal, and patience, which she has ever done; for I know which she has had to endure. She has breasted the storms of persecution, and buffeted the rage of men and devils, which would have borne down almost any other woman” (History of Joseph Smith, 190-91).

Doctrine & Covenants 25:3

Elect? Yes!

•First Relief Society President in 1842.

•She was also the first lady to be endowed in this dispensation.

Joseph Smith stated, “The church was never perfectly organized until the women were thus organized” (Church History in the Fullness of Times, 248-49).

John Taylor wanted to call it the Nauvoo Female Benevolent Society. The women present at the meeting persuaded Joseph Smith to call it the Relief Society. Emma was the president for two years. It disbanded when they went out west and started again in 1860. It was officially reinstated in 1867.

Five areas of emphasis in the Relief Society:

1. Spiritual Living2. Homemaking3. Social Relations4. Mother Education5. Cultural Refinement

Elder Packer said that Relief Society is notreally optional, it is as important as attendingpriesthood for the brethren.

Three main purposes:1. Provoke the brethren to good works.

2. Correct morals and strengthen virtues in the community.

3. Administer relief to those in need.

Motherhood is near divinity. It is the highest, holiest, service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels. To you mothers in Israel we say God bless you and protect you, and give you the strength and courage, the faith and knowledge, the holy love and consecration to duty, that shall enable you to the fullest measure the sacred calling which is yours (First Presidency, Messages of the First Presidency, vol. 6, 178).

President Gordon B. Hinckley explained how the phrase “elect lady” relates to the women of today, including young women:

“Each of you is an elect lady. You have come out of the world as partakers of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. You have made your election, and if you are living worthy of it, the Lord will honor you in it and magnify you” (Conference Report, Oct., 1984, 110).

Doctrine & Covenants 25:4 Murmur Not!Murmuring can also be noisy enough that it drowns out the various signals to us, signals which tell us in some cases to quit soaking ourselves indulgently in the hot tubs of self-pity! Murmuring over the weight of our crosses not only takes energy otherwise needed to carry them but might cause another to put down his cross altogether (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, November 1989, 85).

Brigham Young called us to be faithful even if circumstances are “darker than 10,000 midnights” (Journal of Discourses 3:207). Some of us murmur even when only the dusk of difficulty appears (Neal A. Maxwell, That Ye May Believe, 3).

Doctrine & Covenants 25:11-12

• The first hymn book had no music, just words. • The first hymn book had 90 hymns (1835 or

1836).• The second book had 350 hymns (1841).

When we rejoice in beautiful scenery, great art, and great music, it is but the flexing of instincts acquired in another place and another time (Ensign, May 1984, 21).

Womanhood:

Brigham Young said when you educate a man, you educate a man, when you educate a woman you educate a posterity!

Many of the hymns selected were printed in the Evening and Morning Star and in the Messenger and Advocate. The hymnal, which was completed in 1836, measured three inches by four inches. There was no musical score; hymns were sung to various tunes, and congregations sometimes used different tunes for the same hymns.

“It is our sisters who carry the burden of the work. We talk about the missionary work of the Elders who go forth to proclaim the Gospel; we talk about the great pioneer work of the early settlers of this country, but I wish to say here that it is the mothers at home who aremaking the sacrifice for the boys to go into

the mission field. It is the mothers who stand the hardships far more than the men. Men are engaged in many activities, but without the devotion and absolute testimony of the living God in the hearts of our mothers this Church would die” (Heber J. Grant, Conference Report April 1930, 23).

President Hinckley added, “How grateful I am for mothers. I think it’s been the mothers who have been the great carriers and purveyors of faith throughout the history of the Church. I believe that with all my heart” (President Hinckley, Church News, May 20, 1995).

President Kimball said, “No greater honor could be given to a woman than to assist in bringing forth children. A woman will find no greater satisfaction and joy and peace and make no greater contribution to mankind than in being a wise and worthy woman and raising good children.

Doctrine & Covenants 25:12“Music Can Hurt us”

Elder Gene R. Cook and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones were sitting next to each other on a flight. During their conversation, Elder Cook said, “Young people… have told me that the kind of music you and others sing has no effect on them … Others… have told me that it has a real effect on them for evil, and that it affects them in a very bad way… What do you think is the impact of your music on the young people?”

Mick Jagger replied, “Our music is calculated to drive kids to sex (Gene R. Cook, 13 lines of Defense: Living the Law of Chastity, audiocassette, side 3).

I have never sung Eliza R. Snow’s lyrics of 1845 in the anthem of appreciation, “O My Father,” without being touched by its reverence for womanhood, which is light years ahead of some current, cosmetic attempts to dignify womanhood (Neal A. Maxwell, Deposition of a Disciple, 82).

So often the service of women seems instinctive, while that of men seems more labored (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, May 1978, 10).

Sister Camilla Eyring Kimball taught that every girl and woman should have the desire and ambition to qualify in two vocations:

1. That of homemaking.

2. Preparing to earn a living outside the home.

Doctrine & Covenants 26

“The Law of Common Consent”

Doctrine & Covenants 26:2

Say no only when that person has transgressed, not because you don’t like them.

When you vote affirmatively you make a solemn covenant with the Lord that you will sustain the office from whom ye vote (Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, 1970, April, 103).

Womanhood

We want our sisters to be scholars of the scriptures… “Before you fall in love with a choice young man, fall in love with the scriptures, for they will help you to prepare for the future spiritually” (President Kimball, New Era, July, 1981, 8).

“When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies?

The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and neighborhoods?

Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses?

When the surf of the centuries has made the great pyramids so much sand, the everlasting family will still be standing, because it is a celestial institution, formed outside telestial time. The women of God know this.

“Finally remember: When we return to our real home, it will be with the ‘mutual approbation’ of those who reign in the ‘royal courts on high.’ There we will find beauty such as mortal ‘eye hath not seen;’ we will hear sounds of surpassing music which mortal ‘ear hath not heard.’ Could such a regal homecoming be possible without the anticipatory arrangements of a Heavenly Mother? (Elder Neal A Maxwell, Conference Report, April 1978, 13-15).

Mothers have a sacred role. They are partners with God, as well as with their own husbands, first in giving birth to the Lord’s spirit children and then in rearing those childrenso they will serve the Lord and keep his commandments. Could there be a more sacred trust than to be a trustee for honorable, well-born, well-developed children (Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, November, 1978, 102-06).

The role of the successful mother is a lifetime of dedication. It is the most exacting and difficult of all professions. Anyone who would say apologetically, “I am only a homemaker, “has not fully appreciated the importance and intricacy of her profession (Camilla Eyring Kimball, Ensign, March, 1977, 58-59).

“Men and woman have complementary, not competing, responsibilities. There is difference but not inequity. Intelligence and talent favor both of them. But, in the woman’s part, she is not

just equal to man, she is superior! She can do that which he can never do, not in all eternity can he do it. There are complementing rewards which are hers and hers alone” (Boyd K. Packer, Priesthood Restoration Fireside, May 7, 1989).