Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Notes based on McClellan, “2 Nephi 25:23 in Literary and Rhetorical Context" (2020)

The following is based on Daniel O. McClellan, “2 Nephi 25:23 in Literary and Rhetorical Context,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 29 (2020): 1-19

 

Earliest Possible Allusion to 2 Nephi 25:23: Brigham Young, February 3, 1867:

 

It requires all the atonement of Christ, the mercy of the Father, the pity of angels and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be with us always, and then to do the very best we possibly can, to get rid of this sin within us, so that we may escape from this world into the celestial kingdom. This is just as much as we can do, and there is no room for that carelessness manifested by too many among us. (JOD 11:301)

 

David L Paulsen and Cory G. Walker, “Work, Worship, and Grace,” FARMS Review 18, no. 2 (2006): 101-2:

 

It is clear from President Young’s words that the combination of doing the best we can and the grace of God is necessary in order for us to inherit the celestial kingdom and all the blessings our Heavenly Father has to bestow. It is also clear that even the best man is inexorably dependent on grace for his salvation.

 

What did Brigham Young mean by the phrase “[doing] the very best we possibly can”? He once said that “in and of ourselves we have no power to control our own minds and passions; but the grace of God is sufficient to give us perfect victory.” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 8:226) He also said that “the grace, the power, and the wisdom of God will make me all that I ever will be, either in time or eternity.” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 8:162) Thus, even the ability to make the very best effort we can, of ourselves, nevertheless requires grace. Without the grace of God there is no way for us to do our best: it is his mercy that makes our best even possible. Grace is thereby doubly tied to the Mormon doctrine of works and salvation for President Young. If there is still any doubt concerning President Young’s position on the necessity of grace in obtaining salvation, his following words help make the matter quite clear: “All will have to come to the Lord and be sanctified through the grace of Christ by faith in his name; without this, I am happy to say, that none can be purified, sanctified and prepared to inherit eternal glory.” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 14:150).

 

Marion G. Romney, “Repentance Worketh Salvation,” General Conference, October 1955

 

For, after all, it is by the grace of Christ that men are saved, after all they can do. The thing they can and must do is repent. (Conference Report [October 1955]: 123)

 

Reynolds and Sjodahl on 2 Nephi 25:23

 

The doctrine here stated is, salvation is freely given and cannot be “earned” (George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 7 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Press, 1955]: 1:379)

 

“After” in the Oxford English Dictionary Online (www.oed.com)

 

“in spite of, notwithstanding (a preceding event or action)”

 

History of the Church, c. 1840

 

She refused to go any further with him; upon which he got hold of her by the arm to force her along; but her sister, was soon with them; and the two women were too many for him and he was forced to sneak off without his errand <prey>, after all his labor and ingenuity. (History, 1838-1858, Volume A-1 (December 23, 1805-August 30, 1834): 43, URL: https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/49)

 

Commentary:

 

The full semantic load here includes the sense of following after in time but more salient is the sense of “despite all his labor and ingenuity.” In spite of expectations in light of all his effort, he came away empty-handed. This kind of usage, almost contemporary with the publication of the Book of Mormon, ought to be governing our interrogations of 2 Nephi 25, but I have seen no such engagement with the nineteenth0century literary context. (McClellan, p. 8)

 

The construction “after all (that) [NOUN/PRONOUN] can do”

 

N.B.: The Printer's Manuscript and the 1830 Book of Mormon reads "after all that we can do." Royal Skousen, in his The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text (p. 132) restores the "that" to 2 Nephi 25:23. See my blog post: 2 Nephi 25:23 in the Printer's Manuscript and 1830 Book of Mormon: "After all THAT we can do"

 

Example 1:

 

Here is an example of the construction from an 1829 edition of A French Grammar:

 

In the Dictionary, as I observed in paragraph 42, you will find, against every Noun, either s.m or s.f.. The former means Substantive (or Noun) masculine, and the latter Substantive (or Noun) feminine. And this, after all that Grammarians can do; after all the rules that they can give, is the only sure way of learning (from books) the Gender of the French Nouns. (William Cobbett, A French Grammar: Or Plain Instructions for the Learning of French. In a Series of Letters. A New Edition [London: William Cobbett, 1829], 68-69)

 

Commentary on the Above:

 

The point of the idiom here is to show that among all that grammarians can do or teach, there are no principles they can formulate from which one may deduce the grammatical gender of nouns. The gender of each noun must be memorized individually by reference to the grammar, notwithstanding, or despite, all else they might be able, to explicate or systematize. The sense is demanded by the context; temporal sequence along cannot make sense of the sentence. Memorizing the gender of French nouns does not suddenly become “the only sure way of learning” them only after grammarians have exhausted all other efforts and delivered all their other rules. In fact, one can simply memorize them without appealing to any, much less all, other potential methods of identification. Memorization always has been and remains the only sure way to know the gender despite everything else grammarians may do. (McClellan, p. 9)

 

Examples 2-4:

 

Nor can it believe any Merit with finite imperfect Man, shortcoming and polluted in his most Holy Things, and owning his all to GOD, and having nothing of his own, and who, after all he can do, is still an unprofitable Servant. (Thomas Blackwell, Ratio Sacra, or An Appeal unto the Rational World, about the Reasonableness of Revealed Religion [Edinburgh: Heirs and Successors of Andrew Anderjon, 1710], 40)

 

It is certain that after all we can do, still we are unprofitable servants: we have done but that which was our duty to do, even supposing we performed a perfect and compleat obedience. (Samuel Seyer, Essays on the Important Truth Contained in the Holy Scriptures [London: A. Millar & C. Richardson, 1761], 59)

 

Every thinking man must be sensible, that after all his endeavours, and the very utmost he can do, he is still not only an unprofitable, but too often an ungrateful and disobedient servant. (Beilby Porteus, An Earnest Exhortation in the Religious Observance of Good Friday, 2nd ed. [London: J. & F. Rivington, 1777], 8)

 

Commentary on the Above:

 

While the phrase “unprofitable servants” is familiar to us from the Book of Mormon, the texts above drawn from Luke 17:10, which reads in the KJV: “So likewise ye, when he shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” Within the context of Luke 17, the rhetorical purpose is to insist that there is no special praise earned by doing everything we are commanded to do, since we would always merely be fulfilling our duty. In the literature quoted above, “all we/he can do” substitutes for and rhetorically expands upon the set of “all those things which are commanded you.” We are unprofitable not only if we do all we are commanded to do, but even if we do that as well as any and all other things we ever could do. Mosiah 2:21 reflects a similar expansion on Luke 17:10:

 

I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

 

Mosiah 2 agrees with the writers above that we are unprofitable servants, not just once we have done all we can do, but despite everything we ever could do. The point here is clearly not that we suddenly become unprofitable servants upon completion of the entire list of possible works, but that no matter how short or long that list of works is, even if we were to complete it all, we yet remain unprofitable servants, just as we would be having left the list incomplete. This is a way to rhetorically amplify the necessity and the power of grace. (McClellan, p. 10)

 

Example 5:

 

The following is from McClellan, pp. 10-11:

 

The connection with grace as an unmerited gift is made much clearer in later elaborations of this theme. Reverend David Brainerd was a missionary in the late eighteenth century to Indigenous peoples around New York and Pennsylvania. His memoirs, published in 1822, describe how he “exhorted, and endeavored to persuade, them to be reconciled to God through his dear Son, and thus to secure an interest in his everlasting favour” (Rev. Jonathan Edwards and Sereno Edwards Dwight, eds., Memoirs of the Rev. David Brainerd; Missionary to the Indians on the Borders of New-York, New-Jersey, and Pennsylvania [New-Haven: S. Converse, 1822], 260). (Note the parallels here with the comments in 2 Nephi 25:23 about laboring to “persuade our children . . . to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God.”) Unfortunately, according to Reverend Brainerd, the Quakers were doing some exhorting of their own. He writes:

 

There were several of the Indians newly come here, who had frequently lived among Quakers, and, being more civilized and conformed to English manners than the generality of the Indians, they had imbibed some of the Quaker’s errors, especially this fundamental one, viz., That, if men will but live soberly and honestly according to the dictates of their own consciences, or the light within, there is then no danger or doubt of their salvation. (Edwards and Dwight, eds., Memoirs of the Rev. David Brainerd 260 [all emphasises in quotes from this volume are in the original])

 

One Indigenous woman was an exception, though, and he gives the following account of their discussion:

 

She answered, in broken English, ‘Me try, me try save myself; last my strength be all gone; (meaning her ability to save herself;0 could not me stir bit further. Den last me forced let Jesus Christ alone send me hell, if he please.’ I said, ‘But, you was not willing to go to hell; was you?’ She replied, ‘Could not me help it. My heart, he would wicked for all. Could not me make him good, (meaning, she saw it was right she should go to hell, because her heart was wicked, and would be so after all she could do to mend it.) (Edwards and Dwight, eds., Memoirs of the Rev. David Brainerd, 261)

 

This individual’s heart is not understood to become wicked upon completion of everything she could do to mend it; rather, it remains wicked despite all she could do to mend it.

 

Example 6:

 

But your own wisdom and greatness must be laid in the grave—it is after all you can do, the free and unmerited gift of God. (John Hersey, The Importance of Small Things; or, A Plain Course of Self-Examination To Which is Added Signs of the Times [Georgetown: Rind’s Press, 1831], 20)

 

McClellan (p. 12): “We can hardly accuse this author of insisting the free and unmerited gift of God is merited once we have exhausted every last ounce of effort.”

 

Example 7:

 

The following is from McClellan, pp. 12-13:

 

A periodical called Evangelical Magazine published an article in May of 1834 entitled “Practical Tendency of the Doctrines of Grace,” and in that article, the editors berated those “who are not pleased with the doctrine, as God has revealed it: who are not willing to admit that regeneration is by the immediate, sole agency of the Spirit” (Anonymous, “Practical Tendency of the Doctrines of Grace,” Evangelical Magazine 2, no. 11 [18340]: 491). They continue:

 

It has been often tried and proved, by sinners under the deepest conviction, that even their most ‘desperate efforts,’ unaided by the immediate operation of the Spirit on the heart, are altogether inadequate to the production of the holy affections . . . The reasons is, they have no desire for that in which holiness consists; the fountain still remains corrupt. And after all they can do, without this Divine influence on the heart, they remain utterly unprepared for the kingdom of heaven. (Anonymous, “Practical Tendency,” 493-94)

 

The same conclusion is expressed in The Fireside Friend, from 1840:

 

You may, therefore, imagine that you are very good; and, like the young man, who, after recounting his virtues to our Saviour, complacently asked, “What lack I yet?” you may suppose you are fulfilling all the commandments. But, after all that you can do, you will find, on examining yourself by the word of God, that you fall short of your duty, and need pardon and forgiveness. Mere morality is not sufficient to entitle us to the hopes of the gospel. (Mrs. Phelps, The Fireside Friend, or Female Student: Being Advice to Young Ladies on the Important Subjects of Education [Boston, MA: Marsh, Capen, Lyon, and Webb, 1840], 22)

 

The implicit and sometimes explicit target of these comments is the person who thinks that grace is earned, or that they can work their way to heaven. The eighteenth-century quotes took rhetorical aim at “natural religion”—and primarily its manifestation within deism—which was more concerned with promoting moral philosophy than with miracles of Jesus’s saving grace.