Wednesday, July 28, 2021

J. Reuben Clark, "Interpretations of Scriptures"

  

Interpretations of Scriptures

 

But there are many places where the scriptures are not too clear, and where different interpretations may be given to them; there are many doctrines, tenets as the Lord called them, that have not been officially defined and declared. It is in the consideration and discussion of these scriptures and doctrines that opportunities arise for differences of views as to meanings and extent. In view of the fundamental principle just announced as to the position of the President of the Church, other bearers of the Priesthood, those with special spiritual endowment and those without it, should be cautious in their expressions about and interpretations of scriptures and doctrines. They must act and teach subject to the over-all power and authority of the President of the Church. It would be most unfortunate were this not always strictly observed by the bearers of this special spiritual endowment, other than the President. Sometimes in the past they have spoken “out of turn,” so to speak. Furthermore, at times even those not members of the General Authorities are said to have been heard to declare their own views on various matters concerning which no official view of declaration has been made by the mouthpiece of the Lord, sometimes with an assured certainty that might deceive the uninformed and unwary. The experience of Pelatiah Brown in the days of the Prophet is an illustration of this general principle (DHC, 5:339-345).

 

There have been rare occasions when even the President of the Church in his preaching and teaching has not been “moved upon by the Holy Ghost.” You will recall the Prophet Joseph declared that a prophet is not always a prophet.

 

To this point runs a simple story my father told me as a boy. I do not know on what authority, but it illustrates the point. His story was that during the excitement incident to the coming of Johnston’s Army, Brother Brigham preached to the people in a morning meeting a sermon vibrant with defiance to the approaching army, and declaring an intention to oppose and drive them back. In the afternoon meeting he arose and said that Brigham Young had been talking in the morning, but the Lord was going to talk now. He then delivered an address, the tempo of which was the opposite from the morning talk.

 

I do not know if this ever happened, but I say it illustrates a principle,—that even the President of the Church, himself, may not always be “moved upon by the Holy Ghost,” when he addresses the people. This has happened about matters of doctrine (usually of a highly speculative character) where subsequent Presidents of the Church and the people themselves have felt that in declaring the doctrine, the announcer was not “moved upon by the Holy Ghost.”

 

How shall the Church know when these adventurous expeditions of the Brethren into these high speculative principles and doctrines meet the requirements of the statues that the announcers thereof have been “moved upon by the Holy Ghost”? The Church will know by the testimony of the Holy Ghost in the body of the members, whether the Brethren in voicing their views are “moved upon by the Holy Ghost”; and in due time that the knowledge will be made manifest. (J. Reuben Clark, “When Are the Writings and Sermons of Church Leaders Entitled to the Claim of Being Scripture?” lecture given before the summer session of the Seminary and Institute teachers of the Church at BYU, July 7, 1954, in David H. Yarn, Jr., ed., J. Reuben Clark: Selected Papers [Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1984], 101-2)