"The Inhabitants of the Earth are Asleep"

There is a wealth of information in the History of the Church volumes. I can turn to almost any page within each volume and find something new and enlightening that I have never come across. And I find that troubling.

I would like to think that at this stage in my life, at the very least, I would find no new Joseph Smith quotes. I understand that the Joseph Smith Papers are barely underway and there are still unpublished archives that are not easily accessible to the masses, so maybe I'm justified in not reading every possible document chronicling the early years of the church. However, the History of the Church volumes contain not all, but many direct, indirect, and transcribed words of Joseph Smith. These have been in my possession for several years, and growing up in an active LDS household, I knew at a young age exactly where these volumes were kept.

So getting that out of the way, I have no excuse to have not studied at least that which was available to me. But I'm also a bit troubled that many of these stories and experiences are available to all church members, yet I rarely hear many of them taught, even though I have sat in classes of instruction my entire life, totaling many thousands of hours. Almost unbelievably, I continue to find information from these early years of the church (i.e. the Joseph Smith era), even words of Joseph Smith, that are still new to me.

This is not a criticism of the church or the many volunteers who prepare lessons or give talks/sermons each Sunday. The purpose of talks and lessons is not to create historians, but rather to help us all live more Christ-like lives.

I think it's fair to say, however, that there are already very many revealed truths in the Restored Gospel that have yet to be revealed to many of us in today's church because of a lack of "feasting" on the word in its entirety, both the canon and the non-canon.

If you are LDS, think of the classes, lessons, and talks you have heard in your lifetime in the church. Consider the pool of scriptural verses, stories, and quotes that are drawn from in each talk or lesson that you have heard and see if this purely anecdotal data goes along with your experience.

• 25 Shakespeare or C.S. Lewis quotes
• 75 verses from scripture (see post on True Scripture Mastery)
  
• 100 scriptural stories (most taken from Book of Mormon and New Testament, fewer from Doctrine & Covenants and Old Testament, and I'll be generous, about four or five from the Pearl of Great Price)
  
• 500 conference quotes (or more since the Internet has simplified research). I have no problem with conference quotes, I use them and study them myself. My only issue with an over-abundant reliance on them is that the typical quote wraps everything up neatly in a soundbite, which is pleasing to the ear, but it deprives us the opportunity to come up with our own "soundbites" or pearls of wisdom derived from our own "toiling" in personal study. By the sweat of our brow...you get the idea.
• The remaining time in a typical lesson is spent on personal experiences and stories, along with challenges and invitations to better practice our religion.
  

All of this is well and good. My only concern is are we striking the right balance in our instruction. How many scriptures should be shared in a sacrament meeting talk? How many conference quotes? Of course, there is no quota. We will prepare based on our knowledge-base on the topic at hand.

Which leads me back to the History of the Church, and two quotes I recently found that I had never heard before.

#1
Joseph Smith (Vol. 5, p. 402):

"I could explain a hundred fold more than I ever have of the glories of the kingdoms manifested to me in the vision, were I permitted, and were the people prepared to receive them.

"The Lord deals with this people as a tender parent with a child, communicating light and intelligence and the knowledge of his ways as they can bear it. The inhabitants of the earth are asleep; they know not the day of their visitation."

Earlier in Volume 5, in an unrelated passage, I think Joseph Smith offers an explanation on how the "inhabitants of the earth" are likely asleep. I would include myself in that group, because I often feel "asleep" in spiritual matters. And I love the analogy of being asleep because there is a stark difference between being awake and asleep. I have felt awake in the spiritual sense but there are many times when my eyes are open yet I'm just going through the motions of life without realizing there is a greater purpose.

How do we awaken from such a spiritual slumber? Faith! The following quote will seem a little disjointed to the current discussion, but try to stick with me.

#2
Joseph Smith (Vol. 5, p. 218):

"Because faith is wanting, the fruits are. No man since the world was had faith without having something along with it. The ancients quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, women received their dead, &c. By faith the worlds were made. A man who has none of the gifts has no faith; and he deceives himself; if he supposes he has. Faith has been wanting, not only among the heathen, but in professed Christendom also, so that tongues, healings, prophecy, and prophets and apostles, and all the gifts and blessings have been wanting."

In the first quote, we learn that light and intelligence is withheld from the inhabitants of the earth only as they can bear it. The second deals with the concern that fruits of faith are lacking on the earth because faith is lacking.

Perhaps our faith can improve as we are given more light and intelligence through diligent study of all that is available to us, and then, we can be found bearing the many fruits that are available to those who have exercised the needed faith.