Three thoughts from Eliza R. Snow

Engraving from 1884, age 80

Eliza Roxcy Snow was among the most renowned women of the LDS Church in the 19th century, recognized for her leadership, teaching, and especially for her poetry. She was the older sister (by 10 years) of Lorenzo Snow, who would become the Church's 5th president. She directed the re-establishment of the Relief Society after the Church moved to Utah.  She was sealed to both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.  On the 210th anniversary of the birthday (January 21, 1804) of this remarkable woman, I share three insights she provided.



1 Among the many instructions given to women in her addresses and writings, I appreciate this little gem — it applies not just to women, but to men in many different scenarios:

"There are many of the sisters whose labors are not known beyond their own dwellings, and perhaps not appreciated there. But what difference does that make? If your labors are acceptable to God, however simple the duties, if faithfully performed, you should never be discouraged."
- Eliza R. Snow, Woman’s Exponent, May 1, 1891, p. 167 (capitalization modernized)

What a great reminder to all, women and men alike.  As we consider our motivations for the things we do in this life, we need to remember that it's not important for us to be "noticed" by others — only by God!

2 Eliza believed there was a richness and fullness available to those who were willing to allow God's influence to come fully to them.  She talks in this quote about the joyful life that is filled with the Lord's spirit:

"The Holy Ghost satisfies and fills up every longing of the human heart, and fills up every vacuum.  When I am filled with that Spirit, my soul is satisfied, and I can say in good earnest, that the trifling things of the day do not seem to stand in my way at all."

To further clarify, she goes on to explain the alternative, pointing out the things we sometimes do that disqualify us from receiving the promised blessing:

"But just let me lose my hold of that spirit and power of the Gospel, and partake of the spirit of the world, in the slightest degree, and trouble comes; there is something wrong. I am tried, and what will comfort me? You cannot impart comfort to me that will satisfy the immortal mind, but that which comes from the Fountain above. And is it not our privilege to so live that we can have this constantly flowing into our souls?”
- Eliza R. Snow, Millennial Star, Jan. 13, 1874, p. 18

This echoes the warning spoken centuries earlier by the prophet Mormon, who described his people in a time when "the Spirit of the Lord hath already ceased to strive" among them, and "they are without Christ and God in the world; and they are driven about as chaff before the wind" (Mormon 5:16).


3 Among the many poems written by "Zion's Poetess," this is one of my personal favorites.  I love some of the very clever rhymes.  Many contemporary readers will find it could have been written today, as well as 150 years ago...

The Fathers—Wouldn't They Be Astonished?
By Eliza R. Snow

COULD our country’s noble sages,
Who have gone to reap their wages,
Reap rewards for their well doing,
When on earth they were pursuing
This great nation’s peace and honor
In erecting Freedom’s banner;
Could they get one full expression
Of our Congress’ present session—
Could they take one single peep in,
They would surely fall to weeping.

They would weep and blush and wonder
At the noisy wind and thunder—
At the boisterous, wrathy prattle—
At the steam and tittle tattle—
At the ghosts with human faces,
Filling honorable places.

Could our Washington and Adams,
Jefferson and other sages,
Look upon the present scenery,
With its underwire machinery—
All the multiform dissentions
Of the multiplied conventions;
Some intent on office seeking—
Some intent on money eking—
All mix’d up in twists and jangles,
All absorb’d in wordy wrangles.

Could they take one squint at Utah,
See the army made a cat’s paw
Just to drain the nation’s coffers,
To appease the scoundrels’ offers—
Just to fatten speculators,
Base, blood-thirsty instigators,
Who blew hard to raise a bubble—
Who created all the trouble—
See the “Mormons” scourg’d like minions
For their worship and opinions;
Just one glance would make them wonder
If the nation had gone under,
And our country’s boasted White House
Metamorphos’d to a light-house,
A tall beacon, just to show their
Once “fam’d liberty” is nowhere—
That the freedom of men’s conscience,
Guaranteed to us, is nonsense.

If they look for “Rights” as equal,
As they hop’d for in the sequel
Of their hardships and privations—
Of their wise deliberations,
When the government they founded—
When the trump of peace they sounded;
They would think their labors wasted
And the fruits thereof, untasted—
That altho’ their deeds are boasted,
And their names on way-marks posted;
They are virtually forgotten,
And the Constitution rotten.

(Published in The Mountaineer, 21 July 1860)