The Eloquence of Simplicity

"Give me liberty or give me death," "We hold these truths to be self-evident," "We the people." Inspired words that moved people and thrashed the nations. For Brigham Young, the words that changed his world were the simplest: a basic testimony from an uneducated man. Brigham Young described the missionary who shared the testimony as a man "without eloquence, or talents for public speaking." In fact, he includes what feels like a reprimand to fine speaking when he says, "if all talent, tact, wisdom, and refinement of the world had been sent to me with the Book of Mormon, and had declared, in the most exalted of earthly eloquence, the truth of it, undertaking to prove it by learning and worldly wisdom, they would have been to me like the smoke which arises only to vanish away." (Journal of Discourses 1:91) So, does this mean talent and eloquence are bad?

In Doctrine and Covenants 133:57, we are told that the gospel will be spread by "reasoning in plainness and simplicity." So, what is the rhetoric of the church? Reason, plainness and simplicity. And, in the most beautiful language of scripture, isn't there still that eloquent simplicity and clarity?

Even more important than simplicity, though, is having the Holy Ghost. When Nephi says he delights in plainness, he is speaking of Isaiah. (2 Ne. 25:4) How many members of the church would say that Isaiah is one of the plain scriptures? But the key is the Holy Ghost; He will show you the plainness of the Word. When Moroni is worrying about his capabilities as a writer, he tries to explain how much easier it would be if he could just talk to us. But what does he really say? He says that the Lord had made them "mighty in word by faith . . . for thou has made all this people that they could speak much, because of the Holy Ghost which thou hast given them." (Ether 12:23-25) He adds that their spoken words were so powerful that they couldn't write them down. I think it's safe to assume that the brother of Jared's talent for writing (that had made Moroni feel so self-conscious in this passage) was also a gift of the Spirit.

So, what place does your eloquence have in the gospel? None. None at all. Look again at Brigham Young's quote, "earthly eloquence," "worldly wisdom," "the refinement of the world." That's the real problem, not the speaking but what's behind the speaking. The only eloquence that we should use in the gospel is God's eloquence. When we do, the Spirit can testify of the truthfulness of what we offer. A few verses down in D&C 133, in verse 59, it says, "and by the weak things of the earth the Lord shall thrash the nations by the power of his spirit." So, who does the thrashing? Not us. It is the Lord with his Spirit that will achieve the Lord's ends. We are simply the tools who must do what we can for the glory of God. Talent and eloquence are perfect when recognized as the gifts they are and when used with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who guided the men whose words shaped our nation and who converted the prophet Brigham Young.