Aidan just spoke on the "stripling warriors" that followed the prophet Helaman (Alma 56); we might call them his knights. I'd like to talk today about the symbolism of knighthood, and how it applies in our lives. The Latter-Day Saint poet Michael Collings wrote "Epyllion in Anamnesis," a collection of several poems comparing Joseph Smith to King Arthur. Here are four of my favorites. Arthur is said to have been born on the winter solstice; Joseph was nearly born then, too: The Solstice-Born Nearly so, so nearly cusped against the back Of summer, breast of winter--for perfected Symmetry but two days lacking; Sufficient, though, in one who bore no need Of incarnational symbology-- And near, so near the winter Seed That sprouted prefigurements and completion. Solstice-born, he who adds, who would add, Who will add through his subtraction Present absence, absent presence. Ice ridges and wolf cries welcomed him Pine boughs and wood smoke offered incense, Nearly so, so nearly cusped against the breast Of balanced winter-year, ice-crystal kissed. Whereas Arthur had Excalibur, the sword whose wielder could never know defeat, Joseph was armed with the word of God, "quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart," (Heb 4:12) and was promised by the Lord that "there is no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper." (Isa 54:17; D&C 71:9) Taliesin Considers Excalibur It was no woman's arm that bore his sword Weeping upward from an ice-placid lake To arm him for blood-battles yet to come-- His weapon wore the biting edge of words. It did not come to him, this life-shield sword, Sweeping upward from still, watery rest; He dug for it, removed it from its stone store- Place, redeemed it with his warm, breath-locked words. It was no glistering, steel-shaft faerie sword Sleeping sightless, beyond Time's history; His the vision, the graver mystery, That from archaic dust formed sun-sharp words. It was no woman's arm that wore his sword-- His weapon bore the biting edge of words. Arthur built Camelot; Joseph built Nauvoo. They laid the cornerstone of the temple on the hill; it took many years to build, and persecution mounted during the entire time they were there. The Lord sent the Twelve on missions during a time when Joseph was besieged by enemies and nearly all had sick families or were sick themselves. Taliesin Witnesses the Commission to the Table Twelve rose from his table, knelt to receive His blessings, faded into waiting night Leaving him alone to raise white walls, save The City from flowing onslaughts of hate; Twelve stole their way to the grey cornerstone Lying dust-shrouded, belying blood-spoor toil To roll it from earth-shadows without stain; Twelve prayed, departed, questing for their Grails-- They would win strong workers for the City In distant kingdoms. Twelve families lay ill, Some dying, all hoping. From the jetty Arthur stared unblinking Eastward. A pall Darkened low hills...but he saw only Dawn-- New Sunrise--and twelve Table-Knights' return. Just as Mordred destroyed Camelot, the temple was hardly built before it was burned, the Saints were driven from Nauvoo, and Joseph was killed. Arthur's Great Hall It was to be perfect...the perfect place: Sun-stones, Star-stones, Moon-stones, Spire-columns to Pinion Earth to Sky, pull Time down, embrace Vast space between Here and Eternity; It was to be his citadel: marbled Mountain cresting his City's future folds; It was to house his chosen Knights' Table, Without Beginning and without an End; It was...and was not. Even before walls Rose sunset-high, before roof sparkled with Dew, before squared pillars bore weight of ills, His City lay beleaguered by black wrath, His perfect place lay flayed as Evil's home... And he lay silent in his secret tomb. In T.H. White's "The Sword in the Stone," later made into a Disney movie, Merlin changes Arthur into various animals in order to teach him. This story comes from the legendary origin of the poet Taliesin, who was the first to write the Arthurian legends. According to this legend, the witch Ceridwen gave birth to an extremely ugly son. She determined to compensate for this by giving her hapless child the gift of wisdom and prophecy. She gathered herbs with the help of two assistants, one of whom was Gwion Bach. The witch brewed the herbs for a year and a day to distill three drops of a magical potion -- but while she slept, Gwion Bach swallowed the three crucial drops himself. Ceridwen woke and the boy fled, with the furious witch in hot pursuit. He turned into a hare, she turned into a hound; he turned into a fish, she turned into an otter; he turned into a bird, she turned into a hawk and chased him across the skies. Finally he turned into a grain of wheat; the witch was a hen who gobbled him up. He lay in her belly for nine long months, and then Ceridwen gave birth to him. The witch couldn't bear to do the infant harm, so she put him into a basket and set it adrift in the sea. There he was found by Elphin, the spendthrift son of a wealthy squire. Elphin named the child Taliesin (beautiful brow)... --"The Magic of Wales" by Terri Windling Shape-shifting does not, at first glance, seem to be a Christian symbol; it certainly never appears explicitly in the scriptures. And yet, I think we may liken it unto ourselves. (1 Ne 19:23) Ceridwen hoped to give her son the gift of prophecy. In Rev 19:10, John the Revelator has bowed to worship an angel, whom he assumes is the Lord; but the angel forbids him, saying "See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." The only way we can know that Jesus is the Son of God is if we receive the witness of the Holy Spirit; no logical argument will suffice to sustain a person through the harsh trials of life. It must be a revelation from God himself. Moses exclaimed, "would God that all the LORD's people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!" (Num 11:29) Gwion Bach transformed into different creatures, and was finally reborn as Taliesin. The faith in Christ I just mentioned is the first principle of the Gospel (AofF 4). The next principle and ordinances are repentance, then rebirth by water and fire; through baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, we become "new creatures" in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). Moses records (Moses 6:51+) Enoch's account of God explaining these principles and ordinances to Adam. God went on to explain that "all things are created and made to bear witness of me, things which are in the heavens above [the bird], and things which are on the earth [the hare and hound], and things which are in the earth [the grain of wheat], and things which are under the earth [the fish], both above and beneath: all things bear record of me." (Moses 6:63) Especially us--our bodies are made in His image, and we are to serve our fellow men, not graven images, in order to serve God (Mosiah 2:17). Our spirits, our characters, are still in the process of becoming; we can choose to make them in His image, too, to receive His image in our countenances (Alma 5:14), to receive a "beautiful brow." Afterward, Adam was carried away by the spirit into heaven and a high mountain like a bird, then baptized like a fish or set adrift at sea, then confirmed, receiving the Spirit of prophecy, and finally ordained, adopted by a new father and given a new name and his Father's wealth. "Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God, and thus may all become my sons. Amen." (Moses 6:68) Christ is the Lord of Armies, "For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke." (Isa 59:17) We have the privilege, like Adam, of being ordained by an ordinance into the Order of the Son of God, the brotherhood of friendship. We are patterned after our Patron, the Temple our template. We promise, "Art thou a brother or brethren? I salute you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in token or remembrance of the everlasting covenant, in which covenant I receive you to fellowship, in a determination that is fixed, immovable, and unchangeable, to be your friend and brother through the grace of God in the bonds of love, to walk in all the commandments of God blameless, in thanksgiving, forever and ever. Amen." (D&C 88:113) Sir Thomas Malory, who wrote _Le Morte d'Arthur_, wrote of the knights who finally attained the Grail. Christ appeared unto them and said, "My knights, and my servants, and my true children, which be come out of deadly life into spiritual life, I will now no longer hide myself from you." John the Revelator spoke about having become a son of God, and what we can expect as such. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." I pray that we shall be like him when he no longer hides himself from us, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.