Today, Carrie told me of a talk given by Merrill J. Bateman about the history of Brigham Young University.1 Just as Henry B. Eyring spoke about the future of BYU in A Consecrated Place, Elder Bateman spoke of those who were given dreams of its future destiny.
Recently I shared with the faculty and staff some key events from BYU’s history. During the preparation of the material, some insights were gleaned with regard to the special nature of this institution. Today I wish to share a few of them with you.
Lessons from BYU’s History
The first lesson one learns in reviewing BYU’s history concerns the extraordinary faith of the early Saints who forged this institution. They founded Brigham Young Academy in a desert with a fragile economic base. However, they understood the importance of education, especially for their children, and were willing to sacrifice every temporal asset they had in order to keep the school alive. This was true of the faculty and staff and also of the citizens throughout the valley. It was not uncommon for Karl G. Maeser and his staff to receive less than one-half pay during the 1880s. Abraham O. Smoot, a highly successful businessman, stake president, mayor of Provo, and chairman of the board of Brigham Young Academy, gave his buildings, his land, and mortgaged his home in order to save the institution. He died penniless, having given everything to the school.
The faith of BYU’s founders was never stronger than during times of crisis. I was particularly impressed with Karl G. Maeser’s conviction as he responded to Reed Smoot, a student, during the 1884 fire that destroyed the academy’s only building. As it became apparent that they could not save the Lewis building, the student said to Maeser, “Oh, Brother Maeser, the Academy is burned!” Maeser responded, “No such thing, it’s only the building.”2 Six years earlier, shortly after the death of Brigham Young, Maeser had a dream in which President Young showed him the design of a new building. At the time Brother Maeser did not understand the purpose of the dream. Six years later, as he looked at the charred ruins of Lewis Hall, he could see in his mind’s eye the building that would take its place.3
The second observation one notes while looking at BYU’s history is the strong link forged between the university and the heavens. Each time a crisis threatened the survival of the school, the heavens were opened and instructions given. Principal Maeser’s dream about the new building was the first. A second occurred a few years later in the mid-1880s. During one of the darkest hours, when it seemed that the school would close, Brigham Young appeared to President John Taylor, assuring him of the school’s importance in the kingdom and giving him instructions for its survival. In the dream President Young said that “Christ himself was directing, and had a care over [the] school.”4
On another occasion, Karl G. Maeser had a dream in which he was shown the university of our day. This dream was given to at least two other persons during the early part of BYU’s history. The dreams assured the continuance of the university by showing the upper campus “filled with buildings–great temples of learning” with thousands of students attending. (This morning as I stood in the Smoot Building and looked out on the new quad and saw students crossing in every direction, I believe I saw what Karl G. Maeser saw in 1885.) When Karl G. Maeser received the dream, the university did not have a building and only a few students. He told his wife and daughter that he wanted to do his “part in contributing to the fulfillment of that dream.”5
A second time the vision was given to a student as well, young Alfred Kelly. He was scheduled to give a commencement address and to also encourage the sale of the upper campus so the school’s debts could be paid. He was troubled by the assignment and had written and discarded a number of speeches. The following is an account of Kelly’s experience as recorded by B. F. Larsen, who was president of the graduating class at the time Kelly gave the speech.
Finally one morning with a feeling of desperation he walked toward Temple Hill. He stopped to rest and think when he reached the hill top. . . .
He partially closed his eyes and was startled. He stood as if transformed. The advancing sunlight suddenly assumed the appearance of people. The trees, the bushes, the ripples on the surface of Utah Lake, everything in the valley disappeared. Only people were there, young people moving toward Temple Hill. Hundreds of people, thousands of young people came into view advancing with the warm sunlight to the place where this campus is now built. . . .
. . . The whole of the present campus was illumined beyond the power of description and Kelly saw buildings here, not homes but temples of learning, large buildings, beautiful buildings, buildings which covered the top of this hill.6
At the commencement Kelly shared his experience. The message was so powerful that Jesse Knight, touched by the Spirit, came forward and offered his resources to save the campus.7
The third time the vision was given, Sidney B. Sperry, a faculty member, assured his colleagues that the university would not be sold or given away. His dream occurred in the early 1930s during the depths of the depression. He had just learned that New York bankers had told President Heber J. Grant that a loan to the Church was conditional on the closing of Brigham Young University. Brother Sperry went home heartsick that evening but was
awakened in the middle of the night and saw a vision of the Brigham Young University of the future. He saw beautiful modern buildings extending along the entire east bench and saw great concourses of people coming to the University to receive guidance and instruction. In connection with the University he saw a temple and therefore knew that . . . BYU was going to remain a Church institution.8
It is interesting to note that the vision of thousands of young people gathering on Temple Hill in beautiful, modern buildings was given to a head of the institution, to a faculty member, and to a student. There is a law that begins, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses” (2 Corinthians 13:1, D&C 6:28).
A final insight gleaned from the historical review concerns the element of sacrifice. From the beginning, sacrifice has been an operational principle of this institution. Almost everyone associated with BYU has felt a special commitment to its divine mission and has been willing to give whatever was needed in order to move the university forward. I am reminded of Carl F. Eyring, dean of Arts and Sciences in the late 1940s. Besides teaching his share of classes and serving as dean, he also supervised the construction of the Eyring Science Center. He spent evenings and Saturdays doing manual labor on the building. Ill with cancer during the last year of its construction, he died soon after the building was dedicated.9 The marvelous building named after him has just been renovated. It was refurbished rather than razed because of its superior construction. Today it stands as a memorial to this man’s willingness to sacrifice his time, energy, and his life for the university.
As I contemplate the commitment and sacrifice of those who have gone before, I wonder what the Lord expects of us. We live in a time of abundance. Perhaps our call is not one of financial leanness but one of time and commitment to excellence. If Brigham Young University is to reach its destiny of becoming a world-class university, it will happen only if we continue the tradition of sacrifice–a sacrifice of time, talents, and heart to the advancement of truth and knowledge. We must be frugal in the use of our resources, but not in our willingness to spend our time and energy to become the very best.
Sources:
- Bateman, Merrill J. “Gathered in the Tops of the Mountains”. 7 Sep 1999. BYU Speeches. 21 Oct 2009. See BYU Broadcasting for a PDF of the talk.
- Ernest L. Wilkinson and W. Cleon Skousen, Brigham Young University: A School of Destiny (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1976), 74–75.
- See ibid., 118–19.
- See Leonard J. Arrington, ed., The Presidents of the Church (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1986), 109.
- Wilkinson and Skousen, School of Destiny, 85.
- B. F. Larsen, “Fifty Years Ago,” speech given at BYU Alumni meeting, 25 May 1962, B. F. Larsen biographical file, BYU Archives, 4; see also Wilkinson and Skousen, School of Destiny, 873–74.
- See Larsen, “Fifty Years Ago,” 5.
- “Vision of Dr. Sidney B. Sperry,” a memorandum by W. Cleon Skousen, 24 September 1975, Brigham Young University Archives, 1.
- The Carl F. Eyring Science Center was dedicated in December 1950. Carl F. Eyring passed away 3 January 1951; see Wilkinson and Skousen, School of Destiny, 379 and 887.
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