Eugene England on the Work of Mormon Arts and Letters (Svithe)

From a letter Eugene England wrote to the editor of Sunstone Magazine; it appeared in its first issue---a worthy call to arms, I think, for those Mormon "intellectuals" and artists interested in remaining faithful to the work of the Church, in building Zion by using all the gifts God has given them:

Those of us in the Church who need and value such things as Sunstone---because of our nature, our special intellectual gifts the Lord has given us to complement the equally valuable gifts he has given others in the Kingdom---tend to value highly and quote often the last part of the thirteenth Article of Faith: "If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." We need to remind ourselves that there are twelve and a half Articles of Faith which precede that stirring capstone declaration, and unless we are struggling to understand and live by all of those others (for instance, "We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation...") we have no right to adopt that motto for our intellectual and artistic endeavors and little good will come of those efforts."