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32X

Joseph Smith

An Oration

BT NEPHI JENSEN

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CANADIAN MISSION
36 Ferndale Ave., Toronto, Canada

.15A86*3S.S{^35

Joseph Smith

An Oration

By Nephi Jensen^ President of the Canadian Mission

The Master said, *'I came not to bring peace, but a sword/*
Carlyle evidently had in mind the sarnie thought when he wrote,
"Every fact is a battle.** he bigger the "fact,** the greater the
**battle.** Truth is the biggest fact in the world. Its clashing
with error is the irresistible conflict of the ages.

Every great leader of men is in a measure a personification
of truth. The degree of the truth he lives and teaches is the
measure of the stir he will make in the world. Christ was ^'the
Truth.*' His words and works made the shallow, spiritless de-
fenders of old and venerated error rave and gnash their teeth.

When a timid reformer with his insipid sentiment, half
error and half truth, comes in contact with the thought and
opinions of his time he makes no great disturbance, but when
a bold prophet of (rod, like Joseph Smith, with his bowels full
of truth, and the flame-breath of the Almighty upon his lips,
announces his deep factp about God, man, and eternity, all the
forces of .error are lashed into a fury, tb.e wicked frown, the
mob raves, and tL<e paid teachers of painted half-truth let loose
"the dogs of war** and persecution.

The very roar that went up when the boy Joseph
Smith announced his first vision proclaims the divinity of his
mission. For a name that "thunders so loud in the index** must
be attached to something more than human.

What is In the homely name Joseph Smith that the mention
of it should make the wicked rave and the righteous rejoice?
Why does it provoke curses from the high priests of error, and
call forth praises from humble Saints? Why does it divide hu-
manity into two distinct classes, those who bitterly hate him
and those who ardently love him?

The right answer to these questions is the biggest fact in
the historv of the nineteenth century. It is not found in the
word "delusion.** The dim eyes of deception never saw as
clearly as Joseph Smith did the great fundamentals of religion.
Ebillucination never founded a perfect church organization and
gave to the world a great philosophy of religion. Mental ab-
beration never banded together tens of thousands of men and

^*.

E-AN ORATION

women of varied tastes, temperaments and intelligences, and sent
them forth to sacrifice all for the salvation of the human race.

Nor can this great prophet's message be driven out of the
court of the world's thought and opinion by shouting, **Impo8*
tor.*' His mark upon his age is too deep to be erased by the
tongue of slander. **A false man," says Carlyle, **cannot even
build a house." And yet Joseph Smith laid the foundation of
a Church and enacted a superstructure thereon so perfects in
adjustment and practical workings, that it has called forth un-
stinted praise from even those who hate his name. He be-
queathed to this Church a legacy of truth and faith that has
nerved his followers with courage to subdue deserts, and fired
them with a self-forgetting devotion that impels them to give
all for the salvation of mankind. Did a delusion ever give
thousands of men and women the fortitude to face the slander
and slurs of the wicked and the madness of mobs? Did a
**fraud" ever redeem deserts and build sanctuaries of learning in
a wilderness? Did a religious falsehood ever put the love of
God and man in the human heart? Did perjured stories of
revelations from God ever send men out to give their time and
money freely to bring souls to Christ? Did pure-hearted women
ever pay the homage of their tears at the shrine of a lie? Did
true men ever give their hearts' blood for a theological fake?

The explanation of the power of Joseph Smith's name is
not found in the epithets "delusion" or "impostor." It is found
only in the word "truth." And what a flood of truth he
poured into a shallow world of "cold hearts and hastening feet."

His career commenced in 1820, when he was given a
vision of the Father and the Son. That year Herbert Spencer
was born. The names cf both these men have been heard
around the world. The one is the synonym of doubt; the other
stands for superfaith. The one was the high priest of evolution;
the other was a prophet of a living belief. They both strove to
find the same thing, the knowledge of God. Herbert Spencer
used the key of reason, and Joseph Smith the key of faith.
Herbert Spencer sought to find God through an endless analysis
of the crust of things. Joseph Smith went by prayer right into
the presence of God. Herbert Spencer ended his long life say-
ing, "God is unknowable." Joseph Smith, when only a boy of
fourteen, saw the Maker of all, and heard the Voice that had
stilled the storm and stayed the wave.

In the age that Huxley glibly talked about an "absentee
God," and learned theologians bowed at the shrine of a rhet-
orical image, Joseph Smith re-discovered the true and the liv-
ing God. In the teeth of the age-old doctrine of a God "without
body, parts, and passions," this bold proph^ declared that the

JOSEPH SBflfS^^r

Lord of heaven is a tangible personage of tabernacle, in whose
exact image and likeness man was made. He boldly brushed
aside the Nicene CounciPs '^congeries of words,** descriptive of
the Trinity, and plainly averred what the Bible clearly teaches,
that the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are three dis-
tinct personages, but one in mind and purpose. While the
faithless priests of shallow creeds were standing afar off, calling
to God m the cold words of learned theological formulas, Joseph
Smith re-announced the warm, pulsating truth contained in the
Lord's prayer, "Our Father which art in heaven."

His first vocal prayer was the first real faith cry that had
gone up from this cold, superstitious world since the dense
darkness of the middle ages had driven truth from the altar
and living belief from the human heart. It marked the be-
ginning of an epoch. It was the beginning of the real modem
spiritual rennaissance.

That prayer was the greatest act of a human soul since
paganism killed virile faith and turned the simple religion of
Jesus Christ into an empty show. The boy who prayed that
day in the silent woodland had a heart as deep as truth, and
lifted higV ^ heaven. He had the faith that defies fate. Around
him wei:s :^^e sophistical theologians with their hearts full of
doubts and their heads full of theological abstractions, wrang-
ling about empty forms and dead ceremonies. All the notions,
customs, creeds, and dogmas of the time, denied the possibility
of a real answer from God. But in spite of doctrines, dogmas,
and doubts, he believed in him who said, "If any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men Uberally,
and upbraidelh not; and it shall be given him.** The living
faith of this boy pierced the blue dome through which no
word had passed for seventeen centuries, and called to the
earth the Majesty of heaven.

When this boy walked out of that sacred grove, that day,
he was greater than the most learned theologians and profound-
est philosophers. He knew the key to the knowledge of God.
Hie had a power greater than that possessed by a potentate. He
held in his heart the most powerful thing in the universe, the
omnipotent faith that makes the powers of heaven the servants
of men.

Before Joseph Smith saw that vision, in answer to a prayer
inspired by a specific Bible promise, the Bible had for cen-
turies been a mere fetish. It had been a dead letter, containing
the decrees and promises of God to another age. He put spirit
and life into the dead letter by demonstrating that God would
do today the very things he promises in his book. By the magic
touch of this prophet*s faith, the Bible became in fact and

JOSEPH SMITH— AN ORATION

V-

truth the Book of God, a compendium of Bib veritable prom-
ises to all men of all ages and all climes.

At a *hne when the theologians of all creeds and churches
said that the Bihle contained all that God intended to reveal
to man, Joseph Smith, by divine inspiration, translated the
Book of Mormon from the gold plates which contained the rec-
ord of God*s hand-dealings with his '*other sheep,** the an-
cestors of the American Indians. Before he knew that John
the revelator had predicted that in "the hour of God*s judg-
ment** an angel would *'fiy in the midst of heaven having
the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the
earth,*' Joseph Smith declared that these gold plates liad been
revealed to him by an angel. In less than a century after he had
given the Book of Mormon to the world, as the gospel brought
to the earth by an angel, nearly half a milHon people had
accepted the message. These zealous followers of Joseph Smith
have translated the Book into fourteen different languages, and
they are sending the message it contains to every "nation, kin-
dred, tongue and people.** (Rev. 14:6.) Thus was literally fulfilled
a Bible prophecy, the meaning of which had not been discovered
by the most profound students of the scriptures.

Pursuant to divine revelation he organized the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is an exact duplicate
of the one the Messiah established eighteen centuries before.
This Church has in it every officer which the Christ placed in
his primitive Church, from the council of the twelve apostles,
high priests, seventies, elders, and evangelists down to the minor
officers, priests, teachers and deacons. These officers are en-
dowed with the holy Priesthood, which has come down to them
through men who had received it by actual ordination from
Peter, James, and John who came to this earth in the nineteenth
centur/ for the express purpose of imparting the Priesthood.
In this Church are present the real gifts of the Holy Ghost;;
prophecy, revelation, visions, healings, gifts of tongues, and the
interpretation c' tongues.

While Egyptian was an absolutely dead language, unknown
even to the foremost scholars, Joseph Smith, by the light of in-
spiration, translated from Egyptian the lost Book of Abraham.
The prophet*8 explanation of the Egyptian figure^ in the fac-
similes printed in the Book of Abraham have been proven to
be correct. In the accomplishment of this work of translation
^lone, Joseph Smith affixed the broad seal of divinity upon his
work.

Through divine inspiiation he was given the true prophet*s
foresight. Twenty-eight years before the outbreak of the Amer-
ican civil war, he predicted that a war would commence with

lOSEPH SMITH -AN ORATION

**the rebellion of South Carolina,** that the '^southern states**
would **be divided against the northern states,** and that the
southern states would **call upon Great Britain** for assistance;
and that this struggle would "terminate in the death and mis-
ery of many souls.** Every detail of this prophecy became
tragic history in the death-stiiiggle between the southern and
northern states of the American Union. Over a million graves
in the American Union today attest the true prophetic power
of this most remarkable man.

In the place of spirituality, he found sentimentai^ty. The
preachers talked eloquently about th^i Pentecostal, cloven
tongues of fire, but never dreamed that people living eighteen
hundred years after Peter preached and "pricked the hearts"
of sinners, could enjoy the Spirit which testifies, reveals, and
prophesies. While the divines were still graphically describing
the great things God had done for his people of old, Joseph
Smith fervently testified of the great things God is now doing
for his people of today. He re-affirmed the promises of old and
demonstrated their validity.

He answered the question, *From whence came man?'* in
the way in which the poet and philosopher is now beginning to
answer it. In the words, "Man is that he might have joy,** he
gave the best and truest explanation of the purpose of man's
existence. While the theologians were still saying that man was
merely a son of the sod, he declared man to be actually and in
truth the son of God, destined in the "eternal years of God," to
overcome, improve, develop, increase in intelligence, wisdom,
goodness, power and glory until he becomes perfect, "even as
God in heaven is perfect."

He exploded the infinitely cruel doctrine of eternal punish-
ment, that arbitrarily consigns to the eternal, unquenchable
flames all non-Christians, and gives wingd and harps to all, good
or bad, who simply speak the words, "I believe on Jesus.'* He
re-affirmed the declaration of John, that man will be "judged ac-
cording to his works."

He dispelled gloom from the tomb. He denied the narrow
dogma that man's hope of salvation is interred with his bones;
and taught the beneficent doctrine of salvation for the dead.

He gave to the word heaven a new meaning. He took out
^ it the impossible notion of winged angels everlastingly playing
on harps, and declared heavv'^n to be a place where the truest
human ties are inviol^.te, and the gentlest memories of this life
are mingled with the joys and glories of the life that has no
end.

He gave to the world the most salutary, hygienic rules,
contained in a divine revelation known as the "Word of Wis-

< :

dom,** which prohib .8 the use of tea, coffee, tobacco, intoxi-
cating drinks, and the excessive eating of meat. Subsequent
to the proclamation of this revelation, scientific investigations
have demonstrated the great value of these wholesome rules of
practical living. The observance by the followers of Joseph
Smith of these and other laws given by this prophet has re-
duced their death rate to 8.3 persons per thousand annually
as compared with the rate of 13.5 persons per thousand in the
United States at large.

His niche in the ages is secure. His mighty fact is already
conmiencing to thunder louder than the mendacity of his mis-
guided enemies. The story of his triumphant faith is the most
thrilling incident in modem annals. It gives hope, light, and
life. It is the beacon that lights the way across the dark chasm
which ages of ignorance and superstition have placed between
man and God. Tens of thousands of true-hearted men and
women who have heard this story of all-conquering faith hove
gone in quest of the knowledge of God widi a sincerity and
fervor so genuine that they hav i received that witness of God's
Spirit which has made them so certain of God's existence, the
divinity of Christ's mission, and the reality of the future life,
that the besetting evils of this world have lost all power over
them.

What a man he was! He was a seer. With the white light
of God's Spirit he saw the past of nations now covered with the
dust of ages. He was a prophet. By the inspiration of the
Holy Ghost he saw tomorrow and tomorrow's morrow. He
was a teacher. He gave to the world, at its most enlightened
period, a sane, sensible, original, and comprehensive religious
philosophy which has successfully weathered the opposition of
the learned and the persecution of the wicked for nearly a cen-
tury. He was an Organizer. By the aid of divine inspiration
he established a Church so perfect in organization and internal
workings that it commands the praise of even those who de-
spise it. He was a leader of men. By the magic power of his
pure character, genuine sincerity, and deathless integrity to
truth and God, he gathered about him, as his aids and lieuten-
ants in the work of righteousness, a coterie of men of the high-
est probity and the greatest native intelligence.

He belongs to the ages. The trumpet call of his mighty
faith-fact will yet reverberate through all lands and climes, and
turn a doubting world back to God. All who heed the clear,
shrill outringing of this deep, certain note of hope will forever
honor this true prophet of God. As long as men aspire to fer-
vent faith, love, the truth, and honor God, they will hold in
eternal veneration, the name of this great and good man who
discovered faith taught the truth, and glorified God.

i mrmnnAnAnAnnnnnnmnr-in'^---*********** ******* ******* ' " ** "" *******

^tixtita of <3lfattt|

Of thi Ohuroh of Jasui Ohritt of Lattar-4ay Saints

1. We believe In God, the Eternal Father, and la
HU SOQ, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

2. We believe that men will be punished for thelf
own sins, and not for Adam's transgfression.

3. We believe that, through the atonement ol Christ,
all mankind may be saved, by obedience to tlie laws and
ordinances of the Gospel.

4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances
of the Gospel are: First, Faith in the Uord Jesus Christ;
tecond, Repentance ; third. Baptism by immersion for the

emission of Sins ; fourth, Laying on of Hands for the
uift of the Holy Ghost.

5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by
"prophecy, and by the laying on of hands," by those
who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer
in the ordinances thereof.

6. We believe in the same organization that existed
In the primitive church, namely, apostles, prophets,
pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc.

7. We believe In the gift of tongues, prophecy, reve-
lation, visions, healing, Interpretation of tongues, etc.

8. We believe the '^ible to be the word of God, ai
far as It Is translated cc rrectly ; we also believe the Book
of Mormon to be the word of God.

9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He
does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal
many great and important things pertaining to the King-
dom of God.

10. We believe In the literal gathering of Israel sntf
In the restoration of the Ten Tribes. That Zion will be
built uprn this continent.. That Christ will reign person-
ally upon the earth, and that the earth will be renewed
and receive its paradisical glory.

11. We claim the privilet ; of worshiping Almighty
God according to the dictates of our conscience, and allow
all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where
or what they may.

12. We befieve In being subject to kings, presidents,
rulers and magistrates, in obeying, honoring and sustaining
the law.

13. We believe In being honest, true, chaste, benevo-
lent, virtuous, and in doing good to ALL MEN : indeed w«
may say that we follow the admonition of Paul, Wobelievo
all things, we hope all things," we have endured many
tilings, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there Is
anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praise-
worthy we seek after these thiners.

,, jy^m;^iytfvt/w^niV¥vwV M W^wMirw^^r , *rt*r* * **** **********

--J.

— ^