lErY Book Jd/^t- GopightN CORHttGlW DEPOSIT. 1 m SATURDAY NIGHT THOUGHTS A Series of Dissertations on Spiritual, Historical and Philosophic Themes BY ORSON F. WHITNEY Of the Council of the Twelve, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: THE DESERET NEWS 1921 Copyright, 1921 HEBER T. GRANT Trustee-in-Trust. OCT - 6 192! ©CI.A627359 >W0 I FOREWORD Most of the contents of this volume appeared orig- inally as a series of articles in Saturday issues of the Deseret Evening News, beginning October 26, 1918, and ending May 31, 1919. As stated by the News, these arti- cles "were designed to fill in some degree a spiritual void and meet a special need of those who were in the habit of attending Sunday services, but were denied that privilege by the prevalence of the influenza epidemic." That epidemic caused a suspension of public gatherings for several months, and g even made necessary the post- ponement of one General Conference of the Church. It was during this period of suspension that these contributions to the Church organ began. They were given place on the editorial page, and subsequently the News said of them: "These 'Thoughts' have subserved a far more than temporary and passing purpose — they have stimulated study and deep reflection, and they have been greatly enjoyed and prized by the thoughtful reader everywhere." Among those who uttered similar sentiments was President George H. Brimhall, of the Brigham Young University, who, in a letter to the author, expressed the hope that provision would be made for publication 4 FOREWORD of the essays in book form, "thus adding one more choice volume to Latter-day Saint literature, especially suited to the needs of students at hom*e ajtid missionaries abroad." Like expressions came from President Heber J. Grant, Senator Reed Smoot, President John A. Widtsoe, of the University of Utah, and many other prominent people. In response to this cordial, widespread sentiment of appreciation, and under the sanction of the General Authorities of the Church, the "Saturday Night Thoughts" were compiled for republication, and the re- sult is here presented. May, 1921 THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS Part One — Our Place In History Page Article One: The Saturday Evening of Time 9 Article Two: The Watch On The Tower 14 Article Three: Concerning Names and Vocations 19 Article Four: The Choice Seer 24 Article Five : The Land of Zion ' 31 Part Two — Seership and Prophecy Article Six: What Joseph Beheld 39 Article Seven: What Joseph Foretold 48 Article Eight: Looking Westward 55 Article Nine: The Place of Safety 61 * Part Three. — A Marvel and a Wonder Article Ten: The Wisdom That Perishes 73 Article Eleven: The God Story 80 Article Twelve: The Great Vicissitudes . ., 87 Article Thirteen: The Gospel Dispensations 96 Part Four. — A Glance Down the Ages Article Fourteen: The Adamic Age 105 Article Fifteen: Enoch and His City 112 Article Sixteen : Noah and the Deluge 118 Article Seventeen: Abraham and the House of Israel 124 Article Eighteen: Moses and Aaron 132 Article Nineteen: To the Ends of the Earth 138 Part Five. — In Time's Meridian Article Twenty: The Lamb of God 149 Article Twenty-one: The Special Witnesses 157 Part Six. — The Era of Restitution x Article Twenty-two: The Call of the Shepherd 167 Article Twenty-three: The Zion of Latter Days \77 < 6 CONTENTS. Page Article Twenty-four: Redemption by Power 185 Article Twenty-five : Clearing the Way 191 Article Twenty-six: God's Hand Upon the Nations 198 Article Twenty-seven: The Consummation 205 Part Seven. — Powers and Principles Article Twenty-eight: The Priesthood 215 Article Twenty-nine: Church Government 222 SArticle Thirty: The Law of Obedience 230 Article Thirty-one: The Divine Doorway 236 Article Thirty-two : The Second Birth . 243 Article Thirty-three: Meaning and Mode of Baptism 251 x Article Thirty-four: The Gospel's Accessories 261 * Article Thirty-five: What Are Miracles? 271 i\rticle Thirty-six: The Mainspring of Power 278 Part, Eight. — Beyond the Horizon Article Thirty-seven: The Spirit World 287 Article Thirty-eight: Spirit Promptings 294 Article Thirty-nine: Do the Dead Return? 304 Article Forty: The Goal Eternal 314 NAMES AND ABBREVIATIONS The usual Bible abbreviations are retained. Hist. Ch. stands for History of the Church. D. & C. for Doctrine and Covenants. Nephi, Jacob, Omni, Miormon, Mosiah, Alma and Ether, will be recognized as names belonging to the Book of Mormon. The Book of M,oses, shortened to Moses, and the Book of Abraham, abbreviated to Abr., will be found within the lids of the Pearl of Great Price. Other abbreviations, such as vol. for volume, p. ,or pp. for page or pages, v. ,or vv. for verse or verses and ib. for ibid (the same) are in such common use as scarcely to require mention. PART ONE OUR PLACE IN HISTORY Saturday Night Thoughts ARTICLE ONE. The Saturday Evening of Time. The Sixth Day.- — Saturday, in Christian lands, is a day set apart for house-cleaning, a time for "putting things to rights," in preparation for the Sabbath, the sacred day of rest. Preliminary to the condition of purity, order and quietness especially desirable on that day, the house, in domestic parlance, is "upset" — ''turned topsy-turvy." Furn- iture is moved and dusted, floors are scrubbed, windows cleaned, and stoves polished ; the body is bathed, all rub- bish burned, and everything done that ought to be done, so that* when night is past and glorious morning dawns, the rising sun can smile approvingly on a renovated, sweet and wholesome scene, and the Lord's Day be kept, as He in- tended it should be, in cleanliness, which is "next to god- liness." Is there not something symbolical in all this — some- thing suggestive of things higher? All Things Symbolical. — "All things are in a scale," says Plato ; and begin where we will, ascend and ascend. All things are symbolical; and what we call results are begin- nings." If this be true, then is there a symbolism in small things as well as 1 in great, in endings as well as beginnings, including the ending and beginning of the week. Satur- day and Sunday are both symbolical, each suggesting and pointing to something above and beyoitd. a, "Plato," Emerson's "Representative Men," Altemus edition, 1895, p. 71. 10 OUR PLACE IN HISTORY. The World's Sabbath. — Who among men first recog- nized in the seventh day a symbol of Christ's Millennial reign, I know- not. The reign itself was the theme of a revelation as early as the days of Enoch. 6 But it is obvious that the symbolism of the seventh day does not stand alone. The idea of a greater Sunday carries with it the idea of a greater Saturday, of which all lesser Saturdays are typi- cal ; a time of agitation, of strenuous toil and strife, dur- ing which all will be made ready for the blest sabbatic era, the period of universal peace. The World's Saturday Night must necessarily precede the World's Sunday Morn- ing/ The Apocalyptic Book. — The symbolism of the Sab- bath, and the symbolism of other days as well, is plainly in- dicated in the writings of Joseph Smith. In one place he says — or the Lord says through him : "All things have their likeness, and are made to bear record of Me." d We need not be surprised, therefore, to find among the Proph- et's teachings this — I quote now from his Key to the Apocalypse: "What are we to understand by the book which John saw, which was sealed on the back with seven seals?* "We are to understand that it contains the revealed will, mysteries, and works of God ; the hidden things of his econ- omy concerning this earth during the seven thousand years of its continuance, or its temporal existence. b, Moses 7:48, 61, 64. c, "Rabbinical commentators have expressed the opinion that after six millenniums of years, there will come a seventh, with rest and peace. Paul (2 Thess. 1 :7) points to the coming of Christ as the time when the Saints would find 'rest ;' and he also argues (Heb. 4:1-11) that there remaineth a 'rest' to the people of God. The word he uses means a 'sabbathism' or sabbath observance, and he refers to the coming of the Lord." — J. M. Sjodahl. d, Moses 6 :63. e, Rev. 5 and 6, THE SATURDAY EVENING OF TIME. 11 "What are we to understand by the sounding of the trumpets, mentioned in the 8th chapter of Revelations? "We are to understand that as God made the world in six days, and on the seventh day he finished his work and sanctified it, and also formed man out of the dust of the earth ; even so, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years will the Lord God sanctify the earth, and complete the salvation of man, and judge all things — unto the end of all things; and the sounding of the trumpets of the seven angels are the preparing and finishing of his work in the beginning of the seventh thousand years — the preparing of the way before the time of his coming."^ Seven Great Days. — The "days" here referred to were not ordinary days of twenty-four hours each, based upon earth's diurnal revolutions. He who "made the world" be- fore placing man upon it, had not then appointed unto Adam his reckoning/ They were not man's days, but God's days, each having a duration of a thousand years. "The book which John saw" represented the real his- tory of the world — what the eye of God has seen, what the recording angel has written ; and the seven thousand years, corresponding to the seven seals of the Apocalyptic volume, are as seven great days during which Mother Earth will ful- fill her mortal mission, laboring six days and resting upon the seventh, her period of sanctification. These seven days do not include the period of our planet's creation and prep- aration as a dwelling place for man. They are limited to Earth's "temporal existence," that is, to Time, considered as distinct from Eternity. According to Kolob. — The Prophet's translation of the Book of Abraham explains that these greater days are f, D. and C. 77 :6, 12. g, Abr. 5:13, 12 OUR PLACE IN HISTORY. "after the time" or according to the reckoning of Kolob, a mighty governing planet nearest the Celestial Throne, a planet revolving once in a thousand years/ 1 This period, then, is a day upon Kolob. One might well suppose such a day to have figured in the warning given to Adam: "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" ;* for Adam, after eating of the forbidden fruit, lived on to the age of nine hundred and thirty years/ St. Peter may have had the same thing in mind when he wrote : "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day".k At the Week's End. — According to received chron- ology — admittedly imperfect, yet approximately correct — four thousand years, or four of the seven great days given to this planet as the period of its "temporal existence," had passed before Christ was crucified; while nearly two thous- and years have gone by since. Consequently, Earth's long week is now drawing to a close, and we stand at the pres- ent moment in the Saturday Evening of Time, at or near the end of the sixth day of human history. Is it not a time for thought, a season for solemn meditation ? Morning will break upon the Millennium, the thousand years of peace, the Sabbath of the World ! House-Cleaning in Progress. — Marvel not, therefore, that all things are in commotion. War, famine, pestilence, earthquake, tempest and tidal wave — these are among the predicted signs of the Savior's second coming/ Tyranny h, Abr. 3 :4. i, Gen. 2:17. /, lb. 5 :5. This, of course, refers to the temporal life. Adam died spiritually as soon as he had transgressed the divine command. Shut out from the Heavenly Presence, he was dead as to the things of the Spirit. (D. and C 29:40, 41.) k, 2 Peter 3 :8. /. Matt. 24; D. and C 87, 88. THE SATURDAY EVENING OF TIME. 13 and wickedness must be overthrown, and the way prepared for Him who, though gracious and merciful to all, and for- giving to sinners who repent, "cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. " w Earth must be freed from oppression and cleansed from all iniquity. It is God's House ; and He is coming to live in it, and to make of it a glorified mansion. House-cleaning is in progress, and Sat- urday's work must be done and out of the way, before 'the Lord of the Sabbath appears. m, D. and C. 1 :31, 32. ARTICLE TWO. The Watch on the Tower. "Haunted Houses." — Several years since, a learned gentleman was lecturing in some of our Utah towns, taking tor his theme "Haunted Houses." That was his way of describing the situation of those who put faith in prophets, visions and revelations, as among the means whereby God communicates wich man. He invited all such to come out of their "haunted houses," and build for their souls "more stately mansions," founded upon the rock of reason and scientific truth. The lecturer had special reference, of course, to the followers of the Prophet Joseph Smith. A Fundamental Belief. — A belief in prophets and in spiritual gifts, whereby come visions, revelations, and mir- aculous "signs," following and confirming full and true be- lief," is fundamental with the Latter-day Saints. We re- gard the founding of our Church as a fulfillment of proph- ecy,* and recognize in the decadence of long established systems of religion, a result of failure to be guided and gov- erned by the teachings and warnings of men divinely in- spired. "Where there is no vision, the people peri-sh." c Where there is no revelation, spiritual darkness reigns. Not a Chance Worlds — We are not living in a world of chance. Things do not occur haphazardly, without the care or cognizance of the omniscient and omnipotent Ruler. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without his notice. De- sign, not accident, governs the universe. Neither man nor Satan, though exercising to the full his free agency, can a, Mark 16:17. b, Isa. 29:14. c, Prov. 29:18. THE WATCH ON THE TOWER. 15 possibly thwart the Divine Will. With all their schemings and strivings, they are powerless to destroy or disarrange God's Plan, or to hinder the fulfillment of prophecy. All things, both the evil and the good, are overrued in a way to subserve one and the same great end — What Eternal Wisdom decreed before the foundation of the world. The Function o£ Prophecy. — The need for prophecy must be evident to any pious and reflective mind. Prophets are as watchmen on the tower, noting the time of night, telling of the approaching dawn. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. ' ,d This means, as I interpret it, that the all- wise Dispenser of human affairs will neither cause nor per- mit any event to take place, concerning which the world need to have fore-knowledge, until he has communicated with his chosen servants, his oracles among men, and has given them due notice of its approach. To warn mankind of impending judgments ;to prepare His people, and through them the world at large, for changes that must come in the carrying out of the divine program — changes necessary to human progress — is the function of those who see into the future and make known the word and will of the Universal Father. Time for Preparation.— Even without the Prophet Amos and his inspired utterance, we have every reason to ieel assured, from what we know of the divine attributes, that God, in his dealings with man, harbors no intent to take what is known as "s. snap judgment." His object be- ing to save, not to destroy, it is very far from his design that the world shall be caught unawares, that men or nations shall be involved in trouble of which they have had no warning, and for which, consequently, they could make no d, Amos 3 :7. 16 OUR PLACE IN HISTORY. preparation. The promised sending of Elijah the Prophet "before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord," was in order that certain things might be done which, if left undone, would cause that "coming" to "smite the earth with a curse."* Not that the Lord wishes to- curse. His object, even in chastisement, is to bless/ But a want of preparedness can change a blessing into a curse. Messiah's glorious appear- ing will be a wonderful blessing to the earth and its inhab- itants, provided they are made ready for it. But a lack of readiness on their part would convert the boon into a calamity. Hence the need of preparation and of previous notice. Whether weal or woe is wending its way earth- ward, it is only fair that men should be told of it in ad- vance. The Supernatural Discredited. — But there is a prone- ness in human nature to discredit the Heaven-sent messen- ger. Almost invariably the supernatural is discounted, if iiot derided, by ultra-practical minds. All miracles are myths to the agnostic intellect. "The natural man is an enemy to God." Dead Prophets Preferred. — Even those who revere the prophets of the past are tempted to ignore the proph- ets of the present. It seems natural to turn from What Is and bow down to What Has Been. Not only prophets, but poets, philosophers, and other wise and worthy teachers have been treated in this manner. "Seven cities claimed the birth of Homer, dead, Through which the living Homer begged for bread." The Savior reproved the pious unbelievers of his gen- eration for "garnishing the sepulchres of the righteous." e, Mai. 4:5, 6. f. Prov. 3:11, 12. THE WATCH ON THE TOWER. 175 the dead seers and revelators, and at the same time reject- ing the living worthies, as their fathers had done before them. g A professed reverence for Moses and the old-time prophets was a prominent characteristic of those who spurned the greatest of all prophets, the very Son of God, concerning whom Moses and other seers had testified. And this same spirit, the spirit that crucified the Christ, has caused the martyrdom of His servants in all ages. Counterfeit and Genuine. — For the widely prevalent distrust felt toward men who come burdened with a mes- sage from on High, false prophets and the mischief they have wrought are largely responsible. But distrust, no less than credulity, can be overdone. Caution against imposi- tion is commendable, but doubt that rejects truth is to be deprecated and condemned. All prophets are not false. There can be no counterfeit without a genuine ; and to pro- claim against the one is virtually to concede the existence of the other. A Test of Prophecy. — A simple and sure test of prophecy is furnished in the following passage of Holy Writ : " When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously."' 1 By this standard of judgment can be tested all that prophetic inspiration has ever ut- tered. Given enough time, "the thing" will clearly demon- strate whether or not it was "spoken presumptuously." A Serious Situation. — Ponder upon this, ye who hear the testimonies of the Elders of Israel, preaching the re- stored Gospel of the Kingdom as a final witness to the na- tions. And when you see coming- to pass, in these days of g, Matt. 23:29. h, Deut. 18:22. 18 OUR PLACE IN HISTORY. war, pestilence and calamity, the predictions of ancient and modern seers, give a thought, a serious thought to the situa- tion Ask yourselves if you can afford to he classed, either with those who look upon believers in spiritual gifts as de- luded dupes living in "haunted houses," or with those who extol the prophets of former ages, and persecute or ignore the prophets of the present time. ARTICLE THREE. Concerning Names and Vocations. Is Not This The Farmer's Son? — Some such para- phrase was probably in the mind, possibly upon the lips, of more than one opponent of the religion termed "Mor- monism," when its supposed author, Joseph Smith, started out upon his remarkable career. And it was deemed by them, no doubt, a sufficient answer to his extraordinary claims. True and False Standards. — "A tree is known by its fruit." This proverb, accepted by the wise and just almost as a truism, seems to have no place in the philosophy of some people, especially when a servant of the Lord is the object of their critical contemplation. "What do men say of him?" is frequently the only criterion by which such a character is judged. And is it not manifestly unfair? When a prophet comes from God with a message for mankind, what matters the name given to that message, or to that messenger, by those unfriendly to the cause he represents ? "The Carpenter's Son." — Those who rejected the Man of Nazareth when he proclaimed himself the Son of God, doubtless thought they had disposed of him effectual- ly by referring to him sneeringly as "The carpenter's son ;" this slight, with others put upon him by his neighbors, caus- ing Jesus to remark : "A prophet is not without honor save in his own country and in his own house. " a Effect of Nearness, — His nearness was against him. There was no "distance" to "lend enchantment to the view." His name and humble vocation made his marvelous a, Matt. 13:55-57. 20 OUR PLACE IN HISTORY. claims seem impossible. It could not be that God would make a prophet out of a carpenter's son — a prophet mightier than Moses or any of the ancient seers — and give to him such a common name as Jesus, another form of Joshua. b It was unbelievable, absurd, to most. Therefore were they justified, as they supposed, in withholding from him recog- nition and honor. "And He did not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief." History Repeats. — As with the carpenter's, so with the farmer's son — each was objected to upon similar grounds. Nor was it a new thing in human experience. That which called forth criticism had occurred many times in other ages when God had raised up prophets and seers. Probably most of them were selected from among the plain people, and were comparatively unknown to men when the Lord called them. Moses an Exception. — Moses was a signal exception. He had been reared as a prince in the palace of the king of Egypt ; but that was because Pharaoh's daughter, having found the homeless infant at the water's edge, thenceforth had charge of him and his education. Prince he was, re- gardless of that princely training; but he was not the only prince in Israel. They were "a nation of kings and priests," though most of them walked in ways that were lowly. A Herdsman Prophet. — Prophets are not chosen for their worldly culture or their social position. A plain-going farmer, no less than a college professor, may be gifted with prophetic power and be called to exercise it for the good of his fellows. Amos, according to his own statement, "was no prophet," nor "a prophet's son." That' is to say, he b, "Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew "Jos(hua," fre- quently met with in Ezra and Nehem'iah. It was pronounced "Joshua" by the early Jews. Other forms of the name are "Hosea" or "Hoshea," "Oshea" and "Jehoshua." CONCERNING NAMES AND VOCATIONS. 21 had not been trained in any school of the prophets, such as existed in Old Testament times. c He was not, like Jere- miah, the son of a priest.^ He was a herdsman and a fruit-gatherer when the word of the Lord came to him: "Go, prophesy unto my people Israel"/ Prophets Foreordained. — A prophet's name, his place of birth, and the character of his everyday calling, are matters of little moment compared with other things per- taining to him. What of his state and standing before he came on earth? This is a far more important considera- tion. God's prophets are chosen before they are born/ and are sent into the world as He needs them. Their aims are high and holy. They desire the welfare and happiness of the race. Yet almost invariably their motives are misun- derstood, and they and their followers are opposed and persecuted. The Vital Question. — Does this man come from God? That is the only question worthy of immediate attention, when a prophet, or one professing to be such appears. And his word alone need not be taken as conclusive. There are ways and means of testing a prophet's claim — and that, too, without awaiting the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of some prediction by or concerning him. Honest, prayerful men and women, with even moderate discernment, need not be deceived by any pious or impious pretender. God would not leave his children at the mercy of imposters. The sheep have a right to be protected ftom the wolves. "Try the Spirits." — "Many false prophets are gone out into the world. "& But there is a Spirit that discerns c, 1 Sam. 10:10; 19:20. 2 Kings 2:3; 4:38; 6:1. d, Jer. 1:1. e, Amos 7:14, 15. /, Abr. 3:23; Jer. 1:5. g, 1 John 4:1 . 22 OUR PLACE IN HISTORY. between true and false, between spurious and genuine, and anyone who seeks it aright may have "the inspiration of the Almighty," which giveth to the spirit of man "understand- ing." 71 Moreover, the Letter as well as the Spirit is a guide. What has been revealed in times past helps to interpret what is now revealed. Truth is always consistent with itself. Heaven-inspired men do not contradict one another. Their teachings harmonize and are dependable. The spirit of contention is essentially evil. 1 "To the law and to the testimony : if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."-' "Old Joe Smith." — Were these tests applied to Joseph Smith in the early part of the nineteenth century? Yes, by some ; and they received the promised testimony of the Truth, the absolute evidence of the divinity of this Proph- et's mission. But by far the greater number of those to whom he fain would have ministered, rejected him sum- marily and without investigation. To them he was only "Joe Smith" — "Old Joe Smith" — old indeed in wisdom, though young in earthly years, yielding up his life as a martyr at the early age of thirty-eight. His claim to being an oracle of God was deemed preposterous, blasphemous ; and his religion, the pure Gospel of Christ, was denounced as the world's worst delusion and snare. Badges of Honor. — But bad names, wrongly be- stowed, hurt the giver, rather than the receiver. Blame and ridicule, when applied to the righteous, are badges of honor, worn by true prophets and true principles in all ages. It does not do away with a man of God to pelt him with nick- names and opprobrious epithets. Persecution may end his earthly career, but it cannot confute his claim nor invalidate h, Job 32 :8. i,Z Nephi 11:29, 30. j, Isa. 8:20. • CONCERNING NAMES AND VOCATIONS. 23 his testimony. The name of the martyred modern Seer, despite the clouds of calumny enveloping it, shines out from amidst the darkness that comprehended him not. His glori- ous Lord and Master, crucified as an imposter, put to death for maintaining that he was more than the world believed him to be, gave the only Name given under heaven whereby men ran be saved. ARTICLE FOUR. The Choice Seer. A Prenatal Naming. — Let us now take a closer view of this marvelous man, Joseph Smith, the most extraordin- ary character that has appeared upon our planet in the past two thousand years. His coming into the world fulfilled a prophecy uttered many centuries before his birth — a proph- ecy concerning "a choice seer," to be raised up "out of the loins" of Joseph who was sold into Egypt. The seer's name was likewise to be Joseph, and this also was to be the name of his fathers That prophecy was fulfilled in Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Joseph the Seer" — so is he desig- nated by divine revelation. 6 Like great Cyrus, who liberated the Jews from their captivity in Babylon/ the Lord's anointed in modern times, raised up to begin the work of Israel's final and complete redemption, was named and his mission outlined long be- fore he had tabernacled in the flesh. Why he came gifted with the power of seership, was made manifest at the very beginning of his career. Birth and Parentage. — Joseph the, Seer was born at Sharon, Vermont, two days before Christmas, in the year 1805. When only a lad, living with his parents, Joseph and Lucy Smith, honest farm folk in the backwoods of Western New York, his career as a prophet began. In Quest of Wisdom. — Partly from the effects of a a, 2 Nephi 3:6-15. b, D. and C. 21 :1. See also headings to most of the sections in this book. c, Tsa. 44:28; 45:1-5. THE CHOICE SEER. 25 religious revival held in his neighborhood, he became much concerned upon the subject of his soul's salvation, but was bewildered and unable to make choice of a church or creed, owing to the diverse and conflicting claims of the various Christian sects. While in this mood, he chanced upon the following passage of scripture : "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." d Deeply im- pressed with the sacred words, he forthwith resolved to ask from God the wisdom of which he stood in need. The First Vision. — Retiring to a grove near his fath- er's home, he knelt in prayer to the Most High ; but had scarcely begun his humble and earnest petition, when he was seized upon by a power that filled his soul with horror and paralyzed his tongue so that he could no longer speak. So terrible was the visitation, that he almost gave way to despair. Yet he continued to pray — in thought, with "the soul's sincere desire'' — and just at the moment when he feared he must abandon himself to destruction, he saw, directly over his head, a light more brilliant than the noon- day sun. In the midst of a pillar of glory he beheld two beings in human form, one of whom, pointing to the other, said : "This is my beloved Son, hear Him"* All Churches Astray. — With the appearance of the Light, the boy found himself delivered from the fettering power of the Evil One. As soon as he could again com- mand utterance, he inquired of his heavenly visitants which of all the religious denominations was right — which one was the true Church of Christ? To his astonishment, he was told that none of them was right; that they had all gone out of the way. Their creeds were an abomination, d, James 1 :5. e, Hist. Ch., Vol. 1, Chap. 1, p. 5. 26 OUR PLACE IN HISTORY. and their professors corrupt. "They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me ; they teach for doctrine the commandments of men, having a form of god- liness, but they deny the power thereof." So spake the Son of God concerning the churches/ He declared that he did not recognize any of them ; but was about to restore the Everlasting Gospel, with the powers of the Eternal Priesthood, and establish his Church once more in the midst of mankind. Such was Joseph Smith's first vision and revelation. It came in the spring of 1820, when he was but a few months over fourteen years of age. The Divine Personality. — The greater part of this wonderful manifestation was the part that did not speak — the silent revealing of the personality of God ; a truth plainly taught in the Scriptures, but ignored or denied by modern Christianity. The object worshiped by the sects was defined in their theology as a being "without body, parts or passions"/ That was the popular concept of Deity throughout Christendom when Joseph Smith and "Mormon- ism" came forth. In line with this tenet and teaching, an English poet of the eighteenth century had represented God as a "Mind" or "Soul" that Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, - Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees, Lives through all life, extends through all extent, Spreads undivided, operates unspent. 7 * These beautiful couplets admirably describe the Spirit oi the Lord — that all-pervading energy or essence which proceeds from the Divine Presence, fills the immensity of /, Compare Isa. 29:13. g, Church of England Articles of Religion, Presbyterian Con- fession of Faith, etc. h, Pope's "Essay on Man," Epistle 1, lines 271-274. THE CHOICE SEER. 27 space, is everywhere present, and is immanent in all crea- tion. But they give no adequate idea, of the Great Creator, "the father of the spirits" of men/ who sent into the world his Beloved Son, "the brightness of his glory and the ex- press image of his person"/ that men might see in him the Father and worship God aright. The Son of God, walking as a man upon the earth, plainly indicated what kind of a being God is ; and when his disciple, Philip, said to him, "Lord, show us the Father," Jesus replied : "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" * Could anything be plainer? But these teachings were lost upon the modern Christian world. They had turned from the truth "unto fables"/ • forsaking the God of their fathers, and substituting for him as an object of worship, an ideal of their own creation. And it devolved upon Joseph Smith to shatter the false doctrine of a bodiless, passionless deity, and bring back the lost knowledge of the true and living God. The True and Living God. — What is meant by that? Who is "the true and living God?" He is the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Adam, of Enoch, of Noah, of the patriarchs and prophets and apostles of old — the God described by Moses in the first chapter of Genesis, where it is written : "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female, created he them." This is equivalent tc saying that God is in the form of man, and that we have a Mother as well as a Father in Heaven, in whose image or likeness we are, male and female. Of the divine Three who hold supreme power and i, Heb. 12 :9. /, lb. 1 :3; Gen. 1 :26, 27; Philipp. 2:6; Col. 1 :15, etc. k, John 14:9. /, 2 Tim. 4:4. 28 OUR PLACE IN HISTORY. preside over the universe — three distinct personalities, yet one God or Godhead, one in will, wisdom, power and authority — of these, the Father and the Son, according" to Joseph Smith, are personages of tabernacle. They have bodies "as tangible as man's"; while the Holy Ghost "is a personage of spirit"." 1 The Idol of the Sects. — Proceeding forth from them, is that all-pervading essence or influence which is immanent ir all things — the light of the sun, moon and stars, the light also of the human understanding, quickening and illumin- ing, in greater or less degree, "every man that cometh into the world." In it we live, move and have our being; for it is the principle of life throughout creation. This is what the poet was describing, when he portrayed Deity as a"Soul" that "warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze," etc. And this is what the Christian sects were worshiping at the be- ginning of the nineteenth century. Not God, but a spirit sent forth from God ; not Divinity, but an emanation from Divinity. In a word, they were practicing idolatry — or something dangerously akin to it. What Constitutes Idolatry? — "Idolatry is every wor- ship that stops short of the Supreme"." It is "the paying of divine homage to false gods or images ; also, adoration of created or imaginary beings or natural objects or forces." This is precisely what the ancient world was doing when the book of Genesis was written. The Canaan- ites worshiped the sun and moon — Baal and Ashtoreth — ascribing to them the powers of creation. The Egyptians adored the crocodile, the bull, the goat and the beetle (scara- beus). Among the Hindus the seasons were deified — spring, summer, autumn, winter; as were also the pas- m, D. and C. 130:22. Compare 1 Nephi 11:11. n, F. H. Hedge, "Ways of the Spirit," Essay 8, p. 215. o, F. W. Standard Dictionary. THE CHOICE SEER. 29 sions — love, hate, fear, anger and revenge. All these were revered as deities. Then came Moses, who had seen the living and true God, and had conversed with him face to face, receiving from him the Decalogue or Ten Command- ments unto Israel. The first commandment reads : "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Modern Christendom's Position. — The world in Jo- seph Smith's day — the Christian world at least — did not worship the heavenly bodies ; did not deify beasts and rep- tiles, did not regard the seasons and passions as divine. Yet it had turned from the true God, ignoring or misinterpret- ing what Moses and the prophets had written concerning him. According to its dictum, the agq of miracles was past ; prophets were out of date, and angel messengers obsolete ; the heavens were sealed, the canon of scripture was full, and God would never again communicate with mortals. Then came the vision of the Father and the Son — two glorious beings in the form of man — and from the hour that the boy Joseph beheld them, there was at least one person upon ihis planet who knew what kind of a being God is. It was a virtual reassertion of the first commandment in the Dec- alogue : "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." To worship anything that God has made and given, in lieu of the Maker and Giver, is to worship an idol. They who turn from the Creator to the creature, who forsake God and adore a gift or an emanation from God, are idolaters, almost as much as if they worshiped the sun and moon, or bowed down to goats and crocodiles. Like to Elijah — To restore the acceptable worship of Jehovah, and begin a work that would sweep away? idolatry and all things connected therewith, was the mission of Jo- seph the Seer. Against him, as against Elijah of old, the priests of Baal raged in impotent fury. Despite their 30 OUR PLACE IN HISTORY. tongues of slander and their weapons of violence, he ac- complished all that had been given him to do. This time, however, the All-Wise permitted his servant to be sacrificed — to the end, no doubt, that his innocent blood, affixing to his testimony the red seal of martyrdom, might give added power to the great propaganda then and still in progress for Israel's redemption — the gathering of the scattered sheep preparatory to the Shepherd's coming. ARTICLE FIVE. The Land of Zion. The Angel Moroni. — Three years after that wonder- ful vision in the Grove, the youthful Seer received a visit- ation from an angel, a messenger from the presence of the Lord. This Angel gave his name as Moroni, and declared that while in mortal life he had ministered as a prophet to an ancient people called Nephites, a branch of the house of Israel — not the Lost Tribes, as is frequently asserted by the uninformed, but a portion of the tribe of Joseph, mixed with a remnant of the tribe of Judah. The former had crossed over from Jerusalem about the year 6C0 B. C. ; the others a few years later. These blended colonies had inhabited the Americas down to about the beginning of the fourth century of the Christian era, when the civilized though de- generate Nephites were destroyed by a savage faction known as Lamanites, ancestors of the American Indians. The Book of Mormon. — The Angel further stated that a record of the Nephites would be found in a hill not far from Joseph's home — a hill anciently called Cumorah ; and upon that spot, four years afterward, Moroni delivered the record into his hands. It was a book of metallic plates "having the appearance of gold," and covered with strange characters, "small and beautifully engraved" — characters known to the Nephites as "the reformed Egyptian". By means of "interpreters,' 2 discovered with the plates, and consisting of "two stones in silver bows," the youth translated the unsealed portion of the record and, with the assistance of a few friends, published to the world the Book a, Mormon 9 :32. 32 OUR PLACE IN HISTORY. of Mormon. It was so named for its compiler,' the Nephite prophet Mormon, whose son and survivor, Moroni, had buried the plates where Joseph Smith found them. The date of discovery was September 22nd, 1823. b The Hill Cumorah is situated between Palmyra and Man- chester, in the State of New York. For their belief in the Book of Mormon, the Latter-day Saints were termed "Mor- mons," and their religion "Mormonism." It proclaims itself the restored fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. History and Prophecy. — The Book of Mormon is a sacred history of pre-historic America, and a prophecy of the wondrous future of this chosen land. It tells not only of the Nephites and Lamanites, but also of a more ancient peo- ple, the Jaredites, who came from the Tower of Babel at the time of the confusion of tongues. Becoming extinct, the Jaredites were succeeded by the Israelitish colony, led from Jerusalem by a prophet named Lehi, whose sons Ne- phi and Laman became, respectively, the heads of the two nations that sprang from him and were called after their names. The Jewish remnant that mixt with the descend- ants of Lehi was headed by Mulek, one of the sons of King Zedekiah, whom the Babylonian conqueror, Nebuchadnez- zar, overthrew. The New Jerusalem w — The Jaredites, as well as the Nephites, had a knowledge of the Christ and of the prin- ciples of his Gospel, revealed to them prior to his coming. To both these nations it was made known that America is the Land of Zion, the place for the New Jerusalem, a holy city to be built "unto the remnant of the seed of Joseph. " r Likewise was it shown to them that the Old Jerusalem would be rebuilt "unto the house of Israel" in the last davs. All b, Hist. Church, Vol. 1, p. 15. c, 3 Nephi 21:23, 24; Ether 13:3-8. THE LAND OF ZION. 33 this before the Savior's second advent — the glorious morn- break of the Millennium. A Nursing Mother. — Among the many interesting features of the Book of Mormon, is an ancient prophecy of the discovery of America by Columbus ; the migration of the Pilgrim Fathers and others to these western shores ; the war for American Independence, and the founding of the republic of the United States, a nation destined long before its birth to play the part of a nursing mother to the re- stored Church of Christ.^ And let me interject, that whatever may be said of the persecutions suffered by the Latter-day Saints under the Stars and Stripes in various States of the Union — persecu- tions inflicted, not because of the Flag, nor of the Consti- tution, nor of the genius of the American Government, but in spite of them — persecutions inflicted by lawless force, by mob violence, ever to be execrated and condemned by every true patriot — whatever may be said of such deplor- able happenings, still must our noble Nation be credited with what it has done in the direction of fulfilling its God- given mission. It is extremely doubtful that in any other land, or in any other nation upon this land, would the Lord's people have been treated with the same degree of considera- tion. In no other country on earth, without special divine interposition in its behalf, would this great and marvelous work have been permitted to come forth. A Land of Liberty. — America, according to Nephite prophecy, is to be a land of liberty to the Gentiles — mod- ern peoples, not of Israel, now possessing it — provided they serve the God of the Land, who is Jesus Christ. So long as they shall follow righteousness, and maintain the pure prin- ciples upon which this Government was founded, just so long d, 1 Nephi 13:10-19; 22:7, 8. 3 34 OUR PLACE IN HISTORY. will they prosper and enjoy the favor of Heaven. America, if true to her mission, is promised divine protection, and will be invulnerable to every foe. God "will fortify this land against all other nations," and they who "fight against Zion shall perish. " e The Alternative. — If, however, the Gentiles, lifted up ill pride, shall harden their hearts and reject the fulness of Christ's Gospel, Liberty's perfect law, another destiny, and a sad one, awaits them. No king but Christ shall reign upon Zion's Land. No people occupying this choice ground can practice evil with impunity. The nation founded here must be a righteous nation, or like the Jaredites and the Nephites, who perished because of their wickedness, it will be swept from the face of the land when the cup of its iniquity is full. So the God of Lleaven hath decreed/ Joseph's Blessing. — Another name for America, au- thorized by the Book of Mormon, is the Land of Joseph, re- ferred to by the Patriarch Jacob in blessing his twelve so as, 8 and by the Prophet Moses in his farewell benediction upon the twelve tribes of Israel.'' Jacob's allusion to Joseph as "a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall," was fulfilled in the migration of Lehi and his com- panions from Asia to America over the Pacific Ocean. It is hardly necessary to add, in further exegetical comment, that one of the main features of these western continents are those mighty mountain ranges, the Andes and the Fockies, well termed by the Hebrew Patriarch "the ever- lasting hills," nature's depositories for "the precious things of the earth" — gold, silver, and other minerals — and for "the precious things of heaven" — the sacred records that c, 2 Nephi 10:11-13. f, Ether 2:8-12. e. Gen. 49:22-26. <''. Dent. 33:13-15. THE LAND OF ZION. 35 have already been discovered, and others that are yet to come forth. Joseph and Judah. — The Book of Mormon has a di- vine mission in connection with the Hebrew Scriptures, "unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions". 2 ' It is "The Stick of Joseph," referred to by the Prophet Ezekiel, that was to be one with "The Stick of Judah" (The Bible) "in the hand of Ephraim," They were also to be one in the hand of Jehovah, symbolizing the reunion of the two ffreat branches of the Israelitish race, after many centuries of separation. "And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel," saith the Lord, "and David my servant shall be king over them."-?' Zidn and Jerusalem. — David's ancient empire, which parted in twain, forming the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel, may it not have been a foreshad- owing of God's greater empire of the last days, which will consist of two grand divisions — two in one? Here upon the Land of Zion, "a land choice above all other lands, " /? the children of Joseph, the descendants of Ephraim, are even now assembling to make preparation for Messiah's advent. The Jews will greet him at Jerusalem. Christ's Kingdom will have two capitals, one in the Old World, one in the New; one in America, the other in Palestine. "For out of Zion shall go 1 forth che law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."' i, 2 Nephi 3:12. 7, Ezek. 37:16-24. The king here mentioned is not David, son of Jesse, but "another by the name of David" who is to be "raised up out of his lineage."— Hist. Ch., Vol. 6, p. 253. k, Ether 2:10. /. Isa. 2:3. PART TWO SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. ARTICLE SIX. What Joseph Beheld. Seer and Prophet. — "Seer" and "Prophet" are inter- changeable terms, supposed by many to signify one and the same thing. Strictly speaking, however, this is not correct. A seer is greater than a prophet. One may be a prophet without being a seer ; bnt a seer is essentially a prophet — if by "prophet" is meant net only a spokesman, but likewise a foreteller. Joseph Smith was both prophet and seer. & Like Unto Moses. — A seer is one who sees. But it is not the ordinary sight that is meant. The seeric gift is a supernatural endowment. Joseph was "like unto Moses;" and Moses, who saw God face to face, explains how he saw him in these words: "Now mine own eyes have beheld God ; yet not my natural, but my 1 spiritual eyes ; for my nat- ural eyes could not have beheld ; for I should have withered and died in his presence ; but his glory was upon me ; and I beheld his face, for I was transfigured before him." Such is the testimony of the ancient Seer, as brought to light by the Seer of Latter-days. c a, Mosiah 8:15. b, Such men as Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American philoso- rher, and Count Leo Tolstoi, the Russian writer, are sometimes referred to as "seers;" it being thought by those who so designate them, that the power to think profoundly and express wise and intelligent opinions, especially on the future, constitutes seership. T t is in this sense that the term "vision" is so much used. But a great thinker is not necessarily a seer ; though a seer is apt to be a great thinker. Joseph Smith was both; not so Ralph Waldo Emer- son ; not so Count Tolstoi. They were great philosophers, but there is nothing in the life-work of either to indicate that he pos- sessed the power of a seer. c, Moses 1:11. Moses further declares that he could look upon Satan "in the natural man," but, says he : "I could not look upon God, except his glory should ccme upon me and I was strengthened before him." 40 SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. Spirit Eyes. — Let it not be supposed, however, that to see spiritually is not to see literally. Vision is not fancy, not imagination. The object is actually beheld, though not with the natural eye. We all have spirit eyes, of which our natural or outward eyes are the counterpart. All man's or- gans and faculties are firstly spiritual, the body being but the clothing of the spirit. In our first estate, the spirit life, we "walked by sight." Therefore we had eyes. But they were not our natural eyes, for these are not given until the spirit tabernacles in mortality. All men have a. spirit sight, but all are not permitted to use it under existing conditions. Even those thus privileged can only use it when quickened by the Spirit of the Lord. rf Without that, no man can know the things of God, "because they are spiritually) discerned. " c Much less can he look upon the Highest unspiritually, with carnal mind or with natural vision. "No man" — no natural man — "hath seen God at any time."^ But men at divers times have seen him as Moses saw him — not with the nat- ural but 1 with the spiritual eye, quickened by the power that seeth and knoweth all things. By the Holy Ghost. — The seeric faculty, possessed in greater degree by some than by others, is the original spirit sight reinforced or moved upon by the power of the Holy Ghost. By this means certain persons, peculiarly gifted and sent into the world for that purpose, are able, even while • in the flesh, to see out of obscurity, "out of hidden dark- ness," and behold the things of God pertaining both to time and to eternity. Joseph Smith possessed this ability — this gift, but it was the Spirit of the Lord that enabled him to use it. By that Spirit he beheld the Father and the Son; and d, D. and C. 67:11. e, 1 Cor. 2:9-14. /, John 1:18. WHAT JOSEPH BEHELD. 41 by that Spirit, operating through the same marvelous gift, he translated the cryptic contents of the Book of Mormon. How the Book of Mormon was Translated. — The re- puted method of translation was as follows : The Seer, scanning through the "interpreters" (Urim and Thummim) the golden pages, saw appear, in connection with the strange characters engraved thereon, their equivalent in English words. These he repeated to his scribe — Oliver -Cowdery most of the time — and the latter wrote them. It was a pe- culiarity of the process that, until the writing was correct in every particular, the words last given would not disappear; but on the necessary correction being made, they* would im- mediately pass away and be succeeded by others/ The Priesthood Restored, — The greater part of the Book of Mormon was translated at Harmony, Pennsylvania, the home of Joseph's father-in-law, Isaac Hale. While the Prophet and his scribe were thus employed (May 15, 1829) John the Baptist, as an angel from heaven, conferred upon them the Aaronic Priesthood. 71 Soon afterward they were ordained to the higher or Melchizedek Priesthood, by three other heavenly messengers, the Apostles Peter, James and John. 1 ' By virtue of this authority, and pursuant to divine direction, the two young men, associated with a few others organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Petty Persecution. — During their sojourn in the lit- tle Pennsylvania village, Joseph and Oliver suffered con- siderable annoyance at the hands of mischievous persons who, having no faith in their work and regarding it as g, David Whitmer's "Address to all True Believers in Christ," p. 12; and Martin Harris' Statement to Edward Stevenson, Mil- lennial Star, Vol. 44, pp. 86, 87. h, D. and C, 13. I, Hist. Ch. Vol. 1 pd. 39-42, Note. 42 SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. a hoax, seemed bent upon rendering their situation as dis- agreeable as possible. Learning of their unpleasant situa- tion, and desiring to help along the sacred task to which they were devoting themselves, Peter Whitmer, Sr., a farmer living at Fayette, Seneca County, New York, sent his son David with a team and wagon to bring them to the Whitmer home. David Whitmer's Account. — : "When I arrived at Har- mony," says David Whitmer, "Joseph and Oliver were com- ing towards me and met me at some distance from the house. Oliver told me that Joseph had informed him when I started from home, where I had stopped the first night, how I read the sign at the tavern, where I stopped the sec- ond night, etc., and that I would be there that day before dinner; and this was why they had come out to meet me. All of which was exactly as Joseph had told Oliver; at which I was greatly astonished."- 7 It was at the Whitmer farmhouse, in Fayette, that the Church was organized, April 6th, 1830. Newel K. Whitney and the "Stranger." — Another in- stance of Joseph's use of the seeric gift connects with the occasion of his arrival at Kirtland, Ohio, where the Church, at an early day,. established its headquarters. A few month,* prior to that time, Oliver Cowdery and three other Elders, on their way to preach the Gospel to the Lamanites, or In- dians, had tarried for a season at Kirtland, where they con- verted a number of the white dwellers in that region. Among these were Sidney Rigdon, Newel K. Whitney, and others who became prominent in the "Mormon" community. The Saints in Ohio, learning that the Church would probably U David Whitmer's Statement to Orson Pratt and Joseph F Smith, Mill. Star, Vol. 40, p. 772, WHAT JOSEPH BEHELD. 43 move westward, began to pray for the coming of the Prophet. The prayer was soon answered. About the first of Feb- ruary, 1831, a sleigh, driven into Kirtland from the East, drew up in front of the mercantile store of Gilbert and Whitney. A stalwart young man alighted and walked into the store. Approaching the junior partner and extending his hand cordially, as if to an old and familiar acquaintance, he saluted him thus: "Newel K. Whitney, thou art the man !" The merchant was astonished. He had never seen this person before. "Stranger," said he, "You have the ad- vantage of me; I could not call you by name as you have me." "I am Joseph the Prophet," said the stranger, smiling. "You have prayed me here, now what do you want of me?" Joseph Smith, while in the State of New York, had seen Newel K. Whitney, in the State of Ohio, praying for his coming to Kirtland; and therefore knew him when they met.* 5 The purpose of this vision, in all probability, was to pave the way for a meeting between the Prophet and the man who was to have the honor of entertaining him during the first weeks after his arrival in Ohio. Vision of the Three Glories. — One of the most glori- ous manifestations ever vouchsafed to mortals, came to Jo- seph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, in the month of February, 1832. They were at Hiram, Portage County, Ohio, where the Prophet, assisted by Elder Rigdon, who had been a Campbellite preacher, was occupied with revising the English translation of the Hebrew Bible — a circumstance k, Hist. Ch., Vol 1, pp. 145, 146. Note, 44 SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. that may have given rise to the oft-refuted story of Rig- don's authorship of the Book of Mormon.' The manifesta- tion referred to was a vision of human destiny, including the three general conditions of glorified man — celestial, ter- restrial, and telestial. Concerning this marvelous vision, Jo- seph and Sidney thus testify : "We, Joseph Smith, Jr., and Sidney Rigdon, being in the Spirit on the sixteenth of February, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, by the power of the Spirit our eyes were opened and our un- derstandings were enlightened, so as to see and understand the things of God . . . "Of whom we bear record, and the record which we bear is the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the Son, whom we saw and with whom we conversed in the heavenly vision. " m Thus is furnished an additional proof that it is by the power of God, and not of man, that mortals behold the visions of eternity. The Greenville Incident. — In May of the same year, Joseph Smith, President of the Church, and Newel K. /, Sidney Ridgon had never so much as seen the Book of Mor- mon, until several months after it was published, when a copy of it was handed to him in Northern Ohio, by Parley P. Pratt, one of the Elders of the Lamanite Mission. Parley and Sidney corroborate each other in their separate accounts of this incident. Moreover Sidney's acquaintance with Joseph Smith did not begin until almost a year after the Book of Mormon came forth. Yet he was charged with creating it, with converting a religious history into a secular romance entirely dissimilar in character and style from the Nephite record — a romance written by one Solomon Spaulding. A full account of this discredited theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon may be found in George Reynolds' ''Myth of the Manuscript Found," and in "Whitney's History of Utah," Vol. 1, pp. 46-56. m, D. and C. 76:11, 12, 14. See also Article Forty, this Series. WHAT JOSEPH BEHELD. 45 Whitney, Bishop of Kirtland, were returning from a visit 10 Jackson County, Missouri, where, since the summer of 1831, a "Mormon" colony had been laying the foundations of the City of Zion, upon grounds consecrated by the. Prophet for that purpose. The returning visitors were detained several weeks at Greenville, Indiana ; the Bishop having a broken leg, caused by leaping from a runaway stage coach. Sur- rounded by unfriendly people, some of whom he suspected of an attempt to poison him, the Prophet proposed that they forthwith leave that dangerous neighborhood. His record goes on to say: "Brother Whitney had not had his foot moved from the bed for nearly four weeks, when I went into his room, after a walk in the grove, and told him if he would agree to start for home in the morning, we would take a wagon to the river about four miles, and there would be a ferry-boat in waiting, which would take us quickly across, where we would find a hack which would take us directly to the land- ing, where we should find a boat in waiting, and we would be going up the river before ten o'clock, and have a pros- perous journey home. He took courage and told me he would go ; we started the next morning and found every- thing as. T had told him."" A White Lamanite. — Still another instance. In 1834, while the "Zion's Camp" expedition was on its way to Missouri, some of the party exhumed from an ancient mound the skeleton of a man having a stone-pointed ar- row between two of his ribs. The Prophet, in a vision of the past, discovered the identity of this skeleton, and in- n, Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, pp. 271, 272. o, See Article Twenty- four. 40 SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. formed his brethren that the man's name was Zelph, that he was "a white Lamanite,"^ and had been killed in battle by the arrow found between his ribs."*? Kirtland Temple Visions. — By this same power Jo- seph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, in the Temple at Kirt- land, Ohio (April 3rd, 1836), beheld Jehovah, the God of Israel; also Moses, Elias and Elijah, who committed to them spiritual keys necessary for carrying on various phases of the Lord's work/ Adam's Altar. — In 1838, after the main body of the Church had moved to Missouri, the Saints built several towns and projected others in Caldwell and other counties of that State. One of those towns was at Spring Hill, Davis County, where the men who made the survey for a new set- tlement came upon the ruins of an ancient altar, situated on a wooded hill overlooking the surrounding country. Straight- way they reported to the Prophet their interesting find. He, upon beholding it, said to those who were with him : "There is the place where Adam offered up sacrifice after he was cast out of the Garden."- 9 The Old-New World. — America, according to Joseph Smith, is the Old World — not the New*. The primeval Garden was in the part now called Jackson County. Our First Parents, after their expulsion from Eden, dwelt in the place where this altar stood. The Lord named it Adam- ondi-Ahman, "because it isi the place where Adam shall p, 3 Nephi 2:14-16. q, Hist. Ch. Vol. 2, pp. 79, 80. r, D. and C. 110. s, "Life of Heber C. Kimball," p. 222; Taylor's "Mediation and Atonement," pp. 69, 70; Whitney's "History of Utah"— Biography A. O. Smoot, Vol. 4, p. 99. t t The Prophet's inspired declaration to that effect finds con- firmation in the writings of Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Agassiz, and John Fiske. WHAT JOSEPH BBHELD. 47 come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sic, as sooken of bv Daniel the Prophet."" All this by the power of seership — all this and more ; for many other instances might be given. But these will suf- fice to show the nature of this rare and precious gift, and the manner of its exercise by the mighty Seer and Prophet holding the keys of this Gospel dispensation. u, D. and C. 116. ARTICLE SEVEN. What Joseph Foretold. The Proof of Prophecy. — To prove one a prophet, it is necessary to show, not only that he prophesied, but that things predicted by him came to pass. Measured by this standard, Joseph Smith's claim to the title is clear and un- impeachable. I shall not attempt to enumerate all his proph- ecies, but will mention some of the more notable, as dem- onstrating his possession of the wonderful power to unlock and reveal the future. Earliest Predictions. — The Angel Moroni's promise to the boy, that he, an obscure and unlettered country lad, should live to do a work that would cause his name to be known among- all nations, has been often cited — too often to require extended comment here. The same may be said of Isaiah's familiar declaration, that in the presence of God's wondrous work, the wisdom of the wise should perish and the understanding of the prudent be hid. & These prom- ises are fulfilling daily. Passing them by with this brief mention, I take up one of the best known of Joseph Smith's predictions, namely, the "Revelation and Prophecy on War." An Ominous Christmas Gift. — This tremendous fore- cast, relating not only to the fierce internecine struggle be- tween the Northern and Southern States of the American Union, but to other and mightier upheavals as well, some past and some yet future, was launched at Kirtland, Ohio, on the 25th of December, 1832. It may be said, therefore, that it came as a solemn Christmas gift to the inhabitants of a/Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, pp. 11, 12. b, Isa. 29: 14. WHAT JOSEPH FORETOLD. 49 the world, warning them to prepare for terrible events. War and Other Calamities, — The Prophet declared that war would "be poured out upon all nations," beginning at a certain place. That place was South Carolina. The Southern States, divided against the Northern States, would call upon Great Britain, and Great Britain would call upon other nations, for defensive assistance against hostile pow- ers. Slaves, rising against their masters, would be "mar- shalled and disciplined for war ;" and the red remnants "left of the land" would "become exceeding angry" and "vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation." By bloodshed and famine, plague, earthquake and tempest, the inhabitants of the earth would mourn and "be made to feel' the wrath and indigna- tion and chastening hand of an Almighty God." The Proph- et exhorted his followers to "stand in holy places and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come." c For nineteen years this prophecy remained in manu- script, though copies of it were carried by "Mormon" mis- sionaries and read to their congregations in various parts of the world. In 1851 it was published at Liverpool, the first edition of "The Pearl of 'Great Price" containing it. There- fore, it was a matter of public note and printed record long- before the dire fulfillment began. Beginning of the Fulfillment. — The revelation had been in existence twenty-eight years, three months, and seventeen days, when, on the twelfth of April, 1861, the Confederate batteries in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, opened fire on Fort Sumter, thus precipitating the war be- tween the North and the South. As is well known, it arose over the slave question, a circumstance fulfilling another of Joseph Smith's predictions — one dated April 2nd, 1843.^ c, D. and C. 87. d, lb. 130:12, 13. 4 50 SEERSH1P AND PROPHECY. Southern States call on Great Britain. — How eleven of the Southern States, bent upon withdrawing from the Union and establishing an independent government south of the Mason and Dixon Line, called upon Great Britain, and were accorded a measure of encouragement by the rul- ing classes of that country, need scarcely be told here. The arrest and release of the Confederate commissioners, Mason and Slidell, who had been sent across the Atlantic to pre- sent the case of the seceding States at the Court of St. James ; and the subsequent payment by the British Govern- ment of the Alabama claims ($15,500,000), for damages sustained by United 'States commerce at the hand of Con- federate privateers, built and fitted out in British ports, tell in part the story. The Negro and Indian Questions. — It is also a mat- ter of history, that many of the negro slaves, set free by President Lincoln's edict of emancipation, and trained as tioops, fought in the Northern armies against their former masters. Whether or not this was a complete fulfillment of the forecast concerning the once enslaved people, remains to be seen. The race question was not entirely settled by the Civil War; it still hovers as a dark cloud on our na- tional horizon. As for Indian troubles, many of which have arisen since Joseph Smith prophesied concerning them, while apparently they have ceased to "vex," more may yet be heard from that quarter before the problem is finally solved. An Effort to Avert Calamity. — Joseph Smith's last public act of a political character was an effort to save his country from the awiful calamity that he saw impending. To some it may appear strange, even inconsistent, that a prophet, after making a prediction, would try to prevent it from coming to pass., But it is only a seeming inconsisten- cy. It should be remembered that divine promises and WHAT JOSEPH FORETOLD. 51 •prophecies are conditional. There is always an alternative, expressed or implied, hinging upon a change of attitude or conduct on the part of the person or persons toward whom the prophecy is directed. Deem it not incongruous, therefore, that this. Prophet, after predicting the. Civil War, should endeavor to open a way of escape from the evils he had foreseen and foretold. In January, 1844, only five months before his martyr- dom, Joseph Smith became a candidate for President of the United States. One bi the planks of his political platform was a proposition to free the slaves of the South — not by confiscation, thereby despoiling their owners, but by pur- chase, making their freedom a gift from the General Gov- ernment ; the funds necessary for the purpose to be realized from the sale of public lands. This just and humane prop- osition, repeated eleven years later by Ralph Waldo Emer- son/ and favored also by Abraham Lincoln, was ignored ; e, Josiah Quincy, who visited Joseph Smith at Nauvoo shortly before the martyrdom, says of him and his views on slavery : "Smith recognized the curse and iniquity of slavery, though he opposed the methods of the Abolitionists. His plan was for the nation to pay for the slaves from the sale of the public lands. 'Congress,' he said, 'should be compelled to take this course, by petitions from all parts of the country ; but the petitioners must dis- claim all alliance with those who would disturb the rights of property recognized by the Constitution and foment insurrection.' It may be worth while to remark that Smith's plan was publicly advocated, eleven years later, by one who has mixed so much practical shrewd- ness with his lofty philosophy. In 1855, when men's minds had been moved to their depths on the question of slavery, Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson declared that it should be met in accordance 'with the interest of the South and with the settled conscience of the North. It is not really a great task, a great fight for this country to ac- complish, to buy that property of the planter, as the British nation bought the West Indian slaves.' He further says that the 'United States will be brought to give every inch of their public lands for a purpose like this.' We, who can look back upon the terrible cost of the fratricidal war which put an end to slavery, now say that such a solution of the difficulty would have been worthy a Christian statesman. But if the retired scholar was in advance of his time 52 SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. and it cost the Nation a million of lives and billions of treas- ure to despise the counsel of a prophet of God, and adopt instead what the hate-blinded politicians of that period deemed "a more excellent way."^ How Stephen A. Douglas Fulfilled Prophecy. — Close- ly connected with events immediately preceding the Civil War, is another prophecy of Joseph Smith's, uttered May 18, 1843, and recorded at the time in the journal of his private secretary. On the date given, the Prophet dined with Stephen A. Douglas, at the home of Sheriff Backens- tos, in Carthage, Illinois, the same town where the brothers Joseph and Hyrum afterwards met their tragic death. Judge Douglas was holding court there. The principal topic of conversation after dinner was the persecution of the Latter-day Saints in Missouri, not only the Jackson County affair of 1833, but the more sanguinary tragedy of 1838-1839, culminating in the mid-winter expulsion of the entire Church — then numbering - twelve to fifteen thousand members — and its establishment in the adjoining" State of Illinois. An account of these events, at the Judge's request, the "Mormon" leader gave. His narrative included a recital of the ineffectual attempts made by him and his people to obtain from the Federal government a redress of grievances Douglas was deeply interested, and strongly condemned when he advocated this disposition of the public property in 1855. what shall I say of the political and religious leader who had com- mitted himself, in print, as well as in conversation, to the same course in 1844? If the atmosphere of men's opinions was stirred by such a proposition when war-clouds were discernible in the sky, was it not a statesmanlike word eleven years earlier, when the heavens looked tranquil rnd beneficent." — "Figures of the Past," pp. 397, 398. /, President Lincoln, toward the close of the Civil War, "wrote a message to Congress, proposing to pay the slaveholders $400,000,- 000 for their slaves, if the South would only cease fighting. All the Cabinet objecting, with a sigh he put the message in his drawer." See article, "Lincoln in Victory," by James Morgan Deseret News, May 10, 1920. WHAT JOSEPH FORETOLD. 53 the conduct of Missouri. He was very friendly with the Prophet, who, continuing the conversation, predicted trouble for the Nation unless those wrongs were righted. Then, ad- dressing Douglas, he said: "Judge, you will aspire to the Presidency of the United States; and if you ever turn your hand against me or the Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight of the hand of the Almighty upon you. And you will live to see and know that I have testified the truth to you, for the conversation of this day will stick to you through •life."* God's Hand Against Him. — Judge Douglas reaped the full fruition of those fateful words. The prophecy con- cerning him was first published in the Deseret News, at Salt Lake City, September 24, 1856, and on Feburary 26, 1859, it appeared in the Millennial Star, at Liverpool. Between those dates, Stephen A. Douglas, then a United States vSenator — made such by the aid of "Mormon" votes in Illinois — turned his hand against his old-time friends and supporters. Joseph Smith was dead, but his followers, driven from the confines of civilization, were out in the wilderness, laying the foundations of the State of Utah. In a political speech, at Springfield, Illinois, June 12, 1857, Senator Douglas, basing a reference to the "Mormons" upon certain wild rumors afloat concerning them, virtually accused them of all manner of crimes and abominations. The speech was looked upon as a bid for popular favor. Then came the Senator's race for the Presidency. His prospects at the outset were favorable. His party held the preponderance of the national vote, and he was the idol of his party. In June, 1860, he was enthusiastically nominated by the Democratic Convention at Baltimore. Men scouted for him, worked for him, and on election day voted for g, William Clayton's Journal, May 18, 1843. 54 SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. him ; but all in vain, God's hand was against him ! His party, torn by dissension, divided its strength among three can- didates, and was overwhelmingly defeated. "The Little Giant" was "snowed under," and his great rival, Abraham Lincoln, elevated to the Presidential chair. A few months later Senator Douglas died at his home in Chicago. ITe was only in the prime of life — aged forty-eight — but he had lived long enough to realize that God's prophets do not speak in vain. ARTICLE EIGHT. Looking Westward. Why the "Mormons" Migrated. — Foreseeing that the Nation would turn a deaf ear to his patriotic appeal for a peaceful and just settlement of the slave question, the Frophet began to contemplate the removal of the Church from close proximity to the scenes of strife and carnage that were about to be enacted. It was highly necessary that a people chosen for such a purpose — to prepare the world for the ushering in of the Reign of Righteousness- should remain upon earth to accomplish their mission. In order to so remain, they must be out of the way of the troubles that were imminent, and, so far as possible, keep out of the way until the divine judgments predicted had gone forth and done their work. This was one reason why the Latter-day Saints migrated to the Rocky Mountains. Driven to their Destiny. — Their cruel expulsion from Missouri had indirectly contributed to their safety ; for when the war-cloud which had long been gathering finally burst, it poured out much of its fury upon those very lands from which the Saints had been driven. And now, their enforced pilgrimage into the all but untrodden wilder- ness of the Great West likewise preserved them from many trials that would have fallen to their lot had they tarried within the area seriously affected by the stern events that followed. Fleeing the Wrath to Come. — It was a next-best a, The history of guerilla warfare and its merciless suppression along the Missouri-Kansas border, amply bears out this assertion. 56 SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. course that the fugitive people pursued. Originally they were cast for a very different role, but not being ready to enact that role, another part was assigned them, one destined to prepare them for the greater performance that is yet to follow. In order that the community might survive, and accomplish, when the time came, the mighty task of "redeeming Zion," it was imperative that they should "flee the wrath to come." The Exodus Foretold. — The removal of the Saints to the region of the Rocky Mountains, was the theme of a prophecy uttered by Joseph the Seer nearly two years before his death, and nearly four years prior to the be- ginning of the famous "Mormon Exodus." Nauvoo, Illinois, where he then resided, is on the east bank of the Mississippi River, and on the west bank, just opposite, is the little town of Montrose. From the Prophet's personal history, I now quote an entry of Saturday, August 6th, 1842: "Passed over the river to Montrose, Iowa, in company with General Adams, Colonel Brewer and others, and witnessed the installation of the officers of the Rising Sun Lodge, Ancient York Masons, at Montrose, by General James Adams, Deputy Grand Master of Illinois. While the Deputy Grand Master was engaged in giving the requisite instructions to the Master-elect, I had a conversation with a number of brethren in the shade of the building, on the subject of our persecutions in Missouri and the constant annoyance which has followed us since we were driven from that State. I prophesied that the Saints would con- tinue to suffer much affliction, and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains. Many would apostatize, others would be put to death by our persecutors or lose their lives in LOOKING WESTWARD. 57 consequence of exposure or disease, 'and some of you will live to go and assist in making settlements, build cities, and see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains.' " b Anson Call's Narrative. — One of the men who heard that prediction was Anson Call, afterwards a prominent colonizer in various parts of the Rocky Mountain region. His account, descriptive of the Montrose incident, fol- lows : "A block school-house had been prepared, with shade in front, under which was a barrel of ice water. Judge Adams was the highest Masonic authority in the State of Illinois, and had been sent there to organize this lodge. He, Hyrum Smith, and J. C. Bennett, being high Masons, went into the house to perform some ceremonies which the others were not entitled to witness. These, including Joseph Smith, remained under the bowery. Joseph, as he was tasting the cold water, warned the brethren not to be too free with it. With the tumbler still in his hand, he prophe- sied that the Saints would yet go to the Rocky Mountains ; and, said he, 'this water tastes much like that of the crystal streams that are running from the snow-capped mountains.' ... I had before seen him in a vision (i. e. while having a vision), and now saw, while he was talking, his coun- tenance change to white — not the deadly white of a blood- less face, but a living, brilliant white. He seemed absorbed b, Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, p. 85. This prophecy began to be fulfilled early in February, 1846, when the first companies of the migrating Saints left Nauvoo for the West, crossing the frozen Mississippi on the ice. About the middle of Jur*- they reached the Missouri River, then the frontier of the Nation, where their further progress was delayed for a whole season by the enlistment of the "Mormon" Battalion — five hundred men — who responded to a call from the Government and volunteered to assist the United States in its war with Mexico. 5S SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. in gazing upon something at a great distance, and said: T am gazing upon the valleys of those mountains.' " c The Seeric Power. — Joseph Smith, at that time, was standing on the west bank of the Mississippi River, fifteen hundred miles from the Rocky Mountains ; yet he saw these grand old hills, crowned with unmelting snows, and seamed with rugged gorges down which the crystal torrents were flowing as they flow today. He actually be- held, with spirit vision, these objects — beheld them so vividly, that had he been permitted to carry out his partly formed purpose of leading his people to their new home in rhe wilderness, he would have recognized this land, and would have been able to say, as Brigham Young said, upon beholding Salt Lake Valley: "This is the Place." d c, "This was followed," continues the Call narrative, "by a vivid description of the scenery of these mountains as I have since be- come acquainted with it. ... It is impossible to represent in words this scene which is still vivid in my mind — the grandeur of Joseph's appearance, his beautiful descriptions of this land, and his wonderful prophetic utterances as they emanated from the glorious inspirations that overshadowed him. There was a force and power in his exclamations of which the following is but a faint echo : 'Oh the beauty of those snow-capped mountains ! The cool refreshing- streams that are running down through those mountain gorges.' Then, gazing in another direction, as if there was a change of lo- cality : 'Oh the scenes that this people will pass through! The dead that will lie between here and there.' Then, turning in another di- rection, as if the scene had again changed : 'Oh the apostasy that will take place before my brethren reach that land ! But, he con- tinued, 'the priesthood shall prevail over its enemies, triumph over the devil, and be established upon the earth, never more to be thrown down.' " Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, pp. 85, 86. Note. d, The journey of the Pioneers began at Winter Quarters (now Florence, Nebraska) about the middle of April, 1847. It ended on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, July 24th of the same year. The company, led by President Brigham Young in person, consisted originally of 143 men, three women, and two children. The men were well armed and equipped, and the company traveled mostly in covered wagons, drawn by horses, mules and oxen. Four large companies of emigrants followed immediately after the Pioneers, ar- riving in Salt Lake Valley during the autumn. LOOKING WESTWARD. 59 Another Prophet and Seer. — But Joseph did not live to accompany his people upon their historic journev. Another mighty leader was raised up to pilot modern Israel lo their promised land. Of Brigham Young it is related, ih'xt while crossing the plains west of the Missouri River, in the spring and summer of 1847, he had a vision of the region that he and his fellow pilgrims were about to in- habit. He saw a tent settling down from heaven over the Yaliey of the Great Salt Lake, and heard a voice pro- claim : "This is the place where my people Israel shall pitHi their tents." Such is the testimony of Erastus Snow/ one of the principal men who came with President Young 10 the Rocky Mountains. Consequently when the great Pioneer said, "This is the place," he was repeating words that had been spoken to him — repeating them while view- ing with natural eyes a scene that his spirit eyes had al- ready beheld. Human Wisdom vs. Divine Guidance. — W hat availed, after that, the pessimistic forebodings of the mountaineer, James Bridger, who camped with the Pioneers just after they passed the Rocky Mountains, and whose laconic speech, "I would give a thousand dollars if I knew an ear of corn could ripen in Salt Lake Valley," has been often and variously quoted? What availed the roseate account given of the California Coast by the ultra-optimis- tic Samuel Brannan, who, after sailing with a "Mormon" colony from New York and landing at the Bay of San Francisco, crossed the Sierra Nevada, met the Pioneers on Green River, and endeavored to persuade them that the flowery slopes of the Pacific were a better place of abode for the exiled people than the parched alkali wastes of "The J, See Apostle Snow's discourse of July 25, 1880, reproduced in the "Improvement Era" for June, 1913. 60 SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. Great American Desert?" Brigham Young knew better than Colonel Bridger or Elder Brannan what was for the best. Looking past the present into the future, he had for all such warnings and persuasions, one reply : "This is the flacer Prophecy Fulfilled and Vision Verified. — Brigham Young was not the man to ignore divine guidance. His own vision was before him, beckoning him on ; and Joseph Smith's prediction behind him, urging him forward and pointing out the way. The Latter-day Saints were to "be- come a mighty people" — not in California, not along the Pacific Coast, but "in the midst of the Rocky Mountains." ARTICLE NINE. The Place of Safety. An Inspired Choice. — Who can doubt the wisdom of the choice that made the Rocky Mountains, in lieu of the Pacific Coast, a permanent home for the once homeless Latter-day Saints? Had they gone to California, as Elder Brannan advised, it would have meant, in all probability, their disruption and dispersion as a community, or at all events another painful exodus in quest of peace and freedom. It would have been to invite, from the inhabitants of that region — fast filling up with immigrants from those very States where the per- secuted people had experienced their sorest troubles — a repetition of the woes from which they were fleeing. Here in these mountain fastnesses, a thou- sand miles from the frontiers of civilization, they were safe from mobs and molestation. Better Than Elsewhere. — Better for them, in every way, that they should bide where Providence placed them. The coast country, with all its attractions — and they are many — has no such rare climate as can be found in this more highly favored region. The land once supposed to be worthless, and to redeem which even in part from its ancient barrenness, has required years on years of toil and privation, turns out to be a veritable treasure-house of natural resources, a self-sustaining empire ; and in periods of strife and turmoil, when war rocks the world, it is prob- ably the safest place beneath the sun. The Great War. — This mention again brings to the fore Joseph Smith's great "Prophecy on War." It has been 62 SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. seen how the Southern States, when they endeavored to withdraw from the Union, "called on Great Britain" for recognition and assistance, thus making good a portion of the Prophet's prediction. But when did Great Britain "call upon other nations," fulfilling in her own case the terms of the "Mormon" leader's fateful forecast? Certainly not during the stormy period of the "sixties," nor for many decades thereafter. But the. time came eventually. After the outbreak of the World War, when the German hosts were overrunning Belgium and Northern France, threatening even England herself, Great Britain did call upon the nations with which she had made treaties, for the help that she; so sorely needed. The visit to America, before and after the United States declared war against Germany, of representatives of Great Britain and others of the Allied nations, appeal- ing for military aid, was a potent factor in inducing our Government to send ships and troops across the Atlantic, to help beat back the Teutonic invader. Only The Beginning. — Very evident is it that the tempest of war foretold by Joseph Smith did not cease with the close of the conflict between the Northern , and the Southern States. The storm has continued intermittently to this time. Lulls there have been, but no lasting cessa- tion of the strife. Five years after the collapse of the Southern Confederacy, came the Franco-Prussian War, foreshadowing Germany's mad attempt to conquer the world. The American Civil War, the Franco- Prussian War, and the more recent World War, were all parts of the great "outpouring" predicted on that ominous Christ- mas day. And the same may be said of other conflicts that have since taken place. Equally true will it be of any future strife that may be necessary to help free the world from THE PLACE OF SAFETY. 63 o" prcssion arc! inquity. Unless the wicked repent, there is more — much more to come. a But i.i what way did the revolt of South Carolina, which began the Civil War, prove a "beginning" of wars for "all nations" ? This question is intelligently discussed in a pamphlet recently put forth by Elder James H. Anderson, of Salt Lake City. That writer shows that with the out- break of the Southern-Northern conflict, the whole system of modern warfare underwent a change, and that since then it has experienced a complete revolution, through the in- vention and use of machine guns, airships, submarines, and other death-dealing instrumentalities, absolutely unknown in previous military history, and marking a distinct beginning, such as the Prophet indicated. b Dangers Upon the Deep. — One frightful feature of the unparalleled struggle that ended with the signing of the armistice (November 11, 1918), was the havoc wrought by the German U-boats, otherwise known as submarines. There had been, before the coining of the U-boat, dread- ful dangers upon the waters, as the fate of the ill-starred "Titanic" — ripped open by an iceberg — testifies. But the submarine, the assassin of the "Lusitania," multiplied those dangers a hundred fold. Did the proud world know that a prophet of God had foreseen these fearful happen- ings, and had sounded a warning of their approach ? In August, 1831, Joseph Smith, with a party of friends, returning from their first visit to Zion in Jackson County, encamped on the bank of the Missouri River, at a place called Mcllwair's (or Mcllwaine's) Bend. There, one of the party, William W. Phelps, saw in vision the Destroyer a, D. and C. 5:19; 45:31, 68, 69; 63:33; 88:87-91; 97:22, 23; 115:6. b, See "Prophecies of Joseph Smith and their Fulfillment," by Nephi L. Morris, p. 20. 64 SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. riding -in awful fury upon the river, and the incident called forth a revelation in which the Lord says : "Behold, there are many dangers upon the waters, and more especially hereafter; i "For I, the Lord, have decreed in mine anger many de- structions upon the waters ; yea, and especially upon these waters ; "Nevertheless, all flesh is in mine hand, and he that is faithful among you shall not perish by the waters. "Behold, I, the Lord, in the beginning blessed the waters, but in the last days, by the mouth of my servant John, I cursed the waters. "Wherefore, the days will come that no flesh shall be safe upon the waters, "And it shall be said in days to come that none is able to go up to the land of Zion upon the waters, but he that is upright in heart. . . . "I, the Lord, have decreed, and the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof, and I revoke not the decree. " c No Flesh Safe Upon the Waters. — Was not this con- dition almost realized during the darkest days of the Great War? Perils undreamed of developed; disasters wichout precedent, unexampled in history, were of frequent occur- rence. Even upon the calm Pacific no ship pursued con- secutively the same track twice. Companies operating the great ocean-liners no longer announced the dates of de- parture from one port or of expected arrival at another. They dared not; the destroyer was abroad, death was in the depths, and the spirit of dread brooded upon the bosom of the wafers. And this upon the comparatively peaceful c, D. and C. 61:4-6, 14-16, 19. Compare Moses 7:66 and Rev. 16:3, 4. THE PLACE OF SAFETY. 65 Western Ocean; while upon the Atlantic, in the Mediter- ranean, and in the North Sea, the terrible submarine told the tale of danger and disaster. The Food Question. — Another phase of the Titanic struggle was the food question. Joseph Smith had pre- dicted famine ; d and the famine came. As early as October, 1876, the Prophet's successor, President Brigham Young, placed upon the members of the Relief Society a special mis- sion — that of gathering and storing grain against a day of scarcity ; and from that time the activities of the Society were put forth largely in this direction. Some made light of the labors of these devoted women, declaring that another famine could not be. Too vast an area of the earth's surface was under cultivation, and the means of rapid transit and communication were too plentiful, to permit of such a mis- fortune. If famine threatened any part of the world, word of it could come in the twinkling' of 1 an eye, and millions on millions of tons of food-stuffs, speedily transported to the scene, would stave off the straitness and render the calamity impossible. The Spectre of Famine..— Alas for those who put their trust in the arm of flesh ! In spite of the vast and ever-increasing productivity of the soil; in spite of railroads, steamships, and telegraphs, spreading a network of steel and electricity over the face of the planet, this was, and is still, a famine-threatened world. Europe calls upon Amer- ica for food ; America generously responds ; but as fast as she consigns her cargoes of foodstuffs to the needy nations, the merciless and devouring submarine sends them to the bottom of the sea. Such indeed was the situation. The floor of the ocean is strewn with the wrecks of transports d, D. and C. 87:6. 5 66 SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. whose mission was to carry bread to the starving- millions of other lands. And where was the man, uninspired of Heaven, who could have anticipated such a catastrophe ? Our nation became aroused to the necessity existing for the avoidance of waste and the conservation of food stuffs. All civilized countries awakened to the same urgent call. The "Mormon" grain-storing movement was no longer a joke — a target for ridicule. The gaunt spectre of Famine had shown a glimpse of his face, and the whole world trembled at the prospect. The God of Joseph and of Brigham had vindicated the patient labors of His faithful handsmaids, and fulfilled in part the solemn forebodings of prophecy. "Mormon" Grain for the Government. — Not the least item of interest connected with this subject, is the fact that the United States Government, through its Food Adminis- trator, in May, 1918, made request upon the authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the turning in of all the Relief Society wheat then on hand, for use in the war. The request was cheerfully complied with, 225, COO bushels of wheat being promptly furnished by the Church to the Federal Government. The Drought of 1919. — How easily a famine could come, was shown during the prolonged drought in the sum- mer of 1919, when throughout the Intermountain West and in regions beyond, lands usually productive lay parching for many weeks under the torrid rays of the sun. As a result, millions of acres of growing grain, especially in the dry- farming districts, perished for want of moisture. And yet there are men who deem human powers and earthly re- sources all-sufficient, and who declare, in the face of proph- ecy, that famine and war are obsolete and never again can be. A Scholar's Opinion. — Such a pronouncement, as to war, was made repeatedly, in public, only a short while THE PLACE OF SAFETY. 67 before the World War broke out. That splendid scholar and publicist, David Starr Jordan, expressed by tongue and pen his positive conviction that another great conflict, in this advanced and cultured age, was humanly impossible — it simply could not come/ But Another had said, two thousand years before : "Such things must come"/ And not long after the delivery of Doctor Jordan's optimistic, well- meant prediction, the greatest hell of conflict that this world has ever known burst forth and well-nigh wrapt the globe in a mantle of smoke and flame. The One Safe Guide. — "Men may come and men may go," but God and Truth "go on forever." Heaven and Earth may pass, but the divine word, by whomsoever spoken, will endure unshaken "amid the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds." The sure word of prophecy, flowing from the fountain of the Spirit, is the one safe guide through the chaos of the present and the mystical mazes of the future. A Prophet's Voice. — More firmly founded than the scholarly utterance in question, was a prediction made by President Wilford Woodruff, at Brigham City, Utah, in the summer of 1894. In the course of a public address, re- ferring to the near approach of the judgments of the last e, "There is no war coming," said Doctor Jordan to the press representatives who flocked to interview him on his return, in 1910, from Europe, where he had been lecturing on "Universal Peace." "The only battle between England and Germany will be on paper." In his book, "War and Waste," published a few years later, he said of the "Great War of Europe which never comes" : "The bankers will not find the money for such a fight, the industries of Europe will not maintain it, the statesmen cannot. . . . There will be no general war until the masters direct the fighters to fight. The masters have much to gain, but vastly more to lose, and their signal will not be given." In August, 1912, the Doctor delivered a spoken address to the same effect in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. This was just two years before the war that "could not come" — came. f, Matt. 24:6, 68 SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. days, the venerable leader said : "Great changes are at our doors. The next twenty years will see mighty changes among the nations of the earth." And it was just twenty years* or in the summer of 1914, when the terrible strife that has wrought so many mighty changes swept like a whirlwind over the nations. Other Prophetic Warnings. — One could almost be- lieve that President Woodruff's fellow Apostle, Orson Pratt, was gazing with seeric vision upon the same dread- ful picture, when he thundered into the ears of the world this solemn admonition : "A voice is heard unto the ends of the Earth! A sound of terror and dismay! A sound of nations rushing to battle ! Fierce and dreadful is the con- test ! Mighty kingdoms and empires melt away! The de- stroyer has gone forth ; the pestilence that walketh in darkness ; the plagues of the last days are at hand ; and who shall be able to escape? None but the righteous; none but the upright in heart. " g Eight years later this same Apostle, then at Liverpool, about to embark for America, issued to the inhabitants of Great Britain this "Prophetic Warning" : "If you will not repent and unite yourselves with God's Kingdom, then the days are near at hand when the righteous shall be gathered out of your midst. And woe unto you when that day shall come, for it shall be a day of vengeance upon the British nation ! . . Your armies shall perish; your maritime forces shall cease; your cities shall be ravaged, burned and made desolate, and your strongholds shall be thrown down ; the poor shall rise against the rich, and their storehouses and their fine mansions shall be pillaged, their merchandise and their g'old and their silver and their rich treasures shall be g, "The Kingdom of God," July, 1849. THE PLACE OF SAFETY. 69 plundered. Then shall the lords and nobles and the mer- chants of the land, and all in high places, be brought down and shall sit in the dust and howl for the miseries that shall be upon them. And they that trade by sea shall lament and mourn ; for their traffic shall cease."* Saviors of the Nation. — To escape the judgments hanging over the wicked, and find a place where they might worship God unmolested, the Latter-day Saints fled to the Rocky Mountains. Here, and here only, during the tem- porary isolation sought and found, by them in the chambers of "the everlasting hills," could they hope to be let alone long enough to become strong enough to accomplish their greater destiny. For there was more in that enforced exo- dus and the founding of this mountain-girt empire than the surface facts, reveal. If tradition can be relied upon, Jo- seph Smith prophesied that the Elders of Israel would save this Nation in the hour of its extremest peril. At a time when anarchy would threaten the life of the Government, and the Constitution would be hanging' as by a thread, the maligned and misunderstood "Mormons" — always patriotic, and necessarily so from the very genius of their religion — would stand firm upon Freedom's rocky ramparts, and as champions of law and order, of liberty and justice, call to their aid in che same grand cause kindred spirits from every part of the nation and from every corner of the world. All h, "Mill. Star" Oct. 24, 1857. Orson Pratt, then presiding over the European Mission, had been called home, owing to. a prospect of serious trouble between Utah and the United States Government. A false report that the "Mormons" were in rebellion against the Federal authority had caused the Government to send an army, under General Albert Sidney Johnston, to put down the alleged in- surrection. Brigham Young, Governor of the Territory (now State) of Utah, proclaimed martial law and made preparation to resist the "invaders." A part of the preparation was the withdrawal of all "Mormon" missionaries from the outside world. It remains but to say that "The Utah War" ended by peaceable adjustment and with- out bloodshed. 70 SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY. this preparatory to a mighty movement that would sweep every form of evil from off the face of the land, and rear the Zion of God upon the spot consecrated for that pur- pose. This traditional utterance of their martyred Seer is deeply imbedded in the heart and hope of the "Mormon" people. "Mormonism's" Monument. — The State of Utah with its fringe of offspring' settlements, is no ade- quate monument to Latter-day Israel. Zion is their monu- ment, and it will stand in Jackson County, Missouri. Ephraim is but getting ready for his mighty mission — the Lion crouching before he springs. PART THREE A MARVEL AND A WONDER. ARTICLE TEN. The Wisdom That Perishes. The wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the under- standing of their prudent men shall be hid. — Isaiah 29:14. The Wise and Prudent. — Most strikingly have these prophetic words been realized by "Mormonism," in its re- lations to the lofty and the learned who have endeavored in a worldly way and by means of human wisdom, to account for and dispose of it. Strange it is that men and women, intelligent, educated and profound, do not see in this great religious phenomenon something more than a topic to be treated lightly, or in a spirit of harshness and intolerance. Giants in intellect as to other themes, when they deal with the doctrines, aims and attitude of the Latter-day Saints, they seem suddenly changed into dwarfs, mere children, as powerless to cope with the mighty problem as were the learned Rabbis in the Temple with the youthful and divine Son of God. Especially is this, the case when they approach the ques- tion in a captious mood, determined to find fault, to berate and ridicule, rather than to fairly investigate. They cannot analyze, cannot even grasp it, and appear incapable of form- ing any just or adequate conception regarding it. To reply to all the bitter assaults made upon my religion and my people would be impossible, even were it worth while. I shall not attempt the hopeless task. It will suffice my pur- pose to consider here some of the more temperate judg- ments passed upon the subject, giving to each such com- ment as may be deemed necessary. 74 A MARVEL AND A WONDER. A Catholic Opinion. — Many years ago there came to Utah a learned doctor of divinity, a member of the Roman Catholic Church. I became well acquainted with him, and we conversed freely and frankly. A great scholar, with perhaps a dozen languages at his tongue's end, he seemed to know all about theology, law, literature, science and phil- osophy, and was never weary of displaying his vast erudi- tion. One day he said to me: "You Mormons are all ignor- amuses. You don't even know the strength of your own position. It is so strong that there is only one other tenable in the whole Christian world, and that is the position of the Catholic Church. The issue is between Catholicism and Mormonism. If we are right, you are wrong; if you are right, we are wrong; and that's all there is to it. The Pro- testants haven't a leg to stand on. If we are wrong, they are wrong with us, for they were a part of us and," went out from us ; while if we are right, they are apostates whom we cut off long ago. If we really have, as we claim, the apos- tolic succession from St. Peter, there was no need for Joseph Smith and Mormonism ; but if we have not that suc- cession, then such a man as Joseph Smith was necessary, and Mormonism's attitude is the only consistent one. It is either the perpetuation of the Gospel from ancient times, or the restoration of the Gospel in latter days." My reply was substantially as follows : "I agree with you, Doctor, in nearly all that you have said, but don't de- ceive yourself with the notion that we "Mormons" are not aware of the strength of our position. We are better aware of it than anyone else. We have not all been to college ; we cannot all speak the dead languages ; we may be 'ignor- amuses,' as you say ; but we know that we are right, and we know that you are wrong." I was just as' frank with him as he had been with me, THE WISDOM THAT PERISHES. 75 An Episcopal View. — At a later period I conversed with another man of culture, a bishop of the Episcopal Church. He affirmed that if Joseph Smith, at the beginning, had become acquainted with that religious organization, he would have been content, and would have looked no further for spiritual light. "But," said the Bishop, "Joseph encoun- tered the Methodists, the Baptists, the Presbyterians, and other sects; and their creeds failing to satisfy him, he sought elsewhere. Now the Episcopalians have an unbroken succession of authority all down the centuries, and if Joseph Smith had only formed their acquaintance, he would never have gone to the trouble of organizing another church." A Psychological Notion. — Still another scholar, a stu- dent of psychology aiid an applicant for a doctor's degree cit Yale University, presented, in a thesis forming the basis for the degree, the theory that Joseph Smith was an epilep- tic, and that this accounted for his mental attitude and marvelous assertions. That is to say, the Seer did not actually behold the wonderful manifestations described by him, but only imagined that he beheld them. A distinct de- parture, this, from the charge of conscious duplicity, usual- ly flung at the founder of "Mormonism." He was sincere, then, however much mistaken, and was not guilty of intent to defraud. So> far, so good. But in the mind of the author of this remarkable hypothesis, the magnificent organiza- tion of the "Mormon" Church, conceded by intelligent ob- servers of all creeds and parties to be one of the most per- fect systems of government in existence, to say nothing of its sublime doctrines, replete with poetry and philosophy, couched in logical and majestic phrasing — all this sprang from the diseased brain of a fourteen-year-old boy who had fallen in an epileptic fit! Self-evident absurdities need no 76 A MARVEL AND A WONDER. argument. They have only to be stated, and they confute themselves. Learning's Lack of Knowledge. — And these are some of the views that learned men take of "Mormonism." With all their learning, they are not able to come to a knowledge of the Truth. They do< not begin to dream of the greatness of God's work, the grandeur of Christ's cause. They comprehend but in part its real aims and attitude. Even the most conservative assume that Joseph Smith stumbled upon something of which he did not know the true value, and that it was sheer luck which gave to this religion its vantage ground, its recognized strength of position. Never was there a grosser error. There are con- cepts as much higher than these,' as the heavens are higher than the earth. The "Mormons" are not the "ignoramuses," when it comes to a consideration of the Gospel's mighty themes. Spiritual Illumination. — Yet it is not because of na- tive "smartness' — not because the followers of Joseph Smith are brainier than other people, that they have a greater knowledge of God and are capable of loftier ideals in religion. It is because they have received, through the gift of the Holy Ghost, a perceptive, power, a spiritual illumination, which the world, with all its learning, does not possess* and without which no man can comprehend Divinity or divine purposes. It cannot be had from books or schools. Colleges and universities cannot impart it. It comes only in one way — God's way, not man's. The Latter-day Saints possess it because they have bowed to the will of Heaven and rendered obedience to its laws, thus mak- a, For further particulars of the epileptic theory, see Woodbridge Riley's book, "The Founder of Mormonism," and Robert C. Webb's admirable answer thereto in Chapter 26 of "The Real Mormonism." THE WISDOM THAT PERISHES. 77 ing themselves worthy of the inestimable boon. All men may have it upon precisely the same conditions. Still Another Misconception. — My Episcopalian friend said to me on another occasion: "My main objection to Mormonism is its narrowness, its illiberality. You Mormons are not interested in anything going on outside of your own social and religious system. You are in- sulated, wrapped up in yourselves, you take no note of what other peoples are doing, and you give them no credit for the good they accomplish. "For instance" — he went on — "the Bible is retranslated, with a view to mak- ing it plainer and more intelligible ; but you attach no im- portance to work of that kind. Ancient ruins are uncovered, buried civilizations brought to light, mystical inscriptions on old-time obelisks deciphered and interpreted, in order to acquaint the present with the past ; but you put no value upon such enterprise. Hospitals are founded ; missions maintained ; Christ's name is carried to the heathen ; the Bible is published by millions of copies, and persistent ef- forts are made to place one in every home. But you take no account of these things ; you do not commend such labors — you deem them all vain and of no worth." * Not Narrow and Illiberal. — The Bishop's remark sur- prised me. I was astonished that one so well informed in other ways could entertain such an opinion of the Latter- day Saints. There may be such a thing as a narrow "Mormon;" there may be such a thing as a narrow notion in the mind of some "Mormon ;" but there never has been and never will be such a thing as a narrow "Mormon- ism." To those who know it best, it is a synonym for large- ness and liberality, another name for all that is generous charitable and sublime. Takes Note of All. — So far from ignoring what other 78 A MARVEL AND A WONDER. peoples and other systems are doing, the typical "Mormon" takes careful note of all that happens ; and the spirit of his religion, "the Spirit that searcheth all things," enables him to assign events and achievements to their proper place in the universal scheme. He appreciates and ap- plauds every step in the march of progress. "If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praise- worthy, we seek after these things." So says the Church in its Articles of Faith. The Fruit of Falsehood. — How, then, do such gross misunderstandings arise? They spring from prejudice and faulty inference. They are the fruit of falsehood, and of that propensity in most people for allowing themselves to be influenced' by a one-sided statement — too often by mere rumor and hearsay. Confounding principle with practice, they mistake the conduct and expressions of individuals connected with a cause, for the cause itself, its character, its spirit, and the ends at which it aims. Translation and Discovery. — Contrary to my Chris- tian friend's erroneous deduction, the Latter-day Saints aye interested in the retranslation of the Scriptures. And why should they not be? Joseph Smith was a translator. Did he not translate the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham ? We believe the Bible to be the word of God only so far as it has been translated correctly. Our Prophet also revised, by the Spirit of Revelation, the English version of the Hebrew Scriptures, making it in many respects more comprehensible, and at the same time restoring to it many "plain and precious things" that had been taken away. 6 Why should we not attach importance to work of that kind? As for archaeological discoveries, we hail them with joy, especially those that throw any light upon the Book of b, Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, p. 132. 1 Nephi 13:35, 40. THE WISDOM THAT PERISHES. 79 Mormon, that silent witness "whispering from the dust" c of America's "buried civilizations." Christian Endeavor and "Mormon" Propaganda. — Go on, good Christian brother ! Build as many hospitals and found as many missions as you like. Spread the glad tid- ings over the world, and sound the Savior's name from pole to pole. You cannot blazon the fame of Jesus Christ too far or too widely to suit us. You cannot publish too many Bibles, nor place them in too many homes. Such enterprise makes the follow-up work of the "Mormon" missionary just that much less difficult. It virtually introduces the message that he comes to proclaim. The Stick of Joseph and the Stick of Judah are "one in the hand of Ephraim," d " Latter-day Israel, chosen and commissioned to prepare the way before Messiah's coming. c, Isa. 29 :4. d, Ezek. 37:16-19. ARTICLE ELEVEN. The God Story. Greater than it Appears. — "Mormonism" is a much bigger thing than Catholic scholars or Episcopal bishops imagine. It is only a nickname for the Everlasting Gospel, restored to earth in the nineteenth century, that it might be preached "to every nation and kindred and tongue and peo- ple."' 7 as a warning to the world that the end of wickedness is nigh, that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and that the Lord whom the righteous seek is about to "come sud- denly to his Temple." fc The Antiquity of the Gospel. — The Gospel originated in the heavens before this earth was formed, and was re- vealed from God out of Eternity at the very beginning of Time. It was the means whereby our great ancestor, Adam, after his expulsion from Eden, regained the Divine Pres- ence from which he had been banished ; and it is the means whereby his posterity, such as are obedient to the Gospel's requirements, may follow him into the Celestial Kingdom. The same ladder that he climbed, until beyond the reach of the fatal consequences of his transgression, the whole human race, inheriting from him the effects of the fall, must also climb, or they will never see the face of God in eternal glory. The Path to Perfection. — But the Gospel is more than a means of escape from impending ills. To all good Chris- tians it is as a life-boat, or a fire-escape, a way out of a perilous situation. To the Latter-day Saints, it is all this a, Rev. 14:6. b, Mai. 3:1. THE GOD STORY. 81 and more. A divine plan for human progress, the fore- ordained Pathway to Perfection — -such is Christ's Gospel, as revealed to and proclaimed by Joseph the Seer. The Word Made Flesh. — The English word "Gospel" comes from the Anglo-Saxon "Godspell" or God-story — the Story of God. It derives its significance from that great central idea of the Christian faith, the coming of God as the Son of God to redeem and save mankind. "God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall re- deem his people ; and because he dwelleth in flesh, he shall be called the Son of God." c The fulfillment of this and similar foretellings is recorded in the opening verses of the Gospel according ta St. John, referring to "The Word" that was in the beginning "with God" — the Word that "was God," and was "made flesh." In Him, as Paul affirms, "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. " d Basic Principles. — When we consider the Gospel, therefore, we should bear in mind that the term means something more than faith, repentance, baptism, and the laying on of hands for the gift (giving) of the Holy Ghost, with other rituals and requirements in the Church of Christ. We cannot separate "the laws and ordinances of the Gospel" from the basic principles upon w*hich they rest — the mighty foundation stones of Sacrifice and Redemp- tion, without which all this sacred legislation would be of no effect. Nor can the basic principles and powers that vit- alize and make operative these laws and ordinances be dis- sociated from the idea of Eternal Progression, the great c, Mosiah 15:1, 2; 3:5. The joyful intelligence of the advent •of the World's Redeemer, proclaimed by angels to the shepherds on the Judean hills (Luke 2:10), furnishes another name for the Gospel — "good tidings," or, as otherwise rendered, "glad tidings of great joy." d, Col. 2:9. Compare Ether 3:14, and Alma 11:38, 39. 6 82 A MARVEL AND A WONDER. arid paramount purpose for which the Gospel code was framed, the Gospel in its fulness instituted/ The Complete Story. — The Gospel, in its fullest scope of meaning, signifies everything connected with the wondrous career of that Divine Being who was known among men as Jesus of Nazareth, but who was and is no other than Jehovah, the God of Israel, who "came unto his own," and was rejected by them, crucified at their instiga- tion, and died to redeem the world/ The accounts given by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are properly termed •'gospels," for they are narratives of the personal ministry o{ our Lord. But they are only parts of the complete God- Story.^ The Savior's life, death, resurrection £uid ascension, with the conditions prescribed by him upon which fallen man might profit further from his sacrifice for human re- demption — these are all gospel features, but not the Gospel in its entirety. e, All fulness is relative, as pertaining to the revealed word of God. There can be no absolute fulness with man until everything is made known to him. The fulness of the Gospel, as delivered to the Nephites and other ancient peoples, was not so complete as is the fulness enjoyed by the Latter-day Saints. Truth is always the same, but more of its principles have been revealed in modern times than at any previous period. And the end is not yet; for, as our Prophet declares : "Those things which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall be revealed unto babes and sucklings in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times." (D. and C. 128:18.) Such an outpouring of truth and light can come only to a people pre- pared for it. "When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away" (I Cor. 13:10). Until then a com- parative fulness, or all that the finite mind can contain of infinite wisdom, must suffice human aspiration and continue to be the lot even of the most enlightened. f, D. and C. 110:1-4. g, The book of Isaiah is sometimes called "the fifth gospel," it having so much to say about the coming Redeemer; and just as fittingly might the third book of Nephi be termed a "gospel," nar- rating as it does the risen Christ's personal ministrations to the descendants of Lehi. THE GOD STORY. 83 The full "Story" of the God who died that man might live, involves events both past and future, events pr~ mortal and post-mortal, scenes in which He was chosen to play his mighty part in the great tragedy of human ex- perience, and scenes yet to come in which He will • make another and a more glorious appearing upon the stage of Time, enacting the illustrious role of King of Kings and reigning over the earth a thousand years. Essentials to Eternal Progress. — Everything vitally connected with man's mortal pilgrimage was understood and arranged before that pilgrimage began. Earth's crea- tion was but one of the pre-essentials. 7t The means of getting man down upon the earth, and the means of re- deeming him from the fall, had also to be provided. The Gospel was instituted, and an Executor appointed to put it into effect ; the machinery constructed, and the power then turned on. Eternal progress, endless exaltation, were the sublime objects in view, and over the glad prospect, de- spite the pain and sorrow that must necessarily intervene, "the morning stars sang- together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy."* Elect of Elohim. — In the Eternal Councils, while the creation of "an earth" was in contemplation, the ques- tion arose as to who among the Sons of Deity should re- deem man from the fall. Lucifer, "an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God," would fain have been selected for the mighty mission ; but his scheme for human redemption was of a compulsory character, destruc- tive of the free agency of man. Moreover, this "Son of the Morning" had become darkened to that degree that he demanded, in recompense for his proposed service, the h, Abr. 3 :24. i, Job 38:7. 84 A MARVEL AND A WONDER. honor and glory that belong only to the Highest.-' There- fore was he rejected, and, rebelling, "was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son, and was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him." /,; "And also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away . . . because of their agency."' The Chosen of the Father stood first among all the Sons of God. m He is the Father's first-begotten in the spirit, and his only-begotten in the flesh. To him was assigned the role of Earth's Redeemer. And while revela- tion is silent upon the subject, or not so specific in their cases, we have good reason to believe that the parts played by Adam and Eve and other "noble and great ones" in the mighty drama of Eternal Progression, were cast at the same time." The Perfect Plan. — The Gospel, Christ's perfect plan, unlike the defective scheme proposed by Lucifer, gives the right of choice between good and evil. It saves men, not in their sins, but from their sins — liberates them from spiritual darkness, the bondage of death and hell, and lifts them into the joy and freedom of light and life eternal. Hence that splendid phrase, that majestic synonoym, used by the Apostle James in describing the Gospel — "The Perfect Law of Liberty." The Purpose Paramount. — The grand object in view j, Moses 4:1-4. k, D. and C. 76 :25, 26. I, lb. 29:36. _ • "Satan (it is possible) being opposed to the will of his Father, wished to avoid the responsibilities of this position. . . . He probably intended to make men atone for their own acts by an act of coercion and the shedding of their own blood as an atonement for their sins." — "The Mediation and Atonement," by President John Taylor, pp. 96, 97. m, Rom. 8 :29. n, Abr. 3:23; Jer. 1 :S, Hist. Ch. Vol. 6, p. 364. o, James 1 :25. THE GOD STORY. 85 when that great Law was instituted, is clearly, though briefly, outlined in the following passage from the writ- ings of Joseph the Seer : "The first principles of man are self-existent with God. . . Finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent (he) saw proper to in- stitute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to ad- vance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge. He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with himself, so that they may have one glory upon another."^ The Benevolence of Deity. — And thus is shown the benevolence as well as the power of Deity. Our Heavenly Father is no monopolist. Omnipotent and all-possessing, he is likewise altruistic, philanthropic. He employed his superior intelligence, which constitutes his glory, 9 to in- p, "Times and Seasons," Aug. 15, 1844; "Improvement Era," Jan., 1909. Our Prophet's simple yet sublime setting- forth is far more pointed and specific than the presentment made by Plato of a doc- trine somewhat similar. The Greek philosopher, as quoted by Emerson, says : "Let us declare the cause which led the Supreme Ordainer to produce and compose the universe. He was good; and he who is good has no kind of envy. Exempt from envy, he wished that all things should be as much as possible like himself. Whosoever, taught by wise men, shall admit this as the prime cause cf the origin and foundation of the world, will be in the truth" ("Plato," Emerson's "Representative Men"). There is a fitness, a propriety, in man's becoming like his Maker — God's child, fash- ioned in his image and endowed with divine attributes, developing to the fulness of the parental stature, as taught by Joseph; but how the same can be predicated of "all things," as Plato implies, is not so clear. That the lower animals, and in fact all forms of life, are to be perpetuated and glorified, is more than an inference fr<~m the teachings of the Prophet (D. and C. 29:24, 25; 77:2-4' But Undoubtedly all will retain their identity in their respective orders and spheres. No creature of God's excepting man. can become like God in the fullest and highest sense. q, D. and C. 93:36. 86 A MARVEL AND A WONDER. stitute laws whereby the lesser spirits surrounding him might advance toward the lofty plane that he occupies. He proposed to lift them to his own spiritual stature, and share with them the empire of the universe. Salvation and Exaltation. — The Gospel of Christ is termed by St. Paul "the power of God unto salvation. " r Paul might have gone further, had he been so inclined, or had it been timely. He could have shown that the Gospel is also the power of God unto exaltation, a plan devised by omnipotent wisdom whereby the sons and daughters of Deity may advance from stage to stage of soul de- velopment, until they become like their heavenly parents, the Eternal Father and Mother, inheriting endless thrones and dominions and receiving "a fulness of joy/ This is exaltation. It is more than salvation, being an extension of that idea or condition — salvation "added upon;" just as'», salvation is an extension of, or an addition to, the idea or condition of redemption. A soul may be redeemed — that is, raised from the dead — and yet be con- demned at the Final Judgment for evil deeds done in che body. Likewise may -a soul be saved, and yet come short of the glory that constitutes exaltation. To redeem, save and glorify, is the threefold mission of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. r, Rom. 1 :16. s, D. and C. 76:50-70; 93:33; Abr. 3:26. ARTICLE TWELVE. The Great Vicissitudes. Fall and Redemption. — The Fall of Man and the Re- demption from the Fall, are the great vicissitudes of human experience. One is Sequel to the other, and both are steps in the march of eternal progress. The Gospel, therefore, em- braces the fall as well as the redemption. Both were essen- tial, and both Were preordained. The one prepared the way before the other. Had there been no fall, there could have been no redemption ; for the simple reason that there would have been nothing to redeem. The Creation. — Preliminary to the fall, came the creation. Earth, created as an abode and a place of pro- bation for mortal man, was not made out of nothing, as human theology asserts, but out of previously existing ma- terials, as divine revelation affirms. Millions of earths had been created in like manner before this planet rolled into existence. To create does not mean to make something out of nothing. Such a doctrine is neither scientific nor scriptural. Nothing remains nothing, of necessity ; and no power, human or divine, can make it otherwise. Creation is organization, with materials at hand for the process. Joseph Smith's position upon this point, » though corn- batted by doctors of divinity, is confirmed by the most advanced scientists and philosophers of modern times. The dogma that earth was made out of nothing is an attempt to glorify Deity by ascribing to him the power to perform the impossible — to do that which cannot be done. As if Deity a, Moses 1:4, 38; 7:30. 88 A MARVEL AND A WONDER. could be glorified with anything of that sort, or jiad need of any such glorification. It is also an effort to escape from what many religious teachers consider a dilemma, the other horn of which would commit them to what they mis- takenly deem a fallacy — namely, the eternity and self-ex- istence of matter.* 7 Eternity of Matter. — "Mormonism" stands firm- footed upon this ground. It holds matter to be uncreate- able, indestructible, without beginning or end, and conse- quently eternal/ As for modern science, here are a few of its most recent conclusions upon the point at issue. Says Herbert Spencer: "The doctrine that matter is indes- tructible has become a commonplace. All the apparent proofs that something can come out of nothing, a wider knowledge has one by one canceled ("First Principles"). And John Fiske confirms him in saying: "It is now in- conceivable that a particle of matter should either come into existence, or lapse into non-existence" ("Cosmic Phil- osophy"). Robert K. Duncan clinches the argument with the emphatic pronouncement : "We cannot create some- thing out of nothing" ("New Knowledge"). Spirit and Element. — But Joseph Smith proclaimed it first. He declared the elements eternal ; d and even went b, The Reverend Baclen Powell, of Oxford University, quoted in Kitto's "Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature," says : "The idea of 'creation,' as meaning absolutely 'making out of nothing,' or calling into existence that which did not exist before, in the strictest sense cf the term, is not a doctrine of scripture ; but it has been held by many on the grounds of natural theclogy, as enhancing the ideas we form of the divine power, and more especially since the contrary must imply the belief in the eternity and self-existence of matter." c, The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews asserts nothing to the contrary when he says: "Things which are seen were not made of things which do appear (Heb. 11:3). The "things" referred to ("the worlds" that were "framed by the word of God") had ex- isted before, in other forms, invisible to mortal eye and intangible to human touch. d, D. and C. 93:33. THE GREAT VICISSITUDES. 89 so far as to say: "All spirit is matter, but it is more fine and pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes.' v Eternal spirit, eternal element, these are the "materials" out of which Earth was created — not only as a temporary abode for man, but as an eternal place of residence for the righteous. The Value of a Body. — Man needed experience in mortality, in the midst of rudimental conditions, in oider to acquire the experience that would fit him for spheres beyond. First, however, he needed a body, for pur- poses of increase and progression, both in time and etern- ity. The spirit without the body is incomplete; it cannot propagate, and it cannot go on to glory. "Spirit and ele- ment, inseparably connected, receiveth a fulness of joy; but when separated man cannot receive a fulness of joy."^ It is a reasonable inference that our spirits advance as far as they can before they are given earthly bodies. Having re- ceived their bodies, they are in a position, by means of the Gospel and the powers of the Priesthood, to make further progress toward perfection. "We came to this earth," says Joseph Smith, "that we might have a body, and present it pure before God in the celestial kingdom. The great principle of happiness consists in having a body."^ Satan's Punishment. — The Prophet thus continues : "The Devil has no body, and herein is his punishment. . . All beings who have bodies have power over those who have not." The reason why Satan has no body is because he re- belled in the eternal councils when the Redeemer of the World was chosen. All who followed him shared a similar fate. Two thirds of the intelligences then populating the spirit world remained loyal, and as a reward for their e, D. and C. 131 :7. f, lb. 93:33, 34. g, "Compendium" p. 288; Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, p. 403. 90 A MARVEL AND A WONDER. fidelity were permitted to tabernacle in the flesh. One third, rebelling with Lucifer, were doomed with him to perdi- tion. Pending their final fate, these unemflbodied fallen spirits are allowed to wander up and down the world, tempting and trying its human inhabitants, their evil activi- ties being overruled in a way to subserve God's purpose in man's probation. Placed in Eden. — Earth having been prepared for man, Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden — placed there to become mortal, that the Lord's purpose might be accomplished. The fall, though planned, was not compelled/ 1 Man still had his agency, the right and power of choice. Innocent in the Beginning. — The Great Creator, on the morning of creation, pronounced "good" all that He had made.* In perfect keeping with this, modern revela- tion declares that "every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning."-' Consequently, had the spirits of men re- mained where they were before Adam fell, they would have had no need to exercise a saving faith, no need to re- pent or to be baptized, having no evil practices to turn from and no uncleanness to be washed away. But they would have remained ignorant as well as innocent — ignorant of things necessary to their further progress. Without the fall, they could have advanced no further, but would have re- mained as they were, "having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin. . . . Adam fell that men might be ; and men are that they might have joy."* h, Moses 3:17. i, Gen. 1 :31. j, D. and C. 93 :38. k, 2 Nephi 2 :22-25. THE GREAT VICISSITUDES. 91 The Woman Beguiled. — When our First Parents partook of the forbidden fruit, it was the woman who was beguiled by the Serpent (Satan) and induced to go con- trary to the divine command. The man was not deceived.' What Adam did was done knowingly and after full deliberation. When Eve had tasted of the fruit, Adam did likewise in order to carry out another comand, the first that God had given to this pair — the command to "multiply and replenish the earth."'" Eve, by her act, had separated herself from her husband, and was now mortal, while he remained in an immortal state. It was impossible, there- fore, unless he also became mortal, for them to obey the original behest. This was Adam's motive. This was his predicament. He was facing a dilemma, and must make choice between two divine commands. He disobeyed in order to obey, retrieving, so far as he could, the situation resulting from his wife's disobedience. Fully aware of what would follow, he partook of the fruit of the inhibited tree, realizing that in no other way could he become the progenitor of the human race. Adam and Abraham. — Perhaps some will see a par- allel in Adam's case and Abraham's, each being directed to do a thing that could not be done unless a previous re- quirement were disregarded. Thus, Adam was warned not to eat of the fruit of a certain tree — the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; yet that was the only way for him to reach a condition where he would be able to "replenish the earth." Abraham was forbidden to slay his son, after being commanded to "offer" him." I, 1 Tim. 2:14. m, Gen. 1 :28. n, Some commentators hold that Abraham misunderstood the Lord's command to "offer" Isaac, and that the second command, "lay not thine hand upon the lad," was given in explanation. That the Lord did not intend Isaac to be slain, is evidenced • from what 92 A MARVEL AND A WONDER. But there was this important difference in the two cases. The second command to Abraham superseded the first — canceled it. Not so with Adam. In his case the later law left unrepealed the earlier enactment. Both commandments were in force ; but Adam could not obey both. What was to be done? Why, just what was done — the wisest thing possible under the circumstances. Malum Prohibitum. — Adam's transgression, though a sin, because of the broken law, should not be stressed as an act of moral turpitude. In human law> which is based upon divine law, there are two kinds of offenses in gen- eral, described in Latin terms as malum per se and malum prohibitum. Malum per se means "an evil in itself," an act essentially wrong; while malum prohibitum signifies "that which is wrong because forbidden by law." Adam's trans- gression was malum prohibitum ; and the consequent descent, from an immortal to a mortal condition, was the Fall. A Cause For Rejoicing. — Adam and Eve, with their eyes open, rejoiced over what had befallen them/ evidently regarding it as part of a beneficent plan to people Earth and afford to a world of waiting spirits — the loyal two- thirds who "kept their first estate" when Lucifer fell — the long looked for opportunity of entering upon their "second estate" and beginning the great pilgrimage to perfection. No License for Sin. — Let it not be supposed, how- ever, that disobedience to divine requirements is or ever ensued ; but that Abraham misunderstood the original behest does not follow. In order to make the sacrifice of "a broken heart and a contrite spirit," and merit the reward of his obedience, it was necessar}' that Abraham should interpret the command just as he did — as a commandment to slay. "The sacrifice required of Abra- ham in the offering of Isaac," says Joseph Smith, "shows that if a man would attain to the keys of the kingdom of an endless life, he must sacrifice all things" (Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, p. 555). This was the principle that Abraham was showing forth, and it must have involved a real and terrible trial of his faith. o f Moses 5:10, 11. THE GREAT VICISSITUDES. 93 can be justifiable. On the contrary, obedience is the great law upon which all blessings are predicated.^ What was done by our First Parents in an exceptional instance and for a special purpose, constitutes no license for men to commit sin. Adam and Eve, having obeyed God's command to "multiply and replenish," reaped the reward of their obedience. But they had to be punished for their diso- bedience in the matter of the forbidden fruit. "The wages of sin is death." The fall was necessary, but it had to be atoned for: it could not be justified. "The Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance." He can nullify its effects, however, and bring good out of evil. Redemption was also necessary, and the Atonement preordained ; but this did not make the murder of the innocent Savior any the less heinous. The perpetrators of that deed were guilty of a crime — the crime of crimes — and their punishment was inevitable. Were it otherwise, God would not be just, and would therefore cease to be God.? Fruits of the Fall. — The fall had a twofold direction — downward, yet forward. It brought man into the world and set his feet upon progression's highway. But it also brought death, with all its sad concomitants. Not such a death as the righteous now contemplate, and such as both righteous and unrighteous undergo, as a change pre- paratory to resurrection ; but eternal death — death of the spirit as well as the body. There was no resurrection when Adam fell — not upon this planet. The World in Pawn. — Hell had seemingly triumphed p, D. and C. 130:20, 21. q, The principle involved in this discussion, is tersely put in two lines of a well known hymn, frequently sung in the religious as- semblies of the Latter-day Saints : "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven." "Earth must atone for the blood of that man." 94 A MARVEL AND A WONDER. over man's — or rather over woman's weakness. It was as if the world had been put in pawn. Death was the pawn- broker, with a twofold claim upon all creation. Everything pertaining to Earth was in his grasp, and there was no help for it this side of Heaven. No part of what had been pledged could be used as the means of redemption. Adam could not redeem himself, great and mighty though he was, in the spirit ; for he was no other than Michael the Arch- angel, leader of the heavenly host when Lucifer and his legions were overthrown. But that same puissant Michael was now a weak mortal man, under the penalty of a broken law, powerless to repair the ruin he had wrought. He and the race that was to spring from him were eternally lost, unless Omnipotence would intervene, and do for them what they could not do for themselves. Where was Redemption? — Redemption must come, if at all, through some being great enough and powerful enough to make an infinite atonement; one completely covering the far-reaching effects of the original transgres- sion. The scales of Eternal Justice, unbalanced by Adam's act, had to be repoised, and the equilibrium of right re- stored. Who could do this? Who was able to mend the broken law, bring good out of evil, mould failure into suc- cess, and "snatch victory from the jaws of defeat?" Where was the Moses for such an Exodus? Where the de- liverance from this worse than Egyptian bondage — a bondage of which Egypt's slavery was typical? The Price Paid. — The life of a God was the price of the world's freedom ; and that price was paid by the God of Israel (Jesus on Earth, Jehovah in Heaven) who descended from his glorious throne, became mortal, and by submitting tc death, broke the bands of death, and made it possible for man to go on to his eternal destiny. This spotless Lamb, the THE GREAT VICISSITUDES. 95 great Antitype of the Passover, gave himself as an offering for sin, and by the shedding of his own blood, paid the debt of the universe, took the world out of pawn, and be- came the Author of Salvation for all mankind. Christ's atonement, offsetting Adam's transgression, brought re- demption fromi the fall, nullifying its evil results, con- serving its good results, and making them effectual for man's eternal welfare. "We Know in Part."— Why the Fall and the Re- demption had to be, we; know in part, for God has revealed it. But we do not know all. That a divine law was broken, in order that "men might be ;" and that reparation had to be made, in order that men "might have joy" — this much is known. But the great why and wherefore of it all is a deep that remains unfathomed. Why it was necessary to place Adam and Eve in a position so contradictory, where they were commanded not to do the very thing that had to be done — why the divine purpose had to be car- ried out in just that way, is one of those infinite prob- lems that must remain to finite minds a mystery until the A 11- wise shall will to make it plain. Man cannot sit in judgment upon his Maker, nor measure by human stand- ards divine dispensations. "All things have been done in the wisdom of Him who knoweth all things." God's Greatest Gift. — The Fall, though essential to human progress, dug man's grave and opened the portal to Flades. Redemption unsealed the tomb and swung wide the gates to Endless Glory. Adam gave us mortal life. Eternal life, our greatest boon, is the gift of the Redeemer and Savior. ARTICLE THIRTEEN. The Gospel Dispensations. Only One Gospel. — There is but one Gospel. There never has been, and there never will be, another. It is the Everlasting Gospel^ the same yesterday, today and forever. In order to comprehend it, one must not limit his survey o { the subject to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries — must not confine his calculations to any one Gospel dispensa- tion. He must grasp the idea of a series of such dispensa- tions, inter-related and connected, like the links of a mighty chain, extending from the morning of Creation down' to the end of Time. "Mormonism" stands for the Gospel's res- toration in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times; but that is not all. It stands for the Gospel itself in all the dispensations, as those periods are termed during which God, from the beginning, has spoken to man and revealed from heaven these saving* principles and powers. For All Time and for All Men. — The Everlasting Gospel does not belie its name. It is not of any one time nor of any one place. Stretching- from eternity to eternity, it encompasses past, present and future in its all-embracing fold. Neither is it for the benefit of any particular class, to the exclusion of other classes. It is for all men, and was made simple and plain that all might understand it, that its appeal might be universal. No creed comprehensible only to a few, no religion that mystifies the many, can by any possibility represent Him who died that the whole world might live. There is but one Savior, and but one Plan of a, Gal. 1 :6-9. b. Rev. 14:6. THE GOSPEL DISPENSATIONS. 97 Salvation ; yet that Savior has many servants, saviors in a subordinate sense/ and His saving plan encompasses many truths, apportioned to the several branches of the human family, in measure large or small, according to their capacity to receive, and their ability to wisely use the knowl- edge meted out to them. Sublimest Things are always the simplest. This is preeminently true of the Gospel — the simple, sublime Story of God. A child can comprehend it; and at the same time it is capable of taxing to the limit the powers of the highest human intellect. It is the profoundest system of philosophy that the world has ever known. All true principles of science are parts of it, broken-off fragments of this grand Rock of Ages — or, to change the figure, pools caught in the hollows and clefts of Time, when' the great flood of Truth, during one or more of its earthly visitations, swept by on its way back to the Eternal Ocean. All that is precious and exalting in religion springs from this ancient source of divine wisdom and intelligence. Who knows not this, knows not the Gospel. . Why Man-Made Systems Endure. — Every form of faith that has benefited its believers, must have possessed at some time a portion of Divine Truth. That is what per- petuated it — not the errors associated therewith. These are as cobwebs and dust, the accumulated rubbish of false tradi- tion, in which the jewel was wholly or in part hidden. Every creed, Christian or Pagan, that has proved a real blessing to its votaries, is* as a cistern holding within it waters once wholesome and pure, waters that fell originally from Heaven in one of those grand spiritual showers called dis- pensations of the Gospel, when the flood-gates of Eternity were lifted, that the world might be refreshed. c, Rev. 14:1, 4; D. and C. 77:11. 7 98 A MARVEL AND A WONDER. God's Word Apportioned. — The Book of Mormon throws light upon this theme. A Nephite prophet says : "Oh, that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry re- 1 pentance unto every people ; . . . "But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me. . . . "I know that he granteth unto men according to their desires, whether it be unto death or unto life ; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men according to their wills ; whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction. "Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all men; he that„knowetb not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given ac- cording to his desires ; whether he desireth good or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience. "Now seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called ? "Why should I desire that I were an angel, that I could speak unto all the ends of the earth? "For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word; yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have." d Does that sound as if "Mormonism" takes no cognizance of what is going on in the outside world? How can any intelligent reader arise from a study of the "Mormon" faith, convinced that the- Latter-day Saints are not interested in anything beyond the bounds of their own d, Alma 29:1-8. THE GOSPEL DISPENSATIONS 99 social and religious system? That one selection from the Book of Mormon suffices to refute the false notion. Of Their Own Nation and Tongue. — All down the ages, men bearing the Priesthood, the authority to repre- sent God, have officiated for him and ministered in behalf of mankind. And other good and great spirits, not holding that authority, but imbued with a desire to benefit and up- lift their fellows, have been sent into different nations, to give them, not the fulness of the Gospel, but that measure of truth and light that they had the power to appreciate and put to worthy use. Why came Socrates, Confucius, Zoroaster and Gautama ? Why not Christ alone? Truth answers : Graded are the Master's teachings, Lest come wasteful overflowing, With a swifter condemnation For indifference or rejection. Milk, not meat, for infant palates, Spirit babes, though mental giants, Unprepared for strong nutrition, Ministered by agents mightier.^ The Arab and the Caliph. — But spirit waters, like the waters of earth, will lose their sweetness and purity, if separated too far or too long from their Fountain-head. They will become stagnant and unwholesome, like the drink carried by the poor Arab in his leathern bottle, from the sparkling spring in the desert to the distant palace of the Caliph, who magnanimously rewarded the giver, not for the rank draught presented for his acceptance, but for the goodness of his motive, the sincerity of his soul. An Oft-restored Religion. — Man's proneness to de- part from God and to mix with the clear precepts of divine e, "Love and the Light," pp. 74, 75 100 A MARVEL AND A WONDER. truth his own muddy imaginings, has made necessary more than one restoration of the primal and pure religion. The Gospel of Christ did not make its first appearance upon this planet at the time of the Savior's crucifixion. While it seemed a new thing to that( generation, who were "aston- ished at his doctrine," in reality it was older than all the ages, older than Earth itself. Originating in the heavens before this world was framed, it had been revealed to man in a series of dispensations, beginning with Adam and ex- tending down to Christ. The Book with Seven Seals. — Revelation is silent as to the number of the Gospel dispensations. But there are those — and the present writer is among them — who in- cline to the belief that seven is the correct figure; a belief partly founded upon the Scriptural or symbolical charac- ter of that number, and partly upon Joseph Smith's teach- ings relative to the seven great periods corresponding to the seven seals of the mystical book seen by John the Revelator in his vision on Patmos/ The World's Hidden History. — According to the Prophet's exegesis, the book mentioned in the Apocalypse "contains tha revealed will, mysteries and works of God — the hidden things of his economy concerning this earth dur- ing the seven thousand years of its continuance or its tem- poral existence." Each thousand years is represented by one of the seals upon the book — the first seal containing "the things of the first thousand years, and the second also of the second thousand years, and so on until the seventh. "£ The opening of these) seals by the Lamb of God signifies, as I understand, the revealing of a Heaven-kept record of God's dealings with man upon this planet. 7 * \ f, Rev. 5, 6, 8. g, D. and C. 77 :6, 7, 12. h, Rev. 20:12. THE GOSPEL DISPENSATION. 101 Are They Dispensations? — These seven periods — millenniums — may or may not be Gospel dispensations, periods of religious enlightenment, during which the Plan of Salvation and the powers of the Priesthood have been among men, alternating with seasons of spiritual darkness. But whether or not they be so regarded, it is interesting to think of them as covering the same ground, paralleling those dispensations, or extending through the same vast stretch of duration, and dealing with events and epochs, principles and personages, connected therewith. Symbolical and Prophetic. — Whatever their number, or the names by which they may be properly known, it is evident that the Gospel dispensations are inter-related and progressive, each preparing the way before its successor. Altogether, they represent God's special dealings with man, from the beginning down to the end of the world. They are also symbolical and prophetic, pointing forward to a great and wonderful Consummation, the long-heralded era of Restitution, when part will blend with perfect, when past dispensations will all be gathered into one — the Eternal Present, God's great Today, wherein is neither past nor future.* i, Alma 40 :8. PART FOUR A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES ARTICLE FOURTEEN. The Adamic Age. "Dispensation" Defined. — What is meant by "dis- pensation." The term has a variety of meanings. To dis- pense is to deal out or distribute in portions, as when the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is dispensed to a religious congregation. "Dispensations of Providence" is a phrase used to describe the Creator's dealings with his creatures, either for joy or sorrow. In theology "dispensation" sig- nifies the method or scheme whereby Deity has at different times developed his purposes and revealed himself to man. As I now use the term, it stands for the opening of the heavens and the sending forth of the Gospel and the Priesthood for purposes of salvation. It also denotes the period of time during which the saving and exalting principles thus sent forth, continue operative in pristine power and purity. The Great Patriarch. — Adam, the patriarch of the hu- man family, is over all the Gospel dispensations, including the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, which is virtually all dispensations rolled into one. Nevertheless, each has its own immediate presiding authority, holding the keys of his particular period — holding them under Adam, the universal head. a Distinctive Features. — Each Gospel Dispensation has certain distinguishing characteristics, and stands for some a, Hist. Ch. Vol 4, pp. 208, 209. In this connection we are told that Adam's son Abel holds "the keys of his dispensation ;" that is to say, of the First Dispensation, the one in which Abel figured (D. and C. 84:16). And yet it is called the Adamic Dispensation, for Adam also figured therein. 106 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. particular development of the Divine Purpose. Thus, the First Dispensation presents the following distinctive features : 1. The institution of the Law of Sacrifice, fore- shadowing the Atonement that was to be made for the re- demption of fallen man. 2. The introduction and earliest promulgation of the Gospel, for which the Law of Sacrifice had prepared the way. [| 3. The initial exercise of the Patriarchal Power, in be- half of the whole human race. The Law of Sacrifice. — The Lav/ of Sacrifice was re- vealed from Heaven soon after our First Parents were banished from Eden. God, from whose presence they were shut out, spoke "from the way toward the Garden,'' com- manding them to "offer the firstlings of their flocks for an offering unto the Lord." Adam obeyed, and after many days an Angel appeared to him, saying: "Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord?" Adam replied: "I know not, save the Lord commanded me." The Angel then said: "This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father. Wherefore thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore." So runs the sacred story, as rendered by Joseph the Seer.^ The Past Obscured. — It is not to be supposed, how- ever, that this was Adam's first knowledge of the sacrificial statute, concerning which he must have known before it was revealed to him in mortal life. Adam was no ordinary man. He was a great and wonderful character, and the world has not seen the last of him. Undoubtedly he was among those who sat in the eternal councils when the \ b, Moses 5:4-8. THE ADAM I C AGE. 107 Gospel plan was instituted and its mighty Executor chosen. Surely he knew about the Lamb of God, already slain in the spirit before the creation of the world, and, in Adam's time, yet to be slain literally in the .world — an event symbolized by the very sacrifice that the first man was offering when the Lord's messenger appeared to him. But Adam had lost the knowledge of his spirit past. It had been temporarily taken from him in order that his agency might be free and untrammeled, his conduct un- influenced by any recollection of a former experience. Hence the need of the Angel's coming to enlighten him, and the further need of revelation by the Holy Spirit, bringing things past to remembrance and showing things to come. Acceptable and Unacceptable Offerings. — Adam's worship was acceptable to God, for he was in every way obedient to the divine instruction ; his offering truly sym- bolizing the heavenly Lamb, subsequently foretokened in the Feast of the Passover. Abel made a similar offering — of the firstlings of his flock; "and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering."' 7 But Abel's elder brother, Cain, who also had been taught the Law of Sacrifice, took it upon himself to de- viate from the course marked out. Instead of a lamb, he "brought of the fruit of the ground" — an offering in nd way symbolical of the Savior. His offering was rejected ; d for "the ordinances must be kept in the very way God has appointed. " e The Gospel Introduced. — The way was now prepared for the introduction of the great redemptive scheme thac c, Gen. 4:4. d, Tb. 4:5; Heb. 11:4. e, Hist. Ch. Vol. 4, pp. 208, 209. 108 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. was to lift fallen man and open to him the opportunities for endless increase and progression. Instead of preaching "another gospel," or inventing some new form of ordinance, as the misguided Cain might have done, Adam adhered to the Gospel in its purity, carrying out to the letter the in- structions God had given. He, by his own voice, com- manded Adam to believe, to repent, and to be baptized ; and, as it is written : "He was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water; "after which the Spirit descended upon him, "and he heard] a voice out of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire and with/ the Holy Ghost."/ "And thus the Gospel began to be preached from the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost. And thus all things were con- firmed unto Adam by an holy ordinance, and the Gospel preached, and a decree sent forth that it should be in the world until the end thereof, "s Seeming Differences Reconciled. — Apropos of that ancient decree, I was once asked to reconcile the statement concerning it with the idea of a new dispensation. The question came to me in this form: "If the Gospel was to be 'in the world' from Adam's time "until the end,' what was the need of restoring it — bringing it back again?" I answered, in substance: "The two propositions do not really contradict each other. The Gospel has been in the world from Adam's day until now, by a series of dis- pensations, reaching through the entire range of human his- tory. The gaps between, so wide to us, count for little with f, Moses 6:64-66. g, lb. 5 :58, 59. THE AD AM I C AGE. 109 Deity, to whom past, present and future are one. /j The finite mind is prone to take short and narrow views of things, tangling itself up in little quibbling details that often give a great deal of trouble. But the Eternal sweeps the whole universe with infinite gaze, and what seem mountains to men are less than mole-hills in His sight. He has found ic necessary, at different times, to withdraw the Gospel and the Priesthood from the midst of mankind; and yet, by repeated restorations, forming a continuous chain of dis- pensations, he has kept the Gospel and the Priesthood in the world from the beginning down to the present.* Seth Succeeds Abel. — Abel fell a martyr to, the Truth. Slain by his envious brother/ he was succeeded by Seth, another brother, born subsequently. Seth was typical of the Son of God, not only because he was "a perfect man," but because "his likeness was the express likeness of his father's, insomuch that he seemed to be like unto his father in all things, and could be distinguished from him only by his age."* Adam-ondi-Ahrnan. — Says Joseph the Seer : "I saw Adam in the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman. He called to- gether his children and blessed them with a patriarchal blessing."' The vision was of course retrospective, hav- ing reference to the time when Adam dwelt on earth. The same event is more fully set forth as follows : h, Alma 40 :8. i, It might also be argued that in the spirit World, which is a part of the planet that we inhabit, the Gospel has been preached for ages ; so that the dead or the departed might have opportunity to embrace it (I Peter 4:6). And the withdrawal of the Gospel from this temporal sphere would not necessarily involve its withdrawal from that spiritual sphere. Thus, the divine edict, that the Gospel "should be in the world until the end thereof,' , receives additional vindication. L Gen. 4:8. ft, D. and C. 107:43. I, Hist. Ch. Vol. 3, p. 388. 110 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. "Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth Enos Cainan Mahalaleel Jared Enoch and Methuselah, who were all High Priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam- ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last bless- ing. "And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the Prince, the Archangel. "And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam, and said unto him, I have set thee to be at the head — a multi- tude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them forever. "And Adam stood up in the midst of the congregation, and notwithstanding he was bowed down with age, being full of the Holy Ghost, predicted whatsoever should be- fall his posterity unto the latest generation. " m Ancient of Days. — But Adam is to come again — is tc come as the Ancient of Days, fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel." And he will come to the very place where, bowed with the weight of more than nine centuries, he blessed his posterity before the ending of his earthly career. In the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman^ will sit the Ancient of Days, counseling his children — all who are worthy of that high privilege — and preparing them for the coming of the Son of God. A Close Relationship. — I have said that the Gospel dispensations are inter-related. It need only be added that the mighty patriarchal blessing — the mightiest ever given — m, D. and C. 107:53-56. n, Dan. 7:9, 13, 22; Hist. Ch. Vol. 3, p. 386. o, Gen. 5 :5. \ p, D. and C. 116. THE ADiAMIC AGE. Ill ui which Father Adam forecast the history of the human race, taken in connection with his prospective advent into the midst of his righteous descendants, upon the precise spot where he bestowed his farewell benediction and ut- tered his wonderful world-covering prophecy, indicates a very close relationship between the First and the Final dis- pensations of the Gospel. ARTICLE FIFTEEN. Enoch and his City. "Glorious things are sung of Zion, Enoch's city seen of old, Where the righteous, being perfect, Walked with God in streets of gold. Love and virtue, faith and wisdom, Grace and gifts were all combined; As himself each loved his neighbor, All were of one heart and mind." "The Seventh from Adam." — Enoch, "the seventh from Adam" in patriarchal succession, was contemporane- ous with the father of the human family. Indeed, he was ordained and blessed by Adam, and was with him in the historic Valley where the future of the race was foretold by its venerable founder, ! Enoch's period was prolific of wonderful events, but the two standing out most prom- inently are : First : — The successful practice of the Law of Consecra- tion, resulting in the founding of Zion, City of Holiness, which was sanctified through obedience to that high and holy principle, and translated or taken into Heaven with- out tasting of deaths Second ; — Enoch's vision of the future, extending past the Deluge, past the Crucifixion, down even to the Last Days and the glorious coming of the Christ. The Power of Godliness. — Did the Zion-builder of the Adamic age stand at the head of a Gospel dispensa- tion? Whether he did or did not, it is evident, from what has been revealed concerning him and his ministry, that the message of salvation was preached by him in mighty a, D. and C. 107:48, 53-56. b, Heb. 11:5. ENOCH AND HIS CITY. 113 power and with marvelous success. The world, though young", had grown old in wickedness, and the need for repentance was urgent/' "So great was the faith of Enoch," and so powerful the language that God had given him, "the earth trembled and the mountains fled, even according to his command ; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness ; and all nations feared greatly, so power- ful was the word of Enoch. " d The Law of Consecration. — Among warring nations and in the midst of sanguinary strife, Enoch, inspired and directed by the Almighty, introduced and established a social order which cannot be better described than in the simple, sublime pharasing of the Book of Moses, the sacred volume just cited : "And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind and dwelt in righteousness ; and there was no poor among them."* "Zion ?s Fled." — "In process of time" consecration brought sanctification, and eventually translation, to the City of Enoch, regarding which, after its ascension, wenc forth the saying: "Zion is fled."^ The Tower of Babel. — The people who built the Tower of Babel are said to have done so in order that its top might "reach unto heaven." It was to prevent them from accomplishing this purpose, that the Lord confounded their language.^ Tradition credits Joseph Smith with the statement that the "heaven" they had in view was the translated city. c, Moses 6:27,28. d, lb. 7:13. e, lb. 7:18. Compare Acts 4:32, 34, 35 ; 4 Nephi, 1:2, 3. f, Moses 7:69. g, Gen. 11:1-9. 114 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. The Jaredites. — A righteous remnant of the people, namely, the Jaredites, had been exempted from the gen- eral curse of tongue confusion ; h and through them the pure Adamic language was preserved on earth.* ' The Jaredites, divinely led, separated themselves from the other inhabitants of the land, and migrated to North America. Here they flourished for many centuries, and then fell, a slaughtered race, ruined by internal dissension/ Translation and Resurrection. — Translation, says the Prophet Joseph, does not take men "immediately into the presence of God." For translated beings there is a ter- restrial "place of habitation," where they are "held in re- serve to be ministering angels unto many planets," and "have not yet entered into so great a fulness as those who are resurrected from the dead." Enoch received from God an appointment to minister to beings of this character.^ h, Ether 1 :33-37. i, Orson Pratt, citing an unpublished revelation, says : "What is the name of God in the pure language ? The answer says : 'Ahman.' What is the name of the Son of God? Answer, 'Son Ahman, the greatest of all the parts of God, excepting Ahman.' What is the name of men? "Sons Ahman' is the answer." — Journal of Dis- courses, Vol. 2, p. 342. ;, Omni 1:21,22; Mosiah 8:6-12; 28:17. See also Article Five. k, Hist. Ch. Vol. 4, pp. 209, 210. Commenting upon that passage of scripture, "Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection" (Heb. 11:35) the Prophet says: "Translation obtains deliverance from the tortures and sufferings of the body; but their existence will prolong as to the labors and toils of the ministry, be- fore they can enter into so great a rest and glory. On the other hand those who were tortured not accepting deliverance, received an immediate rest from their labors." He also explains the dif- ference between an angel and a ministering spirit — "the one a resur- rected or translated body, with its spirit, ministering to embodied spirits ; the other a disembodied spirit, visiting or ministering to disembodied spirits."- ... Translated beings, "designed for future missions," "cannot enter into rest until they have under- gone a change equivalent to death." — "The Mediation and Atone- ment.' pp. 75, 76. ENOCH AND HIS CITY. 115 The Future Unveiled. — Enoch walked with God, and was shown "the world for the space of ; many generations. "' He beheld the Millennial Dawn, and the darkest hour before the dawn. "He saw great tribulations among the wicked, and he also saw the sea, that it was troubled.'" In a splen- did outburst of epic poetry, the inspired oracle tells how Zion was taken up into heaven ; how Satan "veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness ;" how he and his angels rejoiced ; how "the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people and wept;" and how the heavens wept also, shedding "their tears as the rain upon the mountains." Enoch, addressing the compassionate Creator, inquires : "How is it that thou canst weep, seeing* thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity? And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea millions of earths like this_, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations,and thy curtains are stretched out still. . . . And thou hast taken Zion to thine own bosom from • all thy creations, from all eternity to all eternity; and naught but peace, justice and truth is the habitation of thy throne ; and mercy shall go before thy face and have no end ; how is it thou canst weep?" The Holy One answers, portraying the impending doom, the destruction of the wicked by the Flood, and their imprisonment in spirit dungeons until the coming of the Christ, bringing deliverance to the penitent.^ The Mother of Men. — Enoch hears a voice from the depths of the Earth : "Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am /, Moses 7:4. m, lb. v. 66. Compare D. and C. 61 :4-6, 14-19. n, Moses 7:26, 28. a, lb. vv. 29-31. p, I Peter 3:18-20; 4:6. 116 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest . . . when shall my Creator sanctify me, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?' 7 The Creator's Covenant. — "And the Lord said unto Enoch : As I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfill the oath which I have made unto you concerning the children of Noah. And the day shall come that the earth shall rest. "But before that day the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of darkness shall cover the earth ; and the heavens shall shake, and also the earth ; and great tribulations shall be among the children of men. But my people will I pre- serve. r Another Zion Promised. — "And righteousness will 1 send down out of heaven, and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead ; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming ; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem. "And the Lord said unto Enoch : Then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there, and we will receive them into our bosom, and they shall see us; and we will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our necks, and we will kiss each other: "And there shall be mine abode, and it shall be Zion, which shall come forth out of all the creations which I have q t Moses 7:48. r, lb. w. 60, 61. ENOCH AND HIS CITY. 117' made; and for the space of a thousand years the earth shall rest."* Awaiting its Return. — According to these teachings, the City of Enoch is now on a terrestrial plane, awaiting its return to Earth, when the season shall be ripe and the prepa- ration complete for its reception. The change wrought upon its inhabitants by translation not being equivalent to resur- rection, they will undergo a further change to prepare them for celestial glory. The Saints remaining on earth to meet the Lord will likewise be changed, not by the "sleep" of death, but "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," at the time of the Savior's coming.* When he comes, Enoch's City will come with him, Zion from above blending with Zion from below, as spirit and body in the resurrection. The Ancient Types the Modern. — The Ancient Zion foreshadowed the Zion of the Last Days, with which it is destined to blend." In Enoch's day the Lord's people, consecrating to Him their all, became equal in earthly as in heavenly things ; and the righteous unity resulting from that blest condition brought forth the peace and power of sanctity. So shall it be and more when the Lord brings again Zion. s, Moses 7:62-64. t, I Cor. 15:51. 52. u, D. and C. 84:99-102. ARTICLE SIXTEEN. Noah and the Deluge. Methuselah, Son of Promise. — God, having shown to Enoch the approaching utter destruction of Earth's wicked inhabitants, covenanted with the founder of the Sacred City that the repeopler of the devastated globe should be of his lineage. In order that this promise might not fail, Enoch's son, Methuselah, distinguished among men as the one who attained to the greatest ag'e in mortality, "was not taken" when Zion was translated, but remained to become the father of Lamech and grandfather of Noah.* 7 Earth's Baptism. — The Deluge was Earth's baptism. Baptism symbolizes birth or creation. In a certain sense, our planet was "born of water and of the Spirit" at the very beginning/ In Noah's day, which was reminiscent of that beginning, it experienced a rebirth, "a washing of regeneration," typical of a spiritual and fiery immersion yet to come. Like Unto Adam. — It devolved upon Noah to recom- mence, after the Flood, the work begun by the great sire of the race under God's original command — the command to "multiply and replenish the earth." Noah's time, there- fore, typified the period of the Creation. He, like Adam, "was the father of all living in his day, and to him was given the dominion. " d The Flood Foretold.— Blest and ordained by Methu- saleh when but ten years old, Noah, like his predecessors in a, Gen. 5 27. b, Moses 8:2-9. c, Gen. 1 :2, 9. d, Hist. Ch. Vol. 3, p. 386. NOAH AND THE DELUGE. 119 the patriarchal line, was a prophet and a preacher of right- eousness. The word of the Lord came to him, saying : "My spirit shall not always strive with man; . . . yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years ; and if men do not repent, I will send in the floods upon them." They hearkened not, and God then decreed : "The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence, and behold I will destroy all flesh from! off the earth. " e Shem, Ham and Japheth. — Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth — naming them in the order usually given. Japheth, however, was the eldest, and Ham the youngest, of these brothers/ They were among the eight survivors of the Deluge ; g "and of them was the whole earth overspread." 71 Japheth peopled Europe, Shem Asia, and Ham Africa. Noah's blessing upon Shem and Japheth, and his curse upon Canaan, son of Ham, are thus recorded : "Cursed be Canaan ; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. "God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant."' The Curse upon Canaan. — Part of the curse upon Canaan was "a blackness," similar to that which had been placed upon "the seed of Cain."-' The curse also deprived the Canaanites of the Priesthood ; though they were blessed c, Moses 8:17, 30; Gen. 6:3,13. f, lb. 8:12; Gen. 10:21. t I Peter 3 :20. /;, Gen. 9:19. i, lb. 9:22-27. /, lb. 4:15; Moses 7:8,22. 120 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. "with the blessings of the earth and' with the blessings of wisdom."* Ham's sin, which brought the curse upon Canaan — a sin vaguely hinted at in the sacred narrative — may not be fully known; but even if it were, there would still remain the unsolved problem of the punishment of a whole race for an offense committeed by one of its ancestors. It seems reasonable to infer that there was a larger cause, that the sin in question was not the main issue. Tradition has hand- ed down something to that effect, but nothing conclusive of the question is to be found in the standard works of the Church. Of one thing we may rest assured: Canaan was not unjustly cursed, nor were the spirits who came through his lineage wrongly assigned. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Or, putting it inversely: Whatso- ever a man reaps, that hath he sown. This rule applies to spirit life, as well as to life in the flesh. Israel and the Gentiles. — From Shem came Abraham and the House of Israel ; from Japheth, the Gentiles, found- ers of the most civilized and enlightened nations of mod- ern times, including Great Britain, France, and the United States of America. How wonderfully God has "enlarged Japheth," the original Gentile ! Israel wields the powers of the Priesthood, and admin- isters the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. These are his prerogatives. But the children of Japheth also have their mission — a mission in statecraft and commerce, in science and art, in discovery, invention, and kindred activities. It was the Gentiles who discovered and peopled Amer- ica : who fought for and won the freedom and independence of this chosen land, an event preparatory — though they knew it not — to the founding of a government under which k, Abr. 1 :26, NOAH AND THE DELUGE. 121 Christ's work might come forth and not be crushed out by the tyranny of man. The God of Israel was with Columbus, with Washington, with the Pilgrim Fathers, with the pat- riots who founded this republic' — Gentiles all, though probably of a mixed lineage, having much of the blood of Israel in their veins. m He is with all good and great men whose hearts are set to do right and to uplift humanity — is with them, whether they recognize it or not, and he uses them as seemeth him good, to effect his beneficent designs. Ham's Descendants. — The descendants of Ham be- came eminent, wealthy, wise and powerful in Egypt, "the cradle of civilization ;" reaping "the blessings of the earth" and the blessings "of wisdom," richly .realizing the heaven- inspired promises made to their forebears. They have pros- pered also in other African countries. But in Europe, America, and other lands, they were long held in slavery. Nor are the days of their bondage even now at end in Africa and some parts of Asia. The Ethiopian has served the Gentile and the Semite, just as Noah predicted. Japheth and "The Tents of Shem."— What are "the tents of Shem?" In the Scriptures "tent" is a term used figuratively as well as literally. The canopy of heaven is compared to a tent ; as is also the Church of Christ and the city of Jerusalem." The word may therefore be ap- plied to a country or a place of sojourn. How Japheth has I, I Nephi 13:12-19. m, The word "Gentile," as used in "Mormon" writings, is not a term of reproach. It comes from "Gentilis," meaning "of ai nation," and is used in sacred history to designate the nations not of Israel. The Latter-day Saints themselves, are Gentiles in part ; for while they claim lineal descent from the Hebrew patriarchs, it is mostly through Ephraim, who "mixed himself among the people" (Hosea 7:8) — that is. among the peoples that have furnished proselytes to "Mormonism." As a result of that racial mixture, they also are of Japheth's blood. n, Isa. 40:22; 54:2; 33:20. 122 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. dwelt "in the tents of Shem," is partly shown by the his- tory of Palestine, Israel's original homeland, long dom- inated by the Saracens and Turks — both Gentile peoples — and only recently delivered from the Moslem yoke by the military power of the British, a racial blending of Ja- pheth and Shem. Japheth's remarkable blessing has also been realized in America, the Land of Joseph, which the Gentiles now pos- sess, and where, according to the Book of Mormon, they are to assist in gathering Israel and in building the New Jerusalem. It is their privilege to share, if they will, in all the blessings of the chosen people, and to be even as the seed of Abraham.*' The Asiatic, and especially the Israelitish countries, with North and South America — homes of God's people, an- cient and modern, now inhabited by the children of Japheth ■ — these I think, may be properly regarded as among "the tents of Shem." As it Was, So it Shall Be. — Noah's period had a twofold significance. Pointing backward as well as for- ward, it symbolized both the Beginning and the End. The reminiscent pointing has already been indicated. The pro- phetic import is made plain by the words of the Savior, when weeping over Jerusalem and predicting the down- fall of the Jewish commonwealth, an event also typical of the final destruction of the wicked : "As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be ' In Noah's day "a veil of darkness" covered the earth. A like condition is to characterize the Last Day, thus foretok- o, The delivery of the Holy Land from the Turks dates from December 11, 1917, when General Allenby, at the head of a British army, entered and took possession of the City of Jerusalem. Sub- sequently Herbert Samuel, an English Jew, was made Governor of Palestine bv the British Government. p, Abr. 2:10. q, Matt. 24:37-39. NOAH AND THE DELUGE. 123 ened. r The disaster that overwhelmed the Antediluvians, destroying the wicked with water, is to have as its sequel a more fearful calamity, in which the unrighteous will be consumed by fire from Heaven. And as unexpectedly as came the regenerating Flood wherein our planet was once immersed, will come the purifying Flame that shall cleanse it from all iniquity and prepare it for eternal glory. r, Moses 7 :26, 61 ARTICLE SEVENTEEN. Abraham and the House of Israel. The Lord's Lineage. — The House of Israel was es- tablished in order that the God of Israel, who became the Savior of the World, might have a proper lineage through which to come, and a worthy medium whereby to promote His great and benevolent designs toward the human family. "Prince of God." — The name "Israel" means "Prince of God," and is first used in the Scriptures as the surname of Jacob, from whom sprang the Hebrew nation or the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Jacob, returning from Padan- Aram, whither he had fled from the jealous wrath of his brother Esau, came to the ford Jabbok, where "there wrest- led a man with him until the breaking of day." We are left to infer that Jacob believed this "man" to be God ; for he "called the name of the place Peniel," saying, "I have seen God face to face." "Let me go," demanded the heavenly visitant. "I will not let thee go," replied Jacob, "except thou bless me." The "Man" then blessed him and changed his name from Jacob to Israel; "for," said he, "as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Jacob's Blessing Confirmed. — Subsequently the name Israel was confirmed upon Jacob at Bethel, where the Lord appeared to him and blessed him, promising that a nation and a company of nations should be of him, and that kings should come out of his loins. & The Father of the Faithful.— But while this was the origin of the name Israel as applied to Jacob, it was not the a. Gen. 32:22-30. b, lb. 35:10, 11. ABRAHAM AND THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. 125 origin of the race of which he is the titular head. It is writ- ten that Jacob's wives, Rachel and Leah, "did build the House of Israel ; c and build it they did, through their children and the children of their handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah, whom they had given to their husband as wives. Already, however, had the foundation of that house been laid by Jacob's grandsire, Abraham, the Friend of God, the Father of the Faithful. Jehovah's promises to Jacob and to his father Isaac concerning their posterity, were virtual repetitions of promises made to their great ancestor. "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee ; and I will make of thee a great nation; and I will . . . bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee ; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. " d Definition of "Hebrew." — Abram, for so was he then, called, dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees, a city of Mesopotamia, which signifies "between the rivers." The rivers were the Tigris and the Euphrates. Abram had to cross the Euphra- tes in order to reach Canaan, the land that the Lord showed him. Because of this circumstance, he was called by the Canaanites a "Hebrew," meaning "one from beyond the river." The origin of the name is also traced to Heber or Eber, one of the ancestors of Abram. Mesopotamia was the \ fountain-head of idolatry in Western Asia ; and because the | Lord wished to raise up a people who would worship him and him only, Abraham was required to separate himself from his idolatrous surroundings/ Meeting with Melchizedek. — Following his arrival in Canaan, and a brief sojourn in Egypt, came the episode of Abram's meeting with Melchizedek, King of Salem and c, Ruth 4:11. d, Gen. 12:1-3; Abr. 2:3-11. e, Geike, "Hours with the Bible," Vol. 1, Ch, 13. 126 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. Priest of the Most High God. To him Abram gave a tenth part of the spoils that he had taken in battle with certain kings/ And Melchizedek blessed Abram and conferred upon him the Priesthood.^ The Law of Tithing. — This is the first Bible mention of the ancient Law of Tithing. "Consider," says the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, "how great this man was, unto whom even the Patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils." 7 ' So great indeed, that the Priesthood of the Son of God was named for him, and is now called the Priesthood of Melchizedek.* Abram Renamed. — After this interview with the King of Salem, the Lord appeared to Abram, established His cov- enant with him, and changed his name to Abraham, which signifies, "father of a multiude."- 7 ' The Offering of Isaac. — Then followed the supreme trial of Abraham's life — the offering, at Qod's command, of his son Isaac, an act foreshowing the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, who was to be slain for the world's redemption. But Abraham was not permitted to consum- mate the act.^ His integrity having been shown by his wil- lingness to do as he had been directed, a further mark of favor was given by Jehovah to his tried and faithful Friend. The original promise, "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed," was now expanded to: "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore ; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." f, Gen. 14:18. g, D. and C. 84:14. h, Heb. 7:4. i, D. and C. 107:1-4. /, Gen. 17:3-6. k. lb. 22:1-18. ABRAHAM AND THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. 127 Why Was Abraham Blessed? — What had Abraham done to merit this high distinction? He must have done something. God rewards men according to their works, and not even an Abraham would have received from Him an honor unmerited. It cannot be that he was chosen for so mighty a mission simply for migrating from his own to another country, nor even for his willingness to offer up his beloved son. As a matter of fact, the original promise was given before the sacrifice was demanded. Undoubtedly these acts of obedience were greatly to Abraham's credit, but how could they be placed to the credit of his posterity, the unborn millions who were to inherit the covenant and share in the great reward? The Problem Solved. — The Patriarch himself helps us to a solution of the problem : "Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the in- telligences that were organized before the world was ; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones. "And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said : These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good ; and he said unto me : Abraham, thou art one of them ; thou wast chosen before thou wast born."' The Pre-Existence. — Abraham had been shown in vision the spirits of the pre-existent human race, waiting for an earth to be made, that they might come upon it and pass through a mortal probation. Here they were to obtain bodies, thus becoming "souls, " m capable of eternal increase and progression. Also, they were to be tested as to their willingness to do all that the Lord might require of them. /, Abr. 3 :22, 23. Read also verses 24-26. m, Gen. 2:7; Moses 3:7, 9; D. and C. 88:15. 128 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. First and Second Estates. — They who "kept their first estate," manifesting fidelity in the pre-mortal life while "walking by sight," were to be "added upon" — that is to say, given bodies of flesh and blood, with opportunities for edu- cation and development. They who kept "their second es- tate," continuing loyal during their life on earth, where men are required to "walk by faith," with knowledge of the past temporarily obscured, would be glorified eternally." All were "good," but some better than others; and all were to be "added upon," yet not all alike. Some were more deserv- ing, some nobler and greater than others; and because of their superior merit and larger capacity, they were to be made "rulers" over the rest. Abraham was one of these. Sowing and Reaping. — Here is exemplified the great principle enunciated by St. Paul: "Whatsoever a man sow- eth, that shall he also reap." Rewards' and punishments are not all deferred until the final judgment at the end of the world. There is a judgment passed upon the spirits of men before they tabernacle in mortality. Satan and his dupes, failing to keep their first estate, were denied bodies/ while all the rest, rewarded for keeping their first estate, were given bodies, with the promise of a glorious resurrection after death. Thus, in a general way, punishment and re- ward were both meted out before this life began. A question put to the Savior by his disciples : "Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind T ,q — throws out a hint in the same direction. This is not to say, however, that all who suffer in the flesh have merited their sad fate. There are exceptions to the rule. n, Manifestly, the second estate is a greater test of integrity than the first, and ought to result, as it does to those who overcome, in a far more glorious reward. o, Gal. 6:7. p, See Article Twelve. q, John 9:2. ABRAHAM AND THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. 129 The Savior's case is one of them; and righteous Job's an- other. Speaking generally, however, man's conduct in one life conditions him in the life that follows. Original Excellence. — What had given to Abraham his superior standing in the Heavens ? Had he always been noble and great? Was it an original or an acquired excel- lence, or both ? That there is such a thing as original supe- riority, with varying degrees of intelligence among spirits, is plainly taught in the Book of Abraham ; r and that all intelli- gence is capable of improvement, needs no assertion. "I Know Abraham." — When God said of Abraham : "I know him,"* it is hardly probable that He was referring merely to a knowledge of him in the present life. The found- er of the Hebrew nation must have been one of the fore- known and predestined, mentioned bjy Paul* and by Alma" — must have been among those "called and prepared from the foundation of the world, on account of their exceeding faith and good works." It was "according to the foreknowl- edge of God;" but that foreknowledge, that divine pre- science, was based upon experience, and had history as well as prophecy for a foundation. Such characters as Abra- ham were cast for their parts in life's drama long before the curtain rose on the first act of the play. A Spirit Israel.- — There was a House of Israel in heaven before there was a Hebrew Nation on earth. Else what does Moses mean when he tells how the Most High, in "the days of old," in "the years of many generations," "separated the sons of Adam" and "set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel ?" v r, Abr. 3:18, 19. s, Gen. 18:19. t, Rom. 8:29. u, Alma 13 :3. v, Deut. 32:7, 8. 9 130 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. Ke must have had in mind, not a temporal Israel, unborn at the early period indicated, but a spirit Israel, according to whose numbers, known in heaven before they had taken bodies on earth, the boundaries of "the people" were de- termined. Privileges and Requirements. — It was intended that this chosen nation should have "room to dwell." It was of the utmost consequence that a people upon whom rested so weighty a responsibility should be well placed, with every facility for the accomplishment of the sacred mission unto which they had been called. They- were the oracles of God, the custodians and dispensers of heavenly wisdom. Upon them devolved the high duty of keeping alive on earthly al- tars the fires of Divine Truth. They were not to bow down to idols, as did the heathen nations around them, but worship the true God, the invisible Jehovah, walking by faith where others, less worthy, walked by sight demanding to see be fore they would believe. They were forbidden to inter- marry with other nations, lest they might worship the gods of those nations, practice their vices, and corrupt the noble lineage through which was to come the Savior of the World. The Lamb of God had to be "without blemish," and that he was so, physically and in every way, was partly due, no doubt, to the choice ancestry and parentage pro- vided for him. Gem and Setting. — Jesus of Nazareth, a descendant in the flesh of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, fulfilled the di- vine promise made to those patriarchs, that in their Seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed. But in con- templating the central fact of the Savior's personal minis- try, we must not overlook the related facts that went before or followed after. The gem has its setting. Christ re- deemed mankind, "treading the wine press alone;" but the ABRAHAM AND THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. 131 House of Israel prepared the way for his coming, and car- ried on the work that he began. This is especially true of the prophets who foretold his advent, and of the apostles who preached the Gospel to Jew and Gentile. There is only one Savior, but He has "many brethren," and they are pre- eminently "the salt of the earth," the preserving" or sav- ing element among men. Princes and Servants. — If the name Israel means "prince of God" when applied to Jacob, may it not mean "princes of God" when applied to his posterity? He was promised that kings should come out of his loins. And have they not come? — princes and priests and kings, the nobility of Heaven, though not always known and appre- ciated on earth. The Greatest among them was not rec- ognized even by "His own." The wise. Solomon was never wiser than when he said: "I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth. " w The mighty Prince of Peace, the glorious King of Heaven, walked unknown and unhonored by his own servants in the dust of his own footstool. w, Eccl. 10 :7. ARTICLE EIGHTEEN Moses and Aaron. Joseph in Egypt. — In the whole range of Bible litera- ture, if we except what is told of the Redeemer and Savior, there is nothing more beautiful than the story of Joseph in Egypt. Joseph the dreamer, sold into slavery, exalted to a throne, and becoming, by God's design, a savior to his father's house. Who cannot see in this a prophetic like- ness of the universal redemption wrought out by Him who descended below all, that He might rise above all, and de- liver the souls of men from spiritual famine and starva- tion? The Exodus. — Another foretokening of the same sub- lime event was Israel's exodus from Egypt, after centuries of oppression. Egypt, with its dusky population, devoid of priesthood and of gospel light, symbolized the sable bond- age of sin and death. Moses, leader of the Exodus, and reputedly "the meekest of men," a was a type of the Great Deliverer, "like unto Moses," who led an enslaved universe out from the Egypt of Darkness into the Promised Land of Freedom and Light. The Passover. — In commemoration of the Egyptian exodus, the Feast of the Passover was instituted, an ob- servance designed to perpetuate, in the minds of the chil- dren of Israel, their liberation from slavery, and at the same time prepare them to comprehend in due time, the mightier Redemption thus foreshadowed. The Passover was kept as follows : Obedient to God's command through Moses, each Israelitish household, on the a, Numbers 12:3. MOSES AND AARON. 133 eve of the departure out of Egypt, took a lamb, spotless and '"'without blemish," and slew it, sprinking its blood upon the posts and lintels of their doors. It was promised that the Angel of Death, sent to afflict the cruel nation for its mistreatment of the Lord's people, should, while slaying the first-born of every Egyptian family, pass over every Hebrew dwelling upon which the symbolic blood was found sprinkled in accordance with the divine command. Not a bone of the lamb was to be broken, nor a fragment of it left to decay; for it symbolized the Lamb of God, the Holy One, whose body was not to see corruption. 6 Neither was any bone of Him to be broken. In the Paschal Feast the body of the lamb was spitted (transfixt) upon two pieces of wood placed cross-wise, in- dicating prophetically the manner of the Savior's death. The flesh was then roasted and partaken of with bitter herbs and unleavened bread — flour and water hastily mixed ; the herbs typifying the bitterness of the bondage that was about to end, also the bitterness of death; and the hastily prepared meal the hurry of departure.* To further emphn size the idea of haste, the members of each Hebrew house- hold, while partaking of the feast, were to be clad as if for a journey. This solemn ceremonial was observed in Israel until the coming of Christ, who fulfilled in his own person and experience the poetic-prophetic symbolism. The Ten Commandments. — Sacred Patterns. — The children of Israel, after their miraculous passage of the Red Sea, encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai. There God b, Psalms 16:10. c, The observance thus described suggests Latter-day conditions, when, like the plagues sent upon Egypt, terrible judgments are to be poured out upon the wicked, so suddenly and so overwhelmingly that even "the righteous will scarcely escape," and when the Lord, in order to save some, will "cut short his work in righteousness." 134 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. gave to Moses the tables of stone containing the Ten Com- mandments, also the pattern of the Ark or Sanctuary, the symbol of the covenant that Jehovah had made with his peo- people. He likewise gave the pattern of the Tabernacle or holy tent where the Ark was to be deposited, where the priest would offer sacrifices and make atonement for the sins of the nation, and where the Lord would communicate by angels or by Urim and Thummim with the men chosen to represent Him in that sacred capacity. The Priesthood Organized. — Moses was of the Tribe of Levi, and son-in-law to Jethro the Midianite. The Mid- ianites were descended from Midian, the fourth son of Abraham by his wife Keturah.^ It was from Jethro that Moses received the Melchizedek Priesthood/ Thus qual- ified, the Israelite leader organized, by divine direction, the Lesser Priesthood, with his brother Aaron at its head/ Aaron's sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazer and Ithamar, were associated with him in the priest's office.^ Idolatry and Expiation. — Just prior to their setting apart as priests, and while Moses, with faithful Joshua, was up in the Mount, receiving the Law and the Testi- mony, Israel lapsed temporarily into idolatry. In the gold- en calf, which they persuaded Aaron to make for them, they worshiped the Egyptian god Apis, or, as Dr. Geikie suggests, the ox-headed god of the Asiatics. This sin de- manded and received prompt punishment. By command of Moses, the tribe of Levi — every man of which responded d, Gen. 25:1, 2; 1 Chr. 1:32. c, D. and C. 84:6. f, Ex. 28:1-3. g, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu were probably Elders acting as Priests. Such an inference is warranted by the fact that they, with Moses and seventy of the Elders of Israel, "saw the God of Israel" (Ex. 24:9, 10); which they could not have done with safety had they held only the Aaronic Priesthood (D. and C. 84:22). MOSES AND AARON. 135 to his loyal appeal, "Who's on the Lord's side?" — slew with the sword three thousand males among' the idolaters. The stern expiation complete, the work of organization proceeded. The Levites. — As an act coordinate with the destruc- tion of Egypt's first-born, the Lord had chosen the first- born males of all the families of Israel, and had set them apart for a special purpose. He now took the tribe of Levi, instead, and made of them the sacerdotal class of the nation ; a reward, no doubt, for the zeal they /had displayed in wiping out the stain of idolatry from Israel. The laws of Moses were then promulged and codified, and the sub- lime system of heaven-revealed religion was set in motion. A Nation on the March. — All being ready for the great march Zionward, the Camp of Israel struck its tents, and, guided by the Cloud and Pillar of Fire, moved ma- jestically through the Sinaitic desert toward the Wilderness of Paran. The descendants of Jacob numbered at that time nearly three million souls, including an army of half a million. They were divided into four camps of three tribes each, exclusive of the Levites ; Joseph being twice numbered in Ephraim and Manasseh, thus making up for the absence of the sacred class from the tribal count. Foremost rose alfot the lion standard of Judah, the future kingly power, out of which was to come the Savior- King- of Israel. Then followed the tribes and armies of Issachar and Zebulon, and after them the sons of Gershon and Merari (first and third sons of Levi), bearing the components of the Tabernacle, which it was their duty to set up and take down, as the Camp rested or resumed its jcurney. The standard of Reuben was next advanced, and immediatelv in his rear marched Simeon and Gad. The Ark 136 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. then appeared, borne in the very center of the moving host on the shoulders of the sons of Kohath. Ephraim and Manasseh followed; then Benjamin; the tribes of Dan, Ashur and Naphtali bringing up the rear. The Camp at Rest. — When the Cloud rested, indi- cating their stopping place, the tents were set surrounding the Tabernacle of the Congregation; the Levites encom- passing it immediately about, to prevent the unsanctified from approaching too near, and purposely or inadvertently defiling it — an offense punishable by death. When the Ark set forward, Moses exclaimed: "Rise up, O Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered!" When it rested, he said: "Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel!" A Period of Preparation. — The Chosen People no doubt cherished the hope of an early conquest of Canaan, the land which God had given to their forefathers ; a land inhabited at the time of the Exodus by various tribes alien to Jehovah and unfriendly to Israel. It was a case of hope deferred. Had the Lord's people been ready, the carrying out of the program of conquest and occupation would not have been delayed. But they were not ready, and the event was therefore postponed. There had to be a season of waiting, a period of preparation. Forty years were to elapse before that migrant host, disciplined by insjired leaders under strict and wholesome laws, would be in a state of preparedness to thrust in the sickle and reap the glorious harvest springing from the divine promises of the past. The Greater Priesthood Taken. — So long as Moses lived, both the Melchizedek and the Aaronic priesthoods were present and operative in Israel. But with the pass- ing of the great leader, went likewise the authority of the higher priesthood, without which "the power of godliness MOSES AND AARON. 137 is not manifest to men in the flesh." Nay, without it "no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live."* Moses had taught this to his people, seeking- diligently to sanctify them that they might behold God face to face. "But they hardened their hearts, and could not endure His presence. Therefore He took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also."' John the Baptist. — The Lesser Priesthood, with the law of carnal commandments, continued "with the house of Aaron among the children of Israel" until John the Baptist, in the Meridian of Time, came to "make straight the way of the Lord."- 7 ' This same John the Baptist, as an angel of God, came also in the Fulness of Times, re- storing the Aaronic Priesthood, as a forerunner to the Priesthood of Melchizedek, that there might be a prepara- tion for the second appearing of the Savior.* An Acceptable Offering. — Moses represents the Mel- chizedek Priesthood ; Aaron the Aaronic ; and "whoso is faithful unto the obtaining of these two priesthoods . . . and the magnifying of their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become, the sons of Moses and of Aaron, and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom and the elect of God."* Moses and Aaron were sons* of Levi, and their sons are to offer "an acceptable offering and sacrifice in the House of the Lord," which shall be built "upon the consecrated spot" "in this generation." Such is the divine promise. h, D. and C. 84:19-22. i, Tb., vv. 23-25. /, lb. 84:26-28. k, lb. 13. /, lb. 84:31-34. ARTICLE NINETEEN $ To the Ends of the Earth. Calamity's Compensations. — The compensations of calamity are apparent in some of the mightiest events that history chronicles. The Fall of Man, though it brought death into the world, proved the means of peopling a planet in accordance with the Creator's design. The Crucifixion of Christ, an overwhelming calamity to His terror-stricken disciples, who were disconsolate until they looked upon the tragedy in its true light, made effectual the predestined plan for man's salvation. The Disperson of Israel, that heavy stroke and burden of affliction under which God's people have groaned for ages, has been overruled to sub- serve the divine purpose, fulfilling in part the ancient prom- ise to the Hebrew Patriarchs, that in their seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed. A Martyred Nation. — The history of the house of Israel is the history of a martyred nation, suffering for the welfare of other nations — whatever may be said of the immediate cause of their woes, the transgressions that justi • fied the Shepherd in bringing upon his sheep troubles that were doubtless among the "offenses" that "must needs come." Adam fell that man might be ; Christ died to burst the bands of death ; and the chosen people were scattered over the world, in order that Gospel truth, following the red track of their martyrdom, might make its way more readily among the peoples with whom they were mingled. Moses Predicts the Dispersion. — Prophecies of Is- rael's dispersion were made as early as the time of Moses, fifteen hundred years before the advent of the Savior. TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. 139 When the Twelve Tribes were about to possess themselves of the Promised Land, their great leader, who was soon to depart, told them that so long - as they served Jehovah and honored his statutes, they should be prospered and remain an independent nation. But if they forsook Jehovah and served other gods, He would scatter them among all peo- ple, from onei end of the earth even unto the other. A House Divided. — Joshua, succeeding Moses, con- quered the land of Canaan and apportioned it among the Tribes of Israel. A season of prosperity and power was followed by decadence and ruin. As early as the days of the Judges the people began to depart from God and to in- vite by rebellious conduct the national calamity that had been predicted. The glory of the reigns of David and Solo- mon being past, the curse, long suspended, fell, and the Israelitish Empire hastened to decay. The tribes in the northern part of the land revolted and set up the Kingdom of Israel, distinct from the Kingdom of Judah, over which Solomon's son Rehoboam continued to reign. The tribe of Benjamin and the half tribe of Manasseh adhered to Judah. Ahijah, Amos and Hosea, — Jeroboam, King of Israel, made idolatry the state religion. During his reign the dis- persion was again predicted, Ahijah the prophet thus voic- ing the word of the Lord to his disobedient people : "The Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river." & Another prophet who foretold the same disaster was Hosea ; c still another, Amos, who declared that Israel should "surely go into captivity" and be "sifted among all a, Dent. 28 :64. b, T Kings 14:15. c, Hos. 7:8. 140 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. nations. " d Hosea's prophecy substitutes past for future, thus : "Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people," referring to the event in prospect as if it had already taken place. Possibly a prophetic vision — then past — had apprised this seer of what was coming, or it may have been only a figure of rhetoric, common even at the present day. "The Wolf on the Fold."— About the year 725 B. C. these prophecies began to have their fulfillment. The Assyrians came against the Kingdom of Israel and com- menced the work of its destruction. In a series of depor- tations they carried away the Ten Tribes — nine and a half, to be exact — and, as customary with conquerors in those days, supplied their places with colonists from other parts. The Lost Tribes. — Concerning the deported — the fa- mous "Lost Tribes" — very little is now known. Josephus, the Jewish historian, who wrote during the first century after Christ, states that they were then beyond the Eu- phrates ; and Esdras, in the Apocrypha, declares that they went a journey of a year and a half into "the north country." Scandinavian Cairns. — Missionaries returning from Scandinavia tell of rude monuments — cairns or piles of stones — yet to be seen in that northern region, and con- cerning which tradition asserts that they were erected many centuries ago by a migrating people. Whether or not these were the tribes of the Assyrian captivity, it is interesting to reflect that the rearing of such monuments, in commemoration of notable events, was an Israelitish custom, particularly as to the migratory movements of the nation. The miraculous passage of the Jordan by Joshua and the host led by him into the land of Canaan, was thus commemorated/ d, Amos 7:11; 9:9. c, Joshua 4:1-9. TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. 141 Other Ancient Remains. — If it be objected that monu- ments built seven centuries before Christ's birth could not have lasted down to this day, it will be in order for the objector to explain the existence of the perfectly preserved monuments of Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, and other ancient empires, whose remains have been uncovered by modern achaeological enterprise. Such a theory need not stagger the faith of a Latter-day Saint, when he recalls that the ruins of Adam's altar are still to be seen in that part of the Old-New World now known as the State of Mis- souri, where they were identified by Joseph the Seer in 1838. From the North Country. — At all events, it is from "the north country" that the lost tribes are to return, according to ancient and modern prophecy/ It is also a fact that from Scandinavia and other nations of North- ern Europe, has come much of the blood of Ephraim, now to be found within the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat- ter-day Saints. Isaiah and Jeremiah — -The Babylonian Captivity — Returning to the Kingdom of Israel. The prophecies con- cerning it were supplemented by other predictions fore- telling the fate of the Kingdom of Judah. Those great prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, figured during this period, and both portrayed in fervid eloquence, unparalleled for pathos and sublimity, the impending doom of the Jewish nation. Their government was destroyed, and they were carried into 'captivity by the Babylonians under Nebu- chadnezzar, B. C. 588. Lehi and His Colony. — Just prior to that catastrophe, and while the Prophet Jeremiah was delivering his fateful ^/ f, Jer. 31:8; D. and C. 110:11; 133:26. 1-12 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. message to king, princes, priests and people, Lehi and his companions, ancestors of the Nephites and Lamanites/ warned of God, left Jerusalem and crossed over to this land — America — which, by them and by Mulek's company that came later, was thus peopled with descendants of Joseph and of Judah, both represented, though in a de- generate state, by the savage red men whom Columbus, in A. D. 1492, discovered and named Indians. h Jerusalem Rebuilt— Ezekiel and Zechariah. — The Babylonian captivity lasted for seventy years. At the ex- piration of that period, some of the Jews, under the per- missive .edict of Cyrus the Great, who had conquered Babylon, returned and rebuilt their City and Temple. These, however, were only a remnant, numbering fifty thousand, led by Zerubbabel and Joshua. The bulk of the nation remained in a scattered condition. The Jews who rebuilt Jerusalem were those to whose descendants the Christ came, and predicted, after their rejection of him, that their "House 1 ' should be "left unto them desolate."' Meanwhile Ezekiel and Zechariah — the former in exile among the Babylonians, the latter at Jerusalem after the restoration — had added their predictions to those already uttered relating to Israel's dispersion. The Roman Conquest. — Centuries later, in Apostolic times, went forth the Epistle of James, with its greeting: g, See Article Five. h, Mark the features of the American Indian. Are they not Jew- ish? Quite as strikingly so, as that many of his traditions and cus- toms are Israelitish. Who than the savage Lamanite, better under- stands the Mosaic law of retaliation — "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?" Nor cares he to whom the eye or the tooth belongs, whether to the person who injured him, or to one of the latter's tribe or nation. He is too much of an Israelite to object to proxies and substitutes. i, Matt. 23 :37, 38. JO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. 143 "To the Twelve Tribes which are scattered abroad." But the dispersion, even then, was not complete. There were yet to be other painful experiences of the same kind. One of the most notable occurred in A. D. 70, when Titus the Roman came against Jerusalem, captured the city, and sold the inhabitants — such as had survived the horrors of the siege — into slavery, or scattered them through dif- ferent parts of the Empire. To follow the fortunes of this branch of the fated nation in all its subsequent migrations and wanderings, would fill volumes. What of the Benefits? — Let us now consider the question : In what way did these calamities upon Israel prove a blessing to the human race? How, by the scatter- ing of the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, was God's promise to those patriarchs in any degree fulfilled, that in their seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed? Already I have answered these questions in part, and will now answer them more fully. The Blood That Believes. — Through these acts of deportation, enforced exile, and voluntary wandering, the blood of Israel, the blood that believes, with choice spirits answering to that blood, and no doubt selected for the purpose, were sent into those nations where the Gospel has since been preached — spirits capable of recognizing and appreciating the Truth, and brave enough to embrace it, regardless of consequences ; thus setting an example of heroism, of obedience to the dictates of conscience, that would naturally appeal to the noble and upright surround- ing them, and influence them in the same direction. Mani- festly, that was of far greater consequence than the carry- ing by the captive Israelites of their laws, traditions and customs into those nations ; though this also would help 144 A GLANCE DOWN THE AGES. to prepare the way for the wonderful developments thai were to follow. Rapid Spread of Christianity. — And such things told in after years. One of the marvels of history is the rapid spread of Christianity in the days of the Apostles, who, unlettered as most of them were, and in the midst of the fiercest persecution, planted the Gospel standard in all the principal cities of the Roman Empire. From Jerusalem, the tidings of "Christ and him crucified" radiated to Britain on the west, to India on the east, to Scythia on the north, and to Ethiopia on the south — all within the short space of fifty years/ j, Dean Farrar, in his "Life and Work of St. Paul," contributes this luminous passage as explanatory of the rapid spread of Christi- anity : (I) The immense field covered by the conquests of Alexander gave to the civilized world a unity of language, without which it would have been, humanly speaking, impossible for the earliest preachers to have made known the good tidings in every land which they traversed. (II) The rise of the Roman Empire created a po- litical unity which reflected in every direction the doctrines of the new faith. (Ill) The dispersion of the Jews prepared vast multi- tudes of Greeks and Romans for the unity of a pure morality and a monotheistic faith. The Gospel emanated from the capital of Judea; it was preached in the tongue of Athens ; it was diffused through the empire of Rome ; the feet of its earliest missionaries traversed the solid structure of undeviating roads by which the Roman legion- aries— 'those massive hammers of the whole earth' — had made straight in the desert a highway for our God. Semite and Aryan had been unconscious instruments in the hands of God for the spread of a religion which, in its first beginnings, both alike detested and despised." A similar marvel is the spread of the restored Gospel through the Gentile nations of modern times, a work yet in its infancy. The proselyting success of the Latter-day Saints on both hemispheres, their great pilgrimage from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, the redemption of a wilderness, the founding of a State, and the extraordinary attention attracted bv the "Mormon'' people — altogether out of proportion to their numbers — these combined facts constitute a striking fulfillment of the prophetic oicture drawn by the Savior : "Ye are as a city set upon a hill which cannot be hid.'' TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. 145 Many Nations Sprinkled. — How could such things be, if Divine Providence had not prepared the way by sending the blood and genius of Israel into all nations, prior to pouring out upon those nations the Spirit of the Gospel and the Gathering? Others before Abraham had shown their faith by their works; but this does not disprove his claim to the title — "Father of the Faithful." Nor does it prove that the blood of faith, wherever found, is not his blood. The Moabite maiden Ruth, ancestor of Jesus of Nazareth; the Roman centurion, whose faith caused even the Savior to marvel; Cornelius and the Woman of Canaan — these were not of Israel, by recognized earth- ly descent; yet their spirits were well worthy of such a lineage, and in their veins was the believing blood with which God has "sprinkled many nations. " PART FIVE IN TIME'S MERIDIAN ARTICLE TWENTY. The Lamb of God. A stranger Star, that came from far, To fling its silver ray Where, cradled in a lowly cave, A lowlier infant lay; And led by soft sidereal light, The Orient sages bring Rare gifts of gold and frankincense, To greet the homeless King. *> * * He wandered through the faithfnless world, A Prince in shepherd guise; He called his scattered flock, but few The Voice did recognize; For minds unborne by hollow pride, Or dimmed by sordid lust, Ne'er look for kings in beggar's garb, For diamonds in the dust. * * * Transfixt he hung — O crime of crimes! — The God whom worlds adore. "Father forgive them!" Drained the dregs; Immanuel — no more. No more where thunders shook the earth, Where lightnings, 'thwart the gloom. Saw that unconquered Spirit spurn The shackles of the tomb. Far-flaming falchion, sword of light, Swift-flashing from its sheath, It cleft the realms of darkness and Dissolved the bands of death. Hell's dungeons burst! Wide open swung The everlasting bars, Whereby the ransomed soul shall win Those heights beyond the stars \ a a, "Elias," Canto 3, Part 2. 150 IN TIME'S MERIDIAN. The Crucified and Crowned. — An attempt! to tell, even in brief, the sublime story of the Christ, would be foreign to my present purpose, Even if space permitted, what pen could do justice to the theme? Suffice it that the Christ came, in the Meridian of Time, as ancient seers and prophets had foretold. Surrendering himself to to death, that there might be no more death, He arose from the grave and ascended on High, glorified with that glory which the Eternal Son had with the Eternal Father before this world was formed. The Passover Realized. — In the Savior's crucifixion, the prophetic symbolism of the Passover had a most re- markable realization. In nothing was this more strikingly manifest than in certain incidents immediately follow- ing the Death on Calvary. The commandment instituting the Paschal Feast required that no bone of the, lamb should be broken, .and no fragment of it be left to decay, representing as it did the body of the Holy One, which was not "to see corruption. " fc Mark now the exact fulfillment: The Savior had been crucified between two thieves, and at sundown on the day of crucifixion the Jewish Sabbath began. In order that the day might not be "desecrated," the Rabbis prevailed upon the Roman governor to have the three bodies taken down from the crosses and buried/ When the soldiers went to remove the bodies, finding the two thieves still alive, they put an end to them by break- ing their legs ; but Jesus was spared this further indignity. h. Psalms 16:10. r. The hypocrites! They could commit murder, could cause the death of the innocent, and feel no commmction : hut thev were horrified at the thought of a technical Sabbath-day desecra- tion. Could there he a more glaring 1 instance of "straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel"? THE LAMB OF GOD 151 he being- "dead already."^' Pierced with five wounds, yet not a bone of him broken, the Lamb of God, answering in every particular to the likeness of the paschal lamb, was laid in the rocky tomb, whence He came forth on the third day, his perfectly preserved tabernacle glorified in immortality. The Lord's Supper. — The night before the Crucifix- ion, Jesus, having partaken of the Passover with his dis- ciples, instituted in its stead the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, commanding them to observe it thenceforth/ The Supper, like the Feast, pointed to the Atonement ; but in the Passover the pointing was forward to an event that had not yet occurred, while in the Supper, for the reverse reason, the indication is backward. It is said that dip the paschal lamb was offered in the Temple at Jerusalem about the same hour that Christ died ; the substance and the shadow thus corresponding. Thereafter the Passover was obsolete, having fulfilled its purpose, and as the type no longer typified, it should have been discontinued. The Jews, however, perpetuated the old-time observance, not recognizing in Jesus their Messiah. "It is Finishd." — The Savior's dying words, as re- ported by the Beloved Disciple/ have been the subject of much controversy. "It is finished." What did those words signify? The notion has been entertained that Christ's crucifixion completed his work, so far as; personal ministra- tions went, and that after the opening of the so-called Christian Dispensation, there was no further need of com- munication between God and man. "O most lame and im- potent conclusion!" Whatever construction be placed upon d. Tolm 19:33. r. Matt. 26:17-20; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-20. f. Tobn 19:30. 152 IN TIME'S MERIDIAN. that final utterance of our Lord's, it is perfectly clear, from what followed, that it never was intended to convey such a meaning. Birth and Death Incidental. — The Death on Calvary was no more the ending, than the Birth at Bethlehem was the beginning, of that Divine Career. Both were mere in- cidents. The Savior's work is universal, extending from Eternity into Time, and back again into Eternity. All the Gospel dispensations, from Adam down to Joseph Smith, are parts of the all-embracing mission of Jesus Christ. Not until "the beginning of the seventh thousand years," the Morning of the Resurrection, "will the Lord God sanctify the earth and complete the salvation of man. "s Moreover, sanctification will be succeeded by glorification, still an- other phase of the work of Him who bringeth to pass "the immortality and eternal life of man." The Sacrifice Complete. — What, then, was "finished" by the Death on the Cross? Simply the pain and sorrow that the Son of God had willed to undergo, that He might ransom a lost creation, and make it possible for redeemed man, by faith and good works, to lay hold upon eternal life. The Savior's self-imposed humiliation, his voluntary sacrifice, his mysterious all-comprehensive suffering, the piled up agony of the human race, endured by him vicari- ously, to the end that his atonement might be infinite, reaching to every son and daughter of Adam* 8 — this was X, D. & G, 77:12. h, Tb. 19:16-19. Such was the mission of him concerning whom Nephi of old prophesied: "And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffer- eth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam. And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon all men, that all might stand before him at the great and judgment day." (2 Nephi 9:21, 22.) THE LAMB OF GOD 153 finished, this was at an end; not the work of God, nor the continuous revelation of his word and will to man. In the Spirit. — While the Savior's body was lying in the tomb, his spirit entered Paradise, and there preached to the spirits of the departed, opening, or causing to be opened, the dungeons of the damned. Returning, He took up his glorified body, and appeared in it to his astonished, half-doubting disciples. On Both Hemispheres. — Christ died for all ; but all are not entitled to his personal ministrations. The sheep, however, have the right to see their Shepherd and to hear his voice. Accordingly, after he had confirmed the faith of his Jewish disciples, had chosen twelve apostles, and sent them forth to preach the Gospel in the power and demon- stration of the Holy Spirit, he visited the Nephites, in America, for a similar purpose. They, in common with all Israel, had been warned by prophets to prepare for his coming; and the righteous were ready to receive him. Al- ready they had the Gospel and the Priesthood, and now the Savior organized his Church among them. This done, Pie visited other broken-off branches of the "tame olive tree," 1 their whereabouts as unknown to Lehi's descendants in the Land Bountiful, as was the existence of the Nephites to the inhabitants of Judea. The "Other Sheep." — Jesus had said to his Jewish followers: "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold : them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice."-'' They inferred that He meant the Gentiles; but such was not his meaning. His direct, special errand was to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel."* The Gentiles were to i, Jacob 5 :3. /, John 10:16. k, Matt. 15:24. 154 IN TIME'S MERIDIAN. be converted through the preaching" of Jewish-Christian evangels. l The "other sheep" were the Nephites, to whom the Savior explained his half-veiled utterance;" 1 also declaring that He had still "other sheep," not of the Nephite fold nor of the Jewish fold, and that they likewise should see him and hear his voice." Undoubtedly this allusion was to the "Lost Tribes" ; but not to them alone. It included other Hebrew remnants, unknown to man, but known to Jehovah, "keeping watch above his own" in the mystical and remote regions whither his judgments had driven them. In Remembrance of Him. — Both in Judea and in the Land Bountiful, the Savior instituted, among those who had received the Gospel, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, that memorial of his sacrifice, once prospective, now retro- spective ; once a prophecy, now a fulfillment. But its in- stitution among the Nephites, unlike its introduction among the Jews, was after his resurrection. Concerning the ear- lier incident, the New Testament says : "As they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat ; this is my body. i "And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it : I Nevertheless, it was all the work of the Lord; for those evangels were his servants, his messengers, clothed with his au- thority and acting in his name and stead. The subordinate is swallowed up in the principal. It is the general of an army who wins victorv or suffers defeat, though millions of soldiers nriv have been fighting under his direction. The Roman myrmidons who nailed Jesus to the cross were not so much to blame for the cruel deed, as were Pilate, the Procurator, who permitted, nay, ordered it to' be done, rnd the Tewish Rabbis who instigated the "judicial murder" of the sinless Son of God. m, 3 Nephi 15:21-24. n. lb. 16:1-3. THE LAMB OF GOD 155 "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." "The Real Presence. " — After the living- oracles had • departed; and only the dead letter of the Scriptures re- mained, uninspired "private interpretation"^ conceived the "notion that Jesus, when he said, "This is my body" and "my blood," meant the words to be taken literally. From that erroneous inference sprang the doctrine of transubstan- tiation, with its twin heresy, consubstantiation ; the former a Roman Catholic tenet, the latter an unorthodox Protestant tenet relating to the Eucharist. So insistent was the Catholic Church upon this point, that men and women were con- demned and punished as heretics, for denying "the real presence," the actual flesh and blood of Christ, in the ele- ments of the Lord's Supper.^ Figurative, not Literal. — The language of Jesus, when he instituted the Lord's Supper at Jerusalem, was un- doubtedly figurative. When He said, of the bread and wine, "This is my body" and "my blood," his body was intact, his spirit in his body, and his blood yet unsplit. He was there in person, whole, complete. This being the case, how could he have meant to identify the bread and wine with the constituents of his mortal tabernacle? "These are the em- blems of my body and blood" — that was his meaning. He made this clear to the Nephites, in saying: "This shall ye do in remembrance of my body." Remembrance presup- poses absence. Because he would be absent in body there- after, they were to do this "in remembrance of" his body. What need to remember him, if he were present in person ? o, Matt. 26:26-28. Compare 3 Nephi 18:1-7. p, 2 Peter 1:20. q, A fact sufficient, of itself, to show that the Church was in an apostate condition. 156 IN TIME'S MERIDIAN. As well require faith from one having a perfect knowledge.'' Use of Wine Forbidden. — The Latter-day Saints have been criticized for using water in the Sacrament; the Savior having sanctioned the use of wine both among the Jews and the Nephites. The explanation for the change is simple. The Church of Christ is not dependent upon' books, nor upon tradition. It has an inspired Priesthood, led by immediate, continuous and direct revelation. The Lord has commanded his people in these days not to use wine in the Sacrament under existing conditions. This is the word they are under obligation to obey — not the word given to other peoples in former dispensations/ Christ to Come Again. — Neither the Savior's resur- rection, nor his ascension into Heaven* signalized the end of his personal ministry, the cessation of his labors in behalf of mankind. After his resurrection, He "went in body to min- ister to translated and resurrected bodies ;" u and with these He will return when Enoch's City descends and all is ready for his glorious advent. r, Too much reliance upon either the literal or the figurative in language, is apt to be misleading. An attendant in an art gallery or other public place where statues or paintings are on exhibit, might point out one and say to the visitor : "That is Caesar" or "That is Washington;" but the one addressed would not be likely to infer that Caesar or Washington was there in actual flesh and blood, or that the attendant meant to be so understood. Nor would the visitor need to be told, that the statue or the paint- ing represented the original. Such an explanation would be super- fluous. The form of the Savior's instruction on the Sacrament — as- suming that the correct translation has come down to us — may be accounted for in like manner. He knew that his disciples would understand him — and they did. They were not dependent upon the letter alone; the interpreting Spirit was with them to give it life. s, D. & C. 27:2-5. t, Acts 1:10, 11. u, "Mediation and Atonement," p. 76, ARTICLE TWENTY-ONE. The Special Witnesses. The Men Who Knew. — The Twelve Apostles were the special witnesses of Jesus Christ. As such they had to know, not merely believe that he had risen from the dead. And they did know, for they had seen him, and heard him, and had even been permitted to touch him, that ihey might be convinced beyond all question that he was indeed what he proclaimed himself — the Author of the Resurrec- tion, the Giver of eternal life. It was their right to re- ceive this rare evidence, owing to the unique character of their mission. But the world was required to believe what the Apostles testified concerning Him. If men desired sal- vation, which could come only through the Savior, they must receive in faith the message He had sent his servants to deliver. The Case of Thomas. — One of the Twelve was absent when his brethren received their first visitation from the risen Redeemer; and when they said, "We have seen the Lord," he answered: "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." Subsequently the Savior appeared to this Apostle (Thomas) saying: "Behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but be- lieving." "My Lord and my God!" exclaimed the doubter — and was convinced. Complete Qualification. — Thomas has been censured for demanding to see and to feel before he would believe. a, John 20: 24-28. 158 IN TIME'S MERIDIAN. How much blame attaches to him for doubting, I will not presume to say. But this much seems clear: He had the same right as the rest of the Twelve to a personal appear- ing of the Lord — the right to come in contact with Him of whose resurrection he was required to testify. The others had seen and heard — perhaps had even felt, for Jesus of- fered them that privilege. 6 Why should not Thomas share in the experience? What else could completely qualify him as a special witness? A Peculiar Position. — Sign-seeking is an abomination, indicating an adulterous disposition/ It is blessed to believe without seeing, a since through the exercise of faith comes spiritual development ; while knowledge, by swallowing up faith, prevents its exercise, thus hindering that develop- ment. "Knowledge is power;" and all things are to be known in due season. But premature knowledge — knowing at the wrong time — is fatal both to progress and to hap- piness. The case of the Apostles was exceptional. They stood in a peculiar position. It was better for them to know — nay, absolutely essential, in order to give the requi- site force and power to their tremendous testimony. The Commission of the Twelve. — "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. "He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned. "And these signs shall follow them that believe : In my name shall they cast out devils ; they shall speak with new tongues ; they shall take up serpents ; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."* b, Luke 24:39. c, Matt. 16:4. d, John 20:29. e, Mark 16:15-18. THE SPECIAL WITNESSES 159 "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you ; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."/' The Promised Signs. — Thus we see that certain miraculous "signs" were promised to "them that believe." But these signs were intended to comfort the Saints, not to encourage the sign-seeker; and they were to "follow," not precede, belief. It is not the sign, but the seeking, that the Lord deprecates, the motive being evil/ Apostolic Activities. — Obedient to the divine man- date, the Apostles at Jerusalem, having been "endued with power from on high" /f went forth with their fellows, preach- ing "Christ and him crucified," calling upon men to be- lieve, to repent, and have their sins remitted by baptism, that they might receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Great power accompanied their ministrations. Within the next half century the glad tidings borne by them had spread over the whole Roman Empire and into barbarian realms beyond. Equality and Unity. — The Apostles must have known of Enoch's wonderful work. Jude refers to Enoch's f, Matt. 28:19, 20. g, Says the Prophet Joseph : "When I was preaching in Philadelphia, a Quaker called out for a sign. I told him to be still. After the sermon he again asked for a sign. I told the congregation that the man was an adulterer; . . . that the Lord had said to me in a revelation that any man who wanted a sign was an adulterous person. 'It is true,' cried one, 'for I caught him in the very act,' which the man afterwards confessed when he was baptized." (Hist. Ch. Vol. 5 p. 268). More than one "Mormon" mis- sionary, pestered by sign-seekers, has applied the test furnished by the Prophet, with invariable and complete success. h, Luke 24:49; Acts 2:1-4. 160 IN TIME'S MERIDIAN. prophecy of the Lord's coming "with ten thousand of his saints." • Possibly the Twelve hag 1 access to the Book of Enoch/ one of the lost books of Scripture. At all events, they sought to introduce, among the earliest proselytes to the Christian faith, a similar order to that established in Enoch's day. Concerning the later attempt to "bring forth Zion." it is written: "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul ; neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. . . . "Neither was there any among them that lacked; for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold, "And laid them down at the apostles' feet; and distri- bution was made unto every man according as he had need'."* How long this condition lasted with the Jewish Saints, we are not told. Among their contemporaries, the Nephite followers of Christ, the splendid results flowing from the practice of the Law of Consecration are thus portrayed : "The people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly, one with another; "And they had all things common among them, there- fore they were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift."' The Apostles Taken. — One by one the Apostles were taken. James was slain with the sword at Jerusalem. Peter, i, Jude 14. j, D. & C. 107:57. k, Acts 4:32, 34, 35. /, 4 Nephi 1 :2,3. THE SPECIAL WITNESSES 161 if the tradition be trustworthy, was crucified at Rome, where Paul likewise suffered martyrdom, by decapitation. All were put to death, save one, concerning whom Peter had inquired of the Lord : " What shall this man do ?" And the Lord had said: "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" "Then went this saying abroad among the brethren ; that that disciple should not die." m John Tarries. — Modern revelation confirms the an- cient tradition that John the Beloved did not taste of death, but obtained from the Lord a promise that he should re- main in the flesh, fortified against disease and dissolution, and do a wondrous work. He was to "prophesy before na- tions, kindred, tongues and peoples, and continue on earth until the Lord came in his glory." n It is traditional that an attempt was made upon John's life by throwing him into a cauldron of boiling oil ; but he escaped miraculously. A Falling-Away Foreseen. — In the ninety-sixth year of the Christian era this Apostle was on the Isle of Patmos, in the Aegean Sea, Patmos served the Romans very much as Siberia has since served the Russians. To that desolate place the Empire banished its criminals, compelling them to work m the mines. John was an exile for Truth's sake. But the Lord had not forgotten his servant, though men had rejected him and cast him out. The Heavens were opened to him, and he was shown things that would come to pass thereafter, also events that were even then taking place. He beheld the sad spectacle of a paganized Christen- dom, the "falling away" that St. Paul had predicted. 6 Restoration and Judgment. — But John also looked forward to a time when the pure Christian faith would be restored; when an Angel would "fly in the midst of ^7 John 21 :20-23. n, D. & C. 7. o;8. Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; Rev. Chaps. 17, 18. 162 IN TIMES MERIDIAN. heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth ; ,,p when Israel would be called out from the nations ; q when the hour of God's judgment would come, and the dead, small and great, would stand before the Great White Throne, to give answer for the deeds done in the body/ Among the Nephites. — The experience of the Church of Christ on the Western continents was in many respects a duplicate of its experience in Oriental lands. Here as well as there, special witnesses were -chosen/ and to three of the Nephite Twelve, Christ gave the same promise that he had given to the Apostle John — a promise that they should remain in the body, not subject to death, and bring souls to Him.* A Foretaste of the Millennium. — The Nephite Church had a marvelous career — even more marvelous than had the Jewish Church. "The people were all converted unto the Lord," and for two full centuries" a social condition similar to that which had characterized Enoch's ancient commonwealth, was the favored lot of this flourishing branch of the House of Israel. It was a foretaste of the Millennium, a foreshadowing of the great Day of Peace. Japheth Smites Jacob. — Then came pride, the beset- ting sin of the Nephite nation, with class divisions, envyings, covetousness, strife, and — for the civilized portion of the once delightsome people — extermination. Darkened in body and in mind, the degenerate Lamanites were left to meet the on-rolling tide of over-seas immigration, and be over p, Rev. 14:6. q s lb. 18:4. v, lb. 20:11, 12. s, 3 Nephi 19:4. t, lb. 28 :4-23. w, 4 lb. 1 :22. THE SPECIAL WITNESSES 163 whelmed thereby; "a remnant of Jacob," to be smitten and driven by the children of Japheth, "until the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled." 27 v f Though tramped upon for many generations, the Lamanites are not a dying race, as is generally supposed. According to Doctor Lawrence W. White, of the Unites States Indian Bureau, the Indian population in 1870, when the first reliable census was made by the bureau, was placed at 313,712. It is now 333,702, a num- ber not exceeded, thinks that expert, by the total of aborigines in America at the time of its discovery by Columbus. — See edi- torial article, "Indians Reviving," Salt Lake Tribune, February 13, 1920. PART SIX THE ERA OF RESTITUTION. ARTICLE TWENTY-TWO. The Call of the Shepherd. "Come Out of Her, My People." — The Dispersion of Israel has for its complement the Gathering of Israel ; the prophets who predicted the one likewise foretelling the other. The Savior's personal visits to the various branches of the Israelitish race, before or after His resurrection, were pro- phetic of a general restoration of the Lord's people to their ancient lands, and the folding of the scattered sheep into one great flock, with him as the Shepherd over all. a Prophecies of the Gathering. — The more notable of the Hebrew prophecies pertaining to the Gathering are as here given : Isaiah. — "And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather to- gether the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of' the earth." . . . "They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines to- ward the West." ... "And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria ; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." 6 a, John 10:16; 3 Nephi 15:21; 16:1-3; 21. b, Isa. 11:12, 14, 16. See r.lso 5:26; 35:10; 43:5, 6. The same Prophet declares : "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the moun- tains and shall be exalted above the hills ; and all nations shall flow unto it. "And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths : for out of Zion shall ro forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isa. 2:2,3.) This prophecy, however, seems to refer, not so much to a gath- ering of Israel, as to an Israel already gathered, unto whom the nations will come to learn the wavs of the Lord. 168 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION Jeremiah. — "I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion." . . . "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt ; "But, the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them; and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. "Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them ; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, anc| out of the holes of the rocks." . . . "Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth. . . . "For I am a father to Israel, and Elphraim is my first born. "Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock."' Jesus Christ. — "And again this gospel of the king- dom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come, or the destruction of the wicked." rf "And He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."* The Savior also predicted to the Nephites the gathering c, Jer. 3:14; 16: 14-16; 31:8-10. d, Matt. 24:31, as rendered by Joseph the Seer, Pearl of Great Price, p. 78. e, lb. Bible, King James' version. THE CALL OF THE SHEPHERD 169 of the House of Israel •/ and John the Revelator foresaw the same event in his great vision on Patmos / The Realization. — How marvelously and how rapidly these predictions are being fulfilled, the history of the past hundred years plainly tells. The Angel with the Everlasting Gospel has flown from heaven to earth, and the message borne by him is being preached "again" m\ all the world, as a final witness to the nations. ' Isaiah's reference to the setting up of an Ensign for Israel's gathering finds its fulfilment in the restoration of the Gospel and the Priesthood, and in the organization of the Church of Christ in this dispensation. h Then and there was raised a rallying standard for the sons and daughters of Ephraim, the first scions of Jacob's household to be "born again," to embrace the ancient faith in modern times — the first of the broken off branches of Israel's "olive tree" to be "grafted in again" and bear good fruit.* Keys of the Gathering Restored. — Before there could be a complete gathering of the chosen people, the Keys of the Gathering had to be restored. Accordingly, when the time was ripe, they were conferred upon the founder of the Latter-day Church. Moses, who held those keys at the time of the Exodus from Egypt, was the messenger who now restored them. The place of restoration was the Kirtland Temple; the time, April, 1836. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery testify that "the veil" was taken from their minds, and they "saw the Lord," even Jehovah, who proclaimed to them his identity with the Savior of Man- kind. The record then continues: f, 3 Nephi 21. g, Rev. 14:16; 18:4. See also Deut. 33:17; Psalms, 50:5; Ezek. 34-12-14 '}%, D.'& C. 115:4, 5; 45:9; 64:42. i, Jacob 5 and 6. 170 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION "After this vision closed, the heavens were again opened unto us, and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north. "i First Latter-day Saints. — Then began the great work for which these keys had been restored. All preceding it was but preparatory. "Mormonism's" first converts had been made in the region where the Church arose — the farm- ing districts of Western New York and Northern Pennsyl- vania. But Kirtland, Ohio, was the cradle of the Kingdom. There a Temple was built, and the Priesthood more per- fectly organized, preliminary to the sending of the Gospel to foreign nations, and the gathering of scattered Israel to the Land of Zion. Up to the summer of 1837 the "fishers of men" were busy only in the United States and in Canada. Now they crossed over to the British Isles, and later to the continent of Europe. Instant and marvelous was their success. In parts of England — notably Lancashire and Herefordshire — whole villages and congregations were swept into the Church by the unlettered yet divinely empow- ered Apostles of the new dispensation. k Earliest Immigrants. — A small company of Latter- day Saints, numbering but forty-one — the first to "gather" from abroad — sailed on the ship "Britannia" from Liver- pool for New York, in June, 1840. They were bound for Nauvoo, Illinois. Each succeeding year added its quota to the fast growing nucleus of the Savior's kingdom. Thus was /, D.&C. 110:1-4, 11. k, Heber C. Kimball, one of the Twelve, was placed at the head of the first foreign mission. He was accompanied by Orson Hyde, Willard Richards, and other Elders. Subsequently another apos- tolic misson, headed by Brigham Young and including a majority of the Twelve, carried the Gospel to all parts of the British Isles. THE CALL OF THE SHEPHERD 171 set in motion the mighty tide of immigration which, swelling the numbers of the Saints in the Mississippi Valley, even- tually peopled with the skilled mechanics and hardy yeo- manry of Great Britain, Scandinavia and other European countries, the mountains and valleys of the Great West. The Impelling Motive. — How different the motives * impelling these people, from the motives generally imputed to them ! It was not for gold and silver, flocks and herds, nor any of "the good things of this world," that they for- sook home and country and "gathered" to the Land of Zion. It was not to better their temporal condition, that they abandoned comfort and in some cases affluence, crossed the stormy ocean, dragged rickety hand-carts over parching plains and snow-capt mountains, to settle in a barren wilder- ness and endure hardships and privations innumerable, while redeeming the waste and dotting it with cities, farms and vineyards. It was for God and his Kingdom — nothing less ; and it was the love of Truth that inspired and impelled them.* Character of the Saints, — Utah's early settlers were stigmatized as ignorant and malicious. It, was ignorance or I, I was once asked by a gentleman, friendly to the Latter-day Saints, why they did not co-operate with the millionaire philanthro- pists who have endeavored in recent years to place upon arid lands poor Jews taken out of large cities ; but whose efforts, owing to inex- perience in such enterprises, have been more or less futile. My ques- tioner thought a copartnership between such capitalists and such col- onists — one to furnish the money, the other the knowledge and skill necessary for the undertaking — might work a splendid result. He added with unction : "Ycu could stipulate, you know, that every Jew thus colonized should become a Mormon — and just think how that would build up your Church !" The intent was serious, but the effect was to amuse. It sug- gested the Shakespearean court scene, where the Venetian Duke de- cides that the Jew Shylock, as part of his punishment for seeking the life of Antonio, shall "presently become a Christian." ("Merchant of Venice," Act 4. Scene 1). As if Christians could be made by judicial decisions or "Mormons" by contracts for colonization. 172 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION malice that so stigmatized them. "Scum of the earth," "off- scourings of civilization," were some of the pet names be- stowed upon them by their enemies. How utterly unjust these epithets, how grotesquely misapplied, everyone must know who has any knowledge of the facts. In reality, they • were among the best men and women of their time. Many of them were descended from the Pilgrims and the Patriots who founded this nation, and in their veins, as Children of the Covenant, flowed the blood of priests and kings, il- lustrious through a thousand generations." 2 These modern Zion-builders were not among those who wait for a cause to become popular before embracing it. Lowell little realized how admirably he was painting their portrait when he penned these lines: Then to side with Truth is noble, When we share her wretched crust, Ere her cause bring fame and profit, And 'tis prosperous to be just. Then it is the brave man chooses, While the coward stands aside, Doubting in his abject spirit Till his Lord is crucified, And the multitude make virtue Of the faith they had denied. * * * They are slaves who fear to speak For the fallen and the weak; They are slaves who will not choose Hatred, scoffing and abuse, m, Talent and genius, brain and brawn, from every part of the world came in the early immigrations to Salt Lake Valley — farm- ers, laborers, tradesmen, mechanics, merchants, manufacturers and business men, with a liberal sprinkling of artists, musicians, writers and other professional people. "In their degree the pick and flower of England," was the comment passed upon a ship's company of "Mormon" emigrants, by Charles Dickens, the great English author, in his sketch "The Uncommercial Traveler," published in 1863. THE CALL OF THE SHEPHERD 173 Rather than in silence shrink From the truth they needs must think ; They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three. Not slaves, but free men and free women, founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were of the sheep that knew the Shepherd's voice, and when put to the test, they showed "the mettle of their pasture." "One of a City and Two of a Family." — Jeremiah's prediction was uttered at a time when families (tribes) were much larger than they now are — large enough for one tribe to fill several cities." Otherwise, the prophet might have changed his wording to read: "One of a family and two of a city." Phrased either way, the forecast has been literally fulfilled in the painful and pathetic expe- riences of many Latter-day Saints, including women and children, turned out-of-door by parents or guardians, for daring to be "one of a city" or "two of a family," in iden- tifying themselves with a people everywhere "spoken against." "The Shoulders of the Philistines." — This phrase translates itself into the facilities for far and rapid trans- portation owned and operated by the Gentiles, but utilized by the God of Jacob in bringing his people from foreign shores, and up into the tops of "the high mountains of Israel. "^ "They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philis- tines toward the West." When Isaiah wrote those words, he was gazing with prophetic eye upon this very period. He be- held the ships and railroads of the Gentiles, likewise the Land of Zion, now occupied! by the Gentiles, hut for- merly peopled by the Nephrites (Joseph and Judah) and in- n, Joshua 21 :41. o, Acts 28:22. ». Ezek. 34:14. 174 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION eluded in the lands that God gave to their forefathers.* Israel needs the help of the Gentiles — their wealth, their power, their wonderful insight into and command bver material things, their intelligence and skill in manipulating temporalities. How, without the children of Japheth, could the children of Jacob be gathered out from the nations ? r The Lost Tribes, — It is maintained by some that the lost tribes of Israel — those carried into captivity about 725 B. C. — are no longer a distinct people ; that they exist only in a scattered condition, mixed with the nations among which they were taken by their captors, the conquering Assyrians. If this be true, and those tribes were not intact at the time Joseph and Oliver received the keys of the gathering, why did they make so pointed a reference to "the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north?" This, too, after a general allusion to "the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth." What need to par- ticularize as to the Ten Tribes, if they were no longer a distinct people? And why do our Articles of Faith give those tribes a special mention ?* q, Jer. 16:15; Deut. 33:13-16; Gen. 49:22-26. r, The work is too vast, too arduous, for any one ' people to accomplish, particularly a people who are a mere handful among earth's teeming millions. God, not man, is doing this work, and He is not limited in his choice of instruments to his own covenant people. All men, all nations, knowingly or unknowingly, are play- ing into his hands. s, The fact that Arctic explorers have found no such people at the North Pole — where some theorists have persisted in placing them — does not prove that the "Ten Tribes" have lost their iden- tity. It was tradition, not revelation, that located them at the North Pole. "The north country," "The land of the north," these are the scriptural designations of their unknown abode. All the rest is inference. Those tribes could still be intact, and yet much of their blood be found among the northern nations. Some of the pilgrims might easily have mixed with the people encountered by them while journeying toward their ultimate destination; and that Ephraim did so mix, Hosea the Prophet (7:8) declares. THE CALL OF THE SHEPHERD 175 The "Highway." — Isaiah's reference to the "High- way" points directly to the lost tribes, respecting whose return from "The North Country," his fellow prophet, Jere- miah, promises an event that shall so far eclipse in scope and grandeur Israel's exodus from Egypt, that the latter will no more be mentioned. Joseph the Seer must have had the same thing in mind when he wrote : "And they who are in the north countries shall come in remembrance before the Lord, and their pro- phets shall hear his voice, and shall no longer stay them- selves, and they shall smite the rocks and the ice shall flow down. at their presence, and an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep."* Already he had foretold the removal of the Latter-day Saints to the Rocky Mountains — then a desolate, uninhab- ited region — and was evidently pondering that thought when he further declared : "And in the barren deserts there shall come : forth pools of living water ; and the parched ground shall no longer be a thirsty land." M Ephraim and the Returning Tribes. — It was Ephraim who lifted the Ensign for the Gathering. It is to Ephraim that the returning tribes will "bring forth their rich trea- sures," receiving from him their spiritual blessings. "And the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their presence. " v Judah and Jerusalem. — The same prophecy mentions the tribe of Judah, whose gathering place, however, is not the Land of Zion, not the New Jerusalem, but Jerusalem of old, yet to be rebuilt upon a scale of magnificence paralleled t, D. & C, 133 :26, 27. u, lb. 133 :29. v. lb. vv. 30, 32. 176 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION only by the splendor of her sister city and twin capital of Christ's Kingdom.™ Even as the Waters. — Hear, O Israel! Children of Jacob! The night of dispersion is past. The day of gath- ering has dawned. The tempests that broke above the heads of your ancestors have spent their fury, and the clouds have parted and are rolling away. The barren ground, re- freshed by the fearful visitation, has brought forth abund- antly, and a ripened harvest awaits the reaper's cycle. The revivifying rains, having fulfilled their mission, must now return to the ocean whence they were taken. Such is the meaning, the symbolism, of the scattering and gathering of Israel. w, Isa. 2:3. In April 1840, Orson Hyde and John E. Page, both Apostles, were sent from Illinois on a mission to Palestine, to bless the soil, that its barrenness might depart and the way be opened for the restoration of the Jews to their ancient homeland. John E. Page faltered and fell by the way, but Orson Hyde accomplished his mis- sion. On the 24th of October, 1841, from the summit of the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem, he offered to the God of Israel, a fervent and eloquent prayer in behalf of his down-trodden peo- ple. He blessed the sterile land that in might once more become fruitful, and that Judah might repossess his heritage. Elder Hyde afterwards predicted that the British nation would take an active part in the redemption of Palestine; a prophecy fulfilled during the World War. In 1872, President George A. Smith went with a party from Salt Lake City, and again dedicated the Holy Land for the return of the Jews and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. ARTICLE TWENTY-THREE. The Zion of Latter Days. A Work of Preparation. — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stands for the gathering of the House of Israel and the building of the modern Zion, New Jeru- salem, preparatory to the Millennial reign of righteous- ness. Israel must be gathered, because it is the God of Israel who is coming to reign, and the descendants of Jacob are the only people who have the right to receive him when he appears. And they must become pure in heart, in order to be worthy of that high privilege. To His Own — The Christ is coming to "his own," as he came anciently; but it will not be said again that "his own received him not." They are even now preparing to receive him, as fast as circumstances will allow. All of "Mor- monism's" varied activities — proselyting, migrational, col- onizing, commercial, industrial and educational — have this as their paramount objective. The Latter-day Saints claim lineal descent from the Hebrew patriarchs. They are lit- erally of the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob 1 — mostly through Ephraim, the "first-born" in the divine process of gathering Israel and bringing forth Zion. The Ensign Lifted. — It devolved upon Joseph Smith, a lineal descendant of Joseph of old, to begin, upon the Land of Joseph, the gathering of God's people from the nations. The organization of the Church was the setting up of the prophetic "Ensign," to assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four cor- ners of the earth." Joseph lived only long enough to as- a, Isa. 11 :12. 12 178 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION semble a portion of the half tribe of Ephraim, to which he belonged; but the work begun by him will go on until all the tribes of Israel are gathered, and the way is fully pre- pared for the blest reign of the King of Kings. Place and Plan. — The Church, organized on the sixth of April, 1830, was less than one year old when it re- moved from its birth-place, Fayette, New York, to Kirt- land, Ohio, where its infancy was cradled. There the Prophet announced the place for the New Jerusalem and the plan whereby the Holy City was to be established. Western Missouri was the place. 6 The plan became known as "The United Order." c The Pure in Heart. — "This is Zion — the pure in heart. " d So said Joseph Smith. For Zion is not only a place ; it is also a people and a condition. "Blessed are the pure in heart ; for they shall see God."* They are the only ones who will be permitted to see Him. Zion the place is where Zion the people will assemble for that purpose. In a general sense, the whole of America, North and South, is the Land of Zion/ Specifically, Zion, "the place for the city," is in Jackson County, Missouri/ Consecration. — The Zion of old — Enoch's common- wealth — was sanctified and translated through obedience to the Law of Consecration/ 1 a heaven-revealed principle sub- sequently practiced by the followers of Christ, both Jews and Nephites.* The modern Zion, "the perfection of b, D. & C. 45:64-71; 57:1-4. c, lb. 104:48. d, lb. 97:21. e, Matt. 5:8. f, Hist. Ch. Vol. 6 pp. 318, 319. g, D. & C. 57:2. h, Moses 7:18-21. i, Acts 4 :32-35 ; 4 Nephi 1 :2, 3. THE ZION OF LA TTER DA YS 179 beauty," "the joy of the whole earth, "i is to be brought forth upon precisely the same principle — "every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God."^ Equality and Unity. — As a preliminary to the won- derful achievement in prospect, the Latter-day Saints were required to consecrate all their properties to the Lord. This was done, not to enrich any man nor any set of men, but to establish equality in material possessions, as a prerequi- site to the unity and power necessary for the mighty under- taking. Equality — not of intelligence and capacity, of course, but of ownership and of opportunity to advance and achieve — this was the purpose in view. The members of the community were to be equal in earthly things, that they might be "equal in obtaining heavenly things." A Celestial Law. — It was a law of the Celestial King- dom — the Zion of Eternity — that the Saints were required to obey, to the end that the Lord's will might be done on earth even as it is done in heaven — that Earth might be- come a heaven, in fact, and they who made it so be prepared for "a place in the celestial world. "' Stewardships. — It was not proposed to take from the people their possessions, and demand all their time and service, without making ample provision for their support. They were not to be pauperized, but enriched, through obe- dience to God's law. The properties they consecrated — farms, printing offices, mills, work-shops, money, etc. — were to be returned to them as "stewardships," differing, as tal- ents, aptitudes, and the ability to handle much or little dif- fer, but all to be managed in the interest of the common cause. All earnings were to go into a general fund, from ;, Psalms 50:2: 48:2. k, D. & C. 82:19. I, lb. 78:5-7. 180 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION which each steward would derive a maintenance, "every man according to his wants and his needs, inasmuch as his wants are just." OT First Bishops. — The introduction of this system was the occasion for the call of the first Bishops. The men chosen to manage, under the direction of the First Presi- dency, the temporalities of the United Order, were Edward Partridge and Newel K. Whitney. The former, as Bishop in Zion, received consecrations of properties and assigned stewardships at Independence, Missouri. The latter officiated in a similar capacity at Kirtland, Ohio, the headquarters of a Stake of Zion. M Against Lawlessness. — The United Order did not encourage lawlessness. It was the very antithesis of an- archy. It stood for law and government, for wise and good government — the government of God for the benefit of man. Sounding the death-knell of monopoly, fraud, and the misuse of power and privilege, it proposed to do away with class distinctions, founded on pride, vanity and the worship of wealth. It would abolish such conditions — not by violence, but peacefully and by common consent. Doc- trine, not dynamite ; humility, not self-assertion ; love of God and fellow man, not hatred and strife, were to ef- fect the desired emancipation. Under the benign influence of the Holy Spirit — God's gift to all who take upon them his name — envy and greed would give way to brotherly love and mutual helpfulness. No Drones in the Hive. — While philanthropic in the highest degree, the United Order was no mere alms-giving concern, no eleemosynary institution. Every member of the community was expected to work, to do that for which he m, D. & C, 82:17. n, lb. 41 :9 ; 72 :8. THE ZION OF LATTER DAYS 181 or she might best be fitted. There were to be no drones in the hive, no idleness eating the bread of industry. Employ- ment for all, a place for everything and everything in its place — such was the ideal of this social-religious organiza- tion. It stood, in short, for justice and fair-dealing, with every man in the secure possession and full enjoyment of his own. Out of the righteous unity resulting from this ideal condition, was to come the power to build up Zion and prepare the way of the Lord. Why the Ideal Was Not Realized. — The United Order was not permanently established ; nor did itsi original work- ings long continue. Selfishness within, and persecution without, were the two-fold cause. The Church, driven from place to place, found it impracticable, with an imperfect ac- ceptance by its members of the Law of Consecration, to bring forth Zion at that early day. The great event, how- ever, was only postponed. The realization of the ideal is still in prospect. The Jackson County Expulsion — An attempt to rear the New Jerusalem was made in the summer of 1831, a col- ony approximating fifteen hundred men, women and chil- dren, settling for that purpose in Jackson County, Missouri, upon lands purchased from the Federal Government. Ground was consecrated, and a City laid out, including the site for a Temple. But a lack of the perfect unity necessary on the part of those selected for this' sacred task, prevented its ac- complishment at that time. "There were jarrings and con- tentions, and envyings and strifes, and lustful and covetous desires among them ; therefore,. by these things they polluted their inheritances. "^ Forewarned by the Prophet of what would result if these evils were not corrected, the colcnists o, D. & C. 45:64-71. p, lb. 101 :6. 182 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION did not as a whole pay sufficient heed to the admonition, and the Lord permitted their enemies to come upon them and drive them from "the goodly land. ,, Persecuted and Persecutors.— The Jackson County colonists, whatever their faults, were superior to the people who mobbed them and drove them from their homes, mis- interpreting their motives and falsely accusing them of un- friendly acts or intentions toward the earlier settlers. The persecuted were better than the persecutors; but not good enough to completely carry out the high and holy pur- poses of Deity. It was in the autumn of 1833 that the "Mormon" colony was expelled from Jackson County .^ Zion Not Moved. — Then, and at a later period, when similar and worse mobbings and drivings had taken place, those who committed or countenanced the outrages were wont to say mockingly : "Whenever the Mormons are driven from one Zion, their Prophet gets a revelation appointing Zion somewhere else." How utterly unfounded this as- sertion, is best told in the language of a revelation given a few weeks after the Jackson County expulsion. Therein the Lord says : "Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwith- standing her children are scattered ; "They that remain, and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to their inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion. . . . "And, behold there is none other place appointed than that which I have appointed; neither shall there be any other place appointed . . . for the work of the gathering of my saints, q, Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, pp. 390, 426. THE ZION OF LA TTER DA YS 183 "Until the day cometh when there is found no more room for them; and then I have other places which I will appoint unto them, and they shall be called stakes, for the curtains or the strength of Zion." r Stakes of Zion. — Hear* it, ye Gentiles! Hear it, O House of Israel ! Jackson County, Missouri, is the chosen site for the City of Zion. No other place has been or will be appointed for that purpose. All other gathering places for God's people are Stakes of Zion, holding the outside cords and curtains of the' spiritual Tabernacle of the Lord. Zion's first Stake was at Kirtland, Ohio ; and other stakes were organized in Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa. All these have been abandoned ; but many others, since estab- lished, now flourish in the region of the Rocky Mountains. There was no stake organization in Jackson County, though that part is sometimes referred to as "The Center Stake." Zion is there, or will yet be there — the very City of God; but no Stake of Zion/ In Abeyance.: — Zion is greater than any of her Stakes. It will require the Law of Consecration to bring forth Zion ; while a lesser law suffices for the creation of stakes, When the building up of Zion was postponed, the Law of Consecration was suspended, and the United Order went r, D. & C. 101:17, 18, 20, 21; 115:6. s, Zion, in sacred writ, is symbolized by a tent or portable tab- ernacle, such as the Israelites carried with them in the Wilderness. Evidently it was the custom then, as it is now, when setting up a tent, to drive stakes and fasten cords thereto — cords stretched from the tent, to make it firm and secure. Hence the phrase : "Length- en thy cords and strengthen thy stakes," a metaphor applied to Zion by the Prophet Isaiah. (54:2; 33:20). When a tent is erected, no center stake is driven ; it would be in the way — an obstacle to stumble over. Figuratively and in a larger sense, the same would be true of a Center Stake of Zion. There is no need for such a thing, and it would spoil the symbolism of the picture. 184 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION into abeyance. Then was introduced the Law of Tithing/ a law adapted to the undeveloped condition of the Church. Since that time the work of founding and maintaining Stakes of Zion, preparatory to the coming forth of Zio'n proper, has engrossed the attention of the gathered children of Ephraim. t, D. & C. 119. ARTICLE TWENTY-FOUR. Redemption by Power. To Redeem Zion. — The failure of the Latter-day Saints, through lack of unity and obedience, to build up Zion in Jackson County, has been dwelt upon. It remains to tell of an effort to "redeem Zion," to reinstate the plun- dered people upon the lands of which they had been un- lawfully and violently dispossessed. This effort was put forth early in the year 1834, when an expedition was or- ganized in Ohio for that purpose. The Zion's Camp Expedition. — So was it styled. The Camp consisted of two hundred and five men, led by Joseph Smith in person, and including quite a number of Elders sub- sequently called to positions of high prominence in the Church. The expedition failed of its object — its avowed ob- ject — for reasons similar to those which had caused the ex- pulsion from Jackson County. Disobedience and rebellion on the part of some members of the Camp, and the continued disregard, by many of the exiles, of the divine requirements made of them, prevented their restoration to the homes and possessions of which they had been despoiled. A Want of Preparedness. — Zion might have been re- deemed, even at that early day, had the redemptive machin- ery been ready and in condition to do the necessary work. a But such a condition did not exist. "Gather up the strength of my house," the Lord had said concerning those upon whom he proposed to lay the sacred duty of Zion's redemp- tion. But "the strength" of his "house" did not hearken to the appeal,^ and the few who enrolled themselves as mem- a, D. & C. 105 :2. Mb. 103:30; 105:16. 186 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION bers of that historic band were not all trained for the task nor equal to the trials that lay before them. "The Redemption of Zion Must Needs Come by Power." c — So spake the Divine Oracle. But "power dwells in unity, not in discord; in humility, not in pride ; in sacrifice, not selfishness ; in obedience, not rebellion. "<* Had all the Jackson County colonists borne this in mind and practiced accordingly, no such catastrophe as that which occurred would have befallen them. And if all who went to their relief had acted consistently with the same righteous principle, they would have escaped the tribu- lation that came upon them as a chastisement. Transgression the Cause, — The failure to build the New Jerusalem was due to transgression ;' in other words, to a lack of preparedness on the part of those selected for the sacred undertaking. Had the players been ready, the play could have been staged and presented. But nothing could compensate for the absence of readiness on their part. There is no substitute for the qualitites that men and women must possess who are chosen for so exalted an enterprise. All Not Responsible. — All members of the Church were not responsible for the Jackson County failure •/ but all had to share in the consequences entailed. The strength of a chain is proverbially the strength of its weakest link, and the general average of the newly-formed and inexperienced community was not high enough to justify a better outcome. Not a Complete Failure. — The Camp of Zion did not utterly fail. Indeed, there are good reasons for believing that it accomplished everything expected of it under the circumstances. And if this be true of the members of the c, D. & C. 103:15. d, "Life of Heber C. Kimball," o. 77. e, D. & C. 105 : 2, 9. f, lb. 105 :7. REDEMPTION BY POWER 187 Camp, it is also true of those whose relief and reinstatement were the announced purpose of the expedition. All Things Foreseen. — At all events, what occurred must have been foreseen. Divine prescience extends to all things connected with the Lord's work. When He com- manded his people to build the New Jerusalem, he knew how" much, or how little, they were capable of accomplishing in that direction — knew it just as well before as he did after. Such a thing as surprise or disappointment on his part is inconceivable. An all-wise, all-powerful Being who has created, peopled, redeemed and glorified "millions of earths like this,"^ is not one to be astounded by anything that happens on our little planet. 71 The Time Not Ripe. — The All-knowing One knew in advance what those Zion-builders would do, or leave un- done, and he shaped his plans accordingly. Evidently the time was not ripe for Zion's redemption. The Saints were not ready to build the New Jerusalem. The proof is in the trespasses committed by them against the divine laws or- dained for their government. A Season of Waiting. — "In consequence of the trans- gression of my people, it is expedient in me that mine Elders should wait for a little season for the redemption of Zion." So came the voice of the Lord to Zion's Camp, on Fish- er, Moses 7:30. h, Some may question this assertion, and point to the passage, "It repented God that he had made man" (Gen. 6:6), as an in- stance of divine disappointment. But it should be borne in mind that makers of Scripture, l$ke all wise teachers, adapl} theiir language to the ccmprehension of those whom they teach, speaking that they ''may naturally understand" (D. & C. 29:34; 19:6-12). Whatever the dead letter may seem to say, God is not man, that He should "repent" (1 Sam. 15:29), or fail to foresee how his crea- tures win conduct themselves. It was Noah, not God, who "re- pented," in the case now under consideration.— Moses 8:25. 188 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION ing River, Missouri. But this word of comfort came with it : "T have heard their prayers and will accept their offer- ings ; and it is expedient in me that they should be brought thus far for a trial of their faith/'* "A Trial of Their Faith."— Such then, was the real purpose of the call for that expedition. More was not ex- pected of the members of Zion's Camp, than a manifesta- tion of willingness to do all that the Lord might require of them. No Endowments. — Another proof that Zion's redemp- tion was not intended for that time, is found in another part of the same revelation: "And this cannot be brought to pass until mine elders are endowed with power from on high."'' Take note that the Church had no "endowments" in 1834. There was no Temple that early, and the sacred ritual of the House of God, even if revealed to the Prophet, had not been made known to the people. Whether this was the endowment referred to in the revelation, or whether it meant something else, it is evident that the blessing spoken of was in the future.* Zion could not be redeemed until the Elders were "en- dowed with power from on High." And yet these same Elders, unendowed, had been sent forth to redeem Zion! Surely, the Lord did not design it then to be. Else would He not have endowed them beforehand? This admitted, and what becomes of their "failure?" They were blame- worthy for their disobedience, but surely not for their failure to do what could not be done by men unendowed and con- sequentlv not equal to the undertaking. Left to the Future. — Zion was not redeemed in that dav for precisely similar reasons to those which kept an- i, D. & C. 105 :9, 19. 7. lb. v. 11. k, Tb. v. 18, REDEMPTION BY POWER 189 cient Israel wandering for forty years in the Wilderness, almost within sight of their coveted Canaan, which they were not permitted in that generation to possess/' Like Moses, these; modern pilgrims beheld, as from Pisgah's top, their promised land. Like Moses, on account of transgres- sion, they were not permitted to "cross over." There were Calebs and Joshuas, in the Camp who were worthy ; but the great event, in the wisdom of the Highest, was not destined then to be. It was left for a future generation and its Joshua to go up in the might of the Lord and redeem Zion.' M "With a Stretched Out Arm."— The Lord made it plain to His people that they must prepare themselves for the great things awaiting them. Before they could hope to accomplish their glorious destiny, they must become mighty, not only in numbers and material influence, but morally and spiritually mighty — mighty by the power of God, descend- ing upon them as an endowment from on High." When ready to redeem Zion, the way would be prepared for them, angels and even the Divine Presence going on before. They were not to use violence to secure their rights. God would fight their battles. They were "the children of Israel, and of the seed of Abraham," and "must needs be led out of bondage by power and with a stretched out arm." Tried and Proven. — From the ranks of the survivors of Zion's Camp — decimated by cholera while on its way to Jackson County — were chosen the first Twelve Apostles and the first quorums of Seventy in this dispensation.^ These men were deemed reliable. They had been put to the test, and had endured valiantly Thp trial of their faith was complete. /, Compare Article Eighteen, paragraph "A Period of Prepara- tion." m,T>. & C. 103: 16. n, lb. 105:11. o, lb. 103:17. t>, Hist. Ch. Vol. 2, pp. 180, 201. 190 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION Nigh at Hand. — When will end the "little season" of waiting? When will the day of Zion's redemption dawn? I know not ; but this I know. That day is rapidly ap- proaching. The Order of Unity and Equality, involving the consecration, not only of properties, but also of hearts and hands, will yet be established and perpetuated. It must be, for Zion cannot be built up without it :? and until there is a ion on Earth, the Lord, the King of Kings, will not come q, D. & C. 105:5. ARTICLE TWENTY-FIVE. Clearing the Way. "I Will Fight Your Battles."— In a revelation, already cited, given through Joseph the Seer while Zion's Camp was resting on Fishing River, the Lord says concerning the Elders of his Church: 4 T do not require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion ; for, as I said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfill. I will fight your battles/' "Behold, the destroyer I have sent forth to destroy and lay waste mine enemies ; and not many years hence they shall not be left to pollute mine heritage and to blaspheme my name upon the lands which I have consecrated for the gathering together of my Saints- ?,fl War and Deity. — There are many good people who believe that anything of a war-like character, anything in- volving violence and bloodshed, is wholly incompatible with the benign disposition and benevolent purposes of Deity. According to their view, God has nothing to do with wars. From first to last they are the work, of the Evil One, mov- ing upon wicked men to stir up strife for selfish and sordid ends. Everything peaceful and pleasant comes from h:m who is the Prince of Peace ; everything of an opposite nature, and especially war, that prolific source of misery and sorrow, is due entirely to the Adversary. It is all well meant, of course, the object being to fore fend Deity against the reproach that: these good people fear would lie at his door, if it were admitted that he had even a share in what they conceive to be an unmixt evil, a thing ab- solutely wrong and unjustifiable. a, D. & C. 105:14, 15. 192 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION But how can such views be reconciled with divine revelation and the history of God's dealings with man? If war is always wicked, and destruction ever at vari- ance with the will and purposes of Providence, how are we to understand such passages of scripture as the fore- going, wherein Jehovah, who is no other than Jesus, the meek and merciful, assures his servants that he will fight their battles, and assumes full responsibility for sending forth the destroyer to lay waste his enemies and theirs? Prince of Peace and Lord of Hosts. — The problem, seemingly complex, is in reality simple and easy of solu- tion. There are two sides to the Divine Character, two distinct and differing phases of God's dealings with mor- tals. The Lion as well as the Lamb plays a part in the stirring drama of human progress. The same perfect Being who counseled patience, charity, and the turning of "the other cheek," sternly rebuked hypocrisy, denounced wickedness in unmeasured terms, and with wrathful speech and thong of knotted cords, drove the thieving money- changers from the Temple. "Blessed are the merciful," said the Author of the Beatitudes.^ "Love your enemies," en- joined the Redeemer of the World. ,c But already He had proclaimed : "Vengeance is mine — I will repay ;" d and that high decree has never been revoked. Jehovah is both Prince of Peace and Lord of Hosts, the God of Sabaoth. These are among the titles belonging to him. Why are they his, if he has nothing to do with war — if such things are independently and exclusively the work of Satan? Providence Over All. — The student of this problem must not lose sight of the fact that Satan's sphere, like man's, is limited. Neither can do more thanj the Most b, Matt. 5 :7. c, lb. 5:44; Luke 6:27, 35. d, Rom. 12:19; Deut. 32:35. CLEARING THE WAY 193 High is willing should be done; and his willingness ex- tends only to such things as contribute, ultimately if not immediately, to the carrying out of his beneficent designs. The Book of Job is very plain upon this point. Only so far as the Almighty would permit, and it was deemed wise for that righteous man to be afflicted, in order ffco test his integrity, further develop the excellence of his character, and endow future ages with a deathless example of godlike patience — only so far was Satan allowed to go. He seemed to be having his own way with Job, and up to a certain mark did have it ; but nothing beyond. The Lord had his way. Whatever he bade Satan not to do, Satan had to leave undone. The Uses of Adversity. — Job's case is a reminder of the fact that the wicked can be used as a means of de- \Q veloping and improving the righteous, or of chastising and correcting people better than themselves. The pain- ful experiences of the Latter-day Saints furnish many cases in point. In Missouri, for instance, they were the victims of atrocious wrongs. They had done nothing, so far as their fellow men were concerned, to justify the cruel treatment meted out to them. But the Lord, in order to chasten his people and teach them wholesome lessons that they needed to learn, allowed their enemies to drive and despoil them/ Divinity Always Supreme. — Despite all appearances to the contrary, the Divine Will reigns supreme. To con- clude otherwise is to mentally dethrone Deity, and allow e, Job saw the matter in a clear light (2:10). He did not charge Deity with the authorship of evil — evil as well as good being self-existent. He knew that God is a hater of iniquity (Psalms 45 :7 ; Heb. 1 :9) ; but he also knew that evil is controlled by the di- vine ruler and made tributary to the success of his plans. There- fore he did what all should do — he acknowledged the hand of the Lord in all things, in adversity as well as prosperity. 13 194 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION that Evil is stronger than Good. God is above Satan, and holds him in leash/ Destruction Essential. — We are not to suppose, how- ever, that the Lord delights in war — that He prefers it to peace ; or that he would have aught to do with strife and devastation, if his good and wise purposes could al- ways be accomplished by other and milder means. But if strife becomes necessary, and destruction essential, as when an old building is torn down to make room for a new one, and if the All-wise be the doer or director of the deed, who can question its rightfulness? "Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith ? Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it?"* Wars Decreed. — "I have sworn in my wrath and de- creed wars upon the face of the earth, and the wicked shall slay the wicked. v/ ' So says the Almighty to his servant Joseph. And there lies the problem in a nutshell. God has "decreed wars" — decreed them for a purpose. Human iniquity brings down divine retribution, and the wicked are permitted to slay one another — partly as a punishment for their sins, but mainly to help clear the way for a higher and better order of things. Just and Unjust Wars. — Michael and the Dragon. — Some wars are righteous and just; others wrong; and un- just. All depends upon the purpose for which they are waged, and whether or not the Lord sanctions them. All unrighteous wars are the work of Satan and his minions. f, President Woodruff, in his Brigham City address, June 24, 1894, — an address already cited in these pages — speaks thus of the Latter-day judgments : "God has held the angels of destruction for many years, lest they should reap down the wheat with the tares. But I want to tell you now, that these angels have left the portals of Heaven, and they stand over this people and this nation now, wait- ing to pour out the judgments." g, Isa. 10:15. h, D. & C. 63:33. CLEARING THE WAY . 195 But all wars are not unrighteous. When Michael and his angels fought against the Dragon, and overcame him. 2 surely the fight was a righteous one on Michael's part. As for the provocation — that springs another question. It is undoubtedly true that there would have been no "war in heaven," if Lucifer had not rebelled ; but, having re- belled, he had to be put down, and a righteous war was waged for that purpose. The conduct of those who make auch wars necessary, is not to' be compared with thp acts of those who rise up to vindicate right and vanquish wrong. Agnostic Arguments. — Joshua's conquest of Canaan —let us consider that.-' Agnostic writers, taking the view that all such wars are wricked, affect to regard this event as a grave crime. They brand Joshua as a murderer, and charge Jehovah with being a violator of his own statutes — a greater murderer, in short, who, after punishing the first slayer of his fellow r man, the fratricidal Cain,^ and laying down the law to Noah, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed."' — emphasizing it lacer with the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill"'" — directed the general of his armies to commit wholesale slaughter and extermination. Therefore was he a murderer and a law- breaker. Such is the logic of Robert G. Ingersoll and other writers of his class. And what a wretched piece of sophistry it is. How utterly shallow and vain. As if the Giver of life could not take back what he had given — the right to it having been forfeited — without committing a crime! As if the Author and Ruler of the universe could not repeal or suspend one of his own enactments, without being a law-breaker! Think i, Rev. 12 :7-9. j, Trshua 1-12. k, Gen. 4:11, 12. /, lb. 9:6. m, Ex. 20:13. 196 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION of it : Colonel Ingersoll, an experienced lawyer, a prac- titioner and devotee of the science of jurisprudence, deny- ing to the great Law-Giver a right inherent in and ex- ercised by the humblest legislative body on earth ! To such illogical extremes will men go, when they presume to pass judgment upon Providence. The Case of the Canaanites. — Joshua's war upon the Canaanites was a just war, designed to rid the earth of a corrupt generation, which had forfeited its right to longer remain, encumbering the soil, particularly that part which the Creator and Owner of the planet had given to a worthier people. Jehovah's command to clear the ground upon which he proposed erecting a national structure that should stand as a temple of wisdom and light for the welfare of all succeeding generations, did not impinge upon any command of his previously given. Neither is the Divine One amenable to human judgment. "Thou shalt not kill" was a commandment from God, not to him. His word is superior to all human enactments and to all man's notions of right and wrong. The war waged by Joshua and the hosts of Israel against the wicked and usurping Canaa- nites was in every respect justifiable, so far as it was con- ducted according to Jehovah's command." "The King Can Do No Wrong." — This proverb, when used by corrupt rulers to justify and cloak their crimes, is flagrantly false and pernicious. When applied to the King of Heaven, it is eminently and unquestionably true. The Author of life can send forth the destroyer and lay n, The same may be said of Israel's war upon the Amalekites, in the days of King Saul, and of similar wars undertaken by "the armies c{ the living God," heaven-directed and divinely em- powered. Samuel's hewing of Agag "in pieces before the Lord," was not a crime, but an act of justice, a righteous retribution upon an unrighteous ruler, whose sword had "made women childless.' — 1. Sam. 15 :33. CLEARING THE WAY 197 waste his enemies, without blood-guiltiness or even the shadow of wrong-doing. He can decree wars, and allow the wicked to slay the wicked, without partaking of their evil deeds or making himself responsible for their demon-in- spired atrocities. These must all be accounted for at the bar of Eternal Justice. The American Revolution. — It was not Satan who caused the heroic struggle of the American colonies, giv- ing them power to win their freedom and independence, to the end that a nation might arise upon this chosen soil with a mission to foster and protect the infant and growing Church of Christ. That was a righteous war, and the divine inspiration for it rested upon the Patriot Fathers. who, at the hazard of their lives, signed the immortal Declara- tion, and drew their swords to defend and perpetuate that sublime annunciation of liberty and equal rights. The World War. — So with the great war that over- threw the German Kaiser, putting an end to the wicked strife that he was waging. It was a righteous against an unrighteous exertion of military force. What better mo- tive could a nation have than that which actuated the A.merican people in sending forth their armies and navies to check the on-rushing hordes that were bent upon crush- ing freedom and setting an iron heel on the neck of the worfd? It was a holy war, so far as America was con- cerned; and a just war, a war of self-defense, xm the part of her associated powers. The God of Justice was in it for the welfare of humanity. Who can doubt that Ke upheld and sustained the arms of those who carried it to a victorious conclusion? And if the result. shall be even a partial clearing of the way for the introduction or further spread of Liberty's Perfect Law among spiritually be- nighted nations, the mightiest and costliest of earth's con- flicts will not have been in vain. o, 1 Nephi 13:16-19. ARTICLE TWENTY-SIX. God's Hand Upon the Nations. Compelling Situations. — The Lord will force no man to Heaven, nor permit Satan to force any man to Hell. Human agency remains inviolate. But while there is no such thing in the Gospel of Christ as compulsion, in the sense of fettering man's free will, there is such a thing as a compelling situation, the creating of conditions and shaping of circumstances that have often influenced men to do, of their own volition, what they would not have done if the situation had not changed »f ^uch conditions and circnmstances had not arisen. A simple illustration is furnished in the old-time anecdote of the boy up the farmer's apple tree — refusing to come down when kindly requested ; persisting in his refusal when sharply reprimanded and a handful of turf thrown; but, when pelted with stones, scrambling down in a hurry — of his own accord. That is my idea of a com- pelling situation ; the offender retaining his freedom, exer- cising his right of choice, but yielding to force of cir- cumstances, and changing his mind'for his own behoof. "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough hew them as we will." The Parable of the Supper. — Force, indirect compul- sion, 'applied without infringing upon man's agency, is undoubtedly an element of the divine economy. What else is the meaning of the Savior's parable in which he likens the Kingdom- of Heaven to a feast? "A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: GOD'S HAND UPON THE NATIONS 199 "And /sent his servant at supper-time, to say to them that were bidden. Come, for all things are now ready. "And they all with one consent began to make ex- cnse. The first ;«aid unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it : I pray thee have me excused. { "And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them : I pray thee have me excused. "And another said. I have married a wife: and there- fore I cannot come. "So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant. Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. "And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. "And the,.' lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." The inference is, that they were "compelled to come in," but not against their own freedom of choice. Fishers and Hunters, — The God of Israel has set his hand to gather his elect and prepare the world for the sanctifying reign of righteousness. He will accomplish what he has undertaken, using for that purpose every means consistent and available. Christ died to save the souls of men, and save them He will — by mild measures whenever these will avail ; but by stern methods, if necessary, after the mild have proved ineffectual. First, the "fishers," with gentle, kind persuasion. Then the "hunters" — war, com- motion and destruction. Such is the divine program. 5 a, Luke 14:16-23. b, Jer. 16:16. 2C0 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION The Day of Wrath — A Refuge From the Storm.— Joseph the Seer prophesied that war would "be poured out upon all nations." Zion, the pure in heart, are to "be the only people that 'shall not be at war one with another." "And it shall come to pass, among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor, must needs flee unto Zion for safety. " d To provide against these and other perils, the '[Church of Christ was founded — "a standard for the nations," "that the gathering together upon the land of Zion and upon her stakes," might be "for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth. " e Other Judgments. — But war is not the only expres- sion of divine wrath. The strife of nation against nacion is butf'one of many turmoils that the last days are destined to witness. Epidemics of sickness are to play a part in the great retribution/ John on Patmos heard a voice from Heaven say : "Come out of her, my people, that ye re- ceive not of her plagues."* Through Joseph in America, the same dread oracle proclaimed "a desolating scourge," that "shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth, and shall continue to be poured out from time to time if they repent not, until the earth is empty and the inhabi- tants thereof are consumed away and utterly destroyed by the brightness of my coming."* 1 Divine Participation. — And who, after reading what follows, can doubt divine participation in these troubles : c, D. & C. 87:2. d, lb. 45 :68, 69. e, lb. 115:4-6. f, lb. 45:31. "An overflowing scourge — a desolating sickness," to "cover the land." g, Rev. 18 :4. h, D. & C. 5:19. GOD'S HAND UPON THE NATIONS 201 "For I the Almighty have laid my hand upon the nations to scourge them for their wickedness ; and plagues shall go forth, and they shall not be taken from the earth until I have completed my work, which shall be cut short in righteousness. Until all (shall know me, who remain, even from the least unto the greatest, and shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord and shall see eye (to eye."* After Testimony, Indignation. — The Lord's servants were "to go forth among the Gentiles for the last time," "to bind up the law and seal up the testimony," and "prepare the Saints for the hour of judgment." "And after your testimony cometh wrath and in- dignation upon the people. "For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand. "And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea, heaving themselves beyond their bounds. "And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men's hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people."- 7 ' Again: "The earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man; and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light, and the moon shall be bathed in blood, and the stars shall become exceeding angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from off a fig tree."^ The Question of Cause. — Who will cause these ter- i, D. & C. 84:96-98. j, Tb. 88:88-91. k, Tb. 88 :87. 202 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION rible calamities ? Not man — that is certain ; though his con- duct may justify them. Men can stir up strife and pre- cipitate war. They can even bring pestilence and famine. But they cannot stir up tempests and earthquakes, cause whirl- winds and tidal-waves, or govern the action of sun, moon and stars. These, with other convulsions of nature, no less than war, famine and pestilence, are among God's judg- ments upon the workers of iniquity. Satan, "prince of the powers of the air," may be immediately responsible for these fearful disturbances;' but he can do only what he is permitted to do by the All-just and All-merciful, who looses him or holds him in check. The Divine Purpose. — And what is the purpose — the ultimate purpose of it all? Destruction? No, a thousand time; no, except in so far as destruction must at times precede re- construction, and is necessary to preserve what is worth preserving. The world's welfare is the object in view. God's wrath, however fiercely it burns, is not comparable to petty human anger. His work and his glory is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man,"" 1 and if, in the process, He uses the powers of destruction, as well as the powers of contruction — for "all power" is his, "in heaven and in earth"" — it is because such a course has be- come necessary and is for the best. However severe his chastisements, we can rest assured of this : Hatred of hu- manity has no place in the heart of Him who "so loved the world" that he "gave his Only Begotten Son" to save it from eternal damnation. Why Calamities Come. — Calamities do not come up- on the world merely to scourge the wicked and avenge the wrongs of the righteous. The primal aim of Divine Punish- 1, Job 1 :19. m, Moses 1 :39. n, Matt. 28:18. GOD'S HAND UPON THE NATIONS 203 merit is to purify, and if possible save those upon whom the "Great Avenger" lays a chastening hand. The object is to bring sinners to repentance, to throw down the bar- riers that prevent men from coming to Christ, and turn into the upward path those bent upon pursuing the down- ward road. The Gospel saves all who are willing to be saved, and who show their willingness by their obedience, their faith by their works. It also aims to save the unwill- ing and disobedient — here if possible, and if not here, then hereafter. Wars and other woes are sent to put a stop to men's evil practices, lest they add sin to sin and pile up guilt to their greater condemnation. To be swept off the earth and ministered to in the spirit world, is not the worst fate that can befall the wicked. Omnipo- tence wields the powers of destruction in such a way as to make of them instruments of salvation. It may seem cruel, but in reality it is kind. Safety With The Priesthood. — The Almighty does not hurl the shafts of affliction against the righteous, especially against helpless innocence; but in pursuance of his benevolent designs, and to effect the greatest good to the greatest number, He permits the destroyer to exercise his agency in a world where good and bad, old and young, all classes and all qualities, dewll. Some of the woes thus launched fall partly upon the choicest of God's children, un- less faith be there — as doubtless He intends — faith and the power of the Priesthood, to intervene for their preservation. "The just shall live by faith," it is written, and the Priesthood is a shield to those who bear it and to those who honor its possessors. o, Said President Woodruff, in his address upon the judgments: "Can you tell me where the people are who will be shielded and pro- tected from these great calamities? I'll tell you: The priesthood of God who honor their priesthood, and who are worthy of their blessings. ... No other people have a right to be shielded 204 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION The Chastening of the Lord. — "My son," says the ancient Wise Man, "despise not the chastening of the Lord ; neither be weary of his correction : For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth ; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth."^ Bearing in mind this sapient ad- monition, let us not be doubtful of the Divine Purpose in sending forth the destroyer, whether in the shape of war, pestilence and famine, partly caused by human' agency ; or in earthquakes, cyclones, and other fierce convulsions, over which man has absolutely no control. They are all phases of "The Battle of the Great God," 5 intent upon clearing the way for the coming of the Perfect One, bringing order out of chaos, overthrowing wrong and establishing' right, to the end that the human race may be permanently blest and the righteous possess in peace the heritage prepared for them from the foundation of the world. from these judgments. They are at our very doors; not even this people will escape them entirely. They will come down like the judgments of Sodom and Gomorrah, and none but the priest- hood will be safe from their fury." The President meant, no doubt, to include in this reference those who follow the servants of the Lord and are guided by their counsels. He was speaking to a general congregation, and said, in addition to the words just quoted: "If you do your duty, and 1 do my duty, we shall have protection, and shall pass through the afflictions in peace and safety." />. Prov. 3:1-2. <7, D. & C. 88:114. ARTICLE TWENTY-SEVEN. The Consummation. Time, mighty daughter of Eternity! Mother of ages and of aeons past ! Assemble now thy children at thy side, And ere thou diest teach them to be one. Link to its link rebind the broken chain Of dispensations, glories, keys and powers, From Adam's fall unto Messiah's reign — A thousand years of rest, a day with God, While Shiloh reigns; and Kolob once revolves. a Gathering the Gatherers. — The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times is distinctively a gathering dispensa- >' tion. But it stands for more — far more than the assem- bling of the dispersed House of Israel. It is the spiritual harvest-time of all the ages, the long-heralded Era of Restitution/ when the great Garnerer of "all things in Christ" will reveal himself in power and glory, and place the capstone on the temple of heaven-inspired human achievement. The gathering of Israel is only the preface to the book, only the prologue to the play. The gathering of the gatherers — such is the meaning of the preliminary work now in progress, a work in which Gods, angels and men have joined. The Final Development. — This great era of restora- tion was made necessary by the departure of the Christian word from the faith delivered to the former-day Saints. But that is not its full significance. In accordance with the foreknowledge of God, and in consonance with his a, "Elias," Canto 5, p. 37, annotative edition. b, Acts 3:21. 206 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION sublime, far-reaching purposes, this vast, all-compre- hending period was foreordained from the beginning as the final development of the Divine Flan — ''the winding-up scene" of the Creator's work pertaining to this planet. 6 ' All in One. — Joseph the Seer, referring to this mighty dispensation, and the object for which it was "ushered in " says : "It is necessary . . that a whole and complete and perfect union and welding-together of dispensations and keys and powers and glories should take place, and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time ; and hot only this, but those things which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall be revealed unto babes and sucklings in this the dispensation of the fulness of times. " d Joseph Smith's Work. — These words were uttered by the Prophet less than two years before the tragic termina- tion of his mortal life. He had looked upon the face of God, as did Enoch, Moses, and other seers in times of old. He had communed with Angels, receiving from them the keys or the Priesthood and the principles of the Everlasting Gos- pel. Thus empowered, he had organized on earth the Church of Christ, the forerunner of the Kingdom that shall stand forever/ Wrapt in celestial vision, he had gazed upon the glories of Eternity, portraying" in burning eloquence the destiny of the human race, setting forth in vivid plain- ness the conditions of man's salvation and exaltation in worlds to come/ He had preached the Gospel in various parts of his native land, and had caused it to be preached c, D. & C. 77:12. d, Tb. 128:18. e, Dan 2:44. f, D. & C. 76. THE CONSUMMATION 207 iri realms beyond the sea. His glorious career, which was about to end in martyrdom, was signalized by the intro- duction and practice of sacred principles which he af- firmed would bring forth Zion and enable the pure in heart to "see God" and inherit celestial glory — the ulti- mate aim of all righteous endeavor. The Divine Presence. — "This," said the Prophet, "is why Adam blessed his posterity; he wanted to bring them into the presence of God."£ "Moses sought to bring the children of Israel into the presence of God, through the power of the Priesthood, but he could not. In the first ages of the world they tried to establish the same thing, and there were Eliases raised up who tried to restore these very glories, but. did not obtain them. But they prophesied of a day when this glory would be revealed, . . . when God would gather together all things in one." /l Keys Committed.— The Prophet goes on to say that the Angels who hold the keys of spiritual powers and blessings — "authoritative characters" — men in heaven hav- ing children on earth — "will come down and join hand in hand in bringing about this work." 1 ' At the time of that utterance, this phase of the Latter-day Work had begun, the founder of the Church having received from heavenly messengers the keys of authority and power held by them in past dispensations. The Aaronic Priesthood had been conferred by John the Baptist, 7 and the Melchizedek Priesthood by Peter, James and John.* Without this divine authorization the Church could not have been established, the Ensign could not have been raised for the gathering of scattered Israel. Already have I related how the keys p, P. & C. 107:56. h, lb. 84:23, 24. i. Hist. Ch. Vol. 3, pp. 388, 389. /, D. & C. 13. k. lb. 27:12; 128:20. 208 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION of the gathering were committed to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple. Elias and Elijah — But more was to follow. In that wonderful record of visions manifested to these Elders, and testified of by them, occurs this solemn affirmation: "Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the Gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed. "After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us, for Elijah the Prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us and said — "Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi, testifying that he (Elijah) should be sent before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come, "To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smit- ten with a curse. "Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are com- mitted into your hands, and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors. " ; The Same Yet Not the Same. — "Elias," considered as a name, is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew "Elijah." Compared references in the New and Old Testaments clearly establish their verbal identity.™ But Joseph Smith distinguished between "the spirit of Elias" and "the spirit of Elijah," the former a forerunner, the latter holding the I, D. & C. 110:12-16; Hist. Ch. Vol. 3, p. 390. .m, See Luke 9:54 and 2 Kings 18:38; also James 5:17 and 1 Kings 17:1. THE CONSUMMATION 209 sealing powers necessary to complete the work of prepara- tion for Messiah's advent." Elijah, therefore, is not to be confounded with Elias — that is to say, with the Elias who committed the keys of the Abrahamic dispensation. There are many Eliases, in the sense of the lesser preparing the way before the greater; and by one of them Abraham's keys were restored, in order that the blessings anciently pronounced upon the Father of the Faithful might be extended tq his pos- terity in modern times. Why Elijah?— "Why send Elijah?" asks the Prophet; and answers his own question thus : "Because he holds the keys of the authority to administer in all the ordin- ances of the Priesthood; and without the authority is given, the ordinances could not be administered in right- eousness." In the same connection he states that "Elijah was the last prophet that held the keys of the Priesthood." n, Hist. Ch. Vol. 6, pp. 249, 254. o, Hist. Ch. Vol. 4, p. 211. Elijah the Tishbite, as he is called in Scripture, figured in the history of the Kingdom of Israel about nine centuries before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. It was a period of idolatry, when the priests of Baal (whom Elijah overthrew) had Ahab the king and his wife, the wicked Jezebel, completely under their sinister influence. Regarding the great Prophet of Restoration, Dr. Geikie, says : "The immense influence of Elijah during his life is seen in the place he held in the memory of after generations in Israel. He takes rank along with Samuel and Moses ; not like the former, as the apostle of a system yet undeveloped ; or as the founder of a religion, like the latter ; but as the restorer of the old when it was almost driven from the earth. The prophet Malachi portrays him as the announcer of the great and terrible day of Jehovah. His reappearance was constantly expected as the precursor of the Messiah. So continually was he in the thoughts of the people of New Testament times, that both John the Baptist and our Lord were supposed to be no other than he. The son of Sirach (See Apocrypha) calls him a fire, and says that his word burned like a torch, and that it was he who was to gather together again the tribes of Israel from the great dispersion. . . . "His final coming, it is believed, will be three days before that of the Messiah, and on each of the three he will proclaim peace, 14 210 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION The Restorer's Mission. — Elijah's mission, as made known by modern revelation, represents the establishment of that condition of perfect unity referred to by Joseph the Seer, whose comment thereon is quoted in the third para- graph of this article. "Mormonism," as already explained, does not stand for one Gospel dispensation alone, but for all the Gospel dispensations, extending', like the links of a mighty chain, through the whole course of Time. The Final Dispensation, made effective by the keys of Elijah, will bring together and weld in one the parted links of this universal chain. The restitution of all things — the setting iii order of the Lord's House, preparatory to his coming, such is the significance of the mission of Elijah, who turns the hearts of the fathers (in heaven) to the children (on earth), and the hearts of the children to the fathers. The Welding Link. — But these hearts must not only be turned ; they must be bound together, and beat as one. That thought, no less than the other, was in the Prophet's mind when, from his place of retirement during a season of trouble, he wrote repeatedly to the Church regarding an all-important duty devolving upon its members. Said he : "The earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some kind or other, between the fathers and the children." And what is it? "It is the baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made perfect, neither can they without us be made perfect."*' Without Unity, No Perfection. — Perfection is the great end in view ; and without unity there can be happiness and salvation, in a voice that will be heard over all the earth. So firm, indeed, was the conviction of this in the days of the Talmud, that when goods were found which no owner claimed, the common saving- was, Put them by till Elijah comes."— "Hours with the Bible," Vol. 4, pp. 65,66. p, D. & C. 127, 128. THE CONSUMMATION 211 up perfection. To bring about this great consummation, the Gospel was instituted, the Savior chosen, Earth created, and the human race placed upon this planet. Nothing im- perfect can inherit the Divine Presence — the fulness of God's glory. This important lesson is taught by the principle of marriage — celestial marriage — the sealing of the sexes, not for time only, but for all eternity. "The man is not without the woman, nor the woman without the man, in the Lord." 5 United, they represent completeness, per- fection, each being the complement of the other. Husband and wife, parent and child, the living and the dead, must be one, lest it be said of them at the celestial gates, as it was said at the gates of Verdun : "They shall not pass." The Latter-day Saints build temples and officiate therein, the living for the dead, not only to save them, but to bring them into that grand Order of Unity, so necessary to the perfection of God's work. The Keys of Preparation. — Past and present are re- lated. It is the relationship of parent and child. Neither is complete without the other. What has been and what is must join, before perfection can reign. Without unity and the perfecting power of righteousness, the Saints would be unprepared to receive the King of Kings. Earth, unable to endure the overpowering glory of his presence, would vanish from before his face, like hoar-frost in the rays of the rising sun/ That there might be no such calamity, no converting of an intended blessing into a consuming curse, Elijah re- stored the Keys of Preparation. The Universal Gathering. — The gathering of the House of Israel is to be supplemented by a greater gather- q, 1 Cor. 11:11. r, Mai. 3:2; 4:1. 212 THE ERA OF RESTITUTION ing — the bringing together of all the Gospel dispensations, with all the sacred powers and mighty personages con- nected therewith/ There is to be a general assembly, a universal union, in which sainted souls from all glori- fied creations will join."* All things that are Ohrists's, both in heaven and on earth, will eventually be brought to- gether, and the divided and discordant parts attuned and blended into one harmonious Whole. s, D. & C. 27 :5-14. t, lb. 76:67; Moses 7:31, 64. PART SEVEN POWERS AND PRINCIPLES ARTICLE TWENTY-EIGHT. The Priesthood. What "Priesthood" Means. — Divine authority., or the right to rule, inherent in the supreme Source of all power — such is the primal meaning of "Priesthood." It also signi- fies the men in whom that authority is vested — the servants of the Lord, who officiate for him and administer the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. Why Necessary. — Divine laws, like human laws, require officers and a government to administer them. God, being in the form of man, cannot be everywhere present in his own person. Immanent by the spirit that proceeds from him, omnipresent by his power, influence and au- thority, He cannot, as a personage, occupy two places at the same time, any more than he can make something out of nothing- or do aught else that is impossible. To say that Deity can do that which cannot be done, is no glorification of Deity. It is sheer nonsense, nothing more. Since the Supreme Being cannot be everywhere present iii person, cannot be in Heaven and on Earth simultane- ously, he requires representatives to carry on his work in this as in other parts of the universe. Herein is the prime reason, the fundamental fact, underlying the necessity for a Priesthood and a Church organization. A Twofold Power. — There are two priesthoods in the Church of Christ, or, more properly, two grand divisions of priesthood, namely, the Melchizedek and the Aaronic, the latter an appendage to the former.* This dualism is owing to the fact that Divine Government takes " cognizance of and deals with things temporal as well as with things a, Hist. Ch. Vol. 4, p. 207; D. & C. 107:1-20. 216 POWERS AND PRINCIPLES spiritual. Nevertheless, all things are spiritual to Deity." As Eternity includes Time, so the spiritual includes the tem- poral. , , Origin of Names. — The Melchizedek Priesthood was named for Melchizedek, king of Salem. c The powers of this priesthood are unlimited. It wields authority over all things. Holding "the keys of the Kingdom of God," it is the divinely ordained "channel through which every important matter is revealed from Heaven. " li The Aaronic or Lesser Priesthood takes its name from Aaron, the brother of Moses. It operates within a limited sphere, having a special calling to administer in temporal affairs, in material things. Symbolized by the Soul. — The Government of God, with its two mighty wings of priestly power and authority, corresponds to and is symbolized by the soul. As spirit and body constitute the soul, so the Melchizedek and Aaronic priesthoods constitute the government of the Church of Christ. Through the medium of the body, with its various members and organs, the things of this life are possessed and utilized, while those pertaining to a higher state of ex- istence are apprehended and made use of by means of the spiritual faculties. Even so, by these two priesthoods, dif- fering in powers and prerogatives, yet allied, interwoven and harmonious in their mutual workings, is carried on in all worlds the sublime work of Omnipotence. Furthermore, to extend the analogy, it is the spirit or higher part of man that controls, directs and supplies the motive power of the body, being the vital mainspring of this wondrous piece of machinery, whose functions are forwarded by the animation resulting from the union of b, D. & C. 29:34, 35. c, Gen. 14:18; Heb. 7:1-21. d, Hist. Ch. Vol. 4, p. 207. THE PRIESTHOOD 217 the twain. In like manner, the Melchizedek Priesthood, holding the keys of presidency, controls and directs the entire body of the Church ; delegating, however, a portion of its authority to the Lesser Priesthood, that it likewise may wield a legitimate influence and execute the purposes for which it was designed. "No Man Taketh This Honor." — Men cannot con- stitute themselves servants of the Lord. They must be called by him — literally called and ordained, or they are not qualified to speak and act in his name and stead. While there is no ban upon doing good, and all are free to pro- mote truth and practice righteousness, and will reap sure reward for so doing, there is no such thing as heavenly sanc- tion upon usurped office and authority. The Scriptures make this fact exceedingly plain/ "God will not acknowl- edge that which he has not called, ordained and chosen/ Christ The Head. — Jesus Christ is the great "Apostle and High Priest,"* standing at the head of the priestly- kingly Order of Melchizedek. It was originally styled "The Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God ;" but this title was changed out of reverence for the Supreme Being, to avoid "the too frequent repetition" of the all- sacred name. Melchizedek's name was substituted, because he "was such a great High Priest. " ft "Apostle" means "Messenger," or one who is sent. The use of the term, as one of the titles of the Savior, is warranted by the fact that the Son was sent forth by the Father.* He was therefore the Father's messenger. In like manner, those sent forth by the Son are his apostles or messengers, particularly the twelve special witnesses. e, 1 Sam. 13:9-14; 2 Sam. 6:6,7; 2 Chron. 26:18-21; Heb. 5:4. f, Hist. Ch. Vol. 4. pp. 208, 209. g, Heb. 3:1. h, D. & C. 107:2-4. i, Abr. 3:27; John 14:24. 218 PO WERS AND PRINCIPLES Adam Stands Next. — Next to the Savior in divine au- thority, stands Adam, Ancient of Days, the father of the whole human family. So says Joseph the Prophet, in his great discourse on Priesthood. "The priesthood was first given to Adam ; he obtained the First Presidency, and held the keys of it from generation to generation. He obtained it . . before the world was formed . . He had dominion given him over every living creature. He is Michael the Archangel."'' Noah's Position. — "Then to Noah, who is Gabriel; he stands next in authority to Adam in the Priesthood. He was called of God to this office, and was the father of all living in his day, and to him was given the dominion. These men held keys first on earth and then in heaven."^ These inspired utterances regarding Adam and Noah ought to set at rest the question with which they deal. They are a sufficient answer to the charge, sometimes made, that the Latter-day Saints rank Joseph Smith as next in dignity and power to Jesus Christ. It is fitting that the Prophet him- self should supply the refutation. An Everlasting Principle. — He goes on to say : "The Priesthood is an everlasting principle, and existed with God from eternity, and will to eternity, without beginning of days or end of years. The keys have to be brought from heaven whenever the Gospel is sent. When they are revealed from heaven, it is by Adam's authority."' Succession and Descent. — From Adam, the Priest- hood descended through the following line : Abel, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Esaias, Gad, Jeremy, Elihu, Caleb, Jethro and Moses." w Says the Prophet "The Savior, /, Hist. Ch. Vol 3, pp. 385, 386. k, lb. p. 386. I, lb. p. 386. m, D. & C. 84:6-17. See also 107:40-52. THE PRIESTHOOD 219 Moses and Elias gave the keys to Peter, James and John, on the Mount, when they were transfigured before him." Fie then asks : "How have we come at the Priesthood in the last days?" — and answers thus: "It came down, down, in regular succession. Peter, James and John had it given to them, and they gave it to others." The "others" include Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, the earliest Elders of the Latter-day Church.™ Agents of the Almighty. — Inherent in the Priesthood is the principle of representation. So plenary and far- reaching are its powers, that when those holding this au- thority are in the line of their duty, and possess the spirit of their calling, their official acts and utterances are as valid and as binding as if the Lord himself were present, doing and saying what his servants do and say for him. This is what it means to bear the Priesthood. It con- stitutes men agents of the Almighty, transacting sacred business in the interest of the one who sent them. These agents should represent their Principal fairly and faith- fully, reflecting", as far as possible, his intelligence and goodness, living so near to him that when their letter of instructions (the written word) falls short, the Spirit that indited it, resting upon them as a continual benediction, can give "line upon line" of revelation, flash upon flash of inspired thought, to illumine and make plain the path they are to tread. "And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the -will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation." n, D. & C. 13. lb. 128:20. o, lb. 68 :4. 220 PO WERS AND PRINCIPLES / No Unrighteous Dominion. — A tremendous power for frail mortal man to wield ! Yes, and to guard against its abuse, the exercise of this divine prerogative is hedged about with certain conditions and limitations. Thus : ''No power or influence can or ought to be main- tained by virtue of the Priesthood, only by persuasion, by long suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned ; by kindness and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy and without guile, reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy."*' Again : "The rights of the Priesthood are inseparably con- nected with the powers of heaven, and . . the powers of heaven cannot be controlled or handled only upon the principles of righteousness . . . When we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of un- righteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves, the Spirit of the Lord is grieved ; and when it is with- drawn, Amen to the Priesthood or the authority of that man."? An Echo From the Heights Eternal, where the Gods, in solemn council before the creation of the world, decreed freedom, not tyranny ; persuasion, not compulsion ; charity, not intolerance, the platform upon which the Lord's serv- ants should stand. There is no room in all the Govern- ment of God for the exercise of "unrighteous dominion." p, D. & C. 121 :41-43. q, lb, vv. 36, 37. THE PRIESTHOOD 22 i The Other Side. — But there is another side to the question. If the men bearing this sacred authority con- fine themselves to the lawful use of the powers conferred upon them, doing no other than the things enjoined by divine revelation or inspired by the Holy Spirit — what then? In that event the responsibility shifts to other should- ers ; and just how weighty the responsibility is, the Savior himself shows in his parable of the Last Judgment, where is indicated the standard or one of the standards by which He will judge the world/ Before the Bar of God. — When the Son of Man, sit- ting upon "the throne of his glory," shall require of all nations and of all men a final accounting, and shall put to them the crucial question : "How did you treat my servants whom I sent unto you?" happy the nation or the man who can reply: "Lord, I showed them the respect to which they were entitled — I honored them as I would have honored Thee." Warning and Exhortation. — Grievous the sin anH heavy the penalty incurred by those who mistreat the serv- ants of the Master. But more grievous and more weighty still, the sin and punishment of those who betray them. "See to it," says the Prophet to the Elders of the Church, "that ye do not this thing, lest innocent blood be found upon your skirts, and you go down to hell. All other sins are not to be compared to sinning against the Holy Ghost and proving" a traitor to the brethren. " s Again that ancient admonition, sounding down the centuries, "Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm !" blending with the Savior's solemn warning to the world : "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." r, Matt. 25 :21-46. s. Hist. Ch. Vol. 3, p. 385. ARTICLE TWENTY-NINE. Church Government. An Incomparable System. — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is conceded, even by many out- side its pale, to be a most admirable and most thorough sys- tem of government. It ought to be ; for it is a product of divine wisdom. The Church on Earth is the coun- terpart, so far as mortal conditions will permit, of the Church in Heaven, as beheld in vision by Joseph the Seer. a While the Church founded by him is not yet perfect, it is approximately so, and is destined to attain that condition. It is doubtful that the Church of Christ in any former age had so complete an organization as it possesses at the present time. This wonderful scheme of spiritual-temporal government was revealed from above, and established here below, that the Lord's will might be done on earth even as it is done in heaven. Earliest Offices. — The earliest offices in the Church were those of Elder, Priest, Teacher and Deacon ; all, ex- cepting Elder, callings in the Aaronic Priesthood. 6 Other offices, mostly in the Priesthood of Melchizedek, were evolved as fast as they became necessary/ The first Bishops were ordained in 1831, the year after the Church was organized. There was no First Presidency until 1833, and no Stake organization until 1834. The Twelve Apostles and their assistants, the Seventies, were not chosen until 1835. But all these offices and callings were inherent in the two a, D. & C. 76:54; 107:93. b, lb. 20:38-64. c, Tb. w. 65-67. Note. CHURCH GOVERNMENT 223 priesthoods conferred upon the founder of the Church be- fore its organization. First and Second Elders — Other Titles. — Joseph Smith was the first President of the Church. His original title was "First Elder ;" Oliver Cowdery being the "Second Elder." The initial use of these titles — an anticipative use — was by John the Baptist, the angel who ordained Joseph and Oliver to the Aaronic Priesthood. He told them of their future ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood, and of their calling as "Elders" thereunder/ As early as the date oi the Church's organization, the titles of Seer, Translator, Prophet and Apostle, were conferred upon Joseph, and that of Apostle upon Oliver, by revelation/ Puerile Complaints. In after years President Joseph Smith and his associates were criticised by seceders from the Church, because of additions made to the original list of offices, as the result of growth and development on the part of the infant organization. It was contended that since it came into existence with Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons as its governing powers, and this by divine direction, therefore these orders should have been deemed sufficient, to the exclusion of High Priest and other titles claimed to have been added by "ambitious and spiritually- blind" leaders/ d, Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, pp. 40, 41, 77, 78. e, D. & C. 21:1. f, David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, in a pamphlet published after his excommunication from the Church, put forth such a plea. He also found fault with the Prophet for receiving revelations without the aid of a seer-stone, previously used by him, but laid aside after he had fully mastered his gift, which David seems to have regarded as of less consequence than the stone, which was no longer needed. — "Address to All True Believers in Christ," by David Whitmer, 1881. 224 PO IVERS AND PRINCIPLES Such objections are manifestly puerile. The faultfinders would have been no more inconsistent, had they contended that a new-born babe should remain a babe, instead of growing* up to manhood or womanhood and fulfilling the measure of its creation. The Correct View. — President George A. Smith, in speaking of the progress of the Church, was fond of using, as a comparison, the growth of a hill of corn — first, a single blade of green shooting up from the soil; then two or three such blades ; and afterwards a stalk, with ears of corn and silken tassels pendant. One who made no allowance for the growth of the "hill," might be mystified at beholding it in these various stages of development; but those familiar with the changes incidental to such an evolution would see the matter in a clear light. Greater Follows Lesser. — What more consistent, more in harmony with correct principle and historical precedent, than for the greater to follow the lesser, as when the Melchizedek Priesthood came to Joseph and Oliver, after their ordination to the Aaronic Priesthood? The lesser prepares the way before the greater. But according to the logic of the Prophet's critics, that first ordination should have been all-sufficient; there should have been no second ordination, and no further development of the Lord's work. It ought to have halted then and there, when the keys of the Lesser Priesthood w.ere given. But the Lord knew best, and his inspired servants knew. There was to be, and there has been, a great and mighty development, as the present status of the Church testifies. It has had a won- derful history and a marvelous growth. Never so strong or so well equipped as now, its future is bright with glorious promise. • Offices in the Aaronic Priesthood. — The offices of the Aaronic Priesthood, graded upward, are Deacon, CHURCH GOVERNMENT 225 Teacher and Priest. The presidency of this priesthood is the Bishopric. The Bishop has charge of the Church prop- erty. He receives and disburses, under the direction of the higher authorities, the tithes and offerings of the people. A Presiding Bishopric of three have general charge of the funds provided for the support of the poor, for the build- ing of temples, for the creation and maintenance of schools, and for other purposes. The Church's general financial records are also in their keeping. A bishop must be a lineal descendant of Aaron — in which event he can serve without counselors — or else a high priest after the order of Mel- chizedek,* having as his counselors two other high priests of that order. Under the jurisdiction of the Presiding Bishopric, in temporal matters, are the ward bishoprics. Wards and Stakes. — The Ward is a division of the Stake, as the Stake is a division of the Church. A stake, in territorial extent, frequently corresponds to a county, though in populous districts one county may contain sev- eral stakes. There are four stakes in Salt Lake City. Each stake has a presidency of three, and a high council of twelve, and these have jurisdiction over all members and organizations in the stake, including the ward bishoprics. Each of the latter constitutes a tribunal for the trial of members who transgress the church laws and regulations. From the decision of the Bishop's Court, either party in a case may appeal to the High Council, and from a decision of this appellate court an appeal may be taken to the First Presidency. They review the evidence, and if any injustice has been done, the case is remanded for a new trial. If a President of the Church were tried, it would be before "The Common Council of the Church," assisted by "twelve counselors of the high priesthood. " h The extreme penalty g, D. & C. 68:14-21; 107:16, 17, 69-76. h, lb. 107:82. 15 126 PO WERS AND PRINCIPLES imposed by any of the Church tribunals is excommunica- tion. Administration of Ordinances. — The Aaronic Priest- hood administers in outward ordinances, such as baptism, and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The higher ordin- ances — confirmations, sealings, adoptions, and other tem- ple ceremonies — must be administered by the Priesthood of Melchizedek. Offices in the High Priesthood — Quorums and Coun- cils. — The Melchizedek Priesthood comprises, in an ascending scale, the offices of Elder, Seventy and High Priest. The Patriarch, the Apostle, and the President must all be high priests after this order. Each specific body of priesthood is called a quorum, though most of the general priesthood organizations are termed councils. The General Authorities. — The highest council in the Church is, the First Presidency. It is composed of three high priests, one of whom is the President, the others being his First and Second counselors. These three preside over the entire Church. The President is its Prophet, Seer and Revelator, and also its Trustee-in-Trust, holding the legal title to its property. Next to the First Presidency are the Twelve Apostles. Their special calling is to preach the Gospel or to have it preached, in all nations. The Twelve are equal in author- ity to the First Presidency, but they exercise the fulness of their powers only in the absence of the higher council. They have the right to regulate and set in order the whole Church, but they act under the direction of the First Presidency. The death of the President dissolves that coun- cil, and makes necessary a new organization thereof. The Apostles nominate the President, who then chooses his Counselors, and the three are upheld and sustained by the Church in its public assemblies, called conferences. CHURCH GOVERNMENT 227 The duty of the Presiding Patriarch is to bless the Church, give individual blessings to its members, and com- fort them with spiritual ministrations. He also assists the Apostles in visiting conferences and missions, and perform- ing other duties as required. The First Council of the Seventy, seven in number, preside over the entire body of the Seventies. These, how- ever, are divided into quorums of seventy, each quorum having seven presidents of its own. In the absence of the First Presidency and the Twelve, the First Council of the Seventy would preside over the Church, associated with sixty-three others, the senior presidents of the first sixty- three quorums of seventy. The Seventies labor under the direction of the Twelve Apostles. They are independent of the stake presidencies and bishoprics, as quorums, but not as individual members. They are the "minute men" of the Church, subject to sudden calls into the mission field. The First Presidency, the Twelve Apostles, the Pre- siding Patriarch, the First Council of the Seventy, and the Presiding Bishopric, constitute the General Authorities of the Church. Their names are submitted to the General Conference, held twice a year, to be voted upon by the members. They are also presented at the stake conferences, held quarterly, to be voted upon, with the stake officers, in like manner. High Priests, Patriarchs and Elders. — Each Stake has a quorum of high priests, indefinite in number, pre- sided over by three of its members. The High Priesthood holds the inherent right of presidency. All the general au- thorities, excepting the First Council of the Seventy, must be high priests ; and the same is true of stake presidencies and ward bishoprics. In each stake are one or more patriarchs, performing, when active, duties similar to those cf the Presiding Patriarch. 228 PO WERS AND PRINCIPLES A Stake has one or more quorums of Elders, each com- posed of ninety-six members, three of whom preside. Each ward should have one or more quorums of priests (forty- eight), teachers (twenty- four), and deacons (twelve), each with a presidency of three. The ward bishopric presides in a general way over all the quorums of the Aaronic Priesthood in the ward, and over all church members, as individuals, residing therein. The bishop of the ward is ex- officio president of the priest's quorum. The Elder's of- fice is the lowest in the Melchizedek Priesthood. The dudes of an elder are similar to those of a seventy, though intended to be exercised more at home than abroad. The Lesser Quorums. — The highest office in the Aaronic Priesthood, except bishop, is that of priest. The bishop, however, is a priest, and officiates as such when sitting as a judge ; when presiding over his ward, it is by virtue of the higher priesthood held by him. The priest may preach, baptize and administer the Sacrament, but has not the right to lay on hands and give the Holy Ghost ; that being a function of the Melchizedek Priesthood. The teacher is a peacemaker. He settles, "difficulties arising between church members in his district ; or, if he cannot settle them, he reports them to the bishop. Two or more teachers labor regularly in each of the districts into which a ward is divided. It is incumbent upon them to visit from house to house, to see that no iniquity exists among the members, and that they are attentive to their religious duties. The teachers report monthly, or as often as required, to the ward bishopric. The deacons have charge of the ward property, and they assist the teachers, as the teachers assist the priests. Auxiliaries — Church Schools. All the organizations named are strictly within the pale of the Priest- hood. In addition, there are a number of auxiliary CHURCH GOVERNMENT 229 organizations — helps to the Priesthood in the government of the Church — such as relief societies, Sabbath schools, young peoples' mutual improvement associations, primary associations, and religion classes. Church schools, of which the religion classes are an adjunct, exist in many of the stakes. The more notable of the schools are the Brigham Young University at Provo, the Brigham Young College at Logan, and the Latter-day Saints University at Salt Lake City. For the maintenance of its splendid educational system, the Church makes an appropriation of nearly three quarters of a million dollars, annually. All branches of learning find place in the curricula of these institutions, -but religion is the principal feature; the object being to develop the spiritual, as well as the mental, phy- sical, and moral faculties of the student — in short, "to make Latter-day Saints."* The Present Status. — At the period of this writing there are eighty-five Stakes of Zion, all located in the region of the Rocky Mountains. The Church's twenty-four outside missions comprise most of the countries of the globe. The Latter-day Saints, in all the world, number about half a mil- lion. i, For further information on Priesthood and Church Govern- ment, the reader is referred to Sections 20, 68, 84, 107, 112 and 114, Doctrine and Covenants ; also to Volume 3, p. 385« and Vol. 4, p. 207, History of the Church. ARTICLE THIRTY. The Law of Obedience. "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in Heaven before the foundation of this world, upon which all blessings are predi- cated; and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." — Joseph Smith. Pope and His Proverb. — "Order is heaven's first law," said Alexander Pope; & and many have accepted the poet's dictum as final. It sounds well, but is it true? Presi- dent George Q. Cannon denied its truth, affirming order to be an effect rather than a cause, a result flowing from obedience, without which order would be impossible. Obed- ience, he maintained, is heaven's first law, and the order that reigns there, a condition consequent. Manifestly this is a correct position. Human and Divine Government. — That obedience is essential to order, must be apparent even to a casual ob- server of the every-day life of men and nations. All gov- ernments demand from their people obedience to the laws enacted for the general welfare. Without it there would be no peace, no protection. Confusion would prevail, and anarchy reign supreme. This is readily conceded by most men as to human governments ; but some think it strange that divine government should be administered upon like principles, and for similar though higher ends. Aliens Must Be Naturalized. — A friend of mine, somewhat of a skeptic, asked me : "Why must I belong to a church, or subscribe to a creed, or undergo any particular a, D. & C. 130:20, 21. b, "Essay on Man," Epis. 4, line 49. THE LAW OF OBEDIENCE 231 ceremony, in order to be saved ? I have always done what I thought was right — have been truthful, honest, virtuous and benevolent. Why is that not enough? Why will it not suffice to make my peace with God and pave my way to Heaven ?" I answered : "Suppose you were an alien, born in some country of Europe, or on some island of the sea, and you came to America desiring to become a citizen of the United States. When told that you must declare your intentions, take out naturalization papers, forswear allegiance to any foreign power, and honor and uphold the Constitution and laws of this Republic, suppose you were to reply: Why, what is the need of all that? I am a good man; I have al- ways acted honorably; am clean, moral and upright in conduct and conversation. Why is that not sufficient to entitle me to vote, to hold office, take up land, and enjoy all the rights and privileges of an American freeman? Do you think such a plea would avail? No, you do not. You see its inconsistency as quickly as the Government would see it and reject your application. You would not expect to become a citizen of the United States on your own terms. Why, then, should you hope for admittance into the King- dom of Heaven upon any conditions other than those which the King himself has laid down?" b Man's Proper Attitude. — Men must not count upon their personal qualities, when applying for citizenship in the Eternal Commonwealth. The proper attitude is one of humility, not self-righteousness. The Pharisee who prayed, thanking the Lord that he was better than other men, was less justified than the Publican who also prayed, but in a different spirit, meekly murmuring : "God be merciful to me, a sinner. " c A disposition to laud self, or dictate the terms c, Luke 18:10-14. 232 PO WERS AND PRINCIPLES upon which one is willing to be blest, is anything but modest, anything but reasonable. Truthfulness, honesty, virtue, benevolence — these are precious qualities, treasures enriching the soul under all conditions, inside or outside the Kingdom of Heaven. But they are not valuable enough to purchase a passport into that Kingdom. They go far, but not far enough to secure salvation. Better Than Sacrifice. — "To obey is better than sac- rifice." So said obedient Samuel to disobedient Saul/ Abraham's willingness to obey, when the Lord commanded him to offer up Isaac, was accepted in lieu of the offer- ing. A literal sacrifice was not necessary in that case ; but the offer to make it was necessary ; for thus was sym- bolized the most important event in all history — the offer- ing by the Eternal Father of his beloved Son for the re- demption of the fallen human race. The Patriarch's will- ingness having been shown, the Lord, who had directed Abraham to offer up his son, sent an angel with the countermanding order: "Lay not thine hand upon the lad."* The offering had been accepted, and he who made it was rewarded as abundantly as if the sacrifice had been con- summated. Dead Letter and Living Oracle. — But what if Abra- ham, when commanded to offer up his son, had refused, citing in support of his position the divine law against homi- cide, a law dating from the time of Cain and Abel — would that have justified him? No ; God's word is his law, and the word last spoken by him must have precedence over any earlier revelation on the same subject. If Abraham, after being forbidden to slay his son, had fanatically persisted in slaying him, he would have been a transgressor, just as much as if he had^ refused to obey in the first instance. d, 1 Sam. 15:22. e, Gen. 22:12. THE LAW OF OBEDIENCE 233 After receiving the second command, he could not con- sistently plead that he was under obligation to carry out the first. Had he done so, he would have placed himself in a false position, that of honoring the dead letter above the living oracle. : ? The Will for the Deed. — Let me give this principle another application. A soldier goes forth to fight the bat- tles of his country, goes with a willing heart, offering his life that justice may prevail and freedom endure. Having done his duty, he returns unscathed from the conflict where many went down to death. Is not his offering as acceptable as that of his comrade who makes what is called "the su- preme sacrifice ?" He certainly offers as much, the only dif- ference being that not as much of his offering is taken. All honor to those who, during the dreadful war of recent years, perished in the blood-soaked trenches, or fell ir. the open field with, Prussian or Austrian bullets in their breasts ! All honor to those who met death by accident or disease, in training camp or at battle-front, on land or on sea, losing their lives while faithfully playing their pare in the great world tragedy ! Heroes, every one ! But the gallant fellows who lived through it all, patiently endur- ing hardships and privations, dying daily by anticipation, and by willingness to sacrifice all for the common good- be it not forgotten that in spirit they gave as much as any ; and the fact that their offering was not taken, does not discount the motive that actuated them, nor diminish the credit due. "As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by . the stuff ; they shall part alike. "f The Just and the Unjust. — All blessings come by obe- dience. When the Savior said of the Father: "He maketh f, 1 Sam. 30:24. 234 PO WERS AND PRINCIPLES his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."^ he did not mean that no distinction is made between the two classes. He meant that the Great Judge is just to both — just even to the un- just, sending to them his rain and his sunshine, causing their orchards to bloom and their vineyards to bear equally with those of the righteous, provided similar conditions surround, and both classes are equally obedient to the laws governing the culture of the soil. They Kept the First Estate. — But rain and sunshine, like all other blessings, are for those who merit them. If the unjust (unjust here) had not "kept their first estate," had not manifested in a previous life some de- gree of obedience! to divine law, they would not have been given a "second estate," would not have been placed where the sunlight and the showers could reach them. Obedience Must Continue. — In this life, however, further obedience is necessary,, in order that greater blessings may come. God's gifts are both spiritual and temporal ; but whatever they are, their bestowal is regu- lated by the great Law of Obedience. A good man may be a poor farmer, and thus fail to raise the full crop that he might have reaped had he been more skillful or more thorough in the practice of his vocation. On the other hand, a bad man may be an expert tiller of the soil, realizing bounteous returns because of his strict ob- servance of the law in that particular department of in- dustry. Higher Laws and Higher Blessings. — There are greater blessings, however, than those pertaining to the harvest field and the workshop, and they also are to be had only by obedience to the laws governing their bestowal g, Matt. 5:45. THE LAW OF OBEDIENCE 235 and distribution. One cannot become a member of the Church of Christ by being a successful merchant or stock- raiser; and one may hold church membership, yet not be entitled to the privileges^, of the Temple. It takes more than the skill of a mechanic to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. There is but one way into that kingdom, and he who tries to pick the lock or climb over the wall, will be treated as a trespasser or a robber. Rod and Rock. — Obedience is the rod of power which smites the rock of divine resource, causing it to flow with the waters of human weal. And the most obedient are the most blest. There are "many mansions" in the great House of God, and the highest are for those who render unto the Master of the House the fulness of their obedience. ARTICLE THIRTY-ONE. The Divine Doorway. The Most Important Personage. — What particular acts of obedience are required from man, in order that the One who redeemed may likewise, save and exalt him? What must he do for himself, to the end that he may profit by the great things done in his behalf? In other words, how shall the alien seeking citizenship in the King- dom of Heaven, obtain it? What are the divine laws of naturalization? The one who can answer such questions, is easily the most important personag'e of his time. Such a one was Peter, the Galilean fisherman, chief of the twelve special witnesses of the Savior. The Pentecostal Proclamation. — When Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, preached "Christ and him crucified," and the conscience-stricken multitude," pricked in their heart," cried out, "men and brethren, what shall we do?" a ques- tion was propounded which the most learned philosophers of that age could not answer. Ceasar, sitting upon the throne of the world, would have been mystified had the question been put to him — What shall men do to be saved? Not so, the Galilean fisherman. He knew, and he told them straightway : "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall re- ceive the gift of the Holy Ghost. " a The Gospel Unchangeable. — These requirements have not changed. They are in force today. They will remain in force so long as the Gospel is preached. The Apostle a, Acts 2:38. THE DIVINE DOORWAY 237 did not say that these were all the requirements. But he answered the question put to him, and it was the appro- priate and sufficient reply for that occasion. In the Pit. — When Adam and Eve had transgressed the divine command by partaking of the forbidden fruit, it was as if the human race had fallen into a pit, from which they were powerless, by any act of their own, to emerge. They could not climb out, for they knew not how tc climb ; and even if they had known, there was no means by which to ascend. Human endeavor,, unassisted, could ac- complish nothing in the way of deliverance. Man in his mortal condition needed revelation^ spiritual enlighten- ment, having forgotten all that he had previously known. He also needed a ladder. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the ladder to Freedom and Light. Without it there is no salvation, no exaltation. The Tower of Babel symbolizes the situation. All man's efforts to reach Heaven without divine assistance, must end in confusion and failure. Self-Help Necessary. — Before there was a Ladder, or while it was not within reach, fallen man could not climb. All his intelligence and skill were unavailing. But the ladder having been let down, if he will use his God- given powers and all the means provided for the pur- pose, he can mount from Earth to Heaven, round by round. If he refuses to climb, who but himself is to blame for his remaining at the bottom of the pit? The Gospel is not a substitute for self-help. It does not supersede man's efforts in his own behalf. It is the divinely appointed means whereby those efforts are made effectual. It does for man what he cannot do for himself. Redemption by Grace. — The Gospel of Salvation rests upon the rock of Christ's Atonement — an act of grace, a free gift from God to man, to the wicked as well as to 238 PO WERS AND PRINCIPLES the righteous. All profit by it, for through that atonement, all are brought forth from the grave. This is eminently just. Adam's posterity were consigned to death for no deed of their own doing. It is fitting, therefore, that their redemption should be unconditional. Salvation by Obedience. — But redemption is not sal- vation, nor salvation exaltation. Men must "work out" their salvation, & and gain exaltation by continuous upward striving. Depending primarily upon the grace of God, sal- vation and exaltation are likewise the fruits of man's ac- ceptance of the Gospel, and of his steadfast adherence thereto, until it shall have done for him its perfect work. The First Requirement. — Faith is the first require- ment of the Gospel. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." So the Savior declared, when he commis- sioned his Apostles to "go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. " c Peter's Pentecostal ser- mon omitted faith from the list of essentials, doubtless for the reason that those whom the Apostle addressed already had faith, a fact plainly shown by the question put to him. Evidently they believed what he had told them about the crucified Redeemer; else they would not have been "pricked in their heart," and would not have anxiously inquired, "What shall we do?" In like manner, the Savior, when making his condi- tional promise of salvation, left out repentance, it being implied, virtually included, in the admonition to believe and be baptized ; since baptism is "for the remission of sins" — sins of which man has repented. Faith, not re- pentance, is the first essential — the initial requirement made of the seeker for salvation. b, Phil. 2:12. c, Mark 16:15, 16. THE DIVINE DOORWAY 239 The Second Step. — The first fruit of faith is repent- ance. It follows faith as naturally as kindness follows love, as obedience springs from reverence, as a desire to be congenial with, suceeds admiration for, one whose example is deemed worthy of emulation. God commands all men to repent; and a desire to please him and become ac- ceptable in his sight, naturally leads the soul of faith to repentance. "Sin No More/' — Repentance is not that superficial sorrow felt by the wrongdoer when "caught in the act" — a sorrow not for sin, but for sin's detection. Chagrin is not repentance. Mortification and shame alone bring no change of heart toward right feeling and right living. Even remorse is not all there is to repentance. In highest meaning and fullest measure, repentance is equivalent to reformation ; the beginning of the reformatory process being a resolve to "sin no more." "By this ye may know that a man repenteth of his sins : Behold he will confess them and forsake them." d What is Sin? — Sin is the transgression of divine law, as made known through the conscience or by revelation. A man sins when he violates his conscience, going contrary to light and knowledge — not the light and knowl- edge that has come to his neighbor, but that which has come to himself. He sins when he does the opposite of what he knows to be right. Up to that point he only blunders. One may suffer painful consequences for only blundering, but he cannot commit sin unless he knows bet- ter than to do the thing in which the sin consists. One must have a conscience before he can violate it. "Where there is no law given, there is no punishment ... no con- d, D. & C. 58:43. 240 PO WERS AND PRINCIPLES demnation."* "He that knoweth not good from; evil is blameless."^ Degrees of Damnation. — Souls who know that they have sinned, and who refuse to forsake their sins, will be damned. They damn themselves by that refusal. Damna- tion is no part of the Gospel. It is simply the sad alterna- tive, the inevitable consequence of rejecting the offer of salvation. Damnation ( condemnation)! is not necessarily permanent, and it may exist in degrees, the degree being de- termined by the measure of culpability in the one con- demned. Even the damned can be saved if they repent. The Sin Unpardonable. — It is possible, however, to sin so far and so deeply that repentance is impossible. Shakespeare puts into the mouth of one of his characters — the guilty King Claudius — this speech : "Try what repentance can: what can it not? Yet what can it when one cannot repent ?"£ Those who cannot repent are sons of perdition. Their sin is unpardonable, involving utter recreancy to divine light and power previously possessed. The Washing of Regeneration. — Sin must not only be repented of ; it must be blotted out. The soul must be cieansed of it. Baptism is the soul-cleansing process, the divinely instituted means whereby sins are remitted — that is, forgiven and washed away. Immersion in water, sym- bolizing birth, or burial and resurrection, is the true form of the baptismal ordinance. Baptism is the third principle of the Gospel. Divine Illumination. — The soul cleansed from sin is in a condition to enjoy the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, e, 2 Nephi 9 :25. f, Alma 29:5. g, Hamlet, Act. 3, Scene 3. THE DIVINE DOORWAY 241 which "dwelleth not in unclean tabernacles." Through this precious gift comes the divine light that "leads into all truth," making manifest the things of God, past, present, and to come. There is a light that illumines, in greater or less degree, every soul that cometh into the world; but the Gift of the Holy Ghost, imparted by the laying on of hands of one divinely authorized to bestow it, is a special endowment,' and only those) having membership in the Church of Christ can possess it. Each is thus given a direct personal testimony of the Truth, and is founded upon the Rock of Revelation, against which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail. Gospel Principles Eternal. — The Everlasting Gospel is not an empty phrase. It means just what it says. The prin- ciples underlying it are eternal. "Intelligence or the light of truth was not created or made, neither indeed can be. ,,/l The same is true of faith and repentance. God did not make them. They are self-existent. Such ordinances as baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the laying minnow is man; his creek this planet earth; his ocean the immea- surable All; his monsoons and periodic currents the mysterious force of Providence through aeons of aeons." — Sartor Resartus, Natural Supernaturalism, pp. 275-278. WHAT ARE MIRACLES? 273 means of producing them, would ; have filled the souls of such men with fear and wonder. To them it would have been a miracle. And yet, to press a button or! turn a switch, and thus obtain light, is a very clumsy device — or will be so considered when men learn to make light as God made it on the morning of creation/ "The Earth Moves." — The telegraph, the telephone, the electric car, the automobile, the airship — these and a hundred other^ marvelous manifestations of scientific power, now quite common, would have been deemed vision- ary and impossible in former ages. To have avowed even a belief in them would have imperiled one's life or de- prived him of his liberty, in the days when Galileo was threatened with torture for declaring that the earth moves, or when women, in later times were hanged or burned as witches for nothing at all. So dangerous is human pre- judice, in its fanatical opposition to things new and strange. This, of course, refers only to former ages and to semi- benighted peoples. We would not have done as our fore- fathers did ! So each generation thinks. Let us be thankful that the earth "does move," and that the mind of man moves with it, so that perils such as confronted Galileo and others of his class are now less likely to show their ugly features. The Other Extreme. — But just a word of caution here. We must not rush to the opposite extreme, and become obsessed with that ultra-practical spirit which would make all things commonplace, not only in manifestation, but in origin. Miracles, after all, are facts, not fictions, and some of them have their causes far back of and beyond the known principles of science. c, Gen. 1 :3. 18 274 PO WERS AND PRINCIPLES Disbelief in Divine Interposition. — But there is a dis- position in these modern days to do away with every- thing" savoring of the supernatural, "Higher Criticism," so-called, seems to regard this as its special mission. Some people, even if they give credence to works of won- der, invariably refer them to ordinary causes — anything rather than acknowledge divine interposition. Moses and the Red Sea. — For instance, when they read of Moses parting- the waters of the Red Sea, they either deny the event in toto, or set Moses and the mir- acle aside, and susbtitute some convulsion of nature as the accidental cause of the mighty deliverance, when those waters, afer allowing the Israelites to pass through in safety, returned just in time to engulf their pursuing enemies, the Egyptians"/ A very convenient earthquake, truly ! Nothing could have been more timely ! But why could not Divine Power have done it all — done it designedly, in the man- ner and with the means specified in the sacred narrative ? e Is God impotent in the presence of Nature — fettered by his own creation? Alas! these learned theorists be- lieve not in God, and that is why they deny his works and put nature with its blind forces in his stead. d, "Everybody recalls how the Red Sea was rolled aside in or- der that the Israelites under Moses might pass over safely; how the river Jordan, a few years later, was driven back, that Joshua and his army might cross ; and how Sodom and Gomorrah were overwhelmed with fire and brimstone for their sins. . . . Geolo- gists are now inclined to believe that the recession of the sea might have been caused by an earthquake pushing up a rock stratum under tremendous pressure. The water would return in some degree upon the subsidence of the stratum. The various miraculous events referred to occurred about the year 1500 B. C., and there is a curious similarity between them. It now appears probable from scientific research that these occurrences were the last of a series of terrific earthquake disturbances that changed the entire sur- face of the globe."— W. H. Ballou, D. Sc. e. Ex. 14:21-31. WHAT ARE MIRACLES? 27 S Joshua and the Sun. — They laugh to scorn the idea of Joshua commanding the sun to stand still, deeming it "a sin and a disgrace" that such things should be preached and taught, and denying, of course, that the miracle ever took place. Because, forsooth, the whole solar system would have come crashing down into chaos, had the sun halted for one moment in its de- creed course! Yes, that might have happened, such a calamity might have occurred — had there been no God to uphold the solar system and administer the law for its preservation. "The Lord Fought for Israel." — But there is a God, and he was there as he is everywhere, by his all- protective, all-administrative power — the God to whom Joshua prayed before uttering the sublime command : "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon!"^ "And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged them- selves upon their enemies ; . . . for the Lord fought for Israel."^ There you have it — it was the Lord's doing. Joshua was merely the instrument, just as Moses had been. But because such things are not happening every day, and because doubt cannot do them, therefore are they impos- sible to Faith ! Such is the logic of those who scoff at the power of Deity and deny even the miracles of the Savior. Nothing Too Difficult for Omnipotence. — For my part, I see nothing inconsistent in these Bible stories — nothing to justify doubt or denial. A Power that could create the sun and moon and set them whirling in their orbits, could stop them in their decreed course — or stop /, Joshua 10:12. g, lb. vv. 13, 14. 276 PO WERS AND PRINCIPLES the earth, so that sun and moon would seem to be stayed — and at the same time uphold the universe, while this part of it remained stationary. Of course, man could not do it; but human power is not the measure of Omni- • potence. What Our Century Needs. — What the Twentieth Century needs, more than anything else, is an honest be- lief that there is actually a God in heaven, and that his power is superior to man's. The Great Creator has not let out his universe, to be governed by law independently of the Law-giver. The God of Israel is a God who an- swers prayer, and who works miracles whenever the need arises and conditions warrant — works them according to law. But He administers that law — it does not administer him. Greater and Lesser Laws. — Some laws are funda- mental. The Almighty did not create them; but he controls them and overrules their workings for the wel- fare of his creatures. According to Joseph Smith, certain laws were "instituted" at the beginning, as a means for human progression. These are eternal principles where- by our great and benevolent Father proposes to save and exalt his children, and give perpetuity to all things neces- sary for their happiness and glory. Who, 'having faith in a Maker of the universe, can question his power to govern that universe, the work- manship of his hands? And if he controls the fundamen- tal laws — those uncreateble, self-existent principles which are as the Constitution of Eternity, surely he can suspend the operation of lesser laws based thereon, setting aside at will his own enactments. An Illustration. — Suppose a child to be lying at the point of death. The family physician, having done his best and failed, informs the sad-hearted parents that their WHAT ARE MIRACLES? 277 little one cannot live till morning. Medical science so decrees, in accordance with the law under which the phy- sician has been operating. But, bearing in mind the apos- tolic injunction, "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the Elders of the Church, " h the parents send for the Elders. They come and pray over the child, and the prayer of faith "saves the sick," notwithstanding the good doctor's prognostication. A miracle? Yes, if one chooses to call it so. In other words, the suspension of a lesser law by a greater, the former requiring the death of the child, the latter permitting it to live ; the lower inopera- tive in the presence of the higher. Biggest Things Yet to Be. — Miracles belong to no particular time or place. Whenever and wherever there is sufficient faith and a reasonable demand for its exercise, Divine Power will act, and marvels will result. "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of" in human "philosophy," and the biggest things are yet to be. God's work is progressive, and the miracles of the future will cause the miracles of the past to pale. Divine Adaptation. — Progression's hiehest methods cannot be employed in dealing with undeveloped man. The All-wise adapts himself to the conditions environing those whom he aims to uplift and glorify. "All things are in a scale," rendering necessary a diversity of laws and operations. Even the divine dictum, "Let there be light!" does not represent the last word in light production. God is Light, and has only to appear, and all darkness will flee away. When the sun rises, the moon and stars must "hide their diminished heads." When God dawns upon the world, not even the sun will shine. h, James 5:14. ARTICLE THIRTY-SIX. The Mainspring of Power. The Moving Cause. — All power springs from faith. It is "the moving cause of all action" and "the foundation of all righteousness." God did not create the principle of faith, but by means of it he created the worlds, and by means of it he continues to exercise con- trol and dominion over them. It is the faith of Omnipo- tence that upholds the universe. A Negative Opinion. — A Christian minister, not of the orthodox school, with whom I was conversing on the subject of faith, tried to convince me that it was any- thing but an admirable quality. He even called it con- temptible, declaring that it consisted of a weak willing- ness to believe — to believe anything, however improbable or absurd. In short, it was mere credulity, nothing more. A Spiritual Force). — When I referred to faith as a spiritual force, a principle of power, he said I was at- taching to the term a significance that it had never borne, and for which there was .no warrant. I then reminded him of the Savior's words : "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, 'Re- move hence to yonder place/ and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you." & Whereupon he flippantly remarked : "Oh, it takes picks and shovels to move mountains." Picks and Shovels. — And so it does — if one has no bet- ter way of moving them. But what about the faith a, D. & C. Lectures on Faith, Lee. 1, pp. 1, 2; See also Heb. 11. b, Matt. 17:20. THE MAINSPRING OF POWER 279 necessary to handle pick and shovel? All energy springs from faith, and whether mountains are moved by man or by his Maker, it is faith that precedes the action and renders it possible. Yet here was a professed minister of Christ, ignoring the teachings of Christ, and denying what all true Christians believe — that the smallest as well as the greatest acts of our lives spring from the exercise of faith. # Misplaced Confidence. — In its incipient stages, faith may at times resemble mere credulity. The untutored savage who was told by one of the early settlers of New Eng- land, that if he planted gunpowder it would "grow" gun- powder, believed it, not yet having learned that the white man could lie. He therefore parted with his valuable furs, in exchange for a small quantity of powder, and planted it, showing his confidence in the settler's word. But of course the desired result did not follow ; for faith, to be effectual, must be rightly based, must have a rea- sonable foundation. The Spirit of Truth must inspire it. This was not the case with the poor misguided Indian. He trusted in a falsehood, and was deceived. Still, some good came of it — he ascertained the falsity of the set- tler's statement. If the planting did not produce powder, it produced a wiser Indian. Faith's Possibilities. — Had the red man's faith been perfect — an intelligent, rational, heaven-inspired faith — he could have produced gunpowder or any other com- modity from the all-containing elements around him. And that, too, without planting a seed or employing any or- dinary process of manufacture. The miracles wrought by the Savior — his turning of water into wine, his mira- culous feeding of the multitude, his walking on the waves, healing of the sick, raising of the dead, and other won- derful works — what were they but manifestations of an 280 PO WERS AND PRINCIPLES all-powerful faith, to possess which is to have the power to move mountains, without picks and shovels, my skep- tical friend to the contrary notwithstanding? Faith is not to confounded with blind ignorant credulity. It is a divine energy, operating upon natural principles and by natural processes — natural, though unknown to "the nat- ural man," and termed by him "supernatural. " "As a Grain of Mustard Seed." — When the Savior spoke of the faith that' moves mountains, he was not measuring the quantity of the faith by the size of the mustard seed. Neither was it an Oriental hyperbole. Jesus was speaking literally. Mountains had been moved before by the power of faith ; c then why not now ? d An Impelling Force. — Faith is the beating heart of the universe. Without it nothing was ever accomplished, small or great, commonplace or miraculous. No work ever succeeded that was not backed by confidence in some power, human or superhuman, that impelled and pushed forward the enterprise. Those Who Believe. — It was not doubt that drove Columbus across the sea ; it was faith — the impelling force of the Spirit of the Lord/ It was not doubt that inspired Jefferson, Franklin, and the other patriot fathers to lay broad and deep the foundations of this might)?- c, Ether 12 :30. d, It is my belief that the Savior, in his reference to the mustard seed, meant that if man would obey the divine law given for his government as faithfully as that tiny germ obeys the law given for its government, he could wield infinitely more power than he now possesses. Solid stone pavements are upheaved and cracked asunder by the gradual growth or expansion of a seed or root buried underneath. Such things indicate a hidden force even in the lowliest creations. It is written that the earth "filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law." (D. & C. 88:25). If man were that obedient, he would have the power to "move mountains." e, 1 Nephi, 13:12. THE MAINSPRING OF POWER 281 republic, as a hope and a refuge for oppressed humanity. It is not doubt that causes nations to rise and flourish, that induces great and good men in all ages and in all climes to teach and toil and sacrifice for the benefit of their fellows. It is faith that does such things. Doubt only hinders what faith would achieve. The men and women who move the world are the men and women who believe. Mahomet and Islam. — Carlyle, in splendid phrasing, depicts the wonderful change that came over the Arabian people when they abandoned idolatry, the insincere wor- ship of "sticks and stones," and became a believing na- tion. "It was as a birth from darkness into light ; Arabia first became alive by means of it. A poor shepherd people roaming unnoticed in its deserts since the creation of the world ; a hero-prophet was sent down to them with a word they could believe ; see, the unnoticed becomes world-notable, the small has become world-great; within one century afterward Arabia is at Granada on this hand, at Delhi on that — glancing in valor and splendor and the light of genius, Arabia shines through long ages over a great section of the world. Belief is great, life-giving. The history of a nation becomes fruitful, soul-elevat- ing, great, so soon as it believes."^ Achievements of Christendom. — The same philosophy, with far greater emphasis, applies to Christendom and its glorious achievements all down the centuries. What has caused Christian nations to flourish so mightily? What has enabled Christianity, in spite of its errors, to survive the wreck of empires and to weather the storms of time ? Faith in the Christ, imperfect though that faith has been. The faith of any people — its trust in and f, "Heroes and Hero Worship," Lee. 2. 282 PO WERS AND PRINCIPLES reliance upon some power deemed by it divine — constitutes its main source of strength. Faith Must Be Genuine. — But faith must be genuine. Pretense and formalism will not avail. Hypocrisy is the worst form of unbelief. Honest idolatry is infinitely preferable to dishonest worship. Better burn incense to Diana, believing it to be right, than bow down to Christ in hollow-hearted insincerity. Mighty Rome did not fall until she had[ ceased to worship sincerely the gods enshrined within her Pantheon. Glorious Greece did not succumb until her believers had become doubters, until skeptical philosophy had supplanted religious enthusiasm, and the worship of freedom, grace and beauty had de- generated into unbridled license and groveling "sensuality. No nation ever crumbled to ruin until false to itself, false to the true principles of success, the basic one of which is To Believe. Germany's Mistake. — The world in recent years has witnessed the sad spectacle of a great nation, or the ruling powers of that nation, turning from Christ and substituting fo^ Christian faith a godless pagan philosophy. Discarding the just and merciful principles of the Gospel, and adopting the false notion that might makes right, the fallen Teutonic empire has shown, by the revolting cruelties practiced in pursuance of that doctrine, what science (kultur) is capable of, when it parts company with God and morality. The land of Goethe and Wagner, and alas ! the land also of the Hohenzollern and the Hinden- bnrg, far from winning the "place in the sun" that she so coveted, has lost the proud place alreadv held bv her when the mad ambition of her militarv chiefs plunged her into ruin. The one thine that can now redeem her. and lift her up out of the p ; t into which she has fpl- THE MAINSPRING OF POWER 283 len, is faith in the true God, and the works by which that faith is made manifest. According to Their Faith. — God deals with men ac- according to their faith. The Savior wrought mighty mir- acles, by his own faith, but most of them were faith abounded in the hearts of the people. In other places he did not do many mighty works, "because of their un- belief." Faith is a gift from God, and they who serve him best have most of it. Faith is the soil that brings forth miracles. "All things are possible to them that believe." PART EIGTH BEYOND THE HORIZON. ARTICLE THIRTY-SEVEN. The Spirit World. Not Heaven. — That there is a Spirit World, and that it is closely connected with the material world — the one we now inhabit — has been a tenet in the religious philosophy of wise and good men all down the ages. In the minds of many people, the Spirit World and Heaven are synonym- ous terms, indicating one and the same place. But in reality there is a wide difference between them. A state of rest, such as the spirit life is understood to be for the righteous — though "rest" should not be interpreted as idleness or want of occupation — might easily pass for heaven, when contrasted with this life of pain, sorrow and trouble. But that is only relative. It is not saying too much — indeed it may be saying too little — to affirm that there is just as much difference between the spirit world and heaven, as between the mortal and the spiritual phases of man's existence. Here on Earth. — According to Parley P. Pratt, the Spirit World is the spiritual part of this planet — or, to use his exact language : "The earth and other planets of a like order have their inward or spiritual spheres, as well as their outward or temporal. The one is peopled by tem- poral tabernacle^, and the other by spirits." "As to its location," he says, "it is here on the very planet where we were born." a All Things Before Created.— The proposition that Earth has a spiritual as well as a temporal sphere is a reassertion of the doctrine of duality, embodied in ancient a, Key to Theology. Chapt. 14. 288 BEYOND THE HORIZON. and modern revelation, and particularly emphasized by Joseph the Seer. A careful reading of the Book of Genesis (the King James version) discloses, though somewhat vaguely, the fact of this duality, as applied to the works of creation. Thus, after giving an account of the earth and of all things connected therewith, the sacred writer says : "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew : for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground/'* "Not a man to till the ground" — and yet man had been created, as well as the plants and herbs that existed "be- fore they grew." The apparent contradiction — apparent though not real — was explained by the Prophet when, by the Spirit of Revelation, he revised the Scriptures, giving a more ample account of the creation than the ordinary Bible contains. From that account the following sentences are taken: "For I the Lord God created all things of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. . . And I the Lord had created all the children of men ; and not yet a man to till the ground. For in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air. . . Nevertheless, all things were before created. " c First Spiritual, Then Temporal. — In other words, there were two creations — or rather, the, creation had b, Gen. 2:4, 5. c, Moses 3:5, 7. THE SPIRIT WORLD 289 two phases, the first spiritual, the second temporal. When the Creator made man and beast and fish and fowl, he made them twice — first in the spirit, then in the body ; and the same is true of the trees, the shrubs, the flowers, and all other created things. They were made spiritually and temporally, the spirit and the body constituting the soul. d Not Far Away. — The Spirit World is not a thing afar off. Our thoughts need not sail away millions of miles into space to find it. According to the best evidence we possess, it is near to us — right around us. We have but to emerge from the body, and we are in the spirit world. Out of it we came, and unto it we shall return. "The spirits of the just," says the Prophet Joseph, "are not far from us;" they "know and understand our thoughts, feel- ings and motions, and are often pained therewith/ Just and Unjust. — The spirits of the unjust likewise inhabit the spirit world, though they are separated from the righteous, and are not in a state of rest. Light and darkness divide that realm, each domain having its ap- propriate population. Soi far from being Heaven, part of the spirit world is Hades or Hell. Referring to the class who people that part, the Prophet says : "The great misery of departed spirits . . . is to know that they come short of the glory that others enjoy and that they might have enjoyed themselves; and they are their own ac- cusers."? Jesus and the Penitent Thief. — "In the spirit world," says Parley P. Pratt, "are all the varieties and grades of intellectual beings which exist in the present world. For instance, Jesus Christ and the thief on the cross both went d, D. & C. 88:15; Moses 3:9. e, Hist. Ch. Vol. 6, p. 52. f, lb. Vol. 5, p. 425. 19 290 BEYOND THE HORIZON. to the same place." That is to say, they both went to the spirit world. Jesus, it will be borne in mind, had been crucified be- tween two thieves, one of whom derided him, insulting his dying agonies. The other, being penitent, prayed: "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy king- dom." To him the Savior said: "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. "£ Because of this utterance — which Joseph Smith declared to be a mistranslation, maintain- ing that "paradise" should read "world of spirits"'* — uninspired minds have drawn the conclusion that the penitent thief was promised immediate heavenly exaltation, for repenting at the last moment and professing faith in the Redeemer. This notion is still entertained. The criminal who has forfeited his life and is under sentence of death, because unfit to dwell among his fallen fellow creatures, is made to believe that by confessing Christ, even on the scaffold, he is fitted at once for the society of Gods and angels, and will be wafted to never-ending bliss. A False Doctrine. — Jesus never taught such a doc- trine, nor did any authorized servant of the Lord. It is a man-made theory, based upon faulty inference and mis- interpretation. The Scriptures plainly teach that men will be judged according to their works,* and receive rewards as varied as their deeds/ It was best for the thief, of course, to repent even at the eleventh hour ; but he could not be exalted until prepared for it, if it took a thousand years. When Christ said: "I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there ye may be also," fe he was not g, Luke 23:43. h, Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, pp. 424, 425. i, Rev. 20:12, 13. /, D. & C. 76. k, John 14:2, 3. THE SPIRIT WORLD 291 speaking to murderers and malefactors, but to his pure- minded, right-living disciples, those only to whom such a promise could consistently be given. What Goes on There. — Jesus Christ and the thief both went; to the world of spirits, a plaeej of rest for the righteous, a place of correction for the wicked. "But," as the Apostle Parley goes on to say, "the one was there in all the intelligence, happiness, benevolence and charity which characterize a teacher, a messenger anointed to preach glad tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken- hearted, to comfort those who mourned, to preach de- liverance to the captive, and open the prison to those who were bound ; or, in other words, to preach the Gospel to the spirits in prison, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh ; while the other was there as a thief, who had expired on the cross for crime, and who was guilty, ignorant, uncultivated, and unprepared for resur- rection, having need of remission of sins and to be in- structed in the science of salvation." Thus is told in part what goes on in the spirit world. "It is a place," continues our Apostle, "where the Gospel is preached, where faith, repentance and charity may be exercised, a place of waiting for the resurrection or re- demption of the body; while to those who deserve it, it is a place of punishment, a purgatory or hell, where spirits are buffeted until the day of redemption." Alma's Teaching. — To the foregoing should be added the testimony of Alma the Nephite, upon the same sub- ject : "Now concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection — Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits 292 BEYOND THE HORIZON. of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. "And then shall it come to pass that the spirits of those who are righteous, are received into a state of hap- piness, which is called paradise; a state of rest; a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow. "And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil — for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord ; for behold, they chose evil works rather than good ; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of theii house — and these shall be cast out into outer darkness ; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth ; and this because of their own iniquity ; being led captive by the will of the devil. "Now this is the state of the souls of the wicked, yea, in darkness, and a state of awful, fearful, looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them; thus they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection.' A Vision of Redemption. — President Joseph F. Smith, only a short while before his death, saw in a "vision of the redemption of the dead," the Savior's visit to the world of spirits, as recorded in the first epistle of Peter.™ The President's account of what he beheld follows : "I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great, and there were gathered together 1 in one place an in- numerable company of the spirits of the just. . . They were filled with joy and gladness, and were rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance was at hand. . . The I, Alma 40:11-14. m, 1 Peter 3:18-20. THE SPIRIT WORLD 293 Son of God appeared, and preached to them the ever- lasting gospel. "I perceived that the Lord went not in person among the wicked and disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them; but behold from among the righteous he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men. "I beheld that the faithful Elders of this dispensa- tion, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel. . . . among those who are in darkness and under bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead." n Personal and Proxy Ministrations. — The new light here thrown upon the subject proceeds from the declara- tion that when the Savior visited the inhabitants of the spirit world, it was by proxy, and not in person, so far as the wicked were concerned. He ministered to the righteous directly, and to the unrighteous indirectly, send- ing to the latter his servants, bearing the authority of the Priesthood, and duly commissioned to speak and act for him. President Smith's pronouncement modifies the view commonly taken, that the Savior's personal ministry' was to both classes of spirits. A Temporary Abode. — Thus we see that the Spirit World is not Heaven, except in a relative sense, and then only in part. It is a temporary abode for God's children, while undergoing processes of purification and development, as a preparation for better things beyond. Heaven, on the other hand — heaven in the highest degree — is the perman- ent home of the perfected and glorified. n, Gospel Doctrine, pp. 596-601. o, Compare 3 Nephi 15:21-24; D. & C. 76:112. ARTICLE THIRTY-EIGHT. Spirit Promptings. Spirit Memories. — Writing one day upon the subject of spirit memories, and the influence exerted upon the af- fairs of this life by the awakened recollections of a for- mer experience, I found myself indulging in the follow- ing reflections : Why are we drawn toward certain persons, and they toward us, independently of any known previous acquaintance ? Is it a fact, or only a fancy, that we and they were mutually acquainted and mutually attracted in some earlier period of our eternal existence? Is there something, after all, in that much abused term "affinity," and is this the basis of its claim? More than once, after meeting someone whomi I had never met before on earth, I have wondered why his or her face seemed so familiar. Many times, u)pon hearing a noble sentiment expressed, though unable to recall having heard it until then, I have been thrilled by it, and felt as if I had always known it. The same is true of music, some strains of which are like echoes from afar, sounds falling from celes- tial heights, notes struck from the vibrant » harps of eternity. I do not assert pre-acquaintance in all such cases, but as one thought suggests another, these queries arise in the mind. The Shepherd's Voice. — When it comes to the Gospel, I feel more positive. Why did the Savior say: "My sheep know my voice?" Can a sheep know the voice of its shepherd, if it has never heard that voice before? They who love Truth, and to whom it appeals most pow- SPIRIT PROMPTINGS 295 erfully, were they not its best friends in a previous state of existence? I think so. I believe that we knew the Gospel before we came here, and it is this knowledge, this acquaintance, that gives to it a familiar sound. Very much in the same vein, I once wrote to Presi- dent Joseph F. Smith — he at the time in Utah, and I on a mission in Europe. Here is his reply: President Smith's View. — "I heartily endorse your sentiments respecting congeniality of spirits. Our knowl- edge of persons and things before we came here, com- bined with the divinity awakened within our souls through obedience to the gospel; powerfully affects, in my opinion, all our likes and dislikes, and guides our preferences in the course of this life, provided we give careful heed to the admonitions of the Spirit. "All those salient truths which come so forcibly to the head and heart seem but the awakening of the memories of the spirit. Can we know anything here that we did not know before we came? Are not the means of knowl- edge in the first estate equal those of this ? I think that the spirit, before and after this probation, possesses greater facilities, aye, manifold greater, for the acquisi- tion of knowledge, than while manacled and shut up in the prison-house of mortality. I believe that our Savior possessed a foreknowledge of all the vicissitudes through which he would have to pass in the mortal tabernacle . . "If Christ knew beforehand, so did we. But in com- ing here, we forgot all, that our agency might be free in- deed, to choose good or evil, that we might merit the reward of our own choice and conduct. But by the power of the Spirit, in the redemption of Christ, through obe- dience, we often catch a spark from the awakened mem- 296 BEYOND THE HORIZON. ories of the immortal soul, which lights up our whole being as with the glory of our former home." "A Glance Behind the Curtain/' — Closely akin to these reflections, are some pointed and telling lines in which the poet Lowell expresses his conviction regard- ing the influence of the unseen world upon the world visible. The action of the poem from which the lines are taken deals with Oliver Cromwell and John Hampden, English patriots, who are represented as about to flee from the tyranny of King Charles the First, and seek a new home overseas, joining the little band of Puritans who have already found a haven on western Atlantic shores. Hampden urges flight, but Cromwell hesitates. Some- thing within tells him not to go — tells him that Freedom has a work for him to do, not in America, but in his own land, where he afterwards overthrew the royal tyrant, be- came Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, and broad- ened and deepened the foundations of English liberty. The opening verses of the poem contain the crux of the whole matter under discussion : We see but half the causes of our deeds, Seeking them wholly in the outer life, And heedless of the encircling spirit world, Which, though unseen, is felt, and sows in us All germs of pure and world-wide purposes. The fate of England and of freedom once Seemed wavering in the heart of one plain man. One step of his, and the great dial-hand That marks the destined progress of the world In the eternal round from wisdom on To higher wisdom, had been made to pause A hundred years. a, Gospel Doctrine, pp. 15, 16. SPIRIT PROMPTINGS 297 That step he did not take — He knew not why, nor we, but only God, And lived to make his simple oaken chair More terrible and grandly beautiful, More full of majesty than any throne, Before or after, of a British king.& A Well Warranted Conviction. — How much of fact and how much of fiction, are here interwoven, matters not for the purpose of this argument. It was the poet's belief that such things could be, a belief shared by myriads of Christian men and women, and confirmed by a multiplicity of experiences. Columbus and "The Voice." — In another poem — "Co- lumbus" — Lowell sets forth the same idea, that of whis- perings or suggestions from beyond the "veil" hiding the spirit world from this world of flesh and blood.. The great mariner is supposed to be standing on the deck of his ocean-tossed vessel, soliloquizing over the situation surrounding him : A yet undiscovered country ahead, a mutinous and grumbling crew behind, threatening to put him in irons and turn the ship's prow toward Spain, if sight of the promised shore of India — for which Colum- bus set sail — came not with the break of dawn. A world of care weighs him down, a sense of solitude and utter loneliness, but his soul hears "the voice that errs not," and is patient and trustful to the hour of complete tri- umph/ Nephi and the Spirit. — That it was indeed "the voice that errs not" which inspired Columbus, upholding and urging him on to the consummation of the great en- terprise he had undertaken, we have sacred and indisput- able evidence. Long before Columbus crossed the ocean, b, J. R. Lowell's Poems, "A Glance Behind the Curtain." c, lb. "Columbus."~ 298 BEYOND THE HORIZON. an American prophet and seer, Nephi by name, looking down the vista of twenty centuries, forecast the career of that man of destiny, telling how "the Spirit of God" would impel him to cross "the many waters" to this "promised land ;" and how the same Spirit, moving upon others, would induce them to follow in the wake of the mighty explorer. That prophet beheld in vision the war for American Independence, the successful struggle of the oppressed colonies against the mother country, and the founding here of a free government, a heaven-favored nation, destined to foster and give protection to the growing work of God in after days. And this revealing Spirit — so Nephi affirms — was more than an/ inward monitor: "I spake unto him as a man speaketh, for I beheld that he was in the form of man ; yet, nevertheless, I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord ! and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another."** The Holy Ghost. — Evidently it was the Holy Ghost who communed with Nephi, though he is here spoken of as "the Spirit of God, and 'the Spirit of the Lord." "The Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit ;" e and though not in a tabernacle like the Father or the Son, he is never- theless in human form, and Nephi beheld him and con- versed with him. The Unerring Guide. — The experience of Columbus differed from that of Nephi, notably in this particular: Nephi "beheld," while Columbus was moved upon — yet it was the same Spirit in each instance. It was of the Holy Ghost that the Savior was speaking, when he said to his disciples : "He will guide you into all truth. "f The mission of the Holy Ghost is to make manifest the d, 1 Nephi 11:11; 13:10-19. e, D. & C. 130:22. f, John 16:13. SPIRIT PROMPTINGS 299 things of God, past, present and future, explaining the purpose of this mortal life, revealing to man his eternal origin and destiny, and answering the otherwise un- answerable questions — whence? whither? and why? Wordsworth's "Intimation." — It was this Spirit that inspired the poet Wordsworth, bringing the forgotten past to his remembrance, and prompting the utterance of the noble thoughts embodied in these lofty lines : / Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; The soul that rises with us, our life's star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar; Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God who is our home.£ Truth and Bigotry. — The big thought was too broad for the narrow, rigid orthodoxy of Wordsworth's time, which could allow for the pre-existence of the Son of God, but not for that of the race in general. "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. ,,/l This wonderful prayer from the lips of the Savior was too plain to be misunderstood. It was clear that Jesus Christ, "the Word" that was "in the beginning with God," and "was God," before he "was made flesh," * had lived before this life. But man, "mere man," was an earth-worm, made out of nothing, and consequently had no pre-existence. So Christian orthodoxy maintained; and Wordsworth g, Wordsworth's Poems, "Intimations of Immortality," first published in 1807. h, John 17:5. i, lb. 1 :1-14. 300 BEYOND THE HORIZON. had to recant or half-way deny that his heaven-inspired "intimation" meant as much as his bigoted censors seemed to fear. Nevertheless, "Got but the truth once uttered, and 'tis like A star new-born, that drops into its place, And which, once circling in its placid round, Not all the tumult of the earth can shake." The truth uttered by the great "poet of nature" touch- ing the previous life, was probably accepted by thou- sands of advanced thinkers; and their acceptance helped to prepare the way for a more positive and more complete presentation of the great doctrine of man's pre-existence. In this connection the subjoined verses from the pen of a "Mormon" poet, tell their own eloquent story : my Father, thou that dwellest In the high and glorious place ! When shall I regain thy presence, And again behold thy face? In thy holy habitation Did my spirit once reside ; In my first primeval childhood Was I nurtured near thy side. For a wise and glorious purpose Thou hast placed me here on earth, And withheld the recollection Of my former friends and birth. Yet, ofttimes a secret something • Whispered, "You're a stranger here/' And I felt that I had wandered From a more exalted sphere. 1 had learned to call thee Father, Through thy Spirit from on high ; But until the Key of Knowledge Was restored, I knew not why. SPIRIT PROMPTINGS 301 In the heavens are parents single? No, the thought makes reason stare! Truth is reason — truth eternal Tells me I've a Mother there. When I leave this frail existence, When I lay this mortal by, Father, Mother, may I meet you In your royal courts on high? Then, at length, when I've completed All you sent me forth to do, With your mutual approbation Let me come and dwell with you./ How wonderfully clear and comprehensive ! — past, present and future circumscribed in brief compass, the mystery of the former life unfolded, the meaning of all existence made plain. Maeterlinck and "The Bluebird." — Maeterlinck, the Belgian poet, author of "The Bluebird," in that section of his dramatic masterpiece entitled "The Kingdom of the Future," deals with the pre-mortal life, and with the spirits of little children waiting to be brought down to earth to be born here. Old Father Time is there with his barge, gathering in the tiny passengers, holding back some whose turn is not yet, and permitting others whose birth-hour is about to strike. The barge being filled, he sails away, and mingling with the sweet strains of chil- dren's voices, hailing the distant planet that is to be their new abode, rises from below the song of the mothers coming out to meet them. When the poet's inspired mind conceived this beautiful creation, had he heard of Eliza R. Snow and her invocation to the Eternal Father and Mother? /, Eliza R. Snow's "Invocation," L. D. S. Hymn Book. 302 BEYOND THE HORIZON. The Same Note. — I do not impute plagiarism in such cases. There is no monopoly of Truth. It reveals itself to whomsoever it will, and sometimes it tells to several persons, at different times and places, the same thing. Suffice it, that Eliza R. Snow, when she sang of the "first primeval childhood," sounded the identical note subsequently struck by Maurice Maeterlinck, when por- traying so tenderly and so tellingly the heavenly origin and earthly advent of the spirits that tabernacle in mor- tality. Fame's Partiality. — Inspiration was kind to both poets, but fame has been somewhat partial. Some day, when bigotry is dead and prejudice no longer has power to blind men's eyes to the truth and pervert their judg- ment, the just claims of all inspired teachers will be recognized, if not recompensed. Meanwhile the world will go on glorifying one and crying down another, as it always has done. It will continue "tossing high its ready cap" in honor of Maeterlinck, the Belgian poet, for the beautiful truths set forth in his sublime symbolic drama ; little realizing that the American prophet, Joseph Smith, and some who sat at his feet learning wisdom from his lips, taught the same and greater truths long before Mae- terlinck was born. Communications from the Departed. — Many instances might be given of the action and influence of "the other world" upon this world The experiences of the Latter- day Saints alone would fill volumes. I refer particu- larly to those connected with the gathering up of gen- ealogies for use in temple work, and the work itself done vicariously for the benefit of the departed. By dreams and visions, by voices and other manifestations, spirits "behind the veil" have made known their wishes to sur- SPIRIT PROMPTINGS 303 viving relatives in the flesh, so that their left-over tasks might be done for them, the records of their ancestors secured, and they in like manner redeemed through sacred ordinances performed in their behalf and necessary to their progress and happiness in spheres beyond. ARTICLE THIRTY-NINE. Do the Dead Return? Hamlet and the Ghost. — I had always thought it strange that a great Christian poet like Shakespeare, after portraying, as he does in "Hamlet," an interview between the Prince of Denmark and his father's ghost, should re- fer to the spirit world as "that undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns." Had not the ghost returned from that very "country/' for the special pur- pose of this interview? While deeming it contradictory, my admiration and reverence for the immortal bard induced me to mini- mize and even excuse the apparent inconsistency. In his behalf I argued that it was Hamlet, not Shakespeare, who interviewed the Ghost at Castle Elsinore; that it was the prince and not the poet who soliloquized rela- tive to the non-returning "traveler." I took the ground that Shakespeare, in writing the play of "Hamlet," was not presenting the author's autobiography, and should not, therefore, be held responsible for the idiosyncrasies of "the melancholy Dane;" he being mad, and mad peo- ple having the right to say what they please, no matter how much they contradict themselves or speak and act inconsistently. A Better Defense. — But all the while there was a bet- ter defense for both Shakespeare and Hamlet — if a certain hypothesis be well founded, the supporters of which would have us believe that the famed soliloquy, "To be or not be," wherein the allusion to the spirit "traveler" occurs, originally had place nearer the beginning of the play and before Hamlet had seen the Ghost. Not Shake- DO THE DEAD RETURN f m suggestion out fnrtt, k incongruity. Such ,s the lowfng i tote true ShaT " m ° re '"^ S3VantS - A1 " s lu De true, bnakespeare and th<> ~r;ki~ reconciled, and Hamlet is no longer in the atthtTf J" Puting the sacred account of the risen d de ° f dlS " appearing to his discing 1ft u '° r S P ers onal world.* P ' Cr hlS retUrn from *e spirit Belasco and "Peter ftri™™ » t-i Hamlet and Macbeth he^T' the Creator of tifu. use of tSm a par Th " T* *** made P ,en " evident from t^works of the ™ If" machinery," is his talented discioTe n a A p ? "" dramatis t; and that usage is Dlainlv h DavidBeIa sco, likewise favors such review the story. ^ Let me bri e% Peter Grimm, an honest, elderlv r>„trh a carrying on the business of f or st at ^^encan, suburb of New York Ch, I Uor "\ at Gn » Manor, a sician in Ale^^Sg^ ^ "T " d *-* ** Scotchman W» ; V ' ' I " eed not sa y, is a in the laws J n l *? * T*"**- ^^ k^" tenaciou^ThiroS^ 6 " " 16 " 3 ' ^ ^^ he a^d" his'sc'orch^ -IS?* UP °" ^ ™ h ^> - thereon. L^c^^^,,^ 3 ™» debate effect- Wh- u Ivlc ^ nerson Proposes a compact to this «, Luke 24:36-39 20 306 BEYOND THE HORIZON. consents, and with a flash of humor suggestive of his name, says: "If I find I am wrong, when I come back I will apologize." A little later the florist dies suddenly of heart fail- ure. He passes into the spirit world, and there obtains leave to "revisit the glimpses of the moon," as Hamlet puts it; in other words, to return to Grimm Manor and rectify a mistake made by him while in the flesh — a mistake affecting the happiness of his adopted daugh- ter Kathrien, who, yielding to his insistence, has given up the. man she loved, and has agreed to marry Grimm's nephew, Frederic. This young man is a villain, whose unworthiness his uncle discovers after his arrival in "the undiscovered country," from which he now proposes to "return" and prevent the marriage previously planned. The wrong is to be righted by the! delivery of a message. But how "get the message across?" That is the problem of the play. "Not every one can receive a communication from the spirit world." So McPherson has said in one of his conversations with Grimm, adding that "the receiver must be a sensitive, a medium." Strange to say, the old Scotch physician is of no help whatever in the predicament now facing his departed friend. He knows all about spirits— is saturated with the lore of the subject; but he is not a "sensitive," and can- not therefore "receive." .. j ,:;! The spirit of Grimm, re-entering his old home, makes persistent efforts to be seen or heard by some member of -the household ; but all in vain. None of his family, none of: his friends, can behold him or hear his pathetic plead- ings. Yes— there is one who can; a little invalid boy, Frederick's illegitimate child, who is wasting away with a fever. The veil is thin between him and the spirit land, to which he will accompany Peter Grimm, after the lat- DO THE DEAD RETURN? 307 ter's earthly errand is accomplished. This little lad is a "sensitive." He sees the spirit, receives the meessage., and the threatened misalliance is averted, Kathrien and her worthy lover being happily reunited. Fiction and Fact. — Such is the story of Peter Grimm and his return from the world of spirits. It is pure fic- tion, of course; but fiction often supports fact, and is even less strange, as a well-worn proverb affirms. Never- theless, it will be seen from what follows that I am. not in absolute harmony with Belasco's ingenious presenta- tion of the spiritualistic theme. My views upon the subject are not based upon the theories of men; they are founded upon the revelations of God. Spirits in Prison. — That the inhabitants of the spirit world, or some of them, return at times and communi- cate with mortals, I am perfectly well assured. But I am not convinced that any and every spirit is at liberty to re- turn, whatever the "compacts" that may have been en- tered into beforehand. Some spirits are "in prison." 6 Of what avail would a compact be in their case, unless their jailor or some higher power were a party to it? Evi- dently the spirits that communicate with mortals are not of that class, unless it be in exceptional cases, where leave of absence has been granted for some special reason. A House of Order. — God's house is a house of order, and the spirit world is a room in that house. This being the case, it is only reasonable to conclude that before any- thing important or unusual can take place there, the Master of the Mansion must first give consent. Other- wise confusion would prevail, and the divine purpose for which the veil was dropped between the two worlds might be thwarted. b, 1 Peter 3:18-20. 308 BEYOND THE HORIZON. Unembodied and Disembodied Spirits. — Spirits are of two kinds — the unembodied and the disembodied ; that is to say, those who have not tabernacled in the flesh, and those who, after taking bodies on earth, have passed out of them. It matters not which class is considered; in any -case, permission from the Great Father would have to be obtained before one of his children, either an un- embodied or a disembodied spirit, could make itself mani- fest to mortals. The Question of Receptivity. — Moreover, as Belasco, through Di. McPherson, aims to show, not every mortal is qualified to receive a message from "the other side." One must be fittingly endowed, must have the proper gift, in order to get a communication of that kind/ Earthly ties would not necessarily govern. Other and higher relationships are involved. There must be capacity as well as a desire to receive. Because men like Moses and Joseph Smith saw God, is no sign that any man can see him. "Choice seers" were they, very dif- ferent from ordinary men. All human beings can ob- tain blessings from heaven, but not always in the same way. There are diversities of gifts and varying degrees of receptivity. Wireless telegraphy furnishes a hint in this connection. Unless there be a receiving station with an apparatus properly attuned, a message launched upon the ether would find, like Noah's dove, "no rest for the sole of her foot."** Future Occupations. — In one of the supposed conver- sations between Peter Grimm and Doctor McPherson, the subject of future occupations is discussed. The "com- pact" having been entered into, the Doctor says : "I would like you to find out, if you can, what we do in the other c, 1 Cor. 12:4-11. d, Gen. 8:9. DO THE DEAD RETURN? 309 world. I would like to know if I have got to go on being a bone-setter throughout all eternity." Grimm's reply is characteristic : "Well, you would stand a better chance for success, having practiced it all your life here, than a novice who simply took it up there, wouldn't you?" The florist's argument is logical, but like the ques- tion that called it forth, somewhat misapplied. "A spirit hath not flesh and bones."* Bone-setting, therefore, does not belong to the spirit world. Nevertheless, there must be occupations in the future life, of which those in the present life may be regarded as typical, or in the nature of a preparation, leading up to loftier employments. If a follower of Joseph Smith were asked : "How do you expect to spend eternity?" he would not agree with that clergyman who said, in answer to the same question : "I expect to spend the first million years gazing upon the face of the Savior." The Latter-day Saint would be very apt to reply: "I expect to do hereafter what I have learned to do here, but with more perfect means and in higher and better ways." "And every power find sweet employ In that eternal world of joy." Evil Spirits at Large. — A very important question now arises: How may good or bad spirits be known? For every spirit is not good, nor is every spiritual mani- festation genuine. There are frauds and counterfeits in- numerable. Even if real spirits and actual manifestations are alone considered, we must still be on our guard against deception. There are many evil spirits in this wor ld — spirits that have never had bodies. They are here by permission or toleration of the Most High, e, Luke 24:39. 310 BEYOND THE HORIZON. against whom they rebelled when the Savior was chosen. Satan and his legions, those cast out of heaven, are all wicked spirits, and they wander up and down the world, endeavoring- to lead mortals astray. Wherever possible, they take possession of the bodies of men and even of the lower animals/ Therefore is power given to the Priest- hood to "cast out devils."*' Against these fallen spirits, mortals must be ever on the defensive, lest their souls be ensnared. Temptation, however, is an important factor in man's probation; for by resisting it, the soul is de- veloped and made stronger. This is probably one rea- son why the pernicious activity of such spirits is tolerated. Punished in part by being denied bodies, the full pen- alty for their misdeeds — the second death— is yet to be visited upon them. Spiritualism a Reality. — Spiritualism is not altogether what some people imagine. Despite the frauds connected with it, it is a reality, and was recognized as such long before Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir A. Conan Doyle pro- claimed their conversion thereto, thus lending to it the prestige of their illustrious names. But all realities are not righteous. Because there is a devil — an actual de- mon and his dupes, is no reason why we should asso- ciate with them, confide in them, or accept their evil communications. How can We Know? — There are bad spirits as well as good, and the vital question is : How can we know the difference between them? Let us at this stage consult an expert — for there are such — one who came in contact with spiritual forces to a marvelous extent, not only receiv- ing messages from other worlds, but also interviewing the messengers. Joseph Smith knew the difference be- f, Acts 19:13-16; Mark 5:12, 13. g, lb. 16:17; Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, p. 403. DO THE DEAD RETURN? 311 tween good and evil communicants, and here is his testi- mony concerning them : Expert Testimony. — "When a messenger comes, say- ing he has a message from God, offer him your hand, and request him to shake hands with you. "If he be an angel, he will do so, and you will feel his hand." [An angel is a resurrected being, with a body as tangible as man's.] "If he be the spirit of a just man made perfect, he will come in his glory; for that is the only way he can appear. "Ask him to shake hands with you, but he will not move, because it is contrary to the order of heaven for a just man to deceive; but he will still deliver his mes- sage. "If it be the Devil as an angel of light, when you ask him to shake hands, he will offer you his hand, and you will not feel anything [he also being without a body]. You may therefore detect him." /j In another place, the Prophet says : "Wicked spirits have their bounds, limits and laws, by which they are governed ; and it is very evident that they possess a power that none but those who have the Priesthood can control."* To his declaration that "a man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge," he adds that if men do not get knowledge, including the knowledge of how to control evil spirits, the latter will have more power than the former, and thus be able to dominate them. This is precisely the condition of "the spirits in prison." They are dominated by a power which they cannot control. They are in Hell, and Satan sways the scepter over his own dominion. h, D. & C. 129:4-8. i, Hist. Ch. Vol. 4, p. 576. 312 BEYOND THE HORIZON. Seek Knowledge Aright. — To those in quest of spir- itual light, this word of counsel : Seek it only in the Lord's appointed way. Follow the advice of the Apostle James and the example of Joseph the Prophet.'" Never go upon the Devil's ground. Keep away from all de- ceptive influence. One may believe in hypnotism, with- out being a hypnotist, without surrendering one's will to the will of the person exercising that power — a very dangerous power when wielded by an unprincipled pos- sessor. In like manner, one may believe spiritualism real, without becoming a spiritualist, without attending "seances," without consulting "mediums," without put- ting trust in planchettes, ouija boards, automatic pencils, false impersonations, or in any way encouraging the advances of designing spirits, who thus gain an ascend- ancy over their victims, leading them into mazes of de- lusion, and often into depths of despair. Go not after them; and if they come to you, put them to the test. "Try the spirits."* If they speak not according to re- vealed truth, if they conform not to divine standards, "it is because there is no light in them." 7 The Great Return. — Yes, the dead, or the departed, do return. They are no more dead than we are. Nay, not so much. The Savior's reappearance after death to his amazed and incredulous disciples — what was that but a return, a real return, from the realm of the departed, where, in the interim between his crucifixion and resur- rection, he "preached to the spirits in prison ?" Moreover, the ascended Lord promised another return, or his angel promised it for him, when the "men of Galilee" stood /, James 1 :5 ; Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, pp. 4, 5. k, 1 John 4:1. /, Isa. 8 :20. DO THE DEAD RETURN? 313 "gazing up into heaven," after "a cloud" had "received him out of their sight." m That glorious return is nigh. All the signs so indicate. May the kingly Traveler from heaven to earth meet a royal welcome when he appears ! m, Acts 1:9-11. ARTICLE FORTY. The Goal Eternal. Dante and the Divine Comedy. — In the thirteenth century a great Italian poet, the immortal Dante, pro- duced a wonderful work, "La Divina Comedia" — in English, "The Divine Comedy." In one part of the poem the author represents himself as passing through Hades. In the first circle of the infernal depths, a region called "Limbo" — described by a footnote in my copy of the work as a place "containing the souls of unbaptized children and of those virtuous men and women who lived before the birth of our Savior" — he comes upon such characters as Homer, Virgil, Plato and others of their class, and the spirit guide who is conducting him through "the realms of shade," says : — Inqu/irest thou not what spirits Are these, which thou beholdest? Ere thou pass Farther, I would thou know, that these of sin Were blameless; and if aught they merited It profits not, since baptism was not theirs, The portal to thy faith. If they before The Gospel lived, they served not God aright; And among such am I. For these defects And for no other evil, we are lost; Only so far afflicted, that we live Desiring without hope. And this was all that thirteenth century theology could say for worthies of that stamp — the best and bright- a, Hades or Hell, Canto 4, lines 29-39. THE GOAL ETERNAL. 315 est spirits of their times. Blameless, and yet in hell, "de- siring without hope," simply because they had lived on earth when the Gospel was not on earth, and had not been baptized! Whether or not, as some think, it was the intent of the poet to covertly satirize such teachings, is immaterial at the present time. It is sufficient that he had such teachings to satirize. Truth's Restoration Imperative. — If any reader of mine wishes to know why Joseph Smith and "Mormon- ism" came into the world, he need look no further to find one of the cardinal reasons. It is furnished in those lines from Dante's masterpiece, setting forth the orthodox tenet and teaching of the Christian Church re- garding the spirits of the good who depart this life with- out undergoing the baptismal ordinance. This, and that other man-made doctrine, that half the world was pre-destined to be saved, and the other half to be damned, regardless of any good or evil done by them — little chil- dren being included in both classes — were widely preached in Christendom at the time of the advent of "Mormonism." It was imperative that a prophet should arise, that the pure primitive faith should be restored, and God's word go forth once more on its mission of justice and mercy. "According to Their Works." — Whatever Christian theology may have taught, or whatever it may teach, in support of such doctrines, the fact remains that the Gospel of Christ does not, and never did dispose of men's precious souls in that unrighteous, unreasonable, un- scriptural manner. It does not prejudge, nor save nor damn, regardless of men's deserts. Rewarding all ac- cording to their works, 6 it gives to every creature, living b, Rev. 20:12. 316 BEYOND THE HORIZON. or dead, the opportunity to accept or reject it before final judgment/ God is not trying to damn the world ; he is trying to save it — but not independently of the prin- ciples of truth and righteousness. A Nautical Illustration, — I was crossing the Atlantic on an ocean-liner, and had been fortunate enough to se- cure a first-cabin berth, the only one remaining unsold when I made my purchase. There were upwards of a hundred passengers in that part of the vessel. The second- cabin compartment contained perhaps twice as many; and in the steerage were several hundred more. The first-cabin berths were the best furnished and the most favorably situated for comfort, convenience and safety. The passengers were shown every courtesy; their food was of the choicest; the captain and other officers were their associates, and they enjoyed the full freedom of the ship. They might go down onto the second-cabin deck, or lower down, into the steerage, and return with- out hindrance or question. They had paid for these privi- leges, and were therefore entitled to them. But it was different in the lower compartment. There the food was not so good, the berths were less com- fortable, and the privileges fewer. The second-class pas- sengers could descend into the steerage, but were not per- mitted upon the first-cabin deck. Conditions in the steerage were even less favorable. The food was still poorer, and the restrictions were yet more rigid. The occupants of that section were not al- lowed even second-class privileges. They had to remain right where they were. Having paid only for steerage accommodations, these were all that they could consist- ently claim. c, 1 Peter 4:6. THE GOAL ETERNAL. 317 A Likeness of Human Destiny. — I was struck with the analogy existing between the things that I beheld and the higher things which they seemed to symbolize. I saw another illustration of the proverb, "The earthly typi- fies the heavenly," and received fresh confirmation of the poetic truth : "All things have their likeness." That ocean-going steamer was a likeness of human destiny, projecting the eternal future of Adam's race, as made known by divine revelation. All souls rewarded accord- ing to their works — their varied works — and saved and glorified in the "many mansions" of the Father/ Celestial Glory— The Church * of the First Born — "And this is the testimony of the gospel of Christ con- cerning those who come forth in the resurrection of the just : "They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name, and were baptized after the manner of his burial ; . . . "That by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power; "And who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promisje, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true. . '. . "They are they who are the Church of the First-born. "They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things — "They are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his fulness and of his glory . . . "Wherefore, as it is written, they are Gods, even the sons of God — d, John 14:2. 318 BEYOND THE HORIZON. "Wherefore, all things are theirs, whether life or death, or things present or things to come, all are theirs and they are Christ's and Christ is God's. . . . "These shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and ever. . . . "These are they whom he shall bring with him, when he shall come in the clouds of heaven, to reign on the earth over his people. "These are they who shall have part in the first resur- rection. "These are they who shall come forth in the resur- rection of the just. "These are they who are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly place, the holiest of all. "These are they who have come to an innumerable com- pany of angels, to the general assembly and church of Enoch, and of the first-born. "These are they whose names are written in heaven, where God and Christ are the judge of all. "These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood. "These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the high- est of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is writ- ten of as being typical. " e In other words — if the maritime metaphor be allowed — they were first-cabin passengers over the sea of mortal life. They gave to the great Captain the fulness of their obedience, and received from him the fulness of recogni- e Vision of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, D. & C, 76 :50-70. See also 131:1. Compare 1 Cor. 15:40-42. THE GOAL ETERNAL. 319 tion and reward. All privileges, all possessions, are theirs. They associate with divine beings, and are them- selves divine. Terrestrial Glory. — Concerning those who attain to a terrestrial sphere, "whose glory differs from that of the Church of the First-Born, as the moon differs from the sun," the Vision goes on to say : "Behold, these are they who died without law. "And also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the Son visited and preached the gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh. "Who reoeived not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it. - "These are they who are honorable men of the earth who were blinded by the craftiness of men. "These are they who receive of his glory, but not of his fulness. "These are they who receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fulness of the Father; "Wherefore they are bodies terrestrial, and not bodies celestial, and differ in glory as the moon differs from the sun. "These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God."^ Continuing the comparison: These voyagers paid only for second-rate privileges. They "drew the line," giving a part but not all of their allegiance to Him who hath said: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." The things of this world were more precious in their eyes than the riches that perish not and that thieves cannot f, D. & C, 76 :72-79. 320 BEYOND THE HORIZON. steal. They loved Truth, but not whole-heartedly. They loved money and pleasure more, and strove for fame and the applause of this world, rather than for the approval of heaven. Though clean of conduct and honorable in deal, they were not zealous for Christ, and knew not the mean- ing of self-sacrifice. These are worthy of the Kingdom, but not of the Crown ; and they shine, not like the golden sun, but like the silvery moon, with a diminished or sec- ondary radiance, with reflected rather than with original light. Telestial Glory — Servants of the Most High. — As for those who inherit telestial conditions, differing from the terrestrial as the stars differ from the moon — were they not symbolized by the steerage and its occupants? "These are they who are thrust down to hell. These are they who shall not be redeemed from the Devil, until the last resurrection, " at the close of the Millennial reign. Criminals of every type and grade, they "suffer the wrath of God until the fulness of times, until Christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet and shall have per- fected his work." They receive not of "his fulness in the eternal world, but of the Holy Spirit through the minis- tration of the terrestrial ; and the terrestrial through the ministration of the celestial. And also the telestial re- ceive it of the administering of angels who are ap- pointed to minister for them, or who are appointed to be ministering spirits for them, for they shall be heirs of salvation. "^ The heirs telestial are thosje who "receive, not the Gos- pel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant." According to the Vis- ion, they "were as innumerable as the stars in the firma- g, D. & C, 76:84-88. THE GOAL ETERNAL. 321 ment of heaven, or as the sands upon the seashore." Con- cerning this vast multitude, the voice of the Lord was heard, saying: "These all shall bow the knee, and every tongue shall confess to Him who sits upon the throne forever and ever. "For they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works his own dominion in the mansions which are prepared. "And they shall be servants of the Most High, but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end." 71 The Damned Can Be Saved. — Yes, such is "Mormon- ism's" astounding declaration — and not only saved, but glorified, if they will repent. The glorified planets are God's kingdoms, and "all kingdoms have a law given" — celestial, terrestrial or telestial. Whosoever inherits any of these kingdoms, must abide the law pertaining to that kingdom. If he cannot abide "the Law of Christ," he must inherit a glory other than the celestial — even a ter- restrial or a telestial glory. If he cannot abide a teles- tial law, he is "not meet for a kingdom of glory ;" and if he willeth to abide in sin, and altogether abideth in sin, then must he "remain filthy still." 1 ' Sons of Perdition. — One class alone remains out- side salvation's pale, permanently condemned — they who commit the unpardonable sin, the sin against the Holy Ghost. For them there is no forgiveness. But one must receive the Holy Ghost before he can sin against it, must have knowledge and power sufficient to /entitle him to celestial exaltation ; and then prove ut- terly recreant to the great light that has come to him. h, D. & C. 76:110-112. L lb. 88:21-40. 322 BEYOND THE HORIZON. Such a sin can be committed only by men equipped with every qualification for the highest degree of eternal glory. It is an offense so heinous that the sinner cannot repent. This is what makes his case hopeless; salvation being predicated upon repentance. If he could repent, he could be forgiven ; but being unable to repent, incapable of ref- ormation, he cannot be reached by the pardoning power. They who commit the sin unpardonable are as first- cabin passengers who, in the full enjoyment of every pri- vilege and advantage pertaining to that highly favored condition, wilfully throw all away, and recklessly fling themselves overboard, to go down in unfathomable depths. Sons of Perdition, these — "the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power" — "the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord." They "deny the Son, after the Father has re- vealed him. Wherefore, he saves all except them."-' Desires As Well as Deeds a Basis of Judgment. — But the final word was not yet spoken. At a date subsequent to that upon which Joseph and Sidney received this won- derful manifestation, the heavens were again opened to the Prophet, and he beheld the glory — the transcendant glory of the Celestial Kingdom, 6 He saw that little chil- dren, those "who die before they arrive at the years of ac- countability," are saved in that kingdom. He also saw his brother Alvin — a good and worthy man, but one who had not been baptized, he having died before the Gospel came — saw him in celestial glory! Joseph marveled at the sight, wondering how Alvin could have risen to so exalted a plane. Then came the voice of the Lord to him, saying : j, D. & C. 76:31-44. k, February 16th, 1832, was the date of Joseph and Sidney's vision; January 21st, 1836 the date of the other manifestation. THE GOAL ETERNAL. 323 "All who have died without a knowledge of this gos- pel, who would have received it if they had been permit- ted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God; also all that shall die henceforth without a knowl- edge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom ; for I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.* Mormonism's Magnanimity. — And yet "Mormonism" is said to be narrow, small and illiberal. Narrow, for- sooth! Then where will you find breadth? Where find justice, mercy, magnanimity, if not in a religion that saves the living, redeems the dead, rescues the damned, and glorifies all who repent? "Mormonism" a small thing? It's the biggest thing in the universe! It is the Everlasting Gospel, the mighty soul-ship of the dis- pensations, launched in the days of Adam upon the heav- ing ocean of the ages, and now on its last voyage over the stormy billows of Time to the beaconing coast of Eternity. /, Hist. Ch. Vol. 2, p. 380. Compare Alma 29:4,5. We are not to infer that Alvin Smith or anyone else could inherit celestial glory, without receiving the fulness of the Gospel. It was a prophetic vision, showing what would be when Alvin had done his part, and the part that he could not do had been done for him. The same vision showed the parents of the Prophet — Joseph and Lucy Smith — in celestial glory; and yet at that time they were still alive on earth. 1 1/ ^-■' »S i o^ ^ c LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 022 90 363 8