{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_56691/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_56691","id":"gutenberg_56691","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56691","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - Religious","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Latter Day Saint churches","Latter Day Saints"],"text":"Produced by the Mormon Texts Project\n(http://mormontextsproject.org), with thanks to Jenna Dilts\nand Villate Brown McKitrick\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSATURDAY NIGHT THOUGHTS\n\n\nA Series of Dissertations on Spiritual, Historical\nand Philosophic Themes\n\n\nBY ORSON F. WHITNEY\n\nOf the Council of the Twelve, Church of Jesus Christ\nof Latter-day Saints\n\n\nSALT LAKE CITY, UTAH:\nTHE DESERET NEWS\n1921\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\nMost of the contents of this volume appeared originally as a series\nof articles in Saturday issues of the Deseret Evening News, beginning\nOctober 26, 1918, and ending May 31, 1919. As stated by the News,\nthese articles \"were designed to fill in some degree a spiritual void\nand meet a special need of those who were in the habit of attending\nSunday services, but were denied that privilege by the prevalence of\nthe influenza epidemic.\" That epidemic caused a suspension of public\ngatherings for several months, and even made necessary the postponement\nof one General Conference of the Church.\n\nIt was during this period of suspension that these contributions to the\nChurch organ began. They were given place on the editorial page, and\nsubsequently the News said of them: \"These 'Thoughts' have subserved a\nfar more than temporary and passing purpose--they have stimulated study\nand deep reflection, and they have been greatly enjoyed and prized by\nthe thoughtful reader everywhere.\"\n\nAmong those who uttered similar sentiments was President George H.\nBrimhall, of the Brigham Young University, who, in a letter to the\nauthor, expressed the hope that provision would be made for publication\nof the essays in book form, \"thus adding one more choice volume to\nLatter-day Saint literature, especially suited to the needs of students\nat home and missionaries abroad.\" Like expressions came from President\nHeber J. Grant, Senator Reed Smoot, President John A. Widtsoe, of the\nUniversity of Utah, and many other prominent people.\n\nIn response to this cordial, widespread sentiment of appreciation,\nand under the sanction of the General Authorities of the Church, the\n\"Saturday Night Thoughts\" were compiled for republication, and the\nresult is here presented.\n\nMay, 1921\n\nTHE AUTHOR.\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n_Part One--Our Place In History_\n\nArticle One: The Saturday Evening of Time\n\nArticle Two: The Watch On The Tower\n\nArticle Three: Concerning Names and Vocations\n\nArticle Four: The Choice Seer\n\nArticle Five: The Land of Zion\n\n_Part Two--Seership and Prophecy_\n\nArticle Six: What Joseph Beheld\n\nArticle Seven: What Joseph Foretold\n\nArticle Eight: Looking Westward\n\nArticle Nine: The Place of Safety\n\n_Part Three.--A Marvel and a Wonder_\n\nArticle Ten: The Wisdom That Perishes\n\nArticle Eleven: The God Story\n\nArticle Twelve: The Great Vicissitudes\n\nArticle Thirteen: The Gospel Dispensations\n\n_Part Four.--A Glance Down the Ages_\n\nArticle Fourteen: The Adamic Age\n\nArticle Fifteen: Enoch and His City\n\nArticle Sixteen: Noah and the Deluge\n\nArticle Seventeen: Abraham and the House of Israel\n\nArticle Eighteen: Moses and Aaron\n\nArticle Nineteen: To the Ends of the Earth\n\n_Part Five.--In Time's Meridian_\n\nArticle Twenty: The Lamb of God\n\nArticle Twenty-one: The Special Witnesses\n\n_Part Six.--The Era of Restitution_\n\nArticle Twenty-two: The Call of the Shepherd\n\nArticle Twenty-three: The Zion of Latter Days\n\nArticle Twenty-four: Redemption by Power\n\nArticle Twenty-five: Clearing the Way\n\nArticle Twenty-six: God's Hand Upon the Nations\n\nArticle Twenty-seven: The Consummation\n\n_Part Seven.--Powers and Principles_\n\nArticle Twenty-eight: The Priesthood\n\nArticle Twenty-nine: Church Government\n\nArticle Thirty: The Law of Obedience\n\nArticle Thirty-one: The Divine Doorway\n\nArticle Thirty-two: The Second Birth\n\nArticle Thirty-three: Meaning and Mode of Baptism\n\nArticle Thirty-four: The Gospel's Accessories\n\nArticle Thirty-five: What Are Miracles?\n\nArticle Thirty-six: The Mainspring of Power\n\n_Part Eight.--Beyond the Horizon_\n\nArticle Thirty-seven: The Spirit World\n\nArticle Thirty-eight: Spirit Promptings\n\nArticle Thirty-nine: Do the Dead Return?\n\nArticle Forty: The Goal Eternal\n\n\nNAMES AND ABBREVIATIONS\n\nThe usual Bible abbreviations are retained.\n\nHist. Ch. stands for History of the Church.\n\nD. & C. for Doctrine and Covenants.\n\nNephi, Jacob, Omni, Mormon, Mosiah, Alma and Ether, will be recognized\nas names belonging to the Book of Mormon.\n\nThe Book of Moses, shortened to Moses, and the Book of Abraham,\nabbreviated to Abr., will be found within the lids of the Pearl of\nGreat Price.\n\nOther abbreviations, such as vol. for volume, p. or pp. for page or\npages, v. or vv. for verse or verses and ib. for ibid (the same) are in\nsuch common use as scarcely to require mention.\n\n\n\nPART ONE\n\nOUR PLACE IN HISTORY\n\n\n\nSaturday Night Thoughts\n\n\n\nARTICLE ONE.\n\n_The Saturday Evening of Time._\n\n_The Sixth Day._--Saturday, in Christian lands, is a day set apart for\nhouse-cleaning, a time for \"putting things to rights,\" in preparation\nfor the Sabbath, the sacred day of rest. Preliminary to the condition\nof purity, order and quietness especially desirable on that day,\nthe house, in domestic parlance, is \"upset\"--\"turned topsy-turvy.\"\nFurniture is moved and dusted, floors are scrubbed, windows cleaned,\nand stoves polished; the body is bathed, all rubbish burned, and\neverything done that ought to be done, so that when night is past and\nglorious morning dawns, the rising sun can smile approvingly on a\nrenovated, sweet and wholesome scene, and the Lord's Day be kept, as He\nintended it should be, in cleanliness, which is \"next to godliness.\"\nIs there not something symbolical in all this--something suggestive of\nthings higher?\n\n_All Things Symbolical._--\"All things are in a scale,\" says Plato; \"and\nbegin where we will, ascend and ascend. All things are symbolical; and\nwhat we call results are beginnings.\" [1] If this be true, then is\nthere a symbolism in small things as well as in great, in endings as\nwell as beginnings, including the ending and beginning of the week.\nSaturday and Sunday are both symbolical, each suggesting and pointing\nto something above and beyond.\n\n_The World's Sabbath._--Who among men first recognized in the seventh\nday a symbol of Christ's Millennial reign, I know not. The reign\nitself was the theme of a revelation as early as the days of Enoch.\n[2] But it is obvious that the symbolism of the seventh day does not\nstand alone. The idea of a greater Sunday carries with it the idea of\na greater Saturday, of which all lesser Saturdays are typical; a time\nof agitation, of strenuous toil and strife, during which all will be\nmade ready for the blest sabbatic era, the period of universal peace.\nThe World's Saturday Night must necessarily precede the World's Sunday\nMorning. [3]\n\n_The Apocalyptic Book._--The symbolism of the Sabbath, and the\nsymbolism of other days as well, is plainly indicated in the writings\nof Joseph Smith. In one place he says--or the Lord says through him:\n\"All things have their likeness, and are made to bear record of Me.\"\n[4] We need not be surprised, therefore, to find among the Prophet's\nteachings this--I quote now from his Key to the Apocalypse:\n\n\"What are we to understand by the book which John saw, which was sealed\non the back with seven seals? [5]\n\n\"We are to understand that it contains the revealed will, mysteries,\nand works of God; the hidden things of his economy concerning this\nearth during the seven thousand years of its continuance, or its\ntemporal existence.\n\n\"What are we to understand by the sounding of the trumpets, mentioned\nin the 8th chapter of Revelations?\n\n\"We are to understand that as God made the world in six days, and\non the seventh day he finished his work and sanctified it, and also\nformed man out of the dust of the earth; even so, in the beginning\nof the seventh thousand years will the Lord God sanctify the earth,\nand complete the salvation of man, and judge all things--unto the end\nof all things; and the sounding of the trumpets of the seven angels\nare the preparing and finishing of his work in the beginning of the\nseventh thousand years--the preparing of the way before the time of his\ncoming.\" [6]\n\nSeven Great Days.--The \"days\" here referred to were not ordinary days\nof twenty-four hours each, based upon earth's diurnal revolutions. He\nwho \"made the world\" before placing man upon it, had not then appointed\nunto Adam his reckoning. [7] They were not man's days, but God's days,\neach having a duration of a thousand years.\n\n\"The book which John saw\" represented the real history of the\nworld--what the eye of God has seen, what the recording angel has\nwritten; and the seven thousand years, corresponding to the seven\nseals of the Apocalyptic volume, are as seven great days during which\nMother Earth will fulfill her mortal mission, laboring six days and\nresting upon the seventh, her period of sanctification. These seven\ndays do not include the period of our planet's creation and preparation\nas a dwelling place for man. They are limited to Earth's \"temporal\nexistence,\" that is, to Time, considered as distinct from Eternity.\n\n_According to Kolob._--The Prophet's translation of the Book of Abraham\nexplains that these greater days are \"after the time\" or according to\nthe reckoning of Kolob, a mighty governing planet nearest the Celestial\nThrone, a planet revolving once in a thousand years. [8] This period,\nthen, is a day upon Kolob. One might well suppose such a day to have\nfigured in the warning given to Adam: \"In the day that thou eatest\nthereof thou shalt surely die;\" [9] for Adam, after eating of the\nforbidden fruit, lived on to the age of nine hundred and thirty years.\n[10] St. Peter may have had the same thing in mind when he wrote: \"One\nday is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one\nday.\" [11]\n\n_At the Week's End._--According to received chronology--admittedly\nimperfect, yet approximately correct--four thousand years, or four\nof the seven great days given to this planet as the period of its\n\"temporal existence,\" had passed before Christ was crucified; while\nnearly two thousand years have gone by since. Consequently, Earth's\nlong week is now drawing to a close, and we stand at the present moment\nin the Saturday Evening of Time, at or near the end of the sixth day\nof human history. Is it not a time for thought, a season for solemn\nmeditation? Morning will break upon the Millennium, the thousand years\nof peace, the Sabbath of the World!\n\n_House-Cleaning in Progress._--Marvel not, therefore, that all things\nare in commotion. War, famine, pestilence, earthquake, tempest and\ntidal wave--these are among the predicted signs of the Savior's\nsecond coming. [12] Tyranny and wickedness must be overthrown, and the\nway prepared for Him who, though gracious and merciful to all, and\nforgiving to sinners who repent, \"cannot look upon sin with the least\ndegree of allowance.\" [13] Earth must be freed from oppression and\ncleansed from all iniquity. It is God's House; and He is coming to live\nin it, and to make of it a glorified mansion. House-cleaning is in\nprogress, and Saturday's work must be done and out of the way, before\nthe Lord of the Sabbath appears.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. \"Plato,\" Emerson's \"Representative Men,\" Altemus edition, 1895, p.\n71.\n\n2. Moses 7:48, 61, 64.\n\n3. \"Rabbinical commentators have expressed the opinion that after six\nmillenniums of years, there will come a seventh, with rest and peace.\nPaul (2 Thess. 1:7) points to the coming of Christ as the time when\nthe Saints would find 'rest;' and he also argues (Heb. 4:1-11) that\nthere remaineth a 'rest' to the people of God. The word he uses means a\n'sabbathism' or sabbath observance, and he refers to the coming of the\nLord.\"--J. M. Sjodahl.\n\n4. Moses 6:63.\n\n5. Rev. 5 and 6.\n\n6. D. and C. 77:6, 12.\n\n7. Abr. 5:13.\n\n8. Abr. 3:4.\n\n9. Gen. 2:17.\n\n10. Ib. 5:5. This, of course, refers to the temporal life. Adam died\nspiritually as soon as he had transgressed the divine command. Shut out\nfrom the Heavenly Presence, he was dead as to the things of the Spirit.\n(D. and C. 29:40, 41.)\n\n11. 2 Peter 3:8.\n\n12. Matt. 24; D. and C. 87, 88.\n\n13. D. and C. 1:31, 32.\n\n\n\nARTICLE TWO.\n\n_The Watch on the Tower._\n\n_\"Haunted Houses.\"_--Several years since, a learned gentleman was\nlecturing in some of our Utah towns, taking for his theme \"Haunted\nHouses.\" That was his way of describing the situation of those who put\nfaith in prophets, visions and revelations, as among the means whereby\nGod communicates with man. He invited all such to come out of their\n\"haunted houses,\" and build for their souls \"more stately mansions,\"\nfounded upon the rock of reason and scientific truth. The lecturer had\nspecial reference, of course, to the followers of the Prophet Joseph\nSmith.\n\n_A Fundamental Belief._--A belief in prophets and in spiritual\ngifts, whereby come visions, revelations, and miraculous \"signs,\"\nfollowing and confirming full and true belief, [1] is fundamental\nwith the Latter-day Saints. We regard the founding of our Church as a\nfulfillment of prophecy, [2] and recognize in the decadence of long\nestablished systems of religion, a result of failure to be guided\nand governed by the teachings and warnings of men divinely inspired.\n\"Where there is no vision, the people perish.\" [3] Where there is no\nrevelation, spiritual darkness reigns.\n\n_Not a Chance World._--We are not living in a world of chance. Things\ndo not occur haphazardly, without the care or cognizance of the\nomniscient and omnipotent Ruler. Not a sparrow falls to the ground\nwithout his notice. Design, not accident, governs the universe.\nNeither man nor Satan, though exercising to the full his free agency,\ncan possibly thwart the Divine Will. With all their schemings and\nstrivings, they are powerless to destroy or disarrange God's Plan, or\nto hinder the fulfillment of prophecy. All things, both the evil and\nthe good, are overruled in a way to subserve one and the same great\nend--_What Eternal Wisdom decreed before the foundation of the world_.\n\n_The Function of Prophecy._--The need for prophecy must be evident to\nany pious and reflective mind. Prophets are as watchmen on the tower,\nnoting the time of night, telling of the approaching dawn. \"Surely the\nLord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants\nthe prophets.\" [4] This means, as I interpret it, that the all-wise\nDispenser of human affairs will neither cause nor permit any event to\ntake place, concerning which the world need to have fore-knowledge,\nuntil he has communicated with his chosen servants, his oracles among\nmen, and has given them due notice of its approach.\n\nTo warn mankind of impending judgments; to prepare His people, and\nthrough them the world at large, for changes that must come in the\ncarrying out of the divine program--changes necessary to human\nprogress--is the function of those who see into the future and make\nknown the word and will of the Universal Father.\n\n_Time for Preparation._--Even without the Prophet Amos and his inspired\nutterance, we have every reason to feel assured, from what we know of\nthe divine attributes, that God, in his dealings with man, harbors no\nintent to take what is known as \"a snap judgment.\" His object being to\nsave, not to destroy, it is very far from his design that the world\nshall be caught unawares, that men or nations shall be involved in\ntrouble of which they have had no warning, and for which, consequently,\nthey could make no preparation. The promised sending of Elijah the\nProphet \"before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord,\"\nwas in order that certain things might be done which, if left undone,\nwould cause that \"coming\" to \"smite the earth with a curse.\" [5]\n\nNot that the Lord wishes to curse. His object, even in chastisement, is\nto bless. [6] But a want of preparedness can change a blessing into a\ncurse. Messiah's glorious appearing will be a wonderful blessing to the\nearth and its inhabitants, provided they are made ready for it. But a\nlack of readiness on their part would convert the boon into a calamity.\nHence the need of preparation and of previous notice. Whether weal or\nwoe is wending its way earthward, it is only fair that men should be\ntold of it in advance.\n\n_The Supernatural Discredited._--But there is a proneness in human\nnature to discredit the Heaven-sent messenger. Almost invariably the\nsupernatural is discounted, if not derided, by ultra-practical minds.\nAll miracles are myths to the agnostic intellect. \"The natural man is\nan enemy to God.\"\n\n_Dead Prophets Preferred._--Even those who revere the prophets of\nthe past are tempted to ignore the prophets of the present. It seems\nnatural to turn from What Is and bow down to What Has Been. Not only\nprophets, but poets, philosophers, and other wise and worthy teachers\nhave been treated in this manner.\n\n  \"Seven cities claimed the birth of Homer, dead,\n  Through which the living Homer begged for bread.\"\n\nThe Savior reproved the pious unbelievers of his generation for\n\"garnishing the sepulchres of the righteous,\" the dead seers and\nrevelators, and at the same time rejecting the living worthies, as\ntheir fathers had done before them. [7] A professed reverence for Moses\nand the old-time prophets was a prominent characteristic of those who\nspurned the greatest of all prophets, the very Son of God, concerning\nwhom Moses and other seers had testified. And this same spirit, the\nspirit that crucified the Christ, has caused the martyrdom of His\nservants in all ages.\n\n_Counterfeit and Genuine._--For the widely prevalent distrust felt\ntoward men who come burdened with a message from on High, false\nprophets and the mischief they have wrought are largely responsible.\nBut distrust, no less than credulity, can be overdone. Caution against\nimposition is commendable, but doubt that rejects truth is to be\ndeprecated and condemned. All prophets are not false. There can be\nno counterfeit without a genuine; and to proclaim against the one is\nvirtually to concede the existence of the other.\n\n_A Test of Prophecy._--A simple and sure test of prophecy is furnished\nin the following passage of Holy Writ: \"When a prophet speaketh in the\nname of the Lord, if the thing follow not nor come to pass, that is\nthe thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken\nit presumptuously.\" [8] By this standard of judgment can be tested\nall that prophetic inspiration has ever uttered. Given enough time,\n\"the thing\" will clearly demonstrate whether or not it was \"spoken\npresumptuously.\"\n\n_A Serious Situation._--Ponder upon this, ye who hear the testimonies\nof the Elders of Israel, preaching the restored Gospel of the Kingdom\nas a final witness to the nations. And when you see coming to pass, in\nthese days of war, pestilence and calamity, the predictions of ancient\nand modern seers, give a thought, a serious thought to the situation.\nAsk yourselves if you can afford to be classed, either with those who\nlook upon believers in spiritual gifts as deluded dupes living in\n\"haunted houses,\" or with those who extol the prophets of former ages,\nand persecute or ignore the prophets of the present time.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Mark 16:17.\n\n2. Isa. 29:14.\n\n3. Prov. 29:18.\n\n4. Amos 3:7.\n\n5. Mal. 4:5, 6.\n\n6. Prov. 3:11, 12.\n\n7. Matt. 23:29.\n\n8. Deut. 18:22.\n\n\n\nARTICLE THREE.\n\n_Concerning Names and Vocations._\n\n_Is Not This The Farmer's Son?_--Some such paraphrase was probably in\nthe mind, possibly upon the lips, of more than one opponent of the\nreligion termed \"Mormonism,\" when its supposed author, Joseph Smith,\nstarted out upon his remarkable career. And it was deemed by them, no\ndoubt, a sufficient answer to his extraordinary claims.\n\n_True and False Standards._--\"A tree is known by its fruit.\" This\nproverb, accepted by the wise and just almost as a truism, seems to\nhave no place in the philosophy of some people, especially when a\nservant of the Lord is the object of their critical contemplation.\n\"What do men say of him?\" is frequently the only criterion by which\nsuch a character is judged. And is it not manifestly unfair? When a\nprophet comes from God with a message for mankind, what matters the\nname given to that message, or to that messenger, by those unfriendly\nto the cause he represents?\n\n_\"The Carpenter's Son.\"_--Those who rejected the Man of Nazareth\nwhen he proclaimed himself the Son of God, doubtless thought they\nhad disposed of him effectually by referring to him sneeringly as\n\"The carpenter's son;\" this slight, with others put upon him by his\nneighbors, causing Jesus to remark: \"A prophet is not without honor\nsave in his own country and in his own house.\" [1]\n\n_Effect of Nearness._--His nearness was against him. There was no\n\"distance\" to \"lend enchantment to the view.\" His name and humble\nvocation made his marvelous claims seem impossible. It could not be\nthat God would make a prophet out of a carpenter's son--a prophet\nmightier than Moses or any of the ancient seers--and give to him such a\ncommon name as Jesus, another form of Joshua. [2] It was unbelievable,\nabsurd, to most. Therefore were they justified, as they supposed, in\nwithholding from him recognition and honor. \"And He did not many mighty\nworks there, because of their unbelief.\"\n\n_History Repeats._--As with the carpenter's, so with the farmer's\nson--each was objected to upon similar grounds. Nor was it a new thing\nin human experience. That which called forth criticism had occurred\nmany times in other ages when God had raised up prophets and seers.\nProbably most of them were selected from among the plain people, and\nwere comparatively unknown to men when the Lord called them.\n\n_Moses an Exception._--Moses was a signal exception. He had been reared\nas a prince in the palace of the king of Egypt; but that was because\nPharaoh's daughter, having found the homeless infant at the water's\nedge, thenceforth had charge of him and his education. Prince he was,\nregardless of that princely training; but he was not the only prince in\nIsrael. They were \"a nation of kings and priests,\" though most of them\nwalked in ways that were lowly.\n\n_A Herdsman Prophet._--Prophets are not chosen for their worldly\nculture or their social position. A plain-going farmer, no less than\na college professor, may be gifted with prophetic power and be called\nto exercise it for the good of his fellows. Amos, according to his own\nstatement, \"was no prophet,\" nor \"a prophet's son.\" That is to say, he\nhad not been trained in any school of the prophets, such as existed\nin Old Testament times. [3] He was not, like Jeremiah, the son of a\npriest. [4] He was a herdsman and a fruit-gatherer when the word of the\nLord came to him: \"Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.\" [5]\n\n_Prophets Foreordained._--A prophet's name, his place of birth, and\nthe character of his everyday calling, are matters of little moment\ncompared with other things pertaining to him. What of his state\nand standing before he came on earth? This is a far more important\nconsideration. God's prophets are chosen before they are born, [6]\nand are sent into the world as He needs them. Their aims are high\nand holy. They desire the welfare and happiness of the race. Yet\nalmost invariably their motives are misunderstood, and they and their\nfollowers are opposed and persecuted.\n\n_The Vital Question._--Does this man come from God? That is the\nonly question worthy of immediate attention, when a prophet, or one\nprofessing to be such appears. And his word alone need not be taken as\nconclusive. There are ways and means of testing a prophet's claim--and\nthat, too, without awaiting the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of some\nprediction by or concerning him. Honest, prayerful men and women, with\neven moderate discernment, need not be deceived by any pious or impious\npretender. God would not leave his children at the mercy of imposters.\nThe sheep have a right to be protected from the wolves.\n\n_\"Try the Spirits.\"_--\"Many false prophets are gone out into the\nworld.\" [7] But there is a Spirit that discerns between true and false,\nbetween spurious and genuine, and anyone who seeks it aright may have\n\"the inspiration of the Almighty,\" which giveth to the spirit of man\n\"understanding.\" [8] Moreover, the Letter as well as the Spirit is a\nguide. What has been revealed in times past helps to interpret what is\nnow revealed. Truth is always consistent with itself. Heaven-inspired\nmen do not contradict one another. Their teachings harmonize and are\ndependable. The spirit of contention is essentially evil. [9] \"To the\nlaw and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it\nis because there is no light in them.\" [10]\n\n_\"Old Joe Smith.\"_--Were these tests applied to Joseph Smith in the\nearly part of the nineteenth century? Yes, by some; and they received\nthe promised testimony of the Truth, the absolute evidence of the\ndivinity of this Prophet's mission. But by far the greater number of\nthose to whom he fain would have ministered, rejected him summarily\nand without investigation. To them he was only \"Joe Smith\"--\"Old Joe\nSmith\"--old indeed in wisdom, though young in earthly years, yielding\nup his life as a martyr at the early age of thirty-eight. His claim to\nbeing an oracle of God was deemed preposterous, blasphemous; and his\nreligion, the pure Gospel of Christ, was denounced as the world's worst\ndelusion and snare.\n\n_Badges of Honor._--But bad names, wrongly bestowed, hurt the giver,\nrather than the receiver. Blame and ridicule, when applied to the\nrighteous, are badges of honor, worn by true prophets and true\nprinciples in all ages. It does not do away with a man of God to pelt\nhim with nicknames and opprobrious epithets. Persecution may end his\nearthly career, but it cannot confute his claim nor invalidate his\ntestimony. The name of the martyred modern Seer, despite the clouds\nof calumny enveloping it, shines out from amidst the darkness that\ncomprehended him not. His glorious Lord and Master, crucified as an\nimposter, put to death for maintaining that he was more than the world\nbelieved him to be, gave the only Name given under heaven whereby men\ncan be saved.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Matt. 13:55-57.\n\n2. \"Jesus\" is the Greek form of the Hebrew \"Joshua,\" frequently met\nwith in Ezra and Nehemiah. It was pronounced \"Joshua\" by the early\nJews. Other forms of the name are \"Hosea\" or \"Hoshea,\" \"Oshea\" and\n\"Jehoshua.\"\n\n3. 1 Sam. 10:10; 19:20. 2 Kings 2:3; 4:38; 6:1.\n\n4. Jer. 1:1.\n\n5. Amos 7:14, 15.\n\n6. Abr. 3:23; Jer. 1:5.\n\n7. 1 John 4:1\n\n8. Job 32:8.\n\n9. 3 Nephi 11:29, 30.\n\n10. Isa. 8:20.\n\n\n\nARTICLE FOUR.\n\n_The Choice Seer._\n\n_A Prenatal Naming._--Let us now take a closer view of this marvelous\nman, Joseph Smith, the most extraordinary character that has appeared\nupon our planet in the past two thousand years. His coming into the\nworld fulfilled a prophecy uttered many centuries before his birth--a\nprophecy concerning \"a choice seer,\" to be raised up \"out of the loins\"\nof Joseph who was sold into Egypt. The seer's name was likewise to\nbe Joseph, and this also was to be the name of his father. [1] That\nprophecy was fulfilled in Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Church\nof Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. \"Joseph the Seer\"--so is he\ndesignated by divine revelation. [2]\n\nLike great Cyrus, who liberated the Jews from their captivity in\nBabylon, [3] the Lord's anointed in modern times, raised up to begin\nthe work of Israel's final and complete redemption, was named and his\nmission outlined long before he had tabernacled in the flesh. Why he\ncame gifted with the power of seership, was made manifest at the very\nbeginning of his career.\n\n_Birth and Parentage._--Joseph the Seer was born at Sharon, Vermont,\ntwo days before Christmas, in the year 1805. When only a lad, living\nwith his parents, Joseph and Lucy Smith, honest farm folk in the\nbackwoods of Western New York, his career as a prophet began.\n\n_In Quest of Wisdom._--Partly from the effects of a religious revival\nheld in his neighborhood, he became much concerned upon the subject\nof his soul's salvation, but was bewildered and unable to make choice\nof a church or creed, owing to the diverse and conflicting claims of\nthe various Christian sects. While in this mood, he chanced upon the\nfollowing passage of scripture: \"If any of you lack wisdom, let him\nask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and\nit shall be given him.\" [4] Deeply impressed with the sacred words, he\nforthwith resolved to ask from God the wisdom of which he stood in need.\n\n_The First Vision._--Retiring to a grove near his father's home, he\nknelt in prayer to the Most High; but had scarcely begun his humble and\nearnest petition, when he was seized upon by a power that filled his\nsoul with horror and paralyzed his tongue so that he could no longer\nspeak. So terrible was the visitation, that he almost gave way to\ndespair. Yet he continued to pray--in thought, with \"the soul's sincere\ndesire\"--and just at the moment when he feared he must abandon himself\nto destruction, he saw, directly over his head, a light more brilliant\nthan the noonday sun. In the midst of a pillar of glory he beheld two\nbeings in human form, one of whom, pointing to the other, said: \"This\nis my beloved Son, hear Him.\" [5]\n\n_All Churches Astray._--With the appearance of the Light, the boy found\nhimself delivered from the fettering power of the Evil One. As soon as\nhe could again command utterance, he inquired of his heavenly visitants\nwhich of all the religious denominations was right--which one was the\ntrue Church of Christ? To his astonishment, he was told that none of\nthem was right; that they had all gone out of the way. Their creeds\nwere an abomination, and their professors corrupt. \"They draw near\nto me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach\nfor doctrine the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but\nthey deny the power thereof.\" So spake the Son of God concerning the\nchurches. [6] He declared that he did not recognize any of them; but\nwas about to restore the Everlasting Gospel, with the powers of the\nEternal Priesthood, and establish his Church once more in the midst of\nmankind.\n\nSuch was Joseph Smith's first vision and revelation. It came in the\nspring of 1820, when he was but a few months over fourteen years of age.\n\n_The Divine Personality._--The greater part of this wonderful\nmanifestation was the part that did not speak--the silent revealing of\nthe personality of God; a truth plainly taught in the Scriptures, but\nignored or denied by modern Christianity. The object worshiped by the\nsects was defined in their theology as a being \"without body, parts\nor passions.\" [7] That was the popular concept of Deity throughout\nChristendom when Joseph Smith and \"Mormonism\" came forth. In line with\nthis tenet and teaching, an English poet of the eighteenth century had\nrepresented God as a \"Mind\" or \"Soul\" that\n\n  Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,\n  Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,\n  Lives through all life, extends through all extent,\n  Spreads undivided, operates unspent. [8]\n\nThese beautiful couplets admirably describe the Spirit of the\nLord--that all-pervading energy or essence which proceeds from the\nDivine Presence, fills the immensity of space, is everywhere present,\nand is immanent in all creation. But they give no adequate idea of the\nGreat Creator, \"the father of the spirits\" of men, [9] who sent into\nthe world his Beloved Son, \"the brightness of his glory and the express\nimage of his person\", [10] that men might see in him the Father and\nworship God aright. The Son of God, walking as a man upon the earth,\nplainly indicated what kind of a being God is; and when his disciple,\nPhilip, said to him, \"Lord, show us the Father,\" Jesus replied: \"He\nthat hath seen me hath seen the Father.\" [11] Could anything be plainer?\n\nBut these teachings were lost upon the modern Christian world. They had\nturned from the truth \"unto fables\", [12] forsaking the God of their\nfathers, and substituting for him as an object of worship, an ideal of\ntheir own creation. And it devolved upon Joseph Smith to shatter the\nfalse doctrine of a bodiless, passionless deity, and bring back the\nlost knowledge of the true and living God.\n\n_The True and Living God._--What is meant by that? Who is \"the true\nand living God?\" He is the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac\nand Jacob, the God of Adam, of Enoch, of Noah, of the patriarchs and\nprophets and apostles of old--the God described by Moses in the first\nchapter of Genesis, where it is written: \"God created man in his own\nimage, in the image of God created he him, male and female, created he\nthem.\" This is equivalent to saying that God is in the form of man, and\nthat we have a Mother as well as a Father in Heaven, in whose image or\nlikeness we are, male and female.\n\nOf the divine Three who hold supreme power and preside over the\nuniverse--three distinct personalities, yet one God or Godhead, one in\nwill, wisdom, power and authority--of these, the Father and the Son,\naccording to Joseph Smith, are personages of tabernacle. They have\nbodies \"as tangible as man's;\" while the Holy Ghost \"is a personage of\nspirit.\" [13]\n\n_The Idol of the Sects._--Proceeding forth from them, is that\nall-pervading essence or influence which is immanent in all things--the\nlight of the sun, moon and stars, the light also of the human\nunderstanding, quickening and illumining, in greater or less degree,\n\"every man that cometh into the world.\" In it we live, move and have\nour being; for it is the principle of life throughout creation. This\nis what the poet was describing, when he portrayed Deity as a \"Soul\"\nthat \"warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,\" etc. And this is what\nthe Christian sects were worshiping at the beginning of the nineteenth\ncentury. Not God, but a spirit sent forth from God; not Divinity,\nbut an emanation from Divinity. In a word, they were practicing\nidolatry--or something dangerously akin to it.\n\n_What Constitutes Idolatry?_--\"Idolatry is every worship that stops\nshort of the Supreme.\" [14] It is \"the paying of divine homage to false\ngods or images; also, adoration of created or imaginary beings or\nnatural objects or forces.\" [15] This is precisely what the ancient\nworld was doing when the book of Genesis was written. The Canaanites\nworshiped the sun and moon--Baal and Ashtoreth--ascribing to them the\npowers of creation. The Egyptians adored the crocodile, the bull,\nthe goat and the beetle (scarabeus). Among the Hindus the seasons\nwere deified--spring, summer, autumn, winter; as were also the\npassions--love, hate, fear, anger and revenge. All these were revered\nas deities. Then came Moses, who had seen the living and true God, and\nhad conversed with him face to face, receiving from him the Decalogue\nor Ten Commandments unto Israel. The first commandment reads: \"Thou\nshalt have no other gods before me.\"\n\n_Modern Christendom's Position._--The world in Joseph Smith's day--the\nChristian world at least--did not worship the heavenly bodies;\ndid not deify beasts and reptiles, did not regard the seasons and\npassions as divine. Yet it had turned from the true God, ignoring or\nmisinterpreting what Moses and the prophets had written concerning him.\nAccording to its dictum, the age of miracles was past; prophets were\nout of date, and angel messengers obsolete; the heavens were sealed,\nthe canon of scripture was full, and God would never again communicate\nwith mortals. Then came the vision of the Father and the Son--two\nglorious beings in the form of man--and from the hour that the boy\nJoseph beheld them, there was at least one person upon this planet who\nknew what kind of a being God is. It was a virtual reassertion of the\nfirst commandment in the Decalogue: \"Thou shalt have no other gods\nbefore me.\"\n\nTo worship anything that God has made and given, in lieu of the Maker\nand Giver, is to worship an idol. They who turn from the Creator to the\ncreature, who forsake God and adore a gift or an emanation from God,\nare idolaters, almost as much as if they worshiped the sun and moon, or\nbowed down to goats and crocodiles.\n\n_Like to Elijah._--To restore the acceptable worship of Jehovah, and\nbegin a work that would sweep away idolatry and all things connected\ntherewith, was the mission of Joseph the Seer. Against him, as against\nElijah of old, the priests of Baal raged in impotent fury. Despite\ntheir tongues of slander and their weapons of violence, he accomplished\nall that had been given him to do. This time, however, the All-Wise\npermitted his servant to be sacrificed--to the end, no doubt, that his\ninnocent blood, affixing to his testimony the red seal of martyrdom,\nmight give added power to the great propaganda then and still in\nprogress for Israel's redemption--the gathering of the scattered sheep\npreparatory to the Shepherd's coming.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. 2 Nephi 3:6-15.\n\n2. D. and C. 21:1. See also headings to most of the sections in this\nbook.\n\n3. Isa. 44:28; 45:1-5.\n\n4. James 1:5.\n\n5. Hist. Ch., Vol. 1, Chap. 1, p. 5.\n\n6. Compare Isa. 29:13.\n\n7. Church of England Articles of Religion, Presbyterian Confession of\nFaith, etc.\n\n8. Pope's \"Essay on Man,\" Epistle 1, lines 271-274.\n\n9. Heb. 12:9.\n\n10. Ib. 1:3; Gen. 1:26, 27; Philipp. 2:6; Col. 1:15, etc.\n\n11. John 14:9.\n\n12. 2 Tim. 4:4.\n\n13. D. and C. 130:22. Compare 1 Nephi 11:11.\n\n14. F. H. Hedge, \"Ways of the Spirit,\" Essay 8, p. 215.\n\n15. F. W. Standard Dictionary.\n\n\n\nARTICLE FIVE.\n\n_The Land of Zion._\n\n_The Angel Moroni._--Three years after that wonderful vision in the\nGrove, the youthful Seer received a visitation from an angel, a\nmessenger from the presence of the Lord. This Angel gave his name as\nMoroni, and declared that while in mortal life he had ministered as a\nprophet to an ancient people called Nephites, a branch of the house\nof Israel--not the Lost Tribes, as is frequently asserted by the\nuninformed, but a portion of the tribe of Joseph, mixed with a remnant\nof the tribe of Judah. The former had crossed over from Jerusalem\nabout the year 600 B. C.; the others a few years later. These blended\ncolonies had inhabited the Americas down to about the beginning of\nthe fourth century of the Christian era, when the civilized though\ndegenerate Nephites were destroyed by a savage faction known as\nLamanites, ancestors of the American Indians.\n\n_The Book of Mormon._--The Angel further stated that a record of the\nNephites would be found in a hill not far from Joseph's home--a hill\nanciently called Cumorah; and upon that spot, four years afterward,\nMoroni delivered the record into his hands. It was a book of metallic\nplates \"having the appearance of gold,\" and covered with strange\ncharacters, \"small and beautifully engraved\"--characters known to the\nNephites as \"the reformed Egyptian.\" [1]\n\nBy means of \"interpreters,\" discovered with the plates, and consisting\nof \"two stones in silver bows,\" the youth translated the unsealed\nportion of the record and, with the assistance of a few friends,\npublished to the world the Book of Mormon. It was so named for its\ncompiler, the Nephite prophet Mormon, whose son and survivor, Moroni,\nhad buried the plates where Joseph Smith found them. The date of\ndiscovery was September 22nd, 1823. [2]\n\nThe Hill Cumorah is situated between Palmyra and Manchester, in\nthe State of New York. For their belief in the Book of Mormon,\nthe Latter-day Saints were termed \"Mormons,\" and their religion\n\"Mormonism.\" It proclaims itself the restored fulness of the Gospel of\nJesus Christ.\n\n_History and Prophecy._--The Book of Mormon is a sacred history of\npre-historic America, and a prophecy of the wondrous future of this\nchosen land. It tells not only of the Nephites and Lamanites, but\nalso of a more ancient people, the Jaredites, who came from the Tower\nof Babel at the time of the confusion of tongues. Becoming extinct,\nthe Jaredites were succeeded by the Israelitish colony, led from\nJerusalem by a prophet named Lehi, whose sons Nephi and Laman became,\nrespectively, the heads of the two nations that sprang from him and\nwere called after their names. The Jewish remnant that mixt with the\ndescendants of Lehi was headed by Mulek, one of the sons of King\nZedekiah, whom the Babylonian conqueror, Nebuchadnezzar, overthrew.\n\n_The New Jerusalem._--The Jaredites, as well as the Nephites, had a\nknowledge of the Christ and of the principles of his Gospel, revealed\nto them prior to his coming. To both these nations it was made known\nthat America is the Land of Zion, the place for the New Jerusalem, a\nholy city to be built \"unto the remnant of the seed of Joseph.\" [3]\nLikewise was it shown to them that the Old Jerusalem would be rebuilt\n\"unto the house of Israel\" in the last days. All this before the\nSavior's second advent--the glorious mornbreak of the Millennium.\n\n_A Nursing Mother._--Among the many interesting features of the Book of\nMormon, is an ancient prophecy of the discovery of America by Columbus;\nthe migration of the Pilgrim Fathers and others to these western\nshores; the war for American Independence, and the founding of the\nrepublic of the United States, a nation destined long before its birth\nto play the part of a nursing mother to the restored Church of Christ.\n[4]\n\nAnd let me interject, that whatever may be said of the persecutions\nsuffered by the Latter-day Saints under the Stars and Stripes in\nvarious States of the Union--persecutions inflicted, not because of\nthe Flag, nor of the Constitution, nor of the genius of the American\nGovernment, but in spite of them--persecutions inflicted by lawless\nforce, by mob violence, ever to be execrated and condemned by every\ntrue patriot--whatever may be said of such deplorable happenings,\nstill must our noble Nation be credited with what it has done in\nthe direction of fulfilling its God-given mission. It is extremely\ndoubtful that in any other land, or in any other nation upon this\nland, would the Lord's people have been treated with the same degree\nof consideration. In no other country on earth, without special divine\ninterposition in its behalf, would this great and marvelous work have\nbeen permitted to come forth.\n\n_A Land of Liberty._--America, according to Nephite prophecy, is to be\na land of liberty to the Gentiles--modern peoples, not of Israel, now\npossessing it--provided they serve the God of the Land, who is Jesus\nChrist. So long as they shall follow righteousness, and maintain the\npure principles upon which this Government was founded, just so long\nwill they prosper and enjoy the favor of Heaven. America, if true to\nher mission, is promised divine protection, and will be invulnerable to\nevery foe. God \"will fortify this land against all other nations,\" and\nthey who \"fight against Zion shall perish.\" [5]\n\n_The Alternative._--If, however, the Gentiles, lifted up in pride,\nshall harden their hearts and reject the fulness of Christ's Gospel,\nLiberty's perfect law, another destiny, and a sad one, awaits them. No\nking but Christ shall reign upon Zion's Land. No people occupying this\nchoice ground can practice evil with impunity. The nation founded here\nmust be a righteous nation, or like the Jaredites and the Nephites, who\nperished because of their wickedness, it will be swept from the face\nof the land when the cup of its iniquity is full. So the God of Heaven\nhath decreed. [6]\n\n_Joseph's Blessing._--Another name for America, authorized by the Book\nof Mormon, is the Land of Joseph, referred to by the Patriarch Jacob in\nblessing his twelve sons, [7] and by the Prophet Moses in his farewell\nbenediction upon the twelve tribes of Israel. [8] Jacob's allusion to\nJoseph as \"a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the\nwall,\" was fulfilled in the migration of Lehi and his companions from\nAsia to America over the Pacific Ocean. It is hardly necessary to\nadd, in further exegetical comment, that one of the main features of\nthese western continents are those mighty mountain ranges, the Andes\nand the Rockies, well termed by the Hebrew Patriarch \"the everlasting\nhills,\" nature's depositories for \"the precious things of the\nearth\"--gold, silver, and other minerals--and for \"the precious things\nof heaven\"--the sacred records that have already been discovered, and\nothers that are yet to come forth.\n\n_Joseph and Judah._--The Book of Mormon has a divine mission in\nconnection with the Hebrew Scriptures, \"unto the confounding of false\ndoctrines and laying down of contentions.\" [9] It is \"The Stick of\nJoseph,\" referred to by the Prophet Ezekiel, that was to be one with\n\"The Stick of Judah\" (The Bible) \"in the hand of Ephraim.\" They were\nalso to be one in the hand of Jehovah, symbolizing the reunion of\nthe two great branches of the Israelitish race, after many centuries\nof separation. \"And I will make them one nation in the land upon the\nmountains of Israel,\" saith the Lord, \"and David my servant shall be\nking over them.\" [10]\n\n_Zion and Jerusalem._--David's ancient empire, which parted in twain,\nforming the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel, may it not\nhave been a foreshadowing of God's greater empire of the last days,\nwhich will consist of two grand divisions--two in one? Here upon the\nLand of Zion, \"a land choice above all other lands,\" [11] the children\nof Joseph, the descendants of Ephraim, are even now assembling to make\npreparation for Messiah's advent. The Jews will greet him at Jerusalem.\nChrist's Kingdom will have two capitals, one in the Old World, one in\nthe New; one in America, the other in Palestine. \"For out of Zion shall\ngo forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.\" [12]\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Mormon 9:32.\n\n2. Hist. Church, Vol. 1, p. 15.\n\n3. 3 Nephi 21:23, 24; Ether 13:3-8.\n\n4. 1 Nephi 13:10-19; 22:7, 8.\n\n5. 2 Nephi 10:11-13.\n\n6. Ether 2:8-12.\n\n7. Gen. 49:22-26.\n\n8. Deut. 33:13-15.\n\n9. 2 Nephi 3:12.\n\n10. Ezek. 37:16-24. The king here mentioned is not David, son of Jesse,\nbut \"another by the name of David\" who is to be \"raised up out of his\nlineage.\"--Hist. Ch., Vol. 6, p. 253.\n\n11. Ether 2:10.\n\n12. Isa. 2:3.\n\n\n\nPART TWO\n\nSEERSHIP AND PROPHECY.\n\n\n\nARTICLE SIX.\n\n_What Joseph Beheld._\n\n_Seer and Prophet._--\"Seer\" and \"Prophet\" are interchangeable terms,\nsupposed by many to signify one and the same thing. Strictly speaking,\nhowever, this is not correct. A seer is greater than a prophet. [1]\nOne may be a prophet without being a seer; but a seer is essentially a\nprophet--if by \"prophet\" is meant not only a spokesman, but likewise a\nforeteller. Joseph Smith was both prophet and seer. [2]\n\n_Like Unto Moses._--A seer is one who sees. But it is not the ordinary\nsight that is meant. The seeric gift is a supernatural endowment.\nJoseph was \"like unto Moses;\" and Moses, who saw God face to face,\nexplains how he saw him in these words: \"Now mine own eyes have beheld\nGod; yet not my natural, but my spiritual eyes; for my natural eyes\ncould not have beheld; for I should have withered and died in his\npresence; but his glory was upon me; and I beheld his face, for I was\ntransfigured before him.\" Such is the testimony of the ancient Seer, as\nbrought to light by the Seer of Latter-days. [3]\n\n_Spirit Eyes._--Let it not be supposed, however, that to see\nspiritually is not to see literally. Vision is not fancy, not\nimagination. The object is actually beheld, though not with the natural\neye. We all have spirit eyes, of which our natural or outward eyes are\nthe counterpart. All man's organs and faculties are firstly spiritual,\nthe body being but the clothing of the spirit. In our first estate,\nthe spirit life, we \"walked by sight.\" Therefore we had eyes. But they\nwere not our natural eyes, for these are not given until the spirit\ntabernacles in mortality. All men have a spirit sight, but all are\nnot permitted to use it under existing conditions. Even those thus\nprivileged can only use it when quickened by the Spirit of the Lord.\n[4] Without that, no man can know the things of God, \"because they are\nspiritually discerned.\" [5] Much less can he look upon the Highest\nunspiritually, with carnal mind or with natural vision. \"No man\"--no\nnatural man--\"hath seen God at any time.\" [6] But men at divers times\nhave seen him as Moses saw him--not with the natural but with the\nspiritual eye, quickened by the power that seeth and knoweth all things.\n\n_By the Holy Ghost._--The seeric faculty, possessed in greater degree\nby some than by others, is the original spirit sight reinforced or\nmoved upon by the power of the Holy Ghost. By this means certain\npersons, peculiarly gifted and sent into the world for that purpose,\nare able, even while in the flesh, to see out of obscurity, \"out of\nhidden darkness,\" and behold the things of God pertaining both to time\nand to eternity. Joseph Smith possessed this ability--this gift, but it\nwas the Spirit of the Lord that enabled him to use it. By that Spirit\nhe beheld the Father and the Son; and by that Spirit, operating through\nthe same marvelous gift, he translated the cryptic contents of the Book\nof Mormon.\n\n_How the Book of Mormon was Translated._--The reputed method\nof translation was as follows: The Seer, scanning through the\n\"interpreters\" (Urim and Thummim) the golden pages, saw appear,\nin connection with the strange characters engraved thereon, their\nequivalent in English words. These he repeated to his scribe--Oliver\nCowdery most of the time--and the latter wrote them. It was a\npeculiarity of the process that, until the writing was correct in\nevery particular, the words last given would not disappear; but on the\nnecessary correction being made, they would immediately pass away and\nbe succeeded by others. [7]\n\n_The Priesthood Restored._--The greater part of the Book of Mormon\nwas translated at Harmony, Pennsylvania, the home of Joseph's\nfather-in-law, Isaac Hale. While the Prophet and his scribe were thus\nemployed (May 15, 1829) John the Baptist, as an angel from heaven,\nconferred upon them the Aaronic Priesthood. [8] Soon afterward they\nwere ordained to the higher or Melchizedek Priesthood, by three other\nheavenly messengers, the Apostles Peter, James and John. [9] By virtue\nof this authority, and pursuant to divine direction, the two young men,\nassociated with a few others organized the Church of Jesus Christ of\nLatter-day Saints.\n\n_Petty Persecution._--During their sojourn in the little Pennsylvania\nvillage, Joseph and Oliver suffered considerable annoyance at the\nhands of mischievous persons who, having no faith in their work and\nregarding it as a hoax, seemed bent upon rendering their situation as\ndisagreeable as possible. Learning of their unpleasant situation, and\ndesiring to help along the sacred task to which they were devoting\nthemselves, Peter Whitmer, Sr., a farmer living at Fayette, Seneca\nCounty, New York, sent his son David with a team and wagon to bring\nthem to the Whitmer home.\n\n_David Whitmer's Account._--\"When I arrived at Harmony,\" says David\nWhitmer, \"Joseph and Oliver were coming towards me and met me at some\ndistance from the house. Oliver told me that Joseph had informed him\nwhen I started from home, where I had stopped the first night, how I\nread the sign at the tavern, where I stopped the second night, etc.,\nand that I would be there that day before dinner; and this was why they\nhad come out to meet me. All of which was exactly as Joseph had told\nOliver; at which I was greatly astonished.\" [10] It was at the Whitmer\nfarmhouse, in Fayette, that the Church was organized, April 6th, 1830.\n\n_Newel K. Whitney and the \"Stranger.\"_--Another instance of Joseph's\nuse of the seeric gift connects with the occasion of his arrival at\nKirtland, Ohio, where the Church, at an early day, established its\nheadquarters. A few months prior to that time, Oliver Cowdery and three\nother Elders, on their way to preach the Gospel to the Lamanites, or\nIndians, had tarried for a season at Kirtland, where they converted a\nnumber of the white dwellers in that region. Among these were Sidney\nRigdon, Newel K. Whitney, and others who became prominent in the\n\"Mormon\" community. The Saints in Ohio, learning that the Church would\nprobably move westward, began to pray for the coming of the Prophet.\n\nThe prayer was soon answered. About the first of February, 1831, a\nsleigh, driven into Kirtland from the East, drew up in front of the\nmercantile store of Gilbert and Whitney. A stalwart young man alighted\nand walked into the store. Approaching the junior partner and extending\nhis hand cordially, as if to an old and familiar acquaintance, he\nsaluted him thus: \"Newel K. Whitney, thou art the man!\"\n\nThe merchant was astonished. He had never seen this person before.\n\"Stranger,\" said he, \"You have the advantage of me; I could not call\nyou by name as you have me.\"\n\n\"I am Joseph the Prophet,\" said the stranger, smiling. \"You have prayed\nme here, now what do you want of me?\"\n\nJoseph Smith, while in the State of New York, had seen Newel K.\nWhitney, in the State of Ohio, praying for his coming to Kirtland; and\ntherefore knew him when they met. [11] The purpose of this vision, in\nall probability, was to pave the way for a meeting between the Prophet\nand the man who was to have the honor of entertaining him during the\nfirst weeks after his arrival in Ohio.\n\n_Vision of the Three Glories._--One of the most glorious manifestations\never vouchsafed to mortals, came to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, in\nthe month of February, 1832. They were at Hiram, Portage County, Ohio,\nwhere the Prophet, assisted by Elder Rigdon, who had been a Campbellite\npreacher, was occupied with revising the English translation of\nthe Hebrew Bible--a circumstance that may have given rise to the\noft-refuted story of Rigdon's authorship of the Book of Mormon. [12] The\nmanifestation referred to was a vision of human destiny, including the\nthree general conditions of glorified man--celestial, terrestrial, and\ntelestial. Concerning this marvelous vision, Joseph and Sidney thus\ntestify:\n\n\"We, Joseph Smith, Jr., and Sidney Rigdon, being in the Spirit on the\nsixteenth of February, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight\nhundred and thirty-two, by the power of the Spirit our eyes were opened\nand our understandings were enlightened, so as to see and understand\nthe things of God . . . .\n\n\"Of whom we bear record, and the record which we bear is the fulness of\nthe Gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the Son, whom we saw and with whom\nwe conversed in the heavenly vision.\" [13]\n\nThus is furnished an additional proof that it is by the power of God,\nand not of man, that mortals behold the visions of eternity.\n\n_The Greenville Incident._--In May of the same year, Joseph Smith,\nPresident of the Church, and Newel K. Whitney, Bishop of Kirtland,\nwere returning from a visit to Jackson County, Missouri, where, since\nthe summer of 1831, a \"Mormon\" colony had been laying the foundations\nof the City of Zion, upon grounds consecrated by the Prophet for\nthat purpose. The returning visitors were detained several weeks at\nGreenville, Indiana; the Bishop having a broken leg, caused by leaping\nfrom a runaway stage coach. Surrounded by unfriendly people, some of\nwhom he suspected of an attempt to poison him, the Prophet proposed\nthat they forthwith leave that dangerous neighborhood. His record goes\non to say:\n\n\"Brother Whitney had not had his foot moved from the bed for nearly\nfour weeks, when I went into his room, after a walk in the grove,\nand told him if he would agree to start for home in the morning, we\nwould take a wagon to the river about four miles, and there would be\na ferry-boat in waiting, which would take us quickly across, where\nwe would find a hack which would take us directly to the landing,\nwhere we should find a boat in waiting, and we would be going up the\nriver before ten o'clock, and have a prosperous journey home. He took\ncourage and told me he would go; we started the next morning and found\neverything as I had told him.\" [14]\n\n_A White Lamanite._--Still another instance. In 1834, while the\n\"Zion's Camp\" expedition [15] was on its way to Missouri, some of the\nparty exhumed from an ancient mound the skeleton of a man having a\nstone-pointed arrow between two of his ribs. The Prophet, in a vision\nof the past, discovered the identity of this skeleton, and informed his\nbrethren that the man's name was Zelph, that he was \"a white Lamanite,\"\n[16] and had been killed in battle by the arrow found between his ribs.\n[17]\n\n_Kirtland Temple Visions._--By this same power Joseph Smith and Oliver\nCowdery, in the Temple at Kirtland, Ohio (April 3rd, 1836), beheld\nJehovah, the God of Israel; also Moses, Elias and Elijah, who committed\nto them spiritual keys necessary for carrying on various phases of the\nLord's work. [18]\n\n_Adam's Altar._--In 1838, after the main body of the Church had moved\nto Missouri, the Saints built several towns and projected others in\nCaldwell and other counties of that State. One of those towns was at\nSpring Hill, Davis County, where the men who made the survey for a\nnew settlement came upon the ruins of an ancient altar, situated on\na wooded hill overlooking the surrounding country. Straightway they\nreported to the Prophet their interesting find. He, upon beholding it,\nsaid to those who were with him: \"There is the place where Adam offered\nup sacrifice after he was cast out of the Garden.\" [19]\n\n_The Old-New World._--America, according to Joseph Smith, is the\nOld World--not the New [20]. The primeval Garden was in the part now\ncalled Jackson County. Our First Parents, after their expulsion from\nEden, dwelt in the place where this altar stood. The Lord named it\nAdam-ondi-Ahman, \"because it is the place where Adam shall come to\nvisit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by\nDaniel the Prophet.\" [21]\n\nAll this by the power of seership--all this and more; for many other\ninstances might be given. But these will suffice to show the nature\nof this rare and precious gift, and the manner of its exercise by the\nmighty Seer and Prophet holding the keys of this Gospel dispensation.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Mosiah 8:15.\n\n2. Such men as Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American philosopher, and Count\nLeo Tolstoi, the Russian writer, are sometimes referred to as \"seers;\"\nit being thought by those who so designate them, that the power to\nthink profoundly and express wise and intelligent opinions, especially\non the future, constitutes seership. It is in this sense that the\nterm \"vision\" is so much used. But a great thinker is not necessarily\na seer; though a seer is apt to be a great thinker. Joseph Smith was\nboth; not so Ralph Waldo Emerson; not so Count Tolstoi. They were\ngreat philosophers, but there is nothing in the life-work of either to\nindicate that he possessed the power of a seer.\n\n3. Moses 1:11. Moses further declares that he could look upon Satan \"in\nthe natural man,\" but, says he: \"I could not look upon God, except his\nglory should come upon me and I was strengthened before him.\"\n\n4. D. and C. 67:11.\n\n5. 1 Cor. 2:9-14.\n\n6. John 1:18.\n\n7. David Whitmer's \"Address to all True Believers in Christ.\" p. 12;\nand Martin Harris' Statement to Edward Stevenson, Millennial Star, Vol.\n44, pp. 86, 87.\n\n8. D. and C. 13.\n\n9. Hist. Ch. Vol. 1 pp. 39-42, Note.\n\n10. David Whitmer's Statement to Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith, Mill.\nStar, Vol. 40, p. 772.\n\n11. Hist. Ch., Vol 1, pp. 145, 146. Note.\n\n12. Sidney Ridgon had never so much as seen the Book of Mormon, until\nseveral months after it was published, when a copy of it was handed\nto him in Northern Ohio, by Parley P. Pratt, one of the Elders of the\nLamanite Mission. Parley and Sidney corroborate each other in their\nseparate accounts of this incident. Moreover Sidney's acquaintance\nwith Joseph Smith did not begin until almost a year after the Book of\nMormon came forth. Yet he was charged with creating it, with converting\na religious history into a secular romance entirely dissimilar in\ncharacter and style from the Nephite record--a romance written by one\nSolomon Spaulding. A full account of this discredited theory of the\norigin of the Book of Mormon may be found in George Reynolds' \"Myth of\nthe Manuscript Found,\" and in \"Whitney's History of Utah,\" Vol. 1, pp.\n46-56.\n\n13. D. and C. 76:11, 12, 14. See also Article Forty, this Series.\n\n14. Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, pp. 271, 272.\n\n15. See Article Twenty-four.\n\n16. 3 Nephi 2:14-16.\n\n17. Hist. Ch. Vol. 2, pp. 79, 80.\n\n18. D. and C. 110.\n\n19. \"Life of Heber C. Kimball,\" p. 222; Taylor's \"Mediation and\nAtonement,\" pp. 69, 70; Whitney's \"History of Utah\"--Biography A. O.\nSmoot, Vol. 4, p. 99.\n\n20. The Prophet's inspired declaration to that effect finds confirmation\nin the writings of Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Agassiz, and John Fiske.\n\n21. D. and C. 116.\n\n\n\nARTICLE SEVEN.\n\nWhat Joseph Foretold.\n\nThe Proof of Prophecy.--To prove one a prophet, it is necessary to\nshow, not only that he prophesied, but that things predicted by him\ncame to pass. Measured by this standard, Joseph Smith's claim to the\ntitle is clear and unimpeachable. I shall not attempt to enumerate\nall his prophecies, but will mention some of the more notable, as\ndemonstrating his possession of the wonderful power to unlock and\nreveal the future.\n\nEarliest Predictions.--The Angel Moroni's promise to the boy, that\nhe, an obscure and unlettered country lad, should live to do a work\nthat would cause his name to be known among all nations, [1] has been\noften cited--too often to require extended comment here. The same\nmay be said of Isaiah's familiar declaration, that in the presence\nof God's wondrous work, the wisdom of the wise should perish and the\nunderstanding of the prudent be hid. [2] These promises are fulfilling\ndaily. Passing them by with this brief mention, I take up one of the\nbest known of Joseph Smith's predictions, namely, the \"Revelation and\nProphecy on War.\"\n\nAn Ominous Christmas Gift.--This tremendous forecast, relating not only\nto the fierce internecine struggle between the Northern and Southern\nStates of the American Union, but to other and mightier upheavals as\nwell, some past and some yet future, was launched at Kirtland, Ohio, on\nthe 25th of December, 1832. It may be said, therefore, that it came as\na solemn Christmas gift to the inhabitants of the world, warning them\nto prepare for terrible events.\n\nWar and Other Calamities.--The Prophet declared that war would \"be\npoured out upon all nations,\" beginning at a certain place. That\nplace was South Carolina. The Southern States, divided against the\nNorthern States, would call upon Great Britain, and Great Britain would\ncall upon other nations, for defensive assistance against hostile\npowers. Slaves, rising against their masters, would be \"marshalled\nand disciplined for war;\" and the red remnants \"left of the land\"\nwould \"become exceeding angry\" and \"vex the Gentiles with a sore\nvexation.\" By bloodshed and famine, plague, earthquake and tempest, the\ninhabitants of the earth would mourn and \"be made to feel the wrath\nand indignation and chastening hand of an Almighty God.\" The Prophet\nexhorted his followers to \"stand in holy places and be not moved, until\nthe day of the Lord come.\" [3]\n\nFor nineteen years this prophecy remained in manuscript, though\ncopies of it were carried by \"Mormon\" missionaries and read to their\ncongregations in various parts of the world. In 1851 it was published\nat Liverpool, the first edition of \"The Pearl of Great Price\"\ncontaining it. Therefore, it was a matter of public note and printed\nrecord long before the dire fulfillment began.\n\nBeginning of the Fulfillment.--The revelation had been in existence\ntwenty-eight years, three months, and seventeen days, when, on the\ntwelfth of April, 1861, the Confederate batteries in Charleston Harbor,\nSouth Carolina, opened fire on Fort Sumter, thus precipitating the war\nbetween the North and the South. As is well known, it arose over the\nslave question, a circumstance fulfilling another of Joseph Smith's\npredictions--one dated April 2nd, 1843. [4]\n\nSouthern States call on Great Britain.--How eleven of the Southern\nStates, bent upon withdrawing from the Union and establishing an\nindependent government south of the Mason and Dixon Line, called upon\nGreat Britain, and were accorded a measure of encouragement by the\nruling classes of that country, need scarcely be told here. The arrest\nand release of the Confederate commissioners, Mason and Slidell, who\nhad been sent across the Atlantic to present the case of the seceding\nStates at the Court of St. James; and the subsequent payment by the\nBritish Government of the Alabama claims ($15,500,000), for damages\nsustained by United States commerce at the hand of Confederate\nprivateers, built and fitted out in British ports, tell in part the\nstory.\n\nThe Negro and Indian Questions.--It is also a matter of history, that\nmany of the negro slaves, set free by President Lincoln's edict of\nemancipation, and trained as troops, fought in the Northern armies\nagainst their former masters. Whether or not this was a complete\nfulfillment of the forecast concerning the once enslaved people,\nremains to be seen. The race question was not entirely settled by the\nCivil War; it still hovers as a dark cloud on our national horizon.\nAs for Indian troubles, many of which have arisen since Joseph Smith\nprophesied concerning them, while apparently they have ceased to \"vex,\"\nmore may yet be heard from that quarter before the problem is finally\nsolved.\n\nAn Effort to Avert Calamity.--Joseph Smith's last public act of a\npolitical character was an effort to save his country from the awful\ncalamity that he saw impending. To some it may appear strange, even\ninconsistent, that a prophet, after making a prediction, would try to\nprevent it from coming to pass. But it is only a seeming inconsistency.\nIt should be remembered that divine promises and prophecies are\nconditional. There is always an alternative, expressed or implied,\nhinging upon a change of attitude or conduct on the part of the\nperson or persons toward whom the prophecy is directed. Deem it not\nincongruous, therefore, that this Prophet, after predicting the Civil\nWar, should endeavor to open a way of escape from the evils he had\nforeseen and foretold.\n\nIn January, 1844, only five months before his martyrdom, Joseph Smith\nbecame a candidate for President of the United States. One of the\nplanks of his political platform was a proposition to free the slaves\nof the South--not by confiscation, thereby despoiling their owners, but\nby purchase, making their freedom a gift from the General Government;\nthe funds necessary for the purpose to be realized from the sale of\npublic lands. This just and humane proposition, repeated eleven years\nlater by Ralph Waldo Emerson, [5] and favored also by Abraham Lincoln,\nwas ignored; and it cost the Nation a million of lives and billions\nof treasure to despise the counsel of a prophet of God, and adopt\ninstead what the hate-blinded politicians of that period deemed \"a more\nexcellent way.\" [6]\n\nHow Stephen A. Douglas Fulfilled Prophecy.--Closely connected with\nevents immediately preceding the Civil War, is another prophecy of\nJoseph Smith's, uttered May 18, 1843, and recorded at the time in\nthe journal of his private secretary. On the date given, the Prophet\ndined with Stephen A. Douglas, at the home of Sheriff Backenstos,\nin Carthage, Illinois, the same town where the brothers Joseph and\nHyrum afterwards met their tragic death. Judge Douglas was holding\ncourt there. The principal topic of conversation after dinner was the\npersecution of the Latter-day Saints in Missouri, not only the Jackson\nCounty affair of 1833, but the more sanguinary tragedy of 1838-1839,\nculminating in the mid-winter expulsion of the entire Church--then\nnumbering twelve to fifteen thousand members--and its establishment\nin the adjoining State of Illinois. An account of these events, at\nthe Judge's request, the \"Mormon\" leader gave. His narrative included\na recital of the ineffectual attempts made by him and his people to\nobtain from the Federal government a redress of grievances.\n\nDouglas was deeply interested, and strongly condemned the conduct of\nMissouri. He was very friendly with the Prophet, who, continuing the\nconversation, predicted trouble for the Nation unless those wrongs were\nrighted. Then, addressing Douglas, he said: \"Judge, you will aspire to\nthe Presidency of the United States; and if you ever turn your hand\nagainst me or the Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight of the\nhand of the Almighty upon you. And you will live to see and know that I\nhave testified the truth to you, for the conversation of this day will\nstick to you through life.\" [7]\n\nGod's Hand Against Him.--Judge Douglas reaped the full fruition of\nthose fateful words. The prophecy concerning him was first published\nin the Deseret News, at Salt Lake City, September 24, 1856, and on\nFebruary 26, 1859, it appeared in the Millennial Star, at Liverpool.\nBetween those dates, Stephen A. Douglas, then a United States\nSenator--made such by the aid of \"Mormon\" votes in Illinois--turned\nhis hand against his old-time friends and supporters. Joseph Smith was\ndead, but his followers, driven from the confines of civilization, were\nout in the wilderness, laying the foundations of the State of Utah. In\na political speech, at Springfield, Illinois, June 12, 1857, Senator\nDouglas, basing a reference to the \"Mormons\" upon certain wild rumors\nafloat concerning them, virtually accused them of all manner of crimes\nand abominations. The speech was looked upon as a bid for popular favor.\n\nThen came the Senator's race for the Presidency. His prospects at\nthe outset were favorable. His party held the preponderance of the\nnational vote, and he was the idol of his party. In June, 1860, he was\nenthusiastically nominated by the Democratic Convention at Baltimore.\nMen shouted for him, worked for him, and on election day voted for\nhim; but all in vain, God's hand was against him! His party, torn\nby dissension, divided its strength among three candidates, and was\noverwhelmingly defeated. \"The Little Giant\" was \"snowed under,\" and his\ngreat rival, Abraham Lincoln, elevated to the Presidential chair. A few\nmonths later Senator Douglas died at his home in Chicago. He was only\nin the prime of life--aged forty-eight--but he had lived long enough to\nrealize that God's prophets do not speak in vain.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, pp. 11, 12.\n\n2. Isa. 29:14.\n\n3. D. and C. 87.\n\n4. Ib. 130:12, 13.\n\n5. Josiah Quincy, who visited Joseph Smith at Nauvoo shortly before the\nmartyrdom, says of him and his views on slavery:\n\n\"Smith recognized the curse and iniquity of slavery, though he opposed\nthe methods of the Abolitionists. His plan was for the nation to pay\nfor the slaves from the sale of the public lands. 'Congress,' he\nsaid, 'should be compelled to take this course, by petitions from all\nparts of the country; but the petitioners must disclaim all alliance\nwith those who would disturb the rights of property recognized by the\nConstitution and foment insurrection.' It may be worth while to remark\nthat Smith's plan was publicly advocated, eleven years later, by one\nwho has mixed so much practical shrewdness with his lofty philosophy.\nIn 1855, when men's minds had been moved to their depths on the\nquestion of slavery, Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson declared that it should be\nmet in accordance 'with the interest of the South and with the settled\nconscience of the North. It is not really a great task, a great fight\nfor this country to accomplish, to buy that property of the planter, as\nthe British nation bought the West Indian slaves.' He further says that\nthe 'United States will be brought to give every inch of their public\nlands for a purpose like this.' We, who can look back upon the terrible\ncost of the fratricidal war which put an end to slavery, now say that\nsuch a solution of the difficulty would have been worthy a Christian\nstatesman. But if the retired scholar was in advance of his time when\nhe advocated this disposition of the public property in 1855 what shall\nI say of the political and religious leader who had committed himself,\nin print, as well as in conversation, to the same course in 1844? If\nthe atmosphere of men's opinions was stirred by such a proposition when\nwar-clouds were discernible in the sky, was it not a statesmanlike\nword eleven years earlier, when the heavens looked tranquil and\nbeneficent.\"--\"Figures of the Past,\" pp. 397, 398.\n\n6. President Lincoln, toward the close of the Civil War, \"wrote a\nmessage to Congress, proposing to pay the slaveholders $400,000,000 for\ntheir slaves, if the South would only cease fighting. All the Cabinet\nobjecting, with a sigh he put the message in his drawer.\" See article,\n\"Lincoln in Victory,\" by James Morgan, Deseret News, May 10, 1920.\n\n7. William Clayton's Journal, May 18, 1843.\n\n\n\nARTICLE EIGHT.\n\nLooking Westward.\n\nWhy the \"Mormons\" Migrated.--Foreseeing that the Nation would turn a\ndeaf ear to his patriotic appeal for a peaceful and just settlement of\nthe slave question, the Prophet began to contemplate the removal of the\nChurch from close proximity to the scenes of strife and carnage that\nwere about to be enacted. It was highly necessary that a people chosen\nfor such a purpose--to prepare the world for the ushering in of the\nReign of Righteousness--should remain upon earth to accomplish their\nmission. In order to so remain, they must be out of the way of the\ntroubles that were imminent, and, so far as possible, keep out of the\nway until the divine judgments predicted had gone forth and done their\nwork. This was one reason why the Latter-day Saints migrated to the\nRocky Mountains.\n\nDriven to their Destiny.--Their cruel expulsion from Missouri had\nindirectly contributed to their safety; for when the war-cloud which\nhad long been gathering finally burst, it poured out much of its fury\nupon those very lands from which the Saints had been driven. [1] And\nnow, their enforced pilgrimage into the all but untrodden wilderness of\nthe Great West likewise preserved them from many trials that would have\nfallen to their lot had they tarried within the area seriously affected\nby the stern events that followed.\n\nFleeing the Wrath to Come.--It was a next-best course that the fugitive\npeople pursued. Originally they were cast for a very different role,\nbut not being ready to enact that role, another part was assigned them,\none destined to prepare them for the greater performance that is yet to\nfollow. In order that the community might survive, and accomplish, when\nthe time came, the mighty task of \"redeeming Zion,\" it was imperative\nthat they should \"flee the wrath to come.\"\n\nThe Exodus Foretold.--The removal of the Saints to the region of the\nRocky Mountains, was the theme of a prophecy uttered by Joseph the\nSeer nearly two years before his death, and nearly four years prior to\nthe beginning of the famous \"Mormon Exodus.\" Nauvoo, Illinois, where\nhe then resided, is on the east bank of the Mississippi River, and on\nthe west bank, just opposite, is the little town of Montrose. From the\nProphet's personal history, I now quote an entry of Saturday, August\n6th 1842:\n\n\"Passed over the river to Montrose, Iowa, in company with General\nAdams, Colonel Brewer and others, and witnessed the installation of the\nofficers of the Rising Sun Lodge, Ancient York Masons, at Montrose, by\nGeneral James Adams, Deputy Grand Master of Illinois. While the Deputy\nGrand Master was engaged in giving the requisite instructions to the\nMaster-elect, I had a conversation with a number of brethren in the\nshade of the building, on the subject of our persecutions in Missouri\nand the constant annoyance which has followed us since we were driven\nfrom that State. I prophesied that the Saints would continue to suffer\nmuch affliction, and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains. Many\nwould apostatize, others would be put to death by our persecutors or\nlose their lives in consequence of exposure or disease, 'and some of\nyou will live to go and assist in making settlements, build cities,\nand see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky\nMountains.\"' [2]\n\nAnson Call's Narrative.--One of the men who heard that prediction\nwas Anson Call, afterwards a prominent colonizer in various parts of\nthe Rocky Mountain region. His account, descriptive of the Montrose\nincident, follows:\n\n\"A block school-house had been prepared, with shade in front, under\nwhich was a barrel of ice water. Judge Adams was the highest Masonic\nauthority in the State of Illinois, and had been sent there to organize\nthis lodge. He, Hyrum Smith, and J. C. Bennett, being high Masons, went\ninto the house to perform some ceremonies which the others were not\nentitled to witness. These, including Joseph Smith, remained under the\nbowery. Joseph, as he was tasting the cold water, warned the brethren\nnot to be too free with it. With the tumbler still in his hand, he\nprophesied that the Saints would yet go to the Rocky Mountains; and,\nsaid he, 'this water tastes much like that of the crystal streams that\nare running from the snow-capped mountains.' . . . . I had before seen\nhim in a vision (i.e. while having a vision), and now saw, while he\nwas talking, his countenance change to white--not the deadly white of\na bloodless face, but a living, brilliant white. He seemed absorbed in\ngazing upon something at a great distance, and said: 'I am gazing upon\nthe valleys of those mountains.\"' [3]\n\nThe Seeric Power.--Joseph Smith, at that time, was standing on the\nwest bank of the Mississippi River, fifteen hundred miles from the\nRocky Mountains; yet he saw these grand old hills, crowned with\nunmelting snows, and seamed with rugged gorges down which the crystal\ntorrents were flowing as they flow today. He actually beheld, with\nspirit vision, these objects--beheld them so vividly, that had he been\npermitted to carry out his partly formed purpose of leading his people\nto their new home in the wilderness, he would have recognized this\nland, and would have been able to say, as Brigham Young said, upon\nbeholding Salt Lake Valley: \"This is the Place.\" [4]\n\nAnother Prophet and Seer.--But Joseph did not live to accompany his\npeople upon their historic journey. Another mighty leader was raised up\nto pilot modern Israel to their promised land. Of Brigham Young it is\nrelated, that while crossing the plains west of the Missouri River, in\nthe spring and summer of 1847, he had a vision of the region that he\nand his fellow pilgrims were about to inhabit. He saw a tent settling\ndown from heaven over the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, and heard a\nvoice proclaim: \"This is the place where my people Israel shall pitch\ntheir tents.\" Such is the testimony of Erastus Snow, [5] one of the\nprincipal men who came with President Young to the Rocky Mountains.\nConsequently when the great Pioneer said, \"This is the place,\" he was\nrepeating words that had been spoken to him--repeating them while\nviewing with natural eyes a scene that his spirit eyes had already\nbeheld.\n\nHuman Wisdom vs. Divine Guidance.--What availed, after that, the\npessimistic forebodings of the mountaineer, James Bridger, who camped\nwith the Pioneers just after they passed the Rocky Mountains, and whose\nlaconic speech, \"I would give a thousand dollars if I knew an ear of\ncorn could ripen in Salt Lake Valley,\" has been often and variously\nquoted? What availed the roseate account given of the California\nCoast by the ultra-optimistic Samuel Brannan, who, after sailing\nwith a \"Mormon\" colony from New York and landing at the Bay of San\nFrancisco, crossed the Sierra Nevada, met the Pioneers on Green River,\nand endeavored to persuade them that the flowery slopes of the Pacific\nwere a better place of abode for the exiled people than the parched\nalkali wastes of \"The Great American Desert?\" Brigham Young knew better\nthan Colonel Bridger or Elder Brannan what was for the best. Looking\npast the present into the future, he had for all such warnings and\npersuasions, one reply: \"_This is the place_.\"\n\nProphecy Fulfilled and Vision Verified.--Brigham Young was not the man\nto ignore divine guidance. His own vision was before him, beckoning him\non; and Joseph Smith's prediction behind him, urging him forward and\npointing out the way. The Latter-day Saints were to \"become a mighty\npeople\"--not in California, not along the Pacific Coast, but \"in the\nmidst of the Rocky Mountains.\"\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. The history of guerilla warfare and its merciless suppression along\nthe Missouri-Kansas border, amply bears out this assertion.\n\n2. Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, p. 85.\n\nThis prophecy began to be fulfilled early in February, 1846, when the\nfirst companies of the migrating Saints left Nauvoo for the West,\ncrossing the frozen Mississippi on the ice. About the middle of June\nthey reached the Missouri River, then the frontier of the Nation, where\ntheir further progress was delayed for a whole season by the enlistment\nof the \"Mormon\" Battalion--five hundred men--who responded to a call\nfrom the Government and volunteered to assist the United States in its\nwar with Mexico.\n\n3. \"This was followed,\" continues the Call narrative, \"by a vivid\ndescription of the scenery of these mountains as I have since become\nacquainted with it. . . . . It is impossible to represent in words\nthis scene which is still vivid in my mind--the grandeur of Joseph's\nappearance, his beautiful descriptions of this land, and his wonderful\nprophetic utterances as they emanated from the glorious inspirations\nthat overshadowed him. There was a force and power in his exclamations\nof which the following is but a faint echo: 'Oh the beauty of those\nsnow-capped mountains! The cool refreshing streams that are running\ndown through those mountain gorges.' Then, gazing in another direction,\nas if there was a change of locality: 'Oh the scenes that this people\nwill pass through! The dead that will lie between here and there.'\nThen, turning in another direction, as if the scene had again changed:\n'Oh the apostasy that will take place before my brethren reach that\nland! But, he continued, 'the priesthood shall prevail over its\nenemies, triumph over the devil, and be established upon the earth,\nnever more to be thrown down.\"' Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, pp. 85, 86. Note.\n\n4. The journey of the Pioneers began at Winter Quarters (now Florence,\nNebraska) about the middle of April, 1847. It ended on the shores of\nthe Great Salt Lake, July 24th of the same year. The company, led by\nPresident Brigham Young in person, consisted originally of 143 men,\nthree women, and two children. The men were well armed and equipped,\nand the company traveled mostly in covered wagons, drawn by horses,\nmules and oxen. Four large companies of emigrants followed immediately\nafter the Pioneers, arriving in Salt Lake Valley during the autumn.\n\n5. See Apostle Snow's discourse of July 25, 1880, reproduced in the\n\"Improvement Era\" for June, 1913.\n\n\n\nARTICLE NINE.\n\nThe Place of Safety.\n\nAn Inspired Choice.--Who can doubt the wisdom of the choice that made\nthe Rocky Mountains, in lieu of the Pacific Coast, a permanent home\nfor the once homeless Latter-day Saints? Had they gone to California,\nas Elder Brannan advised, it would have meant, in all probability,\ntheir disruption and dispersion as a community, or at all events\nanother painful exodus in quest of peace and freedom. It would have\nbeen to invite, from the inhabitants of that region--fast filling up\nwith immigrants from those very States where the persecuted people\nhad experienced their sorest troubles--a repetition of the woes from\nwhich they were fleeing. Here in these mountain fastnesses, a thousand\nmiles from the frontiers of civilization, they were safe from mobs and\nmolestation.\n\nBetter Than Elsewhere.--Better for them, in every way, that they\nshould bide where Providence placed them. The coast country, with\nall its attractions--and they are many--has no such rare climate\nas can be found in this more highly favored region. The land once\nsupposed to be worthless, and to redeem which even in part from its\nancient barrenness, has required years on years of toil and privation,\nturns out to be a veritable treasure-house of natural resources, a\nself-sustaining empire; and in periods of strife and turmoil, when war\nrocks the world, it is probably the safest place beneath the sun.\n\nThe Great War.--This mention again brings to the fore Joseph Smith's\ngreat \"Prophecy on War.\" It has been seen how the Southern States,\nwhen they endeavored to withdraw from the Union, \"called on Great\nBritain\" for recognition and assistance, thus making good a portion\nof the Prophet's prediction. But when did Great Britain \"call upon\nother nations,\" fulfilling in her own case the terms of the \"Mormon\"\nleader's fateful forecast? Certainly not during the stormy period of\nthe \"sixties,\" nor for many decades thereafter.\n\nBut the time came eventually. After the outbreak of the World War,\nwhen the German hosts were overrunning Belgium and Northern France,\nthreatening even England herself, Great Britain did call upon the\nnations with which she had made treaties, for the help that she so\nsorely needed. The visit to America, before and after the United States\ndeclared war against Germany, of representatives of Great Britain and\nothers of the Allied nations, appealing for military aid, was a potent\nfactor in inducing our Government to send ships and troops across the\nAtlantic, to help beat back the Teutonic invader.\n\nOnly The Beginning.--Very evident is it that the tempest of war\nforetold by Joseph Smith did not cease with the close of the conflict\nbetween the Northern and the Southern States. The storm has continued\nintermittently to this time. Lulls there have been, but no lasting\ncessation of the strife. Five years after the collapse of the Southern\nConfederacy, came the Franco-Prussian War, foreshadowing Germany's\nmad attempt to conquer the world. The American Civil War, the\nFranco-Prussian War, and the more recent World War, were all parts of\nthe great \"outpouring\" predicted on that ominous Christmas day. And\nthe same may be said of other conflicts that have since taken place.\nEqually true will it be of any future strife that may be necessary to\nhelp free the world from oppression and iniquity. Unless the wicked\nrepent, there is more--much more to come. [1]\n\nBut in what way did the revolt of South Carolina, which began the Civil\nWar, prove a \"beginning\" of wars for \"all nations\"? This question is\nintelligently discussed in a pamphlet recently put forth by Elder\nJames H. Anderson, of Salt Lake City. That writer shows that with the\noutbreak of the Southern-Northern conflict, the whole system of modern\nwarfare underwent a change, and that since then it has experienced a\ncomplete revolution, through the invention and use of machine guns,\nairships, submarines, and other death-dealing instrumentalities,\nabsolutely unknown in previous military history, and marking a distinct\nbeginning, such as the Prophet indicated. [2]\n\nDangers Upon the Deep.--One frightful feature of the unparalleled\nstruggle that ended with the signing of the armistice (November 11,\n1918), was the havoc wrought by the German U-boats, otherwise known\nas submarines. There had been, before the coming of the U-boat,\ndreadful dangers upon the waters, as the fate of the ill-starred\n\"Titanic\"--ripped open by an iceberg--testifies. But the submarine,\nthe assassin of the \"Lusitania,\" multiplied those dangers a hundred\nfold. Did the proud world know that a prophet of God had foreseen these\nfearful happenings, and had sounded a warning of their approach?\n\nIn August, 1831, Joseph Smith, with a party of friends, returning from\ntheir first visit to Zion in Jackson County, encamped on the bank of\nthe Missouri River, at a place called Mcllwair's (or Mcllwaine's) Bend.\nThere, one of the party, William W. Phelps, saw in vision the Destroyer\nriding in awful fury upon the river, and the incident called forth a\nrevelation in which the Lord says:\n\n\"Behold, there are many dangers upon the waters, and more especially\nhereafter;\n\n\"For I, the Lord, have decreed in mine anger many destructions upon the\nwaters; yea, and especially upon these waters;\n\n\"Nevertheless, all flesh is in mine hand, and he that is faithful among\nyou shall not perish by the waters.\n\n* * * * * *\n\n\"Behold, I, the Lord, in the beginning blessed the waters, but in the\nlast days, by the mouth of my servant John, I cursed the waters.\n\n\"Wherefore, the days will come that no flesh shall be safe upon the\nwaters,\n\n\"And it shall be said in days to come that none is able to go up to the\nland of Zion upon the waters, but he that is upright in heart. . . . .\n\n\"I, the Lord, have decreed, and the destroyer rideth upon the face\nthereof, and I revoke not the decree.\" [3]\n\nNo Flesh Safe Upon the Waters.--Was not this condition almost realized\nduring the darkest days of the Great War? Perils undreamed of\ndeveloped; disasters without precedent, unexampled in history, were\nof frequent occurrence. Even upon the calm Pacific no ship pursued\nconsecutively the same track twice. Companies operating the great\nocean-liners no longer announced the dates of departure from one port\nor of expected arrival at another. They dared not; the destroyer was\nabroad, death was in the depths, and the spirit of dread brooded upon\nthe bosom of the waters. And this upon the comparatively peaceful\nWestern Ocean; while upon the Atlantic, in the Mediterranean, and in\nthe North Sea, the terrible submarine told the tale of danger and\ndisaster.\n\nThe Food Question.--Another phase of the Titanic struggle was the\nfood question. Joseph Smith had predicted famine; [4] and the famine\ncame. As early as October, 1876, the Prophet's successor, President\nBrigham Young, placed upon the members of the Relief Society a special\nmission--that of gathering and storing grain against a day of scarcity;\nand from that time the activities of the Society were put forth largely\nin this direction. Some made light of the labors of these devoted\nwomen, declaring that another famine could not be. Too vast an area\nof the earth's surface was under cultivation, and the means of rapid\ntransit and communication were too plentiful, to permit of such a\nmisfortune. If famine threatened any part of the world, word of it\ncould come in the twinkling of an eye, and millions on millions of tons\nof food-stuffs, speedily transported to the scene, would stave off the\nstraitness and render the calamity impossible.\n\nThe Spectre of Famine..--Alas for those who put their trust in the arm\nof flesh! In spite of the vast and ever-increasing productivity of the\nsoil; in spite of railroads, steamships, and telegraphs, spreading a\nnetwork of steel and electricity over the face of the planet, this was,\nand is still, a famine-threatened world. Europe calls upon America\nfor food; America generously responds; but as fast as she consigns\nher cargoes of foodstuffs to the needy nations, the merciless and\ndevouring submarine sends them to the bottom of the sea. Such indeed\nwas the situation. The floor of the ocean is strewn with the wrecks of\ntransports whose mission was to carry bread to the starving millions\nof other lands. And where was the man, uninspired of Heaven, who could\nhave anticipated such a catastrophe?\n\nOur nation became aroused to the necessity existing for the avoidance\nof Waste and the conservation of food stuffs. All civilized countries\nawakened to the same urgent call. The \"Mormon\" grain-storing movement\nwas no longer a joke--a target for ridicule. The gaunt spectre of\nFamine had shown a glimpse of his face, and the whole world trembled\nat the prospect. The God of Joseph and of Brigham had vindicated the\npatient labors of His faithful handsmaids, and fulfilled in part the\nsolemn forebodings of prophecy.\n\n\"Mormon\" Grain for the Government.--Not the least item of interest\nconnected with this subject, is the fact that the United States\nGovernment, through its Food Administrator, in May, 1918, made request\nupon the authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day\nSaints, for the turning in of all the Relief Society wheat then on\nhand, for use in the war. The request was cheerfully complied with,\n225,000 bushels of wheat being promptly furnished by the Church to the\nFederal Government.\n\nThe Drought of 1919.--How easily a famine could come, was shown during\nthe prolonged drought in the summer of 1919, when throughout the\nIntermountain West and in regions beyond, lands usually productive lay\nparching for many weeks under the torrid rays of the sun. As a result,\nmillions of acres of growing grain, especially in the dry-farming\ndistricts, perished for want of moisture. And yet there are men who\ndeem human powers and earthly resources all-sufficient, and who\ndeclare, in the face of prophecy, that famine and war are obsolete and\nnever again can be.\n\nA Scholar's Opinion.--Such a pronouncement, as to war, was made\nrepeatedly, in public, only a short while before the World War broke\nout. That splendid scholar and publicist, David Starr Jordan, expressed\nby tongue and pen his positive conviction that another great conflict,\nin this advanced and cultured age, was humanly impossible--it simply\ncould not come. [5] But Another had said, two thousand years before:\n\"Such things must come.\" [6] And not long after the delivery of Doctor\nJordan's optimistic, well-meant prediction, the greatest hell of\nconflict that this world has ever known burst forth and well-nigh wrapt\nthe globe in a mantle of smoke and flame.\n\nThe One Safe Guide.--\"Men may come and men may go,\" but God and Truth\n\"go on forever.\" Heaven and Earth may pass, but the divine word, by\nwhomsoever spoken, will endure unshaken \"amid the wreck of matter and\nthe crash of worlds.\" The sure word of prophecy, flowing from the\nfountain of the Spirit, is the one safe guide through the chaos of the\npresent and the mystical mazes of the future.\n\nA Prophet's Voice.--More firmly founded than the scholarly utterance\nin question, was a prediction made by President Wilford Woodruff, at\nBrigham City, Utah, in the summer of 1894. In the course of a public\naddress, referring to the near approach of the judgments of the last\ndays, the venerable leader said: \"Great changes are at our doors. The\nnext twenty years will see mighty changes among the nations of the\nearth.\" And it was just twenty years, or in the summer of 1914, when\nthe terrible strife that has wrought so many mighty changes swept like\na whirlwind over the nations.\n\nOther Prophetic Warnings.--One could almost believe that President\nWoodruff's fellow Apostle, Orson Pratt, was gazing with seeric vision\nupon the same dreadful picture, when he thundered into the ears of\nthe world this solemn admonition: \"A voice is heard unto the ends of\nthe Earth! A sound of terror and dismay! A sound of nations rushing\nto battle! Fierce and dreadful is the contest! _Mighty kingdoms and\nempires melt away!_ The destroyer has gone forth; the pestilence that\nwalketh in darkness; the plagues of the last days are at hand; and who\nshall be able to escape? None but the righteous; none but the upright\nin heart.\" [7]\n\nEight years later this same Apostle, then at Liverpool, about to embark\nfor America, issued to the inhabitants of Great Britain this \"Prophetic\nWarning\":\n\n\"If you will not repent and unite yourselves with God's Kingdom, then\nthe days are near at hand when the righteous shall be gathered out of\nyour midst. And woe unto you when that day shall come, for it shall be\na day of vengeance upon the British nation! . . . . Your armies shall\nperish; your maritime forces shall cease; your cities shall be ravaged,\nburned and made desolate, and your strongholds shall be thrown down;\nthe poor shall rise against the rich, and their storehouses and their\nfine mansions shall be pillaged, their merchandise and their gold and\ntheir silver and their rich treasures shall be plundered. Then shall\nthe lords and nobles and the merchants of the land, and all in high\nplaces, be brought down and shall sit in the dust and howl for the\nmiseries that shall be upon them. And they that trade by sea shall\nlament and mourn; for their traffic shall cease.\" [8]\n\nSaviors of the Nation.--To escape the judgments hanging over the\nwicked, and find a place where they might worship God unmolested, the\nLatter-day Saints fled to the Rocky Mountains. Here, and here only,\nduring the temporary isolation sought and found by them in the chambers\nof \"the everlasting hills,\" could they hope to be let alone long\nenough to become strong enough to accomplish their greater destiny.\nFor there was more in that enforced exodus and the founding of this\nmountain-girl empire than the surface facts reveal. If tradition can be\nrelied upon, Joseph Smith prophesied that the Elders of Israel would\nsave this Nation in the hour of its extremest peril. At a time when\nanarchy would threaten the life of the Government, and the Constitution\nwould be hanging as by a thread, the maligned and misunderstood\n\"Mormons\"--always patriotic, and necessarily so from the very genius of\ntheir religion--would stand firm upon Freedom's rocky ramparts, and as\nchampions of law and order, of liberty and justice, call to their aid\nin the same grand cause kindred spirits from every part of the nation\nand from every corner of the world. All this preparatory to a mighty\nmovement that would sweep every form of evil from off the face of the\nland, and rear the Zion of God upon the spot consecrated for that\npurpose. This traditional utterance of their martyred Seer is deeply\nimbedded in the heart and hope of the \"Mormon\" people.\n\n\"Mormonism's\" Monument.--The State of Utah with its fringe of offspring\nsettlements, is no adequate monument to Latter-day Israel. Zion is\ntheir monument, and it will stand in Jackson County, Missouri. Ephraim\nis but getting ready for his mighty mission--the Lion crouching before\nhe springs.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. D. and C. 5:19; 45:31, 68, 69; 63:33; 88:87-91; 97:22, 23; 115:6.\n\n2. See \"Prophecies of Joseph Smith and their Fulfillment,\" by Nephi L.\nMorris, p. 20.\n\n3. D. and C. 61:4-6, 14-16, 19. Compare Moses 7:66 and Rev. 16:3, 4.\n\n4. D. and C. 87:6.\n\n5. \"There is no war coming,\" said Doctor Jordan to the press\nrepresentatives who flocked to interview him on his return, in 1910,\nfrom Europe, where he had been lecturing on \"Universal Peace.\" \"The\nonly battle between England and Germany will be on paper.\" In his\nbook, \"War and Waste,\" published a few years later, he said of the\n\"Great War of Europe which never comes\": \"The bankers will not find\nthe money for such a fight, the industries of Europe will not maintain\nit, the statesmen cannot. . . . . There will be no general war until\nthe masters direct the fighters to fight. The masters have much to\ngain, but vastly more to lose, and their signal will not be given.\" In\nAugust, 1912, the Doctor delivered a spoken address to the same effect\nin the Salt Lake Tabernacle. This was just two years before the war\nthat \"could not come\"--came.\n\n6. Matt. 24:6.\n\n7. \"The Kingdom of God,\" July, 1849.\n\n8. \"Mill. Star\" Oct. 24, 1857. Orson Pratt, then presiding over the\nEuropean Mission, had been called home, owing to a prospect of serious\ntrouble between Utah and the United States Government. A false report\nthat the \"Mormons\" were in rebellion against the Federal authority had\ncaused the Government to send an army, under General Albert Sidney\nJohnston, to put down the alleged insurrection. Brigham Young, Governor\nof the Territory (now State) of Utah, proclaimed martial law and made\npreparation to resist the \"invaders.\" A part of the preparation was\nthe withdrawal of all \"Mormon\" missionaries from the outside world. It\nremains but to say that \"The Utah War\" ended by peaceable adjustment\nand without bloodshed.\n\n\n\nPART THREE\n\nA MARVEL AND A WONDER.\n\n\n\nARTICLE TEN.\n\nThe Wisdom That Perishes.\n\nThe wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of\ntheir prudent men shall be hid.--Isaiah 29:14.\n\nThe Wise and Prudent.--Most strikingly have these prophetic words\nbeen realized by \"Mormonism,\" in its relations to the lofty and the\nlearned who have endeavored in a worldly way and by means of human\nwisdom, to account for and dispose of it. Strange it is that men and\nwomen, intelligent, educated and profound, do not see in this great\nreligious phenomenon something more than a topic to be treated lightly,\nor in a spirit of harshness and intolerance. Giants in intellect as to\nother themes, when they deal with the doctrines, aims and attitude of\nthe Latter-day Saints, they seem suddenly changed into dwarfs, mere\nchildren, as powerless to cope with the mighty problem as were the\nlearned Rabbis in the Temple with the youthful and divine Son of God.\n\nEspecially is this the case when they approach the question in a\ncaptious mood, determined to find fault, to berate and ridicule, rather\nthan to fairly investigate. They cannot analyze, cannot even grasp\nit, and appear incapable of forming any just or adequate conception\nregarding it. To reply to all the bitter assaults made upon my religion\nand my people would be impossible, even were it worth while. I shall\nnot attempt the hopeless task. It will suffice my purpose to consider\nhere some of the more temperate judgments passed upon the subject,\ngiving to each such comment as may be deemed necessary.\n\nA Catholic Opinion.--Many years ago there came to Utah a learned\ndoctor of divinity, a member of the Roman Catholic Church. I became\nwell acquainted with him, and we conversed freely and frankly. A great\nscholar, with perhaps a dozen languages at his tongue's end, he seemed\nto know all about theology, law, literature, science and philosophy,\nand was never weary of displaying his vast erudition. One day he said\nto me: \"You Mormons are all ignoramuses. You don't even know the\nstrength of your own position. It is so strong that there is only one\nother tenable in the whole Christian world, and that is the position of\nthe Catholic Church. The issue is between Catholicism and Mormonism.\nIf we are right, you are wrong; if you are right, we are wrong; and\nthat's all there is to it. The Protestants haven't a leg to stand on.\nIf we are wrong, they are wrong with us, for they were a part of us and\nwent out from us; while if we are right, they are apostates whom we cut\noff long ago. If we really have, as we claim, the apostolic succession\nfrom St. Peter, there was no need for Joseph Smith and Mormonism; but\nif we have not that succession, then such a man as Joseph Smith was\nnecessary, and Mormonism's attitude is the only consistent one. It\nis either the perpetuation of the Gospel from ancient times, or the\nrestoration of the Gospel in latter days.\"\n\nMy reply was substantially as follows: \"I agree with you, Doctor,\nin nearly all that you have said, but don't deceive yourself with\nthe notion that we \"Mormons\" are not aware of the strength of our\nposition. We are better aware of it than anyone else. We have not all\nbeen to college; we cannot all speak the dead languages; we may be\n'ignoramuses,' as you say; but we know that we are right, and we know\nthat you are wrong.\" I was just as frank with him as he had been with\nme.\n\nAn Episcopal View.--At a later period I conversed with another man\nof culture, a bishop of the Episcopal Church. He affirmed that if\nJoseph Smith, at the beginning, had become acquainted with that\nreligious organization, he would have been content, and would have\nlooked no further for spiritual light. \"But,\" said the Bishop, \"Joseph\nencountered the Methodists, the Baptists, the Presbyterians, and other\nsects; and their creeds failing to satisfy him, he sought elsewhere.\nNow the Episcopalians have an unbroken succession of authority all down\nthe centuries, and if Joseph Smith had only formed their acquaintance,\nhe would never have gone to the trouble of organizing another church.\"\n\nA Psychological Notion.--Still another scholar, a student of psychology\nand an applicant for a doctor's degree at Yale University, presented,\nin a thesis forming the basis for the degree, the theory that Joseph\nSmith was an epileptic, and that this accounted for his mental attitude\nand marvelous assertions. That is to say, the Seer did not actually\nbehold the wonderful manifestations described by him, but only imagined\nthat he beheld them. A distinct departure, this, from the charge of\nconscious duplicity, usually flung at the founder of \"Mormonism.\" He\nwas sincere, then, however much mistaken, and was not guilty of intent\nto defraud. So far, so good. But in the mind of the author of this\nremarkable hypothesis, the magnificent organization of the \"Mormon\"\nChurch, conceded by intelligent observers of all creeds and parties\nto be one of the most perfect systems of government in existence,\nto say nothing of its sublime doctrines, replete with poetry and\nphilosophy, couched in logical and majestic phrasing--all this sprang\nfrom the diseased brain of a fourteen-year-old boy who had fallen in\nan epileptic fit! Self-evident absurdities need no argument. They have\nonly to be stated, and they confute themselves. [1]\n\nLearning's Lack of Knowledge.--And these are some of the views that\nlearned men take of \"Mormonism.\" With all their learning, they are\nnot able to come to a knowledge of the Truth. They do not begin to\ndream of the greatness of God's work, the grandeur of Christ's cause.\nThey comprehend but in part its real aims and attitude. Even the most\nconservative assume that Joseph Smith stumbled upon something of which\nhe did not know the true value, and that it was sheer luck which\ngave to this religion its vantage ground, its recognized strength\nof position. Never was there a grosser error. There are concepts as\nmuch higher than these, as the heavens are higher than the earth. The\n\"Mormons\" are not the \"ignoramuses,\" when it comes to a consideration\nof the Gospel's mighty themes.\n\nSpiritual Illumination.--Yet it is not because of native\n\"smartness\"--not because the followers of Joseph Smith are brainier\nthan other people, that they have a greater knowledge of God and\nare capable of loftier ideals in religion. It is because they have\nreceived, through the gift of the Holy Ghost, a perceptive power, a\nspiritual illumination, which the world, with all its learning, does\nnot possess, and without which no man can comprehend Divinity or\ndivine purposes. It cannot be had from books or schools. Colleges and\nuniversities cannot impart it. It comes only in one way--God's way,\nnot man's. The Latter-day Saints possess it because they have bowed\nto the will of Heaven and rendered obedience to its laws, thus making\nthemselves worthy of the inestimable boon. All men may have it upon\nprecisely the same conditions.\n\nStill Another Misconception.--My Episcopalian friend said to me on\nanother occasion: \"My main objection to Mormonism is its narrowness,\nits illiberality. You Mormons are not interested in anything going on\noutside of your own social and religious system. You are insulated,\nwrapped up in yourselves, you take no note of what other peoples are\ndoing, and you give them no credit for the good they accomplish. For\ninstance\"--he went on--\"the Bible is retranslated, with a view to\nmaking it plainer and more intelligible; but you attach no importance\nto work of that kind. Ancient ruins are uncovered, buried civilizations\nbrought to light, mystical inscriptions on old-time obelisks deciphered\nand interpreted, in order to acquaint the present with the past; but\nyou put no value upon such enterprise. Hospitals are founded; missions\nmaintained; Christ's name is carried to the heathen; the Bible is\npublished by millions of copies, and persistent efforts are made to\nplace one in every home. But you take no account of these things; you\ndo not commend such labors--you deem them all vain and of no worth.\"\n\nNot Narrow and Illiberal.--The Bishop's remark surprised me. I was\nastonished that one so well informed in other ways could entertain\nsuch an opinion of the Latter-day Saints. There may be such a thing\nas a narrow \"Mormon;\" there may be such a thing as a narrow notion in\nthe mind of some \"Mormon;\" but there never has been and never will be\nsuch a thing as a narrow \"Mormonism.\" To those who know it best, it is\na synonym for largeness and liberality, another name for all that is\ngenerous charitable and sublime.\n\nTakes Note of All.--So far from ignoring what other peoples and other\nsystems are doing, the typical \"Mormon\" takes careful note of all that\nhappens; and the spirit of his religion, \"the Spirit that searcheth all\nthings,\" enables him to assign events and achievements to their proper\nplace in the universal scheme. He appreciates and applauds every step\nin the march of progress. \"If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of\ngood report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.\" So says the\nChurch in its Articles of Faith.\n\nThe Fruit of Falsehood.--How, then, do such gross misunderstandings\narise? They spring from prejudice and faulty inference. They are the\nfruit of falsehood, and of that propensity in most people for allowing\nthemselves to be influenced by a one-sided statement--too often by mere\nrumor and hearsay. Confounding principle with practice, they mistake\nthe conduct and expressions of individuals connected with a cause, for\nthe cause itself, its character, its spirit, and the ends at which it\naims.\n\nTranslation and Discovery.--Contrary to my Christian friend's erroneous\ndeduction, the Latter-day Saints _are_ interested in the retranslation\nof the Scriptures. And why should they not be? Joseph Smith was a\ntranslator. Did he not translate the Book of Mormon and the Book of\nAbraham? We believe the Bible to be the word of God only so far as it\nhas been translated correctly. Our Prophet also revised, by the Spirit\nof Revelation, the English version of the Hebrew Scriptures, making it\nin many respects more comprehensible, and at the same time restoring to\nit many \"plain and precious things\" that had been taken away. [2] Why\nshould we not attach importance to work of that kind?\n\nAs for archaeological discoveries, we hail them with joy, especially\nthose that throw any light upon the Book of Mormon, that silent witness\n\"whispering from the dust\" [3] of America's \"buried civilizations.\"\n\nChristian Endeavor and \"Mormon\" Propaganda.--Go on, good Christian\nbrother! Build as many hospitals and found as many missions as you\nlike. Spread the glad tidings over the world, and sound the Savior's\nname from pole to pole. You cannot blazon the fame of Jesus Christ too\nfar or too widely to suit us. You cannot publish too many Bibles, nor\nplace them in too many homes. Such enterprise makes the follow-up work\nof the \"Mormon\" missionary just that much less difficult. It virtually\nintroduces the message that he comes to proclaim. The Stick of Joseph\nand the Stick of Judah are \"one in the hand of Ephraim,\" [4] Latter-day\nIsrael, chosen and commissioned to prepare the way before Messiah's\ncoming.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. For further particulars of the epileptic theory, see Woodbridge\nRiley's book, \"The Founder of Mormonism,\" and Robert C. Webb's\nadmirable answer thereto in Chapter 26 of \"The Real Mormonism.\"\n\n2. Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, p. 132. 1 Nephi 13:35, 40.\n\n3. Isa. 29:4.\n\n4. Ezek. 37:16-19.\n\n\n\nARTICLE ELEVEN.\n\nThe God Story.\n\nGreater than it Appears.--\"Mormonism\" is a much bigger thing than\nCatholic scholars or Episcopal bishops imagine. It is only a nickname\nfor the Everlasting Gospel, restored to earth in the nineteenth\ncentury, that it might be preached \"to every nation and kindred and\ntongue and people,\" [1] as a warning to the world that the end of\nwickedness is nigh, that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and that the\nLord whom the righteous seek is about to \"come suddenly to his Temple.\"\n[2]\n\nThe Antiquity of the Gospel.--The Gospel originated in the heavens\nbefore this earth was formed, and was revealed from God out of Eternity\nat the very beginning of Time. It was the means whereby our great\nancestor, Adam, after his expulsion from Eden, regained the Divine\nPresence from which he had been banished; and it is the means whereby\nhis posterity, such as are obedient to the Gospel's requirements, may\nfollow him into the Celestial Kingdom. The same ladder that he climbed,\nuntil beyond the reach of the fatal consequences of his transgression,\nthe whole human race, inheriting from him the effects of the fall, must\nalso climb, or they will never see the face of God in eternal glory.\n\nThe Path to Perfection.--But the Gospel is more than a means of escape\nfrom impending ills. To all good Christians it is as a life-boat, or\na fire-escape, a way out of a perilous situation. To the Latter-day\nSaints, it is all this and more. A divine plan for human progress,\nthe foreordained Pathway to Perfection--such is Christ's Gospel, as\nrevealed to and proclaimed by Joseph the Seer.\n\nThe Word Made Flesh.--The English word \"Gospel\" comes from the\nAnglo-Saxon \"Godspell\" or God-story--the Story of God. It derives its\nsignificance from that great central idea of the Christian faith,\nthe coming of God as the Son of God to redeem and save mankind. \"God\nhimself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his\npeople; and because he dwelleth in flesh, he shall be called the Son of\nGod.\" [3] The fulfillment of this and similar foretellings is recorded\nin the opening verses of the Gospel according to St. John, referring\nto \"The Word\" that was in the beginning \"with God\"--the Word that \"was\nGod,\" and was \"made flesh.\" In Him, as Paul affirms, \"dwelleth all the\nfulness of the Godhead bodily.\" [4]\n\nBasic Principles.--When we consider the Gospel, therefore, we should\nbear in mind that the term means something more than faith, repentance,\nbaptism, and the laying on of hands for the gift (giving) of the Holy\nGhost, with other rituals and requirements in the Church of Christ.\nWe cannot separate \"the laws and ordinances of the Gospel\" from the\nbasic principles upon which they rest-the mighty foundation stones of\nSacrifice and Redemption, without which all this sacred legislation\nwould be of no effect. Nor can the basic principles and powers that\nvitalize and make operative these laws and ordinances be dissociated\nfrom the idea of Eternal Progression, the great and paramount purpose\nfor which the Gospel code was framed, the Gospel in its fulness\ninstituted. [5]\n\nThe Complete Story.--The Gospel, in its fullest scope of meaning,\nsignifies everything connected with the wondrous career of that Divine\nBeing who was known among men as Jesus of Nazareth, but who was and\nis no other than Jehovah, the God of Israel, who \"came unto his own,\"\nand was rejected by them, crucified at their instigation, and died\nto redeem the world. [6] The accounts given by Matthew, Mark, Luke\nand John are properly termed \"gospels,\" for they are narratives of\nthe personal ministry of our Lord. But they are only parts of the\ncomplete God-Story. [7] The Savior's life, death, resurrection and\nascension, with the conditions prescribed by him upon which fallen man\nmight profit further from his sacrifice for human redemption--these\nare all gospel features, but not the Gospel in its entirety. The full\n\"Story\" of the God who died that man might live, involves events both\npast and future, events pre-mortal and post-mortal, scenes in which\nHe was chosen to play his mighty part in the great tragedy of human\nexperience, and scenes yet to come in which He will make another\nand a more glorious appearing upon the stage of Time, enacting the\nillustrious role of King of Kings and reigning over the earth a\nthousand years.\n\nEssentials to Eternal Progress.--Everything vitally connected with\nman's mortal pilgrimage was understood and arranged before that\npilgrimage began. Earth's creation was but one of the pre-essentials.\n[8] The means of getting man down upon the earth, and the means of\nredeeming him from the fall, had also to be provided. The Gospel was\ninstituted, and an Executor appointed to put it into effect; the\nmachinery constructed, and the power then turned on. Eternal progress,\nendless exaltation, were the sublime objects in view, and over the glad\nprospect, despite the pain and sorrow that must necessarily intervene,\n\"the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for\njoy.\" [9]\n\nElect of Elohim.--In the Eternal Councils, while the creation of \"an\nearth\" was in contemplation, the question arose as to who among the\nSons of Deity should redeem man from the fall. Lucifer, \"an angel of\nGod who was in authority in the presence of God,\" would fain have been\nselected for the mighty mission; but his scheme for human redemption\nwas of a compulsory character, destructive of the free agency of man.\nMoreover, this \"Son of the Morning\" had become darkened to that degree\nthat he demanded, in recompense for his proposed service, the honor and\nglory that belong only to the Highest. [10] Therefore was he rejected,\nand, rebelling, \"was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son,\nand was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him.\" [11] \"And\nalso a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away . . . . because\nof their agency.\" [12]\n\nThe Chosen of the Father stood first among all the Sons of God. [13] He\nis the Father's first-begotten in the spirit, and his only-begotten in\nthe flesh. To him was assigned the role of Earth's Redeemer. And while\nrevelation is silent upon the subject, or not so specific in their\ncases, we have good reason to believe that the parts played by Adam and\nEve and other \"noble and great ones\" in the mighty drama of Eternal\nProgression, were cast at the same time. [14]\n\nThe Perfect Plan.--The Gospel, Christ's perfect plan, unlike the\ndefective scheme proposed by Lucifer, gives the right of choice between\ngood and evil. It saves men, not _in_ their sins, but _from_ their\nsins--liberates them from spiritual darkness, the bondage of death\nand hell, and lifts them into the joy and freedom of light and life\neternal. Hence that splendid phrase, that majestic synonym, used\nby the Apostle James in describing the Gospel--\"The Perfect Law of\nLiberty.\" [15]\n\nThe Purpose Paramount.--The grand object in view when that great Law\nwas instituted, is clearly, though briefly, outlined in the following\npassage from the writings of Joseph the Seer:\n\n\"The first principles of man are self-existent with God. . . Finding he\nwas in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent\n(he) saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a\nprivilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God\nplaces us in a situation to advance in knowledge. He has power to\ninstitute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be\nexalted with himself, so that they may have one glory upon another.\"\n[16]\n\nThe Benevolence of Deity.--And thus is shown the benevolence as well as\nthe power of Deity. Our Heavenly Father is no monopolist. Omnipotent\nand all-possessing, he is likewise altruistic, philanthropic. He\nemployed his superior intelligence, which constitutes his glory, [17]\nto institute laws whereby the lesser spirits surrounding him might\nadvance toward the lofty plane that he occupies. He proposed to lift\nthem to his own spiritual stature, and share with them the empire of\nthe universe.\n\nSalvation and Exaltation.--The Gospel of Christ is termed by St. Paul\n\"the power of God unto salvation.\" [18] Paul might have gone further,\nhad he been so inclined, or had it been timely. He could have shown\nthat the Gospel is also the power of God unto exaltation, a plan\ndevised by omnipotent wisdom whereby the sons and daughters of Deity\nmay advance from stage to stage of soul development, until they become\nlike their heavenly parents, the Eternal Father and Mother, inheriting\nendless thrones and dominions and receiving \"a fulness of joy.\" [19]\n\nThis is exaltation. It is more than salvation, being an extension of\nthat idea or condition--salvation \"added upon;\" just as salvation is an\nextension of, or an addition to, the idea or condition of redemption.\nA soul may be redeemed--that is, raised from the dead--and yet be\ncondemned at the Final Judgment for evil deeds done in the body.\nLikewise may a soul be saved, and yet come short of the glory that\nconstitutes exaltation. To redeem, save and glorify, is the threefold\nmission of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Rev. 14:6.\n\n2. Mal. 3:1.\n\n3. Mosiah 15:1, 2; 3:5. The joyful intelligence of the advent of\nthe World's Redeemer, proclaimed by angels to the shepherds on the\nJudean hills (Luke 2:10), furnishes another name for the Gospel--\"good\ntidings,\" or, as otherwise rendered, \"glad tidings of great joy.\"\n\n4. Col. 2:9. Compare Ether 3:14, and Alma 11:38, 39.\n\n5. All fulness is relative, as pertaining to the revealed word of God.\nThere can be no absolute fulness with man until everything is made\nknown to him. The fulness of the Gospel, as delivered to the Nephites\nand other ancient peoples, was not so complete as is the fulness\nenjoyed by the Latter-day Saints. Truth is always the same, but more of\nits principles have been revealed in modern times than at any previous\nperiod. And the end is not yet; for, as our Prophet declares: \"Those\nthings which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world,\nbut have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall be revealed\nunto babes and sucklings in this, the dispensation of the fulness of\ntimes.\" (D. and C. 128:18.) Such an outpouring of truth and light can\ncome only to a people prepared for it. \"When that which is perfect is\ncome, then that which is in part shall be done away\" (I Cor. 13:10).\nUntil then a comparative fulness, or all that the finite mind can\ncontain of infinite wisdom, must suffice human aspiration and continue\nto be the lot even of the most enlightened.\n\n6. D. and C. 110:1-4.\n\n7. The book of Isaiah is sometimes called \"the fifth gospel,\" it having\nso much to say about the coming Redeemer; and just as fittingly might\nthe third book of Nephi be termed a \"gospel,\" narrating as it does the\nrisen Christ's personal ministrations to the descendants of Lehi.\n\n8. Abr. 3:24.\n\n9. Job 38:7.\n\n10. Moses 4:1-4.\n\n11. D. and C. 76:25, 26.\n\n12. Ib. 29:36.\n\n\"Satan (it is possible) being opposed to the will of his Father, wished\nto avoid the responsibilities of this position. . . . . He probably\nintended to make men atone for their own acts by an act of coercion and\nthe shedding of their own blood as an atonement for their sins.\"--\"The\nMediation and Atonement,\" by President John Taylor, pp. 96, 97.\n\n13. Rom. 8:29.\n\n14. Abr. 3:23; Jer. 1:5, Hist. Ch. Vol. 6, p. 364.\n\n15. James 1:25.\n\n16. \"Times and Seasons,\" Aug. 15, 1844; \"Improvement Era,\" Jan., 1909.\n\nOur Prophet's simple yet sublime setting forth is far more pointed and\nspecific than the presentment made by Plato of a doctrine somewhat\nsimilar. The Greek philosopher, as quoted by Emerson, says: \"Let\nus declare the cause which led the Supreme Ordainer to produce and\ncompose the universe. He was good; and he who is good has no kind of\nenvy. Exempt from envy, he wished that all things should be as much as\npossible like himself. Whosoever, taught by wise men, shall admit this\nas the prime cause of the origin and foundation of the world, will be\nin the truth\" (\"Plato,\" Emerson's \"Representative Men\"). There is a\nfitness, a propriety, in man's becoming like his Maker--God's child,\nfashioned in his image and endowed with divine attributes, developing\nto the fulness of the parental stature, as taught by Joseph; but how\nthe same can be predicated of \"all things,\" as Plato implies, is not\nso clear. That the lower animals, and in fact all forms of life, are\nto be perpetuated and glorified, is more than an inference from the\nteachings of the Prophet (D. and C. 29:24, 25; 77:2-4). But undoubtedly\nall will retain their identity in their respective orders and spheres.\nNo creature of God's excepting man can become like God in the fullest\nand highest sense.\n\n17. D. and C. 93:36.\n\n18. Rom. 1:16.\n\n19. D. and C. 76:50-70; 93:33; Abr. 3:26.\n\n\n\nARTICLE TWELVE.\n\nThe Great Vicissitudes.\n\nFall and Redemption.--The Fall of Man and the Redemption from the Fall,\nare the great vicissitudes of human experience. One is sequel to the\nother, and both are steps in the march of eternal progress. The Gospel,\ntherefore, embraces the fall as well as the redemption. Both were\nessential, and both were preordained. The one prepared the way before\nthe other. Had there been no fall, there could have been no redemption;\nfor the simple reason that there would have been nothing to redeem.\n\nThe Creation.--Preliminary to the fall, came the creation. Earth,\ncreated as an abode and a place of probation for mortal man, was not\nmade out of nothing, as human theology asserts, but out of previously\nexisting materials, as divine revelation affirms. Millions of earths\nhad been created in like manner before this planet rolled into\nexistence. [1]\n\nTo create does not mean to make something out of nothing. Such a\ndoctrine is neither scientific nor scriptural. Nothing remains\nnothing, of necessity; and no power, human or divine, can make it\notherwise. Creation is organization, with materials at hand for the\nprocess. Joseph Smith's position upon this point, though combatted by\ndoctors of divinity, is confirmed by the most advanced scientists and\nphilosophers of modern times. The dogma that earth was made out of\nnothing is an attempt to glorify Deity by ascribing to him the power to\nperform the impossible--to do that which cannot be done. As if Deity\ncould be glorified with anything of that sort, or had need of any such\nglorification. It is also an effort to escape from what many religious\nteachers consider a dilemma, the other horn of which would commit\nthem to what they mistakenly deem a fallacy--namely, the eternity and\nself-existence of matter. [2]\n\nEternity of Matter.--\"Mormonism\" stands firm-footed upon this ground.\nIt holds matter to be uncreateable, indestructible, without beginning\nor end, and consequently eternal. [3] As for modern science, here\nare a few of its most recent conclusions upon the point at issue.\nSays Herbert Spencer: \"The doctrine that matter is indestructible\nhas become a commonplace. All the apparent proofs that something\ncan come out of nothing, a wider knowledge has one by one canceled\"\n(\"First Principles\"). And John Fiske confirms him in saying: \"It is\nnow inconceivable that a particle of matter should either come into\nexistence, or lapse into non-existence\" (\"Cosmic Philosophy\"). Robert\nK. Duncan clinches the argument with the emphatic pronouncement: \"We\ncannot create something out of nothing\" (\"New Knowledge\").\n\nSpirit and Element.--But Joseph Smith proclaimed it first. He declared\nthe elements eternal; [4] and even went so far as to say: \"All spirit\nis matter, but it is more fine and pure, and can only be discerned\nby purer eyes.\" [5] Eternal spirit, eternal element, these are the\n\"materials\" out of which Earth was created--not only as a temporary\nabode for man, but as an eternal place of residence for the righteous.\n\nThe Value of a Body.--Man needed experience in mortality, in the midst\nof rudimental conditions, in order to acquire the experience that\nwould fit him for spheres beyond. First, however, he needed a body,\nfor purposes of increase and progression, both in time and eternity.\nThe spirit without the body is incomplete; it cannot propagate, and\nit cannot go on to glory. \"Spirit and element, inseparably connected,\nreceiveth a fulness of joy; but when separated man cannot receive a\nfulness of joy.\" [6] It is a reasonable inference that our spirits\nadvance as far as they can before they are given earthly bodies. Having\nreceived their bodies, they are in a position, by means of the Gospel\nand the powers of the Priesthood, to make further progress toward\nperfection. \"We came to this earth,\" says Joseph Smith, \"that we might\nhave a body, and present it pure before God in the celestial kingdom.\nThe great principle of happiness consists in having a body.\" [7]\n\nSatan's Punishment.--The Prophet thus continues: \"The Devil has no\nbody, and herein is his punishment. . . All beings who have bodies\nhave power over those who have not.\" The reason why Satan has no body\nis because he rebelled in the eternal councils when the Redeemer of\nthe World was chosen. All who followed him shared a similar fate. Two\nthirds of the intelligences then populating the spirit world remained\nloyal, and as a reward for their fidelity were permitted to tabernacle\nin the flesh. One third, rebelling with Lucifer, were doomed with him\nto perdition. Pending their final fate, these unembodied fallen spirits\nare allowed to wander up and down the world, tempting and trying its\nhuman inhabitants, their evil activities being overruled in a way to\nsubserve God's purpose in man's probation.\n\nPlaced in Eden.--Earth having been prepared for man, Adam and Eve were\nplaced in the Garden of Eden--placed there to become mortal, that the\nLord's purpose might be accomplished. The fall, though planned, was not\ncompelled. [8] Man still had his agency, the right and power of choice.\n\nInnocent in the Beginning.--The Great Creator, on the morning of\ncreation, pronounced \"good\" all that He had made. [9] In perfect\nkeeping with this, modern revelation declares that \"every spirit of\nman was innocent in the beginning.\" [10] Consequently, had the spirits\nof men remained where they were before Adam fell, they would have\nhad no need to exercise a saving faith, no need to repent or to be\nbaptized, having no evil practices to turn from and no uncleanness\nto be washed away. But they would have remained ignorant as well as\ninnocent--ignorant of things necessary to their further progress.\nWithout the fall, they could have advanced no further, but would have\nremained as they were, \"having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing\nno good, for they knew no sin. . . . . Adam fell that men might be; and\nmen are that they might have joy.\" [11]\n\nThe Woman Beguiled.--When our First Parents partook of the forbidden\nfruit, it was the woman who was beguiled by the Serpent (Satan) and\ninduced to go contrary to the divine command. The man was not deceived.\n[12] What Adam did was done knowingly and after full deliberation.\nWhen Eve had tasted of the fruit, Adam did likewise in order to carry\nout another command, the first that God had given to this pair--the\ncommand to \"multiply and replenish the earth.\" [13] Eve, by her act,\nhad separated herself from her husband, and was now mortal, while he\nremained in an immortal state. It was impossible, therefore, unless\nhe also became mortal, for them to obey the original behest. This was\nAdam's motive. This was his predicament. He was facing a dilemma, and\nmust make choice between two divine commands. He disobeyed in order to\nobey, retrieving, so far as he could, the situation resulting from his\nwife's disobedience. Fully aware of what would follow, he partook of\nthe fruit of the inhibited tree, realizing that in no other way could\nhe become the progenitor of the human race.\n\nAdam and Abraham.--Perhaps some will see a parallel in Adam's case and\nAbraham's, each being directed to do a thing that could not be done\nunless a previous requirement were disregarded. Thus, Adam was warned\nnot to eat of the fruit of a certain tree--the Tree of Knowledge of\nGood and Evil; yet that was the only way for him to reach a condition\nwhere he would be able to \"replenish the earth.\" Abraham was forbidden\nto slay his son, after being commanded to \"offer\" him. [14] But there\nwas this important difference in the two cases. The second command\nto Abraham superseded the first--canceled it. Not so with Adam. In\nhis case the later law left unrepealed the earlier enactment. Both\ncommandments were in force; but Adam could not obey both. What was to\nbe done? Why, just what was done--the wisest thing possible under the\ncircumstances.\n\nMalum Prohibitum.--Adam's transgression, though a sin, because of\nthe broken law, should not be stressed as an act of moral turpitude.\nIn human law, which is based upon divine law, there are two kinds of\noffenses in general, described in Latin terms as _malum per se_ and\n_malum prohibitum. Malum per se_ means \"an evil in itself,\" an act\nessentially wrong; while _malum prohibitum_ signifies \"that which\nis wrong because forbidden by law.\" Adam's transgression was _malum\nprohibitum_; and the consequent descent from an immortal to a mortal\ncondition, was the Fall.\n\nA Cause For Rejoicing.--Adam and Eve, with their eyes open, rejoiced\nover what had befallen them, [15] evidently regarding it as part of\na beneficent plan to people Earth and afford to a world of waiting\nspirits--the loyal two-thirds who \"kept their first estate\" when\nLucifer fell--the long looked for opportunity of entering upon their\n\"second estate\" and beginning the great pilgrimage to perfection.\n\nNo License for Sin.--Let it not be supposed, however, that disobedience\nto divine requirements is or ever can be justifiable. On the contrary,\nobedience is the great law upon which all blessings are predicated.\n[16] What was done by our First Parents in an exceptional instance and\nfor a special purpose, constitutes no license for men to commit sin.\nAdam and Eve, having obeyed God's command to \"multiply and replenish,\"\nreaped the reward of their obedience. But they had to be punished for\ntheir disobedience in the matter of the forbidden fruit. \"The wages of\nsin is death.\" The fall was necessary, but it had to be atoned for: it\ncould not be justified. \"The Lord cannot look upon sin with the least\ndegree of allowance.\" He can nullify its effects, however, and bring\ngood out of evil. Redemption was also necessary, and the Atonement\npreordained; but this did not make the murder of the innocent Savior\nany the less heinous. The perpetrators of that deed were guilty of a\ncrime--the crime of crimes--and their punishment was inevitable. Were\nit otherwise, God would not be just, and would therefore cease to be\nGod. [17]\n\nFruits of the Fall.--The fall had a twofold direction--downward,\nyet forward. It brought man into the world and set his feet upon\nprogression's highway. But it also brought death, with all its sad\nconcomitants. Not such a death as the righteous now contemplate, and\nsuch as both righteous and unrighteous undergo, as a change preparatory\nto resurrection; but eternal death--death of the spirit as well as the\nbody. There was no resurrection when Adam fell--not upon this planet.\n\nThe World in Pawn.--Hell had seemingly triumphed over man's--or rather\nover woman's weakness. It was as if the world had been put in pawn.\nDeath was the pawnbroker, with a twofold claim upon all creation.\nEverything pertaining to Earth was in his grasp, and there was no help\nfor it this side of Heaven. No part of what had been pledged could be\nused as the means of redemption. Adam could not redeem himself, great\nand mighty though he was, in the spirit; for he was no other than\nMichael the Archangel, leader of the heavenly host when Lucifer and his\nlegions were overthrown. But that same puissant Michael was now a weak\nmortal man, under the penalty of a broken law, powerless to repair the\nruin he had wrought. He and the race that was to spring from him were\neternally lost, unless Omnipotence would intervene, and do for them\nwhat they could not do for themselves.\n\nWhere was Redemption?--Redemption must come, if at all, through some\nbeing great enough and powerful enough to make an infinite atonement;\none completely covering the far-reaching effects of the original\ntransgression. The scales of Eternal Justice, unbalanced by Adam's\nact, had to be repoised, and the equilibrium of right restored. Who\ncould do this? Who was able to mend the broken law, bring good out of\nevil, mould failure into success, and \"snatch victory from the jaws of\ndefeat?\" Where was the Moses for such an Exodus? Where the deliverance\nfrom this worse than Egyptian bondage--a bondage of which Egypt's\nslavery was typical?\n\nThe Price Paid.--The life of a God was the price of the world's\nfreedom; and that price was paid by the God of Israel (Jesus on\nEarth, Jehovah in Heaven) who descended from his glorious throne,\nbecame mortal, and by submitting to death, broke the bands of death,\nand made it possible for man to go on to his eternal destiny. This\nspotless Lamb, the great Antitype of the Passover, gave himself as an\noffering for sin, and by the shedding of his own blood, paid the debt\nof the universe, took the world out of pawn, and became the Author\nof Salvation for all mankind. Christ's atonement, offsetting Adam's\ntransgression, brought redemption from the fall, nullifying its evil\nresults, conserving its good results, and making them effectual for\nman's eternal welfare.\n\n\"We Know in Part.\"--Why the Fall and the Redemption had to be, we, know\nin part, for God has revealed it. But we do not know all. That a divine\nlaw was broken, in order that \"men might be;\" and that reparation had\nto be made, in order that men \"might have joy\"--this much is known.\nBut the great why and wherefore of it all is a deep that remains\nunfathomed. Why it was necessary to place Adam and Eve in a position so\ncontradictory, where they were commanded not to do the very thing that\nhad to be done--why the divine purpose had to be carried out in just\nthat way, is one of those infinite problems that must remain to finite\nminds a mystery until the All-wise shall will to make it plain. Man\ncannot sit in judgment upon his Maker, nor measure by human standards\ndivine dispensations. \"All things have been done in the wisdom of Him\nwho knoweth all things.\"\n\nGod's Greatest Gift.--The Fall, though essential to human progress, dug\nman's grave and opened the portal to Hades. Redemption unsealed the\ntomb and swung wide the gates to Endless Glory. Adam gave us mortal\nlife. Eternal life, our greatest boon, is the gift of the Redeemer and\nSavior.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Moses 1:4, 38; 7:30.\n\n2. The Reverend Baden Powell, of Oxford University, quoted in Kitto's\n\"Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature,\" says: \"The idea of 'creation,' as\nmeaning absolutely 'making out of nothing,' or calling into existence\nthat which did not exist before, in the strictest sense of the term,\nis not a doctrine of scripture; but it has been held by many on the\ngrounds of natural theology, as enhancing the ideas we form of the\ndivine power, and more especially since the contrary must imply the\nbelief in the eternity and self-existence of matter.\"\n\n3. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews asserts nothing to the\ncontrary when he says: \"Things which are seen were not made of things\nwhich do appear\" (Heb. 11:3). The \"things\" referred to (\"the worlds\"\nthat were \"framed by the word of God\") had existed before, in other\nforms, invisible to mortal eye and intangible to human touch.\n\n4. D. and C. 93:33.\n\n5. D. and C. 131:7.\n\n6. Ib. 93:33, 34.\n\n7. \"Compendium\" p. 288; Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, p. 403.\n\n8. Moses 3:17.\n\n9. Gen. 1:31.\n\n10. D. and C. 93:38.\n\n11. 2 Nephi 2:22-25.\n\n12. 1 Tim. 2:14.\n\n13. Gen. 1:28.\n\n14. Some commentators hold that Abraham misunderstood the Lord's\ncommand to \"offer\" Isaac, and that the second command, \"lay not thine\nhand upon the lad,\" was given in explanation. That the Lord did not\nintend Isaac to be slain, is evidenced from what ensued; but that\nAbraham misunderstood the original behest does not follow. In order\nto make the sacrifice of \"a broken heart and a contrite spirit,\" and\nmerit the reward of his obedience, it was necessary that Abraham should\ninterpret the command just as he did--as a commandment to slay. \"The\nsacrifice required of Abraham in the offering of Isaac,\" says Joseph\nSmith, \"shows that if a man would attain to the keys of the kingdom of\nan endless life, he must sacrifice all things\" (Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, p.\n555). This was the principle that Abraham was showing forth, and it\nmust have involved a real and terrible trial of his faith.\n\n15. Moses 5:10, 11.\n\n16. D. and C. 130:20, 21.\n\n17. The principle involved in this discussion, is tersely put in two\nlines of a well known hymn, frequently sung in the religious assemblies\nof the Latter-day Saints:\n\n\"Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven.\"\n\n\"Earth must atone for the blood of that man.\"\n\n\n\nARTICLE THIRTEEN.\n\nThe Gospel Dispensations.\n\nOnly One Gospel.--There is but one Gospel. There never has been,\nand there never will be, another. [1] It is the Everlasting Gospel,\n[2] the same yesterday, today and forever. In order to comprehend\nit, one must not limit his survey of the subject to the nineteenth\nand twentieth centuries--must not confine his calculations to any\none Gospel dispensation. He must grasp the idea of a series of such\ndispensations, inter-related and connected, like the links of a mighty\nchain, extending from the morning of Creation down to the end of Time.\n\"Mormonism\" stands for the Gospel's restoration in the Dispensation of\nthe Fulness of Times; but that is not all. It stands for the Gospel\nitself in _all_ the dispensations, as those periods are termed during\nwhich God, from the beginning, has spoken to man and revealed from\nheaven these saving principles and powers.\n\nFor All Time and for All Men.--The Everlasting Gospel does not belie\nits name. It is not of any one time nor of any one place. Stretching\nfrom eternity to eternity, it encompasses past, present and future in\nits all-embracing fold. Neither is it for the benefit of any particular\nclass, to the exclusion of other classes. It is for all men, and was\nmade simple and plain that all might understand it, that its appeal\nmight be universal. No creed comprehensible only to a few, no religion\nthat mystifies the many, can by any possibility represent Him who died\nthat the whole world might live. There is but one Savior, and but one\nPlan of Salvation; yet that Savior has many servants, saviors in a\nsubordinate sense, [3] and His saving plan encompasses many truths,\napportioned to the several branches of the human family, in measure\nlarge or small, according to their capacity to receive, and their\nability to wisely use the knowledge meted out to them.\n\nSublimest Things are always the simplest. This is preeminently true of\nthe Gospel--the simple, sublime Story of God. A child can comprehend\nit; and at the same time it is capable of taxing to the limit the\npowers of the highest human intellect. It is the profoundest system\nof philosophy that the world has ever known. All true principles of\nscience are parts of it, broken-off fragments of this grand Rock of\nAges--or, to change the figure, pools caught in the hollows and clefts\nof Time, when the great flood of Truth, during one or more of its\nearthly visitations, swept by on its way back to the Eternal Ocean. All\nthat is precious and exalting in religion springs from this ancient\nsource of divine wisdom and intelligence. Who knows not this, knows not\nthe Gospel.\n\nWhy Man-Made Systems Endure.--Every form of faith that has benefited\nits believers, must have possessed at some time a portion of Divine\nTruth. That is what perpetuated it--not the errors associated\ntherewith. These are as cobwebs and dust, the accumulated rubbish of\nfalse tradition, in which the jewel was wholly or in part hidden.\nEvery creed, Christian or Pagan, that has proved a real blessing to\nits votaries, is as a cistern holding within it waters once wholesome\nand pure, waters that fell originally from Heaven in one of those\ngrand spiritual showers called dispensations of the Gospel, when the\nflood-gates of Eternity were lifted, that the world might be refreshed.\n\nGod's Word Apportioned.--The Book of Mormon throws light upon this\ntheme. A Nephite prophet says:\n\n\"Oh, that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that\nI might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake\nthe earth, and cry repentance unto every people; . . . .\n\n\"But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be\ncontent with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me. . . . .\n\n\"I know that he granteth unto men according to their desires, whether\nit be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto\nmen according to their wills; whether they be unto salvation or unto\ndestruction.\n\n\"Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all men; he that\nknoweth not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth good and\nevil, to him it is given according to his desires; whether he desireth\ngood or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience.\n\n\"Now seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to\nperform the work to which I have been called?\n\n\"Why should I desire that I were an angel, that I could speak unto all\nthe ends of the earth?\n\n\"For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation\nand tongue, to teach his word; yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit\nthat they should have.\" [4]\n\nDoes that sound as if \"Mormonism\" takes no cognizance of what is going\non in the outside world? How can any intelligent reader arise from a\nstudy of the \"Mormon\" faith, convinced that the Latter-day Saints are\nnot interested in anything beyond the bounds of their own social and\nreligious system? That one selection from the Book of Mormon suffices\nto refute the false notion.\n\nOf Their Own Nation and Tongue.--All down the ages, men bearing the\nPriesthood, the authority to represent God, have officiated for him and\nministered in behalf of mankind. And other good and great spirits, not\nholding that authority, but imbued with a desire to benefit and uplift\ntheir fellows, have been sent into different nations, to give them, not\nthe fulness of the Gospel, but that measure of truth and light that\nthey had the power to appreciate and put to worthy use.\n\n  Why came Socrates, Confucius,\n  Zoroaster and Gautama?\n  Why not Christ alone?\n         Truth answers:\n  Graded are the Master's teachings,\n  Lest come wasteful overflowing,\n  With a swifter condemnation\n  For indifference or rejection.\n  Milk, not meat, for infant palates,\n  Spirit babes, though mental giants,\n  Unprepared for strong nutrition,\n  Ministered by agents mightier. [5]\n\nThe Arab and the Caliph.--But spirit waters, like the waters of earth,\nwill lose their sweetness and purity, if separated too far or too long\nfrom their Fountain-head. They will become stagnant and unwholesome,\nlike the drink carried by the poor Arab in his leathern bottle, from\nthe sparkling spring in the desert to the distant palace of the\nCaliph, who magnanimously rewarded the giver, not for the rank draught\npresented for his acceptance, but for the goodness of his motive, the\nsincerity of his soul.\n\nAn Oft-restored Religion.--Man's proneness to depart from God and to\nmix with the clear precepts of divine truth his own muddy imaginings,\nhas made necessary more than one restoration of the primal and pure\nreligion. The Gospel of Christ did not make its first appearance upon\nthis planet at the time of the Savior's crucifixion. While it seemed a\nnew thing to that generation, who were \"astonished at his doctrine,\"\nin reality it was older than all the ages, older than Earth itself.\nOriginating in the heavens before this world was framed, it had been\nrevealed to man in a series of dispensations, beginning with Adam and\nextending down to Christ.\n\nThe Book with Seven Seals.--Revelation is silent as to the number of\nthe Gospel dispensations. But there are those--and the present writer\nis among them--who incline to the belief that seven is the correct\nfigure; a belief partly founded upon the Scriptural or symbolical\ncharacter of that number, and partly upon Joseph Smith's teachings\nrelative to the seven great periods corresponding to the seven seals of\nthe mystical book seen by John the Revelator in his vision on Patmos.\n[6]\n\nThe World's Hidden History.--According to the Prophet's exegesis,\nthe book mentioned in the Apocalypse \"contains the revealed will,\nmysteries and works of God--the hidden things of his economy concerning\nthis earth during the seven thousand years of its continuance or its\ntemporal existence.\" Each thousand years is represented by one of the\nseals upon the book--the first seal containing \"the things of the first\nthousand years, and the second also of the second thousand years, and\nso on until the seventh.\" [7] The opening of these seals by the Lamb of\nGod signifies, as I understand, the revealing of a Heaven-kept record\nof God's dealings with man upon this planet. [8]\n\nAre They Dispensations?--These seven periods--millenniums--may or may\nnot be Gospel dispensations, periods of religious enlightenment, during\nwhich the Plan of Salvation and the powers of the Priesthood have been\namong men, alternating with seasons of spiritual darkness. But whether\nor not they be so regarded, it is interesting to think of them as\ncovering the same ground, paralleling those dispensations, or extending\nthrough the same vast stretch of duration, and dealing with events and\nepochs, principles and personages, connected therewith.\n\nSymbolical and Prophetic.--Whatever their number, or the names by which\nthey may be properly known, it is evident that the Gospel dispensations\nare inter-related and progressive, each preparing the way before its\nsuccessor. Altogether, they represent God's special dealings with\nman, from the beginning down to the end of the world. They are also\nsymbolical and prophetic, pointing forward to a great and wonderful\nConsummation, the long-heralded era of Restitution, when part will\nblend with perfect, when past dispensations will all be gathered into\none--the Eternal Present, God's great Today, wherein is neither past\nnor future. [9]\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Gal. 1:6-9.\n\n2. Rev. 14:6.\n\n3. Rev. 14:1, 4; D. and C. 77:11.\n\n4. Alma 29:1-8.\n\n5. \"Love and the Light,\" pp. 74, 75\n\n6. Rev. 5, 6, 8.\n\n7. D. and C. 77:6, 7, 12.\n\n8. Rev. 20:12.\n\n9. Alma 40:8.\n\n\n\nPART FOUR\n\nA GLANCE DOWN THE AGES\n\n\n\nARTICLE FOURTEEN.\n\nThe Adamic Age.\n\n\"Dispensation\" Defined.--What is meant by \"dispensation.\" The term has\na variety of meanings. To dispense is to deal out or distribute in\nportions, as when the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is dispensed to\na religious congregation. \"Dispensations of Providence\" is a phrase\nused to describe the Creator's dealings with his creatures, either\nfor joy or sorrow. In theology \"dispensation\" signifies the method or\nscheme whereby Deity has at different times developed his purposes\nand revealed himself to man. As I now use the term, it stands for the\nopening of the heavens and the sending forth of the Gospel and the\nPriesthood for purposes of salvation. It also denotes the period of\ntime during which the saving and exalting principles thus sent forth,\ncontinue operative in pristine power and purity.\n\nThe Great Patriarch.--Adam, the patriarch of the human family, is\nover all the Gospel dispensations, including the Dispensation of the\nFulness of Times, which is virtually all dispensations rolled into\none. Nevertheless, each has its own immediate presiding authority,\nholding the keys of his particular period--holding them under Adam, the\nuniversal head. [1]\n\nDistinctive Features.--Each Gospel Dispensation has certain\ndistinguishing characteristics, and stands for some particular\ndevelopment of the Divine Purpose. Thus, the First Dispensation\npresents the following distinctive features:\n\n1. The institution of the Law of Sacrifice, foreshadowing the Atonement\nthat was to be made for the redemption of fallen man.\n\n2. The introduction and earliest promulgation of the Gospel, for which\nthe Law of Sacrifice had prepared the way.\n\n3. The initial exercise of the Patriarchal Power, in behalf of the\nwhole human race.\n\nThe Law of Sacrifice.--The Law of Sacrifice was revealed from Heaven\nsoon after our First Parents were banished from Eden. God, from whose\npresence they were shut out, spoke \"from the way toward the Garden,\"\ncommanding them to \"offer the firstlings of their flocks for an\noffering unto the Lord.\" Adam obeyed, and after many days an Angel\nappeared to him, saying: \"Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the\nLord?\" Adam replied: \"I know not, save the Lord commanded me.\" The\nAngel then said: \"This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the\nOnly Begotten of the Father. Wherefore thou shalt do all that thou\ndoest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God\nin the name of the Son forevermore.\" So runs the sacred story, as\nrendered by Joseph the Seer. [2]\n\nThe Past Obscured.--It is not to be supposed, however, that this was\nAdam's first knowledge of the sacrificial statute, concerning which he\nmust have known before it was revealed to him in mortal life. Adam was\nno ordinary man. He was a great and wonderful character, and the world\nhas not seen the last of him. Undoubtedly he was among those who sat in\nthe eternal councils when the Gospel plan was instituted and its mighty\nExecutor chosen. Surely he knew about the Lamb of God, already slain\nin the spirit before the creation of the world, and, in Adam's time,\nyet to be slain literally in the world--an event symbolized by the very\nsacrifice that the first man was offering when the Lord's messenger\nappeared to him.\n\nBut Adam had lost the knowledge of his spirit past. It had been\ntemporarily taken from him in order that his agency might be free and\nuntrammeled, his conduct uninfluenced by any recollection of a former\nexperience. Hence the need of the Angel's coming to enlighten him, and\nthe further need of revelation by the Holy Spirit, bringing things past\nto remembrance and showing things to come.\n\nAcceptable and Unacceptable Offerings.--Adam's worship was acceptable\nto God, for he was in every way obedient to the divine instruction; his\noffering truly symbolizing the heavenly Lamb, subsequently foretokened\nin the Feast of the Passover. Abel made a similar offering--of the\nfirstlings of his flock; \"and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his\noffering.\" [3]\n\nBut Abel's elder brother, Cain, who also had been taught the Law of\nSacrifice, took it upon himself to deviate from the course marked out.\nInstead of a lamb, he \"brought of the fruit of the ground\"--an offering\nin no way symbolical of the Savior. His offering was rejected; [4] for\n\"the ordinances must be kept in the very way God has appointed.\" [5]\n\nThe Gospel Introduced.--The way was now prepared for the introduction\nof the great redemptive scheme that was to lift fallen man and open to\nhim the opportunities for endless increase and progression. Instead of\npreaching \"another gospel,\" or inventing some new form of ordinance,\nas the misguided Cain might have done, Adam adhered to the Gospel in\nits purity, carrying out to the letter the instructions God had given.\nHe, by his own voice, commanded Adam to believe, to repent, and to be\nbaptized; and, as it is written: \"He was caught away by the Spirit of\nthe Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the\nwater, and was brought forth out of the water;\" after which the Spirit\ndescended upon him, \"and he heard a voice out of heaven, saying: Thou\nart baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost.\" [6]\n\n\"And thus the Gospel began to be preached from the beginning, being\ndeclared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by\nhis own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost. And thus all things\nwere confirmed unto Adam by an holy ordinance, and the Gospel preached,\nand a decree sent forth that it should be in the world until the end\nthereof.\" [7]\n\nSeeming Differences Reconciled.--Apropos of that ancient decree, I was\nonce asked to reconcile the statement concerning it with the idea of a\nnew dispensation. The question came to me in this form: \"If the Gospel\nwas to be 'in the world' from Adam's time 'until the end,' what was the\nneed of restoring it--bringing it back again?\"\n\nI answered, in substance: \"The two propositions do not really\ncontradict each other. The Gospel has been in the world from Adam's day\nuntil now, by a series of dispensations, reaching through the entire\nrange of human history. The gaps between, so wide to us, count for\nlittle with Deity, to whom past, present and future are one. [8] The\nfinite mind is prone to take short and narrow views of things, tangling\nitself up in little quibbling details that often give a great deal of\ntrouble. But the Eternal sweeps the whole universe with infinite gaze,\nand what seem mountains to men are less than mole-hills in His sight.\nHe has found it necessary, at different times, to withdraw the Gospel\nand the Priesthood from the midst of mankind; and yet, by repeated\nrestorations, forming a continuous chain of dispensations, he has kept\nthe Gospel and the Priesthood in the world from the beginning down to\nthe present.\" [9]\n\nSeth Succeeds Abel.--Abel fell a martyr to the Truth. Slain by his\nenvious brother [10], he was succeeded by Seth, another brother, born\nsubsequently. Seth was typical of the Son of God, not only because he\nwas \"a perfect man,\" but because \"his likeness was the express likeness\nof his father's, insomuch that he seemed to be like unto his father in\nall things, and could be distinguished from him only by his age.\" [11]\n\nAdam-ondi-Ahman.--Says Joseph the Seer: \"I saw Adam in the valley of\nAdam-ondi-Ahman. He called together his children and blessed them with\na patriarchal blessing.\" [12] The vision was of course retrospective,\nhaving reference to the time when Adam dwelt on earth. The same\nevent is more fully set forth as follows: \"Three years previous to\nthe death of Adam, he called Seth Enos Cainan Mahalaleel Jared Enoch\nand Methuselah, who were all High Priests, with the residue of his\nposterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and\nthere bestowed upon them his last blessing.\n\n\"And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam,\nand called him Michael, the Prince, the Archangel.\n\n\"And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam, and said unto him, I have\nset thee to be at the head--a multitude of nations shall come of thee,\nand thou art a prince over them forever.\n\n\"And Adam stood up in the midst of the congregation, and\nnotwithstanding he was bowed down with age, being full of the Holy\nGhost, predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the\nlatest generation.\" [13]\n\nAncient of Days.--But Adam is to come again--is to come as the Ancient\nof Days, fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel. [14] And he will come\nto the very place where, bowed with the weight of more than nine\ncenturies, [15] he blessed his posterity before the ending of his\nearthy career. In the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman [16] will sit the\nAncient of Days, counseling his children--all who are worthy of that\nhigh privilege--and preparing them for the coming of the Son of God.\n\nA Close Relationship.--I have said that the Gospel dispensations are\ninter-related. It need only be added that the mighty patriarchal\nblessing--the mightiest ever given--in which Father Adam forecast the\nhistory of the human race, taken in connection with his prospective\nadvent into the midst of his righteous descendants, upon the precise\nspot where he bestowed his farewell benediction and uttered his\nwonderful world-covering prophecy, indicates a very close relationship\nbetween the First and the Final dispensations of the Gospel.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Hist. Ch. Vol 4, pp. 208, 209. In this connection we are told that\nAdam's son Abel holds \"the keys of his dispensation;\" that is to say,\nof the First Dispensation, the one in which Abel figured (D. and C.\n84:16). And yet it is called the Adamic Dispensation, for Adam also\nfigured therein.\n\n2. Moses 5:4-8.\n\n3. Gen. 4:4.\n\n4. Ib. 4:5; Heb. 11:4.\n\n5. Hist. Ch. Vol. 4, pp. 208, 209.\n\n6. Moses 6:64-66.\n\n7. Ib. 5:58,59.\n\n8. Alma 40:8.\n\n9. It might also be argued that in the spirit World, which is a part\nof the planet that we inhabit, the Gospel has been preached for ages;\nso that the dead or the departed might have opportunity to embrace it\n(I Peter 4:6). And the withdrawal of the Gospel from this temporal\nsphere would not necessarily involve its withdrawal from that spiritual\nsphere. Thus, the divine edict, that the Gospel \"should be in the world\nuntil the end thereof,\" receives additional vindication.\n\n10. Gen. 4:8.\n\n11. D. and C. 107:43.\n\n12. Hist. Ch. Vol. 3, p.388.\n\n13. D. and C. 107:53-56.\n\n14. Dan. 7:9, 13, 22; Hist. Ch. Vol. 3, p. 386.\n\n15. Gen. 5:5.\n\n16. D. and C. 116.\n\n\n\nARTICLE FIFTEEN.\n\nEnoch and his City.\n\n  \"Glorious things are sung of Zion,\n  Enoch's city seen of old,\n  Where the righteous, being perfect,\n  Walked with God in streets of gold.\n  Love and virtue, faith and wisdom,\n  Grace and gifts were all combined;\n  As himself each loved his neighbor,\n  All were of one heart and mind.\"\n\n\"The Seventh from Adam.\"--Enoch, \"the seventh from Adam\" in patriarchal\nsuccession, was contemporaneous with the father of the human family.\nIndeed, he was ordained and blessed by Adam, and was with him in the\nhistoric Valley where the future of the race was foretold by its\nvenerable founder, [1] Enoch's period was prolific of wonderful events,\nbut the two standing out most prominently are:\n\nFirst:--The successful practice of the Law of Consecration, resulting\nin the founding of Zion, City of Holiness, which was sanctified through\nobedience to that high and holy principle, and translated or taken into\nHeaven without tasting of death. [2]\n\nSecond:--Enoch's vision of the future, extending past the Deluge, past\nthe Crucifixion, down even to the Last Days and the glorious coming of\nthe Christ.\n\nThe Power of Godliness.--Did the Zion-builder of the Adamic age stand\nat the head of a Gospel dispensation? Whether he did or did not, it is\nevident, from what has been revealed concerning him and his ministry,\nthat the message of salvation was preached by him in mighty power and\nwith marvelous success. The world, though young, had grown old in\nwickedness, and the need for repentance was urgent. [3] \"So great was\nthe faith of Enoch,\" and so powerful the language that God had given\nhim, \"the earth trembled and the mountains fled, even according to his\ncommand; and the rivers of water were turned out of their course; and\nthe roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all nations\nfeared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch.\" [4]\n\nThe Law of Consecration.--Among warring nations and in the midst of\nsanguinary strife, Enoch, inspired and directed by the Almighty,\nintroduced and established a social order which cannot be better\ndescribed than in the simple, sublime phrasing of the Book of Moses,\nthe sacred volume just cited:\n\n\"And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart\nand one mind and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among\nthem.\" [5]\n\n\"Zion is Fled.\"--\"In process of time\" consecration brought\nsanctification, and eventually translation, to the City of Enoch,\nregarding which, after its ascension, went forth the saying: \"Zion is\nfled.\" [6]\n\nThe Tower of Babel.--The people who built the Tower of Babel are said\nto have done so in order that its top might \"reach unto heaven.\" It\nwas to prevent them from accomplishing this purpose, that the Lord\nconfounded their language. [7] Tradition credits Joseph Smith with the\nstatement that the \"heaven\" they had in view was the translated city.\n\nThe Jaredites.--A righteous remnant of the people, namely, the\nJaredites, had been exempted from the general curse of tongue\nconfusion; [8] and through them the pure Adamic language was preserved\non earth. [9] The Jaredites, divinely led, separated themselves from\nthe other inhabitants of the land, and migrated to North America. Here\nthey flourished for many centuries, and then fell, a slaughtered race,\nruined by internal dissension. [10]\n\nTranslation and Resurrection.--Translation, says the Prophet Joseph,\ndoes not take men \"immediately into the presence of God.\" For\ntranslated beings there is a terrestrial \"place of habitation,\" where\nthey are \"held in reserve to be ministering angels unto many planets,\"\nand \"have not yet entered into so great a fulness as those who are\nresurrected from the dead.\" Enoch received from God an appointment to\nminister to beings of this character. [11]\n\nThe Future Unveiled.--Enoch walked with God, and was shown \"the world\nfor the space of many generations.\" [12] He beheld the Millennial Dawn,\nand the darkest hour before the dawn. \"He saw great tribulations among\nthe wicked, and he also saw the sea, that it was troubled.\" [13] In a\nsplendid outburst of epic poetry, the inspired oracle tells how Zion\nwas taken up into heaven; how Satan \"veiled the whole face of the earth\nwith darkness;\" how he and his angels rejoiced; how \"the God of heaven\nlooked upon the residue of the people and wept;\" and how the heavens\nwept also, shedding \"their tears as the rain upon the mountains.\" [14]\n\nEnoch, addressing the compassionate Creator, inquires: \"How is it\nthat thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity\nto all eternity? And were it possible that man could number the\nparticles of the earth, yea millions of earths like this, it would not\nbe a beginning to the number of thy creations, and thy curtains are\nstretched out still. . . . . And thou hast taken Zion to thine own\nbosom from all thy creations, from all eternity to all eternity; and\nnaught but peace, justice and truth is the habitation of thy throne;\nand mercy shall go before thy face and have no end; how is it thou\ncanst weep?\" [15]\n\nThe Holy One answers, portraying the impending doom, the destruction\nof the wicked by the Flood, and their imprisonment in spirit dungeons\nuntil the coming of the Christ, bringing deliverance to the penitent.\n[16]\n\nThe Mother of Men.--Enoch hears a voice from the depths of the Earth:\n\n\"Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of\nthe wickedness of my children. When shall I rest . . . . when shall my\nCreator sanctify me, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?\"\n[17]\n\nThe Creator's Covenant.--\"And the Lord said unto Enoch: As I live,\neven so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and\nvengeance, to fulfill the oath which I have made unto you concerning\nthe children of Noah. And the day shall come that the earth shall rest.\n\n\"But before that day the heavens shall be darkened, and a veil of\ndarkness shall cover the earth; and the heavens shall shake, and also\nthe earth; and great tribulations shall be among the children of men.\nBut my people will I preserve.\" [18]\n\nAnother Zion Promised.--\"And righteousness will I send down out of\nheaven, and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony\nof mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also\nthe resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause\nto sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the\nfour quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy\nCity, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for\nthe time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall\nbe called Zion, a New Jerusalem.\n\n\"And the Lord said unto Enoch: Then shalt thou and all thy city meet\nthem there, and we will receive them into our bosom, and they shall see\nus; and we will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our\nnecks, and we will kiss each other:\n\n\"And there shall be mine abode, and it shall be Zion, which shall come\nforth out of all the creations which I have made; and for the space of\na thousand years the earth shall rest.\" [19]\n\nAwaiting its Return.--According to these teachings, the City of Enoch\nis now on a terrestrial plane, awaiting its return to Earth, when the\nseason shall be ripe and the preparation complete for its reception.\nThe change wrought upon its inhabitants by translation not being\nequivalent to resurrection, they will undergo a further change to\nprepare them for celestial glory. The Saints remaining on earth to meet\nthe Lord will likewise be changed, not by the \"sleep\" of death, but\n\"in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,\" at the time of the Savior's\ncoming. [20] When he comes, Enoch's City will come with him, Zion\nfrom above blending with Zion from below, as spirit and body in the\nresurrection.\n\nThe Ancient Types the Modern.--The Ancient Zion foreshadowed the Zion\nof the Last Days, with which it is destined to blend. [21] In Enoch's\nday the Lord's people, consecrating to Him their all, became equal in\nearthly as in heavenly things; and the righteous unity resulting from\nthat blest condition brought forth the peace and power of sanctity. So\nshall it be and more when the Lord brings again Zion.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. D. and C. 107:48, 53-56.\n\n2. Heb. 11:5.\n\n3. Moses 6:27, 8.\n\n4. Ib. 7:13.\n\n5. Ib. 7:18. Compare Acts 4:32, 34, 35; 4 Nephi 1:2, 3.\n\n6. Moses 7:69.\n\n7. Gen. 11:1-9.\n\n8. Ether 1:33-37.\n\n9. Orson Pratt, citing an unpublished revelation, says: \"What is the\nname of God in the pure language? The answer says: 'Ahman.' What is the\nname of the Son of God? Answer, 'Son Ahman, the greatest of all the\nparts of God, excepting Ahman.' What is the name of men? 'Sons Ahman'\nis the answer.\"--Journal of Discourses, Vol. 2, p. 342.\n\n10. Omni 1:21, 2; Mosiah 8:6-12; 28:17. See also Article Five.\n\n11. Hist. Ch. Vol. 4, pp. 209, 210.\n\nCommenting upon that passage of scripture, \"Others were tortured, not\naccepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection\"\n(Heb. 11:35) the Prophet says: \"Translation obtains deliverance from\nthe tortures and sufferings of the body; but their existence will\nprolong as to the labors and toils of the ministry, before they can\nenter into so great a rest and glory. On the other hand those who were\ntortured not accepting deliverance, received an immediate rest from\ntheir labors.\" He also explains the difference between an angel and a\nministering spirit--\"the one a resurrected or translated body, with\nits spirit, ministering to embodied spirits; the other a disembodied\nspirit, visiting or ministering to disembodied spirits.\" . . . .\nTranslated beings, \"designed for future missions,\" \"cannot enter into\nrest until they have undergone a change equivalent to death.\"--\"The\nMediation and Atonement.\" pp. 75, 76.\n\n12. Moses 7:4.\n\n13. Ib. v. 66. Compare D. and C. 61:4-6, 14-19.\n\n14. Moses 7:26, 28.\n\n15. Ib. vv. 29-31.\n\n16. I Peter 3:18-20; 4:6.\n\n17. Moses 7:48.\n\n18. Ib. vv. 60, 61.\n\n19. Moses 7:62-64.\n\n20. I Cor. 15:51. 52.\n\n21. D. and C. 84:99-102.\n\n\n\nARTICLE SIXTEEN.\n\nNoah and the Deluge.\n\nMethuselah, Son of Promise.--God, having shown to Enoch the approaching\nutter destruction of Earth's wicked inhabitants, covenanted with\nthe founder of the Sacred City that the repeopler of the devastated\nglobe should be of his lineage. In order that this promise might not\nfail, Enoch's son, Methuselah, distinguished among men as the one who\nattained to the greatest age in mortality, [1] \"was not taken\" when\nZion was translated, but remained to become the father of Lamech and\ngrandfather of Noah. [2]\n\nEarth's Baptism.--The Deluge was Earth's baptism. Baptism symbolizes\nbirth or creation. In a certain sense, our planet was \"born of water\nand of the Spirit\" at the very beginning. [3] In Noah's day, which was\nreminiscent of that beginning, it experienced a rebirth, \"a washing of\nregeneration,\" typical of a spiritual and fiery immersion yet to come.\n\nLike Unto Adam.--It devolved upon Noah to recommence, after the Flood,\nthe work begun by the great sire of the race under God's original\ncommand--the command to \"multiply and replenish the earth.\" Noah's\ntime, therefore, typified the period of the Creation. He, like Adam,\n\"was the father of all living in his day, and to him was given the\ndominion.\" [4]\n\nThe Flood Foretold.--Blest and ordained by Methusaleh when but ten\nyears old, Noah, like his predecessors in the patriarchal line, was a\nprophet and a preacher of righteousness. The word of the Lord came to\nhim, saying:\n\n\"My spirit shall not always strive with man; . . . . yet his days shall\nbe an hundred and twenty years; and if men do not repent, I will send\nin the floods upon them.\" They hearkened not, and God then decreed:\n\"The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with\nviolence, and behold I will destroy all flesh from off the earth.\" [5]\n\nShem, Ham and Japheth.--Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and\nJapheth--naming them in the order usually given. Japheth, however, was\nthe eldest, and Ham the youngest, of these brothers. [6] They were\namong the eight survivors of the Deluge; [7] \"and of them was the whole\nearth overspread.\" [8] Japheth peopled Europe, Shem Asia, and Ham\nAfrica.\n\nNoah's blessing upon Shem and Japheth, and his curse upon Canaan, son\nof Ham, are thus recorded:\n\n\"Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.\n\n\"Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.\n\n\"God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem;\nand Canaan shall be his servant.\" [9]\n\nThe Curse upon Canaan.--Part of the curse upon Canaan was \"a\nblackness,\" similar to that which had been placed upon \"the seed of\nCain.\" [10] The curse also deprived the Canaanites of the Priesthood;\nthough they were blessed \"with the blessings of the earth and with the\nblessings of wisdom.\" [11]\n\nHam's sin, which brought the curse upon Canaan--a sin vaguely hinted\nat in the sacred narrative--may not be fully known; but even if it\nwere, there would still remain the unsolved problem of the punishment\nof a whole race for an offense committed by one of its ancestors. It\nseems reasonable to infer that there was a larger cause, that the sin\nin question was not the main issue. Tradition has handed down something\nto that effect, but nothing conclusive of the question is to be found\nin the standard works of the Church. Of one thing we may rest assured:\nCanaan was not unjustly cursed, nor were the spirits who came through\nhis lineage wrongly assigned. \"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he\nalso reap.\" Or, putting it inversely: Whatsoever a man reaps, that hath\nhe sown. This rule applies to spirit life, as well as to life in the\nflesh.\n\nIsrael and the Gentiles.--From Shem came Abraham and the House of\nIsrael; from Japheth, the Gentiles, founders of the most civilized and\nenlightened nations of modern times, including Great Britain, France,\nand the United States of America. How wonderfully God has \"enlarged\nJapheth,\" the original Gentile!\n\nIsrael wields the powers of the Priesthood, and administers the laws\nand ordinances of the Gospel. These are his prerogatives. But the\nchildren of Japheth also have their mission--a mission in statecraft\nand commerce, in science and art, in discovery, invention, and kindred\nactivities.\n\nIt was the Gentiles who discovered and peopled America; who fought for\nand won the freedom and independence of this chosen land, an event\npreparatory--though they knew it not--to the founding of a government\nunder which Christ's work might come forth and not be crushed out\nby the tyranny of man. The God of Israel was with Columbus, with\nWashington, with the Pilgrim Fathers, with the patriots who founded\nthis republic [12]--Gentiles all, though probably of a mixed lineage,\nhaving much of the blood of Israel in their veins. [13] He is with\nall good and great men whose hearts are set to do right and to uplift\nhumanity--is with them, whether they recognize it or not, and he uses\nthem as seemeth him good, to effect his beneficent designs.\n\nHam's Descendants.--The descendants of Ham became eminent, wealthy,\nwise and powerful in Egypt, \"the cradle of civilization;\" reaping \"the\nblessings of the earth\" and the blessings \"of wisdom,\" richly realizing\nthe heaven-inspired promises made to their forbears. They have\nprospered also in other African countries. But in Europe, America, and\nother lands, they were long held in slavery. Nor are the days of their\nbondage even now at end in Africa and some parts of Asia. The Ethiopian\nhas served the Gentile and the Semite, just as Noah predicted.\n\nJapheth and \"The Tents of Shem.\"--What are \"the tents of Shem?\" In the\nScriptures \"tent\" is a term used figuratively as well as literally. The\ncanopy of heaven is compared to a tent; as is also the Church of Christ\nand the city of Jerusalem. [14] The word may therefore be applied to a\ncountry or a place of sojourn. How Japheth has dwelt \"in the tents of\nShem,\" is partly shown by the history of Palestine, Israel's original\nhomeland, long dominated by the Saracens and Turks--both Gentile\npeoples--and only recently delivered from the Moslem yoke by the\nmilitary power of the British, a racial blending of Japheth and Shem.\n[15]\n\nJapheth's remarkable blessing has also been realized in America, the\nLand of Joseph, which the Gentiles now possess, and where, according\nto the Book of Mormon, they are to assist in gathering Israel and in\nbuilding the New Jerusalem. It is their privilege to share, if they\nwill, in all the blessings of the chosen people, and to be even as the\nseed of Abraham. [16]\n\nThe Asiatic, and especially the Israelitish countries, with North and\nSouth America--homes of God's people, ancient and modern, now inhabited\nby the children of Japheth--these I think, may be properly regarded as\namong \"the tents of Shem.\"\n\nAs it Was, So it Shall Be.--Noah's period had a twofold significance.\nPointing backward as well as forward, it symbolized both the Beginning\nand the End. The reminiscent pointing has already been indicated. The\nprophetic import is made plain by the words of the Savior, when weeping\nover Jerusalem and predicting the downfall of the Jewish commonwealth,\nan event also typical of the final destruction of the wicked: \"As the\ndays of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.\"\n\nIn Noah's day \"a veil of darkness\" covered the earth. A like condition\nis to characterize the Last Day, thus foretokened. [17]\n\nThe disaster that overwhelmed the Antediluvians, destroying the wicked\nwith water, is to have as its sequel a more fearful calamity, in\nwhich the unrighteous will be consumed by fire from Heaven. And as\nunexpectedly as came the regenerating Flood wherein our planet was once\nimmersed, will come the purifying Flame that shall cleanse it from all\niniquity and prepare it for eternal glory.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Gen. 5:27.\n\n2. Moses 8:2-9.\n\n3. Gen. 1:2, 9.\n\n4. Hist. Ch. Vol. 3, p. 386.\n\n5. Moses 8:17, 30; Gen. 6:3, 3.\n\n6. Ib. 8:12; Gen. 10:21.\n\n7. I Peter 3:20.\n\n8. Gen. 9:19.\n\n9. Ib. 9:22-27.\n\n10. Ib. 4:15; Moses 7:8, 2.\n\n11. Abr. 1:26.\n\n12. I Nephi 13:12-19.\n\n13. The word \"Gentile,\" as used in \"Mormon\" writings, is not a term\nof reproach. It comes from \"Gentilis,\" meaning of \"of a nation,\" and\nis used in sacred history to designate the nations not of Israel. The\nLatter-day Saints themselves, are Gentiles in part; for while they\nclaim lineal descent from the Hebrew patriarchs, it is mostly through\nEphraim, who \"mixed himself among the people\" (Hosea 7:8)--that is,\namong the peoples that have furnished proselytes to \"Mormonism.\" As a\nresult of that racial mixture, they also are of Japheth's blood.\n\n14. Isa. 40:22; 54:2; 33:20.\n\n15. The delivery of the Holy Land from the Turks dates from December\n11, 1917, when General Allenby, at the head of a British army, entered\nand took possession of the City of Jerusalem. Subsequently Herbert\nSamuel, an English Jew, was made Governor of Palestine by the British\nGovernment.\n\n16. Abr. 2:10.\n\n17. Matt. 24:37-39.\n\n18. Moses 7:26,\n\n\n\nARTICLE SEVENTEEN.\n\nAbraham and the House of Israel.\n\nThe Lord's Lineage.--The House of Israel was established in order that\nthe God of Israel, who became the Savior of the World, might have a\nproper lineage through which to come, and a worthy medium whereby to\npromote His great and benevolent designs toward the human family.\n\n\"Prince of God.\"--The name \"Israel\" means \"Prince of God,\" and is first\nused in the Scriptures as the surname of Jacob, from whom sprang the\nHebrew nation or the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Jacob, returning from\nPadan-Aram, whither he had fled from the jealous wrath of his brother\nEsau, came to the ford Jabbok, where \"there wrestled a man with him\nuntil the breaking of day.\" We are left to infer that Jacob believed\nthis \"man\" to be God; for he \"called the name of the place Peniel,\"\nsaying, \"I have seen God face to face.\"\n\n\"Let me go,\" demanded the heavenly visitant. \"I will not let thee go,\"\nreplied Jacob, \"except thou bless me.\"\n\nThe \"Man\" then blessed him and changed his name from Jacob to Israel;\n\"for,\" said he, \"as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and\nhast prevailed.\" [1]\n\nJacob's Blessing Confirmed.--Subsequently the name Israel was confirmed\nupon Jacob at Bethel, where the Lord appeared to him and blessed him,\npromising that a nation and a company of nations should be of him, and\nthat kings should come out of his loins. [2]\n\nThe Father of the Faithful.--But while this was the origin of the\nname Israel as applied to Jacob, it was not the origin of the race\nof which he is the titular head. It is written that Jacob's wives,\nRachel and Leah, \"did build the House of Israel; [3] and build it\nthey did, through their children and the children of their handmaids,\nBilhah and Zilpah, whom they had given to their husband as wives.\nAlready, however, had the foundation of that house been laid by Jacob's\ngrandsire, Abraham, the Friend of God, the Father of the Faithful.\nJehovah's promises to Jacob and to his father Isaac concerning their\nposterity, were virtual repetitions of promises made to their great\nancestor.\n\n\"Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and\nfrom thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will\nshow thee; and I will make of thee a great nation; and I will . . . .\nbless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in\nthee shall all families of the earth be blessed.\" [4]\n\nDefinition of \"Hebrew.\"--Abram, for so was he then, called, dwelt in\nUr of the Chaldees, a city of Mesopotamia, which signifies \"between\nthe rivers.\" The rivers were the Tigris and the Euphrates. Abram had\nto cross the Euphrates in order to reach Canaan, the land that the\nLord showed him. Because of this circumstance, he was called by the\nCanaanites a \"Hebrew,\" meaning \"one from beyond the river.\" The origin\nof the name is also traced to Heber or Eber, one of the ancestors of\nAbram. Mesopotamia was the fountain-head of idolatry in Western Asia;\nand because the Lord wished to raise up a people who would worship\nhim and him only, Abraham was required to separate himself from his\nidolatrous surroundings. [5]\n\nMeeting with Melchizedek.--Following his arrival in Canaan, and a brief\nsojourn in Egypt, came the episode of Abram's meeting with Melchizedek,\nKing of Salem and Priest of the Most High God. To him Abram gave a\ntenth part of the spoils that he had taken in battle with certain\nkings. [6] And Melchizedek blessed Abram and conferred upon him the\nPriesthood. [7]\n\nThe Law of Tithing.--This is the first Bible mention of the ancient Law\nof Tithing. \"Consider,\" says the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews,\n\"how great this man was, unto whom even the Patriarch Abraham gave\nthe tenth of the spoils.\" [8] So great indeed, that the Priesthood of\nthe Son of God was named for him, and is now called the Priesthood of\nMelchizedek. [9]\n\nAbram Renamed.--After this interview with the King of Salem, the Lord\nappeared to Abram, established His covenant with him, and changed his\nname to Abraham, which signifies, \"father of a multitude.\" [10]\n\nThe Offering of Isaac.--Then followed the supreme trial of Abraham's\nlife--the offering, at God's command, of his son Isaac, an act\nforeshowing the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, who was\nto be slain for the world's redemption. But Abraham was not permitted\nto consummate the act. [11] His integrity having been shown by his\nwillingness to do as he had been directed, a further mark of favor\nwas given by Jehovah to his tried and faithful Friend. The original\npromise, \"In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed,\" was now\nexpanded to: \"I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as\nthe sand which is upon the seashore; and in thy seed shall all the\nnations of the earth be blessed.\"\n\nWhy Was Abraham Blessed?--What had Abraham done to merit this high\ndistinction? He must have done something. God rewards men according\nto their works, and not even an Abraham would have received from Him\nan honor unmerited. It cannot be that he was chosen for so mighty a\nmission simply for migrating from his own to another country, nor even\nfor his willingness to offer up his beloved son. As a matter of fact,\nthe original promise was given before the sacrifice was demanded.\nUndoubtedly these acts of obedience were greatly to Abraham's credit,\nbut how could they be placed to the credit of his posterity, the unborn\nmillions who were to inherit the covenant and share in the great reward?\n\nThe Problem Solved.--The Patriarch himself helps us to a solution of\nthe problem:\n\n\"Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were\norganized before the world was; and among all these there were many of\nthe noble and great ones.\n\n\"And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst\nof them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among\nthose that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said\nunto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou\nwast born.\" [12]\n\nThe Pre-Existence.--Abraham had been shown in vision the spirits of\nthe pre-existent human race, waiting for an earth to be made, that\nthey might come upon it and pass through a mortal probation. Here they\nwere to obtain bodies, thus becoming \"souls,\" [13] capable of eternal\nincrease and progression. Also, they were to be tested as to their\nwillingness to do all that the Lord might require of them.\n\nFirst and Second Estates.--They who \"kept their first estate,\"\nmanifesting fidelity in the pre-mortal life while \"walking by sight,\"\nwere to be \"added upon\"--that is to say, given bodies of flesh and\nblood, with opportunities for education and development. They who kept\n\"their second estate,\" continuing loyal during their life on earth,\nwhere men are required to \"walk by faith,\" with knowledge of the past\ntemporarily obscured, would be glorified eternally. [14] All were\n\"good,\" but some better than others; and all were to be \"added upon,\"\nyet not all alike. Some were more deserving, some nobler and greater\nthan others; and because of their superior merit and larger capacity,\nthey were to be made \"rulers\" over the rest. Abraham was one of these.\n\nSowing and Reaping.--Here is exemplified the great principle enunciated\nby St. Paul: \"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.\" [15]\nRewards and punishments are not all deferred until the final judgment\nat the end of the world. There is a judgment passed upon the spirits of\nmen before they tabernacle in mortality. Satan and his dupes, failing\nto keep their first estate, were denied bodies, [16] while all the\nrest, rewarded for keeping their first estate, were given bodies, with\nthe promise of a glorious resurrection after death. Thus, in a general\nway, punishment and reward were both meted out before this life began.\n\nA question put to the Savior by his disciples: \"Master, who did sin,\nthis man, or his parents, that he was born blind?\" [17]--throws out a\nhint in the same direction. This is not to say, however, that all who\nsuffer in the flesh have merited their sad fate. There are exceptions\nto the rule. The Savior's case is one of them; and righteous Job's\nanother. Speaking generally, however, man's conduct in one life\nconditions him in the life that follows.\n\nOriginal Excellence.--What had given to Abraham his superior standing\nin the Heavens? Had he always been noble and great? Was it an original\nor an acquired excellence, or both? That there is such a thing as\noriginal superiority, with varying degrees of intelligence among\nspirits, is plainly taught in the Book of Abraham; [18] and that all\nintelligence is capable of improvement, needs no assertion.\n\n\"I Know Abraham.\"--When God said of Abraham: \"I know him,\" [19] it\nis hardly probable that He was referring merely to a knowledge of\nhim in the present life. The founder of the Hebrew nation must have\nbeen one of the foreknown and predestined, mentioned by Paul [20] and\nby Alma [21]--must have been among those \"called and prepared from\nthe foundation of the world, on account of their exceeding faith and\ngood works.\" It was \"according to the foreknowledge of God;\" but that\nforeknowledge, that divine prescience, was based upon experience, and\nhad history as well as prophecy for a foundation. Such characters as\nAbraham were cast for their parts in life's drama long before the\ncurtain rose on the first act of the play.\n\nA Spirit Israel.--There was a House of Israel in heaven before there\nwas a Hebrew Nation on earth. Else what does Moses mean when he\ntells how the Most High, in \"the days of old,\" in \"the years of many\ngenerations,\" \"separated the sons of Adam\" and \"set the bounds of the\npeople according to the number of the children of Israel?\" [22] He must\nhave had in mind, not a temporal Israel, unborn at the early period\nindicated, but a spirit Israel, according to whose numbers, known in\nheaven before they had taken bodies on earth, the boundaries of \"the\npeople\" were determined.\n\nPrivileges and Requirements.--It was intended that this chosen nation\nshould have \"room to dwell.\" It was of the utmost consequence that a\npeople upon whom rested so weighty a responsibility should be well\nplaced, with every facility for the accomplishment of the sacred\nmission unto which they had been called. They were the oracles of God,\nthe custodians and dispensers of heavenly wisdom. Upon them devolved\nthe high duty of keeping alive on earthly altars the fires of Divine\nTruth. They were not to bow down to idols, as did the heathen nations\naround them, but worship the true God, the invisible Jehovah, walking\nby faith where others, less worthy, walked by sight, demanding to see\nbefore they would believe. They were forbidden to intermarry with other\nnations, lest they might worship the gods of those nations, practice\ntheir vices, and corrupt the noble lineage through which was to come\nthe Savior of the World. The Lamb of God had to be \"without blemish,\"\nand that he was so, physically and in every way, was partly due, no\ndoubt, to the choice ancestry and parentage provided for him.\n\nGem and Setting.--Jesus of Nazareth, a descendant in the flesh of\nAbraham, Isaac and Jacob, fulfilled the divine promise made to those\npatriarchs, that in their Seed should all the nations of the earth be\nblessed. But in contemplating the central fact of the Savior's personal\nministry, we must not overlook the related facts that went before or\nfollowed after. The gem has its setting. Christ redeemed mankind,\n\"treading the wine press alone;\" but the House of Israel prepared the\nway for his coming, and carried on the work that he began. This is\nespecially true of the prophets who foretold his advent, and of the\napostles who preached the Gospel to Jew and Gentile. There is only one\nSavior, but He has \"many brethren,\" and they are preeminently \"the salt\nof the earth,\" the preserving or saving element among men.\n\nPrinces and Servants.--If the name Israel means \"prince of God\" when\napplied to Jacob, may it not mean \"princes of God\" when applied to his\nposterity? He was promised that kings should come out of his loins. And\nhave they not come?--princes and priests and kings, the nobility of\nHeaven, though not always known and appreciated on earth. The Greatest\namong them was not recognized even by \"His own.\" The wise Solomon was\nnever wiser than when he said: \"I have seen servants upon horses, and\nprinces walking as servants upon the earth.\" [23] The mighty Prince of\nPeace, the glorious King of Heaven, walked unknown and unhonored by his\nown servants in the dust of his own footstool.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Gen. 32:22-30.\n\n2. Ib. 35:10, 11.\n\n3. Ruth 4:11.\n\n4. Gen. 12:1-3; Abr. 2:3-11.\n\n5. Geike, \"Hours with the Bible,\" Vol. 1, Ch. 13.\n\n6. Gen. 14:18.\n\n7. D. and C. 84:14.\n\n8. Heb. 7:4.\n\n9. D. and C. 107:1-4.\n\n10. Gen. 17:3-6.\n\n11. Ib. 22:1-18.\n\n12. Abr. 3:22, 23. Read also verses 24-26.\n\n13. Gen. 2:7; Moses 3:7, 9; D. and C. 88:15.\n\n14. Manifestly, the second estate is a greater test of integrity than\nthe first, and ought to result, as it does to those who overcome, in a\nfar more glorious reward.\n\n15. Gal. 6:7.\n\n16. See Article Twelve.\n\n17. John 9:2.\n\n18. Abr. 3:18, 19.\n\n19. Gen. 18:19.\n\n20. Rom. 8:29.\n\n21. Alma 13:3.\n\n22. Deut. 32:7, 8.\n\n23. Eccl. 10:7.\n\n\n\nARTICLE EIGHTEEN.\n\nMoses and Aaron.\n\nJoseph in Egypt.--In the whole range of Bible literature, if we\nexcept what is told of the Redeemer and Savior, there is nothing more\nbeautiful than the story of Joseph in Egypt. Joseph the dreamer, sold\ninto slavery, exalted to a throne, and becoming, by God's design,\na savior to his father's house. Who cannot see in this a prophetic\nlikeness of the universal redemption wrought out by Him who descended\nbelow all, that He might rise above all, and deliver the souls of men\nfrom spiritual famine and starvation?\n\nThe Exodus.--Another foretokening of the same sublime event was\nIsrael's exodus from Egypt, after centuries of oppression. Egypt,\nwith its dusky population, devoid of priesthood and of gospel light,\nsymbolized the sable bondage of sin and death. Moses, leader of the\nExodus, and reputedly \"the meekest of men,\" [1] was a type of the Great\nDeliverer, \"like unto Moses,\" who led an enslaved universe out from the\nEgypt of Darkness into the Promised Land of Freedom and Light.\n\nThe Passover.--In commemoration of the Egyptian exodus, the Feast of\nthe Passover was instituted, an observance designed to perpetuate, in\nthe minds of the children of Israel, their liberation from slavery, and\nat the same time prepare them to comprehend in due time, the mightier\nRedemption thus foreshadowed.\n\nThe Passover was kept as follows: Obedient to God's command through\nMoses, each Israelitish household, on the eve of the departure out\nof Egypt, took a lamb, spotless and \"without blemish,\" and slew it,\nsprinking its blood upon the posts and lintels of their doors. It was\npromised that the Angel of Death, sent to afflict the cruel nation\nfor its mistreatment of the Lord's people, should, while slaying the\nfirst-born of every Egyptian family, pass over every Hebrew dwelling\nupon which the symbolic blood was found sprinkled in accordance with\nthe divine command. Not a bone of the lamb was to be broken, nor a\nfragment of it left to decay; for it symbolized the Lamb of God, the\nHoly One, whose body was not to see corruption. [2] Neither was any\nbone of Him to be broken.\n\nIn the Paschal Feast the body of the lamb was spitted (transfixt) upon\ntwo pieces of wood placed cross-wise, indicating prophetically the\nmanner of the Savior's death. The flesh was then roasted and partaken\nof with bitter herbs and unleavened bread--flour and water hastily\nmixed; the herbs typifying the bitterness of the bondage that was about\nto end, also the bitterness of death; and the hastily prepared meal the\nhurry of departure. [3] To further emphasize the idea of haste, the\nmembers of each Hebrew household, while partaking of the feast, were\nto be clad as if for a journey. This solemn ceremonial was observed in\nIsrael until the coming of Christ, who fulfilled in his own person and\nexperience the poetic-prophetic symbolism.\n\nThe Ten Commandments.--\n\nSacred Patterns.--The children of Israel, after their miraculous\npassage of the Red Sea, encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai. There God\ngave to Moses the tables of stone containing the Ten Commandments, also\nthe pattern of the Ark or Sanctuary, the symbol of the covenant that\nJehovah had made with his people. He likewise gave the pattern of\nthe Tabernacle or holy tent where the Ark was to be deposited, where\nthe priest would offer sacrifices and make atonement for the sins\nof the nation, and where the Lord would communicate by angels or by\nUrim and Thummim with the men chosen to represent Him in that sacred\ncapacity.\n\nThe Priesthood Organized.--Moses was of the Tribe of Levi, and\nson-in-law to Jethro the Midianite. The Midianites were descended from\nMidian, the fourth son of Abraham by his wife Keturah. [4] It was\nfrom Jethro that Moses received the Melchizedek Priesthood. [5] Thus\nqualified, the Israelite leader organized, by divine direction, the\nLesser Priesthood, with his brother Aaron at its head. [6] Aaron's\nsons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazer and Ithamar, were associated with him in\nthe priest's office. [7]\n\nIdolatry and Expiation.--Just prior to their setting apart as priests,\nand while Moses, with faithful Joshua, was up in the Mount, receiving\nthe Law and the Testimony, Israel lapsed temporarily into idolatry.\nIn the golden calf, which they persuaded Aaron to make for them, they\nworshiped the Egyptian god Apis, or, as Dr. Geikie suggests, the\nox-headed god of the Asiatics. This sin demanded and received prompt\npunishment. By command of Moses, the tribe of Levi--every man of which\nresponded to his loyal appeal, \"Who's on the Lord's side?\"--slew with\nthe sword three thousand males among the idolaters. The stern expiation\ncomplete, the work of organization proceeded.\n\nThe Levites--As an act coordinate with the destruction of Egypt's\nfirst-born, the Lord had chosen the first-born males of all the\nfamilies of Israel, and had set them apart for a special purpose. He\nnow took the tribe of Levi, instead, and made of them the sacerdotal\nclass of the nation; a reward, no doubt, for the zeal they had\ndisplayed in wiping out the stain of idolatry from Israel. The laws\nof Moses were then promulged and codified, and the sublime system of\nheaven-revealed religion was set in motion.\n\nA Nation on the March.--All being ready for the great march Zionward,\nthe Camp of Israel struck its tents, and, guided by the Cloud and\nPillar of Fire, moved majestically through the Sinaitic desert toward\nthe Wilderness of Paran. The descendants of Jacob numbered at that\ntime nearly three million souls, including an army of half a million.\nThey were divided into four camps of three tribes each, exclusive of\nthe Levites; Joseph being twice numbered in Ephraim and Manasseh, thus\nmaking up for the absence of the sacred class from the tribal count.\n\nForemost rose aloft the lion standard of Judah, the future kingly\npower, out of which was to come the Savior-King of Israel. Then\nfollowed the tribes and armies of Issachar and Zebulon, and after them\nthe sons of Gershon and Merari (first and third sons of Levi), bearing\nthe components of the Tabernacle, which it was their duty to set up and\ntake down, as the Camp rested or resumed its journey. The standard of\nReuben was next advanced, and immediately in his rear marched Simeon\nand Gad. The Ark then appeared, borne in the very center of the moving\nhost on the shoulders of the sons of Kohath. Ephraim and Manasseh\nfollowed; then Benjamin; the tribes of Dan, Ashur and Naphtali bringing\nup the rear.\n\nThe Camp at Rest.--When the Cloud rested, indicating their stopping\nplace, the tents were set surrounding the Tabernacle of the\nCongregation; the Levites encompassing it immediately about, to\nprevent the unsanctified from approaching too near, and purposely or\ninadvertently defiling it--an offense punishable by death. When the Ark\nset forward, Moses exclaimed: \"Rise up, O Lord, and let thine enemies\nbe scattered!\" When it rested, he said: \"Return, O Lord, unto the many\nthousands of Israel!\"\n\nA Period of Preparation.--The Chosen People no doubt cherished the hope\nof an early conquest of Canaan, the land which God had given to their\nforefathers; a land inhabited at the time of the Exodus by various\ntribes alien to Jehovah and unfriendly to Israel. It was a case of hope\ndeferred. Had the Lord's people been ready, the carrying out of the\nprogram of conquest and occupation would not have been delayed. But\nthey were not ready, and the event was therefore postponed. There had\nto be a season of waiting, a period of preparation. Forty years were\nto elapse before that migrant host, disciplined by inspired leaders\nunder strict and wholesome laws, would be in a state of preparedness to\nthrust in the sickle and reap the glorious harvest springing from the\ndivine promises of the past.\n\nThe Greater Priesthood Taken.--So long as Moses lived, both the\nMelchizedek and the Aaronic priesthoods were present and operative\nin Israel. But with the passing of the great leader, went likewise\nthe authority of the higher priesthood, without which \"the power of\ngodliness is not manifest to men in the flesh.\" Nay, without it \"no\nman can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.\" [8] Moses had\ntaught this to his people, seeking diligently to sanctify them that\nthey might behold God face to face. \"But they hardened their hearts,\nand could not endure His presence. Therefore He took Moses out of their\nmidst, and the Holy Priesthood also.\" [9]\n\nJohn the Baptist.--The Lesser Priesthood, with the law of carnal\ncommandments, continued \"with the house of Aaron among the children of\nIsrael\" until John the Baptist, in the Meridian of Time, came to \"make\nstraight the way of the Lord.\" [10] This same John the Baptist, as an\nangel of God, came also in the Fulness of Times, restoring the Aaronic\nPriesthood, as a forerunner to the Priesthood of Melchizedek, that\nthere might be a preparation for the second appearing of the Savior.\n[11]\n\nAn Acceptable Offering.--Moses represents the Melchizedek Priesthood;\nAaron the Aaronic; and \"whose is faithful unto the obtaining of these\ntwo priesthoods . . . . and the magnifying of their calling, are\nsanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become\nthe sons of Moses and of Aaron, and the seed of Abraham, and the church\nand kingdom and the elect of God.\" [12] Moses and Aaron were sons of\nLevi, and their sons are to offer \"an acceptable offering and sacrifice\nin the House of the Lord,\" which shall be built \"upon the consecrated\nspot\" \"in this generation.\" Such is the divine promise.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Numbers 12:3.\n\n2. Psalms 16:10.\n\n3. The observance thus described suggests Latter-day conditions,\nwhen, like the plagues sent upon Egypt, terrible judgments are to be\npoured out upon the wicked, so suddenly and so overwhelmingly that even\n\"the righteous will scarcely escape,\" and when the Lord, in order to\nsave some, will \"cut short his work in righteousness.\"\n\n4. Gen. 25:1, 2; 1 Chr. 1:32 1 Chr. 1:32.\n\n5. D. and C. 84:6.\n\n6. Ex. 28:1-3.\n\n7. Aaron, Nadab and Abihu were probably Elders acting as Priests. Such\nan inference is warranted by the fact that they, with Moses and seventy\nof the Elders of Israel, \"saw the God of Israel\" (Ex. 24:9, 10); which\nthey could not have done with safety had they held only the Aaronic\nPriesthood (D. and C. 84:22).\n\n8. D. and C. 84:19-22.\n\n9. Ib., vv. 23-25.\n\n10. Ib. 84:26-28.\n\n11. Ib. 13.\n\n12. Ib. 84:31-34.\n\n\n\nARTICLE NINETEEN.\n\nTo the Ends of the Earth.\n\nCalamity's Compensations.--The compensations of calamity are apparent\nin some of the mightiest events that history chronicles. The Fall\nof Man, though it brought death into the world, proved the means\nof peopling a planet in accordance with the Creator's design. The\nCrucifixion of Christ, an overwhelming calamity to His terror-stricken\ndisciples, who were disconsolate until they looked upon the tragedy\nin its true light, made effectual the predestined plan for man's\nsalvation. The Dispersion of Israel, that heavy stroke and burden of\naffliction under which God's people have groaned for ages, has been\noverruled to subserve the divine purpose, fulfilling in part the\nancient promise to the Hebrew Patriarchs, that in their seed should all\nthe nations of the earth be blessed.\n\nA Martyred Nation.--The history of the house of Israel is the\nhistory of a martyred nation, suffering for the welfare of other\nnations--whatever may be said of the immediate cause of their woes, the\ntransgressions that justified the Shepherd in bringing upon his sheep\ntroubles that were doubtless among the \"offenses\" that \"must needs\ncome.\" Adam fell that man might be; Christ died to burst the bands of\ndeath; and the chosen people were scattered over the world, in order\nthat Gospel truth, following the red track of their martyrdom, might\nmake its way more readily among the peoples with whom they were mingled.\n\nMoses Predicts the Dispersion.--Prophecies of Israel's dispersion were\nmade as early as the time of Moses, fifteen hundred years before the\nadvent of the Savior. When the Twelve Tribes were about to possess\nthemselves of the Promised Land, their great leader, who was soon to\ndepart, told them that so long as they served Jehovah and honored his\nstatutes, they should be prospered and remain an independent nation.\nBut if they forsook Jehovah and served other gods, He would scatter\nthem among all people, from one end of the earth even unto the other. [1]\n\nA House Divided.--Joshua, succeeding Moses, conquered the land of\nCanaan and apportioned it among the Tribes of Israel. A season of\nprosperity and power was followed by decadence and ruin. As early\nas the days of the Judges the people began to depart from God and\nto invite by rebellious conduct the national calamity that had been\npredicted. The glory of the reigns of David and Solomon being past, the\ncurse, long suspended, fell, and the Israelitish Empire hastened to\ndecay. The tribes in the northern part of the land revolted and set up\nthe Kingdom of Israel, distinct from the Kingdom of Judah, over which\nSolomon's son Rehoboam continued to reign. The tribe of Benjamin and\nthe half tribe of Manasseh adhered to Judah.\n\nAhijah, Amos and Hosea.--Jeroboam, King of Israel, made idolatry the\nstate religion. During his reign the dispersion was again predicted,\nAhijah the prophet thus voicing the word of the Lord to his disobedient\npeople: \"The Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water,\nand he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to\ntheir fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river.\" [2] Another\nprophet who foretold the same disaster was Hosea; [3] still another,\nAmos, who declared that Israel should \"surely go into captivity\" and\nbe \"sifted among all nations.\" [4] Hosea's prophecy substitutes past\nfor future, thus: \"Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people,\"\nreferring to the event in prospect as if it had already taken place.\nPossibly a prophetic vision--then past--had apprised this seer of what\nwas coming, or it may have been only a figure of rhetoric, common even\nat the present day.\n\n\"The Wolf on the Fold.\"--About the year 725 B. C. these prophecies\nbegan to have their fulfillment. The Assyrians came against the Kingdom\nof Israel and commenced the work of its destruction. In a series of\ndeportations they carried away the Ten Tribes--nine and a half, to be\nexact--and, as customary with conquerors in those days, supplied their\nplaces with colonists from other parts.\n\nThe Lost Tribes.--Concerning the deported--the famous \"Lost\nTribes\"--very little is now known. Josephus, the Jewish historian, who\nwrote during the first century after Christ, states that they were then\nbeyond the Euphrates; and Esdras, in the Apocrypha, declares that they\nwent a journey of a year and a half into \"the north country.\"\n\nScandinavian Cairns.--Missionaries returning from Scandinavia tell\nof rude monuments--cairns of piles of stones--yet to be seen in that\nnorthern region, and concerning which tradition asserts that they were\nerected many centuries ago by a migrating people. Whether or not these\nwere the tribes of the Assyrian captivity, it is interesting to reflect\nthat the rearing of such monuments, in commemoration of notable events,\nwas an Israelitish custom, particularly as to the migratory movements\nof the nation. The miraculous passage of the Jordan by Joshua and the\nhost led by him into the land of Canaan, was thus commemorated. [5]\n\nOther Ancient Remains.--If it be objected that monuments built seven\ncenturies before Christ's birth could not have lasted down to this\nday, it will be in order for the objector to explain the existence\nof the perfectly preserved monuments of Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, and\nother ancient empires, whose remains have been uncovered by modern\narchaeological enterprise. Such a theory need not stagger the faith of\na Latter-day Saint, when he recalls that the ruins of Adam's altar are\nstill to be seen in that part of the Old-New World now known as the\nState of Missouri, where they were identified by Joseph the Seer in\n1838.\n\nFrom the North Country.--At all events, it is from \"the north country\"\nthat the lost tribes are to return, according to ancient and modern\nprophecy. [6] It is also a fact that from Scandinavia and other nations\nof Northern Europe, has come much of the blood of Ephraim, now to be\nfound within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.\n\nIsaiah and Jeremiah--The Babylonian Captivity--Returning to the\nKingdom of Israel. The prophecies concerning it were supplemented by\nother predictions foretelling the fate of the Kingdom of Judah. Those\ngreat prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, figured during this period,\nand both portrayed in fervid eloquence, unparalleled for pathos and\nsublimity, the impending doom of the Jewish nation. Their government\nwas destroyed, and they were carried into captivity by the Babylonians\nunder Nebuchadnezzar, B. C. 588.\n\nLehi and His Colony.--Just prior to that catastrophe, and while the\nProphet Jeremiah was delivering his fateful message to king, princes,\npriests and people, Lehi and his companions, ancestors of the Nephites\nand Lamanites, [7] warned of God, left Jerusalem and crossed over to\nthis land--America--which, by them and by Mulek's company that came\nlater, was thus peopled with descendants of Joseph and of Judah, both\nrepresented, though in a degenerate state, by the savage red men whom\nColumbus, in A. D. 1492, discovered and named Indians. [8]\n\nJerusalem Rebuilt--Ezekiel and Zechariah.--The Babylonian captivity\nlasted for seventy years. At the expiration of that period, some of the\nJews, under the permissive edict of Cyrus the Great, who had conquered\nBabylon, returned and rebuilt their City and Temple. These, however,\nwere only a remnant, numbering fifty thousand, led by Zerubbabel and\nJoshua. The bulk of the nation remained in a scattered condition.\nThe Jews who rebuilt Jerusalem were those to whose descendants the\nChrist came, and predicted, after their rejection of him, that their\n\"House\" should be \"left unto them desolate.\" [9] Meanwhile Ezekiel and\nZechariah--the former in exile among the Babylonians, the latter at\nJerusalem after the restoration--had added their predictions to those\nalready uttered relating to Israel's dispersion.\n\nThe Roman Conquest.--Centuries later, in Apostolic times, went forth\nthe Epistle of James, with its greeting: \"To the Twelve Tribes which\nare scattered abroad.\" But the dispersion, even then, was not complete.\nThere were yet to be other painful experiences of the same kind. One\nof the most notable occurred in A. D. 70, when Titus the Roman came\nagainst Jerusalem, captured the city, and sold the inhabitants--such\nas had survived the horrors of the siege--into slavery, or scattered\nthem through different parts of the Empire. To follow the fortunes of\nthis branch of the fated nation in all its subsequent migrations and\nwanderings, would fill volumes.\n\nWhat of the Benefits?--Let us now consider the question: In what way\ndid these calamities upon Israel prove a blessing to the human race?\nHow, by the scattering of the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,\nwas God's promise to those patriarchs in any degree fulfilled, that in\ntheir seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed? Already I\nhave answered these questions in part, and will now answer them more\nfully.\n\nThe Blood That Believes.--Through these acts of deportation, enforced\nexile, and voluntary wandering, the blood of Israel, the blood that\nbelieves, with choice spirits answering to that blood, and no doubt\nselected for the purpose, were sent into those nations where the\nGospel has since been preached--spirits capable of recognizing and\nappreciating the Truth, and brave enough to embrace it, regardless of\nconsequences; thus setting an example of heroism, of obedience to the\ndictates of conscience, that would naturally appeal to the noble and\nupright surrounding them, and influence them in the same direction.\nManifestly, that was of far greater consequence than the carrying by\nthe captive Israelites of their laws, traditions and customs into\nthose nations; though this also would help to prepare the way for the\nwonderful developments that were to follow.\n\nRapid Spread of Christianity.--And such things told in after years. One\nof the marvels of history is the rapid spread of Christianity in the\ndays of the Apostles, who, unlettered as most of them were, and in the\nmidst of the fiercest persecution, planted the Gospel standard in all\nthe principal cities of the Roman Empire. From Jerusalem, the tidings\nof \"Christ and him crucified\" radiated to Britain on the west, to India\non the east, to Scythia on the north, and to Ethiopia on the south--all\nwithin the short space of fifty years. [10]\n\nMany Nations Sprinkled.--How could such things be, if Divine Providence\nhad not prepared the way by sending the blood and genius of Israel\ninto all nations, prior to pouring out upon those nations the Spirit\nof the Gospel and the Gathering? Others before Abraham had shown\ntheir faith by their works; but this does not disprove his claim to\nthe title--\"Father of the Faithful.\" Nor does it prove that the blood\nof faith, wherever found, is not his blood. The Moabite maiden Ruth,\nancestor of Jesus of Nazareth; the Roman centurion, whose faith caused\neven the Savior to marvel; Cornelius and the Woman of Canaan--these\nwere not of Israel, by recognized earthly descent; yet their spirits\nwere well worthy of such a lineage, and in their veins was the\nbelieving blood with which God has \"sprinkled many nations.\"\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Deut. 28:64.\n\n2. I Kings 14:15.\n\n3. Hos. 7:8.\n\n4. Amos 7:11; 9:9.\n\n5. Joshua 4:1-9.\n\n6. Jer. 31:8; D. and C. 110:11; 133:26.\n\n7. See Article Five.\n\n8. Mark the features of the American Indian. Are they not Jewish?\nQuite as strikingly so, as that many of his traditions and customs\nare Israelitish. Who than the savage Lamanite, better understands the\nMosaic law of retaliation--\"an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?\"\nNor cares he to whom the eye or the tooth belongs, whether to the\nperson who injured him, or to one of the latter's tribe or nation. He\nis too much of an Israelite to object to proxies and substitutes.\n\n9. Matt. 23:37, 38.\n\n10. Dean Farrar, in his \"Life and Work of St. Paul,\" contributes this\nluminous passage as explanatory of the rapid spread of Christianity:\n\n\"(I) The immense field covered by the conquests of Alexander gave to\nthe civilized world a unity of language, without which it would have\nbeen, humanly speaking, impossible for the earliest preachers to\nhave made known the good tidings in every land which they traversed.\n(II) The rise of the Roman Empire created a political unity which\nreflected in every direction the doctrines of the new faith. (III) The\ndispersion of the Jews prepared vast multitudes of Greeks and Romans\nfor the unity of a pure morality and a monotheistic faith. The Gospel\nemanated from the capital of Judea; it was preached in the tongue of\nAthens; it was diffused through the empire of Rome; the feet of its\nearliest missionaries traversed the solid structure of undeviating\nroads by which the Roman legionaries--'those massive hammers of the\nwhole earth'--had made straight in the desert a highway for our God.\nSemite and Aryan had been unconscious instruments in the hands of God\nfor the spread of a religion which, in its first beginnings, both alike\ndetested and despised.\"\n\nA similar marvel is the spread of the restored Gospel through the\nGentile nations of modern times, a work yet in its infancy. The\nproselyting success of the Latter-day Saints on both hemispheres, their\ngreat pilgrimage from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains,\nthe redemption of a wilderness, the founding of a State, and the\nextraordinary attention attracted by the \"Mormon\" people--altogether\nout of proportion to their numbers--these combined facts constitute a\nstriking fulfillment of the prophetic picture drawn by the Savior: \"Ye\nare as a city set upon a hill which cannot be hid.\"\n\n\n\nPART FIVE\n\nIN TIME'S MERIDIAN\n\n\n\nARTICLE TWENTY.\n\nThe Lamb of God.\n\n  A stranger Star, that came from far,\n    To filing its silver ray\n  Where, cradled in a lowly cave,\n    A lowlier infant lay;\n  And led by soft sidereal light,\n    The Orient sages bring\n  Rare gifts of gold and frankincense,\n    To greet the homeless King.\n\n             * * *\n\n  He wandered through the faithfulness world,\n    A Prince in shepherd guise;\n  He called his scattered flock, but few\n    The Voice did recognize;\n  For minds unborne by hollow pride,\n    Or dimmed by sordid lust,\n  Ne'er look for kings in beggar's garb,\n    For diamonds in the dust.\n\n             * * *\n\n  Transfixt he hung--O crime of crimes!--\n    The God whom worlds adore.\n  \"Father forgive them!\" Drained the dregs;\n    Immanuel--no more.\n  No more where thunders shook the earth,\n    Where lightnings, 'thwart the gloom,\n  Saw that unconquered Spirit spurn\n    The shackles of the tomb.\n  Far-flaming falchion, sword of light,\n    Swift-flashing from its sheath,\n  It cleft the realms of darkness and\n    Dissolved the bands of death.\n  Hell's dungeons burst! Wide open swung\n    The everlasting bars,\n  Whereby the ransomed soul shall win\n    Those heights beyond the stars! [1]\n\nThe Crucified and Crowned.--An attempt to tell, even in brief, the\nsublime story of the Christ, would be foreign to my present purpose,\nEven if space permitted, what pen could do justice to the theme?\nSuffice it that the Christ came, in the Meridian of Time, as ancient\nseers and prophets had foretold. Surrendering himself to to death, that\nthere might be no more death, He arose from the grave and ascended on\nHigh, glorified with that glory which the Eternal Son had with the\nEternal Father before this world was formed.\n\nThe Passover Realized.--In the Savior's crucifixion, the prophetic\nsymbolism of the Passover had a most remarkable realization. In nothing\nwas this more strikingly manifest than in certain incidents immediately\nfollowing the Death on Calvary. The commandment instituting the Paschal\nFeast required that no bone of the lamb should be broken, and no\nfragment of it be left to decay, representing as it did the body of the\nHoly One, which was not \"to see corruption.\" [2] Mark now the exact\nfulfillment: The Savior had been crucified between two thieves, and at\nsundown on the day of crucifixion the Jewish Sabbath began. In order\nthat the day might not be \"desecrated,\" the Rabbis prevailed upon the\nRoman governor to have the three bodies taken down from the crosses\nand buried. [3] When the soldiers went to remove the bodies, finding\nthe two thieves still alive, they put an end to them by breaking their\nlegs; but Jesus was spared this further indignity, he being \"dead\nalready.\" [4] Pierced with five wounds, yet not a bone of him broken,\nthe Lamb of God, answering in every particular to the likeness of the\npaschal lamb, was laid in the rocky tomb, whence He came forth on the\nthird day, his perfectly preserved tabernacle glorified in immortality.\n\nThe Lord's Supper.--The night before the Crucifixion, Jesus, having\npartaken of the Passover with his disciples, instituted in its stead\nthe sacrament of the Lord's Supper, commanding them to observe it\nthenceforth. [5] The Supper, like the Feast, pointed to the Atonement;\nbut in the Passover the pointing was forward to an even that had\nnot yet occurred, while in the Supper, for the reverse reason, the\nindication is backward. It is said that the paschal lamb was offered\nin the Temple at Jerusalem about the same hour that Christ died; the\nsubstance and the shadow thus corresponding. Thereafter the Passover\nwas obsolete, having fulfilled its purpose, and as the type no longer\ntypified, it should have been discontinued. The Jews, however,\nperpetuated the old-time observance, not recognizing in Jesus their\nMessiah.\n\n\"It is Finished.\"--The Savior's dying words, as reported by the\nBeloved Disciple, [6] have been the subject of much controversy.\n\"It is finished.\" What did those words signify? The notion has\nbeen entertained that Christ's crucifixion completed his work, so\nfar as personal ministrations went, and that after the opening of\nthe so-called Christian Dispensation, there was no further need\nof communication between God and man. \"O most lame and impotent\nconclusion!\" Whatever construction be placed upon that final utterance\nof our Lord's, it is perfectly clear, from what followed, that it never\nwas intended to convey such a meaning.\n\nBirth and Death Incidental.--The Death on Calvary was no more the\nending, than the Birth at Bethlehem was the beginning, of that Divine\nCareer. Both were mere incidents. The Savior's work is universal,\nextending from Eternity into Time, and back again into Eternity. All\nthe Gospel dispensations, from Adam down to Joseph Smith, are parts of\nthe all-embracing mission of Jesus Christ. Not until \"the beginning of\nthe seventh thousand years,\" the Morning of the Resurrection, \"will\nthe Lord God sanctify the earth and complete the salvation of man.\"\n[7] Moreover, sanctification will be succeeded by glorification, still\nanother phase of the work of Him who bringeth to pass \"the immortality\nand eternal life of man.\"\n\nThe Sacrifice Complete.--What, then, was \"finished\" by the Death on the\nCross? Simply the pain and sorrow that the Son of God had willed to\nundergo, that He might ransom a lost creation, and make it possible for\nredeemed man, by faith and good works, to lay hold upon eternal life.\nThe Savior's self-imposed humiliation, his voluntary sacrifice, his\nmysterious all-comprehensive suffering, the piled up agony of the human\nrace, endured by him vicariously, to the end that his atonement might\nbe infinite, reaching to every son and daughter of Adam [8]--this was\nfinished, this was at an end; not the work of God, nor the continuous\nrevelation of his word and will to man.\n\nIn the Spirit.--While the Savior's body was lying in the tomb, his\nspirit entered Paradise, and there preached to the spirits of the\ndeparted, opening, or causing to be opened, the dungeons of the damned.\nReturning, He took up his glorified body, and appeared in it to his\nastonished, half-doubting disciples.\n\nOn Both Hemispheres.--Christ died for all; but all are not entitled\nto his personal ministrations. The sheep, however, have the right\nto see their Shepherd and to hear his voice. Accordingly, after he\nhad confirmed the faith of his Jewish disciples, had chosen twelve\napostles, and sent them forth to preach the Gospel in the power and\ndemonstration of the Holy Spirit, he visited the Nephites, in America,\nfor a similar purpose. They, in common with all Israel, had been warned\nby prophets to prepare for his coming; and the righteous were ready to\nreceive him. Already they had the Gospel and the Priesthood, and now\nthe Savior organized his Church among them. This done, He visited other\nbroken-off branches of the \"tame olive tree,\" [9] their whereabouts\nas unknown to Lehi's descendants in the Land Bountiful, as was the\nexistence of the Nephites to the inhabitants of Judea.\n\nThe \"Other Sheep.\"--Jesus had said to his Jewish followers: \"Other\nsheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring,\nand they shall hear my voice.\" [10] They inferred that He meant the\nGentiles; but such was not his meaning. His direct, special errand was\nto \"the lost sheep of the house of Israel.\" [11] The Gentiles were to\nbe converted through the preaching of Jewish-Christian evangels. [12]\n\nThe \"other sheep\" were the Nephites, to whom the Savior explained his\nhalf-veiled utterance; [13] also declaring that He had still \"other\nsheep,\" not of the Nephite fold nor of the Jewish fold, and that they\nlikewise should see him and hear his voice. [14] Undoubtedly this\nallusion was to the \"Lost Tribes;\" but not to them alone. It included\nother Hebrew remnants, unknown to man, but known to Jehovah, \"keeping\nwatch above his own\" in the mystical and remote regions whither his\njudgments had driven them.\n\nIn Remembrance of Him.--Both in Judea and in the Land Bountiful,\nthe Savior instituted, among those who had received the Gospel, the\nsacrament of the Lord's Supper, that memorial of his sacrifice, once\nprospective, now retrospective; once a prophecy, now a fulfillment. But\nits institution among the Nephites, unlike its introduction among the\nJews, was after his resurrection. Concerning the earlier incident, the\nNew Testament says:\n\n\"As they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it, and brake it,\nand gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.\n\n\"And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,\nDrink ye all of it:\n\n\"For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for\nthe remission of sins.\" [15]\n\n\"The Real Presence.\"--After the living oracles had departed, and\nonly the dead letter of the Scriptures remained, uninspired \"private\ninterpretation\" [16] conceived the notion that Jesus, when he said,\n\"This is my body\" and \"my blood,\" meant the words to be taken\nliterally. From that erroneous inference sprang the doctrine of\ntransubstantiation, with its twin heresy, consubstantiation; the former\na Roman Catholic tenet, the latter an unorthodox Protestant tenet\nrelating to the Eucharist. So insistent was the Catholic Church upon\nthis point, that men and women were condemned and punished as heretics,\nfor denying \"the real presence,\" the actual flesh and blood of Christ,\nin the elements of the Lord's Supper. [17]\n\nFigurative, not Literal.--The language of Jesus, when he instituted\nthe Lord's Supper at Jerusalem, was undoubtedly figurative. When He\nsaid, of the bread and wine, \"This is my body\" and \"my blood,\" his body\nwas intact, his spirit in his body, and his blood yet unsplit. He was\nthere in person, whole, complete. This being the case, how could he\nhave meant to identify the bread and wine with the constituents of his\nmortal tabernacle? \"These are the emblems of my body and blood\"--that\nwas his meaning. He made this clear to the Nephites, in saying: \"This\nshall ye do in remembrance of my body.\" Remembrance presupposes\nabsence. Because he would be absent in body thereafter, they were to\ndo this \"in remembrance of\" his body. What need to remember him, if he\nwere present in person? As well require faith from one having a perfect\nknowledge. [18]\n\nUse of Wine Forbidden.--The Latter-day Saints have been criticized for\nusing water in the Sacrament; the Savior having sanctioned the use of\nwine both among the Jews and the Nephites. The explanation for the\nchange is simple. The Church of Christ is not dependent upon books,\nnor upon tradition. It has an inspired Priesthood, led by immediate,\ncontinuous and direct revelation. The Lord has commanded his people in\nthese days not to use wine in the Sacrament under existing conditions.\nThis is the word they are under obligation to obey--not the word given\nto other peoples in former dispensations. [19]\n\nChrist to Come Again.--Neither the Savior's resurrection, nor his\nascension into Heaven [20] signalized the end of his personal\nministry, the cessation of his labors in behalf of mankind. After\nhis resurrection, He \"went in body to minister to translated and\nresurrected bodies;\" [21] and with these He will return when Enoch's\nCity descends and all is ready for his glorious advent.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. \"Elias,\" Canto 3, Part 2.\n\n2. Psalms 16:10.\n\n3. The hypocrites! They could commit murder, could cause the death of\nthe innocent, and feel no compunction: but they were horrified at the\nthought of a technical Sabbath-day desecration. Could there be a more\nglaring instance of \"straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel\"?\n\n4. John 19:33.\n\n5. Matt. 26:17-20; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-20.\n\n6. John 19:30.\n\n7. D. & C. 77:12.\n\n8. Ib. 19:16-19.\n\nSuch was the mission of him concerning whom Nephi of old prophesied:\n\"And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will\nhearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men,\nyea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children,\nwho belong to the family of Adam. And he suffereth this that the\nresurrection might pass upon all men, that all might stand before him\nat the great and judgment day.\" (2 Nephi 9:21, 22.)\n\n9. Jacob 5:3.\n\n10. John 10:16.\n\n11. Matt. 15:24.\n\n12. Nevertheless, it was all the work of the Lord; for those evangels\nwere his servants, his messengers, clothed with his authority and\nacting in his name and stead. The subordinate is swallowed up in the\nprincipal. It is the general of an army who wins victory or suffers\ndefeat, though millions of soldiers may have been fighting under his\ndirection. The Roman myrmidons who nailed Jesus to the cross were not\nso much to blame for the cruel deed, as were Pilate, the Procurator,\nwho permitted, nay, ordered it to be done, and the Jewish Rabbis who\ninstigated the \"judicial murder\" of the sinless Son of God.\n\n13. 3 Nephi 15:21-24.\n\n14. Ib. 16:1-3.\n\n15. Matt. 26:26-28. Compare 3 Nephi 18:1-7.\n\n16. 2 Peter 1:20.\n\n17. A fact sufficient, of itself, to show that the Church was in an\napostate condition.\n\n18. Too much reliance upon either the literal or the figurative in\nlanguage, is apt to be misleading. An attendant in an art gallery or\nother public place where statues or paintings are on exhibit, might\npoint out one and say to the visitor: \"That is Caesar\" or \"That is\nWashington;\" but the one addressed would not be likely to infer that\nCaesar or Washington was there in actual flesh and blood, or that the\nattendant meant to be so understood. Nor would the visitor need to be\ntold that the statue or the painting represented the original. Such an\nexplanation would be superfluous. The form of the Savior's instruction\non the Sacrament--assuming that the correct translation has come down\nto us--may be accounted for in like manner. He knew that his disciples\nwould understand him--and they did. They were not dependent upon the\nletter alone; the interpreting Spirit was with them to give it life.\n\n19. D. & C. 27:2-5.\n\n20. Acts 1:10, 11.\n\n21. \"Mediation and Atonement,\" p. 76.\n\n\n\nARTICLE TWENTY-ONE.\n\nThe Special Witnesses.\n\nThe Men Who Knew.--The Twelve Apostles were the special witnesses of\nJesus Christ. As such they had to _know_, not merely believe that he\nhad risen from the dead. And they did know, for they had seen him, and\nheard him, and had even been permitted to touch him, that they might\nbe convinced beyond all question that he was indeed what he proclaimed\nhimself--the Author of the Resurrection, the Giver of eternal life.\nIt was their right to receive this rare evidence, owing to the unique\ncharacter of their mission. But the world was required to believe what\nthe Apostles testified concerning Him. If men desired salvation, which\ncould come only through the Savior, they must receive in faith the\nmessage He had sent his servants to deliver.\n\nThe Case of Thomas.--One of the Twelve was absent when his brethren\nreceived their first visitation from the risen Redeemer; and when\nthey said, \"We have seen the Lord,\" he answered: \"Except I shall see\nin his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print\nof the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.\"\nSubsequently the Savior appeared to this Apostle (Thomas) saying:\n\"Behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my\nside; and be not faithless, but believing.\" \"My Lord and my God!\"\nexclaimed the doubter--and was convinced. [1]\n\nComplete Qualification.--Thomas has been censured for demanding to see\nand to feel before he would believe. How much blame attaches to him for\ndoubting, I will not presume to say. But this much seems clear: He had\nthe same right as the rest of the Twelve to a personal appearing of\nthe Lord--the right to come in contact with Him of whose resurrection\nhe was required to testify. The others had seen and heard--perhaps had\neven felt, for Jesus offered them that privilege. [2] Why should not\nThomas share in the experience? What else could completely qualify him\nas a special witness?\n\nA Peculiar Position.--Sign-seeking is an abomination, indicating an\nadulterous disposition. [3] It is blessed to believe without seeing,\n[4] since through the exercise of faith comes spiritual development;\nwhile knowledge, by swallowing up faith, prevents its exercise, thus\nhindering that development. \"Knowledge is power;\" and all things are\nto be known in due season. But premature knowledge--knowing at the\nwrong time--is fatal both to progress and to happiness. The case of the\nApostles was exceptional. They stood in a peculiar position. It was\nbetter for them to know--nay, absolutely essential, in order to give\nthe requisite force and power to their tremendous testimony.\n\nThe Commission of the Twelve.--\"Go ye into all the world, and preach\nthe Gospel to every creature.\n\n\"He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that\nbelieveth not, shall be damned.\n\n\"And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they\ncast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up\nserpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;\nthey shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.\" [5] \"Go ye\ntherefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the\nFather, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;\n\n\"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you;\nand lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.\" [6]\n\nThe Promised Signs.--Thus we see that certain miraculous \"signs\" were\npromised to \"them that believe.\" But these signs were intended to\ncomfort the Saints, not to encourage the sign-seeker; and they were to\n\"follow,\" not precede, belief. It is not the sign, but the seeking,\nthat the Lord deprecates, the motive being evil. [7]\n\nApostolic Activities.--Obedient to the divine mandate, the Apostles at\nJerusalem, having been \"endued with power from on high\" [8] went forth\nwith their fellows, preaching. \"Christ and him crucified,\" calling upon\nmen to believe, to repent, and have their sins remitted by baptism,\nthat they might receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Great power\naccompanied their ministrations. Within the next half century the glad\ntidings borne by them had spread over the whole Roman Empire and into\nbarbarian realms beyond.\n\nEquality and Unity.--The Apostles must have known of Enoch's wonderful\nwork. Jude refers to Enoch's prophecy of the Lord's coming \"with ten\nthousand of his saints.\" [9] Possibly the Twelve had access to the Book\nof Enoch, [10] one of the lost books of Scripture. At all events, they\nsought to introduce, among the earliest proselytes to the Christian\nfaith, a similar order to that established in Enoch's day. Concerning\nthe later attempt to \"bring forth Zion.\" it is written:\n\n\"And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of\none soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things which he\npossessed was his own; but they had all things common. . . . .\n\n\"Neither was there any among them that lacked; for as many as were\npossessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the\nthings that were sold,\n\n\"And laid them down at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made\nunto every man according as he had need.\" [11]\n\nHow long this condition lasted with the Jewish Saints, we are not\ntold. Among their contemporaries, the Nephite followers of Christ, the\nsplendid results flowing from the practice of the Law of Consecration\nare thus portrayed:\n\n\"The people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of\nthe land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions\nand disputations among them, and every man did deal justly, one with\nanother;\n\n\"And they had all things common among them, therefore they were\nnot rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and\npartakers of the heavenly gift.\" [12]\n\nThe Apostles Taken.--One by one the Apostles were taken. James\nwas slain with the sword at Jerusalem. Peter, if the tradition be\ntrustworthy, was crucified at Rome, where Paul likewise suffered\nmartyrdom, by decapitation. All were put to death, save one, concerning\nwhom Peter had inquired of the Lord: \"What shall this man do?\" And\nthe Lord had said: \"If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that\nto thee?\" \"Then went this saying abroad among the brethren; that that\ndisciple should not die.\" [13]\n\nJohn Tarries.--Modern revelation confirms the ancient tradition that\nJohn the Beloved did not taste of death, but obtained from the Lord a\npromise that he should remain in the flesh, fortified against disease\nand dissolution, and do a wondrous work. He was to \"prophesy before\nnations, kindred, tongues and peoples, and continue on earth until the\nLord came in his glory.\" [14] It is traditional that an attempt was\nmade upon John's life by throwing him into a cauldron of boiling oil;\nbut he escaped miraculously.\n\nA Falling-Away Foreseen.--In the ninety-sixth year of the Christian\nera this Apostle was on the Isle of Patmos, in the Aegean Sea. Patmos\nserved the Romans very much as Siberia has since served the Russians.\nTo that desolate place the Empire banished its criminals, compelling\nthem to work in the mines. John was an exile for Truth's sake. But the\nLord had not forgotten his servant, though men had rejected him and\ncast him out. The Heavens were opened to him, and he was shown things\nthat would come to pass thereafter, also events that were even then\ntaking place. He beheld the sad spectacle of a paganized Christendom,\nthe \"falling away\" that St. Paul had predicted. [15]\n\nRestoration and Judgment.--But John also looked forward to a time when\nthe pure Christian faith would be restored; when an Angel would \"fly in\nthe midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them\nthat dwell on the earth;\" [16] when Israel would be called out from the\nnations; [17] when the hour of God's judgment would come, and the dead,\nsmall and great, would stand before the Great White Throne, to give\nanswer for the deeds done in the body. [18]\n\nAmong the Nephites.--The experience of the Church of Christ on the\nWestern continents was in many respects a duplicate of its experience\nin Oriental lands. Here as well as there, special witnesses were\nchosen, [19] and to three of the Nephite Twelve, Christ gave the same\npromise that he had given to the Apostle John--a promise that they\nshould remain in the body, not subject to death, and bring souls to\nHim. [20]\n\nA Foretaste of the Millennium.--The Nephite Church had a marvelous\ncareer--even more marvelous than had the Jewish Church. \"The people\nwere all converted unto the Lord,\" and for two full centuries [21]\na social condition similar to that which had characterized Enoch's\nancient commonwealth, was the favored lot of this flourishing branch\nof the House of Israel. It was a foretaste of the Millennium, a\nforeshadowing of the great Day of Peace.\n\nJapheth Smites Jacob.--Then came pride, the besetting sin of the\nNephite nation, with class divisions, envyings, covetousness,\nstrife, and--for the civilized portion of the once delightsome\npeople--extermination. Darkened in body and in mind, the degenerate\nLamanites were left to meet the on-rolling tide of over-seas\nimmigration, and be over whelmed thereby; \"a remnant of Jacob,\" to be\nsmitten and driven by the children of Japheth, \"until the times of the\nGentiles were fulfilled.\" [22]\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. John 20:24-28.\n\n2. Luke 24:39.\n\n3. Matt. 16:4.\n\n4. John 20:29.\n\n5. Mark 16:15-18.\n\n6. Matt. 28:19, 20.\n\n7. Says the Prophet Joseph: \"When I was preaching in Philadelphia, a\nQuaker called out for a sign. I told him to be still. After the sermon\nhe again asked for a sign. I told the congregation that the man was\nan adulterer; . . . . that the Lord had said to me in a revelation\nthat any man who wanted a sign was an adulterous person. 'It is true,'\ncried one, 'for I caught him in the very act,' which the man afterwards\nconfessed when he was baptized.\" (Hist. Ch. Vol. 5 p. 268). More than\none \"Mormon\" missionary, pestered by sign-seekers, has applied the test\nfurnished by the Prophet, with invariable and complete success.\n\n8. Luke 24:49; Acts 2:1-4.\n\n9. Jude 14.\n\n10. D. & C. 107:57\n\n11. Acts 4:32, 34, 35.\n\n12. 4 Nephi 1:2, 3.\n\n13. John 21:20-23.\n\n14. D. & C. 7.\n\n15. Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; Rev. Chaps. 17, 18.\n\n16. Rev. 14:6.\n\n17. Ib. 18:4.\n\n18. Ib. 20:11, 12.\n\n19. 3 Nephi 19:4.\n\n20. Ib.28:4-23.\n\n21. 4 Ib. 1:22.\n\n22. Though tramped upon for many generations, the Lamanites are not\na dying race, as is generally supposed. According to Doctor Lawrence\nW. White, of the United States Indian Bureau, the Indian population\nin 1870, when the first reliable census was made by the bureau, was\nplaced at 313,712. It is now 333,702, a number not exceeded, thinks\nthat expert, by the total of aborigines in America at the time of its\ndiscovery by Columbus.--See editorial article, \"Indians Reviving,\" Salt\nLake Tribune, February 13, 1920.\n\n\n\nPART SIX\n\nTHE ERA OF RESTITUTION.\n\n\n\nARTICLE TWENTY-TWO\n\nThe Call of the Shepherd.\n\n\"Come Out of Her, My People.\"--The Dispersion of Israel has for its\ncomplement the Gathering of Israel; the prophets who predicted the\none likewise foretelling the other. The Savior's personal visits to\nthe various branches of the Israelitish race, before or after His\nresurrection, were prophetic of a general restoration of the Lord's\npeople to their ancient lands, and the folding of the scattered sheep\ninto one great flock, with him as the Shepherd over all. [1]\n\nProphecies of the Gathering.--The more notable of the Hebrew prophecies\npertaining to the Gathering are as here given:\n\n_Isaiah._--\"And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall\nassemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of\nJudah from the four corners of the earth.\" . . . .\n\n\"They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the\nWest.\" . . . .\n\n\"And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which\nshall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that\nhe came up out of the land of Egypt.\" [2]\n\nJeremiah.--\"I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I\nwill bring you to Zion.\" . . . .\n\n\"Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no\nmore be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel\nout of the land of Egypt;\n\n\"But, the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the\nland of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them;\nand I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their\nfathers.\n\n\"Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall\nfish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt\nthem from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of\nthe rocks.\" . . . .\n\n\"Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from\nthe coasts of the earth. . . . .\n\n\"For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born.\n\n\"Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles\nafar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep\nhim, as a shepherd doth his flock.\" [3]\n\nJesus Christ.--\"And again this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached\nin all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the\nend come, or the destruction of the wicked.\" [4]\n\n\"And He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they\nshall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of\nheaven to the other.\" [5]\n\nThe Savior also predicted to the Nephites the gathering of the House of\nIsrael; [6] and John the Revelator foresaw the same event in his great\nvision on Patmos. [7]\n\nThe Realization.--How marvelously and how rapidly these predictions are\nbeing fulfilled, the history of the past hundred years plainly tells.\nThe Angel with the Everlasting Gospel has flown from heaven to earth,\nand the message borne by him is being preached \"again\" in all the\nworld, as a final witness to the nations.\n\nIsaiah's reference to the setting up of an Ensign for Israel's\ngathering finds its fulfilment in the restoration of the Gospel and\nthe Priesthood, and in the organization of the Church of Christ in\nthis dispensation. [8] Then and there was raised a rallying standard\nfor the sons and daughters of Ephraim, the first scions of Jacob's\nhousehold to be \"born again,\" to embrace the ancient faith in modern\ntimes--the first of the broken off branches of Israel's \"olive tree\" to\nbe \"grafted in again\" and bear good fruit. [9]\n\nKeys of the Gathering Restored.--Before there could be a complete\ngathering of the chosen people, the Keys of the Gathering had to be\nrestored. Accordingly, when the time was ripe, they were conferred upon\nthe founder of the Latter-day Church. Moses, who held those keys at the\ntime of the Exodus from Egypt, was the messenger who now restored them.\nThe place of restoration was the Kirtland Temple; the time, April,\n1836. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery testify that \"the veil\" was taken\nfrom their minds, and they \"saw the Lord,\" even Jehovah, who proclaimed\nto them his identity with the Savior of Mankind. The record then\ncontinues: \"After this vision closed, the heavens were again opened\nunto us, and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys\nof the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the\nleading of the ten tribes from the land of the north.\" [10]\n\nFirst Latter-day Saints.--Then began the great work for which these\nkeys had been restored. All preceding it was but preparatory.\n\"Mormonism's\" first converts had been made in the region where the\nChurch arose--the farming districts of Western New York and Northern\nPennsylvania. But Kirtland, Ohio, was the cradle of the Kingdom. There\na Temple was built, and the Priesthood more perfectly organized,\npreliminary to the sending of the Gospel to foreign nations, and the\ngathering of scattered Israel to the Land of Zion. Up to the summer\nof 1837 the \"fishers of men\" were busy only in the United States and\nin Canada. Now they crossed over the British Isles, and later to the\ncontinent of Europe. Instant and marvelous was their success. In parts\nof England--notably Lancashire and Herefordshire--whole villages and\ncongregations were swept into the Church by the unlettered yet divinely\nempowered Apostles of the new dispensation. [11]\n\nEarliest Immigrants.--A small company of Latter-day Saints, numbering\nbut forty-one--the first to \"gather\" from abroad--sailed on the ship\n\"Britannia\" from Liverpool for New York, in June, 1840. They were bound\nfor Nauvoo, Illinois. Each succeeding year added its quota to the fast\ngrowing nucleus of the Savior's kingdom. Thus was set in motion the\nmighty tide of immigration which, swelling the numbers of the Saints in\nthe Mississippi Valley, eventually peopled with the skilled mechanics\nand hardy yeomanry of Great Britain, Scandinavia and other European\ncountries, the mountains and valleys of the Great West.\n\nThe Impelling Motive.--How different the motives impelling these\npeople, from the motives generally imputed to them! It was not for\ngold and silver, flocks and herds, nor any of \"the good things of this\nworld,\" that they forsook home and country and \"gathered\" to the Land\nof Zion. It was not to better their temporal condition, that they\nabandoned comfort and in some cases affluence, crossed the stormy\nocean, dragged rickety hand-carts over parching plains and snow-capt\nmountains, to settle in a barren wilderness and endure hardships and\nprivations innumerable, while redeeming the waste and dotting it with\ncities, farms and vineyards. It was for God and his Kingdom--nothing\nless; and it was the love of Truth that inspired and impelled them. [12]\n\nCharacter of the Saints.--Utah's early settlers were stigmatized as\nignorant and malicious. It was ignorance or malice that so stigmatized\nthem. \"Scum of the earth,\" \"offscourings of civilization,\" were some\nof the pet names bestowed upon them by their enemies. How utterly\nunjust these epithets, how grotesquely misapplied, everyone must know\nwho has any knowledge of the facts. In reality, they were among the\nbest men and women of their time. Many of them were descended from the\nPilgrims and the Patriots who founded this nation, and in their veins,\nas Children of the Covenant, flowed the blood of priests and kings,\nillustrious through a thousand generations. [13]\n\nThese modern Zion-builders were not among those who wait for a cause\nto become popular before embracing it. Lowell little realized how\nadmirably he was painting their portrait when he penned these lines:\n\n  Then to side with Truth is noble,\n    When we share her wretched crust,\n  Ere her cause bring fame and profit,\n    And 'tis prosperous to be just.\n  Then it is the brave man chooses,\n    While the coward stands aside,\n  Doubting in his abject spirit\n    Till his Lord is crucified,\n  And the multitude make virtue\n    Of the faith they had denied.\n\n              * * *\n\n  They are slaves who fear to speak\n    For the fallen and the weak;\n  They are slaves who will not choose\n    Hatred, scoffing and abuse,\n  Rather than in silence shrink\n    From the truth they needs must think;\n  They are slaves who dare not be\n    In the right with two or three.\n\nNot slaves, but free men and free women, founded the Church of Jesus\nChrist of Latter-day Saints. They were of the sheep that knew the\nShepherd's voice, and when put to the test, they showed \"the mettle of\ntheir pasture.\"\n\n\"One of a City and Two of a Family.\"--Jeremiah's prediction was uttered\nat a time when families (tribes) were much larger than they now\nare--large enough for one tribe to fill several cities. [14] Otherwise,\nthe prophet might have changed his wording to read: \"One of a family\nand two of a city.\" Phrased either way, the forecast has been literally\nfulfilled in the painful and pathetic experiences of many Latter-day\nSaints, including women and children, turned out-of-door by parents or\nguardians, for daring to be \"one of a city\" or \"two of a family,\" in\nidentifying themselves with a people everywhere \"spoken against.\" [15]\n\n\"The Shoulders of the Philistines.\"--This phrase translates itself into\nthe facilities for far and rapid transportation owned and operated by\nthe Gentiles, but utilized by the God of Jacob in bringing his people\nfrom foreign shores, and up into the tops of \"the high mountains of\nIsrael.\" [16] \"They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines\ntoward the West.\" When Isaiah wrote those words, he was gazing with\nprophetic eye upon this very period. He beheld the ships and railroads\nof the Gentiles, likewise the Land of Zion, now occupied by the\nGentiles, but formerly peopled by the Nephites (Joseph and Judah)\nand included in the lands that God gave to their forefathers. [17]\nIsrael needs the help of the Gentiles--their wealth, their power,\ntheir wonderful insight into and command over material things, their\nintelligence and skill in manipulating temporalities. How, without the\nchildren of Japheth, could the children of Jacob be gathered out from\nthe nations? [18]\n\nThe Lost Tribes.--It is maintained by some that the lost tribes of\nIsrael--those carried into captivity about 725 B. C.--are not longer a\ndistinct people; that they exist only in a scattered condition, mixed\nwith the nations among which they were taken by their captors, the\nconquering Assyrians. If this be true, and those tribes were not intact\nat the time Joseph and Oliver received the keys of the gathering,\nwhy did they make so pointed a reference to \"the leading of the ten\ntribes from the land of the north?\" This, too, after a general allusion\nto \"the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth.\" What\nneed to particularize as to the Ten Tribes, if they were no longer a\ndistinct people? And why do our Articles of Faith give those tribes a\nspecial mention? [19]\n\nThe \"Highway.\"--Isaiah's reference to the \"Highway\" points directly to\nthe lost tribes, respecting whose return from \"The North Country,\" his\nfellow prophet, Jeremiah, promises an event that shall so far eclipse\nin scope and grandeur Israel's exodus from Egypt, that the latter will\nno more be mentioned.\n\nJoseph the Seer must have had the same thing in mind when he wrote:\n\"And they who are in the north countries shall come in remembrance\nbefore the Lord, and their prophets shall hear his voice, and shall\nno longer stay themselves, and they shall smite the rocks and the ice\nshall flow down at their presence, and an highway shall be cast up in\nthe midst of the great deep.\" [20]\n\nAlready he had foretold the removal of the Latter-day Saints to the\nRocky Mountains--then a desolate, uninhabited region--and was evidently\npondering that thought when he further declared: \"And in the barren\ndeserts there shall come forth pools of living water; and the parched\nground shall no longer be a thirsty land.\" [21]\n\nEphraim and the Returning Tribes.--It was Ephraim who lifted the Ensign\nfor the Gathering. It is to Ephraim that the returning tribes will\n\"bring forth their rich treasures,\" receiving from him their spiritual\nblessings. \"And the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble\nat their presence.\" [22]\n\nJudah and Jerusalem.--The same prophecy mentions the tribe of Judah,\nwhose gathering place, however, is not the Land of Zion, not the New\nJerusalem, but Jerusalem of old, yet to be rebuilt upon a scale of\nmagnificence paralleled only by the splendor of her sister city and twin\ncapital of Christ's Kingdom. [23]\n\nEven as the Waters.--Hear, O Israel! Children of Jacob! The night of\ndispersion is past. The day of gathering has dawned. The tempests that\nbroke above the heads of your ancestors have spent their fury, and the\nclouds have parted and are rolling away. The barren ground, refreshed\nby the fearful visitation, has brought forth abundantly, and a ripened\nharvest awaits the reaper's cycle. The revivifying rains, having\nfulfilled their mission, must now return to the ocean whence they\nwere taken. Such is the meaning, the symbolism, of the scattering and\ngathering of Israel.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. John 10:16; 3 Nephi 15:21; 16:1-3; 21.\n\n2. Isa. 11:12, 14, 16. See also 5:26; 35:10; 43:5, 6. The same Prophet\ndeclares:\n\n\"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the\nLord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall\nbe exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.\n\n\"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the\nmountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will\nteach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion\nshall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.\" (Isa.\n2:2, 3.)\n\nThis prophecy, however; seems to refer, not so much to a gathering of\nIsrael, as to an Israel already gathered, unto whom the nations will\ncome to learn the ways of the Lord.\n\n3. Jer. 3:14; 16:14-16; 31:8-10.\n\n4. Matt. 24:31, as rendered by Joseph the Seer, Pearl of Great Price,\np.78.\n\n5. Ib. Bible, King James' version.\n\n6. 3 Nephi 21.\n\n7. Rev. 14:16; 18:4. See also Deut. 33:17; Psalms 50:5; Ezek. 34:12-14.\n\n8. D. & C. 115:4, 5; 45:9; 64:42.\n\n9. Jacob 5 and 6.\n\n10. D. & C. 110:1-4, 11.\n\n11. Heber C. Kimball, one of the Twelve, was placed at the head of\nthe first foreign mission. He was accompanied by Orson Hyde, Willard\nRichards, and other Elders. Subsequently another apostolic mission,\nheaded by Brigham Young and including a majority of the Twelve, carried\nthe Gospel to all parts of the British Isles.\n\n12. I was once asked by a gentleman, friendly to the Latter-day Saints,\nwhy they did not co-operate with the millionaire philanthropists who\nhave endeavored in recent years to place upon arid lands poor Jews\ntaken out of large cities; but whose efforts, owing to inexperience in\nsuch enterprises, have been more or less futile. My questioner thought\na copartnership between such capitalists and such colonists--one to\nfurnish the money, the other the knowledge and skill necessary for the\nundertaking--might work a splendid result. He added with unction: \"You\ncould stipulate, you know, that every Jew thus colonized should become\na Mormon--and just think how that would build up your Church!\"\n\nThe intent was serious, but the effect was to amuse. It suggested the\nShakespearean court scene, where the Venetian Duke decides that the Jew\nShylock, as part of his punishment for seeking the life of Antonio,\nshall \"presently become a Christian.\" (\"Merchant of Venice,\" Act 4.\nScene 1). As if Christians could be made by judicial decisions or\n\"Mormons\" by contracts for colonization.\n\n13. Talent and genius, brain and brawn, from every part of the world\ncame in the early immigrations to Salt Lake Valley--farmers, laborers,\ntradesmen, mechanics, merchants, manufacturers and business men,\nwith a liberal sprinkling of artists, musicians, writers and other\nprofessional people. \"In their degree the pick and flower of England,\"\nwas the comment passed upon a ship's company of \"Mormon\" emigrants,\nby Charles Dickens, the great English author, in his sketch \"The\nUncommercial Traveler,\" published in 1863.\n\n14. Joshua 21:41\n\n15. Acts 28:22\n\n16. Ezek. 34:14\n\n17. Jer. 16:15; Deut. 33:13-16; Gen. 49:22-26.\n\n18. The work is too vast, too arduous, for any one people to\naccomplish, particularly a people who are a mere handful among earth's\nteeming millions. God, not man, is doing this work, and He is not\nlimited in his choice of instruments to his own covenant people. All\nmen, all nations, knowingly or unknowingly, are playing into his hands.\n\n19. The fact that Arctic explorers have found no such people at the\nNorth Pole--where some theorists have persisted in placing them--does\nnot prove that the \"Ten Tribes\" have lost their identity. It was\ntradition, not revelation, that located them at the North Pole. \"The\nnorth country,\" \"The land of the north,\" these are the scriptural\ndesignations of their unknown abode. All the rest is inference. Those\ntribes could still be intact, and yet much of their blood be found\namong the northern nations. Some of the pilgrims might easily have\nmixed with the people encountered by them while journeying toward their\nultimate destination; and that Ephraim did so mix, Hosea the Prophet\n(7:8) declares.\n\n20. D. & C. 133:26, 27.\n\n21. Ib. 133:29.\n\n22. Ib. vv. 30,32.\n\n23. Isa. 2:3.\n\nIn April 1840, Orson Hyde and John E. Page, both Apostles, were sent\nfrom Illinois on a mission to Palestine, to bless the soil, that its\nbarrenness might depart and the way be opened for the restoration\nof the Jews to their ancient homeland. John E. Page faltered and\nfell by the way, but Orson Hyde accomplished his mission. On the\n24th of October, 1841, from the summit of the Mount of Olives,\noverlooking Jerusalem, he offered to the God of Israel, a fervent\nand eloquent prayer in behalf of his down-trodden people. He blessed\nthe sterile land that in might once more become fruitful, and that\nJudah might repossess his heritage. Elder Hyde afterwards predicted\nthat the British nation would take an active part in the redemption\nof Palestine; a prophecy fulfilled during the World War. In 1872,\nPresident George A. Smith went with a party from Salt Lake City, and\nagain dedicated the Holy Land for the return of the Jews and the\nrebuilding of Jerusalem.\n\n\n\nARTICLE TWENTY-THREE.\n\nThe Zion of Latter Days.\n\nA Work of Preparation.--The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints\nstands for the gathering of the House of Israel and the building of\nthe modern Zion, New Jerusalem, preparatory to the Millennial reign of\nrighteousness. Israel must be gathered, because it is the God of Israel\nwho is coming to reign, and the descendants of Jacob are the only\npeople who have the right to receive him when he appears. And they must\nbecome pure in heart, in order to be worthy of that high privilege.\n\nTo His Own--The Christ is coming to \"his own,\" as he came anciently;\nbut it will not be said again that \"his own received him not.\" They are\neven now preparing to receive him, as fast as circumstances will allow.\nAll of \"Mormonism's\" varied activities--proselyting, migrational,\ncolonizing, commercial, industrial and educational--have this as their\nparamount objective. The Latter-day Saints claim lineal descent from\nthe Hebrew patriarchs. They are literally of the seed of Abraham, Isaac\nand Jacob--mostly through Ephraim, the \"first-born\" in the divine\nprocess of gathering Israel and bringing forth Zion.\n\nThe Ensign Lifted.--It developed upon Joseph Smith, a lineal descendant\nof Joseph of old, to begin, upon the Land of Joseph, the gathering of\nGod's people from the nations. The organization of the Church was the\nsetting up of the prophetic \"Ensign,\" [1] to assemble the outcasts\nof Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four\ncorners of the earth. Joseph lived only long enough to assemble\na portion of the half tribe of Ephraim, to which he belonged; but\nthe work begun by him will go on until all the tribes of Israel are\ngathered, and the way is fully prepared for the blest reign of the King\nof Kings.\n\nPlace and Plan.--The Church, organized on the sixth of April, 1830, was\nless than one year old when it removed from its birth-place, Fayette,\nNew York, to Kirtland, Ohio, where its infancy was cradled. There the\nProphet announced the place for the New Jerusalem and the plan whereby\nthe Holy City was to be established. Western Missouri was the place.\n[2] The plan became known as \"The United Order.\" [3]\n\nThe Pure in Heart.--\"This is Zion--the pure in heart.\" [4] So said\nJoseph Smith. For Zion is not only a place; it is also a people and a\ncondition. \"Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.\" [5]\nThey are the only ones who will be permitted to see Him. Zion the place\nis where Zion the people will assemble for that purpose. In a general\nsense, the whole of America, North and South, is the Land of Zion.\n[6] Specially, Zion, \"the place for the city,\" is in Jackson Country,\nMissouri. [7]\n\nConsecration.--The Zion of old--Enoch's commonwealth--was sanctified\nand translated through obedience to the Law of Consecration, [8] a\nheaven-revealed principle subsequently practiced by the followers of\nChrist, both Jews and Nephites. [9] The modern Zion, \"the perfection of\nbeauty,\" \"the joy of the whole earth,\" [10] is to be brought forth upon\nprecisely the same principle--\"every man seeking the interest of his\nneighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God.\"\n[11]\n\nEquality and Unity.--As a preliminary to the wonderful achievement\nin prospect, the Latter-day Saints were required to consecrate all\ntheir properties to the Lord. This was done, not to enrich any man nor\nany set of men, but to establish equality in material possessions,\nas a prerequisite to the unity and power necessary for the mighty\nundertaking. Equality--not of intelligence and capacity, of course,\nbut of ownership and of opportunity to advance and achieve--this was\nthe purpose in view. The members of the community were to be equal in\nearthly things, that they might be \"equal in obtaining heavenly things.\"\n\nA Celestial Law.--It was a law of the Celestial Kingdom--the Zion of\nEternity--that the Saints were required to obey, to the end that the\nLord's will might be done on earth even as it is done in heaven--that\nEarth might become a heaven, in fact, and they who made it so be\nprepared for \"a place in the celestial world.\" [12]\n\nStewardships.--It was not proposed to take from the people their\npossessions, and demand all their time and service, without making\nample provision for their support. They were not to be pauperized,\nbut enriched, through obedience to God's law. The properties they\nconsecrated--farms, printing offices, mills, work-shops, money,\netc.--were to be returned to them as \"stewardships,\" differing, as\ntalents, aptitudes, and the ability to handle much or little differ,\nbut all to be managed in the interest of the common cause. All earnings\nwere to go into a general fund, from which each steward would derive a\nmaintenance, \"every man according to his wants and his needs, inasmuch\nas his wants are just.\" [13]\n\nFirst Bishops.--The introduction of this system was the occasion for\nthe call of the first Bishops. The men chosen to manage, under the\ndirection of the First Presidency, the temporalities of the United\nOrder, were Edward Partridge and Newel K. Whitney. The former, as\nBishop in Zion, received consecrations, Missouri. The latter officiated\nin a similar capacity at Kirtland, Ohio, the headquarters of a State of\nZion. [14]\n\nAgainst Lawlessness.--The United Order did not encourage lawlessness.\nIt was the very antithesis of anarchy. It stood for law and government,\nfor wise and good government--the government of God for the benefit of\nman. Sounding the death-knell of monopoly, fraud, and the misuse of\npower and privilege, it proposed to do away with class distinctions,\nfounded on pride, vanity and the worship of wealth. It would abolish\nsuch conditions--not by violence, but peacefully and by common consent.\nDoctrine, not dynamite; humility, not self-assertion; love of God\nand fellow man, not hatred and strife, were to effect the desired\nemancipation. Under the benign influence of the Holy Spirit--God's gift\nto all who take upon them his name--envy and greed would give way to\nbrotherly love and mutual helpfulness.\n\nNo Drones in the Hive.--While philanthropic in the highest degree,\nthe United Order was no mere alms-giving concern, no eleemosynary\ninstitution. Every member of the community was expected to work, to\ndo that for which he or she might best be fitted. There were to be\nno drones in the hive, no idleness eating the bread of industry.\nEmployment for all, a place for everything and everything in its\nplace--such was the ideal of this social-religious organization. It\nstood, in short, for justice and fair-dealing, with every man in the\nsecure possession and full enjoyment of his own. Out of the righteous\nunity resulting from this ideal condition, was to come the power to\nbuild up Zion and prepare the way of the Lord.\n\nWhy the Ideal Was Not Realized.--The United Order was not permanently\nestablished; nor did its original workings long continue. Selfishness\nwithin, and persecution without, were the two-fold cause. The Church,\ndriven from place to place, found it impracticable, with an imperfect\nacceptance by its members of the Law of Consecration, to bring forth\nZion at that early day. The great event, however, was only postponed.\nThe realization of the ideal is still in prospect.\n\nThe Jackson County Expulsion--An attempt to rear the New Jerusalem was\nmade in the summer of 1831, a colony approximating fifteen hundred\nmen, women and children, settling for that purpose in Jackson County,\nMissouri, [15] upon lands purchased from the Federal Government.\nGround was consecrated, and a City laid out, including the site for a\nTemple. But a lack of the perfect unity necessary on the part of those\nselected for this sacred task, prevented its accomplishment at that\ntime. \"There were jarrings and contentions, and envyings and strifes,\nand lustful and covetous desires among them; therefore, by these things\nthey polluted their inheritances.\" [16] Forewarned by the Prophet of\nwhat would result if these evils were not corrected, the colonists did\nnot as a whole pay sufficient heed to the admonition, and the Lord\npermitted their enemies to come upon them and drive them from \"the\ngoodly land.\"\n\nPersecuted and Persecutors.--The Jackson County colonists, whatever\ntheir faults, were superior to the people who mobbed them and drove\nthem from their homes, misinterpreting their motives and falsely\naccusing them of unfriendly acts or intentions toward the earlier\nsettlers. The persecuted were better than the persecutors; but not good\nenough to completely carry out the high and holy purposes of Deity. It\nwas in the autumn of 1833 that the \"Mormon\" colony was expelled from\nJackson County. [17]\n\nZion Not Moved.--Then, and at a later period, when similar and\nworse mobbings and drivings had taken place, those who committed or\ncountenanced the outrages were wont to say mockingly: \"Whenever the\nMormons are driven from one Zion, their Prophet gets a revelation\nappointing Zion somewhere else.\" How utterly unfounded this assertion,\nis best told in the language of a revelation given a few weeks after\nthe Jackson County expulsion. Therein the Lord says:\n\n\"Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children\nare scattered;\n\n\"They that remain, and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to\ntheir inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting\njoy, to build up the waste places of Zion. . . . .\n\n\"And, behold there is none other place appointed than that which I have\nappointed; neither shall there be any other place appointed . . . .\nfor the work of the gathering of my saints,\n\n\"Until the day cometh when there is found no more room for them; and\nthen I have other places which I will appoint unto them, and they shall\nbe called stakes, for the curtains or the strength of Zion.\" [18]\n\nStakes of Zion.--Hear it, ye Gentiles! Hear it, O House of Israel!\nJackson County, Missouri, is the chosen site for the City of Zion. No\nother place has been or will be appointed for that purpose. All other\ngathering places for God's people are Stakes of Zion, holding the\noutside cords and curtains of the spiritual Tabernacle of the Lord.\n\nZion's first Stake was at Kirtland, Ohio; and other stakes were\norganized in Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa. All these have been\nabandoned; but many others, since established, now flourish in the\nregion of the Rocky Mountains. There was no stake organization in\nJackson County, though that part is sometimes referred to as \"The\nCenter Stake.\" Zion is there, or will yet be there--the very City of\nGod; but no Stake of Zion. [19]\n\nIn Abeyance.--Zion is greater than any of her Stakes. It will require\nthe Law of Consecration to bring forth Zion; while a lesser law\nsuffices for the creation of stakes, When the building up of Zion was\npostponed, the Law of Consecration was suspended, and the United Order\nwent into abeyance. Then was introduced the Law of Tithing, [20] a law\nadapted to the undeveloped condition of the Church. Since that time\nthe work of founding and maintaining Stakes of Zion, preparatory to\nthe coming forth of Zion proper, has engrossed the attention of the\ngathered children of Ephraim.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Isa. 11:12.\n\n2. D. & C. 45:64-71; 57:1-4.\n\n3. Ib. 104:48.\n\n4. Ib. 97:21.\n\n5. Matt. 5:8.\n\n6. Hist. Ch. Vol. 6 pp. 318, 319.\n\n7. D. & C. 57:2.\n\n8. Moses 7:18-21.\n\n9. Acts 4:32-35; 4 Nephi 1:2, 3.\n\n10. Psalms 50:2, 48:2.\n\n11. D. & C. 82:19.\n\n12. Ib. 78:5-7.\n\n13. D. & C. 82:17\n\n14. Ib. 41:9; 72:8\n\n15. D. & C. 45:64-71.\n\n16. Ib. 101 :6.\n\n17. Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, pp. 390, 426.\n\n18. D. & C. 101:17, 18, 0, 1; 115:6.\n\n19. Zion, in sacred writ, is symbolized by a tent or portable\ntabernacle, such as the Israelites carried with them in the Wilderness.\nEvidently it was the custom then, as it is now, when setting up a\ntent, to drive stakes and fasten cords thereto--cords stretched from\nthe tent, to make it firm and secure. Hence the phrase: \"Lengthen\nthy cords and strengthen thy stakes,\" a metaphor applied to Zion by\nthe Prophet Isaiah. (54:2; 33:20). When a tent is erected, no center\nstake is driven; it would be in the way--an obstacle to stumble over.\nFiguratively and in a larger sense, the same would be true of a Center\nStake of Zion. There is no need for such a thing, and it would spoil\nthe symbolism of the picture.\n\n20. D. & C. 119.\n\n\n\nARTICLE TWENTY-FOUR.\n\nRedemption by Power.\n\nTo Redeem Zion.--The failure of the Latter-day Saints, through lack of\nunity and obedience, to build up Zion in Jackson County, has been dwelt\nupon. It remains to tell of an effort to \"redeem Zion,\" to reinstate\nthe plundered people upon the lands of which they had been unlawfully\nand violently dispossessed. This effort was put forth early in the year\n1834, when an expendition was organized in Ohio for that purpose.\n\nThe Zion's Camp Expendition.--So was it styled. The Camp consisted of\ntwo hundred and five men, led by Joseph Smith in person, and including\nquite a number of Elders subsequently called to positions of high\nprominence in the Church. The expendition failed of its object--its\navowed object--for reasons similar to those which had caused the\nexpulsion from Jackson County. Disobedience and rebellion on the part\nof some members of the Camp, and the continued disregard, by many\nof the exiles, of the divine requirements made of them, prevented\ntheir restoration to the homes and possessions of which they had been\ndespoiled.\n\nA Want of Preparedness.--Zion might have been redeemed, even at that\nearly day, had the redemptive machinery been ready and in condition to\ndo the necessary work. [1] But such a condition did not exist. \"Gather\nup the strength of my house,\" the Lord had said concerning those upon\nwhom he proposed to lay the sacred duty of Zion's redemption. But \"the\nstrength\" of his \"house\" did not hearken to the appeal, [2] and the few\nwho enrolled themselves as members of that historic band were not all\ntrained for the task nor equal to the trials that lay before them.\n\n\"The Redemption of Zion Must Needs Come by Power.\" [3]--So spake the\nDivine Oracle. But \"power dwells in unity, not in discord; in humility,\nnot in pride; in sacrifice, not selfishness; in obedience, not\nrebellion.\" [4] Had all the Jackson County colonists borne this in mind\nand practiced accordingly, no such catastrophe as that which occurred\nwould have befallen them. And if all who went to their relief had acted\nconsistently with the same righteous principle, they would have escaped\nthe tribulation that came upon them as a chastisement.\n\nTransgression the Cause.--The failure to build the New Jerusalem was\ndue to transgression; [5] in other words, to a lack of preparedness on\nthe part of those selected for the sacred undertaking. Had the players\nbeen ready, the play could have been staged and presented. But nothing\ncould compensate for the absence of readiness on their part. There is\nno substitute for the qualities that men and women must possess who are\nchosen for so exalted an enterprise.\n\nAll Not Responsible.--All members of the Church were not responsible\nfor the Jackson County failure; [6] but all had to share in the\nconsequences entailed. The strength of a chain is proverbially\nthe strength of its weakest link, and the general average of the\nnewly-formed and inexperienced community was not high enough to justify\na better outcome.\n\nNot a Complete Failure.--The Camp of Zion did not utterly fail.\nIndeed, there are good reasons for believing that it accomplished\neverything expected of it under the circumstances. And if this be true\nof the members of the Camp, it is also true of those whose relief and\nreinstatement were the announced purpose of the expedition.\n\nAll Things Foreseen.--At all events, what occurred must have been\nforeseen. Divine prescience extends to all things connected with the\nLord's work. When He commanded his people to build the New Jerusalem,\nhe knew how much, or how little, they were capable of accomplishing in\nthat direction--knew it just as well before as he did after. Such a\nthing as surprise or disappointment on his part is inconceivable. An\nall-wise, all-powerful Being who has created, peopled, redeemed and\nglorified \"millions of earths like this,\" [7] is not one to be astounded by\nanything that happens on our little planet. [8]\n\nThe Time Not Ripe.--The All-knowing One knew in advance what those\nZion-builders would do, or leave undone, and he shaped his plans\naccordingly. Evidently the time was not ripe for Zion's redemption. The\nproof is in the trespasses committed by them against the divine laws\nordained for their government.\n\nA Season of Waiting.--\"In consequence of the transgression of my\npeople, it is expedient in me that mine Elders should wait for a little\nseason for the redemption of Zion.\" So came the voice of the Lord to\nZion's Camp, on Fishing River, Missouri. But this word of comfort came\nwith it: \"I have heard their prayers and will accept their offerings;\nand it is expedient in me that they should be brought thus far for a\ntrial of their faith.\" [9]\n\n\"A Trial of Their Faith.\"--Such then, was the real purpose of the call\nfor that expendition. More was not expected of the members of Zion's\nCamp, than a manifestation of willingness to do all that the Lord might\nrequire of them.\n\nNo Endowments.--Another proof that Zion's redemption was not intended\nfor that time, is found in another part of the same revelation: \"And\nthis cannot be brought to pass until mine elders are endowed with\npower from on high.\" [10] Take note that the Church had no \"endowments\"\nin 1834. There was no Temple that early, and the sacred ritual of\nthe House of God, even if revealed to the Prophet, had not been made\nknown to the people. Whether this was the endowment referred to in the\nrevelation, or whether it meant something else, it is evident that the\nblessing spoken of was in the future. [11]\n\nZion could not be redeemed until the Elders were \"endowed with power\nfrom on High.\" And yet these same Elders, unendowed, had been sent\nforth to redeem Zion! Surely, the Lord did not design it then to be.\nElse would He not have endowed them beforehand? This admitted, and\nwhat becomes of their \"failure?\" They were blameworthy for their\ndisobedience, but surely not for their failure to do what could not be\ndone by men unendowed and consequently not equal to the undertaking.\n\nLeft to the Future.--Zion was not redeemed in that dav for precisely\nsimilar reasons to those which kept ancient Israel wandering for forty\nyears in the Wilderness, almost within sight of their coveted Canaan,\nwhich they were not permitted in that generation to possess. [12]\nLike Moses, these modern pilgrims beheld, as from Pisgah's top, their\npromised land. Like Moses, on account of transgression, they were not\npermitted to \"cross over.\" There were Calebs and Joshuas in the Camp\nwho were worthy; but the great event, in the wisdom of the Highest, was\nnot destined then to be. It was left for a future generation and its\nJoshua to go up in the might of the Lord and redeem Zion. [13]\n\n\"With a Stretched Out Arm.\"--The Lord made it plain to His people that\nthey must prepare themselves for the great things awaiting them. Before\nthey could hope to accomplish their glorious destiny, they must become\nmighty, not only in numbers and material influence, but morally and\nspiritually mighty--mighty by the power of God, descending upon them\nas an endowment from on High. [14] When ready to redeem Zion, the way\nwould be prepared for them, angels and even the Divine Presence going\non before. They were not to use violence to secure their rights. God\nwould fight their battles. They were \"the children of Israel, and of\nthe seed of Abraham,\" and \"must needs be led out of bondage by power\nand with a stretched out arm.\" [15]\n\nTried and Proven.--From the ranks of the survivors of Zion's\nCamp--decimated by cholera while on its way to Jackson County--were\nchosen the first Twelve Apostles and the first quorums of Seventy in\nthis dispensation. [16] These men were deemed reliable. They had been\nput to the test, and had endured valiantly The trial of their faith was\ncomplete.\n\nNigh at Hand.--When will end the \"little season\" of waiting? When will\nthe day of Zion's redemption dawn? I know not; but this I know. That\nday is rapidly approaching. The Order of Unity and Equality, involving\nthe consecration, not only of properties, but also of hearts and hands,\nwill yet be established and perpetuated. It must be, for Zion cannot be\nbuilt up without it: [17] and until there is a Zion on Earth, the Lord,\nthe King of Kings, will not come.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. D. & C. 105:2.\n\n2. Ib. 103:30; 105:16.\n\n3. D. & C. 103:15.\n\n4. \"Life of Heber C. Kimball,\" p.77.\n\n5. D. & C. 105:2, 9.\n\n6. Ib. 105:7.\n\n7. Moses 7:30.\n\n8. Some may question this assertion, and point to the passage, \"It\nrepented God that he had made man\" (Gen. 6:6), as an instances of\ndivine disappointment. But it should be borne in mind that makers\nof Scripture, like all wise teachers, adapt their language to the\ncomprehension of those whom they teach, speaking that they \"may\nnaturally understand\" (D. & C. 29:34; 19:6-12). Whatever the dead\nletter may seem to say, God is not man, that He should \"repent\"\n(1 Sam. 15:29), or fail to foresee how his creatures will conduct\nthemselves. It was Noah, not God, who \"repented,\" in the case now under\nconsideration.--Moses 8:25.\n\n9. D. & C. 105:9, 19.\n\n10. Ib. v. 11.\n\n11. Ib. v. 18.\n\n12. Compare Article Eighteen, paragraph \"A Period of Preparation.\"\n\n13. D. & C. 103:16.\n\n14. Ib. 105:11.\n\n15. Ib. 103:17.\n\n16. Hist. Ch. Vol. 2, pp. 180, 201.\n\n17. D. & C. 105:5.\n\n\n\nARTICLE TWENTY-FIVE.\n\nClearing the Way.\n\n\"I Will Fight Your Battles.\"--In a revelation, already cited, given\nthrough Joseph the Seer while Zion's Camp was resting on Fishing River,\nthe Lord says concerning the Elders of his Church:\n\n\"I do not require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion; for, as\nI said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfill. I will fight\nyour battles.\"\n\n\"Behold, the destroyer I have sent forth to destroy and lay waste mine\nenemies; and not many years hence they shall not be left to pollute\nmine heritage and to blaspheme my name upon the lands which I have\nconsecrated for the gathering together of my Saints.\" [1]\n\nWar and Deity.--There are many good people who believe that anything\nof a war-like character, anything involving violence and bloodshed, is\nwholly incompatible with the benign disposition and benevolent purposes\nof Deity. According to their view, God has nothing to do with wars.\nFrom first to last they are the work of the Evil One, moving upon\nwicked men to stir up strife for selfish and sordid ends. Everything\npeaceful and pleasant comes from him who is the Prince of Peace;\neverything of an opposite nature, and especially war, that prolific\nsource of misery and sorrow, is due entirely to the Adversary. It is\nall well meant, of course, the object being to forefend Deity against\nthe reproach that these good people fear would lie at his door, if it\nwere admitted that he had even a share in what they conceive to be\nan unmixt evil, a thing absolutely wrong and unjustifiable. But how\ncan such views be reconciled with divine revelation and the history\nof God's dealings with man? If war is always wicked, and destruction\never at variance with the will and purposes of Providence, how are we\nto understand such passages of scripture as the foregoing, wherein\nJehovah, who is no other than Jesus, the meek and merciful, assures\nhis servants that he will fight their battles, and assumes full\nresponsibility for sending forth the destroyer to lay waste his enemies\nand theirs?\n\nPrince of Peace and Lord of Hosts.--The problem, seemingly complex,\nis in reality simple and easy of solution. There are two sides to the\nDivine Character, two distinct and differing phases of God's dealings\nwith mortals. The Lion as well as the Lamb plays a part in the stirring\ndrama of human progress. The same perfect Being who counseled patience,\ncharity, and the turning of \"the other cheek,\" sternly rebuked\nhypocrisy, denounced wickedness in unmeasured terms, and with wrathful\nspeech and thong of knotted cords, drove the thieving moneychangers\nfrom the Temple. \"Blessed are the merciful,\" said the Author of the\nBeatitudes. [2] \"Love your enemies,\" enjoined the Redeemer of the\nWorld. [3] But already He had proclaimed: \"Vengeance is mine--I will\nrepay;\" [4] and that high decree has never been revoked. Jehovah is\nboth Prince of Peace and Lord of Hosts, the God of Sabaoth. These are\namong the titles belonging to him. Why are they his, if he has nothing\nto do with war--if such things are independently and exclusively the\nwork of Satan?\n\nProvidence Over All.--The student of this problem must not lose sight\nof the fact that Satan's sphere, like man's, is limited. Neither can do\nmore than the Most High is willing should be done; and his willingness\nextends only to such things as contribute, ultimately if not\nimmediately, to the carrying out of his beneficent designs. The Book of\nJob is very plain upon this point. Only so far as the Almighty would\npermit, and it was deemed wise for that righteous man to be afflicted,\nin order to test his integrity, further develop the excellence of his\ncharacter, and endow future ages with a deathless example of godlike\npatience--only so far was Satan allowed to go. He seemed to be having\nhis own way with Job, and up to a certain mark did have it; but nothing\nbeyond. The Lord had his way. Whatever he bade Satan not to do. Satan\nhad to leave undone.\n\nThe Uses of Adversity.--Job's case is a reminder of the fact that\nthe wicked can be used as a means of developing and improving the\nrighteous, or of chastising and correcting people better than\nthemselves. The painful experiences of the Latter-day. Saints furnish\nmany cases in point. In Missouri, for instance, they were the victims\nof atrocious wrongs. They had done nothing, so far as their fellow\nmen were concerned, to justify the cruel treatment meted out to them.\nBut the Lord, in order to chasten his people and teach them wholesome\nlessons that they needed to learn, allowed their enemies to drive and\ndespoil them. [5]\n\nDivinity Always Supreme.--Despite all appearances to the contrary,\nthe Divine Will reigns supreme. To conclude otherwise is to mentally\ndethrone Deity, and allow that Evil is stronger than Good. God is above\nSatan, and holds him in leash. [6]\n\nDestruction Essential.--We are not to suppose, however, that the Lord\ndelights in war--that He prefers it to peace; or that he would have\naught to do with strife and devastation, if his good and wise purposes\ncould always be accomplished by other and milder means. But if strife\nbecomes necessary, and destruction essential, as when an old building\nis torn down to make room for a new one, and if the All-wise be the\ndoer or director of the deed, who can question its rightfulness? \"Shall\nthe axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or shall the\nsaw magnify itself against him that shaketh it?\" [7]\n\nWars Decreed.--\"I have sworn in my wrath and decreed wars upon the\nface of the earth, and the wicked shall slay the wicked.\" [8] So says\nthe Almighty to his servant Joseph. And there lies the problem in a\nnutshell. God has \"decreed wars\"--decreed them for a purpose. Human\niniquity brings down divine retribution, and the wicked are permitted\nto slay one another--partly as a punishment for their sins, but mainly\nto help clear the way for a higher and better order of things.\n\nJust and Unjust Wars.--Michael and the Dragon.--Some wars are righteous\nand just; others wrong and unjust. All depends upon the purpose for\nwhich they are waged, and whether or not the Lord sanctions them. All\nunrighteous wars are the work of Satan and his minions. But all wars\nare not unrighteous. When Michael and his angels fought against the\nDragon, and overcame him, [9] surely the fight was a righteous one on\nMichael's part. As for the provocation--that springs another question.\nIt is undoubtedly true that there would have been no \"war in heaven,\"\nif Lucifer had not rebelled; but, having rebelled, he had to be put\ndown, and a righteous war was waged for that purpose. The conduct of\nthose who make such wars necessary, is not to be compared with the acts\nof those who rise up to vindicate right and vanquish wrong.\n\nAgnostic Arguments.--Joshua's conquest of Canaan--let us consider\nthat. [10] Agnostic writers, taking the view that all such wars are\nwicked, affect to regard this event as a grave crime. They brand Joshua\nas a murderer, and charge Jehovah with being a violator of his own\nstatutes--a greater murderer, in short, who, after punishing the first\nslayer of his fellow man, the fratricidal Cain, [11] and laying down\nthe law to Noah, \"Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood\nbe shed.\" [12]--emphasizing it later with the commandment, \"Thou shalt\nnot kill\" [13]--directed the general of his armies to commit wholesale\nslaughter and extermination. Therefore was he a murderer and a\nlawbreaker. Such is the logic of Robert G. Ingersoll and other writers\nof his class.\n\nAnd what a wretched piece of sophistry it is. How utterly shallow\nand vain. As if the Giver of life could not take back what he had\ngiven--the right to it having been forfeited--without committing a\ncrime! As if the Author and Ruler of the universe could not repeal or\nsuspend one of his own enactments, without being a law-breaker! Think\nof it: Colonel Ingersoll, an experienced lawyer, a practitioner and\ndevotee of the science of jurisprudence, denying to the great Law-Giver\na right inherent in and exercised by the humblest legislative body on\nearth! To such illogical extremes will men go, when they presume to\npass judgment upon Providence.\n\nThe Case of the Canaanites.--Joshua's war upon the Canaanites was a\njust war, designed to rid the earth of a corrupt generation, which\nhad forfeited its right to longer remain, encumbering the soil,\nparticularly that part which the Creator and Owner of the planet had\ngiven to a worthier people. Jehovah's command to clear the ground upon\nwhich he proposed erecting a national structure that should stand\nas a temple of wisdom and light for the welfare of all succeeding\ngenerations, did not impinge upon any command of his previously given.\nNeither is the Divine One amenable to human judgment. \"Thou shalt not\nkill\" was a commandment _from_ God, not to him. His word is superior\nto all human enactments and to all man's notions of right and wrong.\nThe war waged by Joshua and the hosts of Israel against the wicked and\nusurping Canaanites was in every respect justifiable, so far as it was\nconducted according to Jehovah's command. [14]\n\n\"The King Can Do No Wrong.\"--This proverb, when used by corrupt rulers\nto justify and cloak their crimes, is flagrantly false and pernicious.\nWhen applied to the King of Heaven, it is eminently and unquestionably\ntrue. The Author of life can send forth the destroyer and lay waste his\nenemies, without blood-guiltiness or even the shadow of wrong-doing.\nHe can decree wars, and allow the wicked to slay the wicked, without\npartaking of their evil deeds or making himself responsible for their\ndemon-inspired atrocities. These must all be accounted for at the bar\nof Eternal Justice.\n\nThe American Revolution.--It was not Satan who caused the heroic\nstruggle of the American colonies, giving them power to win their\nfreedom and independence, to the end that a nation might arise upon\nthis chosen soil with a mission to foster and protect the infant and\ngrowing Church of Christ. That was a righteous war, and the divine\ninspiration for it rested upon the Patriot Fathers, [15] who, at the\nhazard of their lives, signed the immortal Declaration, and drew their\nswords to defend and perpetuate that sublime annunciation of liberty\nand equal rights.\n\nThe World War.--So with the great war that over-threw the German\nKaiser, putting an end to the wicked strife that he was waging. It was\na righteous against an unrighteous exertion of military force. What\nbetter motive could a nation have than that which actuated the American\npeople in sending forth their armies and navies to check the on-rushing\nhordes that were bent upon crushing freedom and setting an iron heel\non the neck of the world? It was a holy war, so far as America was\nconcerned; and a just war, a war of self-defense, on the part of her\nassociated powers. The God of Justice was in it for the welfare of\nhumanity. Who can doubt that He upheld and sustained the arms of those\nwho carried it to a victorious conclusion? And if the result shall be\neven a partial clearing of the way for the introduction or further\nspread of Liberty's Perfect Law among spiritually benighted nations,\nthe mightiest and costliest of earth's conflicts will not have been in\nvain.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. D. & C. 105:14, 15.\n\n2. Matt. 5:7.\n\n3. Ib. 5:44; Luke 6:27, 35.\n\n4. Rom. 12:19; Deut. 32:35.\n\n5. Job saw the matter in a clear light (2:10). He did not charge Deity\nwith the authorship of evil--evil as well as good being self-existent.\nHe knew that God is a hater of iniquity (Psalms 45:7; Heb. 1:9); but\nhe also knew that evil is controlled by the divine ruler and made\ntributary to the success of his plans. Therefore he did what all should\ndo--he acknowledged the hand of the Lord in all things, in adversity as\nwell as prosperity.\n\n6. President Woodruff, in his Brigham City address, June 24, 1894,--an\naddress already cited in these pages--speaks thus of the Latter-day\njudgments: \"God has held the angels of destruction for many years, lest\nthey should reap down the wheat with the tares. But I want to tell\nyou now, that these angels have left the portals of Heaven, and they\nstand over this people and this nation now, waiting to pour out the\njudgments.\"\n\n7. Isa. 10:15.\n\n8. D. & C. 63:33.\n\n9. Rev. 12:7-9.\n\n10. Joshua 1-12.\n\n11. Gen. 4:11, 12.\n\n12. Ib. 9:6.\n\n13. Ex. 20:13.\n\n14. The same may be said of Israel's war upon the Amalekites, in the\ndays of King Saul, and of similar wars undertaken by \"the armies of the\nliving God,\" heaven-directed and divinely empowered. Samuel's hewing\nof Agag \"in pieces before the Lord,\" was not a crime, but an act of\njustice, a righteous retribution upon an unrighteous ruler, whose sword\nhad \"made women childless.\"--1 Sam. 15:33.\n\n15. 1 Nephi 13:16-19.\n\n\n\nARTICLE TWENTY-SIX.\n\nGod's Hand Upon the Nations.\n\nCompelling Situations.--The Lord will force no man to Heaven, nor\npermit Satan to force any man to Hell. Human agency remains inviolate.\nBut while there is no such thing in the Gospel of Christ as compulsion,\nin the sense of fettering man's free will, there is such a thing as\na compelling situation, the creating of conditions and shaping of\ncircumstances that have often influenced men to do, of their own\nvolition, what they would not have done if the situation had not\nchanged, if such conditions and circumstances had not arisen.\n\nA simple illustration is furnished in the old-time anecdote of the\nboy up the farmer's apple tree--refusing to come down when kindly\nrequested; persisting in his refusal when sharply reprimanded and\na handful of turf thrown; but, when pelted with stones, scrambling\ndown in a hurry--of his own accord. That is my idea of a compelling\nsituation; the offender retaining his freedom, exercising his right of\nchoice, but yielding to force of circumstances, and changing his mind\nfor his own behoof.\n\n\"There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough hew them as we will.\"\n\nThe Parable of the Supper.--Force, indirect compulsion, applied without\ninfringing upon man's agency, is undoubtedly an element of the divine\neconomy. What else is the meaning of the Savior's parable in which he\nlikens the Kingdom of Heaven to a feast?\n\n\"A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:\n\n\"And! sent his servant at supper-time, to say to them that were bidden,\nCome, for all things are now ready.\n\n\"And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said\nunto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see\nit: I pray thee have me excused.\n\n\"And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove\nthem: I pray thee have me excused.\n\n\"And another said. I have married a wife: and therefore I cannot come.\n\n\"So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the\nmaster of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly\ninto the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor,\nand the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.\n\n\"And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet\nthere is room.\n\n\"And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and\nhedges, and _compel_ them to come in, that my house may be filled.\" [1]\n\nThe inference is, that they were \"compelled to come in,\" but not\nagainst their own freedom of choice.\n\nFishers and Hunters.--The God of Israel has set his hand to gather his\nelect and prepare the world for the sanctifying reign of righteousness.\nHe will accomplish what he has undertaken, using for that purpose\nevery means consistent and available. Christ died to save the souls\nof men, and save them He will--by mild measures whenever these will\navail; but by stern methods, if necessary, after the mild have proved\nineffectual. First, the \"fishers,\" with gentle, kind persuasion. Then\nthe \"hunters\"--war, commotion and destruction. Such is the divine\nprogram. [2]\n\nThe Day of Wrath--A Refuge From the Storm.--Joseph the Seer prophesied\nthat war would \"be poured out upon all nations.\" Zion, the pure in\nheart, are to \"be the only people that shall not be at war one with\nanother.\" [3] \"And it shall come to pass, among the wicked, that every\nman that will not take his sword against his neighbor, must needs flee\nunto Zion for safety.\" [4] To provide against these and other perils,\nthe Church of Christ was founded--\"a standard for the nations,\" \"that\nthe gathering together upon the land of Zion and upon her stakes,\"\nmight be \"for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from\nwrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole\nearth.\" [5]\n\nOther Judgments.--But war is not the only expression of divine wrath.\nThe strife of nation against nation is but one of many turmoils that\nthe last days are destined to witness. Epidemics of sickness are to\nplay a part in the great retribution. [6] John on Patmos heard a voice\nfrom Heaven say: \"Come out of her, my people, that ye receive not of\nher plagues.\" [7] Through Joseph in America, the same dread oracle\nproclaimed \"a desolating scourge,\" that \"shall go forth among the\ninhabitants of the earth, and shall continue to be poured out from\ntime to time if they repent not, until the earth is empty and the\ninhabitants thereof are consumed away and utterly destroyed by the\nbrightness of my coming.\" [8]\n\nDivine Participation.--And who, after reading what follows, can doubt\ndivine participation in these troubles:\n\n\"For I the Almighty have laid my hand upon the nations to scourge them\nfor their wickedness; and plagues shall go forth, and they shall not be\ntaken from the earth until I have completed my work, which shall be cut\nshort in righteousness. Until all shall know me, who remain, even from\nthe least unto the greatest, and shall be filled with the knowledge of\nthe Lord and shall see eye to eye.\" [9]\n\nAfter Testimony, Indignation.--The Lord's servants were \"to go forth\namong the Gentiles for the last time,\" \"to bind up the law and seal up\nthe testimony,\" and \"prepare the Saints for the hour of judgment.\"\n\n\"And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people.\n\n\"For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes that\nshall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the\nground and shall not be able to stand.\n\n\"And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings and the\nvoice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the\nwaves of the sea, heaving themselves beyond their bounds.\n\n\"And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men's hearts shall\nfail them; for fear shall come upon all people.\" [10]\n\nAgain: \"The earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man;\nand the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light, and\nthe moon shall be bathed in blood, and the stars shall become exceeding\nangry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from off a\nfig tree.\" [11]\n\nThe Question of Cause.--Who will cause these terrible calamities? Not\nman--that is certain; though his conduct may justify them. Men can\nstir up strife and precipitate war. They can even bring pestilence\nand famine. But they cannot stir up tempests and earthquakes, cause\nwhirl winds and tidal-waves, or govern the action of sun, moon and\nstars. These, with other convulsions of nature, no less than war,\nfamine and pestilence, are among God's judgments upon the workers of\niniquity. Satan, \"prince of the powers of the air,\" may be immediately\nresponsible for these fearful disturbances; [12] but he can do only\nwhat he is permitted to do by the All-just and All-merciful, who looses\nhim or holds him in check.\n\nThe Divine Purpose.--And what is the purpose--the ultimate purpose\nof it all? Destruction? No, a thousand times no, except in so far as\ndestruction must at times precede reconstruction, and is necessary\nto preserve what is worth preserving. The world's welfare is the\nobject in view. God's wrath, however fiercely it burns, is not\ncomparable to petty human anger. His work and his glory is \"to bring\nto pass the immortality and eternal life of man,\" [13] and if, in the\nprocess, He uses the powers of destruction, as well as the powers of\nconstruction--for \"all power\" is his, \"in heaven and in earth\" [14]--it\nis because such a course has become necessary and is for the best.\nHowever severe his chastisements, we can rest assured of this: Hatred\nof humanity has no place in the heart of Him who \"so loved the world\"\nthat he \"gave his Only Begotten Son\" to save it from eternal damnation.\n\nWhy Calamities Come.--Calamities do not come up on the world merely\nto scourge the wicked and avenge the wrongs of the righteous. The\nprimal aim of Divine Punishment is to purify, and if possible save\nthose upon whom the \"Great Avenger\" lays a chastening hand. The object\nis to bring sinners to repentance, to throw down the barriers that\nprevent men from coming to Christ, and turn into the upward path those\nbent upon pursuing the downward road. The Gospel saves all who are\nwilling to be saved, and who show their willingness by their obedience,\ntheir faith by their works. It also aims to save the unwilling and\ndisobedient--here if possible, and if not here, then hereafter. Wars\nand other woes are sent to put a stop to men's evil practices, lest\nthey add sin to sin and pile up guilt to their greater condemnation.\nTo be swept off the earth and ministered to in the spirit world, is\nnot the worst fate that can befall the wicked. Omnipotence wields the\npowers of destruction in such a way as to make of them instruments of\nsalvation. It may seem cruel, but in reality it is kind.\n\nSafety With The Priesthood.--The Almighty does not hurl the shafts\nof affliction against the righteous, especially against helpless\ninnocence; but in pursuance of his benevolent designs, and to effect\nthe greatest good to the greatest number, He permits the destroyer to\nexercise his agency in a world where good and bad, old and young, all\nclasses and all qualities, dwell. Some of the woes thus launched fall\npartly upon the choicest of God's children, unless faith be there--as\ndoubtless He intends--faith and the power of the Priesthood, to\nintervene for their preservation. \"The just shall live by faith,\" it\nis written, and the Priesthood is a shield to those who bear it and to\nthose who honor its possessors. [15]\n\nThe Chastening of the Lord.--\"My son,\" says the ancient Wise Man,\n\"despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his\ncorrection: For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth; even as a father\nthe son in whom he delighteth.\" [16] Bearing in mind this sapient\nadmonition, let us not be doubtful of the Divine Purpose in sending\nforth the destroyer, whether in the shape of war, pestilence and\nfamine, partly caused by human agency; or in earthquakes, cyclones, and\nother fierce convulsions, over which man has absolutely no control.\nThey are all phases of \"The Battle of the Great God,\" [17] intent upon\nclearing the way for the coming of the Perfect One, bringing order out\nof chaos, overthrowing wrong and establishing right, to the end that\nthe human race may be permanently blest and the righteous possess in\npeace the heritage prepared for them from the foundation of the world.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Luke 14:16-23.\n\n2. Jer. 16:16.\n\n3. D. & C. 87:2.\n\n4. Ib. 45:68, 69.\n\n5. Ib. 115:4-6.\n\n6. Ib. 45:31. \"An overflowing scourge--a desolating sickness,\" to\n\"cover the land.\"\n\n7. Rev. 18:4.\n\n8. D. & C. 5:19.\n\n9. D. & C. 84:96-98.\n\n10. Ib. 88:88-91.\n\n11. Ib. 88:87.\n\n12. Job 1:19.\n\n13. Moses 1:39.\n\n14. Matt. 28:18.\n\n15. Said President Woodruff, in his address upon the judgments: \"Can\nyou tell me where the people are who will be shielded and protected\nfrom these great calamities? I'll tell you: The priesthood of God who\nhonor their priesthood, and who are worthy of their blessings. . . . .\nNo other people have a right to be shielded from these judgments. They\nare at our very doors; not even this people will escape them entirely.\nThey will come down like the judgments of Sodom and Gomorrah, and none\nbut the priesthood will be safe from their fury.\"\n\nThe President meant, no doubt, to include in this reference those who\nfollow the servants of the Lord and are guided by their counsels. He\nwas speaking to a general congregation, and said, in addition to the\nwords just quoted: \"If you do your duty, and do my duty, we shall have\nprotection, and shall pass through the afflictions in peace and safety.\"\n\n16. Prov. 3:12.\n\n17. D. & C. 88:114.\n\n\n\nARTICLE TWENTY-SEVEN.\n\nThe Consummation.\n\n  Time, mighty daughter of Eternity!\n  Mother of ages and of aeons past!\n  Assemble now thy children at thy side,\n  And ere thou diest teach them to be one.\n  Link to its link rebind the broken chain\n  Of dispensations, glories, keys and powers,\n  From Adam's fall unto Messiah's reign--\n  A thousand years of rest, a day with God,\n  While Shiloh reigns, and Kolob once revolves. [1]\n\nGathering the Gatherers.--The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times is\ndistinctively a gathering dispensation. But it stands for more--far\nmore than the assembling of the dispersed House of Israel. It is the\nspiritual harvest-time of all the ages, the long-heralded Era of\nRestitution, [2] when the great Garnerer of \"all things in Christ\" will\nreveal himself in power and glory, and place the capstone on the temple\nof heaven-inspired human achievement. The gathering of Israel is only\nthe preface to the book, only the prologue to the play. The gathering\nof the gatherers--such is the meaning of the preliminary work now in\nprogress, a work in which Gods, angels and men have joined.\n\nThe Final Development.--This great era of restoration was made\nnecessary by the departure of the Christian word from the faith\ndelivered to the former-day Saints. But that is not its full\nsignificance. In accordance with the foreknowledge of God, and in\nconsonance with his sublime, far-reaching purposes, this vast,\nall-comprehending period was foreordained from the beginning as the\nfinal development of the Divine Plan--\"the winding-up scene\" of the\nCreator's work pertaining to this planet. [3]\n\nAll in One.--Joseph the Seer, referring to this mighty dispensation,\nand the object for which it was \"ushered in\" says:\n\n\"It is necessary . . . . that a whole and complete and perfect union\nand welding-together of dispensations and keys and powers and glories\nshould take place, and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the\npresent time; and not only this, but those things which never have been\nrevealed from the foundation of the world, but have been kept hid from\nthe wise and prudent, shall be revealed unto babes and sucklings in\nthis the dispensation of the fulness of times.\" [4]\n\nJoseph Smith's Work.--These words were uttered by the Prophet less\nthan two years before the tragic termination of his mortal life. He\nhad looked upon the face of God, as did Enoch, Moses, and other seers\nin times of old. He had communed with Angels, receiving from them the\nkeys of the Priesthood and the principles of the Everlasting Gospel.\nThus empowered, he had organized on earth the Church of Christ, the\nforerunner of the Kingdom that shall stand forever. [5] Wrapt in\ncelestial vision, he had gazed upon the glories of Eternity, portraying\nin burning eloquence the destiny of the human race, setting forth in\nvivid plainness the conditions of man's salvation and exaltation in\nworlds to come. [6] He had preached the Gospel in various parts of his\nnative land, and had caused it to be preached in realms beyond the\nsea. His glorious career, which was about to end in martyrdom, was\nsignalized by the introduction and practice of sacred principles which\nhe affirmed would bring forth Zion and enable the pure in heart to \"see\nGod\" and inherit celestial glory--the ultimate aim of all righteous\nendeavor.\n\nThe Divine Presence.--\"This,\" said the Prophet, \"is why Adam blessed\nhis posterity; he wanted to bring them into the presence of God.\" [7]\n\"Moses sought to bring the children of Israel into the presence of God,\nthrough the power of the Priesthood, but he could not. In the first\nages of the world they tried to establish the same thing, and there\nwere Eliases raised up who tried to restore these very glories, but,\ndid not obtain them. But they prophesied of a day when this glory would\nbe revealed, . . . . when God would gather together all things in one.\"\n[8]\n\nKeys Committed.--The Prophet goes on to say that the Angels who\nhold the keys of spiritual powers and blessings--\"authoritative\ncharacters\"--men in heaven having children on earth--\"will come down\nand join hand in hand in bringing about this work.\" [9] At the time\nof that utterance, this phase of the Latter-day Work had begun, the\nfounder of the Church having received from heavenly messengers the\nkeys of authority and power held by them in past dispensations. The\nAaronic Priesthood had been conferred by John the Baptist, [10] and\nthe Melchizedek Priesthood by Peter, James and John. [11] Without\nthis divine authorization the Church could not have been established,\nthe Ensign could not have been raised for the gathering of scattered\nIsrael. Already have I related how the keys of the gathering were\ncommitted to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple.\n\nElias and Elijah--But more was to follow. In that wonderful record of\nvisions manifested to these Elders, and testified of by them, occurs\nthis solemn affirmation:\n\n\"Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the Gospel of\nAbraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should\nbe blessed.\n\n\"After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst\nupon us, for Elijah the Prophet, who was taken to heaven without\ntasting death, stood before us and said--\n\n\"Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of\nMalachi, testifying that he (Elijah) should be sent before the great\nand dreadful day of the Lord come,\n\n\"To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to\nthe fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse.\n\n\"Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your\nhands, and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the\nLord is near, even at the doors.\" [12]\n\nThe Same Yet Not the Same.--\"Elias,\" considered as a name, is the Greek\nequivalent of the Hebrew \"Elijah.\" Compared references in the New and\nOld Testaments clearly establish their verbal identity. [13] But Joseph\nSmith distinguished between \"the spirit of Elias\" and \"the spirit of\nElijah,\" the former a forerunner, the latter holding the sealing powers\nnecessary to complete the work of preparation for Messiah's advent. [14]\n\nElijah, therefore, is not to be confounded with Elias--that is to say,\nwith the Elias who committed the keys of the Abrahamic dispensation.\nThere are many Eliases, in the sense of the lesser preparing the way\nbefore the greater; and by one of them Abraham's keys were restored, in\norder that the blessings anciently pronounced upon the Father of the\nFaithful might be extended to his posterity in modern times.\n\nWhy Elijah?--\"Why send Elijah?\" asks the Prophet; and answers his\nown question thus: \"Because he holds the keys of the authority to\nadminister in all the ordinances of the Priesthood; and without the\nauthority is given, the ordinances could not be administered in\nrighteousness.\" In the same connection he states that \"Elijah was the\nlast prophet that held the keys of the Priesthood.\" [15]\n\nThe Restorer's Mission.--Elijah's mission, as made known by modern\nrevelation, represents the establishment of that condition of perfect\nunity referred to by Joseph the Seer, whose comment thereon is quoted\nin the third paragraph of this article. \"Mormonism,\" as already\nexplained, does not stand for one Gospel dispensation alone, but for\nall the Gospel dispensations, extending, like the links of a mighty\nchain, through the whole course of Time. The Final Dispensation, made\neffective by the keys of Elijah, will bring together and weld in one\nthe parted links of this universal chain. The restitution of all\nthings--the setting in order of the Lord's House, preparatory to his\ncoming, such is the significance of the mission of Elijah, who turns\nthe hearts of the fathers (in heaven) to the children (on earth), and\nthe hearts of the children to the fathers.\n\nThe Welding Link.--But these hearts must not only be turned; they must\nbe bound together, and beat as one. That thought, no less than the\nother, was in the Prophet's mind when, from his place of retirement\nduring a season of trouble, he wrote repeatedly to the Church regarding\nan all-important duty devolving upon its members. Said he: \"The earth\nwill be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some\nkind or other, between the fathers and the children.\" And what is it?\n\"It is the baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made\nperfect, neither can they without us be made perfect.\" [16]\n\nWithout Unity, No Perfection.--Perfection is the great end in view; and\nwithout unity there can be no perfection. To bring about this great\nconsummation, the Gospel was instituted, the Savior chosen, Earth\ncreated, and the human race placed upon this planet. Nothing imperfect\ncan inherit the Divine Presence--the fulness of God's glory. This\nimportant lesson is taught by the principle of marriage--celestial\nmarriage--the sealing of the sexes, not for time only, but for all\neternity. \"The man is not without the woman, nor the woman without\nthe man, in the Lord.\" [17] United, they represent completeness,\nperfection, each being the complement of the other. Husband and wife,\nparent and child, the living and the dead, must be one, lest it be\nsaid of them at the celestial gates, as it was said at the gates of\nVerdun: \"They shall not pass.\" The Latter-day Saints build temples and\nofficiate therein, the living for the dead, not only to save them,\nbut to bring them into that grand Order of Unity, so necessary to the\nperfection of God's work.\n\nThe Keys of Preparation.--Past and present are related. It is the\nrelationship of parent and child. Neither is complete without the\nother. What has been and what is must join, before perfection can\nreign. Without unity and the perfecting power of righteousness, the\nSaints would be unprepared to receive the King of Kings. Earth,\nunable to endure the overpowering glory of his presence, would vanish\nfrom before his face, like hoar-frost in the rays of the rising\nsun. [18] That there might be no such calamity, no converting of an\nintended blessing into a consuming curse, Elijah restored the Keys of\nPreparation.\n\nThe Universal Gathering.--The gathering of the House of Israel is\nto be supplemented by a greater gathering--the bringing together of\nall the Gospel dispensations, with all the sacred powers and mighty\npersonages connected therewith. [19] There is to be a general assembly,\na universal union, in which sainted souls from all glorified creations\nwill join. [20] All things that are Christs's, both in heaven and\non earth, will eventually be brought together, and the divided and\ndiscordant parts attuned and blended into one harmonious Whole.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. \"Elias,\" Canto 5, p. 37, annotative edition.\n\n2. Acts 3:21.\n\n3. D. & C. 77:12.\n\n4. Ib. 128:18.\n\n5. Dan. 2:44.\n\n6. D. & C. 76.\n\n7. D. & C. 107:56.\n\n8. Ib. 84:23, 24.\n\n9. Hist. Ch. Vol. 3, pp. 388, 389.\n\n10. D. & C. 13.\n\n11. Ib. 27:12; 128:20.\n\n12. D. & C. 110:12-16; Hist. Ch. Vol. 3, p. 390.\n\n13. See Luke 9:54 and 2 Kings 18:38; also James 5:17 and 1 Kings 17:1.\n\n14. Hist. Ch. Vol. 6, pp. 249, 254.\n\n15. Hist. Ch. Vol. 4, p. 211.\n\nElijah the Tishbite, as he is called in Scripture, figured in the\nhistory of the Kingdom of Israel about nine centuries before the birth\nof Jesus of Nazareth. It was a period of idolatry, when the priests of\nBaal (whom Elijah overthrew) had Ahab the king and his wife, the wicked\nJezebel, completely under their sinister influence. Regarding the great\nProphet of Restoration, Dr. Geikie, says:\n\n\"The immense influence of Elijah during his life is seen in the place\nhe held in the memory of after generations in Israel. He takes rank\nalong with Samuel and Moses; not like the former, as the apostle of\na system yet undeveloped; or as the founder of a religion, like the\nlatter; but as the restorer of the old when it was almost driven from\nthe earth. The prophet Malachi portrays him as the announcer of the\ngreat and terrible day of Jehovah. His reappearance was constantly\nexpected as the precursor of the Messiah. So continually was he in\nthe thoughts of the people of New Testament times, that both John the\nBaptist and our Lord were supposed to be no other than he. The son of\nSirach (See Apocrypha) calls him a fire, and says that his word burned\nlike a torch, and that it was he who was to gather together again the\ntribes of Israel from the great dispersion . . . .\n\n\"His final coming, it is believed, will be three days before that of\nthe Messiah, and on each of the three he will proclaim peace, happiness\nand salvation, in a voice that will be heard over all the earth. So\nfirm, indeed, was the conviction of this in the days of the Talmud,\nthat when goods were found which no owner claimed, the common saying\nwas, Put them by till Elijah comes.\"--\"Hours with the Bible,\" Vol. 4,\npp. 65,66.\n\n16. D. & C. 127, 128.\n\n17. 1 Cor. 11:11.\n\n18. Mal. 3:2; 4:1.\n\n19. D. & C. 27:5-14.\n\n20. Ib. 76:67; Moses 7:31, 64.\n\n\n\nPART SEVEN\n\nPOWERS AND PRINCIPLES\n\n\n\nARTICLE TWENTY-EIGHT.\n\nThe Priesthood.\n\nWhat \"Priesthood\" Means.--Divine authority, or the right to rule,\ninherent in the supreme Source of all power--such is the primal meaning\nof \"Priesthood.\" It also signifies the men in whom that authority is\nvested--the servants of the Lord, who officiate for him and administer\nthe laws and ordinances of the Gospel.\n\nWhy Necessary.--Divine laws, like human laws, require officers and a\ngovernment to administer them. God, being in the form of man, cannot\nbe everywhere present in his own person. Immanent by the spirit that\nproceeds from him, omnipresent by his power, influence and authority,\nHe cannot, as a personage, occupy two places at the same time, any more\nthan he can make something out of nothing or do aught else that is\nimpossible. To say that Deity can do that which cannot be done, is no\nglorification of Deity. It is sheer nonsense, nothing more.\n\nSince the Supreme Being cannot be everywhere present in person, cannot\nbe in Heaven and on Earth simultaneously, he requires representatives\nto carry on his work in this as in other parts of the universe. Herein\nis the prime reason, the fundamental fact, underlying the necessity for\na Priesthood and a Church organization.\n\nA Twofold Power.--There are two priesthoods in the Church of Christ,\nor, more properly, two grand divisions of priesthood, namely, the\nMelchizedek and the Aaronic, the latter an appendage to the former.\n[1] This dualism is owing to the fact that Divine Government takes\ncognizance of and deals with things temporal as well as with things\nspiritual. Nevertheless, all things are spiritual to Deity. [2] As\nEternity includes Time, so the spiritual includes the temporal.\n\nOrigin of Names.--The Melchizedek Priesthood was named for Melchizedek,\nking of Salem. [3] The powers of this priesthood are unlimited. It\nwields authority over all things. Holding \"the keys of the Kingdom\nof God,\" it is the divinely ordained \"channel through which every\nimportant matter is revealed from Heaven.\" [4] The Aaronic or Lesser\nPriesthood takes its name from Aaron, the brother of Moses. It operates\nwithin a limited sphere, having a special calling to administer in\ntemporal affairs, in material things.\n\nSymbolized by the Soul.--The Government of God, with its two mighty\nwings of priestly power and authority, corresponds to and is symbolized\nby the soul. As spirit and body constitute the soul, so the Melchizedek\nand Aaronic priesthoods constitute the government of the Church of\nChrist. Through the medium of the body, with its various members and\norgans, the things of this life are possessed and utilized, while\nthose pertaining to a higher state of existence are apprehended and\nmade use of by means of the spiritual faculties. Even so, by these\ntwo priesthoods, differing in powers and prerogatives, yet allied,\ninterwoven and harmonious in their mutual workings, is carried on in\nall worlds the sublime work of Omnipotence.\n\nFurthermore, to extend the analogy, it is the spirit or higher part of\nman that controls, directs and supplies the motive power of the body,\nbeing the vital mainspring of this wondrous piece of machinery, whose\nfunctions are forwarded by the animation resulting from the union\nof the twain. In like manner, the Melchizedek Priesthood, holding\nthe keys of presidency, controls and directs the entire body of the\nChurch; delegating, however, a portion of its authority to the Lesser\nPriesthood, that it likewise may wield a legitimate influence and\nexecute the purposes for which it was designed.\n\n\"No Man Taketh This Honor.\"--Men cannot constitute themselves servants\nof the Lord. They must be called by him--literally called and ordained,\nor they are not qualified to speak and act in his name and stead. While\nthere is no ban upon doing good, and all are free to promote truth\nand practice righteousness, and will reap sure reward for so doing,\nthere is no such thing as heavenly sanction upon usurped office and\nauthority. The Scriptures make this fact exceedingly plain. [5] \"God\nwill not acknowledge that which he has not called, ordained and chosen.\"\n[6]\n\nChrist The Head.--Jesus Christ is the great \"Apostle and High Priest,\"\n[7] standing at the head of the priestly-kingly Order of Melchizedek.\nIt was originally styled \"The Holy Priesthood after the Order of the\nSon of God;\" but this title was changed out of reverence for the\nSupreme Being, to avoid \"the too frequent repetition\" of the all-sacred\nname. Melchizedek's name was substituted, because he \"was such a great\nHigh Priest.\" [8] \"Apostle\" means \"Messenger,\" or one who is sent.\nThe use of the term, as one of the titles of the Savior, is warranted\nby the fact that the Son was sent forth by the Father. [9] He was\ntherefore the Father's messenger. In like manner, those sent forth by\nthe Son are his apostles or messengers, particularly the twelve special\nwitnesses.\n\nAdam Stands Next.--Next to the Savior in divine authority, stands Adam,\nAncient of Days, the father of the whole human family. So says Joseph\nthe Prophet, in his great discourse on Priesthood. \"The priesthood was\nfirst given to Adam; he obtained the First Presidency, and held the\nkeys of it from generation to generation. He obtained it .. before\nthe world was formed. . He had dominion given him over every living\ncreature. He is Michael the Archangel.\" [10]\n\nNoah's Position.--\"Then to Noah, who is Gabriel; he stands next in\nauthority to Adam in the Priesthood. He was called of God to this\noffice, and was the father of all living in his day, and to him was\ngiven the dominion. These men held keys first on earth and then in\nheaven.\" [11]\n\nThese inspired utterances regarding Adam and Noah ought to set at rest\nthe question with which they deal. They are a sufficient answer to the\ncharge, sometimes made, that the Latter-day Saints rank Joseph Smith\nas next in dignity and power to Jesus Christ. It is fitting that the\nProphet himself should supply the refutation.\n\nAn Everlasting Principle.--He goes on to say: \"The Priesthood is an\neverlasting principle, and existed with God from eternity, and will\nto eternity, without beginning of days or end of years. The keys have\nto be brought from heaven whenever the Gospel is sent. When they are\nrevealed from heaven, it is by Adam's authority.\" [12]\n\nSuccession and Descent.--From Adam, the Priesthood descended through\nthe following line: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Esaias,\nGad, Jeremy, Elihu, Caleb, Jethro and Moses. [13] Says the Prophet\n\"The Savior, Moses and Elias gave the keys to Peter, James and John, on\nthe Mount, when they were transfigured before him.\" He then asks: \"How\nhave we come at the Priesthood in the last days?\"--and answers thus:\n\"It came down, down, in regular succession. Peter, James and John had\nit given to them, and they gave it to others.\" The \"others\" include\nJoseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, the earliest Elders of the Latter-day\nChurch. [14]\n\nAgents of the Almighty.--Inherent in the Priesthood is the principle of\nrepresentation. So plenary and far-reaching are its powers, that when\nthose holding this authority are in the line of their duty, and possess\nthe spirit of their calling, their official acts and utterances are as\nvalid and as binding as if the Lord himself were present, doing and\nsaying what his servants do and say for him.\n\nThis is what it means to bear the Priesthood. It constitutes men agents\nof the Almighty, transacting sacred business in the interest of the one\nwho sent them. These agents should represent their Principal fairly\nand faithfully, reflecting, as far as possible, his intelligence and\ngoodness, living so near to him that when their letter of instructions\n(the written word) falls short, the Spirit that indited it, resting\nupon them as a continual benediction, can give \"line upon line\" of\nrevelation, flash upon flash of inspired thought, to illumine and make\nplain the path they are to tread.\n\n\"And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost\nshall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind\nof the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the\nLord, and the power of God unto salvation.\" [15]\n\nNo Unrighteous Dominion.--A tremendous power for frail mortal man to\nwield! Yes, and to guard against its abuse, the exercise of this divine\nprerogative is hedged about with certain conditions and limitations.\nThus:\n\n\"No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the\nPriesthood, only by persuasion, by long suffering, by gentleness and\nmeekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness and pure knowledge, which\nshall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy and without guile,\nreproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost,\nand then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom\nthou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy.\" [16]\n\nAgain:\n\n\"The rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers\nof heaven, and .. the powers of heaven cannot be controlled or handled\nonly upon the principles of righteousness . . . . When we undertake to\ncover our sins, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon\nthe souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness,\nbehold, the heavens withdraw themselves, the Spirit of the Lord is\ngrieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the Priesthood or the\nauthority of that man.\" [17]\n\nAn Echo From the Heights Eternal, where the Gods, in solemn council\nbefore the creation of the world, decreed freedom, not tyranny;\npersuasion, not compulsion; charity, not intolerance, the platform upon\nwhich the Lord's servants should stand. There is no room in all the\nGovernment of God for the exercise of \"unrighteous dominion.\"\n\nThe Other Side.--But there is another side to the question. If the men\nbearing this sacred authority confine themselves to the lawful use of\nthe powers conferred upon them, doing no other than the things enjoined\nby divine revelation or inspired by the Holy Spirit--what then? In\nthat event the responsibility shifts to other shoulders; and just how\nweighty the responsibility is, the Savior himself shows in his parable\nof the Last Judgment, where is indicated the standard or one of the\nstandards by which He will judge the world. [18]\n\nBefore the Bar of God.--When the Son of Man, sitting upon \"the throne\nof his glory,\" shall require of all nations and of all men a final\naccounting, and shall put to them the crucial question: \"How did you\ntreat my servants whom I sent unto you?\" happy the nation or the man\nwho can reply: \"Lord, I showed them the respect to which they were\nentitled--I honored them as I would have honored Thee.\"\n\nWarning and Exhortation.--Grievous the sin and heavy the penalty\nincurred by those who mistreat the servants of the Master. But more\ngrievous and more weighty still, the sin and punishment of those\nwho betray them. \"See to it,\" says the Prophet to the Elders of the\nChurch, \"that ye do not this thing, lest innocent blood be found upon\nyour skirts, and you go down to hell. All other sins are not to be\ncompared to sinning against the Holy Ghost and proving a traitor to the\nbrethren.\" [19]\n\nAgain that ancient admonition, sounding down the centuries, \"Touch not\nmine anointed, and do my prophets no harm!\" blending with the Savior's\nsolemn warning to the world: \"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of\nthe least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.\"\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Hist. Ch. Vol. 4, p. 207; D. & C. 107:1-20.\n\n2. D. & C. 29:34, 35.\n\n3. Gen. 14:18; Heb. 7:1-21.\n\n4. Hist. Ch. Vol. 4, p.207.\n\n5. 1 Sam. 13:9-14; 2 Sam. 6:6, 7; 2 Chron. 26:18-21; Heb. 5:4.\n\n6. Hist. Ch. Vol. 4. pp. 208, 209.\n\n7. Heb. 3:1.\n\n8. D. & C. 107:2-4.\n\n9. Abr. 3:27; John 14:24.\n\n10. Ib. p. 386.\n\n11. Ib.p. 386.\n\n12. Ib. p. 386.\n\n13. D. & C. 84:6-17. See also 107:40-52.\n\n14. D. & C. 13. Ib. 128:20.\n\n15. Ib. 68:4.\n\n16. D. & C. 121:41-43.\n\n17. Ib. vv. 36,37.\n\n18. Matt. 25:21-46.\n\n19. Hist. Ch. Vol.3, p. 385.\n\n\n\nARTICLE TWENTY-NINE.\n\nChurch Government\n\nAn Incomparable System.--The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day\nSaints is conceded, even by many outside its pale, to be a most\nadmirable and most thorough system of government. It ought to be;\nfor it is a product of divine wisdom. The Church on Earth is the\ncounterpart, so far as mortal conditions will permit, of the Church\nin Heaven, as beheld in vision by Joseph the Seer. [1] While the\nChurch founded by him is not yet perfect, it is approximately so,\nand is destined to attain that condition. It is doubtful that the\nChurch of Christ in any former age had so complete an organization\nas it possesses at the present time. This wonderful scheme of\nspiritual-temporal government was revealed from above, and established\nhere below, that the Lord's will might be done on earth even as it is\ndone in heaven.\n\nEarliest Offices.--The earliest offices in the Church were those of\nElder, Priest, Teacher and Deacon; all, excepting Elder, callings in\nthe Aaronic Priesthood. [2] Other offices, mostly in the Priesthood\nof Melchizedek, were evolved as fast as they became necessary. [3]\nThe first Bishops were ordained in 1831, the year after the Church\nwas organized. There was no First Presidency until 1833, and no Stake\norganization until 1834. The Twelve Apostles and their assistants,\nthe Seventies, were not chosen until 1835. But all these offices and\ncallings were inherent in the two priesthoods conferred upon the\nfounder of the Church before its organization.\n\nFirst and Second Elders--Other Titles.--Joseph Smith was the first\nPresident of the Church. His original title was \"First Elder;\" Oliver\nCowdery being the \"Second Elder.\" The initial use of these titles--an\nanticipative use--was by John the Baptist, the angel who ordained\nJoseph and Oliver to the Aaronic Priesthood. He told them of their\nfuture ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood, and of their calling\nas \"Elders\" thereunder. [4] As early as the date of the Church's\norganization, the titles of Seer, Translator, Prophet and Apostle, were\nconferred upon Joseph, and that of Apostle upon Oliver, by revelation.\n[5]\n\nPuerile Complaints. In after years President Joseph Smith and his\nassociates were criticised by seceders from the Church, because of\nadditions made to the original list of offices, as the result of\ngrowth and development on the part of the infant organization. It was\ncontended that since it came into existence with Elders, Priests,\nTeachers and Deacons as its governing powers, and this by divine\ndirection, therefore these orders should have been deemed sufficient,\nto the exclusion of High Priest and other titles claimed to have been\nadded by \"ambitious and spiritually blind\" leaders. [6] Such objections\nare manifestly puerile. The faultfinders would have been no more\ninconsistent, had they contended that a new-born babe should remain a\nbabe, instead of growing up to manhood or womanhood and fulfilling the\nmeasure of its creation.\n\nThe Correct View.--President George A. Smith, in speaking of the\nprogress of the Church, was fond of using, as a comparison, the growth\nof a hill of corn--first, a single blade of green shooting up from\nthe soil; then two or three such blades; and afterwards a stalk, with\nears of corn and silken tassels pendant. One who made no allowance for\nthe growth of the \"hill,\" might be mystified at beholding it in these\nvarious stages of development; but those familiar with the changes\nincidental to such an evolution would see the matter in a clear light.\n\nGreater Follows Lesser.--What more consistent, more in harmony with\ncorrect principle and historical precedent, than for the greater to\nfollow the lesser, as when the Melchizedek Priesthood came to Joseph\nand Oliver, after their ordination to the Aaronic Priesthood? The\nlesser prepares the way before the greater. But according to the logic\nof the Prophet's critics, that first ordination should have been\nall-sufficient; there should have been no second ordination, and no\nfurther development of the Lord's work. It ought to have halted then\nand there, when the keys of the Lesser Priesthood were given. But the\nLord knew best, and his inspired servants knew. There was to be, and\nthere has been, a great and mighty development, as the present status\nof the Church testifies. It has had a wonderful history and a marvelous\ngrowth. Never so strong or so well equipped as now, its future is\nbright with glorious promise.\n\nOffices in the Aaronic Priesthood.--The offices of the Aaronic\nPriesthood, graded upward, are Deacon, Teacher and Priest. The\npresidency of this priesthood is the Bishopric. The Bishop has charge\nof the Church property. He receives and disburses, under the direction\nof the higher authorities, the tithes and offerings of the people.\nA Presiding Bishopric of three have general charge of the funds\nprovided for the support of the poor, for the building of temples,\nfor the creation and maintenance of schools, and for other purposes.\nThe Church's general financial records are also in their keeping. A\nbishop must be a lineal descendant of Aaron--in which event he can\nserve without counselors--or else a high priest after the order of\nMelchizedek, [7] having as his counselors two other high priests of\nthat order. Under the jurisdiction of the Presiding Bishopric, in\ntemporal matters, are the ward bishoprics.\n\nWards and Stakes.--The Ward is a division of the Stake as the Stake is\na division of the Church. A stake, in territorial extent, frequently\ncorresponds to a county, though in populous districts one county may\ncontain several stakes. There are four stakes in Salt Lake City. Each\nstake has a presidency of three, and a high council of twelve, and\nthese have jurisdiction over all members and organizations in the\nstake, including the ward bishoprics. Each of the latter constitutes a\ntribunal for the trial of members who transgress the church laws and\nregulations. From the decision of the Bishop's Court, either party in\na case may appeal to the High Council, and from a decision of this\nappellate court an appeal may be taken to the First Presidency. They\nreview the evidence, and if any injustice has been done, the case is\nremanded for a new trial. If a President of the Church were tried, it\nwould be before \"The Common Council of the Church,\" assisted by \"twelve\ncounselors of the high priesthood.\" [8] The extreme penalty imposed\nby any of the Church tribunals is excommunication.\n\nAdministration of Ordinances.--The Aaronic Priesthood administers in\noutward ordinances, such as baptism, and the sacrament of the Lord's\nsupper. The higher ordinances--confirmations, sealings, adoptions, and\nother temple ceremonies--must be administered by the Priesthood of\nMelchizedek.\n\nOffices in the High Priesthood--Quorums and Councils.--The Melchizedek\nPriesthood comprises, in an ascending scale, the offices of Elder,\nSeventy and High Priest. The Patriarch, the Apostle, and the President\nmust all be high priests after this order. Each specific body of\npriesthood is called a quorum, though most of the general priesthood\norganizations are termed councils.\n\nThe General Authorities.--The highest council in the Church is the\nFirst Presidency. It is composed of three high priests, one of whom is\nthe President, the others being his First and Second counselors. These\nthree preside over the entire Church. The President is its Prophet,\nSeer and Revelator, and also its Trustee-in-Trust, holding the legal\ntitle to its property.\n\nNext to the First Presidency are the Twelve Apostles. Their special\ncalling is to preach the Gospel or to have it preached, in all nations.\nThe Twelve are equal in authority to the First Presidency, but they\nexercise the fulness of their powers only in the absence of the higher\ncouncil. They have the right to regulate and set in order the whole\nChurch, but they act under the direction of the First Presidency. The\ndeath of the President dissolves that council, and makes necessary a\nnew organization thereof. The Apostles nominate the President, who then\nchooses his Counselors, and the three are upheld and sustained by the\nChurch in its public assemblies, called conferences. The duty of the\nPresiding Patriarch is to bless the Church, give individual blessings\nto its members, and comfort them with spiritual ministrations. He\nalso assists the Apostles in visiting conferences and missions, and\nperforming other duties as required.\n\nThe First Council of the Seventy, seven in number, preside over\nthe entire body of the Seventies. These, however, are divided into\nquorums of seventy, each quorum having seven presidents of its own.\nIn the absence of the First Presidency and the Twelve, the First\nCouncil of the Seventy would preside over the Church, associated with\nsixty-three others, the senior presidents of the first sixty-three\nquorums of seventy. The Seventies labor under the direction of the\nTwelve Apostles. They are independent of the stake presidencies and\nbishoprics, as quorums, but not as individual members. They are the\n\"minute men\" of the Church, subject to sudden calls into the mission\nfield.\n\nThe First Presidency, the Twelve Apostles, the Presiding Patriarch, the\nFirst Council of the Seventy, and the Presiding Bishopric, constitute\nthe General Authorities of the Church. Their names are submitted to the\nGeneral Conference, held twice a year, to be voted upon by the members.\nThey are also presented at the stake conferences, held quarterly, to be\nvoted upon, with the stake officers, in like manner.\n\nHigh Priests, Patriarchs and Elders.--Each Stake has a quorum of high\npriests, indefinite in number, presided over by three of its members.\nThe High Priesthood holds the inherent right of presidency. All the\ngeneral authorities, excepting the First Council of the Seventy, must\nbe high priests; and the same is true of stake presidencies and ward\nbishoprics. In each stake are one or more patriarchs, performing, when\nactive, duties similar to those of the Presiding Patriarch. A Stake has\none or more quorums of Elders, each composed of ninety-six members,\nthree of whom preside. Each ward should have one or more quorums of\npriests (forty-eight), teachers (twenty-four), and deacons (twelve),\neach with a presidency of three. The ward bishopric presides in a\ngeneral way over all the quorums of the Aaronic Priesthood in the ward,\nand over all church members, as individuals, residing therein. The\nbishop of the ward is ex officio president of the priest's quorum. The\nElder's office is the lowest in the Melchizedek Priesthood. The duties\nof an elder are similar to those of a seventy, though intended to be\nexercised more at home than abroad.\n\nThe Lesser Quorums.--The highest office in the Aaronic Priesthood,\nexcept bishop, is that of priest. The bishop, however, is a priest, and\nofficiates as such when sitting as a judge; when presiding over his\nward, it is by virtue of the higher priesthood held by him. The priest\nmay preach, baptize and administer the Sacrament, but has not the right\nto lay on hands and give the Holy Ghost; that being a function of the\nMelchizedek Priesthood.\n\nThe teacher is a peacemaker. He settles difficulties arising between\nchurch members in his district; or, if he cannot settle them, he\nreports them to the bishop. Two or more teachers labor regularly in\neach of the districts into which a ward is divided. It is incumbent\nupon them to visit from house to house, to see that no iniquity exists\namong the members, and that they are attentive to their religious\nduties. The teachers report monthly, or as often as required, to the\nward bishopric. The deacons have charge of the ward property, and they\nassist the teachers, as the teachers assist the priests.\n\nAuxiliaries--Church Schools. All the organizations named are strictly\nwithin the pale of the Priesthood. In addition, there are a number of\nauxiliary organizations--helps to the Priesthood in the government\nof the Church--such as relief societies, Sabbath schools, young\npeoples' mutual improvement associations, primary associations, and\nreligion classes. Church schools, of which the religion classes are an\nadjunct, exist in many of the stakes. The more notable of the schools\nare the Brigham Young University at Provo, the Brigham Young College\nat Logan, and the Latter-day Saints University at Salt Lake City.\nFor the maintenance of its splendid educational system, the Church\nmakes an appropriation of nearly three quarters of a million dollars,\nannually. All branches of learning find place in the curricula of these\ninstitutions, but religion is the principal feature; the object being\nto develop the spiritual, as well as the mental, physical, and moral\nfaculties of the student--in short, \"to make Latter-day Saints.\" [9]\n\nThe Present Status.--At the period of this writing there are\neighty-five Stakes of Zion, all located in the region of the Rocky\nMountains. The Church's twenty-four outside missions comprise most of\nthe countries of the globe. The Latter-day Saints, in all the world,\nnumber about half a million.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. D. & C. 76:54; 107:93.\n\n2. Ib. 20:38-64.\n\n3. Ib. vv. 65-67. Note.\n\n4. Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, pp. 40, 41, 77, 78.\n\n5. D. & C. 21:1.\n\n6. David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, in\na pamphlet published after his excommunication from the Church, put\nforth such a plea. He also found fault with the Prophet for receiving\nrevelations without the aid of a seer-stone, previously used by him,\nbut laid aside after he had fully mastered his gift, which David seems\nto have regarded as of less consequence than the stone, which was no\nlonger needed.--\"Address to All True Believers in Christ,\" by David\nWhitmer, 1881.\n\n7. D. & C. 68:14-21; 107:16, 17, 69-76.\n\n8. Ib. 107:82.\n\n9. For further information on Priesthood and Church Government, the\nreader is referred to Sections 20, 68, 84, 107, 112 and 114, Doctrine\nand Covenants; also to Volume 3, p. 385 and Vol. 4, p. 207, History of\nthe Church.\n\n\n\nARTICLE THIRTY.\n\nThe Law of Obedience.\n\n\"There is a law, irrevocably decreed in Heaven before the foundation of\nthis world, upon which all blessings are predicated; and when we obtain\nany blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is\npredicated.\"--Joseph Smith. [1]\n\nPope and His Proverb.--\"Order is heaven's first law,\" said Alexander\nPope; [2] and many have accepted the poet's dictum as final. It sounds\nwell, but is it true? President George Q. Cannon denied its truth,\naffirming order to be an effect rather than a cause, a result flowing\nfrom obedience, without which order would be impossible. Obedience, he\nmaintained, is heaven's first law, and the order that reigns there, a\ncondition consequent. Manifestly this is a correct position.\n\nHuman and Divine Government.--That obedience is essential to order,\nmust be apparent even to a casual observer of the every-day life of\nmen and nations. All governments demand from their people obedience to\nthe laws enacted for the general welfare. Without it there would be\nno peace, no protection. Confusion would prevail, and anarchy reign\nsupreme. This is readily conceded by most men as to human governments;\nbut some think it strange that divine government should be administered\nupon like principles, and for similar though higher ends.\n\nAliens Must Be Naturalized.--A friend of mine, somewhat of a skeptic,\nasked me: \"Why must I belong to a church, or subscribe to a creed, or\nundergo any particular ceremony, in order to be saved? I have always\ndone what I thought was right--have been truthful, honest, virtuous and\nbenevolent. Why is that not enough? Why will it not suffice to make my\npeace with God and pave my way to Heaven?\"\n\nI answered: \"Suppose you were an alien, born in some country of Europe,\nor on some island of the sea, and you came to America desiring to\nbecome a citizen of the United States. When told that you must declare\nyour intentions, take out naturalization papers, forswear allegiance to\nany foreign power, and honor and uphold the Constitution and laws of\nthis Republic, suppose you were to reply: Why, what is the need of all\nthat? I am a good man; I have always acted honorably; am clean, moral\nand upright in conduct and conversation. Why is that not sufficient to\nentitle me to vote, to hold office, take up land, and enjoy all the\nrights and privileges of an American freeman? Do you think such a plea\nwould avail? No, you do not. You see its inconsistency as quickly as\nthe Government would see it and reject your application. You would not\nexpect to become a citizen of the United States on your own terms. Why,\nthen, should you hope for admittance into the Kingdom of Heaven upon\nany conditions other than those which the King himself has laid down?\"\n\nMan's Proper Attitude.--Men must not count upon their personal\nqualities, when applying for citizenship in the Eternal Commonwealth.\nThe proper attitude is one of humility, not self-righteousness. The\nPharisee who prayed, thanking the Lord that he was better than other\nmen, was less justified than the Publican who also prayed, but in a\ndifferent spirit, meekly murmuring: \"God be merciful to me, a sinner.\"\n[3] A disposition to laud self, or dictate the terms upon which one is\nwilling to be blest, is anything but modest, anything but reasonable.\nTruthfulness, honesty, virtue, benevolence--these are precious\nqualities, treasures enriching the soul under all conditions, inside\nor outside the Kingdom of Heaven. But they are not valuable enough to\npurchase a passport into that Kingdom. They go far, but not far enough\nto secure salvation.\n\nBetter Than Sacrifice.--\"To obey is better than sacrifice.\" So said\nobedient Samuel to disobedient Saul. [4] Abraham's willingness to obey,\nwhen the Lord commanded him to offer up Isaac, was accepted in lieu of\nthe offering. A literal sacrifice was not necessary in that case; but\nthe offer to make it was necessary; for thus was symbolized the most\nimportant event in all history--the offering by the Eternal Father\nof his beloved Son for the redemption of the fallen human race. The\nPatriarch's willingness having been shown, the Lord, who had directed\nAbraham to offer up his son, sent an angel with the countermanding\norder: \"Lay not thine hand upon the lad.\" [5] The offering had been\naccepted, and he who made it was rewarded as abundantly as if the\nsacrifice had been consummated.\n\nDead Letter and Living Oracle.--But what if Abraham, when commanded\nto offer up his son, had refused, citing in support of his position\nthe divine law against homicide, a law dating from the time of Cain\nand Abel--would that have justified him? No; God's word is his law,\nand the word last spoken by him must have precedence over any earlier\nrevelation on the same subject. If Abraham, after being forbidden to\nslay his son, had fanatically persisted in slaying him, he would have\nbeen a transgressor, just as much as if he had refused to obey in\nthe first instance. After receiving the second command, he could not\nconsistently plead that he was under obligation to carry out the first.\nHad he done so, he would have placed himself in a false position, that\nof honoring the dead letter above the living oracle.\n\nThe Will for the Deed.--Let me give this principle another application.\nA soldier goes forth to fight the battles of his country, goes with a\nwilling heart, offering his life that justice may prevail and freedom\nendure. Having done his duty, he returns unscathed from the conflict\nwhere many went down to death. Is not his offering as acceptable as\nthat of his comrade who makes what is called \"the supreme sacrifice?\"\nHe certainly offers as much, the only difference being that not as much\nof his offering is taken.\n\nAll honor to those who, during the dreadful war of recent years,\nperished in the blood-soaked trenches, or fell in the open field with\nPrussian or Austrian bullets in their breasts! All honor to those who\nmet death by accident or disease, in training camp or at battle-front,\non land or on sea, losing their lives while faithfully playing their\npart in the great world tragedy! Heroes, every one! But the gallant\nfellows who lived through it all, patiently enduring hardships and\nprivations, dying daily by anticipation, and by willingness to\nsacrifice all for the common good--be it not forgotten that in spirit\nthey gave as much as any; and the fact that their offering was not\ntaken, does not discount the motive that actuated them, nor diminish\nthe credit due. \"As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall\nhis part be that tarrieth by the stuff; they shall part alike.\" [6]\n\nThe Just and the Unjust.--All blessings come by obedience. When the\nSavior said of the Father: \"He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and\non the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.\" [7] he\ndid not mean that no distinction is made between the two classes. He\nmeant that the Great Judge is just to both--just even to the unjust,\nsending to them his rain and his sunshine, causing their orchards to\nbloom and their vineyards to bear equally with those of the righteous,\nprovided similar conditions surround, and both classes are equally\nobedient to the laws governing the culture of the soil.\n\nThey Kept the First Estate.--But rain and sunshine, like all other\nblessings, are for those who merit them. If the unjust (unjust here)\nhad not \"kept their first estate,\" had not manifested in a previous\nlife some degree of obedience to divine law, they would not have been\ngiven a \"second estate,\" would not have been placed where the sunlight\nand the showers could reach them.\n\nObedience Must Continue.--In this life, however, further obedience is\nnecessary, in order that greater blessings may come. God's gifts are\nboth spiritual and temporal; but whatever they are, their bestowal\nis regulated by the great Law of Obedience. A good man may be a poor\nfarmer, and thus fail to raise the full crop that he might have reaped\nhad he been more skillful or more thorough in the practice of his\nvocation. On the other hand, a bad man may be an expert tiller of the\nsoil, realizing bounteous returns because of his strict observance of\nthe law in that particular department of industry.\n\nHigher Laws and Higher Blessings.--There are greater blessings,\nhowever, than those pertaining to the harvest field and the workshop,\nand they also are to be had only by obedience to the laws governing\ntheir bestowal and distribution. One cannot become a member of the\nChurch of Christ by being a successful merchant or stockraiser; and\none may hold church membership, yet not be entitled to the privileges\nof the Temple. It takes more than the skill of a mechanic to get into\nthe Kingdom of Heaven. There is but one way into that kingdom, and he\nwho tries to pick the lock or climb over the wall, will be treated as a\ntrespasser or a robber.\n\nRod and Rock.--Obedience is the rod of power which smites the rock of\ndivine resource, causing it to flow with the waters of human weal. And\nthe most obedient are the most blest. There are \"many mansions\" in the\ngreat House of God, and the highest are for those who render unto the\nMaster of the House the fulness of their obedience.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. D. & C. 130:20,\n\n2. \"Essay on Man,\" Epis 4, line 49.\n\n3. Luke 18:10-14.\n\n4. 1 Sam. 15:22.\n\n5. Gen. 22:12.\n\n6. 1 Sam. 30:24.\n\n7. Matt. 5:45.\n\n\n\nARTICLE THIRTY-ONE.\n\nThe Divine Doorway.\n\nThe Most Important Personage.--What particular acts of obedience are\nrequired from man, in order that the One who redeemed may likewise\nsave and exalt him? What must he do for himself, to the end that he\nmay profit by the great things done in his behalf? In other words, how\nshall the alien seeking citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven, obtain\nit? What are the divine laws of naturalization? The one who can answer\nsuch questions, is easily the most important personage of his time.\nSuch a one was Peter, the Galilean fisherman, chief of the twelve\nspecial witnesses of the Savior.\n\nThe Pentecostal Proclamation.--When Peter, on the Day of Pentecost,\npreached \"Christ and him crucified,\" and the conscience-stricken\nmultitude, \"pricked in their heart,\" cried out, \"men and brethren,\nwhat shall we do?\" a question was propounded which the most learned\nphilosophers of that age could not answer. Caesar, sitting upon the\nthrone of the world, would have been mystified had the question been\nput to him--What shall men do to be saved? Not so, the Galilean\nfisherman. He knew, and he told them straightway:\n\n\"Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus\nChrist, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the\nHoly Ghost.\" [1]\n\nThe Gospel Unchangeable.--These requirements have not changed. They\nare in force today. They will remain in force so long as the Gospel is\npreached. The Apostle did not say that these were all the requirements.\nBut he answered the question put to him, and it was the appropriate and\nsufficient reply for that occasion.\n\nIn the Pit.--When Adam and Eve had transgressed the divine command\nby partaking of the forbidden fruit, it was as if the human race had\nfallen into a pit, from which they were powerless, by any act of their\nown, to emerge. They could not climb out, for they knew not how to\nclimb; and even if they had known, there was no means by which to\nascend. Human endeavor, unassisted, could accomplish nothing in the\nway of deliverance. Man in his mortal condition needed revelation,\nspiritual enlightenment, having forgotten all that he had previously\nknown. He also needed a ladder.\n\nThe Gospel of Jesus Christ is the ladder to Freedom and Light. Without\nit there is no salvation, no exaltation. The Tower of Babel symbolizes\nthe situation. All man's efforts to reach Heaven without divine\nassistance, must end in confusion and failure.\n\nSelf-Help Necessary.--Before there was a Ladder, or while it was not\nwithin reach, fallen man could not climb. All his intelligence and\nskill were unavailing. But the ladder having been let down, if he will\nuse his God-given powers and all the means provided for the purpose,\nhe can mount from Earth to Heaven, round by round. If he refuses to\nclimb, who but himself is to blame for his remaining at the bottom of\nthe pit? The Gospel is not a substitute for self-help. It does not\nsupersede man's efforts in his own behalf. It is the divinely appointed\nmeans whereby those efforts are made effectual. It does for man what he\ncannot do for himself.\n\nRedemption by Grace.--The Gospel of Salvation rests upon the rock of\nChrist's Atonement--an act of grace, a free gift from God to man, to\nthe wicked as well as to the righteous. All profit by it, for through\nthat atonement, all are brought forth from the grave. This is eminently\njust. Adam's posterity were consigned to death for no deed of their\nown doing. It is fitting, therefore, that their redemption should be\nunconditional.\n\nSalvation by Obedience.--But redemption is not salvation, nor salvation\nexaltation. Men must \"work out\" their salvation, [2] and gain\nexaltation by continuous upward striving. Depending primarily upon the\ngrace of God, salvation and exaltation are likewise the fruits of man's\nacceptance of the Gospel, and of his steadfast adherence thereto, until\nit shall have done for him its perfect work.\n\nThe First Requirement.--Faith is the first requirement of the Gospel.\n\"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.\" So the Savior\ndeclared, when he commissioned his Apostles to \"go into all the world\nand preach the Gospel to every creature.\" [3] Peter's Pentecostal\nsermon omitted faith from the list of essentials, doubtless for the\nreason that those whom the Apostle addressed already had faith, a fact\nplainly shown by the question put to him. Evidently they believed what\nhe had told them about the crucified Redeemer; else they would not have\nbeen \"pricked in their heart,\" and would not have anxiously inquired,\n\"What shall we do?\"\n\nIn like manner, the Savior, when making his conditional promise of\nsalvation, left out repentance, it being implied, virtually included,\nin the admonition to believe and be baptized; since baptism is \"for\nthe remission of sins\"--sins of which man has repented. Faith, not\nrepentance, is the first essential--the initial requirement made of the\nseeker for salvation.\n\nThe Second Step.--The first fruit of faith is repentance. It follows\nfaith as naturally as kindness follows love, as obedience springs from\nreverence, as a desire to be congenial with, succeeds admiration for,\none whose example is deemed worthy of emulation. God commands all men\nto repent; and a desire to please him and become acceptable in his\nsight, naturally leads the soul of faith to repentance.\n\n\"Sin No More.\"--Repentance is not that superficial sorrow felt by the\nwrongdoer when \"caught in the act\"--a sorrow not for sin, but for\nsin's detection. Chagrin is not repentance. Mortification and shame\nalone bring no change of heart toward right feeling and right living.\nEven remorse is not all there is to repentance. In highest meaning and\nfullest measure, repentance is equivalent to reformation; the beginning\nof the reformatory process being a resolve to \"sin no more.\" \"By this\nye may know that a man repenteth of his sins: Behold he will confess\nthem and forsake them.\" [4]\n\nWhat is Sin?--Sin is the transgression of divine law, as made known\nthrough the conscience or by revelation. A man sins when he violates\nhis conscience, going contrary to light and knowledge--not the light\nand knowledge that has come to his neighbor, but that which has come\nto himself. He sins when he does the opposite of what he knows to\nbe right. Up to that point he only blunders. One may suffer painful\nconsequences for only blundering, but he cannot commit sin unless he\nknows better than to do the thing in which the sin consists. One must\nhave a conscience before he can violate it. \"Where there is no law\ngiven, there is no punishment . . . . no condemnation.\" [5] \"He that\nknoweth not good from; evil is blameless.\" [6]\n\nDegrees of Damnation.--Souls who know that they have sinned, and who\nrefuse to forsake their sins, will be damned. They damn themselves by\nthat refusal. Damnation is no part of the Gospel. It is simply the\nsad alternative, the inevitable consequence of rejecting the offer of\nsalvation. Damnation (condemnation) is not necessarily permanent, and\nit may exist in degrees, the degree being determined by the measure of\nculpability in the one condemned. Even the damned can be saved if they\nrepent.\n\nThe Sin Unpardonable.--It is possible, however, to sin so far and so\ndeeply that repentance is impossible. Shakespeare puts into the mouth\nof one of his characters--the guilty King Claudius--this speech:\n\n\"Try what repentance can: what can it not? Yet what can it when one\ncannot repent?\" [7]\n\nThose who cannot repent are sons of perdition. Their sin is\nunpardonable, involving utter recreancy to divine light and power\npreviously possessed.\n\nThe Washing of Regeneration.--Sin must not only be repented of; it\nmust be blotted out. The soul must be cleansed of it. Baptism is the\nsoul-cleansing process, the divinely instituted means whereby sins\nare remitted--that is, forgiven and washed away. Immersion in water,\nsymbolizing birth, or burial and resurrection, is the true form of the\nbaptismal ordinance. Baptism is the third principle of the Gospel.\n\nDivine Illumination.--The soul cleansed from sin is in a condition to\nenjoy the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, which \"dwelleth not in\nunclean tabernacles.\" Through this precious gift comes the divine light\nthat \"leads into all truth,\" making manifest the things of God, past,\npresent, and to come. There is a light that illumines, in greater or\nless degree, every soul that cometh into the world; but the Gift of\nthe Holy Ghost, imparted by the laying on of hands of one divinely\nauthorized to bestow it, is a special endowment, and only those having\nmembership in the Church of Christ can possess it. Each is thus given a\ndirect personal testimony of the Truth, and is founded upon the Rock of\nRevelation, against which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail.\n\nGospel Principles Eternal.--The Everlasting Gospel is not an empty\nphrase. It means just what it says. The principles underlying it are\neternal. \"Intelligence or the light of truth was not created or made,\nneither indeed can be.\" [8] The same is true of faith and repentance.\nGod did not make them. They are self-existent. Such ordinances as\nbaptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the laying on of\nhands for the gift (giving) of the Holy Ghost, might indeed be created,\nand doubtless were; but not the fundamental facts upon which they are\nbased. It did not require a divine edict to make washing (baptism) a\nprerequisite to cleanliness; nor light (the Holy Spirit) the means of\nillumination.\n\nA code or system of laws and ordinances can readily be conceived of\nas a creation. Not so the principles embodied therein. The Gospel,\nlike all other creations, was organized out of materials already\nin existence--eternal principles adapted to the needs of man and\nthe purposes of Deity. The Supreme Intelligence, recognizing these\nprinciples as ennobling and exalting in their tendency, created a\nplan embodying them as the most effectual means for man's uplift and\npromotion. That plan, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is the divinely\nappointed doorway into the Kingdom of Heaven.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Acts 2:38.\n\n2. Phil. 2:12.\n\n3. Mark 16:15, 6.\n\n4. D. & C. 58:43.\n\n5. 2 Nephi 9:25.\n\n6. Alma 29:5.\n\n7. Hamlet, Act. 3, Scene 3.\n\n8. D. & C. 93:29.\n\n\n\nARTICLE THIRTY-TWO.\n\nThe Second Birth.\n\nThe Edict of the King.--\"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the\nKingdom of God.\"\n\n\"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into\nthe Kingdom of God.\" [1]\n\nSo said the King of that Kingdom, the only one empowered to prescribe\nconditions upon which men may become his subjects, or his fellow\ncitizens in the Eternal Commonwealth. Nicodemus, to whom Jesus spoke\nthose words, was a ruler of the Jews, a Pharisee, and, as some suppose,\na member of the Sanhedrin, or supreme Jewish council. Favorably\ninclined toward the unpopular Nazarene, yet too politic to be seen\nassociating with him openly, this man sought him out by night, avowing\na belief that he was \"a teacher come from God.\" In response to this\nconfession of faith, Jesus taught Nicodemus the doctrine of baptism.\n\nA Subject of Controversy.--The meaning of the language in which the\nteaching was conveyed, though perfectly plain to Christians anciently,\nhas been a matter of uncertainty to their successors all down the\ncenturies. From the days of the early Greek fathers of the Christian\nChurch, to the days of St. Augustine, the great theologian of the\nWestern or Roman Catholic division of that Church; from his time to\nthe time of Luther and Calvin, and thence on into the present age, men\nhave disputed over the mystical Second Birth, declared by the World's\nRedeemer to be the portal of admittance into his Kingdom.\n\nOver the general meaning of the phrase, \"Born of Water and of the\nSpirit,\" there may have been no serious contention. In all or most of\nthe Christian denominations, it means baptism, the ordinance whereby a\nperson is initiated into the Church. But the meaning of baptism, the\nsignificance, form, purpose and effects of the ordinance, and whether\nor not it is necessary to salvation--these questions have furnished\nthe backbone of the controversy; questions easily answered, problems\nreadily solved, if the Holy Spirit be taken for a guide, and there be\nno wresting of the scriptures.\n\nThe Savior's Example.--The words of Jesus to Nicodemus ought to set at\nrest the question of necessity. But as a clincher we have the Savior's\ndeclaration regarding his own baptism. Jesus came from Galilee to\nJordan to be baptized by John. The Baptist, deeming himself unworthy\nof that high honor, demurred, saying: \"I have need to be baptized of\nthee, and comest thou to me?\" Jesus, answering, said: \"Suffer it to be\nso now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he\nsuffered him.\" [2]\n\nNow, if it was becoming in the Son of God to be baptized, it is\nbecoming in all who follow in his footsteps and hope to be with him\nhereafter. They must be baptized with the baptism that he was baptized\nwith--the baptism of water and of the Spirit, received by him at the\nriver Jordan nearly two thousand years ago.\n\nKing and Subject. There are those who contend that the baptism of Jesus\nwas all-sufficient; that it answered for the whole human race, thereby\nobviating the necessity of baptism in general. To all such I put this\nquestion Can you conceive of a kingdom in which the king is required\nto obey the laws ordained for its government, while the subjects are\nnot required to obey them? Far more likely, is it not, that the king,\nrather than the subject, would be exempt from such obedience? But\nthe laws of Christ's Kingdom are just and impartial. They bear with\nequal pressure upon all. The Son doeth nothing but what he hath seen\nthe Father do, [3] nor does he require from men an obedience that he\nhimself is not willing to render. \"Follow Me,\" is the watchword of his\nmission.\n\n\"To Fulfil All Righteousness.\"--True, baptism is \"for the remission\nof sins,\" [4] and in the Savior there was no sin to remit. Why, then,\nwas he baptized? John saw this point, when Jesus presented himself for\nbaptism; and that, no doubt, was one reason why he demurred to the\nrequest. We cannot impute sin to the Sinless, but we are in duty bound\nto accept and obey his instruction. He did not say: Thus it becometh Me\nto fulfill all righteousness. He put it in the plural, thus giving it\ngeneral application.\n\nBaptism Not Done Away.--Christ's baptism, whether for original sin--the\nsin of the world, which he had assumed--or purely as an example, did\nnot do away with baptism, any more than his endurance of the pangs of\nAdam's race [5] obviated human suffering. Men and women still suffer,\nnotwithstanding that infinite atonement. All must be baptized for the\nremission of their own sins, notwithstanding the baptism of \"the Lamb\nof God which taketh away the sin of the world.\" [6]\n\nExempt From Baptism.--Little children, too young to have sinned, and\ntherefore without need of repentance, are exempt from baptism, and it\nis a sin to baptize them, involving as it does the vain use of a sacred\nordinance. [7] Redeemed by the blood of Christ from the foundation\nof the world, their innocence and purity are typical of the saved\ncondition of men and women, who must become like them before entering\ninto the Kingdom of Heaven. As children advance in years, however, they\nbecome account-able, and must then yield obedience to the requirements\nof the Gospel. [8] Eight years is the recognized age of accountability\nin the Church of Christ. [9]\n\nRedeemed Without Law.--There is another class mentioned in sacred\nwrit, for whom, in the language of the Book of Mormon, \"baptism\navaileth nothing.\" The \"heathen nations,\" who \"died without law,\"\nare to be \"redeemed without law,\" and shall \"have part in the first\nresurrection.\" [10] These, however, are not heirs celestial. Theirs is\n\"the glory of the terrestrial\" in the great Kingdom of the Future.\n\nVicarious Ministrations.--So necessary is baptism, on the part of all\ncapable of intelligent obedience, that the Gospel makes provision\nfor the vicarious baptism of those who pass away without undergoing\nthis ordinance for themselves. Work of this character, when divinely\nauthorized, is acceptable to the Lord; a fact that should occasion\nlittle wonder in Christian minds, when it is remembered that the whole\nfabric of Christianity rests upon the vicarious work wrought by Jesus\nChrist for the redemption of a world powerless to redeem itself. Men\ncannot answer by proxy for the deeds done in the body, but there\nhave always been sacred ceremonies that one person might perform for\nanother. Baptism is among them. [11]\n\nFor the Remission of Sins.--Baptism is the divinely instituted process\nwhereby sins are remitted. All men have sinned, and in order to bring\nthem back into God's pure presence, where nothing sinful can come, it\nis necessary that they be first cleansed from sin. Water baptism is the\nbeginning of the cleansing process.\n\nMeans and Accessories.--Water, in and of itself, cannot wash away sin;\nbut obedience, typified by the water, can and does, when the ordinance\nis lawfully and properly administered. [12] The case of Naaman the\nSyrian, cleansed of leprosy by dipping seven times in the river Jordan,\nis often cited as an illustration. [13] It was not the water that cured\nNaaman, but his obedience to the Prophet who had told him to dip seven\ntimes in that particular stream. Had he dipped in any other stream,\nor any other number of times but just seven, his disease would still\nhave clung to him. But he did as he had been directed, and his faith,\nmanifested by his obedience, worked the cure, bringing down the power\nof God for that purpose. The water was only the medium through which\nthe power operated. Likewise, when Christ anointed the eyes of the\nblind man with clay, causing him to see, it was faith that wrought the\nmiracle, not the clay, which was only an accessory. It is the same with\nconsecrated oil, as used in the healing ordinance of the Church. [14]\n\nEffect of Baptism.--Baptism cleanses and illumines the soul, and it is\nby water and by Spirit that the cleansing and illumination come. They\nare indispensable in the process. The sick can be healed without the\nuse of consecrated oil, or even without the laying on of hands. But no\nsinner can be baptized--cleansed and illumined--without the water and\nthe Spirit.\n\nChildren in Christ.--The effect of baptism is to make men and women\nchildlike--not in ignorance, nor in weakness, but in innocence and\nhumility. \"Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.\" By baptism, following\nfaith and repentance and administered by divine authority, the soul is\n\"born again,\" and is typical, in its infant-like purity, of the soul\nraised to immortality. By baptism we are as effectually freed from sin,\nas by death, burial and resurrection, the mortal is changed to immortal\nand ushered into a new existence. Hence, baptism is termed \"the washing\nof regeneration.\" Regeneration means \"new birth.\"\n\nEarly Christian Views.--The earliest Christians did not doubt the\nnecessity of baptism. On the contrary, they strongly insisted upon it,\nas indispensable to a saved condition. During the Patristic age--that\nof the post-apostolic Fathers--the conviction that no soul could be\nsaved without baptism was so firm that it led to pedobaptism--the\nbaptism of infants--and to other innovations upon the primitive faith.\nIt was seen that infants could not believe in Christ, nor repent of\nsins that they had not committed; but it was held that the Church, or\nthose who stood sponsor for the little ones, could believe for them,\nand they were baptized for original sin, the sin of Adam, which they\nwere supposed to have inherited. Peter's words in promising the Holy\nGhost, \"For the promise is unto you and to your children.\" [15] were\nconstrued to sustain infant baptism. It was even assumed that the\nSavior authorized it in saying, \"Suffer little children to come unto\nme.\"\n\nPedobaptism.--Holders of such views have never explained why infant\nbaptism did not become prevalent until two or three centuries after\nChrist; and why such eminent Christians of the fourth century as\nGregory of Nazianzum, the son of a bishop; Basil the Great of\nCappadocia; Chrysostom of Antioch, and Augustine of Numida--whose\nmothers were pious Christians--were not baptized until they were over\nthirty years of age, Paul's affirmation that \"children are holy,\" [16]\nand the Savior's declaration, \"Of such is the kingdom of God,\" [17]\nare a sufficient answer to the assumption that children under the age\nof accountability have need to be baptized. Those who introduced the\npractice of baptizing infants for original sin, over-looked or were\nblind to the fact that Christ atoned for original guilt, and that men\nare accountable for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression.\n\nOther Innovations.--One innovation led to another. Martyrs who had\nshed their blood in defense of the Church, or for its sake, but had\nnever confessed Christ nor been baptized--what of them? For their\nbenefit another doctrine was introduced. They were held to have been\nbaptized in their own blood. Finally, out of deference to the claims\nof a far more numerous class--worthy men and women, many of whom\nhad lived and died before the Christian Church was founded, while\nothers, though living contemporaneously with it, were never reached\nby its missionaries--the idea gradually obtained that baptism was not\nessential to salvation. All this might have been obviated, and the\nChurch spared much ridicule and skepticism, the result of its rambling\ninconsistencies, had it kept the key to the situation--Baptism for the\nDead.\n\nGradual Growth of a Heresy.--The idea that baptism is non-essential did\nnot become fixed and popular until many centuries after the Apostles\n\"fell asleep.\" Saint Augustine, who figured in the latter part of\nthe fourth and in the first half of the fifth century after Christ,\nand who advanced the notion that water baptism was \"the outward sign\nof an inward grace,\" held, nevertheless, that no soul could be saved\nwithout it--not even infants; though their condemnation, resulting from\nnon-baptism, would be of the mildest character. Augustine's concept of\nbaptism, with some modifications, is the doctrine of the Roman Catholic\nChurch and of the orthodox Protestant churches at the present time.\nLuther held baptism to be essential to salvation; Calvin and Zwingli\ndid not; and there, in the sixteenth century, it appears, began the\nschism of opinion concerning it that divides Christendom today.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. John 3:3, 5.\n\n2. Matt. 3:13.\n\n3. John 5:19.\n\n4. Mark 1:4; Acts 2:38.\n\n5. 2 Nephi 9:21, 22.\n\n6. John 1:29.\n\n7. Moroni 8:8-10, 19, 22.\n\n8. Moses 6:55.\n\n9. D. & C. 68:25-27.\n\n10. Mosiah 3:11; Moroni 8:22; D. & C. 45:54; Ib. 76:72.\n\n11. I Cor. 15:29.\n\n12. Moses 6:60.\n\n13. 2 Kings 5:1-14.\n\n14. James 5:14, 15.\n\n15. Acts 2:29.\n\n16. 1 Cor. 7:14.\n\n17. Mark 10:14; Luke 18:16.\n\n\n\nARTICLE THIRTY-THREE.\n\nMeaning And Mode Of Baptism.\n\nThe Lesser Suggests the Greater.--When Jesus told Nicodemus that man\nmust be born of Water and of the Spirit, he virtually declared the\nmeaning of baptism and prescribed the mode of its administration. It\nwas to prepare the way before a greater principle, that Christ taught\nand exemplified the principle of baptism. He compared it to birth, the\nentry into mortal life; and this pointed to resurrection, the entry\ninto immortal glory.\n\nMen's minds, therefore, should be ready to receive something suggestive\nof birth and resurrection, in the ceremony authorized by the Son of\nGod as the means of admission into his Kingdom. This suggestion is\nfully realized in the true form of the baptismal ordinance, namely,\nimmersion--going down into the water and coming up out of the water, in\nthe similitude of burial and resurrection, of birth into a higher life.\n\nThe Proper Form.--That immersion was the form of the ordinance\nintroduced by John the Baptist, submitted to by the Savior, and\nperpetuated by his Apostles, is a plain and reasonable inference from\nthe teachings of the New Testament. Jesus, when about to be baptized,\nmust have gone down into the water; for after baptism, he \"went up\nstraightway out of the water.\" [1] When Philip baptized the Eunuch,\n\"they went down both into the water.\" [2] John baptized \"in Aenon,\nnear to Salim, because there was much water there\" [3]--another proof\npresumptive of immersion, the only mode requiring \"much water\" for its\nperformance.\n\nIf this had not been the proper form, Paul would not have compared\nbaptism to burial and resurrection; [4] nor would he have recognized\nas baptism the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea. [5]\nNote also his words to the Corinthians relative to vicarious baptism\nand in support of resurrection, a doctrine that some of them denied:\n\"Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead\nrise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?\" [6] In\nother words, why use the symbol of the resurrection, if there be no\nresurrection--if the symbol does not symbolize?\n\nAdditional Evidence.--In addition to what the Bible tells, we have\nthe statements of archaeologists and historians, to the effect that\nbaptism, in the first ages of Christianity, was a dipping or submersion\nin water. This, in fact, as philologists testify, is the meaning of the\nGreek word from which the English word \"baptism\" is derived. Ancient\nbaptisteries and other monumental remains in Asia, Africa and Europe,\nshow that immersion was the act of baptism. The Christian churches of\nthe Orient--Greek, Russian, Armenian, Nestorian, Coptic and others,\nhave always practiced immersion and allow nothing else for baptism.\nThe Western churches preserved this form for thirteen centuries, and\nthen gradually introduced pouring or sprinkling--ceremonies in no way\nsymbolical of birth and resurrection, and therefore not in harmony with\nthe divine purpose for which baptism was instituted.\n\nClinic Baptism.--Baptisms by pouring or sprinkling were exceptional\nin the early ages of the Christian Church. They were called clinic\nbaptisms, because administered as a rule to the sick, who could not\nbe taken from their beds to be immersed; but they were rare, and were\nregarded only as quasi-baptisms. [7]\n\nImmersion Made Optional.--Baptism by immersion was practiced regularly\nin the Roman Catholic Church until the year 1311, when the Council of\nRavenna authorized a change, leaving it optional with the officiating\nminister to baptize either by immersion or by sprinkling. Even infants\nwere baptized by immersion until about the end of the thirteenth\ncentury when sprinkling came into common use.\n\nLuther and Calvin.--Luther favored immersion and sought, against the\ntendency of the times, to restore it; but Calvin, while admitting\nthat the word \"baptism\" means immersion, and that this was certainly\nthe practice of the ancient Church, held that the mode was of no\nconsequence. A Greater than Calvin, however, had decreed otherwise, and\nhad set the example that all were to follow.\n\nModern Methods.--Pouring is the present practice in the Roman Catholic\nChurch; sprinkling in the Church of England and in the Methodist\nChurch. A choice of modes is permitted by the Presbyterians, though\nsprinkling is the regular form. The Baptists as their name implies, are\nstrong advocates of immersion. The Quakers repudiate baptism altogether.\n\nThe Authorized Practice.--The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day\nSaints has but one form of baptism--the one authorized by the Savior\nand practiced by his Apostles, namely, baptism by immersion for the\nremission of sins. [8] The Church derives its knowledge of this sacred\nordinance, not mainly from the Bible, nor from the Book of Mormon, nor\nfrom any other record. It came by direct revelation to Joseph the Seer,\nrestoring that which was lost. Brushing aside the dust and cobwebs of\ntradition concealing the precious jewel of truth, he brought back the\nknowledge of the \"one Lord, one faith, one baptism\" of the ancients. [9]\n\nBaptism and Resurrection.--Baptism was made universal, and became the\ndoorway to the Church of Christ, the Kingdom of God on earth, because\nit represents resurrection, which is likewise universal and without\nwhich no man can enter into the Celestial Kingdom. Christ, the great\nExemplar of baptism, was the first to rise from the dead. It was\nfitting, therefore, that he should undergo the ordinance symbolizing\nthe mighty fact for which he stands--redemption from the grave and\neternal life beyond.\n\nSymbolical of the Soul.--Baptism is twofold, corresponding to its\nsubject, the soul, which is both spiritual and temporal. The body\nis represented by the water; the spirit by the Holy Ghost. Both\nare essential in the process, since it is not the body alone, nor\nthe spirit alone, that is baptized, but body and spirit in one.\nConsequently, baptism is administered in a temporal world, where body\nand spirit can both be present, and where the watery element abounds.\nA person can believe and repent in the spirit world, but cannot be\nbaptized there. This makes necessary baptism by proxy.\n\nThe Blood that Cleanseth.--In reality there are three factors in\nbaptism--the Spirit, the Water and the Blood. Only two of them are used\nin the ceremony. But without the atoning blood of Christ, there could\nbe no baptism of a saving character. Hence it is written: \"The blood of\nJesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.\" [10]\n\nThree in One.--The Water and the Spirit, representing earth and heaven,\nare made effectual by the Blood. Man and God are thus reconciled,\nChrist being the reconciler. There are three that bear record in\nheaven--the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost; and there are three\nthat bear witness on earth--the Spirit, the Water and the Blood. Each\ngroup corresponds to the other; each three agree in one. Therefore,\nwhen a soul is baptized, it must be by Water and by Spirit, made\neffectual by Blood, and in the name of the Father and of the Son and of\nthe Holy Ghost.\n\nA Divine Exegesis--The Lord explained this principle to Adam thus:\n\"Inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water and blood and the\nspirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so\nye must be born again into the Kingdom of Heaven, of water and of the\nspirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten;\nthat ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of\neternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even\nimmortal glory:\n\n\"For by the Water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are\njustified, and by the Blood ye are sanctified.\" [11]\n\nThe Mediator.--Spirit, Water and Blood--the three elements of\nbaptism--were combined in the person of Jesus Christ, when baptized\nby John in the Jordan. Standing upon the river's brink, his sacred\nfrom dripping with the waters from which he had just emerged, he was\ncrowned with the Holy Ghost, descending upon him from above. Yet it was\nnecessary that his blood should be shed, in order that the Spirit might\ncome in full force unto his disciples. Not until the Mediator had hung\nbetween heaven and earth, were the Apostles endued with power from on\nHigh. Then it was that the Spirit of God moved with full effect upon\nthe waters of this world, coming, as in the first instance, that there\nmight be a creation, a new birth, a regeneration for the human race.\n\nImmersion in the Spirit.--So much stress being laid upon immersion, and\nupon the twofold character of baptism, one may be led to inquire: Why\nis it not an immersion in the Spirit as well as in the Water? To which\nI answer: Is it not so? When John the Baptist, proclaiming the Christ,\nsaid, \"I indeed have baptized you with water, but he shall baptize you\nwith the Holy Ghost,\" [12] it was baptism in each instance, and baptism\nsignifies immersion. [13]\n\nThe Laying on of Hands.--The Holy Ghost is imparted by the laying on of\nhands. [14] Possibly this ceremony was intended to typify the glorious\nbaptism that Earth will undergo when the Spirit is poured out upon\nher from on High. The laying on of hands for the giving of the Holy\nGhost was an ordinance in the Christian Church for centuries. Cyprian\nmentions it in the third century; Augustine in the fourth. Gradually,\nhowever, it began to be neglected, until finally some of the sects\ndiscarded it, while others, retaining the form, \"denied the power\nthereof.\"\n\nThe Fathers Understood.--The Greek fathers of the Church held correct\nideas concerning baptism. They termed it \"initiation,\" from its\nintroductory character; \"regeneration,\" from its being regarded as\na new birth; \"the great circumcision,\" because it was held to have\nsuperseded the circumcision of the Mosaic law; also \"illumination\" and\n\"the gift of the Lord.\" [15]\n\nCensured for Truth's Sake.--The Greek Christians of the early\ncenturies, like the Saints of New Testament times, baptized for the\nremission of sins. They have been censured by modern critics for\nmagnifying the importance of water baptism, and at the same time\ninsisting on the purely ethical or spiritual nature of the rite; for\nconfounding the sign with the thing signified, the action of the water\nwith the action of the Spirit, in the process of regeneration. But\nthey were not any more insistent upon these points than the Apostles\nthemselves.\n\nAugustine's Theory.--St. Augustine is complimented by the same critics\nfor formulating the first strict scientific theory of the nature and\neffects of baptism. He drew a sharp distinction between \"the outward\nsign\"--water baptism--and the inward change of heart resulting from the\noperation of the Holy Ghost. Yet even he is charged with laying too\nmuch stress upon the value of \"the outward sign,\" which he held to be\nessential to salvation. Protestant theologians have been commended for\nkeeping the \"sign\" in due subordination to \"the thing signified,\" for\njustifying themselves by faith, and ignoring to a great extent outward\nordinances.\n\nBut the Greek Christians, whatever their defects, were nearer right\nthan St. Augustine, and St. Augustine was nearer right than the\nProtestant theologians who followed him. Baptism, as taught in the\nNew Testament, is not the mere \"outward sign of an inward grace.\"\nThe action of the water and the action of the Spirit are not to be\nseparated in any analysis of the nature and effects of baptism. Both\nare essential in the soul-cleansing, soul-enlightening process.\n\nA Symbol of Creation.--Every baptism, every resurrection, implies\na birth. No seed germinates until it dies, or appears to die, and\nis buried. The gardener plants that there may be a springing forth\nof new life from the germ of the old. [16] Coming into this world\ninvolves departure out of a previous world, and burial here implies\nbirth hereafter. The sun sets upon the Eastern hemisphere to rise upon\nthe Western, and sets upon the Western to rise upon the Eastern. The\nsetting and rising of the sun; sleep followed by waking; winter with\nits icy fetters and snowy shroud, succeeded by spring in garments\nof green, with bright flowers, singing birds and laughing streams;\nall these suggest baptism, for they symbolize birth, burial and\nresurrection.\n\nBegotten and Born of God.--We have a Father and a Mother in heaven,\nin whose image we were created, male and female. We were begotten and\nborn in the spirit before we were begotten and born in the flesh; and\nwe must be begotten and born again, in the similitude of those earlier\nbegettings and births, or we cannot regain the presence of our eternal\nFather and Mother.\n\nBabes in Christ.--Baptism signifies the creation of souls for the\nKingdom of God. The one who baptizes is the spiritual progenitor of\nthe one baptized. This is why the Apostles referred to those who\nreceived baptism at their hands as \"children of my begetting,\" \"babes\nin Christ,\" to be fed \"the milk\" before \"the meat of the word.\" [17]\nTo baptize is to perform spiritually the functions of fatherhood.\nMotherhood is symbolized by the baptismal font. Hence, baptism must be\nby divine authority, must have God's sanction upon it. Heavenly and\nearthly powers must join, must be wedded for the bringing forth of\nthe redeemed soul; otherwise, the baptism will be unlawful, the birth\nillegitimate, the act of begetting a sin. Baptisms, like marriages,\nperformed without divine authority, will have no effect \"when men are\ndead.\"\n\nSuggestive Symbolism.--The significance of baptism and the very form\nof the ceremony are suggested by the career of that Divine Being whose\ndescent from heaven to earth, and whose ascent from earth to heaven,\nare the sum and substance of the Gospel Story. Descending below and\nrising above--such was his experience from the time he left his\ncelestial throne to the time he returned to his glorious exaltation.\nIt is not possible that the sacred ordinance of baptism was intended\nto symbolize that wonderful event--God's merciful condescension for\nthe sake of fallen man? Was it not instituted in anticipation and as a\nmemorial of that mighty Birth, with its mortal burial and its immortal\nresurrection?\n\nA Watery World.--Moreover, in the symbolism of the Scriptures, this\nworld is represented by water. [18] \"All things are water,\" said the\nGreek Thales. At the very dawn of creation, Spirit and Water, the\ntwo elements used in baptism, were both present--the one creative,\nthe other createable. [19] \"Let the dry land appear!\" The very words\nsuggest baptism, birth, creation--the emergence of an infant planet\nfrom the womb of the waters. And when the Almighty was about to send\nthe Flood, he said to Noah, concerning the wicked: \"Behold, I will\ndestroy them with the earth.\" [20] Did he mean the watery element which\nenters so largely into the composition of the earth?\n\nA Double Doorway.--Water represents the temporal part of creation,\nincluding the body or mortal part of man. Baptism therefore, in its\ntwofold character, suggests the passing out from this watery world into\nthe spirit world, and thence by resurrection into eternal glory. It is\nonly a suggestion, but it emphasizes for me the reason why the doorway\nto the Church and Kingdom of God is a double doorway, a dual birth, a\nbaptism of Water and of the Spirit.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Matt. 3:16.\n\n2. Acts 8:38.\n\n3. John 3:23.\n\n4. Rom. 6:3-5; Col. 2:12.\n\n5. 1 Cor. 10:1, 2.\n\n6. Ib. 15:29.\n\n7. The first recorded case of clinic baptism is mentioned by Eusebius\nas having occurred in the third century.\n\n8. 3 Nephi 11:23-29.\n\n9. Eph. 4:5.\n\n10. 1 John 1:7.\n\n11. Moses 6:59, 60.\n\n12. Mark 1:8.\n\n13. President Lorenzo Snow, in describing the effect of the Spirit\nupon himself, after his baptism in water, says: \"It was a complete\nbaptism--a tangible immersion in the heavenly principle or element, the\nHoly Ghost.\"--Improvement Era, June, 1919, p. 654.\n\n14. Acts 8:17.\n\n15. Other synonyms were \"consecration\" and \"consummation.\" Those\nbaptized were understood to have consecrated their lives to God, and to\nhave consummated or completed their preparation for communion with the\nChurch of Christ. Only to such was the sacrament of the Lord's Supper\nadministered.\n\n16. 1 Cor. 15:35-44.\n\n17. 1 Cor. 3:1,2; Heb. 5:13, 14.\n\n18. Dan. 7; Rev. 13, 17.\n\n19. Gen. 1:2.\n\n20. Ib. 6:13.\n\n\n\nARTICLE THIRTY-FOUR.\n\nThe Gospel's Accessories.\n\nMany Ways to the Heart.--There is only one way into the Kingdom of\nHeaven, but there are many ways into the human heart; and the Church\nof Christ, in its mission of promulgating truth and turning souls to\nrighteousness, has legitimate use for every avenue to that heart.\nPoetry, music, art in general, as well as science and philosophy--all\nthese can be utilized as auxiliaries in the carrying on of the Lord's\nmanifold work. They may not be essential parts of the divine message,\nbut they prepare the way for its acceptance and are the forerunners of\ngreater things. This, to my thinking, is the main reason why they are\nin the world. There is something purifying, ennobling, exalting, in all\ntrue poetry, true music, real science and genuine philosophy.\n\nThe Poet's Mission.--\"The poets of the world,\" says the poetic Dr.\nHolland, \"are the prophets of humanity. They forever reach after and\nforesee the ultimate good. They are evermore building the paradise that\nis to be, painting the millennium that is to come, restoring the lost\nimage of God in the human soul. When the world shall reach the poet's\nideal, it will arrive at perfection; and much good will it do the world\nto measure itself by this ideal and struggle to lift the real to its\nlofty level.\" [1]\n\nIn the light of such a noble utterance, how paltry the ordinary concept\nof the poet as a mere verse-builder. His true mission is to exalt the\nideal, and encourage the listless or struggling real to advance\ntoward it and eventually attain perfection.\n\nDreamers and Builders.--In this age of money-worship, the poet is often\nreferred to, and at times even ridiculed, as a \"dreamer.\" But the\nridicule, when applied to a real poet, a true son or daughter of the\nMuses, is pointless. The poet _is_ a dreamer; but so is the architect\nand the projector of railroads. All creative minds are dreamful,\nimaginative, poetic. Were it otherwise, nothing worth while would be\ncreated. If there were no dreamers, there would be no builders. Both\nare necessary to progress. Every art and every science has its share of\npoetic idealism, of poetic enthusiasm, and must have it, in order to\nachieve best results.\n\nWell worthy of a place beside Doctor Holland's beautiful thought on\npoets and their ideals, is the following sentiment on dreamers, from\nthe pen of the popular essayist, James Allen: \"As the visible world\nis sustained by the invisible, so men, through all their trials and\nsins and sordid vocations, are nourished by the beautiful visions of\ntheir solitary dreamers. Humanity cannot forget its dreamers; it cannot\nlet their ideals fade and die; it lives in them; it knows them as the\n_realities_ which it shall one day see and know. Composer, sculptor,\npainter, poet, prophet, sage, these are the makers of the after-world,\nthe architects of heaven. The world is beautiful because they have\nlived; without them, laboring humanity would perish.\" [2]\n\nPoets and Prophets.--Poets are prophets of a lesser degree; and the\nprophets are the mightiest of the poets. They hold the key to the\nsymbolism of the universe, and they alone are qualified to interpret it.\n\n  Prophets, mightiest of the poets,\n  They to whom the Gods tell secrets,\n  Doing naught till true revealings\n  Have made wise their trusted servants,\n  Who in turn make wise the people;\n  Bringing past and future present\n  For the betterment of all men,\n  Earth for every change preparing\n  On her pilgrimage to glory. [3]\n\nRhymes and Rhymesters.--There are rhymesters who are neither poets nor\nprophets; and there are prophets and poets who never build a verse nor\nmake a rhyme. Rhyme is no essential element of poetry. Versification is\nan art used by the poet to make his thought more attractive. The rhyme\npleases the ear and helps the sentiment to reach the heart--a ticket of\nadmission, as it were. A musical instrument is painted and gilded, not\nto improve its melodic or harmonic powers, but to make it beautiful to\nthe eye, while its music appeals to the ear and charms the soul. Rhyme\nsustains about the same relation to poetry, as paint or gold leaf to\nthe piano or organ. Clothing adds nothing to one's stature, to one's\nmental or moral worth; but it enables one to appear well in society.\n\"The apparel\" may \"proclaim,\" but it does not _make_ \"the man.\" Neither\ndoes rhyme make poetry.\n\nThe Essence of Poetry.--The essence of poetry is its idealism, its\nsymbolism. The Creator has built his universe upon symbols, the\nlesser suggesting and leading up to the greater; and the poetic\nfaculty--possessed in fulness by the prophet--recognizes and interprets\nthem. \"All things have their likeness.' [4] All creations testify of\ntheir creator. They point to something above and beyond themselves.\nThat is why poetry of the highest order is always prophetic or\ninfinitely suggestive; and that is why the poet is a prophet, and why\nthere is such a thing as poetic prose.\n\n\"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not,\nneither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all\nhis glory was not arrayed like one of these.\" [5]\n\nThat is poetry, real poetry, full of rhythm, yet having no rhyme.\n\nAbove and Beyond.--Anything is poetic that suggests something greater\nthan itself. The lilies of the field suggested to the Savior's poetic\nmind the glory of Solomon. He used them as a means of instilling into\nthe minds of his doubting disciples the great lesson of trust in\nProvidence.\n\nMan, fashioned in the divine image, suggests God, and is therefore \"a\nsymbol of God,\" as Carlyle affirms. [6] But Joseph Smith said it first\nand more fully. He declared God to be \"An Exalted Man.\" To narrow\nminds, this is blasphemy. To the broad-minded, it is poetry--poetry of\nthe sublimest type.\n\nPoetic Ordinances.--The bread and water used in the sacrament\nof the Lord's Supper, represent something greater than those\nemblems--something above and beyond. The whole sacred ceremony is a\npoem in word and action.\n\nThe same is true of Baptism, which stands for birth, creation, burial\nand resurrection. Fatherhood and motherhood are both symbolized in the\nbaptismal ordinance, the true form of which is immersion. Any deviation\nfrom that mode destroys its poetic suggestiveness, its symbolism.\n\nThe Greatest Poet and Prophet.--Jesus Christ, the greatest of all\nprophets, was likewise the greatest of all poets. He comprehended the\nuniverse and its symbolism as no one else ever did or could. He knew it\nthrough and through. What wonder? Had he not created it, and was it not\nmade to bear record of him? [7] He taught in poetic parables, taking\nsimple things as types of greater things, and teaching lessons that\nlead the mind upward towards the ideal, towards perfection. The Gospel\nof Christ is replete with poetry. It is one vast poem from beginning to\nend.\n\nWhat of Philosophy--\"Philosophy is the account which the human mind\ngives to itself of the constitution of the world.\" So says that great\nmodern philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson. [8] In Article Eleven I have\npointed out the similarity between Plato's concept of causes that\nproduced the universe, and Joseph Smith's teaching upon the origin\nand purpose of the great plan of eternal progression. But Joseph\ndid not get his philosophy from Plato. He had it directly from the\ndivine Source of Plato's inspiration. There is no plagiarism in this\nsemi-paralleling of a sublime thought. In like manner Confucius taught,\nin a negative way, the Golden Rule, afterwards taught affirmatively and\nmore fully by Jesus of Nazareth. Truth, whether uttered by ancient sage\nor by modern seer, is worthy of all acceptance.\n\nEmerson on \"Compensation.\"--Few things of a philosophic nature appeal\nto me more strongly than Emerson's great essay on \"Compensation.\" Says\nthat master of thought and expression: \"Every excess causes a defect;\nevery defect an excess. Every sweet hath its sour, every evil its good.\nEvery faculty which is a receiver of pleasure, has an equal penalty put\non its abuse. It is to answer for its moderation with its life.\"\n\n\"Nature hates monopolies and exceptions. The waves of the sea do not\nmore speedily seek a level from their loftiest tossing, than the\nvarieties of conditions tend to equalize themselves. There is always\nsome leveling circumstance that puts down the overbearing, the strong,\nthe rich, the fortunate, substantially on the same ground with all\nothers.\"\n\n\"The farmer imagines power and place are fine things. But the President\nhas paid dear for his White House.\"\n\n\"The cheat, the defaulter, the gambler, cannot extort the benefit,\ncannot extort the knowledge of material and moral nature which his\nhonest care and pains yield to the operative. The law of nature is, Do\nthe thing, and you shall have the power; but they why do not the thing\nhave not the power.\"\n\n\"As the royal armies sent against Napoleon, when he approached, cast\ndown their colors and from enemies became friends, so do disasters of\nall kinds, as sickness, offense, poverty, prove benefactors.\"\n\n\"Our strength grows out of our weakness. Not until we are pricked and\nstung and sorely shot at, awakens the indignation which arms itself\nwith secret forces. Blame is safter than praise.\"\n\n\"The history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature,\nto make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand. The martyr cannot\nbe dishonored. Every lash inflicted is a tongue of fame; every prison\na more illustrious abode; every burned book or house enlightens the\nworld. It is the whipper who is whipped, and the tyrant who is undone.\"\n\n\"The changes which break up at short intervals the prosperity of men,\nare advertisements of a nature whose law is growth. We cannot part with\nour friends. We cannot part our friends. We cannot let our angels go.\nWe do not see that they only go out, that archangels may come in.\"\n\n\"The death of a dear friend, wife, brother, lover, which seemed nothing\nbut privation, somewhat later assumes the aspect of a guide or genius;\nfor it commonly operates revolutions in our way of life, terminates an\nepoch of infancy or of youth which was waiting to be closed, breaks up\na wonted occupation, or a household, or style of living, and allows the\nformation of new ones more friendly to the growth of character.\" And\nthe man or woman who would have remained a sunny garden flower, with no\nroom for its roots and too much sunshine for its head, by the falling\nof the walls and the neglect of the gardener, is made the banian of the\nforest yielding shade and fruit to wide neighborhoods of men.\" [9]\n\nDivers Teachers.--Philosophy, like poetry, wins its way, where Truth's\nfulness, preached in power, might offend. The plain blunt message\nof the prophet who comes proclaiming, \"Thus saith the Lord,\" repels\nand antagonizes many who will listen to and be impressed by the\nphilosopher, with his cogent reasoning; or charmed by the poet, with\nhis melodious verse and appealing illustrations; or won over by the\nscientist, with his clear-cut, convincing demonstrations. All kinds of\nteachers go before the prophet, preparing his way, or follow after him,\nconfirming his testimony. [10]\n\nThe Divine Art.--Music softens the heart, thus preparing the way before\nthe Gospel. \"The song of the righteous is a prayer unto me,\" saith the\nLord. [11] Nothing brings the good spirit into a meeting more quickly\nthan sweet and soulful singing, especially when choir and congregation\njoin. Tourists come in a constant stream to listen to the organ and the\nchoir in our great Tabernacle. The Gospel is not always preached to\nthem; they do not always desire it. But they are mellowed by the music,\nand go away with kinder feelings toward, and a better understanding of,\nthe people who build such instruments, organize such choirs, and rear\nsuch structures. Their works speak for them. Depraved wretches, such\nas the majority of Utah's people are falsely represented to be, do not\nlove music, care nothing for poetry and philosophy, do not cultivate\nthe arts and sciences, nor rear tabernacles and temples unto God.\n\nSeeing and Hearing.--In the year 1875 President Ulysses S. Grant came\nto Utah--the first Executive of the Nation to set foot within the\nTerritory, now a State. It was at a time when, all over this broad\nland, bitter prejudice against the Latter-day Saints prevailed. It was\nfreely asserted that the man who had finished with the South, would\n\"make short work\" of Utah and the \"Mormons.\" Among the places visited\nby the President and his party during their stay, was the Salt Lake\nTabernacle, where he heard the organ played by Joseph J. Daynes. What\nthe President thought of it, I never learned; but Mrs. Grant, her face\nstreaming with tears, turned to Captain Hooper, who had been Utah's\ndelegate in Congress, and said with deep feeling: \"I wish I could do\nsomething for these good Mormon people.\" The music had touched her\nheart, and perhaps the heart of her noble husband; for Grant was noble,\nthough yielding at times to intense prejudice. [12]\n\nNo Substitute for the Gospel.--Let it not be supposed, however, that\nmusic, poetry, painting, sculpture, science, or any other thing, can\ntake the place of the great uplifting Plan whereby the world, already\nredeemed, is yet to be glorified. No gift can vie with the Giver, no\ncreature usurp the functions of the Creator. He will use everything\ntrue and good and beautiful to melt the hearts of men and prepare them\nto be saved; but salvation itself comes only by one route--the Gospel\nof the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nThis is the great Ideal, and it must be honored and maintained as such.\nIn dealing with it, no Procrustean process is permissible. It must not\nbe chopped off because men think it too long, nor stretched out because\nthey deem it too short. It did not come into the world to be mutilated.\nRevelation cannot bow down to tradition. Truth is the standard--truth\nas Heaven reveals it--and the opinions and theories of men must give\nway. The Gospel's accessories are no substitute for the Gospel.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Lessons in Life, by Timothy Titcomb (J. G. Holland)--Lesson 22, \"The\nPoetic Test.\"\n\n2. As a Man Thinketh, \"Visions and Ideals.\"\n\n3. \"Love and the Light,\" p. 68.\n\n4. Moses 6:63.\n\n5. Matt. 6:28, 29; Luke 12:27.\n\n6. Sartor Resartus, 3, \"Symbols.\"\n\n7. Moses 6:63.\n\n8. Representative Men, Plato, p. 51.\n\n9. Emerson's Essays, 3, \"Compensation.\"\n\n10. A friend of mine, a medical practitioner, was conversing with a\nlearned physician in the great city of London. The subject was the Word\nof Wisdom (D. & C. 89) wherein the Lord, after deprecating the use of\nstrong drink, tobacco and other things \"not good for man,\" goes on to\nsay that \"all wholesome herbs,\" \"every fruit in the season thereof,\"\nand all grains are ordained for man's use. \"Nevertheless, wheat for\nman, and corn for the ox, and oats for the horse, and rye for the fowls\nand for swine and for all beasts of the field and barley for all useful\nanimals, and for mild drinks,\" etc. The learned man asked: \"Where did\nJoseph Smith get this information? These teachings are based upon\nscientific principles, recognized as such by the medical profession;\nbut they are of comparatively recent discovery. They were not known in\nJoseph Smith's time.\" My friend, being a Latter-day Saint, did not lose\nthe opportunity thus afforded of bearing testimony to Joseph Smith's\nmission as a prophet.\n\n11. D. & C. 25:12.\n\n12. Before reaching the Tabernacle, President Grant passed up South\nTemple Street, lined on both sides with sabbath school children, neatly\nand tastefully attired, waving banners and mottoes of welcome in\nhonor of the nation's chief. Riding in an open carriage, and running\nthe gauntlet of applause and cheers, the honored guest turned to\nthe Governor of Utah, Hon. George W. Emery, who sat beside him, and\ninquired: \"What children are these?\" \"Mormon children,\" replied the\nGovernor. \"The Silent Man\" mused for a moment, and was then heard to\nmurmur, \"I have been deceived.\"\n\nHe never was deceived again--in the same way. He could trust his eyes\nwhen he looked upon those beautiful children. They were not the product\nof crime and depravity, not the offspring of savages and criminals. He\ncould trust his ears, too, when he heard that choir and that organ. No\none could make him believe, after his visit to the \"Mormon City,\" that\nits inhabitants were as black as they had been painted.\n\n\n\nARTICLE THIRTY-FIVE.\n\nWhat Are Miracles?\n\nNot Contrary to Law.--Miracles are results flowing from superior means\nand methods of doing things. They do not happen contrary to law. They\nare in strict conformity therewith. It could not be otherwise; for the\nuniverse, natural and supernatural, is governed by law. But there are\ngreater laws and lesser laws, and the greater have power to suspend the\noperation of the lesser. When this occurs, people exclaim: \"A miracle!\"\nOthers say: \"It never happened, for it is contrary to law.\" And indeed\nit may seem contrary to ordinary law, with the workings of which their\neveryday experience is familiar. But that does not prove it contrary to\nsome higher law concerning which they may know little or nothing.\n\nElisha and the Axe.--When the Prophet Elisha relieved the distress of\nthe young man who had lost an axe--a borrowed axe--in the stream on the\nbank of which he was hewing timber, [1] it may have been supposed, by\nsome skeptical on-looker, that the man of God was working in opposition\nto law. The account given states that \"he cut down a stick\" and cast\nit into the water, and \"the iron did swim\"--in spite of the fact that\nit is the nature of iron to sink. The law of gravitation required that\nthe axe remain at the bottom of the stream, unless, by the application\nof some counter-force, ordinary or otherwise, it could be recovered.\nThe force applied in this case was extraordinary. Elisha invoked a law\nsuperior to the law of gravitation, suspending its complete action upon\nthat particular piece of iron. [2]\n\nScientific Achievements.--Today, iron ships are floating upon every\nsea. While this is not a miracle such as Elisha wrought, it would have\nbeen deemed a miracle in earlier ages of the world, before such wonders\nbecame commonplace. The achievements of modern science, compared with\npast conditions in the same field of thought and action, ought to\nconvince any reasonable mind that the days of miracles are not over.\n\nLight Production.--Men once made light by briskly rubbing together two\npieces of wood, until friction generated flame. Gas light or electric\nlight, with the present means of producing them, would have filled the\nsouls of such men with fear and wonder. To them it would have been a\nmiracle. And yet, to press a button or turn a switch, and thus obtain\nlight, is a very clumsy device--or will be so considered when men learn\nto make light as God made it on the morning of creation. [3]\n\n\"The Earth Moves.\"--The telegraph, the telephone, the electric car,\nthe automobile, the airship--these and a hundred other marvelous\nmanifestations of scientific power, now quite common, would have been\ndeemed visionary and impossible in former ages. To have avowed even\na belief in them would have imperiled one's life or deprived him of\nhis liberty, in the days when Galileo was threatened with torture for\ndeclaring that the earth moves, or when women, in later times were\nhanged or burned as witches for nothing at all. So dangerous is human\nprejudice, in its fanatical opposition to things new and strange. This,\nof course, refers only to former ages and to semibenighted peoples. We\nwould not have done as our forefathers did! So each generation thinks.\nLet us be thankful that the earth \"does move,\" and that the mind of man\nmoves with it, so that perils such as confronted Galileo and others of\nhis class are now less likely to show their ugly features.\n\nThe Other Extreme.--But just a word of caution here. We must not rush\nto the opposite extreme, and become obsessed with that ultra-practical\nspirit which would make all things commonplace, not only in\nmanifestation, but in origin. Miracles, after all, are facts, not\nfictions, and some of them have their causes far back of and beyond the\nknown principles of science.\n\nDisbelief in Divine Interposition.--But there is a disposition in these\nmodern days to do away with everything savoring of the supernatural,\n\"Higher Criticism,\" so-called, seems to regard this as its special\nmission. Some people, even if they give credence to works of wonder,\ninvariably refer them to ordinary causes--anything rather than\nacknowledge divine interposition.\n\nMoses and the Red Sea.--For instance, when they read of Moses parting\nthe waters of the Red Sea, they either deny the event in toto, or set\nMoses and the miracle aside, and substitute some convulsion of nature\nas the accidental cause of the mighty deliverance, when those waters,\nafter allowing the Israelites to pass through in safety, returned just\nin time to engulf their pursuing enemies, the Egyptians. [4]\n\nA very convenient earthquake, truly! Nothing could have been more\ntimely! But why could not Divine Power have done it all--done it\ndesignedly, in the manner and with the means specified in the sacred\nnarrative? [5] Is God impotent in the presence of Nature--fettered by\nhis own creation? Alas! these learned theorists believe not in God, and\nthat is why they deny his works and put nature with its blind forces in\nhis stead.\n\nJoshua and the Sun.--They laugh to scorn the idea of Joshua commanding\nthe sun to stand still, deeming it \"a sin and a disgrace\" that such\nthings should be preached and taught, and denying, of course, that the\nmiracle ever took place. Because, forsooth, the whole solar system\nwould have come crashing down into chaos, had the sun halted for one\nmoment in its decreed course! Yes, that might have happened, such a\ncalamity might have occurred--had there been no God to uphold the solar\nsystem and administer the law for its preservation.\n\n\"The Lord Fought for Israel.\"--But there is a God, and he was there as\nhe is everywhere, by his all-protective, all-administrative power--the\nGod to whom Joshua prayed before uttering the sublime command: \"Sun,\nstand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon!\"\n[6] \"And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had\navenged themselves upon their enemies; . . . . for the Lord fought for\nIsrael.\" [7]\n\nThere you have it--it was the Lord's doing. Joshua was merely the\ninstrument, just as Moses had been. But because such things are not\nhappening every day, and because doubt cannot do them, therefore are\nthey impossible to Faith! Such is the logic of those who scoff at the\npower of Deity and deny even the miracles of the Savior.\n\nNothing Too Difficult for Omnipotence.--For my part, I see nothing\ninconsistent in these Bible stories--nothing to justify doubt or\ndenial. A Power that could create the sun and moon and set them\nwhirling in their orbits, could stop them in their decreed course--or\nstop the earth, so that sun and moon would seem to be stayed--and at\nthe same time uphold the universe, while this part of it remained\nstationary. Of course, man could not do it; but human power is not the\nmeasure of Omnipotence.\n\nWhat Our Century Needs.--What the Twentieth Century needs, more than\nanything else, is an honest belief that there is actually a God in\nheaven, and that his power is superior to man's. The Great Creator has\nnot let out his universe, to be governed by law independently of the\nLaw-giver. The God of Israel is a God who answers prayer, and who works\nmiracles whenever the need arises and conditions warrant--works them\naccording to law. But He administers that law--it does not administer\nhim.\n\nGreater and Lesser Laws.--Some laws are fundamental. The Almighty did\nnot create them; but he controls them and overrules their workings for\nthe welfare of his creatures. According to Joseph Smith, certain laws\nwere \"instituted\" at the beginning, as a means for human progression.\nThese are eternal principles whereby our great and benevolent Father\nproposes to save and exalt his children, and give perpetuity to all\nthings necessary for their happiness and glory.\n\nWho, having faith in a Maker of the universe, can question his power to\ngovern that universe, the workmanship of his hands? And if he controls\nthe fundamental laws--those uncreatable, self-existent principles\nwhich are as the Constitution of Eternity, surely he can suspend the\noperation of lesser laws based thereon, setting aside at will his own\nenactments.\n\nAn Illustration.--Suppose a child to be lying at the point of death.\nThe family physician, having done his best and failed, informs the\nsad-hearted parents that their little one cannot live till morning.\nMedical science so decrees, in accordance with the law under which\nthe physician has been operating. But, bearing in mind the apostolic\ninjunction, \"Is any sick among you? Let him call for the Elders of the\nChurch,\" [8] the parents send for the Elders. They come and pray over\nthe child, and the prayer of faith \"saves the sick,\" notwithstanding\nthe good doctor's prognostication. A miracle? Yes, if one chooses\nto call it so. In other words, the suspension of a lesser law by a\ngreater, the former requiring the death of the child, the latter\npermitting it to live; the lower inoperative in the presence of the\nhigher.\n\nBiggest Things Yet to Be.--Miracles belong to no particular time or\nplace. Whenever and wherever there is sufficient faith and a reasonable\ndemand for its exercise, Divine Power will act, and marvels will\nresult. \"There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of\"\nin human \"philosophy,\" and the biggest things are yet to be. God's work\nis progressive, and the miracles of the future will cause the miracles\nof the past to pale.\n\nDivine Adaptation.--Progression's highest methods cannot be employed\nin dealing with undeveloped man. The All-wise adapts himself to the\nconditions environing those whom he aims to uplift and glorify. \"All\nthings are in a scale,\" rendering necessary a diversity of laws and\noperations. Even the divine dictum, \"Let there be light!\" does not\nrepresent the last word in light production. God is Light, and has only\nto appear, and all darkness will flee away. When the sun rises, the\nmoon and stars must \"hide their diminished heads.\" When God dawns upon\nthe world, not even the sun will shine.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. 2 Kings 6:1-7.\n\n2. \"What are the Laws of Nature?\" asks Carlyle, and continues: \"To me\nperhaps the rising of one from the dead were no violation of these\nlaws, but a confirmation, if some far deeper law, now first penetrated\ninto, and by spiritual force, even as the rest have all been, were\nbrought to bear on us with its material force.\"\n\n\"'But is it not the deepest law of Nature that she be constant?' cried\nan illuminated class: 'Is not the machine of the universe fixt to move\nby unalterable rules?' Probable enough good friends. . . . . And now of\nyou, too, I make the old inquiry: What those same unalterable rules,\nforming the complete statute book of Nature, may possibly be?\n\n\"'They stand written in our works of science,' say you; 'in the\naccumulated record of man's experience.' Was man with his experience\npresent at the creation, then, to see how it all went on? Have any\ndeepest scientific individuals yet dived down to the foundations of the\nuniverse, and gauged everything there? Did the Maker take them into his\ncounsel, that they read his ground-plan of the incomprehensible All,\nand can say, This stands marked therein, and no more than this? Alas,\nnot in any wise!\" . . . .\n\n\"To the minnow, every cranny and pebble and quality and accident, of\nits little native creek may have become familiar; but does the minnow\nunderstand the ocean tides and periodic currents, the trade winds\nand monsoons and moon's eclipses, by all which the condition of its\nlittle creek is regulated, and may, from time to time (unmiraculously\nenough) be quite upset and reversed? Such a minnow is man; his creek\nthis planet earth; his ocean the immeasurable All; his monsoons and\nperiodic currents the mysterious force of Providence through aeons of\naeons.\"--Sartor Resartus, Natural Supernaturalism, pp. 275-278.\n\n3. Gen. 1:3.\n\n4. \"Everybody recalls how the Red Sea was rolled aside in order that\nthe Isaraelites under Moses might pass over safely; how the river\nJordan, a few later, was driven back, that Joshua and his army might\ncross; and how Sodom and Gomorrah were overwhelmed with fire and\nbrimstone for their sins . . . . Geologists are now inclined to believe\nthat the recession of the sea might have been caused by an earthquake\npushing up a rock stratum under tremendous pressure. The water would\nreturn in some degree upon the subsidence of the stratum. The various\nmiraculous events referred to occurred about the year 1500 B. C., and\nthere is a curious similarity between them. It now appears probable\nfrom scientific research that these occurrences were the last of a\nseries of terrific earthquake disturbances that changed the entire\nsurface of the globe.\"--W. H. Ballou, D. Sc.\n\n5. Ex. 14:21-31.\n\n6. Joshua 10:12.\n\n7. Ib. vv. 13, 14.\n\n8. James 5:14.\n\n\n\nARTICLE THIRTY-SIX.\n\nThe Mainspring of Power.\n\nThe Moving Cause.--All power springs from faith. It is \"the moving\ncause of all action\" and \"the foundation of all righteousness.\" [1] God\ndid not create the principle of faith, but by means of it he created\nthe worlds, and by means of it he continues to exercise control and\ndominion over them. It is the faith of Omnipotence that upholds the\nuniverse.\n\nA Negative Opinion.--A Christian minister, not of the orthodox school,\nwith whom I was conversing on the subject of faith, tried to convince\nme that it was anything but an admirable quality. He even called it\ncontemptible, declaring that it consisted of a weak willingness to\nbelieve--to believe anything, however improbable or absurd. In short,\nit was mere credulity, nothing more.\n\nA Spiritual Force.--When I referred to faith as a spiritual force, a\nprinciple of power, he said I was attaching to the term a significance\nthat it had never borne, and for which there was no warrant. I then\nreminded him of the Savior's words: \"If ye have faith as a grain of\nmustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, 'Remove hence to yonder\nplace,' and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you.\"\n[2] Whereupon he flippantly remarked: \"Oh, it takes picks and shovels\nto move mountains.\"\n\nPicks and Shovels.--And so it does--if one has no better way of moving\nthem. But what about the faith necessary to handle pick and shovel?\nAll energy springs from faith, and whether mountains are moved by man\nor by his Maker, it is faith that precedes the action and renders it\npossible. Yet here was a professed minister of Christ, ignoring the\nteachings of Christ, and denying what all true Christians believe--that\nthe smallest as well as the greatest acts of our lives spring from the\nexercise of faith.\n\nMisplaced Confidence.--In its incipient stages, faith may at times\nresemble mere credulity. The untutored savage who was told by one of\nthe early settlers of New England, that if he planted gunpowder it\nwould \"grow\" gunpowder, believed it, not yet having learned that the\nwhite man could lie. He therefore parted with his valuable furs, in\nexchange for a small quantity of powder, and planted it, showing his\nconfidence in the settler's word. But of course the desired result\ndid not follow; for faith, to be effectual, must be rightly based,\nmust have a reasonable foundation. The Spirit of Truth must inspire\nit. This was not the case with the poor misguided Indian. He trusted\nin a falsehood, and was deceived. Still, some good came of it--he\nascertained the falsity of the settler's statement. If the planting did\nnot produce powder, it produced a wiser Indian.\n\nFaith's Possibilities.--Had the red man's faith been perfect--an\nintelligent, rational, heaven-inspired faith--he could have produced\ngunpowder or any other commodity from the all-containing elements\naround him. And that, too, without planting a seed or employing\nany ordinary process of manufacture. The miracles wrought by the\nSavior--his turning of water into wine, his miraculous feeding of the\nmultitude, his walking on the waves, healing of the sick, raising of\nthe dead, and other wonderful works--what were they but manifestations\nof an all-powerful faith, to possess which is to have the power to\nmove mountains, without picks and shovels, my skeptical friend to\nthe contrary notwithstanding? Faith is not to confounded with blind\nignorant credulity. It is a divine energy, operating upon natural\nprinciples and by natural processes--natural, though unknown to \"the\nnatural man,\" and termed by him \"supernatural.\"\n\n\"As a Grain of Mustard Seed.\"--When the Savior spoke of the faith that\nmoves mountains, he was not measuring the quantity of the faith by the\nsize of the mustard seed. Neither was it an Oriental hyperbole. Jesus\nwas speaking literally. Mountains had been moved before by the power of\nfaith; [3] then why not now? [4]\n\nAn Impelling Force.--Faith is the beating heart of the universe.\nWithout it nothing was ever accomplished, small or great, commonplace\nor miraculous. No work ever succeeded that was not backed by confidence\nin some power, human or superhuman, that impelled and pushed forward\nthe enterprise.\n\nThose Who Believe.--It was not doubt that drove Columbus across the\nsea; it was faith--the impelling force of the Spirit of the Lord. [5]\nIt was not doubt that inspired Jefferson, Franklin, and the other\npatriot fathers to lay broad and deep the foundations of this mighty\nrepublic, as a hope and a refuge for oppressed humanity. It is not\ndoubt that causes nations to rise and flourish, that induces great and\ngood men in all ages and in all climes to teach and toil and sacrifice\nfor the benefit of their fellows. It is faith that does such things.\nDoubt only hinders what faith would achieve. The men and women who move\nthe world are the men and women who believe.\n\nMahomet and Islam.--Carlyle, in splendid phrasing, depicts the\nwonderful change that came over the Arabian people when they abandoned\nidolatry, the insincere worship of \"sticks and stones,\" and became\na believing nation. \"It was as a birth from darkness into light;\nArabia first became alive by means of it. A poor shepherd people\nroaming unnoticed in its deserts since the creation of the world; a\nhero-prophet was sent down to them with a word they could believe; see,\nthe unnoticed becomes world-notable, the small has become world-great;\nwithin one century afterward Arabia is at Granada on this hand, at\nDelhi on that--glancing in valor and splendor and the light of genius,\nArabia shines through long ages over a great section of the world.\nBelief is great, life-giving. The history of a nation becomes fruitful,\nsoul-elevating, great, so soon as it believes.\" [6]\n\nAchievements of Christendom.--The same philosophy, with far greater\nemphasis, applies to Christendom and its glorious achievements all\ndown the centuries. What has caused Christian nations to flourish so\nmightily? What has enabled Christianity, in spite of its errors, to\nsurvive the wreck of empires and to weather the storms of time? Faith\nin the Christ, imperfect though that faith has been. The faith of\nany people--its trust in and reliance upon some power deemed by it\ndivine--constitutes its main source of strength.\n\nFaith Must Be Genuine.--But faith must be genuine. Pretense and\nformalism will not avail. Hypocrisy is the worst form of unbelief.\nHonest idolatry is infinitely preferable to dishonest worship. Better\nburn incense to Diana, believing it to be right, than bow down to\nChrist in hollow-hearted insincerity. Mighty Rome did not fall\nuntil she had ceased to worship sincerely the gods enshrined within\nher Pantheon. Glorious Greece did not succumb until her believers\nhad become doubters, until skeptical philosophy had supplanted\nreligious enthusiasm, and the worship of freedom, grace and beauty\nhad degenerated into unbridled license and groveling sensuality. No\nnation ever crumbled to ruin until false to itself, false to the true\nprinciples of success, the basic one of which is _To Believe_.\n\nGermany's Mistake.--The world in recent years has witnessed the sad\nspectacle of a great nation, or the ruling powers of that nation,\nturning from Christ and substituting for Christian faith a godless\npagan philosophy. Discarding the just and merciful principles of the\nGospel, and adopting the false notion that might makes right, the\nfallen Teutonic empire has shown, by the revolting cruelties practiced\nin pursuance of that doctrine, what science (kultur) is capable of,\nwhen it parts company with God and morality. The land of Goethe and\nWagner, and alas! the land also of the Hohenzollern and the Hindenburg,\nfar from winning the \"place in the sun\" that she so coveted, has lost\nthe proud place already held by her when the mad ambition of her\nmilitary chiefs plunged her into ruin. The one thing that can now\nredeem her and lift her up out of the pit into which she has fallen,\nis faith in the true God, and the works by which that faith is made\nmanifest.\n\nAccording to Their Faith.--God deals with men ac-according to their\nfaith. The Savior wrought mighty miracles, by his own faith, but most\nof them were faith abounded in the hearts of the people. In other\nplaces he did not do many mighty works, \"because of their unbelief.\"\nFaith is a gift from God, and they who serve him best have most of it.\nFaith is the soil that brings forth miracles. \"All things are possible\nto them that believe.\"\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. D. & C. Lectures on Faith, Lec. 1, pp. 1, 2; See also Heb. 11.\n\n2. Matt. 17:20.\n\n3. Ether 12:30.\n\n4. It is my belief that the Savior, in his reference to the mustard\nseed, meant that if man would obey the divine law given for his\ngovernment as faithfully as that tiny germ obeys the law given for its\ngovernment, he could wield infinitely more power than he now possesses.\nSolid stone pavements are upheaved and cracked asunder by the gradual\ngrowth or expansion of a seed or root buried underneath. Such things\nindicate a hidden force even in the lowliest creations. It is written\nthat the earth \"filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth\nnot the law.\" (D. & C. 88:25). If man were that obedient, he would have\nthe power to \"move mountains.\"\n\n5. 1 Nephi 13:12.\n\n6. \"Heroes and Hero Worship,\" Lec. 2.\n\n\n\nPART EIGHTH\n\nBEYOND THE HORIZON\n\n\n\nARTICLE THIRTY-SEVEN.\n\nThe Spirit World.\n\nNot Heaven.--That there is a Spirit World, and that it is closely\nconnected with the material world--the one we now inhabit--has been a\ntenet in the religious philosophy of wise and good men all down the\nages. In the minds of many people, the Spirit World and Heaven are\nsynonymous terms, indicating one and the same place. But in reality\nthere is a wide difference between them. A State of rest, such as the\nspirit life is understood to be for the righteous--though \"rest\" should\nnot be interpreted as idleness or want of occupation--might easily pass\nfor heaven, when contrasted with this life of pain, sorrow and trouble.\nBut that is only relative. It is not saying too much--indeed it may\nbe saying too little--to affirm that there is just as much difference\nbetween the spirit world and heaven, as between the mortal and the\nspiritual phases of man's existence.\n\nHere on Earth.--According to Parley P. Pratt, the Spirit World is the\nspiritual part of this planet--or, to use his exact language: \"The\nearth and other planets of a like order have their inward or spiritual\nspheres, as well as their outward or temporal. The one is peopled by\ntemporal tabernacles, and the other by spirits.\" \"As to its location,\"\nhe says, \"it is here on the very planet where we were born.\" [1]\n\nAll Things Before Created.--The proposition that Earth has a spiritual\nas well as a temporal sphere is a reassertion of the doctrine of\nduality, embodied in ancient and modern revelation, and particularly\nemphasized by Joseph the Seer. A careful reading of the Book of Genesis\n(the King James version) discloses, though somewhat vaguely, the fact\nof this duality, as applied to the works of creation. Thus, after\ngiving an account of the earth and of all things connected therewith,\nthe sacred writer says:\n\n\"These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they\nwere created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the\nheavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and\nevery herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused\nit to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.\"\n[2]\n\n\"Not a man to till the ground\"--and yet man had been created, as well\nas the plants and herbs that existed \"before they grew.\" The apparent\ncontradiction--apparent though not real--was explained by the Prophet\nwhen, by the Spirit of Revelation, he revised the Scriptures, giving a\nmore ample account of the creation than the ordinary Bible contains.\nFrom that account the following sentences are taken:\n\n\"For I the Lord God created all things of which I have spoken,\nspiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the\nearth. . . . . And I the Lord had created all the children of men; and\nnot yet a man to till the ground. For in heaven created I them; and\nthere was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither\nin the air . . . . Nevertheless, all things were before created.\" [3]\n\nFirst Spiritual, Then Temporal.--In other words, there were two\ncreations--or rather, the creation had two phases, the first spiritual,\nthe second temporal. When the Creator made man and beast and fish and\nfowl, he made them twice--first in the spirit, then in the body; and\nthe same is true of the trees, the shrubs, the flowers, and all other\ncreated things. They were made spiritually and temporally, the spirit\nand the body constituting the soul. [4]\n\nNot Far Away.--The Spirit World is not a thing afar off. Our thoughts\nneed not sail away millions of miles into space to find it. According\nto the best evidence we possess, it is near to us--right around us.\nWe have but to emerge from the body, and we are in the spirit world.\nOut of it we came, and unto it we shall return. \"The spirits of the\njust,\" says the Prophet Joseph, \"are not far from us;\" they \"know and\nunderstand our thoughts, feelings and motions, and are often pained\ntherewith.\" [5]\n\nJust and Unjust.--The spirits of the unjust likewise inhabit the spirit\nworld, though they are separated from the righteous, and are not in a\nstate of rest. Light and darkness divide that realm, each domain having\nits appropriate population. So far from being Heaven, part of the\nspirit world is Hades or Hell. Referring to the class who people that\npart, the Prophet says: \"The great misery of departed spirits ... is to\nknow that they come short of the glory that others enjoy and that they\nmight have enjoyed themselves; and they are their own accusers.\" [6]\n\nJesus and the Penitent Thief.--\"In the spirit world,\" says Parley P.\nPratt, \"are all the varieties and grades of intellectual beings which\nexist in the present world. For instance, Jesus Christ and the thief on\nthe cross both went to the same place.\" That is to say, they both went\nto the spirit world.\n\nJesus, it will be borne in mind, had been crucified between two\nthieves, one of whom derided him, insulting his dying agonies. The\nother, being penitent, prayed: \"Lord, remember me when thou comest\ninto thy kingdom.\" To him the Savior said: \"Today shalt thou be with\nme in paradise.\" [7] Because of this utterance--which Joseph Smith\ndeclared to be a mistranslation, maintaining that \"paradise\" should\nread \"world of spirits\" [8]--uninspired minds have drawn the conclusion\nthat the penitent thief was promised immediate heavenly exaltation, for\nrepenting at the last moment and professing faith in the Redeemer. This\nnotion is still entertained. The criminal who has forfeited his life\nand is under sentence of death, because unfit to dwell among his fallen\nfellow creatures, is made to believe that by confessing Christ, even on\nthe scaffold, he is fitted at once for the society of Gods and angels,\nand will be wafted to never-ending bliss.\n\nA False Doctrine.--Jesus never taught such a doctrine, nor did any\nauthorized servant of the Lord. It is a man-made theory, based upon\nfaulty inference and misinterpretation. The Scriptures plainly teach\nthat men will be judged according to their works, [9] and receive\nrewards as varied as their deeds. [10] It was best for the thief,\nof course, to repent even at the eleventh hour; but he could not be\nexalted until prepared for it, if it took a thousand years. When Christ\nsaid: \"I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there ye may\nbe also,\" [11] he was not speaking to murderers and malefactors, but\nto his pure-minded, right-living disciples, those only to whom such a\npromise could consistently be given.\n\nWhat Goes on There.--Jesus Christ and the thief both went to the world\nof spirits, a place of rest for the righteous, a place of correction\nfor the wicked. \"But,\" as the Apostle Parley goes on to say, \"the one\nwas there in all the intelligence, happiness, benevolence and charity\nwhich characterize a teacher, a messenger anointed to preach glad\ntidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to comfort those\nwho mourned, to preach deliverance to the captive, and open the prison\nto those who were bound; or, in other words, to preach the Gospel to\nthe spirits in prison, that they might be judged according to men in\nthe flesh; while the other was there as a thief, who had expired on\nthe cross for crime, and who was guilty, ignorant, uncultivated, and\nunprepared for resurrection, having need of remission of sins and to be\ninstructed in the science of salvation.\"\n\nThus is told in part what goes on in the spirit world. \"It is a place,\"\ncontinues our Apostle, \"where the Gospel is preached, where faith,\nrepentance and charity may be exercised, a place of waiting for the\nresurrection or redemption of the body; while to those who deserve it,\nit is a place of punishment, a purgatory or hell, where spirits are\nbuffeted until the day of redemption.\"\n\nAlma's Teaching.--To the foregoing should be added the testimony of\nAlma the Nephite, upon the same subject:\n\n\"Now concerning the state of the soul between death and the\nresurrection--Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that\nthe spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal\nbody, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are\ntaken home to that God who gave them life.\n\n\"And then shall it come to pass that the spirits of those who are\nrighteous, are received into a state of happiness, which is called\nparadise; a state of rest; a state of peace, where they shall rest from\nall their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.\n\n\"And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked,\nyea, who are evil--for behold, they have no part nor portion of the\nSpirit of the Lord; for behold, they chose evil works rather than\ngood; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take\npossession of their house--and these shall be cast out into outer\ndarkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth;\nand this because of their own iniquity; being led captive by the will\nof the devil.\n\n\"Now this is the state of the souls of the wicked, yea, in darkness,\nand a state of awful, fearful, looking for the fiery indignation of the\nwrath of God upon them; thus they remain in this state, as well as the\nrighteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection.\" [12]\n\nA Vision of Redemption.--President Joseph F. Smith, only a short while\nbefore his death, saw in a \"vision of the redemption of the dead,\"\nthe Savior's visit to the world of spirits, as recorded in the first\nepistle of Peter. [13] The President's account of what he beheld\nfollows:\n\n\"I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great, and there were\ngathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of\nthe just ... They were filled with joy and gladness, and were rejoicing\ntogether because the day of their deliverance was at hand... The Son of\nGod appeared, and preached to them the everlasting gospel.\n\n\"I perceived that the Lord went not in person among the wicked and\ndisobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them; but behold from\namong the righteous he organized his forces and appointed messengers,\nclothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and\ncarry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to\nall the spirits of men.\n\n\"I beheld that the faithful Elders of this dispensation, when they\ndepart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the\ngospel.... among those who are in darkness and under bondage of sin in\nthe great world of the spirits of the dead.\" [14]\n\nPersonal and Proxy Ministrations.--The new light here thrown upon the\nsubject proceeds from the declaration that when the Savior visited the\ninhabitants of the spirit world, it was by proxy, and not in person,\nso far as the wicked were concerned. He ministered to the righteous\ndirectly, and to the unrighteous indirectly, sending to the latter\nhis servants, bearing the authority of the Priesthood, and duly\ncommissioned to speak and act for him. President Smith's pronouncement\nmodifies the view commonly taken, that the Savior's personal ministry\nwas to both classes of spirits. [15]\n\nA Temporary Abode.--Thus we see that the Spirit World is not Heaven,\nexcept in a relative sense, and then only in part. It is a temporary\nabode for God's children, while undergoing processes of purification\nand development, as a preparation for better things beyond. Heaven, on\nthe other hand--heaven in the highest degree--is the permanent home of\nthe perfected and glorified.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Key to Theology. Chapt. 14.\n\n2. Gen. 2:4, 5.\n\n3. Moses 3:5, 7.\n\n4. D. & C. 88:15; Moses 3:9.\n\n5. Hist. Ch. Vol. 6, p. 52.\n\n6. Ib. Vol. 5, p. 425.\n\n7. Luke 23:43.\n\n8. Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, pp. 424, 425.\n\n9. Rev. 20:12, 13.\n\n10. D. & C. 76.\n\n11. John 14:2, 3.\n\n12. Alma 40:11-14.\n\n13. 1 Peter 3:18-20.\n\n14. Gospel Doctrine, pp. 596-601.\n\n15. Compare 3 Nephi 15:21-24; D. & C. 76:112.\n\n\n\nARTICLE THIRTY-EIGHT.\n\nSpirit Promptings\n\nSpirit Memories.--Writing one day upon the subject of spirit memories,\nand the influence exerted upon the affairs of this life by the awakened\nrecollections of a former experience, I found myself indulging in the\nfollowing reflections:\n\nWhy are we drawn toward certain persons, and they toward us,\nindependently of any known previous acquaintance? Is it a fact, or\nonly a fancy, that we and they were mutually acquainted and mutually\nattracted in some earlier period of our eternal existence? Is there\nsomething, after all, in that much abused term \"affinity,\" and is\nthis the basis of its claim? More than once, after meeting someone\nwhom I had never met before on earth, I have wondered why his or her\nface seemed so familiar. Many times, upon hearing a noble sentiment\nexpressed, though unable to recall having heard it until then, I have\nbeen thrilled by it, and felt as if I had always known it. The same is\ntrue of music, some strains of which are like echoes from afar, sounds\nfalling from celestial heights, notes struck from the vibrant harps of\neternity. I do not assert pre-acquaintance in all such cases, but as\none thought suggests another, these queries arise in the mind.\n\nThe Shepherd's Voice.--When it comes to the Gospel, I feel more\npositive. Why did the Savior say: \"My sheep know my voice?\" Can a\nsheep know the voice of its shepherd, if it has never heard that voice\nbefore? They who love Truth, and to whom it appeals most powerfully,\nwere they not its best friends in a previous state of existence? I\nthink so. I believe that we knew the Gospel before we came here, and it\nis this knowledge, this acquaintance, that gives to it a familiar sound.\n\nVery much in the same vein, I once wrote to President Joseph F.\nSmith--he at the time in Utah, and I on a mission in Europe. Here is\nhis reply:\n\nPresident Smith's View.--\"I heartily endorse your sentiments respecting\ncongeniality of spirits. Our knowledge of persons and things before we\ncame here, combined with the divinity awakened within our souls through\nobedience to the gospel, powerfully affects, in my opinion, all our\nlikes and dislikes, and guides our preferences in the course of this\nlife, provided we give careful heed to the admonitions of the Spirit.\n\n\"All those salient truths which come so forcibly to the head and heart\nseem but the awakening of the memories of the spirit. Can we know\nanything here that we did not know before we came? Are not the means\nof knowledge in the first estate equal those of this? I think that the\nspirit, before and after this probation, possesses greater facilities,\naye, manifold greater, for the acquisition of knowledge, than while\nmanacled and shut up in the prison-house of mortality. I believe that\nour Savior possessed a foreknowledge of all the vicissitudes through\nwhich he would have to pass in the mortal tabernacle.\n\n\"If Christ knew beforehand, so did we. But in coming here, we forgot\nall, that our agency might be free indeed, to choose good or evil, that\nwe might merit the reward of our own choice and conduct. But by the\npower of the Spirit, in the redemption of Christ, through obedience, we\noften catch a spark from the awakened memories of the immortal soul,\nwhich lights up our whole being as with the glory of our former home.\"\n[1]\n\n\"A Glance Behind the Curtain.\"--Closely akin to these reflections,\nare some pointed and telling lines in which the poet Lowell expresses\nhis conviction regarding the influence of the unseen world upon the\nworld visible. The action of the poem from which the lines are taken\ndeals with Oliver Cromwell and John Hampden, English patriots, who\nare represented as about to flee from the tyranny of King Charles\nthe First, and seek a new home overseas, joining the little band of\nPuritans who have already found a haven on western Atlantic shores.\nHampden urges flight, but Cromwell hesitates. Something within tells\nhim not to go--tells him that Freedom has a work for him to go--tells\nhim that Freedom has a work for him to do, not in America, but in\nhis own land, where he afterwards overthrew the royal tyrant, became\nLord Protector of the Commonwealth, and broadened and deepened the\nfoundations of English liberty. The opening verses of the poem contain\nthe crux of the whole matter under discussion:\n\n  We see but half the causes of our deeds,\n  Seeking them wholly in the outer life,\n  And heedless of the encircling spirit world,\n  Which, though unseen, is felt, and sows in us\n  All germs of pure and world-wide purposes.\n\n  The fate of England and of freedom once\n  Seemed wavering in the heart of one plain man.\n  One step of his, and the great dial-hand\n  That marks the destined progress of the world\n  In the eternal round from wisdom on\n  To higher wisdom, had been made to pause\n  A hundred years.\n\n  That step he did not take--\n  He knew not why, nor we, but only God,\n  And lived to make his simple oaken chair\n  More terrible and grandly beautiful,\n  More full of majesty than any throne,\n  Before or after, of a British king. [2]\n\nA Well Warranted Conviction.--How much of fact and how much of fiction,\nare here interwoven, matters not for the purpose of this argument. It\nwas the poet's belief that such things could be, a belief shared by\nmyriads of Christian men and women, and confirmed by a multiplicity of\nexperiences.\n\nColumbus and \"The Voice.\"--In another poem--\"Columbus\"--Lowell sets\nforth the same idea, that of whisperings or suggestions from beyond\nthe \"veil\" hiding the spirit world from this world of flesh and\nblood. The great mariner is supposed to be standing on the deck of\nhis ocean-tossed vessel, soliloquizing over the situation surrounding\nhim: A yet undiscovered country ahead, a mutinous and grumbling crew\nbehind, threatening to put him in irons and turn the ship's prow toward\nSpain, if sight of the promised shore of India--for which Columus set\nsail--came not with the break of dawn. A world of care weighs him down,\na sense of solitude and utter loneliness, but his soul hears \"the voice\nthat errs not,\" and is patient and trustful to the hour of complete\ntriumph. [3]\n\nNephi and the Spirit.--That it was indeed \"the voice that errs\nnot\" which inspired Columbus, upholding and urging him on to the\nconsummation of the great enterprise he had undertaken, we have sacred\nand indisputable evidence. Long before Columbus crossed the ocean, an\nAmerican prophet and seer, Nephi by name, looking down the vista of\ntwenty centuries, forecast the career of that man of destiny, telling\nhow \"the Spirit of God\" would impel him to cross \"the many waters\" to\nthis \"promised land;\" and how the same Spirit, moving upon others,\nwould induce them to follow in the wake of the mighty explorer. That\nprophet beheld in vision the war for American Independence, the\nsuccessful struggle of the oppressed colonies against the mother\ncountry, and the founding here of a free government, a heaven-favored\nnation, destined to foster and give protection to the growing work of\nGod in after days. And this revealing Spirit--so Nephi affirms--was\nmore than an inward monitor: \"I spake unto him as a man speaketh, for I\nbeheld that he was in the form of man; yet, nevertheless, I knew that\nit was the Spirit of the Lord! and he spake unto me as a man speaketh\nwith another.\" [4]\n\nThe Holy Ghost.--Evidently it was the Holy Ghost who communed with\nNephi, though he is here spoken of as \"the Spirit of God, and 'the\nSpirit of the Lord.\" \"The Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit,\" [5]\nand though not in a tabernacle like the Father or the Son, he is\nnevertheless in human form, and Nephi beheld him and conversed with him.\n\nThe Unerring Guide.--The experience of Columbus differed from that of\nNephi, notably in this particular: Nephi \"beheld,\" while Columbus was\nmoved upon--yet it was the same Spirit in each instance. It was of the\nHoly Ghost that the Savior was speaking, when he said to his disciples:\n\"He will guide you into all truth.\" [6] The mission of the Holy Ghost\nis to make manifest the things of God, past, present and future,\nexplaining the purpose of this mortal life, revealing to man his\neternal origin and destiny, and answering the otherwise unanswerable\nquestions--whence? whither? and why?\n\nWordsworth's \"Intimation.\"--It was this Spirit that inspired the\npoet Wordsworth, bringing the forgotten past to his remembrance, and\nprompting the utterance of the noble thoughts embodied in these lofty\nlines:\n\n  Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;\n    The soul that rises with us, our life's star,\n  Hath had elsewhere its setting,\n    And cometh from afar;\n  Not in entire forgetfulness,\n    And not in utter nakedness,\n  But trailing clouds of glory do we come\n    From God who is our home. [7]\n\nTruth and Bigotry.--The big thought was too broad for the narrow, rigid\northodoxy of Wordsworth's time, which could allow for the pre-existence\nof the Son of God, but not for that of the race in general. \"And now,\nO Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I\nhad with thee before the world was.\" [8] This wonderful prayer from\nthe lips of the Savior was too plain to be misunderstood. It was clear\nthat Jesus Christ, \"the Word\" that was \"in the beginning with God,\"\nand \"was God,\" before he \"was made flesh,\" [9] had lived before this\nlife. But man, \"mere man,\" was an earth-worm, made out of nothing, and\nconsequently had no pre-existence. So Christian orthodoxy maintained;\nand Wordsworth had to recant or half-way deny that his heaven-inspired\n\"intimation\" meant as much as his bigoted censors seemed to fear.\nNevertheless,\n\n  \"Got but the truth once uttered, and 'tis like\n  A star new-born, that drops into its place,\n  And which, once circling in its placid round,\n  Not all the tumult of the earth can shake.\"\n\nThe truth uttered by the great \"poet of nature\" touching the previous\nlife, was probably accepted by thousands of advanced thinkers; and\ntheir acceptance helped to prepare the way for a more positive and more\ncomplete presentation of the great doctrine of man's pre-existence. In\nthis connection the subjoined verses from the pen of a \"Mormon\" poet,\ntell their own eloquent story:\n\n  O my Father, thou that dwellest\n    In the high and glorious place!\n  When shall I regain thy presence,\n    And again behold thy face?\n  In thy holy habitation\n    Did my spirit once reside;\n  In my first primeval childhood\n    Was I nurtured near thy side.\n\n  For a wise and glorious purpose\n    Thou hast placed me here on earth,\n  And withheld the recollection\n    Of my former friends and birth.\n  Yet, ofttimes a secret something\n    Whispered, \"You're a stranger here,\"\n  And I felt that I had wandered\n    From a more exalted sphere.\n\n  I had learned to call thee Father,\n    Through thy Spirit from on high;\n  But until the Key of Knowledge\n    Was restored, I knew not why.\n  In the heavens are parents single?\n    No, the thought makes reason stare!\n  Truth is reason-truth eternal\n    Tells me I've a Mother there.\n\n  When I leave this frail existence,\n    When I lay this mortal by,\n  Father, Mother, may I meet you\n    In your royal courts on high?\n  Then, at length, when I've completed\n    All you sent me forth to do,\n  With your mutual approbation\n    Let me come and dwell with you. [10]\n\nHow wonderfully clear and comprehensive!--past, present and future\ncircumscribed in brief compass, the mystery of the former life\nunfolded, the meaning of all existence made plain.\n\nMaeterlinck and \"The Bluebird.\"--Maeterlinck, the Belgian poet, author\nof \"The Bluebird,\" in that section of his dramatic masterpiece entitled\n\"The Kingdom of the Future,\" deals with the pre-mortal life, and with\nthe spirits of little children waiting to be brought down to earth\nto be born here. Old Father Time is there with his barge, gathering\nin the tiny passengers, holding back some whose turn is not yet, and\npermitting others whose birth-hour is about to strike. The barge\nbeing filled, he sails away, and mingling with the sweet strains of\nchildren's voices, hailing the distant planet that is to be their new\nabode, rises from below the song of the mothers coming out to meet\nthem. When the poet's inspired mind conceived this beautiful creation,\nhad he heard of Eliza R. Snow and her invocation to the Eternal Father\nand Mother?\n\nThe Same Note.--I do not impute plagiarism in such cases. There is\nno monopoly of Truth. It reveals itself to whomsoever it will, and\nsometimes it tells to several persons, at different times and places,\nthe same thing. Suffice it, that Eliza R. Snow, when she sang of the\n\"first primeval childhood,\" sounded the identical note subsequently\nstruck by Maurice Maeterlinck, when portraying so tenderly and so\ntellingly the heavenly origin and earthly advent of the spirits that\ntabernacle in mortality.\n\nFame's Partiality.--Inspiration was kind to both poets, but fame has\nbeen somewhat partial. Some day, when bigotry is dead and prejudice no\nlonger has power to blind men's eyes to the truth and pervert their\njudgment, the just claims of all inspired teachers will be recognized,\nif not recompensed. Meanwhile the world will go on glorifying one and\ncrying down another, as it always has done. It will continue \"tossing\nhigh its ready cap\" in honor of Maeterlinck, the Belgian poet, for\nthe beautiful truths set forth in his sublime symbolic drama; little\nrealizing that the American prophet, Joseph Smith, and some who sat at\nhis feet learning wisdom from his lips, taught the same and greater\ntruths long before Maeterlinck was born.\n\nCommunications from the Departed.--Many instances might be given of\nthe action and influence of \"the other world\" upon this world The\nexperiences of the Latter-day Saints alone would fill volumes. I refer\nparticularly to those connected with the gathering up of genealogies\nfor use in temple work, and the work itself done vicariously for the\nbenefit of the departed. By dreams and visions, by voices and other\nmanifestations, spirits \"behind the veil\" have made known their wishes\nto surviving relatives in the flesh, so that their left-over tasks\nmight be done for them, the records of their ancestors secured, and\nthey in like manner redeemed through sacred ordinances performed in\ntheir behalf and necessary to their progress and happiness in spheres\nbeyond.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Gospel Doctrine, pp. 15, 16. \"Columbus.\"\n\n2. J. R. Lowell's Poems, \"A Glance Behind the Curtain.\"\n\n4. 1 Nephi 11:11; 13:10:19.\n\n5. D. & C. 130:22.\n\n6. John 16:13.\n\n7. Wordsworth's Poems, \"Intimations of Immortality,\" first published in\n1807.\n\n8. John 17:5.\n\n9. Ib. 1:1-14.\n\n10. Eliza R. Snow's \"Invocation,\" L. D. S. Hymn Book.\n\n\n\nARTICLE THIRTY-NINE.\n\nDo the Dead Return?\n\nHamlet and the Ghost.--I had always thought it strange that a great\nChristian poet like Shakespeare, after portraying, as he does in\n\"Hamlet,\" an interview between the Prince of Denmark and his father's\nghost, should refer to the spirit world as \"that undiscovered country\nfrom whose bourne no traveler returns.\" Had not the ghost returned from\nthat very \"country,\" for the special purpose of this interview?\n\nWhile deeming it contradictory, my admiration and reverence for the\nimmortal bard induced me to minimize and even excuse the apparent\ninconsistency. In his behalf I argued that it was Hamlet, not\nShakespeare, who interviewed the Ghost at Castle Elsinore; that\nit was the prince and not the poet who soliloquized relative to\nthe non-returning \"traveler.\" I took the ground that Shakespeare,\nin writing the play of \"Hamlet,\" was not presenting the author's\nautobiography, and should not, therefore, be held responsible for the\nidiosyncrasies of \"the melancholy Dane;\" he being mad, and mad people\nhaving the right to say what they please, no matter how much they\ncontradict themselves or speak and act inconsistently.\n\nA Better Defense.--But all the while there was a better defense for\nboth Shakespeare and Hamlet--it a certain hypothesis be well founded,\nthe supporters of which would have us believe that the famed soliloquy,\n\"To be or not be,\" wherein the allusion to the spirit \"traveler\"\noccurs, originally had place nearer the beginning of the play and\nbefore Hamlet had seen the Ghost. Not Shakespeare, therefore, nor\nHamlet, but some one who tampered with the poet's masterpiece after his\ndeath--\"a custom more honored in the breach than the observance\"--is\nto be held responsible for the incongruity. Such is the suggestion\nput forth by one or more literary savants. Allowing it to be true,\nShakespeare and the Bible are thus reconciled, and Hamlet is no longer\nin the attitude of disputing the sacred account of the risen Savior's\npersonal appearing to his disciples, after his return from the spirit\nworld. [1]\n\nBelasco and \"Peter Grimm.\"--That the creator of Hamlet and Macbeth\nbelieved in spirits, and made plentiful use of them as part of his\n\"celestial machinery,\" is evident from the works of the master\ndramatist; and that his talented disciple, David Belasco, likewise\nfavors such usage, is plainly shown in that intensely interesting book\nand play, \"The Return of Peter Grimm.\" Let me briefly review the story.\n\nPeter Grimm, an honest, elderly Dutch-American, carrying on the\nbusiness of florist at Grimm Manor, a suburb of New York City, has a\nfriend and family physician in Alexander McPherson, who, I need not\nsay, is a Scotchman. He is also a spiritualist, deeply interested in\nthe laws of psychic phenomena, and exceedingly tenacious of his occult\nviews.\n\nGrim is bluntly skeptical upon the subject, and he and his Scotch\nfriend have many a warm debate thereon. Finally McPherson proposes a\ncompact to this effect: Whichever one of the twain shall pass away\nfirst, his spirit will return, if possible, and communicate with the\nother, making known the secrets of the after life. Grimm laughs at the\nidea, even ridicules it, but at last consents, and with a flash of\nhumor suggestive of his name, says: \"If I find I am wrong, when I come\nback I will apologize.\"\n\nA little later the florist dies suddenly of heart failure. He passes\ninto the spirit world, and there obtains leave to \"revisit the glimpses\nof the moon,\" as Hamlet puts it; in other words, to return to Grimm\nManor and rectify a mistake made by him while in the flesh--a mistake\naffecting the happiness of his adopted daughter Kathrien, who, yielding\nto his insistence, has given up the man she loved, and has agreed to\nmarry Grimm's nephew, Frederic. This young man is a villain, whose\nunworthiness his uncle discovers after his arrival in \"the undiscovered\ncountry,\" from which he now proposes to \"return\" and prevent the\nmarriage previously planned.\n\nThe wrong is to be righted by the delivery of a message. But how \"get\nthe message across?\" That is the problem of the play. \"Not every one\ncan receive a communication from the spirit world.\" So McPherson has\nsaid in one of his conversations with Grimm, adding that \"the receiver\nmust be a sensitive, a medium.\"\n\nStrange to say, the old Scotch physician is of no help whatever in\nthe predicament now facing his departed friend. He knows all about\nspirits--is saturated with the lore of the subject; but he is not a\n\"sensitive,\" and cannot therefore \"receive.\"\n\nThe spirit of Grimm, re-entering his old home, makes persistent\nefforts to be seen or heard by some member of the household; but all\nin vain. None of his family, none of his friends, can behold him or\nhear his pathetic pleadings. Yes--there is one who can; a little\ninvalid boy, Frederick's illegitimate child, who is wasting away with\na fever. The veil is thin between him and the spirit land, to which\nhe will accompany Peter Grimm, after the latter's earthly errand is\naccomplished. This little lad is a \"sensitive.\" He sees the spirit,\nreceives the message, and the threatened misalliance is averted,\nKathrien and her worthy lover being happily reunited.\n\nFiction and Fact.--Such is the story of Peter Grimm and his return\nfrom the world of spirits. It is pure fiction, of course; but fiction\noften supports fact, and is even less strange, as a well-worn proverb\naffirms. Nevertheless, it will be seen from what follows that I am\nnot in absolute harmony with Belasco's ingenious presentation of the\nspiritualistic theme. My views upon the subject are not based upon the\ntheories of men; they are founded upon the revelations of God.\n\nSpirits in Prison.--That the inhabitants of the spirit world, or some\nof them, return at times and communicate with mortals, I am perfectly\nwell assured. But I am not convinced that any and every spirit is at\nliberty to return, whatever the \"compacts\" that may have been entered\ninto beforehand. Some spirits are \"in prison.\" [2] Of what avail would\na compact be in their case, unless their jailor or some higher power\nwere a party to it? Evidently the spirits that communicate with mortals\nare not of that class, unless it be in exceptional cases, where leave\nof absence has been granted for some special reason.\n\nA House of Order.--God's house is a house of order, and the spirit\nworld is a room in that house. This being the case, it is only\nreasonable to conclude that before anything important or unusual can\ntake place there, the Master of the Mansion must first give consent.\nOtherwise confusion would prevail, and the divine purpose for which the\nveil was dropped between the two worlds might be thwarted.\n\nUnembodied and Disembodied Spirits.--Spirits are of two kinds--the\nunembodied and the disembodied; that is to say, those who have not\ntabernacled in the flesh, and those who after taking bodies on earth,\nhave passed out of them. It matters not which class is considered; in\nany case, permission from the Great Father would have to be obtained\nbefore one of his children, either an unembodied or a disembodied\nspirit, could make itself manifest to mortals.\n\nThe Question of Receptivity.--Moreover, as Belasco, through Dr.\nMcPherson, aims to show, not every mortal is qualified to receive a\nmessage from \"the other side.\" One must be fittingly endowed, must\nhave the proper gift, in order to get a communication of that kind.\n[3] Earthly ties would not necessarily govern. Other and higher\nrelationships are involved. There must be capacity as well as a desire\nto receive. Because men like Moses and Joseph Smith saw God, is no sign\nthat any man can see him. \"Choice seers\" were they, very different from\nordinary men. All human beings can obtain blessings from heaven, but\nnot always in the same way. There are diversities of gifts and varying\ndegrees of receptivity. Wireless telegraphy furnishes a hint in this\nconnection. Unless there be a receiving station with an apparatus\nproperly attuned, a message launched upon the ether would find, like\nNoah's dove, \"no rest for the sole of her foot.\" [4]\n\nFuture Occupations.--In one of the supposed conversations between\nPeter Grimm and Doctor McPherson, the subject of future occupations is\ndiscussed. The \"compact\" having been entered into, the Doctor says:\n\"I would like you to find out, if you can, what we do in the other\nworld. I would like to know if I have got to go on being a bone-setter\nthroughout all eternity.\" Grimm's reply is characteristic: \"Well, you\nwould stand a better chance for success, having practiced it all your\nlife here, than a novice who simply took it up there, wouldn't you?\"\n\nThe florist's argument is logical, but like the question that called\nit forth, somewhat misapplied. \"A spirit hath not flesh and bones.\"\n[5] Bone-setting, therefore, does not belong to the spirit world.\nNevertheless, there must be occupations in the future life, of which\nthose in the present life may be regarded as typical, or in the nature\nof a preparation, leading up to loftier employments. If a follower of\nJoseph Smith were asked: \"How do you expect to spend eternity?\" he\nwould not agree with that clergyman who said, in answer to the same\nquestion: \"I expect to spend the first million years gazing upon the\nface of the Savior.\" The Latter-day Saint would be very apt to reply:\n\"I expect to do hereafter what I have learned to do here, but with more\nperfect means and in higher and better ways.\"\n\n\"And every power find sweet employ In that eternal world of joy.\"\n\nEvil Spirits at Large.--A very important question now arises: How\nmay good or bad spirits be known? For every spirit is not good,\nnor is every spiritual manifestation genuine. There are frauds\nand counterfeits innumerable. Even if real spirits and actual\nmanifestations are alone considered, we must still be on our guard\nagainst deception. There are many evil spirits in this world--spirits\nthat have never had bodies. They are here by permission or toleration\nof the Most High, against whom they rebelled when the Savior was\nchosen. Satan and his legions, those cast out of heaven, are all wicked\nspirits, and they wander up and down the world, endeavoring to lead\nmortals astray. Wherever possible, they take possession of the bodies\nof men and even of the lower animals. [6] Therefore is power given to\nthe Priesthood to \"cast out devils.\" [7] Against these fallen spirits,\nmortals must be ever on the defensive, lest their souls be ensnared.\nTemptation, however, is an important factor in man's probation; for by\nresisting it, the soul is developed and made stronger. This is probably\none reason why the pernicious activity of such spirits is tolerated.\nPunished in part by being denied bodies, the full penalty for their\nmisdeeds--the second death--is yet to be visited upon them.\n\nSpiritualism a Reality.--Spiritualism is not altogether what some\npeople imagine. Despite the frauds connected with it, it is a reality,\nand was recognized as such long before Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir A.\nConan Doyle proclaimed their conversion thereto, thus lending to it\nthe prestige of their illustrious names. But all realities are not\nrighteous. Because there is a devil--an actual demon and his dupes, is\nno reason why we should associate with them, confide in them, or accept\ntheir evil communications.\n\nHow can We Know?--There are bad spirits as well as good, and the vital\nquestion is: How can we know the difference between them? Let us at\nthis stage consult an expert--for there are such--one who came in\ncontact with spiritual forces to a marvelous extent, not only receiving\nmessages from other worlds, but also interviewing the messengers.\nJoseph Smith knew the difference between good and evil communicants, and\nhere is his testimony concerning them:\n\nExpert Testimony.--\"When a messenger comes, saying he has a message\nfrom God, offer him your hand, and request him to shake hands with you.\n\n\"If he be an angel, he will do so, and you will feel his hand.\" [An\nangel is a resurrected being, with a body as tangible as man's.]\n\n\"If he be the spirit of a just man made perfect, he will come in his\nglory; for that is the only way he can appear.\n\n\"Ask him to shake hands with you, but he will not move, because it is\ncontrary to the order of heaven for a just man to deceive; but he will\nstill deliver his message.\n\n\"If it be the Devil as an angel of light, when you ask him to shake\nhands, he will offer you his hand, and you will not feel anything [he\nalso being without a body]. You may therefore detect him.\" [8]\n\nIn another place, the Prophet says: \"Wicked spirits have their bounds,\nlimits and laws, by which they are governed; and it is very evident\nthat they possess a power that none but those who have the Priesthood\ncan control.\" [9] To his declaration that \"a man is saved no faster\nthan he gets knowledge,\" he adds that if men do not get knowledge,\nincluding the knowledge of how to control evil spirits, the latter will\nhave more power than the former, and thus be able to dominate them.\nThis is precisely the condition of \"the spirits in prison.\" They are\ndominated by a power which they cannot control. They are in Hell, and\nSatan sways the scepter over his own dominion.\n\nSeek Knowledge Aright.--To those in quest of spiritual light, this\nword of counsel: Seek it only in the Lord's appointed way. Follow\nthe advice of the Apostle James and the example of Joseph the\nProphet. [10] Never go upon the Devil's ground. Keep away from all\ndeceptive influence. One may believe in hypnotism, without being a\nhypnotist, without surrendering one's will to the will of the person\nexercising that power--a very dangerous power when wielded by an\nunprincipled possessor. In like manner, one may believe spiritualism\nreal, without becoming a spiritualist, without attending \"seances,\"\nwithout consulting \"mediums,\" without putting trust in planchettes,\nouija boards, automatic pencils, false impersonations, or in any\nway encouraging the advances of designing spirits, who thus gain an\nascendancy over their victims, leading them into mazes of delusion, and\noften into depths of despair. Go not after them; and if they come to\nyou, put them to the test. \"Try the spirits.\" [11] If they speak not\naccording to revealed truth, if they conform not to divine standards,\n\"it is because there is no light in them.\" [12]\n\nThe Great Return.--Yes, the dead, or the departed, do return. They are\nno more dead than we are. Nay, not so much. The Savior's reappearance\nafter death to his amazed and incredulous disciples--what was that\nbut a return, a real return, from the realm of the departed, where in\nthe interim between his crucifixion and resurrection, he \"preached to\nthe spirits in prison?\" Moreover, the ascended Lord promised another\nreturn, or his angel promised it for him, when the \"men of Galilee\"\nstood \"gazing up into heaven,\" after \"a cloud\" had \"received him out\nof their sight.\" [13] That glorious return is nigh. All the signs so\nindicate. May the kingly Traveler from heaven to earth meet a royal\nwelcome when he appears!\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Luke 24:36-39.\n\n2. 1 Peter 3:18-20.\n\n3. 1 Cor. 12:4-11.\n\n4. Gen. 8:9.\n\n5. Luke 24:39.\n\n6. Acts 19:13-16; Mark 5:12, 3.\n\n7. Ib. 16:17; Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, p. 403.\n\n8. D. & C. 129:4-8.\n\n9. Hist. Ch. Vol. 4, p. 576.\n\n10. James 1:5; Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, pp. 4, 5.\n\n11. 1 John 4:1.\n\n12. Isa. 8:20.\n\n13. Acts 1:9-11.\n\n\n\nARTICLE FORTY.\n\nThe Goal Eternal.\n\nDante and the Divine Comedy.--In the thirteenth century a great Italian\npoet, the immortal Dante, produced a wonderful work, \"La Divina\nComedia\"--in English, \"The Divine Comedy.\" In one part of the poem\nthe author represents himself as passing through Hades. In the first\ncircle of the infernal depths, a region called \"Limbo\"--described by\na footnote in my copy of the work as a place \"containing the souls\nof unbaptized children and of those virtuous men and women who lived\nbefore the birth of our Savior\"--he comes upon such characters as\nHomer, Virgil, Plato and others of their class, and the spirit guide\nwho is conducting him through \"the realms of shade,\" says:\n\n  --Inquirest thou not what spirits\n  Are these, which thou beholdest? Ere thou pass\n  Farther, I would thou know, that these of sin\n  Were blameless; and if aught they merited\n  It profits not, since baptism was not theirs,\n  The portal to thy faith. If they before\n  The Gospel lived, they served not God aright;\n  And among such am I.\n                   For these defects\n  And for no other evil, we are lost;\n  Only so far afflicted, that we live\n  Desiring without hope. [1]\n\nAnd this was all that thirteenth century theology could say for\nworthies of that stamp--the best and brightest spirits of their times.\nBlameless, and yet in hell, \"desiring without hope,\" simply because\nthey had lived on earth when the Gospel was not on earth, and had not\nbeen baptized! Whether or not, as some think, it was the intent of the\npoet to covertly satirize such teachings, is immaterial at the present\ntime. It is sufficient that he had such teachings to satirize.\n\nTruth's Restoration Imperative.--If any reader of mine wishes to know\nwhy Joseph Smith and \"Mormonism\" came into the world, he need look no\nfurther to find one of the cardinal reasons. It is furnished in those\nlines from Dante's masterpiece, setting forth the orthodox tenet and\nteaching of the Christian Church regarding the spirits of the good who\ndepart this life without undergoing the baptismal ordinance. This, and\nthat other man-made doctrine, that half to be damned, regardless of\nany good or evil done by them--little children being included in both\nclasses--were widely preached in Christendom at the time of the advent\nof \"Mormonism.\" It was imperative that a prophet should arise, that the\npure primitive faith should be restored, and God's word go forth once\nmore on its mission of justice and mercy.\n\n\"According to Their Works.\"--Whatever Christian theology may have\ntaught, or whatever it may teach, in support of such doctrines, the\nfact remains that the Gospel of Christ does not, and never did dispose\nof men's precious souls in that unrighteous, unreasonable, unscriptural\nmanner. It does not prejudge, nor save nor damn, regardless of men's\ndeserts. Rewarding all according to their works, [2] it gives to every\ncreature, living or dead, the opportunity to accept or reject it before\nfinal judgment. [3] God is not trying to damn the world; he is trying\nto save it--but not independently of the principles of truth and\nrighteousness.\n\nA Nautical Illustration.--I was crossing the Atlantic on an\nocean-liner, and had been fortunate enough to secure a first-cabin\nberth, the only one remaining unsold when I made my purchase. There\nwere upwards of a hundred passengers in that part of the vessel. The\nsecond-cabin compartment contained perhaps twice as many; and in the\nsteerage were several hundred more.\n\nThe first-cabin berths were the best furnished and the most favorably\nsituated for comfort, convenience and safety. The passengers were shown\nevery courtesy; their food was of the choicest; the captain and other\nofficers were their associates, and they enjoyed the full freedom of\nthe ship. They might go down onto the second-cabin deck, or lower down,\ninto the steerage, and return without hindrance or question. They had\npaid for these privileges, and were therefore entitled to them.\n\nBut it was different in the lower compartment. There the food was not\nso good, the berths were less comfortable, and the privileges fewer.\nThe second-class passengers could descend into the steerage, but were\nnot permitted upon the first-cabin deck.\n\nConditions in the steerage were even less favorable. The food was\nstill poorer, and the restrictions were yet more rigid. The occupants\nof that section were not allowed even second-class privileges. They\nhad to remain right where they were. Having paid only for steerage\naccommodations, these were all that they could consistently claim.\n\nA Likeness of Human Destiny.--I was struck with the analogy existing\nbetween the things that I beheld and the higher things which they\nseemed to symbolize. I saw another illustration of the proverb, \"The\nearthly typifies the heavenly,\" and received fresh confirmation of\nthe poetic truth: \"All things have their likeness.\" That ocean-going\nsteamer was a likeness of human destiny, projecting the eternal future\nof Adam's race, as made known by divine revelation. All souls rewarded\naccording to their works--their varied works--and saved and glorified\nin the \"many mansions\" of the Father. [4]\n\nCelestial Glory--The Church of the First Born.--\"And this is the\ntestimony of the gospel of Christ concerning those who come forth in\nthe resurrection of the just:\n\n\"They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his\nname, and were baptized after the manner of his burial; . . . .\n\n\"That by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed\nfrom all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on the\nhands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power;\n\n\"And who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of\nPromise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and\ntrue . . . .\n\n\"They are they who are the Church of the First-born.\n\n\"They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things--\n\n\"They are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his\nfulness and of his glory . . . .\n\n\"Wherefore, as it is written, they are Gods, even the sons of\nGod--\n\n\"Wherefore, all things are theirs, whether life or death, or\nthings present or things to come, all are theirs and they are Christ's\nand Christ is God's . . . .\n\n\"These shall dwell in the presence of God and his Christ forever and\never . . . .\n\n\"These are they whom he shall bring with him, when he shall come in the\nclouds of heaven, to reign on the earth over his people.\n\n\"These are they who shall have part in the first resurrection.\n\n\"These are they who shall come forth in the resurrection of the just.\n\n\"These are they who are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the\nliving God, the heavenly place, the holiest of all.\n\n\"These are they who have come to an innumerable company of angels, to\nthe general assembly and church of Enoch, and of the first-born.\n\n\"These are they whose names are written in heaven, where God and Christ\nare the judge of all.\n\n\"These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the\nmediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement\nthrough the shedding of his own blood.\n\n\"These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the\nsun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of\nthe firmament is written of as being typical.\" [5]\n\nIn other words--if the maritime metaphor be allowed--they were\nfirst-cabin passengers over the sea of mortal life. They gave to the\ngreat Captain the fulness of their obedience, and received from him the\nfulness of recognition and reward. All privileges, all possessions, are\ntheirs. They associate with divine beings, and are themselves divine.\n\nTerrestrial Glory.--Concerning those who attain to a terrestrial\nsphere, \"whose glory differs from that of the Church of the First-Born,\nas the moon differs from the sun,\" the Vision goes on to say:\n\n\"Behold, these are they who died without law.\n\n\"And also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the Son\nvisited and preached the gospel unto them, that they might be judged\naccording to men in the flesh.\n\n\"Who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards\nreceived it.\n\n\"These are they who are honorable men of the earth who were blinded by\nthe craftiness of men.\n\n\"These are they who receive of his glory, but not of his fulness.\n\n\"These are they who receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the\nfulness of the Father;\n\n\"Wherefore they are bodies terrestrial, and not bodies celestial, and\ndiffer in glory as the moon differs from the sun.\n\n\"These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus;\nwherefore they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God.\" [6]\n\nContinuing the comparison: These voyagers paid only for second-rate\nprivileges. They \"drew the line,\" giving a part but not all of their\nallegiance to Him who hath said: \"Thou shalt have no other gods before\nme.\" The things of this world were more precious in their eyes than the\nriches that perish not and that thieves cannot steal. They loved Truth,\nbut not whole-heartedly. They loved money and pleasure more, and strove\nfor fame and the applause of this world, rather than for the approval\nof heaven. Though clean of conduct and honorable in deal, they were not\nzealous for Christ, and knew not the meaning of self-sacrifice. These\nare worthy of the Kingdom, but not of the Crown; and they shine, not\nlike the golden sun, but like the silvery moon, with a diminished or\nsecondary radiance, with reflected rather than with original light.\n\nTelestial Glory--Servants of the Most High.--As for those who inherit\ntelestial conditions, differing from the terrestrial as the stars\ndiffer from the moon--were they not symbolized by the steerage and its\noccupants?\n\n\"These are they who are thrust down to hell. These are they who shall\nnot be redeemed from the Devil, until the last resurrection,\" at the\nclose of the Millennial reign. Criminals of every type and grade, they\n\"suffer the wrath of God until the fulness of times, until Christ shall\nhave subdued all enemies under his feet and shall have perfected his\nwork.\" They receive not of \"his fulness in the eternal world, but of\nthe Holy Spirit through the ministration of the terrestrial; and the\nterrestrial through the ministration of the celestial. And also the\ntelestial receive it of the administering of angels who are appointed\nto minister for them, or who are appointed to be ministering spirits\nfor them, for they shall be heirs of salvation.\" [7]\n\nThe heirs telestial are those who \"receive not the Gospel, neither\nthe testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting\ncovenant.\" According to the Vision, they \"were as innumerable as the\nstars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sands upon the seashore.\"\nConcerning this vast multitude, the voice of the Lord was heard, saying:\n\n\"These all shall bow the knee, and every tongue shall confess to Him\nwho sits upon the throne forever and ever.\n\n\"For they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall\nreceive according to his own works his own dominion in the mansions\nwhich are prepared.\n\n\"And they shall be servants of the Most High, but where God and Christ\ndwell they cannot come, worlds without end.\" [8]\n\nThe Damned Can Be Saved.--Yes, such is \"Mormonism's\" astounding\ndeclaration--and not only saved, but glorified, if they will repent.\nThe glorified planets are God's kingdoms, and \"all kingdoms have a law\ngiven\"--celestial, terrestrial or telestial. Whosoever inherits any of\nthese kingdoms, must abide the law pertaining to that kingdom. If he\ncannot abide \"the Law of Christ,\" he must inherit a glory other than\nthe celestial--even a terrestrial or a telestial glory. If he cannot\nabide a telestial law, he is \"not meet for a kingdom of glory;\" and if\nhe willeth to abide in sin, and altogether abideth in sin, then must he\n\"remain filthy still.\" [9]\n\nSons of Perdition.--One class alone remains outside salvation's pale,\npermanently condemned--they who commit the unpardonable sin, the sin\nagainst the Holy Ghost. For them there is no forgiveness. But one\nmust receive the Holy Ghost before he can sin against it, must have\nknowledge and power sufficient to entitle him to celestial exaltation;\nand then prove utterly recreant to the great light that has come to\nhim. Such a sin can be committed only by men equipped with every\nqualification for the highest degree of eternal glory. It is an offense\nso heinous that the sinner cannot repent. This is what makes his case\nhopeless; salvation being predicated upon repentance. If he could\nrepent, he could be forgiven; but being unable to repent, incapable of\nreformation, he cannot be reached by the pardoning power.\n\nThey who commit the sin unpardonable are as first-cabin passengers who,\nin the full enjoyment of every privilege and advantage pertaining to\nthat highly favored condition, wilfully throw all away, and recklessly\nfling themselves overboard, to go down in unfathomable depths. Sons of\nPerdition, these--\"the only ones on whom the second death shall have\nany power\"--\"the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time\nof the Lord.\" They \"deny the Son, after the Father has revealed him.\nWherefore, he saves all except them.\" [10]\n\nDesires As Well as Deeds a Basis of Judgment.--But the final word was\nnot yet spoken. At a date subsequent to that upon which Joseph and\nSidney received this wonderful manifestation, the heavens were again\nopened to the Prophet, and he beheld the glory--the transcendent glory\nof the Celestial Kingdom, [11] He saw that little children, those \"who\ndie before they arrive at the years of accountability,\" are saved in\nthat kingdom. He also saw his brother Alvin--a good and worthy man,\nbut one who had not been baptized, he having died before the Gospel\ncame--saw him in celestial glory! Joseph marveled at the sight,\nwondering how Alvin could have risen to so exalted a plane. Then came\nthe voice of the Lord to him, saying: \"All who have died without a\nknowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been\npermitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God;\nalso all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would\nhave received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom;\nfor I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according\nto the desire of their hearts.\" [12]\n\nMormonism's Magnanimity.--And yet \"Mormonism\" is said to be narrow,\nsmall and illiberal. Narrow, forsooth! Then where will you find\nbreadth? Where find justice, mercy, magnanimity, if not in a religion\nthat saves the living, redeems the dead, rescues the damned, and\nglorifies all who repent? \"Mormonism\" a small thing? It's the biggest\nthing in the universe! It is the Everlasting Gospel, the mighty\nsoul-ship of the dispensations, launched in the days of Adam upon the\nheaving ocean of the ages, and now on its last voyage over the stormy\nbillows of Time to the beaconing coast of Eternity.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Hades or Hell, Canto 4, lines 29-39.\n\n2. Rev. 20:12.\n\n3. I Peter 4:6.\n\n4. John 14:2.\n\n5. Vision of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, D. & C. 76:50-70. See also\n131:1. Compare 1 Cor. 15:40-42.\n\n6. D. & C. 76:72-79.\n\n7. D. & C. 76:84-88.\n\n8. D. & C. 76:110-112.\n\n9. Ib. 88:21-40.\n\n10. D. & C. 76:31-44.\n\n11. February 16th, 1832, was the date of Joseph and Sidney's vision;\nJanuary 21st, 1836 the date of the other manifestation.\n\n12. Hist. Ch. Vol. 2, p. 380. Compare Alma 29:4,5.\n\nWe are not to infer that Alvin Smith or anyone else could inherit\ncelestial glory, without receiving the fulness of the Gospel. It was a\nprophetic vision, showing what would be when Alvin had done his part,\nand the part that he could not do had been done for him. The same\nvision showed the parents of the Prophet--Joseph and Lucy Smith--in\ncelestial glory; and yet at that time they were still alive on earth.\nWe are not to infer that Alvin Smith or anyone else could inherit\ncelestial glory, without receiving the fulness of the Gospel. It was a\nprophetic vision, showing what would be when Alvin had done his part,\nand the part that he could not do had been done for him. The same\nvision showed the parents of the Prophet--Joseph and Lucy Smith--in\ncelestial glory; and yet at that time they were still alive on earth.","title":"Saturday Night Thoughts: A Series of Dissertations on Spiritual, Historical, and Philosophic Themes","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":83406}