The Project Gutenberg E-text of Cowley's Talks on Doctrine, by Matthias F. Cowley

Notwithstanding what has already been written upon the principles and doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by the Latter-Day Saints, I feel an assurance that this little work will be received with no little pleasure and a great degree of satisfaction by members of the true Church, as well as those who are seeking light upon religious topics.

The style in which the articles comprised in this little volume are written, is pre-eminently plain, and peculiarly adapted to the reading public. Loaded as the articles are, with careful thought and numerous scriptural quotations and references, itself not only a thought gatherer but a thought generator, it will come as a valuable aid to our missionaries and theological organizations, and also to the many investigators throughout the civilized world. Truth in studied brevity has been aimed at, without seeking the least embellishment of diction.

With an intense desire to impart the truth to mankind as widely as possible, this little messenger is sent forth, trusting that it may prove a blessing to thousands who are as yet grovelling in darkness and superstition and lead them to the sunlight of truth.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

APOSTASY.

The subject of Apostasy occupies the minds of people of modern times but very little. This, however, is not surprising when we consider their views regarding the Church of Christ; for they claim a continuation of divine authority and the plan of salvation from the apostolic age to the present time, the idea prevailing among them being, that the Bible alone is a sufficient guide without immediate and continued revelation. In this respect, the position of the Latter-day Saints differs widely from that of all other religious organizations. The Saints bear no relationship to any, but declare in words of soberness, that our Heavenly Father has restored the Gospel by modern revelations to the Prophet Joseph Smith. This being true, there must have been a departure from the proper order of the Gospel.

To prove that this has been the case, we will refer to statements of Holy Writ. In II Peter i:20, it is said, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." The Savior said, when addressing His disciples: "And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another, and many false prophets shall rise and deceive many, and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." (Matthew xxiv:10-12.)

To this testimony of Matthew, concerning the words of the Savior, in relation to the subject under consideration, there will be found the corresponding testimonies of Mark and Luke. It will be remembered also, that the testimony of the Lord was in answer to a very important question. When He had foretold the overthrow of the temple, His apostles asked Him: "When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" The appearance of false prophets; the deception of man; the martyrdom of the apostles; the betrayal of the Saints; the love of many waxing cold; the overwhelming prevalence of iniquity; the universal discord and contentions of the nations, all were prominent events to transpire before the advent of the Savior to reign in power and glory upon the earth. To this we will add the words of Paul: "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day will not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." (II Thes. ii:1-4.)

It is evident from the foregoing that some were likely to be deceived with regard to the time of His second coming. Paul, to prevent their being misled by false teachers who were likely predicting the Savior's advent, testified that there should come a "falling away first." The language is so pointed that one can readily see that nothing but a departure from the unchangeable plan of salvation could fulfill this prediction. We read in the Scriptures that "God hath set some in the Church, first apostles; secondarily, prophets," and other officers; all of whom were divinely inspired "for the work of the ministry," with spiritual gifts following the baptized believers. Only a short time elapsed, however, before these officers, principles, gifts and blessings, mentioned in the New Testament, were not to be found on the earth: and when we examine the religious institutions of the present time, these things, which God set in the Church, are not found, save with the Latter-day Saints. The present generation then, as those of many centuries past have been, are witnesses to the verification of the words we have quoted.

When Paul was about to depart from Miletus, he called to him the Elders of the Church from the city of Ephesus, and in his farewell address warned them, as appears in the following words: "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them?" (Acts xx:29, 30.) As an evidence that this prophecy was being verified as early as the time of the apostle John's banishment on the Isle of Patmos, this appears in the second chapter of Revelations, first and fifth verses: "Unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus write: These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of this place, except thou repent." By reading the second verse we discover that false teachers had arisen among the people, professing to be apostles, thus verifying the words of Paul. Following closely the context, we discover that similar reproofs were meted out to most of the branches of the Church in Asia, because they were departing from the truth.

Peter, the presiding apostle, also has spoken very plainly regarding the apostasy. Beginning with the first verse of the second chapter of his second epistle, we read: "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." From this we learn not only that false teachers should arise among the people, but that they should succeed in deceiving the people, causing them to follow pernicious ways. In connection with this part of the subject, Paul says to Timothy: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (II Timothy iv:3, 4.) Thus it is clearly stated, not only that men should arise "speaking perverse things," and by their evil designs succeed in making innovations upon the teachings of the apostles, but that the people themselves would be so allured from the way of life, as to heap unto themselves these false teachers, and many would adhere to their spurious doctrines. The terms "heap" and "many" do not signify a few but a great number.

These quotations from the Holy Scriptures bear especially upon the internal eruptions that occurred in the Church, causing many to depart from the straight and narrow path which leadeth unto life eternal. Those causes which create internal division and discord in the midst of the Saints are the worst of all, for "a house divided against itself cannot stand."

Having shown that many of the ancient Saints departed from the plan of salvation, we will now proceed to examine another branch of the subject, namely: The External Events in Connection with the History of the Church which Conspired to Overthrow the People of God. From the quotations here given, stating that "the love of many waxed cold; many shall follow their pernicious ways," etc., it may be asked, "What shall become of the few who were faithful? Did not they confer the authority upon a people in some remote corner of the earth? And from thence has it not continued, as the true Church, down to the present time?" In answer to these queries we shall refer to declarations of Holy Writ.

When the Savior made His appearance in the flesh there were many religious denominations extant, some of which professed a firm belief in the Bible—the Old Testament—and notwithstanding the ancient prophets plainly foretold the birth and ministry of the Savior, the religious element bitterly opposed Him and denounced new revelation, as manifested through the Redeemer. This peculiar perversity of the human family has been displayed prominently whenever the Almighty has introduced a new dispensation of the Gospel. The Lord, fully understanding the result of such bitter persecution, said to His apostles: "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my namesake." (Matt. xxiv:9.)

The vile treatment to which the ancient apostles were subjected and the martyrdom of many of them, is known to all acquainted with the history of those inspired men; and scriptural evidence as to their having been informed thereof in advance is quite abundant. The Savior says in Mark, thirteenth chapter, ninth verse: "But take heed to yourselves; for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten; and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them." Another witness to this testimony of our Savior has also left us the following: "And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends, and some of you shall they cause to be put to death."

It is a remarkable fact that, in every age of the world when the Lord has committed a dispensation of the Gospel to men upon the earth, the heavenly message has been rejected by the great majority of the human family, and the envy and hatred of many have been such as to instigate measures of violence against the humble servants of the Lord. Especially is this true when applied to the professedly religious element, and more directly to those who aim to be public instructors of the people. Notice the action taken by the Pharisees, Sadducees and other religious classes regarding the ancient Saints; while the devotees of these sects were divided on points of doctrine and disagreed upon the writings of the prophets, they combined their efforts to overthrow the Lord's chosen people. The Savior, indicating the class who would imbrue their hands in the blood of the prophets, said: "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service." (John xvi:1, 2.) This could not apply to the atheistic world, for it denies the existence of God. It could not mean the infidel class, for while they may not deny the existence of a Supreme Being, they disavow all forms of worship. The Savior's prediction was directed to the religious world, and from the facts of the case, it seems especially applicable to that portion of it which claimed to believe in the writings of the ancient prophets. Immediate revelation from heaven has always come in contact with the vain traditions and religious crafts of men, so that the strictest professors of religion anciently were, and are now, among the foremost in persecuting the Saints and seeking to deprive them of the rights and privileges which other men enjoy. In connection with the evidence found in the Holy Scriptures on this part of the subject, the thousands of Latter-day Saints who have suffered by the hand of oppression in this dispensation of the Gospel, are living witnesses.

While the revelator John, who was the last remaining member of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles on the Eastern Hemisphere, was in banishment upon the Isle of Patmos, he saw the image of a beast, representing a power that should arise in the earth, make war upon the Saints and overcome them. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them; and power was given Him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations." This declaration of the Scriptures is very broad, indicating clearly that the Saints should be overcome, and the power of the beast should be so extensive as to cover all "kindred, tongues and nation," thus leaving the people destitute of divine authority and bereft of the glorious plan of redemption.

By turning to the second chapter of Daniel, we learn something with regard to the period of time when this power which made war with the Saints and overcame them should flourish in the earth. The metallic image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in His dream consisted of gold, silver, brass, iron and clay, so we are told in the interpretation given by Daniel the prophet. It represented several kingdoms, beginning with Babylon, which we learn from history flourished in the fifth and sixth centuries before Christ; and second, the Medio-Persian government, from about 580 to 331 B. C.; third, the Macedonian kingdom, founded by Alexander the Great, from 331 B. C., to 161 B. C.; fourth, the Roman Empire, established in 161 B. C., and which flourished until 483 A.D. This last named government was represented in the metallic image by the two legs of iron, which resembled very much the two divisions of the Roman Empire, the one having its seat of government at Rome, the other at Constantinople. These subsequently subdivided into the petty governments of modern Europe, having in them the elements of strength and weakness, as indicated by the feet and toes of the image, which were part of iron and part of clay. It will be observed by the dates given above that it was during the time of the Roman Empire that our Lord and Savior was born into the world. As early as the banishment of the apostle John, about 96 A. D., we discover that nearly all apostles forming the chief quorum of officers in the Church of Christ had been martyred. We are informed in Mosheim's Ecclesiastical Institutes that the year 70 A. D. Vespasian and his son Titus besieged the city of Jerusalem with an army, destroyed the city and the temple and slew many of the inhabitants, this event having been predicted by the Savior, and recorded in Matthew, twenty-fourth chapter.

In speaking of this power that should destroy the Saints, Daniel the prophet, says, "And he shall speak great words against the Most High and shall wear out the Saints of the Most High." We might illustrate how literally these prophecies were verified by the following example: Previous to the late Civil War in the American Union, the South organized a republican form of government with the requisite officers to constitute such a government. In a short time, however, the Northern States engaged in war with the South and overcame them, so that the confederacy of that section ceased to exist. Suppose a stranger should visit the South at the present time and inquire of some person in that region of country if they have a republic entirely independent of the North, and on being answered "We have," the visitor queries, "Where is your president?" "Well, he is done away with, because no longer needed." He is asked, "Where is your vice-president?" "Oh, we have none." "Where is your congress?" "Well, that was dissolved long ago and has not existed since." "Pray, then," says the stranger, "What have you left?" "Well, we have a judge, and a policeman, besides the book which gives a history of the officers you inquire about." Such answers, however absurd and inconsistent, are very similar to those offered by the religious world of today who claim to have the Church of Christ; but when asked where are their apostles, they answer, "We have none, they are done away with." "Have you prophets?" "Oh, no! They are no longer needed." "Do the members of your church enjoy the gifts of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised should follow believers?" "Certainly not, they have passed away centuries ago, and we have no occasion for them now." "Well, then, what have you left?" "Why, we have a pastor and a deacon, and then we have the good Book, the Holy Bible, that describes the officers you mention."

It is very clear, from the condition of affairs, that we have briefly described, that at some period in the past, the Church of Jesus Christ was taken from the earth and the human family left without the direct and authorized administration of the plan of salvation. The prophecies we have quoted show, first, that such an event was to transpire some time in the future; second, about the period of time in which many of these predictions were verified, and, third, the means of power by which the Saints were overcome.

There are other prophecies in the Bible which plainly show that the extent of the ancient apostasy would be universal and continue in the earth until a certain period in the history of the human family, which will, with other items, form the subject matter for our next consideration. As the predictions of the prophets relating to the past have been so literally verified, this fact should promote, in the hearts of the people, great faith in the words of the Lord, as these are given in the Bible.

We have shown that the Church established by the Savior in all its pristine beauty and purity was taken from the earth. As none of the religious denominations, existing between the time of the ancient apostles and the nineteenth century have received a new commission from heaven, that fact is proof that the effect of the primitive apostasy has extended without interruption to the present age of the world.

Dr. Mosheim is the author of four large volumes of religious history comprehending about eighteen centuries of the Christian era. This work has been translated by Dr. Murdock with copious notes, or extracts, from the writers who lived contemporary with the times of which he writes. From the translation of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical Institutes we make a few quotations.

In speaking of the second century of the Christian era, Mosheim says (Vol. 1, p. 142): "For the noble simplicity and the majestic dignity of the Christian religion were lost, or at least impaired, when these philosophers presumed to associate their dogmas with it and to bring faith and piety under the dominion of human reason." On pages 182 and 183 of the same volume we are informed that, to conform to the customs of Jews and Pagan priests, rites and ceremonies were added to the simplicity of correct worship, and a "large part therefore of the Christian observances and institutions even in this century had the aspect of Pagan mysteries." Passing on to the third century on page 257, we have the following: "All the monuments of this century which have come down to us, show that there was a great increase of ceremonies." Page 259: "Baptism was publicly administered twice a year to candidates who had gone through a long preparation and trial."

Of the fourth century we learn from p. 345 that the regard for Platonic philosophy was embraced and mingled with the doctrine of the Savior: "Hence it is that we see on every hand evident traces of excessive veneration for Saints in heaven; of belief in a fire to purify souls on leaving the body; of partiality for priestly celibacy; the worship of images and relics, and for many other opinions which, in the process of time, almost banished the true religion or at least very much obscured and corrupted it." Of the fifth century, an account is given of impostors perpetrating artifices to make people think they were miracles and thereby induce them to embrace Christianity. Religious teachings, we are informed, "were substantiated, not so much by the declarations of the Holy Scriptures, as by the authority and logical reasonings of the ancient doctors." Page 455: "The whole Christian Church was in this century overwhelmed with these disgraceful fictions."

We might proceed with similar quotations relative to subsequent centuries intervening between the fifth and the time of the Reformation, but the foregoing will suffice to show that religious matters grew worse from one age to another, presenting to the world a mass of religious confusion. Although there may have been honorable men who protested against these evils, it is evident that genuine authority and the principles of the Gospel in their purity could not be derived from such a corrupt source. We are informed in the Scriptures that an evil tree will not produce good fruit nor a bitter fountain send forth sweet waters. As neither Luther, Melancthon, Huss, Zwingli, Calvin nor any of the reformers of that age received revelation from heaven authorizing them to establish the Church, we find that the world was still without the plan of salvation, and that the products of the Reformation, as religious bodies, are the offspring of the mother church, described in the Scriptures as the "mother of harlots and abomination of the earth." This unnatural mother, like some of the fashionable women of modern times (whose husbands and illicit patrons are zealously opposing the Latter-day Saints), endeavored to procure abortion, but failing in this, she tried to destroy her children after birth. Both attempts being futile, the children grew to years of maturity and in turn gave birth to other children, and so on until now there are several generations of them living. These offspring, being without natural affection, have been and still are quarreling with each other and casting missiles at their mothers and grandmothers as the case may be.

In the midst of this religious spectacle, however, there are and have been many honorable people who have realized the fallen condition of the world and were honest enough to acknowledge the same. From Elder John Morgan's Tract No. 1, we make the following extracts: "Roger Williams refused to continue as pastor over the oldest Baptist church in America on the grounds that there was no regularly constituted church on earth nor any person authorized to administer church ordinances, nor can there be until new apostles are sent by the Great Head of the Church for whose coming I am seeking." (See Picturesque America, page 502.) Smith's Bible Dictionary also says: "We must not expect to see the Church of Holy Scriptures actually existing in its perfection on the earth. It is not to be found thus perfect either in the collected fragments of Christendom or still less in any one of these fragments." The names of sixty-five learned divines and biblical scholars are on the preface page as contributors to and endorsers of this book.

Mr. Wesley states that the reason the gifts are no longer in the church, is because the love of many waxed cold and the Christians had turned heathens again and had only a dead form left. (See volume 1, sermon 94.)

The situation of the religious world is beautifully depicted in poetic verse on page forty-one of the Latter-day Saints' Hymn Book, in a hymn from Wesley's collection. In speaking of the golden age of the apostles and prophets, when the Saints were endowed with spiritual gifts and graces, the writer says:

I will now quote from the Bible to illustrate how plainly the prophets foretold what the writers from whom I have quoted clearly show to have been verified: "Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." (Amos viii: 11, 12.) We learn from this that the time was coming when men should seek to the four points of the compass, and in all directions, and yet fail to find the word of God; but we find the Bible in every direction, and that is said to contain the word of the Lord. Very true, but that word was directed to past generations and is a record of the dealings of our Heavenly Father with His children in bygone days.

The sacred record states: "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secrets unto His servants the Prophets." (Amos iii:7.) From this we learn that if there are no prophets of the Lord, then our Heavenly Father is doing nothing in a religious sense among the people of this earth; but if He is doing a work among them for their redemption, then there must be prophets. By this it will be easy to ascertain whether the prediction of Amos has been verified or not. Who, previous to the year 1827, for many centuries has found in his researches an inspired prophet who could stand in the midst of the people and say, "Thus saith the Lord?" Have not the people denied the prophets and visions of heaven? We learn from the nineteenth chapter of Revelations that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Therefore, if any have had this testimony they have been inspired with the spirit of prophecy. And again, we are informed by the Savior, as written in the sixteenth chapter of John, that the "Spirit of truth shall guide into all truth," and "show you things to come." Who has seen things to come? And where is the word of the Lord? Surely not with those who deny prophets and apostles.

We learn from the twenty-fourth chapter of Isaiah that the effects of this ancient apostasy would be so universal as to cover all classes of society, affecting not only the religious and social circles, but the business transactions of the human family. In the second verse he says: "And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him." By reading the fifth verse of the same chapter we learn that even the earth upon which we dwell is seriously effected. Isaiah says: "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant."

As a testimony to the fulfillment of this prophecy, thousands of people in the American Union are witnesses to the fact, that in many parts the land will not produce such prolific crops as it would several years ago, but is gradually growing weaker and losing its virtue. Many places once fruitful are now turned aside as being too poor to cultivate, and are occupied by hedge grass, sassafras bushes and growths of small pine. Such is the rapid decline of the strength of the soil. I have been informed that in one state some of the people, desiring to learn why the soil was losing its virtue, took quantities of earth from different points and had it analyzed. The analysis revealed the fact that the soil had lost its salt and was therefore comparatively of but little worth, only to be trodden under the foot of man. This test of the soil in one section is a fair sample of the same condition of the land in many other places. These are the terrible effects, Isaiah informs us, of the inhabitants of the earth transgressing "the laws," changing "the ordinances," and breaking the "everlasting covenant."

Among other important features wherein the everlasting covenant has been broken is that pertaining to the marriage contract, which, agreeable to the laws of heaven, is binding through time and eternity, not recognizing death, which is said to be the "wages of sin," as having power to sever that which is joined together by the power and authority of God. The world is now following the pattern of the Sadducees (who denied the resurrection), and therefore pronounce the ceremony of marriage "until death do you part."

Another prophecy which vividly portrays the religious state of affairs in the last days is that contained in (II Timothy iii:1-6) as follows: "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away."

This is so plain that no one need to doubt its verification. It clearly sets forth the very evils that are now prevalent in all the civilized nations of the earth. While this statement of evils may apply to the world at large, it is evident that it was directed specially to a certain class of people—not to infidel nor atheist, nor yet to the heathen nations, which are unacquainted with the name of the Savior and with what is termed Christianity, but to those religious bodies which, as Paul declares, "have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof." It plainly describes the situation of the Christian world at the present time, who, while they have various forms of worship, deny the gifts of vision, prophecy, healing, tongues and nearly all the manifestations of the power of the Lord, as enjoyed by the ancient Saints. In fine, they deny the Gospel, for that, says Paul, "is the power of God unto salvation." The apostle, it appears, would not attribute to them even true forms of worship, for he says they have a "form of godliness." "From such," says Paul, "turn away."

If all would receive this admonition and "turn away" from these powerless forms, what would become of the churches that are now extant? With the foregoing positive predictions upon this subject, and the facts before us in verification of the same, we can testify that the words of Isaiah have been fulfilled, wherein he says: "Behold the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people;" and that nothing short of more revelation direct from heaven could place the present generation in possession of the everlasting Gospel.

Having shown that many of the ancients fell away from that Gospel; that the faithful remainder were warred against by the enemies of truth, and that the last of the saints who held the Priesthood were overcome, leaving no successors to continue the works of the ministry; it is therefore made clear that the plan of salvation was taken away from the earth, that the results of the ancient apostasy were universal and have extended down without interruption to the present century.

The gloom that these serious events would cast upon the minds of the honest in heart who saw this sad picture unfolded to the gaze of the world, and which would effect their posterity in future generations, was greatly relieved when they beheld, while rapt in heavenly vision, angels from the mansions of glory descending to the earth with the Gospel message in all its purity and holiness, to deliver to the sons of men, causing the "poor among men to rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." The apostle John, while in banishment upon the Isle of Patmos, said: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of water." (Revelation, xiv:6, 7.) There are now thousands of honest-hearted people upon the earth who testify that the angel spoken of in the foregoing quotation visited Joseph Smith, the prophet, and delivered to him the everlasting Gospel. Scattered Israel is coming to a knowledge of the truth while the day spoken of by Jeremiah is dawning. "O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto Thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit." (Jeremiah xvi:19.)

These predictions are being fulfilled and will be fulfilled to the very letter; and as the apostasy and its effects were universal, so will the restoration of the Gospel be universal, extending to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, until Satan shall be bound and the voice of "peace on earth and to men good will" shall be heard from the rivers to the ends of the earth; when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea;" and when "they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord; for all shall know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest."

RESTORATION OF THE GOSPEL.

Having shown conclusively that the Church of Christ in its purity and entirety was taken from the earth, we find the world without divine authority, without ordinances of the Gospel, having a "form of godliness but denying the power thereof." "From such turn away."

This would be truly a sad picture to gaze upon and contemplate, were it not that the Lord also revealed to the apostles and prophets anciently that in the last days there would be a restoration of all that had been enjoyed in previous dispensations. The apostle Peter, speaking of the second advent of the Messiah, prophesied as follows: "And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." (Acts iii:20, 21). This prediction is so plain that a "wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein."

A restitution means bringing back that which was lost; even if God had not spoken by the mouth of many prophets since the beginning, giving in detail various conditions which would be restored to the earth, this prophecy would be sufficient in itself in assuring "a restitution of all things" to justify mankind in looking for a new dispensation containing all the gifts and powers of the apostolic age.

These gifts and powers do not exist in the Catholic church, nor in any Protestant denomination of modern Christendom. Nothing short of new revelation from God will fulfill the prediction of the apostle Peter.

The twenty-second and twenty-third verses of the same prophecy read: "For Moses truly said unto the fathers" (his prophecy here quoted by Peter is found in Deuteronomy, 18th chapter, commencing with the fifteenth verse), "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things, whatsoever He shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people." This prophecy undoubtedly refers to the Savior, but the conditions specified were never verified at His first coming. Those who would not hear Him were not destroyed from among the people. It is plain therefore that the prediction must allude to His second advent. In this connection, we refer our readers to the third chapter of Malachi, 1 to 3, inclusive: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and He shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in, behold He shall come, said the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap, and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness."

These conditions did not exist when Jesus came as the Babe of Bethlehem. The people then abode His coming. They despised Him, and persecuted Him to the death. The sons of Levi were not purged. Many centuries have elapsed since they offered an acceptable offering unto the Lord, so far as we are informed in sacred or other history. The Messiah did not come suddenly; He came as other infants came, only under humbler circumstances, being born in a stable and cradled in a manger. Truly does the Scripture say: "He descended below all things that He might rise above all things." He did not come to His temple, for He said that "the foxes had holes and birds of the air had nests, but the Son of Man had not where to lay His head;" and again that the temple occupied by money changers, rather than being a house of prayer, had become a "den of thieves."

When He comes in verification of Malachi's prophecy, He will come suddenly and in power and great glory. He will find a temple to come to. To do this, there must be a people called of God, instructed by revelation direct, in order to know where, when and how to erect, in keeping with divine approval, such a sacred edifice. Such information cannot be found in the written word of bygone ages, much less in the writings and commentaries of learned divines who deny the necessity of new and continuous revelation. Nothing short of a new Gospel dispensation, ushered in and perpetuated by direct revelation from the Lord, can fulfill the provisions of Malachi's prediction.

Passing on to chapter four of Malachi's prophecy, we find the inspired utterances respecting the judgments of God, the burning and overthrow of the wicked and the rising of the Son of Righteousness to those who fear His holy name. In the fifth verse it is said: "Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." This is so definite that comments are unnecessary. The prophet Elijah who was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire without tasting death is doubtless referred to.

In the verse following the one quoted, the mission of Elijah is specified to "turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers." How consistent and glorious such a mission! The children receiving the Gospel in a new dispensation naturally inquire what has become of their fathers who died without the Gospel. In other pages of this volume, referring to the redemption of the dead, we notice more fully this prophecy and testify that Elijah has come and also restored the keys of salvation for the dead.

Zechariah saw the time when Jerusalem should be rebuilt, and said: "Behold, the angel that talked with me went forth and another angel went out to meet him, and said unto him, run, speak with the young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein." (Zech. ii:3, 4.) Continuing, the prophet speaks of Israel coming from the North, and from Babylon, and being gathered to their inheritances, and that God Himself "shall dwell in the midst of thee." The Scriptures are replete with similar prophecies pointing to the gathering of Israel to Zion and Jerusalem, the coming of the Lord, and other important events. How any one could believe that these glorious prophecies could be verified without more revelation and the establishment of a new dispensation of the Gospel, is more of a marvel to a true believer in the Bible than is believing in prophecy, revelations, visions, miracles, etc.

In Revelations, chapter xiv, verses 6 and 7, we have the following very clear prophecy on this important subject: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and sea, and the fountains of waters." The inspired utterance cannot have reference to an event in the age in which it was uttered for two reasons at least: first, the people had the Gospel at the time, and John's mission was to declare the same; second, the voice from heaven as recorded in Rev. iv:1, 2, called to John saying, "Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter."

"What is prophecy but history reversed?" Thus the book of Revelation is one unbroken chain of prophetic history from first to last. The declaration that an angel should come with the Gospel is proof that the Gospel would be taken away. Again, the angel was to come in the "hour of God's judgment," a day not at all fulfilled during the earthly ministry of our Savior. One of the most remarkable features of the prophecy is that the inhabitants of the earth, without exception (every nation, kindred, tongue and people, is included in the glorious message), are called upon to worship Him who made the heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of water.

When we come to the subject of personality of God, it will be our purpose to show that the "God without body, parts, and passions" is not the God who made the heaven and the earth, and hence the necessity of just such an injunction as that quoted from the fourteenth chapter of Revelation being given to the world in the last days. The specifications of the prophecy are plain. The question which logically follows is, "Has that angel come?" If he has not, then he must do so, or the word of God is null and void, and this is impossible. "Not one jot or tittle shall fall unfulfilled." "Though heaven and earth shall pass away, my word shall never pass away."

Certainly the angel has not come to any Catholic or Protestant ministers, for they dispute the necessity of angels. The only claim to the reception of the heavenly message is made by Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and his followers, who testify that the angel came to the young man Joseph. It will not do to dismiss this claim by saying that "false prophets shall come," for false prophets, counterfeit coin, and every spurious imitation exists as a counterfeit to the true article, so that the existence of false prophets is usually a very fair indication that true prophets are not far away.

Following the coming of the angel having the Gospel to restore was to be another, urging the Saints to come out of Babylon: "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, come out of her, my people, that ye receive not of her plagues." (Rev. xviii:4.) Thus it is a gathering dispensation, as stated by Paul in the first chapter of Ephesians. The Savior, in speaking of the signs associated with His second coming and the consummation of His Father's work in the last days, says: "And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." (Matt. xxiv:14. ) This prophecy was uttered in connection with the stating of other signs given by the Savior respecting His second advent, and in answer to a question by the disciples: "Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?"

"This Gospel of the kingdom;" "The Everlasting Gospel;" The Gospel of apostles, prophets, revelations, visions, miracles and all the gifts of the Holy Ghost. This only true Gospel could not be preached for a witness unto all nations unless restored to earth by modern revelations, for the religious world, so far as enjoying the true Gospel is concerned, comes under the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter ix:2: "For behold darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people;" and again, chapter xxiv:5: "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant," all this going to prove the necessity of a Gospel restoration.

When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray He instructed them to say, among other things, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." (Matt. vi:10.) If the kingdom referred to by Him had come, He would not have instructed them to pray for what they already possessed. They were looking for a future day.

On one occasion after His resurrection, the apostles asked the Savior this question: "'Wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?' And He said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power." (Acts i:7.) This indicates plainly the establishment of God's kingdom at a future period of time. We may connect with these inspired sayings of the Savior the prophecy of Daniel, recorded in the second chapter of his prophetic utterances. By reading from the second chapter of his book we learn that the king of Babylon had received a dream which, having gone from his mind, he demanded to know of the wise men; and not only the interpretation, but the dream itself. They, of course, failed. Daniel, the prophet, was called in, and in the spirit of a true prophet and Saint of God acknowledged that it was not in man to reveal such things, "But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days." The image seen in the dream is next described by Daniel as being in form like a man, with a head of fine gold, his breast and arms of silver, his belly and thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. The interpretation made known that this image represented the kingdoms of the world, beginning with Babylon, the head of gold; next came the Medio-Persian, under Alexander the Great: then arose the Roman empire, out of which grew the modern kingdoms of Europe, represented by the feet and toes. Here comes the important feature of the prophecy which was to take place in the "latter days," of which the prophet Daniel says, "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."

The language of this prophecy shows: first, that unlike the preceding kingdoms, this last named kingdom was to be set up by God Himself, in other words, the kingdom of God, not of man. Second, unlike the other kingdoms, it should never be destroyed. Third, it should not, like the kingdoms of men, pass from one people to another, but should not be left to other people. Fourth, that it should have power to break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms.

The terms of this prophecy, and the history of God's dealings with men since it was uttered, are such that no thoughtful, well-informed man can suppose that this event took place at the first coming and ministry of the Savior, for the following reasons: first, the kingdoms represented by the toes and feet, contemporary with which the kingdom of God was to be set up, did not exist; the Roman empire, symbolized by the legs of iron, was that part of the image then extant. Second, the kingdom spoken of by Daniel was not to be left to other people, whereas the Savior Himself said to the disciples, as recorded in Matthew xxi:43, "Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to the nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." To this the testimony of Paul agrees in Acts xiii:46. "Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles."

These statements taken together, as well as many other conditions referred to, prove clearly that the kingdom spoken of by Daniel was not established in the days of our Savior. We are thus forced to the admission that if the kingdom of God has not come in this age, it is yet to come. There are, however, many other prophecies relating to the restoration of the last days, which show not merely that a restoration has been predicted, but that the Gospel veritably has been restored to man in this dispensation, with all the gifts and blessings which characterized the same in the days of the Messiah; and more, that a people are being prepared for the coming and reign of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We have proved from the Bible prophecies that a restoration of the Gospel in its fullness, by modern revelation, would take place in the last days. We now desire to show that this restoration has taken place, and that Joseph Smith, the Prophet, was the man through whom God has established anew His Church upon the earth, after the ancient pattern, with apostles, prophets, gifts and blessings, visions and revelations.

Joseph Smith announced to the world that he had received the visitation of heavenly messengers, also that they conferred upon him authority to speak and officiate in the name of the Lord with the same power and authority received and exercised by John the Baptist and the apostle Peter in ancient times.

Now, the prophecies quoted here could not be verified unless some one should come to the world bearing just such a testimony as that borne by Joseph Smith.

Furthermore, when we ask Catholic and Protestant ministers if an angel has come to any of them with the everlasting Gospel, they answer in the negative, and deride the idea of new revelation. Ask them if Elijah the Prophet has come to them, to plant in the hearts of the children the promise made to the fathers. They say no. Has the messenger spoken of by Malachi come to you and taught you how to build a temple to the Lord, that He may "suddenly come to His temple?" The very question itself is treated with utter astonishment, and the man who asks it is regarded as being erratic. We must therefore turn from sects having forms of godliness "but denying the power thereof," to other sources to find some one who has received, or shall receive, the revelations of the Almighty in the last days.

One thing is certain, if the claims of the Latter-day Saints are not true, then some one must come in the future with just such claims. We ask the question, will the world be any better prepared to receive a message of this character in the future than it is today? Certainly the hearts of the people are not being prepared for such testmonies by the influence and teachings of modern ministers. Come, dear readers, let us reason together; let us divest our minds of all prejudice. "Prove all things, hold fast that which is good," and ask the question, what constitutes complete evidence that a man is a prophet of God?

To be a reliable witness in a human court, an individual must be a person of veracity, whose honor cannot be impeached. Such a man was Joseph Smith, the Prophet. His parents were hard-working farmers. They had a standing in the community of virtue, honesty, industry and sincerity in religious devotion, unexcelled by any. His forefathers were among the early founders of New England, who came from the "mother country" to enjoy the greater liberty of worshiping God without molestation and according to the dictates of conscience. His progenitors were soldiers of the Revolution. They offered their lives freely upon the altar of liberty, for the freedom of the American colonies and their descendants for all generations to come. From such a line of ancestors came the Prophet Joseph Smith. If they were not popular, nor great, nor affluent, in the eyes of the world, neither were the immediate ancestry of Jesus and His apostles. If Joseph was poor and earned his bread by the sweat of his brow, so did most all of the prophets since the world began. He enjoyed the reputation, among those who knew him best, in every state in which he lived throughout life, of being an honest, industrious, virtuous, patriotic man. On trumped-up charges by the enemies of truth, he was arrested and tried thirty-nine times in courts not conducted by men of his own faith, and thirty-nine times he was honorably acquitted. The last time he was arrested, his enemies said, "If the law cannot reach him, powder and lead shall." How like the experience of Jesus before Pilate! Honorably acquitted by the judges, they cried out, "Let His blood be upon us and our children!" And so it has been; the same is true of those who shed the blood of the Prophet and Patriarch in these last days.

In view of the unpopularity of believing in angels and revelations in this age, what purpose could a man have in view, to make such a declaration, unless it was true? Joseph Smith gained no popularity or honors of men by it; he made no wealth of a worldly character by such a course. On the other hand, he suffered ignominy, scorn, and persecution in almost every form, including hunger, fatigue, exile, imprisonment and death at the hands of assassins. If it could be urged with the least propriety that when he announced his first vision he was so young—only about fifteen years of age (not much older than Samuel the prophet when God called him)—that he did not realize the terrible consequences of such a testimony, he certainly realized in a very short time and had every opportunity to correct his assertions had they been false.

Human nature is not such as to maintain known errors with such unwavering integrity and consistency against the bitter opposition of the world from boyhood to the grave. Yet with all his increasing trials and persecutions, which rolled upon him all his life like the angry waves of the ocean, driven by the winds against the peaceful shore, he never faltered. His testimony never wavered. He testified that he saw God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and received of the ministrations of John the Baptist, Peter, James and John, Elijah and other prophets who lived in bygone ages. With an understanding of these circumstances and a knowledge of his character, the charge of fraud and dishonesty cannot be laid against him. If so, every prophet since the world began can be counted a dishonest man.

The question which naturally follows in this place is: Could Joseph Smith be mistaken? In answer we say: He was not a religious zealot. He was a young man of a practical turn of mind. While not a skeptic, he was reasonable, and thought that men professing to be the servants of the Lord should give proof of their calling similar to that given by the ancient prophets. If they had the true Gospel, with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, they should not be full of contradictions on doctrine, at least. This feature shows that Joseph was of a disposition not easily deluded by the unfounded theories of men. He belonged to no church, and like the ancient apostles, was free from preconceived dogmas and theories. He had no system to bolster up nor pet theory to maintain. His mind was free and of an order most likely to be selected for the great work which the Lord assigned him.

The circumstances which led to Joseph Smith's prayer offered in the grove near Palmyra, New York, in the spring of 1820, were these: A great religious revival had been in progress. He attended. It consisted of people who were Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc., represented in the pulpit by their respective ministers. When a convert joined the Baptists the other ministers would say: "This is the way; walk ye in it." And another: "This is right; follow this way." Yet their doctrines were in conflict. He could get no light from them. In this frame of mind he commenced to read the Scriptures. He came to the first chapter of James, fifth and sixth verses. This reads as follows: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For, let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord." Joseph believed the promise. He put it to the test. He knelt in a grove of timber, and asked God which denomination was right. While thus engaged an unseen power seized him, tied his tongue, as it were, and apparently would have destroyed his life. Here are Joseph's words, quoted from the "Pearl of Great Price," page 59: "Just at this moment of great alarm I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spoke unto me, calling me by name, and said (pointing to the other), 'This is my beloved Son, Hear Him.' In answer to my question, which of the sects were right, He answered that none of them were, and I was forbidden of the Lord to join any of them."

This prayer was offered by an honest boy, seeking after truth, unable to get the whole truth from men. Would the Lord suffer such a prayer to go unanswered, or suffer this boy to be deceived by Satan? All reason, all Scripture answers, no. "Ask and ye shall receive; knock and it shall be opened unto you." If a son ask his father for bread "will he give him a stone?" "If he ask for fish will he give him a serpent?" The Savior answers, no. If it is argued that Joseph was alone and no one else present to corroborate his testimony, we have two answers: One is that those determined to reject such revelations will deny the veracity of two or three men as readily as the assertion of one; the other is that those who believe the Bible, to be consistent, if they doubt the testimony of Joseph because he was alone, must also doubt the testimony of Moses, who was alone when God spoke to him from the burning bush, and again when he stood in His presence on the mount and received the Ten Commandments. Will they doubt that Isaiah saw the Lord in the days of King Uzziah? (Isa. vi.). Because Stephen alone saw God and His Son in the last moments of His life, is his testimony false? Paul saw the Savior, but the men who were with him saw Him not. Yet the Christian world believes that Paul saw the Lord, even though other men in the presence of Paul did not see him.

While Joseph was alone on the occasion above related, he was not alone in all the manifestations which the Lord gave him. We have other honest witnesses who corroborate the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and their testimony has not been impeached. They were men of good repute. On the 5th day of May, 1829, John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, laid his hands upon their heads and conferred upon them the Aaronic Priesthood, which holds authority to preach the principles of the Gospel and baptize in water for the remission of sins, but not authority to administer in the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. This Aaronic Priesthood was held by John the Baptist, by Philip, who baptized the Samaritans, and by others in the times of the apostles. Subsequent to this Peter, James and John presented themselves to the same men, Joseph and Oliver, conferring upon them the holy apostleship, which included authority to organize the Church in its fullness and to open the door of the Gospel to all nations.

Passing over the many remarkable manifestations given to the Prophet and others, we will conclude this part of the subject by reference to the statements of the three witnesses respecting the Book of Mormon. Their testimony will be found in the title pages of every copy of that sacred volume, signed with their names—Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris. They assert that an angel appeared before them, held in his hands the metallic plates, giving an account of the ancient inhabitants of America; their origin, history and destiny; the dealings of God with them; and the fullness of the Gospel as taught by the Savior and ancient prophets on this land, from which sacred plates the Book of Mormon is translated into English. The witnesses saw and handled the plates, and gave their solemn testimony to the world. Under all circumstances the witnesses maintained their testimony to the end in private and public; to all who came to ask of them, they told the same unchanging story. Another feature of this evidence of these three witnesses is this: In the course of time they transgressed the rules and regulations of the Church, and of necessity had to be excommunicated. Having thus fallen away from their adherence to the Church, from their association and fellowship with the Prophet Joseph Smith, they were placed in a condition where every inducement was presented them to deny their testimony and in this way frustrate the scheme, if it had been false. If such a procedure had been possible they could thereby gain the fellowship and applause of the world for exposing to ridicule and shame the man who came to the world with a New Dispensation. But they did not do this. Being outside the pale of the Church, may they not be called truly disinterested witnesses, witnesses stronger in that sense than can be produced to substantiate the divinity of ancient Jewish Scriptures?

The writer once sat in the presence of David Whitmer and can testify from personal contact with him that he was firm and unshaken in the testimony which he bore to the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. In David Whitmer's dying hours, when enemies of this work may have had some hopes of his recanting, he asked the leading men of Richmond, Mo., if they could honestly give an affidavit before an officer that, from their acquaintance and dealings with him, he was a man of honesty and truth. This they did, and published it. They were men not of Mr. Whitmer's religious views. With that affidavit signed by about twelve leading business men of the town, and the testimony of his physician that his mind was perfectly sound, he published again to the world his testimony that he had seen the angel, had handled the plates, and that the Book of Mormon was the divinely translated record.

In connection with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, a remarkable prophecy of Isaiah has been strikingly verified: "And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is seated which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: and the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned." (Isaiah xxix:11, 12.) When Joseph obtained the plates he discovered that a portion of them were sealed and learned from the angel that the time had not come to publish that part of the volume, but from the unsealed plates he copied some characters and sent them by Martin Harris to a learned linguist in New York—Prof. Anthon. The learned man examined them and gave Mr. Harris a certificate testifying that they were true characters of Hebrew and reformed Egyptian. Before leaving, the learned man asked Mr. Harris to bring him the plates and he would translate them. Mr. Harris answered that he was forbidden to do that, and also that a portion of the plates were sealed. He replied, "I cannot read a sealed book," and asked where Joseph Smith obtained them. When answered that an angel revealed them, he asked to see the certificate he had given of their genuineness. It was handed him and he tore it up in a rage, saying, "Angels do not appear nowadays." The words of the book, not the book itself, were delivered to the learned man, as Isaiah said they would be. He said he could not read a sealed book, as Isaiah said he would say. The book itself was delivered to Joseph, the unlettered youth, and in his humility he said, I am not learned; but God gave the gift of translation, that it should be done; not by the wisdom and learning of men, but by the power of God.

Other Bible prophecies might be quoted referring to the Book of Mormon, but our purpose at present is not to treat upon that sacred record, but incidentally to show that its coming forth furnishes strong evidence that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. How it would be possible for an unsophisticated youth to devise a scheme that would answer in its workings so minutely the details of ancient prophecy, unless God inspired him, should require far more credulity to believe than it would that he was sent of God, and thus attribute to the Almighty the honor for the great work.

With this array of corroborating witnesses, and the practical character of Joseph Smith, we do not see the possibility of his being mistaken any more than were Paul, Stephen, Moses, Peter, James and John and all the ancient prophets. It should be remembered that God has His own way and does not show Himself openly to all the people, but to chosen witnesses. "Him God raised up the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before God." (Acts x:40, 41.)

We come now to another phase of evidence that the Gospel has been restored, namely, that the organization of the Church as established by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and also the doctrines taught by him, are in perfect accord with the teachings of the Bible. The proof of this is given in other chapters of this volume. The evidence there given of the divine mission of Joseph Smith is all the stronger when we take into consideration the fact that for seventeen centuries learned men have been organizing churches and teaching what they esteemed to be the essentials of salvation, without being able from the fragmentary teachings of the apostles to organize a church with apostles, prophets, seventies, etc. The force of this condition is also enhanced when we recall that each generation of reformers has possessed the advantages arising from the experience and conclusions of each generation preceding them. Neither has been able to unite upon the principles essential for mankind to obey in order to secure salvation.

Joseph Smith presents to the world a system which is a monument of inspiration, both as to the scriptural evidence that the organization is divine and in the fact that the practical workings thereof are perfect. He does not stop at this. He says to his followers that on condition of their acceptance of faith in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ, repentance from all sin, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands by Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they shall receive the Holy Ghost, and that the fruits thereof are the same as in olden times; they shall prophesy, speak in tongues, have dreams, visions, revelations, healings and miracles. There are in the Church today 310,000 souls. Of this number many are children, but the thousands who have arrived at the years of accountability have put the promise to the test, and the universal testimony of these people is that they have received knowledge of God for themselves. The tens of thousands, also, who have passed from life, since the date of the organization of the Church (1830), received the same testimony.

During the troubles of the Saints in Illinois, judge Stephen A. Douglas was an acquaintance of Joseph Smith and his people. He knew the injustice heaped upon them by his personal acquaintance with the facts. While in the presence of judge Douglas and others, the judge requested the Prophet to give him a history of the persecutions in Missouri, which he did. While addressing the judge the Prophet said: "Judge, you will aspire to the presidency of the United States; and if you ever turn your hand against me or the Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight of the hand of the Almighty upon you; and you will live to see and know that I have testified the truth to you; for the conversation of this day will stick to you through life." ( Deseret News , Sept. 24th, 1856.)

Judge Douglas aspired, as stated, to the Presidency of the United States, and was nominated for that position on June 23d, 1860, at the Democratic convention held in Charleston. When he thus aspired he was a popular man, eloquent and gifted, and no one seemed to have brighter hopes of success. However, in his mistaken effort to win popular approval, in a speech delivered in Springfield, Illinois, June 12th, 1857, he, in defiance of his own knowledge of the Latter-day Saints and their character, said: "The knife must be applied to this pestiferous, body politic. It must be cut out by the roots and seared over by the red-hot iron of stern and unflinching law." Much more he uttered against the Latter-day Saints, in harmony with misguided public sentiment. When the election came Douglas was badly defeated. Of the electoral votes he had but twelve. He carried but one state. Feeling "the weight of the hand of the Almighty upon him," he died a disappointed, heart-broken man, in less than a year, in the prime of life, being but forty-eight years of age. Thus the word of the Lord was fulfilled with terrible accuracy.

Again Joseph said: "I prophesied that the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains; many would apostatize, others would be put to death by our persecutors or lose their lives in consequence of exposure and disease; and some of you will live to go and assist in making settlements and build cities and see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains." ( Mill. Star , Vol. xix., page 630.) The Saints did continue to suffer much persecution, some did apostatize, others did die of exposure, disease and privation. Others were put to death by persecutors; some lived to go to the Rocky Mountains. They have assisted there in building cities, towns and temples, in making a great commonwealth, and the Saints have become a mighty people in the midst of these mountains. They attract the attention of the world. "A city set on a hill cannot be hid." These prophecies, uttered by Joseph Smith, have come to pass, as have many others, and that, too, contrary to all human prospects. All his prophecies not yet verified relate to future times, and will come to pass as literally and exactly as those of the past or those of any other prophet since the world began, for God inspired and Joseph spoke.

Having finished his mission, accomplished all in the flesh the Lord gave him to do, the Prophet Joseph Smith suffered the shedding of his blood at the hands of a wicked mob, June 27th, 1844, in Carthage, Illinois. Why was he slain? His doctrine, his promises, his life, his prophecies, all proved him to be a prophet of God before he died a martyr. Let the Scriptures answer the question: "For where a testament is, there must also of a necessity be the death of the testator." (Heb. ix:16.) God gave to the world through Joseph Smith a new testament of the plan of salvation. He gave the Book of Mormon, a record of the Gospel to the ancient inhabitants of America. He gave the Doctrine and Covenants, containing the revelations of God to the Saints of the last days. These do not supplant the Bible. They prove it true, and all agree in one. "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." Through Joseph, to this generation, came the witness of the Holy Ghost and the authority of the Holy Priesthood. By the continuation of that authority the Church exists today, with the Prophet Joseph F. Smith as its earthly living head. Every Elder of the Church can trace his authority back directly to Joseph Smith, who was ordained by the apostles Peter, James and John, who received it from the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Joseph Smith's testimony is weighty. It effects the whole world. The evidence must also be weighty, and it can now be said that no class of evidence was withheld. He gave all that any Prophet ever gave, including life itself. He sealed his testimony with his blood and his testimony is in force upon all the world. The sealing of his testimony with his blood also accords with ancient prophecy. John the Revelator was called into a high mountain to see the visions of the future. Read (Rev. iv:1). Also, among other things, the apostle says: "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." (Rev. vi:9-11.)

Joseph Smith, the great Prophet of the last days, and his martyred brother, the Patriarch Hyrum Smith, were among these fellow servants who were to be slain. They have fulfilled this last requirement of their earthly existence. Their testimony is true, attested by every evidence that man could give or the world require. That testimony is binding upon all the world. The Gospel has been restored to man, through Joseph Smith, in all its fullness. Will men obey the divine message? A proper answer by every individual is of the greatest importance.

THE CHURCH.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the organization through which the Lord is accomplishing the declaration of the Gospel in the last days, gathering Israel, administering the ordinances of salvation, and, in short, is accomplishing the work of redemption—that accomplishment which has been predicted by the mouths of all His holy prophets since the world began. The Church is called the Church of Jesus Christ because it is His. He directed how and when to organize it, pointing out by direct revelation the manner of Church government; the principles and ordinances of the Gospel; the blessings to be enjoyed by those who obey Him, and also the respective duties of each quorum or council of the Holy priesthood. The words "Latter-day Saints" are used to distinguish it from the former-day dispensation, or from the Church of Jesus Christ of Former-day Saints.

The authority of God delegated to man is called the Holy priesthood. This priesthood is arranged under two great heads. The lesser branch is called the Levitical or Aaronic, because it was conferred upon Aaron and his posterity. It holds the keys of the administration of angels, administering the outward ordinances of the Gospel, such as "baptism by immersion for the remission of sins," the sacrament of the Lord's supper, the receiving and distribution of tithes and offerings, all subject to the direction of the high priesthood. The officers in the Aaronic priesthood consist of Bishops, Priests, Teachers and Deacons. There is a presiding Bishop, who holds the keys of this priesthood, also other Bishops, who preside over the interests of the lesser priesthood in Wards or Branches, looking after the temporal interests of the Saints. The Priests are standing ministers, organized into quorums of forty-eight in each.

The duty of the Priest is to visit the home of each member, expound the Scripture, invite all to come unto Christ and exhort the Saints to perform every duty enjoined by the Gospel.

Teachers are organized into quorums of twenty-four each. The duty of those bearing this office is to see that the Saints do their duty and entertain no ill-feelings toward their fellow-beings, and that no iniquity exists in the Church. These general duties, common to all Saints, consist in living a chaste, honest, upright, temperate and industrious life, attending to secret and family prayers, attendance at meetings of worship, partaking of the sacrament, the payment of tithes and offerings, observing the Sabbath day, and kindred obligations, all made plain in the revelations of God to the Church.

The Deacons are organized into quorums of twelve each, and are to assist the Teacher in all the duties of his calling, as occasion may require, but their especial duty is to look after the houses of worship, keep them clean, see to the arrangement of seats and the seating of the people in public assemblies of worship, and such other labors under the direction of the Bishop as may conduce to the welfare of the Church.

The Melchisedek or higher priesthood holds the keys to the kingdom of heaven. It has the power to seal on earth, and what is done is sealed in heaven; to loose on earth and it is loosed in heaven; to receive the revelations of God; to guide the Church in all things, and to understand the mysteries of godliness as far as they are revealed to men in the flesh. In ancient times these keys and fullness of authority were given to Peter when the Savior said to him: "And I give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. xvi:19.)

The offices of this priesthood consist of the First Presidency, a quorum of three, bearing the holy apostleship, and as the organization of the Church on earth typifies the heavenly, these three symbolize the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and hold the keys of authority over all departments of the Church, on all matters, spiritual and temporal, even as the Godhead is the great ruling power of the universe, the heavens and the earth and all that in them is.

Next come the Twelve Apostles, who hold the keys of opening the door of salvation to all nations, kindreds, tongues and peoples. The reason that this quorum numbers twelve is in honor of the twelve tribes of Israel. Jesus said to the Twelve at Jerusalem: "Thou shalt sit upon twelve thrones, judging the whole house of Israel;" and again, upon the foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem were to be the names of the "Twelve Apostles of the Lamb." The Church in government is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone." (Eph. ii:19, 20.) The duty of the Twelve is to carry the Gospel to all nations and to send the same by their associates, the Seventies.

The Seventies are organized into quorums of seventy in each, presided over by seven of their number. Their especial calling is, like that of the Twelve, to be witnesses of the truth in all the world, and they are the ones especially appointed to associate with the Twelve in conveying the Gospel message to all mankind.

The office of High Priest is one of presidency. The High Priests are not limited to any especial number to constitute a quorum, but any number existing in a Stake of Zion is a quorum, presided over by three of their members. High Priests are chosen to preside over Stakes of Zion, to act as High Counselors, preside over temples, officiate in the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and, where the literal descendants of Aaron are not found, the High Priest is chosen to officiate in the Bishopric. Where men are found among the Seventies or Elders in any Ward or Stake, more suitable to fill a vacancy in the Ward Bishopric, Stake Presidency, or High Council, than the resident High Priests, such men are selected and ordained to the office of High Priest.

As standing ministers in Wards and Stakes the office of Elder exists, and a quorum of Elders numbers ninety-six. They have authority to preach the Gospel, baptize, confirm, administer the sacrament, anoint, and lay on hands for the healing of the sick, but differ from the Seventies in not being under the especial duty of traveling abroad to preach the Gospel. They have authority, however, as do High Priests, to travel abroad and preach the Gospel when called by the Presidency of the Church.

There is in the Church a presiding Patriarch, and other Patriarchs in all the Stakes of Zion. The duty of this high office is to impart blessings to the Saints of God. In presenting the general authorities of the Church the name of the Patriarch is presented next to the Twelve Apostles.

The general authorities of the Church, presented for the acceptance of the Church at every general conference, are the Presidency, the Twelve Apostles, the Patriarch, the Seven Presidents of Seventies, and the Presiding Bishopric of the Church. The names of the officers in the Priesthood are Apostles, Patriarchs, High Priests, Seventies, Elders, Bishops, Priests, Teachers and Deacons.

When difficulties arise between members of the Church and they fail to settle by themselves and the assistance of one or two witnesses, as the Savior directs, the Bishopric of the Ward form an ecclesiastical court, to which the disputants can refer their difficulties. If the decision is unsatisfactory to either party, there is a court of appeal in each Stake, called the High Council, consisting of twelve High Priests presided over by the Presidency of the Stake. From their decision an appeal can be had to the Presidency of the Church, which is the end of controversy. Trials by these courts are conducted free of charge. They are to exercise the functions of their calling without partiality and with the fear of God before their eyes, and to be guided by the Spirit of the Lord in their conclusions.

In the selection of any and all officers in the Church, the Saints have a voice. "No person is to be ordained to any office in this church, where there is a regularly organized branch of the same, without the vote of that church." (Doctrine and Covenants, section xx, 65.) "And all things shall be done by common consent in the Church, by much prayer and faith, for all things you shall receive by faith." (Doctrine and Covenants, section xxvi, 2.) The Gospel is a perfect law of liberty, and no people upon the earth have broader freedom and a stronger voice in government, religious or otherwise, than do the Latter-day Saints in the governmental and all other affairs of the Church.

The reader is referred to the revelations of God, given in the last days to the Prophet Joseph Smith, for a more perfect understanding of the offices and duties thereof, pertaining to the Church of Christ. They are to be found in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. These revelations throw great light upon the fragmentary statements of the New Testament, because in the latter no one can learn the relationship of one quorum in the Church to another, nor the explicit duties of the respective offices in the Holy Priesthood.

This Church was organized on the 6th of April, 1830, as far as could be, with the limited membership of six men—Joseph Smith, Jr., Hyrum Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Samuel H. Smith, Peter Whitmer, Jr., and David Whitmer. It was truly "a grain of mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds," in comparison with other organizations. A less number could not have been organized under the laws of New York. The great founder, under God, of this Church, had never belonged to any other. It was not an off-shoot of Catholic or Protestant, but as "a little stone cut out of the mountains without hands," it bore no relationship to any human system; and as the stone should increase in velocity as it rolled on, so has the Church grown in magnitude from the "mustard seed" to a great tree. It is believed by the Saints that the Savior was born on the 6th of April, and that the organization of this Church commemorates that great event.

On the 11th of April, 1830, Oliver Cowdery preached the first Gospel discourse of this dispensation. Soon branches of the Church were raised up in New York and Pennsylvania. Men were brought into the fold who later filled notable places in the Church. Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow and other leading men embraced the Gospel between 1830 and 1837. The Book of Mormon had been translated and published to the world previously. News of the new dispensation was heralded abroad by friend and foe. At that time many were prepared to embrace the Gospel, for the Lord had shown unto them that the Gospel in its fullness and purity did not exist in the Catholic and Protestant systems of so-called Christianity. The ministration of heavenly beings had been renewed, and during the entire lifetime of Joseph Smith he was the recipient of messages from the eternal worlds.

Persecution arose, and bitter opposition was arrayed against the Church. The Prophet was at times waylaid by wicked men, and sometimes arrested upon unfounded, trumped-up charges. From all these he was delivered until the time came for him to offer his life as a martyr.

In the fall of 1830 Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, John Whitmer and Ziba Peterson were called to carry the Gospel to the Indians (Lamanites), located in what was then the western wilds of these United States. Near Kirtland, Ohio, they met Sidney Rigdon and other followers of Alexander Campbell. The Elders presented to them the restored Gospel, with the Book of Mormon. Many of them received the truth, and the town of Kirtland became a gathering place for the Saints. Joseph Smith, the Prophet, removed to that point, and the Church as a body was chiefly located there as early as 1831.

In the meantime the future site of the chief city of Zion was designated by revelation to the Prophet, dedicated and set apart for the gathering of the Saints. In 1832 the first periodical in the Church was published, the Evening and Morning Star , at Independence, Missouri. The press and property of this publication were subsequently destroyed by a mob. Persecution in Missouri became very bitter. Many of the Saints were treated with bodily violence, their houses and property destroyed by fire and themselves expelled from the county by armed mobs.

During this time Kirtland was being built up. The Lord required the Saints to build a temple, in which to receive sacred ordinances for the salvation of the living and the dead. To this labor they devoted their energies, and notwithstanding their poverty the temple was completed and ready for dedication in March, 1836. Joseph Smith, the Prophet, translated by inspiration the New Testament, completing the work Feb. 2, 1833. Five months later he finished the translation of the Old Testament, so far as the Lord indicated the necessity of so doing. The Latter-day Saints' Messenger and Advocate was published in Kirtland. The Church, though organized by the authority of the apostleship, did not contain sufficient adherents at first to organize the councils of the priesthood, so as time went on and numbers increased, the Lord would indicate when and how to organize these quorums. The quorum of High Priests was organized in Kirtland, March 18, 1833. The Presidency and High Council of the Church were organized Feb. 17, 1834. That of the Seventies commenced Feb. 28, 1835. Thus from time to time, as the Church grew and developed, the Lord made plain by revelation how to organize every quorum, and finally Stakes of Zion and branches thereof and branches scattered abroad.

On Aug. 17, 1835, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, containing the revelations of the Lord to the Church up to that date, was accepted as a rule of faith and practice. Between that date and the martyrdom of the Prophet many revelations were given, but owing to the poverty and unsettled condition of the Church all of them were not published until subsequent to the decease of the Prophet. During the troubles in Missouri, a body of men called "Zion's Camp" left Kirtland May 5, 1834, to carry supplies and relieve the distress of their co-religionists, who had been exiled from their homes in Independence, Missouri. They performed the arduous journey on foot, through the wildernesses of Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, accomplished their mission and returned to Ohio.

Early in the year 1836 the ordinances of blessing and anointing were attended to in the Kirtland temple, and that sacred edifice was dedicated to the Lord March 27, 1836. In the temple the gifts of the Holy Ghost were poured out in abundance. Many saw visions. The Savior, Moses, Elias and Elijah appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. Previous to this, Joseph's first visit was a personal visit of the Father and the Son. Again on Feb. 16, 1832, the Savior appeared to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, and revealed to them the glories of the celestial, terrestrial and telestial worlds, and the suffering and condemnation of these who are unworthy a kingdom of glory. In 1837, during the financial panic, a great apostasy took place in Kirtland, which involved the standing of several of the Twelve Apostles. Persecution raged in Missouri.

Elders Kimball, Hyde and Richards introduced the Gospel into England and performed their first baptism July 30th, 1837, in the river Ribble. From that time until the present date a prosperous mission has been conducted in Great Britain. Thousands have joined the Church in that land and gathered to Zion. Subsequently John Taylor introduced the Gospel into France, and with others, into Germany; Erastus Snow into Scandinavia, and Lorenzo Snow into Italy; and from these countries, especially Germany and Scandinavia, thousands have come to swell the ranks of the Latter-day Saints. Into each of these tongues, and others, the Book of Mormon has been translated in fulfillment of prophecy.

The Gospel continued to spread in Canada, where it had been introduced by Parley P. Pratt, also in the United States and Europe. Persecution raged in Ohio and Missouri. The Saints as a body left Kirtland July 6th, 1838, for Missouri, chiefly locating at Far West, Caldwell county. In the fall of that year, Apostle David W. Patten fell a martyr at the hands of a mob on Crooked river; Joseph, Hyrum and others had been sent to prison without trial or conviction; yet the work prospered and spread abroad. During these sore trials, when death to the Prophet and others appeared inevitable, he prophesied their safe deliverance from the mob in Missouri.

While Joseph and Hyrum were yet in prison, Presidents Young and Kimball led the suffering Saints to Illinois, where they established the famed city of Nauvoo. To that point Joseph and his brethren made their escape and enjoyed a brief respite from mobocracy. The Prophet predicted, however, that Nauvoo would not be a resting place of the Saints for a great length of time. In keeping with this inspiration, he prophesied on Aug. 6th, 1842, of their coming location and greatness in the Rocky Mountains. He also prepared an expedition to explore the West, but died a martyr before its consummation.

Although Nauvoo was a sickly place, the industry of the Saints was attended with the blessings of divine Providence, and the city grew with magic speed. A temple was soon commenced. A charter was obtained from the State Legislature to establish a university, and prosperity almost unparalleled characterized the labors of the people. However, the combination of political intrigue and religious bigotry on the part of religious professors, coupled with transgressing apostates, soon conspired to spread death and destruction among the Saints. In Missouri, at Haun's mill and elsewhere, many had been shot down in cold blood, property was burned, and the whole people exiled from the state.

In Illinois further trouble was inaugurated by Missourians. They sought on one occasion to kidnap the Prophet, but failed. Fabricated charges were made against the Prophet. He was tried as before, and every time acquitted. When his last trial was being conducted, the mob (like the rabble in the halls of Pilate) said that if the law could not touch him, powder and lead should. Their nefarious purposes were permitted to be carried out, and on June 27th, 1844, Joseph and Hyrum, while under the pledged protection of Gov. Ford, were assassinated by a howling mob in Carthage jail, Hancock county, Illinois. Previous to his martyrdom, the Prophet Joseph had received more than one hundred revelations, had been instrumental in organizing the Church in its fullness, and bestowing the keys of the kingdom of God upon the Twelve Apostles. To Nauvoo were gathered thousands of people from the several states, Canada and Great Britain. At the time of the Prophet's martyrdom the Twelve were abroad on missions, with the exception of Elders John Taylor and Willard Richards, who were with the Prophet and Patriarch at the time of the martyrdom, Elder Taylor himself being wounded with four bullets.

While the Saints were in Missouri the Lord commanded that they should importune the officers of the law in the districts where the trouble occurred, and not being heeded, should appeal to the governor, thence to the president of the United States. All this was done, without avail. The president answered their appeal by saying, "Gentlemen, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you." Governors of states were written to, to use their influence to avert the wrongs heaped upon the Saints, but from one or two only came a favorable response. On the failure of the states and nation to protect their own citizens against mob violence and plunder, the Lord promised to vex the nation with a sore vexation. This was done in the hundreds of thousands of lives and the millions in treasure lost in the Civil War. The outbreak of this war was revealed by the Lord to Joseph twenty-eight years before it came to pass, and published to the world as early as 1851.

The Church was not founded by men, nor did it depend upon any particular man or set of men for strength, growth or progress. God has rounded and protected and is perpetuating His Church on the earth, so that when the Prophet passed to the life beyond, the work continued and grew with great rapidity. It is said, and truly, that "the blood of the martyr is the seed of the Church."

President Brigham Young and his associates of the Twelve, according to the voice of the Spirit and the order of the Holy Priesthood, succeeded to the Presidency of the Church. The work of the Lord continued to prosper, contrary to the prediction of its enemies that when the Prophet Joseph was out of the way the work would come to naught. The foundation of a temple had been laid which was pushed to completion, dedicated to the Lord, and ordinances performed therein. Mobocratic hostilities were renewed, however, with determined vigor. Nauvoo was besieged. The temple was burned and Elder William Anderson and his son killed. The Saints were expelled at the point of the bayonet. They had a flourishing city in an incredibly short time. They were quiet, peaceable, law-abiding, industrious citizens. The killing of their leading men, the burning of their homes, the numerous indignities heaped upon them, were as dastardly and cold-blooded as any persecution chronicled in the annals of history, especially when we consider that it occurred in a free country, where liberty for every race and religion is the proud boast of its people. Many of the people left Nauvoo in the dead of winter, 1845-6, crossing the Mississippi river on the ice. The day after the general exodus, nine children were born in the camp of the exiled people. Under the leadership of President Young and his associates, the Saints moved westward across the state of Iowa and built up a settlement called Winter Quarters, where the people remained to recruit until 1847. While there the government called on the Saints for five hundred men to engage in the war with Mexico. These were promptly supplied, and the most able-bodied men were sent to defend their country.

In the spring of 1847, President Young and a small company numbering 143, including three women, started from the Missouri river to find beyond the Rocky Mountains a place of rest, where they might build and inhabit homes and worship God "free from the furious rage of mobs." After an interesting and trying journey of about three months this noble band of pioneers entered Salt Lake valley July 24th, 1847, over a thousand miles from the Mississippi river. As they emerged from the mouth of what was afterwards named Emigration Canyon, they stood upon a plateau facing westward. To the north and south a great valley extended, bordered on the west by mountains and a great inland sea of salt water, the Great Salt Lake. The islands in the lake are mountains almost destitute of timber, but supplied with grass suitable for the grazing of horses and cattle. The valley was poorly watered, and dry and sterile was the appearance of the country before them. But God was their leader. He had shown to President Young beforehand the Salt Lake Valley. When the pioneer band entered the valley the Prophet said, "This is the place. Here we will build a city." When they came upon the ground where the temple now stands, President Young, thrusting his cane into the ground, said in substance, "Here we will stay, and upon this ground we will build a temple."

All the events conducing to the growth and development of the valleys prove that President Brigham Young knew whereof he spoke, and God has confirmed his words by the many blessings of divine Providence showered upon the people in building up a commonwealth in what was in those days a great barren waste. The soil upon which the Saints then stood belonged to Mexico. Those pioneers were as truly exiles from their country as were the Puritans who sailed the trackless ocean and planted their feet upon Plymouth Rock. And yet the Latter-day Saints then had five hundred men in the American army, in the contest with Mexico. Upon a prominent mountain peak, called Ensign, the "Mormon" pioneers planted the Stars and Stripes, the flag of their country, and possessed the land as citizens of the United States. Upon the arrival of this first company the work of plowing and building immediately commenced. It would take volumes to tell the history of the growth and progress of the Saints from that time till now; but this wondrous recital is written upon the mountains and in the valleys, which are open to the inspection of all people.

In the fall of 1847 a large company of Saints crossed the plains, led by President John Taylor and other prominent men. The companies continued to pour into Salt Lake valley and spread into the valleys north and south each year from 1847 to 1900, coming as Latter-day Saints, under the regulations of the Church. The leading brethren had made covenant that they would not cease their energies until all the Saints who would remain faithful should be gathered to the place appointed.

Before the death of Prophet Joseph many had apostatized. The Saints were not so well established in doctrine as they are today, and some were led astray by the pretensions of prominent men who were disposed to leave the Church and follow their own course. The Twelve Apostles stood next in authority to the Presidency of the Church by the order pointed out in the revelations of God and at the time when Sidney Rigdon was asserting his claims to the guardianship of the Church, President Young stood up to address the Saints. A remarkable manifestation of God's power took place. President Young was transfigured before the people. He appeared to increase in height and in form of his face and body to the exact personal appearance of the Prophet Joseph Smith. When he spoke his voice was as that of the martyred Prophet. People who were present on that occasion say that if their eyes had been closed when he arose from his seat they would have believed the speaker to be none other than the Martyr. Truly the mantle of Joseph had fallen upon Brigham, and while Joseph had received all the keys of the priesthood, he had bestowed them upon the Twelve, also the revelations upon which to build the Church of Christ. President Young truly built upon these revelations during his entire administration. In 1849, at Winter Quarters, he was sustained as President of the Church by the unanimous voice of the priesthood, Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards then being chosen Counselors and so endorsed by the voice of the Church thereafter at general conferences during the remainder of their lifetimes. President Young presided over the Church as the senior Apostle for thirty-three years, five years in connection with the Twelve and twenty-eight years in the Presidency.

Soon after the settlement of the Saints in Salt Lake valley, other valleys were explored north and south, and settlements established wherever water could be obtained, as rapidly as the strength and numbers of the Saints would justify. As early as 1860 settlements were rounded and the Saints organized in Wards and quorums of the priesthood, from Cache valley to St. George, a distance of over 400 miles from north to south. Wherever the Saints locate in settlements of a few families, or more, they are organized with a Bishop and counselors to preside over them, with Priests, Teachers and Deacons, as before explained, for a local ministry. As helps in government they had in those early days the Relief Society to relieve the poor and afflicted. The society is composed of women, and was first organized March 17, 1842, by the Prophet Joseph Smith, in Nauvoo. In 1849 the first Sunday school was established in the Church by Richard Ballantyne, in the Fourteenth Ward, Salt Lake City. Later, and during the administration of President Young, the Young Men and Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations were inaugurated. Still later, by suggestion of Sister Aurelia Spencer Rogers, under the administration of President John Taylor, the Primary Associations, presided over and conducted by capable sisters, were established for the especial benefit of little children. All these are helpful regulations to meet the growing requirements of the Saints in matters of religious, moral and intellectual training and development. One of these organizations exists in every Bishop's Ward, unless the number of any class who properly belong to one of the associations named is too limited to make the organization profitable. In such cases those who would take part in such associations are not unprovided for because the Sunday school, more than any other association in the Church, takes in all ages of both sexes. Our Sunday schools now have a membership of nearly 125,000.

Where there are a sufficient number of Wards, in any section of the country, these Wards are presided over by a President and two counselors, with a High Council, who have certain jurisdiction over matters pertaining to the Church in this group of Wards. The associations, Sunday schools, societies, etc., have a general superintendency of three, with assistants. This organization, composed of the Wards, is called a Stake of Zion. For convenience sake, the geographical boundaries of the Stake are usually the same as those of the county, but not always, or necessarily so. Sometimes the population of two or three counties is not too great to be one Stake, where the settlements are close together, or not separated by mountains, which would render the attendance of the people at Stake conferences, especially in the winter season, very laborious, and in some instances almost impossible. We have now fifty Stakes of Zion. They extend from Canada to Mexico. They exist in Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Canada and Mexico. Many of them were organized just prior to the decease of President Young, the remainder under his successors, respectively: Presidents Taylor, Woodruff, Snow and Smith.

April 6th, 1853, the Temple in Salt Lake City was commenced. It is constructed of granite. The rock was hauled, the first fifteen years, with ox teams, a distance of sixteen miles, two yoke of oxen frequently being required to draw one huge stone. But many years before the completion of the Temple, the locomotive, with many ear loads of stone at a time, rolled into the Temple block and left its cargo by the side of the growing edifice. The capstone of this magnificent house of the Lord was laid by electricity. The current was applied by the finger of God's Prophet, Wilford Woodruff, then eighty-four years of age, and one of that noble band of one hundred forty-three who entered Salt Lake valley July 24th, 1847. President Young was instrumental in laying the foundation of four temples in Utah, at Salt Lake, St. George, Logan and Manti. All have been, years ago, completed; the Salt Lake Temple being dedicated April 6th, 1893, by President Wilford Woodruff. The ordinances of salvation for the living and the dead are performed in the temples, and tens of thousands have been officiated for since their completion.

Subsequent to the exodus of the Church from Nauvoo to Salt Lake valley, the Gospel was introduced to the Pacific Isles by President George Q. Cannon and other Elders in 1853. In the work of preaching the Gospel many countries have not yet accorded perfect religious freedom, and to penetrate these the Church awaits only the provinces of the Almighty to break down the barriers and make it feasible to promulgate the Gospel in those countries. In other lands, where freedom reigns, the Elders have carried the glorious message. The Book of Mormon has been translated into German, Danish, Swedish, French, Spanish, Italian, Hawaiian, Maori and other tongues, and will continue to be given to the world until the truths of the Gospel upon its sacred pages shall be read by every nation, kindred, tongue and people. The thousands who have embraced the work with honest motives have received the witness of the Holy Spirit to their own satisfaction. Gifts and blessings which the ancient saints enjoyed have been renewed in this glorious dispensation.

The external history of the Church has been the same as in other times. "If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you." "And they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Prophecy has been and is being fulfilled. "What is prophecy but history reversed?"

History repeats itself. When Joseph Smith promulgated a new revelation, religious and irreligious fought against such an idea. Professional religionists seek to prove by the Scriptures that revelations are not for our day. In this they fail, because the Old and New Testaments abound in predictions of future revelations and events which cannot be filled without revelation. The wicked have resorted to slander, ridicule and falsehood, then to violence, resulting in the destruction of property and human life. All this being futile, they moved the nation by the falsehoods of Judge Drummond to send an army to Utah. But when the army came they found that this United States officer had basely deceived the president of the nation, by telling that the Mormons were in a state of rebellion and had burned the court records, these being found unharmed. The Mormons were at peace with God and all mankind, quietly minding their own business, pursuing their vocations of life and building up the country for the benefit and blessing of all who should come within their gates. The army came to Utah in 1857, and subsequently returned East, going chiefly to the South, their leading officer, Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, taking part with the Confederate army in the great rebellion. He fell upon the battlefield of Shiloh, April 6th, 1862, thirty-two years to the day after the Church was born in this dispensation. The army sold to the Mormons mules, wagons, harness and other materials much needed, at a mere nominal figure, and thus being a blessing, proved the words of Isaiah true, "I will make the wrath of man to praise me."

As the Saints grew in prosperity and importance, avarice and prejudice seized political demagogues, adventurers and religious bigots, to stir the nation to a systematic effort to crush out "Mormonism." Special legislation was enacted and enforced beyond the severity of its own provisions. About eight hundred men went to prison; a few women were incarcerated because they would not testify against their husbands; heavy fines were paid and hundreds went into exile rather than prove untrue to the solemn covenants and obligations they had entered into under their religious convictions. Finally confiscation of Church property took place, but most of it was afterwards restored. In 1890 President Woodruff issued his manifesto regarding plural marriage, feeling that the courts of the country had abused justice in denying the Saints the liberty of religious worship granted by the American Constitution.

In this form of opposition to the Church, a prophecy of Joseph Smith is fulfilled, in which he said, in substance, that persecution against the Saints would extend from township to county, from county to state, and from state to nation. His words have been literally fulfilled. The Saints, in enduring persecution, did so with patience and forbearance. They have no spirit of revenge. They understand that much of the popular sentiment against them is based upon misunderstanding, rounded in the falsehood of wicked and designing men. The spirit of the Gospel teaches them that it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong, and that patience and charity are as necessary as a testimony of the truth; for without the approval of the Lord they could not endure the trials and temptations which beset them.

From the commencement the Church had taught the utmost freedom of mankind to worship as they chose, such liberty being curtailed only when it runs into license and infringes upon, the rights of others. In the early inception of the Church, God commanded His people to study and learn from the best of books, to acquire an understanding of the laws of God and the governments of men, to become acquainted with the heavens and the earth. Thus the Saints are the friends of all true education. Joseph Smith established a school in Kirtland for the study of Hebrew and other branches of knowledge. For Nauvoo he obtained a charter for a university. Brigham Young and his associates founded the Deseret University, now called the University of Utah. They have also established church schools, the Brigham Young Academy in Provo, the Brigham Young College in Logan, Stake academies and other schools. The sons of Latter-day Saints have graduated with honor in the Military Academy at West Point. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, they have a record unsurpassed in the law school and in other branches taught by that noted institution. The same is true of their record at Harvard and elsewhere; also are there numerous graduates of medicine, dentistry, civil engineering, etc., as taught in the great schools of Chicago, Philadelphia and other places. Mission conferences are established in almost every state of the American Union, also in England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Germany, Holland, Palestine, New Zealand, Australia, the Hawaiian and many other islands of the Pacific ocean, including Japan.

The present living membership of the Church, men, women and children, is not less than 310,000 souls. While there has been steady progress in numerical strength, it is not in numbers altogether that strength consists. We fully realize that "Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." The greatest strength consists in the purity of the principle and the impossibility of the wicked and corrupt to remain long in the Church. God is its founder and builder. He established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It will stand always, for "whatsoever the Lord doeth, He doeth it forever."

CHURCH ORGANIZATION.

We have treated briefly upon the subject of Divine Authority, merely pointing out the absolute necessity of such authority in order to obtain complete salvation, and how it was bestowed and perpetuated whenever a Gospel dispensation existed upon the earth. It will not be amiss to deal briefly with the subject of Church Organization, as this specifies the distribution of divine authority to the various offices in the Church of Christ, each having specific duties to perform.

In the beginning we wish it distinctly understood that we accept of the New Testament as the record of this organization, and that nowhere within that sacred record is even an intimation that, by divine appointment, the offices established in the Church of Christ by the Savior of mankind would be done away. On the other hand, neither do we claim that the New Testament contains a full and explicit statement of every office in the Church, with the several duties of each officer and the relationship which each council or order of authority bears to every other council. The New Testament is fragmentary and has been translated and re-translated many times since it was first written by inspired apostles and prophets; those translations were by men not claiming the inspiration which characterized the men of God who wrote it.

In this connection we must not forget the statement of Holy Writ: "The things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. * * * But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (I. Cor. ii:11, 14. ) Therefore, where the inspired record is not sufficiently full in elucidating any principle, nothing short of new revelation from God will clear away the mist and bring us to a knowledge of the truth. The writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, James and Jude, so far as they bear upon the sayings and acts of the Savior during His earthly ministry, are the testimonies of what they saw and heard personally, as well as the revelations of the Holy Ghost to them, subsequent to the crucifixion and ascension of the Savior. Paul embraced the Gospel later, and was not personally associated with Jesus in His ministry. His testimony is equally binding, however, as he "wrote and spoke as he was moved upon by the Holy Ghost." "In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established." (Matt. xviii:16.)

In Matthew, chapter 10, commencing with the first verse, we have this statement: "And when He had called unto Him His Twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out and heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Now the names of the Twelve apostles are these;" then follows the name of each of the Twelve. Mark gives more detail as to when and where they were called, as follows: "And He goeth up into a mountain and called unto Him whom He would; and they came unto Him. And He ordained twelve," etc. (Mark iii:13, 14.) Luke records the calling of the Twelve in the sixth chapter of his book, beginning with the twelfth verse: "And it came to pass in those days that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day He called unto Him His disciples: and of them He chose twelve, whom also He named apostles." Paul says in I. Cor. xii:28: "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles;" and again in Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 11: "And He gave some apostles."

From the statements of four New Testament writers, it is plain that the first officers placed in the Church of Christ were apostles. Jesus delegated unto Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that whatsoever he should bind on earth should be bound in heaven, as recorded in the sixteenth chapter of Matthew, thus delegating to the apostleship all authority essential to the preaching of the Gospel, and administering in all the ordinances thereof, at home and abroad, for the salvation of all who would render obedience. It is apparent that other men such as Paul and Barnabas received the apostleship, but while this was the case it is evident that the Twelve apostles constituted a quorum. When Judas fell, one was chosen to take his place in that quorum, as written in the Acts of the Apostles, first chapter, 23-26 verses. It would appear from the reading of the Scriptures that while these twelve still lived, Paul and probably others received the holy apostleship, but did not become members of that council.

The work of preaching the Gospel to all the world, to every creature, was undoubtedly too extensive for the accomplishment personally of twelve men, so Jesus chose others to assist them. "After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before His face into every city and place, whither He Himself would come." (Luke x:1.) As He conferred upon them similar powers and gave them a similar calling to preach the Gospel, they were undoubtedly the next associates of the Twelve in preaching the Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth. Some think by the language used by Luke, "other seventy," that He had chosen one quorum of seventies before this one, but this is not necessarily correct, as it will apply in meaning to "other" than the Twelve apostles.

In Hebrews, fifth chapter and first verse, Paul says: "For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God." While it is true that the words "high priest" are used in a more general sense in some instances, such as in Hebrews, third chapter, first verse, where the Savior is called both the "Apostle and High Priest of our profession," it appears evident from the above quotation and other passages that there was in the order of ecclesiastical government in the Church of Christ a distinct officer with specific duties called a High Priest.

Again, in Acts, fourteenth chapter and twenty-third verse, we read: "And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed." "And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders. * * * And the apostles and elders came together." (Acts xv:4-6.) "And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem." (Acts xvi:4.) "And from Miletus He sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church." (Acts xx:17.) "And ordained elders in every city as I had appointed thee," (Titus i:5.)

The term "elders" is used in many other passages of Scripture. In some instances the apostle is called an elder, as Paul and John allude to themselves personally as elders. In some places the term is used in reference to the aged, as in I. Timothy, chapter v., verses 1, 2: "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father, and the younger men as brethren, the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity." Yet the quotations made will be ample to prove that the office of Elder was an order anciently in the organization of the Church of Christ.

In I. Timothy, third chapter, verses 1, 2, we learn of the office of Bishop, with some essential qualifications. "This is a true saying: If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach." Also, in Titus i:7: "For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate." These passages show clearly the office of Bishop to be a department in the government of the Church of Christ, and should be held by a married man.

"There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia." (Luke i:5.) The order of the Priest as established in ancient Israel seems to have continued in the New Testament dispensation. Although the offering of sacrifice was consummated at least for that period, in the atonement of our Savior, it is apparent that John the Baptist, Philip, and others, were priests after the order of Levi, having authority to baptize for the remission of sins, and to preach faith and repentance, but not to officiate in the higher ordinances of the Gospel which secured the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, nor to preside over the Church of Christ and regulate the affairs thereof throughout the world.

In Acts xiii:1, I. Cor. xii.28, and Eph. iv:11, we learn of an officer called Teacher, though nothing as to the especial functions of that office.

Paul to Timothy, in the third chapter of his letter, refers to the Deacons, and enumerates some of the qualifications essential to the possession of men who bear that sacred calling in the Church of Christ.

In the First Epistle to the Corinthians, twelfth chapter, verse 28, the apostle declares: "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." "And He gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists (patriarchs); and some pastors and teachers," (Eph. iv:11.) "Now there were in the church * * * certain prophets and teachers." (Acts xiii:1.)

Peter and Paul, in their writings, make reference to the ancient patriarchs, and although no definite statement is made, as to such an office existing in their time, it is more than probable that it existed in the Church of Christ whenever that Church had an existence on the earth.

The quotations give us the names of, at least, the following offices as departments of the Holy Priesthood and essentials to the work of the Lord: Apostles, Patriarchs, High Priests, Seventies, Elders, Bishops, Priests, Teachers and Deacons. The words pastors, shepherds, evangelists, etc., are also used in reference to officials in the Church, but it is probable that some terms were used not so much to name the exact title of a man's position or calling in the order of the priesthood as to indicate the nature of the work his calling enjoined upon him. For instance, a pastor is one who has charge of a flock, a shepherd; applied religiously, one who has the oversight of a Branch of the Church (president of conference, for example); and this term would apply to Elders and Bishops, who, according to the New Testament, had watched over branches of the Church in different parts of the earth.

We wish to again call attention to the fact that the exact and full duty in detail of each officer is not wholly explained in the Jewish Scriptures. The precise order in which all of these officers were placed is not clear. The difference between the general duties common to all and the particular labors enjoined upon one officer, which distinguished him from every other officer in the church, is not told. This is not surprising, either, as undoubtedly each man in his order understood his duties from the instructions of the living oracles of God. Furthermore, they had writings, which are referred to in the Testament, but which are not preserved and handed down to us; and it is probable they had still other writings that are neither compiled nor alluded to in the Scriptures.

The New Testament contains letters of instructions, exhortations, warnings and testimonies of the apostles to the Church and to the world, and does not claim to be a complete exposition of Church Organization, etc. The Church was guided by direct revelation, and was to be so guided in all time; and the fact that man, with all his learning and the benefits of researches made by preceding generations, cannot organize a church after the ancient pattern, is indisputable proof that we need more revelation from God. The world by wisdom knew not God. Suffice it to say, that as long as we need divine instructions, which will be the case forever, we need the God-given officers which Christ placed in His Church, and which He designed to continue as long as the Church should exist.

Here is the testimony of Paul to the Ephesians, chapter 4: "And He gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." In this connection it is perhaps sufficient to remark that the history of the world is ample proof that apostles, prophets and inspiration are always needed. The reader is asked to carefully study the chapter on the "Church," given in this work, as it points out the duties of officers in the Church Organization, as given us by modern revelation.

DIVINE AUTHORITY.

A very remarkable feature in the religious sentiment of modern "Christianity" is the indifference which prevails as to the question of legitimate authority to speak and officiate in the name of the Lord. Should an unauthorized man operate in matters of human government, or an impostor pretend to be the agent of a mercantile institution and deceive the people by taking their orders for goods and receiving their money, no one with sound reason would expect the government or firm to make good the unauthorized contracts of such an impostor; but the deceiver would be arrested and thrust into prison for his fraudulent acts. Why should the consideration of sacred ordinances involving the salvation of mankind be treated with less concern?

There seems to have grown up in the hearts of the people a feeling that mere belief and intellectual assent to the theories of the Gospel is all-sufficient to secure salvation in the presence of the Lord. But this is an unscriptural delusion. "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe and tremble." "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? . . . For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (St James ii:17, 19, 20 and 26.)

We have shown from the Scriptures that baptism and confirmation are essential ordinances to salvation; and to these might be added other sacred rites, instituted by the Savior of the world for the redemption of man. He has said that "not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matt. vii:21.)

Can anyone reasonably suppose that baptism, confirmation, the sacrament, or any other sacred ceremony administered by one not sent of God will be followed by the blessings which attended the primitive saints? Will unauthorized acts secure the remission of sins, or the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are manifest in visions, dreams, healings, prophecies, tongues, etc.? Not by any means; and the reason the signs do not follow professed believers of the present day is because their ministers are not called of God according to the pattern instituted by Him. The condemnation of the Lord will rest upon all who speak presumptuously and who willfully usurp authority to officiate in sacred things.

The Lord said in the days of Jeremiah, concerning certain men who spoke without authority: "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied." (Jer. xxiii:21.) The whole history of the dealings of God with His people as it is recorded in the Bible, proves the constant necessity of living, divine authority.

Upon this branch of the subject we cite the reader to the Scriptures. When Moses was about to depart from Israel he sought the Lord to designate his successor, knowing full well that without succession of authority the work of God could not continue. He said, "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd." (Num. xxvii:16-17.) In Romans x., 14 to 17, we have the following: "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?"

The Savior, who called Twelve apostles and other seventy to continue the work which He, by the direction of His Father, had inaugurated, was so particular that they should not "run before they were sent" that He said to them, "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." (Luke xxiv:47, 49.)

This emphatic injunction was given, notwithstanding that these apostles had been already called and ordained as recorded in Mark iii:14, and notwithstanding their great experience by personal association with the Savior of mankind, who was pure, without guile, and perfect in all things, "who spake as never man spake." The apostles had witnessed the sick healed, the blind see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, the dead raised. Three of them, Peter, James and John, had been with Christ when He was transfigured on the holy mount. Moses and Elias had ministered unto them. These Twelve were the living oracles of Almighty God, but for all that, they must not "run before they were sent, nor speak before they were spoken to." They must enjoy especial power. Are men in modern times as particular to avoid speaking in the name of the Lord before they are truly called?

Let us ascertain how men are called of God and His authority perpetuated in the earth. In speaking of the honor and authority of the Holy Priesthood, Paul says, "And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron." By reading the fourth and twenty-eighth chapters of Exodus, the information as to how Aaron was called can be obtained. He was called by a revelation through a prophet of God. That prophet was called by revelation and ordained by one having authority to ordain him. This method of calling men to the ministry was ever adhered to by true Saints, and when departed from, the departure has been of men and not of God. Aaron received the anointing literally at the hands of the prophet Moses, as recorded in Exodus xl:15, 16, and thus conferred the Levitical priesthood upon Aaron, which was to be transmitted by the holy anointing from generation to generation, as long as they should observe the statutes of the Holy One of Israel.

When Joshua was called to succeed Moses in leading Israel into the promised land, it was done by revelation from God and the laying on of hands by one having authority. "And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him. * * * And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses." (Num. xxvii:18 23.) "And Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him." (Deut. xxxiv:9.) During the entire history of ancient Israel, men were called by revelation, and when any person presumed to officiate without such a call, their acts were invalid and were rejected of the Almighty.

The New Testament furnishes direct evidence of the plan of calling men to the ministry and perpetuating the authority of God among men. Jesus said to His apostles, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you." (St. John xv:16.) "Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away." (Acts xiii: 1, 2, 3.) "And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed." (Acts xiv: 23.) Men thus called have authority to speak in the name of the Lord, to officiate in His name; and their acts are valid, binding in time and eternity.

When Paul found a number of disciples at Ephesus who had received baptism, but in answer to his question, said that they had not "so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost," he promptly baptized them; yet they had received this ordinance after the form of John's baptism, that is, by immersion, which was correct. It was evident, however, that their first baptizing was done without authority, otherwise the person officiating would have told them of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, as did John the Baptist. Under these circumstances Paul had to rebaptize them, or rather administer the true baptism, he having authority from God to administer it, and then he conferred the Holy Ghost upon them by the laying on of hands. This example is a lesson as applicable to similar conditions of today as it was in the New Testament dispensation. All ceremonies, ordinances, rites, etc., administered without the administrator being "called of God as was Aaron," are null and void.

The dispensation of the fullness of times has been ushered in. The Father and the Son and other heavenly messengers have visited the earth and restored authority to act in the name of Jesus as in days of old. This authority has been transmitted from the Prophet Joseph Smith to others, as designated by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and by the laying on of hands. In this manner the authority of the Holy Priesthood will be perpetuated without interruption until the "kingdoms of this world shall have become the kingdom of our God and His Christ."

PERSONALITY OF GOD.

The general idea of Deity accepted throughout the so-called Christian world is stated briefly in this way: "God is a being without body, parts or passions."

The Latter-day Saints regard our Heavenly Father as possessing an actual tabernacle of flesh and bones (not blood), and that in His image man is created. Our views respecting this important subject are based upon the revelations of God to man in ancient and modern times, and regarding which there is no contradiction in the testimony of the prophets. "God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." (Gen. i:26, 27.)

It is claimed by some that this likeness is only to be understood as a moral image. There is, however, nothing to justify such a view, either in the statement quoted or any other passage of Holy Writ. On the contrary, the Scriptures show that man is actually in the image of his Maker. Concerning His appearance to Abraham, we read: "And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre; and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, and said, 'My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.'" (Gen. xviii:1-4.)

Material as this may appear to many, the first verse of the chapter, as well as other verses following those quoted, proves conclusively that this records a personal appearing of the Lord, and also that He has a tangible being, composed of various parts of the body, as real as those which characterize His offspring. This instance is only one out of many in which the Lord appeared to Abraham. Read the seventeenth chapter of Genesis, 1-3, "And when Abraham was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face; and God talked with him." Then follows the conversation engaged in between God, our Eternal Father, and Abraham, the "father of the faithful." How such an event should occur between a real human being and one who had no real organization, "without body, parts or passions," requires more credulity to believe than to accept the idea which the Scriptures themselves convey in these chapters, viz: that God has an actual personality.

If language more direct than the foregoing is required, it can be found in the eleventh chapter of Genesis, regarding the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel. "And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. * * * Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." It is evident from this that the Lord was in one place, the tower of Babel in another; that He was surrounded by associates, and in counsel with them proposed to go to the place where the tower was in course of construction and there defeat the purpose of its builders. No one could take this account, written in the simplicity of truth, believing that it is a truthful statement of the historical facts, and still believe that God is without body, parts or passions and in His actual individuality fills at once the immensity of space.

The entire Bible history of Abraham is also one continuous account of personal visits, conversations and covenants made by the Almighty to and with the patriarch. Isaac was also favored with the presence of the Lord: "And Isaac went unto Abimelech, king of the Philistines, unto Gerar. And the Lord appeared unto him and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of." (Gen. xxvi:1, 2.) And again in the twenty-fourth verse of the same chapter: "And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father; fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake."

Jacob, the grandson, of Abraham, was no less favored of the Lord in being a personal witness of His existence, with love and interest in His earthly children: "And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canan and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession." (Gen. xlviii:3, 4.)

Abraham was designated "the father of the faithful, the friend of God." Of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the Lord has said, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." To them He made glorious promises and entered into everlasting covenants extending into eternity. He promised that their seed should be as numerous as the stars of heaven and as countless as the sands upon the seashore. To the thoughtful person who reads the Scriptures in the spirit of truth, it must be apparent that our Heavenly Father foreknew the unchanging integrity of these men, and because of this gave them such great promises and made them, by His visits to them, living witnesses of His existence and personality.

Moses is another witness to the personality of God. "And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God." (Ex. iii:6.) On another occasion there were over seventy witnesses that God is a personal being. "Then went up Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; And they saw the God of Israel; and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in His clearness." (Ex. xxiv:9, 10.) He said to the prophet Moses: "Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock; and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by; and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen." (Ex. xxxiii:20-23.) Again it is written: "My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold." (Num. xii:7, 8)

These quotations respecting the prophet Moses show that on some occasions he had personal visits from the Lord. In one instance he was accompanied by over seventy associates, and once he was permitted to see the back parts only. These statements are so much in detail and in such direct language that they are not susceptible of any private interpretation, but must be taken in a literal sense. How any one can profess to believe in the Bible and read these statements, yet deny the personality of God, is a matter of wonder and astonishment, and can only be accounted for in the fact that people have been taught to accept the precepts of men without taking the natural and reasonable conclusions which a personal reading of the Scriptures would establish in their own minds.

When Hezekiah, king of Judah, was beset by the Assyrians he offered the following prayer to the Lord: "Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear; open, Lord, thine eyes, and see; and hear the word of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God." (II Kings xix:16.) And again it is written: "Now mine eyes shall be open, and my ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there forever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually." (II Chron. vii:15, 16.) The Psalmist David expressed himself, saying: "I have called upon Thee, for Thou wilt hear me, O God; incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake with Thy likeness." (Psalms xvii:6, 15.) These expressions in the prayers of righteous men point to the manifest truth that God has eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart with which to love, a mouth to speak; and taken with other statements of Holy Writ, show beyond the possibility of a reasonable doubt, that our Heavenly Father is possessed of a body composed of the various parts which go to constitute the several members of a human body, and that He is susceptible of anger, love and hatred. He hates iniquity and loves righteousness. He is angry with the wicked every day. Such are the statements of Holy Writ. He, therefore, cannot be without body, parts or passions.

The Lord was also seen by the prophet Isaiah. "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple." (Isa. vi:1.) To corroborate these testimonies of the Old Testament we call the attention of the reader to several passages in the New. When Stephen was being martyred he saw God: "But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." (Acts vii:55, 56.) Nothing could be plainer and more convincing from the written Scriptures than that Stephen actually saw God, and that He and His Son were in the heavens in the presence of each other.

Paul wrote to the Philippians as follows: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." (Phillip. ii:5 6.) And again in Col. i:15, Paul said respecting the Savior: "Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature." To the Hebrews the same apostle says, concerning Jesus: "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." (Heb. i:3.) These writings of Paul, though not relating to a personal appearance of God, fully corroborate in doctrine all the quotations on the subject made from the Old and New Testaments. The Scriptures referred to show conclusively the personality of the Father, and a portion of the quotations presented, point to the fact that He is a separate personage, and entirely distinct in person from His Son Jesus Christ.

We now call the attention of the reader to a few passages of Scripture, showing the personality of the Savior, not only in reference to His individuality before His crucifixion, but showing that in His resurrected and immortal state, He will continue a separate and distinct personality from all other beings. Subsequent to His resurrection He appeared to the apostles; at first sight they were terrified, and supposed they had seen a spirit, "And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when He had thus spoken He showed them His hands and His feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And He took it, and did eat before them." (Luke xxiv:38-45.) Thomas, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came, and when told by his brethren that they had seen the Lord, he would not believe them, and said: "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe." Subsequent to this appearance, Thomas was present when the Savior invited him to satisfy his mind to the fullest extent, thrusting his hand into His side and beholding the wounds in His hands and feet, when he exclaimed, "My Lord and my God." (John xx:2, 5, 28.)

Here is a clear demonstration that Jesus in His immortal state continues as a personal being, with a tangible body of flesh and bones. To show that there is no change in the personal status of the Savior, eighteen hundred years have passed away since His resurrection, and yet we learn from the Scriptures that still in the future He shall appear in the same body: "And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof. * * * And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee." (Zech. xiv:4-6.) In the thirteenth chapter, which appears to be connected with His appearance upon the Mount of Olives, we find the following statement: "And one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." (Zech. xiii:6.)

Many entertain the belief that of the three personages constituting the Godhead only one is a personal being with a tangible body, viz.: the Lord Jesus Christ. Enough evidence has been offered to prove the contrary of this erroneous theory; but as the Scriptures are full of evidence on this important subject, I will present the reader with several quotations which will aid him in his researches after the truth respecting this important doctrine. Matthew informs us concerning the baptism of the Savior that "The heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'" (Matt. iii:16, 17.) In this instance the Savior is represented as being at the waters of Jordan, while the voice of His Father came from the courts of heaven, showing that the Father and Jesus are two distinct personages, existing in separate places at the same time. This testimony of Matthew is corroborated by that of Mark and Luke, the former in the eleventh verse of his first chapter: "And there came a voice from heaven, saying, 'Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'"; and in Luke, the third chapter and twenty-second verse, as follows: "And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, 'Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.'"

It is recorded that on one occasion, while the Savior seriously contemplated the coming ordeal of His crucifixion, this occurred: "And Jesus answered them, saying, 'The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified. He that loveth his life shall lose it. If any man serve me, let him follow me. If any man serve me, him will my Father honor. Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name.' Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, 'I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.'" (St. John xiii:23, 25, 26, 27, 28.)

Still another instance where the voice of the Father was heard, and in the presence of other witnesses than the Savior, is recorded in Matthew, seventeenth chapter, fifth and sixth verses: "While He yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.' And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid." The disciples here referred to were Peter, James and John. Peter relates this impressive event as follows: "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, and there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with Him in the holy mount."

The account of this vision is also recorded in Mark ix:7: "And a voice came out of the cloud, saying: 'This is my beloved Son; hear Him.'" it is also said in Luke ix:35. "And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, 'This is my beloved Son: Hear Him.'" Surely the testimony of three or four reliable witnesses is sufficient to affirm the truth of this matter. When the Savior addressed the Father, no one could reasonably say that He was addressing Himself. We have many instances recorded by the writers of the New Testament that Jesus supplicated His Father in humble prayer. "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me of my Father." (Luke x:21, 22.) "Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." (John xvii:1, 5.) "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." (John xvi:28.)

To these references may be added those before referred to, giving an account of the martyrdom of Stephen, in the seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and the statement by Paul, in the first chapter of his letter to the Hebrews. Many other scriptural testimonies might be cited to prove that the Father and the Son are personal beings, each separate and distinct from the other.

The following passage of Scripture is often cited to prove that the Savior is the only personal being in the Deity: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me. And the glory which Thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one." (John xvii:20-22.)

The very wording of this Scripture shows that the Father and the Son are not one in person, because He prays that all the disciples may be one in the same manner that the Father and the Son are one, and one in that sense only, for the simple reason that the oneness of the Father and the Son is perfect and complete. Their unity consists in being one in wisdom, one in knowledge, one in power, one in council, having a unity of purpose in the accomplishment of man's salvation to the tallest extent and in every conceivable respect. The disciples of Jesus could not be one in person, for each of himself is a separate individuality; they can be one, however, as the Father and Son are one, in the accomplishment of one great purpose—the salvation of mankind—because they are baptized by one Spirit into one body, even the church of Christ; they have one Lord, one faith and one baptism, and are all taught of God, having "access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Eph ii:18), who is not the author of confusion, and cannot consistently, with His own attributes, contradict Himself.

When Jesus sent His disciples into the world He commanded them to baptize penitent believers "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Matt. xxviii:19.) These three personages are understood by believers in the Bible to constitute the Godhead. We have shown that the Father and Son are separate personages. It is just as evident, from the Scriptures, that the Holy Ghost is as much a separate and distinct personage as are the other two. Concerning the enormity of sinning against the Holy Ghost, Jesus said: "Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." (Matt. xii:31-32). Again, "Verily I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme; but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation." (Mark iii:28-29.)

Agreeable to the language of these quotations, there is a distinct separation between the personality of the Savior and that of the Holy Ghost. Jesus, in speaking of those who should believe and obey Him, used this language: "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified." (John vii:38, 39.) It appears from this statement that while Jesus was the representative of the Godhead to men in the flesh, at least for a period of time, the Holy Ghost had not come to officiate at that time as a personal witness of the Father and the Son to the children of men. To corroborate this idea, we quote from the sixteenth chapter of John, seventh verse: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you." That this Comforter is the Holy Ghost is evident from the fourteenth chapter of St. John, sixteenth and twenty-sixth verses: "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." Further: "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of me." (John, xv:26.)

These promises are so definite that no one could reasonably mingle the personality of the Holy Ghost with that of either the Father or the Son. After the crucifixion and resurrection of the Savior, and when He had spent forty days with His disciples before His ascension, instructing them preparatory to their great mission, before He allowed them to go out, He reminded them of the promise which He had made to them, and commanded them to tarry at Jerusalem "until ye be endued with power from on high." (Luke xxiv:49.) This promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, when the powers of the Holy Ghost were manifest through His glorious gifts which attended the apostles on that occasion. On that great day the Holy Ghost as a gift for their permanent guidance, was promised to all without distinction of time or place, if they would have faith, repent and be baptized by divine authority.

The personality of the Holy Ghost as a minister for God has been enjoyed in every dispensation of the Gospel. "Men and brethren, this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake." (Acts i:16.) Again: "Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye." (Acts vii:51.) This is proof that David and the prophets spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, as did the disciples in the dispensation of Christ; also that the ancients rejected the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, as did the people in the days of the apostles. The apostle Peter says: "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (II Peter i:21.) No one by reading the Scriptures can reasonably deduce therefrom that divinely authorized men were justified in their official ministrations in speaking by any other power than that of the Holy Ghost. Paul says: "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost." (I Cor. xii:3.)

The great gifts of the Spirit have been referred to in earlier pages of this work, and need not be repeated here; but the character of those gifts and the constant necessity for their existence, together with the passages quoted here, are positive proof that the Holy Ghost is one of the Deity and a separate personage from the Father and Son. At the Baptism of the Messiah He was present in the waters of the Jordan with John the Baptist. The Father was in the heavens above, and His voice was heard, while the Holy Ghost descended upon the Savior, as witnessed by its appearance in the form of a dove. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The three constitute the great, supreme Godhead, yet are as separate and distinct in their personalities as any earthly parents and the children.

REVELATION.

For eighteen centuries the people of this world have been groping in spiritual darkness. They have had the Bible, it is true, but what have they learned from it? In letter, many things. In the true spirit of divine inspiration, they have learned little. "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." (II Cor. iii:6.) They are "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." (II Tim. iii:7.) These statements of Holy Writ are fully corroborated by human experience in religious matters. The world is divided and sub-divided into many contending factions, professing Christianity, yet not having a unity of faith. Many ideas of the Lord, many faiths in baptism. "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." (Eph. iv:5), was the doctrine of Paul. "Straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew vii:14.)

What is the cause of all this uncertainty respecting the glorious plan of eternal life? If one was or is right, all opposing methods must be wrong. We answer that the lack of unity, the ignorance in relation to the Gospel, and finally skepticism and infidelity, are due to substituting the wisdom of men for the revelation of God, using human learning instead of the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

We desire to show in this article that without direct and continuous revelation from God, the Gospel cannot be understood and properly applied for the salvation of mankind, nor can the purposes of God be accomplished on the earth. First, we take direct statements of Scripture: "Where there is no vision, the people perish; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." (Prov. xxix:18.) The law of God has never been kept without the Spirit of God to enlighten those who sought to keep it. The history of the human family, from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Moses, from Moses to the Lord Jesus Christ, and in all subsequent ages, proves beyond cavil that where there was no vision from heaven, no inspired voice, no revelation, the people utterly perished in darkness and unbelief. The combined wisdom and learning of men could not save them from spiritual darkness.

That there may be an authorized channel of communication between the heavens and the earth, the Lord has, whenever His Church has existed on the earth, appointed men to receive His will and make it known to the people. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secrets unto His servants, the prophets." (Amos iii:7.) This literally might be understood as equivalent to saying that where no prophet was, there the Lord was doing nothing that would result in man's salvation. Without being technical respecting the language of Amos, the history of the world from Adam down proves his statements true. When there has been no prophet there has been no revelation from God. When there has been no revelation or vision the people have wandered to and fro, have tossed upon the billows of clashing opinion, perished in darkness and have been buried in the great ocean of doubt and uncertainty. On the other hand, when authorized prophets have existed among men we may exclaim with the ancient Scriptures: "I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets. And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved." (Hosea xii:10, 13.) And we affirm that without prophets Israel never was preserved and never will be.

In looking over the field of mysterious sayings contained in the Bible, as well as the mystery which enshrouds many phases of human history, we are consoled by the promise of the Savior: "For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known." (Luke xii:2; Matthew x:26; Mark iv:22.) In this connection we may cite the fact that men by learning do not see the truth alike, they do not harmonize on the fundamental principles of the Gospel. As an example, they cannot, unaided by revelation, tell the origin, history and destiny of the American Indians.

Isaiah, over 200 years before the advent of the Messiah, foresaw the spiritual ignorance of the last days and how that condition would be overcome by the light of revelation. He prophesied as follows: "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid." (Isa. xxix:13, 14.) By reading the context it is evident that the prophecy refers to a time later than the first coming of the Savior, and that the prediction never could be verified without direct revelation from heaven.

Paul, writing to the Hebrews, calls attention to the great truth that the method of the Lord in leading His people from the beginning has been by revelation. He says: "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son." (Heb. i:1, 2.) Jesus said in St. John xvii:3: "And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." Paul says in I Cor. xii:3. "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost."

When Peter received a knowledge of the divinity and mission of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior said unto him: "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven." It required a revelation for Peter to receive that testimony. How could any one receive that knowledge without revelation from God? The Jews saw Jesus, witnessed His wondrous miracles of healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, unstopping the ears of the deaf and even raising the dead, but all that was not sufficient. They read the ancient prophecies, pointing to the birth and nativity, the birthplace, life, ministry and martyrdom of the Messiah. Yet were they blind, with eyes to see; deaf, with ears to hear, and without understanding. No reason can be assigned for the ignorance of the masses and the enlightenment of the humble fishermen other than that the former depended upon the learning of men; the latter had received a revelation from God.

To place the necessity of revelation beyond question as to obtaining a knowledge of God, we quote the statement of Jesus to His disciples: "All things are delivered to me of my Father; and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him." (Luke x:22.) Compare this plain, unmistakable testimony of Jesus with the assertions of modern divines, who claim that the canon of Scripture is full and that we do not need divine revelation as it was given to men in ancient days. The position of the latter simply contradicts the plainest teachings of Holy Writ. If it required revelation 2,000 years ago to know that Jesus was the Christ, nothing short of revelation from heaven will secure that knowledge now. Notice, too, the remarkable fact that notwithstanding all the personal experience of the apostles through their association with the Savior, He commanded them to "tarry ye at Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high." (Luke, chapter 24.)

Another phase of the subject is this, that men claim that which is written in the Scriptures is sufficient. This view simply makes uninspired men the judge of what is and what is not essential as to all the writings of the apostles and prophets of the Lord Jesus. This is an unwarrantable assumption, condemned by the Scripture; for John says, concerning that which he had written in the Book of Revelation: "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." (Rev. xxii:18, 19.)

This does not deny God the privilege of adding more revelation, as it is an undisputed fact that the Gospel according to St. John was written subsequent to the Apocalypse; but it is a decree of divine displeasure upon any man who shall add to or take from the revelations of the Almighty. In the face of this decree, history informs us that councils of the Roman Church sat in judgment upon the writings of the apostles, and received only that which, in the light of their human wisdom, was acceptable to them. Notwithstanding this fact, the various factions of Christendom are essaying to build upon the foundation of what has come down to them through the channel of unauthorized councils of men. May we not ask with perfect propriety, is not that which was rejected or lost just as valuable as much of that which has been handed down to us?

As proof that writings of the disciples of Jesus have been lost to the world, I would call special attention to several passages of the Scripture. The writings of the New Testament are from eight authors—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, James and Jude. Luke says: "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of these things which are most surely believed among us." (Luke i:1.) While there is no definite proof in this statement as to how many had written their testimonies concerning the Messiah, it is evident they were not few, but many. That there was opportunity and material upon which to write respecting this glorious subject, the life and ministry of Jesus, is very apparent from the last verse of the twenty-first chapter of St. John, as follows: "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." With such a statement, it is to be wondered at that the world who believed in the Redeemer should rest contented with the narrow view that we have all that is important.

We have in the New Testament what is called I Cor. and II Cor., written to the Saints in Corinth by the apostle Paul. In I Cor. chapter v:9, we have this: "I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators." This must have been previous to the one in which this occurs, and yet such an epistle is not found in our New Testament. In Col. iv:16, Paul says: "And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea." This refers to an epistle from Paul to the Colossians, written from Laodicea, but which is not found in the canon of Scripture as we have it. In II Tim., chapter iv:13, Paul requests Timothy to bring him certain parchments; what they contained we know not. Jude says: "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these things, saying: 'Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints.'" How delightful it would be to read the predictions and teachings of that great prophet Enoch, the man who walked and talked with God 365 years, "and was not, for God took him." Only a few verses in the Old and New Testament are all we have in the canon of Scripture respecting Enoch and his city. What a glorious flood of light will dawn upon the world when the writings of Enoch are revealed! In the Old Testament may be found references to about thirty books written by the Jewish scribes and prophets, but which have been lost to the world, rejected and cast aside by uninspired, unauthorized councils of men.

Suppose that all that is necessary so far as explanation of doctrine is concerned is contained in the New Testament, we are then confronted with man's inability to understand what has been revealed without the light of revelation to guide the human mind in understanding and applying the truth. As proof of this I will cite the testimony of Paul: "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. * * * But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (I Cor. ii:11, 14.) Jesus said to Nicodemus: "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (St. John iii:3.) "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost." (I Cor. xii:3.) The truth of these sacred sayings is verified by the history of the world, which has languished in darkness without revelation, as shown by previous quotations.

Another very important feature of this subject consists in the fact, that there always have been in every gospel dispensation labors to perform of a practical character, such as the building of temples, the gathering of Israel out of Egypt, the building of the Ark of the Covenant, etc., none of which could be accomplished except by direct revelation from God. We may therefore conclude that while the ordinances and doctrines of the gospel are eternal and unchangeable, the circumstances associated with the people in every dispensation of the gospel are constantly changing. The emergencies of this situation must be met, not by the dead letter of ancient Scripture, but by present inspiration and revelation given through living oracles of God.

"By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved." (Hosea xii:13.) The prophecies of the Jewish prophets in the Old Testament, pointing to the advent of the Messiah, are clear and explicit. Read the seventh chapter of Isaiah, fourteenth verse; the ninth chapter and sixth verse; the fifty-third chapter of the same book; the fifth chapter of Micah, second verse; and many other passages of the Old Testament. In these we find plain predictions which were verified in the birth, ministry and crucifixion of the Savior, which were read by the Jews but not understood by them, because the light of revelation from God was not the source of their information. This was rather the wisdom of their own learning, which led them to reject the Messiah and discard the great message of life which He brought unto them.

As there were many plain prophecies relating to the first coming of the Savior and the great work associated with His advent, so there are pointed predictions referring to His second coming and a work of great magnitude to precede that great event. I will call attention to a few as proof that more revelation will be given, and that without it these prophecies could never be fulfilled: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiners' fire, and like fuller's sore. * * * And He shall purify the sons of Levi," etc. (Mal. iii:1-3.) This prophecy must refer to His second coming. At His first advent He did not come suddenly; He did not come to His temple. The house of the Lord had become "a den of thieves." He did not accept it. He did not purify the sons of Levi. It was a day when they could in their wickedness abide His coming. "Who shall stand when He appeareth" is clearly a condition when He shall come in power and glory to take vengeance on the ungodly.

How could He suddenly come to His temple unless a temple should be built for Him? One could not be built without a chosen people to build it; and how can men build the house of the Lord without revelation to tell them where, when and how to construct such a holy edifice? In Malachi, chapter iv, we have a very striking prophecy of the judgments of the Almighty in the last days, before the coming of the Lord. In the fifth verse the prophet says, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." The great prophet Elijah, who was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire without tasting death, was to visit the earth in the last days. The apostle John, when upon the isle of Patmos, also saw the hour of God's judgement, and uttered the following prediction: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." (Rev. xiv:6-7.) From this prophecy we learn that an angel was to visit the earth at a later period than when John uttered the above words. His mission was to be to restore the everlasting gospel, a gospel that does not change; a gospel of apostles, prophets, gifts, visions, revelations, etc.

"The everlasting gospel." Why should an angel bring the gospel if it already existed upon the earth? Why should the call be to worship the God who made the heavens, the earth and the fountains of water, etc., if these creations were brought into existence by a God "without body, parts or passions"? This prophecy of John agrees with Peter's words recorded in the third chapter of Acts, wherein he says: "And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." (Acts iii: 20-22.) By this we learn that before the advent of the Messiah to reign on earth there should be a grand restitution, bringing back that which was lost; a restoration of revelation, ministry of angels, prophecies, tongues, healings, miracles, etc. Who can believe the Scriptures and yet deny the necessity for more revelation? The quotations here given are only a few compared with many that can be made bearing upon the subject. They all show that direct and continuous revelation from God is an absolute necessity to the welfare, progress and final salvation of the children of men.

FAITH.

In considering the principles of the gospel, it will not be difficult to see that faith occupies the first place in the catalogue of righteous principles which, as a whole, go to constitute the plan of salvation. It is the principle existing in the human soul which goes before all action and leads to good works. It pleases God that man should repent of all sin by ceasing therefrom, thus accomplishing a reformation of life without which remission of sins would not be granted; and as repentance and good works are pleasing to God, we must accept of faith first, for Paul says: "But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Heb. xi:6.)

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Heb. xi:1.) The inspired translation by the prophet Joseph Smith renders the word "assurance" instead of "substance," which appears more consistent with the latter clause in the passage, which says, "the evidence of things not seen," not the substance itself, for that would amount to knowledge or the actual possession of the object hoped for. This assurance of things hoped for must come through some evidence, either of a character which can be demonstrated in a tangible manner, or through some impression which gives an assurance to the mind of the individual possessing it, if to no other. This faith prompts to action all intelligent beings. Without the assurance of reaping, the farmer would not sow; the laborer would not commence his daily task unless he believed he would accomplish it; and so it is in religious matters.

Upon the day of Pentecost the multitude never would have appealed to the apostles to know what they should do to be saved unless they first believed in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ—so recently crucified in their midst—and also in the authority of the apostles to teach and administer in the ordinances of eternal life. This faith was based upon the evidence presented by Peter that Jesus was the Christ, sealed upon their hearts by the Spirit of God, and not by the wisdom or ability of man. The result was obedience, and a knowledge of the truth for themselves; for the promise is: "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (St. John vii:17.) If Peter had been an impostor, deceiving the people, he might, perchance, have persuaded some to accept his theories; but what would have been the result? The evidence being false, the faith or assurance would have a false foundation to act upon, and disappointment would have been the result. When the evidence is true, the faith resulting and acted upon will bring knowledge.

When Columbus discovered America, and the use of gunpowder was displayed to the astonishment and fear of the Indians, some of the Europeans told the natives that all they had to do was to procure some powder and sow it like grain, and it would grow. The poor natives believed the lie, acted upon their belief, and disappointment was the result, to the destruction of their confidence in the white man. This illustrates that belief may be built upon false evidence, and no matter how sincere the believer, the laws of sincerity cannot be changed to vindicate the dishonesty of the deceiver nor to avoid disappointment befalling the deceived. Why should it be otherwise regarding the law of God? Sincerity is not evidence that the believer will obtain the good for which he seeks, for if his religious devotion is based upon his confidence in the preaching or teaching of false guides, God will not change His laws and ordinances, neither will He acknowledge the authority of impostors, and thus become accessory to the deception, in order to satisfy those who allow themselves to be led astray.

It is a maxim of skeptics that "We doubt all things in order to prove all things"; and thus doubting, they reject the means which God has designated as the way to become acquainted with and prove for themselves the truth of the promise: "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine."

The history of the world proves that in the advancement made in science, in arts, in human government, the leaders and promoters of all that is good, in the majority of instances, have been believers in God; and their faith in Him and the ultimate success of their enterprises have prompted them to action. In the language of Paul on this subject of faith: "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness, which is by faith": "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." (Heb. xi:7, 8.) I might add numerous testimonies from the Scriptures that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the principle which prompts to action all intelligent beings, and that when based upon the promises of the Lord, unmixed with the theories of men, and acted upon, it has never failed to bring knowledge and rest to the weary mind in that security which comes from a pure knowledge of God.

Having shown something of the nature of faith in a general way, as a principle existing in the human mind and as directing all human action, whether religious or secular, let us now draw the line of distinction between faith in its general sense, and faith as a principle of power as enjoyed and exercised by those who are truly the people of God.

Let us first remember that it is one thing to believe in the power of God as manifested by revelation, prophecy, healing, etc., when presented to us merely as the events of history, and altogether another thing to be confronted with the testimony of living apostles, presenting to the world doctrines that are unpopular and with which the cherished creeds of men have never failed to conflict—apostles who ask us to believe them to be servants of God, called by new revelation, and testing our faith by the promise that "if you will repent and be baptized" with honest hearts, you shall know for yourselves the truth, and need not depend upon the assertions of any other man for your knowledge concerning it. It is an undeniable fact of history that God has never sent a prophet to warn the world but He found thousands professing belief in the dead prophets, yet ready to reject and slay the living. It cannot be said that this generation is an exception, for the religious education they receive from the so-called Christian pulpit is that apostles and prophets, together with the ancient gifts and powers of the gospel, are no longer needed; and if any come professing the ancient apostleship, they may reject them without investigation as "false prophets." They apparently forget that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to produce a counterfeit coin unless the genuine existed.

In speaking of faith as a principle of power, the apostle Paul said to the Hebrews: "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. * * * And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again," etc. (Heb. xi:3 32-35.) Besides these, innumerable other events have been brought about through faith exercised by men having authority to speak and act in the name of God. Jesus promised that "these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover."

These are only a few of the characteristics associated with true faith, the "faith that was once delivered to the saints," and so much in striking contrast to the weak yet high-sounding pretensions of modern professors who have a form of godliness, yet deny the power thereof.

As a contrast to the wisdom and learning of men, we are promised as the result of acting upon true faith, that to one is given the word of wisdom, to another knowledge. Tongues, prophecy, etc., all are characteristic of that faith which emanates from God. These gifts are not merely to satisfy curiosity or to convince skeptics.

As a principle of eternal truth it is a necessity that not only must the administrator have faith, but the one who is the recipient of the blessings also must exercise it so far as he is capable. Therefore, as a rule, when Jesus healed the sick and opened the eyes of the blind, He said to the individual: "Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole." As a further testimony of this He told unbelievers when they sought a sign: "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas; for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matt. xii:39, 40.) Yet be it remembered that this sign of Christ's three days' rest in the tomb was not given to convince skeptics, for it was an event ordained of God before the foundation of the world, in the plan of human redemption, and would have occurred if all the world had received Him gladly. But they did not receive Him even when He was resurrected, for the same class who sought a sign circulated the fabrication that the body of Christ was not risen from the dead, but that His disciples had come in the night and stolen Him away.

There are sign-seekers today, even among those who profess Christ, and may we not say the same of them as Jesus said of the ancient sign-seekers, from the fact that what was true then is true now, and what is true of a generation is true of the individuals which compose it. Further, the Savior said to His apostles when they failed to cast out the devils and sought Him to know the reason: "Because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, 'Remove hence to yonder place,' and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." (Matt. xvii:20.)

To these quotations might be added many others, but this will suffice to show the effects of faith, that it is a principle of power. We ask, has God changed? Is not faith, being a principle emanating from Deity, as unchangeable as God Himself? Who, professing to believe in Christ, will say, if we believe and are baptized by rightful authority in this age, that Jesus will fail in His part of the contract to bestow the promised blessings?

In view of all that is written in the Bible concerning this true faith and the effects which flow therefrom, and the reverse of that pure faith of the Bible which characterizes the "Christianity" of today, is it wonderful that the Savior exclaimed: "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on earth?" (Luke xviii:8.)

REPENTANCE.

Repentance follows faith as a natural sequence; for when the human mind has sufficient faith in God, based upon the perfection of His attributes, to desire His guidance and a final return to His presence, the thought is foremost that no unclean thing can enter his presence. Repentance from all sin, not merely an expression of sorrow but a discontinuance of sinful practices, amounting to a reformation of life, therefore suggests itself as a matter of course. This philosophical view of the subject is in perfect accord with Holy Writ. Hence it was, upon the day of Pentecost, when the sin-convicted multitude cried out: "Men and brethren, What shall we do?" that Peter commanded them to repent as the first step following the manifestation of their faith in Christ and His atonement. (Acts ii:37.)

That repentance is an indispensable condition of salvation has been taught in all ages of the world by men of God, the only exception being that which applies to all other requirements of the Gospel. That exception is in the case of persons incapable of knowing good from evil, such as children who cannot believe, or disbelieve, and are exempt from the law until they arrive at the years of accountability. Hence the saying of the Savior: "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. xix:14.)

Ezekiel said to ancient Israel, in his 18th chapter and 30th verse, "Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin." Israel did not repent as a nation, and their sad history proves that iniquity caused their ruin. The olive branch of peace was offered them without money and without price. They rejected the means of escape, and in consequence they have verified the words of Moses, their great lawgiver: "And I will scatter you among the heathen and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste." (Lev. xxvi:33.)

It was supposed by those in Palestine that the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with the sacrifices, were greater sinners than others because such agonies had come upon them. "And Jesus answering said unto them, 'Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffererd such things? I tell you nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.'" The foregoing contains the divine lesson that suffering is not a substitute for repentance: that while He did not justify the agonies brought upon them by persecution, He did not intimate that the suffering would be acceptable instead of repentance, or that these sufferings were any evidence of the sins of the sufferers as to the height or depth of their transgressions. The weight of responsibility is measured either by the light men possess or the light which opportunities afford them to possess. As Paul said to the Athenians (Acts xvii:30.), "And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent"; and again the Savior enunciated this doctrine: "And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (St. John iii:19.)

No matter how strict the individual may be in living a life of moral rectitude, it is very plainly taught in the Scriptures that rejecting further light from God constitutes a sin. We cite the case of the young man told of in Matthew, chapter 19, who came to the Savior for instructions, but who, when he was commanded by the Redeemer to sell all that he had, give to the poor, and follow Him, went away sorrowful, rejecting the injunction of the Savior, and yet he had kept the commandments from his youth up, and probably was as righteous as any modern Christians, who, if commanded by the Savior to give their possessions to the poor, would go away sorrowful. There were "devout" people assembled on the day of Pentecost, and yet Peter made no exception when he commanded the multitude to repent. If they had done the best they could previously with the light they had, greater light had come to them and they must receive it or be condemned.

This truth applies to every gospel dispensation, not excepting the "dispensation of the fullness of times," the greatest of all. God promised to send a holy angel and make a restitution of all things as predicted by the ancient prophets, preceding the second advent of the Messiah. The light has come. A new dispensation has been ushered in. The Everlasting Gospel has been restored with its ancient gifts and blessings, and "God commandeth all men everywhere to repent," whether they be so-called Christians or infidels. Repentance is a principle and not merely an expression of penitent grief. It involves, as before stated, a reformation of life. In II Cor, vii:9, 10, Paul says: "Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance. * * * For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death." The sorrow of the world may be illustrated by the conduct of the inebriate, who, when intoxicated, commits acts of violence which mantle his brow with shame and fill him with remorse in his sober moments. He expresses sorrow, perhaps weeps in his agony, but again gives away to the tempter and repeats his acts of dishonor instead of "fleeing temptation." This kind of sorrow does not work repentance to salvation. We find religious people sorrowing and sometimes confessing their sins, only to repeat sin. This is the sorrow of the world and needs to be repented of because it savors so much of hypocrisy, and consequently "worketh death." On the contrary, true repentance consists, not in the outward expression of grief, but in forsaking sin. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." (Isa. lv:7.) Repentance is required not only of the evil deed, but of the unrighteous thought. Every wicked deed is first conceived in the mind, hence the need of casting away the evil thought before it germinates into actual crime, which leads to prison, the gallows and to spiritual death. Of the ruin caused by the talented, but corrupt Aaron Burr it was truly said: "His brain conceived it, his hand brought it into action."

Let us now examine a passage of Scripture which is frequently quoted to substantiate the erroneous doctrine that God is pleased to save men in their sins, or that death-bed repentance is all-sufficient. The passage is found in Luke xxiii:42, 43, and reads thus: "And he (the penitent malefactor) said unto Jesus, 'Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.' And Jesus said unto him, 'Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.'" From this statement thousands in the Christian world have taken it for granted that the thief on the cross received full and complete salvation. With this unwarranted perversion of a sacred passage, the minister has taught the murderer in the felon's cell to confess Christ and all would be well with him; and as the hangman drew the bolt and let the culprit swing into eternity, the minister has stood close by and said, "The Lord Jesus receive thy soul." On the other hand, the poor victim of the assassin has been cut off without time to confess Christ, and the same doctrine which wafts the murderer to the courts of glory consigns the victim to the flames of hell. Is it possible that Christ ever taught such a heinous doctrine? A doctrine so inconsistent, so revolting to reason, so repugnant to justice! We answer emphatically "No," nor did He utter a syllable from which such an inference can be drawn or establish the idea that the malefactor went to heaven. The question is, then, where did he go? If not to heaven, then the paradise named and heaven are two different places. Let the Scriptures answer for themselves. Three days after the crucifixion the Savior came forth a resurrected being, and as Mary met Him at the tomb, He said to her, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father." Thus we have from His own lips, in which there was never guile, that He had not ascended to the Father; and if He had not, neither had the thief. If no further light than this could be found in the sacred volume, this would be sufficient to show that the malefactor did not go to heaven, for where Jesus went the thief went, for that was the promise. Where, then, did the Lord go? Turn to I Peter iii 18-21, and the question is answered: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit: By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometimes were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah."

This makes it plain that the paradise referred to was the prison house, to which place Jesus went and opened up a dispensation of the Gospel to the dead. The next chapter, 6th verse, says: "For for this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." The thief therefore went to a place of confinement to remain until the justice of God should be satisfied and mercy step in and claim her own. The difference between the penitent malefactor, who appears to have repented before death, and the antediluvians was that the former immediately went to a place where Christ would present to him the plan of life, that day, while the latter had waited hundreds of years for that privilege. This shows that repentance brings its blessings even upon the deathbed; but to say that, after a life of sin, the malefactor went straight to the abode of the Father and remained there in glory, is in conflict with the teachings of Christ and Peter. The statements of Peter relative to the mission of Christ to the spirits in prison throws light upon the saying of the Savior in St. John v:25, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live."

Thus we see the privileges of the penitent malefactor. He went to the prison house and heard the Gospel, but how long he remained there before receiving all the saving benefits of the Gospel, we are not told. One thing is certain-he did not come back with the Messiah, nor have we ever heard of him sitting down with Christ on the right hand of the Father. The Scripture being true which says, "The murderer hath not eternal life abiding in him," it is safe to say that the prayers of all the ministers on earth cannot carry the souls of the assassin to the presence and glory of God. As there are different degrees of glory, so are there various grades of crimes to which are attached the different degrees of punishment, all of which clearly maintain the justice and mercy of God.

In Galatians v:19-21, we read as follows: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

In conclusion, as a true definition of repentance, let us quote the words of Paul to the Ephesians, iv: 25, 30: "Wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth with his neighbor. * * * Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole, steal no more. * * * Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. * * *" This is the only repentance taught in Holy Writ, and simply means to forsake all sin and accomplish a reformation of life.

BAPTISM.

We come now to considering the necessity of the ordinance of baptism. When men have repented of their sins it is natural for them to desire a forgiveness of those sins. How shall this boon be obtained? That repentance alone does not blot out the sins of the past may be illustrated in part by a comparison between the temporal and the spiritual. A man acquires a debt by purchasing goods on credit, and finding it a ruinous policy, resolves, for the future, to pay as he goes. This changes his course and constitutes in his business life a reformation, but it does not pay the debt already incurred. He must liquidate the obligation, or be forgiven the debt by the creditor. Some may say that this is the difference between the earthly transaction of men and the dealings of God with His children. God forgives, it is true, but every blessing is predicated upon a condition, and the condition is laid down by the Lord; hence it is written in Mark i:4: "John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." From this scripture it is evident that baptism is to follow repentance, and that at least one object of baptism is the remission of sins.

Let us now examine some statements of Holy Writ which point out clearly the necessity of this ordinance. "Then cometh Jesus from Gallilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade Him, saying, 'I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? And Jesus, answering: said unto him, 'Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he suffered Him." (Matt. iii:13-15.) Every thoughtful, God-fearing person must be impressed with the feeling that if it was essential for the "Only Begotten of the Father," "who is full of grace and truth," to be baptized, none can be exempt who have arrived at the years of accountability. It appears also from the language used in the quotation that without being baptized he could not fulfill "all righteousness." After teaching His disciples for three years, being crucified and risen from the dead, He gave to them this commission: "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark xvi:15, 16. ) Also in Matthew xxviii:19: "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost"; and in Luke xxiv:45-47: "Then opened He their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." In the latter quotation the word baptism is not used, but the same writer says in Luke iii:3, regarding the mission of John: "And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins," thus enunciating the doctrine that remission of sins is obtained through baptism.

The same writer gives us the following (Luke vii:29, 30): "And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of Him." From this it is manifested that by receiving baptism they honored and obeyed God, and that the rejection of this simple yet divine institution amounted to rejecting the counsel of God, with all the terrible consequences attendant upon such disobedience.

We read in the eighth chapter of Acts that Philip baptized the Samaritans and the Ethiopian. In the same book is related the baptism of Saul, of Lydia, of the Philippian jailor, and of Cornelius. It is not necessary to multiply quotations to show that baptism was taught and practiced all through the apostolic dispensation, as being essential to salvation. As a direct statement of Jesus Himself, to close this part of the subject, we quote His words to Nicodemus, St. John iii:5: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man, be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." The birth of the water can only be accomplished by baptism, and if an accountable being cannot enter into the kingdom of God without baptism, then that ordinance must be essential to salvation.

Let us next consider the object of this sacred rite. It is evident that inasmuch as a man cannot enter into the kingdom of God without the baptism of water, then his sins must necessarily be remitted through faith, repentance and baptism from the fact that "no unclean person * * * hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."

In Mark i:4 and Luke iii:3 we read that "John did baptize in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." On the day of Pentecost, when the mighty power of God rested upon the apostles and the Spirit bore witness to the multitude that they were in sin, notwithstanding their devoutness, they cried out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" To this Peter answered, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." (Acts ii:38.)

Paul narrates before King Agrippa his conversion, in Acts xxii:16, and says that Ananias, to whom he had been commanded to apply, said: "And now, why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." The foregoing quotations will suffice to show that God instituted baptism for the remission of sins, but from other passages already quoted. Mark i:4, also xvi:15-16, and the account of Simon, the sorcerer, in the eighth chapter of Acts, it is very evident that the result—forgiveness—is not secured unless baptism is accompanied on the part of the candidate by faith and a genuine repentance in turning aside from sin. Otherwise there would be the solemn mockery of administering a sacred ordinance to a hypocrite. Hence the apostles said to Simon, "Thy money perish with thee because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money." (Acts viii:20.) Notwithstanding he had been baptized he was still in his sins, because his heart was not pure, and he had not repented. For this reason the apostles said to him, "Repent therefore of this wickedness. * * * For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." (Acts viii:22-23.) This should be a warning to those modern professors whose religion is in many instances a cloak, hidden beneath which is the depraved heart that garnishes the sepulchres of the dead prophets but is ready to slay the living ones.

We now come to that part of the subject which formerly caused so much dissension among the Christian sects, but which latterly is smoothed over with the assertion that it makes no difference which mode—sprinkling, pouring, or immersion—is used; "either will do," "let the candidate take his choice; it is immaterial." To these unwarranted assertions we reply: First, that if either mode will do, none will do, for still other forms may be added by the whims of men. Christ established but one true mode, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism," and if one is right, the others are wrong. This is a plain proposition. Again, the dissension and conflict on this point is proof against the inspiration of the sectarian world, if they have any, for the reason that the Spirit of God will not lie nor contradict itself. If, therefore, the Spirit of the Lord teaches me that immersion is right, it will not teach another sprinkling, and yet another pouring. This division, then, is because men are guided by opinion and preference and not by the spirit of revelation from God, which guides into all truth and brings those who possess it to a unity of faith.

Now as concerning the baptism of Jesus, who is the pattern, we have Matt. iii:16, which says, "And Jesus when He was baptized went up straightway out of the water." It is not likely that John would be baptizing in Jordan and that Jesus would have gone down into the water if anything less than immersion would have fulfilled the law. This also agrees with the account of the Ethiopian's baptism by Philip (Acts viii:38): "And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him." As making still plainer this using a river of water and going "down into the water" to receive the sacred rite, we quote from St. John iii:23: "And John also was baptizing in Enon, near to Salim, because there was much water there." A statement so plain as the foregoing needs no comment. It speaks for itself. He was baptizing not only in Enon, but at a certain point in the stream "because there was much water there." Such a reason could not have been given if sprinkling or pouring had been a proper mode.

We refer further to the New Testament statements where not only the mode of baptism is indicated by the language, but the fact that baptism symbolizes the birth into the world, the death, and the resurrection of the body. To Nicodemus, Jesus said: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water, and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (St. John iii:5.) When man comes forth into the world, he is born or brought out from the watery element, being first buried in it, and this constitutes his birth. To be "born of water" as a sacred ordinance would be impossible if the rite of sprinkling or pouring be the mode employed. Only complete immersion will answer the ordinance indicated in the language of Jesus to Nicodemus.

Paul also said to the Romans, "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection." (Rom. vi:3-5.) The foregoing shows that baptism is a likeness of burial. When the body is laid lifeless in the tomb it is covered completely; it is not left partly buried and partly uncovered; and as the body comes forth in the resurrection, immortal, and free from the conditions of mortality, thus walking in "newness of life," so by the remission of sins through faith, repentance and baptism, the obedient candidate comes forth free from sin, and walks in a new life, prepared for the birth of the spirit, thus symbolizing in beautiful similarity the death and resurrection of the body. This is still farther emphasized by the language, "For if we have been planted," etc., thus using a word which implies a complete burial as in planting seeds in the earth.

Again, we quote the words of Paul to the Colossians, ii:12: "Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead." This corresponds with the statement before quoted from Romans, and also the teachings of Christ to Nicodemus.

From the Scriptures already quoted on the necessity, object and mode of baptism, we may deduce the conclusion that the ordinance established to follow and go with faith and repentance, and which constitutes the third principle of the gospel, is baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.

RECEPTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Having shown that faith, repentance and baptism are essential to the remission of sins, let us now consider the reception of the Holy Spirit. That this should follow, and not precede, the birth of the water must be evident to every thoughtful person. It is clear that a man is not prepared for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost unless he repents of his sins and becomes freed from them by obedience to the laws of God. Some people may contend that, because Jesus stated that man must be born again, in order to see the kingdom of heaven, such a birth precedes baptism, and is synonymous with the birth of the Spirit mentioned by the Savior in the third chapter of St. John; but being born again, in order to see the kingdom, evidently shows that a man must have some light above the natural senses, sufficient to the light of Christ to make him see the kingdom of God. In other words, to secure, and we may say, consistently constitute his conversion.

This light which guides him to the truth does not, however, forego the absolute necessity of obeying the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. As proof of this we cite the conversion of Paul. He received a personal manifestation of the Savior's power, even hearing his voice and witnessing a light from heaven. Notwithstanding this, Jesus commanded him to go to Ananias, an authorized servant of Christ, who should instruct him regarding his salvation. He was therefore required to be born of water and of the Spirit. Cornelius, also, as related in the tenth chapter of Acts, saw an angel and received a manifestation of the Holy Ghost previous to baptism. Yet both men were required to obey the ordinances enjoined by the Gospel of Christ. If they rejected these requirements, undoubtedly the light they had received would have departed from them and this would have added to their condemnation.

The historical fact of the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost is not, in every instance, recorded in the Scriptures, and it is not necessary that it should be, in order to prove that the ordinance was established by the Messiah. In the matter of baptism He said to John, "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." He made no exception of Himself, but gave the example by his own obedience. How can others be excused? To show that the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, by those having divine authority was practiced by the ancient apostles, we refer to Acts viii:14, 17: "Now, when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (for as yet He was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost."

Philip did not have the authority to lay on hands for this gift, hence Peter and John were sent from Jerusalem for the express purpose of performing this higher ordinance of the Gospel. In the nineteenth chapter of Acts is an account of Paul's visit to the city of Ephesus, where he found about twelve men who claimed to have received the same form of baptism as administered by John the Baptist. But in answer to Paul's question, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" they told him they had not so much as heard of it, and his action in re-baptizing them would strongly indicate that some imposter had counterfeited in form the true baptism. This being performed without legitimate authority, their sins were not remitted, and they were not in a condition to receive the Holy Ghost. Hence Paul baptized them; and the sixth verse says: "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came upon them and they spake with tongues and prophesied."

An imposter can baptize in water by physical force, imitate the true form at the submission of the candidate, but the gift of the Holy Ghost cannot be given without authority from God; and while the water baptism is equally destitute of its legitimate results when not performed by authority, the imposture is not so readily detected because not usually accompanied by the same manifestation of divine power; therefore designing or ignorant men have taken pains either to deny the gift of the Holy Ghost as being essential with its ancient spiritual powers, or to tell the people that no outward ordinance was essential to confer it, thus endeavoring to dispense with this sacred ordinance.

The following references also indicate the laying on of hands as a sacred rite which would not have been adopted by the apostles unless 'commanded of God to do so: I Tim. iv:14-"Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." II Tim. i:6-"Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands." Also showing that this ordinance was laid down as a positive doctrine, we call attention to the sixth chapter of Hebrews, first and second verses: "Therefore leaving (another translation, that of the prophet Joseph Smith, reads 'not leaving') the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands."

That man might duplicate in form this divine ceremony without authority and without effect, we do not deny; but we confidently assert that without this ordinance being administered by an acknowledged authority from God, the operation would be of non-effect. The undeniable facts of religious history for seventeen centuries prove that men did not receive the Holy Ghost. Where the tree is, there will the fruit be produced, unless the tree is dead; and no one will contend that the Holy Spirit is dead.

The following quotations will point out the fruits of the Holy Spirit: "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (St. John xiv:26.) "Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth, is Come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He shall show you things to come." (St. John xvi:13.) "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, 'Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them.'" (Acts xiii:2.) "Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. * * * For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another, the word of Knowledge by the same Spirit; To another, faith by the same Spirit; to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another discerning of Spirits; to another, divers kinds of tongues." ( I Cor. xii:3, 4, 8, 9, 10.) "But the fruits of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." (Gal. v:22-23.)

The same cause will ever produce the same effect; a tree is known by its fruits, and to be convinced that we need such gifts today it is only necessary to look at the spectacle of jarring "Christianity" with its many creeds. Where is the Spirit that guides into all truth, which does not contradict itself, but teaches the "common salvation" of "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all?" That brings us "to a unity of faith," and makes us one in Christ, as He prayed that His disciples and all whom the Father should give Him out of the world might be one even as I am one in the Father and the Father in me, that they may be one in us, "that the world may believe that thou hast sent me?" Where is the Spirit of prophecy? "The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy," the gifts of revelation, healings and all the glorious powers enumerated in the Scripture quotations made. Well did Isaiah say, "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances and broken the everlasting covenant." (Isa. xxiv:5.)

Without further comment on the gifts of the Spirit, we will introduce quotations to show that the laying on of hands was practiced also for ordination to office in the Church of Christ, and for the healing of the sick, as well as to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost: "Whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them." (Acts vi:6.) This refers to the ordination of Stephen and six others. "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them they sent them away." (Acts xiii:2, 3.)

The same ordinance was also had in ancient times before the coming of the Savior. Paul informs us in Gal. iii, that the Gospel was preached before unto Abraham. "And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thine hands upon him. And he laid his hands upon him and gave him a charge, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses." (Num. xxvii:18, 23.) "And Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the Spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him." (Deut. xxxiv:9.)

It is most reasonable to conclude from the evidence presented that this practice came down from the beginning, and was before and after Christ a divine ordinance. That it was practiced for the healing of the sick is evident from the following historical and doctrinal statements made in the New Testament by the Messiah and His apostles: "They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." (Mark xvi:18.) "And He could there do no mighty work save that He laid His hands upon a few sick folk and healed them." (Mark vi:5.) "Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them, and healed them." (Luke iv:40.) "And putting His hands on him, said Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight," etc. (Acts ix:17.) "And it came to pass that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever, and of a bloody flux; to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him." (Acts xxviii:8.) "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up," etc. (James v:14, 15.).

Although the laying on of hands is not expressly mentioned in the last quotation, it is readily seen that the sick could not be anointed without the imposition of hands.

The foregoing should be sufficient to convince all Bible believers that the laying on of hands is a sacred ordinance for the purposes specified in Holy writ, that it follows the baptism of water, and occupies its relationship in the plan of salvation as the fourth essential principle to fully establish men in the Church of Christ; the order is, faith, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. This is the door into the sheepfold; "he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." (St. John x:1.)

PRE-EXISTENCE.

As Latter-day Saints we believe that all creation existed spiritually before the physical organism was brought into existence; "And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew." (Gen. ii:5.)

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing. And beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so." (Gen. i:24.) Therefore each kind, whether beast, bird or fish, as well as man, existed before it came to occupy a physical being, otherwise how could each have been created after its own kind? The spirit and the body must be the soul, as enunciated by the Lord in a revelation to the prophet Joseph Smith. (Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 88, verse 15.) "And the spirit and the body is the soul of man." Otherwise there might be an eternal fullness when the spirit and the body are separated. When Jesus was crucified He went, as stated by Peter, to preach to the spirits in prison, and did not enter into the fullness of His Father's glory until He ascended after His resurrection. This was the pattern to all men.

Without the union of the spirit and the body there is not a fullness of glory. As the spirit exists between death and the resurrection, so the spirit existed before the birth of the mortal body. God is the God and Father of the spirits of all flesh, as stated by Moses: "O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt Thou be wroth with all the congregation?" (Num. xvi:22.) "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation." (Num. xxvii:16.) This declaration is corroborated by the apostle Paul in writing to the Hebrews: "Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?"

We associate in this life with our natural fathers; we see them as they are. They teach, guide and direct us by virtue of their fatherhood and their advanced experience, which qualify them to teach us and direct our footsteps in the way we should walk. So in our pre-existence did we mingle with our heavenly Father and His children, our brother and sister spirits. We knew God and partook of His influence and power. We were agents to ourselves, and when propositions affecting man's eternal welfare were placed before us, we were left to choose for ourselves and be responsible for our own course. Thus Lucifer rebelled, and drew one-third part of the heavenly host away. They were cast out, and denied a body. So keenly have they felt this curse that they seek to possess the bodies of the human family. When Jesus cast the evil spirits from the men coming out of the tombs, so eager were they to possess some physical tabernacle, that they besought Him that they might enter the herd of swine. The request was granted, and the swine, possessed of evil spirits, ran down violently into the sea.

Not only the fact of man's pre-existence, but also his power to do good and ill, seemed to be understood by the ancient apostles when they said, "Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents." (John ix:2, 3.) Jesus did not deny the possibility of sinning before birth. Why should not the spirit be just as capable of intelligent action before the birth into this world, as it is during its existence between death and the resurrection? As to that time, Jesus taught that all that were in their graves should hear His voice. (St. John v:25, 29.) When Job was in the depth of his affliction the Lord said unto him, "Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? * * * When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job xxxviii:3, 4, 7.) Doubtless Job was somewhere in existence or the Almighty would never have propounded such a question. The sons of God shouted for joy, and without doubt Job was among that honored number. Solomon also gives us to understand that the spirit once dwelt in the presence of the Lord. He says: "And the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."

The subject of pre-existence is made very plain in the first chapter, 5th verse of Jeremiah: "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee: and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." Thus in his pre-existent state did Jeremiah receive his ordination to be a prophet of the Lord to the nations of the earth. If such were the case with Jeremiah, why not with thousands of the sons of God? Indeed it is evident from Paul's writings that the time of man's coming to this world is not mere chance, neither is it regulated by the arrangements of human philosophy in this world: "God that made the world * * * hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth: and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitations." (Acts xvii:24, 26.) In other words, the Father of our spirits determined when we should come and those portions of the earth where should be set the bounds of our habitation. It was no chance-work, then, that Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, the Savior, Joseph Smith, and the founders of liberty in this and other lands came to the earth in their respective times and to those countries where they played their great parts in the purposes of God and the drama of life. "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world and go to the Father." (St. John xvi:28.) "And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." (St. John xvii:5.) Jesus dwelt with the Father before He came here, so did we. Entering our temples of mortality we forget all that has passed before in our spiritual existence. This mortal state is a veil which hides the eternal past, from our recollection, and shuts off the visions of the eternal future, only as from time to time the revelations of the Holy Ghost bring "things past to our remembrance and shows us things to come."

It is probable, from some references in the Scriptures, that if our spirits were sent here unembodied, the remembrance of the past would come with us. At least, this was doubtless the case with Lucifer and his rebel host. When he tried to tempt the Savior, as recorded in Matthew, fourth chapter, he knew Him undoubtedly from their acquaintance in a pre-existent state. When the man with evil spirits met the Savior in the synagogue, the spirits cried out, "saying, let us alone. What have we to do with Thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who thou art, the Holy One of God." (Luke iv:34.) A similar testimony was borne by evil spirits possessing the men coming out of the tombs, as recorded in Matthew, viii:29. "And behold they cried out, saying, What have we to do with Thee? Jesus, thou Son of God? art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?" "And unclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried saying, Thou art the Son of God." (Mark iii:11) In Luke, viii:28, we have the testimony of the historian that the devils possessing a certain man cried out, "and with a loud voice" said, "Jesus, Thou Son of God." It is not probable that these evil spirits knew Jesus because of a testimony from above, while all Judea failed to recognize in Him the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Many likely knew Him because they had been associated and acquainted with Him before the world was.

John the Revelator in Revelations, twelfth chapter, describes the war in heaven, which took place between Satan and his followers on the one hand and Michael and his angels on the other. This description refers to their spiritual existence, as do the foregoing quotations from Holy Writ. These show us clearly that man did not begin with this world, nor does he end with this earthly life. Man is eternal, and will have no end. He lived and reigned with God in the heavens. His course there largely affects his condition here, as our conduct in this life will have all to do with the glory we attain to in the world to come. Man will live on forever. He dies as to the body, lives in the spirit world, and will again take up his body, a resurrected, glorified being, prepared on certain conditions to dwell with God throughout the countless ages of eternity, to become like unto Him. Possessing all things, even as Jesus, being in the image of His Father, "thought it not robbery to be made equal with him." "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the Son of Man, that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet." (Psalms viii:4-6.)

SALVATION FOR THE DEAD.

"I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth."

We must not infer from this quotation that mere conviction of the mind to religious truths will secure salvation; for pure belief would lead men to actual works, thus constituting a living, active faith.

The Apostle James declares that "faith without works is dead." The Savior taught in His sermon on the mount that "Not every one that saith unto me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." From these and other passages of Scripture we learn that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe, obey and remain faithful to the end. This gives us a general definition of what is meant by the term Gospel.

To understand the principles which constitute the Gospel, we may remind our readers that mankind find themselves under the necessity of a redemption which is two-fold in its character. First, by the act of our first parents, all creation is subject to the death of the mortal body. Second, by individual sins man becomes unworthy to dwell in the presence of the Eternal Father.

The Gospel, then, consists of the atonement of Christ, by which all are entitled to a resurrection of the body; in the language of Paul, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." It also consists of laws and ordinances for man's obedience, by which he is redeemed from his own sins, placed in communication with God, and led back into His presence.

In the justice of the Almighty the plan of salvation must be so comprehensive and general that the human family, without distinction, shall have the opportunity of receiving it.

We learn from the Pearl of Great Price that before Adam departed to the life beyond, God revealed to him the plan of salvation. He obeyed it and communicated this knowledge to his posterity during the seven generations that lived contemporary with him. With the Gospel, necessarily came the authority of God to administer in the ordinances thereof. This authority is called the Holy Priesthood. In a revelation given the prophet Joseph Smith, September 22d and 23d, 1832, and contained in Sec. 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants, we learn that the priesthood was conferred through Father Adam by the laying on of hands upon Abel, and from Abel or Seth was conferred through the lineage of their descendants to Enoch, and from Enoch to Noah down to Melchisedek, who conferred it upon Abraham. In the days of Abraham lived the great prophet Esaias, who, the revelation informs us, received the priesthood under the hand of God. From Esaias it was handed down through an unbroken chain to the prophet Moses, but because of the unbelief and hardness of the people, "He took Moses out of their midst and the Holy Priesthood also, and the lesser priesthood continued." (Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 84.)

This record shows an unbroken succession of the Holy Priesthood and the Gospel of Christ from Adam to Moses, a period of about 2,500 years. Then began those periods of the world's history when the fullness of the Gospel was not to be had among the children of men, periods when the spirit of darkness engrossed the human family and left mankind, in a great degree, as a blind man groping for the wall. The first of these periods continued from Moses until the Savior came and restored the higher priesthood, established His church upon the earth, and sent his apostles to preach the Gospel in all the world. Another similar period was from the time the Gospel became corrupted, in the first two or three centuries of the Christian era, to its restoration in this dispensation through the prophet Joseph Smith. The Christian dispensation of the Gospel continued to a greater length upon the American continent, extending to nearly 400 years after Christ. What success attended the Gospel among the ten lost tribes whom the Messiah visited and how long it was maintained among them is not yet revealed, but will be in the due time of the Lord.

The Elders in preaching the Gospel abroad are often confronted with an objection to this claim of apostasy from the truth, that such periods of spiritual darkness do not harmonize with the mercy and justice of God. The objectors, therefore, incline to the belief that the Christian world has enjoyed the Gospel ever since the coming of the Messiah. The query then arises, what is the cause of such apparent difference in the opportunities of human beings? Some are born in the church, heirs to the Holy Priesthood; others, in a Gospel dispensation, not in the church, but under conditions favorable to their accepting it; still another class in the same dispensation is under such adverse circumstances that believing and obeying are rendered very difficult; and yet a larger number, counted by millions, live and die where no voice from God comes to their relief.

In the absence of revelation giving any detailed information on this question, we may rest contented with the reflection that God is just, and that a just cause exists for that which appears inconsistent in the eyes of mortal man, but that reflection is not satisfying; we are in absolute need of revelation to enable us to comprehend the cause and to justify in our minds the conditions which exist.

Our works in this life are known to God, and our rewards and punishments are meted out according to the deeds done in the body. Our pre-existent merits and demerits are equally well known to our Heavenly Father. As proof that God knew before this life with all the exactness that we are known here, I here introduce the following from page 41, Pearl of Great Price: "Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones: and God saw these souls that they were good, and He stood in the midst of them; and He said, 'These I will make my rulers,' for He stood among those that were spirits; and He saw they were good; and there stood one among them like unto God, and He said unto those that were with Him, 'We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth, whereon these may dwell; and we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; and they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate, shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads forever and ever."

In the first chapter fourth and fifth verses of Jeremiah, we have the following: "Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee I knew thee, and before thou camest forth, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." From these plain teachings of the prophet, it is readily seen that the measure of integrity attached to our pre-existence was fully understood by our Father; and as our future condition is based upon our works in this life, is it not a reasonable conclusion that our situation in this world is largely due to our conduct in a pre-existent state?

That God has a distinct hand in the appointment of the time for His children to come upon the earth is very clearly stated by the Apostle Paul. In the seventeenth chapter of Acts he says: "God that made the world and all things therein, giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitations." Thus we learn that this great emigration of souls from the presence of the Lord to this earth is controlled and directed by the Almighty. That He designed them all at some time to learn of Him is stated in the verse following the above quotation, which reads, "That they should seek the Lord and find Him."

We are compelled from these facts to believe that, as God Himself sent millions into the world when the Gospel was not had among the inhabitants of the earth, then His saving plan, to be compatible with His attributes of mercy and justice, must be of such a character as to reach these people after they leave this world. We may add here that this vast host of humanity who lived when the Gospel was not extant is greatly augmented by the unnumbered millions of people who live during the dispensation of the Gospel, but who never see or hear an authorized servant of the Lord.

In connection with this branch of the subject it may be well to refer to the belief of many that, at death the wicked are consigned to their final doom and the righteous to full and complete exaltation in the presence of God. We can explode this fallacy by quotations from Holy Writ. In line with this mistaken belief we find ministers attending the culprit at the gallows, urging him to confess Christ, and telling him that by such confession he will be saved in the kingdom of heaven. In the face of such doctrine the Scriptures plainly declare that, "The murderer hath not eternal life abiding in him." We who live in this dispensation are forbidden by the living oracles of God to receive temple ordinances for even the suicide. To exhibit the error of many in the religious world on this point read the forty-second and forty-third verses of the twenty-third chapter of Luke. The thief on the cross is recorded as saying to the Savior, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." Jesus then said to him, "Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise." The claim is made that such a promise amounted to salvation, taking the malefactor to a condition of eternal glory. In the face of this mistaken interpretation of the Scripture, we have the assertion of Christ Himself, made three days later to Mary: "touch me not, for I am not yet ascended unto my father." (John xx:17.) This is conclusive evidence that the paradise spoken of was not the enjoyment of the presence and glory of God. But we are not left in ignorance of where He did go. He had previously said to His apostles, as recorded in John v:25, "The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." The object of this preaching is stated in the fourth chapter, sixth verse, of I Peter, to be, "For, for this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."

This Scripture establishes the truth beyond doubt that death does not perfect people, and dying without obedience to the Gospel does not relieve them of the impartial obligation placed upon all men to believe and obey. It also maintains the doctrine of man's free agency by showing that salvation is only realized when man exercises his own volition to receive the Gospel, and by education in the knowledge of God, step by step, becomes prepared to dwell in the glorious presence of the Father and the Son. With this testimony of the Savior and the Jewish apostles, the teachings of the Book of Mormon and of the Prophet Joseph Smith are in perfect harmony.

The sacred record of the Nephites informs us that the spirit which possesses a man who dies in his sins will have power to possess him in a future state. The Prophet Joseph, speaking upon this subject, also said, on April 10, 1842: "If you wish to go where God is, you must be like God, or possess the principles which God possesses, for, if we are not drawing towards God in principles, we are going from Him and drawing towards the devil. A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for, if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. Hence, it needs revelation to assist and give us knowledge of the things of God."

To show still more definitely Christ's mission in the spirit world, we read from Peter, third chapter, eighteenth verse, as follows: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit; by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah."

We may infer safely that the penitent thief had the privilege of going to the prison house with the Savior and hearing the Gospel; the distinction between his situation and that of the antediluvians being that they had remained in purgatory for hundreds of years, while the penitent man, who had shown some repentance in the last hour of his life, may have heard, with but little delay, the Gospel. Whether he had heard it in life and rejected it we are not informed, and how long he would remain in the spirit world without realizing its full benefits we do not know, but the above quotations are ample to disprove the fallacy of the position taken by those in the religious world who deny salvation after death.

One objection made by the world to this doctrine is, that offering salvation after this life destroys the incentive to embrace the Gospel here and holds out the inducement to indulge in the pleasures of sin, through people believing that they might be redeemed in a future state where the pleasures of sin would be less delusive. If we admit, for the sake of argument, this theory, the evil results following are incomparably less than would be those which offer salvation to some and deny it to others, for this amounts virtually to a destruction of the attributes of justice and mercy which dwell in the bosom of a wise Creator; but there is another side to this part of the question. We may illustrate by comparison. If a man obey the law of the land simply because he fears the penalty of violating the law, you have at once an individual devoid of love for right and of no strength of character, a man who is a mere slave to the influences which surround him; or if you find a being who is willing to pay the penalty of stealing or committing other crimes, for the pleasure he finds in them, with the knowledge that when he has served his term in prison he may be liberated only to steal again, you have a man devoid of character, and to say that this would be the course of mankind relative to the boon of eternal life is only to belittle the character of the human family and strip them of those attributes which come from God their Father. This mission of the Savior was contemplated by the ancient Jewish prophets. They, knowing that the atonement of Christ and the principles of the Gospel must apply to those who lived before His coming as well as to all who came after, understood that the millions who died without the Gospel in this life must hear and obey in the life to come. Isaiah prophesied concerning the mission of the Son of God: "I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes; to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." (Isaiah xlii:6, 7.)

Thus salvation for the dead is a scriptural doctrine. The Gospel is preached to the spirits in prison. At the same time, it is evident from all that we learn upon this subject that the ordinances of baptism, confirmations, sealings, etc., are received by those living in the flesh, in behalf of those who die without the Gospel in this world, but receive it in the next. Paul, in the fifteenth chapter of I. Corinthians, speaking of the resurrection, says: "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?" While Paul's argument is not upon the subject of baptism for the dead, why does he thus forcibly allude to this subject if no such an ordinance belongs to the Gospel? The theologians of sectarianism have exhausted their ingenuity in a fruitless effort to mystify or explain away the true meaning of this passage, for the evident reason that it strikes a deadly blow at their unjust dogmas respecting the eternal damnation of those who die without the truth. The plain meaning of the above statement of Paul is that a living person receives baptism in behalf of those who are dead. This simple interpretation was adopted by the early writers on Christianity. Scaliger, Meyer, Erasmus, Calixtus, De Witt, Grotius and others, counted as good authority, adopted the same view.

Epiphanius, in the fourth century, writing of the Marcionites, makes use of this language: "A traditional fact concerning them has reached us, that when any of them had died without baptism, they used to baptize others in their name, lest in the resurrection they should suffer punishment as unbaptized."

Another very emphatic evidence that this ordinance was practiced by the ancient followers of Christ is that the council of Carthage, A. D., 397, in Canon No. 6, forbids the ordinance of baptism for the dead. Why would such a decree be issued against this ordinance if it had no existence in the Church?

Having shown that salvation for the dead is scriptural doctrine, adopted in theory and practice by the Former-day Saints, let us turn now to the dispensation of the fullness of times.

We have seen that the mission of Christ to the dead was spoken of by Isaiah in the forty-second chapter. The same great prophet utters a prediction in the twenty-fourth chapter as follows: "The earth is also defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant." The context shows clearly that this prophecy refers to the last days, because it predicts that "the inhabitants of the earth are burned and but few men left." The term "everlasting covenant" cannot refer to the Mosaic law, which existed under the lesser priesthood. This law consisted in the rites and ceremonies of the offering of sacrifice, pointing to the great sacrifice of the Messiah, and of the law of carnal commandments, which served, Paul says, as a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ. The Mosaic law was done away in Him, because he fulfilled the law. It was not everlasting. Breaking the everlasting covenant must, therefore, refer to an apostasy from the fullness of the Gospel as instituted by the Savior.

In connection with this apostasy Isaiah tells us in the same chapter: "And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited." In other words, we might say that they have rejected the Gospel during the Christian era, as the antediluvians rejected it in the days of Noah; the judgments of God destroyed them in the flesh, and their spirits were consigned to the prison house and could not be visited until after many days. Whether the Gospel dispensations in the spirit would correspond in their divisions of time to those delivered to men in the flesh, we do not know so far as preaching to the spirits in prison is concerned; but this much is evident, that when no Gospel dispensation exists upon the earth, those in the spirit world, whatever their opportunities to hear, cannot enjoy the blessings of the Gospel, because no one in the flesh has authority to receive the ordinances in their behalf. It, therefore, follows that the haughty ones spoken of by Isaiah could not receive the Gospel until it should be revealed again from heaven in the latter days; and to fulfill this prophecy such a revelation must come, comprehending the keys of a dispensation of the Gospel to the dead as well as to the living.

Malachi, whose prophecies are the last of those of Jewish prophets recorded in the Old Testament, in speaking of the great day of the Lord's second coming and the judgements of God which would precede, utters the following prediction (Malachi iv:5, 6): "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." This prophecy is in beautiful accord with that of the apostle Peter recorded in the twentieth and twenty-first verses of the third chapter of Acts: "And He shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you; whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." How different these joyful words to those of an apostate Christianity which denies the necessity of revelation and tells us that the canon of Scripture is full!

John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of the Messiah at His first coming, was also the forerunner of the higher priesthood in these last days. On the 15th of May, 1829, he appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and ordained them to the Aaronic priesthood, the authority to preach unto and baptize those living in the flesh. Afterwards came Peter, James and John, with the keys of the Melchisedek priesthood, embodying authority to administer all the ordinances of the Gospel to men in the flesh. But the prophecy of Malachi, chapter iv., was yet to be fulfilled. On the 3d of April, 1836, in the Kirtland Temple, the Prophet Joseph testified that "Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us and said: 'Behold the time has fully come which was spoken of by Malachi, testifying that he (Elijah) should be sent before the Lord come to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse. Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands, and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.'"

In connection with the restoration of the keys of temple ordinances by Elijah, let us contemplate for a few moments a prediction by the Prophet Joseph Smith. He stated that the Gospel as preached by the elders would yet revolutionize the religious world. Without going into detail regarding the application of this prophecy to several principles of the Gospel, the subject in hand, salvation for the dead, will clearly prove the prophecy correct. When Joseph first taught the redemption of the dead, it was not believed, but was ridiculed by every denomination of Christendom, so far as we know, and by nearly all the religious world individually; yet during the past fifteen years this doctrine has been growing in favor in the minds of prominent men. Dr. Thomas, of the Methodist church in Illinois, was brought in question a few years ago by his church for teaching unorthodox doctrine, which consisted in claiming that those who did not hear the Gospel in this world would hear it in the spirit world. There is now a vast number in the various denominations that believe there is hope for the dead such as was never thought of before the words of the Prophet Joseph were spoken. Since the glorious visitation of Elijah, the Lord has revealed definitely how to conduct the ordinance for the dead. He has fulfilled the words of Jeremiah that He would take "one of a city and two of a family and bring them to Zion." It required "two of a family," or at least a male and a female representative of the dead, to receive the ordinances of salvation for the dead of their respective sexes.

It has been related of Henry Ward Beecher that he said, if a literal rendering of the Scriptures was to be accepted, then "Mormonism" was correct. In line with his sentiments on this subject, it has been reported that he delivered a lecture in Nashville, Tennessee, his subject being, "What Christianity Has Done to Civilize the World," in which he said: "What has Africa done for the world? She has never produced a sage, a philosopher, a poet nor a prophet, and why not? Because the name of Christ and the influence of Christianity are scarcely known in her dark regions. Millions of her children have lived and passed away without hearing the truth. What will become of them? Will they be forever damned? No, not if my God reigns, for they will hear the gospel in the spirit world." He then proceeded to show by irrefutable evidence that salvation for the dead is a scriptural doctrine.

The writer was not present at the lecture, but another Latter-day Saint elder was present, and, at the conclusion of the lecture, stepped up to the platform and said: "Mr. Beecher, I have been much interested in your lecture and would like to ask you a question. Jesus said to Nicodemus, 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' Now, how is it possible for a man to be baptized in water when his body has already crumbled in the earth?" The great preacher looked at the interrogator for a moment and then said: "Young man, where do you hail from?" "From the West." "From what part of the West?" "From Salt Lake City," answered the Elder. "Oh," said Mr. Beecher, "you may answer your own question. Good evening," and walked away. Mr. Beecher probably had read enough on the subject of baptism for the dead to know that such a doctrine must be coupled with preaching to departed spirits, but he did not wish to be accused of teaching "Mormonism," so he stopped short of that. He said enough, however, to verify the words of Joseph Smith, and also those of the Savior, when He said that if men put new wine into old bottles it would break them to pieces; in other words, new doctrine into old systems.

Other instances might be cited, but this will suffice to illustrate how the influence of the Gospel is working among the children of men.

We now come to one of the most important, interesting and extensive branches of this great subject, namely, that of securing the names, births, marriages and deaths of our ancestors, a class of information essential for record in order to prosecute this great work of salvation for the dead. The genealogical research must be an arduous one and ofttimes attended with great difficulty.

Nathaniel H. Morgan, author of a genealogical history entitled "James Morgan and His Descendants," makes this observation in the introduction of his work: "The task of the genealogist, in groping his way amid the dusty records of the past, is much like that of the African Indians in pursuing an obscure trail through a tangled wilderness. An acute faculty of perception and a keen and practiced eye must note and scrutinize every obscure footprint, every rustled leaf, every bent twig; now, progressing rapidly, under a clear light, and guided by sure tokens; and anon, suddenly arrested by a total absence of all further signs, and forced hopelessly to abandon the trail long and patiently pursued until, perchance, again some new and unexpected waymark greets his eye, inspiring fresh pursuit."

While there have been isolated instances of genealogical works in America since the year 1771, it is a noteworthy fact (and one showing the hand of God plainly manifest in moving upon the Gentiles to do this work) that since the coming of Elijah to the Kirtland Temple, this spirit of writing genealogies has rapidly increased in the United States.

I cannot do better at this juncture than to include as a part of our article a letter written to the writer by Elder Franklin D. Richards on this important subject. Elder Richards, through his researches, has been instrumental in furnishing printed genealogies to many families of Latter-day Saints. He says, under date of Nov. 29th, 1895:

"In answer to your question when the first genealogical history was published, either in this country or in foreign nations, I must say it is impossible for me to answer, as I have not searched the libraries of Europe or of any foreign countries to learn when their first genealogies were published; but, narrowing your question down to this country, I may say that the first that we have any account of was published in 1771, consisting of twenty-four pages and was 'A genealogy of the family of Mr. Samuel Stebbins and Hannah Stebbins, his wife, from the year 1707 to the year 1771, with their names, time of their births, marriages and deaths of those that are deceased,' published at Hartford in 1771. The author, Mr. William H. Whitmore, says: 'This I believe to be the earliest genealogy in a distinct form published in the United States.' It is safe to conclude that an interest in genealogical work did not take very deep root among the people until after the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith the great work of extending salvation to the dead. This is made evident from the dates noted in the following excerpts taken from works on genealogical lore, published in Boston and Albany. In the introduction of a work entitled 'The American Genealogist,' by William H. Whitmore, and published by Joel Munsell, Albany, 1868, the following very interesting pages occur, in which you will observe the years 1844 (the year of the Prophet's martyrdom) and 1847 are named as the respective dates when the New England Historical Genealogical Society was formed, and the 'Register' was established under its patronage.

"It seems evident that the English element has predominated throughout our country, and the greater portion of English colonists settled in New England. Hence the great activity of genealogists there has had more than a local importance, and will be the means of preserving the records of the greater portion of our nation. There is difficulty in tracing the American pedigree of any family. Mr. Savage's admirable dictionary will furnish the inquirer with the first three generations of the name, and the indices of the register will enable him to examine numerous town and county records. There are very few names which will not be found in one or the other of these easily accessible works. The county registers of wills and deeds are open to every inquirer, free of expense, and it is rarely that any town clerk demands a fee for the inspection of his books. It is safe to say that nowhere else is the genealogist so favored as in New England, and consequently no community exists where so great a proportion of its families have had their records preserved.

"We have been fortunate in our historical records from the first. Bradford and Winthrop have noted down even the minute particulars of the settlement of their respective colonies; Mather and Prince have given us numerous items concerning the lives and pedigrees of the clergy and magistrates. In establishing the registry of deeds, our forefathers not only were in advance of England in political science, but they gave the genealogist a source of information elsewhere wanting.

"Very soon after the Revolutionary war an effort was made to revive the former taste for historical research. The Massachusetts Historical Society was formed, and has continued slowly to acquire wealth and influence, having greatly extended its usefulness within the past ten years. John Farmer, secretary of the New Hampshire Historical Society, early devoted himself to the study of genealogy and biography, and by his genealogical register attracted public attention to the subject. Our list will show that but little progress was made for thirty years from the time he issued his Farmer genealogy, but enough was done to keep the fire alive. In 1844, the Register was established under his patronage; since then the study of history and genealogy has been greatly encouraged, and with good results. When the new society was formed the science of genealogy was little understood. The wealth of our records was hardly imagined, the necessity of severe examination of traditions scarcely thought of, and the simplest and most economical form of arrangement was not yet invented. Soon, however, all these points were examined, old manuscript published, and the State authorities were persuaded to enact laws for the preservation of its documents. Since 1845 numerous local societies have been established or revived; over two hundred distinct works on genealogy have been published up to 1868, and innumerable town histories and historical pamphlets have been issued. In many instances these results have been known to be due to the establishment of the new societies, and it is unquestionable that the spirit it fostered has been the mainspring in all Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island have issued large volumes of their early annals, under the patronage of the respective governments. Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont possess active historical societies. New York has not only published her own records but assisted her neighbors, and established the largest and richest historical society in existence. Similar associations exist in more than half the States in the Union, and a new magazine, the "American Notes and Queries," established as their organ, has continued to the present time. Circular No. 3 of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, issued June, 1847, signed by the following gentlemen, viz: Charles Ewer, Lemuel Shattuck, Samuel G. Drake, Samuel H. Riddle and W. H. Montague, treats of the great importance which they attach to genealogical and historical work and works; and in this connection I may be permitted to suggest that what appealed so directly to their needs in those early times applies with much greater force to the Saints of the Latter Days, who are clearly and pleasurably made aware of the glorious relationship which exists between parents and children and the vital obligations the living are under to the dead. These intimations, no doubt you will appreciate, and when time and opportunity permit let us hope that you will actively take pleasure in promoting the aims of the Genealogical Society of Utah, which was especially organized to advance temple work, which includes the salvation and redemption of both dead and living. F.D. RICHARDS."

With all these prophecies before us, with the keys of salvation restored to the earth, with the spirit of Elijah moving not only the Saints but men of the world to action, who can fail to see the truth of this doctrine and the power of God made manifest to promote the great work of salvation for the dead?

In conclusion, let us heed the voice of God to the Prophet Joseph, saying, "Therefore renounce war and proclaim peace and seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children;" and the exhortation to us of the prophet who received this commandment, "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren and on, on to victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free."

THE GATHERING OF ISRAEL.

This subject is of great moment. It should interest all people, Jew and Gentile, especially those who profess Judaism and Christianity. It involves several features which affect the claims made by the Latter-day Saints that more revelation has been given and that the gospel has been restored in these, the last days. The solution of this question involves the fulfillment of many prophecies in the Old and New Testaments.

The trend of the teachings of modern Christianity is such as to keep, from the human mind, the idea that the Lord is a practical being and has anything whatever to do with the temporal affairs of the children of men. Yet by a careful reading of the Scriptures it is readily seen that God designated various portions of the earth to be occupied by different bodies of His children. He gave Palestine to the seed of Abraham, and designated where the children of Esau and other races should dwell. This truth is beautifully expressed by the apostle Paul in Acts xvii:26, as follows: "And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation."

To make this subject clear to the reader, we will first show that the seed of Abraham were promised certain countries, that they once occupied those promised lands, and were driven and scattered from them. Hence, in order to receive the fulfillment of the promise regarding their inheritance, they must of necessity be gathered home from their long dispersion.

In Genesis xiii:14, 15, we have the following: "And the Lord said unto Abraham after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever." This promise was renewed to his son Isaac, as recorded in Genesis xxvi:2, 3: "And the Lord appeared unto him and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of; sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham, thy father." And again, the promise was made to Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. In Gen. xlviii:3, 4, it is said: "And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me. And said unto me, Behold I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession."

It is not necessary to make special quotations to prove to Bible readers that the tribes of Israel were led into the land of Palestine in the days of the prophet Joshua, and under his administration received their respective inheritances in the promised land.

On reading the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis we find a brief statement of the blessings pronounced by the great patriarch upon his twelve sons. In blessing Joseph it is plainly indicated that his seed was "a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall;" in other words, his posterity should receive a land beyond the limits which bound the country occupied by the other tribes of Israel. This view is corroborated by the thirty-third chapter of Deuteronomy, in the blessing and prophecy of Moses upon the head of the tribe of Joseph.

The descriptions of the land of Joseph, given in these two chapters, together with the other passages of Holy Writ, show that the land of Joseph was no less than the Western Hemisphere, known to us as North and South America. It is well known that the tribes of Israel occupied the promised land from generation to generation, until through apostasy and transgression nearly all the tribes were carried into captivity long before the advent of the Messiah. When He came the land was occupied chiefly by the tribe of Judah, which was subsequently scattered among the various nations of the earth.

The Lord plainly warned the house of Israel that, to enjoy His blessings and to remain unmolested in the land of their fathers, they must keep His commandments. If they did not, this was to follow: "And I will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you, and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste." (Lev. xxvi:32, 33.) Very much like this prophecy are the sacred words of the Messiah, spoken 1500 years later: "For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (Luke xxi:23, 24.)

It is also stated in Deut. xxviii:63-65: "And ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy feet have rest; but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind."

History records beyond the possibility of a doubt how literally and terribly the various clauses in these predictions have been fulfilled. Israel has been scattered, and Judah has been persecuted and oppressed and become a hiss and a byword in the mouths of all the Gentile nations.

With the sacred promises before us, that Israel should receive those countries and the history which proves that they were scattered and are still unreturned to their promised land, we must be convinced, if nothing were said in the Scriptures of the restoration, that Israel must be gathered and re-established in the land of their fathers or the promises of the Almighty would come to naught. We are not left, however, without predictions which specify, in considerable detail, that the chosen people shall be gathered and the circumstances and signs of the times associated with the gathering of Israel in the last days.

Four hundred and forty-six years before Christ, the prophet Nehemiah, bowing down in sorrow because of this scattering and destruction of his people, besought the Lord in humble supplication, thus: "Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations; but if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there." (Neh. i:8, 9.)

The psalmist David said (Psalms l:5): "Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." The context of this psalm shows plainly that the fulfillment of the words quoted should take place in the last days, near the time of the coming of the Son of God. Those who should be called saints would be required to sacrifice the associations of their native lands as Abraham was when called upon to turn aside from the false religion of his fathers and go to a land into which the Lord should lead him. The Latter-day Saints have made a covenant with God, and through self-denial are gathering together in fulfillment of the words of David the psalmist.

Another prophecy from the same book is as follows: "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; and gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their souls fainted in them. They cried unto the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them out of their distresses."

The provisions of this prophecy have been and are being verified in the gathering of the Saints to the Rocky Mountains. In Isaiah ii:2, 3, we have the following prediction: "And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." This prediction is too plain to be mistaken when it is fulfilled. This prophecy was not fulfilled at the coming of the Messiah, neither before nor since His time, but it is being fulfilled in the gathering of the Latter-day Saints. They have established the house of the Lord in a mountainous country; many people are gathering to it, their object being to learn the ways of the Lord that they may more perfectly walk in His paths. This prediction should be verified at a time near which people should beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; "neither shall they learn war any more," as shown by the verse following those we have quoted.

Micah, fifty years after this, uttered a similar prophecy, in almost the same language, as will be found in the first and second verses of his fourth chapter.

Another prophecy of Isaiah on this subject will be found in chapter five, twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh verses. It reads as follows: "And He will lift up an ensign to the nations from afar, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth; and behold, they shall come with speed swiftly; none shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed nor the latchet of their shoes be broken." The wording of this, in connection with verses which follow, seems plainly to have its fulfillment in the manner of travel by which the Saints are being and shall be gathered to the place appointed. They come by railroad, "with speed swiftly," which prevents them, in a great measure, from stumbling or becoming weary by the way. Notice that the words of this prediction, that the ensign was to be set up from afar, undoubtedly indicate a far distant land from the place where Isaiah stood when he uttered the prophecy. He stood upon the Eastern Hemisphere; America was far distant, and upon this land the ensign has been lifted up. Is it not an ensign to the nations? The authority of God, the house of the Lord, where the nations of the earth are invited to repent of their sins and freely partake of the blessings to be obtained where the ensign is established, surely are such.

A prediction very similar to the foregoing in its provisions was uttered by the same prophet and is contained in the eleventh chapter of his book, the eleventh and twelfth verses: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth."

These prophecies could not be fulfilled short of bestowing more revelation upon the children of men to show them how, where and when these great events should be accomplished.

We have quoted from the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, in the twelfth verse of which this language is used: "And shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah." It will be noticed that the word outcasts applies to Israel, which means that Israel was cast out from the knowledge of the Gentile nations, while the seed of Judah was scattered among the nations of the earth. The reason distinction is made between Israel and Judah, when Judah was one of the tribes of Israel, is that in the days of David and Solomon the Lord divided the kingdom of Israel, making Judah the distinct nation and the remaining tribes another distinct nation, having two separate kings. The tribes of Israel were led away into the north country, and became lost to the knowledge of the world, while Judah and a portion of Ephraim remained in Palestine, and were scattered among the nations. This is why the prophet applies the word "outcast" to Israel and the word "dispersed" to the tribes of Judah.

Zechariah the prophet says: "Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north." (Zech. ii:6.) This return of the tribes of Israel from the land of the north will be attended with much miraculous power. The miracles wrought in the days of Moses will not be the reference made by Israel to show the power of God in their behalf, but this prophecy will be fulfilled: "Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But the Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers." (Jer. xvi:14, 15.)

One very interesting feature associated with the gathering of Israel in the last days is expressed in the sixteenth verse of the same chapter, as follows: "Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks." When men engage in fishing they cast their lines into the water, and know not until drawn to shore whether the fish caught be of one kind or another; but when they go hunting they know exactly the game they shoot at, whether it is a lion or a tiger, a buffalo or a deer. This Scripture is fulfilled in the preaching of the Gospel among the Gentile nations by the elders of Israel; it is not known by them whether the person who embraces the Gospel and gathers to Zion is of the blood of Israel, a Gentile or otherwise, until it is made known by the light of revelation. This, then, is as casting the Gospel net into the sea, which gathers of all kinds, who remain together until the bad are separated from the good and cast back into the sea.

Isaiah says, in chapter xxvii:12, "Ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel." This is corroborated in the third chapter of Jeremiah, fourteenth and fifteen verses, which read: "I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion; and I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding."

How strikingly true it is that in this dispensation only one or two, in many instances, of a numerous family, receive the truth. And frequently but one, or very few, in a whole city. But these, when they receive the Holy Spirit through embracing the Gospel, at the hands of inspired and divinely authorized men, are filled with a desire to gather to Zion, and there are taught by pastors "called of God as was Aaron."

A prophecy very like the foregoing is found in the eighteenth chapter of Revelations, fourth and fifth verses: "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." That they are out of Babylon is made clear by the verses preceding the ones quoted. Babylon signifies confusion, and is shown in the preceding chapter of Revelation to apply to "people and multitudes, and nations and tongues." Should there be among the nations of the earth any class of people professing to be the Saints of God, yet who have no desire to gather from Babylon in order to avoid her sins and thus escape her plagues, it would be proof that they had not received, in spirit and truth, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Another prophecy bearing upon the return of the tribes from the north, as well as those scattered among the nations, is found in Jer. xxxi:8, 9, 10: "Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child together: A great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them; I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock." In the twelfth verse it says, "Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion." This latter clause in the prophecy shows that the place of their gathering shall be an elevated region of country. In some instances the term Zion is used with reference to a place or land, as shown in the sixty-second chapter of Isaiah, which the reader can refer to at leisure. And in other instances the word applies to a people. Modern revelation through the prophet Joseph Smith says: "This is Zion, the pure in heart." Using the word in this sense, light is thrown upon the foregoing prophecy of Jeremiah by one found in Isaiah xl:9: "O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain." This would not have been verified if the Saints of latter days had remained in a scattered condition among the nations, or even in the lower regions first occupied by them in the United States, for America is the land of Zion. The great events which go to make up the history of the Latter-day Saints furnish indisputable evidence that they were led there by the hand of God, and that, too, in fulfillment of ancient and modern prophecy.

In reference to the saints being led by the rivers of water in a straight way, Isaiah has a similar prophecy, contained in the thirty-second chapter, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth verses: "And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places; when it shall hail, coming down on the forests; and the city shall be low in a low place. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox, and the ass." The prophets foresaw that the gathering place of the saints should be in a section of the country where the rains should not be abundant, and for that reason they would plant beside all waters, that the system of irrigation might be employed to water the crops of the earth, and through this also that grasses and other vegetation might be provided for their domestic animals. It is also an interesting fact that the cities built by the Saints in the valleys, in comparison with the summit of the snow-capped mountains around them, are situated in low places, so that many times when the hail comes down in fury upon the mountain forests above, the city is free from storm.

One feature of the pleasantness which characterizes the Saints of God is their custom, in their mountain homes, of coming together in a social capacity and joining in the dance. In this capacity, as in gatherings of more weighty importance, the old and the young, male and female, mingle together, that parents may rejoice in the innocent recreation of their children and that the children may be under the guiding influence of their parents. Strange as it may seem to the world, even to those professing Christianity and a consequent belief in the Bible, such a condition is in fulfillment of sacred prophecy found in the thirteenth verse of the thirty-first chapter of Jeremiah, which reads as follows: "Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow." This was to be at the time of their getting up into the high mountains, and expressing their praises to the Almighty in the heights of Zion.

Closely connected with the foregoing prophecies is one found in Isaiah, thirty-fifth chapter, first and tenth verses: "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Almost the entire chapter has a bearing upon this subject.

The Lord has so abundantly blessed the labors of His people in that once barren region that truly the desert does rejoice and blossom as the rose. That Salt Lake valley was a most forbidding place cannot be denied. James Bridges, an old trapper who had seen Salt Lake valley before the Pioneers, was so confident of the perpetual sterility of the soil, rendered so by having little or no water, scarcely any rain, and frost nearly every month in the year, that he said to President Brigham Young: "I will give you a thousand dollars for the first ear of corn that can be produced in Salt Lake valley." Our geographies designated that country as the Great American Desert. Daniel Webster, the great statesman and orator, earnestly opposed the annexation of that section of the country to the United States on the ground of its almost utter worthlessness, claiming it would be a financial burden to the government.

Notwithstanding these forbidding aspects, the Prophet Joseph Smith predicted on the 6th of August, 1842, that the Latter-day Saints would become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. This prophecy will be found readily in a work entitled "A New Witness for God," by Elder B. H. Roberts, which work also contains really other predictions of the prophet Joseph Smith, and shows their fulfillment. The following in the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter thirty-five, "For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert, and the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty lands springs of water," has been fulfilled in the settlement of the Rocky Mountain region by the Latter-day Saints.

As the judgments of God come upon the earth the gathering of Israel will be accelerated, and the words of the prophet Isaiah will be fulfilled wherein he asks the question, "Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?" (Isa. lx:8.) As they come together from their long dispersion, and from the north country, in times of famine, pestilence and bloodshed, the Lord will strengthen them by saying, "Fear not; for I am with thee; I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, give up; and to the south, keep not back; bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; even every one that is called by my name." (Isa. xliii:5 6.) How universal will be this gathering from all points of the compass, and which will apply to all who are truly called by the name of the Lord!

This gathering will be attended by greater power than heretofore, and no power will be able to impede the progress of the great work. Hear what Ezekiel says: "And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face." (Ezekiel xx:34, 35.) The same prophet also predicts the gathering of Israel in unmistakable terms, in chapter xxxvi:24: "For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you into your own land."

The foregoing predictions are chiefly from the Old Testament, but the New Testament also contains many very definite forecasts upon this glorious subject; indeed, in the last days, when the Gospel should be restored to earth by divine revelation, the dispensation thus established was to be designated as a gathering dispensation, as stated by Paul in Ephesians, chapter i:9, 10: "Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself; that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on the earth; even in Him." This is in perfect accord with the prophecy of Isaiah before quoted, that all who are called by the name of the Lord should be gathered together.

Jesus offered the gathering to the house of Judah in His day, but they rejected it. He said unto them, "O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate; and verily I say unto you, ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." (Luke xiii:34, 35.) How terribly have these words been fulfilled upon the Jews through their having rejected the Messiah and the principle of gathering which He offered to them.

By reading the book of Zechariah we learn that when the Jews have gathered to their promised land, in the last days, and the armies of the Gentiles surround them, the Messiah will appear unto them on the Mount of Olives. Looking to the fulfillment of the great predictions the feeling now pervades the hearts of the Jews, to a very great extent, to furnish means for the purchase of the land of Palestine, that they may return and rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

When the Twelve Apostles at Jerusalem requested of the Savior to know the signs of His second coming, He gave various evidences, among which was the preaching of the Gospel of the kingdom and consequently its restoration to the earth, and the raising up of prophets to warn the people, without which the comparison of the days of Noah and the days of the second coming of the Messiah would not be complete. To counterfeit the work of God through prophets that should be raised up, false prophets and teachers should also arise; kingdom should arise against kingdom; war, pestilence and bloodshed should desolate the nations of the earth; the gathering of Israel should be going on, as proved by the prophecies heretofore quoted, and when the signs of His appearing should appear in the heavens, "He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Matt. xxiv:31; see also Mark xiii:27.)

This is the dispensation of the fullness of times in which all the keys, power and authority enjoyed by all previous dispensations have been restored to the earth, and this includes the keys of the gathering. Under date of April 3d, 1836, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were the recipients of many splendid visions and revelations at Kirtland Ohio, in the Temple of the Lord. They solemnly testify as follows: "After this vision closed, the heavens were again opened unto us, and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north." (Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 110:11.)

From that time the spirit of gathering has rested richly upon the saints of the Most High, and tens of thousands have gathered from many nations of the earth. The Saints will continue until they are assembled in the places designated for them to occupy. Since the date mentioned, the spirit of the gathering also has been working among the Jews, and when all things are revealed it will undoubtedly be found that the spirit of gathering is working among the ten lost tribes of Israel, looking to the restoration promised to them in the predictions of their fathers. Thus in the purpose of God will be accomplished the gathering together in one, all who will serve Him and keep His commandments, that they may "learn of His ways and walk in His paths," that the earth may be "filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the mighty deep, when no man shall say to his neighbor, 'know ye the Lord,' for all shall know Him, from the least to the greatest."

TITHING.

Unlike other religious sects professing Christianity, the Latter-day Saints do not observe the law of tithing, the ordinances of baptism, confirmation or any other sacred rite merely because the Bible records that such observances were had among the ancient saints, but for the reason that in this age of the world, God has commanded us to receive these laws and ordinances.

The law of tithing was given in the early history of God's dealings with the children of men. Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedek, according to the statement of Paul to the Hebrews. The apostle also refers to the fact that the tribe of Levi had been selected from all the sons of Israel to officiate in that order of the priesthood which has to do with the outward ordinances of tithes and sacrifice, and notwithstanding there was a higher order, of which Melchisedek was the great High Priest, those bearing the higher priesthood were not exempt from the law of tithing. (Heb. vii:4-5.)

Jacob also paid one-tenth to the Lord. (Gen. xxviii:20-22.) During the administration of Moses as the leader and lawgiver under the Almighty to Israel, tithing was enjoined as a universal law to the people of God. "And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy unto the Lord. And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. He shall not search whether it be good or bad." (Lev. xxvii:30, 32, 33.) This did not require a selection of the very choicest product of the flock, the herd or the soil, neither did it justify a man in offering for his tithes the poorest or least valuable of his income. Of the flocks, each one "that passeth under the rod" was to be tithed. The custom was to pen the flocks in a corral, with a gateway too small for the passage of more than one animal at a time; and as they passed out, a man stood at the gateway with a rod in his hand, and as the tenth one of the flock went out, the man at the gate marked the animal with his rod. Thus every tenth one, whether it was good, poor or medium, was sanctified to the Lord as tithing; any disposition to offer as a tithe an inferior article was disapproved of by the Lord. In matters of sacrifice upon the altar, pointing to the sacrifice of the Great Redeemer who should be offered in the meridian of time to redeem a fallen world, Israel was positively forbidden to offer the blind, the lame or the bruised. "Ye shall offer at your own will a male without blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats. But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer; for it shall not be acceptable for you. * * * Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the Lord, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the Lord." (Lev. xxii:19, 22.)

The atonement symbolized by the sacrifices was one (the Lamb of God) free from blemish in every particular—"a pure and perfect being without spot or blemish." Not only was the offering upon the altar a reminder of the atonement as a fact, by the shedding of blood, but the character and quality of the offering must symbolize the perfect purity of the Son of God.

While tithing was not so directly pointing to the atonement, nor was it designed for that purpose, it is yet an offering to the Lord required by Him, to be used for righteous purposes and to prepare the heart of the tithe-payer to give his all to God, to consecrate all in the interest of human redemption. The Lord, in tithing, does not demand the best nor justify His people in offering that of the least value in any substance tithed. How penurious, mean and small-souled on the part of any saint it would be to offer for tithing that of the poorest value to himself, especially in the light of the fact that God is the Giver of all we enjoy, whether of a spiritual or physical nature, and in the face of His great liberality in not demanding a selection of the very best of any product which is tithed. If any man is tempted to pay the poorest calf, the poorest ton of hay, or a scabby sheep to rid himself of it, let him remember the word of the Lord to ancient Israel and the condemnation that followed when they robbed God in tithes and offerings.

These injunctions continued throughout all the history of Israel, from Moses to the Savior. Malachi says "And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?" (Mal. i:8.) It should be considered evil to offer such for tithing in our day. When Israel turned from their observance of this law, as from all others enjoined by the Almighty, the people were reprimanded severely, and were followed by the withering hand of God's displeasure. "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts, and all nations shall call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts." (Mal. iii:8-12.) Thus was the law of tithing given to Israel; thus were they to be blessed in its observance and cursed if they transgressed it. As the law was given anciently for the same purposes as in this dispensation, it would naturally agree in the blessings following its observances and the curses for its disobedience. When the Savior chastised the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, He evidently approved the law of tithing, for He said, "But woe unto you Pharisees! For ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." (Luke: xi:42.)

It is erroneously supposed by many that the laws observed by Israel previous to Christ's atonement were almost entirely obliterated, being, as many think, all fulfilled in His mission on earth. A little reflection upon this subject will correct this error in the minds of all who are diligently and honestly seeking for the truth. The Ten Commandments themselves are pre-eminently a part of the Gospel of Christ. When the young man came to the Messiah to learn the way of salvation, he was enjoined to observe the commandments, "Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery," etc. (Matt. xix;16-21.) Whatever was discontinued after the atonement was that which had been established to symbolize and teach the great atonement to come. The offerings of lambs and bullocks in sacrifice was dispensed with, as it had pointed to the coming atonement now fulfilled in the Messiah. It was replaced by the sacrament, the broken bread and the wine, both blessed and administered to the disciples and enjoined as a continuous ordinance to keep bright in memory the sufferings, atonement and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The only time when the law of tithing was not enjoined upon the people of God, so far as the Scriptures indicate, is when they not only consecrated one-tenth to the Lord, but all they had. This law of consecration, we learned, was observed in the city of Enoch. It was carried out in a measure by the ancient Saints in Palestine after the day of Pentecost: "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they all had things in common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses, sold them, and brought the prices of the things which were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made unto every man as he had need." (Acts iv:32-35.)

This law of consecration, which comprehended the law of tithing and much more, was also observed for some 200 years upon the American continent subsequent to the visit of the Savior to and the establishment of His Church among the Nephites upon this land. The law of consecration was revealed to the Latter-day Saints through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and will be established and carried out fully in the redemption of Zion; without it Zion cannot be redeemed.

This is the dispensation of the fullness of times, the one containing in its revelations all the keys, powers, prerogatives, authorities and blessings, enjoyed by any and all previous dispensations combined-a day of the restoration of all things spoken by the mouth of all His holy Prophets since the world began. (Acts iii:20-21; Eph. i:9-10.) Consequently the law of tithing, with other grand doctrines, has been restored to the earth. The revelation on this subject is found in the Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 119, and was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith July 8, 1838. It shows what constitutes tithing, the purpose thereof and the blessings to be received as a reward of obedience thereto.

The law specifies one-tenth of all our interests annually. This means what it says, "one-tenth of our interests;" in other words, whatever comes to us as the result of our labors in any and every vocation of life. If we lend money, whatever the interest on the loan amounts to, one-tenth of this interest is tithing. If the money is invested in any enterprise and brings a dividend, one-tenth of the dividend is the tithing. If a man is a carpenter, a blacksmith or a school teacher, and earns a salary, one-tenth of that salary should be consecrated to the Lord as tithing; and the tithe-payer has the other nine-tenths to meet his expenses and to use as a means of livelihood. Whatever the occupation, whether farmer, mechanic, professor, miner or whatever, one-tenth of his interest annually is the tithing. If questions arise, as they sometimes do, especially with the farmer regarding legitimate expenses used in producing what is left to us as a profit on our labors, the Latter-day Saint, if in doubt as to the amount to pay, is usually certain of this—that between two propositions one of which he knows is right, and the other may be but he is not sure, he is always safe to act upon that side of the question which extends to the law of the Lord the greater liberality. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." "The Lord loveth a cheerful giver," and "He that deviseth liberal means, shall stand by his liberality," while the man who complies grudgingly or studies how little he can do, and at the same time have the name and record of doing, is not the man who loves the Lord with all his heart, mind and strength, and should not anticipate a full measure of blessing attached to His law.

By an honest compliance, the individual is blessed in spirit and in temporal substance. The testimonies of thousands, and even of the widow who has paid her full tithing, is that God has increased their substance in some instances in a most remarkable manner, even as He increased in the barrel the meal of the poor widow who fed the prophet Elijah. He also has given testimony of His goodness and power and the increase of His Holy Spirit to the honest tithe-payer, who receives blessings greatly exceeding in value the increase of gold, silver or any physical substance.

In tithing is strongly exemplified the eternal law that what is given as God directs increases the substance of the giver. When men exert the intellectual talents with which they are endowed in imparting knowledge to others, their own knowledge does not decrease but is enhanced, while the active intellect grows strongly and the talents are more quickly developed and increased. When our young Elders go forth and preach the Gospel as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost, the Spirit they employ does not grow less nor the gifts thereof diminish because they are constantly imparting to others, but these increase abundantly. It is just as easy for the Lord to increase physical substance as to add to spiritual blessings and powers. When we sow the grain upon the earth, it would seem thrown away, but by the law of the Great Creator, the seed germinates in it and produces again, sometimes thirty and forty fold. So it is with tithing. We may not understand fully the process, but the result is plain. God increases the faith and substance of him who freely pays his tithing.

Among the conditions associated with this law is, "those who are not tithed shall not be worthy the blessings of the house of the Lord;" and again, "He that is tithed shall not be burned" (at His coming). (Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 64:23.) It is predicted by Malachi and other prophets, as well as by the words of the Lord in the last days to the prophet Joseph Smith, that the days of God's judgment are coming upon the earth, and that the wicked, proud and rebellious shall become as stubble, "and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts." (Malachi iii. Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 64.)

In the revelations on tithing the Lord also says, "Verily I say unto you, it shall come to pass that all those who gather into the land of Zion shall be tithed of their surplus properties, and shall observe this law or they shall not be found worthy to abide among you. And I say unto you, if my people observe not this law, to keep it holy, and by this law sanctify the land of Zion unto me, that my statutes and my judgments may be kept thereon, that it may be most holy, behold, verily I say unto you, it shall not be a land of Zion unto you. And this shall be an example unto all the Stakes of Zion. Even so, Amen." (Doc. and Cov., Sec. 119.)

The perfection and benefits of the law of tithing could not be comprehended by men of this age of the world prior to the revelations given from the Lord. This divine instruction was necessary, and its demonstration in the lives of the people is a further witness of the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith; the facts connected therewith are within easy reach of those who will investigate among the people who have actual experience and knowledge of the divine blessings that attend obedience to the law of tithing and are unimpeachable testimonies of the truth of God's word.

ETERNAL REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS.

There is nothing more strikingly plain and explicit in all the Holy Scriptures than that God is just and His paths are "mercy and truth."

Justice is an essential attribute of Deity; it is as necessary in government as love and mercy; it demands that man shall acquiesce in divine law, without which all were confusion, utterly devoid of order and method, and the learned essayist has informed us that "Heaven's first law is order." Justice should govern law, and when the law is violated or its statutes are broken, justice calls for a penalty therefor. It is by law that penalties are affixed, and we find in Deuteronomy, the 28th chapter, beginning with the 15th verse, "If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee." In Mark xvi:16, we read, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Here we find a penalty affixed for the violation of the laws of God.

We find it verily true that in all God does and in all that He orders, He manifests goodness and love, maintains justice and equity and exercises mercy and long-suffering. Notwithstanding His compassion and mercy, He is nevertheless just and true, therefore a full assurance that He will bestow rewards and inflict punishments, as He has aforetime decreed, must take root in the mind of every considering, inquiring, honest soul. As the apostle said: "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." (Titus i:2. ) Mercy shall ever season justice, but never be permitted to rob her of her inexorable demands Love will never cease to be a ruling attribute in all God's dealings, but not to mitigate or lessen punishment, unless repentance be manifest and forgiveness granted; goodness, kindness, forbearance and gentleness, while they are forever and always exercised in Deity, will not stand to thwart or forestall the judgments of God, or remove deserving penalties, only as provision is made in the plan of redemption.

There are numerous instances recorded upon the pages of Holy Writ which go to prove that God is just, and that His decrees will be fulfilled to the letter. Perhaps none are so convincingly clear as that portrayed in the atonement of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He became pre-eminently the "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Not for His own sins, for He was the one person free from sin, but He bore affliction and suffering beyond our finite comprehension before a remission of that penalty, which justice demanded for Adam's sin, could be procured. When we consider the agonies of the garden, the scoffings of the council and the torture of the crucifixion, we begin to realize the exaction of punishment ere the sons of Adam could be freed from the original transgression enacted in Eden. Christ, in His vicarious work of interposition for fallen man, humbled Himself before His Father, being subject to pain, scorn, ignominy and death, that justice might be satisfied. Herein, then, is plainly discerned the justice of the Almighty—a justice as strict in its works as it is stern in its words, yet seasoned with mercy and dealt kindly with love; requiring of that Just One a full and complete atonement, unsparingly and unflinchingly, for thus did justice demand. We are assured, then, of the justice of God; the debt must be paid before the burden is lifted, but when the requirements of the law are righteously met and kept, the load is removed, for our Father is not only just, but merciful and true.

In the minds of many there exists a vague and erroneous idea as to what is really meant by the term "eternal rewards" and "eternal punishments." A misunderstanding of these expressions has doubtless caused many to be skeptical and infidelic. The word "eternal" does not refer to the length or duration of the blessings endowed or penalties inflicted, but to the everlasting nature of the Great God, under whose righteousness and justice the faithful are exalted and the wicked punished.

Through Moses, that ancient seer, the Lord spoke thus: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." (Deut. xxxiii:27.) God, then, being eternal, His rewards are "eternal rewards," His punishments "eternal punishments." If the United States were an eternal government, its justice would be eternal; if it were unchangeable, it always would punish violators of the law, and if justice were meted out to all, they would be punished in proportion to the crime committed, and when the demands of justice were satisfied they would be released, but the punishment would still continue to exist, and being eternal, all who fell under its ban would taste of eternal punishment. The punishment will always endure, although criminals may serve their penalties and come out from the prison house; it is even so in the kingdom of God. God is the highest type of justice. He is eternal, everlasting, unchangeable, and always will punish sin. His punishment is eternal, because He is eternal. Eternal is one of His names, and eternal punishment is used in the sense of God's punishment, and not to designate it as everlasting in its duration upon the offender of the law. He will beat with many stripes all who commit sins worthy of the same, and with few stripes those guilty of less venal crimes. This will be determined according to the light and knowledge one may possess. For example, three men commit murder, an African in the jungles of Africa, a negro who was formerly a slave, and a white man. Other things being equal, the white man, with his advanced intelligence, will suffer most, for he has had the most light and by far the best opportunity to advance.

There are degrees of punishment, as well as degrees of reward. Here is a tender, moral girl, who dies without accepting Christ as her Savior, and here is an old man, eighty years old, who dies in his sins; dare any one assert that a just and holy God is going to punish those two alike? And yet many, very many, look upon hell as a place where all suffer alike, and heaven an ethereal, uncertain abode, where all enjoy like blessings. Our salvation from death depends entirely upon Christ, but our exaltation is upon our acts of obedience, and our condemnation upon our sins and transgressions. How plain and simple are the words of the apostle Paul, "Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor." (I Cor. iii:8.)

God rewards according to our faithfulness to all opportunities. He does not require a quart from a pint vessel. "Where much is given much is required." "As ye sow, so shall ye reap." As with rewards, so likewise with punishments. When justice is satisfied, the sinner has paid the debt.

How beautiful and holy is this plan of eternal justice! How consistent with the words of the Messiah, "Be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect." Paul informs us that after the resurrection and eternal judgment, we are to go on unto perfection, and not until then, will the measure of our creation be filled.

Let all ponder the simple truth that God is just, holy and righteous, wondrously tender, loving, gentle and kind. Eternal rewards are the blessings we receive from God for our faithfulness and fealty to His laws. Eternal punishments are the inflictions which He imposes for our violation of His righteous commands. Our rewards we merit; our punishments we justly deserve. The Lord has said, "I will never leave thee; I will never forsake thee," therefore, we are assured that "His mercy endureth forever."

OBEDIENCE.

"To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." (I. Samuel xv:22.) In an age of the world when independence is the proud boast of the nations, obedience is, by mistaken ideas of freedom, considered a mark of humiliation. To the reader I will say, in reality, true obedience to the Lord's commands is an indication of moral courage, union and power. It is not blind obedience that is referred to and maintained, but that type which characterized the ancient seers and saints, who, like the Messiah, were ready to say by word and deed, "I came not to do mine own will, but the will of my Father who sent me."

The Latter-day Saints are credited with being obedient and submissive to authority, this fact being often used by their opponents as the occasion of reproach. Those who so use it surely must forget that God requires obedience; that the best embodiment of this principle, the most humble and yielding to the divine will, was the best and purest Being who ever dwelt in mortality, viz., the Lord Jesus Christ; He in whose mouth there was found no guile; who was perfect and without blemish in all the walks of life. While He was obedient to His Father's will and humble to the extreme, He was independent of the influence and persuasions of wicked men.

The status of Latter-day Saints is conformable to this example. They are obedient to conscience, to convictions of right, to divine authority and to God, in whom they trust. While thus submissive, their persecutors have found them equally oblivious to the behests of wicked men, whether high or low. Men in the factories of the old world, working side by side at the weaver's loom, in the coal pit or elsewhere in following the various vocations of life-in this condition the Gospel preached by the elders of Israel has reached them. Alike, many of them have received convictions of the truth. They have said: "This is the truth; I must obey it or stand condemned." Other people have said: "It is true, but if I obey I will be ostracized, perhaps lose my employment and be an outcast from my father's house. Better that I reject the truth and live in peace, than take upon me this cross of obedience to unpopular truth."

The courageous obey the Gospel, suffer persecution, prove themselves men, and will attain to eternal life. The other people referred to are slaves to their own fear of popular clamor and to the unseen powers of darkness which lead men to reject the plan of salvation. Of the first named class are the Latter-day Saints, a host of men and women who have left home, kindred and country for the Gospel's sake. They have endured persecution even unto death, privation and suffering in every form; have redeemed a desert and built up a commonwealth so fruitful with education, thrift and enterprise that any nation beneath the sun might well be proud of them. Their obedience and moral courage they bequeath to their posterity is a legacy better than diamonds or the honors and praise of a fallen world. They look back to their associates in early manhood who, for fear, rejected the truth, and find these, whether living or dead, in most cases unhonored and unknown.

The obedience rendered by Latter-day Saints to the authority of the priesthood is not secured by virtue of any solemn obligation entered into by the adherent to obey the dictum of his superiors in office; but upon the nature of the Gospel, which guarantees to every adherent the companionship of the Holy Spirit, and this Spirit secures to every faithful individual a living testimony concerning the truth or falsity of every proposition presented for his consideration.

"By one spirit have we access unto the Father." (Eph ii.) So that as all men and women who embrace the Gospel are entitled to an individual testimony of the truth, the same spirit guides into all truth reveals the things of the Father and imparts the inspiration essential to preserve mankind from a blind obedience to erroneous principles and false guides.

The statement of the Savior, recorded in St. John vii:17, covers the ground in the broadest light: "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself." This secures to every true Saint, if he is faithful, protection against imposture, the abuse of power and the false decisions of man-made councils. In this particular the Church of Christ is distinguished from all other system and institutions. He has promised to guide and direct, and that He "doeth nothing, but He revealeth His secrets unto His servants, the prophets." (Amos iii:7.) This does not imply the infallibility of man, but it does imply the promise that no man or council of men who stand at the head of the church shall have power to lead the Saints astray. With this assurance, then, the people of God in every dispensation have been justified in rendering absolute yet intelligent obedience in the direction of the holy prophets. It is an undeniable fact in the history of the Saints that obedience to whatever has come, either by written document or verbally, from the presidency of the church, has been attended with good results; on the other hand, whosoever has opposed such council, without repentance, has been followed with evidence of condemnation.

Applying this principle of obedience to organizations of a civil and business character, confusion and weakness result from men refusing their support to the decision of the presiding authority or of the majority, where the action is left to popular vote. Carlyle, the great English writer, said: "All great minds are respectfully obedient to all that is over them; only small souls are otherwise."

The obedience rendered to God is based upon a conviction that He is perfect in all His ways possessing the attributes of justice, judgment, knowledge, power, mercy and truth in all their fullness. Obedience to His appointed authority upon the earth is obedience to Him, and is so taught by the Savior. "He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth Him that sent me." (Matthew x:40.) He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth Him that sent me. (Luke x:16.) "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth Him that sent me." (St. John xiii:20.)

It is not the attractive qualities of the individual, however great, that renders submission to his administration valid, but the authority of God which he fears. The acts of Philip, Stephen, Paul or James were just as valid and binding as those of the Messiah Himself, when performed by His authority and in His name. To reject the personal teachings and offices of the Savior could bring no greater condemnation than to reject the teachings of any man sent of God bearing authority and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to speak and act in the name of the Lord. This great truth was taught by the Savior on more than one occasion, but perhaps no more forcibly or in more beautiful terms than in the following: "When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory; and before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungered and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger and ye took me in; naked and ye clothed me: I was sick and ye visited me; I was in prison and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer Him saying: Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered and fed Thee? or thirsty and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger and took Thee in? or naked and clothed Thee? or when saw we Thee sick or in prison and came unto Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." When He told the wicked that they had failed to thus administer unto Him, they began to plead that they had not seen Him sick, in prison, hungry, naked or athirst. He answered them, "Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me." (Matt. xxvi:31-46.)

It is not the individuality of the person which calls for respect and consideration, it is the principle involved. God had placed His authority upon humble men. Through their administrations can be secured the benefits and blessings which follow obedience to the ordinances of the Gospel. Implicit obedience must be rendered. The mandates of Jehovah are imperative. No substitute will do. The condition is complete to the plan of salvation as established by Almighty God.

Saul was commanded to destroy Agag and all his hosts, man and beast. He kept the best of the flock for, he said, a sacrifice, but God had ordered otherwise, and Saul's disobedience caused him to lose the kingdom, shut him out from the revelations which came by dream, vision and the Urim and Thummim. "Thou shalt not steady the ark"; and they who disobeyed were smitten of the Lord. Israel by disobedience lost the guidance of the Almighty, went into spiritual darkness, and have been scattered to the four quarters of the earth, "a hiss and a by-word in the mouths of all nations."

Obedience is essential to salvation, essential to success in every avenue of human enterprise. Whether rendered to the laws of God direct, in their moral and spiritual phases, or to His authority vested in man, obedience must be implicit. The haughty man boasts of independence. He scorns the humble followers of the Lord, but while he prates of freedom, he is himself slavishly obedient to his own whims and mistaken ideas or to the spirit of evil, to popular sentiment or to some other influence always dangerous to the welfare of mankind.

The Saints have been accused of being priest-ridden and fearful to use their own judgment. What do the facts show? They are only asked to do right, live pure lives, do good to all men, evil to none, and to respect the order of God's kingdom that salvation may come to them and be extended to all the world. Their obedience has made them the best and purest body of people on the earth. What of the character of those who have derided them? They are slaves to a shallow and excited sentiment or to wickedness and vice, obedient to their own lusts and wicked ways. Compared with those they misrepresent they are below them in almost every trait which characterizes noble manhood. By obedience to God and His priesthood the Saints in this age have come off triumphant over obstacles within and foes without. By obedience to God and His commands they will continue the blessed and favored of the Lord forever. They have proved the words of Samuel to Saul, verily true: "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."

CHARITY.

What is charity? Does it consist solely in the giving of bread to the hungry, clothes to the naked or succor to the distressed? "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth." (I. Cor. xiii:3-8.) If to say that one has charity to any considerable extent requires the possession of all the foregoing characteristics, then we may truthfully admit that there is a great charity famine now prevailing throughout the world.

It is not difficult to find people who will impart of their substance to feed the poor; but too frequently many who do so will look with scorn upon those who differ from them in matters of religion, politics or other subjects. Modern history records many instances where people noted for their hospitality have shown intense hatred and bitterness toward some who have come into their midst preaching doctrines which were in conflict with the theories they and their fathers had espoused.

In many cases mobs have been headed by ministers of religion, who have instigated and participated in shedding the innocent blood of their fellow beings for no other reason than their hatred of a religion different from their own. Indeed, few if any in modern Christendom can be said to exemplify in their lives all the traits attributed to charity in the quotation from the sayings of the apostle Paul. Who "suffers long" without a murmur, especially if the suffering comes by oppression from an outward foe, and in return for evil? Who are kind to those who wrong them? Where is he who "envieth not" the possessions of his neighbor, or the honors and emoluments of office enjoyed by others? Who, under the wave of prosperity, in the lap of luxury, or dwelling in popular favor, "vaunteth not" himself, "is not puffed up" or "doth not behave himself unseemly?" Who "seeketh not" his own, "but rather" prefers his brother before himself? Who is not "easily provoked," and therefore does not retaliate against those who may give offense? Who "thinks not evil" of those who go contrary to his views, but the motives of whose hearts he knows nothing about?

How many persons there are who have not become acquainted with our people, yet who, through the circulation of scurrilous reports, have imbibed deep-seated prejudice against the Latter-day Saints, and having become acquainted with them, have rejoiced to find them a better people than such preconceived ideas had led them to the belief that they were? In missionary experience, the Elders frequently have found many professing Christians exasperated when confronted with proof that the Saints were a God-fearing, virtuous, temperate, honest and industrious people. Such professors "rejoice in iniquity," and "love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." They do not rejoice in truth, but rather "have pleasure in unrighteousness." Few there are, even among the Saints, who fully and becomingly "bear all things" and prove themselves the true type of the Savior of mankind, who preferred ever to suffer wrong than to do wrong.

Do we "believe all things" and "hope for all things" which have been predicted by the prophets since the world began?

Who in the world is looking for angels to visit the earth in the last days, for the restoration of the ancient Gospel in its primitive beauty and power? Who is looking for the restoration of the Jews to Palestine? Who looks for a people to build a temple where the Savior shall suddenly come, and who looks for Elijah to appear before that great and terrible day of the Lord's coming, when the wicked shall become as stubble, and be consumed by the judgments of God? If these events have not occurred or are not transpiring, they must do so, or the words of the prophets will fail, the Scriptures be proved fallacious, and our hope is vain. And he who believes not these things has not charity. If he had, he would be patient to hear, anxious to learn, and the Lord would lead all such to the light. Charity should be sought after and cultivated by the Saints above all other people. Our professions are greater. If our deportment contradicts our teachings, our ignorance is more apparent, or our hypocrisy is more pronounced.

It is stated in the Book of Mormon that "Charity is the pure love of God." By this plain yet comprehensive definition, we learn that unless the love of God dwells in our hearts we have not charity. This love for the salvation of mankind induces the true servants of the Lord to travel to the ends of the earth, without the shadow or hope of earthly reward, to preach the Gospel to the world. Not only that; with all the self-denial of home and its comforts which such a mission implies, we also esteem all the good which others have, not asking them to forsake one truth they now possess, but inviting them to receive more truth, pointing them to a greater light, and leaving them perfectly free from undue persuasion to receive the message or reject it as they may choose.

The Prophet Joseph instructed the Twelve and the Elders, in preaching the Gospel, not to tear down the tenets of other men's faith, but in the spirit of meekness explain the Gospel and bear testimony to its divinity, leaving all mankind absolutely the keeper of their own consciences, to do as they please and meet the responsibility of their own acts at the bar of eternal justice. Neither should it be forgotten that much of the labor of mankind, without a knowledge of the Gospel, in many respects has been directed by a divine Providence to ameliorate the condition of mankind. "There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." The achievements of the reformation by Luther and others, the inventions of the printing press, of electrical machinery, the locomotive and the steamboat, the discovery of America, the revolution, the rounding, establishment and perpetuity of our civil government in the United States, all were events preparing the way for the restoration of the Gospel and the final establishment of the kingdom of God in these last days.

A striking instance of divine purpose in the labors of men outside the true church is pointed out in a revelation given in December, 1830, to Joseph Smith, Jr., and Sidney Rigdon. The Lord said: "Behold, verily, verily, I say unto my servant Sidney, I have looked upon thee and thy works. I have heard thy prayers and prepared thee for a greater work. Behold, thou wast sent forth, even as John, to prepare the way before me, and before Elijah, which should come, and thou knewest it not. Thou didst baptize by water unto repentance, but they received not the Holy Ghost. But now I give unto thee a commandment, that thou shalt baptize by water, and they shall receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, even as the apostles of old." (Doctrine and Covenants, sec. xxxv, 3-6.)

The revelation given December, 1830, from which the above is quoted, was upon the occasion of the first visit of Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge to the prophet Joseph Smith. The labors of Sidney Rigdon, referred to in the quotation, must have alluded to his ministry in the Campbellite church, for he had been in the Church of Christ only about six weeks when this revelation was given, having embraced the Gospel at the hands of Parley P. Pratt and fellow missionaries near Kirtland, Ohio, late in October or early in November, 1830.

As is well understood, the followers of Alexander Campbell preach faith, repentance and baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. These views Sidney Rigdon espoused as being better than what he already had, and when the true Gospel, in its fullness, with authority from God to administer the ordinances thereof, found him, he gladly obeyed the same. In about three weeks from the time Brother Pratt and co-laborers entered Kirtland, 127 persons were baptized. Subsequently the numbers were augmented to about 1,000 souls. In the providences of the Lord, Kirtland soon became the gathering place of the Saints, the facilities there being greatly enhanced by so many people embracing the Gospel and thus making a foothold for the prophet Joseph Smith and the Saints who should follow him from the East. There the Kirtland Temple was built. There the Savior, Moses, Elijah, Elias and other ancient worthies appeared to the prophet. There the endowments were given, and the Spirit from on high was poured out in the last days, as upon the day of Pentecost.

All these subsequent events, of such a glorious character, show how distinctly the Lord's hand was manifest in the mission and labors of Sidney Rigdon before he embraced the Gospel. Such instances serve as pointed lessons to the youth of Israel, teaching us to be broad and generous in viewing the labors of those not of us, so that if the hand of Providence is manifest we shall not be oblivious thereto, nor be found in the ranks of those who have not charity.

THE RESURRECTION.

The skeptical doubt the resurrection of the dead. Some scientific men have denied the possibility of the actual redemption of the body from the grave. One would think, as time goes on, with the wonderful developments of science which reveal things that were classed among the impossibilities of a century ago, that it is not reasonable to doubt the possibility of anything, however remarkable, which is within the scope of blessings to mankind. The date, in the past, is not remote when it would have been deemed almost an indication of insanity for a man to say that such an instrument as the X-ray would be invented, by which a photograph of the interior of the human body could be taken. Astounding as it may appear, such is now an accomplished fact, and this is but one of the many remarkable and grand achievements of modern times. If such things are possible by the intelligence given to mortal man, is it not equally probable that the elements which enter into the composition of the human body can be brought together and resuscitated by an Omniscient Being? Is the resurrection any more unaccountable from a natural and scientific view than the organization of the human body before its birth into the world? Many things are admitted in nature to be a fact, but why they are such, the most learned and scientific have been unable to explain. The elements in any substance do not become annihilated; they change from one form of organization to another. Wheat, by a grinding and separating process, is made into flour, bran and shorts; from flour, by another process, into bread. Each change produces an article very different in appearance from the one preceding it, but the same elements are there. They are eternal and indestructible. This being true of all forms of life in the vegetable kingdom, it must also be true of human life.

Even Christians dispute with respect to the character of the resurrection of the body, some believing in an actual resurrection thereof, and others denying the immortality of the body of flesh and bones. It is our aim simply to present the statement of the Scriptures, which, the Latter-day Saints claim, are clear in declaring the actual resurrection of the body.

Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection and the pattern of what is an eternal principle, applicable to all mankind. As He took up the same body which was laid in the tomb, so will all the human family receive a renewal, each of his own body. The change is, that the blood, which is the life of the mortal body, will not occupy the immortal one. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." (I. Cor. xv:50.) It is evident, however, that flesh and bones can inherit, occupied by immortal spirit; for Jesus was the type.

After His resurrection He appeared unto many. He said to His disciples, when they were affrighted and supposed they had seen a spirit: "Behold, my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." (Luke xxiv:39.) He then showed them His hands and feet, which had been pierced with spikes in the terrible hour of His crucifixion. While He was with them He called for food, and they gave Him broiled fish and honeycomb, which He ate in their presence.

What could be more real, more tangible than this? When He was resurrected, many others received the same glorious blessing and came bodily out of their graves. "And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared unto many." (Matt. xxvii:52, 53.) These undoubtedly were the bodies of the righteous who had embraced the Gospel in the various dispensations prior to the coming and atonement of our Lord and Savior. The antediluvians who rejected Noah were not among this number, for Peter informs us that the Messiah, when put to death in the flesh, was "quickened by the spirit; by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah." (I. Peter iii:18-20.)

Is this not a beautiful yet terrible lesson to all, that those who hear the Gospel in the flesh and reject it shall not come forth in the first resurrection, but remain, their bodies mingling with the dust, while their spirits are gathered as prisoners in the pit, awaiting with awful anxiety the judgment of the great day.

The Savior Himself said to His disciples: "Verily, verily, I say unto you: The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." (St. John v: 25.) Continuing His remarks, it would appear that He spoke of the two resurrections, for in the first, which took place when He came forth from the tomb, the saints were resurrected, while in the following verses, twenty-eight and twenty-nine, He says: "Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."

The reader will notice that the twenty-fifth verse reads "the dead," and may only apply to the righteous as coming forth at His resurrection, while the twenty-eighth verse says, "All that are in the graves," which would make it universal and apply to the just and the unjust, the evil and the good. This resurrection of the wicked doubtless applies to the same event that is recorded in the book of Revelations John first saw the resurrection of the righteous, and then says: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." (Rev. xx:4.) Glorious thought! The righteous rewarded for all their trials and tribulations! "Who are these arrayed in white, brighter than the noon-day sun?" "These are they which have come up through great tribulation, washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." This reward is well worth all the hardships incidental to preaching the Gospel and living the life of a Saint. "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection."

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books; * * * and they were judged every man according to their works." (Rev. xx:12, 13.)

Nothing could be more literal, more tangible, more real than this; nothing more just. The righteous were to come forth and enjoy a thousand years of absolute peace and freedom from the tribulations heaped upon them by the wicked, untrammeled with trials brought upon them by Lucifer; free from sickness, sin and sorrow; living in the personal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, in full enjoyment of the earth in all its paradisic glory; justice meted out to the wicked, who will be denied the opportunity to revel in the lusts of the flesh or to persecute those who "live godly in Christ Jesus."

No wonder that Job rejoiced in all his affliction, because his soul was enlightened with the visions of the future. Notwithstanding his bodily pains and the annoyance of friends who attributed his afflictons to his own failings, he exclaimed from the depths of his soul: "Oh, that my words were now written! Oh, that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." (Job xix:23-26.) Undoubtedly this great and good man was resurrected when the Messiah was, and received a partial fulfillment of this glorious vision, but whatever was lacking in the full realities of this prophecy will be complete when the Son of Man shall come, in His glory, to reign on the earth.

Paul said to the Thessalonians: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. * * * For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first." (I. Thess iv:14-16.) This agrees with the testimonies already quoted from the Savior and the apostle John in reference to the resurrection at two different periods; one for the just and one for the unjust.

This great subject is also portrayed by the prophet Daniel. In the seventh chapter of his prophecy, ninth and twenty-second verses, he speaks of the coming of the "Ancient of Days." The most ancient man of days associated with this earth is our father Adam, and it is plain that he has a great part to perform in placing judgment in the hands of the Saints and subduing the wicked. It would appear by the mission to be performed by Michael, as described in the first verse of the twelfth chapter of Daniel, and in the twelfth chapter of Revelations, that Michael and the Ancient of Days are the same person, and that he will be upon the earth at the opening of the millennium and will dwell in the midst of the people of God.

In modern revelation the Lord has said to the Prophet Joseph Smith, "And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel." (Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 107, verse 54.) In connection with the coming of Michael in the last days, Daniel says: "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." (Daniel xii:2.)

In Paul's address before Felix he refers to the resurrection in the following language: "And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." (Acts xxiv:15.) Again "Him God raised up the third day and showed Him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is He which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead." This was the testimony of the chief apostle, Peter, when the Gospel was first delivered to the Gentiles.

It is evident that the burden of the teachings and testimonies of the apostles was to establish the divinity of the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. This necessarily included His atonement and resurrection. The fall of our first parents brought not only a banishment from the presence of the Lord, which may be termed a spiritual death, but it caused the death of the physical body. When an atonement was wrought out as a redemption from that fall, it would be incomplete unless it brought to pass immortality and eternal life to the body.

"The spirit and the body is the soul of man." The body is resurrected from the grave, independent of whether the individual in this life was good or bad, as shown by the declarations of Scripture. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (I. Cor. xv:22.) Paul describes in a very definite way the different degrees of glory in the resurrection, which vindicates the justice of God in rewarding every man according to his works, and establishing the free agency of man by holding him personally accountable for every act of his life. "There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead." (I. Cor. xv:40-42.) Jesus said to the apostles: "In my Father's house are many mansions: If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you * * * that where I am there ye may be also." (St. John xiv:2, 3.) These assertions all agree that there has been a resurrection (so far as they refer to the resurrection of Jesus and those who came forth from their graves at the same time) and that there will yet be two more resurrections, one of the just, one of the unjust. The only reasonable conclusion to be reached by reading these testimonies is, that the resurrection will be an actual reunion of the spirit and the body.

If in the mind of the reader anything seems to be deficient in the conclusions from the statements quoted, certainly the account of the resurrection from the inspired writings of Ezekiel should dispel every doubt. The entire thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel should be read. In this vision of the prophet he saw the resurrection of the house of Israel, so real in its nature that bone came to bone, sinew to sinew; flesh and skin covered the frame, and the spirit entered the body of each. Thus a complete resurrection of the bodies was wrought out. Ezekiel says, after the Lord commanded, "So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold, a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. * * * Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. * * * And they lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army." (Ezek. xxxvii:7-10.) That this is to be an actual resurrection of the bodies of the dead is made plain by the twelfth and thirteenth verses: "Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves." * * * "Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (Verses 26, 27. ) Thus there shall be a real, actual resurrection of the body, a complete reunion of the spirit with the body.

After the resurrection, those whose bodies and spirits are thereby reunited will join their living brethren, receive revelation from God, including the everlasting covenant, be gathered to their own lands, and continue to multiply and increase, with the sanctuary of God in their midst, and with His divine approval forevermore.

How beautiful, how joyous to contemplate, and how real and tangible is this, as contrasted with the poor, rambling, uncertain theories of uninspired men, who are controlled by the systems of men rather than guided by that "more sure word of prophecy," the revelations of God.

To the Latter-day Saints the doctrine of the resurrection is a living, tangible reality because, added to the testimonies of the Jewish Scriptures, the Old and the New Testaments, and the Book of Mormon, which corroborates the Bible, they have the testimony of men in this century, who have seen the living bodies of resurrected beings. Joseph Smith was a man of unblemished character. His veracity was never impeached. His honor in religion, in morality and business transactions, attested by friend and foe, were unsullied to the end of his mortal career, when he sealed his testimony with his innocent blood. His testimony is that he saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, the latter on several occasions. Joseph also had a visitation from John the Baptist, Peter, James, John, Moses, Elijah, Moroni and other ancient prophets of God who lived on the Eastern or Western hemispheres. He was not alone in being a witness to the existence of resurrected beings. Others in modern times also have seen these, and have published their testimonies to the world. Those who have received the witness of the Holy Ghost, and who also know that there is a resurrection and that the words of the Savior and the prophets are true and faithful, are numbered by the thousands.

This is my testimony on the subject: I testify in the name of the resurrected Redeemer that God has spoken from the heavens in this age of the world; that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world; that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the Most High, and received the revelations of God for the benefit of mankind; that angels and ancient prophets visited him and delivered to him the keys of the "dispensation of the fullness of times;" that Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, each in his time, has been the successor of the prophet Joseph Smith, and that Joseph F. Smith is now such successor. I also testify that all who receive this Gospel with honest hearts shall know that the doctrine is true, and if they are faithful unto death shall come forth in the resurrection of the righteous, to live and reign with Christ a thousand years. Those who reject this message, and who fight against the truth and persecute the advocates thereof will, unless they repent, die in their sins, and will remain unredeemed, their bodies in the earth, their spirits in bondage, until the thousand years are finished, when death, hell and the grave shall deliver up their dead to stand before God, living, resurrected beings, to receive the reward of their deeds, whether they be evil or whether they be good.

THE BOOK OF MORMON.

It is not the purpose in this brief chapter to enter into a detailed argument on the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, but to state sufficiently what the sacred record purports to be. The Bible records some of the leading events in the dealings of the Almighty with His children upon the Eastern hemisphere, prefaced by the Mosaic history of the creation. The Book of Mormon is to the American continent what the Bible is to the Eastern. The Bible is more especially the stick of Judah, being written by Jewish prophets and apostles. Of the ten tribes carried into the North countries and lost from the world, the Bible gives no account, beyond brief statements which go to prove that they were lost to the rest of mankind.

Of the various colonies "scattered from the tower of Babel" upon all the face of the earth, according to Genesis, chapter xi., the Bible offers no information. Of the branches of Joseph which ran over the boundary walls of the other tribes of Jacob, extending to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, the Jewish record is silent.

What became of them? Whither did they flee, and are they lost to God? Are they less His offspring because they went to people other lands? From the time the ten tribes were carried away, no communication has been established between them and the Gentile nations, and not until the discovery of America by Columbus was there any correspondence between the aborigines of America and the countries of Europe and the East. Because these were lost to Jew and Gentile, is it reasonable to suppose they were lost also to Him who is the Father of the spirits of all flesh, and who made of one blood all nations to dwell upon all the face of the earth? Reason, mercy, justice and the Bible all deny that these should not have revelations from God and write them as well as did the Jews. Jesus Himself most emphatically declared, "There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed, neither hid, that shall not be known." (Luke xii:2.) The Book of Mormon reveals the fact that from the Tower of Babel came a colony of people to the Western continent. They were led by a prophet to whom God spake and His words were written. They became a mighty nation on this land, having prophets and inspired men to lead them. Finally, like the Jews, they fell into apostasy and through war and bloodshed became extinct as a nation. The Book of Mormon gives a brief review of their rise, progress and fall. It also records the fact that in the days of Jeremiah, two colonies came from Jerusalem to America, years before Christ. It gives a history of God's dealings with them until four hundred years after Christ, covering a period of one thousand years.

From the Book of Mormon we also have light thrown upon sayings of the Savior, recorded in the New Testament. He said to the Twelve, "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." (St. John x:16.) Who can tell us where those other sheep were and when the Savior visited them? He said they should hear His voice. The Book of Mormon gives the history of this visit to the descendants of Jacob upon this land. He organized His church among them, with apostles, prophets, etc., "one fold and one shepherd." This occurred subsequent to His resurrection. While teaching His disciples on this land, He told them of this statement to the Jewish apostles, that He had other sheep to visit; and to the apostles chosen upon this land He said, "I have other sheep which are not of this land; neither of the land of Jerusalem; neither in any parts of that land round about, whither I have been to minister. For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them. But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall hear my voice and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; Therefore I go to show myself unto them." (III. Nephi, chapter xvi:1-3.)

These sayings of our Savior afford the only present scriptural and reasonable interpretation of the parable in Matthew, thirteenth chapter: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." The leaven must be a symbol of the Gospel, as its effects upon the meal to lighten and prepare it for use are like the effects of the Gospel of Christ upon the hearts of those who obey the same, viz., to refine and purify that men may be prepared for the kingdom of the Father. The three measures of meal doubtless are representative of three divisions of the house of Israel. These were, according to the Book of Mormon, the Jews in Palestine, the seed of Joseph on the Western hemisphere, and the ten tribes in the North country. These all were visited by the Savior. They heard His voice and were taught of Him "one Lord, one faith, one baptism," that there might be "one fold and one shepherd." The Gospel going to the Gentiles could have no part in the fulfillment of the parable of the three measures of meal, because the Messiah never did visit the Gentiles, and He says of the other sheep, "they shall hear my voice." The only account of such an event given to mankind thus far is that recorded in the Book of Mormon. If that is not the true one, then we must look for one no less remarkable and no less in conflict with the spiritual bigotry and ignorance of the nineteenth century. That there should be a record kept by another branch of Israel than the Jewish tribe, is plainly set forth by Ezekiel in his thirty-seventh chapter, where the Lord commands the prophet to take "one stick" and write upon it for Judah and his brethren, and another stick and write upon it for Ephraim and his brethren, and then predicts that they shall become one in the hand of the Lord. The Book of Mormon claims to be the stick of Joseph, and it and the Bible have become one in the hand of the Lord in these last days. Each corroborates the other. They are one in doctrine, one in prophecy, one in history so far as they treat upon the same events. Each throws light upon the other, and yet bear the marks of having been written far apart by a different people, of different surroundings and education.

Isaiah speaks of a book (see Isa. xxix.) that should come forth. And "the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, read this, I pray thee: and he sayeth, I can not; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he sayeth, I am not learned." This prophecy was verified as set out in a previous chapter. The book itself was delivered by an angel to the young man Joseph Smith, with the injunction that they should never be used to get gain, but for the salvation of mankind. Joseph, feeling his own weakness and knowing that he could not of himself translate them, acknowledged that he was not learned. He was told that he should translate them by the gift and power of God, which he did by the use of the Urim and Thummim, the instrument used by seers of old. Thus were the words of the prophet Isaiah verified.

No amount of credulity could make a reasonable mind believe that Joseph Smith, an unlettered, unsophisticated boy of twenty-two years, could prepare such a scheme, conniving with men of maturer years to aid him in the fraud, that the words of an ancient prophet, spoken 2,500 years before, should be literally fulfilled. The probability is that neither Joseph Smith, Martin Harris nor Prof. Anthon knew anything of the words of Isaiah relating to such a record. Prof. Anthon was not in sympathy with Joseph Smith and became an avowed opponent of the Book of Mormon. What he said in fulfillment of prophecy in this instance regarding the Book of Mormon may be said of all others, for many have been verified since it came forth—prophecies regarding it and predictions in the book itself.

The Psalmist David said that "Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven." The Book of Mormon was written upon metallic plates, and hidden in the earth 400 years after Christ. They literally came out of the earth, and righteousness in the personage of a holy angel came down from heaven and placed them in the hands of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Isaiah speaks of the ancient seers being covered, and that in the latter days their speech should be "low out of the dust." The Book of Mormon was written by seers upon the American continent. Through martyrdom they had been covered and their words lost to the apostate Lamanites for many generations. In the last days, however, their words came forth. They speak "out of the dust" and light shines upon the hidden mysteries of a whole continent, revealing a period of ten centuries.

Among the many prophecies in the Book of Mormon verified since its publication in 1829, is one found in II. Nephi, chapter 29, verse 3: "And because my words shall hiss forth, many of the Gentiles shall say, A Bible! A Bible! we have got a Bible and there cannot be any more Bible.

"But thus saith the Lord God: O fools, they shall have a Bible; and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people. And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them? Yea, what do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the travels, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles? O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. But behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people. Thou fool, that shall say, A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible, save it were by the Jews?

"Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth? Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together, the testimony of the two nations shall run together also. And I do this that I may prove unto many, that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word, ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be, until the end of man; neither from that time henceforth and forever.

"Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible, ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written: For I command all men, both in the East and in the West, and in the North, and in the South, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written, I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written.

"For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth, and they shall write it. And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews. And it shall come to pass that my people which are of the house of Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possessions; and my word also shall be gathered in one. And I will shew unto them that fight against my word and against my people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham, that I would remember his seed forever."

It has been decreed by the Almighty, and spoken of by Book of Mormon prophets that slavery should not obtain and be perpetuated upon this land: "Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written." (Ether ii:12.) This decree of the Almighty has determined the history of this country from the beginning, so far as internal slavery and freedom from bondage of other nations is concerned. If the skeptic shall say that the prophecy was published to the world long after the freedom of the American colonies and the independence of this government were attained, we call attention to the fact that slavery has been abolished in this land since then, and that no nation which has made war with the United States has ever succeeded, and never will, unless the inhabitants of this land shall become overwhelmed in iniquity and abominations.

Another striking prediction contained in the Book of Mormon is the following: "And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles; and I will fortify this land against all other nations; and he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God; For he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them forever, that hear my words." (II. Nephi x:11-14.) Gradually, yet with certain progress, has the government of kings been abolished from the American continent until nearly all governments in North and South America are republics. Canada is still under the rule of Great Britain, but is managed in such a manner that the liberties of the people are almost, if not quite equal to those of a republican territory. Those who know the history of the effort to make Maximilian a king in Mexico also know how terribly the words of the Book of Mormon have been verified: "For he that raiseth up a king unto me shall perish."

This continent is the land of Zion, "and he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God." Before the late Spanish-American war, George Q. Cannon read these predictions from the Book of Mormon before a congregation in the Tabernacle, and with a knowledge that these prophecies were given of the Lord foretold the result of the war and the certain banishment of Spanish kingly power from the American isles. Other prophecies of the sacred volume have been verified since its publication to the world. Those verified should establish faith in reasonable minds that the unfulfilled parts will surely come to pass.

The external evidences afforded by archaeologists to the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon are very numerous; they may be ascertained by a careful study of the sacred volume and a comparison with the discoveries of later times, in the ruins of ancient cities, towns, temples, roadways, etc., which have been brought to light and are treated upon in the writings of Stevens and Catherwood, Dr. Le Plongeon, and many other eminent antiquarians. While the Book of Mormon without investigation is discarded, its opponent is led to prove its divinity by his researches into archaeology. In connection with the coming forth of this word Isaiah said, "The wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid."

All the old subterfuges published against the book have been exploded long since, and yet people are still repeating them. It was stated that Joseph Smith's ingenuity and Sidney Rigdon's learning devised the Book of Mormon from the Solomon Spaulding romance. The Book of Mormon was published to the world before Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon ever saw each other. Prof. Fairchild of the Oberlin College in Ohio, examined the Spaulding manuscript and compared it with the Book of Mormon; he then testified over his signature that there was no similarity between them.

Some people have ridiculed the record because in point of literary merit it did not equal the Jewish record, the Holy Bible. If this were any just cause of rejection, why not discard several books in the Bible because their literature does not equal in merit the writings of the patriarch Job? But laying this aside, the Book of Mormon offers its own explanation of literary defect. "Condemn me not because of mine imperfection; neither my father, because of his imperfections; neither them who have written before him, but rather give thanks unto God that He hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been. And now behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge in the characters, which are called among us the Reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech. And if our plates had been sufficiently large, we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also: and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record. But the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also that none other people knoweth our language, therefore He hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof." (Mormon ix:31-34.) In the preface of the record is written: "And now if there be faults, they are the mistakes of men, wherefore condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment seat of Christ." "But he that believeth these things which I have spoken, him will I visit with the manifestations of my Spirit, and he shall know and bear record. For because of my Spirit, he shall know that these things are true; for it persuadeth men to do good." (Ether iv:11.) Again, "And whoso receiveth this record, and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things than these. Behold, I am Moroni; and were it possible, I would make all things known unto you." (Mormon viii:12.) Those persons who would esteem literary imperfections an evidence against the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon must belong to one of two classes—they are either not honest at heart and are seeking opportunity to evade the responsibility of knowing the truth, or they are shallow-minded, and to the world of sound reason, good judgment, and practical ability prefer the shadow compared with the substance. He "that will do the will of the Father shall know of the doctrine," is the promise of our Savior; and the promises in the Book of Mormon that those who will not condemn the things of God because of human imperfections, but shall receive greater knowledge, are plain enough to condemn the world if they reject them, as much as the teachings of the Jewish record shall condemn mankind if they will not hearken.

The truth of the Book of Mormon is affirmed by the direct testimony of four witnesses-Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris, who saw the angel Moroni, and the ancient plates from which the sacred volume was translated. None of them ever wavered from that testimony. They maintained it under great trials and persecutions to the end, and Joseph Smith sealed his testimony with his life, a martyr to the truth. Eight other men, whose names are recorded in the fore part of the book, saw and handled the plates. Many thousands of people from various lands and climes have read the book with prayerful hearts, have received the ordinances of the Gospel and by the power of the Holy Ghost solemnly testify that the Book of Mormon is a divine record. Added to this I testify, as an humble disciple of the Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ who is our Redeemer, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the living God and the Book of Mormon is a divine record, revealed by the God of heaven and translated by the gift and power of God as a witness unto this and all future generations that Jesus is the Christ, that the Bible is true, that there is but one plan of salvation, and that Jesus taught the same plan to the Jews, to the seed of Joseph and to the lost tribes by his own personal ministrations. He also sent the Gospel to the Gentiles by the hands of His apostles, and thereby shows to all men in every land and in all ages that God changes not, and is the same today, yesterday and forever.

MARRIAGE.

No people hold more sacred the principle of marriage, nor esteem more highly the possession of chastity, than do the Latter-day Saints. Among no people, either Catholic or Protestant, is a lapse of virtue so rare as among this people. We consider sexual crime the most blighting curse that infests the earth today. Adultery is considered as next in the catalogue of crime to murder. Individuals guilty of fornication or adultery are promptly excommunicated from the church, unless the sin is followed by the most profound repentance and the best reparation which can possibly be made. The children around the family altar, in Sunday school, Mutual Improvement Associations, Primary Associations, and all the institutions of the church, are taught to hold their virtue more sacred to them than life itself. When they attain to years of maturity and enter the holy state of matrimony, they vow before God, angels and living witnesses that they will never violate the marriage covenants.

We believe that God ordained the union of the sexes in marriage, not only for time but for all eternity. It is greatly due to this fact and the deeply religious element which enters into marriage among our people, that divorces are so rare. Young men and women are taught that, while pure love and perfect congeniality should exist between the parties to the marriage covenants, passion and infatuation should not be the ruling motive, but principle should control; and that in the weakness of humanity the dangers of mistakes in the mating of the sexes are so great, the only safe way is to seek in prayer and supplication the guidance of divine Providence; they are, also taught to so live in daily walk and conversation that their heavenly Father will answer their prayers. To feel sublimely impressed that marriage is for all eternity, and that God is directly interested in us, tends to make people more careful and considerate, more prayerful in choosing a husband or wife, than otherwise they would be. The result of such teaching is a far greater percentage of happy unions and a much smaller percentage of divorces among the Latter-day Saints than among other Christian communities.

The primary design of marriage, to "multiply and replenish the earth" and not to gratify lust, is upheld by the Latter-day Saints as in no other community. The consequence is twofold. Infanticide, foeticide and illegitimacy are very rare. The two former practices, so common in the world and adopted to lessen the responsibility of child-bearing while increasing the facilities for lustful gratification, are esteemed by this people as abominations in the sight of God, little short of outright murder in heinousness. Parties known to be guilty of such acts would not be fellowshiped in any sense, but would be cast out of the church without hesitation. The result of such high regard for the purposes of the Lord in marriage is, that the percentage of children in every family is much larger on the average than it is among any other Christian community of equal population. Because the children are numerous they are not weaker but usually stronger in body and intellect than in communities where the blighting curse of a reprehensible modern custom prevails. The wives of men thus taught and convinced of the sacredness of their procreative functions are healthier and happier in the home than are the wives and mothers in other communities. Prof. Phineas Priest, a non-"Mormon" phrenologist who traveled among the "Mormon" people in Idaho and Utah, said that in all his travels he had not found so large a percentage of healthy and intelligent children, with a corresponding condition of health and happiness on the part of the mothers, as he had among the "Mormon" people.

As to the eternity of the marriage covenant, a helpmeet was provided for man before death entered the world and therefore death could not prevail against the covenants of the Lord. "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him an helpmeet for him." (Gen. ii:18.) The Savior came and offered up a sacrifice to redeem man from the fall, to destroy death and all the effects thereof. If His atonement simply redeemed the body from the grave, without restoring the condition of the Paradise lost, it would be altogether incomplete, and the words of Paul would be without effect wherein he said to the Corinthians, "O, grave, where is thy victory? O, death, where is thy sting?" If death destroyed and the grave buried the covenants of the Lord, we would indeed be, as Paul says, "of all men most miserable." God is eternal, and "I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever." (Eccl. iii:14.)

When the ceremony of marriage is performed by a true servant of God, and the parties to the agreement are under the same covenant, he pronounces them one for time and all eternity. If this were not true of what avail was the authority delegated to Peter, when the Lord said unto him, "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." (Matt. xvi:19.) The apostle Peter, performing the marriage ceremony for members of the Church of Christ, would not pronounce them husband and wife "until death do you part;" for death was to be banished and "immortality brought to light" through the atonement of Christ.

All Christians pray and sing and preach about going to heaven. Will they be in the Lord there? If so, and they have embraced the true Gospel here, they will be united as husband and wife for all eternity, and that covenant will prevail there; hence, the apostle Paul says, "Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord." (I. Cor. xi:11. ) If they are in the Lord, then they are united; if not in the lord, they are damned.

Again the same apostle tells us, "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church." (Eph. v:23.) Will any man say that Christ was the head of the church for time only, during His few years of brief mortality, and that then the church is left without a head? No; Christ is the head of the church for all eternity and God so designed the husband to be the head of the wife.

The doctrine of marriage until death, appears to be a Sadducee doctrine, for they denied the resurrection. It was the Sadducee who asked the Savior whose wife should the woman be who had seven husbands in this world. The answer was undoubtedly designed to apply to those who rejected the Gospel of Christ, while pretending to cling to the laws of Moses. They virtually made a covenant with death. Isaiah says, "And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it." (Isa. xxviii:18.) In making a covenant with death they broke the "everlasting covenant" and dishonored God, for He is everlasting and His ordinances endure forever, unimpaired by death, hell or the grave.

The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have "transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant." (Isa. xxiv:5.) As a result of this condition the prophet says: "Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men left." (Isa. xxiv:6.) Among the causes of this great desolation yet to come upon the earth is the breaking of the everlasting covenant. The earth is to be burned and few men left. Jesus says that except "those days shall be shortened there should be no flesh saved." To shorten those days and provide the way for honorable women to fill the measure of their creation in holy wedlock, God has restored this everlasting covenant and will yet cleanse the earth of wicked men by His judgments, until few men shall be left. Whoredoms, adultery and all sexual abominations will be swept away, and the words of Isaiah in the fourth chapter will be verified. They that are the "seed of Abraham will do the works of Abraham." As the apostle Paul says, "And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. iii:29.) That all honorable women, who desire wifehood and motherhood under the laws of God may have this privilege and not be left to live and die as spinsters, nor become a prey to wicked, lustful men, God will fulfill the prophecy found in Isaiah, chapter iv., verses 1, 2: "In that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, we will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel."

THE MILLENNIUM.

The Latter-day Saints are looking for the coming of the Savior to reign upon the earth, at which coming will commence the reign of peace for one thousand years. This is the Millennium, during which period Satan will be bound and all iniquity shall be done away. When Jesus had finished his ministry at Jerusalem and had ascended into heaven from the presence of His apostles, two heavenly beings "stood by them in white apparel; which also said, 'Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.'" (Acts i:10, 11.) He ascended in glory and power. In glory and power will He come to reign. The preparation shown forth in the restoration of the Gospel by a holy angel; the gathering of Israel; the restoration of the ten tribes; the return of the Jews; the establishment of Zion and Jerusalem—all are signs to precede His second coming, as referred to in preceding chapters of this little work, in its discussion of several subjects.

That Jesus will come in power and glory is evident from many prophecies. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon all." (Jude i:14, 15.) Malachi says: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple. But who will abide the day of His coming, and who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap." (Mal. iii:1, 2.) Unlike this first advent as the meek and lowly babe of Bethlehem, He next comes in glory, to avenge the blood of His Saints, to purify the sons of Levi, to cleanse and purify the earth that it may enjoy a reign of peace and rest.

When Jerusalem is partly rebuilt by her ancient covenant people, the Gentile nations will be gathered against them to battle. Then will the crucified Redeemer appear to the Jews. He will set his feet upon the Mount of Olives, and the mount will cleave in twain. The house of Judah will look upon Him, and seeing the wounds in His hands and feet, will ask where He obtained them. When He shall answer, "in the house of my friends," they will weep and mourn, their separate houses and families apart, to realize that He whom their fathers rejected is in truth their Deliverer and Redeemer. Then will the fountain for uncleanness be opened, and the house of Judah will be baptized for the remission of their sins.

"Behold the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against the nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it toward the south." (Zech. xiv:1-4.)

"And one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in Thine hands?" Then He shall answer, "Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." (Zech. xiii:6.) "And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; All the families that remain: every family apart, and their wives apart." (Zech. xii:9-14.) "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." (Zech xiii:1.)

Many other plain and precious prophecies of the Old and New Testaments might be cited to show forth the second coming of our Savior. These predictions are corroborated by the prophecies in the Book of Mormon, and by the predictions of the prophet Joseph Smith, made in the revelations of God to him in these latter days.

In close connection with the Savior's second coming will be presented the glorious conditions of the Millennium. "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." (Hab. ii:14.) "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." (Isa. xi:6-10.)

Man is the great head of God's creation, the image of his Maker. He has made him "a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor." (Ps. viii:5.) Man led the way to the fall by which came the enmity between himself and the lower animal creation. Should man not lead the way, as the Lord directs, back to his "Paradise Lost"?

As an incident pointing the way to and expressing the true spirit of the Millennium, when Zion's Camp, a body of more than 200 men, journeyed through the wilderness of Indiana, Illinois and Missouri from Kirtland to Western Missouri, the Camp at night would be visited by serpents, which the brethren were inclined to destroy. The Prophet Joseph told them not to kill the snakes, but to carry them peaceably from their tents with sticks. Joseph promised them that if they kept this counsel none should be bitten, adding that it was man's duty to set the example of peace and lead the way back to the perfect harmony existing in Eden before the fall. The Camp observed his advice and realized his promise.

The time spoken of by Isaiah, as already referred to here, was also predicted by Joel when he said: "And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and none else: And my people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit." (Joel ii: 27-29.) The apostle Peter, upon the day of Pentecost, gave the multitude to understand that the Spirit which gave utterance to the apostles on that occasion was the same Spirit concerning which Joel the prophet said in the last days should be poured out, not upon the few only, but upon all flesh. The Spirit of God alone can bring perfect unity, destroy enmity, and fill the earth with the knowledge and glory of God.

Of this glorious epoch the prophet Jeremiah says: "And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jer. xxxi:34.) Such a condition would be in harmony with the promise of the Savior that there should be "one fold and one shepherd." The Spirit of Truth is the guide into all truth, rather than to man-made theories taught by men devoid of the authority and inspiration of Almighty God.

Paul says, "When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." (I Cor. xiii.) Prophecy and tongues and the gifts of the Gospel imperfectly enjoyed by man in his weakness were never designed to be done away until we come to enjoy a more perfect fullness, "when we see as we are seen and know as we are known." Zephania says: "For then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent." (Zeph. iii:9.) The pure language was confounded at the tower of Babel, because men sought to thwart the purposes of Jehovah. When the time comes that the wicked who will not obey are swept from the earth, the Lord will restore to His children the language which they learned from their mother tongue and which was spoken from Adam to the time of the tower of Babel. He will also unite the great bodies of water into a mighty ocean and roll it back to its place in the North, while the lands of the earth will be reunited and become one vast continent.

Isaiah says, speaking of the land of Zion, which is the Western hemisphere, and the land of Jerusalem, on the Eastern continent: "Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married." (Isa. lxii:4.) In other words, the lands shall be united. What a glorious period and condition! The earth geographically restored, spiritually redeemed and politically exalted to the government of God. John, the revelator, prophesied: "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever." (Rev. xi:15.) And again, in the twentieth chapter, fourth verse, "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands: And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."

The further writings of the apostle John in the Apocalypse describe the conditions of peace during the Millennium, and subsequently the last resurrection, the change of the earth, the banishment of Lucifer therefrom, and the earth celestialized as man's eternal abode, our heaven. The apostle Peter says "the elements shall melt with fervent heat," and John the apostle informs us that the earth shall become as a sea of glass, a great Urim and Thummim. What a joyous consummation to the labors of the faithful, in the great and marvelous blessings that will bring such glory to those that serve the Lord and to their heavenly abode!

Transcriber's Note

Various apparent printer's errors (e.g. "whem" for "when") and mismatched quotation marks have been resolved as seemed reasonable.

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Cowley's Talks on Doctrine

COWLEY'S TALKS

ON

DOCTRINE

PREFACE.