PROPHECY OF JOSEPH SMITH, THE SEER, GIVEN IN 1832…

PROPHECY OF JOSEPH SMITH, THE SEER, GIVEN IN 1832

"Verily thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls.

"The day will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at that place.

"For behold the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they shall also call upon other nations in order to defend themselves against other nations; and thus war shall be poured out upon all nations.

"And it shall come to pass after many days slaves shall rise up against their masters, who shall be marshalled and disciplined for war.

"And it shall come to pass also, that the remnants who are left of the land will marshal themselves, and shall become exceedingly angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation;

"And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed, the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plagues, and earthquakes, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightnings also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath and indignation and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations;

"That the cry of the Saints, and the blood of the Saints, shall cease to come up in the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth, from the earth, to be avenged of their enemies.

"Wherefore stand ye in holy places and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen."

Has this prophecy been fulfilled? Let the people of the North and South answer the query.

Let the thoughtful reader stop and reflect for a moment on the condition of affairs upon the face of the whole earth. The sword is reaping its harvest of death; nation warring against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. Famine is asserting its sway and untold thousands are starving, perishing, dying for lack of food. Pestilence, in all its horrid forms, stalks in the train of these dire calamities. Earthquakes are making the earth to tremble. Storms, whirlwinds and cyclones are sweeping away cities, towns and villages. The sea, heaving itself beyond its bounds, is thundering its testimonies into the ears of the children of men. Signs in the heavens above and in the earth beneath, betoken the fact that great and mighty events are at our doors. Fear has taken hold upon the hearts of the {299} strong men and the mighty men. Man distrusts his fellowman. Nations and people have become corrupted; fraud and speculation are sapping the vitals of the man-made governments of the earth. The people are tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine that comes along, and when will the end be?

Startle not, reader, for it will not be until He comes whose right is to rule and reign as King of kings. Not until Jesus of Nazareth sets His feet upon the earth and brings order out of chaos, system out of confusion, and bids the angry waves of the sin-tossed world, "Peace, be still," will there be peace among men.

"Now," says one, "I understand His meaning when He said, 'I come not to bring peace, but a sword;'" but thanks be to the Most High, the day is near at hand when "the meek shall inherit the earth," when sorrow and sighing shall flee away, when "the tabernacle of God," will be "with men, and He will dwell with them. * * And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain" (Rev. xxi., 3, 4).

But oh! the woe, the want, the misery, the evils and the lamentation that will go up from the face of the earth before that day does come! All ye people of the earth, heed, oh, heed the warning voice that God sends to you and go out from the midst of Babylon ere another angel shall fly through the midst of heaven saying, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen."

Ye Saints of the living God, cease not your efforts until your feet stand in safe places, in the tops of the mountains, in the shadow of "the house of the God of Jacob," where you may more fully learn of "His ways and walk in His paths;" for the day is near at hand when "the law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Micah iv., 2).

The time is fast approaching when the "kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ," and when John's prophetic vision shall be fulfilled: "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 they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (Rev. xx., 4).

The time has come for the righteous-the redeemed "out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation," to be gathered out, to become kings and priests unto God, and to "reign on the earth" (Rev. v., 9, 10).

{300} AUTHORITY.

In brief manner this subject has been previously alluded to, but a more extended examination is deemed necessary, owing to the importance that attaches to it.

This principle enters largely into every department of man's existence upon the earth. Governments are mainly founded upon it, and authority is fundamentally necessary to establish republics, empires, monarchies and principalities.

The President of the United States must first conform to certain laws and requirements before his acts as President are legal and binding upon the people; so also with all the affairs of the general government. And this is likewise true of the state officials, including the governors, judges, legislators, sheriffs, magistrates, and even the unimportant office of bailiff can only be filled by a man who has fulfilled all the requirements necessary and demanded by the law of the land.

A man who would undertake to fill one of the offices alluded to, without conforming to the law, would be counted an impostor and dealt with as the law directs.

All civilized nations recognize this principle and act accordingly. Even church organizations place great stress upon the necessity that there exists for men to be ordained to their several offices; and a man, before he can legally perform, the marriage ceremony, must first conform to certain rules and laws laid down by the church authority to render the marriage legal. A lay member could not act in the capacity of an elder until authority had been granted him by those who held the power to give authority. Neither could an elder fill the office of a bishop without first conforming to certain rules.

These rules are necessary to the good government of society and the people generally, and without them confusion confounded would reign supreme.

If every man who desired to act as governor was to set up his claims and be allowed to act in that capacity, there would be an end to order. So with all other offices. A few men would sustain one man, as governor, other men would sustain another man, and still other men would sustain their man, until eventually brute force would be the means whereby men would hold their offices.

This principle applies also to admitting men to be citizens of a government. A man who comes from some foreign nation and seeks to become a citizen of the United States must obtain his papers of citizenship and take the oath of allegiance. Not only must he attend to these duties, but he must see that the {301} officer who signs his papers and administers the oath is a duly accredited officer of the government; otherwise his papers are worthless and he is not yet a citizen.

If these things be true as regards man's temporal affairs, how much more true are they when applied to eternal salvation.

Daniel, the young Hebrew prophet, had the visions of futurity opened up to him and saw the time when God would establish a kingdom upon the earth, never more to be thrown down. (Dan. ii., 44; vii., 27).

Many hundreds of years after Daniel's day, Jesus of Nazareth came upon the earth and reiterated the assertion of Daniel, and told His disciples to continue "unceasingly to pray for that kingdom to be set up," and through one of His apostles He revealed how the kingdom was to be established.

John the beloved disciple says: "I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel" [or the laws of the kingdom] "to preach" [or proclaim] "unto them that dwell on the earth" (Rev. xiv., 6).

It would naturally be supposed that the heavenly messenger would be endowed with authority to empower men to admit citizens into the kingdom he came to establish, and that no one could take this authority unto himself, "but he that is called of God as was Aaron;" and that he who might dare to do so, without first being authorized, would render himself liable to the penalty God's law inflicts upon all impostors, usurpers and wolves in sheep's clothing generally.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God," was the command of the Great King, who in the future is to rule over this kingdom. But before the reader can do so he must first find out what it is like; and in this matter we are not left in doubt, for Jesus and His apostles have placed upon record the names of the officers necessary in the kingdom, the necessary laws to govern and control it, the manner of admitting citizens and, in short, all the details, so that the "wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err" in seeking to obey the command, "seek ye first the kingdom of God."

By turning to the writings of Paul (I. Cor. xii., 28), we find that "God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers."

Now if this is the pattern of the officers of the kingdom (church), all we have to do is to start upon our search and examine the various claims that are set up; for there are a multitude of organizations that lay claim to the title of the church or kingdom of God.

It is not necessary to hunt in the midst of the heathen and {302} pagan nations of the earth, for they lay no claim to the title, but will answer you frankly, "We know nothing of your kingdom or its officers." Then let us turn to the Catholic world and examine their claims. We find that they have a pope, cardinals and priests, but no apostles nor prophets, no officers to correspond with the description given by Paul. Next let us view the Protestant denominations. Go back to the earliest reformers, Huss, Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, Knox, Henry VIII, and Wesley. Examine all their organizations and we find none of them lay claim to having these officers in their churches, but, on the contrary, ignore and repudiate them by saying, "They are no longer needed."

Examine all denominations, all orders, all faiths, and we find that in this respect they are deficient and lacking, while poor, weak, fallible man sets up his judgment, and by man's wisdom seeks to enter the kingdom of God.

The Christian world acknowledges that it takes legal authority to make a man a citizen of any temporal government set up by man, but when it comes to the government of God, any man who sees proper to do so can set out with a new set of ideas, called a creed, and establish a church, baptize, bless the communion, and go forward in this way, ordaining men to various offices, and yet denying all the time that God has revealed anything, or bestowed any gift of authority.

Are these legal officers of the kingdom of God? Is the reader so far lost in the mazes of tradition as to suppose for one moment that God will recognize officers appointed in any such way, much less their acts?

But lest we do injustice to these different denominations, let us give them one more chance to prove their position correct; for we would gladly avoid seeing the whole Christian world in error and transgression.

Paul, the great apostle, says that God placed in the Church, in addition to its officers, "miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues," and urged upon the people to seek earnestly for these gifts.

Search the world over and find, if you can, an organization, other than that represented by the Latter-Day Saints, that lays claim to and possesses these great blessings.

The Christian world, having changed the order of the Church of God, have lost these gifts, and in endeavoring to justify themselves, say they are no longer needed. Some of them, more honorable than the rest, acknowledge the true state of affairs and confess the lamentable condition they are in.

{303} 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 heathen again, and had only a dead form left" (see Vol. I, Sermon 94).

Smith's Bible Dictionary (page 163) 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 of those fragments." The names of sixty-five learned divines and Biblical scholars are on the preface page, as contributors to and endorsers of this book.

Dr. Adam Clark, in his commentaries (page 452) on the 4th chapter of Ephesians, says: "All these officers and the gifts and graces conferred upon them were judged necessary by the Great Head of the church, for its full instruction in the important doctrines of Christianity. The same officers and gifts are still necessary, and God gives them, but they do not know their places."

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 any church ordinance; 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).

"Till that great and notable day of the Lord come, we can not, from the prophetic word, anticipate a universal RETURN to the original Gospel, or a general restoration of the kingdom of God, in its primitive form" (Christianity Restored, Alex. Campbell, page 181).

Having brought forward for the consideration of the reader the foregoing points, we now proceed to examine the results that will naturally flow from this terrible situation of affairs; and while we do so, we plead with you, reader, to lay aside prejudice, and, as you value your soul's salvation, seek earnestly to know the truth; "for what doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"

Having thrown aside the officers of the church, Christianity lost its authority and could no longer administer in the ordinances of the Gospel for the salvation of the souls of the children of men. Instead of the officers and endowments of the kingdom or church of God, man-made doctrines and changeable creeds have been substituted, until to-day the Christian world is "driven and tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine." Weakness, imbecility and lack of authority are {304} written on its every movement; vice, sin and wrong-doing prosper and flourish under the very droppings of the sanctuary.

To-day one theory is taught, tomorrow another. Men have "builded cisterns that will not contain water;" in short, have turned from the apostle at the head of the church, and the prophet in the church of the living God, and heaped to themselves teachers, having itching ears, who have turned the hearts of the people from the truth, and led them astray after fables, until "darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people."

Conflicting creeds and faiths fill the world with a war of words, until the hearts of honest men become sick, sick!--sick of the petty jealousies and miserable trickery of professing Christianity--sending the blood-guilty murderer, with his hands reeking with the blood of his victims, from the gallows to eternal glory and the presence of Deity; while an honest man, because he differs from them in belief, must be consigned to a never ending hell!

Oh consistency! thy name is not modern Christianity!

Without apostles, without prophets, without the gifts, without authority, shorn of all thy pristine beauty and loveliness, all thy grandeur and glorious attributes; torn and divided into a multitude of fragments, continually dividing and sub-dividing, thy talk sounds like that of the scribes of old, "without authority."

And what of thy teachers? "Blind leaders of the blind." Prophecy foretells their doom: Struggling to uphold the columns of the house of Babylon, the dwelling place of "the mother of harlots," and her numerous offspring, they will be crushed in her downfall, unless they speedily repent and turn to the true and living God, be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins, and receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, that will "lead them into all truth, and bring to their remembrance things of the past, and show them things to come," for the promise is unto all that "the Lord our God shall call." To members of churches as well as non-members--to the whole world does this proclamation come.

God has set up His Kingdom, or church, upon the earth, never more to be thrown down. His duly appointed and authorized officers are ready to admit men and women as citizens of this kingdom, or church. He or she who hears the sound of this gospel and heeds it not will be under condemnation. He or she who heeds and renders obedience to it will reap life everlasting.

God will not recognize the man-made devices whereby men {305} seek to save themselves by climbing up some other way. He will repudiate the acts of unauthorized men who administer in the ordinances of the gospel; and after once this gospel comes to their ears, if they persist in their course, it will bring condemnation upon their heads. Before they heard it, "they had no sin," in not obeying; now "they have no cloak for their sin," the truth having been taught.

"If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of my myself" (John vii., 17).

May the peaceful influence of the Holy Spirit be with those who desire to know the truth, and come unto God, and serve Him with all their "might, mind and strength."

"As we see the infant taken away by death, so may the youth and middle-aged, as well as the infant, be suddenly called into eternity. Let this, then, prove as a warning to all, not to procrastinate repentance, or wait until upon the death-bed, for it is the will of God that man should repent and serve Him in health, and in the strength and power of his mind, in order to secure His blessing, and not wait until he is called to die."

--Joseph Smith.

{306}

(Tract No. 2.)

THE PLAN OF SALVATION.

BY ELDER JOHN MORGAN.

In the midst of the Christian world there are very many conflicting theories in relation to man's existence here and hereafter; also as to the duties he owes to himself, his fellowman and to his Creator. It is an undisputed question that some knowledge of

WHERE WE CAME FROM, WHY WE ARE HERE, AND WHERE WE GO AFTER WE LEAVE THIS PROBATION,

is essential to the enjoyment and well-being of the human family.

In the following pages of this tract we shall seek to briefly set forth the belief of the Latter-day Saints on these points. While they may differ widely from the accepted ideas of the Christian world, we may be allowed to mildly suggest that the difference is not so much between those sects of the day and the Latter-day Saints, as it is between those sects and the Bible, a fact for which we are in no sense responsible, and a fact that we can in nowise alter or change, even were we so disposed.

It is deemed proper in the commencement of this investigation to refer to another point so that we may clearly understand each other. It is this: sincerity of belief does not, by any means, establish the correctness of a principle. Testimony of an unimpeachable character can alone do that. Man's belief does not affect a principle in the least. The whole world may believe it, and yet it be untrue; the whole world may refuse to believe it, and yet it be true. The unbelief of the people of Noah's day did not stay the flood; the unbelief of the Jews did not prove Jesus an impostor; and the killing of the apostles did not prove their doctrines false. The assassination of Joseph Smith was no proof one way or another as to the divine nature of his authority; neither will the rejection of the doctrines he taught prove them wrong. If they {307} are true, though he was slain, his followers mobbed, driven and persecuted, yet in the end they will rise triumphant over every obstacle and grow stronger and stronger, as error shall grow weaker and weaker.

In presenting the principles of pre-existence the first principles of the gospel and baptism for the dead, we shall simply quote scripture; and we again state that if there is any difference of opinion, it is between the reader and holy writ.

The Apostle Paul's injunction to the Thessalonians was: "Prove all things: hold fast that which is good" (I Thess. v. 21); and the wise man, Solomon, asserted: "He that judgeth a matter before he heareth it, is not wise."

Let us, then, refer to the word of the Lord, which is the end of argument, and see what the teachings of the Great Creator of all are.

Speaking to Job, one of the most ancient writers of the Bible, He says: "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? 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, 2-7.)

Job certainly must have been somewhere when the "foundations of the earth were laid," or why the question?

There was doubtless more meaning to the words, "When ALL the sons of God shouted for joy," than one at first supposes. The reader asks, "Who were these sons of God?" Luke, in giving the genealogy of the human family, gives the necessary information on this subject: "Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the SON OF GOD" (Luke iii, 38). But let us turn to another text. One of the ancient writers says: "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." (Ecc. xii, 7).

Let us ask ourselves how it would be possible to return to a place, point or locality, which we had never visited. How could we return to God unless we had once been in His presence? The logical conclusion is unavoidable, that to enable us to return to Him we must have once enjoyed His associations, which must have been in a pre-existent state, before we became clothed upon with this body of flesh and bone.

Again, we find that the apostles must have had some conception of pre-existence, judging from their question to Jesus: "Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John ix, 2.) It will, doubtless, require no argument {308} to convince the reader that the justice of God would scarcely permit the punishment of the individual before the crime was committed. If so, then the sin must have been committed before he came upon the earth, for he was born blind. It was evident that the question was not a doubtful one in the minds of the apostles as to whether a man could sin previous to his existence in the flesh, but as to whether this particular man had sinned or not.

Paul, in his writings to the Hebrews, says: "Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" (Heb. xii. 9.) We here gain the information as to who the sons of God were who shouted for joy in the beginning. We also learn the reason why we address Him as, "Our Father which art in heaven," is to distinguish Him from the father of our earthly tabernacles. In other words, He is the Father of the spirits that inhabit our bodies, in precisely the same sense that our earthly fathers are the fathers of our bodies of flesh and bone.

When death ensues, we bury the earthly body, which decomposes and mingles with the elements surrounding its place of deposit; but what of the spirit which "returns unto God who gave it?"

When Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection, "They were affrighted, and supposed they had seen a spirit." But He corrected them, saying, "Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" (Luke xxiv. 37-39). From these, words we may gather the information that man, while existing as a spirit, was not clothed upon with flesh and bone, but nevertheless, existed in the exact shape and form that he now possesses. He had eyes to see, ears to hear and many other faculties with which man is here endowed. He was also doubtless in possession of intelligence, and much that goes to ennoble man. He had the ability to pass from place to place, increase in knowledge, and perform certain duties that devolved upon him in that sphere of action.

An unembodied spirit is one that has not yet taken upon itself a body. An embodied spirit is one dwelling in the flesh. A disembodied spirit is one that has passed through this stage of existence and laid its body down in the grave, to be finally taken up and again united, spirit and body, those of the righteous never more to be separated.

The word of the Lord to Jeremiah was: "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 {309} prophet unto the nations" (Jer. i. 5). Here we have the sure word of the Lord relating to one of the children of men who was but a type of the rest, only that in this particular case we have the fact made known that, for good and sufficient reasons, our common Father in the heavens saw proper to ordain one of His children to a certain office prior to sending him down upon the earth. Having so gained the confidence of his Father while in his first or pre-existent state, he was ordained to a high and holy calling, previous to his advent upon the earth, and we learn from holy writ, that this confidence was not misplaced, but that he in honor filled his mission and proved himself true to the trust reposed in him, not veering or turning a hair's breath from the line of his duty, though met by obstacles that would have appalled the stoutest heart.

The reader will please be cautious not to confound the principle of fore-ordination with that of predestination, in the case of Jeremiah, for there is a broad distinction between the two. A man may be fore-ordained, set apart or commanded to do a certain work, yet he retains his agency in the matter, and it is optional with him whether he performs the duty assigned him or not. If predestined to perform a certain work, there would be no choice but to do that work. Not having any choice, he would not incur the responsibility of his own actions, nor control them, but would be controlled by the power which predestined him. While Jeremiah was fore-ordained to be a prophet to the nations, we do not read that he was predestined to fill the office of a prophet by any means.

The principle of pre-existence is plainly illustrated in the life of our Savior, who thus spoke to the people: "What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?" (John vi. 62.) Again, "And no man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven." To all human appearances, Jesus resembled very much the rest of the children of our common Father. So close was this resemblance, that those by whom He was surrounded failed to see any contrast between Him and any ordinary man. They enquired of each other, "Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren James and Joses, and Simon and Judas?"

Let us ask ourselves the question: Is it so difficult to comprehend our own pre-existence, when that of Jesus is so plainly taught, and also that of many of the Biblical characters of whom we read? Paul, the great apostle, speaking of himself, says, "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." (Titus i. 2.) Here {310} was a promise made to Paul of eternal life, "before the world began," continued upon obedience, as was said to Cain aforetime, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?" (Gen. iv, 7.) Yet, notwithstanding this promise, Paul was under the necessity of performing certain duties to enable him to claim the promise made. After being stricken with blindness on the way up to Damascus, and hearing the voice of a risen Redeemer, he was told to "Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do." (Acts ix. 6.) After fasting and prayer, he was visited at the end of three days, by one Ananias, who had been commanded of the Lord, in vision, to visit Paul, and was furthermore told that he was a "chosen vessel," or in other words, one whom the Lord had made promises to, before the "world began," and who had a mission to perform before "Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel." The question of Ananias was, "And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." (Acts xxii. 16.)

We have presented for the consideration of the reader but a few Biblical proofs of man's pre-existence, out of the many that can be selected, yet consider that sufficient has been advanced to show conclusively that the claim of the Latter-day Saints to a belief in this principle, is founded upon holy writ. Their ideas only coincide with the prophets and servants of God in all ages of the world who have alluded to this subject.

Having answered this question: Where did we come from? let us now consider

WHY WE ARE HERE.

A wise Creator must have had some great object in view in the creation of the earth, and placing upon it His children, to pass through what they are called upon to, while in this probation. A knowledge of this object is almost positively necessary to enable the human family to act well their part. Let us then examine what He had in view.

The primary object of man's existence upon the earth, is to obtain a body of flesh and bone; for without this it is impossible to advance in the grand scale of being in which he is to move, in the eternal worlds.

It is necessary also for him to learn, by actual experience, the difference between good and evil. As was said of our first parents, "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil." (Gen. iii. 22.) It is necessary that man should taste the bitter to enable him to appreciate the sweet. No proper appreciation of the value of {311} eternal life could be arrived at, without having experienced its opposition.

A man must first feel the effects of sickness to enable him to fully appreciate the great boon of health. He must feel the effects of pain before he can enjoy immunity therefrom. He must feel the influence and power of death, before he can appreciate eternal life. He must comprehend the effects of sin, before he can enjoy "the rest promised to the faithful." There are many experiences that he can gain in the flesh that cannot be obtained elsewhere. There are ordinances to be performed and eternal unions to be perfected, that in the wise economy of the great Creator, must be effected here on the earth. Baptism for the remission of sins and marriages for eternity, are prominent features of duty that devolve upon man in his second estate, or during his existence upon the earth. It is not all of man's duty to care for himself alone, to selfishly neglect his fellow man, and seek aggrandizement himself at their expense. "Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you," is called the Golden Rule, by which men should be governed in this life. In brief, man has a work to do to prepare himself for a future exaltation in the eternities to come. He is called upon to "work out his salvation with fear and trembling," for the work done in this life will have its influence in that to come. By obedience to the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, he prepares himself for the grand and glorious exaltation held in reserve for those who worship God in "spirit and in truth." As Jesus said to His apostles, "I go to prepare a place for you," for "in my Father's house are many mansions."

Having learned why we are here, let us next examine what is the nature of the duties devolving upon us.

FAITH.

To enable a man to perform any work whatever, requires that he have faith in the ultimate result of his work. No farmer would plant, unless he expected to reap; no builder build, unless he expected to inhabit; no speculator invest, unless he expected to increase his means; no journey would be attempted, unless there existed hope of reaching the destination. So, likewise, no commandment of God would be obeyed, unless there existed faith that certain blessings would follow obedience.

With this idea plainly before us, we can comprehend the assertion of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to {312} God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Heb. xi. 6).

We find the active workings of the principles of faith in the many cases of healing performed by our Savior. "Thy faith hath made thee whole," was the invariable remark He made to one and all: and we find Him speaking to the apostles in the strongest terms about their lack of this great principle. Upon one occasion they came to Him with the question, "Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, 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. 19, 20.) Again we read, "And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matt. xiii. 58), or in other words, they had no faith in the claim he made of being the Messiah; consequently they were deprived of the blessings that fell to those that had faith, as mankind today are depriving themselves of many great and glorious blessings, through their unbelief in the divine calling of Joseph Smith, the prophet and seer.

We often hear the same cry today that greeted the ears of Jesus, "Master, we would see a sign from thee." But He answered and said unto them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign." (Matt. xii. 38, 39).

What was true of the generation was true of the individual, and what was true then is true now, which places sign-seekers in a most unenviable position, but doubtless where they justly belong. Faith is not produced by sign-seeking, but in the words of Paul, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Rom. x. 17).

After the death and resurrection of Jesus, He left this grand test of faith upon record, to serve as a guide for all future generations: "And these signs shall follow them that believe" (or have faith): "In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." (Mark xvi. 17, 18).

"But," says one, "was it not intended that these gifts and blessings should be limited to the days of the apostles, and to the apostles themselves?" Read again, "shall follow them that believe;" and again the preceding verse reads, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." If you limit the signs following the believer to the days of the apostles you must also limit a salvation to that day. But it is today as it was in the {313} day Paul wrote to the Hebrews: "For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." (Heb. iv. 2).

The cultivation of this principle of faith is the first step in our duties in this life. The second step is that of

REPENTANCE.

"Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin." (Ezek. xviii. 30). "Let the wicked forsake his way" (Isa. lv. 7). "Repent * * * every one of you" (Acts ii. 38). "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke xiii. 3).

We understand that repentance does not consist in mourning over sins committed, and then repeating the same sin or one equally heinous, but that Ezekiel meant for the people to cease from doing wrong, to quit their evil practices, and walk in the path of rectitude, virtue and true holiness. "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death." (II. Cor. vii. 10). We believe that the "sorrow of the world" here alluded to, is the too-prevalent practice of crying, groaning and moaning over our wrong-doings, and then continuing the same practices.

The third step for man to take in this life to secure salvation in the eternal world, is to be

BAPTIZED.

"He that believeth" (that is, he that hath faith) "and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark xvi. 16), was the emphatic assertion of our Savior. Again, we find that man came under condemnation by refusing obedience to this commandment:

"But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him" (Luke vii. 30). So the world of today will, in the end, find themselves under condemnation for refusing to obey this principle of the gospel.

"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." (John iii. 5).

Paul, writing to the Hebrews, says: "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrines 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." (Heb. vi. 1-2). Here are four principles all classed together, all equally important, all {314} equally necessary, and all required at our hands by those fixed and eternal laws of truth and justice, by which the worlds are governed, and by which we may return back into the presence of God, and dwell with the just and true and the pure of all ages.

The fourth step necessary for man to take while in this state of probation, is to receive

THE LAYING ON OF HANDS,

for the reception of the Holy Ghost. This is a principle, to a great extent, ignored by the Christian world, yet plainly taught in the scriptures.

Peter, and his brethren of the twelve, had doubtless all been baptized, and endeavored to lead holy lives during their association with Jesus; yet we find Him, just previous to His ascension on high, telling them: "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. And He led them out as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them." (Luke xxiv. 49, 50).

We find a still further explanation of the manner of obtaining this gift and blessing, in the Acts of the Apostles, where He "commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts i. 4, 5).

Turning to the account of the ministry of Philip, in Samaria, we find that after the Samaritans had exercised FAITH sufficient to cause them to repent, they had been BAPTIZED under the hands of Philip. "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" (Acts viii. 14-17).

Paul, writing to Timothy, charged him thus: "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery" (I. Tim. iv. 14); and again, "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" (II. Tim. i. 6).

We also call the attention of the reader to the account of {315} Paul's visit to the baptized Saints of Ephesus, and his inquiry of them: "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. * * * Then they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them: and they spake with tongues and prophesied" (Acts xix. 2-5).

Sufficient has doubtless been said to clearly establish the fact that the gift of the Holy Ghost was formerly obtained by the laying on of the hands of those who held the authority to do so. Nowhere do we find that the order here laid down has been supplanted or annulled. On the contrary, the apostles spoke in the strongest terms against any innovation upon the established forms that Jesus taught them.

Paul, writing to the Galatians, speaks of those who were "perverting" the gospel; doubtless teaching that the laying on of hands was not necessary, or else that it was done away with, and says, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal. i. 8).

The reader has now examined the fourth step for man's advancement in the probation in which he is now living: and in the words of our Savior, "He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber" (John x. 1).

We have traced man from a pre-existent state, before the world began, when he dwelt in the presence of the Father and of our elder Brother Jesus, and mingled with the spirits who have or shall come into this sphere of action.

As it is beautifully expressed in one of the songs of Zion:

"Oh, my Father, Thou that dwellest In the high and glorious place! When shall I regain Thy presence, And again behold Thy face? In Thy holy habitation, Did my spirit once reside? In my first, primeval childhood, Was I nurtured near Thy side?

"For a wise and glorious purpose Thou hast placed me here on earth, And withheld the recollection, Of my former friends and birth; Yet ofttimes a secret something Whisper'd, 'You're a stranger here;' And I felt that I had wandered From a more exalted sphere."

{316} This is certainly a grander and nobler conception of man's origin than that of some of the would-be philosophers of today, who advocate the idea of evolution from a lower scale.

Having described the nature of the duties (to have faith in God and His promises, to repent of his sins, to be baptized for their remission, and to receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost) that he must perform in this life to lay a foundation for future exaltation, we now turn to the consideration of man's

FUTURE EXISTENCE.

Upon this subject there is a great diversity of opinion among men, and almost every possible conjecture has, from time to time, held the attention of the human family. If we are to judge by the accepted creeds of the Christian world, we find that an almost universal belief exists in future punishment.

We find also that the fear of future punishment is used as a mighty power to influence the minds of the people in a religious sense. The fearful horrors of a never-ending punishment of the guilty are portrayed in the liveliest colors from the Christian pulpits of the land. They are so clearly defined, that in many instances we find that the love and justice of God are lost sight of in the description of the fearful character of the punishment He inflicts, not so much upon unbelievers as upon those who reject the creeds, articles of faith and discipline, whereby men seek to "know God."

Let the reader lay aside preconceived notions, tradition and prejudice, and examine this subject with a desire to know the truth.

We shall again refer to holy writ, and ask the candid attention of the reader to the proofs we place before him.

If we had the history of two persons, the one good and the other bad, after they left the earth, or laid down their bodies in death, it would serve as a guide to decide upon the future destiny of the whole human family. Fortunately, there is left upon record such information, and by it we can determine this all-important question.

No one will dispute the assertion that Jesus of Nazareth was appropriately termed the "Just One," a person of pure and holy life.

The confession of guilt by one of the men crucified beside Jesus, is testimony enough to convict him of being a bad man. "We receive the due rewards of our deeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss" (Luke xxiii, 41), were the words of the {317} malefactor, thus confessing that death was the proper penalty for the many crimes that he was guilty of.

Now, here are two persons that were born upon the earth, lived out a certain number of years, and then laid down their lives, their bodies becoming cold and inanimate in death, while their spirits, freed from their earthly tenements, passed into another stage of existence, leaving their remains to be cared for in the ordinary rites of sepulture.

While suffering the agonies of crucifixion, a conversation was carried on between them, which will serve our purpose in opening up an investigation.

"And he 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:" (Luke xxiii, 42, 43.)

The request of the thief was so favorably looked upon, that he had the promise made that he should accompany Jesus to a place which He designated as paradise. He could not have consistently granted him the privilege of entering into His kingdom, when He had replied to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born of water" (baptized) "and of the Spirit" (receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost), "he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John ii, 5.) The thief, not having attended to these ordinances, could lay no claim to that privilege; but, says Jesus, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise."

We are aware that the majority of the Bible-believing world are of the opinion that the thief was permitted to enter heaven, and enjoy the presence of God; but is this idea a correct one? Let us candidly examine it and see; for on it hangs a great principle of truth.

After the body of Jesus had lain three days in the tomb, the spirit again entered into it. The angels rolled the stone away from the mouth of the sepulchre, and the resurrected Redeemer of the world walked forth, clothed upon with an immortal body of flesh and bones.

Mary, who seemed to have some special interest in the Savior, came early to the tomb, and, weeping, discovered that the body of her Master was not there. A voice spake to her, saying, "Mary." She turned herself, and saith unto him, "Rabboni;" which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, "Touch me not; for I AM NOT YET ASCENDED TO MY FATHER: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father: and to my God and your God." (John xx, 16, 17.)

{318} Here we have the assertion of Jesus, Himself, that during the three days immediately subsequent to His crucifixion, while His body lay in the tomb, His spirit did not go into heaven or the presence of His Father. Logically, it must follow, neither did that of the thief. The generally-accepted idea, therefore, of the thief's being saved, must inevitably fall to the ground. Jesus asserted that "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise," and upon His return to earth He informed Mary that He had not ascended to His Father.

The question naturally arises, where had He been during these three days? We are not left in doubt upon this point, but scripture plainly points out the character of the duties He was called upon to perform while His body rested in peace in the newly-made tomb of Joseph. He to whom Jesus transferred the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and who stood at the head of the twelve apostles, would certainly be accepted as a competent witness in this matter; and, by turning to his epistles, we gain this information: "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." (I. Peter iii, 18, 19.) Here we have an account of what He was doing during the three days' absence from the body: preaching unto the spirits in prison, also a very clear explanation as to where the thief went. It was to a prison world, where he would have an opportunity to hear the Savior preach the gospel of deliverance to the captive spirits, "Which some time were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah." (I. Peter iii, 20.)

We now understand what Isaiah, the prophet, meant when speaking of Jesus. He says, "That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth" (Isaiah xlix,); and again, "He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound" (Isaiah lxi, 1); and again, "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, 7.)

How appropriately do these passages coincide with and support the assertion of Peter relative to Jesus preaching to the "spirits in prison!" Men, who in the days of the flood failed to obey the commandments of God, and for two thousand long, weary years had suffered the penalty for their wrong doing, had been fulfilling the principle so clearly enunciated by our Savior when He said, "Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid {319} the uttermost farthing." (Matt. v, 26.) "And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes." (Luke xii, 47, 48.)

With what joy must these long-suffering spirits, held in confinement, have greeted the Redeemer when He appeared and preached to them the glad tidings of great joy, and presented for their acceptance the EVERLASTING GOSPEL! Through its means they could have their prison doors opened, and themselves delivered from the grasp of Lucifer, the son of the morning, who is appropriately described as one who "made the earth to tremble, and did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners." (Isaiah xiv, 16, 17.)

How grand and glorious is the plan of salvation that the Creator has ordained for His children, reaching from eternity to eternity, and covering in its details every possible emergency; controlling, guiding and directing their footsteps while in a pre-existing state; teaching them while sojourners upon the earth, and extending beyond the grave into the spirit world, there to cause their hearts to rejoice and gladden under its benign influence, growing and increasing in might and majesty, power and glory, as the ages roll by, until the inspired words of our divine Master shall be fulfilled: "Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess."

Well might Jesus say to the apostles just previous to His death, "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. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice" (John v. 25, 28).

Turning again to the epistle of Peter, we find this assertion: "Who shall give an account to Him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. 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." (I. Peter iv. 5, 6.)

Jesus, upon one occasion, when explaining the gospel to the apostles, said, "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. 32).

This, in perfect plainness, explains itself to mean, that there is a class of sins that can be forgiven in this world, and a class {320} that cannot; also that there is a class of sins that can be forgiven in the world to come, and a class that cannot.

Peter, speaking of the patriarch David, says, "For David is not ascended into the heavens" (Acts ii. 34). But David himself, knowing full well that the mercy of the Lord endureth forever, says, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell." (Psalms xvi. 10). He knew that after he had paid the penalty of the deeds done in the body, there would be a way whereby he might gain a place in the midst of the righteous in the presence of God.

If the present generation desire to know what will be the result of their disobedience to the proclamation of the principles of the gospel, and their contending against the servants of God who proclaim them, let them read what Isaiah says: "The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage. * * * And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the hosts 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" (Isaiah xxiv. 20-22).

After having waited, perhaps, as long as they did who rejected the word of God in the days of Noah--after having passed through, perchance, thousands of years of punishment, until they have "paid the uttermost farthing," then the gospel will again be presented to them, and "they will be visited." Another opportunity will be given them, to hearken unto the truth; but, in the meantime, the Saints of former and latter days will have advanced in the scale of progression and passed beyond the reach of those who, today, "reject the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized." A separation will have taken place, in which there shall be "weeping and wailing," sorrow and mourning, over the neglect to obey the gospel when there was opportunity.

In accordance with divine law, "they were judged every man according to their works" (Rev. xx. 13), not indiscriminately consigning all grades and classes of sinners to the same punishment, and that to continue forever; but meting out judgment according to their works, some with many stripes and some with but few.

Would it not be a libel upon justice, if a judge, presiding over one of our ordinary courts should award to every criminal brought before him the same punishment? "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, {321} how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things unto them that ask Him?" Certainly the law of poor, weak, mortal man is not superior to that of the Judge of all.

Paul beautifully and aptly expresses the principle in writing to the Corinthians: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (I. Cor. xv. 19); but knowing that the gospel would be preached to the spirits in prison, and that untold millions of those who failed to accept the gospel here would do so there, he felt to rejoice in his heart instead of being the most miserable of men. He was fully aware that there was but one way to be saved, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism," (Eph. iv. 5); that it was positively necessary for man to pass through the door to enter into the sheep-fold; that the many devices whereby men sought to save themselves must of necessity fail, for "God's house is a house of order." He knew there was only one name under heaven whereby men might be saved; that obedience to this law was a prime necessity to salvation, for "in vain do ye say, Lord, Lord, and do not the things I command you."

Knowing these facts, the life of every good and true man, as was Paul, would be rendered miserable at the thought that so many millions of the human family must irretrievably perish, and be subject to torture throughout all the eternities to come; but understanding the great principle of the mission of our Savior to the prison world, they can rejoice in the fact that the plan of salvation is a complete one. They have hope that, not only in this life, but in the life to come, the gospel will be preached and men be taught its precepts.

We here introduce the evidence of some learned men, who have reputation for scholarly ability, far and wide.

Prof. Taylor Lewis, a prominent English writer, states: "We are taught that there was a work of Christ in hades. He descended into hades; He made proclamation in hades to those who are there, in ward."

Bishop Alford says: "I understand these words (I. Peter iii. 19) to say that our Lord, in His disembodied state, did go to the place of detention of departed spirits, and did there announce His work of redemption; preach salvation in fact, to the disembodied spirits of those who refused to obey the voice of God when the judgment of the flood was hanging over them."

Prof. A. Hinderkoper, a German writer, says: "In the second and third centuries every branch and division of the Christian church, so far as their record enables us to judge, {322} believed that Christ preached to the departed spirits." (Haley's Discrepancies of the Bible.)

"As to the endlessness of punishment, I have said that the law that punishes sin is itself endless and for aught I know in the other state souls may be passing from right to wrong and wrong to right, and that may go on forever. I believe that we go out of this world free to do good or evil, and I believe that if a soul repent and turn to God, even in hell, he will not turn it away.

REV. H. W. THOMAS,

"Chicago, Ill."

"I believe that if sufficient probation is not furnished in this world to infants, idiots, antediluvians, heathens and some children who have no moral chance, God will provide some probation in hades.

REV. NEWMAN SMYTHE,

"Hartford, Conn."

These writers were willing to ignore the teachings of tradition, and let the words of inspired men mean just what they said, without any "private interpretation."

God being no respecter of persons, it would be manifestly unjust for one portion of the human family to have the privilege of hearing the sound of the gospel in this life, while so great a proportion never hear it, and lie under condemnation from the fact. No; the plan of salvation is complete, and, reaching from our pre-existent state, applies to our present condition, and will extend to the future state, until every son and daughter of Father Adam have had ample opportunity to embrace its tenets, and live in accordance with its spirit.

We have now examined the gospel proof of pre-existence, and quoted the testimony of Jesus and many of the servants of the Most High. We have gone over the ground of the duties that pertain to this life, connected with faith, repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost [A] and examined the scriptures relative to preaching to spirits in prison.

[Footnote A: Should the reader desire a more complete treatise on these important points, we refer to Tract No. 1.]

We now take one more step in our investigation, and shall endeavor to learn if there is a way wrought out for the deliverance of the prisoners bound and captive in the grasp of Satan.

The fact of their being preached to, is one evidence that something could be done to mitigate their condition, for it {323} would be cruelty intensified, if, after being taught the gospel, it would be necessary to inform them that there was no deliverance.

The word of the Lord through the Prophet Malachi was, "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." (Mal. iv. 5, 6.) Here was a work for the translated prophet of Israel to perform at some future period of time, with the fearful consequence of non-compliance placed before us, that the Lord would smite the earth with a curse. The nature of that work is briefly set forth as turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and that of the children to the fathers.

The Apostle Paul asserts that they without us could "not be made perfect," or in other words, that their salvation was necessary to our happiness or perfection.

Jesus, speaking to Nicodemus, 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."

"But," asks the reader, "how shall a spirit be born of water, or be baptized in the water?"

Very many of those who have gone into the spirit world had never submitted to the ordinance of baptism, while vast numbers of those who had been baptized, had the ordinance administered by one who held no rightful authority whatever, and whose acts God will not by any means recognize.

They stand in the same position to the "kingdom of God" that a man does, who, as an alien to the government of the United States, has received his papers of citizenship from a man who held no office under the government, and, as a consequence, had no authority to confer those rights upon anyone.

Paul, writing to the Hebrews, speaks of baptism in the plural: "Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, and of the doctrine of baptisms." (Heb. vi, 1, 2.)

Many have supposed this passage to sanction the idea of different modes of baptism, but, by turning to another of Paul's epistles, we learn clearly his meaning. We gain also the information how we may be instruments in the hands of a wise Creator in doing a work for the dead. "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they baptized for the dead?" (I. Cor. xv, 29.)

{324} We have here an explanation as to how their prison doors may be opened, and they set free: by the ordinance of the gospel through the baptism for the dead. Those that are in the flesh can do vicarious work for their dead, and become "saviors upon Mount Zion."

We here insert an account of the visit of Elijah to the earth, in fulfillment of the promise of the Lord through Malachi.

On the 3rd day of April, 1836, the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, while in the temple of Kirtland, had the vision of heaven opened, and Elijah, the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before them, and said: "Behold the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi, testifying that he" (Elijah) "should be sent before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be 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." (Doc. and Cov., new edition, page 405.)

Elijah the prophet having come, and conferred the authority to baptize for the dead, the Latter-day Saints are assiduously engaged in erecting temples, wherein this ordinance may be performed. The object of Elijah's visit having been partially accomplished, in causing the hearts of the fathers, dead and gone, to turn to the children here on earth, the children are feeling after the fathers and seeking to open their prison doors, and bring them through the door of baptism into the sheepfold.

Not only are the Elders of Israel traveling, preaching the gospel, and baptizing the people by the thousand, but the Saints are flocking to the temples of the Lord, and redeeming their dead from the grasp of Satan. They are performing a great and mighty work for the human family who have lived upon the earth in the different ages of the world's history, and who, in some instances, by revelation, make manifest to their children or friends, the fact that they have accepted the gospel in the spirit world.

The patriarchs and prophets of former days, with Peter, James and the apostles who lived in the meridian of time, with Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and other prophets of the "dispensation of the fullness of times" in the latter days, are earnestly engaged in the work of giving information and directing the preaching of the gospel in the spirit world.

{325} Associated with our Father in the heavens, with the angels, and the good and true of the earth, we can afford to smile at the puny efforts of man to overthrow the work of God. What! can man strive against the bucklers of Jehovah? Can the designs that have been in process of fulfillment since the world began, now be stayed in their onward progress, because they do not happen to meet the approval of the people of today?

In conclusion, let us examine one more question that has doubtless presented itself to the mind of the reader, and that is the question of future punishment. If, by preaching to the spirits in prison, bringing them to a knowledge of the truth, and being baptized for them, released them from their prison house, it logically follows that there must be an end to future punishment.

We hear the question asked, "Do not the scriptures say that it is 'eternal punishment' and 'everlasting punishment?'" We answer, "Yes." But let us not put any private interpretation on these terms, but correctly understand their meaning.

Eternal punishment is God's punishment; everlasting punishment is God's punishment; or, in other words, it is the name of the punishment God inflicts, He being eternal in His nature.

Whosoever, therefore, receives God's punishment, receives eternal punishment, whether it is endured one hour, one day, one week, one year, or one age. "And they were judged every man according to their works." (Rev. xx, 13). Some shall be beaten with few and some with many stripes (Luke xii, 47, 48). Here we have plainly set forth the fact that all men are not punished alike, that some receive a greater punishment than others.

That, as their works are so shall be the punishment awarded them. "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, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them." (Rev. xx, 12, 13.)

These were the words of John, upon the Isle of Patmos, and most impressively he adds, "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. xx, 19.)

We consider that enough has been said to establish the {326} principles we have advanced, and we will call upon all to whom these words shall come, to exercise faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, to repent of their sins, to be baptised for the remission of them, to receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then to serve the God of Israel with all their might, mind and strength.

"Many men will say, 'I will never forsake you, but will stand by you at all times.' But the moment you teach them some of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God that are retained in the heavens and are to be revealed to the children of men when they are prepared for them, they will be the first to stone you and put you to death. It was the same principle that crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, and will cause the people to kill the Prophets in this generation."

--Joseph Smith.

"The angel taught Joseph Smith those principles which are necessary for the salvation of the world, and the Lord gave him commandments and sealed upon him the Priesthood, giving him power to administer in the ordinances of the Lord."

--Wilford Woodruff.

{327}

"When you see a people loaded with irons and delivered to the executioner, be not hasty to say--This is an unruly people that would trouble the peace of the earth. For peradventure it is a martyr's people, which suffer for the salvation of humanity."

LA MENNAIS.

(TRACT NO. 3.)

OPINIONS OF THE LEADING STATESMEN OF THE UNITED STATES ON THE EDMUNDS LAW.

GENTILE OPINIONS OF THE "MORMON" PEOPLE.

STATISTICS OF CRIME AND EDUCATION.

REFUTATION OF THE SPAULDING STORY.

JUDGE SUMNER HOWARD ON THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE.

BY ELDER JOHN MORGAN.

The attention of the candid, thinking, reader is called to the following extracts culled from the speeches made by the distinguished gentlemen, who, in defense of the Constitution of the United States, opposed the passage of the Edmunds law:

UNITED STATES SENATE, FEBRUARY, 1882.

Showing the Unconstitutionality of the Law, and that it is not Morals but Money that is the moving cause of the present Crusade against the "Mormons."

SENATOR VEST, MISSOURI.

What I object to in this bill is that it is a bill of attainder, unconstitutional in the Territories, unconstitutional in the States, unconstitutional wherever the flag of the Republic wavers to-day in supremacy. It is a bill of attainder because it {328} inflicts a punishment, in the language of the Supreme Court of the United States, without trial by a judicial tribunal.

Mr. President, as I said before, I am prepared for the abuse and calumny that will follow any man who dares to oppose any bill here against polygamy; and yet, so help me God, if my official life should terminate to-morrow, I would not give my vote for the principles contained in this measure.

SENATOR MORGAN, ALABAMA.

This, Mr. President, is to all intents and purposes an ex post facto law. If I have rightly constructed the language in which the seventh section is couched, it undertakes to create a crime and punish a man for the commission of it at a time before the statute itself was enacted, certainly before this method of punishment is prescribed; and if I understand anything in reference to constitutional law, it is that you cannot impose a new punishment upon one who has been guilty even of a crime against the law, so as to make it retroactive in its effect and in its operation.

Now we have the entire case under the Constitution. I submit to the honorable committee and to the Senate that this bill is amenable to two constitutional objections in the particulars I have named. First, it is an ex post facto law, punishing men for crimes heretofore committed, and to which the punishment now sought to be annexed was not annexed at the time of their commission. The next is that it is a bill of attainder, a bill of pains and penalties, whereby the legislative department of the Government usurps the functions of the judicial, and puts a man under condemnation without trial and without even the due observance of the forms of law. As the act stands on its face, and as the purposes of it are entirely apparent from its whole tenor, I think there could not be a more flagrant violation of the Constitution.

SENATOR LAMAR, MISSISSIPPI.

In my opinion, sir, it is a cruel measure, and will inflict unspeakable sufferings upon large masses, many of whom are innocent victims.

SENATOR CALL, FLORIDA.

There is nothing theocratic in the government of the Mormon Church that is exhibited to the world. It does not claim to govern the Territory of Utah. It acknowledges the authority {329} of the Government of the United States. You cannot assail it by declaring it as a matter of opinion on the part of the American Congress that for a man to worship God according to his belief, as Mormons do (however contrary to our opinions and our wishes), is a theocracy to be suppressed with fire and sword. But if you will make war upon it, let it not be by striking down the liberties of your people and doing violence to your own holy faith; but assail it with the red right hand of war, with the sword to stab it out, and say to them: "Proclaim your heresies and conduct your rites beyond the limits of this Territory of the United States." Sir, this is worse than open, flagrant war. This is asserting to the people that what our fathers, acting under the teachings of the Christian religion, fought for more than a hundred years to accomplish, shall be thrown away. This is an assertion by the Congress of the United States that there may be a trial by a packed and prejudiced court, by partial jurors, by a man's enemies, and not his friends; that a government shall be constructed in which the vast majority--nine-tenths of the people--in defiance of the principles which control our whole political system, a government of a minority shall be constructed through penal provisions and through verdicts of courts selected and organized to try and convict!

SENATOR BROWN, GEORGIA.

The bill proposes to apply a religious test to the Mormons, in so far as it punishes the Mormon for his opinions, it is a religious test applied. He believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet as much as I believe that Jeremiah was a prophet; and while I think he is in an egregious error, I have no right to proscribe him because of his belief as long as he does not practice immorality. And I have no right to do more as a legislator than to prescribe rules to punish him for his immoralities, and leave him to the full enjoyment of his religious opinions, just as I claim the right to enjoy my own opinions. If we commence striking down any sect, however despised or however unpopular, on account of opinion's sake, we do not know how soon the fires of Smithfield may be rekindled or the gallows of New England for witches again be erected, or when another Catholic convent will be burned down.

We do not know how long it will be before the clamor would be raised by the religious institutions of this country, that no member of a church who holds the infallibility of the Pope or the doctrine of transubstantiation should hold office or {330} vote in this country. We do not know how long it would be before it would be said that no member of a church who believed in close communion and baptism by immersion as the only mode, should vote or hold office in this country. You are treading on dangerous ground when you open this floodgate anew. We have passed the period where there is for the present any clamor on this subject, except as against the Mormons; but it seems there must be some periodical outcry against some denomination. Popular vengeance is now turned against the Mormons. When we are done with them, I know not who will next be considered the proper subject of it.

To accomplish this great object the Territorial practices of half a century are to be blotted out, local self-government is to be destroyed, the church is to be plundered, and the prosperous region of Utah is to be subjected to the rule of satraps whose unlimited power will enable them to rob and pillage the people at pleasure. If this system is once inaugurated, bitter as was our experience in the South during the late reconstruction period when our affairs were being regulated, it was mildness itself compared with what is in store for Utah as long as the wealth accumulated by the Mormons is not exhausted.

Mr. President, I shall be a party to no such proceedings. Other sections of the Union have frequently run wild in keeping up with New England ideas and New England practices on issues of this character. I presume they will do so again, but I, for one, shall not be a party to the enactment or enforcement of unconstitutional, tyrannical, and oppressive legislation for the purpose of crushing the Mormons or any other sect for the gratification of New England or any other section. The precedents which we are making, when the persons and parties in the States who feel it their duty to regulate the affairs of others find themselves unemployed and the regulation of Mormonism no longer profitable, will be used against other sects. Whether the Baptists, or the Catholics, or the Quakers will be selected for the next victim does not yet appear. But he who supposes that this spirit of restless and illegal intermeddling with the affairs of other sections will be satiated or appeased by the sacrifice of the Mormons has read modern history to little advantage.

The Mormon sect is marked for the first victim. The Constitution and the practices of the Government are to be disregarded and if need be trampled down to gratify the ire of dominant intermeddling.

And such is the fanaticism now prevalent in reference to the {331} Mormon sect, that when it is clearly shown the regulation which they desire can not take place within the Constitution and laws, the restless regulators will doubtless be ready to follow the example of Mr. Stevens and regulate Mormonism outside of the Constitution. But why should Southern men become camp-followers in this crusade?

The Mormons may, however, be consoled by the reflection that their privileges need not be curtailed if they are obedient, nor the present practice diminished, but they must change the name and no longer conduct the wicked practice in what they call the "marriage relation."

The Government considers this no great hardship, as it freely permits in the Mormons, if called by the right name, what it does not punish in other people. For, without violating the policy of the Government in so far as it has been proclaimed by its Utah Commission, if the Mormons will conform to its requirements as to the mode, the practice of prostitution in Utah need not in the slightest degree be diminished. The clamor is not against the Mormon for having more than one woman, but for calling more than one his wife. And the Mormons will do well to remember that the policy of putting the whole population, men, women, and children to the sword, and filling the whole land with wailing, blood, and carnage will not be wanting in advocates if a portion of them still continue, each to cohabit with more than one woman in what they call "the marriage relation."

The Government and people of the United States have deliberately determined that they must call it by the proper name. Let the Mormon who has a plurality of women remember that he must conform to the practice elsewhere and call but one of them his wife.

This, Mr. President, is the point we have reached. This is the distinction we have drawn. This is our present policy and practice as applied to the Territory of Utah. What consummate statesmanship!

Others who feel it their duty upon such hollow pretexts to destroy a prosperous Territory by such unconstitutional and illegal means as are proposed will doubtless proceed with this unnatural warfare until they have seen the result of their folly.

Let those whose ambition prompts them to such deeds of daring take part in this tyrannical and illegal conquest over a helpless people, who, to gratify an insatiate fanaticism, are to be crushed without the morals of this country being in the slightest degree improved or illegal sexual intercourse in the {332} least degree diminished, and let them enjoy the fruits of their triumph.

But as I have sworn to support the Constitution of the United States, and can not therefore belong to the army of the conquerors, I shall have no right to claim any of the trophies of the victory. Nor when the slaughter comes shall I have upon my hands the stain of the blood of any of the victims. Nor shall I share in the responsibility when in future our present unconstitutional and unjustifiable legislation against the Mormons shall be used as a precedent for like legislation to crush some other sect or denomination, who may have chance, as the Mormons now do, to fall under the ban of popular fanaticism and indignation which will afford another pretext for New England interference and regulation.

There are over fifty millions of people in the United States; and there are probably twenty times as many persons practicing prostitution, or illegal sexual intercourse, in the other parts of the Union as the whole number who practice it in Utah. Many of the features of its practice in the other States and Territories, including foeticide, illegal divorce, etc., are quite as revolting, or more so, than in Utah. It is assumed in the other parts of the Union, where a greatly larger number of persons practice sexual impurity than the whole number of Mormon polygamists, that polygamy must be put down at any cost. It is certainly a matter of great importance that polygamy, prostitution, foeticide and illegal divorce, whether practiced in Utah or in any other part of the United States, should be put down. And if we have it in our power by constitutional means to accomplish that end no one would be more rejoiced than I. But having taken a solemn oath to support the Constitution of the United States, I cannot as a Senator vote for a measure which I am satisfied is a plain violation of the Constitution to crush out polygamy, or to accomplish any other object. And we would do well to bear in mind that if the Congress of the United States disregards and violates the Constitution of the United States in its eager haste to crush a sect but little over one hundred thousand strong, the result of the precedent may be the crushing out of one sect after another, until it ends in the complete overthrow of the liberties of fifty millions of people, who are expected to applaud our efforts to crush the Mormons without regard to constitutional difficulties or constitutional obligations.

No matter what the popular applause may be on the one hand or the popular condemnation on the other, I will join in {333} no hue and cry against any sect that requires me to vote for measures in open violation of the fundamental law of the land. And we would do well to bear in mind that an illegal persecution of any sect always excites sympathy for the persecuted and greatly increases its number. The late Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, when asked what would be the effect of the Edmunds bill on Mormonism, replied, "The effect will be to make more Mormons."

But I may be asked, "What means can we adopt to destroy this great evil in Utah?" I reply we can not do it by passing unconstitutional laws, or adopting illegal or unconstitutional means, or by striking down republican government in the Territory.

The Christian churches of this country spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year sending missionaries to foreign lands where polygamy is practiced. In India and in China alone more than 500,000,000 of people practice or acquiesce in the practice of polygamy. And yet the Christian churches are not discouraged, but they send missionaries there, hoping finally to convert the whole mass of the people. Why, then, should we not send missionaries to Utah, where only about 12,000 people practice and a little over 100,000 people believe in polygamy? If the Christian churches are willing to make the effort to convert 500,000,000 of polygamists in the East, why should they not with less effort convert 100,000 within the limits of our own land? If the first task is within the range of possibility, what is there to discourage us from the smaller undertaking? There are a great many people in Utah who might be converted by the proper effort. They are our neighbors, our fellow-citizens. Shall we give them up as reprobates, and make no effort to save them, and join in a crusade to crush them? They speak our language, they are within easy reach. Why give them up and turn to the heathen of other lands, who neither understand our language nor have anything of race or sympathy in common with us? Have the Christian churches done their duty to the Mormon people? If you can not convince their leaders you can convert thousands of the people. It may be easier to cry "Crucify them" than it is to try to help convert them. But can the churches reconcile it to conscience that duty is as well performed in the one case as in the other?

MR. HOUSE OF TENNESSEE.

Now it seems to me that if the Supreme Court of the {334} United States knows what a bill of attainder is, the eighth and ninth sections of this act are clearly in violation of the Constitution. When I took a seat in this House I took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States. I can not and will not swear to a lie even to emphasize my abhorrence of polygamy or to punish a Mormon, and with my views of this act I would have had to do so if I had voted for the bill when it passed. It would seem that after organizing a packed jury to convict, the authors of the bill ought then to have been willing to await a conviction before depriving American citizens of the right to vote or hold office. For what is an American, deprived of those rights? He may live in a land of boasted freedom, but thus stripped of the rights and privileges that freemen most value, he is no better than a slave.

Let the carpet bagger, expelled finally from every State in the American Union with the brand of disgrace stamped upon his brow, lift up his head once more and turn his face toward the setting sun. Utah beckons him to a new field of pillage and fresh pastures of pilfering. Let him pack his grip sack and start. The Mormons have no friends, and no one will come forward to defend or protect their rights. A returning board, from whose decision there is no appeal, sent out from the American Congress baptized with the spirit of persecution and intolerance, will enter Utah to trample beneath their feet the rights of the people of that far-off and ill-fated land. Mr. Speaker, I would not place a dog under the dominion of a set of carpet-baggers, re-enforced by a returning board, unless I meant to have him robbed of his bone. A more grinding tyranny, a more absolute despotism was never established over any people.

The Mormons have been guilty of believing in, and some of them practicing, polygamy. But they have been guilty of another sin also. They have committed the offense of belonging to the democratic party. That Territory now has a population about large enough to be admitted into the Union. It would not do to let it enter the Union as a democratic State. There is not now the least danger of it. After it has passed under the manipulations of the returning board, after her people have been driven from their homes under the oppressive laws that will be passed under the powers conferred by this law, after the carpet-bagger has gone in and taken possession, Utah, clothed in the habiliments of the republican party, will be welcomed into the sisterhood of States. I did desire to notice some other features of this law, but time forbids. It {335} was passed under the operation of the previous question, and no one had the opportunity to discuss it or to point out its imperfections. The Delegate sent here by the people of that Territory, by a barefaced usurpation on the part of the governor, was denied a certificate of election, and was not allowed to take the seat to which he had been elected, or to speak in behalf of his people while they were being robbed of their rights.

HON. JAMES W. STILLMAN, FREETHINKER, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, 12TH FEB., 1884.

The bill which Senator Hoar has reported is an ex post facto law, because it changes the rules of evidence as already indicated. The Edmunds bill is a bill of attainder; and it is an ex post facto law, because it punishes these people without a judicial trial; it increases the punishment for polygamy by disfranchisement and disqualification to hold office. Every Senator and every Representative who voted for that bill had taken a solemn oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and yet, unmindful of that oath, actuated by the spirit of religious bigotry and fanaticism which I have denounced here to-night, they lost sight entirely of their constitutional obligations, and nullified one of the most important provisions of that great instrument.

RIGHT OF SELF-GOVERNMENT.

JUDGE JEREMIAH S. BLACK'S ARGUMENT.

The end and object of this whole system of hostile measures against Utah seems to be the destruction of the popular rule in that Territory. I may be wrong--for I can only reason from the fact that is known to the fact that is not known--but I do not think that the promoters of this legislation care a straw how much or how little the Mormons are married. It is not their wives, but their property; not beauty, but booty, that they are after. I have not much faith in political piety, but I do most devoutly believe in the hunger of political adventurers for spoils of every kind. How else can you account for the struggles they are now making to get possession of all the local offices in the Territory, including the treasurer, auditor, and all depositories of public money? If they do not want to rob the people, why do they reach out their hands for such a grab as this?

{336} Coming back to the original and fundamental proposition that you have no authority to legislate about marriage in a Territory, you will ask what then are we to do with polygamy? It is a bad thing and a false religion that allows it. But the people of Utah have as good a right to their false religion as you have to your true one. Then you add that it is not a religious error merely, but a crime which ought to be extirpated by the sword of the civil magistrate. That is also conceded. But those people have a civil government of their own, which is as wrong-headed as their Church. Both are free to do evil on this and kindred subjects if they please, and they are neither of them answerable to you. That brings you to the end of your string. You are compelled to treat this offense as you treat others in the States and in the Territories--that is, leave it to be dealt with by the powers that are ordained of God or by God Himself, who will in due time become the minister of His own justice.

* * * * *

In regard to the unholy crusade periodically waged against the "Mormons" by godless men, and specially revived at every recurring Congressional session for the purpose of provoking proscriptive anti-Mormon legislation, the following forcible and faithful word-picture (which is as true as photography, and to which over 150,000 Utonians can make oath), drawn by the Honorable Thomas Fitch, ex-United States Senator, unmistakably illustrates the motives which inspire every such wicked ringocratic movement.

At the constitutional convention held in Salt Lake City, February, 1872, Mr. Fitch, United States Senator from Nevada, said;

There is no safety for the people of Utah without a State government; for under the present condition of affairs, their property, their liberties, and their very lives are in constant and increasing jeopardy. James B. McKean (United States Chief Justice in Utah) is morally and hopelessly deaf to the most common demands of the opponents of his policy, and in a case where a Mormon or a Mormon sympathizer, or a conservative Gentile, be concerned, there may be found rulings unparalleled in all the jurisprudence of England or America. The mineral deposits have attracted here a large number of restless, unscrupulous and reckless men, the hereditary foes of {337} industry, order and law. Finding the courts and federal officers arrayed against the Mormons, with pleased lacrity this class have placed themselves on the side of courts and officers. Elements ordinarily discordant blend together in the same seething cauldron. The bagnios and hells shout hosannas to the courts; the altars of religion are infested with the paraphernalia and the presence of vice; the drunkard espouses the cause of temperance; the companion of harlots preaches the beauties of virtue and continence. All believe that license will be granted by the leaders in order to advance their sacred cause, and the result is an immense support from those friends of immorality and architects of disorder who care nothing for the cause, but everything for the license. These constitute a nucleus of reformers and a mass of ruffians, a centre of zealots and a circumference of plunderers. The dramshop interest hopes to escape the Mormon tax of $300 per month by sustaining a judge who will enjoin a collection of the tax, and the prostitutes persuade their patrons to support judges who will interfere by habeas corpus with any practical enforcement of municipal ordinances. Every interest of industry is disastrously affected by this unholy alliance, every right of the citizen is threatened, if not assailed, by this ungodly combination.

Your local magistrates are successfully defied, your local laws are disregarded, your municipal ordinances are trampled into the mire, theft and murder walk through your streets without detection, drunkards howl their orgies in the shadow of your altar; the glare and tumult of drinking saloons, the glitter of gambling hells, and the painting flaunt of the bawd plying her trade, now vex the repose of streets, which beforetime heard no sound to disturb their quiet save the busy hum of industry, the clatter of trade, and the musical tingle of mountains streams. In prosecuting Mormons the prosecution have tried their cases beforehand on the streets, in the newspapers, by public meetings, by petitions, and over the telegraph wires, by means of their leading adviser, the Salt Lake agent of the Associated Press. There is no evidence so base or worthless but is sufficient to indict a Mormon; there is no evidence sufficiently damning to indict a man who would swear against a Mormon. In support of these statements a volume of details of acts of injustice and tyranny might be compiled from the official records. One instance will suffice. Brigham Young, an American citizen of character, of wealth, of enterprise; an old man who justly possesses the love and confidence of his people, and the respect of those who know and comprehend {338} him, has been sent to prison upon the uncorroborated oath of one of the most remarkable scoundrels that any age has produced, a man known to infamy as William A. Hickman, a human butcher, by the side of whom all malefactors of history are angels; a creature who, according to his own published statement, is a camp follower without enthusiasm, a bravo without passion, a murderer without motive, an assassin without hatred.

The religious and secular leaders of Utah, men who are respected by many honest, earnest people who are not of their faith, men who are believed to be innocent by many influential and independent journals not of their way of thinking, men who are held fast in the embrace of a hundred thousand hearts, men who have filled the land with monuments of industry and progress and human happiness, are likely to be sacrificed because a manufactured and unjust public sentiment demands their conviction.

I say deliberately, that with the history of the past behind me, with the signs of the present before me; I say with sorrow and humiliation that the Mormon charged with crime who now walks into the courts of his country goes not to his deliverance, but to his doom; that the Mormon who in a civil action seeks his rights in the courts of his country goes not to his redress, but his spoliation. The Mormons have been joined each year by a few desperate outcasts, men who were outlawed for crime as the Mormons were outlawed for religion. Such men followed the tide of Mormon immigration; they attached themselves to Mormon trains; they professed belief in the Mormon faith and devotion to the Mormon leaders. It was impossible to know their histories, it was impossible to fathom their motives. They were given food, given shelter, given employment, although seldom trusted. Let such men be tempted by assured promises and they will swear their crimes upon others whose lives and hearts contrast with theirs as the white snow contrasts with the mire it covers. How many such men are there in Utah? Convicted liars, professional thieves, confessed assassins, trembling perjurers, who have hung for years upon the outskirts of the little societies which gathered together and built themselves up amid these mountain fastnesses. One such man has served to accuse and caused to be imprisoned several of your most honored citizens. Half a dozen such, instigated by cowardice and avarice, with savage hearts filled with a lust of rapine, would crowd every jail in the Territory.

{339} The Mormons are judged abroad, not by their thousands of deeds of charity and kindness, but by a few deeds of blood unjustly accredited to their leaders. You will never hear how tens of thousands of people have been brought from famine and hopeless toil to lives of peace and plenty, of the thousands of passing emigrants who have been fed and sheltered and succored.

Your antagonist is hydra-headed and hundred-armed. Whether by bigoted judges, by packed juries, by partisan officers, by Puritan missionaries, by iron-limbed laws, by armies from abroad, or by foes and defections at home, the assault is continuous and unrelenting, though unprovoked.

Now, in order to preserve the thrift, the industry, the wealth, the progress, the temperate life, the virtues of Utah from spoliation and devastation and ruin; in order to save a hundred noble pioneer citizens and this honest, earnest, calumniated people from outlawry, or the gibbet, or incarceration, you must have a State government. Every other refuge of good men, every other protection of innocent men is closed in your faces. A State government means juries impartially selected from all citizens, and judges chosen by a majority of the people, and officers of your own selection; it means honest, economical government; it means peace and security, and exemption from persecution.

FRUITS OF "MORMONISM."

"By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? Can an impure fountain send forth pure water?"--JESUS.

Bishop D. S. Tuttle--now and for years past an Episcopal clergyman in Salt Lake City--in a lecture on "Mormonism," published in the New York Sun, November, 1877, held these views:

"In Salt Lake City alone there are over 17,000 Latter-day Saints, Now, who are they? I will tell you, and I think, that after I have concluded, you will look on them more favorably than you have been accustomed to do. Springing from the centre of your own State (New York) in 1830, they drifted slowly westward until they finally rested in the basin of the Great Salt Lake. I know that the people of the east have obtained the most unfavorable opinion of them, and have {340} judged them unjustly. They have many traits that are worthy of admiration, and they believe with a fervent faith that their religion is a direct revelation from God. We of the east are accustomed to look upon the Mormons as either a licentious, arrogant or rebellious mob, bent only on defying the United States Government and deriding the faith of the Christians. This is not so. I know them to be honest, faithful, prayerful workers, and earnest in their faith that heaven will bless the Church of Latter-day Saints. Another strong and admirable feature in the Mormon religion is the tenacious and efficient organization. They follow with the greatest care all the forms of the old church."

From the caustic pen of Henry Edger, in the New York Evolution, July, 1877:

The Federal Government is doing at this moment a great injustice to the 200,000 Mormons in Utah. We have no right to demand any conditions of Mormons more than Presbyterians or Methodists. The Federal Government engaged in a crusade of extermination against a people with such a record as the Mormons have to show, is a spectacle of which no one can be proud. Unfortunately we need not go out into the Rocky Mountains to find debasing, superstitious and immoral practices, sheltering themselves under the cloak of religion; nor do we need go to Utah to find polygamy openly and shamelessly practised. A polygamy which sacrifices utterly and dooms to a fate most horrible all the wives but one, deceiving and betraying her also, is surely not very much morally superior to a polygamy that, for the first time in modern society, completely shuts out that horrible social institution, prostitution. That the government of the United States can virtually introduce the brothel, the gambling house and various other charming New York institutions into Salt Lake under color of abolishing Mormon polygamy is unhappily only too plainly evident. Driven by mob violence from one State to another, despoiled of their legitimate possessions--fruits of honest toil--this despised and grossly wronged people found their way at last across the trackless desert and by an almost unexampled perseverance and industry created an oasis in the desert itself.

Elder Miles Grant, the Adventist, and editor of The World's Crisis, says:

"After a careful observation for some days, we came to the settled conclusion that there is less licentiousness in Salt Lake {341} City than in any other one of the same size in the United States; and were we to bring up a family of children in these last days of wickedness, we should have less fears of their moral corruption, were they in that city than in any other. Swearing, drinking, gambling, idleness, and licentiousness have made but small headway there, when compared with other places of equal size."

In a late visit of Governor Safford, of Arizona, to a "Mormon" colony on the Little Colorado, he writes:

We were kindly received by the colonists, numbering some 400 souls, who made us welcomed and gave us freely of such comforts as they had, as this people do to all strangers who come among them. Every one works with a will. They have no drones, and the work they have accomplished in so short a time is truly wonderful. All concede that we need an energetic, industrious, economical and self-relying people to subdue and bring into use the vast unproductive lands of Arizona. These Mormons fill every one of the above requirements. Tea, coffee, tobacco and spirituous liquors they do not use. They are spoken of by those living nearest to them as the kindest of neighbors, and all strangers receive a hearty welcome among them. They have a splendid robust looking lot of children, and are very desirous of having schools.

General Thomas L. Kane, of Pennsylvania, says:

I have given you in terms the opinion my four years' experience has enabled me to form of the Mormons, preferring to force you to deduce it for yourselves from the facts. But I will add that I have not heard a single charge made against them as a community--against their habitual purity of life, their willing integrity, their toleration of religious differences of opinion, their regard for the laws, their devotion to the constitutional government under which we live--that I do not, from my own observation, or upon the testimony of others, know to be unfounded.

Chief Justice White, formerly of Huntsville, Alabama, in charging the Grand Jury, Salt Lake City, February, 1876, said:

I do not utter the language of prejudice, nor treat lightly or derisively the Mormon people or their faith. No matter how much I differ from them in belief, nor how widely they differ from the American people in matters of religion, yet {342} testing them and it by a standard which the world recognizes as just, that is, what they have practised and what they have accomplished, and they deserve higher consideration than ever has been accorded to them. Industry, frugality, temperance, honesty, and in every respect but one, obedience to the law, are with them the common practices of life.

This land thy have redeemed from sterility, and occupied its once barren solitudes with cities, villages, cultivated fields and farm houses, and made it the habitation of a numerous people, where a beggar is never seen and alms houses are neither needed or known. These are facts and accomplishments which any candid observer recognizes and every fair mind admits.

United States Prosecuting Attorney Dickson:

It was a matter of history that the Mormons did not cohabit together, in the sense as used by the other side, without a form of marriage, and it was alone this form of marriage and the practice under it, and not sexual sins, that Congress was legislating against. They knew that those sins are not upheld in Utah, but are condemned by the Mormons and deplored by the Gentiles; they recognized the Mormon system of marriage as a constant menace against monogamous marriage, and thus legislated against it, and it was the prevention of its continuance that was the primal object of the law. The cause and necessity of the act showed its intention and the only objects against which it should be directed; and for this it could be extended to its full purpose. The design and only purpose of the law was to root out and extirpate polygamy. The two systems of marriage could not dwell side by side. If polygamy was allowed to grow, without being placed under the ban of the law and of public opinion, it would in the end supplant the monogamic system, and was a constant threat and menace to and jeopardized the latter, and Congress so viewed it.

The following statistics covering the year 1882, obtained mainly from Gentile sources, furnish their own comment.

Let the reader bear in mind that the non-"Mormons" of Utah are clamorous for the enforcement of unconstitutional laws against the "Mormons," for the purpose of purifying their morals and Christianizing their practices.

These men and their associates, are the ones, who engage in the wholesale denunciation of the "Mormon" people.

{343} CRIMINAL STATISTICS.

Mormons. Non-Mormons.

Assault and battery 40 260 Assault with intent to kill 2 Assault with deadly weapons 7 Assault with intent to commit rape 1 5 Assault with threats 18 Murder 1 15 Manslaughter 1 Attempt to murder 4 Accused of murder 6 Threatening to murder 1 Mayhem 2 Dueling 1 Prostitution 95 Keeping brothels 27 Lewd conduct 6 Insulting women 3 Exposing person 9 Nuisance 5 Obscene and profane language 4 24 Forgery and counterfeiting 8 Drunkenness 68 307 Drunk and disorderly 29 151 Drunk and profane 12 136 Selling liquor without license 18 Gambling and keeping gambling houses 1 52 Mail and highway robbery 1 6 Grand larceny 3 48 Burglary 1 8 Disturbing peace 34 111 Bigamy 1 Destroying property 15 26 Arson 26 Obtaining money under false pretenses 25 Opium smoking, etc 16 Stealing railroad rides 19 Vagrancy 147 Violating prison rules 6 Total 208 1578

So that the Mormons, comprising seventy-eight per cent. of the population of the Territory, contributed one-eighth of the arrests made during 1882, and the non-Mormons, having only twenty-two per cent., contributed seven-eighths.

In those pursuits having a demoralizing tendency, the distribution was as follows:

Mormons. Non-Mormons.

No. saloons and breweries 16 146 No. billiard tables and bowling alleys 1 46 No. gambling houses 10 Total 17 202

{344} The number of brothels throughout the Territory was twelve, all kept by non-Mormons; number of inmates not given.

The criminal record of Salt Lake City, for 1882, shows that in a population of about 25,000, divided between Mormons and non-Mormons as nineteen to six, the total number of arrests was 1,561, of which 188 were Mormons, and 1,373 non-Mormons.

If it should be suspected that these territorial and city exhibits show an unfair discrimination in favor of the Mormon population, through the sympathy of the Mormon police officers and magistrates, such suspicion will be removed by the summary of the records of the territorial penitentiary for the same year. It will be recollected that for the conviction of this class of criminals, the whole machinery of the law, judicial and ministerial, is in the hands of the Federal government. The number of penitentiary convicts for the year was twenty-eight. Of these but one was an orthodox Mormon, and she a woman, confined for one day for contempt of court; five others were Mormons only by reason of their parentage, and the remaining twenty-two were; eight Catholics, four Methodists, one Jew, one Adventist, one Presbyterian, and seven of no religious faith.

EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS.

In 1870, according to the United States census report (taken in Utah by non-Mormons), Utah's enviable record stood as follows:

Comparative Statistics from Census of United States, 1870.

School Illiteracy, Paupers. Insane Convicts. Printing Church attendance, cannot read and and Edifices. 5 to 18 or write, 10 Idiotic. Publishing years. years and Establishments. upwards. UTAH 35 11 6 5 3 14 19 UNITED STATES 31 26 31 16 9 6 17 PENNSYLVANIA 30 10 45 17 9 9 14 NEW YORK 21 9 59 23 12 7 12 MASSACHUSETTS 25 12 55 20 11 11 12 DIST. OF COLUMBIA 27 40 23 35 9 11 8 CALIFORNIA 24 10 41 22 19 14 9

{345} THE BOOK OF MORMON.

Among the many theories advanced by the opponents of truth, to account for the existence of the Book of Mormon, is the untenable, but widely believed, story that one Solomon Spaulding wrote it, and that it was surreptitiously appropriated by the Prophet Joseph Smith. Thousands, doubtless, believe this silly attempt to an explanation to-day; but the following correspondence will probably serve to enlighten the minds of those who wish information on this subject.

Letter from President Fairchild, of Oberlin College, Ohio, New York Observer of February 5th, 1885:

SOLOMON SPAULDING AND THE BOOK OF MORMON.

The theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon in the traditional manuscript of Solomon Spaulding will probably have to be relinquished. That manuscript is doubtless now in the possession of Mr. L. L. Rice, of Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands,[A] formerly an anti-slavery editor in Ohio, and for many years State printer of Columbus. During a recent visit to Honolulu, I suggested to Mr. Rice that he might have valuable anti-slavery documents in his possession which he would be willing to contribute to the rich collection already in the Oberlin College library. In pursuance of this suggestion Mr. Rice began looking over his old pamphlets and papers, and at length came upon an old, worn and faded manuscript of about 175 pages, small, quarto, purporting to be a history of the migration and conflicts of the ancient Indian tribes which occupied the territory now belonging to the States of New York, Ohio and Kentucky. On the last page of this manuscript is a certificate and signature giving the names of several persons known to the signer, who have assured him that to their personal knowledge, the manuscript was the writing of Solomon Spaulding. Mr. Rice has no recollection how or when this manuscript came into his possession. It was enveloped in a coarse piece of wrapping paper, and endorsed in Mr. Rice's handwriting, "A Manuscript Story."

[Footnote A:--Since the publication of this letter, the M.S.S. has been placed in Oberlin college library by Mr. Rice.]

There seems no reason to doubt that this is the long lost story. Mr. Rice, myself and others compared it with the Book of Mormon and could detect no resemblance between the two, in general or detail. There seems to be no name nor incident {346} common to the two. The solemn style of the Book of Mormon, in imitation of the English Scriptures, does not appear in the manuscript. The only resemblance is in the fact that both profess to set forth the history of the lost tribes. Some other explanation of the origin of the Book of Mormon must be found, if any explanation is required.

JAMES H. FAIRCHILD.

From Bibliotheca Sacra.

Rev. C. M. Hyde, D.D., of the North Pacific Missionary Institute, contributes an article to the Boston Congregationalist, in which he gives a history of the manuscript from the beginning and of the attempts made by Hurlburt, Howe and others to connect it with the Book of Mormon, and thus concludes his lengthy and interesting contribution:

The story has not the slightest resemblance in names, incidents or style to anything in the Book of Mormon. Its first nine chapters are headed: Introduction; An Epitomy of the Author's Life, and of his Arrival in America; An Account of the Settlement of the Ship's Company; Many Particulars respecting the Natives; A Journey to the N. W.; A Description of the Ohohs; Description of the Learning; Religion; An Account of the Baska, Government and Money.

There is no attempt whatever to imitate Bible language, and to introduce quotations from the Bible, as in the Book of Mormon. On the contrary, Rev. Solomon Spaulding seems to have been a man who had no very high regard for the Bible. There are two manuscript leaves in the parcel of the same size and handwriting as the other 171 pages of manuscript. A few sentences will show the views of the writer. "It is enough for me to know that propositions which are in contradiction to each other can not both be true, and that doctrines and facts which represent the Supreme Being as a barbarous and cruel tyrant can never be dictated by infinite wisdom. * * * But, notwithstanding I disavow my belief in the divinity of the Bible, and consider it as a mere human production, designed to enrich and aggrandize its authors, yet casting aside a considerable mass of rubbish and fanatical rant, I find that it contains a system of ethics or morals which cannot be excelled on account of their tendency to ameliorate the condition of man." It would seem improbable from such avowed belief that Rev. Solomon Spaulding was an orthodox minister, who wrote the Book of Mormon in Biblical style, while in poor health, for his own amusement. The statement is more probable that he wrote this Manuscript Found, with {347} the idea of making a little money, if he could find some one to print it for him.

It is evident from an inspection of this manuscript, and from the above statements that who ever wrote the Book of Mormon, Solomon Spaulding did not.

The manuscript is now in the possession of Professor James H. Fairchild, or rather of Oberlin College, Ohio, of which he is President. It was sent there to be deposited in the college library, by Mr. L. L. Rice, of Honolulu, Sandwish Islands, among whose papers it was found at that place. Mr. Rice lived formerly in Ohio, and in 1839-40 he and his partner bought the Painesville, Ohio, Telegraph, of E. D. Howe, and in the transfer of type, presses, stock, etc., there was a large collection of books, manuscripts, etc., among them the manuscript in question. E.D. Howe was the publisher of a book against Mormonism, called "Mormonism Unveiled," and obtained the "Manuscript Found" from the notorious "Dr." D. P. Hurlburt, who obtained it from Mrs. Davidson, Solomon Spaulding's widow, who had remarried. Hurlburt never returned it. The reason assigned to Mrs. Davidson for its non-publication as an expose of the Book of Mormon was, that when examined it was found not to be what had been expected. One has only to glance through it to see the propriety of that conclusion.

When Mr. Rice moved to Honolulu this manuscript, with other literary rubbish that had not been destroyed, was taken with him. It was not until Prof. Fairchild, being on a visit to Mr. Rice, questioned him concerning any old papers he might have in his possession relating to anti-slavery matters, that in looking for them this manuscript was turned up. It bore the following endorsement:

"The writings of Solomon Spaulding proved by Aron Wright, Oliver Smith, John N. Miller and others. The testimonies of the above gentlemen are now in my possession.

(Signed), D.P. HURLBURT.

The chain of evidence is complete. There can be no doubt that this is the long lost "Manuscript Found," about which there has been so much speculation. Mr. Rice and Professor Fairchild both examined it critically, compared it with the Book of Mormon, and came to the conclusion that there was not the slightest connection between the two books, and no similarity whatever in matter, purpose, narrative, names, language, style, or anything else. The manuscript looks old and {348} faded, has 170 odd pages, small quarto, and was tied up, with a string in a coarse paper wrapper.

MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE.

We give below an extract from the Lee trial, showing briefly and conclusively that the authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the "Mormon" people, were innocent of any complicity whatever, in the terrible tragedy enacted at Mountain Meadows, that on the contrary President Brigham Young sought by every means in his power to save the unfortunate emigrants.

Remarks made by Mr. Sumner Howard, Ex-Chief Justice of Arizona, and United States Prosecuting Attorney at the second trial of John D. Lee:

"He proposed to prove that John D. Lee, without any authority from any council or officer, but in direct opposition to the feelings and wishes of the officers of the Mormon Church, had gone to the Mountain Meadows, where the Indians were then encamped, accompanied only by a little Indian boy, and had assumed command of the Indians, whom he had induced, by promises of great booty, to attack these emigrants. All these charges against John D. Lee, he (District Attorney Howard) proposed to prove to the jury by competent testimony, beyond reasonable doubt, or beyond any doubt, and thought no appeal to the jury would be required to induce them to give a verdict in accordance with the evidence."

"James Haslam, of Wellsville, Cache Valley, was sworn. He lived in Cedar City in 1857; was ordered by Haight to take a message to President Young with all speed; knew the contents of the message; left Cedar City on Monday, September 7, 1857, between 5 and 6 p.m., and arrived at Salt Lake on Thursday at 11 a. m.; started back at 3 p.m., and reached Cedar about 11 a. m. Sunday morning, September 13th; delivered the answer from President Young to Haight, who said it was too late. Witness testified that when leaving Salt Lake to return, President Young said to him: "Go with all speed, spare no horseflesh. The emigrants must not be meddled with, if it takes all Iron County to prevent it. They must go free and unmolested.' Witness knew the contents of the answer. He got back with the message the Sunday after the massacre and reported to Haight, who said, 'It is too late.'"

At the second trial the evidence was plain and direct as to Lee's complicity in the massacre; he was convicted by "Mormon" {349} testimony, and a verdict of "guilty" was brought in against him by a "Mormon" jury.

At the close of the second trial U. S. District Attorney Sumner Howard, in his opening address, repeated again that he had come for the purpose of trying John D. Lee, because the evidence led and pointed to him as the main instigator and leader, and he had given the jury unanswerable documentary evidence, proving that the authorities of the Mormon Church knew nothing of the butchery until after it was committed, and that Lee, in his letter to President Young a few weeks later, had knowingly misrepresented the actual facts relative to the massacre, seeking to keep him still in the dark and in ignorance. He had received all the assistance any United States official could ask on earth in any case. Nothing had been kept back, and he was determined to clear the calendar of every indictment against any and every actual guilty participator in the massacre.

"When the Gentiles reject the Gospel it will be taken from them and given to the house of Israel."

--Wilford Woodruff.

"We have never violated the laws of this country; we have every right to live under their protection, and are entitled to all the privileges guaranteed by our State and National Constitution."

--Joseph Smith.

{350}

JOSEPH SMITH.

WAS HE A PROPHET OF GOD? AN INVESTIGATION AND TESTIMONY, BY J. M. SJODAHL. 1891.

The controversy between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the various churches of the world turns upon one great question, viz.: Has God again revealed His will to mankind through Joseph Smith, the Prophet? If He has, and this can be proven, then the controversy is at an end, and it is the duty of all to accept the message of that prophet as from God. Then to accept the gospel which Joseph Smith preached is to accept God, who sent him, and to reject it is to reject God. This question is, therefore, one of the greatest importance and should be carefully considered by everyone who is concerned about the salvation of his own soul and the souls of those who are dear to him.

The question is a twofold one, and each part of it demands a separate consideration.

1. Are the books of the Bible all that is necessary for the guidance of men to eternal life and exhaltation, or, is continuous revelation necessary?

2. Is there any evidence, supposing continuous revelation to be necessary, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God?

I.

The question: Are the books of the Bible all that is necessary to guide us to the attainment of eternal salvation? has been variously answered.

The Romanists claim that they are not. They give to genuine tradition the same authority as to the written word and submit both to the interpretation of their infallible Pope.

Most of the Protestants deny the authority of the tradition and the infallibility of any one representative of the church. They claim that the written word, as contained in the Bible, is the only necessary and authoritative guide in matters of religion. An eminent Baptist divine, Dr. Angus, says: "As {351} the Holy Scriptures claim to be regarded as the book of God, a divine authority, so they claim to be the only authority. It is not a rule, it is the rule both of practice and faith. To ascertain its meaning, we employ reason and the opinions of good men, and the experience of a devout heart; but no one of these helps, nor all combined, can be regarded as of coordinate authority." (Bible Handbook, page 69.)

Bishop Grundtvig was aware of the weakness of this Protestantic position, taken and vigorously defended by the reformers. For the guidance of the "church" he claimed in the first place a "living word," a continuous tradition, expounding the "written word," which, he insisted, is nothing but a dead letter until quickened by the Holy Spirit, present in the "church;" and in his view, curiously enough, not the books of the Bible but the Apostolic Symbol was the written word, par excellence, composed, probably, by our Savior himself and transmitted from the Apostles to the posterity in all ages. The worthy bishop gave to the Apostolic Symbol the place that is otherwise generally accorded to the books of the Bible, and agreed with the Romanists in holding the necessity of a living interpreter, directed by the Spirit, while, with the Protestants, he denied the claims of the Pope, or any pope, as to the monopoly of this office.

The Latter-day Saints hold that the books of the Bible were sufficient for the people to whom they were addressed and for the purpose for which they were written. As records of God's dealings with mankind in ages past, and as prophecies of things yet future, they contain instructions for all ages and all nations; but as circumstances change, as new emergencies arise, and the plans of God develop, continued revelations are just as necessary for the guidance of the church as revelation ever was. "A religion that excludes new revelation from its principles, is just the very religion that suits the devil * * * for he knows well that God has nothing to do, nor ever had, with any religion that did not acknowledge prophets and revelators, through whom He could speak and reveal His will to His sons and daughters." (Orson Pratt. The Seer, vol. ii, No. 5, May, 1854.)

Thus the various views on the question may be briefly stated.

The word of God, the Bible itself, amply justifies, I think, the position of the Latter-day Saints on this important question. The purposes for which the various books were written; the difficulties that present themselves when the exact meaning of many passages is investigated; the usual dealings of God {352} with His people, as explained in the Bible, and many predictions of new revelations, all these facts give evidence of the correctness of the position taken by the Church of Christ in this last dispensation. What man needs, is not only a Bible and a genuine tradition, expounded by an interpreter, even if this should have, in some degree, the Holy Spirit, but he needs first of all and above all a direct communication with God, his heavenly Father. He may study the written word humbly and carefully, and thereby he will certainly, through the aid of the Holy Spirit, acquire much useful knowledge concerning religion and eternal truths; he will, if following the precepts laid down, be led onward and forward and attain a certain degree of eternal happiness. But the knowledge necessary for the work to be done in connection with the establishment of the dispensation of the fulness of times or for the obtaining of the glory emanating from the ordinances of this dispensation, he will never acquire by his own study of any amount of sacred literature.

The truth of this statement becomes self-evident, when we mark the purpose for which the sacred books were written. If there were any book of the Bible by God designated to be a complete code of laws, all-sufficient for all times and all conditions, such a fact might reasonably be expected to be either expressly stated, or implied somewhere within the covers of the sacred volume. But no such statement is to be found, nor can it be shown to be implied, when the scope of each book is clearly understood.

THE PENTATEUCH.

The Pentateuch, for instance, contains the principles on which the Jewish theocracy was founded, a dispensation that was, according to prophetic declarations, only to last for a certain time. In the first eleven chapters of Genesis we find a few outlines of the Patriarchal dispensation, and some of the ordinances of that dispensation are referred to without any detailed account. The last chapters of Genesis contain merely a brief historical sketch of the transition from the patriarchal dispensation to the Mosaic dispensation. The remaining books of Moses (as indeed all of the Old Testament) are chiefly an incomplete history of the dealings of God with that one nation which He had chosen for the purpose of communicating His will to mankind, until the appearance of the promised "Seed." But the dispensation itself was a transient one. The principles upon which it was founded must necessarily {353} also be subject to such modifications as a new dispensation would require. Paul, the greatest Jewish scholar of his age, is very emphatic on this point. "It (the Mosaic law) was added because of transgression, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made." "Before faith came we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come we are no longer under a schoolmaster." (Galatians iii, 23-25.) "(God) also has made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death (the Mosaic law), written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? * * For if that which is done away (the law) was glorious, much more that which remaineth." (II Cor. iii, 6-11.)

The laws of the Mosaic dispensation have, according to the same apostle, no more claim or binding force, relative to the members of the Christian dispensation, than a dead husband has to a living wife: "For the woman which has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband; * * wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ." (Rom. vii, 2-4.)

THE HISTORICAL BOOKS.

Of the remaining historical books of the Old Testament much need not be said. The book of Joshua describes the settlement of the Israelites in the Holy Land. In the Judges we read of repeated apostasy, its punishment and God's mercy in delivering the penitent. The books of Samuel show the establishment of the ancient prophetic office and also the rejection of this divine appointment and of God as the ruler, and how God, yielding to the demands of His blinded people, allows them to have a king. In the Books of the Kings, to which the Chronicles seem to be a supplement, we can trace the awful consequences of the revolt of the people against the prophetic office, until the nation, after a short time of prosperity under David and Solomon, falls to pieces and are carried away captives.

{354} THE POETICAL BOOKS.

The poetical books are effusions of devout hearts contemplating the past mercies of God, His present goodness and faithfulness, and containing more or less distinct predictions of the future events in the Kingdom of God. The Psalms, many of which were composed by David, were intended for the edification of the people when gathered to their national festivities in Jerusalem. The singing of them formed, no doubt, an important part of the service. The book of Job and the Song of Songs are specimens of early dramatic compositions. The hero of the book of Job was an inhabitant of Uz, in the northeast part of the Arabian desert, and a contemporary, perhaps, of Terah, the father of Abraham. There are some grand lessons laid down in the book. The question is discussed whether great suffering is not an evidence of great guilt. The friends of Job affirm this, while he himself, under the greatest afflictions, denies it, appealing to God's righteousness and faithfulness. The Song of Songs, the best one of the one thousand and five which Solomon composed (I Kings iv, 32), is a description of wedded love, one of the noblest affections which man is capable of enjoying, and was probably composed when Solomon introduced into his family an Egyptian princess (I Kings iii, 1; vii, 8; ix, 24) as a plural wife. The Proverbs, and the Ecclesiastes contain many sentiments showing both the wisdom and the vanity of the world, pointing to Him who is the Wisdom, the Truth, and the Light of the World.

In all these books we find truths scattered as numerous and as beautifully as the stars in a clear November evening sky; but the very scope of each book is such that it cannot be accepted as a closed and finished code of revelations, sufficient for all contingencies that can ever arise in the history of the human race, any more than the beautifully sparkling light of the stars is all that is necessary for the illumination of the earth.

THE PROPHETICAL BOOKS.

These contain many predictions bearing directly on the last days, for prophecy is a record of future events, as history is a record of past events. But in reading ancient prophecy, one very common error must be avoided, viz., to suppose that the prophets generally described the events of the last days. This they evidently do not do. Their prophecies generally {355} concern such events as were immediately future in their own time, and in which their own generation was, on that account, mostly interested. Prophecies are often read as if they all related to events which are still future, and which we therefore look at with anxious interest, whereas the truth is that events long ago transpired, and which we have almost forgotten, but which once were the great epochs of history, form the important theme of the bulk of prophetical predictions. In some cases prophecy covers the ground of events yet to transpire. But then, it is noticeable that the more remote the events described are, the more vague and dim the visions concerning them become, until we clearly perceive that, were it not for the new additional light of continued revelations upon the last scenes of the history of the world, we would never, from the first predictions delivered, be able to form a clear and distinct idea of these scenes.

Notice, as an illustration of this, the first prediction of the "seed of woman" who should crush the head of the serpent, and follow the gradual development of this prophecy, until later prophets are able by the Spirit of God to describe not only many minute details of the birth, life and death of our Savior (Isaiah), but also the precise time for his coming in the flesh (Daniel). And so it is with all predictions given. They increase in clearness as the events draw near. They indicate, therefore, by their very nature the necessity of continued revelation, as the first rays of morning indicate the approach of the coming daylight.

In reading the prophetical books, this must be kept in view.

JONAH is the most ancient of the prophets whose written records have come down to us. He lived more than eight hundred years before Christ. His book is a narrative of how the prophet was called on a mission to the great city of Nineveh but in disobedience to the command of God, he fled in an opposite direction, intending to go to Tarshish. On the way, however, a great storm arose. Jonah, on his own suggestion, was thrown into the sea, and by a great fish carried back to the land he had left. After this miraculous deliverance, he goes to Nineveh and delivers his message, which results in the repentance of the inhabitants and the repeal of the announced judgment.

The spiritual lessons conveyed in the narrative are very important and instructive. Yet the prediction delivered is one that chiefly concerned the people of Nineveh for whom it was intended.

It has been observed that the prophet himself, in his {356} miraculous deliverance from the deep, furnishes "the fullest and nearest shadow of Christ's lying in the grave, which the scriptures afford," but then it must also be remembered that this type would by no means have been clear to us had not Christ himself pointed it out. It is only through new revelation on the subject that we are enabled to see the resemblance between the deliverance of Jonah and the resurrection of Christ. This "fullest and nearest shadow" is therefore in itself a proof of the necessity of continuous revelation.

JOEL was contemporary with Jonah. He lived B.C. 810-795, and addressed himself to Judah. He first delineates an impending devastation under the picture of successive armies of locusts, and of burning drought.

There are some differences of opinion as to the events to which these opening visions refer. They most probably refer to the successive subjugations of the country by Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Romans.

Then follows an exhortation to penitence, fasting and prayer, and a promise of deliverance from the evils predicted. In the second chapter, v. 18-31, the effusion of the Holy Spirit, previous to the destruction of Jerusalem and subsequent calamities, "the great and terrible day of the Lord," is clearly predicted. But here again a new revelation, which was given through Peter (Acts ii, 16-21) was needed to point out that the fulfilment of the prediction took place at the day of Pentecost. The Jews were well conversant with the writings of this prophet and held him in great reverence, but they could not see the connection between the prophecy and its fulfilment, until pointed out to them by an inspired servant of God. And this remark applies to almost all prophecy.

The last clause of the last verse of the second chapter, as well as the third chapter, refer to events yet future. The gathering of the nations of the earth to the valley of Jehosaphat and their destruction, the establishment of Jerusalem as the holy city and the glorious state of the millennial kingdom are the themes treated on. But--let us repeat the remark--when the fulfilment of these predictions comes, the world will need inspired men to point that fulfilment out, just as the Jews needed on the day of Pentecost. The book of Joel furnishes decisive proof of the necessity of continuous revelation.

AMOS was another contemporary of Jonah and of Joel. He lived B.C. 810-785. His residence was Bethel, and he was sent as a messenger to Israel. The first two chapters of his book contain predictions of the judgments of God upon the {357} various states surrounding Judea. "The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem," an indication of the anger of Jehovah against these states. The punishment of Syria, of the Philistines, of Tyre, Edom and Ammon, Moab, and, finally, also of Judah and Israel are foretold. The prophet then devotes four chapters to exhorting the people to repentance, reminds them of what God had done for them. But as he sees that his exhortations have no effect, he sets forth in visions the approaching destruction of the people, until the inhabitants of Bethel tried to prohibit him from prophesying any more among them (chapter vii). The prophet, however, continues in the name of the Lord, who had called him to the office, to describe the near destruction of the nation. And having done so he closes his book with a few verses (chapter ix, 11-15) on a still future restoration, the glory of which shall be shared by Edom and other Gentile nations, a prediction that is referred to by Peter (Acts, xv, 17), as beginning to be fulfilled in the establishment of the Church of Christ. And here, again, a new revelation was required to make the precise meaning of the prediction clear.

HOSEA was a native of Israel, and lived B.C. 800-725. His ministry lasted about sixty years, until the ten tribes were led captive by the Assyrians, and his prophecies are almost exclusively directed against Israel, the most prominent tribe of which was Ephraim, with the capital of Samaria. At the time of this prophet the idolatry commenced by Jeroboam in Dan and Bethel had continued for one hundred and fifty years, and all classes of the people were sunk in vices of various kinds.

The first three chapters of his book contain a symbolic representation of the fallen people and God's statement that He had now rejected them. In order to exemplify this, the prophet is commanded to wed a "wife of whoredoms" and to give to the children names indicating the wrath of God. The prophet having complied with this command is again directed to love another adulteress "according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel" (iii; 1), thus giving to the ten tribes remarkable object lessons concerning their faithlessness towards Jehovah. The severe denunciations in this part of the book close with promises of a final restoration (chapter ii, 14-24; iii, 4, 5).

The following chapters reiterate more fully the subjects of the first three. In chapters iv-x, the prophet brings up the charges against the people: "There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, lying, killing, {358} stealing and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood." "The priests are like the people." For these sins the judgment of destruction is pronounced, but the book closes with a prediction of God's blessings as the final outcome.

Whether these last promises refer to the return of some Israelites under Ezra or whether they remain to be fulfilled is not clear from the book itself. Paul, directed by the Spirit of revelation, applies some of these promises to the Gentiles (Romans ix, 25, 26), an application that could not be made except by the light of continuous revelation.

ISAIAH lived B.C. 765-698 and was, consequently, part of the time contemporary with Hosea. He prophesied among the Jews, as Hosea prophesied among the Israelites.

The political aspect of the world at this time is important to notice. Judea and Israel had not long been two kingdoms, and the latter was fast approaching her destruction. With Moab, Edom and the Philistines, Judah had repeated conflicts, each of these tributaries striving more or less successfully to gain independence. Assyria was now growing in strength and extending her conquests on all sides. Egypt had been subdued by Ethiopia and the two countries were strengthened by a union. A struggle between Egypt and Assyria, the two rival powers of the world, was coming, and both of these powers endeavored to secure the alliance of Judah as well as of Israel, wherefore the injunctions of the prophets were for the people of God to keep a strictly neutral position without any regard to flatteries or threatenings. Babylon had just commenced her struggle for independence, and tried to form an alliance with Judah, for which purpose a special ambassador, Merodach Baladan, was sent to King Hezekiah. This pious king in an unguarded moment, entertained the messengers and displayed to them his own treasures and the treasures of the house of the Lord, which kindness and courtesy drew forth from the more clear seeing prophet of God the awful announcement that the time would come when all these treasures would be carried away into Babylon, and that even the princes of Judah should be made base slaves in the palace of Babel (chapter xxxix).

During the time of this prophet, the kingdom of Judah was invaded by the combined forces of Syria and Israel. This unfortunate kingdom, Israel, had fallen through idolatry and every sin, but she filled her cup of iniquity by combining with an idolatrous nation in war upon her brethren. This brought the long predicted destruction, and Israel was captured {359} by the Assyrians. The event stands out more clearly as a judgment of God when it is remembered that the same Assyrian power was miraculously, defeated when attempting to invade Judah.

If we keep these facts in view, the writings of Isaiah become intelligible and clear.

The first twelve chapters of this book contain reproofs, warnings and promises, chiefly directed to Judah and Israel. In these promises, predictions of the coming Messiah and his work are prominent. The next chapters (xiii-xxiii) are directed against Assyria, Babylon, Moab, Egypt, Philistia, Syria, Edom and Tyre. In chapters xxiv-xxxv the sins and the misery of the people are rebuked. The Assyrian invasion is predicted and the destruction of Samaria, while the deliverance of Jerusalem is being promised. The following four chapters are historical, describing the invasion of Senacherib and the defeat of his army, and also the sickness of the King Hezekiah and his recovery. The closing chapters (xl:lxvi) are again prophetic, embracing events from the Babylonian captivity to the establishment of the millennial Kingdom of Christ. The deliverance of the Jews from Babylon, the character, sufferings, death and glory of Messiah; the gospel call of the Gentile world; the wickedness of the Jews in rejecting Messiah and their consequent scattering; their final return and the prevalence of the Kingdom of God, all these are clearly predicted, but the subjects are often blended together, and the transition from one to another is sometimes so rapid as to render it difficult to follow the connection. Indeed, in order to understand fully the passages that refer to events yet future, some divine revelation seems to be necessary. For it is only by the aid of the spirit of prophecy that prophecies can be fully understood.

MICAH, B.C. 758-699, was a contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, and lived in the southern part of the kingdom of Judah. He does little more than reiterate the predictions of the two mentioned prophets, adding such illustrations and exhortations as were suitable to the class among whom he labored.

One of his most remarkable predictions states that the gift of prophecy should be withdrawn from the ten tribes for a long time. "Therefore, night shall be sent you, that ye shall not have a vision, and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets and the day shall be dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God" (iii: 6, 7). {360} Here it is predicted that the people should be left in spiritual darkness because of the cessation of prophecy, but the darkness shall not be an everlasting one, for it is a "night" caused by the "setting of the sun," and consequently, as day follows night, so a time will again come when the prophetic day shall dawn upon the people. This is clearly implied in the language used, so that the very threat to withdraw the Spirit of prophecy implies a promise of its renewal.

NAHUM, B.C. 720-690. This prophet was contemporary with Micah and Isaiah. He commenced his ministry at the time of the captivity of the ten tribes. And while the Assyrian power was boasting over this success, he is called upon to announce the fall and destruction of their great metropolis, Nineveh. This is the theme of the whole book. Nahum wrote his predictions in poetical form, and its sublimity of style is unsurpassed. The twelfth and thirteenth verses of the first chapter are a parenthetic insertion, giving to the captives in Assyria a promise of deliverance at some future time.

INTERVAL OF FIFTY YEARS.

For a space of one hundred and fifty years the voice of prophecy had now been heard among the people. Sometimes two or more inspired men had been raised up at the same time, in different parts of the country. But with the death of Isaiah, Micah, and Nahum, an interval of fifty years comes, during which period no prophecies were delivered, as far as we know. During this time the ten tribes toil in their captivity, and Judah, still in possession of his inheritance in Palestine, is growing in sin and hastening on to destruction. But as this fatal moment approaches, God again sends inspired messengers to warn the people, and to declare His decrees. He never overthrows nations without due warning. He never said that further revelations were superfluous.

REVIVAL OF PROPHECY.

ZEPHANIAH, B.C. 640-609, revives the prophetic office again after fifty years' interval. It seems that God left the people to themselves during the reign of the wicked King Manasseh, and first whey Josiah had ascended the throne the voice of God was again heard. This prophet announces the approaching judgment upon Judah on account of their idolatry and other sins. Baal, with his black-robed priests (chemarin), and Moloch are to be cut off, men and beasts, fowls {361} and fishes to be consumed (chapter i). In the second chapter he predicts the overthrow of the Philistines, the Moabites, Ammonites and Ethiopians, as well as the desolation of the great Assyrian capital, Nineveh. The book closes with promises of a restoration yet future.

JEREMIAH, B.C. 628-585, was called to the prophetic office some years before the death of Zephaniah. His prophecies are delivered in various places. He commences in his native place, Anathoth, but he was soon compelled to flee from here on account of his persecutions; wherefore he took up his residence in Jerusalem. During the reign of Josiah and Jehoahaz he continued his ministry uninterrupted, but when Jehojachim ascended the throne, Jeremiah was incarcerated and sentenced to death, although the sentence was never carried out. In prison the prophet committed his message to writing and commissioned one Baruch to read it in the temple on a fast-day. The reckless monarch, after having heard a few pages, had the roll cut to pieces and burned. During the reign of the next king, Jehojachin, the prophet again utters a voice of warning, but without effect. Zedekiah became king. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, besieged Jerusalem, but withdrew on hearing that the Egyptians were coming to rescue. On this occasion the prophet delivered the prediction that the Chaldeans should come again and take the city and burn it with fire. Having delivered this message he left Jerusalem, as did, according to the Book of Mormon, at the same time another righteous man with his family, Lehi. But Jeremiah was apprehended and thrown into prison, where he remained until the city was taken by Nebuchadnezzar.

The incarceration of the prophet of God was the sin that filled the cup of iniquity of the Jews at this time, and it brought speedy judgment.

The Babylonian king gave the prophet the choice of following the captives to Babylon or to remain with the remnant. He chose the latter; and from this time all his endeavors are to turn the people to God, promising them that if they would do so, God would yet build them up in their desolate country. But they did not listen to his advice. They left the country and emigrated to Egypt, bringing the prophet with them (chapter xliii). Here he once more lifts up his voice, trying to induce the people to turn to the Lord. After this we hear no more of him. Tradition says he was put to death in Egypt by his own people.

Among the predictions of this remarkable prophet, we note the following: The fate of Zedekiah (xxxiv, 2, 3); the {362} precise duration of the Babylonian captivity, viz., seventy years (xxv, 11, 12); the downfall of Babylon and the return of the Jews (xxix, 10-14). There are also many predictions concerning Messiah, whom he calls "Jehovah our righteousness." The final salvation of Israel is set forth in many passages: iii, 15-18; xxxi, 31-34; 1, 4, 5.

As the predictions of Jeremiah are not chronologically arranged, and no clue is left as to their true chronological order, it is sometimes very difficult to decide which predictions have already been fulfilled and which refer to events yet future. Only through the Spirit of revelation can this be determined.

HABAKKUK, B.C. 612-598, is thought to have lived in Judea shortly before the captivity. If this supposition is correct, he was contemporary with Jeremiah. The prophet commences his book with a lamentation over the sins of Judah, foretelling the judgment that was to be poured out over the people through the invasion of the Chaldeans. Then the destruction of the Chaldeans is shown unto him in a vision (chapter ii), and the book closes with a song, composed probably for the use of the people in public worship, and designed to comfort them under the coming afflictions.

DANIEL, B.C. 606-534, was born shortly before the Babylonian captivity and carried to Babylon in his eighteenth year. Here, through his faithfulness to his God, he soon rose to an eminent position, and retained his power during both the Babylonian and the Persian dynasties. He prophesied during the whole of the captivity, his last two prophecies being delivered two years after the return of the captives. He did not return to Palestine, but died in Babylon, at least ninety years old.

The first six chapters are a historic record, setting forth the events which led to the recognition of Daniel as a prophet of God, also the conversion of Nebuchadnezzar, the fall of Belshazzar and the promotion of Daniel to the office of a president over one hundred and twenty princes "who should be over the whole kingdom." This historic record is interwoven with predictions relating to the various kingdoms of the world. Thus in the second chapter we see before us, as in a beautiful panorama, a succession of kingdoms until the kingdom of God is being established, "never to be destroyed," "but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."

This prediction is distinct and clear, yet the remark made repeatedly before is applicable here: Revelation is necessary {363} in order to understand the details of its fulfilment. That God in the last days will establish an everlasting kingdom, is foretold plainly enough. But "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom," so that the prediction given does not exclude the necessity of continuous revelation. Through revelation Daniel was enabled to predict the establishment of this kingdom; through revelation only can we perceive the establishment thereof and recognize its existence.

The second part of the book is prophetic and comprises in its wonderful views events from the time of Daniel to the final resurrection of the dead. It is an epitomized history of the world, written in advance of the events.

In chapter vii, the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian and Roman empires are represented by the four beasts: a lion, a bear, a leopard and a fourth beast "dreadful and terrible, and strong, exceedingly." This, the Roman beast (or kingdom) has ten horns, among which a "little horn" came up, having "eyes like a man and a mouth speaking great things." The prophet follows the proceedings of this beast and particularly the little horn until "the ancient of days" sits in judgment. Note that the whole of this vision has reference to the four empires in their religious connection with each other, as the dream of Nebuchadnezzar (chapter ii) represents them in their political connection. The "little horn" is therefore to be understood to represent the papal power, which afterward is said to have a time of twelve hundred and sixty years allotted to its blasphemous rule, after which time comes the triumph of the "Saints of the Most High."

In the eighth chapter the prophet has a vision concerning the Medo-Persian and the Grecian empires, the second and the third "beasts" of the previous vision. The Medo-Persian empire is represented by a ram with two horns, and the Grecian by a goat having a "notable horn," Alexander the Great, between its eyes. The conquests of Alexander are described, and also the divisions of his kingdom into four parts. Then rises "a little horn" as in the previous vision, a false, crafty tyrant, probably Antiochus Epiphanes, whose character is outlined, and whose oppressions of the people of God causes Daniel to faint and feel sick for many days. That this little horn represents Antiochus Epiphanes is a view entertained by the most ancient writers, but this does not exclude the probability that the papal power is also referred to as the complete fulfilment of this part of the prophecy. What Antiochus was to the Jews during the time of the Maccabees, the papal power has been to the Church of Christ in all ages.

{364} The ninth chapter contains a prayer offered by the prophet in behalf of himself and his people. He particularly supplicates God to again restore the sanctuary in Jerusalem. As an answer to this prayer, Gabriel appears and informs him of the precise time for the coming of Messiah, "to finish the transgression, and to make an end to sin, and to make a reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy:" In seven weeks, or in forty-nine years, reckoning from the decree of Artaxerxes, 457 B.C., the walls of Jerusalem were to be rebuilt, though in times of great trouble. In sixty-two weeks, or four hundred and thirty-four years, Christ was to appear, and in the midst of one week, that is after three years and a half, to be slain.

In the tenth chapter we are allowed to cast a glance behind the veil, and contemplate the wonderful fact that heavenly messengers are employed to convey intelligence to holy men, and that they, while so doing, have to overcome opposing powers, much as mortal men have in the performance of their duties. A divine messenger has been sent to instruct Daniel concerning some records in "the Scripture of Truth," a heavenly record, but this messenger is met and opposed by "the prince of the kingdom of Persia," whereupon a struggle that lasts for twenty days follows. The victory would apparently have been dubious had not Michael himself come to the assistance of the messenger.

In the eleventh chapter, the things noted in "the Scripture of Truth" are detailed. These things commence with the history of Persia. Four kings are foretold: Cambyses, Smerdis, Darius and Xerxes (v. 2). Then follows a prediction of Alexander the Great, his history and his successors in "the South" (Egypt) and the North (Syria) down to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes (v. 3-29). Then follows the conquest of Syria by the Romans "Chittim," (v. 30), with the rise of the papal power (v. 31-89). The character of this power and many of its corrupt doctrines are here predicted with minuteness. Then come the invasions of the Saracens (the king of the South) and of the Turks (the king of the North). The countries to be conquered by the Turks are enumerated (v. 41-43), as are also those that were to escape. The chapter closes with a prediction concerning the end of the Turkish empire, yet to be fulfilled: "He shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him."

The first verse of the twelfth chapter predicts the full deliverance {365} of the Jewish nation through the interposition of "the great prince," Michael, an event to be looked for after the fall of "the king of the North," or the Turkish empire, and the next verses refer to the resurrection of mankind. The book closes with some chronological statements, unintelligible even to the prophet, himself (v. 8), but the promise is given that at the end of time many shall receive knowledge concerning these predictions (v. 4), a promise which evidently implies renewed revelations. For how could these things in the last days be known without such revelation, any more than Daniel could know them without revelation?

One thing is noticeable all through this prophetic record. Each new vision requires a new revelation from God. Daniel is constantly seeking knowledge from God concerning the right understanding of the visions given, and it is only through this means that he receives his knowledge. Continuous revelation was necessary to this the most remarkable prophet of the ancient world. So it is to us, if we want to understand the plans and purposes of the Almighty. Where there is no revelation spiritual darkness prevails, notwithstanding the plainest writings of God. A Belshazzar and the whole collegium of learned priests may see on the wall the "Mene, mene, thekel, upharsin," but a Daniel, a man in constant communication with God, is required to interpret it according to its right meaning.

EZEKIEL, B.C. 595-574, was carried captive to Babylon at the first invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, eleven years before the destruction of Jerusalem. He was contemporary with Jeremiah and Daniel, but lived some two hundred miles north of Babylon on the banks of the river Chebar. Tradition has it that he was put to death by a fellow-exile whom he had rebuked for idolatry.

The predictions of this prophet were delivered, some before and some after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Before this event he calls upon the people to repent and warns them against seeking aid of the Egyptians. He assures them that the fall of their beloved city was now unavoidable. When the Chaldean king commenced his siege of the city, God revealed this to the prophet in his exile: "Son of man," God says to him, "write thee the name of the day, even of this day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day" (xxiv, 2). This was in the ninth year of his captivity. Three years later he received the intelligence that the city had fallen (xxxiii, 21). During this period all the predictions of the prophet are directed against {366} foreign nations. After he had heard of the fall of Jerusalem, his principal object in view is to comfort the people with promises of restoration and future blessings.

The closing chapters (xl-xlviii) of the book of Ezekiel undoubtedly refer to events yet future. The descriptions of the glorious building there given will no doubt once be recognized in a structure hereafter to be reared by the people of God. But as yet, like all unfulfilled predictions, much of it is obscure and cannot be understood until the light of revelation removes all obscurity therefrom.

OBADIAH, B.C. 588-583, is supposed to have prophesied during the period between the fall of Jerusalem and the conquest of Edom, five years later. On this supposition, he was a contemporary of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.

His predictions are directed against the Edomites. And he especially points out that there was a great difference between the judgments executed upon Judah and upon Edom. For Judah should again be raised from her present fall and finally possess not only Judea, but also the land of the Philistines and that of the Edomites, while Edom should be "as though they had not been" (v. 16), a prediction that has been remarkably fulfilled to our own day. And while Edom is thus utterly swallowed up, "saviors shall come upon Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's" (v. 21).

Three nations were foremost in afflicting the ancient people of God, viz.: the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, and the Edomites. Three prophets were commissioned by the Lord to announce the judgment upon these three nations: "Nahum foretells the destruction of the Assyrians, Habakkuk of the Chaldeans, and Obadiah of the Edomites."

THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS.

As had been foretold by the prophets, and particularly by Isaiah, the exiled Jews were permitted to return home during the reign of Cyrus. As soon as they reached the Holy Land, we find them uniting their efforts to re-establish the religious rites of their fathers, aided by the noble leaders, Zerubbabel, Joshua, Ezra and Nehemiah. They erect an altar of burnt offering and rebuild the destroyed temple. Then the city wall is built, and various officers appointed as circumstances required. For further particulars the reader is referred to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

It may be well to state here--although the remark may, to {367} some extent, deviate from the subject under consideration--that the restoration of the Jewish nation at this time was very far from being that complete restoration to more than former privileges, liberty and glory, of which all the prophets had spoken in such glorious terms. The promise was that the whole remnant should be delivered, even if they were as numerous as the sand on the sea shore. But from Babylon only comparatively few ever returned. The company of Zernbbabel consisted of fifty thousand persons, and Ezra led six thousand more home. The great bulk of people that had been born in the foreign land never returned. (See Book of Esther).

Again, the promise was that a kingdom should be established, with the Holy City as the capital, an everlasting kingdom governed by God himself through Messiah. This promise has never yet been fulfilled. In fact, the Jews have never since their overthrow by Nebuchadnezzar been an independent nation, governed by rulers of their own, except during the very short rule of the Maccabees. After their return they continued to be tributary to the Persian king for about one hundred years, as a province of Syria. When Alexander had conquered Persia (Syria and Palestine with it), they fell into his hands. When the Grecian empire was divided, Palestine fell into the hands of Ptolemy Lagus as a part of the Egyptian monarchy, and it remained so for about one hundred years, when it was transferred to the kings of Syria, in which situation it greatly suffered during the frequent wars between Egypt and Syria. Antiochus Epiphanes, one of the Syrian kings, plundered the city and the temple and enslaved the people. For about three years and a half they were reduced to worse than Egyptian thraldom. Their sacred manuscripts were burnt, and the people were compelled to sacrifice to idols. The temple itself was dedicated to Jupiter, a statue of which was erected on the altar of God. Compare Daniel's prediction of "the little horn" (chapter viii, 9-12). Through the noble enthusiasm and patriotism of Mattathias and his sons, a struggle against the oppressor now took place which secured to the Jews a few years of dearly bought liberty and independence, but they were soon conquered by the Romans. Pompey marched his army into Judea, conquered Jerusalem and made the country tributary to Rome. Herod the Great deposed the last of the Maccabean family from his office, and Palestine has never since been an independent state. Ever since the Babylonian captivity the great bulk of the Jewish nation has been scattered abroad, without home, without temple, {368} without an altar, and strangers have been masters in the land of promise. It is therefore clear that all the prophecies that relate to the glorious restoration of the Jews must be understood of a great restoration yet future, a very important fact for the right understanding of those prophecies.

THE LAST PROPHETS OF THE OLD COVENANT.

But to return to our subject. It has been already stated that the first care of the returned exiles was to re-establish their religion. To do this, they were under the necessity of having new revelations. True, they had the writings of Moses and of the prophets, and they had inspired interpreters, like Ezra and Nehemiah. True, their aim was not to construct a new economy, but simply to re-establish the old one. And yet even this they could not do acceptably to God without the aid of revelation. Hence God raised up three prophets--Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, the last three of the old covenant. What an overwhelming proof of the necessity of continuous revelation!

HAGGAI, B.C. 520-518, is thought to have been born in Babylon, and to have emigrated with Zerubbabel.

His book contains four prophetic messages. In the first the people are reproved for neglecting to build the temple, while they were adorning their own houses, and a command is given to begin the construction immediately (chapter i, 1-11), to which command the people, led by Zerubbabel and Joshua, willingly responded (i, 12-15). But in a month the zeal of the people seems to have cooled off and the second message is delivered, declaring that the Spirit of God was still with the people. "A little while," God says, "and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land" (which according to Paul, Hebrews xii, 22-28, was fulfilled when the old dispensation was superseded by the gospel dispensation), "and the desire of all nations (Messiah) shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts," (chapter ii, 1-9), which "glory" is thought to refer to the presence of Christ in this second temple instead of the Shekinah that had illuminated the first temple. In the third message, delivered two months afterwards, the people are being rebuked for polluting themselves while working in the holy building and offering sacrifices. God reminds them that He had blessed them abundantly, from the time they had laid the corner-stone of the temple (chapter ii, 10-19). The fourth message is delivered the same day. It contains a general prediction {369} of the overthrow of the kingdoms of the world and the promise of a special blessing to Zerubbabel at that time. It is clear enough that the right interpretation of this promise can be comprehended by no man, until divine revelation shall make it known.

ZECHARIAH was, like Haggai, born in Babylonia and went to Palestine with Zerubbabel. The general object of his ministry is identical with that of Haggai, and through the encouragement and wise counsels of these prophets the people prospered, and the temple was completed in six years. But besides this general object, Zachariah describes through direct predictions and symbolic acts, the history of the Jews until the end of time. Daniel deals with the history of the world; Zechariah with the history of the covenant people. Among the predictions of this prophet we will here notice some of the last. According to the ninth chapter, the surrounding heathen nations are to be destroyed. Messiah shall come as a king (v. 9) and establish His reign upon the earth. "His dominion shall be from sea even to sea and from the rivers to the ends of the earth" (verse 10). Scenes of destruction are to intervene, however, but the Lord will deliver His people, both Judah and Ephraim (chapter x, 1-12). "I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; and they shall be as though I had not cast them off; for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them. And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man," a glorious prediction of the restorative work, commenced in our own day by God, through His servant Joseph, the prophet. We are further told that Jerusalem shall be besieged by many nations and the result thereof (chapter xii, 1-14); Christ shall finally appear and all the world will become "Holiness to the Lord" (chapter xiv).

Thus prophecy, so far from leading us to expect that revelation finally will cease, being superfluous, expressly states that Christ Himself in person will appear and communicate His will to men. "Why?" it may be asked; and the answer is clear: "Because revelation is essential to true religion."

MALACHI, B.C. 420-397, was the successor of Haggai and the last prophet of the old covenant. The temple had now been finished and the service of the altar established. But a spirit of worldliness and insincerity is getting hold of both the priesthood and the people, and this prophet is especially commissioned to warn them against their sins.

But his warnings are not heeded. The people prepare themselves for calamities. The Spirit of prophecy is withdrawn {370} for a period of four hundred years. The temple and the people are given into the hands of Antiochus Epiphanes. The old dispensation is virtually closed.

CONCLUSION FROM THE FOREGOING.

The conclusions arrived at now are clear and need only to be briefly stated. We have seen that no book of the Old Testament, although all are written and preserved for the instruction of the human race in all ages, contains anything that is of such a nature as to exclude further revelation. Not one single passage, nor all the passages combined, are so written as to exclude the necessity of the revelations contained in the New Testament, for instance. On the contrary, one revelation leads to another, God always giving "line upon line, precept upon precept," imparting knowledge as men are willing and able to receive it. For it is through revelation that God educates His servants and His people; and as in any branch of study we are led on from the fundamental principles and find that each new truth suggests others, so here, each new truth revealed leads us to others, until--were such a case possible--we have been permitted to exhaust the entire fulness of divine knowledge.

We have also seen that the servants of God in the old covenant declare the continuation of revelation. They do not consider the prophetic gift or the gift of receiving revelations as peculiar to their own dispensation. They point to "the last days" as a time in which the Spirit of the Lord is to be poured out more abundantly than in any former period. And His presence is to be manifested through "dreams and visions." The withdrawal of these they designate as a calamity. They speak of the time in which such heavenly gifts are withdrawn, as "night" and "darkness" while consequently, the presence of them indicate day and light. Now, are day and light necessary for the physical welfare of man? If so, revelations are also necessary for his spiritual advancement.

We have further seen that the establishment of new economies requires new revelations. Moses was familiar with the revelations given to the patriarchs before him. But when he was called upon to usher in the dispensation of the law, he could not do this without new revelations. Nor could Zerubbabel re-establish this dispensation after the return from Babylon without the aid of revelation. Through the revelations given to the Prophet Haggai the people "prospered" and were able to complete their work as commanded by the Lord (Ezra vi, 14). {371} Without this, they would not have been able to prosper.

Sometimes we see that revelations are given to faithful servants of God as a special favor to them. In such cases, what is seen or heard must not be recorded--as was the case with some visions of Paul in the New Testament--or, if recorded, is sealed up in mystical expressions, unintelligible to the common reader, until the Spirit of revelation gives the true interpretation thereof. This was the case with some of Daniel's visions, and with at least one of the visions of John (Rev. x, 4, 5).

Are revelations, then, given in order to establish new economies, to preserve the children of God from falling into darkness, to instruct them about things known to God alone, in one word to lead men unto salvation? Surely, there never can be a time when revelation is not necessary.

THE NEW TESTAMENT.

But it will be said, no one (except the Jews perhaps) contend that the Old Testament alone contains all that is necessary to know. The New Testament is a supplement to the Old Testament, and the two together contain the fulness of God's revelations. The prophecies of the Old Testament are fulfilled in the New, and to the volume thus completed nothing must be added.

Is there anything in the New Testament to verify this statement so universally accepted as true among the "Christian" Protestantic world? Or does the New Testament confirm the conclusions we have arrived at in the perusal of the Old?

The New Testament contains five historic books, viz.: the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles; fourteen letters written by Paul; three by John, and two by Peter, one letter by James, and one by Jude, to which collection comes one prophetic book by John.

THE FOUR GOSPELS.

The four Gospels are brief, biographical sketches, records of a few of the works and teachings of our Lord.

It may be supposed that those disciples of Christ that were able to write, like Matthew and John, would keep journals while they followed their master, witnessing his works and listening to his teachings. These journals would, after the {372} crucifixion and ascension, naturally be read in private and in public. They would be copied and distributed in the various branches of the church and form texts for discourses, and thus be augmented with such incidents or sayings which were still retained in the memories of those who had been eye witnesses. In this way several versions of the doings and sayings of our Lord began to circulate, some, no doubt, contradicting others, until the necessity became universally felt to have some authentic record, showing exactly what was reliable of the many circulating reports, and what was not reliable. And the result is the four gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

At what precise time these gospels were completed in their present form is a question not yet settled between the various critics. That they, in their present form, were issued by the apostles, whose names they bear, seems irreconcilable with some facts. There are, for instance, words and phrases found, which could hardly have had any significance until some time after the time of the apostles. The word "kephas" (John i, 43) does not occur in classical Hebrew, but is used by later Talmudistic writers signifying something hard, a rock. "Petra" (Matt. xvi, 18) meaning a "rock," has a strong Latin color, while the Hebrew for "rock" is "zur." And the expression "to take up the cross," or "to bear the cross," is all the more remarkable, as in the Hebrew there was at that time no word equivalent to "cross," which is of Latin origin. Even later Jewish writers found it difficult to adequately express the idea of a cross, and hence used the word zelem, which, however, signifies an image, and the translations of the New Testament, both into Hebrew and Arabic, have found no better way out of the difficulty than to adopt the Chaldaic zeliba, gallows. Of this a modern form, zelab, is made to represent the idea "cross." From these and many other circumstances, we seem justified in the conclusion that the four gospels have been subjected to foreign influences, which have modified their form in various ways. But that they are based upon and contain the "memoirs" of our Lord, as published by the apostles, by mouth and pen, need not be doubted. The testimony of antiquity is conclusive on this point.

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GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

According to general tradition in the early church, the annotations of Matthew were written in the vernacular tongue of Palestine, Syro-Chaldaic, a tradition very probable indeed. {373} But as Greek at this time was the literary language, the original was soon translated into this tongue, under the supervision of Matthew himself, about thirty years after the crucifixion. It may be safely assumed that our "Gospel According to St. Matthew" is in the main identical with this original document of the Apostle.

The aim of this gospel is dearly to prove to the Jews that Jesus is the promised Messiah. It frequently refers to the prophets, refutes the various Jewish sects, and tries to prepare the Jewish nation for the acceptance of the Gentiles into the Kingdom of God.

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GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

While Matthew was penning his gospel for the Jews, Mark was preparing his, chiefly for the converts among the Gentiles. This Mark was not an apostle and had not been an eye-witness to the life and deeds of our Lord. But he was a native of Jerusalem and an intimate friend of the apostles. He accompanied Paul on some of his journeys and attended Peter for a considerable period, and during this time he no doubt wrote the gospel that bears his name, according to the dictates of Peter. Some have called this the "Gospel According to St. Peter," and Peter himself, in his second epistle, refers, perhaps, to this gospel when he says: "We make known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

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GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

The gospel according to Luke was written in Rome by Luke, the physician, one of Paul's most faithful companions and friends. The author states that many had undertaken to collect the facts preached concerning Christ and believed among the Christians, according to the traditions handed down from eye-witnesses, and consequently, in order to secure a collection that would be reliable, he himself had diligently searched out everything that at the time of the writing was available. These data, the result of diligent research, Luke endeavors to put before the readers in chronological order, while the two previous evangelists pay but little attention to chronology. The gospel was written under the supervision of Paul.

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GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN

The latest of the gospels is that of John. It is said to have been written at Ephesus, where John resided, presiding over {374} the branches originated by Paul. John, having before him copies of the three previous gospels, naturally omits many data there recorded, introducing others which he had preserved from oblivion. The chief aim of John is to set forth the divine nature of our Lord. The previous evangelists dwell mostly on the works of our Savior in Galilee. John omits most of that, recording his works in Judea.

Let it be remembered that this book is the last written of all the books of the Bible, about ninety-seven years after Christ, and that its aim is to correct the errors of doctrine, then becoming common among the churches, concerning the true character of Christ.

TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPELS.

We may now ask: When these books were written, were they intended to contain all that would ever be necessary for men to know concerning God's plans and purposes, thus making all further revelation superfluous? What do the gospels teach concerning this question?

The first pages of the gospel confirm the lesson we have drawn from the Old Testament, that revelation is necessary for the establishment of a new dispensation. For the gospel dispensation is ushered in and established through revelation. Zacharias is visited by an angel (Luke i, 11-20). Gabriel appears to Mary (Luke i, 26-38). John the Baptist is commissioned by God to preach and baptize (John i, 6, 33). That Jesus was Messiah is manifest to John through revelation. The Spirit descends and a voice from heaven is heard (John i, 32, 34; Matt. iii, 16, 17). And this point is particularly noteworthy. All the ancient prophets had predicted the coming of the Messiah. Some of them had given details about where He would be born, His parentage, and the precise time of His coming, and yet it was necessary, when He came, to give new revelations, pointing Him out to the most devout servant of God then living. Previous revelations are here clearly seen not to render new revelations useless. And as the gospels thus begin with revelations, so they close with declarations that revelation should continue. For in His farewell address to His disciples, Christ says: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 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 will show you things to come" (John xvi, 12, 13). Christ here expressly states that {375} His ministry did not complete God's revelations. There were many other things to learn than those which he had communicated, and among these were also "things to come," all of which the Spirit should communicate to the Twelve. Revelation, then, was not to be done away with at the departure of our Lord. The last verse of the fourth gospel, the last verse ever written in our New Testament states, moreover, that the things recorded in the gospels are only a small fragment of all that could be written concerning the works of Christ. These works and the lessons to be conveyed were no doubt necessary, and yet we have no record of them. The gospels, therefore, openly admit that they are not intended to be a complete record of all that is necessary for man to know. They claim to be written for the purpose of directing men's hearts to Jesus (John xx, 31), and point out His promise to continue the revelation of truth through the Spirit. This is the important testimony of the gospels. All the works and the teachings of Christ were not enough for the guidance of the first Christians. They needed and were promised further revelation. To us has come a record not of all of Christ's teachings, but only of a very few, merely a fragment. If all the teachings of Christ given during His ministry upon the earth were not sufficient for the guidance of the apostles, how much less can the gospels, which contain only a small part of these teachings, be sufficient for other men? The thought is as irrational as it is without foundation in the Word of God.

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