the slain.
_Moroni_ 7. 17 neither do the devil nor his angels persuade men to do
good--no, not one.
Doctrine and Covenants.
_Sec_. 29. 28 depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared
for the devil and his angels. 37.
76. 33 vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer with the devil and his
angels. 44.
128. 20 Michael detecting the devil when he appeared as an angel of
light. _Sec_. 129 8.
THE SABBATH DAY.
In the history of creation, as given in the Bible Genesis, we find that
the Lord commenced and ended the labor of creating the world in six
days or periods of time. That also, he ceased his labors on the seventh
day and devoted it to rest.
As we have shown in the article on pre-existence, in this work, these
seven periods of creative time were occupied in the creation and
perfection of spiritual organizations. These have since given life to
the organizations formed out of the crude elements, from which all
animal and vegetable life is formed.
When Adam was formed out of these elements, and the Lord made every
tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, to grow
out of the ground, another series of creative days, or periods of
time, commenced. The six days of labor, which, according to present
reckoning, is supposed to be about six thousand years, has nearly
passed away.
The Christian world anticipate the time when antagonisms will cease,
and there will be a time of universal peace, called the Millennium.
While the Christian sects may entertain various theories as to how
this millennium will be brought about, and what will be its practical
results, to the Latter-day Saints it assumes a well defined outline, as
delineated in the sacred books.
Typical of these great, creative sabbaths, the Lord has commanded man
to rest every seventh day, according to his reckoning, as measured by
one revolution of the earth on its axis. The sabbath was instituted for
man's especial benefit, for the Savior, when on the earth, declared
that "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath;"
_Mark_ 2. 27.
There is nothing to indicate that the sabbath was a new institution at
the time Israel came out of Egypt, but, being the beginning of a new
dispensation, the institution was strengthened by direct commandment.
In about one month after their deliverance from Egypt, when the Lord
had commenced to feed them on manna, they were commanded to gather
on the sixth day enough for the seventh day also. This obviated
the necessity of gathering food on the sabbath, for the Lord said,
"To-morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord;" _Exo_. 16.
23.
In the third month after Israel came out of Egypt, amidst a wonderful
display of his glory and power upon Mount Sinai, the Lord gave to
Israel ten commandments, one of which was, "Remember the sabbath day,
to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but
the seventh is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not
do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor
thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy
gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and
all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord
blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it;" 20. 8-11. This commandment
is very sweeping and comprehensive, and the Lord makes it typical of
the creative, sabbatic period of time.
In the Pentateuch the passages are quite numerous in which the children
of Israel are reminded of the importance of keeping this commandment.
The importance of keeping the sabbath day holy is urged upon Israel in
the following passage, if possible, with still more force than in the
Decalogue: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto
the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for
it is a SIGN between me and you throughout your generations; that ye
may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you;" 31. 12-18.
A very important feature of this subject is expressed in the last
verse. The keeping of the sabbath day was to be a _sign_ throughout the
generations of Israel, that the people continually remembered that it
was the Lord that sanctified them through keeping his commandments.
In _verse_ 14, the Lord says, "Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for
it is holy unto you. Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to
death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off
from among his people." The command is repeated in a little different
form in _verse_ 15.
The sabbath was to be a perpetual covenant between the Lord and the
children of Israel. "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the
sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a
perpetual covenant;" _verse_ 16. In _verse_ 17 they are commanded to
observe it as a sign that they remember that the Lord made heaven and
earth, and rested on the seventh day.
In these quotations from _Exo_. 31, and in the Decalogue the most
positive and weighty reasons are given by the Lord to the fathers of
the house of Israel, for keeping the sabbath day. The obligation is
evidently as binding upon the Latter-day Saints as it was upon their
fathers, and they in like manner will reap the reward of obedience.
Israel was also required to give the land rest. "Six years thou shalt
sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather
in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of
rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy
field, nor prune thy vineyard;" _Lev_. 25. 3, 4. After seven sabbaths
of years had been numbered, making forty-nine years, then the fiftieth
year was to be a year of Jubilee. This was a year of general release
from all bondage. "And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim
liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it
shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his
possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family;" _verse_
10. Both the forty-ninth and fiftieth were years of rest for the land.
This chapter should be well studied for information with regard to the
sabbatic year.
The Lord, in his revelations through his prophet Joseph, has commanded
the saints to keep the sabbath day holy. "For verily this is a day
appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions
unto the Most High. * * * And on this day thou shalt do none other
thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that
thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be
full;" _Doc. & Cov_., 59. 10, 13. In _verse_ 15-17, great blessings are
promised as the result of keeping this commandment. To keep the sabbath
holy is again positively enjoined upon the saints "And the inhabitants
of Zion shall, also, observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy;" _Sec_.
68. 29.
Bible.
_Lev_. 19. 3 shall fear every man his father and mother, and keep my
sabbaths. 30.
26. 34 then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths as long as it is desolate.
_Num_. 15. 32-36 a young man stoned for breaking the sabbath.
_Neh_. 10. 31 the people covenanted not to buy victuals on the sabbath.
13. 15-22 Nehemiah sharply reproved the people for laboring on the
sabbath.
_Isa_. 56. 2 blessed is the man that keepeth the sabbath.
3-7 the eunuch and the stranger that keep the sabbath shall be blessed.
58. 13, 14 great blessings promised to those who keep the sabbath.
_Jer_. 17. 21-27.
_Sam_. 2. 6 caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in
Zion.
_Ezek_. 20. 12 I gave my sabbaths to be a sign between me and them.
22. 26 have hid their eyes from my sabbaths.
_Matt_. 12. 8 for the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.
10-12 lawful to do good on the sabbath day.
ISRAEL A CHOSEN PEOPLE.
The name, Israel, is used to designate the descendants of Abraham
through Isaac his son, and Jacob his grandson. The Lord gave the name
to Jacob the father of twelve sons, the heads of the tribes of Israel.
"And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and
blessed him. And God said unto him, thy name is Jacob: thy name shall
not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name; and he
called his name Israel;" _Gen_. 35. 9, 10.
Abraham was a direct descendant of Shem, the son of Noah, and his
native land was Ur of the Chaldees; _chap_. 11. "Now the Lord said unto
Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy
father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of
thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great;
and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee,
and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the
earth be blessed;" 12. 1-3.
The promise to Abram, that he should become a great nation, has been
fulfilled in his chosen seed occupying the land of Palestine, as such,
for fifteen hundred years. It will again be fulfilled when they become
a nation on that land forever.
The history of the eastern hemisphere for the two thousand years
which intervened between the calling of Abraham and the destruction
of Jerusalem by the Romans, witnesses that every nation that fought
against Israel, or in any way oppressed them, passed away. Time will
show the same general result, from the destruction of Jerusalem to the
millennium.
The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the time when the Lord should favor
Israel, said, "All they that were incensed against thee shall be
ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive
with thee shall perish;" 41. 11. "I will feed them that oppress thee
with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood;"
49. 26. "I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the
dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again: but I
will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to
thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over;" 51. 22, 23.
The first Nephi saw the final result, as between Israel and their
enemies, some six hundred years before the birth of our Savior.
Speaking of the time when they should be brought out of captivity, and
gathered to the lands of their inheritance, he says, "And the blood of
that great and abominable church, which is the whore of all the earth,
shall turn upon their own heads; for they shall war among themselves,
and the sword of their own hands shall fall upon their own heads, and
they shall be drunken with their own blood. And every nation which
shall war against thee, O house of Israel, shall be turned one against
another, and they shall fall into the pit which they digged to ensnare
the people of the Lord;" 1 _Nephi_ 22. 13, 14.
The sacred and profane history of the world evidences that all people,
outside of the covenant seed of Abraham, when brought into association
with that seed, have exhibited an instinctive antagonism to them. As a
result, there are few nations that have not oppressed them, when there
has been opportunity.
The quotations made on this subject, and many more not noticed, show
that Israel will rule over all these in the future. As a result
the future princes of the earth will be of that lineage. Then will
be fulfilled another very important promise which the Lord made to
Abraham: "Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;" _Gen_. 22.
17.
The promise in the following, _verse_ 18, which is also repeated in a
number of places in the sacred writings, is a very important one: "In
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." It was through
the lineage of Abraham that Jesus came in the flesh to redeem the
world. It was only to the seed of Abraham that he personally ministered
while in the flesh.
He was born in Bethlehem of Judea, almost under the walls of Jerusalem;
_Luke, chap_. 2. He grew up in Nazareth, a city of Galilee; _verse_
39. He was baptized in Jordan, the chief river of the land of promise;
_Matt_. 3. 13. His chosen twelve disciples were of the house of Israel.
They were sent first to preach the Gospel to the house of Israel:
"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into
the way of Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel;" _Matt_. 10. 5,
6.
All the labors of Christ's earthly mission were in the midst of Israel.
Among them he was slain for the sins of the world; his body was laid in
a tomb cut in the rock of the promised land; in the midst of those with
whose fathers he had covenanted he ascended up to his Father.
After his resurrection he told his disciples that Christ must needs
suffer and rise from the dead, "That repentance and remission of
sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem;" _Luke_ 24. 47.
So necessary did Jesus consider it, that the blessings and power of the
Gospel should go forth to the world from the house of Israel, that just
before his ascension he commanded his disciples, "Tarry ye in the city
of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high;" _verse_ 49.
Jesus once said to his Jewish disciples, "Other sheep I have, which are
not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice;
and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd;" _John_ 10. 16. While
ministering among the Nephites, after his resurrection, he told them
what he had said to his disciples at Jerusalem, and also that they were
the other sheep which he referred to.
He further said to the Nephites, "And they (that is his disciples
at Jerusalem) understood me not, for they supposed it had been the
Gentiles; for they understand not that the Gentiles should be converted
through their preaching; * * and they understand me not that the
Gentiles should not at any time hear my voice; that I should not
manifest my self unto them, save it were by the Holy Ghost. But behold,
ye have both heard my voice, and seen me;" 3 _Nephi_ 15. 22-24.
In another place the Lord told the Nephites how the promise to Abraham,
"In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed," would be
fulfilled. "And after that ye were blessed, then fulfilleth the Father
the covenant which he made with Abraham, saying, in thy seed shall all
the kindreds of the earth be blessed, unto the pouring out of the Holy
Ghost through me upon the Gentiles;" 20. 27.
Thus we are assured that Jesus never has ministered in person to the
Gentiles, and there are no promises for the future to them which
involve such administration. In this dispensation, all the blessings
of the everlasting Gospel have been restored to the earth, through
the agency of the house of Israel. Of them a people will be prepared,
and through them a kingdom will be established, over which the Savior
will reign on the earth. Then Israel will be the head of nations, and
the promise made to Abraham, "Thy seed shall possess the gate of his
enemies," will fully be realized.
For further information on this subject see the following subjects in
this work: _Gathering of Israel, Apostacy of the Primitive Church_, and
_Millennial Reign_.
Bible.
_Exo_. 3. 6 I am the God of thy fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
15 this is my name forever, and my memorial unto all generations.
6. 7 will take you to me for a people, and will be to you a God.
19. 5 ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people.
6 ye shall be to me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation.
23. 22 I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto
thine adversaries.
29. 45 I will dwell among the children of Israel, and be their God.
_Num_. 6. 27 they shall put my name upon Israel, and I will bless them.
24. 9 blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth
thee.
_Deut_. 7. 15 I will lay them on all them that hate thee.
26. 18, 19 to make thee high above all nations, and an holy people.
27. 9 this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God.
2 _Chron_. 9. 8 because the Lord loved Israel, to establish them
forever.
_Psalm_ 105. 6 ye seed of Abraham, his servant, ye children of Jacob,
his chosen.
135. 4 Lord hath chosen Jacob for himself, and Israel for his peculiar
treasure.
137. 8, 9 O Babylon, happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast
served us.
_Isa_. 10. 5-19 Assyria to be taken and destroyed.
14. 2 they shall take them captives whose captives they were.
29. 7, 8 all the nations that fight against Ariel shall be as a dream.
41. 8 Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend. 9.
43. 10 my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen.
20.
45. 4 Israel, mine elect. I have even called thee by name.
49. 24, 25 even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away.
26 I will feed them that oppress thee on their own flesh.
54. 15 whosoever shall gather against thee shall fall. 17.
_Jer_. 2. 3 all that devour him shall offend; evil shall consume upon
them.
10. 25 pour out thy fury on the heathen, for they have eaten up Jacob.
30. 11 though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered
thee, I will not make a full end of thee. 16, 24.
_Heb_. 8. 10 I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
SPIRITS IN PRISON.
The writings of every dispensation of the Priesthood evidence that
the Creator provided a place of confinement or retention, where
intelligences await future events concerning themselves.
Several hundred years before the flood, the Lord, speaking to Enoch
concerning the wicked, said: "Behold, these which thine eyes are upon
shall perish in the floods; and behold, I will shut them up; a prison
have I prepared for them;" _P. of G. P., page_ 20.
The idea of a pit or prison for man, appears to have been quite
definite in the mind of Job; speaking of God's dealings with man,
he says, "He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from
perishing by the sword;" 33. 18.
The Psalmist David called this place hell or place of departed spirits,
for he said of the Lord, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;" _Psalm_
16. 10. The latter part of the passage evidences that he was looking
forward to the resurrection of Christ, to open the way for his release,
"Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."
Speaking of the latter times, the Lord said, through the prophet
Isaiah, "Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant
of the earth. * * * And it shall come to pass in that day, that the
LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the
kings of the 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;" 24. 17, 21,
22. This passage from Isaiah is very definite on this subject. The
assertion, "After many days shall they be visited," certainly infers
that a time would come when they might be released.
The Lord speaking of another person says, "I the _Lord_ have called
thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee,
and will give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the
Gentiles." The following verse shows that the Lord would call and
keep this servant of his for a special work, and that was, "To open
the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them
that sit in darkness out of the prison house;" 42. 6, 7. This passage
explains how those who would be gathered as prisoners into the pit, and
be shut up in prison, were to be visited after many days. Of similar
import is _Isa_. 49. 5-9.
The apostle Peter was evidently quite familiar with this subject: "For
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the
spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the
long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was
a preparing;" 1 _Pet_. 3. 18-20. The Nephite, as well as the Jewish
prophets, speak of a place of confinement for spirits; "Wherefore,
death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its
captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and
the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other;" 2
_Nephi_ 9. 12.
These spirits, which are delivered from hell, are not the spirits of
the righteous, for, in the thirteenth verse of the same chapter, the
prophet says, "For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver
up the spirits of the righteous."
These passages show us that the spirits of the wicked go to a prison,
or hell, and the spirits of the righteous to the paradise of God, a
place of light and freedom. Doubtless it was the same paradise which
Jesus referred to, when he said to the thief on the cross, "To-day
shall thou be with me in paradise;" _Luke_ 23. 43.
The Lord said, in a revelation to the prophet Joseph, "I am the same
which have taken the Zion of Enoch into mine own bosom; and verily,
I say, even as many as have believed in my name. * * * But behold,
the residue of the wicked have I kept in chains of darkness until the
judgment of the great day, which shall come at the end of the earth;
and even so will I cause the wicked to be kept, that will not hear my
voice but harden their hearts;" _Doc. & Cov_. 38. 4-6.
This subject is still more fully explained in another revelation,
through Joseph, the Seer. After the Lord instructed him concerning the
first resurrection he says, "And after this another angel shall sound,
which is the second trump; and then cometh the redemption of those who
are Christ's at his coming; who have received their part in that prison
which is prepared for them, that they might receive the Gospel, and
be judged according to men in the flesh;" 88. 99. This verse informs
us that when Christ comes there will be a class of spirits who will
be redeemed from prison, because they will have paid the penalty of
transgression, and will have accepted the Gospel which will have been
preached to them in prison.
After the spirits who are prepared for redemption shall be brought out
of prison by the resurrection, then "Another trump shall sound, which
is the third trump; and then cometh the spirits of men who are to be
judged, and are found under condemnation. And these are the rest of
the dead, and they live not again until the thousand years are ended,
neither again, until the end of the earth;" _verses_ 100 and 101. That
is, all the dead that remain after the redemption of those prepared,
are those who are under condemnation, and they will not come forth
through the resurrection until after the Millennium of a thousand
years, and not until after the "little season" in which Satan will be
loosed; or the end of the earth. It is mournful to think, that, even
after so long a period of probation, or trial, there will be then of
these spirits those who will still have to remain in the prison house,
for _verse_ 102 says, "There are found among those who are to remain,
until that great and last day, even the end, who shall remain filthy
still."
In another revelation we are informed, that a part of those who inherit
a terrestrial glory, will be "The spirits of men kept in prison, whom
the Son visited, and preached the Gospel unto them, that they might be
judged according to men in the flesh, Who received not the testimony of
Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it;" _sec_. 76. 73, 74.
Bible.
_Job_ 17. 16 they shall go down to the bars of the pit.
33. 24 deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
28, 30.
_Psalm_ 9. 17 the wicked shall be turned into hell.
28. 1 lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down to
the pit.
30. 3 thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
69. 15 let not the pit shut her mouth on me.
142. 7 bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name.
143. 7 hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto those that go
down to the pit.
_Isa_. 14. 15 yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of
the pit.
42. 16 I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not.
61. 1 to proclaim liberty to the captives, to open the prison to those
that are bound.
_Ezek_. 26. 20 bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, and
shall set thee in the low parts of the earth.
31. 14-18 for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of
the earth. Thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised. This is
Pharaoh and all his multitude.