In December, 1830, a few months after the Church was {115} organized in
Fayette, N.Y., with six members, the following predictions were made:
"I give unto thee a commandment, that thou shalt baptize by water,
and they shall receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands,
even as the Apostles of old. * * * For I am God, and mine arm is
not shortened; and I will show miracles, signs and wonders unto all
those who believe on my name. And whoso shall ask it in my name in
faith, they shall cast out devils; they shall heal the sick; they
shall cause the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear,
and the dumb to speak, and the lame to walk; and the time speedily
cometh that great things are to be shown forth unto the children of
men."--Doc. & Cov. xxxv: 6-10.
Again, in September, 1832, in a revelation given to Joseph Smith and
six Elders, "as they unveiled their hearts and lifted their voices on
high," the following glorious promises were made:
"Therefore, as I said unto mine Apostles I say unto you again, that
every soul who believeth on your words, and is baptized by water
for the remission of sins, shall receive the Holy Ghost; and these
signs shall follow them that believe. In my name they shall do many
wonderful works; in my name they shall cast out devils; in my name
they shall heal the sick; in my name they shall open the eyes of
the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf; and the tongue of the
dumb shall speak; and if any man shall administer poison unto them
it shall not hurt them; and the poison of a serpent shall not have
power to harm them." Doc. and Cov., 84, 64-72.
If Joseph Smith had been an impostor and his revelations consequently
not genuine, would he have dared to make promises like those contained
in the forgoing? Could anything have proven more disastrous to his
schemes than to promise people gifts which were not in his power to
give? If he was not a servant of God would he not studiously have
avoided to connect the Lord with any of his schemes in such a way?
Could he imagine that God would sanction his doings by pouring out his
gifts and blessings upon people who were being deceived by a wicked
impostor? Certainly not. If Joseph Smith was not called of God he would
have had to re-echo the old, old sectarian song from the dark ages:
These things (the gifts and blessings following the believer) have
ceased, because they are no longer necessary. It is a well-known fact
that the signs which were promised by the Savior and enumerated in St.
Mark, 16th chapter, 17th and 18th verses, did follow the believers. The
Acts of the Apostles are full of examples of this kind. It is also a
known fact that when Christianity in the days of Constantine the Great,
and later became mixed up with Paganism and was then made the State
Religion of {116} the Roman empire, and the people were compelled at
the edge of the sword to accept it, that these signs did not follow the
members of this false church. But when the clergy, in order to blind
the masses, told the people that the reason why the members did not
enjoy these blessings, as in former years, was that they were no longer
necessary, they told a deliberate falsehood. The real cause was that
this apostate church had "transgressed the law, changed the ordinance
and broken the everlasting covenant," and that Christ did not recognize
this new form of so-called Christianity as His doctrines of salvation,
nor accept of the order of their organization as anything akin to the
Church organized by Himself and His Apostles. Hence, He withheld His
gifts, signs and blessings from them, and for hundreds of years they
were unknown so far as church gifts were concerned.
An anecdote that I heard a friend relate several years ago will
illustrate the contrast between the true Church of Christ and fallen
Christianity. A prominent cardinal of the Roman Catholic church, on
a certain occasion, visited the Pope of Rome, and together with him
examined the contents of the treasure chamber at the Vatican where
gold, diamonds and other costly things were deposited. While gazing
upon the costly treasures the Pope remarked. "We can not truthfully say
now as Peter and John said anciently that we have no silver and gold."
"No, that is true," answered the cardinal, "and there is something else
we cannot say. We cannot command the lame in the name of Jesus Christ
to arise and walk."
We all remember the beautiful story related in the third chapter of
the Acts of the Apostles, of a certain man who had been lame from his
mother's womb and who daily lay at the gate of the Temple of Jerusalem
to ask alms of those who entered; and how he, seeing Peter and John
about to go in, also asked them for alms. Peter, after fastening his
eyes upon the cripple, together with John, said, being moved upon by
the power of God: "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give
I thee: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." And
he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his
feet and ankle bones received strength. And he, leaping up, stood and
walked, and entered with them into the Temple, walking and leaping, and
praising God.
The contrast is this: The Apostles of the true Church had no silver
and gold, for they had been sent out to preach without purse or scrip;
but they possessed the power of God to such an extent that they healed
the sick, the lame, the blind, etc. The Catholic Church is wealthy,
has plenty of silver and {117} gold, but not the power of God. Joseph
Smith was also poor as regards this world's goods, but he was powerful
in the Priesthood, and in the strength of the Lord, and hundreds were
healed under his administrations. How then about the promises made
in the revelations from which I have quoted? The answer is easily
given and can be stated briefly. They have been fulfilled to the very
letter. There are thousands in the Church who can testify and who do
bear testimony continually to the effect that the gifts and blessings
follow the believers, who have embraced the Gospel as restored through
Joseph Smith. Not only in the United States, but in Europe, upon the
islands of the sea, and in all parts of the world where the Gospel has
been preached by our Elders, have the sick been healed under their
administration, the lame have received their strength, the blind have
been restored to their sight and the deaf to their hearing; evil
spirits have been cast out; the gifts of prophecy, of tongues, the
interpretation of tongues, and, in short, all the gifts and blessings
enjoyed by the former-day Saints have been and are now being enjoyed
by the Latter-day Saints. Our books, pamphlets, papers and periodicals
are full of instances of this kind, and should an attempt be made to
gather, compile and publish testimonies of this nature, we would have
material enough for a book larger than the Bible and Book of Mormon
combined. In the face of all these testimonies, what additional proofs
do we need to establish the fact that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet.