The same day that Elijah came to the Kirtland Temple--3rd April,
1836--Moses came also, and committed the Keys of the Gathering of
Israel from the four quarters of the earth, and the leading of the
Ten Tribes from the land of the north. And it is because he came and
restored that authority, and communicated the commandment for the
Saints to gather together, that thousands have left their homes in the
land of their birth, and have cast in their lot with the Latter-day
Saints in the land of America, and are now where the prophets predicted
the people of God and the House of God would be established in the last
days--"in the tops of the mountains"--and some out of all nations are
flowing unto them, and they are taught in the ways of the Lord, and
are seeking to walk in His paths (see Isaiah ii, 1-4). The cry from
heaven which St. John heard in his visions is now of a truth being
sounded among the nations: "Come out of her (Babylon), my people,
that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her
plagues; for her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered
her iniquities" (Rev. xviii, 4, 5). And the Saints by their flight to
the gathering places which God has appointed, as well as by word, are
testifying to the world that the hour of God's judgment is at hand, and
they are seeking to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah.
Thus the most important events which are to take place before the
glorious coming of the Son of God have been fulfilled. We know not the
day nor the hour in which the Master will come, but we know that the
preparatory work to that event has made considerable progress:--The
GOSPEL has been restored to the earth, and is being preached to all
nations for a witness that the end is near:--The MESSENGER has come
and restored the authority of God to man, that the way might be
prepared for His coming and judgment:--ELIJAH has come and performed
his mission:--And the SAINTS are gathering together to the tops of the
mountains, and are building up the House of God. And as the fig tree
putting forth its leaves proclaims the approach of summer, so these
things indicate the near approach of that time when the Son of God
will be "revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God {172} and who obey not the
Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is the word of God and remember,
O reader! that it is written, though heaven and earth pass away, not
one jot nor tittle of the word of God shall fail, but all shall be
fulfilled.
Despise not this testimony and warning because he who bears it is
a representative of a cause and people everywhere spoken against.
Remember that Satan has ever opposed the work of God, and those who
labored to establish it. If he did so in former ages, will not this
opposition be more fierce in the dispensation when the work of God
is to become triumphant, resulting in the overthrow of the powers of
darkness and binding them? Such, it would seem, are the plain dictates
of reason--such are the facts. Be not deceived, then, reader, whoever
you may be, by the infamous falsehoods in circulation about the
Latter-day Saints, but examine these things with a prayerful heart that
you may know of their truth and escape the calamity that shall befall
those who "reject the counsels of God against themselves."
_"Seek to know God in your closets, call upon Him in the fields.
Follow the directions of the Book of Mormon, and pray over and for
your families, your cattle, your flocks, your herds, your corn and
all things that you possess; ask the blessings of God upon all your
labors, add everything that you engage in."_
--_Joseph Smith_.
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