When Christianity was introduced into the world it was brought in
contact with many different religious and philosophical systems. The
Romans were proud of their military glory, the Greeks of their superior
wisdom. Among the Jews a pharisaic spirit prevailed, and the whole
nation was divided in factions. They mutually hated each other and
all agreed in hating their Roman oppressors and the gentile world at
large. A mere human teacher, it has been justly said, would under such
circumstances have become either a partisan or have flattered each sect
by exposing the faults of the rest, or he would have endeavored to gain
the favor of the nation by condemning their conquerors. Instances of
this kind of _Bessermachen_ are not unheard of in our time among the
"Christian" world, when all stress is often laid on one principle at
the sacrifice of the rest. But Christ did not follow this course. He
stood up as an independent Teacher, rebuking all error, condemning all
the sects, and yet taught principles contrary to the inclinations of
the human heart. Hence, Christianity has several peculiarities of its
own. In opposition to an empty ritualism it teaches personal holiness
as the condition of eternal happiness. All men are alike brought before
the bar of God. Even those who have been apostles and worked miracles
will fall condemned if they be workers of iniquity. It bids men return
good for evil, not to "get even" with everybody; it instructs men
to love their enemies, to be humble and forgiving, qualities which
philosophers considered weaknesses instead of virtues; it places every
race and every station as on a level before God, except for the free
mercy of God, whose choice has fallen upon one individual {416} or one
section in preference to another. Such doctrines were acceptable to
none, and yet they are again and again repeated and enforced.
In the teachings of Christianity, moreover, sin is always spoken of as
transgression against God, a contrast to the idea prevalent among the
Greek philosophers, who taught, according to Cicero, that "the Deity
is never displeased, nor does He inflict injury on man" (De Off. iii,
28). God is traced everywhere--in nature, in history, in revelation;
and as for men's acts, they are traced to their very source in the
human heart, and there, if evil, condemned. Christianity does not
content itself with condemning sin, when already committed, like every
human law; but it condemns the thought, the feeling, if not pure, thus
striking at the very root of sin.
Well may we, when we rightly understand these facts, with the
theologians exclaim: "It must be felt that the morality of the Gospel
is not of man. Bad men could not have taught such truths, and good men
would not have deceived the people."
But when we apply this great truth to the subject under consideration
we reach the same conclusion. The message delivered by Joseph the
Prophet, like Christianity in its primitive purity, has peculiarities
of its own, all of which prove it to be from God.
First of all, let us consider the importance which this message
attaches to faith. While theologians of the world either give the
pre-eminence to works, like the Catholics, or like Protestants, give
to faith a secondary place in their system, here comes a young man and
declares, "Faith is the first principle of revealed religion, and the
foundation of all righteousness." He gives to faith its right place as
the very beginning of the new life, the foundation of the structure.
Where had he learnt this? There is not a theological school within the
sphere of our knowledge which has discovered this great truth. Men had
for centuries been exhorted to repent first and then try to believe,
as if it were possible to produce repentance without faith. Or, men
were instructed to do good, as if works could be meritorious without
faith. Not only is faith placed in its right place, but the definition
of it is given strictly in harmony with ancient revelations. Faith is
declared to be the only principle from which obedience and success can
flow. In relation to God faith is, indeed, a confession of our weakness
and utter inability for everything that is good; and yet, as to success
in all things pertaining to our {417} exaltation and glorification, it
is omnipotent. (See Doc. and Cov. Lectures on Faith). Now, from whence
had the youthful Prophet this discovery taught in the Bible, but not
understood by the world? Who had pointed out this great philosophical
truth to him? Who but God.
Nor is this all. In the message delivered through Joseph the Prophet,
faith has been established on the only sure foundation ever given:
The Word of God--REVELATION. This was done at a time when almost
everybody thought revelation a thing of the past. No theologian in
the whole wide world had discovered the great secret that faith must
be based on a communication from God, given not only to people who
belong to antiquity, but to the individual who is required to believe.
Let everybody honestly investigate the real cause of the weakness of
faith as it exists among men. How is it that, notwithstanding all
preaching, faith is almost extinct on earth? It is this, that people
are required to believe _only_ that which God said anciently. This is
the real cause. We are so constructed that we cannot by any force of
will take the same lively interest in what happened thousands of years
ago as what happened to-day; nor can we realize in the same way what
happens to others as that which immediately concerns ourselves. Hence,
naturally, all the preaching about what God revealed formerly has only
a weak impression comparatively, and it does not make the effect that
it should. The faith it produces is something as powerless as faith
possibly can be. In order to produce this, preachers are under the
necessity of resorting to all sorts of sentimental anecdotes, death
scenes, war scenes, dreams, etc., or even to drums and tambourines.
Revivalists know the effects of these artificial methods and prefer
them to the simple tale of Him who died on Golgotha--a proof of the
poverty, spiritually, of the prevalent systems. Now, how is this
changed by the simple announcement: "God has spoken!" This at once
stirs the whole world and the whole hell and something definitive comes
out of that. It produces either faith or condemnation. Where faith
is the result it is a strong faith. What gave the former-day Saints
the power to endure all for their religion? What gave the Prophet
and his fellow martyrs power to endure all hardship and death at the
hands of enemies? This assurance: God has spoken. God has revealed His
will. Such faith this assurance will always produce. How had Joseph
the Prophet come to discover this fundamental truth? No Catholic, no
Lutheran, no Episcopalian, {418} no Presbyterian, no Methodist, no
Baptist was in the position of teaching Joseph this truth; none but God.
Let us further consider the great truth revealed in these last days
concerning God. While all the world, as far as the influence of
Christianity is felt, knows how to repeat the words of the prayer which
our Lord taught His disciples: "Our Father, which art in heaven," yet
who has understood this one word "Father" in its full meaning? We call
upon every honest, believing soul in the whole world to inquire into
his own mind and see whether this beautiful prayer before the days of
Joseph the Prophet had any more significance than being a beautiful
figure of speech? Or was there one single theologian who had understood
that God really is what He teaches us to call Him, Father? If there
be, we are not aware of it. But here comes a young man, educated in no
school, formed according to no existent religious system, and opens up
to us an infinite view of eternities past and eternities to come by
declaring that God is in reality our Father, that we are His children,
and that we are here for certain purposes, which accomplished will
bring us back to an eternal home, in a circle of real brothers and
sisters. Say, O ye inhabitants of the world, can this glorious truth
emanate from anybody but God?
Another peculiarity which marks this message is the importance it
attaches to obedience to God. "By the prayer of your faith ye shall
receive My law," (Doc. and Cov., sec. xli, 3); "None shall be exempt
from the justice and the laws of God" (Ibid, cvii, 84); "Verily, I say
unto you, that in time ye shall have no king or ruler, for I will be
your King and watch over you; wherefore hear My voice and follow Me,
and ye shall be a free people, and ye shall have no laws but My laws
when I come, for I am your law giver." (Ibid, xxxviii 21, 22). Had
Joseph the Prophet received his instructions from men he would have
appointed a pope, a bishop, a presbytery, a synod, or something similar
as the highest authority of the Church, but he did not. For God alone
obedience is demanded; a proof that he was a messenger of God.
This will be better appreciated when it is considered that, although
obedience is required, yet the liberty of man is fully preserved.
Obedience is required, but not from fear, not from servitude, but from
free choice. In looking over the history of the world we find that it
has always been the great trouble of mankind to find the proper middle
way in this respect. Nations have had their liberty, but it has not
been {419} possible to regulate this so as to give no room for abuses.
Liberty has been perverted into lawlessness; the people have been the
victims of unprincipled agitators who, under the cover of patriotism,
seduced and robbed the masses, until the people, tired of this
"liberty," after many sufferings, rose and laid the power down into
the hands of a few, or even of one, preferring the chance of having
one or a few public robbers to many thousands. But as anciently Scylla
avoided, Charybdis was near, so here. What was once done as a safeguard
against spoliation and lawlessness became in course of time a curse. It
developed into despotism. The people suffered for centuries perhaps,
but finally the oppression becoming too great, the burdens too heavy,
the people rose and crushed the tyrants under its weight. Freedom was
again established, and the progress in the circle again commenced. For
these two extremes, equally dangerous, despotism and licentiousness
have always been the trouble with mankind. Now, here comes a young
man, Joseph the Prophet, who had studied no politics, no history, and
teaches us a system by which both these extremes, both these dangers
are to be avoided, how to obey without becoming serfs, and at the
same time to enjoy personal liberty, without placing us in danger of
licentiousness. If God had not taught the prophet this "Doctrine of
common consent," who had? Who was his teacher?
Another peculiarity, not less marked, is found in what might be called
the rites observed in this last dispensation. Almost the entire world
had lost the right form of baptism, for instance, and all had forgotten
the true signification and use of that rite. A man who had only human
wisdom for guidance would under such circumstances probably have either
disregarded the act altogether as a mere outward form or would have
attached very little importance to it. Both these tendencies are found
abundantly among Christian professors. But here comes a young man and
teaches us not only the right form of baptism (although this was the
most unpopular one), but also its true signification and its use both
for living and dead.
Looking at baptism, the doctrine of gathering, the temple services,
all the rites revealed through Joseph the Prophet, as an acceptable
worship, we must ask: "Is it possible that all this is from men? Is it
likely that a deceiver would have taught doctrines so unpopular, so
little calculated to gain public favor?" We think not. When a man wants
to deceive he must follow popular roads, flatter the vanity of the
masses, {420} yield to their prejudices and establish himself on the
very ground of their ignorance. Advanced truth, truth trampled under
the feet of men, always comes from God.
People who know the religious observances here spoken of only from
representations given by a hostile press, where everything is
ridiculed, cannot, of course, appreciate the force of the proof they
convey. But every one who is familiar with these to the Latter-day
Saint's peculiar rites, and who understands that their sole object is
to teach the people "Holiness to the Lord"--any one who shall consider
that similar means were adopted under the grand Mosaic dispensation
in order to impress the people then living with this same lesson,
"Holiness to the Lord," and any one who perceives how wonderfully well
these rites, in every detail, are calculated to impress this very
idea, that without holiness no one can see the Lord, he will feel in
the contemplation of all this that here surely is the wisdom of God
revealed to man. No analysis, however, can do full justice to this
subject. It must be felt and realized in the experience of man in order
to be appreciated.
In conclusion, like Scripture itself, the message of Joseph the
Prophet begins its work with a recognition of our fall, our total
ruin; it then brings the soul into harmony with God and with itself;
it enlightens and educates the conscience, quickens and purifies the
feeling, subjects instinct to reason, reason to love, and all to God.
It provides us with ample means for reaching happiness never dreamt of,
worlds without end. Hence, the conclusion necessarily follows that the
man who taught us this must himself have been a scholar of God.