THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY--CONCLUDED.
On the 25th of December, 1832, the following revelation and prophecy in
relation to the great American civil war, and war among all nations,
was given through Joseph Smith:
"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 days 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 exceeding 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 plague and earthquakes and the
thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning 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 of the blood of the Saints, shall
cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth, 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."
As stated this revelation and prophecy was given in December, 1832; the
elders carried manuscript copies of it with them in their missionary
journeys, and frequently read it to their congregations in various
parts of the United States. In Vol. XIII of the _Millennial Star,_
published in 1851, pp. 216 and 217, is an advertisement of a new church
publication to be called the _Pearl of Great Price._ In the announced
contents is named this revelation of December, 1832, with a statement,
that it had "never before appeared in print." Subsequently, but in the
same year, the _Pearl of Great Price_ with this prophecy in it, was
published by Franklin D. Richards, in Liverpool, England. There are
copies of the first edition still extant. [1]
I am careful to make these statements that the reader may have ample
assurance that the revelation and prophecy preceded the event of the
great Civil War. The revelation containing the prophecy was given on
the 25th of December, 1832. The first shot fired in the great American
Civil War was fired early on the morning of April 12th, 1861. Hence the
prediction preceded the commencement of its fulfillment by twenty-eight
years, three months and seventeen days. Ten years before the war began,
the prophecy was published in England and circulated both in that
country and in the United States. There can be no question, therefore,
as to the prophecy preceding the event.
Let us inquire if the events predicted were of a nature that they could
not be foreseen and hence foretold by human judgment, unaided by divine
inspiration. The prophecy predicts,
First, that the war would begin with the rebellion of South Carolina.
Second, that it would terminate in the death and misery of many souls.
Third, that the Southern States would be divided against the Northern
States.
Fourth, that the Southern States would call upon other nations for
assistance, even upon the nation of Great Britain.
Fifth, that Great Britain would call upon other nations for assistance,
and thus war would eventually be poured out upon all nations.
I submit that this is an enumeration of events twenty-eight years in
the future altogether too definite for human wisdom, unassisted by
divine inspiration, to give. Profane history has nothing like it. To
find a parallel to it, recourse must be had to the history of the
Jewish prophets. It is true there was considerable agitation about the
time of the prophecy on the question known in American politics as
"States' rights." In 1830 had occurred the great Senate debate on that
subject between Robert Y. Hayne, of South Carolina, and Daniel Webster,
of Massachusetts. On that occasion the champion from South Carolina
advocated the doctrine known as "nullification." The discussion had its
origin in an effort to repeal the protective tariff laws of 1828, which
South Carolina, with several other States, regarded as unconstitutional
because the laws were based upon the principle of federal protection
to local interests in the several States, to the injury of the general
interests of the country. But South Carolina also held, which the other
states did not, "that it was within the reserved rights of the states
to have the question of constitutionality on this subject rightfully
determined by the judiciary of the states severally, each for itself,
instead of exclusively by the federal judiciary." [2]
The question again approached the acute stage in 1832, when the
sovereign convention of the people of South Carolina was called which
adopted what was known as the "Nullification Ordinance." The leading
features of this were (1) a declaration that the tariff act of 1832,
being based upon the principle of protection to manufacturers, and not
with the view to raising revenue, was unconstitutional and therefore
null and void; (2) a provision for testing the constitutionality of
this act before the courts of the state; (3) that in case the measures
thus adopted for the purpose stated should be forcibly resisted by the
federal authorities, then the State of South Carolina was declared
to be no longer a member of the Federal Union. The last measure was
to take effect on the 12th of February, 1833, if before that time
the principle of levying duties upon imports, not with a view to
revenue, but for the protection of domestic manufactures, should not be
abandoned by the congress of the states. [3]
But notwithstanding these hostile demonstrations on the part of South
Carolina, there was really no very great danger to the Union at that
time. Andrew Jackson, a man of great determination of character, and
patriotically devoted to the Union, was president; and his political
principles ran parallel with his devotion. He issued a proclamation
in which he urged South Carolina not to persist in the enforcement
of her ordinance as it would necessarily bring the federal and state
authorities in conflict, and if the citizens of South Carolina took
up arms against the United States they would be guilty of treason.
"The ordinance," said he, "is founded not on the indefeasible right of
resisting acts which are plainly unconstitutional, and too oppressive
to be endured; but on the strange position that any one state may not
only declare an act of congress void but prohibit its execution, and
that they may do this consistently with the constitution; that the true
construction of that instrument permits a state to retain its place in
the Union, and yet be bound by no other of its laws than those it may
choose to consider constitutional." [4]
It was in December, 1832, the same month in which the revelation
and prophecy under consideration was given, that this issue between
South Carolina and the Federal government about reached its climax.
It is important to observe that these questions of nullification and
a state's right to secede from the Union were sharply agitated in
December, 1832, because it gives direct testimony of the original date
of the prophecy. That is, it is clear from the facts of history that
the question in 1832 was before the nation; and very naturally the
prophet inquired of the Lord concerning it, with the result that he
receive the revelation now under consideration.
That the prophet did make inquiry of the Lord concerning this subject
is evident from a direct statement of his to that effect. Preaching at
Ramus, Illinois, on the 2nd of April, 1843, the prophet in the course
of his remarks said: "I prophesy, in the name of the Lord God, that
the commencement of the difficulties which will cause much bloodshed
previous to the coming of the Son of Man will be in South Carolina. It
may probably arise through the slave question. This a voice declared to
me, while I was praying earnestly on the subject, December 25th, 1832."
[5]
No American statesman in 1832 believed that the doctrines of secession
then talked of would result in a great civil war. None of them had
the foresight to see that a great rebellion would occur, beginning
in South Carolina; that it would terminate in the death and misery
of many souls; that the Southern States would be divided against the
Northern States; that the Southern States would call on Great Britain,
and that war would eventually be poured out upon all nations. No one,
I say, foresaw that this would be the result save only that inspired
youth--then but twenty-seven years of age--Joseph Smith, and he saw
it only by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. To be required to
believe that the prophecy was merely the fortunate conjecture of a more
than ordinarily astute mind, requires a greater amount of credulity
than to concede the inspiration of the prophet; and then the question
would still remain, why is it that sagacious minds in other generations
have not paralleled this astuteness of Joseph Smith's? Why did not some
of the brilliant minds in the Senate or House of Representatives in
1832 make such a prediction? There was no dearth of brilliant minds in
either Senate or House at that time, yet none seemed equal to the task.
But was the prophecy fulfilled? Did the great Civil War begin with the
rebellion of South Carolina? Let history answer.
_I. South Carolina took the initiative in the great rebellion._ Deeming
her interests threatened, and the institution of slavery doomed if
Abraham Lincoln was elected; on November 5th, 1860, her legislature met
to choose presidential electors, and Governor William H. Gist in his
message to that legislature recommended that in the event of Abraham
Lincoln's election to the presidency, a convention of the people of the
state be immediately called to consider and determine for themselves
the mode and measure of redress. He expressed the opinion that the only
alternative left in the event of Lincoln's election was "the secession
of South Carolina from the Federal Union." [6]
On the 10th of November, 1860, the United States Senators from South
Carolina, James N. Hammond and James Chestnut, Jr., resigned their
seats, being the first of the senators to take that step. [7]
On the 17th of November, 1860, an ordinance of secession was
unanimously adopted by the Legislature of South Carolina, the first act
of the kind by any of the states. [8]
On the 24th of November, 1860, South Carolina's Representatives in
Congress withdrew; they were the first representatives to do so. [9]
Members to a state convention for the purpose of considering the method
and measure of redress in the event to Abraham Lincoln's election, were
elected on the 3rd of December, 1860; the convention was assembled in
Charleston. [10]
On the 20th of December, 1860, the convention passed the ordinance of
secession and Governor Pickins--just elected--announced on the same
date the repeal, by the good people of South Carolina, the ordinance
of May 23rd, 1788, by which South Carolina had ratified the Federal
Constitution, and declared "the dissolution of the union between the
state of South Carolina and the other states under the name of the
United States." The governor's proclamation also announced to the
world "that the state of South Carolina is, as she has a right to be,
a separate, sovereign, free and independent state and, as such, has
a right to levy war, conclude peace, negotiate treaties, leagues, or
covenants, and to do all acts whatsoever that rightly pertain to a free
and independent state. Done in the eighty-fifth year of the sovereignty
and independence of South Carolina." [11]
Following is the complete Ordinance passed by the Convention, as it
appeared in the _Charleston Mercury Extra_ for that date, the original
of which the following is a copy is in the Libby Prison Museum, of
Chicago:
PASSED UNANIMOUSLY AT 1:15 P. M., DECEMBER 20TH, 1860.
"An ordinance to dissolve the union between the States of South
Carolina and other States united with her under the compact entitled
'The Constitution of the United States of America.'
"We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in convention
assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and
ordained, 'That the ordinance adopted by us on the 23rd of May, A. D.
1788, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was
ratified, and also all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly
of this State ratifying amendments of the said Constitution are hereby
repealed, and the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other
States, under the name of 'The United States of America' is hereby
dissolved."
The act of rebellion on the part of South Carolina was completed. She
was the first state to take the several steps here enumerated leading
up to that culmination. She was followed in the act of rebellion by ten
other Southern States, as follows--I take the date on which the state
conventions passed their secession ordinances to be the date on which
the rebellion of the respective states was completed:
_Mississippi,_ January 9th, 1861; _Florida,_ January 10th; _Alabama,_
January 11th; _Georgia,_ January 19th; _Louisiana,_ January 26th;
_Texas,_ February 1st; _Virginia,_ April 17th; _Arkansas,_ May 6th;
_North Carolina,_ May 20th; _Tennessee,_ June 8th, all of the same
year, 1861. [12]
Having proven that the Great Rebellion began with the rebellion of
South Carolina, I wish now to show that the war itself actually began
there.
The states which seceded from the union in the last months of Mr.
Buchanan's administration, quietly took possession of all the forts
within their respective limits, except Fort Sumter, in Charleston
Harbor, and Fort Pickens, at Pensacola, Florida; and transferred them
to the Confederate States. After the Southern States united into a
confederacy, that government "appointed a commission consisting of Mr.
John Forsyth, of Alabama, Mr. Martin J. Crawford, of Georgia, and Mr.
A. B. Roman, of Louisiana, to open negotiations for the settlement of
all matters of joint property, forts, arsenals, arms, or property of
any other kind within the limits of the Confederate States, and all
joint liabilities with their former associates, upon the principles of
right, justice, equity and good faith." [13] Separate states previous
to this action of the confederate states had sent commissioners to
accomplish the same purpose; but of course these gave place to the
commission from the general government of the confederacy.
During an attempt of this commission to obtain official recognition
from the administration at Washington, active preparations for war were
going on at the New York navy yard. Early in April a squadron of seven
ships, carrying two thousand four hundred men, and two hundred and
eighty-five guns put to sea from New York and Norfolk navy yards, under
sealed orders. The design of the enterprise was to re-provision and
re-enforce Fort Sumpter, which at the time was held by Major Anderson,
with a small garrison of men very ill provisioned for a siege.
On the 8th of April Washington authorities, ignoring the commission in
Washington from the Confederate States, sent word to Governor Pickens
of South Carolina of a change in the attitude of the general government
in regard to unofficial assurances given respecting the withdrawal
of Federal forces from Fort Sumter, and declaring the intention of
the government to re-provision and re-enforce the garrison there,
"peaceably if permitted; otherwise, by force." [14]
At the time General Gustave T. Beauregard was at Charleston, with six
thousand Confederate volunteer troops, for the purpose of defending
the city. Governor Pickens informed him of the notice he had received
from the authorities at Washington; and General Beauregard immediately
telegraphed the information to the Confederate authorities at
Montgomery. The reply received by General Beauregard was that, "if he
had no doubt of the authenticity of the notice of the intention of
the Washington government to supply Fort Sumter by force, to demand
at once its evacuation; and if this should be refused, to proceed to
reduce it." [15]
On April the 11th the demand for its evacuation was made. Major
Anderson refused to comply with the demand, and at 4:30, on the morning
of the 12th of April, 1861, General Beauregard opened fire on the fort,
to which the guns of the fort promptly replied. The bombardment lasted
thirty-two hours; and then Major Anderson capitulated, though the fleet
from the north was within view during the bombardment. "This was the
beginning of a war between the states of the Federal Union, which has
been truly characterized as 'one of the most tremendous conflicts on
record.' The din of its clangor reached the remotest part of the earth
and the people of all nations looked on, for four years and upwards,
in wonder and amazement, as its gigantic proportions loomed forth, and
its hideous engines of destruction of human life and everything of
human structure were terribly displayed in its sanguinary progress and
grievous duration." [16] It began where the Prophet Joseph twenty-eight
years before said it would commence--with the rebellion of South
Carolina.
II. _This war, beginning with the rebellion of South Carolina, did
terminate in the death and misery of many souls._ Though it is
notorious that it did so, let us consider the history of it somewhat in
detail. Mr. Alexander H Stephens, in concluding the chapter he devotes
to the Civil War, in his history of the United States, says: "The
Federal records show that they had, from first to last, 2,600,000 men
in the service; while the Confederates all told, and in like manner,
had but little over 600,000. * * * Of Federal prisoners during the
war, the Confederates took in round numbers 270,000; while the whole
number of Confederates captured and held in prisons by the Federals
was in like round numbers 220,000. * * * Of the 270,000 Federal
prisoners taken, 22,576 died in Confederate hands; and of the 220,000
Confederates taken by Federals, 26,436 died in their hands. * * *
The entire loss on both sides, including those who were permanently
disabled, as well as those killed in battle, and who died from wounds
received and diseases contracted in the service, amounted, upon a
reasonable estimate, to the stupendous aggregate of 1,000,000 of men."
[17]
In 1887, the _Cincinnatti Commercial Gazette_ published the following
interesting compilation of statistics in relation to the number that
fell in the Civil War on the side of the Federal armies:
"Official returns show that about 2,653,000 soldiers enlisted during
the war in response to the successive calls of President Lincoln, and
of that number 186,097 were colored troops. Reports show that the
Northern and Southern armies met in over two thousand skirmishes and
battles. In 148 of these conflicts the loss on the Federal side was
over 500 men, and in at least ten battles over 10,000 men were reported
lost on each side. The appended table shows that the combined losses of
the Federal and Confederate forces in killed, wounded, and missing in
the following engagements were: Shiloh, 24,000; Antietam, 18,000; Stone
River, 22,000; Chickamauga, 33,000; McClellan's Peninsula campaign,
50,000; Grant's Peninsula campaign, 140,000; and Sherman's campaign,
80,000.
"Official statistics show that of the 2,653,000 men enlisted, there
were killed in battle 44,238; died of wounds, 49,205; died of disease,
186,216; died of unknown causes, 24,184; total 303,843. This includes
only those whose death while in the army had been actually proved. To
this number should be added first 26,000 men who are known to have
died while in the hands of the enemy as prisoners of war, and many
others in the same manner whose deaths are unrecorded; second, a fair
percentage of the 205,794 men who are put down on the official reports
as deserters and missing in action, for those who participated in the
war know that men frequently disappear who, it was certain, had not
deserted, yet could not be otherwise officially accounted for; third,
thousands who are buried in private cemeteries all over the north, who
died while at home on furlough.
"The dead are buried in 73 national cemeteries, of which only twelve
are in the Northern States. Amongst the principal ones in the North
are Cypress Hill, with its 3,786 dead; Finns Point, N. J., which
contains the remains of 2,644 unknown dead; Gettysburg, Pa., with 1,967
known and 1,608 unknown dead; Mound City, Ill., with 2,505 known and
2,721 unknown graves; Philadelphia, with 1,909 dead; and Woodlawn,
Elmira, N. Y., with its 3,900 dead. In the South, near the scenes of
the terrible conflicts, are located the largest depositories of the
slain: Arlington, Va., 16,264, of which 4,319 are unknown; Beaufort,
S. C., 9,241, of which 4,493 are unknown; Chalmettee, La., 12,511, of
which 5,674 are unknown; Chattanooga, Tenn., 12,972, of which 4,963
are unknown; Fredricksurg, Va., 15,257, of which 12,770 are unknown;
Jefferson Barracks, Mo., 11,290, of which 2,900 are unknown; Little
Rock, Ark., 5,602, of which 2,337 are unknown; City Point, Va., 5,122,
of which 1,374 are unknown; Marietta, Ga., 10,151, of which 2,963 are
unknown; Memphis, Tenn., 13,997, of which 8,817 are unknown; Nashville,
Tenn., 16,526, of which 4,700 are unknown; Poplar Grove, Va., 6,190,
of which 4,001 are unknown; Richmond, Va., 6,542, of which 5,700
are unknown; Salisbury, N. C., 12,126 of which 12,032 are unknown;
Stone River, Tenn., 5,602 of which 288 are unknown; Vicksburg, Miss.,
16,600 of which 12,704 are unknown; Antietam, Va. 4,671 of which 1,818
are unknown; Winchester, Va., 4,559 of which 2,365 are unknown. In
all, the remains of 300,000 men who fought for the stars and stripes
find guarded graves in our national cemeteries. Two cemeteries are
mainly devoted to the men who perished in the prisons of the same
name--Andersonville, Ga., which contains 13,714 graves, and Salisbury,
with its 12,126 dead, among which 12,032 are unknown."
If to the 303,843 given above as the total number of union troops whose
death while in the army was actually proved, be added, as the _Gazette_
suggests, first, 26,000 [18] men who are known to have died while in
the hands of the enemy as prisoners of war; second, many others whose
death was not recorded; third, a fair percentage of the 205,794 put
down on the official reports as deserters and missing in action; and
then add to this all who were killed in the Confederate army, all
Confederates who died in prisons through wounds and diseases contracted
in the service, it will be seen that the estimate of Mr. Stephens,
namely, that one million of men perished in the Great Rebellion, would
not be considered exaggerated. Indeed the same estimate is made by
nearly all writers upon the subject. Thus Lossing: "The whole number
of men called into service during the war (on the Union side) was
2,628,523. Of these about 1,490,000 were in actual service. Of this
number, nearly 60,000 were killed on the field, and about 35,000 were
mortally wounded. Disease in camps and hospitals slew 184,000. It is
estimated that 300,000 Union soldiers perished during the war. Fully
that number of the Confederate soldiers perished, and the aggregate
number of men including both armies, who were crippled or permanently
disabled by disease was estimated at 400,000. The actual loss to the
country, of able-bodied men, in consequence of the rebellion was fully
1,000,000." [19]
"Both sides, during the struggle, relied for means to support it upon
the issue of paper money, and upon loans secured by bonds. An enormous
public debt was thus created by each, and the aggregate of money thus
expended on both sides, including the loss and sacrifice of property,
could not have been less than 8,000,000,000 of dollars--a sum fully
equal to three-fourths of the assessed valuation of the taxable
property of all the states together when it commenced." [20]
To the terrible loss of life and property let there be added the
consideration of the suffering of the wounded and the sick who
languished in loathsome prisons; the sorrow of widows and orphans who
looked in vain for the return of husbands and fathers, who marched in
the fullness of manly strength to the war; the anguish of parents,
whose dim eyes looked in vain for sons thrown into unknown graves; and
the gentler yet equally tender sorrow of sisters which in the fierce
war lost the companions of their childhood. Let all this, I say, be
taken into account, and the fact that Joseph Smith was a prophet of
the living God will be found written in characters of blood to this
generation, and witnessed by the heartache and tears of millions!
III. _The Southern States were divided against the Northern States._
The fact is too well known to need affirming. There were eleven states
in all whose legislatures passed secession ordinances. These were South
Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas,
Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina--all Southern States.
In the first Confederate Congress members representing districts in
Missouri and Kentucky were also admitted, though those states did not
secede from the Union. [21]
IV. _The Southern States did call upon other nations, and upon the
nation of Great Britain in particular, for assistance._ As early
as May, 1861, the Confederacy sent commissioners abroad to seek
recognition and aid from foreign powers. William L. Yancy, of Alabama;
P. A. Rost, of Louisiana; A. Dudley Mann, of Virginia; and T. Butler
King, of Georgia. Mr. Yancy was appointed to operate in England, Mr.
Rost in France, and Mr. Mann in Holland and Belgium. Mr. King had a
roving commission. [22] Subsequently, in October, 1861, the Confederacy
appointed James M. Mason and John Slidell, ambassadors to England and
France respectively, to solicit the assistance of the British and
French governments in the Southern cause. The ambassadors took passage
from Charleston to Cuba in a blockade runner. At the latter place they
engaged passage to England on the British steam packet _Trent._ On the
8th of November, 1861, the _Trent_ was overtaken by the Federal warship
_San Jacinto,_ Captain Wilkes commanding; and Messrs. Mason and Slidell
were taken prisoners and carried to Boston Harbor where they were
placed in Fort Warren. England promptly resented this violation of the
rights of a neutral nation upon the high seas, and the United States
as promptly disavowed the action of Captain Wilkes, made an humble
apology, and as soon as might be restored Messrs. Mason and Slidell to
a British deck, the _Rinaldo,_ in which vessel the ambassadors were
taken to England where they prosecuted their mission.
Though Messrs. Mason and Slidell did not succeed in securing the
open assistance of Great Britain, yet it is well known that British
sympathy was with the Confederate cause; and so far did this sympathy
lead England to violate the law of nations that, against the protests
of the United States Minister at the court of St. James, she allowed
the war vessels _Alabama_ and _Florida_ built by Messrs. Laird &
Co., shipbuilders, Liverpool, England, to put to sea. These vessels
did immense damage to Northern States shipping. The _Alabama_ alone
captured sixty-five merchant vessels belonging to the United States;
and destroyed some ten million dollars' worth of property. Finally the
United States warship _Kearsarge_ sunk her off the coast of France,
near Cherbourg. This _Alabama_ trouble led to ill feeling between
England and the United States which was not finally settled until the
27th of June, 1872, when the Geneva Board of Arbitration decided that
England should pay to the United States the sum of fifteen million five
hundred thousand dollars, an amount really in excess of the demands of
merchants and others claiming the loss of property through depredations
of the _Alabama_. [23]
The evidence is surely sufficient that the Southern States did call
upon the nation of Great Britain for assistance (and that is as far
as the prophecy goes on this point), and England did give at least
indirect aid and comfort to the Confederate cause, to the extent that
she was found violating the law of nations so far that she paid a fine
of $15,500,000 for her trespass.
Thus in all these important items the remarkable prophecy has been
fulfilled. It now remains to call attention to the events it predicts
which are still in the future. These are:
First, Great Britain is to call upon other nations for aid, and she
with her allies thus formed, is to call on other nations in order to
defend themselves against other nations, until war is poured out upon
all nations.
Second, A great race war in America--slaves are to rise up against
their masters who shall be marshalled and disciplined for war. [24]
Third, The aboriginal inhabitants of America--the Indians--will become
exceeding angry, and marshalling themselves, will vex the Gentiles with
a sore vexation.
Fourth, With sword and by bloodshed and finally with famine and plague,
and earthquake; with the thunder of heaven and the fierce and vivid
lightning--the inhabitants of the earth will mourn, and be made to feel
the wrath and indignation and chastening hand of Almighty God, until
the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations.
These several items yet to be fulfilled strengthen belief in the
reality of the prophecy, for the reason that if the prophecy had
originated in fraud, had it been written after the events it pretended
to predict had taken place, the pseudo-prophet and his associates would
not have dared in any respect to have ventured into the domain of the
future. They would have clung exclusively to the past. But standing as
we do now midway between what has been fulfilled of the prophecy and
what is yet to come, we are made to feel the reality of the prophecy;
and so much of it as the wheels of time have brought due having been
fulfilled, gives ample assurance that the remainder will come to pass
to the very letter.
If it shall be asked of what use is this prophecy about war,
earthquakes, bloodshed, famine and general distress of mankind--what
makes it worthy of inspiration--knowledge worthy of God to reveal and
a prophet to proclaim--let it be answered that its value consists in
this, that it is a warning to mankind, it cries repentance to the
wicked, and gives all who will avail themselves of it an opportunity to
make God their friend, escape the calamities predicted, and have the
privilege of uniting with God's Saints who, in the closing sentence in
the prophecy, are admonished to stand in holy places unmoved until the
day of the Lord comes; and they are assured it will come quickly.
The evidence of prophecy is, in part, before the reader, all I design
to introduce in this book; [25] and now I ask him to review it;
considering first the importance attached to the peculiar power of
prophecy as evidence of divine inspiration--how it is within itself a
sort of miracle, as men understand miracles, and has ever been regarded
as an evidence of the possession of a power peculiar to God and those
whom he commissions. Second, remember how definitely proven is the fact
that these prophecies preceded the events they fore ell. Third, that
they so minutely describe the future events they predict that by no
means can they be resolved into a fortunate conjecture of an uninspired
mind. Fourth, that they treat of things that from their nature are of
importance to man to know and therefore are worthy of inspiration.
Fifth, that their remarkable fulfillment has been by agencies outside
of the prophet himself.
Side by side with all these facts consider how fatal to Joseph Smith's
claims as a divinely commissioned prophet of God would have been the
failure of his prophecies! After all this is carefully considered,
without prejudice and with a candid desire to know the truth, let each
for himself answer these questions: Does not the fulfillment of the
prophecies of Joseph Smith furnish a volume of testimony sufficient
both as to quality and quantity to convince a reasonable mind that he
was a divinely inspired prophet? If he was not a divinely inspired
prophet, on what hypothesis shall we account for this remarkable list
of predictions here set forth and their marvelous fulfillment?
Footnotes
1. The writer saw a copy in the Church Liverpool Office Library, in
1887, while acting as assistant editor of the _Millennial Star._ See
_Millennial Star,_ Vol. xlix: p. 396.
2. Stephens' History of the United States, p. 448.
3. Stephens' History of the United States, p. 451.
4. See Cooper's American Politics, Book I, p. 33.
5. _Millennial Star,_ Vol. xx, p. 728.
6. Cooper's American Politics, Book I, p. 88.
7. Cooper's American Politics, Book I, p. 88.
8. _Ibid_.
9. Cooper's American Politics, p. 88.
10. Lossing's History of the United States, p. 546.
11. Cooper's American Politics, Book I, p. 88.
12. Lossing's History of the United States, p. 547, note 2.
13. Stephens' History of the United States, p. 604.
14. See War between the States, Vol. II, pp. 346-7, _et seq._; also
Appendix N. Stephens' Hist. United States. There the correspondence on
the subject is given _in extenso_.
15. Stephens' History of the United States, p. 609.
16. Stephens' History of the United States, p. 610.
17. Stephens' History of the United States, p. 837-8. The figures
of Mr. Stephens are sustained by the report of the Surgeon-General,
U.S.A.; and also by Mr. Stanton's report for 1866. Mr. S. was Secretary
of War.
18. It will be observed that there is a slight disagreement between Mr.
Stephens and the _Gazette_ Compilation in this item; the former putting
the number of prisoners who died in Confederate hands at 22,576, the
latter at 26,000.
19. Lossing's History of the United States, p. 723-4, note 3.
20. Stephens' History of the United States, p. 838.
21. Cooper's American Politics, Book I, p. 99.
22. Lossing's History of the United States, p. 559 and note I.
23. Cooper's American Politics, Bk. I, p. 197.
24. Many believe this part of the prophecy was fulfilled during the
war of the Southern Rebellion, when many colored men formerly slaves
were enlisted in the Union service. We have already seen that of the
2,653,000 soldiers enlisted in the Union army 186,397 were colored.
25. In a second volume in which the Book of Mormon will be the
subject--the witness for God--the author will consider many prophecies
contained in the Book of Mormon which will not only tend to prove the
truth of that book but will also establish the inspiration and divine
mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith.