THE MISSION OF ELIAS--THE SYMBOLISM OF THE UNIVERSE--THE PAST
PREPARATORY TO THE PRESENT AND FUTURE--THE WAY PREPARED FOR THE
FULNESS OF THE GOSPEL--THE "LESSER LIGHTS" OF ENGLAND--FIELDING,
MATTHEWS AND AITKEN--THE STARS PALING BEFORE THE SUN.
The mission of Elias is the mission of preparation, the lesser going
before the greater, opening up the way. The day-star heralding the
dawn. The wedge of truth piercing the wall of prejudice, cleaving the
ranks of error, creating the gap through which shall ride on victory's
flaming wheels, the chariot of Righteousness.
"Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before
me."
What Christ is to the Father, Elias is to the Son; messenger and
symbol of His Majesty. And hath not Elias also his fore-runner? The
mantle of Elias falls on many shoulders; the shadow of that mantle on
many more.
Life, the universe, is one vast symbolism. Earth fore-shadows heaven.
The stars, the worlds on high, are of higher worlds typical; a climax
of constellations, a ladder of light, a burning stairway of immortal
glories.
"System on system, countless worlds and suns,
Linked in division, one yet separate,
The silver islands of a sapphire sea,
Shoreless, unfathomed, undiminished, stirred
With waves which roll in restless tides of change."
Planet above planet, step by step, lustre upon lustre "until thou come
nigh to Kolob;" Kolob, lord of light, king of kokaubeam, nearest unto
the throne of God.
And shall it not be seen when all history is written, on earth as in
heaven, where it exists as a prophecy; when all secrets are revealed
and hidden things made known; that Time with all its ages is a chain,
a climax, an ascending scale of dispensations, merging in each other,
and all into one, like rills and rivers mingling with the ocean; that
men and nations from the beginning have carved out the way for other
men and nations; that human lives and human events, like sections of
machinery turned by the enginery of Omnipotence, have fitted into and
impelled each other, under the controlling, guiding master mind and
hand that "doeth all things well?"
Was not the past all preparatory to the present? Does not the present
foreshadow the future? Are not influences at work, even now; doctrines
being taught, truths put forth by pulpit, play and press; discoveries
made in art and science; antiquities unveiled and mysteries brought to
light, that are surely paving the way for the revelations of Jesus
Christ, past, present and to come? Is not the knowledge now possessed
by the Saints, glorious though it be, but a foretaste, the antepast of
a greater feast of knowledge yet to follow?
The mission of Elias is the mission of preparation, the lesser going
before the greater, opening up the way.
The mantle of Elias falls on many shoulders; the shadow of that mantle
on many more.
In America, it was Sidney Rigdon, Alexander Campbell and other orators
and divines, who prepared the way before Joseph Smith and the fullness
of the everlasting gospel. In England, the Fieldings, the Matthews,
the Aitkens and other lights, shed the lustre of advanced thought over
the path-way soon to be brightened by the beams of eternal truth.
Receiving not the light themselves, they nevertheless bore witness of
its approach, and unknowingly made ready the minds of many for its
acceptance. The more lustrously they shone, the greater their measure
of power, the higher, wider, deeper, more advanced and more liberal
their doctrines, the nearer they approximated, although they knew it
not, to what the world terms "Mormonism," what men in other ages
called "Christianism," but what the Gods in eternity have glorified as
the Gospel of life and salvation.
This preparatory work, like the work which was to follow, was both
spiritual and temporal. In America, the sword of a Washington, the pen
of a Jefferson had carved out the legend of liberty, "All men are
equal," ere the Gospel trump was heard again proclaiming, to high and
low, rich and poor, "Peace on earth, good will to men." In England,
Victoria had ascended the throne, and the spirit of reform, in church
and state, was rolling, a billow of victory, over the land. Society
was moved to its center. Old institutions were crumbling. The
iconoclast was abroad. Steam and electricity had begun their miracles;
science was exploding superstition; tyrant's thrones were tottering;
Liberty's upheaval in the west had shaken the very pillars of the
east; the "former things" were passing away; He that "sat upon the
throne" was making "all things new."
Thus had God prepared the way for the advent of the everlasting
Gospel.
As we have seen, the man chosen to pioneer the work on Europe's
shores, to lead the assault on Satan's strongholds in the old world,
and wave back over the Atlantic to his chief the signal of truth
triumphant among the nations, was Heber C. Kimball.
Speaking of those "lesser lights" who went before him and his brethren
and unwittingly helped them to establish Mormonism in the British
Isles, Heber says, referring now to the mission of Elders Richards and
Goodson to the city of Bedford:
"A minister by the name of Timothy R. Matthews, a brother-in-law to
Joseph Fielding, received them very kindly, and invited them to preach
in his church, which was accepted, and in it they preached several
times, when a number, amongst whom were Mr. Matthews and his lady,
believed their testimony, and the truths which they proclaimed. Mr.
Matthews had likewise borne testimony to his congregation of the truth
of these things, and that they were the same principles that were
taught by the Apostles anciently; and besought his congregation to
receive the same. Forty of his members went forward and were baptized,
and the time was appointed when he was to be baptized. In the
interval, however, Brother Goodson, contrary to my counsel and
positive instructions, and without advising with any one, read to Mr.
Matthews the vision seen by President Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon,
which caused him to stumble, and darkness pervaded his mind; so much
so, that at the time specified he did not make his appearance, but
went and baptized himself in the river Ouse; and from that time he
began to preach baptism for the remission of sins. He wrote to Rev.
James Fielding saying that his best members had left him."
"Mr. Matthews was a gentleman of considerable learning and talent. He
had been a minister in the established church of England, but seeing
many things in that church contrary to truth and righteousness, and
feeling that an overturn was nigh at hand, and that the church was
destitute of the gifts of the Spirit, and was not expecting the Savior
to come to reign upon the earth, as had been spoken by the prophets;
he felt led to withdraw from that body, and gave up his prospects in
that establishment. He then began to preach the things which he verily
believed, and was instrumental in raising up quite a church in that
place."
This of the Reverend Mr. Fielding, in Preston:
"Mr. James Fielding had been a minister in the Methodist Church, but
for some of the above causes had withdrawn from that society, and had
collected a considerable church in Preston. Those gentlemen, with
their congregations at the time we arrived were diligently contending
for that faith which was once delivered to the saints; but they
afterwards rejected the truth. Notwithstanding they did not obey the
Gospel, the greater portion of their members received our testimony,
obeyed the ordinances we taught, and are now rejoicing in the
blessings of the new and everlasting covenant."
Of the Rev. Robert Aitken, the most famous of these reform ministers,
Tullidge, our local historian, says:
"He seems to have been almost a Whitefield in his eloquence and
magical influence over the people. He was emphatically the most
popular 'new light' of the period in England. For years he had been
preaching very successfully against 'the corruptions of the
established church.' His mission had been quite a crusade against the
English Episcopacy, and he had established many flourishing chapels in
Liverpool, Preston, Manchester, Burslem, London and elsewhere. In the
metropolis he founded 'Zion's chapel' and what is interesting in the
case was that his themes on the ancient prophecies and their
fulfillment in 'these latter days' were very like what might have been
heard from Alexander Campbell or the eloquent Sidney Rigdon, before as
well as after he became a Mormon Elder. The Rev. Robert Aitken was
also powerful in his 'warnings to the Gentiles,' and his sermons were
often glorious outbursts of inspiration, when he dwelt upon the
prospect of a latter-day church rising in fulfillment of the
prophets."
But the power and influence of this brilliant star were about to wane.
A greater luminary had arisen--the very Latter-day Church of which he
had spoken--before whose rays the light of "Zion's Chapel" must pale
as pales the starlight before the morn.
Concerning this celebrated expounder of the Bible, and _pounder_ of
the Book of Mormon--for such it seems he literally was--Apostle
Kimball writes:
"Soon after our arrival in England, many of the Aitkenites embraced
the Gospel, which caused considerable feeling and opposition in the
ministers belonging to that sect. Having lost quite a number of
members, and seeing that more were on the eve of being baptized, the
Rev. Robert Aitken came to Preston, and gave out that he was going to
put down Mormonism, expose the doctrines, and overthrow the Book of
Mormon. He made a very long oration on the subject, was very vehement
in his manner, and pounded the Book of Mormon on the pulpit many
times. He then exhorted the people to pray that the Lord would drive
us from their coast; and if the Lord would not hear them in that
petition, that He would smite the leaders.
"The next Sunday Elder Hyde and myself went to our meeting room, read
the thirteenth chapter of first Corinthians, and strongly urged upon
the people the grace of charity which is so highly spoken of in that
chapter, and made some remarks on the proceedings of the Reverend
Robert Aitken, who had abused us and the Book of Mormon so very much.
In return for his railing we exhorted the Saints to pray that the Lord
would soften his heart and open his eyes that he might see that it was
hard to 'kick against the pricks.' This discourse had a very good
effect, and that week we had the pleasure of baptizing fifty into the
kingdom of Jesus, a large number of whom were members of Mr. Aitken's
church."
Thus did the sheep of Israel, straying in Idumean pastures, continue
flocking back into the Master's fold. They knew the voice of their
Shepherd when He called, and a stranger they would no longer follow.