So that this Fifth Gospel deals not only with the past, but it

deals with the present and with the future, and sounds this note of

warning to the Gentile nations upon the promised land of America.

Notwithstanding the strength and pride and power of these nations in

these days of their glory, the Fifth Gospel warns them that they hold

their proud stations upon the condition of their faithfulness to God

and their receiving the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is worthy of God to

reveal the conditions upon which the nations of the western world in

pride of place may hold their stations among the nations of the earth;

and it is a matter worthy the consideration of these nations to give

heed to such a warning. Let no nation think itself beyond the power

of God; for it is not. Imperial Rome was as confident of her ability

to perpetuate her power as any nation of the western world is today;

and he who would have dared to suggest that Rome could be humbled,

and pass away as a dream of the night, would doubtless have been

thought wanting in patriotism; yet Rome was humbled. The half-naked

hordes from the woods and plains of Germany reveled in the palaces of

the Caesars. Romans in their pride were wont to say of the Coliseum

in which Christians had suffered martyrdom at the hands of brute men

and brute beasts, merely to grace a Roman holiday: "While stands the

Coliseum, Rome stands, when falls the Coliseum, Rome falls; when Rome,

the world!" The Coliseum stands in ruins. Rome, as an empire, is only

a name held in memory by history. But the world fell not when Rome

fell; and as it has been in the past, so, too, it may be in the future.

If God's conditions are not complied with, then as a potsherd will he

break that nation that rises up in proud rebellion against him. This

is God's earth. It is his by right of proprietorship, for he created

it; and by various means is he and not man guiding its destinies. Those

who hold power and authority in it hold it in trust from him, and only

in trust; and the nation that is unfaithful to that trust must account

to God for it. Hence I conclude that this warning that comes from the

Fifth Gospel, is important; it announces a mighty, a solemn truth,

an awful warning, to which ministers of any faith, and the nations

addressed, will do well to take heed.

Now, a word in conclusion about the "gold test" that our ministerial

friend proposes to apply to the Fifth Gospel. I think the gentleman

puts that forth for a special reason, and that in doing so he exhibits

a weakness on his part. He says "The question is not, where do men say

they get it, but, is it gold." Well, but it is also important to know

where men got it, and we can establish that so far beyond all question,

and can sustain it by testimony that has not only not been impeached,

but is unimpeachable. The question: "Where do men say they got it" is

important. The "how" and the "where" men got it is part of the evidence

of its truth, which this gentleman dodges by saying that it does not

matter where the Fifth Gospel came from. But having just hinted at

the importance of this matter of where and how it came, I will set

all that aside and declare my willingness as one of the believers in

the Book of Mormon to see it submitted--as perforce it must be--to

the "assay test." Is it gold? Are these important truths we have been

considering this evening, wherein the welfare of half the world is

concerned, gold or dross? Is the light which it throws upon the word

of God contained in the Four Gospels, of importance? Is the fact that

Jesus visited this western world and announced the saving power of his

gospel in such a manner that millions would come to the knowledge of

salvation a golden truth? Is the solemn warning to the Gentile nations

inhabiting the western world worth while considering? May it not be

golden, especially if heeded? I shall leave you to answer that. But I

want to suggest an improvement on the gentleman's simile--this "assay

test" of his. Although he praises it so highly himself in the synopsis

he gave to the papers of his discourse, I think it could be improved.

The question is not so much as to whether in the Four Gospels or in

the Fifth, all is gold, but is there gold in them. I do not think the

Four Gospels are without alloy. In other words I do not think the Four

Gospels are perfect. I believe there are imperfections in them, in

forms of expression and in the fact that they do not convey all that

Jesus both taught and did; at best they are fragmentary. St. John

informs us in his gospel that if all the things that Jesus had done

and taught were written, the world itself would hardly contain the

books. We have not the full reports of Messiah's discourses. The full

and absolute pure word of God just as it fell from the lips of the

Savior, is not in the Four Gospels. For the most part we have but the

recollections of the evangelists of what Jesus both said and did. Only

those who read the Greek--and unfortunately they are very few--may

read even the Four Gospels in the language in which the Apostles wrote

them. But we have translations of these records, and each time they are

translated a dilution takes place. The force of what is said becomes

in the translation somewhat abated as all know who are acquainted with

original records which they may compare with translations. So with

this Book of Nephi that comes to us in an abridged form. It is not the

original book of Nephi; it is Mormon's abridgement of that book. He

has condensed it, and in doing so has doubtless given us less perfect

accounts of Christ's mission to the Nephites than would be found in

the original Book of Nephi, the real Fifth Gospel. That is to say, we

have not all the surrounding circumstances or all the utterances of the

Savior, or of the men it represents as speaking. Then we have not even

Mormon's original abridgement of Nephi's book, but the Prophet Joseph's

translation of Mormon's abridgement, and that, it is admitted, in his

imperfect English. So that the whole Five Gospels are fragmentary and

tainted with imperfections and limitations as all things are that pass

through human hands; but containing, nevertheless, God's precious

truths; and some of these are found in the Fifth Gospel as well as in

the four Hebrew Gospels; and to me the truths of the Fifth or Nephite

Gospel are as precious and important as are those of the Four Gospels.

IV.

Mormon Views of America.

FOREWORD.

The Book of Mormon teaches that the two American continents are a

promised land, consecrated to righteousness and to liberty, and

especially dedicated to the seed of the Patriarch Joseph, son of Jacob,

of Bible fame, and to the Gentile races, who shall in the last days be

gathered to the land as well as the descendants of Joseph. When the

Jaredite colony was directed to take its departure from the valley of

the Euphrates, the Lord promised to go before them and direct them to

"land which is choice above all the land of the earth." After beginning

the journey the Lord would not permit them to stop short of that land

of promise; "but he would that they should come forth even unto the

land of promise, which was choice above all other lands, which the

Lord God had preserved for a righteous people; and he [the Lord] had

sworn unto the brother of Jared, that whoso should possess this land

of promise, from that time hence forth and forever, should serve him,

the true and only God, or they should be swept off when the fulness of

his wrath shall come upon them. . . . . Behold this is a choice land,

and whatsoever nation shall possess it, shall be free from bondage, and

from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will

but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ."

This colony of Jaredites was brought to the north continent of the

Western hemisphere--to North America.

So, too, when the Lord was leading from Jerusalem the colony of Lehi

he promised them that inasmuch as they would keep his commandments he

would lead them to a land of promise, "to a land which he had prepared

for them, a land which is choice above all other lands."

After arriving upon this land of promise, (and their colony landed in

South America), the Prophet Lehi said to his sons:

"Notwithstanding our afflictions, we have obtained a land of

promise, a land which is choice above all other lands; a land which

the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the

inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath covenanted this land

unto me, and to my children forever; and also all those who should

be led out of other countries by the hand of the Lord. Wherefore,

I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which

is in me, that there shall none come into this land, save they

shall be brought by the hand of the Lord. Wherefore, this land is

consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they

shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given,

it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall

never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of

iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound, cursed shall be the land

for their sakes; but unto the righteous it shall be blessed for

ever. . . . . But behold, this land, saith God, shall be a land of

thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land.

And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and

there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the

Gentiles; And I will fortify this land against all other nations;

and he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God; for he

that raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for I, the Lord,

the King of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto

them for ever, that hear my words. . . . . Wherefore, he that

fighteth against Zion, both Jew and Gentile, both bond and free,

both male and female, shall perish; for they are they who are the

whore of all the earth; for they who are not for me are against me,

saith our God."

Moreover, the Book of Mormon represents this land of America as the

place of a "Holy City" to be called "New Jerusalem," that shall be

built upon "this land, unto the remnant of the seed of Joseph, for

which things there has been a type; for as Joseph brought his father

down into the land of Egypt, even so he died there; wherefore the Lord

brought a remnant of the seed of Joseph out of the land of Jerusalem,

that he might be merciful unto the seed of Joseph, that they should

perish not, even as he was merciful unto the father of Joseph, that he

should perish not; wherefore the remnant of the house of Joseph shall

be built [established] upon this land; and it shall be a land of their

inheritance; and they shall build up a holy city unto the Lord, like

unto the Jerusalem of old; and they shall no more be confounded, until

the end come, when the earth shall pass away. And there shall be a new

heaven and a new earth; and they shall be like unto the old, save the

old have passed away, and all things have become new." (Ether xii.)

These quotations indicate the views Mormons necessarily hold respecting

the land of America; to them it is a land of promise, a sacred

land, dedicated to righteousness, and to liberty, therefore to free

institutions which alone may preserve the liberties and the rights of

men.

This belief in the sacredness of the land, this knowledge of the

divine purposes concerning it, coupled with the fact that Mormons

believe that God inspired the founders of the now great and dominating

nation, the United States, to establish the Constitution under which

the government of the United States subsists and which guarantees both

religious and civil liberty to all its people; the belief also that the

Lord has given unto it an unparalleled national prosperity and power

to enforce the divine decrees concerning this land--all this lays the

foundation for purest patriotism, for unwavering loyalty to these free

institutions and to the power that guarantees their perpetuity, the

government of the United States.

The first article under this title was written for the "Contributor,"

Vol. X, No. 7, May, 1899: The second is a discourse delivered in the

Salt Lake tabernacle, Sunday afternoon, March 24, 1907. Reported by F.

W. Otterstrom.

I.

A Prophetic Incident.

In the April number of the Century, 1899, is a well-written and

profusely illustrated article on the Inauguration of Washington, by

Clarence Winthrop Bowen. Among the illustrations is a facsimile of

the page of the Bible on which Washington laid his hand while taking

the oath of office, and it is to this that I wish specially to call

attention.

It was Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, one of the committee of five

appointed to draft the Declaration of Independence, who administered

the oath of office to Washington. "Just before the oath was to be

administered," says Mr. Bowen, "it was discovered that no Bible was in

Federal Hall. Luckily Livingston, a Grand Master of Free Masons, knew

that there was one at St. John's Lodge in the City Assembly Room near

by--St. John's Lodge was the third oldest lodge in the United States,

by the way--and a messenger was dispatched to borrow the Bible.

In further describing the solemn ceremonies of that occasion the

_Century_ article says:

"Secretary Otis of the Senate held before him (Washington) a red

velvet cushion, upon which rested the open Bible of St. John's

Lodge. 'You do solemnly swear,' said Livingston, 'that you will

faithfully execute the office of President of the United States

and will, to the best of your ability, preserve, protect and

defend the Constitution of the United States.' 'I do solemnly

swear,' said Washington, 'that I will faithfully execute the

office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of

my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the

United States.' He then bowed his head and kissed the sacred book,

and with the deepest feeling uttered the words, 'So help me God!"

The page of the Bible which Washington kissed, and on which his hand

rested while taking the oath, is indicated in the Bible of St. John's

Lodge by the leaf being turned down. A copper plate engraving is on the

opposite page, illustrating the blessings of Zebulun and Issachar, as

pronounced upon them by the Patriarch Jacob in Genesis xlix, thirteenth

and fourteenth verses respectively. The page on which Washington's

hand rested contains part of chapter forty-nine of Genesis, beginning

with the thirteenth verse; and also part of the fiftieth chapter down

to verse eight, inclusive. The particular thing which struck me as

being a remarkable circumstance is that the page indicated contains

the blessing of Jacob upon the head of his favorite son, Joseph, which

reads as follows:

"22. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well,

whose branches run over the wall.

"23. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and

hated him.

"24. But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were

made strong, by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence

is the shepherd the stone of Israel).

"25. Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, and by

the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above,

blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts

and of the womb.

"26. The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings

of my progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills;

they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head

of him that was separated from his brethren."

To the Latter-day Saints the blessing of Joseph has a particular

significance, for the reason that they, more than any other people,

are familiar with his descendants, and the blessing promised them in

which also they hope to participate. The Book of Mormon is a history,

chiefly, of the descendants of Joseph; and in the mighty nations which

have peopled the American continent, the Latter-day Saints see, in

part, the fulfillment of the great blessings pronounced upon his head.

The brass plates which were taken by the colony of Lehi from Jerusalem,

and which they brought with them to America, contained a genealogy and

from that Lehi learned he was a descendant of Joseph. Nephi describes

the matter thus:

"And it came to pass that my father, Lehi, also found upon the

plates of brass, a genealogy of his fathers; wherefore he knew he

was a descendant of Joseph; yea even that Joseph who was the son of

Jacob, who was sold into Egypt, and who was preserved by the hand

of the Lord, that he might preserve his father Jacob, and all his

household from perishing with famine."--I Nephi v:14.

In the early wanderings of the above named colony, before it had left

the wilderness of Arabia for America, the Lord in speaking with Nephi,

said to him:

"Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast

sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart. And in as much as ye

shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a

land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you,

yea a land, which is choice above all other lands."--I Nephi ii:19,

20.

Even after this time the land to which this colony was being led, and

upon which it finally located, was spoken of among them as the land of

promise. When the Messiah appeared among the descendants of this colony

in America, which he did after his resurrection and shortly after he

left his disciples in Jerusalem, he referred to these people being

descendants of Joseph and also to this land of promise which they had

received. He chose twelve apostles on the continent of America as he

had chosen a like number in Judea to be special witnesses for him, and

in a conversation he had with them he said:

"Ye are my disciples; and ye are a light unto this people, who are

a remnant of the house of Joseph, and behold, this is the land

[America] of your inheritance; and the father hath given it unto

you. And not at any time hath the father given me commandment that

I should tell it unto your brethren at Jerusalem. . . . . . . . . .

This much did the father command me, that I should tell unto them:

that other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I

must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one

fold and one shepherd. . . . And verily, I say unto you, that ye

are they of whom I said other sheep I have who are not of this

fold," etc.--III Nephi xv:11-22.

Nothing can be clearer than that the family of Lehi and his posterity,

which grew into a mighty people, a great nation upon the continent of

America, were descendants of Joseph, the son of Jacob. And now let us

consider this fact in connection with the blessing pronounced upon

the head of Joseph by his father Jacob; but before doing so I wish to

call attention to the blessing which Moses also pronounced upon the

descendants of Joseph just previous to his death; it is recorded in

Deuteronomy, chapter xxxiii.

"And of Joseph he said: Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the

precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that

croucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the

sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the

chief things of the ancient mountains and for the precious things

of the everlasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth

and the fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt

in the bush, let the blessing come upon the top of the head of him

that was separated from his brethren."

It will be observed both in this blessing pronounced upon Joseph by

Moses and in the one given him of Jacob, that special stress is laid

upon the excellent character of the land to be inhabited by Joseph.

Jacob said his own blessings had prevailed (i. e., were more extended,

more excellent) above the blessings of his progenitors, unto the

utmost bounds of the everlasting hills--his inheritance was to be more

extended than that given to his progenitors, and all those blessings he

gave unto Joseph, and his land was to be blessed with the blessings of

heaven and earth; with blessings of the breast and of the womb. While

Moses tells us that his land shall be blessed with the precious fruits

brought forth by the sun, with the precious things of the everlasting

hills, with the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof.

All this leads us to believe that the land to be inhabited by the

descendants of Joseph is to be a rich, fruitful and therefore a choice

land; more excellent than that given to his brethren.

Now look, I pray you, upon the continent of America, North and South.

Consider its varied climate, embracing as it does the torrid zone near

the center of it, and then extending to the frigid zones north and

south. Think of its vast wealth and variety of fruits and flowers,

grains and vegetables; the bread fruits, figs, limes, oranges, bananas,

pine apples, dates, rice, maize and other fruits and vegetables of the

tropics too numerous to enumerate; and with them remember the hardier

fruits and grains and vegetation of the colder climates. Call to mind

the mighty forests, inhabited by an infinite variety of birds and

beasts. Remember its extensive plains, the llanos of the South and the

great rolling prairies and plains of the North, capable of sustaining

innumerable herds of sheep and cattle and horses. Forget not the

precious things of the chief mountains, the wealth of the everlasting

hills--the gold, the silver, the lead, the copper, the iron, the

inexhaustible coal fields, the underground petroleum lakes, the

precious stones. Think of the great rivers that afford easy entrance

into the interior of this mighty continent--the great high-ways of

commerce; view from the mountain tops the splendid harbors which abound

along the shores; remember the fruitful seas surrounding these blessed

continents, and, as all these things are called to mind, tell me, is

not the land of Joseph blessed with the precious things of the earth

and the fulness thereof? With the precious fruits brought forth by the

sun and the precious things of the everlasting hills, and with the

precious things of the deep?

But not only were the descendants of Joseph to be blessed with a goodly

land, and an abundance of the good and precious things of the earth,

but they were to be blessed also with the "precious things of heaven;"

according-to Moses, and according to Jacob, Joseph was to be helped

by the God of his fathers, who would bless him with the "blessings of

heaven above." What may more appropriately be regarded as "blessings of

heaven above," the "precious things of heaven," than the revelations of

God, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Surely nothing! And according

to the Book of Mormon the descendants of Joseph on the continent of

America had both. They carried with them from Jerusalem the writings of

Moses and the prophets whom the Lord raised up to Israel up to the time

of their departure for America. Furthermore, the Lord sent prophets

among them to teach them the way of truth, to admonish them of their

sins, to warn them of approaching calamity when their iniquity required

the chastening hand of Almighty God to correct it, that peradventure

some would repent. Then after his resurrection the Son of God came

among them, taught them the fulness of the gospel and organized his

Church in their midst--truly then the descendants of Joseph were

blessed with the "precious things of heaven," and they preserved the

words of their prophets and teachings of the Messiah in their records;

and these things, in part, have come to us in the Book of Mormon.

Again, the family of Lehi was but a part and a very small part of

the descendants of Joseph; the greater number of his descendants

remained in Judea until, in connection with the ten tribes, and

forming a part of that body of people, they were led away. But when

Lehi and his colony left Jerusalem and planted themselves in America,

the figure used by Jacob in blessing Joseph, was completed--Joseph

was indeed "a fruitful bough by a well whose branches ran over the

wall." And though the great nations which sprang into existence on

the American continent, consisting in the main of his posterity, have

been destroyed, and broken up, until nothing is left of them but a few

wandering tribes and the ruins of their once grand civilization--still

many millions of them have been very faithful to the Lord and his truth

in the days of their probation, and have doubtless died with a lively

hope of a glorious resurrection.

Thus in very many particulars the blessing of Joseph has been realized

by his posterity upon the land given to them of the Lord--the continent

of America--both North and South. And if any one should doubt the

truth of what is here stated; if he should regard the Book of Mormon

as being untrue, and insist that the aborigines of America are not the

descendants of Joseph, then we may ask when, where, and in what way

have the blessings pronounced upon the head of Joseph been fulfilled.

But what seems singular in connection with these promises made to

Joseph and the account of their partial fulfilment in a portion of

his posterity inhabiting America is, that after the nations, composed

largely of his descendants, had been destroyed and other peoples from

Europe--among whom, however, were also large numbers of the descendants

of Joseph through the loins of Ephraim[A] had taken possession of the

land, at the formal inauguration of that government whose mission it

is to control the destiny of the great continent of America--the land

of Joseph--the very first executive chosen for that nation, when being

sworn to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of this land

which God had inspired men to frame, he placed his hand upon the very

page of the Bible containing the blessing pronounced upon the head of

Joseph by the Patriarch Jacob, and kissed it in token that he swore by

God's holy word that he would preserve inviolate the constitution which

God prepared for this land![B]

[Footnote A: The great majority of the patriarchal blessings given to

the Latter-day Saints so far, proclaim them to be the descendants of

Joseph through his son Ephraim.]

[Footnote B: It is well known that the Mormon people regard the

establishment of the Constitution and Government of the United States

as a divine act. In one of the revelations of God to the Church through

Joseph Smith it is said:

"And again I say unto you, those who have been scattered by their

enemies, it is my will that they should continue to importune for

redress, and redemption, by the hands of those who are placed as rulers

and are in authority over you, according to the laws and constitution

of the people which I have suffered to be established, and should

be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according

to just and holy principles, that every man may act in doctrine and

principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I

have given unto him that every man may be accountable for his own sins

in the day of judgment. Therefore, it is not right that any man should

be in bondage one to another. And for this purpose have I established

the Constitution of this land by the hands of wise men whom I raised

up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of

blood." (Doc. & Cov. p. 357)]

Will men call this merely coincidence? Strange coincidence indeed it

is, if that be all that it is. Observe that the forty-ninth chapter of

Genesis is near the very first leaves of the Bible, and in laying the

book open upon a velvet cushion for the use of one about to make solemn

oath upon it, it would naturally be parted near the middle of the

volume and not parted at the first few leaves.

Let others believe all this to be coincidence if they choose, but for

my own part there is too much that is significant to assign it to

that class of phenomena so conveniently disposed of by calling them

coincidents. And I believe that the men who opened the old Masonic

Bible at the page containing the blessing of Joseph were unwittingly

guided by the powers of heaven, and that the act heralded an era big

with promise for the descendants of Joseph--the establishment of

a government under which they would eventually attain to the full

enjoyment of all that was pronounced upon their great progenitor by the

inspired patriarchs, Jacob and Moses.

II.

America the Land of Zion and of Joseph.[A]

[Footnote A: Discourse delivered March 24, 1907, in the Tabernacle,

Salt Lake City.]

Between the fore part of September and the closing days of the month

of December of last year, it was my privilege to travel in all about

11,000 miles, chiefly within the confines of the United States. I

crossed the state of Nevada twice, and zigzagged back and forth through

the territory of Arizona, through parts of Texas and the northern part

of Mexico, making in that journey something over 3,000 miles, chiefly

within what is known as the arid region of America; and really, during

that time, I was almost ready to conclude that the whole of America

must be "arid region," so vast it was. Shortly after this it was my

privilege to go down the eastern slopes of the Rocky mountains en route

for the Atlantic sea board, and of course came in contact with more

"arid region." In the eastern part of Colorado, however, and in central

Nebraska we began to go into a region of our country that is fertile,

where field joins field, and where there is one perpetual succession

of cornfields, meadows, pastures, gardens and orchards, with here and

there prosperous railroad towns and farming villages. We rode a whole

day through such a country; and when we retired to rest we knew that

the express train would all night long be plunging through just such

fertile lands as we had looked upon during the day, and all the next

day it would be the same--and then some. This fertile section of the

country was so vast that we forgot the arid region, and were ready to

declare that the whole of America must be fertile. Then in eastern

Ohio we began entering the manufacturing region of our country, and

thence eastward through the whole extent of Pennsylvania, where we were

seldom out of sight of the smoke stacks and furnaces of manufacturing

establishments, and as we would cross the rivers or run parallel with

them we could see acres and acres of coal barges and other craft of

inland commerce, while the scream of the locomotives, the whistle of

the factories, and ringing of bells were constantly in one's ears. So

extensive was this manufacturing region that we began to think that the

whole of America must be given up to manufactures. Everywhere we went

there were evidences of prosperity in the land. Our journey extended

not only through the central eastern states, but up into New England,

up into Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts, and

thence down the Atlantic seaboard as far as Florida; thence northward

and westward through the southern states; and, as I say, everywhere we

found prosperity abounding. We people in the west--living in the midst

of a world of really undeveloped resources, where life is strenuous,

and where the increase of wealth is so great--are apt to think that our

section of the Union has a greater prosperity than other parts of it;

but great as our own prosperity in the west is, I assure you it is not

greater than the prosperity to be found in other parts of our country.

I desire to call your attention to some of the features of a marvelous

prosperity that now exists in the United States. Perhaps the truest

criterion of the real prosperity of a nation such as ours, can

best be ascertained by taking into account the prosperity of the

agricultural interests of the country. If in that industry our people

are prosperous you may rest assured that all other branches of industry

are prosperous. From a very valuable collection of statistics published

by Mr. Richard H. Edmonds, the editor of "The Manufacturers' Record,"

Baltimore, I quote the following facts:

"In 1870 the value of farm property within the United States amounted

to 8,900 millions of dollars." Of course, all that those figures convey

to your mind or to mine is simply the thought that it represents an

exceedingly great value; for we have not yet learned to think in

billions. In the year 1905 the 8,900 millions had increased to over

26,000 millions of value. The number of people engaged in agriculture

in 1870 was 5,992,000; but in 1905 the number engaged in that industry

had increased to 11,500,000 people. The value of farm products in 1870

amounted to 1,958 millions, while in 1906 it had increased to more than

7,000 millions. The value of agricultural products, per capita, of the

entire population, will interest you, and aid you to appreciate the

great increase of prosperity that has been made in this industry: In

1870 the value of the agricultural products, per capita, was $50, but

in 1906 it had advanced to $82 per capita.

In Louisiana and Texas alone there are over 600,000 acres of land

that are annually given to rice culture with irrigation, resulting in

this: that whereas these lands, now so fruitful, 25 years ago were

only worth from 25 to 50 cents per acre; their value is now from $50

to $75 and even $100 per acre. This wonderful transformation in values

has arisen through adopting a system of irrigation, chiefly by tapping

underground streams and bringing them to the surface. Nor is this the

only means of redeeming the land. In many parts of the south we found

that large areas of swamp lands were being systematically drained, and

by this system of drainage the valuation of these lands is increased as

much as the Texas lands are' by irrigation. Needless to say that this

reclamation of lands has greatly increased the prosperity of the South.

There are other things that might be noted indicating the increasing

prosperity of our country. Take for instance the item of railroads:

In 1830 there were but 23 miles of railroad in the United States. In

the year 1906, however, there are--of main lines--more than 223,000

miles; and if you take into account the double tracking and spur lines

the mileage is increased by 90,000 miles, making the total mileage of

railroads in the United States 313,000 miles, constructed since 1830.

In the matter of coal and iron the United States outstrips the world.

Expert examination discloses the fact that the coal fields within

the United States cover an area of 356,000 square miles, as against

10,000 square miles in Great Britain; 1,800 square miles in Germany,

and 51,000 square miles for all of Europe. The single state of West

Virginia, as also Kentucky, has more than 50 per cent more coal area

than Great Britain. What is true of coal is equally true of our wealth

in iron. The United States produces more than half of all the iron

product of the world. The same is true as to steel. You may judge of

the advancement in these industries by the following figures: In 1880

the product of steel was 1,247,000 tons, whereas in 1905 it amounted to

more than 20,000 millions of tons. In the matter of cotton the United

States produces 80 per cent of all the cotton in the world. The annual

output of that product amounts to 2,000 millions of dollars per annum,

a value greater than the output of all the gold and silver mines of the

world annually. Petroleum: In 1860 there were produced only 500,000

barrels, whereas in the year 1905 there were produced over 134,000,000

of barrels.

Now as to population: Our present population is said to be about

85,000,000 of people. If the influx of population shall continue at its

present ratio, by the middle of the twentieth century there will be

upwards of 200,000,000 of people within the United States. "The boys

and the younger men of today," suggests Mr. Edmunds, "will be active

business men of that period." Commenting on the ability of the United

States to support that and even a much larger population, our authority

says:

"In area the United States covers 3,000,000 square miles, with an

average of less than 26 persons to the mile. Settled as densely

as France, we could accommodate 570,000,000 people; as densely as

Great Britain and Ireland, we would have over 1,000,000,000 people.

Or compare our capabilities with the density of population in such

states as Ohio, Pennsylvania, or all New England. In Pennsylvania

the average number of people to the square mile in 1900 was 140.

At this average for the whole country we should have a population

of 420,000,000--certainly Pennsylvania is not overcrowded. Ohio

has 102 people to the square mile, and New England an average of

90. On the basis of Ohio's average the United States would have

over 300,000,000, and on the New England average 270,000,000

people. So great is the extent of our agricultural land that with

the continued improvement in farming methods now going on, with

the reclamation of our overflowed lands, and the extension of

irrigation in regions formerly regarded as forever doomed to the

cactus and sage brush, with the development of scientific forestry,

too long neglected, but still capable of saving our timber reserves

and protecting the sources of our rivers, we can so build up our

farming interests as to provide an ample food supply for as great

a multitude as the future seems sure to give us. With resources

for the creation of industries, the development of mining, the

extension of railroads, and the enlargement of trade and commerce

at home and abroad, we are abundantly blessed. Nature has lavished

her riches upon this country as upon no other, as far as human

knowledge has yet discovered."

I have hastened over the items, reading hurriedly, because I did not

wish to weary you with details; but the author from whom I quote these

statements suggests that we ought to remember that while we are justly

proud of the progress made by the United States, yet in considering

the future and in contemplating the almost limitless potentialities

of our own country, as compared with the past, "we must remember that

Mexico and South America, and Canada are running rivalry with us in the

expansion of industry;" and I would add with resources second only,

perhaps, to our own.

By this time you are asking yourselves the question, I fancy, what

interest have these considerations of the resources and the prosperity

of America for an audience assembled upon the Sabbath day to worship

God and to be instructed more especially in relation to spiritual

matters? I desire as best I may to show you what connection there is

between what I have said and the purpose for which you have assembled

on this occasion. We are here, as was suggested in the prayer offered

at the opening of our services, to have our faith in God's great

latter-day work strengthened, and the chief desire I have in my heart,

is to think and speak along lines that will tend to increase our faith.

The journey through the land of America just referred to, resulted in

my having a higher appreciation of the land of my adoption than I have

ever before entertained. Her majestic rivers, her magnificent mountain

ranges, her fertile valleys, and even her desert wastes, seem dearer

to me than ever before; and this not alone on account of the evidences

of her prosperity which could be seen on every hand; not on account

alone of contemplating her free institutions, or the patriotism of her

people, and the general prevalence of peace and justice that obtain

in the land--not alone for these things (though not inconsiderable

in themselves) did we find our love for America increased. Part of

that increased regard was occasioned by our reflections upon the

destiny of America; upon the decrees of God respecting the land, and

the relationship which the Latter-day Saints sustain to these western

continents, their mission upon them--this had something to do with

increasing our regard for America.

And now, by what, perhaps, you will consider indirect means, let me

call your attention to some things which perhaps have not always been

understood in their fulness even by the Latter-day Saints, in respect

to this great, this choice land of America. You will easily remember,

when I refer to him, that great character of the Old Testament

scriptures, Joseph, the son of Jacob, one of the noblest characters of

either sacred or profane history. In his boyhood the Lord by inspired

dreams indicated to him a prominence in Israel. One dream pictured

himself and brethren in the harvest field, setting up sheaves, and as

he set his sheaf on end the sheaves of his brethren bowed in obeisance

to his sheaf. He told the dream to his brethren, and they said: "Shalt

thou indeed reign over us?" And they were angry with him. Again the

lad dreamed, and he saw that the sun and the moon and 11 stars did

obeisance to him, and he told the dream unto his father. "What," said

the aged patriarch, "shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed

come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?" Notwithstanding his

evident vexation the old patriarch was wise enough to observe that

there was inspiration in this dream of the lad's. In course of time,

as you know, Joseph was sold into bondage and was taken to Egypt, and

there through a pathway of sorrow and trial the Lord led him to great

eminence in the nation of Egypt, made him indeed the savior of Egypt,

for by inspired dreams he was forewarned of the famine and was able to

provide for it, so that while there was distress and famine in every

other country, there was corn in Egypt. In due time his brothers came

to purchase the corn and bowed down in the presence of Joseph, and

doubtless, in part, but only in part, the dream of his boyhood days

was fulfilled. In time, too, his father came into Egypt and conferred

upon him a father's blessing. Jacob also blessed the sons of Joseph,

Manasseh and Ephraim, conferring great and mighty blessings upon them,

and claiming them as his own. And when Jacob came to bless his son,

Joseph, in connection with the rest of the tribes of Israel, he gave

him a blessing that excels the blessings of the other princes in the

house of Israel. Listen to it:

"Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well: whose

branches run over the wall: The archers have sorely grieved him

and shot at him, and hated him: but his bow abode in strength and

the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty

God of Jacob; even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee;

and by the Almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven

above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the

breasts and of the womb: the blessings of thy father have prevailed

above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bounds of the

everlasting hills: They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the

crown of the head of him that was separated from his brethren."

When Moses bestowed his blessings upon the tribes of Israel, he, too,

pronounced a special blessing upon the head of Joseph. Mark it:

"Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of

heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that croucheth beneath, and

for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the

precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of

the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting

hills, and for the precious things of the earth, and fulness

thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush; let

the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the

head of him that was separated from his brethren. His glory is like

the firstlings of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of

the unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the

ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and

they are the thousands of Manasseh."

I have said on other occasions, and I repeat it here, that the blessing

pronounced upon Joseph by both Jacob and Moses, not only exceeds the

blessing of any other one of the princes of Israel, but it is greater

than all the other blessings upon the princes of Israel combined.

In the first place a double portion is given to him in Israel, two

tribes to represent him instead of one. His two sons, Ephraim and

Manasseh, were made the heads of tribes, Ephraim being given the

greater prominence, and receiving the rights of the first born. When

Joseph saw the intent of the patriarch to confer the greater blessing

upon his younger son he sought to stay it, and called the attention of

his father to the fact that Manasseh was the elder son. The patriarch

replied: "I know it, my son;" and referring to Manasseh, he said: "He

shall also become a people, and he also shall be great, but his younger

brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude

of nations . . . . and he set Ephraim before Manasseh." Indeed Jacob

that day bestowed the birthright of Israel upon Ephraim in place of

Reuben, his firstborn son; and that is why subsequent prophets were

wont to represent God as saying, "I am a father to Israel and Ephraim

is my first born." Let me tell you how that came about. Reuben, Jacob's

eldest son, defiled his father's wife Bilhah, and for that awful crime

lost his station in Israel as the first born. And now the writer of

First Chronicles:

"Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the

firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his

birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel:

and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright (i. e.

after Reuben). For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him

came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's."

Ephraim received that birthright as already stated, and the blessings

and rights thereof are his.

Now let us consider these great blessings pronounced upon the head

of Joseph, and I pray you remember how particularly the extent and

grandeur of the land of Joseph are described in these blessings.

The blessings of Jacob had "prevailed above," (i. e. exceeded)

the blessings of his progenitors, "unto the utmost bounds of the

everlasting hills;" and these greater blessings the patriarch declared

should be "on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him

that was separated from his brethren." Joseph was to be as a fruitful

bough whose branches run over the wall, indicating a largeness and

fruitfulness that would exceed the other tribes in Israel. Moses is

more explicit as to the character of the land Joseph should possess:

"Blessed of the Lord be his land for the precious things of heaven"--is

reference here made to the revelations of God that shall be given on

the land of Joseph, does it contemplate a knowledge of the gospel of

Christ that shall be had on the land in "the precious things of heaven"

for which the land shall be noted? Again "Blessed of the Lord be his

land . . . . for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun; . . .

. for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious

things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth

and the fulness thereof, and for the good will of Him that dwelt in the

bush," that is, for the good will of God who appeared unto Moses in

the burning bush, this allusion is obvious; so that Joseph's land is

to be under God's good will in addition to all the natural advantages

it is to possess. Joseph, too, is to be the power that shall "push the

people together to the ends of the earth;" a declaration which, when

considered in connection with the many promises of God that he who

scattered Israel will gather him again, and keep him as a shepherd does

his flock, "For I, the Lord, am a Father to Israel and Ephraim is my

first born"--a declaration I say which is significant of prominence for

Joseph in the work of the gathering of Israel in the last days.

And now I submit to you the question: Where is the evidence of the

fulfilment of these great promises of God to Joseph? The world seems to

have lost sight of this chief prince in Israel, this man holding the

birthright. Where is that land of his described by Moses and Jacob,

so far more extensive and richer in resources than old Canaan--to

reach which perhaps Joseph's branches run over the wall? Where in the

history of the world is the account of the fulfilment of the blessings

pronounced upon Joseph by his father?

All the tribes of Israel, save Judah only, are lost to the knowledge

of the world, and Judah is known chiefly for the things that he has

suffered, and not for the realization of those blessings that were

pronounced upon him by his father. Can it be that those special

blessings pronounced upon the head of Joseph by the Lord have failed?

Have the promises of Jehovah gone for naught? Well, so far as any

knowledge the world has to the contrary these promises of God to this

patriarch have failed. But it happens that the Latter-day Saints know

that those promises have not failed. They have been fulfilled in

part, and what remains will be gloriously fulfilled. Your choir, this

afternoon sang:

"An angel from on high

The long, long silence broke;

Descending from the sky these

Gracious words he spoke:

Lo! in Cumorah's lonely hill

A sacred record lies concealed.

"It speaks of Joseph's seed,

And makes the remnant known

Of nations long since dead

Who once had dwelt alone.

The fulness of the gospel, too,

Its pages will reveal to view."

The hymn has reference, of course, to the coming forth of the Book of

Mormon, and the knowledge it reveals to the world concerning America

and the nations that have inhabited it. Her ancient inhabitants in

part sprang from a colony of Israelites who left Jerusalem about six

hundred years B.C. That colony was made up of the descendants of

Joseph. One family, Ishmael's, being the descendants of Ephraim, and

the family of Lehi being of the tribe of Manasseh. Here in America

this colony--descendants of the Patriarch Joseph--grew into kingdoms,

republics, and empires, taking possession of this goodly land of

America and occupying it both in the south continent and in the north

continent. Their kingdoms and empires rivaled in greatness and in

civilization some of the contemporary empires and kingdoms of the old

world. Here flourished cities that evidently equaled in extent and

grandeur Nineveh and Tyre and Sidon. From Joseph's seed in America

there came a race of statesmen, warriors, and prophets rivaling the

statesmen and warriors and prophets of the old world contemporary with

them. Here the tribe of Joseph enjoyed not only the blessings of the

earth, the boundless resources of his promised land, the continents of

America, but here, too, his descendants received the fulness of the

gospel of Jesus Christ, and were favored, after Messiah's resurrection,

with a personal visitation from the Son of God himself, who taught them

the gospel, gave to them a church organization, deposited the revealed

truth of God with it, and gave that Church commandment to teach the

gospel, and perfect the lives of those who received it. Then followed

the golden age of America, reference to which is frequently made in the

native traditions. For 200 years a reign of righteousness prevailed,

during which time there was a rich harvest of souls unto God through

the gospel of Jesus Christ. The land was blessed "with the precious

things of heaven," truly.

Because of the things, then, that befell the descendants of Joseph in

this promised land of America, which things are made known in our Book

of Mormon, the Latter-day Saints, at least, know that the promises of

the Lord to the house of Joseph have not failed--and a hundredth part

of their fulfilment I have not been able even to indicate. And but

for the partial fulfilment of God's promises to Joseph in the land of

America, the world would be compelled to admit that the promises, the

blessings pronounced upon the head of Joseph had failed; for surely

nowhere else in the world have they been fulfilled. They were promises

that could not have been fulfilled in a corner, they are too large for

that. I call upon the Bible scholarship of the world to tell us where

these great promises of God to Joseph have been kept--so far as the

wheels of time have brought their fulfilment due--if not in America.

And if it shall be contended that the time for Joseph to realize his

promises has not yet arrived--for the failure of them, since they were

given under inspiration of God, is unthinkable--then where can they

be fulfilled save in America? What land so well corresponds to that

described both by Jacob and Moses as the inheritance of Joseph? And

what events in history, what movements among the people of the earth,

outside of those with which the Latter-day Saints are connected, give

promise of the fulfilment of Joseph's blessings?

The blessings of Joseph, however, even with all that has been made

known through the Book of Mormon, have been realized only in part.

Much remains to be fulfilled. There is in store yet much more glory,

much more honor, for this branch of the house of Israel, this tribe

which holds the right to lead in the gathering, and in the salvation

of Israel, in whom is lodged the right and the power to "push the

people (Israel) together to the ends of the earth--and they are the ten

thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh."

Allow me to call your attention to a singular circumstance. We believe

that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in our day, and is

being preached in all the world; for its message is not confined to

America. It is said in the scripture that predicts its restoration by

an angel, in the hour of God's judgment--that it is to be preached to

every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people (Revelation xiv:6,

7); to Gentile and Jew, to bond and free--all are to have this gospel

proclaimed to them in the due time of the Lord; but the dispensation

of the fulness of times is a period when the blessings of God shall

especially turn upon the house of Israel. So that while there is a

message in the restored gospel for all mankind, there is something

special in it for the house of Israel. It is the gathering dispensation

of the gospel, in which "all things will be gathered together in one,"

even in Christ. This gospel, then, is proclaimed to all the nations

of the earth, and what happens? Its message fell upon the ears of our

fathers and mothers; some were in this nation, some in that. It was

the case of taking one of a city and two of a family out of which

to form a people. They were not convinced of the truth by eloquence

or argument, or logic, but there was something in the very sound of

the gospel congenial to the souls of our fathers as soon as they

heard it, and they responded to its message; they laid hold of its

principles by a spiritual power, and they loved them better than they

loved the honors and applause of the world. When they heard the gospel

proclaimed it had in it a familiar sound like the refrain of some only

half-forgotten song. It was congenial to their souls. Was it not an

unconscious awakening of spirit-recollections; the recurrence to the

soul of principles familiar to it in the pre-existent estate, when the

spirit dwelt with the heavenly Father in the mansions of the blessed?

The thought may be illustrated by an incident that occurred in one of

the early frontier wars between the Indians and the British settlers

of our country. In 1764, after several years of intermittent border

warfare, Colonel Boquet was sent from Fort Pitt, against the Indian

tribes located in the Ohio valley, with instructions to bring them to

terms. The British commander pitilessly pursued the Indians to their

very homes, refusing to listen to parleys until the spirit of the

native tribes was subdued and they were ready to accept such terms as

he chose to dictate. One of these terms was that all the whites held

captive by the Indians should be brought in and surrendered. This was

acceded to, and some three hundred captives were brought to the British

encampment. It was a pathetic scene which attended this event. Some of

the captives had been held for years by the Indians, some of them as

long as nine years. Those who had been captured in their childhood had

forgotten the very language of their race. One instance is related of

a mother who recognized her child among the captives surrendered to

Colonel Boquet, but the child gave no sign of recognizing the mother,

and in tears she complained to the colonel that the daughter she had so

often sung to sleep in her arms had forgotten her. "Sing the song to

her that you used to sing when she was a child," said the commander.

She did so, and "with a passionate flood of tears" the daughter rushed

to the mother's arms. So it was with the proclamation of the gospel

to our fathers. God was merely having sung to them again the songs

of the home in heaven, in the preaching of the gospel. It stirred in

their souls half recollections of by-gone ages, and with tears of joy

at those awakened soul-recollections they sought again their Father's

house, the Church of Christ. Our fathers loved the gospel, I say, more

than their station in society, or the approval of their kindred; and

hence they cast in their lot with a despised people. For the most part

they remained true to that awakening which came to their souls through

the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They gathered out from the

nations of the earth, and came to the land of Zion. And now something

peculiar happens. The patriarchs of the Church place their hands upon

the heads of these people, and under the inspiration of God, earnestly

sought, these men--in the exercise of their holy office--pronounce

those who are thus gathered to be, not only of the house of Israel,

but, in the main, as belonging to the tribe of Ephraim. There is

something beautifully fitting in this circumstance; something that

goes a long way towards establishing its truth. Certainly the tribe to

whom is given the right of the first born should be gathered first.

To the first born is given the work of gathering the people from the

nations of the earth; he holds the keys of authority and power in the

ordinances of the gospel, especially as pertaining to the patriarchal

order, and hence he is gathered first. Where? To the land of Joseph, to

the promised inheritance of that patriarch and his seed, to the land of

Zion, here to raise the standard of Israel, the ensign of peace to the

world, through the proclamation of the gospel of peace. Here in this

chosen land Joseph, through Ephraim, erects the temples of his God,

and calls all Israel to come and participate in the blessings that are

being restored to his father's house.

In one of the revelations in our Doctrine and Covenants (sec. 123)

we are assured that Israel in the north countries shall come in

remembrance before the Lord, "And their prophets shall hear his voice

and shall no longer stay themselves. . . . And they shall bring forth

their rich treasures unto the children of Ephraim my servants. And the

boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their presence.

And there shall they fall down and be crowned with glory, even in Zion,

by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the children of Ephraim;

and they shall be filled with songs of everlasting joy. Behold, this is

the blessing of the Everlasting God upon the tribes of Israel, and the

richer blessings upon the head of Ephraim and his fellows."

Thus the tribe on which was bestowed the birthright in Israel, is being

gathered to the land promised him of God, to the land, choice above

all other lands in the earth, to the land of Joseph. And here stands

Joseph in the midst of his temples in that promised land, waiting to

bestow blessings upon the other tribes of Israel. Joseph's dreams of

the sheaves of his brethren doing obeisance to his sheaf: and the sun

and the moon and the eleven stars making obeisance to him shall have,

here in his own promised land--in these two American continents--a

larger fulfilment than they did in Egypt, when his brothers bowed

before Joseph, ruler of Egypt. For here in the land of Joseph shall his

tribe of Ephraim, holding the birthright in Israel, stand to receive

the gathering tribes of his father's house, and they shall "fall down"

before Joseph--do "obeisance to him," in the language of the dreams;

but not that they may be humiliated, or oppressed, but that they may be

"crowned with glory, by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the

children of Ephraim, and they shall be filled with songs of everlasting

joy." God does not humiliate in order to oppress; such humility as

he requires is that he may exalt. Joseph's brethren in their blind

jealousy of him mistook the meaning of his dreams. Those dreams while

they were a prophecy of Joseph's prominence in Israel, also were

a prophecy of saving and blessing unto Israel, not of tyrannical

domination or usurpation of the rights of the other brothers or

tribes; and as Joseph's mission in Egypt resulted in preserving Israel

"a posterity in the earth," and of saving the lives of his father's

household, "by a great deliverance;" (Genesis xlv:5, 7), so his mission

in the last days, in his own land of Zion, shall culminate in a much

larger way in the salvation of Israel.

THE GENTILES TO HAVE AN INHERITANCE IN AMERICA.

While there are especial blessings for the tribes of Joseph on the

land of Zion, let us not lose sight of the fact that others, too, have

rights and promises in relation to it. Let not the seed of Joseph

cultivate any spirit of exclusiveness in respect of the land of Zion.

He especially is in the world for the world's good. He must endure

contact with the world, with the Gentile world as well as with Israel.

He, in some way, seems to be the link between the Gentiles and Israel.

When the Lord made known unto Lehi that this land of America should be

his, as an inheritance, it being the land that had been promised by

Jacob and Moses unto Joseph and his seed, the Lord, after describing

how he would make of the Gentiles nursing fathers and mothers unto

Israel, and how the Gentiles would bless Israel upon this land, then he

says (referring to North and South America):

"This land, saith God, shall be a land of thine inheritance, and

the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. And this land shall be

a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings

upon the land who shall rise up unto the Gentiles; and I will

fortify this land against all other nations, and he that fighteth

against Zion [this whole land of America] shall perish, saith God;

and he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish. Wherefore

I will consecrate this land unto thy [Lehi's] seed and they [the

Gentiles] who shall be numbered among thy seed forever, for the

land of their inheritance; for it is a choice land, saith God, unto

me, above all other lands, wherefore I will have all men that dwell

thereon, that they shall worship me, saith God."

The foregoing are the promises of the Lord unto the descendants of

Joseph and unto the Gentiles who shall be united with them in the

possession of the land of America.

Jesus also, during his ministry among the Nephites, after his

resurrection, made some remarkable promises and predictions respecting

the prosperity and freedom and power of the Gentiles in the land of

America on condition of their righteousness, and their obedience to the

"God of the land," who is declared to be Jesus Christ. They equally

with the house of Joseph on the conditions named, are promised an

inheritance in the goodly land; and lot and part in the building of

an holy city upon it, to be called Zion, a new Jerusalem, where the

righteousness of God shall abound, and from which light and truth shall

emanate to bless the world. These things are testified of at length in

the twentieth and twenty-first chapters of the Third Nephi; also in the

writings of Moroni in the Book of Ether, where a rather solemn warning

is given to the Gentiles respecting the decrees of God concerning this

land of Joseph--this land of promise unto the Gentiles as well as unto

the descendants of Joseph. Moroni, in speaking of America, says:

"This is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore

he that possesses it shall serve God, or he shall be swept off;

for it is the everlasting decree of God. And it is not until the

fulness of iniquity among the children of the land, that they are

swept off. . . Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation

shall possess it, shall be free from bondage, and from captivity,

and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the

God of the land, who is Jesus Christ. . . . And this cometh unto

you O ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God, that ye

may repent, and not continue in your iniquities until the fulness

comes, that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God

upon you, as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done."

WEBSTER'S CONCEPTION OF AMERICA.

Did our own great Webster catch something of this old Nephite

inspiration when, speaking something like twenty-two years after

the first publication of the Book of Mormon (Feb. 22, 1852, to be

precise--and before the New York Historical Society)--he said, in his

own matchless eloquence:

"Unborn ages and visions of glory crowd upon my soul, the

realization of all which, however, is in the hands and good

pleasure of Almighty God; but, under his divine blessing, it will

be dependent on the character and the virtues of ourselves, and of

our posterity. If classical history has been found to be, is now,

and shall continue to be, the concomitant of free institutions, and

of popular eloquence, what a field is opening to us for another

Herodotus, another Thucydides, and another Livy!

"And let me say, gentlemen, that if we and our posterity shall be

true to the Christian religion--if we and they shall live always

in the fear of God, and shall respect his commandments--if we and

they shall maintain just, moral sentiments, and such conscientious

convictions of duty as shall control the heart and life--we may

have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country;

and if we maintain those institutions of government and that

political union, exceeding all praise as much as it exceeds all

former examples of political associations, we may be sure of one

thing--that, while our country furnishing materials for a thousand

masters of the historic art, it will afford no topic for a Gibbon.

It will have no Decline and Fall. It will go on prospering and to

prosper.

"But if we and our posterity reject religious instruction and

authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the

injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political

constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden

a catastrophe may overwhelm us, that shall bury all our glory in

profound obscurity. Should that catastrophe happen, let it have no

history! Let the horrible narrative never be written! Let its fate

be like that of the lost books of Livy, which no human eye shall

ever read; or the missing pleiad, of which no man can ever know

more than that it is lost, and lost forever!"

And now, I invite your attention to the remarks I made in the

commencement of this discourse--to the prosperity of the land,

embracing both North and South America, to the extent and grandeur

of it, and I ask you, does it not fulfil better than any other part

of the earth, better than any other continent or continents--does

it not better answer the description of Moses and of Jacob, when

they described the land that should be the inheritance of the great

Patriarch Joseph, than any other land does? Most assuredly.

VIEWS OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH.

When the Book of Mormon was revealed and it became known that the

Americas were precious lands of promise, and that God had such a high

destiny for the two continents as is described in the Book of Mormon,

that among other things America was the place where the Zion of God

should be built in the last days, the brethren in those early days

very naturally became anxious to know where the city of Zion would

be located. After much striving for the knowledge, the place of Zion

was at last revealed to them. The Lord indicated the place for the

commencement of the building of Zion, and the place for the temple upon

which the glory of God should rest by day and by night. This place

was declared to be near Independence, Jackson county, Missouri. The

site for the temple and the land around about was dedicated under the

supervision of the prophet, and the Saints in the eastern states were

commanded to gather to this place. They did so, and lived there some

three years when their enemies rose up against them and expelled them

from the land under circumstances of great cruelty and hardship. The

Saints, who had been driven from their homes, accounted themselves

exiles from Zion, and there was much disappointment in Israel because,

apparently, the promises of God had failed them; for they looked

forward to an unbroken possession of the land, notwithstanding the

word of the Lord to the contrary. (See Introduction to Volume III of

the History of the Church, pp. xxxii-xxxix.) Shortly after this, three

years later, a still further removal was made into the counties of

northern Missouri, and finally, as you know, the entire Church was

expelled from the state of Missouri and had to take refuge in Illinois.

The prophet with his usual activity began the establishment of stakes

of Zion in Illinois, especially at Nauvoo and vicinity. Meantime the

Saints were questioning much concerning Zion, and the privilege of

dwelling therein. At the April conference, preceding his martyrdom,

the prophet alluded to these disappointments, and he spoke of Zion at

considerable length. I want to read to you his words on that occasion.

The Saints had too narrow a conception of Zion, and of the purpose of

God with reference to her; and hence the prophet, in the course of his

remarks, said:

"You know there has been a great discussion in relation to Zion,

where it is, and where the gathering of the dispensation is, which

I am now going to tell you. The prophets have spoken and written

upon it, but I will make a proclamation that will cover a broader

ground. The whole of America is Zion itself, from north to south,

and is described by the prophets who declared that it is Zion,

where the mountain of the Lord shall be, and it shall be in the

center of the land. I have received instructions from the Lord

that from henceforth wherever the elders of Israel shall build up

churches and branches unto the Lord, throughout the states [having

reference to the United States, of course] there shall be a stake

of Zion. In the great cities, as Boston, New York, etc., there

shall be stakes. It is a glorious proclamation, and I reserved it

to the last, and designed it to be understood that this work shall

commence after the washings and anointings, and endowments have

been performed here [i. e., in Nauvoo]."

At the same conference Hyrum Smith, brother of the prophet, said:

"The gathering will continue here [i. e., Nauvoo] until the temple

is so far finished that the elders can get their endowments; and

after that the gathering will be from the nations to North and

South America, which is the land of Zion. The gathering from the

old countries will always be to headquarters."

Shortly after this President Brigham Young, then of the Twelve

Apostles, addressing himself to Reuben Headlock, president of the

British mission, said:

"A word with you privately. Brother Joseph said last conference

that Zion included North and South America, and after the temple is

done (completed), and the elders endowed, they could spread abroad

and build up cities all over the United States, but at present we

are not to preach this doctrine; nay, hold your tongue."

The martyrdom of the prophet and the exodus to the mountains consequent

upon that martyrdom made it impossible to carry out this policy of

building up stakes of Zion in Boston, New York and other eastern

cities. The Church, found that it had all it could do in establishing

itself in these valleys of the Rocky mountains, where it might fulfil

the predictions of the prophet of this dispensation, to the effect

that the Saints would become a great and powerful people in the midst

of the Rocky mountains. Sometimes, however, I have wondered if we

have not too much set our hearts upon these valleys, upon this state

of Utah and these surrounding states; and if--like the Saints in the

earlier history of the Church, when inhabiting Jackson county, we have

not limited our conceptions of Zion by lines that are altogether too

narrow. Last fall, as I journeyed through the eastern states, through

New England, and in the south, and realizing that in the southern

states there are more than 10,000 of our people, and in the Eastern

States mission more than 3,000, and in the Northern States mission

a still-greater number than in the Eastern States, I wondered if it

would not be possible to establish stakes of Zion in the eastern and

southern states as well as in Canada, in Mexico, in Oregon, in Arizona,

or Colorado. Would it not be just as legitimate to establish stakes of

Zion in South Carolina, in Florida, in Vermont or New York, as it is

to establish stakes of Zion in these other places I have named? The

whole land of America, the two great continents, is Zion, the land of

Joseph; and I believe that the elements are forming, that God is so

tempering the minds of men, so making them receptive of the truth,

that by a strong, intelligent proclamation of the gospel, that God has

entrusted to His Church, it may become possible for stakes of Zion to

be established all over this land. I feel the truth of that. I believe

the time has come, not only for an industrial expansion in America, a

mighty increase in material prosperity, but a corresponding increase in

spiritual life. In other words an era has dawned upon us favorable to

the establishment of Zion. Let us not, I pray you, confine our feelings

and views respecting Zion to limits that are too narrow for the genius

Of this great work of God. If anyone has supposed that the prosperity

and success of this work called Mormonism depends upon the Latter-day

Saints retaining political control of Salt Lake or any other city; of

this state of Utah or any other state, or group of states, his views

do not rise to meet the grandeur of God's great Latter-day work. Our

work is to preach the gospel; and to so preach it that its principles

will leaven the whole mass of modern religious and philosophical

thought; to so preach it that it shall influence the lives of men in

all the world. No petty, political scheme can be said to be any part

of the great Later-day work which God has established in the earth.

That work is broad as eternity; it is deep as the love of God, and

concerns the salvation of all the children of men. Our religion is in

the earth to benefit and bless and uplift mankind. Our Church is not

the Church of Jesus Christ for the United States, or for American. It

is truly the catholic (i. e., the universal) Church, the Church of the

whole world; but, as I have already urged throughout this discourse,

the Latter-day Saints hold a peculiar relationship to America, being

mainly of the seed of Joseph, through the loins of Ephraim, and having

a special mission as to this land, and to the other tribes of Israel.

And now if the Saints would only lift their eyes from the ground, and

look northward and southward and eastward and westward and realize

that these two continents of America, by the promise of God, are the

inheritance of Joseph, the sons of Joseph, the children of Ephraim,

they would be, so imbued with the spirit of their great ancestor that

they would take possession of their inheritance in the name of God, by

the proclamation of their principles. They would make a conquest of the

land of Zion. Amen.

Part III.

Historical and Doctrinal Papers.

I.

The Lord's Day.

FOREWORD.

It may be thought by some that the following papers scarcely come

properly under the title "The Defense of the Faith and the Saints,"

and yet in a way they do. The article on "The Lord's Day" is a

justification or defense of the practice of worshiping on the first day

of the week instead of the seventh. The article on "Anglican Orders" is

a setting forth and a justification of the attitude of the Church of

Latter-day Saints in respect of divine authority. While the historical

article, "Reformation or Revolution" is a defense of the position of

the Church respecting the character of the great sixteenth century

movement to the effect that it was a revolution, not a reformation,

at least not in the sense that it restored primitive Christianity,

and therefore there was a necessity for the subsequent movement known

as Mormonism, involving, as it does, the restoration of the Gospel of

Jesus Christ to the world. The article, "Revelation and Inspiration,"

is a defense of the Church against some imputations put upon her

because of the testimony of some of the high Church officials before

the United States Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections, in

the case of Reed Smoot. Thus, I think, all these articles, while not

so directly connected with the "Defense of the Faith and the Saints"

as the articles that have preceded them, they will, nevertheless,

sufficiently come within what the title of this book suggests as to

warrant their being published here.

I. The Lord's Day.[A]

[Footnote A: An article in the _Improvement Era,_ Vol. I, No. I, 1897.]

_A justification for the regarding the first day of the week as the

Christian Sabbath, or "The Lord's Day."_

From Elder George W. Crockwell, laboring in Sioux City, Iowa, we

recently received a letter in which occurs the following:

"There are a great many Seventh-day Adventists in this city, and

in talking on the gospel with them I have been unable to confute

their arguments, to my satisfaction, against our worshiping on the

first day of the week. In reading the scriptures I find only the

following passages that in any way refer to the matter, but they

are not conclusive: John 20:19-26; Acts 2:1; Acts 20:6, 7; I Cor.

16:1, 2; Rev. 1:10; Mark 2:27, 28; Luke 6:5; II Cor. 5:17; Eph.

2:15. Any information you may give me will be thankfully received;

and allow me to suggest that a tract covering this question would

undoubtedly be of material assistance to Elders laboring in

sections of the country containing Adventists."

Seventh-day Adventists constitute a religious sect whose chief

characteristics are that they believe in the personal and glorious

coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; and that the holy day of worship

appointed of God is the seventh day of the week instead of the first.

Hence their name--Seventh-day Adventists.

Owing to the fact that modern Christians deny the continuation of

revelation after the days of the apostles, and as they cannot point to

any direct revelation, or positive apostolic institution in the New

Testament by which the first day of the week was substituted for the

old Jewish Sabbath, the seventh day, which Jesus during his lifetime

honored by observing, the Adventists have other Christians at somewhat

of a disadvantage in this controversy. The Elders of the Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, however, need not be embarrassed

by the arguments of Adventists, since the Church of Christ in this

last dispensation has the warrant of God's word, by direct revelation,

for keeping holy the Lord's day, that is, the first day of the week,

as a day Of public worship and thanksgiving, a holy Sabbath unto the

Lord. It is not our intention, however, to avoid a discussion of the

question by thus placing it on entirely new ground, and making the

success of the issue depend upon one's ability to make it clear that

God has given such a revelation, although that is a position that can

be consistently taken by our Elders. But we desire to point out the

evidence we have (1) from the New Testament, and (2) from the practice

of the early Christian church, for observing the first day of the week

as a day of public worship, sanctified and set apart as the Lord's

day. By doing so we shall be able to show at least that there is a

very strong probability that the change from the seventh to the first

day of the week was made by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, after his

resurrection; that it was perpetuated by his apostles and the early

Christian church; and then, in conclusion, shall cite the revelation

referred to which, to the Latter-day Saints, changes this "probability"

into fact and confirms with divine sanction our custom of worshiping on

the first day of the week. By pursuing this course we shall draw the

strong probability to be derived from the scriptures and the practice

of the early church to the support of the revelation referred to, while

the revelation, as already indicated, will transform the "probability"

of the New Testament scriptures into positive fact.

We begin with the arguments to be derived from the New Testament:

It is related in John's gospel that on "the first day of the week,"

Mary Magdalene, early in the morning, met the Lord Jesus, after his

resurrection, and conversed with him. This she told the disciples.

"Then the same evening, _being the first day of the week,_ when the

doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the

Jews, came Jesus, and stood in their midst and saith unto them, Peace

be unto you. * * * As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And

when he had said this, he breathed on them and saith unto them, Receive

ye the Holy Ghost. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted

unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained" (John

xx:19-23).

Thomas, of the Twelve, was not present at this meeting nor would he

believe the account delivered to him of it by his fellow apostles, but

declared he must see the print of the nails in the Master's hands, and

thrust his hands into his sides before he could believe. _"And after

eight days,"_ which of course brings us to the first day of the week,

"again his disciples were within and Thomas with them; then came Jesus,

the door being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, peace be unto

you" (John 20:26). He then dispelled the doubts of Thomas, and did many

other things which are not written.

Let this much be held in mind from the above: Jesus arose from the dead

on the first day of the week and appeared to his disciples when they

were assembled together. Then, "after eight days," which brings us

again to the first day of the week, his disciples were again assembled,

and he appeared unto them. We have no account of his appearing to any

one in the interval, a significant fact; and one which makes it easy

to believe that the second meeting on the first day of the week was

appointed by the Lord himself, and since all that he did on this and

other occasions was not written (John xx:30 and Ch. xxi:25), it is not

impossible, nor even improbable, that he then sanctified this day, and

appointed it as a holy day, to be observed as sacred by his followers.

This view is sustained by the continued practice of the apostles in

meeting on the first day of the week.

It is a significant fact that the day of Pentecost, upon which day

the apostles received their spiritual endowment by the outpouring of

the Holy Ghost, "that year fell on the first day of the week." [A]

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they _were all with one

accord in one place"_ (Acts ii:1). They received the outpouring of the

Holy Ghost, and publicly preached the gospel and administered baptism.

This assembling together on the first day of the week was doubtless in

continuation of that new order of things with respect to the Sabbath

which Jesus had ordained.

[Footnote A: See Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Hackett & Abbot's

edition, Vol. II: Art. Lord's Day, p. 1677. Also Bramhall's works, Vol.

V: p. 51, Oxford Ed., Discourse on the Sabbath and Lord's Day.]

Many years after Pentecost, in giving the account of Paul's journey

from Philippi to Troas, the writer of the Acts of the Apostles says

that the journey was accomplished in five days; and at Troas the

apostolic party abode seven days; _"and upon the first day of the

week,_ when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached

unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech

until midnight" (Acts xx:4-7).

Again: Paul sends the following instructions to the Saints at

Corinth--and it is to be seen from the passage itself that he had given

the same instructions to the churches of Galatia: "Now, concerning the

collection for the Saints, as I have given order to the churches of

Galatia, even so do ye. _Upon the first day of the week_ let every one

of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him, that there be no

gatherings [i. e., collections] when I come" (1 Cor. xvi:1,2).

These passages prove very clearly that the custom of meeting together

for acts of public worship and the preaching of the gospel was firmly

established in apostolic times, and since that is the case it doubtless

was ordered by Messiah's own appointment. Surely the apostles would not

presume to establish such an order of things without divine sanction.

Within the life time of the last of the apostles, too, this Christian

Sabbath had received its name--"the Lord's Day." John's statement--"I

was in the spirit on _the Lord's Day,_ and heard behind me a great

voice," etc., can have reference to no other thing than the fact that

on the first day of the week which had come to be known by them as

"the Lord's Day," John was in the spirit. "The general consent, both

of Christian antiquity and modern divines, has referred it to be the

weekly festival of our Lord's resurrection, and identified it with 'the

first day of the week,' on which he rose; with the patristical 'eighth

day,' or day which is both the first and the eighth; in fact with the

_'Solis Dies'_ or 'Sunday,' of every age of the church."[A]

[Footnote A: Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. II; p. 1676.]

Following is the argument of a very respectable authority upon these

New Testament passages, and it seems to us decidedly strong:

"As the death of Christ made atonement for sin and symbolized the

death of his church to the world, so did his resurrection mark the

beginning of a new spiritual life, or, in the words of Paul, 'a new

creation in Christ Jesus.' This new creation was the higher renewal

of that first one which sin had marred; and therefore we find the

disciples, from that very day, celebrating _the first day of the

week_ as the Christian Sabbath, the Lord's day, on which he met for

worship and fellowship. These assemblies began on that very evening

when the risen Lord entered the chamber where the eleven apostles

had met with doors shut for fear of the Jews, saluted them with the

blessing of peace, showed them his wounded body, and ate bread with

them; and then breathing his spirit upon them he repeated their

commission, to preach the gospel to every creature, and to baptize

all believers, conferred on them the power to work miracles, and

gave them the authority of remitting and retaining sins. Such was

the first meeting of the apostolic church on the first Lord's day.

And after eight days again his disciples were within, the doors

being shut as before, when Jesus stood again in their midst, with

the salutation of 'peace,' and satisfied the doubts of Thomas, with

the tangible proof of his resurrection."[A]

[Footnote A: Student's Eccl. Hist. (Philip Smith, B.A.) Vol. I: pp. 21,

22.]

The same authority continues the argument in a foot note thus:

"The meetings of the disciples on each eighth day have the more

force as an argument from the very fact of their being only

incidentally recorded. The correspondence of the _interval_ with

the week, and the distinction of the _day_ from the old Sabbath,

are facts which admit of no other explanation; and all doubt is

removed by Paul's plain allusion to the meetings of the disciples

on the first day of the week, and by the testimony of the heathen

as well as Christian writers to the practice from the earliest age

of the church. John in mentioning the day as a season of spiritual

ecstasy, in which Christ appeared to him and showed him the worship

of the heavenly temple, expressly calls it by the name which it has

always borne in the church, 'the Lord's Day.'"[B]

[Footnote B: The Student's Eccl. Hist. Vol. 1: P. 22, Note.]

These arguments may be further strengthened by the following

considerations: When the Jews were stickling for a very strict

observance of the old Sabbath, Jesus, with some spirit, replied that

"the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath." And

furthermore gave them to understand that "the Son of Man is Lord also

of the Sabbath," (Mark ii:27, 28). It follows then that since Jesus is

Lord of the Sabbath, it would clearly be within the province of his

authority to change the old Mosaic institution of the Sabbath if he so

elected. Paul in his day said: "If any man be in Christ he is a new

creature; old things are passed away; behold all things have become

new" (II Cor. v:17). Again in his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle

represents Christ as "having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even

the law of commandments contained in ordinances." And again in his

letter to the Colossians:

"And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your

flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all

trespasses; blotting out the hand writing of ordinances that war

against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way,

nailing it to the cross. * * * Let no man therefore judge you in

meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon,

or of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come" (Col.

ii: 13-17).

From this it is clear that many things in the law of Moses being

fulfilled in Christ were done away, or changed to conform to the law of

the gospel; and to say the very least of the argument set forth up to

this point, it is very probable that the Sabbath was among those things

so changed.

Turn we now to the argument to be derived from the custom of the

primitive church:

Next to the New Testament writers Clement of Rome, a companion of the

apostles, is most relied upon as stating correctly early Christian

practices, and in his epistle to the Corinthians, speaking of things

commanded of Christ, he says:

"Now the offerings and ministrations he commanded to be performed

with care, and not to be done rashly or in disorder, but at

fixed times and seasons. And when and by whom he would have them

performed he himself fixed by his supreme will: that all things

being done with piety according to his pleasure might be acceptable

to his will. They therefore that make their offerings at the

appointed seasons are acceptable and blessed; for while they follow

the instructions of the Master they cannot go wrong."[A]

[Footnote A: Clement's Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 40. We use

Rev. Geo. A. Jackson's translation of the passage.]

From this it, appears that Jesus himself did fix set "times and

seasons" for "offerings and ministrations," as well also by "whom"

as "when" they should be performed, and that, too, according to "his

supreme will." This represents the Lord as having arranged matters

in the church--including "times and seasons" for "offerings and

administrations"--more definitely than any of the New Testament writers

credit him with doing. Is it unreasonable to think that among these was

the transition from the Jewish Sabbath to the Lord's Day?

In the Epistle of Barnabas, written in the early part of the second

century, it is said by that writer, speaking of the Christian custom

as pertaining to the Sabbath: "We keep the eighth day unto gladness,

in the which Jesus also rose from the dead, and after that he had been

manifested, ascended into heaven." (Epist. Barnabas, Ch. 15.)

The younger Pliny, the Roman governor of Bithynia, in describing the

custom of the Christians to his friend, Trajan, the Roman emperor, says:

"They were accustomed on _a stated day_ to meet before daylight,

and repeat among themselves a hymn to Christ as to a God, and to

bind themselves by an oath with an obligation of not committing any

wickedness; * * * after which it was their custom to separate and

to meet again at a promiscuous, harmless, meal [the Sacrament?]

from which last practice they desisted, after the publication of my

edict."[B]

[Footnote B: Pliny's letter to Trajan and the emperor's reply will be

found in full in Roberts' "New Witness for God," Vol. I, pp. 54-57.]

It is only claimed for this passage that it proves that the Christians

had a _stated day_ on which they met for the worship of God, and the

renewal of religious covenants; and doubtless that stated day was the

eighth day of the week mentioned by Barnabas, and which corresponds

with the "first day" of the week mentioned by the New Testament writers.

Justin Martyr, one of the most learned and highly esteemed of the

apostolic fathers, is very clear upon this subject. He says, writing in

the first half of the second century, almost within shouting distance

of the inspired apostles:

"In all our obligations we bless the Maker of all things, through

his son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost, and on the day

which is called Sunday, there is an assembly in the same place of

all who live in cities or in country districts; and the records of

the apostles, or the writings of the prophets, are read as long as

we have time. Then the reader concludes, and the president verbally

instructs and exhorts us to the imitation of those excellent

things. Then we all arise together and offer up our prayers. And,

as I said before, when we have concluded our prayer, bread is

brought and wine and water, and the president in like manner offers

up prayers and thanksgiving with all his strength, and the people

give their assent by saying, amen. * * * But Sunday is the day on

which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day

on which God when he changed the darkness and matter, made the

world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the

dead: for the day before that of Saturn he was crucified, and on

the day after it, which is Sunday, he appeared to his apostles and

disciples and taught them these things which we have given to you

also for your consideration" (I Apology, Ch. 67).

We have not the space to further examine the testimony of the fathers,

nor is it necessary. Sufficient has been quoted to show that in that

age immediately succeeding the apostles, the practice, which seems to

have begun even under the immediate supervision of the Lord himself,

was firmly established in the early church. The learned writer in

Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Rev. James Augustus Hessev, who there

treats this subject, says:

The result of our examination of the principal writers of the

two centuries after the death of St. John are as follows: The

Lord's day (a name which has now come out more prominently; and

is connected more explicitly with our Lord's resurrection than

before) existed during these two centuries as part and parcel of

apostolical, and so of scriptural Christianity. * * * Our design

does not necessarily lead us to do more than to state facts; but

if the facts be allowed to speak for themselves, they indicate

that the Lord's day is a purely Christian institution, sanctioned

by. apostolic practice, mentioned in apostolic writings, and so

possessed of whatever divine authority all apostolic ordinances and

doctrines (which are not obviously temporary, or were not abrogated

by the apostles themselves) can be supposed to possess" (Vol. II,

page 1679).

Yet after all this is admitted, and the strength of the argument is

very great in my judgment, it must still be confessed that it falls

somewhat short of being absolutely conclusive. It cannot be made out

clearly and positively that Jesus or the apostles by direct, official

action authorized the observance of the first day of the week as a day

of public worship, dedicated to the service of God, and designed to

take the place of the Jewish Sabbath. The most that can be claimed for

the evidence here adduced--and it is the strongest if not all that can

be marshalled in support of the proposition is that it is _probable_

that such a change was instituted. Revelation Baden Powel, professor of

geometry at Oxford University, states the case as it stands most truly.

He says:

"To those Christians who look to the written word as the sole

authority for anything claiming apostolic or divine sanction, it

becomes peculiarly important to observe that the New Testament

evidence of the observance of the Lord's day amounts merely to the

recorded fact that the disciples did assemble on the first day of

the week, and the _probable_ application of the designation of the

Lord's day to that day."[A]

[Footnote A: Kitto's Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature. Art. Lord's

Day.]

That Catholics regard what is written in the New Testament as

insufficient to justify them in the observance of the first day of

the week instead of the seventh is evident from the fact that they

appeal to the tradition of the church or "the unwritten word of God"

in justification of their practice, and upbraid Protestants for their

rejection of the authority of tradition, which alone, in their view,

justifies the change from the seventh to the first. The author of

the Catholic work, "End of Religious Controversy," after citing the

scripture commanding the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath,

then says:

"Yet with all this weight of scripture authority for keeping the

Sabbath or seventh day holy, Protestants of all denominations make

this a profane day, and transfer the obligation of it to the first

day of the week, or Sunday. Now what authority have they for doing

this? None whatever, except the unwritten word, or tradition of the

Catholic church; which declares that the Apostles made the change

in honor of Christ's resurrection and the descent of the Holy Ghost

on that day of the week" (End of Religious Controversy, letter 11).

It is this element of uncertainty in the evidence, and the consequent

inconclusiveness in the argument that those who contend for the seventh

day as the Sabbath of the Lord take advantage of; but, as stated in the

beginning, the Latter-day Saints need not share the embarrassment that

other Christians generally feel over the question, for the Lord has set

the matter at rest by a revelation in the last days to his church. In a

revelation to his servant Joseph Smith, given in August, 1831, he said:

"Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in

righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the

world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy

sacraments upon my holy day; _for verily this is a day appointed

unto you_ to rest from your labors and to pay thy devotions unto

the Most High. Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in

righteousness on all days and at all times; but remember that

_on this the Lord's day thou shalt offer thine oblations and

thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy

brethren and unto the Lord._ And on this day thou shalt do none

other thing only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart

that thy fasting may be perfect, or in other words that thy joy may

be full" (Doc. & Cov. xlix:8-13).

This is in clear allusion to the first day of the week; and thus the

matter is set at rest. The observance of the "Lord's day" as the

day sacred to the worship of Almighty God, so far as the Latter-day

Saints are concerned, does not rest upon the "probability" that it was

of divine or apostolic institution, as is the case with Protestant

Christendom; nor does it rest upon the "tradition" of the church that

it was of apostolic institution, as is the case with the Catholic

church; but the observance of that day comes to the Church of Christ by

direct appointment of the Lord by revelation to the head of the church

in this dispensation; and that revelation transforms the "probability,"

that the first day of the week was substituted for the old Jewish

Sabbath, into a certainty.

In conclusion, let us ask our young Latter-day Saints to observe with

what solemnity God hath dedicated this day, and set it apart for

the worship of the Lord; and how strictly he hath prohibited other

occupation than this on that day; and so much as our "certainty"

outstrips the "probability" of other Christians that the "Lord's day"

is the proper day for public worship, so let our strict observance of

it outstrip theirs.[A]

[Footnote A: At the Seventy-seventh Annual Conference of the Church

of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held in the Tabernacle, Salt

Lake City, Utah, April 5, 6, 7, 1907, Anthon H. Lund of the First

Presidency of the Church, speaking on this subject of the Sabbath Day

and justifying the practice of the Church in observing the first day of

the week as our Christian Sabbath, employed among other arguments the

following:

"It is impossible for all to keep the Sabbath day at the very same

time all over the globe. If all the people lived on one longitude

or meridian they could keep it at the same time, but as they

are now scattered around the globe, there is a great difference

in time. For instance, children went to Sunday School in New

Zealand yesterday at half past two o'clock. It was Saturday to us;

[President Lund made these remarks on Sunday forenoon.] it was

ten o'clock Sunday morning to them. The children on the Hawaiian

Islands will go to Sunday School about one o'clock today, and it

will be ten o'clock then for them. Thus, at a given time it may be

Sunday for one set of people and Saturday for people in another

place. The teachers in the Hawaiian Sunday School might say today

to the children, 'Your brethren in New Zealand met yesterday,

when it was twelve o'clock here, in their Sunday School,' and

the children would likely say, 'Why, they have Sunday School on

a Saturday!' The line which divides the time, or which indicates

where day begins, is an arbitrary one made by men for the sake of

convenience. It is located the very best place that it could be,

because there are very few inhabitants that the line will strike.

It passes over the Pacific Ocean, and in order that no island

shall have Saturday on one side and Sunday on the other, they have

turned the line around the groups in the Pacific Ocean, so that

those pertaining to the same country, under the same government,

may have the same day; but this is all an arbitrary arrangement.

If, then, the Lord accepted the devotions of those who worshiped

Him yesterday, calling the day Sunday, and accepts the worship of

those living a short distance eastward who call today Sunday, the

important question seems to be, not so much the exact time as the

fact that one day in every seven is set apart to be a day of rest."]

II.

Anglican Orders.--Decision of Leo XIII Considered.--The Protestant

Dilemma.[A]

[Footnote A: This article was offered to the press of Cincinnati,

Ohio, soon after Leo XIII promulgated his decision on the subject of

Anglican orders, when the discussion of the subject was at its height,

and declined by them, for reasons obvious to the Latter-day Saints. It

subsequently appeared in the _Deseret News_ of November 7th, 1896.]

_A Consideration of the Question of Divine Authority._

_Preliminary Statement._

In the month of June, 1896, something of a sensation was created in

England in respect of an expressed desire for a closer union between

the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. The desire was

voiced in the form of a statement by Mr. William Ewart Gladstone,

communicated through the Archbishop of York. The question of unity

among the Christian churches had been agitated in several quarters in

that year, and the Pope had addressed a letter to the English people in

fact appealing to them to return to the Church of Rome, and it is said

a movement "having for its purpose the same general result, had been

going on for some time among clergymen and laymen who belonged to one

section of the Anglican church." Lord Halifax, who was the chairman of

a great Anglican organization, under the title of the English Church

Union, had been prominent in this movement, and had several interviews

with the Pope and his counselors, seeking "to ascertain how far Rome

on the one hand and the English church on the other were willing to

advance toward a basis of union. One of the questions which came up

for discussion was that of the validity of Anglican orders; that

is, whether Rome would or could recognize the right of an Anglican

clergyman to seek, as such, admission to the clerical order in the

Roman church, if any change of opinion should lead him that way." And

thus the question of the validity of Anglican orders became a subject

of formal investigation by the authorities at the Vatican.

Mr. Gladstone's position upon the subject is best stated by himself:

"The one controversy which, according to my deep conviction,

overshadows and, in the last resort, absorbs all others, is the

controversy between Faith and Unbelief. . . . . . This historical

transmission of the truth by a visible church with an ordained

constitution is a matter of profound importance, according to the

belief and practice of fully three-fourths of Christendom. In

these three-fourths I include the Anglican churches, which are

probably required in order to make them up. It is surely better

for the Roman and also the Oriental [Greek] church to find the

churches of the Anglican succession standing side by side with

them in the assertion of what they deem an important Christian

principle than to be obliged to regard them as mere pretenders in

this belief and _pro tanto_ reduce the cloud of witnesses willing

and desirous to testify on behalf of the principle. . . . I may

add that my political life has brought me much into contact with

those independent religious communities which supply an important

religious factor in the religious life of Great Britain, and which,

speaking generally, while they decline to own the authority, either

of the Roman or the National Church, yet still allow to what they

know as the established religion no inconsiderable hold upon their

sympathies. In conclusion, it is not for me to say what will be the

upshot of the proceedings now in progress at Rome. But be their

issue what it may, there is, in my view, no room for doubt as to

the attitude which has been taken by the actual head of the Roman

Catholic church in regard to them. It seems to me an attitude in

the largest sense paternal, and while it will probably stand among

the latest recollections of my lifetime, it will ever be cherished

with cordial sentiments of reverence, of gratitude, and of high

appreciation." (Story of Gladstone's Life, (McCarthy) pp. 414-416.)

This attitude of the great English Statesman brought upon his head a

storm of indignation, not to say anathema from nonconforming churches,

and in reply to one of those ministers, he said:

"The Church of Rome recognizes as valid (when regularly

performed) baptism conferred in your communion and ours. By this

acknowledgment I think that Christianity is strengthened in face

of non-Christians. For baptism read orders (for the purpose of the

argument), and the same proposition applies, though unhappily in

this case only to us, not to you. No harm that I can see is done

to any one else. The settlement of this matter is a thing of the

likelihood of which I cannot even form an opinion. But I honor the

Pope in the matter, as it is my duty to honor every man who acts as

best he can with the spirit of courage, truth and love." (The Life

of Gladstone, page 419).

The first response from Rome to Mr. Gladstone's letter contained

nothing decisive and final upon the subject of the Anglican orders,

though his holiness made it clear that on the part of Rome there could

be no compromise of religion or principles, and later in the year he

issued the decision which is the subject of the following paper, in

which his holiness held that Anglican orders were "absolutely invalid."

The consequences of which decision are discussed in the paper following.

_Pope Leo's Decision on Anglican Orders._

The decision of Pope Leo XIII in respect to the invalidity of

Anglican Orders, appears to be creating not only a very great amount

of discussion through the columns of the religious press but also

considerable ill-feeling. The "Religious Telescope" for example,

published at Dayton, Ohio, in its issue of the 14th of October, 1896,

under the caption "Absolutely Invalid," says:

"This is the decision of Pope Leo XIII respecting all ordinations

under the Anglican rule. After a long study of the subject he

has confirmed the decision of his predecessors in regard to this

matter. His decision sets aside all ordinations outside of the

Roman Catholic Church as absolutely invalid.

"So there we have it: all ministers of the Lutheran, the Episcopal,

the Baptist, the Presbyterian, the Methodist, in short, all

Protestant churches--are posing under false ordination vows!

So his holiness declares! And is he not infallible? Is it not

impossible for him to make a mistake? Is he not the successor of

St. Peter--Christ's vicegerent on earth? Does he not hold the keys

of the kingdom of heaven? Does not that aged, decrepit old man, Leo

XIII, now in his dotage, have the power to bind and to loose--to

admit into or shut out from heaven whomsoever he will? Does any

Protestant minister or layman doubt this? Perish the thought! How

will this august decision handed down from the Vatican affect the

ministry of the Protestant churches? In our judgment only about as

sensibly as a puff of the Pope's breath would have affected the St.

Louis cyclone when in the height of its fury.

"They will go right on preaching the unsearchable riches of

the gospel of Christ in demonstration of the spirit and power

of the Lord Jesus, as heretofore, leaving the pope and his

liberty-destroying church polity and superstitions to work out

their own destruction by demonstrating their disastrous effects on

human progress as they have done and are still doing in Mexico,

Spain, Central and South America, and in every Roman Catholic

dominated country in the world."