THE MESSAGE TO JERUSALEM--THE ANCIENT TONES OF MORMONISM--THE MORMON
HIGH PRIESTESS IN THE HOLY LAND--ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES--OFFICIATING
FOR THE ROYAL HOUSE OF JUDAH.
"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye
comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is
accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received
double for all her sins. * * * O Zion, that bringest glad tidings,
get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem that bringest
good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not
afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God!"
Themes to this day not understood by the Gentiles! Incomprehensible to
the divines of Christendom!
The everlasting perpetuation of a chosen race--a diviner monument in
its dispersion and preservation than in its national antiquity. Its
restoration to more than its ancient empire, and the rebuilding of
Jerusalem, with Jehovah exalted in his chosen people as the Lord God
Omnipotent, is the vast subject of the prophetic Hebrews.
It was such a theme that inspired the genius of grand Isaiah, swelling
into the exultation of millennial jubilee for Israel, in his great
declamatory of "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God!"
Gentile Christendom has never been _en rapport_ with the Abrahamic
subject. It has not incarnated its genius. It is destitute of the very
sense to appreciate the theme of Jerusalem rebuilt.
Israelitish Mormondom does understand that subject. It has fully
incarnated its genius. It has, not only the prophetic sense to
appreciate the theme of Old Jerusalem rebuilt, but also the rising of
the New Jerusalem of the last days, whose interpreted symbol shall be,
"The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!"
The divines of a Romish Christianity--Romish, notwithstanding its
sectarian protestantism--have worn threadbare the New Testament; but
the epic soul of the old Hebrew Bible has never possessed Gentile
Christendom. To it, the prophesies and sublimities of Isaiah, and the
everlasting vastness of the Abrahamic covenant and promise, are all, at
best, but as glorious echoes from the vaults of dead and long buried
ages.
Who has blown the trump of this Hebraic resurrection? One only--the
prophet of Mormondom!
The Mormons are, as it were, clothing that soul with flesh--giving the
themes of that everlasting epic forms and types. Their Israelitish
action has made the very age palpitate. They render the "Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith your God!" as literally as did they the
command of their prophet to preach the gospel to the British Isles, and
gather the saints from that land.
The thread of history leads us directly to a significant episode in
the life of Eliza R. Snow, a prophetess and high priestess of Hebraic
Mormondom, in which the "Comfort ye my people" became embodied in an
actual mission to Jerusalem.
Very familiar to the Mormons is the fact that, at the period when
Joseph sent the Twelve to foreign lands, two of their number, Orson
Hyde and John E. Page, were appointed on mission to Jerusalem. The
Apostle Page failed to fulfill his call, and ultimately apostatized;
but Orson Hyde honored the voice that oracled the restoration of
Israel, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. He did not preach to Judah
in the ordinary way, but on the Mount of Olives he reconsecrated the
land, and uttered to the listening heavens a command for the Jews to
gather and rebuild the waste places. It was as the refrain of the
invisible fathers, concerning Israel's redemption, rising from the
hearts of their Mormon children. And that mission of Orson Hyde was but
a prophesy, to the sons of Judah, of coming events. Other missions were
ordained, as it were, to psychologize the age into listening to the
voice of Judah's comforter.
A few years since, the second mission to Jerusalem was accomplished.
On the Mount of Olives this time stood also a woman--to take part in
the second consecration! A woman's inspired voice to swell the divine
command for Israel to gather and become again the favored nation--the
crown of empires.
The journal of Sister Eliza thus opens this episode of her life:
"On the 26th of October, 1872, I started on the mission to Palestine.
When I realized that I was indeed going to Jerusalem, in fulfillment
of a prediction of the prophet Joseph that I should visit that antique
city, uttered nearly thirty years before, and which had not only fled
my anticipations, but had, for years, gone from memory, I was filled
with astonishment."
The Jerusalem missionaries were President Geo. A. Smith, Lorenzo Snow,
his sister Eliza R. Snow, and Paul A. Schettler, their secretary,
accompanied by several tourists. The following commission, given to
President Smith, stamps the apostolic character of this peculiar
mission, and connects it with the former one, sent by the prophet
Joseph, in the person of Orson Hyde, thirty-two years before:
"SALT LAKE CITY, U. T.,
"October 15, 1872.
"PRESIDENT G. A. SMITH:
"_Dear Brother_: As you are about to start on an extensive tour
through Europe and Asia Minor, where you will doubtless be brought
in contact with men of position and influence in society, we desire
that you closely observe what openings now exist, or where they may
be effected, for the introduction of the gospel into the various
countries you shall visit.
"When you go to the land of Palestine, we wish you to dedicate
and consecrate that land to the Lord, that it may be blessed with
fruitfulness preparatory to the return of the Jews in fulfillment
of prophesy and the accomplishment of the purposes of our Heavenly
Father.
"We pray that you may be preserved to travel in peace and safety;
that you may be abundantly blessed with words of wisdom and free
utterance in all your conversations pertaining to the holy gospel,
dispelling prejudice and sowing seeds of righteousness among the
people.
"BRIGHAM YOUNG,
"DANIEL H. WELLS."
Joseph had also predicted that, ere his mortal career closed, "George
A." should see the Holy Land. In the fulfillment of this he may
therefore be considered as the proxy of his great cousin; while Sister
Eliza, who, it will be remembered, was declared by the prophet to be
of the royal seed of Judah, may be considered as a high priestess
officiating for her sacred race.
Away to the East--the cradle of empires--to bless the land where Judah
shall become again a nation, clothed with more than the splendor of the
days of Solomon.
Uniting at New York, the company, on the 6th of November, sailed on
board the steamer _Minnesota_. Arriving in London, they visited some of
the historic places of that great city, and then embarked for Holland.
From place to place on the continent they went, visiting the famous
cities, stopping a day to view the battle-field of Waterloo, then
resting a day or two at Paris. At Versailles they were received with
honor by President Theirs, in their peculiar character as missionaries
to Jerusalem. Thence back to Paris; from Paris to Marseilles; then
to Nice, where they ate Christmas dinner; thence to San Reno, Italy;
to Genoa, Turin, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome. At Rome Sister Eliza
passed her seventieth birthday, visiting the famous places of that
classic city. On the 6th of February, 1873, the apostolic tourists
reached Alexandria, Egypt; and at length they approached Jerusalem--the
monument of the past, the prophesy of the future! They encamped in the
"Valley of Hinnom." Here Sister Eliza writes:
"Sunday morning, March 2d, President Smith made arrangements with
out dragoman, and had a tent, table, seats, and carpet taken
up on the Mount of Olives, to which all the brethren of the
company and myself repaired on horseback. After dismounting on
the summit, and committing our animals to the care of servants,
we visited the Church of Ascension, a small cathedral, said to
stand on the spot from which Jesus ascended. By this time the tent
was prepared, which we entered, and after an opening prayer by
Brother Carrington, we united in the order of the holy priesthood,
President Smith leading in humble, fervent supplications,
dedicating the land of Palestine for the gathering of the Jews
and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and returned heartfelt thanks
and gratitude to God for the fullness of the gospel and the
blessings bestowed on the Latter-day Saints. Other brethren led in
turn, and we had a very interesting season; to me it seemed the
crowning point of the whole tour, realizing as I did that we were
worshipping on the summit of the sacred mount, once the frequent
resort of the Prince of Life."
This the literal record; but what the symbolical?
A prophesy of Israel's restoration! A sign of the renewal of Jehovah's
covenant to the ancient people! The "comfort ye" to Jerusalem! Zion,
from the West, come to the Zion of the East, to ordain her with a
present destiny! A New Jerusalem crying to the Old Jerusalem, "Lift up
thy voice with strength; Lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities
of Judah, behold your God!"
Woman on the Mount of Olives, in her character of prophetess and high
priestess of the temple! A daughter of David officiating for her
Father's house!
Surely the subject is unique, view this extraordinary scene as we
may--either as a romantic episode of Mormonism, or as a real and
beautiful prelude to Jerusalem redeemed.
At the Sea of Gallilee the Hebraic muse of Sister Eliza thus expressed
the rapture awakened by the scenes of the sacred land:
"I have stood on the shore of the beautiful sea--
The renowned and immortalized Gallilee--
When 'twas wrapped in repose, at eventide,
Like a royal queen in her conscious pride.
"No sound was astir--not a murmuring wave--
Not a motion was seen, but the tremulous lave--
A gentle heave of the water's crest--
As the infant breathes on a mother's breast.
"I thought of the past and present; it seemed
That the silent sea with instruction teemed;
For often, indeed, the heart can hear
What never, in sound, has approached the ear.
"There's a depth in the soul that's beyond the reach
Of all earthly sound--of all human speech;
A fiber, too pure and sacred, to chime
With the cold, dull music of earth and time."
* * * * * * *
On their way home our tourists visited Athens. Everywhere, going and
returning, they were honored. Even princes and prime ministers took
a peculiar interest in this extraordinary embassy of Mormon Israel.
Evidently all were struck by its unique character.
Recrossing the Atlantic, they returned to their mountain home; thus
accomplishing one of the most singular and romantic religious missions
on record.