ZION, A TYPE OF "THE WOMAN'S AGE"--THE CULMINATING THEME OF THE POETS
OF ISRAEL--THE IDEAL PERSONIFICATION OF THE CHURCH--THE BRIDE--THE
COMING EVE.
Zion the joy of the whole earth! She who cometh down from heaven, with
the anointing of salvation upon her head.
The woman of the future, whom the Lord hath chosen! Her type is the
church, with the divine nature of the race restored.
Zion is coming down to be the spiritual mother of the earth. She shall
bruise the serpent's head, in her seed and in her ministry. Now shall
woman be not only the mother of the individual Christ, but she shall
also be the mother of the universal Christ.
"Saviours shall come upon Mount Zion!"
The daughters of Zion shall multiply the seed of Christ.
There was a beautiful consistency and a deep mystical meaning in
the words of the old Jewish prophets when personifying Zion as the
woman--the woman of the Lord's choosing, for the earth's joy.
They sang of Zion as the woman of the future: "Oh that the salvation of
Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of
his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad."
True, Zion is sometimes spoken of as a city, but always with a mixture
of personification. As the Hebrew poets rose to the height of their
great subject they symbolized her as a veritable woman, with a ministry
in the earth; and chiefly symbolized her as the woman of the future.
David, the great psalmist, led the theme, for Zion was his daughter;
then glorious Isaiah swelled the volume of earth's epic hymn. What a
culmination and personification is this: "For thy Maker is thy husband;
the Lord of Hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel;
the God of the whole earth shall he be called."
This is the very subject of Mary the mother of Jesus. But here
enlarged. This is Zion, who shall be mother of many Messiahs, for she
shall bring forth many sons, with the anointing of their Lord's spirit
upon them, to exalt his reign.
"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the
curtains of thy habitations; for thou shalt bring forth on the
right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the
Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited."
'Tis the divine mission of woman to the race; oracled by lofty souls;
her holy apostleship on earth pronounced. She is to be incarnated in
a civilization on whose tables shall be written, "Thy Maker is thine
husband."
The mission of woman could not prevail in the barbaric periods of the
race; 'twas man's work to chisel the rocks of the temple. Not even had
her time come in the days of Christ, though no one has so distinctly
foreshadowed it as he.
Paul is not to be unqualifiedly reproached for bidding woman be silent
in the church. The time had not then come. Not as potent then as now
the thought: "Show me the women of a nation and I will tell thee its
civilization." And there is still a deeper meaning in this than the
popular thought. How beautifully has Jesus himself kept up the symbols
of the coming woman. With him the woman--Zion--becomes the "Lamb's
bride:"
"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins,
which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom."
And this was to be in the age "when the Son of Man shall come in his
glory, and all the holy angels with him."
At his first coming the kingdom of heaven was likened to twelve
fishermen--not ten virgins--and he said unto them, "Take up your nets
and follow me and I will make you fishers of men."
But when the cry shall go forth, "Behold the bridegroom cometh,"
commotion is to be among the virgins of the earth--the virgins of Zion
and the virgins of Babylon. Each will trim their lamps. Each will have
their "five wise" and "five foolish." Every one will have her familiar
spirit. But the God of Israel will send his spirit to inspire Zion, for
her Maker is her husband. And the daughters of Zion shall trim their
lamps to go forth to meet the bridegroom, who is the Lamb of God.
The age of Messiah's coming is the woman's age! or there is no sense in
the utterances of prophesy, nor meaning in the most beautiful parables
of Christ.
And this is the woman's age! All humanity is proclaiming it!
The women of the age are obeying the impulses of the age. Do they
know what those impulses mean? They have heard the cry, and have come
forth. Do they comprehend what that cry has signified?--"Behold, the
bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him!"
Unwittingly they are testing the Scriptures, and proving that the
coming of Messiah is the crowning truth of the world. However, the
five wise virgins of Zion are coming forth in faith. They are not
unwittingly fulfilling their Lord's word. They have interpreted the
cry, and are trimming their lamps.
Man may as well attempt to throw back the ocean with the hollow of his
hand, or put out the sun with the breath of his command, as to attempt
to defeat the oncoming of "woman's hour."
Let the God of humanity be praised for this; for did not the virgins
come out at this eleventh hour, the fishermen might go again to their
nets, and let the midnight pass, and earth take the consequence.
But how wondrously are the divine themes of earth's grace from God
revealed. Down through the ages they came as echoes mellowed into more
celestial tones.
Creation begins again! Zion--the New Jerusalem--is the Lamb's bride.
She is the coming Eve.
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and
the first earth were passed away. * * *
"And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
"And there came unto me one of the seven angels * * * saying, come
hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
"And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the
voice of many waters, and as the voice of many thunderings, saying
Alleluia: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the
marriage supper of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself
ready.
"And he saith unto me, write, Blessed are they which are called
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb."
Surely there is a glorious prophesy and a sublime truth, hallelujahed
from the ages down, in this proclamation of the woman's mission at the
hour of the Lord's coming.
The lives of the Mormon women are as a testament to the age. The very
character which their church has taken, as the literal Zion of the
latter days, shall soon be recognized as the symbol of the hour.
And the virgins in every land shall hear the cry, "Behold, the
bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him!"