symbolism of the Passover had a most remarkable realization. In nothing
was this more strikingly manifest than in certain incidents immediately
following the Death on Calvary. The commandment instituting the Paschal
Feast required that no bone of the lamb should be broken, and no
fragment of it be left to decay, representing as it did the body of the
Holy One, which was not "to see corruption." [2] Mark now the exact
fulfillment: The Savior had been crucified between two thieves, and at
sundown on the day of crucifixion the Jewish Sabbath began. In order
that the day might not be "desecrated," the Rabbis prevailed upon the
Roman governor to have the three bodies taken down from the crosses
and buried. [3] When the soldiers went to remove the bodies, finding
the two thieves still alive, they put an end to them by breaking their
legs; but Jesus was spared this further indignity, he being "dead
already." [4] Pierced with five wounds, yet not a bone of him broken,
the Lamb of God, answering in every particular to the likeness of the
paschal lamb, was laid in the rocky tomb, whence He came forth on the
third day, his perfectly preserved tabernacle glorified in immortality.
The Lord's Supper.--The night before the Crucifixion, Jesus, having
partaken of the Passover with his disciples, instituted in its stead
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, commanding them to observe it
thenceforth. [5] The Supper, like the Feast, pointed to the Atonement;
but in the Passover the pointing was forward to an even that had
not yet occurred, while in the Supper, for the reverse reason, the
indication is backward. It is said that the paschal lamb was offered
in the Temple at Jerusalem about the same hour that Christ died; the
substance and the shadow thus corresponding. Thereafter the Passover
was obsolete, having fulfilled its purpose, and as the type no longer
typified, it should have been discontinued. The Jews, however,
perpetuated the old-time observance, not recognizing in Jesus their
Messiah.
"It is Finished."--The Savior's dying words, as reported by the
Beloved Disciple, [6] have been the subject of much controversy.
"It is finished." What did those words signify? The notion has
been entertained that Christ's crucifixion completed his work, so
far as personal ministrations went, and that after the opening of
the so-called Christian Dispensation, there was no further need
of communication between God and man. "O most lame and impotent
conclusion!" Whatever construction be placed upon that final utterance
of our Lord's, it is perfectly clear, from what followed, that it never
was intended to convey such a meaning.
Birth and Death Incidental.--The Death on Calvary was no more the
ending, than the Birth at Bethlehem was the beginning, of that Divine
Career. Both were mere incidents. The Savior's work is universal,
extending from Eternity into Time, and back again into Eternity. All
the Gospel dispensations, from Adam down to Joseph Smith, are parts of
the all-embracing mission of Jesus Christ. Not until "the beginning of
the seventh thousand years," the Morning of the Resurrection, "will
the Lord God sanctify the earth and complete the salvation of man."
[7] Moreover, sanctification will be succeeded by glorification, still
another phase of the work of Him who bringeth to pass "the immortality
and eternal life of man."
The Sacrifice Complete.--What, then, was "finished" by the Death on the
Cross? Simply the pain and sorrow that the Son of God had willed to
undergo, that He might ransom a lost creation, and make it possible for
redeemed man, by faith and good works, to lay hold upon eternal life.
The Savior's self-imposed humiliation, his voluntary sacrifice, his
mysterious all-comprehensive suffering, the piled up agony of the human
race, endured by him vicariously, to the end that his atonement might
be infinite, reaching to every son and daughter of Adam [8]--this was
finished, this was at an end; not the work of God, nor the continuous
revelation of his word and will to man.
In the Spirit.--While the Savior's body was lying in the tomb, his
spirit entered Paradise, and there preached to the spirits of the
departed, opening, or causing to be opened, the dungeons of the damned.
Returning, He took up his glorified body, and appeared in it to his
astonished, half-doubting disciples.
On Both Hemispheres.--Christ died for all; but all are not entitled
to his personal ministrations. The sheep, however, have the right
to see their Shepherd and to hear his voice. Accordingly, after he
had confirmed the faith of his Jewish disciples, had chosen twelve
apostles, and sent them forth to preach the Gospel in the power and
demonstration of the Holy Spirit, he visited the Nephites, in America,
for a similar purpose. They, in common with all Israel, had been warned
by prophets to prepare for his coming; and the righteous were ready to
receive him. Already they had the Gospel and the Priesthood, and now
the Savior organized his Church among them. This done, He visited other
broken-off branches of the "tame olive tree," [9] their whereabouts
as unknown to Lehi's descendants in the Land Bountiful, as was the
existence of the Nephites to the inhabitants of Judea.
The "Other Sheep."--Jesus had said to his Jewish followers: "Other
sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice." [10] They inferred that He meant the
Gentiles; but such was not his meaning. His direct, special errand was
to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." [11] The Gentiles were to
be converted through the preaching of Jewish-Christian evangels. [12]
The "other sheep" were the Nephites, to whom the Savior explained his
half-veiled utterance; [13] also declaring that He had still "other
sheep," not of the Nephite fold nor of the Jewish fold, and that they
likewise should see him and hear his voice. [14] Undoubtedly this
allusion was to the "Lost Tribes;" but not to them alone. It included
other Hebrew remnants, unknown to man, but known to Jehovah, "keeping
watch above his own" in the mystical and remote regions whither his
judgments had driven them.
In Remembrance of Him.--Both in Judea and in the Land Bountiful,
the Savior instituted, among those who had received the Gospel, the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper, that memorial of his sacrifice, once
prospective, now retrospective; once a prophecy, now a fulfillment. But
its institution among the Nephites, unlike its introduction among the
Jews, was after his resurrection. Concerning the earlier incident, the
New Testament says:
"As they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it, and brake it,
and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
"And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,
Drink ye all of it:
"For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for
the remission of sins." [15]
"The Real Presence."--After the living oracles had departed, and
only the dead letter of the Scriptures remained, uninspired "private
interpretation" [16] conceived the notion that Jesus, when he said,
"This is my body" and "my blood," meant the words to be taken
literally. From that erroneous inference sprang the doctrine of
transubstantiation, with its twin heresy, consubstantiation; the former
a Roman Catholic tenet, the latter an unorthodox Protestant tenet
relating to the Eucharist. So insistent was the Catholic Church upon
this point, that men and women were condemned and punished as heretics,
for denying "the real presence," the actual flesh and blood of Christ,
in the elements of the Lord's Supper. [17]
Figurative, not Literal.--The language of Jesus, when he instituted
the Lord's Supper at Jerusalem, was undoubtedly figurative. When He
said, of the bread and wine, "This is my body" and "my blood," his body
was intact, his spirit in his body, and his blood yet unsplit. He was
there in person, whole, complete. This being the case, how could he
have meant to identify the bread and wine with the constituents of his
mortal tabernacle? "These are the emblems of my body and blood"--that
was his meaning. He made this clear to the Nephites, in saying: "This
shall ye do in remembrance of my body." Remembrance presupposes
absence. Because he would be absent in body thereafter, they were to
do this "in remembrance of" his body. What need to remember him, if he
were present in person? As well require faith from one having a perfect
knowledge. [18]
Use of Wine Forbidden.--The Latter-day Saints have been criticized for
using water in the Sacrament; the Savior having sanctioned the use of
wine both among the Jews and the Nephites. The explanation for the
change is simple. The Church of Christ is not dependent upon books,
nor upon tradition. It has an inspired Priesthood, led by immediate,
continuous and direct revelation. The Lord has commanded his people in
these days not to use wine in the Sacrament under existing conditions.
This is the word they are under obligation to obey--not the word given
to other peoples in former dispensations. [19]
Christ to Come Again.--Neither the Savior's resurrection, nor his
ascension into Heaven [20] signalized the end of his personal
ministry, the cessation of his labors in behalf of mankind. After
his resurrection, He "went in body to minister to translated and
resurrected bodies;" [21] and with these He will return when Enoch's
City descends and all is ready for his glorious advent.
Footnotes
1. "Elias," Canto 3, Part 2.
2. Psalms 16:10.
3. The hypocrites! They could commit murder, could cause the death of
the innocent, and feel no compunction: but they were horrified at the
thought of a technical Sabbath-day desecration. Could there be a more
glaring instance of "straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel"?
4. John 19:33.
5. Matt. 26:17-20; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-20.
6. John 19:30.
7. D. & C. 77:12.
8. Ib. 19:16-19.
Such was the mission of him concerning whom Nephi of old prophesied:
"And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will
hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men,
yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children,
who belong to the family of Adam. And he suffereth this that the
resurrection might pass upon all men, that all might stand before him
at the great and judgment day." (2 Nephi 9:21, 22.)
9. Jacob 5:3.
10. John 10:16.
11. Matt. 15:24.
12. Nevertheless, it was all the work of the Lord; for those evangels
were his servants, his messengers, clothed with his authority and
acting in his name and stead. The subordinate is swallowed up in the
principal. It is the general of an army who wins victory or suffers
defeat, though millions of soldiers may have been fighting under his
direction. The Roman myrmidons who nailed Jesus to the cross were not
so much to blame for the cruel deed, as were Pilate, the Procurator,
who permitted, nay, ordered it to be done, and the Jewish Rabbis who
instigated the "judicial murder" of the sinless Son of God.
13. 3 Nephi 15:21-24.
14. Ib. 16:1-3.
15. Matt. 26:26-28. Compare 3 Nephi 18:1-7.
16. 2 Peter 1:20.
17. A fact sufficient, of itself, to show that the Church was in an
apostate condition.
18. Too much reliance upon either the literal or the figurative in
language, is apt to be misleading. An attendant in an art gallery or
other public place where statues or paintings are on exhibit, might
point out one and say to the visitor: "That is Caesar" or "That is
Washington;" but the one addressed would not be likely to infer that
Caesar or Washington was there in actual flesh and blood, or that the
attendant meant to be so understood. Nor would the visitor need to be
told that the statue or the painting represented the original. Such an
explanation would be superfluous. The form of the Savior's instruction
on the Sacrament--assuming that the correct translation has come down
to us--may be accounted for in like manner. He knew that his disciples
would understand him--and they did. They were not dependent upon the
letter alone; the interpreting Spirit was with them to give it life.
19. D. & C. 27:2-5.
20. Acts 1:10, 11.
21. "Mediation and Atonement," p. 76.
ARTICLE TWENTY-ONE.
The Special Witnesses.
The Men Who Knew.--The Twelve Apostles were the special witnesses of
Jesus Christ. As such they had to _know_, not merely believe that he
had risen from the dead. And they did know, for they had seen him, and
heard him, and had even been permitted to touch him, that they might
be convinced beyond all question that he was indeed what he proclaimed
himself--the Author of the Resurrection, the Giver of eternal life.
It was their right to receive this rare evidence, owing to the unique
character of their mission. But the world was required to believe what
the Apostles testified concerning Him. If men desired salvation, which
could come only through the Savior, they must receive in faith the
message He had sent his servants to deliver.
The Case of Thomas.--One of the Twelve was absent when his brethren
received their first visitation from the risen Redeemer; and when
they said, "We have seen the Lord," he answered: "Except I shall see
in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print
of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe."
Subsequently the Savior appeared to this Apostle (Thomas) saying:
"Behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my
side; and be not faithless, but believing." "My Lord and my God!"
exclaimed the doubter--and was convinced. [1]
Complete Qualification.--Thomas has been censured for demanding to see
and to feel before he would believe. How much blame attaches to him for
doubting, I will not presume to say. But this much seems clear: He had
the same right as the rest of the Twelve to a personal appearing of
the Lord--the right to come in contact with Him of whose resurrection
he was required to testify. The others had seen and heard--perhaps had
even felt, for Jesus offered them that privilege. [2] Why should not
Thomas share in the experience? What else could completely qualify him
as a special witness?
A Peculiar Position.--Sign-seeking is an abomination, indicating an
adulterous disposition. [3] It is blessed to believe without seeing,
[4] since through the exercise of faith comes spiritual development;
while knowledge, by swallowing up faith, prevents its exercise, thus
hindering that development. "Knowledge is power;" and all things are
to be known in due season. But premature knowledge--knowing at the
wrong time--is fatal both to progress and to happiness. The case of the
Apostles was exceptional. They stood in a peculiar position. It was
better for them to know--nay, absolutely essential, in order to give
the requisite force and power to their tremendous testimony.
The Commission of the Twelve.--"Go ye into all the world, and preach
the Gospel to every creature.
"He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that
believeth not, shall be damned.
"And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they
cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up
serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." [5] "Go ye
therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;
"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you;
and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." [6]
The Promised Signs.--Thus we see that certain miraculous "signs" were
promised to "them that believe." But these signs were intended to
comfort the Saints, not to encourage the sign-seeker; and they were to
"follow," not precede, belief. It is not the sign, but the seeking,
that the Lord deprecates, the motive being evil. [7]
Apostolic Activities.--Obedient to the divine mandate, the Apostles at
Jerusalem, having been "endued with power from on high" [8] went forth
with their fellows, preaching. "Christ and him crucified," calling upon
men to believe, to repent, and have their sins remitted by baptism,
that they might receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Great power
accompanied their ministrations. Within the next half century the glad
tidings borne by them had spread over the whole Roman Empire and into
barbarian realms beyond.
Equality and Unity.--The Apostles must have known of Enoch's wonderful
work. Jude refers to Enoch's prophecy of the Lord's coming "with ten
thousand of his saints." [9] Possibly the Twelve had access to the Book
of Enoch, [10] one of the lost books of Scripture. At all events, they
sought to introduce, among the earliest proselytes to the Christian
faith, a similar order to that established in Enoch's day. Concerning
the later attempt to "bring forth Zion." it is written:
"And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of
one soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things which he
possessed was his own; but they had all things common. . . . .
"Neither was there any among them that lacked; for as many as were
possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the
things that were sold,
"And laid them down at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made
unto every man according as he had need." [11]
How long this condition lasted with the Jewish Saints, we are not
told. Among their contemporaries, the Nephite followers of Christ, the
splendid results flowing from the practice of the Law of Consecration
are thus portrayed:
"The people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of
the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions
and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly, one with
another;
"And they had all things common among them, therefore they were
not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and
partakers of the heavenly gift." [12]
The Apostles Taken.--One by one the Apostles were taken. James
was slain with the sword at Jerusalem. Peter, if the tradition be
trustworthy, was crucified at Rome, where Paul likewise suffered
martyrdom, by decapitation. All were put to death, save one, concerning
whom Peter had inquired of the Lord: "What shall this man do?" And
the Lord had said: "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that
to thee?" "Then went this saying abroad among the brethren; that that
disciple should not die." [13]
John Tarries.--Modern revelation confirms the ancient tradition that
John the Beloved did not taste of death, but obtained from the Lord a
promise that he should remain in the flesh, fortified against disease
and dissolution, and do a wondrous work. He was to "prophesy before
nations, kindred, tongues and peoples, and continue on earth until the
Lord came in his glory." [14] It is traditional that an attempt was
made upon John's life by throwing him into a cauldron of boiling oil;
but he escaped miraculously.
A Falling-Away Foreseen.--In the ninety-sixth year of the Christian
era this Apostle was on the Isle of Patmos, in the Aegean Sea. Patmos
served the Romans very much as Siberia has since served the Russians.
To that desolate place the Empire banished its criminals, compelling
them to work in the mines. John was an exile for Truth's sake. But the
Lord had not forgotten his servant, though men had rejected him and
cast him out. The Heavens were opened to him, and he was shown things
that would come to pass thereafter, also events that were even then
taking place. He beheld the sad spectacle of a paganized Christendom,
the "falling away" that St. Paul had predicted. [15]
Restoration and Judgment.--But John also looked forward to a time when
the pure Christian faith would be restored; when an Angel would "fly in
the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them
that dwell on the earth;" [16] when Israel would be called out from the
nations; [17] when the hour of God's judgment would come, and the dead,
small and great, would stand before the Great White Throne, to give
answer for the deeds done in the body. [18]
Among the Nephites.--The experience of the Church of Christ on the
Western continents was in many respects a duplicate of its experience
in Oriental lands. Here as well as there, special witnesses were
chosen, [19] and to three of the Nephite Twelve, Christ gave the same
promise that he had given to the Apostle John--a promise that they
should remain in the body, not subject to death, and bring souls to
Him. [20]
A Foretaste of the Millennium.--The Nephite Church had a marvelous
career--even more marvelous than had the Jewish Church. "The people
were all converted unto the Lord," and for two full centuries [21]
a social condition similar to that which had characterized Enoch's
ancient commonwealth, was the favored lot of this flourishing branch
of the House of Israel. It was a foretaste of the Millennium, a
foreshadowing of the great Day of Peace.
Japheth Smites Jacob.--Then came pride, the besetting sin of the
Nephite nation, with class divisions, envyings, covetousness,
strife, and--for the civilized portion of the once delightsome
people--extermination. Darkened in body and in mind, the degenerate
Lamanites were left to meet the on-rolling tide of over-seas
immigration, and be over whelmed thereby; "a remnant of Jacob," to be
smitten and driven by the children of Japheth, "until the times of the
Gentiles were fulfilled." [22]
Footnotes
1. John 20:24-28.
2. Luke 24:39.
3. Matt. 16:4.
4. John 20:29.
5. Mark 16:15-18.
6. Matt. 28:19, 20.
7. Says the Prophet Joseph: "When I was preaching in Philadelphia, a
Quaker called out for a sign. I told him to be still. After the sermon
he again asked for a sign. I told the congregation that the man was
an adulterer; . . . . that the Lord had said to me in a revelation
that any man who wanted a sign was an adulterous person. 'It is true,'
cried one, 'for I caught him in the very act,' which the man afterwards
confessed when he was baptized." (Hist. Ch. Vol. 5 p. 268). More than
one "Mormon" missionary, pestered by sign-seekers, has applied the test
furnished by the Prophet, with invariable and complete success.
8. Luke 24:49; Acts 2:1-4.
9. Jude 14.
10. D. & C. 107:57
11. Acts 4:32, 34, 35.
12. 4 Nephi 1:2, 3.
13. John 21:20-23.
14. D. & C. 7.
15. Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; Rev. Chaps. 17, 18.
16. Rev. 14:6.
17. Ib. 18:4.
18. Ib. 20:11, 12.
19. 3 Nephi 19:4.
20. Ib.28:4-23.
21. 4 Ib. 1:22.
22. Though tramped upon for many generations, the Lamanites are not
a dying race, as is generally supposed. According to Doctor Lawrence
W. White, of the United States Indian Bureau, the Indian population
in 1870, when the first reliable census was made by the bureau, was
placed at 313,712. It is now 333,702, a number not exceeded, thinks
that expert, by the total of aborigines in America at the time of its
discovery by Columbus.--See editorial article, "Indians Reviving," Salt
Lake Tribune, February 13, 1920.
PART SIX
THE ERA OF RESTITUTION.
ARTICLE TWENTY-TWO
The Call of the Shepherd.
"Come Out of Her, My People."--The Dispersion of Israel has for its
complement the Gathering of Israel; the prophets who predicted the
one likewise foretelling the other. The Savior's personal visits to
the various branches of the Israelitish race, before or after His
resurrection, were prophetic of a general restoration of the Lord's
people to their ancient lands, and the folding of the scattered sheep
into one great flock, with him as the Shepherd over all. [1]
Prophecies of the Gathering.--The more notable of the Hebrew prophecies
pertaining to the Gathering are as here given:
_Isaiah._--"And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall
assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of
Judah from the four corners of the earth." . . . .
"They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the
West." . . . .
"And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which
shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that
he came up out of the land of Egypt." [2]