REVIVAL OR RESTORATION OF THE SCIENCE OF THEOLOGY IS THE PRESENT AGE.
A modern Prophet! Yes, a mighty Seer!
From Israel's royal line, must next appear;
Clad in the spirit of Elijah's power,
To prune the vineyard in th' eleventh hour;
To light the dawn of that effulgent day,
When King Messiah shall his sceptre sway.
The nineteenth century opened upon the world with far more favourable
auspices than any other age since the destruction of the people of the
Saints, and the reign of universal mystery. That spirit of freedom,
and independence of thought, of speech, and of action, which a few
centuries before had germinated in Europe, and which, after a stunted
growth amid the thorns and thistles of kingcraft, the tares of
priestcraft, and the weeds of superstition, in the old world,
transplanted itself, and obtained a more vigorous growth in the new
world, had now grown to a degree of maturity, and become consolidated,
opening resources for all nations, under the inestimable guarantee of
constitutional liberty.
To this standard the most enterprising, intelligent, and thinking of
every nation in Europe, had commenced to gather like a flowing stream.
Here, far separated from the practical influence, the false glare, the
empty show, or even the senseless name and titles of a self-styled or
imaginary nobility, their minds enlarged, their energies had full
scope, and their intellectual faculties, unfettered and free, and
surrounded with inexhaustible stores of unoccupied elementary riches,
soon opened and developed new channels of thought, of action, of
enterprise and improvement, the results of which have revolutionized
the world in regard to geographical knowledge, commerce,
intercommunication, transportation, travel, transmission of news, and
mutual acquaintance and interchange of thought.
The triumphs of steam over earth and sea, the extension of railroads,
and, above all, the lightning powers of the telegraph, are already,
gradually but rapidly, developing, concentrating and consolidating the
energies and interests of all nations, preparatory to the universal
development of knowledge, neighbourly kindness, and mutual
brotherhood.
Physically speaking, there seems to need but the consummation of two
great enterprises more, in order to complete the preparations
necessary for the fulfilment of Isaiah and other Prophets, in regard
to the restoration of Israel to Palestine, from the four quarters of
the earth, and the annual re-union of all nations to the new
standards, holy shrines and temples of Zion and Jerusalem, under the
auspices of that great, universal and permanent theocracy which is to
succeed the long reign of mystery.
One of these is the Great Eastern Railway from Europe to India and
China, with its branches, and accompanying telegraphic wires,
centering at Jerusalem.
The other is the Great Western Railway, with its branches and
accompanying telegraphic lines, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Politically speaking, some barriers yet remain to be removed, and some
conquests to be achieved, such as the subjugation of Japan, and the
triumph of constitutional liberty among certain nations where mind,
and thought, and religion are still prescribed by law.
These things achieved, even the most incredulous in regard to the
truth of Scripture Prophecy will be constrained to acknowledge, that,
physically and politically speaking, there is nothing impossible, or
even improbable, in the belief, that the twelve tribes of Israel will
be concentrated from all nations in their own land, that Jerusalem
will become the capitol of political government, the seat of
knowledge, and the shrine of worship, for the yearly resort of all the
nations and countries included in the world known to the Prophets of
old; while the Western Hemisphere, separated as it is, by two great
oceans, from the Old World, will naturally form its own central
capitol, its Zion, or New Jerusalem, to which all its tribes and
nations may perform their annual visits for instruction, devotion, and
mutual interchange of thought, of fellowship and affection.
Can the student of prophecy contemplate all these preparations,
clearly predicted thousands of years ago, and now bursting upon the
world with seemingly preconcerted connexion and exactness,
revolutionizing all things in a single age, and not be struck with the
reflection, that the hand of God must be in all this, and that moral
energy and spiritual light must be forthcoming from the heavens
commensurate with the physical and political preparations for a new
_Era_?
The same Prophets who have contemplated and described the development
of national freedom, universal intercourse, mutual peace, knowledge,
union of worship, reunion of the tribes of Israel; that have described
highways, trains of cars flying as it were with a cloud, ocean
steamers, ships, litters and swift beasts, as the instruments of
restoration, have also predicted that, in connexion with all these
preparations, a new dispensation should be manifested, a new covenant
established, "A Standard" for the nation, "An Ensign" for the people.
In short, "Swift Messengers," "Teachers," Prophets would be
commissioned, revelations be manifested, and a new organization be
developed, fitted to the times, and with principles and laws adapted
to the reorganization, order, and government of a renovated world.
Where and when should we look for the "grain of mustard seed," the
germ, the nucleus of such organization? Of course in a land of free
institutions, where such organization could be legally developed, and
claim constitutional protection, until sufficiently matured to defend
itself against the convulsions, the death struggles, the agonizing
throes, which precede the dissolution of the long reign of mystic
tyranny; and at a time when modern freedom had been consolidated,
nationalized, and its standard recognized among the nations.
Such an organization should also be looked for, in its first
development, as cotemporary with the first dawn or development of the
physical and political means provided for the same result.
The beginning of the present century gave birth to those chosen
instruments who were destined to hold the keys of restoration for the
renovation of the world.
The United States of America was the favoured nation raised up, with
institutions adapted to the protection and free development of the
necessary truths, and their practical results. And that Great Prophet,
Apostle, and Martyr--
JOSEPH SMITH,
was the Elias, the Restorer, the presiding Messenger, holding the keys
of the "_Dispensation of the fulness of times_."
Yes, that extraordinary man, whose innocent blood is now dripping
fresh, as it were, from the hands of assassins and their accessories,
in the United States, was the chosen vessel honoured of God, and
ordained by angels, to ordain other Apostles and Elders, to restore
the Church and kingdom of God, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and to be
a messenger in the spirit and power of Elijah, to prepare the way of
the Lord. "For, behold, he will suddenly come to his temple!"
Like John, who filled a similar mission preparatory to the first
advent of the Son of God, he baptized with water unto repentance, for
the remission of sins; like him, he was imprisoned; and like him, his
life was taken from the earth; and finally, like all other true
messengers, his message is being demonstrated by its progressive
fulfilment--the powers, gifts, and signs following the administration
of his message in all the world, and every minute particular of his
predictions fulfilling in the order of events, as the wheels of time
bring them due.
But in one important point his message differs from all former
messages. The science of Theology revived by him will never decline,
nor its keys be taken from the earth. They are committed to man for
the last time. Their consummation will restore the tribes of Israel
and Judah; overthrow all corrupt institutions; usher in the reign of
universal peace and knowledge; introduce to the earth her lawful and
eternal King, the crucified Nazarene, the resurrected Messiah; banish
darkness and death, sorrow, mourning and tears, from the face of our
globe; and crown our race with the laurels of victory and eternal
life.
Ages yet unborn will rise up and call him blessed. A thousand
generations of countless myriads will laud his praise and recount his
deeds, while unnumbered nations bask in the light and enjoy the
benefits of the institution founded by his instrumentality.
His kindred, the nation that gave him birth, and exulted at his death,
nay, his very murderers and their posterity, will yet come bending
unto him, and seek his forgiveness, and the benefits of his labours.
But, Oh! the pain! the dark despair! the torments of a guilty
conscience! the blackness of darkness, in the lower hell, which the
guilty wretches will experience before that happy day of deliverance!
Oh! the countless myriads of the offspring of innocent and honourable
men who will walk the earth, tread on the ashes, or plow and reap over
the bones and dust of those miserable murderers and their accomplices
who have consented to the shedding of innocent blood! ere the final
trump shall sound, which calls up their sleeping dust from its long
slumbers in the tomb, and their spirits from the prison of the damned.
And even when this, to them almost interminable, period has rolled
away, and they rise from the dead, instead of a welcome exaltation to
the presence and society of the sons of God, an eternal banishment
awaits them. They never can come where God and Christ dwell, but will
be servants in the dominions of the Saints, their former victims.
This extraordinary personage was born in Sharon, Windsor County,
Vermont, United States, December 23rd, 1805.
He removed with his father, during childhood, and settled near
Palmyra, in Wayne County, New York. Amid these forest wilds he was
reared a farmer, and inured to all the hardships, toils, and
privations of a newly settled country. His education was therefore
very limited. When about seventeen years of age, he had several open
visions, in which a holy angel ministered to him, admonished him for
his sins, taught him repentance, and faith in the crucified and risen
Messiah, opened to him the Scriptures of the Prophets, unfolding the
field of prophecy pertaining to the latter-day glory, and the
doctrines of Christ and his ancient Apostles.
On the 22nd Sept., 1827, the angel directed him to a hill a few miles
distant, called anciently Cumorah. Around this hill, in the fifth
century of the Christian era, had rallied the last remnant of a once
powerful and highly polished nation called the Nephites.
Here, two hundred and thirty thousand men, women and children,
marshalled themselves for a last defence, in legions of ten thousand
each, under their respective commanders, at whose head was the
renowned Mormon, the General of a hundred battles. And here they
received the enemy in untold numbers, and melted away before them,
till none remained except a few that fled to the southward, and a few
that fell wounded, and were left by the enemy among the unburied dead.
Among these latter were General Mormon, and his son, and second in
command--General Moroni.
These were the last Prophets of a nation, now no more. They held the
sacred records, compiled and transmitted from their fathers, from the
remotest antiquity. They held the Urim and Thummim, and the compass of
Lehi, which had been prepared by Providence, to guide a colony from
Jerusalem to America.
In the hill Cumorah, they deposited all these things. Here they lay
concealed for fourteen hundred years. And here did the angel Moroni
direct the young Joseph to behold these sacred things, in their sacred
deposit, and to receive, from these long-silent and gloomy archives,
an abridged record of the whole, and with it the Urim and Thummim.
The abridged record, thus obtained, was engraved in Egyptian
characters, on gold plates, by the hands of the two Prophets and
Generals--Mormon and Moroni. By the instructions of the angel, and the
use of the Urim and Thummim, the youthful Joseph, now a Prophet and
Seer, was enabled to translate the abridgment, or rather the unsealed
portion which was destined for the present age.
This done, the angel of the Lord appeared to three other persons,
called Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer; showed them
the golden plates, and the engravings thereon; bore testimony of their
correct translation by the Prophet Joseph, and commanded them to bear
a faithful testimony of the same. Two of these were respectable
farmers, and the other was a school-master.
Early in 1830, this translation with the accompanying testimony, was
published in English, in the United States, under the title of the
Book Of Mormon.
It is now, 1853, translated and published in nearly all European
languages.
This book more deeply interests the world, and every intelligent,
accountable being therein, than any other book, save the Jewish
Scriptures, which is now extant. Its history penetrates the otherwise
dark oblivion of the past, as it regards America, through the remote
ages of antiquity; follows up the stream of the generations of man,
till arriving at the great fountain, the distributor of nations,
tribes and tongues--the Tower of Babel, it ceases, or is lost in, and
sweetly blended with, that one great undivided Adamic river, whose
source is in Paradise, the cradle of man; whose springs issue from
beneath the throne of the Eternal; and whose secret fountains comprise
the infinite expanse, the boundless ocean of intellect, fact, and
historic truth, as recorded in the archives of eternity. Its prophetic
vision opens the events of unborn time. The fate of nations; the
restoration of Judah and Israel; the downfall of corrupt churches and
institutions; the end of superstition and misrule; the universal
prevalence of peace, truth, light and knowledge; the awful wars which
precede those happy times; the glorious coming of Jesus Christ as
King; the resurrection of the Saints, to reign upon the earth; the
great, grand rest of a thousand years; the jubilee of universal nature
upon our planet, are all predicted in that book. The time and means of
their fulfilment are pointed out with clearness, showing the present
age more pregnant with events than all the ages of Adam's race which
have gone before it. Its doctrines are developed in such plainness and
simplicity, and with such clearness and precision, that no man can
mistake them. They are there as they flowed from the mouth of a risen
Redeemer, in the liquid eloquence of love, mingled with immortal tears
of joy and compassion, and were written by men whose tears of
overwhelming affection and gratitude bathed his immortal feet.
It was ascertained by revelation, by means of the Urim and
Thummim, that the youthful Prophet Joseph was of the house of Israel,
of the tribe of Joseph.
He continued to receive visions, revelations, and the ministry of
angels, by whom he was at length ordained to the Apostleship, or High
Priesthood after the order of Melchizedec, to hold the keys of the
kingdom of God, the dispensation of the fulness of times.
Thus qualified, he proceeded, on the 6th of April, A.D. 1830, to
organize the Church of the Saints, which then consisted of six
members. The gifts of healing, of prophecy, of visions and miracles,
began to be manifested among the believers, thus confirming his
testimony with signs following.
In this same year, the principles restored by him were proclaimed, and
Branches of the Church were organized in various parts of his own
State, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and elsewhere; and the number of his
disciples increased from six members, to upwards of one thousand.
During the three following years, hundreds of ministers, ordained by
him, were sent out in all directions through the country, and Branches
of the Church were organized in most of the States of the American
Union.
In eighteen hundred and thirty five, he ordained by commandment of the
Lord, a quorum of Twelve Apostles, and several quorums of seventy, as
a traveling ministry.
In 'thirty-six, a temple was completed and dedicated, in Kirtland,
Ohio; in which these quorums, and the Priesthood in general were
assembled in a school of the Prophets, and were instructed, and
anointed to their holy calling. In this same year, some of the
Apostles visited Upper Canada, and spread the fulness of the Gospel in
Toronto and all the region round, gathering several Branches of the
Church.
In 'thirty-seven, a mission was sent to England, which was attended
with the same powers, and with remarkable success.
In 'thirty-eight, the State of Missouri undertook the extermination of
the Church from its borders, murdered many men, women and children,
and finally succeeded in the forcible expulsion of about ten thousand
people, and the seizure of their lands and property.
In eighteen hundred and forty, the quorum of the Twelve Apostles
visited England, gathered great numbers into the Church, and published
the Book of Mormon, and several other works, among which was a
periodical called the _Millennial Star_, which now, in 1853, has a
circulation of nearly eighteen thousand copies weekly.
Between the years 'forty, and 'forty-four, our youthful Prophet
gathered about him many thousands of his disciples; erected the great
city of Nauvoo, on the banks of the Mississippi; commenced the
erection of one of the most splendid temples in the world; and
organized a legion of citizen soldiers for its defence. This legion
comprised nearly six thousand men, and was commanded by the young
Prophet Joseph, who held a government commission, as
Lieutenant-General.
From this centre of science and heavenly light, there emanated rays,
by the aid of a foreign ministry, penetrating afar, and lighting up
the dawn of that effulgent day which is destined to break over all the
earth, and shine for ever.
Apostles, High Priests, Elders, Counsellors and Ministers of every
degree, here thronged our youthful Prophet and hero, and were taught
in this great school of Theology and spiritual philosophy; while a
hundred thousand disciples in the nation and beyond the seas, looked
to this centre for light and instruction.
Such was the progress of the science of Theology, revived in the
present age; such the result of fourteen years of the ministry of an
unlettered youth, crying in the wilderness the proclamation of
repentance, baptizing for the remission of sins, and holding the keys
of this divine, eternal power.
His unparalleled success, and still increasing influence, now alarmed
his former persecutors, and raised their jealousy and envy to the
highest pitch of frenzy and madness.
Several counties of Illinois combined with the former enemies, who had
robbed and destroyed the Saints in Missouri, and, calling public
meetings, passed resolutions to destroy the city of Nauvoo, and to
force the Saints, once more, to abandon their homes and farms to the
possession of the land pirates. They also entered into covenant, to
take the life of the young Joseph.
To resist this overwhelming storm, our hero and Prophet marshalled his
legion of six thousand men, in his beloved city of Nauvoo, prepared
for the most vigorous defence, and awaited the onset. The cowardly
enemy soon discovered the impropriety of an open attack, and resolved
on stratagem. They caused a magistrate of their own number to issue a
writ; and sent a constable to bring the person of Joseph into the
midst of those who had sworn to kill him. To yield to this mockery
would be to lose his life. To resist it would be construed into
treason and would bring on him the whole forces of the State. This
stratagem succeeded--Nauvoo, its legion and its general, were declared
in rebellion. His Excellency, Thomas Ford, Governor of the State of
Illinois, mustered an army, marched to the scene of conflict, took
sides with the enemy, and in fact incorporated their entire forces
with his own troops.
With this formidable force he marched to Carthage, a small town
eighteen miles from Nauvoo. He then sent a captain, named Singleton,
to take command of the Nauvoo legion, and demanded its
Lieutenant-General to repair to Carthage, and place himself in the
hands of those who had publicly combined to take his life. Sooner than
have submitted to these insults and humiliating demands, the legion
would have joyfully marched to Carthage, and cut to pieces this
cowardly band of rebels against American institutions and all the
rights of man.
But the Saints were located between two powerful States, who were now
combined against the laws, constitutions and liberties of their
country. To destroy one army, or even resist its most extravagant
demands, would be to draw upon themselves and families, the
overwhelming forces of the ferocious, ignorant, and worse than savage
beings, who had long thirsted for their plunder and their blood.
The young Prophet had no confidence in the Governor's pledge to
protect his person. He felt the hour had come, when his own blood
alone could appease the enemy, and preserve the lives of his flock. He
restrained the ardour of the legion; called upon them, by the love
they had ever borne to him as a Prophet and Apostle; and conjured
them, by the respect and confidence they had shown him as their
General, to submit to the extravagant demands of his Excellency, and
leave the event with God. He now took an affectionate leave of his
beloved legion, who were dissolved in tears; tore himself from the
embraces of his aged and widowed mother, and frantic wife and
children, and repaired to Carthage. He was accompanied by his brother
Hyrum, and the two of the Twelve, that were not abroad on foreign
missions, who would not forsake him. On the way he was cheerful but
solemn. He spoke little, but observed to those about him, _"I am going
like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer's morning; I
have a conscience void of offence towards God, and towards all men. I
shall die innocent: and it shall yet be said of me--He was murdered in
cold blood_."
Arriving at Carthage, he delivered himself to his enemies; answered to
the charge in the original writ, to enforce which all the Governor's
forces had been mustered, and was then committed to prison to answer
the charge of treason.
In this dungeon he was still accompanied by the two Apostles and his
brother Hyrum, who were determined to die with him.
Here as the four friends sat in the upper room, singing hymns, on the
afternoon of the 27th day of June, 1844, the prison was suddenly
surrounded with demons in the flesh, armed with muskets and bayonets,
and their faces as black as Cain--the original murderer. These
commenced firing through the doors and windows of the prison, while a
portion assaulted and broke open the door. Hyrum suddenly fell, and
died without a groan, being pierced with four balls. Taylor fled,
wounded and bleeding, to the window, and was about to throw himself
out, when a ball aimed at his heart, hit his watch in his vest pocket,
and threw him back into the room. The other Apostle, Willard Richards,
stood and parried the guns with his hand staff, receiving slight
injury.
In the midst of all this scene, the Prophet's presence of mind did not
forsake him. He saw his brother Hyrum fall, stiffen and die. He then
exclaimed, in the anguish of his soul--"O my brother!" and sprang for
the window, amid showers of ball as thick as hail. He instantly threw
himself from the upper story into the midst of the bristling bayonets
of the enemy, and, on alighting, was pierced with a shower of balls,
and instantly died without a struggle or a groan.
His presence of mind, and prompt action, in thus throwing himself
among the enemy, drew them from the prison in time to save the lives
of the two Apostles, which was, no doubt, the object of this, the last
glorious act of his life.
Thus ended the mortal career of a youth who had revealed the ancient
history of a continent; restored to man the keys and powers of the
divine science of Theology; organized the Church and kingdom of God,
and revealed, and re-established those principles, which will
eventually prevail, and govern the sons of earth, in countless ages
yet unborn. "The good shepherd," said Jesus, "layeth down his life for
the sheep."
When the news of this horrid tragedy spread abroad, the fear of
vengeance from the Nauvoo legion seized the Governor, his troops, and
the whole gang of pirates; all fled, and even the inhabitants of the
guilty villages in the vicinity, vacated their habitations, and fled
in terror and dismay.
As the news reached Nauvoo, a thrill of horror and of anguish
unutterable ran, as with electricity, through every pulse. The legion
sprang to arms, and would have desolated the whole rebel counties, now
left unprotected, had not their judgments balanced the burning
attribute of justice which swelled their bosoms.
As it was, they smothered their resentment, and prepared for the
burial of the illustrious dead. The bodies of the two martyrs were
borne to the city; being met by the entire populace, bowed with
sorrow, bathed in tears, and their bosoms upheaved with a sense of
sorrow and outraged humanity, such as, perhaps, an entire populace at
once never felt, since man was doomed to mourn.
The Twelve, who were abroad, soon returned, soothed and comforted the
sheep, and exhorted them to union and perseverance. The work on the
temple was resumed, and finally completed, at an expense of many
hundred thousand dollars. In this holy edifice, after its dedication
to the Lord, a portion of the Priesthood received those holy washings,
anointings, keys, ordinances, oracles and instructions, which were yet
wanting to perfect them in the fulness of the Priesthood.
In the autumn of 1845, the enemy again rallied, and commenced to
desolate the borders of the Nauvoo settlements by fire and sword.
Wearied with long continued vexation and persecution, the council of
the Apostles now determined to seek peace for the Saints, amid the
far-off and almost unexplored deserts and mountains of the interior.
In February, 1846, this emigration was commenced, headed by the
Apostles and their families.
On the 24th of July, 1847, the first pioneers of this vast emigration,
headed by the President of the whole Church, Brigham Young, entered
the Valley of Great Salt Lake.
In the meantime, the beautiful Nauvoo, and its surrounding farms and
villas fell a prey to the enemy, after a vigorous defence. Its temple,
the pride and glory of America, was laid in ashes. Its last remnant
plundered, robbed of their all, sick, destitute, wounded, bleeding,
dying, at length disappeared beyond the horizon of the illimitable
plains of the west, and, for a moment, the curtain of oblivion closed
over this strange drama, and the kingdom of God seemed lost to mortal
view.
Again it rises, and what do we behold!
The banner of freedom unfurled a thousand miles from the frontiers of
the persecuting foe; its waving folds, amid the snow-clad peaks of the
Rocky mountains, inviting to liberty and light, the oppressed of every
clime; and a free and sovereign State rising, in majesty and smiling
splendour, amid the fastnesses of nature's eternal ramparts; while the
exhaustless treasures of the golden mountains of California, revealed
by the providence-guiding keys of modern Theology, are poured like a
flowing stream into the treasury of the Lord, to aid in the gathering
and subsistence of the Saints.
Can the student of Theology contemplate all these grand events and
their results, all verging to one focus, all combining to prepare the
way for the consummation of the entire volume of unfulfilled prophecy,
and still be so much at a loss as to query, like one of old, "Art thou
he that should come; or, look we for another?" If so, we can only
recommend, to one so slow of heart, to search the Scriptures, and all
good books extant on the subject. And, while he searches, let him turn
from his sins, and live in newness of life, and call upon God, the
Father of all, in the name of Messiah, that his understanding may be
enlightened, and his stubborn heart subdued, and constrained to yield
to the force of Truth.