Only now has the world been even measurably prepared for government
based on the consent of the people, for the kind of government that
shall yet be established in other lands as it has been already
developed in America. Fifty, twenty, aye, even ten years ago, to
have attempted forcibly to uproot the weeds of autocracy would have
endangered the precious wheat of real democracy. There is a dominant
element of timeliness in all the works of God. Verily He doeth all
things well, and in propitious season.
Have you never read that in the last days all things shall be in
commotion? We live in the predicted time of shaking, when every
unstable structure shall totter, and only such as are established upon
an eternal foundation shall stand. The writer of the Epistle to the
Hebrews so understood, as witness his admonitory precept:
"See that ye refuse not him that speaketh." The reference is to Christ.
"For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much
more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from
heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised,
saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And
this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that
are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot
be shaken may remain." (Heb. 12:25-27.)
The things of God are not to be shaken even by the boom of man's
heaviest artillery; they shall abide in spite of bomb and shell. But
the works of human craft shall be shattered. Not only so as to material
structures, but likewise man's sophistries, erroneous theories,
conjectures, philosophy, and such science as is falsely so called.
Institutions of human origin may persist long years, but shall surely
come to an end. In and after the resurrection they shall have neither
place nor name. Institutions established by the authority of heaven
alone can endure.
To administer in the ordinances of God requires an authority
distinctively different from any that man can originate or arrogate to
himself. Let Caesar regulate the things of Caesar, if you will, but let
not Caesar essay to administer the things of God. The Gospel of Jesus
Christ is eternal, it shall never be destroyed nor shaken. The laws
of God are immutable and compliance therewith, in mode as well as in
spirit, is indispensable to salvation. Thus hath the Lord decreed:
"Behold! mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a
house of confusion. Will I accept of an offering, saith the Lord, that
is not made in my name! Or, will I receive at your hands that which I
have not appointed! And will I appoint unto you, saith the Lord, except
it be by law, even as I and my Father ordained unto you, before the
world was! I am the Lord thy God, and I give unto you this commandment,
that no man shall come unto the Father but by me, or by my word, which
is my law, saith the Lord. And everything that is in the world, whether
it be ordained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, or
things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not by me, or by my
word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown down, and shall not remain after
men are dead, neither in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord
your God. For whatsoever things remain are by me; and whatsoever things
are not by me shall be shaken and destroyed." (D&C 132.)
-- 104 --
THE LAST DISPENSATION
Today is the Sum of all the Yesterdays
THE student of history recognizes distinct epochs, periods and ages
in the chronicles of events, and classifies his subject-matter
accordingly. Single facts and isolated occurrences may be of immediate
importance; but when studied in relation to one another they take on a
vastly augmented significance.
This is equally true with respect to both secular and sacred history.
In the latter field, which comprises the record of God's direct
dealings with man and the unfolding of the Divine purpose as attested
by prophecy and its fulfilment, the existence of progressive plan and
orderly design is strikingly apparent.
Holy Writ affirms a succession of dispensations, each characterized
by distinctive features of Divine authority and commission revealed
to man. Illustrative of these dispensations are the Adamic, the
Noachian, the Abrahamic, and the Mosaic. In due course came the
Meridian dispensation, glorified by the personal ministry of our
Lord, the Christ; and this was immediately succeeded by the Apostolic
dispensation.
Both Christ and the Apostles foretold a great falling away, a general
apostasy, a long era of spiritual darkness, which was to be succeeded
by a new dispensation distinguished by the restoration of the Gospel
and the establishment of the Church of Christ on earth for the last
time. The Scriptures affirm that the new dispensation is to comprise
all the authority, powers, and gifts of earlier dispensations, and is
therefore distinctively a time of restitution, reorganization, and
restoration. It is appropriately named the Last Dispensation, and the
Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.
The comprehensiveness of this period of restoration was forcefully
expressed by Paul: "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he
might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven, and which are on earth." (Eph. 1:10.)
Peter, addressing the penitent Jews, who were pricked to the heart
because of their guilty consciousness of having consented to the Lord's
death, held out to them hope of forgiveness in a time then far future,
the time of restitution of which the prophets had spoken. Ponder his
profound admonition and assuring promise:
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted
out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the
Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto
you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all
things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets
since the world began." (Acts 3:19-21.)
The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times has been inaugurated. The
Gospel of Jesus Christ is again preached upon earth, and the Holy
Priesthood is made operative by direct bestowal from the heavens, for
the administration of the ordinances without which no man can enter the
Kingdom of God.
In the year 1820, God the Eternal Father, and His Son Jesus Christ
manifested Themselves as bodily Personages to Joseph Smith; and from
the mouth of the resurrected and glorified Savior the youthful prophet
received the glad tidings that the predicted time of restoration had
arrived. Thus was ushered in the Last Dispensation. The darkness
incident to the long night of apostasy was dispelled; the glory of the
heavens once more illumined the world; the silence of centuries was
broken; the voice of God was heard again by man.
Visitations of other heavenly personages followed. John the Baptist,
who held the keys of the Lessor or Aaronic Priesthood, appeared as
a resurrected being and conferred upon Joseph Smith authority to
minister in the ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins. Peter,
James and John ordained him to the Higher or Melchizedek Priesthood,
including the Holy Apostleship; Moses brought to earth the commission
of gathering scattered Israel; Elijah transmitted the appointment of
vicarious service in behalf of the dead. (See Mal. 4:5, 6.)
The great consummation shall be realized in the return of Christ to
earth, in power and glory, to rule and reign, as the holy prophets
have foretold. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints appeals
to the world to heed the fast ripening signs of the Lord's coming,
to repent and be baptized, by which means alone is salvation through
Christ attainable. Heed ye the merciful warning of the Lord, our Savior:
"Wherefore, be faithful, praying always, having your lamps trimmed and
burning, and oil with you, that you may be ready at the coming of the
Bridegroom: For behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, that I come
quickly. Even so. Amen." (D&C 33:17-18.)