Dawn of the Last Dispensation
THE MESSENGER OF MORN.
Wake, slumbering world! Vain dreamer, dream no more!
The shadows lift, and o'er night's dusky beach
Ripple the white waves of morn. Awake! Arise!
Ocean of dispensations--rivers, rills,
Roll to your source! End, to thine origin!
And Israel, to the rock whence ye were hewn!
For He that scattered, gathereth his flock,
His ancient flock, and plants their pilgrim feet
On Joseph's mountain top and Judah's plains;
Recalls the Children of the Covenant
From long dispersion o'er the Gentile world,
Mingling their spirits with the mystic sea
Which sent them forth as freshening showers to save
The parched and withered wastes of unbelief.
Japheth! thy planet pales, it sinks, it sets;
Henceforth 't is Jacob's star must rise and reign.
* * * * * * * * *
Time, mighty daughter of Eternity!
Mother of centuries--seventy, seven-crowned!
Assemble now thy children at thy side,
And ere thou diest teach them to be one.
Link to its link rebind the broken chain
Of dispensations, glories, keys, and powers,
From Adam's fall unto Messiah's reign;
A thousand years of rest, a day with God,
While Shiloh reigns and Kolob once revolves!
Six days thou, Earth, hast labored; and the seventh,
Thy Sabbath, comes apace!--Night's sceptre wanes,
And in the East the silvery Messenger
Gives silent token of the golden dawn.
* * * * * * * * *
A living Prophet unto dying Time,
Heralding the Dispensation of the End,
When Christ once more his vineyard comes to prune,
When potent weak confound the puny strong,
Threshing the nations by the Spirit's power,
Rending the kingdoms with a word of flame;
That here the Father's work may crown the Son's,
And Earth be joined a holy bride to Heaven,
A queen 'mid queens, crowned, throned, and glorified.
Wherefore a Noble of the Skies came down,
In strength divine, a stirring role to play
In Time's tense tragedy, whose acts are seven.
His part to fell the false, replant the true,
To clear away the debris of the past,
The ashes of its dead and dying creeds,
And kindle newly on earth's ancient shrine
The Light that points to Life unerringly;
Crowning what has been with what now must be,
A mighty still bespeaking Mightier.
Earth rose from wintry sleep, baptized and cleansed,
And on her tranquil brow, that seemed to feel
The holy and confirming hand of Heaven,
The warm light in a wealth of glory streamed;
Nature's great floor green-carpeting anew
For some glad change, some joyful happening,
Told in the countless carolling of birds,
Gilding the foliage, brightening the flowers,
Mirroring mingled hues of earth and sky.
Glad happening, in sooth, for ne'er before,
Since burst the heavens when Judah's star-lit hills
Heard angel choristers peal joy's refrain
Above the mangered Babe of Bethlehem,
Had earth such scene beheld, as now within
The bosom of a sylvan solitude,
Hard by the borders of a humble home,
Upon that fair and fateful morn was played.
Players, immortal Twain, and mortal one,
Standing but fourteen steps upon life's stair;
Boy and yet man, thinker of thoughts profound,
Boy and yet man, dreamer of lofty dreams.
Not solemn, save betimes, when hovered near
Some winged inspiration from far worlds,
Some great idea's all-subduing spell;
Not melancholy--mirthful, loving life,
And brimming o'er with health and wholesome glee.
A stalwart spirit in a sturdy frame,
Maturing unto future mightiness.
Bowing to God, yet bending to no creed,
Adoring not a loveless deity,
That saved or damned regardless of desert,
Ne'er reckoning the good or evil done;
Loving and worshiping the God of love,
The gracious God of reason and of right,
Long-suffering and just and merciful,
Meting to every work fit recompense,
Yet giving more, far more, than merit's claim;
Bowing to Him, but not to man-made gods,
And shunning shameful strife where peace should dwell,
He holds aloof from those degenerate sects,
Bewildering Babel of conflicting creeds,
And pondering the apostolic line,
"Let any lacking wisdom, wisdom ask,"
In childlike faith, godlike humility,
Resolves to prove the promise by the test.
What pen can paint the marvel that befell?
What tongue the wondrous miracle portray?
Than theirs, the Vision's own, what voice proclaim
Whose dual presence dimmed the noonday beam,
Communing with him there, as friend with friend,
And giving to that prayer reply of peace?
Tell how, as Moses on the unknown Mount,
From whom in rage fled baffled Lucifer,
Who fain had guised him as the Son of God,
And won the worship of that prophet pure;--
Tell how with gloom he strove ere glory dawned,
And black despair met bright deliverance.
Tell how, in heart of that sweet solitude,
Within the silent grove, sequestered shade,
While spirit hosts unseen spectators stood,
Watching the simple scene's sublimity,
Eternity high converse held with Time.
Time, parent of the hovering centuries,
Mother of dispensations, travailing,
And bringing forth her last and mightiest child;
Heaven's awful Sire, through him both Sire and Son,
There blazoning the beginning of the End.
* * * * * * * * *
"'Twas from below!" Thus Bigotry in rage.
"Nay, from above," Faith's simple, firm reply.
"No vision is there now--the time is past."
"But I have seen," affirms the youthful Seer.
"God is a mystery, unknowable."
"God is a man--I saw Him, talked with Him."
"Man?" "Ay, of holiness--Exalted Man."
A strife of words, of warring tongues, now waged,
And weapons vied with words the truth to slay;
Nor truth alone, but her brave oracle,
A boy, by men, by neighborhoods, oppressed.
The wrangling sects forgave--well nigh forgot
Their former feuds and fears and jealousies;
And, joining hands, as Pilate Herod joined,
One guilty day when God stood man-condemned,
In friendly reconcilement's cordial clasp,
They doomed to death and hell "this heresy."
None sought, from "Satan's wile," a soul's reclaim,
But all were bent his humble name to blast;
And pious, would-be murder led the van
Of common hatred and hostility.
But Truth, thou mother of the living thought,
The deathless word, the everduring deed!
What puny hand thy giant arm can stay?
When crushed, or backward held, thine hour beyond?
Can bigot frown or tyrant fetter quell
Thy high revolt, O light omnipotent!
When God would speak with man, who tells him nay?
Can hell prevent, when heaven and earth would join?
Still through his soul the solemn warning rang;
Still from his mouth the startling message flamed:
"No church the Christ's! None, therefore, can I join.
All sects and creeds have wandered from the way.
Priestcraft, in lieu of Priesthood, sits enthroned,
Dead forms deny the power of godliness.
Men worship with their lips, their hearts afar.
None serve acceptably in sight of heaven.
Wherefore a work of wonder shall be wrought,
And perish all the wisdom of the wise."
--("Elias," Canto V.)
A Decreed Consummation.--The Gospel dispensation introduced by the
Prophet Joseph Smith was rendered necessary by the apostasy of the
Christian world from the ancient Faith, as delivered to the Saints in
the Meridian of Time. Nevertheless, according to the foreknowledge
of God, and in consonance with his all-wise purposes, this great,
all-comprehending dispensation had been preordained from the beginning,
as the "winding up scene," or final development, in the divine plan,
having for its object the salvation of the sons and daughters of Adam.
"It is necessary, in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness
of times; which dispensation is now beginning to usher in, that a whole
and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations,
and keys, and powers, and glories, should take place and be revealed
from the days of Adam even to the present time; and not only this,
but those things which never have been revealed from the foundation
of the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall
be revealed unto babes and sucklings in this the dispensation of the
fulness of times."--(D. and C. 128:18.)
Joseph Smith's Work.--So wrote the Prophet, in the month of September,
1842, less than two years prior to his martyrdom. He had looked upon
the face of God, as did Enoch, Moses, and other seers, in times
of old. He had communed with angels, and received the Everlasting
Gospel, as taught in the Book of Mormon, as well as in the Bible and
in other ancient records of God's dealings with man. Empowered by the
Priesthood, he had organized, after the heavenly pattern, the Church
of Christ, the forerunner of the Kingdom never to be thrown down nor
given to another people. He had gazed upon the glories of eternity,
and portrayed in burning eloquence the final destiny of the human
race, setting forth at the same time the conditions of salvation
and exaltation in worlds to come. He had preached, and caused to be
promulgated, in the two greatest nations of modern times, the United
States and Great Britain, the Gospel message, for the gathering of
Israel, the redemption of Zion, the building of the New Jerusalem, and
the preparation of a people to greet the coming of the Lord. "Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." So declared the Savior
of mankind. "Zion is the pure in heart," said Joseph Smith--"every man
seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye
single to the glory of God." He had written concerning the ultimate
goal of all righteous endeavor:
"This is why Adam blessed his posterity; he wanted to bring them into
the presence of God. * * * Moses sought to bring the children of Israel
into the presence of God, through the power of the Priesthood, but
he could not. In the first ages of the world they tried to establish
the same thing; and there were Eliases raised up who tried to restore
these very glories, but did not obtain them; but they prophesied of a
day when this glory would be revealed. Paul spoke of the dispensation
of the fulness of times, when God would gather together all things in
one, etc.; and those men to whom these keys have been given, will have
to be there; and they without us cannot be made perfect. * * * All
these authoritative characters will come down and join hand in hand in
bringing about this work."--("History of the Church," Vol. III, pp.
388, 389.)
Keys Committed.--Already, when the Prophet wrote those words, had this
phase of the Latter-day work begun; he having received, under the hands
of heavenly messengers, the keys held by them as presiding authorities
over past dispensations. The following record of visions manifested to
Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, in the Kirtland Temple, April 3, 1836,
tells its own wonderful story:
"The vail was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding
were opened.
"We saw the Lord standing upon the breast work of the pulpit, before
us, and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold in color like
amber.
"His eyes were as a flame of fire, the hair of his head was white like
the pure snow, his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun,
and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the
voice of Jehovah, saying--
"I am the first and the last, I am he who liveth, I am he who was
slain, I am your advocate with the Father.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"After this vision closed, the heavens were again opened unto us,
and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the
gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading
of the ten tribes from the land of the north.
"After this, Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the
gospel of Abraham, saying, that in us, and our seed, all generations
after us should be blessed.
"After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst
upon us, for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without
tasting death, stood before us, and said--
"Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of
Malachi, testifying that he (Elijah) should be sent before the great
and dreadful day of the Lord come,
"To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to
the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse.
"Therefore the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands,
and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is
near, even at the doors."--(D. and C. 110:1-4, 11-16.)
Elijah's Mission.--"Why send Elijah?" asks the Prophet, and he answers
his own question thus: "Because he holds the keys of the authority
to administer in all the ordinances of the Priesthood; and without
the authority is given, the ordinances could not be administered in
righteousness." In the same connection he informs us that "Elijah was
the last prophet who held the keys of the Priesthood."--("History of
the Church," Vol. IV, p. 211.)
Salvation for the Dead.--The mission of Elijah--the turning of the
hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children
to the fathers, to the end that past and present might be bound
together, and the dead as well as the living saved and glorified, was
the all-engrossing thought in the mind of the Prophet, as his last
day on earth drew near. From his place of retirement, during a period
of trouble and persecution, he wrote thus to the Saints upon this
all-important theme:
"Verily thus saith the Lord, let the work of my temple, and all the
works which I have appointed unto you, be continued on and not cease."
* * * * * * * * * * *
"When any of you are baptized for your dead, let there be a recorder,
and let him be eye witness of your baptisms: let him hear with his
ears, that he may testify of the truth, saith the Lord.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"You may think this order of things to be very particular, but let me
tell you, that it is only to answer the will of God, by conforming
to the ordinance and preparation that the Lord ordained and prepared
before the foundation of the world, for the salvation of the dead who
should die without a knowledge of the gospel.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"Whatsoever you record on earth, shall be recorded in heaven; and
whatsoever you do not record on earth, shall not be recorded in heaven;
for out of the books shall your dead be judged, according to their own
works, whether they themselves have attended to the ordinances in their
own propria persona, or by means of their own agents.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"To be immersed in the water and come forth out of the water, is in the
likeness of the resurrection of the dead, in coming forth out of their
graves; hence this ordinance was instituted to form a relationship with
the ordinance of baptism for the dead, being in likeness of the dead.
"Consequently the baptismal font was instituted as a simile of the
grave, and was commanded to be in a place underneath where the living
are wont to assemble.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"And now, in relation to the baptism for the dead, * * * I will give
you a quotation from one of the prophets, who had his eye fixed on
the restoration of the Priesthood, the glories to be revealed in
the last days, and in an especial manner this most glorious of all
subjects belonging to the everlasting gospel, viz., the baptism for the
dead; for Malachi says, last chapter, verses 5th and 6th, 'Behold, I
will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and
dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to
the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I
come and smite the earth with a curse.'
"I might have rendered a plainer translation to this, but it is
sufficiently plain to suit my purpose as it stands. It is sufficient to
know, in this case, that the earth will be smitten with a curse, unless
there is a welding link of some kind or other, between the fathers
and the children, upon some subject or other, and behold what is that
subject? It is the baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be
made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect."--(D. and C.
127, 128.)
A Gathering Dispensation.--The mission of the Everlasting Gospel in
the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times is the gathering together of
all things in Christ--things in heaven, and things upon the earth; the
consummation decreed concerning the sanctification and glorification of
this planet. It is distinctively the day of gathering--the spiritual
harvest--time of all the ages.
The Ensign Lifted.--The founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints lifted the Ensign for the gathering of scattered
Israel, a step preliminary to the mightier achievements that are to
follow; and it devolved upon Joseph Smith, a lineal descendant of
Joseph of old, to raise the standard and begin the work, particularly
that portion of it affecting the fortunes of the children of Ephraim.
For thus saith the Lord:
"I AM A FATHER UNTO ISRAEL, AND EPHRAIM IS MY FIRST BORN."
Dispersion and Gathering of Israel.
CHAPTER I.
A Chosen People.
History and Destiny.--"He that scattered Israel will gather him, and
keep him as a shepherd doth his flock." In these words of Jeremiah the
Prophet, are summarized the past and future, the history and destiny,
of God's chosen people; a people from whom the Latter-day Saints claim
lineal descent.
"Prince of God."--The name "Israel" means "Prince of God," and is first
used in the Scriptures as the surname of Jacob, grandson of Abraham,
and father of the twelve patriarchs, from whom sprang the twelve tribes
of Israel. Returning from Padan-Aram, whither he had fled from the
jealous wrath of his brother Esau, Jacob came to the ford Jabbok, where
"there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." We are
left to infer that Jacob believed this "man" to be God; for he "called
the name of the place Peniel," saying, "I have seen God face to face."
"Let me go," demanded the heavenly visitant, "for the day breaketh."
"I will not let thee go," said Jacob, "except thou bless me."
The "man" then blessed him, and changed his name from Jacob to Israel,
"for," said he, "as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and
hast prevailed."--(Genesis 32:28.)
Jacob's Blessing Confirmed.--Subsequently the name Israel was confirmed
upon Jacob at Bethel, where the Lord appeared to him and blessed him,
promising that a nation and a company of nations should be of him, and
that kings should come out of his loins."--(Gen. 35:10, 11.)
The Father of the Faithful.--But while this was the origin of the
name Israel, as applied to Jacob, it was not the origin of the race
of which he was the titular head. It was the four wives of Jacob,
with their twelve sons, that did "build the house of Israel;" but the
foundation of that house had already been laid by Abraham, the Father
of the Faithful Jehovah's promises to Jacob and to his father Isaac,
concerning their posterity, were virtually repetitions of promises that
had been made to their great ancestor. Those promises are couched in
the following language of scripture:
"Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will
shew thee:
"And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and
make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth
thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."--(Gen.
12:1-3.)
Definition of "Hebrew."--Abraham, or, as he was then called, Abram,
was a dweller in Ur of the Chaldees, a city of Mesopotamia, which
means "between the rivers." One of these rivers was the Tigris, and
the other the Euphrates. Abram had to cross the Euphrates in order to
reach Canaan, the land that the Lord showed him. Because he came from
beyond the Euphrates, he was called by the Canaanites a "Hebrew," which
signifies "one from beyond the river." Some of the Jews, however, hold
that the name Hebrew comes from Heber, or Eber, one of the ancestors of
Abraham.
God's Promise to Abraham.--Mesopotamia was the fountainhead of idolatry
in Western Asia. On that account, and because the Lord wished to raise
up a people who would worship him, and him only, Abram was required to
separate himself from his idolatrous surroundings. After his removal
from Chaldea to Canaan, and the trial of his faith in the offering of
Isaac, the Lord gave to him this promise:
"In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy
seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea
shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies:
"And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."--(Gen.
22:17, 18.)
Why was Abraham Blessed?--It will be observed that the blessing
formerly pronounced,--"In thee shall all families of the earth be
blessed,"--is here expanded to: "In thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed." Before showing how this great promise was
fulfiled, let us inquire into the cause or causes why it was made. Why
was Abraham, with his seed, chosen for such a mission? What had he
done to deserve it? For he must have done something: God rewards men
according to their works, and not even an Abraham would have received
from him an honor that was unmerited.
Some may suppose that the sacrifice involved in the offering of Isaac
was the sole and sufficient reason; and it is proverbially true that
"sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven." But this promise
was made to Abraham before he had offered Isaac, and was repeated and
enlarged after the offering had been made. Others may hold that it was
Abraham's fidelity to God among the idolatrous inhabitants of Chaldea,
and his obedience to the divine behest to leave his country and kindred
and migrate to another land, that caused him to be chosen. "Because
thou hast obeyed my voice," is a reason assigned by the Almighty for
his promise. Such acts were undoubtedly to Abraham's credit; but how
could they be placed to the credit of his posterity?--not merely Isaac
and Jacob, but the millions that were to "come of them." "In thee and
in thy seed shall all the families or nations of the earth be blessed."
His posterity, as well as himself, must have deserved well of the Lord
in this connection.
The Problem Solved.--The patriarch himself helps us to a solution of
the problem. In the Book of Abraham it is written:
"Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were
organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of
the noble and great ones;
"And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst
of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among
those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said
unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them: thou wast chosen before thou
wast born."--(Abraham 3:22, 23.)
Noble and Great.--Here, then, is given the reason, the main reason, why
Abraham was chosen; the time, also, when the divine choice was made. He
was chosen before he was born, and it was because of his nobility and
greatness--manifested, of course, by obedience, the only principle upon
which blessings can come to anyone.
Pre-Mortal Judgment.--The intelligences shown unto Abraham were the
pre-existent spirits of the human race, waiting for an earth to be
made, that they might pass through a mortal probation; a step necessary
to their further progress and development. They were to be rewarded
according to their works--not only after this life, but in this life,
at its very beginning. For rewards and punishments are not all deferred
until the final judgment at the end of the world. There is a judgment
passed upon the spirits of men before they are permitted to tabernacle
in mortality. "Did this man sin, or his parents, that he was born
blind?"--asked the disciples of the Savior, who had probably taught
them the principle involved in the question--namely, the possibility of
sinning in a former state of existence.
Sowing and Reaping.--"Whatsoever a man soweth," in this world or in any
other, "that shall he also reap." Justice was not done away in Christ,
who taught it, with emphasis, even while inculcating charity and mercy.
"Vengeance is mine," saith the Lord, "I will repay." We are required
to forgive all men, for our own sakes, since hatred retards spiritual
growth; but all men must answer, just the same, for the deeds done in
the body or out of it; justice and mercy each claiming its own. The
principle of sowing and reaping is plainly taught in other passages of
the Book of Abraham:
"And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said
unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space
there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth
whereon these may dwell;
"And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things
whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
"And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they
who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same
kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their
second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and
ever."--(Abraham 3:24-26.)
First and Second Estates.--The "first estate," as already explained,
means the pre-existence, in which the spirits of men "walked by sight;"
while the "second estate" signifies life on earth, where these same
spirits--"added upon" by being given mortal bodies, with opportunities
for development, are required to "walk by faith," with their knowledge
of the past temporarily obscured; a greater test of integrity, and one
that results, to those who overcome, in a far more glorious reward than
any previously bestowed.
Reward and Punishment.--In my opening theme, "The Story of God," it
was shown how Lucifer and his legions rebelled over the choice of the
Christ, and were cast down. Failing to keep their first estate, they
could not be "added upon." This was their punishment--that they should
not have bodies, by means of which spirits become souls, capable of
eternal progression. All the rest--two-thirds of the population of the
spirit world--were given bodies as a reward for keeping their first
estate, and were promised a glorious resurrection after death, as a
further reward, if they succeeded in keeping their second estate.
All Not Alike.--All who kept the first estate were added upon; but not
all alike. The rewards were not the same in every case, though they
were undoubtedly just and appropriate. Some of those "intelligences"
were more deserving than others; some nobler and greater than others;
and because of their superior merit and larger capacity, they were
made "rulers" over the rest. And Abraham, "thou art one of them: thou
wast chosen before thou wast born"--chosen to bear the priesthood,
the divine right to rule, and to stand at the head of a dispensation,
ministering in holy things for the salvation of mankind.
Such is "Mormonism's" presentation, in part, of the Abrahamic or
Israelitish problem.
Original Excellence.--What had given Abraham his superior standing in
the heavens? Had he always been noble and great? Was it an original or
an acquired excellence, or both? That there is such a thing as original
excellence, with different degrees of intelligence among pre-existent
spirits, appears from the teachings in this very Book of Abraham--not
only the passages cited, but others, in which the Lord is represented
as saying:
"If there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the
other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent
than the other, have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have
no end; they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or eternal. * *
* These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more
intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent
than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they
all."--(Abraham 3:18, 19.)
"I Know Abraham."--Was it not Abraham's worthy conduct in a previous
life that caused the Lord to say of him while in the flesh: "I know
him, that he will command his children and his household after him,
and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment;
that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of
him?"--(Gen. 18:19.) Who can doubt that the Father of the Faithful was
one of the choice spirits whom Alma had in mind when he said concerning
the priests whom "the Lord God ordained":
"And this is the manner after which they were ordained; being called
and prepared from the foundation of the world, according to the
foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good
works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore,
they, having chosen good, and exercised exceeding great faith, are
called with a holy calling."--(Alma 13:3.)
The Foreknowledge of God.--The authors and compilers of "The
Compendium," Elders Franklin D. Richards and James A. Little,
commenting upon these words of Alma, relative to the priests thus
ordained, have this to say: "Their calling and preparation from the
foundation of the world, was evidently based on their faith and good
works previous to their being called, and not on the possibilities of
their future good conduct." In other words, the foreknowledge of God
has history as well as prophecy for a foundation.
Abraham Not Alone.--Abraham was not the only priest called and prepared
in that manner. There were "many of the noble and great ones." Israel
was "a kingdom of priests," "a holy nation," and as such must have
been called and prepared even as was Abraham. We have seen that
Jehovah, the God of Israel, "the great High Priest of our profession,"
was fore-ordained to be the Savior; and that his servant Jeremiah,
before being formed in the flesh, was known to God in the spirit, and
sanctified and ordained "a prophet unto the nations." Undoubtedly the
same could be said of others, and Paul doubtless had them in mind when
he wrote: "For whom he did fore-know, he also did predestinate, to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born
among many brethren."--(Romans 8:29.)
Princes and Servants.--If the name Israel means "prince of God," when
applied to Jacob, may it not mean princes of God, when applied to his
posterity? Jacob was told that kings should come out of his loins. And
have they not come?--princes and priests and kings, the nobility of
heaven, though not always recognized and honored upon the earth. The
greatest among them was not recognized even by "his own;" for when he
came unto them, they "received him not." The wise Solomon was never
wiser than when he said: "I have seen servants upon horses, and princes
walking as servants upon the earth" (Ecc. 10:7). Even the God of
heaven, the mighty. Prince of Peace, walked unknown, unhonored, by his
own servants, in the dust of his own footstool.
Degrees of Greatness.--There are degrees of greatness in heaven as upon
earth, choice spirits and choicer. But all God's servants are noble. No
position in the Church of Christ is insignificant. David was right in
saying: "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to
dwell in the tents of wickedness." It is greater, infinitely greater,
to hold the humblest office in the priesthood, than to reign, an alien
from God, over all the kingdoms of the world.
Israel's Pre-existence.--In view of what the prophets have spoken, are
we not justified in believing that the house of Israel was chosen in
the heavens for the mission it had to perform, and is still performing,
upon the earth? What other inference can be drawn from these words of
Moses:
"Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: * * *
"When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he
separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according
to the number of the children of Israel."--(Deut. 32:7-8.)
The period here mentioned, when the sons of Adam were separated,
and the nations received their inheritance, evidently antedated by
many generations the times of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Those events
were probably much earlier, and certainly no later, than the days of
Japheth, Shem, and Ham, by whose families the nations were "divided
in the earth after the flood" (Gen. 10:32). It looks very much as if
Moses, when he wrote those words, had in mind, not a temporal Israel,
unborn at the early period indicated, but a spiritual Israel, according
to whose numbers, known in the heavens before they had taken bodies
upon the earth, the boundaries of "the people" were determined.
CHAPTER II.
Israel's Mission.
Privileges and Requirements.--It was intended that the children
of Israel should have "room to dwell;" and it was of the utmost
consequence that they should have. They were to be the oracles of God,
the custodians and dispensers of heavenly wisdom. Upon them devolved
the high duty of keeping alive on faith's altar the fire of divine
truth. They were not to worship idols, as did the heathen nations
around them, but were to worship the true God, the invisible Jehovah,
"walking by faith," where others, less worthy, "walked by sight,"
believing only when they could see. The children of Israel were not
to intermarry with other nations, lest they might worship their gods,
practice their vices, and pollute the noble lineage through which was
to come, in due time, the Savior of the world. The Lamb of God, when he
came, was "without spot or blemish," physically as well as spiritually;
a condition partly due, no doubt, to the choice parentage and ancestry
that had been provided for him.
Christ the Seed of Abraham.--This brings us again to the divine promise
given to Abraham: "In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed." Undoubtedly that promise was fulfiled in the
coming of the Son of God as the Redeemer and Savior. In the body he was
a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and in more ways than one he
has been a blessing to all nations.
The Gem and Its Setting.--In treating this great theme, however, it is
not enough to consider that such a personage as Jesus of Nazareth lived
and labored and died. We must not separate the gem from its setting.
We must not isolate the central fact of the Savior's personal ministry
from the related facts that went before and followed after. Christ came
to save the world; but the house of Israel prepared the way for his
coming, gave him a proper lineage through which to come, and after his
crucifixion carried on the work he had inaugurated. This is especially
true of the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, and others bearing
the Priesthood; but it is also true, in a general way, of the whole
house of Israel.
The Salt of the Earth.--While there is but one Savior in a universal
sense, and in the sense of the atonement and the resurrection, that
Savior has many assistants, sent to play subordinate parts in the
great drama of salvation. Did not Jesus tell his disciples that they
were "the salt of the earth"--the saving or preserving element among
men? And did he not warn them against allowing "the salt" to "lose its
savor"--its power to save and preserve? For how could they save others,
if their own feet were not firmly planted upon the Rock of Salvation?
Followers of the Lamb.--John of Patmos saw a Lamb standing upon the
Mount Zion, "and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having
his Father's name written in their foreheads" (Rev. 14:1). And he
heard a voice from heaven saying, "These are they which follow the
Lamb whithersoever he goeth." Then they follow him in the work of
salvation, not only in this world, but also in the spirit world, where
he ministered while his body was lying in the tomb.
Who are these 144,000? They are not the whole house of Israel, which
numbers millions; but they are "of all the tribes of the children of
Israel," twelve thousand of every tribe. The Prophet Joseph says: They
"are high priests, ordained unto the holy order of God, to administer
the Everlasting Gospel; for they are they who are ordained out of every
nation, kindred, tongue, and people, by the angels to whom is given
power over the nations of the earth, to bring as many as will come to
the Church of the First Born" (D&C 77:11). They are not the entire army
of the Lord, but might well be termed the flower of that army, the
body-guard of the great Captain of Salvation.
Keystone and Arch.--Christ is the keystone of an arch, and that arch
is, or is in, the house of Israel; a circlet of gold upon the forearm
of Omnipotence, a setting of satellite gems, from the midst of which
the supreme jewel, the Signet of Salvation, sends forth its lustre.
Overruling Providence.--Under Jesus Christ, the Savior, the great house
of which he is the spiritual head also has a mission of salvation.
And, strangely enough, the children of Israel have accomplished that
mission, not only when obedient to God, but while disobedient and
suffering the consequent calamities that came upon them. A notable
instance of the power of overruling Providence, bringing order out of
chaos, light out of darkness, success and victory from seeming failure
and defeat.
Calamity and Compensation.--The compensations of calamity--a theme
treated philosophically by Ralph Waldo Emerson, in one of his noblest
essays--are apparent in some of the mightiest events of human history.
For instance, to Adam it was said: "The day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die." He ate, and death came into the world; a
terrible calamity, but not without its compensation; for the fall of
man proved to be the means of peopling the earth, according to a divine
plan, ordained before the creation of the world. Christ's martyrdom,
the preordained means of man's salvation, was an overwhelming calamity
to his terror-stricken disciples, who were disconsolate until they
looked upon it in its true light, acknowledging God's hand in the awful
tragedy. Even so, Israel's dispersion, that dire calamity under which
the chosen people have suffered for ages, and from which they are just
beginning to emerge, has been overruled for good, and made the means of
fulfiling the Lord's purpose and promise in the blessing of all nations.
Moses Predicts the Dispersion.--Prophecies of this calamity were made
as early as the time of Moses, fifteen hundred years before the coming
of the Savior. The twelve tribes, the most notable of whom were Judah
and Joseph--the latter represented in Ephraim and Manasseh--had been
in Egypt for several centuries when Moses led them out of bondage and
brought them to the borders of Canaan, the land which the Lord had
given to their forefathers when he promised to make of them "a great
nation." The leader of Israel told his people, who were about to
possess themselves of the land of Canaan, that so long as they served
Jehovah and kept his commandments, they should be prospered and remain
an independent nation; but if they forsook Jehovah and served other
gods, He would scatter them among all people, from one end of the earth
even unto the other.--(Deut. 28:64.)
A Martyred Nation.--They were commanded, as Adam and Eve had been,
not to do a certain thing, and a punishment was to come upon them if
they disobeyed; and yet it must have been foreseen, as in the case of
our first parents, that they would disobey, and the transgression was
overruled for good. The dispersion of Israel, like the fall of Adam,
like the crucifixion of Christ, seems to have been part of a mighty
plan for the progress and salvation of the human race. Adam fell that
man might be; Christ died to burst the bands of death; and Israel was
scattered among all nations, that the gospel of the Redeemer, which was
to follow, might make its way more readily among those nations. As in
the fall, as in the crucifixion, and in every instance where some great
service has been rendered to humanity, there was sacrifice, suffering,
martyrdom, in order that blessings might come. The history of the house
of Israel is the history of a martyred nation, suffering for the good
of other nations--whatever may be said of transgressions that justified
God in bringing upon his chosen people the calamities that were
doubtless among the "offenses" that "must needs come."
"'Tis sorrow builds the shining ladder up,
Whose golden rounds are our calamities."
CHAPTER III.
To the Ends of the Earth.
A Decadent Empire.--Joshua, succeeding Moses as the leader of Israel,
conquered the land of Canaan and divided it among the twelve tribes.
Then followed the reigns of the Judges, during which period Israel
began to depart from God, and to invite, by rebellious conduct, the
national calamity that had been predicted. The glories of the monarchy
founded by Saul, David and Solomon being past, the curse, long
suspended, fell, and the Israelitish empire hastened to its decay.
Ahijah's Prophecy.--In the reign of Rehoboam, the successor to Solomon,
ten of the twelve tribes revolted, and choosing Jeroboam to be their
ruler, set up the kingdom of Israel (in the north), distinct from the
kingdom of Judah (in the south), over which Rehoboam continued to
reign. During the days of Jeroboam, who had made idolatry the state
religion of the northern kingdom, the dispersion of Israel was again
predicted; the prophet Ahijah then voicing the word of the Lord to his
disobedient people:
"The Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and
he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their
fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river."--(I Kgs. 14:15.)
Amos and Hosea.--Another prophet who foretold the dispersion was Amos,
who said that Israel should "surely go into captivity," and be "sifted
among all nations" (7:11, 17; 9:9). Still another was Hosea, who,
substituting rhetorically the past for the future, said: "Ephraim, he
hath mixed himself among the people" (7:8).
Beginning of the Scattering.--In the year 721 B. C., soon after the
time of Hosea's prophecy, and while a monarch of the same name was
reigning over the kingdom of Israel, the Assyrians, under Shalmaneser,
came against that kingdom and began to destroy it. In a series of
deportations they carried away the ten tribes (Ephraim and all) into
captivity.
The Lost Tribes.--These are the famous "lost tribes," concerning
whom very little is known. Josephus, the Jewish historian, who wrote
during the first century after Christ, says that the ten tribes were
then beyond the Euphrates, the "river" referred to by Ahijah in his
prophecy. Esdras, in the Apocrypha, declares that those tribes went a
journey of a year and a half into the north country.
The Cairns of Scandinavia.--Missionaries of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, returning from Scandinavia, have told of
rude monuments--cairns or piles of stones--in that northern region,
concerning which tradition says that they were erected many centuries
ago by a migrating people. Whether or not these were the tribes of
the Assyrian captivity, it is interesting to reflect that it was an
Israelitish custom to raise such monuments in commemorating events,
especially the migratory movements of the nation.
Other Ancient Monuments.--If it be objected that monuments erected by
the Ten Tribes, 721 B. C., could not have lasted down to this day, how
will the objector account for the perfectly preserved monuments of
Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, and other ancient empires, whose remains have
been uncovered by modern archaeology? Such a theory will not stagger
the faith of the Latter-day Saints, when they recollect that the ruins
of Adam's altar are still to be seen in the State of Missouri, where
they were identified by the Prophet Joseph Smith, A. D. 1838.
To Return from the North.--At all events, it is from "the north
country" that the ten tribes are to return, according to ancient and
modern prophecy; and it is also a fact that from Scandinavia and the
nations of Northern Europe has come much of the blood of Israel--the
blood of Ephraim now within the pale of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
Are the Ten Tribes Intact?--A much mooted question among our people,
particularly since the discovery of the North Pole, where theorists
have insisted upon locating the ten tribes, is whether or not those
tribes have lost their identity. The fact that no such people were
found at the pole by Peary and other explorers, shatters the exact
location theory; but does it dispose of the main issue--the supposed
existence of the ten tribes as a distinct people, somewhere "in the
land of the north?" Such a supposition might be well founded, and yet
much of the blood of Ephraim be among certain northern nations. Some
of the pilgrims might easily have "mixed" with peoples encountered on
the way, while journeying to their ultimate destination. Beyond this
suggestion, I have no theory to advance. A tradition of the Church has
assigned to John the Revelator the mission of leading the ten tribes
from the land of the north.--(D. and C. 77:14.)
The Babylonian Captivity.--After the predictions of Amos, Hosea, and
others, in relation to the kingdom of Israel, came the prophecies of
Isaiah and Jeremiah, foretelling the fate of the kingdom of Judah.
This kingdom, about 585 B. C., was destroyed by the Babylonians under
Nebuchadnezzar, and the Jews were carried into captivity.
Lehi and His Colony.--Just before that disaster, Lehi and his colony
left Jerusalem, and crossed over to this land--America--which, by them
and by Mulek's colony that came later, was peopled with the descendants
of Joseph and of Judah, both of whom are represented, in a degenerate
state, by the American Indians.
Israelitish Characteristics.--Look at the features of the Indian. Are
they not Jewish? Quite as strikingly so as that many of his customs
and traditions are Israelitish. Who, than the savage Lamanite, better
understands the Mosaic law of retaliation--"an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth"? Nor does he care whose eye or whose tooth it is,
whether that of the person who injured him, or one of the latter's
tribe or nation. He is too much of an Israelite to object to proxies
and substitutes.
Jerusalem Rebuilt.--The Babylonian captivity lasted seventy years.
Some of the Jews, under the permissive edict of Cyrus, then returned
and rebuilt their city and temple. Only a remnant came back, however,
a colony of fifty thousand, led by Zerubbabel and Joshua. The rest
remained in their scattered condition. The Jews who rebuilt Jerusalem
were those to whose descendants Christ came, and predicted, after
their rejection of him, that their "house" should be "left unto them
desolate" (Matt. 23:37, 38).
Twelve Tribes Scattered.--Before the Savior's time, however, the
prophets Ezekiel and Zachariah,--the former in exile among the
Babylonians, the latter at Jerusalem after the restoration by
Cyrus,--had added their predictions to those already uttered relating
to the dispersion of Israel. That the fated nation was pretty well
dispersed in the days of the apostles, is evident from the Epistle of
James, who addresses himself "to the twelve tribes which are scattered
abroad."
Dispersion by Titus.--But there were to be other acts of dispersion.
One of the most notable occurred in the year 70 A. D., when Titus
the Roman came against Jerusalem, besieged and captured it, and sold
the inhabitants, such as had survived the horrors of the siege, into
slavery, or scattered them through different parts of the empire. To
follow the fortunes of this branch of the house of Israel, in all their
subsequent wanderings and scatterings, would fill volumes.
The Blood that Believes.--Next, let us consider the question: In
what way did these calamities upon Israel prove a blessing to the
human race? How, by the dispersion of the children of Abraham, was
the promise to the patriarch fulfiled, that in him and in his seed
should all the nations of the earth be blessed? I answer, that by this
dispersion the blood of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--the blood of faith,
the blood that believes--with choice spirits, answering to that blood,
and selected for that purpose, were sent into those nations where the
Gospel was afterwards preached; spirits capable of recognizing the
truth, and brave enough to embrace it regardless of consequences;
thus setting an example to others and influencing them in the same
direction. Manifestly this was of far more importance than the carrying
by the captive Israelites of their laws and traditions into those
nations; though this would also help to prepare the way for greater
blessings to follow.
Spread of Christianity.--And such things told in after years. One of
the marvels of history is the rapid spread of Christianity in the days
of the apostles, who, unlettered as most of them were, and in the midst
of the fiercest persecution, planted the gospel standard in all the
principal cities of the Roman Empire, spreading the tidings of Christ
crucified, from India on the East to Britain on the West, and from
Scythia on the North to Ethiopia on the South; all within the short
space of fifty years.
"Mormonism's" Growth.--A similar marvel is the spread of
"Mormonism"--ancient Christianity restored--through the Gentile nations
of modern times, a work yet in its infancy. Villages and congregations
converted at a sweep, as in Lancashire and Herefordshire, England;
in America the gospel preached to white men and red, and the Church
established in the tops of the Rocky Mountains, with nearly half a
million souls for a nucleus, and others continually coming from the
various nations of the earth. And then--the extraordinary attention
attracted by the Latter-day Saints--altogether out of proportion to
their numbers; for after all, they are only a handful, compared with
the hundreds of millions of earth's inhabitants. What more strikingly
fulfils the prophetic picture drawn by the Savior: "Ye are as a city
set upon a hill, which can not be hid."
How could such things be, had not Divine Wisdom prepared the way by
sending the blood of Israel, with spirits answering to that blood,
among all nations, prior to pouring out upon them the spirit of the
gospel and of the gathering?
Many Nations Sprinkled.--Others before Abraham had shown their faith
by their works; but this does not invalidate his claim to the title,
"Father of the Faithful." Neither does it prove that the believing
blood, even in the veins of the Gentiles, is not Abraham's blood,
with which God has "sprinkled many nations." The Latter-day Saints
themselves are of a mixed lineage--Gentile and Israelitish; most of
them having descended from Ephraim, who "mixed himself among the
people."
The Centurion's Faith.--Was not the blood of Abraham in the veins of
the Roman centurion, whose faith caused even the Savior to marvel? The
centurion's daughter was sick nigh unto death, and her father said to
Jesus: "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter beneath my roof,
but speak the word and my daughter shall live." "Be it according to thy
faith," was the reply, and straightway she was healed. This incident
caused the Son of God to say: "Such faith I have not found in Israel."
Moreover, it formed the basis of a prediction, that many should come
from the East and from the West, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob in the kingdom of God, while the children of the kingdom, such
as were degenerate,--salt that had lost its savor,--would be cast into
outer darkness.
Other Gentile Believers.--Other cases in point are those of Cornelius
and the woman of Samaria--Gentiles, in whose veins was the blood that
believes, "the salt of the earth," sprinkled over the world for its
preservation. The Moabite maiden, Ruth, who was numbered among the
ancestors of Jesus Christ, is another example of the same kind. They
are of Abraham who do the works of Abraham.
According to Their Faith.--God works among men according to their
faith. Jehovah, as Jesus, came unto his own, and his own received
him not. He could not do many mighty works among the Jews, "because
of their unbelief," at which he marveled, as much, no doubt, as he
marveled over the faith of some of the Gentiles. And so, leaving the
latter to be converted by the Holy Ghost, he who had been sent to the
lost sheep of Israel, turned from Judah unto Joseph, from the Jews unto
the Nephites, whose faith was greater, and among whom, in consequence,
more if not mightier miracles were performed.
The "Other Sheep."--From the Nephites, the Savior went to "other
sheep," not of the Nephite fold, nor of the Jewish fold, but still of
the house of Israel, and therefore entitled to his personal ministry.
These may have been "the lost tribes," or they may have been other
scattered sheep, unknown to man, but known unto God, "keeping watch
above his own," in the mystical and remote regions whither his
judgments had driven them.
CHAPTER IV.
The Call of the Shepherd.
"Come out of her, my people."--(Rev. 18:4.)
All in Christ.--The Savior's personal visits to the various branches
of the house of Israel were preliminary to a general gathering of
the sheep into one fold, with himself as the Shepherd over all. The
prophets who predicted the dispersion, likewise foretold the return
of God's people to their own lands, after "the times of the Gentiles"
should be fulfiled. It was to be in the latter days, when God has
purposed to "gather together in one all things in Christ." The most
notable prophecies pertaining to the gathering of Israel are here
presented:
Moses.--"The Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion
upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations whither
the Lord thy God hath scattered thee."--(Deut. 30:3.)
David.--"Gather my Saints together unto me; those that have made a
covenant with me by sacrifice."--(Psalms 50:5.)
Isaiah.--"And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain
of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains,
and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto
it.
"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to
the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and
he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for
out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem."--(Isaiah 2:2, 3.)
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his
hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which
shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from
Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the
islands of the sea.
"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.
"The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah
shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex
Ephraim.
"But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines to ward the
west."--(Ibid, 11:11-14.)
"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."--(Ibid, 11:16.)
"Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and
gather thee from the west;
"I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back;
bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the
earth."--(Ibid, 43:5, 6.)
"And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness
of thy rising.
"Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves
together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy
daughters shall be nursed at thy side."--(Ibid, 60:3, 4.)
The Ensign.--According to the faith of the Latter-day Saints, the
"ensign" referred to by Isaiah was set up, when the Church of Christ
was organized on the sixth of April, 1830. Thus far, however, only a
portion of the half tribe of Ephraim has been gathered out from the
nations.
Shoulders of the Philistines.--"The shoulders of the Philistines" are
understood to be the steamships, railroads, and other facilities of the
Gentiles, whereby the gathering Saints have been and are being carried
westward to American shores and into the tops of the Rocky Mountains.
The Highway.--"And there shall be a highway," etc. This part of
Isaiah's prophecy seems to have reference to the tribes that were
carried into captivity by the Assyrians, and in connection with whose
return a miracle is promised similar to the dividing of the waters of
the Red Sea, in the days of Moses, that Israel might go over dry shod.
Jeremiah.--"Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am
married unto you; and I will take you one of a city, and two of a
family, and I will bring you to Zion;
"And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed
you with knowledge and understanding."--(Jeremiah 3:14, 15.)
"Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no
more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel
out of the land of Egypt;
"But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from land
of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them; and I
will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
"Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall
fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt
them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of
the rocks.
"For mine eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hid from my face.
"The Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and
shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things
wherein there is no profit."--(Ibid, 16:14-17, 19.)
"Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from
the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the
woman with child and her that travaileth with child together; a great
company shall return thither.
"They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead
them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight
way, wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and
Ephraim is my firstborn.
"Here the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles
afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep
him, as a shepherd doth his flock."--(Ibid, 31:8-10.)
One of a City.--Jeremiah's prediction concerning "one of a city and
two of a family" has been literally fulfiled in the experience of
many Latter-day Saints, turned out of doors by their own parents or
guardians, despised and persecuted by former friends and associates,
because they dared to be "one of a city," or "two of a family," in
espousing so unpopular a cause.
A Stanza on Freedom.--A few lines from an American poet--James Russell
Lowell--seem appropriate here. The poem from which they are taken is
entitled "Stanzas on Freedom:"
"They are slaves who fear to speak
For the fallen and the weak;
They are slaves who will not choose
Hatred, scoffing, and abuse,
Rather than in silence shrink
From the truth they needs must think;
They are slaves who dare not be
In the right, with two or three."
A Marvel and a Wonder.--Wonderful as has been the work of the
gathering, thus far, judging from the words of Jeremiah, it is destined
to be more marvelous still.
Ezekiel.--"As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is
among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and
will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in
the cloudy and dark day.
"And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the
countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon
the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places
of the country.
"I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of
Israel shall their fold be."--(Ezekiel 34:12-14.)
The Christ.--"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in
all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end
come."--(Matthew 24:14.)
"And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they
shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of
heaven to the other."--(Ibid, 24:31.)
John the Revelator.--"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of
heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell
on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and
people."--(Rev. 14:6.)
"* * * And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her,
my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive
not of her plagues."--(Ibid, 18:4.)
Enoch.--One of the most ancient prophecies on the gathering, is that
recorded in the Book of Moses--a portion of the Lord's word to Enoch
concerning the latter days:
"And righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a
flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth,
unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may
gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming;
for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New
Jerusalem.
"And the Lord said unto Enoch: Then shalt thou and all thy city meet
them there * * * and there shall be mine abode."--(Moses 7:62-64.)
Keys of the Gathering Restored.--Moses held the keys of Israel's
gathering, and he committed them to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery,
in the Kirtland Temple, April 3, 1836. (D. and C. 110:11.) The record
says: "Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the
gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading
of the ten tribes from the land of the North."
Query.--Why this explicit reference to the ten tribes, following a
general allusion to "the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the
earth," if the ten tribes are no longer a distinct people?
Joseph Smith.--"And they who are in the north countries shall come in
remembrance before the Lord, and their prophets shall hear his voice,
and shall no longer stay themselves, and they shall smite the rocks,
and the ice shall flow down at their presence.
"And an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep.
"Their enemies shall become a prey unto them,
"And in the barren deserts there shall come forth pools of living
water; and the parched ground shall no longer be a thirsty land.
"And they shall bring forth their rich treasures unto the children of
Ephraim my servants.
"And the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their
presence.
"And there shall they fall down and be crowned with glory, even in
Zion, by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the children of
Ephraim:
"And they shall be filled with songs of everlasting joy.
"Behold, this is the blessing of the everlasting God upon the tribes
of Israel, and the richer blessing upon the head of Ephraim and his
fellows.
"And they also of the tribe of Judah, after their pain, shall be
sanctified in holiness before the Lord to dwell in his presence, day
and night, for ever and ever."--(D. and C. 133:26-35.)
Book of Mormon Predictions.--The Book of Mormon contains many
predictions of the gathering of Israel; the more notable being those
of Ether the Jaredite, and of first, second, and third Nephi. We learn
from them that the City of Zion, New Jerusalem, to which, as well as
to Old Jerusalem, the children of Israel will gather, is to be built
upon this continent; the precise place, as pointed out by the Prophet
Joseph, being Jackson County, Missouri. There, in the summer of 1831,
a site for the New Jerusalem was consecrated. There shall yet stand
the City of God, the central point for the gathering of the tribes
of Israel, all except Judah, which tribe, with its fellows, are to
reinhabit the land of Palestine. Until Zion is redeemed and the city
built at the place appointed, the gathering will continue unto the
Stakes of Zion.
Jesus to the Nephites.--"Verily, I say unto you, I give unto you a
sign, that ye may know the time when these things shall be about to
take place, that I shall gather in from their long dispersion, my
people, O house of Israel, and shall establish again among them my
Zion."--(III Nephi 21:1.)
"Therefore, when these works, and the works which shall be wrought
among you hereafter, shall come forth from the Gentiles, unto your
seed, which shall dwindle in unbelief because of iniquity:
"For thus it behoveth the Father that it should come forth from the
Gentiles, that he may shew forth his power unto the Gentiles, for this
cause, that the Gentiles, if they will not harden their hearts, that
they may repent and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and know
of the true points of my doctrine, that they may be numbered among my
people, O house of Israel;
"And when these things come to pass, that thy seed shall begin to know
these things, it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the
work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfiling of the
covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of
Israel.
"And when that day shall come, it shall come to pass that kings shall
shut their mouths; for that which had not been told them shall they
see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
"For in that day, for my sake, shall the Father work a work, which
shall be a great and marvelous work among them; and there shall be
among them who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it
unto them.
"But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they
shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I
will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than
the cunning of the devil.
"Therefore it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not believe in
my words, who am Jesus Christ, whom the Father shall cause him to
bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he
shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as
Moses said,) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the
covenant.
"And my people who are a remnant of Jacob, shall be among the Gentiles,
yea, in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest,
as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both
treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
* * * * * * * * * * *
"But if they will repent, and hearken unto my words, and harden not
their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall
come in unto the covenant, and be numbered among this the remnant of
Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance.
"And they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also, as
many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city,
which shall be called the New Jerusalem;
"And then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who
are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem.
"And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I also
will be in the midst;
"And then shall the work of the Father commence at that day, even when
this gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people. Verily
I say unto you, at that day shall the work of the Father commence among
all the dispersed of my people; yea, even the tribes which have been
lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem.
"Yea, the work shall commence among all the dispersed of my people,
with the Father, to prepare the way whereby they come unto me, that
they may call on the Father in my name;
"Yea, and then shall the work commence, with the Father, among all
nations, in preparing the way whereby his people may be gathered home
to the land of their inheritance."--(III Nephi 21:5-12, 22-28.)
CHAPTER V.
The Author to the Reader.
And now, a word to the brethren--particularly the young brethren--who
will read this book. I have endeavored to impress upon you the
relationship that you bear to heaven and to earth, the duty that
you owe to God and to your fellow men. You are among the chosen
spirits that constitute the house of Israel. You are of the seed of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and consequently lawful heirs to all the
promises made to your great progenitors. You are of Ephraim, most of
you--Ephraim, "the first born," the first branch of the Israelitish
tree to bear the fruits of faith and obedience in modern days; the
first to receive the Gospel, and to officiate as its ministers in the
Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. Your lineage is noble--I care
not how obscure your earthly origin, how meager your possessions, how
limited your opportunities for education and advancement. You are of a
royal race, and your conduct should be royal to comport with it.
This does not mean that you should be proud and arrogant. Pride and
arrogance are no proofs of gentility; they betoken the upstart;
they are the badges of the base-born. Faith and humility must be
your watchwords, and the insignia of your mission, as saviors of
mankind. Much is required of you, for much has been committed to
you. As children of Abraham, you must do the works of Abraham, and
keep yourselves unspotted from the sins and follies of a sordid,
pleasure-loving, money-worshiping generation. You must not bow down
to the gods of the Gentiles, nor pander to the lusts of the flesh. It
is not given unto you to live after the manner of the world. Whenever
tempted to intermarry with those not of your faith, and to wander away
from the fold, think of the great purpose for which you were placed
upon the earth; remember that you are children of the covenant, and
that these are the days of the gathering, not the scattering, of the
blood of Israel.
The same general obligations now resting upon you, rested up on your
ancestors; and neglect and disobedience brought upon them all the
calamities that befell them as a nation. The salt, sent to preserve,
lost its savor, and was therefore cast out and trodden under foot of
men. Invite not a repetition of those evils. What was done in the green
tree, must not be done in the dry. There is no time, no necessity,
for another dispersion of Israel. It would be as inappropriate and
superfluous as the flooding of soil already soaked by the waters of
irrigation, or the sowing of a field already "white unto the harvest,"
waiting for the reaper's sickle. No good could come of it--nothing but
waste and destruction. The children of the covenant have been called
home, and the blood that believes must now flow back to its fountain.
"Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the
Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit
whence ye are digged.
"Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I
called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
"For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste
places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert
like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein,
thanksgiving, and the voice of melody."--(Isaiah 51:1-3.)
The night of dispersion is past; the day of gathering has dawned.
The tempests that broke above the heads of our ancestors have spent
their fury, and the clouds have parted and rolled away. The barren
ground, refreshed by the fearful visitation, is clothed with verdure
and covered with flowers. The freshening and revivifying rains, having
fulfiled their mission, must now return to the ocean whence they came.
This is the meaning, the symbolism, of the dispersion and gathering of
Israel.